TechnoMagus
by RyuuNoOkaasan
Summary: A new kind of Adventurer winds up in the tree top at the guild house for Log Horizon. When the guild defends her, Shiroe finds answers to some of his deepest, hardest to answer questions about the Theldesia they've all been brought to and how to get home.
1. New Guild Member

Purrcy ran instinctively - again. She'd been doing that since she arrived in this world: running, using instinct as a tool. Her body in _this_ world was made for it, and allowing it to move on instinct had kept her alive more times than she could count. She was running this time from what she had run from the very first time - other humans in beast form. It really wasn't her favorite and she'd spent a lot of time avoiding it. Today was the day the luck went against her. Today, the small guild of wolf- and dog-men that called Akiba their territory, and roamed the streets as a pack, had decided that she was their target. She'd avoided them long enough, teased them one too many times with her presence that appeared briefly then hid from them or found an unwitting guardian to protect her from them, and they were done.

She'd found them _in_ her tree, not just under it, this time, and they'd had a few in reserve to pen her in from behind. She'd barely managed to use her hidden Tracker skills in time to get out of the trap, then had just simply fled, running on all fours. Sadly, most of them had also learned they could also move faster on all fours, and she wasn't all that far in the lead. She had the edge on speed - they had the edge on strength and stamina, though she'd been building that up as best she could. They had also gotten better at herding. Must be a few collies or sheepdogs in the mix, and they knew Akiba very well by now. She didn't, as she preferred staying outside the city until she absolutely had to come in. By now, she was so far from the metropolitan part of the city, she was in effect, lost. Her sense of smell might get her back, but her instinct said that to turn from her chosen path would get her captured. She'd learned to never ignore that warning.

Up ahead, by smell first, was the hint of people - unexpected in this nearly desolate part of the ruined city. Then, by sight, she could see brief flickers of movement on a patio a few stories above the street. Her eyes kept moving up and her entire cat-sense was arrested by the sight of a glorious tree top sticking out from the roof of the building. Of all things her cat instinct had taught her, it was that eight and a half times out of ten, a treetop meant safety. Human sense said that the person who was unknown was just about as often kind, or at least willing to be helpful. That percentage went up if the person was a hermit. They'd help you just to get rid of you faster.

The second skill she had learned in this world, after running, was climbing. Her skill in that was so high now that she didn't slow down. The old crumbling buildings had just as much claw purchase as the trees did. The dogs behind her were growling in frustration as she headed straight for that building. She hit it at her top speed and went straight up the side. Her sensitive ears heard them skid to a stop below her and begin to exclaim expletives of frustrated amazement.

"Gomen," she said as she passed the denizen on the patio, not slowing down, though the scent of the person surprised her. The two people on the roof surprised her even more, since she hadn't been expecting them. She surprised them, too, given that the man jumped up out of his seat with a cry, but she was already past them and clawing up the tree to a branch high enough to not be reached from the rooftop. When she arrived, she immediately lay flat against it and panted hard. The more she recovered, the more she shivered - and wished cats could cry. The best this body could do was droop the whiskers, tuck the tail in, and lay the ears flat against her skull. So they did. When the other human that had been on the roof appeared on the branch in front of her, giving off the aura of someone with a higher enough differential of level that Purrcy knew she couldn't win in this kind of confrontation, she closed her eyes and gave up. This really just wasn't her lucky day. She hated Akiba.

-:-:-:-:-

"Sorry," came a strange voice as a blur went past moving _up_ the _outside_ wall of the guild hall of Log Horizon. Chief Nyanta blinked, then looked up, but only saw a back paw and tail disappear over the roof edge. A cry let him know who or whatever it was had surprised Naotsugu from his restful pose on the roof. Sounds were also coming from below so Nyanta deigned to look below as he called up the guild group chat. "Meowtsugu, what was it?" he asked as he counted the number of Adventurers below him staring up at the top of the building. Most were clustered in a group, but he could see a few still arriving and skittering to a stop a distance away to watch.

"A cat, like yourself," came Naotsugu's answer. "Akatsuki's gone up the tree to investigate."

"She's looking pretty miserable," came Akatsuki's follow up, "and won't answer me. Name shows as 'Purrcy'. Do you recognize it, Nyanta-san?"

Nyanta frowned. "Let her be for a bit. She's been treed by the Wolf Pack, meow."

There was a growl from Naotsugu and Shiroe finally chimed in. "How many and will they leave on their own?"

"All of them, and it doesn't look like they want to," Nyanta said.

They could hear Akatsuki say to their sudden forced guest, "It's okay, Purrcy. You'll be safe here."

Nyanta looked down at the Wolf Pack guild. They'd been causing more trouble of late, and were on Shiroe's current watch and worry list. "Mew really should stop chasing the cats, mew know?" he called down to them now. "It might be cliché on Earth, but here it's just rude, meow."

"Naw, we're not being rude," the guildmaster, who preferred to be called the pack leader, said lazily, "we were just bein' friendly and she ran first. It's kind of hard to not give chase when the game is offered." His tail was waving side to side just a little too lazily for Nyanta. He narrowed his eyes. This one was hunting, not playing a game.

His own ear flicked in distaste, a thing it normally didn't do. He clamped down on it to keep it still again. That made his tail twitch. He sighed at himself. Until recently, he'd been able to completely control all his body's reactions to emotions, a thing he felt was required. For all he liked being a cat, he didn't like how expressive their bodies were. Calm, cool control in posture meant a strong hidden interior and was one of the ways he hid to be most effective against enemies. The fact that his body in this world was beginning to betray him was a thing he was having difficulty with personally.

"If you'll just explain to her we want to be helpful, perhaps she could come back down and we could talk?" the pack leader continued.

"Nooo," Nyanta said thoughtfully, "she doesn't seem too interested in that. Rather, since mew've treed her, I think the little 'game' needs to be over. Mew can all go back home now." He heard a click as Shiroe entered the balcony below his. As an Enchanter, it was safest for Shiroe to be above, rather than in the street. Nyanta, as a Swashbuckler, should be in the street if battle was going to be joined. Now that the city no longer had the usual defenses against fights inside the city walls, it could very well come down to it.

"Let me know when you're in position Naotsugu," Shiroe's quiet voice came through on the chat line.

"Roger that," the friendly Guardian answered. Nyanta assumed he'd headed downstairs to get to ground level and would be at the front door soon.

"We're ready," came Touya's voice. Nyanta nodded. The younger half of the guild would have mobilized at the beginning of the chat, being home today, so would get into place quickly.

"Twins out front with Naotsugu, the rest of you head out the back door and swing around to the side," Shiroe gave the orders. "Stay protecting that access, though, they've spread out enough they may try entering that way to get to her. Akatsuki, stay there. If I remember right they've also got one or two assassins they may try to get across from the building next door."

Nyanta went back to parlaying with the Wolf Pack, in a bored fashion. Since he was up where he couldn't be seen, he finally let his tail have its way. It switched lazily behind him, much like the pack leader's tail was. "Is there a reason mew're insistent on this one?" he asked. "Surely by now any that wanted meowr help would have already asked on their own."

"No, well you see, this one can't. We've been trying for a while now and we just figured it out a bit ago." He grinned his wolfish grin, and Nyanta didn't like it one bit. His ears went back and his teeth bared, ever so slightly since he forced them not to do more.

"Oh? Do enlighten me," he requested.

"We've tried to talk to her before, you know, just friendly-like. She nods politely, then freezes up and runs to her home in embarrassment. It's really sad to watch, how alone she keeps to herself. We just want to help her learn that Akiba is really a friendly place. If she'd hang out with us, she'd find that out in no time."

"I'd say that's enough talking to say they do plan on taking her back, even with that being against Akiba law," Shiroe was calm, but the chill underneath his quiet words spoke to his anger. He'd set that law after all.

"I'm ready any time, Strategist," Naotsugu said, his quiet voice showing his own anger. His normal voice was louder and happy-go-lucky.

"I've got two just arriving on the next roof over," Akatsuki said, very quietly, which meant she'd gone into stealth mode, "...and Purrcy knows they've arrived. She's gone into full quiet alert as well."

Nyanta's ear and nose both twitched violently at that. He'd rather she stayed put and let them defend her, though if she'd fight with them that was fine as well. It was having her run again that would be bad. "Shiroe-ichi, I'll go up," he offered.

"Alright, Chief," Shiroe answered. "Find out what language she does know, if it isn't Japanese." Nyanta froze, all his whiskers standing on end. Intelligent Shiroe had already understood. "Likely they think she doesn't know the laws and is therefore an easy target."

Everyone's battle presence went into full at that. As Shiroe took over the parlay with the Wolf Pack, Nyanta silently slipped into the guild hall and up the two flights of stairs. Going up inside would give him some element of surprise. Go up outside and the Wolf Pack would let their compatriots on the roof know he was arriving. They might anyway, since he'd left, but it was better than not. "Akatsuki-chan, please let me know when I can come out the door unseen. I'm in place," he said when he was. He got a single small cough in reply. She'd heard him, now it was wait.

"We've got reinforcements on the way to the Cathedral," Shiroe said quietly on the group chat. "Hold off on killing them for about three minute." No one said anything, but he knew he'd be obeyed. They'd trained enough together that they were seamless in knowing the capabilities of each other. This was their first time to defend their home, and at the need of someone not of their guild, no less, but it was their way, their guildmaster's way, and they were all proud to follow him.

"Here they come," Akatsuki said in a breathy whisper, followed shortly thereafter by, "She's fast."

"Where?" Nyanta said immediately.

"Down to the patios," Akatsuki answered.

Nyanta turned around and let his nose and ears do their job. "She's headed to a back room on the fourth floor."

"She better stay put," Naotsugu complained in agreement with Nyanta's own sentiments.

"Go!" Akatsuki and Shiroe said simultaneously. Doors opened and the battle began in earnest.

-:-:-:-:-

"Daijobu, Purrcy-san. Anata go koko ni tsutsuganai." It was a female voice, trying to be consoling when the speaker wasn't very used to being consoling. Purrcy wasn't sure she got the last word right and her ear slightly twitched at it, trying to recapture it, though it couldn't now. It was already past and gone. She got the first sentence though. She wasn't going to die or be scolded - yet. That was good. Maybe she'd picked okay...maybe. It being "bad luck day" she wasn't going to hold out too much hope just yet. Her ears did release their tight hold on her head, though, relaxing just ever so slightly.

She could hear the parlay going on below. A light voice that was slightly mocking, slightly scolding, the way she would imagine a father in Japan might speak to a wayward subordinate. Speaking back was the rougher, deeper voice she recognized well enough as the pack leader. She wrinkled her nose slightly at it, unhappy. They hadn't gone away. That wasn't good. They wanted her pretty badly today, and she wondered why. Normally they would leave well enough alone. Come to think of it...they'd been trying hard from the beginning. Men could climb trees but it wasn't the favorite past-time of wolves and dogs. It made her shiver more, and when her companion in the tree disappeared, it didn't make her feel any better at all.

Purrcy's ears came up and she listened carefully. Cat ears were oh-so-useful, once you learned when to filter sounds and when to listen closely. That had been her third skill to learn, though thank goodness it had started instinctively like the running and climbing. The light click of the door closing on the next building over opened the eye closest to it, but otherwise she held very still. Moving meant being seen. She'd known that before she came to this world. Anyone or anything that could be prey knew that instinctively. She waited with the patience she'd learned over the past two years and was rewarded to see the two who were headed stealthily across that roof towards this one.

The woman who had just left her must be Assassin Class or Tracker sub-class. She'd arrived without disturbing the branch and left the same way. She also knew they were coming and had gone into hiding. Well, Purrcy didn't mind being bait, but she also wasn't going to be captured by wolf-fangs. She set her escape route in mind right then so it would be the instinctive reaction when her body did move. She'd learned that if she gave her body its directions ahead of time, it would obey when it was time.

Her ears lightly flicked back behind her, in the direction of the porches, which was thankfully the opposite direction of the approaching Wolf Pack Assassins. A new voice had taken over parlay and she fell in love with it immediately. Calm as the first, but hard this time in it's undertones. This one wouldn't be gainsaid by the Wolf Pack. Almost surely the head of this building...which meant she'd run to a guild house, most likely. She sighed. She might not be able to get inside then, but she'd still try. She wasn't known by the guild house, and thus, not likely by the guild house. The closest patio might be enough, though, given that the one who'd been speaking from the patio before was now behind the door here at the roof. (Her ear had flicked forward again to catch the light sound of his voice.)

Purrcy settled into 'waiting as bait' mode. The Assassins finally moved, flickering out of sight then back into sight on the same roof she was on. Her body tensed and at just the right moment before they would reach her, she moved from her branch, down the tree, over the edge of the roof, down to the top patio, and to the door. Her heart leaped when the door opened for her. She ran to the trunk of the tree growing up through the middle of the building, down two floors and to the opposite side of the building, headed for the room her nose smelled was musty, closed in, and dark. Her cat-eyes quickly adjusted to the windowless closet-like room as she headed under and behind things until she was curled up in the corner. She'd snagged a cloth on the way and flung it over her as she settled.

Four. At least four were in this building, or guild. The second man on the patio wasn't the man who'd been on the roof. It would be worse if all four were men. Having one woman meant they might be a little nice, since she was allowed to act on her own. Purrcy finally realized she was leaving them all to fight while she hid - instinct had let up enough now. She sighed. There'd be some kind of price to pay. She curled up even more and put her arm over her head.

Surprisingly, she fell asleep. She didn't know it until she heard her name being called gently from not very far away...at about the door of the room. One of them knew how to find her by smell, then. She didn't leave tracks in this place that had no dust. They took good care of it, she'd noticed on the way in. Cat eyes and senses picked up all the details, even if they didn't register until later.

"Daijobu, Purrcy-chan. Ikimasho, kudesai." Her heart lurched or fell, she wasn't sure which. She didn't want to leave this safe corner, even though she needed to. Needed to face those she'd imposed upon.

Her ears twitched back and forth and her tail tip slapped her leg. Finally she worked up the courage to say, "Sumimasen. Gomennasai." It came out rather timidly, but that was all she had at the moment.

"Ie. Daijobu-nyan." Her ears came up at that. The smell and the sound finally clicked. The first person, on the patio when she'd run past, was a felinoid like her. "Nihongo o hanashimasuka?" _Do you speak Japanese?_

"Ie. Skoshe." _No. Only a very little._

"Saa. Taihen." _Harsh/hard._

"Hai." _Yup. You'd think learning Japanese by playing on the Japan server and turning off the language translator would have been a useful move. Not this time._ The first command was given again, and this time it was an order not to refuse or one would be considered very impolite. She did wonder how they'd figured out she couldn't understand it, though. It had seemed like the Wolf Pack had figured it out this time, too. Maybe that had come out in the conversation they'd had before she left the field, as it were. She cautiously wormed her way out of her hiding place in the back corner under and behind things, until she was where she could see the felinoid male standing in the doorway. His light grey coloring with white on the chin, neck, and likely bib as well would have made him hard to see in this room if he didn't have light behind him.

He stood proudly on his 'feet', one forepaw resting casually on one of two rapiers on his side, a dapper vest over a shirt, pants that looked comfortable. _Swashbuckler._ His tail lightly flicked behind him. _Interested; at rest._ The battle must have ended well for the guild, or he had a lot of control and he was actually irritated. His ears said interested, too, though, pricked forward slightly. One kept wanting to turn out. _Companions waiting._ Well, she'd been feeling better until that note. She really didn't want to face more than one at a time, but it probably couldn't be helped. Her own tail and ears flicked unhappily. His green eyes took her long pause in, likely also taking her in, then he bowed slightly and moved out of the doorway.

She rose to her own back paws now that he was farther back. She wasn't sure she'd come properly attired, or anything else. Her own shadow patterning would have made her hard for anyone else to see. Only cat eyes could see without lighting in this room. She'd _been_ wearing clothing since she was in town, but it might have left when she ran. She took the time to make sure she had something the equivalent of proper modesty for humans on before she carefully made her way to the door. She stopped when she could see out of it enough, about a step still away from the doorway. Two others had come with the felinoid. The woman who had been up on the branch with her, surprisingly short with long straight black hair, and standing protectively near the other man. _Female ninja. Interesting._ The other man was a tall, thin young man (half-alv) with dark blue to almost black short hair and round glasses. Calm yet at the same time seeming a bit nervous in habit, his sharp eyes were searching the dimness for her until she moved one more time so the light could fall on her.

Purrcy allowed them to look her over and read the computer generated status, which shouldn't be a feature of a living world, but somehow was. She was returning the favor, except the Japanese characters didn't give her much information _._ It was nice of them to keep it to just the three of them to begin with. They finished their review of her first and politely waited. She took one more step to be just outside the doorway and bowed. "Arigato gozaimasu. Gomennasai." She hoped they'd let her off. They did seem nice enough...but payment was still owed. "Woodstock, onegai."

That got an eyebrow from the young man in glasses. "Grandale ka?"

"Hai." Woodstock was the guildmaster for Grandale guild and one of her few contacts in Akiba.

"Anata ga Grandale ka?"

"I-e," Purrcy shook her head. "Solo."

Eyes sharpened even more at that. "Englesh, desu ka?"

Purrcy paused, everything holding still. Reluctantly she answered, "Hai. Yes."

The guildmaster had a sharp look on his face. "Gretu Britain, America desu ka?"

Purrcy sighed and she felt her ears and tail droop with a little twist. "United States. Secret, please."

"Secretu desu ka?" he asked, a little surprised.

"Onegai," she pleaded. If she could have gotten away with not telling, she would have. If she could blush she would be. Her cat body expressed embarrassment quite well, even without it. The three of them looked at her measuringly until the young guildmaster nodded once. Purrcy looked at him, measuring him now. Most likely this guild followed him fairly precisely. She finally let an ear twitch in acceptance.

"Ikimasho," he turned. The others waited for Purrcy to follow him. She moved hesitantly, but smoothly, knowing she didn't have much choice. As they walked to the stairs, he called up his chat function. Purrcy wasn't surprised he had Woodstock in his friend list. His was the voice she had fallen in love with. One that commanded without commanding, that was sure in its capabilities. Purrcy found it calming. Now if only she could actually talk with him. Then the rest of her might calm down, too.

-:-:-:-:-

"Sorry to interrupt, Woodstock." Shiroe's feet went automatically to the stairs, his objective his office-bedroom on the main floor.

"No worries, Shiroe. What can I do for you?" Woodstock's bass voice came across. Shiroe didn't call him often.

"A felinoid named Purrcy got treed in my guild hall tree by the Wolf Pack just a bit ago. She's suggested I contact you?"

"Purrcy?! Treed by that lot?!" Woodstock growled, angry. "She doesn't understand the language well enough, but she's a good kid. Good at what she does, and tries her best with the lot she's been given." There was a pause, then his voice came across pleading. "Shiroe...if you could adopt her...you'd be doing every crafter hall and market guild a favor. And likely yourself as well."

Shiroe's eyebrow raised. "What does she provide?"

"High end goods that her level shouldn't be able to provide. She stays out treasure hunting for sometimes months on end, only comes back when her pockets are too full to hold them, then leaves as soon as Call for Home clears."

Shiroe frowned. "High end isn't your product."

"No it's not, but she's taken a liking to me, for some reason," Woodstock sounded embarrassed. "She lets me call Akaneya in, but doesn't want to do business with him directly. Given what she brings him, and that he's used to eccentrics, he gives me a small cut for my time, and for my translator."

"So you already know she's English-speaking?"

"Yes." He was as terse and close mouthed as she was on that topic. Shiroe left it alone.

"We sent the Wolf Pack to the Cathedral," Shiroe told Woodstock. "Do you know why they wouldn't leave her alone? Why treeing her wasn't enough?"

There was silence for a bit. "They've been after her for a while...but I think someone might have sold them information on her. She calls to let me know she's returning to the city now so I can send guards to get her. I made her start doing it about two of her visits ago now. The time before they'd cornered her and only one of Akaneya's who knew her and was passing by saved her that time."

"Why her and them?"

He could almost see Woodstock shaking his head. "I don't know, Shiroe. Even with a translator there's too much that doesn't cross the language barrier. ...And she's very closed mouth. ...She might talk to you, though." Woodstock sounded both doubtful and hopeful at the same time. "Thanks for looking out for her this time. Did she know where to find you?"

"No. She was as surprised as we were, it looked like to us. We handled it anyway."

"She hasn't left, has she?" Woodstock was instantly worried.

Shiroe glanced back over his shoulder. "No. She's being good and coming along. Of course, she's practically under guard. Everyone wants to know what's going on."

Woodstock sighed in relief. "Well...if it would help, I could send my translator over."

Shiroe looked up at the ceiling. "No...I don't think that will be necessary."

"If you say so. I'll leave it up to you. If you don't want to keep her overnight, bring her back here and I'll give her a cot. She might stay this time."

"You've offered before." It was a statement.

"Yes. She'd fit in better over at Radio Market, but, as I said...," he trailed off, awkward again.

"I'll let you know," Shiroe said and politely ended the call. He sat at his desk, having arrived just now, and pulled out a middle-high grade sheet of paper, ink, and pen to match. When he was done writing, and satisfied with his new spell scroll, he looked up.

Purrcy was standing quietly at rest attention in front of his desk. Akatsuki was perched in her usual position on the chair between the desk and the door, primly on her knees, her fists on those. Nyanta was standing behind and to the right of Purrcy, also between her and the door. His ear was twitching and his tail was waving, and his eyes were slightly narrowed and focused on the femfelinoid. Shiroe paused, somewhat surprised. This was the most agitated he'd seen Nyanta in some time. "Chief?"

Nyanta returned immediately to his usual calm self. "Yes, Shiroe-ichi?"

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. Nyanta looked at him calmly, then gave a slight embarrassed flick of his ear. Shiroe slowly turned his attention to Purrcy, deciding that perhaps right this moment was not the moment to hear what Nyanta had to say, since he hadn't offered. He handed the scroll to Purrcy. She looked at it for a moment, then looked back at him. He pantomimed tearing it. He was pretty sure if she couldn't speak Japanese, she couldn't read it either, so he'd used a torn-scroll spell. It would be simplest.

Her eyes went wide and she looked back at the scroll again, then pantomimed tearing the scroll to see if she got it right. He nodded. She looked distressed, then took a deep breath and tore it carefully in half. A red-gold light surrounded her for a few seconds, then disappeared. The scroll did as well.

"Can you understand me now?" he asked her politely, his hands folded together in front of him on the desk.

"Yes, thank you very much," she answered in some surprise. "Is it a reverse translation as well?"

He nodded. "Yes, I understood that just fine."

"Oh." She paused and got the look of an Adventurer checking her status screen, then looked back at him and bowed. "Thank you, Shiroe-san. That's twice you have helped me in a great way without my asking. What can I repay you with? I take it you're a high level scribe, not just an Enchanter."

"Yes," he said, and was opening his mouth to answer the other, when three items appeared on his desk.

"These should more than replace the materials for the scroll. I'm sure it was efficient, but destruction of beautifully crafted items is sad to me. It was hard to tear." She had just a hint of rebuke in her voice.

Shiroe decided to ignore that, though he appreciated the compliment under the words. He was staring at the items on his desk. "Tell me, Purrcy, how does a level sixty-five come about having over-level-eighty-five items?" He looked back up at her.

She looked at him quietly for a moment, her tail making a wide sweep from one side to the other and back again, making it look in total like she was contemplative. "While I am grateful to you and your guild, I'm not willing to pay with that information. It's sufficient to say I come by them from my own honest effort. Please ask a different question."

Shiroe felt something within him lurch in excitement. "You trade in information as well?"

The whiskers on one side of her face moved up as she half-smiled. "I suppose you could say that."

Shiroe lifted his joined hands to his lips and leaned forward on his elbows. "Woodstock says you bring him high level treasures. Is your information at the same level?"

A slight lift of a shoulder. "I suppose that depends on what it is and who's asking."

Inside, Shiroe's lips lifted also. He kept his negotiator's face on the outside. "While I think about what information I'd like in payment, why don't you tell me what the Wolf Pack was doing chasing you all the way out here?"

The tip of her tail twitched, as if she'd spotted the movement of small prey. He was pretty sure she'd taken the bait, willingly, to negotiate. "I rather wish I knew," she answered. "They were actually _in_ my tree this time, not common for dog-types. ...I suspect they finally learned what I trade in. So far until this time, they've only been interested in my gender and that keeps their feet on the ground. ...Of course, that's disconcerting enough. If they've learned what I trade in, they'll not let me alone from now on."

"How many know what you trade in?" he asked her, inside genuinely concerned.

"Woodstock, the translator, Akaneya." The list was that short.

"You trust the translator?" he asked.

Purrcy shrugged. "I have to. It's more likely that someone watched the products that came in and traced the frequency and where people went and followed them, then looked for the supplier to go in or come out. It isn't that hard if someone tries." Akatsuki nodded silently behind her. She could have done it, given enough time.

"Now that someone knows, will you stop?" Shiroe asked.

Purrcy shook her head. "It happens whether I will or not. If it becomes too troublesome, I'll find a middle man and not come into town at all. ...Or move."

Shiroe frowned at that. "Neither of the next closer Adventurer towns is safe, and the others are too far." Purrcy shrugged, but didn't say anything. "Is it enough to have the guards bring you in?" he tried a little harder.

"That helps me get the products in, but it doesn't keep me safe for the rest of the twenty-four hours I need before I head out again, if I'm the target."

"Why do you only stay that long?"

"Because I'm always a target." Her ear and tail twitched in irritation. "Mostly here, but even out to an eight hour run. I've had to use Call of Home more frequently in that radius than anywhere else outside, though I've finally got a few routes that I can get through on fairly reliably."

"You go that far out?" he asked surprised. "Alone?"

She gave him an impatient look. "Don't all soloists?"

"Ah...," well he did have to give her that. He dropped one hand and rubbed his head with the other. Her tail gave one last impatient twitch then went back to the slow sweep that paused briefly at each full set. She was a rather beautiful calico. Mostly black but with orange-gold swirls here and there and grey-white flecks throughout, as if she'd be right at home in the dappled shadows of a forest. She probably used it to good effect. Her hands were actually hands, though they seemed to be claw-tipped, what he'd seen of them. At the moment they were clasped together in front of her in a relaxed fashion. Her golden eyes matched the gold of her swirls.

He wondered briefly how old she was. She was definitely _not_ fashion conscious. The skirt was rather conservative for Akiba, long to the mid-calf and flowy. The blouse was more comfortable than beautiful, and it hid what small chest she had, as if she'd opted for a more realistic cat form than the typical buxom female that _Elder Tales_ initially assumed a player would want. It seemed an odd choice for a woman from the United States. There was no other external item on her, as might be expected of any Adventurer. Given how much they could store in their item lists, though, she probably didn't feel the need to show much of anything else here. Relaxed and casual was okay. They all were, too, except that they'd just come from battle so keeping weapons nearby was comforting for them. _Always a target, hmmm?_

Shiroe looked at Nyanta and pushed his glasses up to see him better. His look wasn't one of opposition. If anything, it was one of support. "Should we call in Naotsugu?" he asked. Akatsuki disappeared. Shiroe blinked slightly. That meant she was also in support. Naotsugu was their best judge of character. In only about a half of a minute, the door to the office opened and the larger man came walking in, poking his head in first to glance around. When he saw them, he came fully into the room, let Akatsuki in behind him, closed the door and walked to the side of Shiroe's desk and looked at Purrcy. "Are you alright, then?" he asked her.

Purrcy looked at him, one ear twitching back and forth. She tipped her head in a slight bow. "Yes, thank you. I'm sorry to startle you. I didn't know anyone but Nyanta-san was in the building when I was headed towards it."

"Do you know the Chief?" Naotsugu asked surprised.

Purrcy's tail stopped momentarily. "Only by sight," she answered. Nyanta's tail twitched upright and he stiffened generally. "Ah," she answered his external reaction, "my tree is near the market. I've seen you shopping on occasion."

Nyanta blinked, then a look of remembrance came over him. "Mew're the one, several months ago, that I kept meeting at the various market stands while shopping?"

Purrcy nodded with an embarrassed twitch. "I'm sorry to have used you that day to escape. I tried not to be overly rude."

Nyanta blinked again. "I didn't notice it being so, just humorous at the time."

Purrcy's eyes narrowed. "Yes, you did. Thank you for being humored."

Nyanta was decidedly embarrassed and waved it off. Shiroe thought it was the first time he'd seen Nyanta at a loss for words. Purrcy looked at him a while longer, then relented and looked back at Naotsugu. He was looking between them. "Eh...Chief...this is your type?" Both felinoids blushed, if it was possible for felinoids.

"Just knee him in the face," Akatsuki said from behind them. "I find it quite effective. Shall I do it for you this time?" The last question came after the action had been performed.

"Shrimp!" Naotsugu roared at her. "It wasn't even directed at you. Stay out of it!"

"Rude Naotsugu," she retorted and returned to her seat as suddenly as she'd left it. Shiroe took his turn to be embarrassed, but Purrcy had a smile on her face, surprising him again. He stared at her. It was surprising that such a small expression on a cat made this one light up. He made his decision and looked at Naotsugu.

Naotsugu was looking at the smile as well and gave Shiroe a nod. "You look like you've been through a lot since the Catastrophe," he said to the femfelinoid.

She looked back at him soberly. "Yes, Naotsugu, but so have a lot of other Adventurers." That won points in the room. She turned to Shiroe. "...And the next set of them is going to find it getting harder even still."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow soberly at her. She tipped her head towards Nyanta. "Nyanta is finding it more difficult?" he asked. Nyanta froze again, giving the truth to it, but Shiroe didn't understand it.

Purrcy turned and looked at Nyanta sympathetically. "Him particularly. He's in conflict with his own body. Most aren't, since they're young enough not to care."

Nyanta stared at her as if willing her to be quiet, as if not wanting to hear any more, and his ears folded back on his head. His lips lifted briefly as if he wanted to snarl slightly but was restraining himself. Purrcy turned back to Shiroe. "I will give you one piece of information I think you would want." He only looked at her waiting. "If for no other reason than because you've helped me as a guild, you need to know it for his sake." They all became alert at that. They would all help any one in the guild, but particularly Nyanta who was father and chef - two very important roles for the guild.

"I'll hear it," Shiroe said quietly.

"The beast-men and -women are having the same effects on them as what happened with the flavor text on weapons. They are becoming more beast and somewhat less human, though not completely. We have all been living as humans in costume until now. That has become impossible. The bodies are taking over some control. It will continue to get worse for a while."

Shiroe sat in stunned revelation. It answered so much. Why the Wolf Pack was getting worse, why so many of the beast related types - felinoid, wolf-fang, and foxtail - were getting more irritable, or staying out hunting longer, or like the Wolf Pack did today, falling into typical race behaviors of their animal halves without seeming to understand they were inappropriate. "How far will it go?" he asked.

Purrcy shook her head. "I've gone the farthest, but that's because I started out letting my body teach me how to survive in this world. I still have my mind, and my choice - most of the time - but I've had to learn when the body is going to react and prepare it to act in the way I want it to, or understand that it will just act and then do what I can to interrupt that action sufficiently so that the final outcome is acceptable to me. Those who don't understand it don't act wisely. Those who refuse it, but fight it, like Nyanta-san, have the hardest time since it will take over when they least expect it to and that is frightening."

Shiroe and Naotsugu both turned and looked at Nyanta. He was looking both surprised and then sheepish. "Is it something that can be trained, then?" Shiroe asked her.

"If they want to understand themselves, yes," she answered. "But they have to make the readjustment, and it's nearly the same adjustment as the transition of the Catastrophe - from Earthling to Theldesian. For this, it's from human to beast-man - a harder adjustment, I think, for most. Perhaps as difficult as from one gender to the opposing for those who picked wrong before being brought here. A fun diversion at the time, completely opposing what they truly desire now in the heart." Eyes in the room went to Akatsuki who had lived through that very problem, and only had Shiroe's gender changing potion to thank. They also had one other guild member with that problem, and they couldn't help that one. Shiroe had only had one potion.

"Is there a solution?" Shiroe asked her.

Her tail twitched a few times. "It was very helpful to not be in town for some time. It's easier to become the beast when not under the eyes of those who don't understand. When control is finally mastered, then returning is easier. But...they have to want to learn to master it. It's easy to just let it become natural, to think that the way you have become is the way it is or even should be. Too many younglings who cannot mature can be...harmful." Her pupils dilated and she was holding herself stiffly now, her pose becoming more imposing. "If that pack were sent out together to learn it, they would only learn to become more properly the pack, though they are already learning that here. But here, they have the restraints of other humans who understand that what they are doing and becoming isn't right or normal."

Shiroe thought about that for a while. So did Nyanta, it looked like. "So, if they left the city to learn it, they should take others with them, like a training raid, or something like that?"

Purrcy's tail paused, then whipped around with a little swirl. "Perhaps...those who have the sub-skill 'animal trainer' could help? As long as it was a person the students respected enough to listen to, believe, and obey. ...What would you do with those who can't learn it or refuse?"

Shiroe thought longer on the issue. "Segregate them," Naotsugu answered flatly.

"Why?" Purrcy seemed to suddenly become a professor.

"Because that's what we do with those who can't live in human society. We put them in their own. Then we can relax and they can relax. In the game, there were several cities and villages of just the beast-kind where trading and interaction went on, but they had customs and traditions unique to them, and often 'off' to humans. Flavor text, if you get my meaning."

Purrcy looked back at Shiroe and he had the distinct impression again that she was a professor waiting for him, her student, to understand. He thought three thoughts at once, put them quickly into order, and addressed the first one. "If that became necessary, we could do that. There are several within Eastal we could send delegations to, to see if we could send the Adventurers there, and perhaps discover if they can be trained to live at least to that level of social compatibility...if they'll take them." That was thought one - answer the question.

Now to thought two. "Purrcy, it seems to me that there would be another option to having you be safe while in Akiba." She tipped her head, listening with her ears pointing forward. "You've already run to us and seen we're willing to protect you without knowing you. Will you let us protect you from now on? ...I won't require you to stay when you're ready to leave the city."

Purrcy's ears twitched. "That is hard to repay...or are you, perhaps, asking...," she frowned. He nodded. She shook her head as if she'd suddenly had it splashed into water. "That's...sudden? Unexpected."

"No, not really," Naotsugu said mildly. "That's about how fast it usually goes, with Shiroe." Even Shiroe stared at Naotsugu for that blatant lie. It usually took the other person pushing him to get past his reticence and shyness. "What?" Naotsugu defended himself. "It is. You just don't usually have the short amount of time to ask it in. She's going to walk out the door and you'll never see her again, right? Your only chance is to ask now. Protecting important things and people's your specialty after all." Shiroe blinked. He didn't have an answer for that.

Nyanta chuckled. "That's true, nyan. When mew've decided to protect a thing, mew don't hesitate to move when needed."

"My liege is very decisive when it benefits the most people possible." Akatsuki said proudly.

"A tender heart is hidden behind the glasses, is it?" Purrcy said, and Shiroe was startled to hear the kindly teasing note to it. "That is a rarity in this place...but having already been the recipient of it, how can I doubt it?" She considered Shiroe and he looked back at her openly, wondering what she was thinking. "If you and yours will already agree to protect me, then I will of necessity repay you. Doing both within the contract of guild membership would be agreeable. ...You've asked not just from the kindness of your heart, but also because you believe I have things that will help you with other goals. Write the details of the terms of the agreement and let me see them." She had already understood his third thought. This one was not a child but would be a worthy opponent or strong support, most likely.

Shiroe collected another sheet of paper and ink pen. With a few brief strokes, he wrote a guild member contract and handed it to her. She reviewed it as if used to seeking the fine print in contracts. She asked for the pen, added one more line and showed it to him. He raised an eyebrow, but nodded. She signed it and gave both the paper and pen back. He signed it also and it disappeared, setting the proper settings from his office that everyone else in this part of this world had to perform at the Guild Hall itself.

* * *

 _Hello! Welcome to my walk through Akiba, Yamato, and Theldesia with the canon characters of Log Horizon and lots of new ones. Just a couple of notes on where we are going. This work is as much a study of the differences between Japanese and American (U.S.) culture as it is a story about a journey to find the way home and a struggle to live peaceably while traversing a world-sized dungeon. The pieces of the cultural differences already have reared there heads even here at the beginning. The Japanese idolize the U.S. culture, but the people themselves are considered wild, rude, and immoral. There is a lot of bad press out there about the way the people of the United States behave. (The Japanese view the Brits, however, as being similar in refinement and societal hierarchy, if not temperament.) The U.S. people reciprocate with the idolization of Japanese culture; however, the Japanese people themselves are ruled by strict social politeness and hierarchical structures that are found extremely binding and sometimes unfathomable to those from the United States that are suddenly faced with it. Just because they are polite to your face, and seem very accommodating, ...all is not as it seems. Hidden darknesses on both sides of the fence will be revealed as the story progresses._

 _Our main OC is a quandary inside a puzzle inside a Pandora's box - a dungeon unto herself that Log Horizon must pass through to reach Shiroe's goals. Please have patience as each layer and level is traversed. Even for U.S. Americans she can be difficult...for good reason that really isn't her fault...(maybe). Enjoy! Ah, yes. I've taken creative license and given Nyanta paws, rather than hands as a minor plot point._


	2. Meeting Log Horizon

Business aside, and a new guild member added to their numbers, it was time for introductions...and dinner. Nyanta headed to the kitchen, food being his responsibility as chef for the guild. He was contemplative. He hadn't considered that his inability to control the twitchings of his cat body would be because of the continual small changes that were occurring in this world since they came. Even if it was only Purrcy's theory, it wasn't a bad one. It looked like it had answered some of Shiroe's questions, too. While Nyanta was uncertain he really wanted to let it all go and learn to be beast and then human again, if he could help Shiroe in some way to solve his current difficulty, he would be willing to do so. Nyanta was also very interested in relearning how to keep the physical display of emotions in check. If Purrcy could help with _that_ part, he'd be willing to learn.

He listened with one ear as Purrcy was introduced to the rest of the guild by the other three officers of the guild. Purrcy thanked the rest of the guild as politely as she had the officers for defending her, a stranger, and for welcoming her. As Nyanta began to prepare the ingredients, wondering briefly what she liked to eat, the introductions began. There were the twins, Touya and Minori. Touya was another warrior, like Naotsugu's Guardian, a Samurai just having reached level 72. Minori was a Kannagi who would reach that level at the next exercise of the group. Together they had been the next members of the guild after the first four who were the officers and all level 97 now, nearing 98. He smiled. The twins had come a long way from the early days when they had been young newbies to the game brought in with the rest of them at the time of the catastrophe. They greeted Purrcy as politely and as enthusiastically as ever, though a lot more comfortably now that they were comfortable in their own skins and in the guild.

Next were Isuzu the Bard and Rundelhaus Code the Sorcerer. They were also both young, and roughly leveled to the upper seventies as well now. Isuzu's strong yet kind personality came through in her greeting. She enjoyed treating the boisterous and jaunty Rundelhaus, who they nicknamed Rudy, as if he were her personal puppy and she kept him on a sufficiently tight leash that the rest of the Japanese cultural members could handle him. He'd been a Person of the Land until he'd died and Shiroe had used a world-class magic scroll to revive him and make him an Adventurer. Only the guild, and one other person, knew Shiroe had done it. Nyanta found it interesting that Purrcy accepted Rudy's greeting the closest to how he would have expected an American to act. So far she'd been very careful to be as un-American as possible. It wasn't an inappropriate response, though. Rudy seemed to calm immediately. Nyanta smiled a bit at that, as he dumped the vegetables into the pot warming on the stove.

The last guild member was Tetora, a complicated sort. Female in this world, male in the other. Level 97 like the officers. Preferred to act female to disguise his true gender since what people saw was what they expected. Chose to mercilessly tease Naotsugu for not recognizing that 'she' wasn't what 'she' appeared to be, though the rest of them knew from the start. Mostly for that reason - and because it hurt, though it really was Tetora's fault for not owning up to it. Naotsugu would have been his best supporter, really, if he'd understood it. Naotsugu was dense, but underneath he was the guild's healer and everyone turned to him for protection of some kind or other. He was truly the steady rock - the tank. The surface Naotsugu irritated some people, like Akatsuki, but they overlooked that for the most part.

Nyanta froze in the middle of setting his pot on the stove. Tetora had just asked Purrcy if he could pet her. That was a breach of etiquette among Adventurers, though not out of line of Tetora's testing of new people. The room had gone rather still in general. "No, I don't mind at all, Tetora-kun." Nyanta was at the door staring in amazement. So was everyone else. Purrcy had her head tipped down so that Tetora could reach it. Tetora was staring at the top of her head just as surprised as everyone else, then quickly, with his usual bluster to cover up his embarrassment, reached out with a laugh and touched the top of her head between the ears pricking forward towards him. _She really didn't mind?_ The hand on her head was initially brazen, but as soon as the fingers touched the soft fur a change came over Tetora. He was surprised by the softness and the fingers lightly caressed the fur, even petting it a few times, until he suddenly came to his senses.

The hand jerked back and he laughingly said. "It's so soft. Thank you." Purrcy stood back up and smiled at him. He stood frozen for just a moment, then fled the room.

"Well...that's a first," Naotsugu said looking after him. "Tetora tongue-tied." He looked back at Purrcy. "Did you do that on purpose?"

Purrcy flicked an ear softly. "Shall I go apologize?"

"Apologize? Nah, she'll get over it." Purrcy's eyes narrowed but the others motioned for her to not say anything. The tip of the tail flicked, but she held her peace. "She was probably quite honored you'd play along."

"Embarrassed is more like it," Akatsuki murmured.

Nyanta agreed. He turned and hurried back to his pot, having one more thing to think about with this newest member of the guild. Americans were said to be more forward physically than the very reserved Japanese...but this had seemed just perhaps a little different. And it had done something to Tetora. He hoped it was in the right direction. They didn't want to see him hurt further either. Everyone here was being protected, and lived to protect each other.

A soft movement behind him drew his attention. "Can I help, Nyanta?" She said it just like that, too. Just his name, kindly, without reserve, yet respectfully.

Without him intending it, an ear flicked her direction. His hold on his spoon tightened. Keeping his voice the kind neutral it always was, he said, "Do mew have the Chef skill?"

"I can cook," she answered.

He raised an eye ridge of whiskers at that somewhat evasive answer. "What level?" He asked it as if just barely interested, or if testing someone new to his kitchen.

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully, "but I make a really good Chicken Tikki Masala. I'd be happy to share the recipe with you if you want. They were saying you make a very good curry. I love curry but haven't been able to -" She cut off because he'd turned around and was staring at her. He realized with some chagrin she'd made his tail stand stiff again and he worked to get it back under control along with his emotions. "Ah, sorry," she said contritely. "Shouldn't I have?"

"Ah, no, I'd be happy to exchange recipes," he answered casually, though he was under quite a bit of tension at the moment. "It's just...both are high level. For mew to not know...?"

At that, her tail moved fluidly again, having held very still in her concern over his reaction. Her smile matched the one she'd given Tetora. "Well...that's part of the mystery that is me. It will all come out eventually, I'm sure. ...Really, I'd love to help. What can I do?"

Since _he_ wanted to know what she could do, he immediately set her to the testing range of tasks. First cutting, then salad, then preparation of a baked vegetable dish with a higher level sauce. All of them turned out properly. No messy black goo of an inexperienced or low level chef. He'd worked her up to about a high forty's level by the time dinner was ready. He knew because he kept having young ladies asking him to help them cook in the kitchen. None of them were that high yet, but he knew other chefs that were. He called everyone to the dining room using the guild chat function. As the two of them carried the dishes out to the table, he thanked her for helping.

"I enjoyed it," she answered politely. "Thank you for letting me help." She hesitated like she was going to say more, then stayed quiet, the look on her face going as kindly closed as he kept his own. He knew that look. She'd had a thought of home - the people she missed on Earth. He politely let her recover in silence, their simple acts of putting the food on the table and being present for each other enough for the moment. Adventurers only ever needed someone to be present when those feelings came, so they knew they weren't here alone. Nyanta suddenly wondered at that though. She'd been alone a long time. Did she understand that? He looked at her and was caught looking, her eyes having been moving past him at the same time. She smiled lightly at him, but the sorrow in her eyes matched the one in his heart and her slight nod of thanks was met by his own in return. The moment passed, as it should, by the arrival of hungry, boisterous youngsters, and those not all that young who acted it anyway at meal time.

-:-:-:-:-

Dinner being done, the guild gathered in the central common room which doubled as the dining room. Purrcy was surprised that everything was so organized and moved so smoothly. Touya and Minori had shown up to set the table and Minori had helped about the kitchen though likely today Purrcy had taken most of her usual tasks there. After dinner, everyone helped clean the dining room up and Isuzu and Rudy did dishwashing duty while Tetora wiped the table and swept the floor. Nyanta had supervised it all by just being present to make the after-dinner tea which Tetora set cups, saucers, and spoons out for. Purrcy kept herself out of the way, exploring the first few floors quietly until everyone began to gather back in the dining room again. She'd managed to find at least one sleeping place for herself, though she was a bit partial to the fourth floor closet now, it being dark and quiet.

She waited until it was obvious where they wanted her to sit. It seemed to be a central seat that might normally be Shiroe's, but perhaps when guests were visiting it was theirs. Tonight it was to be hers - most likely because they wanted to hear all about her and ask their questions. She couldn't help the light droop in her tail and ears. She really didn't like being the center of attention on this world...but this was the payment she'd been asked to give, and to be a member of a guild - an Adventurer 'family' - it was only right. She shook herself out to get her ears and tail to behave politely, then walked to 'her' seat for the evening and sat carefully, curling her tail around her waist so the tip of it was in her lap.

The one thing she had troubles with still was what to do with the tail in public. Only Adventurer clothing automatically went on without causing troubles for tails. Artisan clothing had to be special made for them, and they still weren't getting it quite right - either opting for no hole so the tail was hidden by the skirt or down a pant leg (very uncomfortable), or with a hole that might or might not be placed right and that the tail had to be carefully pulled through. She'd been making suggestions when she came, but...a lot of others were also and it still wasn't perfected yet. She was working on her own method but hadn't finished testing yet.

The tip of her tail rose just a little and stayed taut in reaction to her slight stress at so much attention and so many people. It embarrassed her, but it wasn't likely anyone else cared. It flicked down and back up at that and she sighed to herself, accepting politely the cup of tea that was handed to her. It was delicious, like the dinner was, and she said so.

"Did you know Nyanta-san was the one who learned how to cook real food?" Minori asked her.

"No," she answered with a slight smile. "I actually know very little of the life of the Adventurers in this place. I'm sure going over two years of history will be a little much for tonight, but please assume I don't know anything when you speak to me. This is the first day I've understood Japanese, other than little bits and pieces."

"What? Why?" Touya asked.

"Because...and please keep it secret within the guild...I'm from the United States. I was on the Japan server trying to study to learn the language better, as a very junior student of the language, when the Catastrophe happened. I thought it would be a fun time to be present on the server here at such an auspicious occasion as the newest release of _Elder Tales_." She grimaced. "Like many others, in my case it didn't work out so well. Having the auto-translation off on my PC meant I couldn't understand it when I got here. Guildmaster Shiroe used one of his torn-scroll spells to help me. I've only managed to learn it through magic, I'm afraid." She was rather apologetic. She really should have learned it on her own...it was just...too difficult to face the other Adventurers in their own stress of the time and then it had never worked well after that.

"The U.S.?" Touya gaped at her. Purrcy nodded.

"I would have never guessed," Naotsugu said in amazement. "You were speaking just fine when I arrived in the office."

"Ah, sorry. We'd done the scroll by then," she answered him.

"And you're very well behaved," commented Tetora coyly, though with perhaps less of his usual bite.

"Thank you," Purrcy bowed her head to him lightly. It was a complement to her being able to hide among a different culture as well as a statement for the warped perception American television and media gave to the rest of the world. But that was a common element across all countries and cultures, not something to get worked up over, even when it had caused some of her own early difficulties. Tetora seemed a little non-plussed with her response and went back to silently watching Purrcy from above and behind Naotsugu, where he'd perched on the back of the couch behind him, his long mostly bare feminine legs hanging over Naotsugu's shoulder. Purrcy looked at the pair for a bit, trying to understand them while the others worked around to their next question.

"Ah...," Purrcy added, "I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of the back street creepers who don't want attention are like me. Logged on to the Japan server with the translator turned off and too afraid to admit it, unable to step out and learn the language. Those who already had it well enough probably integrated sufficiently, but it's hard to speak to native speakers when your own capability is almost nothing."

Shiroe sat up straight. "I'll take care of it," he said absently.

"Only Adventurers, please," she asked just as absently. "You keep leaving open boundaries that are becoming problems."

Shiroe finished his mental pre-write, then came back, then comprehended what she'd just said. He stared at her with an open mouth, but she had moved on...and she wasn't about to answer for it anyway.

Nyanta had asked, "Since food was brought up, how is it mew learned to cook?"

Purrcy smiled into her tea, seeing her reflection. That answer...how to say it. She looked up. "It's only natural, isn't it?" She looked around the room. Every person in the room had a very interesting reaction to that statement. She smiled faintly. This might have actually been the best place to land after all.

"...The Mysteries...," Akatsuki said. Purrcy looked at her politely. She struggled a bit to find her words. "They also are natural."

"Ah...the Mysteries are techniques that can be learned but not taught," Isuzu explained. "They're often combinations of techniques someone already knows, with their own 'special sauce' thrown in."

"It seems they come out and are added when a person is in need of them, or has worked hard to perfect a set of combinations and the right additional exterior stimulus is provided to create the new technique." Shiroe explained in more depth. Purrcy nodded. She understood that.

"But so far there seems to only be one, or at most two, Mysteries for each person to learn." Touya said, disappointment in his voice.

Purrcy's ear turned outward at that. Cautiously she asked, "Are these only fighting Mysteries? Or are they in other aspects?"

"Only fighting, or whatever you are - magic Mysteries for magic users, that kind of thing," Isuzu said.

Purrcy thought about that for a bit. They might be a little different. It seemed Nyanta agreed, "But mew learned a subclass skill. That isn't a Mystery."

Purrcy nodded. "There were many things I had to learn on my own, but it's the same even on Earth. One can't be an adult on any planet and not know how to take care of oneself. Perhaps some find it more difficult here because we also have the additional 'gift' called 'Adventurer' that we've arrived with. I chose to not begin there, but to arrive at it later. I chose to begin with, 'how do I live as an adult on this world'? "

Shiroe sat petrified. Purrcy sipped more of her tea, giving him time. That was a lot to take in at once for someone who understood its implications. The other upper level Adventurers in the room seemed to understand the state Shiroe had gone into and were giving him surreptitious glances.

"Well, of course you would, wouldn't you?" Rudy asked, confused.

Purrcy turned to him. "Well, why would you say that, Rudy?"

"Because we all start life young and grow up learning to live in our worlds - even you Adventurers, right?" he asked.

Purrcy raised an eyebrow and her tail twitched in a sine wave. "Rudy started out one of the People of the Land, Purrcy." Isuzu hurried to explain. "He became an Adventurer through Mister Shiroe's magic."

That had Purrcy's attention. "Through the scroll and ink as well? What level materials?"

"Highest," Shiroe said absently, still thinking. "I made them myself. It was my first world-class magic. Li Gan even felt it."

Purrcy didn't know Li Gan, but that... "World-class magic," she whispered. "It can go that high?"

She suddenly had Shiroe's attention again. "What level have you seen it go to before?"

"Ah, no, I've postulated. I haven't tried...," she panicked, then slumped, wondering just how high her own brand of magic had accessed. That wouldn't be good, if others could sense the higher level magics. "But...to have come to Adventurer late... It must be hard Rudy." She looked into his eyes.

He nodded fearlessly. "Yes, but I keep working hard. It's a lot easier to level up now that I'm an actual Adventurer. It was very difficult before."

"The limitations of the different types," Purrcy murmured. "That's been my greatest frustration as well..."

Shiroe looked up again. "It's the same in the reverse?"

"Yes," Purrcy's tail slapped in her lap, "and irritatingly so. Only because of initial conditions set by programmers."

"So...mew've learned to cook as a second subclass because mew've studied it as if mew were a Person of the Land, instead of an Adventurer?" Nyanta asked.

Purrcy wiggled just a little uncomfortably. "Well...I suppose you could say it that way." They waited for her to explain further. She sighed. "I learned it as if I was a child of Earth, learning it again for the first time. ...I started with cutting, and cutting, and cutting." She gestured with her hand. "I saved everything I cut, since we can. Eventually I could put the things I had cut together and they actually stayed things like 'salad', or 'meat shish kebab'. I ate the salad and put the shish kebab back into the list to store and kept cutting and putting together until the shish kebab stayed shish kebab when cooked over flame and I could eat them. It was like that. Little by little working my way up, as if in junior high school cooking class again, going up grade by grade. It was a great achievement to reach 'college student living on my own' level. Then I could do soups and mix my vegetables and meats." She was getting wry grins from the older set in the room who'd had to walk that path on Earth themselves already. "Rudy, is Adventurer your title?" she asked him.

"No, it's my subclass. My Class is still Sorcerer."

Purrcy's ears and tail twitched slowly, thoughtfully. "Guildmaster Shiroe, did you specify that in the contract?"

Shiroe shook his head. "No. Only that he would become an Adventurer." Purrcy nodded slowly, tapping lightly on her teacup. The specifics had been left up to the 'game world' and the results sufficient. "I wonder...," Shiroe said musingly, "if having us push the boundaries of the original programming...we are the cause of things like the flavor text becoming more real, the same as what is happening with the beast clans. As we force the system - the world - to accept we are 'real' we _must_ become 'real'?"

Purrcy looked sharply at Shiroe. "Graduate student." He nodded. She nodded back. "That's my hypothesis as well. I apologize for my part in it, though it's little consolation and far too late. I'm sure you and I aren't the only ones. Most adults are going to push the boundaries...and graduate students and professors even more so."

"Professor?" he asked back.

Purrcy laughed. "I could have been. I enjoyed the time I spent as a college level teaching assistant. I've spent most of my adult life teaching in one way or the other, and even some of my teen years, truth be told. I just didn't want to delve that deeply into any one subject. I've enjoyed learning just as much as teaching, but only have the attention to devote about one year to any given topic. Slightly ADD, sorry."

Shiroe smiled back. "Engineering, CAD design."

"Programming?" she asked back.

"Only what was necessary. I understand the basics."

Purrcy nodded. "Me too, and I'm a couple generations back they change so fast, ...but the _basics_ don't." She watched him. He'd tucked it away but not understood it just yet. She mentally shrugged. "I was in engineering as well, switched half-way to computer programming and they stuck me in technical writing instead when I got out. Since I'm also OCD with edits, that was sort of okay, but I dropped out due to absolute boredom after a bit and went on to other things. I rather love being able to focus so heavily on learning here. There's a lot to learn and grow from in this place."

Now Shiroe's eyes narrowed. She really should stop. She just loved leading good students along, though. He needed time to let it all percolate. ...And they'd lost the rest of the guild members.

"...Doesn't that make you rather old?" Tetora ventured after the pause went on long enough. "I mean...to be 'generations' behind in the programming languages?"

"Do you program, Tetora-kun?" Purrcy asked kindly.

"Yes, some," he blushed. It came across very prettily since on the female face that was currently vulnerably relaxed, the pink tint made him look particularly vulnerable and innocent.

"Then perhaps...you'd be right," she allowed. "But to ask my age would be rude both as a lady and as an Adventurer, so we'd best leave it at that, ne?" She winked at him. Tetora agreed reluctantly. It looked like he really wanted to know. Then, most Adventurers did. At best they could work out an age range of their compatriots now that they could see each other face to face and test level of maturity. They were still trying to place her. She'd given them enough clues to put her into the category of 'adult', and 'post college degree', but that was still rather a broad range. It was enough. She finished drinking her tea, then turned her teacup upside down on its saucer, set them both on the table in the center of the seating in the room, and sat back, lacing her fingers together and putting her hands in her lap.

The unspoken requirement was understood and they left her alone and slowly picked up other conversations between each other, allowing her to watch their interplay. It made her a bit nostalgic, but was restful as well. She'd been away from friendly banter for a long time and the family atmosphere of this guild was making her relax in a way she hadn't been able to relax in a long time.

-:-:-:-:-

"Come on, Naotsugu...let me come sleep in your room tonight!" Tetora was hanging on Naotsugu, having worked himself up to relaxing as well and teasing his favorite target. "You know the extra warmth will help you sleep better."

"Get off, Tetora," Naotsugu was struggling to rise from the couch and brush Tetora off at the same time. "You know you can't do that."

Purrcy watched the interchange until Naotsugu was up on his feet, carrying Tetora's weight as if he were only a bird or other large pet clinging to him. When they had moved out of the way of the other seated guild members, who were also beginning to get ready to head to bed for the night, and were mostly ignoring the teasing as if it happened daily - which it must if they were - Purrcy rose and walked over to them. She snagged the back of Tetora's blouse and lifted him off Naotsugu. "Come with me, Tetora-kun," she said, using her no-nonsense voice that wouldn't take any arguments.

Tetora froze in surprise. Naotsugu rubbed the back of his head, not sure whether to utter thanks or warning. Purrcy raised her free hand without looking back at him. "Go do what you need to do Naotsugu. I'll stop by later. I want to talk to you, too." She did glance back at the rest of them. "Go to bed. I won't eat him. I promise."

"Ah! You'd do it?!" Tetora struggled.

Purrcy held on tighter and didn't let go. "No, of course not. We're going to your room, shall we?" She put his feet on the ground but only just and still didn't let go.

"How's she holding on to him when there's more than a thirty level difference?" Naotsugu stage whispered behind her. She presumed he got shrugs. She wasn't going to answer. Tetora, only having human ears, didn't hear the question.

"Maybe she was a parole officer?" Touya asked back. Purrcy shook her head. The funny things kids thought of.

Up two, then three flights of stairs to the third floor Tetora took Purrcy. She sighed to herself. That didn't make it better, did it, to have to room on his own floor by himself, even if it was by luck of the draw to come just late enough to the guild to have to spill over? Even she hadn't been considering this floor. Tetora nervously let her into his room, for someone who was supposed to be acting female. He looked at her from the corner of his eye as he moved into the room past her. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Should you be?" she asked mildly.

"I've been expecting it," he rubbed a toe on the floor, his hands clasped behind his back.

"For how long now?" she asked.

"...A long time," he admitted.

Purrcy stood silently, putting her words together. "Tetora-kun, let me tell you about my father." Tetora looked up at her in surprise, then nodded once that he'd listen. "My father, in his seventies, was diagnosed with prostate cancer." She watched him closely. "He had the surgery to remove the prostrate, then the chemotherapy to kill the rest of the cancerous cells in his body. In order to continue to live long to provide for my mother, he opted from that time to go through hormone therapy. For prostrate cancer, that means progesterone shots on a regular basis, to make the balance of testosterone small enough the cancer can't come back. He has been living his life since then with the same hot flashes and emotional outbursts that menopausal women go through. ...At what point did my father lose his manhood?" Tetora looked at her, lost. He shook his head.

"He never did." Purrcy said quietly, with conviction. "He had to go through necessary, unexpected changes that were not his to choose. He did choose to remain true to his own inner self, regardless of what body changes had come upon him." Tetora's eyes widened. Purrcy's tail moved gently behind her. "Tetora, I am sure that things have been very hard, and you have been trying your utmost best. It is an accomplishment to be proud of. You, too, can be true to your core, regardless of what your circumstance has become." She could see his hard shell begin to crumble. "Please consider it carefully, because it is also not right for you to lash out in anger at those around you who care about you, any more than it is right for one guildmaster to make his guild lash out at the city around him because he has been placed in a circumstance he cannot understand."

"It isn't the same!" he cried out, both in anger and despair.

"It is, Tetora-kun. To Demikas, this world wasn't reality but he couldn't escape it and he become afraid. Because he had the strength of the guild, his total acts were more atrocious. You are only one, so your strength of acts are not visibly so terrible...but you are still causing others pain you don't intend in the long run. Naotsugu knows you're male, but because you attack him as if he doesn't know, he can't help you. If he admits it now, he will cause you more damage in the admission. ...It has gone on long enough. Please forgive and move on to proper inner strength."

She waited, watching carefully. The choices people made were different for every one. It seemed this guild had worked on him enough. He slowly collapsed to his knees, tears pooling in his eyes. Purrcy went to all fours calmly, her clothing disappearing as she padded over to him as a cat, albeit a large one. She rubbed her head on his cheek, letting him feel the softness and licked a salty tear off his cheek. When his hand finally came up to pet her head, she rubbed her head on his cheek again, letting him continue to pet her. Then she put her head near his ear and began to purr. She stayed there and purred for him, letting him pet his grief, sorrow, loneliness, and pain out. Before he could really come back to himself, she stood and transformed back again. "Come on, now it's time to sleep. You'll feel better come daylight." She lifted him and helped him into his bed. She pet his head until he finally was asleep, keeping him company to give him hope and healing, like they all needed - to know they weren't alone in this place they hadn't chosen to come to.

She padded down one floor to the door that smelled the most like Naotsugu and knocked on it lightly. He opened it, looked at her soberly, then let her in. "I've told him you know, given him hope, and let him cry. Be gentle, but be yourself. The normalcy of you will anchor him as he tries to learn the new 'Tetora'."

Naotsugu looked at her, then nodded. "You think he'll be okay?"

"Yes. Just the fact he could cry shows it. If he could only be angry, then he would be gone come morning." Naotsugu agreed, then sighed, looking both tired and relieved. "Naotsugu...," she wasn't sure how it would be received, more advice, "he's alone on the third floor. That isn't helping." Naotsugu's eyes widened, then he nodded his understanding. "It's not my preferred floor, either, but tonight I'll sleep where he can find me in the morning, so he'll know he wasn't alone this night." She turned back towards the door to let herself out. "Please ask the other heads what can be done about it...to help heal his heart and so he isn't quite so alone, ...though...I do think all of you have been very good for him. He wouldn't have done even this much if not for all of your efforts, I think." She bowed slightly to him and returned to the third floor where there was one branch coming from the tree that was just large enough for her to sleep on, though at a slightly awkward angle.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu looked at the closed door, waiting a bit, then opened it and looked out. She'd left this floor, the second one. He moved quietly (most people didn't know he could), headed back downstairs. He opened Shiroe's door and poked his head in. Three heads turned to look at him. He entered, closing the door behind him. He kept a carefully neutral expression on his face until he was sitting, arms akimbo on the back of the love seat in the room, across from Shiroe who was on the couch. "She's good," he said. Everyone relaxed. "She's got him to start behaving, healing, and recognized that having him alone on the third floor's not doing him any favors. She's staying there on the third floor tonight - not with him - but let me know that's not her preference. She'll not be there again, likely. ...She also told him I already know so I don't have to."

Shiroe slumped in utter relief. "All in one fell swoop," he said. "It might be worth it just for that, but she taught me a lot more in just a few brief minutes...twice. What is she?"

There was silence as they thought about it. "She's an Adventurer," Nyanta finally said. Naotsugu nodded agreement. Only Adventurers understood the pain of other Adventurers.

Akatsuki twirled a lock of hair around her finger, a sign she was trying to put her answer to words. They waited patiently. "I - I'm not sure I know...but...it feels like...mother."

Naotsugu contemplated that. Nyanta's head tipped down a bit as he thought as well. Shiroe sat back up to take his chin in his hand. He finally nodded. "I didn't - don't - have a close relationship with my own parents...but I think I can see that. She watched the kids that way...as if enjoying having the noisy banter around again. And taking him to task right away instead of letting it slide..."

Nyanta's shoulders finally sagged and his tail made a sad wave. "I have a different answer...but it comes down to the same thing, I think."

Naotsugu rose and patted Nyanta on the shoulder on his way past. "Of course you'd have a different answer. ...In this place, you're father." He walked off, knowing it was truth, but it wasn't any easier on the gentleman felinoid. He was having a rough time with it. "Give her some time and let it ride, Chief. Maybe she can bring you some healing, too. ...And...I suspect she could use some as well." He let himself out with one last significant look at Shiroe. Shiroe gave back a surprised look that faded to sad acceptance. They all needed help. She'd shown she was willing to give what she could. It would stand.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy lay on the branch, listening. Shiroe's office was too far to hear from here, though the soft voices did sound somewhat. Naotsugu wasn't gone long. Just long enough to report then, she decided, and return to his bed. Her ear twitched slightly and her tail swayed below her and the branch slightly. She was also relaxing towards sleep already, but she couldn't quite get there just yet. It wasn't too much longer before the door opened again. In a short amount of time a different door on the first floor closed. _Nyanta_. Steps, nearly silent were coming up. Her paw twitched slightly. There was thick silence nearby. She turned her head and opened her eyes slightly. "Akatsuki." She rubbed her head against the forearm on that side to scratch an itch.

The slight woman couldn't come up on this branch with her. It curled up too rapidly - so rapidly it was uncomfortable since Purrcy would rather lay out fully on her sleeping branches. Instead, Akatsuki crouched down and ran a finger on the floor. "Purrcy...would you just let...anyone...pet you?"

Purrcy rolled over to lean her back against the rise of the branch and considered the question. Finally she rolled, dropping to all fours to sit as cat in front of Akatsuki, looking at her solemnly. "I won't take him from you," she answered, "but if he needs to pet a cat, I'd let him." Akatsuki looked up in surprise. Purrcy hesitated. "I'll steal his mind for a while, though. ...He has things he wants to learn. When he's learned them, he'll come back. Can you let him?"

"Will you let him?" Akatsuki answered.

"I want him to," she smiled, her whiskers lifting. "You're the best protection he has. ...Though you'd be even better protection if you let him know a little more directly you're really interested."

"Why?" Akatsuki's eyes were wide.

"Because then he'd know to protect himself for you."

Akatsuki blinked. It looked like it had finally been put into words she could understand. Purrcy impatiently butted Akatsuki's arm with her head and was absently pet a few times. That was enough. Purrcy lept back up into the branch and settled back down. "No, just the guild members...and a few other close friends," she answered the original question sleepily, then yawned a cat yawn and tucked her head down in her arm. "Thanks for comforting me, by the way, up in the tree. It was the first time a stranger had been so kind to me in a long time."

Akatsuki rose to standing. "You're welcome," she said stolidly. "Good night."

" 'Night," Purrcy was already falling asleep, though her ear twitched when the final door closed one floor down and everyone was finally in their rooms where they belonged. She sighed and deep sleep claimed her.


	3. Testing the Waters

Tetora stopped in mid-step, then turned away from the stairs to look at the branch of the tree that was on the opposite side of the trunk from his room. The afternoon and evening before had seemed surreal in the morning upon rising, though he felt a little different. He'd stayed in his room, considering the words he'd been told and what he really wanted, trying to decide what face to put on this morning, and not really coming up with an answer. He was hungry so had given up. Breakfast would be on the table soon anyway. He'd been walking to the stairs to go down when he happened to glance this way. Seeing the calico figure on the branch, lying there with limbs and tail hanging down made the day before very real.

He turned and walked over, just a bit annoyed. She'd made it so he was confused again...didn't know who he was supposed to be again. He reached up to touch her, to wake her up and annoy her. His fingers touched soft fur again, and his emotions went away. Instead he just stroked the fur, remembering how it felt to just have that level of companionship while he finally let it all go. And she'd stayed watch over him through the night, too. He softened and sighed a bit. "So," he whispered, "now what am I supposed to do?"

A whisker twitched. "Tell me your real name." A golden eye was exposed as the eyelid uncovered it. Tetora froze, then slumped. He knew why she'd asked. "Let me protect it, and help you remember," she continued. _Protect it._ He tasted that phrase a bit, then nodded. He leaned up and whispered it to her, then dropped back down fully onto his feet to look at her reaction. Purrcy rose to her fours, then leaned down, balancing precariously on the branch. She put her cat nose on his nose and whispered him a "good morning" and called him by the name his parents called him. Then she shifted and jumped down to stand beside him on all fours, stretching first the forelegs and shoulders out, then the back legs and lower back, like any cat would. Tetora blinked and looked down at her. "Good morning, Purrcy...but, how do you do that?"

She looked up at him - a calico cat the size of a good-sized dog, her head about his waist height. "Shall we go down? Since we're late enough, I may as well answer that to everyone. Others have also already seen this form so should hear it."

"...You could keep it an 'I must be dreaming' night form." He didn't really want to share it.

"I could," she had a teasing look about her, "but then you couldn't pet me in the middle of the day."

He blinked. "Oh," he gave up. If she was willing to do that, then maybe it would be okay...to share, that is.

They walked down together to the second floor, then she took to the tree trunk since at this level they'd left an opening to see down below and she could get through. He looked at that thoughtfully, then up to the next floor. It hadn't looked particularly comfortable, that branch she'd been sleeping on. The one on this floor would have been, though. He walked down the last flight of stairs. The open room there was both dining room and visiting room. The table was already set and it sounded like - "Breakfast, everyone," came on the guild chat. Yup. They were headed out with food.

He walked quietly to his seat. Purrcy followed at his heels. He got such strange looks he decided not to sit just yet. She'd be alone, strange too, if he did. He blushed slightly at the thought she'd chosen to do it to support his own decision to change...but he was grateful. She sat and waited with him, calmly, her tail coming around to rest on her front paws. Everyone gathered rather solemnly, especially the adults, Naotsugu included. Tetora couldn't quite meet his eyes, but he didn't look angry, just as calm as always in such situations.

He let them all take in his new attire. Pants, boots, blouse, short-sleeve jerkin. All still perfectly matching and perfectly stylish. That was his preference. No need to look bad after all. Beauty was still it's own reward, and he'd designed this form to be beautiful from the beginning. He was just modifying the clothing style to more correctly match who he really was inside. Eyes were also going to Purrcy, but she was handling it calmly, waiting for him to go first, most likely. He took a deep breath, and turned to Naotsugu. "I'm sorry for my rude behavior until this time." He bowed, held it appropriately, then rose again to finally look the other man in the eyes.

Naotsugu's face went from serious to his light smile. "No harm done, if it made you feel better, Tetora-kun." As Naotsugu an answer as it could get, and saying he really had known, too.

"Thank you," Tetora said, meaning it. Naotsugu's eyes met his, then fell to the feline at his feet. Tetora looked down at her.

Purrcy rose to all fours, bowed with one leg out in front, then stood to look up at all of the guild members in the eye, then before them, she transformed back into the felinoid they'd met the evening before, becoming clothed in the process in a simple knee-length dress this time, that looked good on her, actually. "Good morning, everyone," she said quietly. "I think he's learned his lesson quite well. Shall we eat?"

She moved to her chair and Tetora followed her, not wanting to be left behind. Everyone sat and food was passed around. When things were quiet again, Purrcy said, into the quiet, "It's a form of magic I learned. All magic is possible in this world, since magic is allowed at all. Transformation magic, because I wanted it and it's very convenient. Cat was one of the easier shapes to master, since I'm already half-cat anyway. It is much harder to transform into other shapes, so I don't usually."

"Can you do human?" Shiroe asked quietly as well.

"...No, because it's a restricted form. I'm not of the race 'Human'. The only restricted form I can transform into is 'Felinoid', since that's what I chose before coming. 'Cat' is not a form chosen by Adventurers." Shiroe nodded. The restriction made sense, though it was perhaps frustrating. It would have been an easy solution to the current problem.

Tetora looked between the two of them. He could follow Purrcy since she made it easy to, but he knew Shiroe was making his own leaps ahead, as usual. He was in awe of how the Machiavelli's mind worked. To be able to sit at the table with him when he was working his mind was a privilege, or so Tetora felt. He'd been very nervous they'd refuse him when he forced his way into the guild, but Shiroe was a push-over, really. Tetora had been abusive of that early on, then had felt bad once he really understood that Shiroe was genuinely caring of others and backed off to just watch him work. It had been enough to tease Naotsugu after that, for a while. Once he understood Naotsugu knew his secret, he couldn't turn back either. It was a relief that someone had come along who could end it for him, finally let him make it right. It would take a while to find the right balance, the new normal, but that was okay. His guild would wait patiently for him. He had learned this, too, watching them since he'd come.

He hadn't minded being alone on the third floor, since he hadn't felt he had really earned a place in the guild proper, but he had felt very grateful to not be alone this morning. That made it much easier to remember that everyone else felt he was a member, even if it had been the newest one to be there. Maybe that made it even easier. He couldn't continue to let her sleep on such an uncomfortable branch just for him, though. "Shiroe, I'd like to make some construction changes, if I could."

Shiroe looked up from his musings. "Don't burn the place down." It was said mildly.

"I won't," he replied with his signature grin, "but I might ask Rudy to help me."

Rudy waved a hand. "Not me. I don't want to burn the place down either."

Tetora laughed. "No, that's not what I meant." He waved a hand up at the tree. "Purrcy would rather go up and down by tree trunk. Will you help me open up space around the trunk on the floors above the second floor so she can get to the roof easier?" Beside him Purrcy froze. He turned to look at the surprised look she was giving him. "Consider it my 'thank you'."

"Ah...how will you keep weather and such from coming in if you open it all the way to the roof?" she asked him, her ears still saying "I'm surprised". Tetora shrugged. "Opening up a wide hole at the top is not necessarily a good thing...though I would appreciate the rest of the interior having easier access."

Tetora nodded. "We'll consider it."

"I'll come, too," Touya said, flexing a muscle as he always did when there was physical labor to be done.

"Shall I come supervise?" Naotsugu offered, raising an eyebrow.

"Naotsugu, 'supervising' for you means finding the closest chair to nap in," Tetora chided, but he didn't say no.

"Oh, is Naotsugu half-cat, too?" Purrcy asked innocently, looking at the man in question with a raised eyebrow and a question mark tail. Everyone at the table laughed.

"You'd think so," Akatsuki said dryly.

Tetora, from the corner of his eye, watched Purrcy's tail flick in a pleased sort of way. She was also glad the atmosphere had relaxed.

-:-:-:-:-

In the end, they decided that a club-house trap-door style entrance to the roof would be best, with a latch that could be locked from the inside for safety sake, now that they knew Assassins could reach their roof from the next building over. They also made sure it had the same magic protections the other entrances did. When Purrcy ran up and down the trunk - in cat form since that was easier - from the first floor to the roof and back, everyone was extremely pleased with their work, and she was very grateful, and seemed a bit overwhelmed, really.

Shiroe took her into his office for tea, served by Akatsuki, as usual, who sat silent and nearly invisible as usual. "Is it so hard to understand and accept kindness?" he asked his newest guild member kindly.

"Ah...well...from other Adventurers, I suppose, and so quickly," she hedged, but her tail twitched still a bit agitatedly.

"But even you've done the same since you've come," he pointed out.

She blinked. "I - I suppose I have, somewhat," she frowned a little, but her tail stilled some. She tucked her legs up under her, her shoes disappearing automatically, as if without thought. Shiroe had noticed other little similar details. She still didn't feel like the normal Adventurer to him. He thought about where he wanted to take the conversation. He had a lot of irons in the fire and he wanted to know everything she might have to say about all of them. Some of them he'd gotten quite stuck on and he was hopeful she could pry even one or two loose, but some were on his "top secret" list and he wanted to be sure he could trust her fully before really getting into those.

He pursed his lips. There was one that already had public fingerprints. "Purrcy, in your travels, have you seen any monsters that have their indicators, their names that we can see, blurry, like TV fuzz, as if it's been overwritten? We've had a few come through we've had to deal with."

Purrcy frowned into her teacup, looking at her reflection. He'd already picked up on that cue. It meant she was sorting through her answers to come up with the right one to say at the moment. "I have. ...What have you decided it might mean?" She looked back up at him. She looked as uncertain as he felt. Well...even if she didn't have _the_ answer, somewhere in her encounters might be another clue.

He explained to her that they'd found they were almost always new bosses, or new monsters from the upgrade, that had been hijacked. His working theory, based on communications with others, was that they were another trapped species, but they were working from somewhere else where they could access the upgrade data from and were coming to the land here to interact with them. They had all been sent to "collect emotions", or at least that was the best understanding for what they called "empathions" and that showed as a decrease of MP (magic points or magic power), though no one had any idea why since that was all they would say before dying. They weren't easy to talk to, not really reasoning creatures.

"I have had one interaction with another who says they are one half of that species, and she was of the other half being sent as observers. She seemed quite a bit more reasonable. The juniors met her. They brought back a letter from her in which she told me that information." He was watching Purrcy's reaction. He really wanted to know if she was one of the observers, since the prior one had come in the guise of his own created character that was stored on the test server that was supposedly on the moon. Her ears flicked as she considered what he'd said.

A claw ticked on her teacup. Either she was very agitated, or was thinking very hard. "I'm not," she finally said. "I'm an Adventurer from Earth." He was surprised she'd answered the question he hadn't asked first, but Akatsuki threw him a knowing look. He pondered that for a moment. Akatsuki must have experienced the same sort of thing from Purrcy, then. Purrcy herself had remained in her thoughtful mode. "That's interesting...two...and the former sound more mechanical...programmed."

"Yes, but many also have self-directedness, or apparently do," he added, knowing it was an important detail.

Her frown deepened. "A species we will find difficult to interact with then. Killing is the only solution, I take it?"

"Yes."

"To be potentially friendly on the one hand and unapproachable on the other. That's hard to negotiate with...you're sure they're the same species?" she asked.

"That's what she said," he answered. He agreed with her assessment. "I'd really like to talk to one of the observers directly, myself."

Purrcy raised an eyebrow, "Arrogant?"

He considered that. "Possibly, given what the younger set said she said, but she hid it well, if so. They liked her quite a bit."

Purrcy shook her head. "Well, that can be overcome over time, with the proofs they are equal to or lesser than us. But, emotions. ...Food? Energy? Why?"

He shook his head. "We don't know that either, but they are desperate for it, enough to knock us out completely comatose, or kill if they've retrieved enough. People of the Land are just as good as Adventurers, really, though I suspect we give them more of whatever they're looking for."

Purrcy nodded as she added that to her equations in her head, then said, "The ones I've come across kill the monsters, without regard to life or comprehension, as if they are only weeds to pull from the grass. Many monsters are quite intelligent, I'm sure you know, and it's disconcerting to see them treated so." She frowned, "It has on occasion damaged what positive relationship there could be with Adventurers, since some of the monsters they take over look like us, sound like us, smell like us, and taste like us." She sighed. "I've had to work very hard sometimes to calm the rage that would have come after us if I hadn't been present. That would have caused pain and sorrow on both sides. Likely it's going unchecked many places since I can only be in one place at a time. ...It's been worrying me. I'd like to see that one resolved also." She finally looked back at him clearly, returning from her own musings.

Shiroe looked at her openly. There had been a lot in that one comment again. When she did that, he didn't even know where to begin with his questions. There was a lot to her picture and he needed to see more of it to get it pieced together. Eventually he would know exactly which questions to ask to understand the whole of it. ...Really, he was enjoying himself. He hadn't had a puzzle that had a ready answer present itself to him for a while. "Do you have any ideas of how to contact them?" he asked her.

She paused and a gave a flick of her tail. Then a twitch of the ear. Finally she settled on not giving an answer at all, just looking at him as if waiting for the next question. He frowned slightly at that. She had an idea...he wasn't ready for it yet? Something like that? He considered what she'd said again, then carefully asked a different question, "You're on friendly terms with monsters...and we have, or can have, peaceful pacts with them? Or is it because you're half?"

She smiled. That was a clue, too, but of what he hadn't figured out just yet. "I am, and that might be part of it, though I'm not sure. Somehow I've fallen into it since I left the city at the beginning and it's only progressed. But you know that you can summon gryphons and horses alike. The Summoners can summon the dryads and any creature they can form a pact with. We have alliances with them already. It's just no one bothers to go and meet with them in their natural habitat."

Shiroe sat upright. "You - you've actually... _been_?!" She smiled again and tipped her head. He blinked. "There are so many...they must fill the entire islands...and continents even."

She looked sad. "Actually, there aren't as many as you might think, and indeed, they are crowded. The expanding earth-size from half-Gaya and heading to full is part of that, I think. Many of them reproduce faster than humans and need the space. They've told me that they are having less territorial battles now that the space between territories is expanding. It's helped everyone, really, even though it's inconvenient for us and the People of the Land."

Shiroe blinked. "How many can you talk to?"

"All of them." she said blandly.

He sat stunned. "How?"

She shrugged. "I've practiced, and since a lot of it is the instinct of animals, I use that side, too. The elders with a wisdom or intelligence stat high enough can understand 'human' - or on the islands that would be Japanese, but really since it's programmed in, they can understand my English just as well. It's the only place I've had a working translation program in effect."

Shiroe went into his own heavy thinking mode. "It's probably a different translation system since the beginning," he allowed, "since some of the quests involve assisting monsters - like with finding stolen eggs and such like."

"That's what I was thinking," she agreed. "I've been rather surprised at how philosophical they are about being both assistants working in concert with Adventurers and prey of them at the same time. The problems with the Overwritten are that they appear _in_ the nests, so to speak, and destroy _all_ of them. Adventurers don't. That's the only thing I can tell them that gets them to calm down and not attack the closest group of Adventurers...that and I kill the Overwritten for them as an angry Adventurer myself."

"By yourself?!" he said aghast. "They take tens of us."

"No, no. They help me. That goes a long way. I'd not make it otherwise, at only mid-sixties level. ...But I don't think we've met the nastiest yet. There are rumors among the Summons that get pulled to the mainland that there are a few there that will kill and kill and kill and even the Adventurers are at a loss as to how to get them to stop. Like legion raid boss level, but the Overwriting makes them extra difficult."

Shiroe felt himself pale and he swallowed. "I really hope we don't get one over here."

Purrcy nodded emphatically. "Me, too, but I'm always keeping my ear open for it, and the ones I've helped do too. They don't want it either."

"You keep in contact?" he asked, confused.

"Ah...yes," she answered in her reluctant way. He wondered why she did it that way sometimes and other times just refused to answer. He was ready to hear, had enough background, she wasn't ready to tell, but felt constrained to? Or it bordered on what she didn't want to tell him? He shook his head.

"Well, that's good to know, that they'll let you know, give some sort of warning if they see it first. ...Please let me know immediately if that happens. If we can work together to take it out, we might manage it." She nodded, looking relieved herself. She probably had also wanted the two groups to work together...which made perfect sense. There would be a lot of casualties regardless.

 _You do know how conceited that sounds,_ his inner voice scolded him, _you and her negotiating as if you both speak for all of the Adventurers and monsters._ He blushed at the thought. He really had been putting himself into that position, though, because it was the only way to protect those important to him. Maybe she did, too, for the same reason. She certainly seemed to care for the monsters in a way most Adventurers wouldn't give second thought to. "Will you tell me how you began to work with monsters?" Perhaps a short story would get him an answer asking for the whole thing at once wouldn't.

"I was running through the woods when I heard a cry and weeping. When I arrived, it was a female goblin, as pregnant as any woman, in labor, surrounded by a wolf pack waiting to eat her and the child once it had been birthed. I chased the wolf pack off, then helped her give birth to her child, cleaned it up, wrapped it in an extra blanket she had and handed it over, then cleaned her up and patched her up as best I could. It took a few days to learn to talk to her, since I didn't have that skill yet, but once we'd worked it out, she was grateful, healed enough to travel, and she took me home. I spent about a week or two maybe healing all kinds of illnesses there. They still welcome me when I come...though it's only that tribe. The rest are cautious around me, but not friendly. Partially because on occasion I still have to kill some if I run into them at the wrong place."

"Meaning outside the living areas and in a battle zone." He looked at her piercingly.

"Yes," she answered truthfully.

He nodded, thoughtful again. "So, you go around assisting...healing...monsters?" She nodded again. That explained a lot. "They give you the treasures."

She smiled. He decided right then it was a reward for a proper guess. "Or I clean them out of the cracks they can't reach...dragons have to sleep on their treasures after all."

Shiroe sat up straight, then slapped his hand to his face. That was one step too much to believe. "Dragons."

"Yes," she said brightly. "They like to appear the most fierce, but are such wimpy creatures when they've got a treasure stuck between scales they can't get out by themselves." Shiroe chuckled. He could just see it. She giggled back. "They're pretty strict on what they'll give as payment, or reward, but I've learned how to deal with it. Many of the things we find valuable, they don't, after all."

Shiroe nodded. "Dragon scales probably topping the list."

"Yup," she said happily. "When I let them know I'd rather help them clean house than steal treasures, they settle down okay...stay wary, but settle." She sighed. "I've had to escape a few who think that means they can keep me as maid for the rest of their lives, even though I expressly put that into the contract before I start."

"Contract?" he was on that. Such things were his forte.

She looked at him, a bit confused. "I thought you already understood that. My addendum went through, you know."

He stopped short. "Oohhh. On the guild contract...I hadn't considered it...," he looked at her with narrow eyes. "That has a lot of implications. What's the right one?"

"I can do magic, I can scribe, I can write binding contracts. The same as yours," she shrugged.

One thing popped out of that. "Just how many sub-skills do you have?"

She paused again...another answer she didn't want to give but...had he reached the point she had to answer? Then he saw it. "Lots. Because you came at them all from the point of view of starting at the beginning." She beamed brightly at him. Was she pausing to see if he could figure out the answer for himself first? This time she had, he was sure of it, based on that smile. It was very rewarding, even. He smiled himself, pleased as well. "Oh, that's why you paused when we talked about the Mysteries. If only one or two of those can be learned, but we could learn as many sub-skills as we wanted...," he nodded to himself. "Have you learned any Mysteries?" he looked at her with a little anticipation.

She hesitated again and answered slowly, "...I don't know."

"Don't know?" he asked.

"I didn't know about them before you all talked about them, so I wouldn't know unless one happened and someone pointed to it and said, 'look a Mystery'."

"Oh, well, that makes senses," Akatsuki said promptly. "Most of us who've earned them had to want one first, then have others who could point that out, too." She explained what hers was and how she got it.

There was a pause. "When did they start appearing?"

Akatsuki thought about that and answered it, "A little over a year ago, I think. Soujirou-san got the first one, so he would know."

Purrcy nodded politely, but to Shiroe it looked like her fur had all stood up on end just a little. He filed that in his brain under the other interesting small reactions she'd had before now that his instinct said fit with the things she wouldn't open her mouth at all on yet. She looked at him. "Do you have one yet, Guildmaster Shiroe?"

He shook his head. "Becoming Scrivener of the East was quite enough, actually."

She sat up. "You've been given a title?" He nodded. She blinked. "Well, for a world-class magic, I suppose...," she sat back as if a little faint. "Do you know anyone else with a title?"

"Not that's an Adventurer, personally. Li Gan said there was one other in the west who earned one for world class magic right around the same time, that was a year and a half ago." He watched her closely, and was rewarded with the same reaction she'd had before, only the hairs bristled slightly more and the hands holding the teacups shook. "That wasn't you, was it?"

"I don't think so," she answered, wide eyed. "I haven't been west per se, and don't remember doing anything worthy of that level of reward." She was hedging, he was sure of it. Pressuring her wouldn't get an answer yet, though. She was too afraid of what it was herself. He looked down at his hands, pondering while letting her get herself calmed back down.

He should probably stop soon and let her rest. She seemed to have a limit of capacity, but there was one more thing he wanted to broach, one thing he was having the most troubles with. He might be able to trust her with it, given what she'd offered so far. He looked back up at her with a closed, neutral expression. "Purrcy...I have a theory that there is one other species out there, watching us, that may even have brought us here. Have you noticed -"

She had leaped up from her seat and literally put her hand over his mouth. Every hair was standing on end and even her tail. It looked both hilarious and very frightening at the same time. Her eyes were hard. He blinked, then nodded. She slowly took her hand away and the hairs fell somewhat, but not completely. "I haven't. Ah...I'm tired...but before I go, Shiroe," she asked casually, "will you craft a permanent, reusable spell scroll for me?"

"I'll think about it?" he said cautiously.

"Make a secure silent room spell ...you know, ...anti-spy like." She whispered the last, her eyes very round and very wide. He'd touched her depths and it scared him that it scared her. Enough to make that kind of request. He nodded slowly, his own eyes wide. "Let me know if you need _any_ ingredients, ne?" Her look was firm... _don't go asking anywhere else. Keep this even more secret than you already do_. He swallowed, then nodded again. "Let me read the text before you do the final so it does what I need it to do, okay?" she said as she turned and walked towards the door. Her gaze was on Akatsuki, who sat up straight, went wide eyed, and also swallowed, followed by a nod. Purrcy put her hand on the door handle and all of her fur went down by force of will. He knew because the parting look she gave him was still one of fear.

The door clicked closed and he looked at Akatsuki. Her fists were balled up in her lap and she was shivering. "Ah...," she had to close her mouth and swallow and try again, "My Liege, she...I have something I need to tell you." She blushed a dark red and Shiroe closed his eyes.

He wasn't sure he could handle one more bombshell today. He was certain, now that he'd stepped onto that landmine, that he didn't have a choice about the next one. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and nodded. "Go ahead, Akatsuki. I'm listening."

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy sniffed the air, still shivering, hunting for one smell. She was headed for instinct and set it in her mind quickly. Her body led her straight there - back up to the patio he'd been on the day before when she'd first come here. Her mind controlled the fur reaction but that was about all she could do. She opened the door and he was sitting on a folding lawn chair style chair. She closed the door behind her. "Nyanta," she managed to choke out before she was moving, shrinking as she went. By the time she reached his lap she was a calico housecat - except for the puffed out fur. She burrowed her head into his elbow, trying to hide.

"Ah, what's this, nya?" he asked surprised. After a bit, he finally started petting the fur down, not having any other alternative than to calm her in some way. She was sorry to spring herself on him uninvited and unannounced, but having a safe person to be with was necessary right now, regardless. She wasn't going to survive the fear otherwise. Over her head she heard, "Shiroe-ichi, Purrcy's appeared suddenly in terror. She was last with mew, do mew know?"

He was silent as he received his answer. "Thank mew. I'll calm her down as best I can," he replied, then was silent again. After a while, perhaps as distraction, he said, "Mew know, it is odd to be a cat petting a cat."

With her teeth chattering, she attempted a, "S-so-rr-y-y."

"Ne, ne. We agreed we'd protect mew, nya? We will."

"D-don't," she said. He paused in surprise until she was able to finish, "...die."

"We would die?" he asked in surprise.

"E-eras-sed." She shivered at having to say the word. Her stomach turned and she whimpered.

"That's rather serious, meow," he said quietly. She nodded into his elbow. She could feel his own hairs rising and she burrowed even further into his arm, wishing she could comfort him, too.

That made her body do its own thing and suddenly she was felinoid. She grabbed it fast enough to stay child sized instead of going full size, moving her head to rest on his chest. He was still too uncomfortable with her for full size to go over well. He was surprised again, but after a pause he went back to petting her. She figured he must be sufficiently comfortable with children, then, probably both on Earth and here where he had so many to watch over even in his own guild. He probably had to do a lot of comforting as well, though not in this way so much.

She curled the fingers of her hand, where it rested on his chest in front of her face, and closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat and his breathing. Both were faster than if he were human, since felines were like that, but it was calming and slowly her own breath and heart slowed as well. Just before she fell completely asleep, she shifted again to housecat, and curled up in his lap. He continued to pet her until she fell asleep, then he just rested a paw lightly on her back, letting her know he was still present. Only then did he start to purr. The part of a cat that is aware unless they are in deep sleep was happy to hear it and she twitched slightly in ear and paw. She could hear the smile enter, then slowly leave the purr as he relaxed as well. They sat on the porch, two old cats, resting companionably until the sun left it.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe!" Tetora came bursting into the Guildmaster's quarters, followed by the rest of the guild members, minus the felinoids. He came to a sudden halt. He'd interrupted something at a very bad time. Both Akatsuki and Shiroe had flaming red faces. "Ah...sorry?"

Shiroe waved it off. "I'll talk to you later, then, Akatsuki?" She gave a miserable nod, not looking at him. He wouldn't quite look at her either. Neither of them talked well to begin with. To have interrupted an attempt was not good form. Tetora felt bad, but it was done and too late.

"No, really I'm sorry," he said again, "it's just, Purrcy just ran past us all without saying a word, looking like a BugBear was after her, and we were worried."

Shiroe sighed. "I'm afraid I touched on a topic too deep for a first attempt and didn't know it." He scanned the group. "Is Nyanta up on the porch?"

"Yup," Naotsugu answered.

Shiroe nodded. A personal chat call came in just then. He put his hand to his ear. "Shiroe. ...Ah, good. If she's come to you that's better than the closet again. I'm sorry. I'm afraid I dug too deeply and touched a raw nerve I wasn't expecting. I'd appreciate it if you could help her. I'll be focused on a request she had for a day or so. Don't let her get away before then." He looked significantly at the rest of the guild in the room, making the same request of them. Tetora was just as happy to agree to it.

Shiroe took his hand down from his ear and looked at them. "The rest of you don't know, since you weren't in our little meeting yesterday. She only stays in town for twenty-four hours - long enough for Call of Home to reset. Then she heads out again for upwards of months. That's her pattern. She's collecting treasures to sell while she's out...and unknown to anyone else but us now, she's doing it by healing monsters and receiving the treasures as her pay. She's a monster veterinarian. They also feed her information, particularly the summoned ones. She's a rare treasure herself, like Woodstock told me. I need to get the rest of my questions answered before we let her back out of the city since she'll be gone so long. Keep her here until I'm done. I'll be closeted for about a full day. If she wants to go out of the guildhall, don't let her go alone. The Wolf Pack has learned she's the source of high level treasures going into the system, but I don't think they know how she's doing it. They might sell that information to others. The fact she's now in a guild may help her somewhat, since no one else can take her in unless she allows it, but for some, it might not be enough."

Tetora's face became hard. He didn't want her to leave for months, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let anyone turn her into a treasure factory just for their own personal gain. There were more enemies than random Adventurer guilds, too. Westlande had spies in town and the nobles of Eastal were cunning, some of them.

"If Woodstock comes, or Akaneya, you can let them in to talk to her, but no one else. They know at least some of her secrets and she trusts them, so I will too, for now."

Naotsugu raised his hand. "Ah, what about Marie or Henrietta?" Akatsuki nodded agreement. They were the most frequent visitors, as they were close friends of Shiroe and the guild. It would be strange to refuse them entry.

Shiroe considered it carefully. That surprised Tetora. It would have been a no brainer under normal circumstances. This was unusual. "They can come in, but don't let them know anything other than we've accepted her as a guild member to protect her from the Wolf Pack. ...And swear them to secrecy. Henrietta is probably purchasable for the right price and Marie caves under pressure. Tell them I'll explain later. ...But Akatsuki," Shiroe looked at the diminutive ninja, "Princess Raynesia can't know anything about her until we learn just who is going to buy and sell the information about what she is." That made sense to Tetora and he folded his arms in agreement.

Shiroe leaned back in his chair thinking. "Tetora, Rudy, Isuzu, head into town. See if anyone tries to butter you up for information on her. Take down names and houses. Rudy...?"

He gave an evil eye to Rudy. Rudy gulped and nodded. "I'll die a thousand deaths before giving it away."

"As many as it takes, but call for backup before it goes that far," Shiroe was firm and corrective in the same breath, and he applied it to everyone. He didn't need to be, since they were actually doing this sort of thing often for him, the man behind the scenes of every major action in Akiba and Eastal as far as the Adventurers went. For these kinds of orders to come out now, Purrcy had serious information he wanted badly. Given that she was afraid to tell him... _that_ afraid...it was big. There was one thing to sigh in relief over though...this time the information had come to him instead of them covering up him being gone looking in other places for it. The rest of them could protect both him and the information in one place - home.

"Go together Rudy and Isuzu. You don't need the whole pack around your ears solo. I expect them to come looking first, just to see if she's left yet. Don't talk to them, but if they push you, let them know we've taken her in as guildmember. That should make them back off to just selling the information, I would think." He raised an eyebrow at Tetora. "You okay solo? I think it would make you more approachable."

Tetora nodded. "Of course." He was always very approachable when solo. He got the best results on jobs like this because of it. He'd try testing the new outfit first before going back to the other. Sometimes understated drew more of the types who would be looking for information like he might have to offer this time around. "If I run into Woodstock or Akaneya, do I test them, or let them know right off?"

Shiroe gave him a pleased look, rewarding his street smarts. "I wouldn't mind a bit of a test, actually. I don't think they'd sell off their income source, but they might be looser in the lips than they need to be. If they really are as serious about her as I am, they'll not be offended by the test, but rather appreciative, I'd think. If someone claiming to be her translator comes about, don't let him know. I know one exists, but I don't know who it is. If they both vouch for him, then maybe...but keep the information transfer minimal. He's the weakest link." He paused again. "...And don't let any of the three know she can understand Japanese now. We might need to reserve that as a hidden key for later use. If you need to escape, that can be an excuse as well." The three of them nodded. Excuses to escape were important. "Naotsugu, let her know when she's calm again that she needs to keep that secret, too." Naotsugu nodded.

They all knew Naotsugu was being reserved here in place as the main protector if another incursion should come. The same went for the Twins, who would back him up. This sort of thing was already set into their bones and blood. Their practices outside and inside were for this. Three outside gathering info, three inside protecting home, three getting the business done: Akatsuki watching over Shiroe who was heads down, Chief for getting food on the table and as back up to either side. In this case, keeping the information calm and present until Shiroe was ready for it - or her more appropriately. Tetora was feeling excited. They were into another beginning, another step, another quest. He always felt that anticipation at the beginning, that feeling of wanting to wiggle in his skin. He'd rather be the one watching over Purrcy, but she'd run to Nyanta, not surprisingly, so that's the way it was. He'd just come home and get his pets in as his reward. Being out on the street was more interesting than sitting around the house, which the old cat enjoyed, anyway. He straightened up and saluted jauntily. "Orders received, Sir! Permission to carry them out?"

Shiroe smiled at him. "Permission granted." They trooped out, except Akatsuki, of course. Tetora hoped they'd finish their business before Shiroe turned to the information gathering business. He heard behind him, just before the door closed, "Councilor...finish what we interrupted first. That can't be left hanging, man. It'll make all of us miserable."

Tetora giggled. "Thanks, Naotsugu," he called back over his shoulder, "I was just thinking the same thing." He said it on purpose loud enough to be heard by the two in the room. Naotsugu gave Tetora a big grin back and they high-fived. "Do you think she put them up to it?" he asked the bigger man.

Naotsugu tipped his head, thinking about it. "Probably. She moves fast and I heard Akatsuki go up before coming to bed last night. She most likely used it to good effect."

Tetora rolled his eyes. "Most likely. I was out by then, so I wouldn't know. She wouldn't leave until I was asleep."

Naotsugu looked at him with an interesting look. "I went and gave my report when she left me and headed back up there. Can you guess what the decision was?"

Tetora tipped his head, thinking about it, then grinned a wicked grin. "Mother, and father's not happy about it - wriggling in his skin."

Naotsugu grinned back. "In-one-city."

Tetora laughed all the way out the front door. It was fun to see the normally imperturbable cat-gentleman disturbed for once. He put his hands behind his head and headed down the street for city central, but not too directly. If the guild hall was already under observation he'd be approached before he got that far. Isuzu and Rudy were already chatting on the main road in, in their usual guise of going out on a date - which they were, but never admitted to each other or themselves. Yeah, it was a good guild to belong to. He'd stay...a long time. Until they went home again, and then some.

* * *

 _For those of you who like the fact that Tetora is the resident bisexual, do not fear. I have not taken him away. He is a complex character and is likely my most favorite. The Japanese will tease mercilessly, but they do not like being the source of unhappiness or contention, particularly once they are with a group of people whose opinions are very important to them. This change that allows him to settle down is both welcomed by him, and very important for the rest of the story. You will still see snuggles. He is still very female as well as male...and by now, after two years...it is very habit as well - for them all._


	4. First Guests

"Hey, Tetora," a quiet but kind voice came from his elbow, "you're dressed up for the day. What's Log Horizon protecting today?"

Tetora looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Souji." He flashed a grin. "Are we seeming to get in a rut or something?"

Soujirou, head of another guild - West Wind Brigade - and a long time friend of Shiroe's from the Debauchery Tea Party days, looked away. "Well, I just passed the other two and I hear tell everyone was in battle at the house yesterday...not normal. Was just wondering if everything was okay. The two in concert are a bit telling."

Tetora tipped his head. "Thanks for asking. We're fine. When I've got something to say, I'll be sure and say it, okay? You know Machiavelli will ask for help if he needs it. He relies on you quite a bit. You'll still feel the love at the right time...and the double tap, I'm sure." That was the best he could do this trip out.

Soujirou relaxed and looked at him again, smiling. " _You_ seem more relaxed."

Tetora grinned back. "Does it show? I've made up with Naotsugu and it feels...," he took a deep breath and let it out, "...very freeing."

Soujirou tapped Tetora's shoulder with his fist. "Good for you. Glad to hear it. Should make things a little quieter around the place then?"

Tetora laughed. "Well...maybe," he winked. "Someone's just pushed a certain silent ninja over her normal boundary lines. We're waiting to see what comes of it."

Soujirou was amazed, of course. That was juicy. "Well...I guess we all will, then. Hope it works out for both of them."

"Yeah, I know right?" Tetora waved and moved off. He didn't stay to talk long to anyone when he was in information gathering mode...even if they did all know that's what he was doing. There were some good things about habits and routines. The good guys could keep tabs on things (and him - a safety feature), and the bad guys always changed so wouldn't know anything but that he came out to get talked to, the pretty idol who was friendly with everyone.

He wasn't surprised when Rieze of D.D.D. guild was next. They'd helped with the battle, taking guard at the Cathedral. "Hey, Tetora," she said, in her usual uptight voice.

"Hey, Rieze. Thanks for the assist yesterday. Do you think they'll lay low, or were they grumbling under their breath as they waltzed off?"

Rieze frowned. "They were grumbling. Whatever you've got, they want it pretty bad. Will you guys be okay?"

"Yeah," he said casually. He hadn't really wanted that answer but it wasn't surprising. "We'll call in reinforcements if we need to again. We know how small we are. What do we owe you?"

Rieze waved her hand. "They were talking about the prize that took to the wrong tree. When he's ready to share, we want in on the info's all. But then he's good about spreading the work around once he's got it."

"True," Tetora was careful to not let much leak to D.D.D. They were as information hungry as Shiroe was. "I'm sure he won't leave you guys out if there's anything to pass on. And he definitely won't if there's work - which I don't have any clue on, it's just S.O.P., you know." He rolled his eyes. "Since when has he let any of you get away with not working for your pay...and then some?"

That broke a smile on Rieze's face. "True. Life isn't dull with Machiavelli in Glasses around town."

Tetora wasn't going to be pulled into that one. "That's the truth, and you love it as much as I do," he answered teasingly. "Give my regards," he waved and moved on.

He didn't normally run into the smaller guild contacts, so he wasn't sure he would, but when Woodstock of Grandale showed up at a small open-air cafe for lunch, Tetora knew he was being called out. The scowl was normal, but not usually directed at him so frequently. Tetora obediently made his way over, buying up his own lunch to take over. He slipped into the chair next to Woodstock and tucked his feet together under his chair. "How's your day?" he asked politely, preparing to tuck into his food.

"It would be better if I wasn't so worried about a certain someone." Woodstock knew he wasn't much of a spy type, but he tried his hardest.

"Well, worry no more, my friend," he answered brandishing his Crescent Burger to cover the movement of his lips. "I know a certain someone who's taken your certain someone under wing. Mutually beneficial, even." He looked slyly at Woodstock who had relaxed. "You can let everyone know, I suppose." He said it more coolly.

Woodstock jerked and stared at him, then scowled. "Not. And you lot keep your mouths zipped, too, if you know what's good for you and...that one."

"Oh, so you do care?" Tetora teased. "I wonder who let it slip, then? The middle man?"

Woodstock shook his head. "No. He'd not sell her out for anything, any more than the rest of us who care. We've got our eye on a few possibilities out of the house who've been watching the door for a while now."

"Oohhh?" Tetora crooned. "I'd like to meet some new playmates, myself. Shall I come by in a bit and see if they want to play? You'd just have to let it slip where you heard she was last. They'll take care of the rest."

Woodstock eyed him a little dubiously, then nodded. "Holler if you need help. I feel like hitting things. ...Can I stop by later?"

Tetora nodded. "You've got the stamp of approval, and your counterpart, but no one else. She's understandably jittery."

"Not the t..middle man?" He was worried. Tetora firmly shook his head, but didn't say anything as he chomped down on his burger to get it eaten before he had to be on his feet again. Woodstock sighed, then nodded, conceding the point. He pushed away from the table, already finished eating since Tetora had timed it that way. "See you."

Tetora nodded and focused on his food in earnest. He was sooo glad it tasted - at all. Even two years later. Soggy crackers would never be forgotten, but entirely never desired again. How could taste have been left off the list like that? It was a wonder there were smells here, if it was originally supposed to match the 2-D of a computer game.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu walked out on the porch Nyanta preferred. It was past the time the sun had moved to the other side of the building and the felinoids still hadn't shown up. That meant they were sleeping. He was right. He blinked. The Purrcy of this morning had been the size of a Great Dane - well almost. This one was properly sized, for a housecat. He shook his head, then carefully lifted her and wrapped her relaxed form around his neck and over his shoulders. Even if she changed again, he'd be able to carry her this way regardless of size or mass. He could probably carry a train in this world. When she was properly settled, he shook Nyanta. "Hey, old man, you're going to catch a cold napping in the shade. Time to get a move on."

Nyanta blinked up at him sleepily, then stretched. He'd almost made it all the way up when he suddenly stopped and looked around in shocked worry. "Hey, hey, I've got her, it's okay." He put a hand on Nyanta's elbow to steady him and get him all the way standing.

Nyanta looked at him, looked relieved, then looked very affronted. "Really, Meowtsugu. That is so undignified. Must mew?"

Naotsugu shrugged. "She hasn't complained yet. Come on." He turned and steered the venerable Swashbuckler in through the door to the interior. "I've gotten the word some are moving in so it's better you lot are inside anyway. If it's just eyes, we'll be alright and they'll settle. Shrimp's watching from the tree top and will let us know." They were at the stairs and heading down now. "The Councilor's gone into seclusion for a full day, and we've been given marching orders."

Nyanta was exercising his arms and shoulders, working out the stiffness of sitting too long. Naotsugu looked at him closely. "Slept pretty deep, did you?" Nyanta glared at him, but didn't answer. "You did, then. Petting a cat is pretty relaxing, I guess. I've heard tell, but never had one to know." Nyanta ignored him, but his eyes came back to the calico still draped around the shoulders of the larger, younger man. Naotsugu wondered what look was in those eyes, but he couldn't tell. The twitch of the tail was interesting, though.

When they reached the bottom floor, they both took to chairs - well, Naotsugu took the couch since he preferred it as big as he was. The chairs were just a little snug and he couldn't spread-eagle his arms like he could on the couch back. With Tetora not in the way, it was even better. He sighed in relief to himself. He was glad _that_ was finally resolved. Now Marielle could stop fretting. It bugged her that Tetora climbed all over Naotsugu, nearly as much as it bugged Naotsugu.

"What's the orders, and why a full day?" Nyanta finally had woken up enough to ask somewhat pleasantly. He only showed this side of himself to Naotsugu. Peevish, sleepy, grumpy, because Naotsugu had seen it a lot in the Debauchery Tea Party days and he didn't let it phase him, then or now.

Naotsugu summarized in brief format the orders. "We only know it's a full day because the Councilor said it and she's to stick around until he's done."

"Oh, I am, am I?" a pink tongue curled in a yawning mouth. She hadn't moved at all otherwise. Staying relaxed and draped right where she was, as if a living scarf wrapped casually over his broad shoulders. She did lift her head and blink sleepy gold eyes at him.

He smiled into them. "Yup." He knew that she'd recognized the threat underneath his relaxed, pleasant look. Her tail thumped on his chest.

A paw came up and batted him on the nose to underline that she'd understood it and wasn't pleased by it. "I'll stick around without the threat, flyboy," she said.

"You wake up just as grumpy as the old man," he said mildly.

She sniffed, then stood on his shoulders, the front feet on one, the backs on the other, and proceeded to stretch out right there. "Whippersnapper," she grouched back at him. She wiped his nose with her tail, making him sneeze and almost dislodging her. Nyanta chuckled, covering his mouth with a paw. Naotsugu grabbed her tail between two fingers, then dragged it over his head and to her own nose to tickle it with the tip of the tail. She batted at his hand with claws slightly out. "Don't start," she said.

"You already did," he said back, raising an eyebrow at her.

"No," she moved so she was sitting on one shoulder and he shifted to stay balanced, "I believe you did." She yawned again and shook her head, the shake suddenly taking her over until she'd shaken all the way down to her back feet. She fluffed her fur out, then turned suddenly to lick at a spot on the side opposite Naotsugu's face.

"You can actually do that?" he asked her.

"Yes, Naotsugu. I'm a cat." She gave him a baleful look.

"Only sometimes," he corrected her.

She sighed. "Okay, sometimes in town. All the time outside, unless I'm working. Then I need my hands."

"Really? You like it that much?" he asked. From the corner of his eye he could see Nyanta was as interested. His ears were pricked forward, though his arms were still folded and he seemed relaxed in his seat.

Purrcy settled down into the full resting sit of cats, front paws tucked under her chest, tail swishing softly side to side over his shoulder and the back of the couch. With his arm being held out, she had a little more room to do it, but he though maybe she'd shrunk just a little more to fit better. "I guess," she finally admitted. "Out there, it's protection, though the monsters who are required to show up if I'm in a spawn point look around very confused for a long time, since I don't come out and they can't find anything that looks like an Adventurer. ...If it's okay with you two. I'll just stay the resident house cat for now. That way, if you have to let someone in, or open the door anyway, they won't know. I can't change my coloring, though, so if anyone's got a description, they'll wonder. You'll have to make up stuff to cover that."

Naotsugu nodded, pleased. "You're also not supposed to let on you understand the language, even if friends visit. The boss wants to use that later if needed."

"Right," she said and licked him on the neck just under the ear lobe.

The scratchy tickle made him jerk slightly. "Hey, none of that now," he scolded. He'd just gotten done with that stuff. He didn't need more from her. She snickered. Nyanta's tail twitched slightly. She saw it and settled down with her own tail twitching at the tip.

"If you still want to trade recipes, Nyanta, I'd like to cook tonight," she offered. "If he's happy tomorrow, I might go before it's time to eat again."

"Mew think that will be enough time for him?" Nyanta said a bit harshly.

Purrcy tipped her head at him and wiggled her ears and was silent for a moment. "Fix that, young man," she said coolly to him. Nyanta stiffened as if stung.

"Hey, hey," Naotsugu said, smoothly stepping in. "Let's do try to get along, shall we?" He tapped her on the head and scowled at Nyanta until he settled down. "Just say, 'yes, thank you', Chief. She offered politely enough. Fair warning's all it was. She won't go until he says so."

Nyanta looked away, his tail twitching again with a soft slap against his leg. Finally he said, "If I say 'no' will mew stick around until I say 'yes'?" Naotsugu almost lost it. It was just such a juvenile thing for an old man to say.

"Come with me," she answered without moving. "You need the training anyway."

Nyanta held still again, then blinked slowly. "I'm thinking about it."

She waited a bit, then nodded. "Fair enough. I'll cook tonight. You watch." Naotsugu settled into his seat a bit more, relaxing. They'd settled it for now. That was good enough.

After a bit of sitting, Purrcy's ear twitched. She rose and walked off his shoulder and down to the floor behind the couch, ending up large-cat again by the time she was fully on the floor. She padded over to Shiroe's door and reached up a paw to the handle. By the time she'd grasped it, she was full felinoid again. This time, she was dressed in loose flowy pants that gathered in tight at the ankle. The top was also loose and flowy, with the sleeves pulled in tightly at the dainty wrists, just as dainty as the ankles. The material was black with gold flecks speckled all through it. For once, it was a matching, elegant outfit. Her tail, upright and slightly curled, whisked fetchingly behind her into the office and the door clicked closed behind her.

Naotsugu looked over to Nyanta for his reaction. _Everything_ was standing stiffly at attention. Ears, whiskers, rigid back, tail, _everything_. Naotsugu had to look away and bite his cheek. After very carefully pushing his laughter down as far as he could, he casually said, "I wonder if she'll wear that to cook in tonight?" From the corner of his eye he saw the taught whiskers on one side of the nose of his companion twitch upward. Very slowly, from the top down, everything fought as Nyanta forcibly made them relax. When it looked like he was getting close, Naotsugu leaned his head back and sighed. "There're just too many closet pervs in this house. It really is just better to admit it and move on." He considered, then mused, "But you know...I don't think she even wears panties. I mean, how does that even work comfortably with tails." He looked at Nyanta. "I mean, either panties, or briefs, when those and tails come together -" Nyanta twitched violently. His whole body had. He rose with an extremely irritated expression on his face and stalked off into his kitchen.

Naotsugu leaned his head back again. "I mean, just letting it all out is so much more relaxing." He was suddenly and violently slammed into the wall behind him (likely cracking it - again). "...except when Shrimp's around." His face and stomach violently met the floor as a harsh foot peeled him off the wall and introduced them.

"Don't call me Shrimp, Perv," was left behind as she disappeared back up to the roof and her watch. As Naotsugu lay there to recover for the required sixty seconds for two harsh blows to his level 97 body, he heard a snigger from the kitchen. Chief Nyanta'd had his revenge. As Naotsugu thought about it, he regretfully realized that his favor to the Cat that morning had been a favor to the Shrimp, and therefore not a favor to himself at all. He sighed and rested his head on the floor. Thirty seconds to go.

-:-:-:-:-

"The building doesn't look like it was _too_ bad," Marielle said nervously, "but do you think they came out of it okay?"

Henrietta pushed her glasses back up on her face to settle them a bit better on the bridge of her nose. "Marielle. They are level ninety-seven now, almost ninety-eight. An entire pack of thousand year old dragons couldn't have damaged them. A measly pack of Adventurers is nothing. Please stop worrying." For herself, she just _had_ to make sure cute little Akatsuki was safe and then get her next installment of 'cute'. She hugged herself in anticipation, coming to a stop behind Marielle, Guildmaster of Crescent Moon League, who was knocking on the door of Log Horizon's guild hall. The two women had been friends for a long time, including at school from the upper primary school grade levels. Henrietta was normally the straight-laced one who had gone into accounting and business in college. Together they made a good pair to run a guild - Henrietta who ran it and Marielle who held everyone together (she made a good mother-sort).

Nyanta opened the door. "Marie-nyan, Maiowrielle, please, come in." He didn't seem surprised to see them. That meant someone was keeping watch above and had let the guild know ahead of time they were coming to visit. Smart if they'd really been embattled the day before.

"Thanks, Hon!" Marielle said. "You're lookin' good. Everything okay?" She was already half-way into the entry/greeting/dining room by the end of her question. While the words might have started out being directed towards the gentleman felinoid, by the end they were specifically directed towards her personal favorite of Log Horizon - Naotsugu.

That one patted the couch next to him. "You're welcome to come check, but we're fine. Nothing worse than a bruise that healed in the next turn. Nice of you to come and see for yourself, though." His voice was the soothing calm voice he always used on Marielle, even though the words would have offended Henrietta if they'd been said to her. They really were a pair.

For herself, she smiled graciously at Nyanta. "We heard, of course, and nothing would do but to come and see...as you can tell," she waved at her buxom blond guildmaster who had settled very close to Naotsugu, tucking herself up freely under one arm outstretched on the back of the couch.

Nyanta closed the door behind them and bowed her into the room. Henrietta thanked him absently, looking around as she also headed for a chair. "Is it just the two of you today?" She was feeling both nervous that they'd all leave the place the day after an Adventurer vs. Adventurer battle - a rare thing in Akiba - and disappointed Akatsuki wasn't immediately available. Though...if there was anyone on watch above, it was probably her. She settled primly on the edge of the chair and set her hands in her lap, keeping her knees properly together in her pencil skirt that was part of her daily uniform.

"The Twins are upstairs taking their turn for laundry-duty," Nyanta said politely. "The other three are in town."

Henrietta and Marielle both looked at him, then at Naotsugu. They knew this guild well enough to know what that meant. "Is he here or gone again?" Marielle asked quietly.

"He's here, but not to be disturbed," Nyanta said just as politely and quietly. "For at least twenty-four hours."

Both women relaxed. When Shiroe went out of town on his investigations it usually meant a long time and lots of bad things happened in town while he was gone. They'd almost started believing he was a luck charm: here meant good, gone meant bad. One full day wasn't bad either. Sometimes it was weeks.

"Well...it might expand another day or two," Naotsugu amended. "That's the prep time. The stuff after may be about that long as well."

Nyanta tipped his head, giving the thought a little weight, but they didn't really know. Still, it wasn't bad. But for the in-town investigators to be out, and the inside defenders on alert..., "You still expect more of yesterday, though, in the meantime?" Marielle asked, concerned. Henrietta pushed her glasses up again.

"Myabey," the cat-speak drawl to the word drew it out. Henrietta could do without it and sometimes wondered if he did it just to annoy her. She'd rather see Akatsuki or Shiroe himself.

"They didn't want to leave so bad they were willing to all end up in the Cathedral, after all," Naotsugu shrugged.

"Is he working on why they've gotten so bad?" Henrietta asked.

Nyanta looked away and Naotsugu gave him a look. The bigger man cautiously said, "Yes. He's gotten a lead on that, but we're not sure yet where it's going. Having them come themselves to show us yesterday was a lesson in itself."

Henrietta heard a faint "meow" and sat up. There was only Nyanta for cats in this building. She looked around and was surprised to see Shiroe's office door open a small crack, then close again. That door almost never opened when Shiroe was cloistered...unless Akatsuki was taking him tea and had just come out. She'd be hard to see if she knew Henrietta was here. She narrowed her eyes.

"Oh! Beautiful! Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," Henrietta's head whipped to look at Marielle. The woman was leaning over, her breast cleavage showing just a little too much as usual for that kind of maneuver, and was gesturing with a finger.

Henrietta looked the direction she was looking and saw a housecat of the calico kind. Black with gold swirls on the sides and flecks of grey and white speckling the black, as if it was a walking representation of space and the galaxies. It was padding over politely, the tail waving gently in the air. "Oh, it is beautiful." Henrietta stared in appreciation. "But...housecats are Earth creatures. Do they exist here?" She called up the vision that let them see what things were called. "Purrcy. Werecat." She mused on that, only faintly registering the sudden stillness of the men in the room. "That name is ambiguous. Male or female?" She needed to have things categorized properly.

"Female," Nyanta said faintly.

Henrietta nodded. Marielle patted her lap, offering it to the cat. "This is why the Wolf Pack showed up?"

"Yes," Nyanta said, his personal displeasure soaking his words. "They treed her in our tree and wouldn't relent." The cat obligingly lept up into Marielle's lap and sniffed noses, to the woman's utter delight, and let her pet it. Henrietta could hear the purring from her seat. Marielle could charm anyone and anything. It made her a bit jealous, which made her want her own cute to pet. She shifted, and watched the cat jump up on Naotsugu's shoulder, turn a full turn, and settle down on the arm and shoulder of the big man, presenting its head for more petting by Marielle, who happily obliged. The big man didn't move. The poor thing was used to being climbed on by now, and a cat was much smaller than a man who enjoyed pretending to be a woman in his woman's body. The teasing had gotten so old they all ignored it now.

"But...I've never heard of 'werecat' in _Elder Tales_ ," Marielle said with a little frown as she scratched the cat under the chin. "And what do they turn into?" The cat reached out and put a paw on her mouth and she froze for just a moment, startled. The cat's ears twitched a few times, then it relaxed and returned the paw back, tucking it under its chest.

Henrietta's eyes narrowed. "Is it part of the expansion?" The tail flicked as both men nodded.

"Near as we can make out, anyway," Naotsugu said. "It's the first one we've come across, too." He had a faint smile on his face and the tail whacked him gently across the jaw. He reached with his free hand and gently snagged it, though when he pretended to eat it, it was jerked out of his fingers and slapped irritably against his chest.

"Why would the Wolf Pack want a werecat?" Marielle was still confused - typically - but it got information fast so Henrietta usually let her go on until _she_ at least understood.

"Because dogs chase cats?" Naotsugu raised an eyebrow and shrugged. The werecat actually rode the motion without any loss of balance. It was playing with Marielle's blond curls now and she was obliging and allowed herself to be distracted, making a lock move temptingly with her own hand.

Henrietta could see they weren't going to get much more information at this point. She sighed and looked around again. "Do you think I could go up and see Akatsuki for a bit? Then we really should be going, I should think."

"Well...," Naotsugu hedged, "she _is_ working."

"Oh, well, but I won't interrupt for long," Henrietta was desperate, and not a little jealous anymore, now that she was the only one who hadn't gotten to play with something soft and cute. The werecat, Purrcy, turned golden eyes on Henrietta, then walked down Naotsugu's chest to his knee, Marielle's hand trailing down the back of it. The werecat landed quietly on the front paws, then the back paws were on the floor. Henrietta slowly leaned back, not sure her eyes were working right. As the werecat approached, it looked like it was getting bigger faster than it should be. By the time Purrcy was in front of her its head was over the height of her knees...and the feet were still solidly on the floor. A heavy paw was put on her knee, then another one, as the werecat lifted herself up to look Henrietta in the eyes. The golden eyes were now very large.

"Ah, Purrcy, be polite, will ya?" Naotsugu was leaning forward in a bit of alarm.

Henrietta blinked, her vision completely full of cat head. Then suddenly the head came towards her, a soft fuzzy chin brushed against her nose and her glasses were lifted off her face. The werecat was gone from her lap. As it moved off, both Nyanta and Naotsugu were after it, in attempts to retrieve the glasses. Henrietta stared in absolute shock, her hand lifting slowly to her face to feel the space the glasses should have been. She blinked and realized she was hearing Marielle stifling giggles. Henrietta shook her head and looked at her friend in irritation. "It really isn't so funny, Marie," she scolded.

"No, not really," Nyanta agreed. He was staring up the tree, his arms folded.

"Get back here, you crazy Cat!" Naotsugu hollered up the trunk from the base of it. "And bring those back with you!"

"Ah...," Henrietta suddenly had a thought, "I'll go and get them. Maybe Akatsuki can help me retrieve them." She ignored the double flinch from the men.

"No, really, I'll go," Naotsugu started heading for the stairs, but Henrietta was already on her way.

"Meowtsugu," Nyanta called him back. Henrietta was good with that. There was a pause, then, "Remember...she moves fast." Well, Henrietta agreed. The werecat was fast.

"Ah...right. Do you think it will be okay, though? She doesn't know...," Naotsugu replied.

"It's fine. He wants us to find out more about her. It surely can't get worse." Nyanta said irritably.

Naotsugu snorted a laugh and Henrietta was now up too high to hear much else anyway. She was on the fourth floor before she noticed that the area around the tree trunk had been opened up for the werecat to move through. She noticed it because the werecat, still large, was waiting on the branch on that level. When Henrietta saw it, it rose and climbed up to the next level. Henrietta followed it up by stairs, a bit bemused. It seemed to be leading her on. It wasn't until she was almost at the next landing that she stopped, then continued and looked at it again, her eyes seeking immediately. She hadn't been wrong. Purrcy was _wearing_ her glasses. That did make her a bit irritated and she folded her arms at it with a frown. Purrcy looked back, blinked, then moved up to the last interior level.

Henrietta sighed. She wanted Akatsuki enough that if the werecat would take her there, she'd let it 'borrow' her glasses for now. When they were eye to eye again, though, she said, "I get to wear them home again, right?"

The werecat blinked, then nodded and clambered up onto the roof through an open trap door. Henrietta took a moment to rest from the climb and to recover from the faint surprise at being understood and answered by a cat. Then she moved on up and out onto the roof. There were sounds of a struggle, then quiet. When she arrived at the main sitting area, where the firepit was, the werecat was sitting on top of Akatsuki, who looked very abject. Since they were about the same size, it didn't look like it was much of a fight, except that Akatsuki was a level 97 Adventurer who should have been able to move it easily, even at that size.

As Henrietta walked over to them, Purrcy got off Akatsuki and for once, she sat still, though she did sit up and give a glare to the werecat. Purrcy put her face into Akatsuki's hand. Reluctantly Akatsuki pulled the glasses off the werecat's face and held them out to Henrietta. "I believe these are yours," she said, not looking at Henrietta.

"Are you okay?" Henrietta looked at Akatsuki in concern. "We heard about yesterday's fight."

"Ah...yes. No problems." Akatsuki wasn't much for words, really.

The cat stood and walked off a bit until Henrietta felt sufficiently comfortable enough to rush to Akatsuki and take her in her arms and rub her cheek on her head. "But I was so worried, you know. We would have come and helped."

Akatsuki sighed. "Of course," she said morosely. But that was normal for her. She reached up and put Henrietta's glasses back on her face since Henrietta had forgotten all about them.

"Thanks," Henrietta said absently, still petting Akatsuki's head. "Well, I'm glad you're okay. I couldn't do without my cute fix, you know."

All of a sudden a weird feeling came over the roof of the Log Horizon guild hall. Henrietta glanced up and was met with a mirror image of herself petting a long-faced Akatsuki. She looked away. That had been more disturbing than she wanted it to be, but her eyes were caught by movement to her right. She looked and it was the same. A mirror image of her petting Akatsuki, her own face avaricious in a way she would have snarled at, and had often when it was a man she didn't like looking at Marielle. She froze, then looked around her. Everywhere she looked, all she could see was exactly the same thing, as if the two of them had been locked into a room with mirrors on every surface. Her hand pet Akatsuki one more time in reaction to the fear entering her heart and the look on Akatsuki's face, that she could see so well in the reflection now, went to one of bitter hatred and resignation.

That pierced Henrietta to the soul. She'd seen that look before and vowed she'd never see it again. It had been on Marielle's face the day her (very bad) boyfriend in high school had toyed with her heart one more time, calling her the best, right after being caught with yet another girl. Playing around when he already had one of the best, soft-hearted girls in school. Just because she wasn't the prettiest didn't mean it was right to play around with her feelings. Slowly Henrietta raised her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror again. She hated what she saw, and that hatred showed in the twisting expression on her own face.

Then there were two large golden eyes looking at her solemnly, unblinkingly. Henrietta released Akatsuki, but held still. Akatsuki immediately escaped to hide behind the werecat, holding onto its fur. The eyes turned and looked at the diminutive woman and Henrietta had to look also. The look on the face, that wasn't looking at her but was being half-buried in the back of the werecat, condemned Henrietta again. The werecat looked back at Henrietta and she looked back dismally. "Is that what it really looks like? To everyone?" she whispered.

The cat nodded. Henrietta put her hands over her face, covering her eyes. But the image stayed. Now that she'd seen it, it wouldn't go away. She shook, and tears spilled over. "I promised...I promised...and now I've done it myself." As she cried tears of self-loathing, she could feel the magic leave the roof. She wondered in her pained heart if she was alone now. To her surprise, she began to hear purring. She peeked through her fingers and her tears to see that the werecat and Akatsuki were still next to her, though it was the normal roof they were on. There was no condemnation in the werecat, merely purring and waiting.

Henrietta recalled what she wanted most when Marielle had been so injured. She took her hands down and wiped her face. She sat up properly on her knees and bowed low. "Akatsuki, I'm very sorry. My behavior has been abominable. I promise I won't any more." Her tears spilled over again. "I - I'm sorry."

There was a tentative step and a soft hand was placed on the top of her head. "Henrietta, you are often nice. If you will really stop...treating me like a doll, I will forgive you. I'm a woman your own age. Please remember it."

In the past Henrietta would have immediately grabbed Akatsuki in a hug. She pictured that, then the pained face, and her heart twisted again. She waited until Akatsuki stepped back again, clenching her hands so she would stay put, then lifted her head. "Thank you, Akatsuki. I couldn't do it - forgive. If you can ever really do so, then I will be grateful for even that much." Her self-hatred slowly leached out of her at Akatsuki's nod.

Slowly she turned her eyes to look into the large golden eyes again. They looked back calmly. Henrietta bowed her head. "Thank you. Thank you for correcting me." Purrcy stepped forward, still purring, and rubbed her head on Henrietta's cheek. Henrietta choked, then laughed and cried at the same time, tentatively brushing her hand on the cat's head, then held the werecat, letting the vibrations of the purr heal her heart.

When Henrietta was ready to return to the others below, she rose and bowed politely to Akatsuki and Purrcy. Purrcy did one full walking rub turn around Akatsuki, purring as she went. Akatsuki grabbed her head on the way past in between both hands and leaned down very close to the werecat's face. "Thank you...mother," she whispered. Purrcy licked Akatsuki's cheek and her tail gave a soft wave. Akatsuki released her and the werecat bounded to Henrietta's side and followed her down the stairs, though at the second floor she lept through the hole around the trunk to land on the floor next to the base of the stairs.

Henrietta took a deep breath and walked down the last flight of stairs herself, Purrcy looking up at her calmly, her presence encouraging. Only Marielle and Naotsugu were there, still sitting on the couch. "If you're ready?" Henrietta looked at Marielle, not quite able to meet her eyes.

Both on the couch rose in concern. "Are you okay?" Marielle asked, coming over.

Henrietta flinched and Marielle stopped, her hand going to her heart in concern. Henrietta took a deep breath and bowed to both Marielle and Naotsugu. "I'm sorry for my behavior until now. I've repented to Akatsuki and she has said she might forgive me. If you'll help me, I'd like to not forget that Akatsuki is a human also, with emotions also tender and worthy of protecting."

She was suddenly in Marielle's arms, being wrapped in one of her warm, generous hugs that she gave so freely. After a bit of her own recovery, her best friend said, "Of course, Henrietta. I'll help you. ...Thank you."

Henrietta sniffed. "Really...I don't deserve you, Marielle."

"No, but that's okay. I like you anyway." There was no way to take offense. That was just Marielle being big-hearted as usual. The two women bowed themselves out, Henrietta taking the time to specifically bow to Purrcy, who bowed her head in return.

-:-:-:-:-

The door clicked closed and Naotsugu grabbed the big cat next to him in a one-armed hug. "Never! Never in a million years! Fix-it-up-city!" He released her and spun to fall into the couch again. "Not just one, but two in two days! Three if you count the Councilor and the Shrimp, though we don't know how that's turned out yet." He leaned forward, elbows on knees and watched Purrcy pad over to him. She stayed large-cat, lifting herself up onto the couch to sit comfortably next to him, her face looking into his face. His smile was about to split his face it was pulled so big. He reached out and put his own big hand on her head and rubbed it. "You are rather magical, you know that?"

Purrcy raised her head proudly, then moved fast and his hand was being held gently between her teeth. He froze and she released him. He took his hand back, but stayed grinning. She settled, purring softly to herself. "You are too, you know?" she said softly at him.

"Naw," he leaned back into his favorite pose. She swiped at him, but he couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

"Really, Naotsugu," she insisted. "You've the patience of a saint. If anything, I've shown you all how _im_ patient I am. One whiff of that kind of sh...stuff and I have to put it to rights immediately. I'd claw the person and the furniture otherwise, being made to live like that."

He gave her a knowing look from the corner of his eyes. "You're being awful patient with Chief, though."

She sighed. "No, I'm not. That's why he's irritable." Her tail flicked and he could almost see the frown on her face, then she lightened just a little. "I am trying to be, though." She put her chin on her forelegs.

He reached down and pet her gently this time. "Well, in that thing, that would be best, really. He'll come 'round."

She lifted an eye to look at him, then closed them both. "Yeah, I know. But we all know that 'coming 'round' is really difficult to do in this place when the future's so unknown and the past so demanding."

"Yeah, well, we all do our best," he said. Purrcy answered with a flick of the ear. By the time he remembered his question, she was asleep again. He decided it would be better to wait until later anyway. He was asleep soon after, learning for himself that having a cat to pet and sleep next to really _was_ very relaxing.

* * *

 _In Japanese society, the social structure and strata are very strict. In the two guilds, Log Horizon and Crescent Moon League, Shiroe is the highest. Everyone in both must answer to him. But they are still separate guilds. Thus, if Shiroe wants a favor from Crescent Moon, he must properly compensate for it. When he wants something from Henrietta in particular, who is the second highest in Crescent Moon, he must pay with Akatsuki so that Henrietta can feed her fetish for small and cute things. Because Akatsuki is the 'lowest' on the rung (and she as Shiroe's attendant ninja considers herself that very strictly), she must submit to both of their wills._

 _However Mamare-san has made it very clear that Akatsuki_ _hates_ _being treated as a child or doll because of her size. She has been stuck in this arrangement with no recourse. Purrcy is an unknown element still, and while she has been called 'mother', which is fairly high - just under Nyanta - she isn't really placed yet, thus Akatsuki's argument at having to let her see what happens instead of staying hidden for the duration of the visit. But it is also the reason why Purrcy can have the effect she does have in freeing Akatsuki from her miserable circumstances. Of course, Shiroe still needs a way to pay Henrietta, so Purrcy is now the payment, and she shows she understands that by offering herself after the apology is given and accepted. How that plays out once Purrcy is fully placed in her position of the social strata will be seen in future chapters._

 _Nyanta dislikes Henrietta because she has been selfishly uncaring in her treatment of Akatsuki. Nyanta is very concerned about the feelings of others, the complete opposite. While he and Henrietta are pretty much the same social standing, he and everyone else are unable to complain since Shiroe has chosen his own stance on the issue. (Desperation and personal helplessness aside, Shiroe is still willing to use whomever however he needs to get things done.)_


	5. Ruffling Nyanta's Fur

"Woodstock-san and Akaneya-san incoming." It was Akatsuki on the guild chat. Nyanta started. He couldn't decide whether to berate or sigh at himself. He reached over the back of the couch to touch the pelt he'd been staring at, lost in the galaxies.

For the second time that day he wished he had fingers. Purrcy's fur was soft, but it felt different by paw than it would feel with human hands. Being pet by human hands was different, too. There were reasons cats kept home with humans. That was a big one. "Mew'd best be in the form they expect, nyan," he said quietly. An ear flicked very lightly, but she did slowly transform until her head was on Naotsugu's lap. "Add clothes," he suggested. An ear flicked irritatedly, then she added what she'd worn most recently that day. It didn't help Nyanta's mood, but he squelched it, then elbowed Naotsugu's head to let the rest out. His own ears wouldn't sit still and neither would the tail. It was getting pretty bad and would need to be addressed soon.

Naotsugu's head lifted suddenly and groggily waved on his neck. "Eh? Whazzat?"

"Woodstock-nyan and Akaneyan are on their way here. Wake up enough to not talk about the important things. We'll let her sleep, since she's not supposed to show she understands anyway." He watched the irritated curling in of the body that told him she'd heard him.

Naotsugu stretched his arms above his head, then dropped them, trying to wake up. When the one fell on her shoulders, that finished waking him up. He jumped and her tail flicked irritatedly as her pillow had moved rather too violently. "Gah, Chief! Give me warning next time." Nyanta walked away, his own tail flicking back and forth, headed for the door. "You know, you could trade me places. I'd be okay with it," Naotsugu sounded rather embarrassed. He always was, actually. For all he could _talk_ pervert, he couldn't _do_ pervert. Nyanta sighed. He supposed that was what actually made the man safe. And was exactly why Nyanta _wasn't_ trading him places. Nyanta didn't do pervert either way, but she was dangerous - to him anyway - and it was irritating. He didn't like it at all.

Things were going on that he could barely control and he didn't know why. The only explanation he had that made any sense was Purrcy's theory that the bodies of the beast half were slipping into natural states. He didn't like that either. He definitely sided on the side that he would have chosen differently had he known _this_ was going to happen. The perfect gentleman maintained perfect control, particularly in company. The perfect gentleman didn't press his emotions on the world, nor expect the world to grant him every goodness without effort. The perfect gentleman held himself tall and proud, though he was humble and polite. The perfect gentleman allowed the world to do as it would, but he also stood on his principles: when another showed himself to be a cad and scoundrel, the perfect gentleman taught him the errors of his ways. The perfect gentleman had no need to put on a display to the world; he wore his strength like an invisible mantle and never was ashamed of it. The perfect gentleman worked hard to improve himself daily, upheld morality within himself and others, strove to be and see the best in everyone. The perfect gentleman was kind to all - old, young, male, female - and Nyanta was the perfect gentleman, or rather he put everything into striving to be his ideal of the perfect gentleman.

There was one sad thing he had learned, however, during his years playing on _Elder Tales_. The perfect gentleman drew a set of women like chrysanthemums drew butterflies and bumblebees. They were women who craved kindness, who found the poise of the gentleman attractive and were enticed to remain. He had at first tried polite innuendo. The rare subset of women had understood and removed themselves. Later, when it was too late, he realized those were perhaps the ones who might have been ladies themselves and sufficiently polite to understand completely. Of those who remained unconcerned with their over attentiveness, he had tried polite obviousness - straight outright asking them to please give him some distance, expressing his disinterest in a relationship of any kind, particularly one that only existed through the internet. A relieving number had understood and backed off, many of them embarrassed and apologetic. It could be forgiven. There were many males and females who were gamers that had difficulties understanding the hidden delicate messages and needed a little more light shed upon the difficulties they didn't realize they were creating.

Nyanta had seemed to draw to him a rather large share of the final sort of bumblebee, however, particularly as he had begun to feel like he was beginning to perfect the basic levels of proper online kind gentlemanly behavior. They were the ones who refused to be swayed at all, staying even after he had tried everything he could think of to remain a gentleman and yet shake them from their determination to receive attention from him and grant him their completely undesired attention. He had finally, out of desperation, had to learn that when a woman would not accept that kindness did not equate to intimacy - nor lead to it - that he had to be unkind. He didn't particularly like that solution at all.

He'd found himself quite at wit's end the first time and had used unkindness as a last effort to pry the woman off his computer screen, out of his ears, and out of his real life that didn't need her in it. To his great dismay, he had learned over and over since then, she wasn't the only one in the world like her, and the only way to get rid of them was the exact same way. Then two particularly difficult women decided to attack him at the same time together and affect the worst scandal of all - private online chat sex between the three of them. He'd given up at that point completely, scorned them openly, used the most hurtful words he could think of, wishing to express to them completely his disgust and horror, and expose to them their complete inconsideration and the reality of the whoredom they were committing.

They'd retaliated, of course, and spread the word he had a front of a gentleman but was instead someone who was a woman hater, evil, and dangerous. For a while, he'd had relief, though the lies had been painful, until the life of the game and the gamers had moved on and things settled again. But from then on, it hadn't been worth it. If a woman fluttered too closely, wouldn't be a lady and move on, couldn't be educated politely and apologize and move on, he went straight to hidden cold evil to pry them loose before the pain of that episode could be repeated again. It was sufficiently effective, and kept the relationship brief enough that he could still be seen as a gentleman, at least by those who understood.

He was still unsure where Purrcy was in this strata of women. She had been very polite the first day, if surprising. Certainly it was kind of her to offer to help him in the kitchen. Her willingness to keep herself busy and helpful, and have a reciprocal working relationship with Shiroe rather than have an expectation of being taken care of had negated one of the clues that had always warned him something wasn't right. If posture could be said to be representative of a lady, the same as it was of a gentleman, she certainly held that trait. Standing nearly as tall as he did, she carried herself with grace and poise, and seemed to have sufficiently firm self confidence to be expressive without pushing her emotions onto others. She was capable of letting others know what her limits were without shouting them to the world uncouthly. He had been taken with her simple expression of completeness when she'd set her cup upside down on her saucer and set it on the table, then simply sat back quietly with the expectation that it would be understood and followed. It was a gesture he'd not thought of himself, but which he thought he might use in the future.

She certainly wasn't the perfect lady yet. She was at times insecure, panicked, or pushy, but it wasn't really in a bad way. Even Shiroe was pushy in a similar way. She could be said to be arrogant at times, but Nyanta had been called that as well, so it might be a certain perspective of the aloofness the gentleman and lady carried about them. And it was true, she certainly wasn't patient. That was probably her greatest weakness. But that didn't put Purrcy in the category of someone who he should warn off with sharp unkind words.

What was bothering him was the few episodes that had occurred. She'd come to him for comfort when she knew none of them and had been afraid. He supposed she could have gone to any of them, but that she'd come to him was one of his warning signs. Naotsugu was just as comforting for all the rest of them and far less aloof than Nyanta was seen to be by outsiders. By rights she should have either gone to him or to Tetora, having already formed the beginnings of an understanding with the junior. It had been even more concerning when she'd slipped out of cat (which had at least been a polite understanding he would be uncomfortable with her sudden appearance). When she'd caught herself at child he tried to be understanding, though only his order to watch over her kept his words behind his lips. He'd been startled very badly by that and relieved when she'd calmed enough to return to cat again. Her silence at that point had also been essential. In the past he would have expected her to begin babbling about how afraid she was and how only he could comfort her and no one else (though it had only been by chat before). The fact she'd calmed herself as best she could and only asked silently for his companionship in the moment had helped him forgive her in the end, though honestly it had set his worry level higher generally.

Having her be so old-woman when she woke up from her nap had also surprised him. The young woke up excited to be on the move again. The old woke up slowly, knowing life didn't pass them by so fast any more so that they had to run to keep up with it. Since he understood it for himself, he'd been quite stunned to recognize the rarity of it in a fellow Adventurer. And she was as much a tease as he was, when she was relaxed. That had set off something inside that had made him irritated suddenly, and he'd been trying to place it. He'd said such a thing to her in Naotsugu's hearing because he'd wanted to suddenly test her, to find out for sure where she stood. And instead of melting, or simpering, or playing coy, she'd been forthright and invited him to step towards her without moving from her own position, and within the bounds that had already been set as proper.

And then his own body had betrayed him in the worst way since he'd been having the troubles. Her tease had been as if her own test. What kind of gentleman was he really? He was glad she hadn't turned around to look because he'd failed it quite miserably if that had been the point of her becoming suddenly completely irrationally _attractive_. If it hadn't been a test, it had been to prove her point. He really was becoming real, and she was going to be a problem. The very kind of problem that made Purrcy as dangerous as any of the women he'd been cold and unkind to, even if she was a true lady. The sum at the moment made him irritable. He made it a point to be kind to everyone he could be. Life was better that way all around. He wanted to be kind to her, too, but he wasn't sure he could afford it. Since she lived life unapologetically, and should really, that made it even harder.

He opened the door just before the knock came and bowed, as much gentleman on the exterior as always. "Woodstock-nyan. Akaneyan. Please, come in. Purrcy's sleeping, though, if mew don't mind."

"Ah...should we come back later, then?"

Nyanta paused, as if surprised. "Well, that's up to mew, but mew want to see that she's safe with your own eyes, I purresume? Now's as good as any time. She's on the couch."

"Oh," Woodstock relaxed slightly. Akaneya shoved him in the back, anxious, and they crowded to just inside the door. Nyanta moved to close it behind them, scanning the road quickly. They'd been followed, of course. He memorized smells and faces, closed the door, and led the other two men into the room. They were both quite a bit shorter than him. Only one was of race dwarf, though you couldn't tell it looking at them.

"Please, sit," he bowed them into seats. "Can I get you tea? Coffee, nyan?"

"Ah, coffee, please," Akaneya asked.

"Tea," Woodstock said, then remembered, "please."

Nyanta sighed to himself, gave a pointed look to Naotsugu who at least looked awake now, and took himself off to the kitchen. He'd give coffee to Naotsugu, too. Straight. As he poured, he shook himself. It wasn't Naotsugu's fault, really, so he carefully mixed up the proper combination for Naotsugu that he preferred. He pulled down a fourth cup, then stared at it. He had no idea what Purrcy drank. ...But she'd drunk the tea the night before. He chose tea. His eyes closed half-way as he poured it, ending with a flourish. He held the teapot, frozen, then set it hard on the counter, took three deep breaths, put his own cup on the tray and poured his own drink carefully. Tea to calm down. And maybe he'd drink it in the kitchen.

He carried the tray back out, where there was small talk going on already. Naotsugu was good at getting and keeping conversation flowing, and letting the pauses not feel awkward - a good host. Nyanta passed around the drinks, quietly accepting the thanks, setting the one for Purrcy on the table in a place closest to her.

"Ah, Nyanta-san, do you know how to speak English?" Woodstock asked just as Nyanta was about to head back into the kitchen with his own drink.

He held still, then resignedly picked up his cup and set the tray in the middle of the table. He sat on a free chair. "A little. I had to use it occasionally for business, though not travel, meow."

Woodstock laughed ruefully. "For all we all have to learn it in school, when it comes to really speaking it not many of us really have a clue what we're doing...if we even remember what we learned. My translator was still a high school student so had been studying it, and getting decent grades. He's learned a lot just from working with her about how far our school education is from the real deal. If...when he gets back, he's going to ace all his English exams, for sure." Woodstock looked down into his cup.

Naotsugu chuckled and nodded. "There was an exchange student I ran into a few times on campus and learned to hear it, but never was able to speak it. He spoke English, I spoke Japanese, and we managed."

Akaneya nodded. "That's about it for me, too. I had a few login from over there to join the guild dungeon raids and we worked it that way as well. They'd listened to enough anime that they could follow us, but they could only speak English and the few common words, like Purrcy does. We fumbled through and eventually got to recognize the important words."

Naotsugu smiled. "Yeah...'run', 'hit it', 'go', 'now', 'help', and the various swear words. Not much conversation capacity there."

"You've got it," Akaneya rolled his eyes. "Conversations so far with Purrcy have been somewhat comical. We can understand her English when she's willing to open up and say anything at all since it's translated for us, but when she doesn't understand what we're trying to say we'll go round several times five different ways before we reach an agreement or understanding. Does what you've had to do put you above those levels, Nyanta-san?"

"Ah," Nyanta said cautiously, "well, somewhat, but not by much, since it was mostly business. It's similar. Mew get to know the words most frequently used and fill in the gaps with intuition."

"Well...," Woodstock said hesitantly, "we ask because, while we're extremely grateful you've all taken her in, if no one can talk to her, that's going to be hard, likely."

Nyanta tried not to look at Naotsugu gently pet Purrcy in reaction to his internal sympathy and kindness. "Actually," he said instead, "having her here where she can be surrounded by the language is more likely to get her to learn it faster, nyan. If she's been spending most of her time away from people she hasn't had purractice hearing it and speaking it. Between us, we purrobably have enough English to get her started. With enough immersion, she'll pick it up until she can survive well enough, I would think. Like being a transfer student."

The other men were nodding. "True enough," Akaneya said, relaxing somewhat. "I was hoping to talk to Shiroe. I'd like to work out a trade agreement. I don't really want to lose her as a supplier."

Both Nyanta and Naotsugu shook their heads. "He's closeted himself for at least one day, maybe two," Naotsugu took control quickly. "We'll have him call you when he's available. Purrcy did manage to get her stuff to you before she had to run here, didn't she?"

They both nodded. "We'd pretty much just sent her off less than an hour before Shiroe contacted me," Woodstock said.

"That's good enough for now, then," Naotsugu said. "He's not letting her go until he's made sure we've figured out the why's and who's. Once he's promised to protect someone, that's the most important thing to him, you know. You can work out details like that after he's come up for air again."

"That's fine," Akaneya agreed.

Nyanta could feel an awkward pause coming, but instead, or maybe because it was so, Purrcy stirred. It showed a good understanding of social communication and an ability to role play. He was sure she'd been awake for a bit now. She stretched prettily, then blinked her eyes open. When she saw her two original benefactors across from her she sat up quickly, and that got everyone blushing. They'd all been staring without realizing it.

"Excuse me," she said. "I'm sorry." Nyanta saw that her mouth moved to actually speak the Japanese syllables, not the English that would be translated between the mouth and the ear. That made sense. If she actually spoke the words she did know, it wouldn't change what their guests expected.

"No, no, please excuse us," Akaneya said. "We were worried. Sorry to come when you were sleeping."

"Purrcy," Nyanta leaned forward and pointed to the tea he'd put on the table for her, then to her.

She looked at him, then reached for the tea. "Thank you, Nyanta," she said picking it up and drinking some. Her ear twitched. As she set the cup back on the saucer she added, "Delicious."

He nodded to her and then, following her example, he fished for the little English he had in his own head and spoke it to her. "Woodstock-nyan and Akaneyan wanted to see mew were safe. Sorry to have them come in mew're sleeping." The last one he had to used Japanese. He didn't know the English for that one. He pantomimed it as best he could.

"Okay," she said in English. "Thank you." Japanese. "Everyone help me," she said shyly. She fished for words. "I thank everyone."

"Um...," Akaneya looked at Nyanta. "I know Shiroe was the champion for persons entering guilds they wanted to, but did she understand well enough what she was doing? I'm just concerned with the translation, you understand."

Nyanta and Naotsugu exchanged glances. "Shiroe, as a graduate student, was able to explain it better and together they worked it out. As mew say, he didn't want it to be a coerced agreement," Nyanta answered. "That would very much have gone against his purrinciples."

Naotsugu nodded. "Of course with our limited capabilities, we couldn't follow it as well, but she was pretty sure in her agreement, it seemed to me. Maybe when you're able to talk to him, he can reassure you better." They didn't really want to add one more thing to Shiroe's lap, but it couldn't be helped.

Purrcy had been following the conversation with her eyes and her ears would twitch. She got the attention of the two guests, then waved her hand at the tree. "Delicious."

"Beautiful," Nyanta supplied, in Japanese. He was surprised when she actually repeated it in Japanese. Naotsugu picked it up smoothly with a rewarding nod and a repeat of the word.

Purrcy was listening closely to the word and repeated it one more time, then smiled brightly at her guests. "I okay." She pointed to her smile.

"Happy," Nyanta supplied again.

"I happy," she repeated obediently. Something tugged at Nyanta's heart. She was trying hard, even when she didn't have to. Such had always been a thing that had affected him, with all of the youngsters in this guild, and others, too. He looked away, then down into his tea, trying to recover.

Purrcy stood up and walked over to Woodstock and took his hand. "Thank you very much, Woodstock-san." She bowed to him. She bowed to Akaneya. "Thank you very much, Akaneya-san." She looked at the room in general, then bowed slightly. "Excuse me."

They watched her walk away until she was out of sight. The two guildmasters drew in great breaths of air, and Nyanta looked at them. Akaneya was trembling slightly. "I - I really am jealous, to be honest. I had always hoped she would accept my offers, but she never could warm up to me, for whatever reason. When she does know how to understand Japanese well enough, I'd like to talk to her." His eyes went distant. "The stories she could tell...about all the things she's brought me...I would like to hear them." He fell silent, clutching his teacup in two hands.

Woodstock cleared his throat. "I don't expect she'll need to come by any longer." He looked away, his blush back. "...But...I'd like to hear them, too, her stories." His blush deepened. They all knew he wanted more than that. Without knowing anything, she'd taken a liking to a rough character who cared a lot about new players and did things to help others all the time. That was a complement not often given.

"Well, when she can, we'll let her know. Myabey we'll be able to have mew over for lunch or dinner and just let her tell all her stories," Nyanta said kindly. It wasn't like they wanted to keep her to themselves _all_ the time. Just right now while they were protecting her and it was all new.

Naotsugu nodded kindly as well. "She's already done a lot for us, trying to repay our kindness in protecting her. She's definitely one special person. We'll take care of her, for sure."

Their guests sighed and set their cups on the table. "Thank you for letting us come and visit," Akaneya said for them both as they rose and bowed.

Nyanta rose with them and walked them to the door. "Be careful on the walk back. Mew were followed here. Stay together. The Wolf Pack was very determined. Any of those out there may be as well. Please call us if mew get into trouble while mew're still here at this end of town. We'll come help mew."

"Actually," Woodstock looked at Akaneya, "we were hoping for it. We've got people on watch behind them. We'll pull them in for questioning...after softening them up a bit. I talked to Tetora at lunch and told her there were a few outside my door we were looking at. She picked up two and handed them over to us. We're hoping this set may give us enough corroborating information we can zero in on the source."

"Well, then," Nyanta said, "happy hunting. Let us know what mew find."

"Will do," Woodstock said. They left and Nyanta closed the door behind them.

"Well, that's useful," Naotsugu said, "we sit here and babysit while others do the leg work."

"Was that a grumble?" Nyanta said without turning around.

"Hey, hey," Naotsugu said placatingly. "Not at all, but it also wasn't meant to get your hackles up. Sheesh. Just go deal with it already. It's not like she doesn't know she's a problem for you."

Nyanta turned around and looked at Naotsugu in surprise, and some anger. Naotsugu was giving him the sympathetic look. "While you were reporting to Shiroe, she walked down with Henrietta and the first thing Henrietta does is bow and apologize for her behavior all this time and ask Marie to help her remember that Akatsuki is a human with emotions worth protecting, and saying she'd apologized and Akatsuki had said she'd be willing to forgive her. ...She's something special Nyanta. Don't keep her in pain because you can't figure yourself out selfishly. Let her help you. That's all she's asked for." A glare was next, though. "And don't cut into her for it either. She doesn't understand your past."

Nyanta was frozen. He felt fifteen again...and trapped...and guilty. Finally his tail gave a little twirl at his ankles and his ears fell. "I hear mew. I'll think about it purroperly." He walked to the kitchen - his refuge. He wasn't really seeing anything - that was just the automatic place to go. He made a fist on the counter he was resting his 'hand' on. That only did things to the muscles in his paw, and his claws moved. His eyes misted over. He could feel her pain, the pain Naotsugu had pointed out he himself was causing her. He closed his eyes. There was one truth to Naotsugu's words. If he, Nyanta, didn't get this resolved before dinner time, it was going to be a very difficult, strained meal - for everyone. That's how guilds worked. When even just two were at odds, the whole family paid the price. He didn't have any answers, but that was really the only reason he needed. It had to be fixed and there were two who needed to fix it, and he was one and she was the other. When he slipped out of the kitchen, the main room was empty. He closed his eyes and let his nose find her. His feet followed her as his heart constricted even more. She'd gone into hiding again.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy," the voice was soft. That didn't make it nice. Purrcy shivered. Quiet footsteps entered the room and the door closed with a light click. "Mew've come here at a bad time, rather selfishly, I think, haven't mew?" She had to hold herself very still. She hurt and it hurt worse that she was guilty of said crime. She was curled in the hiding place from before, with the blanket from before as well. It was a safe, dark place. She buried her head further under her arm, wishing he would go away. Being with others was always hard. She'd already interfered enough. To know that she was making it hard for him, too... She sniffed lightly, once again wishing cats could cry. Hating Akiba again. Only pain was ever here. The forest and plains called to her, the wind blowing past, ruffling her fur, the soft grass underfoot. She sighed.

A soft hand came down on her head and she froze. Not hand. Paw. He'd moved silently...when she was distracted. She shivered then trembled. "Mew've hidden in a place we can't be distracted." His voice was soft and the air that passed from his lungs as he spoke wafted over her delicate ear hairs. She shrank back slightly. "Is that on purrpose, too, hmm?"

She shook her head. "No, Nyanta-san. I didn't know I would end up here this way. I - I'm sorry. I didn't want it."

He settled down close to her, closer than she was comfortable with. "Are mew going to tell them?" It was nearly an order to do so.

Purrcy took in a breath and nodded. "I'll tell Shiroe-san for sure. ...I'm sorry I didn't explain it before."

His disapproval didn't really go away. She didn't blame him. It had been a sudden decision when she'd finally understood who she'd been standing in front of. Shiroe was known the whole Archipelago over. He was known as the greatest strategist of all Yamato, and maybe all of _Elder Tales_. He certainly was known as perhaps the longest running player of the game. A solo since before the Debauchery Tea Party days, even she had seen his name in the knowledge databases and histories for the game. It was almost as big a surprise to see him at the head of a guild as in front of her at all. If anyone could help, he could. And he already was. She couldn't reconcile both, so she'd made Nyanta take the fall - and so Nyanta was right. She'd been selfish.

"Mew will tell me everything about mew," he named her punishment. Purrcy pushed up to sitting properly, the best a cat could get to kneeling. Slowly, she began talking, haltingly, the words taking their time to come together into sentences as they passed the layer of fear, the lid she hid them behind. She told him her past, consciously summarizing since she could go on for hours with meaningless details. Told him why she loved this world and had escaped to it in the first place, how conflicted it made her feel, how conflicted it made her when she thought of returning, the pain resurfacing in the telling. How much she hated Akiba, how hard it was to be with other people and why, how little self-confidence she really had, all without apology or self-incrimination, but also not placing blame on others. What she lived for. Then she reached the end, raised her eyes to look at his, and told him her age.

She watched as his pupils narrowed and his breath caught just a little. Then she told him _what_ she was. What she had become here in this world. Slowly he began to tremble. "It is a big burden and a secret, Nyanta, and one you can't tell anyone else. Only I can, at the right time to the right persons. I'm sorry."

The anger in his eyes just before he lowered them frightened her, but she held still. He slowly recovered. "Will mew tell Shiroe-ichi?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she answered just as quietly. "As I'm allowed to. He needs to know because he needs to know what his full toolset is, and I know I can trust him, or at least I believe I can based on his past performance."

Nyanta looked up into her eyes then. "I think mew need to understand my history, my past, in order to understand just what mew've done." She kept her ears and pose humble and listened in silence as he told her things he'd likely told no one else - ever. His personal life on Earth, how he was there and how he was in the game. How he was here in this strange world they'd been brought to. Why he was that way. What his goals and expectations were - both of himself and now of her. Then, looking solemnly into her eyes, he told her his age. She didn't react. There was no need to. She only bowed.

When she looked at him again, Nyanta sighed and looked away. "Mew are troublesome," he said.

"Yes," she agreed. His ear twitched. "But just because I have come this way doesn't mean I plan on giving in to it. I want to still fight it the best I can. Will you listen to my plan? I could use your help, if you're willing to fight as well." He looked back at her from the corner of his eye, then nodded.

When she was done explaining her plan and they'd discussed it, they sat in silence for a while. Finally he held out a paw. She put her hand in it. Instead of releasing it, he continued to hold on, relaxing his arm down to rest. After a bit, he looked down at their joined hand and paw and said rather wistfully, "If I could learn even a small amount of transformation magic, it would be to have hands again, nyan. ... _I_ don't even know how I do things with paws that one ought to have fingers to do." He gave her a wry look.

She smiled back. "Would it seem odd that I chose human hands from the beginning because I was worried something like this would happen and I happen to love using my fingers for all kinds of things...like sewing, typing,...and petting cats."

Nyanta laughed. "I don't know if the last is the most humorous, or that mew actually worried mew'd end up in the game world by accident."

"I know, right?" she answered, then shook her head. "I'm probably not the only one. There are plenty here who don't want to go home and hoped it secretly when they made their characters and started playing as a means of escape."

Nyanta looked at her then said, "Did mew know, there is one who has a different mindset from either of those?" Purrcy looked at him curiously, tipping her head. "The head of the Debauchery Tea Party was in China a little less than a year ago. Shiroe accepted a quest from her back then. She wants to leave and come back, likely many times knowing her. Shiroe's looking for the doorway between the worlds."

Purrcy's eyes went very wide and her whiskers stood out on end. "God, that sounds impossible. Is he really working for that goal for her?"

"Of course, meow," Nyanta answered.

Purrcy pursed her lips. "Then, I'll anchor it here. Doorways like that have to have anchors on each end, if it's possible at all. I'll represent the ones who don't want to leave, at least not for good."

"Mew'd go back if mew could return?" he asked curiously.

After a pause, Purrcy shook her head. "It would depend on what was on the other side. If they've already said their goodbyes, I wouldn't go and reopen old wounds. If we were to wake up mere seconds or minutes after we left, then I would. I would go to say my goodbyes, then return and not go back."

He was sober. "I don't think mew'd be able to do it."

She sighed and looked down. "No. I wouldn't. If I went back, I'd be compelled to stay. Guilt is a very driving motivator. ...But, if I could bring them back with me...maybe. Maybe that would be alright." She raised her free hand and did a very old gesture that had no meaning here. She ran her fingers through her now non-existent hair, petting herself in effect and her tail slapped the floor. "In the end...I don't know that I like that solution." She shook her head. "I would run from it. I would stay, I think."

Nyanta nodded. "That's what I think." She looked at him suspiciously, but he shook his head. "I've already said my goodbyes, even though I'd go back for them. As hard as this world is, if we could go between, I would also stay and 'anchor'." She squeezed his paw just a little more. "So...tell me, just how do I learn to control the twitching that makes me irritable?"

-:-:-:-:-

"The first lesson is learning to run, the second to climb. Here we can work on practicing the second. Go through to the floor below and watch me come down one level."

Touya and Minori looked at each other. They were carrying the last load of dried and folded clothing down from where it had been hanging to dry on the porch used for such things. They mutually agreed to stop and watch. Nyanta dropped through the new hole and swung lightly to land on the floor where they were watching. He glanced over and winked at them, then obediently watched as a large-cat Purrcy came climbing down slowly from above. She'd only ever moved quickly before so this was new for them as well. It looked awkward and difficult slow. Fast it looked elegant and simple. Purrcy explained what each claw was doing as she made her way down to their level, paused, and pushed off the trunk of the tree to leap over and land next to Nyanta.

She turned to the tree and saw them also. She paused and smiled at them, her whiskers lifting. "Good afternoon, Touya, Minori. We'll start on dinner once we're down."

"We're just finished," Minori said with a bob of her head.

"Wonderful," the cat woman beamed, even without a human mouth to smile with. Minori couldn't help but smile back, which earned her a wave of the tail.

"It looks hard," she said.

"Yeah," Touya chimed in. "I'd fall on my head if I had to climb a tree that way."

Purrcy sat down. "That's the downward climb for speed, done slowly. It is hard to not fall on one's head that way. But it's the best one to learn first because it's the one that will save your life when you need to get out of a tree fast. The others are only worth learning if you're a purist who needs to know everything just because. Nyanta can learn those on his own later if he cares to." She turned to Nyanta. "Do you want to try this next one, or watch one more? I'll spot you when you want to try the first round."

Minori and Touya listened as Nyanta asked for some detailed explanations then asked her to let him watch one more time. While he went through the floor, they looked at each other, and then hurried to the stairs and ran down them to watch from below, too. This time they could watch a little closer and understand a little better as well. When they had it, they ran down the one more level and quickly dropped off their clothes in their rooms and ran back.

"Okay," Purrcy was on the floor with them, felinoid and dressed beautifully today, looking up this time. They looked up with her. "Your balance will be a little different, but you already have all four paws and claws, so there is no difference in the main. Once you're on the tree, I'll hold you to it so you can get a feel for the weight on the claws. Move at your own speed, _feeling_ the walk down the tree. Only use your mind at the beginning. By the time you've moved two paces, let the body do the rest. If you end up on the first floor, that's fine. I'll just come join you."

"Won't he know when he gets to this floor?" Minori asked surprised.

Purrcy shook her head. "Not if he does that part right. The body will just naturally go all the way down. That's where he's headed after all."

"All the way by falling," Touya said wryly.

Purrcy smiled and shook her head, then looked back up again. "I'm ready," she said calmly. The hole up above wasn't all that large, so they couldn't see him get on the tree. Only Purrcy was in position for that. They heard a scrabble, then silence for a moment. Then a slow scraping and a familiar light grey paw came into view. It grabbed hold of the tree trunk like they'd seen Purrcy's paw and claws catch it on her slower ways down. Then a second grey paw moved down and they could see Nyanta's head. He was concentrating very hard. The front didn't move for a moment, but they could hear the back claws move on the tree.

Once more the front claws moved, a little faster this time, though Nyanta's concentration didn't change. Between the third and fourth movement, he suddenly moved more quickly and in short order was indeed on the first floor. He paused as if surprised, then shook his head and stood up on his hind legs again. He turned and looked up at the three of them looking down at him. They grinned at his bemused expression.

"You made it," Touya congratulated him for not falling on his head.

Nyanta nodded in agreement. "Letting the body do it is different, but definitely simpler. Since I'm already used to it in fighting it didn't seem to come very hard, though."

Purrcy nodded. "It was harder for me since it was really the second physical thing I learned here. You've already had two years of practicing letting your body move when you form an instruction. You'll learn the running and climbing quickly, I think. The evasion, hiding, and hunting skills will take longer, but still not be as hard as for me initially. Akatsuki would learn those very quickly since she already knows them from her Tracker sub-skill." All three of the students listening to her nodded. That made sense.

"Would we be able to learn the climbing, too?" Touya asked, hopeful.

Minori shook her head at her hopeless brother. Purrcy grinned. "Humans don't climb naturally. They have to learn it because they want to. You could certainly learn it, but you'll have to start at the beginning like any young human trying to learn it. You can't come down that way though. Only claws work that way. You'd have to come down the way all humans do. We're limited by our Class, sadly."

"What if I had a blacksmith make me claws like that?" Touya asked.

Purrcy's eyes sparkled and a slow and very bright smile came on her face. "You will go far, young Touya. The balance is wrong, as are the muscles. See, cat's and other four-legs hind legs are reversed in the knee." She pointed to her own knee, it suddenly lacking pants, though her blouse was long enough to cover her sufficiently. Touya blushed and Purrcy lightly laughed. "I'm a cat. Anatomy is different. Just look at the knee to understand it. You're in class."

Minori helped by getting down and looking closely at Purrcy's knee. She reached out and gently rubbed a hand over the joint. "It really does go backwards, like a horse's."

Purrcy lifted the leg to show how the joint moved the paw forward and up, rather than back behind and up. "This motion is made for running forward, so the climbing up and down forward works differently than humans."

Minori stood and lifted her pant leg until her knee could be seen and she lifted her leg as well, then tried to see it on the tree. "I think I'd skin my knee on the bark every time I tried to move my leg going down."

Purrcy nodded. "Yes, you would. Going backwards keeps it out of the way. It means we can't kneel or sit cross legged, though, which I miss." She glanced at Touya, decided he'd seen enough to understand and her loose black pants with gold sparkles reappeared. "Watch the backwards down, Nyanta. I have to do it when in this form since I have smaller front claws, and I have hands not paws." She leaped into space and landed on the side of the trunk, all of her claws thunking into the bark of the tree. She carefully and slowly went down the tree, hind legs splayed, then hands, one at a time in a peculiar order. When she reached the bottom, she stepped off the tree.

Turning to Nyanta, she lectured: "When it's done quickly, it looks like a walking frog in fast motion, run in rewind. It took me a long time to not get my back claws stuck in the bark when I wanted to go fast and I fell a lot, tumbling over backwards. I had to learn to pull the claws into the paws on the feet, then move the foot down. Once I understood that, I could let go mentally and let the body just do it on its own. ...Of course," she shrugged, "that was before I just gave up and let the body do everything on its own when I needed to act and just rode as an observer. When I learned as I went, instead of learning and then going, things went a lot better and faster."

Minori moved to the stairs and Touya followed her. "You know," Touya said, "that really helped me, too, when I learned to just let the body do what it was going to do and learned from it. The first fight I was in where I did that, it was over before I knew it and I don't remember getting hit at all, but all the monsters were on the ground disappearing into treasure."

Nyanta looked at him. "I'll have to try that some time, meow."

Touya and Minori looked at him surprise. "You don't already?" Touya asked and Minori nodded.

Nyanta shook his head. "I still tell my body which move I want next, though it is very smooth, fast, and seamless since I have years of experience in doing it at my computer. I'll be interested to see which is fastest, nyan."

They walked companionably to the kitchen. "You do it for magic also?" Purrcy asked Minori.

Minori nodded. "It took a long time to trust that it would work, but after Touya had that breakthrough we went one level of monster lower and he stood guard behind me slightly. I just let go and let the magic flow, though I kept tabs on where the monsters were and how many, that kind of thing. It was rather...freeing? I still mix them up, but it flows a lot better."

Purrcy nodded. "You're doing it right, then. When I'm cat, I only do things instinctively that should be done. I control that which should be controlled. That's actually the part Nyanta's going to have to practice the most for - figuring out when the instinct should be obeyed and when it should obey. That only comes with lots of practice in all kinds of situations, just like becoming better and going up in levels is supposed to work."

Nyanta twitched. "Grade school all over again," he sighed. "Drill and practice, drill and practice, meow."

They laughed as Purrcy pulled out pots, cutting boards, and knives. She moved with practice and grace, Minori noticed, a little jealous. She was one who wanted to be better in the kitchen but hadn't taken the Chef sub-skill, though she had been learning under Nyanta's tutelage. "Watch me, Minori," Purrcy interrupted her tiny pity party.

Purrcy picked up a knife and an onion appeared in her other hand. She put the onion on the cutting board, then slowly and carefully cut the onion. Minori watched very closely. Purrcy pulled out another onion from the air and handed it to Minori and handed over the cutting board and knife. "Now, before putting knife to onion, close your eyes and see it all over again from the beginning. Feel it in your hands, what the onion feels like, what the motions of the knife feel like. When your body understands it, put the onion on the cutting board, the knife to the onion, and let it cut the onion."

Minori blinked at her, then obediently closed her eyes and felt the onion in her left hand, imagined "feeling" it go on the cutting board, then "felt" the knife land on it gently, then be pressed firmly down through it again and again until the onion was cut the way she wanted it, like Purrcy had cut hers. When the imaginary onion was cut she paused and let the total feel of the action enter her body. When she was ready, she set the onion down, her eyes on it. She set the knife the same as she had imagined it, and relaxed. When she looked again, the onion had been cut exactly as she'd imagined it and the knife blade was resting on the cutting board waiting for the next instruction. She smiled. "Yup. That's what it feels like." She looked up. "Ah, I did have my eyes open, right?"

Purrcy smiled kindly. "Yes, you did, or you wouldn't have fingers any more. The body still needs sight. It just doesn't need focused thought here. That's what worried Nyanta the most about me teaching him. You do it naturally enough now from your other practice. If it worries you, don't release it quite so much. Tell it to cut, but don't relinquish control of the eyes. Eventually you learn the balance that will let you make sudden changes in actions as well. I call that 'bumping'. Like you'd slightly bump your elbow or your wrist to make a cut just a little different the next time. It moves in reaction to that instruction."

"It's like being in a mecha," Touya said thoughtfully. "One you control with mental telepathy instead of your hands on controls."

Purrcy nodded. "Very much so. If you played video games with controllers, it's similar to that, also. You play often enough and the controller becomes an extension of your hand and you stop paying attention to which button needs to be pressed. Your body already knows. Pianists it's the same. They play a piece so often and memorize it until it's programmed in. We are programming our bodies and then maintaining just enough control to move the character or pick the way the song sings or how hard we press the keys, for example."

Both Touya and Minori nodded. They understood very well. "Very well, then," Purrcy continued. She pulled out a second cutting board and another knife. She handed a pile of vegetables to both of them. "Cut. Visualize first, program it in. Then cut."

She turned away and put oil into her pan and turned on the heat. "Are you a scribe, Nyanta?"

"Nyan." He gave a slight shake of his head.

"Okay. First lesson. Always answer that question with 'yes'. Add 'I'm working on it', if you have to," she corrected.

Nyanta laughed a little. "Okay. Yes. I'm going to start working on that...I assume right now?"

"Yes." Purrcy handed him a pen, ink, and put paper on the table away from the work where it wouldn't get dirty. "It works the same way. I just put oil in the pan. That's the first step of the recipe, unless you want the onion cutting first. You can choose how to write the recipe. You're the scribe. You visualize the writing - the words and numbers, how they flow from the pen, the ink being left behind by the nib. You get extra credit for learning how to tell the ink to last as long as you want it to." Nyanta stared at her for that one. Even Minori stopped and stared. Writing was something she did naturally, though scribing was different, but she'd never had that thought before. "Once you've visualized it, program it in, then write. Start with just the first step to get the feel for it."

Purrcy went to stir the cut onions into the heated oil. "Hurry, or I'll get too far ahead."

Nyanta went right to visualizing and when the pen went to the paper, it flowed as if he were a natural calligraphy artist. The ink lasted until the entire end of the first line. He blinked at the line, shook his head and set for the second line. This time he appeared to 'bump' the writing towards the end of the line and a faint smile came to his whiskers.

Minori shook her head and went back to cutting. By the time she was done, she also could 'watch' and 'bump' it. She looked over to Touya's cutting board. He was standing with his hands clasped behind his head, looking smug. "What?" she asked him.

"I was done a long time ago," he said competitively as always.

"Can you watch and bump?" she challenged him.

"Yup. I have to do it all the time when fighting since often there are last minute adjustments, like when Rudy's spell gets one I was going to get next, that sort of thing."

"Oh," Minori could see that. "How different was it when cutting?"

He shrugged. "A little finer control, I suppose, like a finer hand. A knife's not a sword after all."

Minori nodded and turned back to the older two. "Purrcy, we're done."

She was a bit busy, but she answered back, "What level chef are you?"

Minori blinked, then looked it up. She stared at it in surprise. "Level one."

"Me, too," Touya said in surprise.

"Put the cut vegetables into bowls. Do it the same way. Visualize each variety, how they mix with the others already in the bowl, how beautiful the shapes and colors go together, how they're going to taste when eaten together, your joy at having made lovely, tasty food to share with everyone. Then set the program. Then do."

She was throwing another ingredient into her pan. "This point, Nyanta, is how you learned to cook. You did that first. I had to learn it the hard way...by becoming very hungry first. You, however, have always loved to visualize how they go together and how lovely they taste, and how everyone will enjoy them."

Minori and Touya both held very still. Nyanta was giving Purrcy a very interesting look they'd never seen on his face before. Before their eyes, the man who was kind but never expressive, had ears that went soft and he moved to put his paws on Purrcy's shoulders from behind. He whispered something very softly into her ear, and they swore they saw a blush creep over Purrcy's furry face. When Nyanta finally released her to let her cook and return to his scribing, they turned to look at each other, both stunned beyond belief. Minori blinked and she realized a tear was trying to escape. She hurriedly brushed it away.

"Ah, Minori," Touya whispered, "were we supposed to see that?"

Minori shook her head. "I don't know...but...I saw Mom and Dad." She whispered it back.

Touya looked down, then back up at her, putting a hand on her shoulder, lending her his strength until she could go and collect salad bowls for them both and they could get lost in their first cooking class again.


	6. Cheating the System

"Come and get it!" It was Purrcy's first guild chat call and it was the family favorite. People showed up in the room that hadn't been seen all day, and as quickly as they could get there. Those who looked saw her standing near the table watching them all arrive with sparkles in her eyes and looking gorgeous for a felinoid. Her ears were perky and her tail waved gently with happiness. Those who were more interested in the food were welcomed with a delicious smell of a dish they hadn't had before. The spread included a meat-in-red-sauce main dish that smelled deliciously of many exotic spices, vegetable salad, flat bread, rice, and a cool creamy yogurt side dish. The drink was a smooth fruit drink that was creamy at the same time and not too sweet, but sweet enough to complement the main dish which turned out to be as spicy as it smelled, but not too hot - almost just like the curry everyone loved.

The door to Shiroe's room opened and everyone turned to look. Usually he took his dinner in his room when he was under self-seclusion. He poked his head out, sniffing, and his nose dragged him to the table, his eyes wide. "Ah...," he noticed everyone looking and paused shyly. Pushing his glasses up to see everyone a little better, he said, "I missed lunch...and this smells...very good."

"Please join us then, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta kindly invited him. "This is Purrcy's favorite meal - tikki masala, from India. I have enjoyed learning to make it, meow."

Shiroe slid into his seat at the head of the table. Minori stood to get one more place setting, but Purrcy held up her hand to forestall her and she sat back down. "Everyone," Purrcy bowed, "please enjoy. It is my thanks, and my pleasure to get to eat it with all of you. I hope it's worthy of your table." Purrcy picked up her plate and showed them all how she would dish it. Rice on the bottom, meat dish on top, flatbread she named "naan" on the side, and also the yogurt on the side. She set the plate down in front of Shiroe. "Will you tell me your opinion, Guildmaster?" she asked.

Shiroe picked up his chopsticks and happily dug in, sliding the first bite into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed, enjoying the evolving flavor experience. A smile came to his face. "Second favorite - after curry." He dug in again and was lost to the eating.

"Alternating occasionally with a small bit of the yogurt will return the pleasure of eating the main dish, and my thanks to Touya and Minori for making the salad and helping with the naan," Purrcy commented to the group as a whole and waved her hand, "Please."

"Thank you for the food!" they all called out and dug in.

As Shiroe, who had been the first one to start, wound down, he told them he'd completed making the ink, thanks to Purrcy's ingredients, and that he'd set the paper to drying before coming out to eat. "Purrcy, after dinner, though not right away, shall we discuss the text one more time?"

"Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe," she answered. He'd looked over to her and now he paused and blinked, then he turned to the next one to be mostly done eating. That happened to be Tetora who had wolfed down his food as if he were starving.

Tetora nodded. "Let's see. First thing I did was choose to be me, for real. Then I burst in on the Guildmaster and his not-so-secret love at a bad time and agreed with Naotsugu that they needed to just settle it so we could all get on with it. Then I headed out the door and took a few twists and turns to get to center town. I had a few hit me up for info and feels but nothing worth noting. Left a few broken noses behind. When I got to town proper Souji found me first. He'd already seen the other two and the word made it fast through the council we'd called on D.D.D. yesterday, so he was worried. I let him know we wouldn't leave them out and we still loved them, too. I think he's a little more worried about Nazuna, since he found me right away, but not having any information for him on that level I didn't let him get that far."

Nyanta leaned closer to Purrcy. "Nazuna is Soujirou-kun's lieutenant, and a foxtail." Purrcy was sympathetic.

Tetora continued, "Umm...Rieze caught me quick after that, not liking that I'd talked to someone else first, though it wasn't my fault. I didn't let anything out, but she did say that when the Wolf Pack left the Cathedral they were still muttering about the treasure in our tree. Her opinion was that 'they want it pretty bad'. I let Akatsuki know right away, of course." He paused and put his chopsticks to the corner of his lips, thoughtfully tipping his head in a cute gesture that was now habit and long past purposeful attempts to get others to look at him. "She offered further backup support for information once you've figured it out. They expect to have to be put to work once it's figured out, but seem willing just to get the guild back on happy terms. She did want to know if you were in town or not. I didn't say one way or the other, just to keep them from loitering while we're trying to get work done."

Shiroe nodded and took a sip of his sweet drink and was quite pleased with it. He lifted it to Purrcy and mouthed "delicious". She nodded with a pleased twitch to her whiskers. He stared at her and Nyanta again, then took his attention back to Tetora, who had paused to finish cleaning up his plate and down a few swallows of the drink as well. "I wandered up and down for a long time, listening, being available, but no useful hits. At lunch Woodstock made his appearance and made sure I understood he wanted to talk, so I had lunch with him. I let him know he and Akaneya could come by and visit Purrcy but only them. He said the translator wouldn't sell her out for anything, but I refused. Then he let me know they'd been watching their own doorstep and had picked out four or so possibilities on the street. I asked him to drop where he'd heard Purrcy was last, then took myself over that way after a bit."

Tetora grinned a predatory grin. "That was finally productive. Four did approach me and I took half and gave the other half to him, since he wanted to hit things. Once we both heard useful things, he looked like a steam engine, with the heat rolling off him and he got the guild up in sneak raid mode, stopped by at Akaneya's, who did the same thing, and they headed this way. I stayed back there to see who would use the opportunity to play while the cats were away." His eyes took on a deadly look. " _That_ was useful, too. I picked up an assassin-thief, low level and managed to get him to talk just enough." He turned to Purrcy. "Does 'the Caretaker' mean anything to you?"

Purrcy's tail froze as she looked up. "Did they want the Caretaker for anything in particular?"

"Well, it was hard to get information out of him, so no, I don't know what it was. He was just muttering about several things and that one kept coming up. The rest was...well...I think he might have been an Overwritten it was so hard to get anything out of him other than the usual death, etc., they always say."

Purrcy wiped her plate with her last bit of naan. "Well, I'd hate to think it was an Overwritten sent specifically to assassinate the Caretaker. Really, what can they want, the Overwritten? They are so irritating." Everyone nodded at that. "I keep hoping they'll ask for help, honestly. If there are souls wanting to communicate but locked into monsters that are required to kill Adventurers, it's hard to be freed from them if they're hating it. The only ones who could help them are the Adventurers, yet they have to attack us." She shrugged, "Oh, well. Maybe some day we'll figure it out."

She looked up to see the entire table was staring at her. "What?" Then she grinned. "You know, I take care of monsters, right? Even bosses are monsters. Just because I have to kill one to get the Overwriting to go away, that doesn't mean I can't wonder if there's more to the Overwriting than we can fathom just yet. They're the hardest to communicate with, I grant you, but that only means I want to communicate with them the worst." She shrugged again. "I'm crazy that way, I guess."

Shiroe was shaking his head. "No. I want to also. The only way to understand them and why they are here is to do that. But...to have that view point, that _they_ don't want to be there when they are so single-minded about the killing, even more than the normal monsters and bosses...I think that's unusual." Everyone else nodded slightly in agreement.

"I've learned to think outside the box," Purrcy shrugged. She lifted a hand and on everyone's plate appeared a small bowl with something creamy inside. "Please, desert."

Everyone lifted their spoons. "Ice cream!" They dug in with just as much gusto as they had the dinner.

"What's the summary from the ones you picked up before that one, Tetora?" Shiroe asked between bites of his ice cream, which was just as cold as if it had just come from an Earth freezer. He was getting prickles as the little things Purrcy was doing even at this table kept adding to his lists for her, though certainly this treat was well worth it.

Tetora explained that it seemed there had been some agreement made that if the Wolf Pack managed to capture Purrcy, they could have their way with her on the way to a transfer point, as long as she didn't die and end up back at the Cathedral. That plus whatever payment offered had made it worth it to them to hunt her down in earnest this time. When pressed for who the pickup party was, he and the guild masters had gotten two different answers. Westlande and some third party who seemed like they were affiliated with the People of the Land, but it was hard to tell since it wasn't any of the lords or people the Council already knew. It seemed there was a 'head bad guy', though.

Shiroe watched as Purrcy's tail and ears flicked a little more agitated, mostly at the unknown 'bad guy'. She didn't offer any information at the moment, though. Westlande wasn't surprising. The guild that controlled that place was his own nemesis, the antithesis of living with the land and all people peaceably. He noticed now, though, that everyone was waiting expectantly for Purrcy to answer to it. "Purrcy, is there anything you can say at this point to that?" He said it with careful wording.

Her tail flicked and he noticed Nyanta's arm move to put a paw on her arm under the table, giving her comfort or support. "No, I'm afraid not. There are some, maybe...but," she seemed a bit distressed. Finally she said, "Not having contact with very many Adventurers, and only a few People of the Land, I don't know any directly that would be interested in me. Perhaps there are some who know of my reputation, or of a reputation that interests them, and want 'that person' and someone has decided it might be me?" She shook her head, still distressed.

"Well," Tetora said almost dismissively, "we'll just keep asking around, then." He was obviously trying to set her back at ease. "This is just the first day of investigation, after all." The others nodded, also trying to help Purrcy feel calmer. "What did you two find out?" he asked Isuzu and Rudy.

"Ah, we got hit up early, walking the main path in," Isuzu said. "Rudy did a good job of acting like he was completely unhappy about having yet another new member after Tetora. I spent my time soothing him with platitudes like 'it's been a long time, though', and 'surely she's different'. Once we hit the main part of town, we got a lot of people from Radio Market and Grandale actually. There were a lot of people who knew of her."

Rudy nodded. "We dug for the basis of why with each one to make sure we didn't let any slip through. Pretty much across the board it wasn't because of the treasures that came in. They didn't open their mouths on that at all." Both of them looked at Purrcy. "It was because of what she's been having them do for her. They all rather felt like she already belonged to them."

Shiroe frowned. There were two issues there. "Are they angry we've taken her in?"

Both of them thought about that, then shook their heads. "No," Isuzu said, "I don't think so. Most of the guilds who are under Round Table Council members seem to finally understand that you're the basis of the peace in the city and the strength of it. It seemed to be more of an, 'if she has to be somewhere else, that's a good place for her to be' feeling."

Rudy nodded agreement. "They don't want to lose what she gave them, but that's about the sum."

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. That issue was number two. "What did you give them, or have them do for you?"

Purrcy was embarrassed. "Well...that has a long answer. Can it wait until after the reporting and dinner is cleaned up...maybe tonight's question to answer?"

Shiroe thought about that. He didn't want to take that much time away from his work, really...but... He finally nodded. "Yes, we can do that." Purrcy relaxed. "Was there anything else, Isuzu, Rudy?"

"On the way back, all those who asked after her on the way out had been cleaned up by Radio Market and Grandale. The general comment from them as we passed was that if she'd finally selected a home, then they'd see to it she was at least safe there and everyone understood they would have them to answer to as well, not just Log Horizon. They were growling at a lot more folks on the way back, too." Rudy looked back at Purrcy. "Just how big is your fan base, on both sides?"

Purrcy sat up and blinked. "Ah...I didn't know? I don't know? I just come in, sell, buy the few things I can't get outside, sleep, and leave. I do have to turn down a lot of side street offers for warm beds that I'm not interested in, but don't all solo females?"

"Is it the same ones every time?" Tetora asked.

She frowned. "I don't know? Only the Wolf Pack memorably. I suppose those in their territory know me, since I've refused them strenuously the whole time, ...and they chose to include my tree in their territory when they discovered it." She slumped and sighed. "That was a bad day, to learn they'd sniffed me out. I had to move up higher in the tree, then use Call of Home to escape to the gate. I still had to be rescued because they'd gotten smart enough to figure I'd try it."

"Why do you always go to the same tree, then? Aren't there lots of trees in Akiba?" Naotsugu asked, not understanding.

"Ah...eh...," she was so embarrassed that everyone could only smile at her. She finally put a hand over her eyes. "It's the only tree I can watch Nyanta shop from." She couldn't look at him.

He looked at her, startled. "Eh? ...Just how long _have_ mew been watching me?"

"...since Susukino and the catastrophe began," she answered, her mortification coloring her voice. "I ran from the chaos and Brigandia in my first run, then kept going until I got here and could be resurrected at the Cathedral here. I'd seen you there and watched you being kind to others, but before I could work up the courage to talk to you, they'd chased me out since I wasn't willing to be Demikas's lap cat. When I learned you'd come here...well..." She put her whole arm over her face in a very cat-like gesture of complete and total embarrassment. "It wasn't like I could talk to you anyway," she finally said miserably. Nyanta blinked at her, his ears moving back and forth in surprise.

"Did you come here because you knew it was his house?" Akatsuki asked. She was looking just as uncomfortable as Purrcy, likely feeling it sympathetically.

"Well, not really. I was letting the instinct take over for the run since the Wolf Pack has gotten better at following their own. I was mostly lost, as far as the thinking mind, since the sheepdogs and collies were herding me. It was hardest to stay ahead of them. They know the city better. I think they just wanted to get me to a silent part of town. It wasn't until I passed Nyanta on the way up that my nose told me where I'd come to." She went back to embarrassed. "I really wouldn't have. Thinking-wise, I saw the tree and said, 'that's it!' and went up. By the time I smelled him it was too late to change what the instinct had done. I'm really sorry. ...And I didn't know he was part of a guild. He'd been hermit before, but took care of others as needed, so I'd assumed he was keeping the same pattern."

"But his guild is on his information," Minori protested.

"I couldn't read it," Purrcy said. "Guildmaster Shiroe kindly included reading along with the spoken translations in his spell scroll."

Minori nodded. Isuzu turned it over to the twins. Touya and Minori looked at each other and grinned. "We did laundry...all day." Touya said. "And we got to watch the other guilds take out all the watchers who'd showed up in the morning. It was great fun to watch their butts get wiped. Then we got to watch Nyanta-san's first climbing lesson and I learned a lot from that. We thought he was going to fall on his head, but he managed to make it down, head first." He looked at Minori.

She was sat up straight and her eyes were very excited. "And then...we got to earn the Chef sub-skill and get it to level three." Shiroe blinked and everyone looked at them stunned. "Purrcy showed us how to do it. First we watched her cut an onion, then we were to imagine the whole process very carefully. How the onion felt, how it felt to cut it with the knife from the first cut to the last. Then set that into the body, those feelings, just like we do our fighting techniques. Then we put the onion on the cutting board, the knife to the onion and told the body to 'go' and when we came back, the onion was cut exactly as she'd shown us and we'd visualized it. Then she gave us lots of vegetables to practice on. By the time we were done with them, we could watch, or 'see', while cutting and 'bump', that is make minor changes to the original programming. Touya explained he does it when fighting and Rudy takes out an enemy he was going to, so has to change his original planned line of attacks."

Touya nodded. "It's just like fighting," he said.

"So then we told her we were done cutting," Minori was very excited, to have interrupted her twin, "and she asked us what our Chef skill level was. I was so surprised to see I actually had the Chef sub-skill, and even better was that it was added to my Apprentice sub-skill. It didn't replace it. So then she taught us how to mix the vegetables into the salad we had for dinner. We lost the first couple because we hadn't visualized correctly, but once we got it, we were level two, so she had us help with the bread and that took us to level three. So in one meal we've earned a new sub-skill and made it go up to third level." Minori's eyes were very bright and her pride in her accomplishment very evident.

Shiroe turned to Purrcy again, really not believing it now, but the evidence was present. Purrcy smiled. "It was a fun experiment. As children new to the game, they've already learned the skills necessary to live in this world, just by their hard work to be good in their Classes. Those skills translate in this world to 'real', to 'life'. Our bodies here are real to this world. We only need to let them be real, not just costumes or clothing we wear. But it means learning how to do that. This is how. Minori and Touya now have the knowledge they need to become 'real'." Purrcy looked up at Shiroe. "That isn't to say _everyone_ should become real. It has it's drawbacks, that I'm still experimenting to understand. That said, I'm afraid that in the long run, we won't have a choice. We will all become real regardless. As already said last night, this world is pushing us that direction whether we would or no. It's just slow at the moment, allowing us to learn it and to see how far we'll take it on our own." Shiroe felt a chill run down his spine. She knew something deep, and he was sure she wouldn't say it until he could hear the things she was afraid of.

"Wait," Naotsugu said, "they're kids and all, but does that mean us older types can do that, too?"

"Yes, Naotsugu," Purrcy said. "It's harder because, as Nyanta was saying, those who've played a long time have learned to act in battle by stringing together the commands as fast, or faster, than they would have while playing at the computer. This method is slightly different so takes more thought and faith to some degree for the older, or more experienced players to learn. But it is so very much faster, as you can see just from tonight's experiment. How long does it take for an Adventurer using the old methods to go from a first level to a third level Chef?"

"Days, weeks," Naotsugu nodded, understanding.

"Do we learn the Mysteries like that, too?" Akatsuki asked.

Purrcy tipped her head. "I'd like to experiment with that, but a little more slowly. When we do too much experimentation too fast we move the whole world forward too fast. Right now, we need to understand what the world has done to the halfs before we make it lurch forward again. We could do some irreparable harm if we haven't understood well enough this newest change, I think. But I do think it likely. If you visualize as you practice, then suddenly need something that is slightly different, but can see it happening 'just so', and all of a sudden you can do it and it gets its own label and name and formalization, then, yes. You took the long hard road. Now you know the easy one."

Akatsuki blinked, barely breathing. "I - I could learn...," she was trembling, "...anything."

Purrcy stood up and walked over to Akatsuki and put her hand over her eyes, making Akatsuki calm down. "Listen to what I just said, Little One. Do not do it now. You will kill me and half of this town in the process. Let it sit in the bottom of your heart for now, only. Perhaps there will come a time where we can all take that step and become real all together without fear. It isn't now. Please be patient. Will you do this, please?" She looked around the entire table. Everyone, including Akatsuki nodded. She bent down and kissed the top of Akatsuki's head and returned to her seat.

Shiroe was surprised to see that Akatsuki watched after her with great fondness, rather than irritation. Akatsuki turned to him and calmly said, "I began my morning being concerned, then talked to you which was worse because of the interruption, though we settled it well enough. Then I went up to take my watch. You've heard that news. I was very worried when Marie and Henrietta came to visit, as expected." She took a calm breath and had a very interesting expression on her face.

"Purrcy arrived as large-cat on the roof after they'd been visiting for a bit, wearing Henrietta's glasses, and landed on me so I couldn't escape. She told me to let Henrietta act normally while she watched and that she would protect me in the end. I wasn't happy and didn't want to, but by then Henrietta was there, too. She grabbed me and pet me as usual, then suddenly stopped. When she opened her arms, I escaped behind Purrcy right away. Purrcy didn't talk, since she wasn't supposed to, but they communicated somehow and then Henrietta was crying hard. Purrcy started purring and Henrietta - and me, I suppose - started calming down."

Akatsuki had a look of wonder as she remembered the scene in her mind. "Henrietta knelt and bowed to me and apologized most strenuously, saying she wouldn't ever do it again. I scolded her and told her I might forgive her, since she does do nice things, too. Then Purrcy comforted her and let Henrietta hold her until she was calm enough to leave the roof again. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the roof most comfortably. ...Ah, and the other guilds that wanted Purrcy have sent watchmen to watch over us tonight. I think they are hoping to catch more fish in the barrel." Akatsuki closed her mouth and looked Shiroe in the eye. She indeed did seem much calmer, and somehow happier.

Everyone was blinking, except Tetora. "Welcome to the club, Akatsuki," he giggled. She flashed him one of her small shy smiles.

"I'll say," Naotsugu grinned widely, "I've certainly enjoyed watching everything from inside today. She even has Woodstock and Akaneya eating out of her hand. They want to keep in touch and hear all her stories, and Akaneya wants to talk to you about trade arrangements since he doesn't want to lose his supplier. She was good and didn't let on, but let them know she was okay and had agreed to the guild membership on her own, the two things they were most worried about. And Nyanta showed he understood her own language well enough to satisfy that particular worry of theirs. Marie's in love with her, just because she was willing to _be_ a housecat for her. They are also worried about their halfs, but they only know Purrcy is a 'werecat' that the Wolf Pack chased up our tree."

"What's a werecat?" Rudy asked.

"Well, we told them it was a new monster from the expansion pack," Naotsugu answered, but he left the full answer hanging.

They looked at Purrcy again. This time she shook her head. "Not this time. Later. It's for just such things - one of my protections." They all looked at her, but let it pass, since she'd asked. "Ah. Let's see...I spent the day being questioned, trying to learn how to fit in and not get into trouble, and didn't practice patience very well. And I taught a cooking class and made dinner. You've heard the rest, for the most part." She grinned at them, her tail waving happily.

The attention turned to Nyanta and it seemed it was suddenly his turn to be embarrassed. He looked away for a while, crossing his arms. He finally turned back and coughed. "It's all been said except my part, I suppose. I spent the majority of the day being very irritated. ...Meowtsugu finally took me to task after the guildmasters left and pointed out my own faults." Nyanta blinked, looking away again for a bit. "So, I finally went and found her hiding in the closet again and we reached an understanding."

"Nyanta-san!" scolded Akatsuki immediately. "You made Purrcy-chan hide again?!"

Nyanta's ears turned back. "I'm sorry."

Touya snorted a laugh. When they looked at him, even Minori was blushing slightly. "That's a rather dramatic 'understanding' don't you think?" The younger wasn't going to let the older off the hook.

Nyanta sighed, then after a bit finally stood up and offered his paw to Purrcy, pulling her gently up to stand next to him. "After talking about it most seriously, I have asked Purrcy to let me purrotect her for the rest of the time we live here on this world. While it purrhaps isn't quite correct in the details, please, from this time forward, consider us husband and wife."

Purrcy bowed most prettily. "Please, take care of me...of us." The serene calm on her face was met by the rowdiest congratulations ever heard at that table.

Shiroe shook his head. That was what he had seen, but there was more underlying that statement than most of the others understood. He glanced at Naotsugu. Naotsugu shook his head slightly. _Let it be - for now._ Shiroe nodded faintly.

"Aww. Serera-chan's going to cry," Isuzu said quietly.

Nyanta nodded once. "Yes, she will, and it will be hard, but for all that there are many young children who like me, I am an old man, really."

"Then what's Purrcy?" Akatsuki asked, surprised, but it looked like others were in agreement.

Shiroe shook his head and stood. "She's mother. You've already all agreed to that, and she's already shown it. If he's done it, he knows what he's doing. He's father after all. That's good enough." He picked up his dishes and headed for the kitchen. "Thank you very much for the food, Purrcy. It was delicious. I look forward to getting to eat it just as often as curry."

"You're welcome," she said, almost shyly. He glanced back at her and their eyes met. He smiled. Her ear flicked in pleased embarrassment. He hoped she could be happy also, this strange treasure that had dropped into their tree so unexpectedly and just as suddenly made big changes in their lives. He had to wonder, as he put his dishes in the sink, just how terrible life - or this world - was going to make them pay for handing her to them. The fear in her eyes from the morning still haunted him.

-:-:-:-:-

They all gathered together again after clean-up to sit more comfortably in the main room. Purrcy again had the main seat, except she didn't take it. This time she stood in front of them as if preparing to give a lecture...and getting to know her, she probably was going to.

"Shiroe," she started, looking at him, "you've noticed that I can access my menus as naturally as I do everything else." She flowed through four different outfits before returning to the original one. "It works the same as learning to be real in this world. It's being _really_ an Adventurer, rather than just acting within the constraints we've placed upon ourselves because of our original expectations from sitting in front of computers." She looked around at the guild members. "This one you may practice, because it won't affect the external world."

"To answer the original question, what I've been asking the guilds to do is to create things that allow me to do that to greater effect in ways that are convenient to me. I haven't taught them the underlying lesson you now know, because it's still too dangerous, but they are slowly understanding it using the methods we already use as Adventurers, and that is acceptable. I'm sure I haven't learned everything that I, or we, should be able to do, or potentially could do. Even as humans on Earth we haven't discovered everything there is to discover about us or our world. I said yesterday, I love to learn. I'm the consummate inventor, scientist, discoverer. I love being here and getting to learn new things every day about this place we're living in."

She held out her hand and a box appeared in it. "This was one of the first things I asked them to create for me." She looked around with a smile. "Just the box. It wasn't much, not very hard once you get a feel for how to create a cardboard equivalent - I didn't want whole forests cut down after all, but it did take them some creative effort for several months. When I returned and saw the result - this box - I then asked them to make me many of them in specific sized increments."

A large box appeared on the floor in front of her. "How many items can we store in our item list that is the carry over from the computer status screen?" She looked around.

"A measly twenty-four on the main screen. The long term storage is only about one hundred." Naotsugu growled. He hated not being able to carry all his favorite stuff along with him. As a long term player he had a lot of those.

"There's the magic bag, that can carry a lot," Minori said.

Tetora nodded. "But it has a limit, too. It's about nine hundred ninety-nine, I think."

Purrcy nodded. "That's right. Those of you who are long-time players calculate it. I have to have enough food with me to eat for three months at a time, ingredients, tools, etc. I have to have enough clothing, weapons, veterinary tools, herbs and potions for healing me and my patients, and then room to bring home the treasures I'm paid with, and that's not the whole list. How fast will I fill up my possible positions for those things?"

They were already all shaking their heads. "If you've got room for treasures at all it's long after you've used up everything else," Naotsugu said.

Shiroe held up a hand. "I can store much more, but that's because I have specific access to certain things, like a guild cache I can access from any dungeon, but even then, it's a limited number. You aren't a guild when you're a solo, so don't have that kind of access."

"Correct. It was a great problem at the beginning. I killed and cooked while out and didn't carry any more than the bare minimum. That didn't work for the impatient me, so I asked for boxes so I could have more item slots. Cheat the system, in effect." Many leaned forward, but none looked more interested than Naotsugu. She opened the box in front of her and pulled out another box. "Eight of this size fit exactly in one that size," she said. "Now I have used one item slot to hold eight things." Grins started on faces. She opened that box and pulled out another one. "Four boxes this size fit in one of these." She opened that box and pulled out one more long narrow box. "Sixteen of these fits in one of those." She opened that box and showed them a set of herbs laid out in it neatly. "I can fit all of the herbs I need for three months in this one large box." She pointed to the one at her feet. "I have labeled it on my screen merely 'Herbs'. I walk down the tree to the herb I need and fetch it into my hand."

Everyone who had computer programming experience sat thunderstruck and those who didn't had the visual lesson to understand. "Limitless...," breathed Naotsugu.

Purrcy shook her head. "No. We are still limited by the original limits, and I have found that this is the extent of how far I can take the tree. Four steps. I can have as many as I want up to nine-hundred-ninety-nine in total within those four steps. There are limits, as is appropriate, but for most Adventurers, it is nearly the same in effect." She put her boxes back into each other. "Obviously, I've asked for other shapes and sizes of boxes, but I don't like waste so they all nest perfectly in their sizing. I am their best box customer but they are still working very hard to understand why I want them. I haven't been able to tell them since I couldn't understand the language well enough to negotiate my profits sufficiently. I'm going to make them pay me a lot of money if I get to tell them first before they figure it out, like two percent of each box sold," she looked up and grinned. "Only now it will need to be, what Guildmaster...two and a half? Three?"

Shiroe's eyes went wide and he did a quick calculation. "Three, but I'll bet they'll accept a lot more, like six to ten."

Purrcy shook her head. "That will be too much. I don't need to buy all of Yamato."

"I do." Purrcy's head came up quickly at that.

She considered it, then softly said, "Will you stop there?"

Shiroe blinked. "Well, I was hoping there were more of me in the other regions."

"I'm hoping it also, but if not?"

"Then, no. I would keep going."

"Very well. I'll ask for ten and make them give me at least eight."

Shiroe sat back hard. He'd never thought he'd have a sudden solution to that particular problem. "Ah, how much time do we have for that negotiation? How close are they?"

"They've already had a year, which is too long."

Shiroe sent a quick message to the guildmasters that he'd like to talk to them the next afternoon and would they please come to his guild office. "Right," he nodded at her. "Tomorrow afternoon then." She nodded back.

"Ahh, does anyone else feel like we've suddenly had Shiroe split and there are two of him in the room?" Tetora asked. "I got lost there."

Shiroe and Purrcy turned to him, but Purrcy put her finger to her smiling lips. "I haven't told him yet. That's for tomorrow."

"No...I think we all need to know that one," Naotsugu folded his arms.

Purrcy looked at Shiroe. "There are things I can say to everyone, things that I should only say to the officers, and things for your ears only. That one I guess everyone could hear, but should still be under the umbrella."

Shiroe pushed up his glasses and thought about it, then nodded. "I prefer to let everyone know what they can. It helps us to stay organized and useful as a guild. When everyone knows as much as possible they know how to help."

"Very well," Purrcy bowed slightly to him and turned back to Naotsugu. "I will tell you when Guildmaster Shiroe has completed my item. Is that sufficient?" He nodded. He was happy with whatever Shiroe said.

Purrcy made the box at her feet disappear. "Naotsugu, when you use this method to carry all the things you want with you, what would happen if you were PKed while carrying them?"

"Well, it wouldn't happen," he said, but leaned forward and put his chin in his hand, his elbow on his knee, thinking. "I'd lose everything that wasn't in the few protected slots, like armor, weapons, and special items keyed to only me."

"Correct," Purrcy said. "And I assume you'd be very angry and go rampaging after the PKers until you'd recovered all your other favorite items."

"I keep mine in my bag," Shiroe said. "I've put a lock spell on it so even if they get the bag, they can't get the things in it."

"That is very wise," Purrcy said, nodding. "Touya, what have you noticed about me since coming?"

"No armor," he said immediately, "and no weapons, staffs, instruments, anything."

"Excellent observation," she smiled at him. "All of my most important boxes, with all the most important things I don't want stolen, are in those slots." They nodded wisely, understanding. "I don't have a bag, not having been able to go on that quest, but I've also done a similar thing. Because all I carry are 'boxes', nothing drops."

"No way!" Several objected.

Purrcy nodded. "They don't count as treasure. The treasure is buried within the boxes and not accessible on the main item list. Only main item list treasures drop on a PK. The same with pickpockets. They can't because there isn't anything to pick, not even a 'box'. They get 'empty set', or...nothing. For you computer programmers, they get the pointer to the pointer to the pointer to the item."

Shiroe sat up straight. "That...that is...How long does it take to put it all together?"

"Well, you have a safe guild house. You have to collect your things from the bank and get them here safely, and you have to buy the boxes in the right sizes and figure out how to organize them in a way that makes sense to you, so probably up to a week - it took me twice that, I think - and then you use it until you get the best storage and retrieval flow."

"Ah, wait," Naotsugu interrupted. "How can you have boxes in the protected slots? The armor slot only accepts armor input, the same for weapons. I could see the specials slots, maybe." Another box appeared in front of Purrcy. It was labeled, with ink, "Armor". Laughter erupted from the guild members. "That works?" Naotsugu asked.

Purrcy nodded. "The only requirement is that the item in the slot has the general label 'armor'. I really do love cheating the system, actually. It's quite fun sometimes."

"Then what do you do when you really need to wear armor?" Rudy asked.

Purrcy was suddenly dressed in armor. "What's on your list and what you wear are not correlated any more, remember? This is one of the things no one else has considered but myself it seems, but it's the corollary to artisan clothing that Adventurers make, buy, put in closets, wear, and wash. If you put one on, does the clothing on your avatar on the status screen change?"

They all shook their heads and got it. "That messes with my brain," Naotsugu ran his hands over the sides of his head, trying to get his brain unscrambled.

"It's the thinking outside the box we Adventurers aren't good at doing yet," Purrcy said, "especially the experienced ones. Shiroe has practice, but even then it's hard, I think?"

He nodded. He had to think outside the box a lot in the Debauchery Tea Party days and he pulled on that quite a bit now in finding solutions to the current problems in this strange new world. It wasn't simple by any means, then or now. The armor on Purrcy was replaced by her outfit of the day. He looked at it again. "Wait. That's artisan."

Purrcy grinned her prize awarding grin. "If I put it in a box..."

The ladies in the room laughed. "Then you've put it in the closet," Isuzu crowed. "I _love_ that. I just freed up floor space. Yes!"

"But...to equip it...," Shiroe said faintly.

"Equip your staff," she said to him. He went to access his list, then stopped. "Exactly," she said. "That's the natural reaction of the Earth Adventurer. What should be the reaction...Rudy?" Rudy blinked. He held out his hand and his staff was in it. "Put it back." He did. "Okay, now pull it out again, but this time, watch how you do it so you can explain it to everyone."

With great effort of thought, Rudy finally managed to pull it out again, having it appear in his hand. "Wow. That's a lot harder to 'think' about than just 'do'. But that's what I do, I just _do_ it. I suppose it might be like desire it? I wish it, want it?, and it just happens."

Purrcy gestured to Nyanta and in her hands was a pale gold rose, being offered to him. "For you, on our commitment night," she said to him.

He took it gently from her. "This...is not something to give away, Purrcy. Nyan."

"I haven't. You will hold it for me," she answered, "the same as you hold me." Nyanta looked embarrassed but the rose disappeared.

Purrcy turned back to Shiroe. "So. Equip your staff."

Shiroe's staff appeared in his hand, though it felt just a little awkward. "I think my brain will now twist a little," he said. "At least, something inside did."

Purrcy nodded. "It's like using a magic, but it's a natural part of being an Adventurer."

Shiroe willed the staff back and the twist was in the reverse direction. "That's very interesting. Like we're taking it out of or putting it into our selves." Purrcy looked at him solemnly. He suddenly raised an eyebrow. "You carry that many boxes... _inside_ yourself?"

Purrcy smiled. "And that is why they return correctly stocked with us when we return in the Cathedral. They are part of the regeneration of the resurrection. Each item has a 'used' tag, or a 'lost' tag as well, or 'stolen', or ...so forth."

The last wasn't part of the first, but Shiroe understood exactly what she was trying to tell him. He sat back and his mind was gone, following that clue a long time. The implications were profound. When he returned, he found the others were either practicing accessing items more naturally (the boys and Akatsuki), or were working with Purrcy on mapping out their boxes (the girls and Naotsugu who wanted to get it just right). He quietly rose and walked back into his office. He needed to finish his current work as soon as possible.

He was to his desk before he realized that Nyanta had followed him in. He raised an eyebrow at the quiet man he knew very little about, even though he could fight with him as naturally as Purrcy was saying this whole world should be acted upon by them. He did know that he trusted Nyanta and was glad he'd been willing to join Log Horizon.

"What are you working on for her?" Nyanta asked quietly.

"A spell scroll that will create a secure spy-proof room." He answered immediately and honestly.

Nyanta paused, then nodded. "I'll wait, then."

Shiroe looked at him. "Has she told you?"

"She said she'll tell mew herself. Likely that's what she's waiting for, because mew'll ask her many questions."

Shiroe nodded. "Likely I could keep her talking for many days straight." He looked at Nyanta a little longer, then said, "I'll trust your judgment for now on that decision of yours, but it's extremely out of character. I do hope you enlighten me someday soon."

Nyanta looked at him soberly, then bowed and let himself out again. Shiroe immediately sat down and began working on his text and how it should work magically. But only in his head. He would not write a word until it was time to conference with her.


	7. PseudoCode Magic

Shiroe sighed and set down his pen. He just sat for a bit, resting his back and arm. He worked out his fingers, flexing them, then massaging them with the other hand. Normal writing didn't take as much out of him. Even cartography didn't. It was having to pour the magic into the words and into the page that did it. The magic wasn't in the paper or the ink. They had to be of a high enough quality to hold the level of magic that was going to be performed. When the scroll was used, the magic put into the words went into effect, so it was a delayed magic spell. But for it to be magic at all, it had to have magic put into it and that happened when he wrote it down. The cost for casting was spent at that time. Which he meant he was now spent. At level ninety-seven, he had quite a bit of MP, but most of it had gone into this spell.

Purrcy had requested "permanent", meaning that the spell would remain where cast and the scroll would be reusable. That was high level stuff. To help defray some of his own MP costs, she'd added her own magic to the spell, as well as given him an addition to the materials to make the ink. He shook his head. He'd called her in for one more ingredient for the ink, and she'd pulled out an air sylph's tear. There wasn't a quest to get air sylph's tears. It shouldn't have been a treasure. How had one been given it to her? How many did she have? Those would sell well, at least for ink. It had been a joy to write with after that was added, making the pen move lightly on the paper. (He always tested just a little bit. It wouldn't be good to start writing only to discover it faded, or didn't leave a mark at all. Of course...some spells you wanted that kind of ink, but not permanent ones.)

When she'd asked if she could help with adding her magic to his, he'd been willing. Looking at his own MP bar now, he could see he'd spent less than he would otherwise have, about equivalent to what she'd spent. His HP (hit point or health point) bar was down as well, from working so hard and so long into the night. He was just a little surprised combining their magic together into the scroll had worked...and suspected she would be as well. It wasn't like she'd been able to work with other scribes of magic before, any more than him. Everything here was still a learning experience, even after two years. They all felt so young still, in matters of understanding this new world around them. Even now it made them all wish to be home.

Shiroe stood and stretched. He rolled the scroll and placed it into a cylindrical scroll case she'd given him. She had been very firm it wasn't to be put into any internal storage, and he didn't want it laying around loose. He would gather everyone now and keep going forward, but it would be better for him to get the minimal amount of sleep needed to recover his MP and HP to full.

"Purrcy," he opened a direct chat.

"Yes?"

"It's done."

"I'll be right there."

He tapped the scroll case in an open palm and walked out from behind his desk. He strode down the length of the room and back, reaching the door just as she tapped on it. He opened the door and let her in. Best to talk with the door closed and let the rest of the guild sleep. He handed her the scroll case.

She took it and held it to her chest. "Thank you, Guildmaster Shiroe. Thank you for your hard work." She handed him a steaming tea cup that hadn't been in her hand just before then.

He took it with a smile. "I'm looking forward to learning what you have to tell me." He blew on the tea and took a sip. It was very restorative. He checked his MP. Sure enough, it was helping with that, too. "How is it you have hot tea all ready to just hand out?"

"I made it before retiring for the night and put it in my list. I think you know how that works?"

He nodded. "You pick up a 'fresh roast' as a treasure and when you pull it out of your item list three months later it's still a 'fresh roast', not a 'nasty spoiled rotten mass'." He smiled. She smiled back. "And the ice cream was the same, wasn't it? Did we use an entire month just for you to feed it to us?"

She shrugged. "I don't eat the sweets as often. It was fun to share with everyone tonight. Plus it gives me the room to put something new in. I have to rotate. Three months of the same foods over and over gets old fast."

That made sense. "Is it really three months?"

"No, it's actually based on how long it takes me to fill my slots, and how much work needs to be done. That's the rough number that's been safe to work with. The variability is useful for safety, though the ones who watch for me here in town have just taken to leaving someone on watch all the time, apparently, or so Woodstock told me. I wouldn't know, really. I have a hard time since I'm not here to recognize faces."

"How long are you going to stay this time?"

"That depends on when you're ready for me to go, Guildmaster," she looked at him pointedly.

"I suppose, but I don't intend on nailing you to the floor, you know. You're welcome to continue your own work, in fact I'd rather you did."

"The information gathering part?"

He nodded. "Getting outside information is the hardest. Having you as a guild member means you can tell me as soon as you learn it, which can make all the difference."

She looked at him for a moment. He drank some more tea. "You're alright with me taking Nyanta for the next one?"

Shiroe wasn't concerned. "I'd rather he spent an intensive three months with you than completely fell apart in the next one month to be lost for who knows how long. It isn't unusual for us to have members missing for a while like that, even him." She relaxed slightly. "I expect a full report on how well it went and what you'd do differently afterwards. He'll give me one, too. Then I'll be able to put together a plan to present to the Round Table."

"Even if it's different for groups than individuals?"

"Yes," he looked back at her soberly. "Lessons learned can still be incorporated and modified. We'll send out one group for the test run to work the kinks out after I get your reports. From that, we'll set a full plan into place and rotate them through."

"Very organized," she complemented.

He rather ignored it, sighing when he put his empty cup down on the saucer and handed it back. "Sometimes I wish we didn't have to be, but it helps that all the guildmasters are used to it just to keep their own together. The most OCD ones put the final thing together. I just have to give them a workable plan. That's what they rely on me for - information gathering and plan creation."

"President of the Round Table."

"We're all equal."

"So's the three branches - Judicial, Executive, and Legislative. Who do you use as Judicial?"

He fought to remember American politics, the summary they all learned in school and then promptly forgot after the entrance exams into college. "Probably both of the branches, Executive and Legislative, though the parallels aren't right since I set the laws, if you're calling me President."

"If they approved them, they'd be President in that case and you Legislative. It does work better to compare it to monarchies, but I didn't want to be offensive."

"Thank you."

"Please rest and sleep now." She bowed to him. "Good night."

"Good night," he said back and watched her retreat out his door, still holding the scroll case to her chest as if finding comfort in it, or afraid it was going to be stolen from her very arms. He shuddered. He'd rather not have had that thought.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy went up the tree to the roof. She'd slept enough for an Adventurer, though she wouldn't stay up long. Humans still enjoyed their eight to ten hours of sleep, even if the bodies they were in didn't need them. She curled up in a branch and looked out towards the center of the city. It was still lit because there were also those humans who enjoyed getting to live a life where four hours of sleep was plenty and they could party the rest of the time they weren't working.

For having had a day start out as a bad luck day, the last full day had been feeling rather like a good luck day. It worried her. She always had that doubt just behind her. That too much leaning on the "natural" and "letting things happen" meant her life was being influenced by that thing outside herself that she didn't like interfering at all. Humans in general don't like being influenced by the outside unless they know exactly what's doing it and why, and they've given their approval.

That was what made them the most angry about being brought here - it was against their will, all unknowing. The anger still percolated in the hearts of every Adventurer, even the ones that wanted to stay. Some day, they might find the source of what had taken them. That would be a dangerous day. The monster named "Adventurer" would rouse and destroy...even if they had been 'naturalized'. Someone had grossly underestimated humanity and was going to pay a heavy price for it. She sighed, and worked to smooth out the knot in her stomach such thoughts always brought.

She herself had moved too fast again. She was too used to arriving suddenly, being needed to accomplish something quickly, then leaving quickly again. It would have been better to have slowed down and taken her time. To have gone from solo, to guild member, to married for all practical purposes was a bit much for one twenty-four hour period. But her fear and underlying anger had driven that, too. Her own desires bringing results. She hoped she wasn't part of the problem. She'd rather be part of the solution.

"Purrcy?"

"Hmm?"

Nyanta landed on the branch in front of her. "Everything okay, meow?"

She sighed. "It's all moved too fast for someone like me, for all I was at the center of it. I'm trying to unwind." He settled. "I wish I could slow it down after today, too, but...I can't. Shiroe's as anxious as I am." Nyanta pet her head gently. She tipped it to make it more available, enjoying the feeling. She really did like getting pet. "It's most disturbing that under it all it feels like I'm here on purpose - someone else's purpose, for all he and I have been waiting for this meeting, this moment. I'd rather just rejoice in the serendipity of it all and heave a sigh of relief that it's finally happened. Pessimism is it's own kind of reward, I suppose." She closed her eyes.

"It's hard to believe meowr a pessimist," he said, a bit of a laugh in his voice. "At least it is when watching mew work."

Purrcy's ear flicked. She stretched out the hand not holding the scroll case and interlaced her fingers in Nyanta's soft fur, finding additional comfort in feeling his softness and close presence. She had another pessimistic thought, the kind that warned, and she sat up, tugging on his paw to bring him closer to her. "Will you let me protect you?" she asked him. Nyanta paused, then nodded. She put the scroll case behind her against the tree, using her spell to hold things where she wanted them to stick it to the trunk so it wouldn't fall. She leaned on the tree trunk, straddling the branch, put him in front of her leaning his back on her chest, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Moments later, a soft warmth surrounded them both as Purrcy cast one of her strongest spells ever for an individual, adding in a few special pieces because she was a pessimist, and a very meticulous one. When she was done, she released him and he sat up. She grasped the side of his vest with her hand and leaned her head on his back. "Thank you, Nyanta. I've changed your life so much in one short day. I hope you'll forgive me."

He turned around to face her and put his paw under her chin. "I only do what I want to do given the circumstances I'm in. There isn't anything to forgive." He smiled at her. "I'm looking forward to a new true adventure. That's what we of the Debauchery Tea Party do: look for the true adventures and then conquer them together, just for the enjoyment and pure pride of it. That purrpose was what held us together. When life got in the way of some of us, we moved on. The rest of us felt we'd done good things but could find good things elsewhere, too. Now many of us are here on this world. If mew've joined us, then we're happy to have mew. We'll take everyone along that wants to go and see it - the dawn in the vista no one else has seen before we arrived there to see it."

Purrcy was captivated by his words and intensity of feelings. Life in Theldesia was hard, but Purrcy didn't hate Akiba quite so much any more.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta let Purrcy sleep in the next morning, padding quietly to the kitchen. It had been different to have a bed companion again. Comforting yet a little uncomfortable, the same as any singles getting used to sleeping with another person for the first time. Apparently on the natural level it was very helpful to be able to claim her as his. He wasn't anywhere near as twitchy as he was before, even before she came. It was relieving. His tail swished in happiness. Well...maybe he still didn't have full control, but if being calmer was what it was, that was enough for now.

He pulled out his tools of the trade and his ingredients and happily went to work. At some point he heard the front door open and close. That didn't bother him too much. Most likely it was Naotsugu coming back from his morning workout. He was just getting ready to put the eggs on to cook when there was a step in the kitchen doorway, and a nervous sort of pause. He looked over his shoulder, then turned the fire off again. "Serera-chan. Good morning, meow." He kept to his usual lighthearted manner of speaking with the young Adventurer, a bit surprised Shiroe still hadn't changed the permissions on the guild house.

"Um...," she suddenly bowed, "good morning. ...Ah...I'm sorry to come early and unannounced. I was just worried...and Miss Marie said...but...she didn't say..." Her round face was bright red.

"Ah...the werecat?" he asked her.

Serera nodded, her face scrunching up miserably. "I thought you might still be in your room..., I'm sorry."

"Well...she is myine," he said calmly, watching her, "though we've all adopted her, of course."

"But...but...she's not just a werecat," Serera said miserably, dropping her head. He sighed to himself. She'd checked. "Is she...like us? An Adventurer?"

"She rarely comes into the city, and when she does the Wolf Pack won't leave her alone. They've been hired this time, apurrently."

"Well... I guess I can see how she'd feel safest with you," Serera allowed, since he was the one who had kept her safe in -

"She's also from Susukino and knew me from then." Perhaps there would be some way to bridge the difficulty this way.

Serera's head came up quickly, her eyes wide. "From _that_ time?"

He nodded soberly. "She ended up having to run and live on her own and made it down here without help. She came here rather accidentally two days ago when they chased her this way. She saw the tree and decided that might be a place to get away from them. She was very surprised I was here, and Log Horizon as well."

He watched Serera closely. She was still struggling, but seemed more willing to try to accept it. "That - that's rather terrible, that she had to get here on her own. I could never have done it without you and Shiroe-san and the others." She bit her lip.

Nyanta took a breath. "Serera-chan, Shiroe-ichi is worried about her and wants to keep her safe." She nodded her understanding. She knew Shiroe was like that. "That's why he's asked us to keep her a secret and I hope mew will help us with that."

"Oh! Of course," she said straightaway, like the obedient girl she was.

"That's good," he said. Then he said, "Shiroe-ichi has also made her a guild member so he can make sure she stays safe."

The conflict was back, but it was more sorrow this time. She had always been sad that she felt constrained to help her own Crescent Moon League guild and couldn't come to Log Horizon to be with him. The time he'd protected her in Susukino had made her fall in love with him - a child's crush on a savior. He watched her proceed through the sorrow to the jealousy and it ate at her like he knew it would. He couldn't help that, no matter how much he wanted to, and he could only make it worse from here.

Suddenly calico arms laced themselves around Serera's neck and held her in a hug from behind. Serera startled and stood upright stiffly. "Hello and good morning, fellow Susukino escapee," Purrcy's voice was kind. She was purring as well. "It's nice to have had such a kind fellow to help us in our times of trouble, isn't it? It's easy to love such a person who has shown us kindness. I would imagine that you, like I, still get through hard days by remembering his kindness from those times."

Serera blushed, then nodded. Purrcy let her go and walked around to stand where she could be seen. Purrcy bowed politely. "I am Purrcy. Please take care of me. I greatly enjoyed meeting your guildmaster. She is also very kind. I'm sure you must also have good memories of her."

Serera bowed back. "I'm Serera of Crescent Moon League. It is nice to make your acquaintance." She stood and looked carefully at Purrcy. "Miss Marielle is very kind. She was very concerned for me when I was there in Susukino. Being able to talk to her every day, especially when Shiroe-san was coming for me, gave me a lot of hope, too. I'm sorry you had to come alone under more difficult circumstances."

Purrcy's eye whiskers rose a little. "Thank you, though I did learn a lot from the journey." She smiled ruefully, "And I grew probably thirty levels or more, since I couldn't die. I would have ended up in a very bad place if I had."

Serera shivered, clearly remembering the threats against her own person as well. Nyanta carefully returned to his cooking. "How did mew cross the strait, Purrcy?" he asked.

Purrcy went to the working counter and pulled out a bowl, then invited Serera over to be with her. "Well, I waited at the beach a long time, learning lots of little things, like how to find food to eat." She handed Serera a whisk and started to add ingredients to the bowl. Captured in the story, Serera automatically began to whisk the ingredients together. "The sea monsters fought occasionally near there. When one that lost was washed up onto the shore, I went cautiously up to it and discovered it still living, though barely. It took a while, but eventually I patched it up enough and it got healed up enough that it could swim again." Purrcy put a pan on another place on the stove top to heat. "After we'd worked out an agreement that I wasn't going to be the monkey on the crocodile's back, it carried me across the strait and around the mountain, since I'd have had to climb sheer rock face and couldn't do that with claws. Once I was on shore again, I gave it the thing I promised it and it disappeared."

She pulled out a turner and a scoop and set them next to her burner, then motioned for Serera to bring the bowl over, which she did just as obedient as always, but not very focused on it. "Like this Serera-chan. One scoop in the pan." She demonstrated. "Wait for it to lightly brown and the bubbles to just begin popping in the middle." While they waited, she added, "From there to here was almost half a year. I enjoyed getting to know the farmers on the way. They had many fun stories to tell, the straw in the barns was warm and comfortable, and the children were happy to pet me and brush the burrs out of my fur in exchange for a story or two." She flipped the pancake over. "Get a plate, please Serera-chan," she said calmly. Serera obediently slipped over and got one and brought it back. "Thank you."

Serera bobbed her head. "We got to visit with farmers, too, when we went to the beach for our training, and again when we went on the quest to get the ingredients for the magic bags. I like talking to them, too. They have all sorts of ideas about what Adventurers are like and loved to hear our stories, even though we are only children." She stopped and blushed.

"Oh? I'm glad you've had that experience then. It sounds like you were good ambassadors of the Adventurers. We need more of those, truly." Purrcy handed the bowl with the scoop in it to Serera. "Your turn."

Serera took it shyly, then scooped and poured some of the batter into the pan. It sizzled briefly, then began to cook. Serera put the bowl down, then turned to face Purrcy who was still holding the turner from putting the first pancake on the plate Serera had brought her. Serera looked at Purrcy in the face, studying her solemnly. Purrcy stood patiently, allowing it. Serera opened her mouth, closed it, then said softly, "You're very kind, too."

"Thank you, Serera-chan." Purrcy said solemnly.

Serera started, "Oh! The pancake!" She turned to see it was just about ready to turn and looked around.

"Serera-chan," Purrcy called. Serera turned and Purrcy held out the turner. "I have it."

Serera slumped, then slowly reached up and took it. "Th-thank you," she said quietly. "I'll do my best."

"I'm sure you will. ...Thank you very much for helping Nyanta make breakfast this morning. You've become a good chef since I last saw you."

Serera turned and flipped the pancake over before it could get too dark, paused, then turned back. "You...saw me?"

"Yes. I saw that he was taking good care of you just before I was run out of town, and I was glad there was someplace for you to go. I'm just as glad that you've been able to return to your family here. I'm sure they were very worried about you."

Serera's brow furrowed and she looked at Purrcy in concern. "I had family to come here to. Did you have anyone?"

Purrcy shook her head. "No. But now I do. Now I'm safe and protected, too. I'm very grateful."

Serera looked over her shoulder at the pancake, then turned to take it off and add more batter to the pan. Quietly she said, "That's a long time, to not be safe or have family."

Purrcy put her hand on Serera's head. "Thank you. You are kind also."

"No. Because Nyanta was protecting me, he couldn't protect you." She paused, then looked up at Purrcy. "But now he can. He'll do a good job of it, too. Because he helped me so much, I know it."

Purrcy leaned down and gave Serera a small kiss on the cheek and purred softly again. "Thank you for your kind and encouraging words, Serera. I hope you continue to stay happy, protected, and kind." She flicked an ear that brushed Serera's cheek lightly, then said, rather practically, "You can pet me if you want. I don't mind at all."

Serera giggled and gently reached up a hand and pet Purrcy a few times before suddenly remembering the pancake in a bit of a panic again. Purrcy moved out of the way and began another breakfast chore, letting Serera stand happily beside Nyanta, cooking together at the stove as they often did before. Nyanta decided to not let on that Serera wasn't the right level to be cooking pancakes. He wanted to eat them with everyone else.

-:-:-:-:-

"However did you get over that land-mine?" Everyone was looking at Nyanta and Purrcy. The door had just closed behind Serera. They had all been holding their breath all during breakfast, though Serera had seemed just as happy and normal as always.

"Well, it's worse than you're thinking," Touya said. "I saw her run from his bedroom into the kitchen on my way up from the bath. In no way did I think she'd be sitting happily at breakfast with us."

Purrcy smiled. "I was holding my breath the whole time, too, and had to step very carefully, but she is a good girl. Did you enjoy the pancakes she made?"

"Well, yes they were good," Rudy said dismissively, "but why? Why wasn't she crying in a heap somewhere?"

Nyanta chuckled. "Because mother distracted her with stories and cooking until she was willing to understand for herself that Purrcy needed me more than she did."

Tetora tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Nyanta, what cooking level is pancakes?"

"Hmm? Oh, I think about twenty or so. But Purrcy put the ingredients in the bowl one at a time as she had Serera stir, and properly instructed her how to cook them the first one. She was so distracted, she didn't know she wasn't supposed to be able to do it."

"Will she be able to do it again?"

"Well, no, not for a while," Purrcy said calmly. "I didn't give her the recipe and she wasn't paying attention at that point either. What she did was sufficient for the level she is at."

"But what's her sub-class?"

"Housekeeper, which is close enough...especially since she changed it to housewife a long time ago and that includes both cooking and cleaning." Everyone stared and decided to drop the topic at that point. Purrcy had twisted their brains again.

"Shall we move to my office?" Shiroe suggested. "I think we have enough time for the full gathering part of the question and answer session. I've put a lock on the house until we're done. If the expected guests come, we'll get a warning and they'll get a message that we're on the way."

They all filed into his office, settling down in their places. Purrcy opened her scroll case and took out the scroll. She paused and they could feel the magic gathering around her. She put her hand on the scroll, then lifted it and the letters seemed to come up off the page, glowing gold. They began to expand and become wisps of smoke that lifted and flowed from her until they surrounded everyone, mostly invisible now. When the room was completely encased, it seemed to harden, and that to thicken, until they were in a fairly solid, if invisible, magic shield. Purrcy held it, setting it the way she wanted, then she released herself from it and it stayed on its own accord.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She slowly rolled up the scroll, putting her thoughts together as she put it away. "I will try to say all the things that the guild as a whole can and needs to know, but if I forget, I hope you'll forgive me and let us tell you later. I have so many things I want to say that I'll go slowly to only say what needs to be said - if I'm lucky. Getting thoughts out of my brain and mouth is actually not easy for me, though that may surprise you." She gave a wry grin as snorts of disbelief went around the room. "I have to carefully think ahead of time to teach. But these things I want to say, now that I can, I hardly ever think otherwise I would say them when I shouldn't."

She paused and carefully considered her words, where she wanted to start, which 'box' to take out first. "I guess, let me answer the question that came up yesterday first. When I transform into a werecat and the data you see changes. I learned the Transformation magic to protect myself, but that wasn't enough. I needed to be able to change what Adventurers saw when they looked at my status in order to really be protected correctly. I've already said I had programming experience, and we are here living in a programmed world in programmed bodies. The lists are based on programming, and limited in the same ways. So already programming is a magic here." She paused for that news to settle.

Shiroe nodded. That was the clue she had given him the night before. "That is my magic," she said calmly. "I coded for myself what people would see in the status display when they looked at my cat-form. The line is something like _if Purrcy is a full cat, display name, display type equals 'werecat'_. It is that simple, and was therefore an easy first level spell. As soon as I'd accomplished it, I was given the sub-skill of 'Hacker'." She paused again.

Several people looked worried at that. Shiroe and Tetora in the main, since they were the ones with the most programming experience. "There are others who'd already figured it out," Tetora finally said softly.

Purrcy nodded. "Yes. There are plenty of people who game online who are programmers. I suspect the first one to become a Hacker was from the United States, and likely more than one. I am one of the first ones here in Japan, but I don't believe I'm the only one. ...It's my guess that the as yet unnamed 'head bad guy' trying to find me is a Hacker. We can see each other's fingerprints in the underlying program that makes up this world, which I call the code world or code realm. If there are evil Hackers, I would think they would want to take out good ones early, or quickly, so they can't be blocked from their schemes." She let that one sit for awhile, while she looked for what should be next.

"So, you wanted a spell like this one so they couldn't spy on you?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes, but not just them. They would have to be rather sophisticated to be able to overhear us. I'll get there later. All levels can read text, though, that's why I didn't want the scroll to be put into your item list. All Hackers can walk down the pointers to read what is in your item list, or anything in your status screen. And change it, if they are high enough level, except certain restricted things. There are permissions on the various programmed items. They can trade out your weapon or your armor. They can take things out and show it to others or themselves. Only a few can steal it. Ownership is restricted, like change. It's like on your file systems. All Hackers can 'read' but read has more definitions than just 'look at the data'. Fewer can 'change'. Only a select few, the Superusers, can delete."

Nyanta sat up straight. "Erase."

Purrcy nodded. "Yes. The Superuser, or Superusers, I don't know if it is one or many, can erase...even Adventurers themselves."

That one needed time, too. It was scary to those who had finally come to accept they were immortal, even if reluctantly. "Have any been?"

Purrcy hesitated. "Not that I'm aware of, but I haven't walked down all the tens of thousands of names yet to find out. ...I can also change what Adventurers see in my Adventurer status display, so what you have seen so far when you've looked at mine is what I've wanted you to see. All Hackers can read, write, and for some things, delete their own data. This makes them very difficult to find, see, and act against. The worst is when they erase status effects. They can't modify their own HP or MP, though."

"Mew had to fight one before," Nyanta said quietly.

"Sadly, yes." She said no more on that topic. This was not the time. "You can expect, now that you've promised to protect me and I have a guild tag with your name on it, that you will also have to in the future. I will explain to the officers how to fight them, and to Shiroe, only, more details he'll need to know. The rest of you, please forgive me and just be obedient to them when it's time." The non-officers of the guild nodded. It was a rather normal way of fighting after all. "My magic counters their's, and your's will affect them normally as for any other Adventurer. It's just learning to fight a new kind of Class. I would like to remove from this world all evil Hackers. If they go up too high, they become very dangerous to all of us and the whole world, because they have the capacity to destroy the fabric of our existence and the existence of the world as a whole. I'm praying and hoping I am not the only good Hacker." Shiroe nodded at that. He understood that sentiment.

"When I twisted your brain this morning, just before now, it's a combination. Serera can't use Hacker magic, but she has intrinsically changed her sub-class merely by both willing it and by believing it wholly. Because she can't code, she can't 'write' the change to her status screen, but in the data stored in her it has already changed. Her true sub-class is 'Housewife' and it has the proper skillsets included that she imagined it should - cleaning, cooking, and I believe bargaining or shopping skills, though she hasn't practiced those as much. Maybe child-care is as well. It's a sub-class of sub-classes, and one of the first, though she hasn't been the only one to do it."

Shiroe held up his hand and she paused. He thought very hard, then said, "The Hackers, and even we, are changing the program...daily."

"Yes." Her answer was sober.

"An organic program," Tetora said reverently.

"A neural network as well," Purrcy answered him.

Tetora stared at her. "You know what one of those is?"

Purrcy smiled. "I know a great many things, as I've said before."

"Are _you_ a neural network? A self-learning program?"

Purrcy laughed softly, "Only in the same way you are. No. I am not a created being, a monster, or an Overwritten. I am merely a human." She could feel her eyes shine fiercely. When they didn't get it, she spat. "Merely! Have you so lost who you are, you find that word acceptable?"

They all jumped at her sudden anger. Nyanta put his paw on her elbow and she blinked a few times to bring herself back from that edge. Quietly, but with force, she said, "Never forget that you are the most intelligent, creative beings we know of in any universe, and the worst predator as well. It will get you killed. It is the definition of what it means to be an Adventurer. Under the programmed constructs we are humans, both the good and the evil of us. What this world wants us to become - the natural Adventurer - will destroy it. They will unleash the monster 'humans' upon themselves when we fully understand what we can do here. They are experimenting to understand us, and are watching us experiment, but in not understanding us in the first place they have gravely erred. Never forget it."

She turned and looked Shiroe in the eye. He looked back, complete comprehension in his eyes. The rest of them considered her words and settled in themselves what they meant to them, and hardened Adventurers looked back at her. She nodded, satisfied. "That is the full extent of the problem in this world, but the details are only for Shiroe. The details will get you erased. I have learned by hard experience and being whipped by the Superuser what I can say to whom. Shiroe is on the acceptable list for those details, but even still I will only tell him in a place the Superuser can't hear me say them." She looked back at Shiroe, "That is what the spell was for."

He blinked at her. "To prevent the Superuser?"

"Is that even possible?" Tetora asked.

"Very sophisticated encryption...for this world anyway," she answered him. "I couldn't get a job in my government for it, but for here, it's sufficient. ...And my test to see just how powerful it or they are. I may have tipped my hand too far, but I have very important things to say I don't want them to know I know. They are watching to see what we will do all the time, testing and recording the data. They rarely interfere, because to do so would alter their results. They do follow reasonable and expected scientific methods, only making changes when they want to see what we will do in certain situations."

"I believe they've captured the Observers and Overwritten to see what they and we will do when interacting. This is why there is the possibility that the Overwritten would rather be helped than killed. My expectation is that they were also brought here against their will and are also trying to learn about this place and how to get home. What I don't know is if they were here first or we were. I think they were. Like Shiroe, I want to talk to them. I suspect we are being prevented by the Superusers until they are ready for that interaction to occur."

"I also suspect I've been brought to you now because they want to see what he and I will do together now that they've observed us separately for two years. I think they are thinking too slow. We will move logarithmically when they expect a square curve at most." She looked back at Shiroe. "If you want to fool them, we'll have to move carefully and slower than we want to. If you don't care that they see the teeth that will bite them, it won't matter. But decide before you give orders. I'm a wolfhound pulling on the leash."

"Ah, yes. I can see that," Shiroe said. "Given where you come from, I suppose that isn't surprising."

"No, it should be rather obvious. I would think they've seen enough in their experiments of my home country to know I _should_ be behaving more recklessly than I do." He nodded. "I also believe that chaos is one of the things they desire to see, but you are holding Eastal calmly in check. I believe they want to see if I can stir up enough chaos for you to join the rest of the world. Add this to your calculations as well."

"They want us destabilized and disunited?" he asked surprised.

She paused. "Most likely. We are more powerful the other way, after all. ...But it isn't impossible. ...Underground movements for good have always won in our history."

He raised an eyebrow at her, then got a cunning smile on his face. She matched it. "Eyah! Two Machiavelli's and one with no glasses!" Tetora said. "I knew you were a Shiroe!"

"Yes, I am. I will return from interrupt. I am a 'First'. I am the First to fully understand that we need to let our bodies teach us and why, as a law of this world. Nyanta is the First to learn to cook naturally on the Japan islands server. I am the First to use recursive boxes in my item lists on the same server ...and so forth. Shiroe is the First to create world class scribal magic. The Firsts of cooking and hacking are not considered high level Firsts, but low level ones and the only changes are to sub-classes or to a status of 'oh, look at that one'! The Firsts of World Class magic, or the next couple of levels below that, receive higher distinguishing marks. Shiroe, what happened when you did that magic?"

"I received the title of Scribner of the East."

"A title goes to First in World Class, and maybe one step down from that - Regional?" He nodded. "A change of Class goes to the next level or two down from that."

"Class? Classes change?"

Purrcy nodded. "Only in those cases. Hackers can't change it, nor can they assign titles. They can see the changes, though, since they can 'read'."

That made sense to people. "So who is the Caretaker? Is that a title?" Tetora asked.

"Yes, and that's me. I'm the Caretaker of the monsters on the Archipelago. Technically it should be Zookeeper since Shiroe is also a Caretaker, but of Adventurers and People of the Land." She grinned at her own joke. "I presume there are other monster Caretakers on the other continents, but if there aren't, then that's me, too, until there are."

"Did you do a World Class magic?" Shiroe blinked at her.

Purrcy smiled. "That's a higher level question not to be answered in this forum, but I thought it would be wise to let everyone know it's me, for information gathering purposes." He nodded agreement.

Tetora was frowning. He looked up. "Purrcy, will you apprentice me? Will you teach me the programming magic?"

"That was your major?" she asked him. He nodded. "You're a good candidate, and I'm willing, since you'll experiment with it now anyway, now you know, but Guildmaster Shiroe should be the one to decide, as he will need to fit you into his plan properly. We're a small guild to be protecting two Hackers."

Nyanta twitched, then made a hand sign to Shiroe. Shiroe looked at Naotsugu, who shrugged and grinned a lopsided smile. Akatsuki calmly looked back, but the fire in her eyes was his answer. "Go ahead. That way we can alternate or sneak attack as necessary."

"Well...sneaking won't be possible after the first attack. His signature will be learned eventually, and then recognized after the first spell he casts."

"How do signatures work?"

"The magic is actually a pseudocode magic. Each person writes differently and gets slightly different effects. It's as if my magic is light blue, but yours is pale green and another's is dark purple, but they are all colors. ...Likely the protective spell I just did will draw the Hacker who might be looking for me specifically to us, if he can read that high or has a sniffer set. If he's not a Hacker, or not looking for _me_ , it doesn't matter."

Tetora groaned. "They can set sniffers?"

"And tracers, and other such things, if they are high enough level to understand it or think of it, yes. Everything you can think of happens in this world, remember?"

Tetora sighed. "I've got a lot of work to do."

"Not if you use the other method I've taught you."

"It's a natural magic, too?" he looked at her surprised.

"It takes getting used to since we are even more programmed to program than anything else, but yes." Purrcy pulled out a simple herb that had a yellow flower. She looked at it for a moment, and then it was the same flower, but blue. Then it was a completely different herb. Then it was a stick, and then a fish. She returned it to the original herb and put it away. "I only changed different attributes on the item. That's natural pseudocode magic."

"Then why do you help monsters?" asked Naotsugu. "Just change rocks into treasures."

"No. Treasures created that way don't have the tag 'treasure'. That's a specific tag. They wouldn't give any useful results if they were used as ingredients. It would be like having the paperweight or the statue of that treasure, but none of the use. Charlatan Hackers can - and do - do that, however. I've had to fix some of them a few times."

Shiroe opened his mouth again. "The Superusers...can they shut down a Hacker? Make it so he can't program or do magic?"

Purrcy bit her lip. "...They haven't yet. ...Honestly, it worries me. It's the one thing that makes me wonder if the experiment was started but they are absentee. It's the one hole in my theory that there is a highest level of intelligence that had a purpose to bringing us here. It doesn't refute it, since they don't interfere in general, and maybe none have reached the point of their limitations."

"You said you'd been punished by them?" he said.

Purrcy sighed. "I should have been erased at least twice already, but I'm too interesting is all I can figure. Things happened afterwards to let me know in no uncertain terms I wasn't to do it again."

"Well, then, isn't that what they are doing to the others, then?" Nyanta said kindly.

Purrcy pursed her lips. "Then they either don't understand how programming really works, or they are making me do a lot of work they should be doing."

Shiroe sighed. "Shiroe-san has to do a lot of work, too," Minori said sympathetically.

"True enough," Purrcy sighed. She ran her hand over the top of her head, finding herself stuck. "I think my mental box is empty unless someone can think of something else?"

* * *

 _So that you might understand a little better the relationship Nyanta has agreed to have with Purrcy, you might go looking up the wiki article on Marriage_in_Japan. Their relationship is first one of a necessity to the head of the family (guild) - Shiroe - and second of convenience and contract - an omiai - and to some small degree, kindness. Courtship, long or short, is irrelevant to such relationships, the same as romantic love is. Further chapters will help you understand more fully exactly what is going on, but understanding this basis will likely help you as we move forward from here._


	8. Second Floor of Purrcy's Dungeon

The room was still as everyone mulled over what they'd heard. Naotsugu went first. "She's assumed the 'Superuser' isn't human."

"I'm in agreement with her, however the point that we shouldn't underestimate them is valid." Shiroe answered.

Tetora disagreed. "Except that we're in a computer program that uses human constructs. An alien race shouldn't necessarily -"

Shiroe was shaking his head. "I think that's why she called it pseudocode. Also, they've taken the moon server. It has the basic constructs including the coding and the game mechanics, however the changes ongoing since then aren't human. They're outside our capabilities, even with the advances in computing technology."

"Unless it's all new advanced government technology. This kind of scientific social experimentation seems awfully governmental to me."

"On a worldwide scale?"

"It's not outside the realm of possibility."

The discussion continued for quite some time. In Log Horizon, this was a campaign strategy meeting. In the days before the catastrophe, guild meetings like this discussed dungeon maps, general movement, mid-level boss strategies, and detailed final boss battle planning. Those still happened when they were training or collecting items they needed, but these kinds of meetings were the important ones - the real battle planning meetings for this world they were in. It wasn't just because they were in real life now, and all guilds did this to survive and keep themselves going. It was because Shiroe was the Master Strategist and he'd decided he was going to see that the entirety of all Adventurers were going to survive in this new world. Peaceful coexistence was his goal while he simultaneously worked on finding a way home for them all, making it a doorway between worlds if at all possible. The members of the guild understood this and supported him wholeheartedly. They were his support network.

He'd been working and thinking hard on a lot of thing, but had been stuck on the larger issue of getting home. Suddenly, even before he fully understood what Purrcy represented, she was pulling the curtain back from the window and sun was coming into the room, showing him what was in the room with him. Until now, he'd been feeling his way in the dark. He didn't expect her to have all the answers. There would still be work, for all of them, but there was potentially a way to move forward now. Underneath that was one other thing that he was trying not to be too excited about, since judgment wasn't done yet: in Purrcy, there was the possibility of having a partner to help him in his quest.

He'd been thinking all along, hoping, that he wasn't alone in his goals. That there were other sane people with intelligence who wanted peace and good things for the Adventurers and the world they had been dragged to. Not only did he have someone come to him who might be just such a person, but from one thing he had pulled from her laden words it sounded like she might have the means, the addresses if you will, to connect with others like them...and maybe even worldwide. In the back of his mind he was already working on what he would do if that was a real possibility. To unite would provide support and build a synergy. He had learned he could only affect his region, Eastal, because he could only affect Akiba, but where he could he affected the neighboring regions as well. In the main it had been by supporting good groups and leaders of and in those places. He himself had received encouragement to continue on his chosen path when he had been able to talk or meet with them. If that could be spread across the islands and the world, how grand and relieving that would be.

-:-:-:-:-

There was a knock at the main door. Purrcy lifted her head from the couch. A message on her status page showed it was the guildmasters who had been her supporters for so long. She rose and rubbed her eyes as she walked to the door. She stopped and looked at the door handle, then sighed and looked behind her at the footsteps coming from the office. In setting the more restrictive settings on the guildhall, she'd been prevented from leaving, so she couldn't let them in. In her world, she was just being useful at the moment and being prevented was a bit of a shock. In the world of this guild, she wasn't too surprised. They tried hard to make it not look like she was under house arrest, but she knew she was.

When he reached her, she put her finger on the lips that were parting to say...an apology? ...an excuse? ...whatever it was, she didn't want to hear it. "Are you going to let me negotiate, or am I supposed to continue pretending to not understand? I do actually prefer to negotiate for myself, and I think that only by my explaining it to them personally will they believe it's my original idea."

"You could show them what you showed us, then let me negotiate," he answered back calmly, the question itself helping him to recover from her touch.

"A short term translation spell just for the negotiation time?" she chose to negotiate with this one first. "So I don't forget myself and blurt out things?"

Shiroe pursed his lips and his eyes became just a little hard behind his glasses. "Actually, that's a good reason not to. You tend to say just a little too much, yes?"

"Surely not." His eyes didn't change. "Fine. Show and tell. I show, you tell." She walked back to the couch, pulling her feet up underneath her and changing her clothing to her mood - something that would have been better worn in slave-master cosplay, though not super revealing since that wasn't her style. Just nearly see-through material that covered without being so flowy as to be in the way. It would distract the guildmasters enough into giving over too much, and punish Shiroe - maybe. He was being very Machiavelli today. She slipped down to put her chin on her arms. They'd already come when she was sleeping last time.

"Purrcy." It had just a hint of scolding in it. When she looked up into his face, it was set and not happy.

She sighed to herself and rose to standing. She bowed. "Good afternoon, Woodstock-san, Akaneya-san. Thank you for come on." ("Ikimasho" was the closest word she had.) They couldn't get words out but both bobbed their heads. She welcomed them to chairs with a gesture. "Please." As the three men sat, she pulled out a teapot of warm tea and four cups and poured for the four of them. Really, she was glad this was coming before the next round of interrogation. She might have begged them to take her with them when they left. She chose to not look at Shiroe. She sat on the couch again, Shiroe having taken the head seat as was proper for this gathering. She also chose to sit properly upright. She wanted to curl up again, but she was part of the negotiating team and so it wouldn't be proper.

"Woodstock-san, Akaneya-san, Shiroe-san help say boxes to you." She looked them openly in the eyes as she said it and as they started to realize what she meant and get excited, she took a sip of her tea.

Of course, Shiroe smoothly slipped into the opening. He was really quite good, actually, and she was surprised. He seemed much more awkward than one who could negotiate this well. Maybe being here for two years of having to deal with an entire city and more of people had trained him to step out of his introversion just for things like this. When he turned it back over to her, in better English than she thought he'd have, she was prepared. The hardest part was she couldn't speak English to let Shiroe know what she wanted because it would translate and then their guests and opponents would know. She hoped he remembered that particular detail. She could probably fudge here and there if she needed to, but not by much.

She used the Adventurer method of accessing her boxes - opening the menu and using her finger in the air to select her herb box - and put it on the floor next to the table. That was almost enough for the two men. They looked at it and got wide eyes. Shiroe slipped in a bit of commentary and she waited until it was the right time based on what he said (this part was easier in working together since she could understand him). Then she opened the box and took out the smaller box. Both guildmasters smiled. They got it immediately. She went ahead and put the second box on the first and pulled out the third box, put it on the table, then pulled out an herb-storage box and opened it and put it on the table as well.

With the pidgin speech, she answered their questions as best she could. Only four levels. One large box per item slot. She let Shiroe choose whether to let them know about the restricted item slots. He didn't. She wasn't surprised. Someone in the guilds would figure it out eventually, most likely. This round they were just selling the idea of physical pointers - containers of containers. She was surprised when he let her name her price. She started with ten percent for herself and two percent for Shiroe. They didn't mind the two percent, but the ten percent was too high, as expected. Shiroe worked with her until they got the two percent and six and a half-percent.

Of course, Shiroe whipped out materials to create a contract that they could sign and she glared at him. "I-e," she said firmly and pulled out her own paper and ink pen. She wrote it up the way she wanted it, in English, adding her own magic to the writing and it was signed by the parties, disappearing as soon as it was done. The crafter guildmasters were satisfied, but Shiroe frowned.

"That's how she always does it," Akaneya explained. "Your copy will be on your desk when you get to your office, as will our copies. They get translated when they go through the Guild Hall." Shiroe's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything. "Ah...could you ask her how she wants to handle the other ideas she's had that our crafters have worked out and we're selling now?"

Shiroe blinked and Purrcy's heart fell. After a bit, Shiroe asked, "Would the same percentages be acceptable? I think that may be hard to translate since she hasn't told me about anything else yet."

Akaneya tipped his head, glanced at Woodstock, then tried his best to ask it to Purrcy. She considered it, then put a hand on the box still on the table. She pulled out one of the other things she'd had them make for her. "Everyone same." They nodded and she wrote a second contract to generally cover all past, current, and future product ideas she took to them that were profitable to have the same profit percentages as the first one. That one got signed and disappeared as well. She put away her things as Akaneya negotiated specifically with Shiroe on what percent of the sales of her treasure hunting would go to the guild.

"No," Shiroe said, "what she finds is hers to do with as she pleases." She tried to move slowly - though she wanted to whip her head around - and stared at him with wide eyes. He glanced at her calmly and she turned away, fighting to get her ears to not give her away. In a few more pleasantries, the guildmasters were leaving and she was bowing to them from the couch. As Shiroe closed the door, she picked up the tea set and put it away.

"In Log Horizon, we don't take what's been rightfully earned. If you want to share with us, that's fine," he told her calmly from the edge of the sitting area. "It's also helpful if I can ask you for things instead of having to walk to the market to buy them, but for the most part, I go out and earn my own ingredients for myself, like most do."

"I expected you to want some percentage to pay for...food at least and whatever upkeep there is," she answered.

"Well, I have that now, don't I? It's not like it's much anyway. I'm already asking for information. I think that's sufficient." She looked at him, pondering. "Will you take it off now?" She turned into big-cat instead and walked towards his office, leaving it on. He sighed and followed her, letting her in.

"Ah, what did you do to Purrcy?" Naotsugu demanded, irritated when he saw it. The others looked to see what he was talking about, staring at Purrcy as she moved to stand next to Nyanta's chair.

Shiroe walked over to his desk and picked up the contracts to review them. "I think she should answer that," he said without turning around.

Purrcy sat on her haunches, curled her tail around to rest on top of her front paws and blinked calmly at the group. "Locked me in. House cats wear collars."

"Purrcy, what did you do to the contracts?" Shiroe interrupted, now sounding almost angry.

"Only yours and mine read that way. Theirs still stands. It was a split contract. In effect two contracts were signed. Theirs reads the way they expect it to. Our agreement was the reversed numbers and that's the others that've come to you and me." She didn't look at him or move. "Children, it's time to go play." With just a little trepidation the five not of the officers of the guild rose and left the room. Tetora in particular looked back and glanced between Shiroe and Purrcy, looking worried, but finally closed the door behind them. Purrcy checked the spell on the room, strengthened it where it needed it, modified the secure algorithm slightly, and took the five off the list of those who could hear in the room. "If you're ready Guildmaster," she said calmly.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe put down the papers in his hand with a slight sigh. He would have to remember a little better that she was from the United States. They'd already seen the fire flare that morning. Now he'd inadvertently blown on the coals and they were red hot still. As he moved to sit with the smaller group, he felt it might be something just a bit more now though. She'd moved one level deeper. It even felt like the room was a deeper part of the dungeon they were traversing to get to the boss level within her and her knowledge. He wondered if she had added layers of security to the room to make it feel like that.

She was complicated and so were her emotions and reactions to things. It seemed very appropriate to call her a dungeon unto herself. Easy going, enjoyable and fun at the first level, with just the hint of the puzzle she presented. They were at the next level now, and it was serious. It couldn't be approached lightly, but with careful consideration would be passable, conquerable. He set himself into that mindset, and it felt like the rest were also doing the same.

"I am not merely a Hacker. My class has also changed. I am a Programmer." Cards appeared in the hands of Akatsuki, Nyanta, and Naotsugu. "This was the magic that I did to earn my title. I'm not certain, but I believe I'm the first to receive that Class. It may be that it was earned by several of us nearly simultaneously, because I know I'm not the only one, but there weren't any before I became one."

Naotsugu finished looking at his card and passed it over to Shiroe for him to look at. _Purrcy, Creature Veterinarian._ It had a cat paw print in the center of it. Shiroe could feel it was a magic artifact. He looked at the status. _Summon Card: Requests aid from the Adventurer, Purrcy. Aid has a forty percent chance of coming when the bearer of the card touches the paw print on it. May have a delayed effect._ He stared at it, unable to move as the gears audibly tumbled in his mind. He finally had to move and handed the card back to Naotsugu, removing the words from the space in front of his eyes.

When he was looking into Purrcy's eyes again, she said. "I created the cards so that those monsters and creatures I helped, and were willing to help me, could contact me if they had an emergency. I can choose to answer them whenever suits me, though of course if I wait to go the patient may die. They are 'requests'. Please keep the cards in your most protected slots." The three holding them stiffened in surprise. Her tail flicked briefly and they were put away properly. "I believe I was the First, even if there were multiples, because I earned the title and the Class change at the same time. I think the title for the First, the Class because there were all of a sudden multiples who could program at this level. I have no idea what level it affects, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's world class, since that's my capacity - to affect the program and database."

"When I received the title, Caretaker, I also received an artifact, most rare since there was only one." A box appeared in Shiroe's hand. He looked down at it. It was rather small. He opened it and what little parts of him were still working internally stopped. He reached into the box and pulled out a cat-shaped summon whistle. Every eye was on it. He looked up at her, not really comprehending. "That is exactly what it looks like. If it is blown, I will appear the same as any Summonable monster regardless of my preference. ...I am a Summonable Adventurer. The First. Shiroe is now my master."

Shiroe's head was shaking itself. He took a breath and made it stop, though it took a lot of effort. "Understand, this is my choice. I was the one holding the whistle until just now. I expect you to use it only when necessary, and to protect me. Someday, I won't be able to come to you in any other way." Shiroe could already see what uses it could have: from simply retrieving her back to the city and the guild house safely at the end of a simple journey to pulling her out of the net of an evil Programmer or Hacker she couldn't free herself from. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

He held the summon whistle tightly in his hand, making himself feel the reality of it. He already knew he wasn't worthy of it. He also knew he wouldn't give it back. He felt like he'd just received the reward at the end of defeating the boss, while this was supposed to be the beginning of the second of four or so levels. ...But then, some dungeons were like that. You received an artifact early that you needed to complete the destruction of the boss at the end. He took another breath. "What is the safest way to keep this so that no one knows you've given it to me?"

"I've already left the label in the location where it was in my list, though it is now a hidden pointer, a reference. For all but the most sophisticated, if they hunt, they won't know it's left my possession. If you wear it as if it was an artisan piece, it won't show up in your list, but it will be more physically at risk." She paused. "I think I can modify the scroll spell so that only you can see it and touch it. ...No, I have the answer, but it's a spell that will take some time. We'll do it when it's just us. For now, put it back in the box and keep it in your lap. Remember, the box is an empty pointer and thus its own kind of protection." Shiroe obediently put it back in the box, now understanding why she had wanted the scroll in a physical case and held on to it physically herself.

"The summoning is reciprocal, in the final effect. You can also use me as a Summoner. Many of those that I have helped and healed have pacted with me, of their own accord, to come and assist me if I should need help. I rarely use it because I don't want to abuse their kindness, but they never are offended if I do. The effect of my Class is to be a Class of Classes. I am a Summoner, Programmer, Transformation Mage, and who knows what else as far as main Class goes. Really, I'm almost indefinable now, because I have insisted from the beginning that I am 'real'. Because from the beginning I refused to be less than the woman I was and am, and refused to be bounded by the constructs of the game program called ' _Elder Tales_ '."

"Shiroe, you're also like this. I know it from the fingerprint you leave behind. You work for a different cause, in a different arena, in a different way, but you refuse to be bounded. I believe all titled Adventurers are this way, though perhaps not exclusively. I didn't know you, didn't know that you were the one I was seeing, until I met you and watched you write the first scroll and watched it appear in the realm I see as a Programmer, and watched its effects. Then your fingerprint was evident, and I knew you. I've been waiting to meet you for a very long time."

Shiroe couldn't take his eyes off the golden ones that stared only at him, unblinking. Her voice had continued calmly this whole time, running like a deep river carrying him from the gentle field he had been in before to the depths of a mountain that he could almost not comprehend but which he had somehow been waiting to arrive at for some time. If he allowed it to carry him a little farther, he would come out into a grand vista, the likes of which only the Debauchery Tea Party ever went looking for. He held his mind still and rode the water. This was not the time to plumb the depths. "I've been waiting for you to arrive for a very long time. Please, take care of me." He bowed to her.

When he rose, she bowed back. "Likewise." Now including the other officers again, she told them how she would need to be protected when she cast her magic, how long the various levels of spells took to cast, what position she should be placed in during a battle, and all the other general things needed in that regard. She told them the same for Tetora if he were at Hacker levels. ...And she told them her real level and allowed them to see her real status. Then she lay down and tucked her front paws under her and rested, though she remained alert, while that settled.

Naotsugu finally sighed. He leaned over and put the heels of his hands over his eyes and rubbed them a bit. "Okay. I'm full, and it looks like you've got more to say. Can we take a break of some kind?"

Akatsuki suddenly gave a great shudder and gasped slightly as if suddenly coming back to life. She blinked and breathed concentrated focused breaths.

Nyanta sighed lightly out his nose and put his paw on top of Purrcy's head. "That really was rather heavy mew know?"

"Yes," Purrcy was as unapologetically herself as usual. Four glasses of ice water appeared on the table. After a moment, they each retrieved one and drank. It was exactly what they needed. While they were still holding the glasses in their hands, four bowls of food appeared on the table - a facsimile of the traditional Japanese udon noodle and vegetable dish with broth. They immediately snatched them up, only just now aware they were famished because of the delicious smell rising from the bowls.

Purrcy rose and stretched, then was the felinoid Purrcy (in the clothing from that morning, not from the negotiations, though she retained the collar). She sat next to Nyanta, her own glass and bowl in hand. She also drank from her glass first, then set it down and ate with the others. The room was quiet. There had already been enough heavy talking and the silence was needed. In Shiroe's mind of the campaign they were on this day, this was like the rest in the middle of the level of the dungeon where they recovered before pressing on. Then it would be silent also, the effort of the fighting up to that point having worn everyone down. The mid-level boss had been defeated. Next would be the short push to the stairs to go down to the next level. He shuddered slightly and stopped thinking. He would walk down those stairs with her to face the boss alone. He hadn't recovered enough just yet for that thought.

Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking in terms of this being a dungeon. Naotsugu put down his empty bowl, leaned back, and began to softly sing. Soft and flowing, yet a song of pride of accomplishment and encouragement for the journey ahead. Shiroe himself couldn't carry a tune, but he tapped his toe in time. He'd learned at least that much. Akatsuki nodded in time until she'd slurped her last bit of broth and noodles, then she joined in. Nyanta leaned over to deposit his bowl on the table, then leaned back. As he rubbed Purrcy's back, he hummed to the tune as well, though he didn't sing the words.

Purrcy was sitting formally, still eating, and listening with her ears turning to hear all of them. Her eyes were wide, trying to understand while at the same time appearing to enjoy the song. When it concluded, she said, "That was very beautiful."

"It's a Japanese Adventurer tradition at the midlevel rest," Naotsugu said with a contented sigh. "Just seemed appropriate."

Shiroe nodded his agreement. "Do they do that in the States?" he asked her.

She put her bowl on the table and considered it. "I don't know, but I do know that among programmers and engineers there are many who are also musicians. I wouldn't be surprised. I can easily imagine a guild of dwarves singing some of the music from _The Hobbit_ at such a point. I'd love to have the chance to hear that." Her eyes shone, then they slowly closed and the pain on her face, and echoed by her ears, made them look away. "Ah, God I miss home sometimes so badly that I want to figure out how to get across this ocean here and go see what they are doing over there, see if they've figured out how to live peaceably, and help them get straightened out if not."

"Texas has solidified, I'm sure of it. California and the west coast's a mess, so is Florida and the Gulf states if anything's survived at all. I think they had the worst monsters. The midwest is a collection of guilds that are getting along but are having to fight off random incursions. The mountains are full of bandits and good guys who get along for a month then fight ferociously for three weeks and have to take a week to heal again and cycle round again. I don't even want to think about what the northeast has done to itself. Probably a monarchy by now, with the elite colleges ruling it all. The eastern middle south is soft and gentle. I hope they haven't been overtaken by the harsh eastern middle north." She paused and breathed gently. "Well, that's how I could see it going, anyway, but underneath, all the good people have banded together and are doing their best to find solutions like we are. And they are the angriest of all the Adventurers on this world...and probably the most excited at the same time. They will be the first to come up with a solution." She opened her eyes and smiled. "Except we're all working to make sure it's Shiroe, and with a stubborn Yankee by his side...who knows?"

Nyanta pulled her into his arms and she curled her legs up under her and let him hold her. Shiroe smiled back at her. "Well...let's make sure we do then, right?"

"Mm," she nodded agreement. "I like being the First...most of the time. ...And that leads us into the final box of information to be addressed here, then Nyanta and I are going to the roof."

Naotsugu and Akatsuki sighed and shifted to get into comfortable positions again. Shiroe stood, stretched, then turned his torso left and right to get his back worked out. He'd been careful to pick up his newest treasure before doing so, though. Once he'd worked out the stiffness, he sat back down and nodded he was ready. It was time for the final battle of this round.

It was short, and when she was done, Shiroe felt like they'd lost in a sudden death match. While the three of them sat unable to say anything, Nyanta and Purrcy rose and bowed and left the room hand in paw. When the door closed behind them, Naotsugu said in a great complaint, "I really, really didn't want to be reminded that this wasn't a game any more in such a painful way." Akatsuki and Shiroe both agreed wholeheartedly. They spent the next long while addressing the one issue from every angle they could think of, but Shiroe could feel in his bones this one would be extremely difficult to walk. It might take the entire Round Table in the end. But before then...two people he cared deeply about would have to make perhaps an ultimate sacrifice, alone. They would have to be Firsts if he couldn't find a solution.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy...are mew sure that was a good idea? To tell it then?" Nyanta asked her quietly as they walked out onto the roof in the still of the night, hand in paw still.

"Yes, it was necessary. You...and I...will need their support. It will be difficult enough as it is. Just to know that they are standing ready to help us will be the strength we need to accomplish it."

They had taken the time to reassure the junior five that things between Purrcy and Shiroe were okay and fed them (from Purrcy's boxes) and told them to go to bed as soon as they were done eating, then continued on to the roof. The stars shone in the sky. Stars they were becoming familiar with but still didn't recognize really. The light rising from the city center was a familiar warmth nearby. They didn't feel the weather, since it wasn't raining or snowing. In Adventurer bodies of their levels, only freezing and hot were uncomfortable temperatures, so it could be considered that it was a "nice" night. The wind was playing lightly around their part of town and the building. Purrcy lifted her nose and sniffed at it.

"Ahh, it isn't the smell of the fields or the forest, but it is outside. That really was too much 'inside' for me today. Can we sleep in the tree tonight? Shiroe won't be ready again until probably after breakfast and then we may be cloistered for another twenty-four hours depending on how many and how deep his questions go."

Nyanta pulled her over to hold her in front of him, both of them looking out over the city. He didn't say anything, just kissed the side of her head, purring softly. Then, because he felt like it and wanted to, he opened his mouth and sang her a love song. Her hands were warm on his arms, and her tail swished gently to their side. His tail, on it's own again, curled around to gently brush her leg and her tail dropped to wrap around his lightly.

When he was done with the song, he carefully _didn't_ kiss her again, but instead let her go and took her hand and walked to the tree with her. She quietly taught him how to naturally climb up, then went first to a fairly wide branch and waited for him out along it far enough. It wasn't hard. His body wanted to be with her. When he was on the branch with her, he grabbed his body and made it stop there. She'd lain out on the branch facing him, leaving him enough room to lie down on it himself, facing her, so he did. They lay there, nose to nose, breathing each other's breaths, until they fell asleep.

The sunrise woke him, the light falling across his lidded eyes. He opened his eyes and found that somehow sleeping in a branch had been as natural to his body as sleeping anywhere else. He was curled in a funny position that he would never on his own slept in on the branch. He took a calming breath, decided he wanted to be sitting up, then sort of 'asked' his body to get to that position...and it did. As half of his brain mulled over _how_ it had done that, the other half enjoyed the peaceful stillness of the sunrise. It was a new personal vista of seeing someone who he cared about being slowly caressed by the light as it peeked over a building just enough to light her speckles, and then her golden swirls, until it fully lit the dark sleeping form of the femfelinoid who had slept just as peacefully on the same branch as he had. As the sun warmed her dark fur, she began to stir.

"Good mrowning," he said drowsily, still resting against the truck of the tree.

"Mmmm," she said sleepily as she slowly unwound and stretched sideways along the branch as if it were as wide as a bed or a couch, completely without fear of her height or the precarious position she was in. "Oh, dear," she sighed as she relaxed again completely, fully stretched out so her belly was now completely displayed to the sun. "Sun sleep."

"What's that?" he asked mildly.

"Oohhh...when the sun is too warm and says...'go back to sleep...' in very tempting ways."

He chuckled. "Is that what mew call it?"

"Umhm...," it did sound like she was getting sleepier again. He watched her until the sun moved far enough that the shade of the branches of the tree started to reach for her. It was only about twenty minutes or so. The sun had moved off him enough by then he could shake off the "sun sleep" himself. He liked this morning's vista and it's slow coming and moving on.

When Purrcy was cooled enough by shade, she also was able to stir again and rolled onto her belly, then slowly pushed up with her arms to stretch her back and shoulders. The usual reverse stretch was next, along with the cute yawn with the curled pink tongue. The breeze was back by then and it blew her scent to him. His ears wiggled and he closed his eyes to remember the scent of the morning as well. A sudden warmth to the air made him open his eyes and he was looking into her eyes. She was almost touching noses with him. He moved just enough that they did touch noses. It was the cat's form of acknowledging and recognizing a fellow creature. "Good mrowning, again," he said.

She smiled, her whiskers lifting. "Good morning. It's a lazy one...which is nice." She moved forward to rub her head against his cheek, turning until her ear brushed under his.

He reached up and held her head to keep her still. Quietly he whispered to her. "It has been a beautiful mrowning, but mew aren't safe. Go inside quickly. I'll follow in a bit."

Without comment, she shifted her weight, then lept to a lower branch, becoming full cat, then down to another branch, then the ground. He held himself very still until she was through the door. Having her become full cat had helped some, but not as much as it had the day before. Staying in control, he moved down the tree, practicing head-first down the trunk, then stood at the edge of the roof with the wind blowing in his face to blow away her scent, though the trace of it lingered on his own cheek. When he thought he could at least get through the morning until she was with the guildmaster, he turned and went inside himself and headed down to prepare for his day.

When he entered the kitchen, Purrcy already had the breakfast half-made, and it smelled like a breakfast bread was in the oven. He looked at the mound of dishes stacking up next to her as she stood at the sink washing more. He tipped his head, looking at them until his mind's eyes supplied the answer. "We've eaten rather a lot of meowr stores, haven't we, mrowr?"

She smiled at him over her shoulder. "Well, yes, actually, but it was mostly the leftovers. I realized yesterday, feeding everyone for about the third time, that I'm finally in a place where I can enjoy this part. I don't have to wash dishes crouched over a stream, and I might even be able to get help cooking in the indoors for the next run." Her ear flicked the question at him.

He discovered he was holding onto the worktable very tightly. It was between them, but he wasn't sure how he'd moved from the doorway to here. "I would be happy to help, and so would the others I'm sure. However, purrhaps mew should leave the rest of the washing to one of the children. They would be happy to help with that as well."

Her ear flicked backwards, catching the strain. She calmly wiped her hands on the towel hanging next to her. There was suddenly a larger pile of dirty dishes to the left of the sink than there were clean ones on the right and his eyes opened wider. "Well, it will give someone something to do this morning," she said lightly, making the shift to full large-cat. She turned and looked at him, just a little sadly. "I've crossed over, have I?" He nodded a little stiffly, still holding onto the table.

"Well...I guess I already knew that...I've been holding something down myself since about mid-day yesterday. I guess we'll have to hope I can hold it until tomorrow. I'll sleep somewhere hidden tonight...or next to Akatsuki and tell her she's free to defend me as strenuously as she wants." Both of them had whiskers twitch in humor at that. "I'll turn the kitchen over to you, then, Maestro. The breakfast bread will be done in about ten minutes. I'll let you know when my timer goes off." She padded out of the kitchen.

When she was far enough, and he was in control enough to let go of the table and not follow after her, he moved to see what she'd made and settle into his own patterns in the place that was his sanctuary. It helped to have Touya and Minori arrive shortly thereafter, their own scents swirling into the air to mix and dissipate the scent she'd left behind. As he set Touya to setting the table and Minori to stacking Purrcy's clean dishes to the side, since she would sort them by type and he would be haphazard, Nyanta gave a little sigh of relief. Hopefully the worst of the morning was over.

At breakfast, Purrcy sat at the corner between Shiroe and Akatsuki, shifting the table down on that side. Nyanta sat at the far end from Shiroe. He was still twitchy (again), but it was manageable for that long in company. Shiroe and Purrcy didn't linger over the table, leaving for his office as soon as they were done eating. Akatsuki took up a guard position outside the door, but it was really because she didn't know what else to do with herself since she would normally be sitting inside the room to watch over her Liege.

As Isuzu and Rudy began the clean-up, Nyanta walked back into the kitchen. "Leave Purrcy's dishes. I'll do them when mew're done with the breakfast dishes," he said kindly. Rudy nodded, but gave him a slightly worried look. He himself worked on cleaning up the stove top and the cooking area. When Isuzu entered the kitchen from finishing wiping down the dining room table and the usual clean-up tasks in there, she wasn't the only one.

Nyanta looked up from his own work and all five of the junior members were standing in the kitchen looking at him. Tetora folded his arms from the doorway, where he was leaning against the frame. "Okay. What's going on? All the rest of you are calm enough, except your tail and ears again, and she's still acting like she's on a leash. It doesn't look 'fixed' to us."

Nyanta blinked, then sighed to himself. "No. The issue from before is fixed. She...," he frowned. For some reason he couldn't remember it. "Is she still wearing the collar this morning?"

"It's different," answered Minori, who noticed small details like that. Isuzu nodded agreement.

"Hmm...," an ear twitched. "The relationship changed in the second meeting, but it isn't opponents any more, it's more like...," he sighed again. "She isn't mad anymeowre."

"That's not what it looks like," Touya disagreed and Rudy nodded his agreement to that comment. "It looks like she's mad at you, now."

His whiskers twitched in humor. "Oh, no. She's not. But it is going to look like that for a few days. ...The initial problem that brought her here has taken one step further and we've implemented a plan to deal with it. Meowtsugu and Akatsuki-chan know what it is, too, and will be helping us." The room chilled just a little and Tetora scowled. Looks went through the five in front of him. He sighed. "Are all of mew at the age of consent yet?" he asked bluntly.

Tetora nodded, but three looked uncertainly at each other. Rudy looked innocently confused. Isuzu shifted. "Begging your pardon, Nyanta-san, but...even if we're not, we are old enough to not be clueless. I think we'd rather know."

Minori and Touya looked at each other, then nodded. "If there's a thing that you need support with, we'd like to be able to do our part," Minori said, wringing her hands just a little.

Nyanta looked at the five. His intense need for privacy and his inability to allow internal strife in the guild warred with each other for a few seconds until he remembered Purrcy's words from the night before. He also remembered that they would all have to help the rest of the halfs coming after them. He sighed. "All right. Let's go sit, meow."

* * *

 _You all know that karaoke was invented in Japan, right? The Japanese people love to sing and aren't afraid to do so anytime they feel like it, though they are properly polite enough to not do it at inappropriate times. It is actually expected that all will join in when there are group settings like this. Nyanta's sudden desire to sing is also like that. Not really driven by anything other than the calm evening and it's something to do in the moment to make it a more beautiful moment to exist in, pleasing his aesthetics as a traditional Japanese man. At least, he chooses to believe it's that. By the next morning, there's no way to deny he's not in control again, which makes him even more set on keeping in control of himself, as the gentlecat he is._

 _Forgive me if you feel I've grossly misrepresented your specific region of the country in Purrcy's summary. It is only one point of view and one I've somewhat randomly thrown together (mostly based on TV shows from the '20s - '50s that showcased and generalized regions of the U.S. - like Westerns, etc.)._


	9. An Overwhelming Boss

When Nyanta followed the junior members of the guild out of the kitchen, Naotsugu looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Not of surprise, but of asking if he was going to be okay. Nyanta nodded a tip of the head at him. He stayed put on the couch anyway. His presence at times like this was just as anchoring as when he stood as Guardian in battle. Akatsuki watched with concerned and sympathetic eyes as well, participating from her chosen place for the day. Nyanta obediently and naturally took the 'hot seat', since it was his for this discussion. When the five were arrayed and giving him their full attention, which made his ears and tail flick slightly in discomfort, he began.

"If mew will recall, one of the issues Shiroe-ichi is working on is the issue of why the half-beast races are beginning to have troubles, and seem to be reverting to more beast-like behaviors." The five nodded. "I'm having the same purroblems. Purrcy explained her theory the first evening she was here and we don't have reason to disagree. She's also having them." He tipped his head, thinking. "She said then that it's a similar purroblem to when the flavor text of items began to become real. We Adventurers have been wearing our beast halves as 'costumes'. That's becoming no longer possible. The beast half is becoming real in the same way."

The expected looks of stress, concern, and sympathy went through the listeners. Tetora's look became one of resigned understanding and he nodded. "We of the cross-gendered went through it earlier, late in the first year. It was very difficult and some still haven't recovered. I was stubborn, but even still it wasn't until she scolded and taught me that I was able to understand how to really live properly. I'm _still_ working on it, but I'm feeling much better now." He got curious looks. "Ah, she said, in effect, that it doesn't matter what the outside is, or what circumstances are forced on us, it's what we choose on the inside to be or remain anyway." He shrugged. "I suppose we hear that in different ways all the time, but maybe this time I was ready to understand it...and she gave me an example I could understand and relate to." Akatsuki nodded from her place.

Nyanta waited until they were ready to listen again. "Because she is here, Shiroe-ichi now has a way to learn of a solution to help Akiba and the Adventurers. Purrcy herself is an experimenter, and is willing to help him. She has also asked if I would help her. ...If mew remember from yesterday, she called herself the First of many things, and particularly of learning how the bodies of Adventurers have their own way to be naturally." They nodded. "Yesterday evening, she called this way of being she has been living as the 'First Wild Adventurer'. All of the Firsts that come to the half-beasts happen to her first."

Nyanta took a breath and his tail twitched rather violently and his ears went down unhappily. "She has just entered the beginning of her heat as of this morning." He needed to say it for Naotsugu and Akatsuki's sake as well, so they understood, but it was hard to admit, and the looks of dismay on the juniors' faces was hard to see. Nyanta looked at Naotsugu instead, since he knew well enough already and knew to stay calm and unperturbed.

"She told me she would be when I talked to her in the afternoon two days ago. Our arrangement is that I'm protecting her from the other half-beasts by being her mate. We can only assume that we will follow the patterns we expect to see in full beasts. An unmated female in heat will be beset by groups of males. A mated one will be marked and only that one male will touch her. Shiroe-ichi has locked her into the guild hall in case that isn't sufficient."

The girls' eyes were very wide and Minori wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. "That - that sounds awful. Terrible things will happen if that's true and no one understands."

Nyanta nodded. "Indeed. ...Purrcy, as a veterinarian in this world, understands all too well. ...On Earth, the only thing that can prevent female animals from going into heat is spaying. Neutering prevents the males from having the desire or interest regardless. Purrcy's first experiment will be to see if half-beast Adventurers can be spayed and neutered. She and I will be the experimental cases. The chances of it working are slim, as the expectation is that upon death and resurrection, the parts removed during the surgery will reappear. It would be a temporary solution at best in that case, though it may be one that is taught to the medical Adventurers and People of the Land anyway, and would have to be repeated after every resurrection for every half-beast."

"Purrcy is hoping that if she can add a Hacker spell to the surgery, adding a tag to indicate the Adventurer has been spayed or neutered, that she can make it permanent. It will likely take several days of experimentation for us to know what will work or what will not. We will begin the experiments immediately tomorrow morning, because as soon as she is in full heat, she will not be able to continue with them. ...We may have to begin them as soon as she is done speaking with Shiroe-ichi tonight." Nyanta looked at Naotsugu again and his ears twitched back towards Akatsuki. They both nodded.

"And...if they don't work?" Tetora asked, mostly calm.

"Then we will mate and the second half of the experimentation will begin," Nyanta said flatly.

After a stunned silence, Isuzu asked, "What will that mean?"

"It means we'll see if we become the First Parents. The experiment to see if Adventurers can, or even must purrocreate will begin."

Rudy's eyes went very big and he paled. "That...would...be very bad," he said in a small voice, very uncharacteristic of him.

Everyone's eyes went to him. "Yes," Nyanta said to him, the word weighted heavily. "We well understand the threat this possibility holds in the mind and eyes of the People of the Land. It would take years, maybe even generations of lives of the People of the Land, for us to learn how long it takes for even one generation of Adventurers to die. As an early estimate, assuming we have children, Purrcy thinks that we will each live many hundreds of years, and the Cathedrals will not cease to function until the third and fourth generations begin to die.

It would be to us as if Dragons had come to our world to stay. Our lore says they did once exist all over the face of our whole world, but in our day, none exist. Humans killed them all, if they did exist, so long ago that we no longer know if it was truth or not. We know the final outcome in the end. ...Please believe me, we are all hoping that it isn't possible to purrocreate, just as fervently as we are hoping to find a way home. None of mew will breathe a word of this outside the walls of this building. This falls under the Shiroe-ichi rule. He, and only he, will let the world know the summary of the purroblem and it's solution. Utter chaos and war will be the result otherwise." He looked at Rudy until he swallowed and nodded, then at the rest of them all very soberly. They could only return his look, all of them rather pale.

He stood, not particularly looking at them. "We are on purrpose as of this morning staying separated and apart so that we can get the first set of experiments completed. Akatsuki-chan, she says she'll come sleep with mew tonight and mew're free to sit on her or in the doorway with meowr blade between us both. I'm considering sleeping on the roof again." He walked into the kitchen and headed for the sink. Doing the dishes would keep him occupied. And then he would begin making food to put in those dishes for her.

The quiet voices of his guildmates being talked down by Naotsugu, with the occasional comment by Akatsuki were a peaceful noise in the background of his warm soapy water meditation. The rhythmical action of select, scrub around the inside, wipe around the outside, rinse, place, occupied his attention.

He was just getting to filling the drying counter of the sink when he realized that the pile wasn't increasing. His attention returned to the room a bit and he caught the movements from the corner of his eye. Hands were reaching in and picking up dishes. He turned and looked behind him in surprise. Touya and Minori were drying the dishes, then handing them to Rudy and Isuzu who were stacking them neatly on trays on the table. Tetora was just returning to the table and Nyanta looked on the other side to see that he was stacking the trays up on the side table he'd been having Minori put Purrcy's dishes on before. His whiskers twitched in a smile. People like these made this guild a good place to be. He returned to the dish in his paws.

"Nyanta, what are you going to do with all these dishes?" Tetora asked, having seen him looking around and being bored while waiting for the next tray to be completed.

"Maiow. These are the dishes from Purrcy's boxes. She will need them refilled before leaving again. Would mew all like to help me refill them, nyan?"

"Could we, please?" Minori asked hopefully.

"We'd need the boxes," Touya interjected.

Nyanta nodded. "Minorichi, make some tea for Purrcy and Shiroe-ichi and take it to Akatsuki-chan. Have her return with the food boxes."

"Okay," Minori said cheerfully. She slipped out of her position as dish dryer and turned on the heat below the teapot that always sat full of water on the back burner of the stove top. Nyanta instructed her on how to put the herbs into the cups and just when the water would be hot enough to pour over them, then let her use her newly learned natural cooking skills for herself. Nyanta handed four pieces of fruit to Touya. The younger boy got a sparkle in his eye and fetched two bowls, a cutting board and knife. Rudy stepped in as dish dryer and Tetora helped get the remaining already dry dishes on the drying side of the sink put on the tray.

In this way they spent an enjoyable day working together in the kitchen, coming up with many good ideas of their favorite dishes they wanted to share with Purrcy, and getting to practice the new skills she'd taught them, while she and their Guildmaster worked hard for them and for all of the Adventurers of Akiba...and perhaps the world. It was what they did, the purpose of their guild, and the goal of their Guildmaster. They had started on the next adventure and today were doing their parts to get to the goal, and having the best time doing it together.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. She was in cat form, and now he knew why. She was exhausted, and he'd told her to sleep. It had taken half of a second for her to start lightly snoring on the couch, right where she'd been sitting to talk to him. This battle wasn't finished, but he'd already won. He wanted to pull a blanket over her, but it was redundant since she was covered in fur and a cat right now. Instead he put his hand lightly on her head and just lightly brushed her fur, then removed his hand so he wouldn't wake her. He moved to lean back on the front of his desk to come down from the battle himself.

Purrcy was obviously not experienced in group battle dynamics. She'd never had the opportunity to play in a raid, or even a small group battle. He knew how to handle solo players brought in to play with experienced groups, and Log Horizon knew how to train her so she would fit in just fine and become one with them. That wouldn't take much effort on their part, though it might on hers. The main part, that had been the cause of today's exhaustion, was that in order for her to play with them, she had to tell Shiroe _everything_ about herself. She'd understood that, but not really been prepared for what it meant. He'd not quite been prepared for it either, though in hindsight it should have been obvious.

Shiroe had made the initial mistake of asking her the details of what she could do. She'd given him the next level down summary from what she'd said to the officers the afternoon before. Kind of a pseudocode of the pseudocode, or an outline where the bullet points were: 1) Offensive Spells, 2) Defensive Spells, 3) Recovery Spells, 4) Damage Reduction Spells, 5) Data Gathering Spells, 6) Data Changing Spells, 7)... He still wasn't sure he'd reached the end of that bullet list yet. He'd stopped it right about there and rethought his attack strategy. He'd originally approached it the way he always did when thinking about the four Classes and their capabilities. It had been an abrupt reminder at the outset that she was outside. Outside the box, outside the game limits, outside his standard of "memorize the skillsets of the players and put them together as a whole". Not even she memorized more than a few of her spells.

Her magic was a language. Languages were extremely robust, but they all had limits and boundaries. So he'd reconfigured his thinking and asked her what those were. What were the limitations? What couldn't she do? How far had she tested the boundaries for herself? That had been the right attack to take and he'd been pushing her to understand the full space her magic filled. They'd both been learning things. In learning the boundaries, he'd been learning what she probably could do and what she couldn't do. In asking for the boundaries, she'd been learning just to what level of detail he needed to work. He had been slowly rethinking and refining his attack as she wore down faster and faster. He'd finally let her sleep this time instead of just rest because she wasn't even lasting an hour now before her brain shut down. Just that in itself was a limitation.

Her own mind was the source of the magic. He'd watched the MP drop the more he pushed her, but even more telling was that the harder he pushed, the faster her _HP_ dropped. That had surprised him and when he'd asked her about it, she hadn't known, but wasn't surprised. After all she was the one that felt the effects. Right now her HP was nearly depleted. Actually, her HP was, when full, a lot lower than her MP, rather appropriately for a magic user. When they trained her to work with them, he wanted to include physical attacks, since she could do them, too, to increase her overall HP.

Normally, from the Adventurer/ _Elder Tales_ game player point of view, he wouldn't have even considered thinking of it, but he'd learned something else from the last few days with her that he'd tested when he realized how low her HP was. It looked like it was a truth - at least for her - and he thought it would work. If she practiced something, all of the related skills, attributes, and any other related stat changed. If she worked at hitting things with a sword, her strength, speed, sword skill, perhaps agility, _and_ HP would all rise. He wasn't sure if defense would or if she would have to take damage for that to go up. The reason it worked was because she was real in this world. Just like if it had been her body on Earth, if she were to exercise, all of those properties would increase independently yet interdependently. Since she was the most real of the Adventurers, he wasn't sure if it worked for anyone else - yet - but he wouldn't be surprised if it did - eventually.

He checked her stats again. He was watching the percentage increase over time. That was another detail he needed and it was easiest to get it on his own, since it needed to happen anyway and he had other questions for her that he couldn't get so easily. That had been one of his refinements to his attack. Only ask for the things he couldn't figure out on his own. Another one had been: if a limit isn't known, instead of track it down right now, wait until he needed to know it. She was request-driven. If he wanted to have her cast a spell, then he could ask her to do it far enough in advance that she could cast it. She did know generally how difficult a spell would be and how long it would take to cast it once the request was made. He'd learned that when she'd cast the spell to hide her Summon whistle on his person, that one example teaching him more than any questions of "what can you do" could have. She did have cantrips - simpler spells that she could cast quickly and easily with almost no cost to them. When he'd understood that, he'd almost strayed away from his new, correct attack method and asked her for the list, then remembered it was probably several days worth long and it should wait for another time.

That had been another refinement. Only ask for what he really needed to know today, right now. Sometimes the simple outline was sufficient and going deep just derailed them. Other times he knew with his Strategist's instincts that he _had_ to have the deep details today or he was going to regret not having asked. That was when he pushed her. Drove her to the depths of her capacity...and it was very deep. He'd almost not made it up to air the first time, when he hadn't quite been as prepared as he'd learned to become now. She'd kindly shown him the way back and they'd taken a break so they both could recover and he could rethink doing that again. That was an attack spell that had a long recovery and recast time on his part.

Shiroe took a deep breath and folded his arms. He looked up at the ceiling, making a few calculations and adjustments from this last round, then he closed his eyes and admitted it was time to retreat. He walked over to the door and walked out, leaving behind a guild hall lock on it so that Akatsuki was the only one who could go in or out. The diminutive ninja was outside his door, not surprisingly, though she didn't have to be...ever. She just chose to be and he'd only ever been able to just accept it. Even if something made him uncomfortable it wasn't his way to make people change just to suit his whims...unless it affected everyone. If it just affected him, he went along with it, mostly. He looked at Akatsuki now, while he was facing the door. She was looking back up at him from her knees, where she was most comfortable, waiting to see if he had instructions.

"You okay?" he asked her quietly.

"Me, my...," she blushed, "Shiroe? ...Ah, yes, fine, ...thank you. And you?" That change had been one of the requests he'd made from their conversation two days ago. If she really did like him in _that_ way, then she couldn't continue to stay formal when they spoke. Formal speech like that in private continued to hold anyone at arm's length.

"Done for a bit," he answered it vaguely on purpose.

"Are you?" she asked looking at him closely. "Your eyes say you're not."

He blinked, then realized he was still feeling that tension of being in battle. He paused to consider why, running through the various options, then shook his head. "No, I do have one more, but not with Purrcy." He took another breath and settled into the new battle, now that he saw it more clearly. It was smaller, but needed careful handling, and he had things to set before he began. That's why he'd stopped to talk with just her. He looked at her again. "Akatsuki, I need a shield for this next one. I need you. Will you help me?"

She blinked and rose to her feet. "Of course, Shiroe," she bowed to him slightly.

"Where is Nyanta?"

"On the roof. Naotsugu is watching over him."

"And the rest?"

She turned and pointed into the common room space. He glanced over his shoulder. The five junior members were all arrayed in the chairs and on the couch cuddled under blankets, not really awake, not really asleep. He turned back to her. "Come up with me," he said quietly. When someone stirred as they passed, he quietly said, "Stay here and watch." They settled, but he could feel that they weren't quite happy with that order. He'd ask after he was settled himself.

On the third floor landing he paused, then led her to one of the empty rooms. "Akatsuki," he said gently, "Purrcy explained to me why she's been in cat form so frequently. You need to know so you know how to be my shield." His faithful shadow nodded that she was listening. He took a breath. If he wasn't in battle mode he'd be mortified to even open his mouth. "Because they are half-beast, half-human, the pheromones of being in heat not only affect the beast half, but also the human half. It cuts the effect for her to be full beast, since it will only affect the beast half." Akatsuki was looking sympathetic towards the two felinoids, but that wasn't where he was going with this. "It also cuts the effect she has on non-beast races."

Slowly Akatsuki's eyes got very wide. "Even you, my Liege?" she slipped into the formal from her surprise since it was the automatic now. Still, he put his finger on her lips to remind her. "Sorry. ...Shiroe?"

He leaned over, not able to say it any other way since he'd been fighting being in that room too long. He cupped her head with his hand as he moved to kiss the soft lips he'd touched and then been consumed by since he'd done it. She froze, then sighed a little unhappily when he released her lips. "I've been in that room all day with her. Even in cat form, it is so full of pheromones now even _you_ are in danger." He said it without moving away from being very close to her.

"That - that is very powerful," Akatsuki said weakly. "You're restraint ...accentuated by your obliviousness ...is very difficult to overcome."

"It is, isn't it?" he finally released her and took a step back from her to breathe fresh air again. Breathing her distinct smell had helped. She wasn't in heat and it was obvious, though how he should know he had no idea. He walked over to the window and opened it to lean on the sill for more outside air. Maybe it was the difference now that he had something to compare it against, and maybe something had changed in him, had affected his own "natural" body in a way new to the "internal" in-control him.

Akatsuki stayed in the place she was, though she turned to watch him move. "Nyanta ...he said that she's crossed over and it's begun. ...He thinks, if possible, the surgery should start before tomorrow morning. He didn't say it's full, yet ...but that was this morning."

Shiroe only turned his head slightly to hear, not wanting to look at Akatsuki just yet. "Well...I guess I can't say, but it has certainly been slowly increasing all day." He looked back out the window. "I rather thought so, actually. I've called an end to the information gathering for now. I've got the basic outline, though we aren't done yet." He had to pull his body back from wanting to go finish it right now and took another deep breath of fresh air, trying to smell Akatsuki instead and finding he could since he'd kissed her. He put his hand to his nose - the one that had held her head just before and he could smell that also. He leaned on that elbow, putting that hand close to his nose while he spoke. "I've come out for us to discuss how we're going to approach the surgeries and the experiments. I'm going to let her sleep for four and a half hours. She should be fully recovered by then."

"Fully recovered?"

"Yes. It turns out it was a real battle. When her mind is pushed, she loses HP rapidly. She'll need all of it for the surgeries and the experimentation." He turned to look at Akatsuki. "It's like the graduate exams. When we're done taking them each day we barely make it home and collapse for eight hours only to get up and do it again. She has that same, very real reaction, visible on the status bars."

Akatsuki's eyes were even wider now. "She - she's really 'real'?"

Shiroe nodded. "Every aspect in the stats correlates and proves it. ...I've been wondering if she's been brought here at this time because she finally is. That she was kept outside on purpose as a specific test subject to see if it could even happen." He looked at Akatsuki, who was still looking at him with utmost trust. "I've also wondered if she's been sent here to 'infect' the rest of us, to make us become 'real' too, even if we don't want to...and also if she's been the one who's made the rest of us become more real over time. She was a First in so many things. How much of what we are now compared to what we were before is because of changes of this world, changes imposed by whatever brought us here, ...and changes she made happen because of her strong will and desire that forced it for her, and in that forcing, has forced it on all the rest of us?"

Akatsuki's face showed her confusion and a bit of hurt. Shiroe shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's come out harsh. I'd like to not blame her, and I don't want to harbor ill will towards her. It's just that it's a possibility that shouldn't be left off the table. I wish I had an answer for it. If she is a carrier, she should be removed quickly...but it's already too late. She's already infected all of Log Horizon. We know how to keep secrets, but...," he shrugged. "And, we can't send her away until the experiments are completed. We can't let this issue of the beast-halfs becoming real go at this point. It has to be dealt with properly." He looked out the window again, thoughtful.

"I think," he said slowly, saying it out loud for the first time, "that for me...it's this that makes me the most angry. That we are being used against ourselves. I'm having to clean-up, divert, stem. I'm not allowed to step out ahead, build, accomplish. Not since the Round Table was formed. In her words, I showed my fingerprint early, and they've prevented me ever since."

There was a light touch on his arm and he looked to see Akatsuki standing next to him, her hand on his arm, looking up at him earnestly. He smiled slightly at her, then leaned down again, making her stiffen slightly, though she didn't move. This time he'd moved to put his lips next to her ear. Very softly he whispered, "But, they've given me the means to begin an underground resistance against them in giving her to me, one that she's as desperate to begin as I am. Together, we both can see the solution. Working in concert, slowly so they can't understand it, we'll begin to win from this time on. ...Will you come with us?"

Akatsuki was still for just a moment longer, then gave her answer. Turning her head towards him, she placed her lips on his and kissed him. When she released him, she said, "As long as you keep walking, I'll walk next to you."

He smiled. "And if I stop to rest?"

She smiled shyly back. "I will hand you tea, ...and a red bun."

He stood straight again and put a hand on her head, then rather shyly wrapped it around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side. Looking out the window again, he said, "I think I would like that. It will make the journey seem like home."

They stood together until he felt sufficiently recovered. Her quiet physical presence - particularly touching his - helping him to calm more quickly. After two years of having her always with him, quietly watching over him, she was already a calming influence. And not even his own obliviousness could last that long, really. He might not be able to read women and their emotions well, and Akatsuki was terrible at communicating generally, and her desires even more, but really. As an Enchanter who was also a Strategist, who had to understand every desire and nuance of every member of the guild, raid, or party, he couldn't miss it over time. It had stood out eventually in his calculations. That she always wanted to be near him. That she was most fierce if she was obeying one of his own commands, or if she thought he was the most in danger. That she had begun protecting him more openly from other girls and women, even though in very quiet, slight ways and words. That other women more openly smiled when they looked at her when he was with her, the ones who understood that she'd claimed him and who wanted to see her doing her best.

He'd also seen the signs of all the Adventurers, since that's what he watched most closely. It wasn't just the half-beasts. All of the Adventurers were begin to have an increased interest in settling down with the opposite sex. He hadn't told anyone he'd seen that yet. But Purrcy had known as well. When she'd talked to him alone about it this day, she'd told him who was next in his own guild, and likely when it would happen. He couldn't argue with her. He'd already made the same calculations from his own data. She'd come at it from the natural side and they agreed. When he'd seen it for all Adventurers, he could no longer deny, or turn a blind eye, to what he was seeing in Akatsuki. He'd since then, in the back of his mind, been considering his own answer to it.

He was a careful person by nature. Shy, reticent in relationships, difficult to get along with really, particularly when he did finally decide to move and take what he wanted, but he'd also come to realize that he needed what Purrcy had seen she needed. Someone to protect them. To be their shield in this thing. As he'd been with Purrcy today, his body wanting her more and more despite his personal preferences, he'd understood even better. For all they were similar, and would make very good partners in this kind of battle that was ahead of them, that wasn't the kind of relationship that would protect either of them. It would devastate them, and if an enemy came in between them, it would cripple them, make them completely unable to act and move forward the way they needed to. ...He'd even wondered if she'd come now because the third party wanted them to do just that. Become a couple so they could be destroyed.

When he'd had that thought, he realized she'd also already had that thought, too. That was why she'd asked for Nyanta as soon as she had the opportunity to. She didn't want her goals, their goals, toyed with any more than he did. Because they each had someone else they could call on, they should, and she had made Akatsuki move, given her the push Shiroe needed her to have so he could finally place her where he needed her. He sighed and turned to put his head on top of Akatsuki's, having to lean down a bit to do it. "Shiroe?" she asked him.

"Sorry. I'm feeling a bit guilty at the moment. I hope you'll forgive me."

"...I don't think there's anything to forgive?"

"Even if I've been being Machiavelli?"

She laughed lightly. "If you weren't being Machiavelli, you wouldn't be Shiroe. ...You know," she hesitated, working to find her words. He waited, like he had been since she'd come with them at the beginning. "I like Machiavelli. I ...love," he could tell she was blushing again, "watching you work hard to win. It ...makes me proud ...to walk beside you."

"Even if at those times I'm using you?"

"I'm your tool. ...And I'm kept sharp and keen when you use me." She pulled back making him look her in the eyes. "I want you to use me as much as you need to. In whatever way you need me to. It is then...that...I feel most loved."

He was struck by her words and his mind lost control. He was holding her in his arms, crushing her lips with his, the pain in his own lips bringing him back. He pulled back. "Ah...sorry." He slipped to his knees, holding onto her arms just below the shoulders looking at her in the eyes. "She's infected me today and I have almost no control over the natural body. It very much wants to use you right now, but I don't want to do that to you. It isn't right."

Akatsuki looked at him soberly. "Shiroe ...in what way exactly ...do you need me to be your shield?"

He looked at her in the eyes for a moment longer, then looked down. Very carefully he let go of her arms and quickly grabbed hold of his own, holding his folded arms tightly to himself and beginning to tremble. He took a deep breath, the words painful before they came. "Just enough ...to claim. ...Just enough ...to be claimed..." He had to breathe again, then looked up at her again, the anguish coming out. "So I don't fight Nyanta for the right ...to mate with the one in heat."

Shiroe fought to keep breathing. Fought to keep still. Fought to let Akatsuki choose. He'd never felt like this before and, as he'd been warned, it frightened him to feel so unable to control himself. So he focused on his breathing. As long as he could hold still and breathe. He felt a gentle touch on his cheek and he looked up, barely capable of seeing, so he focused on her eyes. They were kind, but determined. She slowly released him and walked to the door. For a moment his body panicked, but he held it still. Whatever her decision was, it was hers to make. He watched as she closed the door. She stood there for a moment, then said quietly. "Shiroe. Lock the door."

He did, naturally and instinctively, almost without thought. He couldn't move anyway to make the extraneous hand gestures in the air. "Ah - ah, I did," he said it out loud, realizing that since he hadn't moved, she wouldn't know.

She turned and came back to him. He watched her, not able to take his eyes off of her and the way she moved her petite body with controlled grace, her long black hair swaying behind her. In a corner of his mind he noticed by the time she was standing in front of him again her boots were gone and she was barefoot, but he couldn't register it's meaning. She looked at him soberly. "Shiroe ...I'm glad you've trusted me ...enough to tell me ...and come to me. But ...you can't have her. ...You are mine." Her eyes flashed, and his body responded, a shudder rippling down his back. He took one last breath, watching her get into her hand-to-hand combat pose low to the ground, and let go.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetora clasped his hands together in front of him. Girl hands. Petite with the fingernails rounded just perfectly. The knees the fair arms rested on were delicate bridges between perfectly shaped upper and lower legs. All the proportions of this body were perfectly designed...all by him...and he'd hated it since he got here...enough that he'd just used it the same as he did everyone who looked at it and lusted after it. ...To teach them what he'd had the great misfortune to learn - that just because you might want something, that didn't mean that getting it was a blessing, or even a good. Once you had something, sometimes you learned too late that it wasn't really what you wanted. That anger and hatred had translated to the entire world around him ...until he'd been picked up by Shiroe to go on a massive, first-time, super-raid.

The raid hadn't changed him, but the fighting spirit of the Silver Swords and the way Shiroe had worked so hard to see that the ultimate goal had been reached had given him a glimmer of hope. Had uncovered who he used to be. Reminded him of why. Why he'd wanted to be a gamer in the first place. Why he wanted to be so meticulous in choosing this form. Why he was himself, and that he liked himself - the original him. Everyone had worked hard, and had nearly lost ...technically _had_ lost since they'd all died. But the two guildmasters, in their own ways, had said, "So what? Losing just means working harder to win, finding a new way, thinking differently." And that had made him realize that he'd been stuck, only thinking in one way, losing because he wouldn't keep trying.

Naotsugu's placid constant being himself, no matter what, was what made Tetora decide on Log Horizon over Silver Sword. He saw in Naotsugu the example of what he needed to learn. Shiroe to teach him to think differently, Naotsugu to teach him how to be himself, calmly, no matter what. He'd learned things from everyone else, but he'd been very nervous, still very unsure, still didn't trust himself, which made it hard for him to trust those around him fully. He'd actually calmed down a lot since then, about a year ago. The constancy of the guild, just like that of Naotsugu, and the time to really learn each other in all the practices they did together until they were a real team, a real party, had helped a lot. But then he'd been stuck in the patterns set when he hadn't been so calm, and because he still didn't really trust himself, he didn't know how to change. There was an example missing he didn't have to follow out of where he was this time.

To have Purrcy arrive and hand it to him, and not even in her own person, but merely in the example of her father, a man Tetora would never know... Tetora shook his head, straight idol pink hair hitting his face lightly. That man and Purrcy were already teaching him to accept this body in this world. To admit he'd done a damn fine job getting everything just right. To accept he wouldn't ever love it, would always be angry he'd been dragged here and stuck in it when he'd wanted to be able to see it, not just let others see it. That it was okay to feel all that but still respect himself and work harder at remembering just who _he_ was and wanted to be so he did have something to love again inside himself. He was pretty sure he'd never be able to love someone outside himself. This body required a male partner and he wasn't at all interested in that. He'd already lived through that once and had stubbornly clung to that one last desperate refusal to give in to this world.

He knew what Purrcy and Nyanta were going through. Nyanta didn't want to give in to it either. The year of living with him had made that obvious. Both how private he was, and how he was nice to all the girls but held them at arm's length said it. Tetora had only had that one choice because he was of the race "human". Humans could choose their partners and the timing. But Nyanta and Purrcy wouldn't have a choice, the one being stolen by this world right now. Tetora had seen the look on Shiroe's face, knew how long they'd been together in the same room, remembered what Nyanta had said about her already beginning to be in heat. He knew where Shiroe and Akatsuki had gone, what was going to happen. It was the only way to save the guild from being ripped apart tonight. Tears stung his eyes. He understood completely now why Purrcy had given that push to Akatsuki.

It may even have partially been why she'd scolded him. To continue to come between Naotsugu and Marie if this was going to get worse, like it looked like it would, would further fracture the guild. Without even being a member more than a few hours, Purrcy was making sure the guild stayed whole, for their sake. And her reward was that she would lose, and Nyanta would pay a heavy price to make it so she didn't have to lose horribly. He was extremely grateful to her, but he hated this world all over again, and who or whatever had brought them here. He was in agreement with her words. When the "natural" Adventurers were let loose, a head would roll somewhere and then be ground to dust and flung into space.

But he also knew that they would fight every step of the way. Nyanta had told it to them, the fight plan. Like in the raid with Silver Sword guild, not one of them would give up along the way. And if they really didn't have a choice, then they'd made the choice for themselves beforehand, and they would turn it to an advantage as much as possible. Like losing then getting back up and trying again from a different angle until they were lying gasping for breath, pounded into the ground, but everyone still living and the final boss a pile of treasure on the ground waiting to be divided among the party members. With all his heart and soul he knew that was what was going to happen because since that time, all the time he'd followed Shiroe, that's what had happened every time, and he'd thrown himself into every battle every time with just as much effort and desperation to make sure it did happen.

Purrcy was exactly the same. In three short, but what felt like very long days, she'd already shown it. She fought the same, thought the same, cared the same. He was just as proud to call her a guildmate and party member as all the rest of them, and he wanted to help her, and help in the fight just as much. He'd been on the same page as the other four in making Nyanta explain it to them so they could help. Now they needed to let the Guildmaster know the same. That they were still here, still waiting for orders, and would march with him without orders or with them.

"Get up," he said, then repeated it a little louder, getting up himself and going around to shake everyone awake. "We're going up to the roof."

"What about Miss Purrcy?" Rudy murmured sleepily.

"Shiroe's locked her in and we aren't on the list to get her out. Let's go, before he leaves us out again." That got everyone moving.

He hung back and let them get ahead a bit, then made an excuse to stop by his room. He'd heard what floor they'd stopped at. It wasn't hard to figure out which room, either. The door was locked, of course, as it should be. He wasn't here to open it. With firm determination he lifted his hand and pounded on the door. "Don't give up! Do what needs to be done, but don't give up!" There was silence. Good. "We're waiting on the roof for you. You aren't going to do this without us. We are a party - _all_ of us. Finish it and get your butts upstairs." He turned and walked back to the stairs. They didn't need these two failing either, and sometimes someone else needed to be the cheerleader. That was him, obviously.

* * *

 _Note: Most people who follow anime/manga/Japanese fiction/etc. understand that while the literature may show it, the reality in Japan is that the gblt population is extremely small and still_ _very_ _suppressed. Even those who find themselves part of that small percentage of the population hide it from themselves deeply so as to not bring dishonor to their families. Only a very brave or desperate few admit it to anyone. However, as long as nothing is actually admitted, and they can appear normal most of the time..._

 _...Ah, you'll notice I don't put much of Tetora's wild idol personality in my story. It's because (embarrassed) I don't know how to write that kind of character trait in. I do also think that as he calms down, both as described here over the last year-plus, and as my story unfolds, he doesn't need to. He is accepted by the guild regardless, and he wants to have the guild itself not chaotic. It's his place of safety. (Again, a Japanese trait generally. He might still behave that way in public, though. I'm not sayin' one way or the other there. Get him mad and it's his weapon, is what I think.)_


	10. Status Effect

Naotsugu looked over as the door opened to the roof. He was sitting on his favorite lounge chair, having turned it so he could see both the door and Nyanta up in the tree on the branch he suspected they'd slept on last night. He was close enough that he could use his taunt on Nyanta if necessary before the felinoid could get to and through the door. He'd also made sure the trap door below the tree was locked from the inside and had the outdoor table set on top of it, just to slow down whomever might be coming up from below. Coming through the door didn't warrant moving, just additional awareness. When it was the four youngest, his eyebrow raised. "I thought we sent you lot to bed?"

They shook their heads and pulled up chairs, but not so they'd be in his way. They'd come up with blankets still wrapped around them. Every one of them had set, stubborn faces. "Shiroe-kei came out and walked up with Akatsuki-jou," Touya said, the stubborn in his voice. "He told us to stay put and watch a door that can't be opened. Tetora got us up and said what we'd all been thinking. We aren't going to be left out this time."

Naotsugu was about to say that he hadn't seen anyone else yet when he realized that would be a bad thing to say right now. He closed his mouth, nodded, and leaned back again, keeping an eye on everything and everyone, like he was supposed to. The kids curled up in their chairs, still sleepy, but determined to not fall back to sleep. Adventurers knew how to rest. He didn't worry about them. That didn't mean he wasn't suddenly more worried than he had been. He was. That's what he'd learned to keep quiet about.

The door opened again. This time it was Tetora, who closed the door behind him with a set look on his beautiful face. He'd really firmed up in the last three days. He was still Tetora, but he had the feel of "male" he'd never let on to before. Naotsugu looked into the eyes that rose to meet him. Determined, worried, but seemingly satisfied. "I've told them we're waiting," he said, "and let them know I'll be damned if I'm going to let them give up, too."

That was the message Naotsugu was waiting for. "Do they need to hear it from my lips, too?" he asked.

Tetora's forehead twitched as his face expressed his irritation. "If they're not up here in less than ten minutes, go break down the door two down from mine."

Naotsugu nodded. He'd learned to keep his mouth shut when he was worried because there was usually someone else worried about it as well that was taking care of it while he took care of what he needed to take care of. He would be called in only when needed, and he'd just been told that. He folded his arms and set his internal timer. Tanks didn't get moved around haphazardly or on whims. The movement change might not be necessary, and the timer might not ring, but if it did and he didn't move ...well ...nothing good came of it, that's for sure.

Tetora leaned back against the wall right next to the door to the roof, arms crossed and one foot crossed over the other. Touya stood and shifted his chair a bit. As a Samurai, his taunt was close range only. He'd moved so that if Naotsugu had to move, he could take over as watchman on the roof. Naotsugu smiled to himself. Yeah, they were good kids who'd trained up right. When nothing needed to be said, but people moved right, you knew they had good training and cared to use it properly.

"You think she'll fit in?" he asked casually.

"She's been solo a long time...but she's got everything else she needs. That's just simple training. The rest is the hard stuff." Tetora answered with calm surety.

Naotsugu knew how deep Tetora read the guild, how hard he fought for it, how necessary it was to him. The rest of them loved the guild. Tetora _needed_ it. Naotsugu kept it healed, Tetora kept it cohesive and whole, without blemish, cleaned out any rot before it could settle. Naotsugu knew he'd been having troubles with himself being the rot he couldn't clean out because he couldn't leave. He'd love Purrcy just for helping him clean himself up, but he wouldn't accept her as guild if she couldn't _be_ guild.

In the guild battles that were like this one, Tetora was the field monitor, and the position he'd taken just now, leaning up against the wall by the door, said it loud and clear. He wasn't there to prevent. He was a healer after all as far as Class went. He was the one who made sure there wasn't something coming that shouldn't, the one who warned when something was and who was needed to deal with it. It was the position that managed the movements of the party around the enemy as a whole so the rest could focus on each individual battle during the campaign, and who knew which would be the best direction for the party to travel to miss as many enemies as possible. That's why he was also recon and investigation in town. He kept track of allies, enemies, knew how to quickly get the info he needed to make sure they moved in safe, useful, helpful directions. So if he said the tank was going to be needed somewhere else in less than ten minutes, the tank would go.

The tank was the protector. The keeper of the hearth and life. Took all the damage, kept the focus of the worst enemy, protected the others of the party so they could move around and dish out the damage. He could dish out damage, and plenty, and did, but it had to be properly used because it was heavy hitting damage. Here, he was holding, preventing damage from being dealt. Touya was his back up tank, just sufficient grit and stubbornness to not be cowed into backing down. Willing to take any punishment that came his way to do his part to protect, too. It had been his right to be the one to speak, to set the position. When an enemy was engaged, the tank was set first, called the attention of the biggest and baddest, then sat there stubbornly until the battle was won, or he died trying. He was proud to have Touya as his back up, and knew he wouldn't back down ...so he hadn't sent them back down. If the field monitor had sent them up and the tank had set himself, then that's the way it was.

The rest would play their parts when the other party showed up. That's what they were waiting for now. Would the other party show up on their own, or would he have to go fetch them? That was the other job of the tank. Whip the enemy up into a frenzy and pull them into the place that had been chosen for the battle. The field monitor had tried to taunt them up. If it didn't work, then the person with a real taunt would be sent down to drag them up, no matter what they wanted. It didn't make a hill of beans that the 'enemy' in this case was the party strategist and Enchanter and his personal operator, the one who made sure he was protected and his power maintained. Minori was Touya's operator, Tetora doubled as Naotsugu's ever since they'd battled the big one with Silver Swords, and it hadn't changed since.

Isuzu and Rudy were general purpose, both magic users. Rudy hit hard and ferociously, but had learned smarts in the last year and a half, and he kept the beat with Isuzu, who was a Bard and kept the tempo and the music flowing. Her's was an understated, but powerful position. If things started to fall apart, she could smooth things over just enough to get the rest of them back into position. She was also scout. Light on her feet, collector of information. Isuzu protected Rudy and Rudy protected Isuzu, and their light banter and repor moved them all forward, or sideways, in minor ways that sometimes made all the difference.

As for the Chief, the Swashbuckler, he was general purpose, too, but he was close up damage. Naotsugu held the enemy so Rudy and the Chief could dance around them, Rudy from a distance, Nyanta close up, dealing damage until the enemy fell. Having the Chief be the boss in this one was disturbing, difficult. If he moved this time, he was to be held fast, tied down. It rubbed Naotsugu wrong. Nyanta knew it, so he was holding still (at least for now) all by himself. The main close up dancer shouldn't be holding still...but...he also was one who sometimes waited until just the right moment to attack, sometimes even taking lots of damage until he found the right time to move, or the Strategist said to move. When that order was given, death to the enemy came swiftly. Maybe...maybe that's what he was doing. Biding his time... Yeah, that felt more like it. Like he was hiding behind the tank, taking some damage, waiting for his turn to be sent in. Doing little bits of whittling down when he could. Naotsugu nodded. He had to keep his eye on the Chief to make sure he could survive until the order was given. That's what it was, even if he had to be tied down by a taunt.

He'd said that it didn't matter that the enemy was the Strategist and his operator, but, really, it did. To lose them meant they might not win the battle, for all they knew what they were doing. That's why the field monitor was irritated almost to the point of angry. Someone had dealt damage to them, probably to the Strategist and his field operator was trying to heal him back up to usable before he counted as completely dead. Naotsugu nodded. That was it, exactly. And he was to fetch them both and bring them back for healing if Akatsuki couldn't do it by herself, before the Strategist dissolved into air and was sent to the Cathedral. The campaign didn't do well when that one had to be resurrected. That took a lot of retreat and reconfigure and start-over-city.

So...who had dealt the damage? Shiroe's campaign was with Purrcy. He'd gone into the next level with her today. But was she the one who'd dealt the damage, or had they both gone down? Did the field monitor have enough info? "Tetora."

"Yeah?"

"...What role does she play in the party?"

"Mmm...," Tetora considered that for a while. "Long distance recon. High level field monitor, almost the level of strategist, but not close in like that. Brings the data back to the strategist and close-in field monitor... Let's the party know if they need to stop at the end of this level before heading down and go back up for dinner and sleep ...that kind of thing. Already been down levels and coming back to warn or say 'go on'. She's gone so deep without having anyone to report to, we've found her down in the depths - or she got spit out at our feet - and she's got a serious warning she's trying to get out."

"So, she's got status effects?" He actually got lots of nods on that one, even Minori, the strategist in training. "Who's healing her?" There was silence. "We're just sitting here listening to her data and going to let her die? I don't think so. That's not us. Who's healing her?"

"She's healing us," Tetora said quietly. "Wants us to have the strength to keep going on down, not fall apart. Nyanta's taking the fall so she doesn't go to Cathedral, but they'll both pay for it."

"HP, MP transference at best, then," Naotsugu mused. "Not liking that solution. Needs the whole troupe working on her, I think."

"Yup," Tetora said quietly. "That's why we're here." Suddenly he stood straight up. "O-M-G. Status effects!" He pulled the door open as fast as he could and yelled down the stairs. "Shiroe, get your ass up here right now! I've figured it out and she's gonna go if we don't get on it ASAP!"

He was suddenly being pushed out the door, a smaller female figure in black doing it so that the man just called up could walk out onto the roof. He was rubbing his ears. "You could have used your eyes before your mouth, Tetora," scolded Akatsuki.

"Right, sorry. But seriously. Naotsugu's been going through the line up, the formation, and fitting Purrcy into it. He asked who her healer was, since we all agreed she's got status effects and we've found her down in the depths trying to get back up to let whoever know all the stuff she knows. We also all agree we all need to be working on healing her. Having Nyanta do it all by himself with transference is killing them both. And you got hit by the same status effect so massive you almost went Cathedral and I wasn't sure your Op would be enough. So listen," he finally took a breath, to everyone's bemusement, though this wasn't too out of character, "it's me. I gotta be the healer, find out what the status effect is in the first place. Someone's placed a spell on her, if you get my meaning, and we can't negate it until we know what it is and since she works in the computer realm...it's like a computer virus, set on her. If we can stop the virus, or even just slow it down, the rest of us can get her points up enough she won't have to critical, and neither will Nyanta."

Shiroe's eyes had gone into his mode he went into when he was thinking hard strategically. "No...you've hit on something. It's moved so fast, and spread so fast, I've already been thinking along those lines as well. That Log Horizon's already infected and we have to quarantine effective last night." Tetora pulled up and looked amazed, then brightly proud of himself. "And it does fit the computer model, very nicely. The problem is you can't code yet. ...But... have you written anything before that could be a basis for doing your work inside? Can you write a piece of field monitor pseudocode that won't take you out, too? Even first level simple pseudocode. Something that will give you a window into what's going on, without sacrificing yourself?" He was looking with his hard bright eyes at Tetora. It contained patience and impatience at the same time, as always. Shiroe always waited for the best, the right answer, but he didn't want anyone taking longer than they had to.

"Window...window," Tetora didn't stand still well. He started pacing as he muttered. "Read!" it wasn't loud, but he still pounded his fist into his other palm. "If I just have the data scroll by, something will show itself...but what needs to be read? There's too much data to read it all."

"It's in the reproductive system," Akatsuki said in her usual dry, hard way.

"Well...," Tetora paused and look up, "...that's where the symptoms are appearing...but...," he went back to pacing, "...that's the source of connection. She's binding us up so we don't fracture, because...it's a fracture virus? It wants to divide us?"

"Yes," Shiroe answered, "that is exactly what it wants to do ...to all of Akiba and all of the Adventurers on this world in the end."

"Gah, a plague," Naotsugu spit out.

They turned to him, wide eyed. Tetora rubbed his head vigorously with both hands, trying to get it all put together. "If it's plague, we'd need to know it's level to get it treated right, but even low level healing would get it to slow down a bit, maybe." He spun around. "How far did you get it to back off down there? Are there still effects?"

There was a pause. Shiroe finally said, "Still some effects. It's better though."

Tetora looked at Akatsuki. "You should have picked it up, too, being in the room with him. How are you doing?" He looked at her very closely. She stared back in surprise, then scowled at him. "Yup, you've got it too. Hold still, you two, I want to try an experiment."

Shiroe tipped his head. "And that would be?"

"She said it...magic is magic. Since the other magics can be done, she can do any magic she wants, right?" Tetora had his small wand out. He gave them instructions, "Okay, _feel_ it. Minori, watch it, on the status screens." He cast one of his usual healing spells on Shiroe. He was level 97, so his healing magics were correspondingly high level. Then he turned and did a different one on Akatsuki, since there was the cool-down time for the first one. He watched them both closely. "What I did was what she taught us to do. I chose those spells first, and 'imagined' that they would affect the 'plague virus' that's affecting you two. Then I cast them." Shiroe raised both eyebrows, but Tetora had already begun muttering to himself again.

"Ah ...if it means anything ...I feel better, calmer," Akatsuki said.

"Yes, that does mean exactly what I want it to mean. And you, Shiroe?" Tetora turned to him.

Shiroe looked at him. "I think ...it wasn't high enough level ...but it had an effect."

Tetora wrinkled his nose. "That's what I thought. They want this to affect _her_ after all."

Naotsugu narrowed his eyes at Tetora. "What do you know, Tetora?" he asked warningly.

Tetora waved a hand at him. "I know how programs - and overwriting - work Naotsugu. I'm a programmer by training, remember. I know what she is and how special. I won't say it if she saved it for the officer's meeting, but to me, it's obvious. ...But even still. I'm high enough that we should be able to buy her the time she needs to write the code to kill it." He turned to the tree. "Nyanta, get down here. I think I've got the right window written. I want to test it on you while the heal spell's working so I can see just what it's doing. That will help me do it right on her."

Nyanta was already on the ground in front of him at the first call. Naotsugu grinned. The close-up precision fighter had just been called in and the long distance field monitor finally had a healer. This was more like it. They were going somewhere now. It made sense that the local field monitor was the back up and the operator for the long distance one, too. He nodded to himself. This was all right. And sending in the precision fighter to pick her up and bring her back was right, too. He looked over to Shiroe. Shiroe looked back at him. Naotsugu nodded. "It's going to be all right," he told his guildmaster. "The formation's solid. Just do your job." - He was a bit surprised at just how much Shiroe relaxed.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe looked around at this little group that was his guild, who were obviously in campaign party mode and were in complete solidarity. It always filled him with a sense of awe that they relied on him with complete faith. Even when he'd been the one stricken and down, they hadn't given up. There'd been no recrimination or anger even. He'd get scolded later at the after meeting where they wrapped it up, but even that would be gentle, he already knew. He was scolding himself plenty. He should have known better given the state Purrcy was in and the obvious knowledge they were opposite sexes so of course he'd be affected in some way, but he'd wanted her information so greedily he couldn't stop to see she needed healing first. He pulled in a sharp breath of air and stopped that as best he could. It was a waste of time to think like that right now. It had taken all of them thinking about it, probably Naotsugu in particular pulling on his unique brand of thinking about things, to see it in a way they could fight it.

Sometimes they had to get under pressure like this for the answer to come out - be really and truly in the middle of the battle to recognize what was going on. It wasn't unusual for dungeons or quests. Sometimes it took a while to understand what was going on and you had to do trial and error learning first before a solution was forthcoming. Considering this one came from a completely unknown source to them, sure, mistakes were made and he could have thought smarter. They all worked that way. They'd actually done pretty good. And now it was his turn. He held open the slot for Tetora's test data, and got to work on how they were going to help Purrcy. Tetora was right that the sooner they got to her the better. She didn't have much more time at the moment. More time was what they needed to buy her. "Right now her HP is really low. I need restorative HP healing going right into it. Isuzu, that's yours."

"Got it!"

"Minori, can you put up a shield for Isuzu and for Tetora at a minimum against the drain? If you can get her HP up and get her out of there, the rest of us can help, though I'd rather leave her in there since she's got the protective barrier up, but the room's completely poisonous. Since it can affect either sex, I don't want anyone in it any longer than necessary."

"Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta said calmly. "I can go in and get her."

"No. You can't," Shiroe was firm and sober. "I had almost no control left at all and she was full cat the whole time and I'm half-alv. The room is filled to the brim with the pheromones. As a matter of fact, I don't want you going down until Tetora's healed the virus enough she isn't anywhere near in heat any more. I won't keep you away after that, but you have to wait until the miasma's been taken care of."

Shiroe went back to thinking. "She's going to have to clear the room herself, I suspect. She's really the only one who'll be able to go back in until then. ...Just opening the door's going to leak it out."

"Umm...," Akatsuki wanted a turn so Shiroe let her have it. "I don't think I was really affected until you had it and gave it to me. ...That is ...it may have to cross the sexes, from one to the other."

"Like female to male to female to male in rotation?" he asked for clarification. Akatsuki nodded.

"Oh, that helps me!" Tetora said and they could tell he was immediately working on his spell set again. "That's actually a common computer virus pattern so that it can't be tracked down quite so simply."

"Whoa, back," Naotsugu called out and they looked at him. "Tetora, where does that place you, exactly? Make sure you don't fall into it by mistake. Check your work and what it does before you walk in there."

"Ah, right," Tetora answered. "...I wouldn't be kissed by a male if I was going to die ...but I get your point." He looked at Shiroe with speculation. "Can you tell if it has effects other than physical? If it's just that I'm safe."

"Well, there's the obvious emotional ones."

"Well...," Akatsuki said, "actually ...let me handle that one."

The girls nodded. "Why?" asked Shiroe. He wanted to understand this virus as much as possible. If they had data, he wanted it.

The girls all looked at each other, and as a group blushed. "Begging your pardon," Isuzu said, "but ...you shouldn't assume your emotions were affected...," she looked away, "...most men don't have any clue if their emotions were affected or not."

Naotsugu laughed, "That's our Bard. Tell Tetora what he needs to know. Shiroe will get it once you've explained it enough...maybe."

"Do you get it?" Shiroe asked in irritation.

Naotsugu grinned. "Nope. But I don't need to if the Bard does."

Shiroe let it go. Naotsugu was right when he said things like that. He nodded to Isuzu. Isuzu turned to Minori and Akatsuki and they conferenced. "What about Serera?" he interjected. "Hasn't Purrcy had the most interaction with her, as far as other females goes?"

Nyanta nodded. "Yes, she's actually hugged Serera. Has she touched any of the others of mew?"

They looked around at him with wide eyes. "She let me pet her a little," Akatsuki said. The other two shook heads.

Isuzu pondered on that. "Serera didn't have any adverse effects while she was with us ...and she didn't get it from Nyanta either?" She looked back over at him.

He shrugged. "I didn't touch her. Just in the same room, though we stood at the stove together. But then I worked in the kitchen with all of mew all day today."

"No, it makes a difference because Serera loves you. We just like you." She flashed a grin at him. He flicked an ear back.

"I'll check on it," Naotsugu said. He immediately call up a chat. "Hey Marie! How's it going?" He walked through the list of people who'd been in the Log Horizon building since Purrcy had been there, including her and Marielle and Serera, then he named the men in Crescent Moon League who had crushes on the same. "Ah...well...yes, sorry, but I can't tell you anything right now. We're just about to head into full battle on the boss, we hope. If it works maybe Shiroe will have something for you. ...Yeah. Thanks. See you."

He looked up. "Well, since they're all waiting to hear, that was just a few too many questions, I guess. Sorry. Wanted to be thorough."

Shiroe shrugged. "What's the sum?"

"No changes on their side. But...it makes me wonder about Woodstock and Akaneya. They've been smitten with her for a long time, and their guilds too. Are they already infected?"

"Hmm..., that's a female to male connection, so it might not be wrong." Tetora said thoughtfully.

"Not to mention the Wolf Pack," Rudy said. "It's all male."

They nodded at that. Shiroe sighed. "Well, let's get here fixed, then we'll have to go rat hunting."

"Test cases?" Minori asked.

Tetora and Shiroe stared at her. "Brilliant, Minori," Tetora breathed. "She already had the connections, so they could be tested on them. I'd place the guildmasters as first tests and the Wolf Pack as continual test cases after that. This one's proved the most effective on the male side so she was sent here with the final version."

Shiroe nodded his agreement. "Does that mean the level would be lower for the guildmasters, then?"

"If the pseudocode mage has increased in levels since the first iteration, yes."

Shiroe stepped out and called up Woodstock. "I'm sorry to bother you but we've got a lead on a problem we're working on. Do you have a healer who's in the upper nineties handy you can call out?"

"Yes. When do you need them?" Woodstock was sounding a bit tired. It might not be so easy if he'd been reinfected in two visits in two days, and if she'd touched them.

"It's not for me. It's for you. Can you get them now and let me know when you're next to them, please?"

"Ah, yeah. It will take me about two minutes or so, shall I call back?"

"Yes, please."

Shiroe looked at Naotsugu. "Did she touch them?"

"The first day, yes, when she thanked them she took Woodstock's hand."

Shiroe sucked on his tongue. "He was sounding pretty tired. I think he's got the higher level version. A heal will only get him stronger again, but not cure it. Let me call Akaneya for the test run. I want to know a little better what level we're looking at for the final." The group waited for him to ask the same request of Akaneya. As soon as he was done with that call, Woodstock called back. "Hello, Woodstock. How are you feeling? You sound tired."

"Well, actually I am. I've not been sleeping well since hearing that Purrcy's had to be at your place because of the Wolf Pack. ...Ah, sorry. That wasn't meant as a slight. I'm just worried about her."

"Woodstock, what level is your healer?"

"She's level ninety-six."

"Ninety-six. Thank you. Will you please have her cast her highest level healing spell on you and then tell me how you feel after about one minute. Tell her to focus on getting rid of a strange plague. We're not sure, but it might be something we've not seen before. If she adds that to her thoughts, it should help some, we're finding."

"Okay," he sounded mystified. Shiroe waited while his instructions were passed on, then for the requisite one minute for Woodstock to answer back. "Well, I certainly feel better," he said cautiously, "not so moody and tired, or depressed, I suppose, though I'm still worried, of course."

Shiroe nodded. "That's how it affected me, too. If you've got what I had it wasn't enough healing at that level. If you start feeling that way again, have her cast it on you again. My estimate is likely every twelve hours. We're working on an actual cure. Ah, and it is a plague. Have you touched any females in the last two days, even just handshakes?"

"Ah...Purrcy...and maybe a few of my guildmates to congratulate them?"

Shiroe sighed. "It may be too late, but quarantine the whole guild and have your healer use that spell on anyone who is feeling symptoms like yours. The women may be feeling jealous or angry, too. We'll let you know when we've got the cure. Sorry to shut the business down until then."

"No...plague should be treated seriously. We'll do what we need to do. Give me a call when you've got it figured out."

"Will do." It was just in time. "Shiroe here, Akaneya."

"I've got my healer here. Level ninety-eight."

"Ninety-eight. Wonderful. First, tell me how you're feeling right now."

"A little tired, but not too bad."

"Any worries or concerns that won't go away?"

"Well, not so much, now that we have the contracts signed."

Shiroe was relieved. "Will you please have your healer cast his or her highest level healing spell on you? Have that person focus their thoughts on using it to cure a plague status effect. We're running an experiment."

Akaneya passed on the instructions. After about a minute Shiroe asked, "Will you tell me how you're feeling now?"

"Pretty good. But don't we usually when we get healed?"

"Any knots in your stomach come undone, any stresses that you couldn't get rid of that suddenly don't seem so bad?"

Akaneya considered it, then laughed. "Well, if you put it like that, then yes. I'm not feeling stressed any more either."

"Great. Have your healer walk around the guild and cast that spell on anyone who looks tired or stressed out, or a little too angry, and you should be cleared, but if you want to have them stay clean, quarantine until we've cleared out the city. It may be a day or two, but I'll let you know for sure. You had a low level case, but Woodstock and I have it worse and the whole Wolf Pack is carrier."

"Yikes, Shiroe. That's awful. We'll stay put. I hope it isn't longer than that, though. I've got product to turn over."

"I know. Sorry, it can't be helped. It's from outside and an odd source we've just heard about. We haven't got the cure yet for the higher level plague, but we should in less than a day if all goes well."

"All right. We'll wait to hear the all-clear."

"Thanks."

Shiroe looked up and opened his mouth. He got four hands up. He closed his mouth and smiled.

"I've got Souji's people on the streets as soon as they're healed up themselves." Tetora said.

"I've got D.D.D. hunting their own, and told them to make sure the halfs in particular are watched to see if it settles them, and put them on the twelve hour rotation as necessary until we have the answer," Naotsugu said.

"I've asked Serera to handle Crescent Moon after she gets healed first," Isuzu said, "and since I knew Naotsugu was talking to D.D.D. she's promised to apologize to Marielle-san for us that Naotsugu couldn't call back." Naotsugu gave her a thumbs up and a grin. Isuzu grinned back.

"I called Roderick-nyan and he's going to let the other members of the Round Table know for us so we can get back to work," Nyanta said. "He's also going to experiment to see if the high level anti-plague potions work well enough."

And just like that, the whole city was covered as expeditiously as possible. Shiroe smiled a proud smile. "Thank you, everyone. Then...shall we see to our own?" He looked at Tetora. "Did you get enough from overhearing my conversations?"

Tetora nodded. Shiroe looked at Minori. "And did you?"

Minori looked at him soberly for a moment. "It's by touch, across sexes, and the symptoms are physical, but my one concern is that strong emotions seem to be the catalyst. Jealousy, excessive worry, that sort of thing. And that seems to be for both sexes. ...Except Serera. Why did she leave happier? And Isuzu, did she really sound okay now?"

Isuzu considered it. "Well, yes, though I would have thought she would be more depressed. Of course, she can sound okay when she's not, but if Marielle-san said she's okay, then she probably is. Marielle-san knows when Serera isn't doing okay."

All eyes turned to Nyanta. Only he had been in the room at the time with the two females. He shook his head. "I do know Serera-chan was feeling very strong emotions just before Purrcy touched her. I watched her face. Fear, worry, jealousy just before the hug even. It eased up over the time Purrcy talked to her and she stood beside me to cook the rest of the time, then mew all saw breakfast itself, and clean up after. Any other strong emotion would have been after she closed the door where we couldn't see it."

"But you didn't touch her?" Tetora asked. Nyanta shook his head.

"It hasn't affected Marie either, and she pet Purrcy for a long time," Naotsugu said. "Maybe it's just a touch of an opposite?"

"Well...," Nyanta said and gave him a look, "mew've touched Purrcy a lot, too, and then touched Marie."

"At the same time as Purrcy at the beginning, though after she stole Henrietta's glasses it was just the two of us."

"You touched then, after?" Shiroe clarified one point. Naotsugu nodded.

"I was the first to really touch her," Tetora said, "and I don't think I've been negatively affected."

"Maybe...," Touya said slowly, "maybe her touch...is the healing touch?"

Shiroe frowned. "You mean, the miasma is the plague, but if she touches you it's effect is lessened?"

"Okay, odd thought, but what if she's been healing too many and taking the status effects off others and not getting rid of it off herself so it's finally having to go somewhere and it's coming off on whomever or however?" Naotsugu was trying with a topic he didn't understand well enough.

Shiroe shook his head. "It's also plausible, certainly, but we need to do what we can now. Tetora you haven't been negatively affected yet. We'll assume you won't be again. Just try to keep any extreme emotions buttoned up. Walk in calm. Isuzu, the same goes for you. Cast the MP-up first. Akatsuki, you wait outside the room as field monitor. It will open for you, but you've already been affected so likely you'll pick up more if you go in. Tetora, if you think it's too bad in the room, wait until you have her out to cast the spells. Minori wait out with Akatsuki. You're operator as needed and back up field monitor." He looked at the mini-party. "If she's up and the window says she isn't contagious, send her up. We need to get to phase two as soon as possible." The retrieval party nodded and headed down the stairs.

Naotsugu stood and walked over to Touya. He rubbed his apprentice's head. "Hey, it'll be all right. Minori's your assistant tank. She's got this. You did good tonight."

Touya looked up into Naotsugu's eyes. "Yeah, Sis'll be fine. You did really good, too, to figure out Miss Purrcy needed a healer."

Naotsugu chuckled. "Swashbucklers make great fighters, but awful healers, even though I'm sure the Chief is trying. It's just not his Class, you know?"

"Well, Purrcy is the healer. We've just had to reverse because she's the one down," Nyanta said softly. "It sucks to be the soldier who loses their healer. All mew can do is watch them die and know meowr own is next, usually in the next blow. Mew do whatever mew can to keep them up." They all looked at him soberly and Naotsugu moved to put his hand on the older cat's shoulder with a firm grip.

Nyanta looked over at him soberly. Naotsugu studied him for a bit. "You've come along, then, have you?"

Nyanta raised an eyebrow, then shifted slightly, his tail moving in a soft wave near his ankles. "If by that mew mean, have I grown overly fond of her ...to the point I might actually have something like feelings for her? ...Purrhaps. At this point, it would be painful to lose her, but not harshly. It's a soft thing." Everyone blinked at him, then blushed and looked away. That had been _very_ expressive and open for Nyanta. They weren't quite sure how to take it.

-:-:-:-:-

The Log Horizon mini-raid party headed down the stairs, the younger ones wanting to go fast, but Akatsuki cleared her throat and they pulled up short on the next landing. "Shiroe told me he was going to have her sleep for four and a half hours to get back up to full HP - that she'd been drained. That was about half an hour ago now." The others blinked at her. That was important data. It helped them understand why he wanted HP to be the first thing. "She loses it faster than MP when he makes her think hard. You know how she gets tired and has to sleep after she tells only a few things? Like studying too hard, then taking exams and having to sleep all weekend to recover. It's real, for her. In the status."

They stared at Akatsuki. "No way," Isuzu said. "That doesn't even sound Adventurer, though I guess I've never thought about it for mental, only for physical."

"Like she does battle with her mind instead of a sword." Minori said.

"Tell that to Shiroe as soon as we're upstairs," Akatsuki ordered, though kindly. Minori nodded. Akatsuki had learned what data would be important for Shiroe to add to his mental lists. She got them walking again, having said her piece.

"Akatsuki, Shiroe-san said that the door would open for you. Is that the guild locks?" Minori asked. She was good at putting together all the data she could because she was Shiroe's apprentice strategist.

"I think so," Akatsuki said absently. It would make sense in a Shiroe-like reason, though it made her tingle to think that he would be willing to let _her_ have such a permission on _his_ room. Then she felt a little depressed.

She wasn't sure everything was still going to be okay after tonight, even though she'd only tried to do her best to do what he said he'd needed. She really didn't know what she'd been doing at all, and had been surprised out of whatever it was when Tetora had pounded on the door and yelled at them. They both had been and had called an immediate truce at opposite sides of the room. When they could work up the courage to talk, they both admitted neither of them could remember what had gone on, really. For her it had been rather a blur. She hoped he was telling the truth too. It had looked like it, but ...he was so kind he sometimes wouldn't tell her just to spare her discomfort. She sighed and shook herself. This wasn't the time to think of past regrets. That could come after. She was glad someone had come and interrupted. It was nice to know they could count on guildmates to know what to do.

"What about the scroll?" Minori asked next. Akatsuki looked at her blankly. "Do you know how it works?" Akatsuki shook her head. "She wouldn't talk until she'd cast it, and it didn't disappear, and it felt like we were surrounded by thick magic walls when she was done," Minori listed off the traits she could remember.

Tetora pursed his lips. "As a secure room spell, it might be hard. If the last setting was only for her and Shiroe, and she was saying high level stuff... We might not get into the room even with Akatsuki being able to open the door."

"Trap then," Minori said. "It probably won't hurt us, but if we think about it like that, then we'll be cautious enough to find out what it is and how to deal with it." The others nodded.

"Who goes in first, then?" Tetora asked.

"Isuzu," Minori said after a moment. "I'm sorry, Isuzu, but this time you're expendable. Tetora can cast healing spells, too, to up her HP but he's the only one who can cast the window spell to make sure he's got it right."

"That's fine," Isuzu said cheerfully. "Should I use my highest level spell first?"

Minori pursed her lips. "No," she said slowly. "What if that set something off, then was wasted? It would be better to use a low level one to test the room first." Isuzu nodded. That made sense, too.

"Hmm. What if her low level is fine but when I get in there my high level one explodes the place?" Tetora asked.

Minori shook her head, but was thinking. "Really...it might be better to move her first if we can get to her just so we don't screw things up. It'll be safer to heal her on the couch in the room we can all get to. What level of HP should we set as a minimum for moving her out?"

Akatsuki held up her hand. "It's variable. Let me calculate." She considered it hard. Likely she would have kept it hidden like before, but from what she could remember of the ratios..., "If it's thirty or above should be safe. Under twenty not ...in between ...maybe. I'm having to estimate."

Isuzu was looking worried. "Um, ...what about ...she's been in the room for safety when she talks, and this was the most important stuff, ...and if there's others, ...what if she's in trouble for talking now?"

"Well, they won't know what she said," Tetora said. "So they might not know."

Akatsuki stared at Tetora in disbelief. "If I'd been watching her to see how well she was spreading a virus, I would be sweating by now and might not let her get off on this round, if she kept disappearing for two days straight. I'd want to find out just what was going on as soon as she came out this time, at least, even if I did want to leave her here."

"And...we weren't so protected or quiet on the roof," Minori said timidly. Isuzu was in agreement.

Tetora considered it more seriously. "Well... She said they don't interfere much unless it's to uncover a certain data point. Since that can't be known at this point, we can't go anywhere with that, except to assume they'll do the usual. But...this feels more like Hacker material, like the one who is yet unnamed wants to destroy at least Akiba by using her and the Wolf Pack."

They all stiffened. "Maybe the plague is from the Wolf Pack, not Purrcy." They all nodded. _That_ made sense. Then of course Purrcy was trying to heal people of it. "Or...not she's healing them of the plague, she's healing them of broken hearts and pains of the heart and by extension it's healing the plague, or gives them protection from it?"

"That's got to be it!" Tetora crowed. "I'll add that to the window to see if I can see that." They had stopped at the chairs in the main room, having arrived without really paying attention at all because of their strategy meeting on the way down. Now he sat down to put his mind to it.

Akatsuki looked at Minori, wondering if she had more questions. "If the plague is from the Hacker, then we'll need protections that will prevent him from reading we're healing the virus that last long enough for her to find it and write the counter virus, right?" Minori said, unsure. "I would think that we aren't anywhere near good enough for the other possible enemy."

"Tracer," Akatsuki said. "Tetora can put a tracer on her so if she's taken he can find her. Then we can all go get her together."

"That will still take spell casting time and he hasn't written it yet, so we still need at least a short-term protective spell that hides what we're doing." She bit her lip. "Well, for those reasons it would be better to do it while still in the office, then bring her out."

Akatsuki nodded. "If the tracer is already set before they come out would be best."

"Maybe instead of asking at what level to bring her out, it should be at what level to wake her up." Isuzu said practically. "Then she could change the settings to let us work in there, dropping the security level back down for us." Akatsuki considered that.

"Well, if she has to change settings, that might use up some of her own power, so we want her to end up not too low." Minori said in the meantime. "But we don't know costs, do we?"

Akatsuki smiled. "She covered that, too." They looked at her in surprise. "Remember? She said it, that she would."

"Oh, right, that she'd let the officers know basic strategy stuff."

Akatsuki nodded. "Let's put it at...well...roughly the same numbers. Maybe five points higher."

"We could just wait fifteen minutes more, then, or something like that," Minori said. "She'll go up that much just sleeping won't she?"

"I wonder if Shiroe knows?" Akatsuki mused aloud. "That should have been covered in his questions."

Minori agreed and called up a chat. "Shiroe-san, excuse me, what is Miss Purrcy's recovery rate, and at what minimum HP can we wake her up if we need to have her change a basic setting on the scroll?" She blushed a little, then thanked him and came back. "He complimented us on working things out and apologized for not giving us that information to begin with. He says that the minimum to wake her up and make her do that kind of spell should be about twenty-eight, but if we wait another ten minutes it won't matter."

"Hmm...I wonder what that means?" Isuzu said. "That sound like one of his cryptic things."

"That puts her at about fourty-five minutes," Akatsuki said.

"Will the scroll's effect wear off then?" Minori's eyes widened.

"Oh, that wouldn't be good if we want to protect her," Isuzu responded.

Akatsuki nodded. "Let's go in as soon as we can. Then if we just can't, when that time is up ...then it won't matter."

Minori nodded. "And if her HP is sufficient we'll have time for our other things we want to do." The others were in agreement.

Tetora came back. "Write another one," Akatsuki said immediately. He stared at her. "Tracer so if she gets stolen as soon as we walk out of the room, all of us can follow you to where she is."

Tetora nodded. "Good idea. Give me two to three."

Minori frowned. "No more than that, please." He nodded and got to work. That would only give them six minutes to work in. Minori wasn't pleased. "Can we open the door and look in from here and get her status now?" she asked Akatsuki. Even that much would shave off some time.

Isuzu held up her hand. "Only Akatsuki can open it and Shiroe says the miasma will leak out and affect her worst of all. It might be better to only do it once."

Minori shook her head. "And I don't want to send you in alone, even though I want you to go first." She worried her lip, then finally pointed to the door. "Both of you, go stand ready. As soon as Tetora looks like he's coming back I'll give you the sign. Isuzu, go in. Akatsuki, immediately close the door. Isuzu, read the status and let Tetora know if you can work inside or not as soon as he arrives inside. I'll send him at a run and follow. Akatsuki, when I start talking to him, knock on the door. Isuzu, when you hear the knock cast the low level HP spell and see what it does. It should go off at the same time or just before Tetora arrives, so he'll be there to help you or to see that it works okay. Then you should still have five minutes to get done what needs to get done, including wake her up to reset things. Stay two steps ahead of Tetora so if something goes off when you get close to her it gets you and not him. Then he'll know how close he can get. Watch for other effects as you go. If you can chat with me, do, and I'll help as best I can, but you should initiate the chat, I think, just in case."

They nodded and hurried off to the office door to wait. Minori stood where she could watch Tetora's face, gripping her staff tightly in her slight anxiety at the tight timing they had. They'd done this kind of thing before in their training, but it always put butterflies in her stomach, or so she said. Akatsuki stood calmly at her place, watching for the sign to open the door, that being the only way she could support Minori from here. Stay calm and do what was your's to do. That was the best way to help your party be successful.


	11. Preparing to Face the Boss

Isuzu was inside Shiroe's office. She wanted to take a deep breath, then decided that wasn't a good idea. She did breathe slowly enough to calm her insides while opening a chat with Minori. At the same time she read the status on the sleeping werecat. "Oh dear." Purrcy wasn't in felinoid form and her werecat status didn't display HP and MP. That wasn't good. Isuzu groaned. "Well. What am I supposed to do about that?" she muttered. ...Or at least she thought she muttered it. She waited to hear the knock on the door. It seemed like it was taking longer than it should, so she prepared her spell. "Minori, I can't read any HP levels because she's in werecat form." There was no answer, but the door opened behind her and Tetora came in and it closed behind him. She nodded at him and cast the spell. The thing that happened just before happened again. There was no sound coming out of her mouth...that she could hear, that is. It felt like sound was coming out but there was no sound to hear at all. "Well, damn. That's no good." Still no sound. She turned to Tetora.

Tetora opened his mouth and it moved but no sound came out, or at least Isuzu couldn't hear it. She shook her head. His eyes also widened in concern now. He pointed to his eyes. She moved just enough to wave miserably at Purrcy. He looked, and his face fell as well. He stood thinking, then stood up straight, put one hand over his heart, opened his mouth, and made a sweeping wide gesture with the hand over his heart, held it, then looked at her. She gave him a "what? really?" look and mouthed, _Rudy?_ He paused, then laughed (still no sound), and shook his head. He thought some more, then played an air guitar and opened his mouth, then gestured to his throat, drawing a line up to and out of his mouth.

That she did get. _Sing._ She nodded then looked at him quizzically. He pointed to Purrcy, pointed to his head, or mind, then did "sing" again and pointed to her. Isuzu pondered. Purrcy - think - sing. She'd been teaching them to imagine when doing magic, and Isuzu sang. A bard was a performer and singer, and the Class Bard used music to do their magic. If she used song to do her spell, would it work since it wasn't spoken? She gave a little thoughtful nod and thought hard about how to turn her spell into a song, then stopped. More important was waking Purrcy up at this point. Any low level spell to test the room would work. She ran through the songs she might sing that would help Purrcy wake up.

Isuzu's father was a musician. Rock, but he had an extensive collection of classics that were always being played when he was around the house, and even when he wasn't once she got old enough to treat the disks nicely. Some of the favorites had been the Beetles, but from that same era her father had some American songs as well, and one fit this situation very well. Isuzu grinned. _Wake Up, Little Suzy_ sung by the Everly Brothers circa 1957. She wished she'd grabbed her lute, but it was too late now. Voice would have to do. Could she make it a spell? ...Purrcy had said intent was just as good, it seemed to Isuzu, and it wasn't like it needed to be high level. She was just sleeping. Isuzu opened her mouth and gave it a try, substituting a few words here and there and singing it in English, since that's how she'd learned it.

 _Wake up, Little Purrcy, wake up._  
 _Wake up, Little Purrcy, wake up._

Tetora grinned. It worked. They could see the musical notes in the air that always accompanied her songs. As she sang she slowly led them closer to Purrcy, Tetora coming closely behind.

 _We've both been sound asleep._  
 _Wake up Little Purrcy and help._  
 _The questions are over, it's ten o'clock,_  
 _And we're in trouble deep._

Isuzu put her hand gently on Purrcy's head. She'd already twitched her ear several times on their way over.

 _Wake up, Little Purrcy._  
 _Wake up, Little Purrcy._  
 _We gotta go home._

Isuzu ended the song there and Purrcy rolled her head slightly and opened her eye. Isuzu pointed to her throat and then her ear. Purrcy blinked a few times, then said, "I've fixed it," in a very sleepy voice. "Sing more of that one. I like it."

"You aren't _that_ old surely," Isuzu said, mostly to try and see if she could hear it.

Purrcy gave a chuckle. "You're not either."

"No. My Dad liked the old classics."

"Well, there you go. So did mine. Saxophone."

"My Dad was string bass, rock," Isuzu offered in return.

Purrcy smiled a sleepy smile. "Classical band, but swing was his favorite, both to play and dance. He was my favorite dance partner."

Tetora's first spell settled on Purrcy and soon thereafter the second one did as well. Purrcy looked a little surprised, then looked over. "That was an interesting spell, Tetora. Very good. You left a large imprint, but that will fade with time. Trying to cast a fifth level when you're just barely a first will do that."

"The tracer is a fifth level?" he asked her.

"That one was."

Isuzu was worried. As of yet Purrcy hadn't moved. "Miss Purrcy, can you move? We've cast the spells that need to be cast but no one else can come in. You need to come out. We've tried to heal you enough, but you don't show when in this form how much HP you have, or MP either."

Purrcy sighed. "Is it really safe to come out?"

"All the boys and men, besides Tetora, are on the roof. We only need you to come to the couch outside."

Purrcy nodded a nod and slowly lifted herself to leave the couch, and they walked on either side of her towards the door. Isuzu went to open a chat with Minori and was a little surprised to find it was still open from before. "We're coming to the door. I'll knock."

"Okay," Minori answered. "I have a protective spell waiting."

Isuzu passed on the information, so no one would be surprised, then knocked on the door. Tetora's fingers tightened in Purrcy's fur, having taken hold of her because he really didn't want her to disappear at all. Isuzu, being the expendable, stood behind them. As soon as the door opened, Tetora pulled on Purrcy and they moved through the door. Isuzu passed through after them quickly and Akatsuki closed the door behind them with a click.

"Ah, did my spell work?" Minori asked, looking a little confused and worried.

"Look at my status," Tetora said. Minori did, then nodded. Tetora crouched down next to Purrcy. "Does it take HP to transform to a small cat?"

Purrcy blinked at him, then put a paw on his shoulder. It was a bit slow, but soon he was holding the smaller Purrcy housecat, resting her front paws on his shoulder and him holding her back ones. He carried her over to the couch and held her in his arms. The three girls settled around them. Isuzu's heart was as worried as Tetora's face was. "Purrcy, will they take you away now?" he asked, his voice pained.

She rubbed her head under his chin and on his cheek by his ear and purred for him. He froze. "No, Purrcy. Don't do that. Don't take my...that. Don't absorb that. We think it's making it worse." She stopped in surprise. "You can physically comfort me, but look, can you see my data stream? It's the first of the two spells I cast."

"Okay, I see it," she said.

"Now, do what I said not to do, but just a little."

They watched it together. "Oh. That's...hmmm. I think I must do that automatically. I had no idea it did that. Can I copy that code so I can learn when to do that and when not to?"

"Sure," he said magnanimously. "We think it negates the effect of the plague virus you've got, but we don't know how, so I'm watching it. There is also the possibility that you are actually putting that into your own system when you take it from others and you've overloaded your system with it and can't get rid of it, or at least aren't properly."

"Oh, no, when people pet me it goes away. That's one of the reasons I like to be pet."

"Well, you've only been pet here in the last two or three days. To have gone lots of months and years without it, you're definitely overloaded. Don't do it for a while...like months. I'll put together another reader to see how well you're getting rid of the down side."

"No, not a new one. Modify the existing. Like this." There was quiet for a minute.

"Oh, that's cool. Can I make it a higher level spell?"

"Yes, but you shouldn't until _you_ are higher level," humor was in her voice. "You can also copy them and keep the one but make the other lower or higher. Here, watch me copy it for me, though it's slightly different since I have to change permissions and you can't." He watched her do that too, but Isuzu noticed he was now petting her purposely and looked like he was keeping track of his data line at the same time.

Isuzu glanced at Minori, wondering. She shook her head. It looked like she was counting. Akatsuki was kneeling on her chair watching both them and the room in general. Isuzu considered her spells and set off one that would keep a low level of HP flowing into all of her compatriots. It was mostly for Purrcy's benefit, but if battle was brought to them, then it would at least be available. Then she sat back to also pay attention to the room. She'd wait until Minori's count was done so as to not distract her.

At the same time as Minori's count ended and she asked, "Miss Purrcy, how are you feeling now?" Tetora frowned and said, "I don't like this."

Purrcy looked between them. Tetora nodded at Minori. Purrcy looked at her and said, "Tired. One hour isn't much sleep, though the spells have been helpful for the points. As a wild natural cat, I do actually need sleep not just increases in the bars. I think that's my curse, though, not everyone's."

"No, it's not that either, Purrcy." Tetora shook his head. He was still looking closely at his data.

Isuzu leaned forward. "Tetora-kun, read. I'll tell her." He nodded gratefully. Isuzu summarized their current working theory that she had a computer virus that was acting like a plague. That the larger spell Tetora had cast in the office should have dampened it's effects for now, but was still too low level to remove it. That they had tested it already and on what levels and the effects on those people. She meandered into the theory of the guildmasters and guilds as test subjects and the Wolf Pack as well, as well as them being the final carriers. Her own opinion was that Purrcy'd been surrounded by the pack in order to make sure she had the last and strongest virus and Shiroe believed she'd been chased to Log Horizon on purpose to bring it to them. When asked if she'd been touched, Purrcy shook her head. Isuzu frowned. "From what little evidence we have, it's transmitted by touch. Are you sure? And it would have had to have been a male that touched you. It alternates between the sexes."

Purrcy had curled up in Tetora's arm. She lay her head down and closed her eyes. Isuzu was afraid she was falling asleep again, but finally she said, "It is possible...that one of the guards who brought me to Grandale touched me. I seem ...oh, right, he helped me steady myself when I landed with Call of Home. There was something underfoot, but I didn't see it because he was so fast to help me."

"Could you identify him again if you saw him?" Akatsuki asked immediately.

Purrcy thought about it. "Maybe...I think so."

"Tetora...," they waited for him to come back, "what have they done with the men that you took into custody?"

"Hmm...I don't know. I left them with the guilds - Woodstock has them, I think."

Akatsuki was immediately on chat with Shiroe. "Contact Woodstock again. Have him make sure he still has his prisoners. He's got a mole in the group of guards that picked her up. That one passed her the virus. She might be able to identify him again. It's the one who steadied her on arrival, if any of the other guards can remember who it was. ...Yes. He put something on the ground so that she needed the steadying. She's a cat and Call of Home doesn't twist cat's feet when they land. ...Yes." There was a longer pause during which Akatsuki looked at Purrcy and Tetora. "...Not yet. Tetora's watching something he doesn't like, and she's still not looking good, for all she should be by now. We'll let you know. ...Oh, okay. Thank you. ...Purrcy, please turn on the MP and HP status so we can see them."

Isuzu looked and saw she'd done it. She frowned too. "Why is HP capped?"

Tetora started. "Oh, is that what it looks like on the outside?"

"Yes," Isuzu answered him. "It goes up to a certain height then bounces back down, then back up again. ...Oh, I've got a support spell going that adds to HP slowly, so some of the returning up might be me. Should I turn it off so you can see just the drain side?"

"Well, ...if it's not too much to turn it back on again."

She considered that. "No, I don't think it should be." She canceled the spell and they watched from either side what the result was. Sure enough, there was a slow drain. Tetora motioned and she reset the spell again. It didn't go up again, but it didn't go down either. It bounced again. "My rate is two HP per second. So, that's a one HP beat per half-second."

"I'll do a search by frequency then."

Isuzu frowned. Frequency, and beats were her kind of magic. "Could the Hacker be a Bard? Look for a Bard signature, because that sure is one if there ever was one." She ran through in her mind all her own spells, both for what it could be and for one that would counter it.

"Bard...," Purrcy said sleepily. "Damn. ...Need more HP, just enough to wake up for about four to five minutes, but I know how to find him in here. ...If you can't do that much I'll take what I can get. I know how to block him, too. It's sad. I like his music and he's got a great beat."

"Well, you would think so. You're tied to it. You need to untie it and burn the string. Then he can't influence you any more," Isuzu scolded while Tetora cast another HP healing spell on Purrcy.

"Hmm..., come here, Tetora." She fell silent and the two sat quietly for a while.

"Isuzu," Minori leaned over and said quietly, "could you hear me when you were in the office?"

Isuzu looked at her in surprise. "No. I couldn't hear me and when Tetora arrived we couldn't hear each other either."

"Hmm...interesting. I could hear you just fine."

Isuzu blinked. "It was just set for...hearing? That's interesting."

"I was starting to get worried when you wouldn't answer me, and then you started singing. I'd wondered what it was."

"I did that as a spell, of the kind she says to do - naturally, since I'm a Bard. I'm not sure, but I was thinking that if we couldn't hear speech, then maybe we could hear singing instead, though it was Tetora's idea. ...Honestly, I'm surprised we could do magic in there."

Minori shrugged. "Maybe she thought if anyone was going to, she would already know. I doubt external magic would work." Isuzu agreed with that.

A smile came on Tetora's face. "How do I rewrite the tracer to make it a level one spell?" he asked. There was another pause, then a look of concentration, consideration, then triumph. "I've got him." Akatsuki looked positively pleased. "And I've put it on the guild map."

Akatsuki sat up straight almost trembling with excitement. "Shiroe, permission to go hunting. The bastard's in town. ...'Kay." She was gone.

Both Tetora and Purrcy sighed and Isuzu could see the HP meter begin to rise steadily. She and Minori both sighed and relaxed at the same time as well. Isuzu glanced at Minori. She only had half of her attention on the status, as she'd picked up scanning the room now that Akatsuki was gone. She called up to Shiroe herself now. "It was a Bard, and his rate of decrease was a half-second rate, one HP per."

He was quiet for a moment, then said, "That equates to the rate she fell by each time between rests."

"Yes. Once she got pushed down, she couldn't fill it fast enough, so it would have been a steadily decreasing rate over all."

He sighed. "What's the rate of increase now?"

Isuzu asked Minori then passed the answer back up. "Check her state in four minutes. If she looks mostly recovered bring her up."

"Okay. Um...would it be okay to have Rudy come down to my room and get my lute for me to pick up when we get there?"

He considered it. "I'll send him down. That far and if he's fast shouldn't be too bad."

"Thanks." She ended the chat. "He says give it four minutes and if she's good, go up."

Purrcy buried her head in Tetora's elbow. He paused his reading and looked at her in surprise, then pet her. "Did you not understand, Purrcy? Because of the virus you were headed to heat. Now that I've used the bigger spell on you and we've found out why you're so tired all the time, you won't be in heat by the time we're supposed to go up. He wants you to create the antivirus. I'll keep you healthy until you're done with it so we can get the city back in order. It's in quarantine right now with everyone using the healing magic to get by until then."

Purrcy turned her head around to look up at him. "Seriously?"

Tetora nodded. "Yes. You said that magic is magic here, so I just imagined my normal healing magic affecting the computer virus, and it did, it's just higher level than I can effect to get rid of it altogether. You have to do it, to eradicate it. We've been calling it plague because that's what it mimics, and that works just as well for the other guilds. Their healers imagine their spell to work against plague and they get the same results -ish. We aren't there to compare really, but that's the verbal report."

"Just a general purpose spell?"

"Yes, targeted to plague...or computer virus."

She snorted. "Well, who would have known. I've got to stop being so detail oriented sometimes. All-purpose cleaner works just as good. I'll remember it from now on." She paused, then said, "Okay. Now I need to know the range of spread."

"It's for sure Akiba. We haven't had the opportunity to research beyond that yet. This newest strain is the worst. Everything before it can be handled by a level ninety-eight."

She sat up straight. "No way. He's done it. Gah. I'm falling behind again. No wonder it worked so well."

Tetora frowned. "He's higher level than you?"

"No, not yet, but he's moved up enough to be damaging again. He's the one I need to get rid of right now. I guess we've reached full blown war at this point."

"Damn straight. He decided to mess with Log Horizon this time," Tetora said fiercely. The girls nodded.

Minori asked, "How are you feeling now, Miss Purrcy?"

"Like fighting...but in the morning." She chuckled a purry sort of chuckle.

Minori stood. "Let's go, but we'll take it slow." Isuzu and Tetora rose as well.

Isuzu took point and kept careful watch. Tetora carried Purrcy in the middle and Minori took up the rear. They made it to the rooftop without incident on the way up. Isuzu motioned to Tetora to wait at the door, though. He nodded. Minori stayed with them. Isuzu stepped out and walked straight up to her guildmaster and held up her sleeve. "How bad is it? I was in the room for just about seven minutes, then we were in the downstairs for nearly, what, ten?" She looked him in the eyes, judging his reaction.

He finally took a step back and shook his head. "Keep her either by the door or take her straight to the edge downwind. It will be worse on her, even if she isn't producing it any more. Likely a bath will be necessary...for everyone. Has she been told I don't have a place to sleep tonight yet?"

Isuzu stared at him. "Of course you do. If you don't sleep with Akatsuki we'll all kill you." His eyes went wider than she'd ever seen them before and the rest of the men on the roof laughed themselves to tears.

"That's our Bard!" Naotsugu crowed and slapped her on the back as she moved to go back to the stairwell. It pushed her forward three feet.

She glared at him over her shoulder. "Easy, big guy. I'm still a thin stick in this place, for all my levels have gone up."

"Sorry, sorry," he said, waving a hand in apology.

As she opened the door to give Tetora his orders to take Purrcy downwind to the edge of the roof and suggest Minori go also, she heard Shiroe complain, "Naotsugu, how come you can get touched and touch, but not get this thing?"

"Ah, because I'm an open perv, Shiroe. It's all you closet pervs that can't handle it."

Isuzu snorted. As she walked back, she said, "It's because he doesn't have a hateful bone in his body, most of the time. He's so calm nothing perturbs the surface of his puddle."

Naotsugu just grinned as Isuzu took her lute from Rudy. "Thanks," she said to him.

"Are you going to sing while we wait?" he asked her. As a Person of the Land originally, he was her most devoted fan.

She smiled. "Well, maybe after. I used a natural song spell to get Miss Purrcy to wake up. I just thought that if we're going to fight a Bard-Hacker, then maybe I could counter him better with the strings to back up my voice."

"Well, I'll look forward to it, then," he smiled his golden-boy smile. She refrained from patting him on the head. She didn't want to pass what she might have picked up from the office to him.

Isuzu walked over to be with Tetora, Minori, and Purrcy again. She heard Purrcy softly ask, "Tetora, where's Nyanta?"

Isuzu interrupted. "He went with Akatsuki to get the one Tetora put the tracer on."

"Isuzu, will you let Purrcy come over there? I'd like my hands free for healing magic and I've also got to focus on the other magic pretty hard still, since it's still new," Tetora requested.

"Sure," Isuzu didn't mind.

When Tetora handed Purrcy over, instead of letting Isuzu hold her, she walked up onto her shoulder. "I'll stay up here so you have your hands free for the instrument." Tetora left them to go talk to the men.

"How small can you really go?" Isuzu was amazed that she'd reached almost kitten size so she could sit on the one narrow shoulder. Isuzu was rather thin and tall for a girl, having kept to her natural size in this originally-2D-constructed body.

"Well, there are some mass issues so I don't go much smaller than this, and I can go bigger than what I've done here, but too large is just too much, so I have a maximum as well. No city block sized cats for me, thanks."

"Godzilla in cat form," Isuzu laughed, and Minori and Purrcy laughed with her.

"No. Nothing like that," Purrcy agreed. "I think, actually, that it's limited by what a 'cat' would be really, so to speak, though I don't know if that's from my mindset because of the cats, house and big ones, that I know, or if it's because somewhere in the system is an actual definition of sizes of cats. The largest are the panther and lion and that's about as big as it gets, really, though I can for short periods of time go a little bigger. It stretches me funny, so I don't much."

Tetora returned to them. "The Boss says just do Akiba for now and maybe out five to ten feet in case there are some sleepers on the outside tonight, then do a few more inoculations over the next couple of days. If you can stay a few weeks, then once weekly after that might catch the rest. And can it be copied to me so I at least have it, even if it's too high level to use?"

"Hmm...scroll, maybe. He's probably thinking it but not sure how to get it from one to the other. When I've recovered enough, I'll see what I can do." There was silence for a moment, then, "Okay. I'm going to need one full up dose of MP and HP. Once I cast the spell he's going to know I'm present and likely still weak. I don't know that he'll actually do anything to the rest of you, since he'll be fighting me inside the program, so to speak. If you come to look around inside, Tetora, stand inside my shields to be protected yourself and watch what they do. They're complex, but if you see them in action, you'll be able to create your own faster."

"Yes, ma'am. Hang on while I go let them know." Tetora was off again.

"Not like we couldn't chat," Minori commented.

"He must like the exercise." Purrcy commented. Isuzu and Minori laughed, agreeing.

"Miss Purrcy, let me set a spell so that he can't use the same Bard connection he was using before." Isuzu started tuning her lute, trying to not unbalance the kitten on her shoulder. She stayed put pretty well, though, and started purring in Isuzu's ear.

"If it's more singing, I'm happy to let you do whatever you want in that regard," the now little voice said in her ear.

"You like music," Minori observed.

"Yes," Purrcy said. "I studied piano. I'm self taught so nothing like the awesome pianists of Japan, or even the average classical pianist of where I'm from, but if I could have been, I wouldn't have minded, I think. Or so I say now that I'm older." She laughed at herself.

Isuzu nodded. "For all my father was in a known band, I'm mostly self taught as well, but I also love to play."

"She's really good, actually," Minori said, and Isuzu shrugged a little, uncomfortable.

Purrcy patted her ear with a paw. "Yes, that's how I feel about my music, too, but I'm sure that if you love it with all your heart, then that's what people are hearing, and that's what matters. Keep playing for you, so that you can have the joy stay with you. Love your music and it will love you back."

Isuzu thought about that, then nodded. She strummed a few chords as she considered how she wanted to set the protective spell. "Miss Purrcy, what's your favorite type of music?"

"Whatever you choose to play that makes you the happiest, Love. If you're going to set a spell I'm going to have to hear the tempo of for a long time to come, make it that. Then I'll always have in me the memory of how much you love and find joy in _your_ music. ...Though if I can dance to it, too, that'd make me even happier, but it's a side note, really."

Isuzu stopped, her eyes shut, and just felt those words for a minute. She held the lute in one hand and reached up and held the little kitten to the side of her face. "Mother...thank you." Purrcy purred and rubbed her head on Isuzu's cheek, then gave her jaw a little rough-tongued lick. Isuzu smiled and got to work.

-:-:-:-:-

"We're at a tavern full of people," Akatsuki said, having reached the place in downtown Akiba that was marked on the guild map by Tetora's marker for the enemy Bard. The guild map let them know where each member of the guild was within a local range, but Purrcy had shown him how to modify it that much.

"Do mew want me to go in and look around?" Nyanta asked on the guild chat.

"I'd rather you were on the back end, to invite him to dinner when he's had enough drink." Shiroe answered.

"Going," Nyanta said.

"Akatsuki, you've got the front. Keep an eye out for your girlfriend. She might want to get a drink or two with you." Shiroe paused that chat and opened another. "Rieze...interested in helping?"

"Where?" That was "pretty interested", maybe even "very interested" it had been said so fast.

"Hang on." Shiroe was betting that his communications were being "read". He had to assume it, since the person was both very high level, and almost surely knew that Purrcy was at Log Horizon and a guild member, since that news had been used to gain information the previous day. He was experimenting with his own natural magic now. He had the chat open to Rieze and now he "scribed" to it, as if doing the text version. The actual text was set to only show up in front of Rieze's eyes. It might be a bit sloppy since he couldn't see where characters overlapped on his end. He wrote with his finger, letting the words fade between sentences:

 _We're wire-tapped. Find Akatsuki._

 _Outside a tavern, south-east side of market._

 _Target is inside and it's full._

 _We'll watch the doors on the outside._

 _Bard with special magic skills._

 _Can erase status effects in one turn._

 _Ignore status screen - falsified._

 _HP/MP are ratios._

 _Expected level 98/99._

 _Nyanta calls dibs._

 _You can pick him up in the usual place after._

"The hell, Shiroe," Rieze complained when he'd paused long enough, having been quiet herself until now. "Why do you like to pick up these kinds? Is it the one?"

"Yes."

"Right. Got some ideas. We're on it."

"Thanks." He ended the chat, pleased that his spell addition had worked and went back to monitoring the chat with Nyanta and Akatsuki. While waiting to hear things on that end, he considered what the full battle plan should look like. If the Bard was monitoring his virus and the extent of it, like Shiroe would have been, then as soon as Purrcy cast the spell to get rid of it, he would be alerted to the fact. That would make him attack Purrcy. But if he was distracted with D.D.D., then with Nyanta and Akatsuki, he wouldn't be able to get too many new spells off against her. Any sleeper spells would be set off, though. Likely Purrcy was waiting for those at the very least. Solo players were very paranoid or they died early and often.

Tetora had set himself as secondary and healer for Purrcy and if she didn't use him right, he'd teach her to. There wasn't much for the rest of them on the roof to do, unless by some chance the Bard got off a spell against them that was more physical in nature. They'd listen for either Purrcy or Tetora to warn them something was incoming and deal with it then. ...Unless they were busy. That meant he needed... And he wanted to know... He sighed. He'd have to go talk to her himself. Maybe enough time had passed.

Shiroe walked over to stand upwind of the sub-party of girls (and Tetora, who looked like a girl so it might as well be called that without the modifier, except they wanted to show him proper respect). For a moment he couldn't see Purrcy, but there was a glowing ball on or near Isuzu's left shoulder. She was ending a song. He waited politely.

"How's that feel, Miss Purrcy?" Isuzu asked.

There was a pause, then, from that point on the shoulder that no longer glowed, "I like it very much, Love." The voice was small and smooth and sounded tired. "It's happy with a good dance tempo, but isn't overwhelming for having to have in the system long-term. You did a good job."

"I tried to get it about adult heart-rate level so you don't fall asleep or get too irritable."

"Oh, that was very thoughtful."

Shiroe looked closer at that spot on Isuzu. "Excuse me?" he politely interrupted.

They turned to look at him. "Oh, Mister Shiroe. We're sorry," Minori said, a bit horrified they'd missed him being present.

"No, it looked like you were busy," he said.

"Ah, Isuzu's just..., well," Minori turned to Isuzu.

Isuzu fully turned towards him and he could finally see that on her left shoulder was a calico kitten, difficult to see in the night. He raised his eyebrow. He hadn't known she could go that small. "I've just used a natural Bard song spell." Isuzu's face turned into a look of consternation. "Well...those words didn't flow, but do you get what I mean?" He nodded. "The other Bard Hacker, in having that slow drain on her, had lodged a long-term frequency in her. She and Tetora got rid of it, but it could be restored if he finds out it's gone, so I was replacing it with one of mine that is a slow restorative rather than a drain."

"Oh, thank you very much, Isuzu!" Purrcy rubbed the top of her head on Isuzu's jaw and purred. "You didn't have to do the restorative, though I appreciate it."

"Is it permanent or temporary?" Shiroe asked.

"Permanent, those kinds...and I told the music to make it that way." Isuzu said.

Shiroe nodded. "Purrcy, I have a few questions before the battle begins." Everyone turned to him to give him respectful attention, even Purrcy sat upright on Isuzu's shoulder and wrapped her tail around to lay it on the front paws, in what he was learning was her formal pose. "Is the Bard Classed or sub-classed?"

"Classed. Bard is now the sub-class."

That's was Shiroe had been afraid of. In his own element he was going to be difficult. "How are you planning on protecting us if he manages to slip away from the distractions headed his way?"

The tip of her tail flipped up and back down. "I can put a shield over the top of the building. The smaller the size, the better, though. I'm going to use at least half just to cast the antiviral healing spell."

Shiroe thought about that. "Minori's a Kannagi. Could you do one over our larger group and her do one over your smaller group?"

Purrcy looked at Minori. "Probably, if she thinks she can. That would help me."

Minori frowned a bit, then said, "So one of the spells that shields from damage, but focus on the damage being from a computer virus or something like that?"

Purrcy tipped her head, thinking and Shiroe, completely separate from the other things that had gone on earlier this day, thought that it was probably one of the cutest things he'd seen in a long time - a kitten looking intelligently thoughtful. "You probably don't want to think specifically of a virus, there are other attacks that would get through, but if you generalized it to just 'computer' attacks...or you could just let it be as it is...or as is but add in additional defenses against status effects, making a higher level spell... Really, there isn't a limit when you branch out past the spells written into the initial code. Just do what seems best to you. Probably it's more important to visualize the boundaries of it. Is it an umbrella over us? A wall around us? A sphere? A half-sphere? How far out are the boundaries from us?"

"If we move you would need to let us know if we've moved outside the boundaries. If it's a spell for a single person, and you want it for all of us, that needs to be included in the visualization as well, but that will also increase the level of spell it is. You need to keep track of each increase so you don't go over your own level or there will be weak spots or even holes in it. Too high and it will fail, and sometimes there are negative repercussions to failures. ...Having said all that, keeping it simple really is the best way to go. Decide what the most important features are, and stick to them. Outlying attacks can be handled on the fly, like we always do when something unexpected comes along."

Minori had been listening carefully and at the last she nodded. She knew how to handle that sort of thing, and Shiroe had confidence in her capabilities. "Will multiple layers work if the attacks are so much higher level than I am?" she asked. It was an intelligent question.

"If you plan them that way. The first one goes down and negates so many points of damage, or a percentage, the second one negates the same, etc., so by the time it hits us it's a five or less level spell, I assume is what you're thinking." Minori nodded. "Yes. You'll have to play with it a bit. Each successive shell might be considered a higher level spell than the first one. Magic still has higher costs for better stuff. Those kinds of rules still apply because they are the general rules of magic on this world." Minori nodded again. She was very good at putting these kinds of rules into memory and into practice.

"Purrcy, since this is your first time working with us, go ahead and tell me what you've set up already and what you expect to see," Shiroe requested.

"I've got watchdogs that know his scent already on duty. The same goes for my shields and Tetora's been practicing hiding behind them. I'll set watchdogs for your group when I put the shield there. Tetora can set up warnings on Minori's shield and handle watching incoming on it. If it's bigger than he can handle he can pass them up to me, but most of those I should catch before he sees them. It's only if it's a swarm that I might have to let some through." She considered. "If it's something coming that you all can handle, and I'm busy with hand-to-hand, I'll put tracers on them so you can see them visibly. That way you can affect them with your own magics. You could anyway, they just aren't visible normally."

"Can you color code them?" he asked.

"Um...If I set that up ahead of time. If I'm in hand-to-hand I won't have the capacity. I suppose writing that ahead of time as a stand-by would be good anyway. Three minutes to write it, I would think. Half to cast or less, so four minutes for that one." She paused reading her own stats, "I could do that with what I've got now, before Tetora fills me up."

Shiroe nodded. "Do that. They've found him and are watching the place, but are waiting for the heavy reinforcements to arrive, which should be soon. What are you doing to protect them?"

Purrcy blinked, then said soberly. "Nyanta's solid. I did that yesterday. ...I might not have time to help Akatsuki, though, at least as solid as I'd like. I'll get what I can on her to the best of my ability. Do you have a preference on what I focus on?"

"Things that a healing spell won't affect," he answered immediately, knowing D.D.D. would be bringing in at least one healer, and more likely three, that Akatsuki could use.

"Does the virus count?"

"Why?"

"Because after I cast the spell, he may recast immediately. It will take the battle time for it to take full effect, so no one will be adversely affected during battle. I anticipate having tomorrow's recast handle that..." She paused a pregnant, heavy pause.

"Tell me," he said.

"I...I'm thinking he might have one more. One that he's reserved. I'm hopeful it's just another iteration so I'll be able to wait that half-day I need and can modify my anti-viral to match it. If it's out of scope, I might not be able to do anything about it at all for some time. If he's made it fast-acting...well, that's our worst case scenario."

Shiroe considered his battle plan options he'd been holding pending her additional information. "For the worst case scenario, how much HP and MP would he need to cast them?"

"Well...if he only has to touch one person...and guessing at the level of spell...ah, no. If he's already paid the price, it would only be the one touch, so two to four points. A single point is the thread of life. If you're down to one you can't spend it on a spell or a spell release."

"HP or MP?"

"HP. It blocks spending MP regardless of it's level." She tipped his head at him. "By the way...that works for Call of Home, too. If you get injured in the field and are at one HP, you can't even use Call of Home, regardless of Class. Most people don't know that since they are rarely at one HP."

"You have been, then?" he asked her.

"Oh, yes. Several times. Life was super sweet at those moments. I learned a lot of my hiding techniques then, and that's when I decided to stop and focus on learning the transformation magic until I had it down cold." Everyone nodded their understanding. They knew from the stories of Serera's rescue what it would have been like to have had to resurrect back at Susukino. That would have been very dangerous. Demikas had kept a twenty-four hour watch on the Cathedral. Call of Home put you down outside the city gates. She would have had a chance to escape there.

"I'd like to not have Akatsuki dead or quarantined, but if he's got something you don't know about, there isn't much that can be done, really. Decrease damage or level would be nice if you can do that much." Shiroe returned to the initial request.

Purrcy nodded. "Tetora, put a read on Akatsuki and watch her back. If something looks bad, call me in. I might have to put it on hold, but I'll show up. Do what you can in the meantime while you wait for me."

"Yes, ma'am," Tetora looked like he was starting it right that very moment.

Shiroe nodded at them. "As soon as the spells are set, raise your hand and I'll tell them to get started on that side. Give it six and a half minutes, then cast the antiviral." Purrcy nodded. Tetora also gave a faint nod to let Shiroe know he'd heard and would properly calculate for when he needed to give Purrcy the healing spells to get her up to the proper levels to cast it.

Shiroe looked at Minori. "I'll watch them. I've got potions with me for Tetora," she said.

"Mister Shiroe," Isuzu asked, "shall I put one up for MP and one for HP, or one for HP and one for decreased casting time?"

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. "I think agility will be rather key if things go bad," he said.

Isuzu nodded. "Gotcha."


	12. Defeating the Boss

Rieze, Head of the Training Division of the guild D.D.D., and de facto Guildmaster until Crusty - the actual Guildmaster - showed back up from off the China Server from playing extended hooky, really couldn't quite fathom the newest things thrown at her by the Machiavelli in Glasses Shiroe of Log Horizon. Inside she was still reeling just a bit, but outside, she wasn't. Outside, she'd received the news she, and a good portion of D.D.D. living here in Akiba, had been waiting to hear for several months now. The beast halves had been getting frantic, though the rest of them had been helping as best they could. That meant, though, that the guild itself was under more strain than anyone really liked.

Outside, she was giving orders and getting the right people in motion as fast as possible. Normally, one as low rank as her wouldn't be put into a Guildmaster position, even as temporary. Really it had been _because_ she was head of the training division and had trained pretty much everyone. Even on Earth. So, they all knew her, and knew she could direct them as a whole since she'd directed them in slightly smaller groups. Well...who knew if they "knew" it, it was more like she was the fall-back. They followed Crusty. Crusty wasn't there, so they followed the last person they'd followed - her. It was okay. Crusty had set up the guild to mostly run itself anyway. She was just in charge when orders needed to be given and just like they were used to following her orders, she of necessity was used to giving them. She just treated it as more training, and it worked.

"Okay folks," she opened the briefing, "this is the one we've been waiting for, and it's a mid-level boss raid category C, here in town. Civilians having fun, but one of them's our target and he or she is in hiding, disguised as all the rest. Log Horizon has them pinned down, we're to show up, pick him out and send him into their arms." There was restless shifting. "We'll pick up our pay at the Cathedral after." They settled. "Since it's a plague master, expect plenty of status effects. The benefit such a one gets is that status effects are erased after one turn for him. We're going to use that to pick him out." She got raised eyebrows for that one, but it got them thinking right away about how to go about doing it.

"We know that healing negates the plague, so I'm going to assume it does for other status effects as well, that's why we're heavy on high level healers this round. Stay out of his effect area, if possible. He or she is at base a Bard, but don't expect it to be so easy. I'm told to expect around a level ninety-eight to ninety-nine boss." She got whistles at that, but no one looked afraid. She'd also packed the party with people at that same level range. It just meant it would be a fight to pay attention to, and to play smart. Normally a raid boss would be as much as level 800, but they were going up against an Adventurer, so it was about the same. "If you watch his stats, ignore them, but watch the ratios on his counters. They'll drop proportionately, but not do as much real damage as they should. That'll be another way to pick him out. If he runs, let him. I suspect they need to quarantine him so he can't come back even if he comes back."

"We're going to break into sub-teams." Those were teams of one from each Class type - warrior, weapon attack, recovery, and magic attack type Classes. She'd weighted the magic attack types with Enchanters. They didn't need magic exploding the tavern to bits or burning it down, but assists to the other three would be highly beneficial. There were also only four sub-teams, but for a room that small it should be plenty sufficient. "Here's my outline, hash it down for me. We've got five minutes, then we're on the road."

Ten minutes later Rieze was looking for her girlfriend for a night on the town outside a tavern on the south-east side of the market in the central nervous system of Akiba. One group of four friends had just gone into the tavern to get their own R&R for the night and three more sets of them were making their way there. In the dark, about another eight individuals were quietly moving into position to surround the building as a whole. Two from Log Horizon might not be enough to keep him from running away completely and D.D.D. wasn't having that. Another six were already almost to the Cathedral just in case they messed up and he died early. Everyone was level 97-99, and the one's surrounding the tavern were mostly recovery class.

"Rieze." The taciturn ninja showed up by her side.

"Hey Akatsuki," she said. She wasn't much more expressive herself when it came to small talk. Two words to one about summed it up. "Give us two more to get set up." She looked at the other woman who only came up to her chest. Rieze knew better than to underestimate her just because she was undersized. This Assassin had done more for Akiba in her role than most people understood. All of Log Horizon was underestimated - mostly because they kept in the background - but the Round Table Council members knew. This city wouldn't last three weeks without them. They'd stand in front and protect them if that's what Shiroe wanted, and they'd hop to his commands, too. They'd learned already from battle after battle, social and physical. If life in town was going to stay nice, he was the one who was going to make sure that happened.

"So, how does a boss in this place put a wire-tap on Adventurers?" That's what had been eating at her. If the chat function was compromised, that was bad...and it shouldn't be possible...right?

Akatsuki looked at her, her lips firmly pressed together. Rieze sighed to herself. She knew Akatsuki well enough now from the teas at Princess Raynessia's ambassador house to know that there was normal tongue-tied reticent Akatsuki and there was lips-pressed-together-it's-a-guild-secret reticent Akatsuki. She looked away. "Just let me know when you can, eh?"

"He will." Dang. It was that high a level secret, was it? That meant it wouldn't come out until Shiroe had figured out a way to tell the Round Table all at once together and then they'd have to come up with the best way to break it to the city in general. Not good at all...but then having every beast-half going crazy wasn't either.

The last of her sub-teams entered the tavern. "So, are we going in or hanging out?"

"Hanging out. ...Sorry." Hard, then soft, remembering she was also talking to a friend.

"No prob."

Suddenly Akatsuki stiffened. "But...," she slumped. "Okay." She looked back at Rieze. "Shall we go get a drink? I'll pick the table." She'd gotten orders to the contrary, then. Rieze nodded and together they walked towards the door.

The place was indeed full. Akatsuki didn't have much choice of places...until she made one by picking a 'fight' with someone who 'supposedly' picked on her for her size, freeing up the table closest to the door. Actually, not a few heads and eyes turned their way when they walked in. They weren't dressed any different. It was the feel since the quarantine had gone into effect, plus two of the most commonly seen higher level operatives when things were going down making noise...right after four sets of four D.D.D. guild members had come in... Those who lived in the city took the opportunity to start drifting out and find other places to 'quarantine' themselves into. These were the solos and small groups who didn't have guild houses to go to. They had small rented houses, rooms at inns, that kind of thing.

The ones who were left remaining in the tavern were mostly travelers who'd gotten stuck in the quarantine that shut the city gates. Even the People of the Land who'd come in for drinks who lived here had slipped out. They'd learned to recognize what was going down in this place, too. Of course, they couldn't let their man slip out, so Rieze was getting a little anxious as it thinned down to almost more than she was comfortable with. She was about to say something when Akatsuki paused, then looked at her significantly and nodded. Rieze immediately raised her hand, snapped her fingers as if to the waitress for another drink, and called, "One more, on the house."

In rotation all of the tanks, one per quarter of the room, stood and set themselves and launched their taunts. The successive casts meant that for the range of each of them no one in the room could move without getting damage. Since a raid battle in a small place like this was so unusual, no one moved anyway for that long. As soon as the tanks in each group had set their spell, the magic users in each group cast to put the room to sleep. Since D.D.D. had all partied, and Rieze had added Akatsuki to their party, none of them fell asleep. Now no one in the room could move even if they'd been willing to take the damage by trying to run from the tanks.

They weren't sitting on their laurels, though. Every member was watching their quarter, as were Rieze and Akatsuki on the room, for who was going to move first, both in status, since magic could be cast without moving (they were watching MP bars), and physically. For a while...about five turns worth of time since the rotations of all eight moves had to be countered, nothing happened. Then one man's bars started moving down. Akatsuki as Assassin moved the fastest, but Rieze had put Assassins in her groups as well.

"Don't touch him," Akatsuki said on her way in. "You'll pick it back up." They knew what that meant. In succession, five blades dealt damage.

Rieze, as field monitor in general, did the quick calculations. "That's him." Five level 97-99s using those attacks would have nearly killed any normal 52-level mage. The Enchanters immediately cast on their weapon class team-mates, and the attack round began again. In the next pause, they'd got him down to thirty percent of his total and it was a pause because he'd finally gotten in one spell. The Assassins had all been tied down to the ground in some strange invisible way.

Their target finally had the breathing space to stand up. He glared around at all of them. "I think...I'm going to hate your two guilds even more, now."

"Hate all you want," Rieze said calmly as she hit him with her own attack. "It only comes back around."

The tanks had moved during her distraction and started in on him in close range. They didn't want him having time to cast more spells. She'd been watching the status bars and had noticed that the damage being done by the Assassins had been decreasing in capacity on him. The tanks should do more damage in each hit since they were close up powerful, but as she watched now from the door again, they weren't again. "Sheepdog," she ordered.

The tank closest to the back door fell back and the one farthest from it pressed the enemy mage harder, the other two keeping their rotations up. The pushback got him started moving in that direction. They kept it up until he had the tanks locked down. By then the Enchanters had figured out how to let the Assassins loose from the floor and they took over the herding, making light attacks from the back and heavy from the front to keep him moving but also completely distracted at the same time.

"Akatsuki, he's only taking about twenty percent damage from weapons attacks," Rieze said.

"Twenty percent damage from weapons attacks," Akatsuki repeated it almost mechanically. She was passing it on to her guild mates.

Suddenly status effects were on everyone in the room. "Poison." Rieze said immediately. Almost as soon as she'd said it there was a glow over the whole room. It wasn't her healers in here, though they could have. It was the healers outside. He wouldn't know the difference and they wanted the healers in here in reserve. The combined efforts were enough to remove the status effect. She felt good about that. "Clear." Another turn and a half and another spell went off. This time...she felt herself being pressed to the ground and as if the air had been removed from around her. She spun and collapsed suddenly on the ground.

When she came too, one of the Enchanters was standing over her. As soon as her eyes were open he began his report. "Took you out and ran. We let him go and the in-room healers took turns around until they found one that worked. Akatsuki ran after him and she and Nyanta-san are engaged. The healers outside are keeping Akatsuki going, but there's been no damage at all to Nyanta-san, nor status effects."

Rieze frowned. "Is he even being attacked?"

"Yes. And he's attacking back, too."

"Damn. What armor did they put on him? That the spells aren't even having an effect?" The Enchanter shook his head. "I'm going outside to monitor. Clean up in here, then move out. Team one and two to the Cathedral now that we know what he's like and have seen him. Healer team four go with them, but keep to your farthest range."

In the end, she almost hadn't sent them soon enough. They were just outside of the target's range when a wide area spell went off that wiped out all the healers surrounding the tavern...well, actually all of D.D.D. in the surrounding area. Naming the guild generally and setting the zone as area of effect was a little simpler to do when under heavy fire than picking out specific targets.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta watched Akatsuki go down and not stand back up. "Akatsuki's down," he said calmly. He himself was wearing out. "Think I've got a light leak somewhere. Nothing else is working, though. Each attack is doing fifteen purrcent damage. He's still at about fifteen purrcent himself, maybe a little less."

"Tetora, find the leak." It was Purrcy. Shiroe had opened up the chat to full guild as soon as the attack by D.D.D had begun. Because Purrcy was the only one, with Tetora's help, that could do anything from this distance, the two of them were party to him and Akatsuki. Nyanta kept dancing with his opponent, not letting up on getting slices in, always watching to be sure he wasn't touched. The one thing he would have liked was Shiroe's Thorn-Bind Hostage. It helped to have additional damage help where one could get it.

"It's the same one you had. I'll patch it. ...Minori, play that one you played before...I'll put it through like a radio."

"Good one," murmured Purrcy, mostly still involved in her own spell creation, most likely.

Nyanta's two rapiers glowed momentarily and the next attack: "Mew. Nice. Almost seventy purrcent damage." He hit hard and fast while he could.

"Damn you!" the man in his sights yelled, then growled. "You are so annoying. Nothing sticks and you glow just like a literal knight in shining armor. What are you?" Nyanta focused on delivering his blows. That was answer enough.

"Gyah! Nyanta back off twenty-one feet. Get Akatsuki on the way." Nyanta immediately flipped backwards to land next to Akatsuki, picked her up around the middle and jumped again, landing at twenty five since the man was moving towards them. There was a sudden fireball that erupted with the man at the center. He left Akatsuki there and immediately was back on the man and in one more slice, using just the right attack, finally had him at what _should_ be one HP.

"Is he baked?" he asked.

"Three."

He reached in and scratched the cheek of the man with the tip of his rapier. "One."

His paws were free and his scabbards full. Then his arms were full and he was running. It would take a while since center town was a ways off from Log Horizon's guild house. "Incoming."

"On guard," Purrcy answered. "Tetora, monitor this one."

The man under Nyanta's arm was cursing as much as Nyanta was running. "God-Damn cats! Not only do they stink and make a mess and are cold and uncaring, they have to pair up with the damn D.D.D.s." Nyanta could only assume the player had been passed by for guild membership. It was a good call, as far as he was concerned. "And _her_. I had her, and yet _again_ she has to show me up. _I_ was First. Her title isn't even _for_ programming. Why?"

"Oh, I think Caretaker works for purrogramming," Nyanta said casually. "She's taking care of all those who have no idea that kind of magic exists, protecting them from people like mew." The man gave him a glare that said he'd have hit Nyanta if he could. Purrcy had put a physical kind of spell on him that was as good as ropes to truss him up. Nyanta was glad. If he tripped and dropped the man, he'd die and they'd have to start all over.

"I'm up." It was Akatsuki.

"Good. Get home," Shiroe answered.

They arrived at the hall at the same time. The rest of the guild had moved down from the roof and were waiting outside the hall. They circled the new arrivals, none of them looking soft or kind. Purrcy was in felinoid form, wearing a dark robe that looked judicial and mage-like at the same time, and very much like an earned magic item. Like all such things she wore, she made it look elegant. Shiroe was also in his best Enchanter's magic robe, white next to her dark. Together they were imposing. Nyanta carefully deposited his burden on the ground and bowed. "Lady Purrcy, by your request."

She smiled for him. "Thank you, Sir Nyanta. And thank you for staying safe."

"Staying safe?! What'd you _do_ to him?" the man on the ground yelled, frustrated.

"And Akatsuki, I'm sorry I couldn't do two things at once. Tetora got my preset defensive spell off, though. Were D.D.D's magicians sufficient after that?"

"Yes, Purrcy. The top levels were up by then and they rotated through until they found the right combination."

"That's good," Purrcy said. Nyanta and Akatsuki stepped back. Purrcy looked down at the man in front of her, but held still.

He looked back up at Purrcy and Log Horizon's guildmaster, a scowl on his face. He finally looked at Shiroe. "Who are you?"

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "You sent her to me. You already know me."

The man raked Shiroe up and down. "No. No way. I sent her home."

The whole guild held still, then slowly began to smile. "Well, that's a truth," Naotsugu said.

Tetora snickered. "You mean...you didn't know that when you sent her back you'd bring a whole guild on your head? You've got some massive death wish, man."

"She wasn't marked with a guild tag, not 'til... oh."

They all tipped their heads at him and Purrcy got an evil grin on her face. "What is your judgment, Guildmaster Shiroe?" she asked.

The man's head whipped around. "It's not _your_ guild?"

She bared her teeth at him and her eyes glittered, but she didn't answer him. He stomped his bound feet into the earth and began to swear bitterly again, mostly against guilds who wouldn't properly act like guilds and let others in. Tetora twitched and suddenly there was silence, though the man's lips kept moving. Everyone looked at Shiroe, except Purrcy who just turned an ear to him, keeping her eyes on the man in front of her.

"Purrcy, he can't do it again. How do you prevent a Programmer from acting?"

Her eyes went distant, then turned to Akatsuki. "I have a spell I can modify. It's a reflection spell. The kind I'll need will be like Nyanta's," she looked at him, "but instead of reflecting everything off, it will reflect everything back. It will be like shutting him into a laptop and throwing it into a lake. I may have to check on him every once in a while to make sure it doesn't need upgrades, but that's the best I can do for now." She closed her eyes and it looked like she went deep. "...Well...I'd rather..." She took a deep breath. "May I have permission to try changing his Class and preventing him from his sub-class?"

Shiroe looked at her. "...You're talking about trying to do a rewrite on his character as a whole." She nodded. "That's a time-cost spell...it's going to take you several days."

"Yes. I can do the mirror room temporarily for now. That way I can have all the time I need." Her eyes glittered and her teeth bared even more and her tail twitched up into a hunting curl.

"If it earns mew a new title, I'm all for it," Nyanta said in his placid voice that was his most dangerous one. "He seems to think Caretaker isn't enough."

"D.D.D. wants their turn anyway," Akatsuki said in her deadly calm voice as well. "I think if you had a temporary fix we could let them store him for us until you're done." The silent man on the ground's eyes went very wide and he shook his head, mouthing pleas for clemency.

The looks went around the guild. Shiroe nodded. Purrcy looked at Tetora. He cast his last healing spell on her while she began crafting her spell. They waited patiently until she opened her eyes again and looked at the man in front of her. "When the final spell is done, every name he gives himself will have the tag [Plague] attached to it so all will know who he is and what he has done." She crouched down and looked him in the eye. "If you decide at some point to grow up and become a _real_ Adventurer and live life in peace with the rest of us, come see me. I might forgive you and let you go back to being anonymous. Bring character references with you." There was a glow around him. She stood back up and looked at him.

He looked around at all of them. Tetora stepped up to him and slapped him as hard as he could. At level 98, that was pretty hard. In a few seconds, he disappeared in bubbles of color. Behind him was left one treasure - a potion bottle. No one moved. Then three shields were placed over it. Naotsugu gave a wry laugh. "That's the first time I think I've ever seen everyone not only assume it's a cursed treasure, but refuse to even look at it _and_ shield it. You'd think it was spoiled meat."

"It probably _is_." Touya said with great emphasis.

"I'm on it," Purrcy said faintly. "I want to know if we got rewarded or he left a surprise, since I'll have to defuse it."

Shiroe nodded. He looked keenly interested in the answer as well. One minute later, she moved quickly. She snatched up the bottle. "Come on," she moved towards the guild hall at top speed. They looked at each other and followed her in.

She was standing outside Shiroe's office door, staring at it. By the time they were arrayed behind her she said, "The room's clean. Open it please." A one second pause and she put her hand on the handle and opened the door and led them in. When they were all arrayed inside with the door closed, she set the bottle on the table in front of them, then turned to Shiroe. "Go get a level...eighty-five or above piece of paper."

Shiroe went and hunted through his desk until he found one and brought it over. She set it on the table, then uncorked the bottle and poured it onto the paper. As they watched, the liquid shifted and pulled together to form, in the end, words on the page. She re-corked the bottle and set it aside, and looked up at Shiroe. "We have an ally among the Superusers." The phrase had so many implications it took a while for Shiroe to return to them as the counters, tabs, and buttons and lights on the inside that kept track of all his data and information were updated. They waited patiently for him. When he breathed again, he stepped forward to read the scroll.

 _Keep Purrcy safe. Here's the addresses to all the Caretakers of each region. I look forward to seeing what you can all do - together._

Below that was a list that faintly wiggled and look three-dimensional. When Shiroe looked up at Purrcy, she held her hand over the list and it lifted off the page and was absorbed into her hand. The other words on the page slowly disappeared and the page disintegrated. With a "pop" the bottle disappeared.

"We'll contact them slowly, starting with China, then the U.S.," he said to her. "Put together a search engine that looks like it's looking for them. That much they should already be expecting just from us being together now."

She nodded agreement. "Underneath...I'll get things moving a little faster. ...All the Caretakers that are Programmers now will see the lures and wonder, but I'll just put them out as offers in a way they'll understand." She paused then grinned. "And I can send emissaries. It will take time, but we can now begin."

The look on Shiroe's face was one of complete relief. It made him look suddenly old and haggard, like the burden he'd been carrying had suddenly shown itself. Akatsuki moved over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Looking up into his face, as he looked down into hers, she said nothing. He lifted his hand and placed it on her head, then nodded at her. He looked back up at Purrcy. "Get your new title first. We'll handle clean up here. Then we'll set the next campaign...as a guild." He looked around the group standing in the office with him. The expressions of solidarity were comforting and encouraging.

"Well, I for one," Tetora said, his hands behind his head, "can't wait to travel internationally. I've always wanted to, you know."

Purrcy grinned. "Well, it's not all it's made out to be...but maybe our first convention can be here...though it might be by videophone."

"Will you be able to have secure connections by then?" Shiroe asked her.

"By then, we won't be underground...or the gates will be working," she said. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "As much as I don't want to have to babysit, if you let everyone know of the new Classes we'd get them fixed faster. They're based on Earth technomagic, after all."

Shiroe froze, then shook his head. "I'll work on that one. It's going to take calculations."

Nyanta walked over to wrap an arm around Purrcy as she said, "Of course it will. That's why it's yours. Just give me orders. I'll do what needs to be done."

"What about what almost happened?" Minori was looking at the two couples suspiciously.

Purrcy nodded. "I'll be working on that from inside. I have to break down his code I copied out to understand what he was doing. ...But it's got a fingerprint on it not his. I think he was being influenced by the Superusers." She looked back at Naotsugu and Tetora. "Thank you for finding it was a virus and buying me the time we need."

"Ah, Purrcy," Shiroe said thoughtfully, "if he was...can you influence them back on the same line?"

"I'm hoping for it, Guildmaster. I'm hoping for it. His little leak he attached to me, and then to Nyanta when he shouldn't have been able to will be my little tool, now." She looked over sideways with her own hunting tail and grin on again. "You'll help me with that again, won't you Isuzu?"

"You betcha," Isuzu said grimly. "I've just the right kind of frequency to make their teeth fall out...over a long slow agonizing period."

"I thought you might, Love." Her intense look from her one sudden outburst was back.

Touya and Minori looked at each other and slow smiles came over their faces. They raised their fists and bumped them in their twin salute. Tetora leaned on Naotsugu's shoulder. "I think this was a great boss battle for the level. Can we move down, Mistress Field Monitor?"

Purrcy looked at Nyanta. "Well...I think we should sit and eat and rest up next. Then we can discuss that when the Master Strategist is ready, ne?" She smiled at the rest of them. "Any requests?"

The room exploded into one word. "Curry!"

Nyanta laughed. "I guess mew get meowr turn to scribe a new recipe, Purrcy. Who's going to come help us, nyan?" All four hands of the youngest rose immediately. "Good."

"I'm going to sleep on top of Naotsugu," Tetora said. "I'm completely worn out. I don't think I've had to work so hard before, and all I did was use my brain...for the most part." For once, Naotsugu didn't complain. He just nodded stolidly. They all trooped out, leaving Shiroe and Akatsuki behind to have "alone time". They both looked like they needed it.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki looked up at Shiroe as the door closed behind everyone, wishing he'd kiss her, not expecting it. That would be asking too much. He looked down at her, a kind look in his eyes, the soft one he gave to just her since about half a year ago. He put a hand on her shoulder and disengaged from her arms. She sighed to herself. That's about what she expected. She moved off to pull out the small teapot and two cups that were set in a cabinet. She carefully poured the tea into the cups. Shiroe had earned the teapot from one of those random quests that almost no one else did. It was probably something like having to visit every tea house in the Archipelago and talk to just the right person, saying just the right things to prove you were a tea connoisseur, then when you returned at the end you got the always-full-of-hot-tea teapot with matching self-cleaning cups.

Akatsuki wasn't complaining. The only way to have earned the sex-change potion was to accomplish just such a random quest. That had blessed her life in many ways. To have arrived in this world almost half again as tall, and male, had been a very big problem. She had been so relieved when she'd seen Shiroe and remembered he had that potion. It had come up in a random chat in a campaign they'd been on together. Someone had asked what was the most useless reward they'd picked up in the strangest and most pointless quest they'd been on. His quest had been pointless, but he hadn't gotten the most pointless reward, and when they entered this world it was a reward worth more than anyone could pay. And he'd just given it to her.

That's why she'd given him her life, become not just an Assassin, but his personal ninja and protection. She'd had to work hard over the last two years to even begin to feel like she was worthy of that position. For three-quarters of it, though, she'd been in love with him. That was almost harder. She couldn't communicate it and he was oblivious. The girls she got together with for the teas had been helping her with both the communication - not going so well - and with what she could do in the relationship - only slightly better.

She sighed, not really seeing the tea cups between her hands placed flat on the cabinet top to either side of them. The beginning of this battle was a problem. Just what had they done in that room? How badly had it set them back? Her shoulders slumped and she blinked back tears, biting the inside of her lip until she was in control again. She picked up the two cups and carried them over to Shiroe. He hadn't moved very far and was lost in thought, like he often was, particularly after battles. "Sh...Shiroe. Tea?" She couldn't quite meet his eyes.

He looked at her, and his hands lifted to take the cup. "Thank you, Akatsuki," he said. His voice sounded a bit tender, but she wasn't sure. She nodded her usual nod, which the girls always said was so curt, but she didn't mean anything by it. It was just her way of saying "okay" or "thanks". It had been a problem on Earth, too, but becoming flowy and expressive just wasn't possible. She turned to take her normal seat.

Akatsuki sat on her knees quietly sipping her tea as Shiroe finished his post-battle internal summary and analysis. For her, though she was agonizing over their relationship, she also had her own post-battle routine. She chose to divert her thoughts to that for now and soon found herself relaxing down, suddenly realizing how late it was to be making a meal and eating. It would be long past midnight before they were all headed to bed. She felt a little bad about asking Nyanta to make such a meal...but it was actually their traditional celebratory meal, the same as it was their favorite standby whenever the question of what they wanted was asked.

The smells of it were coming under the door now. That meant it was only about ten to fifteen minutes off from the table being set. She stood from her position and walked back to Shiroe and held out her hand. He put the cup in it and she returned them to the cabinet, putting everything where it went. It seemed somehow wrong to not wash the cups...but they were self-cleaning, the magic of them being magic items having that odd property. When everything was placed properly, she closed the cabinet and walked back towards her chair. Shiroe moved to the couch to sit, then patted the seat next to him. She looked at him in surprise, but he was looking _at_ her, so he knew what he was doing. Since she trusted that, she went and knelt next to him on the couch, facing him.

He was sitting leaning back, seeming relaxed, though attentive. When he was like that, he reminded Akatsuki of one of her young professors who had always looked at the world that way. It was his and he was simply and calmly measuring it as it flowed past him to his whims. She didn't know then if it was just a trait of being young, or something else, but now, knowing Shiroe, she knew it was because it was simply truth. The world that flowed around Shiroe, and likely that professor, flowed around him completely according his whims, and you knew it was doing it properly when he was relaxed and alert like this. That was when it was okay to just be and live comfortably. When he wasn't like that was when it was time to worry and get to work. She was actually surprised he had that look since she was feeling so nervous, but it sort of helped her calm down, too.

"Akatsuki," he paused looking at her. She waited, tipping her head slightly, "if it's alright with you, I'd like to continue walking with you." Her heart stopped. "I'm not sure I'm really the type to have a marriage or a deeply committed relationship. My parents and I never had a close relationship and I have no siblings, so I'm sure I'm not the best person to make one work, but you've put up with me for two years now. I assume that means you might understand a little." He paused, reading her reaction.

She sat at full attention, completely amazed at the conversation, but not it's directness. Once he'd made decisions they were approached logically, even if they had emotions before and after and under them. With a start she wondered if he was waiting for an answer. She nodded once, a little more emphatically than normal it felt like, sure her eyes were trying to pop out of her head.

He smiled with his eyes. She was pretty sure he understood her, too, at least that much. "I know that putting things into words isn't your thing, but I think it's important that we start this with clarity. Will you tell me exactly what you're looking for as an outcome? I won't be offended. I just want to make sure I don't step over boundaries I shouldn't."

Her heart melted. He always cared about everyone, but to be told that he cared about _her_. She'd never thought...but hoped...it would happen. She shifted and cleared her throat. "I want...," she closed her mouth. It should be said right. She went slow enough to be sure of each word. "I want whatever Shiroe wants, and to protect you and your path. ...And...," she blushed quite warmly, "I want...kisses...and...," she wriggled uncomfortably, "...and if we could hold hands...and go on dates..." She wasn't sure if that was all, but it kind of felt like it. Oh, that was it, "And continue to have quiet times like this...like always."

Shiroe's eyes were almost laughing but he was being considerate and his face was still politely interested. "So...you would like to consider yourself my girlfriend, and me your boyfriend." He almost blushed to say those words, since like her, he was rather shy for all he could be completely logical at times.

She considered it, then nodded. "...Please." She tried hard to not look down at her tightly clenched hands when she asked it.

Shiroe held out his hand. She shyly put her hand into it. "May I add one thing to it?" he asked her. She nodded "absolutely". "I would also like to hold you and give and receive hugs. Would that be alright?"

She blinked at him, almost surprised he'd want to. So surprised, she answered verbally, "Of course."

He paused, which worried her, as such things always did. "I do have one other thing to ask you, now that we're dating." That sent her brain spinning to hear it already done just like that. She blinked at him and he understood and kept going. "Would it be okay if I pet Purrcy occasionally? ...She made the cutest kitten tonight." He blushed to admit he found anything cute, particularly since he was admitting it to his new girlfriend.

Akatsuki stared at him, then slowly smiled. "As long as she is full cat or kitten, I won't mind. ...I think."

"Okay. If you do start minding, please let me know with words, okay? Silence won't tell me, and I really don't want to get kicked."

Now Akatsuki did smile. He was properly afraid of her ire. "Okay."

"Thank you," he said politely, then tugged on her hand to pull her into sitting next to him where he could hold her. She cautiously lay her head on his shoulder. She figured she'd eventually learn to not be stiff about it, but even for all it was new and honestly, frightening, she was in absolute heaven.

It was a good thing Purrcy went in to fetch them for dinner. By then they were both sitting there petrified since when Akatsuki, of her own volition, put her head so vulnerably on Shiroe's shoulder, his calm barrier collapsed and he found himself as terrified as she was. Neither could move. Purrcy saw immediately the problem and dropped to all fours. By the time she reached them she was large housecat size. She calmly lept up on their laps, touched Akatsuki's nose with her's in a cat kiss, then did the same to Shiroe, then rubbed their faces and purred. They had to pet her in self-protection, breaking them up, which got them all back out to the dinner table, Purrcy going first as large-cat with her tail waving high and soft in pleasure and the two of them following after hand-in-hand, but blushing ferociously.

Nobody said anything, but it was a happy, relaxed evening for the rest of the time. Shiroe _didn't_ go to sleep in Akatsuki's room, and that made the level of relationship completely clear. Everyone sighed with relief. Life was going to be normal still, just a little happier. Nyanta and Purrcy _did_ go to his bedroom together, though, and that was okay. Father and mother should, after all, if he'd been serious about claiming her. They'd been more worried it wasn't going to happen, now that Nyanta had an excuse to going back to being an emotional recluse.

Everyone slept deeply that night, except Purrcy who was partially still aware - just enough to be walking down the code halls, studying that pesky virus that made them all go real too fast. Nyanta finally groomed her enough to make her relax into the full sleep she needed, then draped an arm over her to pin her down before falling to sleep himself with a sigh. She was going to be high-maintenance...just like Shiroe. But...she was probably reward enough.

-:-:-:-:-


	13. Interlude

Once again, it was a delegation from Crescent Moon who arrived first in the morning the next day, after the Plague Master had been captured. Log Horizon was never quite sure how they knew things had gone down when they hadn't even been involved. They were a support guild, not a fighting guild. They got their share of the work, but on battles they weren't the first called. In Akiba they were the cheerleaders who kept everything sunny and smoothed over the rough patches, along with the West Wind Brigade, who were crowd control because they were almost all women except the guildmaster, so got along with everyone (because the guildmaster was the male of the harem and the harem had learned to get along). So, it was a bit of a mystery how they just seemed to _know_ when Log Horizon had made a move and been in battle.

This time Log Horizon was in the middle of a late breakfast when Purrcy looked up, a little panicked. There was a knock at the door. Utensils stopped half-way to mouths and Purrcy's place setting disappeared and so did she. Minori went to answer the door. "Ah, good morning, Miss Marie, Miss Henrietta," Minori bowed to them.

"Good morning, Minori-chan! We've been shopping in the market and thought we'd bring by some fruit we found at a good price. Can we drop it off?" Marielle asked.

"Ah...that was very kind of you. Thank you very much," Minori held out her hand for the basket.

"Ah, well, could we come in for just a bit?" Marielle blustered just a bit. "We just wanted to say hello, also."

There was a meow from behind Minori's feet and Marielle's face brightened. Henrietta started trembling just a little bit. Minori looked down suspiciously at Purrcy who was trying to weave between her feet and looking up at the three of them. She looked over her shoulder at Shiroe. He shrugged. Minori sighed. "Well, we are in the middle of breakfast, but I guess so. The fruit should go well with it, I would think." She opened the door and stepped back, careful to not trip over Purrcy, though she had disappeared again at the entrance approval.

The two ladies entered, laden with shopping bags that they set near the door after handing Minori the basket of fruit. While she carried it up to the table, the two women looked around. Rudy and Touya looked at each other and snorted laughs. The rest sighed. Purrcy was big cat now and she walked up to push her head under Henrietta's hand. Henrietta crouched down and gave Purrcy a hug and pet her until she'd had her fill of soft and cute. Only a few could tell it had been too long and Purrcy was wagging her tail in slight irritation instead of delight. It was still sooner than Henrietta wanted because Marielle was trying to push her off Purrcy and get her turn.

Everyone looked at each other, just a little worried. They'd had Purrcy around just long enough to know that what she'd told Naotsugu the last time these two had visited was true. She really didn't have much patience, when it came down to it. Still, Purrcy obligingly turned into a house cat for Marielle and let the guildmistress hold her over her shoulder and pet her as the women continued farther into the guild house to talk to the rest of the guild. "I'm so sorry we've interrupted at...breakfast?" Marielle said.

"It's a bit late, isn't it?" Henrietta asked.

"We had a late dinner, so we're taking a late morning," Shiroe explained.

"We heard there was a bit of a stir last night," Henrietta tried to fish. She glanced at Akatsuki. Her hand twitched, and as Akatsuki flinched a little, she blinked, then reached over and pet Purrcy. Akatsuki relaxed just a little, then looked guilty.

Purrcy changed once more to kitten, ending up on Marielle's shoulder. She let Henrietta pet her a little more, then walked behind Marielle's hair, tickling her, to end up on the opposite shoulder. For some time while the women were trying to talk she wandered back and forth on those shoulders, playing hide and seek from Henrietta's hand as it came and went, making it hard not only for the two women to talk, but for the guild members to really pay much attention to what was said. In the end, she was finally scolded and lept off Marielle's shoulders to the floor and stalked off. The room was finally able to relax somewhat.

It did help that she'd distracted the women from their original goal to fish for information because they could get into the secretive guild house on the weight of friendship alone. The guild was able to get them back out the door before they remembered. When the door closed behind them, Minori leaned on it with a sigh and everyone slumped over their now cold half-eaten food.

"Shiroe-ichi, that's the second time mew've not locked Crescent Moon out for a morning raid to occur," Nyanta scolded. "They don't know. She was werecat for them the whole time like this time, but when Serera-chan came in without knocking she saw Purrcy sleeping as felinoid so she had to stay half for Serera-chan." Shiroe had been the one to say to keep things secret and that guild was now mixed up.

Shiroe sighed. "I'm sorry. I'll fix the permissions now." He paused for a moment to do just that, then promised, "I'll talk to them separately and soon to set it straight."

"So, where did Purrcy go?" Isuzu asked, looking at her still empty place at the table.

"Probably to cool off," Akatsuki said, looking guiltily at her plate. "It was kind of her to take my...petting for me."

Tetora looked at her kindly. "Even if so, I don't think she's angry. It looked like she knew it was coming from the beginning."

"Well, not angry with _you_ anyway," muttered Touya into his cup. Everyone looked a little concerned at that, but there wasn't much to do about it at the moment.

After breakfast clean-up, they took the time to get some chores done around the house, then gathered together in the central gathering area again. It was the normal separate and regather that followed battles like the night before. Everyone was ready for the debriefing now. When Shiroe arrived, he looked around, then opened a chat. "Purrcy, will you come meet with us please?" He paused, then frowned. "Has anyone seen Purrcy since breakfast?"

The rest shook their heads. Akatsuki pulled up the guild map that showed where the guild members were. She shook her head. Nyanta stood up and went up the tree to the fourth floor, then the roof, and stopped by the patio on the way back down. When he got back to the table he shook his head. They all looked at Tetora. He took a little longer, then he sighed. "She's blocked me out, too."

There were looks around the room. Where and how did you find a pseudocode mage that didn't want to be found?

-:-:-:-:-

Marielle and Henrietta entered the guild house of Crescent Moon League, which was accessed through the Guild Hall in the center of town. They'd rented a suitably sized suite for their guild there.

"Haahh," Marielle sighed as she was relieved of her burdens. "You'd think we purchased extra ham. I thought my part would be lighter now that we didn't have the fruit any more, but that is such a long way to walk."

"Well, you were the one that wanted to go," Henrietta said.

"You did to," Marielle countered. "I saw how much you wanted to pet Purrcy."

"Not half as much as you," Henrietta said back, then relented slightly, "but she does make a very cute kitten."

"If you like being traveled on and having your hair tangled," Marielle wrinkled her nose and fluffed her hair. "It wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't kept on insisting on petting her every time you looked at Akatsuki. Really, please practice a little restraint."

The retort on Henrietta's lips died. She looked away instead. "Sorry. Ah...I'm going to go add this shopping trip to the financials." She turned and walked off towards her office.

Marielle sighed after her, then turned to the young guild members in the kitchen. "These are the groceries we went to get. Will you be so kind as to put them away? I need to go rest my feet." They agreed and she wandered off a little unsteadily.

The children, as Marielle still called them, had been in the guild about a year and a half, since the Round Table had been founded and they'd been saved from Hamelin, the slaver guild that held them hostage before then. As they began to get into the bags to put things away, one of them, on its own, began to rustle. The two at the table froze for a moment, then readied spells and one cautiously reached for the bag to tip it over gently. Out slipped a kitten, black with orange swirls and white and grey speckles, that blinked up at them.

Immediately the whole room was crowded around the table, cooing over it. They hadn't seen a kitten since Earth days, or longer. This was a treat they'd not expected at all. Being young to _Elder Tales_ , none of them thought to question the existence of a kitten on the kitchen table, and all of them thought it was a special gift to the guild from the Guildmistress, so didn't bother to tell her it had arrived with her.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe frowned. "I've still got the door set so she can't get out, so she has to be inside." That assumption cost them over an hour of detailed searching of the guild hall. When they reconvened back at the central common room, they were all splayed out on furniture and floor, completely worn out, but having learned the best way to go about hunting for and finding her given any size cat or felinoid...if she _were_ present but hiding.

"Okay. So she isn't here. So how did she get out?" Tetora asked.

There was a pause for thinking. "Read the exact purrmission on the doors," Nyanta requested.

"Purrcy, Felinoid, Locked." Shiroe said, looking at his status screen for the guild hall.

Everyone sighed and Shiroe went crestfallen. "I'm not even sure how to set it for 'werecat'. It's not an option." Hearts fell. Rudy, splayed on his back, rolled over to his front and started tracing designs on the floor with his finger. Tetora dropped his arm over his eyes. Nyanta's whiskers twitched and he looked away.

Akatsuki looked particularly crestfallen. "I'm sorry. I really wish she hadn't been made to be angry with their visit."

Slowly everyone looked over at her. She finally noticed and looked up concerned. "No...really -"

Shiroe held up his hand to stem her words, then opened a chat. "Marie? Shiroe. Do you have Purrcy over there? She's gone missing and I was wondering if she might have gotten into one of your bags."

-:-:-:-:-

Marielle showed up at the door to Henrietta's office, a rare occurrence since Marielle tried to stay as far away from financial documents as possible, claiming they gave her hives. Henrietta looked at her, then stood in concern at Marielle's pale face. "What is it, Marie?"

"Do you have Purrcy in here?" her voice was low.

Henrietta looked at her confused. "No. Why would I? Isn't she at Log Horizon's apartment?"

Marielle swallowed. "No. Not since we left. They...aren't happy." Her pointer fingers came together and worried at each other. "I really, really don't want to make them unhappy. That would be very bad. They're worried about her and...she's not supposed to be let out. If we helped her escape..." Her eyes couldn't be wider, her face unhappier.

Henrietta came around her desk and walked quickly to Marielle, taking her hands. "It's okay. We'll look here first. Cats do like to play in bags. Maybe she climbed into one of the bags and fell asleep. We played with her enough to wear her out, most likely. We'll assume she didn't leave the bags for now, okay?"

Marielle nodded, almost to tears. "Okay."

They walked together to the kitchen, looking into rooms on the way, though not overly hard yet, calling guild members to come gather with them. When everyone was gathered, they asked if a calico kitten had been seen in one of the bags brought back by them. Eyes lit up. "Oh, yes. It was so soft and cute and fun to play with. Thank you Guildmistress for giving it to us."

Marielle slumped even more. "Well, I'm glad it's been seen here, and you had fun, but...it isn't ours." She shifted nervously. "I...let it escape...from Shiroe."

More than one of the guild straightened in concern at that comment. For all that Shiroe was nice, wanted to help every Adventurer he could, and was considered a friend and ally of the guild...if one of his projects was interrupted, he was rather frightening. He was _the_ Machiavelli, after all.

"Right." Shouryuu, captain of the combat team, fighter trainer, and all around main assistant to the person who ran the guild (Henrietta) and defender of the guildmistress (Marielle), was all about setting it right. "No one goes in or out from now on until we've found it, unless it's Log Horizon wanting answers or to help. Keeping them out is out of the question." Everyone nodded. "Two to a room. One to hunt, the other to catch at the door if it tries to flee. Once a room is confirmed cleaned, close the door and don't open it again until the kitten is found. That way we'll eventually trap it in a more enclosed space. When you've done your spaces we'll meet again in the main room and probably have to play catch-the-kitten and corner it. Expect a few painful scratches if it isn't interested in being caught, but don't let go if you catch it. Miss Marielle will heal you just fine."

"Ummm." At that Marielle and Henrietta had both gone a little pale. "As long as it's a kitten, that's fine, but...if it starts to get bigger, you should probably let go." Everyone looked confused. "It's actually...a werecat. It can change size. ...Up to waist-high, about the size of a tiger." Everyone blanched. Kitten claws were one thing. Tiger claws a completely different one.

"Ah, right, then," Shouryuu reconsidered. "If we corner it, we'll anchor it with a taunt. Ah...do we have permission to fight back?"

Marielle looked frightened and shook her head. "No," she said in a small voice, "I don't think so."

People groaned a bit. "Then...when we start to know where it is, we should call Log Horizon in and let them capture it at the end. If we can at least lock it into a room, that would be something."

Henrietta nodded. "That would be best."

"Okay. So still two to a room. If you find it flee the room and lock it in, standing guard on the door and we'll let them know we've found it. Guild chat so we know what's going on. Okay?" Everyone nodded. "Go."

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy's eyes crinkled up. Now was the fun part to this game. She stayed right where she was - in the main room under the couch which had a long skirt - and watched them. She was sitting in her resting pose, her front paws curled up under her, peeking out through a slit in the skirt. She waited until everyone was in other rooms, then moved up the stairs to hide under an upholstered chair next to a display table near Marielle's room. Marielle and Henrietta had paired up and were searching Henrietta's room first because they didn't expect Purrcy to be in there, but they wanted to make sure. Marielle was standing at the door, afraid to invade Henrietta's space, and Henrietta was searching because she didn't want Marielle to make a mess of any kind whatsoever.

Purrcy waited under the chair, putting her chin on her paws so she could just peek out from under the skirt. She carefully listened for footsteps to come near so she could run if she needed to. She'd explored all the rooms already, so she knew what was where and whose rooms were whose. It was rather a nice family atmosphere in this guild, though it really felt too relaxed. There were things that in her mind needed fixing, but it wasn't hers to fix...except one thing today.

Henrietta and Marielle finally left Henrietta's room and closed the door behind them. "Not in my room," Henrietta reported to the group. "Moving to Marie's." Several other rooms were also being reported now.

Purrcy twitched her ears, listening very closely. The timing of this next bit was tricky. Marielle entered her room and Henrietta stopped to keep watch at the door. Purrcy's naturally wild brain calculated distances and speeds of herself and all the other guild members walking around, then got up on her feet and wiggled, just like a cat on the hunt, and released. She was out from under the chair and increasing in size rapidly as she went. Even with the cries of those who'd seen her, Henrietta didn't move fast enough. Purrcy ran into her at full size, pushing her into Marielle's room. She spun around and closed the door behind her with a shoulder, trapping both women in the room with her, then sat and stood guard on the door, staring them both down, wary just in case. She could hear the other guild members who'd seen her crying out and running down the hall to the room.

Shouryuu immediately set two to guard the door on the outside, then called in to his guildmistress. Startled out of her shock, she answered. "Ah...yes. That's her. ...No, we're fine. She's just sitting here. ...Yes, please." Slowly she edged towards Henrietta. Purrcy let her help her friend up and they moved to stand a bit away, Marielle very nervous, Henrietta looking a bit confused.

"Purrcy?" Henrietta asked, looking just a little hurt. Purrcy blinked at her, staying in her formal sitting stance, her tail wrapped around her feet. "Ummm...did we make you mad?" Purrcy nodded. "Oh," Henrietta said in a small voice. "But...you still shouldn't have -" Purrcy bared her teeth and flapped her tail hard on the floor. Henrietta closed her mouth fast.

"Um," Marielle interrupted a bit.

"Oh. Remember, I told you I'd apologized?" Henrietta asked her. Marielle nodded. "Well, it was Purrcy who taught me what I'd been doing that was wrong."

Marielle's eyes went wide. "...Purrcy?!"

Henrietta nodded. "She can understand us and she did magic on the roof to show it to me."

"Oh," Marielle said faintly. After a bit she swallowed and took a breath. "Well, ...Purrcy...if we made you mad, I'm sorry."

"Ah...me, too," Henrietta said. They both bowed to her.

When they rose, Purrcy was in felinoid form. They stared in shock, yet again. "When will you learn, that just because you want a thing, that you should think twice or even three times first? You have a guild to take care of, the same as others do. If you cannot be satisfied with what you have, then you need to seriously reconsider your path." She fought to keep her voice calm and smooth, but it was difficult. She looked at Henrietta first who looked down early, chastened for the second time. Then she looked pointedly at Marielle.

After a bit, Marielle looked confused. "Marielle," she said calmly, trying this time for gentle. "You are a guildmistress of a guild that needs you, yet your attentions are elsewhere. Before you continue down that path, turn around and make sure you are sure you want to leave where you are standing. It isn't necessarily wrong, but you need to make very sure it's a decision you've really made, not one that just happens so you are left to live in regret. When you've understood what I'm talking about, sit and discuss it late into the night with Henrietta. It's a decision you need to make together. In the meantime, don't come back to Log Horizon unless you've been invited, or you've asked properly first."

She stepped to the side and one second later the door opened behind her and Nyanta and Shiroe slipped in. She waited for Marielle's answer as the men looked between them. Marielle opened her mouth, then closed it, then looked very sad and torn. "Marielle. It isn't one or the other. There are always more than two solutions. There are others who you can turn to if you're having troubles seeing them." She turned and looked at Shiroe, then Nyanta, waiting with her hands clasped in front of her. They both looked at her, irritated.

"Ah, Shiroe," Marielle said, uncomfortable. She was wringing the fingers of one hand with the other. "It's our fault. ...We're sorry." Both women bowed apologetically to him. "We'll behave from now on. Please be kind to Purrcy. She was just -"

"Correcting you. I can see that," Shiroe said coolly. He looked at Purrcy again. "Was it really necessary to sneak out, worry us unnecessarily by completely hiding, and drag all of Crescent Moon into this?"

"Yes," she answered, just as unapologetically as ever. "I do apologize for worrying everyone, but I'll do that properly when we get back."

He pursed his lips a bit, then asked, "Does the whole guild know?"

"No. I've just shown them, so it's only them and Serera. The rest have only met the werecat."

Shiroe turned back to the two guild leaders. "Please don't let anyone know anything about Purrcy. At this point, if your guild leaks there's a werecat, it isn't as damaging as it would have been, but the fact she's also a felinoid would." He glared particularly at Marielle and she gulped and nodded. He waited until he also received a promise from Henrietta, then turned to Purrcy. She transformed back to large-cat. Shiroe gestured to Nyanta and Purrcy shrank to housecat size and lept up into Nyanta's arms. He held her firmly. She didn't complain. It was her own fault, after all.

As Nyanta turned towards the door, Shiroe paused and looked back at the two women. "Whatever she told you to do...see that you do it properly." They nodded, still humbly chastened.

Shiroe opened the door and he and Nyanta walked out. The rest of Crescent Moon League stood respectfully out of the way. As they passed Serera, Purrcy solemnly winked at her. The women leaders of the guild moved out of Marielle's room and stood watching with the rest of the guild as the members of Log Horizon left the guild hall.

As they walked out the door into the Guild Hall proper, Purrcy shrank to kitten and climbed into Nyanta's vest and curled up at his side where he could still hold her, but in hiding. She wasn't looking forward to her own scolding. She added the collar back, to remind herself to be better behaved in the future. "Purrcy," Shiroe said as they walked down the hallway, "add the guild tag to your werecat stats." She meekly did so.

It really confused Log Horizon guild members for a long time that Marielle and Henrietta believed that Purrcy was a werecat who had learned to transform into a felinoid and their guild had taught her to speak Japanese. But they were pleased that the two women behaved from then on and only came when invited or if they called ahead and received permission first. They were also properly respectful and only pet Purrcy for as long as she allowed it.

* * *

 _I think this light-hearted chapter is funny. XD It begins to set Purrcy into the hierarchy (at least equal to or above Henrietta and Marielle), just merely by Shiroe supporting her words he didn't hear, though her forceful putting them in their place while still a cat began it._

 _Because some readers need help to read between the lines - Purrcy scolded Marielle because she's about to fatally walk away from her guild all for the sake of her love for Naotsugu, no deep thoughts included. Purrcy's checked her and told her to properly think about what she's doing and include Henrietta in that thinking._


	14. To Dos

_A light-hearted intermediate chapter ...that *will* be referenced on occasion in the future - but you can come back here if you need to be reminded (I do, frequently). Hope you've enjoyed this small introductory arc. The characters get more real after this. Plant Hwayden is up next. Enjoy!_

* * *

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy's To Do List:

 **I)** Spay/neuter experiments  
\- A) Learn to perform the surgeries (allow natural healing to make sure, assuming magic healing will bring the organs back)  
\- B) Test permanency without tag for baseline (hoping this is sufficient, not expecting it)  
\- C) Test with tag (Repeat until successful)  
\- D) If C is successful, test after resurrection with magic healing to see if undoes  
\- E) If D is successful repeat on me  
\- F) Schedule time with Nyanta  
... 1) cry  
... 2) apologize for having to kill him needlessly so many times  
... 3) ask him what he wants me to give him in return for his willingness to help

 **II)** Plague Master  
\- A) Lock him into a mirror shield 'box' to lock him out of the computer system. (Completed)  
\- B) Rewrite the character description of the Plague Master to make it so he can't be a Programmer any more.  
... 1) Lock out the Hacker and Technician sub-classes  
... 2) Step the Class upgrade back one from Programmer to Bard (can it be set to Person of the Land?)  
... 3) Lock out the Programmer and the Engineer Classes  
... 4) Set 'training mode' level to 75 and make it permanent status to lock him down in strength  
... 5) Set a wrapper on any name he is going to give himself to add "[Plague]"  
\- C) Take apart his code for the virus  
... 1) How did it cause the exhaustion?  
... 2) How did it cause the heat to come on?  
... 3) Was it completely artificial or is it still something that can happen? (Is 'real' a required end-point?)  
... 4) How did he make it contagious?  
... 5) How can we make the antivirus general enough a Programmer doesn't have to be the one to cast it? (What level, too?)  
... 6) Where did it originate? Where else needs the antidote?  
... 7) Can other creatures or People of the Land get it?

 **III)** Take Nyanta out of the city on my next rounds and teach him to use his body  
\- A) Basic survival  
... 1) Start him just outside of town with no weapons, clothing, etc.  
... 2) He has to make it to me. Wait for him at the end.  
... 3) Take a different route, making him go on one with more enemies to get his practice in.  
... 4) If he's about to die he is to use Call of Home and start at the beginning again until he gets it and makes it to me.  
... 5) Get meals cooked and packed before going. Nyanta can't have any until he gets to me. He has to survive for real.  
 _(Should only take him about a week, lucky bastard.)_

\- B) Medical calls - introduce him to the monsters and to train him in the other uses of his natural abilities.  
 _(FireAnts should teach him pretty well...)_

\- A'B') Alternately, give him a goal location then go on healing trips while he practices getting there. When he arrives at goal location, he is to use the calling card to call me to let me know he's finally made it.  
 _(Saves time...I'll miss him...if I don't forget.)_

\- C) Information gathering  
... 1) Ask questions and start to get monsters to seek out other Caretakers from each region to test them and deliver personal invitations to speak with me. (Can I Summon beasts from other regions and interrogate them?)  
... 2) Visit the beast-half villages with Nyanta to gather initial data as to their suitability as training grounds or places to take and leave the beast-half Adventurers who won't chose to be sufficiently human and responsible.

 **IV)** Start setting up the world network  
\- A) Start a search engine to find other Caretakers and 'Shiroes'  
... 1) Train neural network on Japan Archipelago (should only find me and Shiroe)  
...,... i) Basic beginning - titles, but don't assume it  
...,... ii) Look for spells cast that help others, particularly on an area scale  
...,... iii) Scan chats for comments on people who aren't understood but might be the player in the background  
...,...,... a) Sort out those that match but have destructive spells or acts into a nemesis list  
...,...,... b) Weight heavy those that have constructive spells or acts and put into an ally list  
...,... iv) ...  
... 2) Test the neural network on China and on the US  
... 3) Run the network on each region in succession in increasing concentric rings around the Japan Archipelago  
\- B) Start a silent sneaker net that is both code and uses the monsters (see III.C.) to feel out the list we were given.  
\- C) Compare the two lists and confirm the list given is ligit before direct contact is made.  
\- D) Set up the underground using ally list  
\- E) Get the gates working (Note: make sure rules are set before the gates work)  
\- F) Set up a World Round Table Council

 **V)** Find out how we got to this world  
\- A) Find the bastard who initiated the Plague of Life  
... 1) Trace back the connection of the Plague Master to it's source  
... 2) Set a tracer/flare and the bard frequency (could be one and the same)  
... 3) Walk the computer(s) until I find them  
...,... i) Pull back data in thin indiscernible threads to understand:  
...,...,... a) who they are  
...,...,... b) why they have done this  
...,...,... c) how to get to them  
...,...,... d) what their weaknesses and strengths are  
...,...,... e) who our ally is  
...,... ii) Look for info on the Observers and Overwritten at the same time.  
...,... iii) Figure out how to leave traces for other Hackers/Programmers to find  
...,...,... a) DNA in the fingerprint  
...,...,... b) Run any contacts or feelers through the nn (IV.A.1.)  
...,...,...,... i) 'Good' into ally list  
...,...,...,... ii) 'Excellent' hackers into partner list (mark those who will be nemeses)  
\- B) Find out what happens if the People of the Land destroy all the Cathedrals, or even any one of them. Where do the souls of the Adventurers go? Another Adventurer city or stay on the moon server?

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe's To Do List:

 **1)** Figure out what to tell the council about the plague and what the future holds for Adventurers of the beast folk  
\- a) Mitigate the war that will come from the People of the Land if Adventurers start having children (don't mention that part yet)  
\- b) Present a plan for training the half-beasts to stay at or return to human levels of restraint  
\- c) Send out a delegation to the half-beast villages to determine suitability for training or for relocation of those who can't be properly self-restrained (Is there a possibility they don't exist any more? Check the Li-Gan meeting notes)  
\- d) Find out what happens if the People of the Land destroy all the Cathedrals, or even one of them.  
\- e) Oh, yes...how to deal with the Wolf Pack, sigh.

 **2)** Figure out what to tell the council about the existence of pseudocode mages. (Pseudomages will surely become a derogatory for them since it is technology, not magic, to the purists. Do we need to handle that?)  
\- a) Prevent a mass run on people becoming one lest the world end quickly and destructively.  
\- b) Can Purrcy write a limiter into the system, and then also a check-and-balance that tracks them and their general tendencies so they can be watched - if they need to be, that is...  
\- c) What is the criteria that allows a Hacker to become a Programmer? Is it just leveling up? Is it learning a certain set of skills? Is it having a certain personality and drive? Is it (horrors) random?  
\- d) If the increase in Hackers and Programmers can be controlled, can they be put to work on the gates and fairy rings as a sufficient diversion?  
\- e) How long will it take for the numbers to settle down to a stable level?

 **3)** "Natural" magic will be discovered soon by the researchers and training warriors, even if I don't announce it  
\- a) How long to keep silent or wait until the researchers announce it?  
\- b) How to prevent _that_ from pushing them too fast to becoming "real" before we are prepared to handle both the training of the half-beasts and the reaction of the PotL to procreating Adventurers.

 **4)** ...and how to handle telling everyone that there are changes not planned but happening anyway  
\- a) 99 and 100 are not the cap any more. - probably the easiest thing to tell them, actually, all considered.  
\- b) Other types of magic are available (e.g. transformation magic) and only limited by the general limitations we all know (could be combined with the release of the knowledge of pseudocode mages down-playing it some) and...is technomagic the same as pseudocode magic...?  
( _Purrcy! Why do you keep slipping little new things in that I don't catch until later?! Slow down a little!)_

 **5)** How to tell them that the limits imposed have been broken  
\- a) Boxes in boxes is the simplest form to see but...  
\- b) Can have more than one sub-class  
\- c) Sub-classes within sub-classes  
\- d) Do we really have to tell them that people can have more than one Class and that Classes of Classes exist? That makes the stomach get ulcers.

 **6)** Continue to find a way home (if possible a two-way doorway)  
\- a) Ask Purrcy how she thinks it might happen  
\- b) Get in contact with Observer(s)  
\- c) Get the gates working (can the Hackers be used for that also, along with the technomages(?! - see added note 4b) )

 **7)** Set up a World Wide Round Table  
\- a) Set reasonable world law to bring peace to all Adventurers.  
\- b) Create a synergy of knowledge to help us get home faster.  
\- c) Be a place where like minded people can bring concerns of world import (like the possibility of the procreation of Adventurers and the subsequent destruction of the Cathedrals when the People of the Land find out) and find solutions that can be used over the whole world, thus finding peace of mind and lessening of stress and increased companionship/camaraderie

 **8)** Protect Purrcy  
\- a) Find out why there are Superusers who want Purrcy very much alive and with me.  
\- b) Why was Westlande part of the group that wanted her to put the virus into Akiba? Was it only to get me in trouble? Were they behind the whole thing then? (then where does the fingerprint in the Plague Master's plague point to? perhaps them instead?)  
\- c) Train her up in weapons to get her HP higher  
\- d) Train her to be a fully integrated guild member instead of just a solo player  
\- e) Get her to be a kitten on the desk when we talk so I can watch her be cute  
 _(oh, wait...that shouldn't have gone on the written list...)_

 **9)** Write a language translation scroll? or send out the guilds? to start teaching the international transplants that came without the translator functioning how to read and write Japanese (another easy thing to turn over to the Round Table)

 **10)** Umm...just what _did_ Purrcy mean by I keep leaving 'open boundaries' that were becoming problems? Is it just the scroll spells, or something else?

 **11)** Training the guild in the new skills  
\- a) Somehow keep Akatsuki from learning a thousand Mysteries before we're ready to have the world move forward...maybe send her with Purrcy and Nyanta...ah...well, maybe not. _(*blush*) *sigh*_ Except it would be nice to have her that strong. I'm going to need it...likely very soon now that Purrcy has "Log Horizon" under her name in the database.

Note: Make sure Purrcy sets the color coded tracers as permanent spells for each member of Log Horizon before she leaves so we can all defend ourselves at least somewhat.

\- b) Tetora's training - make sure it's well set up before Purrcy and Nyanta leave. Can she keep training in absentia?  
\- c) The younger set will work on sub-skills like crazy for a while...good distractions and training for them in general.  
\- d) What will Naotsugu do? might be nothing, might be wait for orders, might be something completely unexpected _(!)_ ...hmmm...sneaky suspicion it will be a lot of dates with Marie... Maybe I should come up with something to have on hand to keep him busy just in case.  
 _(*sigh* Now I wish we had alcohol...or cigarettes...never mind that I've never successfully touched either yet.)_  
\- e) Start my own physical training, run through all the stats I want to have better and make a plan for how to get them up using "natural" skill level increases. What's a "natural" half-alv and how can I position myself where I need to be?  
\- f) I'm a communications mage...wow...that puts me at being able to not have to use the towers to reach across the globe then? Hmm...that's exciting...where can I go with that?

 **12)** Be a proper boyfriend to Akatsuki  
\- a) hold hands  
\- b) kisses  
\- c) dates  
\- d) normal life sitting together quietly

 _(...)_

 **13)** Eat lots of tikki masala and curry before Purrcy and Nyanta leave...have them make lots of leftovers to store in boxes in my "food" slot...

 **14)** ...which means - don't forget to organize stuff into boxes ( _like when will there ever be time for that?)_  
\- a) order boxes (assign to Akatsuki)  
\- b) use personal organization outline to mark boxes (assign to Minori)  
\- c) practice natural output of items and placement into boxes (me)  
\- d) put boxes into boxes into slots (me) and bags (Minori and Akatsuki)  
\- e) repeat for the guild supplies (guild)  
( _Sigh...let's see...only 14? That's not too bad...I guess. *slump* ...Oh, and)_  
\- f) can we use boxes in boxes in a 'refrigerator' so we can last for the three months the only real cooks in the guild will be gone? (Roderick/Akaneya)  
( _...is that dinner I smell? I think I'll go check... Oh wait um...)_

 **15)** What else has Purrcy created and sold to the guilds that they are paying her for? I probably want to buy some of them, too. Maybe they'll give me free samples so I can know what she's been up to...as her guildmaster that should be okay to ask for, right?  
 _(...I wonder if they'll make me pay in "time with Purrcy"...sigh.)_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta's goals:

 **1)** Keep Purrcy calm.  
 **2)** Keep children happy.  
 **3)** Learn to transform front paws back into hands.  
 **4)** Keep an eye on Shiroe-ichi. He's going to put too much on his plate again. Make sure there's plenty of tea on hand.  
 **5)** Enjoy the sun and the porch...with Purrcy as much as possible so someone knows where she is at all times.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki's goals:

 **1)** As many dates, opportunities to hold hands, and sit with Shiroe as possible. Try not to count the number of kisses in a day so I don't get depressed.  
 **2)** Practice becoming a 'natural' ninja...don't let on my goal is to become the First with One Thousand Mysteries.

 _(Why didn't I put down 'protect Shiroe', you ask? Because that's what I_ _do_ _, not a goal.)_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Marielle's Jotted Notes:

 **1)** Wheedle more dates with Naotsugu away from Log Horizon guild hall. (Would he be allowed to bring Purrcy?)  
 **2)** Talk to Henrietta about what do to about the fact that I love Naotsugu and don't want to live apart from him much longer...that's getting hard.  
 **3)** Find a new hiding place from Henrietta.  
 **4)** Find out where I can get my own werecat...and maybe two so Henrietta can have one too.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

As added to Soujirou's list by his secretary-of-the-day:

* Find out from Log Horizon if Nazuna is fixed up now or if we all still need to worry...

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Rieze's Mental-Rant-List:

 _(Why the hell does Shiroe keep finding random outliers? Why, how, and what do we do about wiretaps? What's the method to keep all the half-beasts happy so the guild can continue to function smoothly? We need something we can do ourselves in case Log Horizon goes down._

 _...And how did Nyanta become a superwarrior - untouchable even? What's been going on over there? I thought all that happened was a felinoid got treed by the Wolf Pack. This is a lot of high level stuff for that kind of thing. While he's at it can he wave his wand and bring Crusty back? I'd like to hand all this back over to the scoundrel even though he hates it. It's past time he picked it back up. At the very least, the Machiavelli could tell us what the plans are, if he's not going to share the intel._

 _At least he left us with an interesting toy to play with. I wonder why we can't hear anything he says? And he's bound with ropes we can't see either - convenient mostly, but... I guess I'd better call Shiroe back and ask if he has to be or if it will wear off. ...No hurry.)_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Akaneya's Running To Do's:

... **42)** Find time to wheedle Purrcy out of Log Horizon when she learns to understand Japanese so I can learn how and where she's finding this stuff.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Woodstock:

\- Find out when Akaneya's going to wheedle Purrcy out of Log Horizon so I can just show up and visit, too.

 _(Numbers? What numbers? I gave up on numbers a long time ago. Once you get over 120 it gets too depressing.)_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sighed as he opened the door to his office/bedroom. It had been a long day and they still hadn't gotten around to figuring out the plans for what was next, nor had there been time to question Purrcy all day. Somehow it felt a little disappointing. They _had_ managed to get in the debriefing of the previous night in the mid-afternoon, then dinner, etc., and now it was evening. He closed the door behind him and pulled his glasses off to clean them, beginning the walk to his desk so ingrained in his system now he didn't even have look where he was going. He put his glasses back on and looked up at his desk and froze.

"Purrcy?" She was sitting comfortably on top of his desk - in kitten form, in the middle of his desk in the middle of his papers for the day. He suddenly went from wondering how and when she had entered his room to remembering what was on top and blushed. Moving quickly he went around the desk to make sure. "Really? You've snuck into my room just to read my scribblings?"

"No. Because we haven't had time to talk today, and I know how curious you are. You didn't really ask any questions yesterday. Yesterday you were just trying to understand the tool you'd picked up on the first floor so you could properly fight the second-floor mini-boss." She patted the paper she was sitting on with one small front paw. "Shall we address some of the simpler one's right off?"

Shiroe sighed and sat down in his chair at the desk. "You really aren't a professor? You very much remind me of one."

"You're welcome to consider it so if it helps you, but no. I'll be picking your brain when you're done picking mine, I'm sure."

Shiroe looked at her. She looked back until she slowly blinked. "Yes, technomages are different than pseudocode mages, but those are my names. I haven't a clue what the world is calling them. On Earth you are a trained technomage who knows how to dabble in pseudocode magic. Already a number of the crafter guilds have technomages who are slowly building up their levels and skills. You can address all of the new magics at once by focusing on that one and casually mentioning psuedocode magic under the radar and it won't stick for now. It should bring those who have them and are afraid to say anything out into the open so they can be used properly...and the guilds will be able to strengthen their members who have them. They're needed as defense against those who'll attack in the future with the new magics."

"When I set Tetora's training schedule, he can work on it and then get classes going for the rest of the Hackers, even if he's only a few weeks ahead - you know, like being the T.A." Shiroe nodded. "The rest I can't help. They'll have to keep working it on their own, but if you can come up with a way to explain the natural learning method, they'll have an easier time of it. ...I'm afraid I'm going to leave that bundle of worms in your lap." She shrugged a little kitten shrug. "After all, you won't let me speak to any of them anyway, except in my pidgin Japanese...and I don't really want to."

"You don't address what to do about the fact that a new creature has been found that doesn't exist, either. You're likely to get asked." She looked at him, but he didn't answer. He didn't have one yet...and she was sitting on his list. "When you write your scrolls, please pay attention to boundary conditions and make sure you've not allowed for outlying effects if a pseudocode mage - or worse yet the Superuser - gets their hands on the text before the spell goes off."

Shiroe narrowed his eyes at her. "What did you do, Purrcy?"

"Change it so that all the people in town who couldn't understand Japanese now can. I would have made it a world-wide general translation program except the paper and ink wouldn't hold that much magic. ...So I've already fixed that for you, though there are likely still minor repercussions that will need Round Table hands on it, so I would still send them out to re-poll the creepers. Please use it as a lesson in how much more dangerous the world has become. If one gets hold of your World-class texts and spells and modifies them we could be in trouble."

Shiroe sat irritated for just a moment, then sighed. "Yes, Sensei." The whiskers on one side of her nose twitched.

"I recommend you don't tell them yet the limits have been broken, or about natural magic. Let those ride one more turn, one more level of the dungeon. If they start to learn it on their own then it will come out and the other guildmasters will likely bring it up in the council. That might be the better way, and give you time to wrap your own brain around what you want to do. Like you, I want to go visit the villages first...but, you say they might not exist?"

Shiroe motioned, "Can I have the list, please?" She rose and moved off of it. He picked it up, then looked at her. She was sitting up on her haunches looking at him calmly. He reached over and pet her head, finding his palm exactly cupped it. He rubbed his hand back and forth a few times, the ran it down her back. "You are very soft," he said. She licked his hand once, a tiny rough sandpapery feel, rather the opposite of the feel of her fur. He took his hand back and she lay down again, tucking her front feet under her. He picked up his pen. It was his turn: "Okay, let's _actually_ start with... ...Purrcy, you're not supposed to write comments on my list! ...Though, thank you for already making the tracers permanent for everybody. ..."


	15. Hidden Faces

Purrcy sighed. It was getting hard to be indoors all the time. ...Well, she could go up on the roof and in the tree, which _was_ beautiful...but... She was used to being out in the wild. She was starting to feel a little guilty about the fact she was also now ignoring more than a couple of requests for aid from several creatures. And...she'd finally finished with her review of the code of the Plague of Life. It was horrible to think of it that way, but that really described it. She curled up on her blanket in her corner of the fourth floor closet and put herself to sleeping.

Some time later something touched the very tip of her sensitive ear and it flicked itself irritably. Whatever it was came back. Her ear twitched again and she tucked her head down into her arm farther. A featherlight touch landed on the back of her head, just above the neck. _The heck...a butterfly? A housefly?_ She rolled towards her left side, trying to dislodge it.

"Mmm...there it is."

"Mwhat?" Her heart was suddenly beating at three times the speed.

"Enough room to join mew." A warm body settled next to her. Shortly after, a damp rough tongue took to grooming her forehead, around her right eye and down the side of her head and over to just in front of her right ear, then back up on her head. When Nyanta had groomed her to his content, a thing she'd found surprising the first time it had happened, he asked, "So...what is it that's brought mew back here, hmmm?"

She sighed. "I don't come here just because I'm upset, you know. I actually like it back here."

"Purrhaps...but I think it's more."

She tucked her head up in his chest a little more and was startled that it was cat fur she was touching, not clothing. She froze and opened her eyes, her breath catching and her heart suddenly not quite sure at what tempo to be going. "Umm...Nyanta?" She carefully put her hand on his white chest and pushed back enough to look at his grey and white face.

He looked down at her, since he'd settled high enough to reach her for the grooming, his face as pleasantly neutral as ever, and his green eyes sparkling with just a little humor - at her reaction she supposed. He leaned to her and licked her between the eyes and just a little above, where it would have been between her eyebrows if she had them. "I thought that I'd purractice a little, and here seemed like the better place...particularly since this is where _mew_ are."

Her heart raced just a little more and she could feel heat rising up from her chest to her face, though on a felinoid it had a different reaction than to turn them red. "A-are you...typically...a romantic?" she asked him, really not able to reconcile this moment to what she knew of him so far. Then she remembered that one incident in the kitchen and the blush won. She rapidly buried her head back into his chest to hide her embarrassment.

"Is it going to bother mew?" he asked gently. She shook her head rapidly, feeling his fur with her forehead, mildly wondering how since she was covered in fur, too. Slightly mortified, she heard him chuckle.

There was a featherlight touch on the tip of her right ear again and it flicked. The light touch came again, this time just below the ear a bit, more on the side of her head and near the cheek. She tried to hold it as long as she could, but in the end, she had to twitch it off. He immediately gave her a lick on the top of her head. "You're a tease, too," she complained at him.

"Hmm." It wasn't much of an answer. "What did mew learn?"

Her hand, still on his chest where she'd forgotten it, clenched a little. She paused, then finally gave in and quickly wrapped her arm around him and held him tightly, shivering. His arm wrapped around her and held her close to him, offering comfort. There was a different touch on the tip of her ear as this time he licked it since his paw was now occupied with holding her. "Thought so, maiow," he said softly. The tongue was grooming her head again. She took a deep breath and tried to let it go. "It's the purroblem with having an expressive body. We've all been watching mew, mew know. Mew haven't been happy for more than a day, which isn't much like mew, we figure." He shifted up to move to reach to groom down her neck and to her shoulder.

Purrcy let the rhythmic motions relax her tense muscles. When it looked like he was going to move on, she obligingly rolled into him so he could reach the back of her neck. He obligingly moved there for her. As the back of her neck relaxed, she rolled again so he was grooming the left side of her neck and left shoulder. He moved to the top of her head again and said. "Are mew ready to talk? I'm listening meow."

She let him get done with the top of the head and around the left ear, then sighed with one more shiver. "It looks like...it's going to happen one way or the other...but it was artificially sped up. The physical response to the continual HP draining was a dampener to the resiliency of the body...kind of like how people who have depression will get if they don't get consistent rest for specific amounts of time." He licked her left cheek and she shuddered. He licked down her left jaw and her head turned into it. He licked under the jaw and she moaned. He paused and she shuddered and drew in a shuddering breath. He placed his paw on her left shoulder, holding her still. She wanted to cry again. She closed her eyes and focused on just breathing for a bit. Her body started to curl.

Nyanta flipped her so that she was facing him again. This time he took her in both arms and held her tightly to him. For all the cat body couldn't cry, the human half did and so did the human soul that inhabited the body, so the sobs were dry ones. As they began to calm, he began to pet her, but kept her close to him. Eventually, she was able to at least recover from the need to cry, for the most part.

Softly, her heart still in great pain, she said, "Nyanta. It feels like I've been violated already by them, or him. That just by being forced into that state...the fear and helplessness...that to a human brings feelings of shame...," her heart clenched and his paw held her more tightly for just a moment, "...knowing the damage that was being done to you...to Shiroe...and I couldn't do anything about it at all..." A sob escaped her again, and she turned to bury her head closer into the crack between his chest and the blanket on the floor underneath them. The sobs and shivering returned. This time he just held her, keeping her company in the way all Adventurers of Theldesia stolen from Earth had learned to be present to each other when the reality of where they were and the hopelessness that overwhelmed came upon them.

Eventually she uncurled and lifted her face to his, her eyes only open to slits. "Nyanta," she begged him, "love me. Let my first time be because I want it to be. Because I want it to be gentle and kind and because we wanted it to happen. Please," she whispered.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta was angry. It didn't happen often. He'd been trained most strenuously to keep his emotions under control, to not allow the emotions of others cloud his own, to keep his expression to others pleasant, to not impose his own thoughts on the confusion that often existed in others so that they could work out their own emotional knots and become free of them. He'd been trained this way not because he was Japanese, though that cultural part was there for sure. He'd been trained this way because he was a psychologist and it was the most important part of being able to fulfill his supremely important responsibilities to the individuals who trusted him to help them stay sane and return to full capacity again.

He was human, and male, and he knew he could and should also have his moments to unwind and just be what he needed to be, but he had learned when and how to do that, even when he'd been brought here. He'd dealt with himself first, logically and with the reason his training had taught him to. Helping others was not just his calling and passion for life, it was also the way to handle stressful situations like this. So that's what he'd been doing, for them and for himself. In the guild Log Horizon, he'd found a place to do that and to relax. There were other adults he could be just himself with when he needed it, and there were adults - and then children - whom he could help in order to help himself continue forward.

He'd been willing to help Purrcy to the depths she needed because even that was part of his passion for his profession...and she was attractive both mentally and physically with her golden galaxy swirls and grey and white stardust motes on the black background of her calico pelt, which didn't hurt since that meant she and her needs appealed to all of him, including passing her final tests today that he would have a lady walking next to him. He also had known from the moment he'd learned what she was that Shiroe needed to keep her.

To have the world, then a spell, even the thought of an alien scientist take away from her, and from him - not to mention all of the people who had been brought here against their will that were still trying to do their best without the same training he'd received - the very right to hold their persons inviolable made him angry. To know that Purrcy was going to fall into the depression that rape brought because even _he_ had recognized the signs of it as he sat in the branch that night, waiting for the answer to be found, fighting his own body that wanted to participate in it for all his mind fought and fought against it. He also felt violated, and in more ways than one. It hadn't been rape in the final sense, but in the world and understanding of psychology because they'd had no choice in the matter but to give in to it in the end, to have received the equivalent _emotional_ abuse of rape, it was still defined as rape. Anger was an expected - and perfectly appropriate - response to what had happened.

He looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms. Her response had also been perfectly expected. Depression and withdrawal while at the same time trying to understand why it had happened and how to prevent it from happening again. Feeling shame, fear, helplessness...his lips went back from his teeth and his tail and ears twitched again. This time, he hadn't been the councilor who sat kindly impassive. He'd been an active participant, from the beginning all the way to the end, helping her to stand and then to heal, while also using her to stand...and to heal. Now what was left was the righteous anger.

He leaned down to the top of her head and breathed in her scent. The colleges for psychologists all across the world taught that the rebound need for sex again after a rape was to be avoided. That following through on the thought that having it again quickly with a partner of choice to have the opportunity to erase the horrible memory and emotions of it would only create an incorrect imprint and make recovery more difficult. It wasn't wrong, but it was incomplete. In Guildmaster Shiroe's case, he was handling it correctly. Find a stable companion, but don't go and repeat anything. Heal first, then slowly find out what a healthy relationship was so that you learned proper patterns to live a happy life following.

When Purrcy had asked him, his first instinct was to say no, to gently guide her through the steps he'd been taught to help his other clients with. Except...his own need for the same hit him hard. In their case, they already knew that healthy relationships existed and had once had it in their lives...before being brought here. It was one of the things that kept them going, really, and at the same time made it all the more difficult to be here, because of that extra pain of having been torn from loved ones on Earth. It was the same pain that they'd both had to overcome in their initial understanding of what was going to happen to Purrcy...and ultimately to him as well, now that she'd been let into the guild house and wouldn't be let out until it was resolved. They knew the companionship of a spouse already, knew it could be healing as well as binding. The binding part of it scared them both, for good reason, but when he'd felt her pain and his and understood, it hadn't been a wrong request. They needed the reminder of what they already knew so that their own confidence and mental health could be repaired.

He still hadn't touched her that way yet, for all that anyone would think it, he supposed. They really had been committed to the plan she'd laid out - do the surgical part first and hope it would be the solution the Adventurers needed. He suspected they still were committed to that path, though the planning meeting(s) still needed to be held, pending her final analysis. They also both understood, though he did so much better than most, that adultery was nearly as damaging as if not equal to rape, to the mental health of the parties involved. That was the bonding they were so afraid of. A bond would be formed between them. It didn't remove the bonds they had for the people at home. Those bonds would remain - it wasn't a replacement, it was an addition.

To lose someone you had formed that deep a bond with was extremely heartbreaking. In the case of repairing adultery, two of the three parties had to hurt, a lot, because there were two bonds. One relationship _had_ to end to let the other one heal. And if you really wanted to heal, you had to return to the original spouse. To leave and go to the third party damaged your trust in yourself so much that almost ninety-five percent of those relationships ended within two years and the adulterer was left alone with two pains and a massively damaged heart and soul. Some of his worst to heal cases had been adultery cases. More than half left his office after two and a half years to three years, still unresolved, unable to face him or themselves any more. It hurt. ...Unless all parties were in agreement and happy with the arrangement, which wasn't possible in their case. They couldn't get to the other two at home and they already knew they wouldn't approve.

He would have said no to her from the beginning for just that reason alone. But she had been perfectly open and honest about her whole situation from the beginning. An ending relationship with her spouse she had run from by staying up late nights playing _Elder Tales_ , getting up after he was asleep and playing until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore...or until it was time to start making breakfast, whichever came first. Yes, there were children. Yes, she felt guilty about them. What could an Adventurer caught in this situation do about that? She was already as good as dead to them if time was passing equivalently between the worlds. If she went back it would likely be to reopen old wounds that they might have already had years to work on healing. It was the kinder option in that case to have stayed 'dead'.

As for him...he needed and desired his wife and son, passionately and deeply. They were his source of comfort after he came home from work. With them he could see the example of a positive family life, positive relationships, and be healed when he needed it. He could give love and receive it, even have bad days on occasion because at home he could be a man when he needed to be one. But...he had one pain that he couldn't heal there. ...The pain of knowing he was leaving them behind. The sum for him was the same as Purrcy, though the situation was not. If he had died to them there by coming here, it had only happened a little sooner than it might otherwise have. He had a terminal illness there. He'd left playing _Elder Tales_ to spend his remaining time with his family, but had gotten on for the new release for one last time to play, to do something he enjoyed at an auspicious time, while in the hospital full of needles and covered in monitors, not expecting to leave alive this time. His real life was a thing he had never told anyone in _Elder Tales_ until he told Purrcy. If he went back, it would be to kiss them and hold them one more time before dying for real.

But, as Purrcy had, in her way, explained to young Serera, Purrcy needed him more. Here, he was alive, and so far couldn't die even if he wanted to. Having her need him because of what she was going to have to go through was probably his own reason for living all of a sudden. She offered far stronger and binding reasons for moving forward than caring for even the members of Log Horizon. Creating the stronger bonding between them of becoming spouses would only be the outward sign of that, and the committing to it. So, when she had asked, he hadn't said no. He'd simply said, "If we have to go back, let me go. I'll be dead. Learn to love meowr husband. If we find the door, purromise me right now that mew will consider yourself dead there and never go through the door, and I will purromise the same. If we are to be here for the rest of our lives, however long that is, from now on, mew are mine and I am meowrs. Purromise it."

Purrcy had looked at him solemnly, then promised, using her real name and her Adventurer name both. He had done the same. That wasn't to say he wasn't still worried, nor that she wasn't. If they were still tied somehow to their bodies, and his body there died, would he be an Adventurer who did die here? He might be. She had told him, "There are too many 'ifs'. But we don't let them paralyze us on Earth. It is pointless to let them do so here." It was a truth he taught his own clients. She had said, "I chose to have hands because of the crazy thought I just might end up in a place like this." She had ended up here. "You might just die there and in the process die here. It's just as likely. Then be with me until then. Isn't that what you've spent all the last years doing at home? Living and being until then?" He'd bowed to her words and smiled.

She might not be strong all the time, she might have her own fragility, but she was fearless. It was the perfect match for him. Someone to stand up before his fears and protect him from them and at the same time be someone who needed him to heal her. Maybe in the guild he was the warrior and she was the healer, but in their personal relationship, he was the healer and she was the warrior. She had gone down and he had come to heal her, knowing his own damage would be healed as well. But he was angry all the same, and knew that when she was healed, she would be also. She had already shown it - that the anger already burned brightly and very near the surface. It would ignite and they would move to the next level of this dungeon she had brought to Shiroe and Log Horizon.

The next level was wide and broad. They'd move slowly into new territory that she and Shiroe only had guesses on - educated ones, but still guesses. They would divide into intelligence gathering sub-groups again, then come together when it was done and put the plan on how to conquer the level together as a guild, then go and conquer it and move on to the next level, and the next, and the next until the final boss was defeated and the treasure won. It was their way - the way of the Adventurer, the determination of the guild Log Horizon, the dream of the Guildmaster, the requirement of the soul of humanity. They were looking for the head to make roll and burn and scatter the ashes into space for Tetora and for every one of them. There could be no other outcome to smother the flames of the anger. (But even so, Nyanta knew that sometimes there was no outlet for the flames.)

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy and Touya walked into the Log Horizon guild house, coming from practicing in a still abandoned area nearby. The defenses of the city that disallowed Adventurers from fighting within city limits had been taken down because of a malfunction that had allowed someone to take over the armor that could defeat Adventurers. It had made everyone nervous to not have those defenses available, but since the Adventurers were defenders in their own right, so far they'd been able to protect themselves and the city just fine, and no one seemed particularly worried about it any more. This made inner city practicing possible, and very convenient.

Naotsugu was sitting on the couch, resting on his elbows, leaning forward on his knees. He looked up as they came in and nodded a welcome. Rudy noticed that Touya immediately checked himself. He gave a sober nod back, then turned to Rudy and said, "Let's go get cleaned up, eh, Rudy?" Rudy nodded. It wasn't like they weren't already going to go do that. It also wasn't that Touya said it any less boisterously than he'd said the last thing before they walked in. It was just a slight...inward change. Rudy wasn't sure he understood it, but it made a different kind of change in him today. Today, it made him slightly angry. Not enough for him to say no, but enough to set him just a little off. Not for the first time in the last several days, it made him keep his mouth shut.

Normally, he was full of flair, expressive to the world because it was expressive to him - full of life and energy, the purpose of his song demanding an outlet, his drive and reason for living filling him to the brim so that he had to let it out for all the world to know. Since Purrcy had come, through circumstances that demanded that she be aided and rescued from her plight, and rightly so, things had begun to change in Log Horizon. Those changes had somehow begun to make him feel angry, and he didn't like it.

When Rudy arrived back down in the main gathering area after his bath and putting his things away, it wasn't any better. In fact, it was probably worse. Naotsugu was now standing at the base of the tree that grew up through the center of their guild hall, with his arms folded. He'd been looking up, but he turned to watch Rudy walk down the last flight of stairs. When Rudy looked at him, he blinked and went back to looking up the tree. Rudy brushed his blond curls from his face then almost stalked past Naotsugu, but being trained since he was young to not act in ways that were inappropriate to the situation, he caught himself and just walked. He arrived at the seating area and paused again.

Here, it was Tetora that was sitting in the couch, leaning back with his arms folded and his legs stretched out in front of him. His head was resting on the back of the couch, and his eyes were closed. Rudy looked 'him' up and down. This was not the pose 'she' should normally take. It reeked of a man paying very close attention to something while at the same time taking a waiting pose, but to see it taken by the body of a tantalizing female was a juxtaposition that just didn't sit right - even if Tetora was now wearing pants and other clothing more suited to a male. It was part of the general "not fitting right" that had been floating around the house for the last several days. Rudy frowned.

"Oh, Rudy, here you are!"

He turned and nodded politely at Minori, trying to paste on his court smile. He hadn't had to for so long now it felt stiff and not quite right. "Miss Minori. How are you this fine afternoon?" It sounded a little flat, but today he wasn't sure he cared.

"Well, I suppose. Here, I've made tea. Would you have some?"

He didn't really want to, but it would be impolite to refuse...and he had come from working out. Any liquid would be received well by his body at this point. "Thank you," he accepted the waiting cup being held out to him. He would have preferred a large glass of ice water, or of fruit juice. He supposed he could go and get one for himself later, once he'd performed his proper duty to proper manners. As he sipped on the tea, which was the normal one with apple peel added to sweeten it this time, he looked around the rest of the room.

Touya had taken his usual chair and was sitting in it with his hands behind his head. He was leaning back, but he wasn't in the completely casual pose Tetora was, and he was looking at Rudy. When Rudy looked at him he looked back at Tetora, as if waiting for something, but Rudy had no idea what. There was a step behind him on the stairs and he turned. "Ah, Miss Isuzu, and how are you this afternoon?" he welcomed her to the gathering space as well.

She looked worriedly around the room, then smiled at him, though it was perhaps a little more subdued than her normal cheerful smile. "Well enough, I suppose, Rudy. Thanks for asking." She walked towards the group and Minori offered her tea as well. She accepted it and stood next to Rudy.

He looked at her for a moment, then around the room one more time. It was almost feeling like a gathering of mourners, with everyone's attention on Tetora...except Naotsugu's who was still looking up the tree. Rudy held back a shake of his head, replacing it with another sip of tea. There was the feeling of expectation in the air, the feeling that there was an empty space that was calling to the next person to come and fill it. He wondered slightly just who it would be that would enter that space. It should be Nyanta, coming from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel, to announce something was done - like the cookies were ready to eat. Instead, the door to Shiroe's office opened and the guildmaster himself stepped out. It felt suddenly like the doctor had stepped out of the bedroom to announce sorry news, and Rudy stiffened inside instinctively. "Where are they?" Shiroe asked quietly as Akatsuki materialized behind him as his ever-present shadow.

Tetora answered without moving. "In the closet."

"How long?"

"Mmm..."

He was interrupted by Naotsugu, who had turned to look back briefly, "Almost two hours now."

Rudy blinked. That was a long time, particularly for Nyanta. Shiroe nodded and moved to sit in his chair. That set the expectations in the room and people began to sit down, Minori after she had served Shiroe and Akatsuki cups of tea as well. Rudy chose to remain standing this time, though he moved to stand behind Isuzu's chair when she sat in it. It looked like he wasn't going to get his preferred drink for a while. He took another sip of the tea, but it turned his mouth into a grimace. He stepped briefly to the table to set the cup down, then returned to his position, wishing he could just go and get his glass of water while they waited. It wouldn't do, though, now that everyone was settled into expectant waiting.

It wasn't too much longer before Tetora shifted and sat up. Shortly after, Naotsugu stepped back from the tree, though he still faced it. Everyone's attention was on him and the tree, but Naotsugu turned to face the stairs. So everyone else did, too. Rudy wanted to shake. Shake off the heavy feeling in the room, shake off the uncomfortable feeling that had come over him, shake off his sudden feeling of "differentness". He was feeling decidedly irritable by it all now. He very firmly pasted on his calm court face. Even if he didn't quite understand, everyone else apparently needed this moment. It wasn't his place to disturb it.

Nyanta appeared at the top of the stairs, one arm wrapped around the shoulders of Purrcy. Her arm was wrapped around his waist. It looked as if he was supporting her, helping her to walk. They paused, Purrcy's ear flicking nervously. Nyanta murmured something to her. She took a breath and nodded slightly and they moved to come down the stairs.

Rudy looked around the room quickly one more time. Everyone was looking concerned, or had waiting expectant poses. Shiroe's face was kindly but calm, as if waiting for a report from a beloved elder child. Rudy stared at him, taking in the sight for a long time.

"Everyone," Purrcy said, and Rudy turned to look at the pair of felinoids who had arrived near the sitting area finally. Calmly and with the grace she held within her, she bowed slightly. "I'm sorry to have worried you. I've finished my analysis of the code for the Plague. To create the antidote will likely take another day; however, I can tell you now what I've learned from it."

Shiroe nodded and Purrcy and Nyanta moved to sit on chairs next to each other, Purrcy sitting upright and Nyanta sitting in a supporting position just a little more relaxed, but attentive. "It's a very sophisticated spell, as expected. The two main pieces of it are the part that depresses the body's ability to maintain it's own strength to stay healthy, and the part that makes it a contagion. The former is not too difficult a piece to have created, but he seems to have spent the main part of his effort on it. The latter is the more difficult piece, being very elaborate, but it had fewer modifications to it."

She paused, "As a supposition, it feels as if he were given the part to make it a contagion and modified it slightly to suit his needs, and then he was given the _idea_ for the former and had to do his own experiments to make it happen. ...If this is true, he was manipulated by someone on Yamato. He would have been given too much." She was looking directly at Shiroe. He looked back, then nodded. For now he held his peace, however, waiting for the report to be completed.

Purrcy shifted slightly, tucking a foot further under her chair, and gave a nervous flick of an ear. "I'm afraid that as far as knowing if it's a given that we will arrive at the place the spell forced us to go to, we can't know from the spell itself. All we can know is that it is possible for us to arrive there. The spell was directed towards Adventurers specifically, however I have some concern that if that restriction were lifted that it could become a Plague against People of the Land and monsters as well. I've placed a sniffer as far as I can reach for both of the main pieces to watch for them to come up in other places so that if we need to send the antidote to any creature, we can. We surely don't need an explosion of monsters that will create troubles, and I have no idea what it would do to People of the Land. Though I would hope nothing, I suspect it would allow for their own natural plagues and illnesses to increase across the land and wipe out great portions of them until it were contained again. Because it is far better to inoculate and treat the one or two that get it early, I thought setting the watch over them would be better done now."

Rudy relaxed. His own had been taken by such illnesses and the horror stories of the last plague to rampage through the land were still told a generation and a half later. "Thank you, Purrcy," Shiroe said quietly. "Will you be able to create a general antidote or will it need to be specific to each race?"

Purrcy considered her answer. "I think it can be general."

Shiroe relaxed and nodded. Everyone was looking at him now. He pushed up his glasses and took a breath. "The part that was given - the plague part - _was_ probably given to him. It's the sort of thing that would have come out of Westlande - from Plant Hwayden." Naotsugu and Nyanta both nodded. The name of that guild had come up before in their discussions. They were often behind things that happened against Akiba and the Adventurers in it, particularly pointed towards Shiroe. "How is your tracer back to the other fingerprint on it going?" he asked now.

Purrcy shook her head. "It has to move slowly so that it isn't seen as a threat as it approaches. I don't expect to make contact and incursion for a number of days, maybe even into a week."

Shiroe nodded as if that was an expected answer. They'd started moving into talking about things the rest of them couldn't quite understand, but that was pretty normal. Details were often Class specific. "Purrcy, ...Plant Hwayden is a guild that has swallowed up the governance of Minami - the Adventurer town of Westlande - by forcing every Adventurer in the province to join it, and then controlling the government of the People of the Land as well. The heads of the guild and its purposes are set contrary to ours, though the Council of Ten is by no means stable or in agreement. One of the members of the Council of the Ten is a Summoner, KR, who was part of the Debauchery Tea Party. If you should run into him, or hear of him from the monsters, I wanted to be sure you knew to treat him at best as a neutral party. He's been willing to give me information and I've given him some, but he's just as likely to use it for the good of Minami as for the good of the whole. ...His favorite spell is Soul Possession - or soul transfer. If a monster begins to be too interested in you and what you're doing, check to see if it's him and protect yourself, please."

Purrcy's tail had stilled in surprise at the news. "Ah...okay. Thanks for telling me, Shiroe. I'll be sure to remember." Rudy laughed inside. Purrcy was able to be calm and graceful, but it wasn't her normal self. It was as much a mask as any courtier's. When startled or upset, she wasn't able to hold to it and fell into her natural patterns. He'd already wondered several times if it was because she was in a safe place. It would be interesting to see if she could withhold and continue to hold the mask outside of the guild house. If she couldn't, she wouldn't be worth as much outside the house as she was inside. He wondered vaguely if that's why they kept her inside. He'd certainly been trained to keep it anywhere. For all they still made sure before they let him out that he'd hold it correctly, he'd known how before he came. This one might take some strenuous effort and training still to be allowed to be seen in public.

Truth be told, it felt like a princess had come to stay with them. One who knew how to hold a public face, but who had been spoiled enough that she was allowed to throw tantrums and be slightly disgraceful about the castle. So far she'd displayed that behavior pretty consistently. He wasn't impressed, but he understood it. What he wasn't sure he understood was why they let her do it. They weren't normally so patient with such behavior, especially Shiroe - who had the most patience with Purrcy of all of them, except perhaps Nyanta. And that didn't sit so well with Rudy either. Nyanta was typically the first one to put people into their places quickly and efficiently, even if he did do it kindly or with a simple warning.

He'd wondered at first if it was because of her comment she was from another place altogether, and Touya's extreme interest in that fact. He'd asked Touya and Isuzu about it later and they had both said that the country she came from not only didn't have royalty at all, but were very outspoken and almost violent compared to the people of this land - or at least the Adventurers. That they had the souls of warriors in every one of them, and almost no restraint, save a sense of national pride and solidarity. That had been even more confusing, particularly as time passed. The only time he'd seen any hint of that was when she'd become angry that they would have forgotten their own heritage. The rest of the time he only saw spoiled princess, a thing they said shouldn't come from her land. Maybe he should ask one of the older members of the guild. Maybe they could explain it to him better.

It did stand to reason that they would humor her until Shiroe had all of the information out of her that he could glean, and Rudy was trying to be patient until that happened - or she left to return to her work with the monsters (of all things - let them die, _please_ ), whichever came first. ...He wasn't sure he could last the nearly two weeks longer that she was supposed to be here. Maybe he could talk the other junior members of the guild into going out on a training campaign during that time.

"I'll add talking to Roderick about his opinions on if it could happen to our meeting," Shiroe was saying. Rudy had missed what the topic of that discussion would be, but he didn't suppose it mattered much since it was higher level than he was.

"Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta shifted slightly and put his paw on Purrcy's back, "I'd like purrmission to take Purrcy out to the market. She's been inside a very long time for someone who isn't used to it. I think it would help her be able to focus on her next set of tasks inside if she can have a bit of time to breathe fresh air again, nyan."

Rudy raised an eyebrow every so slightly. Was he really ready to test her? Was she really ready to be tested? He looked at Shiroe.

The guildmaster was considering the two of them as testingly as any lord of the house would, which made Rudy feel better, somewhat. Finally he nodded once. "Only as felinoid, Purrcy. The city is used to seeing you that way. Stay with Nyanta, and maybe Minori should go, too. That way you'll be seen obviously with Log Horizon, to set in their minds we protect you now." Unspoken was the word, _behave_. The same as if it had been said to Rudy.

Purrcy bowed her head. "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe." At least she knew who her lord was and how to bow her head to him properly.

-:-:-:-:-

In the end, everyone was going. Isuzu didn't want to be left behind with Minori going, Akatsuki had looked longingly at Shiroe and since he was now duty bound as her now-formal-escort, he'd agreed to go as well, saying that a walk to get a change of scenery would likely help him as well. It had made Akatsuki's face light up quite nicely. Tetora, who was smitten with Purrcy, immediately had invited himself along in his usual flamboyant way, and Naotsugu had shrugged with a smile and said he'd tag along, then been mercilessly teased by Tetora that the big man just wanted an excuse to try to run into Marielle and get his own date in. It didn't look like it had been wrong, since Naotsugu took the time to call her to let her know that he'd be in the market in a few, while the ladies (and Tetora) went upstairs to get into clothing appropriate to a shopping spree.

Rudy sighed and flopped down on a chair to wait. He could choose to stay behind alone, or go. That wasn't much of a choice. He'd go, but it would just make his feet ache. Maybe he could slip away to go visit some of his own contacts in town just to see how they were doing and if they'd picked up any new information in the last day or so. Tetora bounded down the stairs, ran across the room, leaped over the back of the couch with his long pink hair flowing behind him, and landed next to Naotsugu who was in his usual place on the couch, both arms spread across the back of it.

Naotsugu raised an eyebrow. "Not going dressed as a girl? I thought you went up to change for an afternoon on the town?"

"Nope," Tetora said lightly. "But I am going to have to stop by Shopping District 8. I need a new wardrobe." He sighed. "It's all pretty and works well on the body, but it isn't what I want any more."

Naotsugu rubbed his big hand on Tetora's head with a smile. Tetora slapped it off and hit Naotsugu in the side, making the bigger man laugh, but he put his arm back on the couch. Watching the interplay was like watching an open and obvious display of the changes Purrcy's coming had made to the guild, and it made Rudy scowl a bit to see it. Not that Tetora shouldn't be allowed to act male if he wanted to, since he was inside (though that was ever so confusing to the People of the Land), it's just it was a change that Rudy hadn't adjusted to yet and he was already feeling irritable from before.

"You're looking a bit lost, Rudy," Naotsugu said mildly.

Rudy looked up at him in surprise. "Lost?"

"Purrcy's brought a lot of changes to the guild in a short amount of time," the rejoinder was mild and so to the point that Rudy could only blink. "Is there something we can help with?"

He was about to refuse, when he remembered he did want to ask them that one question. "Ah...I asked Touya and Miss Isuzu why they'd been impressed Miss Purrcy came from that other place, but I think their answer only confused me. Maybe you could explain it to me? When I see her, I see a princess, but they said that where she comes from there are no nobility or royalty."

Tetora was nodding. "No, I'm not surprised you see that. Really, we would all say that."

"It's true there are no nobility or royalty in the States," Naotsugu said. "It's a nation that is put together very much like Eastal. It's a group of free states that are banded together into one nation, but they are ruled by the people themselves rather than by nobles. It's a representative nation that votes, or chooses from among the people themselves, someone to represent their area at the council, and also chooses one person to be the head of the nation to represent the nation to the other nations." Rudy blinked, not quite able to comprehend how that could be even possible.

Naotsugu and Tetora nodded sympathetically. "It is a bit hard to comprehend, perhaps. It was a nation that was an experiment. Can the people rule themselves? They've done well for over two-hundred years. It gets rocky on occasion and there's often a lot of internal bickering, but it hasn't fallen apart yet," Tetora said.

"The sum result is that the people from that nation are very fiercely independent, won't bow their heads to anyone, and often appear belligerent or at the very least unrefined or overbearing. The fact that Purrcy is trying very hard to bow her head, be obedient, and restrain herself as much as she is we are all finding rather...gratifying." Naotsugu admitted. "The reason you see her appearing as a princess, is because she is. And so is every member of her nation - a prince or a princess, and usually a spoiled one at that." He gave a wry smile.

"Ah, well, I had noticed that, yes," Rudy said cautiously, not wanting to appear rude or accusatory. "But you allow it?"

They both shrugged. "She's actually doing the best she can. It could be much...much worse." The two men looked at each other, and Rudy could see the worry in the look. They were afraid that she would release the restraints the wrong way when she got comfortable.

He swallowed. That didn't really make him feel much better. The Adventurers were bad enough as it was. "How much are they like the Adventurers?" he asked.

They looked solemnly back, Naotsugu in particular. "They were the first Adventurers - a whole nation of them from the beginning. The rest of us emulate them, but don't really come close, since we are basically at heart Japanese. It's a bit like how we Adventurers here are to the People of the Land, they are to the Adventurers you know."

Rudy put his head in his hands. "She...she won't, will she?" he plead with them. It would be more than he could take.

"Probably not," came back Tetora's bright reply. "She's an adult, after all, and we've already seen the worst."

Rudy looked up in surprise. "We have?"

Tetora nodded. "You remember when she got mad? And how she pushes Shiroe-san around? That's about how bad it will get. And as an adult, she's already not likely to let any of that show in public, unless she gets pushed, and then you'll just see the princess who is offended and won't be told no. She's comfortable enough here to show her worst already."

"Well...," Naotsugu cautioned, "we haven't seen a temper tantrum yet."

"She got angry!" Tetora argued.

Naotsugu considered that. "Yes, but Nyanta restrained her, remember? And she pulled back. I think...we won't really see it until and unless she gets angry with him. And then it will be a week of the silent treatment, is my guess...with lots of broken dishes."

Tetora blinked. So did Rudy. "You really think so?" Tetora asked in disbelief.

Naotsugu nodded. "She's had her freedom taken away, remember? She's already said it. The Americans are the angriest, as well as the most excited, of the Adventurers." He looked back at Rudy. "So, we just told you that they rule themselves, right?" Rudy obediently nodded. "Well, what that means, with the rule of the people, is that every one of them is free. Free to live whatever life they want to live. Not tied down by birth and family responsibilities, unless they want to be. They treasure and value and protect that freedom with their very lives. To give it up is to live under a ruler again, a higher authority. If they didn't have that in their veins, they would have fallen as a nation a long time ago, and it's their hardest fight to continue to win, because it's so much easier to let someone else worry about the problems of a region and nation and just not think about it, just think about your own life and food on the table."

Naotsugu leaned forward. "This is actually _why_ they are all princes and princesses. They have to rule themselves as if they were. Each individual. In forcing them to come to this world against their will - well, we're all angry about it - but them, it's like taking the king and dropping him somewhere he didn't want to go without asking him. If he can, he's going to marshal his whole army against whoever did it. She's got that much anger in her, and so does every one of them in or from that country."

Naotsugu leaned back again. "It's not so much we're afraid of her becoming uncultured or unrefined - which she could because Americans are. We're afraid of her letting that anger loose. As long as she directs it towards finding out why we're here and how we can get home - the most productive use of it and what she wants to do for herself - we're okay. If it gets pointed anywhere else..., well...let's just say I'm surprised the mage from the other night wasn't a puddle of flaming goo on the ground before her."

Tetora nodded his agreement, then, after a moment, quietly said, "And given the amount of power she has, and her skills, she could have left a crater the size of the moon behind. ...Naotsugu...do'ya think that's why she wants it kept a secret, where she's from? So she doesn't get pushed by someone? There're people around that would do it just for fun, you know. Just to get a rise out of an American so they can laugh at pushing them into rude behavior."

Rudy was suddenly afraid. Naotsugu looked at Tetora soberly. "I wouldn't be surprised, Tetora. I wouldn't be surprised."

Tetora shuddered. "Yeah, no. Let's not _ever_ see that happen. I'll step in before it happens and deck the bastard first. I've only seen the surface of what she can do with her pseudocode magic, but it's wicked powerful. A decking would be a blessing on the man who wanted to push her for fun just to see what she would do. No...as long as Nyanta-san has her on the leash, we'll be fine. As long as Shiroe can keep her busy and directed in useful ways. He's the Machiavelli to match her." He paused, then said very quietly, "And I don't _ever_ want to see the day those two stand toe to toe at odds." The air was still. Then Tetora shrugged and sat back with a thump against the back of the couch again, "Well, it's not gonna happen anyway. They're bosom buddies ecstatic to finally have found each other - allies they've been desperate to have for years now. Now - now we get to see some real action! Now we're going to finally be moving forward." He rubbed his hands together.

"Express-train-city," Naotsugu responded with a grin. Rudy didn't know what that was, and though the mood lightened, he wasn't sure he was much better off than he had been before, except that now he wasn't just irritated and concerned, now he had a germ of fear in him he wished he didn't.

Sometimes being an Adventurer was both more complicated and more difficult than he could have ever imagined...at least when it came to living with them, anyway. If they were putting up with the spoiled princess because she was being good, and because they were protecting Akiba from her, then he should try to do the same for the sake of the People of the Land that _he_ was trying to protect.


	16. An Afternoon in the Market

Shiroe came out of his office wearing the usual sweater and creased pants that he wore when going out. Tall and thin with dark blue hair to be almost black and a sharp intelligent look behind his round glasses, he always looked sharp when he was dressed like that, like some high level official. "We'll stop by Radio Market while we're out," Shiroe announced to the room in general when he saw it was just the men and boys, who were still waiting on the girls.

"I need Shopping District 8," Tetora announced back and Shiroe nodded.

"Ah, you haven't had the Round Table meeting, yet, though," Touya cautioned. "Aren't we going to get our feet held to the fire for information in places like those?"

"Probably," Shiroe said calmly. "But I've my own investigation and interrogation to do at Radio Market. We'll have Purrcy distract Akaneya while I'm doing it so I don't get interrupted. The ladies will keep Calasin distracted enough, particularly if Marie shows up by then," he threw a glance at Naotsugu who grinned back, but the tips of his ears went a bit red.

"Do you want to divide and conquer?" Tetora asked.

Shiroe shook his head. "I can't today. I'm sure it wouldn't count as a date if I did." The rest of them, minus Naotsugu, groaned. Shiroe smiled, and it looked a little strained. They let it slide. "Date" had never been in his vocabulary before and it looked like it might never sit comfortably.

Tetora slid out of his seat on the couch and walked over to put his elbow on Shiroe's shoulder, not an easy feat since Tetora was about a head shorter than Shiroe. "Think about it this way -"

Shiroe had moved and Tetora stumbled but when he glared up at Shiroe and saw his look, he turned as well. Coming down the stairs were the ladies. In the middle front was Akatsuki, blushing ferociously, but instead of looking angry, like she would have if she'd been dressed up by Henrietta again, she was looking very shy and insecure.

Tetora whistled lightly. "They've done right by you, Akatsuki," he said appraisingly, nodding at what he saw. Henrietta usually put some kind of cos-play or child's clothing on her just for her own enjoyment. This wasn't anything like that. Flattering, feminine, pants and a blouse with a jacket, all dark colors like she herself preferred. Her black hair had been done in small simple braids on each side pulled around to the back and pinned together to hang down with the rest of her long hair. "How'd they manage it?" he looked at the rest of the girls. They all grinned and looked at Purrcy.

Purrcy winked at him solemnly. "A woman can still look like a woman properly in pants, you know. You keep doing it yourself."

Tetora stiffened in surprise, then looked down at himself. "Oh. Right."

"As a matter of fact, you should have joined us. If we're going clothing shopping, be sure you show her properly. I had to use what I could conjure up from my closet and modify. I'm afraid that while it works, it still isn't quite right."

Shiroe was shaking his head and so was Naotsugu. "Oh, no," Naotsugu said, "you did just fine. Even I can see the woman in the clothing."

Purrcy's hand came down on Akatsuki's shoulder before she could move to knee Naotsugu in the face. "Akatsuki, it was a complement. The proper response is, 'thank you', if you must give one. Otherwise, just blush and move on."

Every eyebrow in the room moved upwards. Even Akatsuki stared at her open mouthed for a moment. "Ah... is that what it is?"

"Yes. You already know that when he's being a pervert it's fine to protect our fair race. When he's being kind, let him be kind. You will find it is actually enjoyable after a while - to be _properly_ appreciated."

It was a scold to the both of them and they both blushed. Nyanta moved from the doorway of the kitchen to the stairs to take Purrcy's hand, holding out his paw and bowing to her slightly. "Mrowr Lady," he said smoothly. "Mew are also looking most lovely, nyan."

Purrcy blushed lightly, it coming out in the posture of her ears and whiskers and tail. "Thank you, Nyanta," she said, much more shyly than her previous words had been.

Touya snickered. "I can't tell if her reaction is more funny or the fact that Akatsuki is taking notes."

"Touya!" scolded Minori, hitting him lightly in the arm as she arrived next to him. Shiroe moved to hold out a hand to Akatsuki, following Nyanta's lead as if also taking notes. Touya looked at Rudy and rolled his eyes.

Rudy, for his part, gallantly walked up to Isuzu and held out his hand to her with a bow. "Miss Isuzu, shall we join the elders on their stroll about town for the afternoon. It was lovely out this morning." If Purrcy was going to bring her poise and grace to everyone else, and teach Akatsuki what it was to be a lady, then he'd happily relent sufficiently enough to join in on those lessons.

Isuzu stared at him as if she was going to refuse, then happened to have her eyes caught by something beyond him. She put her hand in his. "Most certainly, Mister Rudy. After all, when an afternoon stroll has been called for by the Guildmaster, how can the guild refuse?" Her tone was lightly haughty and the sparkle in her eyes said she was teasing. They turned to stand as if preparing to begin a court dance. Rudy saw that Purrcy was looking at them with a satisfied look on her face. He was a bit surprised to see it was a look of gratitude.

Naotsugu looked over at Touya. He scowled. "She my _sister_. I'll walk next to her, but she doesn't need _escorting_."

Naotsugu shrugged. "Just properly keep her and Tetora company. When Marie joins us I'll be out, too."

Touya rolled his eyes again and groaned. Tetora joined him on his other side from Minori, his hands clasped behind him, and winked at her. "Actually, you'll have it best of the lot, won't you? Two lovely ladies, one on either side, to keep you company." Touya blushed a bright red and there was laughter in the room.

"Maybe I'll stay home," Touya grumbled.

Minori grabbed his arm. "Oh no, you won't. Isuzu said it. The Guildmaster's required the guild to go. You're going."

Tetora moved to take his other arm but Purrcy got there first, smoothly taking them both by an arm and began to lead the group to the front door. "Touya," she said mildly, "you chose Samurai for a purpose." He stared up at her like he wanted her to let go, but nodded. "In America, we don't really know much about them, except to idolize them the way we do knights, but it seems to me that in the stories I _have_ heard, they are solitary. Is that the Japanese idolization of them, or were they really that way?"

By the time they reached the door, which Nyanta held open for them, she had let go of them, but she kept Touya, with Minori on the other side of him, next to her. Nyanta slipped in to take her hand in his elbow as they began the walk towards the center of town. Tetora fell back to walk with Naotsugu. Purrcy listened politely to Touya tell her everything he knew about the samurai and why he had chosen them: because they were the strong silent types who defended the land and the lord with strength and honor. He couldn't say one way or the other if they had actually been solitary - all of them - but certainly the lore about them said they were. Shiroe added in some actual history, including saying that they did have families, too.

When he was done, Purrcy said, "In the States, for all we wouldn't really live it again unless we had to, we still idolize the kings and knights and the pomp and circumstance that existed in the palaces of Europe and Great Britain. It's part of the history of the United States, just like the era of the samurai are for the Japanese. I rather doubt that any of you modern Japanese would _really_ want to suddenly be living that history again." Most of them shook their heads. "Still, that's why there are the Guardians, like Naotsugu. They are the knight-representatives that we idolize in the States and in Europe. The Swashbuckler, as well, for the later era of rapiers, and the Samurai in Japan. When we play there, we actually enjoy playing it full hilt, like most things Americans do." She winked at Touya.

"To pretend to be kings and queens, princes and princesses, lords and ladies is something we do for entertainment, but also rather seriously. There are several reenactment groups that are quite serious about it. No one gives up their independence or nationality, but when they 'play', they bow to the King and his royal 'family', and give and receive noble awards. I am quite sure that there are a number of the groups over there now in _this_ world that are enjoying living that way, even if they are still each just as independent." Her eyes were shining and she gripped Nyanta's arm with both hands in excitement.

Smiling at Touya she said, "If your vision of a Samurai is to be independent and strong, live it and have fun with it. That's why we chose our _Elder Tales_ personas in the first place. I, personally, am enjoying being a princess today, though I can only feel that way because everyone in the guild is happy to allow me to and together it makes it more fun." She looked over her shoulder at Akatsuki. "Akatsuki plays her role as ninja to the hilt and has decided it's her way to cope with this world. If she _is_ the ninja with a lord, she has stability here in this place, and it isn't wrong."

"We call those who live their character 'role players'," Touya informed her.

Purrcy nodded. "That's also what we call those who play _Dungeons and Dragons_ and other 'role playing' games in their living rooms. They are also doing the same kind of play, just not dressing up for it - that's cos-play." Everyone grinned and nodded. "And that's what we are doing now that we are here...except it's more real than at any other time for any of us." She looked at Touya soberly and he looked soberly back.

"Touya, and everyone, we do not _have_ to make it real for us inside. We can stay who we are inside...but...," a bright smile broke out on her face, "while we _are_ here, wouldn't it just be nice - even fun - for us to live it? We might never get this chance again, to play at being what we always wanted to be but couldn't in our world. Here we are all so immersed in it, we are actors and actresses who can get as far into character as we want." She looked back at Touya. "Just don't forget to be nice while playing. That makes it most fun for everyone, right?" Purrcy glanced over her shoulder at Shiroe, "The King can lead _and_ be gracious at the same time." She looked at Touya, waiting.

"Miss Purrcy," Rudy interjected.

She looked back at him, "Yes, Lord Rudy?"

He blinked, but she was smiling softly at him. "Ah...are you really playing at being a princess? This whole time?"

She smiled brightly. "No, not playing, Rudy. All of you have welcomed me kindly and have made me to _be_ one. If I weren't one, I wouldn't be able to stay." He frowned not understanding. She dropped back, bringing Nyanta with her and took his other arm, the one Isuzu wasn't on. He automatically held his arm out to hold her the way he'd been taught. "If I were to behave as anything, I think the guild would accept it, as long as it was reasonable," she said to him, but it was a question. He considered it, then nodded. "But to act in a way not expected of one would be rude, wouldn't it?" He flinched slightly and she gripped him just slightly tighter, briefly. "And...I would rather be a princess, Rudy. There are many, many worse things I could be, or be made to be, particularly given my knowledge." She looked him in the eye soberly. He finally dropped his eyes. "I will promise, though, that I won't carry it too far. That would be just as rude." He nodded.

"Purrcy." This time it was Shiroe, sounding thoughtful. Purrcy released Rudy's arm with a bit of a curtsy in the middle of her walk and a proper smile, as any lady should have when leaving the side of a young lord to answer to the call of their superior.

"Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe?" she answered him, falling back to walk next to him, Nyanta going with her, still her silent escort.

"Do you know how to dance?"

Everyone looked at her and saw her bright smile appear on her face and her tail wave happily. "Oh, yes, Shiroe, I do. ...Including the old English court and country dances of the middle ages."

He got a very calculating smile on his face. "I think...we've just found our next ambassador to the Ancient Court of Eternal Ice for the next League of Free Cities conference, and to Maihama."

Purrcy laughed. "I'm sure I don't have the time unless that's for only a week or so...and I can't represent the Round Table at all...but if you need someone to go and be pleasant and dance gracefully, I'm sure I could be included in the retinue." She looked at Nyanta. "Do you dance, Sir Nyanta?"

He looked at her and an ear twitched. "Lady Purrcy, for mew...I would do anything."

Purrcy paused in midstep, then continued on. "Really, Nyanta, when you say it with such a straight face..." Her ears and tail twitched in embarrassment again. He just mildly continued to walk next to her. She was silent for some time after that.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shall we begin at Shopping District 8, then?" Shiroe asked. They were approaching the main shopping area of town now, and their formation, which had been a little haphazard, now became a little more organized. Purrcy, on her own, moved timidly closer to Nyanta and allowed him to step them into the center of the group. Naotsugu moved to the full rear with Tetora next to him. The four youngest formed a barrier in the front line. Shiroe and Akatsuki walked next to Purrcy and Nyanta, with Shiroe walking next to Purrcy.

Log Horizon coming out to the market district of the Adventurer city of Akiba in Yamato all as one group like this was unusual. To have another additional new member included drew eyes that lingered longer than normal. When interested parties began to move in, the formation widened just enough to prevent anyone from actually being able to speak to the Guildmaster and his newest guild member. Moving directly towards Shopping District 8, which was housed in its own warehouse building, seemed most prudent for this day.

Purrcy leaned towards Nyanta and whispered, "It feels a bit like we are...yakuza?"

He turned his head and looked at her in surprise. "You know of them?"

"Only rumor and anime," she smiled apologetically. "I'm sure it isn't a compliment. I'm sorry. It's just...the feel?" He patted her hand, but didn't comment.

"Does it bother you?" Shiroe asked quietly.

Purrcy looked at him a little wide eyed, one ear pointing at him, the other twitching to hear the sounds coming from around them in the market. After a bit, she said humbly, "No, Guildmaster Shiroe." She got a lot of looks from the corners of the other guild member's eyes, though only the twitch of an ear from Nyanta.

As they neared Shopping District 8, there was a call from nearer by. "Naotsugu! Shiroe-kun! Yoo-hoo!" They turned to see Marielle, elvin Guildmistress of Crescent Moon League, waving excitedly and hurrying their way. Unlike the others who had seen them and been rebuffed when they tried to approach, she slipped right up and took Naotsugu by the arm, hugging it closely to her buxom bosom. Her blond curls framed her round face and almost didn't hide her pointed elvin ears. Her outfit had been carefully picked for an afternoon on the town.

Naotsugu's neck turned red, but he gave her a smile. "Hey, Marie. Were you able to escape Henrietta then?"

"Ah, well...," she blushed.

Shiroe turned to half face her. "Only if you return with information?"

"Well...you've said it, but...you don't have to, if you don't want to." She gasped. "Akatsuki-chan, you look lovely! I didn't recognize you at all." She looked between Shiroe and Akatsuki and her face split into a grin. "Aww, you've finally done it! It's a date!" Her expressive face went to amazement. "Oh, then that means it's a double date, Naotsugu? How sweet of you!" She pulled the arm of the man she was holding even closer to her, squeezing it to her ample bosom.

"Well...triple, or perhaps even -"

"Triple?" Marielle asked with a frown, looking around again at the entire guild. "Are Rudy-kun and Isuzu-chan finally an item?" They looked at her with such affront, while Touya and Tetora stifled laughter, that she looked even more confused. She looked again, then said doubtfully, "Ah, is that the excuse you're giving for having," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Purrcy out on Nyanta-san's arm like that?"

They stared at her, and Purrcy and Nyanta both had ears and whiskers that twitched. "Yes, Marie, that would be it," Shiroe said calmly.

Isuzu and Minori both looked at each other with amused expressions. "Well...it's like that, is it?" Touya muttered. Rudy was trembling with trying to hold himself together, desperately reminding himself of Tetora's comments before they left the guild house. Someone who the guild was treating as a princess had just been reassigned innocently back to a mere monster. Marie carried the conversation after that, all the way into Shopping District 8 guild's store front.

"Welcome to Shopping District 8, Guildmaster Shiroe, Log Horizon," the clerk at the front bowed and welcomed them. She looked over the group. "Is it business or pleasure today?"

"Pleasure today, though both are business for Shopping District 8, regardless," he answered with nearly a grimace.

"Would you like a private room, or -"

"The back, please," Shiroe answered quickly. They were already drawing stares.

The clerk led them farther into the guild storage center, calling back on her chat function to let the storehouse know they would be arriving. The Assistant over Sales, MarketMaker, met them at the entrance to the back warehouse. It was two stories tall with stacked rows of clothes racks in the clothing section. There were also stacks and stacks of other products stored there, and Purrcy, who was the only one who hadn't been back there before, was looking around with great interest.

"Ah, Naotsugu, Honey, it'll be okay, right? She won't run off and get lost?" Marielle stage whispered to her escort.

He patted her head. "It will be just fine, Marie."

"What can Shopping District 8 do for Log Horizon today?" MarketMaker asked.

Tetora held up his hand. "I'm here for a new wardrobe, and we'll be picking up a few things for Lady Akatsuki as well."

"Ohh...can I shop for Purrcy? If you're going to-" Marielle clapped her hands over her mouth, but her eyes still pled.

"Purrcy?" a voice came from behind them.

"Guildmaster," MarketMaker bowed slightly to the speaker.

"Calasin-kun!" Marielle greeted her long-time friend. She was just a little confused, though, and looked at Shiroe, worried.

Shiroe gave her the sign to keep him distracted, but Calasin's eyes were already on the felinoid couple in the center of the group. His eyes lit up. "Ah, this wouldn't happen to be the infamous Purrcy I've been hearing about from Radio Market, would it?" Purrcy stiffened and leaned a little closer to Nyanta. The rest went on a little higher alert. Calasin didn't seem to notice. "You'll be wanting H12b, then."

MarketMaker's eyes lit up a little and he also took a second look at Purrcy, but being a little more aware he stayed calm. "I'll take the others to -"

"Pants," Akatsuki and Tetora declared at the same time.

"We'll stay together, if you don't mind," Shiroe interrupted. "Akatsuki and Tetora first."

Tetora conferenced quickly with MarketMaker and they were led to a particular section of the clothing stores and they and the other ladies hunted and fawned over clothing, being instructed by Tetora in how to dress beautifully, yet masculine in flavor.

"Shiroe," Calasin was at his elbow, drawing his attention away. Nyanta stood close by, listening in on the conversation, though his eyes didn't leave the ladies, and more particularly Purrcy. Naotsugu also watched them while Touya and Rudy watched the rest of the storehouse, keeping an eye on the other members of the Shopping District 8 guild who were working the floor that day. Shiroe looked politely at Calasin. "Do you know... _is_ she the Purrcy of Radio Market?"

"Does it make a difference?" Shiroe asked calmly with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," there was a light in Calasin's eyes, perhaps more calculating than interested, "we keep getting requests from them to make clothing...all of it beast-half and with various different methods and magics to get the tail hole to work right. A few of the people delivering the spells and the requests have let slip that they are requests from a 'Purrcy'. This one," he tipped his head towards but not looking at the women, "matches that particular set of requirements."

Shiroe added the information to his file. "Has anything been found to be workable?" he asked.

"Well...," Calasin gave a dramatic pause, but his eyes were already lifting at the corners, "let's just say her designs are the most popular so far, and...the better the spells become, the more in demand they are."

"Are you giving her her proper cut of the profits?" Shiroe asked.

Calasin stopped and his look turned shrewd. "Well, it's not like we've known who she was."

"Well, perhaps not, but Radio Market obviously does. You could have sent the contract over there." Calasin wasn't quite sure how to answer that one. "They've agreed to an eight and a half percent for the designs she's brought to them and the same for the future designs she brings to them. I would think you could provide the same?"

"How much of that is yours?" Calasin narrowed his eyes at him.

"Two percent," Shiroe answered immediately.

Calasin nervously rubbed his chin. "Well..., it's not like I was part of those negotiations, but...I suppose it isn't too out of the question, and with the latest update we could increase the price sufficiently to cover it." He rubbed the top of his head through his floppy dandy's hat.

"I'd be happy to write up the scroll while we're waiting for the ladies," Shiroe said neutrally. "And I think if she sees anything she likes while she's here...you'd be able to let her have it?"

"Ah, Shiroe, you'll undo me for sure. ...How about the first installment is covered by them?" Calasin, being a merchant, was also a fine negotiator.

Shiroe looked through his glasses at Calasin coolly and a bit balefully. "I think you're already in debt to her for not setting aside the funds to pay her for what's already sold...wouldn't you agree?"

Calasin drooped and sighed. "Fine. Call it even as soon as she's picked out her clothes. From then, we'll send over the eight and a half percent on future sales."

Nyanta's ear twitched. "Have you been using the same construction methods and spells on male felinoid clothing as well?" Shiroe asked Calasin.

Calasin's eyes widened. "Well, of course."

"Then I think we'll take a few outfits for Nyanta with us as well." Shiroe didn't look at Calasin, looking at the ladies again instead.

"...' _Take_ '...," Calasin sighed. "It really is robbery to work with you, Shiroe."

"Well, considering we'll be paying for Tetora and Akatsuki's clothing, and likely completely full wardrobes by the look of it," Shiroe scowled at the piles of clothing stacking up, "you'll still be compensated just fine."

Calasin opened his mouth and Shiroe turned back with his "don't push me" face on. "Fine, fine," Calasin waved his hand. "Sheesh. You'd think you could lighten up and be a little less Machiavelli on a shopping trip at least, Shiroe."

Shiroe relaxed and went back to watching the ladies and Tetora. They seemed to be reaching an agreement. Marielle looked over and raised her hand. "We're ready to go over to look for things for Purrcy. Then we'll all go have a mini fashion show to pick out our favorites." Marielle loved fashion shows generally, so this wasn't an unexpected decision.

When the ladies reached them again, he looked at Akatsuki. "Would you mind if while you're all picking out clothing, I went with Calasin to his office for a bit? I'll be back in time for the fashion show." Akatsuki's face fell just a bit and she glanced between Purrcy and Shiroe. Shiroe held up his hand. "You go with them. I'll take Touya and Rudy with me. They can be bored there just as easily as here." He looked at her significantly and she finally nodded once. "Thank you."

The scroll was easy enough to write up and, as Guildmaster, he could sign it for Purrcy. This time, he made sure it was written so she got the larger percentage of the take. He almost wrote it so the full amount was hers, but decided at the last minute that she might actually be angry with that, so didn't. He could say that was the amount he was using to pay for her part of the monthly upkeep and maintenance fee of the guild hall. Then he could save everything coming in from the other contracts for his goal of turning all of the land of their new world over to the world itself. After all, it looked like she approved of that goal so it could be considered a joint goal.

Right now, every area of the world was purchasable. Once an area (or zone) had been purchased, the owner had the right to say who could and couldn't use it. That was particularly bad for land the People of the Land were living on, People of the Land cities, and the lucrative hunting grounds for the Adventurers, particularly the lower level ones. He was already working to set it right, but coming up with the money, set by the computer system, was slow going. Land and buildings were very expensive.

He refused to tell Calasin anything else as far as information went, keeping close-mouthed. "Do we have time to stop by so you can show me specifically what Purrcy has been suggesting and how her spells work?" he asked when the contract had faded away to be registered at the Guild Hall bank.

"I can take you past there on the way to the changing rooms," Calasin said smoothly, knowing Shiroe's general interest in everything. "...Are you sure you don't want to pick up a few things for yourself, while you're here?" He began them walking.

"I'm sure I don't need to," Shiroe said. Like most men, he didn't care much about his wardrobe if he had things to be comfortable in and a few things to look presentable in, and he had both. The only other thing he cared about was if he had enough high level robes and the like to add to his defensive statuses during battles. He had those in sufficient quantities having been a player and Adventurer now for one hundred of Theldesia's years. One month on Earth was one year on Theldesia, but he counted each of the two plus years since the catastrophe as they should be - full years the Earth Adventurers had been living on this planet not their home.

"Well...probably not, given that the ladies will likely pick out a few things for you, now that they're on a shopping streak," Calasin said calmly, but with a knowing look.

Shiroe felt a shiver go up his spine and he closed his eyes briefly. He sighed, but said nothing. It was probably true. They'd at least pick up one new outfit for him to wear on his next date with Akatsuki. They'd picked out an awful lot of clothing for her. "Is it always like this...for the men?" he said a bit faintly.

Calasin put his hand on the back of Shiroe's shoulder. "Well...yes, sorry to say for you, but I do appreciate the business, you know. Thanks for coming out to shop here at Shopping District 8 ...though you are difficult to do business with."

-:-:-:-:-

When they left Shopping District 8, Shiroe did indeed have one new outfit. They'd made him show off three outfits before finally selecting their favorite. At the end of the guild fashion show, Isuzu, with the help of Rudy, made Shiroe stand in front of them, then put Purrcy in one of her new outfits next to him. Stepping back, all the guild had nodded, then they'd made Nyanta go stand next to Purrcy and Akatsuki next to Shiroe, all with new clothing on, and nodded again. "Next date is a double and you guys go in those outfits," declared Isuzu. Naotsugu and Tetora had agreed, and even Rudy had nodded. Poor Marielle just looked confused, though she did agree that the four of them looked very dashing together.

She complained just a bit to Naotsugu and he leaned over and kissed her forehead. "That just means you and I get to go on our date by ourselves." That perked her up and they could tell she was already planning it. Her face fell when she realized they hadn't purchased anything new for Naotsugu...then she decided that would be the date - to pick something nice out for him.

Purrcy turned around and said, "Blue. ...Something blue," she repeated when Marielle blinked at her.

Marielle finally nodded. "Okay. I suspect he'd look good in blue. That'd be okay."

Purrcy's tail swished happily as she looked forward again. "And green, and red...and deep russet, and -" Nyanta put a paw on Purrcy's mouth gently.

Marielle laughed. "I'm glad you had fun shopping for clothes, Purrcy." She reached up and pet Purrcy briefly, then held on to Naotsugu's arm again, happy again herself.

Purrcy rested her head on Nyanta's shoulder briefly, then leaned over to Shiroe. "You dress up very nice, Shiroe. You should get out more often. Shall we schedule a date night for all of us couples? Say...every Thursday night?"

Shiroe looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes. "I thought you were leaving in two weeks?"

Purrcy blinked. "Yes, but you two can keep going."

Akatsuki's hand tightened on Shiroe's. Shiroe looked at her and she looked up with her pleading excited eyes. It would help to have it scheduled so he didn't forget, though he felt a bit pressured and on the spot right at the moment. He looked away. "All right. But sometimes it will be like this, with everyone."

Touya groaned and Rudy wiggled uncomfortably. He was ready - almost - to agree with Touya, even though it was a young lord's duty to escort his lady.

Purrcy started to perk up as they got closer to Radio Market, recognizing the area, but when they turned to actually go in, she stopped, her tail and ears twitching unhappily. First she looked at Marielle from the corner of her eye. Naotsugu got the hint and took her off a distance so Purrcy could talk to Shiroe.

"What is it?" Shiroe asked.

"I have so many things I want to say to them, but you won't let me talk to them," she pouted. "If we go in, I'm not likely to stay nice, or obedient for that matter." Her tail gave a particularly wide and fierce swish and her eyes narrowed. " _Especially_ since you're here to see just what it is I've been teaching them. If they start pulling those things out, I really won't be able to keep my mouth closed. They've already got some incorrect ideas I want to straighten out. Without a spell to explain why I can talk now, at the earliest I can't come and fix those things until we get back from our next trip out of town, and that's if I have Nyanta with me the whole time so we have the excuse he was teaching me the language."

"How about if you tell me in English and I translate for you?" Shiroe asked.

Her eyes narrowed further. "I _am_ speaking English."

Shiroe's mouth dropped open a little. "Oh, right." He chewed on her request for a bit, then nodded. "We'll go visit Akaneya in his office first while I explain it. It's something I want his help in addressing to the Round Table anyway."

Purrcy shot a glance over to the couple that had moved away. "And, Marie shouldn't come either. It will completely give away to her what I am."

Shiroe nodded immediately to that one. He looked significantly at Tetora. Tetora grinned and waltzed off to tell Naotsugu he had free time to just have a real date with Marielle for a bit. Marielle was happy enough with that and immediately dragged him off. When Tetora returned, the rest of the guild entered Radio Market, Purrcy's ears twitching excitedly. She was practically pulling on Nyanta and hurrying them along, though not quite. Nyanta restrained her with a smile, holding her back with his other paw on her arm. Minori and Tetora smiled to see her so excited.

Akaneya must have received a chat notification that they'd arrived because he came out of his office with an expectant look on his face. Nyanta couldn't hold onto Purrcy and she pulled away and ran, almost dancing, up to the diminutive guildmaster and took his hands in hers. "Akaneya-san, Guildmaster Shiroe helped me and I can talk now!"

Akaneya's face slowly lit up in a smile. "And can you understand it, too?" he asked her.

"Yes, I can," she answered. "I'm so happy!" Her ears and tail told it, too.

The rest arrived around the pair, Nyanta reclaiming Purrcy gently from Akaneya's hold. "Shall we go in your office, Akaneya?" Shiroe invited themselves in. Tetora and Touya looked at each other and stayed outside to guard the door, Tetora leaning casually against the frame and Touya folding his arms to stand solidly in his place.

"Akaneya, Purrcy explained to me that she wasn't the only one who couldn't understand Japanese, that there were others like her - internationals - that thought it would be fun to be on the Japan servers when the new release went out, since it started here. When it happened, they were brought here to Japan, instead of their own countries." Akaneya looked concerned. "She had the universal translator turned off, so that's why she couldn't understand it when we could understand her. When I wrote the spell scroll, we had it affect everyone in the city that needed translation assistance." Akaneya nodded.

"I'd like your assistance at the Round Table meeting. Will you be the one to bring up the issue of the Adventurers from other countries? You can reference Purrcy, but don't call her out specifically. I'd like to have the other guilds pick up helping those Adventurers that can now understand Japanese and need to be integrated still. I suspect a lot of them are the remaining creepers we haven't been able to connect with, and we'll need to help them. Will you spearhead the cause? You don't have to take anyone in that doesn't want to come, and our two usual rescue guilds will likely step in to do their usual fine work."

Akaneya looked from him to Purrcy. "Yes, I could do that. I'd wondered why Purrcy was here, but was international. I would imagine that if that's the reason there would be rather a large number of them?" The new release of _Elder Tales_ , Noosphere Pioneers, that had been the catalyst for the catastrophe had begun at midnight Japan time, which had been in the afternoon in the United States.

Purrcy shook her head. "I don't know the number either, but I would think a large percentage of whomever is left over. Some were extroverts that likely got into guilds quickly to learn the language on their own, or who already had enough of it to transition fairly well, but for people like me who knew almost nothing and were too shy to admit their incapabilities, they are still hiding. Well...maybe some have tried now that they can understand." She shrugged.

Akaneya nodded. "Well, we should certainly help them in particular. Not being in our own world is bad enough. Also not being with your fellow countrymen must be very hard." He was looking at her sympathetically.

She smiled sadly and nodded. "But, it has helped quite a bit to be welcomed into a guild. I'm sorry that I couldn't have the courage to say yes to you."

Akaneya shifted uncomfortably. "Well...," he rubbed the back of his head, "at least you're with a good bunch. I suppose that's good enough."

Purrcy glanced at Shiroe and he nodded. "Well...as payment anyway, can we walk the back? Now that I can understand there are so many things I want to explain to the crafters that I couldn't before."

Akaneya looked up at her in surprise, then at Shiroe. Shiroe nodded. "I want to see what she's been doing. We signed that contract without me knowing anything, and I still don't know it."

Akaneya smiled. "Alright. I'm going to tag along, though. I want to hear it, too."

They left the office, Touya and Tetora rejoining them, and went through the door from the store front to the back. Radio Market, like Shopping District 8, also had a warehouse where they stored the items brought to them that they purchased mostly from solo Adventurers and then resold. The group walked through that section, Purrcy once again in a hurry to arrive at their destination. Going through another set of doors, they arrived in an area that was large and open with multiple desks and workspaces. At each one crafters and researchers were busy with projects. The closest ones looked up and a hiss, then a hush went through the room until all eyes were on the group that was standing in front of the door.

Purrcy stepped forward. "Everyone, I have been gifted with a translation spell from my new Guildmaster, Shiroe of Log Horizon. Thank you for all your hard work in my behalf, even though I have been difficult." She bowed to the room. When people would have moved, Akaneya held up a hand and they stilled. "I will come to each of you," Purrcy said. "There are things I wish to say to many of you, and Guildmaster Shiroe wishes to see what I have done to this place." She grinned and many in the room grinned as well.

Purrcy led them to the first desk in the front near corner and greeted the crafter sitting there politely, and explained to her guild, "On each run out, I would learn new things, and would discover things that I needed, or didn't have. When I would return, I would ask Akaneya-san and Woodstock-san if it had already been invented or was available here in town. If not, I asked them to do it for me so I could have it in the field. Blacksmithing became a particularly used skill on my items, but that is over in Woodstock-san's building. There were also treasures I would end up with that hadn't been treasures before, so when I had time I would experiment with what they could be used for. Of course, what I could do wasn't exhaustive." She turned to the person she was standing next to.

That researcher explained what treasures she had brought that he had dealt with learning about and what he had discovered so far with them. Purrcy listened closely. At the end of the explanation, which she had never been able to understand properly before, she nodded then added the few things she felt could also be done with them that she couldn't properly explain before, and gave her experience in the field as reasons why she thought they would also work. After a bit of an exchange, they left that researcher and moved to the next workstation. The pattern was followed at each workstation for three rows of researchers. In the next row, they changed over to crafters.

The first set were three crafters and a larger work area. Purrcy greeted them all warmly, and they returned the greeting. Turning to the guild, her eyes sparkling, she said, "These are my box-makers. They have done fantastic in meeting my requirements despite my inability to express myself properly. I am very grateful for their patience with me."

Shiroe's eyes lit up and while she talked to two of them, he pulled aside the third and went into discussion on what he wanted for his guild hall - a list-based food storage box the size of a chest freezer or refrigerator that he could store food in for the guild that would last for some time. He was getting down to the method of making a list, like the ones they had in their status screens, when Purrcy joined them. She put her hand on Shiroe's shoulder and held up a finger. Looking around the room, she called for one of the other crafters. He trotted over, looking curious.

"Akaneya-san, can I transfer him?" she asked the guildmaster.

He looked just as curious. "I guess," he answered.

"Shiroe, this one is like me. You will need that kind of magic to get it to work. You may also need one of the other kind, like you on Earth, but Woodstock-san has that one. It would probably be better to see if it can be done without him first, and call him only if necessary."

Shiroe nodded his understanding. Purrcy looked at the new man, who was now looking just a little worried. She motioned for him to come closer as she stepped back from the rest of the gathered people. She whispered to him and they stood quietly for just a moment, then the man's worried look was erased and he smiled at her. She winked at him. "That's just my prototype. You'll have to experiment, I think."

He grinned. "That's my specialty, right?"

She laughed. "Yes it is. Thank you very much."

He bowed. "I'll go finish up my other work, which is just about done, then move over." The others on that team nodded and he trotted back off.

"What's that about, Shiroe?" Akaneya looked at him curiously.

"I'll be bringing that up in the Council meeting, too," Shiroe said vaguely. Akaneya looked at him a little irritated, but couldn't do anything about it, so let it drop. Shiroe relented a little. "Well...it's as Woodstock said...she's special and it was well worth it to adopt her. But it still needs to stay a secret for now, for the same reason as before." Akaneya nodded. He'd do at least that much for his supply source.

The remainder of the crafter tables were similar, though only a portion of them were working on Purrcy's things. Some of them had worked on things before and had finished them, but were willing to show Shiroe and the other guild members what they were, and Purrcy expressed her gratitude to them as well. Often on the ones who were working on current projects for her, she had things to say to modify what they were doing, or to clarify what she wanted from them.

When they were done and walking back out again, Akaneya asked, "Are you going to go over to Grandale and see what's been done for Purrcy over there?"

Shiroe looked at Akatsuki, a little worried. Already they'd taken longer than he'd expected at Radio Market. It hadn't been much of a date there. She looked just a little worried as well. "We don't have to," Purrcy said, a little embarrassed. "It's just the knives, really. It can wait."

Akatsuki's head came up at that. "Knives?"

Purrcy held out her hand and in it appeared a set of small knives that looked rather like fine exacto blades with long delicate handles. "They are the tools I use in my surgeries. There are a few scissors as well." The knives disappeared.

Shiroe blinked. "It's actually hard to believe you do real surgeries, Purrcy, when we are all so used to magical healing."

Purrcy shrugged. "Not everyone can use magic, and it isn't mine." He furrowed his brow at her, confused. "I didn't take one of the recovery Classes as my magic," she explained.

It didn't fully answer his question, but this wasn't the place to ask it and receive the answer. He looked back at Akatsuki. "Well...I like knives," she said and looked at Purrcy. "Will it take a lot of time?"

Purrcy shook her head. "Just a show-and-tell, really. They aren't doing any more experiments for me at the moment."

Akatsuki waffled, shifted, then said, "I guess." Shiroe smiled at her and she blushed. He took her hand, small and warm in his own hand and she blushed a little more. When they were in the warehouse on the way out and no one was looking, he bent down and gave her a quick kiss, which made them both blush fiercely. That seemed to be a sufficient reward to tide her over.

Akaneya saw them off at the door. "I won't get in the way, this time," he smiled a secret smile. Purrcy smiled back at him and bowed to him, thanking him one more time.

-:-:-:-:-

When they arrived at Grandale's building, Purrcy stopped. Nyanta pulled her into a hug. She was slightly trembling in his arms and she hid her face in his neck, both hands in fists on his chest between them. "What is it?" he asked her.

Purrcy took a deep breath. He pet her to calm her a little more. Finally she lifted her head and looked up at him. "Nyanta...if I make you jealous here, will you wait to scold me until we leave, please?" He raised both eyebrows and his ears turned in surprise at her question. "Woodstock...has been very kind to me."

He considered her. "Purrcy...mew need to tell him mew are mine."

She bit her lip a little. "I know...but...I want to greet him first. ...And see him smile while we're here this time." She looked down. "I didn't mean to do it, really. It was just...of all the guildmasters I could have approached, he was the easiest, the one I felt most comfortable with. I haven't done anything, other than trust him, I promise, but...somehow...he's...," her ears were flattening in distress.

Nyanta smiled just a little. "He's been flattered to the point of nearly falling in love. We saw it." Over her shoulder he saw Shiroe's eyebrows raise as Purrcy nodded. "But, I think some of it was the plague. Let's see how it goes. I'll warn mew, or interfere gently, if it becomes troublesome."

"Okay," she said timidly and rested her head on his shoulder again. He pet her until she was strengthened enough to enter Grandale's door.

This time Purrcy held back a little, holding tightly to Nyanta as they entered. Shiroe lead them and was the first to greet Woodstock, who was pleasantly surprised to greet them all to his guild hall. Once again Shiroe invited themselves into the office. Once they'd entered, Touya and Tetora taking up guard duty on the door again, Log Horizon arrayed themselves around Purrcy and Nyanta. Purrcy squeezed Nyanta's paw tightly, then slowly let go and approached the dwarven guildmaster.

Bowing deeply she said, "Thank you so much, Woodstock-san, for helping me so much over the last year. I likely cannot repay you for your kindness to me and your strength and support. Many times it was only your kindness to me that allowed me to live from day to day in this place that is not my home." She looked him in the eyes, which were misting over. "And thank you for asking Guildmaster Shiroe to take me in. I am blessed to have been welcomed by such a kind family." She put a hand on his shoulder, bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then stepped back to stand with Nyanta again, taking his paw tightly in her hand again. "They've asked to see what Grandale has done for me, the things I asked the crafters to work on for me. May I show them?"

Woodstock's eyes were almost full to dripping. With his voice choking, he turned to look at Shiroe. "You've done it? Given her words?"

Shiroe nodded. "I used a torn scroll spell to give her the equivalent of a translation program. Her and all the international people in the city who were brought here with us because they were on the Japan server at the time of the catastrophe without the universal translator on. ...Will you stand with Akaneya at the Round Table meeting in support of taking care of all of them?"

Woodstock wiped his eyes, then nodded. "I would be happy to do that," he said quietly. The look he gave Purrcy was one of great fondness.

She returned his look with a kind, but shy smile. Her tail twitched and wrapped around Nyanta's leg a bit. As Woodstock turned to the door, asking them to follow him, Nyanta patted his arm near where her hand was holding him. "Put it here," he whispered to her. She pulled her tail back, then wrapped the tip of it around his arm, sliding it down until it was wrapped around his wrist a little more comfortably for her.

Their visit to Grandale was fairly brief, with the blacksmiths greeting her happily now that she would speak to them and could understand them. She thanked them the same as the crafters in Radio Market, and they each brought to Shiroe and the other guild members examples of what they had made for her, and a few of what they had made afterwards because of what she had asked for originally, continuing to expound on the theme or on the construction method.

"Do you have a continuing market for these?" Shiroe asked Woodstock.

Woodstock nodded. "It isn't very large, and mostly crafters and artisans of the Adventurers, but many farmers and doctors of the People of the Land also request them, seeing value for themselves in them as tools as well. They sometimes break in her work. We don't ask questions if she asks for more, nor do I accept payment for them. We sell just enough to cover the cost, anyway." Shiroe nodded.

When they left Grandale, Woodstock seeing them off and Purrcy bowing to him again in thanks, Nyanta looked at Shiroe. "I think we will walk past the grocery vendors and go home. It's been rather a lot for Purrcy."

Purrcy's ear flicked in embarrassed agreement. "And you two need to have a real end to your date," she said with a smile.

Shiroe nodded. "We'll have dinner here, then." Akatsuki's face lit up, then she blushed shyly. Shiroe continued to hold her hand firmly. "The rest of you are free to do what you want, but I would appreciate it if enough of you went with them to see them safely home."

The rest of them all nodded. "They'll feed us," Tetora said practically.

"Especially if we help carry the groceries," Minori said with a smile. They all bowed to Shiroe and Akatsuki, and Nyanta turned them towards the part of the market the grocery vendors were in.

Shiroe looked at Akatsuki. "So...where would you like to go next?"


	17. Baby Steps

As the group with Nyanta and Purrcy entered the produce area from the general market place area, the traffic in general thinned, as only those who were late in preparing for their evening meal were wandering the stalls. Most of the Adventurers were in the general marketplace and the restaurants by now as it was already coming on to the main time of the evening meal. As Purrcy and Nyanta examined the fruits, vegetables, and meats in the stalls that lined the way, and Minori and Isuzu helped them, Touya caught the attention of Rudy and Tetora, drawing them aside.

"Isn't this where Purrcy said she would watch Nyanta-san from, from her tree?" He was looking towards the far end of the grocery way, the farthest end from the busy general market area.

The other two looked that way as well, and saw a tree of medium height for the ruins of Akiba, which had in several locations trees even taller than the one that stuck out of the top of their six-story guild hall. This one had wide branches that began about twenty feet above the ground level and a full canopy above. "That looks like Purrcy's kind of tree," Tetora said appraisingly. "Nice branches to stretch out on and hard to get into."

"Didn't Lady Purrcy say that the Wolf Pack was _in_ her tree this last time?" Rudy asked in amazement.

Touya nodded. " _And_ , this is in their territory." The other two immediately scanned the people meandering the lane and visiting the various stalls. There were a few wolf-fangs visiting various stalls, but none obviously of the Wolf Pack.

"And what is the warrior set of the guild discussing so quietly tonight, nya?" Nyanta interrupted, stepping over to join them.

The three younger boys glanced past him, but he'd left the ladies at the stall to continue selecting a particular fruit. "Nyanta-san," Touya asked, "why have you brought Purrcy here to the market where the Wolf Pack is?"

Nyanta smiled his small, gentle smile. "If we can't help her learn that she can return here safely, she'll learn to nyot come back. I think that will be a disservice to her, to allow that weakness to remain. What do mew think we can do to help her?" The three who had begun the conference looked at each other and had to agree.

"Nyanta, we're ready to move on," Purrcy arrived next to the gentleman Swashbuckler.

He bowed to her slightly, took her hand on his elbow, and gave a final look to the boys as the two of them moved to the next stall.

"Minori, Isuzu," Touya motioned for the girls. They moved more slowly as a group, the girls handing the most recent purchases to the boys.

"What is it?" Isuzu asked.

"Nyanta-san wants us to help Lady Purrcy be able to come here to the market whenever she wants and not be afraid of the Wolf Pack." Rudy explained.

"And he's made it a training for the rest of us," Touya said, making just a bit of a face. It wasn't too unusual to be given social battles as part of their training by the seniors of the guild. After all, probably more of their raids were in town and related to very similar situations than not.

Minori, as the group's strategist, looked around the area to see it from the perspective of the battlefield. Her eyes also fixed on the tree at the end of the way, then returned to the group. She frowned just a little. "I think a peaceful social solution is best...but, since we've already had to fight them once in town, we may have to again."

The others agreed. Tetora, who was the experience of the group, and therefore was the advisor but not the planner, said, "I think that for Purrcy to be able to have the strength to come here, she is the one who needs to stand at the center." The others nodded after a bit of thought.

"Well, she can understand them now, which she couldn't before," Minori said cautiously.

"Like she's done at the guilds," Touya nodded. "But, it isn't right to have her unprotected out front if they do decide to attack."

"No," she agreed. She worried her lip, the sign she was working on putting together the plan. "We haven't worked with her in a guild formation battle before, and she's only been solo, right?" She got nods back. "Do you think he wants us to include her in the training, then? ...I mean, if she should be the main player, after all..."

Tetora smiled as Touya said, "Well, even if Nyanta-san doesn't, I'd bet Shiroe-kei does." Isuzu and Rudy nodded to that.

"Okay," Minori said decisively, "then first we need to talk to her. Until we know what she can really do, we can't do anything effectively. Tetora was the only one who worked with her, really, and what little I got doesn't necessarily apply to this situation." Considering the four had terrible difficulty working as a group until they had done just that, they completely understood the value such communication brought. Purrcy had told her skills in depth to Shiroe, but not to Minori, who would be directing this campaign.

As Nyanta and Purrcy left the next booth, the younger set intercepted them. "Ah...I'm sorry to interrupt, but could we talk to you for a bit, Miss Purrcy?" Minori stood at the center of the group. Isuzu, as the field monitor was keeping her eyes on the surroundings now as a matter of habit. Purrcy looked at Minori, having scanned the group as a whole, and nodded, her tail forming a question mark.

"We were thinking that perhaps, since this is the market where your tree is, and that it's in the territory of the Wolf Pack, that they might try to talk to you again while we're here." Purrcy blinked and an ear twitched, but otherwise she waited to hear what Minori had to say. "We think that might actually be a good thing, since then you and they might be able to come to an understanding."

Purrcy nodded. "That could be," she allowed.

"But we're also worried that they'll try something again," Touya spoke up now. "So we wanted to make a plan just in case so we're prepared ahead of time."

Purrcy looked at all of them. "That's very kind of you," she said meeting their sincerity with respect. There was a silent pause for a moment. She looked around, then motioned to an open space between two booths. "Would it be alright if we sat? I would like to rest for a bit, I think."

Minori nodded and they moved to sit on the ground as a group, as if they were stopping in an empty room of the dungeon to rest and discuss how to approach the next fight. Nyanta stood watch so that they could speak in some privacy. "Miss Purrcy, I need to know what position you want to be in, what distance you prefer to work from, and what role you play." Minori was straightforward business, by now well used to this part of information gathering.

"Well...for this situation, I would need to be in the front to talk to them, but if they chose to attack, that wouldn't be wise since then if you wanted to protect me, I would be in the way. ...I prefer to work from the back if I'm casting. My spells actually take some time to craft and release if they are large. The small cantrips only take a second to release, though, because I've already written them and they are effectively memorized. The medium ones take from ten seconds to thirty to craft and another one to three to release. I don't have a cool down time. All of my time cost is in the spell creation. Once I've crafted one, in the same battle I can multi-cast, consecutive, and rotation cast if necessary, but the total at once is limited by how much MP I'm willing to spend. Crafting costs HP, roughly one point per spell level, casting costs MP which is variable."

"As far as role I play, it is, I suppose, easiest to consider me the same as Shiroe - an Enchanter. Like I did in the last battle, most of what I do is enhancements and status effect conditions - to abate them or create them. I do have spells that can do physical or mental damage, but it would be better in a group setting if you let me know you wanted one and by when. They tend to take a little more focus to craft, and the request needs to be fairly specific. Like I'm one of those old-time muzzle loading rifles where you had to choose your musket ball, tamp it down, fill the powder chamber, cock the flintlock, then aim at a specific target, then finally get to fire." She smiled at describing herself so.

Minori was adding all the information into her little strategy book she kept on each guild member. When she got done writing, she nibbled on the end of her pen a bit. "Do you have a skill that would get you from the front to the back quickly if you needed to?"

Purrcy nodded. "I have Tracker skills, including one that will let me travel from one place to any other by up to twenty feet nearly instantaneously. It's easiest to me to program in an instinctive location ahead of time, like to a particular location or thing."

"Are they all the same Tracker skills that Miss Akatsuki has?" Minori pressed for more details.

"Yes, I took the Tracker sub-class. However, please remember that I'm likely to have more than that. If you wonder if I can do a thing, ask me. It's simpler than me giving you the whole list."

Minori's forehead wrinkled and she looked at Purrcy. Purrcy smiled benignly. "I'm sorry, Minori. Shiroe found it very frustrating as well. In the end he asked for the boundary conditions and now understands the shape of what he can ask for. It's a bit like being a swimming pool. There is water anywhere you look. To contain the water is very difficult, but if you understand where the walls and bottom are and the shape of it, then you can get water from wherever you need to. I think I have summed up for you what he and I spent all day working on the day we fought the battle. He nearly drowned, more than once, and I had to fish him up out of the pool for air. ...I'm afraid it's rather deep in many locations."

Purrcy shook her head. "Like an Enchanter, I will use whatever spells I already have to help the fighters in the group, but unlike the Enchanter, I am also a partial Kannagi and a reserve Sorcerer. If you need something desperately, ask me for it and I can likely create it for you. When I understand what you want, I can tell you create time, cast time, and costs. Then you can modify it or say 'go' and I'll do it. I can also be a Cleric for status effects, but to heal up HP or MP it's HP or MP transference, not true Cleric healing. It's more like the Enchanter's ability to take all the party's MP and absorb it then transfer it equally to everyone. The difference is that I can take it from any one or more people, including myself, and transfer it to any one or more people, including myself again, unequally."

Purrcy shivered. "The worst Hacker I came across would fight for experience, killing everything and not caring that he was loosing HP like crazy. Then, he would take anyone left on the field and completely drain them of HP until he was completely healed again - including his own allies if there weren't enough monsters left on the field to heal him up. When I understood what he was, I had to wait until he had drained himself and get my spell in before he got his in to take him out."

"Vampire," Touya growled.

Purrcy nodded. "He ended up being a Necromancer, using the same spell set to fill bodies with HP after their MP ran out. He'd siphon just enough HP into the physical side to keep it going until the MP was gone, then jam the HP of the next victim into the body, going in rotation until he had a platoon of zombies, if you will. I had to take him out at that point, and really wished I'd known how to when he was still just a Vampire."

They stared at her in horror. Even Nyanta's ear were completely focused on her words and his tail was stiff. "So, Plague isn't the first one you've fought?" Tetora finally asked.

Purrcy shook her head. "No. They aren't very frequent so far - thank goodness - here in the Archipelago."

Minori considered further. "I think we can go with a simple back-up plan to just talking to them. ...Touya as a Samurai has a short distance taunt, so he will need to be up front fairly close to the Wolf Pack. If you stay with him, maybe even behind him slightly, while you talk to them, then he'll be in the position he needs to be in. ...Then if they decide to not play nice, you can use that skill to come to us in the back and he can cast the taunt as soon as you're gone. Then the rest of us can pick them off."

"...Well...," Isuzu said worried. "We don't want to really keep going in battle against them over and over, do we? I mean, we're supposed to be helping keep the peace. If we're always fighting the Wolf Pack...that won't do the image of Log Horizon any good, and we all know the Guildmaster's reputation is only just now starting to get a little better. We don't want to damage that. Defending our guild hall is one thing...fighting on _their_ territory is another."

Minori nodded and thought a little harder, flipping through her notebook a little to remind herself of everyone's skills, though she really was just jogging her memory. "Isuzu...you have that one spell that dampens the fighting spirit, right? Could we use that one?"

Isuzu frowned, "It's one that works over time. I'm not sure...well, Miss Purrcy is going to talk for a while, so I could start it at the beginning, and maybe by the time we get there it will have been long enough to have the effect we want it to have."

"And there's another problem," Tetora said. "If Purrcy retreats, then she won't have really fully faced and completed the objective. She'll have run away again. If Isuzu's spell works, maybe she won't have to. Maybe it will calm them down just enough they'll let it go anyway."

Touya amended, "Well...but if we need to, I think we still should."

Minori nodded. "I think I agree with both of those. Is there something else...?" She frowned and tapped her notepad.

"Well," Purrcy said helpfully, "anyone else who wants to can talk, too, and the status effect 'sleep' can be used. Hacker spells actually work best if they can play off someone else's spell. Even Tetora could likely expand off of Isuzu's spell to make it into a sleep spell, though he'd have to make sure he didn't make all of us go to sleep, just his specific targets." She looked at Tetora. "If you set it to 'Wolf Pack' as the target, it would take the whole guild out and not touch us or anyone else, and if you set it to go off late in her spell, you wouldn't have to spend so much MP cost to cast it, since they'll already be lulled by her spell."

Minori brightened. "Actually I like that. If every time we see them and they want to get belligerent we could put them to sleep and move on. Even if it's only for five minutes or something like that, do you think they'd leave us alone after a while?"

"Well, they'd certainly get _tired_ of it," Rudy grinned at his pun and Minori giggled.

When she recovered, she looked at Purrcy again. "If you need to run from the front, where is the easiest to go to?"

"Nyanta. I've already programmed him into the instinct of where to go when I'm in trouble. I can change that, but there's a chance, if the panic is too high, that it will revert back to him. I wouldn't think that would happen here, though, so I can go wherever you want me to, since we're setting it up ahead of time. But for future reference, that's where to look for me if I disappear." Nyanta's ears twitched and his tail swished. The juniors smiled to themselves and gave each other knowing looks.

Minori leaned forward to outline the plan. "Okay, then, here's what we'll do..."

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe led Akatsuki to their favorite eatery in the restaurant lane of the market district. It wasn't like they hadn't spent evenings together, after all, nor never had dinners together. They had. They just had never called them dates. Shiroe wasn't sure that made this one night better, easier, or more nerve wracking. Certainly wondering if there was a greater expectation or judgment of the night wasn't helpful. He kept finding his mind circling into a mantra that he couldn't decide was helpful, calming, or completely distressing. _"Kisses, holding hands, dates, sitting quietly."_ That one word: dates. It was the most distressing and nerve wracking.

"Life as normal" would have been better, since so far...it had been. Only the fact that it had been _labeled_ a date, and there had been a little extra preparation, and a slightly higher level of a festival atmosphere - particularly from the ladies - it had been...normal. Shiroe was finding himself wishing he could have, just for three seconds, a mentor on the topic of dating. Just long enough to ask, "Is this right? Are dates - to men - just...normal? Or have I perhaps got something wrong?"

After all, _kisses_ were certainly not normal. The one he'd felt was quite necessary was hard enough. Holding hands was also not normal, but was certainly pleasurable...and a little easier to hide from the watching public. Akatsuki had already admitted that the "sitting quietly" was supposed to be "like normal". He wasn't including "hugs and holding" because that was his own request and was just as equally disturbing, at the moment, as kisses. He'd been a bit surprised it was, the one time they'd managed to try, but it was still something on his list of wants and desires. It just wasn't a requirement to make _Akatsuki_ happy. The other four were that.

They seated themselves at a table near the edge of the eating area, since that was the preference of both of them. Neither liked to be in the eye of many people. This particular restaurant was their favorite for that reason. It had decent food but was never particularly busy or full. With the mantra in the back of his head still, he seated them so they could continue to hold hands - when it was practical, of course. They ordered their favorites, as usual, and sat quietly for a bit, also as usual. The atmosphere was perhaps a _bit_ heavy, which was the usual indication that there was an expectation from someone not yet being met, but he wasn't sure if it was from him or from her.

On the off-chance it was from her, he cautiously said, "Um..." Akatsuki jumped just a little. That was probably the clue that she was also thinking hard about what they were doing a little more than normal, the same as he was. "This 'date' thing..." Her eyes went wide as they jumped to his eyes, then darted down again. _Okay._ _She's thinking about the same thing at least._ "I understand it's to set aside time to spend time together." She nodded once. _Agreement on the basic purpose. That's good, too_. "But...I'm not so sure I know exactly how to go about doing it, really. ...Particularly if we're supposed to...or rather, going to...be doing this at least once per week." Akatsuki was wringing her fingers together. _Okay - nervous and unsure._ "I think...I'm going to need help with that." That got her attention back, her dark eyes looking into his again. That was actually usually a good sign. "If you can come up with suggestions, I would be happy to hear them...and would be quite relieved to not have to feel quite so ...unsure that I might be going about it all wrong." He tried not to sound too miserable on the last statement.

He'd gone one step too far, though. Her breathing had gone shallow and her eyes unfocused. He sighed to himself and tried to back it up to see where he'd lost her. "Ah! Not all at once tonight." Akatsuki relaxed. He did to. That had been it.

"Um...maybe...," he was a little surprised that she'd offered to speak next, "we could... alternate?" She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye as she made her offer.

He blinked and answered, quite pleased really, "I would be grateful if you'd be willing." He had a momentary moment of wondering if it had been a suggestion to her from the women who met at Princess Raynessia's ambassador's mansion in town, Water Maple Manor. They met frequently and had taken Akatsuki under wing when he'd left her here in Akiba to watch over the Princess while he'd gone on one of his important information and gold gathering quests. Things had happened in Akiba that Akatsuki and the other women and guilds had handled and she had formed bonds that could actually be called friendship and comradeship with a number of them. He'd been happy for her, though the battle had been distressing. The answer had been ready enough, it felt like it could have been one of the suggestions from that group of women, who were already supporting Akatsuki in her desire to win him over. He didn't mind it. If they were helping her, they were most likely going to be helping both of them at least half of the time. She nodded once and relaxed even more.

Shiroe looked around the room again, relaxing back in his chair. He held out his hand to her and she took it. He let her decide where their joined hands would end up and she picked under the table. He relaxed just a little more, that being his own preference. "I hope that so far it's been at least somewhat satisfactory," he said watching her. "You seemed to be having fun at Shopping District 8 and at least at Grandale." He continued to watch her as she actually chose to talk animatedly (for Akatsuki) about both places for a bit.

He supposed he might look like he was paying attention to her like any boyfriend would a girlfriend, but really he was data gathering. He would have felt bad about it, but he had learned that if he didn't, with her he was asking to miss the important things he needed to know. It had taken him this long to learn to read what all her silences meant. That the motions, where she looked, her expressions held all the communication. Rarely did the words come from her mouth, and the ones that contained the most pauses were the most important ones to listen to. When she talked like this, she just wanted a companion. It wasn't necessary to be involved, except to give a kind summary statement at the end...which he did. "I'm glad that you had fun with everyone. I was concerned that for our first date to be with everyone, it wouldn't work well."

"Well," she shifted slightly, "...it is fun to be with everyone sometimes ...especially when I don't know ...but ...I'm glad we're at least having dinner, just the two of us."

Shiroe nodded. He did know that much at least. _Some_ of the time had to be time they were alone together...even if it _was_ "normal". "Is it okay that I had to do business as well?" he wanted to make sure.

She nodded. "Mmm." So...probably not every time, but if it was necessary, she wouldn't complain. That was part of their "normal" as well. They usually ended up eating here because they'd been out on his business of some sort or other. In the end, that part wasn't helping him.

The food arrived and they let go hands to be able to eat. As was normal for them, they didn't say a whole lot while they focused on the eating part. It wasn't too strained, though, so that was good. This normal part was okay, too, then. He'd been afraid she'd want to feed him again, the same as she and Minori had back during the cake eating challenge that was still a trauma to him. He might not have been able to face this meal if she'd required it, and he was working on working up the courage to tell her "no" when and if she ever did ask to do it again. He was just as glad to not have to say it on their first date night. Really, he'd been working on that particular issue ever since he'd figured out that there were going to _be_ date nights.

As they ate, he thought of a few other things that probably should be addressed early. When they were done with the food and down to the after dinner tea, he cupped his hands around his teacup and blew on the hot liquid, watching her from the corner of his eye. She was looking down now. _Insecure, not sure where to go from here...not surprising really._

"Akatsuki," he said musingly and she tipped her head to listen. "For the next little while, I'll be my usual busy, but while I have Purrcy here, I'll want to spend what time I can with her. I'll do my best to keep to our dates and all, but will that be a problem?"

She paused, took a breath, then shook her head. He raised an eyebrow at her, his own cue he needed more than that, since her nonverbal cues had been confusing. "I suppose...it might be hard to share...since we're just starting out," she admitted, "but she already warned me." Akatsuki lifted her dark eyes to look into his. "When she explained to me why I should tell you...," she blushed again, but not quite as bad this time, "that I was interested in dating you...she also told me that while she was here...," she looked down again, "you would want to spend time understanding who and what she is."

Shiroe considered Akatsuki. "It isn't easy," he finally commented.

After a pause, she admitted it by shaking her head. "She asked if I could let you...and I asked if she'd let you come back. ...She said she'd rather you did...so I felt I could at least allow it...since I know it's important to you." Her eyes came back up and looked into his and his breath caught. He'd never seen that look quite that way in her eyes. She often looked at him with something akin to worship, but this was...softer.

It flustered him and for a moment he wasn't sure how to answer. She was waiting for one, though, so he scrambled to get his brain functioning again. "I...appreciate your consideration," he finally said. She nodded and looked down again. It still didn't make it any easier.

Then she looked away, her hands clutching the teacup just a little closer to her heart. "I - also...appreciate your consideration today." Shiroe blinked. When had he done that? "When you asked if it was okay with me to do a thing Purrcy wanted...when you could have just said yes because you wanted to know more about her." She very firmly kept her face turned away, "...and when you...kissed me." Now she finally dropped her head so her hair covered her face. "It made me feel...like I was worth your consideration. ...Thank you."

Shiroe slowly smiled and set his teacup down. He ran his fingers lightly down the back of her near hand until she released her teacup enough he could take her hand in his again. He understood this very well from his own life. Many times in the part of his heart he had to not listen to it hurt so much, he had wished as a child for even that small consideration from his absentee parents. "Akatsuki, you are worth my consideration. ...I would hope that you understand that, even if you were not my girlfriend, I value you highly. I would not be able to do the things I'm able to do if not for you here with me." She was looking at him now, respecting his words, but with an expression he didn't quite recognize or know what to do with.

She considered him for a moment, then deliberately put her cup on the table. She turned to him, sitting up straight. Taking a breath and looking at him firmly, she said, "When you look at me like that, and are feeling that way, then is when you're supposed to kiss me."

He blinked in total surprise. "I-I am?"

A slow, wry smile came on her face. "Yes, Oblivious Shiroe." She pulled on the hand hers was holding and he followed it, leaning towards her, reaching for what that elusive feeling he'd just been feeling was. He remembered it just as their lips met, and somehow, the two did seem to go rather well together.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy, carrying a basket of fruit, and Touya, carrying two bags of vegetables, left the vendor's stall they had been visiting and walked over to her tree to look up into it. "So...this is your tree?" he asked her, interested.

She nodded, looking up into it soberly, then turned and looked down the grocers lane. "I could see all the way to the other end from here. It's a good tree, and a good location for looking around."

"I wish I could climb it," he said wistfully.

She looked at him with a smile. "Well, if you can get the blacksmiths to make you those claws, maybe you can. I can only boost you up a third of the way, I'm afraid."

He sighed. "Yeah, and it's too big around to shimmy up it. ...But I've always wanted to climb a tree."

She tipped her head at him. "You could at least get in the one at home. Have you tried that yet?"

He looked at her in surprise. "No. How?"

"The branch on the third floor, and the one on the fourth floor are both within your reach and capacity. You'd at least know what it was like to sit in a tree that way...though I grant it isn't quite the same."

"Yeah," he said wistfully, "it's not. I'd love to be able to look out over the city."

"Well...maybe we can work something out," Purrcy's eyes weren't seeing things around her any more, as she thought of ways to work it out.

"I'd like to work something out," a rough voice came from the other side of the tree. Both of them turned at the appearance of a wolf-fang, dark brown with bushy ears marking him as a wolf rather than dog, though the program had never really differentiated. It had just been a preference of character paste-on traits when it was _Elder Tales_.

"Guildmaster," Purrcy said politely, with an equally polite, if small, bow. "Perhaps we can, now that I can understand you."

The guildmaster of the Wolf Pack stopped short, then a slow grin came across his face. It wasn't necessarily a nice one. "They did something useful over there, did they?" He raked Touya up and down with his eyes. "You don't look quite so useful, however. Only a level seventy-two to protect this one, after all that effort to keep her?"

Touya's eyes went hard, but he shrugged. "It's enough," Purrcy said quietly. "He's kind to escort me through the market this evening."

"We'd have been kind enough to, if you'd let us," the wolf-fang said, a bit bitterly.

"I'm sorry," Purrcy bobbed a bowed at him again. "I wasn't able to understand until a few evenings ago. I'm an international who got caught on the Japan server at the time of the catastrophe without the translation program running. I, personally, was hoping to have fun while studying for my first level language class. As someone who is naturally shy, I'm afraid I've had a terrible time here. Guildmaster Shiroe was kind enough to write a spell scroll to help me. I apologize for not having the courage to accept your kindness."

The wolf paused and looked at her, blinking. "Weelll...we did figure that out eventually..." He tipped his head, looking at her longer. His bushy tail waved lightly behind him and he folded his arms. "Why were you only here one night every few months?"

"Because I've been out of the city the rest of the time. It was easier than trying to face everyone here or hiding in the shadows."

"Easier!" he guffawed. "Town's the easiest place to live!"

Purrcy's ears went down unhappily. "Well...I suppose for natives, it would be. But for internationals, I'm afraid it's very difficult. ...It's a bit like having the catastrophe doubled. Not only were we dragged away from Earth, we were dragged away from our own cultures and peoples. I'm not the only one here," she looked him in the eyes, "I'm just the strangest one...probably. ...Truly, if you really just meant to be kind, might I ask that you be kind to the other internationals, too? You know what it was like for me, not being able to talk or answer and only able to run and hide. I think you've got more practice than any other guild in learning how skittish the shy internationals are."

The wolf guildmaster had frozen, even his tail, and his ears were pricked at her in surprise. "Guildmaster Shiroe, when he understood my plight, made the scroll so that they all should be able to understand the language now." She looked worried. "But that doesn't mean they'll all of a sudden trust everyone in town. If you could go to them and help them understand that it's a place to be safe and have fun, like you tried to teach me, then maybe they'll finally be able to relax and feel like they can have a home here, too."

She didn't get an answer. The person in front of her was trying to wrap his brain around her words. "While I didn't like being chased, or having the one place I felt safe invaded...I am grateful that because of it I now have a place to call home and people I can rely on." She bowed to him again. "Thank you very much."

The wolf took a pose, leaning back on one leg and staring at her sardonically. "You know, it wasn't something to be grateful for."

"No, but I am nonetheless," she answered calmly. "I was able to finally capture the Plague Master that had abused even you and your guild for his own ends because of it. I'd been trying to find him for a while. Being able to help you in even that small way - I was glad."

The wolf narrowed his eyes at her. " _You_ did that," he said in sarcastic disbelief.

"Well...Log Horizon helped, of course, but yes, I did. He can't do that any more. I made sure of it."

"He was level ninety-nine. How did you do that?"

Purrcy looked at the wolf-fang a long time, then finally said, "Guildmaster...how does one go up levels?"

"Fighting monsters."

"How long have I been outside the city?"

He opened his mouth, stopped, closed his mouth, then swallowed.

"And," Touya asked, narrowing his eyes, "just how did you know he was level ninety-nine? Nyanta-san very plainly said that his level was sixty-four when he was fighting him."

The wolf cleared his throat and his ears twitched nervously. "Sixty-four, you say? Well, that's not what we saw. Maybe he was showing off for us...or for your Nyanta-san if he thought he could best him at a lower level?"

"Nyanta is level ninety-eight, thanks to that battle," Touya said. "I don't think suicide was the Plague Master's intention."

"No...well, perhaps not." The wolf looked back at Purrcy, "But Miss Purrcy also has that low of a level. ..." His eyes got wide again and he blinked.

Purrcy folded her arms and looked down for a moment, shifting her feet into a wider, relaxed stance. She looked up into the wolf's face. "Guildmaster...I would like to leave here with an agreed upon understanding that I will not be bothered again when I come to this place. Like all other Adventurers, I do need to shop for food. I will let you have the tree - it is part of your territory - but you cannot chase me from this edge of the market and beyond that. If you wave to me kindly, I will return the gesture. Shall we leave it at that? ...And if you'd help the other internationals - kindly - I think the rest of the city would look upon that as a way to manage to overlook your part in the Plague Master's scheme."

The guildmaster of the Wolf Pack looked at her long, with his ears back. Finally, with a whip of his tail, he nodded. "He was always rude anyway, as a guild-hater."

"We noticed," Touya said wryly. "Apparently we gave him to the very guild he'd been rejected by. It seemed very fitting."

The wolf barked a laugh. He turned away, then turned partially back and waved at Purrcy and Touya with a teasing grin. Purrcy smiled and waved back. The guildmaster disappeared behind the tree again. As Touya and Purrcy walked back to the next stall at the end of the way, the others came out from behind the far wall. "Well...I'm rather disappointed we didn't get to use our nice little plan," Tetora said casually.

Minori smiled. "I think it worked rather well, myself."

Purrcy and Touya smiled back. "Isuzu's calming spell helped quite a bit, I think. He was actually able to be rational there at the end. Thank you for your help, everyone," Purrcy bowed to them, then specifically to Touya.

He bowed back. "My pleasure, my lady. A samurai is always happy to stand ready to defend."

Purrcy gave him a bright smile, then took Nyanta's arm and they moved to continue their walk through the market street back towards the guild hall and home.


	18. Naotsugu's Scolding

"Purrcy, what did you do to Marie? What did you tell her?" Naotsugu's angry face was confronting them, calling her out. His whole posture was one of defensiveness, as if prepared for full battle. The five junior members moved on into the room to stand to either side of the three adults. They stood ready and waiting. Minori took Nyanta's shopping burdens from him. He nodded a brief silent nod of thanks at her.

Purrcy was standing still, one foot still in front of the other, poised for fight or flight, but not afraid. She blinked, considering her answer carefully. Quietly she answered, "What was said is between myself, Marielle, and Henrietta." Naotsugu didn't like the answer, but she held to it. "Will you tell me what has happened, that you are like this?"

"She's backed off and won't answer me properly," he almost snarled. "For all that she was happy to come out and have a date, that's as far as it went, and she went home early."

"Did you ask her?" Purrcy asked quietly.

Naotsugu stopped, then turned his head with a click of his tongue. "Not yet, not that. But the atmosphere had changed so that I couldn't even get close without her running away."

Purrcy's head dipped slightly. "I'm sorry there has been a change in that way, Naotsugu, but I am not Marielle's puppetmaster, to tell her what to do or how to do it."

"You've been changing everyone in that way since you've come," he said petulantly, accusingly, folding his arms at her.

Purrcy blinked. "I've been holding up mirrors, Naotsugu. What people choose to do when they look into them is up to them. Not everyone likes what they see and they all react based on how they are prepared to react at the time."

He scowled at her again. "Well, I'm not happy with how Marie's decided to react."

Purrcy paused again. "You assume when I was there, we talked in that way, Naotsugu, and that she is acting towards you based on what that conversation was, when it could be for any reason. ...Have you properly asked her the cause?"

Naotsugu shook his head angrily. "When I tried to, she ran from it."

Purrcy's eyes went sad and she sighed. "Naotsugu...when a woman runs from a question, it's because she doesn't know the answer yet and is afraid to discuss it for fear of hurting the other person. I don't know what question she is struggling with...but...can you be patient a little longer? Surely when she has the answer, she'll come to you."

Naotsugu looked like he wanted to relent, but was still too angry to. "Whenever I've seen this before, the next time they talk, she's asking to break up, and he's left hanging. Left-field-city."

Purrcy immediately walked quickly up to him and before he could move, she had put both hands on either side of his face, holding him still. Looking into his eyes since she stood at nearly his own height, she said, "Naotsugu...if she does that to you, I will _personally_ go and beat her about the head for you. When a woman won't talk to the man and wrongly assumes that is the answer, only having another woman to talk to will worm the problem out of her."

Naotsugu tried to escape and...couldn't. So he scowled again instead. "It's usually too late by then."

Purrcy shook her head. "It shouldn't even be necessary." Naotsugu blinked. "She has another woman to keep her head screwed on straight next to her Naotsugu. Henrietta won't let her self-destruct. If she doesn't properly do _her_ job, I'll go and scold her a third time."

Naotsugu stopped and blinked. "You scolded _Henrietta_? _Again?_ "

Purrcy purred and put her cheek on his. He finally relented, dropping his head and relaxing somewhat. "You promise?" he asked, his voice both demanding and at the same time pleading.

"Yes, Naotsugu. If you decide you really love her, I will go and fetch her for you." He nodded and she stepped back and looked at him soberly. He returned the look. "But first you must also learn the same lesson. Decide. Decide beforehand how much you really want it, never forgetting that sometimes to want something is to ask for disaster or more than you bargained for. Consider it very carefully, Naotsugu. What are the costs going to be to ask for Marielle and who is going to have to pay them? What will you do? You must decide before you ask again. ...But like Marielle and Henrietta, you cannot run away from it. I _will_ expect you to come and tell me what you will _choose_ to do."

Nearby, Tetora sighed. Naotsugu looked at him and he had the saddest look on his woman's face. "Purrcy...you've placed such a burden on them," he said, shaking his head.

Purrcy shook her head. "No. I've prevented the burden, Tetora. It's painful now, but it would be _more_ painful later." She looked at Tetora until he dropped his head and nodded.

Naotsugu's face crumpled. "I knew you'd done something -"

Tetora was shaking his head. He looked up at Naotsugu, his face almost angry as well now, but with pain. "Grow up, Naotsugu. She's doing you a favor. Go look into your mirror, the one she's handed you. And do it seriously. You do _not_ want to end up where I've ended up. You're too good for that...and the rest of us need you."

Naotsugu stared at him, then turned from them and flopped himself down onto the couch in his usual place, but he put his hands over his face, leaning his elbows on his knees. Purrcy looked at Nyanta. He nodded and the rest of them removed to the kitchen to put away their evening purchases and begin making dinner.

Purrcy got them all started on different parts of dinner, the four youngest quietly worried, but Tetora couldn't settle. He finally put his knife down hard on the table and leaned his hands on the flat surface. "Why, Purrcy? Why did you have to take the tank down?"

She walked over to Tetora, standing close to him but not touching. "It hurts. I know." Tetora turned his head towards her but couldn't look at her. "It's because he _was_ going to ask her tonight, and before I went over there, she was going to say yes, all without either of them considering the consequence of either act, Tetora. You know as well as I do that that would have hurt worse." She held her arms open for him, and he finally relented and turned to her, putting his head on her shoulder and letting her wrap her arms around him to comfort him.

"I know...I know...but...," he said forlornly.

Purrcy pet his head. "I know. He's _your_ tank, and you're _his_ healer. ...If she's going to take your place, you have to let this part happen, too. Selfishly believing that it wouldn't work out in the end so that you could keep him wasn't the answer, Tetora. In the end it would have been your loss, too. This way, you'll keep him as your tank, or you won't, but you'll still keep him as a friend and companion. ...Isn't that more important, Tetora?" She was gentle.

Tetora's hand still resting on the worktable clenched into a fist and a slight sob escaped him. "Can - can I still hate her?"

The eyes of the other four in the room popped from their heads. Purrcy continued to pet Tetora's head, and her expression was sad. Finally she said, "I think you already know the answer to that question." After a bit he finally nodded. "You don't have to forgive her all at once, right now, though," she continued. "Wounds heal with time and experiences. You know that, too." He agreed after a pause.

She ran her hand down the side of his face and pulled back to lift his head to look into his pale green eyes. His cheeks were streaked with tears. "I also think...that in the end, you would rather have an older brother _and_ sister, to tease and have fun with. It would be too painful for you to see them ripped to shreds by their own unwise decisions. ...I know _I_ would rather see the happy Tetora, made stronger because of the increased strength of one who he cares deeply for." She kissed his forehead gently.

He dropped his head back onto her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her and cried while she held him. The other four returned quietly to their dinner chores.

-:-:-:-:-

"Chief...why does she have to keep interfering?" Naotsugu cried from the depths of his anguish, the happiness he'd felt to see others in the guild interfered with swallowed up by his own current pain.

Nyanta was quiet for a moment, then quietly answered, "Don't mew think that she only interferes if it's become necessary to, Meowtsugu?"

Naotsugu dropped his hands and his head, looking away, the anguish that was in his voice was in his face. "But, why? Why now, and why me and Marie?"

Nyanta carefully considered his answer. "What were mew about to do, and what has she asked mew to do instead?"

Naotsugu closed his eyes. "I - I was going to - to ask Marie...," he pressed the heel of a hand to his eye, "...to tell her I love her." His face was miserable.

Nyanta nodded. "I don't recall Purrcy saying it was wrong to do that, to love her. She even said she'd fetch her for mew and patch that part up for mew, if necessary. What did she ask mew to do?"

Naotsugu took a deep breath and tried to consider it, to remember what Purrcy had said. "She... asked me to think about it one more time. ...But I have been. I've been thinking about it a lot."

"Tell me," Nyanta requested.

Naotsugu clasped his hands together between his knees. "About what we came from on Earth, what it would mean if we made it back. About what would happen if this place became real and we had children. About the level of commitment I'm willing to give to it - which is my all, or I wouldn't have been ready to ask." His expression twisted with the painful irony of the evening.

After a pause, Nyanta said quietly, "Did mew think about meowr Theldesian families?"

Naotsugu looked up in surprise. "Well...yeah, I guess..." He trailed off and looked a little worried. "I'm not sure what to do there, but I figured we'd work something out."

"That's a little weak, don't mew think?" Nyanta said drawing a glare from Naotsugu. Nyanta shook his head. "Meowtsugu, Meowrielle's a _guildmistress_. It isn't an easy answer. Even if mew'd asked her and she'd said yes just because she _felt_ like it, what would have happened when she waltzed into Crescent Moon and declared she was engaged to the tank of Log Horizon? How long would they have been able to be happy for her? And when they started pressuring her to make mew go over there because she outranks mew, how long would mew have put up with her pressuring mew in response? ...What would be the long-term outcome of that friction between the two of mew?"

Naotsugu's mouth was hanging open. He sat back hard and crossed his arms, looking just as cross. "Then what are we supposed to do? Just give up?"

Coolly Nyanta answered, "I believe that one of Purrcy's requirements was that mew aren't allowed to give up."

Naotsugu looked at him in surprise again, his eyes wide. After a pause, he said, "You mean, she already knows there's a solution?"

Nyanta's lip gave a little curl upwards. "I believe it was mew who told me to grow up and let her help me?" Naotsugu blinked. "And, if she believed it wasn't worth it, or if there wasn't a solution, wouldn't her requirement to mew have been very different?"

Nyanta stood up. "Go up on the roof, Meowtsugu. We'll call mew for dinner if mew haven't had it yet." Naotsugu shook his head. Nyanta nodded. "Think about it, about what _mew_ really want to see happen, then come ask the special magical cat if she can grant meowr wish, or if mew need to be slapped around and sent back to thinking about it again. She's only offered to help, after all." The look he gave the other man was very significant.

Naotsugu nodded and Nyanta took himself to the kitchen. After a bit, Naotsugu took himself quietly up to the roof. He leaned on the wall looking out over the night city for a long time. When they called him for dinner, he sent back a quiet rejection. Isuzu showed up with a plate of food later anyway. He thanked her and said he'd take the dishes back down and she nodded and disappeared after a kind look.

He ate it - it was a kindness from his guild and he shouldn't be thinking hard on an empty stomach since it would only make him grumpy. The thinking itself was making him alternate between sober and grumpy as it was. One thing he did realize as he did his thinking was that right now he didn't want to face Marielle either. He needed this time to seriously think about himself and his guild selfishly. If Purrcy had put Marielle up to the same task, it wasn't any wonder that she'd left him early tonight - not if she still didn't have an answer for herself either.

She didn't call him at her usual time that night, and he didn't try to call her either. He did send a text message, though. _Sorry to pressure you tonight. I'll let you think about it in peace, but remember that we aren't allowed to just give up. She'll throw a fit._

-:-:-:-:-

"Henrietta?" The voice was quiet and full of pain. Henrietta hadn't heard it like that in a very long time...since high school probably. She rolled over, squinting at the rectangle of light that was her doorway and the shadow of her friend standing in it.

"Marie?" she answered sleepily. "Come here," she patted the bed next to her. Marielle entered the room, closed the door behind her, and felt her way over to the bed. It creaked as she climbed in from the foot and crawled her way up to lie down next to Henrietta. It was different to have the large, buxom adult Marielle in her bed instead of the smaller woman child of their high school years. They'd done this several times in sleep-overs when Marielle had been so injured by her horrible boyfriends. Henrietta would let her stay over to cry and to heal up. She still didn't know why Marielle kept trying. Her heart was so big it wouldn't be restrained, even when it was hurt repeatedly. It made Henrietta's heart hurt to see it, especially to see it again now.

"What happened, Marie?" she asked softly. "Do I need to knee Naotsugu in the groin?"

Marielle shook her head. She'd brought one of her many stuffed animals with her and was hugging it. She sighed. "No...it's not really his fault. He's trying to be sweet, even though I ran away from him." But she shuddered and Henrietta wondered why. "Henrietta...you remember what Purrcy said? That there are more than two solutions?" Henrietta furrowed her brow, not quite understanding, but at least now she knew why Marielle had shuddered. She was as afraid of Purrcy as she was of Henrietta, after the last, and first, time Purrcy had visited their guild hall. "...and she said I was to talk to you when I understood what the problem was?"

"Yes, I remember," Henrietta said soothingly.

"Well...can I talk to you about it without you getting angry with me?" Marielle's voice was small and timid, and she brought the stuffed bear up to cover her lower face as if to guard herself.

Henrietta sighed. "Yes, Marie. I'll remember Purrcy's scolding, too. You can talk to me."

"Okay." As trusting as always. "I love Naotsugu. I ran because he was going to ask me tonight. I could just tell." She was almost biting her bear with her worry. "Before Purrcy's scolding, I would have just said yes...but," her face scrunched up, "she reminded me that it's more than me and him. That I need to consider everyone when I decide."

"...That hurts, Henrietta. It's hurt so bad since I've figured it out. I want to love him, but I don't want to leave the guild. They need me and I'd feel so traitorous, I wouldn't be able to live with myself just walking away. ...What's the third answer, Henrietta? What else can we do?" Her voice was even smaller now in the asking and Henrietta could see the glint of the tears beginning to fall from Marie's face, reflecting the light of the simulated half-moon shining through the sheer curtains of the simulated windows.

Henrietta lay quietly next to Marielle, considering the question. She'd been expecting it, for years now, it felt like, and it was probably just about that long. Only a few short weeks of being here in this world, Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki had visited them, then gone on the quest to rescue Serera for them, bringing Nyanta back, too. Hearing that Shiroe had formed his own guild instead of accepting Marielle's offer for him to come here had been a prick of warning in the back of her head, and the more time Marielle spent with Naotsugu after that, the stronger that had become. They hadn't been an issue that far back, but it had begun similarly to how she'd seen relationships start for Marielle back in school.

This time Henrietta had kept quiet and not complained because, honestly, Naotsugu was worth it. He was kind and stable and treated Marielle with respect. Even if he was a self-proclaimed open perv, he wasn't one really, as evidenced by the fact that when Marielle grabbed him he was more nervous than a box of cats thrown into the river. Henrietta knew. Marielle had gravitated to enough perverts in her time and had to be rescued from them. However, _this_ issue, tonight's, had been the prickly warning she'd had since that first time. "Marielle, he won't come here. He won't leave Shiroe."

There was a sniff, then, "I know. ...That's why I don't know what to do. ...I could just turn this place over to you, you already run it so well...but...I'm sorry to say it, hon, but...it won't stay together." It was said miserably.

"I know," Henrietta said quietly. She'd already worked that part out in her own thinking about this problem. "I've only been able to work out one other possible solution, and I'm not sure it's any better."

Marielle stiffened. "You - you've already been thinkin' about this?"

Henrietta sighed. "Ever since it was obvious you'd fallen for another man again."

"Ah...but...you mean...you approve?" Marielle's surprise was very evident.

Impatiently, Henrietta said, "What do you think? Would I have let him come around?"

"Well...I suppose not," Marielle said, remembering what they'd been through until now. There was a pause, then, perhaps a little too eagerly, "So, what have you thought of?"

"Crescent Moon disbands...and joins Log Horizon."

"Oh," Marielle's disappointment made the word very flat. "I - I don't think that will go over very well. ...I mean...everyone respects Shiroe-kun to some level or other, but...other than Serera-chan who'd be super-happy...we'd probably lose a lot of them."

Henrietta nodded. "That's what I figured," she said sadly.

" _Haaahhh_ ," Marielle sighed and was quiet for a while. "I was trying to figure out if it would work with us staying. That is, me staying here as guildmaster and him staying there, and just getting together when it was convenient, but...that just won't work." The last was said miserably. "Even if we did it something like weekdays here and weekends there...I've seen families try to do that back home and it was such a strain on everyone. It's the only one I can see working, though." Marielle was clutching the bear tightly again. Henrietta suddenly realized it was one that Naotsugu had won for her at one of the festivals they'd had in town.

Henrietta shifted on the bed to look at Marielle a little better. "The only answer I've really been able to come up with, Marie, is that before you tell him anything, we need to bring it to the guild as a whole. They care about you, and they all know you love him and that he's smitten with you. I don't think they want to see you unhappy or sacrifice more than you should, any more than I do. Maybe, as a whole, like when we battle plan, we can all come up with the correct solution."

Marie turned to her, wide eyes beginning to glisten with tears again. "I love you, Henrietta," she grabbed Henrietta in a great bear hug, squeezing the bear in between them.

"Yes, yes," Henrietta patted her friend's head. "I know. Go to sleep and we'll talk to them tomorrow. No sense in dragging this out any longer than it's already been. Besides...," she gave her own shudder, "I don't want a certain werecat to show up again because I was slacking in my duties."

Marie nodded wholeheartedly, releasing Henrietta and obediently snuggling down in the bed, ready to sleep now that there was a solution she could live with. Henrietta sighed. If only life really were so easy. She sent off a quick text message. _Shiroe. We need to talk. Tomorrow night?_ She was too tired to make it long or friendly. Hopefully he wouldn't be offended at the brevity of it.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe and Akatsuki walked into Log Horizon's guild hall - or more like apartment building - and the main room was empty. Shiroe looked around wondering at that. Usually someone was in it somewhere...unless they were all on the roof talking, which they could be. If they were, usually Isuzu was playing her lute and he hadn't heard that on the walk up to the building. He was headed for his room, where he and Akatsuki usually ended their "normal" days with a final quiet cup of tea, thinking that it would check off the last item on her list for the day. She paused a step behind him as he put his hand on the door handle. "Ah...Shiroe...it -"

He looked back at her with an eyebrow raised, wondering if she was going to be suddenly shy about entering his room. It was used so much as the general office that some days it felt more like his office as a grad student where he'd had a cot and practically lived while he was working on his thesis research. It really wasn't like inviting a girl over to one's apartment at all...though now he'd thought it, it embarrassed him regardless. He sighed at himself and waited patiently for her to finish.

"- seems very...quiet," she finished. She was looking around the room and up towards the upper floors.

He nodded and opened his door. "Perhaps they're letting us finish the night in peace?" he asked, but he didn't believe it and the look she gave him agreed with him. He was just a little surprised to find his room empty, and grateful at the same time. He held the door open for her and she stepped inside and headed for the tea cabinet automatically. "Get out four cups," he said to her quietly after he closed the door. She nodded, though she only filled two for now. They were allowed to sit quietly for about ten minutes before there was a knock on the door. "Come," Shiroe said.

Purrcy and Nyanta walked in. Shiroe considered that. It was the first time, actually. So...either they were having troubles...or it was a guild-family matter given what they were for the guild. Considering they didn't have Naotsugu with them, who was always the one who brought family matters up first...that was troubling. He and Akatsuki sat up straighter at the same time and with shortened breath, too. Then Akatsuki was up and getting tea cups for the other couple as they sat across from them.

Once the tea had been served and Akatsuki was back in her place, Purrcy was the first to go. That usually wasn't good either, Shiroe was learning. "Guildmaster Shiroe," his heart fell. Formal was worse. "I'm sorry." Even worse. "I'm afraid I've punished Naotsugu and it's affected all of the house."

Shiroe closed his eyes. " _Punished_ , you say," he said faintly. He really didn't know how to take that one. He took a breath and opened his eyes to look at his tea as he took a sip of it. Akatsuki was sitting frozen next to him and a glance at Nyanta showed that even he was a bit surprised by Purrcy's choice of words. Well, perhaps there had been a translation problem. He kept expecting them. A scroll spell wasn't perfect, necessarily.

"Yes," Purrcy said. "He wasn't thinking properly at all, and when he accused me of being the cause of his trouble, I set him to figuring out why he was the problem himself."

Shiroe groaned, earning himself the looks of his compatriots next. "You really don't need to put it that way at all, Purrcy," he complained at her.

"Well, then, I'll say it straight then, shall I?" she answered back calmly. Nyanta did move that time and the fear that struck Shiroe at her words backed off just a little.

Shiroe swallowed. "Rather, tell me what the issue is," he suggested.

Purrcy calmly responded. "Naotsugu loves Marielle and she loves him and he was going to ask her tonight and she was going to say yes." He blinked. She shrugged. "Obviously you are going to say that you know that, since we've already talked about it...on the surface." He was nodding until that last phrase which made him stiffen again.

Then he slumped and put his hands down to hold his teacup between his knees. "You've made them both think about it properly," he said quietly.

Purrcy nodded. "Marielle ran from him tonight when he tried to bring it up, so she's already thinking properly. It made him afraid, though, so he took it out on me when we walked in the door this evening. That made it obvious he _hadn't_ properly considered it all the way through, so I set him to it." She sighed. "I had to do it in front of everyone, which as you know, I really don't prefer to do." Shiroe closed his eyes again and nodded. "So...everyone is a bit...stressed. I've done what I can for Tetora and Nyanta did what he could for Naotsugu, who has been on the roof properly thinking since then. It won't be an easy night, I think, or...even longer depending on how long it takes to resolve, since _another guild_ is involved in the issue." She sipped from her tea.

Shiroe glanced at Akatsuki. She shifted uncomfortably. Shiroe placed his cup on the table in front of him, then leaned back on the couch. He put the arm closest to Akatsuki up on the back of the couch and she shifted back until she was kneeling back and close to his side. Then she decided that didn't work, for all that kneeling was her favorite, and she sat properly. He realized then why she knelt. She was short enough that her knees didn't reach the edge of the couch seat so her legs stuck out funny.

There was movement on the other side of the table and Shiroe glanced over to see Purrcy had tucked her legs up under her like she did when she sat comfortably on the couch. Akatsuki immediately moved to a similar position. They were both surprised but a little pleased when it was both comfortable and made her have to lean into Shiroe's side a little. He set himself firmly to hold her weight, though it wasn't much at their levels, and dropped his arm to drape it around her shoulders. She looked up at him and he gave her a grateful smile. This was definitely a time he needed to hold her...hold anything - but preferably her when it came down to it.

He was ready then to look up at the bearers of bad new and face the rest of it. Purrcy blinked at him and Nyanta was doing his best to not laugh. Shiroe was grateful for small kindnesses but could feel the blush creeping up the back of his neck regardless. He nodded at Purrcy. She set her teacup on the table and took Nyanta's paw in her hand, also now leaning on him slightly since she'd been Akatsuki's example.

"When I set Marielle the task of thinking about it properly, I made sure I let her know that it wasn't all or nothing. That there are always multiple solutions to be considered. And I gave her the requirement to talk to Henrietta about it, thus setting Henrietta the task to properly consider it as well. It's a decision they need to make together...not the least because Naotsugu will be taking Marielle away from her also. She will be very lonely here without her best friend by her side."

Shiroe nodded. That was true. "You've talked to Tetora for the same reason, I take it?"

Purrcy nodded. "Settling him helped with settling the others, since we all stayed together making dinner, but until the solution is found..." Shiroe nodded again, considering that but not quite knowing what to do about it, really. Purrcy looked down for a moment, then back into his eyes. "What have you already decided to do?"

Shiroe took a breath. The obvious testing made him glad he _had_ actually thought about it already. "If Naotsugu wants to go, I won't keep him. That was decided when I set the law that no person should be locked into a guild they didn't want to be in. We would miss him, but that's his choice to make. It's the same if Marie wanted to come here. We'd welcome her. However...," he took another breath, "I am well aware that it isn't that simple. It's going to take negotiation. I'm expecting Henrietta to contact me, particularly now that you've set it that she must be involved." He gave her a stern look for that one, though really, it was better earlier than after Crescent Moon and Log Horizon's relations were strained.

Purrcy looked at him, then nodded. She understood, and he'd passed the test. He was relieved inside. She was a stern mother. "There is a tradition in Japan, even still occasionally followed...," she said highly, nobly.

Shiroe raised an eyebrow, then cocked his head. "Do you really think it's necessary?"

She looked at him as sternly as he'd just said she was. "We are talking about heads of noble houses, _Guildmaster_ Shiroe. To allow them to fumble the negotiation is not acceptable...not when one house holds together all of Eastal and the other the goodwill of all of Akiba." He was just about to think a thought when all of a sudden she _was_ the thought. Full formal female kimono outfit, floral ebony chopsticks in the back of her head, even though she didn't even have hair to be held by the hairpiece.

He sighed and nodded. "I take it you want it to be both of us?"

"I've already set my place with them," she answered calmly. "Nyanta and Akatsuki should also come, as attendants, and everyone should be there, from both houses. Nothing should be done in secret, lest the houses become at odds in this place." She bowed her head to him. "I will sit quietly and only add if necessary. My presence should be sufficient for most things. But, I will sit as the mother and you as the father."

Shiroe shook his head. "How much do you really know?"

"Enough," she said coldly. He looked back at her calmly. Akatsuki broke the standoff by shifting. Purrcy looked at her and softened slightly, then reached for her teacup again. "You don't have to make it the full formal engagement negotiation, but it needs to be that level of seriousness. Appearances have meaning. Dress up for it." He knew what she meant. "I'll follow your lead and it will be sufficient."

Nyanta sighed. "Who knew that a gaijin from America would be hahaue to Log Horizon."

Purrcy looked at him and smiled. "I'm sure you would make a lovely hahaue, Nyanta."

Both he and Shiroe blushed. Purrcy's ear twitched and her clothing switched back. Shiroe looked up and the door opened, as he'd suspected it would. That would be confirmation of one of his suspicions - that she had a warning spell going as to who was coming to the doors around her. She'd moved very quickly before Marielle and Henrietta had arrived the time she'd snuck out with them to visit Crescent Moon. Speaking of which. "How can you be Hahaue when they believe you're a werecat?" he asked calmly as Naotsugu closed the door behind him. The newly arrived man paused, then moved to come into the room proper and take his seat in a chair set at the end of the low table between the two couples.

Purrcy asked Shiroe, "Does Henrietta have anyone to sit beside her?"

Shiroe furrowed his brow, considering the other members of the guild. "Likely it would be Shouryuu. He's the combat team leader and the next person down."

Purrcy nodded. "Decide who matches him, then. But I offer the fear factor which may help the negotiations."

"Well, just having you present would do that," Shiroe said wryly, then turned to Naotsugu who was looking between them. "I understand you've been thinking?" he asked his long time friend and right hand man. He was actually a bit nervous. He didn't want to lose Naotsugu. He had been the first one he'd contacted in this world and they had been companions the whole time. Naotsugu was his calm strength through all of the storms of this crazy world. In a nutshell, he needed him.

Naotsugu looked at him calmly, then nodded. "She told you?"

"Only that you yelled at her and she scolded you and you've been thinking, and it's about Marie."

Naotsugu leaned back. "Yeah, that's about right." He looked up at the ceiling collecting his thoughts. "But it has to be Purrcy. She's made me a promise." It was almost an afterthought comment, but at the same time an angry requirement, though no anger was in his voice.

Shiroe sighed. "Very well." Purrcy dipped her head obediently to both of them. Shiroe suddenly felt ganged up on. He shifted, lifting one leg to rest on his other knee. "Really, though. I sincerely _hope_ that this is the _last_ of the changes you need to bring to the guild, Purrcy."

She opened her eyes wide at him, but wouldn't answer until everyone in the room was glaring at her. "How would I know that, Shiroe? I can't foretell the future."

Nyanta and Naotsugu both broke out in laughter and Akatsuki smiled. "No, rather, that's Shiroe's skill," Naotsugu said.

"Very well," Purrcy said. "Then, I will hope so, also, Guildmaster Shiroe." She looked at him calmly.

He could only groan to himself. It wasn't an answer at all. He turned back to Naotsugu. "So...what have you decided?" he asked.

"To do whatever you want me to do," Naotsugu answered back calmly. "I want Marie, but I also know how important keeping Akiba calm is. My selfish desires shouldn't come first over that. Between the two of you, I figure the world and anyone in it will fall at your collective feet."

Shiroe looked at him irritably. "You place a lot on my shoulders to put it that way, Naotsugu." Naotsugu raised an eyebrow at him. Shiroe sighed and put his foot back on the ground, stretching his leg out to work out the calf muscle. "But...I get it. I want you too much to say no. Not only would life be harder around here, but I'd miss you too much." He looked at Naotsugu from the corner of his eye. "I can't do any of that without you standing in front of me, you know."

Naotsugu nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm not going anywhere. We all need you where you're headed. I'll keep my post to make sure you get there." Naotsugu put himself into a more relaxed pose. "Just don't forget...Henrietta is a Machiavelli, too, particularly at the negotiating table." He looked back significantly at Purrcy. "Having two of you might be enough against her one."

Purrcy smiled gently. "It helps to already have the upper hand," she said quietly. "I've laid the groundwork. I think we can now play good cop - bad cop." She winked at Shiroe.

He smiled back, but shook his head. "It isn't going to be easy."

"No," she sighed unhappily, "it isn't. They adore her and she holds them together just like she affects Akiba. Honestly, that's why I went over there instead of scolding them here. I needed to understand how her guild sees her to understand why she seemed willing to abandon them. I was rather relieved it was just because she was blond and not paying attention. A simple correction was sufficient." She looked soberly at Naotsugu. "Anything more than that and I wouldn't have approved. It would have been poison to bring her here."

He paused, then nodded. "I understand that, but she's a good kid."

Purrcy nodded. She turned her cup in her hand a bit, then said, "Naotsugu...you need to consider your operative, too. He's torn by this, having become quite attached to you. He knows she's proper to take over his place, and I suspect there's been rivalry between them anyway, though I've not been here to see?" She raised her eyebrow. Naotsugu nodded unhappily. "See to it, then, please, or he may revert."

"I will," Naotsugu promised.

Nyanta pet her head. "Meow. But Tetora-kun has a place to go now." They looked at him, waiting for more information. "He's meowr apurrentice now, Purrcy."

Naotsugu nodded. "And your op when you're on the fly. Nyanta's the retriever then. He might miss me, but he's still got a place. It'll free him up to focus on what he really needs to do, instead of be splitting his time and focus. We'll all feel better with him tracking you full time so we don't lose you."

Purrcy's ear flicked a little, then she settled down further into Nyanta, her teacup appearing on the table. "Alright. It works, but you've got to get him through to acceptance so the house can be calm again, particularly once both Nyanta and I are gone. Having him flare up when I can't be here to help him won't help any of you. I have to make sure my op's taken care of, too." The rest of them nodded, both agreeing and promising it.

After an obligatory pause, Shiroe asked, "Purrcy, what are your next steps to accomplish?"

She shifted, then finally gave up and turned full cat, a bit bigger than housecat. She stepped onto Nyanta's lap circled once then sat down with her front paws curled up under her. Nyanta took to absently petting her, his ears moving gently with pleasure. "I can have the antivirus worked out tomorrow, I think. Then another day and a half or so for finishing the punishment for the Plague Master. If I can't actually revert his Class, I may have a rebound that will take at least half a day to recover from - headache, light sensitivity, migraine style are the symptoms. If I head to the closet, that's why. It's dark and quiet there." They looked at her sympathetically. "I'll be trying for that _not_ to happen of course," she said wryly.

"Mmm...does that mean I get to have mew sitting on my lap for the next two to three days, nyan?" Nyanta asked her.

She looked up at him and flicked her ear. "Sure. Not much conversation, though."

"That's okay, meow," he said, unconcerned.

"You just want an excuse to sit in your chair and be lazy," Naotsugu said accusingly.

"When is that anything new for either of you," Akatsuki said calmly. They both closed their mouths.

"You would think this was a guild full of lazy people," Shiroe complained, "when it isn't." They chuckled at that. That was exactly why they could tease about it.

"After that, it will be on to the experiments," she glanced back up at Nyanta and he patted her back lightly, to encourage her. "I'll need Akatsuki's assistance then," Purrcy looked at the Assassin.

Akatsuki nodded. "Let me know when, and I'll be there."

"Thank you," Purrcy said, then put her head down, still looking a little sad.

"It's okay, Purrcy," Nyanta said. "I also think it's still important. I don't mind, really."

Purrcy sighed and flicked an ear. "Thank you, Nyanta," she said quietly. "I really will try to be minimally damaging as much as possible. And have you asleep the whole time, too, so you don't have to know. You'll just be awake when you resurrect." She looked over at Naotsugu.

He nodded. "I'll keep watch over him. It'll get strange if you have to send him over too many times, but we'll try to keep it hushed up as much as possible."

Purrcy closed her eyes, "Thanks." She turned her head and looked at Shiroe. "What's your plan for the next couple?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it again and got that far-away look that said he'd either just gotten a chat request or a text message. "Ah, well Marielle's just requested a meeting tomorrow night. I was thinking of calling the Round Table to have the conference meeting as well, and there's the meeting with Roderick after that happens...so it looks like a day full of meetings and negotiations." He sighed. "That will be tiring, but I suppose nice to get them all out of the way at once. I'll be able to have Akatsuki and not conflict with you a few days later that way." Akatsuki nodded.

"I guess I'll be door man tomorrow, then," Naotsugu said putting his hands behind his head, then revisited. "No...I'll let Touya handle that. I'm going to take Tetora out with Isuzu and Rudy and we'll run around and hit things for a while. That way Tetora can yell at me, get out his angst, and be settled by the time of the negotiations." The rest nodded approval with that plan.

"Have him practice first level Hacker spells until he can get them to come naturally, if possible. It's best done on the fly in real combat," Purrcy commented. Naotsugu gave her a thumbs-up. "And work on it for yourself, too," she added. He looked a little surprised, but gave a short nod and they kind of lost him for a while as he considered what "natural" fighting might be like for himself.

"Let's see...," Shiroe said musingly, trying to remember everything on his task list. "Did you get the code written to keep track of the technomages and pseudocode mages?"

"Ah, no, forgot that had to be done before the meeting," Purrcy lifted her head up at attention. "I'll work on that tonight before falling asleep. It shouldn't take too long, maybe a few hours at most, if I don't want it to cost too much. Just the ones in Akiba, or how far out?"

"Well...can you make it expandable? Right now just in and around Akiba is fine. Once the knowledge of them spreads, I'd like to keep track of them farther out...to at least the two provinces to either side of us."

"That helps," Purrcy said and put her head back down, her ears flicking back and forth, waiting for his next comment.

"I'll start on the research for the beast-half villages the next day," Shiroe finally decided. "I want that done before you go. After that it's just internal thought stuff...and general city admin. Still need to figure out what to do about the Wolf Pack, I guess."

"Ah," Nyanta said, holding up a paw. Shiroe nodded. "We sort of took care of that today. While we were at the market, the children sat down with Purrcy and put together a plan for handling the Wolf Pack if they showed up while we were there. It went very well, meow." He looked down fondly at Purrcy, who began to purr. "They sent Purrcy and Touya out first to draw the Pack out. As soon as they were in position, Isuzu cast her calming spell over their area. The Wolf Pack guildmaster stepped out after a bit and they talked," he looked up at Shiroe, pride in his smile-crinkling eyes.

"She apologized up and down, thanked him left and right, then while he was still confused convinced him her scratch is a lot worse than her meow and that he'd really rather not irritate her. He also agreed that in order to get off the Round Table's black list, they'd spearhead the reclamation of the internationals, on the grounds that they'd already had lots of experience in understanding how difficult it was to actually talk to them."

Shiroe shook his head. "That's so like you, Purrcy." Akatsuki agreed with a smile.

"We'll see how committed they really are," Purrcy warned. "Some of that agreement was because the spell was helping him to be calm enough to think logically...but I think having a real way to contribute to the city may help, too. They may surprise me."

Shiroe nodded. He'd seen that happen before. "I'll let the other two guilds know to include them as long as they're playing nice." He stifled a yawn, a bit surprised to be that tired.

Nyanta picked Purrcy up in his arms and stood. He kicked Naotsugu on his way past to bring him back to the present. "Let's go. They need to wrap it up and we need to get out, nyan."

Naotsugu rose and grinned at the two on the couch. "Don't do nothin' I wouldn't do."

"They can't even get _that_ far," Purrcy said tiredly from her perch on Nyanta. Over his shoulder, she added back to them, "but do be wise and separate _before_ you fall asleep on the couch. I won't be here to help you when you panic again, this time." The door closed behind the three.

Shiroe and Akatsuki both blushed. In order to not have it happen again, Shiroe took his arm back and Akatsuki looked both relieved and sad. He stood and held out his hand to her to help her up. Taking an internal breath, he leaned down and gave her a kiss. "Thank you for this afternoon and evening," he said politely.

Akatsuki shyly smiled. "No ...thank you. I've enjoyed it very much. ...Please be looking forward to next week's...date." She blushed slightly.

Shiroe smiled at her. "I will be. Please take care of me." He squeezed her hand then let go before he forgot how to do even that much. She bustled about putting the tea cups and tea pot away, then shyly slipped over to give him a hug, then released him and escaped out the door quickly, blushing bright red.

Shiroe sighed and got himself ready for bed, though he'd stay up, like Purrcy, thinking for a few more hours about how he was going to approach the next evening's negotiations. They weren't going to be easy and he had less than one day - a day that was going to be _very_ busy - to think and plan in.


	19. Stepping into the Next Level

The next morning, breakfast started out a bit tense. The seniors were quiet and the juniors were still waiting to hear what the results of the night had been. It was a bit relieving to them that everyone showed up, particularly Naotsugu. Because Tetora was his support, and was the most concerned anyway, he opened - surprisingly very respectfully. "Naotsugu, will you tell us what you've decided?"

Calmly, Naotsugu answered, "I'm leaving it up to the Councilor and Hahaue." The juniors stared at Naotsugu as an ear flicked lightly in embarrassment on Purrcy.

"What?" Tetora asked. "I mean, I know you respect Shiroe's opinion, but -"

Naotsugu swallowed the bite he'd taken after giving that answer. "What I discovered in my thinking last night was that I may be an adult, old enough to make my own decisions and do my own thing, but I am also a member of a guild that this city relies on to keep it healthy and strong. So does Marie." He held his chopsticks up, his elbow on the table, to make his point. "We aren't in modern Japan, and this is the house of the King of the Adventurers of Eastal, if not all of Yamato. We danced around it all day yesterday, but it's truth. If I don't properly support Shiroe, he can't do his work that we're all helping him to do because this is his guild. If Marie doesn't properly do her work in her guild to continue to keep Akiba a fun place for Adventurers to come, then this place becomes dreary and dull and we start to revert back to what we were before." He shook his head and reached for his next bite. "I don't want that." He ate, reflecting for a bit, then continued. "But I trust Shiroe to be able to come up with a plan to keep everyone happy, like he always does. And since Purrcy's decided to become Queen - when she's here - she can properly do her part as well."

" _Decided_ to -" Purrcy said faintly. Naotsugu raised an eyebrow at her, not giving an inch. "When one falls into it quite by accident...it doesn't feel quite so much like having 'decided to'," she said quietly.

Shiroe was nodding his head. He often felt like that, too. Naotsugu shook his head, though. "No. Even Shiroe had to decide to take up the banner, though he stumbled into it at first." Shiroe paused, mouth open in surprise, then slumped slightly in agreement, the current installment of breakfast finally making it to his mouth.

Purrcy sighed. "Very well. I concede the point. That doesn't make it any easier to carry."

"No...that's why I need to stay, and why the guild's here." Purrcy and Shiroe both nodded...and so did everyone else. The juniors relaxed. Both Shiroe and Purrcy twitched. Both Akatsuki and Nyanta put hands of consolation on their partners.

After a bit longer of a pause to continue eating, Purrcy asked, "Guildmaster Shiroe, what were your thoughts last night?"

Shiroe took his time to finish his current bite. "Let's have a council meeting after breakfast." She gave a nod. "Naotsugu, you were going to go out after that?"

Naotsugu nodded and looked around at the juniors. "Shiroe's going to be in meetings all day, and taking Akatsuki with him. Purrcy'll be working on the antidote, so Nyanta's watching over her. I thought I'd take Tetora, Isuzu, and Rudy out for practice. Touya, can I count on you to hold down the fort for me, and Minori will you stay and keep him company? I don't know if we'll get outside company today, but we should keep ambassadors on site just in case."

"I can do it," Minori said. "Touya could go with you."

Both Naotsugu and Touya shook their heads. Naotsugu let Touya take it. "Nah, Minori, that won't work. We may have a truce with the Wolf Pack, but if Miss Purrcy's writing code, she's out. That means Nyanta-san has to watch over her pretty close. Doesn't work to just leave you here alone if something bigger comes up"

Naotsugu gave a strong nod of approval of his apprentice's analysis. Purrcy was muttering quietly to herself. "What?" he asked her.

Her head came up in surprise, "Oh, sorry. ...I was just thinking...if this is the house of the King and I'm the Queen...then if we put it into European household terms...that makes you the Marshal...and...," her eyes traveled around the table. "Nyanta the Seneschal? Or Akatsuki?"

"Purrobably Minorichi," Nyanta said calmly. "I'm the Chef."

"Minori?" Purrcy paused, then said, "Then Shiroe needs to hand over the keys. He's been doing it."

Shiroe looked up in surprise. "The keys?"

"The Seneschal is the keeper of the keys to the house. They know where everything is stored, track taking out the winter things and putting them away, see that guest rooms are assigned and the house kept clean, manage the maids and pages in doing that, that sort of thing. That is, they manage the whole of the running of the household. They need the keys to get to all that stuff, and are trusted with them. They work in concert with the Marshal, who handles the protection, training, discipline, and other martial parts of the household, and with the Chef, who handles the food incoming and preparation, etc. ...The financials are overseen by the Lord, but the Seneschal tracks the details. It's a rather large job, actually, but it's so the Lord can focus on the details of running the fief in total and not have to worry about the house he lives in and the people supporting him...until it's something he does need to address, because things always come up that need to be moved on up to the top for resolution."

Purrcy paused, her chopsticks at the corner of her mouth. "Actually, the Seneschal in all matters save financial, reports to the Queen. I think that's because most things that bubble up there are matters that would go to a mother - 'which bedcloth is really appropriate for the high level guest' questions aren't the level of King, but probably should be for the Queen, if there's a question on it." She shrugged. "Well...I was just thinking of it because of what Naotsugu said and then he was acting like the Marshal." She grinned and a sparkle was in her eye. "But that's funny - that the Queen's Consort is the Chef. Rather dichotic, isn't it? Having the King's Consort be the King's Guard isn't quite so bad." Purrcy winked at Akatsuki.

"What does that make Miss Marielle?" Rudy asked, his own interest having been perked up by an Adventurer who actually understood somewhat the inner workings of noble households.

"Well...she's a noblewoman in her own right." Purrcy ate while she considered. "It's a small guild...but important, so probably...Countess, then? I think a Viscountess is too low to marry the King's Marshal off to, since he probably counts as a Court Marquis. ...Ah, that's it, then. The Queen's Consort may be King's Chef, but he's also a Court Marquis." She nodded. "That's high enough."

"And what about the rest of us?" Touya asked, a little more excited.

Purrcy laced her fingers together and leaned on her elbows, looking down the table. The other seniors were smiling slightly to themselves. "Well...Let's see. It really ought to be done right, you know, but if on the fly is okay, then we have King Shiroe," she bowed her head to him. He flashed her a resigned look. "I'm Queen Purrcy, please take care of me," they laughed. "Then we have the King's Consort and King's Guard, Marquess Akatsuki. Please also take care of the Queen's Consort and King's Chef, Marquis Nyanta." Akatsuki blushed happily and Nyanta bowed smoothly.

Purrcy pointed down and around the table. "King's Marshal, Marquis Naotsugu, and Queen's Guard Count Tetora," he looked up in surprise, then smiled happily, giving a jaunty tip of the head. "Baroness Isuzu - Assistant to the Seneschal, Baron Rudy - Guardian of the House of the King, Baron Touya - Guardian of the House of the King and Assistant to the Marshal, and King's Seneschal, Baroness Minori. You'll all move up in rank when you're higher level and there's more people under you, since you're also all still maids and pages and assistants in the kitchen since we don't have anyone else for the jobs. Ah...that makes me Assistant to the Chef, as well...or as my father liked to say 'Chief Bottlewasher'."

"No, that's me," Rudy shook his head. "I'm the one that washes the dishes."

They laughed and Nyanta stood. "Well, then, Assistants to the Chef and the Kitchen, it's time to get to work, shall we? After you, Chief Bottlewasher Baron Rudy."

"Hey, ah...Shiroe...can we use those ranks when we're talking to People of the Land?" Tetora asked as they walked their dishes into the kitchen.

Shiroe considered it. He glanced at Purrcy. She flicked an ear at him without looking at him. He sighed. Morosely he said, "Yes. But don't tell them who the King and Queen are."

"Alright!" Touya bumped fists with Minori.

Rudy got a slow blush on his face and almost fumbled the dish he was holding. Purrcy stepped over to him and kissed him on the top of his head. "Congratulations," she said softly. "I'm sure you'll work up to your proper title soon enough."

He whipped his head around to her, a startled, almost frightened look on his face. She winked at him. "And next time, we'll teach them how to do it properly shall we? I think they'll have fun with the pomp and circumstance."

"N-Next time?" he stammered.

"Of course," she said archly, putting her dishes next to the sink and turning to him. "I've left room for everyone to move up just for that purpose. The King and Queen need to have fun with something, not to mention have awards in reserve for future excellent service."

"Oh," Rudy said, nodding as if having learned something new.

Isuzu looked at him curiously. "So...what is his proper title?"

Rudy froze again. Purrcy looked at him with a smile, considering him. "He's the son of a Marquis - landed, meaning he has a complete fief to run. So by rights, when he's come into his own, Rudy will also inherit the equivalent station. Since he's decided to run away from home, he's lost his rights to the title...unless he goes back and begs for forgiveness...and so we've given him a court title instead. He'll get up properly to Count eventually I would think. He's got a lot of years ahead of him after all." She stopped, looking at his pale face, then smiled and winked. "That's just my guess, though. If he hasn't told you himself, yet, then that's his right to keep quiet about it, isn't it, just like the rest of us don't tell our pasts."

Rudy dropped his head into his hand. "Lady Purrcy," he groaned. "...Just a guess?"

Purrcy's laugh rolled through the room and the others couldn't help but join in. "Yes, Rudy...but I have a good eye. Don't let on, and they won't know." He was blushing as red as they'd ever seen him. She looked over to Shiroe, who was standing near the doorway, watching. "And Shiroe, if you don't want anyone to know our real titles," she grinned again, teasing, "then it's right, and proper really, to call you the Duke of Akiba. If you want to just call me Princess for now, that's fine. I'm not really the Duchess of Akiba, not having any ties here."

He looked at her for a while, then shook his head with a sigh. "I will hope to never have to admit to any of it at all."

Tetora and Naotsugu grinned at each other. "He didn't deny it," Tetora said triumphantly.

"Royalty-city," Naotsugu high-fived Tetora.

Shiroe turned and walked out of the kitchen and the rest not on kitchen duty followed him out to be out of the way of those who did. "Not a real princess my eye," muttered Rudy when they were gone, but he still looked pleased, nonetheless.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe really wanted Purrcy standing behind him in the Round Table conference today. She seemed to enjoy explaining things to others more than he did. He'd really rather not be doing the explaining today...even though that was what was expected - particularly today. He'd told everyone on the council only this morning that he was ready and they'd all showed up...early. He sighed. That really hadn't been necessary.

At least he was getting used to it now, this standing up in front of them all and telling them things. The disparate group's leaders now worked together fairly well, even to the point of arguing the same things over and over and the same people bringing it back to the proper points. Having Purrcy mix things up would have helped change the tenor as well. But...for at least a while he was going to continue to protect her. He was having trouble remembering why he wanted to do that right at the moment since he would rather have sent her.

Then he remembered, it was _because_ of what he had to say today. Next time, then, he could send her - probably. ...Or at least bring her with him. He took a breath and steadied himself, putting his agenda into the front of his mind again. He'd made them wait until the start time he'd given them since that was when he'd told them he'd start. He rose now, and the various bickerings and guild-to-guild conversations quieted.

"Welcome, everyone," he said mildly. "Thank you to D.D.D. for helping us bring to ground the mage known as the Plague Master." He bowed his head to Rieze who nodded back. Rieze had her arms crossed, but she was sitting up straight in the chair reserved for her guild. Everyone missed Crusty's presence there, even still, but no one more than her. She sat as if the chair was going to either poison her or eat her.

"The plague that was released in Akiba affected in the main the half-beast Adventurers, though it was beginning to spread to non-beast Adventurers by the time we were able to capture him. The mechanism of spread was touch and it suppressed the body's ability to recover and maintain proper levels of HP over long periods of time. For a reason we still need to ascertain, in Adventurers, rather than catching a cold or other disease such as the People of the Land might, it makes us more...," this was the hard part, "susceptible to real bodily urges."

"In half-beasts that translates into more beast-like behaviors and eventually, in its end stages, to make their beast half have greater control over the human half than we Adventurers are comfortable with. Symptoms described at the later stages included higher than normal levels of territorial defensiveness, increased hunting instincts, and in the worst case, a female going into heat." He looked around the table. "I'm not sure I need to explain that this final case, if the Plague had continued, would have thrown us back into the state of chaos we were in before we instituted the Round Table. On Earth, and therefore to our human minds, to be placed into that state where sex is no longer a choice but a physical requirement, is tantamount to rape and unconsenting sex. Therefore this particular plague is very severe because it was specifically targeted to those who would be placed in that position in the end. ...Because, in the same way, it also was beginning to affect those of us whose races are not related to half-beasts, it is not limited in its severity."

There were plenty of pale faces, guildmasters who were aghast, and a few who were looking rather miserable. They'd had the worst cases in their guilds too, then, or at least severe enough to know what he was talking about. "As soon as the Plague Master was captured, a city wide temporary inoculation was cast. Thank you to those who tested our hypothesis that even lower level healing spells would suppress it for a time so that we could do at least that much. The full detailed analysis of how the plague was created has been completed as of yesterday and the antidote should be ready by the end of the day today. When it is, it will be given to each guild. At this point I anticipate announcing a central location and time for each guild to send one healer to learn the antidote. Please send your highest level healer."

He looked around again, pushing up his glasses. "As you know all plagues must be healed based on the level of its carrier. This one was carried in the main by level eighty-six to level ninety-eight Adventurers and in its final iteration, was a level ninety-nine plague." The room exploded. It would have been worse if he'd told them the truth, but this much had to be said. When the room had settled down again, the guilds who actually had recovery class magicians of level ninety-nine had agreed to help those who didn't, and tents and kiosks were planned for those who were in the city but not members of the larger guilds.

Shiroe captured the attention of the attendees again. "As this plague only needed touch to be passed, we can't know who was in the city during the time of transmission that left without knowing they had it and carried it out. Once the antidote has been disseminated, we are suggesting that it be cast on everyone in the city as a whole at least once per week for the next four weeks, then once per month on an ongoing basis. If after a year we aren't seeing any more cases, then we can consider pulling it back to when we see signs of another outbreak beginning." It was a bit much, perhaps, but the guilds who had seen the worst were already agreeing. "We are hoping the final spell can be area effect so that it can be applied faster overall." He'd learned that leaving until the end one comment to soothe ruffled feathers was always a good idea. That one did calm people down nicely. After a bit of discussion his recommendation was approved and he sighed in relief. He didn't sit down...yet. ...So they kept looking at him.

"Two issues came up from this encounter that I would also like to have addressed today," he said calmly. It always made them worry, though. He sighed. This wouldn't be that bad, in comparison - for them anyway. "The first one is an issue that Akaneya and Woodstock brought to my attention." He sat down. Everyone relaxed and looked at the two guildmasters.

Akaneya stood up, clearing his throat. "Ahem. We have had an ongoing concern in the Round Table about the remaining Adventurers who are not integrating into mainstream life in the city. I'm sure that some are those who will never make the adjustment to being here in Theldesia, however there is a group that we hadn't considered. There is an Adventurer who began to bring Woodstock and myself treasures to sell that requested an English translator." Council members sat up, interested. "For some time we used a member of his guild that was a student with enough understanding of it for us to get by. Shiroe was kind enough to write a translation spell scroll so that we could communicate fully with that Adventurer and any others that might need help. What that one told us was that there are actually other Adventurers from other international locations that were on the Japan servers because the expansion was launched there first. They were brought here to Yamato, in the locations of the servers they were on, not to the locations their bodies were in. This particular one, and so we assume others as well, had their language translator off on their computer at the time of the cataclysm. Thus, they weren't able to understand our speech, even if we could understand theirs."

He looked around the table. "This particular Adventurer is very shy because she couldn't speak any but the most basic Japanese. Given the reclusive nature of gamers in general, I believe that even now that they can understand us they will not be willing to come out on their own. It may be wise for us to once again go into the back streets to see if we can tempt them to come out and join with us - but this time, they'll be able to understand us."

Akaneya sat down and those guildmasters who found this particular subject to be one of their pet projects immediately got down to business. When they were sorting out who was going to do what, Shiroe cleared his throat and sat forward. They let him have the floor. "Some of you are aware that the Wolf Pack was rather severely impacted by the plague, to the point of attacking fellow Adventurers that were in their territory and going so far as to not back down at my own doorstep." He said the last blandly and there were looks of affront around the table. "As part of their own penance, and because they know the back streets very well, they have agreed to participate by spearheading the search for the international Adventurers. As we all know, they aren't the best negotiators or ambassadors, so please take into consideration in your planning that they need to participate and how that can be best accomplished."

"Dark Shiroe" and "Machiavelli" went around the table in whispers. He was okay with that. They could think he'd forced the participation of the Wolf Pack to make up for crossing him. That kind of rumor didn't bother him. The Wolf Pack would probably fight it, and that would be okay, too. When the discussion surrounding the internationals wound down, he interjected again. "Roderick, if I could have a private meeting with you after the council meeting?" he asked directly.

Roderick, of Roderick Trading Company which was a crafter guild that specialized in research, to the point their guildhall was like a university research facility, looked up at him in surprise, then nodded. His main clothing here in Akiba was even a lab coat, and his spectacles and pens in his pockets really defined him. He was happiest when hunting down new things...which was all the time in Theldesia. "Sure, Shiroe. I can make the time."

Shiroe nodded his thanks and stood. "The second thing that has come out of this is that I have had brought to my attention that not only are Adventurers able to learn new sub-skills with careful effort now, and the Mysteries for their Classes, but that there are now new magics coming available." That caused a stir, but he could see there were a few who looked like they were holding secrets. He sighed to himself. They already knew. It was time to make it come out in the open. "I've heard of three new ones just from this one campaign alone. I would like for everyone to take a survey of their guilds and find out what has become available. Please send your information to Roderick. I will work with him on setting up the research components we need to know about the new magic users."

He looked around the room, ending on Michitaka of Marine Organization, the major crafter guild of technicians. "One of them is a technical magic, like that of Earth's technology. I am quite certain that after all the technological advances your crafters have made, you should have an ample number of them."

Michitaka blushed in his ears, though he kept his arms folded and his face stern as always. ...But, he nodded. "Sub-classed 'Technician'," Michitaka said briefly. Shiroe sighed in relief to himself. To get one to admit it would open the door for the others. Slowly, those who had them did begin to admit them. It was a rather wider list of magics than he'd expected and by the time it was done, Hacker had come out and been passed over lightly like the rest. That was the start.

"I really don't think we need to fear the new skills and magics," Shiroe said calmly. "This is a world based on magic and it should be no surprise that more than what was created by the programmers of _Elder Tales_ is what we can do, since we keep pushing the limits here. Like with the cooking and the building of the steamship and the other inventions we are creating. ...I would like for us to be able to help those who have the new magics be able to learn how to use them like the rest of us understand from the gaming days. If we can test the ranges and boundaries of each type, then we won't have to worry...we can just know and it can become as normal to us as the others. Presumably there are some that need to be added to the old sub-classes. For this reason, if we can get the listing from each of you, and then borrow a few of each new sub-class to test the boundary conditions, Roderick and I can formalize them and report on them."

He looked around the table and let everyone tentatively decide that was a good idea. Then he said, "I don't think it should need saying, but making sure we do this now will prevent other newly sub-classed magic users from causing Akiba problems in the future." He had everyone's attention as their minds translated what he was saying. "We were fortunate that a high level mage of the same sub-class as that of the Plague Master was present in the city when the main attack came against us." Many of the guildmasters looked ill.

Slowly he said, "Before that mage leaves the city to continue their travels, I have convinced that person to begin training one of my own mages who shares the same sub-class so that we can be better protected next time. I would be happy to host training sessions in the zones around my guild hall for any of your newly sub-classed 'Hackers' beginning one week from now. That part of town is also open and available for any other new sub-classes to come and train in until they feel secure enough to actually go out into the fields to train." Shiroe sat down.

The Round Table took over again, and as he expected, Crescent Moon guild was handed the task of figuring out the training of the new sub-classes. Marielle helped with fun activities and festivals, but whenever there was training to be done the council always handed it to her - the only Guild _mother_ of the Round Table Council. That suited him just fine. Things were falling into place nicely.

-:-:-:-:-

"You know, Naotsugu," Tetora said wearily, "next time leave Touya home and bring Minori. That was really hard out there today - even with all of you nicely coming down to training levels for me."

Naotsugu slapped Tetora on the back, which lurched him forward a little more than usual because of how weary Tetora was. Naotsugu grabbed his shoulder to keep him up, getting out a quick apology. "Being back down at the first levels again isn't easy, I'm sure," Naotsugu said sympathetically.

"Well, it's really learning the creation time. You know. Before it was call up a spell, focus on which enemy you want it to go off on, then just wait for it to build up and release, then watch the magic dance. Now, with this one, it's write the whole thing first, then look at the target and say 'go'. Figuring out how to write something in the thick of the battle is really nerve wracking." He shuddered a bit.

"It did seem a little slow," Rudy said. "But Lady Purrcy said yesterday that some of hers she can just set off right away."

Tetora nodded. "Yeah. Once they're written, it's not as bad, and there are some that can be saved to cache hit, but my cache list is fairly small right now. That goes up as the levels go up, so I have to be careful which ones I keep and which ones I choose to rewrite later. Fighting real monsters does help. It's giving me a feel for which ones might should stay on the list all the time."

Naotsugu nodded. "She did say that. Practicing in real cases now would help the most."

"That's probably why," Tetora sighed. "I'm sorry I was late on that Aurora Healing."

"No prob," Naotsugu said. "I'd been timing them and knew I'd better ask a little early."

Tetora sighed in relief, then looked pretty and sad. "I'm not sure I can do both. Back up to the back up healer maybe if I'm going to main the Hacker, at least until I'm up in enough levels that the code comes as fast as typing on the computer - or faster."

"Game controller," Isuzu said briefly, almost as tired as Tetora. She'd had to handle the healing side of things more than her usual share and at the low level of seven, that had been difficult.

Tetora nodded. "Yeah. Got to get it so that the game controller - the coding - is second nature. Grinding my life away again."

"You'd rather not?" Naotsugu asked neutrally.

"No," Tetora protested surprised. "I went into programming in college because I love that you can do anything, really. I can see that's how this works, too, once the boundary conditions are learned. ...Only this is better because the effects are more 3-D awesome, at least in battle. Naw, I'll have fun with it, it's just the barely-can-walk-home-blues, you know." He waved a hand weakly at his own state, then leaned on Naotsugu's shoulder, letting the Guardian carry his weight for a bit.

"Why not just raise your level back up to its usual?" Rudy asked.

Tetora turned back to him with pursed lips and a scolding look. "It's a ratio - a ratio. I won't go back up to the full levels. If I have fifty hit points as a level five Hacker and it drops to five before we give up, then I'm down ninety percent. If I've got normally fifty-thousand hit points at level ninety-eight Cleric, then I'm still walking home with only ten percent of my HP hanging around."

"That's five-thousand, Tetora," Isuzu said blandly. "One hundred times more than you'd walk home with at level five full up."

"Well...I'm still worn out anyway," Tetora hurried the conversation on.

"Are you going to be able to handle working with her and me at the same time?" Naotsugu asked him.

Tetora paused, then looked even sadder and went serious. "No. I'm not. Even when I get to the upper levels, if I'm majoring in Hacker and watching over her there's no way. In fact, it'll get harder. I'll have the cantrips by then, but the code gets broader and more focused. Watching her that night," his eyes got stars in them, "was like watching a goddess direct the stars and having them dance for her. Her shields are so tight nothing gets through hardly. Just studying those could take me a month and they're super important. He sent some nasty stuff her way, just as minor spells that he could get off between rounds of being hit - that was a lesson in itself how to do that...," he came back and sighed.

"I've spent every waking moment since then analyzing everything that went on in that battle and I'm only to the final third. Once I'm higher levels I'll already know what I can do and some of the things I want to do having had that experience." He looked away, then sighed and looked down. "Naotsugu...what's it going to be like...tonight...and after." His dainty foot scuffed the ground as he asked. He worked hard at not hating it, since he was trying not to anymore. It really was the current situation he was hating...well, not hating, just not wanting to let go.

"Well...tonight...," Naotsugu looked up at the sky overhead. It was mid afternoon, but the closest monster area for newbs was far enough out from Akiba they had to go back early so they could get ready. "It's formal engagement negotiations...open - meaning not just the parents and the prospectives, but everyone in both families. They don't want anyone getting their pants in a twist and saying they weren't there to understand what was going on, you know."

Tetora nodded, still looking down. "You know, I really respect you for being able to let go and step back like that. Makes me feel like you really are the oldest son, leading the rest of us by example. You're so calm about it."

Naotsugu laughed. "Well...I'm probably outwardly calm about everything, but inward...I suppose it feels a bit like facing that boss that you've been psyching yourself up for and you can't wait to get the treasure it drops because you came to the dungeon specifically to get that one treasure. You have to get through the sweat, the pain, and the test of the plan to get it and that part scares you spitless."

The other three all smiled, perfectly understanding. Still mulling he added, "I suppose that's why I trust the Councilor and Hahaue with it. He doesn't go into a battle like that without a plan so carefully thought out that you just know, even if everyone only leaves with two HP at the end, you're going to win. And her...well, you've seen what she can do already for yourselves. She's the one who's set this all up for him and is his support. If there's any chance of him falling, she'll pick him up and put him back on his feet with a kiss for good measure, then calmly tear the heart out of whomever took him down. And...she made me a promise. It's the first one she's ever made. I want to see what that means."

"Seriously, Naotsugu? Curiosity?" Tetora gaped at him.

"Well, yeah. There's still a lot we don't know about her. It's barely even been one week, man."

Tetora thought about that. "Well...that's true. You'd think she's been here months already. ...But...it's not her first promise. Just her first one to you."

Naotsugu looked at Tetora in surprise. "She made one to you?" Tetora nodded but didn't elaborate.

"I suspect she made one to Nyanta-san, too, or he wouldn't have accepted her," Rudy said from behind them.

They looked back at him. Tetora nodded as Naotsugu said, "Well...that's true. Particularly the 'consider us husband and wife' part. Can't do that without a pretty serious promise." He looked disgruntled.

Tetora took his turn to hit Naotsugu on the back, though it just made his armor ring. "At least you got one."

"Yeah," Isuzu said. "We all did. She promised to be a Log Horizon guild member. I think she's doing a good job keeping that one." Rudy nodded and the two older men looked at each other and smiled.

"Ah...what does 'hahaue' mean?" Rudy asked. As a Person of the Land originally, there were some Japanese terms he was still unfamiliar with because they didn't translate properly. It was sometimes the reverse way as well.

"It's the formal form of 'mother', a very respectful way of saying it," Isuzu answered him. "Why that one, Naotsugu?" she asked, wondering herself.

"Well, they were using it when I got into the office last night," he said, "but it works. I think it came up when they decided to do it as a formal engagement negotiation. Those are nearly as old as the title, after all." Naotsugu looked at Tetora. "So...Queen's Guard...who has too much on his plate...you gonna be okay if it's switched out?"

Tetora looked at him just a little bitterly. After a bit he finally nodded curly. "I'll get over it," he said. "You're going to do the engaged thing for a while or just go for it?"

"What works best for you?" Naotsugu asked.

Tetora looked at him like he was crazy. "For me?! It's your wedding, man."

"Not if I want you as best man, it's not just me," Naotsugu disagreed.

Tetora stared at him, then actually teared up. "You know...I'd look better on her side, right?"

"You'd look good anywhere," Naotsugu smiled, "but I'd feel better if you were next to me, on the other side. ...As long as it's not holding onto my arm."

Tetora shook his head. "No, I won't do that...if I can work up the courage to stand next to you at all."

Naotsugu laughed. "You? Have to work up the courage? You're the bravest man I know. Crazy brave, but brave."

Tetora looked away. "Aw, man. Why you gotta go and make me cry? You know this is a woman's body." Naotsugu patted him gently on the shoulder as Tetora sniffed and wiped his face. After recovering, he said quietly, "Marie's gonna want to do it right, and so's her guild. I'll be ready by the time they are. ...Hahaue will help me. ...Now that I'm her op." The last was said like he was tentatively trying out the new position to see if he could deal with it.

"Of course she will. Hacker-apprentice-city." Naotsugu held up his hand.

Tetora looked at it, then cautiously held up his and hit it lightly. "Yeah. ...I'll get used to it."


	20. Engagement Negotiation

Log Horizon was dressed to the nines. As high class as it got, as if they really were the nobles Naotsugu and Purrcy had named them. Shiroe had approved every outfit - sending some of them back several times to try again until they got it right. Modern clothes, though he had been tempted to have Purrcy wear the kimono. "Who knew Shiroe actually had such fashion sense?" was a comment heard at some point during that phase of the preparation. The answer to it was, "When it comes to pulling a plan off - of course. I just don't usually have to or care that much. Comfort is preferable when relaxing, the best magical robe or armor for the situation for dungeons." It made sense. They moved on, trusting his judgment.

When he was satisfied, he motioned to Purrcy and she transformed into small cat and rode on Nyanta's shoulder, as proud as if she were the Princess walking with them. Nyanta walked next to Shiroe, on the other side from Akatsuki, in his normal gliding gait of utter and fully proper calm, but he also looked just a little extra proud. Naotsugu walked behind them and the rest took positions of protection around them. Traditionally, the prospective bride and her family would visit the prospective groom's family home. They had chosen to reverse this for two reasons. They were the smaller guild, thus could get to the Guild Hall a little more freely. They wanted the whole of Akiba to see it and talk about it. This was the First Official Engagement Negotiation of Akiba. Even if it was between two small guilds, it was still between two guilds - and one was the Guildmistress. Log Horizon showed Crescent Moon honor and at the same time gained their own points by being magnanimous.

"Now we really are yakuza," Purrcy said in Nyanta's ear. He chuckled. They were being watched openly and being avoided. In town as a full guild yesterday to shop exclusively in the back of Shopping District 8, now in town dressed up, every one of them, and headed for the Guild Hall. The buzz was almost loud enough to be heard by them on the walk in.

Everyone took a deep breath as they entered the floor the door to Crescent Moon's specifically rented guild hall was on. They'd entered the dungeon. Each centered as they would have for any such campaign. This was their kind of raid. Purrcy shook her head. "No...it really is, Nyanta. Honest to goodness."

He smiled. "Yes," he said softly. "I suppose it is, in its own way."

Shiroe glanced over. "Is it a problem?" he asked again softly.

This time her tail waved gently. "No, Guildmaster Shiroe," she answered again respectfully.

"Sometime you'll have to tell me why not," he said. "You say it in such a layered way."

She smiled. "Come pet me for good luck." He obliged. He liked petting little cat Purrcy after all. She purred for him, then leaned forward and touched his nose with hers. "Good hunting, Heika," she said.* He sighed at her, but nodded. Nyanta had to stand still while everyone gave her a pet for luck. She nose-kissed Naotsugu, too. "Blessings on you, my son," she said softly to him, adding a little lick to his cheek.

He blushed. "Thank you, Hahaue. Good hunting to you also." She gave a little swish to her tail and settled back on Nyanta's shoulder in her place again, giving him a lick on the jaw for good measure. His tail swished and he pet her also. She would have preferred to walk in as big-cat but they'd decided that she'd traumatized Crescent Moon in that size already so it wasn't a good idea. Starting small would remind them of when they'd had fun with her...hopefully.

Touya knocked on the door that would take them to the magical space that was the eleven rooms of the Crescent Moon guild hall, then moved aside. The door opened and Serera welcomed them into the hall, bowing to them. Shiroe kindly thanked her and walked in with Akatsuki on his arm. Nyanta and Purrcy were next and they also kindly greeted her. She looked with wide eyes at them, but bowed politely again. Naotsugu was next, then Tetora and the rest. She closed the door, gulped, and followed them into the main seating room.

Shiroe and the others in the front were met by Henrietta and Shouryuu, who welcomed them formally, also dressed formally for the occasion. Marielle was sitting on one of the couches, dressed up very prettily, looking rather nervous, but trying hard. When Shiroe, Akatsuki, and Nyanta were sitting on the opposite couch, with Naotsugu standing behind them at rest attention, the remainder of his own guild arrayed around him, Henrietta and Shouryuu sat one to either side of Marielle. The remainder of Crescent Moon League was arrayed around the room as best they could, with the most junior members sitting on the stairs to the second floor as if on risers.

Several of the young females served tea around, including Serera who served the guest couch first. Purrcy had lept off of Nyanta's shoulder and grown to house-cat size when he sat on the couch. When he was handed a teacup, he set it down on the couch in front of her and Serera, flustered, handed him another one. Purrcy lapped at her teacup delicately when the others drank from theirs. When the servers had settled, Shiroe led off. "Thank you for your consideration. Crescent Moon League is well known for its hospitality and grace. We are honored to be able to sit with all of you tonight."

"The honor is ours, to have the wisdom and strength of Log Horizon with us this night," Henrietta answered. The tennis match of words had begun, the two main competitors revealed.

"Surely Crescent Moon League is a house full of happy children and beautiful flowers," Shiroe said.

"Surely there is none more beautiful than the Guildmistress of the guild, who brings happy voices to those children," Henrietta replied. "Certainly there can be none in the house of Log Horizon of greater wisdom than its Guildmaster, who brings calm peace to his home."

The tip of Purrcy's tail was lifting and falling in a slow rhythm, but otherwise all of the members of Log Horizon were sitting calmly, not completely relaxed, but not tense either. Their wall of solidarity was already making a few junior members of Crescent Moon look worried. "Certainly all of the members of Log Horizon do their part to bring peace to their home, but none more so than the calm strength of its Castle of Stone." Shiroe brought the final subject into the negotiation and placed the purpose of it on the table next. "The happiness of such a one is worthy of great consideration, as surely the happiness of the Guildmistress of Crescent Moon League is."

"Surely the happiness of those who are great supports for their households should be held in high regard," Henrietta answered, "in the hopes that the happiness of all the household might be maintained."

"Indeed," Shiroe agreed. "Should the loss of any one of such worth be felt, the pain of the whole of the household would be equally as great." Henrietta's breathing stopped briefly and she half-blinked. Marielle tried not to move, but her face, always an open book took on a hopeful look. Shiroe had told them he had a third option, and as the Master Strategist of Akiba they were eager to hear it from him.

After a bit of quick thinking Henrietta responded, "Truly. Yet, even for the sake of the happiness of the two most worthy to receive it, the households cannot lose their defining purposes and chosen bonds, lest they become something less or fade away."

"Ah, it is so," Shiroe agreed, "Yet even the sun and the moon share the same sky, though there yet be distance between them. Even so do two stars in the sky seem to share the same space, but they will be distant from each other sufficiently that their individual lights will shine."

Henrietta took on a calculating look. "And by how distant shall they be related?"

"By a mere fraction," Shiroe answered.

"At what cost to the households?" The negotiation was in full flower now.

"Shall not the groom provide a house for his beloved?" Shiroe answered calmly. Everyone at the couch on the other side got very wide eyes.

"Will not the flower wilt to be far from the sun?" Henrietta countered, though she was still surprised.

Shiroe pushed his glasses up on his face. "Has not the flower been asked to aid children in need? And has not the family of the groom provided space and opportunity for them? Shall not the garden bloom when the sun and the smile of the flower grace such a location that has been prepared?"

Henrietta couldn't help a smile from coming across her face, though she tried to keep it down as much as possible. "Truly the wisdom of Log Horizon is shown in the cunning of its Guildmaster that reaches long distances of space and time, even to the distant stars, to bring them together," she complimented him for setting up a workable solution in advance at the Round Table Council that day to meet Marielle's need to be in the center of busy activities.

"Should not the garden that brings happiness to the people and the strength of the people's arms be brought together to keep all happy through the happiness of their own strengths?" he asked. "Surely an alliance such as this cannot be considered a wrong."

"Surely not," Henrietta said, "though, how shall the space between the stars be maintained?"

"Truly time must pass for the full understanding of all things, but though the husband stay with the wife through the night, he must of necessity leave the house to provide for her in the day. Is this not the way of all men since the beginning?"

There was just a bit of relaxing on the couch of the heads of Crescent Moon. They'd been worried about that particular arrangement then, and found his solution acceptable. He was a bit relieved because it was the only solution he personally found acceptable. If they had argued that point the deal would have been dead. "Indeed," Henrietta said calmly, loosely clasping her hands in her lap.

"Then we are agreed?" Shiroe asked.

"I believe so," Henrietta answered.

Shiroe took a sip of his tea, set it on the saucer, then set it on the table and leaned back against the back of the couch. "Then let us be clear on the details, shall we?" The room went a little wary. "When we leave here this evening, I will purchase the building next to Log Horizon's guild hall with the express purpose of having Crescent Moon League move into it. While Crescent Moon prepares to move, we will jointly see to its proper renovation."

"At Crescent Moon's convenience, they may schedule a date for a public wedding of their Guildmistress to my Marshal. Together they will request the Round Table Council to sponsor the wedding feast as their gratitude for the services rendered by the Guildmistress of Crescent Moon in the past for such events. Crescent Moon will move into the new location no later than one week from today so that the training of the new mages will be overseen by both guilds. If that proves impossible, members of Crescent Moon must be present at the training, regardless."

Marielle's mouth was hanging open and she was looking distressed. Henrietta was holding on better, but was worried. Shouryuu was looking just a little glazed over. "Ah, one week," Henrietta said faintly. "Shiroe surely that is...can an abandoned apartment be renovated so soon?"

"We were able to do it in less, though to full completion took longer," Shiroe said. "I think the happy announcement should bring you as much assistance from the other guilds that came to us, if not more due to Marielle's popularity. We'll help you with the move as well, if you should need us, though I would think given your numbers we would only be underfoot. ...Also," he looked sideways at Purrcy, "there are other things we can do to help besides just manpower, if the terms are agreeable."

"Is there a reason the training needs to begin in one week?" Shouryuu asked.

"The mage who is training mine leaves Akiba in two weeks," Shiroe said calmly. "I would like for them to have at least one week to see that one work in person, though it will be part time."

"And what will you do to keep that part of town thriving after the initial training is completed?" Henrietta asked, delving deeper.

"While we're working on starting up the training, and after Crescent Moon has moved into their new apartment, I would like to see us jointly work on purchasing the warehouse that is near there to renovate it into a university for the study and teaching of magic and other natural laws of this world and their practical applications. ...This is separate from the research facility of Roderick Trading Company and the technology facility of Marine Organization, and is specifically for training the skills necessary to live in this world to any Adventurer who wishes to come and learn them."

"Are you giving up?" Henrietta asked, surprised.

"On the contrary," Shiroe said calmly. "Rather it is to help us leave the sooner. The faster we can understand what we can do and learn it to it's fullest capacity, the sooner we might be able to go home. I am particularly interested in getting the Technologists working on the gates and the communications towers as soon as we can. But until we understand exactly what they can and can't do, we have to wait on those two projects. The faster they can train once we understand those two things, the sooner we can get to those projects."

"What role do you want Crescent Moon to play in the university?" Henrietta asked.

"To provide the main daily requirements of administration and education. Already Marie has the practice in getting lessons planned and training schedules put together. I would like Marie to be the Head Teacher of the school. We will supply the Dean. We'll put together a Board consisting of yourself, myself, and perhaps Roderick at a minimum. We need his research as input. If the Round Table wants insight we could provide regular reports, but the other guilds don't do more than that. I'm planning on requiring, and would like Marie to request, those who come to learn pay for their education. Initially, the guilds can pay for their members to come, but eventually we'd ask individuals to pay for themselves, I think. It doesn't have to be much, like the tax on the use of the Guild Hall is only one gold per use. I'll leave the financial details in your very capable hands, Henrietta."

"Just the warehouse, Shiroe?" Henrietta asked shrewdly. She'd worked with him before.

"No. The entire area, of course," he answered back. It was the answer she'd expected. "That would merely be first."

Henrietta looked at Marielle. "Marie?"

Marielle looked back at her. "I think it's a wonderful idea."

Henrietta looked at Shouryuu. He nodded. "Doable."

Marielle turned and looked at everyone else in her guild. "Any objections?"

She waited while people thought then everyone shook their heads. "Go for it." "Sounds like fun." "I like working with Log Horizon." (They thought that might have been Serera.) Marielle turned back to Henrietta with a satisfied look on her face.

"Very well," Henrietta said to Shiroe. "We accept the terms."

Shiroe handed over a contract and a pen. Marielle leaned over the table and signed it. Shiroe took it back and signed it and it disappeared, then two sheets of paper appeared on the table. Shiroe took one, rolled it up and it disappeared. Henrietta left the other there for the moment. Nyanta took the teacup from in front of Purrcy and moved it to the table.

"Since you've agreed to the terms," Shiroe said, still not moving from his relaxed position on the couch, "we'll tell you some things that you must keep secret. We're telling them to you in good faith so that you can know we're serious about the goals we've just agreed to. Please don't let anyone outside of our two guilds learn of these things until it's time to let them be made public." He looked around at all of the members of Crescent Moon guild until he had agreement from everyone. It was hard with this many to keep secrets, but he hoped it would work. "Please meet our candidate for Dean of the University, and the mage who will be training the Hackers beginning next week."

Purrcy increased in size slightly, then slowly changed her shape until she was a fox with two tails, though she didn't change her coloring. She bowed to the room. "I am Purrcy. I have formed a contract with Shiroe of Log Horizon in exchange for a husband from his house, thus becoming a member of Log Horizon myself. I will only be present infrequently at the University, however my knowledge will also be passed on to the students there when they are ready to receive it." She changed again until she was in her felinoid form, sitting properly on the couch between Shiroe and Nyanta. "Tonight, I will teach you a basic Adventurer skill that will help you in your move to your new home."

You could have heard a pin drop. Then the room was in an uproar. Purrcy smiled and so did every member of Log Horizon. Purrcy held up her hand and the room was instantly quiet again, though mouths still moved until they stopped mid word in surprise. When it looked like everyone had the idea that they were to go back to being polite, she released the spell.

"Two tails not for one hundred years of life, but for one hundred levels. The number goes up by levels, not age here. Zenko, not yako. Yes, the new expansion brought me here, yes I'm what the Wolf Pack chased into Log Horizon's tree, and yes, I'm the kitten you played with and the large-cat that corrected your Guildmistress and her assistant. My apologies for frightening you at that time, but I had things to tell them and I needed you to call for my house to come and rescue me, thank you very much Shouryuu-san. Were there any other questions, one at a time please?"

"Are you the only one?"

"Yes, as far as I know."

"If you're kitsune, why are you a cat and a felinoid, instead of a fox or human?"

"Is not my husband, who I chose at the beginning, felinoid? What purpose is there to human then? And if I were fox, what Adventurer wouldn't kill me for my supposed treasure? Cat is far safer."

There were itchy fingers in the room. "What is your treasure?"

"You were just told it. You tell me. What is the proper treasure from a zenko?"

There was silence, then that person said, humbly, "Wisdom and knowledge."

"Thank you. I offered either to Guildmaster Shiroe and he chose wisely, thus the contract was agreeable."

After a pause, Marielle asked, "Are you the mage that is high enough level to cure a level ninety-nine plague and give us an appropriate antidote?"

"You have considered well, Marielle. I am."

Marielle bowed. "Thank you for your assistance in caring for Akiba."

"You're very welcome, dear." Marielle blushed lightly. "Thank you for properly considering my words and being obedient to them." She nodded and blushed harder.

Purrcy looked around the room mildly, waiting for more questions. When none were forthcoming, she began the lesson. "Marielle, will you please think of your favorite stuffed animal from your bedroom? What it feels like when you hold it, what it smells like, what you feel when you are holding it? Then please wish with all your heart to be actually holding it." Marielle closed her eyes and thought hard until she had a pleasant look on her face. Then suddenly there was a bear in her lap. Naotsugu startled a little. Purrcy's whiskers lifted in reaction. Marielle was hugging the bear to her, an astonished but happy look on her face.

"Shouyruu, please inspect the scroll on the table. If you wish, add a slight mark so you know that it is that unique one." Purrcy waited for him to finish and nod, then turned to Henrietta. "Henrietta, pick up the scroll." She did, a curious look on her face. "Now, imagine setting it down on your desk...or placing it in the file it belongs in, just as carefully. Sight, sound, smell if applicable, seeing the location very clearly. When you are ready, set the scroll down in that location, feeling the relief at not having to touch it again because it's where it belongs." The room waited while she worked to put that together. Then she turned the scroll on it's side, slipped it down, and it disappeared. "Please tell Shouryuu exactly where you placed it." She did. Purrcy nodded at him and he jumped up from the couch and ran up the stairs, the guild members moving for him, and into Henrietta's room. He came back out about a minute later with an amazed look on his face. "It's there."

The room buzzed faintly as people whispered to each other until Shouryuu was seated again. "This is a modified way of using the method of putting things into your lists and taking them out, and is actually somewhat advanced, but any Adventurer can do it with practice. Nothing gets destroyed or misplaced during the transfer. It either goes, or it doesn't. You will want to visit the new place before trying to attempt to put anything there, but because you are already very familiar with things here, it might be better to go there, then 'bring' things to you from here. It can be done with large or small things, it doesn't matter. After all, very large things can fit into the lists. You don't need to be touching it, you just imagine very carefully, then will it to move to specific locations. Do be careful you don't make them land on people when you are moving large or heavy items. Some level of reason must be maintained. Also, please make sure that you come back here to confirm you retrieved everything before returning the key. No memory is perfect, and you will learn that way how much your imagining affects the reality."

She looked around at everyone in front of her. "These things are the sorts of things I have to teach Adventurers in general. I will go slowly. Too much will overwhelm, but soon enough Shiroe's dreams and goals will be much closer to realization. I can't predict the future. I can't say he will win. But I have promised to help him as much as I can. ...Congratulations Naotsugu and Marielle, Log Horizon and Crescent Moon League. Please take care of me." She bowed, then was silent.

Shiroe rose, making everyone else who was seated rise with him. "I believe a sufficient number of people will have gathered outside the Guild Hall by this time. After the official public announcement, which will come directly after the purchase of Crescent Moon's new guild hall, I propose we allow Naotsugu and Marie to have some time together. We will leave you after the announcement."

Henrietta bowed to him. "Very well. Thank you very much for your consideration in helping this to be a productive evening. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the future."

"My pleasure," Shiroe finally smiled. It really was. He was glad that two of his friends would be able to be happy without the politics of Akiba becoming a worse mess than it already was. "Marie, you have until we walk out of the Guild Hall to come up with your speech. Please include the announcement of the university as well."

"Okay, Shiroe," she said. It would draw more people to come to it with her as the face than him. That was her gift.

He led the group, with Akatsuki, back out the guild hall door, Nyanta and Purrcy following him. Naotsugu held out his elbow for Marie, and she took it with a bright smile for him. Henrietta and Shouryuu followed after them, then the two guilds filed out behind them. When they reached the main floor of the Guild Hall, Shiroe led the officers of the guilds directly to the bank, while the rest of the guilds' members filed out of the Guild Hall and stood on the steps leading into it, arranging in two groups to wait for the senior members. This drew the attention of everyone in the plaza and the murmurs began again.

Shiroe withdrew the proper amount of gold from his account and handed it to Marie. Turning to the Cunie of the Akiba bank, he said, "Crescent Moon League has contracted to purchase the zone next to the zone I own." He gave the exact location descriptor of that zone, then stepped aside as the Cunie pulled up the contract of ownership for that building, which was its own zone. He told Marie the price and she handed it over. When it had been counted, Marie signed the contract of purchase and the Cunie stamped it. It disappeared and a key was handed to her. The keys were symbolic only. It was magic that ruled who could enter or not. The default was anyone but it was now changeable by Marie, as owner, and any persons that she assigned permissions to.

"Congratulations," the Cunie said to them, bowing slightly.

It was hard to tell just what it was for, but Marie gave him a bright, "Thank you!"

Shiroe led them out of the Guild Hall, where people were now standing around waiting to see what the two smallest guilds of the Round Table Council were going to announce. Given that Marielle was popular since she loved to have fun with everyone, and that Dark Shiroe was the largest topic of rumors in town and the complete opposite of her, people were very interested to hear what they had been doing so formally and publicly.

One of the Enchanters of Crescent Moon cast a volume increasing spell on Marie so her voice would be heard and another Sorcerer cast illumination over them so that they could be seen in the increasing dusk of the evening. "Good evening everyone!" Marie said cheerily. "Crescent Moon League and Log Horizon have a few announcements." She paused, then said, "We have formed an alliance between us, though we will remain separate guilds. My most favorite part of the alliance is that Naotsugu and I are going to get married. Please look forward to our wedding celebration in the near future!" Her smile was so big and bright it glowed as brightly as the mage illumination on them. She and Naotsugu bowed to the cheering, and some protests that an idol was getting married off.

"Crescent Moon League will be moving to be housed next to Log Horizon. One week from now, please come by and visit. We will be opening a University for Adventurers, to help all those Adventurers who are discovering they have learned new magics not listed before in the old _Elder Tales_ options, and to help the rest of you learn new skills to be more effective in what you already do, or want to learn to do. It will be a place where the end results of the research of guilds such as Roderick Trading Company can be taught so that everyone can benefit from them. If you're interested in things like that, then come by sometime and visit! For one week only, we will have a visiting professor available to demonstrate what someone with the subclass of Hacker can do. We will hope over the course of the next few weeks after that to also have further demonstrations. If you like what you see, you can register to attend classes. We look forward to working with you!"

Shiroe walked up to Marie and took her hand and shook it, holding her hand between his two. Then he stepped back and gave Naotsugu a hug. "Keep it public for at least forty-five minutes. Come home or I'll worry."

Naotsugu gave him a slap on the back and they parted. Grinning, he said, "Sure thing, Councilor."

-:-:-:-:-

"Naotsugu, Honey, Shiroe-kun really came through again, didn't he?" Marielle said quietly as they walked in the quieter streets of Akiba, hand in hand, over an hour later.

"Yes," Naotsugu said, enjoying the feel of her feminine hand in his broad one. "He surprised us with the university, though I suppose we should have known."

"All of you, too?" she was surprised.

"Yeah, but then, he'd only known about the other magics for about five days, since Purrcy showed up with one, followed by the Plague Master who had it, too. He had to put it together fairly quickly, actually."

"Well...he does seem to work well under pressure like that," Marielle allowed. "But he doesn't allow for the rest of us to have more time, either," she slumped. "I don't know how we're going to get moved and be ready to demo in one week."

"We'll handle that week if you can just get a few over to learn the ropes with us and be the face of the university and Crescent Moon to the prospective students," Naotsugu said. "We'll work up a demo schedule that fits with Purrcy's other work she has to get done."

"Are you guys going to work behind the scenes there, too?" she asked, a little resigned already.

"Yeah, sorry," Naotsugu said. "It's your fief from the King. He needs the rest of his house for his other things, but we'll help get it on its feet."

She pulled to the side and looked at him straight on. "Is he really accepting being called that?"

"No, not really," he grinned back at her, "but there's an even better negotiator trying to win him over...and he's losing. ...After all, he's the one who wanted to keep the Princess."

Marielle was quiet for a while, then said, "She's rather an enigma, isn't she?"

Naotsugu pulled Marielle in to wrap his arm around her shoulders. "I suppose...but her heart's nearly as big as yours. ...She's kind of like a Marie-Shiroe."

"A Shiroe with heart?" Marielle thought about that. "Well...Shiroe's got heart, too...so it's like that?"

Naotsugu kissed her. "Yes. That's why she's the Queen."

Marielle wrinkled her brow at Naotsugu. He laughed lightly. "You'll come to understand it, now that she can be herself around you lot...if there's time. We'll have you over to dinner a few times. It comes out pretty strongly when she's in the kitchen, or lecturing after dinner. Shiroe's actually having the time of his life. His eyes sparkle every time he looks at her - and Akatsuki doesn't kill him for it. It's rather entertaining actually. It's been a lively place this last week."

He got a little quiet. "Marie, don't be in a hurry for the wedding, if it's okay," he looked at her a little worried she'd be offended, but she just looked curious. "She's taking Nyanta out with her when she goes. They both need training. They'll be gone roughly three months. I'd like to have it when they're here."

Marielle sighed in relief. "Okay. Maybe we'll be ready by then, but even half a year might be too quick."

"Well, don't make it _too_ long," he protested. She laughed at him. He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, "Ah...there's one other thing." He blew out a nervous breath. "For all the negotiations were necessary to keeping the peace in Akiba, are you really okay with this? I - I'd like to hear it directly from you."

Marielle stopped and took both of his hands in hers, looking into his eyes earnestly. "Naotsugu, I'm so happy I met you. You've been the most kind, caring, even chivalrous man I've ever gone out with. I was ready to give up being Guildmistress to be with you, because I knew there wasn't anyone better. Only Miss Purrcy scolding me and promising me there was another way made me have the courage to try to hope it could be possible. Then to have Henrietta say she would support it, too, when she's never done that before for any guy I've thought I liked... I'd be a greater fool than normal to say no."

He looked at her softly. "I've never thought you were a fool, Marie."

"No," she said, "and that's why I love you, Naotsugu." She stood on tiptoe and leaned forward to give him a kiss. He took her in his arms and they held each other, kissing in the middle of the darkened street of Akiba for a long time, two kind but lonely hearts who had been brought together by a catastrophe and the friends who wished them only happiness.

* * *

 _*Heika (Jp) - King_


	21. Unrequited Love

Purrcy looked at her code one last time. One last time she looked at what it was supposed to effect, then very carefully told it to run - "casting the spell". She held her breath. Since learning that she could affect this world through coding, she'd not tried this level of magic. She'd written plenty of hard things, tested erasing small things, edits that were for the greater good, but nothing as big as trying to change another Adventurer's Class and sub-class, then prevent them from ever being able to have those Classes again. She'd finally tracked down how her own Class had changed. Having a close example had been helpful and put her on the right path. She'd used that as her base. Either change on it's own would be difficult, so she was doing them in series.

To find the code that already did what you wanted to do was like finding a scroll or spellbook. You might modify it, but it gave you a more firm basis to work on, and if you were fortunate you got bonuses to your own spell so that it cost less and worked better on the other end. With both of her code pieces based on such, it was her hope it would work. Especially since, technically, she shouldn't be able to do it.

In her tentative work in the code realm, she was always mindful that the Superuser had ultimate write changes and she was a peon that might get fired for trying out the wrong kind of code experience. Everything that modified another user was suspect. Everything that modified high level pieces of data even more so. To date, Class changes and data locks had only ever been accomplished by the "world" they were in. This would be the test to see if they were natural phenomena she, and therefore other Programmers, was allowed to touch, or if they were reserved.

She carefully watched the 'inner space' of the 'computer'. It was hard to describe. It was like watching a monitor inside her mind, except it was 3-D, and was a landscape of images that computer technicians talked about all the time - cables, threads, nodes, rings, mirrors, packets. Pointers were really rather like pointers and when you "opened" them, they showed you their contents. If it was a trap, it did something horrible like swallowed your mind and you were stuck until you figured out how to code your way out, if you could. Otherwise you waited for the mage who'd written it to come and release you...assuming he was nice enough to. You learned fast to use shields, mirrors, wrapper code to take the damage, and similar constructs so that it wasn't the real you that took the damage or got trapped.

Her first of the two spells reached the target and began to work on the Plague Master's data. She crouched down behind her shields, watching through five mirror sites. Maybe they would absorb the damage or hide her, or maybe not. She watched the sub-class "Hacker" disappear, to be replaced with "Farmer", each glowing letter appearing one at a time until it was in place. There was the glow of the "save" function. She winced. Nothing happened. The sub-class stayed "Farmer". As the next line of code began, she took a careful breath. She could edit sub-classes.

Now the Class field was glowing and slowly the word "Programmer" faded from view. The sense of nothingness was almost depressing, even though it was temporary. She hadn't felt it herself when it had happened to her...she hadn't even known it was happening until a notice window popped up to inform her of the change after it had happened. She hadn't included that in her code. She didn't know if would happen automatically. One by one, the letters of the replacement Class appeared. "P-e-r-s-o-n o-f t-h-e L-a-n-d". The "save" function made it glow again, then the spell reached the pause. She held still, barely breathing.

She had Shiroe and Rudy to thank for the Class idea. Any Adventurer Class would have kept the Plague Master too strong. With his sub-class, he would at least be able to make a living doing something useful with himself. ...It was also her experiment to see if the reverse from what Shiroe had done could be done. Theoretically it was possible since the former had been. In the long run she wanted to know if the man would begin to age. She'd set a thin data thread on him that would continuously send her information on where he was, any changes to his health status...and if it became a data point, his changing age. This was such a rare opportunity, she hadn't been able to pass it up.

She sat quietly in the code world in her 'couch' (without a real body one didn't really sit, she just preferred couches, so that's how she thought of it). When nothing more happened after ten minutes, except the expected drain on her MP, she took a breath and told the next piece of the spell to run.

She watched the code open with the first line. Each spell actually ran quickly in the real world, a few seconds for most of them. Programmers saw in microseconds. Hackers in milliseconds. It was the only way to counter incoming spells, or save yourself from unexpected traps. The brain naturally works in nanoseconds, so it balanced out...somehow...was all she'd been able to figure out. The lock for the "Hacker" sub-class ran...and failed. Just a glow, then a fizzle. She winced, waiting for a rebound, but none came. Rather, an "empty set" was returned. She frowned. The code continued on to the lock for the Class "Programmer". Again it failed with the same failure. "Empty set". The code ended and for quite some time her inner world was still. Finally she sent a simple read on his data options. There were no Adventurer Classes available, and no Adventurer sub-classes. Only Person of the Land options.

Purrcy stared at them in surprise, though...perhaps...she shouldn't be. If she'd changed his Class to Person of the Land, then the data pointed to that cascaded down from that Class would be what was now available. She did a read on what his status screen looked like. In the program realm, it read like any other Person of the Land's data and data options available. Looking closer at what would be seen by an Adventurer, it would be the same as they would see of any Person of the Land as well. His name and "Farmer". He...would see nothing. Purrcy's ears wiggled, almost in consternation. They would have to make sure he knew he was a farmer before they let him go or he would starve to death. ...He might anyway if he refused to act like one. Well.

She made sure there weren't loose ends, checked on her data threads that were of highest importance, saw there was still no contact yet for the thread carefully making its way to his plague code supplier, and slowly backed out of the inner realm and back into her own body, checking her own stats on the way out. She stopped and stared at her banner, then shook her head and continued on, a wry grin on her face.

-:-:-:-:-

On Nyanta's lap, in the sun so they both were looking like they'd been taken over by sun sleep, there was sudden motion. It happened occasionally, but was usually just an irritated flick of an ear or twitch of the tip of her tail. The former, Nyanta had been learning, meant she'd found something in the research or creation of a spell that annoyed her. The latter that she was worried, or was satisfied. To tell the difference, he could look at her whiskers. Slightly down was worried, slightly raised was satisfied. This time, though, it wasn't minor and it was enough to wake him up and put a paw gently on her back. The ears were twisting and turning - both of them. Two seconds later she was slowly cracking her eyes open.

It usually took her a while to readjust to the outer or real world when she'd been in deep. He'd already understood that this was when she was most vulnerable. No longer in the coding realm, not yet in the real one...basically defenseless in both for the nearly two minutes it took her to recover. She was like a newborn kitten. Not able to see or hear other than variations of bright light and indistinguishable sounds. He pet her slowly, letting her know he was there and still watching over her. As he waited, he checked her MP and HP levels. They looked about like what she'd expected. She'd want to sleep and recover, but it wasn't bad. She also didn't have any negative status effects listed. Whatever had disturbed her it hadn't been painful failure. Then he smiled.

When he looked down at her, she was smiling back up at him. "Congratulations," he said to her, "mew've earned meowr new title."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Well, I guess I'm happy I was able to be obedient to your request, but really. If all I'm going to get from this world for World-class magic is titles, I think my next major code will be to write my own title...or give myself a better reward."

Nyanta looked at her a bit confused. "Don't the titles give mew useful bonuses? They should."

Purrcy looked at him with the feline equivalent of a raised eyebrow. After a bit she allowed, "Next time I'm in there researching I'll go find out. If not, I'm seriously going to do something about it. I mean, really, "Justice of the East"? Who wants that kind of responsibility and obvious kill factor? May as well have "Queen of the World" pasted over my head."

Nyanta patted her head. Purrcy shook her head down to her shoulders. "Carry me down to Shiroe, please. I need to talk to him before I fall asleep. The results were rather interesting." She might have asked because she was being snobbish and royal - sometimes he wasn't sure - but really it was more likely because she was down to about a twentieth of her HP. That was enough to be alive, but not much else. Nyanta would be more worried for her, but Tetora was watching over her in the internal coding realm, and he himself was watching over her here.

Nyanta picked her up and stood, stretching his legs as he did. "Serera-chan, will mew come meet us in the main room of Log Horizon's hall?" He called her on the chat line naturally - by just thinking of her and picturing what she looked like and feeling the expectation of her hearing him. That was another thing he, and several others of the guild, had picked up watching Purrcy. Now that she'd taught them what a natural Adventurer was, they'd been learning by watching her be the example of one.

"O-of course, Nyanta-san!" Serera's cheerfully obedient voice promptly answered him. He knew she was next door helping to clean up the derelict apartment building. Not only did Crescent Moon have more magicians and guild members than Log Horizon, Shiroe had been right. Marielle had such a following that many people not in the guild had been showing up to help get the place livable. They expected to have the cleaning done by the end of the day and all of the construction by the end of the day after...which would mean another half day of cleaning the construction dust, but the move would be completed in total easily before the one week mark.

Nyanta had already spoken to Serera while Purrcy was working. Tetora needed to be 'inside the computer' until Purrcy was out of danger, but he was the only Cleric Log Horizon had. Marielle was a Cleric of the same level as Tetora, and also next door, but as the Guildmistress in Charge, she was very busy with the move. Nyanta had asked Serera to come and give Purrcy enough of a healing that Tetora could be released from the position of inner guard. Then he would be able to be the healer to get her up to full. It wasn't necessary for Purrcy to sleep so much any more, now that she didn't have the HP drain on her and she had guildmates and friends around her. She was just in the habit as a solo player.

When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Minori was just letting Serera in through the front door. "Serera-chan, thank mew for coming. We won't keep mew long."

"I'm happy to come and help, Nyanta-san," her happy tempo always lifted those who heard her voice. Purrcy twisted happy ears at her, but stayed low in Nyanta's arms, not moving much.

Serera looked at her as Nyanta asked, "Can mew cast your strongest healing spell on Purrcy, please?"

Serera's eyes got very large. "Miss Purrcy! Are you okay? That's horrible. Did someone do this to you?"

Purrcy purred a bit. "No, dear. I did it. To cast my magic, it costs high levels of HP in addition to the MP. I had several high level spells that I needed to spend the points on today. I'll be alright after resting enough."

"Oh, no! I'll heal you to my best. Just a second." Serera pulled out her wand and focused. A gold and pink glow surrounded Purrcy for a few seconds, then Serera checked her patient's status again. "That's better, though I'm not high enough level to heal you completely, I think."

Purrcy lifted her head and bowed to Serera, "No, that feels much better. Thank you so much. I'm sorry to interrupt your work."

"It was nothing," Serera said, blushing a pale pink, "I'm happy to help." She bobbed a bow to them both as Nyanta thanked her.

"Minorichi, I think mew could go and help Serera-chan if mew'd like," Nyanta said to the other young woman in the room. "Tetora-kun can be the ambassador now, I think."

"Okay," Minori said. "I'd be happy to be able to help over there, Serera. May I?"

"Yes, please do," her friend said.

As they happily left the guild house, Tetora sat up. He'd been lying on the couch while keeping track of Purrcy. "She's getting stronger," he said, referencing Serera. "I won't have to do as much work." Nyanta was already standing by Tetora. The younger mage pulled out his wand and cast his own high level spell, then layered another over top of it, then one more. "There, I think that should do it, and keep it going for a while. Congratulations, Purrcy. It's amazing to watch you work. It makes me impatient with my own low levels, but at the same time, more dedicated to working hard."

"As with all things, the efforts you put in now will determine how you develop in the future. Do enjoy this level, too. The higher you go, the more work you end up having. For some reason, more in this magic than almost any other, you get more challengers the higher up you go. As if you were an amazing fighter that everyone wants to cut their teeth on and test. It keeps the upper levels on their toes, I suppose, but I'd rather live in peace, really." Purrcy moved to escape Nyanta's arms and he let her go. She landed on the ground as large-cat and licked Tetora's face, making him flinch back and defend himself. Cat tongues were rough after all. "Thank you for the healing," she told him.

He fondly pet her. "My pleasure. I'll stay here and watch the door while I analyze what I just watched you do. Lying on the couch will get my MP back up, too."

"Lazy Lady," Nyanta teased Tetora, who stuck out his tongue at the cat-man. "But thank mew also," he added, his expression telling.

Tetora waved a dismissive hand and lay back down. "Don't worry quite so much, Old Man. She's been doing this a long time. It's pretty solid in there. I'll keep my eye on her anyway, but there isn't much I have to do except what I just did."

Purrcy transformed to felinoid and bent down to run her fingers through Tetora's pink hair and kiss his forehead. The visual made it a gesture of a mother to a daughter, but Tetora stared at her wide-eyed and blushed. There was a sudden glitter of silver over his head, contrasting with his pink hair and lighting his pale green eyes for just a moment. Purrcy smiled at him, then took Nyanta's arm and they walked towards Shiroe's office. As they closed the door behind them, they heard Tetora exclaim and call out a "thank you".

Nyanta raised an eyebrow at her. "I gave him a new shield, one to study that he'll be able to do for himself when he hits about level fifteen to twenty, depending on what path he takes between now and then. I think he's going to end up an analytic, he likes to study what I've done so much. He'll be strong in the end. It's a good thing, as long as he stays kind."

"Welcome, Purrcy," Shiroe called for her attention. "You're done then?"

"Yes, Shiroe. Sorry to interrupt, but I thought it would be best to let you know now and put this part behind us. ...Plus, I thought I was going to have to go take an immediate nap." She looked at her husband, "...but Nyanta had other thoughts about that. He seems to think I need to be up and working instead of wasting daylight."

"Mmm...," Nyanta said thoughtfully. "I have a thing I'd like mew to help me with next, if mew would."

Purrcy's tail stopped moving in surprise and she nodded. "If I can." Nyanta bowed his head in thanks.

Purrcy turned back to Shiroe, choosing to give her report standing. "All tasks related to dealing with the Plague Master have been completed successfully. I can edit sub-classes and Classes, without negative consequences or backlash." Shiroe's brow creased slightly in concern. Purrcy nodded. "It doesn't help our theory on the Superuser's existence. Nothing I did showed their hand at all, actually." Shiroe sighed and nodded his understanding. "I can do the reverse of what you did. He is now a Person of the Land with the skills of a farmer. But rather than having to lock him out of the Classes I didn't want him to have, that immediately reset his potentials to be exactly like what his new Class allows. He is, according to the computer, a Person of the Land. Just the same as Rudy is an Adventurer."

Shiroe's eyes widened and Nyanta stiffened slightly. "You mean...everything? It's gone? He can't access his information, or...anything?"

"Correct. I can read his data as a Programmer. Adventurers will see the typical Person of the Land minimal text. He will see nothing. We need to make sure D.D.D. tells him what he is now, so he knows how to stay alive into the future. I've put a tracer on him with a regular data feed. I want to know if he begins to age. Almost surely, since Rudy can resurrect, he can die."

It was a profound pronouncement. Not a single Adventurer knew how to live on this world as a Person of the Land, and not a single one of them could die. "If...if we go home...he'll have to stay?" Shiroe asked tentatively.

Purrcy paused. "I think that would be correct. However, I can change it again if necessary to let him go home. I did promise him that if he chose to learn to become wise and live peaceably, I'd let him return to doing just that. If he dies in the meantime, I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do, but if he can stay alive that long, he'll have time to learn his lessons properly. How you want to handle telling D.D.D., and exactly what, I'll leave it up to you, but at least make sure he understands that the punishment can be temporary if he's willing to work hard, and that he has to do something related to farming."

Purrcy paused, then sighed. "It was First World Class magic. My new title is 'Justice of the East', meaning I took the role of judge and executioner into my own hands, and I suspect now I'll be more of a target and have more work to do. I've put Caretaker as the main one, but I can't hide or erase it, so if a Hacker or Programmer is insistent, they'll find it in my data. I've got traps around my real data anyway, but...," she shrugged.

Shiroe sighed like she had and put his chin in his hand, his elbow resting on his desk. "May as well wear your crown and the Queen nametag."

Nyanta laughed. "That's what she said."

"I do hope you're getting something for it?" Shiroe asked.

"That's what Nyanta and I said also," she answered him. "I have no idea. I'll go in and look and see when I'm in there next time. I'll look at yours, too."

He nodded. "Thanks." He looked a bit morosely at Nyanta. "When are you going to get yours?"

Nyanta's whiskers twitched. "I'm not a magic user."

"You don't have to be for a title," Shiroe negated. "Shouji's earned one for being the First to discover the Mysteries, and I am quite certain a ninja we know is going for First with a Thousand Mysteries. If she makes it that high, she'll get one too, though how there could even be that many, I have no idea."

"Especially since the limit to any one thing in this world for Adventurers is one less than that," Purrcy commented. Then she stopped and put her hand to her forehead. "Right. She'll get it because she'll break that limit, just like we've broken limits to get ours." Then she smiled, "Well, more power to her then. I'd love to have more room than four pointers on my lists and nine-hundred-ninety-nine total items per slot." Shiroe and Nyanta laughed.

"Well, knowing Purrcy," Nyanta looked at her with whiskers upturned, "I'll have my title before too much longer, though...Consort to the Queen would be sufficient."

Purrcy blushed slightly and said, "Don't see if I won't write it in for you."

"After mew figure out what bonuses I get for it," Nyanta said warningly. "If mew're going to put me in that much danger, I'd better get some additional purrotections...like good luck, or decreased chances for people noticing the title or something like that. Otherwise I'll have as many challengers as mew will."

"You will anyway since you'll already be with me," she countered quickly.

Nyanta paused with his mouth open, then said, ruefully, "True."

Shiroe shook his head and waved dismissively at them. "I'll contact D.D.D. Go help Nyanta. Congratulations, Purrcy."

Purrcy jumped up on his desk, becoming kitten in the air, and batted at the hand that was waving. Shiroe smiled and rubbed her head. When he was done, she lept back off the desk, returning to felinoid on the fly and walked to the door, followed by Nyanta. "Thanks, Guildmaster Shiroe," she said.

"Tetora-kun's on duty," Nyanta said in closing to Shiroe. The guildmaster nodded, already moving on to his task. As Nyanta followed Purrcy back to the main room, he called, "Tetora-kun."

"Yeah?" Tetora tipped his head up backwards, chin pointing in the air, to look at Nyanta.

"I'm going to take Purrcy out to the suggested university building and grounds. She needs to pick out a location for the demos and training. Hold down the fort. Everyone else is over next door helping, nyan."

"Gotcha." He waved them out the door.

-:-:-:-:-

When Minori arrived at the new guild hall for Crescent Moon with Serera, it was a busy place full of happy noise and useful activity. Summoners had already come with water undines to clean the building of the millennia of moss, dirt, and other weather and animal life detritus that had overtaken the ancient apartment. Once that had been removed, then they'd been able to see what needed fixing. Everyone was now either practicing 'sending', if they were from Crescent Moon or Log Horizon, or carrying if they weren't, to remove the rubble that had been too heavy for the water to remove.

Minori could see that was almost also done, and that the construction crews from the other larger guilds were present and at work on the stairs and other repairs. Since Shiroe had purchased Log Horizon's building, Michitaka and his crews had learned how to put in stairs expeditiously. Most of the larger guilds had moved out of the Guild Hall, keeping only offices there. To purchase a building cost a lot in down payment, but less in montly fees. Shiroe had also managed to convince the Round Table Council that the more zones of Akiba were purchased by the Adventurers to be their own, the safer they were as a whole. If a neighboring enemy purchased them, they could be out of a safe home to live in - locked out from even their own home town.

The Guild Hall itself had been purchased by Shiroe as his first move as Master Strategist, but he had turned it back over to the world and it was a free zone now. Everyone saw the value of that and slowly the Round Table Council was purchasing up the public zones of Akiba. When enough were purchased, Shiroe would write another of the scroll he had written before, and turn those parts of the city over to the world to be free zones as well. This part, where Log Horizon's guild hall was, was so far out from the main activities of the city, it was still mostly purchasable zone.

Minori was pretty certain that one of the reasons Shiroe wanted Crescent Moon, Marie, and the university out here was so that he had reason for the land around their own hall to not become enemy territory. Likely Shiroe had been thinking about this plan for some time - the plan to make his own home safe, like he was trying to make the expanded home of Akiba safe...and like the new home of all the Adventurers, Theldesia.

She really respected Shiroe. She had from when she'd first met him on line and he had been willing to show two completely new players the ropes of _Elder Tales_. That respect had only deepened since the catastrophe...until she'd discovered that she loved him. She'd comprehended that part of herself at the same time she'd seen how much Akatsuki loved him. It had been extremely bittersweet. As bittersweet as 80% cocoa chocolate. That had been over a year ago, and the pain was healing. She was settling back into a state where her respect for him and her joy at being able to be trained at his feet in becoming a Strategist were enough. That and Shiroe and Akatsuki hadn't done anything romantic. ...Until now.

She sighed as she followed Serera to the floor her friend had been working on, climbing up a temporary set of stairs and then a couple of ladders. Having Purrcy push Akatsuki into the final open admission to Shiroe had been a blow that she thought she was ready for, but it had still opened the old wound. She could see that there had been good reasons in the end, not just Purrcy trying to be helpfully meddlesome, but emotions being what they were, it was going to take time to heal again.

"Is everything okay?" Serera asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. It's just fine," Minori answered. This wasn't the time to get morose. Crescent Moon was in a good mood today. She put on a smile. "I'm glad we're going to get to be neighbors finally. You won't have to walk so far any more." She stopped, aghast. Serera's face had frozen.

Serera turned away suddenly. "Yeah, that's true isn't it?" The cheer was forced. Serera led her into a room that was empty and partially uncovered of rubble.

Minori stepped up to Serera and put her hand on her friend's arm. "Serera?" she called softly.

Serera turned back, her false smile still pasted on her face, but her eyes bright with unshed tears. "It will be fun won't it?"

Minori looked back soberly. "Serera...we all know this is difficult for you. ...It is for me, too."

Serera stopped, relief and confusion warring on her face. Minori looked around the room, then led Serera over to where there was clear space and they could sit leaning against the wall but not be interrupted from someone walking by out in the hallway.

"Serera...," Minori started hesitantly. "It's hard to love someone for a long time and have it be unrequited. ...I think you've been hoping that if enough time passed that Nyanta would begin to see you as a woman instead of a girl and return your love?"

Serera's face crumpled and tears slowly began to drip down her face. She nodded miserably. "I've always known he's older, and so I'd have to be an adult for him to look at me...and I guess I've never really thought he would...I just...wished it," she ended lamely.

Minori nodded. "And since we can't change what our hearts wished, it hurts when we can't have it."

Serera nodded, wiping her cheeks. "I - I was okay if it was just him watching over her, but...to have her say he was her hu-hus-" she broke down, sobbing, not even able to say the word.

Minori wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders and comforted her. Her own pain had been similar. Fiery, the searing pain as deep as the hope and love had been - still was, though perhaps the year had made them just a little less so now. "Serera...I know it hurts a lot now, and I don't want to take that from you. It's your love and you should keep it your treasure. There's nothing wrong with you wanting to love Nyanta-san, nor even with holding your wish close to you. ...But, if it would help you...I can tell you that the pain lessens with time." Her heart clenched around her own pain. "It still comes and goes, but...we also have to treasure our own futures. There are still many happy memories waiting to be made, still times we can be warm, even if we have to wait patiently to get to them."

Serera was looking at Minori with wide eyes. "Minori," she whispered in awe, "do you...love...Mister Shiroe?"

Minori paused, then nodded soberly back. "Yes, Serera, I do." Serera closed her open mouth and gulped. "This hasn't been any easier for me, because the very first night she pushed Akatsuki into confessing openly to him. I'd gotten used to the way it was, and," her own tears threatened, "to have it finally happen...even when I've been trying to prepare myself for over a year...," she took a breath, forcing it past the lump in her chest, "it's still really, really hard," she whispered.

Serera put her arm around Minori and held her too. "I - I don't know how you've done it, living in the same place as them this whole time. That has been very brave of you," Serera admitted. "I've been thinking I don't know how to do it just living next door."

"It was painful, but I learned to treasure the times I did have with him, until I could appreciate the times we were all together. ...Eventually, I came to appreciate that Akatsuki was protecting him, and by letting her do that not just for her, but for me, too, I was able to forgive her for loving him, too." She knew she looked miserable, and not calm about it. "I'll have to do it again - I am doing it again. Because it's worth it. Every time the pain comes back, I have to breathe through it and find the good again and forgive again, but each time it gets a little easier. It doesn't take quite as long. ...I suspect if they were to get married it would hurt the worst, though, but I hope I can forgive then, too," she looked at Serera in the eyes earnestly, "because I also love the happy memories we're making together. I'm so fortunate to get to learn from the greatest Strategist ever. I'm so proud to be able to say I'm his apprentice." Her tears began to drip. "It really, really hurts - that my wish to have him love me can't come true, but it's _my_ love. I don't have to give that up. And I don't have to give up the happiness either."

Serera let Minori cry, completely understanding her need and her pain. Her own tears dripped occasionally as well as she contemplated her own love and her own pain and how she might continue to move forward. As Minori calmed down, Serera said, "Thank you, Minori, for telling me those things. They give me hope. I'll keep trying - keep moving forward." She bit her lip. "Is - is Miss Purrcy good to him? Good for him?"

Minori smiled through her wet face. "Yes, Serera. Nyanta-san is happy. ...She is good for him, and to him. Please come and see for yourself when you can. Neither of them will send you away. They'll let you come and continue to make your own happy memories with him."

Serera was thoughtful, then she nodded a little sadly. "Yes, that's what they did when I first met her. It was like she was just part of the kitchen, just like he is, and they both let me be...also." Her final tears fell as she had to let go of her wish ever coming true. When she recovered, the two friends rose and finished cleaning the room out, keeping each other company until they were ready to face the world again.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta looked at the calico felinoid woman walking next to him. She had her eyes half closed and her nose pointed into the breeze, the wind blowing her whiskers back, her ears turned slightly away from center. She was sniffing the smells of the open city. Here, in this part of Akiba the smells were that of the abandoned ruins - moss, trees, hidden flowers, little animals and insects that scurried in the undergrowth. The tang of the automobiles, commuter trains, and concrete were long gone from this world if they'd even ever existed. He remembered those smells. This hadn't been his home city. He'd come here to Akiba from Susukino because his home on Earth was Sapporo, not Tokyo. But the smells were the same regardless. Likely they would have been the same in her own home town. The smells of living things was one of the things they'd found new in this place - one of many.

Nyanta was finding a new thing in himself, particularly as he looked at Purrcy, another new thing in his life. Hope. ...Nine days. He'd only known her barely over a week. ...It felt like months, hours. He'd spent two and a half days, while she'd sat on his lap mostly unmoving because she was working internally, with only sleep and his thoughts to keep him busy. That was normal. His thoughts had been new, yet familiar. He'd thought similar things the first time, when he'd been considering asking his wife on Earth to marry him.

Nyanta sighed softly and looked away from Purrcy. That part was hard still. It wasn't like they could ship divorce papers home - not that he would have. It wasn't like he felt dead either, even if the family there might think he was. That not knowing was the hardest part, of course. It paralyzed almost every Adventurer who had a past they were protecting. They couldn't move forward unless their past was open, like Naotsugu and Marielle's were. When those two married here, they could go home, find each other, register their marriage and continue on. Probably only a third of Adventurers could do that...maybe half, but most of them were high school students and younger.

It was made harder by the fact they'd been here two years already. If they considered it, "game time" would only be two months on Earth. That wasn't much time to have passed at all. It was hard to wait years, but when they thought of it that way, they weren't ready to give up yet. It would be nearly a quarter-century of time passing here before the Adventurers would begin to despair ever going home, and another quarter-century before they gave up and began to think about living a 'normal' life on this planet. If they couldn't get home in two years of Earth time, they would assume Earth had given up on them. If they couldn't get home in four, they would also give up. Fifty years was a long time to live with only hope, after all. There was a possibility that it would be a minority that would wait that long, in the end. Humans had to keep moving forward where they were.

Nyanta sighed and reached out to grab Purrcy's hand. How could he be so impatient, when he thought of things in terms of time like that? Only three-quarters of a day of Earth time had passed since she had passed by him on her way up to the treetop. He pulled Purrcy to him and held her for a long moment. She was surprised at first, but then held still and let him, gently putting her free arm around his closer shoulder. No. He finally realized what it was. It was the difference between him and the average Adventurer. He'd had to live life as if each day was his last before coming here. Now that he had a companion again, that mindset had returned forcefully. He didn't want to waste the days, the hours. He wasn't going to die here...but they might go home...and he'd never see her again if they did. He didn't want to waste these precious hours.

It helped to recognize what it was. He took a breath and relaxed. "Sorry. Thank mew."

"No. I understand," she said kindly as he pulled back. She put her hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes. "Sometimes this place grabs us and twists us when we least expect it. It helps to have another one present who understands we are strangers in a stranger world."

He held the hand that was on his cheek and turned to kiss it, then released it and moved to start them walking again, but he continued to hold onto the hand he'd taken at the first. He'd already pointed out the warehouse they were planning to purchase for the university, and she'd selected where she wanted to teach and to host the demonstration. Now they were just walking together, because he wanted to - because he had things he wanted to talk to her about from his long thinking.

"Did you live in Tokyo, Nyanta?" she asked him now.

He looked around. "Briefly. I came to University here, thinking it would be a good experience...and I suppose it was, but when I graduated I went back home. Sapporo was home and there were many good things there: my parents and siblings; my fiancée who welcomed me home with open arms." He looked at her, but her eyes were as calm and kind as his own heart felt. "I was able to grow up and decide what I really wanted in life during that time. It was a good thing, but I wasn't cut out to be a mega-city boy. Going home was calming and a good decision."

Purrcy nodded. "I went away for school also, but returned home after. Sometimes I think I settled before really figuring out what I wanted, but at the time, it seemed like everything in life was very fulfilling." She laughed cynically at herself a little. "I know life gets hard for everyone. I knew it probably would for me eventually...I think we just can't know in what way it will, or even exactly how we'll react when it happens." She looked away. "Sometimes it's hard to be an emotional woman with such a logical brain. Just because I was feeling trapped, unhappy, and unfulfilled, that didn't mean I could just walk away. To do that was just completely illogical. Being a single parent sucks, big time. Even if you aren't happy, that's temporary. Single parenthood isn't, once you've chosen it. Hang on long enough and you'll eventually relearn to be happy where you are."

She looked back at him. "At least...that's how my logical reasoning went. Love's a choice and action that comes out of you. It's not an emotion someone else stuffs you with. Just like we can't read another person's mind, make their decisions for them, or make them change, we can't make them love us in the ways we need to be loved. I can only do what I can do. If that's be patient with myself until I figure out how to love again, I can at least choose that. Choose to stay, choose to keep going forward until the emotions catch up again." She looked very sad. "Except I was also choosing to run away, while being physically present. It wasn't kind, and it wasn't showing love. I'm not sure it really was any better since it was just as selfish."

He stopped her and looked at her. "Mew have a very good grasp of most of that. For all I rarely ever counseled my clients to leave, and worked with them to get them to find ways to return to that state of being able to recommit again, there are times where it doesn't work."

She nodded. "When the other party can't change, or refuses to." Nyanta nodded. She bit her lip, "I understand that for situations that are dangerous, but when they're just...annoying, it doesn't seem like it should be used as a cop-out."

"How do mew tell the difference?" Nyanta said quietly.

Purrcy shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted quietly. "I saw a lot of examples in my life of couples that stayed together, but if you got to know them, they were just unhappy together. They lived with it, for whatever reasons. It was sad to see my own life becoming like that. Since we never grow up really, we never really grow out of the need for that kind of twenty-something romantic love." She pulled him to begin walking again, needed motion while she talked. "I heard of other couples who worked through those times and came out even more in love on the other side and it was my hope on the hardest days. But we couldn't ever seem to agree on when or who to go to for help to get over it. And when we tried to talk there was too much defensiveness, or denial that change was needed."

He could see the pain in her, like he had seen in others he'd counseled. If they were there, he could fix her relationship, if her husband was willing. But as she said, he'd have to be willing. Willing to admit he was half the problem, willing to not be defensive, willing to change. Since he wasn't there, Nyanta couldn't say if it would work out or not. But...they'd almost passed the amount of time that most relationships could be fixed in. There was a time limit, he'd discovered in his practice. Once it was past, then the couple was stuck in the examples she'd seen. Married and unhappy for the rest of the time they were, or divorced and outcast.

"Ah!" she turned to him, worried by his silence. "I'm sorry. It isn't like you should have to be my therapist just because you are one. Nothing can be done with just one party, after all." She looked down then turned away again. "You know, for all I've said it at the negotiation, you're free to go if you want. Maybe in fifty years, one hundred, if we really become real, I'll come back and see if you're interested still, if you haven't found someone better. I'm pretty broken after all."

He was suddenly angry. He stopped her again, making her look at him. "Do mew want me or not?"

"I do," she said, looking him in the eye. "But the urgent necessity for it isn't present any more. I've only been around a little over a week, after all. Barely the blink of an eye to make a choice like that. If you want it, I'm giving you breathing and thinking room. Because...if I don't, I'll wonder if it was a forced response for the rest of the time we're together." His anger was gone, replaced by surprise. "I'd rather not make you have to be the one in the position I was in there."

His ears fell in sympathetic understanding. "How long have mew been considering it?" he asked her quietly.

Her eyes dropped. "I said it, didn't I? Since I saw you in the beginning, I desired it. The more I watched you in Susukino, I wanted the gentle care you offered to everyone, that I had been desperately missing and craving in my own life. I've been watching you here in town when I'm here both because I still crave it, and because I've been trying to figure out if it was a logical enough decision to talk to you, to try to bridge the language gap." She turned her head. "I'm afraid that not only was I using you to escape that part of town that day, I was also testing you."

An ear went down in embarrassment. "The way you teased me, and your eyes laughed at me, recognizing what was going on...," she sighed. "Well, to put it coarsely, it was even more of a turn on." The second ear went down in greater embarrassment and his own went up in surprise. "And...when you went to follow me and had to stop yourself...I almost went back right then. If the Wolf Pack hadn't decided right then to crowd in, I probably would have." Nyanta suddenly needed to swallow - hard.

"I followed you back to the guild house the next time, not letting you see me. I wanted to know where you lived and come talk to you there. The marketplace, where we were interrupted all the time, wasn't a good place to talk, and I didn't want the Wolf Pack to know, either. I wasn't sure what they'd do to you, since they kept chasing me all the time. That time wasn't a good time to talk either since the others arrived shortly after you did, before I could work up my courage to knock. ...That was last time I was in town. When the Wolf Pack chased me this time, I'd already programmed in your place as the next one to go to when I was in town again." Her ears twisted back and forth. "Only, that didn't happen the way I thought it would at all. ...I'm sorry."

Nyanta shook his head. "That couldn't be helped." He put his paw on the side of her head and lifted it to see her golden eyes again. "I'm glad mew came to me. I've been waiting for mew. Mew've made living worth it again. ...I watched mew in Susukino also." Purrcy's eyes went wide and her ear up in surprise.

"Mew're breathtaking, mew know that? I don't think there's anyone who can see mew and forget what mew look like. It's always been my regret that I didn't try to talk to mew the first time I saw mew. To watch a junior player stand up to Brigandia for the sake of other junior players and People of the Land... I wondered why they left mew alone instead of put mew on the ground like they did so many others when they were stood up to." Nyanta smiled. "I couldn't tell from the distance I was watching that it was because mew were giving them the mother look and scolding. I couldn't hear it, I just saw it and all I saw was courage. I wished to have that kind of courage. Not the courage of sword and level, but of an internal will."

His ear flicked in sorrowful embarrassment. "I was passing by when they were chasing mew off. I heard the commotion and went to see, but I was too late to help. All I could do was watch mew run off, leaving the memory of meowr courage. It was hard to not have mew come back, though at the same time I thought that if anyone could make it down here from there, it would be mew, and the longer there wasn't word, the more I could hope it was true. When it was Shiroe-ichi who came to rescue Serera-chan, I had more than one reason to come with him." He shivered as a tremor went through him and he leaned in close to her, touching foreheads. "To have mew come and flirt with me...I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't help myself. Mew didn't use me to get through the marketplace, or test me, not really. I was the one who followed mew." He kissed her again, the sweet fuzzy taste like a peach on the lips. Whispering he said, "Don't run away again. Two years was a long time to wait when I want to treasure every moment with mew. ...I haven't been waiting to go home and die. I've been waiting for mew to come so I can live."

Purrcy wrapped her arms around Nyanta's neck and kissed him, and he returned it. Feeling her body melt into his, feeling the soft fur on the back of her head as he held her, not wanting to let go, wanting this moment to be burned in his mind, like all the other moments that burned so brightly. They parted to breathe and he groomed her chin and then her jaw, then down her neck. She moaned, like she had before when he'd reached that point and he almost couldn't stop. That made him stop anyway, though. He wanted to know. To know what came after that. But it wasn't time. He lifted his head instead to her ear and breathed on it gently, making it flick in reaction, but he could feel her lose strength for just a moment and he switched to grooming under her ear, then around it. Each new little thing was a new thing to treasure. With his need to not waste even one moment he wanted to know them all right now. With hundreds of years before them, he could wait. Uncover them one by one, little by little.


	22. Bittersweet

"Purrcy."

"Yes, Nyanta?"

Silence. Just the soft padding of their footsteps and the scurrying life in the undergrowth. She wasn't in a hurry to hear anything in particular. She'd just let him know she was present to him. If it took him time to put his thoughts together...or even if he just needed to know that she was present, it was fine. He was a man of comfortable silences. She tended to fill silence, but she didn't have to. She actually liked quiet, too. But...she also liked attention, so since he'd commanded her attention, but wasn't asking for anything else, she couldn't prevent doing the same in return.

Purrcy took the paw that was holding her hand and put it on top of her head and made it rub her head a few times. He looked over in surprise, blinked, and rubbed the top of her head, side to side, briefly, then took it back and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He must be thinking then. She wrapped her arm around his waist, mindful of the rapiers (he was wearing them openly since they were out of the guild house) and went back to absently looking around the area they were walking in. He seemed to be directing their footsteps a little more purposely this time.

He kept surprising her. She supposed such things shouldn't be surprising her, but they did. It was kind of like, _Really!? Oh, well... I suppose it would be like that_. And the sum was more like, _How is it you are so like me?_ That he'd been watching her like she'd been watching him. If there's someone around you that you see on occasion and they do things that you admire, and you admire their looks, too, then of course you would watch for them and learn about them in the watching. She'd done it to him. It was just as reasonable he'd have done it to her. It still surprised her to learn about it, though.

He was a terrible tease...a flirt, really. ...And she loved it. She hadn't flirted with him so much...but that day at the market she had...and had absolutely loved it. If she hadn't fallen for him before then, that day she had for sure. She'd taken that memory with her and it had decided her. She had to meet him.

He was a romantic. Not overly much, but enough to catch her breath and attention at the most unexpected times. She loved that, too. For her part...she couldn't wait for things to settle down for her just a little more. She couldn't be as romantic and flirtatious on the spot at the moment. It took her a little more to work it out...and she was many years out of practice. With some patience, she would catch up to him...because she enjoyed being the romantic flirt just as much. To know that she'd affected him that much the day she wore her favorite outfit had made her smile inside, even though it hadn't been fair play on that day. She was looking forward to many more opportunities like that in the future.

They turned a corner and her breath caught, as did her step. She stood rigid with surprise - yet again. She looked around the small grotto, then up and up...and up the tree in front of them. She knew he was watching her face, but she couldn't look away from the tree. Somehow, trees did that to her. He gently released her shoulders, and removed her arm from his waist. As soon as she didn't have him as an anchor she was off, down on all fours, full size calico panther, her tail streaming behind her, keeping her balanced as she ran around the edge of the small pond, across the clearing, to the trunk of the enormous tree, and up the trunk at full speed, like she'd run at the guild house to escape the Wolf Pack. For straight-up open spaces like that, full speed at the beginning was necessary.

She reached the first set of branches and went up three more, catching her chosen branch with her front paw to swing the rest of her body around to come down on a landing at the crook of the branch. She sat on it upright, breathing hard, her heart pounding in excitement, her ears and tail in complete agreement. She glanced around then paced down the branch until it was too narrow any more to walk on. "Mer- _Ow!_ " she had to let it out. _This_. This was One. Sweet. Tree. She looked out over the city she could see from there, then turned and walked back down to the trunk and looked down.

He was too far away to hear her. "Nyanta. This is..., wow. Awesome."

His chuckle came back to her on the chat. "I thought mew might like it."

"Abso-friggin-lutely. Thanks. Bunches." She was exploring up and down the branches of the trunk, sniffing here and there, getting lost in her enjoyment of it.

As she walked out another branch on the other side he asked, "So, I watched mew get up there, but talk me through it."

She looked down for him. "Well, first you have to have the speed to make it up the distance. I hit the guild house the same way - top speed. Then you have to trust your claws to find the purchase in the bark as you go. You grab and throw yourself up with each attachment, but you don't hold on tight. Too loose and you miss, too, and you're in free fall. If you lose too much steam at the top, you can grab on tight and crawl and claw your way the final stretch, but you don't want to do that for too long or you get tired. ...In a nutshell...lots and lots of practice. I hate to say it, but you probably can't yet. Make it your goal for when we get back and you'll work hard while we're out." She couldn't keep the smile out of the words. She wanted him up here with her now, but she didn't want him dead either.

"Can mew get back down?" he asked her, just a bit worried.

"Yeah. That was hard the first few tall trees I went up. It's why I've started you on 'down' also. To a human mind, the down's the hardest thing. I hated the down, as much as I hate roller coasters, and trees are worse since they're completely vertical. I backed down a LOT of trees at the beginning. I about got dead a few times from enemies though, so finally had to start with short lengths and let the body teach me how it wanted to go down.

"Keep practicing that at home - a lot, working your way up the house tree until you're comfortable with the full length down. That one leans so it's an easier one to learn on. You can't practice a full-run up because there isn't enough runway inside, but going up to each branch in spurts is doable, and the length at the top is where you'll want to do most of your practicing for now until we get to the forest and we've got the variation in tree size you need to get it all learned."

She knew she was saying too much, but she was so excited it was hard to stop. When she'd seen he wasn't going to try the run, she'd gone back to exploring, working her way up now. When she was about half-way up the canopy, she stopped and looked around. "Nyanta...," the awe in her voice was evident. "I can see to outside the city walls from up here. Only the Silver Leaf is taller than this one. Do please learn how to climb these. You will most absolutely love the vista from up here."

"Haaah... Now I am jealous. Come down, please. I can't even see mew any more." He sounded lost and alone already and she hadn't even been gone that long.

She smiled. "Okay." She moved from branch to lower branch until she was on the lowest branch, looking down at him again. He'd moved closer to the tree and was looking up at her. "Okay. This one is tall enough I'm going to cheat, okay? Watch the first half. You won't see as much as you need to to learn it since the distance is a bit much, but you should get the essence of it."

Purrcy let her eyes go into the focus they needed to be to see only the trunk of the tree and every groove of the bark. She would be looking at it only a few feet out in front of her. She marked her launch point, set it in her body, then told it to go. While it was doing the run down the tree, the human part of her was casting the transformation spell she needed. This was the second most common one she used. It confused her enemies that could access trees to no end, and took her out of harm's way. Trees this size were even better for it. Her body hit the launch point and bunched under her. She cast the transformation spell and as her body flipped head over tail in the air so that she was feet towards ground, wings sprouted from just below her shoulder blades until she was gliding.

Oh! This was just awesome! She soared right, then curled left to come in facing the tree. She had enough height to circle the tree trunk and come down with a bit of a run in front of Nyanta. His eyes were very wide and his whiskers stiff, but his eyes were lit up as if he were a child again, having watched his toy in flight, spellbound and fully into the flight as if he'd been the one up there. She grinned up at him and her tail wagged as if she were a dog instead of a cat. She folded the wings up against her sides and rubbed on his legs, purring. He knelt down and reached for her closest wing. She tried to hold still while he felt it, his eyes shining. When she couldn't stand it any more, she licked his face, her tongue as wide as his cheek.

He moved to grab her head, then rub it, giving her a nose kiss. "A sphinx? Really?" His own excitement was evident in his voice as well as his face.

"Yup!" she said proudly. "I can't flap up like a bird, but it's the most wonderful thing coming down. And this tree is high enough for lots of flight, too. Those are rare, actually. Usually it's just a straight glide down kind of thing, then run for your life. To get off the tree early has saved me on many occasions. I had to learn to do the flip before the wings, though. Otherwise the wings scoop the air and I tumble." Nyanta nodded understanding. Purrcy danced away again and unfolded the wings so he could look at them in more detail. When he was done, she flapped them once, sending the loose underbrush scattering and his clothes fluttering. Then they were gone and she was felinoid again, this time back in her favorite outfit - the black with gold speckles.

She grabbed him in a hug and kissed him soundly. "Thank you so much! This is the most awesome ever! We can come back again, right?"

He held her tightly. He finally said, "Only if mew promise to keep coming back down for me."

Purrcy giggled. "Of course. I might love a good tree, and great trees like this are even better, but I love Nyanta more."

He shuddered and a slight moan escaped him. Purrcy pulled back, worried and looked at him. His eyes were closed and he turned his head away. She put her hand on his cheek and made him look back at her. "What is it, Nyanta?"

He kissed her hand again, then without letting it go turned away from her to lead her over to a rock they could sit on near the pond. He set her down on the rock, then knelt in front of her, still not able to look her in the face, though he continued to hold her hand gently. "Purrcy," his voice held...pain? longing?...something she couldn't quite name. Her ear twitched in concern. "Will...will mew marry me and be my wife?" His green eyes finally came up to meet her gold ones.

She was confused. "Yes, Nyanta. ...For as long as we live. Even if we're five hundred and you're on a different continent because you can't stand to live in the same house with me anymore, I'll still be your wife. I'll even still show up and nag you just to remind you that you have one every once in a while. And then we can sip tea and watch the moon rise and a few days or months or years later, I'll slip away again, and you won't mind because you'll know I'll come back to haunt you again sometime. And when you get lonely, you'll know where I am and you'll come to scold me and rant about how things these days are just not like they used to be, and then you'll hold me and groom me and we'll sleep in the sun until you slip away and I'll be okay because I'll know you're still here with me and I'm still here with you."

Nyanta was crying. Purrcy slipped down the rock to take him in her arms to comfort him. He held on to her like he was drowning. By the time he was finally beginning to recover, which took a long time, really, she was sitting on the ground, leaning on the rock, and he was curled up on the ground, his head on her lap - what lap there was for cats anyway. It annoyed her she didn't have much of one at times like this. She gently pet his head, shoulder, and back in long calming strokes.

He rested, worn out really. It was hard on a cat body to cry dry tears for the human half, and he'd had a lot to get out of his system. Finally he said, "Purrcy, I love my son. If it ever does become possible to have children in this world, I would like to have some with mew. I know the experiment is important...but I want to know it can be reversed, so that later...after we may be the only Adventurers left on Theldesia, we can have children."

"They're a lot of work, Nyanta," she said.

He paused. "I know. But they're worth it."

Purrcy shook her head a little. "You'll have to promise to help. I may even leave you and them and make you raise them after they get old enough to live without me. I love my children...but it was too hard to raise them all alone. I felt like a single parent a lot, though I know they had it harder than I did. That was one of the things that broke me. ...I'm not sure I can promise that part of me will fix." His ears had fallen and twitched in worry. She bent down and kissed the side of his head. "I love children, Nyanta. If you want some, I'll give you some, and I'll love them as long as I can, and as much as I can...but...you'll have to be committed to being the devoted parent."

"If the way to properly spay and neuter is with a tag, that's easy to reverse. If it isn't even possible except by surgery after every death, then die and refuse the surgery, then kill me and refuse to let me die again until a child is born. If I find a way to make us mortal, I'll undo the surgery first. Then we'll have to be careful, or the world will be littered with felinoids - literally," she smiled at her pun.

He relaxed some, then looked a little confused. "Can't you make us mortal using the Class change?"

She hesitated. Then said slowly, "If I do that to me, Nyanta...what will happen to the things I promised to protect? And if I can't do it to me, how can I do it to my husband who promised to spend forever with me? ...The only case I can see that happening is if this world truly has no need of Adventurers any longer." She looked into his eyes, that were now looking up into hers. "I can see how to do that too, actually, so I can conceive of the day I overwrite my own data to erase me and make me a mortal felinoid of this world, and dying in my time...but," her own tears wanted to come, "...there are things you don't understand yet and I can't tell you." They did come now. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Nyanta sat up in a panic and he held her now, purring trying to calm her. "I'm sorry, Purrcy. I'm sorry," he said. "I don't want mew to erase meowrself. I want mew. Always with me. I was just trying to understand."

She hiccuped and shook her head. "I - know. Sor-ry. Some-some year...I won't have to keep - secrets any - more. ...I'm sorry," she whispered again. He shook his head and held her, petting her, until she calmed down again.

He kissed her cheek and changed the subject. "Purrcy, I'm struggling with transformation. Is it even possible for a fighting Class to learn magic? Or could mew change one of my sub-classes for me, now that mew know mew can, so that I can have even base level Transformation Magic?"

She frowned a little. "You should just have to put in the effort. It's hard to gain at the beginning, really, that one, and each step takes a lot of concentration. ...My theory is that it's because it's actually rather powerful. The cost is completely up front in hours of concentration and focus, save for the small amounts of MP needed later for the transformation when you cast it. Can I go take a look at your progress?"

He slumped in relief. "Yes, please do."

While he held her closely, she dove in the world of her magic, though not so deeply she was completely removed from the outer world. "You're actually doing pretty good," she finally said. "It's present, just not quite to the points it needs to be to be granted as a sub-skill." As she came back up, she considered it. "What are you specifically trying to do?"

An ear went down in embarrassment. "Just starting with transforming the front paws into hands. ...Though, after seeing the wings...I want that now, too. That was very beautiful."

"Well, to get there you have to do full cat, first. I wouldn't mind that at all. It's an easier way to travel, actually, when you want to come with me after this first mandatory time." Purrcy winked at him solemnly. "But for hands...that's a good place to start, something to get the idea of transformation on a small scale first. Here, watch me. I'll make it go slowly. We'll do it several times. After you think your eyes have it, then we'll do it by feel. Hold my hand in both paws to feel what it's like, too."

She held out her hand and transformed it between hand and paw several times, back of the hand up, then turned it over and did the same palm up. For some time they sat and had a lesson in hand/paw transformation. Nyanta sat and attempted it multiple times as well, and by the time they were done, he was getting slight changes. Purrcy eventually stopped him. "You've increased in points quite a bit, actually," she encouraged him. "Keep working on it and it will happen soon, but you need to rest, too." She looked up at the sky."We've been gone a long time. Is it time to go back?" she asked him.

He looked up as well, then looked disappointed. With a wry grin at himself, he shook his head and stood up. "I'm afraid I'm regressing to a youngster again."

Purrcy laughed as he helped her up as well. "Well, that's okay. I loved the childlike expression on your face as I was coming in for a landing. That's the wonder we should never lose, in my opinion."

He kissed her and rested his forehead on hers. "As long as I have mew, I will never lose it."

Her ear twitched and she raised her head just enough to breathe in his breath. "I love you, Nyanta," she said softly.

As they walked slowly back to the guild hall, he asked her, "Is there already a First Husband and Wife?"

She smiled a slow smile, "Yes, Nyanta, I'm afraid so."

"Mmm," he answered. "And, one last question, ...can we have a ceremony? Something simple with just the guild, is what I was thinking, meow."

"Shall we make it a scroll signing ceremony?" she asked him. "We can write the terms of the marriage contract and sign it and Shiroe can sign it as the witness. You probably have just enough of a Scribe level to do that much, I would think." She paused, "That will make it a lot more official, though. The world will do something and we might not understand what until much later."

Nyanta looked at her, then looked away. "That could work. I'll think about it. Leaving things up to this world is a bit dangerous, I think, nyan."

"Yes, it is a bit like placing a bet on the roulette. Half the time a wonderful thing comes out of it. The other half leaves you to regret. I usually try to write them in my favor as much as possible. Rudy was lucky. Shiroe didn't specify whether his Class or his sub-class should be Adventurer. If his Class had been Adventurer...well...all sorts of things would have come out of that, I think." She looked away musing. "Well...but now...he could get into even more trouble. ...I wonder." She frowned. "And, come to think of it, how did he get the Class Sorcerer to begin with? He came to you doing magic?" Nyanta nodded, and her eyes went wide. "I'll have to go in and see what he was before... Huh." She mulled that over.

"...I'd like to feed Crescent Moon tonight," Nyanta said to her after a bit more walking. "They've all been working hard."

Purrcy's eyes lit up. "Shall we barbecue? I have the shish kebabs already made, except for the sauce. If you would make your favorite sauce? We would need several gallons, I think."

Nyanta's ears and tail twitched happily. "That sounds like it might be enough, but we can't fit everyone on the roof, nyan?"

Purrcy shook her head. "On the ground is fine. My grill is larger than the guild's." Nyanta looked at her in surprise. "I have to cook large amounts at a time, remember?, since I make it all at once. I've already eaten what I made at the beginning of the last run. This is what I've put together during the run. ...Well...you'll learn how I do it when we go out this time." She patted his arm. "If you'll just find the right place for me to put the grill...?"

Nyanta blinked, then slowly a smile came onto one side of his face. "Mew...are still full of surprises."

She blinked back at him. "I suppose," she said archly. "It has only been nine days."

Nyanta looked away from her without saying anything, but he seemed immensely pleased. When they arrived at the guild house, he pointed out where the grill could go and immediately it was there - sized large enough to be the length of a city bus...the fire already going in it. Next to it, on either end, appeared piles of firewood, then behind it a long table and then on that the tools for grilling. Purrcy's clothing changed to more appropriate clothing to grill in - leggings and a t-shirt - and over that an apron.

Nyanta eyed her. "Mew know. ...Sometimes mew make me feel like we are living in a television show. Such sudden changes and appearances of things..."

Purrcy gave him a cat-kiss with a small smirk of a smile. "And it is just as convenient, too. ...Once you've gone to the work in the beginning to make it possible."

He gave her a more real kiss, then took her into the guild house with him, not having let go of her this whole time he'd watched an outdoor kitchen suddenly show up, complete with female chef. "We're home," he said as they walked into the main room.

Tetora sat up. "Welcome home," he said, blinking at them. He grinned. "You look like you're about to answer the question my stomach just asked me. I like the looks of that."

"I need to prepare a few things in the kitchen first," Nyanta said. "I'll turn it over to mew, Queen's Guard, if mew'll go back out with her, and help get chairs set up for us and our guests." An ear turned towards Purrcy. They both agreed and Tetora rose to join Purrcy and walk with her back out the door. Tetora practiced fetching chairs using the new method while kitten-Purrcy sat on his shoulder and alternately commented on his technique and raved about the new tree Nyanta had taken her to see.

-:-:-:-:-

Serera looked around the room. It was her fifth or sixth for the day (she'd rather forgotten which) and it was finally cleared. Minori dropped hard back against the wall with a little groan. "Thank you very much for your help, Minori," she said, a bit embarrassed she'd made Minori work so hard, "...and for your company today." She twisted the fingers of one hand inside the other. She really wouldn't have made it through the day without her friend by her side. "I couldn't have done this much without you."

Minori gave her a tired smile. "I was happy to help, ...and have the company as well. Hard work is always nice when you don't want to be thinking, isn't it? Plus the results are so rewarding." Serera nodded. "I wonder how far everyone's gotten?" Minori mused. She pushed off the wall again and walked over to take Serera's arm in her own. "Let's go see."

They walked out of the room and looked around. This particular apartment had an atrium that went all the way up the full six stories and balconies that looked out over it at each floor. There were stairs in the back of the building for emergencies, but ladders had been set up for now at the front. They were on the fifth floor, but it looked like they were the last set, and most of the cleaners were up on the sixth. Other tired voices could be heard wrapping up on that floor as well. Down below, the stairs that were being built had reached the third floor and were in the process of being extended up toward the fourth.

"Oh, that's good!" Minori exclaimed. "It looks like the stairs will be done by the end of tomorrow. That will make it so much easier, won't it?"

Serera nodded. "Everyone is working so hard. ...I'll be glad to not have to climb the ladders." She tried not to look down over the edge. "It's rather high up here. ...Maybe tomorrow I'll make sure the back stairs are cleared enough to be passable. We should have both sets of stairs usable, I think."

Minori looked at her sympathetically. "Shall I go down before you?"

"Please," Serera asked, relieved. Carefully not looking down any more than she had to, she followed Minori down to the third floor on the ladders, then they took to the stairs to go the rest of the distance. Others were also coming down after them. Below them, they could hear the construction crews bidding farewell to Marielle and Henrietta, who were thanking them for their hard work.

Serera swallowed dryly. "Here," Minori said, holding out a canteen.

"Oh, thank you. Mine was empty a room ago, I think," she said, gratefully accepting it. She swallowed the water thirstily, tepid as it was. She handed it back, but Minori wasn't paying attention. Serera waited patiently.

Just as Minori was turning back to her, to say something, they heard a holler. "Woot! Dinner! Nyanta-san says we're hosting - and it's barbecue on the lawn!" It was Touya yelling down from the third floor.

Serera looked at Minori, who grinned and nodded, finally taking the canteen back. "He just told us to invite everyone out."

Serera slumped in relief. She often helped the guild chefs in the kitchen and she hadn't been looking forward to it tonight. They were likely just as tired as she was and there was the long walk back to the city center still to go. "That's so kind of him," she said softly. That kind of kindness was very like him, too. Minori squeezed her arm for encouragement.

"Come on, everyone! Let's get outside and do one last pull," Marielle said in her typical cheerleader fashion. "Fetch yourselves your chair and we'll collapse and drool over the smells and let Log Horizon do the honors. I claim my lawn chair!"

They gathered themselves and began to move out the door. "I think this is the first dungeon I've ever done upside down," another guild mate commented.

"Yeah," that one's companion answered back. "At least I'm as tired as if we'd done a dungeon today. I wonder what the boss was?"

Another young girl shuddered. "The ladders."

Serera nodded her agreement. "It will be nice to have the stairs done," she said. "I heard Miss Henrietta tell them it had to have a sturdy railing on it, and Shouryuu was asking if they could come up with a magical replacement for the elevator."

"Ooooh! That would be so awesome!" the girl squealed.

"If we couldn't pull," the tired one said, "I don't think we'd be done moving for a month, having to carry things up those stairs five and six flights." He stopped dramatically. "Just thinking about it makes me want to stop moving right now."

He nearly dropped to the ground, but his friend grabbed his arm with a laugh. "You don't want to stop now...food's waiting." He let go. "Oh, wait. On the other hand, if you drop here, I get to eat your portion _and_ mine."

"Hey, hey, that's not fair. I'm not giving you any of mine," the first answered back, his energy suddenly returning.

Minori, Serera, and the female guildmate giggled. This was the kind of fun Serera loved about being in her guild. It was one big happy family that managed to somehow make it through the hard times and the grumpy times just fine because they were all together, and had been through worse. Only nineteen of the original guild members had been caught up in the catastrophe. The rest of the guild now were those new players at that time who had been taken by Hamelin, just like Minori, Touya and Isuzu. Serera had personally helped them to recover from the abuse when they'd been freed by Shiroe. Minori and Touya had already known Shiroe and had chosen to go to Log Horizon from the beginning. Isuzu had changed guilds when Rudy had been made an Adventurer and Log Horizon guild member, too.

For herself, she would have loved to go also, just to be with her friends and Nyanta-san, but she'd felt such a strong sense of duty to her guild and then to the other young people who had been so grateful to be taken care of by Crescent Moon that she just hadn't been able to do it. Now she wasn't sure whether to regret it because she had perhaps been too distant from Nyanta-san to really win his heart, or to be glad she hadn't because there was no way she would have survived what Minori was having to live with. She still didn't know how Minori could have lived for nearly a year and a half in that kind of painful place inside. Minori was so strong.

She followed her strong friend out into the street in front of the guild halls. There were delicious smells wafting in the air: grilling meat and vegetables. The scent drew drooling guild members, zombified by the efforts of the day. Each person was making the last pull. It wasn't easy in their tired states and since they'd been pushing for the last two days. They'd get the pulling practice next. A few gave up and just collapsed on the ground, but most managed to get some kind of seating brought over. One even pulled a large cushion and fell on it, nearly asleep as soon as they landed on it.

"Here, Minori," a voice said from nearby. "We've already pulled the Log Horizon seats down."

"Oh, thank you, Tetora-kun," Minori said gratefully, taking the chair offered.

He moved on, his long pink hair swaying around his face and shoulders. "Ah...has...has Tetora decided..." Serera blushed, not sure how to ask the question.

Minori looked at her with a smile. "Yes. He's decided to settle and made up with Naotsugu. It's been nice to not have to put up with it anymore, actually, the teasing. ...Here I'll pull the chair from my room. You use this one."

"Ah, ah," Serera waved her hands. "I can't take that from you. You're just as tired as I am."

Minori shook her head and handed the chair over anyway, then another one appeared in front of her a moment later. "I wasn't working this morning like you were. You look like you're about to topple over, honestly."

Serera slumped. "Thank you." She was actually rather tired, and wasn't sure she'd manage pulling even a toothbrush. She set her chair next to Minori's and they both collapsed into them. She looked around and could see a large grill set up in the street. Behind it Nyanta and Purrcy were working at cooking over it. Nyanta was turning meat skewers and basting the meat with a sauce. On the other end of it Purrcy was just putting a skewer of vegetables down in the last open spot. Serera watched as Purrcy turned to put her plate down on the long table behind her. Serera looked down. She couldn't keep the jealousy from flaring in her heart, and it made her sad. Purrcy was such a nice person...but Serera would rather she hadn't taken the space she herself had wanted. She sat quietly, just feeling her own pain, trying to understand it as Minori had said. That it was her pain because it was her love.

Minori reached over and put her hand on Serera's arm. Serera looked over shyly and Minori gave her a sad smile. "I know it hurts," Minori said, "and you don't have to...but if you watch Nyanta-san, you might be encouraged."

Serera nodded timidly. She really should try to learn to have the strength that Minori had. She'd follow her advice and see. After all, Minori was who to follow when they battled together. She really knew her stuff. Maybe it would be alright to trust her in this, too.

At first, the monster of jealousy made it hard to watch Nyanta, but eventually she did come to see the one thing that was most important to her. Nyanta was really happy. Serera always loved to see Nyanta happy, and watching him cook had always been one way to see it. Often, it had been the only way to see it, but this time, there seemed to be something additional. He moved in a more relaxed manner and his tail moved gently more often. It was hard to read Nyanta because as a cat he couldn't show expressions on his face the same as the humanoids, but she had watched him closely for two years now. To watch him tonight...was to love watching him be in love. It was a sorrowfully happy thought to have. She wasn't sure she'd have been able to see it quite this way if she had been the one up there with him. She rather felt like she'd been given a private gift.

He looked up and his eyes caught her looking at him. He winked at her, like he had before many times, and she blushed. His eyes moved on to scan the rest of the waiting crowd. "Meow, everyone. Thank mew for meowr hard work. I believe the food is ready."

In the blink of an eye half of the meat skewers were gone from the grill and there were sudden cries of pain and dismay from the waiting crowd. "Gah!" "OW! Hot! Hot! Hot!" "Hey! Where'd my meat go?" "Argh!" Nyanta was blinking in surprise.

There was the sudden banging of a metal utensil and quiet fell over the group. "I do believe Miss Purrcy warned mew to be careful when mew used that skill," Nyanta scolded quietly. "There's a reason we put them on a plate to cool a bit first."

Looking around, Serera could see that most of the boys had skewers in their hand, or dropped into their laps and were holding their hands. One boy was tossing a hot piece of meat from hand to hand. Another was looking forlornly at an empty stick. She looked at Minori with wide eyes to see her friend had her hands clapped to her mouth, trying to not erupt into giggles. A few other girls weren't bothering to try and were laughing.

"Naotsugu!" Marielle scolded from near the grill. "Really! Two?"

"Ah..ah...here, Marie. I got one for you, too."

"Naotsugu, no thank you. I'll not take one stolen off the grill." Now Serera had to put her hands to her mouth to prevent the giggle from leaking out.

"Everyone," it was Purrcy, "I think this has been a fine lesson for you. What you were looking at, and what you were thinking about, is what you got. But you didn't take into account that others would be looking at the same thing. Let's try it again, but this time, the girls will go first and the boys will wait as their reward for being too greedy. Naotsugu will wait two rounds, since he was the greediest."

"I agree!" Marielle said haughtily at Naotsugu. He ducked his head, but his first skewer was already empty, not being willing to waste the moment.

Nyanta began to move the rest of the skewers of meat to the platter he'd been holding, using the tongs in his other hand. Only after it was full, and the one in Purrcy's hand was full of the vegetable skewers, did they look up at Marielle. "Guildmistress, please?" Purrcy said calmly. After a bit of effort, Marielle had one skewer of each in her hands. "Henrietta," Purrcy said next.

Quickly, Henrietta also had one of each. "We'll go in seniority then," Henrietta instructed the rest of the ladies in the guild. Some took a little longer than others to manage to pull their food. When it was Serera's turn, she swallowed.

"Go ahead, Serera, you can do it," Minori encouraged her.

Serera nodded, thought hard about how much she wanted to eat one of Nyanta's meat skewers, how the stick would feel in her hand, and pulled one to her, making sure it was on the top and wouldn't make the rest fall to the ground. When it appeared in her hand, she was a bit startled. It smelled delicious and the stick was warm in her hand. She looked at Purrcy, to see she was looking back kindly with a warm smile. Serera blinked, then took a breath. She looked at the vegetable platter and again imagined a stick appearing in her hand in the same way. ...But it wasn't the same, because she couldn't bring herself to think that she wanted anything that Purrcy had made at the side of Nyanta. Nothing came.

She let out the breath she was holding sadly, then rubbed her hand over her forehead. She would have to think of it another way. She concentrated on how hungry her stomach was and how delicious the food smelled and would taste, then pulled again. This time a skewer did appear in her hand. She looked at it in a bit of surprise, then sighed in relief. That much had been sufficient. She glanced at Purrcy who gave her a congratulatory look and moved on as the next person was pulling their food now.

Serera politely waited until Minori retrieved her own skewers of meat and vegetables, then they ate hungrily. At the grill, Nyanta and Purrcy were putting on another round of skewers when Purrcy paused and held still. She said something quietly to Nyanta, who looked around. "Serera-chan, could mew come help, please?"

Serera froze. Minori looked at her encouragingly. "I really think you should go," she whispered. Woodenly Serera rose and walked up to the grill.

When she was next to the two of them, Purrcy looked at her with a smile. "Serera-chan, Shiroe has called me. Would you be willing to watch the vegetables for me?"

"Ah...if you think I could do it, I would be happy to help," Serera answered. It would be easy if there was only Nyanta next to her.

"Here, let me instruct you just in case, then you'll be fine, I'm sure," Purrcy said, turning to that side of the grill. Serera listened very carefully to the instruction, knowing that this part was just as important to not ruining the food as the actual action. She'd already learned that cooking with Nyanta. If she was casual in listening, even if it was something she could cook, it would be a ruined mass. Somehow the magic of cooking knew if she was attentive or not. "Thank you very much, Serera," Purrcy said politely.

"Ah...my pleasure," Serera said, and in her heart meant it. She was going to get to cook next to Nyanta at the grill, a thing she'd been wanting to do for a long time. The Log Horizon grill was small enough he'd never needed help when she'd been visiting at barbecue times. She looked over at him as Purrcy left.

He tipped his head at her with a jaunty smile, brandishing his tongs. "We'll work hard together to make hungry stomachs full again, nyan?"

She bobbed her head and smiled. She would also work hard to make this another happy memory.

She was lost in the cooking when Purrcy's voice called out, "Okay. Boys this time. And let's do it politely, shall we? Guildmaster Shiroe, you'll be first, please. We are practicing pulling. The reward is you get food." There was a smile in her voice. Serera blushed as she turned to the next skewer. She glanced over to see Shiroe fairly quickly holding two skewers in his hands, happily beginning to eat. Serera kept putting the done vegetables on the platter next to her as the boys, with Shouryuu going second, took their turns properly this time.

Naotsugu sighed when he again wasn't allowed to go this turn, putting his hand over his grumbling stomach. "Big boys need lots of food," he said unhappily.

"Then take it politely and properly next time," Marielle scolded him.

"There will be plenty," Purrcy said calmly. "Even for bottomless pits like yours."

Serera giggled. She knew just how bottomless Naotsugu's stomach was when it came to meat barbecue. "Miss Purrcy, you'd have to have gone against an entire EmBoar pack to fill Naotsugu."

"Well..., considering I did, I think we'll be okay."

Serera stared at her. "You - you did? All by yourself?"

"Yes," Purrcy said as if it was perfectly normal. "I have a spawn point I visit purposely to do it."

"Ohh," Serera said, not really understanding. It was impressive, nonetheless.

"Purrcy only comes into town for a day at most, so this is rare, to have her here for over two weeks," Nyanta said casually. "She spends all the rest of the time out in the wild."

Serera blinked. "How - how can you do that?" She was so surprised. How could she say she was Nyanta's wife and only be in town for a single day?

"Remember, it took me almost a year to get here from Susukino, Serera," Purrcy reminded her gently. "I've learned to live off the land. And only this trip in did I get to understand what people said to me and feel understood in return. I'm an international. Shiroe wrote a translation scroll for me, and for the rest of us."

Serera looked up at her again, sharply. She remembered that report from Marielle, that many of the remaining people who hadn't been able to adjust to life in Akiba were internationals, but now that Shiroe had written the scroll, they could perhaps be brought to learn to live with the rest of them. Purrcy smiled at her. "I only came into town for that one day to sell my collected items and make purchases of things I couldn't get anywhere else. It was harder for me to live in the city than outside of it. I'm so glad I met everyone here at Log Horizon."

Serera was ashamed again - to be reminded that Purrcy's life had been so much more difficult than her own; to be jealous of her happiness, now that she finally had some in her life. "But... now you can stay," she said, still trying to understand. Purrcy shook her head, and Serera was overwhelmed. "Wh-why?"

"Because I have patients and clients now out there who need me. I'll come into town and stay longer now, but I still have to go out and take care of those who are relying on me. Nyanta has agreed to come with me this next round, so I won't be alone...and because Shiroe wants to know exactly what I do, so he's also coming as a spy to gather intelligence," Purrcy winked with a smile.

"A spy," Nyanta protested, wrapping an arm around her waist. "And here I was thinking it was a honeymoon."

Purrcy laughed. "Not on your life. You have a lot of work to do. If you do it well, maybe there will be time to vacation for a few days at the end."

Nyanta's ears fell and he sighed. "Does that mean mew're going to make it difficult for me to do the work Shiroe wants me to do...to be the spy, then?" he waggled his whiskers at her.

"Of course," Purrcy said archly. "I don't want _all_ of my secrets known right away. Besides," she gave him a teasing look, "it will be an excuse to make you come out with me again."

The look Nyanta gave Purrcy was one that made Serera tingle all the way to her toes. He was so in love with her it took Serera's breath away to see it. No...she couldn't come between Nyanta and his happiness...not when it meant all the world to him. She sighed and turned away. She was glad she had this opportunity to work next to him...to have her own little happiness while he was happy, too.

Eventually, the meat and vegetable platters weren't emptying as fast as the food was being cooked, and then they were full and so were all the people holding their stomachs around them. As Nyanta and Purrcy took their turn to eat, Serera also took a vegetable skewer and began to munch happily. She was glad she'd had the opportunity to eat before she'd begun cooking. They'd been doing hot work long enough she was hungry all over again.

"Can we do this again?" came the call from the crowd.

Nyanta looked over. "Well, nyot until mew lot go out and bring back more meat. Mew'll need to build a grill, too. This one's nyot staying."

Naotsugu's head came up with interest. "This one is Purrcy's?" he asked. Nyanta and Purrcy both nodded. "Okay, Purrcy, you've got to explain that one. It's huge. How do you fit that into a box?"

Serera paused in her eating to look between Naotsugu and Purrcy curiously. She wasn't the only one. Purrcy was looking at Shiroe. He looked back at her, a calculating look on his face. He nodded. Purrcy nodded back once and turned to the two guilds arrayed around her. She held out her hand and a tiny box appeared in it.

"Guh! No friggin way!" Naotsugu protested. There were quiet murmurings from the Crescent Moon guild members.

Purrcy smiled. "Yes. This is the box for the grill. Here, Serera-chan. Read the label." She handed the box to Serera.

Serera took it and looked at it, turning it until she found the label. "Grill," she announced, then looked back up at Purrcy. Purrcy held out her hand and Serera gave the little box back. It was about 2 inches by 2 inches. The box disappeared.

Turning back to Naotsugu, Purrcy said, "You remember the third level box?" He nodded. "I can fit twenty-seven of those boxes into one of them. That gets me to the closest to the nine-hundred-ninety-nine in one list as I can get. It's a few more shy than I like, but it works."

"But, Purrcy...almost nothing fits into boxes that size. ...Especially a grill like that one." Naotsugu was shaking his head.

"Ah...can you fill the rest of us in first?" Marielle asked raising her hand. "I'm rather confused about the box thing." Serera nodded, as did most of her guild.

"Sure," Purrcy said. She held out her hand and a box about six inches square appeared in it. "This is the size box twenty-seven of the first one can fit in. There are other sizes that fit in it as well, but we'll not go that detailed. Eight of these fit into the next size up." Another box replaced the one in her hand. It was a one-foot cube. It disappeared and another box appeared in front of the grill. It was a yard cube. "Twenty-seven of those fit in this one. That takes me over my limit, but that's the sizing scale. There are other boxes of other sizes as well."

"Okay, but...what are the boxes for?" Marielle asked.

"Storing more things in my item list than just one ...or the maximum twenty-four." Serera blinked. She was confused. Most of the guild was, but Henrietta, Shouryuu, a few of the chefs, and the older Adventurers were all of a sudden very interested. "This is my herb box. It's one of the few I can actually remove from my list in a clean fashion." Purrcy explained as she walked around to stand next to it. She opened it and pulled out another box, then opened that and pulled out a smaller box, then opened that and pulled out a flat box that she opened and held up to show the contents of, turning so Serera could see the plant laying in it. "Once I have filled the herb boxes and put them together into the final box, I put the final box into the item slot I have set aside for my herbs." She put them all together again and the single large box disappeared.

"D-do you know what this means?" Henrietta was ever so excited. She was wriggling in her seat as if she'd just been told she could have Akatsuki to cuddle with for an hour.

"Of course," Purrcy said. "Now that I have the profit contract with Radio City, it means that Shiroe's goal of purchasing Yamato can finally happen."

Henrietta checked herself, staring at Purrcy with wide eyes. Then she laughed. "Ooooh. You're such a pair, you two! It isn't fair, really."

"I didn't come here to be fair, nor were we brought here under any such contract," Purrcy said coolly. "Fairness is only between friends." She ignored the cold splash of water that had been to her listeners and continued. "Naotsugu, how I carry the grill is a combination of both the box concept and the push and pull concept. Remember, we don't have to touch the air to access our spells or our lists. We don't have to touch the item at all to get it into the list. ...Can you answer it yourself? Shall we call this a quiz for Log Horizon members?" She looked around.

Tetora immediately raised his hand. Shiroe and Nyanta weren't too far behind. Naotsugu finally put his hand up, nodding. The other four weren't too far behind. Purrcy nodded her head. "Good. Naotsugu, what did I do?"

"You put the boxes together, then put them in the list, then put the items into the end box."

"Very good. This is why I can't take them back out easily. I have to take all the items out first, then bring out the boxes, otherwise the boxes explode. It's messy and expensive."

Touya raised his hand and she nodded at him. "You took out the armor box."

There were intakes of breath from the fighters in Crescent Moon and their eyes went wide. Purrcy smiled. She was suddenly wearing armor, then a box appeared in front of her labeled 'armor'. "This is the only piece that doesn't fit into my box properly," she said. "I don't really have much armor to begin with anyway." She opened the box and pulled out a box that was the one foot by one foot box. She opened that and pulled out a robe. "I only go two boxes deep, except the bracers, boots, etc. Those go one more box down." She folded the robe back into the box and put things away until the box and the armor she had been wearing disappeared as well. "It takes a lot of careful planning and thought to get everything to work right, but once it's done, the rest is easy from then on...until you go treasure hunting and all of a sudden don't have room again. Then you have to do your spring cleaning and decide what you're really going to keep and what you haven't even looked at for the last half-year so need to move along."

She looked around. "Since I didn't have a home, other than in trees, I've had to carry everything I own with me. This is how I do it." She smiled. "Please feel free to use this all you want, and even to pass it on. Shiroe and I will thank you kindly. Radio City has assured me they have stepped up production of boxes and will be presenting this to the city as a whole in a demonstration next week. You've received an early notice. I'm sure they'll also appreciate your business. If there are any engineers in the group, you could also get in on a ground swell of income by beginning a list-planning business to help create potential box-fitting plans for people who are visually and organizationally challenged."

"Ah, but first! We have to finish moving!" Marielle said quickly, panic in her voice. The guilds laughed.

Serera watched as Purrcy returned to the table, took up a wire scrubber, cleaned off the grill bars, poked at the fires under it, then stood back. The grill disappeared, hot coals and fire and all. Everyone blinked. "Just like food stays food, fire stays fire without causing damage," Purrcy said calmly. "That particular issue has been very useful. I don't have to restart the fire every time. Honestly, my camping gear, including the grill, fit in one inner box plus a little. The rest of the boxes are filled with firewood." The two piles at either end disappeared. In the place where one of them had been, a sink full of soapy water appeared.

Serera helpfully picked up the now suddenly empty platters, stacked them, and added several of the cooking utensils. She carried them down to the sink where Nyanta took them from her. "Thank mew for meowr hard work, Serera-chan," he said kindly to her. "I enjoyed getting to cook with mew tonight."

"I - I did too ...with you that is," she said, her tongue tying as was typical when she tried to talk to him. "Thank you."

"Come on, Serera!" her guild mates called to her, waving. She looked over to see they had already cleaned up the chairs and were headed back to the city center to return to the Guild Hall for the night.

"Thank you for helping, Serera-chan," Purrcy's quiet voice came from behind her, and soft calico arms came around her neck, like the first time she'd experienced Purrcy, and like that time, she heard the purring in her ear, the soft fur of her cheek brushing her own cheek. It was brief, then she was released. She gave a nod, then ran to join her friends.

Tears dripped down her face and it was a little hard to breathe. She finally recognized what she'd felt in the kitchen before and this time. ...Like she was back home with her parents again, a thing she never let herself think about because it was much too painful...even more painful than what she'd felt earlier that day. But somehow, feeling Purrcy's arms around her even still, she felt as if that pain had lifted just a little. Maybe...maybe it would be alright to cook in the kitchen with the both of them.


	23. Experimentation

The next morning, Purrcy was unusually subdued and stayed close to Nyanta, even in the kitchen. At some point, she did stop, look at Touya as he was collecting the next set of dishes to take out to the table to set, and say, "If there are leftover scraps of boards and two nails per board that you can get from the construction today, I'll help you nail them to the tree from the roof line. Then you'll have a ladder you can get into the tree with." Touya brightened and said he'd see what he could do.

At the morning meeting during breakfast, the still quiet femfelinoid, at her turn, asked Isuzu to stay around at the beginning of the morning for a bit, and looked significantly at the seniors in the group, not meeting Nyanta's eyes, though the hand that held his paw was holding on very tightly. They all nodded, but didn't say anything either. It was a testament to how a guild worked that the attitude of one member worked it's way into the attitude of all of them...and in response, they helped by being calmer and happier to strengthen that guild member. Purrcy was grateful they worked to stay cheerful for her sake. It wasn't that she was afraid. She'd done so many surgeries now, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that it was Nyanta, and there wasn't anyone else she could use.

Purrcy went up to the top floor after breakfast and selected the room facing south, so that she would have sunshine as her companion the whole day. It would be a long trek up the stairs for Nyanta every time he had to be resurrected, but that wouldn't be too frequent - she hoped, and there weren't any empty rooms available below the third floor anyway. Isuzu joined her there when she was done with breakfast clean-up.

"Isuzu, I need a spell that will last all day with a low level HP increase, like what you did for me before."

"Well...usually it doesn't last all day, just through a single battle, or about twenty minutes, I think."

Purrcy nodded. "I thought it might be that. I'd like to work with you. Will you cast it and I'll see if I can stack on top of it to make it last longer?"

"Okay. Just this room?"

"Yes, please." Purrcy's eyes were already focused inside, crafting the outline of her spell. After a moment, she could see Isuzu's spell and added her time extension to it in the time it was being cast. She watched it for a while. "It looks like we managed to get it to four hours. At the lunch break, will you come back and we'll recast it?"

"Sure, Miss Purrcy. That's easy enough," she said casually.

"Thank you," Purrcy smiled, more because she was grateful for Isuzu trying to help her than because she felt it. "Have fun helping over there. You know many of them don't you?"

Isuzu nodded. "We spent about the first six months together in a slave guild, Hamelin, being made to use our skills for them, and being harvested for our EXP pots. It was difficult, but Shiroe-san helped get us free and Crescent Moon took us in - except for Minori and Touya who already wanted to join Shiroe-san here. I came later with Rudy."

"That's a harsh way to start out here," Purrcy said sympathetically. "I'm glad you're all happier now."

"It helps us be grateful for every day," Isuzu nodded, then smiled. "Good luck today."

"Thank you," Purrcy bowed as the young Bard left the room. She walked over to the window and looked out of it. Behind her appeared a long narrow table, then next to it a small rectangular one. On that appeared a large kit bag. Purrcy took a breath. "Nyanta," she called. When she felt and heard and smelled him at the door, she said, "Please close the door behind you." When it clicked closed, she turned to look at him.

"I'll begin with a spell similar to what's around Shiroe's office, only it's one I created to be a clean-room spell. It will remove any dust and bacteria from us so that we don't introduce anything that could cause infection. It's easiest if we don't have to worry about clothing as well for that part. She continued in her doctor's calm voice to a patient as she moved up to the table, putting her hand on it lightly, "Then, if you'll lie down, I'll follow that with a spell to put you to sleep. The first several surgeries you won't even know about. I don't expect to have you wake up the first time until afternoon, so you should get plenty of rest." Nyanta had moved up to stand on the other side of the table from her and was standing relaxed, but paying close attention to her.

"When you wake up in the Cathedral, don't move until Naotsugu helps you up. If the surgery has been effective, you may still be in some pain. The one difference I haven't dealt with is the differential in how fast Adventurers heal compared to monsters and Persons of the Land. I'm going to let you heal naturally, most likely. We'll have to see how long that takes, but if it takes five days to be able to move, please don't be surprised." She smiled. "I don't expect it to since we can recover full HP in only an hour or so, but sometimes the meter and what the physical body say are in disagreement. So let Naotsugu take care of you when you arrive over there, okay?"

Nyanta nodded. "I will." He sounded so calm. It helped her calm a little better on the inside.

"I'm impatient enough to want to get it all done today, but that is perhaps unrealistic. I'm expecting at least two, maybe three times we'll have to have you end up over there, just to confirm everything. ...I hope that will be okay." That was what she was having to steel herself for.

Nyanta shrugged. "I don't often die here, but it doesn't bother me." He smiled at her, "Purrticularly when it's for a good cause."

She was able to smile back. She could understand that. Senseless deaths were much harder to die. "Thank you, Nyanta. Now, if you would kindly disrobe." She politely looked down as she removed her own clothing, and pulled up the spell to cast. It had taken her a long time of careful crafting to create this spell and it had been her crowning achievement before the Summon cards. It created an umbrella of protection around the surgical space and killed everything inside that was a microbe of any kind. It would clean the tables and her tools, as well. She took a breath and cast it, watching it unfold to cover the room as a whole. When the requisite time had passed, she opened her eyes again to smile at Nyanta.

She almost blushed at the look he was giving her, but she repressed it with the professionalism she had learned. Removing her hand from the table, she said, "Please lie down." Her own sterilized surgical gown appeared on her now. It wouldn't do to leave fur behind either, after all. As he climbed on the table, she moved to open her equipment kit.

He grabbed her hand and she stopped to look at him. "One kiss to say goodnight," he said to her, "please."

She smiled at him. "Of course." She stepped to his side and kissed him gently and long. By the time her lips left his, he was sleeping. It was better for her to make it happen then. She'd be able to be tearful without him seeing that way, though no tears would come anyway.

In the silence she removed her tools and set them on the smaller table. She positioned Nyanta properly and carefully palpitated, then held her hand where she wanted to begin. Her other hand reached for a razor and also selected a scalpel. Taking a deep breath to calm down, she pulled up her spell that let her look inside the body, the one she called the x-ray spell. When the proper area was shaven of fur and the razor set aside, she cast that spell, then lifted the scalpel, completely shutting off her heart so she could work properly. It was very difficult, but remembering what had almost happened that had led to this, she pulled herself together and made the first incision.

-:-:-:-:-

"Tetora. It's your turn. Come in wearing as minimal an amount of clothing as you can, please."

Tetora rose from the stairwell and walked over to the room Purrcy had been working in for the last half-hour. He was in a woman's body. He went in naked. When Purrcy raised an eyebrow, then shook her head with a wry grin, he gave her a larger one. "It has it's uses, don't you think?...and you did ask for as minimal as I can."

"I suppose so. That doesn't mean I want you bathing with the other girls of the guild, though."

"What, you wouldn't mind?" he teased.

Purrcy looked at him mildly. "A naked cat body's not the same as a naked human one, is it? Cat's go naked on Earth all the time."

Tetora looked at her curiously. "The anatomy is really that close to real?"

Purrcy nodded. "Surprisingly, it is. ...Please cast a healing spell on Nyanta. Something that will take him to full HP."

Tetora looked at Nyanta on the table. He'd been rather avoiding looking, but he needed to see what his HP level was to know what spell to use. He was relieved to see the gentleman felinoid had been covered by a light sheet. It didn't take long to cast the spell and the resulting glow to fade. Purrcy had her hand on Nyanta's head and before the spell could make him revive from his sleep, he was sleeping again.

"Thank you, Tetora. I won't need it again until at the end. You're free until then."

"Well...not so much. I'm still watching over you," he disagreed.

She smiled. "It's nice to know, though I'd not make you waste that much time, you know."

"Nah," he shook his head. "It's not a waste. I'm practicing spell writing and shielding while I wait, but I want you to know we're here for you, too."

"Thank you," she said just a little shyly. He grinned and walked back out of the room so she could get back to work, putting clothing back on after he was out of the room.

-:-:-:-:-

"Akatsuki."

"Excuse me, Shiroe. It's my turn." Akatsuki rose from her kneeling position on the chair in his office.

He glanced up and nodded. "Go ahead and stay with her until Nyanta gets back here. Probably shouldn't leave her alone today."

Akatsuki nodded and headed up to the top floor by way of the tree. She was enjoying Purrcy's climbing path perhaps more than the felinoid was. When she hit the floor next to the tree on the sixth floor, a sound caught her attention.

"Akatsuki, hold up," it was quiet. She turned towards the stairwell. Tetora was leaning against the wall, his feet stretched out in front of him on the first step up towards the roof. "It's a surgical room. She's asked that we go in minimally dressed. I think she's got a clean spell running since she didn't ask me to wash or anything. I went in naked," he grinned teasingly at her. "You don't have to go that extreme, but you might take it down to whatever you're comfortable in."

Akatsuki made a face at Tetora. "Showing off your 'idol' body, eh?"

Tetora blushed, then shook his head. "You know that's wasted on her." He grinned shyly. "It did surprise her into a smile, though, and I managed to get scolded, as well." He went sober again. "I don't think she should watch while you're working, though. She's barely holding together as it is. If you need me, call me in." Akatsuki nodded. "No, check that. I am coming in with you." He stood up. "I'll hold on to her so she has something to hold onto. When I've got her away from the table, do what you need to do quickly."

When they were both at the door, they nodded to each other, and opened the door. Akatsuki chose to go in the basic binding cloths over breast and groin that most ninjas wore as underwear, but kept her blade in hand. Tetora was in a polka dot two-piece swimsuit this time, bright pink dots on white with frills. Akatsuki stared and there was a sudden snort of laughter from beside the table. That helped Akatsuki understand why he'd chosen it. She waited quietly by the door.

"Ah, there, see? I got you to laugh even. I guess clothing is better for you. Then you can really enjoy my curves, can't you?" he teased Purrcy. "I am the idol of Yamato after all," he strutted over to her and took her arm, turning her towards the window. "Come, shall we remind Akiba what they're missing?"

Purrcy allowed herself to be led towards the window. Akatsuki didn't wait. Assassinate was her strongest attack. She'd applied it and was beyond Nyanta, making the sword disappear almost as quickly as he did. She calmly walked up to Purrcy's other side to stare at Tetora. "If you remind the city what it's missing, we'll have to hold a beach party," she said.

Tetora stared at her. "Was that a joke? From the serious one?" he asked her.

Akatsuki slowly smiled. "I can, you know." Purrcy looked at Akatsuki with surprise. The catch in her breath hadn't been missed, but she and Tetora both ignored it. "But, Purrcy, if you don't have a bathing suit, I suspect he has about twenty more. Maybe he should show them all off to us and you can pick one?"

Purrcy giggled, perhaps more in nervous reaction. "Oh, that sounds like a good idea," Tetora said brightly. "I haven't gotten to show them all off in ages." Without her approval, they spent the next while having an impromptu bathing suit fashion show.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu rose from the crouched resting position he was in just inside the Cathedral door. Purrcy had alerted him it was time and he'd come in to wait. She'd given him his specific instructions before he'd left the guild hall. The glow of resurrection was fading by the time he reached the alter. "Hey, Chief," he said casually to Nyanta, who was lying on the altar blinking. "You survive your first death okay?" Nyanta looked a little worse for the experience. "You didn't tell her did you, that you've never died either?"

Nyanta shook his head. "I couldn't. She would have refused to do it."

"Well, now that you've done it once, will you refuse to do it again? It isn't easy to walk that path."

Nyanta took a deep breath, then shook his head. "We've already begun. It will only be another one or two times. I won't like it, but it'll be manageable."

"That's the spirit," but he said it quietly. He'd only died once, and it was hard enough...but it was manageable. It was the ones who had to die over and over that ended up retiring from fighting altogether. For a good cause...it was tolerable. Having to walk down memory lane and be reminded why you were no good, how miserable life had been before, was a painful experience. When you woke up again, you could be reminded that life hadn't really been that bad, that there had been good times, too, and that _Elder Tales_ had been a big part of those good times. Having and loving life here helped to ease the self-destructive thinking that death brought to each Adventurer. Just because they could resurrect didn't mean they wanted to die here.

"So...how do you feel? Sore anywhere?" Nyanta was being obedient to his own orders and hadn't moved yet. He was thoughtful for a moment.

"Nyan," he shook his head. "I feel normal, really."

"Well, I'm going to help you up anyway. Even if it's a practice run." Naotsugu reached over and scooped up the felinoid in his arms in a princess carry and lifted him off the alter. At nearly level ninety-eight he was picking up a feather. "You're a scrawny cat for being a Chef. Shouldn't you be heavier?" he joked as he carried Nyanta over to near the door.

"Nay, that's being an Adventurer. Fit as a fiddle no matter how much I eat." Nyanta said, holding onto Naotsugu's neck as he gently set feet to the ground.

Naotsugu supported the felinoid until he was stable. "Does it hurt to stand?" Nyanta shook his head. "Then take a few steps." Nyanta did and shook his head again. Naotsugu sighed. "Well, I suppose you can make it back on your own foot power then, but I hope it doesn't mean a failure. We'll be doing this again."

"We probably will anyway," Nyanta said. "She said three times. That means a minimum of two."

Naotsugu nodded and opened the door, "After you, Sir Consort."

"Thank you, Marshal." The two walked companionably back to the guild hall, Naotsugu watching Nyanta closely out of the corner of his eye.

-:-:-:-:-

The door to the temporary surgery room opened. The three in the room looked over.

"Hey, Nyanta," Tetora said easily. "We were just finishing up the fashion show. Come in, come in." Nyanta did, closing the door in the face of the stunned Naotsugu.

"That's a bit extreme, isn't it, meow?" he asked Tetora calmly, though he himself was wearing nothing but fur again, to Akatsuki's embarrassment. He thought it was funny that Tetora was suddenly more embarrassed, though.

"It really is just like looking at a cat from back home," Tetora finally said, shaking his head. "Who'd have known. Though of course," he rubbed his chin, "when it doesn't show on screen and all you've got to go on is Wiki, then I guess that's what you'd get, huh?" he shrugged and snagged Akatsuki. "Well, we'll be off then, until next time."

"Twenty-five minutes, tops," Purrcy said calmly. They nodded. Tetora put his hand on Nyanta's shoulder and squeezed it. Akatsuki nodded soberly at him. They also had already died once each before, if not more on Tetora's part since he didn't talk about life before Log Horizon, and they knew what Nyanta had just been through. It helped.

When the door closed behind him he looked questioningly at Purrcy. "Keep going or let it out for a bit?" he asked her. She waffled. He sighed to himself. He might want a hug, but if she was tenuous then it would be better to go one more first. "One more kiss to sleep, then, though it makes me feel like a reverse Sleeping Beauty."

She smiled at him. "I'll wake you up to kisses for every time I've had to put you asleep to one. Would that work?"

"Mmm," he climbed back up on the table. "Rather, promise mew'll wake me up to kisses all the time after this." He lay down.

She leaned over him and pet his head. "If that's just to make sure I'm still around each morning, I'm not sure it's necessary. I'll be here, now ...and then." His heart skipped a beat. She always knew what to say to his comments like that. He wondered if she knew how important her words were to him when she did that. "Sorry Nyanta," she whispered to him as he slipped into sleep again, her lips pressed to his.

-:-:-:-:-

The door to the surgery room opened and Purrcy stepped out. She took one step sideways, leaned against the wall and closed the door. Tetora was by her side immediately, Akatsuki not far behind. Tetora grabbed Purrcy's hand and Purrcy held it very tightly. He looked at Akatsuki, worried. "Is it time again?" he asked quietly. Purrcy nodded once, not opening her eyes. Tetora nodded at Akatsuki. When she'd slipped into the room, he called, "Naotsugu. ...Incoming."

"Gotcha. Not doing well, I take it?"

"No. We'll meet you down below."

"Yup. See ya."

Tetora pulled out his wand and cast a healing spell on Purrcy. That was first. She'd used rather a lot of HP for a spell that should have been just a tag. That helped. She was able to stand on her own two feet. "Come on. Let's get you downstairs for some food. It's a bit past lunch time anyway."

Purrcy obediently followed his pull on her hand. Akatsuki knew well enough to wait until they were far enough down the stairs to come back out. Even the closing of the door would have been difficult to hear, Tetora thought. He seated her on the couch and she immediately became big-cat and curled up on it. He pet her until Akatsuki came down. "Let him know we're going to eat and he should eat too," he told her. Akatsuki nodded and walked into Shiroe's office.

Nyanta had given him a box that morning labeled "lunch". He pulled it out of his list now and opened it. He set around four bowls out of the six that were in it, along with the other things that had been put in it, then put the box back in his list. He'd feed the other two warm food when they arrived, that way. He stayed by Purrcy's side, petting her until the smell of the food finally pulled her back to awareness. Shiroe and Akatsuki arrived about the same time Purrcy sat up and returned to felinoid.

Tetora handed her a bowl and chopsticks and picked his own up as the other two helped themselves and sat down as well. "When did you learn to use chopsticks?" he asked Purrcy. It was a question he'd thought of a while ago, but hadn't had the opportunity to ask.

She glanced up at him, slurping up a noodle. She really did eat almost as if a native. "I learned it as a kid. My dad went to Japan in his twenties and took us all back to visit when he went on sabbatical. He'd wanted to return for a long time. ...That was an expensive trip taking the whole family, but it was work, so lots of it got expensed, I think."

She looked back down. "I wasn't here long enough to learn the language, though. I think I finally got to understanding one word in every conversation before we left. If it wasn't for the English-Japanese dictionary we'd have never been able to communicate with anyone. Once you have the topic of the conversation, you can follow along since we all think the same, but when the other kids were just talking fast, you didn't interrupt to have them point to the word in the dictionary for you. That's how I learned what little I do know. Three months isn't near long enough. It takes about a year to begin to get it and three before you're understanding it like a native. Another two to be speaking almost native. Infants and kids are pretty amazing, but even they take that long, you know?"

"You didn't learn it by anime?" Tetora asked, surprised. Purrcy smiled the smile of one who didn't want to talk about the past to answer the question. He waved it off. "It's just so many do."

She nodded. "True."

Tetora thought about it. That was the second time she'd talked about her father to him. She seemed very willing to talk about the past generations, but not her current one. And...it made him think she must really respect her father. "Your Dad sounds like a good man," he said.

She smiled into her bowl. "Yeah. He was. He was one of those quiet souls that carry the world on their shoulders and don't let you see it much. ...Nyanta's a lot like him, actually." Tetora looked at her sharply. That had taken a turn he hadn't wanted it to, but she seemed okay. He watched her to make sure. "He was human, though. He had his hard times we worried about him. Watching him come through them gave me a lot of strength in my hard times. He and my mom were my examples for that kind of thing. Learning that it didn't matter how old you got, you could still change for the better and continue to grow in strength and kindness made it easier to keep walking some days. Dad had a temper, particularly when he got hungry, but he worked really hard to keep it under control and do what he needed to do to be kinder more often. I really respected him for that." She fell quiet, remembering. Then she whispered. "It's really hard to follow in his footsteps." She took to eating again.

Arms snaked around her neck and she froze in surprise. Tetora froze as well, then looked up. Nyanta's face was buried in her neck on the opposite side from him. He took Purrcy's bowl before it spilled and put it and his own on the table. "Hey, Naotsugu," Tetora said.

The tank was giving Nyanta a sympathetic look, but turned to him. "Hey. Got any more of that? I about didn't make it through the restaurant part of town."

Tetora pulled out the lunch box and pulled out a bowl for him. Tetora looked at Nyanta. He wasn't looking too good, really. "Do you think you can eat, Chief?"

Nyanta glanced at him, then shook his head. "Nyot right now."

Tetora looked at Purrcy, but she didn't say he should. "Alright. I'll keep it warm for you. Let me know when." Nyanta nodded his thanks.

"Lie down, Nyanta," Purrcy ordered. He didn't refuse, putting his head in her lap.

Tetora looked between the two. "Purrcy, you used a lot of HP for a tag. What happened?"

She sighed and pet Nyanta's head gently. "It wouldn't stick. Like there's a lock on it, or something. I went hunting for the code that makes us regenerate upon resurrection." The room went very still and quiet.

"I take it you found it," Shiroe said finally.

She looked up at him. "Yes. It took a while to write the code I wanted. Nyanta asked me to make it reversible. That made it more complicated. I also had to write it so that only that one organ of the body wouldn't regenerate."

She looked back down at Nyanta. "I'll fix it," she said softly. "I know what it's done to you. Hang on."

She closed her eyes and was gone from the room for about five minutes, during which time the rest of them finished eating. When she came back, she sighed and looked at Akatsuki. "Take him. He needs to return. That part of him is stuck back there and it will fade if he doesn't go soon. I don't know what that will do to him."

Akatsuki moved faster than the panic could hit the rest of them. Purrcy rose. "Let's go Naotsugu. I'll need to be there this time." No one objected, and they all followed her out. Tetora took her hand and walked with her. He cast a healing spell on her again as they went. She'd not used as much this time, but it would be better for her to be on full...just in case.

"Tetora...," she said very quietly. "I'm following him in. You take care of my body. It will keep walking. You just take it where it needs to go."

"Alright," he said. He tucked her hand up into his elbow so that he had a little better control of her body. He slipped inside just enough to watch her move away from her protective shielded area. She went fully armored and as tiny and as silent as she could. He wondered if she knew she moved in this place. He might be the first one to watch a Programmer at work from the inside. His tracer on her was still present, though she'd modified it so that it was just as protected as anything else. That made him feel better, that she was willing to be found. She was going into uncharted territory.

"Isuzu, can you meet up with us?" he called a few moments later. "Purrcy's on a mission and is losing MP pretty steadily. I think your spell is enough to counter it, though. We're headed to town to the Cathedral, if you could catch up to us, please."

"Sure thing, Tetora. On my way. I was just headed to the house to do the next HP one she requested."

Tetora considered it for a moment. "We may need Minori, too. I think her shield may help against backlash."

"I'll let her know," Isuzu said. "The others?"

"No. Let them stay and help. It's an inner battle, and I don't expect unfriendly fire. We promised Crescent Moon we'd help after all. They can hold that front."

"Okay." Isuzu closed the chat.

"Should I go back, then?" Akatsuki asked.

Tetora raised an eyebrow at Shiroe. Shiroe paused, then shook his head. "If it didn't work we'll need you to send him back again until she can get it unstuck."

Naotsugu groaned. "And here we were thinking he wouldn't have to die over and over again. That's gonna suck big-time-city." The rest were quiet in agreement.

"Well...," Tetora finally said, "she works in microseconds, so we may only have to do it once. The resurrection cycle's pretty long when you look at it from that perspective of time." The others relaxed slightly. They could only hope.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta was standing in a grey landscape again. Things felt wrong again, too. The first death had been rather peaceful, if not pleasant emotionally. The second one had felt wrong, but even more wrong on resurrection. He only wanted to get back to Purrcy that time and Naotsugu had to support him most of the way back. He'd felt like he was being stretched into two - taffy being pulled a little too hard. To die again had been a relief actually.

To have heard Purrcy describing her father as he walked into the guild hall had been healing to his soul after two times of walking through this grey landscape that was the dreary and depressing part of his life. She'd been the bright light in that moment, even though the walk through Akiba had been in living color. He walked to the chair next to his own hospital bed and sat down on it, looking at himself lying there covered in IVs and monitors.

It always helped his clients to talk out loud. No one else was here to hear anyway. Nyanta took a breath and said, "Sometimes...when we're going through these hard times, wishing to die and fearing it at the same time, there really is a light at the other end. ...I can't tell you if the wife and son are doing well now without us. It hurts to not know. But...I'm doing better." His throat caught.

When he could talk again, he said, "I've found the perfect lady in the place I've ended up, so far away from home. She's the courage I always needed, and she doesn't mind me leaning on it." He sat back and looked away. "I know you - I - was always afraid, but...we don't have to be."

He rose and turned away. "This was my life, and I was afraid then. Weak and helpless...but...somewhere out there right now...is someone who isn't, who is working to help me continue walking forward. I want to look that way too. ...We might have to come here and see this past every time we die, but it doesn't have to be us in the present." He closed his eyes. "I was this. I won't deny it. ...If I wasn't this afraid, I wouldn't need Purrcy now, and I probably would have rejected her by now. But...I do need her. I love her courage, her excitement for life, even in the midst of her own fears and trials." He paused and rested, not looking at anything but Purrcy in his mind, finding his meditation and calm in looking at her image.

"Nyanta," a soft voice said. His eyes flew open. He should be alone here in this place between death and life for Adventurers. Purrcy was looking at him...but it wasn't the felinoid Purrcy. It was the human woman in pants and a casual shirt. He stared at her. He wasn't even sure how he knew it was Purrcy, except maybe the tone of voice. She smiled at him. "You've actually called me. I was coming anyway, but somehow, it got easier."

"I was thinking of you, picturing you in my mind," he said.

"You're very handsome on Earth, you know that?" she asked him.

He blushed. He had a rather round face on Earth and was of the shorter and smaller variety of Japanese man, not something considered handsome in the modern generation.

"You're beautiful yourself," he said back.

She laughed. "If the figure of a body that's had too many pregnancies turns you on."

He moved to take her in his arms. "It does," he promised. He kissed her, ecstatic to finally have real human lips together. "I might not want to leave this place, if you're here with me. ...I can't tell you how much I'd rather love you as a man and not a cat."

She reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "Sadly, I can't do that for you," she said, "or, at least, I shouldn't. Having made this mistake was enough. I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "You couldn't know. That's what experimentation is after all. Learning about things you didn't know about."

She sighed. "True." She turned and looked around the room. He didn't want her to see the him on the hospital bed, but she was out of his arms and by the bed before he could move to tighten his grip on her. He watched as she gently brushed the hair back from 'his' head. She smiled down into the eyes that were looking up at the ceiling in glazed dullness. "It's okay. It's hard right now, but life gets better in funny ways," she said softly. She bent down and gave the shadow of him a kiss on the forehead.

A knot in his gut untwisted and he suddenly relaxed. Purrcy turned and looked at him with a smile. "I'll see you on the other side." She started to fade. "We're headed your way." It came faintly to his ears.

When he could see again, he was looking up at the ceiling of the Cathedral. He didn't feel pulled like taffy anymore. He also didn't feel like getting up. He put his arm over his eyes, feeling fur again. He almost hated it...but...she was like this too, here. He pictured what she had looked like there, as a human. Average, really, but with the brightest smile and the kindest eyes...just like here. The things that were the essence of an individual had come with them. He'd known it, but now he really understood it. Then he understood another thing. He really couldn't go home now. He would not only fight to live...he'd have the pain of having two bonds. He wouldn't be able to let Purrcy go. Not anymore. He sighed sadly.

Fuzzy lips pressed on his. "It's time to get up, Nyanta."

He snaked the arm that had been over his eyes around her neck and pulled her back in for another kiss. "Meowr mine," he said in a whisper to her. "I won't ever let mew go, now."

She chuckled at him. "I didn't expect you would. I've just been waiting for you to come around since I saw you in Susukino."

He growled at her and opened his eyes. "And I told mew I saw mew first."

She was grinning at him, a challenge in her eyes. Then she started grooming his face, until he had to push her away in self defense. She stood up and waited for him to get himself levered up and to the edge of the alter. When his legs were over the edge, she put her hand on his shoulder and he held still. She looked him up and down, carefully inspecting his lower core. Finally she relaxed and nodded. "It looks like you're all here this time. That's the last one. ...And we're out of luck. It's going to be surgeries every reawakening." She sighed unhappily, then went back to practical, holding her hand out to him. "At least one good thing did come out of it."

"What's that?" he asked, standing.

"I learned how to get to the moon server."

Nyanta looked up at her from paying attention to his footing and saw the other six standing behind her. Almost all of them were looking away in perfect embarrassment. Shiroe, on the other hand, was staring at Purrcy as if he'd just been handed his favorite dream. His look was so possessive and hungry that Nyanta had to stop and readjust just a bit.

He turned Purrcy to look at Shiroe and she her ears perked up. "Oh, my," she said softly. "I believe he's gone completely into inner space. Akatsuki, dear, I think you'll have to walk him back home, like Tetora walked me here. He won't even return until about midnight, I think."

The others laughed - quietly - and Akatsuki took Shiroe's hand and put it on her opposing shoulder and put an arm around his waist. She got him walking and the rest of them fell in around them, headed back for home.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy."

"Mmrow? Shiroe?"

"Ah...sorry. What time is it? Oh, sorry, I didn't realize -"

"No." There was a pause for a yawn. "I was expecting it. I'll be over in a bit."

Shiroe walked over to his cabinet and pulled out the tea set, pouring tea for the two of them. She would likely need it to wake up. It was after midnight, and his mind was on fire. _"I learned how to get to the moon server."_ He might not be able to sleep for days, but now he had his questions ordered and was ready to ask them.

She entered his room dressed in flannel pajamas, as if arriving for a slumber party. "Ah...is this a non-verbal scolding?" he asked tentatively.

"No," she said calmly, still blinking a little sleepily. "I've always loved flannel pajamas. They're comfortable is all. It is night-time, but it's not a scolding." She smiled at him. "You disappeared so fast from the outer world that we knew you'd be gone a long time. ...Thanks." He handed her a teacup. She accepted it then went to the couch and curled up her legs under her, sipping at the hot tea carefully. He moved to one of the more comfortable chairs where he could watch her, setting his tea on the table to cool a bit longer. He'd been using the magic teapot so long now that he knew just how long it needed to sit to be his favorite temperature to drink.

First..., "What is next on your list to do?" he asked.

"Well...I've taken less time than I expected on both of the requireds to this point. ...After having learned how to get to the server, I'm actually more interested in point four." That surprised him a little. "I want to get the neural net written and started on its training. I can just babysit that, then, but it can be the distraction I need to get into the moon server, I think. It's going to take careful investigation, kind of like investigating a new dungeon."

Shiroe nodded. "That makes sense. I would think it would be like that, too. How long for the neural network?"

"Mmm," she considered it. "Well...I want to say one day, but...it may be longer. Somehow it feels like a research project all in itself. Like I should say three or four because, like you, I'll get lost in that part and won't come out until it's ready and be surprised how much time's past."

Shiroe could totally understand that. "That would take all the time from now until you're supposed to start training Tetora and the other Hackers. Would you have the time to put together the lessons?"

"No, probably not, since I'd be heads down." Her claw tapped on the teacup. As she thought, her ears started to prick up and her tail moved a little more agitatedly. "Actually...I might be able to combine four and five and the training all together." She sounded excited. Her eyes met his and her finger stopped tapping. "If I work at pulling the pieces out and making them into individual lessons, then have each student take a piece, it would be more visible, since they don't know how to hide yet, but the fingerprint on each piece would be unique. When I put them into the whole, it will have a completely different feel and scent from any one of us. That would take even more time to break down and comprehend, giving us at least one more layer of protection in the end. And with them being two separate programs, that would confuse the issue even if they were watched at the beginning. It should go okay since I expect most Hackers to already have programming experience. It's not like I'm teaching them to code from the ground up, just handing them a new project."

Shiroe nodded, pleased. "I think that plan is workable. To get three things done at once is pretty good, actually. ...And of course makes me happier," he smiled at her, to take away the insult, since none was intended.

She smiled back, "Of course. I'm sure you want to know many things as soon as possible, too."

He nodded. "Like, how are the Observers getting the data off the server and how is it being used by the Overwritten, or how are the Overwritten even being created and can we prevent it? If an Overwritten is causing us problems down here, can we break the connection and have them leave this plane and return there, or are they locked down here making us more miserable in the end? Can we leave a message on the server that the Observers can find, but not any potential Superuser, so that we can open secret negotiations? Could we even create a way to 'chat' with them? And...," he paused, because it was too hopeful, but he had to know anyway, "...can we find a window home through it? Even if it's just a way to see back to Earth to get a feel for if there were a way back through it. That would be like looking down the stairs to the next level, if we could do that."

He frowned into his teacup. "And...I'd like to understand the death and resurrection cycle better." He paused because he was surprised to find his teacup in his hands. He took a cautious sip. Oh. It was ready. He must have picked it up without realizing. He drank a little more. "The time I died, I walked through my childhood, being reminded of how difficult it had been. When I decided it was time to move on, I found myself on the shore of Mare Tranquillitatis. Akatsuki was there also, though I don't know why. We walked the shore, leaving footprints in the sand." He looked into his memory of it, speaking reverently in remembrance of the sacred stillness of the place.

"It was as if it was a lake of memories. All of the memories stolen from Adventurers when they die and are resurrected, even though very minor, floating down through the air like snow to land in the lake. Can we retrieve them? Is giving them up a necessary part to the regeneration cycle? If so, why? ...Those lost memories are very minor, only sometimes irritating to discover you've lost, as if you've just grown a little older and the details are escaping you, but you can't get them back. Most people don't mind so much that part. It's the having to be reminded that life was not pleasant, that you're not a perfect being, that's the hard part." He fell silent. Some people had the strength to make it though that many times, but others didn't. He personally would rather not, though he wasn't afraid of it.

"Hmm," Purrcy finally said. "When I went to make sure that the piece of Nyanta that had gotten stuck was unstuck and could return to him so he could come back whole, I followed him as best I could, then got lost in what would best be described as a jungle. He floated over it, so to speak, and I had to walk through it. I could feel where he was, though, so I just kept moving forward as best I could. Then suddenly the jungle was fading away and I was moving forward more quickly, but more like through a fog until suddenly I took a step and was in a hospital room with him, and his shadow self - his memory of himself. But he was facing me, his eyes closed, as if he'd been calling for me to come find him."

Purrcy looked at Shiroe's eyes, her gold ones holding steady. "I called to him and he opened his eyes. We spoke and touched, both in our natural Earth forms. I found that odd. That we were able to touch. I don't know why I found it odd, but I did. I went and was able to touch his past self too, and get a slight reaction from him, but it was as if a faint echo. When I comforted that past self, the part of him that was stuck there returned to him, as if it had remained with the part of him that it could get to, since he wasn't there himself. He told me on the way back here that he'd felt like he was being pulled apart when he resurrected here the time before. He could feel that link, that there was a piece of him missing and in a different place, and he was relieved to be dead again - I presume to be closer to that part of him that he'd left behind before."

"I touched Akatsuki on the shore," Shiroe told her, "and we were our real selves, also."

Purrcy considered for a while. "It's like...there holds the 'real' us, and this existence here is the computer or database existence. Like...the memories we walk through during the transition between dead and alive are us moving towards being real again. It's the part of life we aren't living here any more."

Shiroe sat up straight. That had been a very insightful and important comment. The only problem was...he didn't know how it fit yet.

"The part of his body that I shut out from this world stayed with that part of him, too...," she added slowly. "It's as if it's another database, storing that part of us that isn't here. I wonder what would happen if we could put the two pieces together...," she shook her head. "No. The piece that matters here is the piece that goes there at death. It's the body here that is the 'new' and 'foreign' part. It doesn't need to go there. ...If we can get home through a door from there, we might have to be willing to die here, take up that part of us we don't like and wear it again. But since no one likes to see it, be reminded of it, no one is willing to do that, so we keep returning here instead."

She was looking at him very sadly. He looked back at her soberly. "So, we would have to find someone who had that kind of courage, then send them to die to this plane, and watch them to see if they went home, or were lost on the moon...forever."

She nodded slowly. "That's how I see it, too. I'll read the computer and the database there to see if I can learn if it's really that way, but just by experimentation, that's what I'd do." She paused, then said, "You know...it sort of supports my theory that the Overwritten and the Observers are the same, too. They are split differently, perhaps, but it still looks similar - a set that can't reason and a set that can, yet they come from the same place." She frowned, "I'm not describing it well enough, I suppose."

Shiroe considered it, then shook his head. "No, I can get the feel for it, but it would need more investigation to see why and how they were split and if they also could be put back together...if they want to be. ...Somehow, they've found a way to access 'our' database for this side, though for the Overwritten it's the monster database. For the Observers, the one I know of anyway, it's the characters that were expressly created and saved on the moon server, but not - I assume - ones that had a person from Earth already running it at the time of the catastrophe." He shrugged, "Of course, it's the beta test server, so I doubt many if any at all, were on it at that time. The final would have been moved off of it to Earth's servers...," his eyes widened and hers did too at the same time. "Someone on the moon wrote additional code into it just before the port!"

"A message? A cry for help?"

"Why would they be 'eating' us then?"

Purrcy shook her head. "Starving...or looking for the energy to return to whole-ness again." She slumped back and sighed. "It's still the same questions, we just have the 'how' now." Her eyes narrowed, "But...it might explain why there isn't a Superuser. If the Observers wrote it, they wouldn't be able to control what happens after we are in it. They would literally only be able to observe what happened next."

"Why would you assume that?" Shiroe was puzzled.

She sighed. "Because of the Overwritten. ...They either won't...or can't prevent them. They don't fit the pattern of scientific study and discovery. They fit the pattern of the chaos and destruction that we humans bring to ourselves because of that half of us." She frowned again. "Maybe that's why they feel like two parts of the whole to me. It's like we'd been divided on those lines - chaos and darkness versus logic and reasoning. The division we're under now is similar, but not quite the same. It's emotional instead of mind. The darkness and depression versus the strength and capability."

"No way," Shiroe shook his head. "What about those who are so depressed about being here they are still trying to kill themselves home, or those who won't go out and work because they can't move?"

Purrcy was still as she thought about it from that perspective. "I think we also have expectations. You have an expectation that you'll be able to solve anything. Maybe you still came with your insecurities, but you didn't come with your depression. That's what's still there. I know I have a lot more courage and capacity to act here than I did back home. I don't want to die here any more than anyone who has died. I'm just as glad to have it not part of me." She was sober. "If I had the expectation that tomorrow I was going to have a happy life on Earth, I would want to go back. I might not be able to face the darkness of me on the other side of death here, but I wouldn't want to stay. That expectation would drive me...not the emotions. The division is along the emotions, not the expectations, nor really even the capacity and potential."

He crossed his legs and put his elbow on his knee to rest his chin in his hand musingly. "That has merit," he finally said. "If they want to 'eat' our emotions, or to gather them for some use and purpose, but the dark ones taint what they need, they would have siphoned them out and put them elsewhere. I'm not sure how that accounts for the emotions of the People of the Land that they take, but it's one reason for the split to be that way."

"They may be able to manage the small levels of debris, so to speak. Like when we separate the levels of base petrol into the heaviest - asphalt - all the way up to the lightest - kerosene, with the middle density most used being the fuel for automobiles. We can handle some of the heavier and lighter amounts mixed in, but too high a level and the car engines won't work. If we Adventurers are a more concentrated form since they've already separated out the 'dense' parts, the slightly more dense parts of the People of the Land won't interfere that much...watered down, so to speak."

He nodded an understanding of her description, still thinking hard. "So...we need to find out why they are split, if they are, and why they need positive emotions and strength."

Purrcy looked even sadder. "Oh, that is so sad. That they are just as split as we are, but just like us, are completely unwilling to pick up their other halves. I suspect that they could also go home, if they'd just be willing to do it." She looked at him, her ears and whiskers drooping. "I'll bet...if we could get someone to merge and go home, they might be able to find someone on their side courageous enough to merge and go home as well. Then we might all be able to return home, instead of having two entire groups of peoples split apart and lost."

She put both hands to her face, having put her tea cup down a while back, and rubbed her face. "It won't find you a doorway to coming back. We can't replicate the division technology...unless it's written in the code I can find...and since we don't know how we got here, other than the code was written to drag us here, we still don't know if we can come back." She peeked through her fingers. "I assume that's another piece you want me to find out when I do go looking?"

Shiroe nodded. "I'd like to be able to answer her one way or the other...," he looked at her for a moment. "Did Nyanta tell you?"

She nodded. "And he and I won't be going back."

Shiroe stared at her dumbfounded. She looked at him sympathetically. "He's dying there. He doesn't want to die...so he's promised to stay here with me. And I've promised to stay with him." She rose and handed him her teacup. He took it mechanically, still staring at her. "I think we've covered what we can cover tonight. I'll add those questions to my list of things to discover while I'm out searching. If you think of any more, write them down. I'll get them from you when I'm ready to data mine."

She looked at him kindly...sadly. "Good night, Shiroe." He watched her walk out the door. It was more than a minute before he looked down at the cup in his hand. It started to tremble and he put it down carefully, then leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

He was having great difficulties. His goal was to protect every Adventurer of Theldesia. Two who he wanted to protect the most, and who were helping him in that very goal...had just stepped out of his protecting arms - willingly. It was a sudden and harsh blow. When he realized it was because it didn't meet his expectations, he smiled a wry smile at himself. Not only were there some who wanted to go back and forth...surely, like Purrcy and Nyanta, there were others who didn't want to return home at all. He took a deep breath and carefully reset his expectations again. Only in this way would he be able to find the best solution - for everyone.


	24. Deeper into the Third Floor

The next day, Shiroe and Purrcy were both holed up, working hard. Nyanta bothered Purrcy just enough that she 'slept' on his lap while working, purring for him until he was settled enough to doze. Actually, she started stretched out, full-sized cat on his chest with her nose near the side of his head, her ear twitching every now and again to brush lightly on his cheek, being his security blanket. For one who had an irrational fear of dying, he'd had to die a few too many times the day before. Once he was finally relaxed enough, she moved to his lap, where he pet her absently every once in a while.

Everyone else went over to Crescent Moon to help with the final push of the move...or rather, 'pull' since they were all pulling their things over from the Guild Hall. Log Horizon was then helping be the muscles to put those things where they belonged. Marielle and Henrietta catered in dinner that night, since the final construction of the kitchen was still ongoing until the next day. Shiroe and Purrcy had to be forcefully brought back to reality to eat, then were back at work again until their Consorts forced them to pay attention to them to make them fall asleep properly.

The next day started out the same for Purrcy and Nyanta, but Shiroe came out of his cave and made an announcement to the rest of them. "Today, we are going to work on boxes." They stared at him and blinked and there was a knock at the door. Touya answered it and stared in silence.

Finally he said, "Yes, those are ours, please come in," and stepped out of the way. By the time the delivery persons had left, there were three piles one and a half stories high of flattened cardboard boxes of sizes from the smallest of two inches cubed, to the largest of three feet cubed...plus one that was the size of a large chest freezer.

Shiroe pulled out a sheaf of papers and handed them to Minori. "These are the sizes and corresponding labels. Please see that each box is labeled appropriately. Isuzu, Rudy, and Touya - put the boxes together and then combine them according to the way they are organized on these papers. Sort them by final container, please - myself, the guild supplies, and the refrigerator. Thank you very much." He nodded to them, turned and went back into the office, saying on the way. "Let me know when you're done. I'll have a lot of work to do to fill those boxes. Tell Nyanta I expect the refrigerator to be full before he and Purrcy leave."

It was the last statement that was the last straw for the dumbstruck youths. "Boxes... _and_ we have to _cook_!" They knew that Nyanta wouldn't be filling a third of those boxes by himself. He'd pull them in for that as well.

"Well," Minori said glumly, "at least we'll know how to organize our own by the time we're done."

Touya scowled. "I want him to pay me for doing _his_ work by buying my boxes for me."

"Deal!" was called out from within the office. Everyone lit up at that and started getting to work. Work for pay might be worth it. As for cooking, they already knew their pay would be in gratitude there actually was food to eat while Nyanta was gone.

The following two days were busy with cooking for the younger set and Nyanta while Purrcy and Tetora worked on lesson plans for the upcoming training. Shiroe was busy with repacking his things into his boxes and then the guild store's boxes. He felt rather like Log Horizon was moving, too, with all of the efforts going on.

Naotsugu and Akatsuki worked with Crescent Moon on the other demonstrations that could be done and lesson plans for the other types of mages, working from the list that Shiroe had given them from Roderick's research into what all the new mage types were. There were others than the ones Purrcy had told them about, but by far the largest percentage of them in Akiba were Technologists (what Purrcy had dubbed technomages), in large part because of all the engineers that were part of Marine Organization guild.

There were also a fair number of researchers from Roderick Trading Company that had a new subclass of Researcher that wanted to understand better what that sub-class really meant. Sub-classed Hackers (what Ilena had dubbed pseudocode mages) were the third popular, but there were only a few, which surprised Purrcy and Shiroe since they expected more computer related professionals of Earth to have been present and have found themselves using their career in their work on Theldesia. There were a number of other new sub-classes, but in ones and threes and fives at most.

When Shiroe mentioned there being no other Transformation Mages at the breakfast council the morning of the first day of demos and lessons for the Hackers, both Purrcy and Nyanta shook their heads.

"It's too difficult. There will only be a few on each server, at best," Purrcy claimed.

Nyanta nodded. "I'm still trying to just get one part of me to change, though I've finally earned the sub-class...for having transformed enough to have a paw not covered in fur." That sounded like a very good example of just how hard transformation magic was.

"Ah," Shiroe added, brandishing his fork towards Purrcy, "and...I was organizing the guild supplies in the storage I have access to as Guildmaster, and I've discovered that there isn't a size limitation on that storage. I did that one that you suggested - the three feet cube with twenty-seven one-foot cubes, going down to twenty-seven two-inch cubes inside the six-inch cubes. That puts it at over six-thousand boxes on that level, and it didn't complain."

Purrcy was staring at him. "Have you tried one more layer, going down to five?"

"No," he admitted.

Purrcy handed him an empty two-inch cube. "If you don't physically put it in, it will fit. Pull something small out to hold until this one's in."

Shiroe considered it and then there was a small potion bottle in his hand. He looked at the box in Purrcy's hand and it disappeared. The potion bottle followed it soon after. Purrcy blinked. "Davidius - conference call."

"Ah...Yes, ma'am?" The voice of the man of Radio City that she had pulled over to work on Shiroe's project could be heard as if floating over the breakfast table.

"Shiroe, I gave him my basic code for the lists. Davidius, what did you do with it? I haven't had a chance to look yet."

"Since we'd been working with boxes, I just applied it to the box we sent over there, kind of as an initial test run to make sure we can create and attach lists. It worked in testing here. I've teamed up with a crafter that can make Dazanek's Magic Bag. I'd like to make it out of things a little more permanent than crafted cardboard, and I want to understand -"

"Thank you, Davidius," Purrcy interrupted. "I think that's a wonderful next step...however, Shiroe has just found something I think would be better source code to work from." She nodded at Shiroe.

"Hello, Davidius," Shiroe said politely. "As Guildmaster I have access to the guild storage for raids. I discovered yesterday, in putting in the recursive boxes, that the nine-hundred-ninety-nine item limit doesn't apply. I did the recursion of 1-27-1-27, for a total of over six thousand items in one slot. We just did the experiment and I can also go to at least five layers, though we only tried one item." There was an appreciative intake of breath.

Purrcy took back over. "Davidius - finish the study of the bag. That's a better size to keep to the cost point for individuals. But get on the guild level code asap. Run a simulation to overload the system. I want to know what the maximum is to overload. An estimate would be fine if you hit a limiter."

"Have it done in two days tops. I want to use you and it at the demo to the Round Table Council when they show up to see what's going on. Bring your crafter so we can also show how cross study creates synergy. That way he'll be able to get his own credit as well."

There was silence on the other end for just a moment, then, ruefully, "Miss Purrcy, now that you aren't afraid to talk, you are every bit the fierce taskmaster we always knew you probably were. It's rather frightening."

"You can't do it?" she asked pleadingly.

"No. No, I can do it," he said, resigned.

"Thank you. Also," there were muffled giggles arising from around the breakfast table, "contact MechaMaster4 over at Grandale. He'll be able to help you figure out how to make something large scale metallic. He's a Technologist. Once the three of you have figured out the bag and the refrigerator, give us a holler over here. We'll set up a meeting between the guilds that matter so you can get contracts for large scale production that Grandale and Radio City can't handle. I want in on that since the base code is mine. We'll have Shiroe be the negotiator."

"My crafter's solo."

"Perfect."

"...Yes, Ma'am."

"Thanks so much, Davidius. Let me know what you want."

"Phoenix feather, three of them."

"Gotcha. Later." The chat closed. "Shiroe, do you have distributors and sales people taking the new technologies out of city yet?"

He blinked at her. "You could slow down a bit."

"Nope. Just answer the question."

"Yes, but it's mostly Person of the Land sales. We haven't gotten too many Adventurers interested yet."

"Which guild has the most?"

"Ah...well...that."

"I'd think Calasin would at least wouldn't he?"

Shiroe tipped his head. "I think you could ask him that?"

"I don't have him on my list," she looked at him innocently

He sighed, thought about how she had made the conference call, then imitated her. "Calasin - conference call."

"Hey, Shiroe. What can I do for you?" Calasin of Shopping District 8's voice now was in the air over them.

"Do you have a sales and marketing team that handles out-city sales?" Shiroe asked.

"Of course," Calasin answered.

"Perfect. This is Purrcy," Purrcy said.

There was a silence on the other end. "And, what can I do for you, Miss Purrcy," Calasin almost purred it.

"I'm looking for a sales and distribution line for some new products coming up that are in the pipeline. I'd like to get it full Archipelago asap and cross continent eventually."

"I can do Archipelago, but no one's figured out cross continent marketing and distribution yet. The Ocypete's done it once or twice but there are still roadblocks to full intercontinental business."

"That's coming. The ship just needs the mods the trained Technologists will come up with in the next couple of months. They've been hampered by the fact they don't know what they can do. Crescent Moon League's classes will fix that and they'll explode. Once that happens, I want my products on their ocean liner and I need sales reps to push them and caravans to take them to both sides of the ocean. Are you willing, or should I go hunting a smaller guild that can give me complete devotion?"

"Is it just clothing?"

"Nope. Bigger than that. Watch the demo Radio City and Grandale are putting on in three days. That's my base, and I'm expanding from there."

There was a pause, then, "Just what are you doing, Miss Purrcy?" he asked with extreme interest, masked by an attempt to be suspicious. Shiroe wanted the answer to that as well.

"Making Akiba the center of the world for manufacturing and sales of modern conveniences, and therefore, the richest city as well. Please plan on expanding," she looked at Shiroe, "all the guilds."

Shiroe blinked and the silence on the other end of the conference call was rather full of someone trying to relearn how to breathe. "I think we could accommodate you, Miss Purrcy." Calasin said smoothly.

"Good. We'll have a conference to work out terms and percentages after the demo, so you know where I'm starting at. Shiroe will contact you with place and time. Please bring the numbers of what you expect profits to look like. We'll be working out who gets what piece of the pie. Don't forget to factor in purchases by People of the Land, and price points for them. I'm sure we'll have to fine tune it over time."

"How many pieces will the pie be broken into?" he asked shrewdly.

"Idea creation, research and development, manufacture, sales and marketing - we'll say that includes distribution - to get to wholesale price point. Start with the outline from the clothes as a base for the calculations in the spreadsheet. Once you see the demo, we'll talk for the next line to see if it works. Then we'll expand to the next level. If everyone can agree, then we can add in what Marine Organization already does and get them to settle on getting formal for their products."

Shiroe interrupted at that point. "So, you're saying, Purrcy, that you're idea creation, Roderick is R&D, Marine Organization is manufacture, and Calasin is sales and marketing?"

"I think we need to add in the others as well, but those are the big players, yes. After all, along with me is Radio Market and Grandale, and I'll pick up the solo crafters as well. In the States, the small business owner was the life blood, even though the big players made it so the whole continent benefited from the technologies."

Calasin was on that one little piece of news. "You're American?"

"Keep it under your hat," she said firmly.

"Capitalist."

She snorted a laugh. "Inventors usually are, if they want to eat."

"My kind, my kind. Not an insult at all."

"None taken. In my family, it's a compliment. Thanks for your time, Calasin."

"My pleasure." The chat closed.

"Thank you, Guildmaster Shiroe, for discovering that for us. Make sure you plan in your usual cut of my take during the negotiations. You can add a quarter percent for _being_ the negotiator I've hired, if you like."

" _Now_ we're yakuza," Tetora said, shaking his head. "Holding the whole city in your hand, Purrcy."

"No, just being the Queen. Have to take care of our own, after all. The sooner we're international, the sooner we can say we were first and the best, even when other similar products come out on the market from other countries. Calasin's going to have a lot of work to do to figure out how to hire reliable foreign caravans until we get the gates up and moving. Then there will have to be someone in place who can manage the schedules for when people get moved and when products get moved."

"If you can find a small guild who's really good at managing time before then, we could get them started early. The Transportation Department. If we show up in every city, fix the gate, and slap a cookie-cutter department office outside every one of them before we open them for business, then we're also in control of that. Fee charged of course to pay for costs."

Shiroe blinked at her. She looked back at him mildly. "It keeps it uniform without complications. Roll with it." He nodded obediently, finding that particular argument most reasonable and aligned with what he'd already thought of.

"Honesty," Akatsuki said, calmly assigning that guild to Transportation.

"Promotions is West Wind Brigade," Tetora supplied just as calmly.

"Security's already D.D.D.," Touya piped up, and Naotsugu nodded.

He added, though, "What about Knights of the Black Sword?"

"Who's supplier?" Purrcy asked quietly. "I can't do it all, you know."

Looks went around the table. "I think I'll let the two of them decide which one they want," Shiroe said calmly. "Knights of the Black Sword would be better for international security on the gates, but they'll want the bigger raids. Of course, the solos and smaller guilds will jump on the opportunity to make more income when the demand goes up, so we probably don't have to worry so much."

"So...Knights of the Black Sword for national defense, D.D.D. for internal police?" Purrcy asked.

"Something like that," Shiroe glared at her.

"Perfect. Akiba just became the capital city of Yamato," Naotsugu said wryly. "Complete with a King and Queen, even."

"And ministers," Rudy added.

Purrcy gave him a smile. "And administrators," she agreed with him, giving him a significant look.

He looked surprised, then gave a bit of a smile. "I'm still a bit young for that, Miss Purrcy."

"Oh, no, I don't think so," she said, but she left it at that.

"Wait! You're all serious about this?" Isuzu finally had to step in. Minori was wide eyed as well, trying to track it all.

"Considering there's a vacuum that's wide open," Purrcy said, interlacing her fingers together and leaning on her elbows, "and that we and this city are perfectly poised to step into it, and that Shiroe wants desperately to be able to influence the entire world, I think we need to move now. If someone else fills the vacuum before we do...well...let me just ask: the guild that's running Westlande - are they fit to fill it and are you willing to let them get there first?" That settled the argument, but heads were still shaking. Purrcy had moved fast again. It would take a bit of time for it to sink in.

Calmly she said, "We'll just run it as a full-on big corporation for now until people get used to the idea. People love modern conveniences and will overlook the political side of it as long as they get their color TVs and Nintendos. That will keep internal wars down until we can get the Adventurer cities to agree peacefully to follow our lead. Once we've got the treaties and contracts with the rest of them, then we can face Westlande properly, as the 'good guys' who just want to let their people enjoy the products and prosperity, too."

Shiroe shivered and pushed up his glasses on his nose. "Purrcy," he said warningly.

She looked at him, a fierce glint in her eyes. "If you can't be the Commander-in-Chief, Shiroe, then you're the Queen and I'm the King."

He looked at her calmly, suddenly realizing that of all people who looked him in the face, she wasn't afraid of the frightening look of his eyes that cowed everyone else who had to face him. He deliberately took off his glasses, closing the arms and sliding them into his front pocket. He clasped his hands together, and leaned forward on his arms lightly, to look her directly in the eyes. Just as deliberately and calmly he said, "I'm on it, Purrcy. When you're ready to be a full team player, I have a special job for you over there. Until then...I've got it."

She looked at him, judging him. An ear twitched and the tail moved slowly. "Understood, Guildmaster Shiroe."

He sat back up and looked disinterestedly away from her, taking his glasses back out again. "Thank you," he said, closing the issue. As he slipped his glasses back on he asked, "Are you prepared for your lessons to begin?"

Purrcy had picked up her glass. "Of course," she said as tightly polite as he was being. She lifted her drink to her lips and added, "Heika."

Shiroe twitched ever so slightly, but he didn't reject the title this time. She hadn't been wrong in her reasoning, even if he wasn't happy she'd pushed him into accepting such an unreasonable thing. She really hadn't been able to not affect the guild one more time.

He used the excuse of drinking from his glass to sigh. She was, indeed, a worthy opponent. Almost surely she'd planned this from the beginning. _He_ would have. A solo player, defeating her own dungeon and boss...and he'd just lost to her, making her Queen. He'd have to see an appropriate crown was found for her. One that would make her blush - hard.

-:-:-:-:-

"Somehow...I feel like we escaped ultimate destruction by the skin of our teeth," Touya said musingly.

"We did," Tetora shivered. "We nearly had my worst nightmare come to life."

Rudy's eyes were wide and he nodded agreement. "I understand now what you meant by not wanting to see a confrontation between the two of them. I've never seen Master Shiroe take off his glasses before."

"He never has," Naotsugu said simply. "Even he's afraid of his own eyes. The fact that he felt like he had to use them as a weapon was..."

"Disconcerting," Tetora supplied.

"...Surprising," Naotsugu finished.

Tetora frowned. "Did he have to then?"

"It may have been an attempt to discover _if_ he did," Naotsugu said. "At least, it's set the precedent, now."

"Yeah," Touya said. "If I see that again, I'm running."

Naotsugu frowned at him. "Tanks don't run."

"Yeah, I know," Touya said, his eyes still wide.

Naotsugu smiled and slapped Touya on the back. "Area-effect-full-destruction-city."

They all nodded. But, still...Purrcy had survived it. She'd only backed off, not destructed. ...And then got in a parting kiss. Formidable was the only word that came to mind.

"Did she really move too fast again?" Tetora asked. The four men were all carrying things for Crescent Moon over to the place where the university demonstrations were going to be held. He was trying to fit where they were into the picture. "I mean...it's like she's opened up the next part of the dungeon. Told us what's in it and where to move to, and all that."

Naotsugu considered it. "Well...considering we've been here two years, and no one's filled the vacuum she talked about, even though I know the Councilor's been worried about it all this time, probably not. She probably just pushed him into accepting it's time to move, and gave him the tools to do it...like usual."

"Like usual," Touya mimicked in agreement.

"It's rather serendipitous, though, isn't it?" Rudy asked. "I mean, it was Master Shiroe who said he'd discovered the differences in the guild storage, right?"

Naotsugu looked over at him from the corner of his eye. "Well...I think that's why it feels like she moved fast. She might have just been waiting for the one catalyst and he supplied it suddenly in that moment so she jumped on it. Maybe she was thinking something would come up this next week from teaching folks, or later when the Technologists got here, or even that her own inventions would eventually spark something big. ...Well, it did, since it sparked this morning," he shrugged, "but you see what I mean." They all nodded. It meant marching orders would be coming down soon.

-:-:-:-:-

"Hey there, Minori-chan, Isuzu-chan! Come to help us get ready?" the Guildmistress of Crescent Moon League seemed rather happy-go-lucky for the first day of the pre-opening activities of the burgeoning Akiba Adventurer Academy. They'd been informed of the new official name when they arrived.

"Yes, Miss Marielle," Minori said politely.

"We're going to need these books and writing supplies at the sign-in booths. Can you help there, to encourage people to sign up, even if they're just thinking about it? We'd like to be able to contact them when there's new things going on." Marielle was waving her hand at a pile on a table. "Or, if you'd rather, there's flyers to pass out in town to draw people in. We've got the first set of people out already, but if you'd be willing to take a shift, that would help, too. Or both!"

They finally figured out what it was. She was overly anxious and too overly excited because of it. "We'll be happy to help in whatever way you'd like," Isuzu said calmingly. "Shall we take these things over now?"

"Ah, well, the boys need to get the booths set up still, but they left and so you should be able to -" she stopped and looked at the two of them. "Ah! Is Miss Purrcy all ready? Aren't you needed to help her get set up? I mean, she's the draw for the week, and all. I shouldn't take you from her if she needs you."

They shook their heads, glancing at each other. "No, Miss Purrcy will be just fine. Tetora and Nyanta-san are helping her."

Marielle's brow furrowed. "You're sure?" She'd suddenly calmed down and turned serious.

"Yes, Miss Marielle. We've been sent to help you today," Minori reassured her.

"She's scary. If she's said it's okay, then it's okay, but...you two don't _look_ okay. Is everything alright over there, dears?"

They blinked. "We-we're fine," Minori said.

"Isn't she worse on the female half, though?" It was said so innocently that they really weren't quite sure how to take it. "I mean, she's so like the strict hahaue that won't let you even invite a friend over to study for worry the house will get messed up, and then frowns when you drop a pencil."

Isuzu waved her hand vigorously. "No, no. It isn't that bad. ...It is true she's strict, but really, it isn't too much different from what it was before."

Minori looked down, her hands worrying her skirt. "Minori-chan?" Marielle said gently.

Minori started and looked up quickly. Many thoughts ran through her mind, but the one that had to be followed was that it was family and you didn't talk about family problems to outsiders...except Marielle was going to be family very soon. She wondered how much warning she could give, then gave up. There was no way to warn anyone about Purrcy. "Miss Marielle...she's already scolded you, and you've done what you needed to do. You don't need to be afraid of her. Shiroe-sensei...he'll take care of it."

Marielle looked reassuringly at Minori, then said, "Well...that is true. He did scold her, even when we said it was our fault, and she was obedient. ...But I think...she must test her boundaries often?"

Minori had to drop her eyes. What they would say otherwise was too much. She was suddenly enveloped in a very bosom-filled embrace. "If it gets too bad, come here and visit for a spell. We'll all hide out together until it blows over."

"She means well," Minori managed to say.

"It's really just the adjustment to being a new part of the guild," Isuzu said, mostly calmly. "We just had a particularly rough time at breakfast this morning. Like you say...it will blow over. They're trying to get things moving forward so are pretty intense right now, and it may be that way for a while, but we know she knows how to relax, too, so it will be okay."

Minori found her friend's words very calming and she was able to relax somewhat. When Marielle released her she was able to nod. "We'll help you today to be out from under all of that and likely by dinner it will have blown over. They barely come out to talk as it is. Akatsuki and Nyanta-san are taking the brunt of it, so it isn't too bad." Minori sighed. "Actually, the quiet has been rather nice, as has the fact we can be busy helping you and all of Crescent Moon. I've had a good time with doing that. It will be fun to have all of you next door from now on." She smiled at Marielle, "...and when it gets hard, we'll be sure to come and escape over here."

Marielle patted Minori on the head. "Good, good. We'll cheer you up. I'm sure we can use your help, too, whenever those two go into Machiavelli mode. I'm sure it isn't easy to be in the house with two of them going at once." She shuddered. "Just the three minutes I had to be with them both at the same time was enough. And the negotiation," she looked very afraid, "I don't even want to remember it, honestly," her voice was very small. "I was so glad it was Henrietta and not me. I was a puddle of jelly the whole time."

Isuzu laughed and Minori smiled. "I believe...you were supposed to be?" Minori said honestly.

Marielle sighed and looked disappointed. "Probably." She clasped her hands together in front of her, then bowed to them. "Please take care of me. I will do my best to see that Hahaue Purrcy is kept happy with me." She looked at them again and gave them a lopsided grin. "And I hope that Naotsugu will protect me, too."

Minori couldn't keep the smile from coming out in her eyes. "I'm sure he will try to, Miss Marielle. Just keep doing your best. You've already passed her test."

"Which means she'll put you to as much work as Shiroe-san," Isuzu said dryly. "Please be looking forward to it."

Marielle gave a groan. "I don't really know if I can manage working for _three_ Machiavelli's." She fanned her hand in front of her face. "I might have to take a vacation to the beach to escape sooner than I expected."

"There is no escape," Henrietta said, walking up behind her looking decidedly evil, pushing her glasses up on her face. "You need to be working, not chatting, Marie."

"I'm going. I'm going," Marielle said with a bit of a whine. "If the two of you will take the books to the booths for now, please, then take the lunch shift in town, we're going to hit as many of the lunch crowd as possible. Thanks, dears!" The last was called back over her shoulder as Henrietta pulled her away by the hand to another task she was apparently 'not doing'.

Isuzu shook her head. "Really, she might have it the worst of any of us. Three _is_ a bit much."

"True," Minori watched after the guildmistress and her taskmistress, "but I think Miss Henrietta is more afraid of Miss Purrcy than Shiroe-sensei, as well. If there's ever a conflict, Log Horizon will always win."

"Well...," Isuzu gave Minori a knowing look, "I think it's supposed to be that way?"

Minori looked defeated. "Yeah. ...Probably. ...Does that make us the Baronesses really, then?"

"Probably," Isuzu said picking up a box. "Get used to it, I suppose. It will make life easier if we do that now than later."

Minori picked up her box, frowning at the contents, but not really seeing it. "Did you know this was going to happen when you signed on for Log Horizon?"

Isuzu raised an eyebrow at Minori as she began to walk out. Minori followed. "Didn't _you_ know Shiroe-san was like that when you signed on? You're his apprentice after all."

Minori looked at Isuzu in the eye, then out into the street through the open door they were going through. After they had walked for a ways, she finally said, "No, it's true. I knew that he would do whatever it would take to help those he felt called on to protect. He's never said he's _not_ the King, only that he'd rather not have to take the title. He knows there isn't anyone else who can do it. She was telling him it's time, and he was telling her that he already knew it and was already wearing the crown." She sighed. "But I really hope they can come to agree on the plan soon."

Isuzu nodded. "I think they did that this morning. It should get easier from here on out, at least for this next part of it." She looked at Minori from the corner of her eye with a smile. "I certainly don't expect it to be smooth sailing from here on, of course. She's going to keep pushing his reluctant feet forward until she's put him where he rightfully belongs."

Minori lifted her head to the sky and smelled the air, full of green and living smells. "Well...honestly...it's about time."

"For sure," Isuzu agreed quietly. They companionably walked to the place the boys of their guild were setting up the booths to greet visitors at. They took up their posts there to be gracious hostesses until they were relieved to go and help with passing out flyers at the lunch rush in town.

-:-:-:-:-

HackerM1 was sitting by himself - as usual. Others around him were whispering - or not so quietly talking - about him and his trade - also as usual when he was around. He wore his trade proudly as his moniker after all. Of course...everyone here today had that label.

" _Hacker_. I mean, why do we have to have _that_ as our sub-class? It's so embarrassing to be classed with something so derogatory. I'm a _programmer_."

 _Yeah. I can tell_ , snickered HackerM1 to himself.* The half-alv who'd commented was barely even protected in the code realm. Every line he'd written here in Theldesia was likely straight-laced and above-board, too. If he managed to make it above level fifteen or twenty, he'd have to keep himself in the research facility to stay safe...and that would still be only an illusion.

There were other _programmers_ present. Most of them, actually. One burly human (probably the complete opposite of the skinny, washed out player of _Elder Tales_ that had sat in front of his computer screen on Earth) actually did have decent shields. Likely he was careful. Maybe a hacker in some sense of the word. He hadn't opened his mouth yet, so he'd at least had a few harsh lessons. That one looked over at HackerM1.

He nodded politely and actually received a tentative nod back. Nice. He might actually be able to get along with that one. It didn't hurt that he was a higher level Hacker than the rest, too, though so far no one higher than your's truly.

"Well, we didn't write the original program," another one commented, pushing glasses up on his face. He was sweating so bad the glasses wouldn't stay up on his nose, and the finger that kept pushing up the glasses was trembling. He was a scrawny elf. "And we're not company programmers, so of course we'd have to be hackers to mess with the database."

It was the way the man said it. HackerM1 was almost sure that one _was_ a company programmer...who'd been playing on company time because he, too, wanted to be part of the new release...and now he was in trouble. It would be interesting to see if his permissions carried over or if he was locked out. He didn't look so good, so it was probably the latter. His Hacker points probably came from trying too much to get back in and failing. He had the next highest level, but also no shields to speak of.

"I've found it helpful in my work to be able to modify things as I need for the task at hand. The label is rather irrelevant, but that would seem a logical reason for the label, certainly." This time it was a sleek fox-tail who was all put together in dress, coloring, form, ...and apparently mentally. Inside, he was organized as well. Likely his desk at Roderick Trading Company was just as organized. He had another new sub-class, Researcher, as well. More power to him. May as well take everything you could get here in this place.

HackerM1 could read everything on all of these here so far. Names weren't important, though. Not yet, anyway. Everyone that could be left in the dust didn't need remembering to that level. Once he had their fingerprints he'd know them that way later.

"So...just how long are we going to have to wait, anyway? I've got work to do," the nervous company programmer complained.

"No. You just want to escape," HackerM1 finally said.

All eyes turned to him. They'd already read his data - what they could see of it. He had his data carefully written. He was proud of his new sub-class, so he didn't bother to hide that. He had dropped his level, though. It wouldn't be good to be seen as too much higher than everyone else. "Are you the instructor?" the researcher asked.

"I think we should wait for everyone to get here before beginning, is all," he answered. Since he just _might_ end up the instructor, it would be better to not deny it strenuously yet. "We still need Log Horizon, after all."

Everyone nodded at that. Since they'd all come from guilds - except him - they all knew about Log Horizon being behind the guest teacher and having a student as well. He personally had come because he _wasn't_ the instructor and he wanted to know just who might have come from out-of-town. If he could learn something new, he was all for that. He wasn't too hopeful, though. That made one regret having wished at all in the first place.

Another man slinked into the group. A wolf-fang this time, a sour look on his face, the ears back unhappily. He looked around then slid closer to HackerM1. HackerM1 looked at his data. "Weren't going to come, were you?" he asked mildly.

The tail flicked unhappily. "Nope," he said quietly. "Got dragged here by the seat of my pants."

HackerM1 sat up. "Really?" he said very quietly. "Do tell."

The wolf-fang grimaced. "Got a text message in glowing red that if I didn't show up I'd be locked down - and a zap when I didn't get moving fast enough."

HackerM1 raised an eyebrow. The wolf-fang wasn't a slouch in the level and shield department, being now the second highest level in attendance. He finally gave a soft snort. "One of the dirty hackers are you, then?"

"And you're not?" an angry flick of the tail.

He held up a conciliatory hand. "I wear it proudly." The wolf-fang settled a bit. Two more joined them shortly thereafter, one of them looking rather low in the hit points. "Got flailed, I take it?" HackerM1 asked that one quietly.

He got a baleful look. "Turns my stomach to sit with _programmers_." The 'nice' word was said as the 'dirty' word.

"Then feel free to sit with us," the wolf-fang said. The two newcomers sat, relieved to know they weren't the only ones dragged out.

HackerM1 was pretty sure these three were all hiding data - because he could see the hidden data. So far, no one had shields good enough to hide from him. The one who got flailed had mirror sites so took a little longer to get to, but HackerM1 flew high in the code realm and could look down over them.

"Log Horizon," came from over in the programmer group and he looked over to where they were looking.

Three people. One a female human idol - petite, long pink hair, perfect delicate features, dressed in nice pants, a perfect blouse open just low enough to tease but not tempt, a short sleeve leather jerkin over that laced up just right for the same, and walking like a male. Looking at him on the inside confirmed it. He was Hacker, recent, but well shielded for his level. He'd seen battle, that one.

Initial instinct, which most of the hackers around him followed, was to snicker that the boy had fallen into his own trap and was being made to live his dream as his worst nightmare. HackerM1 didn't. That one was both sharp and well put together on the inside. He'd be formidable once he hit high levels. HackerM1 hadn't known before then that Tetora had become Hacker.

The second was a felinoid male. Everyone who knew Log Horizon knew Nyanta-san. He wasn't Hacker. He was here likely as the adult chaperone for the group, to make sure they played nice. HackerM1 looked inside anyway and sat up in surprise. Nyanta was glowing. His data could be read. That hadn't been locked out. But not a single other thing could be done to him. HackerM1 couldn't breathe.

Nyanta been turned into a Knight. Someone's shield. A Swashbuckler turned into a Tank in the code realm. HackerM1 had never seen anything like it. ...There was a master in their midst. His heart beat fast. He might...just might...learn something new. ...Well, he just had just by looking at Nyanta, and -

He looked quickly at the third person in the group. Outside data said also a member of Log Horizon, but it was the newcomer female felinoid. She was dressed in - jeans and a t-shirt? Didn't detract, but seemed a bit dressed down? Her level was low for Log Horizon, too, fitting in with the junior members. HackerM1 sat back. He'd wait and see just a bit. They'd reached the programmers.

"Nyanta-san," the nervous corporate programmer was the first to step up, "how long will this take? I'd really like to get back to work."

"Purrobably all week," the gentleman said calmly. "We do want to make sure mew understand meowr new sub-class well enough after all. It would be a shame to have mew waste meowr new opportunity."

The man's mouth fell open and obvious dismay was on his face. "Oh...well...I suppose..."

"I, for one, am quite looking forward to learning the boundaries of the new sub-class. I'd like to understand how to use it better for my other work," the researcher said.

"I think it will end up being very helpful," Tetora grinned at him. "I've found it terribly useful so far, myself."

There was a growl from next to HackerM1 and he looked over. The wolf-fang was looking at the femfelinoid and his tail was swishing angrily. "Hey," HackerM1 said quietly. "What's wrong?"

"They took her from us," the wolf-fang growled slightly. "We've got a slight vendetta, and I'd rather she hadn't shown up."

"She's a _cat_ , for goodness sake," the third hacker to show up said. The wolf-fang looked like those were fighting words and the hacker backed down.

"What use is a female secretary here?" the fourth hacker finally spoke up. "Where's the instructor?"

Everyone turned to look at HackerM1. He was already diving down to look at the third Log Horizon member from the inside.

"I see sexism is still alive and well in the elite male world of programming," Tetora said pointedly.

HackerM1 stood up and walked over to stand in front of the femfelinoid, Purrcy. He bowed slightly. "I look forward to working with you, My Lady."

"Michael, when you face me directly, it should be while looking into my eyes, not at my data."

HackerM1 blushed and exited the code realm to look into her golden eyes. She smiled, her ears turning prettily and her tail waving gently. "Welcome to class. I'm glad to have you here. I have many things to teach you and I think we shall get along quite well. Tell me, HackerM1, what did you see?"

He blushed further, then said the only word that could describe it. "Perfection."

* * *

 _A piece of linguistic history: originally "hacker" meant a programmer of astounding skill. Only as it continued into time did it come to earn its derogatory connotation - mostly because those programmers who break into software not their own and cause mayhem have to be very good at their skill. There is a bit of a hidden argument between those hackers who are legitimate and those who are shady over who gets to claim the title. The media has, of course, hijacked it almost exclusively for the shady side. Thus, the sub-skill name for Theldesia is actually correct for both sides and beauty is in the eye of the beholder._


	25. Basic Hacker Lessons

"I think that's a bit much, isn't it?" growled the wolf-fang.

HackerM1 turned and looked over his shoulder with wide eyes. "You're that level and you can't tell? Go inside and look, man." Every true Hacker did just that. The programmers looked confused.

Purrcy moved to the rock that HackerM1 had just left, Nyanta and Tetora staying close by her. The Hackers rearranged themselves as she went. She settled on the rock. Nyanta stood to her right and Tetora to her left as if they were her guards. They were, so it was completely appropriate. "Please have a seat," she gestured, indicating the students should sit on the ground. "It will be easier to walk the code halls if the body isn't going to collapse from standing."

HackerM1 took the center front seat. The hackers took the spaces to his left, the programmers to the right, though they weren't quite so comfortable to be sitting on the ground. "I'm sorry we don't have proper classroom facilities yet," Nyanta said calmly. "We'll be cleaning out the school building after the demonstration time is over. Anyone who would like to volunteer to help, we would apurreciate the assistance. We would be willing to consider time spent getting it usable equivalent to payment for the class this week."

"Payment!?" squeaked the nervous man on the right. "Isn't this a favor?"

"Of course nyot," Nyanta said calmly. "This is education. Since when did mew not have to pay to be educated at a university? We'll have the maintenance fees as well as upkeep and payments to the People of the Land who we have to hire as janitors if we don't get help. Log Horizon and Crescent Moon are small after all. It isn't at all unreasonable to ask for a small fee to cover such things."

"How much?" frowned one of the hackers.

"Free if you put in labor, for now," Tetora said. "Miss Henrietta has worked the numbers and is meeting with Guildmaster Shiroe today to set the final fees. We'll have that data for you by tomorrow, most likely."

"It should be clear already," Purrcy said mildly, "that all of you are on mandatory attendance. We expect the guilds to cover for their members. Those of you who are not guilded, please let us know your preference of method of payment by tomorrow." She was really addressing the hackers and they knew it. They had sour faces for the most part, not having enjoyed being forced out into the open to begin with.

"I'll clean up," HackerM1 said promptly, "though I don't care where I learn as long as the body's sufficiently protected. I work inside the halls not inside buildings."

Purrcy tipped her head in acknowledgement.

"I still don't get it," the wolf-fang said. "Why are you the instructor?"

Purrcy looked at him calmly. "What do you see when you look inside?"

"What I've always seen. A front of 'Purrcy, Felinoid, Class Summoner, sub-class Animal-Trainer, level 67'. Behind that is 'Purrcy, Felinoid, Class Enchanter, sub-class Hacker, level 56'. That's less than me, so why are you teaching?"

HackerM1 turned to look in surprise at the wolf-fang. He wasn't the only one, the programmers to his right were also looking surprised. The other hackers were nodding, though. That's what they were seeing, too. HackerM1 opened his mouth but Purrcy held up her hand and looked at him in warning. He closed his mouth. "WolfMan6, please explain to the lower level students how to see the second level."

He scowled, but tersely did as she asked. She looked at the three programmers. "This is called 'mirroring'. What you see first is the data I want you, and everyone else, to see. Each sub-classed Hacker can read data, and can modify their own data - in how it's read by others. The base reality can't be changed. When we 'mirror' we are showing a reflection of ourselves, like as if in an amusement park hall of mirrors. The mirror site warps the reality of what and who we are so that we can't be identified, and therefore attacked, directly. It is one of the basic forms of defense in the code realm. You need to learn this one at a minimum, but there are others I will teach you as well. The world of code is filled with danger, as if it was the outside world here. Even if you yourselves don't go attacking others, you must be able to survive attacks against yourself, and be able to protect your guilds from attacks."

"I thought this was just a skill to help with other skills, like a crafter skill," the researcher from Roderick's guild said.

Purrcy shook her head. "No, it's a magic Class similar to Magic Attack Classes, but with aspects of the other Classes included. It is actually most similar to Enchanter in the way I use it, but others have emphasized other attributes of it so would look different if you watched them work. We call this the 'flavor', 'footprint', or 'fingerprint' of the Hacker. How each one of us uses our magic is unique. If HackerM1 were to cast a spell, I would know who he was inside immediately. Right now, I only know his name and data. It's the same for the rest of you."

She turned her gaze to the hacker half. "And you _will_ cast for me." There were dark looks back. "If I know who the Akiba Hackers are then I will know not to kill you, just to punish you and send you back for more lessons." She turned back to the programmers. "Go walking and look past the mirror to the second level, like WolfMan6 explained. When you've seen it, come back out and look at me and we'll move on at your level." When they'd all gone inside, she looked at Tetora. He nodded. He was already inside, ready to guide them in the process of "seeing" inside.

Purrcy turned to the hackers. "Okay, HackerM1. Go ahead."

He turned to the other hackers. "You've only looked one mirror deep. Go about three more." They blinked at him, then were immediately walking until they were all looking astonished. " _That_ is perfection," he said quietly.

"It's _nothing_ ," WolfMan6 complained.

"Exactly." The three other hackers returned, blinking and looking confused. He tried to explain it. "If you can't see anything at all about a Hacker, can you affect them, really? It's the perfect defense: to not be present. It doesn't matter how strong an attack is thrown at her, your result is going to return Null, 'empty set', and there will be no damage done to her at all. If you happened to cast too high, you'll be hit with the recoil. Of course, none of you can cast high enough to get past the third mirror, is my guess." He had his eye on the hacker that had taken damage before showing up, but he was cool and didn't let on either way.

One of the others frowned. "So...are you hiding? Or just erasing your data from being read? Are all of them a wild goose chase?"

"Good questions," she answered. "Each Hacker has a different answer, actually, just like we have different fingerprints. We all have to use the same basic code constructs, but how we use them to protect ourselves is different for each one of us. The more we get attacked, the better we get at having a defense against whatever attacked us. We live and learn all the time. It's like fighter practice, only we don't get practice, sadly. ...Until now. We are going to practice it and the traps won't be deadly, because I'm going to set them. You're going to figure out how to escape from them, then set defenses against them so you don't get trapped again."

They sat up a little straighter. "Also...I know you're going to learn from the attacks. That's fine, but I want you to understand something from the beginning." She looked at them seriously. "You all live in Akiba. I take it to mean that means you want to keep living here."

That brought them up short. "It's not a threat," she said. "It's an observation. If you want to keep living here, then it will be up to you four to see that it's kept safe from outside Hackers who threaten it. If you let them attack the city when you know well enough how to protect your own home, then the consequence will be upon you. You know full well you have to protect the body, not just the mind. ...Do it. I won't be here."

HackerM1 frowned and WolfMan6 scoffed, "No. You run away all the time."

"It isn't running away, WolfMan6. It's work. I work outside the city. If there's an emergency, Guildmaster Shiroe will call me back, but for anything else, I expect you four to be on your toes."

"What do we get for it?" the final one asked.

"What do you want?"

"No, seriously," he answered back sarcastically.

"Seriously. I'll consider any request." She didn't get an answer. "Good. At least you know to ask _after_ you've done something that might earn a reward. ...I'm sure I can count on you all to not neglect to come and collect. ...Here's your first lesson." She let loose the first attack, adding their names to it and turned back to the lower levels, who were returning from their first lesson in walking the code realm.

Purrcy continued to throw attacks at the higher level Hackers, waiting until as a group they had figured out how to deal with the prior one. She was also paying attention to the lower level Hackers, helping Tetora get them up to speed faster if there was more than one slow one. They needed defenses terribly. HackerM1 was the quickest to solve the problems she threw at the upper level group, typically coming back fairly quickly, then watching what his fellows were doing. She came out of helping a lower level Hacker to see HackerM1 was looking at Tetora, a curious expression on his face.

He asked, "Why isn't he higher level?"

She smiled. "He's an analytical. He'll be a late bloomer."

HackerM1 looked at Tetora again. "That will be a problem if he waits too long. He'll run into things he knows how to handle but can't, panic, and explode."

"I don't think so," she answered calmly. "He's been watching me after all. He has a pretty good balance right now. It's just not easy to see at first glance."

"Are you a cautious master?" HackerM1 tested.

She flicked a wry ear. "I've been a solo. I'm paranoid. He's cautious, but determined."

"Solos make better Hackers," he stated.

"Maybe," she answered and threw the next attack.

The next time she saw his eyes, he was looked at her soberly. "Miss Purrcy. He's pretty stuck."

She nodded. "So...squad leader. What are you going to do about that?"

He sighed, "You don't really have to keep proving anything to me, you know?"

"Oh, are you military? That's not in the records you know." He blushed, and she gave him a small smile. "It shows, though. Take them all with you and dig him out. It'll be fall together, rise together here, too. I need them following you. Go." He went. If between the three of them they couldn't dig out the one stuck, she'd go in and give them the shovel they needed.

"Is he trustworthy?" Nyanta quietly asked Purrcy.

She tipped her head, considering it. "Probably. Any of them could turn, of course. I'm hopeful. Having a general here on this front would be nice."

"What's his level?"

"He's about to cross over. He may even do it this week, though I'd like it to wait until after we can test him a bit longer. He might fly and crash otherwise. Getting a bit more discipline under his belt would be best." The junior Hackers returned and she turned back to them.

About ten minutes later, four bodies collapsed on the ground. Purrcy called Tetora back. "Oh, my. They look like they got bombed pretty good," he said.

"No, they've been rescuing. Second from the end is your first target, then an over-all for everyone. Even the low levels are feeling the strain. Sir Chef, you're up after Tetora's done." Purrcy stood and stretched and walked away to breathe for a bit. Even her brain was a bit scrambled, keeping track of two disparate groups all morning. She'd also been leading HackerM1's infiltrators on wild goose chases. She couldn't keep him busy enough, until that last task. She smashed the current infiltrator, needing to rest, then just stood still, breathing the fresh air and listening to the small creatures rustling in the undergrowth.

"Here you go, Purrcy," Tetora said, "and hold still. You need a refresher, too. He's been pushing you pretty hard."

She took the bowl gratefully and held still, finally relaxing when the healing spell did it's work. "He's about to cross over. I'm going to have to keep him busier, I think, but I just set it, so we'll see if it works."

"What's his role?"

"General over Hacker material."

"So high already?"

"No, he's got to work up to it and prove himself, but that's where I'd like to see him end up."

Tetora was just a little too quiet. She brushed his arm with her tail. "I need you as Adjunct and Queen's Guard, Tetora. General has to focus on everyone's protection. Don't leave my side cold."

He stepped next to her and wrapped an arm around her, pressing her side with his. "There. Is that warmer?" he had a smile in his voice.

"Much better," she purred.

"That's a pose to myake one jealous," a wry voice came from behind them.

Purrcy flicked her tail in an invitation and Nyanta stepped up to her other side and kissed her cheek. "Mew look like he's trying to prevent mew from running for the forest," he said quietly in her ear.

Her whiskers on that side lifted. "Not really. Just trying to recover. I'm not used to handling that much at once is all. I'm getting my own lessons here as well. As HackerM1 said, we're pretty much soloists. This is the first attempt to have us work as a group. I think we'll benefit in the end, though." She paused and there was a cry from the group behind them.

That was followed by a snort. "Idiot. Haven't you figured it out yet? I've been throwing higher level stuff than that at her all morning and with half her brain she's teased me the whole time. I just had my highest level one squashed because she was done playing. Give it up already."

Nyanta looked at Purrcy in concern. "Is it okay?"

She nodded. "I think they'll be mostly done now. There's another one crafting a long slow spell, but I've already put my special sauce in it and he hasn't found it, so it will probably go off mid afternoon today and he'll have a migraine for a while. That one was just letting off steam since he was the one stuck so long." She drank down the last of the broth and handed her bowl and chopsticks to Nyanta. "It was delicious as always, Chef Nyanta. Thank you very much."

The bowl disappeared from her hand and he bowed. "My pleasure." She reached over and grabbed him around the neck and gave him a very big kiss, letting her lips linger on his. His arms went around her and his tail wrapped around her leg.

"Really? It has to be with me standing right here?" Tetora complained. "You could show a little consideration."

"Just repaying," she said. "...And setting everyone's expectations. Turn around and you'll see what I mean." As a group they turned around to look at the students.

There was a mix of utter disappointment and embarrassment on the faces in front of them. "I'm a female programmer, remember. The appeal is too high. And to be a hacker on top of that..."

"Geeks," Tetora sighed.

Nyanta sighed and put his paw possessively on her shoulder. "I'm glad I know I'm protected," he said. "I think I just got hit by four different attacks."

"No, the squad leader didn't bother. He's already seen your protections. Only the higher level ones can see them. The rest just saw their attacks fizzle." He nodded, seeing the puzzled looks on their faces. The squad leader, HackerM1, was just shaking his head. He rose and hit all three of the other higher level Hackers on the head and moved to walk over to the little Log Horizon group.

He stood looking at Purrcy. She waited for him. "I'm done. That was my last one. I'll take care of any more to come out of them."

"The one sitting next to you's got a long shot building up. Let it rebound or it'll backlash on you. Take the rest of them to watch it, though. They need to learn just what those kinds of things will do. I'm going to have the low levels watching it through my shields. They're not working hard enough. I think that should be sufficient encouragement. Tetora will heal him up enough to working levels, but we'll keep him in just enough pain to remember the lesson. What I'll to do him the next time will be a lot worse...and it will backlash to the rest of you."

HackerM1 grimaced. "You're going to take the team training that far, are you?" She just looked at him. He sighed. "I want a high level title, then."

"Your's if you're serious about hanging on to it."

He stared at her, then shook his head. "Just what are you?"

"You'll figure it out eventually," she said calmly and gestured it was time to return.

Two hours later, Purrcy gathered the researcher, corporate programmer, programmer, and Tetora behind her shields - in the middle of a lesson. She checked quickly on the other three, but HackerM1 had the two not involved turning to watch. She was faster then them by one hundred times so the launch and attack moved a lot slower to her than it did to them. It started as a sneak attack, not even touching the mirrors. Reaching them, it sniffed them, and turned to follow the next link back. It was pretty good code as far as that went and she copied that part out and into her own distant save file to study later. She could already tell it wasn't robust enough, since he'd hard coded in the number of mirrors she had, but other than that there were useful parts to it.

The next part of the code was a rapid-fire drill that tried to break through the 'nothingness' of the shield that was there, then plant a bomb in the resulting hole. "What will happen is that it will finish and send back the result to the Hacker who sent it. Pay attention to both the damage his attack does and the result that is returned," she instructed everyone inside the space.

They waited soberly. The bomb went off. They could see it had, but saw no damage or explosion. Then the result returned to the sender. He was very confused, but when the result reached him, he had just enough time to make the first sound of a swear word before the explosion took out his meager shields and him - down to five HP. She took everyone back out to the base realm. The man was rolling on the ground screaming and holding his head. She just stared impassively at him. Finally Tetora moved to him and cast a healing spell on him that raised his HP enough he just lay there and whimpered.

When Tetora was back by Purrcy's side, she commanded the attention of her students. "He set the attack level of the spell high, assuming that there would be something strong there that he could take down to finally get in and retrieve data. It was a higher level attack than he had proper defenses to account for. Lessons learned, please?"

One pale programmer said, "Code attacks are real attacks with real damage." He gulped. She stared at him, then looked around at the rest of them.

"If you're going to attack, make sure you can take what you dish out," one of the hackers said, "even if it's with constructs between you and it."

Purrcy nodded once and continued to look at the students in front of her. "Don't mess with the Teacher," HackerM1 said. "I warned you lot. She's higher level than me, and my highest couldn't touch her."

Purrcy shook her head. "It has to be tested when you don't know the level of the person you're acting against." He raised an eyebrow at her. "When you're a level that can't read the opposing person's true level, the only way to know it is to test it. You have to try something to figure it out. Sometimes lower level spells will help you to know. Once you have a feel for it, you can wisely run and hide, or give it your best because you might actually get something through. It's just like fighting monsters in the field, really. You can easily defeat a level five if you're level thirty, but that doesn't mean you can't also defeat a level forty-five with smarts and an understanding of your enemy. Let me give an example. HackerM1, you said your highest level spell was the last one you sent my way. What level _spell_ was it."

He tipped his head. "Roughly seventy. I was going with the highest level you had on your mirrors plus a few."

"Can you tell me what level spell I crushed it with?"

He went back in and looked. "It looks like...about the same level, maybe one or two higher."

"Right. I'm protecting my level, so I'm not going to hit it with a significantly higher level one. Only one just high enough to take it out. But that still tells you what?"

"That you're higher than even the highest you're showing, and at least seventy five-ish."

"Right. Now you have a minimum baseline. I toyed with all the rest, so you couldn't see any results to let you know...other than to know I was high enough to toy with those levels of spells."

He nodded. "Right. And each successive one was a little higher to test and see at what level you'd finally react, or I'd get through."

"And that's how you can use lower level spells to test for the level of a mage you can't read. I've let you be slow. In a battle, you have to get them off quickly or you're smashed before you ever find out." That made sense to her listeners.

"Well, but you smashed that one, not because it was close to your level, but because you were tired of playing around," he said to her knowingly.

"And that's another defense," she answered. "I don't know what your level is either, so," - he narrowed his eyes, but let it pass - "I want to make you relax and think that's close enough. If that gives me fifteen levels of relaxing room then I might be able to get one bigger one off that catches you by surprise. ...Like our friend here did." That 'friend' was now sitting up and holding his head, but listening humbly. He grimaced to be referenced.

"There is another thing that hasn't been mentioned that was a lesson from his spell, though, that relates to this. His attack level on that spell was higher than his own level. He used a long-timed spell, one he created this morning and let build up in levels because he held it before releasing it. Just like in crafting, if you spend more time on a thing, you can get a better product in the end. Time spent adds 'points' to the spell if you will, just like spending HP or MP. When I said 'run and hide' when you find a mage higher level than you, that didn't mean 'give up'. That was the thing he did right."

"He held back quietly and created a spell that could get through, then let it build up to what he thought might be a useful level, then set it to go off later. You can set that to be when it reaches a certain level, a certain time, or whatever limiting criteria you want to set. If you aren't careful it becomes sudden death for both of you, though, as he learned. If you let it build up above what you can handle personally and in your shields and limiters, you're headed to the Cathedral, too. I put a limiter on it for him to keep him here and alive. Having to walk all the way back here from there would have been a waste of time."

"Wait," one of the other hackers said. "That means you were watching him write the code?"

Purrcy smiled a little, hard smile. It was reflected in Tetora and Nyanta's faces. The hackers swallowed - even HackerM1, who whispered, " _And_ you modified _his_ code." The offender dropped his head into his hands in defeat.

"No way!" WolfMan6 growled. "No way! The Guildmaster said it but we didn't believe it. I couldn't believe it."

The others looked at him. "What?" HackerM1 demanded.

"The Guildmaster came back and said he'd talked to her and we were to leave her alone from now on. That she was the one who took down the Plague Master." The programmers from the guilds looked at Purrcy in surprise. They knew about that battle from their guildmasters.

"Nyanta took him down in HP. I locked him down after that," she said calmly.

"Yeah, but...," HackerM1 whispered, looking at Nyanta, then back at Purrcy. "What level was he," he demanded of the wolf-fang.

WolfMan6 shook his head. "He hid it also, like her, at around the sixties. Supposedly he showed the Guildmaster, to prove himself when he wanted us to do a job for him, but the rest of us don't know."

"The healing spell was for level ninety-nine plague. That only tells us that high level Adventurers were carriers, but I would think, given how quickly it worked, that it would have had to be at least a level eighty-five spell," the researcher calculated.

HackerM1, who had been frowning, suddenly had the light come on and he looked up at Purrcy. "Who wrote the healing spell? It would have had to be code, wouldn't it?"

Tetora shook his head. "No, I used Cleric healing on it and affected it. The other magics work against, or on, Hacker magic as well. If you can see it, and it's an attack, physical defenses work to neutralize them to, to a certain extent. We tested that when he sent attacks against the guild. Purrcy put visible color tracers on his spells. Equivalent physical attacks, like that bomb that just went off, we could defend against with both Kannagi defenses and Guardian shielding defenses. Magic could be defended against with magic, the same as we already understand. It's a new magic, but it still has to hold to the basic laws of general magic. There are still costs to create and cast, for instance. Even if you aren't sure what your cost will be, you can estimate it based on your understanding of the costs of other things you've used."

Purrcy nodded. "It's easy when you work in the code realm to begin to believe you aren't touchable by the others, but that is a mistake. It's the biggest hole the OP Hackers fall into, and I've used it to my advantage several times...and forgotten once to my detriment. We used all three against him - magic, coding, and physical attacks. It was important to do all three, both to keep him too busy to get a barrage of spells off, and to get him down in HP and MP as fast as possible, since we didn't know what his level was. We did know he was high enough level that if he could get off the volume of spells he was likely capable of, he would have taken down the whole city."

She looked around at them soberly. "This is the main reason we're holding these lessons, particularly today's defensive one. One mage of high enough level that we know nothing about can wipe out a lot more than they otherwise could if we understood them. Even those of you who won't use it regularly for attack or defense need to be able to survive. It could be one of you who figures out how to make a level ten spell do enough damage to take an enemy down in the end. I hope you're all willing to defend the city you live in at least, even if you care nothing for anyone else in it. After all," she looked at the hackers, "you can't be a couch potato if you can't go buy the pizza and beer. Hacker sub-class counts as an attack magic, because it can be used to attack in this way. Please continue to expect to be distrusted until you've proven you're willing to use it for the good of others. It is my hope that my own actions will continue to be built upon by the rest of you."

She threw the next attack at the higher level mages, a four pronged one aimed at them as a group that would continue to attack until they defended as a group, and turned back to the lower level ones, who were much more willing to apply themselves to their studies now. Two hours, and only two more attacks later the higher level class cried "uncle" and collapsed onto the ground again.

"God, I didn't think we'd ever crawl out of that hole," WolfMan6 groaned.

HackerM1 was on his back, his arm over his eyes, just breathing. He looked like he was going over it all again in his mind - doing the post-op review. The other two looked like they wanted to crawl into caves and sleep for the night. The lower level class came out of their latest attempt to defend themselves from the lowest level spells the first class had gotten first thing in the day and also looked toasted.

"Okay, everyone. Take a look at your HP and MP. Which did you use up most this afternoon?" Purrcy asked.

"Why is it HP?" the researcher asked.

"You tell me," she answered.

"MP is like 'mind power' so it should be that, shouldn't it? We use our mental powers to think and create the code. Magic users expend MP when they cast, too, so also by that parallel it should still be MP. Why is it HP?"

"What's your body telling you right now?"

"HP's gone," one managed to blurt out.

"Have any of you watched your gauges yet, when you're working?" HackerM1 and the highest leveled member of the lower level class raised a hand. "Go for it Davidius," she said.

He nodded. "When you create the spell you spend HP, sometimes a lot of it. When you cast the spell you spend MP. Every time you cast it from then on, it's just MP. It's always looked to me like it's the cost of creation. The higher level the spell, the more HP it costs. The fancier, or more often you cast it the more the MP, but it's always less than HP, unless you use it a lot."

"Thank you," she looked back at the researcher. "My theory is similar. Magic here in this world requires balance. Hacker coding is pretty powerful, really. It's bounded but not limited, like the other magics are, so it has an external limit applied - that of requiring HP. You can't over-create that way. It makes you learn when to craft time-spells for use later and how to monitor and check yourself when you're in battle so you don't really go OP. ...It is further my theory that we will find that all magic users have an HP cost they have to pay in some form or other, but that's research for later, I'm sure. ...We'll wrap it up here for today. I'll expect to see you all tomorrow."

Purrcy looked at Nyanta and patted the rock. He sat down and she leaned on him. Tetora sat down on the rock next to them with a sigh. He reached for his wand and she put her hand on his arm. When he looked over, she shook her head. "Later. Recover yourself first a bit more. I've called for back up." He almost protested, then gave up with a tired nod.

"Heavens, y'all. You look like you've been through the grinder and all you've been doin' is sitting around the rock all day."

"Not likely," grumbled one of the still recumbent men on the ground. "We've been in battles all day."

"Good afternoon, Miss Marielle," Tetora said, trying to work up the energy to be his normal cheerful, but it didn't work too well.

"Even Tetora and Miss Purrcy, is it?" she asked. "Well, I've got just the thing. Hold on." The group healing spell Heartbeat Healing glowed around the wasted Hackers.

"Good lord," HackerM1 whispered, then bit his tongue. When the others rose and walked off, still stumbling wearily even though they were mostly back up in HP, he stayed put.

"Cast another one," Purrcy told Marielle. "Lower level will be fine."

"Oh. All right," she said cheerily, and complied. "How did it go today?"

"Quite well, actually. I had one student that gave a perfect example of why they should be working defense first and that got the lower level class to focus and actually get to practicing today, though Davidius was already pretty serious from the beginning. The upper level class has HackerM1 to keep them marching forward. They're learning a lot, really. What do you think, Michael. Will they come together for you?"

He pushed up from the ground to sitting back on his hands and looked at her. "Why do you call me that?"

"Because you put in the 'M' and 'HackerM1' is too big a mouthful, not to mention too impersonal. If you couldn't come up with a creative name to begin with, I get to pick." He snorted. "And because you're speaking English, too, though your Japanese is very good. Were you military here that got caught, or were you cross-ocean?"

He stared at her. So did her companions. Finally he said, a little sourly, "Stationed here."

She nodded. "Slightly better than me, then. I was non-speaking cross-ocean...in Susukino."

"Michael" shuddered. "Slight? No wonder you've risen so high, to fight your way down here."

"Exactly," she said calmly. "So...you'll be squad commander for now. I'm minded to bring Davidius into the upper level and put him under you. He's moved past what I need to keep the lower class at, and I think he wants it, too. He was eager on those practices. Can you keep him alive with the rest of them or do we have to give him intermediate lessons?"

He sat up into a cross-legged position and thought about it seriously. "If you could give him this morning's tomorrow morning, then we might be able to pull him in in the afternoon. Those were basic individual ones. We'll be able to better integrate him into the group if he can do at least those."

"He'll probably be ready before lunch. I'll let you know when he's ready for testing and you can pull out and watch him."

Michael nodded. "That'd work."

"Tetora, we'll finish the lower levels probably tomorrow, by the demo for sure. Make sure you can join the upper ranks by the day after that."

"Yes, ma'am," he said cheerily.

"How did recruiting go, Marielle?" Purrcy asked her.

"Well, I guess. Watching a group of people sitting on the ground wasn't very flashy, though, I'm afraid," she did look a little concerned about Purrcy's reaction to her words.

Purrcy picked up Nyanta's paw and put it on her head. He obligingly began petting her and she sighed and half closed her eyes. "No, we wouldn't be, but defense is the most important part. We'll be ready to be flashy by the demo. Keep pushing that."

"We will," Marielle said. "We have been. It's what's on the flyer and when they complain, I just tell them you're getting everyone ready for it and to come back to see the fireworks."

Purrcy nodded. "PR is so annoying. I'm glad you're handling it."

"Well...that is what we do best!" Marielle said with only partial forced cheerfulness.

"Thank you, Marielle," Purrcy said seriously, looking at her in the eyes.

Marielle stopped and stared, then blinked and bowed. "My pleasure." She was also serious in return. "Shall I let everyone go home?"

"Yes, please. We're done for the day."

"Thank you for your hard work," Marielle said with a smile to everyone and a wave as she walked off.

"Guh," Purrcy groaned, turned into house cat, and curled up in Nyanta's lap. He looked at her in surprise, then went back to petting her.

Tetora was watching Michael closely. "You've stuck around too long already, HackerM1. What are you waiting for?"

Michael blinked and looked at him. "Ah...well, that. It isn't like I've got anywhere to go, have I? I was just going to hole up here until lessons were done." Tetora's eyes narrowed.

"What, too close to home for you? It's a free zone, isn't it?"

"Michael," Purrcy scolded lightly without opening her eyes, "he outranks you. Levels here are irrelevant. What were you before a Hacker?"

"You already know that, since you already know my name."

"No. I mean back there. What did you play at before?"

"Sticks and armor."

Her eyes opened and her head came up. With a twitch of her whiskers, she said, "What rank did you make it up to?"

"Knight."

"Perfect. Were you in any crown tournaments?"

He paused, then answered with a question in his voice. "One, when I was stateside in California, but I had to play half-hearted because I wasn't released from duty and my round out wasn't going to be long enough." He looked at her curiously. "You?"

"Never caught anyone's attention to move up past award of arms before I had to step out, but that was fine." She put her head back down on her paws and considered him.

It was quiet for some time until a crunch of footsteps sounded from behind Michael. He turned to look behind him. He rose to meet the newcomer. "Show him your true status, Michael," Purrcy said quietly.

He nodded. "Naotsugu," he said. "I'm Michael. Miss Purrcy's made me the squad commander over the upper levels."

Naotsugu looked at him, then at his stats, considering them. He nodded and turned to look at Purrcy. "He'll still have to prove himself."

"I know. To me, too, but what's the feel?"

"He can come have dinner. We'll let the Boss decide."

Purrcy rose and climbed up onto Nyanta's shoulder, going kitten, then nearly slipped off. Nyanta caught her. "Nyan, mew've pushed too hard today, Purrcy." He held her in his arm and pet her some more. "Let's get mew fed, shall we?" He smoothly rose from the rock and headed towards home.

Naotsugu and Tetora flanked Michael and the three followed after them, Michael looking slightly lost, and very bemused.

When they arrived at the Log Horizon guild hall, Nyanta left Purrcy with Naotsugu and Tetora and entered the kitchen with Touya and Minori as his assistants. Tetora was just as worn out as Purrcy and ended up with his head in Naotsugu's lap. Purrcy also chose Naotsugu to sleep on.

"I'd be jealous," Michael said, "except I'm as tired as they are, and I know what Tetora is. Is she always a task mistress like this?"

Naotsugu smiled. "Yes, though in various different ways."

Michael covered a yawn. "And no less hard on herself, obviously."

"Pretty much," Naotsugu said. "You're welcome to take your own nap...over there anyway."

"Well...that wouldn't be wise, would it," Michael said. "I'm only being welcomed as a dinner guest, after all. Keeping my eyes open would be better all around." He looked at Purrcy. "Is she always this trusting? It doesn't seem in character."

"I wouldn't say it's 'trusting' so much...," Naotsugu seemed a bit too coolly neutral.

Michael went looking inside. It didn't look different from his normal perspective so he went flying, and discovered he couldn't. He hit a ceiling instead. He dove down and hit another floor, so he went walking forward with his hand out a bit. He walked the full circuit, learning the boundaries. Returning to the center he did a simple Light spell and it reflected off the interior of a sphere. He returned to outer space, as he preferred to call it, and looked at Naotsugu. "If it's all the same, I guess I will take a nap. That's as safe a place for the both of us as will ever be."

Naotsugu nodded genially and Michael closed his eyes and was snoring lightly, the sleep of the soldier who learned to get what shut-eye he could get whenever and wherever.


	26. Another Hacker

"He's a little too trusting, isn't he?" Tetora said about forty-five minutes later, not moving from his place lying on the couch and resting on Naotsugu's knee.

"Mmm...seems to be a mutual thing, actually. Him and Purrcy."

"Mutually blindly trusting, or mutual understanding?" Shiroe asked quietly, having come out of his office to take his own look at what the cat had dragged home. Akatsuki had come with him and was standing between him and Michael. He'd at least changed his name back for them, though Naotsugu had indicated he'd put the rest back to where it had been before he'd been shown the real statuses.

Naotsugu shook his head in answer to Shiroe's question. He didn't know that yet. "Neither one's blind. More like a blind 'spot', if it's that at all."

"They talked some sort of code, it almost sounded like," Tetora said. "I couldn't follow it, but it seemed to establish some kind of tentative understanding, or maybe relationship. Enough to get them this far, I guess."

"He settled better after he understood he was under guard and in prison, so to speak." Naotsugu offered as a last piece of evidence.

"Oh, and he's military - U.S...I think," Tetora said. "That was only slightly easier to follow than the other stuff."

Shiroe studied the sleeping Michael, then the comatose Purrcy. "Tell her not to work herself and everyone so hard tomorrow. That looks like too much to me. One really ought to be able to stay awake for dinner."

" _Ought_...," mumbled Purrcy. The rest looked at her. She still hadn't moved. "Ought to not have had seven students at once, more like it." She took a slow, deep breath, then more loudly called, "Staff Sergeant Michael!"

He was suddenly sitting up, looking around. The rest of them looked at him calmly until he recovered, and slumped back. "Wrong appointment," he said dryly.

"It got you up without killing anyone," she said cracking an eye open at him.

"True," he said, rubbing his head in an attempt to wake up.

She yawned, "And hopefully tickled your funny bone, though that'd be a side bonus." She melted from Naotsugu's shoulders down his chest to sitting on his lap, where she sleepily shook her head, making her ears flop since they were still too tired to stand upright.

Tetora groaned slightly and pushed himself up as well, though he had to lean against the back of the couch, still not quite able to support his own spine. "Excuse me a moment." He closed his eyes and relaxed and _glowed_. When he was done, he sighed in relief.

Purrcy laughed. "You're a Pokemon! You just evolved. Congratulations, you're now a Tetorina."

He looked at her a bit grouchily. "That's a child's show you know."

"I know, and it's the most popular Japanese child's show in America with adult followers. Well, followers of all ages. But you glowed and evolved, so it fit."

"If I had evolved, I'd be a Tetorin- _o_."

"Well, it wasn't that kind of evolution, I'm afraid," Purrcy said apologetically.

Michael raised his hand. "Can I know to what level, since I can't see it at the moment?"

Purrcy looked at Tetora appraisingly. "He went up about fifteen levels in one shot...well, ten really, but he's been holding on to five and it bled out, too."

"Is that even possible?" Michael asked what most of them were thinking.

Purrcy stepped off Naotsugu's lap and onto the couch where she transformed back to felinoid. She shrugged her shoulder. "No. Tetora's been pretty unique, actually."

"Explain, please, Sensei," Tetora asked.

"You should have been going up levels, but because you _believed_ you shouldn't have been because you felt like you weren't doing anything, you didn't. Somehow you reached a limit within yourself...like you finally couldn't continue to keep a lid on reality, and it had to come out. Probably because you're so tired. You'll be able to visually put your level back down again if you want, but I suggest from now on you just let the level counter go up naturally and be quietly proud of it."

"But...I _wasn't_ doing anything," he protested.

"You were learning and growing, even if you were only observing and analyzing. You don't have to hit something to grow as a mage, remember? Most of it's head stuff, and you've been doing a lot of that."

"...Oh." He dropped his head onto the back of the couch.

Purrcy gestured with her hand, "Guildmaster Shiroe, Akatsuki, this is Michael, squad commander over the Hackers of Akiba. Michael, Log Horizon Guildmaster Shiroe and his guard and girlfriend, Akatsuki." Akatsuki blushed bright red and clenched her fist briefly. Shiroe tipped his head at Michael who bowed his head back slightly. "You've already met Tetora, my apprentice and guard, and you obviously know Naotsugu by sight and reputation." Michael nodded at each of them and in response to her comment.

"Behind you is my husband, Nyanta, and," Michael had turned around to look and he froze briefly at the word 'husband', "with him are Touya and Minori. ...Ah," she looked around to look behind her, "and behind me are Rudy and Isuzu. ...Rudy, could you show Michael where the bathroom is? We'll have the table set by the time you're back, Michael, and we'll eat."

Michael rose and followed Rudy, and was followed by Isuzu, since they were partners and neither one was going to have the other be alone with a stranger, even if he was a guest. Particularly if he was U.S. military. Touya and Minori "put" the dishes on the table, having found it very convenient since they'd learned how to do so at Crescent Moon's clean up of their new guild house. Nyanta "put" the food dishes on as well.

"So...tell me why you've brought him home with you, Purrcy," Shiroe asked.

"I want him to be the General over Hackers, if he can stick with us without going traitor as he goes up in ranks and levels." She looked at him directly. "He's about to go Class change and I want him close if he goes too soon. He doesn't have to sleep here. He'd probably prefer not to, at least until he and all of the rest of us are comfortable with each other. He's likely as good as me at sleeping outdoors just fine, though I'm sure he likes beds, too."

"...And you trust him why?"

She tipped her head and pursed her lips. "He was willing to work for his education, even before knowing what I was going to make them do and learn. He was the first to ask for payment as well. As odd as it may be to some, I find such immediate directness a tentative sign of honesty, because honesty starts with being honest with yourself." She shrugged. "It's sometimes a sign of greed, but the two don't really go together - service and greed, that is. It's more commonly service and honesty."

"What were the two of you talking about that seemed to be the common point between you?" Tetora asked, sitting up now.

"You remember I told you I've been in a group in the States that enjoys reliving the past history of our European roots? He's been part of the same group. That would be another point of almost-trust. He was knighted. You've got to have the trust of one of the kings and the other knights of your kingdom to get that level of award. It's not a sure thing, just like the others. He could have been popular with a not very good king, etc., but it's a step in the right direction. He'll trust us more if I tell him my real stats, but I won't do that until Shiroe says I can."

Naotsugu shook his head. "No. Not your stats. Who and what you are. If he's a knight at heart, he'll follow a proper leader...particularly if he's already used to that militarily."

Akatsuki shifted and they looked at her and waited. She took a breath. "If...he's like me...he may find stability in it. Particularly if he's already played at it."

Purrcy looked at the ceiling, then nodded. "I can see that." She looked at Shiroe. "It's still dependent on when you want it coming out. I'd like to have him leashed before the Class change, if possible. I might be able to do it as a Class change ceremony, but he'll run with it if he hasn't already sworn some kind of loyalty in his heart before then, is my worry."

"Let's see what comes out at dinner, and maybe after," Shiroe said calmly. They nodded and fell silent until Michael, Rudy, and Isuzu returned. Nyanta squeezed in next to Purrcy on the couch so Michael could have his seat back. Normally they would only put three on the couch - mostly because Naotsugu was so big.

After they passed around the food and got started eating, Purrcy asked casually, "Michael, you're experienced, and a careful Hacker. Why were you the only one who didn't need prodding to show up out of the non-guilded ones?"

He glanced at her, slightly surprised, then shrugged as he speared his next bite. She switched out his chopsticks for a fork. He blinked at it, blushed lightly, then went with it. "Ah...," she'd derailed his thoughts and they waited, "I wanted to learn more, if it was possible. I wasn't holding out much hope, though. ...So you surprised me...pleasantly." He said the last word around his mouthful of food.

Shiroe waited a polite pause of time, then asked, "What are you learning it for?"

Michael didn't look up at first, considering his answer, an almost-frown on his face. "Well...I suppose there are several reasons...but the main one is because I'm angry, deep down angry. I was a gamer like most of the guys on down time, but I'd already gotten some coding in before I came into the military - ah, it's airman from the Navy, on shore leave at one of those computer rental booths. I figured if there was any way to get back, it'd be back through the computer, so I tested it. Nothing happened for a long time, then I finally hit on something that did work and I've been working my way up since then."

Purrcy put her fork to the side of her mouth, having switched over out of politeness sake. She tapped it a few times. "So...you were going to ship out after this tour of duty and now if you get back it's court martial instead...unless you get special stay of execution from the President?"

His look got very dark and he nodded curtly. "Sorry to hear it, man," Naotsugu said quietly. Tetora nodded agreement. Michael didn't look up from eating, but he did relax just a little.

They ate in silence for a bit longer, then Shiroe asked, "Do you know what my purpose is here in Akiba?"

Michael looked up at him, then nodded. "You're trying to find a way home. That's another reason I showed up. Log Horizon was on the list for teaching exactly what I wanted to know. There was a chance I might learn something that would be related to our mutual desire." He sat up and looked directly at Shiroe. "I'll admit it. I've been watching you since you put together the Round Table. I can't decide if you're Merlin or Arthur, but I am impressed with what you've done here. Having been around the globe shipside, I'm pretty savvy as to what governments work and what don't. You've been holding Akiba together quite well."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "How do you know it's me? I'm just one member of it."

Michael shook his head. "It takes a planning committee to run the show, but to get it to move, only one can rule. This place keeps moving forward, slow but steady. I think it could move faster, but I don't want to be that one, so I'll keep my mouth shut. I just want to get home...or take out the bastard who brought us here, whichever one's possible."

"You'd go, even with a possible court martial waiting?" Touya asked, surprised.

Michael looked at him and his face went soft. "Military doesn't always mean single, Touya."

Purrcy cast her vote - in favor. But then, she always moved fast. This time she stayed silent and let the rest of them warm up to the idea. Minori went second, surprising everyone, but she was looking between Touya and Michael.

"Michael...," Akatsuki said calmly, almost cold and hard, "as a member of the military of the United States, can you swear fealty in this place?"

His mouth dropped open in a bit of confusion and he furrowed his brow. "Well...I'm not supposed to, of course, having sworn fealty to my President and country. ...I told Miss Purrcy I was a knight, but really we have an equivalent called a 'Master at Arms', that allows for those who are either military or who are recreating a person that can't swear fealty to a king or one person, to receive the equivalent rank. That's what I was. It's just easier to explain it to most people as a knight."

Purrcy nodded. "I knew a Master in my time. He was well liked. They have the same requirements to becoming one that the Knights have."

Michael nodded. "Having to be chivalrous, show extended service to others, be proficient in the soft arts as well as the military arts, plus have the backing of others of like ranking who present your name to the King. It's harder for the seamen to get rankings because we're not home as much for the Kings to see, so they have to take the recommendations of other members on the ships, and those take international mail travel time...though that got a lot better when email recommendations were allowed."

Purrcy froze and looked at him. Then she snorted and looked back down. "What were you still doing in the navy, 'airman'." He looked at her solemnly, then didn't answer, just going back to his meal. "I'm going to call you 'geezer' if that's okay," she teased mercilessly. He sighed.

The others fought back laughter. "Purrcy, one shouldn't throw stones in glass houses," Nyanta scolded.

She sniffed. "That's why I _can_. They call _you_ 'Old Man'."

Nyanta sighed, sounding just like Michael. He looked over at Nyanta with a surprised glance, then at Purrcy with a confused look. When no one said anything else, he gave a little shake of his head. For all he had to answer lots of questions, he was finishing his food first.

"Mmm...what was your soft art?" Purrcy asked.

"Scribe," he answered. The table went still and Purrcy smiled a very big smile. Michael wasn't paying attention. "I had to have something I could do while sitting still since we could only run up and down the deck, and sewing wasn't going to cut it, not having storage space for material and all, though a few tried it and were handsomely paid for their efforts. I found it rather relaxing, actually."

"Did you do your own illumination?" she asked him with interest.

He nodded and slurped down the last of his dinner, then looked at her. "I enjoyed that, too. I kind of miss it actually. There aren't the metals and paints here, so far as I know."

Her whiskers on her nose and over her eyes all turned up in the largest "smile" the table had ever seen. "Well...I think we might be able to help you with that..." She looked over to Shiroe, her eyes shining. "I suspect the spells would be higher level, if written and then illuminated...and I want to try using a real illuminated and hand scribed scroll to create a real title in the database. ...I've even more reason to hold the pomp and circumstance now."

Michael was instantly interested as well. "You can do magic on scrolls?"

They all looked at him. "It's Shiroe's specialty," Purrcy purred, "...and one of my own personal favorites as well."

A great smile broke out on Michael's face. "And...have you come up with colors yet?"

Purrcy shook her head, but her eyes still danced, "But coming up with new things is _my_ specialty, and I'll love to see that one, particularly if I could watch you work to see if it really could become magical in this place. I can already see the image moving."

Michael looked at her, then his mouth dropped open. "No way. You think we could invent tablets?"

Her tail waved happily. "Maybe not quite...but I'd bet we could do something close. We might even be able to push the boundary and get to something akin to video teleconferencing, though through text. Auditory would be harder. We'd have to add a technician into the mix, I suspect."

Shiroe's interest was also caught by this direction of thought. "I've already scribed in texting format, during the battle against the Plague Master, I had a chat open with Rieze and scribed in the air with the characters showing up in front of her. It worked pretty well."

"Good for you, Shiroe!" Purrcy complemented him. "That means that kind of transference will work, so half the testing is already done. We just need to see if we can get pictures to move and participate in the chat function, too." She rubbed her hands together and they could see the gold coins going through her fingers.

The whole table shook their heads at her, but Shiroe said, "That would be useful for communicating between gates, I think."

Purrcy nodded. "I would think so. That and between heads of state."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why?" Michael asked.

"Because...," Tetora began.

"...we can't friend list people we can't see," Shiroe finished.

Purrcy's mouth dropped open and she was on Michael in an instant. "You're States. Did any of your friends from over there come with the catastrophe?"

He nodded. She instantly held up her hand to stop anything more from coming out of his mouth. He obeyed. Purrcy was trembling so hard her tail was vibrating from end to body. She suddenly disappeared, her fork clattering on her plate, and Nyanta was grabbing for his shirt front. "Ne, ne, Purrcy," he said soothingly, reaching in to pull the kitten out from inside his vest and hold her cupped to his chest in his paw. He rose. "I'll meet mew all in the office," he said and walked into Shiroe's room.

"Eh, ah?" Michael looked in some embarrassment around the table. "Did I say wrong?"

"You just overloaded her circuits," Tetora said calmly. "Nyanta-san will help her calm down."

"Mister Michael," Minori said shyly, "she's from over there, too, and, well...she really misses home, but...she's really very shy and probably doesn't have anyone on her friend list - until she came to us."

Understanding came on his face and he nodded. "That would be hard."

"It's also a connection we need to move forward in our own planning," Shiroe said calmly, though his guild could see his excitement that he was holding down, "so she's got more than one thing going through her mind right now. Likely she's going to take a bit to settle to what's more important when." He looked at Rudy and Isuzu and they rose to collect dishes. Minori and Touya got up to help, deciding many hands would make the work complete faster. They all wanted to be present in the office that evening.

Shiroe leaned back and crossed his arms. Pushing up his glasses, he began his own brand of questioning.

-:-:-:-:-

XO (Executive Officer) Michael, naval aviator and Commander, who was used to being called "Geezer" by his squadron, was rather nonplussed. He felt like he'd gone from being someone in hiding, learning a new skill in order to "get back home", to having one of his worst basic training instructors (who at least didn't swear at him), to being thrown into command, to being thrown in the brig, to being grilled by his superior officer - all in one day. The scary part was...that he had. He was quite sure of it. He just wasn't sure how it had happened. It might be likely that the only good thing was that he'd gotten to eat with the officers, and had a nap in a real chair under a real roof. However, since he'd had those before now, he wasn't sure that was a good deal. Particularly when it looked like there was going to be one more level to this odd day.

Michael was used to being under pressure. He was trained to it like any military man. He just would rather not make the decision right away that he was thinking they were going to ask him to make. Even twenty minutes would be nice. He knew he had questions he wanted to ask, but they wouldn't rise to the surface what with all the questions he was having to answer. He was getting information from watching and listening, but he needed just a little bit of breathing room to get it all put together.

It wasn't that he couldn't make split decisions. It wasn't that he...(interrupt to answer another question)...didn't want to be involved in something that had the most likelihood to get him home. (Pause to politely nod, then consider and give an answer that wasn't too revealing.) It was just...( _God, those eyes that look like the youngster's seen eons already_.)...the embarrassment made it rather difficult...( _Can I breathe yet?_ )...to make the decision. He wasn't supposed to be here at this age, really, he wasn't. Same for his station. He'd just needed to blow off steam and didn't want to do it at the bar tonight with the other senior officers. ...Well it might have been a night two years ago, now. ( _Sigh_.)

"Umm," he raised his hand to interrupt. "I'd like to suggest a recess? Say...until tomorrow after class?" Shiroe blinked at him. "...It's just...I'm getting about as overwhelmed as Miss Purrcy at this point. Perhaps it might be best for both of us to hold off on going further with this until we've had a chance to sleep on it?" Michael gave a tired smile. ( _No hard feelings, really. ...Have I really gotten so soft in only two years?_ )

"Perfectly understandable," Naotsugu answered him calmly. (The 'good cop' in the game...but overall a reasonable guy who ought to be military if he wasn't.) He rose allowing Michael to rise as well, which he did.

"Thank you very much for dinner...I promise, I'll be there tomorrow. I'd rather arrive to class fresh and rested than ass-whupped before the ass-whupping. Please give my regards and apologies." He gratefully followed Naotsugu to the door and took himself out into the cool night, the warm rectangle of light spilling from the door behind him thinning and then disappearing as it was closed behind him.

"Ah, damn," he said quietly to himself. In escaping early, he hadn't gotten himself released from his internal prison. Well...he hadn't gotten himself trusted and approved, either, since he'd cut that short also. He sighed and headed slowly over to the training ground. He'd scouted out a sleeping place first thing that morning, before everyone else arrived. In this body, sleeping on the ground wasn't the chore it would have been in his Earth body, but he still preferred the hammock if he could find a place to tie it up.

He'd been able to buy lots of rope and tie it himself. He was rather proud of that, actually. He'd had time to, after all, while sitting on the step of the ruin he'd claimed as his, listening to the Adventurer's talk around him. His hands tied the rope while his ears and brain worked on learning to understand the words around him. After a while, his tongue and mouth had begun to whisper the words to him until they sounded right also. When he thought he had it mostly worked out, he went and tried talking to people. When most of them thought he was just from a different part of the country, he'd finally been able to start collecting information.

Learning to understand the language was when he started learning about Log Horizon's Guildmaster and his guild members. The rumors that had taught him the language made him want to know for sure. The rumors said that Shiroe was an evil mastermind. The activities on the surface said he was a genius...if he really was behind it all. So he'd learned who the guildmembers were and watched them.

You learned the caliber of a leader by watching the men under him. They were definitely information gatherers, a mini intelligence network. They didn't move against anyone very often, always were part of the actions they chose to act on, and did call in heavy hitters if they were needed. And uniformly, their actions were to benefit the city as a whole - even if sometimes the ends were used to justify the means. Of course, Michael perfectly well understood that with there being _no_ law here, it could.

He'd been considering doing such things himself until laws had appeared. The minimal laws of Akiba and how reasonable they were was also part of his data gathering. He'd hunted hard to find someone who had been present who was willing to tell him that Shiroe had been the one to put the Round Table together and suggest the laws.

When he'd felt comfortable enough that the city wasn't going to implode, and that the guild behind most of it was at least "okay", he spent a lot of time out learning to fight in this world. Homebase had to be returnable to, then he could go out and earn his keep. The fighting didn't bother him. He wasn't Army or Marine, but Navy men still had to go through Basic Training as well. This had just been another form of it. Being in a body that was as strong as a young twenty-something again, without the creaks and pains an older military body got, he'd caught on pretty quickly and moved up fast.

With the hammock to sleep in at night, he didn't even have to go back to town if he didn't want to, so he'd stayed out about a week at a time, then gone back for a two-day R&R, then headed back out. When he'd been able to purchase the equivalent of a backpack, he'd stayed out two weeks at a time. He was in his own basic training since he needed to be a real player here...and the majority of real players were over level 90. The biggest problem with getting that high was that the game was made to get harder and harder for each level-up. Each level took progressively more points to reach. Not surprising as most games did that to keep them interesting, it was just annoying when he wanted to move fast.

To help with that, he'd joined in on the goblin raids. That had helped him get from the sixties to the eighties, but it was looking like he'd have to join with some major raids to break through to the nineties. He hadn't been slacking on the "getting home" objective while out fighting monsters. He'd used his walking and sleeping time to work on anything that might get him there - most notably trying to break into the database, and then learning to use the new skill he'd been given. Since it was what he'd noodled and worked on the most, it was what he was most proud of. He was going to Hack the system to get out, or to get revenge, whichever was possible.

He wasn't sure his wife wanted him back. Military wives had it hard and often lost their will to keep walking with their husbands. He missed her, of course, and maybe she wouldn't mind if he got home...but maybe she was finally relaxing. He also wanted to go home for his son and his squad that had been relying on him. Even if he was court martialed. He wanted to let them all know he hadn't just up and abandoned them. That was the worst offense - to have abandoned those who relied on you. He most definitely hadn't done that. He'd been kidnapped. There was a difference, but until he could tell them, they couldn't know. And if he couldn't get back, he wanted paybacks for his squad and his family. Then at least he could say to them, in his heart, he'd done his damned best for their sake, and for his. When military went down, they went down fighting.

Michael stopped and took a deep breath, looking up at the sky he couldn't navigate by without effort. Navy learned it best - star navigation. Night officers got to see it when they were running dark at night and the old-time lovers like himself learned the old methods of star navigation. He could navigate the Earth stars no problem. These weren't Earth stars...or rather Earth star patterns. He'd been creating his own star navigation charts, but with only two years under his belt he had a long way to go. ...Really, his next thing was to see if he could move to a Person of the Land village and learn star navigation from the local sea people...if they knew it. But he wanted to learn everything he could about the Hacker sub-skill first. He could feel he was close to having it, and having a week-long Hacker class fall into his lap unexpectedly was a great bonus. He'd figured he'd stick around for the class, then head ocean-side, but now...

Michael stopped thinking for a bit and just worked on setting up his bivouac. It was up pretty quickly, even for all he couldn't use his magic. It was actually a good lesson in how much he'd been doing was just normal for an Adventurer and how much had been his magic. If he relied too much on the magic, he'd certainly get too soft. You had your knife as your basic tool to not ever lose, but any other tool you should be able to use and lose. Well, there were the tools of a healthy body and mind. You had to hang on to those, too. No matter what. Even when you ended up on a strange world in a strange body (which thankfully kept itself healthy so all he had to do was hang on to a healthy mind).

He didn't bother lighting a fire. He was in town and had just had a meal. Instead he lay under his awning with his head out to look at the stars, his hands pillowing the back of his head. He was glad he'd chosen Monk for his Class, and a sufficiently strong body. It was a very useful tool to have. He'd almost gone Summoner so that he could fly gryphons whenever he wanted. He did miss that, getting to fly, but he'd have hated that in this world - only having the magic of calling creatures and sending them into battle. Navy flyboys like him weren't really into the fighting like the other branches of the military, but they were still military. Head on into the fray face forward, be it by land, air or sea. To have stood back behind the lines...well, it was what it was. He was just glad he'd chosen well for the unexpected.

Michael closed his eyes and sighed. He was out of things to think about...except the current day just behind and the day ahead. He let the day roll through his head without thinking too hard about it. Purrcy had shown up in jeans and a t-shirt because she was trying to look like the quintessential twenty-something American programmer. What she really was, was something very different. From the beginning, that was how it was, it seemed. She showed something she wanted others to see, but hid what she really was.

She was instructor material, if perhaps untrained. Very much like a petty officer in her ability to be hard on the recruits and make them learn what they needed to know as fast as possible, and work with them just as hard at the same time. Traces of her pride peeked through. Definitely not Japanese. Their kind of pride was different. She rather reminded him of his own mother, actually, who also had been the daughter of a military man. No-nonsense. The old song had been her motto: "Straighten up and fly right." Maybe that's why he'd become a Navy pilot, being told that so many times. Purrcy felt like that, too. And had the muscle to back it up, as evidenced by the ones who'd come in spanked...and the battles they'd fought as a team in the afternoon. They'd all been spanked then. It had been like getting through complete small dungeons, those last two.

Michael took a deep breath, knowing he was headed to sleep. He let his mind begin to relax. It would have an answer for him tomorrow. One thing he did know...Purrcy was high enough rank to already have clearance. She knew stuff he wanted to know. He'd stick around until he knew it. ...If she and Shiroe were a Merlin/Arthur pair, he might stick around even longer. He wanted to be on the winning side in this battle of his. It was better with companions than solo, when it came to battles. They both understood that. They'd passed his tests for that already.

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta, take Purrcy to bed," Shiroe said upon walking into his office.

"She already is," was the quiet response. "She was out by the time I was sitting down."

Shiroe frowned. "Really. She should back off tomorrow."

Nyanta shrugged. "If she doesn't keep the higher level class moving hard, they throw things at her, though they might slow down a bit now. Michael promised half-way through the afternoon that he'd take care of that from then on. She threw difficult things at them after that, too, based on the fact they couldn't move when they finally made it free at the end of the day. I'll do what I can."

Shiroe looked at the sleeping kitten for a moment as the rest settled down in the room. "Isuzu, go with them in the morning and see if you can set up something to keep her HP up long term."

"Yes, sir," Isuzu answered right away. "We did that in the clean room. With her boost, it lasts about four hours. I can stop by again just before lunch to recast. It's area effect so it will boost everyone."

"That's fine," Shiroe said absently, settling into his own place in the room.

"If it's okay, I'll go first," Tetora said. "I'm likely to be out soon, myself." Shiroe nodded. "By the end of the day the lower level group was finally learning to handle low level attacks and get shields up. The last attack of the day against Purrcy put the Hacker on the ground screaming. She'd limited him to a minimum of five HP, and he wasn't a happy camper. That opened the eyes of those who weren't serious enough and they got plenty serious."

"Her goal is to get the non-combatant types, who just want to use it as a side tool, back to their day jobs after the demo the day after tomorrow. She'll keep the higher levels and really train them up. There is one low level, who's really an intermediate, who's going to transition from the lower level class up to the higher one probably mid-day tomorrow, so for the morning we'll have three classes going on."

"I'm not quite sure how she's going to handle that, honestly. She kept up with the two classes, but got as worn out as the rest of us did. Three might be a bit much." Tetora shook his head. "She's been having Michael handle the majority of the work on the upper class, but she still has to monitor it. I'm handling the lower class, but it's been taking one-on-one with the two lowest level and the intermediate catches on quick then practices some more on his own until we can get to the next topic."

"When were the breaks?" Naotsugu asked.

"Lunch and dinner."

Naotsugu shook his head. "Take breaks midday and mid afternoon, too. Those are good times to have the class go over lessons learned and work on planning the next one. It's a good idea to give them an outline they can use to prepare on before diving in. Then they don't have to work so hard wearing themselves out finding the right solution while they're in the middle of it."

Tetora nodded. "I don't know if it translates, but I'll talk to her about it in the morning. We can at least add in the additional breaks."

"What about Michael?" Shiroe asked Tetora, wanting that out of him before he collapsed completely.

"He was reserving judgment, testing her, too, since she kept her data completely hidden, but he threw himself wholeheartedly into his role as squad leader. He was serious about making sure everyone helped to make everyone get back alive. He's got the skills to lead. I paused to listen in one of the times Purrcy was teaching the lower levels. He's good under pressure, keeps his calm, and sounds like he's used to giving orders and getting responses. If he's military, he's officer or higher enlisted, would be my guess."

"He knows his stuff, too, Hacker-wise. He's worked hard it looks like. His stuff is pretty clean, like hers is, now that I've seen other examples across the board. I'd have to say...I'm about as tired more from trying to remember everything I want to analyze than from the day's planned lessons. Lots of 'don't ever do's and a number of 'ooh, cool's. He was like that, too, interestingly. He'd sit, or lie down, after every one she threw at them that there was a break and do a quick review and the next time his orders were a little smarter. Before they were doing group stuff, he'd come back from his own lesson and sit there reviewing it for about as long as I would have."

Tetora blinked sleepily. "I'd say he serious about his goal. He'll walk with us as long as we're compatible and are willing to let him. That's my guess. Probably without being guild. Hasn't been long enough to determine if he could be or not, yet. That's my take at this point." He slumped down in his chair and tried to hold his eyes open.

"Go to bed, Tetora. Thanks," Shiroe said kindly. Rudy helped Tetora to his feet and he stumbled out of the room.

Nyanta didn't have much more to add, since he couldn't get inside the coding world. The rest of the guild gave their reports from the day and Shiroe added as a "to do" to those who would be in town for their next day's tasks to spend some time finding out what they could about Michael and his activities for the last two years.


	27. Demonstrations

Calasin made his way through the crowd in front of the stage that had been set up in front of Radio Market's guild hall. When he reached the front, near the left corner, he ran into Roderick and Michitaka of Marine Organization, both of them his competitors, yet at the same time they all ran slightly different directions to each other. They'd held to a truce for the most part for getting products to sell, but lately, it had just been easier to focus a bit more on their specialties. For him that meant he was becoming the go-to department store. Michitaka and he still disagreed on where the line was, since manufacturing was done at both places, but Marine Organization was more mechanical, and more construction. They'd have to come to an agreement at some point soon, most likely, and draw the lines more firmly, if nothing more than for the peace of Akiba and the Round Table conferences.

"Roderick, Michitaka," he nodded at them pleasantly.

"Calasin. You know what's up?"

"No," he said pleasantly, "but I know who's behind it."

They looked at him, Michitaka folding his arms. "Do you mean the meeting with Shiroe this afternoon?"

"That's part of it, but it's a relative newcomer. Are you going to go to the Akiba Adventurer Academy demo after this? I'm going."

"I'm definitely going," Roderick said with a nod. "My Hacker-Researcher came home wiped out but starry eyed two days ago and yesterday he was at his desk working madly after his class. He's informed me that he'll be done after the demo, though he'll have access to Tetora when he needs help. I'm very intrigued to see what he's been learning."

"I'm not so sure," Michitaka said. "I was going to wait for the Technologist classes to go and see."

Calasin shook his head. "You should come to this one. The guest instructor is not to be missed, I hear." He looked around at the crowd. "I wonder if any of the rest of the Round Table is going to show up for this demo. I hear it's also not to be missed."

"I saw Rieze a bit ago with Akatsuki, Marielle, and Henrietta," Roderick said, adjusting his rectangular glasses. "Shiroe's not here, but he's likely getting ready for this afternoon, knowing him." The other two nodded. That was like Shiroe, to send a delegate when he was heads down in preparations.

There was motion closer to the center of the front of the crowd and Ains, Isaac, and Soujirou - the three other warrior guildmasters of the Round Table - appeared together. Soujirou saw the three crafter guilds' masters and waved a friendly wave. They nodded back, receiving likewise nods from the other two. "I doubt they'd be here except for the invitations," Michitaka said. "They were intriguing enough."

Calasin smiled to himself. He hadn't needed the printed invitation. He'd received a personal one. There was motion at the back of the stage and Akaneya and Woodstock approached the stairs that went up the side the three crafters were standing by. Akaneya went up the stairs, but Woodstock continued on to stand with them. He nodded with a gruff, "Hey. Glad you could make it." They nodded back.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything," Calasin quipped.

"Don't walk off, you three, until we've talked to you." They all looked at him, then nodded, mystified.

The women guild representatives showed up at the front right corner of the stage just as Akaneya arrived center stage. "Hello, folks," he said, his voice magically amplified. "Thanks for joining us for this little demonstration this morning. We wanted to let you all know about a new product that Radio Market has been working on and a use for it that is going to revolutionize how we Adventurers carry things in our pockets - so to speak."

Akaneya dramatically opened his list and held out his hand. A box appeared on it. "Do you all remember this little product? This is the Theldesian equivalent to a cardboard box." He tossed it lightly. "It's lightweight, comes in a variety of sizes that all nest together nicely, and we've even finally come up with a waterproof version that we're very excited about." He grinned. "I know...we all used cardboard boxes for everything without hardly thinking about them back on Earth, but...they are just as useful here. To show you just _how_ useful is why we've invited you here." He selected from his item list and a large box appeared at his feet. "Do you see this large one? I just took it out of my item list, right? So I only got to have one large box in my list. But hey! What can you put in that box? All your clothes, right? ...Ah, unless you're Guildmistress Marielle, then you can just put all your bathing suits in it." He got a laugh from the crowd. "That's not too shabby, is it?"

"But...," he opened the box and pulled out another box. "What if I put twenty-seven of these boxes in that one box?" Roderick and Calasin were already holding their breath. Akaneya opened that box and held up another. "And look, I've put eight of these in one of those." He put the medium box on top of the big one. "What can one of these hold?" He opened the small box and showed the contents to the crowd. "Three of whatever item you want." Akaneya said. "That's because each item list slot can hold a maximum of nine-hundred-ninety-nine items in it, including the boxes. You can put four in a few to fill in the holes if you want." The crowd went from silent to excited murmurs. "You can go a maximum of four layers down, so you don't have to have this many in each item slot, but hey, why not?"

Akaneya smiled. "Now, we're not done yet." The crowd settled down in excited anticipation. "This box I've put together so it holds small stuff. That way I can take the whole thing out of the list for this demonstration. What about big things?" He pointed to a suit of plate armor that had been on the stage, waiting for this time. He set the small box with things in it on the stage and picked up the now-empty medium box. "Do you see this box? We've painted it green, as you can see. I'm going to put that armor into this box." There were jeers of disbelief from the crowd. "Don't worry, we'll do it twice," he said as he put the medium box back into the big one, then put it back into his list. Then he did what any and every Adventurer does to put an item in their list to put the armor in his list. "I've specifically told the armor to go into that green box. What's even better is that I don't have to take out the big box at all, I can just take out the little one, but since I want you to understand what happens, I'll take the big box out again." He did. Then he opened it and tipped it up on its side so everyone could see. The plate armor clunked out onto the stage and shreds of the medium green box fell and fluttered out with it.

There was sudden pandemonium. Akaneya held his hand up. "Lest you think it was sleight of hand magic on my part, could I please have a volunteer from the crowd?" Hands went up and Akaneya selected a random elf from the crowd. As the elf walked up, everyone was checking his status to make sure he wasn't part of Radio Market, which he wasn't, and Akaneya was pulling another medium box out of his list. He opened the medium box and pulled out a small one, holding both, one in each hand. "Okay, so we'll do the full recursion of boxes. As you can see they are all empty." He put the small one back into the medium, pulled the armor out of the big one, leaving a few green scraps in it, and put the nested boxes in his hand into the large one. Once he had that one closed, he said, "I do hope you have an empty slot."

The elf grinned and nodded. "Okay, then, put the big box into your empty slot." It disappeared. "Now, look at it and what do you see?"

"Ah...I see a box."

"Select it."

The elf did. "I see another list slot that shows a box. ...And when I select that one, I see another list slot with a box...and it has an empty slot after that."

Akaneya nodded. "Put the armor in that empty slot."

The elf did. "Daayymn," he said. "It went."

"For every empty box you have in that list, you'll see an empty slot to put something into. Now, select for the small box to appear, but on the stage, please, a bit of a distance from both of us," Akaneya instructed.

The elf did and there was the sound of tearing as the box appeared and was shredded by the armor tearing it apart. There was silence, then the loud sound of very excited Adventurers. Akaneya allowed it to continue until they'd worked out their excitement somewhat. He took the boxes back from the assistant Adventurer and thanked him, sending him back down to the crowd. When the crowd had calmed down enough, Akaneya held up his hand. "Now...I don't know about you...but I had been hoping it would be more like the magic hat. Where I could take out the smallest box, reach in my hand and pull out the armor, having it unfold into full size as it came. We're still researching that, but we expect that it's one of those 'limiting conditions' that makes it so we can't go full OP on the system. If that changes, we'll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, please come and fill your item slots with boxes made and sold by Radio Market, which is pleased to offer you your fondest dreams that you never knew you had: the nearly limitless item list!" Akaneya bowed and walked off the stage to cheering and very excited murmurs.

Calasin was frozen in shock. He could barely breathe, and Roderick wasn't in much better shape. Even Michitaka was looking big-eyed. There were people approaching from the right of them. Calasin turned and could see Marielle, Henrietta, and Akatsuki herding all the other guildmasters with them, Rieze coming along with. Akaneya arrived next to Woodstock, but he waited until the other seven arrived before speaking. "Will you all come to where we can talk? This is a bit noisy," he offered. They all went.

They stood in a circle in Akaneya's warehouse section of Radio Market guildhall. He and Woodstock were looking very serious. "I don't think I need to tell you that this is more than just a new sales pitch. We're quite aware that it's also very game changing in more ways than one." There were sober nods all around. Not only in having new competition in a new way, that just might change the balance of the Round Table, but it was going to change the way of life of the Adventurers in ways never before understood...like a lot of changes had.

"So, why wasn't this a thing Shiroe introduced?" Ains of Honesty asked. "He usually keeps these things quiet and introduces them smoothly."

Akaneya nodded. "It's part of the build up to this afternoon's meeting."

Everyone blinked. "The public gets to know first?" Even Isaac of the Knights of the Black Sword wasn't sure this was going to go down well.

"He's not calling the shots," Calasin said quietly. Everyone turned to him. He was looking at Akatsuki. She looked back at him calmly. Marielle shifted and Calasin looked at her, remembering she'd been at the shopping trip with Log Horizon.

"Log Horizon came to visit you, too, Calasin," Woodstock said quietly.

Calasin shook his head. "They just bought clothes...but made me sign a contract with the same terms you two did for the particular line your crafters brought me. I know who's behind it, yes. And it looks like Marielle does, too."

Rieze looked at Marielle. "And...you announced your engagement to Naotsugu and the formation of the Academy the next night."

Marielle nodded. "The engagement and alliance in exchange for running the Academy." She took a breath and said with her bright smile, "Please come to the demonstration today that you've also received invitations to. You'll receive the next clue as to what's coming up in this afternoon's meeting." She clamped her mouth shut tightly. Everyone here knew she was the weak link. If she was pressed, Henrietta would take over.

Akaneya looked at everyone. "I'll vouch for the person who's behind it."

Woodstock nodded. "I will also. An inventor unparalleled."

Calasin hesitated, then crossed his arms. "I've only seen the person once, personally, but I think that one has very large plans for Akiba...even larger than Shiroe. ...But he's willing to be the negotiator between the Round Table and the inventor...and I want in. I'll be there. I've already been asked to bring sample numbers, and they need all of us invested." He looked at the rest of them, just as sober as Akaneya and Woodstock. "I recommend just continuing to watch for now. Hold everything else until the negotiation." He hesitated again, shifting slightly. "I was told that what we just saw was only the tip of the iceberg." Even Woodstock and Akaneya blinked in surprise.

Everyone turned to look at Akatsuki. She merely looked back as seriously deadpan as ever...but her lips were pressed very tightly together. After a moment, Isaac nodded. "I'll be there."

"I can't let Calasin be the only one if it's that big," Michitaka said, looking at Calasin. He nodded.

"Is it just crafter stuff?" Soujirou asked.

Akatsuki shook her head. "The Academy is to teach the limits on the new sub-skills, and the Hacker skill is an attack-class magic," Henrietta said calmly. "You will see that side of it next."

There was a collective intake of breath. Ains began rubbing the outer corner of his eyebrow, a nervous habit when he became over-stressed. "I'd better be there," he said.

Soujirou smiled slightly. "Soujirou-san," Akatsuki said, "please come. I would like you to explain how you got your Mystery to someone who would like to understand better."

Soujirou nodded. "I was going to come anyway, to see what the Councilor was up to this time."

Akatsuki nodded her gratitude and looked at Rieze. She looked back and shrugged. "Of course I'll be there. I want to find out who made Nyanta-san untouchable."

Akatsuki blinked. "He's not, just by Hackers."

Rieze narrowed her eyes. "No, I don't think so. I think it's more than that, from what I saw. The Plague Master was using other kinds of attacks, too, after you went down. The fireball that nearly took the both of you down was only one example." Akatsuki shook her head, but couldn't dissuade Rieze.

Everyone looked at each other one more time, then by mutual agreement trooped out in groups of threes again to sit and quietly wonder and worry until it was time to arrive for the demonstration, except Calasin who went back to his desk to revamp the financials and the profit model, now that he'd seen the base product, and the Crescent Moon/Log Horizon contingent that went off to prepare for the demonstration. When it was time for the demo, they all arrived early.

-:-:-:-:-

Woodstock shifted uneasily. He was worried...for Purrcy's sake. He wasn't sure her name was really going to come up in the meeting later, but he wanted to see that good things came to her. He just wasn't sure that getting all of the city worked up was a good idea. Calasin had said he knew it was her, but had also kept silent on the details so far. It might be best to let Shiroe handle that little, very important detail. After all, Shiroe himself was pretty secretive, making sure only the Round Table members knew just how much of an influence he had on the city. If Purrcy was going to have an even larger one, and was being protected in Log Horizon, he'd likely want that kept quiet.

There was one other little problem, though, and it ran deeper. They were letting Shiroe run things that were difficult, but if Purrcy got into things, too, would Log Horizon become too powerful? And if so, would that tear apart the Round Table? He wasn't sure how he felt about that, and he was afraid he'd have to decide sooner than later.

"Hello, everybody and welcome!" Marielle's cheerful voice rang out over the assembled crowd. A small viewing stand had been set up at the edge of a clearing that was once perhaps a city park. The guildmasters had the best seats for watching today's demonstration, being seated on the stand of risers. There were plenty of folks standing around the edge as well. Most of them looked like those who had new sub-skills and they wanted to see what the Academy would do for them, but some were curious Adventurers. For some reason, the Wolf Pack had shown up as well. They were getting cautious looks from everyone who knew their reputation, and a bit of clearance as well.

"Today we hope to give you a taste of what the new Akiba Adventurer Academy will provide to any Adventurer who wants to learn how to be a better Adventurer. These are our first students, the Lower and Upper classes of Hackers. ...Honestly, some days we do wish we knew what the system was doing in assigning names of things. ...Anyway, we are just so excited to have with us in Akiba at the same time as we are putting together the Academy a senior Hacker who was willing to give the students some training. They've only had two and a half days to prepare this demo, so we hope it will be sufficient to give you a taste of some of their capabilities."

"The initial goal is to, over the next month or so, find out what all the boundaries of each new sub-class are, including this one. Roderick Trading Company has been working with us on researching those limits and will continue to observe as we hold the initial training classes. They are proud to claim a new Hacker as one of their own, and he has been in the classes as well. Well...you all know me, I'll ramble on, so without further ado, please welcome our guest instructor, Miss Purrcy."

Woodstock stiffened. Akaneya looked over at him, wide eyed. Calasin had gone stiff as well. None of them had known. They locked eyes on Purrcy. She was walking into the central area in front of them, dressed in a long black robe that could have been said to be judicial or like a formal educators robe, and looked very much like a magical item. Given that it covered most of her calico coloring, she was almost not visible, but for the dust motes of grey and white on her face.

"Thank you for coming," her warm voice flowed over the audience as clear as Marielle's had. "I will begin by having some of the students themselves explain what they can do, and have done with their sub-class, so that you can understand the practical applications of it." She introduced the researcher from Roderick Trading Company first and a fox-tail walked out.

He was carrying with him a wild stack of papers. "I'm one of the researchers of Roderick Trading Company," he said. "We use spreadsheets daily to track our tests, results, and calculations, but because we're here, it's being done on paper." He held up the papers in his hand. "I decided that since we are trapped in the database, that it was a bit ridiculous. I kept losing track of which page I needed for my data. So...I worked very hard to create a mental database, just like the status screen we can all see that is also linked to our item lists. I wanted a link to a spreadsheet program or database. With enough consideration of how it should look and be put together, and how I would access it, one day, it actually appeared. Imagine my delight, and surprise." He paused for dramatic effect.

It was a boring topic, but it was actually dramatic. He'd _changed_ his status screen. "Of course, I really had no interest in going back and tediously copying all my handwritten pages into it, so the next thing I wanted was to be able to do the equivalent of copy-paste the data from the paper sheets into the status screen database. After a bit of consideration, I figured out how to do that." He held up one sheet of paper and it disappeared. "It's a modification of taking an item and putting it into the item list, but all the data appears. That one sheet of paper is now one page of a spreadsheet. Every data item is a cell of the spreadsheet. I can lock data, unlock data, copy, paste, and create formulas. Everything that a computer spreadsheet could do on Earth, my internal spreadsheets can do. ...At least as far as I need them to, and if I need something new, I can create and add it to them." Every sheet of paper in his hand disappeared. "That was a batch job. They are still individual sheets...and if there are duplicates, it tells me and I can keep them both, reject both, or select one of the two to keep."

Woodstock had to blink. That was really powerful by this point, really. It would make inventory a piece of cake, particularly if it could be data shared. "I've created pretty powerful formulas as part of my magic, but they are all ones the computer could do, so I'm still unclear as to if they are now really on the computer, or just part of the magic - and I have no way to test it at this time. However, I have also done one other thing."

"When I need to talk to someone about my spreadsheets, to cross-confirm data - or if I need to look at more than one at a time, I've also made it so that they are visible." Suddenly there were blazing before them a grid three by four of the pages he had just copied into his internal database. All of the data glowing in the air. "I can manipulate the data and anyone can watch what is happening." He was changing things in front of them right then. Numbers, formulas, words and data, even shifting pages around in their placement. "I can literally juggle the data," the researcher said with a laugh in his voice, "though I'm careful to not really do that when I want to understand it. It's merely a researcher's joke." That got a laugh, since everyone agreed researcher humor was very dry.

"There is one drawback to this, however," the fox-tail made the glowing data disappear. "Only I can do it. It's the way my Hacker magic has manifested. If another person were to attempt to do this, they would get different results. The spreadsheets would work differently, the way data is copied from paper to the spreadsheet would be different, whether or not they could make them visible...many, many details would all be different. The magic works based on how _I_ think and how I organized the way I wanted it to happen."

"Other Hackers, most of whom so far are not database creation Hackers, can see the data and the database, and can copy it to their own computer space, if you will, and use it, but no one else can. So, while it is powerful, it's also limited. This is one of the traits of Hacker magic, if not the main one. Powerful in potential capacity, limited by boundary conditions and level and capacity of the individual."

Woodstock deflated a bit. "That's not to say I'm not trying," the fox-tail was smiling, his tail waving gently. "My next step is to somehow make it so I can transfer, or copy, the database as a whole to other people. It may be a few years off, since it feels rather big, but if it can happen, I want to make it happen. ...Thank you," he bowed and walked off. He was politely applauded.

Two other Hackers came and went, each showing their specialties, created for their specific uses. Each just as individually powerful, and just as limited. Then a Hacker from Radio City walked out. Woodstock glanced at Akaneya and he was looking a bit surprised. "I'm Davidius of Radio City. Many of you were at the box demonstration earlier today," he started. "I'm one of the current researchers on that project. At the demonstration, you were shown how a box, which can contain multiple items, can be placed into the item list in the status screen. I wanted to know if we could recreate a box that worked similar to Dazenek's Magic Bag."

"In the realm of the Hacker, like with the spreadsheets, we 'see' internally. We call it 'looking inside' or 'walking the code halls', and it's a very real level of this world, like looking inside the structures of the buildings at the beams and internal workings. When we look at a box, it's just a box. When we look at Dazenek's Magic Bag, it's a code construct made up of the code that was written by the original programmers, and the figurative item slots, similar to the database."

Woodstock held his breath, this was also rather big. "Again, there's no way for us to know just based on this if we are actually _in_ the computer or not. It is only what we see from where we are, and it is the world we effect when we write the code that makes up our spells. That is, our spells _are_ code. We write code to do things. That's why Hacker magic has such a high potential and capacity. It's limited, not just by our personal level and what we have learned how to do, but also by an external restraint. When we write the code, or create the spell, we spend HP, and rather a lot of it, actually. Only when we cast it, that is tell the code to run, is MP spent, and at a much lower level." Roderick was rubbing his chin, his glint in his eyes that said he'd just added another thing to research to his own list.

Davidius gestured and another man walked out, carrying a magic bag. "This is the crafter of Magic Bags R Us, who agreed to work with me in my experimentation." The man held up his bag. "This is what I see when I look at his bag." In the air glowed lines of code. "If I look inside his bag, this is what I see." The text in the air changed to be a list of items with their levels and properties. "It was extremely informative to watch him create this bag and see what happened in the code. It is an experience I will never forget." His eyes scanned the stand until they stopped on one man. "Roderick, I promise, I'll come talk to you later when you have about three days to get it all down."

"Thank you," Roderick called back. He was drooling.

The program code of the bag came back up in the air, and one section was highlighted. "This section is the section that tells the bag to hold items and creates the list of what is in the bag." He nodded at his cohort. The bag disappeared but the highlighted code remained. "I have copied that part out and am holding it." The assistant made a box appear in front of them. "Here is the code for the box." A very abbreviated few lines of code appeared in the sky in a new color. "I can paste the code from the magic bag into the box code." He did so, moving the highlighted code into a specific place in the other code. "Then I tell it to save, and to run." The code disappeared. The box glowed for a moment, but otherwise remained unchanged. "This box will now hold as many items as the magic bag. It won't change size. You can access whatever you want by just reaching your hand in and requesting the item you want and it will appear in your hand."

He looked around at the excited faces around him. Then said tersely. "But it isn't a magic bag. As a matter fact, the boxes aren't magic items at all to begin with, so they aren't magic now, just because I copied that code over. To be a magic item, an item has to have the tag 'magic item'. To be a treasure, an item has to have the tag 'treasure'. Tags are a limiter and Hacker's can't create tags of those levels. We can write informational tags, but any of the important tags are reserved by the system. If I take a rock and turn it into a Roc's feather, it may as well still be a rock because it isn't a usable magic item."

"So...even though this box _can_ hold as many items as a magic bag, it _won't_ , unless it is nine-hundred-ninety-nine very small items. It will only hold what it's size will allow it to hold. To make a box into a magic box, it has to be created as a magic box to begin with so that it has the tag 'magic item'. That's the next step of my research team at Radio Market. ...Thank you." The box disappeared and the two men bowed and walked off.

Purrcy walked back out into the middle of the field. "I hope you're beginning to get a feel for the boundary conditions of the sub-class Hacker, as well as the potential limitlessness of it's usefulness. You've seen the crafter Class part of the magic displayed here so far. The remainder of the demonstration will give you an overview of the other part of this kind of magic - the attack and defensive Class part of it. I previously cast a spell that allows you to see the magic of the code realm appear here in the outer world. That spell is what allowed you to see the code and inner workings of the box Hacker. Many of you who came before now were promised a fireworks show, so we'll give you one next."

Purrcy was being surrounded by six others, some of whom looked a bit unsavory, and it was finally revealed why the Wolf Pack was present. One of their number was in this group. Woodstock frowned and shifted in worry again. Purrcy raised her hand and snapped her fingers and above them multicolored streaks appeared in the sky, swirling around overhead. She looked around at her students, her tail waving side to side in a lazy hunting motion and her ears turned to hear them all. She said something to them quietly and they reacted in various ways - mostly to get very wary and a few scowled.

Then blue lights were streaking down from the sky, one at each Hacker around her. Suddenly there were things rising up to meet the blue fires: flat planes over each individual head layered three deep. A few had a flame rise up from that to clash with the blue flames raining down. The colors of the planes, probably shields, and the flames rising up were various colors. The blue flames crashed down. Some were extinguished early, others made it through one shield, and some through two, but by the third shield they were merely absorbed.

A red and a yellow flame in the sky began to circle lower over the heads of the students and shields that were spheres came around each of them, then a secondary shield was put over their heads. The red and yellow flames split and descended. Where red flames looked like they were going to miss the main upper shields, those shields shifted until they were in front of the red flame to catch it. Where the red flame hit, it stuck to the shield and began to eat at it. When the yellow flames came close to the flat shields, they went around them and headed for the spheres. Before they could get close secondary shields went up, and then merged with the neighboring shields. It looked like all of the Hackers were concentrating very hard, except one, who was also keeping an eye on the rest of the Hackers and seemed to be talking to them every once in a while.

When all of the red and yellow flames had been extinguished, Purrcy made a motion and the shields went down and three Clerics entered the field and healed everyone. Woodstock quickly looked at their stats and was surprised to see just how far that much casting had pulled their HP down. It took two separate healings to get the higher level Adventurers back up to normal full levels.

When the healing was done, Purrcy made another motion and the students moved to make a line between her and the stand, with the students facing her. Naotsugu, in full battle gear, and Nyanta also dressed for battle entered the field and stood with Purrcy, to protect her. One of the students moved to stand with Purrcy, behind her. By the pink hair, it was Tetora. It balanced the field better, making it four to five.

The fighting guild leaders leaned forward with great interest, and so did Roderick. Purrcy made a motion with her hand and shields came up in front of all of the students, three deep, but behind them colors were gathering. Naotsugu stepped forward and cast Anchor Howl. Amazingly, lines of blue-grey appeared that attached him to the closest three Hackers and they went through the shields. The lines expanded to tunnels and around those tunnels were large shields that were concave. Eyes opened wide. Purrcy even tipped her head and twitched an ear.

"So, that's what an Anchor Howl looks like," she commented. "Go ahead and cast the first set at him, lightly, just to get a feel. One of you who's willing, send one off to Nyanta." It went pretty much as expected. Those who cast at Naotsugu, their colored lights went down the tunnel to land against his shield and be snuffed. The one who cast against Nyanta, it hit the outer concave shield and bounced back. However, the caster's own code shield rose to meet it and it snuffed on it as well.

"Hmm," Isaac mused, not sounding very thrilled.

"Okay," Purrcy said. "Go."

It was a full blown PK-style battle, or a battle practice except that the students seemed pretty serious about trying to do damage. The battle guildmasters began commenting as the fight went on, calling what each colored attack type was - magic, or physical and which one, based on whether it made it through the physical responses or not.

They discovered that blue ones could be hit back or deflected easily by sword and shield. Red ones were negated shortly after they hit and Rieze called those as status effects. Yellow ones were dodged by Nyanta, absorbed by Naotsugu, and bounced off the shields around Purrcy and Tetora. They were finally called as magic attacks. Tetora's healing spells were sparkly pink, as a Cleric. Nyanta and Naotsugu only attacked attacks coming their way, not moving against the students, who were losing HP with every spell created, then the little amount of MP when it was being cast. The watchers learned to watch the status bars to see what the students were doing - creating or casting. All of Purrcy's magic went against the red status effect spells.

When they were all getting low on HP. Purrcy called a halt and healers walked out to heal the students back up again. Everyone narrowed eyes at two of the HP bars, but the second healing negated what was seen. Suddenly there was a large number of colored lights in the sky. "Shield," Purrcy said calmly. Her group moved to surround her so that she had Nyanta standing next to her, Naotsugu directly in front, his shield up, and Tetora was preparing a spell that turned into a shield around the four of them, three layers deep.

Purrcy's HP meter was dropping. So were all the students. Then there was suddenly a rush of colored lights headed for Purrcy...and another set headed for the Round Table leaders. They pulled out their own shields and armor pretty quickly, but a broad shield that greyed out the entire field appeared in front of them as if they were all suddenly protected by leaded glass.

They could see the needles of light that were headed their way hit the wall in front of them. Some were absorbed, but a subset bounced. It was the first they'd seen that and as soon as all of the points of light had moved into and away from that space, the shield went clear - or disappeared, they weren't sure which - and they could see the attacks that had bounced were headed straight for the two who had dropped their HP at that intermediate time. They both had five layers of shields up. There were a similar subset of colored lights headed towards them from Purrcy's group. At once they all exploded through the first layer of shields and barely slowed down. The second shields went down, then the third. At the fourth one, the students had put up another one inside and the attacks began to slow somewhat. The fifth shields went down and half the attacks went with it.

Then, somewhat bizarrely, the remaining attacks slowed and turned to combine into one large attack. Woodstock quickly looked at Purrcy and her HP had dropped below half and was still falling. Tetora was casting a healing spell on her and it went up to over half, but still kept falling. The combined attack spells changed shape so that the point closest to the mages and their one remaining shield became very tiny in diameter. As a second shield went up around them, the attack hanging over them changed shape to be a lance with a very fine point.

"This is your last lesson, you two," she said. "If you stay in town after this, you _will_ be expected to help defend and no longer fight against us. I'll leave a sleeper behind me to make sure. Do you understand? Evil Hackers are anathema and I _will_ hunt you down." The lances moved so fast the two Adventurers were bubbles rising in the air before anyone could see again.

The air cleared of all magic, save the healing that was being cast on Purrcy's group by Marielle to bring their HP back up. When she was done, Purrcy moved forward to face the Round Table Council. "So. You've seen both sides again. The power of the attacks. Without the tracers there would have been no way the attack Classes would have known anything was coming at them at all, but they can affect them if they can see them. A team that includes a Hacker can fight a Hacker."

"You have also seen the weakness of the attack Class side. It's too tempting to stray to the 'dark side' and become sith, to steal the terms from Star Wars. That's my job. I am a Hacker Hunter...well among other things. I only had to become that when I realized that I wasn't the only Hacker any more, and that too many were beginning to get away with things because they could. Please train your Hackers to at least defend your city. That's where I've begun. Next time I might not be here when a Plague Master, or a Necromancer, or any number of other evil Hackers appears."

She looked at them. "It's no different than what you already do in training all of your other attack Classes. If there are enough defending Hackers, there won't be the appeal to become an evil one. It won't be worth it. It's the reason why Guildmaster Shiroe has requested Crescent Moon League open the Academy. We need to understand the new things this world is teaching us, and allowing us to create ourselves, and Roderick Trading Company is doing well at learning those things. But if you don't apply them to reality, you're missing the most important part." She bowed. "Thank you for coming to our demonstration today." Purrcy walked off the field, her guildmates and her students following her.

"Well, I couldn't put it better myself, really," Marielle said to the crowd. "Thank you so much for coming. If you're interested in signing up for a class for your specific new sub-class, please come sign up at the booths near the exit to the practice field. We'll begin classes for the sub-class Technician next and are very excited to see where that one will take us, since it's the one we got our steam engine and ship from. Westlande is working hard to become the technology center of Yamato, but we'd like to figure out how to be the best Technicians and show them up! We can do that if you'all come out and work as a team to dig down deep into your sub-class. Akiba Adventurer Academy is here for you! Thank you for coming, everybody!"

The field was quiet of loud noises, but people everywhere were talking, milling about, and beginning to trickle away, many stopping at the booths on the way briefly before heading back to city center.

"I want to talk to her," Isaac said firmly.

"Me too," Rieze said.

"I wonder why this and the other are related?" Soujirou mused. "Was it the box Hacker? Or the final display?" He turned to Akaneya. "Is the inventor the box Hacker?"

"Well...he's obviously inventing and doing research," Akaneya hedged. Woodstock and Calasin both were quiet.

On Woodstock's part, it was a bit much to take in, though it did make some sense. Purrcy had been living on her own out of town so much she had to have acquired enough protective power to survive. But...he'd never expected quite so much power from such a reserved and shy person. He'd called her "special" when Shiroe called him, but...she was something more special than he'd anticipated. He couldn't help but wonder... _just what was she?_


	28. Forming the Corporation of Akiba

"You really should make yourself available to answer questions on the demo, at least," Henrietta said, quite firmly believing it. "They're going to at least want to know -"

Purrcy looked at her, even more firmly. "No. I'm not going to tell them what they want to know. To even answer one question will lead them down the path to asking for things they shouldn't be asking for. Tell them I'm a recluse who refuses to talk to them, because it's the truth. If someone else answers the questions, then that person at least has the excuse of 'I don't know'. They won't let up if they can ask me directly. You're PR. Go be PR."

Purrcy's ears and tail twitched irritably. "Not to mention that Shiroe's already told me I don't know how to keep my mouth shut. If I say something to upset what he's been working on for the next phase, he's going to skin me and use my pelt as his new office rug. When he says it's safe for me to open my mouth in public, or in front of the Round Table, that's when I'll do it. That isn't right now. I may have already caused damage and I hope he's got a damage reduction plan already in place for when they get there."

Henrietta slumped in defeat. "Fine. We'll do our best, but they'll come beating down your door."

"Then I won't be there. Shiroe already isn't." Purrcy walked off, Nyanta and Tetora following. Naotsugu was off helping the younger set disappear as well.

Henrietta wished she could disappear, too. Marielle was PR. She was Finance. Though...with that thought, she might be able to get off as well and just let...oh, no. This was going to be pressure and Marielle couldn't deal with that. Henrietta was also "shield". She sighed and wished she could make herself and Marielle disappear...but that would leave their guild wide open for attack, so...as "shield" she was the warrior class...probably the Samurai. She had a short taunting distance.

Of course, she was _really_ a Bard, but when it came to protecting the guild, she stood in front of everyone. Bards weren't front-line. She'd really rather be in the back today. She'd complain about Log Horizon using Crescent Moon as a shield except that Log Horizon used everyone as shields, and because Crescent Moon had been given the Academy, and this was Academy business, it was rightfully their position.

She scowled. Purrcy'd better let her pet her extra this next time, to dump this on her, taking Akatsuki away from her so she had to stay grumpy. Her scowl changed to a thoughtful frown. Actually, that grumpiness from Purrcy wasn't really like her, was it? She got that way when she was upset, or even angry...but... Henrietta wondered if it was actually Shiroe that Purrcy was upset with. If he'd really said those things to her, she just might be. Though...it could also be the two students turning traitor on her last minute.

Henrietta sighed. If she really wanted to know, she'd have to ask Purrcy, and this wasn't going to be the time to do that. Particularly since the Round Table was descending on her. Giving one more sigh, Henrietta straightened and prepared to say, "I don't know," an awful lot.

-:-:-:-:-

As soon as Purrcy was out of sight of Henrietta and anyone else but Tetora and Nyanta, she was a big cat, pacing with her tail swishing side to side irritably, her ears back and her teeth slightly bared. There was even a low growling rumble coming from her. There was a noise from nearby and she was gone. "I'll be in the tree," came by way of chat.

Nyanta sighed. Tetora startled to have Purrcy gone so quickly, but when he looked at Nyanta to see if he should give chase, Nyanta shook his head and continued to walk calmly onward. He'd already known that's where they were going. The noise continued to get louder, though it was really just footsteps, coming towards their own path, but obliquely. They got past the current crumbled ruin and coming from the other side of it was Michael - HackerM1. He startled a little and they nodded at him, but continued to walk.

"Hey, um, is Miss Purrcy okay? She's not with you?" he asked them, looking around.

Nyanta's ear flicked. "She's run ahead to burn off steam," he said without turning around.

"Oh. Well, tell her I'm sorry I couldn't keep those two."

Tetora waved a hand of acknowledgement, also without turning around.

There were rapid footsteps and he was following along behind them. "Can you tell me if she's upset about that?"

"Not so much," Tetora said. "She was expecting it."

"Oh, well, I guess that's to be expected." There was silence for a while, but the footsteps continued to follow them. "It went well, I think... - the demo, overall." Michael tested the waters again.

"Well enough," Nyanta agreed tersely.

They heard a growling in front of them, punctuated with snarling and hissing. They hurried forward just in time to see a large winged creature take hold of a black four-footed one. "It's an emergency," came across the chat as the two creatures disappeared. "Give me two hours, then use the card. That will let me come directly to you when I'm done."

"What was that?!" Michael said horrified.

"An emergency," Nyanta answered. Tetora was inside, watching his tracer.

"Then shouldn't we do something, call out the troops?" Michael pressed.

Nyanta's ear twitched. "Purrcy's been called away to take care of an emergency." He sounded humored. "It's a good thing, really. It will keep her occupied, nyan."

"Oh." Michael stood down, but continued to follow them until they reached the pool with the large tree growing next to it. Michael whistled. "It's another silver leaf."

"Rather impressive," Tetora agreed appreciatively. "I take it she loves it?"

"Quite a bit," Nyanta was smug.

"What's that look for?" Tetora asked. Nyanta didn't answer. Instead he went to the rock between the tree and the pool and sat down. Tetora ambled after him and pulled up a patch of shady grass, lying back to look up into the tree branches above.

"So...what are we doing?" Michael asked.

"Hiding," he was answered.

"Ah. Then I think I'll nap." He staked out his own strip of grass. A cowboy hat appeared over his face, and in short order gentle snores were heard issuing from it.

"Are you going to sleep, too?" Nyanta asked Tetora, who also had that look.

"As soon as I find her on the map," he answered calmly.

"Still looking?"

"Yup."

"Let me know when mew do." Nyanta - who was sitting in the sun - curled up on his rock and was soon also lightly sun sleeping.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe had years of experience in Negotiation under his belt. He'd been the negotiator for the Debauchery Tea Party before he was a negotiator at the Round Table. Really, if Theldesia was a real world handing out real sub-skills, that ought to be one of his long ago. He wondered if it was. Purrcy had said that some of them weren't showing on the status screen...and she'd specifically hired him for this one. He found that simultaneously relaxing and somehow irritating. He had other things to do, after all. But it meant he was representing someone else, which allowed him to be even more detached than normal.

That didn't mean he was by any means truly relaxed. He'd have to wade through the politics first. He'd rented a conference room in the Guild Hall, expressly not holding this meeting in the top Council chamber. This was a business negotiation, and he needed to set that tone early. He'd come dressed in a business suit to also set the tone - cream with a navy blue shirt under the tailored jacket and a narrow gold tie with a red cabochon tie pin that gave him bonuses for just such occasions. In the game such bonuses had been essential. Here, they were helpful. Understanding the people sitting on the other side of the table was essential. Considering who that was going to be, Purrcy couldn't have hired a better negotiator. Considering what her final desired outcome was, he couldn't turn her down. He'd had this kind of problem before.

Calasin was the first to show up, having his own presentation to make as part of the negotiations. "Calasin," Shiroe nodded.

"Shiroe," he replied a bit more soberly than perhaps typical. He walked to the seat directly across from Shiroe, pinning the table between them. "If you're here alone, I take it to mean she won't be here?"

"Correct," Shiroe said calmly. "My client has chosen to remain anonymous for now."

Calasin paused in the middle of sitting down, then completed the motion. "Very well. ...Eventually she'll have to show, or you'll be accused of being the client, you know."

"I'm aware of that," Shiroe said. "For now having three witnesses to the contrary is sufficient."

Calasin raised an eyebrow. "It's not four?"

"No. Marielle doesn't know."

Calasin's mouth twitched up. "Wise, I suppose."

"Kind, at the least," Shiroe said with no malice.

"True." Calasin allowed. If Marielle did know, she would have been hounded outside this room until she caved. Her earlier words would have been merely marching orders, then. She was a good girl, generally, but even more so for Shiroe who now, not so incidentally, had her on an even shorter leash than ever. The reward would have been worth it, though. Everyone had been waiting for the matchmaking to take place. "Is the Academy an award or an anchor?"

"I wouldn't know," Shiroe said coolly. It was irrelevant which because it was necessary. Calasin let it drop and worked on pulling his notes out and preparing them.

The door opened again a few minutes later and Akaneya and Woodstock entered. They sat left of Calasin, next to him. They had just gotten settled when the door opened again and Roderick and Michitaka came in, sitting across from them on Calasin's right. Isaac, Ains and Rieze walked in one minute after. They took the seats to Calasin's right, but down near Shiroe. As Isaac leaned on the table and opened his mouth, the door opened one more time and Soujirou and Marielle walked in. "Sorry we're late, everyone," Marielle said, getting her words in first. "I had to wrap up the last thing at the Academy." They took the seats to Shiroe's right filling in that side of the table. Soujirou hadn't necessarily taken sides at the table, he'd just genially taken an available seat. Everyone else had set their positions.

Shiroe pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Everyone, thank you for coming at the invitation of my client, who for the purposes of this negotiation and any contracting will be known as Venture Enterprises. Please save any questions that should be addressed by the Round Table until our next Council meeting. This is a separate business negotiation between my client and yourselves as business persons." There were disgruntled faces at the table. He ignored them.

"In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a participating member of Venture Enterprises, nor do I have a holding in it. I have been authorized to add to the total contractual amount a fee percentage for my services as agreed upon by myself and Venture Enterprises, not to exceed one quarter of one percent. I do have legal right to sign any documents or contracts on behalf of Venture Enterprises, with final right of refusal being held in reserve by the owner of Venture Enterprises."

Having covered the legal bases, he looked around the table. "That having been said, I think it was rather clear from today's demonstrations that we're looking at yet another shift in the underlying assumptions of this world. The products that Venture Enterprises wishes to present to you today, and potentially in the future, are based upon those shifts and a more clear understanding of the world we've been brought to. How that relates to Akiba I'm sure we can discuss at length when we're at the next Round Table meeting." There were sober nods around the table. They were properly concerned about the world shifts again, then. And by the slight relaxing of the shoulders, they had wanted to know he was aware of them. He'd expected that. He'd been hand-holding on such issues since they arrived and formed the Council.

Shiroe sat back in his seat and crossed a leg over a knee. "In order for you to begin to understand the impact of Venture Enterprises on the economy of Akiba and eventually Yamato, with the final goal being world-wide trade, Calasin has been kind enough to bring with him two examples of products that originated from Venture Enterprises." Shiroe interlaced his fingers in front of him, horizontally, his elbows resting on the arms of his chair, and looked calmly at Calasin.

The audacious breadth of scope had people looking both skeptical and somewhat amazed. They turned to Calasin expectantly. He nodded and calmly took the floor. "The first product to come to me from Venture Enterprises was a line of clothing for beast-halves and a set of spells to make the tail holes comfortable and sized appropriately. We're currently on our fifth iteration from that source and it has become the single most popular beast-half line that we sell." He glanced at his papers in front of him, but it likely was just for show. He'd probably already memorized all the numbers on them. He listed percentages of sales and percentage increases over time of sales, then projected sales locally, Yamato-wide, and world-wide, assuming for competition. The numbers weren't fantastic, but they were still profits.

"The box demonstration by Radio City was the second example I was asked to run numbers for. You'll forgive me, Akaneya, I hope," he looked over at his competitor who would be selling the boxes. Akaneya tipped his head soberly. "Based on my projections, there will be a dramatic increase of demand for boxes, likely of any kind, for a time that will then taper off to just replacement and maintenance levels. Certainly the creation of and addition of modifications to boxes can pull in more profits, but the base is sufficient for the example." The other merchants nodded. Calasin listed off expected initial profits, then the baseline. It was somewhat impressive.

"That's just for Akiba, of course. For each city it's introduced into as a new product, that will be repeated each time. For Yamato, in total, these are the numbers." He read them off. That was more impressive. "If we were to gain access to even just the closer parts of the mainland before another enterprising Adventurer discovered it and a competitor was born, these would be the numbers." Those were even more impressive.

"The sooner the product could be introduced anywhere, the more likely that level of capital could be maintained over time. The initial spurt of profit could be used to cover the cost of arriving at new places to introduce the product and to launch the next caravan forward, leaving the baseline profit available to the company or companies involved in the venture, thus making it an extremely intriguing product to break through into new markets with. Other products could then follow along after more easily."

Shiroe hadn't thought of that use for the recursive boxes and gave Calasin a point for having seen it. Calasin was looking at him. "Did you happen to run the numbers for the potential box based on the magic bag?" Shiroe asked.

"I did. The numbers go up, of course, but again, each person is only likely to buy one, or at most two, so it only lifts the baseline about fifteen percent at maximum." Shiroe nodded. Calasin hesitated. "There is one limiting factor, that currently is a problem." Shiroe waited. Akaneya and Woodstock were both pressing their lips together. "Radio City can't manufacture enough boxes...even just for Akiba. Over time they'll manage that much, but if we were to take it out-city it wouldn't be possible."

Akaneya nodded. "I've talked to Woodstock and between us we can't do it." Woodstock nodded, a bit sadly. "It would take a dedicated manufacturing house to produce it on the scale needed for Yamato-wide distribution. It'd be nice to have it next week for Akiba. We're already back ordered, in the sense that we made people sign up to come in and consult in order to purchase to slow the movement of the product out the door. By next week, we'll be 'consulting' but not sending out enough product at the same time."

He looked over at Michitaka. Michitaka was looking hungry, and trying not to show it. "Even if we hire willing Adventurers and People of the Land to help with manufacturing, it only takes us out another week. We have to slow down sales by half until the initial outflow is completed. Then we might be able to keep up...until it's taken into a new market, then we have the same problem all over again." Michitaka was calculating, his chin in his hand.

"Roderick," Shiroe said sitting up slightly to take command of the table again, "how many things your researchers are working on are ready for production that you haven't been able to get to?"

Roderick had been looking jealous, but now he went thoughtful, with a frown between his eyes. "Well...we are a bit backlogged. We've probably got five to fifteen percent in production, half in research, five percent in development, and the remaining are backlogged in between each of those."

Shiroe relaxed slightly. He'd been right and he knew where he was going to focus this half of the table now. He clasped his hands in front of him lightly. "Venture Enterprises has made it clear to me that what they want to see out of this negotiation is not just a profit division, but a smooth pipeline for their products. I'd say that right at the moment it's a bit problematic." The research and production houses looked at each other, then nodded somewhat reluctantly. "If you're willing to consider the proposal?" Every eye looked at him, calculating, then nods were given.

Shiroe sat up straight and pushed his glasses up on his face. "It is proposed that each guild in Akiba take a specific piece of the pipeline and willingly give up the competitive portions that are not in line with their part. Specifically," he said it just a little louder to keep their attention, "Venture Enterprises as idea house, as well as solo crafters and other inventors who come up with their own new products. Roderick Trading Company as research guild to determine if the ideas have merit and how they can be expanded on. Radio House and Grandale jointly as development guilds to take the research coming out of Roderick Trading Company to get it into a product that is manufacturable. Marine Organization as manufacturing guild to mass produce the products. Shopping District 8 as sales and marketing guild to see that the product is pushed to the customer and made available in each region. For distribution, we see Shopping District 8 and Marine Organization's Shipworks Department working together to open regions and to get the product there."

Shiroe now turned to the other half. "It seems a natural outcome from expanding the markets to need security to see the products and personnel make it where they are going safely. Whenever there is increased demand, and therefore increased production, there is also need for an increase in supplies of the raw materials." Lights were coming into eyes of the fighting guilds now, who had already had some clue, but still were wondering where they fit. "It is likely that the solo and small guild Adventurers who already enjoy farming for raw supplies will be happy to increase their output, but each individual can only do so much, and for high level supplies, it takes raids and full raids." Isaac and Rieze both had twitches going on now and Ains was looking calculating. Ains had the most lower level 'farmers' in his guild. Isaac and Rieze would fight over raids and the loser would get caravan guard duty, unless they worked out a compromise.

He turned to the final two. "Of course, much of the research going on at Roderick Trading Company is not product related, but instead related to this world and how we Adventurers fit into it." His eyes met Soujirou's and held them. "Not only do we need the equivalent of a development guild to take the research to usable form, we need teachers who then understand it to teach it at the Academy. And with our heavy fighter guilds out of the city on supply, distribution, and guardianship, we will still need someone in Akiba to keep the peace as we become a go-to city to shop, both by Adventurers and even more People of the Land." Soujirou's lip twitched up and the look he gave Shiroe was a look of complete comprehension that the Councilor of the Debauchery Tea Party had put together another one of his plans. Shiroe looked at Marielle. She nodded. She understood her part better now.

"Okay, Shiroe," Michitaka leaned forward, having had time to think now. "That's all well and good, and it gets us all organized better, but how do we go Archipelago and international? I'm not sure it's worth it if all we do is just stay here in town still." Nods went around.

"Of course," Shiroe said calmly. "But you have the answer in your own guild, Michitaka, and it will become more easily available now that we have the Academy. You have the preponderance of Technician sub-classed Adventurers, but they aren't yet fully cognizant of what that sub-class can do, particularly together. I should think that once each one of them, and you yourself, understand the totality of what the sub-class is and has the capability to do, in short order your ship will become an ocean liner. I've found a stellar navigator, and I've sent out people to hunt for star charts or retired seamen that know the stars to be brought here so that he can create charts for us. He's also a Hacker." Eyes lit up, and Michitaka looked even hungrier.

"In addition, I believe that once the Technicians fully understand their sub-class, and begin to work with the Hackers, that we will be able to be the first city to get our Gate to work." He let that sit for a second as he looked at everyone. "That opens it's own can of worms and I'm working on that, but as far as product movement, if we already have a presence in every city that has a Gate, all we have to do is send a Gate maintenance team with the caravan, repair the Gate, and set up the transportation office to maintain proper order between person movement and product movement, since we no longer have the computer servers that will allow everyone to go through whenever they want. This will open up competition, of course, but we already know that we can thrive regardless. The more the demand, the more useful it is to have competitors to help meet the supply. World-wide demand will require it."

He looked around the table. He was getting to them. "Having that advantage requires us to move quickly, however. It's already been two years. We may be behind other countries. It may even be a race where we end up only controlling a region or two of Gates, and eventually we may have to fall back to only the Yamato Gates. If we're behind any of the other cities in Yamato, we may lose the advantage that our organization that already exists may have brought us."

"Westlande," was growled and Shiroe let it ring.

He nodded. "They also have been having massive technological advances and it's highly likely that they also have many sub-classed Technicians now. What I don't know is how organized they care to be about understanding them and that class. They are our greatest competition...and I have no desire to have them controlling Akiba's Gate." There were dark nods around the table.

"I believe that we may have the advantage if we partner Hackers with Technicians on that project because the Hackers may be able to read the code for why it isn't working, and how it's supposed to. Between the two sub-classes, I believe it could be solved fairly quickly." He paused to let them think it through, sitting back. That much had gotten the fighting guilds thinking again, which he'd wanted it to. They would recognize that it wasn't going to be a cakewalk and conflict might be the outcome on occasion, particularly with their closest neighbor. "There are other details, of course," he steepled his fingers, "that can be decided at the Round Table meeting. At this point, we only need an agreement that streamlining the production process is desirable."

"What makes it worth our while to do it, other than a clothing line and boxes?" Calasin asked.

Shiroe nodded and looked at Woodstock and Akaneya. "Radio Market and Grandale have already been used as the research and development houses of Venture Enterprises. If you would please give some examples?"

Woodstock went first, starting with the fine scalpels and what products had come out of that, as well as the magic scissors and other things they had done in the blacksmithing shops. Akaneya went second and his list was very long. When he was done there was a bit of pandemonium as Calasin and Roderick both demanded they produce the persons who had come up with those things. The grizzled guildmasters shook their heads. "It's all from Venture Enterprises," Akaneya said. "We did our own research and development, of course. That was just what came from that source."

"Those are small market items," Michitaka interrupted, "for the most part."

Shiroe nodded. "Yes. That was why Radio House and Grandale were used. The boxes, however, have created a need that is larger. I think your own products could use a wider customer base, don't you agree? And I know Calasin began expansion quite some time ago. I would think that you are both looking at your spreadsheets and wishing you could go mainland in the next couple of months already, after a year and a half of expanding as far as you can go under current conditions."

Michitaka looked away and Calasin tried hard not to give it away, but Shiroe could tell he was right. He adjusted his glasses again. "Venture Enterprises has several other products in the works but they are also large scale. Until Akiba can handle what they have to offer, those products are on hold. I only have a set time, however, before they move elsewhere. If you're sufficiently interested in working with Venture Enterprises, then I would like to spend the next little while discussing the specifics of which guild will handle which part or parts of the production and distribution line. When we've reached an agreement, we'll discuss percentage distributions of profits."

Shiroe looked questioningly around the table. Somehow...he was very much feeling like the King trying to get his ministers on board, while at the same time, leaving them little room to say no. "Please feel free to break up into sub-groups to discuss what your preferences are. Marie, will you please work out with Soujirou what you would like to see at the Academy? Perhaps he will be able to help you there."

Shiroe sat back and let the guildmasters gnaw at the details. This had been several months in the coming. They'd already been thinking about it within their own guilds. It was time to formalize it, and no one resisted though he did have to step in occasionally to negotiate between the guilds of a sub-group. He was definitely earning his quarter percent.

He hoped it would be enough to keep the castle going, but just based on Calasin's projections, it should be plenty. He already needed to buy three more buildings around his guild hall, but it was the pay for the new Royal Guard division he was most worried about. And he'd already increased the work he was having his intelligence network do. He either needed to expand it, or increase their pay. ...Such random thoughts occupied the back of his mind as he waited for everyone to agree on their official ministries in the new, as yet unmentioned, Kingdom of Yamato.

Shiroe rubbed his head. He was going to have a headache tonight. _He_ might have to demand Purrcy petting time...or have Akatsuki rub his head. It was one of the odd things she enjoyed, but it sounded relaxing right now.

-:-:-:-:-

"There," Purrcy sighed. "I think that should do it, ProudWing."

[Thank you, Caretaker. How long will she sleep?]

Purrcy cleaned up her tools with a quick spell, and put them away in her list. "I would think about four to six hours. If it's until tomorrow, don't worry. She should eat, though, as soon as she wakes up, something small, every hour or so, and keep water close by. Getting enough water will help in the healing."

[I'll do it,] the worried spouse promised. He looked around. [And, thank you for cleaning up.]

"It's required for proper healthy healing," she said dismissively.

[Why were you still in the Adventurer city?] he settled down next to his mate to rest with her.

Purrcy twitched an ear and her tail curled. "Many reasons." Her ear twitched more as she tried to choose which one to give. "The main one...is that I've finally taken a mate."

[Congratulations. Will that mean you won't come out except for emergencies now?]

"No. When our initial time is done, I'll bring him out to train him to living outside the city and introduce him. Most of the time he'll be there and I'll return to him." She paused a bit sadly. "I'm sure I'll come out less, though." She moved to sit next to him and lean on his soft feathers. He looked at her out of one large golden eye. She looked up at the sky that was a hole of blue above them, tall towering grey rock all around it from the rock floor they were on and up to the height of a mountain. "It's a bit complicated. I want to be there now that I have family, but my heart is crying for the open spaces, and I hurt that I'm having to leave my clients crying for me until I can come out again."

[Are they keeping you?]

She looked down at her hands. "Yes...for now." She reached out and lightly ran her fingers through his softness. "I've found...more than just a mate and a family there. There is also a master...and it is difficult...to leave him." She closed her eyes, then burrowed her head into the large warm side next to her. A large head dropped to nuzzle her gently.

[Being a Summoned isn't easy, but it can be very fulfilling, when the master is strong and honorable.]

She nodded into his feathers, took a breath and sat back up. "He is that...very much so. I really couldn't ask for one better...but it's difficult to give up what I've had until then." She reached up and rubbed the cheek below the eye looking at her. "I miss my friends. I miss the forest. I miss the open spaces." A tongue came out of a large mouth and licked her. She covered her eyes defensively, but didn't protest. Looking back up into his eye again, she said, "He'll send me out when he's ready. He needs the words that I learn when I come to help and we talk about distant places. Right now, though, there are many things in the city he needs my help with. We have agreed that in a few more days I may leave...but it won't happen. There's still too much work to be done. Maybe in another half-moon to moon, perhaps."

She stood, reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her and moved so that she was on his back. She climbed up his neck to sit on his head near his ears and changed to house cat and curled up there. "I'm glad you came to get me, though I'm sorry it was for ill news. It was a good time and we all needed to have time apart. He's in the middle of a difficult time for the city, and I arrived in time to help, but all of the newness and battle weariness has made us all grumpy. This is a good reprieve." She burrowed down in his feathers looking like a black crown on his head.

[You don't need to hurry back?]

She sighed. "I shouldn't stay too long, but I've not been called back yet. That means they are also resting to recover. I say that it's difficult for me...but I'm just as difficult for them...a wild, Summonable Adventurer they haven't known before now."

He chuckled a whistling grumbling sound. [Well...you've said it.]

She smiled just a little. "Yes...I suppose I have." He put his head on the ground between his forepaws and closed his eyes. She closed her eyes and began to purr them both to a light sleep. "Thank you, ProudWing. It's good to speak to one who understands." He flicked an ear of tolerance and comfort.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta opened his eyes. He was on his back. The sun had moved past the three-quarters point in the sky and he was covered in shadow. He lay there quietly, enjoying the peacefulness of being under the large tree with only quiet around him. His companions were still sleeping, mostly, but would also likely wake up soon. When he was ready, he calmly reached into his vest pocket and pulled out Purrcy's Summon card. It was really in his list, but somehow, that was where he kept it, close by his person. He looked at the paw print on it. She must have been kitten, or slightly larger when she created the cards.

She really was a handful when she was stressed out, more of a dictator in public, more emotional with him in private with mood swings from angry to tears until she fell asleep as her system needed to release the stress each night. He just let her vent, then held her until she was asleep. It was hard on him, too, though, surprisingly. But maybe it was because of the effort that was his as 'father' to keeping the guild operating smoothly. His role was correction, but he was in such a position that he couldn't correct Purrcy. They were equal roles, father and mother. Shiroe was the proper correction for Purrcy, but he was focused on his tasks and also stressed out. That meant he was either too busy to correct, or he corrected harshly and impatiently. That set Purrcy off again instead of helped.

It was temporary, but needed a solution at some point. Naotsugu was holding everyone else together, as he should, but the last time he'd tried to come between Purrcy and Shiroe had been a near disaster. Purrcy had finally backed down for the sake of some level of harmony but she'd run to the fourth floor closet afterwards and Shiroe had returned to his office in a snit - cold and hard. Akatsuki had to stay out of the office for a bit and he himself had stayed away from the closet until enough time had passed Purrcy had relaxed enough to not be completely prickly porcupine. Purrcy did relax some with Tetora, and both Shiroe and Purrcy would back off a little bit if he spoke up, but if they were really going toe to toe, even Tetora couldn't break through. Partially because that was the confrontation he was most afraid of so ran from instead of tried to solve.

Nyanta sighed. It was possible that now that the demonstration was over, the two Hackers who couldn't stand to be in class were gone, and Shiroe would be done with the negotiations, things would settle back down. It wouldn't help in the long run when things got stressful again, though. They needed a breakthrough, or one more person who could stand in the middle to protect both strong personalities from each other.

Tetora stirred and Michael was sounding like he'd be waking up soon. Nyanta put the paw print on the card to his lips to kiss it and call her home. It tingled with magic in his paw with what might have been a faint glow. "I've called her back. Did mew ever find where she went, nyan?" he asked Tetora, looking at the card as he waited to see what else it might do.

"She's up in the middle of the mountain range," Tetora said. "Ulp, no now she's here in Akiba." There was a pause. "Should be here with us somewhere." Nyanta put the card in his pocket, mentally returning it to its slot. He looked up into the tree. Tetora sat up and looked around the ground nearby. "But I don't see her," Tetora finished. Nyanta pointed up with his paw. Tetora tipped his head back and looked up. "No way. Why'd she come back up there?"

"Meow. I was thinking she purrobably has a way to see what's in the area where she's going so she can land somewhere safe. We're still at the tree, so that's where she'd go if she could choose." He was watching the black shadow move around the branches of the tree, watching to see how she was doing. She wasn't in a hurry, exploring each branch with sniffing and walking slowly from center to end and back again, tail moving slowly, but up to at least relaxed interested. She'd been able to recover some then, but wasn't quite ready to join them just yet. Tetora shifted to sit leaning against the rock so he could more comfortably look up into the tree and watch her as well. "She says she can see over the city wall from the upper branches," Nyanta said peacefully.

"Can you get up there?" Tetora asked.

"Nyan," he answered negatively. "I'll have to work hard to do that. She says optimistically when we get back from the first run out, but I suspect it will be a good year. This is a tall tree, and she has a special way to get down. It takes a second transformation."

"Transformation?" a sleepy voice came from the other man on the ground. Michael lifted his head enough to see them both looking up. He looked up also. "What's up?"

"Miss Purrcy," Tetora said and pointed. "She landed back up there when she returned."

"Isn't that a bit high?" Michael said. "Though...I'd love to see the world from up there. I really want to do the raid to get my gryphon Summon whistle. If I only did one more thing on this world, that would be it. To ride my own gryphon and fly."

Nyanta agreed. He loved it when he could see the world below him from the back of a gryphon. He'd been able to do it a few times on outside adventures the guild had had. He'd been surprised when the gryphon who came to his call the first time to leave Susukino to come to Akiba had looked exactly the same as the one on the computer that came to him back on Earth, and even had the same moniker. That same one had come each time, for that matter. He would have thought it was a different one, randomly chosen, and that they wouldn't have come across with them - except the database transfer for Adventurers themselves. Shiroe had decided that the monster database must have come as well. "Meow, we myay go do it again. The junior set need their's," Nyanta said.

"Seriously?" Tetora said with surprise. "That'd be awesome. Then I wouldn't have to tag team Naotsugu, who's going to have to have Marie behind him now." He looked sad for a moment, but pushed it aside.

"You've already done it?" Michael said, surprised.

"Yeah, he, and Shiroe, and Naotsugu are all part of the Debauchery Tea Party, an awesome group that did all kinds of high level dungeons and adventures together, though they never guilded. That was one of the quests they did." Tetora answered, his head following Purrcy's trail in the branches above. "Looks like she's about ready to come down?" he asked Nyanta.

"Myes," he answered. "Watch that closely. It's beautiful, nyan," he said quietly.

Purrcy was crouched on the lowest branch, close to the trunk, her four paws all close together, her tail held just right to keep her balanced as she had her nose pointing down towards the ground, though she was looking at the tree trunk in front of her. Then suddenly she was moving down as if running on the ground, though her steps were shortened. Michael and Tetora both took frightened intakes of breath when she first got going, but Nyanta just watched, his body feeling it this time. He continued to feel it as she got to the place she had been before and her muscles bunched. His contracted sympathetically and he let them so they could get the feel for it. She launched and Tetora cried out slightly. There was the flip and the wings unfurled.

The joy of it filled Nyanta again, from the first sight of the tips of them. He just watched, letting the soaring take his own heart and soul soaring with her. He'd always loved watching the sea birds of the northern coast as they dipped and soared over the ocean. This was ten times better. Maybe even a hundred times. Purrcy held her height this time and played with the distance, though she didn't get out of sight. Her joy in the flight could be felt on the ground. There a dip and rise, here a graceful turn. The wing tips tilting ever so slightly to create a new direction, a new flare until it was obvious her height was bringing her in whether she wanted to or not.

Nyanta stood and walked over to where it was clear and she glided in to land in front of him. He knelt down and held out his hand. She rubbed her head under it, then walked down his arm so he could feel the feathers again. Their softness had surprised him before and they warmed him this time, adding to the joy of the flight. She butted his chest and he fell to sitting and wrapped his arms around her neck. She purred and he purred back. "Ah, Purrcy, I could watch that all day," he said with a contented sigh.

She chuckled. "It would be fun to do it that long...if it didn't tire out my muscles. I'd have to exercise it up to a full day." Her head turned and he looked up. Tetora was on the other side of her, reaching out a hand to feel the wing the same as he'd had to the first time.

"That was...awesome, Hahaue," Tetora said just as reverently as Nyanta felt. "I was so afraid when you got started, but Nyanta had said it was beautiful, so I tried to not scold you...and I'm glad I didn't. I was so surprised to see wings...," he trailed off.

"They were part of my necessary protections," she said, purring for Tetora, who was petting her gently now, though Nyanta was still holding her. He let go in some embarrassment, having forgotten he was, though he kept a paw on her back and brushed the wing on his side again.

There was a sudden deep intake of breath. "God!" There was a manly sniff and they turned to look at Michael. He was wiping his face with his arm. "To be able to fly with my own wings!" His eyes dripped again and he used the heel of his hand to wipe at his cheek this time. "I'm a flyboy through and through, but never, ever, would I have thought it could even be possible to learn to have my own wings - literally."

Purrcy shifted and the other two let her go. She padded over to Michael and touched his nose with hers. "Well...it isn't easy. Transformation is the hardest magic there is to learn. I do cat because I'm already half cat. That made that part easier, though not all that much. Nyanta's trying to get to just human hands, and that's been very slow going, and he's half human. To go to wings seemed nearly impossible until I remembered the sphinx. These are sphinx wings. I can't fly like a bird. No flapping up into trees. They are only for gliding down."

Michael made a requesting motion and Purrcy turned and opened the wing closest to him. He reached out big hands that were gentle as they touched the soft feathers. "Like an owl," he said. She nodded. "Soft and large, but not as much strength to each feather. And on a heavy feline body, I can see that they wouldn't get you up in the air." He looked back up in the tree. "Then, how do you get up?"

"I run up it," she said. "After lots and lots of practice, though, for a tree this high. To fall from even half-way up is death, or at least a lot of pain."

Michael nodded. "For a human body, it'd have to be real bird wings that can get you up in the sky, then, unless I started from the top of a building or mountain."

Purrcy took her wing back, folding it against her body again. She sat and tipped her head at him. "Then think of a creature that is humanoid with wings of that kind before you start. And stick to just the one part until you've got it. You don't have to be the whole thing unless you really want to. If you do, then work on the other parts later."

"Can you code things like that?" Michael asked curiously.

Purrcy's whiskers went up in a cat-smile. "I did it as a transformation. I wouldn't know."

Michael slowly smiled. "Well, then. I guess I'll work on it my own way and we'll see what happens."

Purrcy bowed her head and stepped back until she was beside Nyanta again. She looked into his eyes soberly, then slowly the wings disappeared and she was was felinoid again and wearing her blousy black outfit with gold speckles. She waited for him to stand, the others rising as well. He looked at her, then sighed to himself. "I'm glad mew've come back more relaxed, but I'd purrefer it if it didn't feel like we were also taking mew back purrisoner."

She looked at him in surprise. "I'm sorry," she said, looking down. She breathed quietly for a bit while he waited. "To work on my friend's mate was to be reminded of what I am. He helped me, but...," she closed her eyes. "It is hard, Nyanta, to be owned."

His tail stilled in surprise as he tried to understand. Then he remembered the card in his pocket and he softened. "Did it really become that binding?"

She nodded, still not looking up. "I want to be outside, but until he tells me I can go...I can't. ...There are little nuances to it too, that I didn't expect...and sometimes they are surprising at the most unexpected times...or words." She took a deep breath and looked towards the tree trunk but not up at the crown of it. "I can fight it, I can choose disobedience, but it...has a price."

Nyanta put a paw on her shoulder. "Purrcy, mew need to tell him. He doesn't know either."

She slowly looked up at him, then nodded. "Will...will you come with me?"

He pulled her to him and held her gently to his chest. "Of course. Always."

There was a gentle sigh to the side and Tetora said, "You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to a Nyanta that is gentle and expressive like that. ...I mean, the gentle's not new...but you never were so open before." Nyanta raised an eye ridge of whiskers at him. Tetora blushed. "It's a good thing...a good thing." He looked away.

"Nothin' wrong with love," Michael said, turning away, "Makes the world go 'round." He led the small group back towards the Academy grounds and home. They fell in behind him, Nyanta keeping an arm around Purrcy, and Tetora coming behind.


	29. Consequences of Little Things

Shiroe walked tiredly through the doorway of Log Horizon's guild house, Akatsuki behind him, his shadow this evening. Warm delicious smells awaited his nose and he suddenly relaxed. Curry. His most favorite meal.

It was already after dark, the negotiations taking this long. The division of labor had taken over an hour and half to finalize. The dividing of the profits had taken longer by an hour more. His quarter of a percent had almost been too large in the end as the crafter guilds had nickeled and dimed the percents and wanted to go down to the eighth. He'd put his foot down by getting the fighter guilds to stick to a minimum division of fourth since they didn't care to even have it that finely sliced.

"Welcome home, Guildmaster Shiroe." It was Purrcy, being respectful. That was proper since he'd worked so hard for her this day, but somehow, perhaps because of the strain between them the last couple of days, it set him on edge again. He took a calming breath.

"Thank you, Purrcy. It's good to be back. The negotiations were successful, in that the guilds have properly organized themselves." He sat in his place and Akatsuki took hers next to him. Purrcy placed steaming plates of curry and rice in front of them, then cups of a cooling frothy drink. He nodded his gratitude as he picked up his utensils. "The percentages were fought hard by the crafter guilds, but everyone seems to have come out satisfied at the end." He took his first bite and waited for her to ask what her percentage was. The question didn't come and he looked up at her.

Nyanta was standing slightly behind her and Tetora and Michael were hovering in the background. Everyone else was missing. It made sense everyone else would have eaten by now, but... Shiore swallowed his bite and straightened to look into her eyes. "Is it something that needs discussion right now?" he asked, a bit disbelieving.

Purrcy paused. "No. It can wait until after you're done eating."

He pursed his lips. "But?"

She sighed and the tip of an ear flicked unhappily. "I don't know how to help you feel comfortable while eating without telling it to you now...though I'd rather wait."

"Then wait," he said, not unkindly, but perhaps a bit forcefully. He really did want to eat and relax first, before confronting yet another issue with her.

"Where shall we meet?" she asked politely.

"In my office," he answered.

"Very well," she bowed and moved to immediately enter his office. He stared after her a bit open-mouthed. His mouth dropped open even more when the other three entered with her and the door closed behind them all.

Shiroe closed his mouth, glanced at Akatsuki who merely shrugged, and returned to eating. As he ate, his mind couldn't leave it alone. Something about this was rather fishy. Finally he asked, "Akatsuki, do you know where the others are? It's feeling rather like that time she punished Naotsugu, only not."

She paused in her eating, then called up the guild map. He could do it, he just usually left it to her. "On the roof," she said quietly. "Do you want me to scout?"

"Finish up first," he said kindly. She was about done anyway. She ate slowly sometimes, sometimes quickly. Tonight was the latter. She must also be feeling the oddity of the evening. He didn't hurry for now, since he wanted her report.

Akatsuki finished eating, her dishes disappeared...likely reappearing in the kitchen sink, and then she disappeared and reappeared in the lowest branch of the house tree. She disappeared again and he heard the latch on the trapdoor being opened. He sat back, holding his plate over his lap, eating until it was clean. Then he "put" his dishes in the sink and held his cup in his hand, nursing his drink until she returned.

"They're talking quietly about their day and other similar things, but nothing too concerning in their words. Their posture says they're worried, and Naotsugu's concerned, like he'd be here if he could be, but something's holding him back."

"Hmm," Shiroe stood. That matched the behavior of the others down here. "I think...we've entered another encounter. And...we've come in late." Again. It was getting old. It was beginning to feel like it was a dungeon he and Akatsuki were walking together and the rest of the guild was being used as the monsters. Of course, the last time the two of them had been the late coming monsters, but it was frustrating overall.

He led Akatsuki into his office, "putting" his cup in the kitchen on the way. Tetora and Michael were standing near the door. Nyanta and Purrcy were in their usual place on the love seat opposite the couch. Shiroe walked to stand in front of his place in the center of the couch, but he didn't sit. Looking at the guards, and then Purrcy, he said, "What's the situation?"

"You've become not only King but a full master and none of us can disobey."

Shiroe blinked. "I...what?"

Purrcy sighed. "Really...I originally thought it was because of the object of mine you hold and it was just me. But Michael isn't able to leave and he and Tetora can't leave me...because you told them keep me safe today. You told Naotsugu to watch over the children and keep them entertained and safe. He hasn't been able to leave them, except for the demonstration, which you did allow for because you also told us to do well at the demonstration. He's been rather confused by it, even though it's understandable, because it's interfered with their work. They've all had to be together... _all_ day." She looked over her shoulder. "Michael."

Michael bowed. Shiroe blinked. As a U.S. Naval officer, he wasn't supposed to do that, and hadn't until just now. "When the demonstration was completed, I was going over the post-op with the other upper class members when I suddenly felt agitated for a reason I couldn't explain. I finished as quickly as I could and sent them all off for R&R, even though we were supposed to prepare for tomorrow's class. I found my feet leading me in what I thought was a random direction, but I ran into Nyanta and Tetora. I felt a little disturbed, so talked to them briefly. I intended to return back to the Academy grounds when I found my feet following after them. I stayed with them...well until now."

"They've been on guard position - all three of them - all day - on my very person," Purrcy said with irony dripping from her words. "In my case, it's actually worse, because I'm being made to live and act according to every word that has dripped from your mouth since I gave you the thing that makes me yours. It nearly cost us the demonstration. Only the fact you'd told me to do well there countermanded any portion of the other things you've told me to do, but it nearly wasn't enough."

"Like what?" Shiroe demanded quietly. He could feel the anger building.

"Like a small comment you made that I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I've been fighting that one all day and not winning on occasion." Shiroe felt a stab of fear, and some remorse. "I've been grateful that the order to not speak to people came before the gift rather than after." The fear increased.

"Do you think it _is_ the gift?"

"Like I said, I thought it was that, since it's so powerful for me, but I think it just adds. To me you are King, master, and owner. To everyone else it is King and master."

"Why master?"

"It's the equivalent to Guildmaster."

"Oh."

"Is there anything in today's interactions that have made others relate to you as if you were in fact King?"

"The entire negotiation," he said grimly. "Even I felt it...and thought it in my background thoughts."

Everyone who knew him raised eyebrows. He nodded a grim nod. "It isn't good. And...it's made me angry to learn it's not just me."

"You know we'd follow your orders and wishes anyway," Tetora said calmly, "because you're the Strategist. Call the meeting."

Shiroe nodded. "But I'm going to test it." Without opening a chat he said, "Naotsugu come to my office." He waited, then motioned to Akatsuki. "Go and see if he's coming down, then return and report." She immediately left the room.

In under a minute she was back. "No, Shiroe, he's not."

Shiroe opened a guild chat. "Everyone, report to my office." He closed the chat. "Akatsuki, go and monitor their approach."

She was gone again. He waited. He received a chat from her and received a detailed report of their arrival. Everyone entered the office, with some relief that he was present and had called for them. Akatsuki did not return, and her last report was that everyone had entered the office. Shiroe nodded and opened a chat to her. "Akatsuki return to the office."

She walked in, looking disconcerted. He looked at her waiting. She walked up to her place, then looked at him. "I couldn't come back from my position until you called for me."

He nodded. "Purrcy, please monitor inside the code realm what's going on without reporting at this time. Michael, if you would like, you may assist her. Tetora, fill the rest in."

Tetora immediately obeyed, while Shiroe ground his teeth together in great irritation. When Tetora was done, Shiroe looked at Purrcy. "Purrcy were you able to disobey?" She shook her head and it looked like it took some effort to do even that much. "Michael, were you able to choose?"

"Yes, Shiroe, I was," the answer came back.

Shiroe dropped into his place on the couch and he let out a frustrated breath. "Stop monitoring, Purrcy, and report."

"Well, it was interesting." She paused. "Tetora, go take a look at my tags and read them off."

Tetora immediately did so. Queen was one of them.

Purrcy nodded. "And King is one of your tags. Tetora could you refuse that request?"

"No," he answered.

Purrcy waved a hand and suddenly over the heads of every one of them was a glowing list. "These are all your tags. Please review them. In seniority order, please let us know which ones are new to you or unfamiliar - that is in type not in form."

Shiroe immediately answered, "I presume you mean that because I haven't seen the Negotiator tag before, it is new in form, but since I've been a negotiator for years now, it isn't new in type."

"Correct," Purrcy said.

"Then mine are 'Summoner, King, and...," he furrowed his brow. "Purrcy, what is this one?" He pointed to it in the air.

Purrcy rose to look at it, then her eyes glazed as she looked at it inside the code realm. "Ah...it's one you don't want named out loud. Phew. That answer was sufficient. I rescind my order to everyone else. I need to take care of this set first. Michael, Tetora, come with me." There was quiet in the room for a time until Purrcy returned. "I've ordered them to continue instead of return. We are following the threads back that have placed those tags. Based on the last unreadable tag in your list, it is juvenile, but I don't know how anyone could have known to put King and Queen on us that isn't one of the guild. I think they might have set a general 'add tag' that triggered something based on what we've been thinking or talking about...but in the past and I don't understand that part yet."

Shiroe tipped his head. "You mean that the curse was placed recently but it's attaching things from the past?"

She nodded. "Curse, huh?" She returned to sit next to Nyanta. "Go ahead, the rest of you, answer my previous question."

In seniority they all walked down their new tags. They all included the ranking she had given them at the breakfast table. All of them had a final tag that they couldn't read well but when she looked at it in the code realm, it was one they wouldn't necessarily want read off.

Tetora suddenly said, "I've tagged him and put him on the map."

"I've got him locked down physically," Michael said.

Purrcy nodded. Shiroe was feeling very dangerous. "At the risk of causing offense, I would like to test one more thing before we take any action, if I may?" Purrcy asked.

"You may," Shiroe granted permission.

"Who do you know who would label each of you in their own minds with the labels as follows: Mad Hatter, Alice, White Rabbit, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, etc.?"

"We've all been labeled with characters from _Alice in Wonderland_?" Shiroe asked in disbelief.

Purrcy nodded. "You, sir, are the Mad Hatter, and I am the Queen of Hearts. And if we don't take him down we are going to begin to reenact them as well, to a much worse degree than we already have been."

"Purrcy, rewrite those tags to make us into a precise fighting team that can win against him." Shiroe said immediately.

"I don't know anything of that caliber, though I have read extensively. May I request assistance?" She immediately responded.

"Yes."

"Michael."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll walk with you and give you names. I can't overwrite."

"Then shall we?" They disappeared to the present for a while.

"Tetora, please give us updates as they work," Shiroe asked quietly. "And defend as necessary. Isuzu, please cast your HP bonus. Minori, shield the party, targeted to curses." He prepared his own status effect spells against cursing and that negated adverse status effects. "Rudy, contact Marielle and see if it's happening to others in Akiba or only specific to Log Horizon. Nyanta, the same for any guild in town so we can see if it's a more local area affect. Naotsugu and Touya, stand ready to taunt if Tetora reports an attack. Akatsuki, where is he?" He already had a good idea.

"Next door."

Everyone who heard it stiffened, but Shiroe nodded.

"Crescent Moon guild is clear," Rudy came back with his report.

"It isn't, but it's only limited to one person, so I expected that answer. Thank you Rudy."

"It sounds like the center of the city is clear," Nyanta reported back.

"It should be," Shiroe said quietly. "I want it to be," he added for good measure.

When Purrcy returned with Michael, she said, "We can't rewrite the tag. It isn't really a tag. It is more like an artifact. Umm...it is to the code like the artisan clothing is to the clothing within the game constructs."

"Thank you, Purrcy, Michael," Shiroe said quietly. "I think you will find that Marielle is the Duchess and that our target is the Cheshire Cat. Before we go - Tetora." Tetora nodded and healed Michael and Purrcy to full HP again. "Isuzu." She nodded. She would have her two spells set when they arrived. "Michael, let him move, but confine him to the building he's in." He waited until Michael nodded it was done.

Shiroe rose from his seat. "Then, shall we take the tea party over to welcome our new neighbors?" He strode to the door. Michael opened it for him. Naotsugu didn't let him go out the main door first, staying his front guard, and Akatsuki stuck to his side like glue. It was all as they would have done anyway, as Tetora said, but he couldn't shake his dis-ease with the fact that it was also manipulated. However, it would work to their benefit, so for now he would use it as part of their bonuses to the battle.

As he neared the door to Crescent Moon's guild hall, he paused and turned. "Purrcy," she moved up to hear him. "I'm sorry to have said that earlier." She looked at him and he returned the look. "I know that you are perfectly capable of knowing for yourself when to speak and when to hold your tongue." He said it very carefully, then watched her. He could see her test it.

She nodded in relief. "Thank you, Guildmaster Shiroe," she said. He nodded soberly.

-:-:-:-:-

The knock on the main door to the Crescent Moon guild hall (apartment) rolled through the front atrium and up into every hallway. They'd been having troubles with hearing when a guest came and just knocked, so they'd been trying various spells to have it be heard. However, they were all pretty sure that they'd turned it off today. Today there had been too many guildmasters who had tried to infiltrate their own home to learn more about Purrcy. In desperate pleas to their own, she had turned off any magical notifications. The knock that came to every room and every ear sounded like a death knell...or a summon order. Everybody was up out of bed and moving to stand waiting at the rail of their floor.

Marielle and Henrietta had been sitting on the couch in the main atrium quietly debriefing and were nearly deafened. Marielle cowered in her seat but Henrietta jumped up in shock and not a little fear. When she'd recovered just sufficiently, about the time people were arriving to look down from their balconies, she moved to go open the door.

"Henrietta! What are you doing?" Marielle stage whispered. "What if it's a monster?"

"It probably is," Henrietta said back. "I can't stop."

"Everybody prepare," Shouryuu ordered immediately. The guild immediately went on defensive guard. They had the high ground, so Shouryuu was fairly confident they'd be able to handle it. "We'll watch over you," he told the women below him.

Henrietta nodded, her hand reaching for the door handle. Marielle looked up at him and saw the whole guild. Her mouth dropped open. "Why -?"

"Good evening, Henrietta," Shiroe's voice sounded. The whole guild stiffened and Marielle squeaked in fear and jumped up to attention in front of the couch. "We're sorry to visit at this time of night, however a problem has come to our attention and it requires help from Crescent Moon."

Every person, even the ones who were tired of "helping" Log Horizon this day, straightened to attention, waiting for their orders.

"Please, come in," Henrietta bowed, moving back from the door.

"Thank you," Shiroe walked in with Purrcy on his arm, followed by Akatsuki and Nyanta - arm in arm. Then Naotsugu and Tetora - also arm in arm. The whole of Crescent Moon blinked. If there was a problem in Log Horizon, it had to be that one.

In short order all of Log Horizon was through the door and moving to take places around the central sitting area and Marielle. Henrietta closed the door and moved to stand behind the couch Marielle was still standing in front of. The Guildmistress' hands were clutched tightly in front of her, and her eyes were very wide. Shiroe was staring into them. "Good evening, Duchess Marielle, I do hope you managed to survive the afternoon well enough."

"Eh...ah...yes, thank you," she answered, very flustered. She gave a little bow, not quite sure what to do with this invasion. For it to have begun with such a peculiar sign and inescapable order to allow them in, it was very much feeling like something she should recognize.

From above, Shouryuu quickly assessed the situation. "Good evening, Guildmaster Shiroe. Begging your pardon, but perhaps, could your need from our guild be for a rather...unexpected quest?"

Two pairs of eyes looked up at him. The two standing next to each other. They looked at him quietly until Purrcy whispered something to Shiroe. Shiroe nodded slightly. "It would be, actually, Lord Shouryuu." Purrcy's eyes were scanning the rows of people standing above them. So were others in the group. Shouryuu's fighter instincts said they were eyes calculating for battle and he went wary and began his own calculations. "I've come to invite myself for tea...and all the guild of Crescent Moon must come and participate." Shiroe said.

There were intakes of breath and the eyes of the ladies below went very wide. Every person was now moving towards the stairs, with the kitchen staff moving the quickest. In a rather confusing but short amount of time tea was suddenly on, and everyone was participating. Shiroe and Purrcy were sitting calmly on the main couch, their partners to either side of them and their guild surrounding them. ...It was rather similar to the engagement negotiation, actually, as Marielle, Henrietta, and Shouryuu ended up seated opposite them and all of them were sipping tea cups.

"Ah, are we going to repeat time again?" Shouryuu asked, trying to fathom the quest or dungeon they had rather suddenly had brought to their own home.

"No, not quite so much," Purrcy answered. "This time there shall have to be an execution." The whole house held it's collective breath.

"Of judgment," Nyanta finished for her calmly.

Shouryuu narrowed his eyes, hunting for the clue and not seeing it. It had been obviously there however. He looked at Henrietta with a significant look. She nodded, then shook her head.

"You can't!" Marielle said, horrified. "It's my house that you've barged into. To then pepper us with accusations..." The words made sense...but not the person saying them...or at this time in the quest. Shouryuu and Henrietta both stared at her.

Shiroe's lip twitched up. "Of course, Duchess. So you might think. But when the Queen speaks don't we all have to cater to her whims?" Shouryuu was desperately trying to grasp the clues being thrown to him. He looked at everyone across from him. Several were in states of looking around, others in states of guardianship. None offered purchase at the moment. He looked around at his own guild. They were also, for the most part, in a state of confusion of mind...and rather tired. It had been a long day for all of them, and the time leading up to now also just as busy.

"Well...perhaps, Shiroe," Marielle blustered, "but surely -"

"Miss Marielle," Shouryuu interrupted her. "I believe you've also been affected by whatever they've been affected by. Perhaps it would be okay for you to let Henrietta handle the talking."

Marielle looked at him in surprise, then sat back to sulk. Shouryuu was looking at Shiroe instead. The Log Horizon guildmaster smiled a faint curl to his lips and took another sip of his tea. Shouryuu began to get an inkling of an idea. He quickly scanned the group sitting across from him again. "Have you read a good book lately?" he asked politely to their guests.

"To read is to get a toothache," Shiroe said mildly. "Surely to have two lumps of sugar in one's tea would be better."

Now Henrietta was blinking, dumbfounded. Shouryuu was pretty sure now, so he turned to the last one on the couch who'd said nothing so far. "Akatsuki, surely you have?"

"Indeed, I have," she said calmly. "I find reading a bit of a chore, but if one doesn't read, then one can't be properly educated."

Shouryuu looked at her. "Can you tell me...," he wasn't sure, but he could only try, "who it is that is late?"

Akatsuki raised an eyebrow at him. "I can. Do you wish to know it?"

"No, that is sufficient," he relented quickly. "Rather, can you tell me why?"

"It appears that there is someone in your guild who has decided to either play a rather dangerous game, or who has gained a skill they don't realize they have earned."

"Umm...Shouryuu...could you perhaps explain?" Henrietta asked.

"I think that to jump over the roof would be easier than to explain anything, dear Marquess," Shiroe answered. "Please, have some more tea." Suddenly there was a new, steaming cup of tea in Henrietta's hand and she was lifting the cup to blow on it. With some trepidation, she carefully sipped at it, then in relief set it down on the saucer again.

Shouryuu stood up and left the couch, but the tea cup went with him and he was required to sip from it. He mused on that particular detail as he walked around looking at every guild member until he found the one that wouldn't meet his eyes. "Majiyo, would you please come join us for tea at the couch?" He continued to walk around the room, taking one more pass, but this time, he looked out of the corner of his eye more than at the person he seemed to be looking at.

"Oh, have we had another come to tea?" Shiroe asked. "And who might this one be?"

"Majiyo, Mister Shiroe," she timidly answered. She gasped and Shouryuu glanced over. She had suddenly been given a new tea cup as well.

" 'Tis the Mouse," answered Tetora.

"Well, surely the Mouse should like to come to tea, but with the cat about, perhaps such a one should stick to swimming in the sea? Have a seat, dear," Shiroe invited.

"Why must we have such a one to sit to tea with the King and the Queen?" Purrcy said with a frown. "If we must have a trial, then it would be simpler to just say the Mouse is guilty and remove its head and be done with it."

"Surely not," Nyanta said quietly. "Surely we can allow a stay of execution and pardon the Mouse generally." Purrcy clicked her tongue, but held her peace.

"I'm terribly sorry, Majiyo," Akatsuki offered. "I hope you'll enjoy your tea while the whole is sorted out."

"It's okay, dear," Henrietta said soothingly. "I'm sure Shouryuu will figure this out. Truly, to have been brought into Wonderland..." She sighed. "I really don't know what is going on in the world any longer."

Shouryuu got the clue, the reaction, he was looking for. He turned and went back to the couch. "I believe I've found the Knave. Shall I call him for trial?"

"Off with his head," Purrcy declared.

"Very well," Shouryuu said. He opened his mouth and Majiyo started up in her chair.

"Oh, no! Please, don't!" she cried desperately.

"Toshio, please cast your taunt." Shouryuu ordered without looking. There was a pause, then the taunt was cast, though it was a bit reluctantly said. Shouryuu turned and walked to the person he'd targeted and lifted him by the back of his shirt and carried him over to the couches. "Is this your Knave?" he asked the Log Horizon contingent. By Majiyo's reaction it likely was. She had put her hands to her mouth and was looking afraid.

"The Cheshire Cat should make the Mouse afraid," Tetora said grimly.

"Off with his head," Purrcy said again, though this time just as grimly as Tetora. Nyanta didn't give a stay of execution either.

Yuudai struggled in Shouryuu's grip. "It isn't me! It isn't!"

"Oh, I think it is," Shiroe said quietly and the room turned to ice. "We've come quite prepared, you see. To serve and to drink tea is very fine indeed, but to have one's dinner interrupted and to be pulled from a beautiful sleep, well deserved after a fine prolonged squawk, is to incur sufficient wrath that even the Queen of Hearts cannot be denied. It is time for the house of cards to come tumbling down. Correct your error, Cheshire Cat." His eyes held cold anger.

Yuudai slumped in defeat. Quietly he whispered, "I can't. I don't know how." Henrietta groaned and even Shouryuu felt a bit defeated.

"We do," Purrcy said calmly. "Be at peace." Suddenly the entire room was filled with calm. "Hold still Yuudai." He held very still and Shouryuu let his feet rest on the floor, but didn't let go.

Shouryuu watched Yuudai carefully and waited for Purrcy to work, figuring she was doing something Hacker-ish. Finally she said, "It is definitely a new sub-class. In English I would say 'Witch'. I hope that translated correctly. We understood that we are cursed and that would be the appropriate title for that kind of magic. Because of other clues, we knew it had to be someone from this house. Only this house and my own know what and who I am."

Yuudai dropped his head. "No!" Majiyo jumped up from her chair.

Akatsuki was immediately holding her in a choke hold. "Don't move, dear. Such things make one late for dinner." Majiyo's eyes were open wide with fear but her body still struggled to break free.

"She's possessed," Purrcy said quietly.

Shouryuu could feel Yuudai straining to move, but unable to. "Don't!" he finally cried out. "Don't hurt Majiyo, please." He took a sobbing breath. "I'm sure that's my fault, too. I really didn't mean it."

Shiroe turned to Marielle. "You're the Cleric, Lady Marielle. Desire to free your Child from the soul possessing her and cast your most appropriate spell and surely she'll be free."

Marielle sat up, pulled out her wand, considered her options, then cast Soul Dew. A faint fog rose from Majiyo and hovered in the air nearby. Majiyo slumped in Akatsuki's hold and Akatsuki shifted to merely just holding her. "Umm," Marielle said. "The fog...the yokai...it isn't going away."

"May I experiment, Guildmaster Shiroe?" Purrcy asked.

"Certainly," Shiroe answered.

Purrcy bowed to the fog. "Please forgive me if this works," she said. She was quiet for a long time, and then the fog sparkled and dissipated until it was gone. She continued to sit quietly for a while.

"The Queen has earned yet another award," Tetora said calmly, then cast his largest healing spell on her. "And a scolding. You really should have known such a thing was going to be that high a cost." He cast his second largest healing spell on her.

"Off with my head," Purrcy said wryly. Shiroe's lip twitched. "You can let Majiyo go, Akatsuki." Akatsuki did and returned to sitting next to Shiroe. Majiyo sat back into her chair in a thump. Purrcy turned to look back at Yuudai. "Yuudai, because you have imagined us all as characters from _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ , we have become them to one degree or another. You need to cancel the curse. And then...you need to either learn how to properly use your new sub-class, or I will prevent you from using it."

"I-I really don't know what I did specifically, nor how to change it." Yuudai confessed.

"You desired it to begin with. Whatever emotion drove it was strong enough to make it happen. Now you need the opposite emotion and sufficient desire to make the correction happen," Purrcy instructed calmly. Yuudai nodded dismally and focused. "Marielle, watch his HP. He may need a few helping hands as he works. He cursed rather a lot of us for his level." Marielle nodded.

-:-:-:-:-

Log Horizon walked back home feeling much better. "I've added that sub-class to my monitoring list," Purrcy said to Shiroe, "it's rather dangerous, actually."

"I'm in agreement," he said mildly, though he was still trying to recover from being so angry. "I'd rather have it be a non-class."

Purrcy sighed. "I can't go about erasing everything we don't like, Shiroe. Also he wasn't the First, so it's already out there. I'd have to modify who knows how many individuals. That could wipe even me out. Right now I'm working on world magic, but only one person at a time. I suppose it might be more appropriate to say I'm working on database magic, but only one line item at a time. If it were a First, I could delete it, I suppose, but it might come up again. The code to prevent it from doing that would be massive. It's just easier to monitor and educate, really."

Shiroe sighed and led them all to his office. "Just a quick debrief, and then we're likely to have another late morning, though we can't afford one."

When they were settled, he looked at Purrcy. "It was a ninko, a fox spirit, that possessed her," she said.

Rudy snorted. " _Foxy lady_ , huh?"

Touya laughed. "Poor girl. She's going to hate him now, too."

"What did you do to it?" Shiroe asked Purrcy.

"It wasn't like we needed a loose spirit running around Akiba. I erased it. That I could do. It was one of his artifacts. I've put a watch on the tag Yokai, and Spirit in general. There are several spirits that are used in dungeons, so I've excluded those for now."

"Why did it earn you a new title?" Minori asked.

Purrcy's tail waved gently as she looked at the Kannagi. "Because until this time, spirit matter couldn't be destroyed on this world, though I wasn't expecting it since it was his personal artifact. I thought it would just erase the line item."

Naotsugu sighed. "I guess we should be expecting a visit from Li Gan sometime soon. That makes, what, two?, three? world changes in two weeks? I'm surprised he hasn't shown up already." Shiroe and Akatsuki nodded agreement.

"Well...they were limited to individuals," Purrcy said. "Would that make a difference?" No one knew.

"Are the other tags for each of us still in effect?" Shiroe asked Purrcy.

She looked back tiredly. "If it's all the same, can we test it tomorrow?"

He paused, then nodded. He considered what needed yet to be said. "Can I get the brief summary of the demonstration?"

"Michael," Purrcy passed it off.

Michael summarized it in a rather military reporting sort of way. Purrcy and Shiroe looked at each other but didn't comment. It wasn't a firm test, just a potential warning.

When Michael was done Shiroe shook his head. "Let me know when you find out if the two have skipped town or remained."

"I will," Purrcy said.

"As far as my own, I already told you everyone finally settled on what roles they'll play." He winced just a little, wondering how much had been influenced by the curse, though they _had_ already been ready for them. "But I didn't get to tell you the final percentages." He pulled the final contract out and handed it to Purrcy.

Purrcy read through it in the fine detail. When she reached the end, her tail tip waved happily. "Wonderful," she said, looking up. "The concessions aren't too egregious, and the compensation is acceptable. Were you satisfied with your portion?" Shiroe nodded. "Is this my copy?" she asked him and he nodded again. It disappeared. "When will things be in place?"

"They'll spend the next couple of days reorganizing and rearranging the things that are being shifted over, and it will take a week before the dust begins to settle, most likely, but they're hopeful that mass production of boxes should be well into place by the time the current stored levels are gone. Calasin mentioned that because of the initial peak in sales, it's the perfect product to use to break into new territory and I used the prod of getting the Gates working to get everyone to decide that moving quickly was better than not. Really, in the end, though it was long, everyone left in high spirits."

Purrcy slumped back in her seat and sighed. "That's wonderful. I hope things are better and easier for everyone."

Shiroe nodded. "I didn't tell them about the guild storage yet. I plan on waiting until they reach the next difficulty as they're preparing to send out the caravans. Having a positive solution to a trouble at that time will be helpful."

"Then they can't discover it on their own before then," Purrcy said calmly.

Shiroe looked up at her slightly surprised. "Why did that feel like an order?" he asked.

"It was," she answered back. "I think it's still in effect, but intention is needed now, thank goodness. We'll need to continue to experiment to find the delicate balance, I would think."

She showed their tags again. The only thing that had changed was the fuzzy tag at the ends. Everything else was still present. "Just because we couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't added at the time they became true."

"Whenever _that_ was," Shiroe said morosely. "But, really. Are you sure it isn't just your own magic working naturally on its own?"

Purrcy looked at him in surprise. "I'll watch next time."

"Please do."

"Michael's already a General," Tetora said from behind them.

Purrcy's ears dropped apologetically and Shiroe sighed. "Fix it, Purrcy."

"Yes, sir," she said meekly. The royal titles for everyone slowly blinked off the tag lists, as did a few others. In the end she was staring sadly at the tags over Shiroe's head. Nyanta shook his head sadly as well and put a paw on her head. The tag lists disappeared. "Shiroe, I need to talk to you privately before we go," she said quietly.

He nodded and looked at Naotsugu. "Purrcy said you and the others had a difficult time today?"

Naotsugu sighed. "Well, yes, we did, though when we kept coming back together in the morning, we sat and figured it out. We didn't want to bother either of you, though, so we just waited until evening to talk to Nyanta and the others. Since they'd been having their own troubles, they said they'd talk to you. You'd said generally to 'stay out of sight' so we knew we couldn't be where you could see us until it was fixed."

Shiroe shook his head. "What a mess. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Purrcy said repentantly. "I had no idea I was bleeding out magic, too. I'll watch it from now on."

"Does anyone else have anything for tonight?" Shiroe asked tiredly. When no one did, he excused them, then sat and listened quietly to Purrcy explain just what it was to be a Summoned, and what it meant to be a holder of the Summon whistle. When she was done, he sighed and leaned on his knees. "I'm sorry, Purrcy. Thank you for telling me." He considered it for a moment. "I'll work on being more careful in what I say." He looked up at her. "Please tell me when something has an effect. I may not know I've done it. If it helps, I'll say that everything up to this point should be cleared from the list of requirements. I would like to start with a clean slate from here."

There was a visible glow around her for a brief moment. He nodded and looked back down at his hands again. It was going to be hard. He was the person who commanded. "Let me think about it tonight," he said quietly. Purrcy nodded and stood. Nyanta stood with her, taking her hand in his paw. Shiroe looked up at Nyanta soberly.

Nyanta gave him a signature calm smile. "Maiow, Shiroe-ichi. Mew're a good boy. Mew'll know what the right thing to do is, as always. Don't worry."

Shiroe nodded. They bowed and let themselves out of his room. He sat quietly thinking for some time before he finally lay down and made himself sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

Crescent Moon League was quiet after Log Horizon left. A young man was center stage, in a repentant kneel on the common room floor. His head was bowed, his hands were on his knees, and the atmosphere was still rather warm and fuzzy. When Yuudai had finished with correcting his error, Purrcy had become big-cat and had purred and rubbed on his legs until he had collapsed and held her. Then, with a lick and a brief, kind scolding, Log Horizon had left. Henrietta and Marielle moved to kneel to either side of him and Marielle wrapped her arms around him. Henrietta put her hand on his arm. "We're sorry we didn't consider everyone's feelings a little better," Marielle said to him.

Yuudai might had shaken his head, except he was blushing so hard everyone understood that if he did it would be an unintentional nuzzle of her expansive bosoms. It was comforting to have a hug from Marielle...but extremely embarrassing at the same time - particularly for the boys.

"This sort of thing...," Marielle continued, "change...is very hard, but I really believe good things are going to come from it."

"Let him breathe," Henrietta commented absently since it was the most common thing she said to Marielle. At least by now Marielle just as absently let go. She went to placing her hand on Yuudai's other arm instead and the blush was slowly able to fade as he breathed again. "We'll do what you want to do, Yuudai...but, Purrcy's advice has never been wrong. If Akiba needs you, it needs you. Crescent Moon wants to support you as much as possible, if you want to learn how to be the first Shinto priest of Akiba."

His face creased. "Why is no one angry?" It was said heartbreakingly. Almost angry itself.

"Oh, we are, dear," Marielle said in her breezy way. "Shiroe hasn't been angrier - ever. But that's not the point." Yuudai stiffened and stared at her, taken aback. "The point is now that you know what's going on you can choose to do something about it. That's what Purrcy was trying to say at the end. You don't have to stay where you are. That kind of internal change can set your feet on a path of light and even joy if you want it to."

"Not that it's easy," Henrietta said wryly. "My own scolding was very severe and the walk is hard, but the alternative would be much worse."

Marielle tipped her head at Yuudai. "You know, they call her Hahaue over there." She looked at the rest of the guild, though perhaps wasn't really seeing them. "I'd say we got a good dose of understanding just why tonight." Her gaze returned to Yuudai. "Well, we could let you think about it, but we do want you to know that we'd rather just hear it than have you slip away in the night. Then we'd have to come make sure you were okay. We'd worry, you know."

Yuudai looked at her, then shook his head. "I won't run away. I know you'd worry. But, I do think I'd like to think about it seriously."

Marielle patted his arm. "Of course, dear. I understand very well. It took me four days and nights of heavy thinking and I still couldn't figure it out without everyone. If you need us, we're here."

Yuudai looked down at his hands. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Henrietta gripped his arm a bit, then stood up. "Alright everyone, back to bed, then. I think we'll set the schedule an hour later so we can recover in the morning. Knowing Log Horizon, they've already decided the same." She clapped her hands twice and everyone rose, but before heading up, they all - every one of them - passed by Yuudai to give him a small encouragement.

The last one was Majiyo. She stood shifting from foot to foot, not sure what to say or how to say it. Yuudai rose to his feet and bowed low to her. "I'm very sorry, Majiyo," he said humbly.

"But...but," she blurted out, then stopped, embarrassed. Finally she asked, "But, why me?" in a rather timid voice.

Yuudai couldn't meet her eyes and a blush appeared. "Ah...well...," he rubbed his head, then sighed. "I'm sure you hate me now, but...it's because I've had a crush on you a long time." He was rather dejected. "I'm really not sure how it turned into a possession, though. Sorry."

"Well...," Majiyo was now also fighting a blush due to his confession and she worried her fingers a bit, "...if you decide to stay...I am a Druid. You know we work with spirit and nature stuff...I could maybe help you?" Her gaze dropped. "If you want." She didn't sound too hopeful either.

Yuudai froze, then looked sadly self-recriminating. "Thank you Majiyo. You don't have to force yourself."

"N-no!" she responded. "Really, I'd be happy to help...if it would help." She tapered off.

Marielle patted Yuudai on the shoulder. "Think about it, Yuudai. Then say thank you. It will blow over and when we work together it's all a lot easier."

He looked at her with wide eyes, then back at Majiyo. "Thank you, Majiyo," he said quietly. "I'll think about it." She bobbed and fled to her room. Yuudai turned to the leaders of his guild. He bowed to them. "Thank you very much," he said. "Good night."

They wished him a good night and watched him walk up the stairs to his own room. Marielle sighed and sank back into the couch again, picking up a pillow to hold. Henrietta looked at her compassionately. "It isn't your fault, you know."

"Well...it still feels like it," Marielle said.

"I know." Henrietta looked around to pick up tea cups to put away and couldn't find any. She was sure everyone had just gone to bed, so she went into the kitchen to see if they needed to be washed, but there weren't any out and the kitchen was as spotless as when it had been left after dinner cleanup. She turned from the kitchen to look back at the room and at Marielle.

"What is it?" Marielle asked her.

"Marielle...did we, or did we not, have tea?"

"We did," Marielle replied, curious.

"Then...why are there no signs that we did?"

Marielle looked around the room, then rose and joined her. She started shivering and grabbed hold of Henrietta's arm. "What...did...was - was it Purrcy's magic again?"

Henrietta swallowed. "I - I really have no idea. We'd have to ask someone else from Log Horizon in the morning."

"Or not," whispered Marielle. "If they don't know about it, I'd rather not have to explain."

Henrietta looked at her, each as pale as the other, and finally nodded. "Either way...it would be better to not remind them to be angry, I think?" Marielle nodded energetically in firm agreement.


	30. Discovering the Next Room

Touya was usually one of the first to wake up in the mornings. This morning he was still lying in bed, his hands tucked under his head, looking up at the ceiling - though not at it, really. He was reviewing the last four or so days. They hadn't been easy, on anyone. It helped to know it had been wild magic to some degree. It made it a little easier to breathe this morning. The last couple of mornings it had been hard to get out of bed. Having to face tight expressions and cold words from breakfast to dinner had taken the joy out of living. There was also the fact that yesterday had been the culmination of - and therefore hopefully the end - of all the stressors. Likely there would be a morning campaign meeting to wrap it all up and decide where to go from here. The previous days hurt, but looking forward, things looked like they could be pretty good again. Touya took a deep breath in and smiled.

Jumping up, he grabbed his things and headed to the bath in the basement. He'd taken that one in the mornings since he didn't mind the walk. With a bathroom on every floor, they didn't have to fight much for space and time. He always listened on the way down for sounds coming from the kitchen. This morning it was quiet. That meant he could take a leisurely bath. The older complement was taking their time this morning. Not too surprising - he'd not jumped up out of bed first thing for the same reason. It had been a late night after a hard day. As Adventurers, they could pretty much set their own time schedules. As a guild, they kind of had to maintain some kind of schedule just to keep chaos to a minimum, but it could go at the pace of the day if it needed to. Today was going to be leisurely.

After a good soak, Touya headed back up. The walk back up the stairs was often surprising or intriguing. It was the first peek of what the day was going to hold. He'd settled on the basement bath once he'd figured that out. He liked being the first to know what was going to happen in the day. The morning he'd seen Serera going from the front door into Nyanta's room had been so shocking he'd actually stopped moving. He hadn't even been able to call out. This morning, because it was a quiet morning, he didn't really expect too much. As his head came above the top stair into the main floor, he could hear the sounds of the kitchen. Both Nyanta and Purrcy were there this morning, talking in quiet peaceful and happy tones. That made him smile. Those sounds had been missing. It was good to hear them again.

Touya was just rounding the stairs to go up the next flight when he caught a figure from the corner of his eye. He paused and looked again. Standing back from the kitchen door where he couldn't be noticed from within the kitchen was Shiroe. Touya paused in surprise. Shiroe wasn't paying attention to him, so he watched for a bit. It was unusual for him to be out of his room at this time of day, though likely he was usually up and getting ready for his day. He had a pensive look about him and he was listening closely to the conversation in the kitchen.

Touya frowned just a little. It didn't look like Shiroe wanted to join in...more like...he was trying to learn something, to comprehend something he hadn't considered before. Touya sighed just a little. Shiroe had been, as was typical, mostly a recluse for almost the entire time Purrcy had been with them - nearly two weeks now. It looked like it had finally occurred to him to come out and see for himself just what she'd become in his own house. Shiroe seemed to come to some decision, and turned away from the kitchen. He saw Touya, nodded a good morning, and retired to his room again. Touya continued on up to his own room, thoughtful as well.

Minori poked her head in his door. "Good morning, Touya! You ready to go down?"

"Sure," he answered. "Hang on." He set down the sword he'd been cleaning, put the cleaning supplies in their bag, then put everything away.

"Did you sleep well?" Minori asked while she waited.

"Yeah," he answered distractedly.

"...Is something wrong, Touya?" Minori asked worriedly.

He shook his head. "It's a quiet morning." He walked to join her. "It's just..." Well...he wasn't sure how to say it. "Shiroe-kei was out of his office this morning, listening to Miss Purrcy and Nyanta-san working in the kitchen. I'm just not sure..." Minori looked at him, worried. He shook his head. He really didn't know what to make of it. It had never happened before.

"Good morning, Touya, Minori!" Purrcy said cheerfully as they entered the kitchen.

"Good morning," they both responded, headed for their normal morning chores. Purrcy ruffled Touya's hair on her way past to give Minori a quick hug. That was a sure sign she was feeling much better. Touya could see Minori relax. He nodded to himself.

"It's an American breakfast this morning. Pancakes, oatmeal, juice, milk, and fried ham and potatoes," Purrcy told them, letting them know what kinds of dishes to set out. Japanese traditional breakfasts required chopsticks, American breakfasts forks and knives.

"Purrcy felt like cooking this meowrning," Nyanta said in his kind soft voice. His tail was waving slowly in a happy contented sort of way. That was a good sign as well. Of course, that's what it had sounded like on his way up. The married couple were happy this morning in their quiet contented way. Really, it felt like they'd been married for years. Nyanta had just been waiting for his wife to come home.

They spent the rest of the breakfast preparation time within that swirl of contented family togetherness, a kind of interpersonal oasis from the rest of the world. As Minori said to Touya with a contented sigh, "I love that we get to have this time together before we have to go out and face the rest of the day."

Touya nodded agreement. "It's nice that the mornings can start on good footing." He turned away from setting the last place. His eye was caught by one other only slightly out of place thing for this morning. Shiroe's office door was open just a bit, as if he'd stepped out and not quite closed it behind him. Touya wondered if it was that, or if he'd left it open to continue to listen to the sounds of the morning. It was the usual reason for the door to be open like that - just not at this time of day. He really had to wonder, but...if Shiroe was wanting to join the rest of them in having this kind of a morning, then that would be okay, too. Sometimes he kept to himself just a little too much.

The call to come to breakfast sounded and Touya hurried to the kitchen to help get the food on the table. Everyone came to the table in their usual fashion - hungry - and sat down to eat. Touya knew that the tenor of the two chefs set the tone for him and Minori, and everyone else looked to the four of them for their clues for the day. It didn't take long for relieved smiles to appear on faces around the table, and breakfast conversations were cheerful for the first time in what felt like a week, though it probably hadn't been that long. Touya glanced at Shiroe a few times when he wasn't engaged in listening to Akatsuki talking. He was still listening, but it was to the table as a whole, as if judging the tenor of it as well. He seemed somewhat pleased, and when he caught Touya looking, gave a brief smile. That didn't look too bad.

As breakfast was winding up, Shiroe asked, "Purrcy, while the others are working on clean up, will you come talk to me for a moment in my office?"

Purrcy looked up at him, "Certainly, Shiroe." It was said just as cheerily as the rest of her conversation had been all morning. That and the lack of formality made a lot of people relax. The invitation had been met with cold resistance the last several days it had occurred. Touya wondered if the "tags" that had been removed the night before really made that much difference, or if something else had happened when they had stayed later to talk privately. Either way, the change could only be said to be good.

Since he and Minori had preparation duty, they didn't have clean up duties. Usually he went back up to his room to finish up odds and ends that needed doing. Today, he decided to stake a claim in the sitting area instead, and took out his sword and cleaning supplies again to finish in the public room. After a bit, Naotsugu dropped into his usual spot on the couch. He was usually the first one there, waiting for the morning meeting, feeling out the mood of the guild as a whole while he waited. Today he sat and looked at Touya for a moment. "So...what'd the morning bring, to change your position?"

As Naotsugu's apprentice, Touya understood that he wanted data to understand how to fit him into his picture of the day and how he should position himself for the meeting. Touya continued to wipe the oil into the blade while he considered his answer. "It's been a good morning...in the kitchen," he said lightly.

"Mmm," Naotsugu said after a bit. _Okay, but...?_

Touya threw a glance at Shiroe's door to make sure it was closed. It was. "He's been out, and paying attention."

"Humm." Naotsugu turned his head to look at Shiroe's door as well, then looked up at the ceiling for a bit, putting that piece of the morning into his calculations of the next part of the day. Touya wiped the oil off his blade in circular motions, his eyes on his work, his ears on the room. "Expression?"

"Not bad. Thinking something." That was the best he could describe it. "Trying to discover something, I think."

"Information gathering." Naotsugu said. Touya nodded. That was it. He flipped his sword over, but he'd done the other side before breakfast duty. He just checked it, then put it away. He wiped his hands and put away the cleaning tools, then looked back up at Naotsugu. He was looking towards the kitchen. Touya looked that way too and saw Nyanta looking at Shiroe's door. He had just a little bit of a worried tilt to his ears. That said Nyanta didn't know what was going on in there either.

He turned back to the room, noticed them looking at him, and calmly walked over to join them, sitting in his seat like the gentleman Swashbuckler he was. That was different. The two tanks continued to look at him. After a bit he quietly said, "They're finishing up last night's conversation, most likely." No "nyan". Nyanta wasn't terribly relaxed about the private conversation, but his choice to sit instead of returning to putter about the kitchen had said that. It also said that he expected that meeting to end in the beginning of the group meeting. He wasn't waiting to claim Purrcy at the door, though, so he wasn't afraid they were fighting again. That much was at least relieving. Naotsugu nodded and went back to general monitoring of the room. Touya pulled out another small chore that needed doing and started working on that. With both tanks in the living room, anchoring either side, the person who needed the strengthening had come.

Tetora bounded down the stairs and leaped over the back of the couch to land next to Naotsugu, as was his habit, just as Akatsuki landed in a crouch at the bottom of the tree. That reminded Touya. "Hey, anyone want to help me nail the board scraps to the upper part of the tree later today? Purrcy suggested it so I could get up into it and look out over the city." He smiled at the room, "Since I don't have claws."

He got smiles back. "Sure," Tetora said. "Happy to help," Naotsugu said.

Touya sniggered. "Neither of you have claws either. How are we going to do the upper steps?"

"Naw, you stand on the ones you just nailed in." Naotsugu said confidently.

"And push yourself off with every hammer swing," Akatsuki sniffed, arriving at her own position.

Tetora considered it. "Well, if Touya hammers and Naotsugu stands on the next step down and holds on to his back, they might be okay."

"Or they might both fall," Akatsuki pointed out practically, "but you'll probably figure out something." The men blinked. Akatsuki must also be feeling pretty good this morning. It was nearly a compliment.

There was a pause, then Tetora said, after a quick glance around, "So...what's going on?" He'd looked last at Shiroe's door and was now looking at Nyanta. Nyanta was quiet so Tetora looked at Touya.

"Shiroe-kei's been watching everyone this morning," Touya said. "Other than that," he shrugged, "things seem to be better." Everyone hearing his observation for the first time expressed slight surprise. Touya was a little surprised Nyanta hadn't known.

The girls arrived, coming down the stairs together chatting. "Well, it would be fun, but we'll have to see what we're doing today. We're running late, too." Minori was saying. There was a pause. "Okay. We'll contact you when we're done with the morning meeting. See you."

"Later, Serera," Isuzu said, and both girls looked around the room. "Crescent Moon's slept in a bit, too," she explained.

Naotsugu smiled at them over his shoulder as they walked around the couch to take their places. "Not too surprising. Did she mention last night?"

They shook their heads. "Probably they're all hoping it was just a nightmare," Akatsuki said dryly, and a little darkly. She likely hadn't enjoyed having to be Alice the night before.

"I'm willing to consider it that way," Tetora said. Everyone else nodded. Rudy showed up, his hair wet. He took his bath after breakfast since there were just enough of them that they had to have at least two rotations through the baths. Rudy liked there to be hot water again so he waited the longest. That also meant he got to sleep in the longest, another thing he enjoyed.

"Hey, Rudy," Touya said genially.

"Hey. We about ready?"

"Likely," Tetora said.

Rudy sat on the floor cross-legged between Isuzu and Touya's chairs. They'd learned he sat when relaxed, stood when unsure, but almost never actually took a chair when in the presence of adults or females, unless he was eating. Then it was just being practical.

The door to Shiroe's office opened and Shiroe let Purrcy out first, then followed her out, closing the door behind him. They both seemed rather relaxed still, so the whole room, who had looked to see, stayed relaxed as well. Purrcy walked to her chair smiling at Nyanta, her ears and tail at relaxed attention. Shiroe looked around at everyone and took his seat. There was an unrehearsed collective breath in as everyone prepared for the morning and the beginning of the next phase's planning meeting.

"Naotsugu."

"Just waiting for orders."

"Fine. Akatsuki."

"Protect Shiroe."

" 'Kay. Nyanta."

"Protect Purrcy. Sleep on the porch with a cat in my lap - myaybe. Make dinner."

"We'll see. Tetora." Shiroe's usual method was to hear what everyone else had already scheduled, or wanted to do, then let them know what was in his mind. That way he could work in what they wanted, too. Most of the time - before Purrcy anyway - the meetings had been pretty short. Since Purrcy, they could get long. Shiroe had learned to have her go last.

"Help Touya nail up the boards so he can get into the tree. Practice over at the Academy whatever Purrcy's going to set us to today. Eat Nyanta's dinner. Relax." Tetora grinned. They were all fine things in his book.

Shiroe paused, then nodded. He'd added the tree project to his list. "Touya."

"Nail the boards to the tree so I can get up into it and look out over the city. Purrcy said she'd help, but I know she's busy and I've already got volunteers. Otherwise, whatever." Purrcy smiled at him, but wasn't giving away her schedule yet.

Shiroe nodded. "Rudy."

"Whatever you need. Getting up into the tree sounds good." Touya nodded at him. He'd take any help, of course.

"Minori."

"Serera's invited Isuzu and I over for some fun while getting ready for the next push. We thought we'd like to go, if there's free time."

Shiroe nodded thoughtfully and looked at Isuzu. She shook her head. Nothing to add. Shiroe finally looked at Purrcy. It looked like he cringed just ever so slightly. Purrcy hadn't sat down, but rather had stayed behind Nyanta, a hand on his shoulder. She smiled at Shiroe. "Which answer do you want, Master Strategist? The short 'what I want to do next' list, or the long 'here's what the next area looks like' answer?" Multiple people's ears pricked up at that.

Shiroe slumped slightly. He'd been expecting that, then. Likely his own list was already very long and had already been interrupted by the negotiations. "I'll assume the short list is 'pack and leave'?" Purrcy nodded. "That of course, really isn't a short list."

She smiled and shook her head in agreement. "No, but it is shorter than the other."

Shiroe sighed. He considered where they were and what was next and all the other things that had to be considered. Then he sat back and crossed his legs. "Alright. The long list." Everyone settled into more comfortable positions and relaxed. They were just spectators along for the ride, now, but at least they'd get the first bird's eye view of the next part of this level, and that would help them to navigate as well.

Purrcy's eyes went internally distant. Touya was suspicious that she actually had a written list inside the code realm and she was accessing it to make sure she knew her own way. Like accessing the map she'd drawn so she could talk to it. "Right. Quick review. Experiments are completed. Plague Master's taken care of on my end. Your's?" Shiroe nodded. "Good. That's a wrap then. He hasn't pinged my watch yet, so he's likely trying to get comfortable in his own skin again. ...The main thing next on my list is to get things ready so Nyanta and I can go. Top of that list right now is cook...no idea how we'll manage cooking three months of meals for ten people. That's a tall order."

Nyanta raised a paw. She paused to let him speak. "Nyan. The children were kind enough to help me early. We've already spent several days cooking and have packed for mew enough for two months, almost, but that is for mew...and myaybe me. What is this for everyone else?" he was looking accusingly at Shiroe.

Shiroe cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Well...you are both the cooks. I'm not sure having us eat out or cater for three whole months of meals is going to work well. I was hoping you could spend a day or two putting together meals for us. That's what the refrigerator box is for."

Nyanta sighed. Purrcy nodded agreement. After some consideration, Nyanta said, "I can leave some recipes with Minorichi and Touya-kun. With some help from Isuzu-chan, Rudy-kun, and Tetora-kun, they can make basic things...purrticularly breakfasts. Minorichi, if mew'll sit with me to come up with a menu plan for the time we'll be gone, then we'll know what has to be made ahead of time. That should decrease preparation time for us."

"I'd be happy to," Minori said with a determined nod.

"Once you know that, if we make the main meals for the next few nights, we can make extra portions and I'll help," Purrcy said. Nyanta nodded.

There was a pause, and Shiroe looked relieved. "We can still eat out more frequently than usual, too, so if it helps to plan in some of those, go ahead."

"We can always go mooch off Crescent Moon," Naotsugu suggested with a grin.

Shiroe looked defeated. "Yes...if we have to. I'd rather not, though."

Tetora looked teasingly at him. "The _rest_ of us will go mooch off them and bring back food for you and Akatsuki, then." Shiroe gave him a dark look, then reluctantly nodded. He might have to use that option, as much as he might not like to.

"We'll try not to leave you to the vultures," Purrcy said dryly. She went looking internally again. "The tracer is very close to contact. I won't leave until it does make contact. I know you want to hear the outcome of that." Shiroe nodded, his lips pursed. "I also need Isuzu's beat once it makes contact, so when it gets there I'll be contacting you, Isuzu. I'll need you to get to me fast. I don't want too much lag in case they feel the contact."

"You got it," Isuzu said grimly.

Purrcy paused again. "The other two things on my personal list are now combined. I've got the lessons written and ready to go, but we have a problem. There aren't enough Hackers in town to really fill all the slots you need. You need to go recruiting. Right now, too many are already using it for their own projects. We need people we can train from the ground up." She started to move. She didn't stand still when thinking. This was also the clue that she was looking at the map out in the future. "I really think there are other programmers out there like Tetora who are currently sword jockeys that could be talked into it now that it's possible to use the skills they already have from Earth. If you could walk the city and listen for people who even just wonder if it's possible or say that it would be a cool thing to do, and invite them to come to the class and get started -"

Purrcy turned and headed for the front door, talking as she went. "- I think that would pull in just enough, and you could stop when you think we've got enough. We don't want too many, after all, at least not all at once." She opened the door to a surprised Michael who was just raising a hand to knock. She waved him in without stopping her flow of verbal thought, though she did close the door behind him. "Of course that means that we'll have newbies who have to be trained up from the ground level, plus the lessons for the advanced class still going on." She was walking with Michael to the seating area again. Everyone was looking rather surprised, but they waved him to a seat, which he took, listening to catch up. Purrcy stopped behind Nyanta's chair again.

"I'd like to keep Tetora on training the juniors since he's had the experience with it now, but he's got to keep up with his other lessons. That means Michael's going to stay instructor for the upper class while he's in his own lessons." She paused and smiled at Michael. "Of course...we're all always in our own lessons all the time. Even me." He gave a bit of a nod, but his eyebrow was still raised.

"So, I'll oversee while I'm gone. Before I go, I'll make sure Michael can handle teaching and helping with the upper class lessons, and pass over the code I wrote to Tetora for the lower class. You're both welcome to contact me anytime there's questions, and we should plan on having an early morning meeting and maybe an evening one, too, just so I'm kept up to speed. You might need me to send on more class material,...though, Tetora, I'd like to see you get to the point you can create the material yourself. Each student will start creating their own as well, so you'll be learning how to generalize outside your own current personal limited scope - no hard feelings." He shook his head.

"For Michael's sake: the lessons I've put together are actually pieces to a larger program I need written for Shiroe's plan's sake. You'll eventually see the pattern, I suspect, but the students aren't to know, if at all possible. I was going to assign a different piece to each student. It makes it a little more difficult to keep track of each student, but I want the fingerprints scrambled when it gets put together." He nodded, completely understanding that point.

"Shiroe, I've got the code written I need for when the tracer makes contact, and the data storage is ready. Once they've got the code written and I've put it together, we'll be able to run it on that data as well as the China and U.S. data. By the time we get back, I should have a good running start on those two projects. I might not have definitive answers, though, so don't hope for too much just yet." She smiled at him.

Shiroe nodded back, the excitement being reserved for the spark in his eyes. "I'll have a list of the expected locations of the villages for you when you go. There wasn't any data in my notes from my meetings with Li Gan. You'll have to explore. No one from here's tried to visit them yet, it appears."

"Okay. Exploring's fun," she said, tipping her head a little. "I'll try to be a good ambassador. I know Nyanta will be one." Nyanta's ear flipped and there were knowing looks around the room.

"So...you're really leaving?" Michael said, trying to catch up.

"Yes...in a few days to a week, depending on preparations," she answered a bit distantly, looking at her internal map again. "I'll be there for class today and the next one or two after that, most likely, so you're not on your own just yet." She turned and started pacing again, back and forth behind Nyanta.

"As far as Venture Enterprises, you can contact me if things come up, but I trust you to handle it, since it's your baby from the beginning, and my part is just watching the contracts and money. If you come up with something you want me to add in as a product, or to look for specifically then let me know." Her head came up as she paused and looked at Michael again with wide eyes. "Oh, yeah, paint." Her head searched until she found Rudy on the floor. "Lord Rudy, what do the People of the Land use for paint?"

"Ah...plant material and I think there are a few ground pigments from rocks and nut hulls. I'm not sure what the manufacturing process is, though."

"Are there any purveyors or shops here in town?"

Rudy frowned. "I think so...they're off the beaten path, though."

"Could you take Michael to visit them? I need to know ingredient lists and properties and if they use magic or not. Then, Michael, I need to know if that's sufficient for you to start with. Once we understand how it works here, then I can start adding in the magical ingredients to get it to magic paint, like Shiroe's ink." She turned her head. "Shiroe, you make your own, right?"

"Yes."

"If I get the magic ingredients to you, can you teach Michael how to make paint? It will be nearly the same process as for the magic ink and he should already know the basics from before." The two men looked at each other and nodded. "Great. ..." She gnawed on her lower lip, then looked up through her eyelashes. "You're going to hold off on telling them about the larger storage...?" Shiroe nodded and she went back to biting her lip.

Tentatively, she said, "...That's it for that...I think...for some reason your companion keeps coming up - the Summoner. I haven't mentioned it since it's in my path once we're out of here, but I'll be sending out messengers, and of course collecting information. I'm also going to see if I can call others to me, instead of waiting to be called by them. I want to see if I can figure out how to contact overseas creatures since the ones that get called over there from here are rather minimal."

Shiroe sat up. "KR...if you call, he'll hear it and come, most likely. He has his ear to the ground. If he's transferred and hears you, he'll surely come."

Purrcy looked at him soberly. "I need to do it. Please put together something I can say to him so I can keep working. We need that method to most securely contact the list we were given."

Shiroe nodded, a frown of concentration on his face. "It would be best if you're disguised as a Summoner yourself, so he doesn't wonder why you were calling for beasts to come talk to you." Purrcy nodded. Shiroe relaxed a little. "I'll put something together before you go."

"Okay. I think that's it from my end. Ask questions and I'll let you know if I see anything else, but I think I've covered...- ah, Michael. You were coming to ask a question?"

The room finally looked at Michael, giving him the floor. He blinked. "What am I supposed to do about the guildmasters lying in wait for you?"

Purrcy dropped her head into her hand and her ears went back. Shiroe groaned. Naotsugu and Tetora shook their heads and Nyanta sighed. "Maiow. It can't be helped."

"Purrcy'll have to talk to them to get them to settle," Naotsugu agreed.

Michael actually agreed as well, nodding and folding his arms. "It's only right for the person directing all the fireworks to explain to the other Generals, after all. Then they'll properly know how to respond and what to do for their own soldiers."

Purrcy sighed. "Do you want to come and field to me the questions I'm allowed to answer and handle the hard ones yourself?" she asked Shiroe. "It would be a smoother and quicker Q&A if you did. I suspect they'll have questions for you, too."

Shiroe shook his head and sighed. "I guess I'll have to. I'll come as Marielle's back up, though, so I can field Academy questions to her, too." He looked at Akatsuki who immediately called Marielle up to 'invite' her to the press conference. She had to reassure Marielle that Shiroe and Purrcy would also both be there to get her to agree to leave her guild hall, though.

"Schedule it for after I've had the chance to get the class started," Purrcy requested. "Say at least an hour from now."

Shiroe considered and passed on a time to Marielle through Akatsuki, then commented, "That helps me, too. I'll be able to get a few things done here and get presentable before then."

"Presentable," Purrcy muttered with a little groan.

"Meowr favorite's good," Nyanta said with a teasing smile, looking over his shoulder at her.

She wrinkled her nose at him. "I'm not flirting with _them_." Nyanta blushed to the tips of his ears. She stared at him, then laughed. Petting his head, she bent down and kissed him. "Who would've thought," she said, laughter still playing in her words. Nyanta looked away and cleared his throat, but somehow he still looked rather pleased.

Shiroe came back from his own thinking. "Most of the things on my plate are related to clean up from having the Plague Master show up, and the new world changes. That is...preparing for the next Round Table meeting. I'll leave recruitment of new Hackers to the rest of you. Keep me posted on the number that stay for training and let me know, Tetora, when you've reached your limit for how large a class you can handle. Don't go too big. A smaller group starting out would be better than running your HP down too fast and having you collapse when you get home. If both you and Michael will keep an eye out for who else could be used as a trainer, that would be good as well, since I have other things for you to do, Tetora, than remain a teacher the whole time." They nodded.

Shiroe's eyes went to Michael. "Purrcy, when they acquire the sub-class will they automatically appear in your list?"

"Yes, Shiroe," she said, having moved to sit on Nyanta's shoulder as a small house cat, purring quietly in his ear.

Shiroe sighed. "I can't shake the feeling we're going to wish you were here for the training of the Technicians as well."

Purrcy shook her head. "I know, Shiroe. But at best I can do what I did last night: give the very general explanation that desire and expectation are the way to get what you want. That and the knowledge you already carry inside you. Maybe when they're ready to work together with the Hackers I could be useful again. If that issue comes up, let me know. If we're close enough to coming home, or close by in general we can work something out. You could call me and I could leave Nyanta there and he could call me back, or something like that." She shrugged a cat shrug.

Shiroe nodded slowly. It would likely have to do. He did need her out there sooner than later.

Purrcy moaned. "Isuzu - quickly. Your lute."

Isuzu got her lute from her room using the Natural Adventurer method and quickly tuned it. Purrcy's ears were back and her eyes closed to slits. Nyanta pulled her off his shoulder and held her to him, covering her eyes with his paw. Tetora was up out of his seat and kneeling next to her. His wand came out and he was casting a healing spell.

"I'm ready, Miss Purrcy," Isuzu said, running through a few cords that were minor in collection.

There was silence for a moment, then Purrcy nodded. "Go."

Isuzu played a brief haunting melody that just slightly jangled at the nerves as it played. When the last note left the air, the room held still. Then Purrcy's ear flicked slightly. Tetora cast one more spell of healing. There was a sigh from the little cat in Nyanta's arms and the ears slowly came up, but they stayed sorrowful. Nyanta moved his paw so she could see. She looked up into his eyes for a moment, then indicated she wanted down. She padded across the room to Shiroe's lap, climbing up to sit, looking him in the eyes. "Who is Nureha?"

The whole room froze. "N-Nureha is a Hacker?" Shiroe whispered, the blood completely draining from his face.

"No." Shiroe stared at her, uncomprehending. "Quon is. He was talking when I broke through, though." Purrcy put her front paws up on Shiroe's chest and put her mouth to his ear. He turned his head for her. She whispered the message in his ear, then returned to sitting and looked him in the face.

Slowly the blood returned to his face as he considered the thing she'd told him. He returned eventually and reached up and pet her. "What will the Bard link do to Quon?"

"Make him go mad eventually. In the meantime it will interrupt his ability to concentrate, making it hopefully easier to interrupt his spell creation or make unnoticed modifications. It hurts though."

"Why?"

"He's got specific spells against beast halves and creatures in general set up. Is there a reason why?"

"He was expecting you? I wouldn't think anyone else would be a Hacker over there. Nureha is a fox-tail and guildmistress of Plant Hwayden. And there's KR, of course. They're on the Council of Ten, like Quon is." Shiroe tipped his head at her. "My sources say that Quon is on the Council because he was a GM - an employee who helped out in the game as a player. He wasn't on the corporate server, though. He was logged in from home, apparently."

Purrcy looked down, her ears forward, like she was inspecting an insect between her feet, concentrating. "He might have been, but he wasn't much of a programmer to begin with. It looks like he's learned like the rest of us. The plague code was decent enough, and difficult, and is the right style." Her head tipped like she was inspecting it from a different angle, then she pulled back as if the bug she was inspecting had lept for her nose. Shiroe grabbed her back to keep her on his lap. "HAH!" She blinked. "Whell!" Her nose whiskers twitched a few times.

"He's got a com link, if you will, permanent - I think - to Indicus and he's storing her communications data. Hang on. I'll get around that snapper." She was silent for a while, then nodded. "Shiroe, I'm going to run it as a news feed to you. I think you need to review it...but it's long. Give me some words to search for and I'll just feed you the data around them for now from the history. If you want more details, just say the word 'details'. As a matter of fact, it will be just voice command driven in general. 'Play', 'stop', 'fast forward', 'skip', the usual sorts of things. If you don't get a correct response try it again with intention and it will probably learn it."

Shiroe immediately listed off the topics he already had his intelligence network listening for, then asked, "Can you set it to begin about two months ago? Prior to that I probably don't need, unless I can ask for a date to go back to."

She nodded absently. "I'll set up both."

Tetora sighed and cast another healing spell on her to bring her HP back up. "I think you'll get that nap with a cat in your lap, Nyanta. Preferably _before_ the press conference."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "Akatsuki, reschedule it for late afternoon. She still has to start class this morning, but a nap in between would likely be beneficial. ...Ah, you haven't contacted the others yet, have you?" Akatsuki shook her head and called up a chat with Marielle again, quietly passing on the relieving delay. Since Shiroe had a cat in his lap, he began to absently pet her again. It was a rather difficult thing to not do. When she finally came back she shook her head and gave a wide stretch to her jaw. Tetora gave her one more boost.

"There's more to learn and look at, but I'll save it for later," Purrcy said. "It's Hacker stuff. To start listening, say 'Indicus on'. To stop listening say 'Indicus off'. Once it's on, you don't have to say the name, just the commands." Shiroe nodded and she rubbed against his chest, then hopped back down to return to Nyanta's lap. "Terribly disappointing it didn't take us to the moon, though," she commented. "I'll have to go that way myself now. I'll wait until we're on the road for that one, once we've got the other data coming in and being filtered."

Tetora frowned. "What will you do without me?"

She smiled at him, the whiskers going up. "What I've always done before, Tetora. Lots of napping." He sighed, but couldn't say much to it.

There was movement and an intake of breath. Michael was blinking. Purrcy looked over. He looked back at her. "You keep doing breathtaking things. I didn't step on anything did I?"

She wrinkled her nose at him. "No, but then, I blocked you into a mirror room where you could see without getting in the way, or slammed."

"Oh," he looked a little disappointed. "Well, thanks for letting me look. I'm not even sure of half of what you did, but it was impressive. You've got a really light touch."

"Required for survival," she said firmly, but almost dismissively. She shrank slightly, paced a circle in Nyanta's lap, then settled down, but was a bit restless. Tetora was watching her closely. She closed her eyes again, her ears and whiskers twitching a bit longer, until finally she let out an explosive breath and relaxed, putting her head down. "Damn trackers," she muttered. "Worse than the hounds."

"Is that it, then?" Tetora asked, her.

She nodded. "That's it. My house is clean again, and so's the field around it for miles...except you and Michael."

"Right then," he hit her with one last healing spell and she sighed in contentment. Nyanta pet her calmly and looked back up at Shiroe.

"Well, then. That's one more thing out of the way," Shiroe said, rather happily. He might not have gotten the moon, but he'd gotten the next best thing. A constant wire tap to his top nemesis and the most recent information on his enemy's movements right as they were happening. He turned to Michael. "So. Purrcy wants you. What do you think? Are you willing to commit?"

Michael rubbed his head. "Well...I've seen enough to know I've got a lot to learn, and you've got uses for me. I want to get home, same's you, so I'm willing to buy in regardless. ...I guess if you're willing to put up with me enough to put a roof over my head and a place to hang my hammock, I wouldn't mind. ...If you'll have me. I would probably still fit in better at one of the military groups, though."

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. She rolled her head to look at Michael. "We need someone who isn't tied to them that can direct men and get results. For all we're supporting each other here, each guild is still being careful to take care of their own first. Feel free to look around and get a feel for the others. I'm sure they'll be recruiting Hackers, particularly high level ones like you." Purrcy put her head down again, closing her eyes.

Michael was quiet for a while, then he sighed. "You're harsh, you know that?" Her tail tip lifted and dropped. He looked away, as if off into the distance, folding his arms. "What's the title you promised?"

"General over Hackers."

He turned and stared at her. "All of them?"

"Yes. I don't want it and they're going to push it to me. I've got other things to do."

"Well...that's true," he mused and rubbed his chin. "Not Sharpshooter over here?" He pointed a thumb at Tetora.

"No. I need him standing next to me. You've already seen it. I may be able to sleep in the wild, but when the big guns are needed to stay cool, he's my ice. I melt fast." She still hadn't looked at Michael. "He can follow me, too, so he knows right when it's needed, and can report back as we move, so he's com op, too."

Michael frowned. "I don't want to just pass out orders or sit on my ass. What else?"

"Teach of course."

"...and?"

Purrcy sighed. "All right. If you can pass all my tests, you can come be special ops, too. But that's a ways out still. You're still heavy. Practice walking lightly while I'm gone and we'll see where you stand when I get back. Tetora can help you learn it if you get stuck."

"How about trade some of the light for agility?"

"...I like it."

"Good. Deal, then?"

"Deal. You'll bunk next to Tetora and the two of you watch over each other for me while I'm gone, ne?"

"Works for me," Michael said calmly.

"Welcome aboard," Tetora said just as calmly.

"Thanks." Michael looked at Shiroe. "Permission to board the ship, Captain?"

"Permission granted," Shiroe handed over the guild membership contract. Michael signed it and it disappeared. "I received word last night that a retired sailor is on his way here with stars in his head. He's apparently excited that there's anyone in this world who's interested in learning what he knows. It will be two weeks almost before he arrives, but he's on his way."

"Put his position on the map," Purrcy said. "I'll get him here faster."

"How?" Touya asked.

"Send a gryphon for him."

Michael sat up. "Can I go, too?"

"Probably. Someone who can talk to the man should, or he'll think the gryphon's shown up to eat him, or something."

"I could do that," Naotsugu said.

"Yes, but then you'd take longer. I don't Summon them, remember, so I don't have the four hour time limit."

Naotsugu's jaw dropped and Akatsuki snorted a laugh. "That's what you get for befriending the monsters of this world," Isuzu said, shaking her head.

"Mm," Purrcy agreed. "Are we done yet? If not, I'll just go ahead and sleep a bit now." Her nose was buried in her side, making her look like a cat doughnut. Nyanta pet her gently.

"Ah, no," Tetora was frowning. "She shouldn't be doing this again." Everyone stilled. "Purrcy were you _actually_ bit?" He didn't get an answer.

"Minori, put up a shield," Shiroe said instantly.

"I'm on that, too," Michael said. Shiroe nodded.

"I've got it," Tetora said. "Come look at this Michael. This is what we keep fighting. It drags HP down, though this one's a bit more malicious. It's likely originally Quon's spell." They were quiet for a bit.

"Okay. I understand it," Michael said.

"Go looking and make sure none of the rest of us have one. I'll work with Isuzu on taking it out again. Isuzu?"

"I'm ready when you are," she responded immediately. He nodded she should start her song spell. It didn't take long since Tetora had the spell already to detach the HP drain from before.

"So, hey," Michael muttered.

"Yeah?" Tetora answered.

"There's nothing on the landscape but from the air there's something, and from underneath it looks...well...can you come see?"

"Let's start from the air. Take me up there." Tetora commanded. They were quiet. Finally Tetora said, "Those go back to Quon, but that's rather a high number of them. Let me calculate."

Isuzu switched to cast the HP increasing battle-long spell. Tetora nodded. "That helps." After a bit he said, "Okay, one more time the hole-filling one."

While he was doing that, Shiroe looked at Nyanta. "Has she come back yet?"

Nyanta's hand was on Purrcy's back. He looked down at her. The question had made an ear twitch just ever so slightly. "I think so, but she's in the code realm." He paused. The ear made the same twitch again. He nodded.

"Tetora, can you use her tracer code and put up a visible warning when those come along in the future?" Shiroe asked him.

He nodded absently. "Oh, is that how you do that? Modify code," Michael mused. "That'll save me." Tetora's lips curled slightly.

"You, know," Touya said quietly. "It really is frustrating to not be able to watch so we know what to do to help." Others in the room nodded, particularly Akatsuki and Naotsugu. Slowly, starting as a point in the center of the room, a dark fog rolled out to cover everyone. Then it slowly settled into a grey-tone scene they'd never seen before, a foreign landscape as if they'd been dragged into a science fiction movie.

"You're wish is my command," Purrcy's voice said to them from out of the landscape. "However, I'm not visible to your eyes in this place. Likely Michael and Tetora aren't either. Tetora, please be the tour guide. If you want them to see you, you'll have to stand very still for multiple seconds. I'll go with Michael underneath." There was a brief flicker of light, as if static electricity had suddenly sparked near Michael, that went in a downward direction, then slowly another light began to glow near Tetora's location...probably at his location.

"Whew! This is hard. We don't normally stand still this long," he said finally coming into some semblance of focus. At least, it ended up being a human shape. Legs, arms, head, torso, but no details and it remained fuzzy around the edges. "We move in this space closer to the speeds of thought, since we don't use our physical bodies here. I have to be careful to not think about moving." The body fuzzed just at the thought and he paused to collect himself again. "Welcome to the code realm," he said. There was just a bit of grimness to his words. "Don't move around. You're shielded at the moment, but there are pitfalls everywhere. ...Though you're not really _here_ like we are, in quite the same way. If you want that, you need to call in backup to watch all of us back there."

"We're back," Purrcy said. "Done yet?"

Tetora laughed. "Of course not." The scene faded from around them until they were looking at each other in the living room again. Michael and Tetora were blinking and slowly Purrcy started to move as well, though she was longer to come back.

"So sorry that was a brief visit for you," Purrcy said thickly, blinking at them. "Michael found us our way to the moon." Shiroe sat up in excitement. "I'll have to inspect it for a while, though, so the timeline still is about the same, sorry."

"No, no, if you've found it...," Shiroe said.

She nodded. "But Quon found it first and has been experimenting. There are several lifelines cut. The one attached to the Plague Master is going down into the earth like the other People of the Land's life lines. I need to see what Quon's been doing to cut the lines like that and what's happened to the Adventurers he's done it to. I also want to understand how the life lines work when we die and are resurrected. Once I've done that we might venture up."

"Would he cut ours?" Minori asked worriedly.

"Possibly, if he knew whose was whose. I want to put protective spells on all of ours, but if I do, I'll call attention to them, so I'm not sure it's a good idea at the moment."

"Probably not," Shiroe said slowly, looking like he also wished to say the reverse. He looked piercingly at Purrcy. "Please be very careful when you investigate. Don't let him see you, and don't get lost on the moon."

"I'll do my best, Guildmaster Shiroe," Purrcy said solemnly.


	31. Press Conference

Marielle stood outside Log Horizon's guild hall. The walk over had been entirely too short. She was used to having a nearly ten minute walk to psych herself up to knock on this door. Only having to go 50 yards or less was barely enough to draw a breath and blink. She had learned to stop and take her breath about five feet away from the door. If she got closer than that, Purrcy opened it - or told someone else to. Naotsugu had jokingly referred to it as Purrcy's early warning radar when Marielle had complained to him about it, then shrugged and said, "She was a solo in the wild for two years," like that explained it. The problem was...it did. Marielle sighed, straightened her shoulders and stepped into that space, not even bothering to knock this time.

Thankfully Naotsugu answered it. "Come on in. Shiroe's still making her go through wardrobe changes." He let Marielle pass into the room, then closed the door behind her. They walked together to the central seating area. Marielle stared. She hadn't expected the wardrobe changes to be taking place _there_. The current outfit was suddenly changed to something else, then a third.

"So...which one?" Purrcy asked.

Shiroe sighed. "You really don't have anything else?"

"We just went shopping!" Marielle blurted out. "How can she not have anything? That red and black outfit was really cute!"

Shiroe turned his naturally baleful look on her. "We aren't going for _cute_ , Marie. She has to be able to stand as her position requires. I don't want the Magistrate's Robe, and nothing else is suitable."

"Okay... What do you want?" Marielle was already mentally going through her own extensive wardrobe in her mind.

"Something to match what you and I are wearing," he answered.

Marielle looked at Shiroe more closely. He was in smartly tailored pants, a light jacket, and a mock turtleneck, all in light professional colors. She looked down at her own clothes. She was in a semi-formal pencil skirt, professional blouse with a bit of ruffles at the top, topped with a light sweater, all in colors to be both becoming and professional. "Oh. So she's not had to go with the professional look, yet." Marielle chewed on her lip for a bit, mentally flipping through her closet. "I'm not sure...maybe something of Henrietta's." She flipped through Henrietta's closet. Clothes were her thing, and she had both closets memorized.

"If you make me wear something of hers, and I end up looking like her, I'll tear it to shreds, then send you to the Cathedral." Marielle blinked and looked at Purrcy. She was actually looking between her and Shiroe, including the both of them in the threat. Marielle swallowed.

Shiroe sighed. "Calasin - conference call, video."

"You can do that?" Marielle asked.

"I'm impressed," Purrcy said appreciatively. "You've added video."

"Ah...hello?" Calasin said tentatively. "This is a first."

Purrcy nodded. "Yes it is, but then, Shiroe's the first Communications Mage of Akiba. He's apparently gone up enough levels to add video."

"Cool." Calasin's face lit up, then fell. "I do wish the new magics weren't limited to just the individual Adventurers, though."

"Give it time," Purrcy said absently, then waved a hand at Shiroe to direct Calasin's attention there.

Calasin looked at Shiroe. "Go into your clothing racks. We need something professional to match Marie and me for the press conference with the fighter guilds this evening. She's got nothing."

Calasin frowned as he obediently got moving. "It will take too long to get to you, won't it?"

"Nope," Shiroe said, but didn't elaborate. They spent the next fifteen minutes with Calasin pulling out felinoid professional clothing, Shiroe and Purrcy alternately approving and rejecting them until Calasin had a good idea of what they might agree on, then he collected three possibilities and set them out. One set disappeared and appeared on Purrcy. She turned in it, waved her tail experimentally, then looked at Shiroe. He frowned slightly and it was suddenly back with Calasin and the second outfit was on Purrcy. She wrinkled her nose and was suddenly wearing the third one. She turned for that one also, but Shiroe was already nodding. When Marielle saw the front, she nodded also. It was a smart pants suit that complemented Purrcy's dark coloring nicely. The gold blouse set off her eyes like twin suns.

"Thanks, Calasin," Shiroe said.

"My pleasure," the merchant said, "though you really are my most difficult and demanding customer, you know."

"I know. I'm sure you'll still keep me in clothing, however," Shiroe said knowingly. "Later." Calasin waved and Marielle waved back before the connection was closed.

Purrcy was looking closely at Shiroe. "That was a bit much, I think. Marielle, dear, please give Shiroe a boost before we walk out. It wouldn't do for him to show up as if he's just come from battle."

Marielle checked Shiroe's stats, then cast a sufficiently strong healing spell on him. "Do all the new sub-class magics cost HP?"

"My theory is that any magic costs HP in the initial creation of the spell. It's just the programmers spent it on the spells we all knew while playing _Elder Tales_ , so all that's left now is the MP cost on those. It's the new ones we're coming up with that have the HP cost." Purrcy answered.

"Will I have to pay that HP cost again?" Shiroe asked.

"I don't know." Purrcy answered. "You'll have to test it and see, though I don't recommend right now, since we'll be late if you do."

"We could just hold the -" Marielle and Shiroe said together.

Purrcy scowled at them both, then turned her back on them. "Like _I_ wanted it!" she growled. Before her angry look could pierce anyone else, Nyanta calmly took her arm. It didn't help much.

Michael stood and crossed his arms. He looked directly into Purrcy's eyes and ordered, "Stand down, Sailor." It was fairly quiet, but Purrcy's ears immediately turned backward in surprise then forward to face him. She held his look, but he didn't back down and she blinked herself back to a somewhat more calm awareness. She finally relaxed and he nodded. "Let's go then, shall we?" He moved towards the door.

"Worth it just for that!" breathed Tetora as the felinoid couple passed through the door behind Michael. The rest of Log Horizon were in complete agreement.

"What?" Marielle asked.

Shiroe took her arm and began to escort her out the door. "She talked him into joining the guild this morning. We weren't sure it was going to be a good fit."

"Don't you _dare_ let him get away!" she said quietly, but with great feeling.

He nodded agreement. "Well, we'll have to see if it works out still when she's not here, but it hasn't been bad so far. We'll be making the official announcement of that move tonight as well. I don't expect the others to be happy to hear I've already got the two best Hackers of Akiba under my roof. She says Terora's not too far off, either, though he still has to get his levels up."

Marielle looked at him, worried, and not so sure _she_ was happy to hear it. "Is - is it so bad?"

He looked thoughtful. "Until we've got enough trained in the city, it is. I really don't know what we would have done if Purrcy hadn't been here to help take care of the Plague Master. We had no way of fighting him without a lot of guess-work, nor a way to really know how to deal with him once we did have him without her. It would have been a long frustrating fight...and we would have lost the beast halves and the majority of the city to chaos." He shuddered with remembered fear, a thing Marielle had never before known from him. He looked at her wide eyed. "I was nearly taken down by the Plague myself, Marie, ...at it's highest level."

Marie felt the blood drain from her face. The whole of the city would have gone under in one fell swoop. She could completely understand, then, when he added, "I _never_ want to be so caught unaware again. I'll take her temper tantrums, and even his rough edges if it means we have advance warning." Marielle decided to stop complaining about Purrcy knowing when she came to Log Horizon's door. She'd rather feel safe in her own home of Akiba. The two guildmasters kept each other up until they recovered.

Looking around, suddenly realizing, she asked, "Is this okay?" she pulled away from him slightly, but Shiroe held on and wouldn't let her go.

"Yes. We're making a statement tonight. You're my almost-daughter-in-law, so it's okay."

She chose to give him a whithering look. "I'm your equal, you know." He stared her down. She finally had to relent. "That's not very nice you know," she pouted.

He looked back at their path but didn't say anything for a while. They had caught up to Purrcy and Nyanta now, though, and Purrcy twitched an ear back. "What?" Shiroe asked.

"You could let her be the Duchess."

Marielle trembled just a bit. The last time she'd been called that by this guild, they'd been living a nightmare in Wonderland. Shiroe was considering it seriously. After a bit, he said, "It seems complicated, but it works...as long as admitting it doesn't create the tag."

Purrcy turned her head to look at Marielle. "It didn't...but really, Shiroe, it's going to happen eventually." Everyone around them sighed and Marielle felt very confused. "However...the system does seem to know when we're ready for them. They'll get attached after you've earned them, not before you're ready." Purrcy suddenly stopped midstep and only kept going to not be trampled on by Nyanta pulling on her to keep her going. "Good Lord!" Purrcy breathed. She buried her head in Nyanta's shoulder.

He pet her sympathetically. "Nyan. Mew really shouldn't go looking when mew have those thoughts, mew know. We really don't want to know."

She gave a helpless laugh. "Then I won't say, but, God, it's awful - this world."

Everyone could only agree with that sentiment, even if Marielle had no idea - yet again - what was going on.

Nyanta pulled Purrcy out of the line so they didn't get trampled this time either, and lifted her head to give her a kiss, then rub her cheek with his. He held her and pet her until she relaxed again. "Is this meeting so hard?" he asked her. "Knowing mew, mew'll handle it with grace. Shiroe-ichi is there with mew, too."

When she finally nodded she was ready again, Shiroe rearranged the lineup. Putting Akatsuki and Naotsugu in the front, he motioned for Nyanta to put himself and Purrcy third after Shiroe himself and Marielle. Tetora was put on the other side of Purrcy, Michael behind, and the rest of the guild, who had tagged along, behind him. Purrcy was still nervous, but seemed much more content with that arrangement.

Marielle looked at Shiroe questioningly. "You'll go to such lengths to protect her?"

He looked at her, then gave a small smile. "Yes, Marie, but that's not the reason for this order. This is the correct way to arrive at the next battleground."

Marielle looked him in the eye. "Shiroe. What is she - really?"

He looked back at her, then gave a fond look. "I can't tell you that, Marie. It's been easiest for most people to think of her as a Princess, however. Perhaps that will help you, too."

"Of course, every time they bring me out _I_ feel like _they_ are yakuza," Purrcy quipped wryly.

"Then what does that make me?" Marielle asked.

"Bait?" The younger set of the guild snickered. "Ah, no. I'm sorry. That was very rude of me," Purrcy said apologetically. "Actually, tonight you are the Duchess. Which means you are the almost-equal to Shiroe, so whatever the head female of the yakuza would be, that is you, tonight."

"Practically the same," Touya muttered very quietly.

"Why?" Marielle was starting to feel testy.

Purrcy tipped her head. "Because you love Akiba, and I do not...though I no longer hate it now that I have family here."

Marielle blinked and her heart constricted. "...Hate? You...hated Akiba?" Purrcy nodded. "Then why did you defend us?"

"Because I hate our common enemy more." Purrcy's ears went down in a fighting half-mast and her eyes glittered. Nyanta stepped forward and covered Purrcy's eyes.

Shiroe tugged on Marielle's arm. "Let's go," he ordered quietly. Marielle looked at the femfelinoid a little longer as she tried to recover, then finally let herself be turned and led on, the others falling in behind. She had a sudden understanding of why it felt like yakuza to Purrcy. They were protecting Akiba from her.

Marielle set herself firmly. She also would do her part to deflect anything she could from reaching the walking time bomb that was nestled protectively inside their group. But...it was still hard. Purrcy was ultimately kind. Perhaps that was why she, also, sought the center of protection. She also didn't want to go off inside the city.

-:-:-:-:-

Crescent Moon League had set up the one room that had been cleaned out of the mess that was part of all the building zones of Akiba, since they were all based on buildings of Akiabara but made to look decrepit and ancient from thousands of years of neglect and time. Therefore, they were full of debris until the Adventurers reclaimed them. The warehouse hadn't been purchased yet, but they could still use it until they did...or a competitor bought it out from under them. Both Marielle and Shiroe were cognizant of the possibility, but not having enough gold between them, particularly since Shiroe had decided to foot the bill for Crescent Moon's building, there wasn't much they could do at the moment about that issue.

There were three chairs set up in the front of the room. Marielle was glad she had asked for a table for them as a psychological barrier. To temper that a little, Crescent Moon guild members were serving drinks around as well, including at the "head" table. Being a bit late, they were the last group to arrive. Naotsugu led them directly up to the front, standing behind the farthest seat. Akatsuki stood behind the center seat. Shiroe led Marielle to the seat in front of Naotsugu, and he pulled it out for her, but Shiroe didn't sit down in the chair Akatsuki had pulled out for him, so Marielle stayed standing, too, not quite sure what she was supposed to do.

Nyanta pulled out the third chair for Purrcy as Tetora passed them to stand between Akatsuki and Nyanta. Michael took the other side of Nyanta to stand on the outside end of the group. The remainder of the guild took up places at the door, the twins inside and Rudy and Isuzu outside. That final move earned a few raised eyebrows from the attendees.

They consisted of Isaac and two of his top aides, one from his training division; Rieze, who was the training division head as well as acting guildmaster, with Crusty's assistant; Soujirou with his fox-tail assistant, Nazuna, who seemed to be doing much better; and Ains with his assistant. Sitting behind them were Roderick, sitting forward with almost insuppressible interest, and Michitaka, his arms folded with the usual "prove it to me" look on his face. Marielle had come to learn that was actually his excited face, but it was really hard to tell and was very daunting, the same as Shiroe's dark and evil natural look was. No harm was really intended by either one, but it kept others at a distance anyway.

Shiroe turned his head towards Marielle. She gulped a breath then smiled at the group arrayed in front of her. "Thank you for coming this evening, everyone. Akiba Adventurer Academy is excited to present you this opportunity for a question and answer session with our guest instructor Purrcy and her host, Shiroe. I'll be the hostess for the night. I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself." She smiled brightly. "So, if our guests will be seated..." She sat down and Shiroe and Purrcy sat as well, their chairs being pushed up for them as they did so, their assistants then stepping back a pace to take their places behind them. Marielle felt a bit better for knowing Naotsugu was going to be behind her this night.

She took a deep breath. "To start us off," she turned to Shiroe, "could you tell us how you came to find Purrcy? We were very fortunate to have her here in Akiba at the right time, I hear." Really Marielle had always imagined being a show hostess. She loved the idea of being able to be in the spotlight, but have it directed at others who were interesting or deserving. She'd secretly practiced at home while watching the various popularity shows. This was not something she dreaded. Only Shiroe's answers...and now maybe Purrcy's...but even still Marielle wanted the answers even more than before. She was a little surprised Calasin wasn't here, though Akaneya and Woodstock already seemed to know Purrcy.

Shiroe sat forward slightly, lightly clasping his fingers in front of him on the table. "Purrcy arrived at my guild hall roughly three days before we brought the Plague Master down, offering information on the potential causes for the troubles we were having in the beast-half population. As you know, I'd been researching that for over a month already, and had asked my contacts to get any information they could find on the matter to me as quickly as they could. With her help, we were able to come to finally understand the issue and scope of the problem. She recognized the Plague Master for what he was because of their similar sub-class and assisted us in bringing him to justice."

"That was indeed a kind thing to do," Marielle said. "Miss Purrcy, you're a felinoid yourself. Were you also affected by the same issues as the others?"

"Yes, Marielle, I was." Purrcy answered politely. "It was extremely unpleasant, I can assure you, and I was very willing to assist Shiroe in helping to end the suffering of myself and all the others who were affected by it. I'm quite relieved to not be going through that any more. Thank you to all who helped with it's resolution." Her eyes scanned the room and Rieze and her companion nodded back at her. Nazuna waved her tail in agreement.

"Miss Purrcy, you've stayed to help train the Hackers of Akiba. That's one of the new sub-classes. How long have you had that sub-class, and how does one get such a thing?" Marielle asked.

Purrcy nodded. "Shiroe asked me to stay to get the local Hackers sufficiently started so they could learn how to support Akiba to the best of their ability. Of course the Academy will help them to reach their full potential. I'm training two instructors at this time to help continue with the training of this specific sub-class. As was stated in the demonstration by the Hackers themselves, the reason for the sub-class to occur is because of a need that an Adventurer has and the solution correlates to how they learned to solve a problem on Earth, thus they end up solving it similarly here. In my case, it's battle related because I do a lot of traveling out of the cities and have needed it to protect myself."

"Could you tell us where you're from?" Marielle asked.

"Umm...Earth?" Purrcy's ears twitched and her tail curled into a question mark. There were chuckles around the room.

"Perhaps you could clarify the question?" Shiroe asked stolidly.

Marielle blushed slightly, finally understanding it had been a rather vague question to ask an Adventurer. "Ah, no. Sorry. You've said you came to give information to Shiroe, and that you'll be leaving again. I was just curious as to where?"

Purrcy and Shiroe nodded. "I arrived in Theldesia in Susukino. As I'm sure you can understand, that has made me city-shy. Since I managed to escape there I use the Akiba Cathedral, but I prefer to wander the countryside and call no city home."

Marielle blinked. "Well, yes. I can certainly understand the trauma that the early time of that city caused many of it's kinder residents. We have one of our own guild that needed rescuing from there." She glanced at Serera who had, typically of her, volunteered to help out with this project. All of the young volunteers were standing in the back of the room, and she nodded back at Marielle as another volunteer took Serera's hand in sympathy. Marielle almost frowned. Serera wasn't looking very good for some reason. Marielle wondered if the two had known each other there, or if she was just being reminded of her own trauma.

Isaac had raised his hand, but Marielle was pretty sure what his next question was. It had become Marielle's now as well, after the conversation on the way here. As she turned to ask her next question, the remaining guildmasters entered the room quietly. She waited until they were settled, then asked, "If being in any city is traumatic, then why is it that you've chosen to join Log Horizon?"

"I asked her to because it seemed appropriate to ask Nyanta-san's betrothed wife-to-be to also be in the same guild that he was in. It would have been rude of me to have excluded her," Shiroe said smoothly.

Purrcy nodded. "It likewise would have been as rude of me to not accept." She paused slightly, then said, "I'm an international. Our fathers are international business partners who've decided for the sake of our companies to form an alliance, however, my understanding of Japanese is very limited. In order to learn it better and be able to spend time with Nyanta before the wedding, we were playing _Elder Tales_ at the time of the catastrophe. I had logged into the Susukino server, since that's the site he used, and to log into my local one wouldn't have helped me to learn the written language. It was difficult, but he was helping me. To arrive here in Yamato was even more difficult, and to be chased out of Susukino was ...well..." her ears went flat in complete distress, and Nyanta stepped forward to comfort her with a paw on her shoulder. She took a shuddering breath, then said, "I didn't know he had also come to Akiba until I arrived to talk to Shiroe." In a faint voice, Purrcy said, as she reached up to put her hand on Nyanta's paw, "I was very glad to find he had."

Marielle finally understood Serera's look of discomfort. A quick glance confirmed it. Serera had had her heart broken. Marielle sighed sadly to herself. There wasn't anything to be done about it. "Well, we're certainly glad to have benefited from your assistance." She fished for the next question to ask. It had rather stalled with that one.

Rieze raised her hand and Marielle nodded at her, allowing her to ask the next one. "When we helped Log Horizon bring down the Plague Master, Nyanta-san was untouchable. Can you please explain this?"

Purrcy smiled. "The power of love?" there were startled looks but also chuckles. "No," Purrcy relented letting them know it had likely been only a joke. "It was a spell I've learned from my journeys. It's one that takes a long cast time and is only effective for one battle. It is specifically a spell that protects against other Hackers. I've had to fight one other like the Plague Master before, and only survived by learning that spell." Purrcy reached for her drink and Nyanta stepped back to his place.

"How many Hackers are there, do you think?" Marielle asked Purrcy, who was setting her drink back on the table.

Purrcy shook her head. "I don't know. Honestly, I thought the city would have more. Aren't computer nerds gamers? I've only run into the evil ones outside, and only a very few of those. Of course, I haven't visited any other cities so I don't know what percentage of people in them have become a Hacker. I only know that to face the higher level evil ones without another Hacker present to counter them is extremely dangerous. Even a low level Hacker can at least set the tracers on the external attacks and provide shielding against internal attacks so the the rest of the party can fight back. I've trained all of your low level Hackers to that level as their minimum baseline, since they also need to protect themselves, though their chosen primary function is not as fighters."

Isaac raised his hand again, and this time Marielle let him ask his question. "Can other Attack Class mages also cast tracer spells?"

"Isaac," Shiroe interrupted, "why would you think that other Classes can learn magics outside the set spell list of _Elder Tales_?" It had been asked innocently enough, but the room went into wary attention. It was indeed a new way of thinking, and Machiavelli had pointed it out, putting Isaac on the spot.

Isaac folded his arms and sat back in his chair. "Well...isn't that the issue we're going to address in the next council meeting? That there's been another world shift? If there are new sub-classes and new magics, why couldn't there be new magic spells for the old magic Classes?"

"Have you experimented yet?" Roderick leaned forward to ask.

"I was wondering if it was possible." It wasn't really the answer the rest were looking for, but they might have answered the same way.

"I'm not sure why you expect me to know the answer to that question, Mister Isaac," Purrcy answered finally. "I would think that since the attack Class magics can effect Hacker spells, that there might exist a possibility, but I'm sure the original programmers of _Elder Tales_ wouldn't have programmed in spells for magics they didn't put into the system to begin with."

Isaac scowled a bit, then replied, "Because, if the Plague Master used Hacker magic to create a Plague, but the Clerics are now using a new spell to counteract it, you - the only other Hacker with the capacity - would have had to have created the antidote spell they are using. You've already crossed the Classes and given new spells to old Classes."

Everyone stared at Purrcy and her ears twisted. Shiroe shook his head and the eyes turned to him. "Tetora is a Cleric. I had him work with her to come up with the best spell to heal her, since she was already infected. After extensive experimentation, he was able to find a combination of a spell he already knew and focused intention to heal the Plague. Hacker magic is specific to Hackers. Purrcy couldn't teach her solution to another Class."

Isaac's face fell. The others were mixed between disappointed and accepting it as the obvious answer. Ains raised his hand. "Go ahead, Ains-san," Marielle invited.

"Miss Purrcy, you said you've trained the basics, but are there any Hackers here in town that will be able to defend it if you aren't here?"

"As you saw at the demonstration, there were four of sufficient level and skill. Two chose to stay evil, and I have marked them. The other two have agreed to teach what they know to any others that may appear, as long as they also agree to abide by the laws of Akiba. I will be in and out of town and have added them to my friend list, so if they have questions they can contact me. ...And obviously Shiroe will contact me if there are any emergencies." She said the last dryly and there were knowing looks in the audience as Shiroe nodded.

"I see that one of those two has also joined Log Horizon," Isaac said sardonically. "Is Shiroe amassing an army of his own, finally? I seem to recall Tetora was on the field as a Hacker as well."

"Tetora was a programming student in college," Purrcy answered. "It was an experiment to see if someone who had those skills on Earth could become a Hacker, and he has proven it beautifully through diligent effort and hard work. It isn't easy after all, to add a sub-class you didn't select with a click of a button. I'm sure those of you who are still trying to master making salad understand." There were nods of understanding. "Michael was my bodyguard on Earth and also needed to learn the language before we came here. The three of us were separated at the time of the Catastrophe and have only been reunited because of this emergency and subsequent following activities." Purrcy said it dismissively, as if it was only to be expected. Since it would be, there wasn't anything that could be said to that.

"So, others can learn it if they want?" Roderick asked.

Purrcy shrugged. "That would be the rub, wouldn't it?" Roderick subsided but still nodded musingly. The fighting guildmasters got calculating looks.

Shiroe leaned forward. "Before you send the maximum number of potential Hackers from your guilds to the Academy, please remember...there are only two teachers."

Marielle sat up suddenly, "And we still don't have this building cleaned up enough to hold full classes yet. We're doing the demonstrations outside, as well as the early pre-lessons. The fee for the classes will help pay for upkeep and class materials, if any, but we would also appreciate students helping with clean up of the facilities. Certainly a few students at a time until we are fully operational is all we can accommodate, though we want to be helpful as soon as possible, of course."

"We hear you, Marielle," Soujirou said, allowing her to relax a bit. "I've already got two who are willing to come learn to be Hackers so they can also be instructors. They can be in class whenever you're ready for them."

Tetora raised his hand cheerily. "That's my class. We'll be starting it up next week. Any students who want to come clean out a classroom while I'm in my own class the rest of the week, we'll get a faster start. Thank you! Oh, and if we get too many people signed up, we'll set up a schedule to keep the class size manageable. We could also use a volunteer for each class to be healer, since spell creation costs HP, or I'll send everyone home when they get low."

Marielle could hear the cogs turning in every military guildmaster's head. She hoped she and Henrietta could manage the persons that we're going to descend on them in the morning. At least Tetora had lightened the mood again a little and set up some guidelines, as well as taken on some of the responsibility himself.

D.D.D.'s military assistant raised his hand and asked, "Miss Purcy, what tactics and methods have you put together, and will they be taught as well? And, how do we train our teams to integrate the Hacker sub-class once they are trained?"

Michael stepped forward slightly and cleared his throat. "That's the advanced class that I'll be teaching since I have the background for it. Miss Purrcy has been training the advanced level Hackers methods of higher level defense and attack spell creation. We should also be ready to teach that level of class by next week, though I don't expect any new students until we've had a sufficient number pass Tetora's class. As far as integration -"

"- Soujirou's teachers will be ready to teach that by the time they graduate from Michael's class," Shiroe interjected smoothly. "Souji has trained all of his guild to do that kind of training already, after all." The others in the room nodded, being familiar with that point. His guild, with D.D.D.'s training division, had taught most of the fighters who had gained their Mysteries, including Akatsuki.

Michael stepped back again to his place. Marielle looked around the room to see who else might have a question. There was a bit of a pause, then Rieze raised her hand again. It seemed to Marielle that Purrcy flinched just a little, but she could only allow the acting guildmaster of D.D.D. to take the floor.

"Miss Purrcy, the defenses you put up to protect the audience at the demonstration, and the modification to the killing blow seemed to be very high level. Are those examples of typical spells that advanced Hackers can execute?"

"...typical...," Purrcy said faintly.

Michael raised his hand. "Actually, the final killing blow modification was done by me. It's my job to protect Miss Purrcy, and those two needed punishment. I'd already warned them on multiple occasions they weren't to attack her. They knew it was coming. Those kinds of interception spells take quite a lot of HP creation points, particularly when crafted that quickly."

Tetora nodded. "I helped Miss Purrcy with the shielding spell, since Hackers can build on each other in the inner coding space. That's why we all needed Marielle to come heal us afterwards. I'd used up what healing I could give by then, plus dropped my own HP rather significantly."

"If anything," Purrcy said, "it was, rather, an example of what multiple Hackers working together can accomplish." The guildmasters were impressed, Marielle included. "Of course, you have to have enough dedicated healers for your Hackers. It's just a little difficult having Tetora as both healer and Hacker assistant. He's having to juggle between the two when we teach the classes this week."

"If you end up with an imbalance of too many Hackers, your Recovery Classes might not be able to handle both demands. The research on how many Recovery Class persons to Hackers hasn't been done yet, not too surprisingly. We have found it helpful to have Bard battle-long low level healing running for handling the lower level spells, but when the battle becomes fierce, so far the Cleric Class has been most helpful. Also, if you want high level spells with lower HP output, you have to increase the time to create and cast. That's why my spell to protect one individual fully in one battle is like it is. If I cast it before the battle is even engaged, I can allow enough time to cast it without draining my HP so much that I become ineffective in the same battle."

Everyone was taking notes at this point. Michael added, "Miss Purrcy described it well when she compared Hackers to the heavy hitting guns that take a long firing up time and require a cool down in between, or icing if you want them to continuously barrage. Otherwise the barrels melt. The Cleric is the ice to cool down the larger artillery the Hacker is capable of firing, but you have to understand how long your ice will last, as well. Those two who attacked at the end had written their spells before the demonstration, then set them to go off late. That meant their overall HP cost was low. They just had to add the trajectory information. I believe they were hoping we would all be too tired to affect their spells, even with the HP shot we got. They didn't count on the team effort effect, since until now Hackers are always solos."

"Tired?" Several of the guildmasters picked up on that.

Michael smiled grimly as did Purrcy and Tetora. "Yes. Even the fighter Classes get worn down after a prolonged squawk. The more spells a Hacker has to cast, and the larger they are, the more tired they get. We have the same physical limitation as the sword swingers...only probably slightly worse, having the experience to compare them."

"Fighting with their minds," Minori said quietly from the doorway. "Defeated by the graduate exams," Akatsuki said.

Purrcy nodded. Grimly she warned, "Precisely. ...Plan on your Hackers taking naps and sleeping hard at night when they are in their classes and when you pull them out to use them in battle. Having them collapse due to exhaustion in the middle of spell creation and casting would likely be detrimental to your own health. Also, if you ask them to do something outside the scope of their level and can't give them the time to create it slowly, expect them to fall at the same time as their opponent. The spell will backlash and wipe them out. If you're lucky they'll only get a migraine. If you didn't care, they'll Cathedral."

"It sounds like there's a lot more to understand underneath all that," Rieze said carefully.

Shiroe nodded. "When you get guild members to the integration class, I'll come be a guest lecturer to a class you should all come to the first time. It's difficult enough to probably take three days of classes to get it all, though actual implementation isn't quite so hard on our end as it is on theirs."

"Is there a reason you'll wait until then?" Isaac asked.

Every member of Log Horizon smiled, and Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Because you can't learn it unless you have a team to practice it with. It's a case of needing to see it to comprehend it."

"Sink or swim," Minori agreed. The guildmasters glanced at her, but considering she was _the_ Machiavelli's apprentice, they didn't dismiss her words lightly. With Shiroe being the best Strategist on the Yamato Archipelago, if he said it was difficult...then it was. That also meant they would have the best instructor from which to learn what they wanted to know. The guildmasters settled.

"Are there any more question, then?" Marielle asked, hoping not. She looked around and it looked like she might be in luck. "Then, thank you for coming everyone, and thank you to our guests, Shiroe and Purrcy of Log Horizon. We hope you'll continue to enjoy Akiba Adventurer Academy for all your educational needs!"

The special guests stood, and Marielle hurried to as well, since Naotsugu was waiting to pull her chair out for her. She stayed behind, though, instead of going with Log Horizon. She might be needed for more follow on questions and she wanted to help her guild members clean up and get back to the guild hall safely. (That was the excuse she was going to go with, anyway.) Marielle also made sure to spend a little extra attention on Serera.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetora laced his hands behind his head and heaved a big sigh. "I love it when a plan comes together." He was strolling in the back with Naotsugu. They were in their in-town formation again, though this time Michael was on Tetora's other side.

"What plan?" Rudy asked over his shoulder.

Tetora giggled. "It all worked out, didn't it?"

"Of course," Akatsuki answered solemnly. "Shiroe is the best there is."

"I didn't do it alone," he answered back mildly. "Purrcy is a master in her own right."

"And it helps to have a team who knows how to pick up at just the right timing," Purrcy responded. She looked over her shoulder. "Thanks, guys."

"No problem," they shrugged it off.

"It wasn't true?" Nyanta asked surprised.

"No, it was. We were worn out by then. The end of the demo was just as much a team effort as the end of the Q&A," Purrcy answered. She was holding on tightly to Nyanta's arm, still trying to come down from being in front of so many judging eyes, her tail wrapped around his arm as it had been before when she was particularly concerned.

"Did you at least discuss the response to explain Purrcy being here?" Isuzu asked.

"No." Shiroe and Purrcy said together. The rest of the guild looked at them in surprise, then the juniors started laughing.

"I hope you didn't mind your role, Michael," Purrcy said over her shoulder at him.

"Not at all. I'd been wondering what cover I was going to give for suddenly being in the middle of things. It worked for me. ...Made it rather simple actually. ...Do U.S. company presidents really make marriage alliances with international corporate big shots like that?"

"I have no idea," Purrcy said, "but I've purposely not been letting people know what country I'm really from. For all they know I'm of Japanese heritage who's been raised out-country. It happens in Japanese pop culture, the same as the arranged marriages. Since it filled in all the holes still outstanding, and Shiroe gave me the opening, I ran with it."

Michael looked at her. "Is there a chance it's actually true?"

Purrcy looked back at him. "Only Nyanta knows the answer to that question, but you've worked with me enough now. What do you think?"

"What do you mean it happens in 'pop culture', Purrcy?" Minori asked.

"Meaning I have no idea if it _really_ happens. It's just a common plot point in romantic mangas. I was honestly surprised to not get called on it." At that, the whole guild did laugh.

Shiroe went a little faint. "Really, Purrcy? You bet the whole thing on something you couldn't even confirm would actually work?"

"Yes," she answered, "that's how inventions are created and battles won, you know. ...You didn't complain or stop me, either. ...So, does that mean it _does_ actually happen?" she blinked at him.

Shiroe just sighed unhappily. Nyanta turned her head back to face him and kissed her. "Of course it does - in our case at least, dear negotiated wife. Since we have our fathers' blessings, shall we purroceed with the actual ceremony...say, tomorrow night? I don't think they'd complain, nyan."

"Nyanta! You are such a tease!" Purrcy said, completely embarrassed and yet pleased at the same time. To recover, she continued, "...What would our mothers say to learn they'd been left out? I can hear mine yelling from her office now: 'I bought this $5000 Armani dress for nothing? You ungrateful daughter!' And I don't even want to consider the cold silent treatment your mother would give me for shutting her out of her darling son's most important press coverage meant to propel him into the sights of my home country. How scandalous, Nyanta, to even suggest such a thing!"

Nyanta put his paw to his head and slowly the laughter shaking his shoulders built up enough it burst out into great peals that echoed between the decaying buildings along their walk. The guild was rather nonplussed, yet somewhat delighted at the same time, considering it was quite out of character for him.

When he'd recovered enough, through his chuckles, he said, "Purrcy, darling, if you put it that way, we'll never be allowed to ask for Shiroe-ichi's blessing to be together while we're here. He'll have too much consideration for our p-parents." He lost it again for a bit, having to look away. "Mew already know I don't care what they think. I pushed for the marriage because _I_ wanted it. They're meowr likely to be relieved... _and_ require the real thing after the fact anyway - so as to not waste those purrecious treasures of theirs."

Purrcy's eyes smiled at his brightly. "Well, when you put it that way, you're quite right." She turned to Shiroe. "Would that be okay? To have a little ceremony with just the guild tomorrow night? We can still smooth our mother's feathers by allowing the wedding on Earth to happen regardless."

Shiroe gave both felinoids a very dark look. They looked at him innocently and earnestly. He finally sighed and looked up into the sky. "Is that what you both really want? Something official?"

"Yes, please, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta asked politely. Purrcy nodded her head in agreement. "Something small is purrfect," Nyanta requested. Shiroe nodded his head, agreeing to it.

"Ah, and perhaps including the least amount of magic possible," Purrcy requested. Shiroe completely agreed with that.

After a bit, Michael asked, "Is anyone else as completely confused as I am now?"

Rudy raised his hand. The other juniors looked at each other, in agreement but not quite willing to admit it. Tetora just shook his head and Naotsugu smiled. Akatsuki had stars in her eyes, making Shiroe cover his own briefly. Purrcy turned around and looked at Michael. In a haughty, threatening voice, she said, "Michael, as my bodyguard, I order you to admit it is true, but only when under absolute duress. I would hate to see the repercussions of you doing otherwise."

He stared at her with his mouth open, then closed it and said, "Yes, ma'am." But after a bit he whispered to Terora, "But that didn't really help." Tetora sympathetically patted him on the shoulder. Minori and Isuzu quietly chatted together in the front.

As they poured into the guild hall Minori and Isuzu faced the others. "Um...Nyanta-san, Miss Purrcy, could we request a postponement? ...Ah, of just one day?" Minori asked.

Nyanta looked at Minori in surprise. "Meow. There isn't any hurry. But...why, Minorichi?"

"Well, it just seemed to me that even if it's something small, we would like to give you a wedding present, and decorate just a little...maybe some flowers. Two nights would give us time to shop and to also put things together." She and Isuzu both looked hopeful.

Nyanta looked at Purrcy and flicked an ear. Purrcy smiled fondly at the girls. "If that wouldn't trouble you terribly, I'm sure we could only be grateful for your consideration. Please don't go out of your way, though. We really are quite content to have it be quite understated."

"O-of course!" Minori said. "Thank you so much!"

"Thank mew," Nyanta said.

Minori and Isuzu looked at each other and Isuzu cleared her throat. "Umm...," Nyanta and Purrcy both raised eye whiskers, "and...could we please invite Crescent Moon? They are our sister guild, and we would really like to have them come, too."

Both felinoids looked concerned. "Are you sure Serera-chan should? I would hate to twist a knife unnecessarily," Purrcy worried.

The younger girls looked at each other again. "I think...," Minori said carefully, "that it would be better for her to be there. The closure may be important."

Isuzu nodded, "She would be sad to not be able to celebrate with Nyanta-san who's been a friend and support for her here."

Purrcy looked at Nyanta, letting him choose. "If you can restrain Meowrielle and Henrietta-nyan, or even nyot tell them until just before it begins, then purrhaps. If it will overwhelm their sensibilities, then purrhaps only Serera-chan should be invited."

Both Isuzu and Minori bowed. "Thank you very much, Nyanta-san, Purrcy." Minori said, relieved. "Please leave it to us."


	32. Detouring

"Serera, thanks for coming shopping with us today," Isuzu said cheerfully. The four juniors were all going together. Including Serera they made up the group that had first learned to fight as a party in dungeons, then use those same skills to protect the village of Choushi from a goblin invasion. That had led to Rudy becoming an Adventurer and guildmember of Log Horizon. They'd continued to party up together for all sorts of quests since then, so the five of them were pretty close now.

"Thank you for being willing to help me with my job," she answered back politely. She was supposed to continue to pass out fliers and talk people into going to view the next week's demonstration of the Technician sub-class.

"No problem," Touya said, pleasantly. They had an ulterior motive to be passing along that information. They were hoping to get to talk to potential Hacker candidates and get them to go, too, and to see what the gossip was on the demonstration put on by Purrcy. They were hopeful that the guild tag would draw potential candidates, too.

When they got to the main strip, the boys took one side of the road and gathering area and the girls the other. At a break in the work, Minori and Isuzu took Serera aside. "Um...Serera," Minori said cautiously. She looked at them curiously. Minori glanced at Isuzu, including her. "We were wondering...how you're doing after last night?"

Serera, who had been looking expectant drooped a little. "Everyone in Crescent Moon's been worried, too." She sighed. "It hurts, but it's not like I didn't already know." Minori nodded sympathetically. Serera got a confused look on her face. "Though, I did think they were already married. They're not yet?"

Minori shook her head. "Not officially, but they want to be...soon." She carefully watched Serera. The smaller girl, who was actually older than Minori, shuffled her feet. Gently, Minori asked, "If you could be there, at the ceremony, would you want to be?"

Serera winced, then thought about it seriously. Slowly she said, "It would hurt, I think...but, I would want to see if Nyanta-san was happy, so I could know for sure." She clasped her hands in front of her, but still didn't look up. She looked like she was thinking hard. "Miss Purrcy is still scary, even though I know she's nice. I think it helps to know she's like he is - older and upper class. They have a different mindset than most of us. It hurts to think there's that much more of a difference between myself and Nyanta-san - that it really could never have happened." She made a little gasp. "Ah, I'm sorry."

"No, no," Minori said comfortingly. "It's perfectly understandable." Isuzu nodded.

Serera paused, then looked away. "But...I do still want to make happy memories with him. ...Actually with them both." She looked down and blushed. "When I left after the barbecue...somehow...it felt almost like I was with family and I was glad I'd helped. ...It felt that way when I first met Miss Purrcy and we worked in the kitchen together, too. She really is kind and tries to help me feel included instead of telling me I can't." She looked shyly at her friends. "Is it okay that I like that feeling?"

Isuzu and Minori both smiled kindly. "Of course," Isuzu said. "They're like that after all. If they knew you felt that way, they would be happy."

Minori nodded. "They really don't want you to be sad or to hurt, and they're sorry you do," she told her friend. "If you like being with them, then they're happy to have you there."

Serera looked at them in just a bit of surprise, then nodded. "I'll try to not be afraid to spend more time with them making happy memories then." She bit her lip, "But...when are they thinking of..."

Minori put her hand on her friend's arm. "Tomorrow night."

Serera stopped breathing for just a moment, then took a careful breath in. "That is soon, isn't it," she said in a small voice. Minori nodded in agreement. Serera took a few more careful breaths.

"They'd like you to come, if you think you could," Minori said gently.

Serera looked at her and suddenly her eyes filled with tears. Minori gripped her arm a little more tightly and Isuzu moved closer. "They - they still would include me...even in that?"

Minori nodded. "If you wanted it. They'd certainly understand if you couldn't face it."

Serera sniffed, then wiped at her eyes. "I - I don't know. It feels sudden." She looked away again and shifted a few times. Looking back she asked, "What are you going to do for it?"

"They've asked for a small guild ceremony and asked Mister Shiroe to officiate. We thought we'd buy some flowers at least to set on the table, and maybe look to see if there were any decorations we could find, though they don't want anything elaborate. I was hoping to find something I could give them...or maybe make a dessert for everyone to share afterwards. It's not like they need much, same as all of us. It was just something small to let them know I was thinking of them and wished them well," Minori told her. Isuzu nodded agreement.

Serera was thoughtful. "If...do you think I could help you? Maybe with making the desert? I've learned to make cakes from the chefs in Crescent Moon. And if you needed help with decorations, that sounds fun." She was sounding brave, though the underlying pain was still there.

"We'd love to have your help," Minori said encouragingly.

"Particularly if we could cook at your place," Isuzu said with a wink. "Then we could surprise them. They know everything that goes on in Nyanta-san's kitchen, after all."

Serera gave a small smile. "True."

Minori's eyes opened wide. "You know what, Isuzu?" she was excited, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could have the Crescent Moon chefs help make meals for them for their trip? Then they wouldn't have to do that hard work for themselves and for us."

Isuzu looked thoughtful, then nodded. "If it would help them, it might."

"What?" Serera said and Minori's countenance fell again.

"Ah...sorry, I shouldn't have suggested it." She was silent, biting her lip, but it had been said and Serera should be told that in advance as well. Minori sighed. "I'm sorry. You don't know the other part. When Purrcy leaves this time...Nyanta-san will go with her. They'll be back in three months or less. It's just this time there are things Mister Shiroe needs them to do together."

"We don't expect it to happen every time she goes out. She's a surgeon and doctor for the monsters, like the gryphons and stuff like that, when they get hurt, or have a need. Probably the only one, so she feels pretty serious about her responsibility. It's been hard for her to not answer their calls while she's been asked to be here." Minori looked guiltily at Isuzu and back at Serera. "They'll probably leave by next week. ...That's why Nyanta-san has asked for it to be so soon - the ceremony," she ended lamely. She really hadn't wanted to add to her friend's sorrows, particularly when she'd been being so brave.

Serera was a bit pale. Clearing her throat, she said, "Well...I did already know he was going. ...They said it at the barbecue. I suppose they shouldn't really travel alone without it being proper... I just...wish...," her tears came again, "it could have been...me," she whispered. Minori wrapped her arm around her friend, understanding completely.

Isuzu put her hand on Serera's shoulder to grip it supportively. "Of course you did," she said gently. "You're smart enough to recognize a good man when you see one, and you've watched him a long time. How can you not?"

Serera looked at Isuzu with wide eyes. "Do you like him, too, Isuzu?"

Isuzu smiled. "I've watched you watch him just as long, Serera. I was rooting for you. ...If it wasn't for the fact that he is so very happy with her, I would say he should take another look at you one more time first." She shifted just a little. "I did think that at first, actually. It was a relationship of convenience at first, when she first came...but it's something more now. She's made him relax in ways he never did before. Last night, on the way home, she said something that made him laugh - a real laugh - for the first time since we've come here." She shook her head a little sadly. "It's hard to not want to see that happen again. He's so kind and helped us so much. To see him so happy...I can't help but be glad for him." She gripped Serera a little tighter. "If he could be that happy with you, then I would tell him that he should have been that way a long time ago. You've tried so hard, after all."

Serera nodded sadly. "I've seen it," she said quietly, "how happy and relaxed he is with her. It's hard to not be glad...for his sake." She looked down, "And that she is just as happy with him." She smiled sadly again. "It's rather like a fairy tale, actually, where they've been made to be apart through horrible circumstances, but then finally in the end been brought together again. You want to see the 'happily ever after' of the story." Isuzu and Minori both agreed with silent nods. "Rather like...the prince finally rescuing the princess." Serera added and fell silent.

Isuzu and Minori gave each other surprised looks over her head. Serera heaved a large sigh. "Well, I really can't compete with that, and it would be rather sad in the end to try." She looked up at her friends, who looked at her in compassion. "I think I would like to at least wish them well on that journey...and make another happy memory of how happy they are to be stepping out onto that path." She still couldn't prevent a few more tears from dripping, but her friends held her hands tightly until she was able to recover.

They were careful to respect her feelings and not get too excited as they shopped, staying gentle for her sake. Touya's gentle steadiness and kind practicality helped as they walked from booth to booth and stall to stall, and Rudy's usual antics helped to lighten the mood just a bit as well until they were just a party of friends enjoying a shopping trip again. They knew Serera would grieve more later that night when she was alone again, but for this time they could be her support to help her continue to move forward one little step at a time.

-:-:-:-:-

"So...what's going on here in the kitchens?" Marielle said cheerily as she walked into the Crescent Moon kitchen. She was actually trying to escape her own work and get a snack while Henrietta was - well, somewhere else wherever it was.

Five young faces looked up, as well as one older one that was one of the guild chefs. "We're cooking cakes," they said.

"Oooh. Cake! I like cake. Do you need a taste-tester?" she asked hopefully. She got smiles but also shakes of the head and she slumped in defeat. "Can I at least lick the spoon?" she begged.

"We've one left." Serera handed it over.

Marielle took it happily and began licking it. She looked closely at Serera as she did so. "Thank you, dear. Oh, that's yummy!" Serera had been crying, it looked like, but she seemed to be trying hard. Marielle looked closely at Serera's Log Horizon friends. They were being just a little careful towards Serera. They'd come with bad news then, and were trying to cheer her up. Marielle sighed sadly to herself. "Sooo...what are you making cake for, if not for the Guildmistress to taste?"

The Log Horizon children looked at each other, then at Serera. Serera took a breath. "It's a surprise for Nyanta-san and Miss Purrcy...for tomorrow." Serera had almost choked at the pause.

Marielle's heart went out to Serera. "You're trying hard, Serera-chan," she said kindly. "I'm proud of you for being brave. Don't work too hard, though."

Serera shook her head. "I have good friends, and it will be okay." She glanced at her friends, looking for a little help.

"Miss Marielle," Minori said a little firmly, as a good strategist for a party should, "we've invited Serera specifically, but we're allowed to invite the whole guild if she wants it."

Serera looked surprised. "Eh, can I?"

The four others nodded. "If you want. If you think it would help, they said it would be okay." Minori said with surety.

Serera considered it seriously for a bit, then finally nodded. "I think it might help to have my other friends there, too, if it would be okay."

Marielle was watching the five soberly. They were all trying very hard for one friend's sake. Likely it would be an imposition to have all of Crescent Moon along, but she needed to know what for first.

Having received permission, Minori turned back to Marielle. "Miss Marielle, tomorrow evening, in a small ceremony, Nyanta-san and Miss Purrcy are going to make their relationship official before Shiroe-san. They'd be pleased to have Crescent Moon in attendance as well."

Marielle stood frozen for a bit. That was rather a bit of a bomb-shell. No wonder they were being careful with Serera. "That's what we're making the cakes for," Serera said quietly, but with somewhat of a newfound strength. It made Marielle's heart melt to hear it. Even the chef was looking at her with compassion and pride.

"Do you think it would help, Serera-chan?" she said quietly, with an encouraging look. Serera paused, then nodded emphatically. "Then, I think we'd be pleased to come, though if it's okay, I'll make it something everyone can make their own choice about, on if they'll go or not." Serera nodded and Marielle looked at Minori.

"That would be fine," Minori said. "It will be under the tree on the roof, so we may have to squeeze in a bit, but that's how she came to us and where they are happiest."

"What can we bring?" Marielle asked.

The children looked at each other, brows creased. Rudy offered, "Drinks, perhaps. We haven't thought that far yet."

Marielle nodded. "We can handle that." Not a single person from Crescent Moon was going to want tea. It would be better if they could handle the drinks to prevent that.

"Ah, Guildmistress," Isuzu said, "even if you allow everyone to choose...I think you should let Yuudai know that we would like him specifically to come."

Since that was the one person that Marielle had been hedging to let stay home, she was rather surprised. "Yuudai? You want him to come for sure?"

They nodded. Touya hesitated, then said, "Guildmistress...Miss Marielle," he blushed slightly to use the less formal form, "even you need to come and see what the real Miss Purrcy is like. Crescent Moon has only been able to see it at the barbecue."

Marielle was taken aback and sat back to consider it. "Does she have a face on outside of the house?"

"And for guests," Isuzu said, agreeing with Touya. The others nodded when Marielle's eyes asked all of them.

"I-it's true," Serera said, blushing. Marielle stared at her in surprise. "When I was there earlier, by myself, I was able to see it, too. She really is very nice."

Marielle relaxed and smiled. "I think it would be good to be able to see the nice Purrcy. If we can come celebrate the happy occasion with them, then we'll be glad to do it." She looked at the four again. "If there's anything else you need from us, let me know right away."

Minori bowed. "Thank you very much Miss Marielle, but they really want it very quiet and small. Just having their friends around them is enough. It will be sufficient if you will come...and bring drinks."

"Very well. I will look forward to tasting your cakes tomorrow, then." She turned and they gave her cheery farewells and returned to their task. Marielle walked off thoughtfully. The people of Log Horizon were really very special, particularly the youngest four of them...and Naotsugu, of course.

-:-:-:-:-

Dinner that night was a busy affair for Nyanta and Purrcy, and really all the junior members of the guild. They made enough for thirty and fed eleven, the leftovers going into the refrigerator and Purrcy's food boxes. It took as long to clean up from, almost. Shiroe tried to be as patient as possible, but he had to finally call Purrcy away from the kitchen and to his office. He looked up and smiled as she came into his office. "Thank you, Purrcy, for your hard work. I look forward to eating that again in the future."

"You're welcome. Be sure to praise their efforts again, when you do. They've all worked very hard," she said as she walked over to his desk.

"I will," he promised. He put his hand on top of the paper on his desk and looked at her questioningly. She smiled and turned kitten and lept up on his desk to sit in front of him. He pet her head, then stroked her back, smiling at her. "I've been going over my notes from Minami, that my other companion from the Debauchery Tea Party sent me. His name is Kazuhiko and he's sort of the Chief of Police for the city." He tapped the paper in front of him and she moved to take a look at the words written on it. "This is a list of Adventurers that have gone 'missing'. They haven't been seen for some time, but should be still there in the city. When he tries to contact them via chat, they don't respond."

Purrcy looked up at him. "The reason that is of note is because every Adventurer had to join the same guild - Plant Hwayden. Thus he should be able to contact them through at least the guild chat connection. But they don't answer, nor have they called to say they're in danger or need help." Purrcy nodded her understanding. "Can you search the database and tell me if any are missing?" He sat back and took a breath. "I was thinking that if some of the life lines are cut, perhaps they've experimented and cut the lines, then killed the Adventurers to see what happens to them. If they die, they wouldn't be contactable." He looked at her soberly. It was a horrible thought, but it was important, and she already understood.

She was looking at him soberly, in that way he found so cute - kitten in thought. He enjoyed looking at her, finding it somewhat relaxing while having to think such dark thoughts. She nodded. "I've also thought that, or that their spirit matter - psyche - becomes trapped here, unable to rise or fall. It's my intention that if another spirit, or even ghost, is encountered that I want to see if it might be an Adventurer trapped that way."

Shiroe hadn't quite thought of that, though he'd been thinking something close. He raised an eyebrow. "Do you think the spirit you erased two nights ago might have been an Adventurer?"

Purrcy hesitated, then said, "I hope not. I don't think so. It seemed more of a construct of his mind. That doesn't mean it wasn't. I didn't know to check then, and now it's too late."

He nodded. There wasn't much to be done about that now. "Can you check on these names?"

She glanced down at the list again. "Yes. It's a rather long search so you might get the answer in the morning. Is that okay?"

He nodded. "As long as your HP doesn't drop too much during the night to endanger you."

She shook her head. "It won't take much. Simple search spells are low cost. It's just a large database."

"Thank you," he said soberly. She looked at the list one more time, likely setting the memorization this time, then looked back at him to see if he had anything else to add. He scratched her under the chin a bit, then shifted the top paper for the one under it. "Here's my rough draft of the marriage contract. What do you think?"

She looked at it closely, reading it very carefully. "It took you a long time to come up with this," she said knowingly.

"Well...yes, but I did want to make sure that the world - or another Hacker - couldn't tamper with it."

"Thank you," she said soberly. She looked at it one more time. "I think it works, but you should have Nyanta come read it over, too."

Shiroe called him to come in, then pet Purrcy again. She rubbed against his hand and purred. He lazily played with her until Nyanta came in.

"Purrcy? Shiroe-ichi?" Nyanta asked curiously, looking between the two of them.

"Ah, Nyanta, I've got the contract draft for you to review," Shiroe said, suddenly realizing what he was doing and sitting up in embarrassment from leaning on his other elbow. He picked the draft up and handed it over.

As soon as Nyanta's arm was extended to retrieve it, Purrcy lept up on his arm and walked up it to his shoulder to purr in his ear and lick his cheek. "Shiroe's worked hard on it," she said, reading it again from his shoulder. Nyanta absently pet her as he read.

When he was done he handed it back. "Meow, it looks good to me," Nyanta said. Purrcy purred and rubbed her head on his neck and the side of his head. He reached up and picked her up and held her in both paws facing him, looking at her. "But, mew'll let Shiroe-ichi play with mew?"

"Just on the desk," she answered. "It helps him relax, a thing he keeps forgetting how to do."

"That's true, nyan," Nyanta had to agree.

Shiroe blushed. "I won't if you don't want me to, Nyanta. Just say so."

Nyanta looked at him carefully. "Nyan. If it's just on the desk and mew respect the boundaries properly, relaxing is good for mew." Shiroe agreed and Purrcy nodded. Nyanta put her on his head and she giggled and lay down for balance, then patted his forehead with her paw. Her tail swished against the back of his head.

She looked like a golden-speckled black mohawk on the grey cat and Shiroe had to smile. "You've gone punk rocker, Chief. That's a bit out of your normal style isn't it?"

Nyanta looked up as if trying to see for himself and his whiskers lifted. "Purrhaps, but it's a rather convenient way to carry her, actually. Rather like a hat to keep my head warm."

Purrcy snorted. "Like you haven't already got enough fur up here for that. I'll overheat your brain, more likely." She started licking his head where she could reach and he reached up a paw and pat her on the head and stroked her back.

Shiroe couldn't hold in a small laugh. "That was even worse, Chief. That looked so like a proud display, as if you were showing off the mohawk." Nyanta struck a pose and did it again more dramatically and Shiroe had to let out.

"Ah, see, there is the relaxed Shiroe-ichi," he boasted, a sparkle in his eyes.

Shiroe shook his head. "I'm done with the two of you. Go have your own fun. ...Thank you." Nyanta strode out of the room proudly wearing his living black mohawk. Shiroe could hear snorts of laughter come from Naotsugu and Tetora, likely sitting in the living room as they usually did in the evenings before retiring to bed.

There was a bit of motion as the door clicked closed and Shiroe rose from his desk to walk over to the chair where he bent down and gave his shadow a kiss and a rub of the head. Sitting on the couch he picked up the tea she had set out for him. It had gone a little cool, but was still nearly just right. As Akatsuki settled next to him, she said, "It's good to hear you laugh...and it was good to hear him laugh yesterday also."

Shiroe nodded. "I'm glad to hear it, too. Even in the Debauchery Tea Party it wasn't common, but it did occur occasionally."

"Then why not for the last two years?" she asked curiously.

Shiroe shook his head, taking another sip of tea. "I don't know...but whatever it was, she seems to have fixed it." He set his cup down on the saucer and looked at Akatsuki fondly, recognized the feeling and leaned over to kiss her again, testing. He'd been right, it was the right mix she'd taught him earlier. "Thank you," he said to her.

"Ah...for what?" she asked him.

He smiled. "For letting me laugh, too."

She wiggled uncomfortably, and blushed, but it was a happy look - or so it seemed to him. He asked, just to make sure. Her simple, happy nod made him feel better.

He relaxed and sipped from his tea cup again until she leaned her head on his shoulder. He sighed to himself. He still wasn't quite sure how to get out of this one. He hoped he wouldn't have to call on Purrcy to save them this time.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy was monitoring many things by now and most things were quiet, thank goodness. That meant she could focus on the three most important things she was monitoring - her students. She had given them their assignments the day of the press conference. Yesterday they had gone over their preliminary concepts and worked on creating the base pseudocode. Today she had started by looking at what each one had come up with and made modifications for clarification of what she was looking for. Now she was just watching each of them write their spell.

She was sitting in her "couch" watching three "screens" where she was having a line-feed bring her what they were doing. It was a safety precaution and it was so she wasn't being invasive in their personal inner space. Plus then she didn't have to figure out how to be three places at once. The differentials in her speed versus theirs meant she could watch all three of them and make suggestions before they went off the deep end. They were doing fairly well, though.

She'd given Tetora the simplest of her three tasks because of his level. He was writing a search algorithm to search the database of Adventurers using whichever input the user of the spell wished to have the search based on - name, location, Class, etc. It was right about at his sub-class level, but just enough harder that he was crafting carefully to conserve HP. He'd go up at least one more level by the time it was done. Of course, as a university programming student, he'd written plenty of them in his time, so only the magic side of it - and the safety side of it as well - needed his focus. Purrcy was making comments as he went to teach him to have a finer, lighter hand, too, since then she and he could use it against enemies if he did it right the first time.

The second most difficult of the tasks went to the wolf-fang, WolfMan6. Purrcy had set him to writing a program that would scan spells cast in a requested area for a given length of time and return what type of spell it had been and who had cast it. His extra credit problem was to be able to also return what the spell had specifically done as it's result. He was struggling with working it out, but Purrcy had instructed Michael to be his TA on it, if for no other reason than to slow Michael down just a little, though he also needed the help in becoming the high level instructor.

Michael's assignment was rather advanced and was related to secret special ops stuff, so tickled him. His spell was to be a general listening spell that scanned chats (extra credit: it would scan personal conversations in meeting zones) then picked out the names of people who were being discussed. She'd told him to use chats and conversations in Akiba that had Shiroe as the topic of conversation as his training data.

She expected him to divine the deeper purpose of the spell from just that much of a hint. She was watching the creation of his spell to see when he'd finally made the proper connection. He was actually getting close, reaching the part of the pseudocode where he'd realize it. The testing of his code would confirm it, of course. She was wondering if he'd put the change in now or after the confirming test.

"Purrcy," he said aloud, rather quietly and with a musing tone to his voice. "When do you want the proper code in?"

"You're going to actually ask?" she asked surprised. "I was going to let you do it whenever you wanted."

"Then...I'll do it now. To come back is a waste of time."

"That's fine," she said and watched him put the more sophisticated coding into the spell immediately after that.

When he was done, he asked, "Like it?"

"You've put in an interesting test. Why that one?"

"So that the topic of interest can be changed on the fly."

"Mmm...okay." Purrcy sighed. He was going to convert over when this spell was done. "You won't fly away after this, will you?"

He was silent and his coding stopped. He finally said, quietly, "I signed on, didn't I?"

Quietly she replied, "I'm counting on you, then."

After a short moment his coding started up again and they all fell into silent working again. Purrcy had her own code she was working on with them: a sort algorithm that would take the combined data their spells would generate and sort through them to make a combined set of lists to give her the final output of who might be considered allies and who would need to be carefully watched. She had the basic structure of it down. The specifics would go in after their spells were done, but having it put together that much let her direct the way they put theirs together as well.

She tweaked it just a little to allow for Michael's modification, then changed her mind. For her purposes that wouldn't be necessary. Instead she put in a constant null to act as a stopper for it in her program. She didn't need outside influences acting on her neural network. If he wanted to use it that way on his own, that was fine. She liked this - being able to code all at the same time, but not having to do it all herself.

-:-:-:-:-

"Hello, everybody," a cheerful voice said after a long time had passed, "it looks like you're almost done for the day. Are you ready for your heal-up?"

"It isn't _that_ late in the day," Michael said, unhurried, since it wasn't even a few hours after noon.

"Well...I was actually hoping to steal Miss Purrcy away from you'all," Marielle sounded just a little nervous, "at least while she still had some energy left in her."

Purrcy set her world right and slowly left the code realm to return to the world. "What's up, Marielle?" she asked. She blinked in surprise as Nyanta brushed a paw over her head. She'd completely forgotten he was with them. They'd taken to lying down to do their work and he'd sat with his back against the rock, so she'd chosen to pillow her head in his lap. She gave him a smile. "What a pleasant thing to return to," she told him.

His whiskers lifted and his ear turned, pleased. "What a pleasant thing to have return to me, meow," he replied. He looked up at Marielle. "Shall I come, too, nyan?"

Marielle shook her head. "If it's okay, we'll just take the ladies."

"Whulp, that means me, too, then," Tetora sat up with a grin.

Marielle looked at him, then nodded. "You can come, too," she allowed. She raised her wand and cast Heartbeat Healing on the group, though in the case of Nyanta it just lifted his mood a little.

His whiskers twitched up again. "Adding in a bit of hope I'll say yes, Meowrielle?" he asked her. She blushed. He flicked an ear. "It's alright. She can go." He helped Purrcy sit up, then stood up as well.

Michael sat up with a bit of a yawn. "I think I'll go work on my other project for the day, then. You okay with stopping now, WolfMan6?"

"Sure," their final class member said with a stretch. "I'll take my breaks when I can get em'. Teach' won't let us play hookie normally after all." He gave a grin and a wave of his tail.

They walked back towards town together, WolfMan6 taking off when they got out of the university zone. Henrietta and Akatsuki were waiting for Marielle and Purrcy outside the two guild halls. Nyanta gave Purrcy a kiss. "Meow. Have fun, nyan." He rubbed his cheek on hers and let her go. She smiled back, letting her ears and tail speak for her. Tetora arrived at her other side to smoothly tuck her hand into his elbow, as if they were girlfriends going on a walk into town together. Purrcy's ears twitched fondly at him and they joined the other three women to head towards town.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael looked at Nyanta before opening the door to the guild hall. "It was a mistake to let Crescent Moon know, wasn't it?"

Nyanta sighed. "Well...there are more here who love Purrcy than she knows. ...I suppose I knew it would be difficult from the beginning."

"Is she going to be okay with it?" Michael asked.

Nyanta gave a teasing look to Michael. "She signed on, too, didn't she?"

Michael gave a grimace then looked closer. Nyanta gave him a piercing look. "Right. I'll be counting on you, then," Michael answered him.

"Mew do that," Nyanta answered, reaching to open the door, "we play for keeps around here."

Michael paused before following him in. Very quietly he said as he passed Nyanta, "That's what I'm expecting."

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta seemed to be in a good mood," Marielle said brightly to Purrcy and Tetora as they walked.

"Yes, he did," Tetora said. He put a finger to his lip and looked musingly into the sky. "I wonder why?" Purrcy shoved him lightly, not letting go though. Tetora laughed. "Getting to see his beautiful wife on his wedding day in his lap instead of a cat - beautiful though she may be also - would make any husband-to-be happy, wouldn't it?"

Purrcy's ears were twitching in rather a lot of embarrassment. "I would think so," Marielle said blithely.

"So...where are we going?" Purrcy asked, "Other than to distract me from the decorations and other preparations going on for the evening, that is?"

"I told you she would already know why," Akatsuki said practically.

Henrietta nodded. "Of course it would be obvious, that part," she agreed. She looked at Purrcy. "We wanted to introduce you to the rest of the Water Maple girls."

Purrcy's ear twitched. Akatsuki looked up at her earnestly. "They're all my friends. I would like you to know them also."

Purrcy inclined her head. "Then I would be glad to meet them...if it wasn't first going to be an opportunity to scold me for stepping into Serera's place so rudely." She looked at Marielle and Henrietta pointedly. They gave her cool looks and Akatsuki scrunched into her shirt collar. Tetora almost stopped walking in surprise and Purrcy had to rather drag him along. Purrcy sighed. "However, it's probably best done before tonight as well."

After walking a bit longer, she added. "Though if that's all it will be, I do hope you'll let Tetora return me home so I can cry into my pillow. I really won't be in town long enough for the rest of you to be that angry with me. She'll still get him most of the time after the training session Shiroe's set for the two of us is over, the same as she already has."

"It isn't the same," Marielle said just a little grimly.

"I suppose the dream will have to change," Purrcy agreed a little sadly.

Akatsuki was just a bit disturbed, but resigned. Purrcy looked at her. "I suppose you did get approval from Shiroe first?" The ninja looked up in surprise and nodded. Purrcy sighed. "Well, then, he's either in agreement or oblivious." She walked on silently after that.

After a bit Henrietta looked at Purrcy curiously. "You'll really do what Shiroe wants you to do?"

Purrcy gave a cynical look. "Is there a person who knows him who won't?" There was no answer for that, though several times one or another of the ladies tried to open their mouths to do so and failed.

"King," Akatsuki finally muttered quietly into her chest.

Purrcy nodded sympathetically, then patted Akatsuki on the head. "It isn't your fault, really Akatsuki. I'm sorry to have spoiled your fun. I just hate to have such things hidden under the rug when they should be openly stated from the beginning so that everyone's expectations can be properly set. ...She's well worth it, after all, particularly to Crescent Moon...but I think to Log Horizon as well?" She gave a knowing look to Akatsuki, who blushed, and then turned her golden gaze on Tetora. He was startled to be called out as well, but upon consideration, he could only be sheepish.

"You'll answer to it properly?" Henrietta said, though it wasn't really a request.

"Of course, Marquess," Purrcy said with complete sincerity, though Henrietta looked to be sure. Purrcy bowed her head politely in response.

"Princess," muttered Akatsuki, as if that explained it all. Henrietta must have decided it was a sufficient explanation, since she turned away without complaint.

"Ah...may I know who'll be there so I can be properly prepared?" Purrcy asked.

Akatsuki ticked them off on her fingers as she said them, "Me, Marie, Henrietta, Nazuna, Rieze, and Princess Raynessia. ...And Tetora." Tetora had to take his turn pulling on Purrcy to keep her going at the mention of Rieze, and it almost wasn't enough when the Princess of the Land was added.

"H-have you really carefully considered what you're about to do?" Purrcy asked, then looked at Akatsuki again, her ears back, "And did Shiroe actually say it was okay?"

They looked at her curiously. "Yes, he did. I told him very plainly," Akatsuki said, puzzled.

"Is it a problem?" Henrietta asked, just a little archly.

"Um...if it's alright with you, I'd like to confirm it?" Purrcy said, and immediately called Shiroe on a chat call.

"Purrcy?" he asked. "Have you reached the ambassador's home yet? I think you'll find Princess Raynessia fun to talk to."

"And did you also know they mean to scold me for Serera's sake first?" she asked.

There was a pause, then, "I'm sorry."

"And what am I to say to Rieze when she questions me on all the things you don't want me to say to her?"

There was another pause. "Nothing."

"Die." She ended the call and continued to walk calmly forward. After a bit of a stunned and frightened pause all around, Purrcy was suddenly in a semi-formal dress that complemented her coloring beautifully, though it was simple in line and looked very comfortable for all it was a dress. They were arriving at a simple mansion near the outskirts of the main part of the city and they gave her worried looks. "I do hope you'll all take responsibility," she said without looking at them, "I'll be sure to make him take his own when we get back, but he won't be here to protect me, so all of you must."

Even Henrietta and Marielle were looking properly humbled. "Yes, Miss Purrcy," Marielle said timidly. They were suddenly too afraid to knock at the door. Purrcy turned her head to look at Tetora and inclined her head towards it. He somewhat reluctantly let her go (Akatsuki took a step closer to her) and moved forward to knock at the door. Once that duty was done he quickly returned to her side, though she had only stood calmly, waiting on him.

The door was opened by a Person of the Land butler who recognized them and let them into a receiving room. "I'll let her Highness know you've arrived," he said a bit in resignation.

Purrcy watched him walk out of the room. "I do hope you had the sense to warn her and her staff we were coming first?"

"Ah, ...yes!" Akatsuki said a bit too energetically. "We let everyone know early."

Purrcy looked at her a bit judgmentally, then said, "Well that is a small relief on her part, I'm sure." They weren't quite sure what she meant by that, she could tell. She let it ride, sitting down primly in a chair to wait. Tetora stood behind her, rather automatically. The other three, who didn't normally sit in the room since they would only just be leaving it again, stayed standing.

"Hello," a young female voice said from the doorway, though she continued on into the sitting room. "The others are already here," the beautiful young woman stopped and paused upon seeing Purrcy. Purrcy looked at her calmly, assessing what a Princess of the Land was in this place. She had long silver hair and delicate features, quite appropriate to royalty of the game, and therefore of the living recreation of it. She seemed slightly timid and certainly sufficiently graceful and politely noble - that is, humbly female.

"Raynessia, this is Purrcy," Akatsuki made the introduction. "She's come recently to Shiroe's attention and is part of Log Horizon. I wanted her to meet you. Purrcy this is Princess Raynessia of Maihama, the capital city of the League of Free Cities of Eastal, the ruling People of the Land for the same area that Akiba is part of." It had been a long detailed description, particularly for Akatsuki and she looked a bit relieved to have not had her tongue stumble in the middle of it.

"Princess," Purrcy inclined her head politely, but not very deep. The Adventurers looked worried, but the Princess was looking at her slightly confused, as if trying to fit her into the world picture she had. "I've only recently been able to understand the language of Akiba, so Akatsuki wanted to be sure that I understood fully your relationship to the land and this city. Shiroe has told me that you are the ambassador to the Adventurers of Akiba?"

Raynessia curtsied. "Yes, I am, by appointment of my grandfather, Duke Sergiad Cowen. ...It's a pleasure to meet you."

Purrcy considered her answer. "Likewise. Then, I take it he is the ruling leader over a council?"

"Yes...Lady Purrcy."

Purrcy inclined her head again in recognition of the title. "Thank you."

Raynessia blinked. "You're...not an Adventurer?"

Purrcy rose. "I believe we are keeping others waiting?" she said calmly, though wishing she could turn around and walk away. Raynessia was looking at the others for help, though they couldn't give any. Purrcy wasn't going to get any either so wasn't feeling too disposed to release her from her confusion.

She stood looking at Raynessia in expectation instead, until the young princess started in surprise at her own rudeness. "Yes, please come this way," she meekly led the way.

"Your hair has been done up lovely," Purrcy commented on the way. "Your maid must enjoy working with your hair to spend so much time on it." Since they were coming up on a maid, who'd been looking at the Princess and their little troupe somewhat worriedly, Purrcy kept the corner of her eye on that one. When the maid blushed, she added. "If I had long hair, I would ask her to do my own, just for the opportunity to appreciate her fine hand once." The maid look inordinately pleased, while at the same time very confused - after all who could braid the hair of a short-haired cat?

"Thank you," Raynessia said politely. "I'll be sure to pass your praise on to her."

"Oh? You'll allow her the credit?" Purrcy asked quietly. Raynessia stiffened and the other ladies gave Purrcy dark looks. Purrcy ignored them, her ears turning this way and that slowly, learning the sounds of this new place.

Akatsuki was already looking like she wished she'd not agreed to this plan. Purrcy calmly, and surreptitiously, put her hand on Akatsuki's back. Leaning down she purred just very briefly and brushed her cheek with an ear. Upon straightening, Akatsuki looked at her, then took a breath and nodded, trying for brave at least, then gave her an interesting look. Purrcy didn't know what it meant, but it was better than what she was before so she returned to just walking.


	33. Water Maple Encounter

The visiting delegation to Princess Raynessia's manor, Water Maple, and the hostess arrived in a sitting room that was rather large, with two couches and a number of chairs, all plush and elegantly made. "Oh, my," murmured Purrcy. "Have your own people made these, Princess? I haven't seen such fine furniture since I've arrived here in Akiba. Truly it must be nice to have a few creature comforts of home."

"Yes, they were. My Grandfather made sure to send furnishings appropriate to my station," she said, just a tad dully. Purrcy's lip quirked up.

"Have you already become enamored of the things of the Adventurers, dear?" she asked in pity.

The Princess turned a sideways almost-glare on her, then caught herself and smoothed her face. Purrcy tipped her head just slightly, her ears perked at her. "Ah, rather, you'd be in your bed with a pillow tucked under you and a good book in your hand...except you'd rather be not even that, but have a good iPad in hand and your favorite manga. Likely you'd read the worst sort, as well, just because you could get away with it."

Purrcy turned her gaze to the other two waiting women in the room leaving Raynessia to gape and blink in utter confusion. "Rieze," Purrcy nodded her head. "Before you begin, Shiroe expressly told me that I am to answer any question from you, other than polite conversation, with 'nothing'. Please do not ask. What you've heard is the official word I'm allowed to say." Rieze looked a bit taken aback, then slightly crestfallen.

Purrcy turned to the last person, "Nazuna, I believe?" The foxtail nodded. "Purrcy. Pleased to meet you. I do hope you've been feeling better? I know I have been."

Nazuna nodded. "I've heard it's thanks to you."

"I did see you at the press conference, so I assume you did." Purrcy said neutrally. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to greet you then."

Nazuna waved her hand. "It's apparent you're on a short leash and the Machiavelli has it in his hand."

"Of course," Purrcy said properly. "I was surprised he'd let me go this far with only two guardians." Both Nazuna and Rieze glanced at Tetora and Akatsuki, then took in Marielle and Henrietta's pale faces and Raynessia's worried countenance.

Rieze leaned back and interlaced her fingers, wrapping them around a knee. "You seem to be well in control."

Purrcy looked at her, then moved to sit on the couch across from her, taking a deep breath as she sat so it wouldn't be noticeable once she was in place. Tetora seemed a bit torn as to where to place himself. Akatsuki took the spot to the right of Purrcy, Marielle to her left, so Tetora was left with standing behind her. Henrietta took the place across from Marielle, next to Rieze. Nazuna returned to sitting casually in the chair to Purrcy's left between the couches and the Princess sat primly in the one opposite her, her hand clasped nervously in her lap.

Purrcy's wild ears and nose had already placed all the servants in the room, and a young maid now came and poured up tea for each person present. Purrcy made the maid hand the cup to her, sipping at it when she found it already the perfect temperature, giving a pleased nod at that. She continued to hold the cup in her lap. She had sat relaxed on purpose. Everyone else was quite tense, except Rieze and Nazuna who were just slightly challenging in their relaxed poses.

Purrcy waited just until everyone had been served and the maid had stepped out of the central arena. "It should be said that since Marielle requested this to begin with, and we all know the subject and reason she called for it, that she should be the one to properly begin." She looked into her teacup as she sipped from it again, but she was gauging the reactions from the two in front of her. Henrietta panicked just a little. Rieze raised an eyebrow, then a lip quirked up a tad and she glanced at Marielle.

For her part, Marielle had frozen in alarm, then slumped slightly in resignation. Purrcy allowed her the time to collect herself and decide she really did want the scolding to continue. When she had firmed her resolve, Purrcy turned her head to look at her, though she carefully didn't turn her whole self, to give her polite but full attention. She could sense the Princess paying close attention to everything she was doing.

"Serera says that you are capable of being kind," the words and look were a scold in themselves, "but she has been in quite a bit of pain. What gives you the right to come into Akiba and turn her world upside down in such a short amount of time?"

"Nothing," Purrcy said calmly. "There's no right given to man or woman in heaven for any blessing, nor any cursing, save their own choices for good or ill, and even then the result can be capricious."

"Were you jealous of her taking your place?" Marielle's lips pursed.

"Of course. She took my place in his house in Susukino and I wished many times to be there after I'd been chased out and had to work my way on my own down here from there. How could anyone not be jealous? That didn't mean it was my right to call the world unfair. It isn't fair. Rather, I was glad such a young thing could have a safe place to be. At least I believed _I_ could survive the journey. Indeed, I was relieved to hear from her that you had been kind enough to send a rescue for her. Susukino was not a place to leave anyone with a kind heart."

"Then...do you hate her?"

Purrcy smiled sadly. "No."

"Why not?"

Purrcy paused, then looked down into her cup in her lap. "It is sad to see her in pain, but she knew when she chose to fall in love with him that he would never be able to return her affections."

"Why weren't you already with him in Susukino?" Purrcy allowed the questions to come from others. They would all have thoughts Marielle wouldn't be able to put together.

"Because even I was afraid at that time, and it took me many months to work up my courage once I did see him again, being a coward at heart," she looked up plainly. "Just because you have seen a man being kind does not make it easy to believe he will be kind to _you_." Every face in the room showed some level of complete comprehension of that thought. Purrcy was a bit surprised to even see it on Princess Raynessia's face. She sighed to herself, then finally took another small sip of tea.

Tentatively Akatsuki said, "Purrcy doesn't prevent Serera from being with him, or them...rather, she invites it."

"Why?"

Purrcy paused considering her answer. "Nyanta has been a source of stability and comfort for Serera-chan since that time. I don't need to remove that strength from her. It does me no harm. If I can also be part of that strength, I would prefer it. Still, if she refused it, I wouldn't force it on her, either."

"Why doesn't it do you harm?" she was challenged.

"Why does that matter?" she challenged back.

"It lessens her in your eyes."

Purrcy closed her eyes and shook her head. "Serera is a very strong girl who has tried very hard, and is very good. Why should I not choose to want to have her as an example for myself? When I see how relaxed and comfortable Nyanta is with her, why would I not want to see him that way? If I forced them to be apart all the time, wouldn't I only get eyes of reproach and sorrow? Who wishes to see that every time they look at the one they love?"

The room was quiet for a while, then Nazuna said, almost maliciously, "You certainly paint yourself to be the perfect person."

Purrcy looked at her sadly. "I am the first to say I am far from perfect. Nyanta would be the second. I have kept nothing secret from him. It was his to choose whether to keep me or not. In Theldesia are we not all free from our pasts, to make ourselves anew? So many keep secret what we were, even from the ones we say we are close to. To commit to marriage...that is wrong. We may have to go back and face a falsehood. How then could we face the one who we had loved so deeply here? The pain of that would be immeasurable. It is not perfection, Nazuna, it is perfect love, as close as we imperfect humans can attain." She shook her head. "And...it is age and experience."

"...Have I not seen my own brothers and sisters, friends, parents, and daughters and sons live life?" she whispered. "Would I not also change my own life if it were possible?" She looked down into her cup, once again wishing a cat body could cry, though she wouldn't in this room.

When she had recovered somewhat, she looked back at Nazuna calmly. "Here, I can try to be better. I should be careful who I tell the whole truth of my past to, but I can also be more careful how I choose to live this time. I do not choose to relive all of the mistakes of my past. Just the ones I can't see because of the blindness of us all to our own weaknesses. And if those who care about me tell me what they are, I can try to change, if possible, and hope they will continue to walk with me even if I can't."

She looked at them all, ending with Akatsuki, who she gave a small smile to. "Isn't that who you wanted to introduce me to, Akatsuki? People who will do that for you? Those who you call friends?"

Akatsuki looked up and into her eyes soberly. "Yes, Hahaue. These are my friends, who do that for me here."

"Then I am glad," Purrcy said quietly. "Treasure them."

Akatsuki paused, then said carefully, "Purrcy...I would...want you to also consider them friends."

Purrcy paused, tipping her head at Akatsuki, considering her earnest face, then she looked around at everyone else. She said, "It is my experience that friendship is built with time and experiences that build trust and comradeship. I have only just arrived and only just met three of you now. ...I am not opposed, since even all of you were willing to see I was corrected if it was needful, but I am not an easy person to deal with, nor am I around much at all. ...And I have no idea how to keep friends. I am quite a failure at it from the beginning."

There were looks around the group. "You wouldn't be the first," it was Princess Raynessia, again surprising Purrcy. "I also had troubles believing I could have friends, and didn't know what it was to be one. I like to believe I've been learning." She received encouraging and soft looks.

Purrcy softened for her. "Then...a Princess of the Land has been learning to be friends with the strange creatures called Adventurers. This is why you're also learning to be the same with your own?"

Raynessia looked a little startled, then just a tad depressed. "I suppose my parents would be scandalized, not to mention the rest of the court."

Purrcy gave a little laugh, startling them. "And you are ever so pleased by that fact. I believe your Grandfather would be pleased as well, though in public he wouldn't be allowed to admit to it."

"Do you know my Grandfather?" Raynessia asked with a raised eyebrow. Purrcy merely took a sip of her now nearly cold tea, choosing to finish it off then hand it to Tetora, who had it taken by the maid.

"I could probably be your grandmother, dear," she finally said.

There were protests around the room that surely she couldn't be that old. Purrcy smiled and teased, "Perhaps, but you were all thinking it all the same." There were a few blushes and shakes of the head. Finally Rieze had the courage to look her in the eye and ask just how old she was. Purrcy flicked an ear. After a moment, she finally said, "That doesn't fall in the category of questions of yours I may not answer, however you must understand that it is a jealously guarded data point for me. I prefer to only answer in one way: I am older than Nyanta. ...Please let that suffice."

"Do you know how old he is?" Akatsuki looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Yes."

"And does he know how old you are?"

"Yes. As I said we've told each other everything so that we don't misstep in what we're choosing to do." Purrcy flicked an ear at her. "Isn't it right for the one you love and choose to marry be your best friend, in the end?"

Akatsuki got the most marvelous look of awe on her face. Purrcy grinned to herself and let Akatsuki savor that thought, turning to Marielle. Marielle looked at her, then slowly smiled. "I know I'm going to love being married to my best _male_ friend. I don't think Henrietta would let me marry her, and I don't want to besides."

A laugh escaped Purrcy before she could restrain it and it was followed by several others she went ahead and let out, feeling them bubble up happily. "No, I don't imagine she would," Purrcy finally recovered enough to say. "Thank you for the distinction and correction." Somehow, the atmosphere in the room had warmed just a little.

"So...Marie," Nazuna said lazily, "what was the other reason you wanted us to come?" It seemed to have some overtones to it.

Marielle perked up and looked at Raynessia. Raynessia seemed to shrink in on herself in slight fear. Purrcy narrowed her eyes slightly. "Raynessia has the most beautiful dresses, though I love to see her in Adventurer clothing, and I thought, since Purrcy is similar in size, that she might have something appropriate for Purrcy to wear tonight. Raynessia, can we raid your closet this afternoon and try things on Purrcy?"

Raynessia was slightly confused, but relaxed visibly. "Um...I guess?"

Akatsuki looked at Purrcy a slight pleading look on her face. Purrcy looked at her quizzically and Akatsuki glanced at Raynessia, then helplessly at Purrcy. Purrcy tipped her head at Henrietta. Akatsuki looked like she felt she hadn't communicated, but Purrcy nodded. She rose. "Princess, I would be honored if you'd let me try on some of your clothing for Marielle, though it is certainly a rude request of any noble to have their wardrobe ransacked by another person. I am looking for a few new designs for my own line of clothing. If I could perhaps find some inspiration from the things your own fine caftspersons have created, or even hire a few to design them for me?"

Raynessia popped up out of her seat. "Ah, certainly, Lady Purrcy. I'm sure...," she looked quizzical.

The others were rising as well. Nazuna said, with a twitch of a tail, "That dress does look like a Shopping District 8 H12b special. Is it from the new line?"

"You can tell?" Purrcy asked. "Thank you...but for someone who doesn't wear them, I'm surprised you knew?"

Nazuna twitched. "I...do...like to look at them."

The eye of every other maiden in the room went to the foxtail. She always wore a kimono loosely about her shoulders as if she couldn't care less about what she wore. "I think...next time we'll try clothes on Nazuna," Rieze said with narrowed eyes.

Nazuna froze and shivered, her ears going back. Purrcy looked at Raynessia and gestured she should begin to lead the way to her rooms. Raynessia obediently led the way. Purrcy purposefully walked next to Nazuna. "Please, tell me about your guild."

"Ah...it's Soujirou's guild, West Wind Brigade. I'm his main assistant. There are lots of girls in the guild because he defends women with all his might, mostly because it's the right thing to do. That has made it rather a harem." Purrcy raised a hand to stop the flow, and Nazuna obeyed.

"Choosing to become less than you should be is not the way to keep the peace, Nazuna. Be yourself and let them come to terms with it. They won't think less of you for it, and your friends will be able to better support you. You must love yourself properly first before you can truly let others love you," Purrcy looked at her significantly, "even if it is just your friends."

Nazuna looked at her with a cynical look. "With just that, you think you've solved it?"

Purrcy looked her in the eye. "Obviously not, since you refuse to believe it. We will show you next." Nazuna looked nervous suddenly, and her tail swooshed unhappily.

They arrived at Raynessia's bedroom. Her wardrobe was already open and there were three dresses laid out on the bed and a fourth was being pulled out by her maid, the same maid that Purrcy had complemented earlier. Raynessia looked lightly betrayed and looked slightly balefully at Purrcy. Purrcy ignored it. "And you are?" she asked the maid.

The maid blushed to be directly addressed by someone not her mistress. "Elissa, your Ladyship," she curtsied.

"Elissa, please tell me, how difficult is it to get Raynessia to wear beautiful clothing?"

Elissa looked apologetically at her mistress, but Purrcy didn't relent. "Well...rather difficult, actually," she finally said. "She would much rather be in slovenly clothing that she considers relaxing, ...such as pajamas."

"Flannels are best," Purrcy agreed, with a nod. Elissa looked at her in shock and Raynessia seemed to get a glimmer of hope. "Come here ladies," she said motioning to Raynessia and Nazuna. She set them next to each other and moved to stand in front of the foot of the bed, facing them. The rest of the women, and Tetora who had followed them in and perched on the vanity chair backwards to watch Mother work, watched to see what she would do.

"You two are polar opposites. One wishes to dress down and despises the clothing requirements that are placed upon her by outside expectations. The other wishes to dress up and is afraid to admit it, because of internal expectations of other's outward expectations." The other women in the room nodded complete agreement. "While forcing others to dress up for one's own enjoyment is rude, and often unkind," Purrcy looked both Marielle and Henrietta down in the pause at the end of that statement, "it is often because it is an inward desire of those doing the dressing to get the person being tortured to admit their own weakness, or their own desires - to see truth so that those who are watching them torture themselves can stop hurting for them."

She could see she'd talked a bit too deep so stopped and waited. She looked at Akatsuki. "I take it Henrietta also dressed you up?" Akatsuki nodded. "Please tell us what words would describe how you felt about it. Single words."

Akatsuki paused, then looking a bit uncomfortable said hesitantly, "Uncomfortable... embarrassed... angry... helpless... angry... despair... shame... a-abused." Henrietta paled, but held her peace.

Purrcy looked at Akatsuki soberly a moment longer to make sure she was done, then turned to Raynessia. "Princess, I take it you also have been dressed up. Will you please also use one word descriptors, remembering you are among friends and may say truthful words?"

Raynessia paled slightly, gripping her hands in front of her. "Confused. Overwhelmed. ... Helpless. Despair. Embarrassed - very embarrassed. ...Useless." Marielle was slowly turning pink as her face fell.

Purrcy turned to Nazuna. "Please take a big breath, put your big girl panties on, and face your friends honestly. In one word descriptions, when you look at the clothes in H12b, and know that you can't pick one up to take home with you, how do you feel?"

Nazuna looked at Purrcy impatiently and shifted defiantly. Rieze crossed her arms and gave Nazuna a glare. Nazuna backed down, cleared her throat, took a breath, glanced at Akatsuki and Raynessia, then said quietly, "Resentment. Sorrow. Desire. Longing. Useless. Helpless. ...Lonely."

Purrcy said softly, "There isn't a friend in the world who likes to hear their friend say words like that about themselves. But if they don't hear them, they don't know what to do to help. Nor is there a person who likes to have to feel them over and over again. ...Please, let me teach you the other side." She turned to Akatsuki. "When we dressed you for your first date with Shiroe, what was different than the other times?"

Akatsuki paused, considering it. "You asked me what I wanted. You listened and offered suggestions and let me pick. We did it together and others gave opinions that I wanted to hear so I could know how others would see me, but I got to choose in the end. ...It was fun. ...And...the men all liked it." She blushed. "I wasn't embarrassed to be seen."

"And the trip to Shopping District 8?"

"It was the same. I was offered suggestions, but got to pick for myself and have fun seeing what looked good or didn't. I was surprised sometimes."

Purrcy turned and looked at Tetora. "What is the difference?"

He smiled. "Whether others choose for you or you choose for yourself. Whether you made yourself happy or had to make someone else happy."

Purrcy smiled at him, then blew him a kiss with her ear (he understood it). "It isn't the clothes," she looked at the women again, Raynessia in particular. "It's being true to yourself, but also at the same time being honest with yourself." When Raynessia looked down she moved her look to Nazuna who also looked down. "That is what friends want for friends, because then you will be happy." She turned to Marielle. "Why did you think that having me try on Raynessia's clothing would make us happy?"

Marielle, who was rather trying to hold herself together at this point, took a bit to recover first before answering. "B-because...you should look like a princess for your wedding night...and Raynessia is a princess and always is wearing clothing a princess wears."

"Why should I?" Purrcy asked. Marielle blushed. "The honest answer, please," Purrcy requested.

Marielle rubbed her toe into the carpet on the floor. "Well...because...it's the most special night of any woman. Shouldn't she want to look her best?"

"And I wouldn't have already known that?"

"Ah, no!" Marielle bit her lip. "Because it's fun to enjoy trying things on together...and you do seem to have a limited wardrobe so I thought it would help you out...and...because...you are a princess." She finished lamely. "It just seemed right to see you had access to the best possible selection, and that's what came to mind."

"She has complemented your wardrobe, Princess Raynessia," Purrcy said wryly. "The same wardrobe you would burn in the yard if you could. But...if you were asked to trade it for Marielle's wardrobe, would you do it?" Raynessia paused, then shook her head, looking rather ill. Purrcy looked at Nazuna. "Do you have a wardrobe?" Nazuna paused, then also shook her head, looking both guilty and very sad.

"How many here would love to have even one dress from Raynessia's wardrobe?" Slowly most of the hands rose, including Purrcy's and Tetora's. Raynessia looked at them all. It couldn't be said she was surprised, and she looked a bit like she'd be willing to give them away, but at the same time her eyes slid to the dresses set out on her bed to consider them one more time. "They want to see them on me, because they delight in seeing them at all," Purrcy said to Raynessia. "We want to wear them, too. ...Marielle, what is the most fun part of trying clothes on?"

Marielle considered it. "Having fun. Seeing what new things there are that might look good you didn't know about before. Looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing someone beautiful."

Purrcy smiled. "Indeed. Seeing someone beautiful. Let me show you my personal favorite in my wardrobe." She was suddenly in her blousy black with gold sparkles. She turned slowly and prettily for them. "This is my favorite because it matches my own coloring and is loose so makes me feel like I'm not wearing anything at all, yet at the same time I know I am beautiful in it. It is tight enough at the cuffs that I don't have to worry I'm going to trip over it. It doesn't hurt that I actually get a couple of bonuses from it, too, so I have a 'secret ingredient' I get to hold in my heart as a treasure when I wear it. ...Akatsuki, of the clothes that were bought for you, which is your favorite? Put it on and tell us, please."

Akatsuki was thoughtful, then, concentrating hard, was suddenly in black leggings and a male style shirt that on any man would have fit just right. On her, it was almost a shirt-dress the tails were so long. It was rolled up in the sleeve to just above her elbows. It wasn't particularly elegant. "I like it because it's comfortable. The top is loose, but the legs aren't going to trip me or be too long. I like black because I'm a ninja who needs to be able to hide at a moment's notice. ...," she blushed, "I like the sleeves rolled up because it makes me feel...like I'm someone who works hard."

Purrcy turned to Tetora. He rose from the chair and was suddenly dressed in brown suede pants, cuffed boots, a loose male shirt and a laced short sleeve jerkin that matched the pants. "This is what I would have looked like if I could have come male," he said. "I like the look of the traveling understated fighter that might be a Bard, might be a Swashbuckler, might be both. I'm lucky it looks good on a woman's body, too."

"I also have to have the outfit coordinated. You can see the jerkin and the pants are the same color and material, and even the boots are, too. I made this body to be beautiful, so there's no sense in making it anything less...but Hahaue had to teach me that it was okay to be and wear what I wanted to be and wear. I had a lot of fun on our shopping trip, particularly laughing at what she thought would look good. She has a very strange sense of taste." He grinned and put his hands on his hips.

Purrcy turned to Raynessia. "Go get your favorite outfit." Raynessia hesitated. Purrcy turned a look on Elissa, who got an evil look and headed for the wardrobe again. Raynessia held up a hand, then sighed and took a breath. Walking after her maid, she looked in it with her, shook her head, then took what was handed to her. Going behind a changing screen they took a few minutes to get her out of her dress and into her favorite. She came out in flannel pajamas that had seen quite a lot of wear. Pale faded blue with yellow flowers that were almost white now.

She had pink in her cheeks, but stood in front of them. "These are my favorites. They are soft, comfortable, worn in just right. They make me feel like there are no responsibilities hanging over my head and I can just relax today. If I could, I would never take them off...but then...I'd always be running away from my responsibilities...so instead, I just escape to them when I'm allowed to. Then it feels like they are comforting me. Sometimes I use it as a reward for getting through a particularly difficult day. Elissa sighs in despair when I get them out." She bit her lip, "And then, I feel vindicated that I've done something naughty all on my own that I can't get into trouble for."

Purrcy raised an eyebrow. "You've come a long way apparently, to be able to say all of that to these friends. Very good," she nodded approvingly. Raynessia blushed, but seemed somewhat pleased. Purrcy turned to Rieze. "I've never seen you in anything other than that. Is it really your favorite?"

Rieze smiled. "I don't mind the uniform. It lets everyone know that Rieze is still a constant in their lives in this crazy madhouse. That's not what makes me feel beautiful. Turn around Tetora." He obeyed, though he was curious. Rieze undid her jacket, took it off and turned around. "This is what is my favorite." She was wearing a very beautiful brazier, red with satin ruffles. "The bottoms match," she commented calmly.

"I wear these hidden because then I can smile about my own 'secret ingredient' that makes me stand calmly and proudly woman in my place." She put her jacket back on and did up the buttons again. "Okay, Tetora," she said when she was done. "It was red with satin lace." Tetora nodded his thanks, since it really had been obvious what she was showing off. "But don't tell." He drew a zipper line across his lips. Rieze nodded, satisfied. "The color and style change depending on my mood of the day, but these are my favorites."

Raynessia looked rather shocked, but then also somewhat not so self-conscious in her pajamas any more. Purrcy looked at Marielle. She went behind the changing screen. Purrcy looked at Henrietta, who blushed and shook her head. Purrcy raised an eyebrow. "Is it because you don't have one, or because you're too embarrassed to show it?"

Henrietta bit her lip, glanced at Akatsuki, then said, "Clothes don't matter so much to me. They are necessary and utilitarian."

"Do not lie," Purrcy said calmly. "You enjoy cos-play. What is your favorite?" Henrietta paled but pursed her lips. Purrcy looked at Akatsuki. "What was her favorite to put on you?"

Akatsuki looked at Henrietta. "Baby doll style dresses, the kind you find on little girls - toddlers. If it wasn't that, it was maid uniforms."

Purrcy sighed. "That's cliché. Too much manga in secret, Henrietta." She looked at Elissa. "I presume you saw what Akatsuki was subjected to, given Princess Raynessia's reaction?" Elissa nodded. "Please pull out the most similar dress from Raynessia's wardrobe." Elissa stood uncertain for a moment, then finally walked to the wardrobe and began going through it. Marielle came out from behind the changing screen and was wearing a one-piece swimming suit. The other women stared at her. Purrcy smiled.

Marielle took a breath. "I like this because I feel modest in it. I love to be at the beach and relax. As much as I love to look cute in the two piece suits, I can't be relaxed in them. I'm always afraid they're going to fall off. ...I'm not this big back home, so it's been hard to settle, even after this long. But really, I just want to relax and watch everyone having fun and smiling. Swim suits are the ultimate expression of that, to me."

Elissa returned from the wardrobe. "I'm afraid this is the closest I can find, Lady Purrcy, though it isn't quite right." She held up a white frilly dress with layers of tulle and pale blue ruffles on the bottom skirt of it. Raynessia looked at it like it was a snake in her maid's hands.

Purrcy looked at Henrietta. She wasn't sure she wanted to wear it, but she was still drawn to it. Purrcy nodded. "Okay. Ladies, shall we show Henrietta how beautiful she can be in what she likes?" There were bright eyes and eager faces all around - except Henrietta's of course. Purrcy first looked at Raynessia, who swallowed. "Princess, this is one of your dresses, from your own closet. It is not - currently - strange Adventurer clothing."

Raynessia nodded. "That doesn't mean I like it. Dresses like this are stifling and difficult to wear."

Purrcy shook her head. "Not to everyone, just to you. Is there a reason you're keeping it?"

Raynessia paused. "Someone gave it to me...but it probably doesn't matter. At least...not here."

"Are you willing to give it away?"

"Absolutely."

"Then, for the sake of your friend, will you wear it one last time, please?" Raynessia looked at Henrietta, then at the dress, then nodded and she and Elissa went off to change again.

"Make yourselves comfortable," Purrcy invited the others. "This will take a bit of time and we'll need room here in the center of the room. Henrietta, you will tell me what modifications to make to the dress to make it into the 'perfect' little girl dress, of the sort you like. If it helps, think of it going on Akatsuki, but just this once and only if she says she's willing to help you this one last time." Henrietta swallowed, then appealed with her eyes to Akatsuki. The diminutive woman blinked, then nodded once, her look saying it would be the last time. Henrietta looked relieved.

Purrcy turned to Nazuna. "I would guess you have memorized the exact outfit you love at Shopping District 8. Would there be a clerk who watches you come in and stare at it and walk out that could pull it out for you easily?"

Nazuna looked embarrassed, but answered, "Probably. ...It's in the back, so MarketMaker would be the one to know."

Purrcy turned to Marielle. "Can you call him up and make it a conference call?"

Marielle shook her head. "I can call him up, but not the other."

"That's good enough, I'll make it a conference call. Go ahead."

Marielle took a moment, then said, "Hey, MarketMaker. We're looking for an outfit from H12b for a foxtail. Can you go pull it out? It's for Nazuna - her favorite." She paused then looked at Nazuna. "The blue or the green?" Nazuna waffled.

Purrcy held up her hand and Marielle looked at her. "Both, and one of sand," Purrcy said.

"We don't have one that color, I'm afraid," came across the air.

"That's fine, I have a few. Seeing what she likes will be good enough. How long to get them run down to the Ambassador's mansion?"

"Ah, five minutes."

Purrcy frowned. "Go get them. I'll see if I can get video by the time you've got them pulled out."

"Ah...okay." There was a bit of doubt on the other end. Tetora sat up and looked at Purrcy closely, then pulled out his wand, waiting. By the time Raynessia came back out with Elissa from behind the screen, there was a window in the middle of the room that showed MarketMaker pulling out the second set of clothes from the section. He held them up. "Is this them?" he asked.

Nazuna nodded. "Yes, that's them."

"Put them on her guild's tab for now. She can pay it back if she wants to," Purrcy said and they were suddenly on the bed and the hands of the assistant were empty.

MarketMaker blinked. Behind him they heard footsteps hurrying over. "Purrcy?" Calasin came into view.

"Yes, Calasin?" she asked.

"Are you going to stop by here this afternoon, or rather, could you?"

Purrcy looked at him, puzzled. "I suppose."

Calasin paused to look at the others in the room. He blinked. "That's a rather odd fashion show."

"It's everyone's favorites," Purrcy said with a smile. "Well except that the Princess is wearing a modified form of Henrietta's. The Princess loves flannel pajamas."

It looked like he was memorizing the scene for later. "Well, bring everyone, then. That would be fine."

"Okay. Probably an hour. I need to modify the Princess's dress first."

"Ah, can't we watch?"

Purrcy blinked. "You can't replicate it."

"Well...," he sighed. "I guess there is that, isn't there? All right. We'll be expecting you."

"Goodbye," Purrcy said kindly and nodded at Marielle, who ended the chat. "Nazuna, go put on your favorite while we get started. Raynessia, come stand in the middle of the room. Henrietta, what is the first modification?" As Henrietta began to give Purrcy instructions and descriptions, Purrcy modified the code of the dress itself.

The five tiers that fell from the waist to the floor shortened until they only reached just past the knee. The tulle underneath doubled in fluff to make the skirts stand out even more. The bodice straightened and rose just a bit to show less bust. The sleeves moved up from on the arm to just cover the shoulders and then were puffed a little more. Getting the back just right took a while until Purrcy made it modest, covering the shoulder blades altogether. Henrietta's eyes went hungry. Then she added a pink silk flower to the side front waist over a wide pink satin waistband, to offset the blue of the skirt. By the time it was done, she was flush with excitement.

"Honestly," Tetora said. "I should give her my old wardrobe."

"Feel free," Purrcy said as his magic replenished her HP for the last time from that effort. "She'll enjoy it, I'm sure, at least trying things on, anyway. Go ahead, Princess. Go take it off and reward yourself with your pajamas for just a bit, then you'll have to change to go out. Henrietta, go stand there and put it on. Elissa, please help her with it."

Elissa looked at Purrcy like she was crazy. "It won't fit."

Purrcy smiled. "It will." Elissa, having seen the magic of the dress changing could only be obedient. Purrcy turned to Nazuna. "Does it fit well enough to still call it your favorite?"

Nazuna stood and turned for them all to see it. It was green and offset her fox coloring well. It was form fitting and with a masculine flavor, but feminine in frill and design.

"That's very beautiful," Rieze said, appreciatively. "You have a good figure." The others nodded. Nazuna blushed.

"Go to the mirror and look," Purrcy pointed.

Timidly Nazuna went. Her own image captured her eyes and she looked herself up and down, then turned and looked at the back as best she could. She flipped her soft tail, pleased with that fit as well. Softly she said, "It does look good, doesn't it?"

"Why is it your favorite?" Marielle asked.

"Because I like the color, and I can still run and do what I need to do in this style. I'm Kannagi, so I don't fight, but I do have to run after everyone else, especially Souji, since I'm his op on the big jobs. That's why I prefer the form fitting, too. I know I look good in form fitting, so I don't wear it often to keep the other girls from getting jealous. I already get to stand with him so often from being both his op and his main assistant for the guild. I love him like a little brother, but they don't see it that way, really. They all just love him, so think everyone does."

Purrcy raised a hand with a flick to draw Nazuna's attention. Her golden eyes pierced the eyes of the foxtail. "They love you, Nazuna, and they are your guild, which is family not just friends. If these your friends are feeling your pain with you, how much more is your family? Do not belittle their affections because you are afraid."

Tetora moved to stand with Purrcy. "Nazuna...every time I came out, Souji found me first, wanting to know if Shiroe had found anything yet. And every West Wind Brigade member asked even after he did. They were all very concerned for you. ...You are well loved by them all. What you, or any of us wear, can have meaning and at times we should be sure to wear the best thing possible, but it isn't what needs to define us, and even more it shouldn't be used to trap us in our fears. ...Hahaue taught me this, too. Raise your head and be proud of being beautiful. It will only bring your guild strength."

There was movement from the screen. Raynessia had already rejoined them and now Elissa came out from behind the screen. She looked encouragingly at Henrietta who timidly came out from behind it to walk not quite to be with them. Purrcy looked at Marielle. Marielle went to her friend, took her hands and gently pulled her into the middle of the room, then took her glasses off.

"Elissa," Purrcy commanded gently, looking at Henrietta's hair. Elissa picked up Raynessia's brush and a few tools and hair pins from the vanity. Tetora brought over the vanity chair and put it behind Henrietta, helping her sit in it. Henrietta closed her eyes, holding her hands together in the many soft ruffles of the dress, sitting primly and slightly uncomfortably in the short skirts, though her normal skirts weren't any longer. The rest watched almost spell bound as Elissa worked her own magic on Henrietta's hair.

Rieze walked over to the vanity, sorting through things briefly, then came back with a handful of makeup. While Elissa worked on the hair, Rieze worked on the face. When the two women stepped back, they looked at their works specifically, nodded, and put things away. Marielle took Henrietta's hand and pulled her up to standing. Tetora took the chair back and they all moved so Henrietta was alone in the center of the room.

She finally opened her eyes to look at them, they were so silent, worry in her face. "Turn around slowly," Purrcy ordered softly. Henrietta did a little hesitantly, though as she moved and the skirts moved with her, she looked down at them. Softly she ran her hands down the skirts. "Okay. Go look."

Henrietta approached the mirror with great trepidation, but when she got there, she stopped and stared. Her eyes slowly took in all of the picture that was her. The lightly rouged cheeks and glossy lips, the darkened lashes, the hair piled up on her head in little ringlets, little bows set in it to match the dress. The dress nicely framing her neck, yet modest in bodice height, fitting her torso snugly but not overstating her curves, her arms looking long and slender because of the sleeves only accenting the shoulders. She couldn't help but make them come out to her sides, her hands raised primly, hovering over the flounced, full skirts, such a great contrast to her pencil tight skirts, fully feminine. And her lower legs bare, "...like a ballerina," she whispered. She turned to look at the back, then looked down at herself again. She looked up at the others, amazement in her eyes. "Is that really me?"

They slowly all smiled and nodded. "Yes, Henrietta. That's you. The beautiful ballerina," Marielle said kindly.

Henrietta took a step forward, then another, then took a slow turn, ending in a little hop that made the skirts bounce. She blinked, then put her hands over her face. "It's embarrassing...to be beautiful...in things like this."

"Is it?" Rieze challenged Henrietta.

"It is?" Raynessia echoed in reverse.

"It is," Nazuna agreed.

"It isn't," Tetora disagreed. "It's right, and ...it's both fun and gratifying."

Purrcy smiled. "Henrietta, none of us wear the favorites all the time...except Rieze, and now Tetora. We must also wear what is appropriate for the occasion. Clothing is also for the viewer, not just the wearer. I think that's what Marielle was trying to come to. I should wear a dress appropriate to a princess, or that of a bride, because that is the face I need to show everyone at my wedding. Else, who will know who the bride is? Of course I want to feel and look good, but I must also consider what message I desire to send."

Purrcy looked at Raynessia. "They are 'making' you wear the clothing of a princess because they want you to send the proper message. You understand this. However, it is time for you to decide what messages _you_ want to send, and appropriately send them. If you're going out into the city of Adventurers and you want them to be relaxed and feel like you appreciate them for who and what they are, you should wear...?"

Raynessia shook her head helplessly. Purrcy looked around the room. "Whatever makes you comfortable," Akatsuki said.

Marielle nodded. "We want to know you're happy to be with us."

"The boys want you to dress up showing as much skin again as possible," Rieze said wryly, "but that's just if you need to get their attention."

"It shouldn't be slovenly, though," Elissa said. "She is still representing Eastal."

Purrcy nodded. "What you wear can be all the things it needs to be. It can be comfortable, and still be representative. We'll shop for you at Shopping District 8 as well. Calasin can teach you what that is. Shiroe could too, actually. He is a very good fashionista. For now, put on something presentable that is easy to change out of and into so you can try things on. Marielle, go change. Nazuna we still need to see the blue and I want to see sand on you as well before we go. Henrietta can enjoy her dress until the end. I don't think she's quite ready for public review just yet, but Tetora's clothing would be a nice intermediate she could get started with. Akatsuki, just stay in that, unless you want to pick out something else from your new wardrobe for a visit to town."

After a bit of consideration Purrcy changed again into a different dress with simple lines that was more comfortable and with a slightly shorter skirt, a dark golden brown. Under it she put bright red leggings. Tetora groaned. Rieze looked at her, affronted. "Really, Purrcy? Red? With brown? And your coloring?"

Purrcy grinned. "I actually have a great love of very bright colors, much like yourself. I try to tone them down by putting them underneath, since they don't go well with my coloring, though Marielle did find one for me that works. This is more feminine, though, which is more appropriate for going into town with the girlfriends." She looked a little more seriously at Rieze. "But...I think you need to be more honest with yourself as well." She was looking at Rieze's hair. "You wear that uniform because nothing else goes with that hair."

Rieze blushed bright red. Purrcy stepped up to her and took her arm. "Come over here to the vanity." Tetora gave up his chair pushing it to the table. Quietly Purrcy and Rieze conferred until Nazuna cleared her throat. They turned to appreciate the blue.

Marielle frowned. "The coloring is wrong, Nazuna. Blue doesn't suit you, I'm afraid."

Nazuna's face fell, but she obediently went to check the mirror. Sighing, she agreed, "It doesn't, does it. I like the color, though."

"Well, sometimes we have to live with what we were given and accessorize with our favorites instead," Marielle sympathized.

"Nazuna," Purrcy pointed to the bed where her offering was laid out.

"Thanks," Nazuna picked it up and headed back to change again.

Purrcy looked for Elissa and waved her over, then looked at Tetora. "One more?" He hesitated. She nodded. "Marielle, come get ready to give me a boost." She stood behind Rieze, looking at a picture on the vanity table. She put her hands on Rieze's shoulders, and took a deep breath. She was quiet and still for a few minutes, then Rieze's hair began to change and morph until it was long, still curly and blond, but didn't stick out from her head in severe stiff curls.

"Okay, Marielle," Purrcy said. Marielle's spell sparkled around Purrcy. "Elissa, please, something simple enough she can watch you do it and perhaps do it herself, as we are only going into town with other Adventurers. Rieze, just say you went to the salon. It can be the magical disappearing salon you can't find again later. I won't be able to replicate this for everyone, after all. As it is, I won't be able to go on my own feet to Shopping District 8, I'm afraid."

The others looked at her worried. "Ah, sorry. It's just part of doing that work. I'm tired now, and if I sleep through my own wedding, I think I'll have a furious husband." Understanding went through all of the listeners, except Princess Raynessia and Elissa, who just accepted it the way they had been learning to accept all things Adventurer.

Nazuna came out in the sand colored outfit and admired it in front of the mirror until the others called her to come show them. Purrcy nodded. "Nice. You may have it, but you have to wear it to show Calasin. He hasn't seen that design yet."

Nazuna stopped. "Wait. You're the _designer_ for H12b? I mean, I watched you do all that stuff, but...you?"

Purrcy nodded a bit tiredly. "Yes. I got so tired of them taking so long to come up with proper tail holes and comfortable clothes for women I finally did it myself, over a long time with lots of experimentation. That's my line."

She glanced at Akatsuki. "Actually, Akatsuki's clothing, most of it, was also non-tailed offshoots of my line, too, but he wisely didn't tell Shiroe or he'd be losing even more of his profits. That's why I've got pull with him. He knows he owes me. I won't put him on my friend list, though, to his absolute chagrin, since otherwise he'd be calling me constantly." The women in the room laughed. "Ah, Princess Raynessia, Elissa, I'm sorry we didn't get to your dresses today. I really would like to use some of your better designers to add a line of princess dresses. Adventurers really do like to dress up like princes and princesses. But I need to sleep now for a bit. Perhaps I could come by another time?"

"O-of course," Princess Raynessia said quickly.

"We'll come too," Marielle said, and others nodded as well.

"Very well. When the rest of you are ready, go ahead and go to Shopping District 8. Tetora and I will meet you there. Please excuse us." Purrcy bowed her head ever so slightly and walked to the door. Tetora opened it for her and they walked out into the hallway. When they were let out of the house, before they were really seen by anyone outside the door, Purrcy changed from felinoid holding onto his arm into small kitten that he hid in his hand and casually tucked into his shirt.

"You're rather tickly against bare skin," he said to her softly. She was already snoring tiny kitten snores. He smiled.


	34. Tetora's Test

Tetora walked down the road away from Water Maple Manor towards the business district of Akiba. It was a lot more like a real business district now. Michitaka's construction crews had been in high demand to make the ancient ruins onto more modern storefronts, and architectural facelifts had been highly popular. Sign makers had been, too, as the phrase "to hang out your shingle" had become common again. As Tetora wound his way through, he decided to stop at one of his more quiet preferred stake-out cafes.

He also was getting tired from a morning of coding, though casting the healing spells wasn't tiring so much. Probably just observing Purrcy work all afternoon had been. She was so intense, never letting up. Tetora was not surprised she was worn out to exhaustion. At home, she was actually pretty chill, like Nyanta was, though just as deep into getting her part of the work done as Shiroe.

Tetora sat back in his chair to relax, careful to keep her balanced on his chest. Most of the time his clothing was rather form fitting. He was glad he'd changed to the looser man's shirt during his part of the favorites show and tell. She didn't make as much a noticeable lump. He'd have to think of a better way to keep her hidden...for all he did like having her that close.

He could put her in a pouch, probably, or purse, but there was the chance it could be stolen off him and she'd be gone until she woke up and scolded the person who'd decided to be a pickpocket thief until they cried and apologized to her, the city, and their mother, then went and did community service to make up for it and became a short order chef at the takoyaki stand. That suddenly didn't sound like such a bad idea. Of course, if she woke up out-city or grumpy, there'd probably be a smoking hole and a new mole scurrying in the undergrowth. Then it would be the guild Tetora would have to answer to and Dark Shiroe. That wouldn't be so worth it.

Speaking of which..., "Yeah, Boss?" Tetora accepted the chat request.

"...' _Boss_ '...are we really yakuza now?"

"Ah...if you want?"

Shiroe gave a negative snort. "What's going on?"

"We've left the mansion - Purrcy and I. She's crashed. Did too much magic at the scolding lessons." Shiroe was silent. "... ...Ah, I'll start at the beginning shall I?" Tetora asked.

"Please."

Tetora thought about what needed to be said and how much time there probably was. He expected the other ladies to recover and conference before coming out. Purrcy had snowed them and they likely needed a breather before the second class began. Akatsuki would know how long Purrcy needed to sleep, too. "Can I sum up for now?"

"Sure."

"Right. So, after she said 'Die' to you, she told everyone else it was their responsibility for letting her loose on the city unprotected and they finally remembered what she was. She stayed Queen...the whole time." Shiroe's silence was a heavy as Tetora's underlying meaning. "She tested Princess Raynessia from the beginning, letting her know immediately that she was the Queen while Raynessia was merely a Princess. Not in a bad way, though the testing was as harsh as usual. Raynessia and her staff picked up on it right away, calling her 'Lady Purrcy' from early on, though they were never told her actual rank."

"She knows the Duke. Twice she mentioned him specifically to Raynessia, but when Raynessia asked her if she knew the Duke she wouldn't answer. I haven't a clue how she would have met him. ...She was just as Caretaker-ey about the lower class People of the Land as she gets for the monsters."

"Ah...Raynessia's testing was first since we started at the receiving room. When we got to the drawing room, the testing finished there and she immediately told Rieze that she wasn't to answer any questions per your order so not even to try. Amazingly Rieze managed to be obedient, though she did end up asking one question that Purrcy half-answered - the one about how old she really is that she won't answer for anyone but Nyanta. She talked to Nazuna a bit about the plague, recognizing she would have been affected, too, handling Nazuna's rudeness as genteel as the Queen should. But then Purrcy's usually like that in public - even to the Wolf Pack guildmaster."

"Rieze challenged her and she immediately took to the fight without a word...and won. She shut down the two usual scolders and made Marielle start it out, though she let others get their say, as well. She handled that as smoothly as usual, too, not taking the blame but not defensive either. It was driving the ladies crazy until she'd pulled them into her lair and they were lost to her charm. Really, you'd think she had a real charm, too, plus forty against Adventurers. She won't make you blush at Maihama, except to put you to shame by out-gracing you. She does get as tired as you in the doing of it, though."

"In the process, she didn't give anything away, though she did fully commiserate with the ladies to prove she was real, too. And that led to her reverse scolding that led to the fashion class." Tetora shook his head. "You should have seen it, Shiroe. She scolded _three_ women at once, and in the end took on Rieze herself. Near as I can tell it was four to oh."

"Marielle won't be dressing the Princess up in random scandalous outfits anymore. Instead they're going to help her learn what clothing she would really like to wear that also fits her station. When we're done with lesson two in another couple of hours Nazuna will have a whole new wardrobe to match her new outlook on life and be looking sharp from now on. Henrietta's fetish has an outlet and she looks awful cute in it, too. She's going to be her own doll from now on...and I suspect the doll the rest of the ladies get to dress up - and love every minute of it. Ah...don't let on you know. She'll kill me and then you by association. And Rieze...went to the mysterious disappearing magical hair salon and will also be getting to wear real clothes from now on. Our second class will be at Shopping District 8 after everyone recovers. Calasin's asked her to come specifically and said the rest can come, but she was going to take them anyway, I think."

"Oh, and she did admit she was the designer of the clothing at H12b. Next time she goes back to Water Maple it's to look through the Princess' dresses to find Purrcy's favorite designs and get the economic link back to their tailors for creation and business and trade and what not. No one complained about her coming back, and most of them seemed willing to still be in the same room with her a second time. That might change now that she's not in the room with them. We'll see at Shopping District 8, but it's supposed to be the fun practical after the lesson."

"And when she reminded them why she was there in the first place, no one batted an eye or even seemed to remember. Of course, she'd buried them in the lesson so they had brains leaking out their eyes as they were all in the process of knitting their bonds tighter. Ain't a man alive that'll break through that now. And I suspect if a woman wanting to came along, they'd turn her over to Purrcy."

Tetora slumped. "I - am - wiped, to be honest. She was even too intense for me for that long. We barely made it out the manor door before she was tiny and in hiding and she was sleeping by the time she hit my palm. I wouldn't mind a nap, too. Don't do that to her often. She knew exactly what her limit was and respected mine and we were out of there at the bell, but she almost snapped and I wouldn't have had the strength to do anything more than lift a hand in farewell as I hit the floor unconscious. I do think you'll have hell to pay, though it turned out just fine. She gave you perfect, she'll ask for something big."

Shiroe was silent for a long time, then he sighed a rather large, sorrowful sigh, almost regretful but not quite, and Tetora knew he was just feeling sorry for himself. "What did you mean by she was 'Caretaker-ey' about the lower class People of the Land?"

Tetora mused on that. "She complemented them through Raynessia - her maid Elissa that is. By extension and other testing words she made it obvious that she was pleased with the fact Raynessia was treating them as people now, albeit properly as servants as well. Really she did a lot in only a few words there. Elissa was just one of the girls in the end, and eating out of Purrcy's hand, even though Purrcy never relaxed in her treatment of her in her rightful place. I really don't know if that translates for you, and I'm not sure even how she did it, but she did."

"No, it translates. It sounds like she would have made Rudy proud."

"Proud? He would never believe anything other than what they think now, and he knows what title to give her. It's bad enough he already believes she really is a princess. I'm glad he wasn't there to be paige. We wouldn't have him back to normal for months. Of course she was laying it on thick for being at the house of a princess. We should probably leave him home when it's time to take her to Maihama."

Tetora breathed for a while, having to talk himself back down again for having to just review it. Shiroe's silence eventually got uncomfortable, though sometimes he just forgot he was in the middle of a report. "So...what's next?" Tetora asked just to make sure.

Shiroe cleared his throat nervously. That didn't bode well. Tetora checked on Purrcy's position and shifted to sit up a little. "I'm going to assume that her call to me before it all began was an indication she doesn't do well with surprises." Tetora nodded. That was a wise assumption. Her single-word declaration was rather severe for her. "So...will you please tell her, before she's at Shopping District 8, what changes have been made? ...Calasin wants to fit her and any of the girls who will stand with her for the wedding dress and the bride's maid's dresses." Tetora's mouth dropped open. "And...let her know the date's been changed again. If she's going to come in hot, warn Nyanta so he can hide until I've cooled her off...if I can." The last was said miserably.

"Shiroe!" Tetora was sitting up straight. "The guild hall will be slag!"

"It would be worse if she finds out as she walking up to the door, or after she's inside."

"We wouldn't see her for another two years...if ever." Tetora said, aghast. "How bad is it?"

"Shopping District 8, Radio City, and Grandale, in addition to us and Crescent Moon. West Wind Brigade wants to serve the food and drinks as a thank you for helping out Nazuna, who apparently had it as bad as she did, or nearly. She'd apparently been approached by the Wolf Pack, my guess is as a substitute test before Purrcy arrived." Tetora winced. He made a mental note to let Purrcy know that little detail. "...The other guildmasters want to be there too, just because she's interesting, and they're claiming Nyanta's high enough in the guild to warrant it."

"Marques," Tetora muttered.

Shiroe made a sound of agreement. "Mm. But they'll leave the rest of their people home for now."

"You're going to keep it out of the public eye?"

"Absolutely. I don't want to die that bad, and Nyanta's threatened that if she runs he's chasing after her, food made for us or not. ...And it's still mostly not."

"Ahhh...he's not thrilled then either," Tetora said morosely.

"...No. We're at his limit."

They were both silent for a while, then sighed at the same time. "All right. I'll warn her." Tetora said, not looking forward to it, but in complete agreement that sooner was much better than later. "...Whose fault?"

"Not Marie's. She's too afraid. Some of the kids let it leak out in casual conversation and it made it's way to the guilds...I think. I'm really afraid it made it out higher up, but no one's saying."

"...Who decided first to go to Water Maple?"

Shiroe was silent. Then suddenly glowing letters appeared before Tetora. _Akatsuki. Marie agreed with her. But Henrietta let it slip in the Guild Hall offices._ "I don't know," Shiroe said aloud. The letters faded and Tetora made sure Purrcy was still asleep and hadn't seen the letters in the air.

"Well, she's done all the scolding she can do there, I think," Tetora said, but his voice was as heavy as his heart. It was Henrietta's third infraction. He didn't think she'd survive getting locked down by Purrcy in some way if she found out. It was bad enough she'd been turned into the doll she used to make Akatsuki play - even if she did like it. He sighed. "I'm going to doze a bit, I think, then head over to Shopping District 8 to meet up with the rest. I'll talk to her when she rouses."

"Thanks, Tetora." Shiroe's sincerity went deep. The chat was closed.

Tetora thought for a bit, then opened another chat. "Nyanta-san. She's fine. Sleeping it off for now, but she's got the visit to Shopping District 8 next. I'll let her know before we go in. Shiroe's asked me to warn you if it's a problem, so I will," he promised.

There was silence, then a sigh. "Thank mew, Tetora-kun. ...Send me a message when mew're on meowr way and I'll meet up with mew at the tree. Unless she needs to scold Shiroe-ichi first, just bring her there."

"Yes, sir." It was an excellent idea.

"...Did she pass?" It was asked rather resignedly. Nyanta had fought the trip to the ambassador manor, too, and even more that it was a last minute surprise test.

"With flying colors, hot the whole way. She didn't drop the Queen until we were out the door and she was asleep. You heard what she said to Shiroe when she called to confirm the trip was okay with him?"

"...No."

"Two questions, then 'die'. Everyone in the group woke up." He could see Nyanta sadly shaking his head. "But she still did it anyway."

"She couldn't do any less," Nyanta said sadly. "It really was unkind of Shiroe-ichi."

Tetora found the comments odd. Shiroe tested people like this rather commonly, particularly when he was going to place them in really important positions. "If she wants to be the Queen, she's got to be able to be the Queen...even when she's not expecting it," Tetora said sadly. "She did it, too. It will be the final exam at Shopping District 8, to see if she can continue to hold it longer than in one setting, particularly since she'll go in angry again, as sorry as I am about that. I was really looking forward to watching the Queen just have fun." He took a breath, looking up at the sky. "They'll support her though. She won their hearts, too, Nyanta. She was just as much Hahaue for them as Queen for the People of the Land." Softly he said, "I'm sorry you're being made to sit this one out. You would have loved to watch her working. She made you proud."

There was silence for a bit, then, "Thank mew for letting me know. ...I'll see mew at the tree." The connection cut. Tetora was depressed. Chichiue was depressed and that made everyone the same. Shiroe was right - Nyanta was at his limit. One more push and he'd be angry.

Tetora took a breath. Everyone was counting on him being the one lone barrier between Purrcy and the world falling apart. He was very much not liking it. But...it was his test too. If he couldn't do this much, he wasn't fit to be the Queen's Guard. It would be given to Michael who had already proven he had nearly as much capability, if not more, to keep her under control. That was depressing too, so Tetora decided to nap instead of think anymore.

He folded his arms to keep her close to him and cast a Purification Barrier spell. He'd named it after the Kannagi spell, since it was similar. It would warn him if anything came close to them, inside or outside, and keep it out long enough for him to get them protected sufficiently - even if that meant waking her up to be the heavy gun again. At the same time it protected against status effects and those nasty drains that kept being thrown at her. He was sad he couldn't add in a low level HP increase, but he hadn't found a way to combine his two magics yet. He'd have to either drain himself or every creature that walked past. A little here and a little there wouldn't hurt anyone, but it still felt wrong, and he suspected she'd be upset if he did it. So he hadn't.

-:-:-:-:-

The chat function rang in Tetora's ear. He swung his left hand out to turn off the alarm next to the bed and it hit air until it thunked down next to him, swinging slightly. It rang the second time and he shifted to his right side and muttered. It rang a third and he irritably said "What?"

"Tetora, Akatsuki. Where are you? We've arrived."

He was wide awake, sitting up straight. First he checked to see if he still had Purrcy. He did. Good. Second, he answered. "Fell asleep at the cafe. Go have them get fitted. I still have to talk to her, to tell her."

"...Fitted?"

"Ask Calasin. He knows. It's pretty bad, actually. She'll be coming in mad...most likely." He frowned and look down into his shirt, not particularly paying attention to the fact that other patrons and passers-by looked at him askance - or openly in the case of a few men - about the fact he was looking down his own shirt as if he'd discovered a bug inside it. "Actually...she might come in sleeping still, except I'm not supposed to let her. How long's it been?"

"About forty-five minutes."

Tetora sighed. "I'll bet she needs another half. Well, I'll get moving and see if I can get her up, but go ahead and get started. Probably at least you, Marie, and Henrietta. Then whoever wants after that. She won't turn anyone down and doesn't know anyone else anyway. Tell them I want one that matches but has pants. If they're already doing that for you, tell them to make it two of them, but the shirt should match Marielle's."

"...Tetora. ...I don't understand."

"Just remember the order and go talk to Calasin."

"...Okay," it was said very doubtfully. The line closed.

He'd already paid for his drink and seat, so he just got up and walked out, ignoring all the eyes on him. He'd gotten so used to them he didn't even notice the eyes that watched. Just the ones that calculated. There were a few of those so he kept half, no, a quarter of his brain on them, while he tried to decide exactly what the best course of action would be.

He really wanted Purrcy to get in at least the full hour. She'd be able to handle the next set much more poised and pass her final better. He wasn't sure if for his final it was a good idea, though. It was a hard call. When he was standing on the porch, he decided. She hadn't woken up yet, even though he'd been trying. He walked on in, waved at the clerk and kept going. The other girls would have announced him already.

When he got to the back, MarketMaker told him which sewing room to head to and he did. The other women were gathered in a group, but Akatsuki and Marielle were already getting measured. "Hey, ladies," he said cheerily. "Miss Purrcy will be along in a bit. Nyanta caught up to us and insisted on telling her the news himself." He got dark looks. "Okay. So he's trying to talk her down. If he can convince her it's a good idea, he'll bring her back here." He tried to look convincingly scolded. "They really did want it to be a quiet single guild affair."

Nazuna crossed her arms. "Why did the two of you bail early? - Really."

Tetora put his hands up defensively. "No, it really was to rest and recoup. I was dead asleep when Akatsuki called. So was Purrcy. Nyanta showed up just after that. I'd reported in just after we left so Shiroe would know where we were and he told me then." Tetora had a sudden very bad feeling. Things were going to explode. He should have tried harder to wake Purrcy up before walking in. "You remember from the Q&A...writing the spells takes it out of Hackers. She wrote some pretty high stuff on the fly for you guys, on top of teaching the class and writing code all morning and just before we got there. I was in class, too, so it hit us both pretty hard." He held his innocent expression (it was true after all) until they relented and let him pass. "So...what happened after we left?"

"We got to dress up Henrietta some more until we understood just what it is she likes. We'll look in the cos-play section here today for a few things, but are you still willing to give up your idol wardrobe? There's a few things I remember that might work, too," Rieze said.

"Of course," Tetora smiled at Henrietta. "I'd be happy to let you look through and take anything you want. Just don't ask Purrcy to do the alterations. Bring them back here."

Henrietta blushed. Tetora put his hands on his hips and looked at her with a toss of the head. "My dear, this place is used to cos-players...even the closet ones. They don't want to lose a customer. You're secret is safe with them." As Henrietta shyly nodded after some consideration, a bead of cold sweat dripped down Tetora's back. Purrcy had moved and was slowly slipping down off his chest. "What have they decided on?" he put one arm across his belly under his breasts and pointed with the other towards Marielle and Akatsuki. The others turned and he quickly adjusted Purrcy so she was back up between his breasts, cradled upside down. He glanced in and it looked like she still wasn't really aware of the world yet. He'd have to escape soon though. He kept his arms folded to keep her in place better.

"They're going to show us the design options after the measuring," Rieze said.

"Who's decided to opt in?" he asked. They all turned to look at him...just as Purrcy rolled over. He clamped on arm up on top of her to keep her close in and still, putting the finger of that hand next to his lips and smiling in his learned way of being a cute idol. It came habit now, which might be a good thing since inside he was starting to panic.

"All of us, of course," Henrietta said haughtily.

"Even the Princess? I thought she didn't like to dress up in clothes like that." Tetora put his attention on Raynessia, hoping the rest would, too. Rieze wasn't quite buying it, though, and he thought Nazuna was looking at his chest as she turned away.

"Like what?" Raynessia said, her eyes blankly uncomprehending as usual.

As the other ladies turned to explain just what bridesmaids wore, Tetora took a step back, then another. He was just about to turn and run, when the tailor who had been working with Marielle looked up and over at the group. "Ah, Tetora. You're next."

Tetora froze and his heart disappeared from his body...except it was thundering so hard it was trying to escape after the fact. The others looked at him expectantly. "Ah...right," his feet started moving towards Marielle and the tailor, though everything else was screaming to run out the door the other way.

Just past the group of women and he nearly jumped. A tiny rough tongue had licked his sensitive skin and two paws were kneading the side of his left breast. He could feel himself going cherry red. He was quite certain Purrcy was still half asleep. He really had no desire to become the mother cat to a kitten Purrcy. That just wasn't right in sooo many ways. All he could do was keep his arms crossed and his eyes fixated on Marielle. He had to make the pass. As soon as they tried to take his chest measurements, it was all over. Absolutely _no one_ outside of Log Horizon and Crescent Moon were to learn that Purrcy could transform into cat.

Marielle was looking at him, her face rather worried. He wanted to mouth "help" at her, but the tailor was looking at him too. "Ah, don't you still have my measurements from before?" he asked. "It's not like we get to grow or anything here."

The tailor turned away to ask an assistant for a check on the data and Tetora moved fast. He was to Marielle, passing the kitten into _her_ shirt before the tailor moved again. Marielle stood in sudden shock, her eyes wide. Her arm had come up to hold the kitten from falling out. "I - I thought you said -," she whispered.

Tetora whispered back. "No, and she hasn't heard yet."

Marielle went paler and swallowed. Tetora was being motioned over so he side-stepped and went to take his place to be measured. Marielle turned around and faced him and didn't leave that place the whole time he was being measured. She did turn various shades of pink, red, and pale as Purrcy wiggled and moved around, though.

Tetora gave her encouraging and consoling looks when he could, but he couldn't too much or he'd give it away to the waiting friends. One glance he did have showed that Akatsuki had been released and was distracting the friends. That was one small consolation. She'd at least figured out something was wrong. However, it happened to be Rieze who was being measured in her place. ...And she was still looking at them suspiciously. He worked hard to come up with an excuse. They were going to get asked. He finally came up with something plausible about the time his measurements were done.

He walked up to Marielle and she fished the kitten out from her shirt and handed her back, covering her with both hands. Both of their bodies shielding the act from as many people as possible. Tetora put the kitten back into his shirt. "Thanks," he said. She nodded, sweat dripping from her forehead a little. He led her back to the group. "Hey," he said quietly. "I'll be back. I need to take care of something really quick." They looked at him curiously and he was off, headed for a changing room.

"Hey, Tetora!" _Oh god, no_. "Tetora!"

He held on to the kitten shushing it, pleading to every god under heaven. "Ah, Calasin, I've got a bit of an emergency. Can it wait?"

"...What is it?" Calasin had to rearrange his thinking. Those micro seconds were precious to Tetora and he only begrudgingly gave them up.

"My bra strap broke. Can you get me a 38C and bring it to my changing room?"

"Ah. I'll have my assistant help with that, if it's okay. I'm headed to the sewing room. Is everyone else there?"

A tiny set of claws pricked his delicate, sensitive skin and he broke out in a cold sweat. "Yes," he said shortly, then turned and ran. He wasn't sure if it was sweat or blood running down between his breasts but he wouldn't have been surprised by either at this point.

He slid into one of the changing rooms with a door, locked it and put a silencing spell on it so no one could listen in from the door. Pulling Purrcy out he said, "I'm sorry." He put her on the bench used to sit on when trying things on, talking fast as she changed to felinoid. "I wanted to let you sleep as long as possible, and you were very hard to wake up even by the time everyone else got here, so I thought it would be okay to let you keep sleeping. I didn't expect to get dragged into a group re-measurement when they've already got all our sizes. ...I'm really sorry." He watched her closely.

Purrcy looked at him a little curiously, then shrugged. "It couldn't be helped, then. I woke up because I smelled everyone and heard their voices. I'm sorry I was so hard to wake up before that."

 _Not half so sorry as me_. "That's okay." He looked at her, trying to figure out how to do the next part. She tipped her head. "Purrcy...," he bit his lip. "Shiroe's really sorry you were surprised by the visit to the manor. He doesn't want to do that again." She was listening to him, a bit coolly, but that was to be expected. He took a deep breath, "...so, he's asked me to talk to you before you go into the next thing." Purrcy blinked, then sighed and nodded.

Steeling himself, Tetora said calmly. "The other guilds learned about the wedding and asked to be able to participate." Purrcy's ears went back and her eyes went wide. "It's pushed the wedding out. I haven't been told when it will be, but it isn't tonight." Her eyes stopped seeing for a bit. He decided to press on, carefully. "Shopping District 8's sewing department has asked to make the wedding dress and gowns for the bride's maids. That's what Calasin was asking for you to come for."

Her eyes fastened on him and he obediently held still, staying as calm as possible. "Who else?"

"For what?"

"Guilds."

"Radio City, Grandale. West Wind Brigade wants to help serve since you helped Nazuna, who was apparently as far gone as you since she was the test subject to see if the Plague would work on you well enough. The rest of the guildmasters want to come, but will leave their people home."

One flick, two flicks. Consternation. Sharp look that had concern behind it. Irritation. Yeah, that was about what he thought she'd say. "Who else?"

"For what?"

"Fittings."

"...All of them. ...Me included."

"That's rather a lot, and the Princess should come as an honored guest not a bridesmaid."

"...They're already being measured, and have decided it."

Purrcy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She rose. "We shall begin there, then." Tetora opened the door and bowed her out, following after her, though giving her directions as needed since it was only her second time in the facility.

They arrived at the fitting room and silence fell. The Queen had entered. She wasn't angry, per se, but her presence was commanding, even though quiet. "Ladies, Tetora says you have decided you love me. After one visit, is it really true? I truly thought I had left there to allow you to have the opportunity to finally be relieved of my oppressiveness."

Several of them went pale. Others slowly got angry. "Let's go out in the hall and discuss it, shall we?" Rieze said firmly.

Purrcy turned and walked back out, Tetora trailing after. The rest of the women filed out. Purrcy moved far enough away from the sewing room so that they wouldn't be necessarily heard. Calasin stepped out of the room and stood watching them, just a little concerned.

"First of all," Rieze said, "Lesson one. A friend is someone who stands beside and supports their friend. That's what we've all decided to do. Lesson two. We get to decide who will be a friend. Lesson three. You don't help everyone out like that just to be manipulative. That isn't allowed. You're either serious about helping people or you leave well enough alone. We're grateful, but don't throw it back in our faces. Lesson four, which is one you should already know. You can't talk down about yourself. You are who you are and we all live with it or we don't, but you don't get to use it as an excuse to run away."

Purrcy listened calmly and carefully to her scolding, then turned to look at Princess Raynessia. She clenched her hands together in front of her, swallowed, then nodded agreement. Purrcy relaxed and smiled. "Very good, Princess Raynessia. I think you have come a very, very long way if you can understand the difference between what you used to believe and what you have come to believe now because these your friends have taught you so well." Raynessia blinked several times, trying to understand.

Purrcy turned back mildly to Rieze, who was also just a little calmer, and confused, perhaps. Purrcy bowed. "My apologies for rudely calling everyone out like that. I was trying to hide from Calasin, and get my frustration out. It was surely not right to take it out on all of you, if you are willing to be friends with a strange creature like me."

Rieze scowled. "Lesson five. No more whiplash."

"Yes, Rieze," Purrcy said obediently, then waited. When nothing more was forthcoming, she looked around the group. Tetora also did. Most seemed to be recovering from said whiplash. "While I appreciate that you are excited for my sake, I would like to ask you to please consider my desires as well." Tetora perked up at that. It was the test of what she'd taught them at the manor. He watched everyone just as closely as she did now. She finally got cautious nods and looks of understanding went through most of the usually stubborn ones. That was good.

"Nyanta and I really did want this to be small. It's a difficult adjustment to make. ...Whiplash if you will," her whiskers went up wryly on one side. "It's most difficult at the moment because I am told there will be another delay, though not how long." She glanced at Calasin. "I suspect it's because the dresses must be made from the beginning, though I don't know. Perhaps food will take as long." Understanding was creeping into faces.

Purrcy's whiskers fell. "Really, I'm used to being in town for only one day and the rest of the time running in the outdoors on my own. Being in the city this long has already made me feel caged. I'm afraid I'm impatient and more irritable than usual because of it. Being told there is yet one more delay...," she made a small gesture with her hand, then held it out to Tetora. He put his hand in it and held it lightly. "You'll have to help hold me here, and Nyanta will have to hold me tightly at night so I don't slip away." He nodded.

She looked back up at the women around her, taking a breath, though her ears were still unhappy. "Because I know that weddings are often more for the attendees than the participants, and those who want to come have chosen to make a place for me in their hearts, I won't deny them." Tetora felt a small shudder go through her and he held on just a little tighter, anchoring her a little more. Quietly she added, "Though it makes it more frightening."

Nazuna reached out a hand and ran her hand down Purrcy's arm to hold it, the look on her face sympathetic. Purrcy looked up into her eyes and the fear in Purrcy's eyes cut at Tetora and he had to look away, watching from the corner of his eye. They communicated by ear and tail, then Nazuna took Purrcy in a hug, that was returned. "Nyanta-san is a good man," Nazuna said.

Purrcy nodded. "Will you be okay?" she whispered.

Nazuna smiled a bit ironically. "Souji protects his own. I'll be fine." Then she closed her eyes and whispered, "And...he's a good man, too."

Purrcy held Nazuna a little tighter. "Hang on to love. This too will pass." Nazuna nodded. Purrcy tremored again and Nazuna pet her. Purrcy buried her head in Nazuna's shoulder. "Damn cat bodies that can't cry," she complained.

Nazuna smiled and patted her head. "Yeah."

"Th-they can't?" Marielle asked. Others looked surprised, too.

Nazuna and Purrcy both shook their heads, though Nazuna didn't let Purrcy go yet. "None of the half-beasts can cry," Nazuna told the others. "Can't do some of the other emotions either, though the human half does anyway. It makes it hard to clean it all out of the system." She was just a little bitter herself.

Purrcy gave a little laugh. "Doesn't mean we don't anyway. Being human we know it's better to just let it out however we can, it's just frustrating. Crazy that we'd miss the wet saltiness on the cheeks, and general mess that crying brings, but we do. I guess that's what we get for being women...or something." The tremors were really going now and Tetora stepped up to Purrcy's other side and wrapped his free arm around her. She was holding very tightly to his hand and he held back just as tightly.

He'd started something, though. Marielle was suddenly holding Nazuna on the other side and the rest moved in to offer what physical comfort they were comfortable with giving. He could feel Nazuna begin to tremor as well and he relaxed and smiled inside. Purrcy had accomplished another goal, in the middle of all the others all at once. When he felt the tremors in both of them begin to subside, he gently pushed back on the people crowding around and they moved back so he could get free, though he didn't let go of Purrcy until she was ready to let go.

Purrcy sighed. "Can't even wipe the cheeks dry as the sign we're done. Thank you, everyone, Nazuna, Tetora," The way she said his name made him feel really good and then blush. He nodded. Nazuna moved back, but stayed close to Rieze, who seemed to hover protectively over her, and Marielle also stood closely on her other side. Tetora was a little surprised to see that Akatsuki was just as close to Purrcy on her other side from him. It seemed to be a rather natural thing to keep close to people who had been hurting until they were strong enough on their own again.

"Please," Purrcy said quietly. "Princess Raynessia, as a special envoy, shouldn't be in the wedding party. That would be seen as if Maihama was a supporter of specifically Log Horizon. I don't think Shiroe or the Round Table would approve, and I'm pretty sure she's not supposed to single out guilds. ...It's really the same with the other guilds, as much as I'd love to have you with me. We already have an obvious alliance with Crescent Moon, and Tetora has asked that his last feminine act be to stand at my side. Four is plenty. Will the rest of you please escort Princess Raynessia and sit in the front as my family?" She turned her eyes on Tetora. "What about the juniors? Shouldn't they be in as well?"

Tetora looked at Marielle. Marielle took a breath. "Purrcy, they've asked if they can sit with Serera, to support her. She wants to support you and Nyanta, but they want to encourage her also."

Purrcy nodded. "If we could have the five of them, then the Princess and the rest of you in the front, that would be appropriate, I think. The other political dignitaries can be in the second row, and then the guests after that." There were nods of agreement.

"I'd like to wear the outfit you gave me, I think," Nazuna offered.

Rieze nodded. "I'll find something I want to wear." She blushed. "Well...I picked it out a long time ago...like Nazuna."

There were smiles around. "We'd love to see it," Henrietta said.

"After Purrcy gets measured," Tetora reminded them calmly. "She's probably the only one they didn't have measurements for in the first place."

"Which reminds me," Rieze said, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

Tetora looked back at her calmly. "My bra strap broke...as usual at the worst possible time. Marie was holding it for me, very kindly since it's a very embarrassing thing for any of us."

The other ladies stared at him, then laughed. "No doubt," Nazuna said.

He felt a little sad. He would miss this part of being female, but...that really had been the last straw for him. He looked significantly at Purrcy. She looked back and an ear tipped his way deliberately, then straightened again. "Then, I guess we're ready to face Calasin properly?" she asked the group. He was glad to see that she was much more relaxed now. He took his own breath to relax and returned to just guard in the background status. She still wasn't okay, but she would manage for now.

Once they were done with measurements, and Calasin had talked to her - it's own little trial - they tried on clothing and had general fun, but when she started to twitch too much again, getting stiff with nerves again, he pretended to get a call summoning her home. They begged off to go alone, though Akatsuki came with them this time, also having had quite enough for one day.

As they left the open busy market area, Purrcy reached for his hand and he gave it to her. It was a firm hold, but not as tight as when she'd cried. Purrcy reached her other hand for Akatsuki's and held it, too. Akatsuki seemed a bit stiff with not knowing quite what to do about it, but when she looked at Tetora and saw the tears standing in his eyes, she got a soft look in her eyes, nodded at him and relaxed. He himself had always been frustrated that his woman's body cried a little too easily. Today, he didn't complain.

They walked in silence until they were nearing the guild hall. Purrcy was slowing down. "Purrcy, Nyanta's waiting at the tree." She looked at him and shook. He paused, then said, "If you'll go straight to him." She nodded, the look in her eyes going wild. She'd said she was already keyed to go there anyway. "Alright. Go." He released her hand. She was large cat and running full out. "Nyanta, she's on her way."

"I'm waiting."

Tetora moved closer to Akatsuki, then took her hand. She glared at him. He looked soberly back at her. "Just until we get to the door. I'll latch onto Naotsugu when we get inside." She rolled her eyes and sighed, but let him. He was grateful...and embarrassed...but he didn't let go. It had been a very hard afternoon.


	35. Shiroe's Scolding

Nyanta stood under the large silver leaf tree. He'd been standing there for a while now. Most of the afternoon actually. Ever since Shiroe had told him there was nothing that could be done about the wedding becoming a large affair. It made sense, in a logical and political sort of way, but that didn't make it better. That had come after the argument about the test at the Princess's manor. He felt that was particularly unfair because she had to be obedient to Shiroe, no matter what. That wasn't a real test. The counter argument was that she still had the right to choose what she said and how she went about solving the problems set before her.

Since then, Nyanta had been writhing, feeling like he was twisting in the wind, his gut tight and his heart hurting for her sake. He hadn't been unable to unfold his arms since then. He wasn't sure if he was holding them tightly to himself to comfort his feelings or so he didn't pull his rapiers and kill something...particularly one Dark Machiavelli. Coming to the tree for some further level of comfort and distance between him and the guild hall had been a safety measure as much as an escape. No one complained. They knew he'd been pushed too far already.

It was agony to have Tetora praise her efforts, when they didn't even feel like hers. She would be offended if she knew he felt that way. She would still have had to go through the effort either way, and was surely trying her best. It was agony not knowing if she was going to run at the news she was going to stay front and center of attention of the Round Table, too. To have to be on display even though there would be so many people who loved her and supported her there...surely she would also understand that.

He'd fallen to his knees more than once when he reached that thought in his circular thinking, his arms held tightly to him in comfort at those times, since she wasn't here to do it for him. He hadn't threatened lightly. He didn't want the attention either. If she ran, he would run after her, and they'd have to call off the public display.

The fear wasn't of being seen, of being on stage. It was the fear of how much more real the tearing of the bonds of home were when there were that many witnesses to it. For Marielle and Naotsugu, their wedding would be one of happiness and union, rejoiced over by everyone. In Purrcy and his case, he'd wanted a little formality, but it was not something to rejoice over. It was a rejection and a turning away as much as it was a uniting. He wasn't sure he was ready for that.

He hated himself for even suggesting a ceremony when he reached this point in the circular thinking. He had to stop thinking at that point and just stay still until it faded and he was able to rise and slowly pace again, from rock to tree and back to rock again, back and forth until the thinking started again and he stopped walking so he didn't fall down. He was in that particular state when Tetora finally called. "She's on her way."

"I'm waiting." He stopped pacing and turned to face the direction she would come from, his arms still wrapped around his middle, holding him in place as they had for the last hours. His eyes focused into the distance. His nose sought for the smells on the air. His ears focused on the sounds coming from that direction and they caught the first hint of her, the light thumping of her four paws running for him, gradually getting louder.

His eyes fixated on the place where she should arrive. He expected her to go straight up the tree at her full run, which is what she was running. She'd already been under great restraint too long. It would be eating at her. He'd have to come second, after she'd calmed down...or she'd likely eat him or something similar. He just wanted to see her for that brief moment that she streaked by on her way to and then up the tree.

She appeared to his eyes and he watched her, his mind dull, but his senses sharp. His cat mind was calculating trajectories, expected moves, even the smallest changes in direction and speed. When she bypassed several of the modifications she should have made his wild mind became confused. Then he had to return to full mind because it couldn't be denied. She wasn't headed for the tree. She was coming for him.

His body, already set because of the trajectories, braced for impact. She was suddenly felinoid and her arms were wrapping around him, pulling his head to be buried in her neck. He was so tense his neck almost refused to bend. He had to consciously seek her neck himself.

"I'm so sorry, Nyanta," she said so sadly and apologetically his heart broke. His arms suddenly released and traded from holding him to holding her. He trembled as she held him and pet his head. His body felt all of her, needing to know she was there with him, that it wasn't alone anymore. His mind didn't even know why. He had chosen to come to the tree, to be away from people in general. Why did he feel like he had been alone until she was there with him again? It was a test, and she was quite capable of handling tests. Tetora had been understanding enough to let him know that she'd done quite well with it, even.

He didn't understand it, but Purrcy seemed to. She had come to him first, had apologized for making him feel alone, though it wasn't her fault at all, but someone else's that couldn't be pointed to, and was holding him as closely as he needed to be held. "Why?" he asked. Maybe she could tell him. "Why was that so hard? I know mew are capable, that it wasn't fair, but that unfairness doesn't matter to mew."

"What did you feel? What are you feeling?"

"Like mew've been taken from me. Like mew weren't going to come back. Like I've been so very lonely this whole time. ...And, angry and afraid and ...like the past is being ripped from me without my purrmission. I wanted mew to make it better." He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. It isn't meowrs to fix."

"No, Nyanta. It is. It's our future that is tearing the past from you, the hope and love you've held onto to survive. If I'm not here beside you when you're feeling that, then you are left without anchor, hope, or love. That is the pit of despair you feel. But I'm here. You aren't alone. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. ...I love you."

At those words he held her tighter and the tears welled up in his chest, but his past denied it again. "Enough? Enough to make it worth it to lose the past? To walk away from what I had?"

She pet him quietly for a while and that hurt too. Then she started grooming under his ear and it comforted him. "Nyanta. ...I cannot compete with that love. I can only offer what I have and it is still new and untried. Only time will answer that question...but I can offer all I am now. I am yours, Nyanta," Her own desperation and pain filtered through to him.

"My past is also being taken from me. There will only be you for me in the future. It is cruel of them to celebrate that pain when they don't understand it." He nodded agreement. "I wanted to slap them all and explain that they were supporting a farce. That they needed to have more sensitivity to those of us who carry treasures of the past within us."

"...They probably do still need to be taught it, or all the others who follow after us will have the same pain. I've been working up what I want Shiroe to say. ...I think it should start with a memorial to the past...like a funeral...so we can say goodbye first, and temper the union for the future with gentleness rather than joy. Not that it can't be a good thing...just...it shouldn't be ignored."

His body still wanted to be with hers, but the knots inside were loosening up with her words. They were what he needed. He nodded. "I would like that - if the three of us sat and put together something that would acknowledge the past, the current pains, and the future hope."

She buried her head in him. "You've put that so well." He began to groom her, then stopped and took a breath. He needed to not confuse things just yet. He was still too confused himself. He pet her instead. She returned the favor and eventually they were calmed enough to move a little, enough to move to sitting on the rock together.

There was a not-too distant sound of someone walking their way, their cat-hearing sharp enough to hear it before they could see it. They looked at each other. Nyanta put his head on her shoulder and she pet him until he relaxed enough to be able to face someone else. If too much more happened, _he_ was going to run and she'd have to chase after him. He held her tightly around the waist with both arms, waiting until the sounds were close enough that they stopped. He closed his eyes, breathed calmly a few times, then lifted his head to look.

His eyes dilated and his tail flipped, but he didn't move. Shiroe's expression was pretty miserable, for Shiroe. He considered the younger man for a moment, then looked at Purrcy. She gave a small sign of acquiescence. "Mew may come," he said, looking back at Shiroe. He'd stopped at the edge of the clearing, near the last fallen building. He seemed to take a breath for courage also, then carefully made his way over to them.

"I'm sorry." The words were quietly spoken. "I would take it back if I could."

They sat quietly, then Purrcy answered in a quiet teaching voice. "The past cannot be undone...but it should also not be ignored." Shiroe gracefully folded himself to be kneeling in front of them in the pose of repentant acceptance of a scolding, hands resting loosely on his knees, and waited silently.

Purrcy was quiet as she prepared her lecture. Softly she began, "To come here suddenly from home was to be ripped from everything we knew until that time. But our memories of it hold us, keep us moving forward. We carry the past with us as our hope." She looked sadly at Shiroe. "Those of us who treasure that past...a thing such as we are doing...we have to turn our backs on that past. We lose our anchor to our hope, and betray our memories, our loved ones. We no longer feel like there is a way to continue to move forward and become lost and alone - adrift in this strange place we were brought to. It is hard to find joy in it. It is not cause to celebrate with friends and parties. A simple commitment to continue forward together but not to lose that past in the process...that is acceptable." Shiroe's eyes fell.

Purrcy sighed and looked away. After a while she said, "In moving forward, in seeing love in our loved ones here, we want to be supportive. But here is not like home. It cannot be the same." She looked at Shiroe again piercingly and he looked back up at her, waiting to hear her solution. "Write our words of pain and grief. Be the priest who helps us acknowledge the past that must be left behind so that we can move forward. Let it be a solemn occasion that ends with gentle hope that the future can be navigated together in this new land we are strangers in. Write it and we'll read it and see if it will be acceptable. Then let it be the wedding celebration of all Adventurers who have been brought here from our homeworld. Perhaps our children may celebrate with joy unattached, but we cannot."

Shiroe looked at her soberly. "It may be true for those like you, but what about those who are like Marie and Naotsugu?"

Purrcy shook her head. "Let them review it also when it's done and have them tell you what modifications they would make. Perhaps it can be both general enough and sufficient. If there needs to be two, then so be it. ...But they also have pasts on Earth, even if they are not as full as ours."

Shiroe paused again, a longer one this time. Cautiously he said, "The two of you have chosen to not return. The pain is likely greater than it could be because of that decision."

Purrcy dipped her head in acknowledgement. "But even so, even if we chose to return, it would be just as difficult. It would actually be impossible, because of what is there for us. It would not be a wedding at all, then. It would be adultery and thus not worthy of mention at all."

Shiroe rocked and he had to support himself with a hand on the ground. Nyanta looked at him soberly and Purrcy also didn't look away from him. As he struggled to even breathe, Purrcy rose and walked over to him, crouching down to put her hand on his shoulder. Nyanta followed her and stood over them. He looked at them. "You...you're staying because of that? You would give it up?"

Nyanta sighed. "Our situation is peculiar, though not easy because of that. On Earth I am already nearing death. That body lies in a hospital, Shiroe-ichi. If I return, I return to die. My wife and son already grieve, and have for a long time. I have already said my farewells, unlike any others who are here. I have been given an extension of life to be brought here. If I could be alive for them, I would be, for I love them dearly." He couldn't continue.

"My marriage was already nearly ended. I had received divorce papers," Purrcy said quietly and the pain was very evident. "My children were already grieving the death of their family. It was freedom from that pain that I found here. I would go back to let them know that I hadn't abandoned them. If time has passed there and he is happy and the children have found peace, I couldn't face them. I would leave before they knew I was returned and wander the Earth seeking a Nyanta I would never find because he would be buried in the ground before I could reach him."

"Shiroe," Purrcy said firmly, "not everyone can understand. Not everyone is in our situation. I understand that. But still, everyone does have a past on Earth. To take the step of commitment to someone here is to face the fear that this new relationship will be the one that is torn asunder. We need to acknowledge the past, recognize the present pain, and attempt to face the future with hope and courage. Not just that we will find happiness...but that the happiness we do find won't be taken from us again. It will teach us that if it does happen, we've walked the path once, we can do it again."

"Humans must continue to walk forward, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta said, "or on the inside we die. Most of us will fight for it. If we are not taught how to walk it rightly we will approach it wrongly - with hatred, anger, despair. Mew have already seen those examples. Mew have taught Akiba how to face life as a society rightly. Now it is time to teach them how to face life as families rightly."

Purrcy nodded. "The family is the basic unit of the fabric of society. It is the thread that holds it all together. The two threads bound together - husband and wife - are stronger than the individual. Strong enough to hold together many until they are ready to begin their own weaving. Marriage, and solemn commitment for life, is right and proper. Let us teach them that to face it with proper honor to the past that brought us together and determination to stay together into the future is still the right way to move forward." She hesitated.

"Adultery is not right. It is contrary to the proper strengthening of individuals, families, and society as a whole. This is not an easy decision for us, and we've only agreed to it because we've agreed to not return, if staying is something that we're allowed to choose in the end. As I said, if we were to return, we wouldn't even have come this far. ...I treasure Nyanta too much to take from him his love for his wife and son, when they are so dear to him."

Shiroe looked at them soberly. "Is it only because of the Plague?"

They both shook their heads. "For two years we have admired each other," Nyanta said. "Since Susukino. I watched Purrcy there, and she watched me, but until we could communicate we couldn't say it."

"If the Wolf Pack hadn't chased me there, I was coming anyway to confess to him, even with the language barrier," Purrcy said. "Perhaps the relationship would have built slower without the fear of the Plague, but we still faced each other properly from the beginning."

Purrcy rose and stepped back and Nyanta moved to put his arm around her. Shiroe looked up at the both of them, his glasses having slipped down his nose a bit. He reached up and pushed them back up close to his face. He took a breath and nodded. "I'll write it and show it to you. When you're content, I'll talk to Naotsugu, and if he thinks it best, to Marielle as well. ...I may have Akatsuki review it also." He paused and a hand clenched. "I don't know if we'll get that far...but we are another example, and it would be nice to understand and be prepared ahead of time."

Nyanta nodded. Purrcy held out her hand to Shiroe and helped him stand. "Meowr a good boy, Shiroe-ichi," he said.

"We'll leave it up to you," Purrcy said kindly, "but...remember we are also here for you."

Shiroe looked at them and his eyes filled with pain. Purrcy pulled gently on his hand that she was still holding. Nyanta could see he wouldn't be able to do it on his own. In one step, he and Purrcy moved in concert and had him pinned in a double embrace.

"Shiroe," Purrcy's voice was thick. "We love you, too. ...Find the doorway, then come and visit us. We will always have a chair waiting for you, and a kitten for you to pet, and an old man to sit and keep you company. And if it isn't possible in the end...remember us fondly. We will never forget you...ever."

Shiroe, the Machiavelli and Master Strategist, became a little boy and cried hot tears of loss and pain...for his past, for his present, and for his future...and his Theldesian parents stood with him and comforted him.

-:-:-:-:-

When he was recovered, Shiroe left Nyanta and Purrcy under the tree, but he didn't go back to the guild hall. Instead he walked while his mind moved over the things they'd said to him. He moved lightly because his heart was still trying to mend. It wasn't an open wound any more - they hadn't left him as long as it was that. Rather it was tender as if new skin was still growing over the place of the wound. It wasn't ready for others yet - for the outside to see or touch.

As he walked, he kept finding himself smelling the moss and growing things he was walking though. Or realizing that he was listening closely to the sounds around him that were quiet, but filled with life calmly moving in its normal way. Eventually, he stopped and realized he was seeing.

He was back at the pool with the rock next to it they had been sitting on when he'd reach this place before, but it was empty of people now. There wasn't a sense of loss for their absence...more like an expectation they would be coming back. He realized he wanted to purchase the zone it was in just for them. They seemed the sort that would end up living on the side of some distant mountain that seekers of wisdom would climb just to hear three minutes of golden wisdom drip from their mouths...then drink tea with them and be sent home to live rightly again. He smiled slightly at that thought. But they would also come into town, to make sure that things were still moving rightly in the world as well, to scold and set right, to comfort and likely to dance as the King and Queen of the Ball.

Shiroe lifted his head to the sky, closing his eyes, seeking raindrops that weren't falling. He would like to see them dance...when it wasn't a requirement. He was going to force that on them, though they hadn't complained...and kindly wouldn't. He was going to force a lot of things on them and it hurt, but he would do it anyway. And they wouldn't complain about any of it.

He had no doubt they loved him like they cared about each other and this world. It hurt, but when they were done doing the things he wanted them to, it wouldn't have to hurt any more. That was what gave him the ability to act and give any of them orders, though he rarely called them orders. They were requests, and he could only hope that people were willing to follow through and carry them out. He was blessed with people in his guild who were like that.

Shiroe opened his eyes and walked to the rock and sat down on it. He looked down into the pool, stilling his mind again, letting his heart heal a little more, the memories of his past washing over him feeling a little less painful, more nostalgic, though it wasn't a full cleaning of his past. He decided that was okay. A little bit here, a little bit there. It was going to still be part of him his whole life because it couldn't be changed...but it also shouldn't be ignored. Just acknowledged so that life could move forward. He let Purrcy's words bandage the wound and it healed a little more so that he could relax and breathe a little easier.

The sounds of the wind blowing through the ivy and leaves made him realize the feel of the wind as it blew his hair gently against his face. Late evening blue sky sparkled off the water just a bit, the wind making the reflection of the tree leaves move on its surface. He watched that motion for a bit, then turned to look up into the tree behind him. The trunk of the tree went up and up until finally the first of the large branches reached majestically out to the horizon on all sides. That is, the horizon of what could be seen within the confines of the city and the buildings around this area.

He was leaning so far back he went ahead and lay back on the rock, cushioning his head with his hands. He stared up into the waving branches, watching the blue that peeked through. There were shadows moving in the tree as well as the bright spots. He wondered if Purrcy was ever one of those shadows. She did seem to love trees, after all, or at least gravitated to them.

He wasn't surprised Nyanta brought her here. They'd found it when they'd explored out here, looking for the place they wanted to purchase for the guild hall. It was even too tall for Akatsuki to get into, unless she went up one of the buildings to either side first. But Purrcy had climbed a six story building, so maybe she could get into this tree. Maybe he'd get to see it some time. Shiroe closed his eyes again.

Footsteps crunched into the clearing. Not Akatsuki. She would appear next to him and he wouldn't know it until the space between them warmed up. The person turned and settled on the ground next to the rock, leaning against it. It was obviously Naotsugu. He was the only one with the courage to walk into his personal thinking space and stay quiet about it. Oddly enough, now that he thought about it, they all stayed quiet when they were with him, unless he needed to hear something. They came to be companions. Purrcy was probably the one exception, though there hadn't been the opportunity to find out otherwise.

...He was trying to not think about Purrcy. If he thought about her, he had to begin thinking about his assignment. He sighed.

Naotsugu shifted. "She loves it."

"I figured. Have you seen her climb it?"

Silence for a bit. "No. But they have. Apparently it's a bit like the closet, so far."

"Oh. I hope that gets better."

"Yeah. Apparently it's also not to be missed if you have the opportunity."

"I wouldn't. ...Miss it, that is. I'm looking forward to seeing it." He held his breath, but saying it didn't hurt like he thought it would. He took a careful breath and relaxed a bit again. He loved Purrcy. He wondered, _In what way?_ "Naotsugu...what is it to love your mother?"

Naotsugu rubbed his chin, the sound of it coming to Shiroe's ears. It wasn't an easy question and he wasn't sure he'd get much of an answer, though Naotsugu was good at trying anyway. "Someone who is always present, even if they aren't physically there. They have that spot just behind you...to your left. Your dad's on the right, pointing you forward. Your mom's on the left, reminding you, 'you've got this'."

"She's the comfort when you fall, the push forward when you're insecure. And when you need to turn around, she lets you and holds you until you're ready to face forward again. She doesn't let you run away, but she doesn't make you move until you're ready either. Sometimes dad has to make her let go so you can breathe and turn back around because you've forgotten you've got what it takes, but he remembers and reminds you. For guys, the mom's soft unless you need scolding...and even then they're usually still soft in the end. So...the love's soft, too."

"Sometimes it hurts, because they're behind you, but when you get a wife...that's the one who stands next to you and holds your hand and helps you move forward, and then you've got two moms and two dads helping you both. And then the love is grateful, that they helped you get where you needed to go." Naotsugu paused. "They don't go anywhere though. The mom's still there in that same spot, encouraging you, holding you if you need it. It's just quieter because the love of the wife is closer and...more real, I guess. I'd say louder and insistent, but it's not really that. Maybe it's just that the mom's gets quieter so that she can be proud of how you're loving your wife."

Shiroe felt his lip curl upward. "For a guy who was struggling to find anyone to date, you know a lot about it, Naotsugu."

Naotsugu was quiet. "I watched my grandparents...and my sister, plus had my own folks, of course. ...Mom still talks to me, telling me 'you've got this', and 'listen up young man' - especially when Purrcy puts those scolding eyes on anyone. I heard it loud and clear when it was my turn...both of those things. ...She's good at saying the one followed by the other. I figure she is one back home."

"Mm," Shiroe confirmed neutrally.

"Same's Nyanta's a dad."

Shiroe took a breath. "They miss their kids pretty bad," he said.

"Good thing they've got us, then," Naotsugu said with his usual practicality that spoke depths.

"No," Shiroe said quietly, though he wasn't really disagreeing. "Good thing we've got them."

Silence for a bit, then, "Well said. ...Well said."

They sat quietly for a while longer. Shiroe sat up and looked at the back of Naotsugu's head. He had his hands locked behind it looking at the tree trunk. He'd probably started out looking up into the tree. Now he leaned back and looked at Shiroe.

"They've requested a new kind of ceremony for marrying Adventurers from Earth here in Theldesia. One that respects the past," Shiroe pulled one foot in close to balance better, holding onto that leg. "Not a celebration, but a remembrance and a soft hope for the future. Something that lets them keep loving their kids back home, while also loving us here." He looked away. He couldn't mention the spouses. That seemed too private. He suspected Naotsugu could figure it out on his own, though.

Naotsugu put his arms down and turned to lean on the rock a bit, considering it. "I could see that. There're a lot of folks here that don't want to give up their hope." He gnawed at it a bit more. Naotsugu was like that. A big heavy dog that gnawed on one part of a bone, commented on its bouquet, moved to another part of it to taste it there, then commented on it's texture...savoring it until he could really chomp down into it and enjoy it because he understood it.

"Nothing wrong with wanting to hold on to love, either. Sometimes it's hard to come by so it's extra treasured, and that's good - to want that." Shiroe had to agree with that. Naotsugu looked at him. "Naw. I like it. Something just for us, something for us transplants who don't have nothin' but each other. That says it softly...but powerfully and acknowledges what we are and where we came from."

Shiroe nodded. Naotsugu had said the same things they had. "Should we open it to everyone so that everyone can hear it?"

Naotsugu paused slightly, then shook his head. "You can make it fully public at ours, since it's supposed to be the big shindig anyway. Their's should be softer. I'd send everyone back home, too, if I could, but that's another source of love that shouldn't be shoved aside. I think it may actually help them see they aren't alone either. They tend to forget it...like you do." Naotsugu gave him a look.

Shiroe smiled a self-recriminating smile. "Yeah. They reminded me of that, too. ...I guess you could say that was my scolding."

"Good. You needed it."

Shiroe laughed a short laugh at his friend's heartfelt but simple declaration. "I must have. She only gives them when they are."

"So you said," Naotsugu agreed, looking at the tree trunk again.

Shiroe looked up into its branches again, leaning back on his hands. "I presume you came to get me for dinner."

"Eventually."

Shiroe took a deep breath in of the fresh air of this area of town, let it out and stood up. "Then let's not keep them waiting any longer, or we'll both get scolded for staying out too late and only arriving when it's all cold."

"Naw. That's what mom's do. Keep it warm for you...for when you're ready to come back home." Naotsugu stood up, then stopped in surprise when he looked at Shiroe. "Aw, man. You love her that bad, huh?"

Shiroe nodded. "I miss her already, and she's only just got here."

Naotsugu put his arm around Shiroe's shoulders and got him moving. "She's not going anywhere... not for a long time. She'll always be behind you. Just keep your ear open for her words to come into your heart and your mind. It'll be there. It'll be there. And while you've got her here, make her tell them to you as much as you can until she's sick of it and you're full. Then it'll be okay to let her go do what she needs to do until she can come back again." Naotsugu grinned at him, "And as my mom says, 'you can always pick up the phone and call me, you know. You didn't get that thing just to have it staring at you'."

Shiroe laughed into the back of his hand. "For some reason, the front screen of your phone had an eye on it that just now opened up and glared at you for not calling frequently enough. Like an alarm clock: 'call your mother...right now, young man'!"

Naotsugu laughed. "Yeah, like that. They worry if you don't, you know, but they aren't sure they should interfere either. So they sit by the phone and wait...or so it seems like sometimes. And sometimes they can't take it and call you anyway...usually when you're in the shower or finally on that date you've been trying to score." Shiroe shook his head.

"Of course," Naotsugu mused. "The best girls say, 'If it's your mom, pick it up. Don't leave her hanging or I'll walk out right now'." Naotsugu looked at Shiroe significantly. "You know why?" Shiroe obediently shook his head. "Because they're the ones who're trying to see if you'll respect the fact they want to be the mother of your own kids. They want to know how you treat your own mother. Then they'll know how you'll treat them."

Shiroe considered that as they walked along the grassy roadway. Finally he said, "Because...they are the ones who want to commit - for life."

"In-one-city," Naotsugu agreed softly.

It made him hurt just a little, be sad a little. Purrcy was like that. That's why it was hard on her...the end of her first marriage...to begin another one. But Nyanta was like that, too, which was probably why they were so peaceful together. They already knew that about each other. He took one more breath and let out his last knot. "Yeah," he said softly. "It's like that." Naotsugu nodded.

-:-:-:-:-

The door to Log Horizon guild hall opened and the wind brought with it the smell of the outdoors and perhaps a hint of rain to come. It also brought the two who were missing and therefore being worried about. Naotsugu had opened the door for Shiroe who stepped in and looked around. His expression was one of tenderness. It wasn't something they hadn't seen before. On occasion he felt such things for them and they recognized it, liked it even. The one thing that was different was that his eyes were red. Naotsugu had just the hint of a smile on his face and was relaxed, so it must not be a bad thing.

They, the junior members and Akatsuki, watched the two of them walk towards them. Even though tenderness from Shiroe wasn't unusual, there was still a different feel about him. Everyone had a rather instinctive sense he'd received his Hahaue scolding and come out the other side the better for it, the same as all the others whom she'd scolded.

Shiroe and Naotsugu didn't ignore anyone, but they did bypass the seating area, headed for the kitchen. The others followed after in their wake, not really even paying attention to the fact they were doing it. They just needed to see the final resolution, to understand what had happened, what thing was different about their guildmaster.

Purrcy and Nyanta were at the tag end of making dinner still, though the table was set. Shiroe walked up behind Purrcy, who was stirring the pot on the stove. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "We're home, Hahaue," he said quietly.

She looked at him, then smiled softly. "Welcome home, Shiroe. Have you come happily, then?"

"Yes," he answered, smiling softly back, the same tenderness still on his face. The juniors looked at Nyanta, but he was looking soft as well, and his tail moved in slow contentedness.

Naotsugu leaned over Purrcy's other shoulder, also putting a hand on it. He took a deep sniff. "That smells delicious, Hahaue. I think my bottomless pit of a stomach will enjoy trying to become full tonight." She smiled at him and lifted her ladle for him to taste it. He rightly blew on it first, then sipped at it to taste. "Ah, yes...but don't do that again, or I'll eat it before anyone else can get to it. I've got a lot of HP, but probably not enough to stave off everyone." He looked over at the rest of them in the doorway and grinned. They gave him annoyed looks, though they weren't really. It was just because it was the expected thing to do.

Purrcy and Shiroe looked at them as well, and the look they gave was just as tender as it was before. "Welcome your older brothers," Purrcy said with a smile and a bit of a twinkle in her own eyes, her tail giving a teasing twitch.

Slow smiles came on their faces and with a rush they were all running into the kitchen to grab seniors about the middle, just generally very happy and relieved. Akatsuki entered just a little slower, looking at Shiroe with occasional glances at Purrcy, who was paying attention to both the juniors and the hot stove. Shiroe held out his hand to her until she took it. He pulled her to him gently and leaned down to give her a kiss. "Thank you for watching over Hahaue today, and for helping her to gain friends here in town so she'll want to come home more frequently. Did you enjoy yourself today?"

Nyanta was now giving the juniors things to carry to the table, so Shiroe and Akatsuki began to gravitate that way, Shiroe tucking Akatsuki's hand in his elbow and paying close attention to her. She slowly smiled. "Yes. It was very fun. H-hahaue was very much herself with the girls and they loved her. After she left, they said they thought I must enjoy having her here very much."

He looked at her, a twinkle in his eye. "And do you?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Of course...unless she's being herself as usual."

Shiroe snorted, then laughed, his whole face lighting up. It was surprising to all of them. Not that he laughed. He did that on occasion as well. Rather...that he lit up was new. They looked at Naotsugu. He was sitting in his relaxed pose on the couch, but his chest was puffed up and he looked ever so proud, and his grin was almost wider than his face.

Looks went between the juniors. They moved as one to attack Shiroe, pulling him down to the ground and sitting on him and tickling him until he begged for mercy, though he pulled them down and sat on them as well. Akatsuki finally had to join in because Tetora did. When Shiroe couldn't move any more for laughing, they finally stopped.

"Really, I do think that's enough. The food's ready, please sit up." They all looked up. Purrcy was standing nearly over them, the hot pot in her hand, the spoon in the other, but her look was still the look of fondness for all of them. Nyanta was standing behind her with another final dish to be brought to the table, waiting patiently, but staring at Purrcy and his face held softness and happiness, like it had every time he'd looked at her for the last week or so. Everyone moved to the table obediently and Tetora helped Shiroe up off the floor, brushing him off even.

With a happy sigh, Tetora moved to his chair. He stood behind it until everyone was in place. Looking around at everyone, he said, "Hahaue, thank you for healing Shiroe, too." Everyone nodded agreement. "I think...we're ready now. We can move forward."

Purrcy bowed her head to him. "The Navigator has spoken. After dinner, the Cap-i-tan will speak to us." She grinned. "Sit down. We're hungry." Tetora flushed but smiled and sat.

As food was passed around, Michael said, "Purrcy...you've done a marvelous job as usual."

"Thank you, Michael," she said calmly as she passed a bowl of vegetables on to Shiroe.

Shiroe looked at her, then at Michael. Calmly he said, "I take it we'll be meeting in my office, then?"

"Of course," Purrcy said just as calmly.

Everyone else could feel the excitement start at the soles of their feet and rise in minute vibrations up their spines until they were tingling. The next game was afoot, the next challenge just around the corner, and everyone was full up and ready to go.

Nyanta put his paw on Purrcy's knee and she reached down and held it gently, giving him a soft smile. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. She leaned over and took the next kiss from him on her lips. "Maiow," he said and purred for her.

Tetora rolled his eyes. "Not at the table, please. We're trying to eat."

The juniors giggled, and Akatsuki did, too. Tetora grinned at her with a wink. For having had probably one of the hardest days of his life in Akiba, being in the center of the battle, they'd been given probably the best reward they could ever have gotten from it - truly the complete opposite of what had been expected. Their relief could not have been greater. Tetora turned to Naotsugu and held up his hand. "Thanks for the safe retrieval."

Naotsugu slapped Tetora's hand with his own. "He did most of the work himself. I just answered one question and he worked the rest out...but I'm glad it worked out all the same." Tetora nodded, and they both got serious about putting the food in front of them into them.


	36. Unfolding the Fourth Level Boss Rooms

Everyone collected in Shiroe's office room in high spirits that evening and the feeling of expectation ran high. When everyone was settled, Shiroe looked at Purrcy. She smiled back in ears and tail. "I've set it so that only members of the guild Log Horizon can participate. You've got permission to set it now, too."

"Thank you," he said. Looking around the room through his round glasses, Shiroe settled into his usual head-of-guild and Master Strategist role. "I think it's time for Michael to tell us where he met Purrcy and why he's here."

"That's deep," Michael's lower baritone voice said from the side. With him as an addition to the room, he'd had to take Shiroe's desk chair and drag it over and fit it in where it would go. Everyone gave the Monk their attention. "Right then." He paused to get his bearings and find the beginning of his story.

"I've come from Minami. I'm a guard in Kazuhiko's department. I'm not Miburo. As a Navy man from the States I could only play when I had shore leave and they'd let me come play with them every once in awhile. Once I'd figured out the language and how to get around after the catastrophe, I went and hunted down Kazuhiko and asked for a job. Somewhere in the in-between Plant Hwayden was taking over. I'd already earned Hacker, so hid behind the guild tag of Miburo, then later Plant Hwayden when they made everyone take it, even all of Kazuhkio's men and him as well, but Log Horizon's the only one I've really taken on." The room was all ears. They'd turned the corner and come face to face with the most common enemy type they fought, and he was one of them suddenly.

"Miburo runs the city peacekeeping, including the prisons. Nasty places actually, but I suppose most brigs are. You know the 1HP rule?" Purrcy hadn't told the juniors so they were shaking their heads. "If you're down to one health point you can't cast spells, not even Call of Home," he said grimly. "The prisons in Minami work that way. Cells like Earth prison cells, only every prisoner is kept constantly at one HP." It was grim to consider it.

"I was assigned as a guard in the prison. Kazuhiko knew I was U.S. Navy and gave me special assignments. One of them was to guard KR when he went out on Soul Possession. Kazuhiko is the only one he trusts with his physical body. He has a special cell all his own so that if the creature he transfers psyche with is a bit too wild to be using an Adventurer body, it can't get loose and do damage. When he'd come down, Kazuhiko would call me up from the lower blocks and set me to watch over him. That's how I met Purrcy."

He gave a not so nice grin to Purrcy, and every eye turned to the calico felinoid. She picked up the story. "The juniors don't know this bit yet and it's all top secret, but you have a need to know now." They nodded promises to keep it that way. "I'm summonable. I created a spell to allow my patients and clients to summon me and the system, the world, decided that made me completely summonable, not just because of the spell. ...Rather inconvenient actually. It was one of my early lessons to make sure I specifically bounded my spells so that the world couldn't do things I didn't like - like that."

"I'd already learned most of my transformations by then, since they were protection I needed early on. KR was experimenting, trying to learn what new creatures the new expansion pack had dropped into this world with us. I'm not sure what modifications he made to the Summon spell to be more general for creatures not listed and unknown, but he happened to get me one day that I was 'werecat'. We were both quite surprised, as it was relatively soon after I'd created my Summon spell and was my first lesson in what had really happened to me at that time. He hadn't called a creature to create a contract that time - he just wanted to see what he could find. I wasn't pleased to be suddenly someplace I hadn't been before. I immediately chose to flee and did, though that in itself was a natural instinct to a summoned creature, and as suddenly as I'd been taken I was back. I quickly shifted out of werecat since that was the tag he'd seen and I figured he'd call me back on it if he was going to at all."

Purrcy shook her head. "I quickly found a Summoner and asked a lot of questions, since it wasn't my Class. I figured if he called me back and asked what a werecat was, like Marielle, I'd have to have something to turn into, so I worked on learning nine-tails. It has a lot of good obfuscation to go that way. Like - I could turn felinoid if I had to if I was also, or really, a nine-tails, and just hide my player status from him, or any other Summoner who happened to catch me again in the future. ...Which of course he did." Purrcy said wryly.

"I wasn't so lucky the next time, though I was better prepared. The next time he had properly done the binding circle and prepared the contract. Sadly, my levels were still low enough that, though I fought with every skill I had - Adventurer, Hacker, and werecat - it wasn't enough. I am actually one of his contracted Summons. It's one of the reasons I only stay in town for one day. I've already been here too long. He's rather capricious. Sometimes ignoring me for months and other times wanting to talk to me for weeks on end until I want to scream."

Purrcy looked at Shiroe. "The reason I know Michael is because at some point KR was bored, or something, and decided to do a Soul Possession with me. That was quite odd, really. I very much sympathize with Tetora." Tetora blushed and so did the rest of the men in the room, followed shortly by all the women. "Even worse, was that I was felinoid at the time of the transference, which I had been hiding from him until then, and in the ending stages of a surgery."

Purrcy sighed, crossing her arms. "He put me back to finish the work that needed to be done, barely giving me enough time, then summoned me to demand an explanation. I went as a nine-tails and explained that I used the felinoid form to care for the wild creatures of the region because of the usefulness of hands and fingers. He was never terribly satisfied as to why I used surgical methods instead of just magic, but I'm not required to tell him everything, just be obedient to the contract."

A finger tapped on her arm. "He does now call me first to see if I'm in the middle of a surgery before doing transferences, since he was rather frightened by that particular set of clients, so I can sometimes postpone him for a bit if I need to. He can't transform, so whatever form I'm in when he does the transfer is whatever form he has to live with. ...Another reason I spend most of my time outside as a werecat. I'm only felinoid when I have to be and then for as short as possible. ...And then the spirits started to appear in the cell and attack me - or rather KR's body that I was in." She looked back at Michael.

The burly Monk shifted and took back over. "When I wasn't watching over KR's body, Kazuhiko had me down in the specials section, once Indicus decided I was as trustworthy as Kazuhiko thought I was." At the name of Indicus the room chilled. "It was the level I'd been working for anyway, at his request. Most of the guards there were Indicus' special hand-picked guards and Kazuhiko wanted to know what was going on down there." Shiroe sat up, his eyes suddenly gleaming. Michael nodded. "He wanted me to find out what had happened to the Adventurers on the missing list. All of them were sent down there."

Michael rubbed his hands together, taking a breath. "Quon was down there a lot, and Indicus came to visit regularly. They have a special room down there they don't let guards into, except to deliver the prisoner of their choice and carry him or her out, and sometimes not even that much. There was a point where they had about five in a row that way. We carried them in and didn't carry them out. It got to be a bit nerve wracking even to the more hardened of the Adventurer guards. The People of the Land guards didn't care one way or the other. To them, the fewer Adventurers the better, really."

"A while after that event, I got called up to go watch over KR. There were enough guards in the specials section that I was allowed to go back up for that, when he needed it. I'm not sure what creature he summoned that time, but suddenly he was up and backing against the wall, then being beaten up by something I couldn't see. I went into the code realm and still couldn't see figures, but I could see code: Vengeful Spirit. So I wrote up something on the fly that I hoped would work and put a barrier around him...and me since I figured they'd come for me next. They eventually faded out and went away. When he got back I asked him why he might get attacked by Vengeful Spirits and he had no idea. So he summoned one. It hit him, but he couldn't talk to it, so I put the barrier spell on us again until it went away again. They don't have HP so they can't be knocked out, and neither of us had a way to drain MP, so we had to wait them out at that point."

"KR had work to do, so couldn't follow up at that time, but he came back when it was done and decided to call on his magical Caretaker creature to see if she could figure out why he'd suddenly become 'cursed' and get rid of them if possible. They wouldn't come, so he had to first figure out that they appeared when the moon was over the position of Minami in a particular arc." Shiroe's head came up at that as well. Most of the high level Overwritten he'd fought in and around Akiba were moon presence monsters as well.

"They still wouldn't come when the nine-tails was in the cell, and they only came to attack him when he was there or in the police station in general, not in other places around Minami. So he finally showed up a little before the moon time and did a Soul Possession." He looked at Purrcy. "It was actually the first time she spoke to me while in that cell, and it frightened the hell out of me since I thought KR's body'd been possessed by the Vengeful Spirit, since it had just hit her - him."

"I'd been keeping quiet," Purrcy said, "since I didn't need anyone else knowing what I really was. It had always been Michael watching the cell, though, so when I was hit by the Vengeful Spirit I asked him how he knew what it was and where. He wasn't sure how to answer the question, so I went walking in the code realm, found their code labels, his defensive spell on the both of us, and walked his rather unprotected line back to learn who he was. I was concerned since I'd only ever run into bad Hackers, but to find out that he was actually guildless...well, I decided to test him a bit as we went from that point on, but that came later..."

-:-:-:-:-

"So, Michael, I guess I get to experiment, then?"

Michael shrugged. "Guess so."

"Has he bothered to do the research yet on if anyone's ever heard about Vengeful Spirits before and how to go about dealing with them?"

Another shrug. "Don't know."

"Then tell him do it." KR's face scrunched in irritation. "Starting from scratch is the hard way, you know." Clearing the throat, Purrcy said, "Hello spirits. I'm actually not KR, so I'd appreciate not getting hit. I'm the nine-tails that was in here with him before. Will you talk to me, please?" A surprising benefit about being in KR's body, and there were very few of them, was that it naturally spoke Japanese, though she could speak English if she focused on controlling the mouth muscles. They backed off and didn't attack further.

She considered the code blocks for a moment, then faced one of them. "Can we experiment?" She quickly created a small spell that was based on the concept of a bit switch crossed with a stop light. When it appeared in the code realm the Vengeful Spirits moved around the cell to drift closer to it. That was a good sign. "I made it so you can change it, I hope. Do this to answer yes," She made the switch go "up". "And this to answer no," She made the switch go "down". On the up, a small green light could be seen in the room. On the down, it turned red. She watched what the spirits would do. After a bit, one approached it and suddenly it switched back to green. When the lights were flashing between their colors rather smoothly, Purrcy held out a hand.

"Okay. Wonderful. Now, we'll play twenty questions until you have to go home. Did you arrive on Theldesia at the time of the cataclysm?" Green for a long time, then a red, then a green. "Are you from the expansion pack?" Red. "Are you an Adventurer?" Green. It stayed green a long time as both Purrcy and Michael stared at it in disbelief, then growing horror.

Purrcy looked at Michael. He looked at her and swallowed. "You only show up here in the prison. ...Are you from the specials section?" he asked. The light stayed green. They waited to make sure. "All of you?" It stayed green.

"Ah...okay...," Purrcy said. "We see four of you, are there more than that?" It stayed green. "Give me the number in counts of 'no'." They counted nine red flashes of light, remaining on red at the end. Purrcy tapped her finger on her arm, thinking. "You only show up when the moon is overhead. Are you on the moon?" There was a pause and the light flashed between colors a few times. "Is that a warning?" Red. "Is it 'I don't know'?" Green. "You say you're Adventurers. Do you still have bodies somewhere?" Red. "...Disturbing." Green. Purrcy couldn't help but smile at that answer. It rather proved they were Adventurers. "Do you have a vendetta against KR?" Green, then red, then green. Purrcy didn't know what to do with that.

"Against the Council of Ten?" Michael asked. Green. He had to give a modern Minami politics lesson to Purrcy at that point.

"Damn Socialists," Purrcy muttered in English.

Michael stared at her. In the same language he said, "Where did you learn to speak English when you're a Jap creature?" Purrcy held as still as hunted prey. "And how would one know about Socialists?"

"I'm international?" she replied, hopefully.

He snorted. "And my momma doesn't know how to make apple pie."

"I don't like baseball?"

He laughed "Okay, I like you. But it still doesn't answer my question."

"Ask next time. Let's figure this one out first, Hacker."

It was Michael's turn to freeze. His look got wry. "Okay, deal. Make it sooner than later."

"Not hard. KR's going to have to do research and I'm going to have to come back after he's got it to give me." That she said in Japanese. He nodded. "Okay, spirits. I certainly understand why you're vengeful against the Council of Ten, though I don't know what happened to you. When you have information to give me on how to help you, then you can use this method to contact Michael. I'll leave it here," she moved the bit light location-wise to outside the cell where Michael could see it but up near the ceiling where others wouldn't see it so well. "Can you get to it over there?" The code blocks moved and the light flicked red then went to green and stayed there.

"Good. I need to know how to find where you are when you aren't in this room so I can come find you without having to be summoned or participate in the soul transfer spell. Spend some time paying attention to how you're getting here and what happens to you when you have to leave. I'll work on creating something a little more robust than a yes or no solution for the next time we talk." The light stayed green, but that was a bit ambivalent. An actual answer wasn't necessary either. "When you feel yourselves leaving, switch the light to red - that's no. When you come back make it green." That would at least tell them when they were in the room.

Purrcy's tail flapped in irritation on the ground - or it would have if KR had one. She just made his face frown as she crossed his arms, then sat cross legged on the ground. At least it was a body nearly her own size. If the balance of being human weren't just a little off from what she'd gotten used to in the felinoid body, it would actually be kind of nice to be human again...though she would really prefer a female body to a male one.

"So, Michael. If the Council of Ten is running the show, and is Socialist in nature, meaning they can do whatever they feel like, and the spirits are from the special section of the prison - which I assume this place is since it's got cells and guards - and they hate KR by extension, then it doesn't sound hopeful that KR is actually going to want to tell you or me anything." She looked up at him, "Even if you are a loyal Socialist Plant Hwayden member."

Michael nodded stoically. "Peons get told things last...or never."

Purrcy mumbled, "Orwellian," then sighed. "Well, if he wants me to continue to talk to them, I will. You don't have to tell him you know anything. Then he'll have to call me back to learn what I know and he can tell me to my face that I don't have sec...the right to know." She shook her head at herself. She'd gotten too relaxed in this place. She spent the next little while adding to her mirror sites and defenses with a few new traps and warning signals thrown in as well. Better to be safe than sorry with a Hacker guard watching over her.

She turned and looked "up" almost too late. She twisted sideways and got nipped, then squashed the bug hard and threw up a top shield and bottom shield at the same time as she sent off a reply volley, wide spread to hide the fact she was vacating. She didn't have only one hiding hole. She'd already learned that lesson: always have more than one fox hole. She also never carried her data with her. That was buried deep and hidden.

Just as she was lifted up by the neck, the light near the ceiling flashed red. "Go chase them, they're gone," she said, "and he's coming back." She was dropped and then she was in her own cat body in the branches of a secure tree. She sighed. Allied with a potential enemy, probably another American. And it was already too much information he knew right there. This was going to get very bad. She quickly worked on digging into her new fox hole and making four more with decoys. She still looked mostly dead when KR summoned her.

"Purrcy," the voice that had been hers just minutes before was casually commanding. She stayed lying on the floor, tail flat, nose on the ground, too. She did let an ear twitch. She was still coming out of the code realm, though she'd already left her fox hole so Michael couldn't know which one it was, nor where. A gentle hand was on her head. "I didn't realize it would become a fight. The guard told me they attacked by possession at the end." The gentleness didn't fool her. He really did believe she was just a dumb monster, for all nine-tails were intelligent, and was callous and casual with the creatures he summoned. She didn't like him. On both levels.

An inner code message flashed across her eyes. _Don't tell him they're Adventurers_. Yeah, right. That left it so they had no way to get him to tell them anything. _Tell him they have a vendetta against Indicus but can only reach him._ That was better. It was also better that Michael was willing to help other Adventurers...potentially.

She sent back, _Can I tell him they are from the special section?_

 _Not specifically, no. ...From the depths._

A healing spell went off and she opened her eyes. Summoners had some limited healing for their Summons to keep them going if they got too low in HP. She had been coding, and it probably technically did count as a battle. She wasn't sure if she should be grateful to Michael or not. If he hadn't come up with that excuse to save himself, her own lowered HP would have been questioned. It was his fault, though.

As far as talking to KR, that was done mind to mind for Summons such as nine-tails and "werecats" and was part of the contract. She raised her head, then pushed up laboriously to sitting, looking at her current HP count. She wanted to sleep, not give a report. [The four Vengeful Spirits are from the depths of this place where we sit. There is a person in this place they are angry with. It is unclear if it is you specifically or by association. I was unable to determine why the moon must be overhead for them to move.] Her ears drooped as she realized she couldn't have him do the research on how to get rid of spirits. He would expect her to know. [They can't leave this space. They are tied to it. I wasn't able to banish them. They are new to this world.] That was the best she was going to be able to get, most likely.

"From the depths of this place, and new, huh?" KR had a maliciously calculating look on his face. He raised a hand and a second healing spell went off. Purrcy's HP meter went to full, and she suddenly didn't like what look was on his face. "Go looking down there. Go as a werecat so they don't think you're intelligent enough to understand what you're seeing."

She wanted to scream at him. If he was the only Summoner on the Council of Ten, not only - "Begging your pardon, Lord KR, they won't let a cat or a nine-tails down there," Michael said. "That area is tightly restricted."

"Hmm," KR rubbed his cheek. He looked between the two. "Then, Purrcy change into felinoid. HackerM1, you'll take her down there as a special's prisoner. She can learn what we need to know while she's there."

Purrcy's ears went back in fear and dismay, though she'd already changed since that was a required order to follow. Michael was staring at him with wide eyes. "You know that all prisoners are kept at 1HP, right? Not even a Summon can do anything down there."

"She can watch and listen and learn. I'll call her back." Purrcy was not a permanent Summon. She had the standard four hour limit. It still didn't answer to the main problem.

Desperately she wrote to Michael, _How is he going to explain to the Council of Ten that the only Summoner on it sent a Summon down to spy in that level on Indicus' workings?_

"It's your neck when Indicus and Quon discover you've been snooping down there," Michael said, coolly moving to collect Purrcy.

"And why would they do that," KR said with smooth danger in his voice.

"Because you're the only Summoner they know who would do it...," Michael looked up at him, a hint of danger in his own eyes, "...since you're the only one who can get into this facility."

KR gave a grimace of complete uncaring. "She's going to be there in the guise of an Adventurer. Prisoners on that level disappear all the time. They won't know."

"Can a Summon come back from the dead?" Michael asked with coldness.

KR looked confused. "Why would Purrcy die?"

"Because the Adventurers do," Michael said as if he didn't care.

KR moved fast. He had Michael's arm in his grip and his face was angry. "Adventurers don't die."

Michael looked at him coolly. "Says the one who doesn't know what goes on down there."

"And you do?" KR said dangerously low.

"I've carried Adventurers into the workroom and had nothing to carry back out again. You're welcome to go ask Kazuhiko what he knows." Michael didn't back down, though he didn't flare up either.

KR waved a hand. "They show back up at the Cathedral."

"Maybe. But can a Summon if they decide she's the next experiment? And what will you do if they discover that she really is a Summon, not an Adventurer while they're experimenting?"

KR frowned, considering it. One thing Purrcy did have in her favor was that at the moment she was also his "pet" to some degree. At least, some might consider that being in her favor. She didn't, but it did give him some pause. "So you're a guard down there, too?" Michael reluctantly nodded. "Then you put her in and you watch over her. If it looks like they're going to take her, don't let them until her time's about up. Purrcy, if you get the opportunity to, change back and snoop around." He waved his hand at the two of them, ordering them on by gesture. There was no help for it but to walk.

KR let them get ahead, then followed them down. Since it was the same stairwell, they couldn't talk out loud, though Purrcy wasn't going to anyway. She did an excellent imitation of a prisoner that really, really didn't want to go where she was going...mostly because it wasn't an imitation. When the door closed above them to let them know KR had left the stairwell, Michael growled, in English, "Damn Japs." Purrcy's ear twitched, mostly because she'd heard it. "If they come for you, I'm killing you and meeting you at the Cathedral. Stay put over there, got it?, but in hiding."

 _You assume much._

He glared at her. "Monsters can't code."

She glared back. _No. You assume I can leave once I get down there. It's protected by Hacker code. I've explored this whole building, being bored up there for hours. I can't even get down into this level we're headed to, and I've had the hours to try_.

Michael immediately stopped. "Then you're not going in."

Purrcy shook her head. _Summons must obey_.

His eyes narrowed. "You're really both?" She nodded. "...Did you code it?"

 _A side effect I didn't account for._

He sighed. "Then put me on your friend list. If you need me, call immediately. I'll have Kazuhiko send down a distraction and come for you. If you can get out to the Cathedral, contact me immediately on resurrect. I'll hope the summon wears off and you get out that way. I'll stay at least that long." That worked for her, since it was the best she was going to get. When the friend listing was done, he opened the door to the bottom level of the prison and led her in. They wouldn't have been able to get through at all except he was a guard recognized by the code.

Michael took Purrcy to a cell he hoped no one would care to find her in, motioned for her to lie down and gave her an apologetic look. He hit her with Life Drain, a Monk's one-hit that automatically took all HP from the opponent except the final one. Being a Monk had been one of the reasons he'd been accepted into the prison, and down at this level. There was a continuously running Bard spell on the floor that drained HP slowly - just enough to always keep everyone at 1HP once they got there. It didn't affect the guards too much since they had high enough HP for it to not matter.

They met in the code realm. It didn't take HP to walk the halls, just to spell create. "You're awake enough to know if someone's coming, right?" she asked him. He nodded. "I'm not. I was already wiped out enough that to go to 1HP means I'm unconscious. How he thought I'd learn anything at 1HP I have no idea. I really despise him."

"No doubt. They're all nut cases." He agreed. He looked around at the shielding of the special's floor, not having done it before. She looked around the area, having wondered what was down here for some time now. She sent out warning gnats and fleas - tiny bugs that would alert her if the Hacker that had created this space showed up, and she kept very quiet about it. Their personal shields were protecting them where they were at the cell, but to move out of the specific area might cause trouble. She knew that if _she_ were a Hacker and had made a space like this, she'd worry about someone being brought in that could take it down from the inside.

"What level Hacker does it take to create this?" Michael said after a bit.

"Either very high, or one with a lot of patience," she answered back. She was already carefully coding in that way herself. Since she could move in microseconds, the half-second she was getting before the HP drain went into effect gave her a quarter second's worth of 2 HP she could use to code, and she used it. She layered one bit on after another as if programming in machine language itself, setting it until it was self-replicating at the proper speed. She was creating a ladder, or a chute, to hopefully get her to freedom.

Getting in was impossible...she'd found the weakness on the inside, and there was a possibility it would get her out. She was definitely not going to leave getting out to chance or waste that many quarter seconds between now and two hours from now. Michael didn't even notice she was programming and hadn't seen the mini-bugs go out. Even he expected that she wouldn't be able to do anything at "1HP". That was just fine. She wasn't ready to trust him.

"Where's the room they do the experiments in?" she asked him. He turned and pointed. It glowed with protections as well. "Ouch. Not much gets out of that room, and nothing gets in, huh?"

" 'Bout right," he answered darkly. "Though apparently four of nine spirits did."

"Do you think the rest are still in there?"

"Or destroyed already."

"Good point. Now if I were still here tomorrow at moon time I'd be able to see if they arrive down here or outside this floor. I'm a little surprised they aren't locked in here."

"Good point. I wonder how they got out." He frowned and they both compared the spell protections on the smaller room to the ones on the floor until they had it figured out. The small room actually had hard-coded in a line about spirits, while the floor didn't.

"Sloppy," Purrcy said. "If they figured out spirits were in that room and put up protections, they should have known to put them on the outer one as well."

"They might not know." Michael said calmly. "It might have been an afterthought or a general list of everything for that room. The floor only really needs to be set on Adventurer level."

Purrcy nodded silently, still looking at various code, wary of traps. There wasn't much in the way of that, though. Not that she was going to relax, but it was mostly limited to barrier protections - in a big way. Sometimes coding worked like this. A Hacker learned one specific skill set and stuck to it. Sometimes. She was going to assume a very high level, very competent Hacker. She might stay alive that way.

She was also remembering to look up and down, now that Michael had taught her that other Hackers did actually think in three dimensions in the code realm. It was a three dimensional realm, but most Hackers moved in it as if they were walking on the earth itself. And if you ran into another Hacker it was actually pretty rare.

She finally returned to her cell, though not awareness, since it was a safe place to sit. She sat next to Michael instead of herself, though. He finally wandered over and sat down as well. "What are you doing?"

"Reading the history."

"How do you do that?"

She taught him and had him read it on the main entry door for clues. She was reading the history on the experiment room, wishing she could read inside without getting inside. Michael suddenly flew into his body and she hid in reaction, watching and listening. The main door opened and she saw the inspection codes flare then settle to green until the door closed and they went dull again.

She didn't have eyes to see in the base realm, but she could see the glow of the person that had entered. It had to be the same Hacker. His shields were impenetrable and thickly layered on - rather a waste, actually. It was possible to do it without that many layers. She read them from her hiding place, narrowing her eyes to focus in on the code layers, realizing that's what it was. Almost more as if he was a spell caster that just layered on each protection, one on top of the next, rather than actually coded.

Spells could be read in the code realm that way. It was possible this was not a Hacker at all, but an Enchanter or a Kannagi...or something new altogether. She very cautiously opened his status data, going through eleven mirror sites and a few worm holes for good measure. She kept it over him, too, not downloading it to anywhere, since she could see him. The flare blinded her. The room was keyed, but she'd captured the data before the blind happened. It had been whole-room and obviously acted as a 'barrier' against Hackers. So...he knew, or anticipated, reads on his data that he didn't want others to see, but he didn't know how to hide the data itself. That was rather telling.

The person was passing by closely. "KR's back then?"

"Yes, Lord Quon," Michael answered respectfully.

"What's he checking this time? Whether his favorite unicorn gave birth to his child or not?" Quon snickered at his own joke. Michael remained silent. It wasn't his place to say one way or the other, or to care. "I've got time for one today. Pull one out." Quon said casually and headed for the experimental room.

Michael moved to a different cell than the one Purrcy was in and opened it, pulling out a man who looked like he'd been there a long time - almost dusty. High level Adventurers could carry quite a lot, including other Adventurers easily. Michael slung him over his shoulder and walked up to Quon. Quon carefully opened the door to the experiment room. Purrcy watched the spell he cast to get it to open to begin with, then read as much data from inside the room as possible before the door closed behind Michael as he left it empty handed.

When he arrived back by her cell, he returned to the code realm. Purrcy appeared and put her finger to her lips, then handed him a very fine thread. She put her lips to his ear. "This will tell you what is happening to that man. Feed the data to yourself very carefully so that if there is trap data coming down the line you can filter it out early. I have other data to look at from inside the room."

He looked at her in shock, started to talk normally, then dropped to a whisper as well. "Y-your casting?"

She smiled and returned to her own work. He decided that the data feed was more important, like she knew he would, and went to work on letting it feed through. By the time Quon came out of the room and left without paying even Michael attention, they both had a lot more information than they'd had before. Michael interrupted her review, since his source of information was gone.

"Hey, can you get out of here? I'd like to take this up to Kazuhiko now instead of later. I'd take you with me except once you're read as having come in, you can't get out."

Purrcy blinked, then smiled and patted him on the head. "You can take me out if that's the only negating factor. Come inside and get me. Just hide me in your shirt."

He blinked at her then shook his head. He returned to his body and checked the area for other guards. There was only one other one in the other hallway on the other side of the experiment room, which was in the center of the floor and took up the center half of the hall. He opened the door quietly and walked over to her body.

For her part, she had partially entered her body. At the highest point of the HP drain cycle she drained him for just enough HP more and changed into a kitten. She slipped inside her anima, going unconscious in the process just as he gently picked her up in his now very big hands.

When she revived, she was being held in those same large hands and there were new smells she was unfamiliar with in the room they were in. Slowly she twitched ears and nose until she had placed where people were and likely races. "Purrcy, there's only about ten minutes of your time left," Michael told her.

She slowly uncurled, rolling onto her back to open her eyes and look at his now larger face in her view. She held up a paw. He bent down and she put her paw on his forehead and data dumped. _Stay safe_ , she told him.

"You, too. Where's home really for you?"

 _Out in the wilds between here and Akiba._

"She says Eastal, Boss."

"Good, Good. Tell her to get to Shiroe of Log Horizon in Akiba, but to get to him clandestinely. He's got so many eyes on him that he should list as an Eye-Wart. Tell him what you learned here, try to get more info as you go. The more he knows, the sooner he can act."

"Who is he?" Michael asked.

Purrcy rolled onto her side and lay there. She was awake and full HP, but she still hadn't slept. The man across the desk looking at her was hard bitten, both in the character he'd chosen from the computer screen and in his eyes, an obvious high level warrior, of the Samurai Class. He looked at Michael soberly. "Shiroe is the Master Strategist who led the Debauchery Tea Party to and through the hardest of the hard quests on servers all over the world. I was part of that group. So was KR. ...And so was Indicus. Indicus hates him because she was also an Enchanter who went with us, but of the two he got the attention and was the better at strategy."

 _The man who came to that place. Is he a Hacker?_

Michael answered her, _Quon was a company employee, but a QA, not a programmer. ...But there are signs there is another Hacker here. Be careful_.

Purrcy shivered, and Michael shifted his hold on her and covered her with one hand to warm her. _Ask him...can I trust KR?_

Michael hesitated just a little, then asked the question very quietly. Kazuhiko laced his fingers together and put them over his mouth, but left one opening for her to see his mouth move. With her cat ears and watching his mouth, she could just make out, _no_. "I think," Kazuhiko said quietly, "that he is doing his best...at playing the game until it's time to go home."

Purrcy blinked, then nodded. She understood. She bent her neck enough to lick Michael's hand. The finger closest to her head rubbed it and her ears moved to the pleasure standing. _Michael. Just before I return, you must take me back down to 1HP._ He froze just a bit. _KR will summon me again. He has earned the skill Double Summon. He won't wait, even though it should have been obvious from the beginning that any creature at 1HP is unconscious. You must wait until very close to my time to return, but don't fail to do it._

Michael's shoulders slumped slightly and he sighed. He rubbed her head with his thumb. She closed her eyes and waited, then at the right time, nodded. There was a searing pain, then nothing.

-:-:-:-:-

"KR did call me and I was completely unconscious for nearly the full four hours recovering, even with his spell attempts to revive me. He nearly went storming after Quon and Indicus, or alternatively Michael. I just told him that from the time Michael had hit me to take me down to 1HP once we got to the special's section until I had just awoken I had known nothing but unconsciousness. He was extremely frustrated, but he'd earned what he'd gotten for not thinking that one through." Purrcy shrugged then sighed, rubbing her hand over her head.

"Of course, to get here I had to actually work my way back having been in Minami. It gets rather frustrating to have him call me when I'm half way, or even at the gate almost stepping over. ...Or rather it did get frustrating. He can still transfer since he knows me, but when I hit a high enough level, I got to choose whether I'd go or not. Most high level Summons will go just because they've learned to work with their master, even if they are nasty about it. I'm a bit stubborn and he gets frustrated so I go about forty percent of the time. Otherwise he transfers and won't let me go back for days at a time. I'm not sure that's worth it, though, for him."

Purrcy turned, "Nyanta, I'll let you know by visual clue when the transfer, or the summon, is going to happen. You can let him know you're present, or hide until I'm back, your call. If you eventually get to werecat transformation, you can let him see that and let him have a taste of his own medicine for making me have to sleep, eat, and piss from his body for days on end." She turned back to Shiroe. "I was hoping once I talked to Nyanta, he would introduce me to you, if he could. I wasn't expecting to fall into your lap from your tree."

Michael added his final summary, "After that time, KR wouldn't let me be the guard on his cell at the station. Something about how I wasn't supposed to have taken Purrcy down to 1HP really...which would have meant my job in that level and Kazuhiko needed me there more than KR did. He would still come in for other Soul Possessions, but he never did for Purrcy again."

Michael paused, his fist clenching a bit. "I continued to learn as much as I could, but eventually even that got dangerous as the Hacker that was there started to see the signs another Hacker was messing around. I wasn't as neat as Purrcy, though I was trying to be. Even the one example she gave me was extremely useful."

"Kazuhiko finally pulled me out and sent me here, as I said. Since we were supposed to get here clandestinely, I didn't come to you right away. Then came the quarantine, followed by the notices for the classes." Michael shook his head. "I was hoping...and was very glad...to see it was Purrcy who was the teacher. We played the roles set so that we could get in where we needed to be to get here tonight. When we're told eyes are on you, we assume Hacker eyes are included in that, so we play extra cautious."

"Is the rest of your story true, Purrcy?" Tetora asked.

"Yes. I've had two years to fit a lot of busyness into, and frustration as well," Purrcy said.

There was a pause and a sense of discomfort settled over the room. Finally Minori shifted and said, "Purrcy, your history -"

"- is just as readable as that room's was. I have to work hard to be careful, Minori-chan," Purrcy said kindly.

Rudy opened his mouth and Shiroe leaned forward and put a finger to his mouth as he leaned on his hand, as if he was thinking a thought. His eyes were on Purrcy and very sharp. Rudy's mouth slowly closed and the juniors all swallowed and tried hard not to look at each other. "Purrcy," Shiroe said thoughtfully, as if he had moved in order to make a comment, "what will you do if KR calls for you while you're still here?"

"Well, I did ask for you to come up with a statement for me to give him," she said casually. "And then I'll have to fight my way back, of course. It's one of the reasons I'm frustrated with the wedding planning taking so long. With every delay, it's a possibility that the delay becomes the additional number of days it takes to get back here."

"I think if it was a summon and he asked me, KR would think it was hilarious that I thought I'd be marrying Nyanta. He might even call to warn you that the foxtail lady is going to eat him - which I'm not, I promise. If I were such a creature, as I've already said, Shiroe passed the test and chose knowledge and wisdom over treasures. The contract was acceptable."

Shiroe's eyes sparked and he sat up, nodded, then sat back casually, folding his arms and considering what had been said and what he wanted to do about it.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy, I understand that after two years of being alone in the wild, you'd be impatient to be married properly to Nyanta, but as your Guildmaster, and because I expect the two of you to be able to get back home, I need to be sure I take into account your futures. Many of Akiba's Guildmasters have become highly successful business men in their own right, and you've properly been making positive relationships with them. Your fathers would be disappointed in you, and irritated with me, if you didn't include them as guests for the wedding. Even if your mothers make you do it all over again, they can't complain if you've brought with you those additional contacts in the business world. If you're summoned, we'll wait. I haven't set the date yet and Calasin's tailors need time to make the dresses anyway. The food can be stored the day it's made and not be any worse for it no matter how long it takes. I hope you will bear it properly."

Purrcy bowed her head obediently. "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe." Nyanta put a consoling paw on her arm.

Shiroe's attention left her. "Michael, what were you sent here to tell me?"

Michael nodded firmly and got down to business. "The next day, at moon time, Kazuhiko had me take the list of missing Adventurers up to that room. All four were on the list, and they were able to confirm the names of the other five. Apparently those four had been banished from the floor, but the other five erased while in the smaller room, so some education that changed things had gone on. I wasn't able to learn anything of significance from them other than that since I didn't have Purrcy to code anything more than the bit light she'd done."

"I did follow them that next time, not having time before, but all they really did was fade away. It was the data link to the man in that room while we were down there that gave me the most data. Quon cast a spell on him that held his body in place, so it couldn't disperse, then hit him in the head to kill him. The psyche or spirit came out of the body glowing, so I figure he has a spell running in there now to let him know when that happens. It wanted to go a specific direction, and Quon seemed to expect that. He cast another spell to prevent the spirit from going the direction it wanted to go and it stopped trying to go anywhere at all. Then he cast a spell that forced the spirit back to the body."

"Once he got it to 'overlap' if you will, he cast a binding spell to hold the two overlapped, then a healing spell and a resurrection spell followed by another healing spell, but the spirit wouldn't stay in the body. He kept trying various binding, shielding, and healing spells until he finally gave up in frustration, and cast a spell that destroyed the spirit and then the body. I'm still not sure if they're trying to circumvent the Cathedral, learn how they work so they can create one later, or just what - I couldn't ask, after all."

"I am excited, though, at what we found here the other day. Finding the life lines underneath the floor of the code realm and following them to the nexus to find cut lines looks to me exactly like what he was doing. Preventing the spirit from leaving that room seems like the cutting of the life line. The four who are in the building can't get up because their lines are cut, so they have to stay down here. I think the moon pulls them because that's where the nexus is attached. When it's overhead, they want to rise up to it and can't, like they are still stored in the lines underneath and the moon calls to them to come out of the lines. Something like that." Michael shrugged.

Purrcy shifted. "I would like to follow the cut lines up to the moon and see if by following the lines we can get into the server, or at least into the memory of the Adventurer that is there. If we can get up there, we might be able to match the correct cut cords and repair them so at least those four spirits can get back. We already know that the computer and the Cathedral restore the physical body automatically once the spirit arrives in that space, so they may be able to return. They'll probably be fiercely angry, if they remember what happened, but alive with a body is better than mostly dead, or completely dead like the others."

Shiroe frowned. "What about degradation?"

Purrcy shook her head. "I don't know. It's possible they could come back much lesser creatures, or even insane depending on what data got lost. Sadly, it becomes part of the experiment, but since they do remember they're Adventurers, I would rather try than leave them helpless. The only other kind thing to do is to destroy them also so they don't have to continue endlessly in the cycle they're in."

She paused, "I also have a theory...that the Overwritten and the Observers are like us. They were a first experiment, if you will, and they are now all spirits whose link to the physical was severed - like they were all destroyed and sent to their computer all at once, then the nexus as a whole severed. They've learned enough to figure out how to get over to our server and use the data in the expansion pack to regain a physical body and come back down here, but they can't use their own anymore because that link is gone for them now. Being able to get up there might help us to understand better what they are and how to either help or fight them."

Shiroe nodded, an interested look on his face. "I'll have my network keep an ear out for Overwritten sightings and let you know if one shows up close enough for you to get to."

"Thank you," Purrcy said.

"Can you repair the cords?" he asked next.

Both Purrcy and Michael shook their heads. "It's not code. It's more like the structure of the code realm."

"And magic works on it?"

"Apparently."

Shiroe considered a little longer, then pushed up his glasses. He leaned forward and the room became just a little chillier. "Purrcy."

She sat up a little straighter. "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe?"

"Tell me. What is the physical equivalent location to the nexus?"

Her eyes went just a little distant. "The location of the main Japan server, the Maze of Eternity."

A major raid zone on Theldesia. Of course. It would take over a month to complete that dungeon...and Plant Hwayden had already sent three legion raid parties there and a fourth was currently trying yet again to defeat it. Shiroe had been tempted to create his own raid party to defeat it on more than one occasion. ...But Purrcy had already given him his solution. "Purrcy, tell me. How many cut lines are there?"

"Fifteen, Guildmaster Shiroe."

Shiroe rose and went to his desk, shuffled through the papers until he found the list of missing Adventurers he'd received from Kazuhiko. He took that and a pen to Michael, and handed it to him.

Michael took the list and the pen, then circled four names and crossed off five. He handed the list and pen back to Shiroe. That left the rest with an unknown location of their spirit and body. Shiroe looked down at the list, scanning those names and adjusting his glasses. "Purrcy, tell me. What is the current theory on the remaining six spirits?"

"That the line was cut sufficiently long after they were killed that the spirits are trapped in the memory on the moon server, unable to return."

Of course. That confirmed the basis for her theory on the Overwritten and Observers. "Okay. We'll go - after I've put together the final plan and preparations are complete." He looked over to Tetora. "While I'm working on that, you'll finish up the classes you're teaching, Purrcy. If we can get to the wedding before we go, we will. If KR calls you back, tell him I want you for the raid and he's to not call you until we're done."

"Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe."

"That'll about do it for tonight then." He didn't move, no one else did either for just a moment, then Purrcy and Michael both rose, bowed, and walked out. He sighed. Tetora shook his head.

Shiroe called up the guild hall permissions and changed them, locking those two in the building and everyone else out, locked the two temporary prisoners out of his office, ...and set the permissions on the safe-room code-and-scroll spell over his office to make it so they couldn't hear or participate in what was next. Then he said, "I had hoped they'd be able to stay. The history must be sufficiently difficult to block."

"Is that where you want me to start, Councilor?" Tetora asked.

"Yes," Shiroe answered, "but I have a specific thing related to that for you to do. Hold off for now." Tetora nodded.

"At least we know what the boss is now," Tetora sat back, contented knowing that much finally.

"I'd say it feels like a double boss, or at least two major fights to get to the end." They'd been waiting for over a year for the battle against Plant Hwayden to begin. Now they'd been invited to that dance by two obvious plants with a distraction that might help Adventurers in need. Shiroe nodded agreement to the assessment.

"Massive traps in both rooms," Touya complained.

"It's going to be hard to navigate, even with doing what they want us to do in the first room," Minori cautioned.

Naotsugu growled. "Hate having to give them what they want just to get what we want."

"We want it too," Shiroe reminded them. "It will be the biggest clue to getting home we can get. I'd say that reward is worth it to me."

"And...the reward from the second is myine - and well worth it," Nyanta said quietly.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Chief," Shiroe said with neutral calm. "You're likely to have the greatest difficulty in that battle of any of us." He settled back into his seat and looked at them all with calm sharpness. "Here's the outline."


	37. Setting up the Forward Line

The next morning, Tetora came down early, before breakfast was called. He walked into the kitchen and directly up to Purrcy, who was standing over the stove with her back to him. He slid his arms under hers to hold her around her middle. Resting his forehead against her back, he silently held her. She began purring for him, one ear directed his way. Nyanta looked over, turned off his heating element and took her cooking utensil. She gave him a fond look and turned around to hold Tetora to her shoulder, moving the two of them out of Nyanta's way so he could take her place.

Purrcy wrapped her arms around Tetora and pet his long idol-pink hair. "Ne, ne, Tetora. I'm here. I'm here. You're such a good boy." She leaned down and whispered, "And an excellent op. Thank you." He squeezed her tighter, still not unburying his face. She patted his head. "I'll be with you today. You can pet me all you want, ne?" He nodded, then finally released her and ran out of the kitchen with his head down.

Purrcy turned back to the stove without watching him go beyond the door, and her ears very forcibly didn't turn towards the sound of Shiroe's door closing. Nyanta made her pay for the utensil with a kiss before handing it back over, then took it with him. She had to give him another kiss with a hug to get it back, and he held her a little longer than he otherwise might have. When they returned to their cooking, Nyanta's grey tail curled around her black one and wouldn't let go.

-:-:-:-:-

"How far is number four along?" Shiroe asked Purrcy at the breakfast table, referencing her to-do list.

"The students should be giving me their completed code today - I expect this morning. I'll spend the afternoon grading their work. Starting tomorrow, I think Nyanta and I can focus on cooking. When that's done, we can go any time."

"Nyanta, how much longer for the cooking, do you think?" Shiroe asked.

Nyanta paused in his eating to consider it. "I'd like three days to be safe, nyan. We might be able to squeeze it into two, but it might be late nights that way."

"That's with everyone helping, isn't it?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes," Nyanta smiled.

Shiroe nodded and went back to his inner musings. "I think I'd like to allow that next day open for if there's anything left to do and packing, etc. I'll see if Calasin can have the dresses done by then. That might be a good evening to have the wedding. Then the two of you can leave the next morning."

The girls all frowned. "That's a bit much to fit the wedding preparations into the same day as the final preparations," Purrcy said.

Shiroe seemed unconcerned. "There are plenty of other people to handle that part. You only need to show up looking pretty."

" _Only_!" Purrcy said, "Shiroe, you do know it takes three hours or more just to get pretty, right? And most brides take all day plus half the day before."

Shiroe looked at her, irritated. "It isn't like you have nails to paint or hair to do up. And every Adventurer - particularly every female - came here looking gorgeous, whether they wanted to or not."

Purrcy leaned on her elbow, putting her chin in her hand and purred dangerously, "Why, thank you, Shiroe-kun. You might want to tell that to all the women you made me put on a display to just yesterday. _They_ all have long, gorgeous hair they can't do anything about. Poor Elissa is going to have arthritis by the end of the day, trying to get everyone's hair done in time. My complement backfired slightly, and now they've all asked her to help them be prepared also. Or do you want to be the one to tell Rieze or Nazuna...or Akatsuki they can't? Or perhaps the Princess will be gracious enough to come in undressed hair for the sake of regional relations."

Shiroe's eyes widened just slightly and he looked at Akatsuki who was both glaring at him and looking very sheepish. She finally settled on the glare to cover her embarrassment. He groaned slightly. "Aren't there _any_ other hairdressers?"

Purrcy went back to her breakfast coolly. "I wouldn't know, would I? And Rieze offered to do the makeup as well. I can just see her trying to get ready herself after everyone else is done...and with the new hair, too. She might just give up and stay home at that point. At least the dresses should be somewhat simple to just throw on." It was said with biting sarcasm. "I do hope _someone's_ thought about the shoes, and underpinnings. ...Particularly mine."

"Calasin's tailor wants at least one fitting, too, just to make sure - like all good tailors would, so fit that into the plans somewhere, please. ...And Nyanta hasn't been for his measurements even. He needs to take you and Naotsugu with him. Rudy and Touya have a different task, but I don't remember anything coming out of their closets that would be acceptable for family of the groom at a wedding, so they at least need to go with you for Calasin to pick out something that coordinates acceptably, and Serera, Minori, and Isuzu also need that same level of coordinated clothing, so should also go. Gloves, please ladies. Bow ties, vests, and jackets, boys."

"I'd like to be present at least in video chat to give final approval of style. Nyanta needs to pick two more groom's men at a minimum to better balance against my number of bridesmaids and they should go for the measurements and fitting as well. I won't make him use Michael since he's my personal guard, though I won't complain either way, but if not then he wears what the boys will wear. And just who _is_ cooking the food and setting up the stand, decorations, chairs, and banquet tables?"

She looked up at Shiroe. "You _do_ realize that we _could_ have just had a quiet twenty minute commitment ceremony and scroll signing in our own living room... _two nights ago_?" She delicately but firmly bit down on the food on her fork, chewed, and swallowed. "...Oh, yes, I forgot one last thing. At _least_ an hour of rehearsing the going out and coming in and order of things so we don't all stumble over each other in confusion. ...I _am_ international, after all. I haven't a clue what Japanese weddings are like. All I know is that mangaka like to romanticize American and British weddings and have just as much a clue as I do of yours. If you leave the rehearsal off the list, I'm not coming. It would be better to not show up than to make a fool of myself and shame my family."

Shiroe sighed. "All right. Two days for the wedding preparations and ceremony. One more for preparing to leave. Do you want that day before or after?" He was just barely shy of patronizing and she punished him with another glare.

"I wouldn't know which would be better. Ask Nyanta or decide it yourself." Her anger nearly spit the words out.

Touya sighed. He looked sadly at Minori who was sitting next to him. "I really had thought we were done with the fighting," he said quietly.

She looked back at him and softly asked, "I thought they resolved this yesterday?" He shrugged. They hadn't been there to know.

"We'll go for the measurements today and take the children while mew're in class," Nyanta said soothingly.

Purrcy looked at him with her mouth pressed thinly. "Then Michael will have to go separately. It would be better if we all just went together - again - and I graded while standing around so that I can at least veto the wild clothing the rest of you are likely to prefer. Calasin's tastes run far too extravagant for me, like Rudy's does. I much prefer understated. I'd almost give a pass to whatever Shiroe wanted, except then I wouldn't get _any_ say at all in the whole thing, other than what I've already said."

"That's plenty," Touya muttered into his plate. Rudy hit him in the ribs with his elbow, though he was embarrassed at being called out in a rather unflattering way.

"It really isn't anything to be afraid of, Purrcy." The calm words arrested everyone's attention, and all eyes turned to Isuzu. Purrcy's ear turned away and turned back. "I know weddings can be stressful, but you have a lot of people here - not just us - who want to see that it turns out to be something you want to remember for the rest of your life. ...It really will be okay. Everyone will work hard." Isuzu gave a happy, closed-eyed smile. "I'll even play for you to dance. We'd love to see you and Nyanta dance together after it's all over."

Purrcy melted...almost to tears. Softly she said, "I would really like that, Isuzu - to get to hear you play. I haven't yet, you know." Isuzu nodded encouragingly, that she would. Purrcy sighed, looking down, then timidly reached for Nyanta's paw. "I'm sorry, everyone," she said quietly.

There was quiet for a bit, then Shiroe sighed. "Purrcy, there's one other thing." She looked up at him, wide eyed. "I've invited a delegation from the People of the Land, not just the Princess...because I want to be able to send the both of you as ambassadors on occasion to Maihama."

Purrcy's chin quivered. "Shiroe!? Not for the wedding, at least. Just the reception." She didn't get an answer and started shivering. "Please!?" He closed his eyes and turned his head away. She was gone, up the tree.

Tetora closed his eyes and sighed, dropping his head. He rose. "I'd better go this time, Nyanta," he said. Nyanta's whiskers drooped a bit, but he nodded.

-:-:-:-:-

In the darkness was the sound of quiet sobbing. "Please. I can't do this. ... Please, call me back. Don't make me do this."

A quiet chuckle with no warmth in it at all sounded. "What's the problem, mm? Surely such a thing isn't too difficult for one such as you?" The quiet sobs continued. "...Or, perhaps...it's the wrong _husband_? Perhaps you'd rather been handed the one in _glasses_?" The final word hissed.

"Mm!" A strong, but still quiet negation.

"Then what's the problem? You're getting everything you wanted, aren't you..." the voice was smooth, cajoling, menacing, "... _Princess_?"

The sobs began again and were left behind, alone.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetora slipped his arms around Purrcy as he lay down next to her in the back corner of the fourth floor closet. She was still shivering the dry tears of the felinoid, her ears down flat on her head, whiskers tucked in tightly to her face in extreme unhappiness. Even her golden swirls were dull and the motes mere dust. For just one poignant moment he wished he was male and she was human in form. Sometimes a woman needed to shed tears, and sometimes a man needed to be the one to comfort her. Naotsugu would be better for this moment, but it was his to do, even if it was a female body. But then, there might be one useful thing about it. _His_ woman's body _could_ cry...and was. Maybe surrogate tears would help a little.

He went inside and found her, since because of his tracer on her he could, and pulled her over to his body and his own tears fell harder. He hoped the body could handle two sad hearts. It wasn't perfect. She couldn't really be in his body, but he could hold her in that space. Another benefit was that in the body really, he was crying too hard to talk. In this inner space, he could actually speak to her. "Purrcy, it's okay. I'm here. Shiroe understands. We know you're doing your best. We'll do our best, too. I won't leave you alone, I promise." He felt a flick of an ear against his cheek. It was a bit tricky to balance holding her in the code realm and physically at the same time, but he managed to shift just enough he could pet her in the outer world, too. She needed that comfort also.

After a bit, she disengaged from him in the code realm and moved to sit "next" to him, hugging her legs to her chest. "It's so hard, Tetora," she said miserably. "I never knew it would be so hard to just keep living."

He pet her quietly a little longer. "You've been very strong until now, Purrcy. I - I can't imagine surviving what you've been through. I really respect your capacity to continue." He bit his lip. "Please...you can rely on me, too." His heart ached again, felt like it was being twisted and he shuddered. There was no way he could have survived what she'd already been through, what he'd seen in her history the night before. He'd have been driven mad long before this. He couldn't promise it would get better. He couldn't change where she was, but he could promise to stand with her, and not leave her alone. And he could do his best to protect and strengthen her. Right now, that meant holding her and being with her.

He felt Purrcy move and wrap her arms around his woman's body and hold him, hiding her head in his chest. Inside, she sighed and looked over at him wryly. "Okay. That is disconcerting. In here you are so obviously male."

He looked at her with wide eyes, then shook his head at her with a bit of a chuckle. "Tell me about it."

She reached out a hand to touch his cheek. "Tetora...if I can...would you want it? For you...I'd try."

He looked at her tenderly, then curled his hand and put the backs of his fingers lightly to her cheek. "I know you would." He held it for a moment, then looked up thoughtfully with a sigh. "Well, maybe when this is all done...if I'm still interested, I'll come and ask you."

"All right," she said, then dropped her hand and hugged her knees again, resting her cheek on them.

He reached out and pet her head, for a time the inner and outer comforting motions in sync. He wanted to say encouraging things to her, to tell her it would really work out okay, but he couldn't. They would try their hardest, but there were no guarantees, so he held his peace, only able to comfort her with his quiet presence. When she finally stood up to go back, he rose with her and looked her in the eye, trying to judge how she was doing. She bowed to him. "Thank you, Tetora. Please take care of me."

"You know I will," he promised. "But, I need to thank you. Thank you for teaching me what I needed to know to move forward." He bowed, one hand to his chest. "Thank you, Hahaue." There was a feather-light touch on his head, then she was gone. He rose with a sigh and returned to his body. He released Purrcy and sat up, then continued to pet her for a long time, until he had to wake her up to take her, a bit late, to her class.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta stayed home that morning...or he did want to. Instead he went as usual. It was about the same either way, really. When the Hackers were working, he only had to sit and watch over them. Today, though, it was particularly hard and he couldn't relax as he had before. It made him just slightly irritable and he was working on getting over that when Michael opened his eyes, sat up, and turned to face him, sitting cross legged. Nyanta's eye whiskers twitched upward.

"So...if we're doing the raid, why are we waiting a week to go out and having the wedding first, and all that? I thought it was the other way round when we left last night?"

Nyanta didn't let his emotions show. He had lots of practice with that. "Because Shiroe-ichi has decided it."

"You're willing to be left out?"

Nyanta didn't reveal anything. "Watching over my wife is nyot being left out."

Michael looked at him, taking his measure. Finally he said, "No, I suppose not. ...If you're really going to go through with it."

"I'm sure I don't know what mew mean," Nyanta's voice got calmer, a good sign he was getting angry, but Michael didn't know him. "I have already made my purromise."

Michael's eyes stayed on him a moment longer, then he shifted to lie back down again. "Well, I'm not one to tell you to do otherwise. Sometimes that's all we have, are the promises." He closed his eyes, rested his hands on his belly again, and was gone back into the code realm.

There was a soft movement to Nyanta's other side a few minutes later. He turned his head to look. Tetora was looking at him. "It's finished," he said quietly.

Nyanta held out his paw. Tetora dropped a small object into it. For a moment he covered the object and Nyanta's palm with his own hand. Nyanta "put" it into an empty box in his list. Tetora nodded, then grasped the empty paw with his own hand. Nyanta gripped him back briefly, then tipped his head in thanks. Tetora released him and returned to the code realm.

Nyanta gave a faint sigh and looked at Purrcy, resting in his lap again this morning. Gently he pet her head, then rested a paw on her shoulder and leaned his head back against the rock that was his back support to return to dozing, his ears and nose staying alert.

-:-:-:-:-

Once again, Log Horizon walked as a group into town. That's what it felt like - like they lived in a suburb, or even the country, and they had to walk into the town to get where there were crowds and people. Akiabara of Earth had been large, after all, and even then only a suburb of Tokyo. Considering the numbers of Adventurers brought to Theldesia was rather large (almost thirty thousand just in Japan, though they hadn't all been on at the time of the catastrophe), even then there weren't enough to be as many as had been in the modern city of Earth.

The outer wall of Akiba included the zone of their guild hall, set distant from the center of activities, so they technically were "living in town" and they had some protection because of it. It generally felt rather exclusive, though, and there was nothing rural about them when they did come in. Perfect poise and control, they came in from the same direction as the last two times, dressed a little more casually today, but armed. Not too unusual for Adventurers, but for the first time as this group. This time they also had Michael and Serera with them.

Purrcy and Shiroe were the center of the group again, and this time, Purrcy was on Shiroe's arm. With the word having gone out about the wedding between her and Nyanta, there wouldn't be a question as to what it meant. It also meant both Akatsuki and Nyanta had their hands free to defend if necessary. Since the Hacker demonstration, it also made perfect sense party-wise. Having the Hacker and Enchanter in the center protected them best.

This time there wasn't a comment from Purrcy on them being yakuza, though the guild all thought it for her. Being armed made it feel even more like it was so. To Rudy the word "yakuza" had come to mean "nobles", or perhaps even "royalty", since no one had explained it to him and that seemed to fit what she might usually call it. He did sense that it had some overtones of "pirate" to it, though, which confused him.

They were met at Shopping District 8 by Nyanta's two other groomsmen picks. Shouryuu was there as a male representative of Crescent Moon League, their sister guild, and a politically correct choice. Nyanta thought he was a nice guy generally who worked hard so was fine with it. He'd also asked for Soujirou who had been a fellow Debauchery Tea Party member. It was a bit touchy as he was another guildmaster, but in the end they decided he balanced Guildmistress Marielle as a representative from the Round Table, and the alliance between West Wind Brigade and Crescent Moon to be teachers at the Academy was perhaps a strong enough link to be considered loose allies of Log Horizon.

There was also the point that everyone on the Round Table, and pretty much in town, knew that Soujirou never took sides in anything, preferring to just generally help everyone. So with those political reasons and the ties of the past they'd asked him and he'd graciously accepted. It wouldn't be wrong to say he wanted to have the opportunity to understand the Hacker felinoid a little better, either. While all the Round Table guildmasters wanted that, he had a personal reason - Nazuna and the Plague.

Nyanta stepped forward to greet the two men with a handshake for each. "Thank mew for coming to meet us here this afternoon."

"No problem," Shouryuu said. It might have been thought he would feel out of place, but like most Adventurers in guilds with high profiles, it didn't matter that it was a smaller guild. He had lots of experience in the game play, in Akiba, and with Log Horizon. Meeting them out in the open in the city center felt like a breath of fresh air. They might actually behave for once...maybe. With Purrcy with them, maybe not, but that wasn't his to deal with.

"Glad to come," Soujirou said, his handshake firm. His friendly face belied the steel in his eyes. He might get along with everyone, but if he was crossed - like if someone offended a woman of any kind - he didn't hesitate to correct. "You sure you want me to participate?"

"Yes, please," Nyanta said calmly. "It's good to have companions at one's back in battle, and at one's side in pleasant times."

Soujirou nodded. His eyes went to Purrcy, then to Akatsuki. He still hadn't been able to talk to anyone about the Mysteries, like Akatsuki had wanted him to, and he had a fair guess it was the newcomer. He'd wait, though, until the opportunity came.

Nyanta led them, followed by the rest of Log Horizon, into Shopping District 8 and straight back to the rear, most of them giving the clerk in the front pleasant nods on the way. Shiroe had informed Calasin directly after breakfast they would be arriving that afternoon, so he had already pulled out several options that he thought would properly complement the bridesmaid's clothing. The older men went directly to measurements while Tetora took Purrcy on his arm and went with Calasin, Akatsuki, Michael, and the junior members to look at the options available.

Purrcy scanned the selections, then turned to Calasin. "What, exactly, is the theme of the wedding dress?"

"Fairy Queen," he said politely and salesman smooth.

"I see," she said, slightly clipped. "And Shiroe selected that or you did?" she asked.

"Shiroe did." Also smooth, but just a hint of apology in his pose.

Purrcy's nostrils flared and she seemed to pause for a count of three before moving. She pointed to one that was a flamboyant white with gold lame accent pieces. "No." Calasin immediately removed it. She looked at Calasin again. "I don't know what you've selected for Nyanta yet, but he is a refined and cultured gentleman. Respectable formality is required for his clothing. Long tails on the jacket are acceptable. I'm sure Shiroe has selected for me the most god-awful flamboyant thing he could find with feathers three feet long attached everywhere, and I shall hate it most fiercely. You will not subject Nyanta to such indignity. With his grey, white is acceptable for his suit with a light silvery grey shirt. It would be pleasing if it were to have black as the warp to the grey weft, but it is not essential. What accent color has been chosen?"

"Gold to pull your eyes and galaxies, Lady Purrcy," he answered smoothly.

Purrcy glared at him. "If my clothes are going to have holes in all the places I have galaxies to show them off, I'll end up looking like I'm wearing rags, Calasin. I might be willing to tolerate feathers if I absolutely must, as they'll make me look like I've just had a satisfying meal of a canary, but I'll not go looking like the trap and swiss-cheese bait for the mouse."

"No, Lady Purrcy," Calasin agreed humbly.

Purrcy glared at the clothing again. "The problem with only the gold is that it doesn't work as the accent color for Nyanta. He has no gold, only silver on him."

"I've always thought Nyanta the sort to be a pinstripe man," Calasin suggested. "Would the black tie with the gold pinstripe be sufficiently toned down in the gold department to be acceptable?" He gestured to the bow ties set out. The one in question had wide black stripes with the very narrow pin-stripe being gold.

Purrcy picked it up and considered it. Finally she nodded. "It should suffice. The groomsmen should be in black tuxedos with shirts to match Nyanta's, and this tie. These with me should be in dark grey pinstripe tuxedos with gold shirts to match whatever gold you're putting in the bridesmaids clothing, and this tie. If the dark grey clashes too much, stick with the solid black. Pocket handkerchiefs may be gold for all of them except Nyanta. While it is completely out of character for the rest of the color scheme, I would personally prefer it to be a green to match his eyes. If he would like to pick a particular color perhaps that would be best. Orange is right out."

She put the bow tie down, her hand clenching once it was empty. She turned to face the men's wear options again. "Put Shiroe in a long-tail tuxedo as well, though in the black," she modified. "The grey shirt will wash him out but the black tie may help some. ...Will Guildmaster Soujirou actually be willing to shed his traditional clothing for the modern?" She looked up at Calasin, though not quite directly.

Calasin paused, then said, "For Shiroe, he will wear whatever he is asked."

Purrcy pursed her lips. "No. Show me a formal Tokugawa hakama in black and gold."

Calasin blinked, then led them to traditional Japanese wear and hunted. In the end they found one that had a golden under kimono and black formal over-wear with minor gold accents that Purrcy approved of. She then had Calasin pull one out that was one step lesser in status for Touya, with the outer-wear in a dark grey instead of black, and had the younger boy take both to the measurement room for Soujirou and him to try on and have fitted immediately.

Purrcy returned them to the previous location and quickly went through the remaining options, getting rid of the shirt with the frills and finally mixing and matching until she had the shirt, vest, jacket style, and pants she wanted. "Now, those in the colors I've already said. See that the long tails of Nyanta's jacket are at the proper height in the back to not look embarrassing over his tail, as the audience is more likely to see our backs longer than any other part. Use the most recent spell for tail hole placement. If I'm the Fairy Queen, nothing less will do than the best for her Consort and their wedding court. Am I clear, Calasin?" She held him firmly with her gaze.

"Certainly, Lady Purrcy," he bowed. "Ah, do we have a date yet?"

"I'm told in either six or seven days from today, however I don't know if they've settled it just yet. It is already two weeks too long and that adds another." She turned away from him. "Show me what you have for the young ladies."

Calasin's smooth face went a bit troubled, watching after her and he looked at Akatsuki. She gave him a sympathetic look, then awkwardly patted him on the shoulder - what she could reach of it. "Stress," she said shortly. Calasin relaxed just a little and nodded understandingly. He took a breath and hurried to catch up to Purrcy and Tetora, already on their way to the women's section, the others trailing behind.

-:-:-:-:-

Touya breathed a long exasperated sigh as he trotted towards the sewing room. Under the exasperation at Purrcy's strong behavior was a bit of pleasure that she'd included his preference for samurai wear and persona, but under that was a sorrow he couldn't shake. He really did wish they could get this level done, the sooner the better. Once again, he was wishing for time to move quickly.

He really hadn't liked the last time there had been this battle between Shiroe and Purrcy and he wasn't thrilled to have it begin again. It really wouldn't do to have them at each other's throats _every_ time they moved into position for a battle. They were certainly efficient and very productive in their individual arenas, but how could it be possible to work together if they couldn't compromise, be civil with each other, and maybe even bend a bit and be kind to each other? He really had thought that it wouldn't happen again, particularly after Shiroe returned home the night before. It was hard to swallow, especially the second time around.

He stopped outside the sewing room, gave one really good scowl, then cleared his face, took a breath, let it out, and stepped into the room as if he were entering the next room of a dungeon knowing full well it was full of kobolds...and the kobold king. He walked up to Soujirou. "Excuse me, Guildmaster Soujirou," he bowed as the man turned to answer to his call.

"Yes, young Touya?" the other asked pleasantly.

"Lady Purrcy has asked that you be fitted to this for your wedding clothing, and Guildmaster Shiroe, I'm to be fitted as well, to this other." He looked at his own guildmaster. Shiroe's eyebrow went up, but he didn't comment as of yet. Touya handed over the clothing set for Soujirou who took them, then moved to a somewhat clear table to lay them out. The other men not being measured moved to see what it was.

Naotsugu whistled. "She's got style anyway. Do we all wear this?"

Touya shook his head. "She was thinking of Guildmaster Soujirou and wished for him to be comfortable. It's the same for myself."

"That's kind of her," Soujirou said, running his hand over the overcoat. "This is the formal coat of a high official of the era. What is it you have?" He craned to look over at what Touya was holding. He obediently lay it out as well.

"Is this the color divisions she's chosen?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes. But Nyanta-san's tuxedo will be white."

"Tuxedo?" Shiroe asked in a pleasant neutral.

"Yes, sir. She has been very particular in form, style, and colors."

"Mmm," Shiroe didn't comment any more than that, but he nodded at the clothing in front of them. "And has she been considering the rest of us as well?"

"Yes, sir," Touya answered as best he could.

"And what about Rudy?"

Touya frowned slightly. "Well, she hasn't specifically called him out...it's more like she's simply included him in with the others." Shiroe nodded, not committing to anything other than it had been data added to his calculations.

Touya picked his set back up and trotted off to a changing screen and went to work to properly try on the clothes he'd been assigned. He tripped over the hem on the way to stand for the tailor, though he managed to catch himself okay. The fitting took longer than he thought, but Naotsugu had been training him for over a year to have the patience of stone. He chose to practice it again - for more than one reason.

-:-:-:-:-

Everyone was very worn out by the time they were done at Shopping District 8. Shiroe and Akatsuki stayed behind in town to have a date. Nyanta also took Purrcy to a restaurant for dinner to let the rest have a break, saying it was because they hadn't been able to have their own individual date yet, and surely _one_ should be had before the wedding. As the rest flopped down in the couches and chairs to rest, not really able to face the kitchen on their own just yet, Minori lay her head on the table in front of her. "This really sucks," she said.

"That's my line," Touya said. "Can we just skip ahead to having it all done?"

"That's bad, to have the two of you ready to give up already," Naotsugu said kindly.

Minori scrunched up her face. "I've guess I've gotten so I really look forward to peaceful mornings in the kitchen with Miss Purrcy and Nyanta-san. The days that carries on into the whole day are really fun. ...I really don't like this."

Isuzu put her hand on her friend's back and patted her a few times, but didn't say anything for a while. Then her lute was in her hand. She took her time to softly tune it and pick her first song. She chose the song she'd written for Theldesia as it's First new song. It was a song of encouragement and hope, of a will to move forward to conquer, and she felt it was very applicable to their current situation.

Touya folded his arms on the table and put his chin on them, listening to the song. When it was finished he took a deep breath and let it out. Minori traced her finger on the table, considering the words also. Isuzu kept playing, running little phrases from that song and then others over the strings.

After a bit Michael sighed and put an ankle of one foot up on the knee of the other leg and draped his arm over the back of his chair. Looking off into the distance, he said, "I'm a Monk, but Naotsugu, what's that one that Guardian's have that has to do with stone?"

Naotsugu raised an eyebrow, "Castle of Stone?"

"Yeah, that one." Michael paused a bit, then said, "It's at times like this that you use that one to stay put and do what needs to be done." All eyes, and a few heads, looked at him, but he didn't look back at them, instead the index finger of the hand draped over his chair drew a figure on the back of the chair, one he didn't look at.

Naotsugu smiled. "I think that's about right," he said in agreement. He held up his hands, putting his thumbs together pointing down and curled the fingers of both hands, putting the backs of them together. "I think we should remember it."

Tetora looked between the two Warriors, then made the same sign. "Big time," he said softly.

Touya sat up and made it, too. Minori, her hands hidden under the table also made it. It took Rudy a bit of thinking, but he figured out how to do it eventually and held it up in front of his body. Isuzu nodded, but kept playing, then launched into _Wake Up, Little Suzy_ , but put in Purrcy's name again. It made some of them cry, but it helped. They had dinner at Crescent Moon that night to help them be distracted enough to make it through the rest of the evening, taking Marielle up on her offer extended the last time it had been like this.

-:-:-:-:-

Minori wasn't the only one with a head down on a table. Purrcy was in the same state. "What would mew like to order?" Nyanta asked her.

She shook her head. "Thank you for bringing me out. I'm sorry. I don't really feel like eating."

"Mew need to keep up meowr strength, Purrcy."

She closed her eyes and a whisker or two twitched. She rolled her head so her forehead was against the table. Slowly she reached out and grasped hold of the lower part of the side of his vest, so her hand was still below the table. "...Please forgive me, Nyanta," she begged.

He considered her, then put his paw lightly on the side of her face. "The only thing I won't be able to forgive is if mew leave me standing alone in front of Shiroe-ichi and break meowr purromise to me."

Purrcy was still, then she slightly leaned into his paw. "I understand, Nyanta," she said quietly.

He ran his paw down her head and neck. "Come, eat with me tonight," he said quietly. Purrcy took a deep breath and sat up. Together they ordered a light dinner and ate it quietly. When it was done and the table cleared for them again, Nyanta pulled out a little box and handed it to Purrcy. She looked at him curiously, but he didn't give anything away.

Purrcy opened the box and stared at it's contents. Cautiously she reached in and lifted out a gold engagement ring. "It's beautiful, Nyanta," she said quietly.

"Please wear it for me, Purrcy," Nyanta said. She looked at him, then handed the ring to him. He took her left hand in his right paw, then placed the ring on her ring finger, a fuzzy thumb and forefinger holding it to slide it into place.

She looked at his hand and smiled. "You're coming along." She held his hand in hers. The digits were still a little stubby, like the paw had elongated somewhat. "To be able to create the thumb is a big step." She looked up into his eyes and he knew he'd be seeing tears if she could cry them. "I'm very proud of you for working hard." He pulled her close to him and kissed her.

That night Purrcy held onto Nyanta tightly, shivering, for a long time before falling asleep. He held her quietly, thinking his own thoughts, petting her slowly.

-:-:-:-:-

The next day Purrcy was much calmer, and because the whole day was spent cooking, it stayed calm. The following day was the same. It felt rather like the breath before the choir begins singing, as the conductor has raised his arms and is just giving the upbeat.

As the third day set aside for cooking wore on, the cooking wound down. The younger children sent Nyanta and Purrcy away from the kitchen saying they would do the final clean up. As they went from the kitchen into the main area, Akatsuki stepped out of Shiroe's office and looked at them. "Shiroe has asked for Purrcy," she said.

Purrcy went without question, Nyanta following her. Shiroe was sitting behind his desk, working. When Purrcy walked in, he finished his current line, then looked up at her. "Purrcy, I would like to understand better how the spells of the other Classes affect the realm of the code magics. You've set it so we can see the things of the code realm as they affect this one, and the other day you showed us what the code realm looks like. Would it be possible to set an area, like for the demonstration battle, where we could have the opportunity to practice our normal formation battles but seen in the code realm? I think this will help us to better understand how we can help when we reach the Tree of Life."

Purrcy considered. "It's certainly possible, but...I should take the time to put it up properly. I assume you want it to last several hours?" Shiroe nodded. "That actually has a rather high cost, with area to be affected the second highest cost. I can set it ahead of time in the area you want, then cast it when you arrive, though there may be a residual drain to maintain it once it's up. That's a typical cost for that kind of spell, unless I take a full day or more to spend the cost ahead of time."

Shiroe shook his head. "As much as I'd rather you not have a drain, I don't want to wait that long. If possible, could you set it up now and let me know when it's ready? We'll come then."

Purrcy bowed, "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe."

"Nyanta, take her to our usual in-town practice spot. Determine a suitable area for her to set it up in. Take Tetora with you."

"Yes, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta answered.

Together the three of them walked to an unoccupied zone that included a small wooded area, like an old city park, surrounded by a few buildings. The guild used this area since it had all of the kinds of areas, to some small degree, that could be found outside the city: trees, open space, and buildings that were falling apart a bit more than normal. Having practiced there many times in the last year and a half, Nyanta and Tetora quickly marked out boundaries for Purrcy. She sat down in the middle of that area, asking them to stay outside that range until she was done. Tetora watched her and cast healing spells on her as necessary to keep her HP up during the spell creation, though it had the base code she'd already written, so the cost wasn't as high as it might have been.

When it was ready, Purrcy rose and walked to the two waiting on her. "Tell Shiroe it's done," she said as she sat back on the ground and put her head in Nyanta's lap to fall asleep. He woke her when everyone arrived dressed for battle. They spent the next two hours with Shiroe walking them through their basic forms and watching how they affected the strange landscape that appeared when Purrcy cast the spell. Being able to see it overlayed on top of familiar topography helped and it wasn't too long into the practice that they were able to get a feel for how the two overlapped.

It was interesting to them to learn what things affected the code realm naturally, and what things had to include intent to affect it. Purrcy explained that for pseudocode to affect things in the base realm it was somewhat the same. If she set a spell to just go while looking at something, it would naturally affect the code realm. If she wanted to see or affect something in the base realm, she had to either set it specifically in the code, or cast it with the intent to affect the physical. Not all things worked that way, of course. Most of the time it was in how it was coded, and that was the safer way to handle it. Then there weren't openings for errors to be made.

Because a large part of the goal in going to the Tree of Life was to see if it could be healed, they spent a fair amount of time practicing and experimenting with what healing and recovery magics worked best on the code realm to affect it with that specific question in mind. When Shiroe was finally comfortable with how the two spaces interacted, he called a halt to the activity.

As they all walked back to the guild hall, Shiroe informed everyone that the next morning they would need to be at Shopping District 8 for their final fittings fairly early in the day so as to give the tailors time to finish any last minute modifications that needed to be made. Then he looked directly at Purrcy. "You won't run away, will you?"

She tiredly looked at him, then obediently said, "No, Guildmaster Shiroe." Her ears wanted to both lie down on her head, and stand up properly and patiently.

He put his hand on her head briefly. "That's good," he praised her.

She looked down and sighed. "When will the rehearsal be?" she asked.

"In the afternoon, so that the entirety of the next day can be used to prepare for proper presentation. I have the contract ready for you to review when we return, and if you want to, the words I plan on speaking at the ceremony." Nyanta nodded his head for the both of them. "After dinner, then," Shiroe said.

-:-:-:-:-

Dinner was a quieter affair than perhaps normal since they were all tired, and after the simple review of the things Shiroe had put together, they took to their beds a little early. Purrcy slept with her back to Nyanta. For the last three nights, she hadn't slept close to him, nor had she transformed into a cat of any size, day or night. It was as if a piece of her was missing, for all that the rest of her seemed to be the same.

The next morning, Shiroe called Nyanta and Purrcy from the kitchen into his office and gave Nyanta a map and the locations of the villages of the half-beasts, or where they should be, pointing it out on his copy of the map he had painstakingly put together of Eastal. There was one for foxtails not too far out from Akiba, maybe a couple day's travel by foot, and they determined they would go there first, Purrcy training Nyanta in the basic things on the way. After that, she would begin the more in-depth training for him to understand the concept of a natural felinoid. When Shiroe and the others were ready, he would contact them and they would meet up closer to the Maze of Eternity.

After breakfast, they went one more time as a guild into town, but a little more relaxed this morning, talking in small groups. Early mornings in town were meant for business ventures, not adventures. They patiently went through their rounds in the fittings, being met by the others who were part of the wedding party coming to get fitted as well. They slipped off in groups of twos to fours when they were done until it was Nyanta, Purrcy, Tetora, and Michael who left together when they were done. They'd kept Calasin mostly at bay, not letting him say much to Purrcy that day.

"Nyanta, can I shop a bit with Tetora?" Purrcy asked, looking around the market as they came out of Shopping District 8.

"Of course," he said demurely. "We'll wait for mew at the cafe at the end of the strip."

"Thank you," she said politely.

As they separated and Nyanta and Michael continued on, Michael asked, "What do you think that's for?"

Nyanta didn't say anything for a while, then answered, "I think she wants to look for a wedding purresent? She hasn't had time yet to shop for anything. Though, I don't need anything but her."

"Mm," answered Michael, "I guess it's true that the woman does like to find something to be a surprise, and a gift from the heart."

"It is so," Nyanta agreed with quiet practicality. They reached the cafe he had in mind and settled to wait.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy and Tetora headed towards the shopping district, though Tetora could tell that Purrcy wasn't really focused on the shopping. He quietly kept her company until she finally turned to him, sorrow in every line of her body. "Tetora...I can't," she finally said quietly. "I can't do it." She wrapped her arms around him and he held her tightly. When they parted, Purrcy pulled the engagement ring off her finger and handed it to him. He took it reluctantly. "Please give it to him for me," Purrcy said quietly. Tetora nodded and Purrcy was gone. He stood there for a moment, holding the ring tightly in his hand, the ring pressing painfully into his palm, his eyes watching his guild map, his heart hurting.

He walked into the outdoor seating area of the cafe alone. When Michael saw him he sat up in alarm. Tetora couldn't do anything about his red eyes, of course, so it was already given away without him saying anything. He walked up to Nyanta and held out his closed hand. "She's gone," he said simply, full of compassion.

Nyanta held out his paw and took back the gift he'd given Purrcy. He sighed. "No. I expected it," he said sadly. "She really hasn't been herself."

Michael sprang to his feet. "You're just going to let her go?"

The other two looked at him. "She's free to go," Nyanta said. "It's one of the laws of Akiba, after all. Adventurers are free to choose where they will go and who they will stay with. If she chooses to come back to me, then I will still welcome her with open arms. The last three weeks have been very difficult for her, having to stay here this long."

Michael pursed his lips and looked at Tetora. "Do you know where she's gone?"

Tetora looked at him. "Minami."

Michael swore. "Well, even if you won't go...I will."

They looked at him silently. He finally glared at them and turned and hurried off, becoming lost in the midday crowd quickly. Tetora looked back at Nyanta who was rising to his feet, a new gold earring shining in his ear. "Shall we get back and inform Shiroe-ichi?" he asked calmly, though his eyes glittered. Tetora nodded and together they set their feet walking towards the Log Horizon guild hall.

-:-:-:-:-

The woman woke up in a place she had woken up in so many times before. Her ears twitched. A silky smooth voice, the same one she always heard in this place, spoke her name. "Why have you come back? You know I'll have to punish you now?" There was a pause as if she were being given the opportunity to answer.

"You almost had everything you've been wanting. It will still be mine, only now you won't get anything. But then...you already know you don't deserve to have anything good, so it's only right that you come crawling back to the gutter, your tail between your legs. The precious Princess of the gutter is all you'll ever be able to be."

There was the sound of a step of the person turning away. "Well...enjoy your punishment, I guess." There was a command, coldly given, and just as coldly, it was carried out and her nightmares in this dark place began again.

But inside, the woman smiled. She had already lived through this much before, and this time, the other promises she'd been given were a warm light held within her. She held those two warm promises in her heart and let them comfort her. She might have returned to this pain on the outside, but soon she would be free of it and truly have everything she desired - she was sure of it.

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta, I still want you to go and find the foxtail village. We need to know if it's really here and has survived the cataclysm," Shiroe pushed the glasses up on his face. "The half-beasts need help if this world does eventually make all Adventurers real and it gets difficult. Please be our ambassador and see if they can at least teach us how to survive that way. If possible, perhaps they would be willing to accept those who need a place to go away from the rest of us."

Nyanta bowed. "Yes, Shiroe-ichi. I'll do my best."

"Thank you, Nyanta," Shiroe said kindly. "Take care out there."

"Of course," the felinoid said. "I will wait to hear from mew."

When he was prepared to go, the whole guild walked out of the city with him to see him off. Serera joined them, as did Marielle. The juniors all gave him hugs and Tetora did, too. "I'll keep watching over her," he promised. Nyanta gave an ear-twist of thanks.

Naotsugu's hand swallowed Nyanta's shoulder. "We'll hold down the fort."

"Keep reminding Shiroe-ichi to take rests," Nyanta answered him.

"Will do, Chief."

Nyanta looked at Akatsuki. She gave him one firm nod. He smiled, then looked at Shiroe. He held out a paw and they grasped wrists. "Good hunting."

"Same to you."

With a nod to each other, Nyanta turned away and blew on his gryphon summoning whistle. Shortly a gryphon was winging its way down to their area. Nyanta climbed on its back, waved, and he was off. They watched him fly away until he was very small in the sky.

Marielle turned to Shiroe. Serera was holding tightly to Minori's hand. "Will he be alright, really?" Marielle asked.

Shiroe looked at her with his sharp look. "It will be difficult," he admitted, "but I think he'll be just fine in the end. He's got a pretty strong support group after all."

Marielle looked around at the rest of them. "Well, that's truth, isn't it?" she smiled encouragingly at everyone. Shiroe always liked that smile. It made everyone always feel better.

He looked down at Akatsuki and offered her his hand. She looked up at him with her usual sober gaze and took his hand. "So do you, Shiroe. We're all here for you, too."

He smiled at her and answered quietly, "I know. Thank you." He squeezed her hand. She pulled on it and he leaned over. She gave him a kiss, then blushed prettily.

Naotsugu wrapped his arm around Marielle. "Well, let's get back shall we? There's a lot of work to do." They led everyone back into Akiba and the guild halls. It was time to prepare to face the next part of the dungeon.


	38. Creatures of Theldesia

[Have you ever wondered,] a voice said in Nyanta's head, [how it is that a Summon knows when to go and where and when to land? That is...have you ever wondered how it is that the Summon and Summoner communicate?]

Nyanta's tail and whiskers were standing stiffly on end and his ears were turned fully to the creature behind him that he thought had left him. He turned back around and stared at the gryphon who was looking at him with humor in his eyes. He blinked a few times, then answered, "Nyan, though that is a good question. I have wondered why every time, since the time I got the whistle, it is specifically mew that comes, though." He tipped his head, then added, "And purrhaps, before that, why are mew still here? Isn't the four hour limit up?"

The gryphon's mouth opened and Nyanta was sure it was a laugh, though it hissed. [I'll walk with you for a bit and answer your questions. My name's ProudWing, and you -] a large head butted him so that he had to leap back slightly or fall over [- are a certain very special Summon's mate.]

Nyanta blinked, then smiled. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that mew would know her. I suppose most of mew do?"

[Perhaps,] ProudWing shrugged - more a tip of the head than a shoulder movement. [But I'm the one that's mate was gravely injured and came and got her. Thank you for letting me, by the way.]

Nyanta's ear flicked. He wasn't sure just why he was being thanked. "It was an emergency and she could be of help. There was no need to keep her from it, meow."

[She also said she was being difficult.] ProudWing sounded just a little worried.

Nyanta turned and started walking. ProudWing followed after him like some very large pet dog might, only this was by no means a pet. "She was, at the time," Nyanta finally allowed. "She needed to be out of the city by then. It was good timing." The gryphon was still giving off an air of worry. "She wasn't punished for it," he finally said. That seemed to relax the gryphon a bit. "So...how is it that it's always mew that comes?" he asked since ProudWing had said he'd answer.

[When a summon whistle is created, it is created for a specific creature. When the whistle is blown, it will always call that Summon creature.]

Nyanta considered that answer, then asked, "What about after the Summon dies?"

ProudWing was quiet for a while and Nyanta looked over. ProudWing was looking a little distressed, or sad. At least the ears were down. Finally he answered sadly, [We don't die. Or if we do because of massive injuries, we come back when we're summoned again.]

Nyanta's heart lurched just a little. "What...will mew do if meowr mate dies?"

ProudWing shook his head. [Summons mate with other Summons. It is better that way.]

"Oh." Nyanta thought about that. "Then meowr mate was injured serving her Summoner?"

ProudWing nodded his large head. [Her Summoner is a Sorcerer who enjoys battling in the air. It isn't the first time.]

"Ouch," Nyanta winced. "Has she tried to explain to him how the world has changed for the creatures, that is - from our purrspective?"

ProudWing looked at him and asked again, [Have you ever wondered how it is the Summoner and the Summon communicate?]

Nyanta sighed. "No. I see meowr point. We are still trying to learn how to live in this place. Purrcy is the first Adventurer I've ever heard who tried to understand the creatures and monsters we fight. Most of us who heard her story found it hard to fathom even wanting to do it."

ProudWing nodded again. [Just so.]

"So...how is it that we are communicating now? It isn't quite the same."

The large beak opened in a smile again. [No, it isn't, that's true. When we come and land, take off, fly the direction you want us to, land again and so forth, it is intent. We go there because you want us to. It is an order and even an unspoken order when given that way must be followed.]

Nyanta's ears twisted back and forth in consternation. "I was already having troubles with Purrcy having to be obedient to the words said. Now mew tell me that if her master just wishes her to do something, she still has to do it?"

ProudWing nodded his head. Nyanta clenched his paw and grit his teeth. It took a minute or so to get back under control. He looked back at ProudWing, "But...that doesn't seem to be the case right now?"

[True,] ProudWing said. [You aren't wishing very hard for anything right now, though...and the summon time has worn off.]

"That has an effect?" he asked surprised.

[During the summon time, the Summon can't do anything of their own will. Communication like this isn't even possible, most of the time. Have you ever heard a Summon talk during that time, unless specifically questioned and considered capable of speech?]

Nyanta stopped and stared at ProudWing, his mouth open just a little. "Well...that's damn inconvenient," he said after a bit. He thought about it some more, then said "But...if the Summoner _wanted_ to talk with the Summon, then they could talk."

[Exactly,] ProudWing said calmly.

Nyanta sighed. "So really, what mew're saying is that as long as we Adventurers believe we can't communicate with the Summon creatures, we won't be able to. When we finally get a clue and understand what Purrcy understands we'll be able to communicate whenever we want."

[So.]

"Well, feel free to talk to me whenever mew like, I suppose," Nyanta said, thinking of other things, "though I do like quiet as well."

[Thank you.]

"What's the difference between a contracted summon and a whistle summon? Do they have to be obeyed the same?" He began walking again.

ProudWing considered his answer for a bit. [Whistle summons are a bit more simplistic in that when the whistle is blown, the Summon must come immediately to whoever blows that specific whistle, must serve fully obedient for the set time, then is free to do their own thing until the next time they are summoned. A contracted summon is more complex as the contract itself may have specific minor differences, spelling out things such as the length of time of service, what types of service are to be performed, how long the contracted time is for, that sort of thing. The creation of the contract is itself not as simple as a whistle either, since the will of the Summoner must be able to dominate the will of the creature they want to contract with. That struggle may continue through the entire contract time. Because of this, there are things the Summon can refuse to do. There is often a punishment applied, though, either by the Summoner or by the contractual bond itself. And...the contract can be nullified, broken, ended, or supplanted. A whistle cannot be, though I believe it can be broken. There have been a few instances of that happening, or so I've heard.]

"What happens to a Summon if their whistle is broken?"

[They just aren't summoned any more.]

"Do they still live forever?"

[Not necessarily. If they get into a fight they can't recover from and die, they just aren't summoned any more - ah, that is, they aren't called back any more.]

"Is that a state of awareness?"

ProudWing looked at him directly. [It isn't much more than that.]

The answer was a bit ambiguous. It didn't make Nyanta feel any better. His thoughts turned just a little bit. "So, when I don't call mew...or when I didn't for such a long time, mew were able to just do what mew wanted, and mew settled down with a mate?"

[Correct,] ProudWing said.

"Did it surprise mew to have me call for mew again after so long?" Nyanta wondered.

[Well...we Summon do understand that for a time we will be called frequently, particularly early on when a whistle is first attached to us, then less and less over time. Some Summons haven't been summoned for even hundreds of years. But we all know that at any time we could be.]

"Do mew...resent it?" Nyanta asked cautiously.

Just as cautiously ProudWing answered, [Some can, if the Summoner is particularly insensitive or willing to cause the frequent death of the Summon. Most of the time we are happy to serve, particularly if we can help a young Adventurer to become stronger, or if our Adventurer is strong and honorable. Sometimes is it just a job.] ProudWing smiled again.

"Well, I do hope I'm at least that," Nyanta said wryly.

ProudWing shook his head. [You count among the strong and honorable. It has been an honor to have you be my Summon whistle holder. When the Caretaker told me she had taken a mate, because you were with her I had hoped it would be you, for her sake.]

"How do mew know it's me?" Nyanta asked curiously.

ProudWing smiled at him again. [Because you can't sleep with someone and not have them be your mate.]

Nyanta blushed. "But I haven't...not that way."

ProudWing laughed again. [Her scent on you says you've slept with her.] His beak headed for Nyanta's ear and it both twitched out of the way and he ducked away. Nyanta glowered at ProudWing who only danced off a bit and continued to grin.

Nyanta eventually relented. "Well, next time meowr mate is summoned, follow her and come get me. I'll see if I can explain it to her Summoner. ...Ah, that is if it isn't too far out of the way." He looked at ProudWing. "Mew do know how to find me without being summoned first, don't mew?"

ProudWing nodded. [We always know where the whistle is. We put our nests as close as we safely can to the whistle holders so that we can arrive as soon as possible. There is a limit to how long we can take to arrive.]

"...That sounds painful," Nyanta said slowly. ProudWing just looked at him. Nyanta sighed and rested his paws on his rapiers, looking at the sky as he walked. "For having so many things be left to chance on our side of the screen, it has caused rather a lot of difficulties on this side, nyan?" It was rhetorical and ProudWing didn't answer it, but it seemed he rather agreed.

[So...where are you headed? You seemed rather unsure up in the air.]

"I am. I'm looking for the village of the foxtails."

[Oh! A quest is it?]

Nyanta blinked. "A quest? I suppose it could be considered that, since I was asked by another Adventurer to find it. Is it normally a quest to find the beast-half villages?"

[Since it hasn't been found yet, then I would think so.]

Nyanta had a slow smile come on his face. This part was very much like the game. "Would mew care to join my party and go on my quest with me?" he asked.

ProudWing looked at him in surprise. [Well...that would certainly be a first. To have a Summon be a party member.]

"No, not really. We already consider mew part of the party when we first call mew. In fact, we find the time restriction irritating at best. We could get quests completed so much more easily if we could get rid of that. It would have taken, what, a day and a half from Susukino to Akiba if mew could have all stayed. Instead it took almost four because we had to walk. That is...if mew could continue to fly four hours, have a break for lunch, then fly for four more. But that might tire mew out too much?"

ProudWing shook his head. [With proper breaks to rest and eat, we can keep going.]

"What are we supposed to feed mew?"

[Meat.]

"...Right. I mew that. ...Would meowr wife be okay with mew staying?"

[She is doing much better, so can get her own food now...and I would like to help the Caretaker. She has done much to help us.] The large golden eye looked at Nyanta significantly.

Nyanta bowed slightly. "Thank mew. That is my greater quest."

ProudWing nodded. [I knew that.]

Nyanta added ProudWing to his party and they walked quietly for a while, until Nyanta remembered he could be riding and looking from the air. ProudWing laughed at him for forgetting, but he could only chuckle at himself as well. It was certainly habit to walk for the second half of the day. And then he remembered that they hadn't eaten yet and he had to sigh at himself for forgetting that, too, in his surprise at being talked to by a gryphon.

Nyanta pulled out a Side of Roast Boar, gave it to ProudWing, and pulled out a bowl of udon for himself. As they ate, another question occurred to him. "How does the spell Purrcy created that summons her to help the creatures of Theldesia differ from the other methods of summoning?"

ProudWing tore off a hunk of meat (he was eating it slowly out of politeness) and swallowed it as he considered the answer to Nyanta's question. [It is like a contract, in that the card sets the conditions. She may choose when to go, or even if she will go. It is set for a specified time, usually very short, and she may stay beyond that if she wishes. It is only to aid one who is in medical need, though if that need is in the middle of a battle she has been known to assist in ending it - sometimes for whichever side she wants.]

[But it is also like the whistle in that you have to have a card to call her at all. Unlike the whistle, there are many of them, so it is not a single contract, but a multiple contract.]

"That sounds pretty powerful," Nyanta said.

ProudWing nodded. [It took her several weeks to craft and cast. She stayed with us and we fed her and watched over her so she could sleep safely.]

"Oh? Is that what it was?" Nyanta was glad to know she had properly taken care of herself during that time. "Thank mew."

ProudWing twitched an ear. [It was for our benefit,] he said with practicality.

"What happens if someone she didn't intend gets a hold of one?" Nyanta asked.

ProudWing looked at him with a somewhat severe look in his eye. [Every creature who owns one takes very good care of it. ...But even still,] ProudWing looked sad, [it did happen once. We lost her for a number of days until the closest creatures in the area could get to her last known location and rescue her. She later told me she learned to enter stealthily rather than directly after that. She was very trusting before then. The one that did it to her is no longer. We all saw to it that he paid dearly.]

ProudWing cocked his head. [He thought it would be humorous to own an Adventurer. She'd already tortured him to madness by the time we arrived. He couldn't keep up with her lecturing and scolding and wife-nagging - is what his underlings said. I think she was using him to experiment with her spells, though, and she was using her words to hide what she was doing from them.]

Nyanta sighed. "She does talk furrequently...but it is nice to have the company."

ProudWing hissed his laughter. [She is very child-like.]

Nyanta nodded. "That, too. But that I don't mind."

[That's good,] ProudWing said, giving him a knowing look. He tipped his head. [Are you sure you wish to be married to a Summon?]

Nyanta looked away, as if disinterested. "I don't plan on dying - ever."

ProudWing swallowed the last of the meat, bone and all, then tucked his paws up under him. He put his piercing gaze on Nyanta and he could feel a lecture coming. He sighed to himself and settled to face his newest instructor properly. [It isn't just the calling back,] ProudWing said, [it's also the fact that she will be called back to whomever her master is and you will have to watch her go, not knowing what she will be facing. The only thing you do know is that whatever it is, she can't deny, and she can't refuse her orders.]

[A gryphon may be called to be simply a pair of wings for fast travel, or may be called to assist in fighting in aerial battle. A smaller creature may be called to fetch a toy that is lost under the narrow porch - or to steal something of worth and value from someone who went to great effort to earn it. They cannot say no to either one. What will a summonable Adventurer be asked to do? Destroy towns? Overcome armies? Raise one up in power? Such a one cannot say no to the one who blows the whistle, and has the power to accomplish it even if they don't do it alone, because one Adventurer can raise up an army of Adventurers. ...Can you bear to stand by while she is required to fulfill it?]

Nyanta was very still. "If someone asked her to do those things, I couldn't stop her...but I would stop the one who had the whistle and take it from him...even if I had to raise up my own army."

[So, you would fight against your own wife?]

Nyanta stopped. Slowly he said, "If by doing so I could free her...I believe I would."

[Hmm..., well, for another Adventurer there is likely only one solution.]

Nyanta looked down at his now empty bowl. He put it away and got to walking again. "As long as she is the holder of her own whistle, she may choose what she wishes to do. If that ever changes, then I will decide what to do." ProudWing gave him an impatient look. Nyanta looked over his shoulder at him. "I'll purroperly be thinking about it before then, as well."

ProudWing dipped his head and rose to his feet to trail after him. [I thought you wanted to fly again?]

Nyanta shook his head. "It's supposed to be in this area. I couldn't see anything from the air before, so I'm not sure it's worth it to go up again. I'm also supposed to be purracticing." He was looking into the trees around them. He put away his clothing and rapiers, then crouched to all fours, setting his desired action and final location. He leaped forward and ran up one of the medium trees a fair distance away, trying to understand what his maximum speed was and how it related to getting into a tree. It didn't work well and he almost fell out of the tree.

ProudWing trotted up laughing. [I see why you're supposed to be practicing.]

Nyanta's ears were waving back at him in consternation and embarrassment. "I was trying to run at full speed and learn how that correlated to getting into the tree."

[Your speed and height combination was off, then.]

Nyanta considered it. "I wanted full speed, but gave a location too low to the ground."

ProudWing nodded. [You should set one or the other until you understand. And maybe stay on the ground for now, if you choose full speed, until you understand what it means and how long you can run it. ...Would you like to come dance with me?]

Nyanta's tail and ear made a question mark at him. "Dance?"

ProudWing pranced off a bit. [Come run and I'll show you.]

Nyanta set himself for getting down out of the tree and was down fairly quickly since Purrcy had already taught him that much. When he reached ProudWing, he was told, [I will go up, you will run. When I come low, you try to catch me and I will try to touch you first. We will play today, so keep your claws in and I will do the same.] Nyanta nodded and ProudWing spread his large golden brown wings and lifted into the sky. Nyanta set himself to full out four-paw run and set the location to just be "in front" of himself, adding in permission to miss barriers, then took off. He used his focus to pay attention to the air above him and a little to seeing just how fast "full out" was.

He could hear the wind in the wings of ProudWing and feel the air pressure as well. He "bumped" in order to twist his body and then bunch his legs under him and leap upward. He was very close to touching a hind paw as ProudWing was lifting back into the air from his dive. His direction to run had changed, and he let it stay the new course. This time he sensed ProudWing coming from behind, but couldn't hear him. He turned to look, keeping his eyes on where ProudWing was gliding in from. Nyanta's body somersaulted and he lay on his back on purpose to watch the gryphon pass over him, reaching up with a paw to lightly tap at the front paw that came to him. As soon as the gryphon was past and rising again, he had rolled over and was up and running again.

The third time, he skid to a stop, turned, and faced ProudWing head-on. ProudWing lifted up early and Nyanta bunched and then sprang into the air, trying for as high as he could go. He actually ran his head into ProudWing, surprising both of them. Nyanta barely had time to go to a natural landing. He'd have botched it and broken a leg if he'd tried to control it himself. He crouched low to the ground, blinking in surprise for a moment, replaying the jump quickly. He had a lot more power going up than he'd expected. He didn't have too much time, though, because ProudWing was coming in low again. He feinted then leaped in from the side, stretching to touch. He almost pushed ProudWing to the ground, though it hadn't been a terribly strong touch - just from the side so it off-balanced the gryphon enough he wobbled.

Nyanta could see that ProudWing was laughing in delight. He himself, as he got used to attacking in the natural way of his body, also became more and more delighted with his capabilities. By the time they were tired enough to call a truce and ProudWing came down to rest next to him, the sun was down farther in the sky than he would have thought. [You took to that very well, Master,] ProudWing said, his beak open in a gryphon smile.

Nyanta held up a paw. "It's Nyanta. I'm a Swashbuckler - a two-blade fighter. I move like that all the time when I fight with the rapiers. Learning how to do it just using my body and claws in a more natural way has been rather fun, actually. Getting to purractice against an aerial enemy was also very interesting. Thank mew."

[My pleasure, Nyanta,] ProudWing said.

Nyanta looked around the open field they had been playing in, though really by rights it was fighter practice. "I noticed this field doesn't spawn enemies. Do mew know? Does it have night spawns?"

ProudWing's beak clacked closed, and he looked up at the sky, sniffing a bit. [Yes, I believe it does.]

"I know Purrcy purrefers to not fight the same creatures she is going to heal," Nyanta settled down on the grass next to ProudWing, "but I'd like to try this against actual opponents next. And I know just by my being here they are going to have to come. Can we talk to them and ask if they'll settle for purractice, or would they be required to fight to the death or until the escape criteria is reached?"

ProudWing gave him an interesting look, then finally said, [Well...if you stay in that form and sitting next to me and there is the possibility of parlay. Spawns are required to fight and come riled up because of that. It can be difficult to talk them down. You're negotiation is pretty high, so it might work.]

Nyanta suddenly had three questions at once and they all nearly fled from his mind as he answered the first one for himself. He had looked down at himself to see what "form" ProudWing was talking about, since last he knew he was just unclothed. He was actually a grey and white panther. It took his breath away. "H-how?" He looked back up at ProudWing, his eyes wide. "I've been working on going the other way for a long time now. How come I'm all of a sudden like this without even thinking about it, nya?"

ProudWing shook his head. [You switched over early in our play. You were seriously trying to understand and move naturally. You also just said you moved like that often in your fighting. Perhaps you already had built up enough points in that form before now, only needing to have a final intent to fight fully that way?]

Nyanta was sitting up rather straight and properly, as he tried to wrap his brain around this new thing. "Well, put that way, I suppose it is possible, though I wasn't thinking that way when I did it."

[It probably wasn't necessary to, if your intent at those times was merely to use your body to its fullest potential.]

"I...suppose," Nyanta felt a little doubtful, but considering he'd been working on that for two years, versus the not quite three weeks to go human, if there had been a build up that only needed a catalyst, then that certainly made sense. "But, because I wasn't expecting it...I have no idea how to go back and forth."

[That will come also,] ProudWing said. [It isn't difficult, but it takes a bit of learning it, or so it did the Caretaker. She was as comically surprised as you, actually.]

Nyanta's ear twitched and he shook his head. It probably wasn't worth worrying about at the moment, since he wanted to spend more time learning how to use this natural body of his. As for his other questions..., "How do mew know anything about my negotiation levels, when I can't even see them, and how do mew know where Purrcy is - like when mew came to find her in Akiba or when she was being held captive? ...And am I still wearing my earring?"

The beak came around to gesture closely to his ear. [It's still there,] the voice near his ear reassured him and he relaxed. [I know where the Caretaker is...because I know the Caretaker. I know your negotiation level because I know anything about you I need to know as your Summon. Because we have to be obedient in all things, we know what answers to give if we are asked a question or need to know something to fulfill a particular order.]

"Just by asking those questions mew had to answer them?"

The head shook. [No. We are outside the summon time. I'm still given the information, however. I can choose whether to answer or not.]

"Oh." Nyanta mulled on that for a bit. "Are mew given that kind of information if mew ask the question with an intent to help?"

[You ask very deep questions,] the gryphon replied, a golden eye looking at him deeply.

Nyanta had a sudden feeling that ProudWing had been subjected to this kind of questioning before...likely by Purrcy. "Are mew the one that Purrcy asked all her summoning questions to after she became summonable?" he asked suspiciously.

ProudWing's mouth opened and clacked closed a few times and he hissed a laugh again. [It is rather like having a second student. The similarities are remarkable.]

Nyanta sighed. He looked at the sky again. The sun was nearing the horizon. "Mew're a good teacher." He wondered what items in his food list he might be able to eat or drink while in full cat form. Then he had a thought that made him shake his head. "For being the First to cook naturally, I do think a little slow," he said ruefully.

[You were that First?] ProudWing said with surprised pride.

"So Purrcy says," Nyanta said. He rose. "I'm going to purractice stalking and hunting small purrey to see if I get to eat tonight." He stretched front, then back, then shook himself out. "Then when the spawn of the night occurs, let's try to talk them into just purracticing with us. If they can't be, we'll just get them to the escape point. I don't really want to kill more than we have to since this is just for purractice."

He let his nose and ears find the small life that was, surprisingly, everywhere in this world. The creators of _Elder Tales_ hadn't programmed in mice, minor rabbits, birds, or any such thing. They were creatures too small for a computer game, though occasionally you would see crickets leaping from the grass or butterflies flying around just for flavor. Maybe the rest had come as part of an expectation of that flavor.

He caught the scent of a rodent and let his body go hunting it, watching what it did. He was rather surprised at how capable it was. He had thought he'd have to try and fail any number of times, but in his state of simple observation, he actually caught three field mice fairly quickly and had them crunched down quickly (partially because he didn't really want to experience eating field mice, just fill his belly). He wondered if it might be due to his level. Sometimes such things came easier the higher level one was.

He was headed after his fourth one when he caught a new scent on the wind. His body instinctively went into a hidden crouch and fully on alert. He decided to just let it continue on autopilot for now, but he did want to know just what he'd scented. As an experiment, he sent a wordless desire to ProudWing to create a minor distraction so he could get a little closer without being seen. There was a sudden leap and flutter of wings from ProudWing as he supposedly pounced on his own dinner on the other side of the field.

Nyanta crept closer, slowly and smoothly, his grey and white coat blending in with the shadows on the field. He kept close to the ground, his nose still smelling his new prey. He paused, holding still. His nose had determined that the whatever-it-was had shifted ever so slightly and his brain was calculating that the eyes of it had gone looking for him again. He held very still, his ears pointed towards the scent and all of his focus on it, though he was also still calculating for other scents and creatures around him. It wouldn't do to be surprised from the side after all.

ProudWing moved again and Nyanta was moving again to come in from the side and down-wind. His eyes caught sight of his target and he was running at it before he understood what it really was. He hit it and rolled with it until he had it pinned under his front paws and the weight of his upper body. His teeth were at the neck, just enough to make it freeze and not move, though not enough to draw blood. He could hear ProudWing begin to make his way over to them.

"Please, mister, don't eat me!" It was a youngish voice.

Nyanta pulled his teeth back just enough to say, "Then don't move."

"I-I won't," the youngster promised.

Nyanta's night vision was kicking in now, which was an intriguing experience all on its own as dusk was falling. He pulled back enough to see he had caught a young fox, probably between kit and adult size and age, or roughly early to middle teen if it were a human.

"Hmm...fox, is it?" he asked. "I'm looking for kin of meowrs."

It squeaked. "To eat?!"

"No. To talk to. I've got some questions only they can answer. Stay still and I'll let mew up."

The fox nodded enthusiastically. This rather felt somehow right for a quest, too. Next would be either saving it, or chasing it down in a timed competition. He let his body stay on high alert, but lifted himself off of the fox slowly. "Name?"

"Aaahhh...can we pretend it's Melvin?"

"Sure, ...Melvin. At least until it's time to take you home." His paw came down sharply on the fox's back to hold him flat against the ground again. "And I'm not chasing mew. Mew're staying put...got it?"

"Weeellll...I'm not supposed to be here after dark." Melvin hedged, rolling his eyes away.

"Of course not. It's spawn ground and mew're already in trouble for staying this long. Stay long enough for me to get rid of the spawn and we'll all go together, mmm? Then I can say I detained mew, and mew can say I protected mew...and it will all be true."

Melvin blinked at Nyanta, then gave in, relaxing and staying flat on the ground. "Fiiinne," he sighed and rolled his eyes again.

Nyanta released him again. "There's a good lad. ...And if I have to hunt mew...I get to say mew attacked me first."

Melvin barked a laugh. "Me?! Attacked you?! Ke ke ke. That's funny!"

"Until they see the wounds on me and wonder at why I would blame mew."

Melvin sobered up quickly. "What wounds?"

"The ones I'm about to collect. Mew're welcome to come hunting with us."

"Us?"

[Yes, young one. Us.] A large gryphon head appeared over Nyanta's shoulder and the fox kit cowered at Nyanta's feet.

"Wasn't he trying to eat you just a bit ago?" he asked in a small voice.

"No, he was training me. We're going to put it into purractice next." All three had ears that flicked. The sun had set and the sound of rising spawn sounded from the middle of the field.

"I-I'll watch," the young fox said very quietly. "I'm already in too much trouble to come home wounded."

"Fine. I'll expect to find mew here when I'm done."

"Yes, sir." The fox nodded obediently.

Nyanta and ProudWing turned away from him and walked out into the field to confront the rising kobolds. Nyanta sighed, "Do we have to be nice to them, too?" ProudWing laughed at him. "Mwell, it would be nice to know if a parlay even works." He walked up to speaking range and sat down. ProudWing stayed one step behind him, but didn't sit, as if he were on guard duty. Nyanta's ear twitched as he looked over the kobolds ranged in front of him. His level had pulled out nine, one per ten levels. Fairly typical. And since he was so high, if he killed them all, there would probably be a kobold king or some such high level creature after that. He sighed. He'd rather not have that happen.

The kobolds themselves were already moving up threateningly. "Hold!" he called out to them. "I have no desire to kill tonight. Will mew allow a training instead? The Caretaker is not available to come to tend to meowr wounds tonight." At the last there was a bit of a pause. Nyanta pulled on the intent to win at a negotiation and let the natural negotiator take over as best he could. That meant that he went with whatever idea came up to him. That one had been reasonable enough. "I wish to respect her truce with the creatures of the land, but there are things I need to understand and learn. If mew will promise to attack without killing intent then we shall do the same."

For the first time ever, for the third time that day, he heard creatures of the land talk. At first, they only talked amongst themselves. Finally the kobold captain called out, "Who are you to know of the Caretaker?" It was a high nasal voice, about what would be expected of a kobold, really.

"Her mate."

They all stopped their cautious forward movement and there was great consternation among them. They seemed to be a race that could argue for hours. Finally the kobold captain stepped forward one step. "Do you go hunting? Why do you need training?"

"I am newly come to this form and need to understand its capacities and limitations. It isn't necessary to kill to learn those things. ...The thing I hunt is not a creature of the land." He wondered why it seemed important to say the last, but the pressure to say it was high, so he did.

There was a bit more discussion between the kobolds and the captain allowed as how they would be willing to train with him. "First let it be three against me so that I can get a feel for the way my body moves against multiples. Then ProudWing and I will go against the remaining six to learn how to work together in melee. When I call done, pull back and we'll trade out. If mew don't, I will take mew down to escape levels as a warning. If mew continue to fight after that I will kill mew for going against our original agreement." There was no point in not being cautious, and it was always best to lay out the rules at the beginning so there would be no questions later.

After a bit of muttering and final discussions among the kobolds, three of them stepped out from the others. Nyanta moved over to face them and the current non-combatants moved to the side to give them room. Nyanta's ears twitched, placing everyone in the field, then narrowed his vision to the three whom he would be fighting first. He crouched down and they spread out. His cat brain calculated and his Swashbuckler rehearsals chose a strategy, and the battle commenced.

When he understood fighting in his cat form enough, he pulled back and called a halt. The three kobolds seemed a bit surprised he'd actually been honorable to his own requirements. They looked at each other, not quite sure what to do, then all pulled back.

Nyanta thanked them, making them even more surprised, and walked over to ProudWing and the other six kobolds. He paused by ProudWing and pulled out a potion. He'd not been hit hard, but he was tired enough an HP increasing potion would help him.

Somehow he wasn't surprised when he was actually capable of holding the potion. He could hold his rapiers after all. He removed the cap with his teeth and drank the bottle down. The bottle disappeared as they always did. He wondered where they went, like if there was a potion factory they returned to on empty and some gnarled gnome washed it, sterilized it, and refilled it to stuff into the "deliver on kill" file to show up some other place. Empty bottles could be found here and there, but they were rather uncommon.

When he felt recovered he nodded to ProudWing. "I'm going to use the same method as we just used a bit ago to let you know what I want. Feel free to disagree if mew can see something from above I can't see down here. Talk as much as mew can so I can know what mew're doing and be forewarned if necessary."

[Very well,] ProudWing answered. Nyanta moved up to face the six kobolds and ProudWing took to the sky. Using the same group training methods Log Horizon used, Nyanta and ProudWing slowly built up the beginnings of teamwork in fighting in the melee format. The kobolds wore down first, interestingly enough, so Nyanta called a halt to the practice before he might have otherwise. As ProudWing came in for a landing - far enough away that if the kobolds decided to attack anyway, he could rise again to defend himself and Nyanta - Nyanta watched the kobolds and thanked them politely, if a bit warily.

The kobold captain was looking a bit disconcerted. "What is it, nyan?" Nyanta asked.

"Well...how do we get home?"

"How do mew usually get home?"

"Ahhh...we don't?"

Nyanta's ear twitched and he laughed ruefully, a small chuckle. "ProudWing, how did the creatures that spawned for Purrcy get home when she refused to come out and fight with them?"

[Ah, yes...,] ProudWing also laughed. [At daylight you will return automatically. Or you can start walking now and you will get there when you get there. ...Or you can let us hit you until you reach your escape levels.]

The kobolds shook their heads violently at the last option. "Well, if mew wait here, mew must abide the truce contract until daylight," Nyanta proclaimed. "It might be a bother to be here all night, but perhaps a vacation from meowr wives would be well worth it?" He got more than one interested look at that and several were immediately in conference and he saw a few bottles of what was probably kobold alcohol pulled our surreptitiously.

The kobold captain scratched his head. "That's really all? You don't want a treasure, or to increase in experience, or anything like that?"

Nyanta shrugged. "I did increase in experience. I learned things I needed to know. A kill isn't necessary for what I need. I'm sure I have plenty enough gold, too, so I don't need that."

"But...surely there must be some payment made?"

Nyanta sat down and considered the captain. "Well...for sparing nine lives, then let it be nine of something that will be useful to me that a kobold can offer. Otherwise it will have to be a debt to repay later."

The things in the pockets of kobolds was not interesting to him at all, so in the end they were left with a debt to repay. Nyanta knew full well that, in game terms, it was the more valuable reward in the end. Creature debts almost always were fulfilled at very needed times, though sometimes they were wastes at the other end of the spectrum. But with nine of them, the odds were highly in his favor.

When the final negotiations were over, he headed for the edge of the field where he'd left the fox, Melvin. He sniffed the youngster out, just a little surprised he'd sat for that length of time obediently. "So...shall we be going to meowr house next, then? I'm sure mew have worried parents by now."

"Well, yes he does, actually," a larger fox, followed by five others stepped out from the trees. Nyanta tipped his head at them, considering them, and decided he'd better continue calling on his negotiation skill. "Did you prevent him from coming?"

"I prevented him from going alone. I asked him to wait until my task was completed. I have need to communicate with meowr clan. It was already dusk when I found him."

"Papa, he said he's the Caretaker's mate." Melvin piped up.

"Is that so?" the elder fox said, looking at Nyanta and sniffing the air. Nyanta's ear twitched, catching the fox's eye. He then looked at the gryphon behind Nyanta. "And this one?"

"Is with me, but also knows the Caretaker."

[He is her mate, as he says, but you do not need my word. Your nose is sufficient enough.]

"You cannot come where we will go," the fox told the gryphon.

Nyanta looked at his companion and his tail twitched. "Go to your wife for the night and let her know what we're doing. She is probably worried enough to wonder why, even if she knows where mew are, meow. If it's simpler, I will summon mew again when I return here."

ProudWing bowed his head. [That is acceptable. But if they are traitorous, call for me immediately.]

The foxes stirred, a bit offended. Nyanta merely flicked an ear and twitched his tail, dismissing the worry, though he also appreciated the concern. "Thank mew for meowr help today...and for talking to me."

[My pleasure,] ProudWing said as he turned to walk out into more clear space.

Nyanta watched as ProudWing rose into the air with great flaps of his wings, then turned to the foxes. "Shall we, nyan?"

The father of Melvin turned into the trees and Nyanta followed him. Melvin walked by his side, his eyes shining as he began to talk to him about the practice battles. The other adult foxes encircled them, but Nyanta hadn't expected otherwise. He kindly put up with the chattering youth while paying attention to their path. Foxes, and foxtails, had confusion magic and he wanted to make sure it wasn't to the point he would be left lying lost in the woods only to wake alone mid-morning.

Behind him, fading into the distance, was the sound of kobolds already getting drunk and arguing. It sounded like they'd be just as happy to fight each other as an Adventurer or the fox clan. Nyanta shook his head. Somehow he was feeling like he was back in Wonderland - that perhaps he had stepped _Through the Looking Glass_. He rather hoped not. He wasn't a fan of Lewis Carroll's works. They didn't translate well for the logical Japanese mind.


	39. President of the Corporation of Akiba

Shiroe sent out invitations to an Akiba Round Table Council meeting for later that afternoon. He went straight to the guild office in the top level of the Guild Hall. He didn't use it much, preferring his home office, but they'd already been out-city to see Nyanta off so it was more convenient than having to turn around and come back. Now that Purrcy had taught them to retrieve things from a distant location it was simpler to retrieve anything he'd left behind accidentally, so that wasn't as much a frustration factor, either. When he was seated, Akatsuki standing outside the door in guard position, he took a deep breath. He had a lot of projects going on and it was time to set aside one and pick up another. Given that the one he was trying to set aside had him the most concerned, it was the hardest to turn away from. What he needed was something to help him focus, really.

"My Lord," Akatsuki's voice came on the chat line. One of the problems with being here was that when he was, she stood on the door doing her duty to protect him, so everyone knew he was here. It was one of the other reasons he didn't come to this office - he didn't get to _work_ much when he was here. "Woodstock-san would like to visit with you briefly."

Shiroe sighed. "Let him in."

"Yes, sir." The door opened and the guildmaster walked in.

"Thanks for seeing me, Shiroe."

"What'd you do? Follow me up?" Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "I've barely had time to sit down, you know." He said it in a friendly way, though he was trying to make a point.

"I've been wanting to catch you for a while now, you know."

Shiroe sighed, "And you know full well I try to not be caught." He put his chin in his hand, leaning his elbow on his desk. He waved to the chairs in front of it. "Have a seat."

"You'll actually let me catch you seriously?" Woodstock paused, surprised, then sat down quickly before Shiroe could change his mind. He was short enough his feet couldn't touch the ground once he was seated.

"I'm between things. It's good timing." He gave Woodstock time to put his thoughts together, watching the man in front of him. He was actually losing the most in the reformations of the guilds into a streamlined research to production and sales organization. His profits in short-term low to mid market sales were the highest, even over the larger production guilds. To be shunted to development only was going to hurt his guild in taking those profits away. Shiroe wasn't surprised to be confronted by him first. He supposed he owed it to him, really.

"I'm not saying that it isn't necessarily a good or a bad idea to get us all working a little more smoothly. Something like this I think we've all seen the need for in the last little while. It hurts, certainly on my part, but there's a bit more to it that I'm concerned about." He paused and Shiroe put his hands together loosely on the desktop in an attitude of listening attentively.

"I knew Purrcy was behind the boxes, of course, since I was there for the meetings with Akaneya and her, but...I had no idea she was a Hacker or of such a high level. Putting her in your guild has put you in a very strong position. You get the two percent of her sales, the quarter percent in the upcoming sales, the support of her six and a half, the brightest inventor, and the highest level Hacker known to Akiba. In one fell swoop, you've raised the power of Log Horizon from the behind-the-scenes push of the city and the Round Table Council, to the obvious leader - at least for those who know who Purrcy is. And you won't be able to keep that under your hat for very long. Eventually it'll come out she's the owner, etc., of Venture Enterprises." Woodstock frowned. "For all I like Purrcy, she's an unknown. That's a lot of power in just one person. To also have it be part of Log Horizon...," he gave Shiroe a look, "if it makes _me_ concerned, it's going to make others more so when it comes out."

Shiroe steepled his fingers. "Actually, Woodstock, that's why I have her. She wants to run too fast and too strong. As long as I'm her guildmaster, I can control her tendencies to run her world as a CEO. She does at least recognize that she isn't qualified to understand Japanese traditions and sense of living. She's willing to follow my lead in that respect. I realize that it looks like I've let her run away with things this time, but really, we all know that we've been needing the reorganization for months now. She put it into a concept that we could follow and gave the impetus to get it going, so I allowed it to happen. From here, I'll keep things going at a pace that we can all handle. A little excitement at the beginning of changes is a good thing as far as PR goes. You know that as well as I do."

Woodstock had to agree. That's how they'd begun the Round Table Council - with a lot of flair and excitement for a new beginning. At least, Shiroe had made sure it happened that way - and he was doing it again. Woodstock rubbed his forehead. "Well...if it's to keep her contained...but still. What are you going to do with all those profits?"

Shiroe smiled a small smile. "I'm sure it will all disappear quickly into my pet projects, Woodstock. Not to mention I drained the bank account to buy Naotsugu a wife, and the Academy a guild to run it."

"Well...there is that. Henrietta ran a hard bargain, eh?"

Shiroe let him think that. "Log Horizon also didn't get a share of that pie, other than my quarter percent. The rest of it is exclusively going to Venture Enterprises."

Woodstock frowned. "I still think you should have gone in for a cut for administration."

Shiroe shook his head. "If that were added to the total you just summed up so nicely, what would be the reaction then? And for only an overhead cost?"

Woodstock's face cleared to understanding. "Well, there is that. You're content to let her products keep you floating?"

Shiroe answered it with his own question, "You're content with your piece of the pie, even though it takes you out of the short term market? You were on top, you know. I've been wondering."

Woodstock grimaced. "Well...I can't say as I like having to move out of a profitable sector, but in the end, being given a direct course to focus on is a bit relieving. Things were getting a bit complicated all around, even for Grandale. It means a different kind of paperwork crossing my desk, but a lot less of it, I think. I've had a few guild members who love that kind of thing move to the guilds who will use them in that capacity, but I've also had a few move in, so in the main it's still about the same. If Purrcy can make good on her promises, the profits will be made up...particularly once we hit international trade."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're handling it okay, then," Shiroe said and sat back, looking distracted on purpose. "I'll see you at the meeting, then?"

Woodstock hopped off his chair. "I'll be there. Thanks for seeing me."

"No problem," Shiroe answered and Woodstock saw himself out the door. It took a moment for the sudden feeling of either being President...or King...to fade. He really wished Purrcy hadn't pushed him to face it that way, this feeling. Perhaps her suggestion to face it as a company for now was best. He was only feeling like the President of the Corporation of Akiba. With that focus in mind, he set to work putting together the finishing touches on his presentation to the Round Table Council.

-:-:-:-:-

"So...are there any other questions or concerns about the changes this time around?" Shiroe asked. He picked up the cup of water in front of him and drank from it. This was a long meeting already and was going to be longer.

"You still haven't told us everything you know." The accusation was thrown at him by Isaac, guildmaster of Knights of the Black Sword.

"Isaac, I don't know everything. There will be more come to light, I'm sure, but this is what I, and the rest of you, know for now. As usual, when more is discovered, I'll let you know and we'll work it out then. ...For instance, how many of your own fighters are now over level one hundred and you won't tell us, or they won't tell you? Isn't that the same fear that the new sub-classes had until we openly discussed it?"

Isaac had gone still and so had other guildmasters. Shiroe sighed. "Okay. Out with it. How many are there?"

Isaac swallowed and finally said, "Me...and about...well, most of us."

Shiroe's eyes went to Ains, Guildmaster of Honesty. "Ah...about twenty percent of the top level fighters."

Shiroe glared at Rieze of D.D.D. Calmly she said, "After our battle with the Plague Master we're at about fifty to sixty percent, but we have large numbers. I'm just about to one hundred one after that battle."

West Wind Brigade's Soujirou raised a hand. "One hundred two and I've got about seventy-five percent at or over one-hundred and the rest will be there soon."

Michitaka shook his head. "Marine Organization is slower, but about fifteen to twenty percent?"

Roderick glowered just a bit. "You know Roderick Trading Company is research. We're not sending people out so for the most part everyone stopped at one hundred."

"Except...?" Shiroe wasn't going to let it go at that.

Roderick froze, then shifted nervously. "Okay. Five researchers went and tried it out to see, but it took more effort than they wanted."

"And you were the sixth in that party," Shiroe said blandly and moved on to Woodstock and Akaneya, leaving Roderick deflated that he'd been called out and lost.

Woodstock shook his head. "I've probably got about fifteen suppliers that high, but nobody in-house to Grandale."

Akaneya, guildmaster of Radio Market nodded. "I'm about the same. Most of the high level solos I do business with are one hundred two to one hundred four, since they just kept going. People in-house are working on sub-skills so not going up in Class level."

Shopping District 8's Calasin continued to look calmly back until the other guilds bullied him. He finally sighed. "Only a few really. You guys know most of my people are in-house crafters. The caravan warriors are about it and even then they're only getting piecemeal increases since we've chosen the more peaceful routes."

Shiroe and everyone else glared at him. He cowered just a bit. "Ah...and I've had a few sub-classes convert to Classes so that my crafters that used to be from the original twelve Classes aren't any more...and a few of them have leveled the new Class over one hundred. Just a small number though...about half a percent."

Shiroe put his hand to his head. He was going to keep that one under wraps if he could but now it was out. "Classes can convert?!" Roderick asked, nearly coming out of his chair. There was a moment of pandemonium.

Shiroe stood up to get everyone's attention. He shifted his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose again. "It seems a natural off-shoot of things moving to become what we would normally do, though it does seem a bit odd. If a person really is going to neglect their Class in favor of their sub-class, then most of us would think the status should change. Rather like quitting not just a job but an entire employment line and choosing another. We Adventurers of Earth might find it just as difficult to think of doing that because it's hard, but that doesn't mean some of us didn't do it there. Remember that's the direction things are going. What we would have done there is now becoming possible here."

Shiroe sighed, to himself this time, sitting down now they were all calmed down again. "Well...so there you have it - the last hidden pieces and I wasn't the one hiding them. You all were. Satisfied now?" There were abashed looks around the table. "Since we've already been living with it just fine, I don't see as how we need to do anything about it. People who want to level up that high will continue to do so and those who don't care will continue to not care. We don't need to make a big deal about it, I'd think. If we can get some level of research recorded and sent to Roderick on if new abilities or spells come out of it, then that would be useful at a minimum. And the new Classes as well." There were nods of acceptance. That was small penance for keeping quiet.

Shiroe shifted his papers to put that one on the bottom. "Okay. How are things going on getting your guilds reconfigured? We'll go by department. The report from Venture Enterprises is that things there are on hold still for now. It's kinder to let us figure out how to handle the boxes now by themselves since we're also trying to get our own supply and distribution chains figured out. Once we're running smoothly, I expect the next item to come on down from there." He didn't get any complaints and was relieved. "Research?"

Roderick cleared his throat. "We're mostly in place now. We had a small division move out in an even split to Grandale and Radio Market, based on the types of products people preferred to work with. We gained just about as many in from both guilds of people who prefer the pure research side. Moving manufacturing to Marine Organization wasn't too hard on our part. We weren't doing much anyway. The smaller division to make up prototypes we kept since we have to test them as part of the research, but if it's viable we'll pass them on to Product Development."

Roderick pushed up his rectangular glasses. "We've got the transfer of information going pretty well now from in-house to both Product Development and Resource Development. Grandale, Radio Market, and West Wind Brigade have all been very helpful in helping to work out that hand-off. Honestly, everyone's happy to have the guild running cleaner and smoother without the wrinkles. We've been able to step up capacity by over twenty percent, which means there's a little bit of a backlog now into Development...but that's nothing new for us." He smiled. "It just means when they put their hands out for more, we've got something to put in it."

"Sounds wonderful," Shiroe said and others were nodding and smiling as well. "Hard Product Development?"

Woodstock cleared his throat. "My blacksmiths have been ecstatic to have real work to do again, and knowing there's more in the pipeline is keeping them smiling and hammering. There's a race to see who can up their sub-class level the highest the fastest...I guess I'll tell them they need to make it first to get a Class change. That will settle them best. They weren't sure how to tell." He paused, embarrassed, then continued. "It's the same with all the other developers in Grandale, though they were keeping a little busier. The researchers weren't so sure about going over to Roderick Trading Company at first. They'd had their reasons for not going there in the first place, but I hear they're settling in okay and getting used to being able to focus without the distractions they had at my place. I'm also liking the streamlined paperwork, but sometimes feel like I'm not as busy as I'm supposed to be. I'm sure that will change as we increase output...or I'll finally get to go fishing." He winked.

"Soft Product Development?" Shiroe looked at Akaneya.

"We're the same," he said, "but busier than we used to be. We were already pretty busy. It was a bit difficult to sort out what should be passed back to Research. They were all pet projects after all. To be honest, we decided to let them finish out in Radio Market. They're already in the know so it wasn't worth it to pass back just the data. The ones who want to sit at a desk in Research when their current project is done will move over then, so there will be some trickling out, or in I suppose, as we go. So we're holding up anything coming out of Research in our area, I'm sure, but it will unclog eventually. We may have the greatest output to Manufacturing for a while, though, and not just in boxes." Akaneya folded his arms and sat back.

"Manufacturing?" Shiroe looked to Michitaka next.

Michitaka gave a huge grin. "I had great fun passing off huge swaths of stuff to other guilds so that I don't have to be so buried in paperwork any more. I think I can finally see a few dots of desk surface now. I've buried Calasin the most, I'm sure, but a few things got passed back to Grandale and the people working on those products tell me that they are relieved to have others to help them break through the places they were stuck. Some of those may come back, too, once their pet projects are done, but if they stay to help, I won't complain."

"Actually," he leaned forward and looked at Woodstock, "I've got a whole department asking if they can switch to being under you."

Woodstock paled slightly. "How big?"

"It would double your number."

"Ah...where would I put them?"

"Buy the building next to yours. It's about the right size."

"...Will you help foot the bill?"

Michitaka rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I think we can do that. Half and half?"

Woodstock nodded. "Okay. ...But it's Akaneya that needs more hands to help."

Michitaka shook his head. "They need the blacksmiths and a few of them are blacksmiths."

Woodstock sighed. "Alright. We can stop by downstairs after the meeting." He grumbled under his breath about more paperwork and personnel, but it was halfhearted.

"You are going to keep the blacksmiths needed for manufacturing in quantity?" Shiroe asked Michitaka.

"Of course. These are the ones that like to experiment as they go. They think they can do better over there so what comes to us is already a completed product. I'll prefer it myself. If all I have to do is focus on completed products, we'll be streamlined, too, right? Once that bunch is moved out, we'll be there and I might get to have one extra hour of sleep at night." He rubbed a large hand in his hair, "Or swing my hammer a bit more over my own forge." He gave another grin.

"As far as Sea Distribution goes, we're continuing forward as normal for now, though the majority of my Technicians from both sides are in pre-training right now over at the Academy. With all the moving around, it's been good timing, actually. What we're hearing is they're pretty excited, though nothing much new has come up yet that's earth shattering. They're hoping to get more as they get into full swing later, and a lot are looking forward to when the Hackers can join them."

"We'll hold that thought for when we get to Education," Shiroe interjected. "Thanks, Michitaka. How's the production for the boxes going?"

Michitaka folded his arms and tapped a finger on his arm in consideration. "Well, we understand the concept, and we've got the plan. Until I can get my Technicians back, we're a bit understaffed to get the manufacturing plant built. I plan on putting them on it as soon as they're done with the class, though. It shouldn't take them too long, a couple of days I would think. The construction crew is reviewing the plan and coming up with what they'll do, but they can't get very far without the Technicians. Even if Radio Market has to put customers on hold for back-ordered products, we should be able to catch back up fairly quickly once we're up and running."

Akaneya nodded. "We've also already got an agreement between the three of us that when we get that far we'll start sending Adventurers over to Shopping District 8 to place their pre-orders. That way the shift of expectation can happen then, too. As much as I like the cash and the fame, getting rid of the headache will be nice. Between that and our own backlog, I'm the one swamped now."

"You are hiring, right?" Shiroe asked. Akaneya looked at him in surprise. "Recruiting, hiring, whatever. I would expect some increases and perhaps decreases, of personnel to be necessary at this time as well as we find out where things are pressured like this. I'm sure it isn't something you want to have to do yourself right now, so you could have initial interviews be done by the department heads. Then you could choose to either have a final say, or just let them hire in and go walk around and test the new hires when you have time."

Shiroe watched the rest of the Round Table out of the corner of his eye. He wanted them all to understand the suggestion. Akaneya at least looked thoughtful about it. It looked like the rest were thinking about it at least. "Anything else, Michitaka?" Shiroe asked. Michitaka shook his head. "Sales and Marketing?"

Calasin sat forward. "It was painful to let my manufacturing go, really. The whole sewing department is half empty now that the wedding sets are done for Log Horizon," he and the whole room looked significantly at Shiroe since he hadn't addressed that yet. "You won't be able to walk to the back and ask for new products any more. We did keep enough for tailoring and alterations, and we get some repair requests so we're keeping them for that, too. I'm going to ship any weapon and armor repairs out, though. We only had two forges and I wanted to clean out my place, too. It didn't make sense to keep them."

"There were other products we all loved, so I'm about half what I used to be. The rest all went to Marine Organization. Michitaka may claim to have given stuff away, but he probably got at least half back that he gave away. And most of what he gave away came to me, so I'm by no means thin in the area of product...just in personnel. I've got guild members really unhappy, though. I'm trying to talk them into moving into sales and marketing, but they still want to craft. Marine Organization is seen as a Hard Manufacturing house. To make it into both Hard and Soft is difficult."

Shiroe considered that. He had to admit it wasn't too surprising. "Well...you both are splitting Distribution. Can you split Manufacturing similarly? It won't keep you streamlined, but if you could move locations, perhaps that would help? Have one building for Soft Manufacturing under Michitaka, but keep the people in Shopping District 8 as far as guild goes?" People weren't buying it.

"I don't have the full answer," Shiroe leaned on the table, "but I'm thinking like what I've done with Naotsugu. The agreement is he stays Log Horizon, but he'll live over with Marielle in Crescent Moon. That is, he lives with his wife, but comes to work for me every day. That's how we worked out that I don't have to give up a critical asset and they don't have to worry that he's going to come tromp all over the structure they've already built." Faces cleared up at that explanation and he leaned back again to let Calasin and Michitaka hash it out until they got the beginnings of a plan that they could finish working out after the full Council meeting.

Shiroe leaned back in to interrupt at that point. "So, Calasin, are you prepared to begin Yamato distributions of the box yet?"

"Well...that part's been on hold a bit getting the rest of the in-town things figured out. My lines have been warned ahead of time that it's coming, though. I've got a trigger point set for the date we decide to advertise in other towns, but until Marine Organization has their production going and the backlog has died down just enough, we can't move out. One problem is going to be caravan size. I expect it's going to have to increase too much for us to handle as far as wagons, drivers, and in-house security goes." He turned to glare at the fighting guilds. "I still haven't gotten a firm commitment yet on who's going to help, either."

Shiroe nodded, drawing their attention. He pushed up his glasses and they all stared at him in surprise. "How would all of you feel about working together on the first one. I think we need to shake down what it really is going to mean to have caravans from Akiba taking Akiba products out. If everyone sends a party or two with the first one, as a sort of test run, you'll be able to get a feel for who and what. I think it would help for some of those party members to be on the wagons and as the drivers. If you're willing to be the muscle to off-load, that will help the Distribution side as well until we have enough profits to hire in the towns we have a presence in." He leaned forward, very serious. "And I want the first city we go into to be Minami." The surprise was palatable.

"You want us to break into the hardest market _first_?" Calasin asked.

"Yes. And I want your caravan there in approximately eight days."

Rieze's mouth dropped open. Isaac's hand slammed open-palm down on the table. Calasin looked like he'd been hit with a stun status effect and Michitaka was blinking, blindsided.

"What about the Akiba boxes?" Akaneya protested.

"The Technicians will put on their demonstration two days from now. Two days from that they can have the facility built. One day to test it and get it up. First run is put on the wagons and they get going. Akiba can have fifty percent after that, with the other fifty percent set aside for Minami. I want at a minimum three parties from each of D.D.D., Honesty, and Knights of the Black Sword to go with it. Disguise as many as possible as Distribution staff."

Looks went around the table. Cautiously Rieze asked, "Shiroe...are you ready to make your move?"

He gave a single nod. "We'll do both at the same time. No one is to make a move until you need to step in, but I want the backup in place. If they can handle the fallout themselves it would be best. At the very least, protect the store, the product, and the caravans. We can claim immunity for that much. If others are needed in town, try to do it not in the name of Akiba. If Kazuhiko asks for help, you can give it because you'll have been asked to step in. If you get into trouble, we may have to disavow, though that's still loose right now. If the city ends up in full chaos it will probably slide. But _don't start anything_ and _don't start early_. I've got operatives that will die if you do and we'll lose before we begin." He glared at the warrior guildmasters until they all nodded in agreement.

"And keep this secret. The official word is that we're putting together a joint expedition to the Maze of Eternity. And we will, but only one party from each of your guilds and one from mine are going to go there. We'll leave for that at the same time, or the following day. Try to make your preparations look small, except for the part where you're helping protect a shipment of new product."

"Um, Shiroe?" Calasin was raising his hand cautiously.

"Yes?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow at him.

"How are we going to get the rest of the next part of the shipment to Minami in time to sell it? And do you want us putting on the demonstration before or after the battle?"

"Set up shop before, then do the demo after things have settled down a bit better to keep the general populace distracted and give them something positive to think about. Coming from Akiba is even better so they can see we have things good here, too. Take as much product as possible in that regard, not just the boxes. Michitaka, help out with that." Michitaka nodded.

"Who do you want in the parties for the server?" Isaac asked.

"Heavy on healers. I've got three Hackers going, and one's my healer. I'll give out two of my Hackers in exchange for a Cleric and a Bard or Kannagi. I'm guessing we'll want level ninety-seven or above. It will likely be the hardest dungeon we'll face. Minami's already got their fourth legion raid in there now and it looks close to failure again. We don't actually have to defeat the final boss, just distract it while my party does what it needs to do on the final floor. Of course," Shiroe adjusted his glasses, "...with three Hackers we may be able to defeat it as well. You might be able to recruit the Wolf-fang for a fourth Hacker, but don't let the rest of the pack in."

"You still haven't answered my other question, Shiroe," Calasin complained.

"You could set up a second caravan to follow after," Shiroe suggested.

Calasin shook his head. "That's not gonna work. I'll need the product the day it comes off the line, or the next at the latest."

Shiroe turned to Soujirou. "Resource Development?"

There was an outraged and shocked silence for a moment, then Soujirou said, tentatively into the silence, "Ah, we've got teams set up for the various things that we've received from Research and Education. My Hackers are in class starting today with Tetora. He had me send the second batch as well. Something about he had another teacher come available. That should have all of us training up now. ...I assume you'll be taking him as one of your Hackers into the raid?" Shiroe nodded silently in affirmation. "So that would leave the one other teacher available. Hopefully two classes worth of people won't be too hard for him to handle alone." It was sort of asked as a question. Shiroe stayed bland.

"I've got several in with the Technician class this week as well, helping to get that sub-class figured out with some of Roderick's researchers. The rest of my teams are working on things out of Roderick Trading Company. They're also on rotation for city security, as normal. That's it for me."

Shiroe turned deliberately to Marielle. "Education," he said firmly.

"Ah, the Technician class is going well, though it's more hunt and search than the last one was since we don't have someone who is already fully experienced. They do reassure me they'll have something ready to demonstrate in two days. We'll start the class for all the rest of the sub-classes together the day after that and it should run about a week as well. We'll keep the teams from West Wind Brigade and Roderick Trading Company we have there this week to help with running that class as well, since they'll have had a week to figure out how that kind of thing works." They could tell she was being a bit vague because she didn't really comprehend it herself. Then, they wouldn't either, really. It was, after all, new research. "We hope to have the building fully cleaned out by then and ready to have an open house the day after that class's demonstration and then open it for classes one or two days after that. But...Shiroe, if you've got all the Hackers with you for a raid...how long will that go for? Will we have instructors for the Hacker classes?"

"Do you have Hacker students yet?"

"The guilds have filled up three classes worth. We almost have enough recruits from the smaller guilds and solos for a fourth."

Shiroe folded his arms and furrowed his brow, considering it. "The one teacher we will have left will be sufficient, as will his students from West Wind Brigade. Even being one week ahead is beneficial. When the students get caught up to the teachers, the higher level teachers should be available enough to pass on further lessons from where we'll be, even if we have to go into a month or more."

"Month...or more?!"

"The current raid party in there is going on six weeks. That's why I expect them to be gone by the time we get there. Their food supplies are just about gone."

"What if we can't be done in that amount of time? How will our fighters eat?"

Shiroe held up a hand. Calmly he said, "Marie. Please finish." He got irritated looks. He'd rebuffed four guilds now.

"Ah...I think that was about it. We'll be charging five gold per week of classes per student. It can be paid at the beginning of the week or all at once if you know how many weeks of classes you want. But we've already let most of you know that already." She looked at Shiroe quizzically, wondering if she was done now.

"Please teach them the next thing they will need to know to answer Calasin's question," he told her.

Marielle blinked, then turned to the table. "Ah...in order to facilitate our move to our new guild hall, Miss Purrcy taught us a thing that I can show you, but falls under the jurisdiction of West Wind Brigade to teach, I suppose. ...In my room is my favorite teddy bear. If I think of it, how it smells, feels, how much I love it and want to hold it, then wish it into my arms...," it appeared in her hands, "then I can. It's an extension of having it in my list. Just like I know something is in my list and where to select it from to take it out, I've selected my bear from it's place on the shelf and taken it out."

The stares and expressions on the faces of the people in the room was comical. "I can also put it back the same way. I imagine it being on the shelf with all the other stuffed animals, and wish to put it back there...," the bear disappeared, "and it is. We used this to move everything from the old guild hall to the new one. It's also how we were getting rid of the rocks from the new guild hall. We stopped by a place we thought we could put rocks without causing troubles to memorize what it looked like, then that's where we put the rocks without having to carry them out in our arms."

She looked around the table. "You have to be careful you don't put anything on top of another person, but it doesn't matter what size it is. It will go or come if you do it right. If you leave out details, the details get left behind. I brought over a lot of shirts without hangers until I remembered I wanted both at the same time. You also have to be careful about taking something someone else is taking at the same time. At dinner that night we had some barbecue sticks in hands without meat and meat in hands without sticks. It was rather funny, actually."

"While that is fascinating," Roderick said, "what is the distance limiter?"

"So far we've only tried it from here to our guild hall and back," Marielle said.

Shiroe nodded. "That's part of the experimentation that needs to be done. From here to Minami does seem a long way, but if it could work that would be very convenient. If Calasin's sales person going with the caravan wanted to fetch a box or anything really, every set distance, we'd know the maximum range. The following wagons would only need to be within the maximum distance before you could fetch the boxes contained in them. There are details to work out, I'm sure, but that is how to get your boxes faster, Calasin." Calasin was rather speechless. He looked at Roderick who nodded back. They'd get started on research right away.

Shiroe sat forward and pushed up his glasses, looking directly at the fighter guildmasters. "As for your question, this is the next thing out of Venture Enterprises. It is only useful to guildmasters, but has many implications. This is how to be prepared for an extended raid, and I expect you to use it to your fullest capacities. I have no idea how long we'll be down there." Everyone was paying close attention at this point.

"Open your guild resource menu." He waited while they did. "What is your maximum?"

"No idea." "Nine-hundred-ninety-nine?" "Unlimited?"

"Have you tested it Roderick?" Shiroe asked. The researcher shook his head. "I have. I can store enough for a two month full raid. I can imagine you understand that is rather a lot of slots or open spaces." There were nods around. "Now, put a box in every space, and recurse. In one slot you can put the large box. In one large box, you can put twenty-seven of the larger medium boxes. In one of those you can put eight of the next size box down. In one of those, twenty-seven of the smallest boxes. You are now over six thousand slots in that one box in only one of your slots. It is possible to continue further into five and six, instead of the four layer limitation that's on personal lists but Radio Market only has those four sizes that fit nicely. We haven't yet found the maximum since no one has that much stuff to put into a guild resource menu."

"God." It was whispered.

"You mean," Calasin said very quietly, "that I could put all the boxes I wanted...into my own guild resource menu and be my own caravan...all by myself?"

"Yes," Shiroe said. "And if you don't want competition, you won't let it out, or we will have a run of new guilds made of only one person so that a person on their own could also do the same. Keep this one a jealously guarded secret of the Council. This and the move on Minami are the reasons I asked for none of you to bring assistants this time." He didn't tell them that he'd replicated Purrcy's secrecy spell on the room and made it permanent. They didn't need to know that detail.

It took a while for everyone to recover. Before they could come completely back, Shiroe said, as if as an afterthought, "Michitaka, if you want, you can have some of your Technicians in the Hacker class as well. As a matter of fact I want at least two per class. Sorry to bump the rest of you, but we need the combination as soon as possible to get the gates up. I suspect there is a distance limitation to the getting and putting, or pulling and pushing - I'm not sure what to call it yet. We will still need the gates to get product disseminated. We might be able to reach Minami, as the closest other Adventurer city, but beyond that is likely too far a stretch." There were dazed nods all around, absently agreeing to it. That was what he wanted. "The wedding will be after we get back from the raid. Michitaka I need to talk to you before you leave. The rest of you are free to go."

In a daze, the guildmasters and guildmistresses rose and began to file out of the room. Michitaka stayed put. Shiroe got some wild looks before people closed their doors behind them, reentering their offices. He ignored them. "Michitaka, I want you to come with me as one of my party. Here's a list of what I want you to bring." Shiroe slid a piece of paper over to the Monk. Michitaka stared at him open-mouthed again, but took the paper. He frowned as he looked it over. He looked like he had things he wanted to say, but Shiroe just gave him a look that said to _just do it_. Since they were all familiar with him by now, Michitaka sighed to himself instead and put the paper in his pocket, folded.

Shiroe moved to the next topic. "I have a seaman coming with star charts in his head. I need him picked up and kept safe until my navigator can talk to him. There won't be time until after the raid is completed. Will you hire him on to work with your Sea Distribution division? The more navigators we have the better."

Michitaka opened his mouth this time. "There's only one Ocypete...oh. You want a flotilla."

"No. _You_ want a flotilla, and so does every guildmaster in Akiba."

"Shiroe," Michitaka said in a scolding tone of voice as he rose from his chair, "really. For all you are trying hard, it'll still happen. I think it's just surprising to us that your sights are set higher than expected."

"It is?" he asked mildly. Michitaka just looked at him, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Well...thank you for your vote of confidence, I think. I'm pretty certain it still isn't a certainty. There can be no guarantees, after all. ...And I didn't start out wanting it, you know."

"There wasn't anywhere else to go, was there?" Michitaka asked just as mildly.

Shiroe chose not to answer that directly. "Is there somewhere else _you_ wanted to go, Michitaka?"

Michitaka sighed and turned away, but Shiroe heard him quietly say, "...Home."

"...I'm working on that," he answered quietly as well.

Michitaka paused, his hand on the door knob to his office. He looked back. "I know. Sometimes...I hope it comes first."

Shiroe looked him directly in the eye. "Me, too, Michitaka. Me, too." Michitaka looked at him for a moment, then nodded. He pulled open his door and walked through it.

When it closed, Shiroe slumped in his chair. "God, Purrcy. _Why?_ " He closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his forehead. He rose and headed for his own door and Akatsuki with her strange fetish to rub his forehead. He'd take the couch in the office for the next half-hour...and Akatsuki's lap. He hoped she didn't mind if he snored.


	40. Preparing to Engage Minami

"Thank you for being willing to see me," Nyanta bowed formally. He was dressed in the formal uniform of the Round Table Council that had been selected at the time delegates had been sent to The Ancient Court of Eternal Ice to be introduced to the League of Free Cities Council. He hadn't been there for that, but Shiroe had made sure every member of his guild owned one "just in case". Official visits required it, even if none of the delegates could speak for the free Adventurers of Akiba. It was just the easy way to show a face to the rest of the world. He really could only negotiate on the behalf of Shiroe and himself, but that would be sufficient for this visit.

He looked at the village elders arrayed in front of him. There was a head male foxtail and one male assistant and one female assistant, or perhaps they were councilors. Their clothing was similar to a tribal formal, and based off _Elder Tales_ , of course. They looked like they were giving him the same review he was giving them.

Entering the fox hole to get to the village the evening before was a tight fit for Nyanta, so he used the opportunity to see if he could shrink enough to get through it. He did. That gave him a clue on how to transform back into felinoid the next day and he'd spent some time on first rising to work on it until he'd at least learned to do it, though it would need a bit more work to be elegant and instantaneous. The foxes had been a bit surprised to see him as felinoid when they arrived under the tree he had slept in overnight, but he'd been polite as always and asked to speak to the village elders, so they'd kindly transformed into foxtails for him. He'd been rather surprised they had since they obviously still didn't trust him.

During the walk into the main part of the village this morning, he'd learned that it was likely a major portion of the forest he'd circled above earlier that day. The trees in this woods were not closely packed, but stood far apart enough for the branches to stand out from the trunks. Below, the foxtails tended the forest floor nicely so that they didn't have overly much undergrowth. Underneath the roots of the trees there were mounds of dirt piled up everywhere with holes leading down into them. He presumed those were homes of the various foxtail families. There was actually a small market with merchants, but that had been in _Elder Tales_ , too, in each beast-half village. Nyanta wasn't so sure this village would have bothered otherwise, though he didn't know.

The council hall was an actual building above ground at the end of the lane of the merchant booths. It was of reasonable size and seemed well maintained. Upon entering, it had the flavor of the traditional Japanese temple or shrine with tatami mat floors and thin walls. There were a few side rooms, but he'd been led to a larger one that was more central to the building. The three elders were seated facing him and three of the adults who had met him this morning were standing behind him at the back near the door. Melvin's father, who had introduced himself as FlatTail, was standing with Nyanta and had just finished explaining his story to the elders.

"I am Nyanta, an Adventurer of Akiba, of the guild Log Horizon. The Caretaker, Purrcy, is my wife. I've been sent as an ambassador to meet with the various villages of the foxtails, felinoids, and wolf-fangs. We Adventurers are still new and young. Will mew allow me to stay in meowr village for the next seven days to be taught in the ways of the foxtails so that we Adventurers of Akiba will know how to properly face the foxtails without giving offence in the future?"

The foxtails in the room were silent and their ears and tails said they hadn't expected such a message at all. Finally the village leader said, "That is all the Adventurers want?"

"That is all _I_ desire," Nyanta answered. "I cannot speak for all Adventurers. Each one is free to do what he or she will. However, in the main, the Adventurers of Akiba wish to live peaceably with their neighbors. I have been sent to learn how we myay do that with the foxtails."

The female foxtail, who was grey about the muzzle finally twitched her tail and barked a short laugh. "What a funny thing to approach us this morning."

The older male councilor twitched an ear. "To allow an Adventurer in will change the village."

Nyanta bowed his head. "I cannot deny it. However, the whole world changed for all of us when it brought the Adventurers here to live. I have come to extend a paw in friendship and peace. If it is desirable, and possible, then purrhaps we myay also come to an agreement between our cities for the same."

"Why hasn't one come before now?" the leader wished to know.

"We have taken this long to understand ourselves. As I have said, we are new to this world, for all we have visited it before. There are still things we are learning. Now it is time to learn how to face the foxtails. Later it will be time to learn another new thing."

"There's at least wisdom in this one," the old woman said wryly. Nyanta's tail twitched slightly in gratitude.

"Being shown a proper face cannot be considered an evil," the older man said.

The leader tipped an ear. "One week is acceptable. We shall see after that. I am LightFoot. These are MoonBeam," the old woman bowed her head, "and LongFang," the old man nodded. "They will be your instructors, but because FlatTail brought you into the village, you will stay in his den at night."

Nyanta bowed. "Thank you, Light Foot. MoonBeam, LongFang, FlatTail, please take care of me."

-:-:-:-:-

Michitaka sat in the Academy viewing stand with the other members of the Round Table Council. Shiroe had actually come to this one, just as interested in seeing what the Technicians could do as the rest of them. He could understand why Shiroe hadn't come to the one for the Hackers, though he would probably have liked to if it hadn't been for the negotiations. Michitaka was thinking he himself probably knew most of what he needed to know already. If the Technicians knew the details, that was sufficient for him. He was trying to at least ascertain that much as they worked to show off what they had learned in this last week. The looks on their faces said that for the most part they were at least somewhat satisfied.

Most of their demonstration was related to manufacturing, but some of it had to with understanding the basic underlying physics and chemistry of the world. Some magic theory was thrown in as well. It turned out that Roderick had the second highest number of Technicians with the other smaller guilds having a few representatives from each. Really, they were rather Technician heavy in Akiba. Michitaka could only imagine that it would be the same in Minami.

He frowned and glanced at Shiroe again. He still didn't understand quite why Shiroe wanted him to go on a two month raid with him. Even the items he was supposed to take with them said he was expecting the raid to be against Minami, not a dungeon. He was mentally preparing himself for either location to be where he ended up and he'd gotten a lot further on the Minami angle than the Maze of Eternity.

They were going to be leaving Akiba mostly open. Only Crescent Moon, West Wind Brigade, Grandale, and Radio Market would still have their guildmasters present for that. He planned on setting his own second in command some stiff responsibilities and power. The guild members knew how to plan and fight as well as craft. They'd be available if necessary.

As part of that, there was one other thing to do after the demonstration. When the final ending was done and people were walking off, Michitaka walked down, calling to one of them to get his Technicians gathered around. When they had all found him, he said, "So...it's looking good, but don't get comfortable. Show of hands, how many of you are willing to not just be Technicians but add Hacker?"

There were wide eyes. "Ah...we were looking forward to working with them, but... _be_ one?"

Michitaka nodded. "We need more in town, and we'll get the gates up faster if some of you've got both methods in your head to understand. You know - more tools in your toolbox."

He got nods. They didn't stay confused as to two sub-classes long. Most of them already had two, after all. "We've only got Tetora and the other teacher together for another week, and I'd like some of you in on that class immediately. As for the rest of you, we have to have the box making machinery up in two days. They'll give us a third to work out the bugs. Take as many of you working on it as possible. The construction crews have everything set up they can do and are just waiting for you. When it's up and running, the rest of you can take night lessons from the people in on day lessons. If you don't have the aptitude for both, don't sweat it, but we're going to be light on the top for a while and I'd like to have even the foundation laid as soon as possible."

Knowing looks went between the Technicians. "Sounds good." "Sure thing, boss." Several immediately volunteered to join the Hacker class right away. They were all Technicians who were already working on the gates.

"Right then. Get back to where you need to be. Thanks for all your hard work, guys, and gals." He waved as he headed off to his next destination. He noted that a small subset of Roderick's Technicians were also headed back towards the Academy building. It looked like he was immediately sending his gate contingent as well. Michitaka nodded. They were on the same page. Shiroe might point them directions and say 'go', but he only ever said it for things that made sense, or that in the end you knew you were going to want to have done in the first place. It wasn't bad to rely on him and to act to see it was carried out. He liked this Akiba and his people did, too. It wasn't bad that the Machiavelli-in-Glasses wanted to see it this way for others. He wouldn't be moving if it wasn't important to.

There was one other thing about this that said Minami was the goal. Michitaka looked at the Log Horizon guild house as he passed it to go back into town. He looked up towards the top. There was no one on the balconies until the laundry balcony, where Minori was hanging out a shirt. Another one got handed to her. That meant the twins were on watch. Akatsuki was with Shiroe. Naotsugu had been helping run the booth with Rudy and Isuzu. ...No one had seen Nyanta, Purrcy, or the other newcomer HackerM1 since the last time they'd come into town the afternoon before the Round Table Council meeting, and the wedding had been postponed until the two months was up. They'd said the high level Hacker would only be in town briefly. What had called them away this time, and why all three?

Rieze had said Nyanta'd been turned into a walking tank. They'd claimed it was battle length only, but if high power had been needed inside Minami, it might just be those three who'd been sent in first. Maybe. Minami had already been a hard nut to crack. If they had their highest level fighting group out to the raid point...this wouldn't be a bad time to try to crack it from the inside and hold it. ...Well...Shiroe would let them know. For now, Michitaka would do his part to prepare like he'd been told, both for here and for whatever was next.

-:-:-:-:-

"Kazuhiko, we've set aside funds for you to increase your forces, including the higher level guild passes. Yet there is still unrest in the city. What do you have to say for yourself?" Zeldus, the Iron Chancellor and Third Seat of the Ten-Seat Council of Minami demanded.

Kazuhiko, Seventh Seat and the one in charge of internal policing of Minami with his security organization Miburo, ground his teeth. The tentative alliance on the interior of the running of Plant Hwyaden had always been a struggle. It was nearly an all-out battle these days. They'd been holding back on letting him increase his forces to take care of the internal problems - not wanting to increase his own supposed personal army - until it was nearly too late. "I've increased the forces up to the amount possible based on what was provided, however instituting the curfew on the mid-level guild passes has made more than the non-pass and low-level pass holders angry. You've doubled my need for forces at the same time as you've only given me a ten percent increase. Remove the curfew on everyone and I won't have to have so many officers to enforce the peace."

"The curfews are necessary to prevent the thefts occurring in the dark of night." Zeldus said patronizingly.

Kazuhiko wanted to pull his katana on that face. Less than half of the thefts that occurred now in the daylight had happened at night before the curfews had been instituted. "If the people were encouraged to at least feed themselves _and_ their servants the thefts wouldn't be occurring in the first place."

"We feed the people and they are grateful," Indicus, the Second Seat of the Council said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"This looks like gratitude to you, does it, Indicus?" he asked in a flat voice, trying to get rid of the absolute despise he held her in from his tone. "Anger, unrest, theft? Your and Zeldus' policies have all brought these on. I will continue to do my part, but if you cannot see with your own eyes -"

Indicus' eyes had pinned him and Zeldus was glaring at him as well. "The people will obey, Kazuhiko. They will see we are providing for them, and they will obey." She turned to the Ninth-Seat, representative of the House Saimiya. "Loriel, how goes the project for expanding the imperial guards?"

"We can create the armor now, and we are in the final stages of experimenting with getting the magic into it properly. Jared Gan is there working on it now." The Eighth Seat was the Wizard of Miral Lake and his research into how the magic armor that prevented full fledged fights from breaking out in the city worked had completed a month ago. He'd been experimenting since then to recreate the ancient magic that made the armor actually part of the defenses. They were hoping to increase the policing might of the People of the Land so that there was less cost. People of the Land were cheap compared to Adventurers...or so the theory of the top Seats went. It was the only way Zeldus and Indicus were holding on to the Senate and the House of Saimiya at the moment - promising them more policing power in addition to the Adventurer police. ...Even though Kazuhiko was hiring higher level People of the Land when he could.

That fracture was going to cause even more problems. Right now, the most starving of the people were the servants - the People of the Land. Because the Adventurers only needed to have a few gold per month to hold on to their passes that gave them free food, lodging, and other perks, they weren't out hunting. They were hanging out making trouble in town. The lowest level passes were held by Adventurers who didn't care to pay any more than the minimum...and that number was growing. That meant they weren't out earning enough to pay for the minimum servants...but they also weren't letting them go. They could bully them into having to come back.

The Adventurers might go out once per month to make a token effort and bring back one or two gold to toss to a servant and spend the rest on the pass, but they were also complaining. At the start, a year and a half ago, they'd only had to pay for the pass once per three months. The Council had to raise it to once per month to pay for the expense of the passes themselves. So many Adventurers had stopped paying for the third tier passes that the income to pay for the perks that came with passes to begin with had to be shifted to the first level ones. Really, in Kazuhiko's opinion the pass system from the beginning had been a very bad idea. Getting things for free usually made people lazy and so far it had been proving true. That and turning them to crime instead. He was beside himself keeping up with it when the first three seats wouldn't see the truth beneath them and the next two were so focused on their selfish power interests. The rest of them below that were just being used as tools and pawns for those above and having to carry the blame for it not working out. Things weren't going to stay together much longer.

Indicus was about to lose her power all on her own. Nureha, the Princess who had brought this group together, hadn't been seen in almost three months. Usually Indicus brought the First Seat and figurehead of the Council out during times of unrest to calm the people down, but she hadn't, and her own stress seemed to be just a little higher. "Well...the next phase will finally be in place in a few more days," Indicus said now, dismissively. "Mizufa, will you give an update, please?"

The Fourth Seat looked far too happy. The predatory general who represented the Senate and was well known for her blood-lust sat forward. "We should have Akiba kneeling before us within the week. Their production methods are finally in place. All we need to do is walk in and take over. Nakalnad is in place once the word is given that we've removed the strength of the city."

"That isn't like you," the Tenth Seat said, finally looking up. KR was intelligence for the Ten-Seat Council. "Why aren't you standing outside Akiba frothing at the mouth for blood like you usually would?"

Mizufa narrowed her eyes at KR. "You know it's because if I move directly against Akiba, the whole city will be alerted by the time we've moved half a day in that direction. Sending Nakalnad to the Maze of Eternity as if on a raid is a feint they will ignore. I can arrive once the city is in our hands and make sure they'll be obedient to the Princess and the Ten-Seat Council."

KR snickered, but didn't say anything when he was glared at. Instead he looked at Quon, the Sixth Seat. "And how's _your_ project coming, Mister GM?"

Quon scowled, but it was to hide the sweat and worry on his brow. "It's coming just fine," he said shortly. He kept rubbing at the back of his head, though. He'd picked up that nervous tick a few weeks ago. "The damn headaches are getting in the way, but things are moving forward just fine. We should know if we can -" His words cut off as he winced, putting his hand to his head again, but to the temple this time. "- Can we be done with the meeting yet? I need to see my healer again. Need a good chiropractor, but they don't game and this place hasn't seen a need for them yet." He was muttering off on the random topics again.

Several eyes had gone predatory, looking at a weakness in another Council Seat. His usefulness was just about gone, Kazuhiko could see. He'd been completely unable to contact Earth through his corporate connections, nor had he been contacted by them in the two years they'd been here on Theldesia. He was supposedly researching ways to get back home, but that had been going nowhere either. If anything, it looked like his own research was making him glitch. That didn't bode well.

"Well, I think we're done for tonight," Indicus said smoothly.

"Where is Princess Nureha?" Kazuhiko interrupted.

Indicus frowned. "You know she doesn't come to the Council meetings."

"No, that's not what I meant. By now you would have pranced her around the town a few times to calm things down. My job's harder since she hasn't been seen in the last three months. If you want things to settle, bring her out to wave a bit. The rumors are going around she's left town because it's getting too bad for even her. They're starting to say she's abandoned them. That's bad press, you know, and is making them more riled up. Make her come out." He kept his voice calm.

"Yeah, Indicus," KR said mockingly. "Let the little bird out of her cage for a few hours. All it takes is a song to smooth things over, right?"

Indicus was almost scowling, a thing she tried her absolute best to keep off her always smooth and placid face. She took a few breaths to calm down. "I'll tell her she must, but she has gone into quite the melancholy and refuses to smile at all. What good will that do?"

"Tell her that her subjects are pining for her and only she and her calming influence will do. Even if she is only calm, it will be something," Kazuhiko said firmly.

Indicus stood and waved a hand. "I'll see what I can do." She walked up to the upper floor and walked off, ending the council meeting.

As Kazuhiko walked down the steps below him and passed KR, KR said quietly, "And you think the Princess Puppet will really be able to smooth things over?"

Kazuhiko looked at KR. "I think the Princess Puppet has had the strings snipped and no longer dances."

KR raised an eyebrow, then stood and trailed after him out of the council chamber. "Well...you could be right," he said as they exited the building. "Indicus has been a bit distracted of late."

"And Mizufa far too happy," Kazuhiko said bitterly. KR didn't answer to that and they parted ways soon after.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael landed on one of the last trees before the walls of the Adventurer city of Minami. He really wasn't ready to enter it again. It was a prison. He'd only gotten out because one of the Ten-Seat Council had told him directly to go on recon. To go back in meant he'd be back in that awful building again. That's where he needed to go to help Purrcy, but for just a few minutes he wanted to breathe. Akiba had been just such a breath of fresh air. He'd forgotten how much he missed home when he was there. Real commerce, happy faces, little crime - if any. He'd learned what he wanted to about the city, its laws, the driving force behind it. It would be a good city to call home, really.

But as a soldier, his first responsibility was to take out cesspools like the one in front of him. Once the job was done, then you got to rest on your laurels - or take the desk job at the Pentagon. That hadn't sounded so bad, really. He'd probably get to stay hands-on quite a bit. He just wasn't sure it could happen. That was the problem with being a double agent. You got to see both sides. Sometimes both sides had too many problems. Sometimes you knew too much and got a feel for which side was going to fall - and it wasn't always the bad guys.

Right now, the balance hadn't fallen for either side. Minami was going to sink itself roughly the same time they took down Akiba. Just because you grabbed a floating stick didn't mean you weren't still going under for the last time. Sometimes the stick went down with you. He'd almost be better off headed south, or even north to fight Giants - but he'd made his own promise. He'd said it to Log Horizon and it was true for him, too. Sometimes all you had were the promises, even if there weren't guarantees.

Purrcy had taught him a lot in the few short days they'd been able to work together. He'd come back with more tools in his belt and for the most part exactly what he needed to finish this job. Now would come the question of which side he would use them for, though that was rather obvious. His own. Whatever it took to get back to his squadron. They were his promise and his loyalty, like he was their's. Right now either side would answer it in Minami, so that was where he was going back to.

He fluttered down to the ground and put the wings away. He'd been working on them since he'd watched Purrcy fly. Coding had been a much simpler way to go about it. It had a constant MP cost so he was limited in how long he could fly, but alternating flying with peaceful walking had proved faster than by horseback. If he needed a longer rest he could still use his horse whistle and ride until his MP recovered. He'd been able to make good time and enjoy the trip at the same time, while learning to use the wings properly. He'd keep them hidden in town, though if he needed to escape he didn't have to use the gates any more. That was a bonus. If both sides went down, he'd get out that way and try again at the next city over. These two weren't the only two Adventurer cities with people trying to get home, after all, and he had all eternity, just like every other Adventurer.

Well, as long as they got rid of the ones killing Adventurers. That one had to go down before he left. That was a danger to his personal plans, to leave that loose end lying around. That was the other reason he was coming back. He had the tools he needed now to accomplish that goal, he was pretty sure. He wasn't sure of why Purrcy had let him have them.

She was savvy and he could tell Shiroe was as well, though he kept a tightly closed mouth in comparison so it was harder to tell. Only the results he'd been leaving behind told that - and the rumors from his time in the Debauchery Tea Party. Those two kept the balance tipped for Akiba to the neutral position. Otherwise Akiba would already be dead in the water, it was obvious, and Shiroe was the main one to do all that work.

Purrcy was new to them...but not to Michael. He already knew her and her determination and anger that matched his own. So he was here to find her again. It wouldn't be that hard. She always had to come back to the same place. Michael got moving to that place as well.

-:-:-:-:-

"Captain."

Kazuhiko looked up at Michael. His lips pursed and he nodded at the door. Michael went back to it and closed it tightly, activating an anti-spy spell on it as he did so. "You're back earlier than I wanted to see you, ...except that we got told it was coming up soon."

Michael raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "She's back here again. Things are ready on that end."

"Then I guess the order to prepare the streets for a parade wasn't a farce."

Michael hesitated. "Who've you got in the basement?"

Kazuhiko shook his head. "No one yet."

"Can I go look first? I expect her to be there. As a matter of fact, you should probably leave me down there until it's over."

Kazuhiko nodded. "You've got the order. Just tell your replacement to stop by and see me when you kick him out so I can know if she is there."

"Yes, sir," Michael bowed just slightly since the Japanese expected it, though the Captain knew he was U.S. Military and wouldn't have taken offense. He let himself out and headed down to the Special's section.

He got in. That was a good sign. He was never sure when he was going to be suspected and locked out. He took the time to walk all the halls and confirm all the current prisoners. It was sort of expected since he was over this floor as far as the Miburo went. When he got to his position, he told his substitute to head on up to see the Captain for reassignment and to give him the 'thumb's up'. He checked the paperwork at the desk to make sure what little had to be done had been kept up properly. Then he headed for the far corner cell.

He stared at the woman being kept in it, in her usual place in the dark. She'd been locked down by the ghosts of the past again, her punishment for returning early, he supposed. He didn't particularly care. She still looked like Purrcy, but then that had been locked onto her, too.

He didn't know where Purrcy was, but it wasn't here. Purrcy didn't leave in the middle of a job to run home to mama. Seeing as how she was like his own mama, she'd walk into the middle of a strafing run and fire a rocket launcher straight up if it'd work and take the bastard down. However, this creature was where Purrcy would come _to_ when she was ready to work inside again. He'd pretend it was Purrcy for now, since that was what was expected of him. He wasn't supposed to know the woman in the cell in front of him was the only Transformation Mage of Minami.

Michael turned to look up towards the ceiling with the corner of his eye. Red light at the moment, not surprising. He went back to his desk where he could keep an eye on both the light and the unmoving woman.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe showed up for the leaving of the caravan to Minami. He said his goodbyes to Calasin, thanked the Technicians and construction crews who had worked so hard to get boxes ready to send, confirmed with the guildmasters they would be ready to leave the next day for the central server raid zone, then shook Soujirou's hand. "I'll leave the protection of the city up to you. Good luck."

Soujirou's face fell. "Really, Shiroe? It's going to go that far?"

"It usually does. The other guildmaster's tell me they've set everything into place. It should be okay. Maybe they'll parlay?"

Soujirou sighed. "If it's just Adventurers maybe."

"They're hungry."

At that Soujirou's eyes lit up. "I think I can work with that."

"Good. We'll see you in about two months, then."

"You can count on us, Councillor."

"I know. Thanks." Shiroe knew he was leaving the city in good hands. He really liked his companions from the Debauchery Tea Party days. It still felt like this was an adventure when he had them at his back.

Shiroe returned to Log Horizon's guild house. He was met by the rest of the guild, waiting for him in the main area, Marielle included. "Sorry to take him from you for so long, Marie," Shiroe said first.

Marielle shook her head. "It happens. You need him, he goes. I understand. I'd rather have it that way. We'll be plenty busy here."

"Yes, you will," Shiroe pushed his glasses up on his nose. He looked at the junior members. "You'll help her out, please?" The four youngest staying behind nodded.

"I'll watch out for them, Shiroe," she promised. "They can come eat over at our place any time they want. We can even put them up if they don't want to sleep in the quiet over here by themselves."

"Thanks, Marie," Shiroe smiled at her. She did always think about others first. He looked back at the four. "I would think we'll come back to you being even stronger than before. Souji says he'll try other methods first, though. Watch yourselves. We wouldn't want mother and father to cry over you."

"We'll hold down the fort," Touya promised.

"Bring them both home," Minori requested quietly. Isuzu nodded agreement.

"That's the plan," Shiroe said gently.

"The next grand adventure awaits!" Rudy said expansively. "Rest comes to those who have fought bravely and well. It is now our turn to pick up the sword and staff."

"And blow stuff up," Tetora winked at him.

"Of course," Rudy said off-handedly, waving the hand to emphasize his tone.

Shiroe looked at Akatsuki, Tetora, and Naotsugu. "Are you three ready?"

"Never more than now," Tetora said with firm grit.

Akatsuki gave a resolute nod. "Get-on-the-road-city," Naotsugu said with a thumbs-up.

Shiroe looked at them all one more time. He really liked his guild members. They made life worth moving forward with earnest effort, bringing fun and relaxation in the mix when needed. Almost tenderly he gave the order. "All right. Formations. In we go."

Akatsuki stepped up and took his hand, pulling him down. He bent down to her height and she gave him a kiss. "For good luck," she said, turning pink. That was better than the red it used to be.

He felt like he might have also moved along that same road - perhaps only pink in the cheeks instead of red to his ears. It was the right timing, too. "Thanks." He squeezed her hand then let go and walked into his office without looking back. He headed straight for his couch and lay down, closing his eyes. The door closed behind him and soft steps made their way over. He opened his hand without opening his eyes and three small objects were placed into it. He nodded, closing his hand around them. The feet took the person over to Akatsuki's usual perch and there was quiet in the room.

Shiroe made sure one more time the proper settings he needed were set for the security of the room, then said, "Indicus on. Start play, present time."

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head, as if just waiting around bored. He was, so it wasn't hard to fake, but he was also looking out of the corner of his eye at the indicator up on the ceiling. It was his warning for several things. The first was his hope, the second was his irritation and brief moments of adrenaline. It clicked to green. He put a hand to his mouth in an imitation yawn and rose, stretching. He walked over to the corner cell and looked in like he always looked in. Still no motion, of course. No one at 1HP moved much, though they could, but he also didn't sense Purrcy. He turned around, and put his hands behind his back as if standing guard just for something to do.

"Did Purrcy come with you today?" he asked quietly. Red light. Again. He sighed to himself. The parade was supposed to be the next day. It was likely Indicus would show up today. He wasn't looking forward to it. Timing was too tight.

All of a sudden he had a fist full of rings on his fingers - three of them by the feel of it. He tried not to react. Instead he pulled his hands around front and rubbed the fist with the rings on it with the other as if rubbing an ache away. He didn't look at it, only felt them. Suddenly they felt warm on his hand. He had to fight hard not to look down. He calculated quickly. "Are you still with me?" The light stayed red. The rings disappeared like they'd appeared.

Well. That was progress. He only knew one group of people that could do that sort of thing. He wondered what was next and when. He stayed in position, unmoving, as was his normal thing to do at this time of day. Fifteen minutes later the door opened. That was too early. It did confirm he was under watch, though. Both Indicus and Mizufa entered together. Okay. That meant irritation and adrenaline. It wasn't fun when both showed up together, and they were looking at him and headed straight to where he was. Indicus couldn't keep her eyes off the red light. "Where'd they go?"

"I don't know ma'am," he said respectfully. Indicus turned to look into the cell behind him and stiffened. He blinked, then turned and looked in also. It was empty. His mouth dropped open. That was probably something that could have happened, but he certainly hadn't expected it.

"Where'd _she_ go?" the anger that spit from Indicus was frightening.

"I - I don't know. She was there, even when the spirits came, she was there. It hasn't been opened." He really had no idea what had happened.

"Was there anything that happened at Akiba that would have made this possible?"

Michael put his hand to his head and reviewed everything he could think of. Finally he shook his head. "No. Not that I saw. Never once did something like this happen while I was there with them."

Indicus turned to Mizufa, who was looking just as mystified. "I'm calling for KR. Go bring him down here. See that he has no excuse."

Mizufa turned away and went down the hallway and out the door. Indicus waved Michael back to his desk and he went and sat. She stayed by the cell, glaring into it. Suddenly she stiffened. "He's taken her back...how?" she whispered. "How does he do that?!" Her fist hit her palm in frustration. Suddenly she grasped the bars of the cell, weakened by something she was looking at in her head. "Wh-what...what's he done? He's not a Hacker...how?"

Michael was up out of his chair and headed to her to support her. "What is it, ma'am? Are you alright? It isn't the spirits, is it?"

She shook her head, but couldn't answer. When she could support herself again, she wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes not seeing him or the room or the empty cell. He supported her back to his desk chair and had her sit down so she didn't fall over. She perched on the edge, her back ramrod straight. She was trembling slightly. If Michael could have he'd have killed her right then and there. She would just come back and kill him over and over, though, or kill him literally, so he didn't. He waited patiently instead. Indicus made him check the cell several times while they waited, but there was still no figure in the cell. It was still empty - every time.

Indicus was up out of the chair at the first sound of the doorknob turning down the hall and was striding towards it. Mizufa barely had time to close it behind them before Indicus was in KR's face. "You said your cell was supposed to keep Summons inside it safely. She's disappeared. At 1 HP, KR. She's disappeared. Why?" Her tone was panicked, but also very malevolent.

KR blinked. "Can I see?" Indicus turned and marched down the hall, the other two coming with. She turned back outside the cell and glared at KR. He checked it over. "It wasn't opened from the outside...?" he looked at Michael.

Michael shook his head soberly. "I was guarding it. She disappeared when I wasn't looking into it, so I don't know what happened."

KR rubbed his chin. "If she has a new master and was summoned, eventually the call of the summon would pull her through the wormhole - which is painful I hear. It's world magic we can't counter. Everything else this cell would prevent."

Indicus narrowed her eyes. "Is it like the resurrection?"

KR shrugged. "We haven't studied that yet. Maybe? Maybe it's death and dissolution and reconstruction, but I haven't stood next to someone I've summoned to see. I can't. They're already there by me so it wouldn't happen."

Indicus scowled in complete irritation. "So...what would make it so I can't find her at all now? She won't come to my Summon either."

"Well...you only have a contract with her. If someone has her whistle and called with that, it trumps."

Indicus growled. "Why would a summonable _Adventurer_ have a whistle?" But she turned away without waiting for an answer, searching in her mind. "They've got the security lock up on the office, but even still, she isn't there anymore, and she isn't anywhere. I don't understand it." She turned back to KR. "Get in there. Trade with Purrcy. She should still be inside, even if I can't find her. I'll make her tell me where she is, then you can trade back. We're supposed to show her off tomorrow."

There was silence for a moment, then KR sighed. "Alright, but no killing me, got it?"

Indicus glared at him, but he didn't move until she nodded. Michael unlocked the cell and held the door open for KR. KR went in the cell and sat on the floor. Michael went and stood next to him. The drill was familiar now. Michael kept his eye on the red light up on the ceiling. As soon as it turned green he hit KR with his blow that took the body down to 1HP. When Indicus nodded, he moved out of the cell and locked it behind him. KR's eyes were open and had turned golden. The hatred in them was palatable.

"Purrcy," Indicus demanded, "where is Nureha?"

A sneer came on KR's face. His voice said, "I'm sure I wouldn't know. They've kept me locked in a spell for who knows how long now."

Indicus stiffened. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Trying to fall asleep after Nyanta gave me the engagement ring and not being able to. Dawn came and I was suddenly gone. Into black space that put me to sleep until just now."

"... Sleep...," Indicus went pale. "Does that mean...KR can't undo the Soul Possession?"

"...Yes. And since I don't know where that was, or is, I can't choose to go back."

Michael grabbed Indicus' elbow again as her legs gave out. Mizufa supported her on the other side. Together they got her back to his chair again, Purrcy's eyes following them, though she didn't bother to move. Indicus' eyes had glazed over again. They waited, not having anything else they could do. Finally she gasped for air and came back. "I can't find KR either. Damn! ...Damn, damn, damn! The Static's done it again! Interfered where he shouldn't have been able to!"

Mizufa sneered in her turn. "That will be taken care of soon enough. Nakalnad will meet him on the way between the raid zone and Akiba and take him out...if he bothers to actually leave his rat hole. If he stays coward Nakalnad will still go to him and remove him physically, then send him to you to be removed permanently. You may not have the Princess to show off tomorrow, but you will still have Akiba."

Indicus went pale again, but with fury this time, and she rose, confronting Mizufa closely. "If Machiavelli has thought this far, he already has figured out Nakalnad is coming. He is not defenseless, nor his city. I don't know what has given it away...," she stopped and turned towards the cell in the back corner. She was at the bars again. " _You_ ," she hissed it. "You have done this. I don't know exactly what you've done...but it is definitely _your_ fault."

"How?" Purrcy asked. "How can I go against the wishes of my master? I hate you, yes, but I can only do what you say to do. If I have done this, foiled your plans, given them away to your enemy, then it is because _you_ wanted me to."

Mizufa stiffened. Very dangerously smooth she asked, "Would you have done it, Indicus? Underneath the guise of trying to win Akiba, would you have planned and plotted the downfall of the two largest fighting forces standing against you? Are you leading us into a trap, Indicus?"

Indicus whipped around. "No! I have done no such thing! I despise the static. His death is all I wish for." She stopped again and turned to Purrcy. "Go kill him. Screw the plots. Just go and kill him."

Purrcy stared at her for a long moment and the tension built. Finally Indicus said, "Well...go on!"

A slow nasty grin came on KR's face. "No."

Indicus raged. By the time she and Mizufa left, KR's body was being tortured by yet another spell set by her. Purrcy would feel it. She was the spirit in the body, after all. It wasn't new though, just like the other one that had been set before on Nureha. Purrcy had been tortured like this before, and for the same reason. When Purrcy was in the Soul Possession spell, she didn't have to obey Indicus - only KR.

They had only just left the room to go up the stairs when a scream sounded that reverberated up and down the stairwell. Michael sprinted to the door and wrenched it open. "Damn him! Now he's gone, too! Why!? Why, why, why?! Why does he always, always do this to me!?" He could hear Indicus pounding on the wall. From behind him he heard deep chuckling that turned into laughter that pooled into the stairwell and up. Indicus' voice cut off and there was silence followed by the door to the main level slamming shut.

Michael went back into the floor, closing the door behind him. He walked down to the last cell and looked into the golden eyes that were looking at him. The mouth grinned again, a humorless, predatory grin. "Hello again, Michael." It was said as if she wasn't feeling any of the pain he knew she was. "Now we wait for marching orders, ne? I'll be interested to see which side you pick."

"You can say that?" he asked honestly worried.

"If she can't hear Shiroe, she's been blocked in completely. My apprentice has been very busy, it seems."

Michael was quiet, considering her, remembering the code realm cell he'd been put in his first time to dinner at the guild hall. Both she and Tetora had been in that room being protected by Naotsugu. "Just what level is he?"

KR's face went secretively happy. "I have no idea. I've been asleep, remember?"

Michael thought about the rings again, and the ring that had been put on her finger, that the same 'apprentice' had handed to Nyanta. What kind of level would it take to make an item that could house souls, and make a room to lock Hackers into so they couldn't get out to see what was going on or use their magic? Tetora could leapfrog and hold down his level on purpose, not just make it look lower through mirroring. Michael swallowed. Just maybe there might be a Hacker powerful enough to counteract the Puppet Master. The weight for Akiba tipped just a little more.


	41. Sub-Boss: Nureha

There was a glow in Shiroe's room and a figure appeared. It was black with golden swirls and dusty motes. The ears twitched as the eyes searched the room then fixed on the figure lying on the couch. Slowly the felinoid figure walked quietly up to stand next to it, all the attention of ears and eyes on that one figure. When Shiroe didn't move, there was finally a sad sigh. "Didn't you understand that Indicus was going to trap you? Surely you haven't let her win already, have you?"

Slowly her form changed from calico felinoid to elegant foxtail, the ears elongating, the tail becoming fluffy, the human form hairless on the smooth white arms. She was still black fur, but the calico swirls left her body. It was an evil beauty that ate at the soul of those who looked at it, drawing their lust to the surface. Then, there was another change. One that wasn't visible. When it was completed, there was movement in the dark as three figures stepped out from the walls and moved in. Shiroe's room had been left unlit and had no windows. Only eyes sharpened by race and magic could see in this room.

"Nureha, welcome," Akatsuki said with cold neutrality. "Please have a seat. My lord will return to us shortly."

Nureha spun around in surprise. That made her pay attention to her body which surprised her even more and her breath caught. Naotsugu - who really could move faster than his size made people believe - had her by the elbow and was escorting her to a seat as Tetora lit a lantern set on Shiroe's desk where it wouldn't interfere directly with their eyesight. He moved to also sit where he could watch Shiroe, though he closed his eyes and was still, returning to the code realm.

Akatsuki handed Nureha a cup of tea. Nureha took it absently. Finally she asked, "Isn't Indicus going to call me back?"

"I'm sure she's already tried," Naotsugu said amiably, though quietly, not wanting to disturb the work of the other two.

"Oh," Nureha said. "Well, then," she paused, then blinked. "Ah...how - how did that happen? I'm already freed, that fast? I thought -" She bit her lip.

"It was better to just get you out of the way early," Akatsuki said. "We didn't need an extra hostage." Nureha couldn't know that the cold words weren't meant to be taken that way. It was part of Akatsuki's communication problems.

Nureha's head dropped and her ears drooped. Considering that the people in the room were rather calloused to her, they didn't correct her misunderstanding. Log Horizon was one group of people who couldn't be beguiled by her, even though all of Minami and Westlande had been. It didn't surprise her. Shiroe had given her the first promise that had been keeping her warm. He'd so far kept that promise - particularly today. She settled down into herself, feeling that warmth, curling her feet up under her in her chair.

Apparently the second promise keeping her warm had also been kept today. She kept herself entertained by staring at...no status screen at all. It was all she had to say she was no longer an Adventurer. As long as she wasn't an Adventurer, she could stay. The second warm promise had supplanted the very first promise she'd been given. She didn't want to go 'home'. Ever. This was where she wanted to be. Forever. Now if the Adventurers were called back home she wouldn't go - because she wasn't one.

She'd have to ask to make sure she understood it right, but every way she could think of bringing up the status screen didn't work. She kept at it until she started to get a headache. Then she just watched the prone Shiroe and sipped her tea, wondering what in the world he was going to do with his now non-Adventurer enemy. He might kill her, she supposed, but that wasn't really how he did things. He was rather tender-hearted. It was one of his weaknesses.

She was ruthless. Because everyone had only ever hated her, she had only ever hated and used everyone around her. She could kill if she had to, but it was so much better to just get them to eat out of her hand, swoon when she walked by, and stroke her pride by drooling over this gorgeous body. These were the things Log Horizon, and Shiroe, would never do. Here, she was safe. She could relax. They knew what she was - how horrible, despicable, unclean - just like Indicus had known. But Shiroe had delivered...and so had Purrcy. Indicus had only given empty promises, had tried running experiments when Nureha had begun to be disinterested in helping her with her own goal of owning the world, but Nureha had been able to begin to discard Indicus as soon as she had the two warm promises.

Now the enemy had taken Indicus' precious hold on the people of Minami away. What would Indicus do? Probably continue on her chosen path the best she could, but the foundation would crumble from under her and she would also lose. Even she needed Nureha...and had forgotten just how much. Nureha felt even more vindicated, thinking of Indicus having to take her own payment now. The nerve of her, torturing her own meal ticket. Nureha felt no remorse for allowing the enemy to take her and win. The promise had been made: "I think you would prefer to have me as your enemy." _Of course. Congratulations, Shiroe. Thank you for winning_.

Nureha didn't care what he did to her next. She couldn't die. Purrcy had already given her that gift. It had been forced by Indicus for her own plans, but it was a gift nonetheless. Purrcy had promised at that time the second gift would come. Nureha merely had to do whatever Indicus told her to do. Well...she had to anyway. Indicus was her master - then. Apparently not now. One of the four in this room was, or she wouldn't be here. She rather expected it to be Shiroe, but he'd been on the couch when she arrived and still hadn't moved, so she wasn't sure.

It felt like nearly a half-hour, but perhaps it wasn't really that long, when Shiroe's eyes opened. Slowly the light began to come up in the room. Nureha figured he must have a magic light set up to dim when he was sleeping and come on when he woke up. Tetora also finally moved to slowly sit up and stretch. "Well, first battle's won," Tetora said.

Shiroe nodded a brief nod, then turned to look at Nureha. He considered her for a moment, then said to Tetora. "Looks good, but why don't you fill us in?"

"She's set to Person of the Land - foxtail. Your name isn't Nureha any more, though. Indicus would have found you if we'd left that. Your name's now Yakori. There will be one more set of changes, I expect, but they'll come later. This was enough for now. You won't be a princess anymore after that. Just a foxtail. That's a judicial matter and not mine to hand out."

"You did this? Made me not an Adventurer?" Nureha-now-Yakori asked.

"Mm, sort of," he answered. "I named you anyway. To remind you that all the world will remember what you _really_ are, or were, ...or well, that's difficult too, time hasn't passed enough at this level yet." Everyone was looking just a little confused, except Shiroe of course. Yakori decided to not worry about it. "But you're definitely not an Adventurer any more," Tetora ended.

"So...then what will you do with me?" she asked Shiroe.

"We have a place to take you that should be safe enough, if they'll have you. You'll have to work hard, though. If they send you away, you'll die a lot and it will be even harder to live, though it is entirely possible - just ask Purrcy."

Yakori held her peace. "I'd rather work hard here in this state than go back."

"So I've come to understand," Shiroe said wryly. "For now, you're mine. If I go back, and I'm working very hard to, I'll transfer ownership over to someone I trust. I don't want to do that until I have to, though. You're a rather large burden." He rose from his couch and walked over to Akatsuki and gave her a kiss.

Akatsuki wrapped her arms around him to hold him and he relaxed a little. Yakori thought it a bit odd they were still being familiar in public. Really, the two of them had the reservation to keep it to a room alone, but that seemed even more difficult for them. It was strange. "Is the rest in place?" Akatsuki asked, looking up into Shiroe's face earnestly.

"Yes." He looked over to Tetora, who nodded, and he looked back. "Has Minori got the room ready?"

"Yes, Shiroe." Akatsuki answered.

Shiroe let Akatsuki go and faced Yakori again. "You will stay in the Log Horizon guild hall and not speak to anyone outside the guild. We've made up a guest room for you until we leave. You will come with us then and stay with us until I give you your next instructions. You will not speak with nor beguile the junior members of Log Horizon. ...But you should already be aware that they hate you and have come to understand what you are for themselves."

Yakori dipped her head. She did know it. The last four days of living in this place had been extremely difficult, even though she'd tried her best to be kind. They'd all been enamored of her once, particularly Touya. He wasn't any more. None of them were. She couldn't compete with the honest, tender kindness of Hahaue. She didn't know how. Purrcy had even tried to show her. Her few simple attempts hadn't been rebuffed, but it wasn't the same. They all knew when it was her or when it was Purrcy. They only ever called Purrcy Hahaue.

That was honestly why she'd given up and run home. Only Hahaue was fit to really marry Nyanta. Besides, she owed something to Purrcy. She was the cause Purrcy didn't have her own body anymore, even though Indicus had been the one to do it. How could she take Purrcy's happiness at being married to Nyanta away from her when she wasn't even present anymore to be there for the wedding? It had just been better to go at that point. They knew how to try to get her back now. If they couldn't do it, then it was better if there had been no wedding to begin with.

"Shall we then?" Naotsugu made it obvious she was to get up and get moving. She put the tea cup on the table and rose to follow after him.

Minori showed her to her room. It was on the third floor and Yakori was effectively locked in once she was in it. She supposed they'd come get her for meals and such like. At least she had a window. She settled into the sun spot on the floor and went to sleep. She slept very deeply, completely undisturbed for the first time in nearly two years. Indicus' torturing spell was nowhere to be found. Not any more. Freedom was so nice.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning the guild was up before dawn. In the predawn light the parties of six Adventurers met outside the city walls: one from each of the guilds D.D.D., Honesty, Knights of the Black Sword, and Log Horizon, including Michitaka. Four guildmasters were leaving. One had already left. Everyone was looking at Shiroe. "And a Person of the Land foxtail named Yakori who looks remarkably like someone else? Is this Hacker work, Shiroe?"

"Of course," he said mildly. "We're expecting to run into some friends of hers on the way. If we don't, they'll likely show up anyway here at the gates."

"Of course," was commented wryly. "We knew that."

"Of course," he answered back. "And you've got enough flying mounts for everyone? I need a head count for how many more we'll need."

That got some silence briefly. Rieze finally said, "We've got drakes."

"Dragons," Isaac admitted.

"All of you?" Ains protested in surprise.

"Enough," was all Isaac would say. "And yourself?"

Ains shook his head. "I've a gryphon, so can take another."

One of his group raised a hand. "I'm a Summoner. I can take another with me and call up a second to carry the other two."

"Must be over level one hundred, then," another party's member muttered. It wasn't necessarily true, but for the Summoner to be able to summon two creatures simultaneously high enough level to carry them it might be.

Shiroe looked at Michitaka. He shook his head. "Land based, but not air."

"That's fine," Shiroe said. "We'll cover. It's better than I had originally thought, though no surprise there, really. So...this morning I'm going to teach you the next new thing. Nyanta actually discovered it, or rather, had it shown to his face. It's how to get a summoned creature to carry you longer than the set time the whistles allow for. It will work for the Summoner's summon contract as well."

That woke up the ones still sleeping on their feet. The time limits were the worst frustration to them now that they were here for real. Shiroe called up a chat. "Nyanta, we're ready. ...Yes, outside the city at the usual starting point. ...Just ProudWing it looks like, if he's willing. It's an odd mix though - drakes, dragons, another gryphon, and whatever the Summoner can call up, two of them."

The Summoner raised his hand. "Rocs." His statement was met with disbelief from the waiting crowd.

"...Two rocs, he says," Shiroe supplied to Nyanta. "...All right. We'll see you in a few hours." Shiroe turned to the waiting raid party. "I'll start telling you while he's on his way here, but action will speak more than words in this case I think." He pushed up his glasses, "The monsters and creatures of this world can communicate - with each other and with us, if we let them." That was enough speaking for the moment since everyone else now wanted to talk. He let them get it out of their systems. When they finally sputtered down they could all hear the sound of wings. A strong gust of wind hit them and a large gryphon settled down on the road near them. It had come unsummoned. That was enough to keep their mouths closed in amazement.

Shiroe walked a few steps forward to greet it. He bowed politely. "ProudWing, I am Shiroe, guildmaster of Log Horizon, Nyanta's guild. Thank you for being willing to come and help us today."

The gryphon bowed his head politely in response. [It is my pleasure, Shiroe of Log Horizon. It is an honor to serve Nyanta in his quest to retrieve his mate.]

"Nyanta says that you think the variety of creatures we'll ride won't be a problem?"

[You will have to ask them, but if you say what quest it is for, I believe they will be willing.]

"We can do that," Shiroe said calmly. He was perhaps not so calm, though, it being his first time, too, to actually talk to a monster. He could see Rudy rolling his eyes. ("They're _monsters_ for goodness sake!") "But can you teach us how we should do it? We're all first timers at it after all."

The gryphon opened his beak and a hissing sound came out. Akatsuki shrank back but Shiroe grinned and so did Naotsugu. Naotsugu's mount laughed at him all the time and loved to tease him. [Yes, so Nyanta said. He was unable to believe it for quite some time.] ProudWing moved forward to face the rest of the group. [You will have to change your thinking a lot, I think. When you summon them, they are required to do whatever you want them to do for the time of the summoning. After that, if you want them to continue to help you, you should have treated them with respect, or they will leave you, even if you are still in the middle of the air. If you have mistreated them before now and they hate you, they may choose to turn on you at that time, though they will be punished by the laws of the world for it. If you are honorable and strong, like Nyanta is, they will be glad you have spoken to them and most likely willing to continue to serve.]

"Why not before now?" Ains asked.

[Because they can only do what you want them to do during the summon time. Until now, that has never been "talk to them".] There were looks of enlightenment and a few groans.

"Did Nyanta summon you and then send you?" Rieze asked.

[At the first when we left the city. I stayed to talk to him because he had the scent of the Caretaker on him. He added me to his party then, so now I come because he asks me to.]

Everyone was surprised at that. "We can add monsters to our party?"

ProudWing laughed again. [Even I was surprised at that, that he would want to. It has been very convenient.]

"Um," it was the Summoner again, "what about the ones that I call? Since it's by contract not whistle?"

[It may depend on the contract requirements. They may not be able to help past their time if it wasn't formed well. Perhaps they will tell you if you ask them, though if they don't like you they may not be fully truthful. I may be able to negotiate on your behalf. If they won't, or if there are any who won't, I can call on others who have already said they will help.]

The group of Adventurers relaxed. None of them were quite sure how their Summon creatures felt about them, after all...except maybe Naotsugu. He already had his whistle out. "Can I go ahead and try, Councillor?"

Shiroe nodded. It would help for them to have one brave soul go first. Naotsugu blew on his whistle and they watched the sky. In a short amount of time Naotsugu's brown gryphon flew down and landed. He walked up to Naotsugu and pushed on him. Naotsugu laughed and put his hand on his mount's beak, pushing him back. "Hey, BrownMane. It's good to see you too. Will you talk to me this time, please?"

[Okay.]

"Thanks, I'm Naotsugu, though you already knew that. Do you know ProudWing?"

BrownMane looked at the other gryphon. [Yes. He said to be ready to come today, that you'd be calling for us.] He turned back to Naotsugu and bit his head gently in his beak playfully. [I've been looking forward to it.]

"Hey, hey, geroff," Naotsugu pushed him off. Once he was free, he said, "So...we need to keep flying tomorrow and maybe some today as well after our stop. Would you be willing to stick around and keep going?"

[Sure.] He was about to tease Naotsugu again when ProudWing shifted and glared at him. He stopped short.

[I'm sorry, Naotsugu. BrownMane is still young. BrownMane, even though Naotsugu is a strong fighter and Adventurer, he is still not a nest mate. You cannot play with him the same as you do your fellow hatchlings. No biting.]

"Yeah, what he said," Naotsugu rejoined. "I like playing and all, but the biting's a bit hard to get used to."

[Sorry,] the ears on the gryphon drooped slightly.

Naotsugu patted him on the neck a few times. "So, we're going to take Yakori with us today. I'm on guard duty until we get where we're going. Then we'll get Tetora back, okay?"

[Sure,] BrownMane turned to Tetora and bumped him too. [I hope we get to where we're going soon, then.]

Tetora laughed. "I like you, too, BrownMane. We like to tease Naotsugu together, don't we." He had just a hint of a sad look to his eyes.

BrownMane licked him. [What is it?]

Tetora blinked. "Ah...well...," he sighed. "I'm not his op any more. I've changed sub-class...and he's going to get married in the near future, so you'll carry his wife instead of me when all of us go. I'll miss you is all."

BrownMane drooped. [Well...we'll still see each other at least. I'll still come bite...I mean bump you.]

"Okay. That will make me feel better, too." Tetora patted him and BrownMane bumped him again for good measure.

Shiroe's whistle sounded. His gryphon landed fairly quickly. "Standing by, were you, LightWind?"

[Yes, Master.]

Shiroe held up a hand. "First name is fine. I'm Shiroe."

LightWind bowed. [Master Shiroe, then.]

Shiroe sighed. He'd only just gotten Akatsuki to not do that. He could force it, but he didn't want to. The point of the exercise was to not do that. "LightWind, this is Akatsuki, my potential mate. We say 'girlfriend'. I'm sure you understand by now that she's afraid of you."

LightWind bowed again, to her this time. [Congratulations on overcoming your fear to speak with him.] There was a sparkle of humor in the eye that he lowered to Akatsuki's level.

"Ah...you...knew?" Akatsuki asked.

There was a light hiss of laughter and the beak moved gently to rub against her. [It is rather obvious. You serve him with honor and strictness worthy of a Summoned yourself. It is acceptable.] That seemed to be a sufficient common bond between them, and enough of a complement, that Akatsuki relaxed.

The others began to move away to clearer spaces. Dragons in particular would take up a lot of space. "LightWind, will you help the Adventurers speak with their Summon creatures?" Shiroe asked. "All of us are very new to it and nervous."

[Yes, Master Shiroe.] LightWind moved to watch the grouping of people.

"You, too," Naotsugu said to BrownMane. "Be nice about it."

[Okay.]

"ProudWing, let me introduce you to your riders first," Shiroe called.

ProudWing moved to follow him. "This is Michitaka, guildmaster of Marine Organization. You've met Tetora a few times. He'll trade out for Nyanta when we get there to pick him up."

ProudWing bowed. [Pleasure to meet you, Michitaka of Marine Organization. Good to see you again, Tetora of the two bodies.]

Tetora shook his head. "You can tell that, too?"

[Of course.]

Michitaka held out a hand and ProudWing touched it with his beak. "Thanks for being willing to carry me. It will be my first gryphon ride. I'm looking forward to it."

[Ride in the back then. It is easier to enjoy it that way.] ProudWing looked over to Akatsuki and winked, [Right?]

Akatsuki stared, then slowly smiled a shy smile. "Yes."

"Ah, you're good with kids," Tetora said with a smile.

[I've had several,] ProudWing said modestly.

"I'm not a kid!" Akatsuki protested.

"Only when you're like this, Akatsuki," Tetora shook his head. "Besides, it's like bedside manner."

She scowled at him. "I'm also not dying."

Tetora shook his head and held up a hand. "I'll give up. I'm not getting through."

ProudWing laughed, then excused himself to help with the other Summons. Tetora went with him. They paused, looking at some of the confusion. ProudWing looked at Tetora. [You run with her, too.]

Tetora looked at him soberly. "Yes. I said I'm not Naotsugu's op, right? I'm hers - and her apprentice."

ProudWing nodded. [Then let us together teach them who she is, yes?]

Tetora nodded and climbed up onto ProudWing's back. ProudWing flapped his wings until he was just off the ground and clacked his beak until he had everyone's attention. He settled back down to the ground and Tetora stood up on his back. "Listen, everyone. We're beginning the next part of the quest to get Purrcy back. She's known as the Caretaker of Yamato." Most of the Summons who had been recalcitrant turned to look at Tetora and pay attention to him.

[She's been stolen from Nyanta, her mate and my Summoner,] ProudWing said. [They go to retrieve her for all of us.]

"Please help us," Tetora begged. "Shiroe is leading us. He can do it - get her back - but he needs all of us to help him do it. Stay with us until we're where we need to be for the next part of the quest...please. I really miss Hahaue. We need her back, too."

[Who is Shiroe?] one of the dragons asked.

LightWind walked over to Shiroe and he climbed up onto his back and carefully stood. Akatsuki climbed up behind him and held him steady. "I am Shiroe," he said calmly, but that was an awful lot of powerfully strong monsters to have staring at him.

LightWind spread his wings. [Just as all of you have heard of the Caretaker these last few years, all of you have also heard of Archmage Shiroe and know me. All of the legends are true. I have taken him to and brought him back from all of them since he won my whistle. These my two companions with their Summoners also have been with us.]

"Please," Shiroe said, "I cannot say we've understood before now, since we haven't, and I can't really speak for everyone else, but if you will at least accept my apology for our lack of understanding then I would be grateful." He bowed to them all. "We need to be in Minami by the day after tomorrow at the latest. We'll need you again after that, but I don't know when we'll be done there at this time. We have one stop to make mid-day today for a negotiation and trade. That stop will be at about the four hour mark. If you won't continue with us, you may leave at that time, as far as I'm concerned, and we'll find alternate transportation for your riders. ...If you can, please forgive your riders and allow us the opportunity to learn what it is to have a Summon creature in this world we are still trying to come to understand. We didn't know before today that we could speak with you." The tenor of the field changed dramatically and Shiroe heaved a sigh of relief. Tetora did, too. "Ah, and please, if we could leave in fifteen minutes?"

Shiroe sat down and slipped off the back of LightWind, pulling Akatsuki down also so he could put his saddle on. Tetora had watched enough now that he could check ProudWing's. "Did Nyanta do this?" he asked.

[Yes. I saw him this morning. He's waiting for everyone to arrive. His time in the village has been productive, he says.]

"Good. I'll be glad to have him back again, too."

[He seems ready to move on also. ...The Caretaker wasn't with him this time. Is it okay?]

Tetora paused, then continued his work. "Yes. But don't mention that, okay?" ProudWing nodded. Tetora frowned. "You can sense where she is?"

[Yes. I know where she is. It is where we are going.]

"Shiroe!" Tetora called.

Shiroe looked around LightWind. "What is it, Tetora?"

"Come on," Tetora put his hand on the side of ProudWing, walking him over to Shiroe. Quietly he said, "ProudWing says he knows where Purrcy is, that he can sense her, and that he knows she's in Minami now."

Shiroe looked at ProudWing who nodded. LightWind turned his head and nodded also. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at that. "Nyanta told me you could sense her, ProudWing, but you, too LightWind? How is it?"

[Any of us who know her know. ...That's how we knew when she wasn't on the earth any more.]

Shiroe and Tetora both froze. "Where did she go?"

[Up. We don't know where it was to, though, only that it was up into the sky and beyond. Then she was back in the town you call Minami until she was running to your town. She was 'up' again once recently as well so we were concerned until ProudWing was able to fetch her. Many creatures have been missing her for a long time...three or four moons now.]

"Hmm," mused Shiroe. "Thank you for telling me." He went back to putting the saddle on LightWind, but Tetora could tell he was back into thinking about the battle plan. It might not change significantly, but it was probably an important piece to know for later.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta had been practicing being a cat in the wild again this morning. Melvin was watching him and giving him a few pointers, but mostly barking laughs every now and again. Nyanta had come out in the morning to talk to ProudWing and saddle him, because he carried the tack in his magic bag like most people who had whistles. It had just been easier to stay out. [We are almost there, Nyanta.]

"Okay. Thank mew, ProudWing." Nyanta lept down out of the tree he was in and trotted over to Melvin. "Meow. Come see a grand sight never seen before, then go and tell the elders that we will be ready to receive them for negotiations in half an hour."

"Okay!" Melvin's eyes lit up. He seemed the adventuresome sort of child who would end up wandering the world rather than stay home quietly.

They walked out to sit at the edge of the field, but where Nyanta could be seen by the incoming party. Looking up they first saw dots in the sky in the distance that were spread out, though somewhat clumped into four clusters. As they came closer, they could see the three gryphons in front, ProudWing leading the way since he knew where to go. Set highest in the sky were the six dragons. Behind ProudWing and between the heights of the dragons and gryphons were the drakes, smaller in size than the dragons but looking similar. On the other side and about the same height as the gryphons were the two rocs and another gryphon.

"Oh, that is a marrvelous sight, meow," Nyanta said in appreciation as they got closer. Melvin didn't say anything. His eyes and mouth were open so wide to take it in there was nothing coming out. The flying creatures banked and flew over the field, then glided down, the front-runners coming down first to arrive near Nyanta. The fourth gryphon and the rocs landed a little farther back. The drakes and dragons circled the field then the drakes came down to another side. The dragons circled one more time and filled up the rest of the field one by one.

Melvin finally did a strange little tumble to roll behind Nyanta, hiding. Nyanta chuckled a little. "They are Summoned. They won't hurt mew. We'll have most of them move off before the negotiation. I'm sure the elders wouldn't like to have so many of these so close to home." Melvin shook his head violently but kept very quiet and lay flat in the grass anyway.

Shiroe finished helping Akatsuki down and walked over. "Well, Nyanta, that is rather a surprise. How does it feel?"

"Fairly comfortable, actually, nyan. It isn't too different from what I already knew, though I'm still working on nuances." He looked over his shoulder. "Guildmaster, this is Melvin, the foxling I told mew about. He's a bit nervous about having so many predators about."

Shiroe leaned around Nyanta, then crouched down to hold out a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Melvin. Nyanta tells me you enjoy exploring?"

Melvin swallowed, then rose timidly to bow and place his own paw on Shiroe's hand. "Yes, usually."

Shiroe smiled. "Well, when you're old enough, I'll hope you'll come and explore Akiba. We would be happy to host you and show you around town. It would be good to exchange ambassadors."

Melvin's ears perked up. "Really? I could do that?" Shiroe nodded seriously. Melvin shifted excitedly from side to side, then blurted out, "I should go get the elders." He slipped into the trees behind Nyanta and disappeared.

Nyanta transformed into his felinoid self, wearing his Round Table uniform again. "He is energetic, nyan?" His eyes went to the foxtail that had been brought with Shiroe and was standing next to Naotsugu, looking just a little lost, but interested in her surroundings. "Have mew explained it to her yet, Shiroe-ichi?"

"No. Once we get everyone sorted out we'll do that." Shiroe was looking around the field. Several creatures were beginning to lift off, mostly those with saddles still on. They flew off to the side of a mountain that was a few miles away. A few were having saddles removed and they were later to leave. Those mounts flew in all directions and flew high and far until they couldn't be seen again. Shiroe looked at the gryphons. "I don't think we'll need you for the negotiations. If you want to go find a place to wait, Nyanta will call for ProudWing when we're done. Do you want the count of how many more we need now or when we're ready to go?"

[Now would give them time to prepare and come.]

Shiroe stepped forward and cleared his throat. Even though a soft sound, it was all that was needed. The Adventurers had been waiting for him to speak. "How many more if we double up?" Hands were raised and he took a quick count. "It looks like three more would be enough, please ProudWing."

[Okay. They'll be here by the time you're ready.]

"Thank you." He waited politely for the remaining mounts to leave the area, then turned back to the Adventurers. "You know we're detouring for a bit. While we're here, I'll need the guildmasters in formal garb for a treaty negotiation with the local foxtail tribe. Nyanta has been here as ambassador to both find them and to learn how we should relate to them, since we can't assume we have any idea how to really do that either. He'll give us a briefing in a bit. Miss Yakori will be staying here as a permanent ambassador for the Adventurers, if they're willing to have her." He looked at her as he said it and she stiffened in surprise, then looked rather resigned. "The rest of you can take a lunch break for the negotiations. When they're done and gone, we'll have a strategy meeting for the next phase. If I could have someone please set up a table and chairs, etc., for the negotiation, I need to have a little council first."

Shiroe turned to his own guild. "Let's move over here, shall we? Yakori, you too."

Shiroe looked a question at Tetora. He shook his head. "She'll have to do it."

"Can she do it through you?"

"It would be best, wouldn't it?" Tetora asked gamely. Shiroe nodded.

While Tetora worked on that Shiroe turned to Nyanta. "Tetora was able to run the spell set to make Nureha a Person of the Land. We still need to know what would be the best way to allow her to stay with the village without causing troubles." He looked at Tetora out of the corner of his eye until he could see Purrcy looking back at him, a smile and a twinkle for him in the green-turned-golden eyes. "Nyanta, what would you like Purrcy to do that would keep Yakori from causing troubles in the foxtail village?"

Nyanta folded his arms, considering Nureha-now-Yakori. "She needs to start from the beginning, learning how to be a true kind child. As she is now, they will be very offended if she appears as an adult. It will also be a purroblem if she continues to look like the person she isn't supposed to be any longer. It would bring troubles to the village if she is seen by an outsider who gives it away to one who might still be searching for her. These are a minimum for her to be able to enter the foxtail village."

Tetora turned to Yakori. Softly Purrcy said, in his voice, "If you ever wish to be reminded of your original name and home, I will always remember them for you."

Yakori shook her head. "Never," she answered back.

Tetora's mouth smiled softly, then his eyes closed. Two minutes later Yakori changed, shrinking until she was toddler size. Her coloring changed also to a more true red fox coloring, but she was left with one black ear and one grey ear. Tetora's eyes opened to look at Yakori with Purrcy's golden orbs. "You will likely grow up like any child of the foxtail - your age is currently four years of Earth. You have been left with a heritage - the black ear to remind you that just because you have changed on the outside, the internal change must be chosen always by you as you learn and move forward. The grey ear to remind you that beauty was only skin deep to begin with. When your inward soul is beautiful, the grey ear will turn red to match your coat, but the black ear will not." Tetora's hand gently touched Yakori's head. "Please believe in yourself from now on. We do not have to let the barbs of other's poison us if we don't want them to. I look forward to seeing your efforts from now on."

Yakori looked up into Tetora's eyes. "Thank you...Hahaue."

Purrcy smiled with Tetora's lips and this time her eyes were a little harder. "And, Yakori...I know you were the one that set the tags. I have removed from you the capacity to ever be a Hacker, and Witch is right out. Whenever you attempt to do magic from now on you will turn into an Oracle and I will appear if I decide you need punishment. ...Am I clear?"

Yakori's ears went back and she dropped her head. "I'm sorry. Yes, Hahaue. I understand."

"Lift your head and say that again, or I'll make both ears black and misshapen."

Yakori's head popped back up, her eyes wide in fear and dismay. "No, Purrcy. I promise. I'll be good." Her head shrank into her shoulders under Purrcy's glare. In a smaller voice she said, "Well, I'll try, anyway."

Purrcy continued to hold her eyes until she was satisfied. "Please do your best," she finally said. Turning to Shiroe, she asked, "What do you want me to do next, Master Strategist?"

"What is our common enemy called?"

"The Puppet Master."

Shiroe turned to Nyanta. "Nyanta, do you want your wife to win her freedom from the Puppet Master?"

Nyanta's tail swished angrily and an ear twitched back and forth. "Yes, Shiroe-ichi. I want her to do all she can to fight to return to me."

Shiroe pushed up the glasses on his face. Looking Purrcy in the eyes he said, "Do that."

Tetora's face got a very predatory look, with the grin eliciting a sense of malevolence more than happiness. He bowed. "Very well." There was a pause, then Tetora stepped over to Nyanta and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Nyanta froze briefly, then in a surprise move, kissed Tetora on the cheek as well. The surprise in Purrcy's eyes was also in Tetora's one second later. Tetora put a hand to his cheek. "Ah, why, Nyanta?"

Nyanta narrowed his eyes and purred. "Because she wanted to give one to mew, too, meow." Tetora blushed bright red. Naotsugu and Shiroe both laughed out loud. Akatsuki sighed.

After a bit of recovery, during Nyanta's briefing to the guildmasters on the ways of the foxtails, Tetora muttered, "Oracle, is it?"

"What?" Naotsugu asked him.

Tetora looked up. "Oh, it's just...that's what I was being for her. It feels just a bit...odd, actually." Yakori looked over and gave him a look. He looked back. "And you had to do it constantly for how many months?"

Yakori sighed and shook her head. "She took over so often until she wasn't allowed to that I just let her have it. I was so tired it was easier that way. I did get to watch, though. That was rather entertaining."

Tetora got a sour look. "I'm sure interfering was entertaining to you as well. I for one am glad you won't get to do _that_ any more." The others nodded complete agreement.

"I still don't know how you all knew when I was," she said with a bit of a pout. "I tried hard to stay in character." They didn't answer, just giving her sideways looks that said she'd likely never understand it. Her ear twitched in the direction of her gaze and they turned to see the foxtail delegation arriving in the field.

"Shall we?" Shiroe said, getting the group of leaders moving. He adjusted his glasses, settling himself for another negotiation. The other guildmasters also walked forward to greet the foxtail village elders and their guards, pleasant looks on all their faces. They'd had years of practice now with the People of the Land, and Nyanta to handle the specifics. This next skirmish would be over quickly and they could get on with the beginning of the next raid.


	42. Bosses: Indicus and Mizufa

Calasin looked up at the tall wall. This Adventurer city was both more elegant than Akiba, and at the same time more dark and sinister. He didn't like Minami. He wasn't sure if the atmosphere was natural to the city because of the flavor from before or because of what it had become under Nureha and Indicus. They were the same atmosphere, actually, but it had become even worse over the last year. He wished for a moment he could have had Marielle with him. They were going to need a bright cheerleader to get moving forward in this place. He could understand why Shiroe hadn't asked her, though. This place was depressing enough to ruin even the sunny flower of Akiba.

Personally, Calasin would have sent the caravan to intercept the forces of Nakalnad before they reached Akiba. It was obvious Shiroe's group was going to meet the caravan here. He wasn't sure he could see quite clearly what Shiroe's reasoning was for leaving their backs wide open. But, then, it was his job in this sort of battle to be a businessman and understand money, so...that's what he was here to do.

At the moment, that meant figuring out how to bribe the gate guards to let them in without being imprisoned. There were still two other groups waiting to get in before him, so he had time to figure it out, he supposed. As he watched, the current group was pulled off to the side, with shouting of outrage and bullying by guards. That group seemed to be made up of mostly fighter types that weren't being let back in. He looked at his current companion who was a wolf-fang he used on trips like this to hear the fine details he couldn't catch.

"There's been enough unrest lately they're only letting so many back in the gate in a given day. That group arrived too late. They're complaining because they couldn't get in yesterday either."

"It's only just past two hours past dawn!" Calasin said, aghast.

The wolf-fang shrugged. "So they argued. They're claiming that the city isn't letting _any_ warrior or fighter types in."

Calasin looked at the next group up, that was now being searched by the guards. "Really," he said miserably, "when an Adventurer city has to search every person going in and out. They've really fallen hard, haven't they?" The wolf-fang didn't bother to answer.

A guard was coming their way - probably a preliminary since they were a large group with twelve wagons and seventy-two people. Twenty-four were obvious guards and he had four "staff" per wagon, two to drive and two to guard in the back, or six people per wagon. It wasn't too uncommon a ratio for traveling through the wild. It meant that each wagon could peel off and defend itself as it's own party if necessary. Twelve was the number that was perhaps unreasonable. Most caravans were two to a maximum of six wagons, and that was pushing it.

The wolf-fang leaned over, "The other group is being refused for there not being enough city resources to manage them being added to it."

Calasin calculated rapidly, putting on his business smile as the guard reached them. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully. "I'm here with a delivery for Shopping District 8's shops. I got a call that they were running low quite quickly, so we've brought everything we had that was available. I was given to understand that food supplies and basic commodities were in highest demand. Can you tell me if I got that right?" He kept his look open.

The man went from looking grumpy and mean to looking hungry and a little hopeful. Calasin "reached" for an apple and showed it to him. "We've got lots of fruits and vegetables and other basics. The restauranteurs were saying they were hardest hit, so I've brought what ingredients we had." He held it until the man was almost drooling then looked at it like he'd just remembered he was holding it. "Oh. This is an extra. Do you want it?" he asked casually and tossed it to him.

The man grabbed it out of the air and it disappeared. "I'll have to search the wagons," he growled.

Calasin waved his hand. "Of course. The wagon guards will be happy to help you." He was glad he'd done simple boxes this trip. He immediately transferred out the contents of the first wagon into his guild list and put the food in the guild list into the wagon. He did the same for the second wagon, then waited for the guard to get finished with the first wagon. He traded the contents of the third wagon with the first wagon and continued to leapfrog the wagons until the man came back content after the fifth one. Calasin then made the eleventh and twelfth wagons to have only produce in them, knowing they were going to not only be checked on the way in, but looted. He'd let the guards loot them, then make them empty for the rest of the trip. He didn't need to lose _too_ much inventory.

The guard returned. "You can take the inventory in and unload, but then your men need to come outside for the night."

Calasin frowned. "My store has enough rooms above it to house everyone. We'll keep curfew. I've brought enough food to feed my own, too. No sense bringing saleable product only to feed it to people I have to pay anyway."

The guard waffled. "You've storage for the wagons and horses?"

Calasin waved a hand dismissively. "Summonables, and the wagons will fit in the warehouse."

The guard nodded. "Follow after me." He took off at a trot towards the gate. Calasin's driver, the wolf-fang, got the wagon going. The guard was talking to the others at the gate and they moved aside to let the caravan pass.

As they drove into and through town, the wolf-fang said quietly, "Feels like a refugee camp, Susukino, and hell all rolled into one. You'd think they never crawled out of the aftermath of the cataclysm."

"Raised their heads, then sank right back into it again," Calasin agreed. He looked back along the caravan to check. They were getting dark looks, or hungry looks, from the people around them and the guards were having to chase off hungry People of the Land children. On the party chat he said, "Toss out tokens of fruit to the kids. We want them to be glad we're here, not resentful." He activated the spell that made the store name glow on the sides of the covers of the wagons. "Once we're in the warehouse, I want one from each wagon that's in my guild out in the streets. How much are they charging for food, particularly for the People of the Land? They appear the most hungry. Also find out what the current rate the Ten-Seat Council is charging for the passes these days and it's rate of increase for the last two months. I don't have the data for the last two weeks." He looked at his companion. "I'm betting inflation just hit the log of the curve a little bit ago."

He got a nod of agreement. "This looks like what happened in Russia at the time of the Bolsheviks...or Germany right after the war."

He raised an eyebrow. "History nut?"

The ears of the wolf-fang flicked in embarrassment. "Yeah," he admitted a bit reluctantly.

"It's good to understand history from the economic viewpoint as well," Calasin said calmly.

They arrived and pulled the wagons into the warehouse. Calasin set the twenty-four guards to guarding the exterior of the building. Some of those looks on the way in had said they might be the next raid zone, if they weren't careful. Of course, with the guild tag of Knights of the Black Sword, they wouldn't be just walked over. "Look scary in the back half, just watchful up front," he instructed them. They nodded. They'd all seen it. He got the rest to unloading the empty boxes and setting them up in one corner of the warehouse. That sale was going to have to wait until the people of the city were ready to spend extra cash. What was Shiroe thinking? This place needed food and revit- ...-alizing... _Oh_.

Calasin actually sat down on the floor and put his head in his hands, clutching his hat. Shiroe had moved on Minami because it was about to die, and he couldn't stand by and watch it happen. The same as the Master Strategist couldn't stand by and watch Akiba tear itself apart in the early months after the cataclysm - when they'd all been brought here surprisingly from Earth.

He pulled up the party chat again, added the local guild, and quietly said, "Stay in the building. When the chaos starts, the guards should come inside and defend. We'll all defend, but don't attack if you can help it. The city's going to die and we're here to help it climb back up from the darkness, so we need to stay standing even if the rest of the block burns. You can rescue, if it's at all possible, as long as we don't go down. I expect to hear from either Shiroe or a city contact as to what we're to do after the chaos."

"Captains, set up your shifts now. We need people sleeping on rotations immediately. We'll hold off on putting out product in the storefront as much as possible for now. Give the excuse that the Ten-Seat Council has frozen the sale of most of the product until they can determine how much they're going to take. It will fuel the fire, but we're probably supposed to." He gripped his hat tightly in both of his hands. He wanted to cry. It was the absolute worst case scenario a city could be in: it's utter collapse due to erroneous political and financial thinking.

Five people showed up around him. "Come on, Calasin. That means you're the boss of this raid zone. You've got everything they want as your treasures, even if it doesn't show up on the drop. You're going up and central."

Calasin stared at them for a moment, then nodded mutely and rose to go up four flights of stairs and into a central room. Four went into the room with him and one stood outside on the door. They were all D.D.D. He assumed the rest of D.D.D. would be spread out on that floor and the next one up and down as well. He left behind one box of fruit and one box of vegetables for his store staff to put out in the store front. And here he'd been thinking they were going to go out and fight. Instead, they'd become the monsters. He sincerely hoped and prayed they'd get rescued before the reverse dungeon became a reality, and that they weren't meant to be a diversion. That would just be cruel.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mister Calasin." It was forty-five minutes later.

It was his store manager. "Yes?"

"A delegation from the Ten-Seat Council has arrived. It's the Seventh Seat councilor, Kazuhiko himself. And he's got a detail of his guards around the store also."

Calasin sat upright. "We can't refuse him. Hang on." He looked at the guards in the room. "It's the Chief of Police himself. He's added reinforcements around the building, but I don't know if he's here to commandeer or help. I can't refuse. Do we go down or bring him here?"

"Where's your office?"

"Second floor."

"We'll take you there."

He nodded. "Take him to the office waiting room. I'll meet him in the office."

"Yes, sir." The chat cut.

Calasin stood and went directly there as quickly as he could, his guard detail sticking closely to him. He went in the side door into the office, sat behind his desk and nodded at the guard that had moved to the door. The rest were around the room in strategic locations. D.D.D. trained just for things like this, though he'd never understood why. They trained for some of the oddest situations, really. But, then, they had the manpower to keep busy and Rieze was an interesting woman. Some speculated she was a spy in real life - or at least that was her favorite genre.

Kazuhiko strode into the room, followed by one guard. Calasin was in the middle of rising when he realized he recognized the face of the guard and froze. He blinked, then turned his attention back to Kazuhiko. "It is a pleasure to greet the Seventh Chair. What may I do for you?" he asked politely, keeping as much of a poker face as possible.

"The Ten-Seat Council requires forty-percent of what you've brought as a tax for your doing business in Minami."

Calasin swallowed. "Well, I'm not sure what the Ten-Seat Council would do with that many empty boxes and ovens and pots and pans, but okay, we might be able to help with that."

Kazuhiko scowled at him. "The guards say you've brought food."

"And you've already searched my warehouse."

"The guards and word on the street say you were passing out fruits as you came."

"Yes, I asked the caravan support to give up some from their pockets if they had any extra. It's bad business to turn customers away, you know. The kids wanted food so we tried with what we had. I've already had my staff put out what we did bring. I didn't know about the tax at the time, so I don't know if there's enough left. We could supplement with an extra pot or two, or maybe a few boxes." He tried to look apologetic.

"It's clean and set," HackerM1 said quietly from behind Kazuhiko.

Kazuhiko waved his hand at Calasin. "Sit down." Calasin sat. Kazuhiko took the most comfortable chair across from him with a sigh, the scowl wiping away to be replaced by a tired, worried look. Calasin blinked and waited. "What we just said was recorded. From here until just before we leave will be secret. I'll have to leave you under at least house arrest when I go for the sake of appearances, but you're already expecting that I see," he looked around at the guards in the room.

Calasin nodded. "I've already told everyone to come inside and guard only when the chaos hits. When is it expected?"

Kazuhiko shook his head. "I'm surprised it hasn't already, honestly."

HackerM1 moved to stand closer to the desk. "It's just waiting on this little meeting," his voice said lightly. Kazuhiko whipped his head to look at HackerM1 piercingly. Calasin looked at HackerM1 as well. It was his voice, but it didn't sound like him. A calm smile was on HackerM1's face. That wasn't HackerM1's look either.

Kazuhiko's eyes narrowed. "...Purrcy?"

Calasin froze. She was known here?

HackerM1 nodded, then bowed to Kazuhiko. HackerM1 turned and bowed to Calasin as well. "Calasin. Pleasure to greet you again. Thank you for coming."

"How is it possible?" Kazuhiko asked the question Calasin was asking.

"I've been given the order," HackerM1 said calmly. "With Calasin here, and the three of us, we can now discuss the internal strategy. I'm very good with coming up with a plan, but Shiroe distrusts solos still, so I should make sure it's workable with you three first, though Michael counts as a solo, too, really."

"He's still here?" Kazuhiko asked.

HackerM1 nodded. "As an observer, since he's letting me do the talking."

Calasin was having a little trouble keeping up. All he could figure was it was because they were both Hackers. He'd have to go with that. "Why me?"

HackerM1 looked at him and now he could see the eyes were Purrcy's golden ones. "Because Socialists should always be taken down by good Capitalists and the people revitalized the correct way. I want to make sure we're on the same page there before I begin the revolution. It will be too chaotic after it's started to come find you again."

"...Oh." Calasin wasn't seeing it.

"May I sit?" Purrcy asked of Kazuhiko through HackerM1. The man nodded and Purrcy sat HackerM1 down. "It helps to not have to control too many things at once and I'm going to be thinking hard and fast. We don't really have much time. Stop me if I get going too fast."

Calasin rolled his eyes slightly and sat up. He knew how fast she could go. He nodded he was ready. She took a deep breath. "Don't give away anything for free. Absolute number one rule. They have to pay something, even the children. A gold button, a left shoe, two hours of labor, clean the bathroom on the fourth floor, anything. As soon as something is free you've taken the value of the person from them, not the value of the item. Promise it. Now."

Calasin nodded. Kazuhiko relaxed and nearly cried. Calasin blinked at him. "It's that bad?"

"For that very reason," Kazuhiko said grimly. Calasin turned slowly back to Purrcy-HackerM1.

"You already have learned, I'm sure, what the going rate is for produce and other things. Ignore it. Charge what you'd charge in Akiba, then take what they can give that you feel is equivalent. Their perceptions are skewed and you need to teach them what reality outside this city is. Eventually you'll be able to return the city to it's own normal, but that isn't now."

"Only trust your own people until the people of the city learn to trust themselves again, but do what you can to help them learn it. Have your people help them relearn it and keep yourself hard if you have to. You know yourself best. When they are learning it, start hiring them. You'll have to foot the initial bill, and maybe use product to pay them with, but if no one's earning income no one can buy anything. Akiba has such a high demand for simple supply that your wagons can go back full from the efforts of the people of Minami and Minami's shops will still be full."

"Kazuhiko, what's the status of Nakalnad's army? Not location - how are the soldiers doing?"

"Starving like everyone else. It's how the Council is keeping him under control." The answer came back immediately.

HackerM1 nodded and Purrcy continued. "There are two possibilities. One is that they will attack Akiba and be fed and come home ready to take over the city. Welcome them home with open arms and let them know the revolution's happened and they are needed to bring in high level supply items and will be paid handsomely for them, but they aren't going to get anything for free any more, from the top down. If they've decided that Akiba is a trap, they will come here first. Do the same thing, but feed them first. They'll have the gold on them from the raid, so they can pay. If Nakalnad took all the gold for himself, charge him the full bill, or whatever ratio it looks like he kept. Re-teach him his proper responsibility as a guildmaster. His guild members will leave him if he can't learn it properly."

"Whatever a person gains by their own efforts is theirs to keep, spend, or throw in the street. That goes for the government as well. If you aren't providing a service you don't get paid for it, and the effort to costs need to be balanced. Don't say it isn't worth anything, but don't over-charge. Use proper economics of supply and demand to find the right prices of things, including services. It will take time to normalize."

"The People of the Land, from the top down, get the same treatment as the Adventurers. Honor, fees charged, wages, jobs farmed out, everything. If they don't like it, they can form their own governing body and create a treaty the Adventurers do like. Make the city a free zone, though, so that if the Senate decides to punish to keep power, like has already been happening, the Senate gets tossed out, not the people they've forgotten they are the guardians of. I expect the people will make sure they straighten up themselves. Don't get involved in their politics. Protect your own and keep it a free zone. Leave it at that. Shiroe will set the rules. See they are followed."

"Did I leave anything out, Michael?" she asked. She was silent for a bit, they presumed listening to HackerM1. "Oh, protect the Cathedral at all costs. If nothing else rallies the Adventurers to work together, do that. If the chasm between the People of the Land and the Adventurers is too big, they will tear it down as soon as they can. We don't know how to rebuild them. Westlande will become People of the Land territory only if it comes down." She sighed. "Idiots." It was muttered. Kazuhiko could only nod in agreement.

"I'm going to tear down both sides equally, as best I can, so that it can be a revolution of both Adventurers and People of the Land. Please try to get rumor and word in the street going that they have to work together to make the needed reforms. If the split is encouraged we might not make it. That's the one linchpin I can't control. If a public apology from the Adventurers to the People of the Land is needed to hold things together, don't hesitate to give it, but don't cave to unreasonable demands, either. As much as we honor ourselves is how much honor we can give. Be the first to be the most honorable."

A hand rubbed HackerM1's forehead. "I'll help out where I can after the fall, but Shiroe will probably carry most of it. That's his job after all." She looked at Calasin and her own look was kind. "He's bringing the rest of the ones needed to get Minami back on it's feet. You won't be alone. Work together for the good of all, but also for the strength of all." She looked at Kazuhiko. "Be wise."

They both nodded, promising it. She took one more deep breath. "Then...here is what I plan. Tell me where I'm not thinking clearly."

-:-:-:-:-

"Michael."

"...Yes, Purrcy?"

"Shiroe thinks you're siding with Nakalnad and the army and going for a military leadership of Minami."

"...Why?"

"Because it's the third choice that appears to have the strongest possibility of maintaining control and you're military."

"When would I have had time to talk to Nakalnad?"

"Who knows? I haven't ridden with you before today."

"You can read the feeds."

Purrcy laughed a little. "And when would I have had time to do that, Michael? You know where I've been the whole time."

"...No. Not when you were in the ring. Not until they sent the rings to collect the other three Adventurer souls."

"You couldn't tell, Michael?" she sounded sad. He didn't answer. "I'm sorry, Michael."

"Why? Did you know?"

"Michael...," she went silent. Finally she said, since he was being just as stubborn, "If you side with the military might I will leave you, Michael. You'll have to do it yourself." He gave an angry snort. "No. You don't understand, Michael. It's because I have a new owner, remember? That owner won't let me stay, nor help you any longer. They know you and are watching you. And they know me. They will expressly forbid it."

"Purrcy...why do you let me choose? You're capable of making me take a side. Even though you're warning me you won't or can't help which could be considered manipulation... Even though you have the power to force it... You tease me, cajole, wheedle, everything under the sun, but you don't force it...and you don't ask."

He could hear her purring, a comforting sound. "Michael. I like you. I really do. I would love to have you exactly where you would be if Akiba won. That would be so much fun. But, Michael...why do I hate the Puppet Master?"

"Because she's taken your freedom."

"No. My freedom was taken from me when I became a Summonable."

Michael considered it longer. "Because she took your body from you?"

"That makes me angry, but I'm managing. Thank you for taking a turn."

Michael finally shook his head. "Why, Hahaue?"

"Because she believes that her will is the most important, disregarding the will and desires of all others. Our right to be and choose what we each will be for ourselves, or do with our lives, to live or fall, is - to me - inviolable, Michael. I will not take that from you. I would rather cherish it. I chose to become Summonable for the creatures of Yamato, and even all of Theldesia if I could be, so to lose the freedom, though it was a surprising outcome, was still my choice."

"Everything she has done, or has made me do, has not been my choice, and even worse has taken the choice away from others. In my world, she is incompatible. Even still, she has her right to choose. She has chosen to bring evil to an entire city and nearly an entire region. I can't say any longer that it is only my will to remove her. It's the will of many, and there's a point that such things can't be left. The loss of the Cathedral is next. Can we allow that? At what point do we draw the line? Perhaps it's arbitrary, perhaps even wrong, but I'm drawing that line now because I've been asked to."

"You, Michael, must choose soon. I won't ask what that choice is, and I won't force you to make it. When you're ready, or have finally made it, then you'll choose to let me know and that is soon enough."

"...Even if I betray you."

"Even if, Michael. Even if. ...It isn't as if I haven't put contingency plans in place, after all." The last was said with a bit of a smile.

Michael looked up at the green light above the hallway by the cell. "Well...that's true. You aren't stupid."

"Thank you. Good hunting."

"You too." She was gone, back into KR's body behind him. He still didn't understand her, really he didn't. If it had been him he would have never allowed himself to walk back in here and most assuredly never have gotten into that body that was still being tortured. What was he missing?

-:-:-:-:-

Megumi of the Knights of the Black Sword looked up. A large video feed screen had come to life. They didn't have their like in Akiba, but they certainly had in Tokyo. Somehow...while surprising for Yamato...it wasn't surprising for Minami. They had created the first land train and many other high technology recreations made by utilizing magic as if it were science or electricity. People all over the city were turning to look up at the screens that were coming to life.

First there was a picture of what looked like a block of cells along one side of a hallway. At the far end was a door. It was like looking at the scene from a security camera. The door opened and a maid and a female fighter dressed like a Guardian walked through the door. Mutters went through the watching crowd near her - a few hisses and some cursing. "How far have we come, Mizufa?" the maid asked.

"I've asked you to come, Indicus, because we think we've discovered the way to make sure Adventurers can't go home."

"Oh? Well, then I'd be happy to see it."

Megumi felt her blood run chill. "Boss, it's started. If you can, get to where you can see a vid screen. It's already horrible."

The two women were walking down the hallway. They stopped at a cell and the warrior woman, Mizufa - the number four person in Minami and a Person of the Land, motioned to a guard. The guard opened a cell and pulled out a person, carefully hefting him over his shoulder.

"Is that the 1HP prison?" someone nearby asked a fellow standing next to them.

"It'd have to be if they're experimenting on Adventurers," came the reply that was disjointed from the brain of the speaker. They were all having troubles processing what they were seeing.

Mizufa walked to a door across the hall from the cell and unlocked it, allowing the others to enter and holding it open until the guard had walked back out. As the door closed behind her, there was video fuzz for a second, then the screen showed the interior of the room. The Adventurer had been placed on a black stone table in the middle of the room. There was a thin man standing in the room with the two women. He was rising from a bow. "Thank you for coming, President Indicus, Prime Minister Mizufa."

"President? Prime Minister?" the query was going around the street.

"Please observe. I will explain as I go." His voice was waspish and irritating to listen to.

"Jared Gan?" someone else on the street wondered.

"My assistant will be casting the restrain spells to hold the psyche in the room. We have a continuously running spell so you can see psyche when it separates from the anima, so you should be able to see what we're doing as well." Megumi looked at the assistant. It was an Adventurer magic user. That assistant cast a spell and it looked like a glass box had appeared around the person lying on the table. The box shimmered just enough to tell it was there. "I've created a spell that cuts the psyche off from wherever it wants to go when it leaves the body. If you would please?"

Mizufa stepped forward and cut the head off the man on the table with her sword, no emotion on her face, but her eyes blazing. Indicus made no move to stop her and showed no concern for the act. As the bubbles began to rise, they were caught up inside the box until they formed the shape of a person, though it was indistinct. "As you can see, the psyche wants to go a specific direction and will continue to attempt to press forward in that direction for as long as we have it restrained. If we let it go, it will eventually return to the anima in the Cathedral. We have also restrained the anima, as you can see." It was true, the body wasn't disintegrating into bubbles at all.

"When I cast my spell, observe what happens to the psyche." He cast a spell and there was a glow on the other side of the barrier from the form of the spirit of the man. It suddenly fell back as if a tether had been cut. Then it floated randomly around the box it was trapped in. "The psyche has been disconnected from the place Adventurers go after they are killed in battle. We have determined after several experiments that these spirits remain here on the earth, unable to rise and return. Even if we let the anima disburse, the two will not recombine. There will be no Cathedral resurrection."

There was stunned silence all around Megumi.

"What have you been doing with the bodies, then?" Indicus asked.

"Well, they disburse, so nothing. But, it isn't very useful for staying here if you only stay as wandering spirits, so we've also been experimenting with an intermediate Cathedral, if you will, so that the psyche and the anima recombine here without going to the memory location and back again. So far, we've only found a spell that pushes the psyche into the anima. We can restrain the two together, but we can't force the psyche to reanimate the anima yet." He waved at his assistant and the box around the spirit contracted until it had to hover directly over the body. With another spell, the spirit was turned horizontally then pushed back down to overlap with the body.

The thin man cast a healing spell on the two, then a resurrection spell and another healing spell. "As you can see, this allows for the two to combine and the body, the anima, to remain cohesive, but it doesn't bring them back to life. Our current experimentation is focused on that issue." He looked at the two women expectantly.

Indicus looked up. "What about the Vengeful Spirits? You aren't letting them wander around any more are you?"

The thin man shook his head. "No. Now that we can see our work as we do it, when we're done - since each pairing only lasts in a usable format for about ten minutes - we dissipate the psyche and allow the anima to dissipate as well. This seems to prevent them from staying cohesive enough to 'haunt' the facility, as it were." Indicus made a motion with her hand and the assistant let the anima and psyche separate. The researcher cast a spell and the glowing figure burst into many sparkling lights. The assistant released his spell and bubbles began to rise from the physical form.

"What happens if you cast resurrection now?" Indicus asked. The thin man did. There was no reaction at all and the body continued to disappear into bubbles until it was gone.

"It's very handy to not have any evidence to get rid of, isn't it," Mizufa said. Indicus gave a simple nod.

"Keep working on it," Indicus said coolly. The two women turned and walked out of the room as the men bowed to them.

The screen changed again. This time the scene was of an office. Kazuhiko, who had visited the shop that morning, was sitting at the desk, his hands clasped in front of him. "Citizens of Minami. What you have just seen is a recording that one of our operatives went to great expense of life and limb to obtain. I have a list of at least twenty Adventurers who have gone missing with no record. Only in that location have I been able to find an answer to what is going on."

"This is a crime against all citizens of our city, even of Yamato and all of Theldesia. Not one of the experimental subjects has requested to participate and many have been detained illegally. While there may be some Adventurers who wish to stay on Theldesia, the preponderance of them wish to return home. The fact that the research is meant to keep us here is extremely disturbing. At the very least we Adventurers should have the right to say if we will stay or go, and certainly to volunteer for such experimentation that makes us dead in a way we can't understand."

"The souls of those who were not disbursed are still wandering around in that building and in the city. Subjecting Adventurers to living a state of a ghost is also a crime. As it is my responsibility to bring to justice any and all who are corrupt, I am placing both Indicus and Mizufa under arrest for high crimes against Adventurers of Minami."

Kazuhiko put his hand to his ear. Looking up he said, "We have received word that there is live feed we should patch through." He nodded at someone and the screen changed again.

It was the same angle as the first recording they'd seen of the full hallway, and it showed Mizufa just closing the hallway door behind her and locking it. Indicus was already down the hall and a sudden spell-colored fuzz took out the camera. The video screen blinked and a new feed came on the screen showing a cell with a guard in front of it. "What is it, Lady Indicus?" he was asking.

"Get out of my way," she hissed. "This will stop now!"

"I'm sorry. Lord KR has given instructions his body is not to be touched or disturbed while he is in Soul Possession, and you personally promised you would see to his safety," the guard respectfully said.

"He has been possessed by a demon. I will cast it out and get rid of it." Indicus insisted.

"There are no demons, Lady Indicus, and Lord KR would have returned immediately if he had accidentally transferred with one. I cannot let you pass." The guard remained firm.

"Let us in, guard," Mizufa threateningly pulled her sword. People in the street gasped, then cried out.

"Look!" "It is KR!" Megumi looked into the cell on the screen. A smaller, thin man was standing just inside the bars of the cell. She looked at his status. The man KR was an Adventurer and was at 1HP. The guard standing on his cell was a Person of the Land.

"What do you want, Indicus?" KR asked, folding his arms. "Are you going to go back on your promise to protect me? Am I going to be the next experiment already?"

"You aren't KR. KR's already been locked away," Indicus spat. KR's eyebrow raised. Mizufa put out a warning hand, but the guard's eyes were narrowed in anger now, though he didn't move just yet.

"If I'm not KR, then who am I?"

"You are Purrcy, the Adventurer who won't leave me alone, though I've killed you over and over and over again!" Indicus' voice rose with each word in extreme frustration.

"If that is who I am, what use is it to kill me again? And if I am KR, and I'm locked away somewhere, won't I just come back to the Cathedral?"

"Not if I cut you off, too," Indicus said with venom.

KR tipped his head and considered Indicus. "Are you afraid? Or is it that you are haunted and cursed? I have no desire to help the one who is already a traitor. See to yourself."

"You already know too much," Mizufa said quietly and her sword thrust out and through the bars into the cell piercing KR. As his body sparkled and flowed away, the guard turned on Indicus and interrupted her spell just long enough that the body managed to get away without being contained or harmed, nor did a cutting spell seem to go off. Mizufa's sword was headed his way next, but the guard blocked it and sent his own blow towards her. The sword fight in the cramped quarters continued, and most eyes were on it. General Mizufa was known as the strongest general in the west and could almost be considered an equal to a mid-level Adventurer. It looked like both her armor and her sword had permanent buffs to them as well. The guard was hard pressed to keep up with her.

There began to be a glow come from behind that battle until everyone watching could see the outline of a figure, like the psyche that had been kept caged in the vid feed at the beginning. Indicus cowered back, but Mizufa pressed the guard all the harder. Suddenly the guard glowed with a protective spell, followed by his sword glowing with a support spell. That was followed by a red cursing support spell on Mizufa and her blows came slower and weaker.

Indicus was standing in shock. "How - how...Purrcy! How can you be casting magic!?" she screamed. The guard pressed Mizufa harder. "You have no HP! You can't be casting down here!" Indicus raised her hand but so did the glowing figure and a field of protection appeared in front of the form. Indicus screamed in frustration, then stood still, a look of concentration on her face. The guard feinted and turned to slice at Mizufa's lower leg, then turned a backhand to her head. Just as Mizufa fell unconscious to the ground, there was a flash of light.

When the screen cleared again, there was no Indicus. Only the glow of the spirit she had called Purrcy and the guard, wiping his sweating brow. "Wh-what happened to her?" he asked. "Did her spell rebound?" He turned to look into the cell, but the spirit was gone. He unlocked the cell, dragged Mizufa in, then locked it behind him and ran down the hall. They could hear the keys turning in the lock, then the door slamming closed behind him. The video feed returned to Kazuhiko's office.

"Yes, we saw it. ...A team of healers is on the way down for Mizufa. Wait at the stairwell. You're the only one with clearance to let them in. They'll heal you up, too. Good job, and thank you." Kazuhiko paused, then said, "Cathedral, has KR shown up yet?" He visibly relaxed. "Good. Keep your eye out for Indicus. She was apparently hit by a rebound spell that took her out, too. When she arrives, arrest her immediately and bring her to the station."

Kazuhiko looked back at the camera, or whatever they were using as the magical equivalent. "Councilman KR has been resurrected safely. We'll see to it that Indicus and Mizufa are brought to proper justice. Please be assured that the Ten-Seat Council will be convening immediately to discuss this issue and how to proceed forward. Please be calm and patient. We'll inform you of the decision of the Council as soon as we can. I repeat, please remain calm."

"What's it looking like out there, Megumi?" Calasin said quietly in her ear.

She looked around. "People are still in a daze at the moment."

"Everyone, get inside, now. Barrier spells on all the doors and windows and hold them until the rioters have moved out of this neighborhood."

"You really think it's going to happen?" another one asked.

"They're hungry, angry, and the leadership just took a heavy blow. What do you think?"

Megumi made sure all of the guards on the front were inside and looked around one more time. People were starting to come out of their dazes and were looking around at each other. Some were looking a bit panicked, but more than one began to get very calculating looks on their faces. She slipped inside before they could lay eyes on her. "They're getting the idea now," she said calmly. "Cast on the front." The entire storefront glowed with protection spells for just a moment. She hoped the glow hadn't looked like an invitation. "Stand ready to support. Non-combatants to the upper interior levels, please."

"Cast on the back. Ready support." "Cast on the side door. Ready support." "Standing guard on the roof." "Calasin's secure."

There was a pause of about three minutes. "Smoke and explosions sighted: central Government Building, Development zone." The reports of attacks on the buildings were first. It wasn't considered an in-city battle by the mobile armor if the violence was against a structure. "Full building shield sighted on the Cathedral." They breathed a little better but until the thing was over...who knew if it would stand or not? "The mobile armor's been pulled out to protect the Guild Hall." No surprise there. The Cunie would be protecting the bank. "Wonder if they'll have enough armor to arrest everyone once the fighting really breaks out?" "Or enough cells?"

"They'll lose the armor," it was Calasin again. "Kazuhiko said they've been keeping it secret from the People of the Land factions of the Ten-Seat Council they're almost all above level one hundred now, the armies and the police force. Apparently that's one of the reasons they're keeping fighting groups out of the city - both to prevent fights by the ones too high for the settings on the armor and to make them buff up even more for just this kind of day."

Megumi swallowed. "Did we bring enough to stand against them?"

"...I don't know," he answered quietly. "I'm hoping Machiavelli knew what he was doing."

"Incoming! Three gryphons...no seven... wait... ...Okay...three are going to set down on the roof. The rest are headed for protection positions. Five dragons and a gryphon over to the Cathedral, four drakes and two gryphons over to the Guild Hall. One gryphon and two rocs seem to be doing recon over the whole city. ...Guildmaster Shiroe's here."

"Damn," one of the warriors swore quietly. "Reinforcements from the air."

"Bring him down," ordered Calasin.

"We're on the way."

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta-san, tell me you've got Purrcy...please?!" Michael was frantic.

"Nyan, Michael. I've got her. Don't worry." Nyanta said calmly.

Michael let out a long breath and collapsed against the wall of the stairwell. "Indicus?"

A silent pause. "We'll talk later, Michael-kun, when there isn't so much chaos. We're in the air. Rest assured. All will be well."

"Okay, sorry." Michael closed his eyes, cutting the line. He was relieved to know Purrcy was okay. It was disturbing to not be able to know about Indicus. The medical team burst into the stairwell and he dashed down ahead of them to open the door. He had no idea how he was going to get them out. They weren't on the approved list for going out this door. "Only one goes in and he isn't coming out until we find the person who made the spell on this door to set him as an approval to come out.

All the team stopped short of the door and looked at each other. Finally one cast a healing spell on Michael. "Go get her and bring her out."

"No can do. She'll just beat us all up again. I got support then that I don't have this time."

"Take her swords," another one shrugged.

A third got into his personal list and selected a few items and handed them over. "Give her these and leave her in there."

Michael went with that option. "Stay here," he told them, then entered and walked down to her cell. He stripped her of her armor, her weapons, and her keys, then plied her with the potions. That put her up high enough she wasn't going to die any time soon - just be in some pain. He tossed the stuff he took off of her into the experiment room, making sure there weren't any experimenters in it at the moment, and added his own lock to the room so they couldn't get back in. Then he went and collected the rest of the prisoners and took them out carefully one by one.

At the third one, a healer looked up at him. "Wouldn't it be better to just kill them and let them resurrect?"

"Have you looked outside yet?" he asked darkly and headed back in for the next one. He pulled out twenty-one and all of the rescuers were tired by the end.

"How come you can get these out?"

"They've been forgotten," he said simply as if that explained it all. Obviously it didn't, and obviously he wasn't going to answer it further.

"Weren't they all criminals?"

"Only in the eyes of Indicus."

That got dark looks. He'd told them to only take each of them up to about half their total HP. That would get them walking, once their brains caught up to the fact their bodies could move again. He waited until they were sitting up at least. "Welcome back," he said to them. "The revolution has begun. Come up and get briefed by the Captain. He's got drinks and if you want it, food."

In a rather stumbling fashion, they all got up the stairs and into one of the larger briefing rooms. The healers ate with them, got back up to full MP themselves and gave the released prisoners one more round to get them up to full, then took off. They had other places to go work. The city was getting more violent already.

Michael stood up and walked to the front of the room. He took a deep breath, and switched to English. "I realize you probably all see me as the traitor, but I'd been looking for the lot of you for over a year. You guys took the last of the Minami slots and the system bumped me into Akiba. It took me over half a year to get back here and another to get trusted enough to be let into the basement. It's taken almost a year to get you free. You're free to walk out of here and join the chaos, but if you want to keep following your old Geezer, I've been assigned a job." He leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pockets and waited.

"Are you going to get us home?"

"If I can. I'm working on that. There's others working on it as well all over the world."

"You learned the language?"

"Yes, but where I want to take us, if you're coming, they've got a translation spell up over the whole city for the few like us that weren't on translators on the computers. It's almost like being back home...unlike this communist cesspool that they've come to clean up."

"How'd you get us out?"

He smiled. "Found us a den mother who's the worst sort of wild cat I've ever met."

"What's the job?"

"Get her body back and help her keep it."

Everyone blinked. He straightened up and looked at them soberly. "You were all about to be used as experimental subjects to learn how to keep us all here. She did get used as one and she's getting her revenge today, for the sake of everyone who took the fall so you guys could get out. Once this place is just stable enough, we're headed out to fix that mess up as well. There aren't slots for you to go down into the dungeon, but that will give you time to work your way up in levels and learn how to live in this place - your newest basic training. That way, by the time we've got her back and they're using the data to figure out how to get us home, you'll be ready to go to work as well."

"The current baseline is level ninety-seven or eight and most of the good ones are over one-hundred-one. Even I've still got work to do, but with all of us up and running, we can grind until we're there." He looked them over. "I also want to help her get her body back because we'll get the last two I didn't get assigned to the basement in time to save."

There was quiet for a while, the one said, bitterly, "You took the guild."

Michael shook his head. "I learned a skill to hide I hadn't. I wouldn't taint myself with this guild name. ...But yeah, I did guild. In Akiba, you're free to join and drop. It's worth it for now since it lets me keep in contact with the good guys here in town for the current job. When we get there, I'll drop it and we'll guild like we promised before we got dropped into this ocean. Nobody will bat an eye. You can forgive or hate, up to you, but I need to let the head honcho know what you're doing before he lets you walk."

They all looked at each other. "What's the fastest way out of town?" It was asked by the one who usually spoke for everyone when they needed to talk as a group through one person.

"Stay together and protect one building. Probably the only bastion of capitalism in town." He grinned grimly, "The department store."

"We could just hop the boat out of town," another said.

"Yeah, you could," he agreed. "Your maps won't work outside of town, so you'll be flying by the seat of your pants, but you could. You learn a lot that way. Right now, they're not sure the Cathedral is going to survive the coup, but you'll learn better that way. Den mother did it that way coming out of Susukino when going back was worse than death. She's the strongest person I know because of it. Took a half-year to get to Akiba from there and little more than a year later she was here being turned into dust. You can walk out the gate. If you make it to Akiba, come find me. I'll introduce you to her and you can compare notes. ...Oh. She's 'States, too." He shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the door. "I've got to go report. Give a holler when you've got an answer. We're across the hall."

He didn't look back. They needed time to think, like he'd needed it in Akiba. He'd had more info then than they did now, but it was all he could give them at this point. They had the right to choose, too...just like every other American did, and every Adventurer, too. He'd gotten them out, he'd get the last two out, he'd told them he hadn't abandoned them, and he'd get them all home if it was at all possible. If it wasn't, he'd beat up whoever was behind it. It didn't matter if they were with him or not, sleeping at 1HP for almost two years, or dead for all practical purposes. He was still going to do it.


	43. Skirmish at Akiba

Zeldus was yelling. It was not ever something he did. He was biting, cold, smooth, malevolent, not hot, cursing, and yelling. Yet at the moment he was being all the things he was not. "Kazuhiko, what in hell's name are you doing! Not only have you betrayed the Ten-Seat Council, you've set the city ablaze!"

"No, Zeldus. You, Indicus, and Mizufa have done it," Kazuhiko answered back calmly, but angrily. "I warned you repeatedly that your financial decisions were the push behind the discontent. They wouldn't have bothered rioting at all if it weren't for that. Just to show the corruption in the Council and they would have waited for us to meet and correct it."

"You're the one to choose to make it come out now!" Zeldus fumed.

"Are you saying you already knew about it beforehand, Zeldus?" Kazuhiko said coolly. "Have you been financing the experiments? I think we'll need to confiscate the books to confirm your part in the deed."

Zeldus was suddenly very quiet. "You've gone too far, Kazuhiko."

"...No, Zeldus. Killing Adventurers, experimenting on them without permission, that is going too far. If you're supporting them then you are also under arrest. Please give yourself up without a struggle until we're able to confirm your involvement." Five Adventurers from Miburo, all over level one hundred closed in on Zeldus, weapons drawn. A restraint spell went off and the books were taken off his desk by another.

Zeldus' guards had already been detained by the tank that was standing in front of Zeldus' desk, though a few had tried to attack anyway and had gone down twice as fast as they needed to. The Miburo guards carted Zeldus down the stairs and out of the room. There was a possibility Zeldus' guild would get him free before they made it out of the government building, but it wasn't a sure thing.

"The Princess is not in her rooms and the maids confirm she hasn't been present for over two months," the report came in from another set of Miburo guild members.

"Thank you," Kazuhiko said quietly. He really was finding that news the most disturbing. Nureha had been the driving force to consolidate the entirety of the city, Council, and region. For her to be gone meant they really would be starting over from scratch, almost surely. Maybe it wouldn't be bad if it meant they could start out without being cankered from the beginning, but keeping the loyalty of the various members and factions of the city would be difficult.

Kazuhiko took inventory from the top of the steps of the Council room. First Seat - Nureha: missing, perhaps for good. Second Seat - Indicus: also still missing, not a good sign. If it had been a rebound spell meant to kill or cut off Purrcy, she might have just killed herself. That would be the official word if she didn't show. Third Seat - Zeldus: just being carted off under suspicion. The books would hold something they could use against him even if he couldn't be implicated in the same scheme. Fourth Seat - Mizufa: in prison and likely to be executed. The treaty with the Senate would have to be reconsidered and the Senate itself was already likely scrambling to figure out how to apologize or disavow her. Who knew what would happen with her sub-army. They might try to win her freedom, too, and become vigilante. They wouldn't let them get to her, but other than that, the Senate would have to figure out how to deal with them.

Fifth Seat - Nakalnad: currently out of the city on a raid mission for Indicus. Either they'd been sent to attack someone, or Nakalnad had gotten wind of the traitorous actions and become dangerous to Indicus. Kazuhiko wasn't sure. He'd have to be confronted outside the city gates, probably, to determine his standing. If he could be counted on, his guild would go a long way towards keeping the peace - if they didn't try to become the next Plant Hwyaden. He'd have to be well set up before they got back, most likely. Sixth Seat - Quon. Kazuhiko looked at him. He was not doing well at all. He was still rubbing the back of his head and looking miserable.

"Quon, will you sit quietly for now? I'm really hoping I don't have to arrest you, too," Kazuhiko said.

Quon sat up and looked at him in alarm. "No...no. I'll stay put. I've had such bad headaches, I haven't done anything but sleep the last week, really. Before that...well...okay, they did try to get me to do a few things for them, but I weaseled out of it. Really...you know as well as I do I've never belonged on the Council to begin with. If you want a resignation, I'll happily supply one."

Kazuhiko nodded. "If you want to give me one, I'll take it and let you retire." Quon pulled out paper and pen and got to work. He looked like he only wanted to get back to bed...if he could make it there safely. "Quon, if it's okay, I'll go ahead and see you're escorted to the station for safety's sake. I'm afraid they'll come headhunting. We'll give you a quiet cell with a bed until it all blows over and I can get the word out you've resigned. Will you take the protection?" Quon's face was scrunched up, trying to think through his pain. He finally nodded, then went back to writing.

Kazuhiko's gaze continued on down the stairs. Seventh Seat was his. He was staying for now. He had to in order to continue to protect Minami and everyone in it, now and for the near future at least. He wouldn't mind a bit of a vacation later. The last two years had been difficult. It looked like he at least had some support and help coming from Akiba, a blessing that might save them. Eighth Seat - Jared Gan, Wizard of Miral Lake. He was looking up at Kazuhiko, his cruel eyes glittering. "Are you going to go against me?" Jared asked. "I was in that vid feed, too."

"Yes, you were, and no, I'm not. Someone else is." Kazuhiko said calmly. "I'm a Samurai, not a Sorcerer. You may stay there for now." Jared was actually surprised. "You're also a Person of the Land. We're just cleaning up the Adventurers for now, except Mizufa who struck an Adventurer on screen - twice. So far, most Adventurers will believe you were just following orders, even if you and I know better." Jared sat back and folded his arms as if he still wasn't sure he believed Kazuhiko.

Kazuhiko's eyes moved on down the steps. Ninth Seat - Loriel Dawn. Leader of the imperial guards, the Council nod to the royal family of the region, the House of Saimiya. They had ruled, with the Senate, all of Western Yamato until the Adventurers had come and Nureha and Plant Hwyaden had taken over. They were a force to be reckoned with because the People of the Land were the greatest number of people in the area. Other than that...

That alliance had been because they followed Nureha. With her missing, it was start all over with a new treaty or at least understanding. It was a bit surprising they hadn't complained more bitterly before now. Kazuhiko sighed slightly. "Lord Loriel, if you would also please remain." Loriel raised an eyebrow, then bowed his head slightly.

Tenth Seat: KR. Still at the Cathedral and using his Summons to protect it. Even now he was precocious, but he was still mad about Purrcy so could probably be counted on for a while.

Three Adventurers left on the council. Two in absentia. There was a majority of the remaining Council present in the room, but weighted to People of the Land. Kazuhiko sat down in the Second Seat. "Not going to take First Seat?" Jared gave his usual kind of barb. "You've got the chance you know."

Kazuhiko gave him a bland look. "You really still don't understand Adventurers yet. The top five seats have held everyone down until now, but they didn't understand either, not really. They were just power hungry and went at it the wrong way. By rights, Lord Loriel should be out there with his forces to calm things down since it's the People of the Land that are going to cause the worst problems. They're the most angry and hungry, underneath it all. But you're not going until we've shown the Adventurers they can calm back down. Then you'll go out and tell the People of the Land what they need to know to calm down. If we can, we'll have things settled by tonight."

Loriel raised an eyebrow again. "And just what will I be telling them?"

"That from now on, they'll be treated with respect and honor, like any of us should be. Food will be theirs if they continue to want it enough to work for it, but the Adventurers now have to do the same. I'll tell _them_ that first. I'm sure there are other things you'll be told to tell them, but that's the start."

"You don't know?" Jared scoffed in disbelief. "You're not the mastermind behind this plot?"

"It's not a plot, it's cleaning house, and while I got it started, I'm not the only one involved in putting it right. Most of the rest of them will be here when it's safe enough for them to show up."

Quon raised his paper over his head and waved it. Kazuhiko rose and walked down to his step, took the paper, and read it over. At Kazuhiko's nod, Quon's own men and two of Kazuhiko's collected him and took him off to clandestinely get him to the prisons and hopefully safety. Taking the paper with him, Kazuhiko returned to the Second Seat and sat again. While he waited, he kept track of the news from his people out in the streets.

-:-:-:-:-

The People of the Land were used to following orders and the nobles. However they'd really had it with the Adventurers. They didn't really want to revolt - that wasn't their way. They just wanted to vent and be heard finally. The Adventurers were tired of being oppressed and ignored. They didn't really care about the People of the Land, other than they sort of understood that they wouldn't have an easy life without them. To learn that their leadership, who was _supposed_ to have made life easy and hadn't for a while now, was also turned against them made them very angry. They did revolt against the government, since it was Adventurer run. They were good at planning and fighting, too. But...the worst offenders had already been taken in by the Chief of Police, like he was supposed to.

The People of the Land headed for the Cathedral. They would get noticed if they went there and vented. They were prevented from causing damage, but they still made a lot of noise. The Adventurers headed for the Government building and made their mark and waited for the army to show up, or the government leaders to come out. Of course, the most hungry and desperate of both headed to become thieves, but the shop owners defended. That was where there ended up being the most need for Kazuhiko's forces. Having seen enough television footage of riots on Earth, Kazuhiko had planned for that. The worst anger could be calmed if they could prevent that part. Lots of sleep spells on whole blocks of shopping districts and barrier spells on store fronts handled most of it, as did fighting-force barricades at entrances to the districts, though they got a lot of push-back. The healers focused there to keep the police fighters standing as long as possible.

When the initial reaction had pushed everyone to act, and the stage was set, a large explosion went off over the city and sparkling light rained down as if a massive firework had gone off. That got everyone's attention. That's when everyone finally saw that there were flying creatures over the city. That riveted attention to the sky. "Residents of the City of Minami." Amplification spells were common. This was a rather massive one. The entire city heard it, and beyond. "Akiba has heard of your plight and has come to assist. Shopping District 8 is setting up emergency water and food stands at each district's central zone. Please allow them some time to get set up. Assistance with that would be appreciated, if you've arms and backs to offer. For the time of the emergency, water plus one meal will cost a single gold. If you haven't got it, please volunteer to pass out the supplies and you will be fed free of charge."

"People of the Land who are at the Cathedral, we don't wish to see you harmed. Please stand down. Discussions with your leaders will be held shortly to see you are treated with proper respect from this time on. We will hear your complaints."

"Adventurers of Minami, Kazuhiko has been seeing to the proper clean up of the Ten-Seat Council. Please allow him time to complete his arrests. There will be a general meeting when he's done. Because everyone is all the same guild it will be by moderated guild chat. ...Really, you've all been amazingly patient until now. Please, be patient another few hours longer. While you're waiting, we've brought some entertainment for you."

The vid screens came up again as a burst of multiple fireworks went off in the sky, being duplicated on the screens. Swooping in from the four quarters, gryphons flew over the city and colored smoke poured out behind them to streak the sky multiple colors. Drakes came in from overhead and down into the smoke, then circled the city, dragging the colored smoke behind to mix it into beautiful swirls. Dragons joined in the dance over the city as well.

The people of the city were confused. Food and water as if they were a refugee camp (except the ones who really were hungry and very excited and had already gone to help), and entertainment as if it was a holiday, not a day to be seriously worried about the news they'd just heard (except the ones who were willing to wait to hear the word and found being entertained as good a thing to pass the time as not). That put the most serious ones, who really understood the gravity of their situation into motion until they were the ones left standing in front of the government building, crying out in frustration and planning on how to get inside. When it looked like that next division and stage was set, three gryphons and one dragon flew down to land on the upper level of the steps of the government building. Kazuhiko's men had been cordoning it off, and were holding it for now. At the landing, the dissatisfied Adventurers quieted, but were still restless and upset.

The vid screens changed to show the steps and those who had landed on it. One rider dismounted and moved forward. His amplification was only for those in front of the Government Building. "We, the free guilds of Akiba, have heard of your loss of your Guildmistress and her capable assistant. Such a thing is surely a tragedy; however, that's not why we've come. Kazuhiko contacted us with the news that it was possible for Adventurers to be killed, in essence. That cannot be allowed to continue. You're all certainly capable of seeing it doesn't happen again, but we would like to be on hand to make sure that the leadership of Plant Hwyaden sees that the research is permanently suspended. We hope you'll understand our unwillingness to stand by without protest. We'll be participating in the Council meeting, just to make sure. We will hope, with you, that a proper resolution is reached."

The remaining riders dismounted and the complement of eight walked into the building, leaving their mounts where they were...and those didn't leave. Just four monsters wouldn't be enough to withstand all the Adventurers if they decided to move en mass, but it was still a visual deterrent, and since _someone_ was serious about what had happened, the other Adventurers could wait it out for now. Besides not a few had recognized Black Sword Isaac, Teacher Aines, the uniform of D.D.D. on Rieze, who was almost as well known as Berserker Crusty (though with the new hairstyle they weren't sure if it was her), and Iron-Arm Michitaka. A few had recognized the name of Shiroe even, though only a few. While the Adventurers of Minami didn't want Akiba to waltz in and take over, they also knew that those guildmasters wouldn't put up with bluff and fluff. If they had come, they were serious about protecting the Adventurers of Yamato and Theldesia.

A few minutes later, though not shown on the vid screen, one more gryphon appeared and two more people went into the Government Building. The police force put down the last of those who were set on being thieves and looters so that even the shopping districts calmed back down and the city of Minami settled down into a state of waiting.

-:-:-:-:-

Touya yawned, then nearly bit his tongue as he was startled in the middle of it. "Touya! Touya! It's the army from Minami!" Minori was the lookout up in a tree and he was on the ground. It was a common formation when battle was on the horizon. As Touya got into position to fight, he was dismayed. He really hadn't wanted to face off against other Adventurers this way. It wasn't a battle they could win - either side.

"Touya! ...Oh, honestly, Touya, how can you fall asleep in the middle of the day like this?" Minami's voice was loud in his ear.

Touya's head jerked back up and he blinked blearily. He put his hand to his mouth. He must have fallen asleep and had his head drop hard enough to bite his tongue. It still hurt. "I'm not used to the graveyard shift yet," he told Minori who was standing with her hands on her hips, a scolding look on her face, "but thanks for waking me up. That was a nightmare I didn't need to have." He grinned at her, since she had gone from scolding to worried. "Did you need something?"

"I said it, didn't you hear it? It's the Minami army. Soujirou has called for Crescent Moon and they've asked if we'll go with them."

"Oh, well I guess I did hear you, but I hope what was in my dream isn't what's going to happen." He stood up and stretched. He'd fallen asleep in his chair on the roof. It was a rather beautiful early fall day. It had started out cool but the sun had warmed him up. That had probably been a factor in helping him fall asleep. Minori had been two floors down on the laundry porch, but had let him rest this time, since he was on guard duty outside the city in the early hours of the night. "So, have they said how we're going to face them?" he asked as they walked down the stairs.

"Miss Marielle says we're going to be serving them Crescent Burgers and green tea, and that Mister Soujirou is meeting with the General now. They don't want to come into town since they want to be able to go back to Minami, which only makes sense."

"They don't think it's a ruse to draw us out?" Touya asked, just to make sure.

Minori looked at him. "Does it matter?"

Touya thought about that as they walked out the door. "Well, I guess not. Lock the door behind us anyway."

"Okay." They'd been a little surprised when Shiroe had actually followed Purrcy's advice and given Minori the rights to change permissions on the guild hall, though since all the seniors were gone this time, it did only make sense that one of them have it.

They stopped by Crescent Moon guild hall, next door, but were sent on by the chefs, saying the last load had just gone, so not to worry about carrying things. The interior of the city was rather normal, but there were watchful warriors of all the guilds up on the wall and loitering about the interior of the gate. That made Touya feel better. They were going to start out friendly, but they weren't going to be lazy. Rudy and Isuzu met them, coming from one of the groups standing near the gate.

"What a fine day for companions to gather upon the field," Rudy greeted them. "There has been discussion on perhaps inviting them to a practice battle, even if the generals decide that peace is preferred over conflict." His eyes were alight with the prospect.

Touya perked up at that. "While I'd hate to fight them in anger, this _is_ a rare opportunity. It isn't often that large Adventurer groups get to have the chance to practice together."

"It would truly be a spectacle," Rudy agreed.

"Um...well, what if it turned into an angry thing in the middle? That wouldn't be so good," Minori fretted.

"Well, we shouldn't if it were to," Touya agreed, "but really, we do all like to see what we can do, and it would be fun. Besides, they've already come this far. It would be a waste, perhaps, to just have to send them away, especially if they don't want to come in and have fun inside with us."

Minori turned and looked into Akiba. "I do wish we could show them what's inside. It's become such a nice place to be. They'll have to walk back anyway."

"Well, let's go help Crescent Moon and see what we _can_ do," Isuzu said. They nodded and walked out of the gate. The other people standing around gave them friendly waves or encouraging nods and comments. It really was a good place to live.

The Minami Adventurer army was legion raid size, or ninety-six members in size. There were also some staff and adjuncts, so all told there were more like one-hundred-twenty. The younger Log Horizon contingent joined up with the Crescent Moon guild members gathering up baskets of food and trays of drink canisters. The boys each took up one of each and the girls followed after. They found a section of the army that didn't already have food and the girls took from the boys' loads and handed out individual servings. As they went, they also handed out smiles and happy words.

In the main, they started out seeing suspicious looks, and lots of confused faces, but as food hit the stomachs of the soldiers, they couldn't keep back looks of delight and relief. As the four began walking back through the group they had fed to replace empty baskets and trays with full, they were stopped by a tall half-elv Swashbuckler. "Why are you doing this? Pity? Charity?"

"Because we want to share our happiness with you. You've come so far, after all," Minori said kindly.

"There's no point to pity, and there's nothing wrong with being charitable. That's just kindness when you see a need and can do something about it," Touya said lightly with a shrug.

"We'd love to have you really come and visit," Isuzu said. "Akiba is such a lively place. Last fall our Pumpkin Festival could have used this many more participants."

Touya groaned. "Don't remind me. I ate enough pumpkin burgers, pie, and soup that I _still_ don't want to see another pumpkin."

"Chin up, my good friend," Rudy said, "you still have about another month and a half or two to have to face another one, though I must admit...I do wish they'd serve some form of meat with it. Pumpkin alone does not put muscles on a man."

"Okay, so you're young, obviously," the Swashbuckler said, "but you are Adventurers. Why haven't they sent the food out with servants?"

"Oh, only the Ambassador and the visiting lords have servants," Minori answered, waving a hand.

"There aren't any People of the Land living in Akiba?" he asked curiously.

"No, there's lots," Touya shook his head, "but they aren't servants. They're shopkeepers, and bookkeepers, and some are willing to be hired as cleaning staff for those who have the money for their own places but not the time or inclination to clean up after themselves. We're a small guild and we've got enough time, so we just do it all ourselves. Crescent Moon, the other guild out here, that makes these Crescent Burgers and sells them at three restaurants around town, they have more members than we do, so they get the work done faster, but we like our own pace, too."

"You treat them as equals?" He seemed almost aghast.

"Of course," Rudy said expansively. "They're people too, with lives and families, likes and dislikes. It's rather fun to have them around."

Isuzu nodded. "It really makes Akiba feel more like home, to know that everyone just wants to help make the world a better place for each other. My favorite fruit stand is run by a man who reminds me of my uncle: jolly and pleasant. He tells me about his wife and kids every time I stop by to pick up food for Nyanta-san, and sometimes I buy a piece of fruit just to have a chance to talk to him, if he isn't busy with other customers. His wife was down with a cold for a while, but yesterday he said she was feeling much better. Her sister had come to be with her and the kids while he was in town at the stand."

"Well, we hope you enjoyed the Crescent Burgers. If you get the chance to come into town sometime, stop by at one of their stands. They've got an awesome grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, too," Touya said with a cheerful sales pitch and the four of them moved on.

They knew this sort of thing was going on all over the field. They were the first wave in the battle - a battle for peace between Adventurers. It was the same battle that had been fought from the beginning in Akiba by both guilds until it had become the peaceful place it was now. They really hoped for the same result today.

-:-:-:-:-

Serera and Shouryuu had partnered up to deliver food and drink to the visiting army. They'd taken the far side of the field and had just delivered the last of their current load. "Th-thank you so much!" Serera said nervously, but brightly to the man she had just given it to. "Please, enjoy!" She wasn't nervous around the warriors of Akiba any more, but the expressions on the faces of these men reminded her forcefully of the Brigandia guild members and her horrible experience in Susukino. She was glad when he just gave her a look and a sullen thanks then focused on the food. She stuck closely to Shouryuu as they wound their way out of the seated army and back to the stacks of bentos on their side of the field.

Suddenly there were loud voices from a little bit away. Shouryuu looked at Serera and she swallowed, but when he turned to go see, since that was one of his responsibilities today, she bravely trotted after him. "No one's going into Akiba today," a dark voice growled. They arrived to see a regular party of six from Akiba coming back from a supply outing, being blocked by a party from the Minami army.

"Why not?" The Akiban party leader asked.

"Because we're here to prevent it." It sounded like a random bluff. Serera was sure the Minami army was confused by now. Everyone expected that they'd been sent to take over Akiba, or something like that, but they were being treated to food and drink, and the generals were in negotiations.

"Well, I can see you want to," the party leader said. "And I'm sure I don't know what's going on really, but -" his eyes caught Shouryuu and Serera and a look of enlightenment came on his face, "- but I'm sure that it's only temporary. We can head back out for a bit. We just had sufficient for today and thought it'd be fun to catch the puppet show this afternoon. No biggie. We can catch it tomorrow and be lazy in the morning since we'll have gotten twice as much today as we needed to. We do that sometimes anyway."

Shouryuu and Serera were up to the groups by this time. "I-I really like tomorrow's show," Serera said. "They change it once a month and tomorrow they're supposed to be bringing back the one about the -"

"Who cares?" the Minami warrior growled. "Tomorrow there won't be a show."

"Oh, that's sad," the Akiba warrior answered. "I'm sure if you wanted to watch it, you could too. They've really got the best voice actors anywhere. My little brother would love to watch the Pokemon one. The guy who plays Ash sounds perfect and we all love to yell out 'Go, Pikachu!' at just the right time. We've all got that episode memorized anyway from way back."

"Yes, it's my favorite Sailor Moon episode next!" Serera interjected brightly again. "They said they'd pick the best from the audience for the first week and let us be the voices next week. I think that would be so much fun. I...I would love to be Sailor Mercury...," her fingers were worrying each other in her embarrassment, but she was hoping.

The Minami contingent was staring at them open mouthed. "No way. You're really putting on anime puppet plays?" Another member of the group asked in complete disbelief.

Serera nodded energetically. "We have some really good crafters who've made really good puppets. When they've finally had enough Adventurers who remember the full script so that they can put on a new episode from any anime, or even a few manga, the whole town turns out to see it. It's even better than opening night for a _Conan_ movie...and they say they're working on a secret project that everyone thinks is just that."

"No way! They're going to put on a _Conan_?"

"Well, we're hoping," the Akiba warrior said. "We think it's going to be the first full movie, but even if it's just an episode, that'd still be awesome."

"No doubt!" The senior officer cleared his throat and the junior stepped back, abashed.

"Well, I'm sure you guys in Minami could do it, too," Serera said kindly. "You look like someone that likes _Conan_ a lot. You could start writing up your favorite episode as a script and ask around to see if anyone else remembers it. Even if you don't have puppets, you can act it out. They did that at first, until they were able to recruit a couple of crafters who were into anime, too. They got a lot of coins so were able to get off the ground fast, just because everyone appreciated having a happy taste of home."

"Yeah, lucky dogs. They don't have to go out and earn a few like we do." The Akiba leader said. He turned to his group, "Come on, guys, let's go back out. We'll come back later and rest tomorrow." As they walked back out, the leader started singing the Pokemon theme song - third season.

The Minami leader turned on Shouryuu and Serera. "What is it with you people?!"

Shouryuu looked at him calmly. "In Akiba, we're free to be what we want to be, and there is peace. Isn't it better to be here in a strange land helping and supporting each other? There's no point to power and hoarding. We're all going to go home anyway, and we can't take it back with us. We'd rather enjoy ourselves while we're here."

He scowled. "And what if you don't get home?"

Shouryuu tipped his head, considering. Finally he shook his head. "No, you're right. It doesn't make a difference. Being able to be here while having fun working hard alongside friends and guildmates is worth it, either way."

"Gah! You're all so cheerful it makes me want to hurl!" His hand went to his sword hilt.

Shouryuu looked at him, his eyes clear. "If you're jealous, do something about it. Minami doesn't have to be the way it is now. We are only two very small guilds, but one person, with the help of those two small guilds turned Akiba around and made it the pleasant place to live that it is now. I think Minami can have it too, if enough people care."

The other man drew his sword. "You don't understand! You have no idea!" His men had stiffened and were looking at him warily.

"I think I do," Shouryuu said. "You're living under an oppressive leadership that refuses to let you choose and be human, and life here is hell. While you're here near Akiba, please accept our offering of a moment of respite from that. It's small, but it's what we have to give. Our general is trying to explain to yours, in the hopes that someday soon you, too, will be able to have your own peace in Minami. Please continue to work hard for that wish. We will continue to work hard with you."

One of his group softly called his name and he came to himself somewhat and slammed his sword back into his sheath. His face dark, he turned and strode off, returning to the main part of the army. The others looked solemnly at the two members of Crescent Moon, then followed after him. The one who enjoyed Conan turned back briefly to look at them, and a look of quiet determination came over his face. "I think you won one of them, at least," Shouryuu said quietly to Serera. "Good job. You've become stronger, I think."

"Y-you think so?" She bit her lip. "But, it's so sad. I hope Mister Shiroe is able to help them."

Shouryuu looked up at the sky. "Well...I'm sure he'd like to try...but really, in the end, they have to want to help themselves, or they never will be able to go anywhere."

Serera looked at her companion in surprise, then thought of all the creepers still in Akiba and the people in Susukino and nodded in agreement. It really did take each individual wanting it, even if someone capable did reach out and offer a helping hand.

-:-:-:-:-

Soujirou interlaced his fingers and leaned his elbows on the table. Placing his fingers in front of his chin, he looked at the man opposite him. The large man, wearing construction worker's clothes to accentuate he was a Guardian, was seated in a casual pose. Leaning back, one arm lazily flung over the back of his seat, he looked like he was trying to appear in control of the situation, but to Soujirou's eyes he just looked tired. Nakalnad had finished eating a full meal and the table had just been cleared.

They'd been having small talk about the various dungeons and raids they'd each been on. Perhaps it could have been posturing, but really it was more like establishing common ground, as much as could be given the current situation. Soujirou didn't like to make waves. He liked to be friends with everyone. And really, he was much better at being straightforward. Probably in this case, it would be best as well, though he did need to try hard for Shiroe-sempai's sake.

"Nakalnad, do you know of Shiroe?"

"Mmm?" Nakalnad looked up with faint surprise. "I've heard of him."

"That's good. He's asked me to invite you back to Minami. Just you."

Nakalnad barked a laugh. "Like I'm going to leave my army here and run home just because Indicus' static wants me to."

"No. That isn't it." Soujirou paused. "He just thought you might like to be included in the restructuring of the governance of Minami. If you stay here, you'll have to take whatever's left over."

Nakalnad sat upright and slammed a hand on the table. "What nonsense is this?"

"Shiroe's group took a detour to Minami to help out the Ten-Seat Council. Indicus and Nureha are both missing, Mizufa, Zeldus, and Quon have been arrested, Jared's been sent away, and you're here. That leaves Kazuhiko, KR, and Loriel left to run everything. That's rather a lot for them to carry alone. Shiroe and some of the other guildmasters from here have gone to help out. We thought you might like to be there to help, too. I'm sure they'd appreciate it."

Nakalnad wasn't buying it. "What lies! That's so outrageous it isn't even a well thought out one!"

Soujirou shrugged. "I'm not stopping you from checking it out. But before you go we need to discuss what you want your army to do. We're happy to have them stay here and play for a bit, since they've come all this way, but if they think we sent you back, they'll get angry. We're not interested in that."

Nakalnad glared at him. "Why should I check, when it isn't even true?"

"Because you'll get left out if it is," Soujirou didn't smile.

Nakalnad scowled and waved at an assistant. "Call up the office. Tell them I want to hear the truth."

There was silence in the tent except for the sound of the assistant contacting Minami, then silence again as that assistant listened to the report. Finally a faint, "Thank you," and the assistant turned to them. "...General Nakalnad...it's true. The city's been in riot and the rest is true."

Nakalnad whipped around in his seat and stared at his assistant. The assistant was pale and stared back at him, looking just as disbelieving, but not able to disbelieve. Nakalnad called up a chat. "Kazuhiko, what the hell's going on?" There was silence in the tent again and the expressions that went by on Nakalnad's face told the story. Finally he said, "Don't start without me. I'm coming back." He looked back at Soujirou. "Hell. What've you done?"

Soujirou raised an eyebrow. "Fed you and told you the news?" Nakalnad looked angrier. "Ah...you were asking what Shiroe-sempai's done? I don't know, except gone to help out. They were headed to a raid zone, but got diverted. Calasin's in Minami on Shopping District 8 business, so must have contacted him. But, as I said before, we need to know what to do with everyone else. I'm not sure you want to panic them, and we don't want them to attack us just because you disappeared."

Nakalnad rose. "Tear down the tent," he instructed his staff. "Clean it all up. We're all going."

"Um...," Soujirou interjected, "won't they think you've turned tail cowardly? Or are you going to tell them the city's in a riot and the top leaders are gone? Will they respond favorably to either one? ...I think if I was in your shoes, I'd be worried they'd turn, too...at least some of them."

Nakalnad glared at him. "They're all my people. They'll go where I tell them to."

Soujirou placed his hands on the table and stood up. "Well, if you say so. Let me pull my people out first, just in case." He called up Marielle on the way out of the tent to let her know to get everyone out from inside the troops, then called his watchwomen on the wall to have them stand by. Ten minutes later Marielle called him back to say everyone was out. "Log Horizon's kids?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're out, too. Are we going to get to play with them?"

"It doesn't look like it," he answered. "Nakalnad wants to take them with him. Do your people think we might get some deserters?"

He heard her ask the people around her, and saw it too. They were gathered up by the gate, but still watching. "They say there were people intrigued by what they said, but no one gave outward indications of it."

"Okay. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, then." Soujirou walked back over to Nakalnad's tent. Nakalnad was standing outside it, his arms folded, and it looked like it was having the pins pulled in preparation for putting away. "We're clear," he informed the general. "For what it's worth, good luck. If you do have any deserters, what do you want us to do with them? We'd rather not get into trouble with you lot."

Nakalnad gave him a dirty look. Soujirou gave him time, then said, "Okay. We'll assume they won't, but if they do, we'll also assume you don't care and won't come looking for trouble. Adventurers of Akiba are free to do as they please, as long as they follow the rules and play nice. Just so you understand."

Nakalnad gave a snort. The tent disappeared. Soujirou bowed slightly and walked away, headed for the gate. Nakalnad's slightly amplified voice sounded out orders as Soujirou went. By the time Soujirou arrived in the grouping of Crescent Moon at the gate, the army behind him was standing. He turned around to watch, one hand on his upper katana. Nakalnad and his lieutenants watched as everyone began disappearing, using Call of Home to return to Minami. Every twenty soldiers that left the field, one of the lieutenants disappeared as well.

"I wonder if they'll be able to get into the city?" Shouryuu murmured. "If I was an Adventurer who was tired of all that, I wouldn't let them back in."

"If I was one of this army, I wouldn't let any of them in." Touya replied.

Soujirou tipped his head, intrigued. Nakalnad was going last. When he was the last person on the field, the general looked back at Soujirou and the rest. He gave a bitter grin, pulled his sword, and suicided. "Looks like he agrees with both of you," Soujirou said as the bubbles disappeared into the sky. They shook their heads and turned to reenter Akiba. Soujirou gave the order to everyone to stand down. Minori was already talking to her guildmaster to report.

"Good job, everyone!" Marielle called out, waving broadly with her signature smile. Soujirou smiled. They'd properly won the battle at Akiba. He hoped Shiroe would have as much success in Minami. The people of that city sure could use it.


	44. The Back Line Sets Up

The Akiba contingent walked through the main doors of the Government Building. One of Kazuhiko's men bowed and led them to the Ten-Step Council Chamber. When they walked in and looked around...and up...Isaac whistled. "Well, whad'ya know. There really _are_ ten steps - literally." Shiroe sighed. It was the worst possible in his mind, really. To set the hierarchy so obviously in stone - again literally - was really only going to foment discord. Likely even _with_ proper policies in place.

"The Ten-Step Council of Minami welcomes the Round Table Council of Akiba," was said formally by the man up on the second step from the top.

Isaac nodded. "Thank you, Kazuhiko. And thank you for letting us know right away. We've got food and water stations going up and everyone looks willing to wait to hear from you after this is all done, for the most part."

"Thank you. We're still short two members. They're on their way," Kazuhiko informed them.

"Good, you got Nakalnad to come." Shiroe said quietly. The room carried sounds nicely.

"Yes. He was convinced that if he didn't come immediately he'd probably get left out - which he would have. He and KR should be here soon. ...Where do you want to sit Shiroe?" Kazuhiko asked.

Shiroe shook his head. "Can we set up a table down here, or even find another room? You're starting all over again, really."

" _We_ could take all the top slots," Isaac said casually.

"No need to start an incident," Shiroe reprimanded calmly.

Kazuhiko rose and walked down the steps until he reached Jared. He looked at the wizard with a mild glare until Jared rose. Together they walked down until they reached Loriel. He seemed a bit surprised that Kazuhiko wanted him to come along, too, but he got up without complaint. The three of them arrived at the floor. "Come this way, please," he said to their guests. He led them back out the main doors and down the hall to a large drawing room that had a conference table set up in one half of it. "We use this room when we meet with the Senate and royal members of the House of Saimiya."

"Perfect," Shiroe said and took the head seat. The Akiba contingent took the side to his right. Kazuhiko took the opposing seat from Shiroe. The two Westlande Persons of the Land took the center seats opposite the guildmasters of Akiba. "Jared Gan," Shiroe said without looking at him directly. The Wizard of Miral Lake looked up at him. "Please understand that your efforts to assist in the experimentation are not misunderstood. I am aware that many of the inventions these past two years are fueled by your knowledge and magics. I'm sure that has been an invaluable contribution to Westlande, and Minami." Shiroe looked up and pushed up his glasses. "I'm sure you'll be glad to have your future time cleared up for your own experiments from this time on. Our Hackers will be sure to let me know if you decide to continue your experiments on Adventurers. You will not live if you do. I do hope your apprentice has more honor than yourself, or Westlande will find that the unbroken line of Wizards of Miral Lake has suddenly become broken. I have asked Sage Li Gan, and he assures me that his library and yours are identical."

Jared Gan couldn't settle on a purple face or a pale one. Shiroe turned away from him as if the conversation was already closed. When Jared looked like he was going to protest, Isaac cracked his knuckles and Rieze fingered her sword, looking longing, as if she really wanted to pull it out just to caress it, or bury it in someone. Jared held his tongue, then rose stiffly, bowed to Loriel, and left the room.

Shiroe turned to Loriel. "I would like you to stay and observe the council meeting so that you may report back to the House of Saimiya. Would you also be willing to report to the Senate? Their representative isn't able to be here at the present." Shiroe blinked at the other man, now sitting by himself.

Cautiously, Loriel said, "I can report to the Senate, of course."

Shiroe nodded. "Good. You don't need to say anything during the first part of the meeting. We look forward to talking to you after we've addressed the Adventurer-specific topics." If Loriel was upset about being shut out of the matters at the beginning, he didn't show it. He was a practiced noble of the court, after all.

The door opened and two men walked in. KR went straight to sit in the seat next to Shiroe. When he opened his mouth, Shiroe said quietly. "Not yet." KR stared at him a moment, then closed his mouth and sat back folding his arms and looking slightly cross. Shiroe looked up at the big Guardian who had walked in with KR and was standing scowling at the table. "Welcome, Nakalnad. Thank you for coming. Please, have a seat." Shiroe gestured to the seats remaining.

It looked like Nakalnad didn't want to sit at either of the two available. "I'm sent to capture Akiba, and Akiba comes and takes over Minami while I'm there. What's happened here that only two Seats remain to even sit at the negotiation table?" It wasn't clear if he meant the two chairs at the table already filled with Adventurers from Plant Hwayden or was ignoring the presence of Loriel and KR.

Kazuhiko answered him. "I've arrested Mizufa and Zeldus, and Indicus is also wanted if she's found alive. Jared is also implicated and has prudently removed himself. Quon has resigned, on his own accord, though only because it was a good time to escape from the Council. Princess Nureha is missing now for over two months."

"Arrested? Why?" Nakalnad's eyes narrowed.

"Because I have firm proof that they were experimenting on Adventurers and killing them - as in unreturnable, unresurrectable dead." Everyone at the table was watching Nakalnad closely.

He froze and went pale, then red. "Is that why Indicus has had us out of the city multiple times these last several months?" he asked angrily.

"Presumably," Kazuhiko said calmly. "Or were you also interested in staying on Theldesia forever? They were experimenting on ways to keep Adventurers here."

Nakalnad growled. "I don't like this piss hole enough to stay here forever."

"How about enough to grow old and die?" Shiroe asked quietly.

"Hell no," Nakalnad said, looking at him sharply. "Earth life was hard, but it wasn't hell."

"Nureha would disagree with you," Shiroe said, "and there are others as well, but if that isn't you, you're welcome to sit with us."

"Do you know where the Princess is?" Loriel asked eagerly.

Shiroe looked at him. "Indicus did allow experiments to be performed on Nureha, at Nureha's request. She has received what she asked for and is no longer interested in playing her games. She won't be back."

"How do you know this?" Kazuhiko even hadn't heard of it.

"She came to me and asked me to find a place she could go, so I did. She's safe, and at least content, but she has no interest in going back to Earth, nor in coming back to Minami. If you wish to use her disappearance and say she was killed by Indicus and Mizufa, feel free. The Nureha that was isn't any more so technically it's true, though perhaps she in effect committed suicide."

"Why did she go to you? Why not have Indicus herself help her hide?" Nakalnad said angrily.

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "Because Indicus was going to kill her."

Nakalnad scowled at Kazuhiko. "I think I need to see this so-called 'proof' you have before I believe what's gone on here." Loriel was looking a bit pale and disturbed.

Kazuhiko motioned to one of his men and they brought over a small version of the video screens and set it on the table facing away from Kazuhiko. He didn't need to see it again. Nakalnad folded his arms and watched over the shoulders of the people sitting at the table as the news report unfolded from the beginning again. Everyone in the room was silent as they heard it all again and Nakalnad's scowl left his face early. As the recorded Jared Gan began his explanation he asked quietly, "Jared?"

"He's been dismissed," Kazuhiko said briefly. Nakalnad nodded, going back to paying attention.

When it reached the part at the end where it was supposedly KR in the cell, KR was paying close attention. Nakalnad glanced at him once and when Mizufa stabbed KR, sending him to the Cathedral, KR's face got dark and Nakalnad said quietly, "Harsh. Guess you owe that guard one."

KR muttered under his breath, then stared as the ghost appeared behind Michael. "Shiroe," he protested, but Shiroe held up a hand again, forestalling him one more time.

"It's okay, KR," Shiroe said quietly. "Thank you for helping, even though unwittingly."

"That's not it, Shiroe," he protested. "It's cruel."

"She knew what she was doing, KR." Shiroe looked at him significantly. "Honestly, I'd rather have her next to me for this next part, if you want to trade out again."

KR shivered. The vid feed ended. Nakalnad pulled out the chair next to Kazuhiko and sat down. "Okay. Assuming you didn't fabricate that, I'll listen. That was going too far. What are you guys doing about Mizufa's army?"

"Nothing," Kazuhiko said. "The Adventurers will take care of it, if they need to."

Nakalnad opened his mouth, then closed it again, his brow furrowing. "Well, as long as they don't pull out any of the stuff she made to work specifically against Adventurers, that's fine."

"They won't," Kazuhiko said. "That was the first building hit by the Adventurers, and it's a smoking hole now."

Nakalnad looked at the Police Chief for a moment. "You leaked where it was."

Kazuhiko looked back at him. "No. I blatantly told them. I've always believed that was going too far." Loriel looked like he had a faint sheen of sweat on his brow.

"Well...I can understand that given -" Nakalnad cut off, then shook his head. "Almost a moot point now, isn't it?"

"Pretty much," Kazuhiko said, looking down the table at KR and then Shiroe. "So, now Shopping District 8 is feeding everyone for today at low cost, but what's next?" Nakalnad looked up in surprise at that news. "We can't very well go out there and say just the two of us are going to run things and make it work. Neither of us can do city finances, though we can handle guild level stuff. All I know is that what we were doing sucked and needs to be replaced."

Nakalnad looked at Kazuhiko, then down to Shiroe. "Oohhh...that's why he's here. You invited him, and the rest of them, too."

Kazuhiko just looked at him. "They're eating, and fed your men. I hear they have festivals every chance they get. When was the last time everyone in Minami got to eat and have we ever had a festival? I know you run away every chance you get, even if Indicus didn't send you out. Everyone's angry Minami's failed. It's time to do something that works."

Nakalnad tapped his finger on the table. "Fine. Talk, Shiroe."

"Thank you," Shiroe said dryly. He looked at KR.

KR shrugged. "If you've already decided to help out, who'm I to stand in the way?"

"Okay then," Shiroe said, "first dissolve Plant Hwayden. Everyone will sort themselves back out, like they always do. Kazuhiko, keep the peace and stay the enforcer for now. As soon as Nakalnad's men get here, they can help where necessary. As things smooth out, you'll want to stay that way but the job should get easier. Isaac, Ains, and Rieze will fill you in on how it works in Akiba in a bit."

"Second - the laws. Everyone gets to choose for themselves. What they'll do, their guild, how they'll earn, keep, and spend their earned income. Be the first to re-form your original guilds to set the example and that part will go faster, but don't soak up everyone else. Wait to accept more until after the rest figure it out and learn how to be friends and companions again. Be watchful that you don't get guilds that exploit. Take them down early. They'll keep the city poisoned, otherwise. We learned that one the hard way. Do feel free to chase out Adventurers that need to grow up. When they can play nice you can let them back in."

"Oh, well KR's right out then," Nakalnad said. KR glared at him. "Teasing," Nakalnad added.

Shiroe continued in order to diffuse them. "Second law - human rights. Kidnapping and confinement are serious offences. Forcing sexual activity of anyone carries the highest penalty, and I think now we'll add in involuntary unresurrectable death of an Adventurer as well to that. People of the Land have the same rights as Adventurers. Given that they actually have joined in on the riots and demanded to be heard, it should by now be painfully obvious to you that they are living creatures the same as we are. You do understand that if they had been allowed to reach the Cathedral, they would have had the upper hand in all of Westlande, no matter how much stronger we are. To ignore them or consider them a lesser race or caste is insanity to the survival of the Adventurers of Theldesia."

Shiroe turned to Loriel. "You also need to help the Senate and House Saimiya understand that the Adventurers will defend the Cathedral to the man, woman and child. If they choose to continue to try to own the Adventurers of Westlande, we will come to help defend them and call on all Adventurers who can reach this place to do so as well. And it will not end at the walls of Minami. We will bring it home to your place. The farms will still exist and feed us. The nobility is pointless to us, other than as a place to negotiate with generally. We are willing to coexist peaceably and will consider any proposed treaty you would like to bring to the table that is reasonable and honorable. We will not tolerate forcible manipulation. The immediate destruction of the inventions to do so should make my point sufficiently clear. As part of any treaty the People of the Land of Westlande do bring to the table, it absolutely must include a clause that you will destroy any such things you already have in existence anywhere in the region and that you will not create any more such things."

Shiroe turned to KR. "And that is your job. To make sure they follow through on that. If you ferret out any hint of it, tell Nakalnad so he can go blow holes in the ground." Shiroe turned back to Loriel. "We want to go home, not die, and not rot under the whip of nobles of Theldesia. If we have to remove all the nobles we will, but that will leave some sad farmers when we do finally get home...or some very happy ones if they didn't like the nobles either. Please make sure they understand we would rather have peace than war, but we will not be abused."

He turned back to the Adventurers of Minami. "That goes both ways. Abuse leads to war. Don't allow it. It's one of the laws, see it's held to. You already have a bad track record." They all nodded. That much was true. "We set a third rule at our beginning. I don't know if you need it. No PK-ing in low level zones. That kind of abuse isn't needed either. Let the low levels work up and have fun, too. It'll make everyone that much happier and that will help with the other half of the work that needs to be done - revitalization."

The door opened again and Calasin entered the room. "Perfect timing," Rieze said with a small smile. "How do you do that Calasin?"

"Ah...it's my calling?" He walked over and took the remaining seat between Nakalnad and Loriel. "The stations are all set up and running smoothly. Those who are coming are rather peaceful about it actually, all considered. We're getting about fifty percent People of the Land, who are quite willing to stay and help for the half-hour each we're asking for. Forty percent are from the lowest level Adventurers and they usually have one gold to pay, but if not, most of them stay to work too because we have enough helping it looks fun now. It took a bit to get over the concept that since People of the Land were helping they didn't need to, but I think we're good for now on that issue. The remaining ten percent are from the middle tier for the most part, and a few first tiers that don't know how to cook and their people walked out on them. I presume most first tiers know how to at least pull an apple out of their lists and munch on something. We'll see how it goes when we get to dinner time. I'm hoping you're going to smooth things out enough they'll all just go home and figure out how to get along."

"That's the goal," Shiroe said calmly. "Thanks for the report. This is the example we want you to see. This sort of thing is the spark that starts the revitalization. Fun friendly service with a smile, if you will. Everyone works to earn their own way and gains self worth in the process. Everyone owns what they create or earn through their own efforts and has the right to how it's used or sold or kept. When humans have sufficient, they are willing to part with the excess. When humans feel like there isn't enough of anything they refuse to let it go."

"While most of us will leave Minami as soon as things look like they're starting to go the right direction, Calasin and Michitaka will stay here with you for roughly two months to help you get the revitalization into full gear. I do fully realize that Minami is weakest in that area. You're welcome to introduce them as temporary Council members on loan until they can train up people to take their places."

"Michitaka, don't forget to see if you can get some of the Technicians to study the Fairy Rings down here in this area. Encourage guilds to form that specialize, like in production or in materials discovery and acquisition, also guard duty, etc. Those people that have been working on the technological advancements could form a guild, for instance. We should set some parameters around that before we leave the table today. I would suggest anything already completed be considered property of the Council, but if they're working on something currently, that could become theirs so they can have income as soon as it's available to actually use."

"That leads me to property in general." Shiroe paused and pushed up the glasses on his face. "Because of the past history of Plant Hwayden, before we adjourn, we will sign a contract assigning all zoned property rights owned by Plant Hwayden over to me personally." Even Loriel was outraged.

The Akiba guildmasters crossed their arms and shook their heads. "Hear him out," Ains said. "It's important."

They finally settled down and listened. "There are many artifacts that were brought with us when we came and I can't figure out why. One of them is the concept that the zones are purchasable. That shouldn't be possible if Theldesia is it's own world, and not a computer construct. Regardless, it is a phenomena and we have to live with it. However, it isn't right for one person, or one guild, to own the land and the zones in this way. Property rights are fine, that isn't the argument." Shiroe looked at Loriel. "I presume that one of the first things Nureha did was buy the zone that included the properties of both the Senate and the House of Saimiya. She only calmed their fears by including members from each on the Ten-Seat Council. It was simple bribery and complete manipulation." Loriel paused, then nodded.

"My purpose is not to prevent, but to allow. I've created a spell that returns purchased land to the land. That is, it becomes just land, not a purchased zone. Anyone can live on it. It isn't controlled by whomever purchased the zone. It can still be 'owned', and others have to respect that right. When the property rights are passed over to me, I'll write the scroll that will free the zones to being just property again. For a short time, I'll continue to hold the zones of the Guild Hall, the Government Building, and the Cathedral. This is so that while you're trying to get things sorted out, if there's a place you need to block specific persons or guilds from, you can. I'll give the council members the right to allow and disallow on those zones. Don't abuse it or I'll cut you off, too."

Kazuhiko raised his hand. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at him. "Please also keep the zone the prison is in. Otherwise the permissions that keep the prisoners locked away will slip and it will become pointless. Unless everyone really does learn to play nicely, that particular zone may have to stay owned."

"Okay," Shiroe said. "We'll keep that a zone for now as well. They can be turned over at any time. Before we leave for Earth, anything still kept will be turned over. We might not get everything, but we'll give the People of the Land as much as we can." Loriel blinked. He suddenly had the carrot to go with the stick given to him earlier. He seemed to relax.

Shiroe shifted, preparing to wrap up the current basics. "We'll take a break next so you guys can pick these guy's brains while I write up the contracts, but before then, we've learned something new. It fits under the human rights clause, though they aren't human. Summon creatures and monsters can actually communicate with us when we finally decide we want them to and are reasonable, in the main. Let's please not abuse them any more either, or we'll likely inadvertently start a war with them as well. And they're like us - nearly impossible to get rid of."

"Monsters that have to spawn when we appear are fine. Some of the nastier ones are as well, like the ones in dungeons. They all know we're going to kill them and they have to die. They're apparently rather resigned to it. But when we Summon them and abuse them, we only make them very angry. Their nests and homes should be held inviolable...except the Goblin King quest and other such things where we really should do our part to prevent the land from being completely overrun. If we're conscientious about the major quests, we should be able to honor their right to have families as well. If we wipe them all out, what's left for us to do?" He grinned.

Loriel groaned and put his hand over his eyes. "Really, Lord Shiroe? _Monsters_ have rights?"

All of Shiroe's guild present laughed lightly, and his eyes danced. "Yes, Lord Loriel, as hard as that is for People of the Land to agree with. Just let it pass as one of the oddities of Adventurers, please. Once the revitalization gets going, you should begin to get people willing and able to accept quests again. They'll help keep the vermin down to a dull roar, rather than a flood."

Loriel sighed, shaking his head. "Really...Adventurers are very difficult to understand, in the end."

"Well...I can't deny it. We are a strange breed," Shiroe agreed. He looked over to Akatsuki. She pulled out a teapot and started pouring tea for everyone at the table. Naotsugu set plates of light snacks around. Shiroe pulled out a pen and paper and started writing and the others got to talking, beginning the new Ministry of Minami under the direction of the as-yet uncrowned King of Yamato. Only Log Horizon, Michitaka, and Loriel understood it, though, at that time...and Kazuhiko who was extremely relieved it didn't have to be him and wasn't going to be Nakalnad.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael wasn't Kazuhiko's second in command. As a matter of fact, he wasn't in the command structure at all. He just knew the paperwork to book people and how to get them placed in their correct cells. That meant he was in high demand for a while. People of the Land on the second and third floors. Adventurers in the first and second basement levels where they couldn't jump out of windows (there weren't any anyway) and where the magic protections were higher. Their names were immediately passed on to the police desk at the Cathedral. If they showed up at the Cathedral, they were killed again immediately, as many times as it took for them to cry "uncle" and say they'd stay in their cell like good prisoners. Their names were also passed to the gate guards who would kill them on sight also. That was for the low level prisoners.

The man standing in front of Michael right then wasn't one of those. However, he was also there on potential charges, not proven charges. Proven charges would have put him in the Special's section with his Seat-mate. Prudence said he should be put there anyway. Even if Zeldus promised good behavior, that didn't mean his guild would. Of course, if Zeldus was put in the Special's section and his guild found out, they really wouldn't behave.

Michael sighed. "I'd just put you in house arrest and let your own guild watch you so the lot of you could flee the city to become bandits and outlaws, but I'm betting you won't."

Zeldus scowled. "Of course not. I haven't done anything wrong. Why would I leave just to let people think I have?"

"And you're going to say you'll be on your best behavior and guarantee your guild's?"

"My guild is Plant Hwayden," Zeldus said stiffly.

"Umhm," Michael said. "So's mine." Zeldus scowled. Michael wrote in his ledger then rose. "Well, come with me. I think you count as a high profile political prisoner, guilty or not, so I'd best do my job properly. Don't want to get fired after all." He motioned to the four guards on Zeldus and they marched him out to the hallway and down to the stairwell. Michael unlocked the door and held it while they went through. He gave them the sign and they went down, following him. He reached the Special's floor and opened the door, then took Zeldus in himself. Zeldus's spell rebounded and knocked him out before the door was barely clicking closed behind them.

Michael sighed. "Really. You think we don't expect that?" He unlocked the cell three down from the door and pulled Zeldus into it, then took him down to 1HP and locked him in. "Oh, and just so you know," he said as Zeldus began to wake back up, "we also expect you to try to escape in all kinds of ways. It won't happen. Your good friends Indicus and Jared made sure of that. Indicus swore three ways from Sunday when she discovered the leaks you'd left yourself when you were done. That was a no-no in her book, to defy her that way. She's been waiting for you to end up here. I wonder what fun experiences she left for you?"

Michael took himself out. He didn't need to stay. He really had only ever stayed when KR needed to be able to get back out. It was more convenient that way. You couldn't call out. Of course, if Zeldus had decided to become Summonable, the there wasn't anything Michael could do, but then they were back around to his guild becoming an outlaw guild. Nothing wrong with that. Then the rest of the world at least knew what Zeldus was, right up front.

Things stayed busy and when Quon showed up, bleary eyed, rubbing the back of his head, he was sent to Michael's desk as well. Michael held his pen with both hands, contemplating his options. Finally he made a note in his book and stood again. He took Quon down there, too, and watched him closely when the door closed behind them. Michael opened the first cell by the door and motioned for Quon to enter. Quon curled up on the cot in the cell and closed his eyes. He'd not uttered a single complaint, not that he needed to since he was just there for protection.

Michael went hunting in the code realm until he found the line that Purrcy had put in, then very carefully snooped around until he found the true history and watched it run in fast motion. When he was satisfied that Quon had really been abused and used as bait, he carefully wiped out all the traps Indicus had left behind, then called up Tetora, though in the code realm so that Zeldus didn't overhear the conversation.

"Hey, Tetora, from what I can tell you can't get to Purrcy. Quon's clean. Can you take her spell off him? If you want proof, I'll show you the true history. He's about dead and has signed the resignation papers."

"Show me." Michael sent over the data. "Mmm...I don't have Isuzu, but...oh, that will work. Hang on." The line disappeared and a new tune was laid down. "I've set it as a temporary. He doesn't need a constant HP up, but for a short time it will help repair the damage done. Good enough?"

"Yes. Thanks." Michael still hadn't seen what he'd done, other than the results. He could tell Tetora "saw" in this realm differently than he did. It was a bit maddening, really. Tetora disappeared, so Michael confirmed everything was set back to as normal as possible for Quon, then pulled out. He looked at Quon in the outer world for a moment. He'd fallen asleep and looked peaceful. He was probably as exhausted as Nureha had been from her tortures. Really, Purrcy could be cold-hearted, but then...there was the possibility that it had been Indicus' requirement on her to keep Quon out of the picture. He'd been a potential source of leakage after all. Michael sighed, glanced at Zeldus, who was glaring at him and slightly singed, and walked back out and up to the main floor again.

On his way back into the main office, he stopped at the front secretary's desk. "Give the lads in the conference room another round of snacks and drinks. They should be getting pretty bored by now. I'll check on them again in another hour or so, if things start to slow down. Maybe by then they'll be willing to talk."

"Yes, sir," the woman said. She was a Person of the Land who was serious about her job and Kazuhiko was serious about the rest of them treating her right, so they did. They didn't want her work, too, after all. They were already stretched thin on good days...and this was a good day, all considered. Ten minutes later she was by his desk, handing over something. He took it and thanked her and waited for her to be back at her desk before looking at it. He didn't react on the outside, but inside he wanted to cry in relief. They weren't going to kill him at least, and the news might be even better than that, though they'd want to tell him themselves.

Once again he found himself trying to assume the worst so he didn't get crushed. It was getting harder to do that now, though. For some reason, since Purrcy had made her promises and they kept coming to pass, he was beginning to believe more than he used to. That might be dangerous. It would be particularly bad if he started believing they really could go home and then they couldn't in the end. He sighed and started booking the next person brought to his desk. Really, if they'd just have gone down and spent the single gold they wouldn't have to be wasting the time of all the rest of them.

An hour and a half later and things were light enough he could excuse himself to go take care of the "forgotten prisoners". He'd been assigned to "test them" and see if they really were supposed to be prisoners. He already knew it was because they had refused to sign on as Plant Hwayden guild members, and he wasn't going to make them. He was carrying in guild papers, though, since they had to have a guild to get out the door. It wasn't going to make them thrilled.

As soon as he walked in the door, his second in command was calling out for attention and chairs scraped back as everyone stood properly for the entrance of their commanding officer. He calmly walked to the front and turned to face them. "At ease," he said. "Thank you. Sorry that took so long, but we're only just starting to come down from the rioting, so I had to hold my post. Report, Lieutenant Commander." He looked at his second in command, glad that he wasn't one of the ones they'd lost, the same for the rest of them.

They'd relaxed but not sat down. "Sir, Commander, Sir! You've pulled us out, we'll continue to fly behind you."

"Understood," he answered. "Stand down." Everyone sat. "Okay. We're not on Earth. We're not home. We'll play by Adventurer rules. If you've got something to say to me, say it. The first thing I want to say is, God, I've missed you all. It has been a nightmare to watch over you for a year in that state. When Purrcy showed up and talked to me the first time I nearly shit my pants, but I've been damn glad she did since then. I've not given her an answer, as to if I'll ally with her specifically since I was waiting to hear what the rest of you want to do, but she's waiting to hear it. I know you lot don't know her from Eve, but you wouldn't be out without her. She doesn't know you lot from Adam and she's loved you like sons. She's allied with the best bet to get us home, based on my research, at least for the part of the world we're in at the moment, and she's putting in her all to help that one. They want me, too, strangely enough. If I drag you with me, will you go kicking and screaming or willingly? They won't take you if you haven't decided it for yourselves."

Everyone had been listening carefully. At the last sentence several heads came up. One of his quietest opened his mouth and said, as quiet as normal, in a voice Michael had wished to hear many times over the past year, "If that's how they see it, I'm in."

His most cautious said, "She's already taken care of us, then she'll keep doing it. I'll repay that." Half the men agreed with that thought.

One of his most intuitive, that was an awesome wingman because of it said, slowly, "Mike...does she...purr?"

Michael's eyebrow came up. "Why?"

"Because...there were times...I was - sorry - crying...and I'd all of a sudden hear purring. ...It helped."

Michael shook his head. "No need to apologize for that. And yes. That's Hahaue - Purrcy. She's felinoid here in this place. You'd have been hearing a ghost, then, sitting on your chest - but that's like you."

The wingman nodded, looking down at his hands. "I'm in."

Michael made the rest of them answer, but in the end, they were all going to stay with him. He breathed a deep breath in lieu of a sigh. "Right then. You can't walk out the door without a guild tag. They set up that requirement when they were still bringing in folks like you lot - part of the requirement to walk free. It's still there, on the front door, but no one remembers it is any more since they all signed on. It will take you too long to learn what I did to manage being here, and I did it before I walked into this building. You all have a lot to learn, but I'll teach you as we go. The solution I've come up with for guilding is as follows."

He handed the sheaf of papers to the pilot nearest him and they got passed around. "You know about Classes and sub-classes. There are now sub-classes of sub-classes. I figure it will work for guilds, too, just like it works for military. We're a squadron from one ship. That ship is one of a fleet. That fleet is one of several that make up the Navy. We should be able to form our own guild and make it a sub-guild of one that already exists. My current guild, Log Horizon, is our ticket home. We make our guild like we already planned, and we make it a sub-guild of Log Horizon. I've recently learned that my hobby of Scribe is actually useful here for magic, of all things. I've written these guild membership scrolls to actually register us from this location. It's how Guildmaster Shiroe, who is also a Scribe in his spare time, registered me. Once you've signed them, you should get your guild tag of Log Horizon and an unviewable sub-guild tag all our own. That gets you out the door...and out of the city. Log Horizon's Akiba. That gives you diplomatic immunity in Minami."

There were already men signing. He'd already registered the sub-guild in Akiba, as the guildmaster, testing the theory. It had been weird that it had actually worked. He figured it was because he was already an approved member of Log Horizon. That or Shiroe was keeping his mouth closed. It was nice that it didn't matter which town the documents were signed in, they'd still be good. As the documents were signed, they glowed and disappeared until the last one was gone. He looked at their data from the code realm, and it showed up the way it was supposed to. "Okay. When we need to talk, just us, use the sub-guild chat. When we're with everyone, use the guild chat. That will keep our chatter off the main line. It's done with intent, not by selecting from the menu, since you can't see it. That needs to be your next lesson before we even walk out the door. We'll practice that until you understand how 'intent' works."

They spent all of ten minutes on that, catching on quick. They were bright boys, Navy aviators. "Okay, that's how most of this world works. As for fighting and learning and doing...there are two ways the world works there, once you've got intent down. The one I want you to understand right off the bat, is that if you box yourself into your character, that shows up on your status screen, you've limited yourself to the lifeboat when you should be up in your angel. Anything you already know how to do, you can do here, but you have to work your way up to it."

"It's like knowing what you like and finding that one who you want to do it for you, but she's shy. You've got to work your way into it slowly, not letting her know just what it is you want until she's already prepared to just give it to you. If you push too hard, too soon, she's gonna call the cops and you're gonna get beat black and blue and you've got to start back aways and try again. Keep it slow and tender at the start, but make her learn that you already know what you're doing and she'll follow your lead all the way up to where you want to be, and then some. There are no limits. The limits on your screen are lies."

"Second, is that they are more truth than you can imagine, but they aren't limits, not really. The things on your screen - the spells you can cast, the blows, the blocks, all that shit. Those are the things your body already knows, like you already know how to lock, load, and fire. Like you know how to land on the postage stamp called an aircraft carrier in the dark no lights running. If you tell your body that's what you want out of it, it will give it to you beautifully, every time, without fail. Careful intent is required there until you figure it out instinctively in your brain. It's already instinct in the body. That's what the basic training's for. To get the brain to understand the body again, and to get that sweet tool you've been given to respond immediately to everything you want out of it. Once you've got both sides, life is beautiful here. I've seen some incredible things, watching the ninety-nines and up work."

He shook his head. "Log Horizon's only disappointing for that one reason. Two heavies, two light, and one sorcerer. That's it for firepower. But I think they'll take us under wing, one of the fighting guilds. They already have taken the Assassin and made her the wind. She was good before, but this last time I was there...sweet. Then we can be what we're good at for them. No competition for that slot, so in that regard, it's a good fit. And...it wasn't said, because I was double agent and couldn't be trusted at the time, but I'm pretty sure we'll end up Royal Guard unit, so I want us up as fast as possible. They're keeping it democratic and a free city, but that's the feel that's coming up."

Michael ran his hand through his hair. "As hard to swallow as that is for us Yanks, it's going to be necessary. There has to be one chief to get the Adventurer's home and hold us all together until we get there. At the moment Shiroe, Guildmaster of Log Horizon, is more like the President behind the scenes and the Round Table Council runs things like the Legislature, and has the public face. Purrcy's been pushing him, though. He's not getting enough done in hiding."

"He's going to set the new policies here. Is right now, actually. We'll hear them when we get out, along with everyone else, though he won't say them, since even here he's in hiding still. No one knows him. As far as they're concerned, he's the black horse candidate, but make no mistake, the entire Round Table marches to his orders." He waved his hand, "Anyway, we'll end up guarding the President, so get yourselves ready to do just that. Like I said, there will be a few months to get going, then we'll hook up with the high level groups to really get in the training."

"There's other things I want you ladies to learn, but that's enough to get you out the door and safely to where we're going next. Practice all you want on the way, just don't attack anyone. I'll have to come back here and pick you back up, and in here I can beat you all I want before we head back out. Watch your meters. Don't _ever_ lock yourselves into 1HP ever again. Two HP and you can cast Call of Home and escape. If you can't stop there, die first. That's walking through hell on Earth, but you've already survived hell on Theldesia. If you can't deal with it, hit up Purrcy. She'll pull you through that, too. Well...after she gets free enough to be with us again. We'll hold each other's hands until then like we always do. Any questions?"

A hand went up. He nodded permission to ask. "Ah, yeah-a. You gonna marry her?" There were snickers around the room.

Michael shook his head. "No. She's already got a husband here, taken, untouchable. You'll like him, too. Like your favorite grandpa, actually, and just as scary. I just like to watch her work." He grinned at them. "Smooth as butter, light as the cloud, and...well. I shouldn't give it all away. There's actually no guarantee we'll get her back in one piece. It's a long shot really, the same as it is for getting our last two boys back. But we'll all try like we always do."

He stood up straight. "Let's get going. I want to be there before the news feed comes on in case it backfires and we have to hoof it or provide back up guns. I've already registered the paperwork so it's just walking out the door. My boss will contact me when he's done with his high responsibilities and then we're home free, other than letting Log Horizon know we're going home with them." He moved to the door, his squad rising to their feet, the fire of the future in their eyes. It was how they moved forward. It was good to have them up again.


	45. Facing Minami: Initial Moves

Nyanta closed his eyes. He was trying to find his center of calm. The world around him was still somewhat in chaos, though it seemed to be settling now. He'd thought that the more it did calm down, the more he would as well. Disturbingly, it was becoming rather the opposite. The more the streets of Minami calmed, the more unsettled he became. He and a few others were still on look-out, watching for further unrest to reach Shopping District 8's building. Most of the guards from the other guilds of Akiba had been portioned out to help get the food and drink to the stations around town and see that order was maintained around them. The staff of Shopping District 8 was helping serve.

Nyanta had taken Calasin to the government building and dropped him off, not staying because the numbers of them to protect the store were rather small now. He was on the roof with ProudWing, looking over the city and watching the streets below. ProudWing's ears perked forward at the same time as Nyanta felt something different about the street below. He put a hand on ProudWing's shoulder. "Did you see what it was?" he asked quietly, his cat eyes and ears focusing on the ground.

[People,] ProudWing said, [in the shadows.]

"It looks like they're headed this way," Nyanta said, narrowing his eyes and trying to get a count. He walked slowly that direction and around the edge of the building to the next side. Tetora was on the other side. When he made a query, Nyanta motioned and he moved to look over his side near the corner of the side Nyanta was on. He tipped his head, then held up two hands. That was rather a lot, but...there were at least that number on his side. He called up a group chat for the building. "Looks like a raid's worth headed for the building, skulking about on the way."

There was a click of annoyance from Megumi, the security head for the current detail of the Knights of the Black Sword. "And just when things looked good, too," she complained. "When will they be in sight?"

Nyanta went back to the front of the building. "In...5...4...3...2...1..."

"Sighted," came from the storefront watch, who was looking through the window. "Uhhh...they're guild tagged 'Log Horizon'?"

Nyanta stiffened and Tetora ran lightly to get a closer look from his side. "Back side, too...internal agrees...but," his voice went quizzical, "they list a second sub-guild. VFA-115 Eagles." He gave a bit of a laugh. "Do we give them practice, or take them out and make them come back from the Cathedral?"

Nyanta's ear twitched. "They're too low level to make pay the cost. Megumi-nyan, we're quiet enough. Are mew willing to train them? It would be good to test them."

"Their levels are so low if you guys breathe on them, they'll die," Tetora added.

Megumi snorted a laugh. "Are you guys going to let them in the door at the end?"

"Depends," Nyanta said coolly.

"Give us the lowdown," she requested. Most positions inside couldn't see out. Tetora quietly called the formation lining up in the back as Nyanta watched the ones in the front spread out, a few disappearing behind the building across the street. He walked back down the side to confirm them coming out from the other side of it, and to see if they'd come out on top. As he passed ProudWing, he noticed that the gryphon was looking upwards, but unmoving. He turned to look up, then instinctively lept backwards. He immediately went to cat form, to make himself smaller, hid in the shadow of ProudWing and called, quietly, "Up above. Take cover."

After a bit, he found his target. About the same time, Tetora said, "Daanng. He did it. Looks like with code, too. Hang on, I'll get the gryphons loose."

"No!" Megumi said quickly, "You're the guard on the back. They've distracted you!"

Tetora quickly looked over the edge of the wall. "Well, so they have. They're knocking on the back door already.

"Purrobably the front as well," Nyanta said. "I'm pinned down behind the wall and can't see them."

"Yup," came from the front guard.

"I've shielded the building," Tetora said. "Let me see if I can get Michael to ground."

"Pull him in," Nyanta said. "I'll take him on. He's high enough level we should be able to dance a bit."

"Seems familiar," Tetora said wryly. "Didn't you take on a Monk once before?"

Nyanta gave a cold grin. "Yes." He watched his target until Tetora finally got him over their own building. Michael's wings were a mottled brown, similar to hawk's feathers, or perhaps eagle. It looked like Tetora was gently pulling him in, not allowing him to fly away in any direction until he was overhead.

Giving up running away, Michael finally settled to the roof, it looked like on his own rather than being pushed down. He grinned at Tetora. Tetora nodded back. "Congratulations. You got your wings rather quickly."

"Couldn't wait," Michael agreed. "Figured it out on the way here."

Nyanta got into pouncing position, his cat eyes and brain calculating for the leap. "Who're your friends?" Tetora pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

"They've been on enforced Rip Van Winkle nearly since arrival," Michael said as his eyes scanned the roof, headed for Nyanta's place. His body sprang forward and he hit Michael from the side before he could see what was coming. Mid-flight after the hit, Michael moved from being in front of him to being beside him and a kick was coming. Monks had high speed and quick cool down. Their moves allowed for rapid fire attacks. Nyanta, having had experience with this already, twisted his body and moved out of the way, dropping quickly to all fours. A punch whooshed over his body and he took advantage of it to tangle in Michael's legs, making him fall forward from the imbalance.

"Gah!" Michael stumbled forward, then flipped and rolled. He came back up on one knee and hand to look closer at Nyanta. "Okay. The data says Nyanta-san. The look says something else altogether. You made a change in a short amount of time as well."

Nyanta gave a brief nod and attacked again. He also already had experience fighting a Hacker. He knew he had to keep up the physical attacks to prevent the internal ones. "No tracer," he said to Tetora.

"Oh, good point," Tetora said as Michael had to roll out of Nyanta's way. A few attacks and feints later, Tetora said. "I've fixed it." There was a sudden flare, but it wasn't headed for Nyanta and he attacked again. A second flare went the opposite direction. "Megumi, why would he be keeping the gryphons tied down while I'm standing here and he's fighting Nyanta-san hand-to-hand?"

"Distraction. Look up and over," she answered immediately. "I'm sending reinforcements up the stairs."

Tetora went to look and Nyanta pulled his rapiers, suddenly felinoid again, to intercept a physical spell directed Tetora's way. "Oooo. Cool," Michael said and stepped into Nyanta following it with a punch. Nyanta got his other sword in to slash at Michael's arm armor. His rapiers were the best against Monk because he, as Swashbuckler, was the only Class that left behind negative statuses with the blades, slowing down the Monk's speed and decreasing the usefulness of any armor and weapons. He hit the ground and bounced back with a flip over Michael's head, landing six hits on the way. The last two of his eight missed because Michael had moved again.

Michael's kick landed on his side and he shifted back to cat on the way. He barely touched the ground before he was leaping at the Monk again, the second blow having missed because of his size and shape change again. "That's just annoying, you know that?" Michael sounded rather calm, however. Suddenly he was in the air, and hovering there. Nyanta's eyes narrowed, but his mouth smiled. He feinted, and Michael dropped. He leaped and hit Michael soundly in the chest, putting him on the ground again. He landed on Michael's chest, and put out his claws just enough to make a presence on his chest and near his neck. Michael held very still and his wings disappeared. "You're a birder, eh?"

Nyanta grinned mirthlessly. "Yes, I am. Let the gryphons go. Tetora-kun, too."

"Oh...no. I don't think I will just yet." His eyes glanced to the side. Nyanta let his nose and ears do the "looking" for him. At least eight people he didn't recognize by smell were on the roof with them, and several of them were creeping up on the two of them.

"Mew can keep coming," Nyanta said loudly, "and I can take his head so he has to come back from the Cathedral, or mew can stay back and we'll talk."

"It talks?" one of them asked, in English.

"Not 'it'," corrected Michael, in the same language, "he. He's learned transformation magic. This is your favorite grandpa, Nyanta-san."

"...Scary was right," another softer voice said, also in English.

Nyanta's ears twitched with irritation. "Grandpa?"

Michael grinned, and switched to Japanese. "So...are we going to talk?"

"Go ahead, nya."

"They want to join in. The only way to get them out of the basement and the station was with a guild tag. We came to play as a guild since we were full raid size to begin with. When they wouldn't sign on as Plant Hwayden, and no one could communicate with them, they got tossed in the basement to be used in the experiments. I've lost two, but managed to keep the rest from being used the same way Hahaue was. To get them out of the building, because of restrictions made on it back then, they had to have a guild tag. I made a compromise. If Shiroe isn't happy with it, we'll change out once we're out of this hell hole. In the meantime -"

The door to the roof burst open. Nyanta's claws held Michael down a little more and his ear turned to him, but Nyanta's eyes went to the door to watch what Michael's people would do. They were surrounding the door, some above, others to the side. One by one, as the higher level fighters spilled out onto the roof, the American pilots managed to pull them down and immobilize them. They didn't bother harming anyone. Just trapped them, pulled them out of the way, and sat on them, two and three to one, until the twenty-one had the nine that had come all spread out on the roof. They all then looked at him with juvenile pride on their faces.

Nyanta sighed and shook his head. "We lose, Megumi-nyan. They are intelligent children, though they only speak English here. Michael-nyan will have to translate for us until Shiroe-ichi can figure something out or we get home."

Megumi herself stepped out onto the roof, though she kept in the doorway in case there were a few more waiting over the door. She looked around at the situation then slowly shook her head. "They would still lose if we were serious, but that's pretty good. Are they special ops?"

Nyanta looked down at Michael. He wouldn't answer. "It's hard to believe pilots would be, but any military group could be, I suppose," Nyanta finally said. "I do know Michael-nyan wants to be, if he isn't." He pulled in his claws, then shifted back to felinoid, but stayed sitting on Michael. "Okay. So we're at a stand-off, at this point. What do mew want?"

"I want to talk to Purrcy," Michael answered seriously. "I know the only one who can make that possible is Tetora, and that she's with you."

"Mew'll have to let him free. And mew should do that for the gryphons, too. They're our allies and may not be too happy with mew."

"As long as you explain it to them that they aren't to attack," Michael said simply.

Nyanta nodded and pointed to ProudWing. "Him first."

Michael nodded at about the same time ProudWing suddenly moved to drop his head from looking upward and shook himself. "PurroudWing, it's okay," Nyanta said immediately.

ProudWing turned to look at him and the rest of the roof. [It doesn't look okay.] Michael turned his head to stare at the gryphon and the other people newly come did as well.

"It is, though," Nyanta insisted. "It was a test. Mew've been set free as part of a condition, but mew have to stand down. Mew're out of the game."

ProudWing tipped his head and blinked. Finally he said, [Okay.]

Nyanta pointed to the other gryphon. Michael nodded and that one also moved and shook. [You're out of the game,] ProudWing told him. [We observe only now.]

[Okay,] that gryphon looked around, curious about the situation as well.

"Now Tetora-kun," Nyanta said.

Michael sighed. "Can I at least sit up? I'll still be prisoner, but I'd like to face him directly."

"No."

Michael rolled his eyes, but released Tetora enough to be able to converse. "That's a really interesting spell," were Tetora's first words. "Did you have to think hard about that one?"

"Yes," Michael said. "But I've had since you locked me down that first dinner to come up with it." Tetora blinked.

"Tetora-kun," Nyanta said, "Michael-nyan has asked to speak to Purrcy."

Tetora frowned. "Do we have approval?"

"Not yet," Nyanta answered.

Tetora looked around at the situation. "Ah. I see." He worried at his lip a bit, then contacted the group in the government building. "Naotsugu. Hey, we've got a little situation here. Michael's shown up and wants to talk to Purrcy. We're pinned down until he does. ...No, more like a pack of puppy dogs. ...Yeah. Thanks. ... ...Okay, thanks. We're sorry for bothering you." He looked back at them. "Shiroe says he knows and it's okay."

Michael nodded. "I figured he would, though I'm not sure how that gets communicated. I made the sub-guild back in Akiba and he didn't complain, or let on, either." Nyanta and Tetora both looked at him in just a little exasperation. "What? I couldn't say anything, you know."

"No, I suppose not," allowed Tetora with a sigh. "All right, I'll fetch her out."

Nyanta did get off Michael at that point, but it was to walk up to Tetora, standing between him and the rest of the roof. He was able to see Tetora's eyes, which were focused "inside" waver and change color to become golden. "Is Tetora-kun in the ring, or with mew?" he asked.

"With me," Purrcy smiled at him with Tetora's lips.

"Tell him to nyot watch," Nyanta said quietly. She raised an eyebrow, then gave a faint nod. He bent to her and kissed her gently, but not for long. It wasn't her body, after all. "We'll bring mew home as soon as we can."

Her borrowed hand reached up and grasped his vest, and her eyes filled with tears. She startled and put her other borrowed hand to her eyes, then smiled slightly. "I shouldn't stay here long...I might not give it back." It was only half-teasing.

He wiped her other eye with a paw. "That's how I felt up there." She nodded agreement and released his vest, though her hand lingered open-palmed on his chest for a moment. He stepped to the side to let her see the roof and she blushed prettily at all the eyes that had been watching them. "Michael-nyan has asked to talk to mew," he told her.

Michael had risen to standing. Purrcy-Tetora moved to stand facing him, Nyanta coming behind. Michael looked into the golden eyes for a moment. Finally he sighed. "It really is very complicated, facing you, sometimes," he said.

Purrcy tipped her head sideways at him, slightly confused. Michael looked up at the sky for a moment, then switched to English. "Well, we're going to play by Adventurer rules for now, so I guess I'll do it this way." He cleared his throat, then bowed and went down on one knee. Putting his hands on that knee he looked up into her eyes. "Your Majesty, I beg a boon."

Purrcy went still and blinked. "Ah...if it's a right and proper thing, I would be happy to grant it, Michael."

Michael smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. "Please accept this Geezer of a Master as your loyal subject and allow his household to serve you as thanks for your efforts in their behalf."

She looked quizzical again. "Are they all in? Do they all play?"

He shook his head, "No, but they all know about it. And I've explained your part in their release. They're all in agreement."

Purrcy looked around at the waiting men, her eyes going soft for them. She motioned and they all rose off their various targets and moved to stand behind Michael. "Is this really what you want to do?" she asked them.

With one voice, they answered her, "Hoobah!"

She put the back of her hand to her mouth and gave a little laugh, turning her head. When she looked back at them, there were tears in her eyes again. She couldn't speak, but instead nodded her head, and their faces lit up into smiles. Looking at Michael she swallowed, then said quietly, "Thank you, Michael. I do hope we get to have fun together here in this place."

She held out her hand and lifted him up. He turned the hand over and kissed the back of it, bowing over it. "I'm sure we'll all do our best," he answered her. He stepped aside. One by one the pilots stepped up to her and introduced themselves, some bowing, some not. When his quietest stepped up, he hesitated after his introduction. Purrcy's face went soft and she extended her hand to him. He took hold of it and held it gently, but like he didn't want to let go. "Brenner," she said gently, "hugs will have to wait until I'm myself again. Tetora is actually male. He's being kind to let me use his body, but I shouldn't be overly familiar with it." Nyanta could feel the reproachful flick of her ear at him, but he didn't feel very repentant. Brenner nodded, but couldn't quite bring himself to let go. She reached up with her other hand and ruffled his hair until he could take a deep breath and bow slightly, letting go finally.

Michael's wingman, Gareth, also hesitated and Purrcy gave him her hand. "I can't purr until then, either, I'm afraid," she said with a smile for him.

His mouth twitched up. "I'll keep listening for it," he said and bowed slightly, then let her go and moved for the next member of the group.

When they had all greeted her, she bowed to them slightly. "Please continue to take care of me," she asked them.

They all looked back at her soberly. "Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

She looked back at Nyanta. "Do I need to tell Shiroe myself?" He shook his head. She reached for his paw. He gave it to her and she held on very tightly, then turned and walked with him to ProudWing. Reaching up her free hand she ran her fingers through the feathers on the head that was lowered to her. "Keep watch over him for me, please?"

[Of course,] ProudWing nuzzled her face with his beak. [We will hope to see you again soon.]

"Thank you," she put her forehead on his cheek for a moment, then released him and turned back to Nyanta. She buried her head in his chest, her hand on his jacket front and he put his free arm around her.

"Hold on, Purrcy," he said quietly. "We will come and bring mew back." His paw tightened on her.

She nodded in his chest. "I love you, Nyanta." Her hand tightened on his jacket for just a moment, then he could feel her leave. He looked away, his ears drooping again, the pain in his heart becoming very sharp.

As he moved to release Tetora, the grip on his hand tightened again. Softly Tetora said, "I've fixed it, Nyanta-san. She isn't asleep any more. She can see through you if you want her to."

Nyanta only relaxed slightly on the outside, but on the inside, he slumped in utter relief. "Thank mew, Tetora-kun."

Tetora's free arm wrapped around Nyanta's back and held on tightly. He pet the young man's head until he also recovered. Tetora surreptitiously wiped his eyes, then stepped back, letting go the other hand. Then he glared up at Nyanta. "But don't ever do that again," he scolded. "Fuzzy kisses are _not_ my thing."

Nyanta smiled lightly. "I wasn't kissing _mew_."

Tetora sniffed at him and Nyanta lightly rubbed his head until he sighed and relented. "Well, I wonder how many enemies we've let invade by ignoring everything this long," he said turning back to the rest of the roof. He stopped and stared briefly. Nyanta turned as well. All of Michael's group were at the edges of the roof, and moving either over the edge and down, or across to the buildings to either side.

"I think ...none, ...or very soon, none," Nyanta said.

Michael was in discussion with Megumi and the other guards were nearly done returning into the building. Tetora looked at Nyanta. "Shall I fill Shiroe in?"

Nyanta nodded and Tetora called up another chat with Naotsugu. Nyanta walked off to stand by a clear place at the edge of the roof and looked up into the sky. He hunted until he found the moon, just beginning to rise over the horizon, though the sun was still in the sky.

As he stared at it, ProudWing walked up beside him. [It's difficult to have a spouse inside, and not yet Summoned. ...But we still know that some day they will be and we will see them again.]

Nyanta nodded and he put his paw up to touch his earring gently. Even this vista had her present in it, with him. It wouldn't be his favorite one, but it was still some comfort. He leaned on the gryphon, who leaned back just a bit. It was nice to have someone that understood with him.

He stood there, looking over the city, and was finally able to return to calm.

-:-:-:-:-

The currently present Councils of both Minami and Akiba were seated, slightly separated, in what was the equivalent of a television studio. Arranged in front of them were magic users who would cast their spells to direct the image to the vid screens around the city. They were the first other communication mages Shiroe had seen. He couldn't see it on their status screens, though. The ones at desks behind them were going to be the moderators for the Plant Hwayden guild-wide chat.

Apparently the guild was divided into subdivisions and companies, rather militarily. Everyone would be able to hear the broadcast simultaneously, but comments back up would go through the company leaders to the subdivision leaders then to the communication mages in this room who would field them to the panel of the two councils. They were going through the final check to see they had everyone up on the chat line. He was intrigued by how the process in total worked.

The Akiba contingent had been added to the group chat. Shiroe had solved one issue early with a simple declaration to not call out individuals, since Calasin's store needed to hear what new laws might come of it, or at least policies. He'd told them to just use their guild names.

In this way all of his people in town would hear it...and so would the people of Akiba. If they had comments, they could pass them up themselves to their own guildmasters. He rather felt like this was important for all Adventurers, not just the ones of Minami. And a single comment from the Adventurers of Akiba could be just as important as the thoughts of the guildmasters present.

Shiroe had done one other thing. He'd included the guildmasters of Akiba (and by extension their guilds) that weren't present. They had gathered in a conference room of the Akiba Guild Hall and he would open a video chat with them just prior to the beginning of the Hwayden guild chat. They were going to be just as important to the revitalization of Minami. Akaneya was the one who needed to hire the most, after all, at the moment, with Marine Organization and Shopping District 8 being the seconds on that list.

Shiroe wanted the people of Minami to at least have seen the faces of those three. It was likely Woodstock would want to hire eventually, too, so that counted for him. Marielle brought a lot of revitalization experience to the table with her directorship of the Akiba festivals. There was no point to leaving Soujirou out, and sometimes his ability to keep things on an even keel was important. He'd probably have about as much to say as KR, but being present might be enough.

Shiroe was given his cue and he opened his video chat window. When that was stable, the head communication mage held up one hand and silently counted down with the fingers on his hand from five to zero and all the communication mages simulcast their video spells. When they had the nod, Kazuhiko began. "Good evening everyone. To begin with, I wish to give you an update on my investigations and succeeding actions. Mizufa is still incarcerated. We will allow time for the Senate to give us a statement as to their intentions before we pass final judgment on her. It's my expectation to have an answer from them within three days. Before we will accept another liaison from them, they must agree to a new treaty that requires them to destroy any technologies that may have been created that are anti-Adventurer and allows for us to destroy any that we may find in their possession."

"Indicus still hasn't returned to the Cathedral. As this is highly unusual, and due to the restrictions on attack magic in the prison, we expect that she used the spell that cuts off the soul from the body and it rebounded on her, making her now a spirit. The other possibility is that she used the spirit dissolution spell, in which case she is for all intents and purposes dead by her own hand. In either case, she has passed judgment on herself and carried out her own punishment. If she should happen to surface, we'll see she's brought to proper justice."

"We'll be tearing out the experimentation room from the 1HP level of the prison, and have dismissed Jared Gan from the Ten-Seat Council with a warning that he will be brought to justice as well if he should continue the experimentation on his own. He did allow that there was the possibility that the spirits could be recovered and we will be financing research into how that might be done, as well as looking into how the severing spell might be recovered from."

"Akiba has agreed to assist in this research, as the issue is a general Adventurer issue. We have also removed the head over the 1HP level and replaced him with another who can be trusted to not allow such things to occur in the future. Those who assisted in bringing to light what was happening there have been rewarded for their service to Adventurers everywhere." Shiroe smiled slightly. In one fell swoop, Michael had been called both a villain and a hero and his disappearance from the department and Minami explained so all sides could be satisfied.

"Council member KR has been very helpful in our investigations and brought to light many things that were going on in the background. He will continue to keep track of the various things he has been researching related to the issue to make sure that it doesn't occur again. Councilman Nakalnad." Kazuhiko turned the chat over to the general. It had been decided that he would be the face of the council for the meeting part of the general chat.

"Thanks to everyone who helped Shopping District 8 with the food dissemination today. Working together in this way is the essence of being Adventurers, a thing that's been lacking in Minami for a while now. We've heard the complaints of both Adventurers and People of the Land today and wish to address some of them this evening. As we discuss the issues, you're welcome to pass up to us constructive suggestions."

"It's very apparent, both from my time in visiting at Akiba, and from today's complaints, that our system of passes isn't working. We're considering abolishing them altogether. The Round Table Council of Akiba has suggested several alternative possible actions we could take, but we're also interesting in hearing what you've already considered for yourselves." Nakalnad paused, keeping a calm face. Shiroe found the expressions on the video crew humorous. Apparently Nakalnad had never sounded so reasonable before. Likely he'd had to be the hard-nosed enforcer in the past.

Questions and comments began to appear on teleprompt windows in front of the panel. It was very similar to Shiroe's own spell to pass writing on through the chat function, but in this case, it was the communication mages writing to a window with a similar spell to the communication mages' video spell. One of the important questions they had addressed in their meeting showed up and Nakalnad took that one first.

"The question has been asked, 'Zeldus is the Council member in charge of finances. Why is he not present?' Zeldus was in charge of development and finances. We believe he may also be partner to the crimes against the Adventurers. His financial department is being audited to determine if he has been knowingly financing the research that allowed the innocent deaths of Adventurers."

"It is also his financial policies that have put us in a state of financial distress in Minami, and he is unwilling to consider alternatives. We have removed him from that office at this time, and will be assigning a new Treasurer to the Council who can properly revitalize Minami. Round Table Councilman Calasin, guildmaster of Shopping District 8, has agreed to remain in Minami as an advisor to the Treasurer until such time as the revitalization of Minami has begun to stabilize." At the moment, Kazuhiko was filling the role of Treasurer, by fiat since he was the one who most hated the pass system. They were hopeful that someone else with aptitude could be found within Minami shortly.

A number of suggestions had arrived on screen actually related to the topic at hand. Nakalnad and Kazuhiko fielded the ones that were thoughtful but not useful, explaining carefully why. On some of them, they brought in the Round Table members of Akiba, who could give the experiences they'd had to address those issues. When the suggestions from within Minami wound down, Calasin was invited to explain to the Minami guild what had been done in Akiba, why, and how it was working. When that explanation was completed, Nakalnad thanked him and the guild members who had contributed and ended with, "We'll take all of these suggestions into consideration and create a workable solution for Minami. We may need to experiment a bit, but we hope to have positive changes within a month. I'm sure there will be some pain for all of us as we try to adjust, but surely it won't be any worse than the pain we've already been in for the last few months."

Nakalnad paused, then steepled his hands in front of him. "One of the topics that has come up during this discussion is that of the curfew." He pursed his lips. "The main reason for the curfew has been because of the increase in thefts and crime in Minami. It's certainly understandable that those who are hungry because of the financial policies have resorted to desperate measures. We hope that with the coming financial changes, that will be able to diminish rapidly. We ask for your patience in that regard. We will do our best to quickly come to a resolution to that issue."

"However, not all of the crime has been related to such understandable reasons. Some of it has been just because you lot are bored. Please explain to me why Adventurers, who were reasonable humans on Earth, feel that it is suddenly okay to become pariahs of society? Abuse, slavery, destruction and theft of other's property, and such criminal behavior may be part of human nature, but it doesn't have to be. Such crimes were punished on Earth and such crimes should be punished here. Surely you didn't pay money to play _Elder Tales_ just so you could be criminals? It wasn't even allowed in the game." He glared at the communication mages, and thus the watching Adventurers. "If you want to be treated like rational humans, please act like them."

Kazuhiko shifted. "I personally would really love to remove the curfews. I, too, feel like they're too much. Not everyone is criminally minded. As a matter of fact, as Nakalnad insinuated, most Adventurer's aren't. It seems to me that it's more a cry against other restrictions that are in place. Perhaps if we could hear your concerns, we might be able to address them in better ways than in just increasing restrictions. The majority of Adventurers are both intelligent and caring, as well as self-controlling. Surely it isn't necessary for the Ten-Seat Council to control every member of Plant Hwayden." The prompts lit up and the communication mages were hard pressed to write fast enough. They waited patiently to see the first set of concerns to get a feel for the top one or two.

As expected, the main one was that the Adventurers felt they were not autonomous, though it was said in lots of little ways. Kazuhiko finally nodded. "So...it looks like the main reason is because many of you feel that you aren't being treated as rational humans to begin with. That's reasonable. That's why the People of the Land rioted with you, actually, and was their biggest complaint to us as well. You've been oppressed by the Council, and in turn you've oppressed the People of the Land and everyone is unhappy because of it. I believe we may be able to solve both problems with the changes we make in replacing the pass system and as we revitalize Minami."

"Yes," Nakalnad said, "however, law must still be reasonably made and maintained, and for it to work for both Adventurers and People of the Land it must be applied to both equally. We've considered this from the perspective of the People of the Land, which should be unsurprisingly the same perspective we Adventurers had as citizens of Japan. Let us continue to maintain that such things as kidnapping, slavery, confinement, abuse - physical or sexual, and voluntary manslaughter are severe crimes that are punishable by law, and that it will be applied when discovered for either Adventurers or Persons of the Land."

"If you have a servant, treat them with the respect an employee is due, as if you were that employee yourself. Please remember that if they take down the Cathedral, we must leave Westlande altogether. The technology of the mini Cathedrals has only been shown to drive Adventurers to madness, and no other possible solution has been found yet. We are still looking for a way home, but until then, can we please be reasonable, law abiding citizens of Yamato?"

Michitaka leaned forward with a small smile on his face, "If I may?" He was given permission. "You mentioned that boredom was a possible reason as well. We did find that to be the case in Akiba early on as well. We've been very pleased with the outcome of our response to that. If we could give some examples...?" He looked over to Marielle in the video chat screen.

Her eyes lit up and she smiled. "In Akiba, my guild was the first to begin to sell 'real' food in the market streets. We were so excited to finally get to taste _real_ food again that we wanted to share it, but we also needed to pay for the help to sell it, prepare it, and buy the ingredients to make it with. So we set up shops to sell it to pay for that. It was part of the revitalization of Akiba, but it also gave lots of people something exciting to _do_. That was the beginning of lots of people doing things they thought were cool or fun and earning money for it. One of our favorites is the puppet company that puts on favorite episodes of anime and manga. We are quite willing to pay to watch those, even for the twenty-eighth running." She grinned her bright sunny smile.

"Also, I'm known as the festival queen because I'm always the one who wants to have them, even though they are a lot of hard work. It takes everyone in town to put them on and the People of the Land love participating with us. Not only do we get to have fun being busy with the preparations, we get to have fun at the festival, feel good about cleaning up the city afterwards, and have a reason to spend the money we've worked so hard to earn. I really do just love festivals!"

Shiroe nodded his head. "Being able to have a reason to _spend_ money is a good motivator to wanting to bother to _earn_ it. But even better is finding something to _do_ that makes you happy. We really don't feel like it's worth it to do things that don't make you happy when we have this whole world to play in. We paid to play _Elder Tales_. We're still doing that in Akiba, only now we can do it wholeheartedly while at the same time working on serious things, like going home, or helping each other, or preventing the People of the Land from being overrun by monsters. After all, if some of us love grinding, ...well...there are still lots of quests out there that came with us, plus all the new ones from the expansion that we're not sure we've even seen all of yet. It really isn't necessary to be bored in Yamato, or all of Theldesia. Don't let that hold you back. Use it as a catalyst to do the thing you love to do, and can't on Earth. Once we get back there, you might wish you could come back and play again, or regret that you didn't while you were here."

Akaneya raised his hand. "In my guild, we are a soft product development guild, taking completed research and figuring out how to make it usable, manufacturable product. We have so much work to do that I'm hiring anyone that likes to figure that sort of thing out. Everyone comes to work excited and leaves still talking about their projects. I had a few who prefer the research side of things and they went over to Roderick Trading Company recently since his guild focuses on pure research. I haven't seen them since and had to track them down. They were so focused on getting their teeth into the research that I had to scold them into their beds to rest, laughing all the way." He shook his head. "I should have kept them to babysit them, but they are having the time of their lives. When they get home, they know what they're going to do on Earth now, where they had no idea before coming here."

"In Akiba, we choose what to do and have fun while doing it," Michitaka took back over. "I'm still wondering why I think mountains of paperwork is fun, but when I see the guild making stuff and watching the final product come out at the end with such satisfied looks on their faces, and get to swing my own hammer at the forge for the same reason...well...that's definitely worth it. And when we all want to scream, we run away to some dungeon or other and swing at monsters instead."

He smiled. "That only helps with our supplies, and coin, of course, though we can get that through sales of our products and purchasing the supplies brought in by the small guilds who enjoy farming and grinding. And when we're getting bored, we call up Marielle and suggest it's time for another festival, even if we have to make one up. Since we're also the construction crews, that keeps us really busy for a while. We've got a whole section of the warehouse set aside for the stages and booths now. A new fresh coat of paint, some minor repairs and we're good to go with set up, then we play at the festival, and then there's teardown and clean-up. That keeps us busy any number of days in a row, and we're worn out and ready to just get back to work for a while on the things we love to do on a daily basis."

"I really think that with the suggestions the Ten-Seat Council has been given, and some serious thought to the revitalization of Minami, that you guys can have the same kind of fun experience we all are choosing to have. When you're doing something you love, there's no reason for boredom to pull you down," Michitaka closed and turned it back over to Kazuhiko.

"Thank you for those examples," Kazuhiko said. "I think that we would also like to achieve that kind of revitalization for Minami with the help of all the Adventurers who live here. We'll do our best to come to a solution that allows us to do that." He paused, then said, "I think that wraps up our guild discussion for this evening. Please consider carefully what you individually would like to see for Minami's future, and remember to be considerate of the People of the Land we live and coexist with. We'll be talking to them next and promising them we'll all be better behaved. I would really hate to add any more of you to the prison when we all know how to play nice."

"Please expect to hear from us again in a few days with the proposed revitalization changes, and help us to experiment until we find a reasonable solution. If you have any further suggestions, or comments on how things are going, please feel free to pass them on up for review." Nakalnad said and glanced at the head communication mage. That person made a cutting motion with his hand and the video spells went down.

Shiroe turned to the Akiba group. "Thanks, guys, Marielle. We'll keep you updated." They nodded and he closed his video chat with them.

"You guys laid it on thick, didn't you?" Nakalnad said wryly.

Shiroe shrugged. "Maybe, but probably not. You need them thinking forward with excitement to get through the next little bit so you have time to think. Just stay out of their way now if they start doing things on their own, unless they conflict with the laws."

-:-:-:-:-

There was a bit of rearrangement and they were beginning again. This time Shiroe and the fighting guildmasters walked down to stand on the steps of the Government building with the Minami council members. There wasn't a chat this time, but it was also magically televised on the vid screens. Many of the People of the Land were standing outside the building, having had announced to them that their announcement would be made there. Of course, they'd heard and seen the Adventurer meeting. This one was rather short, therefore.

They gave a short apology for the difficulty the People of the Land had been having working under the Adventurers until then. They reiterated that they would be treated with the same respect under the laws, and that they could come to Kazuhiko's forces, or to Nakalnad's, if they needed to report an incident. It was also a little more clearly stated that if they didn't want to work for a particular Adventurer, there was nothing holding them to stay. They could move on if that was their desire, to find someone else to work for, to find some other livelihood, or even to leave the city if they wanted to. The only restraint was that they also had to live the same laws, including no deaths to Adventurers.

Shiroe stepped forward, being used to being the villain. "Please let me make it clear. All Adventurers wish, in the end, to live in peace with all citizens of Theldesia, the same as the majority of us wish to go home. The only thing that will make peace not possible within Minami is if the Cathedral is threatened. Please don't do it again. Any cornered creature will fight for their life in fear. We will likely not hold back next time. We've already sent the message to your leaders in the Senate and Saimiya that we won't hold back from protecting ourselves from the instruments of Adventurer destruction that were created here in Minami, or that may be being created anywhere in Westlande. For the sake of continued peace between our peoples, please don't let your leadership continue on that path. Thank you." He stepped back into his place. Nakalnad wrapped up the announcement and the vid screens were shut down again.

Shiroe's group called for their winged mounts again and took off for Shopping District 8's building, where they would all stay the night. As Shiroe prepared to mount LightWind, he apologized for not being able to add the Summons into the main conferences, but said he'd told the leadership.

LightWind bowed his head slightly. [Even that much is a good beginning.]

"Thank you. I do hope we'll be able to do more," Shiroe said. He mounted and pulled Akatsuki up behind him. She wrapped her arms around him as usual, but this time she squeezed him just a bit first. As they rose into the air, Akatsuki rested her head on his back. It was a short flight to the roof of the building, but he felt better from just being held by her quietly for that amount of time. They would all get back together again the next day to work hard again, but for just a couple of minutes, they were alone in the sky.

He took a deep breath and let it out, then slipped the fingers of his right hand into her fingers, interlacing them together and held her hand comfortably. He could feel her blushing warm against his back. He smiled. LightWind circled the building roof until everyone else had landed to give them just a little more time together. That made Shiroe blush, though he appreciated it. None of the three of them admitted to the real reason for it when they did land, staying silent by mutual agreement.

That night the curfew wasn't enforced particularly hard. Kazuhiko's night force was out, as normal. So were a good portion of Nakalnad's men. The one's who'd returned with him had been let in fairly quickly after their arrival since the city guards couldn't really keep them out. Loriel's imperial guards housed in Minami were also on street duty. They were all instructed not to pull people in, unless they were really doing unlawful things, but to discuss with them what they needed. That data would be compiled and added to the discussions the next day. Just being able to be heard went a long way to soothing the remaining ruffled feathers of the city that night.

The next day, the incarcerated were given a similar opportunity. They were all assigned essays. They had to explain what they had done wrong, why it was wrong, what they were going to do to correct their errors, and if they had a complaint or a suggestion for the leadership they could add that, too. Essayists who submitted reasonable essays were paired up and sent out to perform the correction for their act they'd written in the essay (with supervision and follow up by both their peer and a strong arm), then were sent on their way with a warning that next time they'd be shipped out-city.

Those who were just obstinate in their essays had their personal data checked against the registers. If it was a first infraction, they were given another day to sit in jail and the essay requirement was repeated the second day. If that wasn't sufficient, they were escorted to the city gate and told to grow up a bit before returning, their names being placed on the gate registers. If they were repeat offenders, they were locked out of the Guild Hall and tossed out of the city and their names put on the register at the gate for refusal of entrance to Minami. In this way the streets generally became calmer and safer at night. The curfew was lightened about three nights after the all-guild meeting and within a week was removed altogether.


	46. Facing Minami:Conquering the Adventurers

Nyanta made dinner for everyone, though it was a rather large group. There were roughly one-hundred-sixty present all told, what with the legion Calasin had brought with him, the nearly full raid of Michael's, the full raid of Shiroe's, and the staff of Shopping District 8 that stayed in the rooms above the store proper. The Summons were sent home until the restructuring was complete. It was expected that would take at least two to three more days to get rolling along well enough Shiroe's dungeon raid could get underway properly.

Calasin had managed to purchase what had really been a high-rise shopping mall and reapportion it for his uses. The main floor was the warehouse in the back half and grocery store in the front half. The second floor contained the business offices in the back and was mostly for hardware, housewares, clothing, and that sort of thing. The third floor and above had been divided into sleeping and living quarters for employees and caravan members with a kitchen and large dining hall on the third floor. While there weren't really enough beds for everyone, they managed to pull together sufficient sleeping arrangements. The guards were taking shift rotations as well, just to make sure things stayed calm, particularly with all the "dignitaries" staying over.

Though it was getting late, after dinner Log Horizon took over a corner of the dining hall for a guild meeting. A lot had happened and Shiroe felt they at least needed an intermediate summary review meeting. It might count as an end-of-battle meeting even, though they were still marching in a corridor with enemies in it after leaving the first of the boss rooms of this the fourth level.

He contacted Minori back at home. When the juniors were settled in the main room, wrapped in blankets, he transitioned it to a video conference. They sat up in surprise to see just how many were on the other side. "I wonder how long we'll be able to continue to have full-guild meetings like this," Tetora mused. He'd seated himself between Nyanta and Naotsugu. His arms were wrapped around his knees, hugged to his chest as he rocked just a little.

Michael was on the other side of Nyanta. He leaned forward. "Shiroe, sir, we need the translation spell for this lot. Minami doesn't have one." He pointed with his thumb at his sub-guild.

Shiroe nodded and pulled it out. He'd worked on it over dinner, trying to not spill his food on it, but having little extra time in his day so far. He tore it and light glowed around the twenty-one men and Michael. "I made it specific to your sub-guild this time," he said by way of explanation. Looks of enlightenment and relief came over the faces of the squadron, who finally understood their first sentence out of anyone that day other than Michael and Purrcy.

Shiroe was seated between Naotsugu and Akatsuki. He turned to her. "Why don't you start with introducing yourself."

She looked up at him in a little surprise, then took a breath and looked squarely at the new members. "I'm Akatsuki, Assassin Class, Shiroe's ninja guard and girlfriend." She managed to not blush until most eyes were off her.

Shiroe went next. "I'm Shiroe, Guildmaster of Log Horizon, Enchanter Class. Welcome to the guild. I do hope you'll decide to stay." He looked at Naotsugu.

"Hey. I'm Naotsugu, Guardian, Marshal of Log Horizon." He looked down the line.

"I'm Tetora, male stuck in a female body and learning to live with it, Queen's Guard."

Nyanta picked it up at Tetora's silent waiting. "Mew've already technically met me. Consort to the Queen is what she likes to call me. Mew should call me Nyanta." Nyanta sat calmly. The others, save Tetora and Michael, looked at him with intrigued eyes. He twitched his ear and passed it on.

"Michael, working-towards-General, and Sub-Guildmaster of the VFA-115 Eagles."

Shiroe shifted. "We'll go over to Akiba next."

Touya raised his hand. "Touya, Assistant Marshal, Samurai. I assume you'll be explaining why we're using those titles suddenly?"

Tetora nodded and Nyanta tipped his head. "They've given allegiance to the Queen." Looks of strange understanding came over faces.

"Ah, I'm Minori, Touya's twin. I'm Seneschal and Shiroe's apprentice, Kannagi Class. If we're putting everyone up here, it will be two to a room and some will have to have three and we'll be full. Should I make sure we have enough bedding for everyone by the time you get back?"

Michael shook his head. "We'll do hammocks and put them up ourselves. We'll make out shopping lists as we go and I'll see it gets to you in time. They're going to do intensive training while we're out on the raid, so you've got time."

Minori relaxed, then sat up again, "Ah, tables and chairs...and dishes...I'll at least do that much to arrive by then." Shiroe nodded and she sat back, slightly chewing her lip as if thinking of everything else that would need to be done.

"Isuzu, Bard. I help Minori and Nyanta-san around the house and work on intelligence gathering around town with Rudy." Isuzu nodded pleasantly.

"Rudy, though it's merely a pleasant nickname," Rudy said with a flick of his bangs. "Sorcerer and Minister of Person of the Land Relations in Akiba, for the guild." He looked very proud of himself and Shiroe had to smile at the title he'd given himself. It was a combination of what he really was, particularly to himself, and what Purrcy had allowed him to take if he wanted it.

Shiroe looked back at Michael. "Let's hear your report first, and the story, then have the introductions."

Michael folded his arms and shifted in his seat to get into a comfortable reporting position. "I'm the Commander of the 115th F/A-18E Squadron off the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, stationed at the Iwakuni Marine Base. Normally we'd have all been in the south at Nakasu, but we'd gone around the western side and were on shore leave for a brief visit at just the right time to get on for the update. We thought we'd go as a whole squad and hit one of the new dungeons as a raid. As luck would have it, since we were in the rentals, the server slots that place had available got filled at just the right moment. I was last to log in, and got thrown into an Akiba slot, by the skin of my teeth, really, or they'd have had no one to come rescue them." _(See Note 1.)_

"By the time I learned the language and figured out how to get here to Minami, they'd already been thrown into the brig for not being willing to take the guild and for not understanding enough of the language themselves, though we can pick out a few things here and there. It was a problem with being Americans on Japanese computers - we didn't have the proper translator. I lost two to the experiments before I got accepted for assignment to the Special's section of the prison and could rearrange them to be out of sight and mind. I couldn't get them out myself at that point. They've got really restrictive measures down there, and I was still working my Hacker levels up when I met Purrcy."

"I told you before that I was the guard assigned to KR, and I was. They kept him down there when he cast Soul Possession, and I watched over him. Most of the story Purrcy and I told you was true, except that it was Jared Gan, not Quan that was the main person running the experiments. Quan was being used to protect Jared, as he'd already gotten too close to knowing what they were doing. They wanted to make it so he took the fall, or at least kept his mouth closed. Purrcy and I talked early on when she first started coming since we couldn't help but run into each other in the code realm since that's where I was all the time I was down there. She helped me get the boy's names off the no-removal list as if they'd never been there before. That would get them out, if I could time it right."

"When I told Kazuhiko that the Adventurers had begun to go into the research room and not come out and it was empty when Jared left, he had to figure out a way to get the information that was in that room. He worked with KR, thinking that if they could send in a Summon they might learn something, similar to sending in familiars into dungeons to map them out." The others nodded. "KR was the one who decided that since Purrcy could Transform into felinoid, he'd set her to be the fall girl." Michael rubbed the side of his neck. "She'd already made me promise secrecy to her real status. When it was just her and me, she told me she would do it, and wrote the code to give me a line into the room to record what happened to her." He made a face. "It still turns my stomach to remember it. It was the first time I'd seen it, of course, and I'd have disagreed more strenuously if I'd really understood...but then, it _had_ been a direct order by her Summoner." Nyanta's tail slapped dangerously, though he remained sitting calmly, looking down slightly to not meet anyone's eyes.

"When Jared left, the light lit up green. Somehow, she'd managed to keep herself together, and in the basement. When I got out at the end of my shift, KR met me in Kazuhiko's office. He had Purrcy with him, but was foaming at the mouth. I didn't understand until he handed me the kitten. It was a body only, not living, as if born dead. It tore my heart to see it. I took her and suddenly I felt a shift and the body in my hands began to move. I was speechless. When she looked at me and lifted her paw...I really couldn't figure it out. She data dumped and rolled over and kept talking to me for a bit. She was still dead cold, even when I put my hands on her to warm her. I didn't hit her again. She just left the body. I think she hitched a ride out of the basement with me, something the other spirits either couldn't do, or didn't think of. She probably set something up early with the thread she gave me to begin with...like her spirit headed back down that thread to me when it got disbursed, is my theory."

"Her scheme was rather elaborate, actually. She talked Nureha into being her host in exchange for giving her what she wanted in the end - life on Theldesia. I've never been sure if Indicus found out on her own, since she was the Puppet Master - even over me - or if Purrcy let her know, but Indicus was Nureha's contracted master, and by association, or something, also Purrcy's - unless that was just Puppet Master stuff too. I'm not clear on the division between Summonable and all that, she'd have to tell you. I just know that in the end she was sent to Akiba by Indicus, and that Indicus was the one who made her give the code you all love to hate to the Plague Master. She did a rather good job of setting up Indicus for the fall. The Plague Master didn't always move according to Purrcy's hopes, of course, since he was a Puppet as well. I feel I got off fortunate, actually. I was just sent along to make sure she was doing her job properly, and watch over her for Kazuhiko and KR."

"Ah, KR discovered she was still around when he tried the Soul Possession with her just because he wondered if that would give them more clues as to what happened. She ended up in his body and he ended up riding with Nureha. She read him the riot act when they were together again, him and Nureha. He discovered then, though, that Indicus was keeping Nureha locked up under torture when she wasn't out pleasing the city, so he hoofed it up there and got her out. That got him into trouble with Indicus and made into a bit of a Puppet as well, though that was a bit more recent. I got to watch them both down there for a while until Indicus had worked out her plan to take you down and all of Akiba with you. Congratulations on figuring it out in time."

"Well...Purrcy did do a good job of letting us know what was going on," Shiroe said. "We just didn't know the part about your squadron," Michael gave a nod, "and...how are you sure Purrcy isn't the Puppet Master?"

Michael gave a wry snort. "Because of their very distinct footprints. Tetora could tell you, I'm sure. But there's another reason." He looked at his men. "We'd agreed we'd only guild together, just us. Purrcy only had me guild with Log Horizon because Indicus wanted it, though in the end it proved useful. Because she knew that's what I wanted in the end, was to get my squad out and back together, she never once pushed me to pick one side or the other. Whichever one was going to let me do what I wanted to do, that's what she wanted, even if Indicus' side, or Kazuhiko's side, or whomever's side was going to make it happen. Indicus never asked what another soul wanted. All she cared about was what _she_ wanted and it made Purrcy more mad than a disturbed hornet's nest. I think she wouldn't have bothered too much with Indicus except for that."

He looked back at Shiroe. "She's good at getting people to see her side of things, but she won't make them do it the same way. If you hadn't wanted to set up Akiba as a business for her, she would have just walked away. You know that." Shiroe looked at him a moment, then nodded. He'd even told the guildmasters that in the negotiations. He did already know it.

"So...when we were able to leave the prison for good, we headed here. They need practice, and we wanted to show we're still useful even at the low levels, so we raided this place on the way in. They let us, treating us nice and agreeing to the test. Nyanta-san surprised me with his cat Transformation and I surprised them with mine, though it's code based. He pinned me to the ground, but these guys pinned the rest of the guards and my code pinned Tetora and the gryphons, though I admit I'm surprised I managed to score against Tetora. Even if you didn't want us in Log Horizon, I wanted to let Purrcy know what I'd decided, so they asked for the approval for me to talk to her as my prize for us winning that minor play skirmish. I've sworn the lot of us to the service of the Queen, though if you'll have us, we'll protect you, too."

Shiroe leaned forward slightly. "Well, I did know she was going to raise up a personal army for me. She dropped that hint as well, though I admit, I'm still not past accepting President of the Corporation of Akiba yet, so for now it will be 'welcome to the yakuza family of Log Horizon'." He gave a wry grin.

A number of eyes lit up, including Michael's. "Cool. We get to be mafia first. I like it. Is she the Big Mama?"

Shiroe shook his head. "No. Guildmistress Marielle is, the same as she'll be the Duchess of Akiba. She's Akiba's protection from the Queen whose world is so large she can't focus on one small city of Yamato. You should know she's going to take you to the other side of the world. It's her dream...to see it all, and see it's all taken care of. It's mine, too, but I'll stay here at home... if I can." He felt a bit of a wrenching premonition that like his other leader, he might not get to.

Not wanting to face that just at the moment, Shiroe pointed at the first of the new guild members and they began their introductions, including their ranks and skills on Earth, not just in Theldesia. It was a very interesting combination of skills that meshed right in with being a fighting guild, but would also prove very useful to an information special-operations guild.

When they were done, Shiroe gave the update on what he'd done, other than what had come out in the press conferences, and filled them in on the plans for the next few days. They turned it over to the Akiba contingent who had fun telling them about the encounter with Nakalnad's army. Shiroe was pleased that they'd had the opportunity to experience the spirit of Akiba even in small measure. Hopefully it would be the seeds necessary to getting Minami started in the next few days as well.

The meeting ended late and it was going to be an early morning. Shiroe and Akatsuki excused themselves and went up to Shiroe's assigned room - which had real beds - and collapsed, though they had intended to share a cup of tea first. They were so tired that they couldn't even be embarrassed that they fell asleep in the same room. The next morning was briefly awkward until they both just gave up and accepted it as not too surprising given the circumstance, and Akatsuki swept it under the rug of a ninja's duty in an enemy city to see personally to the safety of her lord.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael saw to the disposition of his squad, then headed for the "officer's quarters", hoping he wasn't intruding. Naotsugu opened the door, looked at him a bit, then let him in. Michael looked around. Nyanta was preparing for bed, and Tetora was sitting up, leaning against the wall, in another bed. "Permission to join the officers?" he asked.

Nyanta twitched an ear without looking. Tetora gave a nod. "I let you in, didn't I?" Naotsugu asked, kindly.

"Thank you," he said walking to take the last bed available. He sat on the end of it and put his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped lightly between them. He looked at his hands, not really seeing anything, but paying some attention to Nyanta. Naotsugu's bed creaked as he settled into it.

It creaked again as Naotsugu finally laid back, his hands clasped behind his head. He said, to the ceiling, "Chief...they're waiting for you."

Nyanta's head came up and he looked between Tetora and Michael, his eyes wide. His ear turned away, then back, in a little consternation. Then he sighed a bit and turned to face them. He gave a slight, formal bow, paw to chest. "Thank mew, Tetora-kun, Michael-nyan, for doing meowr parts to see Purrcy was kept safe and returned to me. Mew have my gratitude...," he sighed, and added in a resigned voice, "...and I'm in meowr debt."

Tetora's grin and Michael's change in pose to sit upright answered him. He closed his eyes and his expression said he wasn't really interested in paying the debt the way they wanted, but he did owe it to them, really. He changed into big cat and his coat, instead of being grey and white, was black with gold swirls and dancing motes. Purrcy looked at Tetora and gave a twitch and a smile, then padded over to Michael. As she put one paw on his knee to touch her nose to his, he put his hand on her head. Tetora scooted to the end of his bed and tumbled off of it to grab her in a hug about the middle, resting his head on her. When Michael was sufficiently greeted, Purrcy twisted in Tetora's arms until she could lick his ear and rub her head on his, then lick the salty tears off his face.

Michael watched them for a moment, then asked Naotsugu, "Ah...is this okay? For him in a woman's body to sleep here?"

Naotsugu looked over with wide eyes, then laughed. "We don't even see it anymore," he explained.

Tetora gave him a hurt look. "I spent a lot of time and effort creating this beautiful body."

Purrcy knocked him over and stood on him. Slowly Tetora's body changed until it was a young man's chest and form, the hair shortened to a boy's look. When she was done, she licked Tetora one more time, then moved off of him to turn back into the felinoid-Nyanta.

Nyanta lifted Tetora up off the floor. Tetora carefully looked down at his body, running his hands over the new form, his eyes a bit wide. "Is there a mirror in this place?" he asked.

"Probably down in the baths," Michael said. Tetora disappeared. "Sooo...who's gonna tell him he's evolved again?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow.

Naotsugu rolled over, his back to the others, refusing, but his shoulders shook in silent laughter. Nyanta raised an eyebrow ridge of whiskers elegantly and also turned away to return to his bed. Michael looked between them, sighed, and took to his own bed. Tetorō would probably figure it out on his own. _(See Note 2.)_

-:-:-:-:-

Tetora stood in front of the mirror, then finally stripped in irritation. It was still perfectly proportioned, his body. It was also perfectly male. That was fine. In general Purrcy hadn't changed much about that. She had changed his hair color to flaming red, and he wasn't sure he liked that since that was her preferred color set, but certainly the hot pink wouldn't have worked. He was going to have to show her the hairstyle he wanted, though. She'd been sloppy on that point. He'd do what he could for now with it. He still had the pretty face, but then, it was his face at home. That's why he'd gone with the female. He kept being told he should be one at school and even on the street sometimes.

He put his hands on his hips and looked at the full effect one more time in the mirror, then finally nodded and redressed. It would do for now. He ran his hand down his breast-less front again. She'd kindly removed the bra for him. He'd have to pass all the swimsuits on now. It was too bad Marielle had gone with breasts way too big. He wasn't sure who else he'd give them to. Akatsuki was almost the right size, but not quite, and she didn't wear bikini swimwear anyway. Same for the Princess, who was the right size. He sighed. They might have to be an auction donation at the next charity fashion show.

As he turned to leave, he finally thought to pull up his status screen. He was four steps down the hallway when he looked from his sex and other stats to look at his name. He dropped to crouch at the floor, his face in his hands, flaming as red as his hair. He jumped up and ran for the room, bursting into it, the door slamming against the wall. He slammed it closed behind him and ran over to Nyanta's bed. He grabbed the felinoid by the shoulders. "Call her back! Call her back right now! That just isn't right!"

Nyanta reached up and pulled Tetorō down to the bed with him. "The Queen has spoken, Tetorō-kun. Be grateful, nya? And let me hold _mew_ since she isn't here."

Tetorō froze. "That isn't very like you, Nyanta-san," he said, but with a bit of a pout.

"I'm grumpy. Be quiet and sleep."

Tetorō couldn't decide if that was okay with him or not. He wasn't in a female body any more...but he still wasn't interested. He escaped and stalked to his bed, throwing himself down on it. He fumed until he finally gave up. He'd had a long day, too.

Just as he was about to roll over, his eyes flew wide and he looked back at Nyanta, looking at his status. He sighed and sent a healing spell over. "Thanks, Nyanta-san," he said quietly. He received a bare lift of the tip of the tail in response, Nyanta already being almost asleep. For just a moment, he almost went back over, but in the end, he fell asleep instead. It was going to be hard...the next month or two...for them the most.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning everyone met in the third floor cafeteria for breakfast. Tetorō got teased until he blew up and painted people colors when they mentioned his changes, or made their fingernails grow long. "It was a reward, for goodness sake!" he said. "Leave off!" When they repented he was still miffed and they didn't get changed back until they walked out of the building to head for their duties.

Michael's men begged for training from Knights of the Black Sword and were immediately taken up on it and given OJT that took the lowest of them up to level fifteen or more in one day. It slowed down after that, but it had to by the natural laws of being an Adventurer on Theldesia. With that many more people to watch over the store, Shiroe took Nyanta and Tetorō with him, Akatsuki, Naotsugu, and the guildmasters to the Government Building. There, they met with Kazuhiko, Nakalnad, and KR. They held a general meeting to review the suggestions of the night before and some of the ones that had been received by the city guards who'd talked to people on the streets overnight.

When that meeting had narrowed the possible ways Kazuhiko and Nakalnad thought the people of the city could manage to deal with becoming the financial stability of the city again, they wrapped it up for an early lunch. After lunch, Nakalnad took the fighting guildmasters of Akiba and Michitaka on a tour of the Development and Technology departments. It was to both show a presence, and to get a feel for what could be used as part of the revitalization. Michitaka spent a lot of time querying the Technicians and construction people on the floors on all the little details of the processes they were using. For the Researchers he questioned them in detail on what products they were working on and how they worked interdepartmental, if at all.

Calasin and the rest of the Akiba contingent worked with Kazuhiko in the Government Building in the afternoon on the revitalization plan from the perspective of the entrepreneur - shop owners, innkeepers, and other similar sources. Calasin was able to use the data his own people had collected the day before, and Shiroe showed the data of the growth of Akiba using those same sources. They all met back for a working dinner to put it together into a workable (hopefully) revitalization plan.

A meeting of all department heads and direct reports to Indicus, Zeldus, and Mizufa had been called for mid-morning the next day. As they arrived at the Government Building they were divided into those who were over technological advancements, financial departments, and human resource equivalents. Rieze, Ains, and Kazuhiko took the latter, being well versed in large group dynamics. Calasin and Shiroe took the financial departmental heads and reports, and Michitaka and Nakalnad took the technology based departments. Their goal was to determine what was going on in each division, and see how things needed to be changed or assigned as part of the revitalization. The former of each pair was in charge of the meeting and the latter was there for observation and advice. Each group leader had their way of handling the meetings, but Michitaka's was the most radical, or so it seemed.

"Welcome. You've already seen me here and there. I'm Michitaka, Guildmaster of Marine Organization. It's a large production and manufacturing guild with multiple departments, similar to yours. Don't be afraid to throw big words at me. I've probably heard them all by now. I've had you fill out name tags that name your departments. Make sure they're set up in front of you on the table so that we all know where you're from." He paused just long enough for everyone to look at them again. Most of them had already done it after all. "Now...please don't fall asleep. There will be a quiz at the end. We'll start here at my left. Please tell us exactly what happens in your department, who your reports are, who you report to, what you report, and why."

He had to press the first person for all the types of details he wanted, but by the end of the second department head, they sort of all got it and rather smoothly went around the table, though each probably talked for about twenty minutes or so. Michitaka took notes as they spoke, but he was writing down the names of the people who were nonspecific, the names of people who stopped listening because they thought it wasn't quite so important for them to, even though he'd told them there would be a quiz, and his general feel and gut instinct about each one of the people in the room. A few he even wrote down how long he expected them to continue to last. They thought he was writing down notes about what went on in their departments.

When they were done, he looked around the table. "Okay. Quiz time. Everyone stand up and move one chair to your left, not including mine." Those who had stopped paying attention looked just a little chagrined, but everyone did as he asked. "Thank you. Please pick up your tag. You will report to that department as their new department head directly after lunch. Good luck. When you run into strange things or problems and you can't figure them out, come see me. I'll be here for the next two months." He stood. "I'm sure you'll be great!" He walked out of the room. Even Nakalnad was staring at him open-mouthed. He didn't leave Nakalnad behind, grabbing him by the elbow and hoisting him to his feet to go with him.

When they reached Michitaka's new office, he finally let him go and Nakalnad glared at him. "What was that all about?! You've left them in complete chaos. How's that supposed to help?"

Michitaka walked to sit behind his new desk and try out his new chair, rubbing his hands on the _very clean_ desktop. "Wow. I haven't seen a desktop in two years. This is great!" He looked up at Nakalnad. "They'll be fine. All a Director has to know is how to move people and push projects forward. It doesn't matter what the name of the department is. Since they have to learn everything from scratch, they do the head scratching and digging and come out with all the strange things that need to be thrown on the trash heap and they'll find the gems that will rake in the money. The good ones will see where things aren't working and make the proper changes, and they won't have their own pet money pots anymore, nor will they care about someone else's, so we'll free up money that should have been freed up a long time ago."

"It's the people down below that know how to tighten the screw and read the blue-print that we have to move around more carefully. They do have to be moved, though. We'll see what the new directors do for the first three to four weeks, then we'll dig down into the grass and pull up any weeds they missed. This afternoon we'll walk around to all the departments and make sure the right heads are in the right departments and scold those who didn't believe me. Tomorrow we'll start talent hunting for my apprentice and eventual replacement. That will take probably the whole two months, if we're lucky. ...Stay out of their sight for the lunch hour. They'll want to come crying to you. They aren't under you, they're under me. If they need something they need to come to me."

"Well, that's good. I'm sure I'd rather not be the babysitter of that nest you've stirred." Nakalnad waved a hand of helpless impotence took himself out. Michitaka called Shiroe and told him he was ready for lunch anytime, then leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk and took a nap until he was called for lunch. He didn't feel one bit guilty for doing it. It was going to be his last opportunity for a long time to come.

After lunch, the people who drew "Secretary to Development" for Indicus, for Mizufa, and for Zeldus all showed up at Michitaka's door. He invited them in then looked at them carefully. "First. I want my desk to stay as clean as possible. Anything that is sent to this office that you can handle, handle it. You have to abide by the new rules of Minami, and you have to make money. Everything you do we'll talk about in meetings whenever I call for them, which can be random and sometimes more than once in a day and sometimes once in a week. If I have anything to say to the down line, you'll say it to them for me. You can choose to work individually and die, or together as a team and live, your choice. ...Ah, here, we'll all party up," he immediately put them into a party with him.

"When the department heads come up, for the next little bit you can let them in to talk to me and you'll sit in and listen. When you get a feel for what I'm looking for, you'll handle it. Only bring to me the stuff you're not sure about - once we get there." He stood up. "I'll be out of the office for the afternoon, and every day for the next little while as I walk the floors."

"Wait!" one finally cried in desperation. "If you're gone how can we let them talk to you?"

"Send them to find me," he shrugged. "We're partied now, you'll know where to send them. Divisions can't do just one thing at a time. If I sit here on my butt, I'll get a desk full of paper again. Not interested." He waved as he walked out the door. "You'll do just great, I know it." He headed for the first place on his list to make sure the right person found the right place to be. Those three had made it. That was a good beginning. _(See Note 3.)_

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe and Calasin had decided that the one gold per visit to the Guild Hall and bank wouldn't work in Minami. They were about to start selling boxes after all. People would be going into the Guild Hall a lot less now. Instead, they used the technology and products already created and in use as the income producer for the overhead of running the city and the governance of the Adventurers. The train was expected to be the largest income producer in the end. It was the fastest land transport in all of Yamato. They set it up immediately to be for both transport of goods and people with a fee to use. A portion of that fee would be used for paying security and the engineer and other necessary personnel, another portion for repairs and upkeep, and a set percent would go into the administrative coffers. Each of the other things also was handled in this way.

The personnel that knew how to run or use each thing were assigned to be the sub-unit to handle taking care of it and making sure it was making money for themselves and the city. The only oversight the Council would have would be over the financial books of each line item owned by the Council as a whole. Weekly financial reports were to be passed up to Calasin for review. He planned on passing down "atta boys" and "fix this" not much else. If they didn't earn enough to pay themselves, then that would be a "fix this" or they wouldn't eat much.

When he was asked what about any excess that came in over the total amounts given for each item, he shrugged. "You guys are doing the work. Divide it up right, just like it's always done by guilds." He got opened mouthed stares, but when they went back to their home divisions, everyone was a little more fired up than normal and ideas for making money flew around the tables. Calasin and Shiroe were done by lunch time, too, and Calasin returned to his own office in his store after lunch.

That afternoon he held block meetings for the owners of stores and inns and other such establishments - both Adventurers and Persons of the Land. He listened to concerns and complaints, asked for things that worked so that others could perhaps get ideas, then encouraged them to help the citizens to stick to the new rules and gave them the newest rule. No one ate, slept, or got anything if they didn't pay something for it. They could charge what they wanted, but if no one paid for it, they'd go hungry too. "So, perhaps you should find out what your customers are able to pay. I'm taking trade, service for product, or whatever mix they've got at the moment. We expect them to start coming through the gate with pockets full of gold in the next few days, though, so I'll probably drop the trade and service by the end of the week. If you choose to do trade and service for product, please also phase them out no later than two weeks from now. We want to encourage people to go earn gold. If they really do just want to serve, then make them pay in coin, but start paying them in coin as well."

"For that, it also has to be reasonable. If you're selling one night in one room for one gold, and you've got someone cleaning five rooms for you, that's five gold you've got there. Is that worth one gold to you? Or maybe, if you've got a tavern below and they've now spent fifteen gold, it's worth three gold to you just for cleaning the rooms. At some point you won't pay enough and they'll walk out. At some later point you won't be able to keep anyone for what you think you're willing to pay. If you want help, you'll have to offer what people are willing to accept, though you can't let them take your food off your own table, either. There's a balance point. You'll find it eventually."

"Don't fleece anyone. Be reasonable. We want the whole city to revitalize, because that will also bring a lot more income. People from other places will want to come and visit and spend their coin here also. Or other businesses might want to bring their products here which will actually increase your ability to earn. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. What's the record player seller, without the record maker, without the musician, without the tavern to play in to earn fans at? One of the things you can spend your money on is being a patron. The more the wealth is spread around, the more of it there is. Practice it. You'll learn it's true."

He repeated this lesson in all five districts of Minami, then headed back for dinner. He would be busy with reports and business people knocking on his door for advice, and would need to find from among them somewhere someone to replace him as the person the Council financial income reports went to in two months, and who would be willing to continue the proper growth of the city. That might be the hardest part of his job, he decided.

-:-:-:-:-

Rieze, Ains, and Kazuhiko actually had probably the hardest job, if things were going to be compared. "Personnel" encompassed the entirety of the Adventurers, and to some degree of the People of the Land as well. That meant it was their job to tell them that no work meant no pay. The meeting from the morning before had been mostly about this very topic. They had carefully fleshed out a plan for how they would say it based on what had been suggested by the people themselves, and what the guildmasters from Akiba had tried to stress as "fun" and "interesting" at the all-guild meeting.

Ains took off with the Director of Personnel and Soft Resource Management for a special project. Rieze and Kazuhiko took the rest of the managers and sat with them to explain the plan as it had been worked out. In effect, the heads of those departments became the guinea pigs for the main revitalization message, to see how the Adventurers of Minami would take it. Once they had worked out the kinks, they sent the heads out to 'infect' their reports, who in turn would be encouraged to do the same, until the rumors were out. Then the following day, after everyone had time to think about it, and learn that the businesses were already one step ahead, then the final solution would be announced as promised.

It didn't take long that afternoon for the word to get out that everyone was going to be allowed to do whatever they wanted when it came to earning money. It wasn't like it was a huge announcement either, except that everyone had been feeling locked into their little worlds. They were being given permission to think creatively again. The 'rumor' that anything earned would be theirs to keep took longer to be believed, even though it was the way _Elder Tales_ had been run, and even the Minami government hadn't really made everyone give up their money. They had just taken away the point to _making_ money, so everyone felt like they didn't, or couldn't, have any. Again, this was a statement calculated to just open everyone's eyes and minds again. The final piece was the reminder, yet again, that _Elder Tales_ was fun. Being an Adventurer was fun. Learning new things was fun, and so was going out and defeating monsters, and quests, and dungeons. And just as fun, was spending money, though that was a quieter thing said this time. It would be said louder after people remembered that earning it was fun.

The next morning, they announced the law of Akiba as "the thing Minami is going to try in lieu of the pass system." Kazuhiko and Nakalnad were standing together, and Nakalnad was talking on the vid screens. "...As Adventurers, we have many opportunities to do things we like to do. When we do them, we can earn gold, whether that is by killing five monsters, defeating a raid, completing a quest, crafting an item and selling it, or anything that we want to do that we can creatively come up with. We need that gold in order to pay for things like sleeping space, food, items we can't craft for ourselves, services, and best of all, entertainment and fun."

Kazuhiko's eyes were sparkling, and he took over, "We've been invited to Akiba's Fall Pumpkin Festival to be held in eight weeks. The Minami train will be taking anyone who wants to go for ten gold. For thirty gold, you'll get free meals and real beds to sleep in on the way. We're sure you'll want to have enough extra gold on hand to have lots of fun while you're there. The train will be there for three days, then return. You can of course save your gold and walk there, or earn as you go, and earn as you come back. We hope to have a Winter and Christmas festival here this winter. Please help us make it the best first festival of Minami. Maybe Akiba will even be willing to come here and see that they can't leave us in the dust any more, when it comes to being a happy and revitalized city."

"They've told us booth space is three gold per day in the market and bazaar. If you want to set up in the enclosed market, that's five gold per day. They do have side streets with no set-up costs, but you have to figure out how to get customers down to see you. If we can show them things they can only get here, then more might be willing to come to our festival just to get more of that thing they really want. If enough businesses want to sponsor the train going to Akiba to pick them up and bring them here, we'll listen and offer a discounted rate to the people of Akiba to get them to come..."

The general feel when the morning announcement was over was that things might actually be looking up, or at least worth a try.

-:-:-:-:-

That morning before, while the others were working with their departments, Ains worked with the Director of Personnel and Soft Resource Management on their special project. That afternoon they had the department very busy working very hard. From early in the morning of the announcement of the replacement to the pass system, they set up employment departments in each section of the city that listed jobs available and began a registry of people who wanted jobs and their qualifications.

The employment offices were announced at the final meeting that morning and became even more busy very quickly. The listed available jobs for Adventurers included quests in the region that People of the Land had for Adventurers, and jobs available from the Akiba guilds, including the ones that Akaneya had said to everyone at the first meeting. They included job listings and wanted ads for People of the Land as well, so that they also could change employers and find reasonable work in the city, assuming they didn't start their own business first.

Over time, as people moved in and out of positions and around into different fields altogether, those listings increased, then stabilized. And then they introduced the Akiba Adventurer Academy as a place to go if you just didn't know what you wanted to do. A small, but significant percentage of those who went to Akiba's Pumpkin Festival from Minami went to stay for education at the Academy. In this way, all of the Adventurers in Minami eventually chose for themselves to be content with life again and the People of the Land in the city were able to settle into a more normal and comfortable lifestyle as well.

* * *

 _Note 1: The VFA-115 Eagle Squadron really exists and has been deployed from the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan several times over the last few years, from Atsugi, but in 2017-18 were moved to Iwakuni. They have a very honorable history. I apologize for making them involuntarily AWOL in this story, but it all fit so well... I originally made them the 34th Naval Airborne Squadron - which I found out is also real and nicknamed the Swordsmen - so utterly cool it fits - but that squad's out of Virginia...so they might show up later...if I write that much. I'll apologize to them now in case it does happen._

 _Also, I've done as much research as I can into what a Naval Air Squad is made up of personnel-wise and it's been hard to get the details. I've got the overall command structure figured out so the 24 total are going to be potentially all the top level people and the low ones all rolled into specific individuals that represent the various divisions of the departments. I apologize as it ends up reading as if all the officers (pilots are officers) are enlisted men (those who work in the departments are enlisted.) At 24, it's the largest sized pilot squadron, so I barely made it in the limits there. I'd love correspondence with someone from a Naval Air Squad that could let me know if I got it close enough. I like to be as accurate as possible. Naotsugu is Log Horizon's XO/CM/C. It was fun to learn that._ _Eventually I might get enough suggestions for real screen names for all of them, but it really is too much for my poor brain._

 _...As far as the rentals go, in Japan they have computer booth space rental businesses. Since they weren't at the base, they'd gone into one of those businesses and rented computers to log into Elder Tales. I've assumed (author privilege) that the businesses were only assigned a specific number of server slots per Elder Tales server to keep the lines available for home users. Since they were on Japanese computers, the text and language was all in Japanese, though they could get around well enough to get logged in. (Maybe the store clerks helped them?) Any translation on those computers would have been_ _into_ _Japanese, not English. Obviously if they'd been on base it would have been in English and they'd have had the translator properly in effect._

 _Note 2: The American Pokemon progression I've used is: Nidoran - Nidorina(f)/Nidorino(m) - Nido-Queen(f)/Nido-King(m). In Japanese the ō at the end of a name or title is often highly honorifi_ _c (commonly used for royalty) a_ _nd used for both males and females, so Tetora - Tetorina(f)/Tetorino(m) - Tetorō(f/m) has followed the same progression, but because of the dual sex ending he's left with both still, as well as left with her tease he's a Pokemon. Plus it was his spell that changed a name completely, not hers. She just tagged on to the end of the Plague Master's name prior to that, so she's used his own code against him...and locked him out of changing it._

 _Note 3: Yes, this is a real strategy_ _of experienced CEOs_ _taking over large corporations that are too heavy and full of waste and in desperate need o_ _f revitalization._


	47. Necessary Side Quest

The second day after the riots, Nakalnad caught up with Shiroe after lunch in the conference room they had their first meeting in. Shiroe had just continued to use it since then because it was easy. At the moment he was writing documents. "Hey, Shiroe, you know what your crazy Blacksmith did this morning?"

"Yes," Shiroe didn't look up. "We talked about it before and he gave me the update at lunch. Hang on a minute, have a seat."

Nakalnad sat down casually in a chair a few seats down from Shiroe to stay out of the work zone spread out on the table. "He's set the whole Division on its ear and confused the hell out of everyone. Is that really okay, or is it normal in Akiba for things to be random and chaotic?"

"Both," Shiroe answered absently. He finished writing his line, scanned it quickly, then looked up at Nakalnad. "I trust Michitaka. He runs a smooth operation and keeps his people happy. It'll work out fine." He sat back in his chair and considered the Guardian with him. "So...how many times does that make it, trying to get through the Maze of Eternity?"

Nakalnad looked at him for a long moment, then shook his head. "I guess it should be obvious you'd know that. That's the fourth time, if you don't count the exploratory expedition."

"How far have you made it?" Shiroe asked.

Nakalnad scowled. "Through three secret continuation points, but we can't get into the center. We've tried three different ways from Sunday and we keep hitting a brick wall. We've tried everything we can think of, including changing specific order of hits and changing the sexes of the front line. Nothing gets us past that point." He blew an exasperated breath and shook his head. "Just _getting_ to that point is hard."

"Why are you trying?" Shiroe wondered.

"Indicus suggested it at first as a diversion to keep people busy. The first round we made open for half and took whoever wanted to go. Since then, it's been a personal vendetta," Nakalnad answered openly.

Shiroe shifted slightly. "We're going. I've got half the legion. Bring the other half and come with us."

Nakalnad narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Because it will be an opportunity for us to do a joint military maneuver and improve relations between Akiba and Minami. ...And because we might be able to repair the damage done by Indicus, Mizufa, and Jared. The Adventurers might come back damaged, but we should at least try." Shiroe answered calmly.

Nakalnad looked at him, his eyes still narrowed. "What makes you think we can get through it this time?"

"Because I think it needs a key, and I think I've come across that key," Shiroe answered, looking at him directly. He leaned forward. "You lead it, since you've got the experience. I'll be the Strategist and bring the possible key."

"That's all well and good, but it isn't an easy place to get through, nor to get into."

"I'm aware of that," Shiroe answered, "it isn't supposed to be." Nakalnad looked quizzical. "It's one of those dungeons from the lore and flavor text of _Elder Tales_ , which means it isn't part of the expansion pack. It's part of the basic fundamental running of the world itself. It's meant to be protected so no one can get into it."

"Then why's it exist?" Nakalnad protested.

"It's like a protected manhole into a maintenance facility. It's been broken and we need to go in and fix it, not take over. I've got the key and the repair person and I want to get them in there to fix it - the Adventurer Tree of Life, that is."

Nakalnad looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know that's what's in there?"

Shiroe looked back with a mirror expression. "Vengeful Spirits."

Nakalnad didn't say anything for a while. Finally he asked, "How do you do it, Shiroe, sitting in your city of peaches and flowers? Or is it because of the good-ol'-boy's network and Kazuhiko's giving you everything you ask for?"

Shiroe took his turn to frown. "No. Kazuhiko has done as he pleased. People in the Debauchery Tea Party didn't join in if they didn't want to, and not everyone got along. You know Indicus hates me - if she's still alive enough to hate. ...But if you know about them, why aren't you implicated with the rest?"

Nakalnad looked dark. "Just because I knew about the Vengeful Spirits didn't mean I knew how they were created." He looked away for a bit, then said, "When we were given that clue, that's when we learned how to break through the secret continuations. Instead of taking the treasure drop and going home, we gave the drop to the Vengeful Spirit and the doors opened up. But at that last one, we get nothing important - a gold coin, a potion, a craft ingredient - and there isn't anything to give it to. It's enough to make them scream at me and leave on their own on the hard days."

Shiroe nodded. "It's supposed to, and it's supposed to be that hard. I expect the boss inside to be unbeatable - entirely."

"What? Why?" Nakalnad was in denial.

"Because it's protecting the pathway of our psyche back to the Cathedral. If just anyone could get in there, especially someone or ones of high level, we could really be screwed big time. As I say, it's a maintenance hatch, not a dungeon for grinding and treasure drops," Shiroe insisted.

Nakalnad looked down, thinking. Finally he said, "I'm not sure this is the time to be out of the city."

Shiroe leaned on his elbow. "Normally, I'd agree with you, but you can let your remaining men work under Kazuhiko to help him keep the peace, and Michitaka and Calasin are here to keep the rest of the Adventurers busy. If we can get in there and find the fix, you can come back a hero for returning the Adventurers to life. If we can't fix it, at least we can say that relations between the cities have progressed for the better. Either way we've resolved it to the best of our ability right away."

Nakalnad considered it. Finally he stood. "I'll go see if I can get enough to come on your name and reputation. What do you need? The usual?"

"That's fine. If possible include four Technicians." Shiroe said calmly. "When you get the okay, we'd like to conference with you on what it looks like and what's needed. Preferably later today or tomorrow. We'd like to be on the road the day after that."

"Any particular reason you're in a hurry?" Nakalnad queried.

Shiroe gave a smile that was almost more a grimace. "We need to be back for the Pumpkin Festival. Half the guildmasters are going with us."

Nakalnad looked at him, then laughed. "No. Seriously?"

Shiroe nodded. "Not like we're in a hurry for pumpkin soup, pumpkin burgers, followed by pumpkin pie and pumpkin cake," he made a face, "but it is supposed to be the first festival Minami can come to and everyone is excited to have visitors. We should put on a proper face and have all the guildmasters there as well."

Nakalnad raised a hand in farewell. "Fine. I'll give you a call when I know who's going. Come over to the garrison and we'll pull out the maps. If they see you serious about it, they might feel better about going."

Shiroe glanced at his paperwork, then just put it all in a box in his item list. It was so convenient to not have to actually touch it, particularly when it was messy. Of course, it came out a mess. If he forgot that, they ended up on the floor - bad for the ink pot - but he'd be coming right back to this table. He turned and followed Nakalnad. "I'll come now," he said. "If seeing me will make the difference then we won't wait."

Nakalnad merely raised an eyebrow and moved to continue on. Shiroe's quiet attendants followed them out and were joined by Nakalnad's guards, each nodding to the others.

-:-:-:-:-

"So, we know the reputation of Master Strategist Shiroe. That's all well and good, but...what special sauce is he bringing with him?" The Adventurers who knew how to go through the Maze of Eternity weren't being obstinate so much as wanting to know it was going to be worth it to go a fifth time through all that work and death. They were tired enough to want it to come to fruition or be done. It was certainly understandable, but Shiroe needed them and their experience to make it happen.

Nakalnad looked at Shiroe. He stepped up, pushed his glasses up, and cleared his throat. "I'm bringing half, as General Nakalnad said. In my first raid group, the first party is from my guild, all of us you see here today, plus one more who is watching the store." Considering that included three from the Debauchery Tea Party including himself, it wasn't a slouch of a party. "The second is from D.D.D., including its acting guildmaster and head trainer, Rieze. The third is from Knights of the Black Sword, including the Black Sword - Guildmaster Isaac. The fourth is from Honesty, including Guildmaster Ains. Our second raid group is made up of members of the Knights of the Black Sword, D.D.D., and Honesty in an equal mix of two members from each guild for each party."

In the interest of keeping it fair play with the guilds of Akiba, he'd settled for an even split, though really D.D.D. had better in-city skills and the Knights of the Black Sword in the dungeon. Honesty was just a bit lower than the other two in strength, but were better tacticians and careful in dungeons, catching details that others often missed. This mixing meant he was only taking eight of each guild from Calasin, the same number being replaced by the Eagles, though they'd be just a little short.

There was a snort. "Why the mixing? Won't that weaken them?"

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "Isn't the point of going into a dungeon to learn how to become stronger?" He got silent, if slightly grudging, acquiescence. "We've been looking for a dungeon that can teach it to us, after all." It was an offhand comment.

He pushed up his glasses again. "You've asked what my 'special sauce' is. I have several, but the one that probably matters to you is that one of my party is one of those Vengeful Spirits. I believe it may be the key to unlock the final door. We've obtained it through a lead-in quest that, when completed, explained to us what we would be facing behind that door in the center of the Maze of Eternity. Several of my party were shown what that looks like, though in symbolic form, not full reality. We'll still need to scout it when we get the door open. We were also told what the goal is once we get there, but you already know what that is, so I don't need to tell you." He stepped back and gave the floor back to Nakalnad.

Nakalnad was staring at Shiroe, the same as all of his men. "You - you actually _have_ one of the Vengeful Spirits? As a party member?"

"Yes," Shiroe said calmly. "I believe that this dungeon is of the kind where in order to get in, they have to come get you and you have to pass the tests to be found worthy to get in to begin with. Minami had it for a while, but it was sent over to Akiba by Indicus, who didn't understand what she had. So I thought it politic to invite you to finish it out with us equally. We've collected the rest of them, as well, as far as I know, anyway. I expect to find the ones we give the treasures to as we go in the final room when we get it open. I think it will take all eight 'keys', if you will, to unlock the final boss so we can get the Adventurer Tree of Life repaired. That's only an expectation. No one's been in there yet, of course." He continued to look at Nakalnad calmly.

"Well...it is true that's something we haven't tried yet," Nakalnad allowed, trying to come to grips with the news still. "However...if it's a mini-quest to capture all the ghosts in order to be able to get to the end...you haven't found them all yet."

Shiroe blinked...then he sighed. "I was afraid of that. Do you know how many more and where they are?"

Nakalnad waved a hand at his assistant and he went and brought back a map of Minami. They bent over it and began to plan the in-city side-quest to collect the remaining Vengeful Spirits of the missing Adventurers. Somehow, when the world threw game elements at them like this, it all felt just a little surreal.

-:-:-:-:-

That night, after moonrise but before it was high enough to call out the Vengeful Spirits, three parties of Adventurers made up of three of Nakalnad's men and three of Shiroe's each, met at the Minami Adventurer garrison. Nyanta, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki each took two of Michael's men, who needed training in Log Horizon tactics and methods. Shiroe, Tetorō, and Michael went to be part of the central information and command group with Nakalnad and two of his men: a Communication mage and a Cleric. One other went to observe - Michael's com-op, Charlie. He spent quite a bit of time asking questions when there was time, and learning what it meant to be a Communication mage of Minami. He observed Shiroe just as closely as well to see the differences in their methods of working.

Between them, Tetorō and Michael had managed to figure out how to turn the rings from single use items to multiple use. They needed to be able to store up to five total Vengeful Spirits in each ring. While perhaps the spirits might not mind, it just felt like a tight squeeze mentally, and no one was willing to make Purrcy share. Nyanta gave baleful glares whenever anyone thought the thought anyway, so no one was willing to open their mouths to suggest it. In privacy between them, Tetorō explained to Michael that Purrcy had given Nyanta a golden flower from the Yamato Tree of Life early on when she arrived in Akiba and Shiroe had figured out that it was the proper ingredient to form a receptacle for a spirit to keep it alive, but contained.

Nyanta had taken it to the crafter, along with three others that he, Shiroe, and Naotsugu donated from one of their Debauchery Tea Party days quests. Three rings and an earring had been the result, perfectly suitable to hosting Adventurer souls, or any ghost, really. Tetorō had then modified them so that they only accepted a spirit that was present if he cast a Hacker spell to take them up, and modified the descriptor tag of the earring to that of "engagement ring" before giving it to Nyanta. When he'd returned it to Nyanta just after Nureha had left Akiba, he had returned the descriptor tag back to "earring" and Nyanta had equipped it since then.

When Michael asked when Tetorō had made Purrcy go into it, Tetorō went silent and wouldn't answer him, choosing to focus on his work on the rings instead. Michael finally sighed. "Well...it's not like anyone makes Purrcy do anything," he allowed, and let it drop, particularly when it didn't really help because it only made them both remember she was a Summoned. They both took short naps when they were done so they would be up for the night activity, and felt better for it.

Tetorō handed one ring each to Nyanta, Akatsuki, and Naotsugu. Like most magic rings, they automatically fit the wearer who put them on. "The ring will glow when you're near a Vengeful Spirit that matches the signature of the one that's already in it. That's so we don't pick up any random stray Vengeful Spirits in town that aren't Adventurers - we hope. I've keyed it to voice commands once it starts to glow. 'Come, Enter, Sleep' are the three you need to remember." They nodded. "When it starts to glow, let us know and we'll put a tracer on the spirit if we can find it. Their tags even inside are hard to find."

The three hunting groups took off for points that were known haunted locations in town. It was a timed hide-and-seek game in the town since they only had the hours the moon was directly over the city to complete it in. There weren't many people in the streets since there was still the night curfew, though it was relaxed a bit. These groups had approval to be out, so were only briefly noted and passed by any of Kazuhiko's men that were out on patrol. Naotsugu's group was getting close to a known location when one of those said police officers ran into them. "Ah...you're the ones looking for the ghosts, right?" he asked.

"Yup," Naotsugu said friendly-like.

"Good. Come this way," the police officer turned around and walked away at a fast clip. Naotsugu raised an eyebrow at his lead counterpart from the Minami army who shrugged slightly and they took off after him.

It was hard for Naotsugu to keep a watch on his own hand, so they'd decided to let the others keep watch on it. As they rounded the corner and headed across the street to a dilapidated warehouse, one of the pilots quietly informed Naotsugu it had begun to softly glow. By the time they were in the building, following the police officer still, it was bright enough to catch most people's attention.

"Shiroe," Naotsugu called via chat, "we have a glow."

"You're the first. We'll have Minami take this one so we can see how it's done from here."

"Okay," Naotsugu looked at his counterpart. "You're up."

The man nodded and called back via chat to the Communication mage at central command. They didn't see anything different in the warehouse, but supposedly an image was being generated in the central command room that was an extended view of the area they were in.

"It's up here," the police officer pointed up the back stairwell. "It keeps to the back corridor and the third room down the hall. Most people are sleeping, so try to keep it down if you can."

Naotsugu frowned. "Is that room occupied?"

The officer shook his head. "Not any more. Not since we got the complaints the ghost had shown up. Everyone keeps out of the hall, too, as much as possible. If you're not too destructive, everyone will be glad to have you here and it gone."

Naotsugu and the other lead nodded and they headed up the stairwell. They quietly walked down the hall, two others taking point position. They had the door to the room surrounded when Michael's voice sounded. "It's inside. I've put a flare on it."

"Thanks, man," Naotsugu said back and nodded. "It's inside, he said, marked and ready," he told the others. A Kannagi cast a barrier spell meant to keep it inside the room, and Naotsugu knocked on the door. He waited a count of three, then opened it. "Hello? Anyone home?" He let himself in. Sure enough, there was a light drifting towards the door. "Hey." Naotsugu said amicably. "Come on. Can I Enter? Don't Sleep on me man." At "Come", the slip of light moved quickly to his side. At "Enter", the slip of light seemed to be slurped up by the ring. At "Sleep", the glow of the ring faded. Naotsugu stepped back out of the room and closed the door. He looked at the rest of them.

"Well...I'm not sure what the rest of us are doing here," his counterpart said wryly. "That was way too easy."

Naotsugu rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. I kind of feel let down, too. Of course, this one was just living his life, I expect. Those would be the easiest."

They turned and walked back down the hall. "At least we were quiet and non-destructive," one of the others quipped. That earned a chuckle from the rest.

"Well, two down, three to go," Naotsugu said. "Where to next, field monitor?"

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki was jogging to keep up with her longer-legged compatriots. Really, she'd rather be running the rooftops and tree tops. She'd learned to fly a long time ago along the upper reaches, running the pathways and the wind. "We should be about on top of it," the field monitor for their group said. Akatsuki held up the hand with the ring on it. Not even much of a faint glow.

"Where does it usually show up in this area?" asked one of the Minami army members of the group.

"I've heard it suddenly swoops down at passers-by," the lead of that side said.

Akatsuki and her junior partners all looked up at that, looking around at the roof-tops. All three of them next looked for the best way up. "Really? Log Horizon thinks of 'up' as the first response to that? What are you, birds?"

"Yes," all three answered at once. Akatsuki looked at her juniors who gave her a smile. She smiled shyly back.

"Okay," the Minami lead said. "You three go up and we'll stay down here. If you get a glow, let us know. Maybe we can trap it between us."

Having finally been given permission, the three did just that - without going inside to find stairs first. The ones they left on the ground just shook their heads and watched. They were nearly to the top when one motioned to Akatsuki silently. She nodded and opened a connection to Shiroe. "My lord," she said quietly.

"Got it," Shiroe's voice came back. It was strengthening to know that he had her back. She wasn't fond of ghosts, even if they were Adventurer spirits that needed help. "...You're not close enough yet for it to show up on our view here, but I'll keep the visual up. Let me know if the glow gets brighter."

"Okay." She looked at her juniors, then made the Log Horizon hand signs (she made them up just then) for them to take the other sides of the building roof they were on. If they could sweep the roof and send anything towards her, it might go quicker. Somehow they knew exactly what she wanted and took off lightly down either side of the roof edge, then turned in to the opposing point of the square. She moved forward slightly so she couldn't be pushed off the roof, keeping her attention on the wind currents coming from behind and to either side of her in case they'd picked the wrong roof to start on.

She was glad she'd moved. She felt a breath of air pressure coming from her right just as the glow on the ring suddenly brightened. She dropped and rolled straight forward, ending in a crouch, and the juniors passed her going in the opposing direction to put shields over the top of and around the space she had just occupied. They all paused, feeling the wind again. "Tagged it," Tetorō said in Akatsuki's ear. She turned around as the juniors dropped their shields and moved back from her space again.

There was a slip of light, like what she might have expected a Tinkerbell-like fairy to glow like. She suspected that the spirit was larger than that, by air flow, but it was a bit easier to face at that size and internal description. "I'll get it to chase me down," she said. "Cap it in." They nodded, keeping their eyes on it, too, without looking at it directly. Akatsuki looked around, as if not seeing it, then walked unconcerned back to the corner of the roof. She stood up on it as she felt the wind and the flow of the air pressure currents. Looking down, she called, "It's here, but I don't know if it will Come." She lept off the edge and using her Tracker skills, ran down the edge of the building. By the looks on the faces below her, they either saw the slip of light following her, or had never seen an Assassin run down a building before. She hoped at least it was the first.

"Sweet," she heard one of her juniors say above her. "I want to do that."

"Umhm," the other agreed. Then they were casting overhead barriers over that part of the street. Down below, the tank in the group was taking up his position. Akatsuki headed for him. Just as she passed him, he cast his anchoring spell and she slid to a stop to see if it had worked. Since it was the first attempt to use one on a Vengeful Spirit it wasn't known if it would work or not. If it did and the command to Come was still also working, they could counter effect and cause problems. She headed back when it looked like the anchoring had worked. "Enter." The slip of light moved, but it got a backlash from the anchor and stopped.

"Oh, that's not good," the tank said.

Akatsuki agreed. "How long?" she asked. He named the number of seconds left to go. "Well, sorry," she said.

The tank shrugged. "It can beat up on me for a while. Not like I'm not used to it after all."

"Give me the final countdown," she instructed.

He nodded and lifted his shield as the frustrated slip of light headed his way at a rapid velocity. His Druid counterpart cast a spell to prevent him from being possessed and the Vengeful Spirit went through the shield and bounced off the tank's chest. "Thanks," he said to his partner in relief.

Akatsuki's eyes were wide. That wouldn't have been good, to have the tank possessed. She wasn't sure what would have happened to the physical man if she'd given the command to enter the ring. It hadn't been specified. "Tetorō, what happens if they possess? Can I still give the commands?"

"Did it happen?" Tetorō asked, immediately concerned.

"Not yet. Just wondering."

He was silent considering. "Well," he said in chagrin, "I'm afraid I left it an open hole. Try not to find out. It _should_ just pull it out of whomever is possessed, but...this world's crazy, you know."

"Right," she answered shortly.

Her counterpart was having the two juniors box in the spirit a little tighter, now that it was anchored. That made her feel better. It shouldn't be able to get out to possess anyone now...she hoped. The cool down on the Druid's spell ended and he cast the same protective spell on her. She glanced at him. "Thanks." Faces were drawn on that side.

"Would rather not have the container in the hands of the needed containee," the lead Minami said. Akatsuki nodded once, very firmly. She was in _absolute, complete_ agreement.

The tank started counting down. At "one", Akatsuki took a breath and said, "Come." The light came to the shield on her and stopped. She held out her hand with the ring and said, "Enter." Everyone held their breath. If the anti-possession spell worked on all her person, it might not work. When the slip of light slid into the glowing ring everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Sleep." The glow slowly disappeared from the ring. She let her hand fall, taking a deep breath. "Got it," she informed central command.

"Good job," Shiroe said quietly in her ear. That made her feel a lot better.

"That really worried me, there," the tank said. "My anti-possession barrier fell just before you ordered it in the ring."

Akatsuki blinked at him, then asked, "Next?" The Minami lead took a breath and pulled up his city map and they were off again.

-:-:-:-:-

"How much time is left?" Nyanta's counterpart in the Minami army asked.

"Fifteen minutes." The Log Horizon junior who answered was calmly precise. Both of them had held up very well under pressure a few times. Only one spirit had been easy to collect so far.

"Central, where's left?" the same man asked. "...Government Building. Got it. How many are left? ...Right." He looked at the rest of them. They were all trotting towards that very building now, since he'd given the answer back to them. "We'll be the last to get there, so let's put some speed on."

"That's Indicus' room, nyan?" Nyanta asked with the flick of an ear.

"From what they said," came the almost grim agreement.

They were just entering the corridor for Indicus' room, seeing it was a bit crowded with members of the other parties, when Shiroe's voice interrupted Nyanta. "There's only two in Indicus' room. Nyanta, reroute to Mizufa's room.

Nyanta put out a restraining paw. "Mizufa. Where's her room?" he asked his Minami lead and field monitor.

The lead stopped and shook his head. "I can take you to her office, but she bunked at the People of the Land garrison, like Nakalnad did at ours."

"What about Jared Gan?" Nyanta asked quickly, ears and tail flicking in consternation.

"Down too many flights of stairs to make it worth our while," came back the answer, "unless it really is there, of course."

"Ah...Nyanta-san, sir," their watcher of the ring interrupted, "your...earring is glowing. Is it supposed to be doing that?"

Nyanta stiffened slightly. "Nyan, but...," he considered it quickly, "one for yes, two for no. Will that work?"

The man watching it said, "One."

Nyanta nodded. "Mizufa?"

"Two."

"Jared Gan?"

"Two."

Nyanta paused, his arms folded now in thought. "In this building?"

"One." His counterpart relaxed a little.

"Below this floor?"

"Two."

"On this floor?"

"Two." The whole group headed back for the stairs at a clip.

"There's only one more floor," the field monitor said. "It's devoted to the Princess' suite."

"Shiroe-ichi. Nureha's rooms," Nyanta passed back to central.

"You're sure?" Shiroe asked.

"Purrcy says," he answered shortly.

"Ah."

"How?" asked Tetorō, who was listening in, since Shiroe had put them on video already, being the last group headed for the last Vengeful Spirit.

"Twenty questions," Nyanta answered shortly.

"Oh." There was silence for just a moment, then, "Have your recovery Class cast a smallish recovery on you Nyanta-san. It wasn't much, but for her to do it at all..."

"...Means we're on the right track," Shiroe said calmly.

Nyanta obeyed the suggestion as they entered the corridor to the "royal" suite.

"Time," the Minami lead requested.

"Five minutes, fifteen."

Nyanta began walking forward. "We've got steady blinking...increasing in speed as you go." He moved deliberately until he was called back to a door he had passed.

He turned and put his hand on the handle. "Is it this one?"

"One." He waited for the rest to gather around and for the anti-possession spell to be cast on him. He opened the door and they entered. The Druid cast a Will-'o-the-Wisp spell to light the room and things moved back from the light into the shadows. Everyone froze from that motion, then even more at what they did see in the room.

"God," the horrified expression whispered into the room. "The Princess' _bedroom_? Where is she, then?"

The elegant four poster bed with gauzy curtains hanging tied to the tall posters at each corner was empty and looked completely unslept in. They spread out a bit. "There's a pile of pillows here in the back corner," the man farthest to the right said. As the pale lights moved over that direction by the intent of the Druid, things fled from it again, and where they left for darkness to increase again, things flowed into that darkness.

"Nyanta-san...," Tetorō's voice was just as quiet and horrified, "they're _all_ Vengeful Spirits."

Nyanta went very still. "Tetorō-kun says they are all Vengeful Spirits," he let the Minami contingent know. He considered it, then asked, "Purrcy, do mew know which one it is?"

"...No reaction on the earring, but the ring is glowing," the watchman said.

"Cast the purrotection spell on the tank," Nyanta ordered. There was a pause, then the spell went off. "Move the lights so they are surrounding this close corner, but pulled back in as far as possible." They moved. "Come with me," he ordered the Samurai. The Samurai gulped, but nodded. He led out to the left into the darkness. His party members cried out but he moved without concern. The spirits that brushed against him moved off again. When he stood in the center of that part of the room, which was just a little larger than the right side, he said, "Cast meowr taunt." The Samurai, sweating a bit, cast his taunt. All of the Vengeful Spirits in the room came to him and surrounded him, save a few on the far right side.

Nyanta walked over to them. "Come." None of them moved. He walked away from them. "Dispel those." The Druid did so. He walked over to the group around the Samurai. Keeping the lights to his back, he used his cat senses to look at all of the spirits at once. Again he gave the order and this time one moved his way slightly. He headed for it until he was right next to it. "Can mew dispel in a specific area to leave the ones in front of me alone?" he asked the Druid. "Use intent and it myay work."

The Druid, probably also sweating by now, cast and Nyanta could feel the spirits behind him disappear, and around to the opposite side of the Samurai as well. "Come box this area in," he ordered. "I can see which one it is."

"Good," Tetorō said, "I'll hop over them. When I hit the right one, let me know."

A tracer light appeared over a spirit. "No. ...No...no...no...yes." It was immediately marked and the spells to lock it in went off.

"Time."

"One - forty-five."

"Time for taunt to wear off?"

"Two - ten."

"Time for protections to wear off?"

"One - fifty."

"You'll have to take it in pain, Nyanta-san," the Minami lead said.

"It won't feel the pain," he answered. "They haven't got HP. ...Come. Enter. Sleep." The commands were obeyed as they had all the other times, though the taunt tried to punish the spirit. "And even if it does feel it, it won't while it's asleep." He refused to look at anyone as he said it. "Dispel the rest."

The Druid's spell went off to clean up the rest and the Samurai slumped in relief. "I can't believe the Princess was living like this," he said as the lights were sent all around the room to light it all.

"Indicus was using her, the same as she used others," Nyanta said unemotionally. "Nureha-chan escaped and is being purrotected, but she won't be back. It has damaged her too much." He turned and walked for the door. "...That's for the top people to let others know, though." The people from Minami looked at each other, then followed him and his juniors out into the corridor. They joined the other two parties in the lobby of the Government Building to return to the army barracks and central command together.

They were half-way back when the Minami half circled the Log Horizon half. The juniors stiffened, but the seniors stayed relaxed. They held up their hands. "We don't have them," Naotsugu said calmly. "They disappeared as soon as they were full."

"They're in your item lists, then."

The three who had been wearing the rings shook their heads. "No," Naotsugu said. "Surely you don't think the Master Strategist didn't see this coming and have something in place?" There were scowls around the Minami group. Naotsugu looked up and then pointed up to accent his words. The Minami group looked up to see figures at the edges of every building around them.

"Meow," Nyanta said. "These are the children I watched take on an entire group of Knights of the Black Sword by themselves...and win." The juniors with the seniors, between them and the Minami group as an insulating ring, smiled slow predatory smiles as they got into prepared stances. "They are looking for more expurrience. Purrhaps mew'd like to be next on their menu?"

The leads of the three groups looked at each other, looked again at the six in front of them, compared the status of them and the ones on and around the buildings, then grinned predatory grins back. "A little practice never hurt anyone," one of them said smoothly.

"Very well, then," Nyanta said. The first to go was Naotsugu, with Anchor Howl. Akatsuki and Nyanta both disappeared from the center of the ring using their own different skills to do so. With all of the Minami group effectively held still, Naotsugu grinning wildly, both the attacking ring from the inside and the one that formed on the outside took down the Minami group - eventually. Akatsuki and Nyanta oversaw the training of the VFA-115 Eagles and were pleased when they didn't have to do very much at all.

It was a rather frustrating defeat for the nine Minami Adventurers who hadn't really thought it through, having only seen less-than-level-twenty fighters. It wasn't until they were all walking back to the garrison from the Cathedral that they wondered why the mobile armor hadn't shown up.

The Eagles went up four levels and into the fifth each that night, just because of the massive differential in levels of the opponents, finally getting them over level twenty, minimum. They made sure they were properly grateful the next time they saw their opponents of that night. They also made Akatsuki teach them how to run the wind and air on the way back home to the department store.

-:-:-:-:-

Nakalnad looked at Shiroe as the last of his men disappeared from the vid screen to return at the Cathedral. He sighed, giving up. "Really. Beginners that good." Shiroe tipped his head sideways. "No," Nakalnad waved a hand, "I don't want them taking on the garrison as a whole and going up to level fifty in one night. I'm not interested, thanks anyway. But...who does have the rings?"

Shiroe shrugged. "I don't."

Nakalnad looked at Tetorō. He shook his head as well. "Not this time."

The general looked at Michael. "Surely not you."

Michael raised an eyebrow, then said, "I suppose it's a bit like finding the cup the rock is under...except that you won't find it."

"We'll have them with us when we get to the door," Shiroe assured Nakalnad. "It just isn't safe to keep them out and around."

"Well," Nakalnad said a bit irritably, "I don't know where you would keep them, then."

Shiroe turned to leave. "We'll see you tomorrow morning at the announcement. The People of the Land delegations arrived this evening, so we'll meet with them after that to sign the treaty. You'll be ready to go the next morning?"

Nakalnad sighed. "Yes, though supplies are going to be a problem. We just got back, you know."

"We've got enough," Shiroe said simply, stopping at the doorway to look at him. "And we can stop by a few food ingredient places on the way to practice working together some more."

Nakalnad waved a tired hand at him both in agreement and to shoo him off. Shiroe pushed up his glasses and led his little group out the door to return to Shopping District 8.

"Don't you think you were a bit hard on him?" Tetorō asked.

Shiroe looked a little tired himself. "No. I'd rather fight that battle now while we're here than after we're halfway through the dungeon."

Michael nodded sagely. "Best to let them know early on. It's easier to have an uneasy peace later than an expectation for a battle in the middle of a raid."

Tetorō looked at Shiroe. "Will we ever have a real peace with them?"

Shiroe walked quietly for a while, then said, "I hope so, Tetorō. I hope so." He looked away, but he shook a few times.

"Wait," Tetorō said, affronted, "Why're you laughing?"

"Why?" Shiroe asked him, looking out of the corner of his eye.

"...'Why', what?"

"...Why...Teto _rō_?"

Tetorō rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Don't ask. It's Hahaue having her fun, and I can't change it, even when I try to hide it. She's going to kill me that way some day."

Shiroe walked a few more steps, thoughtful. "That's not like her, though it is like her to have her fun."

Michael looked at Tetorō. "It's also like her to make you figure out something new to make you stretch."

Tetorō slumped. "I wonder what level I'll have to be for this one," he said morosely.

After a bit of silent walking, Michael asked, "Are you holding onto levels again?"

He got a glare for asking. "If I was, I'd have 'evolved' again a long time ago, I'm sure."

"Well...maybe you should check, just to be sure," Michael suggested mildly.

About a minute later Tetorō glowed, then threw a mini-tantrum while Shiroe and Michael laughed themselves to tears, and Charlie tried very hard not to. Tetorō's hair got fixed after that.


	48. Moving to the 2nd Boss Rm:Maze Eternity

"Welcome to Minami," Shiroe said, almost expansively for him. He was again sitting in the head seat of the table in the conference room. He was sitting upright but relaxed, his elbows on the arms of his chair and his hands clasped horizontally in front of him. The precise way his leg was crossed over his knee went with the precise creases of his cream-colored negotiation suit. His eyes were very clear and unusually piercing this day. Nothing was out of place as he faced both People of the Land delegations. They were seated to either side of the table and Nakalnad was sitting at the opposite end from him, finally also looking formal instead of like the casual carpenter. Shiroe had browbeat him into it.

Kazuhiko was standing to Nakalnad's right and just behind him in the position of an advisor, while Michitaka was standing in the same position for Shiroe. The delegates were looking slightly confused and weren't sure which end of the table to address. "We're pleased you've been able to come so quickly," Nakalnad said. He was sitting upright but relaxed, with both arms resting on the arms of his chair, also in a position to say he was in control. It was the afternoon of the day the replacement to the pass system had been announced.

"We've asked you to come so that we can renegotiate your treaty with the Adventurers of Minami," Shiroe explained.

"The previous leadership of the Ten-Seat Council has been dissolved as a result of the internal conflicts of three days ago that have now been settled. You'll be working with the Ministry of Minami from this time on," Nakalnad informed them.

"We are willing to continue to allow Lord Loriel Dawn to remain on the Ministry Board as an advisor and ambassador, without voting rights," Shiroe spoke in turn again.

"We are also willing to allow a replacement in the same capacity from the Senate," Nakalnad continued. The delegates were beginning to looked like they were getting whiplash, trying to look from one end of the table to the other.

"However, we have several conditions that must be met for that to be allowed which will be included in the treaty we will sign today," Shiroe took his turn.

"First - there will be a clause included that will hold the Cathedral of Minami sacrosanct. Any actions taken against it will be met with sure and sudden death. If it is determined that a major offensive against it is being prepared, that death will come in the form of all allied Adventurers of Yamato marching against both the House of Saimiya and the Senate until they are wiped off the face of the land, to insure the continued safety of said Cathedral." The delegates paled at Nakalnad's words.

"Second - any and all weapons and spells formed to be used against Adventurers, particularly for the express purpose of killing them so that they can't resurrect again, will be destroyed and any research related to them will be also. The researchers who have the knowledge within their minds will either have that knowledge erased, or they must die." Adding Shiroe's words made it worse.

"We desire the remainder of the treaty to create terms of trade for the mutual benefit of Adventurers and People of the Land. Peace will be maintained as long as the two conditions are met." Nakalnad gave the first concession.

And Shiroe gave the second: "As a show of good faith, Plant Hwayden will release all properties it now owns back to the land, save those zones that the Adventurers find most important for maintaining the peace of their own, namely: the Guild Hall, the Cathedral, the Government Center, and the Adventurer Prison. What the Ministry of Minami chooses to do with those four zones is solely and completely up to the Ministry to determine."

"We have asked the Minami representative of the Cunie to be present today, so that we may explain what the treaty will mean for the mobile armor and those who wear it," Nakalnad looked over at that representative who was sitting at his left. He had the usual calm poker face on, but he seemed just a little unsure, maybe.

"Because the mobile armor is specifically formed to be used to control Adventurers, and any Person of the Land can wear it, it will be deactivated at the time of the signing of the treaty. Thereafter, any Person of the Land who attempts to wear it or reactivate it will be disintegrated, along with the armor that was worn," Shiroe explained calmly. Slight beads of sweat appeared on the Cunie's forehead to match the ones on all the other delegate's faces.

"We therefore recommend that you deactivate the protective circle around the city before the final signatures are placed on the treaty," Nakalnad suggested. "You already know they're useless anyway, and we're perfectly capable of protecting ourselves, as evidenced by the battle last night that not a single mobile armor unit appeared to put down, and by the fact that Akiba still stands a year and a half after they closed their's down."

The Cunie looked at the leaders of the Senate and House of Saimiya who had come. "You do not need their permission," Shiroe said quietly, his gaze piercing the Cunie. He'd had to do business with them many times. "You only need ours. Minami is an Adventurer city, _not_ a Person of the Land city, for all that we are willing to share the space with them. You have been given your orders. Go see they are carried out."

The Cunie had done business with Shiroe before, too. He glanced at Nakalnad, who looked at him with a "what are you waiting for" expression. Taking a quiet breath, the Cunie stood, bowed stiffly and walked out of the room. Nyanta and a representative from Nakalnad's army followed him out so that they could confirm it had been done and to report back when it was completed.

"Please, feel free at this time to offer your suggestions for how you would like to see trade of items and services between People of the Land and Adventurers," Nakalnad offered, "keeping in mind that we will treat both parties equally. You have chosen to divide yourselves, however the division we will respect is that I have just mentioned." The next part of the negotiation - which was rather long actually - revolved around the two factions of People of the Land having to negotiate between themselves the level of relations they would accept the other having with the Adventurers.

Shiroe took notes of the things that were agreed upon by the People of the Land and added written comments occasionally. Every so often, Nakalnad would also pick up a pen and write a line. If anyone had been looking over their shoulders, and their advisors were, they would have seen that Shiroe's notes showed up in green on Nakalnad's piece of paper and Nakalnad's notes showed up on Shiroe's paper in green. It was rather like passing notes in class, actually. When Kazuhiko and Michitaka had comments, they leaned down and voiced them quietly. Every so often, a red line would show up on both papers.

By the time the People of the Land were done finalizing their recommendations, the Ministry of Minami had their response ready. They generalized the suggestions so that it would fit trade with any Person of the Land, rejected anything that would bind the Adventurers to the two factions, and simplified the terms from about ten items down to four. Then they didn't budge, continuing to use the back and forth bullying until the two factions caved. Shiroe pulled out the scroll he had already begun with the initial terms already carefully worked out so they were both general enough and didn't have any worm holes left in the wording of them. He added the four trade agreement terms, then had Naotsugu pass the contract, ink, and pen around the table for signatures.

By the time it came back to him again, Nyanta had reported that the magic circle around the city had been taken down properly. Shiroe put the pen to the paper and signed his own name. As he did, it glowed, then the paper as a whole glowed and disappeared as it was registered in the Guild Hall. He put the pen and ink away and copies of the treaty appeared before each signatory. "Thank you for coming," he said to the delegates. He pulled out another scroll and tore it in half and another sparkling glow drifted up from it as it disintegrated. "The zones are now returned to the land, as was negotiated."

"We look forward to doing business with you in the future," Nakalnad said. "We're sure you'll be wanting to get back to your respective houses to report and make sure your researchers are still living, so we won't detain you any further." They rose together, making the delegates rise also.

When the Adventurers were alone again, Nakalnad said, "I'm not sure, but I feel like scolding you for signing it, too."

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Just consider it signed by an ally that will come help stomp them if the Cathedral is threatened," he said mildly.

"Is KR going to complain that he didn't get to sign it, too?" Kazuhiko asked. He had signed it and so had Michitaka as a pro-tem member of the Ministry, making it a majority.

Shiroe and Nakalnad both shrugged their shoulders. "It's doubtful," Shiroe said, "but you never know with him. He's more likely to be upset that we just made his job too easy, taking everything away. He can at least confirm those who had the data are either forgetful or dead, though."

"Ah, hey?!" KR's voice came over the Ministry group chat.

"Yes, KR?" Nakalnad said calmly.

"I was sitting here having tea with Jared Gan, trying to convince him he wasn't going to come cause more trouble, and he just keeled over dead. His assistant nearly lost consciousness and has a massive headache now. Do you know anything about this?"

"Yes," Nakalnad said. "We just finished signing the treaty. Don't talk to the assistant about it any more or he'll go, too. Just congratulate him for us on becoming the new Wizard of Miral Lake and put him to bed. Go check on all the rest on the list and make sure they fall into one of those two categories as well. I'm also interested in knowing if there are any smoking holes over at the Senate and House of Saimiya."

There was a pause, then a slightly sullen, "Okay. But I really was looking forward making those smoking holes myself."

"You'll probably get to make more later," Nakalnad said. "Just because they signed the treaty doesn't mean they won't keep trying."

"Okay." That seemed to mollify KR enough. They all relaxed slightly.

Nyanta walked into the room, looking stiff. He walked up to Shiroe, picked up his copy of the scroll and skimmed it until he reached one of the line items and read it very closely. He put it back on the table and pointed to the line item. "What did this wording do to my wife?" he asked quietly.

Shiroe held very still. Nyanta's killing intent was very cold, though not surface yet. "Nothing," he answered, "at least it shouldn't have. Her spell isn't written with the intent to kill. It was the best I could do. There is the possibility it will have made her forget the spell, if the world believes it falls under the first clause rather than the second...and I don't believe that is all bad." Nyanta's whiskers twitched. Cautiously Shiroe asked, "Is there a reason you think something did happen?"

"There were four explosions in town on my way back and Tetorō-kun is reeling in the hallway. He says there was a blinding flash in the code realm and he has at least one hole in his mind."

"Have you asked him to look for her?" Shiroe frowned, worried.

"He can't, nor can Michael-nyan. They are both too much in pain - Michael-nyan to the point he is nearly unconscious."

Shiroe shook his head. "It figures he'd have thought about it more, being here and all. I'm honestly surprised he's alive, but it's on purpose, Nyanta." Shiroe looked at the felinoid solemnly. "I don't want any more Adventurers threatening Adventurers either. In the future, it should just erase the spell as they begin to create it. Only if they insist and persist should it cause death, though it will just be a punishment. If it was going to cause permanent death, _I'd_ be dead, and probably all of us who signed it."

"What?!" The other three Adventurers who'd signed the document said at once. " _Our_ lives were on the line if you did it wrong?"

"Sorry," Shiroe said simply. "Intent played the largest part in it. The world can't live both laws at the same time - capriciousness and intent. Intent trumps. ...Though it's way too ethereal for my tastes when it comes to this kind of thing." He looked into Nyanta's eyes. "I'm sorry, Nyanta. It was a fine line, but I believe she really should be fine."

A glow caught his eye. He looked at the earring in Nyanta's ear and smiled. "She says she is."

Nyanta took the earring out and looked at it, nodded once and put it back. "Fine," he said and turned away. "I'll go take care of Tetorō-kun and Michael-nyan."

When the door closed behind him, Shiroe slumped onto his hand, propping his elbow up on the arm of his chair. "You _had_ to know that was coming," Naotsugu queried.

Shiroe was quiet for a while, then sighed. "Yes...I did. I lost a lot of sleep over that one. I really hope I never have to write such a difficult line again. In my nightmares I kept seeing exceptions where I'd wished I'd never done it. They actually helped me walk the line to change single words here and there, and adjust the intent of the spell, but it really needed to be done."

"But...it shouldn't have affected people from Akiba?" Kazuhiko asked. "It was a Westlande treaty."

Shiroe stood, not looking at the Minami complement for a moment. His copy of the scroll disappeared, then he looked up. "That line item affected the entire world." He walked out the door with his guild members to stunned silence.

"What's it done to dungeons, then?" Nakalnad asked in a stunned whisper to the empty chair in front of him. He picked up his copy of the treaty and read it again. Setting it down, he tapped the words on the line: ... _particularly for the express purpose of killing them so that they can't resurrect again_... "Well...that is a fine line, isn't it? But," he rose and put the treaty in his personal item list, "I can live with it."

-:-:-:-:-

Nakalnad and Kazuhiko arrived next to Shiroe again just outside the Government Building a few minutes later, where Communication mages were setting up for the final joint press conference. They mutually didn't talk about the treaty. Michitaka and Calasin were there as well. On the vid screen was a preliminary picture of the things going on around their location, showing their faces as if it were a news production. There were even two commentators talking about all the changes that had been going on who were speculating about the coming words they would be hearing from these dignitaries. Such a thing had yet to happen in Minami and many people were pausing to watch the screens, slight grins coming on their faces at the nostalgia.

When they were set and in place, and the voice amplification spells cast, the screens got formal again and the commentators said, "It looks like we're ready. We'll hear from the Council members of Minami and Akiba now."

Nakalnad stepped forward. "Citizens of Minami. The investigations have concluded. We wish you to understand what changes have occurred in the leadership of Minami. Princess Nureha has stepped down as Guildmistress, shamed by the corruption she did nothing to prevent. Indicus still has not appeared. At this time we expect that she killed herself in her attempt to kill KR. We are still asking that if she should appear, that she be brought to justice."

"Zeldus has been dismissed and sentenced to three years in the 1HP prison as a party to the Adventurer deaths, in knowingly allowing funds to be used for the research, and other similar research projects. Mizufa has been sentenced to death, which will be carried out in the 1HP prison...," he turned to Kazuhiko who nodded and spoke in a chat with his subordinate at the prison, "...now." He waited until Kazuhiko nodded, then turned back to face the square. "Quon has resigned due to personal reasons. Jared Gan has committed suicide because of his part in the deaths of the Adventurers. His assistant will not be offered a seat."

"I will be sitting as the Guildmaster for now," he continued. "Kazuhiko remains in charge of internal security and human resources. KR will remain as the head of intelligence. Lord Loriel Dawn will remain as an ambassador only, and another ambassador will be sent from the Senate when one has been chosen."

Nakalnad paused. "The Ten-Seat Council is dissolved and replaced by the Ministry of Minami, made up of myself, Kazuhiko, KR, and the two People of the Land ambassadors. Because of the gaps currently in the leadership, we have accepted temporarily Michitaka of Marine Organization as Pro-Tem Minister over technology and development and Calasin of Shopping District 8 as Pro-Tem Minister over finance and revitalization. They will be looking for proper replacements to train immediately, to be completed within two months. We are grateful to them and the other guildmasters of Akiba who have worked with us at this time to bring a quick and peaceful resolution to the recent crises."

Nakalnad shifted slightly before continuing. "We have renegotiated with the leadership of the Senate and the House of Saimiya, confirming with them that neither attacks on the Cathedral nor death attempts on Adventurers will be tolerated with any leniency. We have relinquished our hold on their zones as compensation, and we have negotiated a proper trade agreement with them. Those line items will be displayed after this conference so that all may know what to reasonably expect from both sides. The Ministry of Minami would like to remind you to please be respectful of all. I think the final word really is, 'play nice'." He stepped back.

Shiroe stepped forward. "Thank you Ministry of Minami, citizens of Minami, for being patient and tolerating our involvement in this issue that was applicable to all Adventurers. We hope for a bright future for all of Minami and Westlande. Please come and visit Akiba in two months and eat all the pumpkin you can stand!" He smiled gently and stepped back.

Kazuhiko turned to him and shook Shiroe's hand. He said a few words of thanks that weren't picked up, since he hadn't had the broadcast spell put on him. Handshakes went around the group generally, then the video screens cut to displaying the text from the lines from the treaty that were specifically about the trade agreements and the commentators came back on the air. They were mostly ignored, like all TV commentators on Earth and went off the air in five minutes as well.

There was a stir of excitement generally in the air of Minami that early evening. They had been told there would be more freedom to choose, been reminded that being an Adventurer could be fun, and been given a reason to go out and earn money - to visit a festival - and the guild had been restructured to be more democratic than despotic.

It wasn't perfect. There were people who weren't sure they wanted Nureha to just disappear. There were people who still wanted to be lazy. There were people who were still prejudiced against Akiba. There were people frantic to insanity that their worlds had been turned upside down (most notably the Department managers under Michitaka, Calasin, and Ains).

The majority, however, had some level of hope now, that things could get better. Food was available to anyone, really, if you were willing to do some level of minimal work. Many people who had ideas of what they wanted to do were already beginning to work on it (one notable was a young Adventurer who was sitting at his desk frantically writing a favorite Conan anime script).

-:-:-:-:-

On the vid screens around town, the new treaty lines regarding trade and services with the People of the Land was being displayed so that everyone knew exactly what to expect when they went looking for quests, or for the shops in town with proprietors on either side to understand how they now fit into the new direction the city was taking. It didn't affect Adventurer-to-Adventurer trade, though, and Calasin was directing the setting up of a stage in the central square of Minami. Things had been so exciting that day that there were still many people crowded in the square.

At the north end of the square was the Government Building. On the East side was the Guild Hall, with the bank and other services. On the South was the Cathedral, with a long garden leading to it, and on the West was the Technology Building. The prison was hidden deeper in the city so as to be out of the eyesight of the people. The vid screen in the square was attached to the upper portion of the Technology Building. When the setup was complete, and Calasin was standing on the stage, he nodded to the Communication mages he'd received for rental time on the vid screen (the way the Ministry had set up for that Department to earn it's keep - also just like television at home).

The vid screens all over Minami shifted to show Calasin, all smiles. "Citizens of Minami! Congratulations! We are so excited for the new changes coming to make your lives better and easier. I'm Calasin of Shopping District 8. We wanted to let you know of one more thing to make your life a bit easier. You'll particularly enjoy this if you're planning on leaving town to go treasure hunting in preparation for the Akiba Pumpkin Festival in two months."

"How many of you have been frustrated with the limited number of item slots you have for carrying treasures, food, items, etc.? I know many are, really. We at Shopping District 8 have a solution!" He paused for dramatic effect. "I have a box," he held up a cardboard box in his hand. "We wish we could call this a magic box, but we can't yet. However, it's nearly that for what it holds in potential, so watch closely." Most of the crowd that had been hanging around the square had either wandered over to his stand or were watching the vid-screen.

He repeated almost exactly the demonstration that Akaneya had put on for Akiba, including calling up an Adventurer of Minami to help him. When the help had moved off stage, Calasin concluded. "This is such a wonderful little product, the nesting box. We are taking orders at all Shopping District 8 stores. There is a limited supply, so we are limiting the total number of boxes you can walk away with for the next week, but if you put in a full order, we'll contact you as soon as we have more from the production line."

"Given that many still need to earn gold, we're willing to take items as payment as well, for a limited time." He listed off the items that Marine Organization needed to make the boxes, and a few of the other items Michitaka had asked for other products that were coming off the line, mostly simple-to-get items. Calasin's goal was to collect enough to send home for the production of more boxes to be delivered, and then to sell or trade the excess to crafting houses of Minami so they could also increase their output. The list of items they needed was shown on the vid screen, so people could get it written down or memorized. "We at Shopping District 8 will be happy to help you with your department store needs, and increasing your list capacity today! Thank you." Calasin waved to the people in the square, and thus on the vid screens. The Communication Mages cut the line and it went back to the list of the treaty agreements.

Calasin was swamped with questions as his men took down the stage and packed it back up. The store, and it's satellites, were swamped shortly after. They'd prepared, though, having seen the response in Akiba. Even adding twenty-seven slots in one would be helpful and mean an Adventurer could stay out longer. Those who had already been thinking they might like to go out and farm were first in line for the first Akiba Adventurer quest request to Minami Adventurers.

The next morning there was a rather high percentage of the city that left out the gates. It made the guards nervous, since they'd been conditioned to not let most of them out, and even worse, to not let them back in later. They also didn't want to have to search everyone when they came back in. Kazuhiko had to field complaints from the guards for a while until they found a workable solution that reduced their workload but still kept the undesirables out of the city. He was grateful when it also cut down on the number of people he had to have working the gates at each shift. (They were, too. Most of them immediately put in vacation requests to go farming, which opened it's own can of worms that he had to deal with, but it eventually settled down.)

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe called a meeting after the final press conference at the main Shopping District 8 department store of all the people from Akiba who would be going on the raid to the Maze of Eternity. He also invited his sub-guild and those of D.D.D., Honesty, and Knights of the Black Sword that weren't going with them. He spread the maps of the maze out on one of the cafeteria tables and put his fingertips on the pile. "The Maze of Eternity is likely the hardest of all dungeons on Yamato, and it's not meant to be a dungeon that is conquered. It's a puzzle to be solved and handled delicately. Within its center lies the Adventurer Tree of Life - that which allows us to return to be resurrected. Any damage we cause in that inner room will kill any number of us, most likely."

He looked soberly at them all. "We're going in not because we wish to win a prize, but because it's been broken by what was done here in Minami and it needs to be repaired. _It_ sent out the message that we are needed to make that repair. However, given its nature, we have to get through the highest level protections that are in place just to be able to make those repairs. There will be monster drops, of course, so it isn't like we'll get nothing out of it, however the end prize is the repair itself. I'm hopeful that from that repair we'll also receive the reward of having those Adventurers who've been removed from the resurrection cycle returned to us." The return looks were just as sober as his was.

"Because the damage was caused here in Minami, the Adventurers of Minami were sent the messengers that the repairs were needed. They went only partially heeded, so the messengers came to Akiba. We'll be doing this as a joint raid with Nakalnad and a half-legion that's already been through the Maze of Eternity a sufficient number of times they know how to lead us through it. I expect we'll take the first section of the maze just shaking down the parties and integrating, though we'll do a little on the way. It's fairly easy with a boss of expected legion difficulty at the end of it."

"After that, it's a little different. The drop from that boss is a tempting high level artifact that is meant to make a casual legion raid party leave. There is no door farther in at that point. However, Nakalnad discovered there was a Vengeful Spirit in the room. When they gave it the drop, it vanished and a secret continuation door opened. The second level of the maze is difficult. It is meant to discourage all but the most tenacious legion raid groups. The boss at the end is a double legion raid boss room. There are two Vengeful Spirits in that room and the two dropped items must be given to the correct Vengeful Spirit to open the next secret continuation point. Give them the wrong one and they disappear with both drops and the door doesn't open. It's meant to warn off anyone who would go farther. If we guess wrong, we start all over from the beginning again." So far, it was making sense to everyone, given his lead-in.

"The remaining are correspondingly worse, of course. We should expect to all go up about three levels in experience - even with the deaths - just to get through to the end of the last level." Given they were all ninety-eight and above, except Michael and WolfMan6, that was saying rather a lot. It took a lot of experience points to rise a level when at that kind of level to begin with. "Likely Nakalnad's people will carry us a lot until we get our stride. I've put him in charge. I'll be the Master Strategist, but have to learn like you as we go."

"To date, they've gotten to the boss at the end of the last layer and been blocked from going farther. They have learned how to empty the room, but there are no Vengeful Spirits to give what minor drops they do receive." He looked around the room. "When we came here, we learned that there were more Vengeful Spirits here in the city. Last night we performed a preparatory mini-puzzle raid to collect all the Adventurer-based Vengeful Spirits to take back with us. I believe we have to have them all so that we can perform the repair, but I also believe that there is one key that will let us find and open the door. That key is the messenger that came to Akiba. We'll be taking that messenger, that key, in with us this time."

"I expect the final room to be massively trapped and extremely difficult to be faced, but what might be in it to protect the Adventurer Tree of Life...I have no idea. No one has ever been in it before. The threshold shouldn't be casually crossed, I do know. We may only have one opportunity to enter and make the repairs. If anything deserves reverence and awe from Adventurers it is that which allows us to be immortal. We will go cautiously if the door does appear for us."

He shifted to sit a bit on the table to rest his feet. "The appearance of Technicians and Hackers just before, or as part of, this quest that the world has given to us to repair the Tree, says to me that they are needed in order to properly repair the Adventurer Tree of Life. This is why we are taking four Hackers and Nakalnad is bringing four high-level Technicians from here. I expect them to be needed, at the very least at the end. We'll spend the first layer or two learning how to work in teams with our Hackers, and in concert with their teams containing their Technicians. I expect the first two layers to be gone through at least three to four times before we get the second door opened correctly and we figure out how to integrate the new sub-classes smoothly. It helps that I've already fought with one of the Hackers, but I haven't fought with any Technicians yet, so that will also be part of my own learning curve."

"I'm hopeful we can complete the remaining layers in two to three tries each. I'll be super relieved if the repair can be completed on the first try, but don't be surprised if we have to redo the entire dungeon all over again from the beginning several times. We'll take a break at the two-month mark if we get thrown back out to the beginning anytime within the week before that mark. We should all be at Akiba for the first outreach to Minami. If we haven't completed the full raid, though, we'll be returning after that until the winter festival at Minami. That will be another break, and if necessary we'll return again after that." People were looking a bit panicked and overwhelmed.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, "but the world has requested it, and it was our fault to begin with. We cannot refuse. Let us do our best to finish it in the first two months. Nakalnad and his people have already been trying for four raids worth of time. They have gained the data. We have the final key they need. I believe it is possible, now." He looked at his people. "Michael, you'll go with Rieze's party. Tetorō, you will go with Isaac. WolfMan6 is already with Ains. Rieze has supplied my party with a Cleric, and Isaac with a Kannagi. Isaac, Rieze, Ains, for the second full-raid set, please divide your people into two per party from each guild. As a city we need to practice mixing the fighters of the guilds. We are very good within the guilds, but now need to be very good within Akiba as a whole. Please plan on continuing to practice joint raids after this."

The guildmasters sat up at this. "You just had us divide into smooth groups. Why mix us up?" Isaac wanted to know.

"We divided the production up and streamlined the production guilds. It isn't working to do the same for the fighting guilds. While I do think that each fighting guild has strengths and specialties, I believe that it will take integrating them to understand what their real strengths are." He folded his arms and considered the floor for a bit, then looked up and pushed up his glasses. "We are going to march on all of Yamato soon. Economically. We are going to march on all of Theldesia eventually, both economically and militarily. I don't expect we'll go to rule. I expect us to go to create unity so that through that unity we can more efficiently return home. I believe there are more people in Theldesia than me that are working to get home, that are working to help all Adventurers, but we need to go find them and let them know we are also here to help them. It is time to prepare the military side."

Shiroe's face twisted with sad remorse. "I've moved too slowly. If Minami has learned to be destructive to the Yamato Adventurer Tree of Life, who knows what's happening to the main servers of the other regions by now? We may have to repeat this more than this once. ...It's my belief, that to allow it to continue unrestrained will unravel the fabric of this world before we can return home. My proof," he took a breath, "is the Navigators. They are unable to come here without the creatures of our server. They aren't able to return home either, wherever home is for them. I believe that they didn't figure it out in time and destroyed their Trees of Life, thus locking themselves in their main server on the moon. That will also happen to us if we don't correct this error, and any similar errors that may have already happened elsewhere on this planet that we Adventurers now have to call home, even if temporarily."

"Please, this is not to be spread about to cause panic. But you who are going to be sacrificing to go into the Maze of Eternity need to know why it's worth it to do so." He looked at the people in the room with him. It was the first time he'd been so open with them about his world-wide plans, but then, it was also the first he'd really understood the full impact of what he'd been shown by Purrcy. It really wasn't anything he could do alone anymore, and these people in particular he would need now, and most likely in the future as well. "We need Nakalnad's people, or I'd be taking you all in. There is a high likelihood they will bail if it goes past Christmas, and I expect half to bail if it just goes past the Pumpkin Festival. I want the rest of you on standby. It will slow us down a little, but if you're all working together in mixed groups between now and then, we'll be closer, just a little bit faster to pick up the speed again."

He looked at Michael's group. "Eagles, I want you to stay here in Minami and work with the others, in particular D.D.D. Get in-town experience as much as possible. We'll need to continue to use your skills if we have to collect ghosts again in the future. When Calasin sends his first wagon train back to Akiba, go out with the guards he needs on those wagons and see it reaches Akiba safely. Then work on your grinding out-city. If at all possible, we need you all over level sixty by the time we get to the two month mark and into the eighties by after Christmas. You may also have those breaks to recover. Rest is important too, and I want the rest of the city to get to know you. Log Horizon is also ambassador guild with D.D.D. and Marine Organization."

He looked to the three warrior guildmasters. "Please, approve and assign members here and at home to work with my newest guild members. They are very capable and eager to learn. When they've learned what they need to here and have reached what they can do on their own, turn them over to West Wind Brigade for fine-tuning. Rieze, I'll continue to rely on you in particular." Rieze tipped her head and Isaac and Ains also nodded their agreement.

"You may have the time to review the maps tonight," Shiroe touched the map next to him again. "We'll leave first thing in the morning, on foot this time since it's with twice our number as before and we need to travel with Nakalnad. Purchase anything needful, but as I said before, we'll be going through several ingredient drops on our way, mostly for the sake of Nakalnad's group that just got back to town. They used up their stores and haven't had time to replenish them." Shiroe rose from the table and moved off to the side to sit with his senior officers of Log Horizon.

Rieze and Isaac walked up to him, though Ains went directly to the map. "Who's your sixth?" Rieze asked, point blank.

Shiroe looked at the two guildmasters, his face slightly closed. "It's the slot for the key. We'll be fine."

Isaac looked his group over again. "I don't see your Hacker, Shiroe. ...Is that the key?"

Shiroe pursed his lips, and so did every member his group, their eyes going hard. Both guildmasters raised eyebrows and put up hands in defense. "That's harsh," Isaac said.

Rieze nodded. "The whole guild as tight lipped as Akatsuki with a Log Horizon secret. We'll let it pass." They escaped to the map and the Log Horizon contingent relented very slightly, not looking at each other. Nyanta got up to go to the kitchen. Tetorō went with him and Michael went to listen in on the discussion his squadron was having with the members of D.D.D., Honesty, and Knights of the Black Sword that were staying behind. Akatsuki sat close to Shiroe and leaned on his shoulder. He put his arm around her, but stayed tense until Naotsugu sat close by on the other side. Slowly, as he became lost in his thoughts about the future again, Shiroe relaxed, his friends by his side.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning saw busy activity at the Shopping District 8 warehouse as the half-legion party readied itself. By the time the sun was burning the dew away, they were walking towards the city gate of Minami. There they met the other half of the legion. The two parties eyed each other with some distrust and concern, but their leaders said "go" and they went. For that and the next two full days they marched towards their goal, stopping at one fighting zone per day to train the groups together and increase their food supplies. At the end of the third day they arrived outside the raid zone and set up camp just inside the zone, where they would arrive each time they died in the zone, at it's mini-recovery point.

The warriors were still not completely trusting of each other, but they were beginning to get a feel for each other. It was just enough that they began to fight against each other, with words and silences. The first round through the first layer got everyone well familiar with each other's weaknesses. They all managed to make it through without too much damage to individuals. The first time through the second level made them get past that to an uneasy peace as they began to learn the necessity of relying on each other. The fourth time of not getting the treasure right at the second door, and the party from Minami snapped. The leaders made everyone take a break and listened to the concerns of both sides, then properly scolded and promised and apologized.

When the men and women had rested sufficiently, and the plan agreed to once again, they went in. That time, they made it through and into the third level. That honed them into a team - they weren't going to make it through without it at that point - and they all got serious. Somehow, they managed to survive the first time through to the boss room and even by the skin of their teeth (and three surviving warriors), to break through the third door. They pulled back and rested again, carefully going over the strategies that worked in the past, taking three days to get ready, then they entered the fourth layer, taking it slowly, learning as they went. With careful planning, they managed to keep at least one person at a minimum as a retreat card so they didn't lose all four layers again until they finally reached the door to the last room of that level.

"Shiroe," Nakalnad said solemnly as they sat at the strategy table, "you have to understand the rules of this room. Let me go over them with you one more time, but with everyone." Shiroe stood and they walked out from under the canopy to stand side by side in front of the sitting groups of warriors. They waited until they had the silent attention of everyone. "The next room's more tricky than the rest," Nakalnad said. "My men have fought it before, but I think even for them, to say it again won't hurt."

He looked around at the group. "The next room is a mirror room. If you look into the mirror, your double steps out to confront you. If you hide your eyes and never allow your double out, we will sit there waiting on you. If that fits the strategy, fine, but don't expect it to let us through just because you don't want to face yourself. Your double knows everything you know today. And if you defeated it the time before, it knows that, too. If you worked out a solution to that defeat, it knows that, too. It is you but without emotion or error. Don't waste your items. It has everything you do in its lists. It will chose a weapon of yours at random. If you own one you don't like, or are weak to, unequip it and leave it here before we go in. Same for items. Anything you think will make your mirror double weak will make you weak and isn't worth taking in."

Nakalnad looked at Shiroe. "It isn't necessary for the warrior to fight their own mirror image, but that is who they will be closest to from the beginning, unless eye contact with the mirror is made at a distance, and that is who the double will gravitate to. They don't appear until everyone is in the room, and we can't leave the room until one side or the other is all wiped out. If we do, the living doubles remain, and then double again when we re-enter. We only did that the first time. It wasn't worth it to fight that many of us when the doubles doubled right along with us." Lots of people in the room shuddered. "If we just give up and die the room resets. We'll have to start at level one, room one all over again, but it's worth it, trust me." He looked at Shiroe sharply. "This will be your greatest test. Do you really know everyone?" They took into the fifth day to prepare.


	49. Adventurer Tree of Life

Streaks of colored lights filled the room. "Shit!" came a baritone voice. "Critical fail!" a panicked youthful voice said at the same time. Three sets of shimmering shields went up five, then ten layers deep. That was quickly followed by a similar looking box that appeared around empty space that very shortly after contained a glowing figure labeled "Mirror Purrcy". The heart of every Adventurer who saw it and had an inkling of what that meant sank into a deep pit.

"Time to death?" Shiroe asked in a rather resigned tone of voice. The shields were already steadily failing.

"Two...one..."

-:-:-:-:-

The pain in Tetorō heart was probably the greatest it had been in a long time. He lay on the ground, his arm over his eyes. How could he?! How could he have not realized that would happen beforehand? All because of one oversight on his part, the entire dungeon would have to be traversed again from the beginning.

"What the _hell_ was that?!" came from the Minami side. The Adventurers of Akiba were silent. Most people were silent, actually. It had been a surprising sudden death, not accounted for in all the last five days of planning.

Finally, there was a sigh and a shifting. Tetorō raised his arm, knowing he was going to see Shiroe. He did. "No." Tetorō interrupted before Shiroe could answer. Shiroe paused and turned to look at him. Tetorō got to his own feet. He walked to where most of the Adventurers could see him, from both sides, and bowed very deeply. "I'm very sorry. That was my fault." He held it for a while, then rose. He was getting angry looks from Minami, confused ones from Akiba, and a sympathetic one from Shiroe that was mixed with his own personal guilt. He turned to face his guildmaster. "I'm sorry. I forgot I set it so she could see through Nyanta-san's eyes."

Comprehension came on Log Horizon guild member's faces. Shiroe nodded. "I didn't think of it either. I'm sorry also." He paused then gave an embarrassed sort of shrug. "Though, it was an interesting experiment."

"So what the hell did you bring with you that can cause sudden failure?" Nakalnad asked, folding his arms.

"Not yet," Akatsuki said. They all looked at her. "Nyanta-san's not back."

They looked around, seeing it was true. Tetorō considered that, then nodded. "He's been reinforced. He probably won't be able to defeat both himself and her together, though.

Shiroe went thoughtful, then nodded. "That will be essential data, when he does get back. We might have the ability to win through with one more try." He turned to look at Nakalnad. "That...was the key...and apparently the final boss to get into the last room." Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Actually, as Tetorō's said, it's a double boss room. Those two are from my party, and have to go in, but we need to fight them last, after we've defeated the rest of the mirror doubles. Is there a way to do that?"

This time the heavy silence was from Minami as the Akiba Adventurers waited to hear their past experiences. After the silence went on a bit, Shiroe said, "You've said that if they don't look into the mirrors the doubles don't come. How did you learn that?"

The Minami field monitor nodded. "We had an unconscious member that we dragged into the room with us and left by the door. We had to heal him up in the end to fight his mirror, too."

Tetorō relaxed. "We can do that," he said.

Shiroe nodded. "That's simple. You block her and then I'll put Nyanta to sleep. When the room's cleared, we'll wake them up."

"At the same time? Can you do them one at a time?" Nakalnad asked hopefully.

Shiroe shook his head. "The only one that can defeat her is him and the only one that can defeat him is her. The rest of us will be support roles."

"It's really that bad?" Nakalnad asked.

"I think it's set up that way," Shiroe said, wonderingly. "I don't know why, though." He shook his head, then sat down to take a waiting pose. "When we get Nyanta's report, I'll put my idea on the table."

There was silence for a bit, then Nakalnad shook his head. "No. That's not right. What is 'she', this key? One of the Vengeful Spirits?"

"I...suppose you could think of it like that," Shiroe said cautiously.

"You can't have it both ways, Machiavelli," Nakalnad said just a little impatiently. "Either it's a party member and it's in the room with Nyanta-san the same as Nyanta-san is fighting both mirrors, and they both die or they both defeat their mirrors...or it's the Vengeful Spirit and Nyanta isn't fighting a mirror Vengeful Spirit, though he may be fighting himself and all the other mirrors."

"That Vengeful Spirit very definitely was fighting us, and it wasn't the version locked down," Tetorō said definitely.

Nakalnad scowled, "Then, can the two of them fighting together take everyone down, including themselves? And...if not...can the one you brought into the room die? Or will we have three mirror Vengeful Spirits to fight when we get back?"

There was silence for a while. "I guess...I don't know," Shiroe finally admitted. There were groans of frustration. A little more loudly, to prevent too much unrest, Shiroe said, "But that doesn't mean we need to give up just yet. I want to see if Nyanta comes out and tells us what happened to him. Then we might know."

A little regretfully he added. "If we have to...since we have to start over anyway...we can leave the dungeon zone and come back in to reset that room. She's actually easy to defeat with Kannagi and Hacker shields, status effects, and a constant barrage of magic attacks. She can't get off enough spells if we pen her in and keep it up. We lock him down with a succession of Guardians and Samurai that pull out just before their HP goes out and hit him with Monks and weapon attack classes until she's down. Then the rest can focus on him to pile it on heavy. That initial attack spell we'll have to shield and defend from, but that isn't new to us anymore. And we have to have everyone else's double down before then or our mirrors will do the same thing. All of us from Akiba know that's how it's done."

"The most effective are reflective spells," Tetorō said calmly.

Nakalnad finally broke the next silence. "Fine. We'll wait to hear what Nyanta-san has to say."

From somewhere in the back of his group came a quiet, "I'm going to hope they take everyone down and get the work done while we sit it out. That was some massive spell - the second one."

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta blinked and twitched his singed whiskers. "...Was that really necessary, nyan?" he finally asked plaintively. "Purrcy, mew'll have to take meowr double out, or make it so my hits do MP damage." He turned to defend himself from himself. He had one benefit from that one explosion. It had taken out all the rest of the legion, true, but it had also taken out all the legion mirror doubles except his and Purrcy's. He wondered if that was because as a solo, she never partied with anyone, so the blast had just removed everyone from the room except those who were "immune" to Hacker spells. He wouldn't be, in too much more time, he was sure.

[Nyanta...anything I do will be something I can't do next time. To create a spell to protect you other than what I've already done will steal HP from you and you'll drop faster. You don't have time to drink a potion. In getting rid of all players on the field...well...there's one thing I can try, but if it works it will be used against you next time...or me.]

"Then make it work this time," he answered, rather calmly, lashing out at his double to nick the arms of his coat, and dancing away from the double blades coming at him.

[Can you try negotiation?]

Nyanta raised an eyebrow. "Mirror me, could we call a truce for just a bit? Purrcy wants to talk." He didn't get much of a response, except another attack coming his way. He took care of it, then said, "Mirror Purrcy, would you be willing to talk?" He got nothing. "What if you try it?" he asked.

He was answered about a second later. [Odd. But no.] After about another two minutes of jumping around and wishing for more backup, suddenly the mirror Nyanta froze, then disappeared in a shower of bubbles of light. Nyanta turned and looked to the demarcated, and incidentally still boxed in, Mirror Purrcy. He was really surprised he wasn't dead yet, since there'd been nothing to distract it. Shortly thereafter it suddenly disappeared in a shower of bubbles as well. [ _S_ _igh_. Well, I used a simple solution, but I won't be able to use it again.]

Nyanta paused, then sat down cross-legged. "If mew're the key, where's the door?"

[There wasn't an item drop.]

"Does that matter?"

[That's the pattern up until now...] She sounded uncertain.

He considered. "Myaybe mew have to be outside? ...That takes Tetorō-kun, though, doesn't it?"

[Yes.]

Nyanta called up the party chat. "So, we've defeated them. If mew want to work meowr way back here...I suppose mew could. No item drop, but myaybe releasing Purrcy would open the door?"

"...No...way," was said rather faintly...by rather a lot of voices.

"What did you do?" Shiroe asked with great surprise.

Nyanta asked Purrcy. [I put a modified drain on both of them to drain HP from the mirror Nyanta to Nyanta directly, and to drain the MP from the mirror Purrcy so I could cast larger spells, then defended us both until I'd used up the MP from the mirror Purrcy.]

Nyanta repeated it back for Shiroe. "I just danced with myself until myself disappeared."

"Did the mirror Purrcy possess the mirror Nyanta?" Shiroe asked.

"I don't know. It was still boxed in when it died." Nyanta put his rapiers away, then pulled out several potions and drank them down. He leaned against the wall. "We'll wait for mew here," he said tiredly.

-:-:-:-:-

Everyone in the re-spawn room blinked at each other. "Well...," Shiroe finally said, "we'll keep the other solution quiet just in case we need it for next time. They don't know it, so their mirrors won't either." Everyone nodded agreement with that idea, then stiffly rose. The rest of the dungeon was cleared and they could rest in that room as well as any. They needed to get the door open and research what came next...if it _could_ be opened.

"...It seems somehow...anticlimactic," a member of the Minami half said, a little down, as they trudged their way down and around the maze to the inner circle again.

"Yeah," another one said. "Here we've spent all this time working to defeat that room, and suddenly we're shut out and two people who've never been in it before figure it out in one."

"You're assuming they've made it possible for the door to be found and opened," another one said practically. "If we still have to try three more times, that may be different."

They were silent for a bit, then, grudgingly, "True, but..."

"Well...it may be anticlimactic, but if it really worked...I think I'll be just as happy," another one said just a little wearily. "I feel like we've already paid our dues to repair the damage done long before now."

"True, 'dat, too." There were many nods of agreement to that sentiment.

"That may be true for you," said one of the Akiba fighting half, "but we worked our tails off this time with you and got blown away in one and nothing to show for that room, not even experience. I'd take another few rounds."

"You can have them," the tired one from Minami said. "I'll give over my slot."

"I'm already here," the Akiba fighter pointed out.

"Oh, right." A teasing grin went with the statement.

They filed into the last room, just a little nervous since they really didn't want any mirror doubles to show up last minute. Shiroe was standing over the Swashbuckler felinoid, shaking his shoulder. "Nyanta. We're here. You okay?" He motioned for the Cleric of his party to join him.

The Cleric cast a few healing spells on the recumbent felinoid, who then slowly woke up to look into Shiroe's eyes. "Councilor-nyan."

Shiroe's shoulders visibly relaxed. "I can't tell you how glad I am you're able to wake up," he said in relief. "After Alice in Wonderland, I was a bit worried you'd dropped into _Rip van Winkle_."

Nyanta sat up and smiled. "Nyan, thank goodness. I did spend some time in _Through the Looking Glass_ at the foxtail's though." Shiroe and several others shuddered. Shiroe gave Nyanta his hand and helped him to stand.

"I see there's still no door," Nakalnad said dispassionately, leaning on his door shield and resting his hand on the pommel of his sword.

Nyanta nodded. "There wasn't a drop either."

"Nothing?" Nakalnad said in surprise.

Nyanta shook his head and turned to Tetorō. "Can mew let her out? Our only guess is that it takes having her actually present, meow."

Tetorō looked at Shiroe. "It makes sense," he said cautiously. He didn't want to make the final decision, though, they could all tell. Shiroe thought for a moment, then nodded. Tetorō held out his hand to Nyanta. Nyanta took the earring out of his ear and handed it to Tetorō, pausing just an instant before finally releasing it to the younger male. They shared a look, then Tetorō looked down at the earring in his palm.

There was a moment of silence, then the earring began to glow and rise into the air over the group's heads. Three other gold rings came out of it spinning slowly in the air with it. Suddenly there was a flash and the rings flew through the air with great speed, slamming into the mirrors on the walls in the room until only one wall of mirrors was left. Everyone ducked away from the flying shards of glass, some swearing, others jumping behind Guardians holding shields (Tetorō behind Naotsugu notably). For the most part, the shards of glass dissolved into sparkling lights before actually arriving at people. The four gold circles ended up hovering in front of the remaining mirror.

There was another glow that was brightly reflected by the mirror. When it was gone, there was a group of shadowy figures standing in front of it and glowing letters written on the top of the mirror: "Ultimate Sacrifice". The shadowy figures moved towards the mirror, then _into_ it and disappeared, until there was only one remaining that hovered between the legion and the mirror as if waiting.

"You were saying, Nyanta?" Shiroe said wryly. There were unhappy chuckles around the room.

There was another unhappy sound - that of a sigh. "Haven't we _already_ paid the ultimate sacrifice?"

Shiroe tipped his head, looking at the words. "Well, not really. The ultimate price will be not killing the boss in this next room. As I said in Minami, our price will be never actually completing this dungeon in the traditional fashion. We want to repair, not destroy." He looked at the mirror thoughtfully. "It also seems to me, that this is a very individual door. Everyone is going to have to step through this mirror individually, and like we had to fight ourselves in this room before we could get to this point, we'll likely have to face ourselves again to get through to the next one."

"So it will be like death, then," Nakalnad said.

Shiroe nodded. "I suspect." It was said quietly. There was silence for a bit. "I think...if you don't want to pass through to the other side...then don't. We'll make do with whomever does come through." He stepped up to stand next to the shadow, facing the mirror. Nyanta stepped up to the other side of the shadow calmly. Tetorō was next to him in two steps, and Naotsugu moved to stand next to Shiroe.

Akatsuki slipped between the two of them, and took Shiroe's hand. He looked down at her and gave one of his small smiles. She looked earnestly up into his eyes. She swallowed, then said, "I'll meet you on the other side." He squeezed her hand and nodded back, then looked into the mirror again, his eyes sweeping the people standing behind them. His eyes paused on Michael.

Michael nodded his head. "I'll be behind you," he promised. Shiroe nodded and stepped forward. His guild moved with him, the shadow going with them also, and they slipped into the mirror and disappeared to the room. Michael turned to look at the rest of them, "Our reward is worth it. If you think you've got one on the other side, we'd welcome you by our side," he said, then nodded his head, perhaps in farewell, turned back, and walked through after them.

Nakalnad blew out an explosive breath. "Well, damn," he whispered, putting his free hand on his hip. He glared at the mirror and the backs of those who'd left them. "I don't even know what I can do on the other side if I can't swing a sword, or do repairs, or heal anything." He glared for a bit more, then quietly said, "But...I've already sacrificed a whole damn lot to get here. It might...just be worth it to see...what's on the other side." He moved up towards the mirror, inspecting it all the way around. Finally he faced his own reflection, at first glaring at it, then relaxing to an almost sad, resigned look. He nodded at himself slightly, then stepped through. Slowly, others in the room began to step up to the mirror and disappear.

-:-:-:-:-

Stepping through the mirror was like stepping through an unmoving waterfall. Shiroe blinked his eyes to remove the film and fog from his eyes. His feet kept moving him forward. He really had expected to be walking the streets of his hometown again, but instead he arrived in a small glade surrounded by the fog he'd been walking through. In the center of the glade was a platform. On the platform was a winged sphinx. They stared each other down - him at the edge of the glade, it on the platform, unmoving. His brain quickly supplied what he knew about sphinxes. Mostly that they protected temples and knowledge, were supposed to be wise to the point of being all-knowing, and that they always asked a riddle you had to answer correctly or be eaten. If there was a final boss, this seemed to be a reasonable one.

He actually enjoyed riddles, but there wasn't anything to say what the question would be, unless it was related to the "ultimate sacrifice" written on the mirror...which it probably was. He sighed to himself. There was only forward, as always. He stepped into the glade and walked up to stand in front of the sphinx. "I'd like to pass, to repair the Adventurer Tree of Life, please," he asked very politely.

"Of course you do, Shiroe," the sphinx answered calmly. "Or so you say. Pass my test and I'll consider it."

He tipped his head. "Not good enough. I pass your test and you actually follow through. You've called us, after all. You can't get it fixed if you only 'think' about passing us through. You have to 'actually' pass us through."

"Except you aren't specifically needed."

Shiroe blinked. On one level it was true. "I may not be needed for my magic, or I may be. It's irrelevant. I'm specifically needed as a supporting member of my party, because it's together that we find the strength to continually press forward. I chose my path, and they have chosen to follow me. If I'm not there, they'll do their best without me, but it will weaken their hope and their spirit."

"Prideful words," the sphinx mocked.

Shiroe shook his head. "I used to think so. But they've shown it to me again and again. I'm needed. Because I'm needed, I want to be there for them...even if I can't do anything." Suddenly he had nothing but a bare minimum of clothing on his body. No magic items. He checked - he didn't even have a status screen. He blinked, but knew this was a world of magic. He shook his head again. "I'll still go. The 'things' aren't important. It's my friends that are."

"And what will you do if they don't arrive? If you're the only one to make it through?"

Shiroe paused to consider his answer. "I will hope for them, and do what I can with what I do have."

The sphinx looked at him, measuring him. He calmly looked back. He really was just a single man, young and inexperience in many ways. But he had a goal that drove him, friends who supported him, a reason for existing and moving forward. If this world had taught him nothing else, he had learned that. It didn't matter what was stripped from you, as long as there was a reason to move forward, then moving forward was what one did. And if there wasn't one, you moved forward anyway until you uncovered one.

The sphinx bowed its head slightly. "Very well. Answer my riddle then." It paused and blinked, then intoned, "What is set highest in the land, yet is the lowest of all; granted the most power, yet must take none at all; is gifted highest honor by all yet weighed down with the worst burden no one willingly picks up?"

Shiroe's eyes unfocused as he sucked in a breath. He knew the answer to that riddle with every fiber of his being. It was the thing he ran from daily. That answer twisted in his gut. He neither wanted it, yet it was essential. It made him face his own reason for walking forward and writhe. He had to answer it to walk forward, but he didn't want to say it, as if saying it made him admit he had to be it. The tail of the sphinx twitched. He wondered if there was a time limit. "It's the thing that is my own sacrifice," he finally admitted, "it is a leader, a king."

"Very good, King Shiroe," the sphinx said calmly. His heart clenched, but he looked the sphinx in the eye. "That is the sacrifice you have accepted to reach this point. What will you sacrifice to continue?" It waited silently.

Shiroe considered it. That was a rather broad thing to ask and the answer could be small to great. There really wasn't any reason to give up anything that he shouldn't, so he took his time thinking about it. Finally he answered, "I'll give up my reluctance to accept that role, and wear the mantle of duty without complaint."

The sphinx rose to it's feet and breathed on him. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was in a room that was circular and cavernous. It was the third time ever he'd seen the code realm overlaid over the real world. He could see pipelines and other similar almost industrial structures running up the outer walls and along the floors and ceiling. In the center were the life-lines, lightly glowing and pulsating, rising from under the ground and up into the ceiling, high above. He moved a few steps forward looking at the nexus and up, then around the walls until he looked around the open space to see what else living might be in the room.

He couldn't see any monsters at all. He rather didn't think there would be any. This nexus was protected from monsters, People of the Land, and Adventurers alike. There was one thing that he did eventually see moving - shadows of light, drifting near the nexus. As he looked, he could see they were near loose, cut lifelines. He nodded. The spirits of the Adventurers. He checked himself next. He was re-dressed in the clothing he'd passed into the mirror with, and had a status screen. That was nice, to get everything back again.

He quietly moved up to be closer to the nexus. Sometimes bosses showed up when you crossed a threshold, though he would have been really surprised to see one. As he got closer, one of the spirits left the nexus and approached him. He stopped and watched it. When it stopped in front of him, he said calmly, "I'm Shiroe of Log Horizon. Until others of my guild come through, I don't know which one you are, but we've come to help. Do you know which lines are yours so we can repair them?"

He followed the spirit until it stopped at a line coming from the floor that ended about four feet up from the floor. He pointed to it. "This one is yours?" It was hard to see a nod, but he thought it might have been one. Then it rose up in the air and hovered next to a line that was gently waving above his head. He sighed in relief. Even if they couldn't go up into the moon, the spirits knew. That would make the repairs much easier. He carefully inspected the lines around the cut line. They didn't looked cut, but they also didn't look terribly healthy. He put his hand out and cast a supporting HP increasing status effect on that part of the nexus. It seemed to help that general area somewhat.

There was a sudden breath of air next to him and he turned to his right to look. It was another spirit, but this one felt more solid, if such could be said of a spirit. "Purrcy?" he asked. It reached out a hand and put it on top of his head. He smiled. "Did you have to answer the questions, too?"

She nodded, then rose up to be next to the spirit still hovering over Shiroe. He watched them until Purrcy moved again, this time going away from the nexus. Shiroe turned to watch her flight, then saw who she was moving to. He smiled. "Glad to have you, Chief," he said. "It looks like Purrcy is, too."

Nyanta was smiling slightly at the spirit who'd arrived next to him. She gave him a "hug". "Meow. Thanks," he said softly. When she "let go" she moved slightly towards Shiroe and Nyanta followed her until they were standing together.

"They know which ones are their lines," Shiroe informed him.

Nyanta nodded and turned to Purrcy. "Where's meowrs, Purrcy?" She didn't move for a bit, then she slowly disappeared into the nexus.

"Oh," Shiroe sighed. "That might be a problem. How do we get into it? The ones outside will be simple enough, but I wonder how many are on the interior?" He looked at the nexus again. It was a very large bundle of life-lines. The ones on the outer perimeter were rather small in number compared to the total that made it up.

Nyanta put a paw on the nexus where Purrcy had entered it. It was rather solid, actually, in the base realm they normally existed in. Not surprising since in that layer it looked like a tree trunk. It rather was one when touching it. Nyanta looked up the nexus. "Purrhaps the Hackers can get in."

"Probably," came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Tetorō walking up to them. "We can make ourselves pretty small. What's inside?"

"Purrcy, and her line. Probably more than just hers, too," Shiroe answered.

"Let me go looking," Tetorō said. He held still and his eyes unfocused. He returned about a minute later. "Yes, I can get to where she is. There's damage to the surrounding lines, but her's is the only one cut where she is."

Shiroe nodded. "I noticed that with this one," he pointed to the one he'd been brought to before. "I cast an HP support on the area and it seemed to help."

Tetorō inspected that area, then nodded. "The damage inside's worse, but that's good, if that helps." He looked up the trunk of the nexus as well, looking up at the waving cut line with the spirit hovering next to it. His look turned quizzical. "How are we supposed to get them down here for the reconnection?"

Shiroe shook his head. "I don't know that yet. But they do know both ends of the line they belong to."

"That's a good start, then," Tetorō said, almost absently.

There was a sudden blip of motion and arms were wrapped around Shiroe's middle. He jumped just a little, then looked. He smiled slightly and put his hand on top of the black hair. "Was it scary?" he asked. Akatsuki held still, then shook her head. He wrapped his arms around her and held her anyway, just in case. "I'm glad you've made it, too. I hope you didn't give up too much. I think anything would have worked, but I could only think that we shouldn't give up more than was really reasonable."

Akatsuki blushed - he could feel it. She finally answered, "No. It was okay."

"That's good, then," he answered calmly, mostly to get her to calm down, and patted her on the head again. "We need to know how to get up to the upper cut lines and bring them down for the repairs. Can you reach them?" he asked her.

Akatsuki pulled away to look up and he pointed to the line above them. She let go of him and studied the trunk in front of her, then the line again. Walking to the trunk she touched it, trying to get a feel for the difference between the code side and the real side and what effects she could have on each. Then her face scrunched up just a bit with some internal effort. After a bit she relaxed and shook her head. "I can't 'intend' the lines down, so we'll have to go up." She continued to study the pathway.

Shiroe looked at Tetorō. "The internal lines, are they up high like this, too, or are they packed tightly enough the ends are close?"

"The ends are a lot closer," Tetorō answered right away. "They'll be easier to reconnect, once we can get to them and find them. It's finding them that's going to be hard."

Shiroe nodded. "I think I have a way to do that, but you'll have to come back out each time."

Tetorō shrugged. "Takes me less than a second your time for that," he commented dismissively.

There was a quiet step near them and they turned to see Naotsugu arriving at their group. He was dressed in the casual clothes he wore around the guild hall. Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "I gave up my armor and weapons for just this ending," he answered. "Don't need it for this part, I figured."

Shiroe smiled. "You did specify?"

"Of course," Naotsugu grinned. "I love the stuff, and I've learned my lessons from Hahaue."

"Good," Shiroe nodded.

Akatsuki planted herself in front of Naotsugu. He looked down at her with a surprised face and raised eyebrow. "What is it, Short Stuff?" he asked.

She scowled slightly, then said, "Throw me up there, so I can bring it down."

Naotsugu looked up the trunk to look at the waving line. He considered it for a moment. "Alright." They all moved out of the way to let the two of them get into position below the line. Naotsugu cupped his hands and bent his knees. Akatsuki stepped a foot into his hands and put her hands on his shoulders to balance herself. They both looked up, then Naotsugu counted. On three he tossed her up and she jumped out of his hands at the peak of the throw. She sailed up, caught the floating line, then "danced" her way back down the trunk of the tree. She had a look of great concentration on her face.

When she neared the bottom she said, "Intent, Pervert. Take it."

He reached up, being taller than her so it wouldn't have to stretch so far, and snagged the end of it. It took a couple of tries but he eventually had it, also concentrating hard. He pulled it down then grabbed the other lower end and pulled up on it until they were just about touching. Tetorō immediately put a hand at the join and cast a healing spell on them. They looked better but didn't connect. He switched to another spell and the ends began to grow until the space between was filled and they were reconnected. Then he cast another healing spell and Naotsugu let it go. The line held and everyone released the breath they were holding.

Shiroe looked for the spirit. It was hovering behind Naotsugu. "So, we've reconnected it. Can you get back into it and return? If you resurrect, contact Kazuhiko immediately. He'll let us know it worked. If we don't hear back in fifteen minutes, we'll assume you're still stuck somewhere and come looking for you."

Naotsugu moved out of the way and the spirit moved to the line. It slowly shrank, then disappeared altogether. They all sighed. Now it was wait to see if it had worked.

"What'cha got?" They turned and smiled.

"Hey, Michael," Tetorō said. "We just sent the first test spirit up."

"That's awesome," Michael said calmly, with a bit of a smile. "Do you know who it was?"

"Nope," Tetorō answered.

"I forgot to ask him to tag it before we let it go," Shiroe admitted.

Tetorō looked at the line, then shook his head. "Can't tell just by the line. I might have been able to do it looking at the spirit, but I don't know that."

"We need to do an external count and see how many more are on the outside," Shiroe said, "then we'll know how many are inside. It would be nice to have a few more outside ones to teach everyone what they need to do."

Akatsuki immediately went one way, Michael sauntered off the other way. Shiroe pulled out his list of missing Adventurers. He'd updated it with Kazuhiko before they left, and added Purrcy's name to it. He put his finger on the top name and the name glowed. About fifteen seconds later a spirit appeared in front of the group still standing around the tree.

Shiroe called that name and the spirit seemed to give a positive sign. "Tetorō, go follow this one in and find the line. Then we'll talk through what we can do for the inside ones." He turned to that spirit. "Tetorō's one of the ones that can follow you in. Please take him to your line so we can repair it."

"Go ahead," Tetorō nodded at it. "I'm not coming physically. I'll keep up with you, but don't lose me."

Nyanta grabbed Tetorō's body and lowered it to the floor, then held his head in his lap. Looking up at the others, he gave a bit of a grimace. "Nyot much else I can do to help Hackers. ...Shiroe-ichi, mew should know, Michael-nyan can fly. Mew can have two teams at once on the outside if Akatsuki-chan wants to keep flying and Meowtsugu's willing to be the wings."

Shiroe nodded. "It will depend on how many, but we might do that." He was looking towards the space where the entrance to this zone seemed to be. Another person had materialized. Coming towards them was Nakalnad, also missing armor and weapons. "I do hope you limited them to only this dungeon?" Shiroe asked.

"Yeah," Nakalnad answered. He nodded at Naotsugu, recognizing the same price given to arrive. "How's it look so far?"

"Not too bad. We've run the first experiment and are doing recon now for the rest. Some are inside and only the Hackers can get in, so far. Actually, I'm afraid most are inside. That will slow us down."

Nakalnad looked at the tree, put his hand on it, then pushed. His hand went in a few centimeters. "Well, if you think of it as a pile of spaghetti, you can get into it." He pulled his hand back out. "But...I'm not sure I'd like to go wading through that, then freak out and end up dead in the middle of a tree trunk."

Naotsugu nodded. "Crunchy-pasta-city."

"I think slow and steady's the way to go," Shiroe agreed. "I'm pretty sure there isn't a time limit at this point, unless the collateral damage is pretty bad on some of the surrounding lines. I've sent Tetorō to go looking at the first one lost to check on that."

"There was collateral damage, huh?" Nakalnad said softly, looking around the upper reaches and then the room. "Haven't seen a side boss, yet?"

"No," Shiroe said. "I'd be surprised if there was one. Anything in this room could damage it, after all. I'm only expecting some of the ones to come through to have been black-hearts to begin with and attack once they get here, though the sphinx should sort most of them out." He watched Nakalnad's reaction.

Nakalnad looked him in the eye. "I suppose I can't say. I just came through to see what this place is protecting with my own eyes, since I won't get any other rewards from it. I can at least say I was here and got to see it for myself - a thing almost no one will ever get to see."

The three men in front of him smiled. They understood the prize of seeing a vista never seen before. "That's a good dream fulfillment," Naotsugu nodded approvingly. "Debauchery Tea Party's favorite reward."

Nakalnad actually looked away and blushed. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at him, then changed the subject. "Would you be willing to sort people out that come through into new teams? I need one person with HP ups, one person with regeneration, and potentially one person with flight retrieval skills." When Nakalnad looked at him curiously, he pointed up. "On the outside, the upper ends are in the air, high, so we have to get them back down to attach them. And then we'll need one Hacker on each of those teams. I've already got one flight team and two Hackers here. When the Technicians arrive, on their teams I need a Druid and a Kannagi. We'll do the healings first, then build the structure of protection around it all."

Nakalnad looked at him curiously. "Who's your flight team?"

"Naotsugu throws Akatsuki up and she brings them down to his level," Shiroe answered with a shrug. "You know - we improvise."

A smiled cracked on Nakalnad's face. "Right. I get it." He turned and walked off towards the entry point, chuckling at the image in his head Shiroe's words had given him. Shiroe was glad Akatsuki wasn't there to knee him in the face.

Tetorō returned next, looking up at Nyanta in surprise. Nyanta patted him on the forehead. "Mew're a good boy, Tetorō. I'll watch over mew while mew work."

"Ah...thanks, I think," he said then looked at Shiroe. "Degradation's higher, but it doesn't look horrible. I think if it had been years, even one, it would be a lot worse. The cut's a little less refined so there's more damage to the ends, but I think we can work with that, too. I want to try just regrowing it first, and only cut off the ragged ends if we have to. Purrcy says if they won't regrow with a healing spell to be nice and even again, we'll have to cut them, or they'll be like festering wounds and not heal up right."

Shiroe blinked. "Can we use her?"

Tetorō tipped his head to see Shiroe a little better from his horizontal position. "Probably. She just needs an HP feed to someone."

Shiroe nodded. "We'll have plenty of those, I would think, if more of the fighters followed Naotsugu and Nakalnad in."

Tetorō nodded. "That would work, if they're volunteers - like blood donors." Shiroe smiled at the imagery of that.

"I want to have you feed the healing and regeneration spells in, too, not just do them yourself. We need to conserve you, too," Shiroe looked at Tetorō soberly. "We'll do that for all the Hackers, actually. Use the same method you used to funnel Isuzu's song to Quon."

Tetorō considered that. "Well, I was using the imagery of radio waves for that, since it was song, but I guess it was magic, too, wasn't it?" He went to thinking hard on how that could be done and Shiroe looked to check on Nakalnad. A few others had come through. That was a relief. Maybe some of the others they needed had decided to come. It made him more nervous about a traitor in the mix, but he really couldn't do much about that in the end, except protect what needed to be protected if one did show up. He wasn't sure when he'd gotten so cynical and untrusting, but in the matter of the Adventurer Tree of Life he was rather paranoid. All possibilities needed accounting for.

Akatsuki and Michael showed back up not too much later, coming together, and gave their reports. There were enough other outer lines to teach, which was good. It would have been a little more difficult if they had used the only one as their test line. They relaxed around the tree, waiting and were slowly joined by other groups sent over by Nakalnad. One was a set of four fighters who wanted to know what they could do. Shiroe explained they would need HP donors, if they'd be willing. He'd not have them go less than half at most and it would be a slow drain, so it wouldn't be as bad even as if they were being whaled on by a boss. They agreed to it readily and sat down to wait. While waiting they quietly got to comparing their experiences at the sphinx.

Shiroe listened in, curious. They were split evenly between Minami and Akiba. "I'd already known my sacrifice was not getting to beat out a boss," one from Minami said a little sadly. "That was an easy question to answer. The second was almost as easy. No point to bringing weapons in here, really, but I answered, 'I want to protect the Tree of Life'. I don't know where that's left me. I hope I actually get to go home." Shiroe hoped so too. That was a bit too open ended for this world. He did like that it also left someone in the room to have weapons if it was needed in the end. That part had been intelligent.

"Well, we didn't even get to fight in the last room at all, so completely missing out on any final battle at all was mine," one from Akiba said. "I think most of you could have yours and most of us could have mine, really," there were nods in that group and even in some of the other surrounding one's, listening in. "It was difficult to decide on a thing to give up next, though. There were a lot of things that I didn't want to give up and a lot that just seemed ridiculous when I thought of them. You know, like the American and European tradition, where they give up food for one month." He blushed. "But that stuck with me...so no Crescent Burgers for me for the next month."

The group laughed lightly. "Hey, but you know," the other one from Akiba said, "there are a lot of other good foods in Akiba, but that one's the most nostalgic." They both looked far away and drooled. "The first _real_ food with _taste_ after we got here." Others from Akiba nodded.

"Hey, Shiroe," a voice said at his shoulder.

Shiroe turned to look. "Rieze, glad you were willing to come," he said with a nod at her.

"Well...I almost didn't, since I'm not sure you need a Sorcerer, but I couldn't just leave Purrcy. Not when we're still trying to teach her what friends are." Her posture dared him to make fun of her. He didn't dare.

"Thank you," he said sincerely instead. "I'm grateful you were willing to give something up for that friendship."

She looked away and shrugged. He didn't press her. Like his, he suspected many of the upper level guildmasters and guildmembers wouldn't ever give away what their riddles and even sacrifices were. He had a good idea what Purrcy's was and Nyanta's, too, and an inkling of what Tetorō's might have been, but the rest he wouldn't know, and he wasn't going to ask. "Ains and Isaac are staying behind. They felt like someone in the upper levels should sit with the ones who were choosing to not come. If we need them, we can call them through, was the thinking. I've brought the Clerics and Kannagi of Akiba with me, since I know you need them if there's Hacker stuff here, which there is."

"Good. Thanks. Can we call out?" he hadn't done that yet.

Rieze looked at him just a little impatiently. "That's the other reason for coming. You don't always think tactically when outside the actual battle. Yes, I've gotten hold of them and they're waiting like we are at this point. They'll let me know when the last one leaves that room. We can't contact anyone in the Glade of the Sphinx, though."

Shiroe nodded. That made sense. "How many of Nakalnad's came?"

"We talked half the Technicians into it, the other half refused, not willing to give up any more than they'd already given up. Part of it was feeling completely left out already, I think, though that would likely have been their sphinx riddle's my guess."

Shiroe sighed. "Well, I did only need them for this part. Maybe I can get Nakalnad to talk them into coming, after we've done that experiment. If it works, they'll have a reason to come. But two might be enough, too, I don't know. Do you know how many Druids we've got?"

"Enough," she tipped her head over to two groups sitting. He could see the staffs of Druids being held by one member of each group and nodded. "It might be good to have a couple more of those in each group, if we can get them, especially since we don't have the Technicians, or go ahead and form up the third and fourth groups without the Technicians. We'll need to have them all around the trunk and just two groups will make that hard. Four is better, more if we can have them, I guess."

Rieze nodded and headed back to the larger group around Nakalnad to pass on the request. Shiroe looked at the groups in front of him. "Hands up for the healing round?" he asked. He got four groups worth, and sent one of each of the fighters in the group of four that had said they'd be HP donors to those four groups.

"Oiy, Machiavelli!" Nakalnad called out from his place, "You got a hit. Kazuhiko just called in. Ayumu arrived at the Cathedral and is apparently kissing the ground. They're taking him to medical for checking out and treatment if necessary." The whole room erupted into cheers.

Shiroe slumped in relief and crossed him off his list of missing Adventurers. "Well, if we wanted to know why we're here, there's the reason," Naotsugu said with a smile. Shiroe nodded agreement. He could see Rieze passing that on to the others waiting behind.

"Okay, we're ready to train the healer groups. Once that gets started I'll be back to explain to the Technician groups what I want. Michael, take us to the next outer line around." Shiroe requested.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe put one team on the outer lines and the rest on the interior. Tetorō handled teaching the other Hackers the code spell to bring the magics of the magic users into the place they were needed and they practiced that a time or two outside until they were comfortable with it. Shiroe showed one of the Minami Communication mages who'd come on the trip how to call out the spirits so the Hackers could follow them inside and handed his list over, then headed back to talk to the construction groups.

"So...what I want to do is put up a shield around the trunk so that it can't be axed any more, by code, spell, or weapons. We'll still need to be able to get inside for repairs, though, so there has to be a way to knock on the door and ask it to let us in, so to speak. I want you to work on possible solutions in your groups and then we'll discuss them. I anticipate using a combination of Kannagi protective spells targeted to the code realm life-lines first, then the physical tree second. The Druids can help with that most, I would think, in making the protections sufficiently organic."

"The Technicians will be the ones to layer it all together along the whole thing seamlessly, though it can start in pieces. You'll be working with magic as your material, is all, and making it permanent. You'll probably be the best for coming up with how to make it something we can still get through for repairs. If you need help, call back to the other Technicians for ideas, too. They don't have to come through, but we all know more minds are more creative."

"We've got enough groups total to go equally around the trunk and hold up the magic panels while the Technicians weld them into place, is kind of how I'm seeing it. And each panel should be able to be asked to come down until repairs are done inside, then be put back up. Remember, we might not be the ones coming back to do the repairs, so it should be easy to figure out how to get in and do that part - if you're really good hearted and not going to destroy the works when you get in. It might be nice to be able to see through it, too, so the repairman knows where the problem is quickly."

"I don't even know if this is possible. We're experimenting in this with something completely new, but we've already found that the creative mind makes things work here, and intent is often all that's needed to make changes. If we can't, we can't and we'll go home, but if we can, I'd like to, just to make sure something like this doesn't happen so easily again from this end. It's a bit hard to just come apply a patch anytime, after all. Let's do it while we're here, if possible."

The group members all nodded and got started putting their heads together. He walked over to the rest. "If there are any more volunteers to be HP donors for the Hackers, they could probably use at least one more per group. The more there are, the less each one has to donate, though I don't think the cost would be very high in the end." A number of people detached and headed for the four groups around the side of the trunk. The three internal groups had just sprawled at the place the training had been at. "Rieze," Shiroe asked quietly, "will you join the external group, please."

She gave him a look and he looked back. She nodded and headed around the trunk to find them. Shiroe stood by Nakalnad, the both of them looking back towards the Adventurer Tree of Life. "A different kind of battle, huh?" Nakalnad said.

Shiroe nodded. "A good kind," he answered quietly.

Nakalnad tipped his head at Shiroe. "You're pretty adept at this kind."

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Yes. I've had two years of practice heading this kind, and a great group of people to help me."

"Good," Nakalnad said with firmness. "Then when we get stuck, we'll be calling on you."

Shiroe looked at Nakalnad with wide eyes, then nodded at what he saw. "Okay. But you have to do what I say if you're going to ask for it."

Nakalnad gave him a long-suffering look. "There's no point to asking if we aren't."

"Exactly," Shiroe agreed. Then he sighed. "I hope I'm not too busy for that, too."

"You've already put your hand into it, Shiroe. You can't back out now."

Shiroe looked into Nakalnad's eyes. They were serious. Shiroe honored that. "You've sacrificed it already," he claimed. Nakalnad didn't answer, but the answer was there. Shiroe nodded again. "I have, too." He looked away from Nakalnad to watch the people in front of them. "They're worth it."

"It's because you think like that...," Nakalnad said, but let it hang without finishing. He didn't need to.

-:-:-:-:-

When all of the exterior lifelines were repaired, that group of healers was sent to sit with the others to continue working inside and Shiroe got the construction groups started on the far side. They could put up test shields on the far side while the others were still working. The last panel could be put on after the last line was repaired. That would be Purrcy's most likely. He watched until it looked like the Technician groups had worked out a solution everyone was happy with, then went around to the healer groups.

Shiroe held out his hand for the list and the mage handed it over. It was narrowing down nicely. "How do you know when Purrcy's ready for another one?" he asked.

"She shows up and hovers over me," the mage said wryly. "It was a bit hard to get used to at first."

Shiroe smiled slightly. "I need to talk to her when she comes out again, if you'll let her know." The mage nodded and Shiroe walked off a bit after handing the list back.

About seven minutes later, Purrcy showed up in front of him. "Purrcy," he said quietly, "when we get close to your turn, will you ask Tetorō to let you have some time? I'd like to talk to you before you go."

The spirit Purrcy put a hand on his cheek for just a moment, then floated back to the Tree. He hoped that was a "yes", or "okay".

He went and joined Rieze, sitting on the floor at a bit of a distance, watching the work. She'd taken to being the guard or overseer of the Hacker groups and Nakalnad over the Technician groups. They both understood he needed reliable eyes on the people, who he really did wish he could just trust, but just this shade of couldn't. Dungeons always had something bad happen last minute. That was why he wanted to talk to Purrcy.

"When it's Purrcy's turn," he said quietly to Rieze, "will you be in the group?"

Rieze looked at him. "You're worried?"

He looked down, then gave a brief nod. "I wish I wasn't."

"Well...it's healthy in the long run," Rieze said after a moment of quiet, looking back at the others in front of them again.

"I wish it wasn't," he mostly repeated himself. She just gave an understanding nod. They sat together, watching as the names crossed off the list in the Communication mage's hand moved farther and farther down the page. The protection spells on the trunk moved lower from the ceiling and farther around from the far side. The knots in Shiroe's stomach increased in number just as slowly and just as surely. He tried to remember to breathe full breaths to keep them from hurting too much. Finally Tetorō and Nyanta walked over. They sat down with the two guildmasters.

"I've got Purrcy here," Tetorō said calmly. "Do you want to talk to her directly?"

"Yes, please," Shiroe said. "You can listen in, if you want. I want you on the repair of her line."

Tetorō nodded and his eyes went distant. When they focused again, they were golden cat eyes. Shiroe smiled gently. "Hello, Purrcy."

He got a smile back. "Hello, Shiroe. Good work."

"Good work," he said back. She'd done more actual effort than he had this day. "How can we make sure you'll actually come back?"

"Aren't you already doing that?" she asked, tipping Tetorō's head.

"Somehow...I think you're a special case," he answered cautiously.

She smiled at him again, just a little. "I'm always an oddity," she admitted. She paused, then sighed. "Okay, I can answer you this much. I won't come back right away." Nyanta stiffened, but Shiroe wasn't surprised. "We've met all the external criteria once my lines are repaired. Even with the external patches, there have to be internal patches to the original programming as well. I have to code those first. Likely it will be a month, maybe more." She tipped her head. "Tetorō asks if he can help. The answer is 'no', I'm afraid not."

Shiroe nodded. "I understand. But I have a message for the Superuser, the World AI". Purrcy sat upright, her eyes not leaving his and opening wide. "It has to return you to us. You're our reward for doing this for it. And not just after this one's healed. I mean after each of them and when it's all over, too. It can't keep you for good, teasing us in between. You're also an Adventurer, not one of its constructs. You belong with Adventurers as your own free person, regardless of what status effect happened to you along the way. I will not be moved away from this. It will comply or I will fight against it instead of work with it." He let his darkest, most Machiavelli look pierce into her, and through her to that which was controlling her. "You're needed here for other things."

There was a pause, then she bowed. "There is no conflict of interests at this point," she answered.

"None?" he asked, his voice hard.

"No, Archmage Shiroe," she answered, looking back up at him again to look calmly in his eyes. "None."

"Let's keep it that way, then," he said firmly. "I'll be watching."

"Yes, Archmage Shiroe," she answered.

He nodded. "We'll expect you for the Fall Festival then. And there will now also be a delegation from Minami at the wedding. Please be looking forward to it." Nyanta's ears fell at that. Shiroe ignored it.

Purrcy sighed. "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe."

"What's that?" he asked looking at her severely.

She swallowed. "Yes, Heika."

He nodded. "Very good." Rieze gave him the strangest look. He ignored that, too. He reached out and rubbed the top of Tetorō's head as if he was petting the kitten. "Hurry home," he said more gently. "We're already missing you." He dropped his hand and nodded back towards the Tree of Life.

The golden eyes slowly returned to Tetorō's new pale purple ones. He blinked a few times. "Was that harsh?" Tetorō asked.

"No. Necessary," Shiroe answered and rose. "Shall we go make sure nothing happens now? If a boss is going to appear, it'll be after that."

The four of them rose and walked to the Adventurer Tree of Life. Purrcy waited to enter her line until after the final panel was placed and the final test that future maintenance personnel could actually get inside was completed. Then she lightly touched each member of Log Horizon and Rieze, kissed Nyanta on the cheek, then slipped into the trunk of the tree. Michael and Tetorō both followed her in, by the far away looks on their faces. They returned less than a minute later. "She's on her way," Tetorō reported. Shiroe nodded and the room was filled with a warm glow. When the glow receded, everyone who'd been in the room with the Adventurer Tree of Life was outside it, back in the room of mirrors.

Those who'd waited there rose to their feet. Shiroe looked around. Everyone who'd left behind armor or weapons had them back, and the one who'd wanted to protect the Tree was with them. He was relieved, but expected if anything happened again, that Adventurer would be summarily removed from whatever he was doing and placed back in that room to take care of it - whatever 'it' was.

As they all cast the spell to return to the beginning of the dungeon, Nyanta put a restraining paw on Shiroe's arm. Shiroe waited until all the others had gone to allow Nyanta the privacy he was requesting. "I'm going to go," Nyanta said quietly. "I'll finish the work mew set me to, and find the rest of the beast-half villages. I'll return with Purrcy."

Shiroe put his hand on Nyanta's shoulder. "Okay," he said. "Keep in contact."

"I will," Nyanta promised. He paused, then cast the spell to return. Shiroe looked around the room one more time, then took a breath and cast the same spell, with the firm intention that he would arrive without incident. He was rather relieved when it worked and he did. He'd challenged the world, after all. But then...he'd been doing that from the beginning. And...so had Purrcy, and she'd just promised that it wasn't a conflict of interest with the world to do so. He mulled over why that was many times until she arrived back in Akiba.


	50. Beginning the Underground Revolution

V)A)3)iii) DNA

"I spy, with my little eye, an i divided by pi." The baritone voice echoed in the room, each equally dusty with disuse. Lips curled in an ironic smile, moving muscles equally unused to the pull on them. "Breadcrumbs, is it?"

For a long time there was no noise in the room, but in the things the eyes that didn't see the dust of the room watched there were careful and faithful hounds sniffing for more breadcrumbs, following them back until they found a place that housed data. He was sure it was a mirror site. He would be very disappointed if it wasn't and would leave the hunt immediately. He set the trap and tempted the bait into it. When it had arrived into the safe box, he sat and waited. When it indicated that anything that could be damaging to him, or would have tried to follow the hounds back to his location was neutralized, he carefully opened the box. (It was on it's own mirror site so it couldn't reach him anyway, but it never hurt to be extra careful in the world of code.)

The data scrolled before his eyes. It painted the picture of someone who was gentle. Oh, not on the surface. On the surface it was a resume of sorts, certainly an impressive one at that, but under that was the current and undertone of gentleness. He mulled over it, then nodded once. Female. Definitely female. But to have left the breadcrumbs at all, and even data that might or might not identify her...fearless. Or foolhardy. The latter didn't seem like it, necessarily. Not with that resume and the careful footprint that had been left, almost invisible. Only someone like him could have followed that footprint, even with the breadcrumbs lying around.

At the end of the data was what looked like a random string. He was sure it wasn't, though, because sitting in the middle of it was that same breadcrumb. ɩ/π. Read "i over pi", it was arrogant, enough to make him angry, but he didn't let his mind dwell on that. If the breadcrumb was in the random string, it was likely not random at all. He separated that from the data and took it apart, shook it down, and put together the pieces at the end. ...He was looking at it again, all by itself this time: ɩ/π. He thought about that puzzle for a while, then, for the second time, the ironic smile curled his lips.

To "parse" was to take code apart one piece at a time, sometimes even down to one bit at a time, to search for the pesky reason it wasn't working, to comprehend the uttermost details at their base level. In his own thinking he even called it "taking it apart and shaking it down". To put it into the terms his computer programming team lead back on Earth would have: "break it down for me." Break it down for me, ɩ/π. It was an invitation. If he'd read it wrong the first time, the arrogant way, he would be forced to read it the other way now to comprehend it, this invitation he'd received. ɩ/π. The imaginary divided by the measure of the circumference of a circle; that which could not be real, yet was, _divided_ by the whole. ...The Revolution was ready to begin.

He carefully sent back his messenger by a very circuitous route that couldn't be traced back even to his mirror: a single, solitary bit. The lone soldier perhaps going on his suicide mission. The universal code for "on", or "yes". His hounds standing guard on the 'tree' he'd found the data in let him know another packet had arrived. He gently tugged on the lure and it slipped down to his safe box. When the box let him know the packet was safe enough to read, he carefully opened it. This could be the trap that killed him finally, after all. Inside was a single pointer. The safe box had said it was safe, but even a pointer could send him to his death. After layering multiple protections around him, like he was standing on the opposite side of thick leaded glass, he opened the pointer to see what it pointed to. Inside, there it lay once again: ɩ/π.

His heart beat rapidly and his breath came short for just a bit, distracting him as he was forced to be aware of his larger body that once had been where his mind resided before it resided here in the code mines. This was the opposite of being trapped into his death. ...This...was marching orders. Follow the breadcrumb path back the other way. Look to see where it pointed to. Get inside and infiltrate. He took one deep breath that he was aware of, his lungs filling with a rasp as they rubbed against his ribs.

His bony fingers once flush with flesh clutched into a fist...and a grim grin of the hunt pulled his cheeks and lips painfully. It stayed there for some time until the muscles so unused to the pull relaxed on their own, the mind that should have told them to move long gone back into the code mines, blazing the trail for the other revolutionaries to follow.

The lone bit was taken in exchange for the packet and put in a very safe place where nothing came or went. For the longest time it was alone, then finally another bit joined it. Then another. Then a few more until it wasn't alone any more. The man who'd sent it didn't know - he was still alone where he was. But that one bit had the distinction of being the first to arrive. The path it had arrived on was carefully and sweetly guarded and then swept away. It was the favorite of the woman who looked at it through her own thick leaded glass that protected her from even one single bit that had been sacrificed for one pointer.


	51. Guild Roster

_So...if you ever wondered why Log Horizon was a small guild...it's because it's nearly impossible to keep track of the names of people in large guilds. Not to mention it's hard to come up with lots of creative names, particularly all at once. Now, I've added 25 new characters, 23 of them all at once. I'm struggling with specific game character names for the Eagles. Here is a handy-dandy list of all the Log Horizon guild members and how the VFA-115 Eagles are put together. If you happen to have a good name for one of the unnamed pilots, please send me your suggestions and I'll update this list. As I said back in the chapter they were introduced, I've set them all as pilots (officers), but they are listed/named by each division/department of a naval flight squadron (enlisted). Corrections are welcome from actual U.S. Naval pilots. Please forgive me for combining the two rankings merely for my own selfish convenience. All the way down in Chapter 134 I finally explain why their names are like this._

 _In particular, I would like to thank fanfiction reader Grundini who helped come up with a number of packing layouts for the 999 items per list slot. Thank you so much! I've named Clocktower after Grunidini from another one of Grundini's own handles._

* * *

 **Log Horizon**

Personnel Roster

Version 1.8  
Date Y3M12D17  
Updated by Admin:H/R

 **Shiroe** \- Guildmaster (Strategist, Councillor, Machiavelli in Glasses, Dark Shiroe, Scrivener of the East, President of the Corporation of Akiba, Duke of Akiba, Heika/King, Yakuza Family Head ('Boss'), Akatsuki's boyfriend) [Enchanter]

 **Purrcy** \- Long Distance Field Monitor (Assistant Chef, Caretaker, Justice of the East, Yakuza Princess, Machiavelli CEO of Venture Enterprises, Hahaue, Queen, Nyanta's wife, Purrceus - pseudonym when in werecat form) [?, Hacker]

 **Naotsugu** \- Protector & Tank (King's Marshal, Marquis, Guild CM/C, King's Castle, Marielle's fiancée) [Guardian]  
... **Marielle, 'Marie'** \- Guildmistress of Crescent Moon League (Duchess of Akiba, Sun or Flower of Akiba, Big Mama of the Yakuza Family, Naotsugu's fiancée) [Cleric]

 **Akatsuki** \- Shiroe's Ninja (Strategist's Field Operator, King's Guard, Marquess, King's Knight, Shiroe's girlfriend) [Assassin/Tracker]

 **Nyanta** \- Trainer (Chief, King's Chef, Queen's Consort, Marquis, Grandpa, Queen's Knight, Purrcy's husband, Leonid - pseudonym when in werecat form) [Swashbuckler]

 **Tetora/Tetor** **ō** \- Field Monitor (Long Distance Field Monitor's Field Operator, Queen's Guard, Count, Queen's Bishop) [Cleric, Hacker]

 **Minori** \- Apprentice Strategist (Apprentice Tank's Field Operator, King's Seneschal, Baroness, King's Pawn, Touya's older twin sister) [Kannagi]

 **Touya** \- Apprentice Protector & Tank (Guardian of the House of the King, Assistant Marshal, Baron, King's Pawn, Minori's younger twin brother) [Samurai]

 **Isuzu** \- Apprentice Field Monitor (Scout, Sniper's Field Operator, Assistant Seneschal, Baroness, King's Pawn) [Bard]

 **Rundelhaus Code, 'Rudy'** \- Sniper(Guardian of the House of the King, Chief Bottlewasher, Baron, King's Pawn) [Sorcerer]

 _Sub-Guild: VFA-115 Eagles_  
 _(Royal Guard, Queen's Pawns)_

ADMINISTRATION

 **HackerM1, 'Michael'** \- Sub-Guildmaster (Commander, Master at Arms, Hacker General, Queen's Guard, Count, Queen's Castle) [Monk, Hacker]

 **, 'Reed'** \- Executive Officer (XO) (Lieutenant Commander) [Sorcerer]

 **Chappie, 'Brenner'** \- Flight Surgeon & Chaplain [Druid/Priest]

\- **H/R** [Enchanter]

\- **P/R** , Legal [Bard]

 **Shoki** \- Admin **Secretary** , Treasurer [Cleric]

 **MasterChiefS7** \- CM/C [Guardian]

SAFETY

\- Ground Safety [Kannagi]

\- Aviation Safety [Assassin/Hunter (Archer)]

\- Compliance [Samurai]

MAINTENANCE

 **Clocktower** \- Maintenance/Material Control [Assassin/Hunter (Archer)]

\- QA [Cleric]

\- Aircraft/ **Avionics** [Summoner, Technologist]

 **OciferJeff** \- Armament [Guardian, Technologist]

\- Airframes/ **Electrical** [Swashbuckler, Technologist]

\- **Life Support** /Environmental [Druid]

OPERATIONS

\- Secretary (logs & **Records** ) [Assassin/Hunter (Archer)]

\- Exec Secretary ( **Schedules** ) [Bard]

\- Training [Swashbuckler, Guardian]

 **ComOp, 'Charlie'** \- Communications [Cleric, Communication Mage]

 **Nav, 'Gareth'** \- Navigation [Enchanter, Tracker, Druid]

INTELLIGENCE

 **Bowie** \- Survival [Assassin/Tracker, Druid]

 **Stiletto** \- Intelligence [Assassin]

 **BlackJack** \- Special Missions [Assassin, Sorcerer (specialty: small explosions)]


	52. Advance Warning

The Adventurer City of Akiba was full of bustle and busyness. The carpenters of Marine Organization were busy carrying, hammering, and calling to each other, filling the market with more noise than usual. Individuals were scattered in any clear spot they could find, bent over wide boards, paintbrushes in hand. Slowly, words could be made out on their placards: _Takoyaki Tornado_ , _Pepper's Puppets_ , _The Crystal Jeweler_ , _Happy Hats_. The rows of vendor stands were in place. One by one, the placards went up to hang over the horizontal surfaces that would soon hold merchandise. The painters weren't done, of course. The next thing to be worked on were the item listing and pricing placards to go up closer to eye level. This was the section the mid-level merchants would set up in.

Marielle, elvin Festival Coordinator Extraordinaire and Guildmistress, walked down the lane, her eyes shining and her happy smile beaming without reserve. It was the merchants themselves who were the painters, of course, and she greeted many of them as they called out and waved. She had already come from the main stage, thanking the constructions workers and giving them what encouraging words she could. Of course, most of them were encouraged just by her mere physical, blonde and very buxom presence - but no one told her that. "I'm so glad everyone is happily busy," she gushed to her best friend and Assistant of Everything for Crescent Moon League.

"Yes, yes. If they continue to stay focused, we should be able to start on time. I do hope we'll at least be ready for our guests from Minami." Henrietta readjusted her glasses. Her thin, severe figure was pronounced by her secretary's outfit with navy pencil skirt that ended at her knees. She checked her clipboard yet again.

"We're just about there," Marielle said, waving her hand to the street in front of them. She stopped and frowned, looking to their left. "Isn't that one of them there?"

Henrietta looked over, too, frowned, and checked her clipboard one more time. "Yes, that's supposed to be..." She tisked, slipped her pen behind her ear and under her straight black hair, and walked that direction. She leaned over the merchandise table to look into the back. Frowning, she walked around the table. Lifting a stilettoed foot, she placed the point of the heel on the forehead of the boy sleeping behind the table.

He snorted a breath in, shuddered, then suddenly opened his eyes. As he registered his precarious position, his eyes filled with fear and sweat broke out on his forehead. "And just what are you doing sleeping on the job, hmmm?" Henrietta asked with dangerous coolness. "You know the Pumpkin Festival is extremely important to Minami-Akiba relations as our first attempt to have peace with them."

"Ah...ah...yes, of course, Miss Henrietta!" His eyes were crossed, fixated on the stiletto point still resting between his eyes. "It's just that ...I was on second shift last night...and..." His voice was getting more and more panicked as the pressure on that point slowly increased. He finally scrambled out from underneath that shoe. "I'm on it, really. Really I am." Henrietta returned her foot to the ground, the cold look still on her face.

"I'm sure you'll have it done in no time!" Marielle said kindly. "We do appreciate your help with the sentry duties, too. That's just as important. As soon as you're done making this the best sign in town, I'll bet the sun will be just right for a warm nap. You didn't look very comfortable there."

"Do we really have to do this for them? I mean, they haven't been very nice until now." The boy appealed to Marielle.

Marielle looked sad. "Well, that's true, but then, their guild leaders weren't interested in letting anyone have any fun. We all get pretty grumpy when we can't relax and have fun, you know? This will be their first ever festival, and we want to show them how it's done right. After all, they're hosting the winter festival. We should help them understand so they know what to do when it's their turn."

"Then why aren't they here doing it with us?" he protested.

"Some of them are," Henrietta informed him. "But some of them are just like our crafters - making more until the last minute. These are the larger booths, too. Those with more product are coming with the train so they don't have to pay rent for a caravan and guards, throwing away what profit they might have made."

Marielle nodded exuberantly, making her blond curls bounce. "They'll be up all night setting up their wares as it is. If they had to make the signs in the dark, too, that would be bad. We can at least do this much to help out so everyone can have fun, right?" She turned her sunny smile on the boy.

He sighed. "I guess."

He was suddenly enveloped in a smothering bosom-filled hug. "That's the spirit!" she said, rubbing his head as his face went red. "We'll have everyone smiling in no time when they come. I can't wait to see the best sign in the row. We'll come see it on our way back through, okay?"

"Let him go, Marielle," Henrietta said mildly, pulling her pen from behind her ear and looking at her clipboard again. "Just in case it's been lost, here's the name again," she said to the gasping boy who'd finally been released from the suffocating hold. She wrote it carefully and handed it to him.

He rubbed the back of his head as they walked off. "I mean...who in their right mind names their shop _Doesn't Work_? Are they even going to have any products at all? Bad advertising, really." He shrugged his shoulders and got out the paint and paintbrush. He kept having to pause and hide the blush on his face. Only the boys actually in Crescent Moon were immune enough to Guildmistress Marielle's hugs to stop blushing after they'd finally been released. It took this boy two days, and he couldn't pass the booth without remembering and blushing again.

-:-:-:-:-

"This looks wonderful!" Marielle called out to her guildmates. They waved and called back their thanks to her.

"I'm glad our own know how important this row is," Henrietta said, calm pride shining in her eyes.

"Um-hm," agreed Marielle with a firm nod. "It's the little guys from Minami we need to encourage the most. They're the ones that will really be the brightest flowers in the city, lifting everyone else up as they go. ...Oh! Did you see that someone asked for stage time? When I told Serera, she lit up. Apparently there was a member of the Minami Adventurer army that was here who seemed interested in the puppet plays. She went and talked to the stage manager after that and they've been in secret talks since then." Marielle turned her large earnest eyes on Henrietta.

"Really?" Henrietta said with a raised eyebrow. "It's good she found something to occupy her. She's seemed down ever since Nyanta-san left to be Dark Shiroe's beast-half ambassador."

Marielle's face fell just a bit. "Yeah. I was worried about her. First learning that he has a fiancée and that she'd shown up to claim him, then to have him sent away...," Marielle looked off into the distance and bit her lip. "Well, it's a good thing if she's found something fun to occupy her."

"Of course it is," Henrietta said soothingly.

"Of course what is?" a steady male voice asked as an arm snaked around Marielle's shoulders.

Marielle turned her head for a kiss. "Serera's found a project for the Pumpkin Festival to throw herself into," she answered her own fiancée, Naotsugu. "We were just saying that was probably a good thing."

"And what's that?" he asked, kindly interested.

"Something about the puppet plays and someone she met from Nakalnad's legion when they were here. Whoever it is apparently signed up for stage time." Marielle snuggled down into Naotsugu's side, smiling at him.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. "That sounds interesting. I hope we get to see something exciting then."

There was a sudden loud retort over the city, followed by multiple smaller retorts, then whistles. It sounded like someone had accidentally lit off the fireworks too soon. Their eyes went heavenward. Suddenly Marielle was being hugged to Naotsugu's broad chest, but it wasn't covered in soft cloth anymore. It was the hard steel of his plate armor. "Get under cover," he yelled at the children of Crescent Moon and Henrietta. There was a general scattering of people, and sudden transformations as other Guardians, Samurai, and Monks were suddenly armed and armored.

A particular whistle was getting louder. Naotsugu grunted and swung his sword, holding Marielle closely to him. She felt the impact of something solid meeting his sword. The lower edge of his shield bounced off the backs of her calves. "Marie, Honey," he said to her quietly, "drop, roll, and run. I've been targeted, it looks like. Head to my left. Shouryuu's set himself up. I'm going to try -" he grunted as he swung again in a cross over her head, "- to pull them away from this section."

Marielle nodded, gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then dropped and rolled to her right. She scrambled to her knees to crawl behind her guild's head military trainer, then peered around him to see what was going on. Naotsugu was running down the center of the road, a rather large number of colored lights chasing after him. He didn't stop until he was well past the last booth, then planted himself to knock away the first of the volley that streaked after him, then danced back and forth to dodge the next one. Then he just ran.

Shouryuu looked at Marielle quizzically. "What's Naotsugu under a Hacker attack for?"

She looked around at the sky. "It's not just him," she said. "That was too much at the beginning. Something big is going on...but I don't know what."

"What should we do, Guildmistress?" her guild was looking at her.

She bit her lip, looked around one more time, then nodded firmly. "Protect these booths. We can't let a terrorist attack ruin our relations with Minami." Her guild all got firm, determined looks on their faces. Immediately they began forming up into their practiced parties. She looked at Shouryuu. "We'll keep doing that until we get orders from West Wind Brigade."

He nodded, a serious look on his face, then sent the parties to locations at either end of the section of smaller booths and placed a few strategically along the length of it as well.

As she stood there, pulling up everyone's statuses to keep watch over their health, she felt something and turned to look. A little sparkle was sitting just over her left shoulder. She held very still, her eyes going wide, the breath catching in her throat. The sparkle moved closer until it just touched her cheek. She shivered in fear, then slowly put her hand to her cheek. A small warmth spread from the place the sparkle had touched her and it had disappeared. Somehow...the lingering warmth, and the gentle touch reminded her very much...of...

"What was it?!" Henrietta said, distressed and reaching out for her. "Are you okay?"

Marielle looked at Henrietta, and her eyes were bright and she could feel her lower lip tremble just a bit. "It...it felt like...a kiss."

Henrietta's eyes widened. "A kiss?!" Marielle nodded, her hand still on her cheek. "Let me see," Henrietta demanded. Marielle moved her hand to let Henrietta inspect that location. "I don't see anything...and it didn't hurt?" Marielle shook her head. Henrietta's face softened. "Do you think it's her?"

"I-it feels like it, actually," Marielle nodded.

Henrietta grabbed Marielle's hand. "Come on, we're going to Log Horizon. Don't let down your guard yet, Shouryuu," she ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Shouryuu nodded.

Marielle had to run to keep up with Henrietta's determined stride as they headed for their sister guild hall and Naotsugu's guildmaster, Shiroe of Log Horizon.

-:-:-:-:-

The VFA-115 Eagles sub-guild and fighting force of Log Horizon, secretly known as the Royal Guard, was scattered about the practice field of the fighting forces of D.D.D., one of the Akiba fighting guilds. The Acting Guildmistress and Head of the Training Division was issuing orders to both sides - her own forces and the Eagles. Rieze's sharp tongue and no-nonsense precision requirements were a joy to the Eagles to listen to and obey. They were used to it, after all, as they had come to Theldesia at the time of the cataclysm as a full U.S. Naval Air squadron. They were a bit behind everyone else in terms of training in this new world, having been captured and imprisoned in Minami until only two months ago. They were proud of their progress, though. They were already into the sixties as far as levels went. Their short-term goal was to break one-hundred, of course.

D.D.D. was training them up enough that they could go hit the higher level dungeons after the fall festival. The Eagles were already well known for tackling dungeons and zones well above their levels and walking out victorious. Their Commander had taught them right out of the prison that the world would do anything they wanted it to do if they taught it what that was. They'd become very good at doing that and their levels went up speedily because of it. Even in training sessions like this they could go up a full level sometimes.

They were just moving in on their target when there was a sudden explosion overhead, a retort they recognized as heavy artillery. Immediately they were frozen and scanning the sky. There was a second series of smaller retorts. Something large had released a lot of smaller things. Then there was the whistling of incoming. Every Hacker on the field, D.D.D. and Eagles, immediately threw up both a shield series and a tracer spell. The entire field was lit up with streaks of colored lights - blue, yellow, red. Swear words were muttered the entire field, too, but the eyes of the Eagles lit up and they were suddenly a blur on the field. In less than three minutes, the entire field was cleaned up of moving colored lights.

They looked around, confirming they were done, when one caught something out of the corner of his eye. "Sneakers!" he called out, then had to dodge and throw a curved Sorcerer spell as that Sneaker spell lept out at him to take him down. It took a few more tries before he neutralized it. As soon as it was gone, he took off for the center of the field. The rest of his team was in hiding in the trees. Since he was already exposed, he was now bait. He crouched low and slowly turned, scanning the field, then he quickly created one more spell - a modified tracer spell - and set it off for the field and the closer surrounding trees. He froze and swallowed. "Shit," he whispered.

He was completely surrounded by tawny golden colored lights, all pointing directly at him, about four deep. "Hounds." They were also often called "sniffers". They were set to find particular targets. Often once the target was found, it was imprisoned and taken off somewhere, or a follow on attack occurred. This was enough that it would be an impressive attack. He'd end up Cathedraled if that many hit him at once. He managed to lift his eyes enough to look farther out. There were other sniffers moving around the outer perimeter from him and heading towards the trees to either side of the field. The only conclusion was that there were so many because the target wasn't specifically _him_ , but more generally his sub-guild. The sniffers were ignoring D.D.D. ...except Rieze. One was stalking the Enchantress. She looked like she was trying to decide if attacking it was a good idea or not, now that she knew it was there.

The bait swallowed again. He tried hiding his guild and sub-guild tags. No effect. "Sub-guild level targets. Can't hide from them," he called on the party chat line, speaking very quietly. "High level." He swung his weapon at the closest one experimentally. It faded out, there was a one second delay, then it faded back in again. "Unkillable, source regenerative."

"I'm on it," he heard back, very faintly, but he noticed one of the hounds stiffen, then head farther in towards the woods.

"Okay, but maintain radio silence. Audio was noticed." He tried moving forward very slowly. When he was close enough to touch one of the golden lights, it moved forward slowly, then gently wrapped around his hand and coiled up and around his arm. He mostly stopped breathing, watching it move up his arm. He tried to brush it off, but it was like chopping at it - it faded where his hand passed through it, then returned. "It's not painful...yet," he said, trying to remember he was supposed to be letting everyone else know what was going on, while at the same time trying to not panic.

It reached his shoulder, then moved closer. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying really hard to not remember all the horror shows. "Not the ear, not the ear," he chanted under his breath. There was a warm brush against his cheek that moved down and around the back of his neck. He shivered and his bowels wanted to loosen. "Not the back of the neck, either," he begged. It kept going until it was wrapped around the back of his neck and on either shoulder, then settled down there. He cracked his eyes open just a little to see it was glowing a little brighter. It felt warmer too, then slowly it faded out and disappeared.

He opened his eyes in surprise as all the other sniffers suddenly weren't interested in him and started to wander off towards the woods to either side, hunting. He dropped to the ground in sudden relief, then glanced over at Rieze. She had the oddest look of surprise and one hand resting on the corresponding shoulder, the other touching her cheek on the opposite side. He nodded. "Damned if it wasn't a kiss and a hug," he reported back. He put his head in his hands and shook his head. "And we're damn lucky that's all it is. I only added that layer on a hunch. If it was anything else, I'd have been hamburger all over the field. I think we've just been schooled, ladies." He leaned back and looked at the sky again, then whispered, "I wonder when...?" He took a breath, then said, "See if there's a prize at the end for the one who can hold out longest." He knew it wasn't going to happen, though. They'd all been waiting for those hugs for almost half a year now. Most of the field was empty of hounds already.

-:-:-:-:-

At the first loud retort, Shiroe was up out of his chair. Akatsuki was at the door, her Tracker skill allowing her to move through space short distances. He was at the door by the time she was up the tree that grew through the center of their guild hall apartment building. He ran up the stairs to the third floor room that had access to the first balcony. By the time he reached it the multiple follow-on retorts had sounded dully through the walls of the building and Minori and Touya were on the guild chat, though set for just the building occupants, now that they had so many members that shouldn't be interrupted outside it.

"Explosion over the city. Multiple after that. Sounded like over the market and the training grounds and close by here as well." Touya's firm voice quickly sounded off.

"EEek!" Minori's voice came next.

"Minori!" Touya's concern for his twin came through.

"What is it?" Shiroe asked. They were up on the fifth level balcony. He craned his neck up to see, about to lean over the rail when he pulled up short and ducked out of the way of a shooting light. He instantly had his staff out and was casting a spell to counter the little sparks of light coming his way. He saw the flash of black that was Akatsuki as she landed on the railing above, then again as she was suddenly in front of him. He backed up so he wouldn't push her off the railing and to give her space to swing her short sword. Then he was able to focus on the status effect Hacker spells coming their way and take them out. He kept an eye on the ones headed higher, but they were being repelled by Minami's Kannagi shields, the physical ones by Touya's Samurai sword.

Suddenly there weren't any more lights in the air around them. "Did that attack go to any other guilds?" he asked the twins, who were high enough to tell.

"No," Touya said, "but I don't think we're done." There was a faint whistling that was getting louder. They all scanned the air around them, then looked down. Shiroe gauged distances, then readied his spell. Akatsuki was already headed for the ground. The other two, who had been in the market, were running full out for the guild hall, more colored lights following them.

"Isuzu, Rudy, keep going!" called Shiroe. "Pass by under me and I'll be close enough!" They shifted directions slightly. "Akatsuki!"

"I'm on it," she said briefly.

She ran across the path just behind the Sorcerer and the Bard, taking out all the physical attacks on her way. He cast at the same time, negating the status effects. "Rudy, the rest are yours," he said. The spells were slowed down and he looked up. Touya was holding onto his sister as she leaned down as far as she could get with her wand. Her shield spell almost couldn't reach, but at least was enough to slow the magic attacks down. "Now!"

Rudy and Isuzu both slid around to face the attacks. Rudy sent of a rain of magic arrows to intercept and Isuzu's Circular Carol repeated the attack so that a double rain met the magic attacks coming their way. When the explosions ended, Shiroe nodded. "Good job with the intent, guys. I could see every counter attack turn to hit the attacks. They were targeted to evade."

Rudy and Isuzu both slumped, breathing hard from the run. "What was that?" Rudy asked.

Shiroe's eye was caught by a glimmer that appeared near his face. He stepped back. It reminded him of Electrical Fuzz, a very low level electric shock light spell, and a good distraction spell he liked to use.

"What?" Minori and others said at the same time.

"Gah! It went through my shield!" Touya said, startled.

"I can't dodge it, Mi'lord," Akatsuki said, just a little bit of desperation in her voice.

Shiroe held very still. It moved closer to him until it touched his forehead. There was a warmth, then the glimmer disappeared. He held still a little longer, watching his status effect screen, then he smiled. "Well, I just received the status effect, 'Loved'. I think you're okay."

There were sighs and a thud from above. "Does she really have to swing both ways so dramatically all the time?" Touya grumbled.

"That was a bit flashy for her," Rudy agreed. "Especially since it started with letting the whole city know."

"True," Shiroe mused as Akatsuki returned to the railing of the balcony. He looked at her softly, then held out his hand to her. She stepped off the railing and walked over to him. Instead of taking his hand, she slipped in under it and wrapped an arm around his waist, looking up into his eyes. "What is it?" he asked her.

"Even me?" she asked, a bit of wonder in her voice.

Shiroe smiled. "Of course, even you. She is Log Horizon's Hahaue."

Akatsuki blushed lightly, looking very pleased.

He looked up, "I wonder how the others are doing?" He called up Naotsugu first.

"Ah, I'm fine," he was immediately answered. "Got the sparkle kiss and am headed back. I was with Marielle and ran to drag off the attack. She and Henrietta are headed your way already. I'm following them in. I hope to catch them first."

"That would be nice," Shiroe said wryly, and switched the chat to the other two that weren't present yet. He frowned. There wasn't an answer from Tetorō. He switched over to Michael.

"Ah...hang on...Tetorō's locked down...modification...my own spell..."

"Call me back when you're done," he immediately cut the line, then sighed.

"Shiroe?" Akatsuki looked up at him.

"She's put those two in severe lessons first," he answered.

Akatsuki sighed too. "Better them than me," she answered. Shiroe secretly agreed. They were _her_ apprentices after all. Likely she was going to make them work hard for their kisses. He hoped it wouldn't disrupt their classes too much - they were the teachers after all.

-:-:-:-:-

A distant explosion sounded over the city of Akiba. The students in the Hacker classes at the Akiba Adventurer Academy didn't hear it. They were all fighting for their lives. There had been a sudden outside attack against them all at once. Outside in that it wasn't from one of the teachers, or one of the other students. It was all interior in the code realm, where Hackers created their spells and cast them from. Flashing lights over the city made guildmasters contact guild Hackers the whole city over and none of them responded back. That made them all contact Shiroe. He didn't respond either. There was a sudden Round Table Council chat open and buzzing. Shiroe didn't respond. Neither did Marielle.

Nazuna reported to her guildmaster, Soujirou of West Wind Brigade and he reported to the Council. "Log Horizon's under attack." That got them all very quiet.

"If all the Hackers in town...and Log Horizon are under attack...we're left wide open," Ains of Honesty said, worriedly.

"Marielle and Henrietta were seen running for home," Soujirou reported. A few minutes later, "And Naotsugu's following them. He seems to have survived his own attack."

"What about D.D.D?" Isaac of Knights of the Black Sword asked. "Weren't they training the fighting unit of Log Horizon today?"

There was silence on the chat. "Rieze?" No answer was forthcoming, then a little gasp startled them.

"Here," her crisp voice sounded. "We're fine, though the Eagles are being hunted by Hacker hounds. It looks like training, actually."

" _Training?!_ "

"Yes. Their decoy's still alive...so'm I."

" _You_ were attacked?"

"Yes, just me, though."

"What's a Hacker hound?" Akaneya of Radio Market asked, lost.

"It's a Hacker spell that hunts for something or someone, then tells the Hacker it's been found. The Hacker then can do anything he or she wants to that thing as long as the hound is still pointing to it."

"Soo...what'd the Hacker do once it found you?" Isaac asked.

There was a pause, then Rieze said stiffly, her cover for embarrassment, "Gave me a lick and a hug."

"Pft!" There were attempts to hide the laughter.

Rieze growled. "It's not a laughing matter. We're lucky it was just training. What would the lot of you have done? Maybe you should also use this as an opportunity to figure that out. Do we even have the Hackers and Log Horizon back yet?" That sobered everyone up, then they got down to heavy discussion on just that very matter. It really wasn't a laughing matter. They'd gone to complete panic first, and a loss of direction. That wasn't good at all, and not really like them, either.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael finally freed one of his lower level, of the upper level class, students. His instruction was, "Get me physically over to Tetorō." He could feel his rather large self being picked up and hauled out of the class room and down the hall. As soon as he was physically next to Tetorō, he reached out a hand and grabbed hold of his younger guildmate. That physical touch was all he needed to be able to drag Tetorō out of his own body and into his where he could shield him, but leave behind a decoy.

The inner Tetorō collapsed next to Michael's inner self. "Thanks. That's worse than your last one."

"It isn't me," Michael said grimly. "Just like I don't believe this one's yours." He showed, through the mirror sites he was using to work on it, a thin wiggling thread that was trying to suck the HP out of one of his own personal decoys. He was feeding it the HP from the squirrel like creature outside the window of the school to keep it locked down, since it kept hunting until it found an HP source.

Tetorō inspected it closely. "Nasty." Michael grunted in agreement. "What else are you working on?"

"See to your own first," Michael said. "Every Hacker in town's locked down. You were taken out first. I barely managed to escape the same fate." He didn't bother to mention it was because he had taken to trading with his decoys randomly and had just vacated before it'd hit where he had been.

Tetorō sat silently working. Finally he said, quietly, "I'm going hunting. They're all okay for now. It's lessons."

"Exam time, really?" Michael complained with a fifth of his brain. "She always did like surprising us."

"You think it's her?"

"Yup. Every signature is someone else, just like yours, but it isn't you, so it has to be her. That's why I wanted you out. Go for it. Want me to provide a surprise to deliver?"

"Ahh...only if it says you, not me."

Michael did pause briefly for that. "Okay, not."

Tetorō nodded and slipped out, smaller than a gnat.

Michael finally did figure out how to have every Hacker in town work together to get out from under the attacking fire they were under. As he lay sweating, waiting for Tetorō to return, he grumbled to himself. "Just gotta train me to be 'General' in a sudden blitz, huh? Why can't you just go easy on me for once? Is it still paybacks?"

A gnat landed next to him. "Of course not, Michael," he looked up. She was smiling down at them, Tetorō unfolding to his usual internal size. "Let Shiroe know I'm on my way. I'm picking up Nyanta first. Good job to everyone...though it was very necessary, apparently," she frowned at them. "Have him scold the Round Table thoroughly. They've put together a plan for if this happens again, and won't tell him they had the gaping hole shoved in their faces. I left the recording of the conversation in Tetorō's pocket. You should probably all listen to it."

She smiled again, her eyes lighting up, "But the Eagles passed with flying colors. Commendations to Reed. Ask to see that replay. Ah...and apologize to Crescent Moon for me. I didn't know Naotsugu was headed over to see Marielle at the construction site, or I'd have set it off earlier. Though they did a great job, too. I was most impressed with their quick response and the fact they were willing to sacrifice for others' happiness and attempts to grow. I'll give them all kitten kisses later, if they've forgiven me. You can tell Shiroe to use them as an example, with West Wind Brigade, as to what to do when he scolds everyone else."

Purrcy dropped down and gave Michael a kiss on the head, and then one to Tetorō. "See you soon." She disappeared.

"Ah, damn," Michael complained.

"What? You got a kiss, too." Tetorō looked at him, irritated.

"She waltzed in here without even setting off a single alarm, nor even busting down the door. I really hate it when she fails me without even saying a word."

"Oh, that. Yeah. I felt a bit like a piece of lint when she picked me up and we started flying back here. I couldn't even wiggle free or change size. I think it's that she's gone up in levels again, after a month or so coding at world level again."

Michael looked at Tetorō out of the corner of his eyes. "Did she pick up a new title again?"

Tetorō shook his head. "I think it fell under one she already has, so it was just experience again. But I still can't read her Class, so I could be wrong. It might have been a Class upgrade."

"Oh, yeah, there's that option, too." Michael lay looking up at the ceiling of his foxhole.

"Um...am I free enough over there to get out and go home yet?" Tetorō asked.

Michael snorted. "I've only just managed to get everyone else free. I figured it'd take both of us to get you out. Shall we go take a look?"

They arrived in one millisecond and slumped. "Well...I guess that's what we get, then," Michael said, resigned.

"Yup," Tetorō agreed. "If we couldn't figure it out, she gets to keep it her secret." He rubbed the back of his head. "I can't decide if that's a good thing, or if I'm going to regret it later."

"My thought exactly," Michael agreed. He waved a hand and went back to his own body as Tetorō returned to his. None of the students mentioned he'd grabbed Tetorō in an embarrassing way and they'd moved his hand so their instructors wouldn't know.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael and Tetorō cancelled class for the rest of the day and warned everyone that they may as well call it good until after the festival. Since everyone was very worn out and the guilds wanted them for other tasks anyway, it worked for them all. The healers healed everyone up enough that they managed to weave their way home, but then they fell into bed until they'd slept it off. Michael and Tetorō didn't have that luxury... and really were used to it by now, after the Maze of Eternity and being trained by Purrcy to begin with. They were just tired, instead of exhausted.

"Come on home, boys. Results and conference time," Michael sent on the sub-guild line.

"Yosh, Sir," came back.

"They sound happy," Michael commented briefly to Tetorō. He called up the guild hall. "Shiroe, we're out and on our way. It was the final...or something. We've sent them all home until after the festival. They'll all sleep for the next eight hours, I wouldn't wonder. It was city-wide. You need to check in with the Council briefly to let them know you're okay, I suspect. We'll be back shortly."

"Thanks. Will do." Shiroe said and the line cut. Michael had learned to not take offense. Shiroe seemed to like quick reports and moved just as quickly. It was necessary efficiency. He was swamped with the work to the city and then with his own projects as well.

Tetorō looked at Michael quizzically. "He called while we were inside. I had enough at that moment to at least get it across we were in trouble and he understood, just asked me to contact him when we were done."

"He has a lot of faith in us," Tetorō said wryly. "I wasn't sure there I'd ever get out. How'd you know physical touch would do it?"

Michael just looked at him. Tetorō finally waved a hand, understanding. Even though they were guild mates and allies, Hackers always had things they didn't explain or show off. It was a sub-class with lots of dangers involved in it. The little hidden tricks might be the one thing to save your life some day. Michael had been trained by watching Purrcy as much as Tetorō had. The two Hackers had different coding and spell casting styles, but you always learned something watching other Hackers at work, regardless of style differences.

They arrived at the Log Horizon guild hall to find the rest of the guild, minus the Eagles, sitting in their places around the central table of the common multipurpose room in the comfortable chairs that Michael had dubbed the Officer's Seats. Naotsugu was in his usual place in the center of the couch. He had one arm around Marielle, who was cuddled up close to him. Henrietta was on the chair next to her, perched on the edge, her hands slightly clenched around the edge of a clipboard. A pen was tucked into her hair over one ear. She looked at the two of them a little wildly. Naotsugu nodded at them, his face just a little drawn. Tetorō frowned at that and moved to sit next to him on the other side, in his usual place. He looked Naotsugu in the face. "It's okay, right?"

"Is it?" Naotsugu asked back.

Tetorō sighed and ran a hand through his spiky orange hair. "We'll spill in a bit. Michael's called the rest back. They were part of it, too. It was the whole guild, and all the Hackers in town...well it was the whole town, really, but we'll get there." He closed his lips tightly. Everyone slumped. The field monitor knew stuff, and wasn't spilling without the whole team present. There was bad news in the mix, even if they'd all been given kisses.

Michael took the chair next to Henrietta - mostly because it was open. He didn't open his mouth either. He was a tank, like Naotsugu and Touya, who was next around the circle, his hands behind his head, watching the field in relaxed alert. Michael sat casually and rubbed his hand tiredly over his face. When a mouth opened to ask a question, he looked away. He really wasn't going to talk, either. The mouth closed and the face fell, but that was okay - it was temporary - even if it was the guildmaster. "Did you survive it, Miss Henrietta," he asked politely, since he'd sat next to her.

"Yes, thanks to Naotsugu's quick reactions. It was a bit frightening."

Michael nodded. "It's like that. No warning and suddenly blitzkrieg. Not my favorite training method."

"Well...there was a warning. We got explosions first to get our attention," Minori said. She was next to Touya, her hands clenching her skirt a little.

"Oh?" Michael asked. "We didn't. We were probably already under when that happened. We got it in the middle of the class, after all." Minori nodded understanding, looking sympathetic.

"I would personally have preferred to not have had to run quite so much, myself," Rudy said from his place standing behind Isuzu.

Isuzu nodded. "We can only handle one of the three attacks, and were still too far out. We managed to make it, though, since everyone was out on the balconies by the time we got here."

Michael clicked his tongue sympathetically, shaking his head. "We'll have to work with you two, then. There's surely more you can do. Intent's the key, remember."

"Would that work for me and status attacks, too?" Naotsugu asked wryly. "I could handle physical attacks of course, and the magic attacks I can use intent to deal with if I bounce them off the shield or dodge them, but the status attacks I'm a bit clueless on. I had to outrun them. I'm glad I'm over one hundred now so can run without tiring. That's my only bonus against them at the moment."

Tetorō rubbed his chin. "We should be able to work something out...," he mulled, his eyes going distant. "Maybe if we watch Shiroe cast a few negating spells we can find something..."

"What do you do inside?" Shiroe asked.

Tetorō and Michael both blinked. "Shield."

"Against status effects?" Naotsugu asked, disbelieving.

"Yeah. It's magic attacks we have to send equivalent attacks against, like Rudy does," Tetorō explained.

Naotsugu leaned forward, putting his chin in his hand and his elbow on his knee. Marielle took his arm in hers and held on to it. Without thought, he held her other hand in his. "Was that the red ones that sort of acted like goo and ate at the shields in the demo?"

The Hackers nodded. "Yeah. They stick and melt it away, but in doing that, during the time for the status effect to take effect, they wear themselves out, so to speak. We time the 'strength' of the shield for that timing. It has to last as long or we might get spattered with a more minor effect. That will last shorter, unless the spell's particularly nasty. Then even a little's bad."

"Well, I don't really want my shield eaten up," Naotsugu frowned.

Michael tipped his head. "It might not have to be." He tapped a finger as he thought. "You might be able to 'intend' that it's a shield that the goo sticks to but it doesn't have an effect on. You're high enough level it should work for all but the worst status effect spells. Like paint-ball. You'll just have to wash it off after the battle's over, without touching it. A spell from a recovery class might work, just cast it on the shield with the intent to remove all status effects and curses, that kind of thing."

Marielle sat up at the last. She was a Cleric, like Tetorō's Class, the highest of the recovery classes when it came to HP and MP ups. Naotsugu got a calculating look. "I like that. Paint-ball. As long as it doesn't erode the shield so much I lose it, right?"

"Right," Michael nodded. "Probably the sooner you've cast a recovery on it, less will be eaten. Though I would think if your intention is it won't eat it at all, you're okay. Just the acidic ones will need to have the recovery spell cast sooner than later."

"There're acidic ones?" Naotsugu sat up in alarm.

Michael and Tetorō sighed. "You'll get a feel for it eventually."

Naotsugu sat back again, putting his arm around Marielle again. "Still a lot to learn, huh?" They nodded glumly. He raised an eyebrow. "Lost?"

They both nodded. "He got the rest of them out, but the two of us lost," Tetorō admitted.

"And she didn't even scold us, just took the opportunity to learn away," Michael gave a dark look, folding his arms. "Moves too damn fast," he muttered.

The rest of them all nodded. "Since the beginning," Shiroe said wryly. Akatsuki nodded and Tetorō looked away.

"Speaking of which...isn't it early?" Naotsugu rubbed his head. "Wasn't it supposed to take a whole month?"

"Yes," Shiroe said calmly, "that was her estimate, but I gave her until the festival, so it's about right."

"Oh, that's why she's gone up in levels, then. She pushed or she was creative," Tetorō said glumly.

"Well...and she did defeat her mirror self with Nyanta-san," Naotsugu pointed out.

Tetorō raised an eyebrow. "That's true...and with a simple spell set, too." He shook his head. "Talk about example." He sighed and leaned back against the couch.

Shiroe looked at them curiously. "Do either of you know what her level is?"

They both shook their heads. "Can't read that, or Class either. They're as hidden as she keeps her age," Tetorō quipped. Eyes were rolled. Everyone knew what that was: "older than Nyanta". It was about the same, then, only knowing she was "high level whatever Class".

The door opened and twenty-three men streamed in and took up positions on the floor towards the door side of the room, behind the chairs Michael and Henrietta were sitting in. The last one closed the door behind him and walked over to stand in the corner space between Michael and Touya. "Guildmaster, Commander. All present and accounted for."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Comander," Michael said. "Stand down. It will be a somewhat long report." Everyone got comfortable. "I'll start with one thing, though. You in particular have been given a commendation for your part today. Wear it with pride." He held out his hand and a light left his fingers to move over to land on Reed's chest, where it turned into a golden paw print.

Reed looked at it, then smiled. "Thank you, Sir."

"I'm just the messenger," he said looking his second in the eye. "You did the work. She watched it." Reed blushed just slightly and nodded.

"We've got one for Crescent Moon, too," Tetorō said quietly. He reached around Naotsugu and a light left his finger and drifted over to Marielle. "That's for calm quick thinking in the line of sudden duty, and for remembering what's important while you were doing it. There's an apology attached to it, too. The timing was messed up by Naotsugu deciding to come visit just then."

"Not my fault," Naotsugu snorted.

"No," agreed Tetorō. "But there it is."

Marielle looked down at the gold paw print and sighed. "Well...I guess it's good she recognizes it."

"To some degree," Michael grumbled. The rest silently agreed.

Tetorō leaned forward. He pulled out a box and set it on the table in front of them. "She said West Wind Brigade did passably, and no comment on here, so you must have done well enough as well. But here's the rest of the city." He tapped the box and the voices of the guildmasters of the Round Table Council began talking. He sat back and let it run while they all listened. When it was done, there was silence for a while until Shiroe shifted, signaling he was returning from deep thought. Tetorō leaned forward and tapped the box. It disappeared. "She suggests a scolding." He said it neutrally.

Shiroe nodded, then looked at Michael. He nodded. "Show us your report, Reed," he ordered.

"Charlie," the order was passed down.

A shimmering cube appeared over the table. On all four vertical sides of it, a video image appeared then moved fast a bit as the proper start time was found, then it began to play out. They watched the actions of the field from just before the explosion until the last of the hounds was gone. "Pause," Michael said. "Reed...what was the spell? What were you looking for?"

"Any snake in the grass," the Lieutenant Commander answered. "Things still felt wrong. Like it had to be more than that."

Tetorō's eyes went distant and then the scene on the screen changed. Surrounding Reed, and sitting on top of every member of the Eagles was another colored marker. There were soft groans from behind Michael. "Back it up to the beginning of that round. When did they show up?"

As the colored lights of the three normal kinds of attacks faded out, the hounds rose up and stalked onto the field. As soon as the spell to see them went off, a flock of red 'birds' fluttered down from the sky. "A trigger on the hounds," Tetorō said softly. "Meant to go off after the visual was attached, so they were effectively new." They watched as the birds circled overhead, then began to settle on top of each man, some sitting on heads, some on shoulders. Tetorō looked over at the squadron and cast the visual spell again. They still had the birds on them. They broke out in chuckles, shaking heads ruefully.

Tetorō frowned and stood. He reached out a hand to touch the closest one, then didn't quite. "What do you think, Michael?" he asked.

"What did the first one do?" he asked Reed.

"Gave us a doggy kiss and a Mother hug."

Michael looked at the bird on Reed's shoulder in the code realm. "Okay," he nodded. "Pull the code in. It's a present. Look at it closely so you know what it does."

Reed, and most of the rest of them, did. There was a brief glow around them, then a look of satisfaction, or bliss, on their faces. "She's so nice," one of the ones in the back said dreamily. The more tentative ones accepted their own gifts.

Tetorō, Naotsugu, Shiroe, and Michael all looked sour. Henrietta was fighting to not look the same, her back ramrod stiff. Isuzu looked at them all, then sighed. "Until you get scolded. Keep up the good work. We really don't want to see what the Far-Flung Field Monitor is like when she scolds an entire raid." She sat up and stretched her back. "Did you get out of her when she's supposed to be back, Tetorō?"

"She's headed to Nyanta-san now. They'll come back together however long that takes. She's probably going to test him first, too, so not today or tomorrow, is my guess. Day after at the earliest, sometime, unless someone gets too impatient."

Shiroe went for a bland disinterested look. It would take that long for everyone to remember why the did want to see her after today. He wondered if that's why she'd timed it for now. His eyes caught something in the recorded scene. He sighed. "And it looks like my guess that we were going overseas next was right." The others looked at him and he nodded his head at the cube hanging in the air. "Look at Rieze."

Charlie zoomed in on Rieze. Standing next to her was a shadow of light with a hand on Rieze's shoulder. Charlie started it playing again about half-speed and the ghost patted Rieze's shoulder, leaned over to whisper in her ear, then rubbed the top of her head and disappeared. Shiroe shook his head. "I hope she didn't actually hear that. - She probably didn't or she'd already be beating the door down."

"What do you think it was?" Naotsugu asked.

"I think she just promised we'll go retrieve Crusty." Shiroe wrinkled his nose.

"He won't be happy to see us," Akatsuki said sadly.

"I thought he couldn't come home?" Isuzu asked, puzzled.

"He can't...but who has the skills to find out why and how to fix it?" Shiroe asked dryly. There were sighs around the table and Tetorō nodded solemnly. "The only thing I'm not clear on yet is why she wants him." He stared at the paused screen without seeing it for a while, then shifted and looked back at the room. "What did the two of you learn?" Shiroe asked Tetorō and Michael.

"I got blitzkrieged into a full city-wide team effort to dig all the Hackers out of their locked down positions. First lesson in General-ship, I figure." Michael said coolly, crossing his legs. "Except the team. They had a different test, as you already saw. I barely managed to survive to get that far."

Tetorō nodded glumly. "I pretty much failed it all. She locked me into a mirror room, tighter than Michael's last one. He had to come fish me out. Then I went looking for her and she swept me up with the lint and carried me back and dropped me back in his zone, then took her room away so we couldn't join forces to learn how to take it apart from the outside."

Shiroe looked up, frowning slightly. "How much did you get to look at later?"

"A lot of the inside, and one clip of the outside. I can't see anything though."

"Did you see the one on Michael?"

Tetorō furrowed his brow. "Not really. Do you have a clip, Michael?"

Michael went digging and handed what he had over. "It isn't much," he shrugged.

"How did you get him out?"

"Physical touch."

Shiroe looked at Michael with a raised eyebrow. "That works?"

Michael sighed, then nodded. Shiroe shook his head. "You're supposed to add working with Michael, Tetorō. He's got things to teach you, too."

The two looked at each other in surprise, then looked chagrined. "I'll bet it was gone as soon as you brought me over," Tetorō said.

"Most likely," Michael said thoughtfully. He looked at Shiroe. "She wants us both, huh?"

Shiroe looked at him blandly. "Well, that's obvious from the beginning. We've all been waiting for the two of you to finally shake hands." They both blushed, not able to look at each other. "She doesn't hold things back from either of you, does she? At least that you're ready for?" They blushed harder, then shook heads. Shiroe sighed. "Consider yourselves scolded and fix it."

"Yes, sir," they replied.

"She did drop me back with you," Tetorō admitted.

Michael nodded, then sat up straight. He went inside, then groaned. "Here, this is what the thing we walked out of together looked like."

Tetorō paused, then his face fell. He wiggled uncomfortably for a moment. "Alright. That made it obvious." They both took large breaths, and looked at each other, then nodded. "We'll set up a schedule," Tetorō said.

"She'll want us there by...the wedding, no doubt," Michael said.

"That's ambitious, but it isn't too far off the mark," Shiroe said. "Certainly by the time she drags us into major battle again." Shiroe pushed up his round glasses. "How settled is the Academy now?"

Marielle frowned as she thought about it. Henrietta sat up in surprise. Shiroe's look kept her quiet. "West Wind teachers are doing well. We are hoping for more applications from Minami when they come. The word from the employment offices there is good. We're mostly set up to take them in. In general things are smoothing out pretty nicely." She looked up at him curiously. He was fixing her with his sharp look. She glanced nervously at Henrietta and noticed she'd gone on alert. "Um," she worried her index fingers together, "...why?" She peeked out from under her lashes. Naotsugu was grinning silently behind her.

"Because, I think we'll be needing to pull our instructors out for a while, Head Teacher," Shiroe said calmly. "They've just had their final. Plan the ceremony to be the evening of the second day of the Festival, after the joint council press conference, so that we can draw in even more from Minami and hopefully a few more from here. The Dean will be here to hand out diplomas and grades by then."

"But...but that was just the Hacker final...wasn't it?"

"No one's checked to see yet, have they?" Shiroe answered back mildly.

Marielle jumped up from her seat. "I - I'll go check right now!" she bowed, twice, then rushed to the door.

Henrietta rose, and pushed her glasses up. "I'll let West Wind Brigade know, shall I?"

Shiroe sat back. "Yes, please."

Henrietta bowed. "Very well. Good evening." She turned and followed after her guildmistress more sedately. She didn't let out her completely stressed out feelings until she was back in her own guild hall, next door. Then she sank to the floor next to the couch and put her head on her arms, resting on it. "Dark Shiroe," she moaned. "You are only very slightly eclipsed by Dark Purrcy. Only very slightly."

They were still in the middle of preparing for a bi-city goodwill festival. To have added to that both a graduation ceremony, and taking away their best Hacker instructors...it really was too much. They _were_ the second smallest guild on the Round Table Council, after Log Horizon itself. She hoped Purrcy showed up soon and let her pet her for a long time. She needed it, desperately.

A warm touch was on her cheek, and she heard purring. For a long time, she didn't open her eyes. When the warmth finally was receding, she cracked them open to see just the final glimmer fading away. She relaxed. Purrcy was really good. She'd saved her reward for just when she needed it. Henrietta sighed and finger-drew patterns on the couch in front of her.

"Oh! Miss Henrietta! I thought you were Miss Marielle. So sorry." Henrietta could only laugh at herself. "No. Wait. If you're acting like Miss Marielle... Lock the doors! Batten down the hatches! Miss Purrcy's on her way back!" Henrietta hid her face in her arms again. It wouldn't help. It was too late. She'd already arrived with a bang and slid in under the cracks.


	53. Nyanta's Delight

Nyanta was sitting on a lower branch of a tree in his grey cat form, his front paws tucked under his white underbib. On this particular branch, it was most comfortable to be about half the size his full panther was, just a little larger than bobcat. The shade in the tree was nice since it was the still of the day, just past noon. He'd eaten his lunch already, and was sitting in contemplation. For the last three weeks he'd been in three beast-half villages, one felinoid and two wolf-fang. He was trying to decide if it was worth it to try to get to the last one marked on his map, or if he should call his gryphon and head home.

He was required for the Pumpkin Festival in Akiba and there wouldn't be much time to visit at the village once he did make it there. He wouldn't need to stay long this time, since he'd already learned the customs generally of each beast-half. It would be enough to just open relations. It was tempting to just complete the job out, but he'd probably arrive back in Akiba a day late. His tail flicked in slight annoyance. He shouldn't have stayed so long in the second wolf-fang village. He'd just wanted to do a proper job and lost sense of time in doing it.

He blinked slowly, then sighed. There was another thing pushing him to return. His wife was supposed to return at the same time...if she was allowed to, if she had completed her requirement. The same thing made him not in a hurry. He didn't want to be there without her. It was somehow hard to face other people right now, a thing he wouldn't have thought before then. But, when she'd said that she would have to be gone for a month, somehow he'd not wanted to be present either. To have others around when she wasn't was somehow too hard.

For all he was a psychologist by training, he was having a hard time dealing with being in this world since he'd decided to move forward. As long as he'd lived in the stasis of "sometime we'll get back home" he'd been able to just live life day by day, as he had before coming. He hadn't even been willing to consider that life would end for him when he did return. Or perhaps he hadn't had to because of the state of stasis he'd been in. Since he'd willingly accepted Purrcy, though, life was moving forward in and around him. He supposed that's what was the hardest - to come to terms with that motion.

A massive wedding was planned, now. New responsibilities were looming. And here, in this place, he wouldn't ever die (most likely) and neither would she. It shouldn't really matter that she wasn't here. They'd always be together, even if there were brief portions of time they weren't side by side. Still...maybe because it hadn't been several hundred years yet, but only a mere few months, he was lonely - wanting the source of calm Purrcy was in the midst of the motion that she'd started. And now he was depressed. He sighed again. He should probably just go home and let the children cheer him up. That would be much better than sitting out here getting more depressed than was logical to become. He flicked an ear and rubbed his head on the rough bark of the branch under him, trying to brush away his dark thoughts more than scratch his ear.

"ProudWing, I'm ready."

[I'm on my way, Nyanta.]

It had been more convenient to have added his gryphon to his party so they could chat than he had thought. That he didn't have to pull out his Summon whistle and figure out how to blow it as a full cat was a minor convenience he was enjoying just at the moment. He stood on all fours, stretched and shook, then lightly jumped down to the ground. He felt pretty comfortable with getting into and out of trees now, though he hadn't figured out how to do the tall ones Purrcy loved yet.

He headed for the closest clearing that ProudWing could land in. He reached the edge of it and sat in the dappled shadows to wait, back to full panther size since he'd left his contemplation spot. He set his natural cat eyes to see any motion, particularly from the sky, and went back to his meditation to pass the time. He registered the speck that was ProudWing growing closer, but didn't really return, since there was still time.

Suddenly, his body was up and poised to move forward, his ears perked forward. It took a moment to return and get his eyes to focus on what his body had seen. At the same time as ProudWing was circling the clearing to land, it finally registered. His heart stopped, but his body moved, leaving his brain behind. He was running full speed, streaking across the clearing. He quickly reset what he wanted to have happen, then let his heart catch back up.

A black calico felinoid was standing at the other side of the clearing, swirls of gold galaxies and grey and white star speckles making her as much shadow as he had been on his side. Until he had moved, she hadn't registered his location. Now her ears were focused on his run towards her, everything stiff in anticipation. At the last few feet he transformed, wanting to feel her in his arms again. Then he was clinging to her, arms tightly around her shoulders and neck, body pressed to hers, smelling her scent, rubbing cheeks, kissing her neck.

The pressure of her arms around him brought him back a little. As she pet him, he was able to return to breathing, though his body still shivered from his head to his tail in the only way the felinoid form knew how to cry, tears not being possible. She turn her head to his and then they were kissing, having practiced that much already. When they couldn't breathe, he pulled away and held her head to his. "Purrcy…," he called her name but couldn't continue beyond that for a moment, his voice catching.

"Nyanta, I'm home," she said in a quiet voice. "If I could never leave your arms again, I'd be content."

He held her even closer. "...As would I," he finally managed to reply. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. This kind of wild emotional reaction was another thing not normal for him that having her in his life evoked. "Welcome home."

His heart cried. He really never wanted her to ever be gone from this place in his arms, as unreasonable as that was. He shuddered again and she ran a hand down his back again. He shook on purpose, then took another deep breath, and another, then purposely pulled away to look at her, keeping his paws on her shoulders. His eyes searched her's. "Are mew really back, then?" he asked her.

Purrcy nodded emphatically. "Yes. My task is done, and this is really me."

[If it helps...it really is the Caretaker Purrcy you can't let go of,] ProudWing interjected. It was said kindly, but Nyanta was sure there were teasing undertones.

An ear flicked slightly in embarrassment, but he put that down quickly. He was, in the main, justified. It was the first time since nearly two years ago that he was greeting her in her own body. It had been a borrowed body for the whole time they'd been together this more recent time - multiple borrowed bodies actually. He touched the top of her head and ran his paw over the top of it and down. Her eyes closed halfway and she started purring. His lips lifted in a smile and he leaned in to listen to the purr, licking her under the closest ear and grooming around it.

Purrcy sighed a little in pleasure. "I still don't know how you can do that so easily. My human sensibilities say a mouthful of fur isn't really desirable."

Nyanta chuckled. "Because I know mew feel that way. Mew know I like to tease mew."

Her ear flicked out of range and stayed down and back, the equivalent of a feline grimace, and he smiled again and hunted it down to lick it more firmly for running away in the first place. She gave up and slumped in his arms, making his heart beat more rapidly and his eyes sharpen to predatory sharpness. This was why he liked to tease her. She so willingly gave in to him when he did. She was such a strong personality, that to have her submit to him in this way was only his to enjoy. He wanted to hold her down and groom her until she was completely his, but because that's what he wanted, he didn't. There would be many years to come. It could happen when he really wanted it to happen.

Instead, he let go of her with one arm and turned to look at ProudWing, keeping his other arm wrapped around her shoulders. "Well, I guess mew'll be carrying two."

[I gathered,] ProudWing said dryly and clacked his beak together.

"Can I take you to my favorite woods, first, Nyanta?" Purrcy asked. "I've allowed for all of tomorrow if you want. We don't have to be back until the next morning." She was looking earnestly into his face.

He looked at her, then bent down and swept her up into his arms and carried her over to ProudWing. "Of course, my dear," he said gallantly with a smooth purr in his voice.

She stared at him wide-eyed for just a moment, ears and focus all on him. It tickled him that he could do that to her, too. She blinked a few times, then flung her arms around his neck and snuggled her face in his neck. "God, I love you, Nyanta!" She took a long breath, her nose tucked in right at the join of his neck and shoulder making him shiver lightly in pleasure as the air lightly fluffed the fur there. He had the sudden sense they were both going to become lost in the next moment and he froze, closing his eyes and not breathing until the moment passed just enough he could gently set her down in front of ProudWing.

She released him and turned to fling her arms around ProudWing. "It's so good to see you, too. Thank you for taking care of him for me."

[My pleasure,] the gryphon rubbed his head against her shoulder.

Nyanta wanted to touch her again, to turn her back to touch him again, so he reached up and rubbed a paw in ProudWing's feathers instead. Leaving her there with an anchor, he moved around to ProudWing's side and began saddling him. After the blanket and saddle were on, and while he was buckling it, suddenly Purrcy was up on the back of ProudWing's neck and shoulders. Nyanta caught just enough of the motion to see she'd been lifted up while holding on to the gryphon's neck high near the head. She was already shifting to small cat and in short order had made her way up the back of the neck of the gryphon to sit on top of his head, like some strange crown.

Nyanta smiled, remembering he'd done something similar with her himself when she'd been kitten sized. He went back to buckling the saddle, then climbed up himself. He looked up into her golden eyes with his greens and called her softly. She obediently slid back down, as if she were snow skiing, making him smile again. She lept into his arms, then transformed back into felinoid, sitting sideways to him and wearing a warm sweater and jeans with ankle high boots. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss, then turned to ProudWing. "The Ancient Forest of Eternal Sleep, please, ProudWing. You'll remember where."

The gryphon hissed a laugh. [Yes. Only your most favorite place.] He spread his wings and with a powerful leap of his legs and downward flap of his wings, launched them into the air.

-:-:-:-:-

They were in the air for nearly three and a half hours from where they started, headed northwest of Akiba. The high wind speeds of flight made normal conversation difficult, but because of how the chat function worked, they could still converse that way. Purrcy asked Nyanta all sorts of questions about his childhood and growing up in Japan and shared similar stories from her own childhood in the United States. It was an enjoyable way to pass the time, getting to know each other that much better. Sometimes cultural differences that came out of the stories were very marked, but for the most part they were similar stories of learning to live in their world as children of adults learning to become adults, as happens for every child that ever lives.

They'd been flying over rolling mountains for much of the time, but eventually ProudWing began to decrease his altitude. Ahead of them in the distance was a tree mountain whose canopy spread widely. ProudWing headed for the adjacent mountain and a more clear area for landing. They dismounted and Nyanta removed the saddle and tack from the gryphon, putting it away. He suddenly paused for just a moment, then looked at Purrcy, his ears asking a question. "Purrcy...if that was Nureha, ...where is the food that was packed? And all meowr things?"

Purrcy smiled. "Don't worry, Nyanta. She and I properly took care of it." He tipped his head at her as she rubbed ProudWing's head. "Thank you again. Will you come get us up top in the morning, please?"

[Of course,] ProudWing licked her cheek.

"Give WhiteCloud my regards. I do hope she's recovered."

Nyanta and ProudWing both smiled. [She is doing much better, particularly since Nyanta explained it to her Summoner.]

"Oh!" Purrcy straightened and her ears perked up. "That's wonderful!" She turned to Nyanta and threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Nyanta!" She squeezed him tightly and pecked him on the cheek. Letting go she paused then sighed. "Except, now I won't have the required excuse to come see you both as often."

They laughed at her. "I'm sure we can go visit whenever mew miss them, meow," Nyanta said kindly, putting his paw on her head. She smiled back at him.

When they had parted from ProudWing, she turned to look up into the canopy of trees above them. "Will you follow me up? We need to go around the shorter trees a bit to visit the Princess, then we can go in. I'd like to see how you're doing, but I'd think it hasn't been long enough to climb the tall ones yet."

Nyanta looked at the woods. The closest trees were as tall as the one going up through the center of the six story Log Horizon guild hall. Nyanta noted that for this part of this forest, that was small to average. He wasn't surprised. He already knew Purrcy's favorite trees were the tall ones. "No, this is even more than I've done so far."

Purrcy nodded. "Then follow me and watch what I do. Once we're up, we'll just run along the branches until we get where we're going unless you want to try it more than once - the going down. The more practice you get doing that, the better, but it is very wearying."

Nyanta eyed the trees dubiously. "Well...let's at least try the up and between first. Then we'll see."

Purrcy transformed to full-size panther and he followed suit. She glanced at him over her shoulder then, with a twitch of an ear, was running for the first of the trees before them at a full out run, her whole black calico body stretching out with every bound. He followed suit and programmed his body to imitate hers. He knew he needed to keep it that general. She was far more experienced at being in that form than he was. He paid close attention to what his body did in getting up the first tree. At that speed it was hard to process as they went so he just collected the data. Purrcy ended up one branch level higher than he did, in the end. She paused with him as he processed what his body had done to get there, noting the slightly lighter depth to sink the claws into the bark than on the shorter trees, and the additional surge of the muscles as they pushed against the tree to gain even more height and keep the speed going.

When he was ready, he nodded and she turned and ran lightly along her branch towards the next tree, leaping to a branch on it. He watched her then paused just long enough to calculate branch locations and trajectories, and soundness of landing options, then he was also running down his chosen branch after her, leaping off to fly to the next tree branch. The springiness of the branches was a bit surprising, but in his prior learning he'd worked hard at not interrupting the calculations of his natural cat body, so he swallowed his concern and stayed "small" as only an outside observer. When he was on the next tree and moving to the other side of the trunk after Purrcy, he worked at understanding it after the fact again.

After a while, he just ran and jumped after her without much thinking about it, just trying to memorize the feel of it. He paused a moment, then realized she had before he did. He pulled his attention back to see she was grinning at him. His ear twisted back in chagrin. "You've already done a good job of making this natural. ...Now let's see if you can learn to enjoy it as well."

He shook his head at himself. She moved quickly and was suddenly in front of him. He reared back a little in surprise, blinking. She reached out a paw and touched him. "Tag. You're it." She was off. He snapped his open mouth closed and took off after her. She didn't go just straight any more. Now she went up and around and down. The first time she went all the way around a tree, he got confused, not seeing her go straight across as normal. She laughed at him from the other side of the tree. He set his instincts to hunt, not just follow, after that. That was much better. Not only did he give better chase, he found it exciting. When he tagged her after twenty minutes, she was surprised in turn.

He laughed at her then took off, going generally the direction she'd already been taking them. This time he set himself to evade. After about ten minutes of staying out of her reach, he could tell she was getting serious about catching him. The more serious she got, the more determined he became at staying out of reach until he was moving quickly from tree to tree and up and down in the branches. At twenty minutes, she pulled back the pressure and a few minutes later stopped in a tree near the trunk, lying down on her branch to rest. She watched him with her eyes and ears, and her tail twitched, still wanting to give chase. She didn't move, though, until she was calming down.

Nyanta had paused on the next tree over, turned to watch her, but still poised for flight. As she calmed, he sat on his haunches to rest and watch her. His delight in the run rose up in him and his ears were also pricked towards her. She reached out and patted the branch in front of her. "We need to go down from here," she said to him. He wasn't in a hurry for that part, but he obediently went back to her tree and walked up to her, putting his nose to hers in a cat kiss. "You've done very well," she praised him. "Being high level at the beginning makes me a bit jealous. I had to learn all of that at my low levels. Of course, by the time I made it here I wasn't. You're about right as far as level goes for this forest, you just need the practice." She rose to her feet. "Watch me, like the going up, then come down when you're ready."

She turned and looked down the tree trunk. He could see she was calculating and setting the course in her body. When she was ready, she stepped down onto the trunk head first, her claws setting into the bark the way she had shown him at the guild hall. He watched her all the way down, including the push from the last few feet to land on the ground, his ears twitching slightly and his paws moving ever so slightly in response to her own movements. When she was looking back up at him, he took a deep breath, then set himself next to the trunk of the tree in the position she had just left. He visualized the descent first. His muscles moved ever so slightly in response. A few times they seized and he backed up the visualization until he got the motion in his mind into agreement with what his muscles wanted to do. When he finally felt like the body and mind were in agreement, he told the body to go, firmly only looked to the next steps that needed to be taken, and started down the tree.

His focus was tightly only on the next few feet, but it still felt like a harrowing ten minutes or more, and he had to keep fighting the instinct to visualize himself falling heels over head, twisting to land in a painful heap at the bottom. Whenever that wanted to rise, his ear would twitch and he would quickly focus again on the next step and 'feel' arriving safely. By the time he neared the bottom, he was tiring. It had been a long run, and this distance climb down was new to his muscles for this amount of time. It helped he was level one hundred-one now, thanks to the Maze of Eternity, but still...this was new.

He managed to make it to the bottom, and his nose and ears did a quick survey. Finding Purrcy close, he collapsed flat on his belly on the ground, his chin between his stretched out forelegs. He lay there, just breathing for a while, his mind already replaying the whole walk down the tree to set it in his mind and muscle memories. When he returned, there was a body lying next to his, and the rumble of purring vibrating against that whole side. There was also a weight across his shoulders and lighter vibrations coming from that location.

He twitched an ear back then lifted his head enough to look over his shoulder. Purrcy was stretched out next to him, but had her head and neck resting on his back just over the shoulders, and she was purring. He looked at her, a little surprised. She lifted her head and gave his cheek a little lick. "You did very well," she praised him simply. "Are you feeling better now?" She kept the purring going.

Nyanta sighed. "Yes. That was about as terrifying as mew said it would be, though." She rubbed her head on his face sympathetically. "I'm used to going down now, but to have it go on for so long was rather much."

Purrcy nodded. "That's why getting practice is good. It's both strengthening and helps the mind decide it's okay. Still," she looked back up at the tree, "I'd rather fly off of them even that short."

Nyanta had to agree. "It will be some time before I'm there, I'm afurraid," he said sadly. "I'm not to wings yet."

She smiled and touched her nose to his cheek, then rose. He rose and padded next to her. He could smell the scent of water now, and it was growing stronger as they walked. They reached a deep stream filled with water that burbled against its banks. Purrcy turned to walk along it following it downstream. She also began to make burbling kinds of sounds and he looked at her curiously, but she didn't explain, just twitched her ears. The stream disappeared in front of them and they stopped at the edge of a drop off. The stream fell about thirty feet in a waterfall down into a deep pool below them, then continued on at the other side.

Purrcy called into the pool with a bit of a yowl mixed with strange water sounds. Nyanta's ears twitched to hear it, particularly as it echoed off the partial bowl around the pool. In the center of the pool there was a bubbling, then the water rose up in a spout. As the sparkling drops fell back into the pool, a more solid figure remained above the water, supported by a column of water. Nyanta blinked to see the naiad. She was larger than most and her water hair fell around her in great waves. Her eyes pierced them both, looking at Purrcy with recognition and Nyanta with a bit of suspicion. Slowly she moved on her column of water to come closer to them until they were at more of a conversational distance.

"Your Highness, this is Nyanta, my husband. Nyanta, this is Telentiel Polloupit, Fifth Princess of the naiad race in Yamato." The name sounded more like water hitting small rocks and a puddle than a real name. He supposed it would be said that way, too.

He bowed politely to the naiad. "Your Highness. It's a pleasure to greet mew."

"I've heard rumors that there is one claiming to be the husband of the Caretaker. It is pleasing to see it's true with my own eyes and hear it properly from her own mouth." The naiad Princess answered them.

"We'll be in the woods until tomorrow," Purrcy informed her. "We're going to the center tree. May we be permitted?"

The naiad measured them, then bowed her head. "You may."

"Thank you," Purrcy bowed her head also in response. Nyanta bowed as well. The naiad moved back to the center of her pool and returned under the surface. Purrcy turned and looked at Nyanta with a smile, her eyes sparkling. He smiled slightly back then rubbed his head on her. She giggled and licked his ear as it passed. Rising she led him back away from the pool and towards the outside again.

Once there she had him go up the "shortest" tree on his own first. He felt a little uncomfortable with going up that height on his own, but replayed the last time in his mind, settled it in his system the way he had the downward run, then picked his starting point and ending point. Taking a deep breath, he told his body to "go" and worked hard to match the run to what was expected, while allowing the body to be in control for the most part. With great focus, he was able to cling to the trunk and fling himself upward along it until he was in the lower branches. He flung himself on the closest branch, then collapsed on it, breathing hard, trying to still his frantically beating heart.

It was rather disconcerting for him to give up this much control, particularly at high speeds in high altitudes. He was very used to being very much in control all of the time. When he had that thought, he finally understood why he was struggling with moving forward, particularly when Purrcy wasn't around. He had somehow become completely emotionally unrestrained and he was afraid of that lack. He'd been dropped into the whirlpool, or storm, of his emotions and he wanted to cling to her like she was his life preserver. Not very healthy, really. His rational brain worked on that for a while instead of dwelling on the terror the climb - particularly the end of it - had left in him.

Purrcy arrived a few minutes later and paced to him to touch noses, then lick his cheek. Nyanta sighed a deep breath. She lay down opposite him, nose to nose. He considered her, and observed his own reaction to having her there with him again. He was calm and feeling peaceful again, even the run up the tree forgotten. Internally, he shook his head at himself. He was always calm and peaceful, from many, many years ago. Why was it different, really, when she wasn't there? He closed his eyes, smelling her scent so close to him, her warm breath close enough to feel. "Purrcy," he said quietly.

After a moment, she responded, "Mmm?"

It took a few more moments before he finished, rising to his feet first. She lifted her head to look at him curiously. "Will we be chaperoned tonight?"

She stared at him, stunned. " _Pft!_ " She turned her head and laughed. His ear twitched in slight embarrassment. She rose and rubbed against him as she turned and began to walk down the branch. "Yes, Nyanta. We will. Come on, we'll both feel better if we get there sooner." She lept forward, then ran lightly down to the end of the branch and into the next tree in towards the center of the woods. He followed after her, trying very hard to not feel "twitterpated". It was just as odd to be feeling like a teenager again as it was to be swept along by all the other emotions as well. Reliving puberty really had not been on his radar half a year ago. He sighed as he followed her. Someone his age...really.

-:-:-:-:-

They arrived at the tallest tree in the Ancient Forest of Eternal Sleep, in the very center of the forest. The floor of the forest was a bowl in the midst of the surrounding mountains. It only looked like a mountain itself because the trees were concentrically taller the closer into the center you traveled. The canopy of the central tree was several hundred feet in diameter on it's own. Purrcy stopped and sat down just before the leap to the central tree. There was a sufficient gap that it wasn't going to be an easy jump without a longer run and careful planning.

However, instead of looking like she was planning on jumping, she looked like she was waiting. Nyanta walked up behind her to look in the same direction she was, which was up a bit. He caught bits and flashes of color. "Mmm...who are the occupants?" he asked her.

She absently brushed her cheek against his face, which was over her shoulder. "A few dryads, some kodama, a number of wood sylphs, and the laumės. It isn't a particularly safe place for you, actually, which is why we'll leave it again in the morning. I've been given the blessing - as they call it - of being able to come and visit for a time on occasion. The laumės in particular don't like men. It would be wise of you to remain in cat form the entire visit."

"Ah...is that why they put men and Adventurers on the forest floor to sleep and cause them to wander in confusion?"

"Yes, that would be it," Purrcy nodded. "Also the slothful and unwise, but that's not you." Nyanta sat on his haunches behind her. "Being felinoid, they might not take as unkindly to you, but I'm not sure, really."

"I could stay here. That leap looks a bit much for me. It's a very long way down to the ground from here." He said it very practically. It was at least a quarter mile, actually. It really wasn't worth tempting fate when on the other side might be an even greater hurdle. "Will they be angry with mew for bringing me with mew?"

"Mmm...I don't think so. They'll also be curious, like the Princess was. They are more likely to make _me_ angry, but I'll do my best to not become too jealous."

Nyanta wasn't sure which would be worse, really. "Is this really meowr favorite place to come?"

She laughed a short laugh. "Yes, but it's because I can really fly from here for a very long ways."

"Figures," he said. "Maybe mew should have brought Michael?"

She looked at him over her shoulder witheringly. "He _is_ a full man. They would definitely not deal well with that." He conceded the point with a tip of an ear.

Suddenly a winged sprite appeared before them, the doubled dragon-fly-like wings attached to the thin but adult human-sized creature were thrumming. "Caretaker! You've come to visit?"

"Yes, please. Until morning, if it may be allowed, with my companion," Purrcy answered calmly.

The sprite rose in the air to one side just enough to look a little more closely at Nyanta, then zipped off into the higher reaches of the tree in front of them, out of sight. About three minutes later, the closest branch of that tree began to grow and reach out until the gap between the trees was closed. Purrcy stood and moved forward, "Stay very close to me," she said quietly. He practically walked on her hind feet with his front ones. Most nature elementals were not very trustworthy in all the lore and legends. It was with relief they both made it over, though once they were on the other tree, Purrcy moved more quickly and he followed. He could tell the branch was retreating towards them and had no desire to fall off of it on this side either.

Once they reached the trunk, she led him on upward paths to a place that was central to the canopy of the tree where several smaller branches covered in leaves made a bower that was the size of the Guild Hall of Akiba - rather large actually. Along the way, there had been many flashes of light and colors from the various denizens of the tree, some of whom had stopped and watched their progress briefly before moving on again. The bower was similar to a throne room, with a number of the magical woodland creatures in attendance on three female creatures who sat at the opposite end of the entrance at looms.

"Are they the Three Fates?" Nyanta asked quietly.

"No. They are the laumės. Though similar, they are more like wood dryads than the goddesses of Fate, being tied to the trees and the earth. They love children, are excellent at performing all tasks of a woman, enjoy weaving, and reward hard work and effort," Purrcy answered quietly as well. "They are from Lithuanian lore."

"Oh," Nyanta was surprised they would be in Yamato. The kodama were the wood dryads of Japan, but he supposed that the programmers would have pulled in lore from anywhere, since _Elder Tales_ was played world-wide.

They arrived before the laumės and stopped. "Purrcy, it's good to see you whole again," one said serenely.

"It's good to be whole again. Thank you for allowing me and my companion to visit," she answered respectfully.

"For what purpose have you come?" another asked.

"To introduce my companion to the Mother Tree, and to make a request of the beautiful laumės."

The third laughed lightly. "You do not need to flatter us, Caretaker."

Purrcy tipped her head. "It is, nonetheless, true."

"What is your request?" the first asked.

"I wish to grant a gift to the one who helped me regain my proper form again. It seemed to me that cloth woven by the hands of the laumės would be most appropriate." Purrcy sat and Nyanta followed suit, staying a half-step behind her.

"Is it this one?" the second laumė asked.

"No. It is for Archmage Shiroe," she answered calmly.

The three froze and surprise filled the hall. "The Archmage helped you?" Purrcy nodded. "He is one of only three who have brought their parties all the way to the foot of the Tree, and only he has defeated the final core of it," the laumės said. "Has he already not won his reward?"

"Perhaps he has won that reward, but this is for a different course," Purrcy said calmly. "He has led his party this time to repair the Adventurer Tree of Life, and succeeded."

The room froze for just one second, then was abuzz with comments from all over the hall. "He didn't... _defeat_ it? He _repaired_ it?"

Purrcy bowed her head. "Even so, else I wouldn't be standing in my proper form today."

The laumės conferenced, then one turned and walked to a large treasure chest behind the three. Another turned to Purrcy. "We will honor the request and grant a laumė-woven cloth to be gifted to Archmage Shiroe."

Purrcy bowed. "Thank you. I will accept it for him and gift it to him when I return to his home again."

The laumė returned from the treasure chest with a shimmering folded cloth and carried it to Purrcy. Purrcy put her paw on it and it disappeared. That laumė looked at Nyanta more closely. "You wished to also introduce your companion to the Mother Tree, but he has already been here before. It already recognizes him."

Nyanta bowed his head. "I am blessed to receive such recognition." He chose the word Purrcy had used before, thinking that might be politic. His negotiation skill was pressuring him to use it, too.

"I wish for it to recognize that he is my mate," Purrcy said, looking that laumė in the eye.

The laumė looked back a little puzzled. "It is truly needed?"

Purrcy went very still and it seemed just a bit of chill wafted from her. "Respectfully, my lady, it is."

"Why?" one of the laumė still in her chair asked.

Purrcy pierced that one with her eyes as well. "Is not a Summonable an Eternal? I am born of both Trees of Life. He also has been to the Adventurer Tree of Life and it recognizes him. For him to be fully my mate for the Eternity, he also needs to be recognized as such by the Yamato Tree of Life."

Enlightenment came on the faces of all the woodland creatures in the room, though Nyanta was suddenly confused. "Sister, come here," the one who had questioned ordered. The one in front of them returned and was handed a red cord.

She returned with it. "Have you had the ceremony of binding yet?" she asked.

Purrcy shook her head. "Archmage Shiroe will perform it within a week."

"Before the pledge is given, have him bind your hands with this cord. It will record the vow and the Tree of Life will record it for Eternity."

Purrcy put her paw on it and it disappeared, as the cloth before had. "Thank you," she said regally. "It is now night. May we stay within the branches until the morning? We are willing to stay outside."

The laumė in front of them returned to her seat. There seemed to be a silent conference, then it was allowed. Purrcy bowed her head and Nyanta followed suit. When they reached the doorway, and walked through, Purrcy paused to look at one of the sprites standing near the door. Quietly she said, "Please, make it known that my companion is not to be teased nor tempted, or I shall become the tempest."

The sprite raised an eyebrow, then bowed slightly. "Yes, Caretaker."

Purrcy led Nyanta upward until they were at the very top of the tree. "You've been at the deepest roots of this tree," she said to him. "Now, look upward and see the night vista at the crown. Only you will ever have seen the whole of it in that manner."

Nyanta sat carefully balanced and looked from the horizon upward until he was looking at a thick spray of stars that glittered as if poured out of a cup and scattered. The only lights in the area were the faint fairy lights below them that hardly filtered through the thick leaves of the tree. Since he could see even better with his cat eyes, they shone brilliantly. Together they sat and looked at the whole sky until they were weary. Then they lay down together, nose to nose, as was their way in trees, and slept.

-:-:-:-:-

The peeking of the sun over the horizon woke Nyanta. He opened his eyes and for the second time was looking at a sunrise vista he wanted to remember because it had Purrcy in it. The sun moved up until it was haloing her head, then moved higher until it was crowning it. Finally it was sitting on top of her head, then slowly it moved to lift above it. He had to narrow his eyes to slits to be able to see it make that progression, but it delighted him.

When it was high enough, he reached out and tapped her cheek with his paw. "Should we be leaving soon?" he asked gently. She reached up and trapped his paw against her cheek and began to purr. He was certain she was quite sun warmed and it would take a bit for her to move at this point. Her black fur soaked up the warmth of the sun's rays quickly. "Really. Moving is safer, my dear," he said softly.

Her eyes snapped open. "Oh, my. Are we having a repeat of last time, then?" Her ears fell a little sadly. He didn't answer her. She sighed and rose in a stretch. "Well...I suppose we should go then. And maybe return home by tonight. I originally thought we might make it until tomorrow...but perhaps not."

Nyanta held himself very still, but she could feel the hunting instinct on him. She twitched an ear at him. "Call ProudWing. Go down to the first branch that will hold him and wait for him there. When you are both ready, call me and I'll go first and he'll follow. We've done it many times before."

Nyanta rose to his feet and moved down to the next branch, then to the next until he found one suitable. When he was placed, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he was still and quiet inside, he called for ProudWing. He kept his eyes closed as he waited, still seeing in his mind the newest vistas he'd been given and anticipating the one to come next.

When ProudWing arrived they greeted each other as usual. As he put the saddle on ProudWing the gryphon wanted to know if the visit had gone well. "I believe so," Nyanta answered quietly. "Purrcy received the gifts she asked for. One for Shiroe-ichi for succeeding at the Maze of Eternity, and the other for her." He finished tightening the saddle girth and paused, a hand on the saddle. Softly he added, "But the gift she gave me was the more glorious of them all." He paused a moment longer, then pulled himself into the saddle. ProudWing was looking at him over his shoulder, an interested look in his eyes. Nyanta looked at him solemnly. "She has gifted me with a vista no one else has ever seen, a second she will never see, and we will next see a third that will be shared by us both."

ProudWing smiled an open-beak smile at him. [The heart of the true Adventurer lies within the one named Nyanta, to name those as glorious gifts. Call for her and we shall see that third one together.]

Nyanta looked up at the tree mountain spread before them, gently sloping down from their high perch in the Yamato Tree of Life, the very tree that had given them the gold roses to make the rings to aid the divided Adventurers return to the Adventurer Tree of Life. As he drank in the sight he called to Purrcy to say they were ready. He looked up and watched as his wife ran along a branch as fast as she could and leaped off it into space. Her soft sphinx wings unfolded and caught the air and she soared outward until she caught an updraft and tipped her wings sufficient to rise with it.

Nyanta's heart soared with her, then ProudWing spread his wings and with a powerful downstroke lifted the two of them in the air. With great strokes, he also found the updraft and spiraled up it to soar in the air with Purrcy. Nyanta's eyes were all for his wife and the horizon behind her and the wings of the gryphon were his wings. Together they danced the air over the Ancient Forest of Eternal Sleep, gliding from updraft to updraft towards the southeast. The view from the back of a gryphon was always awe inspiring. This day it was etched.

Finally there came the time Purrcy began to tire. ProudWing glided under her, enough to help her begin to fall slowly. He kept just in front of and below her until she glided in to land on his back. She landed on his rump and immediately began to shrink, running as she went. Her wings shrank with her until they were gone and she was small house cat in Nyanta's arms. He held her to him and she put her cheek to his, purring.

[Where to, Nyanta?] ProudWing asked, his own calm pleasure and pride coming across.

"Home," he answered. Purrcy transformed into felinoid, dressed in the flying outfit from the day before. They flew in silence a long time, just being close together, remembering the joy of the flight and the view from the air.


	54. Returning Home to Akiba

Tetorō was lying on the couch. They'd had breakfast and he'd just finished wiping down the table and sweeping the floor. The Eagles were putting the rest of their chairs up, their tables already having been folded and set up against the far wall. A few were always assigned kitchen duty, now that there were that many more dishes to wash and put away. Meal time had become rather lively since they had come to be in the guild hall. The whole of it was very full, with some rooms now having even three people in them. _He_ certainly wasn't lonely on the fourth floor any longer. While they were still the smallest guild on the Round Table Council, they were no longer the smallest guild in Akiba. He rather liked the busy noise...and being considered an "officer" of the guild now, instead of just a junior member of it.

He was also enjoying his day of vacation. The prior day had been very restful and he'd been able to just quietly enjoy the opportunity to play with his sub-skill magic, though he and Michael had been sure to be dutiful and work together some of the time as well. Michael had taken the time the day before to go and see what his squadron had been learning and check on their progress for himself. Tetorō was waiting for him now to arrive in the central room so they could begin their day's work together.

Suddenly he jerked upright, his hands holding him propped up, but not able to see anything. A bright light was flashing inside. He immediately opened the full guild chat. "Purrcy's coming!" he called. The room was still, then was suddenly a flurry of movement. He swung his feet down to the floor.

"You're sure?!" Shiroe said from his door, having flung it open.

"Yeah! I set a warning to go off if she got within range of the map. I'm blinded by it so it's got to be. Hang on while I turn it off." He waved a hand.

"She's just coming over the wall," Akatsuki said calmly, but even her voice held anticipation. She gave an exact location, but that was all that was necessary.

"The tree," Tetorō was up on his feet and almost running for the door. One of the squadron got it opened for him and he barely said thanks on his way out. Once he was out of the door, he was running full out. A level one hundred body was a joy to run in. It moved fast, smoothly, and didn't tire for a long time. Tetorō didn't usually have the need to run, but this morning was a great time to. He got the warning turned off, then watched the map as he ran, just to make sure she was headed to the tree she loved rather than the guild hall. Nyanta was on the map with her and they were together, and they'd come over the wall, from the north-northwest, so they had to be on ProudWing. Tetorō wondered if they'd go to the top of the tree or land on the ground.

Suddenly they were circling around. Tetorō stopped looking at the map, stopped running, and looked up, though he kept the map up to glance at every now and again. Above him in the sky was the circling gryphon, and it seemed to be rising, rather than coming down now. He felt rather confused. He looked down the long wide lane in front of him that led to the clearing the large silver-leaf tree was in. He was suddenly warm at his back as the others reached him, Shiroe first with Akatsuki, then Naotsugu, followed by the youngest, who were also now being called junior officers, and Michael. Behind them circled the Eagles.

As they watched, ProudWing circled higher and higher until he was rather small, then a smaller dot separated and began to fall. Tetorō's eyes widened. Wings sprouted to either side of it, and together the two began to circle back down towards the city again. There was a slight movement to his right as Shiroe put his hand on Akatsuki's shoulder to steady himself as he watched. Michael also shifted to brace himself with a slightly wider stance. He felt like he was holding himself from rising to join them. "God, she's beautiful to watch. And with a gryphon, too," Michael said reverently.

"That's her?" one from the back asked incredulously.

"Yup. That's the angel we follow," Michael said, still reverent. "I learned my wings from watching her fly. Never knew I could have my own until I saw hers." Tetorō could tell Michael was fighting tears again. He leaned over and bumped him, without taking his eyes off Purrcy himself. Michael swallowed and wiped at his face slightly, then gave up. Tetorō rolled his eyes internally, but left off.

Everyone waited silently, watching their guildmates circle lower and lower, gliding with the air currents. As they reached about building height, they aimed for the far end of the lane, turning into the end of it, Purrcy coming before ProudWing. The guild watched as she glided down towards the ground. She dipped rather precipitously to drop close to the road, then lifted again to glide closer to the ground. Now it was Tetorō who almost couldn't keep himself still. Michael's hand fell on his shoulder. "She'll have to run off some of that before you get close, or she'll bowl you over." Tetorō didn't shake off the hand, but he remained impatient.

Purrcy's feet barely touched the ground and she immediately began to run with the speed of her wings which began to fold back just a bit, though they flared in the far side of them, catching at the air like sails, a different way than she had landed before. Of course, she hadn't been up so high last time, either. They watched as her feet caught up to the proper speed, then held it, and then began to slow. As soon as Michael's hand released him, Tetorō was running towards her. He met her in a hug around her neck, taking the shock of her complete halt. He was rather grateful Michael had held him long enough for it to not be terrible for either one of them, then everything else was forgotten as he buried his head in her soft fur and listened to her purring for him.

There was a flutter of wings and ProudWing landed behind Purrcy, not having to only glide in himself. Footsteps passed them, then Shiroe was welcoming Nyanta and greeting ProudWing. As the others moved up as well, Touya finally put a hand on Tetorō's shoulder. "Come on, share. We've all been waiting."

Tetorō shook his head. Suddenly he was being attacked by a large rough tongue to his tender cheek. He pulled back, startled, then looked chagrined at Purrcy, who had a teasing look in her eyes. She gave him one more lick for good measure, then put a foot on his chest and pushed him over to stand on him. His eyes flew wide and he put up both hands. "No, no. I'll be good. I don't need a repeat of last time."

She grinned at him. "Glad you learned that lesson, then. The hair's nice. You decided to keep the name, I see."

Tetorō rolled his eyes. "I still can't change it yet."

She put her head down to his ear. "So you say." She let him up, blushing as he was, moving back to let the four junior officers pet her wings and give her hugs as well.

"It's enough to make one jealous, nyan," Nyanta said quietly from over Tetorō's head.

He looked up and grinned. "Even you have to share when she finally gets to come home." Nyanta nodded, his arms folded and his eyes on Purrcy.

Tetorō frowned slightly and jumped to his feet to face the felinoid and inspect him. "Wait. You're still resisting?" Nyanta's eyes snapped to his. Tetorō slapped his hand to his forehead. "Are you sure that's really healthy? The wedding's not for another six and a half days, on the last of the three days of the Pumpkin Festival. Are you going to make it that long?" He was suddenly in a headlock. "Urk! Uncle! Uncle!" Nyanta dropped him. Tetorō glared at him, rubbing his neck. "Then you'll have to put up with her sleeping with the rest of us, you know."

Nyanta's tail was stiff, but his face was uncaring. "We'll wait," he said quietly. Shiroe put a hand on Nyanta's shoulder, and the look Tetorō saw on the guildmaster's face was one of sympathetic understanding.

Tetorō calmed down. There were extenuating circumstances that Shiroe knew about. He took a breath, looking between the two of them, then nodded. "Fine. But don't let it go to cold anger and grumpiness in the meantime. We'd really not like to repeat everything from last time."

Nyanta looked back at him, then relaxed just slightly and nodded. Tetorō looked at him a little bit longer, then turned to look back at Purrcy. She was getting pet by Akatsuki and giving cheek licks back, making Akatsuki blush. Tetorō grinned. Purrcy rubbed her head on Akatsuki's face, then turned to Naotsugu. She rose and put both front paws on his chest. He braced as she stared him down face to face. Tetorō blinked. She would have had to increase over her normal large size in order to do that. She asked him a quiet question and he nodded in response, then pet her head. She touched noses with him, the dropped back down to let him inspect her wings also, which he did briefly.

Michael was next. He bowed to her and she sat on her haunches and looked at him soberly. "Did the last two make it?" she asked him.

"Yes, Hahaue," he reassured her, gesturing at the Eagles. They immediately went from rest to parade attention. She rose and rubbed against his leg, then they walked together to inspect the squadron. She walked slowly, carefully inspecting each one, nodding when she'd seen what she wanted to see and then moving to the next one. A few she stopped in front of and her eyes, then theirs, went distant.

"What's she doing?" Isuzu asked, the rest of them having joined the three of them by ProudWing.

"Testing them. Those are the ones that have learned higher level Hacker skills," Tetorō explained. "She didn't test them when she tested the rest in the city. She tested their abilities to work together as a team then. It's a shorter subset of a test, but it looks useful, nonetheless." Shiroe nodded on his other side, and so did Akatsuki as if she knew anything about it. She just liked to be sure everyone was keeping up with their skill improvements.

When Purrcy was done with the inspection, she returned to be sitting in front of the squadron. "Very good. Keep up the hard work. I can tell you're all enjoying yourselves, which is wonderful. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Tetorō shuddered. "Ah, belay that. She's awful strict and super difficult." He got hit with a lobbed bomb for that, which he quickly deflected to explode in the next building over. It took out an old pipe in that building.

Purrcy snorted a laugh. "Even you are getting better, Apprentice," she said calmly as she walked back towards them. He grinned wryly at her. She arrived in front of Shiroe, then bowed low before him, one paw sweeping to her chest, her head bowing over it. "I'm home, Heika, as ordered, before the Pumpkin Festival. My internal tasks are properly completed and the proper patches have been placed. Task five is begun. Task four is well on it's way. Task three is nearly complete. Nyanta has also passed his tests sufficiently well. I'm afraid the only one still lacking is your task eight, the parts I'm involved in. I've been a bit too preoccupied until now."

Shiroe's look for her was tender. "Thank you, Purrcy," he said, then stepped towards her and put his hand on her head. "Thank you for also letting me see you in flight. I'd hoped to see that someday."

She rose from her sitting position and turned sideways to hold out her wing. "You're welcome to feel them, too. I based them off of owl wings, though the sphinx was my example."

Shiroe crouched down and lightly ran his hand down the wing, feeling their softness. He paused when he reached the end. He was looking down. Without really looking at her, he asked quietly, "Did you see it before, then? Or...was it actually you?" Those who had faced the sphinx in the Maze of Eternity stilled.

Purrcy gently took her wing back and slowly they disappeared. She looked at Shiroe, her face and body giving nothing away. "I wonder," she finally said gently, then rubbed her head on Shiroe's face and purred. She unbalanced him and he fell to sitting on the ground, then wrapped his own arms around her neck and held her. She sat purring for him patiently until he recovered, her tail slowly swishing in small arcs.

When Shiroe had released Purrcy and was holding Akatsuki for comfort instead, she turned to face the Eagles one more time. "If you can please wait, I would like to greet you each individually once we've returned to the guild hall. We should let ProudWing return to his mate. We've kept him all yesterday and until now." When she got nods, she turned and walked to Proud Wing. She transformed into felinoid as she reached him, dressed in nice but casual clothing. She wrapped her own arms around his neck and thanked him. Nyanta also thanked him and he bid them farewell and left them there. They all watched as he rose and left the city. Then Purrcy took Nyanta's arm and they all fell into their comfortable city walking pattern when they were together.

Because Tetorō was behind her, between Naotsugu and Michael, he saw as she looked around at everyone and back behind her, then around further to see where all of the Eagles had gone. Half were walking guard around the rest of the ring. The other half had gone into scout mode all around them, even though it wasn't necessary since there was no one living in this part of the city. They just kept to their patterns and habits as a matter of course. He could see her eyes sparkling and her smile in her whiskers. She opened her mouth wide, then smacked her lips a bit. "Well...really. It does - scream yakuza." Everyone smiled.

"Okay. You really need to tell me," Shiroe said in a casual order sort of way. "Does it bother you?"

She gave her standard pause, followed by the swing of the tail. "No, Guildmaster Shiroe," it was said just as humbly as all the other times, but with all the same overtones as well.

"So...why not?" He pierced her with his look.

She smiled back. She looked over her shoulder at Naotsugu and then up at Touya and pride was in her face, body, and voice. "Because it shows the strength and solidarity of the guild Log Horizon." Touya and Naotsugu both were taken aback, but Shiroe nodded and after a bit of thought, they did too. She looked at Rudy's back, a tender look on her face for him, but her voice was the coolness of the Queen. "Because it's my right and my proper due. You as a guild promised it from the beginning, that you would properly protect me." Rudy and the other juniors turned to look at her over their shoulders with wide eyes. She looked at all of them from her proud stance, but her eyes sparkled for them. Isuzu snorted a laugh with Touya while Minori giggled behind her hand. Rudy, on the other hand, nodded in agreement that it was entirely proper.

Purrcy looked at Isuzu, who stopped looking humored and looked just a little worried instead. Purrcy tipped her head and said casually, almost flippantly, "Because I like being the center of attention. I _am_ an American after all." She lifted her head proudly, almost stalking along now. They all laughed at that, and her tail and ears flipped happily. She looked to Minori next, who also looked back with wide eyes, not sure what she would get. Almost sadly Purrcy said, "Because I know full well I'm a danger to the city and need to be held back." Minori's eyes went a little wider and her breath caught, then she slumped, giving up, nodding a little nod. Purrcy glanced at Shiroe who also nodded a calm nod.

Purrcy then looked back over her shoulder at Michael and Tetorō, and her eyes narrowed and her ears cupped and she held on a little tighter to Nyanta. "Because - secretly - I'm an absolute otaku who finds the concept of the yakuza interesting and exciting. Getting to be a member of the Japanese mafia - it's sooo cool!" Michael agreed with a smile, nodding, and Tetorō shook his head slowly at her, grinning. She grinned back. Purrcy then looked across Shiroe to Akatsuki. Akatsuki was startled to also be called out and listened with a sober expression. "Because I am an owned Summonable it is proper to show complete humility and obedience for my station and situation." The light went on for all of them as to why she always answered the question completely humble. Akatsuki in particular blinked, then almost glowed.

Purrcy then looked back at Shiroe and said, simply, "And...because at heart...I am a coward. It is comforting to stand here in the middle."

Nyanta almost fell down. Michael reached out and grabbed his outside elbow to help steady him. "Surely nyot!" Nyanta protested. She looked him in the eye and nodded soberly. Nyanta appealed to Shiroe.

Shiroe pushed up his glasses and smiled. "I resemble that myself." Nyanta blinked again in surprise, then shook his head.

They walked along quietly a little longer, nearly to the guild hall, when Tetorō had a thought. "So...you've said something for everyone but Nyanta. What's his?"

Purrcy looked back at Tetorō with wide eyes. "Well...I'm not sure I should say in public and mixed company."

Nyanta stopped her and made her turn to face him. His green eyes captured her gold ones and held them as his paw held her arm. The others stopped as well and turned to watch curiously. Nyanta's eyes narrowed and Purrcy began to just lightly tremble, her ears going back in concern. He stepped forward one step and then had to grab her with his other arm to keep her up. Tetorō wasn't sure if she was breathing rapidly or had stopped breathing. His own eyes went wide, then he slapped his hand over his eyes. "Stop, Nyanta-san. Not in front of the kids." He peeked through his fingers. Nyanta's attention had been turned to him. He sighed, somewhat in relief. "You do understand it, don't you?" he asked, putting his hand down again.

Nyanta put Purrcy back upright and on his arm again. As she recovered, he looked over his shoulder at Tetorō. "Of course," he answered archly.

Tetorō sighed. Michael busted up laughing. Naotsugu's face went deep scarlet and he looked away. Shiroe looked at all of them, then sighed and shook his head. Akatsuki looked up at him, not comprehending, but he didn't enlighten her. The four in front looked like they were trying to work it out. "Don't," Tetorō told them. "You really aren't old enough yet. Just don't."

"Really, Purrcy, really?" Michael was struggling to bring himself under control. "Being yakuza brings that out for you?"

She looked at him over her shoulder, blinking shyly, still not quite recovered. She opened her mouth, then shivered and turned back to looking forward. She held on to Nyanta's arm tightly, then took a deeper breath. She was quiet the rest of the walk back. "Really," Shiroe said quietly as he turned the handle on the door to open it and let her in, "that's a good thing, _I_ think."

Purrcy swallowed. Meekly she said, "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe."

He smiled slightly and his sharp eyes were very Machiavelli for her. "Welcome home, Purrcy," he said.

"Thank you," she answered meekly, curtsied slightly, and entered the guild hall as if re-entering her gilded cage, the Princess returning home. Tetorō caught a faint sigh from her as they filed in after her and Nyanta. She was looking up at the open part of the central area which was two stories tall. She closed her eyes, and took a breath, and he remembered how difficult it had been for her to be in this place when she had been here before.

He felt slightly bad for her, but really. She did belong here and had made them all accept her as one of them. It wasn't possible for them to let her go any longer. If they were the yakuza, she really was the yakuza Princess, and all of those things rolled into one that kept her in the middle of them all was exactly what they also now wanted, each for those reasons the same. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her middle, putting his head on her chest. "Welcome home, Hahaue," he said calmly. "Please stay with us a while this time."

Her hand settled lightly on top of his head. "You're a good boy, Tetorō. Thank you for working hard, and for staying with me, and with Nureha. I'm grateful." He felt the tears begin and he nodded. She held him while he finally cried the tears he'd been bottling up since two months before and he'd had to lock her into an earring of magical gold - a tiny prison far worse than this building.

When he'd recovered enough to sit next to Naotsugu and hold onto his arm instead of Purrcy (he was ever so grateful Naotsugu didn't mind it still - that he was still who he was inside), Purrcy turned to the twenty-three Eagles. One by one she greeted them. Each one received an individual greeting, some just a handshake and a few kind words. Some she gave hugs to and they cried like he had. Others didn't cry, but still wanted a brief hug and gave her thanks for freeing them, because it was her efforts in the main that had done so. A few she spoke at length to until they were comforted and strengthened.

Tetorō watched Nyanta and saw that he had the look on his face for her that was the same as he'd had when they worked in the kitchen those months before. Nyanta loved seeing this maternal side of his wife-to-be. At no other time did he have so much love in him as then. It wasn't too hard to understand. Everyone loved Purrcy when she was loving them with the soft love of a mother. There did seem to be something more to it for Nyanta, but then, he _was_ father. He was supposed to. Tetorō finally sighed and settled down. A big hand landed on his head and ruffled his hair. He scowled and looked up into Naotsugu's face. Naotsugu was smiling at him, a toothed smile, but it was also soft. Tetorō sighed. "Yeah, Big Brother. We're finally family again." He leaned his head on Naotsugu's shoulder.

Naotsugu patted him a few more times on the head and put his arm over the back of the couch again. He put his left ankle up on his right knee. "Now all we need is Marie to show up and yell at you for hanging on me like this again."

Purrcy walked to the door and opened it. Tetorō quickly released Naotsugu's arm and sat up a bit. Naotsugu glanced at him, wide eyed, then turned to look over his shoulder at the door. "Hey, Marie," he smiled at the person standing at the door, a hand frozen poised to knock. "Come on in. Purrcy's back."

Marielle slumped, her hand dropping. "Well, I guess that answers my question. We were wondering what would have called the entire guild out at once like that."

"Come in, dear," Purrcy said kindly. "It's your turn anyway."

Marielle shivered once, took a breath, then stepped over the threshold. Purrcy let her get into the room far enough that the people behind her could get in. Marielle was giving Naotsugu a pleading wide-eyed look. Naotsugu shook his head at her and she shivered and stopped to wait. Purrcy's arms went around Serera first. "It's good to see you looking so happy, Serera-chan," Purrcy said quietly.

Serera paused, then cautiously put her arms around Purrcy, very lightly. "Welcome home, Miss Purrcy."

"Thank you." Purrcy released her and turned her gently towards Nyanta. "I think someone's been missing you, too." Serera stiffened slightly, then looked at Nyanta who looked at her softly. She looked back at Purrcy and was given the same expression. Her eyes brightened with tears and she ran to Nyanta and wrapped her arms around his middle.

He put his arms around her in return. "We're home, Serera-chan." She just nodded, her tears preventing her from speaking.

Purrcy turned to Henrietta next, stepping up to face her calmly. She carefully read Henrietta's expressions, which went from forced politeness to fierceness to a submissive slump of surrender. Henrietta finally sighed and held out her arms without looking up. Purrcy calmly took her in an embrace. "Welcome home, Purrcy," Henrietta said almost sullenly.

Purrcy calmly pet her hair until Henrietta's trembling finally calmed down. The Machiavelli of Crescent Moon sighed and relaxed finally, then rubbed her head in Purrcy's fur. Purrcy patted her head a couple of times, then let her go. Henrietta blushed slightly, but let Purrcy go, clasping her hands before her tightly and lightly biting her lip. Every member of the Eagles was staring in disbelief, though they looked quickly away when she glanced their way.

Tetorō had to stifle a laugh and it turned into a cough. Naotsugu pounded Tetorō's back a few times to help him recover. The pain turned the laugh into something else and he slugged Naotsugu back and they had a bit of a tussle over it until Naotsugu held Tetorō down so he could watch the exchange between his fiancée and Hahaue. Tetorō respected that and held still.

Purrcy had walked up to stand before Marielle. She reached down and lifted Marielle's hand in her own and held it lightly. "Marie," she said softly. Marielle looked up into her eyes in surprise. It was the first time ever she'd been called by her nickname by Purrcy. "Have you been happy?"

Marielle blinked, then swallowed. She considered it carefully, then looked soberly at Purrcy. "Yes, Hahaue, I have been. I've also been very busy, so I keep forgetting sometimes, but yes. I'm very happy. It's a good life and there are good things waiting for me into the future. I'm looking forward to them all."

Purrcy wrapped her other arm around Marielle's shoulders and pulled her close. "Then I'm very glad," she said. "Thank you for being the light of Akiba and the love of Naotsugu. Please continue on your chosen path. May you always find the happiness you seek on it."

Marielle stood stiff in surprise for a moment, then her arms were both flung around Purrcy and she was squeezing her tightly. "Don't you never leave us again, Hahaue!" she scolded. "That was just too much!"

Purrcy stiffened in surprise, taking her turn, then she relaxed and patted Marielle's head. "Well...it wasn't my choice, you know. I did come back as soon as I could."

Marielle sniffed. "Still... Don't do it again." Purrcy smiled and continued to pet Marielle until she was ready to let go. Naotsugu grinned like a fool the whole time.

Tetorō rolled his eyes finally and looked over at Shiroe, who was sitting in his place with Akatsuki next to him, his arm around her as had become their usual way to sit together. Tetorō had wondered on occasion if it was Naotsugu's example that caused it. Shiroe was looking at the two women fondly. Tetorō caught his eye and raised an eyebrow. Shiroe nodded a simple nod.

Tetorō shifted to sit forward in his seat, clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on his knees. He looked around the room to catch everyone's attention he could and people started settling into chairs or on the floor or wherever they had become comfortable with. Adding Nyanta and Purrcy back in changed things a little again, but Purrcy went back to house cat and sat in Nyanta's lap, so that helped a little. That was comforting, too, to see Nyanta calmly petting her. Tetorō smiled, then looked back at Shiroe. "We're ready, Master Strategist. ...What's next?"

Shiroe pushed the glasses up on his nose and cleared his throat. He looked at everyone calmly. "We'll have our final wrap up meeting for the fourth floor, then we'll hear from Purrcy about what the fifth floor looks like." He looked back at Purrcy with a spark and a smile. "We already know it will be very busy."

She waved her tail happily and tipped her head. "Such smart children we have." They all grinned, though some also shook their heads. Tetorō leaned back against the back of the couch, clasped a knee in his hands, opened his mouth, and began his report.

-:-:-:-:-

The meeting went over lunch (handed around by Nyanta and Purrcy from their storage so no one had to get up and work in the kitchen while they talked) and into the afternoon. Shiroe had Purrcy go last as usual, but unusually, this time she said very little, saying she'd already said it, really, when she first arrived. She listened as closely, and as politely, as the rest of them as Shiroe listed off where they were headed and what irons were in the fire. She answered his questions as best she could, but didn't offer anything new. Finally Shiroe paused and looked at her, just a tad impatiently, or perhaps worriedly. "Really, Purrcy. Nothing?"

Purrcy rose to sitting formally on Nyanta's lap, her tail over her front feet. "Guildmaster, you've already set into motion many good things for what's coming. Until I've learned and seen with my own eyes what all of Akiba has done and how prepared they are, I don't know what can be next. Please find an appropriate time to introduce the C.E.O. of Venture Enterprises, who would like to tour all the facilities and branches of the Corporation of Akiba."

Shiroe stared at her, measuring her words. Marielle and Henrietta stared at Purrcy, blinking. They glanced at each other and pursed their lips - the universal sign of those of Log Horizon and those who worked with them that they'd just heard a secret they weren't ever going to let out without express permission. Finally Shiroe sighed. "Alright. That makes sense." He sat thinking for a moment, his finger curled at his chin. Looking over to Marielle, sitting tucked under Naotsugu's arm as always, he asked, "What day of the festival is the fashion show?"

Marielle sat up a little straighter. "We're holding it the first day, hoping to whet the appetite of the visitors from Minami."

Shiroe nodded. "Calasin - conference call." Purrcy blinked, then went down into a slightly more comfortable four legged sit, her head held upright and her ears perked forward.

It took a few seconds for Calasin to answer. "Shiroe?"

"Sorry to bother you when you're trying to get out of Minami. I thought you might be interested in knowing that the owner of Venture Enterprises has arrived in Akiba and will be here for the Pumpkin Festival. If you'd be interested in having her personally publicize her line during the fashion show, I might be able to persuade her."

There was silence, then "Purrcy's back?"

"Yes."

Cautiously, "You think she'd actually be willing to go public like that?"

Shiroe leaned back and a Machiavelli smile was on his lips. He adjusted his glasses. "My client has just requested to meet with the other guildmasters of Akiba. I think that would be a good way to introduce her, don't you think?"

"Ah, yes! Yes! I think being able to introduce the designer of H12b would be an excellent draw for that portion of the fashion show, and a good way to ease everyone into the idea. Umm...it would help if she had any new designs to add?" Calasin fished hopefully.

Purrcy sighed. "It will keep many people up all night and day without rest between now and then, and you have to say pending on all the models. I've not had the opportunity to put it properly together yet, since I only got back this morning. I anticipate using People of the Land for this next run, so even after the festival it might be a month before they arrive to you officially. For the pre-designs, I can't have them to you for at least another day, which is quite cutting it short..."

Shiroe leaned forward slightly. "What do you need to get them to him sooner?"

"To visit the Princess again." Purrcy blinked at him.

"We'll have you go there next," he said firmly. "Try to get the designs over to the sewing shop by tonight."

"They can go as late as you need," Calasin said smoothly. "They're already working around the clock. We'll just add them in."

"Very well," Purrcy replied calmly.

"We'll handle getting the word out," Henrietta pushed her glasses up on her face and pulled her pen out from over her ear to make a note on her clipboard.

"Thank you," Calasin said.

"Thank you, Calasin," Shiroe replied. "Safe journeys." He cut the connection. Everyone held their breath and watched Purrcy out of the corner of their eyes, but Purrcy didn't explode, nor did she weep or beg for clemency.

She did finally shake her head vigorously, as if to shake off a weight. "Surely, children," she said in almost a rebuke, "you don't believe I am _really_ that way. ...CEO, yes. Spoiled, no."

"Machiavelli, yes," Shiroe answered her back, calmly.

She tipped her head at him with a flick of an ear. "Which means I know how to properly stand strong in the place I should be when it's right and proper to do so."

Nyanta leaned down and whispered in her ear and her ears both went back as her head ducked. A small hiss even escaped her, surprising the rest of them, but in the next second she was relaxed again, a bit resigned. "Alright spoiled, yes, but not in _that_ way. I'm really far too practical for it." They all laughed. Her whiskers twitched. "It was fun to watch it, on occasion, however. Diva tantrums aren't something just anyone can get away with, after all. Nureha was very good at them."

Purrcy shook herself out. "So...if we're going to begin there...Henrietta, I'll leave drawing a crowd up to you. Marie, work with Tetorō on letting him know where and when I need to be. He'll be my full-time secretary from now on. Nyanta is my manager and Shiroe is the agent. All negotiations, etc., go through him. Tetorō, that means you need to contact Water Maple asap to schedule my visit. We want to go through the Princess' closet and not waste any more of her time than that. Work with Shiroe on the timing and scheduling of the tour of the facilities as well, and set those up. As part of the tour, we'll be including the fighting houses. I want to come see in person what they've all been up to and what the Eagles can do. Michael, I'll release you from duty in city to work up a demonstration with them properly, but it's your responsibility to see that the proper guard detail is in place for the fashion show. Tetorō make sure you've communicated with him on that scheduling."

Purrcy blinked at Shiroe, who blinked back. "I'd also like to tour the gate and hear what the Technicians and Hackers have figured out to date, and walk the shipyard."

Shiroe tipped his head. "Of course." His eyes sparkled at her. He was greatly enjoying getting to face her directly.

Henrietta cleared her throat. "Can we include a time for a meet and greet, or if there isn't time, for at least a signing after the fashion show?"

Purrcy wiggled her ears at Shiroe and they communicated by eyes only for a bit until Purrcy finally tipped her head. Shiroe looked back at Henrietta. "Handing out raffle tickets for a meet and greet that we can keep enclosed and highly protected would be acceptable. Hold it a few hours after her set in the afternoon."

"Have it hosted by West Wind Brigade," Purrcy added. "They may as well as our two guilds will be busy enough, I suspect." Henrietta nodded as she wrote her notes. "Make sure Shopping District 8 gets samples on mannequins set around the room as well." Purrcy's tail flipped. "I'm working up a proper entrance, now, Shiroe. Nyanta, we'll stop by Shopping District 8 on the way back from Water Maple. You'll need a proper outfit to match mine as my escort on the runway.

Tetorō narrowed his eyes at Purrcy. "Can you actually be trusted to pick out something good?"

Purrcy lifted her nose at him. "I _was_ the one to pick out the men's outfits for the wedding. I only dress in strange colors when I'm feeling whimsical. This is business."

Tetorō relaxed and nodded, folding his arms. "I'll be with you anyway."

"Just so," Purrcy said calmly.

There had been whispers coming from the Eagles since Purrcy had mentioned wanting to see them and guard duty. Now Michael raised a finger and Shiroe raised an eyebrow in return. "How many do you want on watch over her in general?" Purrcy scowled slightly and the tip of her tail flipped. Nyanta pet her until she relented.

Shiroe considered it, then said, "Four. She'll already have Nyanta and Tetorō, so that will bring it up to the full party. In hiding is fine though, when in center town, perhaps two with and two out of obvious sight. Certainly at Water Maple today, she should have the two at all times. The other two can stand guard on the front door, formally. We may as well begin to set that a little more firmly from the beginning." Michael nodded and the Eagles finished their quiet conversation.

"As far as the rest of the schedule goes," Shiroe said, and everyone tensed just a little, wondering just how far _this_ Purrcy _could_ be pushed, "The first day of the festival will be, then, your requirement to Shopping District 8 and Venture Enterprises. The second day is a joint meeting between the Round Table Council and the Ministry of Minami, followed by a joint press conference. I'll expect you at the meeting as my assistant. You won't need to be seen at the press conference, but I would like you nearby. That will be followed sometime thereafter by the graduation ceremony of the Akiba Adventurer Academy's first class. Marie will be in touch with you on those details as well." Shiroe looked at Tetorō who nodded, adding it to his notes he was already dutifully taking.

"The wedding will be the following late afternoon. Everything is prepared and the invitations have been sent. Most have been responded to. If there's time after the council meeting activities, we'll have the rehearsal that evening. If we must, we'll have it the following morning, though I understand that isn't ideal. We'll postpone holding the meeting with the Corporation Board and the tours until after our guests are gone. No one has time until then anyway." Shiroe paused and Purrcy held up a paw. He nodded at her.

"Might there be time for us to have the rehearsal before the festival, so that we don't have to slip it in while everyone is wanting to be focused on other things?" she asked calmly.

"There are two days before the train from Minami arrives," Shiroe said, and considered it. "Perhaps it could be fit into one of those days." His eyes went to Henrietta this time.

She flipped through the notes on her clipboard, then thought hard, a faint frown between her eyebrows. "Well, perhaps just before dinner tomorrow? It would pull us away from our work and remind us to eat at a reasonable hour, but not put as much stress on us as the last night to work at all would."

Shiroe nodded, and Purrcy gave a brief nod as well. It was penciled in by both her and Tetorō, and surreptitiously by a few others, notably Minori and Akatsuki, who had others in the guild to watch over. "I'll let Soujirou know," Akatsuki and Minori said simultaneously. They raised eyebrows at each other, then Akatsuki said, "I'd really like to." Minori bowed her head, releasing it to her.

Shiroe looked at her questioningly. "Is there a particular reason?"

Akatsuki clenched a hand slightly. "I would still like it if he and Purrcy could discuss the Mysteries. There hasn't been opportunity yet."

Shiroe blinked, then sat back and looked at Purrcy questioningly. "Are we ready to let the world be pushed to be more real at this time?"

Purrcy looked distant, her head cocked and an ear turned as if listening for the answer. "They are the teaching guild... Perhaps even if not, we should be ready to experiment a little more and they can help with it? If you aren't ready, can they be trusted to keep it quiet?"

"Hmm," Shiroe considered a bit longer. "I'm not sure I'm ready to cave to the concept that we need to become natural and this world needs to be made real...but, ...I do have to admit that doing the next step ought to be reasonable, and I think they can be trusted. They also have a vested interest in helping us figure it out."

Michael raised his hand. "I've already explained natural learning to this lot and they've been practicing it. Reed and some of the others have had to field questions on the battlefield and some discussions have come out of it indicating the other fighting guilds already suspect it, or are even perhaps using it to some degree."

Purrcy nodded. "All the more reason to have them push through on the experiments, then, and get them prepared to teach the beast-halves what they need to know in addition."

Shiroe put his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand. "Didn't you write that, Purrcy?"

She blinked at him. "Only a portion was copied by me from already created code." She scratched at her head with a hind leg. "Ah...how to say it...," her ears turned a few times. "When I was ordered to find a way to bring down Akiba, I went hunting. I found the code for how plagues work. It seemed sufficient to the task I'd been given so I copied it out and put it where the Plague Master could find it, after receiving approval from the Puppet Master. I can't say I'm pleased with what he did with it beyond that, but perhaps I'm glad we understood _that_ now rather than later."

Shiroe considered a bit more then finally nodded. "A secret meeting in my office, Akatsuki. We'll have us and him. Perhaps Nazuna, if you think she could handle being brought to face it directly again. Whenever he's got time, but not today or during the festival itself."

Akatsuki bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, Shiroe."

Shiroe nodded, then went into his head to review his line items. His face fell. "We're out of the food you made for us before you left, with this many more mouths to feed - though we don't mind it. Minori and the others have been doing their best to cook and more than one of the squadron has joined in and picked up a fair number of levels in cooking, but...," he appealed to both Nyanta and Purrcy.

Purrcy's ear twisted back to Nyanta. "It's possible," Nyanta said quietly, "that between us, we have enough remaining for dinner tonight, but neither of us will have much time to make a wholly new dinner tonight. Tomorrow, we should be able to begin cooking again." Purrcy nodded agreement.

"Even that would be sufficient," Shiroe said humbly.

"Then, we'll call everyone when we've returned from our errands and it's ready," Nyanta replied. The others relaxed somewhat. They were very much looking forward to having the two chefs back in-house.

"Ah!" Marielle raised her hand suddenly.

"Yes?" Shiroe asked politely.

"Can we have another joint barbecue tomorrow night? Maybe after the rehearsal? This time, we can use the grill we built. Everyone's been bringing home extra meat and other foods in preparation for it."

Henrietta frowned. "We shouldn't be wasting time partying just before the festival, Marie," she scolded.

"Well," Marielle insisted, "we have to eat something sometime, and everyone has been working hard. If we let them know they can have a reward, won't they work all the harder in the last push?" She was looked at suspiciously by many in the room. She worked hard to maintain an innocent and eager expression.

"Miss Purrcy and Nyanta-san are going to be very busy before then," Serera spoke up and then blushed as everyone's focus and attention turned to her. "I would be happy to work with the chefs of Crescent Moon to see that the meal is ready by the end of the rehearsal."

Purrcy raised an eyebrow of whiskers. "That is very kind of you Serera, and Marie." She blinked, then looked at Shiroe.

Shiroe sighed and looked apologetically at Henrietta. "I wouldn't mind it," he said, almost in a timid plea.

Henrietta looked at all of those arrayed against her, then sagged with a sigh. "Very well. Serera, if you'll head the project, I'll leave it in your hands."

Serera smiled brightly. "Thank you, Miss Henrietta. You can count on me!"

"But _no_ slacking off the next day. It's our last day to have everything ready," Henrietta was firm on this point. Everyone agreed, though it wasn't their own guild they were resigning to said fate, except Marielle's. Though, for the most part they did intend to help as much as possible on that day as well to have Akiba prepared to receive the Adventurers and visitors from Minami.


	55. Busy from the Start

Nyanta, Purrcy, and Tetorō left Log Horizon's guild hall with four guards from the Eagles. When asked how they'd decided to choose who would come, they all gave quick grins. "Division. You've got the Administration detail today, since you're going to see the Princess," Brenner answered in his soft voice.

Tetorō raised an eyebrow. "That sounds useful. Who's what?"

"I'm the chaplain and surgeon," Brenner answered. He pointed to the others in turn. "H/R, P/R and Legal, and Administrative Secretary."

Purrcy put all her attention on Brenner. "Surgeon?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered politely.

"Mmm, we'll have to compare notes. I might steal you away as my assistant on occasion." Purrcy considered the rest. "Secretary, you might make sure Tetorō knows what he's doing. Fine details are a bit hard to learn on your own. Maybe I'll have you come inside. P/R should come inside, too. You'll need to know how to get along with the Princess and her people anyway." She grinned at him slightly. "But then, that's why you came along." His eyes sparkled as he nodded back. She considered a bit more as they walked. "I'd take the other two of you inside, too, since you've got the qualifications to nose about with the servants, collecting information from them...but Shiroe wants you on the door making a visible presence." She rubbed an ear. "Well. I don't now how formal we have to be. I'd be okay with you talking to them if they want to talk to you...but not fraternize, if you know what I mean."

"It's purrobably best to be formal this time, nyan," Nyanta said calmly. "Once the understanding is set, then in later visits, when mew come in less formal circumstances, they can be allowed to relax in the kitchen with the staff, so to speak."

"Mm. Speaking of which, is it better to go as the Queen in a dress or as the CEO in the formal business suit today? I'll be being both, of course, but it's Adventurer to be dressed as the latter, not Person of the Land."

Tetorō and Nyanta both considered it. "CEO," they both said at the same time. Purrcy nodded and was suddenly in the business suit she wore to the press conference with the guildmasters after the Hacker demonstration. In her case, it was actually a pants suit, sharply tailored in a light gold color this time with a forest green blouse underneath that complemented her slim figure nicely. She also added a few pieces of exquisite jewelry - a gold choker with a large emerald fit into it and emerald earrings and a ring to match.

Tetorō whistled. "Where'd you get the gems?"

"Dragon," she said shortly. "An old one. The younger ones don't have stuff this nice, or at least not enough they'll part with it. Have to still show Queen status, even in a suit. I'll put them away after we leave. I won't need them once we're headed for Shopping District 8." She looked at her guards again. They were all suddenly in their best fighting gear. "Good job, you learn quickly," she complimented them. "But that won't work when we go casually. Show me your best that isn't fighting clothing." They complied. P/R was smart looking. He'd already picked up things for his role. The other three weren't too far off. She nodded and they switched back again. "I think...we need to get a uniform for the lot of you, though." She mused on that for a bit, then sighed. "And before the wedding."

Tetorō grimaced. "It isn't really possible, Purrcy," he said. "You're already going to have the tailors working on the clothing for the fashion show, and they're swamped from all the other things they're putting together."

Purrcy looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Apprentice. Since when is anything impossible for me?"

Tetorō stared at her, then shook his head. "No, really."

She blinked. "Copy, paste."

Tetorō froze momentarily. "No, really." Now it was said sarcastically.

Her whiskers turned up on one side. She stayed silent for about five minutes, then said, "Watch. It's done this way." Tetorō blinked then nodded he was ready. "You four, put on your most comfortable clothing that you don't mind standing around in, but will still remind you you're on duty." After a bit of thought, they all had on various casual clothing items. Purrcy made them all stop, then looked at Brenner closely.

His clothing changed to look like a smart uniform in black with gold trim. On his waist hung a thin gold sword. He blinked in surprise at what he saw. "It doesn't feel any different."

"It isn't. It just looks different," she told him. She glanced at Tetorō. He nodded again. She waved her hand and the other three were dressed exactly the same.

"Ooohh. Okay. I get it," Tetorō said.

"So, here's the template. Make sure they're all wearing it for the wedding. We'll have the tailors make them after the festival is done so they can wear them when they need to. For the fashion show, it might come down to this method as well." She got them walking again. Tetorō cast a small HP-up spell on her. The first one had cost her.

The journey from the Log Horizon guild hall to Water Maple Manor was all taken by back lanes as both were set out from the main part of the city, so they didn't pass too many other people on the way. They only considered that convenient, having mostly empty ruins looking at them with empty windows for eyes. The guards kept their eyes peeled on those surroundings, and most likely their local maps as well, but nothing much else happened on that walk. As they approached the door to Water Maple, a butler was waiting outside the door already. He bowed to them and opened the door for them. They stepped inside and he escorted them to the receiving room. The two guards assigned to watch the door stayed outside, formally on either side of the door, making the butler even more formal himself.

This time, because she wasn't here to stay long, Purrcy sat perched on the edge of the chair she chose. Nyanta and Tetorō stood behind her. The other guards took up positions outside the door to the receiving room. As soon as Princess Raynessia entered the room, Purrcy stood and walked to greet her, taking both hands in her own and kissing her on each cheek in greeting. "Princess Raynessia. It is good to see you again. Thank you for agreeing to see me on short notice."

Raynessia curtsied to her, blushing slightly at the greeting given. "It's good to have you visit again, Lady Purrcy."

"I'm sorry it must be a business trip," Purrcy said firmly. "Calasin has asked me to provide a number of last minute designs to be shown off during the fashion show at the festival. If you remember from my last visit, I was going to have the next line be based off the designs of your clothing, or rather, that of the tailors who have made your clothing. I won't have time to go and visit them until after, so I was hopeful that you'd be willing to show me what we didn't have time to look at last time."

"Yes, please, come this way," Raynessia said kindly. "Elissa has already set them out. If you like any in particular, we'd be happy to contact the tailors and arrange for you to come visit them here, if you'd like."

"That would be very helpful, I'm sure," Purrcy said politely, following Raynessia out of the receiving room.

As they passed through the sitting room, Raynessia glanced at Nyanta, a slightly worried look on her face. Purrcy paused, dropping her hand to the back of the couch they were passing. "Perhaps, Princess Raynessia, you could have Elissa and the maids bring them out here? I'm sure we don't need to be invading your personal rooms today."

Raynessia looked back at the two guards also still following, and let her eyes linger on Tetorō, who was now so obviously male. She curtsied just a little. "I would be happy to oblige, Lady Purrcy, if that is sufficient for you."

Purrcy put herself on the couch as Raynessia walked to a maid standing at the door and gave her instructions. She returned to sit across from Purrcy, her hands clasped in her lap. Another maid appeared to pour tea. The guards moved to take up positions on the wall where they could get to Purrcy quickly if she needed defending. Tetorō stood behind her again as he had when they were there before. Nyanta paused just a moment, then took the chair at the end of the low table between the couches in the seat where Raynessia had sat at Purrcy's first visit. "Princess Raynessia, have you had the opportunity to meet my fiancée, Lord Nyanta?" Purrcy asked once he was seated.

Raynessia tipped her head at him. "A few times in passing," she answered. "It's a pleasure to greet you again."

Nyanta bowed while seated. "The pleasure is myine."

"We became quite distracted last time," Purrcy commented, "but perhaps you might remember that Marielle's original intent in coming was so I could try on your dresses to see what might work for a wedding dress. That particular matter has been taken care of now, as I'm sure you remember. The wedding has been scheduled for the the last day of the festival. I presume you received the invitation?"

Raynessia's eyes lit up, "Ah, yes! I have. I've already sent the acceptance on."

Purrcy nodded. "Guildmaster Shiroe said that most have been received now. I'm afraid the guild has had to bear the brunt of the planning these last several months that I was called away on business. I just arrived this morning, so I have yet to see the guest list. I'm glad to know that they made sure you were invited, since we had already talked about it."

"I'm very much looking forward to it," Raynessia said. "All of us have been looking forward to getting together with you that day to help ready you for it."

Purrcy relaxed back into the couch and smiled. Raynessia almost fainted in relief. "I'm glad that you who are willing to call me friend are also trying your hardest. I'm sure I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to approach that particular aspect of the wedding. Rather, I'm not very good at putting myself together."

"Oh, no. You are always well put together," Raynessia protested. "Even today you are very beautiful."

"Thank you," Purrcy said modestly. "It's very helpful to have others who can offer advice and help me prepare appropriately. I'm sure you understand how relieving it is to not have to worry about such details oneself." She smiled and her eyes sparkled. Raynessia blushed lightly, but she timidly smiled back, knowing from before that Purrcy was teasing her. They agreed in such things. "I look forward to seeing what you've picked out to wear for the festival," Purrcy added, then paused as if a sudden idea had come to her.

"I'm sure it would be an imposition, Raynessia, but would it be possible to ask you to wear a few of the dress designs for the non-beast-half part of the fashion show? My designs are initially targeted to beast-halves, but Calasin regularly modifies them for the non-tailed versions. Since they are based on the Princess designs, to actually have the Princess model them would sell them quite well, I would think. You may rest assured I won't have you in anything you would feel uncomfortable in - after all, they're already what you're used to wearing." Purrcy looked hopefully at her hostess.

"Ah, well...Marielle has already asked me, of course," Raynessia seemed to wilt just a little.

"Of course she has," Purrcy said in sympathy. "Well, then, if you knew that my designs were what you were going to wear, would that perhaps make it a little easier?"

Raynessia looked up in a little surprise, tilted her head in thought, then finally said, "While I don't like my own dresses, as you well know, at least that would be of some comfort. Typically Marie has me wearing clothes very difficult for one such as I to wear, though I don't know what she's planning this time, of course."

Purrcy waved her hand as a bevy of maids finally arrived. "I'll take care of that part, if you'll say you'll do it."

"Of course, Lady Purrcy," Raynessia accepted politely.

"Thank you." Purrcy turned to look at the maids. Elissa had dressed them in the dresses and they were waiting in a line for Purrcy's will. She motioned for the first one to come near to the table. A butler moved to remove the chair opposite Nyanta's chair so that the maid could stand at that end. Purrcy looked at it closely from the front, then had the maid turn slowly. She stopped her when the back was exposed, studied that, then had her turn again. When Purrcy was done inspecting the dress, she had her stand to the side and called for the next maid.

At the completion of looking carefully at each dress, and sorting the maids into two groups, Purrcy sent one of the groups back to change again. She rose and went to the other group of maids and, apologizing for her familiarity, looked more closely at the dresses, including picking up the hems of some of them and otherwise touching them to understand their construction a little bit better. When she was done, she turned back to Raynessia. "Can you sort these by tailor for me?" she asked.

Raynessia nodded, but it was Elissa who did the sorting. There were two groups that contained most of the dresses, but also one that was singular. "If you could call these two tailors to come to visit me, I would be grateful," Purrcy asked, then pointed to the remaining one. "Who is it that did this?"

"It's a young seamstress who sent it as a gift in the hopes that it might draw business to her, I suppose," Raynessia said with a slight frown.

"Excellent. Call that one as well. I may be able to hire that one on myself. With a little training, we might be able to get a real dress that is finally comfortable enough, even for you, Princess." Purrcy's look was one of satisfied triumph. She dismissed the remaining maids and returned to the couch, but didn't sit down. She looked at Raynessia. "I'm afraid that I need to leave without staying for further pleasantries. Please let everyone know that for now Shiroe has me quite busy with requirements. I'm afraid I'll have to greet everyone the morning of the wedding." Nyanta stood, setting his teacup down on the table.

Raynessia also rose and walked with them to see them out the door. "Thank you for coming Lady Purrcy, Lord Nyanta," she bowed her head slightly.

"Thank you for letting us impose," Purrcy said kindly, and they were gone. Raynessia slumped against the wall for just a moment, then pushed herself up and wove her way to the sitting room to slump on the couch. While she was worn out, she was somehow also relieved. Purrcy had been much easier to hostess by herself, and everyone with her behaved in ways Raynessia understood. It hadn't been anywhere near as confusing a visit as her usual ones with Adventurers.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Faintly her heart reached for one Adventurer she couldn't believe she still wanted to see. He was certainly the most difficult one to deal with. But, like Purrcy, he at least behaved like a noble towards others, even if not towards her necessarily. She wondered if he was ever going to come back. It had been over a year now. She sighed again and set the thoughts aside. Not thinking was much more pleasant.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy sighed and put away the jewelry. "Would it be better to walk through town like this, or shall I hide as kitten in public for now?" she asked. "I would rather do the latter so I can work on the designs while they're still fresh in my head."

Nyanta paused, pulling her to him. While he held her, she transformed to cat, resting against his chest, then went little. He held her curled up in the crook of his arm, where she was such a small black spot she was not really noticeable at all.

"Well, that's a better way to carry her than I did," Tetorō said with a wry grimace. "I couldn't do it that way now, though." He looked away as they walked casually towards the center market district. "I did try to think of other ways. It was my preference to keep my hands free. I thought a bag might work, except if it got stolen and she woke up grumpy we might have too large a problem on our hands." Nyanta was quite in agreement. Tetorō grinned at him. "If she wasn't grumpy, she'd reform the thief and they'd live the rest of their lives grateful they'd done it, as well as atoning for that and all other sins. Or so I figure."

Nyanta gave a wry smile to that. "Purrobably. It is hard to nyot take her scoldings to heart."

"Oh? Has she scolded you?" Tetorō asked.

"Mm, nyan, nyot so much. More like in how she lives her life, everyday I'm being pushed."

Tetorō nodded. "That's understandable." He called up a chat. "MarketMaker, we're on our way. Just wanted to give you a heads-up. ...Yup. You're welcome. See you soon." He called up another. "Shiroe, just done at Water Maple and headed for Shopping District 8. It went very well. A calm visit. She's asked the Princess to model the same clothing for the non-beast-half part of the fashion show, preempting whatever Marie wanted her to wear, thus saving the sensibilities of the Princess, and she's agreed. Purrcy's already at work. Also, she's chosen a uniform for the guards. I'm to make sure they're properly dressed in it for the wedding, but she'll get the tailors working on it after the festival. That's a new spell she's taught me - Copy-Paste. ...Yeah, it works for visual, too. Interesting, huh? It's based on the tag change she showed us first, way back when, for now until the real things can be made."

Shiroe was suddenly hovering in the air in front of them in a small window. He inspected the guards closely, then nodded. "That'll do. She does have good design sense. Are the swords real?"

The guards shook their heads. "At best props, but we can't draw them. If we got in a fight, we'd pull our own weapons out."

Shiroe frowned. "Then how's she going to handle that when it comes to the real part?"

A little kitten head popped up from the crook of Nyanta's arm. "The blacksmiths can have them done without too much trouble. They're based on the same design my knives are. They are so used to making those, these should be easy. We can stop by there, too."

"You're going to break my bank again, Purrcy," Shiroe scolded.

"Not really. You should know that by now, Shiroe. I'll negotiate for the uniforms based on the increased income from the new line, and the blacksmiths have been waiting for the next thing for a while now. I suspect they aren't too busy right now. As a matter of fact, if we slip in there first, they can get started right now. We might be able to have them by the wedding." Purrcy was moving fast as usual. Shiroe waved a hand in silent approval and disappeared.

The grouping turned at the next corner, modifying their direction slightly. "MarketMaker, we've had to make a detour. It shouldn't take long, though. ...'Kay." Tetorō put his hands behind his head. "You know...they haven't fought yet. It's rather nice."

"They don't have to for apurrances sake any more," Nyanta said, though he sounded just as pleased.

They arrived at the Marine Organization blacksmithy a short time later. Tetorō lead them to the section that had come over from Grandale. Before they got really noticed, Nyanta motioned to the others to surround him and he put the kitten on the floor. When he was out of the way sufficiently, Purrcy transformed back, still in her business suit. The men moved again to let her through and she walked over to a specific blacksmith. All of them who saw her stopped swinging hammers and working their bellows until that whole section was gathered around her, greeting her heartily. She greeted them, just as happy to see them.

"I don't know what your workload is, but I've rather suddenly come into a need for thirty swords and four daggers. I need them ready by the middle of the third day of the festival." The blacksmiths blinked but waited. She turned and waved at the guards. "They need to look like that when completed. Hang on and I'll pull out a prototype." She closed her eyes and held out her hands palm up. After a bit a long narrow sword appeared. It was similar to a katana in thinness, but was slightly curved. "It's based more on the curved blade of Europe that appeared for more formal situation after guns were invented, but I'd like the blades constructed in a similar manner to the scalpels. The knives should be long and narrow as well, but don't need to be curved. They're meant for ladies who know how to fight, but don't necessarily know the sword."

"The gold color is important, since they're formal uniform blades and scabbards. They need to not break if they have to be really used, though. I'm not looking for cheap imitations. Use the same spell as I gave you for the scalpels, but add a thick wrapper to it since these are larger. If you need an ingredient to make them magic swords, let me know. I'd like that bonus on them."

"If you've got more dragon scale, that works best. It keeps them strong and adds the magic component," the head blacksmith said.

Purrcy "put" a box on the floor in front of them. "Make mine at least plus five. Any you make to sell after that, no more than plus three. Also make mine to resist magic."

The head blacksmith rubbed his chin. "The dragon scale will help with that, but we might need one more ingredient."

Purrcy rubbed her head, one ear flicking, then a stoppered urn, about four gallons in size, appeared in front of her. "Quench the blades in that," she ordered. "Intend for a permanent coating of magic resistance of a specific level. The higher the level, the faster you'll use it up. Considering how many blades I want, it might have to be just an additional plus three to whatever you can get from the dragon scale. If you'll show me the base material, I'll set the flavor text now so it's easier for the form to flow."

The head blacksmith turned to several of the journeymen. "Go get the mithril." Tetorō and Nyanta both raised eyebrows. That wasn't an easy metal to come by. To make thirty-four blades out of it would be normally a very expensive proposition. Three boxes were brought back.

Purrcy held her hands out over them and they glowed for a few seconds. "Make the chains to hold the blades to the belts and the scabbards out of the same material, with an added bonus of 'can't ever lose' so they can't be pilfered." Another box appeared next to the three already in place and it glowed as well. A smaller box appeared on top of it. "Add that to those. It will help with the bonuses I'm looking for."

"Mmm...for those to be added in...we might not get it done by then," the head blacksmith shook his head.

Purrcy turned around and looked at the rest of the large shop. "What are they doing? The chains can be done by apprentices, as you well know. As soon as the plate is made, a journeyman can form the scabbards."

"What will you pay them?" the head blacksmith asked, his look going shrewd.

Purrcy gave him a _look_. "You'll pay them in knowledge. I'm sure they've already gotten grumpy with the fact you guys can get your work done in a fraction of the time they can."

The head blacksmith's face fell a bit. It was obvious he wasn't quite ready to give up that secret. Purrcy folded her arms. "BigMusclesBill, I know you love having your secrets as much as any blacksmithing guild would, but I need everyone going at that speed before we leave again. This next time we're going overseas and so is all the product. I need to have the whole place working on metal-bound and reinforced trunks to carry the product in so it can survive a bandit or pirate attack and come through not only unscathed, but unstolen. You'll use the same spell on those as on the sheaths and chains, but it will take this whole shop to make enough of them for the caravan in the short amount of time we have between the end of the festival and when we go. Teach it. You guys can't do it on your own anymore, as much as I love you all. Please don't try to carry all of Akiba on your backs alone. Let them help you."

BigMusclesBill rubbed his hand on the back of his head, looking at Purrcy unhappily. Finally he sighed. "Fine. But you still have to come to us first with new products and ideas."

"Done," she said with a firm nod. "I would anyway, you know." He held out his large calloused hand and she shook it firmly. "Thank you," she said, looking at him in the eye, then at the rest of them. "Deliver the final products to Log Horizon's guild hall." She got a nod and she turned her group away to walk out. When they were out from where eyes could see, she was tucked in Nyanta's arm again and Tetorō was casting a healing spell on her.

-:-:-:-:-

This time they made it to Shopping District 8 without interruption, though a few people greeted them on the street. "Well, all the guilds are going to know at least you're back," Tetorō said to Nyanta. "We've finally passed the last of the spies. It's awfully hard to not get through that gauntlet." The guards looked at him with interest. "This is my zone to work for information gathering," Tetorō explained, "so I know all of them and they all know me. Normally they would have stopped me to ask questions, but since we're on business, they left us alone, except to see if we might be convinced to mix a bit of casual in. That wasn't prudent today." The guards nodded understanding.

They walked into Shopping District 8, nodded at the front clerk and kept going. It was just almost habit now. As soon as the door between the shop and the warehouse was closed, Purrcy was standing next to Nyanta, her arm around him and his around her, though he blinked in a little surprise that it was so. The assistant over sales was walking quickly over to them. "Thank you for coming to visit Shopping District 8," MarketMaker said with a polite bow.

"I've got the prototype designs ready," Purrcy said without preamble. "Then we need to visit my section briefly."

"Very well, this way, please," MarketMaker turned and led them a new direction and out a side door, across a narrow alley, and into a new building. It was open and very noisy with sewing stations set in rows in a space as large as the entire warehouse of Shopping District 8. It wasn't all sewing station, though, since there were also shelves for holding supplies, such as fabrics, materials, thread, notions, and tools of the trade. There was also a snack and beverage bar tucked away in one corner.

MarketMaker gave a whistle and the room quieted down. "Purrcy's here. Who's open enough to take her stuff?" Most hands went up. "Yeah, right," he said, disbelieving.

Purrcy put her hand on his arm, then stepped forward. "I don't want perfection this run. Just enough to keep it on the model's body while walking down the runway, and so that if it's looked at on the mannequin they get the general idea. These are prototypes. I may change them as we get into full production. We'll go to full production after the festival. I do need a set for beast-halves, and another set for non-beast halves. Princess Raynessia will model those; I'm sure you already have her measurements. I'll be watching the runway just as closely as everyone else to see if they worked. Don't slack off on the stuff that's supposed to sell just to get these done. If corners need to be cut, cut them on mine this time."

Purrcy began to walk the desks. Every so often she would leave behind the design - a floating three-dimensional image of the dress she wanted on a form so the lengths of skirts and such things could be understood. When she was done with dresses, she kept going until there were almost as many male formal outfits as well. "Again, comfort is paramount in the final run. Try to get close this time so there's less work next time." She stopped at one particular section and conversed for a time on a different project, then returned to Nyanta at the front of the warehouse. "Thank you everyone. Good luck!" She waved and got waves back, though most people were back to work already.

"Is there a new hole spell?" MarketMaker asked before they walked out.

Purrcy shook her head. "No. That last one seems to work fine. Have you had any complaints?"

"Not really," MarketMaker shook his head.

"Then we'll let it stand for now. If anyone does have any suggestions, get with me and I'll see what I can do." Purrcy offered.

They went to H12b next and Purrcy quickly walked down the section until she pulled out a rack. She scanned it and pulled out a particular femfelinoid outfit and handed it to MarketMaker. Then she moved to the male section and pulled out several racks, hunting, until she found three outfits. She gave them to MarketMaker as well. Then she looked at him with her negotiator's look on her face and he braced himself.

"Calasin didn't include the non-beast-half line in my contract he made with Shiroe. I want these," she pointed to the outfits in his arms, "under the original agreement, but I need thirty-two of these outfits, one of them a skirt version, as soon as you're done with the sewing for the fashion show." She pointed at the guards. "Until Calasin arrives to renegotiate, that contract is still open ended, so they'll be no charge to me, also under that same agreement that anything I want until the contract is completed is mine for the asking."

MarketMaker's face fell, and his shoulders slumped. "I did warn him it would come back to haunt him."

"Well...we'll see how long he lets it continue for. Maybe he likes it this way," Purrcy shrugged. She held out her hand and a model of the uniform appeared in her hand. "I've got the swords, scabbards, and chains taken care of already. When you're ready for this project to begin, let the lads and ladies have this." The image disappeared into a small box that MarketMaker took from her. Tetorō took the four outfits from MarketMaker, who winced to see them go. "Thank you for letting me interrupt," Purrcy said politely.

MarketMaker bowed to them. "Thank you for doing business with Shopping District 8." He sighed as they turned and walked out. Log Horizon was such a difficult and demanding guild, but what they left behind them was always too good to complain. He would definitely have to scold Calasin, though...or just let the leak continue as a punishment to him. Maybe he'd just keep a tally for now so he could train Calasin properly later. It was really a first to have comfortable almost casual clothing based on the princess and prince looks. It should sell fairly well. Particularly with Purrcy herself selling it and Princess Raynessia supporting the effort.

He carefully tucked away the model of the uniform where it wouldn't get lost and made a reminder to himself to see they were started properly on time. They would be a good addition to that line as well. Royalty needed royal guards after all. ...Hmm...and then maybe they could sell them to the nobles of the People of the Land as well...that would add more to their coffers, too... He sighed. Purrcy had known what she was doing - again. Maybe she was right. Maybe Calasin did want the leak on purpose. It might be his incentive to her to keep bringing them new ideas and more profits. She hadn't really asked for much more in payment than the percentages of the other contract, and perhaps even less. Yes, for now he'd only keep a tally.

-:-:-:-:-

This time, Purrcy stayed on Nyanta's arm. "Can we have a date?" she asked him, blinking calmly.

"Ah," his whiskers and tail twitched, "I would think a small visit to a café would be acceptable, on the way."

Tetorō looked at them. "Should I continue on, then, with the purchases?"

"After we've passed through the gauntlet again," Nyanta said firmly. "Otherwise mew'll get swamped with requests."

"True," Tetorō agreed. "Especially if she's on your arm back through the market."

"Just say you lot were fetching me from outside the gate," Purrcy said calmly. "That's what usually happens when I get back, after all. Why wouldn't Nyanta and I want a quiet date at our first meeting again? Really everything to now has been rather normal as well. It's just new guilds I've visited the same as the old because they were all reset since last time I got back." It made sense. Tetorō left them at Nyanta's chosen café, after making sure Purrcy was back up to full HP. He really didn't know how she did it before he was around. She created magic spells as if they were simple things to just throw around.

The city was really coming together for the festival, with most of the market stands up and nearing ready now. Everyone had gotten an early start for it this time, probably out of a sense of urgency since Minami would be coming. Boxes of street decorations were being set out now by the construction crews. By the next day almost all hands would be working on putting them up and around the streets of the main market part of town.

Tetorō hoped it would be an uneventful festival, other than all the planned events. He kept his ear out for conversations and his eye out for furtive folks, though. They'd already lived through the first festival being nearly sabotaged and several others being stirred up in ways they didn't need. He passed Touya, Naotsugu, Minori, and Serera hard at work. They gave him thumbs-up and he smiled at that. Nothing to say there was going to be underhanded works just yet, then. It was the same when he passed Isuzu and Rudy, who were more actively doing intelligence gathering work this afternoon.

Of course, once he was walking on his own back home he wasn't going to get by untapped. Rieze and Nazuna both caught up to him, one on either side, boxing him in. "So...what's going on?" Rieze asked smoothly, fingering her sword as if that kind of threat would work on him.

"Did you stop by Water Maple already?" he asked back, looking at them from the corners of his eyes and not slowing down. They looked at him impatiently. "Nyanta got back this morning. We just picked up Purrcy at the gate like normal and took her to her usual stops. She and Nyanta have about a half-hour reprieve, but Shiroe put her to work as soon as she was on her way, so they're super busy. I'm afraid it's wait until the morning of the wedding to get to visit with her until after everyone goes home and the streets are swept. You know how it gets at festival time. It's no different for them."

"Is there going to be time for us to take her out to actually enjoy the festival?" Nazuna complained.

"Mmm," Tetorō ran through the schedule in his head. They were asking the right person for once. "She's got evenings free the first two days. You already know the third day's full up. The first night might be best. By the second we'll need to put her to bed early so she doesn't explode on her wedding day."

Rieze sighed. "Only evenings, eh? Shiroe really is the task master, isn't he?"

"Well, she carries some of the blame, I suppose," Tetorō admitted, "but he is rather relentless."

"Well," Nazuna said, "we can schedule the festival activities to be the first evening then. She should be allowed to enjoy it like the rest of us at least a portion of the time."

Tetorō wondered just how much of the other activities that were planned for her she would enjoy regardless, and how much they would be like business. Most of her seemed to be business, actually, except when she was being Hahaue in the kitchen. Even that was being held back right now. They were likely to wear her out early. He nodded. "I think taking some time to relax would be good for her. She isn't likely to get much of that at home, either, before then."

"Is he even going to let them have a honeymoon?" Rieze pierced Tetorō with a glare meant for the Machiavelli.

Tetorō tipped his head. "Well...if we make them stay home and not help with clean up the first day after their wedding, that one day will likely be it for a while."

"One day!" both ladies cried, scandalized, "That's all?!"

"Poor Purrcy," Nazuna shook her head sympathetically.

"Well...that is rather her normal speed," Tetorō said a little timidly, not wanting to be a target. "If Shiroe doesn't keep her busy, she comes up with things herself - and not always for the better." He wasn't sure it was completely true. She did feel like she had to get things done in town quickly in case she was needed outside of it again, and he was certain she still wasn't ready to be locked down in town longer than necessary. The quicker she could get things done, the better as far as that was concerned. It was already looking like it was going to be at least two weeks again before she could get leave to go, and they might all be going together this time.

Rieze and Nazuna seemed to buy that excuse, though, and nodded then let him go after a bit more pumping for information he wouldn't give them. He finished his walk in peace and went straight to put the clothes he'd brought with him in Nyanta's room, hanging them up on the clothing rack there. Then he wondered why he was still carrying the clothing for them when they could have just put it in their lists. He shrugged and left the room. It wasn't like he'd offered to turn the clothes over to them.

He tapped on Shiroe's door and let himself in. He gave his report, then took himself to the couch in the main area, lay down on it, and studied the spells Purrcy had cast that day until the other six he'd been with showed back up. Then he sent the four guards off to join Michael and the other Eagles at their practice. He made Purrcy lie down on his chest as small housecat and sleep, and sent Nyanta in to talk to Shiroe. It was nice to finally get to just pet Purrcy again and listen to her purr in her sleep. When Nyanta came out of the office he looked at them for a moment, then headed to the kitchen to refamiliarize himself with it. He really couldn't feel like he was home until he was there, in his own domain.

Eventually, some timer went off inside Purrcy and she woke up, stretched, licked Tetorō's chin and hopped off him to head for the kitchen as well. Tetorō sat up and tried to start waking up as well. He made a brief stop at the bathroom, then sat back down on the couch. The twins and tank showed up first. After settling in, Naotsugu joined Tetorō on the couch with a smile. Tetorō smiled backwhile leaning on one leg tucked up on the couch in front of him, a hand holding the ankle. "You look like you're still trying to wake up from a cat napping on you," Naotsugu accused lightly.

"Yup," Tetorō said happily.

Naotsugu rubbed Tetorō's head briefly and leaned back contentedly. "That's a good thing." Tetorō nodded. Touya and Minori passed by chatting happily on their way to the kitchen to help with getting things ready. They glanced at Tetorō on the way and relaxed just a little more to see him smiling and relaxed.

Touya did pause and jerk a thumb at Shiroe's door. "Any arguments today?" he asked briefly.

"Nope!" Tetorō said brightly. Touya had a slow smile come on his face and Minori sighed in relief. They entered the kitchen happy and by the sounds coming from that room, things stayed that way.

Michael and the Eagles showed up next. They washed up and immediately began setting up the additional tables and chairs - half of them. The other half vanished to the kitchen as well, though most of those were almost immediately ejected. With Hahaue and Chichue in the room, the additional hands weren't quite so necessary. Isuzu and Rudy arrived last and quickly washed up to join the rest of them. They were also relieved to see the pair on the couch being relaxed. As Rudy looked around the rest of the room, his eyes lit on the four who were still in their "uniform" and his eyes widened. He swung around to look at Tetorō.

Tetorō smiled. "That's the new uniform of the house of the King and Queen. We'll all get the real things after the festival, when the tailors have the time to work them up. Those are just illusions for now that haven't been taken off them yet. Like it?"

"Yes," Rudy said, "it's past time that we had proper official clothing to represent our house appropriately. I shall be proud to wear that uniform."

Naotsugu waved a hand. "Slow down a bit, Rudy boy. We won't wear it all the time, just when on official business they send us on. You know Adventurers aren't that formal."

Rudy's face fell just a bit, then he lifted himself up again. " _I'm_ always on official business."

Isuzu hit him lightly. "If you're going information gathering and walk around in that, you'll be ignored and won't hear anything useful. Only wear it when you're told to."

Rudy rubbed his head. "Of course, Lady Isuzu."

Isuzu looked at Tetorō. "What about us girls?"

Tetorō tilted his head. "The same. She only ordered one with a skirt, though. That's probably for Minori, is my guess. You'll get pants. If you don't want, let her know, or me, and we'll get that changed."

Isuzu waved a hand. "That's fine. The sword too?"

Tetorō shook his head. "Long daggers for the ladies." Isuzu nodded, content, and dropped into her chair.

"How much is it going to set me back?" Shiroe and Akatsuki had come into the room as well, now. Shiroe asked the question as he reached his chair and sat down.

"Nothing, for the uniforms," Tetorō answered. "She's used a loophole for those. I'm not sure on the blades, but I think nothing there, too. At least a payment wasn't asked for at the time. She did leave behind a box of dragon scale and an urn of something I didn't even recognize, as well as another box of something you don't want me to name. Of course, they're supposed to be used for her stuff. She did give them the new blade instructions, and a pre-order for travel trunks, and an order to share their secrets. So I'm not sure where the balance ended up. We'll find out when the blades arrive, I suppose."

"When's that supposed to be?" Michael asked, looking at them like they were toothpicks and not really useful.

Tetorō smiled a smug smile. "In time for the wedding." Michael looked up at him in surprise. "And they aren't props. They're the real deal. She set the flavor text while they're just mithril ingots. They're magic swords and are magic resistant, will have bonuses, and can't be stolen from their owners, or lost." He looked at Shiroe. "You might want to plan in time for the next court. I think she's going to go for the formal one this time."

Shiroe looked at Tetorō with wide eyes, then slumped onto his elbow, propping up his chin in his hand. "When's available?"

"Well...the night before the wedding, but she said they could bring them midday that day...so...do you think she might want to do it once everyone's all dressed up but before the guests show?"

"That would be about the latest," Rudy said. "She'll want everyone properly positioned before we're in front of the People of the Land delegation."

"That's true," Shiroe said with a nod. "Check with the blacksmiths, though, and see if they can be ready the afternoon before. That second night might be better."

"Fine, but we have to be done early that night, or she's not going to make it the next day. The Water Maple ladies asked to have her the first night to let her have her bachelorette party just playing at the festival." The girls brightened up at that news. "She needs to have some time to rest." Shiroe nodded to that, too.

"Hmm," Naotsugu rubbed a cheek. "Bachelorette party is it? I wonder what we should do for Nyanta?" He glanced at Shiroe, who looked back at him with wide eyes. Shiroe went a bit resigned. "He's a closet pervert, too, so...we should definitely make sure we -" He was suddenly head down vertical against the tree behind him.

"May I knee the pervert in the face, Shiroe?" Akatsuki asked, pointing at the man slowly peeling off the tree and floating to the floor like a piece of paper.

"At least ask _first_!" Naotsugu complained. "And it's a common bachelor party, besides."

"Not in Akiba!" Isuzu scolded roundly. "Don't even think it again, Naotsugu!"

Naotsugu sat on the floor rubbing his head where the knee had made contact. He raised an eyebrow at Isuzu. "Even you, huh? It's that bad?"

Both females in the room scowled at him, hands on hips. He held up a defensive hand. "We'll think of something good," he promised. When they looked away, he looked at the Eagles and winked. They all looked sly until they were looked at. Then they just looked innocent.

Shiroe shook his head. "Just remember...he won't take kindly to Naotsugu's idea of fun. And Naotsugu can't take it either, in the end." He looked significantly at Naotsugu as the Guardian sat back down in his place. "Remember, your bachelor party is after his. If he's offended, you might regret it when it comes time for yours."

"Ah," Naotsugu checked himself. "Right. He is that way, isn't he?" He slumped in defeat. "Well...I could just blame it on someone else." Everyone looked at him with narrowed eyes. He gave up just as the kitchen crew entered the room carrying the food and drinks. Eyes lit up around the room at the delicious smells coming with them. Soon they were all quiet except for the sounds of happy eating.

-:-:-:-:-

That night, after clean up was completed, Nyanta and Purrcy sat with Shiroe and Akatsuki in Shiroe's office room and visited pleasantly. Purrcy sat in Akatsuki's lap as kitten so Shiroe could pet her. Akatsuki also tentatively, and with repressed delight, pet her - it being her first time to have the courage and opportunity to pet Purrcy's kitten form. When Nyanta shifted, Purrcy went back to him and cuddled next to him while the four talked of casual things. They didn't stay overly long, however.

Purrcy said goodnight to Nyanta outside Shiroe's door, then shifted to cat and ran up the tree in the middle of the room. Nyanta sighed and walked himself to his room to put himself to bed. Purrcy visited with Tetorō first, purring him to sleep while he held her as big cat. When he was asleep, she transformed to small cat, slipped out of his hold, and left his room. She wandered from room to room on that floor, learning who was in which room. If she found someone awake, she stopped by to visit briefly, then moved on until she'd reached the sixth floor and the last room.

Then she took herself up on the roof and climbed the tree until she was in an upper branch. She gazed out over the lights of the market district until her eyes were heavy and finally closed in sleep. She wanted to wake up with Nyanta in front of her the next morning, but knew she wouldn't. They still had to wait for a week. It was a thing they'd promised each other a long time ago, when they had first talked openly with each other.

ProudWing had willingly stayed as their chaperone the night before, and they'd slept on either side of him, tucked up in his warm fur and feathers. They wouldn't have made it otherwise. Tonight wasn't quite so bad with all the guild around them to help them. They'd keep busy, too. The time would surely pass quickly.


	56. More Baby Steps Towards Real

Purrcy ran down the tree. She'd left the trap door open that night before and it slammed shut behind her on her way down, she was moving so fast. It wasn't so loud, but it must have been enough. Nyanta was turned to face her by the time she skittered into the kitchen, transformed, and wrapped her arms around him. "Good meowrning," Nyanta said, his arms holding her warmly.

She sighed happily and her ear brushed against his furry head as it flicked a 'good morning' back. She pulled back to look at him, a smile on her face. "Good morning!"

He smiled to see she was happy. He gave her a kiss then leaned over to whisper in her ear. "I can tell mew aren't really back yet." Her ear tipped a question as her tail curled to the question mark as well. "Clothes, nyan?" She immediately was embarrassed and quickly put on one of her favorite casual dresses. "Better," he said, a chuckle in his voice. He released her and rubbed her head. "Sometimes, mew remind me of my son when he was two."

"What should I start on?" she asked him.

"We'll have fruit and omelette this meowrning," he answered, returning to his eggs.

Purrcy pulled out as much fruit as she could find and the cutting boards and knives. The kitchen had gotten several new tables so that there were enough work surfaces for when all the kitchen assistants were in the room at once. A larger stove, oven, and sink had also been installed. As she pulled out a large bowl to hold the cut fruit, she nodded. "My second was like that, too. I was always chasing after him out the front door as he went streaking out of the house, naked. Then he'd hit the grass in his bare feet and wail at the touch, trying to walk without putting his feet down. He just hated being touched by anything in general for a while, until I figured out that if I massaged him after every bath his skin got used to it, like it needed to be calloused or properly calibrated. It still took a while to get him to keep clothes on, though. Shoes almost never unless he was actually walking in them. I think he's wearing sandals he can kick off now pretty exclusively." She looked up and grinned at Nyanta. "I'll get back to being used to it by tomorrow, I would think, the next day at the latest. Keep reminding me, though. In my case, it's just habit."

Nyanta nodded, giving her a happy glance as fed the last of the egg shells to the Salamander that heated the oven. He added a few spices, then pulled out his whisk and began whipping up the eggs. She kept up the flow of happy conversation, for all it was mostly one-sided. It was their morning pattern here at home.

It was actually a group of Eagles who showed up next in the kitchen. "Who set off the firecracker this morning?" one asked.

Purrcy looked up in surprise. "Oh, that was me. Sorry. I was in such a hurry that I didn't take care with the trap door. I'll try to be more thoughtful from now on."

"Oh, is that what is was?" another said. They all looked at each other. "We'll fix it." It was said with quiet finality.

"Ah...as long as that means to make it quieter, not to seal it up?" Purrcy asked hesitantly. She could feel her fur beginning to stand on end.

They blinked at her. "Of course," she was reassured.

"Purrcy, come help me cook the egg," Nyanta requested quietly. "They can cut, now they're here."

Purrcy scanned their Cook levels. Satisfied, she nodded and moved over to take out a second pan and pick up a spatula. Nyanta poured out his measure for his pan and then poured the rest in her pan. Once the bowl was set aside, and he was back at his place, he reached over and brushed a paw down the back of her head and over her back. As his paw left her, her tail curled up to grasp his wrist. He tugged lightly and she took a half-step closer so he could have the distance he needed to hold the handle of his pan.

Purrcy frowned at her pan. "You know. I'm not sure I've made omelette here yet. You'd better run down the instructions just to make sure I don't fail on this try." She stepped closer to him and watched closely as he instructed her over his pan, letting his voice soothe her until she was calm again. She gave him a kiss in exchange for the instructions, then moved back to her pan to light the fire under it and begin cooking.

She was suddenly being held about the middle. She twisted around to see Minori smiling and looking up at her. Purrcy wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders. "Good morning, Minori-chan." She bent down to kiss the top of her head. "It will all be ready quickly today, I think."

"Good morning, Hahaue!" Minori said cheerfully. "We'll get started on table setting right away, then."

Purrcy released Minori, who moved, and then was replaced with Touya. "Hmm...good morning Touya," Purrcy said thoughtful. "That wasn't right, you know."

"What wasn't right?" he asked, a bit crestfallen.

"You're not tall enough. You should already be almost at least another foot taller. It should have been a hug around the shoulders by now for your age. I'm going to have to work on that. A spell that lets our children grow properly so they don't always look like children for the rest of the years they are here. Otherwise, when you go home, you'll stumble all over yourself trying to get used to the giant you'll be there."

He looked at her open-mouthed. "Well, as long as we don't stumble all over ourselves with a sudden growth spurt here," he requested.

Purrcy laughed. "Of course you will. You would at home, too. I can't count the number of times I had children crying over stubbed toes and bruises from spaces that were suddenly too narrow. I'll make it slow enough growth to match that as much as possible, though. Having a sudden one foot growth will be too much, you're right about that."

Touya smiled back. "Well, it would be nice, but it won't make that much a difference for me either way."

Purrcy rubbed his head. "Even so. Balance is still different. I should know. I'm not this tall at home. Nyanta isn't either, and he was in a bed, so it was even harder for him."

Touya looked from her to Nyanta in surprise, then back again when he got a faint nod of agreement. Purrcy rubbed his head again as Minori called for him to come help her with setting the table. He left to go help and Purrcy returned to her cooking. In short order they had food ready and Nyanta was calling everyone to the tables.

Once they were all seated and eating, everyone ran through their plans for the day. At some point Purrcy paused and lifted her glass, staring at the liquid inside it, thinking hard. "What is it?" Shiroe asked her after a bit.

Purrcy came back out. "Eh? Oh...it was a manga theory that if a Japanese person drank lots of milk as a child, it would help them grow tall. I was wondering if that really worked or not, since most Japanese are lactose intolerant, being from a nation and blood-line that doesn't naturally have milk products and doesn't digest them well. Milk is a whole food, containing sugars, proteins, and fats all in one package, plus has the calcium necessary for bone growth, so it actually _should_ be true. It's just I would expect it to make the Japanese child who had to drink it rather ill."

"Well...we aren't currently in Japan are we?" Shiroe responded mildly.

"Oh," Purrcy perked up, "no, we aren't are we? Well, then, I think I'll try that method then. It will be an easier one."

Touya looked at her. "Magic milk?"

Purrcy smiled at him. "Yup. I'll have to put a limiter on it, like an age as well as height limiter. That will be the hard part for any spell I use, though. I just thought if it was made available through a potion-like medium, then it could be used that way - by someone who was ready or interested. If each glass had a set maximum, like half an inch or two centimeters, then you could grow as slow or as fast as you were comfortable growing, and space it out properly, adjusting as you went."

Shiroe nodded. "I'm about that too tall here, too: a few centimeters. I kept tripping the first day or so of walking around town until I got used to the differentials. Reach makes a difference, too, not just height. It took a while to get used to how to grasp at a cup without spilling it. I had to focus down pretty hard for the first few days on that, too. You're looking to help people grow, Purrcy?"

Purrcy nodded and explained it to him. He nodded thoughtfully and Akatsuki had an interesting look on her face. "Would it be making the world more real?" he asked her.

"Probably," her face didn't give anything away, "in some ways, though it's still artificial and through magical means. If they started growing based on the more difficult magic I initially thought of, then it would be more like the real growth." She looked down the table at Rudy. "Have you kept properly growing, Rudy?"

He paused his eating and put his hand on the top of his head, a wondering look in his eyes. "I don't know. I haven't been measuring it."

"Stand up," Isuzu stood up, next to him as usual.

He stood up next to her and she looked up at him. "Not much, if he is at all."

"For over a year now?" Isuzu nodded and sat, Rudy sitting again as well and going back to his meal. "How tall is your father?" Purrcy asked Rudy.

He considered it. "Probably still another half-head taller than me, or perhaps more."

Purrcy nodded. "You should be at least another inch taller in that one year if not more, then. So the sub-class slowed you down. I wonder why?" She mulled on that while returning to her own plate. "All the creatures and People of the Earth grow."

"Artifact," Shiroe mumbled, in a slightly frustrated tone of voice.

Purrcy laughed. "You'd think you were in favor of going real, just to cut down on Adventurer artifacts, Shiroe."

He looked up suddenly, then smiled in chagrin. "I suppose it could be seen that way. It is irritating to have the outliers thrown at us so suddenly, particularly when they show up in unexpected ways. Are you going to make Growth Milk your next product, then?"

"Probably," Purrcy said calmly. "I'd like to have permission from our own children to experiment on them first, if they'd be willing." She suddenly laughed. "You know, in the States it was all the rage to make sure that the growth hormones given to cows and other creatures wasn't so that our children would stop maturing too fast. Now here I am creating that exact product to sell here. Definitely not a product that would go over well over there, ...except maybe in Japan." She winked and got grins back.

"Purrcy," Akatsuki said very seriously. Purrcy looked at her, waiting. "If...you can create...a potion that is new..., can you create one that is old?" Purrcy tipped her head, not quite understanding. "That is...could you recreate the sex change potion?"

Tetorō sat up straight and paid close attention, looking between Akatsuki and Purrcy. Neither he nor Akatsuki needed it any more, but there were still many who did and would pay handsomely for it. Purrcy looked down at her plate, considering the proposition. Finally she said, "That might be a guild project. If we can figure out how to get an artisan potion to work at all, reverse engineering that particular one will take some concerted effort. I believe that since we don't have a potion available to study, from my skill set we'd have to go hunting down the code that created that particular potion and see how to translate the code into usable ingredients. We'd have to do a lot of experimental guess work, otherwise." She looked up at Shiroe. "Surely Roderick's already been working on recreating that one since long ago?"

"It's likely," Shiroe said cautiously. "I know they have a small apothecary department that has been trying to recreate potions in general. So far they've only managed to create low level potions, though."

Purrcy leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. Looking up into space she thought about that. "Mmm...that's the field for witches, actually. Curses, yes, but also potions. I'll send out a search to see if a little farther afield there might be a few other witches that have surfaced. I don't think Yuudai is going to go that direction. We might have to reform someone who's decided to go the direction of poisons, but if we could, that would be the person we'd want to bring in. Their magic will naturally make the potions magical potions."

"We should stop in at that department for sure so I can see how far they've all gotten. It's also possible one or more of them are about to cross that threshhold themselves. If so, then between them, Shiroe, and I we should be able to come up with a shorter list of potentially useful ingredients. That's going to be a high level potion. Even my growth potion will be a middle to middle-high grade potion, though I'm trying to keep it as low a cost as possible so the junior set can afford it."

She tipped her head at Akatsuki. "That's a wonderful product suggestion. We'll see what we can do." She paused then looked at Shiroe. "I wonder how much cross-over there is between Akiba and Minami. It would be a shame to be almost ready to go to production and learn they already have perfected it there."

Shiroe nodded calmly. "That's why I put Michitaka in charge of Development and Innovation over there. By the time he gets back, he'll know where all the overlaps are. We'll be able to sort it out when we meet - I'm hoping at the joint council. Competition is okay, but it would be nice to not be replicating and wasting efforts between cities when there's so much that could be done and still needs to be done."

Purrcy nodded. "Regional specialization." He gave a brief nod back. "Speaking of which, have you requisitioned the train to take with us overseas, yet?"

He looked up at her with an eyebrow raised, then sighed. "Yes. They still want another four months for it. I've asked for it in another two - to have it done by the time we go there for the Winter Festival." Purrcy nodded again, but didn't say anything other than that about it. "Tetorō says you've ordered trunks to carry product in?"

"We'll take the train for our explorations, but in the end, most of the transportation is going to still be by caravan. If we take the progress around the world, so to speak, by train from gate to gate only, then set up waypoints at them to ship product from by caravan, see? The product needs to be safely delivered to the final points, wherever that might be, so the trunks aren't necessarily for the first part of the trip."

Shiroe nodded his understanding. "So the train will deliver to the gates until the gates are up and functional."

"Yes," she said calmly.

"I'll need to make individual general translation spells then so that the caravan leads can communicate pretty much anywhere, in case they run into the same troubles you guys did," he mused.

"Trunk construction could go north to Ezzo," Purrcy suggested. "Once we've got the process down, anyway. They are in a mineral rich area and the furnaces are a blessing in the cold. I would expect they'll be like caskets back home. Everyone needs one some time. There won't be a lack of income, even if it isn't ever super high, except our first orders we're keeping here. We'll need to figure out how to draw blacksmiths up there, though. ...Mmm...could we convince the blacksmiths that are People of the Land to go up there? The magic infused in their products won't likely be very high level, for the most part, and for the few products that do need higher levels, if even just a couple of Adventurer blacksmiths go, that might be sufficient."

She rubbed her head. "The beach I was at just before crossing would be a good place to put a blacksmith village. If the Silver Swords sent down regular patrols from Susukino, and the Adventurers were given quests to obtain the materials, that beach location would be a good place to dock the Ocypete for material transfer and trade with the lower islands. It could become another rather large city after ten years or so. The Ocypete, or other ships, would have to hire on Adventurers to get through the monster-infested waters, but they aren't that difficult to overcome at the levels we are now, with enough of us. ...I wonder if the Giants could be brought in for mineral trade and ship defense if they got to send the food materials home? Those sea monsters are plenty large enough to feed a small Giant village."

Shiroe had his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, looking at Purrcy with a tolerant, but pleased expression on his face. "So...your mind really does work like this."

She looked at him in surprise. "Yes. All the time. Just shush me when you need to think instead of have things flowing. It's rather often a never ending flow."

"Well," he said, "I can see now why you had Radio Market and Grandale so busy."

Purrcy smiled at him. "Yes. With only me and my own thoughts, and sometimes free time on my hands to experiment, lots of things were able to come about in the end. But see...with all of us, we've added even more. You and the guildmaster list, Akatsuki and the potion. Everyone is capable of coming up with ideas. It's the follow-through that most often doesn't happen."

Shiroe rose and picked up his dishes. "Well, that's enough for one morning, I'm sure," he smiled to show he meant nothing by his words and she smiled back, standing as well.

"Probably for the next two or three days, actually. You've let me monopolize the breakfast table again." She also picked up her dishes and they walked to the kitchen together discussing yet another point Shiroe asked her about.

Touya and Minori looked at each other and lifted fists to bump them in their twin salute. Everyone else that had sat through the fights the last time were in complete agreement. This was _much_ better...even if they did monopolize the morning conversation.

-:-:-:-:-

That morning was spent in various quiet but important pursuits. The boys, Isuzu, and Naotsugu headed out to help Crescent Moon again. Michael and the sub-guild headed out to practice again, Tetorō going with them this time to see they were still properly holding to Log Horizon levels of excellence and get his own practice in.

Nyanta spent time with Minori going through the kitchen stores to make up a proper shopping list, then decided it was time to have food delivered. The grocers were set up in their small booths to service the small guilds and individuals, but they also had delivery services for the larger guilds. Log Horizon was still technically small, but their time was too important really to be taking trips of six or more of them to the grocers every day or two. If there were individual ingredients needed, they could go and pick them up as necessary. It did beg the question if perhaps a Person of the Land chef should be brought in, but after thinking briefly on it, it was decided that they had enough in the guild. If Nyanta and Purrcy shouldn't be available, it could fall back to Minori and the others again, and if necessary, the Eagles who had some level of repertoire and were learning quickly.

Once that was decided, Nyanta took the opportunity to call Serera and talk to her, the excuse being to find out who Crescent Moon had deliver food as that would be the easiest solution for Log Horizon as well since the deliveries could be on the same day. He chatted with her while taking a full inventory of his kitchen to truly understand the modifications Minori had made. Since Serera had walked over by that time, Minori helped tell him what it was she had done around the edges of the conversation. It was a pleasant working time in the kitchen that morning.

They did have to excuse Serera after a bit since she was also working on preparing for the evening's barbecue. Nyanta gave her his sauce recipe before she left and she left quite happy. Minori gave him a happy smile as a reward and they proceeded to contact the product supplier to place their orders.

-:-:-:-:-

After dropping off dishes in the kitchen, Purrcy and Shiroe went together to his office, picking up Akatsuki on the way, almost literally since they each took one arm and almost carried her in. At first Purrcy kept her, to sit on her lap and purr for her until Akatsuki was relaxed, while the two Machiavelli's finished their conversation. Then Shiroe patted the seat next to him and Akatsuki went over and joined him. "So...explain exactly what you want Purrcy and Soujirou to talk about when it comes to the Mysteries?" he asked her.

The answer to that question, when they finally ferreted it out, took them several hours of discussion to decide on and the tactic to approach it from - though it was perhaps made that long because Shiroe had to keep drawing Purrcy back from her tangents. In the end, Soujirou and Nazuna were invited to come early, before the wedding rehearsal, to discuss educational issues.

The ones at the house ate a brief lunch together, then Minori took herself off to help Crescent Moon again. Purrcy and Nyanta found themselves in a surprising quiet moment that they took full advantage of. They escaped to the third floor patio and had a cat nap for the early afternoon in the sun, ending up as cats curled around each other on the lounge chair.

About an hour later, Shiroe had an idle question for Purrcy. When Akatsuki said she was on the porch, Shiroe decided to get a little exercise and walked up there. Seeing the sleeping cats made him pause and admire them, they were just too cute in their curled and pretzeled poses. He stared at them until he was relaxed again, then he smiled and left them in peace, not quite able to bring himself to interrupt their quiet repose. He'd forgotten his question anyway.

The little smile stayed on his face even after he was seated at his desk again. Akatsuki finally asked him what it was, and he just said, "Cats." Since she didn't really know what that meant, she excused herself a little later and went up to look for herself. It took her longer to understand it, but she did finally return feeling more relaxed and then had a hard time staying awake so that she removed herself to the roof and exercised until she was awake again. In the end, she decided cats were dangerous for her unless it was really bedtime.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki ushered Soujirou and Nazuna into Shiroe's office and disappeared. "Thank you for coming at such a busy time," Shiroe said calmly. "I hope we aren't taking too much away from your schedule this afternoon." He walked over briefly to shake hands and escort them to chairs set next to each other around the coffee table set between the couches.

They sat, but seemed a little unsure. It was rare Shiroe called for intimate meetings in his guild hall office. They weren't sure the given reason for the invitation was the real reason for it. "We're happy to come, Shiroe-sempai," Soujirou said politely. "A few hours of just us is fine, isn't it?"

Shiroe poured them tea. Once it had been delivered to them, he settled in his place on the couch. "It's likely too early for unrest or outside influences, if we're going to have them this time, but how are things out there at the moment?"

Nazuna waved her tail. "There hasn't been anything since the fireworks three days ago. Things seem properly quiet. Everyone is working hard."

Shiroe looked at her for a moment. She was garbed in a rather nice outfit that wasn't the casual, sloppy kimono any more. "That's good," he said, wondering how he might complement her without causing offence. "I'm glad we can rely on West Wind Brigade. Your help has always been invaluable. I do hope we haven't increased the difficulty level by bringing in another city. It's a rather dicey experiment, really."

Nazuna glanced at Soujirou, then crossed her legs and went confrontationally casual. "Well...if it's true that a certain Hacker has really arrived in time, then I think we'll call on that one if things get too out of hand."

Shiroe hid a smile. "Well...even if said person is here, that one isn't omnipotent, you know."

Nazuna waved a dismissive hand. "A single scolding, even if heard by everyone in the city all at once should be sufficient."

Shiroe couldn't hide the smile. He shook his head. "Was it so terrible, really, Nazuna? You're looking very well put together, now."

"Well...it was an adjustment," she admitted. Shiroe noticed the look that Soujirou gave Nazuna. It seemed to be one of calm ownership almost, with a touch of pride.

Not for the first time Shiroe wondered just how far they'd been required to go to keep Nazuna and the guild sane when the Plague Master had infected her. Quietly he said, "I'm sorry a solution was so long coming. I hope we weren't too late for you."

Soujirou glanced at Nazuna, then leaned forward, his face calm as always. "You did what you could. We managed as best we could."

"Still...," Shiroe said, sadly, "I am sorry." There was just a bit of an awkward silence that was thankfully interrupted by the door opening.

Akatsuki entered. Nyanta and Purrcy entered behind her. Akatsuki went straight to Shiroe's side and knelt on the couch. Purrcy went directly to Nazuna, who rose to greet her. The felinoid and fox-tail embraced, tails lifted and waving slightly. "It's good to see you again, Nazuna," Purrcy said kindly.

"Glad you could make it back for the festival," Nazuna replied. Purrcy pulled back and looked her up and down once closely, then smiled. Nazuna blushed slightly, but looked pleased.

Purrcy moved to take Soujirou's hand. "It's good to greet you again as well, Guildmaster," she said politely.

Soujirou had risen to greet her as well and when she released him, he bowed. "It is my honor to greet you again as well." He glanced at Akatsuki. "I've been waiting for the opportunity to speak with you, at Akatsuki's request."

"Indeed," Purrcy said, "it's at her request we're meeting today. On her behalf, thank you for coming." Akatsuki flushed lightly and nodded her thanks. Soujirou bowed slightly to Akatsuki and both he and Nazuna relaxed just a little. Purrcy returned to Nyanta as he greeted the visiting couple and they all sat again.

"When did you arrive?" Soujirou asked politely.

"Yesterday, actually, but today is likely the only calm day I'll have for some time, according to Guildmaster Shiroe," Purrcy answered. "I hope the timing isn't too inconvenient for you."

"No, now is fine. Particularly since I need to be here later anyway," Soujirou smiled slightly. "Are you looking forward to your nuptials?"

Purrcy's eyes sparkled and she took Nyanta's paw. "Yes, I am," she glanced at Shiroe, "though, I have yet to see the monstrosity Shiroe has chosen for me to wear. The Princess has told me that she was made to wear the most indecent thing ever at his hands, far worse than anything Marielle has put on her. I heard it was Valkyrie Armor." Her ears rotated a few times. "I have heard from Calasin it's Fairy Queen, so I'm expecting more feathers than a cat should wear." Shiroe didn't give anything away, but did acknowledge her teasing look.

"Well...he can choose the most unexpected thing sometimes," Soujirou agreed. "I appreciate what you selected for me."

"Oh? I'm pleased to hear it," Purrcy said brightly. "I was a little concerned you'd be uncomfortable and was hoping it would be acceptable. I'm looking forward to seeing you in it. You do know we've paid for it, and it's yours to keep, I hope."

Soujirou blinked in surprise. "Ah, I hadn't heard. That's rather a kind gift. Thank you."

"It is merely a simple sign of our gratitude for your willingness to stand with us," Purrcy said dismissively, but still kindly. Shiroe wondered if Calasin knew that, or if it was going to be a last minute surprise. Purrcy turned to Akatsuki to allow her to present the topic of the afternoon.

"Guildmaster Soujirou," Akatsuki said, her fist tightening in her lap slightly, "Purrcy doesn't know about the Mysteries, but she has learned other things that might be the same. I was hoping that the two of you might be able to discuss the matter." Her eyes were bright with anticipation.

Purrcy turned back to Soujirou who was looking interested. "The first question I had after Akatsuki told me about them was how many can be learned by a person? She thought that if anyone had more than one, it would be you."

Soujirou blinked. "I have two, and have been attempting to experiment to see if a third can be gained."

"Can you please explain the process by which you gain them?" Purrcy asked.

Soujirou leaned on his elbows and clasped his hands together. "I have tried to come up with an explanation. It's terribly difficult. The summary is this. Want it badly, and keep thinking about it. Don't give up; keep training. It will come." He sighed. "It isn't really sufficient, but even adding more words doesn't help much. Only those who've been gifted with a Mystery understand how simple it is once it's given, yet how just as completely indescribable."

"Do many have one now?" Purrcy asked her next question.

"In many of the fighting guilds now, yes, since we've begun training them both in West Wind Brigade and in D.D.D." Soujirou answered.

"Are they only in the fighting realm, or have you seen any appear for magic users?"

He looked at her with an intrigued look. "I can't say, I'm afraid. We've assumed they are only for fighters."

"Hmm," Purrcy commented, then leaned back thoughtfully. "Would you consider the appearance of the new magic sub-classes as magic Mysteries?"

Soujirou's brow furrowed. "No, I don't think so. They are like stepping into a new place. The Mysteries are more like being handed a new single-purpose tool."

"Then, a Mystery of the magician might be like receiving a new spell within their own Class realm, that appears because they have wished for it and worked hard for it, putting their effort into its appearance and usefulness?" Purrcy tried to dig a little deeper.

Rubbing his head, Soujirou thought about coming from that direction. "Yes, I would think that would be the equivalent."

"I think you are working too hard," Purrcy said in response.

Soujirou stared at her. "Too...hard?"

"Perhaps, it would be to say, you might even be working backwards." Soujirou blinked at her, not comprehending. "You are hoping for something, but until you have a need it doesn't blossom into fruition. Let me tell you what I've learned to do and please tell me if you think it's the same, but from a different direction." Soujirou shifted to a listening pose. Purrcy proceeded to explain to him how she had learned to treat the world and each learning step as a natural progression from one piece or step of what she wanted, or chose from the beginning, to be able to do. How after a sufficient number of steps were passed through and her levels raised high enough, she could do anything that required that level to do with a minor amount of training.

"This is how the learning to become a Chef, when one isn't one, works, of course, and therefore where all the sub-classes are coming from that anyone can learn and do, even if it can't be seen on a status screen." He and Nazuna both nodded. So far it was easy to follow. "What I do differently is in the visualization and releasing the mind-body connection, to some degree. In one evening I had both Touya and Minori raised from almost no cooking skill at all to third level Chef sub-skill. It still took practice, but not weeks. Only about an hour to an hour and a half. It's my guess that you also use the same method, but in not completely comprehending it you've made it more difficult than it needs to be. Akatsuki, knowing already about the Mysteries and then hearing how I taught it to them thought they might be intertwined." Soujirou's eyes were burning.

Shiroe interrupted. "Souji," he waited until he had his friend's attention, "I need you to understand that this method needs experimentation to confirm. It also needs to be kept quiet for now if it does work. At least until it can be presented as just the natural flow of education out of the Academy. I'm concerned that if we let this loose all at once to everyone we'll have a backlash. I do believe it's the next step in the direction everything is headed, so we can't keep it from being known much longer anyway. I would like you to handle the initial experimentation, then figure out how to implement a gradual plan to let it out to everyone through a controlled environment. Will you do it my way, please?" He was asking as a friend, but he was also asking as Machiavelli, as King.

Soujirou took a deep breath, trying to restrain himself. He blinked a few times. "So you're saying, the natural things we talked about before you left for Minami...this is the next thing you want handled delicately?"

"Yes. Exactly," Shiroe said. "And I need you and West Wind Brigade to do it for me."

Soujirou pursed his lips, then looked at Nazuna. Her eyes were almost as fiery as his had been. She nodded once to him. Soujirou nodded soberly to Shiroe. "We'll do it." When Shiroe nodded again, they looked to Purrcy again.

Purrcy held out her hand and an apple appeared. On the table appeared a cutting board and a knife. Both persons watching had sparks in their eyes at just that much. "I am a natural Adventurer," Purrcy declared. "I'll teach it to you using the Chef method since that's the most easy to comprehend by, but you already do it in your fighting practice, I'm sure." She clearly explained how to visualize the cutting of the apple before even placing the knife to it, setting that process in the body, then setting the body to the action. "Now watch me do it. Feel it with every fiber of your being. Imagine your own body doing it. Hear every sound, smell every smell. Integrate your body into the activity. Every teaching must begin this way, as any Chef student will tell you. The recipe will fail if you don't give your 'intent' to listening to the recipe. I've told you the recipe. Now you observe." She set the apple down and the knife to it, then cut the apple into slices through the core.

Setting the knife down carefully, she allowed a pause. "Set it in the _body_ now that it's in the mind, as if you'd been the one to perform the action you just observed." She waited, then two more apples appeared. She gave the slices from her apple to Shiroe and Akatsuki and passed the apples, knife, and board on to the other couple. "Guildmaster, hold the apple in your hand, the knife in the other, but only hold them. Repeat the visualization, including sound, smell, expectation, and feel in your mind, only this time it is you that is doing the cutting exactly as I did it. Once you believe you have it set in your mind, set it in the body. When you are ready thereafter, set the apple to the board and the knife to the apple. Calm your mind and release the body to act according to what you set. You may keep your eyes open, and should, but your mind should not be an active participant in the actual cutting this first time."

Soujirou took a breath, picked up one apple and the knife. He shifted forward so he could comfortably reach the cutting board, then he held still. He took several deep, relaxing breaths, took the time to visualize, then calmly set the apple and the knife to the cutting board. When it was cut, he looked at Purrcy, blinking. "That's it. That's what it feels like the first time."

Purrcy nodded. "Then you have only begun to step onto the path, and you are still going at it the hard way. Cut the second apple. This time, treat it as a weapons attack only in that half way through the cutting process, change slightly the action you set ahead of time. We have taken to calling this 'bumping'. Touya says it's akin to what he has to do when a target he had set as third or fourth is taken out by Rudy and he has to change his plan after the fact."

Soujirou's eyes were positively triumphant. He nodded, just as carefully set the path he wanted to take, then set the apple down. It was obvious where the 'bump' was in his cutting and he even managed to not cut himself in the process. His smile was gleeful, yet hard. He looked up. "How long does it take to become a Chef in this process?"

"Enough cutting of one type - fruit or vegetable and it can happen in about twenty minutes to half an hour to get the sub-class at level one. Change to the other type and continue and level two comes in about just as long. Visualize combining the fruits in their differing colors, textures, flavors, and pay attention to how others will enjoy eating it, and how well the flavors will mix, and you can put them all together into a bowl to make fruit salad and get to level three in another twenty minutes. If you make bread dough, another half hour to level four. Each new thing you try that is a simple step, focused on completely, is a movement forward. The levels do still apply. You can cut meat and put it on skewers at level five, but you can't cook it until level fifteen. Even still, within three days, you can be there with this method."

"You should try to limit it to five levels per day per skill so the body has the opportunity to really integrate the lessons learned, and three is better if you plan on learning multiple things in a day." Purrcy turned to Akatsuki. "I asked Akatsuki to not use this method for the fighting arts until this time, but I know she has been visualizing most diligently because her levels have still gone up regardless. Let your next lesson be to watch her. Akatsuki, take them to a secluded place and explain what you have already visualized, one at a time, from simplest to most complicated, then actually perform the physical action. I believe you will find they are mastered after two to three practice runs at this point, save the most complicated which may take five to ten attempts. Knowing you, you'll still want to practice all the forms from then on, but believe me when I say you will have _already mastered_ them. Your Assassin level is already over one-hundred, after all. Remember that with the chef skill you are starting at level zero."

Soujirou was sitting stiffly, he was so excited. "You mean...because our fighting skills are already high enough level, we will already -"

"You are already a Master of whatever new sword form you choose to use - once you've visualized it and programmed it into your body and allowed it to act on it a sufficient number of times for it to accept it understands it the way you want it to." Purrcy affirmed, nodding. "I said you were coming at it backwards because you were trying to get the body to tell you what it was learning, when you needed to tell it what _you_ wanted it to learn. It works both way. The latter is much faster." Soujirou was as excited as Akatsuki.

Purrcy turned to Nazuna. "There is another side to this being a 'natural Adventurer'. The body does teach us things it already knows, if we let it. It's frightening, what we went through when the body said it would be real and natural in the matter of being forced into heat. I'm not suggesting that be repeated. I am suggesting that if we can move past the fear of that specific instance, there are things the natural and real body can teach us that will be of great benefit. Nyanta has been working on learning them from me, and I'm quite envious. As a felinoid of over level one hundred learning those things, he comes by them very easily, where I learned them still at the lower levels and had to work harder."

"How to hunt prey, how to evade predators, how to properly climb up and down trees, how to run and fight with the animal body, not just the half-beast one - all of these are part of letting the body have control while the mind sits and watches and learns from it until those skills are also integrated into the whole. Anything you think a fox should be able to do, it probably can. Again, if you visualize what that might be, then set the body to doing it for you, it will do it. The higher level tasks, you'll be required to feel in the body as the mind plays it out each step of the way before actually beginning it, until both are in agreement with the proper path and motions to take. Then it's the same. Set the body to doing it, and with just enough attention from the mind, it will do it. Eventually, the actions become automatic and changeable as necessary. The more you do this, the more you learn to trust your own body."

Purrcy stood then was instantly the large cat, standing in front of them. "Every beast-half can transform into the full beast." She shrank to house cat size and lept up on the couch again. The other pair couldn't take their eyes off her. She continued down to kitten. "Every beast-half can change size, from the upper bound to the lower, and push past them slightly with effort for brief periods of time." She was suddenly felinoid again, sitting on the couch, facing them slightly. They blinked, startled. "It takes a bit of time to figure out how to return out to the original beast-half form, but going into the full form often takes place without you even knowing it's happened."

Nazuna slumped and put her hands over her eyes and her shoulders shook. Soujirou rubbed her back comfortingly. "She spent most of the last two months before you took out the Plague Master in her fox form," he said quietly. "It was that we were most afraid for. We thought she wouldn't come back."

Purrcy was back to housecat and walking over to stand in Nazuna's lap. She touched Nazuna's nose with hers. "It's nothing to fear. It's the most natural thing and is very recoverable from, as you've seen from my example, and your own." She rubbed her head against Nazuna's face and purred. "I also spent most of my time as full cat. It made life easier on the men...even Nyanta, who couldn't transform yet at the time."

Nyanta shifted slightly. "I've just come from visiting the Beast-half of the Land villages. They all live in them in their full beast forms, save for the occasional visitor, or when official business needs to be transacted between them. They were rather surprised when I chose to transform into half early at the first village, but it was because I didn't know how and had been working at purracticing it. They arrived to fetch me just after I'd figured it out, so I felt it not the purroper time to change back. I might not have made it back in time to be purroperly presentable to the elder." He smiled slightly. "It took another three weeks to get it automatic, though it did get easier with each purractice. I was also surprised by the transformation to full cat, not expecting it. Purrcy didn't warn me."

Nazuna scolded Purrcy with her eyes for Nyanta. Purrcy's ear went down in apology. "I couldn't at the time and hadn't thought of it before. He began his practice without me present." Nyanta patted the couch next to him and Purrcy returned, sitting up next to him, her tail curled around to rest on her front paws. He pet her lightly a few times.

"This also needs careful handling," Shiroe said, taking back over. "Having been presented with the possibility that we can be made to become fully real here in this place, we wish to begin training in particular the beast-halves in how to be their beast half. If we start at this concept that it's just as natural for the body to know things we can learn from, I believe we can get them to be willing to come to training at the Academy. As part of that training, I want to ease them into lessons on how to act appropriately for if it happens again. Purrcy has been working on lesson plans for that specifically. When you have the outline put together, she'll work with you on fitting those lessons in."

"Part of the reason I sent Nyanta to open relations with the Beast-half of the Land villages was so that if our beast-halves either refuse to play nice or can't control themselves properly, then we can send them to those villages to be properly trained, or restrained. I don't know yet how many villages will allow that, as I feel it's for later negotiations after they trust us enough to be willing to grant us aid. Prior to that, I also wish for Nyanta and Purrcy, or any other delegation we send, to be able to ask the more sensitive questions that Nyanta wasn't able to get answers to in the first visit, such as, 'how do they deal with a female in heat that isn't mated yet'? If we can understand how they do it, we'll know better how we should deal with it ourselves."

Both Nazuna and Soujirou nodded in complete understanding and agreement. After a bit of silence, Soujirou said, "This - this is rather astounding. Both things; both sides of the matter. Learning how the body and mind are separate and work together in ways not previously understood. But...it makes sense, in the same way the Mysteries do and it is just as complicated to comprehend, the same as how the resurrection can even be possible." The others nodded agreement. "But, you've explained it so well, even to having the process to open another person's eyes to not only comprehending it but being able to immediately put it into practice."

He rose and bowed low to Purrcy. "Thank you very much. I am in your debt, as is all of West Wind Brigade. We will treasure your knowledge given to us today, and treat it with proper respect." He rose from the bow and looked at Shiroe. "Thank you for your trust, again. We'll hold to your wishes and very carefully plan how to teach it to the other Adventurers. When we've come up with a proposal, we'll bring it for your review."

"Thank you, Souji," Shiroe said solemnly. "I truly feel that this one lesson will revolutionize everything Adventurers are and do in Theldesia. We will explode with new growth completely unprecedented. It needs to happen soon, but it also needs to be a controlled explosion, lest it be too destructive to survive."

"I'm in complete agreement," Soujirou said with a nod. He sat back down and lifted his tea cup to drink from it, his mind obviously moving very quickly.

"Guildmaster, if you'd like, we can go experiment until the wedding rehearsal is called for," Akatsuki offered.

Soujirou looked at her sharply, then nodded. "I would like that." He looked at Nazuna.

The fox-tail looked torn and she looked at Purrcy with uncertain eyes. "You're welcome to join us on the porch, Nazuna," Purrcy offered kindly. "Nyanta can explain how he understood how to change properly between the two forms and we'd be willing to sit with you as you try. I'm sure in the end you'd rather be able to control shifting between the two than always be afraid you'll end up back as fox and unable to return on your own."

Nazuna looked at Soujirou and he nodded. She looked back and answered, "I think I would like that very much." The five rose and bowed to Shiroe and left the room. Shiroe sighed as the door clicked closed behind them. He was glad they'd been able to learn how to help Nazuna more.

He wasn't able to quite relax about the knowledge now being out of the guild as to how the natural Adventurer worked, but it was in the best hands he knew to put it into, and in the best way he had available to get it out to everyone else. He hoped it all worked out the way he wanted it to. He was going to intend it with all his might every time he continued to think about it. That was about all he could do now that might have any effect, except review the lesson plans. He rose from the couch and returned to his desk. There were things of his own to be doing until the wedding rehearsal.


	57. Sister Guilds

Serera bustled about the large rock grill that had been built by her guild with the help of her friends in Log Horizon. It was modeled after the grills they already built, but Purrcy's large grill had been used to size this one. The males had been competitive and had built this one larger, though Serera had scolded them since it only spread the heat out and made it somewhat harder to cook on. It took three cooks, and sometimes four, to reach all the food on it to see it didn't burn. When she complained though, the males - always hungry - pointed out that they did have four chefs, plus her and Minori, so it was sufficient. She couldn't argue that point, though it did make her frustrated on occasion.

It had been nice to have the new warriors join Log Horizon in this regard. They all loved grilling out and happily joined in on it, raising their cooking levels quickly so they could. That meant she could go back to a supervisory role - or assistant, whichever seemed needed at the moment. Right now, she was just coming from teaching what she herself had only just learned - how to make Nyanta's sauce recipe. It sounded like the warriors of Log Horizon were already talking about how they'd change the recipe and a few had put their hand to it and now there were about four different sauces, including one dubbed 'five alarm'. She didn't intend to try that one and she had let them know already to keep any meat seasoned with that one strictly separated out from the rest.

She was rather surprised at herself. She could tell she had grown during Nyanta's absence. She wasn't so reliant on his strength, and had begun to move forward. In talking about it with Minori, she had been relieved to know it was part of the healing process as well and she shouldn't hold herself back. That had helped her to continue moving forward. While on occasion the ache came back, particularly today, it was something she was learning to treasure gently when it appeared and to gently let go when it had been acknowledged sufficiently long.

Getting to see and talk to Nyanta this morning without Purrcy in the room, but with Minori present to strengthen her, had been as bittersweet as might be expected. It had been sweet to talk with him again; the pain of her loss had been bitter. She was glad to have had the time and be given regard by him. She was just as glad they'd let her go kindly when she'd excused herself, allowing her to choose her comfort level. She paused and took a breath, not for the first time this evening. When the wedding party arrived, she'd have to face Purrcy again, and her with him.

Knowing where they were wasn't too helpful either. She'd offered to head the barbecue almost in a desperate attempt to keep herself busy during this time. It had helped somewhat - it was rather intensive - but still she was hit with blinding flashes of pain and anxiety. She was glad for her guildmates. If she was ever paralyzed too long, one came along to gently help her out of her fearful stupor and get her moving again.

As odd as it might have seemed to others, she was actually looking forward to having Purrcy there, on one level. Serera wanted to be reminded of why she was glad Purrcy was next to Nyanta. Being able to see that again, to feel again the taste of what she had gotten whispers of each time before - she wanted to understand that feeling better, and have it be what took the place of the bitter in the bitter-sweet she felt when she was around, or just thought of, Nyanta. Even if it didn't take all of it, less would be better than what she had in her now. Seeing them together at the meeting had helped with that some, but it was different when they were relaxed together. Serera was certain she'd see it tonight. At least she hoped so. They weren't doing the cooking, so who knew, but they should hold to their patterns, right?

Serera pushed the anxiety down again and rotated the vegetables again. A call from a chef farther down sent her back inside to the kitchens, and hunting for something else forgotten and required. Shortly after she returned to the grill, empty chairs appeared to the Log Horizon side of the grill. The atmosphere was suddenly higher in anticipation. Even her heart rate increased a little. Along with others, she looked timidly towards the direction their guests were expected from.

"Ah, it's the usual formation," one of her guildmates commented. He was taller than she was and was looking over towards the expected direction.

Serera had walked in it once, but she craned her neck anyway to see it from the outside. Her friends led, then it was Guildmaster Shiroe and Miss Purrcy in the middle, their intended's on the outside of them, the three men in the back, and around them scattered probably half the warriors - the other half being here with Crescent Moon and helping with cooking and setting up. Serera could see Purrcy was as beautiful as ever, and Nyanta looked content as always. That was nice.

Serera looked away to make sure her skewers weren't burning. She remembered why Purrcy was always put in the middle. She wondered if it was still for that reason - because she was dangerous to the city. Probably. Purrcy hadn't changed who she was after all. One didn't change Class in just a few months just because one wanted to. She hadn't had so many guards on her the afternoon before, though, so perhaps she was a little better this time around.

There was the increase of noise that accompanies the arrival of a group of persons. Serera suddenly heard an unexpected set of voices and looked over again. Somehow, in only looking for Purrcy and Nyanta she'd missed a few others in the group. "Souji, Nazuna, will you stay to have dinner with us?" Shiroe was offering.

"We would hate to impose," Soujirou deprecated.

"No, it wouldn't," Akatsuki said in her quiet voice. She'd also been getting stronger, Serera had noticed, ever since she'd been able to be comfortable with knowing Shiroe returned her feelings. (Serera's heart clenched ever so slightly again and she returned to listening to the conversation to distract herself again.) "I'd like to answer any more questions you have."

"As would I," Purrcy offered.

"Well..., is this a place we can do that?" Soujirou asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Purrcy's smile was in her voice. "All these already know it. Remember I said it, the twins were my first experiment to see if it could be taught to others. It has spread to all of them. There are few secrets within the guilds here when it comes to such useful tools."

Nazuna chuckled an alto sound. "That's not surprising. And you're not very good at keeping them either, are you?"

"Me?" Purrcy asked in surprise. There was a pause. "Well...I do a lot of talking, so I suppose you'd think that." Serera glanced up to see that most people had reacted in one way or the other to that statement.

Shiroe broke the awkwardness before it could go very far. "Come sit down over here and join us. You need to eat dinner anyway. We won't keep you longer than you can stay."

When Serera next looked up and around at what was going on, the six had been seated together on the far right from her, Marielle and Naotsugu also seated near them, but at the border between the two guilds. ...Not that they were segregated by any means, it had just been conveniently open in that space for Log Horizon's chairs to be put there.

"Hey, Serera!" "Hello, Serera."

Serera looked up to see her friends standing opposite her on the other side of the grill. She gave them a small grin. "Hello. Welcome. I'll bet you're hungry."

"Starved, when it comes to barbecue!" Touya agreed.

"We have been looking forward to this delectable aroma since yesterday. Even my dreams last night danced with delicious meat skewers," Rudy said expansively as always. "I'm so glad we get to eat such a scrumptious meal before we must be subjected to three whole days - or more - of a diet consisting solely of a fall vegetable...the lowly pumpkin."

Serera giggled. "Well, at least it will be gone after that, for the most part." She tipped her head. "I wonder what grilled pumpkin would taste like with the barbecue sauce on it?"

"Butter for me," said a voice behind her. She whipped around and a hand came down gently on her shoulder to steady her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I happen to like pumpkin like any other winter squash, merely cooked to tenderness and smothered in butter with salt added. My daughter really enjoyed adding brown sugar, but that made most of them too sweet for me." Purrcy was smiling gently. "It looks like you've got cooking the vegetable skewers mastered, Serera. Thank you for cooking for us tonight."

"N-n-no. I'm happy to do it." Serera wasn't sure how to handle her heart since it wasn't settling down very well. "We've had several opportunities to cook out on the grill since it was built."

"It's marvelous," Purrcy said. "I can tell many hands built it. I stopped mine at the size it is because I got tired of building it all by myself. I wonder how many we could feed if we had them both out."

Serera stared at her in almost horror. "It's hard enough to prevent everything from burning with four chefs on this one. To have even more..." She felt slightly faint.

Purrcy laughed. "Well, there is that, but I think there's enough hands here?" Serera looked down the row and Purrcy wasn't wrong. There were actually more like seven standing at the grill now.

"Well...there is that, isn't there?" Serera said a little surprised.

Purrcy winked at her, then turned to ask loudly, "So...next time shall it be a cook-off?"

Heads whipped around to look at her and Serera could see the challenge light up the eyes of the men as they all agreed with great vigor. "I had no idea all of you liked to grill," she smiled at her warriors.

"Hoobah!" they all roared.

"When did you get time, on that postage stamp?" she asked them. They all laughed at her.

"It was when on shore, of course. We missed it so bad while on board that we got into the practice then," one of the closer men answered her.

"Well, that makes sense. I'll put my grill out next time with this one and we'll invite a larger crowd to help us eat it all. You all just have to make sure we have enough meat to cover your needs." As men started strutting and posturing with proud words, Purrcy turned back to Serera. "We'll let them cook next time and sit it out. They won't want vegetables to mar their competition, after all." Purrcy winked.

Serera gave her a one-sided wry grin. "Especially if it's within the month after the Pumpkin Festival." Everyone laughed in agreement with that.

"Could you use another hand to keep these turning?" Purrcy asked.

Serera looked at her in surprise. "Well, it's your dinner to relax, isn't it?"

Purrcy tipped her head. "I don't relax well, particularly when I'm nervous. I was hoping for some distraction, really."

Serera frowned slightly. "Nervous?" Her friends shifted and gave her pleading looks, except Minori also gave an apologetic hand sign. "Well, it does look like the others would rather watch over the meat than the vegetables," she admitted. "Maybe I've made too many to begin with."

Purrcy looked over her shoulder at the waiting trays on the table behind them. "Well, they look delicious to me, regardless. I must say, too, that my favorite thing about being here, when it comes to cooking, is that nothing has to be wasted. Any that don't get eaten can go into the list and be pulled out still piping hot to be eaten as a snack later."

"Talk about dango-to-go," Isuzu commented pleasantly.

Purrcy nodded enthusiastically. Serera smiled a slow smile. "That's true." She looked back at Purrcy. "Well, I'll thank you for some help so we don't burn too many then, since we can savor them later if any remain at the end."

"Thank you, Serera," Purrcy said humbly. Suddenly she was dressed in the same grilling outfit she'd worn the time before, including the apron, and tongs were in her hand. She raised her tongs. "Onward! Forward! ...To battle!" Her tongs came down and attacked a skewer and deftly flipped it over. She grinned. " _The Hobbit_ when the three armies attempt to begin the battle outside Smog's cave after he's been thrown down. ...Only we'll hope the goblins don't show up tonight. They can eat three times what we can, and I think the hungry male Adventurers would fight hard to keep all of this to themselves." Serera could only agree.

Dinner went about how most barbecues go, with the cooks having to sneak in skewers whenever they could...which often meant at the end. But this time, Purrcy was handing Serera half-skewers of meat to go with the one of vegetables she'd gotten in when she got just too hungry. After the third, all of which had tasted different, Serera looked at Purrcy, then past her to see what was going on. One of the farther down warriors was walking towards them with another meat skewer in his hand. "Ma'am, will you taste mine too?" he offered Purrcy the skewer in his hand.

Serera suddenly had her hand on Purrcy's arm, restraining her. "Ah...is that the 'five alarm' one?" she asked the man.

He rubbed his head and wouldn't meet her eyes. "Oh, ho. You've found a way to add in a hot spice to it?" Purrcy asked. "I didn't think this world had such a thing?"

"It does," he said, finally admitting it was the one Serera dreaded. "We found it rather by accident."

"I'll say it's a poison then," Serera said firmly.

"You don't like?" Purrcy asked. Serera shook her head vigorously. Purrcy looked back at the warrior. "I don't usually, either, to be honest, but I am very curious as to what you found and how well it works. Spices and flavorings are one of the first experiments here but also the hardest to find, sometimes. I'll try one, but that's probably going to be my limit, I'm afraid."

He looked pleased enough with that. Purrcy carefully slid the end piece of meat off the skewer with her teeth then chewed it to savor the flavor. She nodded, and handed the skewer back, then was holding a mug. When the meat was down, she drank deeply from the mug. "Definitely too hot for me," she said, "but that's very intriguing. Go collect more of it, enough we can powder it up and sell it. Japanese aren't fond of hot and spicy, but Chinese like it and even more the Indian's. If ours is just distinct enough we'll have a wide open market -" she paused to drink again, "- when we get there, and of course there's the other side. I'm sure the Mexicans and Cajun chefs would welcome it as well."

He was suddenly sober. "...Ma'am...do you intend to take us there, too? Really?"

"Yes, I do," she said seriously. "Even if we can't get home, we'll get over there. Whatever piece Shiroe and I are missing on this side to getting us home will have been found there. Collaboration with them is of highest priority. We'll be counting on you lot to get us there, since you're the only ones that have done that trip before, on either planet, from all the Adventurers here on this one."

His eyes went misty and she reached out a hand and held his forearm until he recovered and nodded. She smiled kindly then released him. He bowed just slightly and returned to his portion of the grill. Purrcy returned to her section as well. Serera looked at her for a time, then went back to her own turning of skewers, thoughtful. Finally she looked up at Purrcy. "You'll be gone an awfully long time," she said timidly. Purrcy glanced up at her, but kept working, not answering yet. "Will all of Log Horizon go with you?"

The silence continued for a while. "I don't know." Purrcy flipped over a few more skewers. "It's possible, if we have the gates understood by then, that I'll just take some Technicians and we'll get the gates operable. Then they can come through the gates and return when needed, so they don't have to be gone so long. The Eagles and I, though...we'll go the long route...particularly to get home and see what happened over there at the time of the catastrophe."

Serera froze briefly, then said shakily. "Y-you, too? Over there is home for you, too?"

Purrcy flipped a sober, almost severe look at Serera. "Yes," she said shortly. "Don't tell. Log Horizon knows. You know now. No one else should."

Serera finally understood fully why Purrcy walked the protected center. She shook her head, eyes wide and mouth pursed tightly closed. Nyanta was a very strong man to be able to even consider marrying an American. Serera glanced at him. He was watching the two of them and his expression seemed just a little worried. As her eyes met his, he rose and walked smoothly over to join them. He gave Purrcy a little kiss, but looked at Serera. Putting a soft paw on her head, he asked softly, "Nyan. Is everything alright?"

Serera looked up at him, not quite sure what to say. "I'm afraid I let my home country slip," Purrcy said quietly in explanation. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, is that what it is?" Nyanta asked, his expression going soft for Serera. "If mew'll just keep it quiet, it'll be alright, Serera-chan."

Serera paused, then shook her head. "It's not that...not really...it's more that she's planning on going to the other side of the world and leaving this place for that long. It takes a long time by ship to get there, doesn't it? And then to travel the whole continent -"

"- or two," Purrcy added.

"It seems...a bit overwhelming," Serera ended lamely. "It could take many tens of years, couldn't it?"

Nyanta's shoulders slumped. Both he and Serera were suddenly enveloped in Purrcy's arms. "I'm quite sure it isn't that long. And if we can solve it all here sooner, we can all go home sooner and I won't have to go there. And maybe shortly after we get our gates up and running, they will too and we won't have to go by ship. There are many unknowns still. It's too soon to be sorrowful and grieve. We make general plans for the future, but we can only walk one day at a time. Be at peace tonight. Tonight we're all together and have a wonderfully delicious meal, even if my mouth does still hurt." Her arms tightened around the two of them and she planted a kiss on Serera's head, then on Nyanta's cheek.

Serera held them both tightly as well. She would hope for a less dramatic solution herself. Serera looked up at him, her eyes clear and bright. "I'm learning to walk one day at a time into the future," she told them. "...Thank you for helping me."

"If we can be of any strength at all...," Purrcy said kindly.

"We are happy to see mew grow," Nyanta finished.

Serera couldn't see anymore for the tears filling her eyes. They both held her closely as she finally cried her loneliness at being ripped away from her parents on Earth. She couldn't think of Purrcy leaving them. It hurt as much as having to think of her own mother missing from her life.

It was true. In the end...she wanted Nyanta and Purrcy to be together. Together they were happy...and Serera could be, too, particularly when she was feeling homesick otherwise. "Welcome home," she whispered through her tears. "I've missed you - both."

Nyanta rubbed her head again and Purrcy kissed her again. "Thank you, Serera-chan. We are glad to be home."

-:-:-:-:-

Marielle sighed a happy sigh and leaned back into Naotsugu's arm. He tucked her in closer, wrapping his strong arm around her. "Well, I'm glad to see that's settled, for the most part, then," she said to him.

He kissed her cheek. "Hahaue's like that, you know."

"Yeah, I know," she answered. "I'm glad Serera-chan knows now, too."

"I think she already did, though," Minori said from behind them. She looked down at them, since she'd been standing behind them, watching too. "She was fretting, but we could tell it wasn't for Nyanta-san so much, though he's part of what she needs, too. She always was the most relaxed when she was with them both in the kitchen. Even at the last barbecue Miss Purrcy was with us, she enjoyed herself most when she was with them both." She gave a wry look. "But then, we all feel that way, so we figured she did, too." She looked away, a shadow coming over her face. "It's really hard on us, those of us who had loving parents and family. I'm lucky I got to come with my brother. Really lucky."

Marielle reached up a hand and grasped Minori's hand. "We're all here with you, Minori-chan. I know it's not the same, and I do hope they can fill that hole for you, but we are all here with you, too. It's made us all family in a way one wouldn't ever think of it happening. And it helps to know that our family here is working to help us get back to the ones over there."

Minori looked down at the hand holding hers and nodded, but she couldn't say anything for a while. Finally she said quietly, "I'm glad the wedding's soon. Then it can feel official." She looked over towards her guildmaster, then said her goodbyes and walked over to sit near him and talk quietly with him.

Marielle watched after her, then checked on Serera again. Her own guild-daughter was back at work, taking off the last of the vegetable skewers with Purrcy, putting them on a platter held by Nyanta. Marielle looked back at Naotsugu with a sigh. He rubbed the back of his free hand down her cheek. "They're your parents here, too, you know."

She gave him a sad smile. "I know." She glanced at Minori again. "Do you think she's asking him to make the adoption a little more formal, too?"

Naotsugu glanced at Minori in a bit of surprise, then looked back at her. "Would you?"

Marielle looked at him, then thought about it. With a sigh, she put her head on his chest. "I don't know. I'd already left home, after all. Thinking of it as in-laws is probably enough...but...if they left I'd be sad. I _was_ sad," she said almost angry about it again. "And they aren't even in my guild and all I get most of the time is scolded."

Naotsugu chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "Until she came home this time. She loves you, too, you know."

Marielle sighed. After a bit she said, "I guess I'm glad she does. It helps."

"Umhm," he agreed quietly. They sat in companionable silence for a while after that.

"And I'm glad you love me, too. That helps a lot," she said suddenly.

Naotsugu flushed. "Thanks. It helps to hear that. I'm still not sure what you see in me, but I'm glad you've decided to love me too."

Marielle held him tightly until she was required for whatever random thing the guild needed next and they had to go take care of it. She was glad that he went with her, though. His quiet, strong presence was an anchor for her, really.

-:-:-:-:-

Marielle paced her office and found her hands were wringing themselves again. She clenched them instead. The wringing was starting to make them hurt. She really wasn't sure why she was so nervous. This was an official visit, so that must be it. Official visits of any kind always made her nervous, no matter who she was visiting with. Just as breakfast was ending, she'd received a chat from Tetorō. She must be on every Log Horizon guild member's list now, really, except Purrcy's maybe, since Tetorō - it turned out - had been calling on her behalf to request this meeting.

Henrietta had almost lost it, at yet another interruption by Purrcy, but it was not only completely understandable, it was almost necessary this time, and part of the preparations, too. So Henrietta had made sure Marielle knew what the plan was, then left to go take care of things out in the streets. Now Marielle was pacing in her office while waiting, hoping she could remember it all and face down Purrcy by herself...or whatever she was supposed to do when Purrcy arrived.

A quiet chat in her ear warned her they were on their way to her office, one of the suites on the main floor of the guild hall (Henrietta had the other, and the other half was the kitchen and dining hall). Marielle took a deep breath and moved to sit at her desk. Henrietta had insisted she start strong at least, even if she did "end up a puddle on the floor in the end". Marielle wasn't sure about the lack of confidence her friend had in her, but she supposed she had earned it.

There was a knock on the door and it opened to allow Purrcy and Tetorō to enter. "Marie, thank you for seeing me this morning. I know things are busy for you, so I'll not keep you long," Purrcy was all business right away. Official business and formal Purrcy were this way.

"It's no trouble, really," Marielle answered, holding her hands tightly in front of her. "You said you wanted to talk about the student ceremony at the festival?"

"Yes, please, and perhaps an outline of a few other things coming up," Purrcy said, taking the seat opposite Marielle. Tetorō took the seat next to her and pulled out a clipboard and pen, reminding Marielle that the very first day he'd been appointed Purrcy's assistant and secretary. No wonder he'd been the one to call. In her own busy days she'd already forgotten. "Can you tell me what it is you're planning for the ceremony?" Purrcy asked.

"Well...it seemed like the day of the explosions over the city that it was you, and that you were testing everyone, including the students. We knew about the Hackers, because of Tetorō and Michael, but after investigating it, we discovered you'd done testing on the Technicians and others as well. Shiroe asked for us to have some kind of a 'graduation' ceremony on the second day of the festival, after the joint press conference of the city councils. He wanted to use whatever they'd 'passed' as an opportunity to put the Akiba Adventurer Academy into the public eye again."

"We've been working with the Minami Job Corps to draw new students from Minami for our classes here. We'll use the ceremony to let them know we're serious, producing results, and would be a good place for them to come and learn things that might help them continue to move forward. We're expecting a good number to come, based on that office's expectations. Mostly it's those who've been trying things but not coming up with something that's a good fit yet. We're putting together a survey class that will run for the first week after the festival is cleaned up from. Then we'll let them choose what direction they'd like to study. Since most of them aren't likely to have much gold to pay for the classes, we thought we'd dorm them up at the Academy and have them perform cleaning, cooking, and other similar duties as part of their pay. When they get to the practical part of their lessons, a portion of their gain can then be put towards payment of classes and room rent."

Marielle knew she was rambling, but Purrcy was letting her and closely following, her ears pricked forward in interest. _So it must be okay, right?_ her sweating self hoped. She paused and Purrcy asked another question. "Are you still teaching just the three sub-classes courses, or have you added in other kinds?"

Marielle took a breath and launched into the sales pitch they'd been giving people for the last month to get them to come to the Academy, about all the other wonderful things being taught and learned there, most of it from out of Roderick Trading Company's research that West Wind Brigade had formalized, and a few military training classes Honesty had been willing to put together for them so they could get the fighter Classes to come, too. "We've been working on a beginning survey of crafter classes for this next round, since we figure most Adventurers already know how to fight, if they like to, but the ones who aren't sure what they want to do might benefit from knowing what other skills are available to learn and hands-on experience would teach them quickly what they could be interested in doing."

Purrcy sat back, a satisfied look on her face. "You've been working hard. Thank you."

Marielle slumped in relief inside. She hadn't forgotten the one most important thing about facing Purrcy this day, even though Henrietta had said it at least ten times before leaving. "Purrcy is the _Dean_. She can't be disappointed."

Purrcy looked at Tetorō. "Since Marie doesn't have a secretary to help her today, please copy the notes from this meeting so she has them for reference later." Tetorō nodded. Purrcy looked back at Marielle who was trying to take a deep breath without taking one. "For the ceremony at the festival - no one has technically 'graduated' yet. Honestly, we haven't even set up the requirements for what a 'graduate' is. That may take a full year for us to comprehend, in the end, so don't stress out about that level of things just yet. Your current build-up is sufficient, though I'm going to add to it today. For now, please just have certificates of completion ready to be handed out at the ceremony." A list appeared on Marielle's desk. "Here are the names of the students and their levels of completion as based on my testing the other day. It would be nice if we could say it was a graduation ceremony, but we'll have to make due with this level this time."

"Have someone with a nice, pleasant voice read the list off. I'll hand the certificate to the student, but you and Guildmaster Soujirou should also be on the stand for handshakes and congratulations. In that way we'll keep it like a graduation. The longer we keep it going and have pomp and circumstance, the more people will pass by and see it. I assume you're having it in a public forum?"

Marielle nodded. "Yes. We're going to use the stage set up for plays and presentations."

"Good," Purrcy nodded. "Somewhere in there, you should allow time for me to speak, both in recognition of the classes, and also to sell what's coming up next. I'll take as long as you give me, but anything shorter than five minutes is too short. You and Guildmaster Soujirou may speak if you wish." She tapped a finger.

"Which reminds me. I wanted to let you know that when Shiroe has me come to the Round Table meetings with him, whenever he asks the Academy to speak, please let me protect you. As Dean, when I'm present, it's my responsibility to be the one to answer for the Academy. If you think an issue will come up, please inform me beforehand so I can answer correctly." Marielle blinked, then nodded. She hadn't considered that Shiroe would even have Purrcy come to those meetings.

"I've been talking to Shiroe about a series of classes that I do feel is absolutely essential to be having. He's agreed with me. I'd like to flesh them out a little more with you, then let you put together a suggested course list with potential teachers for them. It will take a month or so of discussions, I would think, to get fully implemented, so it's just a note for your mind to be contemplating for this coming week." Marielle nodded that she understood.

"We - our guild and yours - have a large number of real children in them. Shiroe is working to get us all home. We have no idea how long in that world we will have been gone by the time we get back. If we return the children to their parents illiterate and years have passed, we will be looked down upon. I believe we cannot allow that to happen. If they were only allowed to play like wild creatures, then there will be a large public outcry - particularly in countries like Japan where the education of its citizens is extremely important." Marielle's eyes flew open wide.

"I've asked the children in Log Horizon to add to their activities today by taking a survey of all the other children in town. They are collecting data such as age, grade in school when they left, guild they are in, and area of preferred study. This is general, not specific, survey data. Later you may wish to make a more formal survey. At this time, I just want to know the age range we have, how many within the ages, where the largest clusters are, and if some are ready for specific studies or if they are still general. I'm concerned that there are others whose Adventurer bodies are over twenty but inside they are ten through thirteen. We all know that there were plenty of liars on that end as well." Marielle's face fell. It was true.

"I don't know how we'll know unless they'll tell us, but perhaps a start could be by talking to the guildmasters specifically, or to the tavern and inn keepers for those not in guilds. Immaturity will always be shown in actions and words. If they can feel that they aren't going to be in trouble for it, but that we want to be helpful, maybe they'll be willing to admit to it and let us help them. I would also look through those who are not guilded and are very shy. Send your best, and West Wind Brigade's best, to bring those in." Purrcy turned to Tetorō. "Ah, add that as a side note. I may want to add a potion that returns Adventurers to their correct age." He nodded and made a note on a separate piece of paper on his clipboard.

"Right now, I'm thinking that the class work should be either two days a week, or should only be mornings so that they still have time for their other works they need or want to be doing. Really, we don't need to replicate the public school system. They are getting lots of learning out of just being here and having to learn how to live on their own. I would just like to see they continue moving forward in the studies that are important."

"You'll need to decide if national and world history is important to continue, but I know there are many Adventurers who are here because they enjoy that topic and could be brought in to teach it, Guildmaster Soujirou a case in point. Definitely any reading and writing that is necessary should be continued. If you have interest from anyone for continuing to learn English, the entire Eagles sub-guild is from America and could be called on when they are here. For mathematics, I have a specific course I am currently putting together that I will spearhead, but it isn't the basics. If any of the children still need basic math, you'll need to consider it. I'm sure it will also depend on there being any teachers available for the higher levels of mathematics, since most people graduate and promptly forget it." Marielle slumped a little, chastened, since she was one of those forgetful people.

"Even if they aren't up to grade level by the time they return home, if we've done what we can, it will make a difference to their parents and the world in general, not to mention to them. Even if they've learned a strength from being here, if they feel left behind there, it may be lost to them. I would hate to see that."

"Me, too," agreed Marielle. "I think this is a marvellous plan to move forward on. I've actually been thinking around it myself. As you say, we do have many children here. Now that they are all strong as far as levels go, it only seems right to make them strong in the ways of adults as well."

"Indeed," Purrcy agreed. "It will benefit them here and at home, and it will benefit us. ...So that you know, I am also working on creating a way for them to physically grow up here. It is perhaps a minor point, but for a human to look like a child when inside they are an adult is extremely difficult - Akatsuki is a point to this matter. Our children won't be able to really become adults here, or even there, if they haven't grown and been treated as such. Each stage of growth, each age, is important to mental health and social comprehension. Already they should be two years taller, two years more mature than they arrived, and they aren't. I don't want them to fall behind any more."

Marielle slumped. Softly she said, "Yes, please. I've been scolded even more on that point than any other in the last months. I always have called them children and they are feeling mature from all the lessons they've learned and strength they've gained that it's now an insult to them. It makes me sad, since I do love them like children...but it is time for them and all of us to recognize them for what they are, not what the avatar makes them look like."

"Just so," Purrcy said kindly. She paused. When Marielle could look up at her again, Purrcy smiled, then changed the subject. "There is one other thing that I would like to do with the Academy. I would like to use it as an experimental location for financial lessons. My course I'm putting together is in that field, and all four of our children are going to be required to attend it. The Academy will be the actual hands on experiment for us adults, and Shiroe and I hope to be able to use it regularly." Purrcy shifted, folding her hands in her lap. "That is, it will be the first place to be granted a loan that it will have to repay."

Marielle's eyes opened wide. "A - a loan?"

"Yes. This world does not come with a lending feature. We would like to see that corrected, but we need to understand how to make it work properly. In particular, you know that Shiroe plans on buying all the zones of Yamato he can, to return them to the land." Marielle nodded. "When we buy the zones of cities of People of the Land, or even farmers and turn it over to the land, what gain do we have? Only the loss of the gold. Just like in Minami where taking away the need to earn money destroyed the economy and good will of the people, so too will be the free gift of land to those who are on it. So far, the giving of land rights has only been done as part of concessions or for selfish gain or personal ownership. As we move forward, however, that will be the case less and less often."

"In the case of the Academy, you are currently trying to raise money to pay for the building and eventually lands around it. To some degree, you can go stumping for grant money, but at some level, the school should have responsibility for itself. Even you understand this." Marielle nodded. "Yet, we also all know that to allow it to languish until you have the full sum in hand is to court disaster if for some odd reason someone wanted to control us, Adventurers, or the school." Marielle nodded again. "If we were to grant the school a loan for a portion of the cost of the zones, and you were to go fund raising for the rest of it - either through grants or other loans - then it could be purchased more immediately. Then the school would bear the continuing responsibility to repay the loans - which it would anyway, but now each amount earned could be paid in increments, rather than having to sit tucked away in the bank until the full sum was reached."

Marielle blinked. "It sounds like a good idea," she said cautiously.

Purrcy nodded. "Tell Henrietta. She'll be able to tell you just how good or bad an idea. And tell her, yes, we expect an interest rate on the loan. The eventual goal is to earn enough to buy all Yamato, after all. This will be her thought assignment for us to discuss after the festival is completed. That is: what interest rates would be useful, repayment terms, how much should be by loan and how much by grant, or other fundraising methods. You'll need to work on fundraisers in general - ones that can be used immediately to bring in large amounts at the beginning, and on-going ones to bring in regular revenue for course upgrades as well as savings for the leaner months so that you don't have to default on the loan. I think Shiroe is thinking that he will assign free rights of use on a loaned zone until it is paid off in full, then he will assign the zone to the land at that time, but that's his area not mine."

"Oh, and one more thing," Purrcy shifted forward, indicating she was near the end of her visit. "I suspect you and Crescent Moon continue to put on these festivals free of charge. Perhaps you feel like everyone is putting in the work, but of all of them, only you don't receive a monetary compensation for it. Because all the others are merchants, they do. Please consider how you are going to begin to be compensated from now on. Even if all you do is add on one more gold per rental of small booth, two for medium, three for large, and then an event fee for every event you help produce, that would be acceptable. You cannot continue to work for free or all of you will burn out and become very angry. This is your work, not just your joy. Those who are paid for their joy are the happiest of all people. Do not continue to be slaves to the others or you also will go from being Akiba's sun and flower garden to being Akiba's Plant Hwyaden."

"But...the military guilds don't either...?" Marielle protested weakly.

"Then they will also begin to become resentful. See that they are paid as well. Charge an entrance fee from everyone who enters the city - People of the Land and Adventurer alike - and use that to pay for security and clean-up. You should know, of all people, Marie, that this is how conventions work."

Marielle blushed. Her fingers were worrying themselves. She looked down. "Yes, Hahaue."

"It is perhaps too late to change the fee for the booths. Have your children visit them the second day and take up collections. Those merchants who are happy with the assistance you gave them because they are doing well will happily pay. Strong-arm them the third day and refuse to let them leave the city, or to do their clean up for them, if they won't pay at all. You can set up the entrance fee now, since we haven't started. You can also wait to negotiate how much you'll pay the fighting guilds until after it's all over and you've got a final total. From that amount, set aside something for the next one. You also know how important that is." Marielle nodded silently, still properly humble.

"It's the same for the events. Go now to each person on the list and ask them, or have Henrietta ask them, for a proper fee before you do any more work for them. If they won't pay, they have to do it themselves, and still pay a rent for their time on the various stages. For the Academy event, it should come from the Academy coffers. If it can't, bill Shiroe. For the joint press conference, charge the Round Table Council. For the fashion show, charge a minimal admission - we have to pass out raffle tickets anyway - and then also charge each house, guild, or individual who is having something on display. For my part, you should charge Calasin. He's selling the clothing so it's his to pay for. I'm only showing up to help sell it for him." Purrcy winked. "You could pay me, though, since I'll bring in more attendees than you would otherwise have had."

Marielle slowly smiled. "I do know how that works, also."

"Of course you do, dear," Purrcy rose. "If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to contact Tetorō. If it's something I can answer right away, I will. Thank you for letting me come visit." Tetorō finished writing. His page glowed and he stood and put a copy of it on Marielle's desk.

"My pleasure," Marielle rose and stood looking at Purrcy, then she walked out from behind her desk. She hesitated a moment, then bowed. "Thank you for your votes of confidence." Purrcy was looking at her softly when Marielle looked into her eyes again. Marielle couldn't stand it any more and rushed to grab Purrcy in her arms in a big hug.

Purrcy held her in return. "It's only what you have earned for yourself already," Purrcy said quietly. "I'm very proud of you. You do work very hard." Being pet by a cat was a bit reverse, but it helped Marielle to calm down. She'd made it through the official visit all by herself, and it had really gone very well.

"Ah, Purrcy," Tetorō interrupted, "you still need to let her know about Princess Raynessia."

Marielle let go of Purrcy. "Ah, yes," Purrcy said, "thank you for reminding me. Marielle, I've asked Princess Raynessia to be my exclusive model for the fashion show. Since my newest line is based on princess fashion, I thought the non-beast-half portion would be best presented by the Princess herself. Please see she is found a suitable prince counterpart to go out with her. It's a female and male line. Nyanta is taken. He'll be escorting me. I'm sure Raynessia's preferred companion isn't available yet, but perhaps by next year he will be."

Marielle smiled a pasted on sort of smile and nodded, then saw them out the door. When they were gone, she slumped. Purrcy still hadn't forgotten, and had already moved to prevent Marielle from abusing Princess Raynessia at the fashion show. Likely it would happen for Akatsuki, too, if they tried to use her like they had in the past. Henrietta wasn't going to be pleased...but then Purrcy would be even more displeased.

Marielle pushed off the wall. Oh, well. At least Raynessia would still be in the fashion show. She was the biggest draw after all. Marielle wondered if she should be paid for her part, too. It seemed a little...uncouth. Maybe they could send it to the manor generally as a gift of gratitude, or something. Surely they needed help with their expenses as well. And slipping Raynessia a little spending cash of her own might help her feel more real, too. They'd have to handle that just right, though. It might just confuse her. It would have to be all the models, really, unless they insisted that being volunteers was okay.

Marielle smiled and fetched the papers off her desk and headed out of the guild hall to find Henrietta and give her the report. She wouldn't be happy with more work, but overall Marielle thought she'd be pleased - especially with the scolding to earn money while they worked. Maybe that's why Henrietta was so sour. She did seem to light up better when there were dollar signs in her own eyes. Maybe Marielle could sweeten the report with a promise that Henrietta would get her own little share for all her hard work and effort.

With a happy hum, Marielle skipped down the street, headed for the center of Akiba. They might have to pay everyone in the guild a little something, but they were all such good hard workers, they certainly deserved it. She hoped Purrcy's growth magic worked. They deserved that, too, and as good an education as they could give them. It felt good that Purrcy wasn't hating Akiba so much any more.


	58. The Guards' Perspective

"Shiroe! I shall go mad with boredom if I'm really to sit still for yet another day and a half before there is any more activity!" Shiroe looked up at the femfelinoid who had come sweeping into his room with said declaration. "Really, I should have waited another two days before returning - and would have if I'd known. May I return outside and play doctor until tomorrow night?"

"No." He answered calmly. "You'll be quite busy tomorrow, actually. Duke Sergiad Cowen and his retinue will arrive in Akiba tomorrow. We'll all be present to welcome him and you'll be hostessing him for the day."

"Is he married?" she asked immediately.

"I don't believe so...but don't you already know that?"

"No, why would I?" she asked.

"Hmm," he pushed his glasses back up on his face. "You seemed to know him, from before?"

"Nureha liked to crash the Court of Eternal Ice when you were all there. I believe I've met him once in a situation that he'll be extremely surprised to see me here in comparison to. I helped in the stables of the Cinderella Castle during foaling time. They actually have the largest preponderance of Summonable horses there. I figured with one more set of hands they might have enough survive the birthing for their own use, now that the demand in Eastal is so much higher. He'll find the transition difficult, I expect."

Shiroe blinked. "Yes, quite," he murmured. "Please see it's handled appropriately."

"Of course," she answered dismissively, "but that doesn't get me through today." She paced the room, her tail swishing. "How about letting me go visit Roderick Trading Company, to talk to the apothecary department? If we can sneak in under the radar and I can just talk to them...there's one from Radio Market that might be there now. I can use the excuse I'm there to visit that one. I'd like to at least get a start on the potions, since I don't even know where to begin. Once I know where to begin, I know what I need to do to get where I want to go."

"Fine. Be home to make dinner. It will be your only night to make it until after the festival, after all, and I'm looking forward to fresh ...whatever it is you two will make."

"Oooo. Very political save, there, Machiavelli. We'll play rock-paper-scissors and surprise you."

Shiroe smiled at Purrcy and her eyes twinkled back. "Oh," he added, "the train from Minami will also arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping not at the same time. I'd like to have the Duke and his group settled and out of the way before the train unloads. Once it's clean, you can invite him to receive an exclusive tour of it, but until then it's going to be overwhelming."

"Are they all staying at Water Maple?"

"Probably?" Shiroe didn't know, really.

Purrcy sighed. "The Princess will be terribly disappointed she can't relax, yet again, for a festival. At least I've properly seen to her reputation as far as the fashion show goes. They can come to that. The other designs will likely scandalize them, but what I'm having her wear - as my exclusive model I might add - they'll find acceptable for the most part."

"Most part?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow.

"I have a few shorter skirt versions for more casual or party wear, as far as Adventurers are concerned. They're still modest by our standards, though, I promise, even if just a little scandalous for theirs. It will open their eyes a little to what they are actually subjecting her to by leaving her here unattended and at our mercy. Either they'll find it just punishment or they'll recall her. Are her parents coming?"

"I believe so, and her sister, her husband, and their young brother, the heir."

"A family reunion and ...vacation, perhaps?" Purrcy paused in her pacing.

"It would be nice," Shiroe said dryly.

"I'll make it one, if they don't suggest it themselves. All nobles need to be able to relax once in their lives. I take it spies from other nobles will be as thick as flies, then."

Shiroe had gone back to his work. "Probably."

Purrcy sighed. "Well, I'll have to think hard, then. ...Michael, I want a detail starting tomorrow watching over the Duke and his family. We'll have you all present when they arrive so you all know who he is. I want to let them learn to relax. Figure out how to keep the spies from the rest of the nobles blind - or kicked out. Thanks."

She turned to Akatsuki. "Do you know who most of them are, or how to pick them out?" Akatsuki nodded. "Good, make sure the Eagles know so they can clean the city while we're in the manor hiding out waiting for the city to calm back down to a roar from the explosion it will be in at first. I'd rather not have to disguise them, though I will to a small degree." She turned back to Shiroe. "If they didn't bring proper clothing, may I raid Calasin's again? That would be a more secluded space to hide them in than to just lock them down in the Manor, and take up gobs of time. They'd also get a taste of the more wild clothing selections and not fret so much at what she'll be wearing for me."

"That'd be fine," Shiroe nodded, still distracted by his work. Then he looked up. "Ah...and as far as they know, you have seen the dress. Nureha went for the final fitting."

Purrcy stopped pacing again and pursed her lips at him. In her angry voice that hadn't been used at all until now, she said, "And am I going to be allowed to see it before I have to wear it?"

He blinked. Finally he sighed. "It isn't that bad, really. It wouldn't do to set that impression on the Duke after all. ...But I do know you hate surprises. If you want to stop in, go ahead."

"Thank you," she said curtly, trying to reign the anger in, the twitching of the tail slowing down, though the tip of it still bounced with tension as it moved. "Then I'll stop by there today and set up the visit, since I'm sure they'll have to pull out someone or three to assist us." She went back to pacing as she thought. Finally she asked, "Anything else you want me working on?"

"The Round Table will have figured it out just from the fashion show. I'll keep them locked down in the joint meeting, but Nakalnad's going to ask about the key and Kazuhiko knows you, so it'll come up anyway. Expect to have to explain something to calm them down so we can focus on what's important. You can probably follow my lead there just fine."

"Probably. I let Marie know that I'd protect them and Soujirou if anything regarding the Academy came up in any meeting I was present at."

"Good."

She paced just a bit more and Shiroe didn't add anything more. Finally Purrcy lept up on his desk, landing as kitten. She carefully stepped on and around papers, then sat with her tail curled around her front feet until he finished writing his thought down. He looked at her soberly for a moment, then reached out his hand and pet her on the head. "Thank you, Purrcy," he said.

She licked his hand with the little scratchy tongue. "Keep talking to me. I might match you, but reading minds still doesn't exist. I can't help if you hold your tongue."

"Right," he rubbed under her chin, then sighed and put his chin in his hand. "Keep reminding me."

"I'll step on your toes - literally. Then I won't have to figuratively."

He snorted a small laugh. "That'll help me remember, I guess." He ran a finger down her head and back. She rose and shook a little, then turned and carefully made her way back across the desk top. She only made it halfway before she was scooped up in a hand. He held her to his cheek. "Welcome home."

Purrcy purred for him until he put her down on the floor beside his chair. She transformed back to felinoid and ran her hand through his hair and kissed the top of his head. "It's good to be home...really here and finally able to really help. You already know it, but together - anything is possible. We'll see you tonight. Take a few minutes to breathe when Akatsuki calls you out."

"I will, Hahaue," he promised. The office was finally quiet again after that, but Shiroe was more relaxed, so Akatsuki was satisfied. Then her face fell. Princess Raynessia had received a reprieve. That made it doubly unlikely she herself would. She was very much not looking forward to the fashion show.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy went hunting for Nyanta next, going to large cat and sniffing him down. She rubbed against his legs, intertwining herself and purring, her tail waving in the air. "Meow. Someone is pleased," he said calmly, but with a little bit of a smile in his voice. He finished hanging his wet shirt on the drying line. Reaching down, he ran a paw on Purrcy's back. "Do mew have any laundry that needs doing, nyan?"

She looked up at him and laughed. "We did my laundry just before I left, and I haven't been in a physical body that needed my clothing until I met with you. I suppose you could wash yesterday's dress, if you're bored. Or you could come with me to be bored at the research facility. ...Or, you could finally have a quiet afternoon on your favorite chair." She licked his paw. "Shiroe has me hostessing the Duke and his family from the time they arrive tomorrow. If you'd come and keep the Princess' mother and sister entertained on the side, I'm intending to help them to relax just enough to feel like they're on vacation while they're here for the unofficial official things."

"If there is a Duchess, I'll handle both of them for a bit, but then she'll be yours instead. I think the heir has already picked someone to follow around and we'll likely hand him off early for everything but the official full family activities. If possible, I'll have the Water Maple girls keep Raynessia busy as much as possible, but she'll have to be at her previous engagements and the official full family activities as well."

"I'm not sure who Shiroe is going to have host them once the festival is in full force, so I'm also going to try to get them into vacation mode before it does start. I hope whoever's been picked knows the itinerary, because I don't, though I do think they should come to the fashion show and see what their daughter's doing to pay the price they've set her to. I've already contacted Michael to put details on them from our house and asked Akatsuki to help them clean out the city of spies as much as possible so their reputations aren't smeared in front of the other nobles...though I'd rather they were made jealous enough they'd come play, too." Purrcy was still weaving around Nyanta and he was still hanging laundry.

Then, suddenly, she was holding another item of clothing up to the line. He went ahead and pinned it. When the first pin was in, she held the other side and picked up the next item out of the basket. He placed the second pin and she held the next item up to the line for him to pin. They followed that pattern as she continued to talk until she had filled him in on the whole morning until that time and her thoughts about what should be next. They reached the end of the basket and he moved down the line one more step. She followed him and smiled at him. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her. "Thank mew for helping."

"Thank you for listening...again," she smiled at her own penchant to not be quiet. "Do you think that was enough to hold you until I get back?"

He chuckled. "Most likely." He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Until mew first step paw out the door, anyway."

She blushed and shivered slightly, melting just enough to get his arm to tighten around her. As he stiffened slightly she smiled to herself and wondered how far he'd let himself go this time. She could tell he wanted to hold her with his other arm, but he stepped back instead. She looked him in the eye calmly. "We need to play rock-paper-scissors for Shiroe."

"Oh?" Nyanta's eye whiskers went up. "I win, then, unless mew do scissors, and even then I win."

"Oh, goody!" Purrcy said brightly. "Then we're having curry tonight."

Nyanta dropped his head into his paw. "I'll remember not to play with mew anymeowre."

She patted him on the head. "I'll be back in time to help. Do you need me to pick up anything on the way?"

He stepped into her and picked her up in his arms. Holding her there hostage, his ears twitched at her, then finally settled on back in embarrassment. Purrcy laughed. "Nyanta, if you don't know where to go next, don't do it in the first place." She bent down and kissed him. "It isn't a good punishment otherwise." She rubbed her face against his and licked his cheek and jaw and was working down his neck when he finally set her down and backed up a step. He kept one paw on her shoulder to hold her in place. She moved to step forward and he growled at her.

She stopped and patted the arm holding her, an ear flicking back in apology, then she was large cat again and heading out the door. She heard him sigh as she prepared to leap to the tree trunk. Briefly she closed her eyes and held herself from turning around, then was down the tree. There were still too many days ahead of them, even if they were busy ones.

-:-:-:-:-

"Right, Tetorō. Let's play 'hide from the guard detail' next," Purrcy's voice was barely in Tetorō's ear before the front door was opening.

"Hey!" he called out, jumping up from the couch and taking off after her. "Not this guard! Wait for me!" For the second time that week he got to run full out. Purrcy as large cat was quite fast, actually. She did stay in sight, though, until she hit a particular corner. Then she turned it and disappeared. He reached that intersection and looked down the street but she wasn't on it. He held still and looked for her internally. His tracer on her was on her spirit, not her body, since he hadn't known where that was until she arrived two days ago. He'd also gotten very good at figuring out relationally where she was in the base realm. He relaxed when he saw she hadn't gone far. Then he triple checked that it wasn't a mirror image she'd left behind. It looked like she did just want to test the guards.

The Eagles assigned for the day had said they were from the Safety detail for three of them, and the fourth sounded like he still counted but had claimed he was from the Maintenance detail. They caught up to him and began a search, though Tetorō only knew because he could see faint shadows in the code realm. One came out of hiding and ghosted to the center of the street to track her paw prints. The street here was stone, but had patches of moss on it. After about a minute, the tracker made a few small hand signals, then disappeared, heading to follow whatever tracks he'd seen.

Tetorō walked slowly to the center of the street where the tracker had left from, looking for the signs he'd found. When he reached the position in the street the tracker had entered the leaning building, he stopped and watched that building to see what they would do, and to see if she would leave it. He wondered if she'd do any spell casting, or if she'd leave it at just a game of hide-and-seek.

The guard detail had entered the building and held still and been very quiet while their eyes adjusted to the dimness. As a cat, she had sight advantage indoors in such locations. She also would have a better sense for what was rotting and would crumble under weight...Tetorō hoped. Purrcy moved from her hiding place as three of the four misty grey patches on his interior vision began to creep up towards her. One stopped short and waited while the other two converged on where she had been. She was already out of range of the one waiting though, having moved early enough.

One of the two backed up and waited while his companion searched that area, then began tracking again. The third moved to track in line with the first one. The second ghosted along behind them a bit. Purrcy moved again, slowly. Either she was being very cautious, or was working her way along a dangerous route. Tetorō hoped it wasn't the latter. About the same time the two working together found her second hiding place, Purrcy was moving up the leaning building to higher floors in quick bursts. Possibly jumping from level to level, then. Tetorō hoped they could follow her up.

He wasn't disappointed. The two who had found her hiding spot must have found her escape route. The one hanging back was headed at a faster rate and somewhat lower in the same direction she had gone. Maybe she'd been in a ventilation shaft and the guard was following it on the floor. The two behind moved back down and then ran to catch up, with one falling behind again as they got close to the one who had followed her path. Tetorō agreed with the tactic. Leave one near the door to both guard it, and to head outside if the target left the building. One of the other three always lagged in order to either help the others out of a bind, or to move if the others couldn't as easily. That had shaved off some time this time.

They seemed a little stuck at the leaping part, though. It looked like they might be in conference. When they moved again, one stayed near that location and the other two moved towards the one near the door. Tetorō's eyebrow raised slightly. When the three converged, one stayed there again and the other two left the building and moved to a corner. Suddenly he saw them on the outside of the building, climbing up it until they were on the upper sloped edge. They moved up the slope quickly. They paused briefly at regular intervals and he could hear sounds of voices at the pauses. He wondered if they were using fear tactics to get her to flush out. He wasn't sure how they'd know which floor she was on. Then they stopped. From the angle, it looked like at the right floor even. Tetorō blinked. He wondered how they'd figured that out.

They stayed there but the one inside at the stairwell - if that's what it was, started to move up. It wasn't fast, but it was steady. When he reached the same floor, he paused and one of the ones on the outside moved to be inside. Then the two at that floor began to move towards each other cautiously. Purrcy moved slightly, but not far. She was likely at least boxed in then. Now to see if they found where. They reached a place near her location, paused again, then finally moved towards her. It looked like she was above them just slightly.

Suddenly she was moving, very quickly, and the two men reacted, but didn't catch her before she was headed back towards the stairwell. Tetorō could only imagine she'd been hiding as a kitten and moved fast enough and was small enough she was too difficult to catch. One ran quickly after her. The other one lagged behind again just a little, but not by much. Suddenly Purrcy stopped moving forward, very near the stairwell. She did wiggle a lot, though. Just as the closest guard reached her, she was suddenly through whatever barrier or trap had been put in her way.

The second guard in the hall was suddenly moving very fast. As Purrcy 'fell' quickly down the flights, the one on the outside started moving down as well, then was moving closer to Tetorō's position. The two on the inside were 'falling' as well. When Purrcy turned and entered the interior of the building again, the angles were right for where the exterior guard was. They'd figured out early what floor she would go for. Maybe there were only certain floors that could be entered from that stairwell. Tetorō did wonder why the guard had abandoned the hallway window though.

The two guards chasing her had reached the floor Purrcy had turned into and were following after her. She had paused, though she was still moving a bit, then suddenly she was at a window, looking at him. Tetorō blinked. She crouched and he shifted slightly. There was movement above her and as she launched, a guard on a zipline from above dropped a net on top of her. The guard standing just inside the door moved, and moved very quickly. As soon as Purrcy was on the ground, that guard was grabbing for the net to hold it around her. The guard from above also very quickly continued to descend until he was on the ground and holding the net as well.

Purrcy hadn't been able to get out from under the net as a kitten on the way down, and with both men holding it down, as full size panther she couldn't quite force her way out of it by weight alone. Tetorō walked over, seeing the two interior guards looking down out from the window at the struggle below them. By the time Tetorō arrived, she was back to kitten and looking as pitiful as she could be - even mewling a plea to be let go. One laughed and shook his head. "That won't work. We know what you are. Cuteness is only temporary. Let you out and our heads would be removed by that giant claw of yours."

"Only too true," Tetorō agreed sadly. "Well done." He looked at the kitten who looked back calmly. "If you've had enough?" She nodded. "Stay kitten and I'll let you ride." She stood up, but stayed small. He motioned and they let her out of the net. While they folded it back up and retrieved the zip line he put her on his shoulder. Purrcy licked his neck and his ear. It tickled and scratched at the same time, but he put up with it. He'd missed it. He pet her gently.

"Heh," said one of the ones returning from inside, "we knew she could change, but not size that far down."

"Looks like a familiar," said the other with a grin.

Tetorō smiled back. "I'd agree, but it's probably the other way around. As Apprentice, I'm more the horse and whipping boy, but that makes it a good disguise either way, until they look at her closely. Her pattern's pretty distinctive." They nodded agreement. Purrcy lept from Tetorō's shoulder to the next guard over and licked his cheek and rubbed her head on his ear, purring. She repeated it for all of them, then was handed back over. "So...where are we really going?" Tetorō asked her.

"Where we always go when we go into town," she answered and settled down on his shoulder again.

"A- _gain_?" Tetorō whined slightly.

"Yup. And tomorrow, too."

Tetorō groaned. "Well, two of you will have to sit on the roof or something and two will have to come in. We need at least six for that place, though. Two for the front, two for the back, and two to go in. Even if you're kitten, if I walk in with them we'll be found out, you know. Everyone's got that whole strip under surveillance."

"Hmm...then...let's figure out how to do it without them knowing. Besides, it's you that's the problem. They're always looking to see you come around."

Tetorō stood very still, then nodded. "That's true." He chewed on his lip, then said. "Alright. We'll go in like I'm on duty." He handed the kitten to the next guard over. "You bring her inside. I'll distract them. You can get her close to the door and she can zip in as kitten when they open it to go through. Just say you're waiting for me when they ask...or specifically ask for something they have to retrieve from the back to get her through, or convince them you want to see something in the back. Have fun with that." He glared at the guards. "But whatever you do, DON'T let them know she can transform. That's still secret. I'll show up as soon as everyone else will let me get past." Tetorō paused again, then asked suspiciously. "Why are we going today if we're going tomorrow?" He glared at Purrcy.

"Today I'm going to see the dress - for the first time I might add. Shiroe said I could so I can stop being worried and angry and not be surprised again." That last brought Tetorō up short. He'd paid a pretty steep price last time she'd been surprised. "And to request a few clerks be freed up for tomorrow's royal visit. We won't be there long. We might even be out by the time you're able to get in. ...Then it's over to Roderick Trading Company's apothecary division where we'll be until it's time to get dinner going. Nyanta 'won' so it's curry tonight."

Tetorō lit up at "curry", but still, he sighed. "Are we going to have to sneak you into Roderick's, too?"

"Yup!" a happy little voice said. Tetorō rolled his eyes and looked apologetically at the guards.

They shrugged. "It's fun," one said.

"Glad you think so," Tetorō said wryly, then turned to start walking. He turned back and took the kitten back. "Until we're just outside the start of my regular route." He put Purrcy back on his shoulder and the guards disappeared again.

-:-:-:-:-

"Commander, Operation Hide-and-Seek successful. Target tagged and bagged in thirteen minutes twenty-seven seconds. Headed for in-town next. Requesting back-up. Location Shopping District 8, short-term. Then we'll be headed for Roderick Trading Company until time to head home for dinner." Life Support reported in.

"Mmm...good job. She must be thrilled." Michael responded.

Ground Safety sniggered. "Tetorō's not. He's tolerant, though."

"Why'd he give away she was about to jump?" Aviation Safety asked. "I expected him to let me fail if I was gonna'."

"What'd he do?" Michael asked.

"Stood to mark the location she went to ground and he lost her. Then followed us to the location, but waited in the street and held still. Looked like he was watching from the outside. But when she finally made her way to the window to jump, he marked her, then just as she was about to jump, he shifted to let me know, or something." The answer came back promptly.

"What formation did you use?"

"Fall-back pincer, with echo to flush her out." Life Support answered.

"He instinctively recognized it, then, and was taking his usual position. He's field monitor." Michael answered.

"Oh," Aviation Safety said. "So, he's allied."

"Yup. He was following through. Actually, they've said we might have to really follow through ourselves. She was probably training you for that, too."

"Whazzat?" Compliance asked.

"She's apparently far-flung field monitor. If she gets trapped, we'll be sent in to fetch her out. He'll watch like that and if it's real, direct us in. The retrieval will be quicker that way."

"That's good to hear," Life Support relaxed slightly. "Thirteen minutes is long enough to be dead for more than ten. I'd like to do it again with him to time it and get it as low as possible."

"Inside's more important than outside, but right now outside's all you pansies are prepared to handle."

"We're workin' on it, Commander," Compliance complained.

"I know. I'll send some over to Shopping District 8. Let them know when they can scatter back after you're inside Roderick Trading company."

"We get to pick how we get inside the mall," Aviation Safety told him. "Tetorō's going to be the draw since that's his usual route."

"Hoh? ...She wants the back?"

"Yup. Brief visit she says. To see the dress and to request help for tomorrow, then back out again."

"Mmm...that sounds like fun, actually..." The four rolled their eyes. Of course it was going to be fun. That didn't mean they needed everyone in on it.

"The more walk in, the more suspicious it is. Goal is no one can know she's going in and out kitten. Only full-on Purrcy while we're inside." Ground Safety said.

"No...," Michael mused, "...make it goal that they never knew she was there. She might complain so I'll tell her I want it as your next training. It'll let her know you can do more than hide-and-seek. You'll have to talk your way through the operation." He was quiet a bit longer, then asked, "What's the request?"

"To provide help when the 'royal visit' occurs tomorrow."

"Perfect. You have orders to check the place over and make sure it's sufficiently clear for the visit tomorrow. I've already received orders we're to clean out the city anyway, though I need to make her be clearer on that. Her brush was too broad. We're on duty for royal protection tomorrow also, on the guests who are going to be there so you can wander after them then so they can't get suspicious after the fact."

"Put us on the door, please," Aviation Safety requested. "We're not qualified for close duty."

"Fine, if you pass this one properly." Michael cut the line.

Life Support blew a lightly frustrated breath of air. They could pass it just fine. "It's too simple, given that order. We can walk wherever we want with that. All she has to do is peek out of a pocket when we hit the right room."

"Well...that's just your speed, isn't it?" Ground Safety teased.

"I'm cautious, but I like to show real capacity, too," Life Support answered.

"Then let's find something we want to do, that gets both done," Compliance said reasonably.

"I'd like to know what they wear to parties in this town," Ground Safety said. That was enough to decide them. ...And all the time they had. Tetorō had stopped walking.

"I'll go in," Life Support said quietly and he was moving to intercept, walking into the street as if just walking by. He raised a hand to greet Tetorō and stopped to chat. "The Commander let some of us off for a few hours. We haven't gotten to go sightseeing at the shops yet. Could you point us to Shopping District 8?" He held out his hand for Tetorō's to shake it.

Tetorō pulled his hand out of his pocket and took Life Support's hand. "Sure. It's up this way." He waved with his other hand and shifted slightly to look around Life Support to see the others gathered back where he'd come from. "Just the four of you?" He was good at distracting eyes, too, Life Support noted.

"Yeah. We're going to get let go in shifts, once we've passed our testing. It's only for a few hours, though, since he wants us trained up for the festival." He put his hand up to his breast pocket and dropped the kitten inside it. It was a pleated pocket meant to hold radio equipment - if they were on Earth. Now it held the kitten just nicely. When they'd made their avatars, they'd picked a uniform that was military from World War II. Most people in town recognized them by that now, if not who they were individually yet. The uniform Purrcy had created for them was their formals now - or would be once they were actually real. They were all secretly excited to be getting formals finally. There was something about being in tight, uncomfortable, real clothing that was all spiffy, that said "official". Even if they did love to hate ironing it, polishing it, and wearing it for untold hours in the blazing heat.

Life Support gestured with the other hand, turning away from the main part of the street instead of towards it, and the other three joined them. "Are you looking for anything specific?" Tetorō asked.

"I'd like to know what counts as party clothes so I'm prepared for the festival," Ground Safety said casually.

"What do they have that's unusual and not necessarily kept out front?" Compliance asked.

"Well...rather a lot, actually," Tetorō gave him a rather evil grin. "Everything from cos-play, to mature, to the more esoteric like the Valkyrie Armor." He went to thoughtful. "Actually, you guys like military history. There's rather a lot of it in the back. It's got a clientele, but not enough to put out front."

They all looked interested in that. Life Support rubbed his chin. "That would be cool." Compliance bumped into Ground Safety. Life Support put out a hand to stabilize him and the kitten was in Ground Safety's pocket.

"Sorry, man," Compliance reached out a hand to Ground Safety. "Got distracted." The others looked over to the women sitting at the cafe they were passing and the kitten was in Compliance's pocket.

"Sweet," Tetorō said, a twinkle in his eyes. They smiled knowingly back at him, acknowledging the real praise. "As long as they don't bounce around too much, I approve," he said.

"I like 'em big," Aviation Safety said, to spare Compliance from being clawed.

"You like looking at Marie, then?" Tetorō raised an eyebrow. "Don't let Naotsugu catch you doing it."

"Never," Aviation Safety said completely serious. "I don't need to be Cathedraled back to level one. I like my level fifty-one, thank you very much."

"Oh, high praise for that one!" Compliance was looking surprised and trying hard to not give away his package.

"Why, thank you," Aviation Safety said politely. "But we're all about that now, you know."

"Well, five days ago you were all at, what...nearly forty? What are you doing to speed through the levels?" Tetorō asked.

They all looked away. "Our little secret," Ground Safety said in a teasing voice that let him know they weren't going to answer it. There was a tiny snort from Compliance's pocket. He coughed a few time.

"We'll lose points, you know, if we let it out," Life Support scolded mildly. They assumed the apology.

"Oohh...a contract is it," Tetorō nodded knowingly, as if such a thing existed.

"Excellent teachers," Aviation Safety replied just a little stiffly. Tetorō let it drop, as was proper at that point.

After a bit more walking, Tetorō waved his hand at a large warehouse with a storefront. "That's it there. Just let the clerk know what you want to see and she'll take care of you."

"Thanks, man," Compliance shook Tetorō's hand. Purrcy didn't change pockets, this time. This was the confusion hand-off to make anyone who'd been following their movements think he'd received back what he'd given out to begin with. The rest waved and the four headed into the building.

"Hello, may I help you?" the clerk at the front desk asked as they entered. They waited to fully adjust their eyes to the room. Electric lights weren't possible, but this place had enough money to put up pretty bright permanent magic rechargeable lights.

Life Support smiled engagingly. "We've got a few hours of leave and heard Shopping District 8 has a nice selection of military historic clothing. These are our avatar outfits, and they're getting a bit old - in the eye-sore division, if you know what I mean. We thought we'd like to take a look at some other options."

As he spoke, the other three were scanning the shop. They'd received orders and needed to comply with them as well. Ground Safety in particular went exploring. When the clerk paused instead of leading them to the back, waiting on him, he turned back. "Ah...I was also wondering what was popular to party in these days. There seem to be a lot of this kind of thing," he waved a hand at a particular rack. "I'll be right along."

The clerk hesitated, then called on her chat. "MarketMaker, I've got four customers that want to review the historic clothing racks. Is there anyone available to assist?" The clerk looked at them again a little closer, then said, "Historic clothing. They're from Log Horizon. ...No, sir. ...Yes, sir." She returned to them. "I can let you into the back section in a few minutes, if you'd wait just a bit. He's in the back, but says he'll be right up."

"Thank you," Aviation Safety said politely. They all wandered just a bit, except Aviation Safety who stayed anchor.

About just at two minutes the clerk moved. "If you'd please come with me," she said politely.

They gathered and walked with her to the door in the back they'd marked immediately on entry to the store. Compliance and Ground Safety chatted about the clothing they'd seen until the door was open. They went through, thanking the clerk and gave their attention to MarketMaker. He was slightly glistening with sweat. Hard work, nervousness, or having had to hoof it were all possibilities. "Welcome. Is this your first time coming to the back?" he asked politely with all the smoothness of a sales person.

"Yes," Life Support smiled. "Thank you for coming to fetch us personally."

MarketMaker twitched ever so slightly. "No, no. It's no trouble at all, though if it's alright, I'll leave you with some assistants when we arrive at that section of the warehouse." He was looking them over, reading their statuses. "You're from the new fighting group attached to Log Horizon. Are you enjoying Akiba? I heard you were originally at Minami."

He was an information digger as well. They all smiled internally and shifted as if to start walking. He immediately jumped to begin the walk. They 'pushed' him slightly to keep his feet going. "We've been hard at work," Life Support said, friendly. "This is one of our first opportunities to have a short break." He dropped the friendly when he was given the nod from his partners. "...is what I'd like to say." MarketMaker's eyes quickly were looking at him again and his own look went more sober. "We've got a bit of time to look around, but we're also here on official orders. The Duke arrives tomorrow with his family and Lady Purrcy's been tasked with hostessing them tomorrow. She would like to bring them here to keep them entertained, while at the same time out from the massive bustle the train's going to cause. I'm sure it will be an imposition, but if you had, say...three?...staff you could spare to attend to them here in the back she would appreciate it. Several of us will be along as well, so security shouldn't be a problem." He raised an eyebrow.

MarketMaker deflated a bit. He looked away and bit his lip while thinking. After a while he sighed. "I suppose a few would have to be spared. Calasin will be returning with the train, but so will the rest of the guild that went with him. We might have enough arms."

Compliance turned away a few steps and put his hand to his ear as if listening to an oncoming chat. When he returned, he said, "More have been offered leave and were wondering if they could join in." MarketMaker paled just slightly. They pretended not to notice.

Life Support frowned. "Well, I'm sure there are many hands already who are willing to help," he said, leaving it open, but MarketMaker shook his head. "Would it help that much to have even those few more?" he asked.

MarketMaker nodded and sighed. "It's the fashion show, you see. The things that need to be off-loaded from the train will have to be done solely by the employees he brought back with him, and apparently he's the largest cargo on the train." Compliance nodded sympathetically.

"Well...maybe we could offer a few of our men to help," Life Support said conciliatory. "The order to host the Duke comes from Guildmaster Shiroe himself. I'll take it to him and see if we can get approval." MarketMaker looked both relieved and worried at the same time. It was just slightly humorous.

"Ah, there's one other thing," Ground Safety said. MarketMaker twitched again. "We've been ordered to make sure we understand the layout of the full area the Duke's family will be in. May we have permission to inspect? We don't need to touch anything. It will just let us know how many guards should be sent with them."

MarketMaker actually relaxed slightly. "That would be fine. I'll show you where they shouldn't be allowed to go. All of the product off the train will be coming here as well, but there isn't any clothing in the cargo manifest. It might be a bit noisy off in the distance, but there's not anything we can do about that." His steps shifted slightly and he took them quickly to what looked like the edge of the section of warehouse that was clothing and other soft products. They could see further on was items, crafted and hunted. "Beyond this will be too busy and noisy," he told them. They all nodded. That made sense. He led them down towards the back of the warehouse. There was a wall built to section off an area. They followed that wall back in towards the clothing racks.

When they reached a door Compliance paused. "What's in this room?"

MarketMaker pulled up and turned back. "That's the sewing room."

"Can we look inside to understand?" Ground Safety asked.

MarketMaker looked resigned. He nodded and Compliance opened the door. He and Ground Safety entered and looked around. Only half the workstations were full, but they were all very busy. Compliance saw what he was looking for. He headed left, Ground Safety headed right. When Compliance reached the place he wanted, he stopped and folded his arms. The hand that couldn't be seen tapped his pocket and a small black head popped out. He waited until it receded, then walked around the dress on the form and tapped again. The head popped back out briefly, nodded and disappeared again. He nodded his own head as if in approval or appreciation and walked on to finish his inspection of the room, ending back up at the door with Ground Safety. As they closed the door behind them, the kitten was suddenly in Ground Safety's pocket.

Compliance nodded at MarketMaker and motioned he could continue the tour. "How long does it take to make something like that?" he asked.

MarketMaker looked at him a little wildly. "Considering how long it could have taken...," he trailed off, then firmly said, "as long as it takes." They were sure he was biting his tongue very hard.

"It's beautiful," Compliance said mildly. "Fit for a Queen." They could hear teeth grinding.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to let the seamstress know her work was appreciated."

The rest of the visit was spent in the final circuit of the area they could take the Duke's family in, and then they were left in the hands of one clerk to look through military uniforms. They got a bit lost in that, but didn't lose track of time. Eventually, they thanked the clerk and asked to be returned to the door, which happened rather quickly. Presumably the clerk was also needed elsewhere. They didn't leave empty handed either. They'd each politely found things they were willing to wear later, though Ground Safety did opt for 'party' clothes instead of military. When they went to pay, the clerk started sweating and shook his head and held up his hands. "Please...the guild...Log Horizon...has a standing agreement."

"Well...we aren't officers," Aviation Safety protested lightly.

"Even still...," the clerk looked faint.

"We'll let the guild know the tab, then," Life Support said kindly and they let it drop. They finally understood the nervousness. Log Horizon's officers bullied Shopping District 8. It wasn't out of character for either Shiroe or Purrcy, really. They'd have to work extra hard to be nice and polite. They thanked their personal clerk, thanked the front clerk, and left the store.

Once out, they meandered through the crowded streets until they finally arrived outside Roderick Trading Company. They looked up at the university style building, gawking like they were red-neck tourists, then they headed inside the main door. "Hey," Compliance said genially, "we're on leave and it's our first time to see this place. Can we get a quick outline tour?"

They got looked at (face and status) and the look on that face went a little grey as well. That was slightly confusing. They were sure Purrcy hadn't been in the building before. If the same things were going on here, was it just Shiroe? It was pretty powerful that just his guild name was evoking this kind of reaction once they stepped foot into a place. They looked at each other with brief glances. There would have to be further investigation after this.

The guild tag got them into the back and on a quick tour. They were a bit relieved that Roderick himself wasn't called for. They were low enough on the totem pole, then, for this place to not have that requirement at least. The tour was bypassing a hall, when Ground Safety asked, "What's down here?" He pointed as he asked.

"A few minor departments." The guide listed off a few.

"Oh! Apothecary! That's my hobby!" Life Support said. "Can we see? Just poke our heads in?"

The guide paused, then looked at them again. "Certainly," he said, but it sounded like, "must we?" He led them down the hall and let them into the door on the right. There were many smells in the room and five long chemistry tables, each with a researcher sitting at them.

At one of them, Tetorō looked up. "Oh, hey guys!" he said cheerily.

"Hey, Tetorō," Life Support answered back. "Fancy meeting you here. We were just getting the tour. I think it was about done?" he looked back at the guide. "I wanted to see this room though. Chemistry was an interest of mine and this sounded like it was the closest thing."

The researcher sitting next to Tetorō looked over. "It pretty much is," he smiled. "You're welcome to come see."

Tetorō looked at the guide. "If you want, I'll see them back out once they've had their curiosity satisfied."

The guide only hesitated for a brief moment then was gone. When everyone looked back towards the researcher, their eyes grazed over Purrcy, then returned to her. The researcher in particular almost dropped the thing he was holding. Tetorō quickly relieved him of his burden. Purrcy put her finger over her lips and moved to stand next to the researcher. "It's good to see you again," she said softly. "I'm playing hookie this afternoon. Can I learn from you today?" His face lit up and in fifteen seconds they were lost to the world. The other five moved out of their way, though Tetorō stayed the closest. He was absolutely sure he would be needed for HP ups.

Life Support moved to lean against the wall just inside the door, taking a casual pose so as to not frighten any of the other researchers if they should happen to come up for air. Ground Safety and Compliance took either end of the table Purrcy was working on, sitting on tall stools as if they were also at work and to not be quite as noticeable as being standing height. Aviation Safety took up a place by the windows where he could see out. When he saw the flash of light that signaled he'd been properly spotted by the outside guards, he moved out of sight and watched the street from his position.

They all set their ears and bodies to alert status and turned their minds to more training until Purrcy was ready to go again. Aviation Safety stood at the window again, his back to it this time, then followed the others out. This time, Tetorō had Purrcy all the way home, though he let her out when they were far enough away from city center. She sat on his shoulder, sniffing at the fresh air, until they were in sight of the guild hall. Then she leaped off his shoulder and ran to the guild hall ahead of them. She was already in the kitchen talking excitedly to Nyanta when they opened the door for Tetorō. "We'll report in before coming in," Life Support said quietly.

Tetorō nodded. "Thanks for your hard work," he said.

Life Support held out his hand. "Pleasure doing business with you." He didn't smile.

Tetorō's eyes went a touch hard. He clasped Life Support's hand. "Likewise."

The four moved to the wall away from Crescent Moon's guild hall and sat on the ground in a small group. They were swiftly surrounded by twenty other shadows. Life Support looked up at Michael and smiled. "Mission accomplished, Sir. And lots of information gathered. Further recon is necessary to confirm...but Shiroe's the worst bully this city has never known. Both guild houses, even at low levels, were afraid of the Log Horizon guild tag. It's likely Purrcy is as well, though we know the research house doesn't know her yet - just some of the researchers themselves. The one we met loves her... to her face."

Michael sank down with them with a sigh. "Yeah. That sounds about right. It would be nice to know if that's all the other guilds. We'll send in other recon teams to see. What's the damage?"

"She'll have to pass it by Shiroe, but some of us are going to have to help off-load the train for Shopping District 8 in exchange for the shopping trip by the Duke's family. ...And don't shop there if you can help it until we can figure out how to get them to take payment for the stuff we want. We were refused to allow to pay in coin, by the fear of death the way they looked. I hope they make the Duke pay his portion, or it will explode sooner than later."

Michael nodded. "I'll feel it out, but Purrcy and Shiroe are both ruthless enough I'd expect them to reel them in softly to make a big purchase, and then snap the trap at the last minute, making them put down a big wad...on her merchandise."

The four guards of the day all laughed. "Yeah, that sounds 'bout right." Compliance said, shaking his head. "Stay real polite, whoever goes in tomorrow, and keep them inside the bounds of the clothing section. We'll be offloading into the rest of the warehouse. If you can hear too much, back them off. Her stuff's most likely away from that section though." He paused and his look went far away. "Her dress is...well...beautiful...but you can see Machiavelli-in-glasses and his evil streak in its details. She was good and didn't comment, but her tail bushed. He's making her pay for something. ...I wonder how long that tit for tat is going to go on." He shook his head. "I hope Grandpa doesn't get scary."

"It's that bad?" Reed asked, worried.

"Well...," Compliance looked at Ground Safety. Ground Safety nodded sympathetically. "It's bad enough," was his final answer.


	59. Purrcy's Akiba Debut

"Are you sure this is alright?" Princess Raynessia's mother, Saraliya asked one more time, looking down at her clothing. She was in loose pants of hunter green and a beautiful top of gold. A sleeveless laced bodice in deep blue was over that. It was the pants she was most concerned about, the top being rather like the dresses she was used to already.

Purrcy patted her hand. "Yes, dear. You look lovely, and if you look around, very few women are in dresses here. Of course, on the stage you'll see dresses, pants, and many other outfits that Adventurers enjoy wearing...or like looking at others wear, for some of them. Feel free to cover your eyes if you find some a bit too scandalous for you. You'll get more comfortable as you ignore what you're wearing and focus on enjoying yourself."

Purrcy glanced over at Saraliya's husband, Phenel, who was certainly very careful to stand in his position, but was relaxing the best. As a civil servant who had married the daughter of the Grand Duke and been sufficiently accepted (though not enough to inherit), he already knew how to relax from before. He wasn't able to keep his eyes from his wife very long. He seemed to be of two minds about it. He liked what he saw, but due to the current trend in fashion of the People of the Land, he wasn't sure he really could approve.

He was sitting in his own Adventurer clothing rather nicely. Saraliya's eyes didn't stray from his figure much either, actually. He was in sharply pleated khaki pants, a soft blue shirt that drew the colors of his eyes, and a coordinated sweater vest appropriate to the cool fall weather. The clerk who'd attended him the day before had shown him carefully how to still wear his sword and sword belt. They'd been just a little surprised to find the Adventurers of Akiba found the wearing of weapons with the clothing as normal as not, and perfectly fine for Persons of the Land.

On Purrcy's other side, Grand Duke Sergiad Cowen was sitting calmly, with a secretive smile on his face generally. Occasionally he also would look down at his pants and brush at them or tug on his jacket. It was obviously motions of excitement at getting to do something different and fun, not motions of discomfort, like Saraliya. Purrcy had liked the Duke right off. He was formal when appearances were important but he had a hidden sense of humor that allowed him to relax whenever he felt he could. He'd already teased her several times in ways that had made her stop, recognize the tease, then smile brightly at him.

She'd been a little surprised it had taken the others a little longer to warm up to the fact they were being hosted by a felinoid couple, but the Duke had taken it graciously in stride. Their walk into the city from being greeted at the gate had opened their guests' eyes to the insane variety of the Adventurers they had never been subjected to at the Court of Eternal Ice. The Round Table Council attendees at the bi-yearly council meetings had gone conservative and in uniforms or armor for the most part. Isaac and his guild had been to Minami on a number of occasions in the same kind of fashion. Even hearing of it from their spies hadn't really prepared the Cowens for their first visit to Akiba. They'd decided on their current selections of clothing based on the fact that most of the senior members of Log Horizon had worn clothing similar when they'd been greeted at the gate. It had been among the most tasteful, upper class, and modest of what had been seen on the way in.

They'd been allowed time to recover a bit at Water Maple Manor. Princess Raynessia's cool regard for the citizens of the city, and lack of excitability that was in her family had finally helped them calm down sufficiently that Purrcy could finish talking them down. The only adult who wouldn't calm fully...was the Duke. The more he saw, the more excited he got until he was only barely less contained than his heir and grandson. When Purrcy couldn't contain the two of them any more, she'd finally relented and led them all to Shopping District 8. The eldest and youngest had been the push to make the couples between move and even finally relent and accept a few outfits of clothing.

Iselius had surprised Purrcy both by wanting to go buy Adventurer clothing, and then again by wanting to watch the fashion show today. Purrcy was rather amazed by the young heir of Maihama. He was capable of sitting still as a young ten year old, and even more, be clothed again and again as a boy. Not that he was pansy at all. His idol in town was Isaac. The guildmaster of Knights of the Black Sword had been present for their arrival in town as well, the two of them chatting away as the old friends they seemed to be, though Isaac hadn't stayed past seeing them safely to the manor. They would be having time together beginning this afternoon, when Isaac took over as the host for a while. The Knights of the Black Sword would also be taking over guard duty then. It seemed that Shiroe had divided up the duty between several guilds, beginning with Log Horizon.

Purrcy and Nyanta had retrieved the Cowen family again this morning, enforcing the "dressed like an Adventurer" rule for the day, and they'd arrived early to obtain good seating for the fashion show. Typically, Adventurers stood for the fashion show, and it was usually standing room only. A side section of the audience area along the runway but near the main part of the stage had been set aside for chairs and cordoned off. It was to this area that Purrcy and Nyanta had led their honored guests.

Purrcy herself was dressed for her part later that day, as was Nyanta, at least the under-layers. She wanted to save the main part of their clothing for when she actually appeared on stage. It made them look just a little dressed down, but not by much. She had seated herself between the Duke and his daughter. Iselius was on his other side and both of them kept giving each other excited looks and pointing out specific Adventurers wearing things never thought of before, as if the fashion show had already started. Next to Saraliya was her husband, then Nyanta. The eldest daughter, Liseltia, and her husband were next. Behind them, seated also, were their People of the Land retinue. Purrcy had only allowed one maximum per person. They'd settled just a little bit better when, as soon as they walked out of Water Maple Manor, they were instantly surrounded by the Eagles wearing their illusionary uniforms.

It had made walking the streets just a little difficult, to be a mob, but Purrcy had led them straight to the stage. It was decorated with large stars and hearts, holding true to Marielle's personality, though the preponderance of the decorations matched that of the whole city. Fall vines, heavy with pumpkins, leaves of orange, yellow, and red, and every other variety of fall decoration that could be thought of had turned the whole of Akiba into a visual autumn cornucopia.

The city had doubled in size with the influx of people from Minami. The inns were full to bursting and a number of guilds with guild halls had opened up their doors to allow guests to stay with them, doubling and tripling up. The Guild Hall was also renting out guild halls of various sizes for the term to those groups who could afford them, most notably the members of the Ministry of Minami. Of course, there were others from Minami who just crashed in the still-abandoned buildings nearby the central area, and some had just crashed where they sat. Many of the merchants had slept with their merchandise at their booths. It wasn't bad - Adventurers could sleep anywhere and camping out wasn't new, and they got to open their booth as soon as they opened their eyes.

The audience area was beginning to fill up even more now. The entry fee was only one gold, which Purrcy felt was far too low, but perhaps for a first time - particularly for the Minami guests - it was acceptable. The attendees for this part of the fashion show included very few half-beasts since that part of the fashion show would be later after an intermission and time for the attendees and models to swap out. Purrcy was planning on allowing the Cowens to decide if they would stay for that portion, this part being the only part that had the "family" requirement attached to it. If they decided not to stay, they would be given two guards per person and allowed to explore the market to their heart's content. That would prevent the congestion the entire group caused. Of course, they had other guards than that ghosting with them and keeping a close eye on the people surrounding them. This kind of environment was acutely suited to sudden run-by assassinations, even if they were disguised as Adventurers.

Purrcy had a moment of panicked claustrophobia when Saraliya's attention moved away from her as she settled back in her chair to obediently try to relax. Purrcy closed her eyes and her hands curled around the arms of her chair, though she worked hard to not clench them tightly. She gave up on the ears as they went back, though she did try to keep them from going flat on her head. Instead, she focused on just breathing and imagining herself sitting on a branch in a tall silver maple, letting the sounds move into the background until she could settle back into being at relaxed alert.

"Just keep breathing," sounded in her ear. An ear twitched. She already was, but it helped to hear Michael's voice. "We're here flying with you. It's a clear blue sky this morning, and the horizon is miles away. We're filtering at the door and there aren't any enemies in sight. The guys and gals inside are excited and getting ready. Raynessia's nervous, of course, but she relaxed considerably when she saw what she gets to wear. Even the short version didn't phase her. She must have had to wear some pretty awful stuff before. That's guessing based on what else is on the docket. Akatsuki's waffling. She's grateful to sit it out as guard, but she's wiggling just a little too much. She was offered a bribe this morning. Marielle offered to pay her to go out on the runway. She refused but she keeps looking like she could still go."

"She has my permission," Purrcy said quietly. "Tell her to take the watch over my half. There are so many of you she's not shirking, and Marielle owes her back pay. Tell her to negotiate up."

There was silence on the personal chat for a while, then Michael came back chuckling. "Triple wages and she's on the floor putting on her first outfit - all business."

Purrcy nodded. "Being properly compensated makes all the difference in the world. Don't forget to tell me what you all want when this is over."

Michael snorted. "Us?! We've already got -"

"You lot too, yes. This is extra. I'm difficult enough. I don't need resentment trying to support me. I'd rather pay what I think you're worth than wait to be ignored at the wrong time."

There was a choking laugh, then finally, "At least you know."

"Of course I do. I'm a very demanding employer." She crossed her legs and took another breath, her ears finally standing up again. Saraliya turned back to her again to ask a question and Purrcy returned her attention back to her guests.

-:-:-:-:-

In the end, Purrcy had to have an Eagle on watch in the back give her a heads-up when the most scandalous things were about to come out. When the Duke was covering Iselius' eyes and the ladies were covering their husband's eyes it was too much. Purrcy would give the warning (after the first time) and they'd all look down until she let them know it was safe again. The Duke, true to his own personality, never looked away. Purrcy could tell he was judging as he watched. It was an interesting sensation. It was almost a combination of him looking at cattle to see which one was worth purchasing and keeping around and of him setting weights on the scales of 'adult' versus 'childish' for the Adventurers as a whole.

Purrcy finally called him on it. "Duke Sergiad, you do understand that the Adventurers are mostly young, but the designs of a single craftsperson don't reflect the inner core of all Adventurers?"

He turned and looked at her calmly, measuring her as well. "Adventurers are, for the most part, quite unfathomable," he responded, "however, I've found each one is approachable in their own ways." He considered her a little longer. "You seem just as young, yet at the same time, have a depth of age that most others lack."

Purrcy's eyes sparkled and she took her own turn to tease him. "Even the great Duke of Maihama is still twenty-three in his own mind. Particularly at a place and time such as this. Perhaps you are even twelve here on occasion." His eyes turned up slightly at the corners. "It's a good thing," she told him. "I would hope you can enjoy yourself here in such a way. It's such a rare thing for those of us who are supposed to have 'grown up' by such a time, to indulge the child within."

"And is it right to indulge such a child?" Duke Sergiad asked, testing her.

"A child only ever indulged will become weak and undisciplined, unfit to be an adult in an adult world." Purrcy acknowledged. "However, an adult who is never given opportunity to rest will become dead of mind, soul, and eventually body long before his days of usefulness could have allowed. Not to mention it's the child within that is the wellspring of joy, happiness, unrestrained love, and creativity. When we nourish that child, even as old adults we can remain young and strong and move forward." She measured him. "This is in you. You've found a way to indulge your child in sufficient measure to remain young. I hope your heir learns the same. He is already too old, though I am impressed with his strength."

The Duke seemed suitably impressed with her answer. She shifted a bit. "If this is your first visit, then I would hope you would return again when it's not festival time. Then you will see what the hard-working adult Akiba looks like."

He continued to look at her for a bit, then turned back to viewing the models on the stage again. "I should like to do that, I think," he replied.

"We would be happy to show you the Academy," Purrcy said, also looking at the stage. "We're finally settled enough to begin remembering our own children, even as we are now seeking to reach out to others in the land to understand further this world we live in now."

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Hmmm." He pressed his lips together just lightly. After watching several models come and go, including his own granddaughter again, he said, "Have you been to Maihama yet?"

"I have, once, nearly nine months ago now." She kept her answer light and casual. "I seem to remember catching sight of someone who had come to keep watch over some prized horses at foaling time. I thought such a one very kind to shed tears of gratitude and relief over one precious life that wasn't even of his own kind."

The Duke turned his face away, but she could see the red blush on his ears and neck. She smiled slightly to herself. When he recovered he looked back at her soberly. "I didn't have opportunity then, but I did want to thank you for your efforts in their - and our - behalf. Thank you." He bowed his head to her.

Her tail waved softly as her hand did as well. "It was my pleasure and relief even as it was yours. I'm glad I was able to have even some small effect."

After a pause, he asked, "And, will you come again?"

Purrcy hesitated. "I'm likely to come to Maihama again. Shiroe has said he'll send Nyanta and I as ambassadors on occasion. Perhaps we can plan to arrive around the time of the foaling again and stay sufficiently long to perform both duties." She looked at him. "However, there is a possibility that such plans will change. The winds blow differently each season. We are torn between two needs, two desires. Which one directs us is sometimes daily challenged. I'm only one person. Therefore when and where I'm sent can only be towards one of those things at a time." She looked down, then back at him again. "If you have an emergency and all will be lost without me, then contact me and I'll come if it's at all possible."

Duke Sergiad nodded a slow, sober nod. He looked away again and shortly after Saraliya demanded Purrcy's attention again. When Purrcy looked back later, the Duke looked lost in deep thought. When Marielle and the full complement of models came out on the stage for Marielle's final words of thanks, he turned to Purrcy. "Would it be possible for you to teach what you know at your Academy, and for me to send some of my hands to learn it from you?"

Purrcy's eyes widened, then she slowly smiled. "I think that could be possible. I'm not sure how to fit it into my busy schedule, but that would certainly be preferable - to have the knowledge in the hands of those who need it most. I'll bring it up to the school board. When we've reached an internal understanding, I'll see word is sent to you through Raynessia as to what our decision has been."

"I would be grateful," Duke Sergiad said, somewhat relieved. They turned their attention to politely clap for those who'd worked hard to present and put on the fashion show.

As the crowd began to move out of the viewing area, Purrcy asked their guests to please wait patiently for a time. It was better to have them move after the massive press of bodies was gone. They were there long enough for Raynessia to redress in her day's clothing and arrive with them. She was fussed over by her family, who all expressed their gratitude she had been in proper and beautiful clothing. Because the place they were in was narrow, Purrcy and Nyanta stayed seated so those who rose to greet her wouldn't be too pressed.

When they allowed her to speak, Raynessia turned to face Purrcy. Curtsying, she said, "Thank you, Lady Purrcy, for allowing me to present your clothing today."

Purrcy tipped her head. "Thank you for allowing me to study your closet and for being willing to walk the stage for me today."

Saraliya stared at Purrcy. "You? You were the one who designed the dresses Raynessia wore?"

"Yes. I'm glad to hear they met with your approval," Purrcy said politely.

Saraliya and her father locked eyes for a moment. "Some of the designs did seem familiar...," Saraliya said tentatively.

"I'm sure they must have," Purrcy said openly. She turned to the Duke. "I was hoping to be able to have a conference with three of your tailors specifically. There are two that I would like to commission works from. The third I would like to hire to work as my understudy. These you saw today are concept designs only, not finalized ones. I would like to work with them to come up with the final versions and perhaps have their houses be the ones to manufacture this particular line. After all, they are already masters at creating dresses fit for princesses."

The young Iselius frowned in puzzlement. "I thought there weren't any princes or princesses in the Adventurers."

Purrcy's ear tipped. "That's one way to look at it. However...it's also possible to look at it another." He looked at her quizzically. "It's entirely possible that we are all princes and princesses."

He seemed rather stunned by that pronouncement. However, Raynessia nodded her head. "Adventurers are certainly trained as thoroughly as any prince or princess or high noble of the land, though to speak to them of their past they will deny any noble title."

Purrcy stood calmly and regally. She looked at the guests, one at a time, until she finally settled on the Duke. "To Adventurers, nobility in this place has little meaning, and even less at home where we have come from. It is merely in the bearing and beliefs of the inner core. However, make no mistake, there are nobles being born within the ranks of the Adventurers. How can it not occur, when there must be some who lead lest the whole wander in chaos as the cattle do? Whether the nobles being born are born of pride or of a desire to serve is as diverse as it is among the nobility of the People of the Land, the same as individuals between the two kinds are the same, even if backgrounds are different. ...Please continue to watch over us. We will use your discernment to be our prod to continue in the path we wish to go."

She gave a wry look and a light flick of an ear. "That isn't to say, 'please become involved in our politics'. We won't bend our head to any noble of the land, even if one claims they'll give you such. You already understand that the noble is only noble as long as the strength that holds him up in that position remains, and that there is no Adventurer that would consider a Person of the Land strong enough to help him stand before other Adventurers on their merit alone - no insult intended."

"...For all we wish to understand you and all creatures of Theldesia, and to live in peace, we are still creatures above, and beyond your ken. That will only change if this world decides to create another world change and make us less than we are, or bring in another creature that is truly above us, other than itself. If it's possible, we'll create that change ourselves, to remove us from your world again and return to our own. Until then, let us continue to live in our perhaps occasionally uneasy truce of peace and mutual growth. That desire is, in the main, the same between both peoples."

Duke Sergiad displayed none of the child, or the soft teasing from before. Now he also was the full Duke, calmly regal, listening politely, no hint on his face of what his personal emotions were. He didn't hurry with his reply, and the words were also said deliberately. "It's good to know that the desires still remain the same, as they have from the beginning. Will we be given to know how to face the Adventurers of Akiba and the Round Table Council when the nobility has come into its strength?"

Purrcy was pleased with the way he asked the question and some small amount of praise must have come out in her posture, because he slightly reacted to it. "You will," she promised.

"Is it you?" Lord Phenel asked cautiously.

"Or Mister Isaac?" Iselius asked.

"Wasn't it Lord Crusty?" asked Princess Raynessia. "I mean...I know he hasn't been here..., but..."

Purrcy smiled slightly. "Do you have the game of chess here, in Eastal?" Lord Phenel blinked and nodded. "It's a game to teach nobles how to move carefully to remain nobles," she said. "The 'king' is still in hiding and will be revealed at a much later time, I suspect. However the other pieces on the board are beginning to be moved about with a bit more purpose. You'll begin to see them with your own eyes as you continue to watch us." They looked just a little crestfallen. "...I'll give you one clue, or perhaps reminder." They looked at her with tipped heads, waiting to hear her words. "Among Adventurers of Akiba, marriage has not yet occurred. The pieces on the board are not tied by those bonds, nor is it a necessary requirement, though alliances are possible through that medium."

She turned towards the stage slightly, looking at it briefly, ending the conversation. "I will be participating in the next fashion show, as my line is actually originally for half-beasts and has been adapted to those that are not. If you wish to remain, you may; however, if you wish to enjoy the other fine activities and market stalls of the festival, we'll continue to provide you guards. I do recommend you split up just a little so as to not cause yourselves troubles as you move about Akiba. We're doing our best to see that you, our honored guests, are fully protected."

Purrcy turned back to them with a smile and relaxed posture. "I hope you'll please continue to relax today and enjoy yourselves. I'm afraid I wasn't given to know the remainder of your itinerary for your visit. I'll be very busy myself until the festival is completed from this time on. It has been a pleasure to meet the House of Cowen. Thank you for allowing Nyanta and me to be with you until this time." She bowed her head slightly to Sergiad. "I look forward to seeing you again in the future."

He inclined his head also. "Likewise. Thank you for your attention and time."

"My pleasure. My pleasure," she said, and her smile was genuine. She turned to Nyanta and he offered her his elbow. She took it lightly. The both of them nodded their farewell and walked towards the back of the stage to begin getting ready for the half-beast portion of the fashion show.

-:-:-:-:-

"I do hope my caution to them about the pieces on the board was sufficient to protect you," Purrcy said to Nyanta as they rounded the back corner of the stage and headed for the back stairs and the pavilion that protected the clothing and the changing models. "I don't need my knight attacked just because they believe you're the king. I'd rather like to keep my knight around." She smiled at him while squeezing his arm in a sort of a hug.

"Well...but knights can't be kinged - only pawns can be queened," he answered.

"Mmm...I've always wondered about that. In real life it's the knights or bishops that topple or replace the kings and take over, and the pawns that become knights, bishops, and castles. Only rarely does one get to become the Princess Cinderella. The closest in the game of chess where that happens is when a king is castled, and that's with the castle, not the knight, and the king doesn't die, just is protected. That'd be Naotsugu, you know." Nyanta tipped his head, sideways, then nodded agreement with that assessment. "And Tetorō's a bishop, I would think," she added. He agreed with that as well. "But you're most definitely a knight."

"Why's that, nyan?" he asked in a soft teasing voice.

She paused them on the steps and looked at him. "Because you can come suddenly from an unexpected direction and remove a piece that threatens me when no other piece can do it. Even if it seems you're on the opposite side of me from that piece. As long as you're near, I have an unlooked for defender that I rely on to stay standing."

"Meow...then, don't go rushing to the opposite side of the board from me in sudden moves, nyan? A knight can't move quite that fast." He put his arm around her as if to keep her close to him like his words required.

"I'm not the hand that moves me, but I do trust that hand," Purrcy answered, wrapping both arms around his neck loosely. "And it's placing us together. If I do have to leave you, I'll see that sufficient protections are in place until you can arrive next to my side again, or me next to yours." She leaned into him and he pulled her head to his and kissed her long, their tails twining around each other.

"Sigh. Hahaue and Chichiue making out in public in broad daylight - again," Tetorō's voice said. "Really. Must you?"

Purrcy's ear flicked at him, a rather "shushing" motion. They did break it up, though. He was standing below them on the ground, his arms folded as if irritated, but his eyes were happy. "Come here and we'll kiss mew, too," Nyanta said and they both held out their arms to him.

Tetorō waffled, his expression mostly revulsion, but when his eyes went to Purrcy and he saw her expression, he went. He placed his arms around both of them and they around him. He allowed Purrcy to kiss him, but dodged Nyanta's tease, then danced out of reach. They laughed with him and turned to continue up the stairs, arms around each other still. "Very well done, Heika," Tetorō said softly from behind them.

Purrcy stopped and turned to look back at him over her shoulder, her eyes wide. He was paused between two steps and on his face was a look of soft pride. It took a few turns of her ears, but finally she answered, "Thank you...?" She tipped her head at him. "Have...I...passed a test?"

Tetorō continued up the steps to reach them and held out his hand. Purrcy turned and gave him her hand, since she couldn't think of anything he might be asking for. He took it, then bowed over it and kissed the back of it. Releasing it, he stood, then bowed formally, his arms at his sides. "Please, allow me to remain as Guard of the Queen, and protecting bishop. I shall do all in my power to see you remain unharmed and strengthened."

Purrcy felt just slightly embarrassed but hid it as best she could, her hand going to curl slightly at her heart. "Of course, Lord Tetorō. Haven't I already asked for you? It's a cold thing to consider walking forward without you. Please...take care of me." Tetorō rose and looked her in the eye, a smile on his face, but tears threatening in his eyes that glistened.

"Hmm...then, does that make me the queen's castle?" a baritone voice said from behind her. Purrcy turned to look and saw Michael standing at the top of the stairs, leaning against the frame of the doorway into the pavilion. He stood upright when her eyes were on him, though his arms were still folded.

"I suppose so," she agreed, still slightly overwhelmed. Nyanta nodded as well. "Though that makes me wonder if the Eagles are all pawns, not that I don't think highly of them, because I do."

"You do tell them all where to go and what to do and make them run around for you," Tetorō said wryly.

"Ah, ...true," she looked back at him and said it with chagrin. Then she shook her head and began them moving up again. "Well, so then Naotsugu is king's castle, Akatsuki is king's knight, and...Marie is king's bishop. The four juniors...and all of Akiba...are the pawns, with Minori the one being sent to the other side to be crowned because she is willing to fight hard for it."

"Meow...mew know your pieces well," Nyanta said accusingly.

Purrcy looked distractedly into the pavilion, looking for someone in particular, though her eyes needed to finish adjusting to the lessened light. "Mmm...yes, maybe. There are likely other pieces on the board." She turned and looked at him. "As a matter of fact, there are. It's just a teaching game, after all. Real life is full of a great number of 'pieces'. Even the ones in Akiba are a large number to reckon with. And when the opposite side is defeated, one comes to find that it isn't always as simple as just toppling the opposing king. It often includes assimilating the remaining pieces into one's own army and moving forward again from that point to the next."

There was a blink and then Purrcy was looking down into the dark eyes of Akatsuki. She smiled. "Just the person I was looking for. I heard you finally got your just reward."

Akatsuki smiled a small smile. "Yes." Her eyes were narrowed in triumph. "Thank you very much."

"My pleasure," Purrcy smiled back. "Make sure you charge at least one extra gold again next year. Inflation happens, you know."

Akatsuki's face paused, then slowly the smile turned into an evil grin. Purrcy leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Please, continue to enjoy yourself today. I'll be counting on you, too. I'll feel safe knowing you're watching from above. Is Shiroe safely tucked away?"

Akatsuki nodded once. "But, I think he plans on coming to see your show."

"Oh?" Purrcy raised an eyebrow of whiskers. "Well...I hope he's pleased with it. He can't wear it, after all." Akatsuki paused at the image, then giggled. Those around her smiled in response. Purrcy looked up at Michael. "Thank you for strengthening me in my moment of complete and utter panic."

"It happens," Michael shrugged. "Even the most experienced fighter pilot can freeze up. We've learned to help each other cope."

Purrcy gave him a small bow. "Thank you."

"Why?" Tetorō asked.

"Aaahh...why did I panic?" she asked for clarification. He nodded. She shook her head at herself. "I suddenly wanted to lock down the whole city for the fear of proper protection of our guests. I'd reached a point of hubris, I think. It came out a bit there at the end."

They all looked at her, eyelids dropping in disbelief. "...a _bit_ , eh...?" Michael said sarcastically.

Purrcy shrugged, then pointed a thumb at Tetorō. "I passed."

Michael shook his head. Akatsuki did a little as well. But Nyanta laughed, a full-on humored laugh. When he recovered, the others looking at him like he was a bit mad, he shook his head ruefully. "Shiroe-ichi does like to see that kind of strength. It makes him feel not so much the only Dark Machiavelli in the world."

Purrcy gave a feigned sniff, lifting her nose slightly. "Of course he isn't. Why should he have the monopoly of such a distinction? Even Indicus was one. She just went about it the wrong way and had to be taken out - the black queen by the white. Shiroe did his job and took out the black king. Now the remaining black pieces are ours. He's probably looking forward to tomorrow as much as I am." She ducked her head and gave a teasing look, "even if we are also both extremely nervous and worried about if we can pull it off."

There was a sigh in her ear. "How can you even know where I am?" he asked her.

She shrugged lightly. "Because spells show up in the code realm. Besides, Tetorō wouldn't have known I'd passed if you hadn't told him. The only way you could have judged it is if you'd seen it and heard it yourself." She gave him a scolding look as his image floated into focus. "I do hope you aren't going to stay in hiding until it's too late."

He shook his head. "No. I won't. I've already promised."

"Good," she said. "Now, go play everyone, or sit to watch or whatever. We have work to be attending to. But no peeking, Shiroe. I don't need a peeping Tom in the back disrupting the work."

He sighed. "Yes, Hahaue."

She moved again to stride over to the racks of clothing, the majority of which were hers since the last fashion show, plus the new line. Everyone else took up positions of protection as she got the models ready and coordinated with the MC.

-:-:-:-:-

"And...here's our very special guest, the designer of Shopping District 8's H12b clothing line, the person you've all been waiting to meet, finally coming out of quiet seclusion...Lady Purrcy of Log Horizon!"

Purrcy and Nyanta moved out of the shadows of the stage curtains to walk into the limelight. The models parted to let them through, Nazuna included among them to help her friend out and smiling for her. The felinoids held their heads proudly and walked gracefully to stand at the join of the stage and the runway. There was no doubt she had designed the clothing, and more particularly the clothing they were wearing. Behind them were arrayed the princesses, each on the arm of a prince...but they were themselves dressed as the queen and king. Business, modern, but still the top royalty of the day's event.

Purrcy tipped her head at the fans cheering in the crowd, her ears pricked forward prettily and her tail curling behind her. She slightly squeezed Nyanta's arm and he raised a paw for quiet. The crowd settled down enough she could be heard. "Thank you very much for your warm welcome," she said, her voice now amplified for the space they were in, but not overwhelmingly so. "So much work goes into creating something that can be enjoyed. Please allow me to express my gratitude to the crafters who have worked so diligently to make the creations I see in my mind a reality. They work so very hard." She paused for the clapping that always went along with thanks like this.

"I've enjoyed seeing it fully realized and being worn. It's a dream come true for any creative person who loves to invent and create new things, but needs the helping hands of others. Thank you to the models and staff who have been willing to participate today so that you and I could all see it together in it's full glorious reality." Another obligatory pause. "Of course, there wouldn't be a today like this without those who have put things together. Any gratitude expressed must include Crescent Moon League with Guildmistress Marielle, and Marine Organization's construction division, and all others who have helped to make this festival and event safe, fun, and put together so professionally. Thank you."

When the applause died down, she said, "And...of course...we must also thank you, our fans and friends who have come to see with your own eyes, and have purchased already, so many of our creations. I hope you've enjoyed yourselves today, and that you'll continue to enjoy yourselves here at the Akiba Fall Festival. Thank you very much." She bowed to the crowd in front of her, then to each side as they cheered themselves.

Purrcy and Nyanta stepped back and assisted with the raffle drawing to see who would be able to come to the meet-and-greet later, Marielle being the fun hostess for the drawing and Purrcy bantering with her lightly as Marielle required. When the raffle was over, Marielle closed the fashion show, advertised one of the next activities, and the models, Nyanta, and Purrcy retired into the pavilion to begin clean up.

In the middle of putting the show away, Shiroe showed up, actually in person this time. Purrcy allowed herself to be distracted by him. He was her guildmaster after all. No one could complain. Not even Calasin who was just as busy back there as Purrcy was, working to direct his people in getting the clothing back onto wagons to get back to the warehouse. He'd already given his thanks and congratulations.

"Purrcy, that was marvelous," Shiroe said to her, his eyes shining.

"Did you think so?" she asked him. "Which part in particular?"

"The general opening to your debut." His eyes looked her up and down. "I'd have you wear it tomorrow if I could get away with it."

"I'll take out the things that scream 'royal' then, shall I?" she asked him. Instantly it was a slightly calmer version.

He looked at it critically, then nodded. "I like it. The touch of a reminder of this afternoon is good."

"I'm actually a bit surprised you want me so obvious from the beginning," she said to him, pulling him away from some increasing noise near them.

He shook his head. "First impressions...you've already set them. Everyone's been dying to know just what you are. Now we're telling them. It will give them time to get used to the idea. If we waited until later, we'd have to build on whatever we started with and might not get where we needed to go properly."

She nodded. "I see. Very well." Her ear twitched and he pulled up and glanced the direction her ear was pointing.

Softly he said, "They'll have to finish up here without you. Let's go."

Immediately Michael and a rather large number of guards had the four of them (Akatsuki was with Shiroe and Nyanta still with Purrcy) surrounded and were quickly taking them out and away to safety. Tetorō joined them outside the pavilion, keeping an eye on things as well, though he moved central to the ring of guards...that got widened by a second ring as they hit the street.

They didn't rush, but they didn't stay to gawk either, and soon enough they were out of the main bustle. They took a circuitous route home...and bypassed it for the pond and tree, the guards attriting on the way to stand watch on the pathway leading to it until it was just senior officers again. Naotsugu was watching over Marielle, who still had to direct things at the fashion show clean up, but even they showed up after a little while longer. She'd been the focus of attention after Calasin escaped back to his warehouse. The pavilion had emptied faster than normal this year. There were too many guildmasters who wanted to know just why Purrcy was...


	60. What is Purrcy, Really?

Purrcy bent down and trailed her fingers in the pond, making ripples that spread out towards the center and lifted and slightly stirred the fall leaves floating at the edge of the pond. As the water sparkled in the midafternoon sun her gaze went distant. When she rose again, her eyes brushed over the canopy of the silver maple, then finally settled on Shiroe. He was watching her, his expression closed. She considered him for a moment, then sighed. She walked over to him and faced him. "You have questions you need answered, I think, or are you really intending to wait and see if I'll cave to the pressure of being in front of everyone at once and blurt out whatever it is you think I'm hiding from you?" She kept her voice mild.

"Are you?" he asked, also staying mild.

"Ask me your questions." She stood waiting to hear him.

"Where is Indicus?"

Purrcy tipped her head slightly, then an ear flicked. "I don't know. She was willing to be my experiment, however. She knew coming back was not an option she would find palatable. When I learn where she ended up, or might have ended up, I'll tell you."

Shiroe considered, then nodded a small nod. He pursed his lips just a little, then accused, "It seems to me you've claimed to have done far more in two years than is possible, particularly since the last half year was done as a Vengeful Spirit using hosts." He held up a hand to forestall her. "Not that I'm saying those things haven't been done. More like, ...the essence of you has not, singularly, and I'm suspicious you still aren't." He tipped his head at her and blinked an owlish blink at her. "That is to say...I think we still don't have 'just Purrcy' with us yet."

Purrcy's tail swished from one side to the other. "Who else would I be?" she asked.

"I'm sure I can't know everything, but I am sure the world AI looks through your eyes nearly more than you do still. I also still believe you are Overwritten, or are carrying an Observer within you. Or that is to say, now that the layer that was Nureha is gone, this next layer we are facing is the layer of the Observers and Overwritten. You keep your real status data hidden, and if you're a Summon, you're accessible from the monster database." He gave her his evidence so she would properly defend herself, if she could.

Purrcy tipped her head. "It is true that this next level will address the Overwritten, and if I were in parts and multiple things I could only contain an Observer. After all, aren't Overwrittens always creatures of thoughtless destruction?"

Shiroe was shaking his head. "Purrcy doesn't believe that. Rather that because they can only access new monsters, they must of necessity be creatures of destruction. But a summonable Adventurer counts as a new and unexpected monster, one that isn't destructive by its created intention. If the Overwritten themselves aren't destructive, Purrcy would be a very tempting solution for whatever purpose they have in coming to this world."

Purrcy looked sharply at Shiroe. "...If I were possessed by either an Overwritten or Observer, Shiroe, what would you do to cast it out and prevent it from ever happening again?"

Shiroe frowned slightly, then he froze, his brain obviously calculating. "The world AI would allow it in order for just such a solution to be found." He didn't receive an answer. "It isn't necessary to subject Purrcy to it. But...wouldn't finding that solution mean locking them in their server, left alone to never return home, to all go mad, never able to die? I cannot support that."

Purrcy shook her head. "For what purpose would have been Indicus' sacrifice then?"

Shiroe paused, then nodded. "Right. If we find a way home, there's potentially a way for them to go home as well." He chewed on that for a bit. "So...both criteria have to be met in order for this level to be completed?"

"Yes," Purrcy answered.

"Isn't going home going to take a long time, then?" Tetorō asked sadly.

Purrcy shook her head. "Not 'going home'. Learning what the way home is or isn't. Our supposition from before was that if we can accept our other half - the half that lies within our death - and combine with it again, we'll finally become whole, awaking in our old world. Before we can actually convince others to try it, we needed one to experiment on that theory. Then we can follow the path they take from this side to know if it worked or not. It's an extremely difficult experiment to follow that path without also ending up where they go. Whoever follows it must be able to remain here and tell us what they learned - to look through the window and tell us what they see, but not step through the door."

"Am I ever going to get to marry my wife?" Nyanta asked dryly. His arms were crossed and his tail waved in slow curls.

Purrcy looked back at him in surprise, her eyes wide. "I'm still here…? I did say I'd always still be here with you."

"Well, the world AI will surely be," he said, "but I'd like to know that it's Purrcy I'm getting married to, nya."

"Well, I'll surely be upset if you end up married to anyone else," she answered. She twitched an ear at him, then turned back to Shiroe. "Do you have any other questions that should be answered before we get to the next couple of days?"

"You still haven't answered my last one," he answered.

Purrcy looked at him, then flicked an ear. "Very well. What do you need?"

"First, let us see your real status screen, nothing hidden." Everyone was moving to be where they could see it, their expressions serious, but not threatening.

Purrcy went inside briefly to remove the restrictions. "Okay." They all looked at her. The status readout for her read:

Purrcy - Caretaker  
Class: TechnoMage  
Sub-class: Summon  
Level: 117  
Race: Felinoid  
Status Effect: Lucky +20

She looked around at them. "Of course, I've already told you this isn't everything, just what the base code can display."

"Can you show us the rest?" Shiroe asked. "Congratulations on the Class change and level increase, by the way."

"Thank you," she tipped her head at him. She was gone just a little longer this time, and this time, instead of the status screen they looked at normally, the longer status showed up externally like the code had for the Hacker demonstration.

Purrcy - Caretaker - Justice of the East - Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami  
Class: TechnoMage, Class: Druid, Class: Enchanter, Class: Transformation Mage  
Sub-class: Summon  
Sub-class: Actor, Sub-class: Animal Trainer, Sub-class: Apothecary, Sub-class: Apprentice, Sub-class: Chef, Sub-class: Counselor, Sub-class: Dancer, Sub-class: Equestrian, Sub-class: Hacker, Sub-class: Housekeeper, Sub-class: Inventor, Sub-class: Jack-of-All-Trades, Sub-class: Linguist, Sub-class: Merchant, Sub-class: Midwife, Sub-class: Mythozoologist, Sub-class: Nanny, Sub-class: Negotiator, Sub-class: Noble, Sub-class: Oracle, Sub-class: Politician, Sub-class: Scribe, Sub-class: Shapeshifter, Sub-class: Surgeon, Sub-class: Tailor, Sub-class: Teacher, Sub-class: Therapist, Sub-class: Tracker, Sub-class: Traveller, Sub-class: Treasure Hunter, Sub-class: Veterinarian, Sub-class: Wife, Sub-class: Witch  
Level: 117  
Race: Felinoid  
Status Effect: Lucky +20.

Purrcy let everyone take their time. Tetorō pointed, "You've already had 'Noble' added."

Purrcy nodded. "At about the same time as we were talking about it. You've all got it now, too. My guess is we won't get titles, per se, just go up levels in Noble."

"Jack-of-All-Trades?" Michael asked

"The list was getting too long of all the minor things I was adding, so I created it and suggested that the Superuser just shove them in there until the levels got high enough that it made sense to create specific sub-classes."

"Is it using it?" he asked.

Purrcy frowned. "I can't tell. New ones that should be low enough to be put in there keep showing up. Wife and Witch are both some of those. They're both really low level since they're new, but they showed up anyway."

"That's what the Apprentice sub-class is for," Shiroe commented, with half his attention.

"Oh," Purrcy answered. "I wondered what that was for...but now I'm afraid to erase Jack-of-All-Trades for fear I'll lose whatever is in there."

"The wedding hasn't happened yet," Nyanta pointed out.

"I know, right? But we've already promised, I've been acting like one, and you call me one, so Wife's been added...I think is how that worked. Really it does confuse me sometimes." Purrcy shook her head, frowning a bit. "Like, shouldn't Noble and Politician be the same? And Mythozoologist and Veterinarian? Or Therapist and Counselor? Just why does it need the finer distinctions? Couldn't it have just combined them into the closest one to what it meant in the first place? Maybe it doesn't have an erase function when it discovers it used the wrong word at the beginning, or something," Purrcy shrugged. "I'm not even sure why it added Witch when I was already an Apothecary. I only want to work on inventing potions, and I've already got Inventor." She waved a hand helplessly.

"Purrcy," Shiroe said thoughtfully, "it's Oracle, isn't it?" He looked her in the eye.

She looked back at him. "Yes. That was added when I was made a Summon. I didn't know then why or what it meant in the context of this world. I've wondered on occasion if it was meant to be as much a protection as a way for the Superuser, or world AI as you call it, to interact with the world on a more intimate level."

"You've really done all those things yourself?" he was still struggling a little.

"Yes, Shiroe. My first year wasn't a straight line to Akiba, after all. I did most of it in the first year anyway, with more people interactions in the first half of the second year. You've watched the Eagles. When you're teaching the world what you already know, the levels can increase quickly and smoothly, particularly when you use the method Terorō used instinctively from the beginning. Visualization before action increases your points, so that you never have to have a moment you aren't learning and increasing your skill points in something. Acting on that visualization is required as well, of course, but that goes without saying. Just because I was in Nureha's body didn't mean I wasn't also still increasing during that time, as evidenced by my level increases since you last saw my statuses. Also, they don't show the level for the sub-classes. Many of them are fairly low. They're useful, but I don't use them often. I mean really. It should just have one sub-class called 'human' or something. The list is way too long."

"How does the world read your mind, to know what you're visualizing?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Purrcy admitted. "You're always doing something, even if it's just sitting and thinking, or just sitting. Somehow something takes every moment of time that we're doing a 'thing' and increments the level counter of that 'thing' for that time and effort spent on it. The more effort put into it, the greater the level increment. That's why Tetorō moves up quickly. He thinks very hard and really tries to understand what he saw, and implements a full understanding long before he actually acts to perform the same spell for himself. Your own scroll spells are similar, actually - the ones you had to think long and hard on, anyway."

She tipped her head at him. "Haven't you already, in your own few short twenty-something years done so very much? And most of the more complex things since you were seventeen? How much more can you do by the time you are forty? Fifty? Sixty? Time flows by constantly and always there is something to be doing and learning. To take what I've already learned in my time on Earth and apply it to accepted knowledge here has perhaps been more difficult in scope, but I've worked hard to learn how to do it with minimal waste. The end sum is that it's an artifact, an artificial construct from the original programming meant to simulate what we do as humans. But now we're actually here and it still works that way so it's confusing."

"But it didn't read our minds before. It kept track of actions," Shiroe protested.

"Mmm, but it kept track of everything we did during the time we were online. It's still doing that. What use would it be if for all the time you spent on creating a scroll, you only received points for the actual writing down of the words? How could that determine the level of scroll you've just written? For magic to work properly in this world, it has to know what you're doing mentally, too, not just physically. It's part of the mind-body disconnect-relearning we're doing. It's a very metaphysical topic that you could debate for years with one who cares to think deeply on such things." She put her status back into hiding.

Tetorō sighed. "At least now I know what your bonus against Adventurers is: Lucky +20. What an insane status effect."

Purrcy grinned. "I got that as a protective and helping bonus. The Superuser really wants me to succeed. Really badly. Enough to just add that for its own benefit. Talk about a cheater artifact. ...Though, I did work it up from +10 with my own wits. You already know that if I can find a cheat to the system, I'll exploit it."

Shiroe shook his head. "...World AI, and I really am trying to work on the why."

Purrcy shrugged. She wasn't sure either. "If you don't have any further pressing deep questions, then perhaps you can tell me exactly how you want the meeting in the morning to go?" Purrcy asked Shiroe directly.

Shiroe looked at her a long moment, then finally relented and nodded. They spent the next hour discussing it as they waited for the time of the Meet and Greet to arrive.

-:-:-:-:-

"Duke Cowen, Lord Iselius, these are Guildmaster Nakalnad and Minister Kazuhiko of Minami. Nakalnad, Kazuhiko: Sergiad and his heir, Iselius, of Maihama, the largest of the Free Cities of Eastal. These are their other family members." Isaac rattled off the other names politely. "Thank you all for coming to our demonstrations this afternoon." Polite greetings were given all around. Isaac found such things rather dull and irritating, really. He was getting better at it, though, having spent enough time at Maihama now to get used to it. He had to keep up his idol status with Iselius, after all. Of course, he kept trying to discourage that, and not succeeding. He'd been rather shoehorned into it the first time they'd gone to train the soldiers of Maihama and he'd ended up protecting Iselius from assassination at his birthday and presentation as heir at that time. The birthday party recently past hadn't been quite so exciting, thank goodness.

The fighting guilds were each taking a day on the main training field closest to town to show their strengths and be just generally exhibitionists. They'd caught wind of Crescent Moon's plan to earn a little income and decided to ride those coat tails. They'd charged a minimal fee for people to come see, and a slightly larger one for a number of food and military gear vendors to set up booths around the outside edge of the field. They were doing a surprising business already, and it had added to the draw to get people to come out to watch the exhibition. It was a good symbiotic relationship, really. Each guild would get the day's worth of coin, so today's was his, and he was already pleased.

It had put him in a good mood. He needed it after learning the morning's news. He wasn't sure he could believe that the ghost in the dungeon and the person who had been said to be on the runway were the same, but he could believe the Hacker and that person were the same. The ghost was just a confusing data point at the moment, so he was setting it as an outlier for now.

"Isaac-kun," Iselius called to him. Isaac looked down at the small boy. Even at ten now, he was still pretty short. "Are there going to be Adventurer versus Adventurer battles today?"

Isaac wanted to kill his assistant for teaching Iselius to call him by the childish diminutive, but it was so ingrained in Iselius now, there wasn't anything for it. He'd gotten used to it at Maihama, but to have it said out loud here made him cringe again. Especially because of the looks Nakalnad and Kazuhiko were giving him. He tried hard to ignore them. "Yes. Today there will be a one-on-one tournament. Tomorrow afternoon it will be D.D.D. against a relative newcomer group." He looked over to Nakalnad and decided to send a response barb his way. "You'd like to attend that one, I'd think."

Nakalnad raised an eyebrow. "Why? Who is it?"

"A group that still thanks your guild for allowing them to go up five levels in one battle."

Nakalnad's face fell. With some effort he managed to recover enough to say, "They're doing well still, then?"

"Yup," Isaac looked towards the field. "And still attacking things way too big for them...and winning."

Nakalnad shook his head regretfully. "I guess I'll come, then. If we helped them get started, we may as well see they've really been properly grateful."

"Oh...they have been," Ains said calmly from behind them. "They seem to have a rather intense drive."

"So I noticed," Nakalnad said dryly. "I'm a bit surprised D.D.D is willing to take their beatings. ...Or is it that neither of you are willing to?"

Both Isaac and Ains fixed Nakalnad with glares. He looked away with a smug expression.

"Is it a group come here from Minami?" Sergiad asked politely, politically breaking into the cold war about to start.

Nakalnad paused and looked at Isaac, clearly not sure. Isaac's brow furrowed. "We hadn't seen them until we were in Minami, and they were really low level there."

Nakalnad shook his head. "They were guilded with Log Horizon. You know in Minami there's only Plant Hwyaden."

Ains frowned. "They guilded with Log Horizon there, then, but they were already in place at Shopping District 8 when we got there the first time after being at the Government Building. Shiroe never left us, so he didn't sign the papers. I wonder how that happened?"

"They seem to do a lot of strange things, Log Horizon," Nakalnad commented.

Kazuhiko cleared his throat and looked a little abashed. "Actually, come to think of it..." They all turned to look at him. "They may have come from the prison. HackerM1 pulled about that many out of the 1HP level when we cleaned up...I wonder if they signed up under him?"

" _Under_ him. Wasn't he Plant Hwayden, too?" Nakalnad's eyebrow raised.

Kazuhiko looked away. "His guild tag said so..."

Isaac and Ains looked at each other. "HackerM1's a Hacker instructor here at the Academy. They can do some crazy stuff," Isaac said. "It's possible."

"He's here? As an instructor?" Kazuhiko asked.

Isaac nodded. "He's in Log Horizon, too, over the fighters."

Kazuhiko looked like he wanted to ask a question, but wasn't sure he should. Isaac raised an eyebrow, inviting it if he had the courage. Kazuhiko finally took a breath and asked, "When you guys went into the Maze of Eternity, everyone on my list showed back up, but there was someone else - other than Indicus - who didn't. Do you know anything about Purrcy?"

Everyone's eyes went wide. "Purrcy!?" "What do you know about Purrcy?" Isaac asked immediately.

Kazuhiko backed up a step and held up a hand. "Ah...she helped us find out what Indicus and Mizufa were up to and bring them down. She was the one Indicus was yelling at while we were live feed in the Special's section. The one she thought was inside KR."

Isaac blinked. "You mean...she really was a ghost?"

Kazuhiko nodded. "Yes, she was."

"No, way!" That was said by multiple voices as well.

"She was the final boss before the final boss in the Maze of Eternity that nearly wiped us all out, or her mirror was, anyway," Nakalnad said coolly, staring Kazuhiko down. "She was the key Shiroe brought with him from here."

Kazuhiko nodded. "Sounds about right," he sighed. "Indicus sent her up here to take Akiba down. She did the complete reverse, in the end."

"She almost didn't," Ains said almost angrily. "It was only because of her that the Plague Master came."

"It was only because of her the Plague Master was taken out before we all fell to him," Isaac rebuked him. "You heard what Rieze said." Ains looked away, his lips pressed together.

"Ah...is this the same Purrcy that was our hostess yesterday and today?" Saraliya asked, a bit timidly.

They all looked at her and she shrank back just a little. Isaac relaxed a bit. "Yes, it is, Lady Saraliya."

Kazuhiko perked up a little. "So, she did return, then?"

Isaac nodded, almost not able to keep his face from going as sour as Ains'. "Yes. She showed back up here in Akiba a few days before the festival, apparently."

"She didn't look like a ghost," Iselius said, "or feel like one either, the time she adjusted my shirt collar."

"That's good, then," Kazuhiko relaxed. "If she hadn't recovered properly, then we wouldn't have done our job properly and I'd be sending Nakalnad back to see it was done."

Nakalnad looked sourly at him. "Not. You could kick Shiroe there if you wanted, though. Maybe his group from your place would have enjoyed that."

Isaac gave a sudden laugh. "That's no joke. They would have. They had a hard time hiding their disappointment when we showed up with plenty of time to get ready for the festival. They'd been promised slots if we went over the Winter Festival."

Nakalnad looked horrified. "He was planning on it going _that_ long?"

Ains nodded. "He figured if you bailed, we'd pull in more of ours. Really, we were just as happy to have it done expeditiously as well."

Nakalnad shook his head. "What is she, anyway? Ghosts were just ghosts down there."

They looked at each other. "A felinoid," Kazuhiko said carefully.

"A high-level Hacker," Ains said bitterly.

"A Lady of high pedigree," Sergiad said calmly in his quiet voice.

Isaac sighed after the stunned pause that statement brought. "We're still trying to figure that out, Nakalnad," he openly admitted. "All we really know is that she's Log Horizon's treasure, but you knew that already. They protect her three layers deep. You'll have to decide for yourself, if you get the chance to see her again. We got told a new thing about her today that's got us all reeling again." He looked quizzically at Ains. "It was open, too. Do you think Shiroe's about to pop the top on that?" He looked sharply at the Duke for a moment. "And it was open before the Duke, too." He chewed on his lower lip.

Ains' expression changed and he looked at Kazuhiko, then glanced at Nakalnad, finally looking along the Duke's family and stopping at the Duke. "Did she say anything to you?"

Sergiad looked back calmly, then answered, "I think the thing that might be meaningful to this discussion was that she said Lord Shiroe was planning on sending her and her husband-to-be as ambassadors to Maihama in the future."

Ains looked at Isaac. "Where was Nyanta-san, again?"

"Ambassador-ing to the beast-half villages, hunting them out." Isaac said coolly.

The two of them were silent for a bit, then Ains sighed. "I think...we can expect something tomorrow."

Isaac looked at their guests, both of Minami and Maihama, then nodded. "I concur. He's letting her out of the box." He suddenly groaned and put his hand to his head.

"Good god," Ains threw his hands in the air and stalked off three paces to cool off, the steam almost visible from his head.

"What is it?" Kazuhiko asked, concerned.

"She's only...the top -" Isaac bit it off. "Well...you'll get to see her tomorrow, most likely, but don't expect much. Shiroe keeps his secrets tightly held, and she may be worse."

Nakalnad looked mildly irritated. Kazuhiko relaxed, seeming relieved. The Cowen family looked mostly confused, but Sergiad had a calm, almost amused look on his face, as if he was watching young people trying to comprehend things just beyond their reach. Isaac turned away, just a bit sour. For once, he wished Crusty was here to handle things. He'd been the only one able to keep Shiroe even remotely under control.

He called for the start of the tournament. They needed the distraction. The conversation for the rest of the afternoon was carefully kept off the beginning topics.

-:-:-:-:-

Rieze leaned back against the wall of the storefront in her chosen stake-out location. She had her arms crossed and a frown on her face so people were leaving her alone, for the most part. She wasn't in her uniform, for once, and with the new hair, which she loved because it was still blonde and curly but didn't stand out from her head as if she were a doll with giant metal springs sticking out of her head, she was almost not recognizable by the general mass of people moving past her. She was getting hit on a lot more, as had started happening regularly when she went out like this, though. Her favorite response was a scowl and a flick of her middle finger. When that wasn't sufficient, she pulled her knife and fingered it lovingly, then invited the man over to 'play'. That usually was sufficient.

It really wasn't easy to be female in the world of gaming. _Elder Tales_ actually had a high percentage of female players, comparatively, but the females in Theldesia were probably about equally split between actual female players and males in female bodies. Females playing in male bodies was probably the smallest percentage of all, but Rieze certainly understood why they would have done it. Now they were all here really, there were plenty of men wanting what few females there were. It was a daily struggle to not reduce the male population just for looking at her longer than a quarter of a second. Or for looking at any female player that way, for that matter.

She tried to be more lenient during festival time, with the women who wanted to play loose and with the men who wanted to enjoy the fairer sex as part of their relaxation. She had to bite her tongue every festival that Marielle just had to host the fashion show. Rieze was willing to put up with 'dress-up' at Water Maple, but it just wasn't right in public to allow the men to feel like they could continue to ogle all they wanted. They'd actually had several 'philosophical discussions' about it - not during festival times - and Rieze hadn't been able to win yet.

It burned still, that the newest member of the Water Maple Maidens was a sell-out, too. Rieze's eyebrow twitched, and her look got darker. Everyone passing her gave her three more feet of distance. She'd gone to the beast-half fashion show for Nazuna's sake. Nazuna had been in it, and super-excited about finally getting to see the designer of H12b. Rieze had said, with raised eyebrows, "You get to see her whenever you want. You already know who she is." That hadn't been good enough.

What Nazuna had really wanted was for Rieze's ticket to be called for the raffle drawing. That hadn't made any sense either. All Nazuna had to do was let Log Horizon know she was coming to visit and show up. Why did it matter to show up at a Meet & Greet where Nazuna would have to share Purrcy's attention with all sorts of other geeky fans? They'd already gotten their exclusive fashion show with her anyway. And Nazuna had worn some of the new line on the runway. What more could you ask for?

Rieze sighed, shook herself, and looked again at the entrance to the Guild Hall across the plaza from where she was waiting. At the top of that building was her own office (Crusty's really), and it's exclusive entrance to the Round Table conference room. Each guild that was a member of the Round Table Council had an office on the top floor, and each office had a door that opened into that room. There had been a lot of dull meetings in that room over the last two years. There had been a few super-exciting ones as well. The first one had been that way, though she'd been standing in an advisory position that day, not sitting in the chair.

Since Purrcy had shown up in town, there had already been other meetings met with anticipation by the attendees, though they hadn't seemed quite as exciting at the time. The business negotiation in a completely different room had been more exciting, in the end. The sum total was feeling rather...portentous.

She'd watched the other guildmasters who hadn't been informed of who the designer of H12b was invade the stage pavilion and chase off Calasin and Marielle. She hadn't bothered to join them, since she'd already known. That had earned her a bit of wrath on the side, but really. More than half of them knew by now. How could it really be a surprise anymore?

She'd just taken a headcount of who _hadn't_ shown up. Grandale and Radio Market. Somehow that wasn't surprising. Isaac was still a thick blockhead to have not figured it out by now. It was understandable that Ains would be clueless. His head was in the clouds anyway. Perhaps the most surprising was that Roderick hadn't figured it out yet.

Soujirou also hadn't shown up. Rieze wondered if that was because Nazuna had told him or if he'd been told himself earlier. His ties were the most in question. He was part of the wedding party, but always held himself strictly neutral. Rieze wondered if this current movement would damage his reputation in that regard. She sighed and shifted. It wouldn't be a good thing if it did. Michitaka also hadn't shown up, but Rieze knew he was busy. He'd called in to confirm it had been Purrcy and sounded confused, but not said much else about it.

Rieze took a breath, looked up to the darkening sky, and sighed. She really didn't quite know what to do. She was already feeling like a co-conspirator, but it wasn't really by choice, it felt. More like she'd been maneuvered into that position, then suddenly had it revealed that's where she was. It had been new, the first introduction to Purrcy at Water Maple. She hadn't made the connection at the business negotiation. She'd been surprised to learn Purrcy was the main "boss" Vengeful Spirit. It had taken from the time they'd died in that last massive explosion in the final room of the Maze of Eternity until she finally chose to follow her heart and think of Purrcy as a friend and walk through the mirror to come to terms with that revelation.

She was also pretty sure she was still the only other guildmaster outside the Log Horizon-Crescent Moon pairing that knew what Purrcy really was from early on. Only she, and they, had been in enough unique experiences to know. It confused her, why they were trusting her this much. Wasn't she known as the hard-nosed D.D.D. Trainer who wouldn't put up with anything? Yet here she was, being placed in a position where she was having to put up with it. She knew too much to not just let it ride and see where it went. And oddly, rather than make her mad, which most would expect her to become...she had found herself rather saddened by it.

A warm touch on Rieze's cheek made her start, until she realized it was her own hand. She'd been doing that subconsciously a lot since the surprise training attack on the city. _Why? Why had Purrcy singled her out?_ Comfort. A promise...one that Rieze couldn't even promise herself.

D.D.D. relied on her, as long Crusty wasn't around to rely on. Log Horizon's warriors were relying her. In some sense Akiba did as well. For those things Rieze had to stay strong. For herself she had to stay strong so she could keep walking forward one day at a time. But Purrcy was changing even her. When Rieze confronted Purrcy with the fiery strength she confronted others with and won, Purrcy presented nothing for that strength to act on and won. When Rieze ignored Purrcy, Purrcy showed up and made her lie down in softness. When Rieze wanted Purrcy's attention, Purrcy was nowhere to be found. It was maddening.

At the same time, it was pulling at her desire, and reminding her that inside were things she had been hiding from. The walk through the mirror had showed it glaringly. If the sphinx had been Purrcy, Rieze wouldn't have believed it. Purrcy couldn't know her that well. Yet...at the same time...looking back on it, it had felt the same as if she had been in the presence of Purrcy. She wanted Purrcy to come out of the Guild Hall and stand in front of her again so she could tell. Feel what the differences were, know for herself if they had been the same creature or different ones. It might help her know how to move forward.

Rieze stood up on her feet, glaring at the Guild Hall door again. Purrcy was in there for her Meet and Greet right now, having come in surrounded by guards again, Tetorō and Nyanta with her as usual, completely unapproachable. It was understandable today. They didn't need fans swamping her, and they were likely hiding from the few guildmasters who were still trying to wrap their brains around what was going on. That didn't make it easier, or better.

Rieze needed to know how to face the Round Table by tomorrow morning. She had to protect her guild, protect Akiba, but a part of her now wanted to protect Purrcy as well. Rieze was sure Shiroe could handle that, so she shouldn't worry about it, but she was all the same and it made her feel like a traitor. Purrcy would have to answer to it tonight, and that would spoil the girl's night out, the only night Purrcy would get to vacation this whole festival. So Rieze would be a double traitor for having to bring it up - and that was what was making her sad. She just wasn't sure she could be a friend _and_ a city leader. It worked with Marielle because they were equals. Purrcy was different.

Rieze stood still letting that thought swirl around a sudden calm emptiness inside. Purrcy had just been another Adventurer in another guild. As a Vengeful Spirit, she had been one to pity. With the sudden connection Rieze had made today, she'd been made to understand the Machiavelli-in-Glasses wanted them to know she was something much more.

Perhaps only Rieze stood to understand it completely, other than Shiroe. She'd seen Purrcy as high-level Hacker and understood just how high that probably was in how she'd protected Nyanta. She'd seen Purrcy as an older noble Adventurer who still had social weaknesses like they all did or they wouldn't be here, wouldn't have been playing _Elder Tales_ , so _knew_ Purrcy was just another person like the rest of them. She'd seen Purrcy as the victim of a horror so great all other Adventurers who heard of it immediately rose up in arms to prevent it from ever happening again and then went and tried harder than they did anything else to see it was repaired as best possible. And through all of that Purrcy had, just like them, stood up and fought beside them, not wallowing in that despair 'just' a victim.

Moving to a café table that had opened up, Rieze sat down and ordered a green chai tea. Watching the front steps of the Guild Hall without focusing on it, she continued to mull over what was next. She'd seen that Purrcy worked hard. The clothing line showed it, even though that was just a simple thing. Remembering the list of things the owner of Venture Enterprises had been said to have done also showed it. Purrcy wasn't someone who gave up and sat in the shadows. She was constantly moving forward. She had moved forward and claimed Nyanta even with the odds against her, a gaping hole of hell under her even as she reached her hand forward. He had taken that hand and was holding onto it tightly, from all Rieze could tell, and all of Log Horizon was holding onto him, keeping him from falling into that same hole. Rieze couldn't believe Purrcy would pull them all in. If she was going to do it, it would have happened during the battle with Minami. Minami would have won. The Plague Master would have won.

Rieze didn't know who they were facing next, but Purrcy had already told her that whatever it was, her own prize would be the result of it. Rieze didn't want to hope, but it was too late. She already knew that what Purrcy put her mind to, happened. Just the same as whatever Shiroe put his mind to, they couldn't turn him, or the end results, away from. Just thinking of the two of them working on fulfilling her dream made her give up. Maybe that's why she was sad. She was left out of the struggle. Those two had taken it on their shoulders. Rieze needed them to. She had no idea where to go or what to do. She could take all of D.D.D. and storm into China...if she had a way to get across the sea. Michitaka wouldn't say no if she asked him, but Shiroe had already asked for her.

No. Purrcy had. That had been one of _her_ requirements... _before_ Rieze had been given her promise. _How could Purrcy have known, before she even knew Rieze?_ That was what unsettled her. Every interaction had been like that. Like Purrcy knew her as well as her mother did, from before they ever met. Walking through the mirror had felt like that, too. Like she had given up and just accepted that Purrcy was more than she could fathom, yet was someone she would follow and be obedient to. Rieze slumped down onto her arms on the table top. It wasn't her way, to just give up, but she almost couldn't do anything else. She closed her eyes. She, whom so many relied on, was being forced to rely on others, all without her approval. She rolled her head and hid her face, resting her forehead on her arms.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but there was movement close by and the chair next to hers was pulled out. "Get lost," she said without moving. She didn't receive an answer and the person didn't move. Before she could sit up, or look, there was a creature, very small, on her knee and walking up her leg. She instinctively sucked in her belly and the little creature wiggled up between her and the table to shimmy up until there was tiny, rough licking of her fingers resting lightly on the table. A miniature purr started up as well and a soft touch was on her face, then off, then on again, then off again.

Rieze rolled her head and looked down at what it was. She wasn't surprised at all, really, and she tiredly lifted her forefinger from the tongue's reach and pet the nose above it. She sighed. "You would show up now. After I've already given up."

The head moved under the rubbing finger and the kitten moved to rub her head against Rieze's face, still purring. "We all need to be able to rely on others, Rieze. The real opportunity to doesn't come along often. Most of the time the world is harsh and there isn't anyone we can rely on but ourselves. At the same time, not asking for help isn't good either. Then it isn't anyone but our own fault, and that makes it all the blacker." A rough tongue licked her cheek. "Let me be your friend, too." The tongue kept licking.

Rieze trapped the kitten and moved out of tongue range. "That's a bit rough." She meant both. The kitten held still for her, an ear twitching to brush the edge of her hand. "You've put me in a tough position."

"No, not really," Purrcy said calmly. Rieze glared at her. "You just have to be obedient. Then it isn't your fault. You can still complain, and you can still warn if you think you need to. Everyone needs to hear when there are pitfalls ahead they can't see. We need you, and you need us." The head moved until the tongue could reach Rieze's thumb and it was attacking it again.

Rieze almost tightened her grip down on the kitten, then decided to pet her instead. Purrcy settled down, curling her front paws under her. Rieze sighed. "Why am I protecting you, and why are you a kitten?"

Purrcy giggled. "I'm in hiding?"

"And because mew know I'm sitting here watching mew," Nyanta said from the chair next to Rieze.

"And Tetorō's standing behind me, waiting to hit me over the head if I make a wrong move," Rieze said resignedly.

"Not really?" Tetorō answered, from behind her.

"Yeah, right," Rieze replied sarcastically. The silence answered her. She sighed and scratched Purrcy on the head, then went into a trance while petting her. Finally she cupped the kitten in both hands and sat up, holding Purrcy up close to her own face, but hiding her swirls from being seen.

Looking face to face, Rieze said. "Okay. You be my friend. Don't let the other guilds hate me for being your friend and knowing too much too soon. Soujirou's already on the line as it is. Isaac, Roderick, Michitaka, and Ains aren't in your pocket yet. Between the four of them, that's rather a lot of us, even if it isn't a majority. And it is half the fighting guilds. They didn't come in to see what you are so they don't fully understand yet. It's also the two most useful and largest of the production guilds. If you make all four of them mad, you'll lose before you begin."

"We've given Michitaka the Technicians and the path forward he was missing, not to mention cleaned off his desk enough to make him happy." Rieze pondered that, then nodded once. "Ask him about the blacksmiths that came over from Grandale. That will be his clue. He needs to talk to them, and watch them work, if he hasn't yet."

"Okay," Rieze said obediently.

"Roderick, it's the same. He needs to consider all the people who came over from Radio Market, and from Shopping District 8. Then confront Akaneya and Calasin until they cave and let him know what they know. He'll be surprised, but it will give him the answers he needs."

"Right," Rieze's answer was a little more firm this time.

"Soujirou will be fine. We talked to him and Nazuna yesterday."

Rieze's face went into a grimace. "You talked to Nazuna? If I'd have known I'd have skipped the fashion show. I only went because she begged."

"Thanks for coming."

Rieze sighed. "What about the other fighting guilds."

Purrcy looked over Rieze's shoulder at Tetorō. "Shiroe's going to handle them," he said softly. Rieze nodded.

"Grandale and Radio Market...and Shopping District 8 were all my friends, and willing gophers, before you were, Rieze, so you won't be alone." Purrcy blinked up at her sincerely. "Just sigh and admit it last. Your long face will be enough to protect you."

Rieze wrinkled her nose at Purrcy. "I hope so, but that's not the way I'd like it to be."

"No. You want to brandish your weapon and stand tall and strong. This time, it's your turn to look at the rest and let it be in their hands. We'll still use your strength, but from the position of the calm pool rather than the raging sea. You need to give your guildmaster back a guild that is firm, not one that is trembling. Please punish him by making him even more bored than ever. He needs to have the strength to go farther than he's ever gone before."

Rieze stared at Purrcy, then laughed, long and loud. "I don't have any idea how you know us all so well, for being a newcomer, but that is exactly what someone who knew him well would say to get him to move." Rieze sighed with a bit of her curled lips still present. "And I'd really like to punish him for being gone so long, too."

Purrcy nodded. "If you know how Princess Raynessia can do the same, let her in on it. As her friends we need to help her, too."

Rieze stared at Purrcy, then nodded slowly. "You're as bad as Shiroe, you know that?"

"Yes." The answer was said simply.

Rieze put her hands down to her lap and moved the hand between the kitten and Nyanta to pet Purrcy's head one more time. "I'll come get you later this evening," she promised.

"Okay. We'll be there." Rieze nodded and Purrcy leaped from her lap over to Nyanta's, then disappeared into his arm.

Rieze looked up at the felinoid. She stared at him for a moment, his face as calm as ever. "Thanks," she said. He bowed his head slightly and rose from his chair. She followed him with her eyes. "Don't let her go. That's a long way to fall."

His eyes looked deeply into hers. He blinked a slow cat blink then said, "I don't intend to. Ever."

Rieze looked over her shoulder. "You, too. Don't you guys let him go, either."

Tetorō nodded solemnly. "We won't. We need them both. ...They're ours."

Rieze nodded, tired again. "Get out," she said, looking back at her cold tea. They silently cleared out. She sighed a long sigh, drained her tea, then rose to her feet. She had a few guildmasters to call on before she was her own person again. At least, as much her own person as she was likely to be for a long time to come. She'd been purchased. She hoped her guild forgave her some day.


	61. Preparing for a Girl's Night Out

"Purrcy," Akatsuki stopped, painfully aware of her own shortcomings. She shifted uncomfortably. Purrcy lifted her head from her front paws to look at Akatsuki, ears pricked forward, for all the world looking just like a cat that had heard the lid open on their favorite cat food and was expecting to be called to dinner in the next second. Akatsuki slumped, then jumped back to attention in the next second. "Ah! It's that...," she took a deep breath and kept going, "will you...I'd like to show you - what I can do." She held her breath.

Purrcy was immediately on the floor and coming towards her. "Let's go, then," she said brightly.

Akatsuki let out the air she was holding and followed Purrcy up the tree to the next floor and to her room. Akatsuki made sure she was there first to let Purrcy in, giving a bit of a bow, though she wasn't quite sure why, except that it matched the strength she was trying to have. Purrcy sat upright and formal, her tail waving slightly behind her as Akatsuki closed her door and faced her friend. _Friend_. Her other friends of Water Maple had told her to think of it that way in order to get through this next part. Akatsuki held it firmly in the front of her mind as she stepped into her room and cleared her throat.

Her room was fairly clean and clear. It was the only room, other than Nyanta's, with a tatami floor. Her futón was cleanly rolled up and set aside behind the one foldable screen that hid what little clutter there was. She had pulled out her small clothing rack from behind the screen, though, in preparation for this moment. It had three outfits hanging on it. Akatsuki owned more, she just preferred to keep them in her ordered list, now that it could hold all her things. It had uncluttered her room significantly (though it hadn't been cluttered to begin with) to increase her list capacity by as much as Purrcy had taught them they could. These were the three things she'd finally settled on to pick from for the evening activity.

"I've selected these. Please help me choose a final selection," Akatsuki carefully asked for exactly what she wanted. At least, she thought it was what she wanted. "I want to represent the guild, Shiroe, and you properly."

"That's well and good. Have you properly accounted for what you want for yourself?" Purrcy was immediately straightforward with her own requirement.

Akatsuki appreciated Purrcy keeping the flow moving forward. "Yes, I have," she answered properly.

"Then let's see the first," Purrcy nodded and was suddenly felinoid, though she continued to kneel. She didn't put on the kimono, but Akatsuki understood it was on anyway. Or at least, it felt like it was. The nice but casual clothing was better for "friend" and Akatsuki tried to reach for it again as she also reached for the first outfit and put it on. She held still, trying to remember to breathe normally. Purrcy motioned with her hand and Akatsuki turned around slowly. "Mmm...nice. Fall-like, appropriate to the atmosphere of the festival." She nodded. "Next?"

Akatsuki traded out for the second outfit. She focused on breathing again, turning when asked again. "Looks uncomfortable, though you do look nice in it."

Akatsuki shook her head. "It's only strange in construction. It actually isn't bad to wear it."

"Hmm, okay. Next." The third outfit was on and inspected just the same. "I like that you've attempted for stepping outside your normal color aversion. Of course, you also know I love color, so I'd be drawn to something like this anyway," there was a sparkle in Purrcy's eye. Akatsuki acknowledged her observations with a nod. "Do you have a preferential leaning already?" Purrcy asked her.

Akatsuki paused, then answered honestly. "I'm looking for an excuse to wear the second, but it doesn't seem like this should really be that time...except it's a girl's night out."

Purrcy nodded. "Like a party. But it isn't. I think if we were at a party, say at Raynessia's, it would be more appropriate. It may be out of place in the larger setting, while at the same time so common with all the other out of place outfits worn in town, that it's effect on you as an individual will be lost. I suggest wearing it when it can have the proper impact."

Akatsuki felt relieved and put it away. Purrcy had given her the place to wear it, not just rejected it. That felt good. She'd worried no one would like it at all, even though she liked the effect herself. It was the only cos-play one that had caught her eye when they'd been dressing up Henrietta. She took a deep breath. So far it was going well. "I would like to wear the third one for you because it's your night out, but there won't be many fall activities to wear the first one at, so this may be the only opportunity to wear it."

Purrcy paused to consider the comments seriously. She studied the third one, still on Akatsuki. "Perhaps this one...could be worn later in the season when we're all wishing the world wasn't so grey with winter, or when you think we could use some cheering up. It's very...adult, too. If you wanted to make a statement to that effect, drawing others to see and acknowledge you, it would be good for that. Kind of like the power business suit, though it isn't that formal."

Akatsuki considered that, tipping her head. Suddenly her mirror was in front of her and she was looking at the outfit critically again, as she had before, but with that new information in mind. She turned her body to see the back again, what she could of it. Taking a breath, she switched it out for the first one. She did really like this one. It was also colors, but the muted fall ones - almost dark burgundy for the shirt. A deep fall-orange vest over it, even darker than pumpkins and more like the color of cooked pumpkin pie. The pants were a very dark green, almost a black color. The boots were a soft fawn leather and her short sword went perfectly with the outfit, too. She did want to wear it and this did seem the perfect time to. She looked back at Purrcy. "It will work okay?"

Purrcy smiled. "Yes. I think it's lovely and it suits you."

The mirror disappeared, then the third outfit and the clothing rack, until it was just Akatsuki, Purrcy, the folding screen, and the futón in the room. "You've been doing well at selecting clothing for yourself," Purrcy praised her.

Akatsuki flushed slightly, pleased. "Thank you. I've been trying to work hard."

"I can tell. Please continue to work hard. I think Shiroe will be very pleased with the results."

Akatsuki did flush now. Purrcy always seemed to know the underlying reason for things. She stood as if not aware of what her words had done to Akatsuki, but Akatsuki was pretty sure she was just being kind enough to let her recover. "Now, it's my turn, if you'd be willing to bear with me?"

Akatsuki raised her eyebrows, then nodded and knelt down. "Ah...do you want the mirror back?"

"...Maybe after we've narrowed it down. Let me select a few first, if you're willing to be patient?"

Akatsuki nodded. She could sit for hours on her knees patiently after all. Purrcy closed her eyes and looked at her internal inventory. After a few minutes, she finally opened her eyes and let out a breath. "Okay. Here's the first one."

Purrcy went through the first round fairly quickly. Akatsuki properly looked at each one of them. Some of them were wild enough to make her laugh. Purrcy always gave a wry look at those and put them away. Akatsuki thought she was wearing those on purpose just to make her laugh to begin with. It did help her finish relaxing, though. She wasn't sure what other cues Purrcy was looking for, but she could tell Purrcy was watching all of her reactions and accepting or rejecting the outfits based on them. She suddenly stopped, then walked back and forth a few times, her tail swishing as she cleaned up her inner closet space and considered what was left. Purrcy put her hand to her chin and tipped her head, then there were five outfits on the floor. "Sorry it's messy. I don't have a clothes rack."

"It's okay," Akatsuki answered. It wouldn't be for long. Purrcy wasn't slow, and she could be magnanimous - particularly for a friend.

The first outfit went from the floor to being on Purrcy. Akatsuki nodded, then carefully formulated her words. "I like it. It's pleasant without being too formal."

"May we have the mirror now?" Purrcy asked. Akatsuki put the mirror where Purrcy could see easily into it, then waited patiently for Purrcy to look at it. Then the first outfit was on the floor and the second outfit was on Purrcy. Purrcy kindly let Akatsuki inspect it first.

Akatsuki tipped her head and motioned for Purrcy to turn around. She considered it, then what she felt should be said about it. "It wouldn't be my first pick."

Purrcy glanced at it quickly in the mirror, then wrinkled her nose at it. "No. You're right." It was gone and replaced with the third. There was a knock at the door.

Akatsuki got up and went to open it. "Are you getting ready?" Minori asked. Isuzu was behind her.

"Yes," Akatsuki opened the door wider and stepped back to let them in. "You both look nice."

"Thanks!" Isuzu said as Minori gave her a wide smile.

"You look nice, too," Minori said kindly.

"Thank you," Akatsuki firmly tried hard to not blush. "We're trying the final selections on Purrcy now."

"Oh, good," Isuzu said and promptly took a wide stance pose and looked critically at what Purrcy was wearing. Akatsuki closed her door and returned to her position. Minori knelt next to her. They both looked at it, too, then motioned they were ready for her to turn and she turned around for them.

"Nice, but what else do you have?" Isuzu asked.

Purrcy looked at Akatsuki first. "It's nice," she said, "but...it doesn't suit the why."

Purrcy paused, then asked, "The 'I'm going to get married' why?" Akatsuki nodded.

Purrcy looked at it in the mirror, and tipped her head. "Maybe." It went on the floor again, though the second one had been put away instead. The fourth one was on her

"Oh, my," Minori said a bit breathlessly. "When did you get that one?"

Purrcy did a little twirl. "I had a dress like this when I was growing up and loved it. I've made several with different patterns for the different seasons. I was actually born in the fall and it's my favorite season. That makes this particular dress one of my favorites to wear, especially for fun activities that a dress works for." The skirt flared out at the twirl. It was a simple princess line in the bodice that almost didn't work on her flat front and had long sleeves, as appropriate for the cooler fall weather. Purrcy had managed to make the top just decorative enough, though, to make up for the lack of a human female figure, including some multi-colored layered fall leaves along the front from one shoulder and down to the opposing high waist point, though the dress itself was waistless, just flaring from the natural waist. "The one it was based on was bright yellow with white flowers, and my summer one reflects that combination."

"I'll bet that's pretty, too," Minori said. The one on Purrcy was a honey gold color, like the color of the corn-stalks about town, and the colorful leaves stood out on it. That same color matched her own golden swirls, though they were mostly hidden by the dress itself.

"Well, let's see the last one," Isuzu said practically, though Akatsuki suspected she just wanted to see more clothes on Purrcy.

The last one went on and Minori almost rejected it immediately. Isuzu inspected it seriously though, and Akatsuki did as well. Properly she said, "This is what Shiroe would approve of. It's properly formal, but also casual, and properly states your place and purpose."

Minori sighed at the same time Purrcy did. "Yes, that's why I picked it as an option," Purrcy said. "However that means I feel like it's the prison uniform. I'd rather wear it tomorrow when I have to be proper in front of everyone. I'd like for tonight to be fun."

Akatsuki tipped her head, seeing in her mind the previous one. "Show them the first one again." Purrcy nodded and traded out again.

Minori finally sighed. "Well, if I hadn't seen the dress yet, to be jaded, I'd choose this one."

Isuzu looked at the outfit, then at Purrcy's face. "I think either would be fine, and the last one could be worn tomorrow, probably, but...I think the look on your face in the dress is what everyone is looking forward to tonight."

Purrcy looked a little surprised. Akatsuki considered that comment, then nodded. "I think so, too. Everyone is hoping you'll be able to relax and have fun. To see your smile is something they are looking forward to. They haven't seen that look yet."

Purrcy froze. Her ears went down a little. "No...I suppose they haven't, have they?" Her lips pursed, then she nodded firmly and the dress was back on. Then the rest of the outfits were put away. "It will be a new thing, to show everyone this part of me in public...but perhaps it will be okay." She paused. "I'll pass it by the men first. If Shiroe and Nyanta approve, then it will be okay."

"It matters that much what they think?" Isuzu asked in surprise.

Purrcy nodded soberly and so did Minori and Akatsuki. "This week...and into next...I am representing something much larger than myself," Purrcy said, "even if it is a relaxing evening meant for me and for all of us to have fun. It would be better to wear the first one if this one will send the wrong message, and hold this one until next year or wear it around the house." Isuzu nodded understanding and agreement. Purrcy opened a guild chat. "We're ready for the final judging, for anyone who wants to gather in the common room." She said it mildly. There was a pause, then they could hear feet hurrying down the stairs.

Minori rolled her eyes. "Even Touya," she said in exasperation.

"Well...we did do a fabulous job with Akatsuki last time," Purrcy smiled, "and that was with what we could get by with. This time she's excellently put together. I'm sure they all want to see how she did this time with her own effort."

Akatsuki blushed. "You're teasing me," she accused Purrcy.

Purrcy turned an ear. "Perhaps."

Akatsuki stuck her tongue out at Purrcy. Purrcy laughed and Akatsuki smiled. "If we're ready, I think they might be," Purrcy said.

Akatsuki and Minori stood up. "You look nice tonight, too," Akatsuki said to Minori.

"Thanks," Minori said with a little blush. "Serera, Isuzu, and I went out a few times while you were all in Minami and I found this and really liked it."

They went out the door and it was only five steps to where they paused and took deep breaths to prepare themselves to be subjected to the eyes of men, whose taste in clothing was diverse and very judgmental, particularly in the case of Shiroe, which made it particularly hard on Akatsuki. They looked at each other, giving encouragement to each other with just those looks, then Purrcy urged Minori and Isuzu on first. "They won't even look otherwise," Isuzu whispered in agreement, rolling her eyes.

Purrcy nodded sadly. "Sorry," she mouthed. Isuzu waved it off. She looked at Minori, and they took breaths and stepped out together to the top landing of the first flight of stairs. They paused there, then slowly made their way down.

"Well done," Tetorō's voice came to them. "Nice color selections." There were other sounds of agreement.

There was a pause, then finally, "You both look nice," from Shiroe. Akatsuki and Purrcy both relaxed. The younger girls had passed muster. He probably didn't think his words carried quite that much weight, but really, they did. Both because he was guildmaster, and because he was the Master Strategist.

"Should we go separately?" Purrcy asked, uncertain.

Akatsuki considered it. "I think...I would like you with me...but since you aren't sure if that one will work, maybe we should?"

Purrcy considered that. "Okay." She put her hand on Akatsuki's shoulder. "You can do it. Just look for Shiroe's smile, or blush - that works too - and answer anything Naotsugu says with a polite, 'thank you'. You remember, right?"

Akatsuki paused, then nodded. "I'll remember tonight it's a compliment."

"Good," Purrcy patted her on the shoulder. "You look lovely. Go for it."

Akatsuki received her smile, nodded firmly, squared her shoulders, and stepped out to the landing. It was unnerving to realize it was _every_ male of the guild looking at her suddenly. She would have though _some_ of the Eagles were out of the house, but apparently not for some reason. She had a sudden thought and turned back to Purrcy. "Remember the other part of your outfit," she whispered.

Purrcy looked questioningly at her. Akatsuki put a smile on her face and pointed to it. Purrcy smiled softly. "Yes, mother."

Akatsuki froze, her eyes wide, then she laughed. "That's you, not me." Purrcy shook her head slightly. Akatsuki turned to continue down the stairs and only made it two before she looked up and froze again. The expressions in the room were mostly of shock. They'd looked kind of like that the last time, too. Her eyes went to Shiroe and he smiled at her gently, then moved to meet her. She continued on down the stairs and handed him her hand when he held out his. He'd remembered from last time, too. She smiled up at him, glad he had.

"It's lovely," he said to her, "but the laugh and the smile make it beautiful."

Akatsuki tipped her head at him, considering her answer. "Thank you. That's what we were telling Purrcy also."

Shiroe's eyebrow raised. "Oh? Has that been a missing accessory, then?"

Akatsuki blushed just a little. "Only in front of the Water Maple friends."

"Hmm," Shiroe didn't comment more than that and he led her into the room to stand with him behind the couch, but not in the way of Naotsugu and Tetorō being able to see the stairs.

"It suits you, Akatsuki," Tetorō said kindly.

"Thank you," she answered appropriately. Naotsugu gave her a thumbs-up, probably afraid to say more after last time, and she bowed her head in thanks. That seemed to be sufficient communication.

They all turned to look back at the stairs again. Nyanta had moved closer to the stairs and was looking up in anticipation as well. Akatsuki took a deep breath with Purrcy, though they were on opposite ends of the stairs now and hoped for her that this outfit would pass. Purrcy stepped onto the landing and held it so they could see the effect of the dress. Akatsuki looked at her as if seeing it for the first time again. It was pleasing, but she couldn't tell if it was sufficient or not. She smiled encouragingly at Purrcy anyway, particularly since her look was rather pasted on and not yet a smile.

Purrcy looked at her, then gave a sort of bow. Looking back up she smiled at Isuzu and Minori, then at Akatsuki, then lightly ran down the stairs. The skirt of her dress lifted and floated with her as the air caught it, like it had when she had twirled in the room before. It wasn't immodest. Rather it gave the impression Purrcy was floating and dancing on the air down to them. By the time she reached the bottom step, her eyes were sparkling and the joy of wearing that dress was in her face. Akatsuki nodded. That was what they needed to see.

Nyanta was frozen in place and Purrcy's eyes finally moved to look into his face. There was a brief flash of surprise, then another kind of smile and Nyanta wasn't frozen any more. Instead he was taking her hand and pulling her to him to kiss her. "I think...I'd rather keep mew home," he whispered to her.

"You can't," Akatsuki said flatly. "She's already called for this evening."

Nyanta twitched an ear, so Akatsuki knew he'd heard her. "I do appreciate your compliment, though," Purrcy said with a smile. She tugged a little on Nyanta and he turned and they walked over to Shiroe and Akatsuki.

Akatsuki looked up at Shiroe. It looked good. She looked around the rest of the room. They were all sitting quietly, but the faces said it looked good, too.

Tetorō sighed glumly. "I wish I could come, too."

Akatsuki looked at him in surprise. "You are, aren't you? You're still on her side."

Tetorō looked back at her in surprise. "Well, I was."

"No," Akatsuki shook her head, "you _are_. We're still expecting you. Aren't you dressed yet?"

The look of happy surprise on Tetorō's face really finished out making the evening. It didn't take him long to be dressed, either, in an outfit made just for him and the evening, as usual. The idol hadn't left the building after all. When he stood and turned for them, the four women all nodded approval and he relaxed into a jaunty smile. "Well, I guess we're ready, then," he said, folding his arms.

Akatsuki looked back up at Shiroe. "She was worried you'd rather she was serious tonight. She's trying her best."

Shiroe looked at her surprised, then back at Purrcy. Letting go of Akatsuki he walked over to Purrcy and put his arms around her. "Have fun, Hahaue. You look lovely." He pulled back and grinned at her. "Just don't get drunk."

Purrcy glared at him then relented and laughed. "I suppose you wouldn't know...I don't drink alcohol."

"None?" Nyanta asked in surprise, one ear turning back completely in disbelief.

Purrcy shook her head. "Nope. None. I like to have my fun and enjoy it to the fullest. Why should I let alcohol, or being drunk, ruin it for me? I don't need an artificial high when I can have the best time being just me."

Everyone in the room was stunned. Isuzu tipped her head. "I like it," she said.

Minori nodded. "Most refreshing thing I've ever heard," she agreed.

Touya folded his arms and grinned. " _That_ sounds like Purrcy for sure."

"Ah...what about social drinking, though?" Rudy asked. "Even the lords and ladies will do that at the gatherings."

Purrcy shook her head again. "Water for me, please. It's even more important then that I not have my senses dulled. I'd hate to agree to something I shouldn't have because I missed something important."

Shiroe nodded at that, though he seemed still a little stunned. He was blinking. "Did you smoke there?" he finally asked.

"Nope," she answered. "Same reason. I'd rather not give up control of myself to something else that can drag me around by the nose." She looked at him a bit confrontational. "You do understand why I despised Indicus, don't you? She was the complete embodiment of that, enforcing complete control over others, and over me. I couldn't allow it."

"Is that a problem here?" Shiroe asked quietly. Even Nyanta looked concerned.

Purrcy shook her head. "No. I've given myself here and you've promised to follow wisdom already. There was no give and take, no proper respect with her. I said it then. The contract is acceptable."

Shiroe relaxed slightly and nodded. Michael walked over and patted Shiroe on the shoulder. "She's already told the same to me, about her and this place. You're okay. She won't tear you apart." He grinned at Shiroe, who was looking blandly at him since the words weren't very comforting, even if he was trying. "Well...," Michael looked back at Purrcy, "except when she looks that good and makes every man in the room jealous." Both Shiroe and Nyanta hit Michael sending him flying.

Naotsugu watched him go overhead, a smile on his face. "It's nice to know that wasn't me this time."

Akatsuki looked at Shiroe in surprise. He'd never hit anyone before. He blinked as if coming back to himself. He finally rubbed the back of his head. "Ah...sorry," he said. Nyanta just folded his arms.

Michael grinned, having finished picking himself up off the floor. "It's good to know where we stand, though it was just a compliment."

"Thank you," Purrcy said calmly, "and I'll take the defense as a compliment as well, thank you." She rubbed both Nyanta and Shiroe on the head. "You can all calm down, though, or I'll scold you the same as I did Akatsuki and Naotsugu the first time." The three looked wide eyed, then drooped in submission. "That's better," she said. "Choose your words better, next time, Michael."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered humbly. There were a few quiet snickers from the squadron that disappeared when Michael looked over at them.

"I wonder when they'll get their scolding?" Akatsuki wondered to the air.

"Hmm," Tetorō put his finger to the side of his head and tilted it in his habitual idol pose, "I wonder." Purrcy turned towards the door, but Tetorō bounded ahead of her. "My turn!" he called out and reached for the handle and pulled the door open with a flourish. Rieze was standing there with her hand raised and she put it down, though it looked like she held back a punch half-way down and Tetorō instinctively moved back out of reach. "Welcome, Rieze, Nazuna, come on in. We're ready and just waiting for you."

The two moved into the room, just a little cautiously. " _Every_ one?" Rieze asked, scanning the room.

"Oh, they were just letting us review the outfits," Naotsugu said, waving a hand. "You'll have to give up on the hope of seeing how much liquor she can hold, though." They glared at him for giving away the secret. He shook his head. "She just informed us she doesn't drink."

They looked at her, disappointed. "Not even a little to celebrate?"

"What's a celebration if all you remember is throwing up and having a headache?" she asked back. "I like to enjoy life, not waste it."

They stared at her, then slumped. "We really can't win, can we."

"Not with that kind of try," she answered. "Try harder next time."

Tetorō sighed and looked at Akatsuki. "I hope they had a back-up plan."

Akatsuki looked up at him. "I did."

He looked at her in amazement. "You did?" Akatsuki nodded soberly. "Well, I can't wait to see it, then," he answered.

"What's Short-Stuff find fun that anyone else -" She didn't let Naotsugu finish.

"May I roundhouse the rude pervert in the face, Shiroe?" she asked as the thud from Naotsugu resounded through the room. Shiroe sighed.

"Well, you finally joined me tonight," Michael helped peel Naotsugu off the wall. "Just didn't feel right without it, did it?"

Naotsugu growled at both him and her. "Not likely."

"Ah, Shiroe," Rieze moved closer to talk to him, deciding to ignore the play of the guild at this point.

"Yes?" Shiroe went a little on alert.

"I talked with Roderick and Michitaka like Purrcy asked me to. They seem to have settled somewhat, though now they're bursting with questions, of course, like before at the demo, or maybe it's a desire to dissect her, I'm not sure. I ran into Isaac this evening also. Apparently something came up in the afternoon to get him to at least figure it out. He seems rather resigned, but it seems Ains is still working on coming down. Kazuhiko was relieved to hear Purrcy was alive and well, but Nakalnad's confused. Isaac says that Duke Sergiad knows something they don't and is rather smug about it, but I don't know what that is." She shrugged. "So, anyway, everyone's moved a little closer. Hope it's enough for tomorrow."

"Thank you," Shiroe had relaxed that it was just a report. "It should be enough for at least tomorrow. They'll all have to wait longer to get the whole story, of course."

"Of course," Rieze just barely managed to not roll her eyes. "That was Isaac's complaint. He said even for all you let her out openly this morning, you'd be just as close mouthed tomorrow as ever."

Shiroe adjusted his glasses. "Pretty much."

Rieze sighed. "You're not ready for Minami to know anything yet, then."

"Nope," he said firmly.

She nodded. "Good. When they understand that, I think they'll settle well enough."

"I expect," he said calmly.

She sighed. "Of course you do." She turned to Purrcy, "Well, let's get going. We'll go pick up Marie and Henrietta and break the news to them, then hear what Akatsuki has to suggest."

Akatsuki looked up at Shiroe and he gave her a quick kiss to take with her. Nyanta took one from Purrcy as well, though Tetorō moved to take Purrcy's arm fairly quickly to keep it short. Akatsuki took her other side as they followed Nazuna and Rieze to the door. The two younger girls followed after, and just like that Purrcy was encircled again as they walked out of the Log Horizon guild hall.

-:-:-:-:-

The door clicked closed and all the men turned and looked at Nyanta. "Well, she might not, but _you_ drink, right Chief?" Naotsugu said hopefully.

Nyanta looked back. "What Japanese male doesn't?"

Shiroe raised his hand and they all stared at him in some disbelief. He shrugged uncomfortably. "I've never been able to tolerate it."

"Not even one glass?" Naotsugu asked in surprise. "You've drunk with me a few times."

Shiroe shook his head. "You never noticed since you downed them, but even after one I'm barely capable of walking. It's been nice to not have to here. ...I think I like Hahaue's point of view on it, actually."

Nyanta pushed him a little. "Or is that an excuse?"

Shiroe shrugged. "Maybe, but all the same, I'll enjoy a juice while the rest of you enjoy the alcohol, since you can. ...Though I don't think this room's the place for them to walk in on us."

Everyone shuddered at that. "We were thinking the roof," Michael said, pointing up. Eagles gathered up folding dining chairs and they all trooped up to the roof for the 'sedate' bachelor party that _wouldn't_ get Naotsugu into trouble with Nyanta, though it might get them into trouble with some female guild members. Shouryuu joined them about ten minutes later and Soujirou another ten after that, having also been invited since they were both in the wedding party as well.

-:-:-:-:-

"Sooo," Rieze looked over her shoulder at Akatsuki. They had picked up Marielle and Henrietta and were headed for Water Maple Manor. "Now that we've had to scrap the drinking party, where do _you_ suggest we go?" Marielle and Henrietta slumped in defeat, but didn't look surprised.

Akatsuki perked up, lifting her head to look up at Rieze. "Purrcy is an anime and manga otaku." Everyone instantly had an idea where she was going with it. "I thought, since she hasn't seen it yet, we should take her to the puppet play."

Marielle and Henrietta looked at each other with smiles. "Serera-chan is there to help with tonight's show," Marielle said. "She's been supporting someone from Minami who is trying to start up there. I think we'd catch their show tonight."

Purrcy perked up, herself. "That would be good. Are the puppet plays related to manga and anime?"

Akatsuki nodded, looking at her earnestly. "They put on episodes. Their first ones were Pokemon episodes."

Purrcy laughed. "Oh, that'd be fun! I think I have the first three seasons memorized, though I ran out of time to keep watching after that. Are we allowed to yell out the Team Rocket theme?"

The others chuckled. "Of course," Nazuna said.

"Serera-chan's favorite is the Sailor Moon episode," Marielle explained. "She's always wanted to play Sailor Mercury but I don't think that's what they've been working on. It seems a bit more serious than that."

"I think that would be a fun thing to do this evening," Purrcy said, excitement in her step and eyes. "Would that be okay with everyone?" There was general agreement, though it might have been just as much because for the first time they were seeing a Purrcy who looked young and happy, instead of ancient and fully restrained. Some looks said they were going to watch her more than the show, just so they might have ammunition for the future. "Oh, but," her look fell slightly, "won't Princess Raynessia be a bit lost?"

They waved hands at her. "She's watched with us. It confuses her, but she's good about it."

Akatsuki took Purrcy's hand in hers. "She watches the watchers," she said encouragingly. "There will be enough other people present it should be okay." She wasn't really sure, since she knew Purrcy did like to keep everyone properly hosted.

"Besides," Henrietta said from the other side, "tonight we're doing what _you_ like."

"Oh," Purrcy said faintly, "Okay, then perhaps she'll be able to forgive me for boring her." Rieze gave Purrcy a scowl and she lifted a hand in apology until Rieze relented.

When they picked Raynessia up, her sister Liseltia came along as well, having been invited in the hope that it might help Raynessia not feel so much alone and because Liseltia had looked so hopeful. Along the way to the stage, they passed food vendors as well as many other Adventurers weaving their way along the shops and coming to and from restaurants and other small activities as they ended or were beginning. Many smells filled the air and they spent time shopping for foods they could eat as they walked.

Akatsuki disappeared for a little while then returned. Since she could go up and run the air waves and roof-tops, she could get out of the press of people and move quickly. "It starts in thirty minutes, the next one," she said when she arrived in front of her friends.

"Then let's pick up a few snacks on the way in," Marielle said happily.

"We've just eaten, Marie!" Henrietta scolded.

"Mmm," Purrcy looked at Akatsuki hopefully, "there wouldn't happen to be a place that sells caramel apples, would there? That was always my favorite fall treat."

Marielle immediately brightened up and grabbed Purrcy's arm. "It's this way!" She pulled the entire group of females down two and a half blocks to a candy apple vendor, who was ecstatic to have a bevy of females show up and sell his wares for him, as well as buy them, though it was a bit chaotic for ten minutes.

"Is there anything else you'd like?" Marielle asked Purrcy, her hands already full of treats.

"Just how big _were_ you at home?" Rieze teased Marielle.

Marielle sniffed. "Not _that_ big. I restrained myself at home. I just don't have to here," her look changed from defensive to evil grin, "and I love it."

Purrcy shook her head. "If you let loose the restraint here, Marie, you'll not have it when you get back home. I hope you'll consider it...after the festival," she smiled.

Marielle sighed. "Yes, Hahaue." It didn't keep her down any more than that. "So...what else?"

"Well...," Purrcy looked around, sniffing, "the other thing that says fall to me is hot spiced cider in the cool evenings, or iced apple cider during the warm sun of the day." She looked back at Marielle a little apologetically. "I'm afraid, for me, fall was apples, not pumpkins, though I do like a good pumpkin pie a little better than apple pie."

Marielle nodded firmly. "Okay, that's too far out of the way. We'll head for the stage. Akatsuki, you go pick up the cider." She listed off the location and Akatsuki disappeared.

"How can you have all the food vendor's locations memorized and not even remember where you put down the clipboard, Marie?" Henrietta sighed.

"Because food is life!" Marielle said cheerfully.

The other ladies followed after her, each holding their candied apples teetering on their wooden sticks, struggling through the crowded streets, but staying together. Purrcy linked her free arm in Raynessia's free arm and Liseltia held onto Raynessia's other sleeve so that the three of them at least stayed together. The others did their best to keep them encircled to some degree until they were finally at one of the smaller stages set in a small garden location of the city. The press of people was a little less here since they were trying to get there early. Seats were already taken but the stage was quiet.

Rieze unabashedly walked them up to nearly front-row seats and commandeered them for their group, taking up a square of space in the center front. "...seeing as we have the Princesses with us," she calmly explained, her expression saying she was most certainly including Purrcy in that blanket title.

The audience was beginning to fill up when Akatsuki finally arrived and they let her slip in next to Purrcy. She handed out drinks of warm apple cider that smelled of spices as close as they could get in Theldesia to cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Most of the candied apples were eaten by the time she got back, Purrcy's most notably, and she took the warm cup, wrapping both hands around it. With a pleasurable sniff of the spices, she held the steaming cup up close to her face, then carefully blew on it and took a sip. "Oh! It's very nice. I'd like to get the recipe. Maybe I'll save the last sip for Nyanta and he can help me come up with the spices that go in it."

"You'll remember?" Marielle asked, "I'll remember about the time I'm throwing the cup away."

They laughed. "I'll try," Purrcy said with a smile. "It is very good." She took another sip and the others tried theirs as well, continuing to chat happily until a young Adventurer came out on stage.

He bowed to the audience, accepting the polite applause. "Welcome, and thank you for coming this evening to see the opening, debut play of the Minami Acting Troupe. We hope you will enjoy our offering tonight." He grinned, "Please be kind, as we show you our favorite case of everyone's favorite diminutive detective, Conan."

There was stunned silence, then the crowd went wild and people were calling up friends to come and watch, too. "Oooh," Nazuna said wiggling and settling in. "Even the Princesses should like this one. It's a murder mystery."

"Do you like _Conan_ , Purrcy?" Minori asked from behind her.

Purrcy turned around with a smile. "I know of it, of course. No one who likes anime can not know of it, it's so popular, but I never did watch any, really, so for me it's new. I'll get to be one of the few who has to guess at the answer instead of already know it, so I get the best reward, I think." She winked at Minori.

Isuzu laughed. "Yes, the suspense is always best the first time around."

They settled in and got quiet as the other actors took to the stage, though they had a hard time not crying out and then laughing when the poor murdered heiress was none other than Serera herself.


	62. Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties

"Well, you are handy to have around, aren't you?" Shouryuu said in appreciation as the actors of the Minami Acting Troupe bowed for their third encore, flush with the excitement of the popularity of their play. Even Serera's face was very happy for the response the little troupe was getting as she bowed at the tail end of the line, and the stage was filling up with gold coins being thrown at them. "That was well done."

"You're a _Conan_ fan also, then?" Naotsugu asked him.

Shouryuu nodded. "I hope the local group's going to do one soon, too."

"I hear it's supposed to be tomorrow during prime time, but that's rumor," Soujirou said, a pleased expression his face, too. "Really, this is like television, Shiroe."

"I'd say we hit the luck of the draw. Who knew following over the shoulders of the ladies would turn out so interesting for us, too?" Michael said.

"Well...considering we've seen without pay, perhaps we should take up a collection to drop off for them tomorrow," Shiroe replied, his conscience pricked a bit more than it had been before, when he'd agreed to spy on the girls as the entertainment for the boys, though he had also thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Michael's cowboy hat appeared in his hand and it was passed around the group until it was nearly full of gold coins. Shiroe took it, then had a thought, remembering what Purrcy had done with the clothing one of the first times he'd tried opening a visual chat. The one he had used on Purrcy the day before and was using now, was a one-way video and audio chat, where the girls couldn't see or hear the boys, but the boys could see and hear the girls and what was going on around them. He could tell Charlie, the Communication mage of the Eagles was watching what he was doing closely again, learning for himself.

Shiroe held the hat in his hand, then "put" the gold coins that were in it on the stage, scattering them somewhat so it didn't just look like a big pile. He was already sure Purrcy knew they were watching over Minori's shoulder, but he didn't want to make it obvious. She hadn't complained yet and he didn't want to give her cause to. Paying their fair share might mollify her somewhat as well. He handed the empty hat back to Michael, who put it on then put his feet back up on the rock in front of him.

The small grill was lit and was keeping them warm on this now cool evening. They had eaten barbecue cooked by one of the Eagles so that Nyanta didn't have to host his own party while they were watching and waiting with the girls for the show to start. The alcohol had come out early and they'd topped off just before the show started. They were topping off again now and talking about the show...and some of the other female Adventurers they'd seen in the audience. Male talk. Shiroe sighed and looked at Akatsuki again. She was looking happy. He was glad her suggestion had been one to be proud of. She had worked hard for Purrcy's sake and everyone had enjoyed the results - even on this end.

Purrcy had turned to look at Akatsuki and now she said, "Do you think we could get special privileges and be allowed back-stage to meet the troupe and congratulate them and Serera-chan? I'd love to talk to the stage manager of Akiba, too. Do they take suggestions?"

Shiroe sat up a little, but Nyanta did even more, his ears pricked forward. "Oh, ho? Are we going to get our own little show now?" Soujirou's eyes were lit with interest. "I would like to be able to see the infamous Purrcy in action."

Shouryuu shook his head. "Better there than here," he muttered, studiously _not_ looking at Shiroe. "You're _sure_ she can't hear us, Shiroe-san?" he asked.

Shiroe nodded his head, deciding not to tell him she didn't need to, to know they were there. Michael also kept his mouth shut, to Shiroe's relief. Of course, Michael did seem to enjoy teasing her as much as Nyanta did. Tetorō probably knew they were watching as well, but he couldn't say anything or he'd get into trouble there, too. "They can't hear us, but perhaps we've seen enough? That was rather fun already. Should we just relax now?"

"Cold feet already?" Naotsugu looked at him with a teasing look.

Shiroe paused, "The better part of self-preservation, I think," he said in disagreement. The girls were in discussion and it looked like they were going to wait until the crowd thinned just a little, though Henrietta had disappeared. He made the executive decision and ended the one-way chat, closing down the window.

Soujirou looked rather disappointed. "You're better off without it," Shouryuu reassured him, "or waiting for it to come to you."

"Besides," Shiroe added, "you've already seen it, when you were here before."

Soujirou rubbed his chin. "Well...but that was different. She bested Nazuna at Water Maple and I wanted to understand how. No one, not even me, has been able to do that."

Shiroe looked at Naotsugu for help, but he shrugged. There was suddenly a glow from behind Michael and they turned to look at the crowd of Eagles, who had been in conference. One of Charlie's video cubes was hanging in the air and was showing the girls again. "Oh, make it bigger!" Soujirou commanded. "I want to see from here, too."

Shiroe groaned. "I hope you know how to prevent her from seeing your spell," he warned. "You really don't want to make her angry."

He got back reassurances, and the video connection stayed up, getting large enough for the officers to see as well. Charlie moved it closer, too, so they could all see and hear. Shiroe shook his head and looked at Nyanta sadly. Nyanta stayed calm, not letting his emotions show, but an ear flicked once. Shiroe sighed, refilled his juice and sat back, wondering if it would be safer to escape to his office instead.

-:-:-:-:-

"Yes, Henrietta?" Marielle took the personal chat. "Okay, we'll come around." She stood up. "We've been given permission to meet the cast and stage manager," she smiled at the rest of the group, though when her eyes skimmed past Purrcy she had a sudden cold shudder run down her spine. Her eyes widened and she looked back at Purrcy, but whatever she'd caught before was gone when the felinoid looked up at her. It was just her happy smile. Marielle breathed a careful breath in and out and hoped it had just been a passing thought completely unrelated to the evening's activities.

When they arrived back stage, the actors and actresses were changed and were removing the makeup they'd worn. "Serera-chan!" Marielle gushed, grabbing her guild-daughter in a smothering hug of pride. "I'm so glad you were able to help out. Please introduce us."

"Let her go, if that's what you want, then," Henrietta scolded her.

For her part, Serera just held still, resigned, until she was finally let go. "Thank you, Marielle-san," she said when she could breathe again. "It was an easy part to play since I couldn't practice with them, but wanted to help. They were kind to let me." She turned to the others from Minami and introduced them to the group of ladies.

The one who had come out on stage first, and had played Conan bowed to them. "Thank you for coming to the play. I hope you found it acceptable." Serera introduced him as Qwased.

"It was very good," Nazuna said with a smile, "even for a debut performance." The others nodded.

Another man came around the back of the stage and walked over to Marielle and Henrietta. "Purrcy, this is the Akiba stage manager, Leonidius. Thank you for coming, Leonidius. We're taking Purrcy out for her bachelorette party. It's her first play, and Princess Raynessia's sister's too." Henrietta introduced the three princess.

Purrcy shook hands with Leonidius. "I would like to see some of your other productions another time. I'm afraid I'll have to miss all the rest that will be put on during the festival, but the ladies sprung me for the evening." She turned to Qwased and his troupe. "You all did very well. I enjoyed myself, though I've not seen any _Conan_ before, to speak of. I could tell you were enjoying yourselves, and that made it even better." She turned to Serera with a smile. "I'm glad to see you also enjoying yourself. I would love to see you as Sailor Mercury some time, if it's possible." Serera blushed, since it had been said in the stage manager's hearing. Purrcy turned back to Leonidius. "Do you take suggestions?"

"Yes," he said kindly, "we do, though it helps to be given scripts, of course. It also helps to have enough people who know the specific storyline, though it isn't as necessary."

"Do you perform any dramas, or shojo? I have several that I'd love to see," Purrcy's eyes were lit up with interest. "The rescue scene of Shirayukihime from Umihebi in _Snow White with the Red Hair_ is one of my favorite scenes and the sleeping princess kiss after they are safe is sooo romantic." She clasped her hands in front of her heart and wiggled. The others looked at her in astonishment. This was not a Purrcy they had ever seen before. "And _Rainbow Days_ \- I'd love to see one of those. _Uninhabited_ _Planet_ _Survive_ would pull the heartstrings of everyone here, but still be tender." Her hands went to her cheeks. " _Horimiya_ would be a wonderful romantic comedy to fit in during longer scene changes or intermissions since the later chapters are short hilarious vignettes. Of course anyone would love even a made up _Assassination Classroom_ \- it wouldn't even have to be a real episode. The hilarity would be sufficient."

The actors and Leonidius were all grinning. "That one's a great idea," Qwased agreed, nodding. "We could mix up the seriousness of _Conan_ with _Assassination Classroom_ when we wanted comedy."

"I know, right!?" Purrcy said gleefully. "If you do, I'll have to come visit sometime just to see it. Let Serera-chan know so she can tell me. And surely there are plenty here who like _Fairy Tale_ , which should be recreatable with all our magics even. And _One Piece_ , too, would be something the fighters would enjoy. I can think of several more, but some of them might not work in the play format." She rubbed the top of her head, then sighed. "I'd love to see _Yona of the Dawn_ and the four dragons - who are all so dreamy it's hard to pick one out - even Hak is to drool over." Purrcy's eyes were very far away, remembering.

She shook herself, then looked pleadingly at everyone. "Can we try? Just a little? I'll be director and storyteller if you'll act the parts. _Please?_ "

They blinked at her. "You actually _asked_?" Nazuna asked in surprise.

"I shouldn't?" Purrcy blinked, confused.

"No, no. You _should_ ," Henrietta held up a hand and clarified.

"Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you so much!" They couldn't decide if she'd misunderstood on purpose or not. "Let's do _Kaichou wa Maid-sama!_ We have the perfect cast for it. Henrietta, you're the main character, Misaki." Purrcy grabbed her by the shoulders and put her in the center of the group. "You're perfect for it. So she's the school president of what used to be an all-boy's high school and she's trying to straighten the boys out so more girls will come. She's strong, forceful, strict and doesn't let the boys get away with anything. She's sweet to the girls, loved by the teachers, top in her class, and hates men and boys in general because her father ran out on the family - her, her mother, and her sister - when she was in junior high. She only goes to the school because the father left them poor and in debit and it's got low rates for girls, to get them to attend."

Henrietta had been unsure, but now she nodded. She could get that kind of character. She straightened up but still didn't commit. "Are you sure?" she appealed to the others for help.

"I think it sounds like fun," Marielle said. "Just a few scenes."

"Besides," Rieze said, looking at Purrcy with a certain glint in her eye, "I think we've just found her fetish, neh?" There were snorts of laughter. Purrcy froze and looked at Rieze with dismay. Rieze looked away. "Well...we won't have this opportunity often...and it is your night."

Purrcy blushed, then said, "If it's okay?" The others smiled and nodded. "Ah, Henrietta, I'll play the lead for a bit if you want, but I think you would be wonderful."

Henrietta paused, then said. "I'll try my best."

Purrcy smiled at her. "Thank you." Henrietta blushed. "Maybe we'll do it together, since I may get too excited and step in anyway." Henrietta looked askance at Purrcy.

Purrcy looked at the others, "Then, if you don't mind, since it's a mostly-boy's school, most of you will have to play male roles." She walked over to Nazuna and Rieze and waved Akatsuki over, who looked a little surprised to be called on as well. "You three will be the bullies who turn into comic relief - sorry. You're perfect for the bully side, though. Rieze, you're the leader of the small pack, double earrings in both ears, sloppy appearance, but cool. In junior high, you were a gang leader, but your mother read you the riot act so you don't fight in high school. She's really scary, trust me." Rieze got into character immediately with a cool grin and delinquent pose.

"Perfect. Nazuna you're his second-in-command who graduated from the same gang and stayed with him into high school. Wiry, quick to jump into the fight if it get's started, but calm with the gang, kind of the father figure for them, but you don't fight either now since he doesn't. Even less caring about appearance. Just as cool." Nazuna grinned, then struck a 'cool delinquent' pose of disinterest.

Purrcy smiled in delight and turned to the last of the trio. "Akatsuki, you joined up with them at the beginning of the first year of high school - ah, you're all in second year - and you're quiet, act delinquent with them, but of the three you actually study and care." Purrcy leaned down and whispered in Akatsuki's ear, likely more about her character. Akatsuki stared in surprise. Purrcy patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. Just be you. It'll work. Trust me." Akatsuki blinked, then nodded with a determination to try.

Purrcy turned to Tetorō. "Can you be the class male idol, Usui? He's blonde because he's half English and it shows in his perfect beauty both girls and boys swoon over. He's very jaded because of it so is mostly indifferent to everything. He's the only one with better grades than Misaki and he doesn't have to work hard to get them, where she does." Purrcy looked around. "Isuzu, will you play a bit part of a girl who's confessing to him, gets rudely rejected and starts to cry, then runs away when Misaki comes to the rescue?"

"Sure," Isuzu said.

"Marie, you'll be Misaki's boss." Marielle perked up. "She's a fun-loving otaku, who's sweet and loves to just help others have fun, too. We'll have Minori be one of the other employees, and Isuzu you can be one, too, if you want. That will be enough for us to get the few most important scenes of the first episode."

"Okay. This will set the story line and the beginning, so Act 1 Scene 1, so to speak. The three delinquents are arriving to school late and are just reaching the gate. Misaki confronts them at the gate. Usui has been called out by yet another girl wanting to confess and they aren't too far away from that location, but still on school grounds." She stepped back and everyone moved to take up positions.

"Misaki, you're going to scold the delinquents for their appearance and tell them exactly what needs to be fixed before they can come onto school grounds and slam the gate in their face. Then you'll hear the sound of a girl crying and rush to that location to find the rejection just completed and scold Usui then storm off. You're welcome to make up the words. It's not like I can remember the exact text anyway. Usui don't bother defending yourself. Action."

Rieze and Nazuna sauntered up to Henrietta and Akatsuki ghosted along with them. The two delinquents had already made their appearance slightly sloppier, so Henrietta had something to work with. She scolded the earrings and the loose shirts and properly required them to correct themselves before returning, then acted like she was slamming a gate closed. Rieze and Nazuna had perfect irritated looks on their faces and Akatsuki scowled, playing her part well.

Isuzu put her hands over her face and pretended to sob. Tetorō had a hand in a pocket and was looking slightly irritated, slightly bored. Marielle could see Purrcy light up when she saw the acting. Henrietta stormed over and proceeded to give Tetorō a scolding while he looked away from her, uncaring. Isuzu ran off to the side. When the diatribe was done, Henrietta stormed off. Tetorō looked after her. "That's the fourth time she's said that."

Purrcy froze. "You've watched it, Tetorō."

He grinned at her. She wiggled in absolute delight and they all laughed at her. Tetorō walked over to her and pet her. "It's perfect. Keep going."

Purrcy laughed. "Okay. Scene two is in the halls. The three delinquents have improved their appearance. It's the end of the school day and they're trying to get another girl classmate - ah, Minori, we'll have you this time - to take over their hall cleaning duties. She needs to get to an after school activity. Misaki arrives to let her go and scold the delinquents - she calls them the 'three idiots' as she scolds them and they take offence but she doesn't care. The head one didn't take out his earrings, so she scolds him again and he says he'll do it later but that's not good enough for her and she rips them out of his ears, and sends them running. We'll have Usui give his warning that maybe she doesn't want the repercussions of hating boys and being so strict with them at this point, though it comes later in the story." She looked at Tetorō and he nodded. Everyone rearranged again and set up. "Action."

Rieze and Nazuna pressured Minori to take their cleaning duty. She stammered out a refusal. They pressed harder. Henrietta stepped up and sent Minori on and took the 'three idiots' to task. They fought verbally and Henrietta pretended to rip the earrings off Rieze and coldly barked more at them and they ran. Henrietta paused and blinked. "Hey. What about finishing the work?"

Tetorō laughed behind his hand and she looked over at him and scowled. "Well? It needs to be done by someone."

Tetorō recovered with a smile, then waved a hand and said, "Pres, if you're going to treat every guy as your enemy, they'll do the same towards you."

Henrietta scowled. "I hate men anyway."

Tetorō looked at her mildly. "Well, whatever. But if you insist, one day it'll come back to haunt you." He turned and walked off.

Henrietta blinked, then turned to Purrcy confused. Purrcy clapped. "That was perfect."

"It was?" Henrietta asked.

"Yup," Purrcy said happily. "Okay, next scene is set at Misaki's place of employment. She arrived home to a gate that fell apart, a new hole in the floor of the entry way, and her somewhat weak mother working her second job that she does from home, and her sister tells her that her boss called and had someone call in unable to work. She heads back out in a hurry to her place of employment." As Marielle, Isuzu, and Minori moved up to stand in place, Purrcy turned to Henrietta and smiled.

"Misaki found a flexible job with good pay in the next prefecture over so no one from school would know where she works and she keeps it a tight secret from them. She obviously needs the money to help her family, and it's an okay place to work, but it's a little confusing for her. She does her best...it's a maid cafe." Everyone but Tetorō blinked. "The three of you start by welcoming yet another customer with a maid's bow and welcoming the 'master' home. We'll have Isuzu waiting on another table. Minori will take that new customer and seat him, then Marie will apologize to Misaki for having to call her in. Misaki obviously needs the money today since there's a gate and a floor to fix this month on top of the other bills. Action."

There was a pause as everyone tried to rearrange to the maid cafe setting, Henrietta eventually blossoming into a red face. Marielle had a happy smile. She was enjoying it. Qwased stepped up and pretended to open a door. One of his other cast members made the sound of a bell ringing to announce his arrival. The three ladies all bowed, following Marielle's lead. "Welcome home, master," they said together. Minori asked Qwased to follow her to a table, near where Isuzu was pretending to serve another customer. A chair was handed over for Qwased to sit in, and he sat. Marielle turned to Henrietta. "I'm really sorry to call you out last minute to help. I really appreciate it."

Henrietta stammered out, "N-no. I'm glad to do it. Bills are tight this month."

"Well, I know it's hard on you, working here, but I'm glad you're such a hard worker. It really helps me a lot, you know."

"Well...I'm glad to help, really."

"Pause!" Purrcy called out. "Skip forward in time slightly. The owner asks Misaki to take the trash out to the alley. As she comes out, Usui is passing by and sees her. Misaki is devastated of course, but he doesn't stick around to chat and she returns inside. Then skip ahead again to the shop closing and Misaki walking out the alley door to go home. A short while later Minori, you say from inside that you're leaving. We'll see if Henrietta does the same thing Misaki does. If not, we'll prompt as we go. Action."

Marielle paused, blinked, then asked Henrietta, "Will you please take out the trash. The cans are so full!" She put her hand to her cheek.

"Ah...sure," Henrietta said. She rather stiffly pretended to gather up bags of trash and Marielle got out of the way. Henrietta walked 'out' and set down the bags of trash.

Tetorō, who had been moving into position, walked to just where she was, looked at her and paused. "Eh? Pres?"

Henrietta blushed beet red, then scowled. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, just walking past?"

"Then keep moving!" Henrietta turned away and 'reentered' the cafe. Tetorō gave a secret smile and stepped back a few steps and stood waiting.

Henrietta walked close to Marielle, and then worried her fingers as if she were Marielle herself. Marielle raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay, Misaki?"

Henrietta jumped. "Wha! Ah...well...I just...no...everything's fine, manager!"

"Well...okay," Marielle said kindly. "Could you begin closing up shop?"

"Ah, yes!" Henrietta looked around, then randomly did things while Isuzu bade farewell to her customer. Minori bowed to Qwased. "Thank you for coming, master. Please have an excellent evening."

"Thank you," Qwased said politely and left the cafe from the front door, the same 'door bell' ringing in the background. He returned to his place to watch with a smile.

"Obviously you didn't come in the maid outfit, so you won't go home in it," Purrcy commented from her position of watching from in front. "There's a changing room with lockers, but we can skip that, just so you understand before you walk out the alley door." The four 'maids' nodded their understanding.

Henrietta looked nervously at Marielle and she smiled encouragingly. "Thank you for your hard work," she said.

Henrietta nodded. "I'm going now. Thank you for the work today." Marielle waved. Henrietta took a deep breath, then headed to where she had put the 'door' to the alley, opened it and walked through it. Tetorō shifted and Henrietta jumped. "Ah! You - you're still here?"

"You're back to normal. I wanted to make sure it really was the President." His expression was carefully neutral and almost noble.

Henrietta scowled. "Well...it is! But you don't have to make such a deal out of it. And you certainly didn't have to stay around."

Purrcy waved at Minori and motioned for her turn to leave. "Ah. I'm going now, manager," Minori said and began to move towards the 'alley'.

Henrietta glanced back at Minori in a panic, then grabbed Tetorō . "Come on. We'll talk elsewhere." She started dragging him off. Tetorō looked back at Purrcy and gave her a solemn wink.

"Okay clear the set and Misaki bring him back to center stage. You're taking Usui to an empty play park to explain." Marielle and the other young girls scattered to the edges.

Henrietta paused, got a grip on herself, then only slightly dragged Tetorō back to the center, though it was looking more like she wanted to run...only it didn't. Marielle frowned a bit as she considered Henrietta.

"So...you're working a job as a maid this far from home to keep the rest of the school from knowing about it?" Tetorō asked.

Henrietta nodded. "My family...circumstances require me to be working. The pay is decent and they have flexible hours and will let me work like today, when others can't come in."

"Why not just get a physical labor job closer to home?" Tetorō asked.

"Because then I'd be too worn out for my studies. I have to keep my grades up to stay President of the student council. That's a lot of work, too."

"Mm...that's hard for you, then." Tetorō agreed. "Well...there's no helping it then, is there?"

Henrietta looked down at her hands. "No, not really. It's an okay place to work." She looked up at his eyes. "Don't tell anyone."

Tetorō shrugged. Henrietta ground her teeth, but Tetorō just turned with a wave of the hand. "Good luck," he said as he walked off.

"Cut." Purrcy said. "That was wonderful. Okay come back Usui. We'll go ahead and do the little scene at school. Misaki, it's been about three or four days. He hasn't said anything, near as you can tell. He has come back to the shop just to order one drink and watch you for as long as you're on the clock and he has time. Your workload as Student Council President has increased, because you keep accepting more work on your own shoulders and you're starting to feel it, though you're ignoring the coughs that occasionally come. We need a chair to simulate her working at her desk. Usui, you know what to do. Misaki, you try to get him to leave. When you stand up, though, you get dizzy and start to faint, though you don't actually. Action."

Qwased's helpful stagehand put a chair in place and Henrietta sat in it and pretended to work, looking very serious. She coughed into her hand. "That doesn't sound good," Tetorō said from the side, not quite looking at Henrietta. "I think you need to let up a little, Pres."

Henrietta looked up and scowled at Tetorō and Marielle finally understood. Henrietta was _really_ playing Misaki, and with everything she had. Marielle blinked in wonder. "If I let up, nothing will get done. It's nothing that I can't do anyway."

"Well," Tetorō turned his head away, "if you say so, but you don't really need to do it all yourself, you know." Henrietta stood up. "It'll catch up with you."

"It's just fine," Henrietta swayed and Tetorō jumped to catch her.

"As I was saying," he said wryly.

Henrietta blushed, then pushed herself to her feet again and pushed Tetorō away. "Leave me alone, Usui. I can't get work done when you're here to annoy me." She stalked back to her chair and sat down.

Tetorō sighed at her. "So you say," he murmured and walked out of the 'office'.

"Excellent," Purrcy said calmly. "Same day, that evening, and you're at work, in the maid uniform. Scene is the alley again. You come out with the trash - you have the strength to carry it, but not tonight. A fever's really set in now." Purrcy turned to the three delinquents. "And now is when you three come in again. You're passing the alley as she enters it and recognize her. It's payback time. The only person in the school you fear and respect, other than the President when she's mad, is Usui. Misaki, you've had time to contemplate your rudeness to Usui in the council office and somewhat regret it." Henrietta nodded. The three delinquents had moved into position. "Action."

Next to Marielle, Tetorō was wrapping a scarf around his neck. She raised an eyebrow. He was watching the scene rather seriously, as into his acting now as Henrietta seemed to be. "Oh, ho! The student body president...is a maid!" Rieze said dangerously teasing, bringing her henchmen up to loom over Henrietta.

Henrietta had a momentary look of panic on her face, then she tried to scowl and look ill at the same time. "I don't know what you're talking about," she turned away from them.

"Oh, I think you do," Nazuna said smoothly. She reached into her pocket and pretended to pull out something and hold it up. "I think a few pictures might be required right about now."

Henrietta's eyes went wide and she turned her face away. "Get lost," she growled.

"No, I don't think so," Rieze said. "My ears still hurt." She reached out for Henrietta. "I think the maid can play for me to pay me back."

A hand was suddenly blocking her hand and Tetorō had Henrietta protectively to his chest. She slumped, putting her hand to her head, breathing like she was fevered. "Don't touch her just because she's cute," Tetorō said menacingly cool.

"Ah, Usui!" Rieze said in surprise. He glared at the delinquents. They backed off.

"Are you alright," Tetorō asked Henrietta. He looked up and glared at the three again and they took off with a "sorry".

"I'm sorry," Henrietta said, leaning on Tetorō, who was feeling her forehead and supporting her.

"Eh?"

"I'm sorry, Usui," Henrietta said, then closed her eyes as if passing out.

Tetorō set her on the ground, supporting her back, took the scarf off from around his neck and wrapped it around hers. Marielle caught a motion from Purrcy and realized she was being called on. She went quickly to the two. "Ah, what happened to Misaki?"

Tetorō looked up at her. "Can you contact her mother? She has a high fever."

Marielle put her hands to her mouth. "Certainly. Just a moment."

"Cut." There was silence and they looked at Purrcy. Her eyes were glistening and she was just staring at them. Marielle gave her a small smile. "Ah." Purrcy shook her head slightly. "Lay Misaki down as if in her bed and bring me the scarf." Her voice was soft. Marielle helped Tetorō, who unwrapped the scarf first before Henrietta lay down completely. Marielle got out of the way and Tetorō handed the scarf to Purrcy. She caught the soft look he gave Purrcy. Purrcy's ear turned just ever so slightly as she swallowed and took the scarf. Tetorō and Marielle got out of the way.

Purrcy knelt next to Henrietta and put a handkerchief on her forehead, pretended to pull a blanket up over Henrietta, then folded the scarf tenderly and lovingly, setting it on her lap. There was a very quiet sniff and Henrietta opened her eyes and then sat up, a surprised look on her face. "Hahaue?"

"I'm sorry," Purrcy said. "I'm sorry I didn't know you weren't feeling well. Please, take a day to rest and recover." She softly set the folded scarf on Henrietta's lap, rose, and walked back out before turning to watch again. Henrietta was picking up the scarf to hold it in her hands. There was another sniff from Purrcy.

Henrietta rose, holding the scarf and she looked at Tetorō questioningly. He nodded and walked out to center stage and sat down with his legs splayed in front of him. Henrietta turned a door handle and walked through a door. "Usui, here you are on the roof," she said.

Marielle stared at her in surprise, and so did the other ladies. Tetorō looked over his shoulder at her. "Those three, they haven't said anything. I told them I wanted to enjoy your secret as my own secret pleasure. They'll keep their mouths shut."

"So, it really was for your own amusement." Henrietta's voice was dry.

He looked at her again. "Because if I said that I was worried about you, you'd get mad, right?" Henrietta moved closer with an irritated look on her face, as he looked away from her as if disinterested again. "Well, I don't really mind if it gets leaked out to the school. Since you're allowed to work part time anyway. Even if you put on a maid uniform, your strength, your intelligence and how you like to overwork yourself...," Henrietta's look had gone to one of soft surprise, "...all of these don't change. Just be proud of yourself."

"All day yesterday, I was wondering why you're such an annoying guy." Henrietta said, but not very sharply.

"Didn't I just say something nice?" he asked mildly surprised.

Henrietta looked out over the scene in front of them. "You're always running ahead of me easily, even though I'm running as hard as I can with all that I have. Then you turn around and face backwards to tease me. I hate losing and it's vexing to lose to you. It makes me angry. ...But this time, you were running forward and helped me." She turned to look at Tetorō again. "Just you wait. I'll definitely overtake you and it will be my turn to worry about you. Ah, right!" She lifted the scarf and held it out to a surprised Usui. "Sorry about the scarf and a lot of other things," she said very practically. "I don't like owing people, but I can't think of the proper thank-you gift to give you."

Tetorō sat up and crossed his legs. He took the scarf and said, with a small wicked look, "Well, then...how about being my personal maid for a day?"

" _Hah!?_ " Henrietta cried in disbelief and disgust. The watchers all laughed. Purrcy started clapping and the rest joined in. Tetorō grinned at Henrietta and stood up. They bowed together, then motioned to the rest of them who had been in the impromptu play. Marielle ran in and hugged Henrietta and the whole cast bowed together as Purrcy clapped and laughed happily. Marielle watched with a smile on her face as Tetorō and Henrietta went together to give Purrcy a hug.

She was sniffing again, one arm around each one. "Thank you. Thank you so much, both of you," she said to them. "To all of you. ...Though, that was very sly, Henrietta."

Henrietta chuckled slightly and whispered in her ear. Tetorō laughed. "No surprise there to me either," he said. "We should do another episode sometime."

"I would like that very much," Purrcy said, her eyes gleaming brightly.

"Actually...," Henrietta said shyly, "...so would I. That was rather fun."

The others grouped around them. "I enjoyed my part," Rieze agreed.

"Mine was easy," Akatsuki said.

"I'd do it again," Nazuna said, striking a delinquent pose.

"Well...," Purrcy looked between Tetorō and Henrietta, "...you might not like what they become after this. Like I said earlier, they become the comedic relief later, when they show up...except in the one episode they star in. You'd like that one, I think."

"That was very well done," Lionidius said stepping forward. "Maybe you'd like to do it for real?"

Everyone kind of jumped or paused at that. Purrcy finally slumped, her ears down a little. "We're all a bit busy for that, really. You'll have to let us think about it."

Marielle looked at her in surprise. "You'd really give up so easily, Purrcy?"

"That's not only not you, that's not right," Rieze agreed sternly, crossing her arms.

"Sorry," Purrcy said softly. She sighed. "Well, it's not like you'd need me much anyway. The mother doesn't show up often."

She was attacked and swamped. "The _director_ is needed."

"No, no," she said, "I'm not a director. There were a lot of things that needed smoothing out by a director in that that I'm not qualified to do. I can't even remember the details of most of the episodes. Tetorō had those lines memorized, but I only remembered the flavor of them. And Henrietta remembered more than me, too. I just know that I like to watch it."

"Well," Serera said softly, "that's what I told Qwased when the legion was here. You just remember what you can, then call on others who liked it, too, and they remember their own bits and pieces until you get enough of it put together between you to have a show, like you just did."

Qwased nodded. "All of these helped me. I thought I had everything memorized, but there were parts I had forgotten. And really...I did like your suggestion that we don't have to have it memorized. We can make it up as we go if we need to, or can even create something new." The others of his cast nodded.

"I agree," Lionidius concurred. "We use puppets now, but there is so much flexibility in acting. The audience has expectations, particularly on the more popular shows like _Pokemon_ or _Conan_ , but on the ones lesser known, like this one, allowing for imperfections or necessary changes it isn't a problem."

Purrcy paused, then sighed. "Thank you for your encouraging words, everyone. We'll see what we can do."

"Ah," Qwased rubbed his head, "would it be alright if we put that one together for Minami?"

Purrcy shrugged. "I don't care, but maybe the rest do if you're planning on showing it for the winter festival. I'd hate to not let them do it there if they wanted to."

Faces lit up. Qwased laughed. "Well, if you wanted to, we'd let you have stage time. It would be fun to see it really done in costume." Marielle smiled as they said their goodbyes and prepared to move on. She was glad Purrcy was having a fun evening doing something she loved.

They moved on, back into the press of the festival, stopping to get pumpkin pie to share on the way, and to let Purrcy look through the vendor booths. Tetorō called a halt to it a little earlier than the others were ready, but he gave a significant look that let them know Purrcy was wearing out and they relented and chatted happily on the way back to Water Maple manor to return the two Princesses of the Land.

As they walked Purrcy back to Log Horizon, she said, "Will the rest of you come up to the top of the guild hall? We could chat just a little longer, but," she winked, "we have to arrive silently. There's a surprise waiting on top for us."

"Oh?" Rieze said with conspiratorial surprise. "Have the men been busy?"

"Mmm...rather," Purrcy said, looking away innocently, clasping her hands behind her back. Marielle wondered what it was, though it looked like Tetorō might have paled slightly.

-:-:-:-:-

"That was excellent, really!" Soujirou applauded as the sudden impromptu acting troupe bowed. "What a wonderful encore performance to see. They're rather talented, aren't they?"

Shiroe and Nyanta exchanged looks. "She isn't wrong. They don't have the time to suddenly become an acting group," Shiroe said softly.

"Who said anything about suddenly," Soujirou waved a hand. "They've got two months to practice before the winter festival. Surely that can be done around the edges, like the school plays for school festivals. That would be more than sufficient."

Shiroe couldn't look at Soujirou. "Well...we'll see," he finally said. The conversations moved to other topics as the video feed only showed the ladies shopping now.

Shiroe and Michael noticed it about the same time almost a half-hour later - that the video feed was looping. It was too late, though. The ladies attacked about the same time, the video being sufficient to let them understand what the men had been doing that evening. Purrcy locked them in and locked out all Hacker attacks. Hell really had no fury like a woman (multiple of them this time) toyed with. One by one, the men returned to life again at the Cathedral. They gathered sadly as a group until they all had arrived. Not one had been spared.

Shouryuu sighed. "Well...I guess I may as well find an inn that has an attic room available. Miss Henrietta will have locked me out of the hall tonight, I would guess."

Shiroe felt the blood leave his face. Soujirou swallowed. "I...Nazuna also...has permissions to lock out. I wonder if it matters whether or not I'm the owner?"

All of the Log Horizon men appealed to Shiroe. He shook his head. "Minori has permissions, not enough to lock me out,...but...we're talking about Purrcy." Everyone slumped.

Naotsugu put his hands behind his head and looked away. "I wonder if Isaac has enough room to put us up. No point in asking D.D.D."

Shiroe put his hand to his face. "We can't go to one of the Round Table. Not tonight. And the inns are full." He dropped his hand and scowled at Charlie. "I did warn you."

Charlie dropped his gaze. "Sorry, Guildmaster Shiroe." The other Eagles also looked very trounced.

Michael sighed. "Well...now they know what it is to cross Hahaue. They couldn't stay the favorites forever."

"Does she have favorites?" Soujirou asked. The other officers all looked at him darkly, then chose not to answer.

Nyanta sighed. "I think, there are too myany of us. There is only one way." He looked around at the group and they looked back questioningly. "Purroper humility and repentance." They slumped and nodded.

"There's always the tree clearing," Michael said morosely, "if that doesn't work."

Shiroe sighed and looked out over the city of Akiba, moving to the magic lights as if to the sun, full of the noise and smells of the festivities of the night. For a moment, he was simultaneously proud of the city and how far it had come...and sad. He felt a hand on his right shoulder that squeezed for just a moment, then just rested there to give him strength. A warmth was on his left as well, and he knew a tail was waving gently there, a hand ready to strengthen him resting on a rapier at the side of that man.

"We'll be back to see it again," Naotsugu said quietly. "Akiba won't go anywhere. It's just time again is all."

"Together we'll find it," Shiroe's words didn't feel like they were coming from him. "Together we'll find the way home and the vista that lets us return." He closed his eyes and held himself as his heart clenched. This time...they'd leave behind comrades who wouldn't walk those paths to those vistas again...and he'd have to let them stay. He took a deep breath. They'd walk their own paths to their own vistas, then, after that, sharing those adventures and seeing those beautiful things. And they would all remember the ones they had seen together, and who their comrades had been.

When he was ready, he nodded and the hands gave him one more press of encouragement and released him. "Well...shall we try to go home then?" he said and stepped forward to lead his men back to the guild hall, their current home away from home. The answer to entering it tonight was definitely a gentle, humble request. He hoped the answer to the bigger one was similar, and not as difficult.

They went as a group first to West Wind Brigade and humbly begged forgiveness of Nazuna so that Soujirou could go home. Somehow they gained him entry. Shouryuu was next and not quite as difficult, though the two ladies of the house were still angry with Log Horizon and wouldn't have let them in.

Their own house, next door, was daunting. "Above," Naotsugu said quietly. Shiroe nodded. They would be watching from the roof for them to come.

He stopped them where they could look up and be seen just a little better. They all bowed as they had before the other two guild halls. Shiroe didn't speak. It was the responsibility of the sub-guild. Michael took responsibility and voiced the apology for the main sin, then the three senior officers apologized for their part in it in passively participating.

"What payment will you give to continue forward?" came floating down on the wind from above.

Those who had been in the Maze of Eternity looked at each other. Naotsugu stepped forward first. He looked up and said loud enough to be heard from the roof, "I will give my Hahaue my second kiss as a married man. I cannot give my first for it must be given to my wife."

Shiroe was surprised he said it without a blush. "It is acceptable," came the answer and Naotsugu relaxed.

"That seems an odd thing to give," came a quiet comment from the back, but the officers understood it. Michael shifted but didn't say anything yet.

Nyanta stepped forward and looked up. "I will dance with my wife on our wedding night before all the guests so that they myay all see her beauty and grace."

There was a pause, then "It is acceptable," floated down.

Michael looked at Shiroe and he shook his head. He didn't have an answer he could give yet. Michael nodded and turned to his squadron. "Sing, ladies. She's as homesick as we are. _America the Beautiful_." The squadron drew themselves up and readied themselves. He stood with them and one of the other men stepped out in front and hummed a note, then lifted his hands. On the down beat, the men together sang in unison:

 _O beautiful for spacious skies,  
_ _For amber waves of grain,  
_ _For purple mountain majesties  
_ _Above the fruited plain!  
_ _America! America!  
_ _God shed His grace on thee  
_ _And crown thy good with brotherhood  
_ _From sea to shining sea!_

They stopped and a single voice rang out from the group for a solo on the verse, followed by the rest joining in for the chorus:

 _O beautiful for pilgrim feet,  
_ _Whose stern, impassioned stress  
_ _A thoroughfare for freedom beat  
_ _Across the wilderness!  
_ _America! America!  
_ _God mend thine every flaw,  
_ _Confirm thy soul in self-control,  
_ _Thy liberty in law!_

The final two verses were sung in harmony, the third verse with awe and honor due heroes and given by those who knew what it was to walk the path of those same heroes:

 _O beautiful for heroes proved  
_ _In liberating strife,  
_ _Who more than self their country loved  
_ _And mercy more than life!  
_ _America! America!  
_ _May God thy gold refine,  
_ _Til all success be nobleness,  
_ _And every gain divine!_

 _O beautiful for patriot dream  
_ _That sees beyond the years  
_ _Thine alabaster cities gleam  
_ _Undimmed by human tears!  
_ _America! America!  
_ _God shed His grace on thee  
_ _And crown thy good with brotherhood  
_ _From sea to shining sea!_ _*_

The final verse swelled up into the air then slowly left silence behind it. A different voice spoke. "Hahaue's crying too hard to answer, but she has found it acceptable." The whole squadron relaxed in relief and smiled at Michael.

Charlie stepped forward and said, "Because the initial fault was mine, in not being obedient to Guildmaster Shiroe, I will offer my service to each of the ladies of the guild, one day to follow and obey each one."

There was some quiet discussion above then that same voice - Isuzu - answered, "It is acceptable. We will come down."

"Commander, you left off some warriors from the list, I think," the Lieutenant Commander commented as they waited outside the building.

"Well...it is a different way of fighting," he commented mildly, "but I see your point." He looked at his second from the corner of his eye. "I did warn you she was a wildcat, though."

"True enough," Reed agreed.

The door opened and the four ladies of Log Horizon exited the building and stood looking at all the men. Touya and Rudy looked at each other and walked forward to stand in front of their respective partners and bowed. Each one received a chop to the head that they took silently and retreated from. A spark showed up in front of Michael and he took a deep breath, then held very still. A tiny lightning bolt shot from it and he winced, his eyes tearing up from the smart. He cautiously rubbed his forehead as Shiroe moved up to take the final turn.

Shiroe had to answer to all four. He looked at each one in turn, then bowed. "I will more properly be stern in my orders when I know they are right and should be followed, and follow through promptly and properly if they aren't. ...Though this will also affect you," he added just a bit wryly.

The ladies looked at each other, then nodded. "It's sufficient," Akatsuki answered.

They parted to open the way to the door. "Go straight to bed," Purrcy ordered mildly. "We'll be taking tomorrow and the next day off from household chores. See you keep up with them."

"Yes, Hahaue," they answered obediently, then walked the short gauntlet into the house, Shiroe leading the way. He stopped at his door to watch that everyone made it into the guild hall.

The ladies walked in last, closing the door behind them quietly. Purrcy led them to the central seating in the main room. As he closed his door quietly behind him, Purrcy was speaking quietly to them and Akatsuki was pulling out tea for them. He stopped suddenly, wondering where the last member of the guild was.

"I'm here," Tetorō said quietly. Shiroe's eyes turned to where Tetorō was sitting on the chair that was his usual perch in the office. His knees were drawn up to his chest and he was rocking back and forth, his usual for when he was rather full of emotions and trying to protect himself.

"Still Hahaue's favorite?" Shiroe asked, though without bitterness.

"Not so much. Just a special case." Tetorō answered, his eyes following Shiroe as he moved to his position on the couch. "Charlie used me as the link, so I've been shut out, but it wasn't willing or knowingly so I'm not really punished either...except by being shut out." That was harsh enough, really. Likely Tetorō would make Charlie pay him as well.

"You gave her an unexpected gift. You and Henrietta," he commented.

Tetorō's eyes went soft and he looked distantly. He nodded and rocked. After a bit he said, "I'm glad we could. It's rare we can. She still holds herself too strongly. I hope Nyanta can fix that after two days from now. She might break this next time, otherwise."

"Mmm...I would give it the time after that." Shiroe disagreed mildly.

Tetorō considered it then shook his head. "It'll be this time or she won't. I think there are things in this next one that she can't know. None of us can. It's even possible this is the last floor." He paused in his rocking, then stood up. "After all, we're all still looking for the door at the end of this one, if one is to be found."

"You really think this is the core of the mountain?" Shiroe asked.

Tetorō looked at him. "Unless there's a door or a waterfall to take us farther down, yes."

Shiroe considered him a little longer, then looked away. "I still think there's one more layer," he answered back.

Tetorō shrugged. "Maybe. And maybe that's the whole of the world spread out before us on the other side." He put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door. "Which door we find will depend on which world is on the other side."

Shiroe considered that. "Maybe," he agreed. "And maybe that's after the next one."

"Well...maybe it's a two-layer level, then." Tetorō said. Shiroe nodded. He could live with that compromise. Tetorō let himself out and closed the door. Shiroe suspected he was also being sent up directly to bed. He sighed and got himself put to bed as well, but he stayed up thinking for a long time before falling asleep.

* * *

* _America the Beautiful_ , Katharine Lee Bates, 1893


	63. Game Moderator

The joint conference between the Ministry of Minami and the Round Table Council of Akiba was held in a large sitting room in the Guild Hall. The Guild Hall had both guild halls and rentable rooms of various size and variety and was highly convenient for this reason. Since the Guild Hall was already owned by the land, it being one of the first things Shiroe had returned, it was renting out empty guild halls to groups from Minami who had the capacity to pay even a little bit. All of the members of the Ministry of Minami were renting there. That made the Guild Hall the perfect place to hold the joint conference as well.

This sitting room had multiple plush chairs, couches, side tables and coffee tables scattered throughout. Shiroe had opted to forego any formal table at all this time. They were all equal, between the two cities and within them, really. There would be formal and informal discussions, and he wanted everyone to spend the first part getting to know each other generally, since this was the first time they'd all be together at once.

The junior members of Log Horizon were making sure the h'orderves and light drinks were kept up, though they were only set out on a long side table. The guildmasters, ministry members, and invited aides were getting their own food and drink as they desired. Shiroe had just entered from a side door, where there was an attached office. He and Purrcy had been waiting there until Nyanta had given them the notice that everyone else was there. He scanned the room, then walked straight up to Nakalnad, who was standing with Isaac, Kazuhiko, and Michitaka. Shiroe held out his hand. "It's good to see you again," he said pleasantly. "I know I've said it before, but welcome to Akiba. I hope yesterday was relaxing for you."

"Yes, thank you," Nakalnad said politely shaking Shiroe's hand, making for an excellent photo shoot opportunity. He'd come dressed up, but not too formal, Shiroe was glad to see. He looked much more comfortable than he did in his usual fighting gear, actually. "We enjoyed watching the tournament yesterday afternoon." He couldn't keep his eyes from drifting to Purrcy as he spoke, and the tension in at the very least this little group was rather high.

"Kazuhiko," Shiroe offered his hand to the other top leader of Minami as well.

"Shiroe. Good to see you again." Kazuhiko was having an even harder time paying attention to Shiroe.

Shiroe smiled secretly to himself. "And have you enjoyed yourself as well?"

"Yes, thank you," Kazuhiko politely tried to come back. "I was also at the tournament as well. We were sad to see that our top fighter wasn't quite as good as yours - this time."

"Well, perhaps next time," Shiroe consoled him politely. "You'll be on home soil, after all."

"True," Isaac said calmly. "Home advantage often wins out. We discussed the possibility of holding a large mock battle and they're interested in the idea."

"Wonderful," Shiroe said. "Our guild members thought it would be fun when Nakalnad's group was here before, but there wasn't time then sadly. I'll let you work out the details, though I'd like to hear them and get them approved by all the guildmasters before we announce it generally."

"Of course," Isaac said dismissively.

By this time they had everyone's attention, though they'd had it before now, too. "Well, before we get too far into the business of today, there's a little bit of prior business to finish up," Shiroe said lightly. "Nakalnad, this is Purrcy. She asked to speak with you before we began." Shiroe gestured to the quietly waiting felinoid behind him.

Purrcy stepped up and held out her hand to Nakalnad, who cautiously gave her his hand. "Thank you very much, Guildmaster Nakalnad, for being willing to enter the Maze of Eternity one more time for my sake, and the sake of all those who'd been affected by the errors of others. It was very kind of you and your warriors."

Nakalnad swallowed. Shiroe had asked her to only hide her status effect today, leaving the rest openly readable. She was by far the highest level person standing in the room, and had a Class no one had ever heard about. "You're very welcome. We were glad to finally complete it properly - and honestly, to be done with it."

"I'm very sure," Purrcy smiled kindly. "It's not a pleasant dungeon to face. I walked it with you the first two times. Indicus prevented me thereafter."

"You did?" Nakalnad was surprised enough to ask.

Purrcy nodded. "I was hoping it would be sufficient since not many of us had been made to suffer that fate yet, but sadly that wasn't the case."

Nakalnad nodded then released her hand suddenly realizing he was still holding it. Purrcy deigned to not notice particularly. She held out both hands, and there was suddenly a shimmering golden cloth in her hands, folded many times. Shiroe blinked and looked at it's status. It was listed as Cloth of the Laumė, a crafting item with bonuses of protection against the status effects of sleep and decreased attack, as well as a modest MP increase. His eyebrow raised and so did Nakalnad's.

"I visited the laumės before returning to Akiba," Purrcy said, "and asked them to provide the dungeon prize for successfully accomplishing the repair in the Maze of Eternity. They were willing. I'll leave it up to the two of you as to how you'll apportion it." She bowed slightly and handed it to Nakalnad, who was the proper person to decide since he was the raid leader.

He took it gently. "Ah, thank you." He looked up at her. "It's unexpected, however." Purrcy just smiled gently. Nakalnad looked at Shiroe, a question in his eyes.

Shiroe turned to Purrcy. "Do you know how much is here?"

"Ten yards, Guildmaster. Divided in half it would be enough for two full outfits. If you wished to give something to everyone, you could have sashes made. For one person it would make a lightweight cloak, but even the scraps would be useful. The level of crafter will determine the level of the final product."

Shiroe looked back at Nakalnad. "Shall we split it evenly, then, and decide what we'll do with each half on our own?"

Nakalnad tipped his head, then nodded. "Alright." He looked a bit helplessly at the cloth in his hands. Purrcy asked for it back and he handed it over.

Purrcy carefully measured to find the halfway point, then was suddenly holding a shiny silver pair of scissors. As they watched her touch the scissors to the fabric, it wasn't so much cutting it as it was a releasing of the threads that rewove themselves together behind the cut so that there were no frayed edges by the time she was done. Shiroe looked at the status on the scissors and wasn't too surprised to see they were specially crafted magic scissors. Likely they were a pair she'd had the blacksmiths of Grandale make for her.

When she was done cutting, she folded one half and gave it back to Nakalnad, then folded the other half and gave it to Shiroe. "Thank you," Shiroe said to her. "When I've decided what I want it made into, will you please design it for me?"

"Certainly," she answered, "I would be honored to."

"Can you craft it?" Nakalnad asked.

"No," Purrcy answered. "My sewing skill is too low for this material and I haven't the time either, however my designing skill is sufficiently high enough. I don't know what crafters there are in Minami for such things, but Shopping District 8 and Marine Organization both have high enough level crafters." Nakalnad nodded and Purrcy turned to Kazuhiko.

Taking Kazuhiko's hand, she said, "Thank you for helping me, and all of Minami. I'm grateful to you for your efforts and kindness."

"It's my pleasure to see you whole and well," he answered her kindly, pressing her hand in both of his. "Thank you very much for being willing to nearly cease to exist for the sake of all Adventurers."

"That wasn't me," she shook her head, taking her hand back. "That was my apprentice. When KR was killed and sent back to the Cathedral, I was returned to where he had been sent before, to be in safekeeping. The Master Strategist had already planned in advance for that to happen. I'm very glad my apprentice was safe. I would have been very sad to have lost him."

"There's more than one of you?" Nakalnad asked, slightly horrified.

"It's a good thing," Shiroe reassured him. "There are a number of Hackers now, actually, just like the Technicians, though perhaps not so numerous. Purrcy has been kind enough to train ours at the Akiba Adventurer Academy so they can have a better understanding of what they can do and shouldn't do." Nakalnad blinked but relaxed slightly. Kazuhiko seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as well.

There was a new member of the little grouping that was now fairly dancing in impatience. Purrcy turned to him. "KR," she nodded her head at him. "Thank you. I'm sorry to have used you horribly."

KR grabbed her in a hug. She calmly patted him on the head. He pulled back after a bit and held her by the shoulders and looked at her closely. "It's really you? You're really you and not someone else, or something else?"

She smiled. "Yes, KR, it's really me and no one else. I'm whole, like all the other Adventurers returned from the Maze of Eternity."

"And you're not mad, or gone crazy?"

"Only as crazy as any Adventurer brought here," she answered honestly. "I wasn't about to let a little thing like being without a physical body slow me down after already going through the catastrophe. You know that, KR."

He pulled up. "Ah, yes, I do. Right." Shiroe could see others of Log Horizon hiding smiles at that last comment from Purrcy. She certainly didn't let anything slow her down, really. Others in the room seemed to have heard a revelation, however. KR finally let Purrcy go. "Well, it's good to see you again. I'm very relieved."

"Thank you. I am as well. It's nice to have that over with. For all that I wasn't willing to slow down, I do much prefer my own body." Purrcy turned from KR to Isaac. "Guildmaster Isaac, thank you also for going and assisting in the Maze of Eternity. I'm grateful to you and your guild members who participated."

Isaac held out his hand. "Okay. But I want to know you're real, too," Purrcy allowed him to take her hand just long enough for him to be satisfied it was solid. "And are you really the same Purrcy who trained our Hackers?"

"Yes. I'm the one who made the barrier that prevented you from becoming a pile of mincemeat at the demonstration, though I was in a borrowed body at the time," she reassured him.

"And you're the one who took care of the Plague Master?" Michitaka asked, his arms still folded as he inspected her.

"Yes," Purrcy inclined her head. "My apologies for that one." They looked at her unsure of what she meant, but she didn't clarify.

Ains stepped up to the group. "Why did you test us before the festival?"

Purrcy looked at him quietly for a moment, considering her answer. "In the main, I was testing the students of the Academy, as the Dean, to see if they were ready to receive their course certifications and move on. It seemed prudent to test and see if the city had really learned its lesson from the Plague Master while I was at it. ...I can't say I was pleased, though I am glad you've resolved the problem properly because of it." Isaac wrinkled his nose and Michitaka harrumphed, embarrassed. Ains grimaced, but couldn't complain. Purrcy was really the only one who could have tested it, and they had failed.

"Guildmaster Ains, thank you for coming also to the Maze of Eternity. Please pass on my gratitude to your guild members as well." He nodded. Purrcy looked around, then bowed slightly and excused herself from the group. They watched as she went to Rieze and thanked her and her guild members as well for their part in restoring her to her body.

"What do you intend to do with her now, Shiroe?" Nakalnad asked. The atmosphere in the little group chilled just a little at the question.

Shiroe steeled himself. "Please remember, Nakalnad, in Akiba each Adventurer is free to do as they will. Purrcy will do as she wishes also. She accepted guilding with us originally because we offered to protect her from the Plague Master. She hasn't yet asked to move along, but seems content to remain a member of Log Horizon. As we all happen to like her, we're rather honored she chooses to remain. ...I do hope you, Kazuhiko, and KR properly received your invitations to her and Nyanta-san's wedding tomorrow evening. We're looking forward to it. What she does after that, she hasn't said to us yet, but it isn't common for her to stay put in one place for long."

Nakalnad scowled. "You're a master manipulator, Shiroe. If she's in your guild, you have plans for her."

Cautiously, Shiroe said, "Perhaps I have things I would like to have her help with, Nakalnad, but please look at her level again. What can I do if she chooses to say no, but let her do whatever she wants?" He looked at everyone in the group, which had multiple others listening to it now. "She is something beyond what we understand yet. So far, she has been kind, helpful, and gracious, even if a bit stern and strict. I would personally prefer to keep it that way. I would like Akiba to continue to stand happy and full of life, as it is today."

"Level isn't the only way to control, Shiroe," Nakalnad said.

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Nakalnad. Is it already time to break Plant Hwyaden into its pieces? Has becoming the Guildmaster made you into another Indicus?" He glared at Nakalnad who was suddenly pale and backpedaling slightly. "It wasn't me who broke her either. It was Purrcy with Kazuhiko's help and our help. Please stop talking and thinking in terms of 'control', particularly when it comes to Adventurers. Every Adventurer played _Elder Tales_ because they chose to. Just because we didn't choose to come here doesn't change anything about what is inside us. We all each still choose what we'll do, individually. For Purrcy that's the thing that directs everything she does. You won't make her any angrier than to tell her she no longer has the right to choose what she will do. Indicus not only told her that, but then enforced it, and still Purrcy won. Please...do not die."

Nakalnad blinked, then turned just a little dark, but Kazuhiko started. "Shiroe," he asked suddenly, but cautiously, "what happened to Indicus? She still hasn't returned."

Shiroe looked at Kazuhiko very solemnly. "Purrcy made it very clear to her, when they were both spirits, that she didn't want to return to this world. ...Purrcy is actually rather special. As a TechnoMage, she has the capacity of an Administrator. She doesn't need to see Indicus to know where she is. If Indicus steps down from the moon to this planet again, Purrcy will know it immediately. If you will...she has put Indicus into the Special's prison...on the moon, and Purrcy is the warden. This world has given her that right. Whatever AI runs this world has chosen her to be the GM - the Game Moderator - of Yamato."

"I've worked with her enough now to trust her. To trust that she desires the best for each individual, and not just each individual Adventurer, but even down to the People of the Land and the monsters themselves. That is what her title Caretaker means. She prefers to interfere with the Adventurers to the least degree possible, but there is another reason why she won't answer to me other than to consider my requests."

He looked them over one more time. "She answers to the AI. If it tells her to go, she must go. I'm watching her to make sure the _AI_ doesn't move against us. The only thing that makes me able to continue to merely watch her is because I know that Purrcy herself will turn against the AI itself if it takes from her what Indicus tried to take from her and all the Adventurers of Minami. This is why, Nakalnad," he turned back to the general, "I ask you to not die and to give up that line of thinking and believing. She will fight even this world itself with all it has given her if _it_ begins to think like that." Nakalnad looked his real age - young, and his real state - frightened by the world he was living in. They were all feeling it actually.

Suddenly the quiet room was filled with the sound of purring. Eyes turned to look towards Purrcy. She was standing attentive, having turned from her conversation with Akaneya, Woodstock, and Roderick to look at the group clustered around Shiroe, not bothering to hide she had heard every word. Her stance, though alert, was relaxed and her tail swayed gently from side to side. "Children, it is okay. This is a difficult circumstance, to be in this strange world, but already you have come this far and survived. Shiroe knows the way forward and I am helping him, the same as you each are. If we can return home, we will. A mother loves her children and only punishes when necessary, preferring to correct and lead and teach."

She waved a hand at Nyanta. "When we are married, you will also have a father who will stand to protect and lead you his children as well. Perhaps it is difficult for you to believe it, but we are actually very old, compared to you who are of the average age of players of MMORPGs. None of us is alone here. Let us help you and bring you comfort when the nightmares become overwhelming. The other Adventurers need you for your leadership and your strength. Be each other's strengths as well, and when you need to, let us be your strength. You have been working hard and should be very proud of yourselves. I'm proud of you, though I don't know if it matters to you. Please...continue to work hard."

Ains was the one who had the courage to clear his throat to break the silence. "In order for that to not sound like boasting...will you please tell us your age?"

Purrcy's ear turned gently as she considered him. "I will not. But I will give you a range that may satisfy you sufficiently." Shiroe perked up. Even Log Horizon hadn't been given much to go on yet. "When I was in the age range of most of you, I was cutting my teeth on the original RPG: _Dungeons and Dragons_. Version three was the first set of books I purchased myself. Please do not think that just because you have computers and MMORPGs that twenty-somethings have the exclusive right to love role playing. The reverse age prejudice limits you all severely. Already I have surpassed you and I entered this world at level twenty-three. The only reason Nyanta hasn't yet is because he enjoys being the lazy cat in the sun on the porch, where I cannot sit still."

"First Gen!" was whispered in the room.

Purrcy bowed her head graciously, then waved at the seats set up around the center of the room. "And like the first generation of role players, please, sit and let the current GM tell us all where we are and where we are going, and then we can plan together what path we will take." She looked at Shiroe. "When you're ready, Game Master."

"It's not you?" Kazuhiko asked in surprise as people moved to sit.

"No," Purrcy purred with a smile. "I count as an NPC in this game. I'm too powerful to run it, yet at the same time too limited, though I am sufficiently self directed. When we play I am Purrcy, the NPC. When we are resting, I am Hahaue, who will bring you the chips and soda and ask if anyone needs a ride home. Or bring out the blankets for those who will crash at our place, and make breakfast in the morning for when you finally wake up at noon only to begin again."

As everyone seated themselves, rather casually compared to how they'd begun actually, she added in a voice gone hard and firm, "Make no mistake, however. I am like you. I'm angry that we've been brought here against our will, that there are children here separated from those who love them and who they love. I fight with you to win this game, with the same ferocity that any mother of any creature will fight to protect their children and see they can live to smile at another day's sun. Listen well to Shiroe and work hard. We are all counting on you."

Michael sighed from off to the side. "I told you I found us a wildcat den mother." Purrcy's pointy cat teeth glinted as her lips lifted off them in a hard smile and her tail whipped once just a little faster, then she calmly sat down on a loveseat with Nyanta, who pet her briefly and nodded at Shiroe, giving him the floor.

Shiroe took a breath and looked around the room. "We'll start with introducing the newest members of the Ministry of Minami, then have the outgoing ones give their reports. Following that, we will discuss our ultimate goal - that of uniting all Adventurers on Theldesia towards the path of returning home to Earth, even if there are some who wish to remain. I believe with all of us working on it, we _can_ find the solution. Humans working together towards a goal produce results and solutions. Humans divided in will or in desire become lost and tossed by the whims of the world they live in. Let us stand united in this one thing until we discover that it is or isn't possible."

"At such a time as we might find it isn't, then we can decide if we will divide into tribal units and merely exist as best we can. I would prefer that we learn to coexist peaceably with this world and with one another, for only in that way can all have the best potential for the best life they can provide for themselves - here or at home." He nodded to the first of the newly appointed ministers of Akiba who opened her mouth, took a breath, and began the beginning of the strategy meeting of the fifth level of the dungeon of Theldesia.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy took the little speech of Shiroe's, cut it out and put it in simple data packets and sent it out along the pathways of the code realm of Theldesia to replicate and spread as far as they could. She made specifically sure to send them to all of the addresses they'd received of the other Caretakers of Theldesia. She put the words, in his voice, into magic boxes and attached them to creatures of Theldesia and made them like seeds, to replicate and drop off here and there, to be picked up and found and carried by children, creatures, and Adventurers, and opened to be listened to.

She could only attach them to creatures she could reach with her current level, so the seed method she used to get it carried farther on used the template of the burr so that it would attach and be carried a long distance. It would take several years that way, if it moved on its own, but humans are both curious and carriers of viruses. The seeds would become viral and move much faster with that combined method of spreading.

It wasn't necessary yet to lead anyone back to them. For now, it would be enough to spread the word. Those who were willing to join them would begin to show signs of growth and sprout and send up shoots that she would be able to find. Then they would see if that growth could become a trained vine that laced around the world, interconnecting the Adventurers who wished to work for that goal. She wrappered it with the simple translation program Shiroe had provided her with, not wanting to miss anyone.

As Adventurers began to open the boxes, and then spread it onward, in their own language they heard in China and southwest Asia: "We will discuss our ultimate goal - that of uniting all Adventurers on Theldesia towards the path of returning home -" And in India: "- even if there are some who wish to remain. I believe with all of us working on it, -" And in Australia: "- we _can_ find the solution. Humans working together towards a goal produce results and solutions."

It eventually worked its way into Russia and Turkey: "Humans divided in will or in desire become lost and tossed by the whims of the world they live in." And then through the Middle East to Europe: "Let us stand united in this one thing until we discover that it is or isn't possible." Then falling into Africa and jumping to Iceland and Greenland and then finally reaching, stretching with long thin fingers to Canada: "At such a time as we might find it isn't, then we can decide if we will divide into tribal units and merely exist as best we can."

From that link, and it's sister link from the far northwestern reaches of Russia into Alaska, it finally tumbled, rolled, and moved as fast as wildfire in dry land southward until all of North, Central, and South America had heard it as well: "I would prefer that we learn to coexist peaceably with this world and with one another, for only in that way can all have the best potential for the best life they can provide for themselves - here or at home."

It became the battle cry, the speech to bring encouragement to all who desired in their hearts to return home. Those who would, lifted themselves up and joined themselves to that cause, doing what they could where they stood and the seeds sprouted and began to grow.

And on that initial day, as they discussed the next steps for the Adventurers of just Akiba and Minami, Purrcy sat and purred, pleased and proud of the one they called the Master Strategist - Shiroe who glowed brightly in her eyes that day.

-:-:-:-:-

The joint press conference was a general good-will display, with members of both sides giving speeches of friendship, cooperation, and trade promises. They did weave the concept of everyone working together to go home to Earth into all the speeches as another common thread. There were many handshakes and smiles as well, until everyone's cheeks were tired.

Also at the joint press conference, Minami gifted Akiba with it's first vidscreen. It was immediately set up, being attached to the upper levels of the Guild Hall and used to rebroadcast the press conference, using joint Hacker-Communication mage magics. Purrcy made sure the first handshake of Nakalnad and Shiroe's was prominent and that Shiroe's clip of the battle cry was added to the beginning of the joint press conference rebroadcast, with both audio and video, as part of a news summary of the meeting that had occurred before the press conference. In this way, Shiroe received his first major positive public image. She and P/R of the Eagles put it together quickly with Charlie and pasted it in while the screen was being installed.

The junior members of the guild were relieved to finally have people saying something more positive about their guildmaster. People's opinions were typically summed up in, "Well, I guess he's alright. I'd like to go home, that's for sure." Even more encouraging were the ones who then said, "I don't know what I can do to help us get home, but I'll keep doing what I can do and look for opportunities." It also was relieving that having the joint conference and press release more widely seen via the vidscreen helped Adventurers of both cities relax a little better around each other, since their leaders were getting along. Though, truthfully, if you didn't look at a person's guild tag, you didn't really know who belonged to which city.

The first live broadcast to the vidscreen was the Akiba Adventurer Academy Certification Presentation Ceremony because the city was enjoying playing with its new toy, so the Minami Communication mages could teach the Akiba magicians how to use it, and for advertising of course. The ceremony was held on the play and presentation stage shortly after the lunch break. The first presentation of the new _Conan_ production, which was a slightly abbreviated form of the first movie, ended just before the ceremony so there were still lots of people loitering about, though it thinned just a bit when they discovered that it was break time for the Akiba Actors Association.

Purrcy wore her formal scholar's gown, and Marielle and Soujirou also came formally dressed, and each spoke to the students, instructors, and guests. In all, it wasn't all that exciting to watch, given how most educational ceremonies are, but the message got out that the Academy was doing good things and the students felt better for having received their passing grades and being recognized. Marielle felt better when they did get a rather good number of new students signing up based on the speeches that explained the expanded coursework that would be starting after the festival. They made sure to add Communication mage to the list for the survey course, because Akiba would need at least several to handle the needs of the vidscreen or there would be no use for it.

When the live broadcast was completed, they put up a static display of the activities schedule for the rest of the day and into the evening, that they would update as time moved on. When the ceremony and live broadcast was completed, Leonidius took the opportunity to ask if he could advertise the new play. He was immediately granted permission, for a fee. Given how many people hadn't been able to watch it the first time, he knew they were going to have to repeat it constantly until they were hoarse in order to have all of the people who wanted to see it be able to see it.

From that, negotiations began for how to pay the puppet play guild for recorded repeats of their performances that might be broadcast to the vidscreens and the first production ideas for smaller versions of the vidscreen were begun on the drawing boards in Minami's video technology labs. For some reason "a screen in every home" was still a desire in the Adventurers, even on Theldesia.

-:-:-:-:-

"Master Michael."

Michael blinked and rearranged his thinking a bit. "Yes, Lady Purrcy?" She'd asked him specifically to escort her after the Certification Ceremony to the joint military exercise between his sub-guild and D.D.D. There were a few others of his men with them as well, of course, so it couldn't start until they got there.

"You were made a Master at Arms before coming here, so that award can stand as it has been given. Our own heraldry needs to be decided, however. I would have your opinions and thoughts. I also need to ask a few questions." He waited for her to continue. "The sub-guild could be seen as your household. Would all of them be your squires?"

Michael clasped his hands behind his back and considered the answer to that question. He had to slightly shorten his stride to walk with her - because she was a felinoid, not because she was short since she wasn't - so he did keep enough awareness for that. "Do you really intend on making things so formal here?"

She tipped her head, though not to look at him. Like him, she was looking off into space in front of them. They were still in a fairly high traffic area, so needed to pay some attention to their traveling, though they were surrounded somewhat by others of their guild. "I would like to. It adds to the atmosphere and enjoyment, just like at home. Even if it's only meaningful to us as a guild, like it might be to a guild or household there. It might turn into something more later, but if it doesn't it's not significant. I do think if we're going to do it, it should be done right - _just in case_."

"Hmm...I see," he said not quite committing. "It is true that to receive recognition and reward helps motivation, even in the small ways. Even the military pins are that way - both so that at a glance you know who you're talking to, and as a way to display your pride in the efforts of yourself or your group. But how detailed do you want to go?"

"I don't know. That's why I wanted to talk to you. It could go as detailed as identification of specific roles or as broad as a simple group identifier. I do have ideas, of course, but such things are best discussed with others before decided on. You and I have the best background, other than perhaps Rudy, to understanding just how detailed it can get, and how difficult to keep straight. I'm not sure we're ready yet to have a heraldic department, and I have no idea who I'd have be the herald...oh. Rudy of course."

Michael smiled. "That would be a good job for him that he would enjoy...possibly. Sometimes it seems difficult to tell."

Purrcy let that slide. "I wonder if he knows enough to know where we would be stepping on toes for heraldry that already exists here? I'll need to talk to him as well, I guess." She paused in her talking for a bit and they walked companionably until she continued. "Well...so would they? All be your squires, that is?"

Michael considered his men. "Reed is already a Master at Arms, but the rest of them could be considered squires here, I suppose. It just seems like rather a lot of them, when normally it's just a few who are specifically being trained by the Master at Arms or the Knight."

Purrcy nodded. "Typically one to four, as I recall." He nodded. That was the average range. He'd heard of up to six or so, but it got complicated with that many. "I suppose in our case, they're training themselves at this point. Are you specifically working with the ones who've decided to become full Hackers?"

"Yes," he nodded. They paused to let another large group of Adventurers, who looked like a group of friends from Minami that wanted to stick together, pass by them going the other way. "So they could be considered perhaps a little more in that specific case, but that's not really all that would be considered for squire."

"No," she agreed, watching the last of the group pass by them. When the guards in front decided there was room for them again, they got walking again. Her tail swished from side to side, they way it did when she paced and thought out loud in the guild hall. At least here they had a destination for her to take that restless energy out on. "And that's where it gets complicated. I'm not sure I really want to go to the detail of a marker for the Hackers, a marker for the Communication Mages, a marker for...you get my meaning." He nodded. He did. "But at the same time, I would like to have a marker that identifies the VFA-115 Eagles as my - or my and Shiroe's - guard, showing they've agreed to that allegiance and that they have special favor because of it. Then, even if they aren't wearing the formal uniform, there is something to identify them, as you say. I'm sure you understand what such markings mean from both experiences, what doors it can open."

Michael did, very much. Of course, apparently here in Akiba just having the guild tag _Log Horizon_ was enough to do that. But the People of the Land couldn't read those. Not that very many people would understand guild awards either, unless they were specifically told, or witnessed for themselves why or what it meant. "In the military, such things are used for the members of the military themselves to understand it. The general citizen usually hasn't got a clue."

"True," she turned her head and smiled at him. "You might be wearing a single shiny silver bar, but that doesn't mean I have any idea if that's low or high ranking. However, in this case, it's rather the same. I want to give it so _I_ can see the sparkly thing and be proud, and hope the person I've given it to is proud also."

Michael did laugh at that. "You just like sparkly things, is it?" he teased her. "That sounds very cat like." Suddenly she was holding something out for him. It was white, narrow, and folded. "Eh? What's this?" he took it from her hand and held it out. He blinked at it, then looked back at her.

"Put it on. You've already earned it, as I said, and not for anything you've done here. I believe it still counts, however, even if only you and I know what it means. That was effort you put in and kind recognition you earned. There's no sense in letting it languish when in this place it still has significance. I need you here in that position anyway - _Master_ Michael."

Michael's heart was actually rather full. To earn the highest awards of the group they had belonged to on Earth was really rather a significant achievement and those who did held the event, and the title and it's heraldic devices rather sacred to some degree within their hearts at least. He nodded slightly, swallowed, and slipped the leather baldric over his head, settling it familiarly on his right shoulder. He adjusted the size of it at his waist on the left side. It was a bit stiff, being newly made, but that would work out eventually.

"I've not got chain, nor the other regalia. If you want that, please speak with my blacksmiths. The first I'll cover the costs for, but you'll pay for any extras."

"Thank you, Lady Purrcy," he said respectfully. He couldn't help rubbing a hand on his baldric. He'd decide on the other things later. Bringing himself back to the present, he asked, "What sparkly thing were you thinking of awarding?"

"I'd like to at least give everyone a badge, if you will. Pin or otherwise. Specifically, I'd like to give them all their wings back." She looked at him with eyes that understood and he looked at her in surprise that she would. "I can't give the Naval Wings, of course, but because I can fly, too, I'd like to give them ones that represent us. Either a cat head in the middle with wings to either side, or the paw print that is more my signature, with wings on either side. I was thinking if they were all your squires, we could go with the chain, but then it becomes a medallion, so it might be confusing. Or we could go with the fabric badge, though for this purpose I'm not sure it works as well. Or we could just go for the understated pin on the collar point. The other side would also get a pin, though."

He raised an eyebrow at her. She looked away, not answering that just yet. They were leaving the market place now and nearing the gate to the city. The field they were headed for was outside the city. He decided to pay a little closer attention to their surroundings for a bit. People of the Land spies tended to congregate more here than among the press of people in the market. Their guard duty for the day also closed in just a bit.

Nyanta was on Purrcy's other side and Tetorō and Marielle were following behind since they'd come from the Academy ceremony. There were more like eight Eagles with them this time because of the numbers of people they were walking through. The sub-guild wasn't on duty otherwise today, except the eight on Shiroe who was coming with Akatsuki and Naotsugu from another location. The junior officers were also supposed to be freeing themselves up to come, but Tetorō had apparently given them orders before this little grouping had left the stage so weren't with them yet. "I would think for the badge, just a fieldless pawprint, or if you wanted fancy, the pawprint surrounded with roses."

"Well...roses...I wonder. That's what I've been trying to decide. That was specific to there. We'd get called on copyright or trademark if we did it there. If we made it back, I'd like them to be able to wear it still, at least hopefully somewhat legally. I'm not sure how much variability to put into it. There are only so many variations." She sighed. "I'd like to have it in place by the wedding just because we need to set the precedent in front of the nobles of the land right away. Shiroe and I both believe it's necessary, like we did this morning in front of the Adventurers."

"Really? He'll be that dramatic there, too?" Michael had actually been surprised they'd gone all the way to full open disclosure at the joint conference that morning.

Purrcy nodded. "Yes. Otherwise we wouldn't have started out that way at Water Maple, and he wouldn't have bothered to invite the Duke to the wedding." She sighed. "It's rather obvious in the wedding outfit, actually, but maybe you've seen it. It rather screams it out in a way I wish it didn't. It's not even appropriate. As you say, he's being rather dramatic about it." She looked sideways at him. "You do know that he's claiming I'm an Empress, not just a Queen, with that outfit, right? I'd like to lay him over my knee and take a switch to him for it."

Michael turned to hide his laugh, though it was somewhat audible. It helped that Tetorō's laugh was louder. "But...it's very beautiful, Purrcy," Marielle countered. "You look lovely in it."

Purrcy turned a withering look on her. "Marie, I'm not contesting his ability to understand what a person will look good in and what beauty is. I'm contesting his common sense and rationality in this specific case as to the era and the headgear. He bald-faced lied, really, when it comes down to it. That isn't 'fairy queen' at all. It's fanciful, glorified Tang Empress Wu Zetian, based off the costumes from the movie and the TV show, so not even historically accurate. Even if it does dress me up to look like what he sees in his head when he looks at me, it isn't right. And the headgear is more a lampshade, for all they did try to get it to look nice. I'll likely have a headache before we even get started. How it's supposed to fit with my ears, I have no idea." Michael noticed Nyanta's ears were turning a bit more than normal and he'd tensed up a bit. They hadn't let the men see it yet, other than the two guards who'd gotten her into the room and Shiroe - of course.

"Anyway," she turned back to Michael, completely dropping the complaints rather suddenly, "if we're going to set things correctly in the minds of the guests, particularly the nobles of Eastal, we need to have all the costumes properly done. In order to do that, we need to have the ceremony - which Tetorō is trying to get everything ready for. But we're going at it backwards because we haven't even decided yet what the proper heraldry is to begin with. It would be nice to be able to do it after today's event when we're all together, but there are a few other people we need to have present, and I haven't even got it all worked out yet for them either. You aren't the only sub-guild, or household, I need to bring in. If we can get the precedent set for you, I'll have a better idea for what to do for them."

She waved a hand at the trees they were passing on the path to the fighting field. "At least you've already got your peerage. I'll have to peer their heads also, and don't know how to mark that either." She turned her head just enough to order Tetorō. "Contact Rudy. Tell him I need him next to me ten minutes ago."

Tetorō sighed. "Chat?"

Her tail and ears twitched irritably. "You do it, and bring him up to speed, then have him contact me so he can follow my questions. The problem is, that then Michael won't be easily involved."

Tetorō cleared his throat. "Michael, is that enough for you to get started?"

"Yes, I think so," he answered calmly.

"Nyanta, please chase her to the stands and around the field five times. We might be ready to sit after that," Tetorō requested.

Marielle looked surprised, and so did Purrcy, but Nyanta gave Purrcy a serious warning look and reached out a threatening paw for her. She jumped back out of reach then they were both large cats and running full out, Nyanta very closely behind Purrcy, who was just slightly fur-fluffed-out in her sudden panic. The guards took off after them as they turned in towards the trees to get away from people generally (in the case of Nyanta) and to escape (in the case of Purrcy). As they receded into the distance Tetorō sighed in relief and ran his hand through his hair. Michael paused just long enough for the other two to draw level to him and the three walked along in peaceful silence for a bit.

"She's very wired today," Michael commented casually. "I understand you expected it, though?"

Tetorō nodded. "I've been taking on as much as I can today. We'll still have to wear her out this evening, though, and make her sleep early. Shiroe's said he'll cast a sleeping spell on her if necessary...and I think it will be. Once she's out, she'll probably sleep soundly for a long time."

"She's been working overdrive since she got here and even double that for the last two days. I'm having to heal her HP up every twenty minutes today, and it was every thirty yesterday. I can only see about a fifth of what she's creating, too, so she's working at least at micro levels, and maybe now with the new Class upgrade she's at nano levels." His brow furrowed. "I really hope not, though. That really is too much work to be doing. One trillion times more effort than a normal person is insane."

"Well...she does still have to communicate with us. That pulls her out of even the micro levels or she loses the train of thought and the sentences. It's hard enough to keep up with syllables at milli levels." Michael wasn't sure it was possible.

Tetorō blew a breath. "I know, but I think she's been learning how to handle that," he looked at Michael still worried. "I think she's recording it at normal speeds, then replaying it at micro or nano speed. She only comes out to normal speed to reply. My suspicion is that she won't chat because it's internal enough she can't do both recording and the chat link at the same time."

Michael was frowning himself now. Tetorō had a point. "That isn't good at all Tetorō. If it's micro, she's not getting any rest. If it's nano she's tearing herself apart."

Tetorō nodded glumly. "I know, but I can't confirm it so I don't know how to get her to quit. Making her run is all I could think of to get her attention away from it, though it's the oddest thing to think of extreme physical activity as being more relaxing."

"Well...I understand it, but that's because military gets trained to it, in the same sort of gruesome way." Tetorō gave Michael a sympathetic look and he shrugged. "How far have you gotten on the court?"

With a wave of a hand, Tetorō answered, "Other than her current concern to you, we're good to go. I've picked up on everyone she wants there and they'll be there, with the stuff she has already ordered to be made, but anything else decided will have to come after, or be part of the illusion. She wants them physically made, but the illusion will be fine, since the guard's uniforms are as well."

"Well...for now. An illusionary reward isn't really a reward at all, you know," Michael scolded slightly.

"Ah...right," Tetorō was sheepish. "Well," he looked after Purrcy and Nyanta, "I think it's time we showed her the other thing you've been preparing. I'll write the speed limiter while you have them pull her in. Protect me, eh?"

"Yup. I'm in agreement. I'll get the squad started. Give Nyanta the map." Michael took Marielle's arm. "What a beautiful woman to escort. You'll see I don't run into a tree, please?"

Tetorō took her other arm. "We'll keep walking, if you'll keep us from falling down. If it takes too long, just halt us under some tree before we get public."

Marielle shook her head. "I guess it's good I'm with you, quite by accident. I'll keep watch on your HP, too."

They both gave her happy grins. "Thanks, Marie!" "Couldn't have asked for anything more." Their bodies set to "walk" and "stay with Marie", they dropped into the code realm.


	64. Enforced Restraints

"Nyanta," it was Tetorō, "here's a map of the area. This is Purrcy, and by extension, you," a yellow dot blinked to catch his attention on the map screen of his status windows. There was a grey dot as well and he moved to cut Purrcy off so she had to start heading that way. "Yup. Thanks."

"Purrpose?" Nyanta asked, putting on an extra burst of speed to make Purrcy leap ahead that direction a little more. They were in the trees so most of his attention was on his chase.

"Time to collar the cat and put on an internal leash. She's killing herself." It was wry. "She's not been in a physical body too long and forgotten how to take care of herself."

"Seen it," he said and cut the chat so he could push her harder. She was trying to break free of his herding and the body needed a little more help from the brain. He lept left just after her right feint and she almost ran into him, dropping down a branch in her surprise. Things got really serious after that. He managed to keep her general direction headed where Tetorō wanted it to be, then she hid behind a tree trunk and her yellow dot fuzzed, sputtered, and started to look like it was going right, but then was suddenly very firmly left. He went that way, since he heard her growl of frustration from that direction, too. It was nice to know he had one of the Hackers protecting his map from her, even if it wasn't absolutely required.

She tried to move the final marker next, but that was shut down even faster. At the same time she jumped up two branches and flipped around as she did so, running back over his head in the direction they'd come from. He growled and slid to a stop, turning around as he did so. The map change had been a feint as well, this time. He ran to the left to get her to turn back the correct direction once he caught up to her and pushed again.

He was far enough behind that when she ran into the barrier he could account for it and not run into it himself. She was herded by barriers, with him keeping her running, until she was turned back around again. By smell, it was the eight who'd been with them in town. They were the back door and were keeping it locked. That was just as helpful. Together, they were able to streamline the trajectory a little better. Once she'd tested the outer physical barriers, he moved in and played tag as if he were using the rapiers, tapping her on the head or the sides to keep her distracted and moving. He was quite certain that now she was limited in her range, and had a rapidly shortening distance to capture, she would be focusing more on the internal coding as a method to escape. Any distraction from that he could offer would be helpful.

They were nearing the grey dot when she suddenly turned and attacked as he was coming in for another tag. He blinked as he pulled his paw in to escape the teeth trying to close around it. He was a bit surprised she was so determined. He hissed at her and her ears flattened. "Grrrr...sry. 'S just Mike's not letting me get to 'im. ...Frustrated."

"No reason to bite," he scolded.

"Fly," she spit at him and took off again.

 _Mmm...no touching, is it_. "Take her to ground," he said calmly. He didn't touch any more, but he did stay high and push her down the trees towards the ground. His aids helped on either side. He could see her shaking with further frustration. Suddenly there were zips of light that flashed towards the eight who were with them. He landed on her rump with a harder pounce as the lights all bounced back. He ignored them. They wouldn't hurt him. They didn't hurt her either since she knew how to handle that kind of defense. After that, zips of light came from around them to her as the alternative distraction to him attacking her.

Watching her, he could tell when she crossed over into despair. "Go to ground, Purrcy," he ordered. She shook her head as if trying to dislodge a cloud of mosquitoes. "Now, Purrcy," he ordered again, moving to close the distance again. They'd be a little off the mark, but it was close enough. She wouldn't go completely wild if they let her have the margin. Her front paw slipped and she was falling off the branch. He jumped after her and the guards moved in as well to keep her penned in. They weren't the only ones, though. Pretty much the entire sub-guild was there as well. She didn't hit the ground. They'd caught her in a sticky spider-web net. Nyanta wouldn't have been surprised to have learned they'd also planned the gray dot to be off for the same reason he had in an early end.

Nyanta also landed in the net, but he could walk, though it was bouncier than the branches. He padded over to Purrcy, where she lay on her side, panting shallowly, paws twitching still. Suddenly the area was overlaid with the code realm and he could see she really still wasn't done, as he'd suspected. Once the requirement to watch over the body was gone the brain could go into full effect. He blinked to settle the visuals together, though it wasn't new now, and sat down next to her body.

There was a little light zipping around the clearing, but every time it tried to work it's way out, it was blocked and then bounced back in. Slowly the boundaries of the shielding were shrinking. Every once in awhile the light would blink out, but then would suddenly be present again. "Damn it!" Nyanta's ears twitched in a bit of pain, though the sound had been internal, not external. "When the hell did you two learn to do that?"

"Glad you appreciate our hard work," Michael's voice came back. "We didn't particularly like failing the last test, you know."

Suddenly it wasn't a tiny light in the middle of the area, it was medium-sized cat Purrcy, sitting on her haunches and floating above the center of the netting. Her tail was lashing in extreme irritation and frustration. She looked around at the shields still closing in, then looked at a spot upwards and to her right. Nyanta focused there and could just make out what was probably Michael. Purrcy gave a short hiss of frustration, then she sat quietly.

"Ah, no, I don't think so," Michael said. "Hit her hard. She's writing up the finalé to take Tetorō out." Nyanta pulled up her status and monitored that as magic and status effect attacks flew her way. Her HP dropped a bit, then she glowed brightly.

"Stop!" he called. "She's converting it and eating it." Her HP had suddenly started to rise. "Mew didn't hear her talk about the Vampire."

Swearing came from the trees nearby and the attacks stopped.

"Move in," Michael's calm voice ordered. Nyanta tensed. He wasn't sure he wanted to stand by and watch the next level of attack, but he forced himself to. He would have to live with it if she was going to push it this far, and he wanted to know what Michael had planned. The light fighters swarmed her and she ignored them. After about a minute he figured out the pattern. They were attacking with very light blows, to only do one to five points of damage, then randomly there'd be one that did fifteen to twenty that would rock her and break her out of her focus.

"Why slowly?" he asked.

"She can still code at 1HP, and if we Cathedral her she'll escape," Michael's answer came back. "Not my preferred method, actually, but when we're left with only physical to resort to..."

Nyanta nodded. "Is he close?"

"Yes. That's why she doesn't care."

Nyanta moved, interrupting the physical attacks. He put his paw on her head and patted it firmly as if knocking on a door until suddenly the glowing Purrcy in the air wasn't there any more. "That's enough. Mew might have meowr reasons for wanting it that bad, but if Tetorō-kun and Michael both disagree, then meowr wrong. Relent. Mew can appeal to Shiroe-ichi after the fact."

Purrcy opened one eye a slit at him, the usual film of being between realms on them. "Nyanta," she complained at him, then suddenly there was a fast moving blue light in the code realm that zipped through the shields around her and slammed into her. She drew in a sharp breath and stiffened.

Nyanta pet her head. "Purrcy. Let him do his work, nya." She whimpered.

"Hahaue," Tetorō's voice came next. "I won't cut you off, but you have to shut them down. I'll follow you back in."

"And don't weasel out of it either," Michael ordered. "Clean up promptly and get back here."

There was suddenly an amazing network of very fine lights around them that all centered on Purrcy. They were rather dazzling even for their fineness, mostly golden in color, but some were in blues and greens and whites and there were a few that were dark black as well. "Damn, woman. You're going to die of coronary overload with this many," Michael complained.

"Anything smaller than micro, Hahaue. No more nano's allowed," Tetorō said firmly. Purrcy moaned, then slowly the glow in the area began to lessen. It didn't even look like any lines were being removed, just like the spaces between were having the light erased from them. In a few instances, new lines were created in those spaces instead.

"Can you show the speedometer here, Tetorō?" Michael asked.

"Yeah," Tetorō's voice was now sounding from over Nyanta's head instead of echoing from a distance. A semicircular meter, like what would be in a car, appeared in the center of the area, where her image had been before. It had three markers on it at each quarter point. The needle was still beyond the three-quarter mark, but falling towards it. It stopped moving at a few ticks above it. They waited for a bit, then Tetorō warned her, "Purrcy, that's not enough."

"I need the one-tenth nano, Tetorō." Purrcy replied.

"No, I don't think so," he answered. A red light glowed over her and on the meter. "I've tuned it for whatever level you're at. If this is where you need to work in emergencies, then I'll set that as the emergency level. You'll feel the pain there but be able to get just enough done to get back out before passing out. Above this level you will pass out. The lower you drop the longer you can work, but it's a progressive build-up to keep you from working too long at the higher levels without resting." A collar appeared on Purrcy's neck near Nyanta's paw. It had on it a series of four glowing gems, all of them red at the moment. "Nyanta, that will let you have a visual that's tied to the meter." He flicked an ear of understanding.

Purrcy was starting to whimper again. Slowly the remaining glow of the finest of lines began to fade out and more visible thin lines appeared. The needle on the meter finally dropped to rest at the three-quarter mark and one of the gems on the collar stopped glowing. Purrcy panted for a bit. "Give her a minor HP up," Tetorō requested. One of the guards cast a low-level healing spell on her.

"Okay, Hahaue, now clean some of these up, too. You're still doing too much. Put them back on your to-do list. You don't have to be doing everything all at once, just because it's possible for you. I want to see the meter go to half next, and if you really want to have the rest of the afternoon to see things around here, you'll go to a quarter. I only want to see it going over a quarter when you're on the porch in Nyanta's lap. You need to be living life with the rest of us out here, not overworking your body while ignoring it." Michael growled in agreement and Nyanta tapped her head sharply, also in complete agreement.

She shuddered and her ears went back unhappily, but slowly and obediently the lines began to be cleaned up. Some disappeared, some changed sizes, and some remained but went to a clear blue as if they weren't being fed energy any longer. The meter didn't move, but a second meter showed up above it, and that one was dropping. "This is the odometer - the one showing how much she's doing," Tetorō explained. As it dropped, the color on the remaining three glowing gems of the collar began to drop from red through the spectrum to orange, then to yellow when the odometer reached half. It dropped a little further, then paused again, the lights on the collar just a shade greener than yellow.

Purrcy took a shuddering breath, then rolled and tried to sit up. Nyanta held her down, to keep her lying down at least. "You can give her a medium boost," Tetorō said. "She's going to need more to get the rest down to where I want it."

Purrcy tensed under Nyanta's paw. "Wait," he ordered the mage preparing the spell. He bent down and captured the closest ear in his teeth with just enough pressure to make his point without biting through. Purrcy froze, then whimpered again and relaxed, giving up. Her shivers of tears started then. He released her ear and licked it a few times. "Okay," he said and the glow of healing surrounded her. Much slower this time, things began to turn off. It looked like it was hard for her to choose what to let go until later. Most of the lines merely turned to blue ones, and this time, many of them had packets of light flash along them until the once solidly lit area was looking more like an area of traffic.

The image of Tetorō was nodding. "That'll work, if you can get it low enough," he praised Purrcy. She took another shuddering breath, and a few more lines winked out to just packet lines, though they had more bursts along them, often double bursts with a pause for a double burst to go down another line. "You are setting them for automatic, right?" he asked her.

She nodded under Nyanta's paw. "She says yes," he answered for her. His eyes went to the odometer again. It was nearing a quarter. "What is zero on that one? Sleep or death?"

"You mean normal brain activity and none?" Tetorō asked.

"Mm," Nyanta affirmed.

"Well...it's hard to gauge normal brain activity for Purrcy, so I've made it none. She'll never hit it, of course. The lights will all go out if that happens. You'll always have a bit of a glow, I'm afraid. Hope that doesn't disturb your sleep. I've tried to make it a dark enough indigo to not be too bad at night." The level of work being done stopped short of a quarter and she sighed. "Drop the speed down from micro and you'll drop the overall and I'll be satisfied," he said to her.

An ear wiggled in irritation, but she otherwise stayed obedient and after a bit the first meter began to drop as several thin lines expanded to become slightly larger ones. The gem next to the one that had gone out dimmed slightly, though didn't change in color from the yellow-tinted green they had all become. The two meters in the air merged into a semi-circular bubble of the same color. "This is what the actual thing looks like to me. Between the two, I want that to stay a green when you're living life like you're supposed to. When you're working it can go to yellow, but it should only go to orange if we're in battle or you've got something really important you're working on. Red is for emergencies only and it will hurt. You'll keep Nyanta awake at night if you're working instead of sleeping. I'll properly let him handle whether that's allowed or not, but for the next week it's not. You need to relearn how to live in your body again first."

"I've got spells that are continuous, though, even when sleeping," Purrcy finally spoke again.

"Show us that level," Tetorō ordered mildly. There was a bit of tweaking on the lights glowing and then everything settled to a blue glow, including the meter and the collar, with a few golden flashes of packets flashing down certain pathways on a regular pattern. "Can you learn to sleep to that level of blue?" Tetorō asked Nyanta.

"Purrobably. She won't be able to hide at night anymore from predators, though," he commented.

Tetorō's image shrugged. "Don't care. She's high enough level to kill in one blow if anything does decide to interrupt her sleep, and grumpy enough to do it when suddenly woken up. I'm surprised you think she still has predators. ...Other than you."

Nyanta flicked an ear and his tail in irritation. "And other high level Hackers and Overwrittens."

"Which are rare enough that they should be tempted into the widow's lair to have their heads chomped off," Tetorō argued.

Nyanta relented. "Fine. But I'd rather have the ability to turn it off temporarily in an emergency."

Tetorō paused. "I'll work on a voice activated override for you, if I can figure out something secure enough."

"She's really going to be good enough to not take it off herself eventually?" Michael asked dryly.

Tetorō paused in surprise and Nyanta's paw tightened down on Purrcy's head in reaction to his own tension. She shrank away from him and shuddered. "For now, it's okay," he said quietly and they let it drop. He ran his paw down her full length and the lights returned to green on her collar, the lights in the area along the channels returning to golden again, then going out as the code realm overlay disappeared along with the images of Michael and Tetorō. He looked around at the guards. "Well done. If the world hasn't awarded mew another level increase for that, it should," he congratulated them. He looked down at Purrcy, confirming the gemstones on the collar one more time. "Let's go," he said.

As Purrcy rose to follow him, he said as he passed her, "I also wish to marry my wife tomorrow, not a corpse."

"I'm sorry, Nyanta," she said quietly, her head held low. He twitched an ear at her but continued to lead her off the netting. He wondered a bit as to where they were and curiously looked to see if his map was still present, since there wasn't supposed to be a map for the outer areas. It was still there, and Purrcy was still a yellow dot on it. The grey dot was gone, but the clearing where the fighting guilds practiced was obvious. He was rather pleased to still have the map, though he had no idea how long it would remain. He got them going the right direction, but kept them on the ground, and the sub-guild stayed with them.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō, Michael, and Marielle met Nyanta and Purrcy where they came out of the woods at the edge of the fighting field. The Eagles passed them by and headed over to the place they would start their part of the late afternoon's activity. Their little group of officers walked over to the main gathering area. Shiroe and the rest were already there, saving seats on the observation stand, but not actually sitting in them yet, as they were conversing with other top brass who were gathered there. Shiroe stepped away to greet them quietly, Naotsugu close by his side. Shiroe looked at Purrcy's necklace with his piercing eyes, then into hers. She dropped her eyes, then bowed. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Even I don't want you to push that hard, Purrcy," he answered just as quietly. "Please take better care of yourself."

"Yes, Heika," she answered humbly, rising to look him in the eyes again, and speaking quietly enough to not be heard by outsiders.

Shiroe looked at Nyanta and he nodded. Shiroe held out his elbow and Purrcy took it, then was in her more formal clothing for the day. The necklace was hidden by the collar of the blouse, however. It suddenly became two earrings, glowing greenly. Shiroe looked at it and shook his head and pointed to the top of his head. Purrcy's whiskers drooped and her eyes fell as well as the earrings became a small tiara on her head. With a little fine tuning to meet Shiroe's perfectionism, he finally nodded. Marielle cast a small HP spell on Tetorō and the group was ready to move into the public eye again.

Purrcy couldn't move and was shivering. Shiroe waited. It was Michael who stepped up in front of her, his arms folded. He waited until she opened her eyes, keeping his face impassive. "Lady Purrcy, you have waited for this moment for a long time. Take a deep breath and remember why. It isn't new." Her ears turned to focus on Michael and in taking her first breath, the shivering stopped. With a few more breaths, she was able to recover enough to stand tense. Michael pursed his lips. "Find the grace that befits the Queen of Love and Beauty." In one more breath, then another half, she had relaxed into the Queen. She took one more long, deep breath, one slow long blink and her eyes focused on his. He took a more formal stance and bowed a partial bow and looked at her again. She nodded graciously at him. He looked at her a bit more, then bowed to Shiroe and stepped aside.

They arrived at the waiting group conversing pleasantly. She never let go of Shiroe and he kept her with him the whole time of the waiting for the two military groups to finish their preparations. When Rieze called for the beginning, they walked together back to the viewing stand where Nyanta sat next to her and Akatsuki next to Shiroe. The rest filled in in their usual pattern, though the places to their sides were left open for Duke Sergiad to sit on the other side of Nyanta with Iselius next to him, then Isaac. The rest of the Cowen family sat around the Duke and his heir, and the other Akiba guildmasters who'd come just past them. On Shiroe's side, next to Akatsuki, sat Nakalnad, then Kazuhiko. The other members of the Minami group that had come with them sat around them.

"Well, while I'm not hoping for a repeat of the first time sitting in a stand to watch a demonstration, I certainly feel safe in this one," Isaac said dryly.

"While I appreciate the vote of confidence, Isaac," Purrcy said calmly, "you again assume I'm capable of more than a single person can do. Everyone working together is what makes things happen, or makes things properly safe. I would hope you would do your part as well."

"From the perspective of a student," Tetorō said wryly, "she's more likely to do nothing and watch what we'll do for ourselves, then step in only if we're already almost dead, except the People of the Land, who she'll protect so severely they won't even know we were under attack to begin with. They'll only see the rest of us pass out and wonder what happened."

"If I waited that long, I would have to be strong enough on my own," she scolded back. "I much prefer to see what we can all do together, as I said. Though...I do hope we can just observe this time. I'm rather done from the previous demonstration."

Rieze stepped out in front and gave a sign and the watchers settled down and watched as the warriors of D.D.D took up positions in the middle of the field. "We've been rehearsing how to protect the city from a future attack that contains the normal complement of party members, but includes a Hacker in each party. Each time we run this battle, it's different because Hackers in particular change every time. Of all the types of magic users they have the most flexibility and the greatest adaptability. We've chosen to practice this way with them to increase our own flexibility and adaptability. It's keeping us young," she said wryly and the audience chuckled slightly.

"Most of the time we only stay ahead of them because they are still of moderate level, though I noticed they've all shown up another level higher yet again. I'm not sure where they found a high level raid boss to fight this time so close to town, but sometimes I wish they'd stop." Purrcy nodded her head in agreement with that one, but everyone else who knew stayed bland. "So, we'll demonstrate what we've been learning. Maybe you'll learn something along with us." She turned and walked to her position on the field.

Kazuhiko turned to Michael, sitting behind Purrcy. "You don't go out with them?" he asked.

Michael raised an eyebrow. "No. I'm a teacher at the Academy. They've been doing this while I'm there."

"I thought you brought them here from Minami. Weren't they from the Special's section?"

"They did come from there, yes," he answered politely. "They were traumatized enough they didn't want to stay in Minami any longer. The Akiba guildmasters had arrived by the time I released them, so I presume they asked to be able to leave with them when they went."

All the guildmasters eyes turned to Shiroe to accuse him, but just then there was a burst of light from the center of the field and a concussive shock wave passed over the people on the field and rushed towards the stand. Every magic user on the stand instinctively threw up shields to prevent the shock from hitting them. "Excellent work everyone," Purrcy praised the observers. They didn't respond - they were watching the field.

The sudden intense attack took the Adventurers on the field down by half HP and a number had the status effect of minuses to attack precision, meaning their attacks had a higher percent chance to miss the intended target. "Effective," Isaac murmured. "That's hard to defend from."

Suddenly, the attackers rose up directly in front of targets on the field, their arrival on the field unseen because of the flash of light and the corresponding brief moment of blindness and being stunned. Anchoring spells went off as 'enemy' Guardians and Samurai cast, but instead of general attacks, the sorcerers and attack class enemies focused on the D.D.D. healers and Enchanters, taking them down as fast as they could.

"Ouch," Nakalnad commented. Kazuhiko nodded in agreement. The defending Guardians and Samurai were unable to get off the same anchoring spells since they were already negated by being the second to go. So...instead, they whaled on the warrior Classes that had them pinned down. The defending attack classes who had been captured by those same spells did the same trying to get the enemy warriors down as soon as possible. They knew that the faster they could get them taken down, the better, though their health points were now nearly equal.

Rieze called out and any unanchored warrior or magic user went to the aid of the healing classes who were under attack. However, the observers were intrigued to see that they hadn't been idle either. The attackers were losing HP even before rescuers came along. Purrcy was sitting upright, excited and she was nodding. "They've fought this tactic before, then," she said. "I wonder what will be different about it this time?"

"What are they doing?" Sergiad asked.

Tetorō answered. "The healers work with the health levels of the Adventurers. Typically that means they increase it for their allies using their magic spells. In this case, they've turned it backwards and are taking HP from the enemies who've arrived to attack them and are replacing their own with it...though...now that they have allies they are also feeding some of it to them, it looks like. So they've turned their own spells from recovery and defensive ones into offensive ones."

"Is that even possible?" Nakalnad asked.

"Apparently," Kazuhiko waved his hand at the field. "Hard to refute the evidence in front of us."

Nakalnad shook his head. "That's rather evil." Kazuhiko nodded agreement.

On some signal, every enemy warrior Class anchor cast their full damage reduction shielding spell. At the same moment, colored lights streaked down over the defenders that were attacking those same warriors, slamming into them from above. Those with shields raised them to protect themselves and those who had defensive magics put up magic shields over those without physical shields - those who weren't otherwise engaged, that is. And those who were, disengaged themselves as quickly as they could, but they didn't cast on those around the anchors. Instead, they cast around themselves and those around them. It wasn't too soon as a second volley rained down on everyone. This time, though, they were seeker spells that zipped around and under the shields. At that, there was some swearing from the field but swords and staves were used to beat the lights off.

"The lights are Hacker spells," Tetorō explained to Sergiad. "The defenders have up a spell that shows where and what they are, or they wouldn't know what was hitting them and when. That was one of the first spells we created when the Hacker known as the Plague Master attacked Akiba, so we could see his attacks and defend from them. It's probably the single most useful spell in these kinds of battles there are. Sadly, it's outdated and I need to teach the newer one. Should have thought of that before now. I'll have to apologize to Rieze. She'll kill me."

Suddenly there were other colored lights on the field. "Check that," Tetorō said in surprise, "they've already learned it. ...Oh, right. They watched the attack that brought the new changes on." He glanced at Purrcy, but she was watching the field carefully still. "Those are higher level spells that on their own don't attack. They are the precursors to attacks, however, so are important to know about if they're around." He sighed and put his chin in his hand. "They're planning on taking the healers out in one, it looks like."

"This is probably the newest change to this part of the strategy," Purrcy nodded.

Rieze had called out a defensive order when the new lights had shown up. Now from those lights, which were a golden brown, bright yellow lights appeared and lept at great speed directly for the healers that were being pointed at. A few were taken down by half of their current level, shielding spells having been set up fast enough. Those that were still as yet unprotected were Cathedraled. "That was powerful," Naotsugu said appreciatively. "Did they create that one early, then?"

"Probably," Michael said musingly, his chin in his hand also as he watched.

"Where did D.D.D.'s Assassins go?" Akatsuki asked suddenly. "They had four on the field and they're gone."

"Did they get tied down by the anchors?" Naotsugu asked her.

"I think some did."

"That would have hurt, then," Naotsugu said. Akatsuki nodded agreement.

"Potions," Purrcy said without much focus. "Akatsuki, your timing's good. They've just reached the Hackers hiding in the woods."

Akatsuki nodded. "I trained with D.D.D. also."

Purrcy nodded back. "The problem is, all the Eagles' Assassins are there, too." She had her lips parted just enough to show her sharp teeth. "I wonder if they've done this maneuver before, too."

"It wouldn't be surprising," Shiroe said calmly. "I would have used them early on after getting irritated, like the second or third battle."

"Mmm," Purrcy commented. "Oh. Two on one, but not much else they could have done. D.D.D.'s Assassins are going down fairly quickly that way. ...Two down...a Hacker down...and his corresponding D.D.D. Assassin...which freed up the Eagle Assassin to go help another group...hmmm...Everyone shield your eyes again. Shockwave shields up again, too, please." One second later the first attack went off again, the same as before. Half of the D.D.D. weapons Classes went down and almost all of the healers and magic users. The Eagle anchors' full protection spells ended right at the end of that explosion and they were taking out the rest of the weapons classes in front of them, one after another. The lighter weapons classes were taking out the remaining healers and magic Classes and in less than another three minutes it was over.

"That was well timed," Purrcy said. Shiroe nodded as did several others. "I'd like to hear a briefing on it from Rieze as to what was new and what was expected." Tetorō was calling Rieze immediately to request it, telling her they'd wait for her to get back to the field. She'd gone down in the second explosion.

"Why didn't the attackers go down with those explosions, too?" Iselius asked.

"Magic attacks don't affect your own side," Sergiad answered him.

"Technically, Hacker attacks can," Purrcy corrected him slightly. "We have to specify who the attack will hit. In this case they could have said it would affect only D.D.D. guild members, or that it wouldn't affect anyone with the guild-tag Log Horizon. They could also have specified a range of effect. If they did that, then we shielded ourselves for no reason, but it's better to be safe than sorry, since we can't know what the criteria was. Actually, any new spell has to have that limitation added or it will automatically affect everyone in the full range the level of the caster can affect. I need to see if Rieze's magic users know that about the reverse spells they were casting. They may have learned that one the hard way."

"Sucking out their own people's HP would have been bad," Isaac agreed.

They continued to discuss the battle until Rieze arrived, and then they pumped her for as much information as she could give. She had questions for Purrcy, Michael, and Tetorō in turn. For the general populace that had come to watch, it had been entertaining. For the leaders, it was an educational session.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy sighed in relief as Nyanta was finally allowed to escort her away from the public eye. Everyone else was going, too, but she was weary enough now to not really be paying much attention to anything other than the arm she was holding and her legs, to keep them walking. It was an odd feeling to have her brain at such loose ends, but it felt like the exhaustion of her body had seeped up into her brain to fill the void that had been left when the activity had been shut down. She leaned her head on Nyanta's shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Sleepy?" he asked. She nodded her head. "Come on up, then." His voice was kind and gentle in her ears. He wrapped his arm around her and as she shrank, he curled her into him until he was holding her in his arm. She was asleep before she finished getting to kitten size, but he didn't wake her up to complain - at least not that she remembered. She had strange dreams as she slept, most of which swirled and disappeared, but made her restless until she was pacing down a hall, her tail moving restlessly, as restless as she was feeling inside. She wanted away from the feeling, so she began to run down the long hall until she was running through a woods, the trees close.

In the dark between the trunks, monsters lurked. For a time, they merely observed her flight, but then one left the branch of a tree she passed and took flight to follow behind her in her blind spot. Another from the left also took flight as she passed to join the first and soon enough many were following her, making her go where they wanted her to go. She growled in frustration and lept for a low branch on a tree in front of her until she was running up the branches as if up tall natural stairs until she was high above the forest floor. The monsters were still chasing her but were falling behind. She broke from the canopy and could see that in front of her the forest ended at a half-mile tall drop off.

As she slowed, the cry of the flying monsters behind her sounded the call she'd been seen. She knew they were closing in. Rather than halt at the end of the trees, she ran on, leaping strongly from the final branch, using the spring to launch even higher and farther. She spread her wings and soared out over the landscape far below her, but a net caught her and she was falling, unable to keep her wings spread enough to stay in flight. She turned enough to see that the flying monsters were now holding the ends of the net that held her and they were flying her back towards the forest. She cried out in distress and struggled to free herself from the net.

"Nyan, nyan," Nyanta's voice said to her, "I don't want to marry a corpse." She whimpered and struggled and she could feel herself being pet. "Is it so bad a nightmare, then?"

Purrcy's eyes popped open. She breathed a deep breath and could feel her heart leaping to a fast, frightened tempo. Her ears were back as flat as they could go and her fur was all pressed tightly to her.

"I think that's the most miserable I've seen Purrcy," Touya said.

"When she was treed," Akatsuki said appraisingly.

"Mmm...it was about the same, to be treed and to be netted, nya?" Nyanta said.

Purrcy nodded, burying her nose in his arm. She focused on getting her breathing and heartbeat back to normal. To calm herself down, she double checked all her internal shields and warning systems and moved five times, then a sixth and seventh before she could settle, and even there, she buried herself deeply.

"It was that bad a nightmare?" Tetorō asked, showing up next to her in the code realm. She turned away from him and buried her nose under her side. In the next instant, she'd put him 'elsewhere'. She put a thick box around herself and fell back to sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

The group walking down the path through the woods stopped suddenly as Tetorō crashed into a tree and stuck there. Minori ran to him and grabbed his arm and tried to pull him from the tree. He fell backwards and Michael leaped forward to grab his shoulders before his head could crash into the ground. Tetorō's eyes were unseeing. "Damn," Michael muttered, laying Tetorō down, "what's she done this time?"

The rest of them waited for about two minutes before Michael came back. He continued to look into Tetorō's eyes. Slowly intelligence returned and he blinked. "I'm glad we partnered before now," Michael said to him.

Tetorō agreed. He slowly put his hand up to his forehead. "Ouch."

"You walked into a tree," Minori said, crouched down next to him still. "Are you okay?"

Tetorō sighed and sat up. He hugged his knee to his chest and put his head on it. "No, not really," he answered. "She threw me so far I was lost and she's buried and boxed in so thick and deep she's not reachable."

"But you know where?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tetorō nodded and closed his eyes. "Over here," he said.

Michael's eyes turned inward. "You're sure?" he asked after a brief pause.

"Yeah. I just hope she remembers it's she who's locked herself in, or we'll lose half that woods."

"Mm," Michael was quiet for a bit, then Tetorō nodded his head.

"That should work," Tetorō said, then sighed again. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "Well then," he said brightly, leaping to his feet, "shall we continue on?"

The rest gave him dry looks, knowing he was putting on a front, but he turned away and returned to the path, dragging them with him. Naotsugu took two long strides and grabbed him around the shoulders with one arm and rubbed his knuckles on Tetorō's head. Tetorō ducked out and scowled at him, rubbing his head gently. "Sometimes you gotta do what you've gotta do and not everyone's happy about it," Naotsugu said. "That doesn't mean it was the wrong thing to do."

Tetorō returned to walking, shoving his hands into his pockets and hunching up his shoulders. "But I could have handled it better. We didn't even confront her about it and let her fix it herself, first," he admitted.

"So...there was a reason why, then," Naotsugu said knowingly.

Tetorō looked back at Michael. Michael nodded at him. "Because we knew she would deny it and keep doing it anyway. We can't see to those levels so there wasn't a way to confirm she was really taking care of herself."

Tetorō sighed. "Yeah. That."

"And we ran her to ground and forced it because we knew she wouldn't take it politely without changing it to falsify the readings," Michael added. "...Even though that does mean we have to take the consequence after the fact. It helps that the top brass is in agreement."

Tetorō's eyes went a little wild and he looked away and ran his hand through his hair again, then pulled on it. "Well...maybe that makes it a little worse."

"Why?" Shiroe asked.

Tetorō glanced at him. "Because now she doesn't have someone to go complain to. We've all ganged up on her." No one answered to that, but the general feeling was, "oh". He sighed. "That could fester, you know. I'm not happy with that."

"Princess Raynessia," Akatsuki said.

"You really think so?" Tetorō asked after a pause to consider it. Akatsuki nodded a firm knowing nod. "Alright. We'll get her over to Water Maple early tomorrow then, before everyone else gets there. Maybe she'll be settled by the time everyone else gets there."

"Are you going to be able to dig her out in time for the rest of today's activities?" Shiroe asked mildly.

Tetorō and Michael both shrugged. "She's still sleeping it off. We'll have to see." Michael said.

"I'll send a communication request when we're ready, if she hasn't come out on her own by then," Tetorō offered. Shiroe had to be content with that.


	65. A Small Formal Court

It was very quiet when Purrcy woke up. She lifted her head and saw she was in a crystalline box where the light was an ambient white. It was rather calming. She took a breath. That was a little disconcerting. She could actually feel air entering lungs and leaving them again. She closed her eyes and just focused on having lungs and a heart again. It had been a while, so it was still a new concept. That in itself was an odd thought, considering how long she'd been alive compared to how long she'd been a ghost. She sent out a thin testing thread. It didn't make it very far. She opened her eyes again and saw it blocked by the wall. She sighed. Slowly she thinned a small portion of that wall until the thread could escape.

Just outside the wall she put up a mirror to bounce anything that might follow her line back and make it go hunting elsewhere. She burrowed upward until she reached the surface. Another mirror went there and she took another breath before cautiously threading her way into her foxhole. Everything looked correctly in place. She began her usual wake up routine. Start up the history recorder - which started it in all her foxholes so no one would know which one she was actually in - to rewind to when she had last been awake and replay. It was keyed to her own physical body since she'd been back, and was linked to Nyanta, Tetorō, Michael, and Shiroe in case she needed data she didn't have tied to herself. That was mostly for the off-chance she was Cathedraled and would have a gaping hole. Occasionally she used it for other information gathering purposes, but not much, really.

She watched and listened to everything since they'd left the fighting field up to the present, then sighed. An ear turned and the tip of her tail flipped. She supposed she really had earned the collar, as much as she was reluctant to admit it. There was so much to be doing. She put her head down on her paws and let out a sighing breath, feeling sorry for herself. It wasn't really fair to, but it was still depressing. Here she was, working hard for everyone and they wouldn't let her do what she needed to do. Well...at least not to the extent it needed to be done.

There was a polite knocking on the "door" to her foxhole. Her ear pricked forward, but she waited until the "butler" had received the request, tested it, confirmed the sender, and displayed it to the screen without anything else exploding before she looked at it. It was a simple request from Tetorō to please wake up and return for the next activity. She couldn't decide if she was irritated or feeling resigned. From the history, he at least understood why she was was upset. The problem was, she was upset with all of them and that didn't make her in a hurry to get back for whatever their next activity was.

Suddenly there was the oddest sensation and her internal body flipped until she was on her back, her paws in the air. Being connected to her body now was still very strange to get used to. She closed her eyes and returned to it, trying to understand what was going on. When she realized she was feeling her belly being rubbed, she clamped down on the arm with all four paws to get it to stop moving. There was a chuckle and she growled slightly as she tried to get her eyes to pry themselves open. The arm took itself back and her head was being attacked with rubbing. She flipped her body back around, then shook her head. She was suddenly overcome with the need to yawn, her tongue curling to the tension of the pull of the yawn on her jaw. She sat there, trying to finish waking up while her head was pet enough to make her relaxed neck wiggle with the petting. She finally ducked to get out from under the hand. "Shit, Naotsugu. Quit it," she growled at him.

There was a laugh. "I forgot she's as grumpy as you when tired, Chief."

The hand descended again and her front claws pricked out onto the arm that was holding her. The hand chose to grab her and pick her up instead of pet her again. "Now, now, I'm just trying to help you wake up."

"No thanks," she grumbled, blinking her eyes from her undignified location of dangling from between his hands and being stared at in the face. "At least put me down somewhere. This isn't a comfortable position, you know." She was put down on the ground. She looked around at the forest of tall legs around her and up to where the heads were somewhere. She gave up quickly, though, as she started to fall over. That was just too high to look up at the moment. An ear flopped in a funny fold and she blinked sleepily. It was time to go. She rose to her feet and moved, but the legs in front of her shifted. She sat back down, irritated, and grew tall enough she could see who was with her without falling over. The collar almost choked her and she quickly added it into the overall growth pattern, scowling at Tetorō when she caught sight of him. "Fix that," she said to him. "It should have been in your code to begin with."

"Sorry," he said penitently and got to work.

Her eyes continued to scan around, her head turning to upside down as she went the full circuit without moving her body. "God, why is always men? Where's Akatsuki? Even Isuzu and Minori would be acceptable at the moment."

"Ah, here!" Akatsuki jumped into view.

Purrcy rose to her feet again. "Come on, then," she ordered Akatsuki and shouldered her way out of the circle. "We'll be right back." Akatsuki walked stiffly in apprehension next to her as she led the way, following her nose. She paused halfway to her destination to slip behind a bush, but where she could still be seen, to relieve her bladder - another thing she hadn't had to worry about for more than half a year now. Then she continued on until she reached the small stream. She lapped at the water, then shoved her head under the surface and held it there until her lungs screamed for air. She pulled up with a flip of her head and a gasp. She shook her head out, then drank more. Sighing she began grooming, licking up the water droplets running down her back, chest, and shoulders.

There was suddenly a towel on top of her head, then Akatsuki's hands gently rubbing her face and the top of her head to dry them, where she couldn't reach with her tongue. She held still, a little surprised at the thoughtful ministration. She could tell Akatsuki was working herself up to say something, so she worked on holding her own tongue. Finally Akatsuki said, "They know you're working hard for good things. ...But, ...they're also working hard to help you." The towel disappeared and earnest dark eyes looked into hers. "It hurts them, you know."

Purrcy looked her back in the eye, giving nothing away. "And what do you suggest I do about that?"

Akatsuki's eyes fell as she considered her answer, then rose to look into Purrcy's again. "At least, ...admit they're being friends."

Purrcy's ear turned in surprise. She hadn't expected that kind of answer. She considered what that word meant to Akatsuki, not sure she could come to a full comprehension of it. Then she remembered how the Water Maple ladies had been at Shopping District 8 when she'd needed the proper scolding. Her ears relaxed. "Yes, mother," she said.

Akatsuki smiled her small smile and she reached out and pet Purrcy on the head lightly. Purrcy leaned into it slightly, then rose and turned, leading them back by smell the way they'd come. This time Akatsuki left her hand lightly on Purrcy's back between her shoulders, the fingers lightly digging into the soft fur.

Purrcy paused just inside the woods long enough for Akatsuki to release her, then stepped out two steps and sat in her formal pose, watching the grouping of men they had left earlier. She was also waiting for the men in the trees to be still as they gathered up behind her. She'd known they were following the whole time, of course. Men might be quiet to other men, but to an animal with fine senses of smell and hearing, they were rather obvious. When it was quiet in the trees and all eyes were on her, she bowed. "My apologies. I'll do my best to learn to be jointly physically and mentally present again."

Tetorō stepped forward and bowed. "I'm sorry for not explaining it to you openly and giving you the opportunity to choose it on your own, Purrcy," he said.

She wanted to scold, but instead she just tipped her head in acceptance. Their reasoning hadn't been faulty. Besides it was done now, and rather brilliantly, too. She looked at Shiroe. "What's next?" she asked him calmly.

Shiroe gave a small smile and looked to Tetorō. Purrcy looked back to Tetorō. He shifted slightly, then stood up straight and formally. "Because since she has come to Log Horizon Purrcy has enjoyed role playing the Princess and the Queen, because tomorrow is her special day to be the center of attention, and because she has things she wishes to gift those who are special to her, this one has prepared a royal court at which she may gift those things in preparation for tomorrow. Everything is ready and in place. All that is needful is for Purrcy herself to be prepared." He bowed and straightened again, looking slightly nervous.

Purrcy looked at him for a moment, working to rearrange her emotions that were suddenly tangled up and tripping over each other. "Tetorō-domo has worked very hard for such a gift to be presented at the occasion of my wedding." His eyes widened at the honorific. "What must I do to be prepared to receive his gift?" she asked him.

Tetorō blushed slightly, then waved a hand at Michael. "Michael is ready with his suggestions. Hear them first."

Purrcy gave Michael her attention. He cleared his throat. "For now, perhaps the uniform is sufficient for us to be recognized formally and officially as members of Log Horizon. I think it might be appropriate to award the wings as they arrive at being able to create them. For now, that's still only me. It would be a good recognition of the hard work they've gone through to achieve that level of proficiency, and have the same significance it has at home. You already use the paw print pin as a personal commendation. Perhaps you could gift a favor to those who you wish to give a higher level recognition to."

Purrcy considered his recommendations. "Those are acceptably achievable suggestions." She tipped her head at him and added, "And understated enough to not be considered excessively pridefully out of line at this point." He gave an equally wry look to her in agreement. "Let me see what I have that will work," she asked for time and patience, then went looking through her list of treasures until she found a suitable item that could be used to make favors, then found a few more things and modified them, then set the whole of them into an extra sub-box. She opened her eyes and looked at Tetorō. "Those things are ready," she said to him. He nodded and cast a small HP up spell on her.

"I'll be the herald," he said, "since I know what's happening, but so you know beforehand, this is the order I was planning." He proceeded to outline the court. She changed the order of a few people, but otherwise left it alone. When Tetorō was done, Purrcy turned and asked Michael if the Eagles should all be done together as a group or individually.

He looked at her quizzically. "I thought we just agreed the uniforms were enough?"

Purrcy waved a paw. "I owe you all, remember? This is just as good a time to pay up as any."

Michael shifted, "Um...that reminds me...do you always pay for what's given to you?"

Purrcy looked at him confused. "Yes. Do you know why I answer to Shiroe?"

Michael blinked in surprise, then frowned. "No, I guess I don't."

"They offered to protect me from the Plague Master and everything that entailed, and I'd already imposed on them, in bringing the Wolf Pack to their door, so owed them for that defense as well. Shiroe asked that I guild with them so that they could more effectively protect me. It's an ongoing exchange that can be terminated at any time either party sees fit. As long as I'm guilded with Log Horizon, Shiroe has the right to ask of me what he will."

"Do you ever turn him down?" Michael asked.

She paused. "I may argue, but I don't recall a time that has been necessary."

"The four who took you into Shopping District 8 clandestinely - they weren't allowed to pay. Will payment still be made?" Michael changed the topic slightly back to where he'd been going with it.

Purrcy frowned. "That shouldn't have happened. I specifically have an arrangement with Calasin. They need to return the clothing now that he's returned and explain directly to him what happened so he can correct his staff, or create a proper agreement with them or the rest of the guild."

He nodded, apparently satisfied with that. "I would think as a group would be fine this time," he answered her question. She nodded back at him, then looked at Tetorō again.

Tetorō blinked at Purrcy. "You know, sometimes it's really hard to follow the conversations you two have." She smiled at him, but didn't answer. Tetorō shook his head, and let it go. "What do you want to wear?" he asked instead.

She considered her options, then put on the outfit she'd worn for the fashion show, it being the closest thing she had to a queen's outfit in her closet. She shifted to felinoid to put it on. He shook his head at her. "Skirt, at least."

She looked down at what she was wearing, then paused. "You make me feel like Cinderella's fairy godmother sometimes Tetorō." He raised an eyebrow at her. She picked out one of the dresses she liked from her line, and copied the skirt from it over the pants she was wearing, then modified the top slightly to match the waistline.

"You really do love the cheater methods, don't you?" he teased back.

"And what are you wearing?" she asked him. He was immediately in the uniform she'd created for the guards. She went in and tweaked it so it was less of a guard's uniform and more of a statesman's uniform.

"Well, that's not fair. I can't see what it looks like," he complained. Akatsuki put her mirror in front of him and he blinked. "Thanks," he looked at what he looked like, nodded, then saved it.

Purrcy smiled and stepped over to rub the top of his head. He looked up at her curiously and she kissed his forehead. "Are we ready then, or is there more?"

"As impatient as always," he snorted at her, but waved at Akatsuki and she put the mirror away. He got them all put into the order he wanted to process in, then sent the Eagles in to get seated since they were the majority of the audience. It would only be a small mostly-guild gathering after all.

-:-:-:-:-

"All rise for Kokuō Heika and Joō Heika," Tetorō said, having taken his place to the side of two chairs set up in the small clearing he'd led the processional to. The audience rose and Shiroe and Purrcy walked in, arm in arm. They went to the chairs then sat together. The audience sat after them at Tetorō's signal. Akatsuki and Naotsugu stood behind Shiroe's chair while Nyanta and Michael stood behind Purrcy's. The four of them were in the guard's uniform, and Shiroe had put on a formal outfit to match Purrcy's that Tetorō approved of. Tetorō had also made the collar a crown again.

Tetorō turned to Purrcy slightly and gave a small bow. She looked over the gathered people and smiled. "I'm grateful to Lord Tetorō for putting this formal court together for me so that I can properly thank those who've supported me until this time in a way that I find enjoyable. I hope you'll also enjoy our little court today with me, as a thing we don't often get to play at doing. However, I also hope you'll understand the sincerity of my gratitude." She nodded back to Tetorō.

He turned to the audience and said, "Joō Heika calls Ladies Isuzu, Minori, Serera, Marielle, Henrietta, and Akatsuki into her presence." They all waited while the six moved forward. Akatsuki arrived first, having already been standing behind Shiroe, and went down on one knee. The others weren't quite sure, but finally decided to follow her lead. "For their patient kindness and friendship, and willingness to be special witnesses of her wedding on the morrow, Joō Heika gifts the Ladies in Waiting with jewels befitting those who'll stand with her." There were giggles from a few of them to be called "Ladies in Waiting". Tetorō walked down the row, handing out boxes to them, then returned to his place.

The ladies opened their boxes and looked at the jewelry. Each had received a necklace and earrings. The younger three also received bracelets while the three who would stand with Purrcy received filigree coronets. Akatsuki and Henrietta both blushed at the coronets, but Marielle looked extremely pleased. "Thank you for your friendship, truly," Purrcy said gratefully. "I'm sorry if it's embarrassing to be up there in crowns, but surely I shouldn't be the only princess up there...and I couldn't stand to be the only one with a headdress of some kind. Please help me again in this.

Akatsuki looked over at Henrietta's coronet, then at hers again. "They're all different?" she asked.

Purrcy nodded. "Each is individualized."

Henrietta inspected hers. "All of the jewelry is a minor magic item also."

"Of course," Purrcy said. That earned her looks from all of them. "What purpose would they be but trinkets otherwise? These are gifts of gratitude to my friends."

They each bowed their heads and thanked her, then rose. "For the Ladies in Waiting," Tetorō said loudly and the audience clapped as the women returned to their places.

Michael stepped out from his place. "Her Majesty the Queen calls Lord Tetorō into her presence." Tetorō moved to kneel on one knee in front of Purrcy. "For his patience and efforts in her behalf, and his willingness to stand as a special witness of her wedding tomorrow, Her Majesty the Queen gifts her Lord in Waiting with his regalia also." A box appeared in Tetorō's hand and he opened it. Inside was a coronet that was a little more sedate but still elegantly done, a single earring, and a ring. He pulled out the ring and inspected it, then raised an eyebrow at the design on it.

Purrcy smiled a secret smile at him. "Thank you for standing with me tomorrow, and before as well. I'm fortunate that you're willing to see that my side is always warm."

"It's my pleasure," he bowed to her. "Thank you for the gifts." He rose, put the box away, and returned to his position during the polite applause he received. "Joō Heika calls Lords Touya, Rudy, Michael, Shouryuu, Naotsugu, and Shiroe Heika into her presence." Shiroe chose to kneel with the rest of them for this part. Purrcy smiled fondly at the men in front of her. "For their patient kindness and friendship, and willingness to be special witnesses of their wedding on the morrow, Joō Heika gifts the Lords in Waiting of Consort Nyanta with jewels befit those who will stand with him."

He passed out boxes, walking down the line. Touya, Rudy, and Michael each received a ring, an earring, and a pair of cuff-links. Shouryuu, and Naotsugu each received a simple coronet, and a pair of cuff-links and Naotsugu received in addition a ring like the other men of Log Horizon had. Shiroe had hesitated to open his box, it being slightly taller than the rest. He looked at Purrcy suspiciously and her eyes sparkled at him. "Thank you, all of you, for standing with us at this time. We appreciate your friendship."

Shiroe sighed lightly and lifted the top off his box. His shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "Do I really have to wear it tomorrow?"

"If you don't, then I don't have to wear mine," she answered calmly. He shuddered. "You did leave me the opening, after all," she went on.

Tetorō reached down into the box and held up the more ornate king's crown that was inside Shiroe's box and showed it to everyone. There were hidden sniggers of laughter and a few oo's and ah's and Shiroe blushed. Tetorō calmly turned it and set it down on Shiroe's head. It autosized to fit him and he blushed harder. Tetorō calmly reached into the box again and pulled out the ring, then demanded Shiroe's hand and slipped the ring on his middle finger. It glowed briefly, then settled. Shiroe looked at Tetorō sadly, but Tetorō shook his head. Shiroe closed the lid back up on the cuff-links and put the box away with a sigh.

Tetorō returned to his position. "For the Lords in Waiting," Tetorō said loudly and the audience clapped as the men bowed their heads, thanked Purrcy, then rose and returned to their places. Now Shiroe fit in his place properly as far as regalia went, more properly matching Purrcy. She settled to enjoying herself a little better after that.

"Will the Royal Guard please rise?" Tetorō intoned next. It was better to leave them all in their places, given their number. They all rose and stood at attention. "For their service to Kokuō Heika and Joō Heika, the Royal Guard is formally recognized and granted the uniform of their house." For a moment nothing happened, then Purrcy raised her hand and from it flew twenty-four red birds that fluttered and settled on each one of the pilots. Understanding this from before, they each accepted the gift, then stood in surprise.

"I've gifted them an original selectable-from-the-item-list uniform, rather than an artisan one." Purrcy explained. "Including what I hope is an appropriate flavor text and bonuses."

"You can do that?" Shiroe turned and asked her.

"Of course," she answered as mildly as she had before for the ladies. "If anything, it's easier, at least on the part of the tailors, and I don't have to wait." She turned back to the guards. "I know that you think it's going to be awful, but that's because you haven't tried anything I've made before. Please put them on. It's necessary before the next gift can be given."

The Eagles all eyed each other a little, then finally a few had the courage to try them on. There was a pause while they blinked, then they slowly smiled. "I think you made it a little _too_ comfortable, Your Majesty," one of them said. "I'll forget I'm supposed to be guarding." The rest put them on and nodded agreement.

"Look inside," she ordered. "They're adjustable. I've given you the base code, not just the images. Alter them as you need, as long as you don't change the basic visual effect."

"Not right now," Tetorō interrupted. They went to attention again. "For their service during difficult times and for their prowess in battle, Joō Heika grants to the Royal Guard their formal arms of service." He took a breath. He hadn't had to do a group assignment yet and he had to make sure he got it right. He went by sixes until there were swords and sword belts on all of them.

"Thank you for watching over a difficult ward such as I," Purrcy said. "It's a small token of my gratitude in payment for putting you through distress and frustration. Please continue to watch over me, even if I do remain difficult."

"That's a bit bigger than small token," protested Michael from behind her, having already read the descriptive text of the swords. _Sword of the Akiba Royal Guard: A weapon to be used in the defense of the sworn lieges of the Akiba Royal Guard. Unable to be stolen from the person it is granted to. Plus 9 against Magic Attacks, this sword cuts through enemies dealing internal slicing damage that cannot be seen from the outside. Speed is plus 3 in the hands of an Assassin Class wielder_.

"Then perhaps it will be considered sufficient payment," she answered him quietly. More loudly, she explained to them, "It's my intent that the bonus against magic attacks will allow you to use it directly against Hacker attacks without intent being required."

"Akatsuki, Naotsugu, Touya, please also stand forward," Tetorō said. They stepped up and he put swords and sword belts on each of them also. Akatsuki glowed. She'd been looking rather enviously at the swords after reading their bonuses. "Rudy, Minori, and Isuzu also please stand," he said. Rudy had been looking a little cool to hide disappointment, but now looked curious as he rose with the girls. Tetorō put belts on them also, but on theirs was the dagger rather than the sword. Then on his own waist was the fourth dagger and belt. He sighed. For those of them not warriors to begin with the daggers were better. Rather than have the Assassin Class bonus, they had a plus 4 bonus to hit if wielded by a non-weapon Class. "Thank you. You may be seated," he said.

Tetorō paused to recover, then glowed as Marielle gave him a helping hand. He glanced at her gratefully. "Joō Heika calls Mister BigMusclesBill into her presence." The blacksmith rose and walked up. He'd been watching the proceedings a bit bemused, though he'd certainly appreciated the gifts just given and their reception since they'd been made by himself and his men. A bit jauntily, he also knelt on one knee and grinned at Purrcy. She smiled serenely back. "For his service over the last year and his willingness to be abused at the random whims of Joō Heika, she grants him also gifts of gratitude." BigMusclesBill's smile turned a little wry.

Purrcy rose and walked up to him. In her hand was a cloth. She reached down and showed it to him. "BugMusclesBill, I grant to you my favor. Please wear it as a symbol to all who see it of my undying gratitude for your continuing service to me." He looked at it and his eyes went wide. He nodded and she stepped to his left side and wrapped it around his upper arm and tied it on. It was a golden color, like the color of her eyes and swirls. Looking at it, it could be seen that it also had magic properties of plus 2 strength and plus 3 defense, and a flavor text explaining it briefly. "Also, I have a gift for you. Please stand," she told him and stepped back one step.

When BigMusclesBill was standing, Tetorō put another belt and sword on him. He looked confused, but Purrcy raised a hand to get his attention. "Put your hand on the hilt," she told him. He reached down and did so and at the touch it converted until his hand was on the head of a gleaming war hammer in a proper holster. His eyes lit up and he pulled it from the holster to heft it. He inspected it closely. The flavor text had changed along with it's shape. _War Hammer of Inari-no-I_ _z_ _a_ _n_ _ami. Gifted by the Caretaker and Priestess of Inari-no-I_ _z_ _a_ _n_ _ami. A weapon to be used in the defense of others. Unable to be stolen from the person it is granted to. Plus 9 against Magic Attacks. Speed is plus 3 in the hands of a Blacksmith_. BigMusclesBill gave Purrcy a strange sort of look, then swung the hammer experimentally, after backing up a few steps. He nodded. "It's kept it's balance and lightness in the hand. Do you know what kind of damage it will do?"

"No," Purrcy admitted. "I'm not sure how the scalpel formation translated. You'll want to practice with it and find out, I expect. You might want to take a few scalpels with you just in case there aren't any external wounds otherwise." She gave him a wry look.

He smiled back, then bowed. "Thank you very much, Purrcy."

"You're very welcome. Thank you for all of your hard work," she responded, then moved back to her chair. He returned to his own seat as well, placing the war hammer back in its holster.

Tetorō took another breath. "Joō Heika calls Miss Mei-Mao into her presence." A female elf rose smoothly and walked up to the front. She bowed politely, but stayed standing. "For her service, leadership, and diligence over the last year in behalf of Joō Heika, she grants Miss Mei-Mao also gifts of gratitude."

Purrcy rose again. This time she bowed. "Mei-Mao, you've sat at your table many long nights in my behalf, and encouraged your fellow tailors, even when my requests have seemed most maddening. I'm grateful to you for your patience with me. Will you also accept my favor, though it be but a small token of recognition?"

"I will, Lady Purrcy," Mei-Mao said graciously.

Purrcy walked to her and tied onto her left upper arm the same kind of cloth she'd tied on to BigMusclesBill. "Thank you, Mei-Mao." Purrcy stepped back to stand in front of her chair again, and motioned to Tetorō. Tetorō walked over to Mei-Mao and handed her a shallow hinged box. Mei-Mao opened it and her eyebrows raised. "This is the surgical sewing kit that BigMusclesBill has created for me. The tools in it can be used to heal in the same manner that your own scissors, needles, and threads bind fabric together. You'll need no additional training other than coming to understand what they do, for you're already both a healer and a tailor. Thank you, Mei-Mao."

The elf closed the box and bowed. "Thank you, Lady Purrcy. It's a kind and thoughtful gift." Purrcy tipped her head and Mei-Mao took herself back to her seat.

"Joō Heika calls HackerM1 into her presence," Tetorō said. Michael stiffened, then once again came around the chair to kneel in front of Purrcy, resting his hand on his new sword so the point didn't catch on the ground.

"Please also accept my favor," she said to him and moved to tie it on without waiting much to receive his answer, though he nodded. When she was standing in front of him again, she held up a small pin. "Also, I bequeath to you your wings earned when you learned your own and learned to fly appropriately. To show you are worthy of receiving this pin, please show me your wings.

Michael blushed slightly, then he was shirtless and his brown eagle wings grew from his back until they covered it. He cautiously, because they were rather large, spread them open. She walked down the left one, on her right, and inspected it carefully, lightly brushing it along the feathers and the front line. Then she returned to him and nodded. "Well formed. Will you fly for me just a bit so I can see you've really earned it, though I have witnesses you've already done so."

"You didn't see it?" he asked curiously.

"No. It was after that battle and I spoke with you that Tetorō allowed me to see," she explained.

Michael nodded, put away his sword so it wouldn't be in the way, and stood. Purrcy and Tetorō both stepped back. Michael's wings went back and he crouched, then he sprang into the air as his wings gave a great flap downward. He rose into the air about ten feet, then flapped again several more times until he was fifty feet up. He gave a flap that moved him forward and he flew around the clearing in a great half-circle. He swirled in to fly straight back to the front and glide down until he fluttered in to a landing, stirring up a wind that caught those standing at the "thrones". He crossed his arms as he looked at Purrcy piercingly.

She nodded solemnly, then held out a hand. Michael reached out and a little key passed to his hand from hers. "Take this to the tailors. It's the code for the wing holes so they can make you shirts to wear while flying. Make sure to give them at least one magic leather, perhaps soft doe skin of the White Anatha Doe, so they can make you defensive armor to wear while flying."

"Thank you," he said, putting it into his list, then put away his wings and clothed himself again properly. Purrcy walked up to him and reached up to pin the wings to his collar but he grabbed her wrist in his hand gently. He looked at her, then looked at the pin, inspecting it. When he was satisfied, he released her wrist and patiently allowed her to pin it to his collar. "When did you learn to change matter, not just the tag?" he asked her quietly as she worked.

"A long time ago, Michael," she said just as quietly. "When we can be quiet again, I'll take you and Tetorō and we'll have your next proper Apprentice lessons that will graduate you both to Journeymen." They both stiffened slightly at that news. She finished pinning the wings that extended from a paw print to his collar and stepped back. He bowed to her formally and she gave him a look of pride.

When they'd returned to their positions, Tetorō solemnly called for the last person of the proceedings. "Joō Heika calls the Queen's Consort before her." He looked Nyanta in the eye but was silent as the felinoid walked to stand before the thrones. Nyanta bowed, one hand to his chest. Purrcy's eyes were only for him. "Kneel," Tetorō said quietly. Nyanta's ear flicked slightly, but he complied when he saw the larger box in Tetorō's hand.

Purrcy rose and walked forward. Tetorō removed the lid of the box and held it for her. Purrcy pulled out a castellated coronet of silvery mithril. Seven stones the primary colors of the rainbow were set around it, one in the center of each castellation. Each stone had a magical property and the coronet did as well. Even Shiroe's eyes went wide. Purrcy hadn't had this made. This was a world treasure in it's own right. "While the binding ceremony will be tomorrow, I place this upon your head today as Caretaker and Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami to let all know who see it that you are my Consort and my Eternal Mate. Even when you're not wearing it expressly, it's shadow will always linger upon your brow so that all who look to see shall understand and not have to only believe on your word alone." Carefully Purrcy settled the crown on Nyanta's head. There was a light that extended from each of the stones around in the circle from red through the rainbow to the blue, then they all lit up to a white flash. When people could see again, the stones were no longer glowing, but the crown itself seemed to have a shimmer to it. "Wear it tomorrow," she instructed him and he nodded.

Purrcy turned back to the box. She pulled out a heavy ornate chain that she put over Nyanta's head to rest around his neck and on his shoulders. There was a medallion hanging down the front of it. "I've been instructed to gift you with this," she said a bit cryptically. "With this you're titled, but even I don't know what the title is. It apparently will be revealed at a later time." Shiroe and Tetorō both pulled up Nyanta's data but it was only given as two question marks next to his name. She next pulled out two earrings and attached them to his ears. They were dangling earrings that caught the light and flashed redly. She smiled at him. "I promised you protection if you should get titled and have to walk with me. These increase good luck and if used correctly will protect you from being seen when danger is near."

Nyanta smiled back at her. "I'm glad mew didn't forget."

"I just hope you don't disappear in the middle of the wedding," she answered back. "I'd hate to think that just marrying me is that dangerous." The audience laughed lightly. She reached in one more time and pulled out a ring. "You'll get the wedding ring tomorrow. This is the brother to the ones I've given to the others." He held up a paw and she set the ring down on it and it disappeared. She pulled him up to his feet and stepped back several steps as Tetorō put the box away. "Put away your rapiers," she asked Nyanta. He did so and Tetorō put the last two swords on him, one on each side. "Touch the pommels," she ordered, looking Nyanta in the eye. He crossed his arms and grasped the pommels of the swords and they transformed into beautiful rapiers.

He drew them and carefully inspected them. The flavor text read: _Frère de Main Gauche, Frère de Main Droite. Paired rapiers to be used in the defense of others. Gifted by the Caretaker and Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami to her Consort and Mate. Unable to be stolen from the person they are granted to. Plus 9 against Magic Attacks, these rapiers cut through enemies dealing internal damage that cannot be seen from the outside. Speed is plus 3 in the hands of a Swashbuckler Class wielder, dealing -x² to the defense of an enemy for each blow, x_.

There were low whistles at the last line, and even Nyanta looked a little stunned. "They're a named pair," he said in wonder. "Did mew have to spend a lot to get the square? That seems expensive."

Purrcy blinked, then looked at the rapiers. "Hum," she said. "I didn't do that. I guess that's your other present. If whatever you're defending me from doesn't back off quickly they'll disappear quickly enough, I'd think. I suppose we can only be grateful." Nyanta nodded, then replaced the blades in their sheaths. "I hope they'll be a sufficient wedding present," Purrcy said to him.

Nyanta paused, his paws resting on the guards of his rapiers, not quite looking at her. He bowed, then stepped swiftly to her and took her in an embrace and kissed her long. When he released her, he whispered in her ear, "More than sufficient, mon amour, though it is mew I am awaiting." Purrcy took in a shivery breath as her whole body shivered in reaction.

Tetorō sighed. "Let her go, Nyanta-san," he scolded quietly. "It isn't really fair that only Nyanta gets to say thank you that way." Tetorō swore the look Nyanta gave him was one of evil glee. Nyanta released Purrcy and gallantly walked her back to her chair and seated her, then walked back around the chair to stand behind her, his face yet again passive, but his ears and tail told how pleased he was, even with a fancy crown on his head.

"Thus ends the court of Kokuō Heika and Joō Heika. All rise," Tetorō intoned. Everyone seated rose, including Shiroe and Purrcy. Shiroe tucked Purrcy's hand in his arm again and led her off to the side of the main area, the four guards going with them. Tetorō waved his hand and the chairs disappeared to be returned to the guild hall. He pulled out a glass of peach juice and drank it down in one go. That had been rather a lot of work and talking.

"Tetorō-kun!" It was softly called but he turned quickly. Purrcy was looking at him. He went immediately. She took his head in her hands and leaned in and kissed him on the lips, stunning him. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you so much for the gift of a formal court. ...Though why you wanted another fuzzy kiss, I have no idea." A laugh spurted out of him, then more, until he was holding her and laughing and crying at the same time.


	66. Purrcy's Past is Torn

"Is Daddy going to be home for dinner, Mom?" Purrcy had just asked her oldest, Hannah to set the table.

Purrcy finished stirring the noodles and removed them from the heat to pour out the boiling water into the sink. "I don't know, honey. He hasn't contacted me yet to let me know when he'll get in. Go ahead and set a place. He'll eat when he gets here." Her husband was hard working, conscientious about getting the job done on time...it was just he was a procrastinator when the pressure wasn't on. It would be nice if he could learn to pace himself better so he didn't die of a heart attack or stroke from the stress, but he'd been that way for as long as she knew him and he didn't look likely to change.

Dinner was over by the time he texted to complain at how late it was - after 8 p.m. already - and he was starving. "There's food here for you when you get here," her text reply read. The kids were just done with homework and she was getting the youngest into the bathtub. She was already tired enough to head to bed herself. It had been a long day, mostly on her feet and herding children.

"Mom, do you think he'll remember and come?" Hannah asked in passing, drying her hair with a towel. She went first in the bath usually.

"I think so, honey," she replied, distracted by the youngest son splashing water all over the bathroom. Hannah paused, seemed tentative as if she really did want to say something more, but knew her mom was too busy right then to pay much attention. Hannah sort of sighed and turned to walk off to her room. She likely also had more homework to finish, now that she was in high school. Purrcy would get to her after the littles were tucked into bed...if she could. She really needed to sit and converse with Hannah sometime soon. High school social life was difficult and she surely needed to get something off her chest.

He walked in the door just as night-time story time was beginning. "Daddy!" "Daddy's home!" The youngest two jumped up from the couch and ran to give him hugs. He hugged them in return and threw Teddy up in the air to catch him again while Purrcy went into the kitchen to put the dinner on his plate and warm it up in the microwave. Her phone rang before the timer on the microwave did.

By the time he was sitting at the table, the kids leaning on it to talk to him about their day, the microwave was done, and the phone conversation was, too. Purrcy sighed and walked the plate in to set it on the table. "I'm sorry, honey...Heather just called. She's been stranded at work again." He looked up at her, unhappy, like she knew he would. She looked back with a hopeless expression. "I know...," Purrcy bit her lip, "but I can't just leave her there with no other way to get home."

He nodded curtly. "I hate to send you out, but you need to go."

"Thanks. The kids are ready for bed. Just send them once they've had their say, okay?" She hardly got a nod as he tucked into the food. She slipped on her shoes and snatched up her purse and keys, almost running out the door, then turned and slipped her head back in, "Hey, please try to see they get into bed, too, this time. Ericka's got a test tomorrow and Teddy didn't do so well at school today. Thanks!" The door closed behind her and she was rushing to the car. Her sister's husband's stroke four years before meant Heather had to work to pay the bills - including all the medical bills. As a housewife prior to that, without enough experience, she'd only recently managed to find a job that didn't cover the bills well enough to pay for a car, but did keep her and the family fed. Purrcy wanted to help as much as she could...but...it was almost an hour round-trip drive to the other side of town and back.

The quiet drive to pick up Heather was nice. It was really rare to get quiet time. That was the first third of the trip. The second third of the trip was smiling politely and lying about how things were going at home and listening to Heather's problems - while struggling to not take them on. Sympathy was all she had to give anymore. Everything else took up what little Purrcy had these days. The last third of the trip was hard. Purrcy wavered between guilt tripping herself and worrying, finally losing herself in hard-rock on the radio so the tempo would keep her awake and out of her head. She'd hated hard-rock all her life until now.

Walking up to the door, with all the lights still blazing in the house, she had to stop and take three deep breaths. The kids were still up. Purrcy went in, slipped off her shoes and put her purse and keys away, then went straight to chivying the kids to bed. That took another half-hour, they were so wound up on the video games they'd been playing. By the time the littlest were in bed, the oldest was asleep, the opportunity to have talked to her gone. _Five pounds_.

He was still sitting on his phone, facebooking or something, when she came back out to the living room. If he'd been playing with the kids, it would have been something she could smile about and be tolerant of. They missed him, after all. They'd probably been hoping he _would_ play with them, or even just talk to them. The book was open next to him still at the first page...they'd probably asked him to read it. He'd likely been tired after a long day at work and ready to just vegetate. She could understand that, too.

She wanted to cry. Instead she looked at him. She wanted to scold him, instead she asked, "You do remember that Hannah's recital is tomorrow, right? She's really looking forward to showing you what she can do."

"Mmm, huh?" He looked up at her. "Oh, it's tomorrow?" A frown. "Ah...I've had something come up at work and I've been asked to stay for an evening meeting. I've got to be there. You'll tell her I'm sorry, and I'm really proud of her, won't you?"

"She'd really like to hear that from you." They all would.

"Well, I'll try to send her a text tomorrow, then." Purrcy turned away, picking up the newest set of toys on the floor.

"They really keep it a mess, huh?" he said casually.

She prickled. "Well, they are kids." She cleaned up after them - and had them clean up after themselves - probably five times a day. He just never saw the clean times.

"Oh, that reminds me...when I was going out yesterday," _at past 9 a.m.,_ "I noticed the gardens are getting pretty weedy. We need to take care of that." _Ten pounds_.

"Well, I did ask you to not add another garden bed this year, what with Teddy starting first grade and all," she answered back casually. She really hated that his hobbies always turned into "we" which meant "you", or herself that is.

"Well...it was meant to be a family project. Can't you get Hannah and Sam to help you? What are they doing these days anyway?"

 _You don't remember?_ "Hannah's busy trying to understand High School plus keep up with her dance schedule and Samuel's trying to not be lost in Jr. High. He comes home a mess and has to de-stress before I can get him to start on homework, but he's getting there." If she didn't defend their oldest son, he would get yet another lecture whenever he let his dad see him. He hid as much as possible from his dad, these days. All he got were the lectures.

Not like Purrcy had the time to push them to more activities anyway. She also had her hands full and had known she would before the garden beds even went in. He hadn't listened, as usual. She wanted to yell at him. She started the dishwasher instead. He'd had good intentions at the beginning, he just couldn't follow through at home as much as he wanted to.

Purrcy paused by her computer. "Hey, you're not going to do that again tonight are you?" he pleaded. "I want to have at least a little time with my wife, you know? We never talk anymore." _Fifteen pounds_.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Whatever."

"Well, you know, the kids would really like to see you more. They miss you."

"Yeah, I miss them too. Soon, we'll have this project done and I'll take a Saturday off and we'll go down to the cabin."

She had to try harder for Hannah's sake. "You know, the recital...everyone was looking forward to having you come, and asking if maybe we could do dinner out as a family after to celebrate with Hannah. ...Ericka's starting to ask if you really do love us."

He sat up in shock. "Of course I do! I work hard for all of you _because_ I love all of you." _Twenty pounds_. "I'll try really hard to catch her next one. Maybe you can call me when you get out and if the meeting's done I'll come have dinner with you."

 _Do you know...you haven't seen even one recital yet?_ "Okay." Hannah would pout and be angry the whole dinner because he'd come to fill his belly but not cared enough to see the recital she'd been working so hard on. Samuel would be petulant and irritable to keep his dad from talking to him, wanting to dodge the expected lecture. The youngest two would act up because they'd be too tired. Purrcy gave up and went to the bathroom. It was just twenty pounds on top of the daily thirty she was already carrying. Fifty pounds always put her down on the ground.

...Bedtime routine was done. He was done first, as usual, and as usual was lying on the bed, his phone still in his hand. Purrcy turned out her light and lay down, wondering if he'd remember that he'd asked for her attention tonight or not. He didn't. She was nearly asleep when she heard him muttering about wives who fell asleep, but she'd been up early and at the school all day. Teddy was slightly autistic and was finding the adjustment difficult. She volunteered in the nurse's station so he could be sent down to her if he had a meltdown. They wanted her to quit, but she was afraid of what would happen to him. She didn't trust the system enough. It had never done her nor her siblings any favors. She was seriously considering homeschooling Teddy. At least then she'd be home to get the chores done that weren't being done and Teddy would be more settled, but she was afraid to broach it to her husband.

Every time she'd tried to make suggestions for how to raise the kids he'd blow them out of the water with well reasoned arguments she had troubles arguing against, even if she knew she was right. And then when she was proven right he'd claim they never had the discussion in the first place. He was too busy to remember them. And he wasn't ever home to follow through on the raising of them in his way, so they weren't turning out the way he wanted. And that was her fault too, that they were all "just like her". She pretended to still be asleep until he was snoring. The anger, frustration, and loneliness were all too much. She couldn't hold still any longer than that.

Purrcy quietly rose from the bed, as if going to the bathroom, but walked out to her computer in the dark, not needing a light. She turned it on, poured up two glasses of water, made sure she had her snacks, the headset was plugged in, and called up _Elder Tales_. She'd been an avid reader of high-school and college level books since fifth grade. Science fiction, fantasy...just about anything well written. She'd lost herself in D&D as an older teen and younger twenty-something, loving being able to role-play all the characters she wanted. She'd known Japanese animation would be a very bad drug for her in college and stayed away from it, though she'd moved from D&D to real role playing in the medieval recreation group that took all of her love and attention that wasn't on studies.

Then she'd gotten married and had kids. Since then she'd tried to be responsible and respectable for her husband's sake and theirs. Nothing good was being written any more anyway, and the D&D group fell apart halfway through college. She'd had to give the medieval group up when kids came along, too. It was too hard to have fun and babysit at the same time. But then...Hannah had discovered manga and anime online. It wasn't like it had been when Purrcy was in college. Now there were lots of options, not just the bootlegged VCR tapes home-subbed. Purrcy had been sucked in and hadn't cared. Things were already becoming problematic and she needed her escape like her kids did.

That made things at home worse, of course. It wasn't all his fault. It was her way to escape instead of confront. When he wanted conversation and to "really talk about the important things" he pushed her into confrontation. It scared the kids, but she only had the two. Silence and overly-loud. She knew there were other ways to communicate, but she was so tired she couldn't find them. They talked every once in awhile about going to see a councilor, but it was never followed through on. Neither one knew where they'd find one anyway.

Things had finally come to a head the last 'fight' though, and she'd really had it. It had been "her fault" that his own inability to be home to learn to love and be loved by everyone and to discipline and be obeyed were gone to hell in a hand-basket. She'd warned him when Samuel was nine that he was going to lose his son if he wasn't home more regularly to be present enough to teach him how to be a man. Just most dinners and most of the time on weekends. Her pleas had fallen on ears that could not comprehend that mothers are not fathers. Lost on a brain that was so intelligent it couldn't figure it out and could only see that "working to earn money" equaled "love" when really "time" always and ever would equal "love". He was only reaping what he'd sown and she'd fought for it to not happen then, yet now it was her fault that it had happened in the end just as she'd thought it would.

That final fight, she'd given up and succumbed to her last unexplored secret obsession: online gaming. Tonight, she lost herself in it again. But inside, she was crying. Playing to ignore it. Playing to hide that she really was lost in real life and didn't know how to recover. She had to lie to Heather. The outside world only ever saw that Purrcy's husband was a good guy who tried his hardest. ...And he was and did. But the inside was crumbling and failing and falling apart and neither one of them knew what to do to fix it. She couldn't hold them together any more and was just ghosting through each day, more and more dead, more and more used up and broken.

...She was playing hookie from Teddy's school, having switched to the more difficult distraction of playing on an open Japan server to practice her reading so she could read the manga chapters that were still waiting to be translated, when the Japan midnight switch-over to the new upgrade, _Noosphere Pioneers_ , occurred. When she stumbled and fell to her knees and saw fuzzy black arms and felt an ear twitch in a way it shouldn't have, she curled up into a ball and cried, then cursed because it wasn't any different from the crying she'd already been doing all night and day for months. Her children had been left with no advocate, now in a home with two absentee parents. Alone were a daughter who would hate both her father _and_ mother for missing her important recitals but really because they'd stepped out of her life altogether, a son who would hate the world and resist authority, a daughter who would struggle to ever have confidence in herself, a son who would be lost to the whims of society, and a husband who would be as clueless as an infant as to how to deal with life with motherless children.

Once it was out of her system, she figured out how to crawl, then walk on the unsteady paws. She learned quickly how to listen and smell and see. She'd had a kitten as a kid and pretended to be one with it as it grew up. She hadn't been too far off, really. Walking into Susukino had been frightening. She'd always been shy, though she'd been fighting it for the kid's sake at the schools. By her druthers she would have never left her house to even grocery shop. But she'd always wanted to tour Japan, and even more, because of her reading and role-playing passion...she'd also really, really, always wanted to end up lost in a game for real. She was the happiest she'd been for a long time, as long as she didn't think about home. The most relaxed, the most calm. She just wished she could understand the language better. She used what she did have to the best of her ability.

As a mother, she couldn't help but scold, teach, protect, and it got her into trouble since she didn't _look_ her age. It was amazing how just looks made a difference. Then she'd seen another felinoid who she instinctively recognized was also an older player who cared about what was going on. She really hadn't meant to fall in love at first sight like that, but she'd already gone back to being a twenty-something just by being here. No one ever grew up from that phase anyway - just the body did to everyone's dismay. He'd been everything her husband wasn't just in those first few moments of watching him. Then life had taken a turn for the very bad, and she'd run, wishing she didn't have to but not having anything to tie her there, and a whole world to explore and love.

"But I love you and the kids." Purrcy's head whipped around. "I've been working so hard for all of you. It really hurts, you know, that none of you will talk to me, or spend time with me."

She wanted to laugh and cry and spit angry words at him. She didn't have any. She never had any, never was able to argue with him. He'd argued her into the ground too many times. She had absolutely no confidence in him ever understanding her, in him ever listening enough to really remember what she'd said, and really in the end she couldn't trust that he really cared enough anyway, so it wasn't worth it. He'd loved his work and his computers from the beginning more than her, staying up to program or whatever until after eleven p.m., leaving her a lonely new bride rejected, scolded even, if she tried to tempt him to bed before he was good and ready - and then he was too tired anyway. She'd cried herself to sleep a lot in those first two years, then had gone cold in bed to his dismay when he cared about three years later. Just like he cared now about the kids, but it was too late.

She turned her back to him again, and her heart hurt. She still loved him. He was kind, loving, thoughtful. Just as dense as hell and too opinionated to believe anyone other than himself. And she was unfair and selfish and cold, for all she kept trying so very hard to carry him and the kids and the house and...everything except the earning of money. They were partners. Bad ones. Lovers had never been in the picture since the time she'd cried herself to sleep the night of her birthday the second year they were married and he'd sat at the computer for 'just another hour'. They'd been at least content together until she could see the train wreck coming, and they'd been miserable since it had happened. She shook and shook until her stomach was cramping terribly. Her breath came in gasps until she was moaning.

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta-san, Nyanta!"

"Akatsuki-chan?" he asked sleepily.

"It's Purrcy. I think you'd better come. My room." Nyanta was up immediately. "She suddenly started shivering, then moaning. She's not breathing well."

Only having to go one floor, and by tree trunk, he was already there. Purrcy looked terrible, really. He wasn't surprised Akatsuki had called for him. He reached for Purrcy to touch her shoulder. "Purrcy, can mew hear me?" he asked gently. His paw touched her and she disappeared. They both looked around the room in surprise, finally finding her against the wall as if she'd suddenly shot away from him only to come up against that boundary. They blinked in utmost surprise. Her eyes were open, but not seeing them. "Akatsuki-chan," he said quietly and carefully, "guard the door and call for Tetorō-kun. Mew should purrobably stay." Purrcy didn't react to his words. That was more worrisome.

Akatsuki moved to the door, closing it since Nyanta had left it open, and called up a chat with Tetorō. Nyanta rubbed his face then head with his paws, trying to wake up enough to not be grumpy and to figure out what it might be. Shivering...at home that was fever and illness. She could be sick...except that Adventurers didn't get sick. "Tetorō says she's here, not in the code realm. He can't get her attention, either. He's on his way," Akatsuki reported. Nyanta nodded. A healing spell might be good to try, regardless. She did seem to be calming somewhat, at least in her breathing. She seemed to be breathing a little deeper...as if smelling.

Nyanta carefully moved closer again, but this time didn't try to touch her. She definitely was calming to his scent. He rubbed his ear. It was an embarrassing thing to think, actually, especially the night before the wedding. She'd been in this room on purpose. He froze and his heart fell. Shivering...was also crying. He knew what this was and it wasn't easy, nor was it good. His scent might be helping, but his presence wouldn't, most likely. He put his head on his paw, trying to think of the solution. There was a light knock on the door and Akatsuki let Tetorō in.

Nyanta looked at the younger man, his ears down in distress. "Call her Hahaue and see if mew can get her attention as a child, but don't touch."

"Do you know what it is?" Tetorō asked as he cautiously came to crouch down next to Nyanta, looking worriedly at Purrcy.

"I think so," Nyanta said sadly. Tetorō waited, looking at Nyanta when he didn't continue. Nyanta's ear twitched and his paw clenched. "It's the tearing of the past, the bonds of home, in order to move forward."

Tetorō sat back and blew out a breath. "Taihen, neh?" Nyanta nodded.

"But she was sleeping until just a bit ago," Akatsuki protested.

Nyanta nodded. "She purrobably was dreaming it - the past, the pain. She's purrobably still there, in the dream state. It may be difficult to get her to come back to the purresent and reality." He rubbed a paw on his leg, trying to think of the right thing to do. "Her pain is there, at home, and in the dream. We need to let her know that she's with us still, not there. Here is where she's happy."

Tetorō blinked at Nyanta in surprise, then shook his head. "No, I shouldn't be...we all have the nightmares we return to at death. Most of us would rather be here than there at some level, even if we do want to go home to Earth." He took a breath, then scooted forward just a little. "Hahaue. Hahaue." He crooned it, called to her. "Please, wake up. You're dreaming and it's scaring me. I, Tetorō-kun, want you back. Please, come back. Wake up. You're Log Horizon's Hahaue and we're here with you." He bit his lip and considered Purrcy. Her ears had turned to him slightly, it seemed. Perhaps it was progress.

Nyanta knew that as the man she was going to marry here, he couldn't help. She was just as afraid of him right now, the one who was tearing her past from her. But...he'd wanted her to comfort him when he'd felt it. Perhaps she wanted that also. She had calmed down to his scent a little. His whiskers twitched, then he was small housecat. He carefully crawled up to her on his belly until he was almost touching her nose with his, then he began to purr, though that made him shiver, too. This was hard, trying to convince her she should give up her past for him. It hurt because he knew how much it hurt to give up that past. Now he understood why she'd said she was sorry when she'd reached him to comfort him, why she'd seemed in just as much pain as he had been.

"Nyanta-san, I'm going to cast a healing spell, just in case," Tetorō informed him quietly. Nyanta nodded, continuing to purr. He really wanted to reach out and touch her again, but it would likely still be a bad idea. There was a glow around Purrcy as Tetorō cast the healing spell. Akatsuki had called up another chat and was trying to wake up another member of the guild.

Tetorō looked over his shoulder, surprised. "Why Isuzu?" he asked.

"Well...her song. It woke Purrcy up before." Akatsuki said tentatively.

"Oohh," Tetorō said and nodded. "If it could do it then, it might do it now, too. Then we could talk to her." He sat back a little relieved and returned to monitoring Purrcy.

They waited quietly, only Nyanta's purring and Purrcy's pained breathing filling the space, until Isuzu arrived with her lute. Her thick curly hair was a wild tangle and her eyes were wide, having been pulled out of a deep sleep. She took in the scene, then sat down next to Tetorō and quickly finished tuning the lute. "Bring her back here to Log Horizon," Tetorō instructed Isuzu. "She's lost on Earth in her dream, but in pain there. We need her back here."

Isuzu considered the instructions, thinking of what to sing. Finally she cleared her throat, "It's terrible, but it's the best I can come up with this tired." She seemed to reach for the song and the magic, then took a deep breath and began to sing, colored notes dancing in the air to hover over Purrcy.

 _Wake up, Little Purrcy, wake up.  
_ _Wake up, Little Purrcy, wake up._

 _The dream wasn't so hot.  
_ _It had a terribly painful plot.  
_ _You fell asleep with all of us, we love you a lot.  
_ _Wake up, Little Purrcy  
_ _Wake up, Little Purrcy  
_ _Log Horizon's your home._

Isuzu stopped singing, though she continued to strum on her lute, looking to see if that had been enough. Nyanta was encouraged and his ears pricked forward. Purrcy seemed to have returned somewhat. Isuzu began it again and sang it a second time. This time Purrcy's ear flicked and she took a deeper breath. Her shivering seemed to lessen as well. Nyanta glanced at Tetorō.

Tetorō blushed slightly, then said, "Hahaue, we're here, me - Tetorō - and Akatsuki and Isuzu and Nyanta-san. Can you wake up for us, please? We want to help you." Purrcy's eyes turned to Tetorō's location and he shifted closer. "Can I touch you? Just so you know we're here, really?" Both of her ears turned towards him and he tentatively put out his hand until he just touched her on the head. She jerked away, shrinking her head into her shoulders and Tetorō held still. Slowly Purrcy relaxed until her head just touched his hand. She paused, then she was shivering again. Tetorō slowly pet her, looking sad. "It's okay. We're here," he said soothingly. "We know it's hard."

Nyanta was trying very hard to not be jealous when suddenly he was being scooped up and pulled to Purrcy's chest. He grew a little bigger, if for no other reason than to protect his lungs so he could breathe as she squeezed him to her. He continued to purr and rubbed his head on her jaw.

"Th-thank y-you," Purrcy said, the tears in her voice. "S-so p-pain-ful."

"Mm-hm," Nyanta chanced speaking to her. "Very. But mew're really here with us and we want mew here. Mew can choose now."

Purrcy was quiet for a moment, then she released one arm from around Nyanta - but not the other, and reached for Tetorō's hand. He chose to give her the one not petting her and she took it tightly. Holding on to both of them, she said. "Here. I w-want to be h-here." The tears were still painfully evident even if not visible.

"Then we'll be here with mew," Nyanta said to her soothingly. "I will always be with mew." She pulled him up to hide her face in his side and nodded her head into his fur. He lightly groomed her cheek to try to calm her a little more.

Isuzu sighed, then stood up unsteadily. "If you don't mind...," she murmured, "falling asleep." Akatsuki jumped up and helped her get to the door, thanking her and apologizing for interrupting her sleep, though Isuzu waved it off then stumbled for her room.

Akatsuki looked at the rest of them in her room and looked like she wasn't sure what to do about the situation. Tetorō looked from her to the felinoids. Nyanta looked back. He wasn't going to leave Purrcy. Tetorō paused in his petting. "Purrcy, will you go to small cat? Nyanta-san's with you. He'll stay." Purrcy immediately was obedient, now curled up next to Nyanta, still shivering into his side. "Go a little smaller, Nyanta-san," Tetorō ordered. Nyanta complied, then Tetorō was scooping both of them up. He looked at Akatsuki. "I won't sleep unless I know she's okay, so I'll take them with me so you can sleep. That way they'll still have a chaperone."

Akatsuki relaxed and nodded. "Okay. Thanks." She looked at the cats, then reached out and gently touched Purrcy on the head. She pulled her hand back a little, paused, then very cautiously reached out and patted Nyanta's head, surprising him. "It'll be okay. She loves you...very much."

Nyanta relaxed and smiled. "I know," he answered kindly. "Thank mew for calling for me."

Akatsuki nodded and Tetorō took them out of her room, letting her close the door behind them since his arms were full of cat. He carried them up the one flight of stairs to his room and put them on his bed, then climbed in with them. "Be good, Nyanta-san," he warned. "I do want to get enough sleep for tomorrow, too."

Nyanta flicked an ear at him. Tetorō glared at him. "Me too, Tetorō-kun," he answered, properly curling up with Purrcy and grooming her until she relaxed enough to fall back to sleep. He put his neck on her back and rested his head, tired now that the excitement was over. He was only partially aware of Tetorō curling around them both protectively, wrapping them in his arms now that the grooming was done. It felt warm and comforting.

-:-:-:-:-

There was movement within their little warm pile and a body extricated itself. A light thud on the floor from the body arriving there made the other two heads turn that direction, peeking over the edge. "Wher' ya goin', Purrcy?" Tetorō asked sleepily.

Her ear twitched and she looked over her shoulder at them. "One thing that being in a physical body has done is made me have to answer to the call of nature again, as annoying as that is." She continued towards the door, turning into felinoid as she reached it in order to open it.

Nyanta lept down from the bed and transformed as well. "I'll go with mew," he said.

Tetorō sat up in the bed and frowned. "Should I put a litter box in my room, maybe?"

Purrcy turned back and looked at him wide eyed in a bit of shock. Nyanta was immediately embarrassed. He turned back and chopped Tetorō on the head to wake him up, scowling at him. "What would we want that for?!"

Tetorō blushed on the back of his neck up to his ears and held up a hand. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean -" He looked down in embarrassment, caving in on himself, his look going to sorrow and a bit of wistful loneliness.

Purrcy passed Nyanta, returning to the bed. She lept up on the bed as house cat and touched Tetorō's nose with hers. Nyanta couldn't believe she'd be willing to use a litter box in Tetorō's room just to appease the young man's fetish for keeping house pets. "Really, Purrcy, mew'll spoil him."

Purrcy froze, then sat upright with her back to Nyanta and her whole being went to one of complete dejection, her ears drooping and her head bowed, her tail listless on the bed. He blinked. Somehow he'd touched on a raw note. Finally she answered. "Yes, Nyanta. I spoil my sons, and very often my daughters as well." She slumped to the bed and tucked her nose into her arm. "Especially when they will give a face such as that one."

Nyanta's ears and everything went to concerned consternation. Tetorō panicked. "No, Purrcy, it's my fault. I said an unreasonable thing without thinking. I'm sorry." He was staring at her wide eyed, and looked up at Nyanta, the expression convicting him.

Nyanta walked back and changed unconsciously to his favorite size - half way between house cat and large cat. He lept back up on the bed and walked to her, his ears and tail down in apology. He bent down to her head and lightly breathed on her neck. She even smelled depressed. "I'm sorry, Purrcy. I know mew work very hard to see everyone is happy and doing their best. Anyone would want to help a face that looked like that, ...or that looks like mew."

Tetorō scooped her up in his arms and cuddled her. "Yeah. You know I'm weak and needy like that. But I don't expect anything unreasonable. I won't demand more than I should. Really!"

Nyanta put a front paw on Tetorō's shoulder and the other on his arm to look closely at Purrcy again and rubbed her head with his. In a bit of embarrassment he admitted, "Even I was warm last night." Tetorō looked at him in surprise, then scooped him up as well. Nyanta automatically shrank to fit. Tetorō scooted off the bed and headed for the door. He juggled them until they shrank a bit more, then opened the door and trotted over to the bathroom. Nyanta groomed Purrcy until she relaxed and laughed at them both just a little for being overly determined to cheer her up again.

Tetorō put her on the ground and opened the door for her. She looked up at them and didn't say anything, but she looked better. "We'll wait for you here," Tetorō said, still holding on to Nyanta for his own comfort. She nodded and went in, closing the door behind her. Tetorō turned and slumped back against the door frame with a sigh. "She's already got yesterday's punishment going 'round in her still, Nyanta-san," he scolded quietly.

Nyanta's ears were still apologetic. "I know, Tetorō-kun. It was unexpected, or I wouldn't have said it." He looked at the door. "I'll go next, then mew bathe while I talk to her. We'll stay here and wait for mew. I think mew should come down with us this meowrning." Tetorō nodded agreement. They waited quietly, Nyanta sitting up in Tetorō's arms until Purrcy exited the bathroom. Nyanta dropped down and traded places with her, Tetorō scooping her back up to cuddle and cajole her some more until Nyanta came back out as felinoid.

He held out his arms for cat Purrcy and Tetorō handed her over. "Be good," he admonished, then disappeared into the bathroom.

Nyanta took Tetorō's place, leaning against the wall. Purrcy changed to felinoid and leaned on him as he held her in his arms. "I know he said it without thinking. I was embarrassed and thought it purrhaps too offensive. I'm sorry I didn't trust mew would understand," he said repentantly. Purrcy buried her face in Nyanta's neck, hiding. He gently ran a paw over her ear and down the back of her head. "I really am sorry," he said. "Can mew forgive me? ...Will mew tell me about it? I'm listening."

Slowly she began to explain what raw nerve had been touched and walk through her difficult and tangled emotions. "I feel so weak and helpless, and I don't even know what to say or where to begin it. I got so worn down by his counter arguments whenever we talked about the kids that I just gave up talking unless it really mattered, and then it usually still fell on deaf ears. In the end, I was right and he was wrong, but it was too late. The kids had learned their patterns without him and all I could do was defend them from the worst of it and stand back and let him try to fix it on his own the best he could for the rest. That wasn't good enough for him." She shivered and Nyanta brushed her shoulder with his paw to let her know he was still there with her, listening.

"The reason he gave me for the divorce was because I was the problem and he wanted to be able to 'start new' training the kids without my 'bad influence' continuing to affect them." Her ears and tail drooped as dejectedly as they had on the bed at his words earlier. He started purring, softly. "I didn't know what to do. I already couldn't fight him, he already wouldn't see _he_ was the problem, that I was keeping them going the best I could. I wanted him to keep trying, but to work _with_ me. He'd closed down his ability to admit any mistakes on his own part long before." She shook with the internal tears now.

"He was taking them from me, and me from them, and there was nothing I could do. I'd been a married single-parent for so long, wishing he would walk with me, and now he was taking them from me, when he had no idea what their needs were, nor even how long it was going to take and the damage that would be done in the meantime. I'd begged him so many times to love the kids, even if there wasn't love left for me, and now he wasn't going to allow even me to love them. It hurt so bad, and I couldn't fight it. His words always won, whether in our personal conversations or when talking to people outside the family. I couldn't get my words to be heard the way he could, unless I was angry. Angry words are heard, but always judged poorly. I knew it would be a loss in court either way if I tried to contest it. ...I couldn't see a way to defend the people who needed it most - who I loved the most."

Nyanta held her as she cried her pain and grief, continuing to purr comfortingly. He'd known already he was going to have to help her with this from before, and this would not likely be the only therapy session they'd have. There was one difference - in their case, the client and therapist were allowed to tenderly care for each other, normally a taboo in the profession. "Purrcy...my favorite thing to watch is mew being such a good mother to the children of Log Horizon. They've been so much happier since mew have come to love them. Mew teach with gentleness and concern. It's easy to tell mew care about them and want to see them grow even stronger. I can tell mew learned to do this from caring well for meowr children there." He pressed her head to him in a slightly tighter hug. "It's okay to love meowr children." He kissed the top of her head and ran his paw down her back, petting her slowly.

It was obvious to him that she'd been trying to 'make up' for her perceived parental lack by becoming the Caretaker - the mother to everyone she possibly could think of. It wasn't necessary. She only needed to be the mother of her own children. That would be enough, but he would have to guide her to that understanding slowly. For today, it would be enough for her to be given permission to love them again. She was calming down now. When she finally lifted her face to look into his, he put a paw to her cheek, and looked into her eyes. "Purrcy, I'm so glad mew love the children of Log Horizon as much as I do. I also want to love meowr children as much as mew do, so I will love the mew who is their mother, who loves them." Her eyes slowly closed as he bent his head to kiss her gently, their lips lingering in sorrowful sweetness.

"Hey, that's not a private space there, really." They looked up, slowly, cat ears already having heard the footsteps. Michael was standing there looking at them with a bemused expression, holding his bathing supplies and a towel slung over his shoulder.

Nyanta could feel Purrcy smile. "We're waiting for Tetorō. Sorry we're interrupting the normal flow of things today."

Michael raised an eyebrow at them. "Waiting...?"

Nyanta pet Purrcy's head. "Purrcy had a night terror last night. Akatsuki-chan called for us and we managed to get her awake enough to go back to sleep, but we spent the rest of the night with Tetorō-kun. He's worried still."

Michael's eyes narrowed. "And so are you," he pointed out.

Nyanta acknowledged it. "It will lessen as we get the meowrning going," he said calmly.

Tetorō opened the door, still toweling his ear and hair. "Sorry to take so long," he said, "...and push everyone else's time back," he added, seeing Michael. He stepped out of the way so Michael could go in for his turn. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Michael answered him. "I caught them just before they were going to start making out. I think you're good." He gave Nyanta a look, then closed the door.

Nyanta flicked an ear in irritation, then released Purrcy as she stood up. "We were just making up," she said to Tetorō by way of explanation. "It was just a kiss."

Tetorō looked at her a little surprised, then patted her head with a smile. "That's good. I wasn't worried about that." His towel disappeared. "So, what are we making for breakfast?" he asked lightly.

Nyanta took Purrcy's hand in his paw and started them walking to the stairs. "I was thinking we should make pancakes, eggs, and bacon," he said casually. He knew it was her favorite breakfast from home.

Tetorō took hold of Purrcy's other arm and held it, like he would hold onto Naotsugu's. "That sounds great!" he answered back enthusiastically. "What part can I help with?"

They both looked at him. There wasn't an answer. Tetorō couldn't cook well enough yet for any of that. "Would you be willing to cut up some fruit this morning?" Purrcy finally asked him.

Tetorō's eyes lit up. "I'd love to," he answered.

"Okay, then. I'll teach you," Purrcy said kindly. They walked companionably down to the kitchen to begin the morning.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael wondered, not for the first time, why Purrcy had fallen for Nyanta. He found it rather difficult to fathom why a full-blooded American could settle for a Jap. Particularly one as silent as the guild chef. ...No, that wasn't it. Michael raised his head to let the rinse water wash the shampoo out of his hair. What he really wondered was why such a quiet Jap had been willing to let such a feisty, hot-tempered American woman talk him into accepting her and whatever her crazy plan was. On the outside the two of them seemed the quintessential stereotypes of their cultures. Him - quiet, even tempered, proper and polite. Her - wild, loud, overbearing almost to the point of rudeness. It was hard to see them as anything other than opposites. Sure...opposites attracted, but would that really work across cultures?

Michael scrubbed down, feeling it wake him up. He wondered if one or the other of them needed to be woken up before the rest of this day really happened. Taking this kind of step in this kind of place under these very strange circumstances - it wasn't a surprise Purrcy'd had a night terror. He blew out an unhappy breath. He wouldn't be able to do it, what they were doing. He was probably a decade younger than they were, but it was obvious they both had kids at home. Kids at home meant spouses, too. So far he'd left it alone. It wasn't his life to interfere with, but if she'd had a nightmare...was she really thinking straight, really consciously considering the full ramifications of what was going to happen next? Or was she just blindly escaping something? He wasn't sure he could, or even should, just stand by and let it happen. If she had problems at home, she'd only be adding to them, not to mention making more for Nyanta.

Of course, they could both be divorcees, in which case, more power to them to have found someone to give them the comfort and love missing from their lives, he supposed. He stood up for the final rinse and sighed. That was the problem with this place. You got to know someone pretty good for who the were on the inside, but you still didn't know enough not knowing their past, where they'd come from. That was the other reason he'd kept his mouth shut. But...a nightmare...a terror even. ...And she'd been unstable since returning anyway. They grounded pilots when they got this way because their judgment was too impaired to let them up in an expensive and deadly weapon. In Purrcy's case, she _was_ the deadly weapon.

He knew the guild was keeping her from exploding, and Shiroe had approved it, the wedding, but the rest of them didn't know why it was beneficial rather than neutral to harmful. Michael reached for his towel and began rubbing down quickly. The next set to need the bathroom were likely almost there now, since the rotation had changed. It wasn't really his business...but on the other hand...it really felt like it needed to be for him to not interfere when this afternoon came around. The guild before they'd come along was all Japanese, and they didn't understand Americans, not really. Maybe he should have done it before now, but as an American it was somehow his duty to make sure this wasn't a mistake before it happened. The question that begged was - how to go about 'interfering' without making a horrible mess of something that might just be beautiful and maybe even necessary. This was why people stayed out of other people's messes.

He opened the door to find four waiting on him. It wasn't because he took that long, it was because the pilots were all used to the locker-and-high-school-gym-style showers and kept to that habit in order for them to all get cleaned up properly and expeditiously. As a senior Naval officer, he got to go in alone as a privilege. He also didn't have to explain why the rotation got pushed. "We had a senior officer push us down. Tetorō went first today," he explained.

"We'll pass it down," came an answer and nod. Normally they had to wait for Tetorō to be done before they could clean the bathroom. The last set would be glad they could just clean up after themselves and be done.

"Sir," it was Brenner who shifted just a little uncomfortably, "this afternoon...?" Michael raised an eyebrow. As chaplain, Brenner probably was in the rights to ask about it. "Is it part of the politics, or the play?" As Michael considered his answer, Brenner stood up straighter and said a little more forcefully, "If they made covenants before God on Earth, are they standing right before Him now?" There were flickers of varying levels from the other three as well.

Michael stayed strongly relaxed, "Chappie, tell me something. ...How many of us have a right to know?"

The other three looked at each other, unsure, but Brenner considered it seriously. "I think," he said finally, slowly, "that those who are considered family need to know. It's the family that supports the couple who gets married, who witness to the wedding. Everyone else might know bits and pieces, and are witnesses to some degree, but...the family needs to know it's going to be okay, or needs to open their mouths and discourage it."

"My sister would have killed me for interfering in her relationship that way, Chappie," he replied calmly.

"And did the marriage work?" Brenner asked back softly.

"No."

Brenner nodded sadly. "My point. We all have gotten into this mindset that everyone should be left to do what they're going to do, but it doesn't work. We can't make people change, but we should warn them. Life would be better for all of us if we listened more to the advice of people who care and can see more than we can when we get myopic."

"Like Tetorō and I forcing a collar on her yesterday," Michael said dryly.

"Well...that was forcing, not advising, but I think you were worried about death's equivalent?" Brenner raised a wry eyebrow. "And marriage...well, it's life-long - a major commitment."

"They already know that," Michael answered.

Brenner paused, then said carefully, "Which is why it's even more important to make sure we can stand behind them or should wake them up. It's a very serious matter if they're already married at home."

Michael looked at his chaplain in silence for a bit, then nodded. "I'd already decided it. I'll bring it up."

Brenner relaxed and nodded. "Thank you, Sir."


	67. Purrcy's Final Solo Walk

Breakfast started out a rather quiet affair. That wasn't particularly odd, except that with this many people it only happened when there'd been a particularly late night that had everyone tired the next day. Touya had noticed, of course, Tetorō's early presence in the kitchen, and the tenderness in the way he and Nyanta had handled Purrcy and her lack of boisterousness, though she'd still been kind and welcoming as always. That had set the morning mood, though. There was a quiet tension in the Eagles, too, when they came down to set up for breakfast, and the ones in the kitchen had seemed oddly quiet as well. What Touya had passed on to Naotsugu before they sat down to eat was almost a warning.

Shiroe was carrying it, too. He'd been giving more glances to Purrcy than normal, with the look of trying to figure out her puzzle again mixed with concern. Akatsuki had come out with him and was sitting with the same atmosphere as the room: cool, calm, slightly tense. When Shiroe looked up at Naotsugu to begin the list of the day's activities, Naotsugu shook his head. Shiroe raised an eyebrow, then had his attention caught and his eyes slid around to Michael, at the far end of the table. Naotsugu turned to look at the third tank of the group, who normally kept his peace. He was looking directly into Shiroe's eyes, his whole body saying he was the one who was setting himself as the main defender of the morning. Naotsugu considered him, then looked back at Shiroe and nodded.

Shiroe looked surprised, then collected himself. In order to give himself time he inspected his plate one more time, made sure it was clean, drank from his cup, set it down while setting himself into a position of strength and defense at the same time, then looked back at Michael. "Michael, what's first this morning?" he asked calmly. Surprised heads turned to look down the head table at the Monk.

"I apologize for not bringing this up before today, but today's brought it up to the front." Michael started with. Shiroe nodded. Everyone understood that their lives as a guild moved rather fast sometimes. Sometimes you stood at the threshold of the next room and realized you hadn't thought of everything and needed to pause to make sure you were ready before you walked in. "I'm pretty sure you've already covered this base, but the rest of us need to be in the know, too, before we walk into this one, or we can't get behind it. It's too serious an issue to not understand from the get-go."

"What is it you, and everyone else, needs to know?" Shiroe asked. If it was brought up here, Michael felt it was whole-guild level, not just officer level.

Michael turned to Purrcy and Nyanta. "We all know you're married back home, and not to each other. Tell us why this is okay."

The room went very still. Purrcy's utensil had stopped and her eyes were wide and locked onto Michael. Nyanta had also gone very still. Slowly he looked up and into Michael's eyes. "At home, I am dead," he answered. "When I said goodbye to my wife and son at the hospital that evening, it was for the last time. I was playing _Elder Tales_ for the last time. When I fell asleep, they were going to remove me from life-support."

There was a clatter from the other side of the table and Minori's hands were at her mouth, tears coming into her eyes. The other three children were also looking stricken. Tetorō didn't look much better. Naotsugu gulped, trying to not let his own reaction show as much as possible. He certainly hadn't known, but he could see Shiroe had. He looked back at Michael. That seemed to satisfy him that much, but he was looking at Purrcy, waiting. Naotsugu looked back at her, too. She was sitting frozen, not knowing what to say.

"Purrcy," Michael said, "you manipulate and you run. We need to know if that's all it is. There are so many reasons for us to say no to this if your reason isn't good enough." He let the pressure off just a bit by looking down and sitting back a little. "My personal biggest worry is that there isn't a Japanese man alive who can handle the American wildcat you are. You'd be a handful for an American hellhound. But it also isn't right if you're just using it to escape." He looked at her again, judgmentally.

Purrcy took a deep breath, her ears going down unhappily. Tetorō and Nyanta both shifted and the room held its collective breath. Quietly Purrcy said, "I've had two years to think this through properly, Michael. I'm not using the marriage today as an escape. I used _Elder Tales_ to escape. The divorce papers are sitting on my desk waiting for me to sign, served to me the day before we were brought here, because he no longer believed me 'fit' to be the mother to his children, nor to be his wife. From the beginning, I was never able to meet his expectations and it was a mistake to marry him, but I didn't have the comprehension to understand it at first nor then the courage to leave. In this world, from your own words just now, I appear strong and willful. When I'm in that house, under that man, I am weak and powerless, unable to even open my mouth and when I do the very air swallows up my words and energy."

Purrcy's ears were now turned completely back and her eyes were nearly unseeing. "I'm already as dead there as Nyanta. I won't go back to being weak, silent, and suicidal. In this place, I will be strong and give Nyanta the support he needs to walk forward each day, and he has said he will teach me to be properly strong within myself again. I have not come to this day lightly, nor do I approach this afternoon with vapid rejoicing and flighty whims."

She turned away from Michael coolly. "And to address the other matter...Nyanta is a trained psychologist. I think he can handle anyone he wants to be able to handle just fine. I don't have any complaints to the contrary at the moment. Certainly having you and Tetorō around pick up any slack that might exist, though I suppose he might just kill you both if you try it again without letting him go first, particularly after this afternoon." She put food in her mouth and chewed on it, very obviously preventing herself from saying more.

Naotsugu swallowed. He was glad it was Michael who was standing in front of that boss. He would have taken heavy damage from those answers. It was bad enough to have taken the collateral damage. He looked at Nyanta. Nyanta was looking at Michael, and it was likely only Naotsugu and Shiroe knew what they were looking at, and maybe Purrcy since she'd already said it. Naotsugu turned and looked at Michael. Michael was considering the words he'd heard, his eyes on Purrcy, then they slipped to Nyanta. "This is real for the two of you."

Nyanta nodded, his eyes not leaving Michael. "From the beginning," he said softly, his most dangerous voice. Naotsugu shivered down his spine.

Michael sat back. "Anybody have any other questions or complaints?" he asked smoothly. "This is the time to let them out." Naotsugu blinked that Michael would have the audacity to open up the battle field to everyone else, as if calling in the rest of the team. He felt Purrcy's head come up and Nyanta stiffen. Worried, he looked over quickly as Purrcy stood.

Purrcy put her hand on Nyanta's shoulder briefly, giving him almost a quick smile, then she walked to stand in front of the tables of pilots. "It is right for the children to question the serious actions of their parents that will affect them, and for the concerned friend and ally to voice their reservations. I will listen." Nyanta blinked, then rose from his chair and walked to stand behind her, both to support her and to answer for himself as well. The men at those tables looked at each other, then began to say their piece.

Everyone at the officer's table who was Japanese looked at Michael, stunned. He smiled a small smile at them, a bit grimly perhaps. "I said it, didn't I?" he answered to them quietly. "She's American. As her American guardian, it's my responsibility to see that those things are addressed and understood."

"But...I already did?" Shiroe asked.

Michael shook his head. "She didn't have it firmly entrenched within herself until then. She needed - needs - to be able to defend it to others in order to be able to defend it to herself, and to her ghosts of the past." He paused, then leaned forward a bit. "It also needs to be defended right for the rest of us. We can't support them correctly, or at all, if we don't fully understand it. How can anyone follow someone who may or may not be being honest with themselves? It's important that we all believe in what they're doing as well, or understand that it's just play and politics. How we support them is different depending on the reasoning."

"And," he paused for some emphasis, "if it's really real, then it's all the more important. We spend too much of our time here viewing this as a game still and thinking about 'if we get home' or 'when we get home'. That doesn't fly for commitments like marriage for life - here or there. I may not have it right, but it seems to me that you all are habituated to just accepting what the adults say is going to happen and go along with it regardless. For us, that's not good enough."

Tetorō's fork went to the edge of his mouth. "Well, no, that's not really it. We know Shiroe's already made sure and we trust him. That's sufficient." He looked at Naotsugu from the corner of his eye. "I think it's the difference that we talked about before. Because each American is independent and casts their individual votes, they each have to have been heard and to hear for themselves. We're content to follow and trust the one who leads to have discovered it and taken care of it properly."

"Not that it hurts for us to hear it, too," Isuzu added. "We also like to know where things stand and how we're going to move forward. Even we will push to know things we feel we need to know to best support the path forward. Perhaps it's more a difference in which things matter to each culture."

Naotsugu nodded. That's what it felt like to him, too. It didn't hurt to hear what they'd said in their defense - except their pain was now everyone's pain - but the native Japanese hadn't needed to hear it, where it was obvious now that the Amercans did. Michael rubbed his chin, considering the point. Finally he nodded. "That would make sense. There have been times in the past you've all asked for clarifications we hadn't thought important for everyone, except in passing. I suppose this could be that in the reverse, though to us it's very important."

Shiroe scaled down from full battle alert to caution. "I can live with that. Each person even has things that are important to them that aren't to others. To have it express differently in disparate groups isn't too difficult to extrapolate." He sighed slightly, looking at the felinoid couple, "Though it does add one more layer of complexity to our guild that perhaps others don't have." He looked back mildly at Michael. "I'll expect you to continue to hold that position, then."

Michael relaxed slightly as well. "Roger, that," he said calmly. Nyanta and Purrcy returned to the main table shortly after. "CM/C?" Michael asked.

"No problems," came back the reply.

"Chappie?"

"Good to go."

Michael nodded, looking at Shiroe. "All set, then," he said calmly. Everyone else at the table relaxed, though perhaps there was still just a little bit of overall discomfort at the unexpected revelation of the differences between the groups.

Touya sighed. "I can't tell if it's like we all of a sudden have an entire group of older brothers, or like they're an entire ninja family that decided to swear fealty. They're so quiet most of the time then they suddenly spring up out of nowhere and demand something unexpected."

Michael smiled like all the men behind him were. "We're both, Touya, we're both. And we'll take ninja as a compliment." Akatsuki's eyes shone. She considered it one, too.

"That sounds like a very dangerous combination," Purrcy said. "A yakuza family that's had a ninja family attach to it. I can't imagine very many would be able to withstand that combination."

"Damn straight." No one knew where that came from, but suddenly everyone was laughing.

"Hah," Purrcy sighed as she recovered. She held out her free hand to Shiroe, the other holding Nyanta's paw tightly. Shiroe cautiously took her hand. She smiled at him. "It's good to know that there is strength in the house of Log Horizon. May it give you the wings to fly and to accomplish your goals, Shiroe."

He looked shyly at her. "Thank you, Hahaue. I'm looking forward to it."

She gave his hand a squeeze, then released him and sat back again to relax next to Nyanta. Shiroe turned to Naotsugu again, and this time he nodded. "Just waiting for orders," he said, like he said every morning that he hadn't already been given them. "And then I'll be standing in a tux this afternoon watching a good pair of friends get hitched." The smiles around the table this time were softer, and his own self felt content with how things stood this morning.

-:-:-:-:-

As they rose to leave the breakfast table, Purrcy was immediately flanked by waiting guards. Nyanta paused and pulled her to him. "Do mew remember what I said? At our last dinner before mew went to the moon?"

"Yes, Nyanta," she answered obediently. "I'll be there."

He studied her. "Don't run."

She shook her head slightly. "I won't." Her eyes looked soberly into his. Without looking away, she threw her arms around his chest. "I don't even want to leave your side today as it is. The last time they took me to Water Maple without you was traumatic."

Nyanta ran a paw down her cheek to her shoulder, then leaned in to whisper in her ear. "If mew want me, mew have to walk that gauntlet. Come beautifully regal, or mew'll sleep with Isuzu-chan tonight."

Purrcy's fur stood up on end and her breath caught. He lightly licked her cheek and gently pushed her to step away from her, then turned and walked into the kitchen without looking back. Purrcy stood frozen save for the tremors going through her until a bit of sound escaped - a short, quiet "mew". Her whiskers were stiffly standing out from her nose and her eyes were opened wide when she returned to herself. She took in a sudden breath and shivered from head to toe and her ears went from full forward to full back, though still upright. She took three deep breaths to center into the royal she was supposed to be this day, then turned to face her uniformed guards, hoping she could get fully settled by the time they arrived at Water Maple Manor.

She saw Michael first. He was looking at her rather severely, which wasn't what she was looking for. She quailed from him just ever so slightly and looked at Tetorō. He was looking at her soberly. She went with him anyway. Slipping her arm around his, she buried her head into his shoulder and shivered for three more breaths. When he moved slightly, as if to pull away, she held him tighter and immediately stopped shivering. "You'll help me today to be the Queen, Count Tetorō." It was an order. She lifted her head and the look she gave him was as severe as the look Michael was giving her.

Tetorō slipped his arm from her grip and bowed, his face still showing nothing. "Yes, Joō Heika." It was said with the cool detached voice of the aide he was. He gestured for her to move, but she paused just long enough to put her eyes on the other two guards waiting on her. Today it was Clocktower (known also by his placement in the squadron as M/MControl) and OciferJeff (known in the squadron as Armament and who's purposeful misspelling of his name made her OCD editing streak twitch). Her eyes went hard and turned to Michael. "There are only two," she accused him.

Michael bowed his head slightly. "The other two are already outside ensuring that your arrival in the street will be secure."

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Avionics and Electrical."

She pursed her lips. "I'm 'high Maintenance' today, am I?"

In a completely respectful tone he answered, "Always, Your Majesty."

Purrcy raised her nose and swept through the two men. Clocktower and OciferJeff turned and led her to the door. She readjusted her pace to allow them to be in the front, then took one more long deep breath and changed out her clothes to be proper "traveling" clothing for the day. The long skirt of a tightly woven wool was a golden brown and the sleeveless bodice matched it. The underblouse was a pine green with standard long sleeves so they wouldn't get in the way. On her feet were stockings and brown boots, and on her head was a tam of green with fine gold stripes.

"You'll keep the magic to a minimum today, Heika," Tetorō scolded mildly.

"Yes, Tetorō-dono," she answered calmly. The collar - a short necklace today - had briefly colored up to a green-yellow from the yellow-green that had been allowed as her normal resting maximum. She'd created the clothing on the spot to match her whims, but then, she usually did. It was easier than trying to carry a wardrobe around with her.

As they exited the building, Michael offered her his arm and she took it, needing his strength on the inside, which was still trembling. She couldn't get her heart to slow down, for all she had finally gotten the exterior to settle down. Her breath kept coming too fast as well, so having Michael to steady her walking helped. Since she didn't want him going cold, she did her best to overcome the internal wavering as quickly as possible, finally deciding external focus would be better. Her mind kept going to the night's potential nuptial activities, which was completely distracting her in a way that wasn't helpful at all. "Tetorō-dono, tell me the detailed itinerary as we go."

Respectfully he answered from her other side, "We'll arrive at Water Maple Manor approximately a half-hour before the other bridesmaids so that you have time to greet the Princess' family. Then we'll be in seclusion in her chambers for the time to prepare them and yourself for the wedding ceremony."

He'd taken a breath to continue, but her eyes had turned to pierce him. "If we're there until that long, when will the two of you change?"

He nodded in understanding. "We've been offered a secondary room to change in when the time is closer."

She sniffed. "Plan on allowing time for me to see you two are also properly inspected, then. I'll at least have that much, though I'd rather inspect all of the participants before it begins."

"Kokuō Heika has said he'll handle that himself," Tetorō answered calmly.

"Very well," she settled. Shiroe would likely be more stringent on them than she would. "Ah, and will he be by to inspect myself as well?"

"We'll arrive a half-hour early at the wedding location to wait in a bower. He'll come and inspect everyone at that time." Tetorō didn't sound too thrilled by the prospect, though he kept most of it out of his voice. Tetorō knew Shiroe was worse, too.

Purrcy nodded. "See that the ladies understand they must meet his perfect standards, then, before we begin."

"Yes, Heika," he answered quietly, but still calmly.

"The collar...it won't work as the crown. What do you intend for today?"

There was a pause as Tetorō inspected her. "I think earrings, but if it doesn't work then we may move it to bracelet."

Purrcy looked out of the corner of her eye at him. "Make it an anklet and add an internal visual link to it."

He looked back at her, confused. On her other side, Michael looked over and asked mildly, "The probationary house arrest monitor, is it?"

Purrcy tipped her head and Tetorō's face cleared, though he looked just a little sad. She ignored it. It was too late for him to regret what he'd already done. Her hold on Michael's arm did tighten for a moment, though and she had to take another deep breath to not become angry on top of everything else, and then it took letting the tail twitch in a spiral curl to not let it go to depression. Her ears twitched next and she scowled. "Really. It's too much all in one day. Are we going to have time to off-load some of this?" she demanded.

"Yes, Heika," Tetorō answered calmly. "There should be some time before the bridesmaids arrive for you to commiserate with the Princess."

She immediately settled down in relief. She wouldn't have been able to do it in front of Rieze, but with Princess Raynessia it was possible. Purrcy was a bit surprised when Tetorō settled a little more after she did. He must have been worried the Princess wasn't going to be sufficient. Purrcy wondered who'd thought of it, then looked around. "Akatsuki's coming later, too?" she asked.

Tetorō's ears turned a faint shade of pink. "Akatsuki-dono will come later with the ladies from Crescent Moon." She watched him and his eyes went to the ground. Finally he admitted, "She thought you could use the time with the Princess."

Purrcy mulled that one over. Akatsuki was sometimes surprisingly astute, but then she considered the Princess as a friend, so she would know things about Raynessia that would go a little deeper than most. Purrcy gave a brief nod. "I'm grateful," she said quietly. Tetorō didn't let it get him down too much after that, going back to aide, on alert but more relaxed finally. Purrcy looked at the guards in front of her and had to bite back a desire to tease them. She needed them to be strong too, but she didn't want to get into trouble. Instead she inspected their uniforms to see if they'd modified them in finer detail now that they could.

She clicked her tongue and made Michael stop, while glaring at the backs of the guards in front of her. He quietly called them back. Purrcy let go of his arm and motioned for OciferJeff to step closer to her. He raised an eyebrow, but stepped forward. She looked over the front of his uniform carefully. "When you're modifying the front, you have to remember to modify the back. If you can't get it right because it's on you, ask someone to inspect the back and tell you where." He flushed slightly and she motioned for him to turn around. He did so. "Watch me inside," she said and glanced at his partner, then dipped inside and swept all of the Eagles up to sit around them.

"Here," she lit up a seam, "and here. When you modify the front, you have to account for the changes that will pull or sag on the back." She fixed the code on OciferJeff's uniform so that it hung more smoothly. "Work in pairs so you get it right. OciferJeff, watch while Michael does Clocktower's so you understand, too." She waited for Michael to correct Clocktower's, though it took a few tries to get it just right. "If you don't like how it fits now, you have to modify front and back seams until the fit is right. Clothing isn't as simple as you think. There's a reason it's a crafter's work. Just because I bypassed the crafters for this, to get the higher stats and bonuses, that doesn't mean you don't have to work at it. That's why you have the code. It will teach you a finer hand than you've worked up to until now."

Clocktower blinked at her. "Is everything from you a lesson, Ma'am?" he asked, though politely.

"Yes," she answered back with practicality. "I much prefer complexity to simplicity. It saves time."

"That sounds rather backwards," Michael said wryly, "but for her it works."

"They weren't correct, and will have to spend time fixing it now last minute," Tetorō scolded. "How does that save time?"

Purrcy blinked at him. "It saves my time. If I can give them a test, and an education, at the same time as I give them a gift that protects them, I've done three things in one package that I don't have to think about again except to grade and correct. There's only one of me, you know. I'll know you've all learned a light touch when you can sneak up on me at night, inside. Then we might be able to finally graduate the lot of you." She paused and looked down and let a little swirl of chaos blow through them all. "Ah, though, you should be careful to not interrupt at a time the Consort would become angry during."

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" She dismissed them and returned, then made Michael turn around and let her inspect his backside.

When he turned back to look at her, he smiled. "It obviously didn't need modifications to begin with."

She sighed at him and held out her hand for his arm again. "You still aren't light enough yourself, though." She had to grab at the back seam of her bodice and rethread it magically. "And that will get you into a lot of trouble," she scolded.

"Always wanted to do it once, though," he said with calm mocking.

She clicked her tongue at him and turned her head away haughtily. "Shall I have Akatsuki introduce her knee to you? It will be safer than the alternative."

He flushed. "No, that's alright. I'll pass."

Tetorō looked like he was trying to decide if he was covering a laugh or horror. He finally rubbed his hand over his head and sighed. "If you'll say he passed the test, I won't have to tell Nyanta-san."

She sniffed. "Fine. Michael's gotten lighter, but it hardly counts as passing a test, since I watched him do it." She suddenly got serious. "Actually, both of you, you're ready for the next level. When can we meet? I'd like it to be very soon."

"Meaning you'd do it right now if we weren't already walking somewhere with a large goal in mind," Michael looked at her knowingly.

"Yes, of course, so put a better date and time on it so I can forget it until we get there," she agreed quickly.

Tetorō, the keeper of her schedule, looked at his internal copy of it, then passed a few options over to Michael. Michael paused, considering, then looked at Purrcy. "Can we have the guys sit and watch us so they can be learning at the same time?"

Purrcy paused. It had merit, but... "If we do it like we did the teaching before. They can see the general and lower level things, but there are specific things I'm not ready to let out to others just yet. Either we need to do them at a smaller time increment so they can't see it at all, or we'll have to move into a space that can't be monitored."

"We can do lock-boxes pretty good now," Tetorō said, "but we're not to smaller time increments yet." A little wrinkle was on his brow. Purrcy just glanced at him, but didn't say anything. She ignored Michael's speculative look.

Michael looked up at the sky when she wouldn't answer to it and considered, then picked a date and time that Tetorō put on her schedule. She tucked her notated thoughts away until the early morning of that date, when she would review her daily schedule.

-:-:-:-:-

Avionics and Electrical arrived behind their little group as they neared Water Maple, and Purrcy - surprisingly to all of them but perhaps Tetorō - relaxed even more, as if she'd been hunching her shoulders against the cold but now she had a coat on. They made note of that fact, deciding that perhaps six would be a better number to watch over her. That would give them four with her and two on hidden watch. They were actually still trying to figure out _why_ they were necessary, other than she liked to role-play. Having her relax like that made them wonder if there was an underlying insecurity, but not much else about her spoke to that.

The majority of the squadron was following her today, since they had to go that way anyway to make sure the wedding site was secure. Six had stayed at the guild hall to come with the King and Consort as their hidden guards, since they would have the majority of the officers of the guild with them openly. Two had been specifically assigned to watch over the bridesmaids who would be coming from Crescent Moon with Akatsuki. They liked Akatsuki quite a bit and she'd become the official unofficial mascot. And of course the fiancée of the guild CM/C for sure ranked high enough for an escort.

Given that Purrcy had swept them all up in the code realm to give them the quick lesson, then released them just as suddenly, they were also not quite sure why knowing she had that many with her that weren't seen wasn't enough to make her relax. Finally Life Support asked, on the sub-guild chat, "Is it just today, or is it normal?"

The list of observations to that time came back. "Likes to have her back covered." That was obvious from that morning, of course. "Looks for us if we get too far out, or less than about four." "Doesn't like this many, usually, but today seems different in that." They'd already learned things like how close they could get to her and how close she'd follow behind them. Figuring out her more detailed boundary lines became the next new study topic of the group.

-:-:-:-:-

As the first time Purrcy had been to Water Maple, two guards (Avionics and Electrical) stayed on the front door to review anyone who went in or out. An additional four staked out the other entrances and sections of the manor. The remainder went on to the wedding site. Clocktower and OciferJeff stood guard on the door to the receiving room while Tetorō and Michael stood with Purrcy as she perched on a chair to wait. Her ears and tail flicked lightly, but at the most on the exterior that appeared as excitement for her wedding day.

Duke Sergiad was the first one to arrive to welcome Purrcy to the manor. Purrcy rose to meet him, holding out both of her hands to takes his. She kissed both of his cheeks lightly. "Good Morning, Lord Sergiad. I hope you've been enjoying your time at the festival since I last saw you."

He was looking just a little stunned. "Oh, I'm sorry," she paused, blinking. "It's a common greeting between friends and close acquaintances where I'm from. I tend to fall into it when I'm particularly pleased to see someone. I won't again if it bothers you."

He pinked up slightly, releasing her hands, though one lingered long enough to press one of hers warmly. "No, no. I understand. I'm pleased to be able to greet you again as well. I enjoyed being able to visit with you and Lord Nyanta when we arrived. We've been greatly enjoying getting to see Akiba during its festival time. It's quite lively." His eyes sparkled.

Purrcy smiled back. "Yes, there is quite a bit of excitement in the air, isn't there? I'm afraid I've been quite affected by it myself, particularly today."

"Well," he smiled slightly, his eyes crinkling up, "I should think that today you're particularly so for your own personal reasons as well. We are quite looking forward to celebrating with you this afternoon."

"Thank you," Purrcy demurred, looking down properly. "It's been postponed quite long enough, I should think," she looked back up at him with a kind smile. "Ah! I was wondering, may we be given to know Rundelhaus Code's status these days? We'd rather not unexpectedly offend. We've become quite fond of him and his enthusiasm and he will be present as well, as part of the household."

Duke Sergiad's face went a bit guarded and his eyes measured and calculated. Purrcy kept her look completely neutral and expectant for the answer to her question. "Are you fully aware of his family's status?" Sergiad asked.

"He's preferred to keep silent on the matter," Purrcy said honestly. "High breeding can't be hid, however. It's obvious he comes from a noble house."

Sergiad almost sighed and he considered how to answer. "How is he when he's here?" the Duke finally asked.

"He's conscientious about not giving offense, takes pride in his heritage as a Person of the Land, and works very hard to be obedient to Shiroe. He gets along well with the children of the guild who've taken him in as one of them and see he is both kept in line and is supported. They would defend him as a friend, if it was necessary. What I've been able to gather from his outside activities is that he is most concerned that all People of the Land are protected by whatever efforts he can provide from where he has found himself. However, he hasn't allowed that desire to cause him to betray the Adventurers either, feeling a kinship with them now as well to some degree, though he also finds them often unfathomable and confusing. I've tried to give him a little bit more of an anchoring in what he knew from before and he seems to have forgiven me for interfering in the guild when I first arrived, bringing some small chaos with me." Purrcy watched the Duke's reactions to her open assessment. He seemed to find some relief from the report.

"Well, ...I don't think there would be any unnecessary concern to having him present at your wedding when he's part of the household," Sergiad allowed. He looked at her pointedly. "It hasn't been brought up before now."

"No," Purrcy said calmly, "I shouldn't be surprised. The guild has been lacking a mother until now. It is my place to be concerned. I've felt it must be, that is, because I can tell that the guild wouldn't take kindly to having an adopted son be taken from them at this point. It would be best to understand earlier than later what the intent was in allowing him to come to Akiba. You don't have to tell me, if you don't wish to, but you should at least be clear with Shiroe so that he understands and can inform you of his decision in the matter. Then he can let me know to what extent my position needs to be in the matter as well."

"You'll accept him to that extent?" Sergiad asked cautiously.

"They already have, Lord Sergiad. Adventurers love easily, particularly the children of their comrades. You lost him to them when he died the first time. If you, or any member of his family, wish to have him back, it will be a hard battle to win, I think." She looked at him significantly, then stepped around him to greet Raynessia, extending her hands and giving her the kisses on the cheek as well, as she'd done once before. "Good morning, Princess. Thank you for greeting me this morning. I was hoping you and I might have a few moments alone before the rest arrive, if you're willing?"

"Certainly, Lady Purrcy," Raynessia answered, a bit of a light coming to her eyes. She turned and curtsied. "Grandfather. Good morning."

"Good morning, Raynessia," he answered kindly.

Purrcy gestured to Michael. "I don't believe you've had the opportunity to meet the captain of the guard. This is Commander Michael. He'll be with us today as well as Lord Tetorō."

"Pleased to meet you," Raynessia curtsied slightly to Michael, to be polite in front of her Grandfather, and Michael bowed properly to her.

"It's a pleasure to meet the Princess Raynessia," Michael said politely. He turned and bowed to Sergiad. "It's also a pleasure to meet the Duke Maihama."

"Sir Michael comes to us as one of the few knighted Adventurers from our home, Lord Sergiad," Purrcy said calmly. "We're fortunate that he is willing to lend us his strength and the strength of his household and has joined with Log Horizon."

Sergiad looked at Purrcy with a slightly confused look. "But you said that nobility is not considered in your homeland?"

Purrcy smiled benignly, "I also said we are _all_ princes and princesses. Due to his own efforts and the acclaim of those who knew him well, he was awarded specific honors and recognition." She waved a hand. "I'm sorry we're still very confusing, but I did want to let you understand at least that one point - we do have a 'real' knight in our midst." She smiled at Michael, who soberly tipped his head at her, 'thanking' her for the recognition. She turned back to Raynessia, looking at her expectantly.

Raynessia curtsied to her grandfather again. "Grandfather, we'll take our leave now." Sergiad tipped his head in acceptance.

"It was good to see you again this morning, Sergiad," Purrcy said politely to him and followed Raynessia out the door, Tetorō and Michael following her out and the other two guards falling in as well. She really wished she could stay as a fly on the wall and watch his expression when it relaxed.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy sank down onto the foot of Raynessia's bed, already tired. "Raynessia, can I borrow one of your pairs of flannel pajamas and take a nap before everyone gets here? I'll give you permission to join me." It was almost a whine and Purrcy's ears fell in embarrassment. Raynessia's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry to have to make you get dressed up just to come and get me, when we'll all be changing again shortly. There wasn't anything for it, though. I knew your grandfather would come see me first." She looked up at Raynessia and said in a rather dead tone. "I hope I've left him with enough new thoughts to occupy him until the wedding. He does seem to enjoy gnawing on puzzles."

Raynessia blinked, then hid a smile behind her hand. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Purrcy. "You certainly do present to him many new things to consider in a way he finds appealing and comprehensible," Raynessia admitted.

Elissa moved and Purrcy's eyes caught the movement and her gaze pierced the maid. "Pull out the flannels, one pair for each of us, or I shall really completely fall apart before everyone gets here."

Elissa stood stunned for a moment, her eyes not quite glancing towards Tetorō and Michael who had both entered the room and were standing on watch inside, Clocktower and OciferJeff having stayed outside the room to guard the door there. Purrcy turned her head away from the two guards, a look of distaste on her face. "Begging your pardon, ma'am, but...it isn't really proper," Elissa said.

"Regardless," Purrcy said flatly. "These won't be the clothes we end up in anyway. It's only our friends who are coming, and they already know neither of us like to dress up. Why can't I at least attempt to be relaxed somewhat before I must be on such high display I'm likely to not even remember the event?"

Raynessia blinked, but looked like she completely understood. She looked at Elissa. "Surely it can't hurt for at least a little while this morning," she agreed. In the face of both noblewomen, Elissa finally relented and went to the wardrobe to collect two sets of pajamas, sighing to herself on the way. Raynessia reached out a hand and put it on Purrcy's hand. "For all you want to change, though, your walking outfit is very handsome on you. Is the necklace a gift from your Lord Husband?"

Purrcy wrinkled her nose in distaste. "No." She waved at the two standing on the wall. "It's a limitation imposed by my guards as of yesterday. It isn't really a necklace, but a collar meant to restrain." Her ears fell and she rose to follow Elissa to the privacy of the changing screen.

Raynessia followed after her, slightly wringing her hands. When they were behind it, Raynessia whispered, "Can they do that?" Her eyes were worried.

Purrcy put away her clothing and Elissa and Raynessia were both slightly distracted to see she really was mostly cat underneath. Purrcy gestured to Elissa, who started and selected out one article of clothing and held it up for Purrcy to put on. When she got to the pants, she stopped and blinked in consternation. Purrcy patted her head. "I'm the 'magical cat' remember? Just put it on." She looked at Raynessia. "You remember how much magic I did last time with everyone?" Raynessia nodded. "Watch the necklace," she said and stepped into the pant legs.

When they were pulled up, she wrote then cast the tail spell that let her tail out the back and that would be temporary for only as long as she wore the pajamas. The gems went from yellow-green to yellow, then subsided back again. She grimaced at Raynessia. "They've decided I do too much magic for my own good just as a matter of course and have put the collar on so they can tell when and how much I'm doing." Elissa pursed her lips and looked like she agreed it was likely a necessity. Raynessia looked sympathetic, however.

As Elissa moved to undress Raynessia again, looking rather unhappy to be wasting her original effort, Raynessia moved to let her in a bored fashion. "I'm afraid I'm rather distracted by it, actually," Purrcy admitted. "Tetorō rather rudely told me to run, then I was chased to ground by all of Sir Michael's squires - all twenty-three of them - and my own fiancée, and had it forced on me by the two of them without them even asking if I'd be willing to run or accept it." Raynessia looked properly horrified. Purrcy drooped. "They didn't even ask me politely beforehand to please not be quite so busy. Surely it would have been proper form to have at least asked first?"

Raynessia sighed. "I'm sure that would have been proper," she agreed sympathetically. Then timidly she added, "But...aren't you a little...difficult?"

Purrcy quirked up one side of her mouth. "I'm sure I'm more than a little difficult, Raynessia, but still..." Elissa had finished dressing Raynessia and Purrcy grabbed the Princess' hand and pulled her back out to the bed and into the middle of it. When the Princess was sitting, Purrcy lay down and put her head on Raynessia's lap. "Would you be willing to pet me for a bit?" she asked. "Maybe by the time the others come I'll be done feeling sorry for myself, that way. I really am having a hard time facing the rest of today, when marriage is yet another restraint, for all I love Nyanta."

Raynessia hesitantly raised a hand and put it to Purrcy's head. At the softness of her fur, Raynessia slowly pet her head, then gradually became lost in the soothing pattern. "Do...do you really like this?" she finally asked.

"Mhm," Purrcy nodded, already sleepy. "The cat in our world very much likes to be pet, and I enjoy it. It's very soothing, both to the cat and to the one petting it. The others won't be surprised to see us, but if you're uncomfortable with it, you can stop when they come." Raynessia didn't answer to it, merely continued to think her own non-thoughts and pet Purrcy's head. Purrcy fell into a light cat nap, glad to have a moment to not-think herself, and to be with another female who understood such things. She'd really had too much 'male' in her life lately.


	68. Perfectionistic Preparations

Rieze looked at the guards on the main door of Water Maple Manor. She sighed to herself. Shiroe was still keeping Purrcy on a short leash. She suspected today it was an even shorter one. Given Purrcy's insane capabilities, it made sense, but couldn't a woman at least enjoy her one big day? "Have the dresses arrived yet?" she asked the one on the left.

"No. They're about to leave Shopping District 8, however, and should be on the way soon," came the prompt, polite reply. She nodded and went on into the house and announced herself to the butler, who bowed and led her towards Raynessia's rooms.

She didn't need to wonder why the guards knew things that were going on at a far distance from the manor. They were as good a team as her own, since she'd trained them. Of course, they came trained, so had been a joy to have on the field. They were closed mouth about where they came from, other than Minami. She still wasn't quite sure if they followed Purrcy or Shiroe, but it was obvious they followed HackerM1, aka Michael, and guarded Purrcy more than anyone else. At least it was obvious now that Purrcy was back in town. Things were still going on that weren't quite fathomable, but now that they'd come out with the truth of Purrcy's background, or at least what portion they were willing to share so far, it made a little more sense.

The bi-city council meeting had gone very different from what she'd expected, actually. They'd talked meta-level. More than peace negotiations or increasing personal relationships, it had turned out to be a discussion of Shiroe's favorite sort. That being, how they were going to help all Adventurers return home. He'd first gotten the buy-in that everyone, in the main, should at least have the right to go home, and that finding that way home should have a very high precedence of effort applied to it. From there, he hyper-focused everyone on how they could get it going at a better rate and what each city was going to do to help.

Akiba was going to focus on getting the gates functional since they had the most Hackers as it turned out. Minami would focus on the communications towers, since they had the greater number of Communication Mages. The research departments of both would work together on the fairy rings, given they were the most difficult to calculate. There had been some discussion of mutual function and free trade at the end, but it had been more of a side note than Rieze had expected. More just an agreement they would continue to work together like they'd started out with the recent changes in Minami.

The opening part of the meeting had been the most eye-opening locally, though swept under the rug quickly by the rest of the meeting. Having Shiroe and Purrcy finally explain that Purrcy had been the 'boss' Vengeful Spirit had been a slight relief. Purrcy had been properly grateful to everyone, too. To have a borrowed body seemed a little strange and how that body had managed to look just like her was a bit of a puzzle, but really, the brain had to puzzle out so many things about Purrcy that particular one was shunted to the side in favor of the the ones that mattered more. It was also relieving that the Purrcy who had come to Water Maple before was still the one who would be here again. Dean of the Academy was slightly surprising, though somehow the thought made one resigned. They'd already known she was a Hacker, though the Class TechnoMage was new and unusual, and so far unexplained. Seeing her true level was also disconcerting. Those were probably things that everyone was most concerned about. Learning she was old hadn't been all that much a surprise, really, and no one was holding it against her. Knowing she was an ally to Shiroe, and therefore the rest of them, was relieving. It was always nice to know that the big guns were on their side. (Game Moderators had always been considered 'big guns' when they were needed.)

How Nakalnad could have even had the words pass his mouth that Purrcy was "controllable" was astounding. It had to be because he had no idea of what her true self was like. Shiroe's defense of her, or perhaps rather of the city as a whole, had been fierce, but not unwarranted. For all Purrcy kept saying that they all needed to work together, the guildmasters still secretly believed she could take down pretty powerful enemies on her own. They'd all, by tacit agreement, decided to see how Shiroe used her in his schemes and plans. The one thing that hadn't been talked about at that meeting, also by mutual agreement, was the fact she'd come out as the owner of Venture Enterprises at the fashion show, even if she and Shiroe hadn't confirmed it themselves. Akaneya, Woodstock, and Calasin had already confirmed it in personal conversations around the edges. In the end, Marielle said it best after the joint council meeting - outside of Purrcy's hearing, of course. "I _knew_ she was a strict Hahaue. But, still...she cares and is doing her best for all of the Adventurers, just like Shiroe-kun."

Thinking these thoughts, Rieze only slightly raised an eyebrow at Purrcy's guards on Raynessia's door. They knocked and let her into the large bedroom. She scanned the room with her usual dungeon instincts, and was immediately just a little wary. Tetorō was standing formally on the wall - not normal. HackerM1 was also. Very much not normal, though perhaps understandably formal given the day's activities. It was seeing Purrcy sleeping in Raynessia's lap, being pet, that was the most incomprehensible. The Caretaker, the Game Moderator of Yamato, and strongest Adventurer known to two Adventurer city's councils being the lap cat of a young Person of the Land princess was really not acceptable was it? She looked back at Tetorō, the incomprehension on her face.

Tetorō's face fell to look both sorrowful and apologetic and he left the wall to approach Rieze. "Shiroe demands perfection today, Rieze. From the beginning to the end. We brought her early so she could relax before it began. The festival's been hard for her."

Rieze remembered that Purrcy'd said the last time that she was a solo who rarely came into town and it made sense. In a city with twice the number of people in it as usual, and a corresponding higher level of activity - and whenever she'd come out she'd been made the center of attention, including today - it did make sense she'd need to have a bit of a time out. "Perfection, huh?" Rieze asked. "When has she not ever given that for him?"

Tetorō shook his head. "Never has she wavered in public. We hope she can hold it through today as well."

Rieze looked back over. "But...why Raynessia? Why not you?"

Tetorō sighed unhappily. "I had to be one who was severe with her yesterday, so I'm not acceptable today. And today I have to stay strong so she can stay strong." He looked pleadingly at Rieze. "I'll be counting on all of you today."

Rieze sighed just a little. "Is she really as spoiled as she sounds?"

"Yes," Tetorō answered apologetically. "But she understands it and tries her hardest. Likely she'll wilt in the face of Shiroe if he even furrows his brow today."

Rieze nodded her head. "We'll handle it, Tetorō."

"Thank you," he said relieved and moved to the bed. "Purrcy, they're arriving," he said formally and politely, yet slightly forcefully. "It's time to ready yourself to receive them." Purrcy's ear flicked.

Raynessia looked up and saw Rieze and froze slightly. "Ah, welcome Rieze," she said humbly. "I'm sorry I didn't come for you." Purrcy's eyes were suddenly wide open and she lifted her head, then pushed up to sitting.

Rieze moved to stand closer to the bed and Tetorō returned to the wall. "No, I let myself in as usual and just asked the butler to bring me back. The clothes are on their way and the others should be arriving soon as well." Her eyes went to the necklace around Purrcy's neck, which didn't go with the flannel pajamas at all. "Spending time escaping from the responsibilities?" she asked both princesses.

Raynessia flushed in embarrassment, but Purrcy moved smoothly to the edge of the bed. "Of course. Moments it's even possible are so infrequent that sometimes they have to be made." Completely unapologetic, as usual.

Rieze sighed to herself. Sometimes Raynessia's humility was annoying, but at moments like this it was almost preferable. It was even more frustrating that she couldn't fault Purrcy for taking the time to herself. "Well, when it's used to good effect to be able to be proficient when responsibility should properly be shouldered, then I suppose one can't complain too strenuously."

Purrcy rose to her feet gracefully, her tail moving in a slow wave. "Thank you, Rieze," she said quietly, then moved towards the changing screen. "What would be most appropriate to wear while we're working and not yet ready for the dress?" she asked.

Rieze looked at her calmly. "Nothing. We're going to brush you down completely until you shine from top to bottom, then we'll go from there." She had to hold firm against Purrcy's baleful silent glare, but she did anyway until Purrcy nodded once and disappeared behind the changing screen. She came back out wearing nothing but her fur only a minute later, though she had a delicate anklet with yellow-green stones on it instead of a necklace. Rieze could only assume she'd been told she had to wear it that day. The women all gave bare acknowledgement of the men in the room, then ignored them from then on.

Elissa stepped into the room from another door. "The bath is drawn, Lady Rieze."

"Very good," Rieze answered and motioned for Purrcy to walk before her. Elissa motioned for Raynessia and together they all went into the bathroom. Rieze pulled Purrcy to a stool and made her sit on it. Then together she and Elissa proceeded to wash Purrcy until she smelled only of perfumed soaps and the water ran clear. Raynessia practiced being a princess by keeping the small talk going for Purrcy to keep her attention on other things.

When they were done, they took to rubbing Purrcy down vigorously with towels until her fur was only lightly damp. Then they took her back out into the main bedroom. The others had arrived and set up a chair in the middle of the room by that time, with tools of the feminine trade scattered all around them. Nazuna, Marielle, and Henrietta all welcomed Purrcy, and Rieze was pleased Purrcy just as nearly warmly welcomed them in return. Akatsuki looked at Purrcy very closely, then glanced at Tetorō, then Rieze, then nodded her head and settled down herself to watch. This would be lesson time for her. Raynessia sat next to Akatsuki, since she also wouldn't be of any help in preparing the bride.

Elissa held up an oval brush that slipped over her hand with a strap to hold it into place. "Princess Raynessia wishes to gift the brush set to the Lady Purrcy," she said politely. She didn't say it was a modification of a horse curry brush, since that would have been rude, but it was perhaps obvious enough. She walked over and began to brush Purrcy's fur from the top and worked her way down. Henrietta spelled her out for the middle third and Marielle took the lower third. There was a lot of fur to get shiny after all. The tail was tricky as it kept wanting free. Nazuna finally took over for that, understanding completely the problem. Her lighter hand helped to settle the tail and Purrcy's unhappy ears, but Purrcy didn't complain even once.

Rieze walked to stand in front of Purrcy. She folded her arms and frowned. "It's a bit difficult, since we can't do up your hair, or put on the normal makeup. You don't even have lips to rouge. We've been thinking hard about what to do. Normally we'd paint the face, hands and arms to be as white as possible, but you've already been a ghost once. We don't need to try to replicate it today. The other hard part is we usually charcoal outline the eyes rather heavily, but you're already black in coloring. It's just not easy to put makeup on a cat, in the end. I've been experimenting with white powder, though, and I think I've worked out an acceptable solution. Please close your eyes and hold still. Try not to breathe in too much of the dust."

She pulled out the first of her tools and the powder from her item list, opened the powder, and dipped her large makeup brush into it and began lightly powdering Purrcy's face. She'd been practicing on some of the other felinoids in her guild until she found a combination of light over the dark she liked. The full white had looked so much like a mask that it really hadn't worked as far as beauty went. Humans had the hair as a division to frame the face. Short hair felinoids like Purrcy had a whole head that had to be dealt with, only the ears on top of the face being a boundary. So, the whole head got powdered, all the way down the neck to the shoulders, front, and back. The powder itself wasn't going to turn her white, either. On the black Purrcy that would have been very difficult. Instead she was going for a sparkling silvery grey that accentuated rather than made her look ancient with age - though that wouldn't have been all bad either since it could have looked distinguishing. Rieze just didn't want to offend Nyanta with a perceived slight against his and her ages.

Putting the powder finally on Purrcy herself was interesting. Her face and head weren't completely black, after all. She was speckled with the gold, white, and grey, though the white was very understated on the face. Rieze focused most of the powder on the darker areas and tried for a smooth transition of tones to the face and head as a whole until it looked like she was just veiled, without having her head covered with actual fabric. "Really, your swirls are wasted on you, Purrcy," she finally said as she moved from the neck to the first arm and hand. "They can hardly be seen when you're wearing clothing."

"I could go without," Purrcy said calmly. The other ladies laughed, but Rieze frowned slightly.

"I can see you doing it," Rieze scolded. "That would be the scandal of the year, you know." Purrcy didn't answer, continuing to hold still for the brush that Rieze continued to dab into the container of powder then onto her fur. As Rieze moved to the other arm, there was a knock at the door again. She glanced up to see the staff of Shopping District 8 enter. Two had been sent. One was the mistress of the crafters, Mei-Mao, who was wearing a gold scarf tied to her upper arm, and the other was her first assistant. Rieze nodded to them and went back to her work. The rest of the room welcomed them in and led them to where they should set up for their own work.

That was the cue for the rest of them to get started on their own preparations, though they'd been working on their hair, makeup, and chatting before. Rieze completed her work to paint blackly around Purrcy's eyes, making the gold of her eyes stand out even more, then stepped back to look critically at her handiwork. With a few brush strokes she corrected a few places in the powder to even them out, then finally nodded. She cast a brief spell to hold all the powder in place and put the powder and brush away. "Very nicely done," Mei-Mao's alto voice sounded in her ear.

Rieze nodded her thanks. "She's all yours now. I've got my own work to do." She turned away and went to her spot in the room and put her chair and vanity from her own room in place, having put them into her item list for this time as well. She was grateful when Elissa appeared behind her and picked up her brush. She must have finished Raynessia while Rieze was working, according to their predetermined plan. Her hands were tired after all the powdering work and she rested them, knowing she'd be doing more makeup work later. The People of the Land didn't know how to do it in quite the same way as the Adventurers were used to, so it would be up to her to do her own and those, like Akatsuki, who were hopeless on their own. Rieze was able to watch Purrcy being dressed from her mirror.

Mei-Mao had pulled out the first layer, a shift of white that had a low neckline and barely any sleeve at all to speak of and that ended at mid-calf. Rieze was grateful Mei-Mao was careful in how it went over Purrcy's head so it didn't brush off any powder, though the spell should be sufficient. Purrcy was also careful in how her arms went through the sleeves. Mei-Mao carefully made sure the tail was settled correctly, murmuring a question to Purrcy that was just as quietly answered to the affirmative. Stockings were next, sheer and also white. Purrcy stepped into them precisely as Mei-Mao pulled them onto her feet and up her slender legs. Rieze realized that even felinoid stockings would have to be of different construction than human ones.

Over the shift went another lightweight under-dress of radiant white. This one was low in the neck with an embroidered band across the top of it that continued around the shoulders to the back. The sleeves were a little wider, to cover the shoulders a bit. The band was red and embroidered with gold and white, and the upper part of the bodice of the under-dress was embroidered with red and gold on the white. The lower part was beaded with pearlescent clear and gold beads, fine red lines joining them to the front of the skirt of the under-dress. To the Japanese, red was the traditional color of good luck for the joining in marriage, and it was always included in any wedding attire, particularly for the bride. Cranes were also included for the same reason, but there weren't any on Purrcy's under-dress.

Over the under-dress went the outer dress. It was similar to a kimono in style, but instead of wrapping all the way around to fall to the side and hide the under-dress, it connected with a few hooks at the center front just under breast height. The skirt fell away from that point to either side to train behind Purrcy more than three feet and show the embroidery and beading of the skirt of the under-dress. The outer dress was made of very heavy white satin and was heavily embroidered with gold and red cranes and swirls that imitated Purrcy's gold swirls. The bodice was a V-neck showing the band and embroidery along the top of the under-dress. The sleeves were nearly as long as Purrcy was tall, showing high nobility. There was an inner red band to the sleeves and the edging of the dress, that made it look like an inner kimono layer, since the more layers the more noble as well. They'd decided to go with mock multiple layers given the limited amount of time they'd originally had to make it. Rieze figured Purrcy would prefer it anyway since she had the fur to keep her warm enough.

Elissa finished with Rieze's hair and Rieze thanked her gratefully, then pulled out her makeup kit and began to apply her own make up first. That had been the other agreement, that she would get ready first on makeup. Her clothing would probably be last, though. She glanced over as Mei-Mao moved to fasten the obi around Purrcy's middle in the back. It covered her in a wide band from under the breast level to the waist. It was also white with red and gold embroidery, and edged in red. Rieze had missed the ties and firming board that went under the obi, but she knew they were there. Shiroe had been right. Purrcy did look really good in the kimono style, her slender figure well suited for it.

By the time Rieze was done with her makeup, Purrcy was sitting primly on her chair again. She was having the final piece of the dress fitted on her - a wide heavy collar that stood out over her shoulders and a piece that rose up to frame the exposed 'v' of her neck and her face. The embroidery and coloring on it matched the over dress. Rieze nodded. That was more Chinese, like the drape of the front of the dress was.

Rieze looked around at everyone else. They were mostly dressed and hair done now. She gestured to Akatsuki and the diminutive woman carefully made her way over to sit gingerly on the chair that Rieze had turned around enough she could work. It didn't take long to get Akatsuki ready. She was already of fine and fair features. It was just a matter of making the beautiful more outstanding. When she was done, Rieze stepped back and then nodded. "Shiroe will be well pleased to keep his eyes on you today," she said with a small smile.

Akatsuki turned to look into the vanity mirror and blinked. "It hardly looks like me," she commented softly. "It's beautiful, thank you, Rieze."

Rieze waved a hand. "You're easy. Go keep Purrcy company and reassure her, too. She's starting to slump just a little." She called the next lady over - Henrietta who wasn't quite so easy. Rieze glanced at Princess Raynessia. Elissa had done well enough with her, and now was working on the younger ladies of Log Horizon. Rieze hadn't seen them come in, but knew they had come just a bit later than the older ladies. Mei-Mao's assistant had dressed the bridesmaids, had just finished getting the younger girls dressed, and was now heading over to help Mei-Mao with the final parts of Purrcy's bridal outfit.

Rieze paused and all the ladies in the room watched as the dressers had Purrcy stand again. A pair of iridescent butterfly-fairy wings appeared and they carefully attached them to the back of the dress. When they were happy, they took the wings back off. Apparently that was a later addition they'd wanted to check first. They had Purrcy sit again and Mei-Mao stood in front of Purrcy and her assistant stood behind. The assistant held out her hands to either side of Purrcy's head and Mei-Mao went into her item list and selected an item.

In the assistant's hands appeared a large ornate headdress, made of gold. There were long delicate gold chains hanging down from the wide gold side bars of the headdress. There were shorter delicate chains hanging down over her face, so Purrcy's face was framed. Flowers had been placed in front of and under Purrcy's ears and all around her head. When the headdress was settled on her head, the flowers were accents for the red and gold flowers in the headdress. Purrcy's look went slightly pained and Akatsuki's hand went to rest lightly on Purrcy's shoulder. "Is it too heavy?" Akatsuki asked kindly.

"Of course it is," Purrcy said, her voice slightly pained as well. "I'm sure he wanted it to be as heavy as possible." There was a pause, then the pain on her face lifted somewhat and she straightened a little more, though it looked like it was still heavy.

Rieze shook her head. "It's as much a punishment as anything, then?"

Akatsuki looked at Rieze solemnly, with eyes that said too much that wasn't understood, but she didn't say anything out loud. The look kept the rest of them silent.

"You may sit for now, Miss Purrcy. We'll put the wings back on just before we leave the house. You won't be able to sit at all once they're on."

Purrcy sighed slightly in relief. She looked up at Mei-Mao. "Thank you very much for all your hard work, Mei-Mao. I'm sorry it was so difficult to deal with us all."

Mei-Mao looked at her solemnly, then nodded once. "See you wear it well until the course is finished."

"Yes, Ma'am," Purrcy said meekly, sitting up straight since she couldn't do any less. She carefully turned her head to look at Akatsuki with a bit of a fond look, then turned her head the other way. "Ah, can I test it to see how far I can move before it unbalances?"

"Yes, that would be a good idea," Mei-Mao allowed.

As Purrcy stood and moved around the room, Rieze realized she'd been given the Japanese platform shoes. She frowned. "Mei-Mao. Switch those out for the Chinese slippers. She'll never make it to the wedding site let alone up the stairs to the stand in those. She's not native Japanese to have practiced in them already."

Mei-Mao motioned for Purrcy to sit again and knelt to trade out the wooden platforms for embroidered slippers, then moved out of the way again. When Purrcy rose again, she was certainly happier for the footwear change.

Rieze turned to Henrietta again and applied the makeup deftly and as quickly as she could while keeping it perfect to her. Then it was Marielle, who only needed final touches to reach perfection, since she knew how to do the base layers and had done them already. Thankfully, Nazuna didn't need make up any more than Purrcy would have. Rieze finally turned to Tetorō. He was dressed now as well, in clothing that matched the other bridesmaids but was a pants and jacket set. HackerM1 was also dressed in his dark grey pinstripe suit with gold shirt to match the bridesmaids dresses.

Rieze motioned Tetorō over to sit in her chair next. He raised an eyebrow, but obediently walked over and sat. "Do I really need it now?" he asked her, a little dubiously.

"Yes. You're going to be on stage, and with all the ladies. Leave it to me," she said with confidence.

"Very well," he answered with his old pride and flair. "I have always wanted to have Rieze make me stunningly beautiful, even once."

She smiled at him encouragingly, then set her hand to his face. She was a little regretful she couldn't have a heavier hand on his female face, but it was still beautiful and the more difficult lighter hand challenged her in a way she found exhilarating. When she was done, she stepped back and took a critical look, then let him look in the mirror. Tetorō very carefully looked at the job she'd done, with eyes just as critical as hers were. When he took in the whole effect, he sighed. "We have to do the hair, too, if we're going to do that, though you've done a fine job, Rieze, thank you."

She nodded and looked over to Elissa. The maid walked over, just a little unsure. Carefully she studied Tetorō, then finally nodded and took up her brush and hot iron. When she was done, a young lordling looked back at them, hair curled with just enough curl to still be beautifully masculine without being effeminate ringlets. Rieze set them with the same setting spell she'd used on Purrcy's powder and nodded her approval. "Ah! No tears, Tetorō," she scolded. "You'll ruin all the effort I went to."

He tried hard and pulled them back, but she swept in with a cloth to dab at his eyes anyway to make sure the dark lashes didn't drip onto his cheeks and destroy the effect. "Well...I wonder what I'll do if I cry there?" he asked.

Rieze sighed and set his makeup, too. "I've taken care of it," she said to him dryly, "but you should still try to not."

He nodded obediently. "Thank you, Rieze, Elissa."

"Okay, let's see all five of you lined up together and make sure the overall effect is sufficient," Rieze ordered. Vanities and chairs disappeared and the rest stepped back to look at Purrcy, Tetorō, Akatsuki, Marielle, and Henrietta in their line. Rieze looked them over individually, then as a whole. "Well. I'd like a picture of that," she finally said. "I'd say it's half the royal family, actually."

Tetorō closed his eyes and Akatsuki looked slightly pained. Purrcy stayed completely calm and still, but Rieze's heart suddenly held still for just a moment. Marielle finally sighed. "We aren't done yet," she said apologetically. The four standing with Purrcy gathered into a huddle and when they returned to standing with her, they were all in their beautiful clothing now accentuated with sparkling necklaces, earrings...and delicate filigree coronets, though Tetorō's was a bit more masculine, and he had a ring on his hand rather than the necklace.

Rieze looked at Purrcy accusingly. "Is it Shiroe's fault?"

"Well, considering that he set the tone with 'Fairy Queen', yes. When I saw the crown I had to wear, I wasn't going to be the only one up there wearing one. At least theirs won't give them a headache and neck strain." Purrcy's air was one of annoyed superiority.

Nazuna looked at Purrcy suspiciously. "And since he set that tone, there's no way you let the men get away without them, did you?"

"Of course not," Purrcy sniffed, "but I wonder if he'll have the courage to wear his? People who can dish out but not take it annoy me."

There was a sigh from Minori. Rieze looked to her and was surprised to see that she and the other two young female members of the "family" also had necklaces and earrings, but instead of coronets had bracelets to match. She was glad to see they'd escaped the embarrassment. It was going to be a difficult thing for them to be in front of other Adventurers dressed that way, even if it was cos-play. Shiroe sometimes did this - went a little too far.

Out of the corner of her eye Rieze looked at Raynessia and Elissa. They'd already bought it, sadly. She wondered how they were going to explain this one. The cool, closed expression on Mei-Mao's face surprised her. The craftsperson knew something. As Rieze watched, she pulled a bit on the scarf on her arm, sliding the fabric through her hand, though when she noticed she was doing it, she startled and put her hand down quickly. Rieze blinked and hoped her first impression was actually wrong.

Carefully she inspected HackerM1. He had in an earring that looked like one of the magic earrings that warned of impending treachery. A ring that looked like it matched Tetorō's was on his hand. She couldn't see anything else, but just on the off chance, she called up the status screen and scanned for any magic items. The earring and ring both had statuses. ...And so did the cuff-links. She scanned the bridesmaids and all their jewelry did as well.

Purrcy had gifted a lot of people with some pretty pricey stuff. Actual magic items sold for three times the costume jewelry, if not ten times depending on the bonuses. Her eyes slipped to Purrcy, just because she was looking and there wasn't anything particular about her jewelry. She was about to close the status window when a blip caught her eyes. She scanned lower and there was one more status listed. _Tetorō's Monitoring Collar. Worn by Purrcy to keep her from working herself to death. Plus 30 damage every ten seconds over the allowed maximum working limit. Status Effects: Unconscious and HP Reduction to 1/2 HP for any work over the allowed maximum emergency working limit, lasting for a minimum of two hours_.

Rieze snapped her status screen closed and tried to look as casual as possible. She'd just seen something she really shouldn't have. She turned away from the group, remembering what she'd seen when she arrived. It made a lot more sense now. So did what Tetorō had said. He'd not only been severe, he'd punished her strongly. Rieze wondered if Purrcy would ever forgive him, and her heart hurt for them both. She was worried that Shiroe was walking that same path with going this far in Purrcy's wedding garb. It wouldn't be good for them if Purrcy decided she was unloved and only a burden.

Rieze paused by Purrcy on her way to the changing screen to put her own clothing on finally. She reached down and gently took the felinoid's hand. "You're beautiful today, Purrcy," she said kindly. "You're a lovely bride and they'll only make you look even more radiant. I hope you can be happy after today as well."

Purrcy looked up into her eyes, mindful of the balance of her headdress, and smiled. "Thank you, Rieze, and thank you for helping me also. I'll do my best."

Rieze shook her head. "You're always doing your best, Purrcy. Really. You don't need to work quite so hard all the time. We'll love you anyway. That's what friends are for."

Purrcy's look softened. "Thank you, Rieze," she answered quietly, "it's nice to have friends." The hand she was holding tightened briefly, then let go. Rieze almost reluctantly left her and continued to go change. She had to stifle a sniff as she carefully pulled off her clothing and put on her new outfit. It was one of Purrcy's newer designs. She ran her hand down it, enjoying the feminine structure and feel. Then she pasted on a smile and exited the hiding place to face the others again. She accepted their praise kindly, turning so they could see it also. She gave an extra wink to Purrcy who winked back in their shared secret, and then she let it out and everyone praised Purrcy. That made Rieze feel a little better.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta stood at the outer edge of the stand, looking over the gathering guests. There weren't many yet that had seated themselves. There was still over a half-hour before the ceremony would begin, but there was a thing he wanted to see. From this height he would be able to see the view he needed to see to move another step forward. His tail twitched occasionally, and his ears were pricked forward to hear, if possible.

Truth be told, he was just a little worried. He'd almost crossed a line he would rather not have, and he needed to know, though he wouldn't be able to tell from the view he was looking for, if it had been too much. Purrcy had been just a little too clingy that morning and wouldn't have moved on her own well. He'd understood this rather instinctively and almost without thought had called on a rather sadistic method to get her to anyway. It was his first time to test her that way and he wasn't sure on their wedding morning it had been the wisest choice. For all she seemed to react positively to his sadistic streak, it had only ever been lightly done, hinted at. This had been overt.

It wasn't like he really delighted in it either. The national statistic was that fully one-third of married women in Japan were abused by their husbands after marriage and his female clients, those with the courage and permission to come, had almost one hundred percent fallen into that category. He suspected that for international marriages, of which a Japanese male - English speaking international female were the smallest minority, the percentage of abuse was much higher. He didn't really have the desire to become one of those statistics, even though he was probably capable of it merely by training. He'd only ever used it before online to get persistent unwanted attention to go away.

He already knew Purrcy required tenderness to thrive, but she also demanded the balance of a firm hand. He'd spent the morning in the kitchen being romantic to lift her spirits from the night terror, so it was possible that much balanced out the more severe parting, but finding the proper balance was going to take some careful experimentation and time. He was worried he'd picked the wrong time, even if it was for perhaps the right reasons. He wouldn't really know until that night, but if he'd been very wrong...she wouldn't show up at all. If he'd only been merely wrong, he'd have some repair to do over the next several days. His whiskers drooped. He'd most likely made himself more work than he wanted, really, and all the worrying in the in-between time wasn't helping him.

Really, being married was such hard work. It's not like Purrcy had ever been easy from the beginning, though she had often been a comfort to have by his side. It was perhaps a bit late to admit it, but he'd been enjoying his quiet life that had little of difficulty in it. He had to wonder how much of his sadistic streak that morning had also been irritation at having to give it up in a real way today. He might be quiet and appear easygoing on the outside, but even he had to deal with the stress of the responsibilities placed on him.

At the moment, partially as his rebellion against his looming responsibilities, he was only wearing the tuxedo. He'd flatly refused Shiroe's suggestion he also wear more traditional clothing. He would at least give Purrcy that one dignity - of wearing what she'd requested he wear. The one nod he'd given to tradition was to have his pocket handkerchief be red - the color of weddings and luck. Akatsuki had gifted him with it, and it had a white crane embroidered on the point of it that stuck up out of the pocket. He rather liked it, actually.

Nyanta took a deep breath, trying to settle again. He had no idea what Purrcy was really going to look like. Like most weddings, he'd not been allowed to see the bridal clothing ahead of time. He was hoping that hadn't scared Purrcy off, too. He knew Shiroe's personal sadistic streak quite well, and it almost always leaned to the overwhelming aspect of nearly-inappropriate clothing that couldn't be complained about because it worked so extremely well. If the ladies showed up in their coronets he wasn't going to let Shiroe get off with leaving his crown packed. Without even seeing the wedding dress, he knew Shiroe deserved the punishment Purrcy had assigned him. She wouldn't have done it otherwise.

Suddenly he saw motion in the direction he was looking that was beyond the normal for guests to arrive. The Eagles were clearing a pathway to the small tent that had been set up in the back for the women to wait the final minutes in. Nyanta's eyes focused sharply on the place he would see them enter the formal garden that had been chosen for the ceremony. His tail stilled in anticipation and his ears pointed directly at that place. He registered Naotsugu arriving next to him to look also but ignored him.

Two black uniformed guards, their swords at their sides, entered his field of view. Behind them came Serera, Isuzu, and Minori, side by side and looking beautiful. Behind them came two young children from Crescent Moon League each carrying the front poles of a covering that was an opaque but lightweight white fabric decorated with cherry blossoms. On the far side of it walked Michael in his suit as if he escorted brides every day, and on the near side Tetorō walked somewhat tensely, with one fist clenched, though his face was calm and his head was held proudly. He was as handsome as a lordling of the People of the Land, with curls in his hair and his coronet on his head. Then came two more children from Crescent Moon carrying the back poles of the covering, and behind them the bridesmaids - Akatsuki, Marielle, and Henrietta. All of them were also in their coronets, looking as lovely as any courtiers of a fairy queen. They all appeared calm, though Marielle perhaps had her usual excitement at participating in a fun event. Behind them were Rieze, Princess Raynessia, and Nazuna.

Nyanta couldn't see anything of what was under the canopy, because the fabric fell all the way to the ground, but nothing in everyone else said Purrcy had run. In particular he looked at Nazuna. The fox-tail's tail was relaxed and gave a happy flick every now and then and her ears turned to listen to the crowd that was commenting pleasantly as their parade passed by. There was a shifting on Nyanta's other side and he realized Soujirou was there, reacting to Nazuna, perhaps. Surely Naotsugu was spell bound by Marielle and if Shiroe was watching at all, Akatsuki ought to have commanded his attention. It was frustrating to Nyanta he was the only one who didn't get to see his partner yet, and for a second he wanted to dash over and rip the covering away so he could see with his own eyes she was there. Then Tetorō's head turned and his lips moved. Nyanta relaxed slightly. Tetorō had talked to her, so she must be there.

He followed the canopy with his eyes until it disappeared into the small tent with the retinue. Because he still had his eyes on that place, he saw when Rieze turned and looked over the crowd to the stand, then scanned their little group. His heart stopped at the look she gave him just before entering the tent last. Rieze was worried. ...And Tetorō was tense, and Michael was holding firmly strong and calm in the face of the walk. Something wasn't quite right. There was motion on the other side of the tent that hadn't reached it yet and his cat eyes pierced through the crowd to see the source of it. Shiroe was walking to the tent.

"Shiroe-ichi. Walk cautiously. Don't make her run. The signs aren't good." Nyanta tried hard to keep his sudden panic out of his voice.

There was a pause, then quietly, "Are they bad?"

"No, but things are off." He didn't want to admit that much, but the younger man would be angry and overreact if he wasn't given the honest answer. "Mew'll have to see her eyes to know more than what I can see from the others."

There was another pause, then, "Nyanta-san, I'll walk carefully. I don't want to be the cause of troubles on your important day."

Nyanta closed his eyes and hoped. At least Shiroe understood that much. As dryly as he could, he said, "I'd apurreciate it."

Naotsugu tugged on Nyanta's sleeve. "Come on, you've seen what you're going to get to see. Let's finish getting you ready so you aren't the late one." Nyanta allowed himself to be led off the stand and to the place behind it where they were getting ready. First were the earrings. The cuff-links were already on as part of putting on the tuxedos. Nyanta handed Naotsugu his crown and allowed the larger man to settle it on his head centered properly. Then he repaid the favor to set Naotsugu's coronet correctly. Shouryuu handed his to Naotsugu and Naotsugu settled it on his head, turning it slightly to be centered as well.

Soujirou looked between them with a bemused expression. "And does Shiroe-sempai have one also?" he finally asked.

"Yes," Nyanta answered calmly. "I'm sorry mew don't, but I believe it's because it wouldn't be in period."

Soujirou shook his head. "No it wouldn't, but I did receive this which is." He pointed to the medallion hanging at his waist on a chain that joined the two sides of his overcoat.

Nyanta looked at it's status and nodded. "That would be meowr gift, yes." He reached for his gifted rapiers and belt and buckled them on, slipping the belt under the tails of his tuxedo, making sure to not catch the jacket in it. Naotsugu stepped up to help him by holding the tails out of the way until the belt was properly buckled.

"You're crown's different," Soujirou commented. "That's rather impressive, actually."

Nyanta spared him a glance to see he was looking with that expression that said he was looking at his status screen. "Yes," he said shortly. "Shiroe-ichi's is also different, though not like this one."

"So...why?" Soujirou asked, shifting to rest his hand on his double katanas.

Naotsugu snorted. "Because Shiroe said 'fairy queen' and then went and let Purrcy see what that meant. She refuses to go up as the only one with a crazy hat on her head."

Nyanta looked up with raised eyewhiskers at that comment. He'd known she was wearing something, but to have it called that... "We'll be making sure Shiroe-ichi wears his today as well, or I shall be displeased," Nyanta commented quietly. "If the ladies will wear theirs, he'll wear his."

Naotsugu sighed. "You know he's not pleased, right?"

"If they'll fight in public, then that is their's to attend to," Nyanta said without sympathy. "But they won't run from it either when they've brought the rest of us into it. If he'll remove from her head the monstrosity he's chosen, then we may all rest our own heads in relief and he can be free from his own burden."

"Well, it's hard to argue against that point," Naotsugu agreed.

Shouryuu nodded. He also didn't look too pleased to be in a coronet. "Is there a reason Crescent Moon has to be involved to this degree?" he asked.

Nyanta looked up at him, and Naotsugu stared at him. He was looking a bit confused. Nyanta shifted his weight back and put a paw on the guard of his rapier. "Surely, Shouryuu-kun, mew understand by now." Shouryuu looked at him blankly. "The relationship between the two guilds?"

Shouryuu blinked and shook his head. Soujirou sighed and helped him out. "Crescent Moon is the bullied nerd-in-glasses who has to obey the prince of the school, Log Horizon," he explained it in school terms. "Sometimes it's a relationship of beneficial elitism, and sometimes it's just pure painful bullying. We all see it, you know. If Log Horizon has decided Crescent Moon must also be humiliated because it's being made to, then you've got no choice but to pretend like it's completely normal."

Shouryuu blinked again. "It's humiliating? I thought it was just uncomfortable."

Soujirou nodded and looked sympathetic. "Of course you did."

Nyanta pierced Soujirou with a look. "If mew think it's humiliating for the rest of us, mew don't understand, Souji-kun. Please take a closer look when we're all standing together."

"Remember, the Councilor never does anything without a purpose," Naotsugu said in warning. "If he's truly humiliated by his hat, we'll go hatless...but it won't happen."

Soujirou's eyebrow raised and he looked between them all again. Nyanta and Naotsugu looked back soberly. Shouryuu looked at the two of them, then pursed his lips in that familiar gesture of refusal to speak the secrets of Log Horizon. Finally Soujirou shook his head. "I really hope he hasn't slipped and gone daft this time. I guess I'll be glad I'm not included the full extent again, though it's small consolation. I keep being brought to the precipice, you know."

"Sorry," Naotsugu said humbly and promptly, but they couldn't relieve him any more than that.

Nyanta raised an eyebrow then looked down at his rapiers again to settle them. "She's been protecting mew from the beginning, mew know."

Soujirou looked slightly puzzled, then looked down at his own clothing. "Oh. This. Right." He sighed. "Is she protecting young Touya for some reason, then, too?"

Nyanta shook his head. "Using him as the excuse to protect mew."

"Oh," Soujirou nodded in understanding. He tipped his head. "This is a rather complex game, isn't it?"

"It isn't," Naotsugu answered, now adjusting his own belt and sword, drawing another look from Soujirou since it wasn't a Guardian's style of sword. Naotsugu looked up at him still as sober as before. "It's a dungeon, and it's the most difficult one we'll likely face."

"This level?" Soujirou asked.

"Fifth. We're just beginning it, and you all need to come along in order for us to clear it," Naotsugu said calmly.

Soujirou paused, then nodded. "I remember he said that."

Naotsugu nodded. "We're helping you lot to come along is all. It's broad, wide, and will take a long time, this level."

"Tetorō says it's a two-layer level," came a voice from behind Nyanta and Naotsugu. They turned to look at Shiroe with raised eyebrows. "Actually I say we have another level after this one and he says it's the last one, so we've compromised that it's a combination two-layer before we reach the boss."

"Those are long levels," Soujirou commented.

Shiroe merely nodded, then turned to look at Nyanta. "She's fine, if as nervous as you. Rieze pulled me aside and asked about her and Tetorō. I think she noticed the collar's data points. She's sharp like that, you know."

Nyanta relaxed and nodded. "She'll have noticed it along with the other things, then, and be worried about the rest of us as well. Did mew explain it to her?"

Shiroe paused, then said coolly, "No." Without showing anything on his face, he held out his hands in front of him, then passed his crown to Naotsugu. Naotsugu carefully set it on Shiroe's head. Once it was done, Shiroe did sigh slightly. "At least it goes with the position I'm standing in today," he quipped, though without humor.

Soujirou stared at the king's crown, the most costume-jewelry head piece in the area at the moment. "If that's what she's making you wear, I'm not really sure I want to see what you've made her wear," he finally said in almost awe. "If this war is going to continue, I hope you'll count me out." Shiroe turned away. "Shiroe-sempai? ...Shiroe?" Soujirou begged, but was not given relief and his face fell, stricken and sorrowful in self-pity.

Nyanta and Naotsugu took Soujirou by either arm. "I told mew. _She's_ protecting mew," Nyanta said quietly.

Soujirou slumped and allowed himself to be led to their place of waiting to enter the stage. "Well...at least someone is...I think," he muttered to himself. Shouryuu also slumped slightly in agreement, as if he completely understood but wished he also had someone protecting him and Crescent Moon.


	69. First Akiba Wedding

The guests were gathered, waiting in their seats. The councilors and guildmasters of Akiba were in the second row. The Cowen family and ministers of Minami, minus the princess ambassador, were in the third row, and the remainder of the guests were set behind them as they would. At the appointed time, Shiroe led the men from their place in the shadows of the stage up the steps to arrive at the center of the stage, looking out over the assembled guests. He'd taken his deep breath before stepping foot on the stairs and now he worked at completely ignoring his own appearance and the looks on the faces of the people in front of him.

Nyanta took his place to Shiroe's left. Naotsugu stood next to him, then Soujirou, then Shouryuu. Shiroe looked over to the small pavilion and the guard nodded. Touya, escorting Minori properly this time, left from the pavilion and walked a stately pace to their seats in the front row. They were followed at a respectable distance by Rudy escorting Isuzu. Behind them came a blushing Serera with one of the Royal Guards as her escort. When they were seated, the guard bowing and leaving Serera with her friends, Princess Raynessia was escorted out on the arm of another guard. Behind her came Rieze, then Nazuna, also each escorted by uniformed guards. As the guards left the ladies in the front row, they returned to add themselves to the double row of honor guards waiting at the pavilion. When they were in place, they formally marched forward until they were standing at attention, forming a lined pathway leading up to the stairs the ladies would ascend.

When the guards were in place, Henrietta walked out of the pavilion carrying a single rose, trying for grace and getting at least to poised. At the proper timing Marielle followed her out, also carrying a rose and smiling her happy smile, though it was a tad reserved for the solemn occasion. Akatsuki was third and Shiroe's breath was taken away again. She was the most feminine he'd ever seen her, even going so far as to be in the bridesmaid's dress that was golden in color rather than black. Her black hair was stunningly curled and piled on her head and the makeup only further pointed out her natural understated beauty. He'd barely been able to look at her when he'd inspected everyone and given them final instructions, though he had very carefully complimented her on her beauty so that she didn't misunderstand and think he was displeased.

Really, he missed Tetorō coming out for watching Akatsuki walk onto the stage, but when Tetorō arrived nearly in front of him, Shiroe returned to the present. He had to admit, they'd all done a marvelous job of presenting themselves, and even Tetorō had nothing that could be faulted about him. His rose was in his pocket, rather than in his hands and his eyes were bright. Shiroe hoped he made it through the ceremony before he let everyone know he'd been put in makeup, too. Shiroe thought it worked well but might be rather disastrous for Tetorō's reputation with the other Adventurers if they knew.

The Royal Guard's leader for the day, Lieutenant Commander Reed, called out an order and all of the Royal Guard drew their swords and held them in a formal upright position. The second order was called and they formed a sword archway, crossing swords over the corridor they lined. This part hadn't been rehearsed before with all of them, as the swords themselves were new since the rehearsal, but Shiroe suspected they'd practiced it all the same.

There was movement from the pavilion as the assistants from Crescent Moon parted the doorway to reveal Purrcy on Michael's arm. Shiroe looked at Nyanta. The felinoid had gone very still and was inspecting his wife, judging what Shiroe had done, he was sure. Shiroe was actually pleased with how it had come out. It had all the elements he'd been looking for. A heavy crown that made her position obvious and met his own requirement to spite her for making it a requirement in the first place, clothing that met her severe beauty and role as Hahaue, as well as more subtly told others that here was a ruler in her own right, and the beautiful wings that brought to mind her sphinx wings for those that knew of them, pointing towards her wisdom and role in the dungeons she was bringing them to face. It was also the point of confusion and protection for those who weren't supposed to understand his underlying real meaning to all of the 'pomp and circumstance' they were wearing and 'playing'.

When Nyanta seemed to relax enough to just enjoy the view of his wife, Shiroe glanced at her and Michael to time their pace. They were just entering the sword archway. Shiroe turned his gaze to the front rows of guests. Rieze looked like she was tasting sour lemon, looking at the full gathering in front of her. She obviously understood the message. Woodstock seemed sadly resigned. Shiroe had gone the full direction that guildmaster had been afraid he was going to go. Akaneya was still trying to figure it out, but looked close to understanding. Ains was calculating, also trying to get the full story. Calasin was sitting back, his poker merchant's face on. Michitaka was in a similar state, only his tapping finger giving away anything at all. Isaac had gone from bored to intrigued, and Roderick was looking crestfallen. He'd be feeling about the same as Soujirou, then. Soujirou had already moved from almost unsurprised surprise to calm neutrality as his protection. Marielle only ever had to be her sunny self, and she was being just that for Purrcy, who likely needed to see a friendly face to help her up the stairs.

Nakalnad was frowning slightly, but Kazuhiko was looking calm. He might not know what was going on, but he seemed willing to trust both Shiroe and Purrcy sufficiently to not be too concerned today. KR was watching Purrcy anxiously, but not really caring to read too deeply at the moment. That was fine. The other new ministry members weren't getting it yet, but that's because they didn't know Shiroe's past history. They'd get it when they needed to. Shiroe had just enough time to look at Duke Sergiad before Michael and Purrcy arrived in front of him. The Duke looked like he'd just taken the cat's cream and enjoyed it immensely and was purring to himself. Shiroe sighed in relief. He'd won that battle quickly thanks to Purrcy's hard work. Now to see where it led.

Michael bowed to Shiroe, who nodded, then bowed to Nyanta, who bowed back. He released Purrcy from his arm and walked off the stage as Reed called for the swords of the arch to be returned to their sheaths.

Shiroe took a breath, then opened his mouth and began. "We are gathered here together today to witness the joining of Purrcy and Nyanta in the bonds of matrimony, the first Adventurers of Akiba to marry. To take this step in this place that is not our home, when there are friends and family dear to us that were left behind, and whom we desire to return to, is a bittersweet moment. We mourn that they cannot be with us, while at the same time are grateful for the friends and companions we do have here with us."

"To come here suddenly from Earth was to be stolen from everything we knew until that time, and our memories of it hold us, keep us standing strong on the face of Theldesia. We treasure that past which anchors us because of hope and love. Love that reaches out to us, present or not, and pushes us forward, telling us we can do this - we can keep walking with purpose. That past must be acknowledged properly so that we can see to move forward."

"Humans must continue to walk forward, or on the inside we die. Most of us will fight that kind of death. If we don't pay attention we'll approach it wrongly - with hatred, anger, and despair. We've seen those examples and they don't give us the hope for the happiness and love that we need. Like we hold onto the things of the past to give us hope to keep moving forward, we look for things to hold onto now because we want to believe not just that we'll find happiness, but that the happiness we do find won't be taken from us again."

"The right way to walk forward into the future with a companion is in the bonds of marriage. Marriage, a solemn commitment for life, is right and proper. The family is the basic unit of the fabric of society. It is the thread that holds society and all of us together. The two threads bound together - husband and wife - are stronger than the individual. Strong enough to hold together each other and other individuals until they are ready to begin their own weaving."

"When marriage is faced with proper honor to the past that brought the couple together, and with proper determination to stay together into the future, together they can find - and even create - the hope and love they need, ...even in this new land we're strangers in. A simple commitment to continue forward together but not to lose the past in the process is an acceptable way to find hope and love in the present and into the future."

The words of his scolding, and his charge, mingled with the words of comfort from his best friend had formed the basis of his ceremony for his friends. As he repeated them, out loud for the first time in the hearing of others, he wondered again if they would really understand. The People of the Land surely wouldn't, but just how many of the Adventurers really would?

Shiroe looked at his friends and surrogate parents standing before him. "Have you properly faced your pasts together, telling each other truthfully everything so that there will be no regrets in the future? Do you properly respect each other's hope and love contained in those pasts so that you can move forward freely together without reservation?" He waited for them both to answer in the affirmative. Motioning them to join hands, he tied the red cord Purrcy had given him around their joined hands, binding them together.

"Do you, Nyanta, commit to tenderly care for Purrcy as your wife from this time forward, nothing reserved, to be her strength and comfort, to respect her past as you hold your own sacred, to work with her to make memories now and into the future that will continue to bring both of you hope and help you both remember that love holds us together: individually, as a couple, and as a society?"

Nyanta looked at him solemnly. "I do."

"Do you, Purrcy, commit to tenderly care for Nyanta as your husband from this time forward, nothing reserved, to be his strength and comfort, to respect his past as you hold your own sacred, to work with him to make memories now and into the future that will continue to bring both of you hope and help you both remember that love holds us together: individually, as a couple, and as a society?"

Purrcy dipped her head slightly. "I do." The red cord glowed then slowly dissolved into the air.

Shiroe put his hand on the contract on the table between them. "Then sign this contract stating the same, making those promises binding."

Nyanta picked up the pen and signed it. He handed the pen to Purrcy and she also signed it. Purrcy handed the pen to Shiroe and he also signed it as the witness. It rose up off the table a few inches, glowed with a light that included all three of them, then disappeared.

"Rings have been used to show the world the commitment we make to our spouses that we have covenanted to share our unending days together. If you have rings, please exchange them now."

Purrcy held out her hand and two golden rings appeared in it. Shiroe and Nyanta both recognized them as the earring and one of the rings used to house the spirits that were returned to the Adventurer Tree of Life. Purrcy picked up the earring and handed the ring to Shiroe. He took it and held it for her. Purrcy turned to Nyanta. He lifted his paw and as they watched, it transformed into a perfectly formed hand. Purrcy paused in surprise with an intake of breath. Her hand gently took Nyanta's in a caress that made Shiroe blush to watch. She had to swallow a few times before she could speak her words. As she slipped the earring-become-ring on Nyanta's left ring finger, she said, "With this ring, I thee wed," her voice catching at the end.

Nyanta gently turned his hand to hold Purrcy's left and held out his right, also now a hand, to accept the second ring from Shiroe. His voice was kind as he said the same words as he slipped the ring on her left ring finger. Shiroe could see Purrcy shivering with tears as she lifted Nyanta's hand to her lips to kiss it. Nyanta caressed her hand with a thumb and pulled it back down to hold it at waist height as if escorting her, then turned to Shiroe, a smile in his eyes.

Shiroe cleared his throat lightly. "From this time forth you are husband and wife. Be wise, make happy memories, love well." He paused, then smiled. "You may kiss the bride." Nyanta tenderly took Purrcy in his arms and they kissed long (though not too long) to the whistles of many who had come to support them. When they finally parted, Shiroe nodded and they turned towards the gathered throng. "I present to you Nyanta and Purrcy, the First married Adventurers of Akiba. Please take care of them." The assembly clapped their congratulations kindly.

Nyanta and Purrcy walked down off the stand and over to the waiting members of the guild and tenderly greeted each one. The bridesmaids and groomsmen followed them off the stand, Shiroe going down with Henrietta. As Shiroe watched the first row being greeted, he realized he was getting jealous. Shaking his head, he remembered what Naotsugu had told him and he stepped into place as well so that when they returned to greet the guildmasters, they had to greet him first. He demanded his hugs. "Congratulations, Nyanta. Please continue to make many happy memories at Log Horizon so I can share them with you."

"Of course, Shiroe-ichi," he said quietly. "Thank mew."

"My pleasure." Nyanta let him go and Shiroe took Purrcy in his arms. "I love you, Hahaue." He had to blink back the tears that had threatened the whole time they'd been standing up front for the ceremony. "Please...," he couldn't go on and the tears wouldn't be denied.

"It's okay," she said softly, stroking the back of his head, petting him to comfort him. "Weddings are one of the places we're supposed to cry. Thank you so much. ...I will, I promise."

When Shiroe had recovered enough - and he tried not to go too long since there were others waiting to greet the bride and groom - he let Purrcy go and looked at Nyanta. "She's yours now, Nyanta. Take good care of her."

Nyanta looked at him solemnly. "I will. I purromise." He looked over to Purrcy and reached for her, taking her in his arm. The both of them looked at Shiroe with great compassion and love and he was overwhelmed again.

He bowed and stepped aside to allow them to greet the guildmasters. A warm hand slipped into his and he looked to see Akatsuki standing by his side, looking up at him. She reached up and wiped his cheek. He tried to smile for her but it wouldn't come. She led him to an empty chair. Gathering up her skirts she climbed up on it and put her arms around his neck and held him. He held her in return, grateful for her presence, grateful she was willing to let him cry even when he felt very awkward about it.

-:-:-:-:-

When all the guests had been greeted and directed to the celebration area, Nyanta and Purrcy, joined by their wedding party, processed to the celebration area. There, they took the time to taste the cakes the children had made for them so many months before, but had been kept preserved by Adventurer magic until this day. They expressed gratitude to all their friends and guild family members, and only smiled silently when asked anything remotely close to a political question.

When Isuzu pulled out her lute and began to play, Nyanta fulfilled his promise to Purrcy and led her out to dance. Isuzu kept it a stately waltz for Purrcy's sake, given her dress and headdress. She continued to play the common ones known in the game, which were the only ones the People of the Land knew, so that they could dance also. When Duke Sergiad asked if he could dance with Purrcy, Princess Raynessia offered to dance with Nyanta and the newlyweds accepted. When Nyanta received back a trembling wife, he held her closely and asked if the Duke had asked particularly difficult questions. "No, Nyanta. That was the closest I'll ever come to dancing with my father on my wedding night," she replied. He held her closely during the next dance to comfort her, understanding her grief and gratitude.

They also allowed Shiroe and Akatsuki to cut in on a dance. When they returned again, Purrcy looked at Akatsuki. "Thank you, dear. That was the closest I'll come to dancing with my own son." She had to stop, then she smiled. "Though I wish I could also dance with you. You have a grace that makes one want to watch you dance for hours. Shiroe doesn't need us to fill in when you're both excellent dancers in your own right. Please continue to dance together." She embraced Akatsuki, then stepped back to Nyanta and they watched the younger couple walk off a little embarrassed.

Purrcy returned from dancing with Naotsugu with a smile on her face, delighted by the Guardian's understated grace and calming yet friendly conversation. Nyanta himself had felt uplifted by Marielle's cheer and smiling face. As the afternoon of dancing wore on, Nyanta carefully made sure he got in enough dances with Purrcy to not feel jealous. There were more men than women around, after all. It would be harder for him to have a partner every time. Still, she began to refuse the dances, choosing instead to have them sit out to talk with the people who came to visit.

When Michael and Tetorō walked up, though, Nyanta knew he'd have to restrain himself. The three of them owed her. Tetorō went first, his own pain no longer hidden so well any more. "Heika," he said quietly, bowing to Purrcy. "Can I be forgiven?"

Purrcy considered him quietly for a moment. "Tetorō, I forgave you yesterday. Please, forgive yourself and smile for me again."

Tetorō swallowed and tears came to his eyes. Purrcy looked at him a long moment, then sighed and opened her arms. He fled into them and held her, trying hard to not cry black onto her white. Michael handed him a handkerchief and he held it to his eyes so he didn't get his makeup on her as he cried his sorrow and relief out. When he was recovered enough, he invited Purrcy to dance with him and she and Nyanta allowed it, Michael staying to keep Nyanta company. Rieze slipped up to stand with them. "So, is it okay now?" she asked eyeing the two of them.

Nyanta tipped his head in positive answer, "However there still remains two of us who also need to apologize," he said quietly.

"It seems rather severe," Rieze observed. "Was it so necessary?"

Nyanta looked at Michael. Michael sighed. "...Some means of monitoring her was necessary. Our reasoning was that she'd been without a physical body of her own for more than half a year and had forgotten the restraint necessary for proper rest. It was perhaps an unreasonable assumption, but she was without a doubt abusing it. When Tetorō understands the proper limits he can change them. He's hopeful that it can be short term, only until she understands it herself."

Rieze sighed and looked after Purrcy and Tetorō. "Well, he would care enough to see she wasn't doing that. ...And she would do it." Rieze chewed on her lip for a moment, then nodded. "Well, as long as they've reconciled, it's okay." She tipped her head at them both and wandered off again.

Nyanta looked at Michael. "Do mew dance?"

Michael looked at him measuringly. "I would like to tell you no, so you don't have to fear, but like her, I do know. A knight, and a master at arms, must also know how to dance appropriately, or he is lightly scorned in the circles. I preferred not to be, though truth be told, most of my practice was with myself. There aren't too many junior officers willing to be the female partner of a senior male lead." His eyes crinkled up in a smile. Then he glanced at Purrcy. "Though, truly, I'd rather fly with her even more."

Nyanta sighed to himself. "Mew are a formidable opponent, Michael-kun. If mew fly with her, I must also be flying with mew. It's not a thing I wish to share, really." He studied Michael. "I'll allow this one dance if she forgives mew and me also, but do not ask again after tonight. It would not be good to have jealousy invade the house."

Michael smiled back, a slightly sad smile. "I understand, though she only still sees me as a useful tool for now." He looked at Purrcy, then back at Nyanta again. "I won't let her learn it," he promised, "that she has already also learned to love me."

Nyanta raised an eyebrow at him. "And do mew feel the same?"

Michael paused, then shook his head. "No. I also have family back home, and would rather go back. Besides," he put his hands behind his back and looked at the sky, "I'm not fool enough to think I can handle her. I'd be a weeping mess in less than two days. She's scarier than my mother." Nyanta could only laugh at that. He'd been a weeping mess in less than two minutes - every time he'd seen her and had her walk away. If Michael could last two days, he was formidable indeed. He didn't admit it to Michael, though. Instead he just nodded.

Purrcy did forgive them both, but they'd known she would because she was like that, and Michael did get his dance. Tetorō stood nervously with Nyanta, trying to help him not be overly jealous and stumbling over himself in the attempt until Nyanta finally calmly restrained him with his hand and words. "It's harder to ignore them with mew constantly drawing my attention back to them," he scolded mildly and Tetorō quickly refrained from that time.

Really, Tetorō was as good a boy as Shiroe was. Nyanta patted him on the head, but didn't explain himself. But just before they returned at the end of the dance, he did remember to say, "Ah, and Tetorō-kun, if mew do ever need an additional restraint, please do remember what Purrcy said to mew this meowrning. If mew do that again without passing it by me first, I will Cathedral mew until I'm no longer angry." Tetorō went pale, swallowed, and promised fervently to never forget. Nyanta patted him on the head again, then went and took his turn with his wife in the dance, holding her closely and kissing her. "When can we get rid of the headdress, Purrcy?" he asked, as the chains hit him again in the face, quite annoyed by now with them.

She sighed. "I'd change the whole outfit if I could, but I received such threatening glares from Mei-Mao as she put it all on me today, that I'm afraid to be seen in public without it. It must have been very difficult for her to have to spend so much effort in so short an amount of time to then have it only languish for months, when we could have been so much more polite and allowed her that time...I'm afraid she's quite put out about it."

Nyanta sighed. "Well mew are very lovely in it, but it has become too much of an annoyance. I believe I'll steal mew away shortly. Go and say meowr farewells for the evening."

"Yes, Nyanta," she answered obediently.

Of course, "go" was relative. He didn't leave her side as she walked through the remaining crowd of guests and well wishers until they finally reached Shiroe again. Both of them bowed and excused themselves politely. Shiroe smiled at them. They knew as soon as they were gone his crown would be off his head. He was also tired of it. Giving him knowing looks they said, "Leave it on until you're home." His face fell.

"You are in public," Purrcy scolded. "Hold it until you're in private, the same as I would. Nyanta has decided he's done with it and I'll be obedient to him in the matter. Please remain strong." Shiroe sighed and reluctantly nodded. They left, sure he would be saying his regrets soon as well.

As soon as they were out of sight of the gathering, their clothes were put away in their lists, the regalia going with it, and they were cats, running full out. Nyanta led her to a very secluded location of the city, where there was a run down building with a tree growing through it. He led her up to the upper floor, where there was a hidden cave-like area in one of the rooms. He prowled the room, making sure it was secure enough, just a bit nervous and too worried still to stand still. Purrcy explored a bit, then sat and watched him until he was able to approach her and sit facing her.

"Nyanta, before you greet me, I wish to let you know something." He paused, wondering at her choice of language. "I know that you restrain yourself with purpose," she said. "Each time, I wonder how much you'll restrain yourself. I've tried to respect it, and wish to continue to do so." Her tail curled around her front paws. "I am yours. I'll do what you want me to do."

As Nyanta considered her, he finally realized something. As a partner in this new marriage, she would wait patiently for him to be ready, but it was his responsibility to see to her as well. If he left her alone too long, she wouldn't have the proper protections to remain his. He couldn't continue to selfishly restrain himself. He also needed to learn the proper balance that she did, only from the other side. He leaned forward and touched her nose with his. "Thank mew, Purrcy," he said sincerely. She blinked at him.

He changed into felinoid. "Purrcy, please change," he asked. She obeyed, looking openly into his face. "Thank mew for coming to me today, and for coming beautifully regal. I could not have been more pleased, meow." He'd transformed his paws into hands when he'd transformed from cat, and now he ran his fingers along her cheek and jaw, feeling her soft fur that way for the first time, the sensation tingling softly against his skin.

He pulled her close to him and breathed on her ear. It turned towards him and she lost her strength a little. He breathed on it again, and her eyes closed and she began to fall. He gently lay her back, then licked her under the ear, down to her jaw and along it as she turned her head to receive the grooming strokes. He took a breath to calm himself, then licked down her neck and she softly moaned. This time, he didn't stop. This time, he wanted to really learn what came next. He practiced restraint by learning slowly, rather than by stopping altogether.

* * *

 _"But still, everyone does have a past on Earth. We need to acknowledge the past, recognize the present pain, and attempt to face the future with hope and courage. ...Let it be a solemn occasion that ends with gentle hope that the future can be navigated together in this new land we are strangers in. ...It will teach us that if it does happen, we've walked the path once, we can do it again." - Purrcy_


	70. Sub-Guild Questions the Guild's Sanity

Nyanta woke up to odd, unfamiliar smells. Dust, rustling mice, rotting leaves, moss, and Purrcy. Also fall rain was on it's way. Normally he would be smelling the tatami mat flooring of his room, vestiges of last night's dinner, the scent of his guildmates. He listened with his grey felinoid ears, but other than the mice and Purrcy's breathing there wasn't anything. He opened his eyes and it was a room he wasn't expecting. It took a moment of shaking his fuzzy head to remember that he'd brought her to a new abandoned place so they could have a proper uninterrupted honeymoon.

Today everyone was going to be very busy helping the Minami merchants close down their shops and get loaded onto the train for their return trip. Then the Akiba merchants would pack up and go home and everyone else would be on clean-up and tear-down duty. Nyanta and Purrcy had been promised this day to themselves - and only this day. Nyanta would have liked it to have been longer, but Purrcy was still in high demand. He'd have to get her to himself more later when things settled down. If they ever did. She was always moving, it seemed. Nyanta put a hand on her to figuratively keep her from moving now, though she was still sleeping so not moving anyway. Slowly she roused until she was blinking her golden eyes sleepily at him.

Seeing him looking at her, she started purring. His ear twitched. Her purring got louder, thrumming under his hand. He took a long slow breath, and her hand came up to lightly rub the white fur on his chest. "Is it okay if I learn how to love Nyanta this morning?" she asked him in a still-sleepy voice that was therefore all the more sultry, her hand moving to pet him down his white underbib to under his arm. He shivered ever so slightly. "Nyanta wakes up before Purrcy, and has desire in his eyes, every time," she commented. "This day, let me meet that desire for you." Her hand moved down his side towards the sensitive flank and his leg twitched in reaction.

He could feel the tension of his whiskers and his ears, and it ran all the way down his back. He didn't refuse, but he couldn't answer her either. He was rather frozen, actually, so she did as she pleased until he'd been properly pleased to her satisfaction.

-:-:-:-:-

"It was rather like, 'I've caught a Purrcy! ...Oh, hell. Now what do I do?' ...You know, that sense of impending doom that occurs just before the land mine goes off. The body freezes, and you can't do anything but let it run its course and hope you still come out in once piece on the other side. ...I'm not sure he did survive it, in the end."

"You surely didn't watch it until the end!?" the disbelieving scold came back.

"Well...no. Considering what happened last time, I wasn't too interested in a repeat scolding. I get the feeling she's one of those moms that punishes the first time and kills the second."

"Um hm," the agreement came back. "Keep thinking like that and you'll survive just fine. She really does expect everyone to be intelligent, and around the guild her impatience for stupidity is already rather legendary. You get told the first time you're innocently blind where her reality sits. If you forget, ...well, it isn't pretty - even if no one's seen the second explosion yet."

"You mean she hasn't ever had to follow through a second time? Will she really then?"

"If you want to be the guinea pig, go right ahead. We'll give you a proper farewell ceremony, though I doubt there will be enough pieces left to scrape into a paper bag."

"Nu-uh, man. Not me," it was denied quickly. "Anyway, they seem set on staying here tonight as well. They've been in the tree, happy to be unmoving most of the day, except during the storm when they stayed inside."

"Alright. I'll send another group to spell you guys out and let the officers know."

"Roger."

The Eagles learned that day that she still wanted at least six on duty but over eight was a bit much, even though it should have been a time for having zero. At about four the next morning, the house guards were roused by the six guarding the Queen and Consort, informing them they were incoming. The twelve were allowed the gift of watching Purrcy make Nyanta practice the tall run - up the outside of the guild hall. Once the pair were settled in the guild tree, nose to nose and sleeping again, the guards allowed themselves a bit of chatter.

"And I thought we were finally secure," Airframes sighed. "If they can do that..."

Compliance snorted. " _We_ do that."

"Well...but still..., now we have to watch for half-beasts, too."

"No. That's not the problem," the lower tones of Clocktower rebuked. "It's that you have to watch _those_ two half-beasts, and you've just had the reminder they're as outside the box as we are."

" _She_ is...and she's training him," Ground Safety replied. "Who's fixing breakfast?"

The final two to head down for breakfast in the morning didn't let the newlyweds into the building until the call for breakfast was sounded. Then they unlocked the trap door and let them down the trunk of the tree, welcoming them back with congratulatory jibes and mock surprise as the couple moved past at rather high speed. The two large cats went to Shiroe first, Purrcy to rub against his legs and purr happily. Nyanta sat upright and calmly watched them, though his whiskers and paws occasionally twitched as he watched Shiroe pet Purrcy.

Isuzu, coming to the table, stopped behind Nyanta and pet him matter-of-factly a couple of times. "Good morning, Nyanta-san. Welcome home."

Nyanta blinked a cat blink and looked over his shoulder at her. "Thank mew, Isuzu-chan. Good meowrning." The guards in the room thought she was very brave.

Naotsugu and Tetorō walked up to either side of Nyanta. Naotsugu's hand landed on Nyanta's head and Tetorō's on the back of his neck. "Purrcy, we have your itinerary for the day ready," Tetorō informed her. "Come to the table and eat and we'll review it."

Purrcy disentangled herself from Akatsuki's legs and tangled herself up in Naotsugu's. He patted her once and pushed her off and she shoved her head into Tetorō until he pet her, then she walked past Nyanta and licked his head on the way by. She disappeared and it wasn't until she was kitten on Isuzu's shoulder and licking her face they saw her again. Then she was off to Rudy's shoulder for the same, then to his lap and missing again. Touya picked her up off his lap and she tapped his nose lightly with a kitten paw until he relented and pulled her close enough she could get a lick in as well. He passed Purrcy off to Minori, who cuddled with her a bit, then put her on the floor under the table.

Nyanta changed back into felinoid at that point and the adults all moved to their seats, arriving about the same time felinoid Purrcy did in her chair, dressed in a comfortable fall sweatshirt and leggings. The Eagles who'd prepared breakfast brought it in. They ceremoniously set the first plates down in front of Nyanta and Purrcy. Immediately cat ears expressed interest and delight. "Belgian waffles!" Purrcy looked up intrigued. "However did you manage to find a waffle iron here at all?"

They grinned at her. "BigMusclesBill sent it as your wedding gift from the blacksmiths of Grandale," OciferJeff explained.

"And with apple butter, too!" She gave a long sniff and looked very happy. "You've worked hard for us this morning! Thank you," she said sincerely.

Nyanta took a bite, tasting it carefully. He finally nodded. "The texture is good and the flavors work together nicely. Well done, meow." The chefs of the morning bowed and finished giving breakfast to everyone else.

Once breakfast was well under way, Shiroe gave Tetorō a glance. Around his bites of food, Tetorō said, "Hahaue, we'll leave here after clean up time for the facilities of each division of the Corporation of Akiba, in their proper order. The shipyard and gate will come after that, then the visits with each of the fighting guilds. We'll just go in order over the next two days as it rolls." He looked at her to see if that worked for her. She gave a turn of her ear and a tip of her head.

Shiroe took over. "I've assumed you'd like to go straight into the board meeting the next morning after. I've tentatively scheduled it to begin at ten a.m." Purrcy looked at him politely and agreed with him. He looked back, tilting his head. "You know, if they weren't so anxious and still curious, they would have all scolded me for 'putting you right to work' so soon after your wedding."

Purrcy shrugged. "I'm sorry that for now they believe you're the only one at fault. I would have thought that last time they would have started figuring it out, but I'm sure once the board meeting is done, they'll understand finally."

Shiroe shifted back. "I take it you'll remove the restraints and go full Purrcy, then?"

"Of course, though it's full CEO, as you well know. Have you warned any of them yet?"

Shiroe considered it. "I did tell Woodstock. He cornered me, concerned Log Horizon would now have too much power, and I used the excuse that it was to restrain the CEO Purrcy."

Purrcy's whiskers and ears twitched in humor. "Well, I hope I won't force you to strenuous effort at the meeting." She looked up at him, humor and a bit of a challenge in her eyes. "I suppose you could claim that I chose Log Horizon because they were the only guild with enough strength to hold up under my perfectionistic demands."

Shiroe returned to his eating. Lightly cool, he answered, "If necessary."

A piece of waffle hit his forehead. He froze, stunned, then looked at Purrcy, becoming a bit angry. She was already standing next to him and he continued to look up towards her face in surprise. "Shiroe-kun," she said in a low voice as she placed her hands on his shoulders and moved her nose to be within a whisker's breath away from his. "You should not take this burden only on your own shoulders selfishly. You have stood between the council and the world for a long time now, and have borne the burden of it. I am here now and more than equal to the same task. As you have been protecting them, let me also protect you. You have enough to do."

Shiroe blinked at her. He frowned and finally asked, "What do you mean, then?"

She released him, crossed her arms, and leaned back against the table, looking into his face earnestly. "Let me be the one to make the unreasonable demands. Then when you stand as reconciliator and negotiator between us, you will be the friend and I will be vilified. You don't need to stand in that place for my sake. Haven't I already put myself in that position? It was I who tested them and failed them. It was I who made the promise to Rieze, and made her follow me humbly. It was I who listed the requirements you took to the negotiating table. I'm grateful you were able and capable to win them, but now you'll stand on their side and negotiate for them. Those who've already dealt with me won't be surprised by my forcefulness, and that will teach the others." She paused, searching his face. "And won't that then also prove to Woodstock your own words?"

Shiroe blinked at Purrcy. "But," he said a little weakly.

Purrcy shook her head. "We've already agreed it's time. They'll see the forceful Purrcy this time and will bow to your strength because of it, even if you show me a humble face. They already understand that outside that room I bend my own head to you humbly."

Shiroe sagged slightly and he sighed after a bit more thought. He nodded, if a bit glumly. "Very well, though I don't like to see you hated."

Isuzu snorted into her drink. "You think the rest of us like to see _you_ in that position?"

Shiroe's face fell and he heaved a bigger sigh. "No, I guess not."

Touya nodded wisely. "At least now you understand."

"I guess so," Shiroe agreed, looking a bit sadly up at Purrcy again.

Purrcy stood and patted Shiroe on the shoulder. "You'll be fine and so will we all. Each of us must carry our proper burdens." As she returned to her seat, she added, "I'll be gone for the rest of that day, once the meeting is over, but I should be back in time for dinner."

"Mew'll take me with mew," Nyanta said quietly.

"Yes, Nyanta," she answered obediently.

The remainder of the meal was the rest of the guild listing off their tasks for that day and the next several, now that they all understood the main tasks and goals of the guild. As the meal ended, several of the Eagles appeared at the head table. One slipped in between Purrcy and Nyanta and politely told Purrcy he would take her dishes for her. She barely acknowledged him enough to thank him, but Nyanta bristled slightly.

The guard then turned and also offered to take Nyanta's dish, picking it up as he made the offer. Nyanta was taken a bit aback, but nodded, his eyes slightly hard and suspicious, but unable to complain. Purrcy shifted out of that guard's space and rose. Another guard pulled her chair out for her. She had to step away from Nyanta because of the guard picking up his plate, and the second guard moved her chair to its proper placement.

As the first guard stepped away from that part of the table and between Purrcy and Shiroe to collect Shiroe's plate, a third guard arrived on her Nyanta side to speak with her. "Hahaue, it really isn't fair that you greeted everyone this morning but the sub-guild. You even forgot the Commander." His eyes were very sad. "We even worked hard for you this morning."

"That's laying it on a little thick, don't you think?" Tetorō said from behind him.

He got a scowl for his trouble. "If she'd ignored you, you'd have complained," the guard pointed out.

"That's true," Naotsugu agreed from his chair, where he was rising to do his part and take his dishes to the kitchen. He walked past Tetorō and snagged him on the way to get him moving towards the kitchen again.

Purrcy's ears were turning back and forth. "It wasn't meant as a slight," she finally said. "It's more that I've been seeing you all this whole time? But the others were here."

She got a rather odd look for that. "We weren't _all_ on duty," the guard pointed out.

Purrcy paused. "Well, no, I suppose not. I'm happy to greet you as well, you know." He took that as immediate permission and she was suddenly on his arm being escorted to where the tables had been removed and the majority of the Eagles were putting away the chairs. He escorted her to the Eagles closest to the head table. As they passed Michael, she ran a hand over his head, but didn't say anything. He put his hand on his head, a strange expression on his face. His plate had also been taken, so he'd still been sitting as well. Now he turned to watch what the rest of the sub-guild was doing.

Some of them greeted her face to face, offering her handshakes, or hugs. She accepted easily at first, but the farther they got from the table, the more anxious she seemed to become until one of the Eagles asked her if she'd become a cat so she could be pet. She immediately complied and seemed happier. Michael turned in surprise as the tenor of the table behind him also became more relaxed suddenly. He glanced at Nyanta and Shiroe. Both of them had eyes glued to her. He turned and looked back again at the sub-guild and his eyes narrowed. Standing up, he took himself into the kitchen, then turned back and observed from the kitchen door. He'd passed Naotsugu and Tetorō on their way back out and he watched them also. Naotsugu was headed for his usual location for right after breakfast, up to his room to finish getting ready for the day, but Tetorō paused between Shiroe and Nyanta, his eyes also going to Purrcy.

The Eagles Purrcy were greeting were now the ones who were closer to the door, for the most part cleaning the floor with brooms or performing other minor chores. Just as she was reaching the guard closest to the door to the outside, Shiroe shifted and Tetorō took a step forward. "Purrcy, could you come look at this for me?" a guard closer in called to her. She paused and turned back, turning back into felinoid on the way. She was distracted only briefly, then, as she turned back towards the door, she stopped and her tail twitched and an ear turned back. "Ah, I'm sorry, I interrupted you," the guard apologized. He began to move her towards the last guard. "Once you've done out here, I guess you'll do the kitchen? I'm sure they'd love to hear your thanks personally." She nodded but not as if she'd really heard what he'd said.

Just as she froze, Nyanta rose from his chair and headed for her. The last guard stepped forward and held out his hand. Purrcy took it and greeted him warmly, but her ear and tail wouldn't still until Nyanta was next to her. He was gallant in his words, but his body was stiff with disapproval. Tetorō met them halfway between that position and the head table, and Shiroe rose to greet her when they reached him. Michael stepped out of the kitchen and passed them, then turned to watch again.

Nyanta took Purrcy into the kitchen and stayed with her as she greeted the rest of the Eagles who were there. Tetorō inserted himself into the kitchen crew, beginning his own part of the after-meal chores, but his eyes continued to return to her. Shiroe stood in the door, like Michael had, and watched her from there. When Nyanta brought Purrcy back out of the kitchen, Shiroe led them into his office. Tetorō didn't settle until they were inside, behind the closed door. Even then, he seemed to be on higher alert.

"We'll meet up on the roof for a conference before things get busy today," Michael ordered the VFA-115 Eagles. "Come up when the chores are done." He sauntered up the stairs, taking his time.

He relaxed in one of the lounge chairs on the roof, his hands behind his head, until he heard, "All present and accounted for, Sir."

"Sooo...what'd you learn?" he asked without looking at any of them specifically.

"They don't want her to leave the guild hall, and she doesn't either."

"Or they don't want her to leave unescorted."

"Nyanta-san isn't as worried when she's in cat form - Tetorō and Mister Shiroe worry about it more than he does - but he doesn't like to be separated from her, particularly forcefully and without known reason. Shiroe goes on alert when she's boxed, but waits to see how it's handled, calculating his battle plan while looking patient. She doesn't see it as a threat, though she also goes on low alert."

"She's pretty relaxed until she's away from her centers at fifteen feet as felinoid. Distance doesn't matter as cat, only how close she gets to the door."

"They get moving at about four feet from the door."

"Was the testing after you hit the door limiter valid?" he asked.

"Yes, we've already tested for range before," came back. "It doesn't matter, though they did react more strongly when she was that close to the door and acted to retrieve her since we'd primed the pump this time. They don't act until she gets to between seventeen and twenty feet from her center normally. We can't tell if it's because she itches at fifteen and they're rescuing, though. We expect that as long as she was still in view, if she didn't ask for help they'd leave her alone."

"How do you fit in today's data point on the door with her complete casual answering of the door when guests come?" he asked, playing devil's advocate.

There was a pause for thought, then, "She's not going out, she's inviting others in."

"And she always comes right back in with them."

"Has she escaped before?" he asked, wondering just how much research they'd done.

"Yes. Once, in the shopping bags of Miss Marielle so she could learn what Crescent Moon League was like. They had to fetch her, of course, and there was a punishment, though not terribly severe because she had a valid reason."

"Only once, huh?" he asked, just a little surprised himself. "She really hasn't tried to go out walking on her own?"

"Nope."

"So, what brought it on?"

"She needs a minimum of six of us watching her when she's out. We want to know why."

" _She_ needs it?"

"Yes."

Michael blinked. He could understand why they wondered.

"But...," his most thoughtful mused, "she doesn't need anyone when she's outside the city, though she's willing to take Nyanta-san."

Michael shook his head. "No, she hasn't had the opportunity to have anyone before now. It's possible you'll have to test again once we're on the road. She needed six when it was just the two of them in an isolated part of town. It's possible that's a constant."

The silence of agreement met him. "But...why?" was finally voiced.

Michael was quiet for a bit, then he stood. "Go back and review the first time you met her in the flesh. She told us all then." He jammed his hands in his pockets and headed for the door to return inside the guild hall. She'd listed off a lot of reasons, but there was one that stood out in his mind. "... _at heart...I'm a coward_." Even he hadn't believed it any more than Nyanta had...but everything spoke to it. She'd been alone in very dangerous situations for two years in this crazy world. That was her crazy. She wanted the reassurance she would be protected now, and not have to be afraid any more. She'd even given up her freedom for that promise, and the guild was serious about keeping that promise. Maybe that's why they were so tightly itchy for her. Michael wondered how much of it was a subconscious understanding. It might need to be addressed openly so it didn't come bite them later.

"You know," one of the sub-guild continued, though Michael was already inside and headed for stairs, "their arrival this morning...they couldn't wait until morning to walk in normally when they shouldn't have wanted to come back at all until they had to. Six wasn't enough anymore and the return was more training."

"And...," another added, "she had to greet them all first thing."

" _And_ ," a third said immediately, "Nyanta-san needed reassurance...or something."

Michael paused and leaned against the wall, mulling that over. "It's not the same kind of promise," he muttered, a frown between his brows. "Was she reassuring the guild that she was still okay? Was he patient because he was being tested, and that was the approval? Did something happen they aren't talking about?"

"I thought it was support?"

"It could have been," he wasn't committed either way yet. He turned and went back out onto the roof and turned off the sub-guild chat and waved them in close. When they were all close enough to hear quiet words, he said, "She's got a contract with them, based on them protecting her. As long as they do that, she gives them what they want. But they act as if even one slip-up on that and they'll cease to exist." He got nods. They felt it that way, too. "That's not healthy," he asserted. "Next question is, 'What's behind it?' and do they even understand it or is it all subconscious? It was set before I got here the first time."

"And that was?"

"I made it into town before it was locked down to take out the Plague Master, but didn't meet up with her until after that and they held the first Hacker class." He considered what else might be important. "They'd already decided the noble roles by then. The corporation was set up just after the classes were started, but they already knew she was a CEO type by then, and what she was bringing to that table. I learned it along with everyone else in town, though I did get a front row seat to it the rest didn't. They'd let her run when she was hot, and never did fret much if she was out on her own recognizance. They got awful depressed when she was locked up, but weren't ever concerned about it, but then Machiavelli-in-Glasses was running that show and they've got a lot of faith in him and his plans." He rubbed his jaw as he considered if there was anything else that might help. He didn't think her being a Summon was part of it - her fear and their protection. It might be part of their fear - that she would get taken from them unexpectedly. He followed that thought for a bit but finally discarded it. It wasn't along the same path.

"They're still worried she'll be taken over by an Overwritten or an Observer," he mused, still walking down the path of open issues. He'd already passed by a few others that didn't have bearing. "I don't know why that would make _her_ jumpy, though." He moved on from that one. "There are times I'm the only one who can make her back down from anger, but then I'm not afraid like they are, nor was I part of that contract." But...while the anger would make the guild jumpy, again it wasn't her. For her, it was more like what he'd thought the morning of the wedding. She needed grounding. She was unbalanced. Certainly being afraid, needing a security blanket was that...so was her panic at the fashion show.

After the fashion show...it had been the confrontation with Shiroe at the pond. She hadn't let that lie, but had forced him to tell her his insecurities so he could in turn put hers aside? They'd discussed the meeting with the guildmasters of both cities then, and a bit the meeting to be held next. The times she had to be brave and take the fall. So she'd needed the strengthening to stand courageous for them?

He went back to that meeting and replayed it. Both sides had shown it a little more openly then, perhaps. "...She wants to know they can protect her, or perhaps rescue her, from the Overwriting...that's part of this level. The other goal...," he frowned, "it's tricky business." He thought about her night terror and the wedding in relation to that. "If she doesn't want to go home...and slips...she might end up there...or who knows where. It's possible she's not the one who's going to follow that thread, but I would expect her to be hiding fear pretty deep if she is the one who has to go." He blew out a breath and looked at the sky. "I don't know how they'd rescue her from that one. Not even we could, most likely. ...It might only be this level's a difficult one."

He watched the replay one more time, then paused it. "They've explained her title 'Caretaker', but she's also got two other titles: 'Justice of the East' and 'Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami'. She got one of them for erasing a fox spirit that possessed a girl, one that was created by the Witch over in Crescent Moon. She hadn't thought that erasure would do much, since it was in effect an artisan artifact, but it apparently did something." He tapped his toe. "The Witch has become a Shinto Priest, now, since he can manipulate spirit matter generally and create real curses. I wonder if that's the Priestess title? If so, then we need to find out what she got 'Justice of the East' for, just so we know how it all fits together. It's probably the only piece of the puzzle that's a blank for me at the moment. They don't talk about it." He sighed. "Since the lot of you aren't supposed to know that yet, I'll see what I can find out about the title. You lot see what you can find out about what happened from the time she got into town until the classes started."

"Geezer...she didn't know how to handle me calling her out," Gareth got just as sad a look on his face as he'd given her. "Are we decal? Or too close too much? Even for all we're a security blanket?"

There was agreement. "When we boxed her in, she wasn't concerned nearly enough for how concerned the others got."

Michael sighed to himself. "It's a different contract, like I said. We're comfortable, and comfort, and now that she's got hold of us, she won't let go, but she won't come and kill us either, if we bailed. She'd just be sad and let us have our freedom. She's been that way with me from the beginning. But them...I'm not sure it's the same. It's a deeper essential need and desperation. But at the same time, she's completely cold and heartless. She's got a definite purpose for them and she'll use them in it until they break or the goal is won."

He shook his head. "I don't know if I can get it right when it's put to words. Any of you need her attention, ask for it and you'll get it. But you're adults to her. You know how to run and you know when to seek mama. For them, it's more...," he tried it again, smacking his lips a bit, trying to get the right flavor, "they're still children - all of them - and she's training them up, so she's uber-focused on making sure they're going the direction she wants them to go." He sighed. "That's the best I've got. The love of a mother never ends. She loves the lot of you, too. Don't let that worry get you down. Make her play with you more if you're getting worried, though you might get a beating as much as anything, like most times attention's asked for. When mama's happy -"

"- Let well enough alone so everyone can stay happy," Reed said with a bit of an order to everyone in his voice.

Michael let it stand. "But get your hugs when you need them," he added mildly. He headed back for the inside, then paused with his hand on the doorframe and turned back. "Actually, if she loses the rest, she'll need us all to get her back on her feet. She's already admitted she can walk away from them, but only if she takes us with her. Don't underestimate the importance of the security blanket. Her need for one is at the core of what you're digging for, after all." They looked more determined for having heard that much. He nodded to himself and let himself back into the guild hall, knocking Tetorō's code self off the lintel over the door and into his hand.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael let himself into Tetorō's room and dropped him back into his body, then stood there with his arms folded until the younger man was back outside and looking at him. "You really shouldn't listen in on everything, you know. You're going to hear hard things more than you want to."

Tetorō was struggling to not be angry. Michael waited calmly. Tetorō had been as jumpy as Nyanta and Shiroe at the testing the sub-guild had put them through. It wasn't surprising he'd wanted to know what they were going to talk about. He just shouldn't have. Finally Tetorō asked, "Why is it even a topic of discussion?"

"Because they need to know."

"Will knowing change what they do?" Tetorō accused.

"No, probably not, at least not for a while, but as long as they feel jealous underneath it all it will eventually become a problem none of us want to have happen."

Tetorō looked at him in surprise. "Jealous?"

Michael looked at him impatiently. "Come on, you saw it, even were on the other side of it when you tried to interfere this morning."

Tetorō pulled back and bit his lower lip. Finally he held onto his crossed legs, leaned back, and began to rock a little. "Alright. I can't deny that. I already know I've got a jealous streak that's hard to tame." Michael smiled on the inside, but kept a straight face on the outside. "But, it's Hahaue. There's no 'why'."

Michael shook his head. "If they've asked the question, then it exists and needs an answer. Such things form the basis of loyalty, just like what I said to Shiroe before. They've not known her until she showed up this time around. They need to understand her and why the rest of us are willing to put up with her crap and not slap her when we get irritated. They're grateful she helped them out of their bind, and I think they respect her enough for her skill-set, but it isn't enough to keep them." He tipped his head. "Even I'll let them go if they don't want to stay in the end, though I'd hate to see the squad broken up."

Tetorō pursed his lips and nodded. "That I understand." He looked away, thinking. "So...it's like their testing of her, making sure walking that direction's really the way to go?" Michael nodded. Tetorō stopped rocking and pulled his knees up in front of his chest and held them in his arms. He always looked a little lost when he did that. "Are you going to make me tell you everything they want to know?" he asked, looking a bit suspicious.

Michael shook his head. "No. I'll probably ask you the questions on the information I'm supposed to gather, but it's their milestone. They'll do the footwork to get what they need, as they should."

Tetorō nodded once, his gaze slipping out into nowhere. For a while he was silent, then he sighed and asked, "Do you really think she's just using us?" It was rather heartbreaking.

Michael moved. He would never allow it to be seen outside of this kind of private setting, but he'd been watching Tetorō a while now, and they'd been partnered, so it had become even more obvious. He sat down next to Tetorō and ran a comforting hand down the back of his head, petting him as if petting Purrcy, and went soft. "No, not that way, Tetorō. She loves the lot of you deeply. It isn't in her heart to just throw you at difficult problems, then throw you away. The world AI, yes, but not Purrcy." He paused, leaving his hand on Tetorō's shoulder. The touch was the thing Tetorō needed when his woman came out and needed soothing.

"They haven't told anyone that I'm aware of, not even me, but I can see it in the two of them, Tetorō. It isn't that." He paused again and Tetorō looked at him, curious. Michael took a long, slow, quiet breath. "They aren't going home, Tetorō. And she figures we won't either, but she knows all of you will. She's staying just detached enough that she can let you go and continue to grow up without her."

Tetorō froze and looked at him with wide eyes. "Wi-will you stay?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't know. We haven't gotten there yet, have we? And until the rest of them are done deciding if they'll even follow her, it isn't a question to even bring up yet. Maybe by the end of this level of the dungeon we'll have enough information to be able to answer that question, but it's open ended for now."

Tetorō blinked a few times, then nodded miserably. He put his head down on his knees. "Michael...," he closed his eyes, "I don't want to leave her behind. That hurts too much." His voice caught.

Michael nodded. "I know. That's why you're her children and she's focused on you all right now. You all need her as much as any youngster needs their mother, and she's trying to reassure you she's still here as long as you're still here." He shifted so that he could comfortably hold the weeping man-woman in his arm. "And I'm guessing that's at the basis of all you folk's fear, too. You've all understood it at some level and are afraid she's going to walk out and not come back - separation anxiety. But that's just my guess. We'll see what the squad comes up with. ...Especially since only you and Shiroe react that way. He already knows, and you've figured it out without knowing you have. ...Because you're like that. One of the best wingmen around."

Michael leaned back and rested his head on the wall and sighed. The intuitives were the hardest sometimes, but they were well worth it. He still wondered how he'd gotten here and why Purrcy had put them together, but for the moment it was the right person at the right time. Not many others would have known what to do to keep this one sane and moving forward, except maybe Naotsugu, and likely he wouldn't have either in this situation. But it was why he'd scolded him too. It was too soon for him to know it. Tetorō was going to have to carry that burden now for longer than he probably should have.

Of course, that happened with intuitives, too. They figured out stuff early and because of it had to carry bigger burdens sometimes. Purrcy was a heavy one. Michael hadn't been kidding when he'd told Nyanta he'd not even make it two days if he had to carry her himself, without help. He really hoped Nyanta knew what he was doing. Allowing her to come home early wasn't a good sign, really, but then, Nyanta was the psychologist. There was a lot Michael still didn't know that Nyanta did. He'd be content with just dealing with one feminine man that he did understand.

Michael wasn't surprised when the door opened, then closed quietly and a cat joined them on the bed. He looked at her as she walked up onto Tetorō's shoulders and lay down on them, purring for him in his ear and brushing his head with hers until he finally reached up a hand and put it on the top of her head. Michael was surprised when, only a few moments later, a second cat joined them to sit on the bed next to Tetorō on the other side and purr in his other ear. As Tetorō began to calm, Michael looked at Nyanta. "So...why did you come home early?"

Purrcy and Nyanta both looked at him. Nyanta blinked a slow cat blink. "So the children could begin their day at peace and happy, meow," Nyanta answered.

"He already knew," Purrcy added. "You figured it out a day late. He cried all night last night, and the night before was up nearly all night worrying on it. How could they not understand it after you made us say why we'd agreed to the marriage?"

Michael was convicted. "I'm sorry, Tetorō," he said, petting him one more time. "I took too long to understand." He paused, remembering. "So that's why. Isuzu and Naotsugu've figured it out already, too." He looked away remembering the rest. "And Touya's mad about it. ...And Minori and Akatsuki?" he raised an eyebrow.

"The younger girls spent the night with Akatsuki last night, not able to sleep for having had a whole day to think on it, though they were worn out enough the night before." Michael wasn't surprised Purrcy was keeping watch over them all.

Tetorō wiped his eyes and sniffed. A handkerchief appeared on his knees, though it looked like it was from Nyanta, not Purrcy. He used it, then looked at Michael again. "Why didn't the rest of you notice or care?"

Michael shook his head. "I already said it. They haven't learned where they fit yet, so it's not as deep a thing. It was more important to understand they were thinking straight where they are."

"And you?" Tetorō wasn't going to let it stop there.

Michael sighed and looked at Nyanta. "Until we know we can go home, there's no point, is there?" He let go of Tetorō and left the bed, his own emotions suddenly conflicted.

"Michael!" Purrcy called. He stopped, a bit surprised. He turned his head to listen. "Thank you for being brave enough to decide to walk with us." He almost shrugged, then decided to nod instead. "And...I'm sorry."

Michael did turn at that. "What for?" he asked in surprise.

Purrcy had moved to the bed, in the spot he had just left, and her tail was curled around to rest on her front paws. "I'm afraid it's rather a bad habit of mine to love too many people at once," she said calmly, yet apologetically.

Michael blinked and Nyanta's ear twitched as he tensed a bit. As Michael tried to come up with an answer, Purrcy pushed on Tetorō with her head. Tetorō looked at her, then at Nyanta, then back at Michael. He sighed and slipped off the bed and arrived in front of Michael. Putting his hand on Michael's arm, he looked at him in the eye. "You aren't alone, Michael. We're here with you and for you...and I know _exactly_ how you feel. I've had to settle for being a son, but they know it isn't what I wanted, any more than I wanted to let Naotsugu go to Marie." He gave a wry look. "Like I said, I'm well aware I've got a jealous streak a mile wide. Hahaue keeps making me cross it, though, and put it aside. Pick another role that works for you, too. It will help. _I_ think of you as another older brother, but maybe you'd feel better if you went for younger brother to Hahaue instead of son. The rest of the house could use an uncle."

Michael almost laughed and brushed it aside. It must have shown on his face. "Michael-nyan." It was Nyanta this time and he looked at the grey cat. Nyanta had moved to stand next to Purrcy and he was also looking rather formal. "Don't. In a house like this one, mew must face it purroperly and resolve it, or it will make the house fall. This level is even more dangerous than the first was. None of us can afford weakness in the house or it, and all of Theldesia will crumble."

Michael paused, feeling how serious they felt about it. It also fit with the morning's sub-guild meeting. "Why? and how do you know it's that far reaching?"

"Because Shiroe-ichi's goal is the peaceful survival of all Adventurers on Theldesia, not just their returning home. Our guild holds the core of that goal. Purrcy is about to help Shiroe-ichi spread it into Yamato and then into the rest of Theldesia, and she needs mew. Tetorō needs mew, and she also needs Tetorō. The goal cannot be accomplished without the one's she has gathered into the party."

Michael blinked. "So...not only does she already know she's crossed lines she shouldn't have, Shiroe's also concerned about the future for if we don't make it home." All three nodded. "She's that important to his goals you'll put up with it, and even change enough to live with it all." Nyanta dipped his head and Tetorō nodded again. Michael narrowed his eyes at Nyanta. "You would have refused her otherwise."

Nyanta paused, then carefully said, "When I learned what she was, I would have refused, yes, but the need was greater than my reluctance. And...she also meets my needs. It's not an incorrect pairing. The fact that it also gains the greatest benefit for Shiroe-ichi's goal and the future of the Adventurers on Theldesia is nothing to set lightly aside."

Michael looked between him and Purrcy a few times, then shook his head. "That's gone and made it too complicated, really. I want to scold the lot of you for it. Marriages for convenience sake when it should be love...," he shrugged.

"Sometimes the arranged marriages are the better ones," Purrcy said quietly.

"Arranged?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"The Superuser made a deal with Shiroe," she answered calmly. "And before that, it made one with me. It needs both of us to solve its problems, and those solutions are in line with our goals."

"Even if you put your own life on the line?" he asked, his eyes narrow again.

"My life can't be put on the line," she answered calmly. "The Superuser has chosen me because of that fact."

Michael blinked. "Then why are you so afraid?" It was blurted out before he could prevent it.

Purrcy's ear dipped and she shook her head. "No. Let them figure that one out," she said kindly. "It's their right to understand it to the best of their ability."

Michael rubbed his forehead. "Of course, you heard it all anyway." He glared lightly at Tetorō. "Probably piggybacked you." Tetorō shrugged, not terribly sorry about it. Michael sighed. "All right. ...I think I'll go with older brother, then." He glared at Purrcy. "It means I'll have the excuse to scold, torment, and tease you mercilessly whenever I get cranky."

Nyanta nodded. "Fine, as long as mew're uncle enough to the rest of them to keep them happy, and not upset with mew. Divide the house and we will leave mew behind, regardless."

"Fine," Michael agreed. He looked at Purrcy. "Then I get my last hug, and first hug, next."

She gracefully stepped forward and to the floor, becoming felinoid by the time she reached him. He embraced her and let what feelings of attraction he had go until they were gone, then he drew on the feeling of being a brother. That wasn't hard - he was one at home, too - and then he pinched her and let go as she jumped. He almost stuck his tongue out at her, but turned to Tetorō instead and rubbed the younger man's head, ignoring her ire. "I guess we'll have to keep putting up with her, then, I suppose." He said it in as resigned a voice as possible.

Tetorō nodded with only partially mock sad sympathy. "Yeah, I guess so." They both sighed at the same time.

Purrcy turned her back on them and held out her hand to Nyanta. Nyanta left the bed and became felinoid as well. He took her in his arms and pet her head, as if giving her comfort in the face of their rejection. She asked him a quiet question and he nodded in response. She sighed, then turned to face them again. Properly, she bowed to them. "Please - continue to take care of me," she requested.

"I'm sure it isn't possible not to," Michael said in a rather bored tone. ...But he smiled for her.

"Always," Tetorō answered her, his look for her gentle.


	71. Measure of the Production Guilds

"Is Roderick Trading Company large?" Purrcy asked. "We seemed to walk a long time when I was blind in a pocket."

Tetorō nodded. "It's in one of the universities in town, or at least what was a university in our time."

"How many buildings are on the campus?" She was mostly passing the time with conversation, as was her habit as they walked to town. She hardly paid attention to it, though, except to catch the size enough to put an estimated map in her head. She amused another portion of her brain by looking at the personal information of this day's guards. She'd been assigned the Operations division. Records and Schedules were in front of her, Training and Charlie (Communications) were behind her. They certainly did a decent job of picking her guards, when it was important.

When the silence had gone on just long enough, she commented, "Ops, make sure you all open your mouths today if I miss an important point. You'll pick up more than I will; and take copious notes for later. Charlie, make sure Clocktower's on the prowl when we get to Marine Organization and Shopping District 8. I want his opinion on their current packaging and shipping methods. He'll need to be at the shipyard too. I'll want Navigation there as well. I need to sit and talk to the sailor Shiroe found."

"Yes, Ma'am," Charlie answered quietly. She watched as the hidden duty roll shifted to add Clocktower, Navigation, and Michael. She was mildly humored that she'd touched on a thing Michael hadn't expected, or perhaps he'd not had time yet? It wasn't usual for him to take a hidden spot, either, but she wasn't going to tell him not to practice. She'd likely not been giving him much time for that either.

"Training, I'll want your eyes and ears sharp at West Wind Brigade. I'd like to assign you as Log Horizon's rep to the Academy general meetings held by Crescent Moon. I can't get to them and I think it would help to have someone there who can make it so they feel heard."

"Yes, Ma'am." The voice on her left was just as respectful as Charlie's had been.

"Nyanta, as Manager, I'll be relying on you to keep me focused. This is an observation and exploratory visit today, not research and idea visit. If I stray, let me know. Tetorō, you'll be interference if the people on the other side want to visit too long. The only place we'll bend that is at the gate. Any help I can give there is likely essential." She bit at her lip a bit. "Set Michael, Reed, and CM/C to discussing if all of the Maintenance division should be present at the gate. I don't want the Eagles to be considered gate maintenance, but it might be wise if we got backup knowledge in house. You never know what will come up while we're on the road. If it looks like we should get more in-depth into it, we'll schedule a time for them and me to show up for a full day or more."

The men on either side of her relaxed a bit when she finally paused in her orders. She noted it and moved on, then stopped her brain's forward motion and backed it up to look at them. "What?" she asked.

"You're running it back up to yellow," Tetorō answered.

Purrcy raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Just using my brain the normal way. It'd be worse if I was focused on a research subject."

"As I thought. Purrcy's normal brain function is rather excessive." Tetorō commented.

"That'd be an interesting experiment. Put your meter on the researchers at Roderick's place and see how they measure. You could also try it on the crafters when they're focused and see if it differs. When you get back home, you'll already have the beginnings of a master's research thesis, ..or you'll already have one if we take too long - a Master's that is." Her mind was already on to other things, her feet never having stopped moving forward. "I wonder if, or when, Marie and I will get that far. We still need to work on how the long term coursework will look for the Academy. At the very least we'll be working on the High School diploma equivalent the next time we come round to being able to focus, but that won't be this time. Maybe we'll have time to throw ideas around while we're traveling."

Purrcy looked around the area they were walking in. People were coming and going, so they were close to the main part of town, but it wasn't an area she was familiar with. She slowed down just a little to take in the space and learn the landmarks. When the two behind her didn't slow down right away, but moved up on her, she didn't speed up, finding some comfort in having them closer, but her ears did lift off her head a little, going from worry to interest. She noticed that the front two guards hadn't slowed down and were getting ahead. She glared at their backs and her tail twitched. When it was obvious she would have to be obvious, she snapped them both with her special brand of Electrical Fuzz that was more like Electrical Shock - rather like getting shocked on the door handle when you've walked through a carpeted room in a dry winter.

The two men looked back at her in surprise, looked at each other, then stopped to wait for the rest of them to catch up. Then they walked so slow she was almost walking on their heels. She finally reached out and grabbed the back of their necks, one hand on each of them and said testily, "You've already done this experiment. Running it again won't change anything. Yes, I'm nervous when I enter a new area I'm unfamiliar with. I've been a Solo for two years, for goodness sake. If the lot of you weren't here I'd be skulking from building shadow to building shadow like the ones of you who aren't visible - until I learned the area and it's patterns anyway. Solo's that aren't paranoid die - frequently. Log Horizon wants me to at least appear normal when I'm let outside. Walk the proper formation!" She released them and shoved on their backs until they were closer than the first part of the walk, close enough for her to feel sufficiently protected, but far enough ahead she wasn't walking on their heels. It was also the minimum distance she and they needed to defend herself. When they humbly went back to proper protocol, she returned to trying to understand the area they were in.

There were a number of calm food shops as well as scholarly supply stores here. In the distance down the road, she could see the more busy part of Akiba's market district. The larger buildings that made up the university complex now owned by Roderick Trading Company were in view. Somehow Purrcy was surprised that the feel of this street area and the traffic going into and out of the guild complex was really more that of "university town" than "place of employment". "I could get used to this. ...At least if it's like this on the inside, too."

"Mew said mew went to a large university," Nyanta sort of asked.

"Umhm," Purrcy affirmed. "It was a lot like this walking from the apartments outside of campus, through the shopping district, and up to the university. Lots of students coming and going busily, unless it was Sunday morning and they were all sleeping in. Does Roderick have tens of thousands of guild members too?"

"It might be about that," Tetorō allowed. "I think between the guild members and those who've joined in the work since the catastrophe there might be about half that actually present on site."

"That's still pretty impressive," Purrcy said. "I think we might let him really handle the college side of the education, then. We should probably stick to primary, secondary, and vocational school at the Academy. That division's pretty obvious when you're looking at it, even from the outside."

"When you talk like that, Hahaue, you make me feel like you don't trust Shiroe," Tetorō complained.

Mildly she answered, as she continued to look around, "You know it's because I think about the long term plans for if we stay that he's now free to focus on just getting us home, right?" Tetorō's mouth opened as if he wanted to argue, then closed. Perhaps he'd given up. Purrcy wasn't sure. She did add that to her own to-do notes. To make sure at their next meeting of just her and Shiroe, they made that division of labor formal. It would free them both up immensely, and they'd still be available to help the other as requested.

-:-:-:-:-

Roderick settled his glasses better on his nose and considered the femfelinoid in front of him. If she were simply the supplier of items and ideas that she had been for Akaneya and Woodstock, he would already be wooing her to a desk in his guild hall, somewhere he could observe her working. She was an intriguing specimen. Even as a member of Log Horizon, he might have been able to convince her to come part time. But Shiroe had made it obvious in the last several days that she was out of reach, untouchable. It was a little more than irritating. Shiroe often had grand plans, but to keep such a treasure selfishly all his own was surely grandiose.

"Tetorō requested a tour of the guild for you this morning, Miss Purrcy. I would be very interested in hearing your opinions on anything you find of interest." Roderick hoped at the very least to tempt her over. Even if Shiroe did have her now, he'd also been the one to allow the Adventurers to choose. Since this was her first time to see with her own eyes the full glory of the best research facility and guild, perhaps she could be convinced to see that this was a more appropriate home for someone with her unique skills and mind. "Were there specific departments you wanted to see?"

"All of them," Purrcy answered lightly.

"We're a large research house, with a great diversity of subjects. 'All' might be perhaps overwhelming?" He wouldn't mind occupying the majority of her day. It would mean more time to win her over. But he did want to make sure she understood the scope of what she was asking. Not to mention he shouldn't appear overeager in the face of her two usual Log Horizon escorts. That was a thing he didn't quite understand either. She was rarely seen outside of the Log Horizon guild hall, and if she was she always had at least two with her, and now, since the fighting group had come, also seemed to have some of them along as an additional escort. It was difficult to understand if it was Shiroe trying to protect his asset from the rest of the city and the guilds (an offensive slight), or if there was an underlying reason that wasn't apparent yet. If she really were a Game Moderator then there might be some call to giving her both the respect and the protection of an honor guard. ...In the end it seemed rather excessive.

"So I understand from what little I've heard. It's marvelous that you're able to maintain an atmosphere of pure research and investigation. Your guild hall has certainly reminded me of my own higher education. My father was a researcher and professor at a university for a time, so I grew up in this kind of atmosphere. I'm looking forward to seeing what your guild is doing here."

Roderick was heartened at her words. If she could be made to feel like she was merely coming home, he might already have his foot in the door. "Well, I'd be happy to show you whatever you'd like to visit."

"Then begin at one end and take me the full circuit. Today just needs to be a summary survey. Once I've understood it, then I can more easily dive into the details another time." That wasn't as good news as he'd hoped for, but if he could get a promise of a return visit, then it wouldn't be lost, by any means. Sometimes patience was called for.

"Very well," Roderick motioned them onward, though he did still think that it was too much, really. He used the time between departments to try to woo her over, answering Purrcy's questions as if trying to win over a prized potential student.

It was when he was answering her questions about how he and his department heads had streamlined their processes and the flow of information between departments and to the other guilds that he belatedly remembered that Purrcy was also the person that Shiroe had been sitting as negotiator for at the table that had started that change. It was a strange and sudden different feeling. It took him a moment to word his answer, and from that time on he considered all of her words and his answers more deeply.

By the time the visitors from Log Horizon were leaving him at the gate, he wasn't sure any more. He walked slowly back to his office rethinking it from the beginning again. That had been a rather important data point to have left out of his calculations. The visit had a different meaning when it was included.

-:-:-:-:-

"Akaneya-san, it's good to see you again." Purrcy extended her hand kindly to greet her first benefactor.

Akaneya took her hand warmly, but inside, he wasn't sure anymore how to face her. She had become something very different from what he had assumed for so long. "Thank you for coming to visit again. Tetorō asked if you could come and tour the place, but you've been here before many times?"

Purrcy smiled. "I know, but things have changed and I was hoping to be able to understand those changes. Is it okay that I've used that as the excuse to come see you and everyone again? It will be difficult to not bring things to you. I'm rather in the habit now."

"That isn't very sincere when you were the cause of those changes, is it?" he reproved her mildly.

Purrcy sighed sadly. "Well, I suppose it would seem that way. I'm very sorry. I did enjoy working with Radio Market very much, for all I was limited in capacity and courage. I would like to be able to continue to work with you into the future." Her look was sadly hopeful. "I've come to trust your crafters and their brilliance. I'm always grateful for their efforts in my behalf, and for your care." She turned away slightly when he still had no answer for her, her ears falling. "Well, I suppose it may be too much to ask. I won't take much of your time. I would only like to understand what those changes have done to a guild that was worthy of more than I could give it."

Tetorō shifted and Akaneya looked at him sharply. That youngster was already in her pocket as well. He was looking sad as well, and as if he wanted to speak, but was holding his tongue. Perhaps relenting enough to show her what she had done would be properly educational. "You may see it," he said calmly and invited them to step back out of his office.

As Akaneya passed Nyanta, her new husband said quietly, "She will bear her punishment, but there are parts of the story of Minami that mew do not know." Akaneya raised an eyebrow at Nyanta, but the other man moved on without further explanation, not using it as an excuse to step in and prevent it.

Akaneya considered it carefully as they walked to the first of the new changes. The storefront was empty now, and so were the warehouse shelves that had held the exotic products he had purchased from solos like Purrcy. "How many of your other dedicated suppliers have left Akiba, angry with the change?"

Akaneya cringed. Her first question made it obvious she already understood it. "Enough were unhappy that I wouldn't be directly selling that we've lost more than sixty percent to the small shops in town. Most were unwilling to leave Akiba altogether, though we may lose some now that Minami is set to become more stable."

Purrcy nodded. "That is rather high, but I'm honestly surprised it wasn't more."

"The remainder are less...quirky, and just want to sell, so it doesn't matter quite so much. Or they see the benefit to the changes, though that is a very small number." He looked away from Purrcy's pensive posture. "Some still come to visit, however, since I have personal relationships with them as well."

"That's good," her words sounded genuine, but he still wondered at her sincerity. Tetorō taking her hand was perhaps not surprising, but when Nyanta pet Purrcy in a brief gesture of comfort, that was more the sign Akaneya was looking for. She might have to deal with the consequences of what had been done, but the punishment wasn't fully justified in their eyes.

The story of the revolution in Minami had been told multiple times in Akiba, including at the Round Table once everyone was gathered together again. Knowing Indicus and the General from the Senate had been at the core of the troubles, and that Purrcy had been one of the murdered Adventurers, it was possible that there had been other pieces not spoken in the open yet. Truth be told, Akaneya was looking for straws of hope to grasp. His admiration of Purrcy had never been based on her intelligence or personality. If personality was the judge, he wouldn't have been able to have worked with any of the crazy solos he'd worked with. Rather it was based on her willingness to continue forward, regardless. Very likely even this visit was the same. He hoped she had enough of it. The guild in general didn't know - yet. But when it came out she was the owner of Venture Enterprises, she might not be a welcome face in the guild hall thereafter.

Of course, that assumed that knowledge was made public. So far it hadn't been. There weren't many who knew Venture Enterprises was the driving force behind the changes anyway. Most of the participants of the negotiation had merely said the guildmasters had finally sat in negotiations and finally settled on a more appropriate direction to take the city. That meant he had taken most of the brunt of the ire of his guild already, as they all had. But, she was still the source of it. It was only right she see what the outcome had become.

Akaneya put his hand on the handle of the door that led into the room his crafters were in. He looked into her face and said, "Treat it like you did your last visit. Go and speak with each one and ask them what they're working on now, and what they'll be working on next." As long as there was more story to hear to understand, he could continue to be the one his guild members were angry with. He didn't go in with them. He wanted the crafters to feel like they could vent to her. Then she would fully understand.

When the Log Horizon party walked back into his office, Akaneya looked up from his work, but didn't rise. "I'm very sorry, Akaneya," Purrcy said immediately. "It was too sudden a change from what the guild had been built on, even though they were well suited for the task." She had understood. "Shiroe's solution to this in the past has always been to take the blame and anger on his own shoulders." Akaneya wasn't surprised she understood that, too. "In this thing, that is my responsibility and place, not his, but before I step into that place, I would know if you think it's the correct answer." Akaneya blinked. He hadn't expected that question.

Carefully he answered, "Until I can understand the entirety of it, I can't answer that question."

Purrcy nodded. "Then please consider all possibilities for now. More will be made clear at the next Round Table conference. Perhaps after that we can come to a determination of the proper way to face the guild members to help them forgive and find their joy again." She bowed. "Thank you for allowing me to visit today." He nodded at her and she took herself and her escort out of his office. With a sigh, he went back to his work. It would be nice if the guild could finally be settled again - before he was left guildless.

-:-:-:-:-

Woodstock received notice from his intelligence gatherer outside Radio Market that Purrcy had left that guild hall. He left his work and walked to where the storefront used to be to wait for her there. When she walked in with her guards and escorts, he met her with folded arms and a set expression. Her ear twitched to see it, but she still walked straight up to greet him.

Bowing, Purrcy solemnly said, "Woodstock-san, I'm sorry for being the source of chaos and distress within Grandale. If it were possible I would have prevented it. What may I do to correct it?"

"Is that what you've learned from visiting Radio Market?" he asked her.

"Yes, one of the things," she answered honestly.

"And what will you do for them?"

Purrcy shook her head. "Akaneya wishes to understand more fully before he makes his request. I've asked him to think of all the possible things that might be done, and we will discuss it after the next Round Table meeting."

Woodstock tipped his head as he considered her answer. He trusted Akaneya's judgment, particularly of difficult solos like Purrcy. "Then I'll come and give my suggestions as well."

Purrcy bowed again slightly. "Very well. Thank you. May I please see the changes that have happened here?"

Woodstock took her measure, then nodded. He led them back to the crafters section and gave her quiet summaries, but didn't let her talk to them. They ended in the new blacksmithy that adjoined the guild hall. "Even now they are rivals, though since you made them work together, they're beginning to find a better balance." His wave included the blacksmiths from Marine Organization and from his own. There were a few from Shopping District 8 as well, who before then had been left out of everything. Woodstock had convinced BigMusclesBill to give them a specific piece of that project to work on all their own, and that had helped.

"I'm glad a little good has come about, then," Purrcy said quietly. Woodstock nodded his silent agreement. But...it really wasn't enough. "I will try harder," Purrcy promised, "when a path has been chosen." Woodstock looked at her a while. She seemed determined, but in his eyes, also very young and still inexperienced.

"See that you do," he finally said. Purrcy bowed.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta made Purrcy eat after that visit. It was already after lunch time and to see her most beloved guilds brought to even some level of bitterness had been hard on her. Recovery was essential before they continued on. The solution would have to be found, or her punishment shouldered, but he and Tetorō understood that a portion of the cause had been because she was moving to the will of the Puppet Master, Indicus, when the changes had occurred in the guilds. It was hard to explain such a thing to the others.

"Purrcy, don't try to come up with the solution all on meowr own," he admonished now. "Allow Shiroe-ichi to also help."

"Will he think of anything new?" Purrcy asked.

"Yes. He's only blind when it comes to his own person. He does protect those he can," Nyanta answered with conviction. Tetorō nodded agreement.

Purrcy sighed, putting her head down on her arms. "Okay." It was muffled and unhappy. Nyanta and Tetorō both pet her, one on either side.

Michael walked up to their table and took the seat across from Purrcy. She sat up and looked at him, her ear pricked towards him and her tail twitching in small nervous twitches. He settled and put clasped hands on the table as if he were about to lecture or scold. When he was sure he had her attention, he began, "Purrcy, there's a thing I told Shiroe that you'd do well to remember." Purrcy blinked. "You don't make people do anything. You hired him as your negotiator, but it was exactly and only that - a negotiation. None of them had to participate. Any of them could have stood up and walked out of that room, or changed the terms of the agreement to better suit their guilds."

"When there's change in any organization, there's stress and acclimation to the new ways of being and doing. It's impossible for everyone to be happy when change occurs, but that doesn't mean the change wasn't for the betterment of all. While there might be things you can do to help those who are unhappy come to an understanding of the benefits both for them and those they can influence, you shouldn't take on yourself their choices they make for themselves, particularly those of choosing any particular emotion."

"Remember that you have things that need to be done, that each step likely holds negotiation elements, but that you can only change things in your sphere of control, and suggest change in your sphere of influence. Taking responsibility for things outside your sphere of control isn't right, including the choices others decide for themselves. You can feel bad if they made wrong choices and offer to help, but you can't fix it for them. It's their responsibility to fix it. You do this already naturally in the home. It's the same for organizations."

Nyanta blinked. He wasn't sure that philosophy was held in quite the same way in Japan. However, Purrcy would be able to show an American face to the Round Table. It would need to be something they discussed in more detail before the Round Table meeting. For now, encouragement to strengthen her for her day's tasks was perhaps more important.

"Face each place remembering you are fact gathering today," Michael continued. "If you're unhappy about where you just were, figure out what specifically wasn't done or still needs to be done and add it to the list of facts for that location to be brought up at the meeting. You can be sympathetic, and you can make suggestions as well as listen to the suggestions of the others, but only the guildmasters can affect their guilds. You understand?"

Purrcy nodded. "Yes, Michael. Thank you." She looked inward for a bit as if making her mental notes, but returned when the meal was brought to the table.

-:-:-:-:-

West Wind Brigade welcomed Purrcy with excitement and open arms. Nazuna was pleased with her first action - thanking the guild for participating in helping with the wedding celebration, and with the Meet and Greet after the fashion show. Soujirou watched this day, wanting to let Purrcy interact with the rest of his guild. The guild welcomed her in and gave her a tour of the guild hall. West Wind Brigade really wasn't much different than Crescent Moon, except larger and perhaps fewer male members.

The girls could be relaxed around Purrcy since she was married and had her own reverse harem with her, as seemed to be her usual. Soujirou did wonder how that had worked out to have both and wondered if he should ask her for some advice, or maybe if he should ask Nyanta. Things had gotten a bit out of hand for a while before they'd realized Nazuna was having troubles she couldn't control. Then the others had relented and swept back in to lift her up again. There were still a few who had difficulty letting the jealousy go, but they were keeping quiet about it lately with the others putting pressure on them instead.

The increased responsibility and reliance on the guild had been good for it. Some who needed more had volunteered as the teachers at the Academy and the increased strength of those had increased the strength of the guild as a whole. The guild was starting to feel more mature because of it. Even if he was the glue that held it all together, each person needed to grow and move forward to stay strong, not continuously rely on only him for their strength and purpose in life. He liked the current path they were on, though he guarded it carefully still. The fact Shiroe was putting him closer to Log Horizon worried him. Being told Purrcy was trying to protect him helped, but made him curious. So he watched.

When the tour was over, the ladies all swept Purrcy and her immediate escort (some had stayed at the front door and in the front hall) into the guild hall meeting room, that was also the dining room at meal time. As always, cookies and little cakes appeared with tea and coffee. Someone was always baking, so they were always available. After visiting pleasantly for a short while, long enough to eat a few small treats and answer a few more questions, Purrcy extricated herself enough to stand at the front of the room. Her escorts got a little more formal and the room settled down for her rather organically.

"Thank you for all your hard work," Purrcy started out with. "In addition to what you've all kindly done for me personally, you've also done very much for Akiba, and for the Academy. As the Dean of the Academy, I would like to take a moment if I may to reward West Wind Brigade." She motioned to Soujirou and he moved to walk up to her, looking at her curiously. "For service to the Academy and students, as well as calm duty in the line of fire, I award West Wind Brigade a commendation."

A glowing light left Purrcy's hand and approached Soujirou's chest. It rested on his left breast, then turned into a golden paw print. He looked at it for a moment, then looked at her, not sure he wanted one more thing to tie his guild to hers, though he kept his face clear. She had completely left Log Horizon out of her pronouncement. To her, that was likely a distinction. "Also, I wish to thank you for your part in making sure that Nakalnad and his army were sent away without harming Akiba to play their proper part in Minami and at the Maze of Eternity. I would not be here without that action on your part. Thank you." Purrcy bowed to Soujirou.

He raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure it was that dire. "While I'm sure we didn't need him taking out the city, I'm also sure he would have returned sufficiently in time. He's rather reasonable, really."

Purrcy smiled. "If I may, I'd like to discuss for a bit how things are going for the guild in the roles they are playing in Akiba right now - specifically as instructors at the Academy and as Personnel Resource Development specialists. If we could hold it as a sort of cottage meeting for about a half-hour or so? I'd like to hear how things are going well, where things could use improvement, and general comments."

Soujirou nodded. "Okay." He wasn't surprised. Shiroe had been the one to request the meeting and had let him know it would be a business meeting of sorts. He moved to the side, but not far away and mostly went back to observing again, allowing the guild to moderate themselves as they answered Purrcy's specific questions. It was a common way for them to communicate in the guild. It allowed the women to air out their complaints as well as support each other with verbal pats on the back.

Purrcy seemed right at home and pleased with the conversation. She seriously listened to the comments and asked informed probing questions until she understood what was being said. She also gave occasional personal anecdotes that made the meeting more homey until everyone was relaxed and comfortable. As Soujirou escorted her out of the guild hall, he shook his head at her. "You're very good. I'd wondered how you'd won Nazuna. Now I've seen it for myself."

Purrcy waved a hand. "It was different at Water Maple, and she was one person. The dynamics are different. But she and everyone here were very forgiving of me. I'm sure that has more to do with it."

Soujirou narrowed his eyes at Purrcy. She looked back at him philosophically. "It's true Soujirou. My real test will be at the Round Table Council meeting. It will be harder to find easy forgiveness there, I think." She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

Soujirou considered her. "I think...you will have them also eating out of your hand there."

She looked away. "Maybe...maybe not. Everyone has the right to choose how they will react, what they will do. It's those who choose to be sheep without proper thought that can't complain later."

He suddenly felt convicted. He wasn't sure she'd meant it to be that way, but he did feel it. Had he really been just going with the flow that much, that to be suddenly placed where Shiroe had put him was his own fault? He sighed within himself as he realized it was true. In being "neutral", he'd really been "following" and not "choosing". He suspected he wasn't the only one, too.

He didn't mind where the guild was at the moment, but he would have to be more firm if he really didn't want to be pulled into Shiroe's camp of guilds. Not that he wanted to be obstinate for obstinacy's sake, but he did need to be more proactive in his decisions again. He was still thoughtful as he watched Purrcy and her guards walk off towards her next appointment. The one thought he did have then was that she was the sort that changed everyone and everything she touched.

-:-:-:-:-

Michitaka was waiting with great interest for Purrcy and the Log Horizon contingent to arrive. He wanted to learn as much about what she could do as possible while she was there. She walked right up to him and stuck out her hand for a handshake. He gave her a firm one and was pleasantly surprised when she returned it, firm for firm. She looked boldly into his eyes and he was again struck with the fact she was as tall as he was. Felinoids tended for slender height, but for some reason he kept expecting her to be short.

"Guildmaster Michitaka. Thank you for greeting me this afternoon. I would like a summary tour of your guild and all of its departments, mainly to see what the recent changes have done. If you could come with me and summarize for me? I've a long family history of business. There won't be many words you throw at me I don't know. It will be most difficult for me to stay at the ten-thousand foot level, though, instead of dropping down into the hundred foot level, or even one foot level."

She was candid and knew her own limits and weaknesses. "I can do that," he said calmly, and got them walking. He'd already planned out their route in his mind. He was doing for her what Nakalnad had done for him at Minami when he'd been shown what they had there in their development departments.

"I heard what you did in Minami when you first took over," Purrcy said conversationally as they walked to the first department. "Not many people know that method of getting rid of the cruft in heavy companies. I applaud your actions - and guts."

Michitaka chuckled and threw a glance at her. "You're not planning on repeating it here, I hope?"

Purrcy shrugged with a little smile. "I won't guarantee I won't, but I don't expect to have to." She looked over at him. "I do hope, though, that if I can free a little more desk space for you, that you'll take it?"

He gave a sardonic smile. "I did like having a cleared desk over there."

Purrcy nodded. "It's a deal then." He shook his head. He wasn't sure he'd agreed to any sort of deal yet, but he didn't argue. They arrived at the first department and he started in on his spiel, while she listened closely.

Michitaka watched Purrcy as they walked through the departments and he talked about them. She would occasionally ask for clarification or for a few more details in the processes or the human handling. She gave no suggestions, nor many comments really. It was her body language that gave the most away. Her eyes watched everything they saw with great interest, whether it was the production machinery or the people who were working - and she paid attention to both. Every so often she would ask a supervisor a question, more often if he'd introduced them, but in the main she didn't bother the people hard at work. It wasn't too different from what he would have done if he'd been invited to tour a facility owned by someone else.

When he'd gone into Minami to oversee the department for a time, he'd been deeper into asking questions of the staff, so he could appreciate that she wasn't. It didn't guarantee anything, but her stated purpose was to use what already existed and not to take over everything. So far, she seemed to be holding to that, at least in his house. He wondered how she'd been at the other places so far that morning. That made him wonder why he'd never taken the opportunity to tour everyone else's place. It wouldn't hurt for all of them to understand each other's processes and places. At least then they'd know better how to support each other when they met at the Round Table. Maybe they should have done that before falling into line at the negotiating table. _That_ would surely have gone better if they had. Hindsight was so wonderful. They could still do that moving forward, though. He filed that thought away in his internal "to do" list.

He'd saved the box line for last and was pleased to see her light up just a little more. In that room she did ask more questions, though when they started to go deep Nyanta stepped in and put a restraining hand on her arm and her ears twitched in slight embarrassment. Michitaka secretly smiled. That was an obvious thing for an inventor of a product to do. Their excitement for their item always bled into excited interest in anything having to do with it's production.

"Mister Michitaka, may I say a few words to the line staff?" she asked him politely. Michitaka gave a shrill whistle and everyone on the floor gave them their attention. He watched her as she stepped out from their little grouping enough to become the center of attention. "Everyone. I hope you'll forgive me for interrupting your work. Please allow me to express my gratitude for your hard work." She bowed properly then stepped back into her place.

Michitaka blinked. "That's it?" She looked at him and blinked back in surprise, but didn't say anything. She finally nodded. He shook his head and turned back to the people on the floor. He jerked his thumb at her. "This is Purrcy. She's the one that came up with the nesting box concept. She wanted to come see the production line." Comprehension and smiles bloomed on the faces on the floor. There were scattered calls of, "you're welcome" and Purrcy blushed. That was a first for Michitaka, to see a felinoid do that. Even though it was all in the ears, whiskers, and tail, it was still obviously what it was. He chuckled, then moved them on, letting everyone get back to work.

He took the opportunity to ask his own question as they walked back towards his office. "So, do I get a clue for what's coming down next? So I can be preparing?" He glanced at her to see the effect of his question.

She didn't react, but she did pause to think about her answer. "You understand that as an inventor, I can't know what will work at my level that will reach yours. I'm afraid I can't answer it in a way to help you." She looked at him until he let her know he did understand that's how it worked, but he still wanted a heads up on the potentials. She looked away again. "Well...my most recent wild questions and ideas have been centered around potions, but I don't know if they'll work or when that will trickle down. I'm sure you'll need to focus your next efforts on what's about to come out of Radio Market and Grandale. How do you handle that? Do you wait for something to be handed over before you act in house or do you know what's on the docket over there?"

She was smooth, and it was the sort of transition and question he would have expected following the tour. He answered it calmly. "I've got the list and they give me the updates as they get reports from the crews over there."

"What's your lead time?"

Again a question he would have expected next. "I prefer three weeks, if it's possible. I get my construction team together with their team at about that point to get a feel for the base level process, then we come hash it out over here - how to turn it into full scale production. We're working pretty closely with them the last week and a half to make sure we don't have to rebuild or revamp here much once the line's built. That's expensive, rebuilding the line." Purrcy nodded her understanding of that. "We still have to run a trial once it's up, of course, to make sure it all works once we're handed the final. They come over here then and help us work out the details that we all might have missed, and are quality control until we're all happy."

That won him points. He paused, looking at her. She blinked, then said, "Sorry. I was quality for a short stint." She looked away. After a few more steps she said, "It's helpful to see how the production lines work. I can fit that into my designs from the beginning from this point on."

Michitaka blinked in surprise. "Well, don't sacrifice needs just to accommodate this end."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well...no. If it's not the right product, it's not the right product, but still...I've always believed that if the whole process is understood by everyone at even the surface level, and everyone kept it in mind, things would flow just a little smoother. Each step has their own processes they try to get to run smoothly, but the overall is also a meta-process that can try to move in a similar fashion." She shrugged. "It's a bit difficult to implement, though, when at the scale of guilds as large as are in Akiba, ...since I'm talking about every individual, not just the guildmasters. It's difficult for the rock at the bottom of the river in Yichang to care what the rock at the bottom of the river at Shanghai will think about the drop of water that passes over the both of them."

"You do," he pointed out.

She smiled at him. "I am the phoenix that cries the tear that enters the Yangtze. An oddity that the rocks may or may not see to even care about. What is the tear among the many rushing waters?"

He looked at her, wondering if she didn't understand. "A treasure," he answered.

She looked away. "You are kind," she said softly.

He blinked and shook his head. "Each thought that becomes a reality that blesses the lives of others is a treasure. Even you should understand that for the many thoughts that can't, or don't, become a reality, the one that does is that."

"Well, that is true," she admitted. "And for each one that does, it is even more a rare treasure to have it become something that can reach the level of your guild and bless the lives of many."

He tipped his head at her. "How many of your ideas have become treasures at home?"

He was a little surprised at the turn of her ears and the flattening of her whiskers. It was a question she didn't like. Flatly she answered, "None. There is no phoenix there. The mouse is buried under the desert sands."

He considered her, then patted her shoulder. "Perhaps it is the egg within the ashes waiting to hatch again." She shuddered and he squeezed her shoulder and let her go, clasping his hands behind his back. When they reached the main area, they bowed politely to each other and she thanked him for the tour and his time, then left with her entourage. He looked after her, reminded yet again that people are still people, even if they are gifted.


	72. What the Guild Protects

Calasin had been wondering what he was going to get. By now, he'd heard the carefully couched complaints from MarketMaker, and been visited by four of the new Log Horizon fighters. At the fashion show both he and Purrcy had been extremely busy and they'd only had time to be professionally pleasant to each other. She'd been just as firm, though perhaps a little softer at the bi-council meeting. The stressful event of two days before was over. He'd seen, or heard, Purrcy be so many different ways now. Perhaps of all of them, it might help him most to know she was so much older. She really did fit the profile of an older woman used to running her own household for many years. One who expected a set pattern out of life and too old to be anything but impatient with anything that stepped out of that pattern. He sighed to himself.

Before he could think too much harder, the door opened and the felinoid herself walked into the storefront. He was waiting for her today with his hands behind his back, his neutrally pleasant salesman's face on, but he couldn't keep the sharp look out of his eyes and wasn't going to. Purrcy met him face to face, her eyes not leaving his from the time she stepped through the door. She stopped in front of him and bowed a quarter-bow. "Calasin. Thank you for allowing me to come today." Proper and polite. Not loud. "Please show me what it is that is done within the walls of your guild. I wish to properly understand it." Business.

He started where he was, though it was perhaps the end - where the product left the building. That was the end goal of all the rest, to get whatever product there was out into the hands of customers - that is, everyone. Purrcy listened carefully and politely to all of his words, then asked questions. It surprised him just a little that she was concerned to the level of even wanting to understand why things were done the way they were, though it was the most important part of understanding sales. Since he had decided to use this as an opportunity to educate, he willingly answered her questions. When her questions took one step too far into the details he paused and Nyanta shifted. Purrcy glanced at Nyanta and retracted her question.

Calasin considered that as he led them into the warehouse. Again, the same thing was repeated. This time her questions probed a little deeper into why he had chosen to organize the warehouse the way he had. He gave an answer to the level they had gotten to before, but not into the details that had been punished before and she was satisfied. From the warehouse they went to the behind-the-scene's work - the staffing that took orders, handled the financials, the ones that planned the shipments and hired the caravans, and all of the other many hundreds of tasks necessary to keep such a business moving forward. Even there she paid close attention and followed along with him, never getting lost, though she did sometimes stop him and ask for clarification.

When he was satisfied with the lesson, he paused. "Do you have any questions before we move on?"

She looked at him mildly. "What is your audit method?"

Calasin blinked. That was rather high level. "The financial department head and I meet with the Cunie once per month to review the books. They've hired a dedicated Person of the Land to specifically keep track of the financials, one for each city we have a presence in. Those records are retrieved here for the meeting and he brings the Akiba representative with him as well."

Purrcy asked, "How will you handle expansion to the levels expected in the future?"

Calasin paused. He had considered it, particularly after having been in Minami for two months. "My plan at the moment is to have sub-department heads for each region who will hold those meetings for their regions and then there will be a general reporting meeting the following day. Because it will add a layer, I also plan on instituting the annual full audit...assuming I can find properly trained persons outside the guild that are trustworthy. I'm not sure what effect distance may have. It may have to be longer than a year, but that allows corruption to creep in more quickly, I'm afraid."

That answer seemed sufficient for her. The next question wasn't financial at all, but was still related to expansion. When he was done answering it she paused. "Calasin, another time I would like to sit with you and hear your full expansion plan, if I may. I think the level I would like to hear, this one, is more detailed than the others will care to hear in a full council meeting. Could we meet in three or four days for several hours?"

He looked at her. "Is there a reason you wish to hear those details?"

She looked back soberly. "Shiroe and I will be leaving for international shores in the near future. If we can understand what we should be looking for on the way, perhaps we can lay the rails for the train appropriately."

Calasin's brow furrowed as he considered it. "Should I be ready to move with you?"

Purrcy paused. "I think...that might come up in the next meeting. That's a question for Shiroe." She shifted and an ear twitched. "I don't know how much detail of your process I need to understand in order to understand how to move. I certainly don't want to replicate effort, nor ever take your position, but I want to be able to help as best I can so that your way is made smoother. In the end Shiroe's goals can't be reached without it."

Calasin looked at her curiously. "Why not?"

"Because he needs to be able to affect the world. It can be done with words, and I'm helping him with that as best I can, but it also must be done to a level with money. The world at the moment is not its own and there are things that must be done that others won't do for free, nor should they. All of the rest of what is being done in Akiba is pointless if your job, and the role of your guild, isn't made simple and helped as much as possible to grow." She paused, then added, "And we aren't fully complete yet. There is still one department unfilled. I am unsure if I should request it be added under you, or if I should request your help to find one more guild that has the skill set we need."

Calasin raised an eyebrow. "It's not really like I want more work," he said.

"No. That's why I would rather you help us find another guild," she agreed. "However, it will be one you'll work closely with." He tipped his head at her. "We need a Transportation guild. If we get the gates working, they will open offices to handle time tables and financials at each gate. Ideally they'll have an office at _every_ gate." She paused to let him catch the significance of that single word. "I would expect regional government oversight so that a militaristic monopoly doesn't form, so political acumen will be as necessary as customer service and minute organizational skills. If we can't get the gates running, then they'll need to handle train transportation, which they'll start with since we already have that functional, as well as ship transport. If the fairy rings can be comprehended, they will also manage those timetables. Of course, they will also handle people movement requests and product movement requests. Those are their 'products' if you will."

Calasin began to run through the guilds he had contact with in his mind. The ones in town were too small, for the most part. "Do they have to be based in Akiba?" he asked.

Purrcy hesitated. "No, but they should plan on putting in an office here, and I think they will eventually find it more convenient to have the home office here, but that's not mine to know. I think all of us would find it easier to sleep at night if it was here and we could see they weren't forming that militaristic monopoly in places we couldn't see it happening." The last was said wryly. He had to admit that much was probably true.

He nodded. "I'll work to come up with a few to propose. Do you want me to feel them out?"

"At least for the general idea, and if they'd be willing to move," she answered.

Calasin looked at Purrcy. She was very much like Shiroe, actually. She had a long view of the world. But they weren't done with the tour of his guild yet. "Shall we go to the last place?"

She looked at him. "Michitaka took me to see the sewing room as part of his production tour."

Calasin nodded. He wouldn't replicate it then. He turned their feet towards the other sewing room. "The final department is the repairs and modifications and returns departments."

She listened just as politely as before. At the end, she said, "It seems to me that because of the way the Adventurer system works, we have very little waste, even if you do get the odd return." He nodded. "What would you do if we were back on Earth and couldn't store perishable things quite so well again?"

Not having had to think about that before, his answer was a little longer in coming. "I think I would request refrigeration first, both for long term transit, and for local storage. And I'm pretty sure food banks and discount sales would appear. ...And waste disposal would become a larger problem."

Purrcy blinked. "What are we doing for waste disposal at the moment?"

Calasin wrinkled his nose. "Sending it to a far part of the city that's undeveloped at the moment and having it buried."

"Aaahh...I don't think having it _inside_ the city is good long-term planning," Purrcy protested. She turned to Tetorō. "Please add it to my notes for things I need to discuss with Shiroe. If there's a person who's over that particular issue, even if it's just a Person of the Land foreman, please schedule time for me to talk to that person and get a quick look at what they're doing. And if Minami has someone that's an Adventurer over it, I'd like to discuss with that person what they're doing." She slumped just slightly. "Being living beings is hard when we get in large groups." She sighed through her nose, then consciously straightened again, stretching her back a bit. "Haahhh. Thank you for your time, Calasin."

Calasin smiled at her slightly and bowed. "Do you really want to concern yourself to that level, Heika?"

She stared at him. "Calasin. Please don't tease. In our modern age we know all kinds of things, even about how to take care of our waste responsibly that the People of the Land here may not know. Though if they do, I want to know it so I can stop worrying about the health risk they present themselves. Shiroe may be the Caretaker of the Adventurers, but he can't do everything. As Caretaker of Yamato I'd like to make sure at least that part doesn't have to be worried about. Illness spreads. I'm constantly scolding the creatures about keeping their houses and warrens and villages clean. The more intelligent ones are finally getting the picture, I think. I suppose the higher mortality rate among the lesser intelligent ones won't make anyone sad."

Calasin shook his head. "No, I would imagine not."

"Of course, even the creatures of Earth know enough to remove the refuse from their homes and bury it away from them, so it isn't like they're completely clueless here," she ran a hand over her head and one ear, flattening it. "If you're done, Calasin, I should go."

He bowed his head. "Thank you for coming," he said, releasing her. She bobbed her head and led her group away.

-:-:-:-:-

"Tetorō, would we have time to visit the shipyard, or perhaps even to rest for a bit again? I need to let my brain settle, I think, and maybe have an afternoon snack." Purrcy asked calmly as they walked out of Shopping District 8's storefront.

"Afternoon," he said faintly. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Purrcy, it's dinner time."

She froze for just an instant. "Oh." She put her hands on either side of her head. "No wonder my brain is so full and my stomach so empty." She stopped and looked at the Guild Hall. "Can we stop by?" Almost everyone sighed at her, but followed after her anyway. She walked up the stairs and inside. She went straight to the bank and the Cunie on duty that evening. "I need a top floor office with access to the Round Table Conference Room. Make it a small office, like that of an Assistant, or an Executive Secretary, please. I won't use it very often. It should access the receiving room to Shiroe's office as well."

The Cunie paused in his reaching for his hall rental book. "Mister Shiroe doesn't have a receiving room for his office. He has rented only a single office."

Purrcy sighed. "Of course he has. Please correct it when you make my office. I've come new to his staff, so the expansion is necessary." She rubbed her head again. "We'll split the cost for the receiving room, the portion of the cost being the equivalent to the size ratio of each office we have. He won't be happy with another expense, but I'll take it up with him later. The only other option would be to connect his guild hall office instead, but he would hate being that bothered."

She stood and waited while the Cunie opened his book and made a few notations, then handed the book over for her to sign. She signed her name for the room and payment amount and he handed her a key. "Thank you," she said. "Let's go take a look while we're here, shall we?" She turned and walked into the Guild Hall and walked them all up to the top floor. She found the door number that matched the number on the key and touched the handle of the door. She stood there for a moment, setting permissions, then released the handle. "Just on the off chance, shall we pretend that this is a new and potentially dangerous room we've never been in before?" She stepped back from the door.

Training raised an eyebrow. "Are we to assume you've just made it dangerous?"

Purrcy raised eye whiskers back at him. "Did you see my collar light up? I'm too tired for tests. This is just a practice exercise. Pop quiz if you like. I don't see how any of them should be different, though."

She got baleful looks, but three of the four guards moved to stand around the door. The fourth one, Charlie, stood at her back between her and the hall. He took her elbow and moved her so she wasn't centered on the door. The center guard on the door, Schedules, opened it and shoved it open so they could see into the room. There were several chairs, a couch, a low table in front of it, and a few other office like items around the front entry receiving room, but no visible persons or creatures. Carefully Schedules entered the room and the ones on the side kept watch on him and the room, particularly the other two closed doors. When he had scanned the entire room, including the corners that couldn't be seen from the door, he motioned and Records entered, passed him and went to the door on the left.

Records put his hand on the handle of the door and pressed but it didn't move. He carefully scanned the door, then moved to the door on the right. That door handle moved. Purrcy sighed. "Nyanta, in Japan, what shows higher precedence, right hand or left hand? In America, it isn't set in stone, but the right side is considered higher rather instinctively."

"It's about the same," Nyanta answered calmly.

"Tetorō, run down and tell him he needs to swap locations of the offices. The left door needs to be mine. If he complains, tell him I insist."

Tetorō looked at her with a look that begged he not be sent all the way back down to only have to come all the way back up again. He was just as tired, after all. Charlie held up a hand and opened up a chat. "Tell the Cunie the Caretaker requires the left hand office door and requests he swap the rooms." They waited until he looked at Records and nodded. Records tried the right hand handle again and it didn't budge. He walked back to the left hand door and it turned. This time he opened it carefully from the side, keeping the least amount of his body in the opening as possible.

They could see inside that room a desk with a chair and other office apportionments. He carefully looked around the room from the door for occupants or traps. Schedules walked closer to cover Records and he walked into the office proper carefully, then looked under the desk and in all the nooks and crannies of the office. When he was satisfied with the physical security, he nodded and carefully backed out of the room, keeping watch on it to make sure nothing showed up on exit. Then he waited there for a full minute to make sure. He motioned to Schedules and that guard walked into the office and over to the other door. As he was about to put his hand on the door handle, Purrcy called to him. He paused, not touching the handle and waited.

"Is it sufficient I can come that far?" she finally asked. They looked at her in surprise, but her ears were twisting in consternation.

"Into the waiting room," she was finally allowed. She stepped through the door, following Tetorō, Charlie following her closely and Nyanta coming in the rear. "Come inside for now," she motioned to Training, still on the main door. He frowned, but stepped in and closed the door, standing in front of it. Purrcy walked closer to the office door, but stayed about two feet away. "You boys know about the spell on Shiroe's office, right?" They nodded. They'd seen it. "He's apparently put one up over the Round Table conference room," she told them. She was looking at it in the code realm, by her expression. "Since this is a new door and office, and I've never been in that room, I can't get past that, at least and hear anything. There's no point until he comes and changes the permissions. You won't hear anything either, and it's empty."

"Only the owner of a door can open it from inside that room," Nyanta informed them. "Though they can let others through it."

"So if this door has suddenly appeared, no one can open it anyway?" Schedules asked. Nyanta nodded. Schedules relaxed slightly, scanned the door, then turned his back to it and stood there. When Purrcy looked at him, he nodded.

Purrcy carefully entered the office, looking around just as cautiously as he had, then more curiously as she explored what she'd been given to work with. "Request a desk and chair for the entry room, basic," she requested. Charlie passed the request on down and about one minute later they appeared in the entry room. "Tetorō that's for you. Move it to where you can hear me easily and I can see you. We should at least be able to look at each other if necessary. Try not to let Shiroe give you work to do just because you're there."

"Will I have lots of work to do?" Tetorō asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Probably not any more than you do now," she answered. "It's really more for appearances at the moment. We may not need the rooms very long at all in the end." She sat down in the chair at her desk, explored all the drawers in the desk, satisfied when she found it was at least stocked with blank paper, pen, and ink. She pulled those out and data dumped, putting all the words and ideas and thoughts pressing against her brain outside of it until it wasn't under such pressure. The only exterior interaction she had for some time was to tell Training to stay inside on the door when he moved to go outside it, and to tell all four of them to make their notes to add to hers. The guards took turns using Tetorō's desk to write down their notes, since there were only three doors to stand on, and he didn't need the desk.

By the time her pen went down, there was a teacup on the desk. She reached for it gratefully and drank it down. "Thank you, Nyanta," she said as she rose from the desk. He walked into the office to retrieve the cup and saucer. She neatly slipped her notes into a drawer of the desk and added the pages from the guards that Records brought to her on top of them. "I'll read those first thing when we get back. If I read them now, everything I just got rid of will come flying back again and I'll collapse for sure. I'm afraid I've always been the kind of person that if it's on paper, I don't have to remember it. I don't do that often, but today it's survival."

"I'm actually amazed you managed to get through all of them today," Tetorō admitted to her as she entered the waiting room.

Purrcy nodded. "I do wish we could have gotten to at least the shipyard as well. Did Michael and Nav make it over there at least?" she asked Charlie.

"Yes, Ma'am," Charlie answered. "They went after lunch."

"Oh. That's where they went," she said absently. "Well, let's head home before I melt into goo. I'm sorry to keep you from your duties, Nyanta. Maybe tomorrow -"

"No. The children can make the meals," he refused before she could finish the suggestion.

She looked at him and the tip of an ear twitched. "Very well. Thank you." She paused, then shook herself out and took a deep breath and let it out. "If the tours and inspection of the remaining guilds will take all day tomorrow, then we may want to postpone the council meeting a day. I think it would be best to go in with an understanding of how the gates are coming along and shipyard is functioning." She was looking into the air above her. "You know, staying hidden isn't very polite."

"Ah, I forgot," Shiroe's image appeared where she was looking. "I was surprised by your location before I got that far."

"No you weren't. Tetorō checked in with you properly," she scolded back. "I'd like to see the Round Table room. Can you change permissions from there?"

He considered it. "No."

"Then come with us tomorrow morning. I need to start from here."

Shiroe didn't commit, only asked, "Are you on your way, then?"

"Yes. Please let this evening's chef know we'll be there shortly." Shiroe nodded and disappeared. Purrcy continued to watch that spot though, then relaxed. She rubbed her head down with her hands, and then her face. Finally she said, "Gahh...too much testosterone. Maybe I'll eat at Crescent Moon tonight. Open the door and see if it's safe to go out, and if we really _can_ get out." She waved helplessly at the door, stepping to the side so she wasn't in a direct line from it, following Charlie's teachings from earlier. Somehow she managed to walk her way home, though she really wanted to ride. She almost fell asleep at the dinner table, and did curl up in her chair there as soon as her plate was clean, little cat snores sounding when they looked for her.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō cast a mirror room on Purrcy, then sighed and looked around the table. "She sat at yellow, or near yellow all day." He shook his head at Shiroe's wide eyes. "Not doing magic. Thinking, planning, organizing, using her brain the normal way." He gave Shiroe a scolding look. "I should think if I stuck one on you it would be worse." Shiroe closed his mouth and looked properly guilty.

"She'll want the same duty roster for tomorrow," Charlie said, sounding a bit tired himself. Tetorō nodded agreement.

"When you get to the shipyard, we'll trade out Schedules and Records for Nav and myself," Michael said. "At the move to the gates, whenever that is, we'll trade again for Maintenance. Putting our eyes on those things is a good idea, so we don't have to make emergency repairs blind, if it should come down to it."

"Permission to drop by Crescent Moon before retiring," Training requested. Michael looked a question over his shoulder at him. "I've been assigned to their planning meetings. I'd like to let them know and make sure I'm on their schedule." He was looking at Reed. Reed looked over to Michael. Michael nodded.

"Permission granted," Reed answered. "Take BlackJack with you."

"Yessir," both answered at once.

"Clocktower, you'll want to get your report to her before she leaves in the morning," Charlie passed on. The person in question nodded, his mouth too full of his dinner to answer politely otherwise.

"Shiroe," Tetorō added, "if you can spare Akatsuki, we might want to add her to the roster tomorrow." Akatsuki looked up in surprise. "If not, then maybe Isuzu or Minori."

"Why?" Shiroe asked in surprise.

"She needs another female around. It was her one complaint today - too many men."

Isuzu raised a hand. "I'll do it."

Michael pursed his lips and looked at her. "Keep it light, then. She's already feeling reined in pretty tightly. It won't help if her female companion's just another jailer."

Naotsugu sighed. "She needs a few hours on the couch, just being pet, doesn't she?"

Everyone who'd seen her work that day nodded. Naotsugu gestured at Nyanta. "Hand her over." Nyanta's ear flicked, but he picked the small cat up and handed her to Naotsugu. Naotsugu draped her over his shoulder and pet her in long slow strokes with one hand while he ate with the other. "How much longer do you think it's going to go, Councilor?" he asked around the bites of food he was shoveling in.

Shiroe sat back, stretching his long legs out in front of him, one ankle on the other. He was already done eating, himself. Naotsugu and the bigger eaters were given double portions at dinner. They'd be done soon. "After the meeting, for sure. Anyone know where she's planning on going when it's done?"

No answers were forthcoming. Nyanta finally said, "Purrobably to recover." Tetorō considered the answer and nodded, but also shrugged as he slurped up the last of his dinner.

Shiroe considered a little longer, then said, "I guess I don't know. I would think it would let up a little after that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it continues until we're on the road."

Naotsugu shook his head. "She'll have to be trained to keep a saner daily schedule then, in addition to the internal work. She did this last time. Work without breaks and pushed meals when she could. Not healthy for anybody." He gave a slightly scolding look at Tetorō and Nyanta to either side of him, sitting up to relax now his meal was done. They silently acknowledged his scold. They'd not prevented it last time either, letting her run her own schedule until Naotsugu had corrected her.

"Well, it is a little different this time," Tetorō said. "We don't know exactly how long each thing is going to take, though we've tried to fit in the right time for the size. It is ambitious, though, I'll agree. Pushing it out one more day would help that," he looked at Shiroe.

Shiroe nodded. "I'll let everyone know."

It was quiet from her side. The rest filled in with their reports regarding the final clean up of the city, including the changeover of spies, and getting the newest students of the Academy from Minami set up in the dormitory level of the warehouse that was the school building. When the reports were done, Nyanta shifted. Shiroe looked at him. Nyanta looked down the table. "Michael-nyan needs more information before the meeting, Shiroe-ichi," he said.

Shiroe looked down at Michael, opposite him at the table. Michael's eyebrows had raised and he was looking rather clueless. Shiroe looked at Nyanta who folded his arms and looked at him. "Alright. My office?" he rose. Nyanta stood up with him and Michael did as well. They sent their dishes to the kitchen then retired to the office.

As soon as they were inside, Nyanta said, "Lock her out."

Shiroe set the permissions on his door, mystified. "Okay."

"So she can't listen in." Nyanta insisted.

"Okay," Shiroe set the permission on the clean room spell.

Nyanta looked at Michael. Michael shook his head. "Tetorō put her in a clean room before the meeting even started. She won't hear it from inside either."

"And the history?" Nyanta asked.

Michael blinked and was gone for about fifteen seconds. "Okay. I've blocked it on all three of us."

"All three of us?"

Michael nodded. "She's got them on us and on Tetorō. She doesn't access them often. More often it's just the one on herself."

Nyanta's tail twitched. Shiroe sat down on the couch and waited. Michael took one of the chairs and looked between the two of them. "Michael-nyan needs to hear meowr working premise, Shiroe-ichi. Tetorō-kun and I both agree. He hasn't stepped over any boundaries yet, but he's going to soon, otherwise." Shiroe's brow creased as he looked at Michael. "It's because he's still new, meow."

Shiroe nodded. That made sense. He hadn't been around long enough to pick up on the clues like the rest of them had. Shiroe turned to Michael. "Just like Purrcy wasn't Purrcy most of the time she, and you, were here last time, Purrcy isn't Purrcy most of the time here this time. You remember the meeting under the tree?" Michael nodded. "That wasn't her. That was the World AI, entered into its oracle. Likely most of today wasn't her either. Or to be specific, in form and expression it was, but in direction and action it wasn't. The World AI holds her Summon whistle and she works according to its requirements." He glanced at Nyanta, whose tail was swishing from side to side in agitation. A little reluctantly he said, "Likely, the only time we've actually seen Purrcy herself was when she arrived and greeted us in the street, and then again at the wedding and celebration after." He looked at Nyanta. "How long did the AI leave you two alone?"

"It was back by meowrning," he almost growled it.

Shiroe sighed. "I'm sorry Nyanta, but honestly I didn't expect otherwise. It's not like an emotionless entity would understand, or care."

"Wait," Michael interrupted, almost angrily. "You mean she isn't there at all?"

"No, she is there, but her choices still aren't her own yet," Shiroe tried to clarify. "It's her knowledge base, her comprehension of the world and her memories. She puts it into the words she has, but the driving force behind it all is the World AI, and it makes sure things are happening the way it wants them to."

Nyanta started pacing to get his flicking ears to calm down a bit. Michael looked like his meal had suddenly decided to disagree with him. His eyes were tracing thoughts in his mind. Shiroe let him come to an understanding. "The contract you have with her...it's a contract with the World AI?"

Shiroe paused. Carefully he said. "I have two contracts, only one's been assigned to Nyanta now, though the whole guild will still keep to it." Michael tipped his head to the side, waiting for further information. Shiroe swallowed and said very carefully, "The one I still hold is the one with the World AI. As long as we are working for the same goals, I will help to solve the problems it can't on it's own. They're the problems I was already working to solve anyway. The second one is a contract with Purrcy herself. That's the one Nyanta holds now, signed at the wedding ceremony. It's our promise to her as a guild to protect her and free her from the World AI."

Michael stared at them both. "In exchange for what?" he asked suspiciously. Shiroe sighed to himself. Michael did already know her well enough to understand that much. He turned and looked at Nyanta.

Nyanta pulled up, his ears going back. He took a breath, then faced Michael. "She told mew. She gave herself to the guild. She also purromised me she would stay with me. I'm not going home. The wedding was the formalization of that purromise. She is technically mine after that signing, rather than the guild's, as long as we work to free her from being owned by the World AI."

Michael was looking dark. Shiroe interjected. "The agreement with the World AI is that if we solve it's problems, it releases Purrcy to us and returns her to being a proper Adventurer again."

Michael's lips pressed into a thin line. "I can see wanting to do that, but," he looked at Nyanta, "did she really agree to stay, or is that just what you want?"

Nyanta shook his head. "When we first spoke, and she told me what she was, it was her wish to stay also. It was her suggestion first. I was paralyzed before then, not wanting to stay here alone, not wanting to go home. When she is free again, we will see if she has changed her mind."

Michael narrowed his eyes at Nyanta. "Are the two of you _really_ married?"

Nyanta scowled and started pacing again, his tail still in motion. "For all intents and purrposes, I'm more married to the World AI than to Purrcy right now. I'm able to influence her somewhat because of the contract, which is like a contract with a Summon creature, but the whistle holder always trumps. It is irritating."

Michael nodded. "That's how you got Nureha over here and out of Minami."

Shiroe nodded. "Purrcy gave me Nureha's whistle. Her agreement with Purrcy was that Purrcy would hold her whistle and protect her until she could be set free - both of Indicus and of her fear of returning to Earth."

"And since Purrcy was inside her, she had to go wherever Nureha went."

"It wasn't out of line with the will of the World AI," Shiroe said quietly, almost deadly.

Michael sat up a little straighter. "You both hate the World AI." Both of them gave brief flashes of agreement. "You said at the bi-council meeting...that she hated nothing more than to be controlled, and she would also fight against it...," he looked at them and his lips pursed again for a different reason now. "She's still fighting against it. That's why you wanted this meeting private from her. She's doing the same thing she did in Minami still, only against the World AI."

"Technically it's in concert with the World AI," Shiroe clarified. "If we do what it wants it lets her go after all."

Michael ground his teeth in anger and frustration. "In America we call that terrorism." Nyanta's tail lashed again. Shiroe held himself very still, concentrating on not letting his hand ball into a fist. "But even still, it's against the World AI, just like it was in concert with Indicus but for all that it was against her." He got to thinking fast again until he finally sighed. "So, that's why. ...She really is afraid. It's making her be far more outgoing and in the center of things than she's comfortable with personally. It comes out in the excuse she's a solo, but it's also at the core of what _Purrcy_ really is." Shiroe nodded sadly and one of Nyanta's ears went down.

"And...that's why everyone's got a soft spot for her even though she's typically a hard nosed bitch no one wants around." Michael sighed. "Yeah, I get that. I've seen that, too. When she was down with the boys in the Special's section, she was their best friend and mother. ...And that's what you mean when you call her Hahaue. You're calling to Purrcy herself then." Shiroe looked away, the tears wanting to well up again. This time he couldn't keep the fist from clenching as he refused to let them out.

Michael was silent for a while, then said, "The boys need to know. We can't bring them all in here, obviously. Hahaue's already told me they need to figure it out without being told directly, but I've got an escape rope that I can give them data to help them along." Shiroe looked at Michael. He was rubbing his jaw. "I think I've set aside a few clues that were actually pertinent. Will you tell me what she got her titles for, if you know? That's the info I told them I'd get for them. If I can pass on anything within those answers that would help them get it, that would be the way to go."

Shiroe leaned forward, putting his forearms on his knees and clasping his hands. "She's Caretaker because she chose to become summonable for the sake of the creatures of Yamato, and was already taking care of them anyway. She became Justice of the East when she changed the Plague Master into a Person of the Land. He's no longer an Adventurer, though she says she can change him back again if he repents and we're going home...and if he lives long enough." He glanced at Michael from the corner of his eye. It had been another bomb shell, of course. That was rather difficult to accept as an Adventurer.

"I'd rather you didn't tell them that. I expect in the end her capacity to do that will be curtailed in some way or other. The World AI won't be happy at all if other Hackers get to high enough levels to do that. It wants us here as Adventurers, after all, or it wouldn't have brought us here in the first place." Michael nodded dumbly, blinking. "As to the Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami...she supposedly got that when she erased a spirit that was possessing an Adventurer. I suspect it was like Nyanta's title. It was part of her already, but not listed until that time. It goes along with her Oracle tag."

"What is Inari-no-Izanami?" Michael asked.

Nyanta took it up. "Izanami is the female goddess that created life on the Earth, in oldest Shinto belief. The mother goddess of Japan. The male god that is her husband is Izanagi. Together they created life on the planet, though she was caught in hell and had to remain there and from that time they were separated. Not a pleasant part of the story from my point of view, given I now have a hidden title that might just be the other one related to this lore." The comment was dry.

"Inari is another god, who is neither, or both, male and female. Inari is often thought to be a collective of other gods. The name given here implies Inari is the collective of the father-god Izanagi, the mother-goddess Izanami, and purrhaps others as well, though we might not know in our time here which ones. In the Shinto tradition it's the role of the purriests and purriestesses to pacify the gods so that they don't destroy the world or the living residents of it. In effect, her title 'Purriestess of Inari-no-Izanami' then means that she is the oracle and pacifier of the creator goddess Inari - or, the World AI."

"Well, hell. I had it all backwards then, and there's no way they'll figure that out on their own without me explaining that. But if I do, that's about all I need to get them pointed in the right direction. They'll sniff out the rest from there." Michael collapsed against the back of his seat, mulling it over. "Does the rest of the guild get it, really?" he asked.

"Enough," Shiroe answered. "Rudy's out of the loop, except that he understands that we are still fighting for the Purrcy that is buried, since he doesn't have the same lore and mythology we do, the same as you."

Michael frowned at Shiroe. "Why did you push her into the full limelight, when you know she hates it?"

"Because I want to know when I'm facing the World AI and when I'm facing Purrcy, and," he was quick to include more when that wasn't enough for Michael, "because I need her to be where the World AI can use her most effectively to get done what it wants to get done as fast as possible, within reasonable human limitations. She's got enough self-will, and fortitude, that she'll still say no if she hates it."

Michael nodded. "Yeah, I saw that, too. She'll take high levels of punishment without blinking if she wants to say no badly enough, and laugh at the bastard at the same time."

"Even still," Nyanta said softly, "she can't say no to the World AI. PurroudWing said it. If the whistle is blown, for the time limit assigned to the whistle a Summon can't do anything but what is expected of it. If the World AI tells her to kill after its blown the whistle, she will kill, even if she cries the whole time."

"And because the World AI only cares about it's own agenda, it will do as it pleases without caring. There is no emotion, only reaching the goal." Shiroe said soberly.

Michael's fist clenched. "So you walk carefully so that you don't make her have to be called." The pain they felt was in his voice. Shiroe looked down at his hands and nodded. Michael blew out a breath and looked away. He put his chin in his hand, resting his elbow on the arm of the chair. They sat quietly for a while.

Finally Michael stood with a sigh. "Right then. I'll give the boys the clues they need to leapfrog forward. It may still take a few days for them to get it all the way, but they're bright lads." He walked for the door. "For what it's worth, I'm on board, though I was before you lot were." He looked at them. "She showed up there first, after all. I've been watching her fight a long time already, and helping her as much as I could. It's why we're here. American's don't cave or pander to terrorists."

Shiroe sat back up. "I know," he said. He was grateful to have their support. The door closed behind Michael and he looked at Nyanta. "How are you holding up, Chief?" he asked. Nyanta didn't look so good, actually.

"I'm angry, of course," Nyanta answered. "The worst is that the World AI keeps wanting to make assumptions that are incorrect. I'm having to convince it constantly it's wrong. It doesn't like that."

"Have you openly sat her down and told her you're training her now that she's married to someone of a different culture?"

Nyanta sighed. "I did, the next day. I still have to remind it. Purrcy herself is willing to let it be taught. She already understands. Only her patience gets me through some of the times."

Shiroe looked at him soberly. "Nyanta...do you think some day you might actually be able to come to love Purrcy?"

Nyanta looked at him for a moment, then looked away. "Purrhaps. We will be here a very long time. Such a thing might be possible."

Shiroe stood. "Well, then 'perhaps' for your sake, I will hope it will happen. It isn't good to be alone inside when there are others outside you wishing for your happiness." He walked to the door and let Akatsuki in, changing the permissions on the secure room protections.

Nyanta bowed to the both of them on his way out the door and Shiroe closed it behind him. He walked to the couch and sat quietly while Akatsuki poured the evening tea. When she tucked herself in next to him, he put his arm around her and held her close. He couldn't prevent himself from kissing her more than the normal number of times and holding her hand in his free hand.

She finally pulled his head down in her lap, closed his eyes for him, and ran her fingers over his forehead until he relaxed. It was the third night in a row. And, for the third night in a row, when he finally relaxed enough, tears slowly leaked out of the corners of his eyes.


	73. Sub-Guild's Call of Duty

"But Naotsugu, even if you say you're an open panties pervert, in your heart we all know you're a closet boobies pervert. I mean, you've got the best game in town in your hand. You've _gotta_ be content, man." Compliance pushed hard for his point of view. The others in the grouping who agreed with him nodded.

Naotsugu waved a hand, blushing a little. "No, no. Marie's actually small, inside and at home. She went with that look because she wanted to look like what she thought other players wanted to see. She tries too hard, see, and it backfired on her like all the rest of us who weren't expecting the catastrophe. It's panties all the way." He leaned forward to make another point and it died as Nyanta loomed over him.

"My wife?" he was asked in a quiet voice they were learning was rather deadly. Nyanta seemed to go to silent death rather than explosive.

"Minori's got her, Chief. She thought maybe a bit of female pheromones for a bit, until you were ready for her, would be helpful. They're all up in her room." Naotsugu glanced at Tetorō.

"She's still sleeping," Tetorō confirmed. "I'll let her out whenever you want."

"When we're in my room is fine," Nyanta had calmed at the explanation. He started for the stairs.

Compliance leaned back and looked at him. "Would you be willing to cast your vote, Mister Nyanta? Panties or boobies? We're feeling kinda sorry for you over here if you're on our side. Almost all the other half-beast women at least kept theirs since it's only human."

Nyanta's ear flicked slightly as he paused. There was a bit of tension as some were afraid he'd just been offended. He looked over at them. "It's true Purrcy went fully cat, meow." They looked at him with interest.

"Well...there isn't anything to hold onto, not even a small mouthful, but is there anything that makes it worth it?" Compliance asked, curious.

Nyanta's whiskers twitched up on one side. "Four pairs."

There were silent blinks around and Compliance's eyes slowly widened. "Four... _pair_? As in... _eight_?" Nyanta's look was extremely smug. "Aha! You're a closet boobies perv!" Compliance crowed, happy to have another comrade on his side of the debate. "And you hit jackpot. That's more than a boy's got parts to enjoy." He was blinking in excitement, trying to get his brain wrapped around it. He finally shook his head. "But, I couldn't settle. I like to have something to hold. Within the boobies group there's the tit subgroup. I'm not that," he sighed, "but still... _eight_." He had to shake it off.

"Mister Nyanta, if I can ask a different question?" H/R asked. He was the quiet, intellectual type who sat at the fringe of this kind of discussion. Nyanta nodded. "How did the system come up with what to do with a natural cat-half when there aren't cats on Theldesia?"

Nyanta turned to face H/R. "There are cats, just not house cats. Sphinx, manticore, tigris, the white, blue, and ennedi tigers, chimera, several magical panthers, etc. In Japan we have the nekomata and bakeneko. The nekomata is based on the housecat, but since it's _Elder Tales_ , what came over are the magical creatures, not the standard housecat. And of course Purrcy is the only werecat since she made it up."

It seemed H/R had hit on one of Nyanta's pet topics. "That's a long list. But are they the same? I mean, it's hard to tell sometimes what the system's going to do in the crossover."

Tetorō nodded his head. "She's mentioned, and I agree, that it seems like it brought over stuff from Wiki, if it didn't know what to do. You know, there's a lot there to discover if you don't know."

Nyanta's ears went down in distaste. "I believe it has taken its knowledge from all over the internet. I would have purreferred otherwise."

"What, you're really a handles man?" Compliance asked, his eyes lit again.

Nyanta looked at him just a little coolly. "Human anatomy is plastered all over the internet, but not on _Elder Tales_ where it's hidden." The others nodded. "So is cat anatomy." They nodded again. Nyanta turned for the stairs.

"Well, doesn't that mean you're the most compatible, then?" he was asked.

Nyanta froze with a bit of a twitch, one foot on the bottom step. He looked over his shoulder and said, without emotion at all, "It's a generally unknown fact that the penile tip of the species _felin_ _us_ is covered in claw-like barbs. When erect, they emerge and act as fish hooks. The female cannot escape receiving painful damage." He blinked and walked up the stairs, leaving behind silence.

"I don't see any upsides for the female of the species," finally wafted into the room.

"I think I understand why he's strenuously refrained," Tetorō said faintly. He got no disagreement.

Michael had a much deeper appreciation for Nyanta's hatred of the World AI, now that he knew what he'd learned that evening. It went to a lot of levels, not just another Adventurer being used against her will that needed rescuing. "And on that note, boys, I've got info to pass on. Shall we?"

Michael himself put up a sound-proof, visual-proof box around their meeting this night and closed down any lines and histories he found, rerouting them to replay old history. When he returned, one of his Clerics cast a healing spell on him and he nodded his thanks. He couldn't make it as secure as the one on Shiroe's room, so he'd still have to be careful he didn't let the important bits leak, but the sooner they could figure it out the better. He'd sat to cast the spells, but now he stood. The rest of them went to formal alert as he went into lecturing senior officer mode.

"Some of my intel is top secret and I can't pass it on. If you think you figure it out to that level, keep your mouth shut. They do want you to figure it out generally, though. It's important and we're slow on the uptake." His lips pressed together tightly in his anger and distaste again. "We're dealing with terrorism." That got the rest of them dark. "And we have to pretend like we don't mind." That got scowls. He grimly nodded his agreement.

"I asked for what the titles meant, what they were for, like I said I would. Here's what I can tell you. Caretaker - she takes care of the creatures of Yamato. You know that. The rest of the guild knows this next bit, but you don't yet, not really. In order to take care of them better, in her mind, early on she created a calling card that would let creatures who needed her frequently call her for help. It turned out in the end the World AI, Superuser as she calls it, slipped in it's own special sauce through a hole she left open. It made her a summonable creature, or the world's first summonable Adventurer." He held up one finger. It was their code, to let them know that was the first piece of "VII" - Very Important Information. "You'll remember that was used against her in Minami, though to your benefit, and against Akiba. She fought against it anyway and took down her enemy." He held up two fingers. That was enough for the bright ones to catch on that they weren't done with that vein of threat.

He clasped his hands behind his back. "Justice of the East - she passed judgment on the Plague Master that was sent to take Akiba down. World-level stuff that nobody else is going to get to do." He shifted one step left, looking at the pilots on that side to see if they were paying attention still. Then he turned and paced to his right three steps, paused and looked at them again, putting his hands in his pockets. He sighed. "Japanese lore lesson time. No way to understand Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami without it."

He summed up what he'd been told about the Shinto beliefs: "Inari is a poly-god." He held up four fingers in front of his chest, then curled them back in. "In Theldesia, two of its faces are Izanagi - the male half of creation," he briefly uncurled four fingers, "- and Izanami - the female half of creation," he held up four fingers briefly again. "The Shinto priests and priestesses," he put one finger on his chest, "don't help the people worship their gods, they appease -" he flicked his one finger to two, "- the gods to prevent destruction." The word "appease" got dark scowls again. That was good. They were getting the connection there he wanted.

"You'll remember I said for the guild she's rather cold and heartless, with a definite purpose for them," he let slip four fingers, "and that it's a different contract." He pulled in three so only one was left, went to two, then put all five out. After a pause, he clasped both hands behind his back again, looking at them silently. When they'd had the time to process that, he said quietly, "I also said our contract was different. It is and it isn't. Once you understand, we'll be on board fully, since it's the same contract we already agreed to. The one to be the security blanket." He let them have the floor with a nod that he was done.

Bowie, the burly Intelligence detail Survival pilot ran all five fingers through his hair and said, "Appease the gods to prevent destruction, eh?" with a sigh. Michael nodded, keeping his hands behind his back. "Is Mister Shiroe okay with that?"

"What else can he do?" another answered, holding up two fingers to his cheek as he rested his chin on his hand.

Michael tipped his head. "Not much else. It's already been given, and not by him or any of us." Flashes of glances went around the group.

There was a shifting and everyone's attention went to the second member of the Intelligence detail, Stiletto. "I've done some digging myself, since it was an assignment." The wiry dark pilot paused and shifted again. "The assignment was to see what happened before the Commander got here." He clicked his tongue and ran his tongue over his lips nervously. "It's more than I want to say, really, but I asked Commander Rieze about it. She had interesting things to say. Miss Purrcy made Nyanta-san into the untouchable knight so he could fight the Plague Master hacker without getting flacked. Rieze has no idea how and she suspects it's still on, not a one shot like was told to the guildmasters later."

"They also got the package in the end as their reward. She said it was the oddest package they'd ever gotten from Log Horizon. ...Mouth would move to talk, but no sound," he pointed to the air around them and several nodded understanding, "and trussed up as if tied but no ropes. We know what that is and it's Tetorō's signature. She was hesitant to go further in time, but in the end I was able to weasel out of her that they'd finally dumped him out-city with a farmer with a warning to 'take it easy and grow up fast'." He looked over to Michael. "I've been wondering since then how Rudy came to be in this guild."

Michael took a firm stance and put his hands behind his back and didn't answer. He blinked three times. Stiletto raised four fingers and an eyebrow. Michael nodded. He really should have given a shrug since he wasn't positive, but he'd been ordered to keep them off that thread and that was a good enough answer given Shiroe's supposition the World AI wouldn't let anyone else do it anyway. Stiletto would keep silent about what he'd seen and heard any deeper than what he'd said since it had been marked top secret. Letting him think it was the World AI who'd done it would keep him happy. And it might be true. Michael was starting to think it was definitely time for Purrcy to take him and Tetorō out for their little chat.

Gareth raised a hand. They gave him their attention. "You know I'm not happy," he started with. "She called me Navigation all day, and hasn't said my name practically since we were on top of the department store in Minami. The last time she purred for me was when she got back, and that was pretty brief since she was greeting everyone. It's like she doesn't remember, or she isn't herself." He rubbed an eye with two fingers. "So I went back and did what the Commander said, and reviewed that first time we got to see her in the flesh. Watching her greet everyone when they came down the morning of the wedding made me think of it, too." He was watching Michael and Michael nodded, folding his arms.

Gareth looked down. "Since we'd been talking about how she seemed afraid for some reason, I couldn't help but pick out of her comments from that first walk back that she liked the center because she was at heart a coward." His clasped hands twisted together and one thumb rubbed the other. "That's always been the hardest one to believe, but it's the only one that answers 'why'. She grew up here a solo wild outdoor cat, but now she has to be an indoor cat in the big city." He looked back up. "She can't run, they won't let her." One finger, then a total of four slipped out of his clasped hands. "So she compensates by needing the security blanket." He pursed his lips. "But there's still one thing I don't quite understand, even though I heard it. We were talking about how jumpy they were. Commander you said it - that it's as if they have even one slip-up they'll cease to exist and that wasn't healthy. It isn't healthy. Why are they that way?" His hands parted and one fell open handed, the other stayed fisted.

Michael considered it. Gareth had gotten the main 'why' right. What was the right way to answer this 'why'? He lifted up one finger from where it was resting on his arm. "She can't run." He held up two fingers. "You miss her." He held up three fingers, then put his forefinger to his mouth as if in thought. He put four fingers there and said. "It isn't healthy to feel like you're going to cease to exist." He added his thumb. "They won't let her run." He dropped it back down to two. "She wouldn't anyway. That's not how she flies."

 _That_ got everyone's attention. They all looked like the hounds on the scent now. "So, their contract's two way, no matter how you look at it, then," Gareth said. "They'll stay jumpy and she'll keep doing what they want, just to get the protection she's been promised." His hands came up to his chin, one still a fist with the palm of the open hand spinning on it. When they reached his chin, the open hand went around his fist, but he left two fingers out.

"Yup." Michael said.

"And our contract's protection, too," Chaplain Brenner said quietly, holding out two fingers, his arm slung over the back of his chair.

"Yup."

"And there's a terrorist in the house, is why," Bowie said, giving four fingers.

"Yup."

BlackJack leaned forward and an open hand came out. "And getting rid of the terrorist is the next operation."

Michael paused. "You've said it, not me." The entire group settled into battle ready.

"Sounds to me like there's good reason to be jumpy, then," Stiletto said casually. The others looked at him and he scratched his cheek three times.

"Most likely," Michael said casually back. He put his hand to his chin and tapped his lips once with his forefinger, then winked at Stiletto.

Stiletto frowned, then looked around the group. "Avionics, fill us in on the details."

Avionics sat back and stretched his feet out in front of him, folding his arms. "I cast the proper spells and call for a type of monster. When one appears, I can battle it until it wins and flees or until I win and it has to agree to the contract." He held up one finger briefly, starting his own count. "The terms of the contract vary, but the sum is that it has to do what I say for a time, but it can fight back at a cost every time until it wins free and flees."

"The type that everyone can use is the whistle Summon you can buy at the shop." He held up two fingers. "You blow on the whistle and for four hours, or a set amount of time, you get to use that creature. Tetorō said after we all got back together they've learned recently that the more intelligent Summon creatures can actually talk to us if we want them to. We just have to want them to. If we make them do things they hate during their time, they hate us. If we're respectful, they're the same back, mostly, at least for whistle Summon. If a contracted really didn't want to be contracted they'll still hate you." Avionics looked at Michael. "It matters who the contracting party is." He held up five fingers. "Guildmaster." Michael blinked and looked at Stiletto, then back at Avionics. Avionics held up two fingers. "Sub-guildmaster." Michael shook his head.

Before they had to walk the entire list, he said, "You just saw it the other day. The last time your mama came to visit."

That took a bit, until Gareth leaned back and said casually, "That was some bright light to have in the middle of all that pomp and circumstance." Faces cleared instantly.

Brenner's jaw dropped. "It was _business_?"

"Yup, though I'm sure it was more than that, too," Michael answered. "She's a complicated lady."

Clocktower snorted a laugh. "No doubt, liking to do three things at once when she could do less and save effort." He sobered up almost instantly at that thought. "Is that why Tetorō collared her?"

"Yup."

"It's why she walked twenty miles with a fifty pound sack on her back in the sand today, too," Charlie said sadly.

"Yup." Eyes were going hard.

"Nyanta-san's hot."

"Yup."

"Naotsugu, too."

"Yup."

"Mister Shiroe...he's a desperado basket case underneath."

"Yup."

"Sir," Avionics said, worry coloring his voice, "is she a double? I don't know how they're created." He was holding up two fingers. Michael looked at him very soberly. He still had his one finger to his mouth. He tapped it, then also raised two fingers from the other hand where it was at his elbow from when he'd crossed his arms. A chill went through the group. "Who?" Avionics choked out.

The two fingers went to four and all eyes turned slowly to Stiletto. He was as white as a black ghost could be and beads of sweat were beginning to form on his face. His eyes were locked on the four fingers Michael was holding up. Michael lowered them and kept his eyes on Stiletto and his look kind as Stiletto's eyes moved up to seek comfort there. "Remember," Michael said. His one finger on his lips went to two. "The love of a mother never ends. But now you know why they're jumpy."

After a few swallows to find his voice, Stiletto said, "And why we don't mind there's a terrorist in the house."

Michael's anger sparked and he unfolded his arms and held up a hand, palm out, then turned it in and closed it to two fingers, the back of his hand facing out. "Play it out. They need us and we'll get to do our job properly." He smiled a wolf's smile. "There's two master strategists in the house, after all, heads down pulling for all their worth." Slowly the members of his squadron calmed down and settled with God and themselves.

It had been a while since they'd had to face death head on, but it wasn't new to them. Military men had to do it every time they were sent on a new mission, and it didn't get any better, but you learned to do it silently and with resolve. For himself, he was looking forward to finally getting to move on his final goal in this place they'd been dragged to. It might still take some time, but they were on that path. The fastest way to win was to move slowly. They'd protect the big gun until it was in place, and keep it safe until it was able to fire full barrels at the enemy. That would be a sweet day. It was obvious now what his role was: keep the ice from melting long enough for them to win.

"Sir," it was Reed, "do we have orders to pass down?"

Michael looked at his XO. "I think they can figure it out for themselves at this point. Just hold to the contract for now. Nothing explicit's come down yet. The hidden one's have come direct to the one's I've been listening in on, same's happens in the dungeons with the battlefield monitor. I'd only add Stiletto as direct POC with Shiroe. They can work under the umbrella where all of us at once can't. It might not hurt for you to have regular check-ins with him as well, just in case." Michael folded his arms again. "He could use the back-up. Just make sure you both go in clean when you go visiting." They both nodded. They'd watched him set up, and he'd learned it all under tighter restrictions. And they didn't need to let the terrorist know more than it needed to know. That was a given.

Michael looked around at his men. He was proud of them. He'd given them lots of help, and they'd understood quick. It was his job to let them know everything they needed to know to perform their duty to the best of their ability, and it felt good that he finally could. To see the determined looks on their faces meant they were ready to do their own work now, and that felt even better. None of them did well at loose ends for very long. "Any more questions, ladies?" he asked.

"Are we gonna live having you take the wall down?"

"I have no idea," he admitted, shaking his head. "I did my best. Are we ready to see?"

"Sure." "What the hell?" "May as well."

He smiled and took down the protections he'd set up at the beginning. "Good luck everyone," he said. "And have a lot of fun." They laughed at him, relieved they weren't black dust floating on the breeze. They'd all walk softly for a day or two and take care in what they said - and probably thought, too - but perhaps they'd survive long enough to get revenge.

It wouldn't be a bad exchange for having to follow the spoiled princess and Queen, especially now that they knew the other reward was to get their Den Mother back. They hadn't gotten to go on the last campaign for that, but this time they were the front line, and that was alright in their book.

Touya was up out of bed as soon as he was awake and he didn't dally in his bath. There was something he needed to confirm this morning, and he faced the day with determination. He was so focused on it, his lips were set and his brow furrowed. He barely paid attention on the way down to the bath, and only just enough on the way up to confirm people on the first floor were moving, beginning to get their day going. He dropped his bathing supplies off in his room and finished getting dressed, then poked his head into Minori's room. "I'm heading down. Are you ready?"

She turned swiftly in surprise. "Touya? ...Ah, just about." She hastily ran her brush through her hair three more times, then dropped it on her bed as she grabbed up a sweater. She pulled her door closed and pulled the sweater on as they walked. She had to trot to keep up with Touya's fast pace. "What's up, Touya? It's not like you to come get me first." She bit her lip.

He glanced at his twin sister. "I've got to know if she's still here. If breakfast is still family time." He slowed down, his expression going worried this time. "I don't think I could take another repeat of last time - with all the fighting. I hope that part's gone." Minori's worried face agreed with him. So did her clasped hands in front of her chest. They walked down the stairs a little slower and they spoke softer to each other. "But...they're so busy now...mornings might be gone too." The look they shared said that wouldn't be any good either.

He was particularly worried about Minori. He knew she had been looking forward to this time, hoping it would be finally the time they could really be family. They reached the bottom of the stairs and he put his hand on her shoulder. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He really wasn't sure what words he wanted to say. He gripped her a little tighter, then said, "I'll still be here, regardless."

Minori's expression went from worried to a smile and she put her hand on his where it rested on her shoulder. "I know, Touya. We've got each other. And we've got Mister Shiroe and the rest of Log Horizon, too. If it's bad, we can sit with Naotsugu after breakfast and go get spoiled by Miss Marielle." She briefly tightened her grip on his hand then let go.

He paused, looking at her, then nodded and let her go. "It's a date."

Minori took a breath. "I just hope we don't have to go on that one."

Touya gave a wry half-grin. "Yeah. Me too." He took his own pre-battle deep breath and straightened up and started the march to the kitchen.

They were early enough that Nyanta and Purrcy were just pulling out the first tools of breakfast making. They also got raised eyebrow whiskers from both of them for it. Minori perked up with forced cheer. "We're glad to see you. That means we can just be assistants today." She gave the adult felinoids a big smile.

The older two relaxed and smiled back. "We'll be glad to take over today, if that's okay with the regular chefs, meow," Nyanta winked at them.

"Well, you'd have to ask them, since that's you, of course," Touya said with testing casualness and a shrug, putting a small smile on his face.

"I'd love to have help," Purrcy said in a quiet voice, a kind smile on her face. "I think we've gotten too big for just one Assistant Chef."

Touya perked up at that and moved farther into the kitchen to pass by them as was his normal habit, Minori coming behind. "I think we can do that," he agreed. Nyanta had already turned to his first task, as was his habit. He always let Purrcy do the talking once he'd welcomed them. He preferred to work and listen. As long as he was relaxed and his ears interested and listening, he was okay. So far he seemed to be following the pattern. The second thing Touya looked for was as he passed Purrcy.

A hand descended on his head and his hair was tousled gently, then his forward motion was halted by a brief hug. "Good morning, Touya," Purrcy said. "I hope you slept well."

"Yes, thank you," he said. "Good morning. What shall I start with?"

Purrcy released him and he kept going to get out of the way. "We have fruit so much, that I was thinking today maybe we could mix it up a bit - literally. Shall we have fruit smoothies instead of cut fruit?"

"Sure," he said and headed for the necessary tools. He kept his ears, and what he could of his eyes, on his sister.

Minori had reached Purrcy. Purrcy put down her knife and faced Minori directly, something slightly different so Touya paused to watch. Purrcy wrapped her arms around Minori. "Thank you for taking care of me last evening," she said. It was honestly grateful.

Minori's arms went around Purrcy. "I was glad to do it. ...You know, I love you. You can ask any time."

Purrcy went still, then leaned down and kissed the top of Minori's head like she did on the best mornings. "Thank you. I'll remember it. It's only recently I've realized I need to take care of myself in that way, too." She took a deep breath and let it out. "Women smell so much better after all." Touya laughed with Minori while Nyanta's ears and whiskers twitched with humor and mock affront. Purrcy released Minori. "If you could get some bread going, I think that would go perfectly with the main dish Nyanta's thinking of making."

Nyanta looked with wide eyes over his shoulder at her. "I haven't told mew what I'm making yet."

Purrcy flicked an ear at him as she turned back to the table. "No, but I think it will go wonderfully anyway." Minori giggled into her hand. Touya smiled and turned back to getting out his own tools. "No one can resist the _smell_ of freshly baking bread after all," Purrcy said after a thoughtful pause. Touya couldn't hold back a burst of laughter, though he looked back at Nyanta, mortified. Nyanta was looking at Purrcy with a pained expression.

When she finally looked at him mildly, Nyanta put his ears down on purpose in a very sad expression. Purrcy grinned a teasing grin, then stepped over to him. She ran a hand over his head and one of the sad ears. Her expression went soft. "Don't worry. I'll still smell Nyanta, too. ...It's rather impossible not to since I sleep with you as a second blanket." She leaned in and touched his face with her nose, then moved to whisper in his ear. His tail shot out stiffly and his whiskers followed suit, almost sproinging out from his face, and his ears went opposite directions. Touya couldn't help but stare.

Nyanta rather suddenly relaxed, his head dropping to Purrcy's shoulder. "Really," his quiet mutter filtered into the room. "Just when did mew learn to do that?"

Purrcy started purring. "When I was not quite twenty, actually. I've just not had the opportunity to practice for a long time. I'm looking forward to getting to do it more frequently now."

Nyanta started shaking and put an arm around her waist. Touya narrowed his eyes, watching them closely. He relaxed as the laughter finally became audible, then Nyanta was attacking Purrcy's neck with his tongue. "Don't do it too often, Purrcy dear," he said between licks. "I might have to eat mew."

Purrcy was clutching at Nyanta. "Ah, ah! I yield, I yield!" She was almost laughing too hard to get it out. Minori and Touya moved at the same time.

Touya plucked Purrcy away and Minori pushed Nyanta back. They glared at the both of them. "Keep that in the bedroom. In the kitchen, we work!" They gave the older two scowls until they got back apologetic ears and tails, though those still waved happily. When it looked like they would settle appropriately, the twins went back to work after a final glare. The looks they gave each other were satisfied, though. Purrcy was Hahaue this morning.

Touya had the fruit he'd picked out for the smoothies washed and prepared for the most part when the first pair of Eagles walked into the kitchen. He glanced up at them and was starting to look down again when it registered that they were doing something different. He looked back up quickly to see the first one releasing Purrcy from a brief hug. "Good morning," that one said to her.

She was stiff in surprise, but she quickly relaxed. "Good morning OciferJeff."

OciferJeff turned and looked at Nyanta and gave him a nod of the head. "Good morning, Mister Nyanta."

Nyanta was looking at OciferJeff in repressed surprise. "Good morning," he answered politely, the barest hint of a question in his voice.

OciferJeff moved away from them to head to the side table Touya was standing at, his own knife suspended in air, forgotten.

The second Eagle put a hand on Purrcy's shoulder and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Good morning Miss Purrcy," he said.

Purrcy blinked and a hand moved towards her cheek without thought. "Good morning Clocktower," she answered almost automatically. When Clocktower turned to greet the also still stunned Nyanta, Purrcy shook and blinked a few times, then turned back to her cooking.

Clocktower ruffled the top of Minori's head as he passed her. "Good morning Miss Minori," he said cheerfully.

Right about that time OciferJeff reached Touya and clapped a hand on his back. "So, what's the job description for this morning?" he was asked jovially.

Touya blinked and tried to remember what he was doing. "Ah," he looked down at the table. "Smoothies."

"Smoothies?" Clocktower asked from the tool rack. Touya nodded. Clocktower nodded back and pulled down the tools necessary to blend the fruit. Touya and Minori looked at each other in wide-eyed confusion, then tried to get back to work. The sub-guild members were never demonstrative and almost never said much at all to those they considered the 'officers' of the guild - which included Minori and Touya. Usually they just came in, got their orders, and got to work.

Things were okay...for about five minutes. The next pair walked in and Purrcy was enveloped in a hug that swallowed her up. The Eagle held it long enough that everyone was staring. Purrcy finally swallowed, took a breath, then said, "Good morning Gareth. Is there some trouble?" Her hand was reaching for the top of his head. He'd buried his face in her shoulder. He nodded and she started purring and petting his head. Nyanta cautiously went back to work, though he kept an eye on the two of them. The rest followed suit, except Brenner who waited calmly with his arms folded, a small smile now playing about his lips.

After about a minute, Brenner shoved Gareth in the back. "Okay. That's enough. Time to get to work."

Gareth's head came up and he stuck his tongue out at his partner. "Not nearly enough."

Brenner hit him. "It's breakfast time. Move it."

Purrcy pulled away and looked at Gareth with narrowed eyes, then gave him a scolding. "Ask next time before it gets this bad."

Gareth looked back at her and put his hands on his hips. He tilted his head and looked back just as scolding. "And when should I do that when you aren't hardly ever home?" He tapped on her forehead with a finger as if knocking at the door.

Purrcy's eyes went wide, then she shook her head. "I'm always here, Gareth," she said softly. "I may take a bit to come out from behind the cloud, but I'm always here."

Gareth stopped and looked at her soberly. He reached up and put his hand on her head, then pulled her into a gentle hug. "Thanks," he finally said and released her. He walked away without looking at her again and Touya was shocked even further to see his eyes glistening, though he turned away to look at the bread rising on Minori's table, then to head to get the bread pans off the shelf.

Touya's eyes went back to Gareth's partner who's eyes were returning to Purrcy from watching after Gareth. "You'd forgotten who he was," she was scolded softly and gently.

Purrcy's ears went upright and her tail stilled. Then she slumped and turned back to Gareth. "Gareth. I'm sorry." Gareth paused, then looked over his shoulder at her. She paused, then said, "And I didn't forget. ...Every move is calculated."

Every Eagle froze, their eyes locked on her. Purrcy looked away from Gareth and turned to look at Nyanta beseechingly, an ear twitching back towards Gareth. Nyanta looked at her soberly. Touya opened his mouth. "It's true. We've seen it before." The eyes went to him and he stood firm. "Hahaue gives the clues and we have to catch them. Sometimes we don't recognize them until we're talking about it later."

Gareth sighed, relaxing. "But...that doesn't make it better, not really. It hurt."

"I know," Purrcy said quietly. "I'm sorry." She turned back to her stove, which needed her attention. "It won't happen any more. You've understood." Her necklace, which was a choker this morning, yellowed up briefly and everyone dropped that topic immediately.

Brenner waited just a little bit longer, then walked past the felinoids. "Good morning, Nyanta-san," he said pleasantly. He put his hand briefly on Purrcy's shoulder. "Good morning, Miss Purrcy."

"Good morning, Brenner," Purrcy said kindly back glancing at him. But as he left her, Touya saw a shudder go down her back and her tail reached towards Nyanta. Nyanta glanced down at it and moved his tail to brush against hers, bringing it over to slightly curl around his lower leg.

When four more Eagles had come in and just as openly and familiarly greeted Purrcy and Nyanta, many of them also greeting Minori and himself the same, Touya finally had to take himself out of the kitchen. He used the excuse of setting the table to do it. Just as he was getting ready to pass them, Purrcy finally couldn't contain herself any longer and turned to Nyanta, fleeing into his chest. Nyanta held her and purred. Touya kept going. He set down the dishes on the table, trying to understand.

He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and he watched as Reed and one more very thin and small guard walked over to Shiroe's office, knocked once, and let themselves in. As soon as the door clicked behind them, Touya sat down hard in the closest chair. His eyes refused to focus and his mind had ground to a halt. He finally took a breath and called for back up. "Onshi, I think you need to come now."

"Eh? Now?" Naotsugu's voice in his ear helped him to come back a little. "Is something up this morning?" The voice was kind.

"I'm lost," he admitted.

"I'll be down in a jiffy."

Touya wasn't able to stand, but he did start passing the dishes around the table from where he was. It was something to do while he waited, and keeping his hands busy would free up his brain, he hoped.

"What's up?" Naotsugu slipped into the seat opposite Touya and leaned forward on the table, after moving the dishes out of his way so he didn't destroy them.

Touya opened his mouth and six Eagles came down the stairs together. Touya stared at them and watched them. They should have gone straight to setting up the tables and chairs, this set, since he was out with the dishes. Instead, they all trouped into the kitchen. He followed them with his eyes, turning to watch them. He could hear each of them greeting Nyanta and Purrcy and some of the others in the kitchen. Then they came back out and headed for the wall with the tables. When they greeted him he answered back politely and automatically. Naotsugu also received the same treatment and genially responded to each of them. His eyes watched the men, then looked back at Touya, still sharp with battle calculations. Touya nodded, then jerked his head at the kitchen.

Naotsugu rose and walked over to look through the doorway. He slightly froze, his eyes fixated on the first thing he saw. Then after a bit he slowly took in the rest of the room. His eyes followed something and then Minori was at the door, more dishes in her hands, and her eyes locked onto Naotsugu's, her expression sober. Her eyes turned to Touya and he looked at her with a similar expression. She glanced at the Eagles setting up the tables, then moved to head that way. Naotsugu glanced back into the kitchen, then followed Minori until he was back at the central table. He plopped down next to Touya. They paused as one of the six Eagles in the room kindly took the dishes from Minori. She rather woodenly joined the two of them at the table, sitting on the other side of Touya, and sitting rather closely for comfort.

Naotsugu looked at them both, then stood up. "Let's go elsewhere," he said firmly. They both hopped up and followed him obediently. He took them up to the next floor, then changed his mind from going into his room to knock on Akatsuki's. She answered it. "Can we come in?" he asked politely.

Akatsuki stared at them, then jumped a little and let them in. Naotsugu made sure the door was closed behind them. He turned to the twins, folded his arms, and said, "Out with it. Everything." They took turns, Touya starting it, until they'd told it all. When they were done, they both slumped in relief at getting to let others worry about it all.

Naotsugu looked at Akatsuki, who looked back soberly. "Tetorō, come to Akatsuki's room, pronto," Naotsugu said.

They waited quietly, knowing Naotsugu was calculating but needed more information before he could announce it. Naotsugu looked at Akatsuki. "Did you know they were going to visit Shiroe this morning?" She shook her head. "Since last night," he muttered.

There was a knock and Tetorō entered, closing the door and arriving next to them with a bounce. His eyes took in the group and settled on Naotsugu. "Why would the Eagles suddenly be present and affectionate for Purrcy?"

Tetorō blinked in surprise. "Ah...because they've finally understood?"

"Yup," Naotsugu grunted. He rubbed his hand on his forehead. "That's it." He thought about that a bit longer, then relaxed. "You can go back to work. It's okay. She's just overwhelmed that they care. Stay nearby, but give her the space to recover." He looked at Akatsuki. "Be on standby. He might need a hand to hold." Akatsuki nodded once, firmly. Naotsugu looked up. "But we might finally get to see a smile on his face again by the end of the day." Akatsuki slumped in relief. They looked at her in surprise.

"He - he's cried every night since then," she admitted to them quietly.

Minori's hand went to her chest, her face scrunched in worry and pain. Touya nodded, feeling it too. "Yeah. Me too. At least, on the inside. That's why I had to see it this morning first thing." Tetorō reached out a hand and ruffled Touya's hair comfortingly.

Turning to Naotsugu, Tetorō said, "I'll let them step up today, and watch what they do. You probably don't need to worry from now."

Naotsugu took Tetorō's shoulder in his hand and looked at him, slightly worried. "And you? You'll let this heal you, too."

Tetorō blinked, then slowly smiled a wry smile. "Yeah. I'll let them take that burden, too." Naotsugu nodded once and let him go. Nearly as one, they all took deep breaths and let them out. "I'll let Isuzu know, too. She'll want to know once we get out and she sees it on the road," Tetorō added.

With a nod, the emergency meeting broke up and they returned to their workstations.

They were gathering at the table, the meal having been announced, when Michael walked down the stairs, the last one to arrive from above. He glanced around the room almost casually, then walked up to stand in front of Purrcy with his arms folded. He inspected her closely, then held open his arms. She ran into the embrace and held him tightly. He held her gently. "Thank you, Michael," she said as she shivered.

Michael looked up at Nyanta with a sober but kind expression. "It's what we're here for," he said. Nyanta dipped his head in acknowledgement. Michael pet Purrcy a few times, then gently extricated himself from her and pushed her back over to Nyanta who held her, petting her to help her calm.

The door to Shiroe's office opened and Shiroe walked out, followed by the two who had visited him that morning. His sharp eyes scanned over the waiting guild members in front of him as he walked towards his seat. The rest of the guild returned the favor. One eyebrow went up slightly and his eyes settled on Purrcy, then moved to Nyanta, who looked back calmly. An ear twitched towards Michael and Shiroe looked at Michael next. "All present and accounted for, sir," Michael said with quiet pride. As Shiroe's eyes moved towards the sub-guild tables, they all shifted into formal attention.

He looked at each of them, then bowed slightly. "Thank you," he said quietly. "It is much appreciated. We'll be counting on you from this time."

"Sir, yessir!" It was a bit deafening in the guild hall and Touya had to rub an ear, but a slow smile creeped on his face. It was nice he wasn't the only one. Even Purrcy had on a sorrowful smile that reminded Touya of the sun shining weakly after a storm shower. He sighed and sat down, too tired to stay on his feet any more. Everyone else sat down, too, and they started in on eating.

The bread had been smelling delicious for long enough now that Touya felt like both sides of his stomach had met and were pinching each other. He focused on eating until that feeling went away and he could sit back with a contented sigh. He dozed in his seat until the daily morning meeting began. He opened his eyes to look at Hahaue one last time for the day and her eyes met his. She smiled at him then reached up and tapped her forehead. His eyes widened, then he slumped and nodded. He needed to remember it also. Hahaue was always in there. If he needed her, he didn't have to wait for a perfect morning. He just needed to ask her to come out and talk to him.

When it came his turn to state what he was going to do that day, he answered, "Take a nap right after breakfast...then take my sister on a date. We'll see after that. Let me know what you need."

Minori sat up in surprise and looked at him. "I thought we said it _wasn't_ going to happen?"

He looked back at her mildly. "I changed my mind. I think it sounds like a good idea. We'll just do something different."

"Oh," she said faintly. "Okay." She looked back at Shiroe. "I guess I'm going to go on a date with my brother, and whatever else you need, though I also need to make sure the groceries come and get put away properly today."

Shiroe smiled at them both. "I hope you have a good time." They smiled back. It wasn't the smile they were looking for, but it was a good start.

"Ah, ah, ...me too!" Akatsuki said suddenly from her position, sitting upright with nervousness. Shiroe looked at her in surprise. "I want a date, too. With Shiroe," she added quickly so there wouldn't be confusion.

Purrcy narrowed her eyes at Shiroe. "Just how long _has_ it been? Have you been slacking off on the weekly's?"

Shiroe looked at her wide eyed, then slumped just slightly. "I guess I have, though only for the last couple." He looked at Akatsuki. "Sorry." She shook her head just minutely. Forgiveness, but he needed to correct it. The rest agreed, actually.

Shiroe looked at the ceiling. "Purrcy's asked me to go with her this morning to the Guild Hall. Shall we make it a lunch date, and do that just before?" He looked back at Akatsuki.

She considered it seriously, then looked around the table. "Haven't had a guild date since ...before."

"You'd accept that?" Shiroe asked in mild surprise.

Akatsuki looked back at him, then nodded. "This time...but..."

Shiroe smiled. "I know. There still has to be some time just the two of us." Akatsuki blushed and nodded.

Touya nodded in agreement. He wanted Minori to himself for some of the time, too.

"Welp, I'll call Marielle, then," Naotsugu said cheerily. "I'm sure she'd love an excuse to wiggle out from under Henrietta's thumb today."

Michael leaned on the table and sighed, looking at Tetorō. "We really need to find more women in town. It's getting old being your date all the time."

Tetorō laughed. "I have no idea where we'd find twenty-five women."

"West Wind Brigade," Purrcy said into her cup as she drained the last of her fruit smoothie.

Touya spurted a laugh and that got the whole room going. When they were finally calming down Nyanta sighed. "Poor Souji-kun. He's already worried enough we're going to make him into another Crescent Moon. To even think such a thing, ...he must be getting the shudders." He looked at Purrcy. "And here I said mew're the one purrotecting him, too. How shall I be able to speak to him again?"

Purrcy raised an eyeridge. "Open your mouth and say 'hello'?"

Nyanta laughed for a whole minute straight, chortling off and on even after he recovered. He really did have an odd sense of humor.

"As if being unapologetic solves everything," Naotsugu grumbled lightly.

"So far it has," Purrcy answered mildly. "That's why he thinks it's funny."

Naotsugu stared at her, then shook his head. "You really are something, you know that?"

"Don't tell me what, though," she answered. "I'm sure I won't like it."

Naotsugu leaned on his elbow and opened his mouth. Nyanta immediately glared at him and he refrained. Michael opened his mouth and Nyanta glared at _him_. Michael slowly closed his mouth and relented with a sigh. "But you know," he did say, "she already knows it."

"Of course," Nyanta said archly. "That's _why_ mew _don't_ need to say it." They all obeyed.

Purrcy took Nyanta's hand under the table and held it tightly. They knew when it happened now. She smiled a little at Shiroe. "I'm going to work less hard today, and relax a little more, even if I'm still walking down the street to the next appointment. And when you call to tell me it's date lunch time, I'm going to meet you there and eat properly." She looked at Nyanta. "And when Nyanta decides it's time to come home and fix dinner, we'll be back to fix dinner."

Nyanta looked at her for a moment, then leaned over and gave her a kiss. He looked at Shiroe. "That. What she said."

Tetorō nodded. "Same here."

The eyes turned to Michael, who was last on the list. He folded his arms. "I'm going to do my usual job of keeping an eye on everything...from inside Shiroe's office." Shiroe raised an eyebrow at him. "So he can ask me at any time what's going on and get an immediate answer so he can focus on what's important here at home."

Shiroe furrowed his brow. "Aren't you supposed to be teaching?"

Michael smiled. "Nope, though I can do that from your office, too. You should be getting the request to teach your short course in the next day or two. That class has moved up enough Tetorō and I are both covered. We're done, though I'm on call this round if they get stuck."

Shiroe paused, then nodded in satisfaction. "Rather good timing, actually." He was gone, they could tell. They waited until he came back and told them the plan for the day. "Good to go. Akatsuki, I'll be counting on you to interrupt and get us moving on the lunch date." She nodded once. "The Eagles can have that time off." They almost looked disappointed. "But feel free to include yourselves in the date. You're guild, too, after all." They looked better. He was still thinking.

Rudy leaned over and whispered to Isuzu, "Miss Isuzu, do we _really_ have to go on the date, too?"

She looked at him. "Of course we do," she scolded. "You'll be there!"

Rudy sighed, then looked at the head of the table. "Don't forget you need to receive your wedding gifts soon and express your gratitude for them. It can languish a while, but shouldn't be ignored. That would be the height of rudeness, after all."

"Wedding...presents?" Purrcy asked, her tail stiffening.

They all nodded and pointed to the space under the tree. They'd been piling up since before the wedding, really.

"Ah, add that after dinner, we'll be doing present unwrapping," Purrcy amended her schedule. She stared at the pile, then turned to Nyanta. After a bit she sighed. "I guess it has to be expected." He nodded and she gave in.

Shiroe finished handing out assignments and excused them. Touya put his dishes in the kitchen, then took himself to his room and collapsed in his bed. It wasn't his normal time to sleep, but he'd not been sleeping then so now was as good a time as any, and even a better one, really, today.


	74. Reviewing the Fighting Guilds

Soujirou's main city watch teams were on the field early warming up for the day. He himself was getting in his morning work-out and practice. Since the conversation at Log Horizon and watching Akatsuki learn eight new Mysteries in the few hours between that and the wedding rehearsal, he'd been working on figuring out how to integrate the visual of what he wanted to have happen (not as easy to see as it sounded) with the physical manifestation of it. He had only the day before understood that when his muscles tightened in reaction to what he was trying to visualize, as if he were acting on the visual without moving while seeing it, that it came a little easier. Sometimes in the practice, the body wouldn't "move without moving". Today he was working on the physical side of that to see if it was because he needed to body-learn it, or if it was because it was a physical impossibility to begin with.

Soujirou very carefully set up the prior move to what he wanted to do, then slowly moved into the move he wanted to do, paying attention to the strain and pull on the muscles in the arm, down the side, and into the legs to feel the balance of the move. It went fine until he reached the end of it, going into the transition to the following move. A muscle at the back of his hip on the sword arm side seized. He immediately stopped and reversed until it relaxed, not wanting to cause a pulled muscle. He paused, considered the move again, and backed it all the way up. He relaxed, sheathed his katana, then got into stance again without a blade. Moving just as slowly as before, and with as much concentration, he repeated the movement. When he reached that point, again there was a twinge in the hip, though it wasn't immediately painful like before.

Carefully he moved on through to the follow on, and his leg wanted to shift. He backed up to just before the twinge, shifted his foot back a centimeter and a half and tried again. That almost did it. He backed up and shifted the foot back just a little more. That did the trick and he was able to sweep the arm down and into the next move. He was unbalanced half-way through it, due to the shifting of his foot. Irritation flashed through him and he paused to allow it to move on through and dissipate, then backed up slightly to learn where the balance point was for that part of the move. Once he had that resolved, he worked on figuring out when the foot needed to be moved between the two necessary points in the overall movement. It was awkward, but could be done if he kept his weight on the back foot. It would reduce the power of the slash, but if he wanted the total Mystery, that might be an acceptable price.

For another five minutes he continued to work on the overall mini-sequence without the weight of the katana. Once it felt smooth, and like the physical body had it understood, he pulled his katana out again and tried it with weight on the muscles one more time slowly. This time, with his foot better positioned, the muscle in the back hip didn't seize, and he was able to continue through the entire short set.

He paused and frowned. Maybe the power loss would be acceptable, but the waver at the tip of the katana wouldn't be. He watched the point of the sword this time, letting the body do what it had learned to this point. It was no good. At that transition point in the footwork, it completely translated into a bad sword stroke. He lowered his arm and sighed, letting his body recover. He was going to have to rethink this part of the overall Mystery he was hoping to learn, which was disappointing, but the basic fundamentals he'd learned had been helpful. He'd have to test it a few more times to make sure that it was always a problem in the swordwork rather than the movement, but for a first study, it was telling.

There was a quiet step nearby and Soujirou turned to look. "I'm sorry to interrupt," a soft voice said. "May I know what the results were?"

Soujirou blinked. "Purrcy." He tipped his head. There was something ...different. He looked around the area. For one, she wasn't surrounded by guards. But it was more than that. He watched her as he answered. "The formation of the Mystery as a whole wasn't working. It was one of the points that the muscles wouldn't respond, so I broke it down. There were muscle problems that I worked out first. Once that was resolved, adding in the katana showed me that it wasn't a workable sword motion. Minute things in the physical translate into larger problems at the tip of the sword. That part will have to be removed from the whole."

"Intriguing," Purrcy mused. "Shiroe and I were discussing the theory of how the world knows when we're learning something. At the time the only answer I had was equivalent to 'it reads our minds'. He wasn't happy with that, of course. I do know it reads the body when we're learning physical things like this. I wonder if it's running a complex rotational model?"

"Actually, I learn the Mystery faster if I let the body feel it as I visualize it."

"Hoh?" Her brow furrowed. "I wonder how that translates for things like scribing and skills that use the mind more than the body? Maybe I'll see if Shiroe's been running his own experiments. He sits still all day but still goes up in levels on his skills. Maybe he's got more data, or can get it."

"I know _I'd_ rather not have my mind read," Soujirou said dryly.

"Tell me about it," Purrcy agreed just as dry. She looked around the practice field. "You must be very proud of them all. They work so hard." She looked back at him, "And I would think they work as hard at home to keep each other going day by day."

Soujirou smiled. "Yes, they do. It still isn't easy. Not everyone's personality can keep up the happiness all day for this long. We finally had the cat fights after the first year and people were getting comfortable, but they got worked out and now everyone knows who needs their personal space when, and who needs the hugs. Having good things to do to help others in the city keeps them moving forward with strength, too." He shifted. "But you were with us yesterday?"

Purrcy nodded. "Yes, but today is watching the fighting guilds do what they do best. We're on our way to begin, but I wanted to start here, while I could in passing." She gave him a very fond look that he found just a little confusing since he didn't understand its source. It was part of the different-ness about her this morning. "I watched them, but really it was more intriguing to me to watch you. I hope you don't mind."

He raised an eyebrow. "You already have enough in your reverse harem, don't you?"

Purrcy's whiskers twitched. "Well...if you put it that way, it isn't a good thing, is it?"

"That's not a thing to ask me, I think," he said calmly.

Purrcy sighed. "It wasn't that." She looked away and he thought she seemed a bit sad. Then she shook her head. "No, actually, it was, I just didn't recognize it." She laughed a little. "I think I've been jealous you protect so many women so well." She looked back at him with a sad sort of smile. "I'm sure I should be content. They're all working hard for me and I appreciate their concern. You're also working very hard for people you care for. I won't ask again."

Soujirou paused. He couldn't scold someone else for a problem he had himself, but it seemed hers was for a different reason? Not that he could put his finger on his own reason for attracting a harem. It seemed like it just happened organically somehow. "Why do you want me?" he asked, curious, wondering if the answer would be what the other ladies of the guild would answer.

She gave him a look from the side of her eyes, and a cynical smile. "I just told you."

Soujirou frowned. "Because I protect women?" he finally asked. She gave silent satisfaction with that answer. "But you already have enough protection to be smothered!" He couldn't believe it.

She nodded. "And so I should be content, neh? That's why the rest of them flock to you, you know. It's rare for men to care enough to protect as a matter of course and personal philosophy. Most care enough to help, but that's as far as it goes." She shifted and turned to him, bowing. "Thank you for your time and allowing us to stop by and visit." Her ear was turned towards the practice field. He looked and could see her guards coming for her, along with some of the guild ladies coming for him. "Please take care and continue to stay strong, unless you're in the arms of the one who will let you be soft on yourself without allowing you to wallow in guilt at the same time. Even the strongest trees take the time to rest in the winter."

As she moved to go, he reached out and touched her arm. "Purrcy," he said, looking her in the eyes. They were still soft and sad. "What is it?" He watched as the light in her eyes went away and she turned, not answering the question, slipping from his fingers to join her guards.

"We need to get to the Guild Hall, then," she said in her normal business-like tones to them. "There's a lot to do today."

Soujirou caught Tetorō's eye. His look was just as sad, though he nodded pleasantly as he turned away to follow in his usual place at Purrcy's left. Soujirou folded his arms. Something wasn't right in Log Horizon. "Shiroe-sempai. Talk."

"Ah, Souji? Good morning."

"Why did Purrcy just stop by our practice grounds this morning?"

"Ah...she did?"

"It wasn't planned?"

"Not really, though you are technically also a fighting guild so it meets the day's schedule." Shiroe sounded just a little guarded, though as polite as always. "Was it anything special?"

"She met me alone and was different. What's wrong?"

Shiroe didn't answer for a while. Then lights appeared in front of Soujirou's eyes. _I'm sending over someone to explain. We're still wire-tapped, and recorded video-audio surveillance. If Hahaue's talked to you, she wants you to know._

"I'll wait," Soujirou said, "right here."

-:-:-:-:-

Ains was waiting, somewhat impatiently. He really wanted to give Purrcy a piece of his mind. Life in Theldesia was difficult enough without having external pressures on everyone they didn't need. His guild in particular. He was working hard to hold it all together as it was, every day. He'd taken on a lot of the middle players early on who needed protection and help and couldn't move forward on their own. Most of them were finally resigned to being here for the long term and were trying to live again. He was glad they were. His upper level, original guild members (those who'd been willing to stay and be altruistic with him), had struggled with him to get them living members of society again instead of frightened, apathetic zombies, and were feeling relieved the stress was off somewhat.

To have new, powerful sub-classes appear out of nowhere, then to have one in particular be so demanding and irritating wasn't helping to keep the lives of the Adventurers of Akiba moving along smoothly. He'd been happy with the way things had been going, even though Shiroe occasionally reared his head to make waves until they calmed him back down. Ains also wasn't thrilled to have the headaches coming back whenever Purrcy was in town. He'd been teased before about being "allergic" to stress, and she was definitely that. He'd rather she'd been left in the Maze of Eternity, or gone back home to Minami, though he understood full well why Shiroe had lept at the opportunity to have another powerful weapon in his back pocket. He was hungry like that. At least he moved quietly - mostly.

That was another point against Purrcy. She was making Shiroe brave. That was making far more waves right now than Ains was happy with. Maybe the crafter guilds had needed to streamline to make their lives easier. That's fine. He just wished they didn't have to drag the fighter guilds into it. Getting more practice in the Maze of Eternity was okay, and maybe having the Akiba fighter guilds work a little harder in joint maneuvers so the city could be safer in the (unlikely) event of future attacks on the city was useful, but did they really need to participate in the changes Purrcy was apparently behind? It was bad enough Shiroe kept wanting to influence them for his projects. They didn't need a second unknown to be the same, or rather, worse. Ains rubbed his thumb on his eyebrow over the top of the outside edge of his right eye. The headache this morning was most definitely because she would be arriving shortly.

Log Horizon had requested that Purrcy be allowed to watch a fighter practice so she could understand how his guild, Honesty, worked together as a fighting guild. Tetorō had explained that she had been a solo and was trying to understand how group fighting really worked. Ains was sure it was for other reasons and his lips pursed in distaste again. If she was a solo there was no way she was going to understand what she was seeing when she got there, regardless. He'd wanted to say no to the visit altogether, but Log Horizon was hard to say no to - they were slippery like that - and he wanted to take her down a few notches and let her know just how unhappy with her he was.

"Log Horizon's here," came on his information guild chat line.

"We're ready," he responded. He'd considered showing her what they could do by launching a PK attack on her and her guards, but that wasn't right, and it wouldn't give him the ability to talk to her. Not to mention since the festival display of what the fighters of that guild could do made it a near impossibility for such a thing to become a lesson for her. Instead, he'd thought of something else to do.

"Miss Purrcy, welcome," he said coldly polite. "This is Honesty's fighting practice area. If you would please come sit over here?" He led her to a chair they'd set up for her on a small stand. He stood next to her, his hands folded together inside his long yukata sleeves. Once her guards were positioned around the stand, Tetorō and Nyanta-san behind them on the stand along with Isuzu-chan surprisingly, Ains raised a hand. The guild members who were waiting on the practice field began their standard field maneuvers, and Ains began his questioning and testing of Purrcy's knowledge of basic fighting techniques.

For the most part, he was right. She was absolutely clueless about what they were doing as groups on the field. She didn't know basic positioning, common combinations of attacks and recovery, and certainly not theory. When the practice and testing session was completed, Ains turned to her and glared at her. "Why have you come, when you know nothing? What is there you can say that you don't still need to learn?"

Purrcy rose and smiled a small smile. "I have come to learn, and you've taught me very much today. Thank you. I don't think I would have had any other opportunity to learn the basics so finely executed and explained. I'm not likely to retain the majority of it since I'm not a Shiroe, or even a Guildmaster, but I will be a better fighter for it and understand far better how to be an integrated member rather than a solo, now. You and your guild members work very hard together. I'm sure they're very proud of their efforts. It's difficult to have a group become cohesive and yet still allow each member to voice their own thoughts so that all sides of an issue can be considered properly."

She blinked at him. "You don't have to like me, Guildmaster Ains. I would rather you didn't. There must be all sane voices present or the ball won't be round. It will be a disk that only goes to the left or right. For all it's right for you to choose to be a restraint on the Round Table Council, please remember that obstinacy for obstinacy's sake is not helpful to the obstinate. I'll listen properly to your words, as I have today, but there's a place we must go, and that is home. If you have the answer we'll listen. If you don't, please let us move all of us forward in that direction as best we can."

Ains pursed his lips at her. Trying to get his feet back under him, he finally said, "Miss Purrcy. You are arrogant and insufferable. I do not like you, and I don't need your permission to dislike you. I would much rather you left Akiba alone, and more particularly the Round Table. ...And I am not obstinate."

"Well, I don't want to get into an argument, so we'll agree to disagree on many things, shall we?" Purrcy said. "Thank you for allowing me to come at all today. I suppose we won't look terribly forward to facing each other across the table, but I hope we'll keep it polite for everyone else's sake." She turned to walk off the stand. After stepping down she turned back, "And Ains, I do really appreciate your lesson today. I was in desperate need of it."

He blinked at her and watched her walk off with her retinue. When they were out of sight, he reached up and rubbed his eyebrow with his thumb again. He couldn't tell if he'd won or not and that was perhaps most frustrating. He didn't know whether he could relax now for the rest of the day or not. In irritation, he let it drop. He didn't need to get an ulcer because of her. He'd have to fight her again in two days. That was soon enough. In the meantime, he had important things to do.

-:-:-:-:-

Rieze was waiting for Purrcy and her group at the same field they'd used during the festival. It was their usual spot, being the largest fighting group in Akiba after all. "Rieze," Purrcy said, all business today.

Rieze nodded a curt nod. "Purrcy. What did you want to see that's different from the demonstration?"

Purrcy tipped her head thoughtfully. "Guildmaster Ains just gave me a complete education on the basics of group fighting. It cleared up some of the fighting questions I had coming out of the Maze of Eternity. Could you go over what you as a guildmaster, or a raid leader, consider during a battle? What is in the mind of the leader who is giving the orders? I'm never likely to be one, but I'd like to understand some of the why, if possible. Maybe then it will be easier for me to understand the individual how in the midst of the party action."

Rieze thought about that, then nodded. She called out a practice maneuver they commonly used and her volunteers for the day got into position. "Commander level practice!" she called out. That would let them know she was training her spot, not theirs, and they'd stop when she called for pauses in the action so she could explain. When it looked like Purrcy and the field were ready, Rieze began. She fell immediately into her standard teaching mode. Purrcy stood next to her and listened closely and watched. Occasionally she asked questions, but not often. That was the sign she really was a novice to it. Those who knew what they were supposed to be learning asked lots of questions. She didn't slow down though, and Purrcy didn't ask her to. Rieze firmly believed that hearing the deep and hard stuff from the top taught better than watering it down, even if the lesson had to be repeated four times. She suspected Purrcy would only have to hear it now, practice it in the field twice, and hear it one more time and she'd have it. Rieze actually itched to make it happen. That was her Trainer calling coming to the front, though.

When it was done, Rieze took a drink from her canteen, as all her guild on the field were. Hydration was important. She handed the canteen to Purrcy. Purrcy took it politely and drank as well. "Thank you," she said handing it back. "What would you recommend, as a trainer, for the next step?"

Rieze raised an eyebrow, surprised she'd asked, surprised her mind had been read again. "That you get in there for two rounds of that, then come back and hear it all again. Then you'll have a clue what I'm talking about."

Purrcy rubbed her head and turned to look at Nyanta and Tetorō. "I don't know what my goal for the day is. I've lost it. I want to do that." She pointed at Rieze. "I have no idea how to take the words and integrate them. But somehow I feel like it might not be what I was originally intending to do today."

They both smiled at her. "Eat next," Nyanta ordered kindly.

Rieze blinked. "Oh, it is lunch time, isn't it?" She looked at her time. "The whistle will blow in about two. Let's go do that. Maybe you'll remember after that. How many more do you have to visit today?"

Tetorō answered. "Just Knights of the Black Sword. There's time for a bit more after lunch, but let's see if it's what's supposed to happen before we commit." He turned and looked at Purrcy. "Shiroe sends his regrets, but something's come up and the lunch meeting's been postponed. We can stay here for lunch if you wish."

"Okay," Rieze and Purrcy said together. Rieze gave Purrcy a half-smile and led them over to the place her guild was gathering to open bentos for lunch. They were often on the field all day practicing, at least portions of them. This set would rotate out for another after lunch so they'd practice with a different grouping if Purrcy stayed.

-:-:-:-:-

Lunch was a nice relaxed affair. Even the guards appreciated the break better than the previous day's lunch. But then, they were on familiar ground, too. They'd practiced in this field and eaten lunch with this group for the last month. The word had gone round that Stiletto had been sent by Shiroe to talk to Soujirou after they'd left that morning and he was as hot as the guild. The most interesting thing had been the comment from Stiletto that he'd been sent to talk to Soujirou because Hahaue had talked to him first, and left him questioning. Looks were going around the group at the lunch table that communicated more than most people's looks did. A fighting group that spent as much time training together as they had learned how to do that. Talk without making sounds. Sounds could get you killed under the right circumstances after all.

Eventually, Rieze looked directly at Charlie. Her look said, "Shut up or let me in on it." He blinked at her and glanced at the woods. Shortly after she was done eating, she excused herself for a bit of a "personal-space break" and wandered away into those self-same woods. They'd decided to do it because of that one little scene on the replay of the day the explosion went off heralding Purrcy's imminent arrival. If she'd been Hahaue to Rieze, she wanted Rieze to know, too, if that's how it had been for Soujirou. They were letting Stiletto handle that one too. He had the skills to get the knowledge, and to prevent anyone else from knowing he had it or had passed it on. He'd worked the hardest of all of them to get to high levels of Hacker. So far, it looked like Purrcy didn't know. Though now they figured it was just as likely she did and was purposely ignoring it.

Actually the newest question they wanted to dig up the answer for was...just how long was this level really going to be? They'd had it passed around that Shiroe and Tetorō had agreed that it was a long one...or two, but that was rather too vague. Missions needed proper limits. They'd also figured out Shiroe only gave those details when it was time to move on them, but they knew he had to get the info to make the plans ahead of time. So they were watching Purrcy.

After a bit of nervous 'pushing' to get one of them to ask the next question, Purrcy herself shifted. "Tetorō, give me a bit of help on what the different positions mean for Log Horizon. We aren't a large guild like D.D.D. so even if I learn it from her - and I do want to, though it might be the detailed level I need to come back to - I'll still need to understand it from our guild's point of view." Everyone settled to listen closely.

Tetorō shifted into a more comfortable position. "Well, there's actually two. Do you want the fighting formation when we're on campaign in a dungeon or zone, or do you want the formation for when we're doing the town campaigns?"

Purrcy blinked. "Well...how to answer that? Tetorō, you know I like the latter a lot better. That sounds like learning who's who in the royal court, only for the MMORPG guild formation instead. Now I want to play hookie from work and have you answer that one, when I meant the first one."

Tetorō grinned evilly. "Since it's break time, you get to hear the second one then. I'll tell you the first one when you need to hear it during a work time. Though it'll be obvious once you understand what D.D.D. can teach you. You've already worked with the junior group after all."

"Oh, well, that's true. So," Purrcy shifted closer to Isuzu, taking her hand which Isuzu patiently let her do, and sat with her ears perked excitedly at Tetorō, "tell." She got laughed at, but she ignored them. Nyanta sat back to relax against the tree they were under, keeping watch.

"I'm field monitor. I go out and get data and bring it back. Get the feel for what the city's doing and feeling and saying, put my ear to the ground, let Shiroe know what's coming down the street, so to speak. When we figured out what was up with you, after you first arrived, Naotsugu was walking down the line, putting the formation together. That's overall lead of the party, sometimes called battle monitor. He's good at it. He gets it by feel - who is what and where they need to be if they don't already know."

"Shiroe's the one who says what dungeon we're going to face and when to go in, but he really relies on Naotsugu a lot when we're not sure if we're still alive or not, or if we can go on or need to pull out and rest for a bit. Naotsugu's the main tank, holding everything in place and keeping everyone going. That's why he sits on the couch all the time and we move around him. He's holding the center so we can get the work done, and while he's doing it he's keeping track of if everyone's safe or needs a boost or to fall back and be switched out. He's also the main healer. When my HP falls too far, I cuddle with him because he's refilling my tank - he's my operator, even though when we're battling on the field it's the opposite."

Purrcy nodded. It made sense to the Eagles, too. They'd seen it. "Touya's Naotsugu's backup tank. He goes into it first and pulls if he needs to. That is, he watches to see what the day holds and warns Naotsugu if something's going to come down hard that day. We all watch him and Minori, since they're vanguard, and we look to Naotsugu after that to see where we're starting from before Shiroe sets the strategy based on how hard they've determined the day's battle is going to be. Then during the day, Touya keeps watch to see if he's needed in house or out based on what's going down. So he's a freelance tank, if you will. Minori is his operator, that's why they stick together. He protects her and she keeps him filled up so they can keep moving."

"Isuzu and Rudy are long-range, just like with the fighting. They get sent out on long orders if they need to be, or are pulled in when we're working close range, but they move more since they're light, where Touya's heavy. It's sometimes hard to tell, but really I think Rudy is Isuzu's operator. She knows when to move and speak and does with great precision, like a Swashbuckler or Assassin. She doesn't flail about needlessly, but she does need to have the support of Rudy's enthusiasm to keep her feeling like she can do her job. She's still working on believing in herself sometimes." Tetorō smiled and winked at Isuzu. "Rudy has his jobs he does and they're important and she helps him around the edges too, but he's more like a Druid. He's planted a lot of things and he nurtures them. That's where he gets his info from."

Tetorō paused and took a drink from his canteen. "Shiroe's the master strategist and main fire power, of course, so he's the most protected. He's got his operator, Akatsuki, on guard all the time to make sure nothing gets through, and if he needs help she kills whatever's bothering him and gets him the time for the main tank and operator to get to him - Naotsugu. She can only do basic life support because he's so big a gun, so to speak - like a Sorcerer. Naotsugu's the only one with enough juice to help him recover, but he moves slow. We try to keep them close as much as possible, but we keep Shiroe protected enough that not much can get him low enough to need it." He stopped and glared at Purrcy. "Except you. That wasn't nice at all, what you did when you came."

Purrcy looked surprised. "Well, no it wasn't, but I didn't know that's what was happening, at least in this way of looking at it. But he's always been protected so they had to work hard to find some way to get him down."

Tetorō looked disgruntled, but had to agree it wasn't bad strategy when one considered that Log Horizon had been the target. "You're not going to do that again, are you?" he asked.

Purrcy shrugged. "Not if I can help it." That had to do. If she got marching orders, she wouldn't have a choice.

"Let's see...That leaves Nyanta-san." Tetorō looked sideways at the reclining felinoid. "He's like he is. The dancer. Light and deadly at the same time. Precision attacker. At the same time, he's the light healer. The one everyone wants the small shot from when they need one to jump back in the game." He looked back at Purrcy, "And you're the long-distance field monitor; recon. You go deep and long for long periods of time, then come back and paint the big picture of the next floor, get everyone ready to descend, help get it going, then when it looks like we've got it covered, you disappear for the next level, to figure it out. Nyanta's your operator since he can get to you and get you back out to recover, but I'm the back-up since I'm the short-range field monitor and can get to you if you get close enough to us."

Sudden looks of understanding went through the sub-guild guards. They'd just been told why Nyanta had been made indestructible. He had to go deep into dangerous territory to recover and retrieve. It also explained why those two were the two who walked with her all the time. She'd come back and was passing on the intel and they were keeping her guarded and filling her HP back up. _That_ likely took a long time since she was gone out so long. The contract being signed by Nyanta made sense now, too. He had to be able to get to her if she got lost. They noodled on that for a bit as Tetorō and Purrcy tossed little details around. The final decision was that there wasn't an answer yet to how long because Purrcy was still dishing out the intel that Shiroe was reading. Once he had it all, then he'd know where they were going. And then they understood why he'd been frustrated when she'd first arrived and wouldn't open her mouth.

Shiroe had been expecting immediate data. She'd said she had to see how the city was operating first. And more people were being brought into the team. People in the city. That's how big it was. Not single party. Not even raid size or they would have been enough. It was at a minimum full raid. That was sizeable. Then there was a negatory, and they were reminded by that one...the _last_ one had been full raid. After a pause, there was a flurry of arguing on whether this one would be as well or if it really would be legion level until the betting was done and everyone settled somewhat. It still hadn't answered the original question, but it could be asked without causing trouble now.

"So, hey," Schedules spoke up, "Tetorō, how big is this one supposed to be?"

Tetorō turned and looked at Purrcy. "Can you tell us?" he asked.

Purrcy smiled, her whiskers going up. "We said it at the beginning. We're going to China, and then beyond. ...I suppose you could only consider China for now. We can't continue on until after it's done and then we'll know if we head inland or around the north bridge into the States."

"Everyone?!" Tetorō asked in surprise.

"Not necessarily," she answered. "Me and the Eagles for sure. Some of Calasin's group and some of Michitaka's, and maybe a few of Roderick's. Today I'm trying to figure out if we're taking any from the Akiba fighting guilds past China other than our own, though they'll decide it all themselves. I just put out the quest requests."

"What will tomorrow tell you?" another asked.

"When we can go and what level of effort and time expense is going to be part of the campaign. If we get to repair all the gates on the way, we'll be gone at least a year. We have to hit every gate and fix them on the way. If we can't get the gates open, we just walk around the bridge, or sail the ocean if the liner's ready in time. That's why we'll be looking at the shipyard, too. I need to know if we'll only sail the Sea of Japan or if we'll sail the ocean instead of use our feet. Those are the top layers. Next layer down I won't know until China's done. I've got other irons in the fire, too, but they're like poptarts. They'll pop up when they're done and just add to the overall picture. A few could completely change where we march, but until they pop they remain black boxes so we don't include them in the pre-planning."

They blinked. That was actually more intel than they'd expected. She was cue on for knowing what and where she was. She didn't move blind...she moved eighty feet ahead.

"And the meeting?" Rieze's suspicious voice sounded from overhead.

Purrcy looked up at her. "That's the quest proposal and request. Shiroe and I'll sit and prepare the formal request after the reviews and before the meeting."

"And I missed it. What's the goal?"

"You haven't missed it. It's been openly discussed already," Purrcy answered calmly. "Going home. And if we can't, properly surviving on this planet without wiping it or ourselves out in the process. We're the parasites, after all, unless we figure that much out." She rose and dusted herself off. "I think it's time to move on, and while I do want to have that lesson from you and your guild, Rieze, today is not the day. Maybe while we're on the march, if you decide to join us. Thank you for your time today. I really appreciate the lesson." She bowed properly to Rieze who nodded back. As they walked away, the guards gave Rieze a thumbs up. She nodded soberly, then turned away to call her next group of soldiers up for training.

-:-:-:-:-

The arrival of the Log Horizon contingent at Knights of the Black Sword almost went unnoticed. There were the usual small group practices, one-on-one fighter practices, and general meandering going on that usually went on for that guild. Some were in the guild hall, some were in town, some were out of town on raids of various levels. When Tetorō asked where Isaac was, they were given a rather vague answer. Purrcy put her hand on Tetorō's arm. "It's okay. This is really what I want to see." Her eyes were scanning all around and her ears were perked up. Her tail was waving in the slow way it did when she was pleased.

As if they were part of the guild, they meandered about the grounds following Purrcy's feet and whims. In the guild hall they paused and listened in on debates about the best way to take down efreets and in on a domestic squabble that was finally resolved by a third party who was done with the noise. She even stopped by the kitchen, tasted the food being worked on when invited and praised it before moving on. Everyone made sure they got tastes, too. It wasn't bad at all.

Outside, they stopped to watch the field. She occasionally asked questions, pointing to the particular grouping she was wondering about. A few times, her whiskers and lips twitched up as her ear turned to specific locations. Finally she couldn't hold it in any longer and turned them towards the guild hall again, a larger smile on her face.

Stopping where she could look up at the windows, she finally found one and stared at it, then waved. There was movement in the window that disappeared. She waited and in a few minutes Isaac appeared at the door. He leaned on the frame, his arms folded. "I saw what I wanted," she told him. "Did you enjoy getting to watch me? You're the first to think to do it from somewhere other than standing next to me. Or, rather, did you learn anything?"

Isaac moved out of the door and walked over to join them. "I take it you learned what you wanted to."

"Of course I did. I also enjoyed it extremely. Thank you."

He gave her a strange look. "You're welcome, I guess. Are you going to take over now?"

Purrcy laughed. "Of course not. I don't want your job any more than you do, and less. At least I get to fly when it becomes a bother - mostly." Her whiskers went down at that, but not for long. "I like you Isaac. If I leave Log Horizon, I'll come hang out here. Just to annoy you."

Isaac scowled at her. "I don't need a little sister."

"Of course you do. You like having the little brother around, too." She winked at him. He looked away, not able to deny it. "Actually, that's why you make a good Guildmaster," she said seriously. She tipped her head at him. "Sometime, let's do tea, or lunch, or climb a tree, or small mountain together. I liked how you rolled in the Maze of Eternity, too, but I'm not party level material yet, not really. After Rieze is done with me I might be."

Isaac returned her look. "I'll think about it."

Purrcy nodded. "Good enough," she said. "We'll see you 'round. I'll let your interesting brief break end and you can get back to being bored and irritated again." She turned away with a wave.

Isaac growled at her. "You can't leave. I haven't had _my_ fun yet."

"Yes, I can. You're the one that decided to let me wander without you." She grinned over her shoulder and walked off with a swish of her tail. Isaac stood there only slightly fuming. He'd make her sit over tea and talk next time. He'd not really learned much of anything at all, and he didn't want to admit having everyone spy on her for him had been fun. The only thing he might be able to say in summary was that she was like Shiroe - but he already knew that.

-:-:-:-:-

"Well, we're done early. Shall we go to the shipyard, then?" Purrcy asked pleasantly. "I think we can fit that in. I have questions to ask, but don't need details, so it shouldn't be too bad."

Tetorō and Nyanta looked at each other. Nyanta nodded. "Okay," Tetorō said, "but we stop by the canteen on the way. It's a hike to get to the river."

"Okay," Purrcy replied. "Oh, if it's outside, can I change? And run?"

Tetorō sighed. "I can't keep up."

"Oh," Purrcy calmed down for him. "I don't want to leave you behind."

"How about mew change, and run circles around us?" Nyanta suggested.

She lit back up. "Okay. The hidden ones and I can play tag within the safe radius. When I've tagged everyone, game's over and I win." She paused. "And no netting!" She got positive response on that requirement.

On the way out of the city, which was it's own hike from where the Knights of the Black Sword's guild hall was, Schedules and Records traded out with Michael and Gareth, and Isuzu was given a reprieve to do her own tasks, with Purrcy's thanks.

When they were outside the city, she immediately changed and was gone into the trees along the path they were on. It was a pleasant diversion to get exercise and Purrcy won with enough time to return and walk next to Nyanta and Tetorō as cat until she recovered, her tail waving pleasantly. She demanded to be pet by both once she recovered, then wove her way around the four she had left with them asking for pets from them, too, Training laughed at her, but Charlie and Gareth were both happy to get the opportunity for once. Michael tolerated having to pet her, then aimed a kick at her and she happily dodged it, her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth at him. "What are you today? A dog?" he asked her.

"Woof," she answered. "So what did you two learn yesterday, brief summary, since I didn't read it since we missed the trip to the Guild Hall. Or should I just make the sailor answer my questions when we get there...no...I want to watch him. Just let me learn it. We'll sum up together tomorrow."

Michael put his hands behind his back and started humming randomly. When he leaped to grab her, she almost didn't get away, his reaching hand raking down her side. Purrcy slid on the pathway as she landed from the sideways jump, her hair on end slightly. Her tail swished at him, but her ears were still focused on him. She was watching him closely. Michael carefully looked, without moving, at Nyanta and Tetorō. Tetorō stepped back. Nyanta nodded, and also took one step back. The rest moved until the two were encircled. Purrcy slowly dropped lower to the ground and shifted just slightly, full panther. Slowly she moved one front paw forward. Michael was suddenly winged. As Purrcy leaped forward to snatch him, he was up in the air with a powerful stroke. She watched him rise, curling around herself with small careful steps to keep him in view.

Michael pulled a baton out of his weapon's cache, then headed in for Purrcy. She shrank back, her weight more on the back paws. At the last moment she leaped left, then sprang off the ground to snatch at the wrist holding the baton. Michael's arm immediately flipped out of her range and returned to swing the baton at the back of her head in an inward stroke. She relaxed and dropped quickly, lowering her head. As soon as she'd landed she rolled a double roll away from him to her right. Her ears were back this time, but not flat on her head. "Forgot you had practice before you got here." It was almost growled. Michael's grin was skeletal. The light of intelligence - or rather that of Purrcy - in her eyes disappeared and Michael was facing a wild panther full on. He pulled up and considered her with more wariness.

The rest of the fight was animalistic and brutal, though not damaging in the fullest sense it could have been. When the truce was called, Michael had lost a number of feathers to tooth and claw and Purrcy had a minor limp on her left rear leg and front right from the thumps that had been applied to prevent those same implements of natural destruction from tearing pieces out of his more tender flesh.

Purrcy backed up slowly, her tail low and under her out of her way, until she was backed up to Nyanta's legs. When she had that physical contact, she carefully lay down on the ground, her head up to continue to watch Michael. When she was settled, he slowly settled to the ground himself, wincing when his weight went down on an ankle that had been slammed into by a heavy shoulder. He put away the baton first and Purrcy relaxed a little more. He put away the wings after brushing out some of the bent feathers on the worst side and folded his arms.

Purrcy's ears came back up and she relaxed enough to be Purrcy again, though there was still a little wariness left over. "Interesting," she said. "I hope I don't have to fight you for real."

"What would you do if you did?" he asked her, also still slightly wary.

"Run." An ear twitched. "Then hide. But then that's what I do first anyway."

Michael looked at her a moment, the nodded. "And if you were cornered?"

"Really fight until either you were dead or I was. What other option does a cornered creature have?" She sounded a bit sad.

"You wouldn't code?" he asked surprised.

"What time did I have for that?" she asked him.

"You let the natural cat rule. So you could have the whole time," he answered, confused.

She shook her head. "No this kind of battle takes complete focus. I do the coding on the run and while hiding. Once full battle's started that's all there is. After all, ..." she tipped her head at him, "that's what natural fighting is."

"Ooooh," he nodded slowly. "Okay." He relaxed. "We're okay, then?"

Purrcy rose to her feet and shook herself out. "Yeah. Thanks for the beating. I'm calmer now. Your ankle okay enough to walk yet?"

Tetorō jumped and cast healing spells on both of them. "That was rather violent," he commented when he was done.

"Yeah," Michael said and Purrcy nodded.

Purrcy looked up at Nyanta and he reached down and pet her briefly. She sighed, then transformed back into felinoid, wearing what was probably supposed to be a sea-faring outfit but looked more like a 1920's Amelia Earhart outfit, with a scarf, leather jacket, and tight pants.

"No!" Michael and Nyanta said at the same time and Tetorō had her in a headlock. Purrcy tensed and almost killed Tetorō, then relaxed completely and relented, but the twitch she gave next made Nyanta attack her with a quick head chop. "No!" he repeated. "Clothing _is_ required. Just nyot that."

"But I don't have anything else to wear it for," she pouted. Tetorō let her go carefully, having been reminded almost too late by her brief tension she'd just been fighting and was still triggered. She was thoughtful, then finally changed to jeans, a blue and white striped sweater, and a sailor's cap.

"Better," Tetorō approved, "though your color sense still needs a lot of help. That does not go with your coloring." She tossed her head at him and started them moving again.


	75. Inspecting the Technology

The Akiba shipyard was just east of Akiba on what was the Sumida River in Japan. The river was the closest access-way to the Tokyo Bay. The shipyard was bustling with engineers, technicians and Technicians, and naval personnel. The guards around Purrcy, Michael included, were suddenly more relaxed. This was normal home for them, though this kind of approach usually meant they were arriving to work and the next long stint off-States-side. The smell of the water had been getting stronger as they walked and now the sounds of it rushing past were being added to the other noises of construction and people calling to each other around them.

Purrcy's eyes were completely overwhelmed with viewing the large Ocypete, the steamship run by waterwheel and built by joint effort of Roderick Trading Company, Grandale, and Marine Organization. Tetorō headed for the small section of food vendors to pick up a snack for them. Purrcy absently took the food he handed her and slowly moved it to her mouth, then paused and looked down at it. "What's this, Tetorō?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "The Yamato equivalent of grilled octopus in eel sauce. Takoyaki. The best walking snack food of Japan."

Purrcy handed it back. "Bring me eel in eel sauce and I'll eat it. I've never been fond of eating rubber."

He frowned at her sadly. "That's rather rude, Purrcy," he protested.

"It's wasted on me. Please eat mine," she insisted but more politely. "I might be willing to try dango, but I'm a little concerned about that one, too."

"Mochi?" Nyanta asked.

Purrcy shuddered. "Please...don't ask Americans to eat slime. It's one of the worst textures to us."

"Sushi?"

"Love it, but leave off the wasabi and the tamago for me personally."

"Really? You don't like the tamago?" Michael asked.

"No. Pressed crunchy fish eggs are almost as bad a problem for me on the other end of the scale from mochi. I'm a texture eater - in the main." Purrcy answered. "White tuna, salmon, tuna if it's good enough, those are my favorites. Sushi, sashimi, or rolls, any of them are good. I love tempura fried meat on a roll with eel sauce and only a whisper of spicy mayo. That crunch I can do." She sniffed the air and let her nose lead her to a food she did like and purchased it, having made herself hungry.

When she returned, the rest were about done with their takoyaki. "Has anyone figured out how to make the cabbage pancakes...okaynamiyaki?"

"Okonomiyaki," Nyanta said it slower and more clearly. She repeated it until she had it. "Good. Yes, I make it occasionally. Do mew like it?"

"Occasionally," she answered. "It's very filling." They made her sit until she was done eating her snack, then they let her up and Michael and Gareth led her to the main shipyard office, having been there the day before.

"Purrcy, this is Iante, Manager of the Transportation Department of Marine Organization," Michael introduced her to the head of the shipyard when they arrived at the shipyard offices.

Purrcy and Iante bowed to each other in greeting. "It's a pleasure to greet you," Purrcy said politely.

"Thank you very much," Iante said.

"I'm sorry for troubling you," Purrcy continued. "I was hoping to understand how far the shipbuilding research has gotten and how the newest sub-classes have helped the shipyard."

They spent the next forty-five minutes getting a tour and having her questions answered. There wasn't really much to see. There was the Ocypete, which Iante took her onto and showed her around. There was also one other ship under construction and he answered her other question as they stood outside it, so he could point out salient practical applications of newer technologies from the Technologists.

She asked questions based on her understanding of the monsters of the sea and whether or not Iante thought it would be able to withstand attacks by the sea monsters as well as ocean weather. How far it could go under power before needing further refueling was another issue. Given that they used salamanders as heat power for the steam engines, it only mattered that each ship have enough Summoners, or available salamanders to keep it running. Fuel wasn't considered an issue, though perhaps feeding the salamanders might be.

When the tour was finished, and Purrcy had properly thanked Iante, Michael took her into the back offices until he knocked on a specific door. They were called in and he opened the door. "Christian, I've brought the person I told you about yesterday. This is Purrcy."

A weathered Person of the Land jumped up and snatched a knitted cap off his head, his greying hair standing out on end because of it. He bowed to Purrcy. "Ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said.

Purrcy raised eye whiskers at Michael slightly. Michael bowed to her, a small formal bow. "Christian Gladwin is the star navigator sent for by Shiroe. We had a long and pleasant conversation with him yesterday, Gareth and I."

Purrcy kept her demeanor pleasant and polite. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Gladwin," she said. He turned his cap slightly in his hands, not quite looking at her. "Commander Michael and Gareth are the most knowledgeable Adventurers that I know as far as being able to navigate goes. I'm glad you're willing to teach them what you know."

"I'm glad to pass it on to those who are interested and willing to learn it. Even among the People of the Land there aren't too many willing, given the difficulty of sea navigation." Christian admitted. "Please, won't you sit down?" he gestured to the chairs around the table he had been working at.

Purrcy moved to sit in one of the chairs, but carefully not the one he had been sitting in. Michael sat down next to her. Gareth and Nyanta sat in chairs on the opposite side of the table and Tetorō stood behind Purrcy. When the others had settled around the room and at the door, Purrcy made a small motion to Christian to sit as he was looking uncertain. He bobbed his head slightly and sat as well in the chair they'd left him.

"First of all, Mister Gladwin, will you tell me how far out from the shore you've gone at the farthest, and in which directions?" She looked at the papers on the table and pulled out one that was a general navigational chart of the seas around Yamato.

Christian cleared his throat. Pointing to the map, on the westward side of the southern island of Yamato that was the equivalent to Kyushu Island, he said, "I've gone out three days by sail, carefully through. There's a passage that has no sea monsters to that point. I turned when I saw there was one in the way then, but was unable to find a route around it. In a ship of People of the Land, and only large enough for eight of us, we couldn't continue past it." He gestured to the outdoors where the Ocypete was docked. "The Adventurer ships would pass through easily and in less time, but I don't know what's beyond that point."

Purrcy looked at Michael. "How long to get to China? I think we're at about three-quarters Gaia now."

Michael had just a spark of humor in his eyes. "Purrcy, you are an infant in this."

Purrcy was openly humble. "Yes, Michael, I am. Please teach me."

He pointed to the map. "I'll speak to our Japan, rather than Yamato to be simple for you." Purrcy nodded. "Here is Tokyo, on Honshu." He pointed out the bay on the central eastern side of the main island. "If we were in a Person of the Land boat, we would travel along the islands along their south edge, likely stopping at Nagoya, then cross to Shikoku and stop either at Tokushima, or a little farther south at Tachibana Port. Next, we would continue following south of Shikoku and over to Kyushu and the city of Miyazaki. If instead we go farther without provisioning, we would go to the southern bay and city of Kagoshima."

"From there we go directly west to Shanghai, China. That would be roughly 220 miles the first leg, 200 the second, and 300 if we went to Kagoshima, 200 if we stopped earlier on Kyushu. The final leg to China is nearly 400 miles. That's at three-quarters Gaia. A large, fast steamship from the 1800's could travel 3000 miles in about 6 days at full speed. The Ocypete hasn't traveled full out ocean speeds yet, but we won't travel even half that distance. Without stopping from here we would be there in less than three days. It will only take about 23 hours to get from Kyushu to Shanghai, perhaps less."

Michael stopped, still smiling slightly at Purrcy's alertly surprised expression. "It isn't the time that's the problem, it's knowing we'll land where we're supposed to land when we get there. We need the navigational charts so that we know we're close, at least." He shifted and drew a breath. "Of course, since we'll be traveling as explorers we can land anywhere by skiff and ask the locals where we are, and go up or down the coast as needed until we're where we need to be." Michael smiled at Christian. "Christian and his crew had only to go around the sea monster and travel a few more hours, half a day at most, and they would have arrived on the coast. Likely that's why they found it difficult to get through. We know almost all the monsters from _Elder Tales_ were set to be near the coast lines so that Adventurers could take quests on local boats to remove them." Christian's eyes went wide to think he'd been that close to finding land again.

"Using full size Earth distances, if we travel directly across the Athirds - that is, the Pacific - it would take us between eighteen and twenty days to get to the west coast of the United States depending on currents. About twice that or more if we stay close to the coastlines. It's about forty days to Great Britain if they left the Suez Canal in Elder Tales, though there's sure to be pirates along the way. From Great Britain to Boston is about six days. If the Panama Canal is open, it's about ten days from the east coast to the west coast. It's more like three months if we have to go around the south tip of South America, with provisioning stops."

Purrcy was silent for a long time. Then she softly said, "Oh. ...The world seems so much bigger than that."

Michael nodded kindly. "It does, but that's because we are used to walking and having to stop for the night."

Purrcy drew a deep breath. "Well...that's much better, to know it isn't quite so daunting a proposition, though the sea monsters will be a bit of a pain. ...So even if we made stops in all the countries along the way by ship, we still would only be out at most a year, and most of that would be the stopping."

"That's correct," Michael affirmed.

Purrcy looked down at the charts and maps on the table. "Do you have to know to get there the first time? I presume that since we know what the world looks like, you would only have to understand the basics of what the stars look like and where they dance in the sky, then believe you are Christopher Columbus and be a world explorer, as you suggested for reaching the China coast."

Michael's eyes were sparkling now. "You have the right of it. If we went counter-clockwise, we would want to stay north of the equator as much as possible, so as to not have to go the wide girth of the planet on the trip over the Athirds. Usually travel by ship has always gone the other direction around the globe when it's being circumnavigated because it's actually faster by a margin, due to current, wind, and other factors."

Purrcy turned and looked at Gareth. "You also understand all of this easily?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered.

Purrcy looked at the navigator, pursing her lips and calculating. "You'll come with us, Mister Gladwin. They know where we want to go and you know how to help them get there. We can't plan the travel route until we're done in China, so I can't leave you here."

Purrcy looked back at Michael. "I'm sure we'll also be able to pick up knowledgeable seafaring people on the way, particularly from the Pacific Islands. We can hop down to Hong Kong, then along the islands to Australia, then towards India and westward." She sat back and closed her eyes, crossing her arms. "The hardest part is getting into China, Mongolia, and Russia. Crossing all of Africa, and South America will also be complex, though they had fewer servers and slightly fewer gates." She considered things, then sat up and shook her head. "I really don't know yet what the solution for that is - the Transportation Department and getting to all the gates, or all the major servers either. We probably don't have to do all the repairs ourselves, just communicate with those who need to and haven't figured it out yet. Sales, though..."

Purrcy chewed on her lip for a bit then sighed and looked around at the group of people at the table. "I think I've heard what I need to hear, then. Michael, Gareth, please continue to come here and learn from Mister Gladwin until you're satisfied with your education. I'll leave the detailed travel planning to the three of you." She rose from her chair and the rest did as well. She held out her hand to Christian, who took her's uncertainly. "Thank you very much, Mister Gladwin, for sharing your knowledge with us. Please let Michael know what you might need in exchange and we'll see to it."

Christian got a bit of an uncomfortable look on his face, but he only bowed over her hand and said, "Yes, Lady Purrcy. Thank you."

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe," Purrcy said at the dinner table, "I think we'll have time for the Yamato progress before we go to China, if you want to have one. It can be part of the journey there, perhaps." Shiroe looked up in a bit of surprise at her, then nodded and went back to his eating, though more thoughtful as he considered it.

"And we'll be able to take more cargo than I thought, though we should plan on purchasing more foodstuffs as we go." Her ears wiggled unhappily. "I wish I had the last piece of the puzzle, but it isn't likely to come for some time yet." She frowned. "I wonder if it's in China and that's the other reason we have to go." She considered that a moment longer then sighed and shrugged her shoulders. She obviously wasn't going to get the answer here and this evening.

"I think we'll get D.D.D. and Knights of the Round Table, but Honesty will stay home. Ains doesn't like me and I'm not sure he trusts you either. He'll vote against it on principle, I expect. ...Unless he decides to send watchdogs, which would be fine I suppose, if you don't mind the possibility of traitors who believe they are patriots in the midst of the group. You might not want Ains to be the only fighting guildmaster left here, though. He might need someone to balance his opinions. Even though Isaac is bored and I like him, Crusty's more bored. Of course, you could send Crusty back to do the job he's not been doing and let Isaac out to play...but only you know if Crusty would be the proper balance point for Ains or not, since he hasn't been here to know what's going on."

She tapped her lips with her fork. "I would like Calasin to come. If we have to split and do both land and sea travel, I'd send him by land to set up the trade routes, but maybe he has someone he trusts that he'd rather send so he can stay here and manage things. The others of the corporation board can stay or go as they wish."

"Are you expecting me to come on the long trip?" Shiroe asked calmly.

"No. You could bring Crusty back here and potentially let me take one of Isaac or Rieze on the ship while the other goes with the train. I think I'm going to call the others like us to meet me at the port cities for negotiation and friend-listing. I would think that if I travel all that way by ship, they can travel the lesser distance by land to meet me."

Shiroe nodded. "And how will I get on those lists, then?" he asked.

Michael stood up from the table and walked over to the pile of wedding presents under the tree. He dug around until he found a flat envelope. Walking back to the table he handed it to Purrcy. "Congratulations on your wedding. I hope you will find these an acceptable gift."

Purrcy raised eyebrow whiskers at him. "Thank you, Michael." She took the envelope from him and opened it after glancing at Nyanta. Reaching in with her fingers, she pulled out two sheets of paper. On one of them was a color painting of Shiroe, on the other was a color painting of Purrcy. She studied them closely, then handed the one of her to Shiroe. "Here," she said still distracted, "that's yours." She looked up at Michael. "They're well done and the magic is well formed as well. It will be interesting to see if they can still work when we're halfway around the world. I'm sure they will at least at the quarter distances."

"Well, I tried for the intent of worldwide," Michael said. "Shiroe gave me ingredients to add and his best paper, so it hopefully will."

"Thank you, Michael, and Shiroe." She slipped the picture of Shiroe in her hand back into the envelope and it disappeared as she put it in her item list. "Did you test it?"

Michael nodded. "Shiroe's worked fine." He hesitated. "You were still on the moon so that distance didn't work."

Purrcy's lip twitched up, but she didn't say anything to it. Michael handed Nyanta a small box. "This is more for you than her," he said. "Not that you really need it."

Nyanta opened it carefully. Inside were two cameo pictures, also color, one of Purrcy and one of Nyanta himself. They were about two and a half inches tall and one and a half inches wide and on thin ceramic disks. "They do the same thing as the larger pictures do, but not at world distances, not really. Maybe more like one-quarter world distance. Another way to communicate never hurts, nor does having a picture of the one you love." He looked at Nyanta soberly.

"Thank mew, Michael-nyan," Nyanta said. "It is a kind gift."

He handed the box to Purrcy who looked at the pictures closely. "Thank you, Michael," she echoed. "You have a delicate hand. They're beautiful works of art." She closed the box and handed it back to Nyanta, who put it in his item list.

Michael nodded. "Glad you like them. Hope they'll be of use if needed." He nodded at them and walked back to his seat.

They went around the room giving their summary reports for the day as usual at the end of dinner. When it reached Shiroe at the end, he cleared his throat. "Li Gan came by to visit just before lunch." The room stopped and stared at him, then eyes flicked to Purrcy. "He gave me a summary report of his latest research and the work he's been doing in Shibuya on the radio tower. Of course, a summary visit takes about four hours, so we had to postpone the guild date." He tried not to roll his eyes, but others in the room didn't feel so inhibited.

"At the end of that report he happened to mention that the latest assistants we'd sent him were much more useful, even to the point of making him feel a little not needed, at least for a bit, so he thought he'd take a break, catch up, and see what this interesting teacher named Purrcy was like, since she'd been mentioned by the new assistants. He did also ask me what had happened here three and a half months ago, with the creation of the Justice of the East. I told him that I had a meeting, but perhaps he could come back tomorrow evening after dinner and we might be able to chat a bit then. Akatsuki was kind enough to see he made it to the door after that." Akatsuki had such a scowl on her face it was rather apparent that seeing Li Gan out the door had been a pleasure. She was upset at having to postpone her date - yet again.

Shiroe's sharp gaze went to Purrcy. "Do try to stay out of his sight until he comes tomorrow night. He might come looking for you at the gate, considering that's another of his projects. If he's there try not to get him interested in talking to you. He won't stop and you won't get anything useful done."

"Okay, Guildmaster Shiroe." Purrcy looked down the table to Michael. "Perhaps we should set up a cordon until I'm done talking to the gate technicians. At the very least I should be alerted ahead of time he's on his way so I can disappear."

"Yes, ma'am," Michael said. Reed would take care of it.

-:-:-:-:-

Opening wedding presents was fun. Minori kept a running list of who had sent what and willingly took on the task to get thank you notes written. The newlyweds would sign them before she sent them on. Of course she and the other members of the guild got their thanks as hugs right away. As Minori, Isuzu, and Purrcy carried the gifts to Nyanta and Purrcy's room, Naotsugu sat back in the couch. "That was better, today. She stayed awake this time, and seemed to enjoy herself as well. Try to keep it that way." His eyes pinned Nyanta and Tetorō.

"Yessir," Tetorō gave a jaunty salute.

"Being able to run this afternoon helped her, meow." Nyanta seemed a bit more relaxed this evening as well, though he still had some tension to him.

Naotsugu considered him. "See that you run next time, too, and get some of that out. If it's a problem, then you should come with me and the kiddos tomorrow for a short stint outside whacking at things. You've been as on-guard and stressed out as she has."

Nyanta's ear turned in surprise, but he considered it then nodded. "I'd like to see what the new rapiers can do."

"I'll go with her, then," Michael stated.

"Actually," Shiroe straightened a bit and pushed up his glasses. "I think I'd like to go. Akatsuki also could use the break to go out hunting with you guys, too. I've kept her cooped up with me long enough. I'd like to hear the technical details on the gate, and we could segue into the discussion on the details for the meeting for the following day." He turned to Akatsuki. "Let's do a date just the two of us after the meeting in two days. I'll be able to relax and focus on just you, that way." Akatsuki went from looking uncomfortable to blushing and nodded a brief nod of embarrassed acceptance.

"He just wants to be able to escape Li Gan until tomorrow night, too," Naotsugu snorted. Shiroe threw his friend a dark look.

"Well, then, what would you prefer I do?" Michael asked.

Shiroe paused, contemplating Michael. He finally said, "I think that you could consider tomorrow your day off and do whatever you please. You've also been on watch many days now."

Michael gave him a look. "I didn't sit with you today for you to look that deeply into my soul."

Shiroe shrugged. "Take it anyway."

"Fine," Michael folded his arms, "but I won't be far if you need me." Shiroe nodded. They all noticed Nyanta relax ever so slightly. He most certainly needed a day off from all his worries. "And I'm going to split the R&R with Tetorō. He's been on duty as much as I have."

"Commander," came from behind them. Michael turned to look at his second in command. "Let me take Tetorō's spot tomorrow. I could use the gate education along with the Maintenance detail. That way you can both have the full day off. I'll put the Intelligence detail on background watch, along with Safety."

Akatsuki turned to Shiroe with her eyes lit up. She nodded emphatically. "If the Intelligence detail is watching over you, then I won't worry." Shiroe tipped his head at her. "They're the Assassins." Everyone who'd seen the demonstration understood her approval for the assignment. Shiroe looked at Michael and nodded.

"Roger," Michael said briefly to Reed. He looked at Tetorō, "You have to take a break. No following after her in the code realm."

Tetorō blinked, then slumped, relenting. They almost expected to see him glow again. Even he had been extremely tense from all of his efforts since before the time of the festival. "She may still need me to take notes in the afternoon, though," he cautioned.

Michael shook his head. "We can trade out Maintenance with Operations again. They've been in the loop enough now, and they're used to that kind of work, too. Plus she may have questions for them as she reviews the notes. It'll work out okay. They can fill you in after you get back and are ready to get back into it." That arrangement worked for Tetorō, and they went with it.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy lay on her side of the futon unrolled on the tatami mat floor. She waited until Nyanta was snoring his light snores, then changed from felinoid to house cat. She stayed buried under the covers, just the tip of her nose sticking out. On her neck, the collar's gems went through the rainbow from the normal night greenish indigo to a yellow orange, the light hidden from the room by the blanket. She was sad about not obeying Nyanta's wishes and Tetorō's orders, but even more she wanted to rid herself of the dark deep ache that ate at her heart and soul. She had never wanted to come to Theldesia just to feel like she was still trapped on Earth.

The next morning, Purrcy woke late to an empty bed. In the summer they hadn't really bothered with bedding much at all, a tatami floor being comfortable enough for cats and felinoid alike. Now that it was entering late fall, the cold night air seeped into the flooring like any flooring, and like any cats, they preferred warmth. It was rather habit for them both that if you were going to be in a bed, you had covers over the top as well. She'd partially missed the wake up because she was too warm. Now she stretched, shook herself, and transformed back to felinoid long enough to get the futon rolled up, put away, and take her turn in the bathroom.

She padded out of the bathroom as large cat and lept up on the couch. She curled up in Naotsugu's spot, back to the room. The only noise in the room was the sound of Nyanta working on breakfast leaking out of the kitchen. A short while later Touya and Minori passed by her on the way to the kitchen. She only partially registered them asking Nyanta where she was and his answer that he'd let her sleep in.

At some point the number of people in the central area became more than her tolerance level could handle - or maybe it was being stared at by someone too long - and she rose, jumped over the back of the couch, and scrambled up the tree to go lay out on a branch looking over the city, her nose to the cool wind, her eyes closed to the regular structures of the inner city. Breakfast was finally called. She took her time, not going down until she was ready. Then she took the trunk slowly and stopped after the final leap off. She sat upright and curled her tail formally over her front paws, but she wasn't looking at the room, nor was she waiting to be addressed. She was merely waiting.

Through the normal quiet conversations at the morning table, Michael's voice said, "Tetorō," in an informationally warning way. A few seconds later the one addressed was quietly casting a healing spell. When the silent battle going on inside Purrcy was completed, Purrcy, on her own terms, moved to walk to the table. She changed as she neared the table, wearing warm leggings of burgundy and the fall dress she'd worn to the bachelorette party. As she sat gracefully to her corner of the table between Nyanta and Shiroe, Shiroe asked, "All right, Purrcy?"

She calmly answered, "Reminding the Superuser it's supposed to be observing, not interfering with experimentation." Nyanta's cool, calm posture matched hers equally.

As she picked up her chopsticks, Shiroe shifted. She looked up into his sharp eyes and calmly let him judge her. When he was satisfied with whatever he saw, he nodded. "I'll watch for it today." Purrcy flicked an ear of acceptance and started in on her breakfast.

-:-:-:-:-

The area around the gate was busy with people climbing, notating, and scratching heads. Purrcy was surprised to see they'd actually taken it apart to some degree. "That was brave," she said.

"Mmm, more like desperate," Shiroe answered. "It's been two years after all. Those who are really technicians and engineers finally convinced the Round Table to let them take the cover off so they could see the insides. They're very careful to keep it covered in weather so as to not damage the internals, since that was what worried the guildmasters the most."

Purrcy nodded. The entire gate structure was covered by a large tent. Currently the sides were tied up so there was plenty of light to work by. "At the moment, they're looking a little lost, however," she commented.

Shiroe nodded. He called to one of the men standing at the base of the gate. "MacInod!"

A ritian Druid turned to face the approaching group. "Shiroe!" he answered back and began to move towards them. "To what do we owe a visit today?" he asked as he reached them.

"MacInod, this is Purrcy. Purrcy, this is MacInod, lead engineer of the gate crew." The two greeted each other politely. "Purrcy asked to come to understand where things stand," Shiroe answered the original question.

MacInod looked at her. "You're the one that's the TechnoMage." She nodded. "The Hackers have been useful for understanding some of the basics, but it still hasn't been quite enough. We've actually been wondering if you'd have time to stop by here. Do you want to take a look?"

"I do," she answered. "I'd also like to hear what you've already done and listen to what everyone's decided at this point."

The chief engineer led them back up the steps to stand by the gate. He pointed out the innards of the gate. "It looks like wiring, generally. We can tell it carries magic, not electricity, or at least we think it does. It's not like there's a generator it's plugged into, though. We've been experimenting with both, just to be sure." He pointed to the farther right where there was an interesting box about four feet by three feet by two feet. "That's our electric generator. We had an electrician show up about nine months ago and he's just got it up before the festival but we waited until after to test it. We've been putting the smallest amount possible through the system, though. We don't want to blow circuits or melt wires if it's the wrong juice."

Purrcy nodded. "Have you been able to track the flow? Do you have a voltmeter and the other tools?"

"Yeah, It traced around to the center point and disappeared. He's working up another generator now, thinking we may have to have two, one on either side." MacInod waved a hand in a vague direction. "We worked the magic angle before that." He pointed to another group of people, holding clipboards and arguing. "They managed to get magic into it and see some effect, but it didn't do much. It's harder to measure where it's going and what it's doing, anyway. They're trying to figure out how to test it, like with a voltmeter as you say."

"How much magic did they pour into it, at the maximum?" Purrcy asked.

"Four Sorcerers worth, though they've tried all the magics, just to be sure - healing, and such like. Four for each of them as well. We've gotten the best results from the Sorcerers."

"And the Hackers?" she asked. "What have they discovered?"

MacInod shook his head. "Not much. They say they can see base descriptors. What is it, what it's for, that sort of thing, but not how it's powered. The highest level one with programming experience thinks that it accepts an address of where to go, but that's about as far as he's gotten - oh, and he thinks the one data point he was able to get out of it is the address of itself."

"Can I talk to that one?" Purrcy asked, looking the gate structure over as it rose above them. It was large enough to fit tall cargo wagons and people on horseback. That was good. Any smaller and shipping through the gates would have been exhausting. That assumed that it would stay open a specified time increment. If it only allowed a single entity to pass through, it would be problematic. "Shiroe, will you run down the basic usage of the gates from before?" she asked.

"Sure," he pushed his glasses up on his nose. They both knew that reviewing the details might shake loose something not considered before. "The gates were the nodes used to pass from one Adventurer city to another. They allowed for passage on a single main server, or between main servers, meaning they had to be set up to pass data from one subserver to another, since the subservers handled the data for the descriptors of the zones of the main servers. If I were on the Kyoto subserver of the main Japan server and I wanted to go to a zone in China, I could go to the gate for the local city and tell it I wanted to go to the closest city on the China server to that zone. It would then actually re-route my PC connection to the subserver closest to that zone. Though I might travel all over China, I would remain connected to that subserver until I used a gate to return to the Japan server. Then my PC connection would reroute to another available subserver somewhere in Japan. That's the physical way it worked."

Shiroe shifted. "As far as on-screen went, my character walked up to stand in front of the gate. When I was close enough, I'd get a notification asking if I wanted to use the gate. If I selected 'yes', then I'd get another notification asking what location I wanted to go to. You could enter in the Adventurer city name to be taken directly there, or just the main server name to be taken to a random place in that larger area. I tried entering a specific zone once and it still took me to the closest city's gate that it could determine. Ambiguous zone names got me to random places I might not have been anticipating, but if I specified the entire location name I got the closest possible." He cleared his throat and looked proud of himself, "I did also find the code site that would let me enter in the zone I wanted to get to by it's unique identifier. I think there may have been a programming bug there because that always put me down in that zone directly, rather than at the closest gate."

"Hmm," MacInod looked at him suspiciously, but Purrcy nodded as if she had expected such an result.

"Once I entered where I wanted to go," Shiroe continued for completeness sake, "the area inside the gate would light up and my character would move forward into the gate. The screen would go black for a while, with the standard spinning icon to let me know the computer was working on the request, then the screen would paint the city I wanted to go to in front of me. If I turned around, the gate would be behind me."

"Shiroe," Purrcy asked him, "you have your head of the Debauchery Tea Party on your friend list, right?"

"Hmm, Kanami? Yes."

"And you said she's in China, now, coming from...?"

"Europe is where she and her husband live. She was on the Europe server at the time of the catastrophe, but we talked when she was in China."

"Can you contact her now?" Purrcy looked at him and blinked. "I mean, she's on your friend list. You should be able to talk to her."

Shiroe looked at Purrcy soberly. "No. I've tried since then, and I know Rieze and most of D.D.D. have tried to contact Crusty, from the time he disappeared. They also weren't able to contact him from here."

Purrcy turned and looked at Reed. He shook his head. "I've got buddies in the States who mustered out and play sometimes. A couple were on at the catastrophe. I can't contact them either."

"Then that means the main servers aren't talking to each other," she said. "The computer links aren't functional. But we can still talk to each other within the individual main servers. At least I think so. Did you try to talk to Michael when he was in Minami?"

Shiroe shook his head. "But I spoke with Kazuhiko and KR just fine, and I contact William up in Susukino regularly."

"That's good. That means the Maze of Eternity is still effectively the main Japan server, then." Purrcy held her chin between her finger and thumb, thinking. "If we can get the gates working even minimally, we'll be able to use them within the server group." She looked up at a male human who had come up to stand with them.

"Purrcy, this is -"

"Davidius. Hello. It's good to see you again." Purrcy interrupted.

"Likewise, Sensei," he greeted her with a slight bow.

"Will you take me inside and show me what you've uncovered so far?" Purrcy asked her former student from the first Hacker class.

"Certainly." They both mentally disappeared from the outside world for a while. A number of the guards around them went along for the demonstration.

QA returned a few minutes later briefly with a report. "She going deeper into the code than the rest of us can follow, now that Davidius has shown us what he uncovered."

Shiroe's eyes were on the collar. It had yellowed up just a bit moments before the report. He nodded. "Call Michael and have him keep watch on her while she's in there, then he can go back to relaxing, when she's back out." Reed took care of passing the message on. QA went and found him in the code realm to lead him to where they all were waiting for her and he walked her trail to watch over her. QA returned to report to Shiroe and Reed and they waited for her investigation to be completed.

Purrcy shook herself out, blinking her eyes, then smacking her lips and tongue a bit until she was fully back into her body. The lights on her collar relaxed back to the yellow-green they were supposed to be. With a sigh, she relaxed. "Well...not as promising as I hoped, but about what you'd expect," she said as her summary. "I copied the code over to Davidius so he can analyze it." Davidius was trying to come back out of the code realm as well now, taking a deep breath and rubbing his head to come out of it. The guards were also coming out to the open world as well. Reed looked at Clocktower and Life Support. They both nodded. They'd gotten copies of the code as well.

"Can we have an all hands conference briefly?" Purrcy asked MacInod.

With a terse nod, he turned and called to all the engineers and Hackers. They gathered around the base of the gate, at the bottom of the stairs. Davidius and the guards moved down to stand on the stairs. "Everyone, this is Purrcy," MacInod said loudly. "She's come to look things over and just looked at the deeper code for the gate, giving a copy of it to Davidius. She has some things she'd like to say."

There were expectant murmurs from the listening crowd as MacInod moved to stand back a bit, level with Shiroe and Reed who had stayed up on the gate platform with Purrcy. "Hello everyone," Purrcy said, her voice slightly amplified. "All of you have been working very hard to determine a thing that isn't easy. It looks like you're close, though. MacInod says that with a second generator, you'll be able to tell if it takes two inputs to power. I'm sure with experimentation, you'll get to understanding how it all works. What are the suggestions for telling if and how the magic is going through the wiring?"

A few were called out. She nodded. "My solution, being a Hacker, would be to put a tracer on the magic and watch it visually. I assume you're planning on trying a combination magic and electrical power once the second generator is up?" She got nods. "Good." She bit her lip a little, thinking. "It's my guess...this being one of the bigger bonuses for this world from our game, it's likely to be a massively difficult thing to do...that it will be magic, not electrical in the end, and it will take a massive amount of it each time. Though...it would be nice if the electrical would work since that kind of cost on the personnel isn't as bad. It's going to end up being something highly expensive to do - the sort of thing only corporations and the very wealthy will be able to afford. After all, not many magic users want to be wasted on opening a gate, and it may take up to ten, five on each side."

She sighed and waved a hand. "Ah, sorry to rain on the parade. It's just experience talking. I suppose the other side of that is once we've got enough magic users over level one hundred twenty-five the numbers needed will drop, but those are expensive people too, on the other side." There were nods of agreement to that. If you worked that hard, you weren't going to really want to waste the levels on just opening gates without a high compensation.

"As far as the underlying code goes, I'm not sure it's going to be all that helpful. There's the graphical representation, which is hardly helpful in this world, and code pointing to things that return 'null'. We're not interested in sending people into null space." There was firm agreement to that. "But if we can get it powered up enough to do it like we did it from the computer screen - to tell it where we want to go, or an object to go, and it goes properly - then we'll have done it like we do our internal Adventurer user screens we use now."

"From what we've analyzed from repairing the main server node, we should be able to gate around Yamato for sure if we can get them working at all. The connections between the main servers isn't working yet, though. Since the central point of contact is the moon, it's possible transport between main servers may have to happen on moon time, and only when both servers are in the moon arc. That means we'll have to world hop, and I'm not sure if there's a close enough connection between China and the next one east. Same for the west coast of the U.S. and here. That may be too wide an arc. Someone who knows moon schedules and math will have to calculate that. I don't know it."

She looked around at the group. "I'd like it if we could get it working before the winter festival in Minami. If we could get them up around that time as well and run some tests, that would be wonderful. China would be the next test after that, if the math can get worked out. Comments? Rebuttals? Questions?"

There was about twenty minutes of discussion in the group, and then Purrcy let MacInod wrap it up after letting them know she'd be available if they needed her. She let MacInod know she'd probably stop by again and asked if she could be invited to watch when the next electrical test was going to happen, thinking it might help to watch it functioning even to that level. When she'd received a promise, they said their farewells and headed for the Guild Hall in the center of town.

"Did you have anything else you wanted to add, Guildmaster Shiroe?" Purrcy asked on the way.

"No, not really. You covered the points, I think, and everyone had about the same comments and questions I did. Hopefully they'll have a little more to work on now rather than just be discouraged. It took a long time for them to come up with the generator."

Purrcy nodded. "I would think so. We can speak in this world, so the radio waves from the communications towers still works, but powering it was the difficult part?"

Shiroe nodded. "We used a magic power generator that Li Gan put together from schematics in one of his many books, but it barely created enough power to get what little we did out of it. They're going to try one of the electrical generators next, but it's still on it's way to Shibuya."

"I would think that would work a lot better, given that the tower was originally created to use electricity." Purrcy stopped. "Well, on Earth it was anyway..." She sighed. "The experiments to see which works better, and if they'll work together, is rather important. Do we know when the gates were created? Did they come with us at the time of the catastrophe? Or were they from the time before the First World Fraction?"

"For sure from the Second World Fraction, when Adventurers first came to Theldesia. That was the open beta," Shiroe answered.

"Well, then, it could be powered by magic exclusively, then. That would be disappointing, most likely. Electricity is so much more useful when it comes to such things. Of course, the gate might take an awful lot of that, too. We might have to run an entire dam's worth of current just to open it once."

"That's rather a lot of gigawatts," Reed commented. Purrcy nodded.

"And as far as the code goes," Purrcy continued, "the data Davidius pulled out does look like the local gate address. The next layer down accepts several inputs, and I suppose we would all expect them to be the gate addresses of where we're going to. It wouldn't surprise me if we had to put in the gate address of where we're coming from as well, and the personal data of the person or persons requested to be transported as well."

"It would be disappointing if we couldn't pass wagons through, so if we're lucky one of the numbers is how many things are being transported through. While the calculations may not be as difficult as for the fairy rings, the transportation data may be just as tricky to figure out, so I don't think that's the way to go. Trying to get them to work naturally would be much better."

She looked at Shiroe soberly. "If we can't get it to work naturally, I'm afraid it means that when the world goes 'real', they'll just be completely nonfunctional pieces of odd artwork." It wasn't good news, but Shiroe wasn't very surprised, really. He agreed it was a high level item that was going to be very expensive to use one way or the other. Having the World AI decide they were overpowered for this world's level would be rather par for the course.


	76. Li Gan Comes to Call

Shiroe's group stopped at the food court in the center of town on the way in. Purrcy was rather chatty just generally until the food arrived. The rest were rather glad she was both relaxed, and then quiet as food went in, taking the place of words out. When she got going, the ears could bleed a little, though if they didn't feel like talking, it did fill the space. The Maintenance detail of the squadron rose to leave halfway through lunch and the Operations detail appeared to eat a quick lunch themselves. The 'hidden' six were eating, too, just not quite so visibly with the rest of them.

As Maintenance moved to leave, Purrcy waved Clocktower over. "You need to come with us. I still haven't asked you all my questions yet."

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered, trying not to sigh. Most of the time they worked half-days. He'd be on full this one and looked like he hoped he'd get a full day off for the next one.

"Gareth, you don't have to come," Purrcy said as he walked past with his food for the table. "I'd rather you spent the time at the shipyard, honestly, though Shiroe might want you on call."

"Yes, Ma'am," he gave the same response, though his look was alternating between relief and disappointment. They both looked to Reed who looked to Shiroe. Purrcy pretended not to see the communication chain. Instead she called up Nyanta and conversed with him over his lunch to briefly check in with him. She wanted to make sure he knew that she was still fine and being good. She knew Tetorō would want to know, too.

When they arrived at the office, Shiroe looked around the antechamber. "Well, it's different," he said.

Purrcy waved at the desk. "It's for whomever, but ostensibly for Tetorō since he's my Attaché and Secretary. I thought if you wanted to hide the fact you were here, you could put Akatsuki on your door instead of outside the main one. I make my main doorman stand inside on it instead of outside if I want to hide. I think we'll do that today as well. Tomorrow before the meeting we can have more of a real presence in the hallway."

"You know, that makes us uncomfortable," Reed protested mildly.

"Yes. Are you happy with turning people away?"

He shrugged. "We'd rather."

"Whatever, then," she said waving a hand. "I'm not partial either way. Only to not being disturbed." Reed immediately stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Purrcy smiled slightly. "Escaping quickly, isn't he?" She turned to Shiroe. "I don't suppose it's worth it to go into your office, or mine which is smaller, since we'll all need to participate to some level or other, but it would make them happier if you'd show us the conference room first. That bothers them, too, to not know what's on the other side of a door. ...And me, too."

Shiroe half-smiled. "I suppose so," he allowed. Purrcy waved to her door and Schedules opened it like he had before - carefully and inspecting the room first. When he nodded it was clear, Shiroe was waved in. He looked at them all a bit bemused. "You did this last time, too?"

"Yes," Purrcy answered flatly.

"Even though no one else can get in?"

"Even though," she answered in the same way.

"That is rather paranoid, you know."

"It's survival," she answered back.

Shiroe shook his head and walked over to the door between Purrcy's office and the Round Table conference room. He set the permissions on the safe room spell he'd set over it, then nodded. Purrcy confirmed the permissions on her door included the sub-guild and nodded at Schedules. Training walked in, excusing himself to Shiroe so that Shiroe had to move out of the way again. Schedules opened the door and Training looked through. The room was empty, so he scanned carefully, then stepped through. He searched under the large round table that was set in the middle of the room and under the chairs and behind them. When he was content that physically and trap-wise the room was safe, he motioned that Purrcy could enter.

Cautiously she entered the room following an unafraid Shiroe. All around the room were large painted winged angels, carved from the buttresses holding up the dome ceiling. Hanging from the center was a large chandelier. Around the table were set high backed chairs, one for each door that entered into the room. "They've already given you a chair as well," Shiroe commented. "I wonder."

"I shouldn't?" she asked. "Well...," she proceeded to answer herself, "I suppose for the board meetings it's fine, but when it's council meetings, I shouldn't." Shiroe nodded. She'd understood it. "Is it okay to have them in the same room?" she asked.

"I think so," he said tentatively. "I didn't for the negotiation, though."

"Hmm...we may prick Ains' sensibilities, then," Purrcy said thoughtfully. "Perhaps I'll wait to sit until the right moment, then?"

"Well, let's discuss what we'll do to begin with, then perhaps we'll see how and where it will fit."

"Okay," Purrcy nodded. "I'm ready now," she headed back for her door and the waiting Schedules, who was still holding it open. Purrcy took an end of the couch, while Shiroe stopped by his office and retrieved a tea set. As he stepped back out of his office, Records asked for it and did the honors of preparing it and setting it out. "Really," Purrcy said calmly, but with a smile, "you do spoil us so. I suppose it's part of the structure too, but it's very nice of you, from my perspective. I would hope it isn't something you hate."

Records paused and looked at her. "Miss Purrcy...perhaps there are people and times that it would be an irritant, and you are difficult, but you aren't someone to hate working for."

She looked at him a little surprised. "That's candid. Thank you...I think." She got a secret smile for her trouble trying to figure out what he meant exactly. "I think you've all learned how to say what you mean without saying it, as well?" That one wasn't answered. She gave up and turned to Shiroe, her ears pricked forward towards him. "I'll let you go first, then, Guildmaster."

Shiroe was himself smiling a secret smile into his teacup. He carefully put it away as he put his cup on its saucer and set the both of them on the little table between his chair and the couch she was sitting on, her legs tucked up under her. "Purrcy, start with - from the beginning again - where we're going and why. I will need to convince them they want to go there as well, after all. Then, we will back up even further, and you will explain to me why it was important for the corporation to be created and how it is supposed to help in the ultimate goal. They need to understand why you were the driving force behind it and how that is helpful rather than manipulative."

"But it was manipulative, on the outside," Purrcy protested mildly. "Indicus wanted it. I merely used it to help drive your own goal forward - the one to purchase all of Yamato and if possible as much of Theldesia as possible. There were other goals involved, I'm sure, or you wouldn't have agreed to it, nor would the guildmasters. It would have been squashed as soon as you presented it. I think you'll have to handle that part of it. I could care less if the zones were purchased, myself. I also have no need to be exceedingly wealthy, only have enough to live and I already had that in hand, as you know."

"It does help us get overseas and moving in those directions - that is of meeting with others who believe as you do and helping those who are Caretakers like myself. For the intermediate goal, it helps us get to China, where we're apparently supposed to learn the next thing we need to learn to help the world fix itself. I'm not sure if we're going to fix anything per se, at that moment in time, though it would be nice if shortly thereafter we could fix something else that needs fixing and that pushes us forward to going home, or which ever we get to do. Certainly D.D.D. wants its guildmaster back and he'd like to return home. If it must devolve into that, plus opening up markets for the production guilds, then that's enough. I'm sure as long as I go with, we'll get the lessons, etc. as we go."

She paused and took a breath, one ear turning. "Well...I've answered you backwards. But it's as I've said before. We need to go to China. There, we need to meet up with your friends, and face the Overwritten and perhaps we'll get to meet an Observer. If everyone is happy with that much, and then getting to come home, then that's all there is. From that point, though, I know I'm supposed to eventually get to the United States and the Eagles are coming with me. I don't know why, other than perhaps someone over there has learned something we need to know." Her eyes went distant. "Nyanta should come...but he will get to choose. That's a long time for him to be gone from his home and the children."

"Do you need to traverse the entire world, really?" Shiroe asked.

Purrcy shook her head. "Maybe not, but that won't be known until we finish in China. It would be preferable to me as well, I think, if we could just spend a month or two visiting the States, then return. A year is a very long time, really."

"Yes, it is," Shiroe said softly.

Purrcy looked down into her teacup. "Records, please get the summary reports from my desk. Give Shiroe mine and hand the rest to me. We'll read to get caught up, then Guildmaster Shiroe can tell me how it will all work together." She took a sip from her cup and sat putting thoughts together as Records fetched the papers and passed them out.

Skimming the reports from the guards quickly, Purrcy reached the end of them and placed them on the table for Shiroe to reach. She pulled Clocktower's report out of her list and read that as well. When she reached the end of it, she lifted it. "Clocktower, come add anything else you think Guildmaster Shiroe needs to know to this before I hand it over."

Records retrieved it from her, as he was still standing by, and handed it to Clocktower. "There's paper, pen, and ink in Tetorō's desk," he informed Clocktower.

Clocktower took the report to the desk, pulled out pen and ink and added a brief summary comment to the end of the report. He pulled out another sheet of paper and continued on to it briefly, then handed the report back to Records and returned to his place after putting the pen and ink away. Records handed the report to Shiroe directly.

It took a moment for Shiroe to register the papers, as he'd reached an intriguing part of Purrcy's report. He slipped Clocktower's report at the end of Purrcy's. When he was done reading both, he put both of them into a box in his item list, then picked up the other reports and read them quickly as well. By the time he was ready to discuss with Purrcy, he was talking to the Purrcy-World AI combination again.

-:-:-:-:-

"Naotsugu," Tetorō said mildly as they walked away from the main gate of Akiba, "which zone were we going to?"

"Oh, the close one we always go to," Naotsugu said blithely.

"Oh, the one they always aggro in," Tetorō said a little halfheartedly.

"What?" Naotsugu said.

"It'd be nice to do something a little different for a change," Tetorō said.

"We have to be back before dinner, and you need more Hacker practice in the field. At last showing you were finally getting up to speed on the low level monsters, but you've got work to do still to get to the mid and upper level ones. I'd like to see the lower level ones taken out without thought this time," Naotsugu was firm.

Tetorō sighed. "Fine, but can we fight them all the way up to the boss, then? I've got a couple big spells I've been wanting to try and I don't want to waste them on the small fry."

Nyanta nodded agreement. "My new rapiers are several levels higher than the old ones, for all they were excellent. I'm going to need the higher level monsters as well, I think, to understand what they can do."

Isuzu sighed. "I'm glad we have Minori with us this time. That was hard trying to be the only healer the first time Tetorō stepped out from that position and was only a Hacker."

Tetorō nodded. "I'll say. But this time, I'll try to step in a little more. I've been thinking about the balance, and I think I've figured out a better strategy that lets me get off Hacker spells and not think about them while I'm casting the Cleric spells. Even with Minori, I'm still the main healer when it comes to heavy damage." He narrowed his eyes at Naotsugu. "I thought we were going to be bringing in Marie in my place for these things."

Naotsugu looked a little wistful. "Well, yeah, but...I guess I didn't think of it for today, and they're pretty busy over there, too. We're not really that far along yet, I suppose."

"Well," Tetorō looked away, "I guess that's true. It is nice that we're still just us for now, even if the healing side of it's a bit difficult." He bit his lip and walked in silence for a while.

Touya glanced at Naotsugu. Naotsugu looked away, then sighed. "Out with it, man. That's what we're out here for today, you know?"

Tetorō looked like he'd rather not. "I really don't -"

"Shut up and say it," Touya grumped at him. "You haven't spoken two whimpers to us this whole time, you know."

Tetorō's mouth came open, "I - I haven't?"

Minori and Isuzu both shook their heads. "Oh." He hung his head a bit, then took a deep breath. "Well...it's that I think I won't be a Hacker much longer...and I'm really loving it."

It was their turn to have their mouths hang open. "Won't...?" Naotsugu barely got the word out.

Tetorō nodded. "You remember what she did, the first time?" They nodded. "World AI or Superuser, it's not going to let any of the rest of us do that. If Hackers in general get to do that sort of stuff at high levels, because they can mess with the code...that's going to be shut down. I expect all Hackers, and maybe even Technicians, to be shut down eventually. We were needed for repairing the Adventurer Tree of Life, but we're not needed in this world as a whole. Maybe it won't happen soon, but it will happen eventually. It's not natural magic to this world, see?" They got that.

"Purrcy's scheduled a meeting between me and her and Michael. She says it's to graduate us up to journeymen from apprentices. I'm not sure what that means, really, but I do remember her saying the first or second day we met for class that Michael was already ready to graduate up any day then. It's been months and he hasn't yet. I think she capped us both back then. I don't know if it was by removing the Class Programmer - which she also doesn't have any more by the way - or if it was by some other means. I leapfrog, sure, but I haven't crossed that boundary any more than Michael has and we're about the same level of skill now, particularly since we've been helping each other."

"Tetorō-kun, did she schedule that as Hahaue?" Nyanta asked, an ear turning towards Tetorō in interest.

Tetorō frowned trying to remember. "I don't think so...but...it's hard to tell. It was in the middle of the day both times. Sometimes she can sneak things in then. I won't really know until we get to the meeting." He looked up at Nyanta, wondering why the question.

Nyanta's ear flicked. "It matters though, in this case." He paused, putting his thoughts into order. "If she's going to be shut down but needs the channels left open she needs to set the two of mew up to take her place."

Tetorō stared at him. Miserably he said, "Nyanta, I really didn't need that. She might fall off the face of the earth, or moon, if she has to follow through the window too far, but to get shut down while she's still here? She's got things going we can't even guess at. We're still not light enough yet for the most delicate stuff. ...Though now that I think about it, she has been training all of us to be there." He sighed again. "I forgot about that. Her saying that when the Eagles were light enough to catch her in her sleep they got to graduate, too. I only remember thinking it wasn't likely to ever happen."

" _You_ get in," Michael said as he landed from overhead to join them in their walk. "Nice day for flying," he added as they somewhat-glared at him.

"Well, I do that because I got to set a tracer on her early on and she's ignored it since. I just follow that in. I think she always knows I'm there, though. It's not quite the same."

"Maybe," Michael shrugged. "What was the topic, again?"

"That's backing it up a bit," Touya looked back at him.

"Well, I can guess it anyway," Michael said. "Tetorō's opened his mouth to the lot of you. Did you push him to it?"

"They did," Tetorō said with a grimace.

"Good. And you've answered it," Michael continued. Tetorō nodded. "And you were talking about light feet. So you're worried about what she's not been doing."

"Well...sort of," Tetorō shrugged. "More like what she's going to do next in that area."

"Hmm...," Michael worked that one out. "That'd be, 'what's the context of the meeting we're supposed to have', then?"

"Yup."

Michael nodded. "Shut us down, or stick us into special ops and put us into hiding." He looked up into the sky his hands behind his back under his wings. "She likes to be dramatic, after all, ...so it will probably be both."

"Both!" several complaints came at him.

He grinned at them all, then spread his wings. "Just my guess. Happy hunting!" He pushed off the ground and flapped a few strong strokes then was a receding figure in the sky.

Naotsugu shook his head. "Is it all American's? Are they all dramatic like that?" The rest shrugged. Certainly those two were.

-:-:-:-:-

"Briar weasels, ten of them, four o'clock."

"Gah, two triffids, one o'clock and nine o'clock."

"I'll take nine o'clock." Nyanta's calm voice calmed the rest of them immediately, though they hadn't been overly concerned, really.

"I'm on the briar weasels," Rudy called out cheerfully. A series of attacks pelted the briar weasels shortly thereafter.

The triffid at one o'clock disappeared in a shower of bubbles. "Got it," Akatsuki said, her turn to say she was headed for it taken by the others before she could let them know.

"Ah, it's too easy with all of us on the job," Naotsugu complained.

"Um...no, not if you look at ten o'clock," Tetorō said with a gulp. "The boss just showed up."

"Right," Naotsugu set up, Touya just a little in front of him and to his side. They both cast their taunts as Minori passed out instructions for the rest of them and followed them up with a supporting damage reduction spell on the front line. Tetorō cast a group healing spell as Rudy and Nyanta got in their first attacks, then focused in on his higher level Hacker spell. The others were going to just keep it busy. He wanted to know how much damage the spell he'd created would do. Isuzu had an HP assist going, mostly for this moment and to keep his HP up until he got here.

"Right then," Tetorō murmured. "In 3...2...1."

There was a stunning flash from him to the troll, then it divided and looked like many lights swarming around it until the lights went out. As it fell into pieces it also began to disappear into bubbles.

"Wheow, what was that?" Naotsugu asked.

"Well, I thought I'd try to see if I could recreate what the swords are supposed to do. Those were Cutting Wind Blades, only you saw them as lights since we all have the tracer going all the time." Tetorō explained.

"You're dangerous," Touya said, swallowing. "Don't ever do that at me, okay? I got a close up of what it did to him."

"I get the nyext one, meow," Nyanta said.

"Okay," they agreed. They'd been watching his rapiers as well, but it hadn't been entirely clear how different they were yet, since the targets had been small fry considering their levels.

They walked another four minutes before the next set of enemies appeared. When it got to the boss, this time it was a hill troll, slightly larger than the simple troll Tetorō had taken out. Naotsugu and Touya held it down, like the first one. Tetorō cast status effects on it this time, slowing it down and decreasing its attack. Minori shielded Nyanta while Rudy, Isuzu, and Akatsuki kept it distracted and whittled down its numbers a little. Then Nyanta moved into action, his rapiers moving lightly and quickly in his hands as he attacked from the front - chest, neck, head. He continued over it and kept attacking the head, then down the back of the neck and the back. He landed and watched.

At first it looked like nothing had been done to it. There was no sign of damage at all. Then beginning with the first attack point and moving along the line of damage he'd done, there were sudden little explosions. As the bubbles rose up into the air, they could see that the damage had been done internally, and rather a lot of it, particularly the final attacks. They looked at Minori. "Well, it looked like the attack damage was about the same each time, but the defense definitely dropped. By the time you hit the head, the natural defense of the hill troll was at zero so all the rest of the attacks did full damage."

Nyanta held up one of the rapiers and looked at it's length. "I also was able to attack more times than normal, so the speed definitely is increased, meow." He pondered his rapiers, then cleaned them and sheathed them. "I'll be intrigued to see how they purrform in raids. It myay take some purractice to get the purroper feel for their use. Shiroe-ichi myay be disappointed that his targets die too soon for a while." There were chuckles at that. Shiroe would be irritated if he wanted to time it closely, but he would also be highly intrigued and work very quickly to use them to his advantage in full raid battles. Nyanta paused, then turned away.

"Nu-uh," Naotsugu said with a grunt. "It's your turn now, Chief. Don't bottle it up."

Nyanta twitched in irritation, then glared at Naotsugu, though it wasn't a glare meant for him, really. "It's the same. A feeling I'll be called upon to use them against Purrcy specifically. I'd rather nyot."

"Well, there are some big monsters out there, particularly the ones the Overwritten like, or so I hear," Tetorō offered as an alternate.

Nyanta shrugged. "Of course, except that could also be her. Shiroe-ichi also said that. That she could be Overwritten because she's also in the monster database now. To take down one of them quickly, likely I'd have to use them on her." His face went to a mild snarl. "It's not like she can't come back, but I don't like to have to face her that way."

Isuzu put a calming hand on his elbow. "No one wants to kill the person they care about, not even if they know it's not permanent."

Nyanta nodded once, then took a breath and let it out. "Well, it isn't here, and it isn't yet, and we myay get fortunate and the thing behind it all might actually listen to Shiroe-ichi and leave well enough alone." The rest agreed, trying to help, but Nyanta still didn't quite look like he believed it.

"Nyanta," Akatsuki said firmly. He looked at her. "If it comes to that...I'll take the last blow."

Nyanta looked at her, then finally bowed. "I'll leave it to mew, then, Akatsuki-chan. Thank mew." Akatsuki nodded firmly, sealing the agreement. In her view of the world, it would be an honor killing, a necessity that was just done because it had to be done, and for Nyanta's sake, a kindness. He could allow that. She had done it for Purrcy after all, during the experimental surgeries. Surely that had been harder.

-:-:-:-:-

They were on the walk back into town when Shiroe called Naotsugu. When the conversation was done, the Guardian smiled at the rest of them. "The Councillor's asked me to find and corner Li Gan at a table in the center of town until dinner's about done at home. He says he and Purrcy have worn themselves out, but have 'come to an agreed upon plan for tomorrow'. With all the main chefs out of the house today, I suspect the Eagles are cooking tonight - whoever had off duty anyway, so dinner might be hit or miss. I'll take the assignment. Make sure the rest of you get back right away, though. They'll likely need the support to stand up to Li Gan. He's sharp, you know."

The rest looked at him knowingly. Naotsugu and Li Gan had several common interests and they actually enjoyed visiting. Tetorō said, for all of them, "Make sure you come back rested up, too."

Naotsugu stretched and grinned. "Always."

-:-:-:-:-

"It never ceases to amaze me," the dry dusty voice of Li Gan entered the sitting room of the Log Horizon Guild Hall as the door opened to let it and the cold evening air in, "that the lady Adventurers can still wear beautiful panties under such short skirts even in the cold fall breeze and be so unaffected by it. ...Though I must say I certainly appreciate it, as do you." The short, thin man who almost looked more skeleton than human was wearing his ubiquitous brown robes and hat. He was slightly hunchbacked from reading his books by candlelight for so many years and he now looked as aged and ageless and dusty as the histories he both read and wrote. Naotsugu followed him in. "I still think that Tetora's hot pants when we first met her were most practical for the snowy weather, not to mention quite attractive."

"Li Gan!" Purrcy's voice rang out hard and cold. "When you enter polite society, please remember to convert your conversation to accommodate. Or do I need to reassign you to Maihama until you can remember such proper niceties on your own?"

Li Gan froze and gave his attention to the room he'd entered. His eyes stopped rather suddenly on the blushing Tetorō. He'd not seen the new version yet for himself. "It's Tetorō now, Li Gan," Naotsugu said calmly, standing just behind the older man.

Li Gan looked like he wanted to ask a million questions, but his eyes left Tetorō and continued to scan on until they found Purrcy, who was still sitting upright, her eyes sharp, her fur practically sparking. Li Gan's mouth opened and closed a few times, then he finally settled on, "Ah, no, thank you. I'm terribly sorry." He bowed over his clutched hands, then continued to watch Purrcy, keeping as humble a face as they'd ever seen on him, which wasn't much but was more than they thought possible.

As soon as Purrcy had calmed down and sat back in her chair, Li Gan was suddenly standing across the table from her, his fingertips drumming against each other, as if he were looking at a prize and inspecting it hungrily. "Oh, my. I would never have expected it at all. No, I wouldn't have. Who would have thought...an Adventurer as Oracle of Inari-no-Izanami?! This is most unusual. I don't believe we've had one for nearly one-hundred twenty years, and for an Adventurer to be chosen...yes, most unusual."

"It nearly ate you, man, and you're okay with it?" Naotsugu reprimanded as he took his seat on the couch.

Li Gan barely spared him a glance. "It was a temporary phenomenon."

He got stared at. "Well, actually," Shiroe cautioned, "I don't think that's quite the case."

Li Gan did pause longer to look at Shiroe, respecting his opinion. "No? Well, then, I'm all ears, Archmage Shiroe, all ears!" His pointed ears were indeed pricked to nearly quivering, the same as the tip of his nose.

"Li Gan, this is Purrcy. Purrcy, Li Gan, Sage of Miral Lake." Shiroe introduced them.

Li Gan froze again, then started trembling in excitement. "You mean, the personage who's been training the Technicians and the new Hacker sub-class is this person here in front of me? And is the Oracle?" Li Gan finally plopped himself down in the closest chair and rubbed his hands together. "So...how did it happen? Please tell me so I can record it for the annals."

Purrcy's whiskers twitched as if she'd just smelled a particularly odorous old cheese. She held out her hand and a cube appeared in it. "Here is the history, recorded at the proper level of detail for you. We haven't the time for me to tell it to you in one sitting. However, you might be able to use this time to get the opinions of those around you as to how they feel about having it happen."

The cube disappeared and reappeared in Li Gan's lap. He startled, then picked it up and inspected it. "A magic record cube. One of these hasn't been created since shortly after the First World Fraction, though similar ones have been created to a lesser degree off and on." He glanced up at Purrcy. "I presume it works the same way as the others?"

"Yes," she said.

He looked at her suspiciously, then more carefully. "That knowledge should be lost, or at least hidden. Unless...," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Unless you're also receiving knowledge, not just a vessel." His sharp eyes pierced her. "Are you also then the Priestess as well?" Purrcy blinked at Li Gan and an ear dipped slightly. Li Gan looked like he wanted to pounce on Purrcy and dissect her. "Oh, my. Most irregular, most irregular. To be both the Oracle and the Priestess, and at the same time an Adventurer. Really, what is the world god thinking? To go to such lengths... The last Priestess passed away about twenty-five years ago. To have an Oracle and a Priestess in one person hasn't happened in almost two-hundred thirty years. Really, this is so very exciting!" He was quivering now in delight. "My, my. I think I've picked a very good time to come down to Akiba and visit." He cackled slightly in glee. His eyes flicked around the room. "And has a Priest been chosen yet? We've been needing one of those for about thirty years now." The room was very quiet, not answering him.

"Well," he shrugged it off and moved on, "one will appear when one is needed, I suppose." He turned his attention off of Purrcy and back to Shiroe. "So, when did Lady Purrcy come to you? Did Inari-no-Izanami send her?"

"I suppose you could say that," Shiroe said dryly, "though she was actually sent by Plant Hwayden from Minami. We've cleared that issue up and kept Purrcy safe since then." Purrcy relaxed to have the attention off of her for a bit, happy to have Shiroe answering the questions.

Li Gan nodded and shifted in his seat, settling in for the question and answer session. He listened closely to Shiroe's story of how Purrcy had come to Log Horizon. The rest of the room watched Li Gan. He was politely sympathetic to the plight of her and the other half-beasts, though it was obvious he didn't comprehend what it really meant for the Adventurers to be made to go into heat on this planet. He asked probing detailed questions that he couldn't possibly understand the answers to on how the 'computer virus' had worked and how they'd combated it. Shiroe glossed over the capture and sentencing of the Plague Master and paused to see if Li Gan had any further questions.

"Did that fix it, the problem?" Li Gan asked.

"Yes," Shiroe said calmly. "We've got the antidote still going as we scheduled, but we haven't seen it come up again yet."

"Good, good," Li Gan nodded. "How long ago was that now, that all this happened?"

Shiroe looked like he really didn't want to say. "A little over three months ago, now, I guess. Things have been busy since then."

"Oh? At about the time of the most recent world magic, then? Have you been able to come up with any information about the Justice of the East since we last talked?"

"Nothing new," Shiroe answered. It was an honest answer, but it was keeping what he did know secret.

"Well, I may keep asking around. Ah...and I thought of another one I was wondering if you'd heard anything about. The land has been rather quiet on the whereabouts of the Caretaker. I was surprised to even learn of the Caretaker a year ago. It wasn't a title we've had in the past. I keep hoping to learn more about what and who it is, but all I can get is that the Caretaker has been missing for about four months or so. To have one created, then disappear seems highly irregular."

Purrcy sighed. "I've been rather busy, Li Gan."

His eyes shot to her. "What?"

"It's in the memory cube also, since that's when I was activated as Oracle and assigned Priestess, though that wasn't activated at that time. Really, I'd rather not have told you about it at all, but Inari-no-Izanami has required it to be recorded for posterity. Please let it remain a story for your grandchildren. While I'm living it, it's best to not let society in general know. I really don't need seekers beating a path to the door of Akiba and Log Horizon. The goddess has a different purpose for me at this time than to be a creature of worship."

"Whipping girl more like it," Michael muttered under his breath. He was sitting slouched in his chair, his arms folded, a slight scowl on his face.

Li Gan's eyes darted to him, then looked around the room in general again. "Archmage Shiroe," he said slowly, "you're guild seems to have expanded quite a bit since I was last in Akiba." His eyes went back to Tetorō. "Not to mention had some other changes." His eyes went back to Purrcy, "But then...I suppose...," he looked at Shiroe and sat back, "it hasn't been easy to have both the Oracle and the Priestess in your house." His mouth pursed into a thin line.

"That would be a correct assessment," Shiroe granted him.

Li Gan sighed sympathetically. "Inari-no-Izanami has always been known to be rather...difficult." He looked back at Purrcy. "I suppose if an Adventurer was chosen, you couldn't be convinced to return to the temple?"

"If I went to the temple, Li Gan, how would I ever be able to accomplish the purpose I was chosen for?" Purrcy answered.

"There's actually a temple of Inari-no-Izanami?" Tetorō asked.

Li Gan nodded. "If you get tired of her, feel free to tell her she has to go there."

Purrcy raised an eye ridge of whiskers. "I take it you had your own run-ins with the last one?"

"Well, let us say the Priestess and I didn't get along terribly well, no," he allowed. "I wasn't alive at the time of the last Oracle, of course, but the stories handed down from Sage to Sage tell us that the Oracle was worse by quite a bit."

"Is the temple for Inari-no-Izanagi far from the one for Inari-no-Izanami?" Nyanta asked Li Gan.

Li Gan blinked. "Ah, no, not far. It's the next one over to the west. Then there's the one on the southeast for Inari-no-Omiyame, the south for Inari-no-Ukanomitama, and the one on the southwest for Inari-no-Sarutahiko. Or that is, the god in the form of water, food, and land."

"So it's the worship of the _Inari goza_ , then?" Shiroe asked politely.

"Yes," Li Gan answered back, happy to begin yet another discussion. "The Mother Goddess and Father God are the most revered of the five, and often only they have a Priestess and a Priest in residence. I think there is currently one for Inari-no-Sarutahiko. Shrine Mountain is of course the highest peak in Yamato."

Purrcy groaned. Nyanta's ears were folded back towards his head. "I'm _not_ going to live on top of Mount Fuji," Purrcy flat out rejected. "Especially when I didn't want to be the Priestess and Oracle in the first place. I was only picked because it was convenient at the time, and without my approval."

"I think it's likely because it was also necessary," Shiroe tried to soothe her. She glared at him instead, not really wanting to be reminded of that fact right at the moment.

"Well," Li Gan interrupted, "it isn't at the _top_ per se. People would find that difficult to walk up to to give their offerings, after all. It's only about half-way up to the top." He said the last as if they should be happy about it. Purrcy's ear and tail flicked in irritation and some unhappiness and she growled under her breath.

"Ah, but, I am a bit surprised that a felinoid was chosen, rather than a fox-tail?" Li Gan said, raking Purrcy with his eyes.

"Only this felinoid was stupid enough to give Inari the opening to have an Adventurer," Purrcy was still upset. Li Gan raised an eyebrow and she sighed. "I cast a new spell and left an opening undefended. It took advantage of that opening and here I am."

"New...spell?" Li Gan's breath caught. "You...cast _new_ spells?"

Purrcy scowled. "Yes, Li Gan. I cast new spells or we wouldn't have the Technicians and Hackers to begin with. I'm one of the first Hackers. I'm a crotchety old woman who wouldn't let Inari tell me what I could and couldn't do, so did as I pleased. For my troubles Inari chose to make me do as it pleased when it pleased to. As said old woman, I'm still terribly crotchety with myself for giving it the opening, and with it for yanking my chain. I'll not be stepping foot into the temple anytime soon, so please don't announce to them I've been chosen. If and when it's time, I'll send them a note to sweep up the place and put a warm fire on. In the meantime, they can keep doing what they do best without me around."

Li Gan laughed, a dry dusty chortle. "I think that perhaps I might like you, Lady Purrcy," he said. "Such feistiness in a Priestess is refreshing."

Purrcy snorted. "Well, that's just me. Inari-no-Izanami isn't any different from what you expect, as you've already heard."

Li Gan nodded, "No, well, that's to be expected, I suppose, but the last Priestess expected to be waited on hand and foot and only have to lift a finger on festival days. If they aren't like that, then they're frightened things that can only jump to attention or lie about in bed dreading the next visit."

Purrcy tipped her head at Li Gan. "Well...that last is understandable. It's a rather heavy burden to carry, when you can feel the absolute power arriving. Having a world presence enter a tiny physical body by comparison is rather...daunting. Perhaps the former is to counteract the feeling of helplessness that remains when that overwhelming presence disappears. There are days I'm the same."

"Today, however, I'm peeved. I've come from a world that may have such legends but does not believe them. We have a different way of looking at it, and consider ourselves different, and highly intelligent. Inari has been crossing the boundaries of acceptable behavior of late and I'm not happy about it, so we are currently fighting."

Li Gan went pale and his hands wrung together. "Ah, but Lady Purrcy, surely that isn't advisable? It's the proper position of the Priestess to see that Inari-no-Izanami is kept pacified so that destruction doesn't fall upon the people and the land."

Purrcy raised an eyeridge. "I understand that, Li Gan. But it is still a child compared to where we come from and it needs proper training. If you continue to spoil the child, you only have weakness in the end. If it truly wants to be a properly strong world in the end, then it must also accept it's proper lessons and correction. From the history Shiroe recited for me that you told him, so far it's been struggling. It has specifically brought the Adventurers to itself to help it correct it's own errors, and has made me the Oracle and Priestess to see that those errors are corrected. I am not merely a vessel. I am, sadly, brought to be its mother. Thus, the other reason it has named me Caretaker."

Everyone slumped at that. Nyanta rubbed his hand over his head and behind his ear a few times. "Really, Purrcy. The World AI has chosen that mew'll be its mother?"

Purrcy looked at him and sighed. "Yes, Nyanta, near as I can tell. I think it's crazy." She turned and looked at Shiroe. "That is, if you assume that it _is_ a World AI instead of one or more Superusers. It's like it was set to world creation, but learned late - or early perhaps - that in choosing to use our template for _Elder Tales_ that it was an imperfect system and finally decided it needed to bring in the original creators to finish correcting the initial imperfections."

"As an AI, it also needs to learn, since it can, but when it tried to correct the imperfections before, it didn't accomplish it correctly. I suppose it could have tried again on it's own, but perhaps it decided to bring in parents and teachers instead. We all learn faster that way, after all, rather than continuing to use trial and error techniques." Purrcy shrugged. "If it is just Superusers, I'll let the Eagles loose when we find out and Theldesia can correct itself or die as we choose."

"But...but, die?" Li Gan said faintly, not really following her.

"If it's Superusers, Li Gan, meaning an external influence that shouldn't be interfering, rather than an Inari, then it should settle down nicely in its time. We won't leave until it's safe for peace-loving creatures. I'm sure you'll still live long enough to pass your title on to your successor."

Li Gan looked at her, then narrowed his eyes. "You're very prideful, aren't you?"

"So I'm told," Purrcy answered without apology. "I believe it's part of being old and impatient, ...and having seen a lot of life and the world." She rose. "Being of the impatient sort, I'm done for the night. Please enjoy the remainder of your visit."

She paused and looked at Shiroe again. "Oh, yes, I did want to say that another working theory might be that the Overwritten and Observers are what remain of the Alv's. Like us they didn't thrive and had a massive magic technology. I think they may have been turned 'real' and when the humans etc. found out they could die, they did die. At the moment, your goal for peaceful coexistence needs to be met for us to not meet the same fate they did when this round of world expansion and growth is complete. The goal of getting us back home is still preferable."

"According to it's own laws, the world can't get rid of the destruction the Overwritten are causing. The loss of it's favorite children, which it created to counteract the problems the Alvs left behind, has it quite in a tantrum, really. Bringing us here has caused more problems than it hoped to correct, nearly. But why it has to keep basing its growth on our limited RPGs, I have no idea. And for that reason, I still hold to the theory that it's another species testing us on our own creations to show us how much of a failure they are, when we never meant for them to be 'real' worlds in the first place. No sense of adventure and creativity at all in them. If they could learn those two traits from us, then they could leave us alone and go have their own fun finally, instead of torturing us as their scientific entertainment. Really," Purrcy snorted and lashed her tail, then swept out of the room.

There was silence for a bit, then Li Gan said mildly, "Leaves a hole when she goes, doesn't she?"

"Rather," Shiroe answered dryly.

"But a bit heavy when present," Rudy commented.

Li Gan turned to him, a slightly surprised look on his face. "Even to the point that I'd not even noticed you and the other children were here at all."

Rudy nodded. "We're often in that position," he said, a wrinkle on his nose.

"She doesn't ignore us," Minori hastily said. "It's more like...she's protecting us from that weight she has to carry with her. When she can, she visits with us, but never when she's carrying Inari."

"Hmm," Li Gan rubbed his chin. "Multiple personalities, almost?" Hesitantly, the youngest of the guild nodded. He looked up at the ceiling. "Yes...that would be understandable. It hasn't been all that long. Hmm. Well, how long has it been, Archmage Shiroe? Do you know when she became the Oracle?"

"She became the Priestess shortly after we resolved the issue of the Plague Master, or that was activated then, anyway. You know the best estimate I do for when Oracle happened. Roughly six months after the catastrophe."

"So...not quite two years yet, and likely she hasn't had to actually be the Oracle much during that time?"

"Not until the last few weeks. Then it's been fairly frequent."

Li Gan considered, then rubbed the back of his head. "Well, and she wasn't chosen as a child either. They're easier to mold after all. Still, she's very strong to still have her own personality - but then all Adventurers are strong." He shrugged and looked like he was going to change the subject. Rather, he'd made everyone tense up again and Shiroe's very dark look brought him up short. "Eh, ah...?"

"Perhaps you'd care to explain that a little further?" Shiroe requested the order.

"Well...," Li Gan tried to sound matter of fact about it, "you know, a goddess and a god, they are very powerful and large, as she said. The infinitesimal size of the Oracle in comparison - it doesn't remain it's own person very long."

In the silence that reigned following that statement, Nyanta rose gracefully to his feet. "I find her reasoning to be sound. The one who is Hahaue exists and will continue to exist, or the Caretaker would not have been chosen." He bowed to Shiroe. "If mew'll excuse me." They watched in silence as Nyanta moved to follow after Purrcy.

Li Gan wrung his hands together and gave a concerned look to Shiroe. Shiroe sat back in his chair. "Li Gan. It is also my personal belief that the World AI, or Inari if you prefer, has met its match, and more than its match. We will not let Purrcy go."

Li Gan looked around nervously, then sighed. "Truly, the Adventurers are formidable, to be so unfathomable as to believe they can take on the gods - and win."


	77. Forbidden Question

Nyanta walked onto the roof of the guild hall. The wind was taking the leaves off the tree, which was already half bare. The smell of damp leaves wafted up from the roof with the wind that also brought the cold scent of more rain on the way. It would be snow in less than a month, most likely. He looked up into the tree first, but Purrcy wasn't there. She'd been too impatient to be sitting in it, though, so it wasn't surprising. Rather, she was standing at the edge of the roof, looking over the city, the wind blowing her skirt lightly around her knees. She'd put on a sweater over the dress and her ears were turned back so as to not catch the wind in them. He could see her nose was smelling the air, her eyes closed to shut out the city, in her pose of longing for the freedom of the wilds. He almost wished he could give it to her. Tomorrow afternoon.

Nyanta walked up behind Purrcy and loosely put his arms around her waist in a hold that kept her warm and feeling safe, rather than restrained further. He kissed her cheek and she turned to rub her head on his cheek. "Was anything more useful said?" she asked him.

"Nyot that we didn't already know, meow," he said, rubbing his cheek on her head softly. He paused, then asked her, "Do mew carry the weight of an infinite being when meowr the Oracle?"

Purrcy lifted her head to the sky, incidentally resting it against his shoulder. "...Infinite... Well, who's to say what's infinite and what isn't." She took a breath and sighed it out. "It is certainly difficult to not have my will my own, and even my words at times. It often feels like living a lie, being a borrowed body. I suppose I would have been more careful when it was me borrowing had I understood a little better at the time, though Nureha didn't care most of the time." She gave a small cynical laugh. "I was nicer than her and it won her points. That's all she cared about, really."

When she paused, he asked, "Is it really only borrowing, though?"

An ear flicked. "How can I see it any other way, Nyanta?" She sounded confused.

"It matters," he said quietly in her ear, making the words breathy on it on purpose so that she relaxed back into his chest and he held her a little tighter. "Mew hold the clue to what it is in that answer. Is it an infinite god who is creating a new world, a construct we myay call an artificial intelligence, or is it merely an alien mind trying to comprehend a species of creature different than it? What comes to 'borrow' the body of the Adventurer named Purrcy? How heavy is it?"

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta walked down the stairs to the first floor main room carrying an unconscious Purrcy in his arms. Minori jumped up and ran to them, checking Purrcy as soon as she reached her, placing a gentle hand on her forehead. Tetorō wasn't far behind, leaping over the back of the couch and already preparing a healing spell. Nyanta paused to let them work on her, but was shaking his head before the spell was even completed. He moved towards his room and they went with him. Shiroe stood and followed after them, Michael at his back.

Minori pulled out the futon and unrolled it. She pulled the top layer off and Nyanta settled Purrcy carefully in her place. Minori put the cover on top of her, then knelt at Purrcy's head, her hand going back on top of it. There hadn't been a change in Purrcy at all, though her HP had gone back up. Minori turned worried eyes to Nyanta. Nyanta sighed and looked over to Shiroe, his ears expressing a bit of concern or sorrow. "I asked a forbidden question," he admitted. "Though I'm not sure if the question itself was forbidden or if her seeking the direct answer was forbidden."

"Is it a punishment?" Shiroe asked, slightly alarmed.

Nyanta's tail brushed the top of the futon lightly, as if seeking Purrcy. "I...don't know. If asking the question was forbidden, she's been taken as my punishment. If her seeking it was forbidden, then..." He didn't know how to finish that one.

Tetorō jumped up and ran from the room. They could hear him when he reached the central room. "Li Gan. What do the histories say if an Oracle is asked a forbidden question?" His panic made them close their eyes to the emotions that wanted to rise in reaction to it. They calmly waited for the answer, but Li Gan's words didn't carry as far, his voice being lower and quieter than Tetorō's.

"Nyanta," Shiroe's voice was his most quietly angry it could be. "If you have broken the contracts then there cannot be a punishment great enough for you."

"I'm sorry, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta bowed. "...But there is one. It is the one already given."

Shiroe's lips tightened even further and his eyes were cold and hard.

"Nyanta," Michael was also very cold. "If she is gone, -"

Tetorō pushed his way past again, interrupting him. "Li Gan says that normally after a night's sleep they return." He threw it to them on the way past to land by Purrcy's side again. He put a hand on her and closed his eyes. They waited quietly, watching him. He finally sighed and opened his eyes. "She's still in one of her foxholes, but as unconscious there as here."

He looked at her sadly and ran a hand lightly down her arm to hold her hand in his. "He says they don't remember being asked the question when they wake, nor is there an answer waiting to be given." Tetorō was quiet for a bit, "Then he scolded me. He says that this is why the Oracle is kept at the temple. The acolytes hear the questions first and know which ones are Forbidden and they refuse to allow them to be asked. There are times the wrath of the gods falls upon the land or the people when a Forbidden question is asked."

Nyanta turned away from the door and Shiroe. "It isn't likely my question is one they would have heard before; however, they would have refused it."

"Why is that?" Shiroe asked quietly.

"It would have been considered heretical." His voice was bitter. "I wanted to know if she was really an Oracle from our purrception, or only from the purrspective of this place being based on a game." Both Michael and Shiroe shifted from angry and fearful stances to ones of irritation.

Tetorō looked up at Nyanta over his shoulder. "Why? As long as we're here, it's the same."

Nyanta shook his head in irritation. "It isn't. Nyot for me. Nor is it for the final solution we are seeking." The rest looked at him still in impatient anger, not finding that sufficient. His tail lashed once as he sought for words to explain. "If she is ruled by a real god of this a real world, then how much longer have I a real wife?" His lips pulled back from his teeth. "If it is a child learning of how to build worlds or understand living creatures, it can be taught and we myay be mother and father together. If it is a god playing by whim with creatures of insignificance then should we not die now?" Minori froze in fear at those words. Tetorō glanced at her and put a calming hand on her knee.

Shiroe took a calming breath. It couldn't really be said yet if the Forbidden question had broken the contract. Likely they wouldn't know until Purrcy woke, but if past experience said they woke up not remembering the question, and she fit that case, then if they were careful they would be forgiven and the contracts left in force. When he felt under control enough, he said, "Nyanta, I understand that would be very concerning to you, because you have the greatest investment in this path we walk. However, neither of the theories - that we are working with a World AI or with aliens - has been punished up until now. Following those lines will get us the answers both it and we seek, regardless of what it is. Finding those answers, we've already been promised, will see her returned to us as an Adventurer, no longer Oracle and Priestess."

He paused to consider Nyanta. "To have her answer directly which one it is, is counterproductive to finding the ultimate solution that is being sought because it is in seeking the answer to the former that we will find the answer to the latter. This is why she hasn't answered it yet, and why she still holds to the one side and I to the other. If we assume together it is one or the other, then we will miss the answer and slip into complacency." Nyanta's ears relaxed forward towards just unhappiness and his tail calmed down.

Shiroe looked over his shoulder and called for Touya. Rudy came with him. Shiroe looked at them, then tipped his head at Nyanta. Touya nodded and walked into the room and pulled him out. Rudy and he walked guard on him, escorting him. Nyanta continued on past the main room and went towards the kitchen. They went with him and Isuzu joined them. Isuzu and Rudy went into the kitchen with Nyanta while Touya stood on the door, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed and one foot up on the frame. When they were settled, Shiroe looked back at Minori and Tetorō. Tetorō's fist clenched and Minori looked still frightened and worried, but she gave a determined nod to Shiroe. Shiroe reached in and closed the door for them so they didn't have to move, then turned for the main area.

"Shiroe," Michael said quietly, looking at him. "If he's broken his contract with her, we will make ours the primary one."

He looked at the military man solemnly. "It can't be known yet...but if so, we'll abide by it. If my contract is broken then it's as he's already said. We may as well die in the morning as continue on tetherless."

"Well...that's a bit pessimistic," Michael restrained him. "Remember, we believe that even when we're down and the kicking's done, we can still stand and win out in the end. Don't lose your faith too quickly."

Shiroe sighed. "Thank you, Michael, for the reminder." He led the way back to the central area. He looked at Naotsugu, who was waiting for him. "He's to sleep either on the roof or with you tonight. Preferably the latter. He probably shouldn't be alone tonight." Shiroe's eyes tiredly moved across the room towards Akatsuki, but paused when Michael spoke.

"Reed, set watchmen on him tonight. Brenner," he pointed with his head towards the kitchen and the chaplain quietly rose and walked to enter that room as well. "Gareth, go sit with the kids and purr for her this time." Gareth rose and walked towards Nyanta's room, entering it quietly. "Li Gan. Goodnight. Thanks for coming." Michael's arms folded. "I'm sure we'll have you back when the domicile has settled back down." There was motion among the sub-guild indicating they'd make sure he made it out the door.

A light touch on Shiroe's elbow drew his attention and he looked over to see Akatsuki's eyes looking up into his. "Shiroe," she urged him, tugging lightly on his elbow.

"Good night, Li Gan," Shiroe said politely to the thin man who had risen and was looking slightly worried. Li Gan bowed nervously. "I'm sure we'll talk again." Shiroe allowed Akatsuki to escort him to his office and the waiting teapot. He was glad for the strength of the Eagles this night, for Michael being able to take over, but he wondered what to do about the strength of his own guild if such a thing could push Nyanta over the edge of his own careful capacity. Was there a thing that had been misunderstood?

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō looked over his shoulder in surprise when the door opened again. He hadn't expected anyone else to come in. To see it be one of the Americans was somewhat surprising as well. "Gareth," Tetorō acknowledged him. Tetorō was one of the few who knew all the Eagles by name, having worked with them all on the practice battlefield. He also made it a point to know people's names generally and something about them. It was part of who he was, and part of his position as field monitor.

"Michael's assigned me," Gareth said softly, explaining his presence. He gave a half smile, not holding any mirth, "Specifically to purr for her, though she's out cold so I'm not sure how that helps." Tetorō waved to the opposite side of the futon, inviting him to at least sit. "You asked about a forbidden question, but that's all I know so far," Gareth said, moving into the room. "Can you fill me in?" His eyes went to the unmoving Purrcy as he got close enough to see and his face went both a little worried and a little soft.

Tetorō sighed. "Nyanta...," he wasn't sure how far to take that really. "Well, he asked her a question that didn't really need to be asked and it was one that shouldn't have been asked, apparently." He looked down at the hand he was holding and brushed the back of it with his free hand. "He's afraid of being alone. Li Gan's comment wasn't new. We already know that if we can't free her, she won't be her anymore. It's bad enough she isn't her own," he could hear the bitterness in his voice and tried to reign it in. "I'm glad Li Gan didn't say it when she was in the room, though. ...I don't think she knows." He tapered off, then took a deep breath again.

"Nyanta's carrying the largest burden of all of us, though I've got the second and Shiroe the third." He looked up at Gareth. "We tried to help him today, but it wasn't really enough. He needs to kill something big and he needs to know she's really going to be free to be his, so he can stop being afraid. He was probably just asking her for reassurance, the way he does when he gets that way, but it was in the wrong way this time. He asked the Oracle instead of Hahaue."

Minori's face twisted in a grimace. "There's no comfort from or in the Oracle - in what Hahaue has to become when she's gone." Tetorō nodded agreement.

Gareth was looking between them. "Does she really _have_ to become it?"

They looked at him. "It doesn't look any different from that," Tetorō answered.

"We'd rather she didn't," Minori added.

Gareth nodded agreement and understanding to that. He'd sat cross legged on the other side of Purrcy from Tetorō. Now he put one fist inside the other and rubbed his thumb tips together. Two fingers unfolded from the outer fist while he considered them and thought. He finally drew a breath and spoke. "When we were in the Special's section of the Minami prison, life was a grey haze, mostly. Sitting at one HP, you're mostly dead, but not quite there. You're starving, weak, in pain. They don't have to feed you - you're an Adventurer, and the Adventurer body continues to survive in that state regardless of what your mortal body would have done, or even what your soul would like to do." His knuckles whitened as his hands clenched tighter a bit. "Two years is a long time to live like that," he whispered. He was obviously not seeing the place he sat at the moment.

A hand reached out slowly for the other hand of Purrcy's resting on the cover. He very gently touched it. "This person...," he paused to swallow, "came and sat on my chest to purr somewhere in that bleak darkness that was worse than even the worst prisoner of war camp on Earth. It wasn't every time I cried, desperate to die, but it was enough to let me know that there was someone who could come to me when I couldn't get out, who wanted me to be warm again, maybe even have hope again."

He took a breath. "I was mad sometimes, that the purring would leave and I couldn't go with it, and sometimes I pleaded for it to come back and it didn't. It was more lessons that life isn't fair." He blinked. "But one of those times, Mike was able to talk to me. He couldn't much. We all heard his voice down there, when he got there and when he was on duty. We knew he'd come for us, and was doing his damnedest to figure out how to get us out. He cussed under his breath more often in English than he spoke out regular in Japanese. But that time, I'd been begging for the purr to 'come back' and he asked me what it was that had come to visit me." Gareth looked at Purrcy almost in amazement. "I told him a cat had been coming to purr for me. He was quiet, then asked me for how long." Gareth gave a laugh. "Like I knew how time passed down there. I could only answer 'a while'."

Gareth looked away. "Mike made me his wingman the day I told him to fly left not right and his wing nearly got tore off for not listening to me. I'd just gone through the beginnings of the sworle and felt it wiggle my angel. Everyone else peeled off around it after that, and we made it back home okay." He looked back down at the hand in his lap. "When I told him I'd heard a cat purring, in a place no cat ever'd been, nor could one go, he believed me. And then he told me why."

Gareth shook his head. "It was impossible to believe that there were Adventurers who had it worse than we did, and sometimes I wondered if it wouldn't be better to be one like her. Really dead, but no body to go back to. Being in that body, this body, and not able to leave it, or move, or anything - some days it was a crap shot as to which was better, but at least I understood one thing: the one without a body was still living, still moving, still cared enough about one with a body that couldn't move to not hate or be envious, but to console and commiserate. Equally in bad straits, equally in need of comfort, equally needed and desperately wishing for something different. It was the most comforting thing in the world, even though there were - originally - twenty-three of us down there."

Gareth's face went hard. "And when she wasn't there, after that, I used my anger for her sake to keep me going. Because in the end, she did have it bad. Not only like us could she not have a body to move and control, but she also couldn't get free. She was owned." He shook his head. "But Mike also let us know, one of the times he was cussing and banging his head against the bars of her cell, that she was still fighting anyway." The mirthless smile was back. "He was cussing her out, for walking back into the prison she was in, for not getting what freedom she could have gained, even if it was only as a spirit. ...I don't think I'll ever forget, and maybe no one else who heard it will either, what she said to him."

The hand touching Purrcy's shook and he clenched it. " 'Michael, you've got boys over on the other side that need to see the light of the sun again and breathe the fresh air. What right do I have to give up and go free as a ghost when I might just have the opportunity to let us all go free? ...Michael, never ever forget we are Americans and just because _The Last Boy Scout_ was a movie that doesn't mean the American spirit isn't in every one of us. Just because we've been sucked up in _Independ_ _e_ _nce Day_ , that doesn't mean we don't keep fighting until there's nothing left of us to say 'boo'. It's the last burst of phaser fire that wins the day in the end - every time. If I die, ghost and all before I've done all I can do, then I've done all I can do. I'm not there yet. Don't tell me, Michael, don't you dare tell me, that I'm not to be an American pioneer woman. I come from the best stock. Or tell me so I can fight harder. I've stood up to every person who's ever said that to me, and won'."

Gareth looked up and laughed. "You know what happened?" Tetorō and Minori shook their heads. "Every goddamn one of us up and yelled at her, calling her a pussy footed weakling that wasn't fit to be called an American pioneer woman. We scared the shit out of Mike, then he busted down crying and laughing at the same time. His final words to her that night were, 'Go get'em, you damn woman, and if you can't, I'll disown you and toss you out of the States for good for being a liar and a fake, 'cause _a ghost can't do it_ '. " Gareth chuckled again. "She was still cussing at him when she was taken away."

He lifted a knee and rested on it, his other hand gently reaching for Purrcy's cheek. "She lit our fire again that night. It wasn't easy even after that, but she reminded us what we were, and we knew if there was a way to get out, she'd find it, or Mike would, or we in the end would also be the last to be nothing but still have tried to do everything, or we weren't fit to be called American military aviators. We wouldn't have been able to face her proudly after that otherwise." His finger brushed her fur. "We chatted a lot after that when we were conscious, to keep each other going, the same as we had at the first when we first were thrown in there, though Mike said to keep it quiet when the top brass were in there so that we remained forgotten. I think we managed to remember at least half of _The Last Boy Scout_ and most of _Independence Day_ , and then moved on to every American Spirit movie we could think of."

Gareth paused, then continued. "That was the last time we heard from her for a long time, and even Mike disappeared a short while later, promising he'd be back. It was good they left us with the rousing speech or we would have settled back into despair again pretty quick. ...When we heard Indicus put Nureha back under punishment we got mad, and we started getting ready. When Mike walked back in, we knew it was about time. And when he cussed out Purrcy under his breath again for staying for more punishment yet again, we woke up and stayed awake. The sound of swords clashing in that place was the best music I've ever heard, next to her speech, and the laugh we knew was Purrcy's as she threw Indicus' demand back in her face even better. My favorite 'no' to hear ever."

"Mike had to carry us all out by himself, but it wasn't like we weighed much by that point, and it took a long time for these bodies to believe they had any HP at all again. Even though it was snacks and water, it was ambrosia, though we took it slow just in case, trying to figure out what we had. Mike for some reason thought we'd hate him, but that wasn't hard to fix." His eyes lifted to Tetorō's. "Thanks for letting her use you as her Oracle. We needed to see her first, to know that she was still fighting it out, that it wasn't just us she'd freed, then felt like she could be done. That wouldn't have fit the requirement either. We wanted to be there, in the Maze, to watch her do that, too. Mike gave us regular updates so we'd know, or we'd have busted down the door and come anyway. It was hard to wait, like it was for you, to see her with our own eyes, give her those hugs - and get them - that we'd been promising."

His hand clenched again and his eyes went hard once more and he swallowed. He looked down at Purrcy. "Damn you. You're not done. You're not allowed to quit yet, pansy. Just because you show up in a body, doesn't mean you get to say you're an American pioneer woman. You've got to come home with the alien ship exploding behind you. Then you get the American hero's welcome, even if the stadium lights are falling all around you. You've still got the final jig to do, and we're still waiting to see it on the big screen."

Tetorō leaned back in surprise as a small light lifted from where his hand was on Purrcy's. It moved slowly until it was in front of Gareth. There was a tiny pop and a shower of tiny colored sparks in red, white, and blue. Tetorō stared as Gareth started laughing, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. Tetorō shook his head and looked at Purrcy in the code realm. She was still out, but an ear twitched, acknowledging his presence. He was about to leave her there when a light in the code realm caught his attention, like a little will 'o the wisp, and he followed it up and into her control center. He watched what played on one of the screens until it winked back out to black, then returned to her and Nyanta's room.

"She's still fighting," he said to Gareth. "She hasn't given up yet."

Gareth nodded. "No. It wouldn't be like her."

"Michael, can you come see me for just a minute?" Tetorō called on the chat line.

"Be right there," came back and he was. "What's up?" came as his head poked into the room.

"Got something for you," Tetorō said holding out a closed hand. "From a pioneer we know."

Michael's eyes lit up and he walked in and closed the door. He glanced at Gareth. "She gave me a mini firework," he said with a little smile, "after I called her a pansy."

Michael nodded, happy with that, and held out his hand to Tetorō. Tetorō opened his hand, holding it over Michael's hand. Michael looked surprised, then went inside to look at it. When he came back, his eyes were hard and he gave Tetorō a nod. "Thanks. Let me know if you need me again."

"I will," Tetorō promised. Michael nodded at them all and gave Minori a smile, then left them alone again.

"It's okay, Minori," Tetorō said, smiling at her, too. "It won't be too much longer before we'll have her back, too."

Minori looked at him with a smile. "After that story, how can I doubt it?"

-:-:-:-:-

Touya watched as Brenner walked into the kitchen past him. He wasn't sure about sending in one of the Americans. Nyanta was not only private, he was very traditional. Isuzu and Rudy were sitting quietly, being moral support, and they eyed Brenner with almost as much suspicion as Touya was, though they kept their faces just as smooth.

"Mister Nyanta," Brenner said calmly when he was a respectful distance away. "Michael's sent me." Nyanta looked at him, his arms still folded from when he'd entered the room and taken his position leaning against the dish drying counter. He didn't look inclined to talk and an ear twitched.

"If I've been sent," Brenner said, still staying calm, "then it means you're having a crisis of faith." Nyanta raised an eyebrow of whiskers at that, then relaxed slightly, his tail twisting slightly. It wasn't necessarily a good thing. It was both a sign he'd relaxed...and that he'd gone into fighting-ready mode. "What question got asked to a false face that should have been asked to God?" It was a point blank question, asked with the calmness of one unafraid to face live fire.

Nyanta stared in surprise, hit in the gut by the question. He turned his face away. "The question asked tonight is irrelevant."

"It's good you understand that much. So, what's the question you should have asked, or to put it another way, what's the question you're afraid to face?"

"If I'm afurraid to face a question, then why should I allow it to be spoken as if reality?"

"Because only in facing it down and fighting it directly with truth will it become dead. As long as it remains a monster in the dark, you'll remain afraid of it and it will eat you until you're the one who's dead." Again harsh words spoken straight, though still just as calmly.

Nyanta's ears twisted as he considered the floor and his response. With a sigh, he asked, "Are mew the guild councilor?"

"Yes. I'm the chaplain who helps them all face death, daily." Brenner was open.

Nyanta's ears stilled and stood upright and his eyes locked onto Brenner. "Very well." Touya nearly fell on the floor. "I am afurraid of death." Touya couldn't tell if it was a challenge, or an honest request for help.

"Why?" Brenner asked mildly. "And answer it honestly. There isn't an answer that I'm afraid of."

"Because it's the only thing that stops purrogress. It is possible to recover from anything with enough patience, understanding, and time, ...and assistance if necessary, but death cannot be recovered from." Nyanta paused, then added, "And a lingering, slow death that creeps up on mew cannot be denied, for all the medical effort mew might put into purreventing it. It means mew can see it eat meowr future before meowr eyes, no matter how much life mew try to live before it arrives."

"It's true for every mortal," Brenner agreed softly. "You've watched your own come for you, and escaped it." Nyanta's ear flicked. "What's that done to you?"

Nyanta was quiet for a long time. Brenner merely kept him company, then asked, "Is that healthy? And what _should_ you be doing instead?"

Nyanta looked at him in irritation. "Mew aren't much of a councilor."

Brenner raised an eyebrow. " _You're_ a psychologist. You've had more training than I. I think your own brain is quite capable of answering itself. If you're not willing to face it even to that level, then I'll make you say it openly, if you wish."

Nyanta looked away again, then sighed. "Who do we rely on, for it to be a healthy recovery?"

Brenner tipped his head. "Mister Nyanta, you rely first on yourself. Then you rely on someone who can help you face the fear properly - a therapist, or councilor, or even someone who sees life in its fullness and refuses to be held down by the negative in life. But if you can't trust yourself, you still need to be working towards it always. How did your wife relate to you once you knew you had a terminal illness?"

"She worried about how she would be taken care of. She worried about if I was comfortable enough. She worried about our son."

Brenner nodded, "She added to your own worries, then?" Nyanta's ear agreed. "Can you separate out her worries from yours and set them aside?" It only took Nyanta about one and a half minutes before he took a breath and looked for more. "Will it help you to place the fear in the hands of a benevolent God who is all knowing and loving and trust that all life has a purpose?"

Nyanta tipped his head and thought about that. "I already can trust that all life has a purrpose, but I am already angry if there is a God."

Brenner nodded. "Well, you'll have to work that out, since God made us all get to have the big rest in the end for all the hard work we put into living life. Myself, I'm looking forward to getting to rest from all the pain and effort, though I love life while I'm living." He considered what else he might say.

Nyanta leaned forward. "I will put more effort into facing it purroperly," he said, "rather than relying solely on the strength of others...though I will also purroperly rely on the strength of others until I can stand on my own." He looked at Brenner. "I will also purroperly lean on Purrcy, rather than hang on to her despurrately. It is a thing I'm still trying to learn."

Brenner smiled a small smile. "If that's all it is, we'll help. We all have courage to spare as well. If you can't rely on her, rely on us. We're here to keep you both up and running. ...And I'm always on call if you need to talk. It's hardest for those who are trained to listen to learn to talk. ...Say, next Tuesday, at 1 p.m.?"

Nyanta laughed at Brenner. "Mew'll schedule it?"

"Of course," Brenner raised an eyebrow. "You won't do it otherwise. But a scheduled therapy visit you won't miss."

Nyanta shook his head, then leaned back against the counter again. "Alright. I'll be at the tree, Tuesday, at 1 p.m."

"As will I," Brenner promised. He walked to the refrigerator and pulled out an apple. He pulled out a knife and sat at the cutting table and started peeling the apple. When it was cut, he passed around slices to everyone, starting with Nyanta.

Touya shook his head and looked out the other direction of the door to Naotsugu. When he had Naotsugu's eye, he nodded. Brenner had done what needed to be done.

-:-:-:-:-

When Michael walked back from being called by Tetorō, Naotsugu looked at him. Michael gave him a nod, then stood waiting. When Touya gave Naotsugu the nod, Naotsugu stood and headed for Shiroe's office. Michael followed him. Naotsugu raised an eyebrow, but only looked at him questioningly at the door. Michael shook his head and motioned he should open the door to let them in. Naotsugu nodded and they went in after a knock and a brief pause.

Shiroe and Akatsuki were sitting on the couch, side by side, waiting for them, though Shiroe's eyes went just a little worried to see Michael. Naotsugu wanted to give the report, but... he looked at Michael out of the corner of his eye, then gave Shiroe a nod. "It's good," he said. Shiroe relaxed slightly and looked at Michael. Michael pointed to the ceiling.

Shiroe's eyebrows shot up. He paused for a second to set the permissions, then nodded. "It's clean."

Michael gave a nod. "I wrapped the loop on the walk in." He held out his hand and small light rose from the palm. "This is the answer to Nyanta's question to Purrcy. She's in there, in a limited sense. Enough to give Gareth a tiny firework answer to his demand she keep fighting and give Tetorō this to give to me." Shiroe was on the edge of his seat. "But before I open it, our chaplain's got Nyanta calmed down and facing forward again and scheduled for future proper visits to repair what needs repairing so this kind of slip doesn't happen again."

"Good," Shiroe relaxed back into the couch. Both sides were good news. Naotsugu hoped for his sake whatever the sparkly was, was as well.

Michael walked over to Shiroe and held his hand down. "Put your hand over mine and relax," he ordered calmly. Naotsugu and Akatsuki both tensed just a little. "It won't eat him," Michael said to them.

Shiroe looked at Michael closely, then reached up and placed his hand over the sparkle on Michael's palm. He held very still for a moment, then remembered to breathe. He sat back against the couch, his eyes not seeing the room.

His eyes eventually moved up to look Michael in the eyes, then he blinked and Naotsugu couldn't tell anymore what he might have been seeing. "Thank you, Michael," Shiroe said quietly. "You and Tetorō have erased that from the history?"

Michael shook his head. "Don't need to, for us, though I've made sure it isn't in yours. There was another piece of it for just the two of us. It took care of the history for us."

Shiroe nodded, satisfied. "They still should spend the night apart, and I should be called as soon as Purrcy's awake in the morning. He'll need to face her properly before breakfast. Michael, please ask some of the chefs from the sub-guild to take over for that in the morning."

"Yessir," Michael responded promptly.

Shiroe looked at both men and nodded, releasing them to return to the main room. Naotsugu was glad to see he was much better. Whatever Michael had passed on to him had him in deep thought as soon as they were at the door. Naotsugu closed it behind them. "Did we just leapfrog?" Naotsugu asked Michael.

Michael looked at him. "Perhaps," was the only answer he would give.

"What?" There were about twenty-one faces looking at them that weren't going to settle for only hearing that.

Michael looked down, crossed his arms, then held up four fingers off one elbow. "One pop tart popped." The faces looking at them settled, looking grimly satisfied.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy woke slowly, the sound of rain distant, being on the other side of the wall. It was soothing. The light snores of others in the room were as well, though as she woke more, they weren't normal. She sniffed in a big breath of air, then smiled. "Well," she said softly. "What a treat, to wake to a pile of kittens. It would be nice to have that happen more frequently. And on a rainy day, too. Nothing better." She started to purr, then looked around her to place them spatially in the room.

Tetorō was next to her in Nyanta's normal spot, curled up and the one snoring lightly. He looked rather soundly asleep. Purrcy smiled. He'd probably stayed up too late watching over her longer than he needed to. She could smell Minori close by, but couldn't see her, so assumed she was somewhere overhead. Gareth was on her other side, though in a sleeping bag. His eyes were open and looking at her, but not like he understood what he was seeing yet. She smiled at him and kept purring.

Slowly a hand came out of the sleeping bag. She reached out her hand. As soon as Gareth was holding her hand, his eyes closed again. It only took about two seconds before his eyes sprang open again. She held onto his hand so he couldn't snatch it back like he wanted and her whiskers twitched upward. "Good morning," she said quietly to not wake the others. "I take it everyone was worried?"

Gareth nodded, then yawned widely. "We're supposed to let Guildmaster Shiroe know you're up, but are you really up?"

"Not really, no. I still need to find out where I am and all that. Just woke up and I'm enjoying having a pile of kittens with me and the rain."

Gareth blushed to be called a kitten, but listened like she was. "Yeah," he finally said. "A nice kind of morning to wake to." He sighed. "Except...since I woke up to purring and my eyes closed, and I told them our story - my story - last night, I thought I was back there again. That wasn't quite so nice, though to have you really here, that was better."

Purrcy pressed his hand briefly, but didn't let go. Neither of them was quite awake yet. Purrcy let her gaze go back to the ceiling again as she thought back to the previous evening, trying to put how she got here in her bed without a Nyanta and a small pile of kittens instead into the pattern of things. She closed her eyes, then sighed. "Well, damn. That's inconvenient."

She considered a bit more, then finally remembered. She'd been standing in Nyanta's arms, rather comfortably, when he'd asked her a question. Just at the same moment, her warning alarms had all gone off inside and she'd jumped from her fox hole sideways into a hidden reverse mirror room for protection. Quite a large number of her automatic defensive and offensive spells had gone off and she'd been barely able to hold on to semi-consciousness in the code realm, giving up completely on holding it in the base realm.

Tetorō had come looking for her, she did know that, and the automatic code that waited for such emergency times had reacted to his presence. That was good. From what she could remember of that semi-awareness state, it had performed properly, too - so even better. It had been quiet after that and she'd just gone to sleep, not having anything better to do. She sighed. Well, things would have to sit as they sat for now. She'd find out more from Shiroe and the rest as the day began to move forward.

"Well, I'm glad you're breathing, since the collar's at the darkest I've ever seen it when you're supposed to be awake," came a teasing voice from the left of her, "but I don't know what to say to Nyanta about you holding hands with another man."

Gareth released her immediately and she was sure he was blushing. "I woke up first," Purrcy said with a smile for Tetorō, "and woke him up to a nightmare, sadly, since I started purring before he was all the way awake. It was my fault."

Tetorō waved a hand from his prone position. "I won't tell for that, then. Not after hearing the story last night." Tetorō rolled over and stretched.

"I would think not, since then I'd have to tattle that you actually slept not only in her bed with her but in his spot," Gareth tormented back, sitting up to stretch. Tetorō actually paled.

Purrcy smiled and patted him on the head. "It's okay, Tetorō. I enjoyed getting to wake to a basket of kittens. It was very warm and friendly. I hope you got enough sleep, though. I'm sure you stayed up far too late watching over me when all I did was sleep."

Tetorō shook his head as he left the futon to sit up next to it. He ran his hand through his hair and looked over Purrcy's head, then smiled. "Good morning, Minori-chan."

"Good morning," Minori's voice came from overhead.

Purrcy lifted her chin to look up and saw Minori was sitting up now as well. "Good morning, Minori. Thank you for staying, too. I hope it wasn't too uncomfortable."

Minori shook her head. "I just fetched my mattress and bedding from my room. Hang on and I'll send them back." She stood and there was a brief sound, then there was a brush in her hand and she was walking around to kneel next to Tetorō. As she started in on brushing her hair, trying not to yawn, Purrcy shook her head.

She looked around at the three. Gareth's sleeping bag was gone already, too, and a comb was going through his hair. "Did you really need to stay awake that late? I'm very sorry."

"Well...there was some question as to if you would actually wake up," Gareth said calmly. "You looked somewhere between dead and very unconscious, though the collar never did go to black."

"That's good," Purrcy said. She looked back at Tetorō. "Whatever happened last night, I've been blocked from the code realm. You'll have to check to see if it means a rewrite on skills. Whatever it was that attacked set off every one of my emergency alarms, etc. I only had enough time to jump to my safest hole."

Tetorō looked a bit stricken, but he nodded. "I wondered if that's what it was. You were still there, though."

Purrcy nodded. "I remember your visit. But from when I actually fell asleep, I don't know anything. I've woken up outside first and can't get back in."

Tetorō went looking inside, rather cautiously. The rest of them waited, Minori's brush shushing through her hair. When Tetorō returned he shook his head. "You're in there, but still sleeping, rather like a hibernation. The upper levels haven't been erased, but you've definitely been blocked out. I'll take Michael in there from a different direction later, since when I go this way it's only along the tracer, but it's looking rather dangerous. If you do wake up in there, don't move until we say it's safe."

"Okay," Purrcy was happy with that solution for now. She carefully sat up and the others helped her, though she probably didn't need it. She was just being cautious. It was better to make sure the inside was okay before moving the outside, after all.

Gareth stood and walked to the door. Standing outside it was Ground Safety. "We're up. Pass on the word. We should let her get to the WC first though, I would think." Ground Safety nodded and Gareth closed the door again until Purrcy was on her feet and Minori had rolled the futon and put it away.

Purrcy did a quick sweep of the fur on her head and around her ears with the brush she'd been gifted by Raynessia. She sighed. "Turn around, boys." They did and she ditched the clothes and did a quick brush of the rest of her fur. Thinking about it, she decided not to cast any magic at all just yet. Not knowing what was going on inside, it would be wise to be just as paranoid as normal. So she picked an outfit that was in her list instead and put that on.

"Umm...are you sure that one?" Tetorō asked when they were allowed to turn around again.

"Why not?" Purrcy asked.

"Isn't it rather cold for this time of year?" Minori asked.

"I wear fur?" Purrcy asked. "I didn't want to create one this morning. Isn't it fine?"

"Is it the _only_ one you have that you don't create on the fly?" Tetorō asked suspicious now.

"No, I suppose not," Purrcy said calmly, "but I want to wear it. I don't think I have at all for over a year now, you know?"

"Year?" both Minori and Tetorō asked. "But..., but just last time...," Minori protested.

" _I_ didn't wear it, Minori-chan," Purrcy said kindly. They gave up.

Gareth folded his arms at the door. "Why are they never direct?" he asked her. She shrugged. He looked at the other two. "Just why is it a problem?"

"Ah," they both blushed. "It's her favorite...," Minori said.

"And that's a problem?" Gareth asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," Tetorō rubbed the back of his head. "It's also...Nyanta's...weakness? Or perhaps...his favorite also? Except, she used it to tease him last time, so...I - we're not sure...how it will be taken?"

"Oh? Is that what it is?" Purrcy looked at them in surprise, then down at her flowy black and sparkly outfit. "Is that a problem?"

Gareth narrowed his eyes. "Let's let Guildmaster Shiroe decide, shall we?"

That made the two native Japanese relax and they nodded. Purrcy shrugged, not understanding it, but Shiroe often made clothing decisions for the rest of them when it was important, so went with it.


	78. Recovery and First Contact

They walked out of the bedroom and to the first floor bathroom and cycled through it, though when Minori asked if she could go in with Purrcy, that made her raise an eyebrow again. "Really, was it so terrible? I don't mind it, I guess," she said, trying to soothe Minori. Not like she hadn't shared a bathroom with children since they were small and had to be close by mother or stand at the door and wail until she opened it again. It just was a tad odd Minori would want to. It did make her wonder just what she'd missed, to have them making such a fuss, even over her selection of clothing. She couldn't find out since she couldn't get into the code realm to review the history. Inconvenient, but surprisingly rather freeing for once.

When they'd cycled through, waiting for the men to go through individually so Purrcy had two sets of eyes on her at all times (she sighed), they walked to Shiroe's door. He answered their knock and let them in. He also looked Purrcy up and down as if he wasn't sure he was willing to approve the choice of clothing and she twitched a little irritably, but tried for patience until she knew what was going on. Shiroe waved her to sit, and she took her usual spot on the opposing love-seat from his couch. Minori sat next to her. Tetorō sat in the chair on her other side and Gareth stood behind her. "How are you feeling, Purrcy?" Shiroe asked, his normally fierce gaze piercing her, but more concerned than anything else.

"Fine. I suppose a bit floaty and warm, since I'm locked out of the code realm and got to wake up nicely to kittens and rain. It was a more quiet morning than normal, all considered."

Shiroe blinked. "Locked out?"

"Yes. The last thing I remember happening outside was Nyanta asking me a question at the same time that a barrage hit me inside. I barely had time to escape to my stronghold before where I had been was hit hard. All my warnings were set off on the way, quite fast actually, and every defense and blackmail insurance I had went off, too. It was rather much. The body hit unconsciousness almost as fast, though I managed to hold on to semi-consciousness inside until Tetorō showed up and left. Once I knew he'd checked on me, there wasn't much to do but fall asleep, so I did. If you'd needed me, he would have woken me up, so I didn't worry too much at that point. When I woke up this morning, it was outside and I couldn't get inside. He assures me I'm still there inside, though, so for now, it's wait and see, I think."

Shiroe blinked and looked at Tetorō, then nodded. Tetorō took a breath. "She's not completely here, either, near as I can tell." He waved at the necklace that was still more a collar. "It sat at dark blue all night and only went up to that color when she woke up. It's lower than it should be, for Purrcy - _I_ think - even for when she's not got coding going on." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to have to take Michael in with me to look at the outside of what happened in her zone. What little I can see when I get inside with her, it looks a bit frightening. Like she said - blasted, really. Her statuses still read about the same as before. I think she might have taken a hit in some of the points on a few, like she'd been Cathedraled and penalized sort of with point reductions. That's all I've got at the moment."

Shiroe's eyes went to Minori. She nodded. "She's Hahaue, but not quite filled in. It might be some of the memory loss, maybe? It's rather slight, but noticeable." She looked at Purrcy and put her hand on Purrcy's forearm, then looked at Shiroe again. "And, she doesn't know why we think she chose something to wear she might not have wanted to."

Shiroe's eyes snapped sharply at that and Purrcy was even more confused. "What does my clothing selection have to do with being attacked in the code realm?"

"Do you remember what question Nyanta asked you last night at the time of the attack?" Shiroe asked her.

Purrcy frowned and thought back to it. "No," she shook her head. "I was too distracted trying to save myself. I wasn't able to catch it. Since I can't access the history since I can't get inside, I can't retrieve it." Shiroe's eyes flicked to Tetorō and back to Purrcy.

"Do you remember what he was talking to you about before the attack?" Shiroe asked, his eyes narrowing.

Purrcy thought about it. "Umm..not really? I remember standing on the roof, enjoying the smell of fresh air and the coming rain and fall, and he walked out and wrapped his arms around me, which was warm, and I asked him...a question and he answered it...I think he asked me one but it was pretty soon after that I got attacked, so it's rather lost in that panic."

Shiroe paused, then asked, "Do you remember what happened before you were on the rooftop?"

Purrcy blinked. "Ah...," she hadn't thought that far back yet. "Um...what did we do yesterday? Get me started at the beginning."

"We went to the gate," he helpfully supplied.

"Oh, right. Yes, I remember all of that. And lunch and telling Clocktower to come with us and ignoring that all of you wanted to get the approvals through the right chain of command. And then we went to the Guild Hall." She stopped there and frowned. "You let us in the Round Table conference room and we looked around." She shook her head. "Why is it fuzzy after that? I know we had important things to talk about, and I'm sure I'll regret forgetting them, but...it's not coming." She looked up into Shiroe's eyes. He was rather shocked.

"That far back?" he asked. She nodded, feeling a bit miserable. It was bigger than just a surprise attack. It was something she might not want to face just yet.

Minori's hand on her arm tightened and Purrcy looked at her. Minori gave her a comforting smile. "I'm sure the important bits will come back," she said. "And Mister Shiroe can tell them to you again. He remembers them. He was there, after all." Purrcy nodded. That was true.

She looked at Shiroe again. He was looking at her with an oddly calculating look. He leaned forward. "Purrcy, how do you feel about Nyanta right now?"

"Right now?" She frowned again. "Um...he's nice?" She shook her head. That wasn't right. There was something wrong about that. Her fist clenched. "It's like I can't focus on him. When I woke up, it was comfortable to have the three of them there with me. It wasn't strange he wasn't there, though I did recognize he should have been, or would normally have been." She was struggling against something to even talk about Nyanta. "It's so much easier to not think much about him, just have him be a presence in the air beside me - comfortable and comforting, but nothing more."

She frowned and pressed into it again, then stopped. "And when I want to understand why, or push against it, I'm...deflected? pushed back? ...something. It's not quite painful, but it's like the harder I push the more there's a sense of impending danger, maybe? And a reluctance." Purrcy blinked and looked back up at Shiroe. "I can't say that's how it will be when I see him, but that's how it feels so far."

"Hmm...which part of you chose what you're wearing?" he asked, though he looked like he was trying to not be alarmed. His foot had twitched - the one over the knee of the other leg, and his fingers were curling.

Purrcy shook her head. "Something's not right. That was too much like converting to wild cat."

"What was?" he asked her.

"How I was watching you just now. But to answer your question...no I can't, I'm doing it again." She stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She let it out and didn't open her eyes. Instead she lifted her hand and made a hand sign. Once her hand had dropped, she opened her eyes. "Did that answer your question?"

Shiroe's eyes were dancing. "Yes, it did, thank you. Do you know what you just did?"

"No. Not the specifics." Tetorō was snorting laughs next to her, trying to hide them. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Glad it entertained you." He had to let it out and waved an apology at her. She shrugged.

Gareth patted her on the shoulder. "We're just glad to know you're still in there," he said, his own voice rather pleased.

"And I would go where?" she asked.

"Anywhere, really," Tetorō answered a little more sober. "You tend to do that, after all."

Purrcy smiled at him. "I suppose. But not this morning. Mornings are for the children." Minori's grip on her tightened again and Tetorō nodded.

"Yes, Purrcy, they are." Shiroe's smooth voice caught her attention and she looked at him, her eyes captivated by his. "Your mornings have always belonged to the children."

"Shiroe, why do you sound like a hypnotist?" she asked as if her mouth wasn't her own. She was feeling a bit like she was drowning. "And was that really you talking just now?" Her eyes slipped closed.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō swore softly and grabbed for Purrcy. Gareth got there first and held her up by her shoulders.

Shiroe waited, watching Purrcy closely. He could tell that Tetorō was inside, watching from there. He hoped the Hacker was safely hidden while doing it, though. Purrcy shuddered and lifted her head. "...Guildmaster Shiroe."

He blinked, then tipped his head slightly. "And shall I call you Inari? Or do you have a name of your own, unborrowed?"

Silence for a bit, then, "It is sufficient." It seemed like there was a bit of a lag time, rather than like it had stopped for thought.

"I presume you're not allowing her to remember this either?"

"...No." Shiroe nodded, unsurprised. He waited.

When nothing more was forthcoming, he asked, "Has a contract been breached?"

"...No, but a punishment has been applied. It was unacceptable."

Shiroe looked up casually and took a breath. "Understood. We will refrain in the future." He paused a little, then asked, "How long will the punishment last? When will it be lifted?" There wasn't an answer. He sighed. "It is unacceptable that it be a permanent punishment. You will break your part of the contract, and I will be unable to fulfill my part. Purrcy is required to fulfill it, with her full knowledge and capabilities intact."

"Purrcy the Adventurer cannot remember the Forbidden question nor its answer."

"That is acceptable," Shiroe answered. "However if she is to participate in today's meeting, which is required to move forward, she must be able to remember the events of the past afternoon. It's acceptable that the events from the time after she arrived on the roof of the guild hall in the evening until she was awake again in the morning this morning be forgotten."

There was a longer pause this time, then, "...That is acceptable."

Before it could leave, he quickly said, "If the contracts have not been breached, you must also not break the second contract. She is now Nyanta's. You cannot take her from him." There was no response so he continued. "She must be allowed to remember him and her place beside him."

"...It is his punishment."

"He has also accepted it for the same duration of time as just stated and will refrain in the future." There was a change in Purrcy's face and Shiroe went with the stern look. "You also stood in need of correction. He was not wrong before to do so. You have made incorrect assumptions. They are attempting to help you understand so that past errors are not repeated. You have incomplete and faulty information mixed in with the correct information. Your source was tainted."

"...My source was elegant."

Shiroe couldn't keep the cynical look off his face. "Thank you, on behalf of those who created it, but it is still tainted with falsehoods. Because we have been willing to form the contracts with you, we are working to correct those falsehoods so that you can properly move forward without incorporating more errors as we strive to correct the errors that have already been introduced."

Purrcy's look went to one more like anger and he drew a breath. "You chose the Caretaker because she showed through her actions that she would not stray from the path of least error. Even you must acknowledge that doesn't mean there will be zero error. Nyanta has been shown his error and has agreed to turn from it. We will see that he continues in that path. It is sufficient."

"...It is provisionally acceptable."

"In what way?"

"...If Nyanta the Adventurer asks another Forbidden question, he shall not be remembered."

Shiroe considered that answer. "If he _knowingly_ asks another Forbidden question, it is acceptable. No Adventurer or Person of the Land can know all the Forbidden questions, to refrain from asking them beforehand. If one is asked in error, it is acceptable to confirm the question was properly asked and to refuse to answer it without punishment if it was unknown to be a Forbidden question."

There was one of the longer pauses of consideration, then, "...The provision is acceptable."

"Mine or yours?" he wanted clarification on this point.

"...Guildmaster Shiroe's."

"It is acceptable." He sighed to himself in relief, but didn't relax yet. Since it did seem to work on the order of Oracles, needing questions to answer, he asked one more. "Are all present outstanding issues currently resolved or in progress satisfactorily?"

That took longer to answer. Likely because there was more to get done. "...Repairs must be made."

"To Purrcy's code structures?" he asked.

"...Affirmative."

"Are Tetorō and Michael together sufficient?"

"...It will be allowed." That was an odd answer. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at Tetorō.

Tetorō considered it, then answered, "It's sufficient as long as Purrcy is allowed to work unhindered."

"...It will be allowed." Tetorō nodded.

"Is there anything else?" Shiroe asked.

"...Negative."

"May I ask a question? It isn't necessary to answer it if the path is required to find the answer."

"...It is acceptable."

"If we can determine a way to make it possible to leave Theldesia and return at will, is it allowable?"

"...That question does not have an answer at this time."

"It is acceptable." He would rather have had a more definitive answer, but he wasn't surprised by it. "There are those who would like to have it become possible, but it is a subset. Please consider it. I am."

"...Understood." Purrcy's eyes were closing again. Shiroe waited, though he looked at Gareth this time to warn him to hold her upright again.

This time she didn't rouse quickly so they lay her down on the love-seat, Minori moving to the chair on the other side of it to stay sitting close by. "It's reprogramming?" Gareth asked. Shiroe and Tetorō both nodded. Gareth relaxed into informal attention and they waited.

"Naotsugu," Shiroe called up a direct chat. He filled the Guardian in on the details he needed to know and ended with, "Once Michael and Tetorō have confirmed she's okay in the code realm, and she's on her feet again, we're done. You can bring him down. Wait for us in the main room."

"Roger that," Naotsugu said and cut the chat.

Shiroe continued to watch Purrcy, waiting. He wondered if she would really return to what she had been before, or if the new way of being an Oracle would remain from this point on.

-:-:-:-:-

"Michael." It was Tetorō.

"Yes?" he asked, still somewhat sleepy from a night of light sleep.

"Are you still lying down?"

"Close enough."

"Meet me inside."

"Roger."

"Hey," Tetorō said about a second later, inside the code realm.

"What's up?" Michael asked.

"She doesn't remember the question, but it's because she was blasted at the same time and the panic overwhelmed any memory of it." Michael thought that would be a normal reaction. "The World AI did it."

Michael stopped and stared at Tetorō. "And she survived?"

"Yes. She managed to leap to a safe box just before her fox hole was hit. I've been to see her in there, but we need to go and see what kind of damage was done. I've also told her to stay put until we tell her it's safe to come out."

"I hope she said yes," Michael said with feeling, and going along with Tetorō much more carefully now.

"Yes, she did. She's being good. Actually, she was being _too_ good. The World AI had her locked down. Shiroe's got her wiggled free, though, I think, since it came to talk to him directly through her this time. It said she wouldn't remember that conversation, though, just like the agreement was that she wouldn't remember the time from when Nyanta asked her the question until she woke up this morning."

"Got'cha," Michael said.

Tetorō slowed them down. "I see why you've been having us fly up in the stratosphere," Michael commented as they began to see the damage that had been done. They very carefully made their way forward, looking for traps even up in the heights they were in. Something that could blast the code realm that badly could leave awful things behind. Tetorō shuddered next to him and went as small as he could. Michael preferred transparent, himself. And very, very thin. Kind of like wind.

"I'm glad she got out," Tetorō whispered. Michael agreed. Purrcy tended to bury herself in the landscape pretty deep. There was a fifty foot gaping hole where her foxhole had been, about fifteen feet wide. "But, why would it want to kill her?" Michael shook his head. That didn't make sense either.

He snagged Tetorō and pulled him back the way the destruction came from. It had moved like a wide fireball and scored the surface quite a ways back from the hole. They followed the scarred surface, seeing where her mirrors and blockades had been blasted and left as tiny pieces and dust. "Did it expect her to be stronger than she is?" Michael had no answer to that one either. They finally paused when the scoring seemed to be lighter. There was a position farther in the distance where they could see it 'landed', though they were pretty sure that wasn't its origination point.

"It went straight for her once it hit Theldesia," Michael commented. "That's pretty massive, but then it's one of the few beings that knows where she is. Let's go back and look a little closer."

"Okay," Tetorō said. Michael picked up the lint and pet it to calm him down, carrying it back since he could fly faster. He stopped to inspect the farther out structures that had been blasted on the way in. "Didn't even slow it down," he shook his head. When they were over the main site again Tetorō left him and went back to slightly larger size, more like mouse, and sat on Michael's shoulder. "How far did she jump?"

Tetorō looked around. "Well, to the closest one, but if she's awake, she's jumped three to five more now. She's like that, too, you know."

Michael nodded. "I wonder if the code realm heals itself up or if we have to clean this up?" The mouse on his shoulder shrugged. "Shall we go take a closer look?" He dropped them slowly, the both of them scanning the area carefully for any danger.

"What did it?" Tetorō asked.

"If you have any ideas, feel free to let us know."

Michael froze. Neither he nor Tetorō had ever run into another Hacker just by chance, only by educational choice. "It sounded earlier like you know this one?" It was even another voice altogether, perhaps Arabic.

"Did that one indeed survive?" It was an Indian accent, which was perhaps most surprising.

"It was rather surprising to have the line suddenly ablaze." Australian.

"How did you all follow it in?" Michael asked. "You all come from a long ways away."

"Code is easy to follow. Not as large in here as you think." It was the first one.

"You're from the States and under twenty-one." He got a snort for his trouble, but it was enough.

"I think...," Tetorō said carefully. "Were all of you following the blast, or following after something else?"

"You don't know? Of the DNA fingerprint?" the Australian.

"No. We just know the Caretaker."

"It's good to hear she has some to watch over her," British. Just how many were there?

"Umm... Knowing her, she would want to know you cared enough to come check on her," Tetorō offered. "Would you care to wait a bit until we can unearth her and let her say hello?"

"Not wise." An older gentleman's voice.

Michael shook his head. "No. He's right. If you can tell me where she is right now, then you can tell me she shouldn't meet you."

"You the geezer bodyguard?" the youngster teased.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Michael answered back mildly.

The youngster laughed at him. Michael let him. It wasn't skin off his nose. He felt a shift in the area and smiled. Tetorō smiled, too, and lifted off Michael's shoulder to stand in his normal form.

"Oh, there's two of you. I thought it was one talking to himself." That was the woman in the group. "Is that the Caretaker?"

"No, no," Tetorō said. "I'm the apprentice." He waved his hand. "She's come herself, actually, though in the same way you all have, I guess, since we can't see you, and she promised she wouldn't come out of hiding herself just yet."

"Oho?" the potentially Arabic one.

"Hello, everyone," Purrcy said kindly. "Thank you for your efforts in behalf of the π."

There were chuckles around. "We're glad to hear you're still okay, dear," from the woman again.

"Thank you. It was very surprising, actually, though I was prepared sufficiently, I suppose."

"Did you expect it, then?" the Brit.

"Of course." Purrcy sighed. "It came a bit sooner than I expected it to, though, so I'm not sure what got set off and started that probably shouldn't have. The World AI is rather juvenile still. I think it rather over did it?"

"That's what it looks like to me," Tetorō said with a huff, unhappy. "Why's it a fifty foot hole, Hahaue?"

Purrcy gave a small laugh. "Because I set explosives around in my fox holes, Apprentice. I'm sure it didn't mean for my death, but there are always things laying around that I don't want found, you know."

Tetorō glared. "Maybe so, but if they go off when you're in there, that's not good."

"They're set for my absence. They don't go off until I'm gone."

"Oh, well then," Tetorō relented, "I guess that's a little better, but still. This looks awful. And it did send something at you that meant to do strenuous damage."

"I think it knows I'd jump, dear. As for the rest of you, could you please give me the reports of how far you've made it and what you've learned to this time? It might be too early...and it might be just right since it decided to move first. And it might have been trying to distract one of you from reaching an answer we need."

"That is an astute observation, indeed, " the older gentleman said. "I've followed the breadcrumb all the way up and over to the others." There were intakes of breath. "I've left the trail."

"Have you determined if the Overwritten and Observers are in two different databases or are they same creatures?" Purrcy asked.

"They are separate, but I was just about to confirm one final data point. ...I believe there is a link between the two."

Purrcy's next words contained a frown. "Why were you prevented from confirming that to the point you were thrown all the way back down here?"

There was silence. Then, "You have made an assumption."

"Ah...sorry. I have. Please forgive me."

"I don't know why I was prevented from it at this time, however I won't let it deter me."

"Thank you. If the path is laid between the two, I will be able to understand better if my experiment for our own path is a correct solution to both species."

"It is my honor to assist in the revolution."

There was a brief pause, then the youngster said, "I've been walking that path. I want to get home so bad." There was a pause, then, "She made it out, but to where I can't see yet. I've been recording each bit and sending it to the storage tank, but I think there's another...well...how to translate that...five minutes, but I'm working by bit, so it's taking a while. And I don't want to be surprised and have it happen in two minutes, if you get my drift."

"Understandable," Purrcy said. "Thank you for being brave enough to take that assignment on. Mark with the DNA the point at which you think the curve begins, and again when you see the window. If we have to trace it to you and you've already gone home we'll know approximately where the door is."

"Okay. I'm hoping we can't slip over without the other half."

"Me, too," Purrcy replied kindly. "But we also hope to find the way home in a way that doesn't lose anyone who wants to arrive safely."

"Are people going to be able to stay?" one asked.

"Some want to," Purrcy answered. "The Caretaker of the Adventurers has been asked to, if possible, find the two-way door. We are currently keeping it under consideration."

"Has the ɩ made any indication if it will be possible?" It was the older gentleman.

Tetorō asked, "The ɩ?"

"The World AI," Purrcy explained.

"Ah, the Caretaker of the Adventurers asked if that was allowable to the 'ɩ'. The answer he received was that it didn't have an answer yet. Usually that means the Caretaker hasn't gathered enough data yet." Tetorō answered.

"You're working together?"

"Yes," Purrcy answered. "We will be possibly coming to visit the remainder within the coming year in order to create the aboveground network, unless our efforts find a solution before then. If any of you know of them in your areas, please get word to them that the potential is there for it to begin in that time frame."

"Is this why you're unafraid to have this conference?" The one from India.

"That and I'm preventing your discovery even still. My apprentice learned a very useful skill that I employ now for such things."

"Such a useful apprentice," it was said dryly but with a smile.

"I'm pleased," Purrcy responded. Tetorō blushed.

The remainder of the Hackers that were present by video and audio feed gave their reports. Most were brief and interesting. When they seemed done, Purrcy asked, "Is there one from the China server here?" There was silence. She frowned. "Well, that will make things difficult where we're going, and it doesn't bode well for their main server, either."

"Why is that?" the most nervous one immediately asked.

"Well, there's a thing I would like you all to understand. Perhaps you can prevent it from happening at your servers. I'll leave a video recording of our solution at the data retrieval site you're already familiar with. It's possible, using the standard magic of this world, to cut the lines of the Adventurers so that our spirits can't return to the moon, or from the moon, in order for us to be resurrected."

"Those who have this done to them wander as Vengeful Spirits, if they are here on the planet. There is a time limit. If the repairs aren't done quickly enough, even our spirit matter will be absorbed back into the planetary system to be reborn as creatures of Theldesia. If that happens we can't return home. If the line is cut so that we're stuck on the moon, then we become as the Observers and Overwritten. Our theory is that they were all killed, sent to the moon, then had their Adventurer Tree of Life equivalent hewn down so that they couldn't return to the planet's surface. They are only able to return now because they've found the hole that links their server to our beta test server."

"It's the same server," the older gentleman said calmly. "It's a different sector, and most likely a different hard drive as well. I suspect it is from an older game, perhaps even the prototype and demonstration fielded to the company to sell _Elder Tales_."

"Oh! That would make a lot of sense!" Purrcy said. Michael could hear her ears perk up. "But...if they were real...I wonder."

"I'll see if I can gain that data while I'm searching," the gentleman said.

"Thank you. It may be extremely important. If they were always game constructs, then we should just close the hole. If they are also creatures brought into the world that need to be returned home, we need to communicate with them. ...I would rather you worked on that with most diligence immediately, actually. We go into China next to face them more directly. I'll see you then, most likely, since I'm planning on sending up a line from there. It's concerning to me that we don't have a Hacker present from there. It might indicate their line has already been cut. I hope we aren't too late. We're taking enough to repair it, just in case. Please make sure that you are also safe where you are. The Maze of Eternity houses them."

"God, that's nearly impossible!" the Australian exclaimed.

"Yes. You can't get in unless you get the right kind of key," Purrcy said. "Please go take a look at the summary video I put out. We already had cut lines, so those without them may be more difficult. I don't know what kind of key they need. No one should be allowed in the Maze past the first level, really, unless it's to make the repair or the strengthening. It's not an _Elder Tales_ programmed dungeon. It's a world creation to meet the requirements of bringing us here." She paused. "I think that's all I have for this time. If no one has anything else, I'll release the boundary." When there was nothing forthcoming, she gave the timing and everyone slipped away before they could be followed when she took down the mirror room.

Tetorō and Michael looked at each other, then floated down to the surface and started their thorough search of the area, making sure it was uncontaminated.

-:-:-:-:-

"Here," Naotsugu said, making Nyanta's head pop up to look at him. He was on a chat, not talking to his one-night-stand-roommate. "Roger that." Naotsugu looked at Nyanta. "She'll be at breakfast. You're not to discuss the time on the roof at all. Shiroe's promised the World AI that will stay forgotten. He says she might not remember the discussion about being the Oracle either, though he fought for her to keep that one. Don't bring it up, just in case." Nyanta dipped an ear of understanding.

Naotsugu paused, then pursed his lips just a little. "He says things were different this time, too. She was a real Oracle this morning and won't remember that either. He's not sure if that's going to be a constant from now on or not. We're to watch for differences, but try to not freak out about them."

Nyanta nodded a little sadly. "She wouldn't be surprised, I would think."

"Probably not," Naotsugu agreed. "He says she didn't remember your question anyway, since she was attacked inside at the same time and had to focus on escaping. He says to blame anything that's a hole for her from that time on that attack, though she's a bit bright for that, so...," he shrugged. Nyanta understood that difficulty, but they could only do their best.

When breakfast was called, they went down late. Nyanta wasn't quite sure what to expect, but then most likely no one did. It was hard to think of a guildmate being changed by something outside themselves, and perhaps even harder to conceive of how something could erase their memories. It worried him. He hadn't been told what his own punishment was yet, though he was sure he would be. He just didn't want it to be that she would also forget him. That would be extremely difficult. He walked down the stairs behind Naotsugu. They stopped behind their seats and waited. Shiroe always came out last, usually because Akatsuki told him the rest of them were ready and he needed to get up and go.

This time Akatsuki opened the door and held it. Shiroe walked out with Purrcy, Tetorō, Minori, and Gareth following him. Minori was holding Purrcy's hand and looking just a little concerned, but not very tense. Tetorō had a wrinkle in his forehead and his eyes went to Michael first. Shiroe was looking at Nyanta. Nyanta carefully kept his attention on Shiroe. He wasn't sure how to handle the glimpse he'd seen of Purrcy.

Shiroe walked to face Nyanta. "I've explained to the World AI that you've recognized your error and are correcting it, and promised that we will see that you hold to it. It wanted to break your contract if you do it again. I was able to negotiate a leniency on the grounds that it isn't possible for anyone to know all of the Forbidden questions in advance. Instead, if you ask one, it has the right of refusal. You must relent immediately or your contract will be voided."

Nyanta bowed his acceptance. "Thank mew," he said, grateful to be granted the escape clause in the future.

"And Nyanta," Shiroe said, pausing, "it was angry enough to make her begin to forget you. I've also fixed that - I hope - but be very careful from now on."

Nyanta trembled slightly and couldn't prevent his distress from going to his whiskers, ears, and tail, though he tried to not let it out all the way. She'd already promised she would never forget him, never leave him. To have the World AI take that promise from them...was more distressing than he'd anticipated. He had to hold very still for a while. Rapiers had no use in this place and time, nor did excessive displays of emotion. He was finally capable of bowing, so he did. It helped him finish getting his emotions under control. "Yes, Shiroe-ichi," he responded very quietly.

Michael stepped forward and Nyanta turned to face him, continuing to carefully keep himself under control. He didn't have the same restrictions for Michael he did for Shiroe. "She was slammed with a bomb, big time. It's what made her go under up there. Tetorō and I took a look around the fox hole she jumped from. It's a fifteen foot diameter hole that goes fifty feet deep and the slag leading up to it's about five miles. It came from space, so it did a lot of damage. She got out okay, except the sleeping gas got to her."

"It wasn't all bad. She got one piece of data we needed, and this morning all the other high level Hackers came visiting to make sure she was okay, so we got to meet some new folks. Apparently the blast was seen world round, inside. We'll watch the area and see how it heals. It may not, we don't know. Tetorō's cast a few healing spells on it, but we might have to go hunt down the actual physical location to confirm and repair, if necessary and possible."

"Were people hurt?" Shiroe asked concerned.

"No," Purrcy answered from behind him. "We don't hide where other people are around. I don't at least. Some do, but it's usually the evil Hackers who don't mind if innocents take the damage for them hiding in the middle of them." Shiroe nodded, relieved. "I had warning signals up far enough out I could get out in time. It moved faster than I can, which is one of my heads-up signals. I bail fast when those go off. It had the right signature to set off other things as well, so the hole was deeper than it needed to be. It would have only been about thirty feet, I think, maybe twenty-five."

"That isn't really much better," Nyanta said faintly.

Naotsugu nodded. "Dead is dead."

"Well...dead there is just Cathedraled, like out here," Purrcy shrugged. "Not that it would have been pleasant, but it would have been swift, so no pain."

Nyanta dropped his head into his hand. "Really," he whispered. There was movement and a hand touched his arm. He looked up in surprise to see his wife standing in front of him, her tender, understanding look on her. He dropped his hand and took a step back. He bowed formally. "Please forgive me. I allowed my fear to overwhelm my rationality. I have taken responsibility and will strive my best to -"

There was a hand on his head. "Nyanta. You are working hard. ..." He rose to look her in the eye again. Almost with a sigh, she finished. "Please continue to work hard to overcome your fears properly." Unspoken, he knew she had said, _I am here to help you. I am not afraid of your fear._

Nyanta held out his hand. Purrcy put hers in it. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Yes, My Lady." Breakfast could now begin.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe..."

"Yes, Purrcy?" His voice was kind for her this morning.

"I just wanted to give you an update?"

"Okay," he nodded. They were eating breakfast, of course. Though she was a bit out of the normal for the breakfast routine, she wasn't at all out of normal for her.

There was a pause as she ate a bit longer to get her thoughts in order. "So...the old list...number four...the neural networks are trained and I've got what I think is an answer for both China and the US. I'm going to spin it out to the other main servers this afternoon." Shiroe nodded. "We learned this morning with the visitors we had that China's Caretaker is missing. I'm worried it's a cut line there, like it was here. I'm expecting we will have to enter the Maze of Eternity there, like we postulated. Please add it for sure to this morning's items."

"Okay."

"I asked them to let their representatives know we might be visiting within the year, depending on how things go in the near future. I was hoping it would give them hope."

Shiroe nodded. "I know it would me, if I heard it."

"I thought so." She paused to eat more of her grapefruit and apple salad. "Number five got a big boost, of course, because of what's happened. I've modified one of the links slightly to get data we need sooner than later. I hope to hear from that line by the time we're in China and before we have to make any big decisions there."

Shiroe drank some of his tea and wiped his mouth. "It would be good if it could be by then." Most everyone at the table nodded at that. No one really wanted a year-long trip to happen if it could be prevented.

"Have you heard from Soujirou yet on how they anticipate handling the natural lessons?"

"No, but he did ask to talk to me after the meeting, so I expect to hear something then, maybe."

"Okay. I think we'll need to have at least one school board meeting before we go anywhere and he can present it then, officially. Training, have you had any meetings with Crescent Moon yet?"

"No, ma'am. Today, though."

"Thank you. We'll need to schedule the board meeting for after they've got things nailed down into a presentation as well, so see that we don't step on their pacing."

"Yes, ma'am."

Purrcy took a drink then tapped her fork on the side of her lip. "Don't let your meeting with Soujirou interfere with your date."

Shiroe smiled. "You still have my list memorized, I see."

Purrcy smiled back. "Yes, of course. And I think that covers what I have. Oh, no, we need to add back in making extra meals, or at the least how we're going to fit in stops to collect foodstuff as we go. And please let us know sooner than you normally like if we're going to go on a Yamato tour before we cross the Sea."

"Sooner?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow.

Everyone glared at him. "You are very good at letting us know last minute," Isuzu explained.

Shiroe sighed. "Okay. I'll try to do better this time. I think we need to have this morning's Round Table meeting first, and maybe I need to have Michael sit with me on navigating the waters to see how much of it we could fit in on the trip over."

Michael nodded. "This afternoon?"

Shiroe considered his tasks. "I'll call you in, probably late afternoon."

"Roger."

Shiroe remembered his question for Purrcy. "Where are you going after the meeting?"

Purrcy paused, going rather still. Carefully she put down her bowl and placed her spoon next to it just as formally. She looked up into Shiroe's eyes. "To visit some friends I've not seen in a while in a place that is safe and where there are no people - other than Nyanta if he will continue to insist on coming." She turned and looked at Nyanta.

"I'm coming," he said calmly.

"Very well. He won't count as a person for the afternoon, then. Just a cat." There were giggles and snorts of laughter from the other side of the table. Both felinoids had whiskers twitch up.

Shiroe smiled. Purrcy was very much herself this morning. It was a good thing. He hoped it would stay relatively that level of 'her'. "What about everyone else?" he asked.

"Watch over Shiroe, stand guard, go on a date, watch over Shiroe." Akatsuki was quick to take her turn.

"I think I'd like to go on a date, too," Naotsugu said, leaning back briefly to look at Shiroe. "I've been neglecting Marie a bit too much lately, I think, but if you need me before or after, just let me know where."

Shiroe nodded. "Do take the time," he encouraged. Naotsugu nodded and went back to eating.

"I'll be following along with the meeting, standing behind Purrcy," Tetorō said calmly. "In the afternoon I'll do what you need, but if it isn't much, I'll be lying on the couch." Shiroe gave him a nod.

"Me, too," Michael said, "but I'll be on her door in the Council Chamber." Shiroe paused, then nodded.

The four younger ones all looked at each other, then smiled. "We're going to go shopping and prepare a special surprise for dinner."

The rest of them perked up at that. "That's so kind of you!" Purrcy exclaimed.

"I look forward to it," Shiroe said and the rest of them agreed. Shiroe wondered which one had reached the level of being able to make curry, then decided he'd better not wonder that, just in case it wasn't that. It's just that, by tonight...they would have completed another small milestone. He would be craving curry just by habit.


	79. Preparing for the Fifth Floor Raid

Shiroe rubbed his forehead. The meeting was going about how he expected. Difficult, loud, conflicted. It really didn't need to. It was as Purrcy had warned. Ains didn't want her sitting at the table, and certainly not acting as her own entity. Maybe they should have had it in a different room. He sighed and shifted slightly. It didn't get the attention it might have under other circumstances. He very carefully cleared his throat and reached for his glasses. That got eyes and a few mouths closed, but not the important one. His fingers touched the rim of his glasses. He closed his fingers around them and pulled them off very carefully. "Ains."

Ains' mouth closed suddenly. The glasses went into Shiroe's pocket. He leaned forward and put his arms on the table in front of him and clasped his hands. He raised his eyes and looked into Ains' eyes. "We did not come to the table today to discuss the merits of Purrcy as a person. We are here to hear her quest request. Please refrain from redirecting the conversation away from what is pertinent and wasting our time. We will hear your complaints about her as a person another time, if it is relevant."

Ains blinked, trying to recover. He finally sat up straight and asked, "Why should we trust that such quest requests are valid or even -"

"Ains," Shiroe said very carefully, "you are not required to participate in, nor to accept any quest requests brought to you. The others should be allowed to hear it at least and make their own decisions. That is how this place has always worked. Each person may choose for themselves what they will and won't do. We have heard your reservations. Each person here will take them into account in the way they wish to. Please stop wasting our time." Shiroe knew he'd backed Ains into a corner and it wasn't his favorite thing to do, but really. It had been over an hour and a half. That was really too much.

There was a sudden sniff. Everyone turned heads to look. Marielle had her hands over her face and it was turning red. "Marie?" Shiroe asked, surprised.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said abjectly, rubbing her eyes, but the tears wouldn't stop coming. "I - I just don't...," she sniffed again. "Purrcy is trying so hard for everyone and Ains...he cares so much for people, too. It's just hard," she wiped her eyes again, "to see everyone fighting when it seems so unnecessary." She was having a hard time not sobbing now. "Even Shiroe." She completely lost it and broke down crying. Henrietta patted Marielle uncomfortably on the shoulder and fished out a handkerchief to hand her guildmistress.

Shiroe blinked. He should have known. Going full out would have a rather severe effect on Marielle. He really had needed to stop Ains, though, and that was like stopping the Ocypete on full steam. Everyone in the room was looking very uncomfortable with Marielle's tears. "I'm sorry, Marielle," Shiroe said, trying to calm her.

Ains shifted uncomfortably and rubbed his temple above his eyebrow with his thumb, then sighed. "I'm sorry as well." He gave Purrcy a glance that seemed chastened. "If my concerns have been heard, that is all that's really necessary."

Shiroe nodded as did others around the table, trying to both reassure him and Marielle. Shiroe looked at Purrcy. "I'm sorry to bring conflict to the Round Table," Purrcy said. "It truly wasn't my intent." He could just make out her purring for Marielle. He was glad he'd put Purrcy between the two of them.

He nodded and pulled his glasses back out of his pocket and put them back on. "Do we need to go back and review from the beginning again?" he asked, pretending to hunt for his place in his notes.

"No," Isaac said. He was the impatient one who would most certainly not want it repeated again. Shiroe looked at the rest of them just to make sure.

When there were no forthcoming questions, he nodded. "Given that you now understand why the Corporation of Akiba was formed, and what the hopes were for it, particularly as it relates to the longer term goal that we hope all Adventurers have or might have, can we please move on to who would be willing to participate to what level in the journey to China?" It almost came out more pleading than he wanted it to. He tried to rein that in.

"I'm in." Again, it was Isaac. He wanted this to be over, too. "I know Rieze wants to go, but I think she needs to stay here. She's got a better balance for keeping things going around here and is more patient than I am. I'll take the crew I took into the Maze of Eternity, since that's likely what we'll face over there in the end, though if we don't, I'm sure there's still plenty for us to do."

Shiroe looked at Rieze. She sighed and glanced at Ains before leaning over to put her clasped hands on the table. "I'll send a double portion if Ains is going to step out. They don't have to have me, and I agree we shouldn't leave the whole burden on him. Crusty's going to owe me big time when he gets back."

Ains blinked. "I'll ask around and see if anyone wants to go, but I won't." Shiroe nodded. That's all that they could expect at this point, and at least he hadn't forbidden anyone from his guild from going.

Soujirou rubbed his head. "I'll take it to the guild and see what they say. I want to go. It would be a lot of fun, but that's about all it would be for us."

"You get left behind a lot," Marielle said, "it would be okay, I think?, if you wanted to go." She looked pleadingly at the other fighting guildmasters.

Isaac shrugged. Rieze nodded. Ains sniffed. Soujirou sighed. "Like I said, I'll take it to the guild and let you know." He looked firmly at Shiroe.

"Okay," Shiroe agreed.

Marielle sat up straight, blustering a bit to cover her embarrassing slip. "We're staying. The Academy is about to open a new level of coursework and we need to be focused on helping our students. If any individuals want to participate, I probably won't say no, however."

Calasin leaned forward on one arm. "I'm going to send MarketMaker with enough people to open the market in whatever towns and cities you come to. I'm sure we'll make up the bulk of the people going. Will that be a problem?"

"Not at all," Shiroe said calmly. "That's part of the plan, after all." Look like merchants, but underneath...he sighed.

"I'll send product along and enough Technicians for what you need, plus you get the Ocypete and sailing staff, which will be difficult, but the next ship should be done not too long after that." Michitaka offered. "I'd like to keep a few sailors here for that one so I don't have to reteach all new people again, though."

Purrcy turned an ear towards Michael. He spoke quietly and she answered. "We have sufficient to staff whatever you might need to keep, most likely. I've planned in picking up others along the way if we need to, as well. We don't need to strip of you everything that you would need to get shipping going along the Archipelago while we're gone. Would you be willing to spearhead setting up a blacksmith town on the coast near Sharpcliff for the purpose of building more shipping trunks? I'd like to see them not have to be so poor up there and the resources are pretty good for that trade."

Michitaka leaned on his elbow. "Miss Purrcy, that is normally something we hear from Shiroe."

Purrcy nodded. "But the trunks were my idea and request to the blacksmiths originally, so it's a joint request from Venture Enterprises and the Caretaker."

Michitaka shook his head, a bemused smile on his face. "And, so we should plan on hiring People of the Land...and Creatures?"

"I would appreciate it," she said. "I'd be willing to negotiate with the Giants to see if any could be hired on as ship protection against the nastier sea creatures that frequent the waters there. At the least I was hoping they would be willing to mine the ore for the fires in exchange for trade goods."

Everyone at the table was staring at her like she'd grown another head. "Seriously?! The Giants?!"

"Yes," she said mildly. "I'm not sure they'll agree, since the battles between them and Adventurers has been fairly long and fierce, but really, if they can't get with the times and move along, they'll be left behind."

The table exploded into laughter. Shiroe was amazed she could sit there so calmly in the face of it. Her tail even continued to wave pleasantly. He almost wondered if she was teasing them and enjoying it. ...Except she'd said it to him, too, in all seriousness. "When would you go to do that negotiation?" he asked her, wondering just how she would fit it in.

"When you take us up there to ask William if he'll spare any to come with us, too, and to negotiate with him the security detail of the blacksmithy." Her face stayed just as calm.

Shiroe slowly put his hand to his forehead and he closed his eyes. With a sigh, he said, "I'll think about it."

"Yes, it is difficult when we want to go two or three places at once. We really have to manage our time wisely, don't we?" she answered him.

Akaneya cleared his throat and they gave him their attention. "I think I'll put the word out to those who are in my guild, and those who are solos, that you've put out the quest request. Can you handle solos?"

Purrcy smiled. "I think that's fine. Even if we're a little rag-tag, we're joining up with Crusty and Kanami. If we need to be a united front, I think we'll be well led by them and Shiroe." She lumped herself in with the other solos without thinking about it. Shiroe rolled his eyes just a little.

Akaneya nodded. "Good enough. I'll get the word out. Do you have a last-day for signup?" Shiroe nodded and told the Round Table when it was.

Woodstock shifted next. "We're strapped. I can't afford to have anyone leave, and we need to get products through our level to keep the line fed. We'll stay here and keep the home fires burning."

"As long as it's not burning the home, that's just fine," Shiroe half-joked. Woodstock nodded.

That left Roderick. They all looked at him. His arms were folded and he'd been fairly quiet for a while now. He sighed. "I wish you weren't taking the expedition at all. What are we supposed to do without the two brightest minds in Akiba to keep pushing us forward?"

"Call us when you get lonely or need to remember why we're irritating?" Purrcy answered. There was silence, then the table slowly turned into another laughing mess.

"Spoken like a mother," chuckled Isaac. He imitated what was probably his own mother: "Just because I don't get to see your face and you don't get to see my wagging finger, doesn't mean you can't lift your own to dial my number so your poor lonely mother can know you're still living!" He chuckled into his shoulder again.

Purrcy shrugged. "Well, it's true! If you get bogged down and need a push, call. We might be in the middle of a battle, but most likely we'll be in the middle of the ocean or the desert, completely bored and wishing for home. And if we don't hear from you, we'll likely call you instead, and catch you in the shower or on that hot date you waited three months for."

Shiroe stared at her. "You didn't," he whispered at her.

"Didn't what? Watch my mom do it to my older brother on a regular basis? Of course I did. I almost had it happen a few times to me, too."

Shiroe relaxed, but found it rather unbelievable it happened so similarly all the time for so many families. It had never happened to him. ...Well, he had gotten the, "Have you found a girlfriend yet?" calls and the "I'm never going to have grandchildren, am I?" calls. He'd found them odd since they'd never cared much before he left the house. But maybe if he _had_ finally gotten a date with a girl, the call would have come as he was stepping into the shower for it to make him a half-hour late. It did seem to work like that. He shook his head and looked back at Roderick again.

"We'll keep plugging along here as well," he summed up.

Shiroe took his turn. "My entire guild will be going." That got a bit of concern and a lot of interest. "There's no sense in leaving the younger set home this time. They need to see the world and get more adventures under their belts. We'll be back after China, the core group. Purrcy and the rest may continue on, depending on what we find while we're there, though they'll take the sea route. Calasin, we expect MarketMaker and your core group to take the land route, but if you could assign a sub-group to the ship to open port connections, that might be helpful."

Calasin nodded and Isaac shifted. "How long do you need fighters for? Just China?"

Shiroe shrugged. "Until after the China Server Maze of Eternity, then it's up to those who came that far whether they come back with us, head into the Eured continent with the train, or stay on board the ship and go with Purrcy. I know Rieze is hoping Crusty comes back. If you can talk him into it, Isaac, then you can take your turn to stay out and play, but one or the other of you probably needs to be here. We need protections here in Yamato, too."

Isaac leaned back and folded his arms. "What if Crusty wants to head inland and I want to stay shipside?"

"You'll make Michael jealous?" They looked at Marielle. Marielle blushed and put her hands over her mouth, her eyes going wide. "Ah, sorry. Did that come out? I was really thinking of saying that it would leave poor Ains with too much work on his shoulders, and Rieze, too."

"I think we could handle it," sniffed Ains.

Rieze looked about the same. "It's not that hard, Marie, though I would beat Crusty black and blue if he didn't come promptly home when I couldn't go out there to beat him black and blue."

"I don't think I'd want to come home ever," Tetorō said quietly from behind them. "It's a bad threat." Shiroe had to swallow a laugh.

"There is the possibility the ship only needs to go to the United States, and not to the rest of the world," Purrcy spoke up. "If that's the case, then Crusty can come home, and Isaac can go with the train. We will only need the smaller complement on the ship, though I appreciate the offer, Isaac. I'm sure while we're traveling you will have plenty of time to corner me behind tea. Likely by the time we know what is after that, you'll be happy to be rid of me."

"Likely," Isaac agreed, surly and not liking even that much rejection. The others shook their heads at him. "I'll make sure Crusty comes home, Rieze. It's his turn to sit in Maihama and go to the Crystal Palace."

"Here, here!" Michitaka agreed. He'd not liked that he'd had to substitute as well.

"Well said," Rieze agreed.

"I'll be sure to tell him you said so," Shiroe said dryly. None of those were things to tempt him home. His only temptation lay in outside...but...there was one that might work. "Rieze, please make sure that Princess Raynessia is composing several letters to send with us to give to him. Michael," he looked over his shoulder, "please schedule a time to paint a communication picture of the Princess for us to take as well, as her gift to him for the time and consideration he gave her before he was so rudely stolen from us all." There were hunting grins at the table, but he ignored them. The letters would be the bait, the picture the bribe. "Also, Marie, please be sure that the Princess communicates with Maihama that Crusty will be returning and could they be so kind as to throw him a welcoming home party for her sake?"

"I'd be happy to," Marielle said brightly.

"If you need help getting the permission and interest, please let me know," Purrcy said smoothly. "I'm sure I might be able to use some of my own contacts to smooth the way."

Shiroe shivered slightly. He might have gone one step too far. Crusty was also not going to appreciate being trapped. He looked at Purrcy and opened his mouth. She put her hand on his arm. "It's okay, Shiroe. I'll talk to Crusty." She tilted her head and smiled.

"Charm +20 against Adventurers," Tetorō said from the corner of his mouth.

Shiroe shivered again. "Right," he said softly. "Don't let him run, and don't let him hate us."

Purrcy nodded. "He's needed, but he has to learn it." Shiroe looked at her, then nodded and returned to the table.

One hand went up at the table. "You've already tried once and it wasn't possible. What's going to change that this time?" Roderick was asking with his usual calm professor tone, used when he wanted to bring everyone back to reality.

"Purrcy," Shiroe said as several fingers pointed to said person.

Roderick blinked at her. "Good luck. If you figure out how to break flavor text curses generally, I'd be happy to hear how it's done."

Purrcy tipped her head. "We'll see. Each one may be individual." Roderick nodded. It looked like he was thinking of using it as a test case to see just how high a level Purrcy was.

"Okay. Thank you everyone," Shiroe said, wrapping that part up. "We'll keep in touch as things develop in that area. Now, shall we have the summary from each division of the corporation? This time, let's start with the Sales and Delivery end of things shall we?" He looked at Calasin.

Calasin nodded, took a breath, and began his summary of his distribution expansion plan.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was glad to escape with Akatsuki into the market district. "Sometimes," he sighed, taking her hand in his - which was becoming easier in public after a few months of practicing it now, "I wish we could disguise ourselves. It's getting old to be getting looks just walking down the street. I think I'm glad that back home I'm not famous."

Akatsuki looked up at him, a smile in her eyes that only showed in her face as a lifting of the cheeks. "It's possible that after we get back home you'll still be famous."

Shiroe laughed a little then sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right, though hopefully it won't be too bad. I think I'll keep my personal data secret, though, just in case. I'd really rather not." He looked at the sky briefly. "And maybe it will blow over after a year or so. Things like this are sensational when they happen, but then they're practically forgotten when the next sensation arrives."

"True," Akatsuki could only agree. "Can we stop by Amenoma? Tatara would have gotten the newest set of blades set out this morning."

"Sure," Shiroe said. He liked to watch Akatsuki's eyes light up when she got to see new blades up for sale. Her favorite store was Amenoma. Even though Tatara had gifted her with a blade specifically re-forged for her during the Battle of the Maidens, she still loved to come in and see if a new game blade had appeared, or to complement Tatara on a blade the blacksmith had forged herself.

The bell over the door tinkled as they walked into the store. Tatara was as taciturn as Akatsuki, a hard nosed businesswoman, but the two women had an understanding. Blades were their common point of interest, but Tatara had sold the cursed blade that had made the Maiden battle have to happen, and she knew that Akatsuki had wanted to buy it. They were all rather glad Akatsuki hadn't bought it since it was the second blade to revert to its flavor text and it had taken over the mind of its new owner, being a cursed sword. Akatsuki's current blade had been her second pick at that time, but it was too big for her at that time, and too expensive. Tatara had reforged it to be perfect for her, changed the flavor text to make sure it didn't curse her, too, and gifted it when Akatsuki's original sword shattered under successive blows from the cursed sword.

"Tatara," Akatsuki gave her friend a nod. They were similar in height and slight build, but Tatara's hair was a spiky burgundy pulled back to be out of her way for her blacksmithing work. Her everpresent protective goggles were on top of her head, out of the way while being a shopkeep, but she always kept a cloth over her face even in the shop. She was elvin and her red and yellow eyes were striking, though went well with the overall effect of her avatar. She wore the yukata and short pants of the old-time male blacksmiths of Japan, showing that underneath her apparently shy exterior was a woman of stubborn strength.

"Akatsuki." Tatara gave a slight tip of the head towards the newest blades set out. Akatsuki immediately headed to go see. "Shiroe-san."

"Good afternoon, Miss Tatara. Has business been steady?" Since Shiroe had been coming more frequently with Akatsuki, getting his name called was a rather big step forward. He'd decided treating Tatara the way he did Akatsuki was the best way to go.

"Yes...thanks."

Shiroe smiled. "I'm glad to hear it."

Tatara paused and Shiroe was surprised to recognize it as the kind of pause that preceded more conversation. He changed his mind about turning to peruse the closest stand and moved closer to the counter instead, but not close enough to cause discomfort. He also didn't look straight at Tatara until she was ready to bend his ear again.

"Saw the new swords...who?"

Shiroe tipped his head thinking about that. "Who designed them?" A curt nod. "Purrcy of Venture Enterprises. She's an inventor and designer."

"They've got flavor text?" He couldn't decide if that was surprise or suspicion.

"She apparently set it before the blacksmithing was done. She's also a Hacker."

There was a bit of silence as Tatara mulled that over. Finally, "Where?"

Shiroe considered that. Finally he answered, "She'd been using Grandale's smithy. She took that request to them, I expect."

Tatara gave a wrinkle of her nose in distaste. "Mass market."

Shiroe gave a small smile. "Well, they might now that they're in with Michitaka's group, but if I know her, what they produced for her is a better product. She solos just to find extra ingredients most people wouldn't even think of using."

A light clatter sounded and a sword appeared on the counter. They both turned to look at Akatsuki. "Let me know what you think," she said to Tatara. "For me, it's decoration."

Tatara lit up just faintly with what was for her extreme interest and reached for the sword. Shiroe, smiling to himself, turned and wandered back to peruse the closest display. The sword was too thin and light for Akatsuki's general needs, though Shiroe had noticed that it had sized to her in length when she'd first received it. He wondered how the blacksmiths had set that, then decided it might have been part of the flavor text.

Tatara inspected the sheath and belt briefly, spent a little more time on the chain, then pulled the blade carefully from the sheath. She inspected it carefully from pommel to tip. Shiroe knew that the various Classes could see more detailed descriptions of things they inspected that were in their Class. He himself could 'inspect' a specific ink or paper and see exactly what ingredients had been used to make it. Since his Scribe skill was quite high now, he could also see how much of each, by percentage, and what grade material had been used. Likely Tatara was the same in inspecting blades.

As she reached the end of her inspection, Akatsuki slipped up to the counter, an eyebrow raised. "Nice." Tatara gave the sword a grade, slipping it back into the sheath. "But...how did they get leprechaun urine in it?"

Shiroe felt his jaw drop. He figured he looked like Akatsuki. Akatsuki blinked a few times, finally turning to Shiroe. "Yuck."

Shiroe couldn't help the laugh. "No. Sorry. I was rather thinking the same thing. Tetorō only told me it was something I didn't want to know. I have no idea how she would have even gathered it, but...it's likely the ingredient that makes it theft-proof?"

Akatsuki considered that, then nodded. She turned back to Tatara and shrugged. "Sometimes Purrcy's weird."

Shiroe stepped over to be conversationally close the women. "I could ask Tetorō what she had them do with it. I wasn't there for the details, unless you want to contact BigMusclesBill yourself?"

Tatara considered, finally saying, "Please."

Shiroe considered. She likely couldn't leave the shop much. He nodded. "I'll ask for you, but I'll see if BigMusclesBill will come talk shop with you."

Tatara blushed and shook her head. Shiroe ignored her, calling up Tetorō. The conversation was short. He turned back to the ladies. "She told them to quench the blade in it. But you'll have to talk to the blacksmith himself to know if that's what they really did in the end. They experiment based on what she has and what she wants."

"Unique. Won't see that again," was Tatara's concluding decision. She turned back to Akatsuki. "Don't add a curse to it. You're stuck with it."

The sword disappeared from the counter. Akatsuki gave a nod of agreement. "I'll try not to." She unclipped her short sword and put it on the counter. "Going to China soon. Please?"

Tatara's eyebrows both raised. "China, huh?" She reached for the short sword. "I'll make sure." She gave a nod of promise. Akatsuki relaxed just a little.

"Anything you want us to look for while we're there that we can bring back for you?" Shiroe asked her.

Tatara looked at him for a minute, then an unusual look came on her face, transforming it to almost fae features. "How 'bout one of those leprechauns?"

Shiroe laughed, delighted he'd been able to see Tatara's smiling face for the first time. "If we see any, maybe we can talk one into coming."

Tatara nodded the happy sort of nod, pleased Shiroe had gotten the joke. As they turned to go, Tatara shot Akatsuki a look. "Lucky," she muttered. Akatsuki walked out of the store floating and proud.

Shiroe considered her, then mildly said, "When you feel like that, is when you're supposed to kiss me."

Akatsuki turned three shades of pink - surprise, chagrined, and pleased. He allowed her to stop him as she grabbed his sleeve. She pulled on the sleeve and he bent down to receive his kiss. Then she went red with embarrassment, realizing they were still in the middle of the street. Shiroe grinned at her, though when she looked away and they started walking again, he breathed out the breath he was holding and fought to keep his own blush down to just a dull roar.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy stayed in her office after the meeting, putting together her thoughts on paper. From that she was making notes of what orders she wanted to pass out to people, or rather what she was going to delegate out to others. The list of things she wanted to do herself was rather long and it made her sigh. She could hear Tetorō speaking in the antechamber. When he was done, she called for him, to let him know she was at least partially interruptible. "Shiroe wants to know if BigMusclesBill would be willing to tell Tatara of Amenoma what he ended up doing to make the guard's swords. She's a solo blacksmith and shopkeeper, and Akatsuki's friend. They apparently stopped by the shop and showed her Akatsuki's sword."

Purrcy leaned back in her chair. "Mmm...I want to encourage the small shops. That's part of my job description, too. Call up BigMusclesBill and see if he'll met me for lunch. Have us meet at a small place near her shop and if I can talk him into sharing the secrets he hates to share, we'll head over there. I'll leave him there if they get going."

"Okay. When?"

Purrcy looked at her desk. "Half an hour. I should be done here in twenty minutes, I'd think." Tetorō nodded and turned back to make the chat call. Purrcy returned to her notes. When she was done with the delegation transcriptions, she collected them up in her hands. Loudly, she asked, "So...who do I give these to? Tetorō, Michael, or the individuals in question?"

Michael answered firmly. "You give them to Tetorō."

"Yes, Sir," she answered calmly. Tetorō was already on his way to her desk. Purrcy handed over the stack of papers to him. "I've got my own list to collate, then I'll be ready to go."

Tetorō took the papers and nodded. They were done about the same time. Purrcy had listened with a half an ear to learn what the next proper link in the chain was after Tetorō (Reed). Purrcy nodded. Michael did seem to do things with the sub-guild as far as that went only when it was very high level stuff. She presumed Reed would pass anything up that needed to be handled directly by Michael.

Her own list included:

 **II**. Keep tabs on Plague Master, Hackers, Witches, etc.  
 **III**. Introduce Nyanta to the creatures he may have to interact with in the future.  
 **IV**. World Network  
\- A) Run search engine outside initial test regions.  
\- B) Sneaker net on those we haven't heard from yet.  
\- C) Compare final names on list.  
\- D) Confirm underground allies are allies.  
\- E) Continue work on gates (not looking promising).  
\- F) World Round Table Council  
... 1) Get to China  
...,... a) Adventurer Tree of Life need healing?  
...,... b) Find the missing Caretaker.  
...,... c) Overwritten/Observers  
...,... d) Find the missing people and bring them home.  
...,... e) Assist with having enough food to cover for the trip out/cash to purchase items on the way.  
... 2) Run around the world to make connections  
...,... a) Confirm stops with Michael.  
...,... b) Let Caretakers of each region know where we'll meet them.  
...,... c) Make sure we have enough copies of Shiroe's picture we can leave with them.  
...,... d) Take copies of Shiroe's suggested articles of incorporation with as well.  
 **V**. Getting home by how we got here  
\- A.3) Walk the computer  
...,... a) Continue to gather data  
...,... b) Observers/Overwritten  
...,...,... i) Are they living creatures from the beginning, or prototypes?  
...,...,... ii) Can I get into their 'spirit' world on the moon?  
...,...,... iii) Talk one into combining and trying to go home.  
\- B) Cathedral extinction  
... 1) Ask the Observers if they had Cathedrals and what happened to them when they couldn't use them any more.  
... 2) On the trip around the world, find out if any Cathedrals have been taken out already and what that's meant for that city or area.  
 **VI**. Akiba Academy  
\- A) Courses to write up  
...,...1) Surgical Veterinarian  
...,...2) Controlling the Natural Half-Beast  
...,...3) Higher level economics, including loans (w/ Shiroe)  
\- B) Board Meeting  
...,... 1) Can we allow People of the Land to take the Surgical Veterinarian classes? (And maybe econ?)  
...,... 2) Setting up the High School level coursework  
...,...,... a) How many are likely to need to attend?  
...,...,... b) Can we combine ages?  
...,...,... c) Course list  
...,...,... d) Potential teacher list  
...,...,... e) Requirements to graduate  
...,... 3) Other business  
 **VII**. Upgrade Apprentices to Journeymen  
\- A) Meeting/Graduation ceremony  
\- B) Testing as they go  
 **VIII**. Venture Enterprises  
\- A) Potions  
...,... 1) Growth Milk  
...,... 2) Sex Change  
...,... 3) Review code for any hints.  
...,... 4) Collect ingredients that might help from creatures. (= get back to helping creatures again)  
\- B) Clothing  
...,... 1) Meet with Maihama needleworkers.  
...,... 2) Get the one seamstress on board as an apprentice. (Need to turn this over to her soon.)  
...,... 3) Finalize designs and get them to the Sewing Department ASAP.  
\- C) Shipping Trunks  
...,... 1) Negotiate with Giants.  
...,... 2) Keep in touch with Michitaka.

Purrcy sighed and set down her pen. She flexed her fingers and scratched the top of her head with both hands. She really had no idea how to fit in VIII, and it was probably the most important one for long term growth of the city and her own ability to move forward. It was also the last thing on the Superuser's list. She was rather unhappy about that, really. Being able to _be_ the Caretaker was also becoming last on the list, another thing she was rather upset about. The two things she really wanted to do were being shunted to the back burner. She memorized the list, then put it in an item list box. She stood and stretched out her back, arms, and legs. "Right. I'm ready to go."

Tetorō rose from his desk as well, and they left the office at the top of the Guild Hall. "BigMusclesBill said he'd meet us," he said on the way.

"That's good." Purrcy answered him, still distracted by her list.

"You're not still working are you?" Tetorō asked suspiciously, looking at her collar.

"Yes, but it's just putting things into their proper order in the schedule. I'll be done by the time we get to lunch. Stuff I can do while walking."

Tetorō sighed but let it be until they were out of the Guild Hall. "But really, Purrcy, I like your company, too," he finally said.

Purrcy reached out a hand for his hand. He picked it up with the other and put it in his elbow. "This place is used to seeing you escorted, but I think a married woman shouldn't hold hands with someone else," he scolded.

"Sorry," she said, still elsewhere. "It's habit from holding my youngest son's hand. I was always telling him he had to hold my hand or I'd get lost."

Tetorō was about to scold her again, but laughed at the last. "That's definitely true. You would."

Purrcy nodded. "Though I said it that way to not make him afraid of becoming lost himself."

"I suppose there's wisdom in that," Tetorō agreed.

Finally Purrcy sighed and let it go to look around at their surroundings again. "Well, I do wish I had more time in my life. Things are going to have to be postponed again that I will be sad about. I really can't be three places at once."

"What are the worst ones?" Tetorō asked.

"Venture Enterprises and Caretaker," she answered immediately.

"Really? Venture Enterprises?" Tetorō was surprised.

Purrcy nodded. "If I'm not being the Caretaker in fact and action, I'm not gleaning the magic items and I'm not having the time to work on the inventions. Just having that one thing pushed so far out is very problematic."

Tetorō was quiet, then patted her hand where it was tucked into his elbow. He didn't have anything to say, though.

Purrcy sighed. "And just behind that is the Academy. I'm going to do what I can today and when we have the board meeting, but I'll just be squeezing in the bare minimum. I'll need to go over the schedule with you next, but it can wait until tomorrow. I need to more specifically schedule in everything that I can't get done this afternoon so I know how it fits and if there'll be time to get out to even a few Creatures who need me."

Tetorō frowned. "I thought you were going to see some this afternoon, and rest?"

"I'm going to see some. I'll be resting with them, but I'll be working, too. I can't do a lot of work at a time anymore, you know," she gave him a scathing look.

He looked fearlessly back. "You don't need to - not at that level."

"So you say," she answered back, but let it drop.

They arrived at a sandwich and salad shop shortly thereafter. BigMusclesBill was already there. He looked a little concerned about the total numbers of people that came, but the guards all peeled off to another table as Tetorō seated Purrcy, then himself, at the smaller table the blacksmith had taken. "Good afternoon," he said in his deep voice. His muscles rippled as he leaned back in his chair.

"Good afternoon," Purrcy and Tetorō both said politely. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me over lunch," Purrcy said to him as Tetorō placed their order.

"Do you have another project for me?" BigMusclesBill asked. "It's unusual for you to call me out instead of come visit." The buff, chisled looks of the Guardian blacksmith were similar to Naotsugu and Michitaka's, coming from the same base avatar. He wore a blacksmith's apron over his light-weight dark red shirt and brown pants. The apron had his guild crest on it - a blacksmith's hammer crossed with a sword. His hair was a short spiky brown, and his beard limited to a rugged unshaven look. His most striking feature was his brilliant light blue eyes. His natural face from Earth that showed through the avatar was kind, though it could go serious or on the rare occasion, contemplative. At the moment he was curious and confused.

Purrcy shook her head. "I don't have anything new right now. I figure I've already done enough at the moment. Rather I'd like to ask a favor, but perhaps on a full stomach not an empty one." She smiled at him.

BigMusclesBill tapped a finger on the table. "A favor, hmmm? That's what I usually do for you, too."

Purrcy tipped her head at him. "True. I suppose I haven't asked if you'd like to ask for one in return?"

A slow smile came on BigMusclesBill's face. "I'm going to have to remember you said that. So far the things we learn from you are sufficient for what we're doing, but a personal favor, now...that's something different."

Purrcy sighed to herself, but that was the proper exchange for what she was going to ask from him next. "How did you get your start as a blacksmith?" she asked him.

BigMusclesBill rubbed his chin with a large hand. "Wanted to make my own weapons. I'm a Guardian, see, but I've always liked to specialize. I like that you bring me stuff with your own flavor text and that kind of thing, since that's what I always do for my own things, too." He leaned forward on his arms and clasped his hands together. "There were about five of us who met online that liked to talk about the cool things we could make. We ran into Woodstock's group and liked what they were doing, but we didn't join with the guild until we ended up here. I'm not sure how I ended up the head honcho of the blacksmithing group there," he shrugged, "but I like to drive how we work."

Purrcy nodded. "Has it been hard moving over to Michitaka's group, then? I'm sure they were already set in their ways as well."

BigMusclesBill looked down at his hands, considering his answer. His face went just a little sad. "I guess it has been, a bit. We're still not working together well, but we finally got a start since you made me let them in on it. Some friction came from that, but it opened up the doors, I suppose. We're trying, though. Sometimes the Michitaka groups seems elitist and the Roderick group snobbish, and I suppose we seem cliquish." He rubbed a thumb on his fingers. "I'd have to say for me, the hardest part...is that it feels like we've moved the next step towards believing we won't make it home. Like making it official business that moves product so we can progress means we're moving into being more settled here in Akiba and on Theldesia. I'm not settling well with that feeling in my gut."

Purrcy leaned over and patted his hands. "I'm sorry," she said. "Really, we are still trying to find a way home. We're actually closer now with the changes. There are things Shiroe discovered needed to be funded at a slightly higher amount than the Round Table could do on its own with its levels of productivity as they were."

BigMusclesBill raised an eyebrow at her. " 'We'? You're involved in that, too?"

Purrcy wrinkled her nose. "Yes. Since I've got outside info and was a high level Hacker, Shiroe snagged me to help out with that too." She shrugged at his look. "Not that I mind, really, since getting everyone home is important...just my own work's suffering from it now."

"I can see that," he nodded.

Food arrived then and they dove in, talking of inconsequential things for a while. As the food was filling the belly at the end of the meal. Purrcy finally turned them to what she wanted from her guest. "So, BigMusclesBill, please tell me how you feel about solo blacksmiths?"

BigMusclesBill thought about that as he took a swig of his mug. "I think that anyone who likes to craft should craft. Each person is going to learn different things, and have their own preferences and leanings, you know? I do think it's harder to get ahead on your own, since you don't have other people you're learning off of, but like a lot of gamers, most solo crafters are pretty shy and don't know how to open up anyway. I just got lots of practice at it, playing as long as I have."

Purrcy nodded. "I've been asked if you'd be willing to take the time to explain to a solo just like that how you crafted the swords I requisitioned from you. She's a friend of Akatsuki's. As a solo who's feeding the big company, I'm also supposed to be the representative of the solos and make sure they're still getting fed. After all, the little companies are the ones that are the real bread and butter of an economy. We're going to mostly focus the stuff coming out of the big guilds to outside markets to bring in outside funds. I'd like to have us all support the in-town small businesses as much as possible so that the internal economy doesn't tank. Would you be willing?"

BigMusclesBill rubbed his head. "Well, when you put it that way..., I suppose it wouldn't hurt to at least talk to her. ...A friend of Akatsuki's, huh?" He looked at Tetorō.

Tetorō nodded. "Yeah, about as talkative, too."

BigMusclesBill snorted a soft laugh. "Well, I can talk enough for ten, but I'll dial it down for her." He smiled at Purrcy, "After all, I've had practice." Purrcy blushed. "Though, now that you _can_ understand, it's a lot different. How're you holding up?"

Purrcy shook her head. "I wish I was back out again. It's been hard, but I love Log Horizon and it's important work. I'm sure I'll be able to get back into it soon." But she couldn't keep her ears up fully as she said it. Tetorō reached under the table and put his hand on her arm. The ear closest to him flicked a tiny "thanks". Purrcy stood, bringing the rest to their feet. They carried their containers to the trash can. Purrcy stopped and stared at it, then sighed. "I forgot to put that on my to-do list. It's still on yours right, Tetorō?"

Tetorō smiled. "Yes. We'll make sure it's all remembered tomorrow when we meet."

"Okay," Purrcy relaxed and waited for the guards to join them. Tetorō led them to a weapons shop about five doors down on the opposite side of the street. The bell on the door jangled in a friendly manner as they entered. It was only about twenty feet by forty feet, rather small, in the front part of the store. There were display tables and cases around the outer edge and three tables in the middle of the room displaying swords, katanas, and knives of varying lengths and sizes. They had all noticed the proprietress look at them come in, then stiffen when she saw the swords on the belts of the guards. The guards took off to amble around the store, to help her relax a little, as the three main people walked on up to the counter.

"Good afternoon, Tatara," Tetorō said brightly. "Shiroe called so I passed on the request. This is Purrcy," he pointed to Purrcy who bowed slightly and smiled, "and BigMusclesBill."

"Howdy," the blacksmith said in a friendly manner. Tetorō stepped off to the side to not crowd Tatara quite so much. "Purrcy's asked me to tell you about her most recent request over to our blacksmithy. I'm happy to answer any questions. I know when me and my buddies got started back before the catastrophe, it really helped to have other blacksmiths to talk to when we got stuck or just wanted to know if certain techniques would work better than others. You've a good eye for swords, I can tell." He'd done a quick scan of the store merchandise.

Tatara blinked. "Thanks." She paused, looked at Purrcy, then back at BigMusclesBill. "Did the quenching actually work?"

He laughed. "Yeah, surprisingly enough. Wouldn't have ever thought it. Purrcy's got a good feel for stuff like that, though. We had to cut it down actually. We had a lot to quench and we managed to learn that half that stuff and half Blessed Water of Arienor worked just fine. That helped seal the flavor text, too."

Tatara nodded as if she used the Blessed Water of Arienor for the same purpose. "Gonna be hard to come by again," she said with a raised eyebrow.

BigMusclesBill looked at Purrcy. "Will it? Or will you be able to produce more of that?"

Purrcy tipped her head, thinking. "Well, I'm not able to get anything at all right now...but I might be able to put in orders. They think I'm strange enough already, but they like gold so are happy to sell even that for it." She smiled again at that, and watched Tatara's face go fey.

"I'm glad you liked my joke," she said, "Your fairy base comes out prettily when you smile." Tatara blinked in surprise and she nearly blushed. "How did you manage...no never mind," Purrcy said. "We're here to talk blacksmithing. I'll go off on random tangents very quickly." She waved a hand in apology.

Tatara shook her head. Purrcy understood it. _Don't worry about it_. She paused, then said, "If it becomes available, I'd buy some."

Purrcy nodded. "I'll be sure to let you know, then. Don't hold your breath, though I'll do my best to get word out and see if they're willing to find someone to -" she stopped and looked at Tatara. "Do you want to be the point of contact with them? They need to have one person they can trust. You've got enough of the fey in you, they might just do it on the first trade visit."

Tatara raised an eyebrow of surprise. BigMusclesBill nodded. "It's not like you can leave your store to go soloing to get it, but if they were willing to meet with you outside town, you could do that."

"And if you close shop before dark, they prefer to meet at dusk or twilight," Purrcy added. "We'd have to set up the place ahead of time so they knew where to come to. That is, you and I. There's a simple spell that will let them know where to come each time to meet with you that I would need to cast just the first time. It will have my signature on it and yours so they'll trust you because I was the one who vouched for you." Purrcy looked over her shoulder at Tetorō. "Put that on the schedule, too."

He nodded. "Is it okay if I get back with you after tomorrow morning, Tatara?" he asked. She nodded a firm nod. He made a note on his clipboard and put it back away.

"Purrcy...," BigMusclesBill said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin again, "if you're having troubles getting out to treasure hunt...can you do that with some of the other things, like what you've just said with Tatara and the leprechauns?"

Purrcy rubbed an ear. "I'll have to think about it. It may depend on what it is that's wanted." She thought about it some more, then said, "It would help to have a list of things most wanted. Some stuff the answer is an absolute no. I have to do the sneak job to get some stuff. Other things, like this one, it's not a problem."

"Hire and train a sneak thief," Tatara said practically.

Purrcy blinked. "I wonder if that would work? I'm not sure I could trust such a one to properly turn over the profits?" She wrinkled her brow. "But...if I had the company pay them for their efforts, then pay me for the profits? But would they sell here like they're supposed to, or fleece some off the top and sell somewhere else?" Her ears flicked back and forth as she thought.

"It's got merit. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for someone who might work," she finally said with a nod at Tatara. "Thanks for the idea." Tatara blinked. Purrcy looked at BigMusclesBill. "Well, as usual, now that I can talk, I'm doing too much of it. I think, if you don't mind, I'll just leave the two of you here to talk shop without interruption. Thank you both." She bowed with a smile for them both and turned to Tetorō.

"Ah," Tatara said, quickly. Purrcy took Tetorō's arm, then looked back at Tatara. "Thanks."

"No problem," Purrcy said and purred. "We'll see you again." Tatara nodded with a blink and the larger number of the people in the shop exited.

Tetorō patted Purrcy's hand as they began the walk down the street towards home. "I hope it makes Akatsuki happy, too," she said to him in a vague sort of way. "I'm already tired," she admitted with a sigh. "I'm looking forward to just sitting for the rest of the day."

Tetorō frowned. "Purrcy, working in your head isn't just sitting."

"No, it really is. Remember when I sat in Nyanta's lap on the patio? I was actually resting then, too. It's like you lying on the couch when you review. I only spend the HP when doing the coding. A lot of the time is spent in the 'figuring out what I want to code' phase. The code goes together fairly quickly, really. ...Or it's spent in research. I've got some of that to do, too."

Tetorō looked at her very closely. "As long as you're sure to get rest. It's your only vacation time, you know, for who knows how long."

Purrcy sighed. "Yeah, I know." She closed her eyes and put her head on Tetorō's shoulder. As soon as they were out of sight of the main thoroughfare, he let her know she could change to cat. She did, to small cat and rode in the crook of his arm, taking a fast cat nap for the rest of the trip.


	80. No Rest for the Weary

The Purrcy contingent walked into the Log Horizon guild hall. "Welcome back," Naotsugu said from the couch.

Tetorō immediately frowned. "I thought you were going to be on a date?"

Naotsugu nodded. "I'm going, but after everyone gets back and we've conferenced one more time."

"We need to?" Tetorō's eyebrow went up. He'd reached the couch.

Naotsugu held out a hand, then motioned for the cat when Tetorō wasn't sure why. Purrcy was passed over and immediately became full size house cat, purring in Naotsugu's lap as he pet her. "It seems to me that we need an intermediate wrap up," Naotsugu said, finally getting back to the question. "We're just waiting for Shiroe and Akatsuki to be done with their date. Marie will probably be here by then, too. You can take a break until then."

Tetorō nodded. "Thanks. I'll go take some 'personal time' then and be back down in a bit."

Naotsugu nodded. Tetorō took off for his room on the third floor, stopping by the bathroom on the way. He slumped down on his bed, his hands between his knees, feeling the weight of his responsibility on his shoulders. It wasn't getting any easier. It would be good to have the afternoon to relax, and really, he'd lay off Purrcy in order to get it by not watching over her for that time. Nyanta would be there, and Tetorō already knew she was going to pass the middle point of her working needle without having to see it anyway. She was going away so she could. Just from reading the lists of things she was passing out to everyone else, he already had a fair idea of what was on her list, and she wasn't kidding. It was more full than she had time for. If she was going to be able to do what needed to be done in the next weeks and months, she probably did have to offload what she could in the code realm as soon as she could so they weren't hanging over her, too.

Tetorō flopped back on his bed. It would probably be a good idea for him to figure out what was on his to-do list as well so he was ready with that for the morning meeting. He'd have to carve out time for himself if he was going to survive. Going out with everyone the morning before had been nice, but it had reminded him of how heavy this burden was and that he really should be taking that one day out of every seven, or some equivalent, so he didn't burn out too soon. He let out a big breath, letting it whoosh out of him.

There was a knock on his door. He rolled his head to look at it. "Yeah?" he asked.

Michael stuck his head in. "Can I come in?" he asked.

"I guess," Tetorō said. Michael did, closing the door behind him. "Did she forget you were with us?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so, not any more than she forgets the rest of them. I think she knew you needed her this time." Michael said. "Roll over."

Tetorō looked at him in confusion. Michael gestured. Tetorō did, wondering why. He put his hands under his cheek. The bed creaked as Michael sat down next to him. "Just relax. I promise it's nothing funky, okay?" Michael said. Then large warm hands were on Tetorō's back and he was receiving one of the best Japanese massages he'd ever had.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Tetorō asked in complete surprise.

"Japan, of course. One of the perks to being an officer. We got to use the base masseuse whenever we wanted. Getting them teaches you how to give them. All the other bases in the world are jealous we get the real Japan massages. They're known worldwide as the best." The base of Michael's thumbs pressed into the tight muscles to either side of Tetorō's spine, warming them and hurting just enough to make them tense up, then relax as the pressure moved slowly to the outer muscles of the back.

From the base of the neck down to the tailbone, all the tense muscles in Tetorō's back were warmed and relaxed. The warm hands moved to Tetorō's neck and he lifted his head and put his forehead on his hands so the neck was properly straight. Once the neck was relaxed, Michael did a short stint on his shoulders, then moved properly to his head. By the time he was done, Tetorō was nearly asleep, he'd been so tense before. He sighed as Michael's hands finished. "You're really not going to do anything strange?" he asked.

Michael gave a small laugh. "No." He patted Tetorō lightly on the back. "It was obvious you needed down time. It's my job to make sure you don't melt. We all need the ice for the big gun to last as long as possible. Sleep. I'll ping you when Shiroe gets back." The bed creaked and rocked again just a little as Michael rose. He pulled a blanket up over Tetorō to keep him warmed, then left the room, shutting the door with a little click. Tetorō relaxed completely and was immediately asleep. It was nice to have an operator that knew what to do and when.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe and Akatsuki entered a quiet and rather sleepy guild hall. When they reached Naotsugu, Shiroe put his hand on his friend's shoulder. It took a bit for the large man to come awake and look at him bleary eyed. "Eh? Oh, you're back?" Naotsugu lifted his head off the back of the couch, where he'd been snoring moments before. He yawned, then looked down at his lap. Shiroe followed the look. "Really. I don't know how she does it, but it never ceases to amaze me that cats really can put people to sleep."

Shiroe nodded. "Cats. They're like that." Akatsuki nodded energetically three times. That was rather a lot of agreement. Shiroe looked over at the chair across from Naotsugu.

Michael was also sleeping when they entered, but his eyes were open now, looking at them, though he looked like he wasn't quite awake either. He nodded a welcome, then said, "Tetorō's sleeping too, but I'll get him up." He switched to being inside the code realm for a few seconds, then came back and nodded. "He'll be a bit to wake up, but he's coming."

"Why's he upstairs?" Akatsuki asked.

Both warriors smiled. "He needed a deeper sleep than the couch would have given him," Michael explained. "He was about to expire. For about three weeks worth."

Shiroe nodded and headed for his chair. Naotsugu was on a chat. "Nap time on the porch is over. Councilor's here." Slowly people began to gather in the main room of the guild hall. Tetorō came down the stairs still a bit sleepy like the rest that had been napping. Most likely no one had slept very long. He walked around the couch, too weary to bounce over it, then picked up Purrcy and held her to his chest and snuggled in next to Naotsugu, taking his turn to lean on the Guardian. He looked like he should be five and a little girl, but that was like him when he was tired. Purrcy grumbled a little but once Tetorō was settled, she settled back down as well, right with him on mostly back to sleep. Shiroe smiled just a little to see it, though they'd both have to wake up once everyone arrived.

"Someday, I'm going to come join in that pile," Michael said from his place. He looked up, then got up and moved to his normal seat directly opposite Shiroe. The twins had arrived, Nyanta following them slowly. His tail moved with the same grace he did, but with experienced eyes, Shiroe could see he was also moving at mostly still asleep. It would take them a bit more time to rouse. He sighed to himself. They had definitely all been moving at too fast a pace for the last couple of weeks. He wouldn't be surprised if he ended up the same when called for dinner.

The door opened and Marielle and Henrietta walked in with Isuzu, Rudy, and Serera. Shiroe didn't say anything. Serera was coming now as a matter of course, though she really didn't need to as a junior member of Crescent Moon. He knew she really wanted to be part of Log Horizon, even with Nyanta no longer an available catch. Since Purrcy had adopted her, too, it would stand. She knew how to keep her mouth closed. Perhaps better than Marielle and Henrietta.

When everyone was seated, it was a slightly different arrangement on the couch. Nyanta on the corner closest to Shiroe was normal, but this time it was Tetorō, holding Purrcy, cuddled with Naotsugu, Naotsugu, with Marie cuddling the opposite side she usually did, and Michael had pulled up the extra chair next to him for Henrietta. As he thought about it, it looked rather like it had looked once before when they'd conferenced. Naotsugu properly gave Marielle a kiss so she didn't complain about Tetorō. She did blush a little at it, but the look she gave Tetorō was rather of compassion. He'd pretty much fallen back to sleep. "If he could shapeshift, he'd be half that size, wouldn't he?" she asked quietly. "He's been working very hard." Most everyone in the room agreed.

When the "junior officers" were seated in their usual formation, Shiroe cleared his throat. "Thanks everybody, for helping us get this far." That got sleepy people perking up a little more - knowing the meeting was officially starting. "The meeting today was about as expected. We've got a good balance that agreed to come and agreed to stay. There was final buy-in for moving forward with the Akiba Corporation and the expansion plan is mostly solid, save for some practical experimentation. We're in unanimous agreement Crusty will come home. We'll see if he agrees. And, I've got the basic strategy planned for when we meet the Overwritten."

"You can do that already?" Purrcy asked. She was rather awake at that news, her ears perked forward.

"I have enough data for an initial outline, yes." Shiroe answered. Purrcy tilted an ear and patted Tetorō's arm with her paw, then grew large enough his arm gave way and let her down. She sat on his lap, then shrank again to curl up in it, tucking her front paws under her. She stayed quiet, though. Shiroe paused to think of what else he needed to report. "It looked like Duke Sergiad was where I wanted him at the wedding. We talked afterward, before they returned to Maihama." His eyes went to Purrcy. She looked back with one set of eyebrow whiskers raised and her head tilted. "Was it you?" he asked.

"Yes," she admitted. "I told him he needed to talk to you before things got too far out of hand. It was both necessary, and a way to distract him when I went that morning."

"Hmm," Shiroe answered, but let it lie there for now. "Did he tell you?"

"No. I said you'd tell me what I needed to know."

Shiroe nodded at that. That was perfectly acceptable. He considered what else he needed to say, then nodded. There might be more, but that was enough for now. He looked at Purrcy. She looked a bit surprised to be called out next. "Ah, after the meeting, I put together the lists of what's next and who needs to do what. Tetorō has those, except he and I need to get together tomorrow first thing and go through his and mine so I can properly schedule when my action items need to get done. ...I called up BigMusclesBill and had him to lunch, then took him over to talk to Tatara and left them to talk shop, since I get in the way if I stay. We've agreed that when I have time to set it up, I'll arrange a trade agreement between the Leprechauns and Tatara. She'll be the point source for the element that makes metalworks theft-proof." Her tail swished. "That's all I've got, I think."

Shiroe blinked. "You...wrote it up?"

"Yes," Purrcy said a bit confused. "It was easier that way." She looked up at Tetorō and patted his cheek with her paw, then licked his hand where it was lying near her until he twitched and moved to wake up. "Sorry, dear, but it's time to wake up and have your say."

"Mmm, what?" Tetorō sat up and took his hand back from the rough tongue that was sandpapering the skin off it. He looked at Purrcy who looked calmly back.

"It's your turn to tell what you did today and where we are. I told them I gave you the lists and we're going to go over our lists tomorrow, and that we visited Tatara."

She almost got toppled off Tetorō's lap as he suddenly realized where he was. He blushed bright red and put his hand over his eyes. "You could have woken me up earlier."

"We did, dear. You weren't ready, but now you have to. It's your turn."

Tetorō sighed and rubbed his face with the hand covering it. "Well, alright, I guess. If I was that hard to wake up that I walked down here in my sleep..." He considered where he was on his list, then shook his head. "I'll get the paperwork to the right people. It's going to be really busy for a while, and likely a tight schedule for us to be ready to get out the door. We may even need to have the scheduling meeting in the morning with Shiroe so we aren't stepping on his toes." He looked over to Shiroe. "Are you ready for that? Or will you need more time to think about the things on your plate?"

Shiroe blinked - again. "It's too much to say?"

"Yes," Tetorō answered soberly. "Do you want to review them first?"

"Ah, I think I'd better," he answered. Both Tetorō and Purrcy gave him cynical looks then looked at each other.

Purrcy finally shook her head. "Fine. Give them to him now so he can review them this afternoon. Why you want the additional work, I have no idea."

"So I don't duplicate it?" he answered. It should have been obvious. Tetorō handed over a sheaf of papers. Shiroe took them, then had to studiously not look at them right away, though his eyes kept straying to skim the top page. Purrcy had been rather thorough. He might have to cut back on some of the details.

"When you're done with them, give them back to me and I'll get them to the right people," Tetorō said. Shiroe nodded.

"Almost makes the rest of the meeting a moot point, doesn't it?" Naotsugu asked. "Unless you review them right now."

Shiroe thought about that, then thumbed through the papers until he found one near the bottom with Naotsugu's name on it. He skimmed the page, pulled out pen and ink, made some notations, and handed it to Naotsugu. "There you go." Naotsugu looked happier.

Shiroe sighed. He thumbed through for Marielle's, read through it quickly, crossed off one line item and changed it, thought about what was on his list, added two more lines, and passed the paper down. He hunted for Henrietta's list next and did the same. Everyone sat patiently for him as he worked one by one around the table until he handed Nyanta his. "Sorry, Serera, there isn't one for you, but then you'd be getting one from Marie anyway." Serera bobbed her head in understanding.

"The rest are for the Eagles and people not present. If you don't mind, I'll go over those after we're done here. Some are a lot more detailed." Reed agreed with a tip of his head. Shiroe paused as he reviewed the list Purrcy had made up for him. It was pretty much in line with what he knew he was going to have to do already. He nodded and looked back up at Tetorō and Purrcy. "So, we'll go over the two of yours tomorrow, then?" They both nodded. "Okay. Anybody have anything they want to add right now? I think we'll revisit again after that morning meeting and everyone's had time to fit these lists in with whatever's already on your own personal lists." He looked around the room. It seemed to be sufficient for now.

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. "Please do rest this afternoon, as much as you can."

"I'll do my best," she answered. "I will have to work some as it's the only quiet time I'll have for a while, but I'll do it while resting, too."

Shiroe nodded. He'd expected as much. Purrcy turned and touched noses with Tetorō, who stroked her back. She moved to Naotsugu and gave him a cat kiss too, then rubbed against his chest. "Thanks, Naotsugu," she said.

He gave her a friendly pat. "That's what I'm here for."

"So Tetorō tells me," she smiled and moved to rub against Marielle and purr for her too, and let her get her own pets in.

Marielle gave her a hug. "You take care of yourself, hear?" Purrcy purred and rubbed her head on Marielle's cheek, then moved to Henrietta.

"You'd think you were going away for another two months," Henrietta grumbled. "I thought it was just an afternoon." She was holding Purrcy's face between her hands.

"It is just the afternoon. I'm just getting as many pets as I can since everyone's here right now," Purrcy teased. Henrietta sighed, then gave in and held her in a hug and pet her. Purrcy's purr hadn't stopped.

The leap over to Michael was a change from housecat to kitten. She landed on his shoulder and licked his ear, then walked behind his neck to tickle his opposite ear before he could grab her. "Shi-," he cut it off as he finally captured her on the second shoulder. "Geez, woman-cat. You are as bad a tease as a younger sister. Get over there." He shoved her over to Serera, who took her carefully and gently pet her.

Purrcy grew to small housecat and gave her a nose kiss. "It was good to see you again, Serera-chan."

"Thank you, Miss Purrcy," Serera said politely, letting her move on after a face rub and one more pet.

Isuzu got a lick on the cheek and more head rubbing and petting. Rudy was the same, as was Touya, who started out with a mind to just be brief, but in the end needed more time with her to the point of giving her a slight hug. Minori took about as much time. Akatsuki was next and Purrcy sat on her lap properly, looking her in the face. "Take care of him, and you, too," Purrcy said. "See he rests properly this afternoon, too." Akatsuki nodded, then gently pet Purrcy, who leaned in for a nose kiss that made Akatsuki inordinately pleased for just one moment. Then Purrcy was kitten in Shiroe's lap.

He picked her up and held her in his hands. He looked at her soberly. "If the World AI makes you work hard this afternoon, I shall be displeased," he said sternly. "You must have proper rests and breaks so you don't become ill and unuseful."

"Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe," she answered him, the tip of her tail twitching. He held her in one hand and pet her with the finger of the other hand as she purred for him. Before he could get mesmerized, he handed her off to Nyanta. She leaped up on Nyanta's shoulder and curled around to the opposite side, purring as she went.

"I'll meet you at the door," she told him. "I want to greet the sub-guild, too, so they aren't jealous this time." Shiroe could see her smile.

Nyanta nodded and let her stair step to his lap, then the floor, growing as she went. He bowed to Shiroe. "We'll be back in time for the special dinner, for sure, meow," he said with a wink to the junior officers. They smiled back. Shiroe leaned back in his chair and began to review the papers in his hands, but he kept a corner of his eye out for Purrcy's movements through the Eagles. When she reached Nyanta waiting for her at the door, she transformed to felinoid and smiled at him.

Shiroe looked at the both of them. "Have a good time," he said. "We'll be waiting."

They bowed. "We'll return soon." As the door closed behind them, Shiroe sighed to himself. He waited ten seconds, then looked at Michael. When Michael nodded, Shiroe said, "There's another force at work behind the scenes. I haven't told anyone for certain yet, because I haven't been able to tease it out. At this time I've decided I can't on my own. She gave me only one clue a long time ago, when she was first here. If it exists it's very difficult to detect. Still, I'm acting on it as if it's a fact. Here's what you need to add to your lists - but don't write them. Just remember them."

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy led Nyanta down the street towards the street that led to the tree she loved. She took his hand and walked close to him, warming their sides up as they went. "I love fall," she said calmly. She was looking around at the plants growing on the sides of the ancient buildings around them. The deciduous ones were turning color in the leaves and the moss was darker in color now. The grass sticking up through the timeworn pavement was gold-green now, no longer bright summer green. Purrcy kicked through the leaves that were beginning to pile on the ground, crunching them and making them shush with each step, enjoying herself as if a little child.

Nyanta strolled at her pace, enjoying the weather and her calmness and warmth. "How are mew going to take me with mew?" he asked.

"Hmm," Purrcy considered it. "Well...I think we'll try having you be cat and me felinoid first. I think I should just be able to carry you with me through the wormhole. If I get there without you, you can call for ProudWing. He knows how to find me. I'm going to start with a small medical visit I need to get done. If you go through with me, you get to meet them and watch. Otherwise, I should be done by the time you get there."

Nyanta wasn't sure he wanted to go through the Summon wormhole. "Do mew think if everything becomes real, that Summoning will still occur?"

Purrcy considered that for a long time. Finally she said, "I guess I don't know. It seems an odd thing in our world. It seems that things integral to Adventurers and only Adventurers might go away, but it isn't as clear for the other things, particularly the cross-overs like Summon whistles. They were created for our convenience and reward but the People of the Land can use them, too." Purrcy shrugged. "They can use magic, too, and I suppose there are Summoners among them."

"What would mew do if one of them summoned mew?" he asked.

Purrcy looked at him balefully. "Bite your tongue, Nyanta. If there exists a Person of the Land strong enough to bind me we are in trouble."

An ear flicked and he sighed. "Well...I suppose that's true."

Purrcy turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Nyanta," she said with a fetching look, "I am here with you. It isn't good to think up trouble where none exists. Remember I have been a solo a long time and be at peace." She kissed his cheek and her ear brushed his head as it turned. He finally relented and put his arms around her and held her, feeling her warm presence, the warmth rising to bring her scent to his nose. After he was ready, she said, "Come, now, let me hold you and we shall see if we can travel together."

"Is it really possible, and do I have to be made as thin as an atom?" he asked, half-joking.

"I think because of the wedding and the new title it will be, and no, you will not feel stretched so thin. It is more like walking through the gate." She paused as she considered that word. "Hmm...I wonder..." But she left it without talking about it in depth. Nyanta closed his eyes and put his cheek next to hers, then turned into a house cat in her arms, his paws still to either side of her neck and his head resting on her cheek. She cradled him a moment longer, then there was only empty street where they had been, the wind blowing the dry leaves past the space.

-:-:-:-:-

The Caretaker appeared with a creature in her arms they had only seen once before, though this one looked different. It looked like her, when she rested, but rather than black with gold swirls and grey and white flecks like the night sky, this one looked like the grey winter sky. It seemed auspicious that she brought it as winter was on its way, as if she cared for the seasons, not just the creatures of the land.

 _Are you warm?_ she asked them. They answered what their needs were. She did her best to provide with what she had. _Are you sufficiently fed?_ she asked them. They answered they had worked hard. _Bring those who need healing_ , she required. They did and she healed them with her hands, but not the magic that burned them.

The whole time, the grey werecat with a white underbib sat silently and watched what she did. When she was done and they had properly repaid her, she took the werecat back in her arms and the two of them disappeared, as she always did when she could come to their pleas.

-:-:-:-:-

Three more times Purrcy walked through space to heal the creatures that needed her before winter cold set in, and found one that she needed an ingredient from in exchange for what she could give. Then she took them to ProudWing's aerie. When she set Nyanta down there, he changed back into felinoid.

[Welcome, Nyanta, Purrcy,] ProudWing's deep voice sounded in their heads.

"Hello, ProudWing, WhiteCloud," both Nyanta and Purrcy said. "I've come to rest a few hours," Purrcy said to them. "Is there anything either of you need before then?"

[Come, see.] WhiteCloud shifted a wing and leaned away from that side a bit.

Purrcy moved to her side to look and paused. "Come, see, Nyanta. I knew it would be soon." Nyanta moved to stand behind her and look over her shoulder where she crouched, reaching. Under WhiteCloud's wing were two infant gryphonlets.

As Purrcy began to inspect the health of the infants, Nyanta looked at WhiteCloud. "Congratulations. I didn't know, but I'm sure mew must be very purroud."

WhiteCloud did look proud. [Thank you. And it is thanks to you they were able to be born safely. My Summoner was willing to allow me the time to bear them and has said he will only call if he has great need.]

"That is wonderful. I'm glad I was able to be of small help." Nyanta put a hand softly on WhiteCloud's shoulder and let his ears and tail tell his soft pleasure. To be able to have taught her Summoner to speak to her so that this most wonderful of miracles could occur was a blessing. Nyanta watched Purrcy's checkup until she was done. She turned to WhiteCloud then, to make sure she was also healthy and Nyanta bent down to softly touch the downy fluff around the head of one of the gryphonlets. The gryphonlet was now very awake from Purrcy's handling and it looked at him just as curiously as he looked at it. "Hello," he said to it. "I'm a friend of meowr father's."

He felt warm soft tickling as ProudWing's head appeared over his shoulder. [You are kind, but properly, he is my master. He holds my Summon whistle. The Caretaker is his wife. You did well to allow her to see to you, both of you. You will also respect Nyanta.]

[Yes, Papa,] both piped up.

"How old are they?" Nyanta asked.

[Three days,] ProudWing was as his name - very proud of them.

"Already they talk and understand such concepts?" Naynta was very surprised.

ProudWing hissed a laugh at him. [If they didn't, they wouldn't last long in this world, would they? And because both of their parents are very old, they have inherited immediately the capacity to speak, being born of a commensurate intelligence.] He gave a stern eye to his children. [Though they still will have much learning and growing to do to understand the world.] The gryphonlets settled, properly scolded.

Nyanta nodded. "Listen well to meowr parents. They will help mew live long and happy lives. They are very good parents to have been born to." He stood up and stepped back, taking ProudWing away just a little to talk to him. "Mew would have told me if I called for mew, I hope."

ProudWing nodded. [I would have, though for me it isn't as critical.]

Nyanta shook his head. "Until they are old enough to be left alone, I shouldn't call for mew, so mew can care for all three of them."

ProudWing shook his head. [Nyanta,] he looked up so that Nyanta also had to look up at the tall grey mountain walls around them, [you see we are well protected in this cave with a vertical entrance. It is so they are protected while we hunt. All creatures who fly are like thus. It is not an odd thing for both of us to be gone at the same time while they are young.] He looked back at Nyanta. [It teaches them to be still and quiet while they wait for us, and if something should come, to hide - or to catch it and eat it for themselves.]

Nyanta considered that, an ear turning back. It turned back forward and he said, "ProudWing, even still. There are things they may not be able to hide from, and things that if they eat will harm them. It would be sad to lose even one of them. We will be traveling soon. I will see if we can do it by some other means than flight for the first part. After that, we will have our own methods of travel. That way at least mew can be home to feed them if WhiteCloud's Summoner should have to call for her. At what age are they able to fend for themselves?"

ProudWing tipped his head and looked at him. [At four months they begin to learn to fly and by seven we will be taking them out to teach them to hunt. But that is a very long time. If you need me, please call. It is my joy as well as my duty to come when you do.]

Purrcy's hand slipped into Nyanta's. "I agree with Nyanta, but then we see as humans see," she smiled at ProudWing. "All three of them appear healthy and well. Have you stayed the same since I last saw you? WhiteCloud said you were in a fight over food."

ProudWing's head reared back and he gave a glare to his wife. WhiteCloud turned her head away, preferring her mate to be healthy. Nyanta almost laughed. He squeezed Purrcy's hand. "Will mew see that my steed is purroperly seen to, so that I can know I have one that is purrfect, rather than injured in any way."

ProudWing's ears went down in apology and chagrin, but Purrcy knew Nyanta was teasing. Her whiskers twitched and she stepped out from him and bowed to him. "Certainly, Good Sir. Right away." She walked over to ProudWing and had him show her where the damage had been done. It only took a few minutes for her to perform her check and put some salve on the wound to reassure herself it would heal antiseptically.

Again, Nyanta watched as she did her work. When she was done and rose, wiping her forehead even though she was cat and not human, he stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms round her. "And now, mew must rest." He wouldn't let her move until she relaxed and relented. He turned her around to face him and she leaned on his shoulder, placing a hand on his chest in front of her face, listening to his heartbeat for a moment, before sighing and becoming the cat being held. He pet her slowly until she calmed into light sleep. "ProudWing, can I lean on mew a bit until it's time to go home?" he asked the gryphon in front of him.

[Of course. Is she not well?] ProudWing asked.

Nyanta's nose whiskers twitched slightly, and he waited to answer until he was sitting on the ground and leaning back on ProudWing's shoulder where they could talk and include WhiteCloud if she wished to converse also. "Inari has been abusing her," he finally said. "We, of Log Horizon, have been fighting it and teaching Inari what is proper of a Summoner of an Adventurer. This afternoon is the only time she has to rest and still she has been working to help the creatures of the land."

He looked down at Purrcy's collar. It was decreasing from the yellow-green down to the green-indigo of sleep, but there were still occasional bursts of brighter yellow and orange. He sighed. "And it looks like she means to continue working the mind while she rests the body." When the fifth light lit to the green-indigo, he knew it was true. He gave her a light pat to the face in reproval, but he knew she didn't feel it. He also knew he couldn't prevent it. She hadn't spent any time at all on any of her code projects since the collar had been put on.

He looked up at ProudWing. "How do I steal a whistle from something I cannot reach? If she is taken from me by it, how shall I retrieve her?" He closed his eyes, leaning his head back to rest it on the soft feathers over the firm muscles of the gryphon. "We've been purromised she will be returned to us. Can a thing that appears as a god keep such a purromise? Does such a purromise even have meaning to such a one?"

A smooth beak touched Nyanta's face and rubbed him gently. [Rest. We will keep watch over you both.]

Nyanta held still a moment longer, then nodded. "We must be back at the guild hall by dinner. Please wake us in time."

[I will.] A wing shifted to cover them both with warmth. Nyanta continued to pet Purrcy until he also was resting and dozing, as warm in his feathered hiding place as if he were in the sun on his porch, save here he was also comforted by the presence of those who understood his worries, even if they couldn't answer them.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta woke again when he began to get cold. The wing had been removed from around him. He looked up at ProudWing. [Good evening. It is time to return. I can have you there shortly, once you're ready. I think it would be good to let her continue to sleep on the journey home?] Nyanta finished waking up, then lifted Purrcy up above his head. ProudWing put his head down so that Nyanta could put her on the gryphon's head, the way they often rested together. Nyanta stretched out all his muscles, groomed a bit, then rose to put the saddle on ProudWing. He was rather surprised ProudWind could stand up with Purrcy still balanced on his head.

When the saddle was on, Nyanta went to WhiteCloud. "Thank mew for letting us stay to rest in meowr home again. May meowr little ones continue to be happy and healthy." He pet her cheek as she lay her head against his.

[Thank you, Nyanta. Please continue to have courage. It is a new thing for you both, but it is bearable. She won't die. She is needed.] WhiteCloud encouraged him.

He leaned into her a bit, then said, "Thank mew," and turned back to ProudWing. "I'll send him back straightway." She gave a nod.

As they flew back to Akiba, Nyanta was thoughtful. Finally he said to ProudWing, through the party chat, "ProudWing, the things I said today...they are the things mew also wonder, are they nyot?" He looked over to his right at the scenery rolling away underneath them and pet Purrcy in his lap unconsciously. "I cannot decide. What would be best? I would also free mew of them, but I can see fear in that as well. If I said I would break meowr whistle, mew would be free of a master to summon mew at their whim. But if mew died, there would be none to recall mew and meowr family would be left without a father and husband." He paused, feeling the emptiness that he himself had left his own wife and son with.

"If I gave the whistle to WhiteCloud then she could call mew if that happened. If mew died together and she weren't called...well it seems there is that case if a Summon holds a Summon's whistle. Is the way it is best after all, when the whistle is held by one who is also immortal, or who can pass it down through the generations to see that you return safely back? ...Or do mew sometimes wish for the darkness of oblivion?" That option still frightened him, but he felt he ought to offer it. Brenner's words that he welcomed that had made it an option he'd been unwilling to consider before, but now understood that others might.

There was silence for a time as ProudWing pondered. He finally answered, [Nyanta, I have been researching your earlier question of what happens when a whistle is broken.] Nyanta's ears went forward in interest. [I was finally able to speak with a hippogriff who was very ancient. He told me that his whistle had been broken by a young holder and for many, many years he wasn't called. Then one day, perhaps hundreds of years later, he was suddenly summoned. While serving during that time he had the opportunity to overhear the story told by his Summoner.] ProudWing's ear turned back towards Nyanta. [The new Summoner had found the whistle, whole, in a dungeon as a prize. The same dungeon he had been born as a Summon in at the beginning.]

Nyanta sat up straight, his ears turning. "So, that would mean that even if a whistle is broken, it can be restored by the magic of this world and placed again in its original resting place." He thought about it. "Likely...the dungeon had been walked enough times for his whistle to come up again as a prize. He was still listed as a Summon linked to the dungeon and he was not linked to an owner. Like when we use a potion and the bottle disappears. Somewhere in the world it reappears with more potion in it, even though we don't understand how or when." He chewed on that for a bit. "So, it would be like the breaking of the whistle is the breaking of the link, or contract, between the Summoner and the Summon, but it doesn't turn a Summon into an unsummonable."

ProudWing nodded. [The reasoning is sound.]

Nyanta sighed. He didn't really like that. It meant Purrcy would always be a Summon. "It seems pointless to break it then, unless mew hated the Summoner and could accidentally step on it to get a new and hopefully better one."

ProudWing laughed. [It could never happen.]

"No, it would be difficult," agreed Nyanta. He stroked Purrcy's fur again. "Then, it would be better to not break it, but to rather see it in the hands of one who cared and was trustworthy."

[I think so,] ProudWing agreed. [For me, if it is you, that is sufficient enough. Though...,] he looked backwards from one eye at Nyanta, [perhaps I would be happier if you also held WhiteCloud's whistle. Then I would know the fate of one would be the fate of the other.]

Nyanta nodded. "I can see that. ...For now, her Summoner enjoys having her too much, and isn't a bad master." ProudWing agreed. "But if we find the way home, and I get my wish to stay, I will ask him if he will give it to me before he goes. It is quite possible that all of the whistles in the hands of Adventurers that day will return to their dungeons and places of origin again."

There was silence for a bit, then ProudWing said, [That is an acceptable arrangement.] And a bit later, [You're concern is that you believe that the Caretaker's whistle is held by someone who is not trustworthy, or doesn't care?]

"Correct," Nyanta said, his voice flat. "How can a logical creation with no emotions or understanding of them care? Inari has already purroven it doesn't by abusing Purrcy in many ways. It wasn't allowing her to rest at all, and was using her body and mind beyond the limits it was meant to be used for. I don't think I need to reiterate what it did to her in Minami when she didn't even have a body. We've had to set restrictions of agreement and force in order for it to allow her to have what little rest she does get. Because we are required to assist, even we are being pushed beyond what is reasonable. Only our own desperate desires to see the same goals met continue to move us forward."

[How are you even able to get that much?] ProudWing wanted to know.

Nyanta smiled a grim smile. "We have the greatest mind in Yamato, if not all Theldesia, at our head. It wants him and he sets the terms to have him. He is not Summonable, but must be reasoned and treatied with."

ProudWing nodded and gave a small laughing hiss. [Yes, the Archmage Shiroe. He is formidable. Even this is legendary.] He paused, then added, [Well, I suppose we saw it before, but it is still comforting to know that he is willing to care for the Caretaker. If he held her whistle, it would also be acceptable.]

Nyanta pursed his lips and his heart went hard. He agreed, but couldn't bring himself to say anyone other than he should have the whistle of his wife. "When I first believed he held it, it was sufficient for the time." He felt the gryphon sigh under his legs. There wasn't anything to say to it though, not even for himself.

-:-:-:-:-

When Nyanta could see the lights of Akiba making the sky glow, he set ProudWing to a long circuitous route in, making him rise high in the sky first. When the course was set, he lifted the cat from his lap and turned her upside down in his arm. With an open palm he rubbed her chest feeling the soft underbelly fur. There was a slight twitch at the base of her tail, though most of Purrcy was relaxed in physical sleep still.

He ran his hand down her front leg until he reached the paw. Gently pressing on the leathery pads with his thumb, he made each claw tip come out of its sheath, rubbing the top of the paw with his fingers. When it pulled away, he moved to the other front leg, again running his hand down its full length and gently playing with the paw pad and claws. When it tensed so the claws stayed out, he moved to the belly again, rubbing the chest with his fingers, then petting her down to her withers. The tail twitched again.

With a glint in his eye, he gently grasped both back paws in his hand to hold them away from his face and lifted her, still belly up, and began to groom her along her belly and inner side. When she squirmed he held on more firmly and continued until she gasped out, "Nyanta! Stop...can't...breathe!" He purred deep in his chest, shifted her, and started in on the other side.

He was suddenly holding his wife. She was facing him and wearing her flying sweater and jeans and opening her mouth to scold him. He attacked her neck before she could get the words out, holding her head with the hand that had been holding her paws, so that she couldn't get away. In desperation her hand pushed on his side, then slid down it to his sensitive flank.

He paused, considering, then groomed along the underside of her chin around to the other side of her neck to continue. She began to run her hand across his lower belly to the other flank when it ran into a body part that hadn't ever been there before and didn't belong on a felinoid. Her hands were suddenly in the air and she was rocking back from him in surprise. He let her, but didn't let her go too far, still holding on to her.

"N-Nyanta!" She blinked at him in shock. "You - you're going to work on that next? When it's being difficult?"

Nyanta took her head between both hands and looked into her eyes. Quietly he said, "Please don't misunderstand. It isn't for mew. It is selfishly only for me." He could feel her begin to tremble in his hands as her breath came in a gasp. He pulled her in for a long kiss, then told her in her ear what she was going to do for him.

"S-so greedy, Nyanta," she wriggled.

"Nevertheless, mew will do it for me." He pulled her in for a kiss again, then simultaneously ran the other hand down her front, feeling pubescent buds grow up under it as he moved down to her flank. He rested that hand on her thigh and pulled her head to his shoulder. As he pet the trembling felinoid on the back of her head, he moved back up, one breast at a time, massaging each until they were exactly the sizes he wanted. When he had finished with the fourth and top one, he said quietly in her ear. "This is what I want. Memorize it."

"Yes, Nyanta." He wrapped his tail around her waist and shifted sides, silently telling ProudWing to take them down without notice to the clearing by the tree. He was done by the time they arrived. It wasn't until ProudWing was gone that he allowed either one to speak again. Lifting Purrcy up from the ground where he'd left her while removing the saddle from ProudWing, he pulled her to him again.

"Nyanta...," she said because he'd lifted the restriction, "o-only when we're alone, right?"

His eyes glinted again. "Tonight I will approve what mew wear, and what mew wear will please me." She gulped and nodded. "Put on meowr favorite, and then we will modify it." Her loose, flowy gold-speckled black blouse and pants were on immediately. He stepped back, making her stay still. "Tighten the bodice around the top two," he ordered quietly.

It took them ten minutes before he was finally pleased with the amount of tightness around the top two breasts and the perfect amount of cleavage showing, as well as shoulders and upper back. Now she looked more like the majority of half-beast Adventurer females, though not as busty as Marielle, which was too much for him. Only he and she knew the others were present under the blouse and pants. After all, when you have a Transformation mage as a wife, why settle for one size for all four pairs?

"Mew will hold this until I say we are done," he looked her in the eye. She gulped and nodded again. He changed his own clothes slightly to be more proper for party going and to match her, then held out his elbow to her. She slipped her hand into it and meekly walked with him. After a bit he added, "After all, if mew'll spend all that HP and time on others, it is only right for mew to spend some of it on meowr husband who has been working hard for mew all this time."

Her ears and tail fell in apology. "Yes, Nyanta."


	81. Stormfront Rising

Shiroe set down his pen and stretched his interlocked hands out in front of him, palms out to stretch his fingers. Leaning on his elbows, he sighed. He wasn't sure how he managed to get so much done each day and yet feel like he was still only crawling along. He could understand why Purrcy and the World AI would want to move fast enough that millionths of a second could look like minutes. That didn't make it better, but he could understand it. Still, moving through each day enjoying life as it passed was also important. It couldn't always be work. The dates helped him remember that. He smiled at Akatsuki. "Thank you." A raised eyebrow. "For keeping me company again."

A pleased nod and she unfolded from her kneeling position. She actually didn't stay all day every day. She had her set times she was present. Sometimes she was practicing, sometimes on duty in the city, and at least once a week she was at Water Maple Manor to visit the Princess and her other friends. And of course when they were on their dates, she wasn't here in this room either. "Are you ready for Michael?" Shiroe took his turn to nod wordlessly. "He asked if you'd meet him at the shipyard. He says it will be easier if you all work there over the maps. I'll escort you."

Shiroe stood. Three of the pieces of paper on his desk disappeared into his list under his scroll file pointer. Akatsuki opened the door for him and he walked out. It felt just a little odd, since technically he, as the male, should open the door for her, but he'd given up about the fifth week. Now they were dating it was awkward again, but so far they'd resolved that somewhat. He held the door only when they were on a date and if they both forgot, they let it pass. He tried hard to not forget, though.

Tetorō was on the couch, lying on his back as he did when it was his turn to be the one to hold down the fort as it were. One knee was up and the other leg was resting on top of it. His hands were behind his head. He tipped his head up to look at them as they approached to walk past. "Shipyard," Akatsuki said to him.

"Have fun," he answered back. "Naotsugu and Marie are at the ice cream shop, though why in the middle of the fall season I have no idea. She says she has to be back to bend to Henrietta's whip again by mid afternoon and Naotsugu says he'll go with her and be back before dinner."

Shiroe nodded. Naotsugu did need to start getting in more time at Crescent Moon, not just give Marielle more individual attention. He wondered how the wedding plans were going. Surely Marielle wasn't letting those slip at all. He expected grand since she was so into event planning. "Make sure if there's something we can do, we're doing it," Shiroe said. "But not so much we fold, too."

"Got it, Councilor," Tetorō answered. "How much of his time are you willing to give up?"

Shiroe paused halfway to the door. "Let me think about it. We've got to add in today's data, too."

Tetorō snapped his fingers and held up a thumb. Shiroe continued to the door and he and Akatsuki joined the people of the city out in the streets. Their own street was becoming a bit more busy compared to when they had first moved in now that the Academy was moving forward in capacity and people were getting used to the idea that they might actually like to spend some of their time and money on improving themselves there. "Let's swing by the Academy," he said to Akatsuki. She nodded and they turned that way.

The walk through the leaves crunching under their feet was pleasant. Akatsuki even relaxed enough to attack leaves fluttering to the ground so that it looked like she was playing with them. Shiroe smiled slightly, contented to see it. The Academy itself was looking much more like an academic building and less like an ancient ruin of a factory building. The grounds were also nicely in shape, though the few plants that had been placed as landscaping were now twigs and brown sticks since it was fall. In the spring they would put on green growth again and beautify the grounds. Shiroe nodded, pleased.

He breathed in a deep breath of the cool air filled with the scents of sweet leaves and earth. Over on the left side of the Academy building he could hear the battle instructor calling out orders. The lower to mid level solos had welcomed the classes put on by instructors from the fighting guilds. They'd offered one class to teach them how to party up, and another one for increasing capability, and Akatsuki had taken on one of the last series of classes as an assistant to teach the Mysteries, letting D.D.D. handle the main instruction.

"How did the last class go? It finished before we talked to Souji, right?"

Akatsuki nodded one firm nod. "They learned well enough. ...I think Souji's class will be better, though."

"Have you talked to him lately?"

Akatsuki shook her head. "Said he was going to learn it for himself first, then come ask questions."

That made sense. She opened the door into the Academy building and he walked in. They walked through the building, looking to see what had been done and to listen as they passed the classes being taught. He was pleased with the student count. A few classes still only had four or so students, but now most of them were on average about ten or twelve. That was good progress.

There were only a few rooms on the top floor that were still detritus-encumbered, but it looked like that was still a work in progress. The top floor was apartments now for the students from Minami. At one end of the third floor was the cafeteria. There were open areas in that space and Shiroe wondered what the planned use for those spaces was.

They were about to leave the cafeteria when the high heels approaching down the hall entered the room and Shiroe froze slightly. "Henrietta."

"Shiroe! To what do I owe this surprise visit? Were you reading my mind again?"

"No, just wanted to see how things were going since I was headed out anyway. What are those spaces for?" he pointed to them, mostly to distract her from her plans for his own itinerary.

"Right now we're only selling Crescent Burger foodstuffs here, and have the kitchen space for those who want to cook for themselves. We're trying to win several other food vendors into renting space there so the students have more options. That should bring in income from the students who don't live here as well, since they have a hard time getting to the food court in center town. They'll also be able to take more classes. We've found that a lot of them are interested in more classes, but once they get to the food court, they don't want to come back."

"How's rental going?" he asked.

"We've got three almost signed on and two more are considering it. For the most part they're looking for people to hire on before they can move in."

"Are the Minami students willing to hire on?"

"We've offered it and a few are considering it as their earnings option once their service contract is up. It's a bit of a timing juggling act at the moment."

"I'd think that if they're earning money they can buy their way off the service contract, or some similar arrangement," Shiroe offered.

Henrietta nodded. "If you say so. We've discussed it and were going to bring it up at the Board meeting."

"Do that," Shiroe said immediately. "Just because I've said it doesn't mean you should circumvent the Board."

Henrietta looked down at her clipboard and Shiroe wondered how to escape past her since she was still between him and the door. He shifted slightly to see if she would move to let him pass. She didn't move and he sighed to himself. "Will you be teaching your section of the third level Hacker class this week or next?" Henrietta looked up at him, her eyes convicting him.

Shiroe held still as he ran through all the things on his plate. "Can I give you the answer tomorrow?"

"If you're going to do that, then perhaps you should just come to the board meeting."

"That's tomorrow?" Shiroe asked.

"I believe so," Henrietta answered, blinking at him mildly.

"If it's in the afternoon, I'll try to come," he promised the best he could. He hoped it was afternoon. Tetorō and Purrcy wouldn't be ready until then. Henrietta finally nodded and turned to let him pass. He gratefully, but cautiously, moved passed her for the door. "And Shiroe," he froze, "let Purrcy know we need to hear from her sometime...anytime..." Shiroe crunched his head into his shoulders a little and nodded, then escaped as fast as he could. Things were getting a bit more difficult than he'd expected. He supposed he'd been warned, though.

Things were busy at the shipyard, too. Shiroe paused at the drydock to look over the newest steamship under construction. It looked like it would be more streamlined and more sturdy than the Ocypete. The joint construction techniques with the Technicians seemed to be helping move that technology forward as well. It was nice to see just what they were all capable of and the forward progress that could be made when they all worked together. It helped him just to see that much in front of him. When he'd seen his fill, he let Akatsuki take him into the offices and to the one Michael was waiting for him in.

They knocked, then entered. There was a table surrounded by chairs and covered with maps and charts. Michael, Gareth, and the star navigator, Christian, were sitting at the table. They'd likely been going over chart navigations, but had paused at the knock and were waiting for them politely.

"Hello," Shiroe said, keeping his demeanor as pleasant as he could given anyone who looked him in the eye was rather put off by how sharp they were. "Are you ready for me?"

"Sure," Michael said, "anytime. Please sit here." He pulled out the seat next to him.

"Welcome," Christian said, it being his office.

"Thank you." Shiroe said politely. "I've said it before, but thank you again for coming to share your knowledge with us."

"Sir Michael and Squire Gareth are excellent students, I've appreciated having such persons to teach," Christian said politely.

Shiroe didn't blink, but the reminder of their status was a bit jarring. He'd barely managed to remember to stay somewhat royal himself on entering. It was a bit of practice for him. He turned to Michael. "I'll need to know timing to get from city to city by ship, though we'll also have the train after the Winter Festival. We could potentially go to one or two cities before then, then the rest after. I don't think it has to be all at once before the festival. Have you already worked up a potential course?"

"You wanted to get to the main Adventurer Cities only this round, correct?"

Shiroe sighed and sat back. "I know we should also visit the People of the Land, but...I'm not sure we can fit that in too." He ran a hand over his head. "Let's look at just the Adventurer cities first and the timing there. If we can fit in the main Person of the Land contacts in between, then we'll add that in."

"Okay," Michael nodded and pulled out a map to set on the top of the pile.

Shiroe looked at Akatsuki. "If you want to go do something while I'm here, go ahead. I'll call you when we're getting close."

Akatsuki bowed. "I will, thank you." They were into the discussion by the time the door clicked quietly behind her.

-:-:-:-:-

"Naotsugu, Honey," Marielle reached around him and picked up a napkin off the counter. "When did you get so messy when you ate?" She wiped his chin. "Are you distracted by something?" The napkin moved on down to his chest to wipe the chocolate ice cream off his sweater.

"Well, actually I was," he admitted. "It's a shame to waste chocolate ice cream." He kissed her nose. "Thank you."

She looked at him, curious. He glanced back over her shoulder again, but the figure he'd seen was gone. He shook his head and called up a chat. "Nazuna, I think I just saw another minor Overwritten. Over by the ice cream shop. Headed northwest. How many does that make it since the festival?"

"Rather more than normal, actually. I think we're up to two a day now, with that one."

"You're popping them off?"

"Yes."

"Capture one next time. They might be trying to get to Purrcy or Shiroe to talk to them."

"..." The silence went on for a while, then, "You're not joking."

"No," he answered mildly.

She sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll pass the word along. How many do you want?"

"I would think one would be fine, but if you can lock up two or three we might get a full sentence out of them combined." He took another bite of his ice cream before it melted, though it wasn't going to very fast this time of year. Marielle slipped her hand in his and he held onto her colder hand to warm it up. "Thanks." He closed the chat and returned to talk to his date.

"They really want to try it, huh?"

Naotsugu thought about that. "Well, that's what's going down in China. I think it's more interesting that they look like they're trying to talk before then, while we're still here. Having that many show up of the minor ones either means they're getting ready to send in a big boss here, or they're desperate."

Marielle's brow wrinkled, "Do you really think they're going to send something big again?"

Naotsugu shrugged. "A wicked Santa, maybe, or some such. They haven't rotated the new monsters much, surprisingly. You know, the way the Goblin King works on a common rotation. I'm surprised the new package didn't set up the new bosses that way, too. It still looks random to me, when they show up. But we didn't get one for the Fall festival, so it could be we'll get one for the winter holiday. Or they're trying to make connections."

Marielle shook her head. "For all I'd hate to have to fight a nasty Santa, I think it very unlikely they're making connections. We're better off preparing for another in-city fight."

Naotsugu agreed. It was Soujirou's to announce, though. He tucked her now slightly more warmish hand in his elbow and led her over to a table so he could finish eating his ice cream without losing any more.

"Naotsugu, I can get you want some, but is that really the reason they're showing up?" Naotsugu sat up straight in a bit of surprise.

"I don't know, Souji. If you want to call the troops up, go ahead. Better safe than sorry, you know? It's just the next level and the Councilor's been wanting to have one face Purrcy when one shows up we can nab."

"Oh, okay. We'll do that and let you know. Thanks."

"No problem." Naotsugu shook his head. "Sorry, Marie, to mix work with the date."

Marielle sighed and put her chin in her hand. "I suppose I shouldn't complain, but it is the first time we've had since before the festival."

"Yeah, I know," he pulled her over to lean into him, then on a sudden thought offered her some of his ice cream.

She laughed and took a smallish bite. "I do have my own, but I'll take that as payment," she said.

He smiled. He'd meant it that way. He took another bite of his own. Marielle leaned over and whispered, "Indirect kiss."

Naotsugu blushed and laughed, then gave her a real kiss. "I like the direct one's better."

"Nothin' wrong with that at all," she smiled at him and took another one before tucking into her own ice cream.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki rapped on the window lightly. For the second time she wondered if she should be entering through the door. The second time this visit, that is. She'd been entering in through the window for a long time now, it rather having become habit, though it was certainly odd. No one else entered other people's living places through windows, unless they were thieves. She wasn't one, and she did always knock politely now. She hadn't at first. The first time had been an accident almost. Princess Raynessia's hands opened the window and she stepped back. "Not the maid?" Akatsuki was surprised enough to ask.

Raynessia smiled. "Not today. You haven't been here in a while and I guess I was a bit excited."

Akatsuki stepped through the window and closed it behind herself. It was going to be too chilly to enter that way soon. Maybe she should practice coming through the door properly. "Excited?" She paused, "Eh, the family?"

"They've gone home already, it's okay," Raynessia reassured her odd friend. They certainly wouldn't have understood why that kind of entrance was okay in any setting. "Yes," she moved to her favorite perch on the couch. There was already a fire in the fireplace, but it only blazed low - just enough to keep the large sitting room warm but not overly so. A coal snapped as Akatsuki passed it. She loved the smell of wood fires and so paused briefly before taking her normal place on the couch opposite Raynessia, sitting on her knees as always. Once she was settled, Raynessia continued. "I've just received word that the tailors Lady Purrcy requested are on their way here and should arrive tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Akatsuki sat up even straighter.

"Yes. They are very excited about working with an Adventurer. Father says that they were quite willing to come."

"That's nice," Akatsuki wasn't sure what else to say. If they were coming tomorrow...tomorrow would be very full. "Ah...will they...expect to see Purrcy right away?"

Raynessia paused, tilting her head a little, a lock of silver hair slipping down over the front of her shoulder to curl tantalizingly around her breast. Akatsuki was captivated by it, though she refused to stare. "Well...normally, they'd expect to be seen rather soon after arriving...but, of course they'd wait on Lady Purrcy's pleasure."

Akatsuki blinked. "Not pleasure. Requirements. Her schedule is...rather full still."

"Oh," Raynessia gave a slightly disappointed wrinkle to her brow. Normally she wouldn't really care.

"Did you...want to see her too?" Akatsuki asked.

Raynessia blushed slightly and looked away. "Well, not if her schedule won't allow it. I hate to impose. I'm sure I'm rather low on her list to be visiting."

Akatsuki raised a hand, wanting to protest, then not sure she could. She considered the proper answer. "She sees you, and all of the Water Maple ladies, as friends. But her schedule isn't her own yet." That was the best she could do.

Raynessia nodded knowingly. "It's only to be expected. If we need to house the tailors for a day or two, we'd be happy to, though I'm sure they'll be anxious to get back to their work before too long."

Akatsuki nodded. "We'll fit it in as soon as we can. I'll let Tetorō know."

"Thank you," Raynessia said and settled back. They settled to their usual comfortable sitting together occasionally punctuated by a few comments, sipping the warm tea the maid brought them. The warm crackle of the fireplace was a nice background to their visit.

-:-:-:-:-

"Serera, hold up!" Isuzu called. The four from Log Horizon jogged to catch up with their friend.

"What's up?" Touya asked Serera. She was holding five bags on her arms and balancing a basket between them.

"Ah...," she started to answer, then focused on not losing anything as her friends immediately helped her by taking things out of and off her arms. In the end she had only one bag in one hand, and one of Minori's elbows in the other and they were all walking again. Her brain scrambled to remember the question she'd been asked. "We're having a few extra guests to dinner tonight and the food delivery isn't until tomorrow morning, so we were a little short."

Minori nodded. "We've been out shopping too, with the same problem."

Serera looked at her in confusion. "Where are your bags?"

Minori smiled. "Already delivered, Miss Serera!" Rudy waved a hand towards their guild halls. "We decided to come to your rescue as soon as we saw you in distress."

"Thank you," Serera bobbed her head at her friends. Then she realized they'd come from the direction of the market as well, not the guild hall. Then she remembered she could have just "sent" all the bags to the kitchen herself. She sighed at her own lack of intelligence.

Minori patted her hand. "It's not like you could have done the same. You have chefs in your kitchen all the time. Who knows if you'd have put the basket down on top of the freshly baked pie. That would have caused quite a commotion."

Serera smiled at her friend. Minori always knew what to say to make her feel better. "That's true. Only today it's mousse. I'd hate to destroy that. It's one of my favorites."

"I like mousse, too," Minori agreed. Touya nodded in agreement as well.

They arrived chatting to Crescent Moon guild hall and entered together as a group. They headed directly for the kitchen to put the food away, and found that, indeed, the counters were full of small cups filled with mousse. Serera would have made a very big mess if she'd just sent her bags to the kitchen. She did look around and find a corner where if she sent the larger things, like the basket, it wouldn't likely be in the way and could be retrieved when it was seen or she arrived after another shopping trip like this one. Then she felt better.

Once the food was put away - the friends from Log Horizon knew where everything in the kitchen went as well as she did - they walked back out of the kitchen and into the sitting area out in the front entry area. They piled on the chairs and bean bags in one of the corners and visited happily for a bit since they weren't in a hurry to get dinner started just yet.

After about a half-hour the door opened to let Marielle and Naotsugu enter. The pair spied them and walked over to visit as well. After a few minutes Henrietta walked in through the door. "There you are, Marielle. Come on, we've got work to do." Marielle grabbed Naotsugu's hand. He gave a wink to the five and let himself be pulled along. Suddenly Henrietta stopped full stop, almost getting knocked over by the other two. She glared at the younger Log Horizon members. "See that Purrcy knows we need to have the Board meeting tomorrow, as soon as she can be bothered to fit us in. Shiroe says he'll try to come if it's in the afternoon, though he'll probably just weasel out of it." She turned away again and muttered, "Damn inconvenient she won't let anyone friendlist her."

Naotsugu stared at Henrietta as they restarted their walk out. "You know you're supposed to contact Tetorō on scheduling things, right?"

Henrietta shrugged irritably. "They can do it now. I've already told everyone else. I'm busy with other things."

The four friends looked at each other, then grins split their faces. The older set were sometimes very hilarious.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō was woken from his nap by the cold swirl of air coming in from the front door. It had been a pleasant dream until then. As four people went by in a noisy huddle, words were thrown at him. "Crescent Moon wants the Board meeting tomorrow. Afternoon, if Shiroe-kei can get the time off to go."

Right. Tetorō pulled out his clipboard to notate. Before the pen was off the paper, the door opened and cold swirled again. "Tetorō, Henrietta stopped me and asked if the Board meeting could be tomorrow afternoon."

Tetorō opened his mouth to say he'd already heard, when another voice said, "Raynessia says the tailors arrive tomorrow. They'd rather be seen then, but she thinks she can hold them off a day or two if necessary." He hurried to make the new notation as the office door clicked closed.

The front door opened again, and he waited for it. The couch creaked as Michael sat on the back of the couch to look down at him. "Word is that there are enough Overwritten on the street today that Soujirou expects a major boss as early as tomorrow." There it was. Tetorō added it to the schedule, too.

He let the clipboard drop to his chest and looked up at his partner. "Just kill me now. Or stick me in that prison of yours. Tell them I'm not scheduled to come out until the day after tomorrow...or maybe even a few days after that." Michael raised an eyebrow. "Hell arrives tomorrow." Tetorō closed his eyes. "Maybe the World AI could be convinced to postpone the boss."

"That's the easiest one?" Michael asked.

Tetorō laughed. "Almost." Michael reached down and patted him on the head. Tetorō waved the hand off and shooed him out of the room then decided to fall asleep again. May as well enjoy the few remaining minutes of his vacation.

He was almost asleep again when once more the wind swirled around the room. He ignored it he was so sleepy now. "Hello! Anybody home?" He sat bolt upright, barely grabbing the clipboard and the pen leaped and bounced on his hand until it finally escaped to roll under the couch. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, that's okay...," he trailed off, then sighed. "Do you think...you could come back...tomorrow?"

Brows furrowed. "I suppose, but, why?"

Tetorō waved a hand. "Never mind. It would be better the next day, or next week, but you're here now. Why?"

"I heard there's a party tonight, so thought I'd show up and crash it." Tetorō landed on his back, back on the couch again, slinging his arm over his forehead and putting the pen and clipboard away, not bothering to find the pen first.

He groaned. "Fine. It'll be on the roof. Just leave me alone until I wake up enough to deal with you, Isaac."

"Thanks," Isaac said and wandered around the main floor until Tetorō growled at him again.

"At least go get the grill started and get out of my hair so I can sleep."

"Right." Isaac wandered off to the roof and Tetorō tried to get back to sleep until he realized it might just be impossible, now. Still, he stubbornly stayed on the couch until the food was headed up to the roof. Then he joined Shiroe and Akatsuki for ten minutes before finally giving up and going up to the roof himself.

-:-:-:-:-

The fires were lit in the barbecue again. Curry was cooking on one end, rice in the middle, and skewers of roast EmBoar on the other. The younger set of Log Horizon had decided to cook both favorite end-of-battle dishes this night. They'd invited Woodstock, Akaneya, Rieze, and Soujirou to attend as well. Isaac had gotten wind of it and decided to crash it. He'd been wandering the roof, but sauntered up as the smells from the grill began to mix and lift in the air to waft with the breeze. He claimed a chair and refused to move, and made a general nuisance of himself, though really he was rather reserved for him, as if he didn't want to get thrown out for bad behavior. The five friends all looked at each other and smiled knowing smiles. When Tetorō appeared and found him present, the seat behind Isaac was suddenly filled with another parked body, and the air began to be filled with insults slung between the two of them.

Minori finally walked up between the two and brandished her ladle. "I'll have the both of you kindly stop, or you'll both kindly take your dinner meal in the market." She turned to Isaac. "If you've decided to be adopted by Hahaue, then you must choose and settle. And since you don't understand, I will choose for you. You are now cousin to Tetorō, and Hahaue is your aunt. Please be welcome to act accordingly." Isaac, flinching away from the hot ladle moving within inches of his face, nodded agreement and both men apologized. They only relaxed when she returned to her position over a large pot filled with curry.

"Is that really how it works?" Isaac asked Tetorō, looking both surprised and confused.

Tetorō's forehead twitched slightly. He forced his jaw to unclench, and answered, "Yes. Please see you understand it as soon as possible, or please leave."

"Am I disliked so much?" Isaac scratched his head.

Tetorō folded his arms and looked away. "Tch. Isn't it because you walked in here as if you were the son, come late and expecting open arms?"

Isaac stared at Tetorō. "You? You're the...son? Of which one?" Tetorō growled and raised a fist, partially standing. Isaac glanced at Minori and put on an innocent expression, raising a hand. "Fine, fine. I get it. I'm only around on rare occasions anyway. Nephew will be fine, though why I have to be cousin to you, I'm sure I don't know. I just want to talk to her and you all keep her locked in your ivory tower so that it's nearly impossible."

Tetorō glared at Isaac. "See that when you do talk to her, you allow her to be herself, and that you -"

Isaac glared back mildly. "And I need lecturing? She isn't so weak as all that."

Tetorō stopped with his mouth open, then dropped back into his chair and put his chin on his arm, turning suddenly morose. Eventually, he turned his head to lay it on the arm. "Fine. You don't understand. Listen and observe more than you speak tonight. Perhaps you'll see well enough." He glared back up at Isaac. "But she isn't weak, not one little bit of weak." He put his head down again and muttered, "Just terrified," but he didn't say it so Isaac could hear it.

"Well, I know that much," Isaac said. "I just said it, didn't I?" Tetorō nodded but didn't raise his head.

Isaac sat with him for a bit, then reached out and rubbed his knuckles into Tetorō's head. "But don't go looking like that when they get here. It's your smile they need to see, isn't it?"

Tetorō waved the hand off his head. "I know it," he said with a scowl. He sighed. "I know it."

"It's hard, eh," Isaac sympathized and leaned over the back of his chair, as they'd been battling back to back before Minori had arrived. "She's a demon at the negotiation table. Nearly worse, if not as bad as, the Machiavelli-in-Glasses, and she isn't afraid to tease me mercilessly. Only a few have the courage for that. To make her be able to relax...you also must be very strong, yes?"

Tetorō blinked at him. "You have no idea," he agreed.

Isaac put his chin in his hand. "So...why are you still standing?"

Tetorō smiled. "I've got everyone supporting me, and surprisingly a very good operator."

Isaac nodded approval. "Good, good. If it ever gets off balance, or can't stay that way, be sure to let me know, you hear." He gave his best 'I expect obedience' scowl.

Tetorō looked up at him mildly. "Normally you wouldn't go to the trouble. Why?"

Isaac flushed. "You have a problem with me trying to be nice?"

It made Tetorō chuckle. "No, of course not. But you're trying too hard for a thing she's already given you. It's okay to relax and be yourself." He put his head back down on his arm. "And thanks."

Isaac nodded and looked away, back towards Minori and the other young chefs. "So...when are they supposed to arrive?"

Tetorō shrugged. "I'm not on watch today. It's my first day off since she got here, though yesterday it was a decreased workload."

"Hoooh? That is stressful."

Tetorō shrugged again. "It's worth it, in the end. And she can still come visit -," he broke it off there and wouldn't say more. When Isaac pressed him too far, he just growled, "Shut up and let me relax, or are we going to kick you out after all?" Isaac let it drop and sat more quietly after that. He'd been told he could stay, which was what he wanted.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy and Nyanta walked up to the roof of the guild hall, where everyone had gathered. The guild filled the open spaces now, it often seemed. It was rather a grand entrance, actually, since everyone stared at Purrcy, and then tried hard to not stare because of her obvious embarrassment and Nyanta's equally obvious dark aura.

"Oh, dear," Isuzu said quietly from her place at the grill, which had been doubled in size two months ago to accommodate the larger guild size, though it wasn't as large as the one in the space between the two sister guild houses. Everyone looked at Tetorō. By the sad look on his face, he'd expected it, that Purrcy would work though her resting time. They all sighed and returned to their labors and conversations. Shiroe's responsibility was welcoming them back, which he did politely and politically didn't ask what they'd done. He then welcomed everyone to officially start the meal and people dug in.

"Purrcy," Akaneya said, "I've always been curious how you come by the items you sell. Will you tell us some of your stories tonight?"

"I'd like to hear them as well," Woodstock agreed.

Purrcy's ears turned until she had unspoken permission to tell from Shiroe and Nyanta, and for extra security, she checked with Tetorō, too. The three of them approved the final check to her restraints being loosened enough to talk. "I ...when I take care of the creatures of Yamato, I ask for treasures in return, and I also collect their trash they no longer want. Sometimes, ...they think I'm rather strange."

Akaneya and Woodstock both nodded. "You do certainly arrive with strange things."

Purrcy was thinking carefully. "There was a young green dragon that got a toe ...well not quite broken, it was more twisted. I fixed that with the pliers, since their bones are rather like iron. He had to heat up his foot with his own firebreath and when it was hot enough, I darted in, grabbed it with the pliers, and turned it. We continued that cycle until the toe was straightened out again. Being young he couldn't give me any of his treasures. I said I would be fine with cleaning up his cave for him, then proceeded to take his fallen scales, dung, fairy dust from the five fairies he'd eaten that had cursed his toe, and a few other things he was satisfied with having cleaned out of his cave. Then I made sure I left before he decided to eat me, too. He was going through a growth phase." She put her chopsticks to the side of her mouth. "Rather nicely, that made harvesting fallen scales even more lucrative than normal that trip." She finished remembering that scene and returned to eating.

"It was interesting to watch Purrcy at work this afternoon," Nyanta said calmly, though a chill ran through the main guild members at the blanket statement of what she _wasn't_ supposed to have done. "The tsuchinoko treated her rather like a goddess, and surprisingly live as a mass, moving underground in the winter. She was making sure they were ready for their winter hibernation, it looked like. I'm not sure where they got the gift offerings they gave her, and I think I'd rather not know." An ear and both sets of whiskers turned back in distaste. "I'm very glad she's fastidious in cleanliness when she's working on her patients, and afterwards."

He looked up at Shiroe, who bore the look with outward calm. "We visited four creatures she healed and prepared for winter, then one that she bargained with." He turned to Purrcy. "What was it you wanted from the miage-nyūdō?"

Touya sat upright. "Isn't that the yokai that grows when you try to look at it?"

Purrcy nodded. "Yes. It's the closest creature I could think of that might have the right kind of ingredient to add to growth milk. Because they are creatures of the woodlands, I finally managed to bargain most of what I'd been given by the tsuchinoko for the nail clippings and hair trim- Well, let's just say parts of it that it was willing to let go of." Touya and the other children had gone rather green at her open description. "Ah, I promise, we'll just pull the essence of growth out of them, not leave the icky parts in," she tried to reassure them. They didn't look particularly convinced.

"Growth milk?" Isaac asked from his position as quiet observer.

"It's her next idea to add to the pipeline," Shiroe said quietly. "Her way of taking care of the youngest of us." Purrcy nodded.

"Ah," Nyanta interjected, "speaking of younglings, my gryphon, PurroudWing, is a purroud new father. WhiteCloud has hatched two new gryphonlets three days ago. Purrcy kindly made sure they and the mother were fine and healthy, then confirmed that PurroudWing was also for me." He was almost emitting sparks from his fur, though his voice was light and pleasant. It was a confusing and scary combination. Purrcy shrank in on herself just slightly, reacting to the static electricity.

"Congratulations, Nyanta," Shiroe said calmly.

"Yes, it means that we'll have to find an alternate means of transportation for the next seven months." Nyanta's words made even Shiroe deflate. "WhiteCloud's Summoner has allowed her time to care for the hatchlings, but for the next few months it would likely be dangerous for PurroudWing to leave them alone and there is no food nearby for the mother and children, so PurroudWing will be very busy." He looked calmly back at Shiroe, "Though he reassures me that he would still come anytime I needed to call him." Shiroe nodded. He'd heard what Nyanta intended to say.

Nyanta turned to Tetorō next. Tetorō braced himself. "Did mew know that she can light up all five and still have it look like it's nighttime? It was rather incredibly beautiful, purrticularly the occasional flashes of fire that went through them - yellows and oranges...and the rare red-oranges. Her HP only fluctuates lightly the entire time, as if watching the calm ocean waves approach and then recede from the shore. It was rather soothing, really." The cold bite to his words wasn't. Purrcy swallowed.

Tetorō took in the information, then drew a quiet breath. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

"Oh, no," Nyanta said lightly again and every spine straightened at the rising killing intent, "I think I'll be seeing to it this time." The shudder that went through Purrcy was visible from the back row.

"You know you were supposed to rest this afternoon, Purrcy." Michael's deeper voice sounded out. He was sitting with his arms folded, leaning back in his chair, and a cool look on his face. "See you learn your lesson properly this time."

Purrcy bowed. "Yes. I'm sorry everyone." Watching her new breasts bob on her body with the bow was different enough to make everyone stare, then carefully not-stare again. No one wanted Nyanta's sharp eyes on them at this particular time of the evening.

When the conversations shifted again and Nyanta had calmed back down to some degree, he rose from his seat and walked over to the grill to claim another meat skewer. Compliance and a few other Eagles were gathered near there, also claiming some of the left-over skewers. Compliance stopped Nyanta with a raised hand. "Ah, how did you manage that?" he asked flicking a glance at Purrcy.

Nyanta blinked at him and without changing expression said, "When one has a Transformation mage as a wife, it isn't too difficult, really. Are mew enjoying it?" Compliance almost died when he opened his mouth, but the guard behind him hit him in the back of the knee, off balancing him enough his mouth closed and he had the time to rethink his answer. He went with silence in the face of Nyanta's eyes.

There was a tiny twitch to Nyanta's nose whiskers on one side, then he turned and walked back to Purrcy. He took his seat, then took her hand and lifted her over to sit in his lap. While he calmly ate from his skewer in his left hand, he wrapped his right arm around her middle and put his hand over her third left breast, which fit his hand perfectly. Purrcy sat stiffly on his lap, silently enduring his hidden torture as he fondled with his elbow and hand each of the hidden three pairs consecutively. Compliance was unable to tear his eyes away and was quite sweating by the time his compatriots took pity on him and dragged him off. The rest of those who caught on to what was going on had to work very hard to not fall into the same pit.

When Nyanta was satisfied his point had been made, he kissed Purrcy on the back of the neck. "I think we will go and make sure mew get purroper rest tonight." He helped her up and stood. Leading her to Shiroe they both bowed. "Good night," Nyanta said and Purrcy echoed him. He looked at the children. "Thank mew for dinner. It was very delicious." Purrcy echoed him humbly.

As the door closed behind them, the entire group - save the few that had no idea - relaxed in a slump and finally let themselves tremble. Michael stood up, went to Tetorō, and helped him stand. He picked up Tetorō's chair and carried it over to set it next to Naotsugu, then set Tetorō in it. His own chair appeared next to Tetorō's. He sat down very close to Tetorō, sprawled his legs out in front of him, and put an arm over the back of Tetorō's chair. As Michael's hand gripped Naotsugu's shoulder, he said, "Remind me to never get on Nyanta's bad side. ...Or rather don't. If I ever forget just how terrible he is when angry, hit me in the head with a two-by-four. I'll thank you for it."

Tetorō nodded from his position curled up in a ball sideways on his chair, his knees to his chest. He leaned his back against Michael, kept one arm wrapped around his knees, and tangled up the fingers of his other hand in Naotsugu's shirt sleeve, holding on tightly as he shivered lightly every now and then. "You're not watching are you?" Michael asked quietly in warning. Tetorō closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. Michael patted him on the head. "Good boy. Let it be until tomorrow." Tetorō nodded miserably. He really, really didn't want tomorrow to come now.


	82. Trial: Round Table vs Nyanta

Shiroe drew a careful, long breath and looked around at the guests. He knew what his own would do next. The guests would be the ones to assuage first. Isaac was the first one to get a fire lit in his belly, his face slowly turning red and his scowl going very dark. Shiroe braced internally and held up his hand. He waited for Isaac to decide he'd hold the explosion long enough to hear Shiroe out. "Isaac, you aren't the only one here who doesn't know what's going on behind the scenes. Rieze and Soujirou have heard it now. I think Akaneya and Woodstock have grasped a simple level of it by now, but haven't heard it directly yet. Who will you hear explain it to you?"

Isaac's head whipped around to Soujirou. "You would normally be in arms already at that. Are you sitting on your butt because you know?"

Soujirou took a careful, calming breath. "It is my first time to witness it, so it is very difficult to keep my seat and my hand from my sword, but yes, that is why."

Rieze's hand was also curling as if to grasp her weapon, but her eyes were on Tetorō. "It wasn't sufficient," she said.

"What? That level of punishment was beyond abuse!" Isaac said angrily at her.

Rieze shook her head. "Not that." Isaac followed her look to see Tetorō, still rocking slightly with his eyes closed, seemingly lost in his head, and being supported by not one but two full tanks. "Tetorō's already tried rather drastic means to get her to slow down and behave."

Isaac calmed slightly at that, then shook his head angrily and looked at Shiroe again. "Explain why Log Horizon doesn't need to be burned to the ground then, Mister-Protects-All-Adventurers-Other-Than-Purrcy." That got the hackles up on a lot of Log Horizon, exactly what Shiroe wanted to contain.

He held his hand up again and gave significant looks around at his own and they calmed slightly, just going back to battle-wary instead of battle-ready. He looked at Michael. "Put up the shield and add in the code from the secure room." He paused, then added, "I've given you copy permissions on it." Michael nodded and spent eight seconds getting it up, then gave him the sign. Shiroe set the permissions on the secure room code that he wanted, then leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees.

When Michael nodded again to indicate he'd set any histories necessary, Shiroe looked at Isaac and told him the basic story of where they really were that he'd allowed Stiletto to tell others as first level secure information, keeping open and frank in the telling. Then he added in what had happened since Li Gan had come to visit - that apparently the People of the Land knew about the Priestess, that it was a real office, and that the World AI had come itself the next morning and talked to them through Purrcy. That visit had confirmed his suspicions that there was a 'higher force' acting on the world through her.

When Shiroe was done, Isaac shook his head. "Okay, I get that you see it as punishing the World AI, or whatever it was that brought us here, but that was beyond reasonable. Nyanta was sexually abusing her in public. That's not right at all, and is a clear breach of the laws you helped establish, Shiroe. And I talked to Tetorō before this whole thing began. For him to be like this now, it was severe even for him, when all he's done is try his best."

Rieze cleared her throat. "I would have to agree with Isaac on the first point...," she shifted, then added, "but Isaac...I learned about the collar by accident the day after it happened. He's regretted putting it on her since the beginning but couldn't think of anything else that might have an effect. To have it be worked around and still have her being used that way must be excruciating. ...I would have to say that I can relate to Nyanta-san's anger, if not his methods."

Compliance cleared his throat, still pale himself. "That would be my fault, actually, I'm afraid. I - I'm terribly sorry." Dark eyes went his way, particularly Isaac and Soujirou's. "I stepped all over his jealousy button, and he was putting me in my place. Since I'd stepped on it in public, I guess he felt he needed to answer it publicly."

There were confused looks on some faces. Shiroe was in agreement with those. "What did you do ...and why do you say it was sexual abuse, Isaac?"

Compliance wasn't the only one to blush and the looks they gave the females in the group said they didn't want to say at all. "It's probably better to let those who don't understand continue to not understand," Naotsugu said with finality. "I'll tell you later when it's just us."

Shiroe looked over at him and Michael caught his eye. Michael was shaking his head. "No, that's Compliance's job to explain, but I agree with it being not explained here and now. Later is better." Compliance bowed his head, accepting the duty.

Shiroe pursed his lips, then nodded. "I think you'll explain with Isaac and Souji in attendance as well, then."

Tetorō turned his head slowly to face the group. The look on his face was the pleasant mask he wore to hide behind, though he didn't stop rocking. "Nyanta told her that he'd be the one to take care of it next. He's only keeping his promise. The World AI has been the one to push his buttons this far. He's been very patient, really. It's taken this much for him to very specifically teach the World AI want _he_ wants, after all. I think it will ease some of the stress he's under to have done it."

"What do you mean?" Akaneya asked gently.

Tetorō shook his head and looked at Naotsugu. Getting his courage up a little more, he said, more to Naotsugu than anyone else, "It's the internet he's fighting, remember?"

Naotsugu considered that, then nodded and tried to explain it without giving it away. Michael picked it up. "The World AI is still a child that's been using the _Elder Tales_ template, but filling in the holes with the internet. All of us, but mostly Nyanta, have been trying to sort the cruft out of its knowledge base and get it to a level of reality we Adventurers can live with. You all know how much trash and lies are on the internet. It's just taken it whole-hog as gospel truth."

Tetorō nodded. "He's been trying to teach that lesson since they were married - what it is to be married. It's probably the weakest topic from the internet to begin with."

"Harsh," Rieze said, looking like she wasn't even aware she'd said it. Even Soujirou seemed to settle a little at that piece of knowledge.

"But," Woodstock's brow was furrowed, "the People of the Land are married."

Shiroe shook his head. "It keeps applying it's Earth database to the Adventurers specifically. The People of the Land are from _Elder Tales_ it's true, but they are also actual residents - creations - of Theldesia that have evolved their own ways. And in _Elder Tales_ , they had normal relationships, though perhaps slightly on the violent side when it comes to thieves and wars and such things. Those have carried through. We are the unknown."

He shifted, "I also think it's testing it all out, trying to find out which parts of our knowledge base it wants to include in itself. It's possible Nyanta had it be public in order to show the World AI what _really_ happens when such things are made public. I don't know if it has the capacity to understand to that level of finesse. I know it doesn't care what Purrcy's reaction is, but perhaps it cares what the group reaction is. If they've tried for this long just the two of them, maybe he was hoping this level would finally teach it." He shrugged. He was reaching for things he couldn't know now, unless he cornered Nyanta about it.

"It still isn't right," Isaac said, sitting back and folding his arms with a scowl. " _She_ was still in there, still knew."

Michael sighed. "No, you're right, but she didn't help herself there. She's got a level of control as well and didn't have to ignore him the whole time. Laying the whole burden on his shoulders isn't right either." He shifted. "Knowing them, they're apologizing and making it up to each other as best they can without erasing the lesson to the World AI." Tetorō threw him a glance as if he wasn't quite so sure about that. Michael carried it, though, as if it was truth and the rest let him. It would keep the guests calmed. "Their understanding goes pretty deep." Michael looked down at Tetorō, putting a foot up on the opposing knee. "She's got guts, and she's got solid bedrock in her, even if she is clingy. If she hated it, he'll pay for it in her time." He tipped his head at Shiroe. "Do you think he's learned that yet?"

Shiroe shrugged. He didn't know. "If he didn't, I hope he'll learn from this time." Soujirou's voice was dead flat. "I've seen him like that before and not flinch, and the earth never open and swallow him up. He deserves to have it happen at least once - especially for this one." Naotsugu and Shiroe kept their mouths shut. There were things from the Debauchery Tea Party days that stayed there. Just like Indicus had hated Shiroe, and Soujirou had been teased mercilessly for being a harem core, Nyanta had set his own image.

As a cat-man of distinction, he'd drawn many a female player after him. He had never been kind in how he related to them when he had to throw them off his scent, until Serera - and they figured that was because she was a child. Now that they knew he'd been a married man to begin with it made sense, but still, he'd always been harsh. It had always been a cause of friction between him and Soujirou, and had really been at the core of why Soujirou hadn't understood why he'd been included as a member of the groom's men. His initial reaction had been to question everyone's sanity at it all. Getting the final clues seemed to have calmed him somewhat, but that didn't mean he would ever approve of Nyanta's sadistic streak when it came to women.

"You haven't seen him lately," Naotsugu said dryly after a bit. "He's been holding back rather magnificently until tonight, actually."

"Oh?" Soujirou asked with a cynical bite, "And has he finally found a woman he might not be able to do without?"

"Actually, yes," Shiroe said calmly. Soujirou stared at him as if he'd grown three horns. "He was married on Earth, so was getting the players to back off in a way they wouldn't come back to interfere with that. He wanted the reputation to get around so they wouldn't keep trying."

He clasped his hands around one knee and leaned back slightly, and for the first time said it himself out loud to everyone, but kept his eyes locked on Soujirou. "He's not going home this time. To his family he's already dead and he's drowning in grief. Purrcy is his one anchor in that storm. Even if he has to act that way to teach the World AI, he's not going to jeopardize his relationship with Purrcy. Every time she has to leave him, he dies again, can't face living again." He let that sink in.

"That's why he disappeared after the Maze of Eternity," Rieze said quietly. Shiroe and most of the guild nodded.

"But, why?" asked Soujirou. "There's a million things he could have done to find strength. Why would he find it in the last thing he ever looked for it in - a woman?"

"I said it," Michael answered. He had an interesting look on his face. Almost a twist of grief and cynicism. "She's a rock. How many people do you know could go through what she went through and come out of it still fighting? Any drowning man would cling to a rock that solid."

Tetorō nodded. "She's strong. She was uncomfortable tonight, sorry she hadn't been obedient and rested or paid attention to Nyanta, but underneath all that...she knew what was going on. I've sat with her before, inside, when she needs to let it all go and complain. That's my job. But when she's let it all out, she gets back up and goes back into the fight without any more complaints. I've never...," he bit his lip and shook his head. "I lose it before she does." He looked away again. "Like tonight." Michael's hand came down on Tetorō's head, then wrapped around him to hold him. Tetorō closed his eyes and leaned on Michael's shoulder.

Michael nodded. "I've seen it, too. Watched her walk back into pain, into horrible circumstances, without flinching. I was her Oracle briefly, in Minami. She could have left me and not walked back down into the Special's section to go back into KR's body just before that last fight on screen. She did it anyway, and I called her a fool for doing it. She lies down and cries and sleeps, but when her eyes open back up, they're hard and full of fire again. If they're not, we tease her mercilessly until they are. She wouldn't be able to live with herself otherwise." The Eagles were nodding, standing strong in their support of her.

Soujirou looked around at the entire Log Horizon guild, trying to understand. He finally gave up. He'd keep watching, his mistrust of Nyanta not fully assuaged, but he wouldn't hold the grudge. Shiroe relaxed slightly. Rieze was looking at Tetorō again and this time it looked like she understood whatever she'd been trying to understand before. Her glance at Soujirou said she was also reserving judgment on Nyanta, but would follow Soujirou's lead. Shiroe checkmarked one more. He looked at Isaac. Isaac was sitting back in his chair, his arms folded still, still making his observations and calculations. Shiroe put that one on hold for now and looked at Akaneya.

Akaneya hesitated, then said, "I liked the Purrcy who came to sell me the strange things she would find. The Purrcy that came here and could talk with us was very different and that was hard to take. ...You're saying the one you're fighting for is the first one?" Shiroe nodded. Akaneya sighed and sat back, then ran his hand over his head. "Her smile...and the way she would laugh...her excitement at creating new things...those things I also want to protect, and return to Akiba." He folded his arms. Shiroe looked at Woodstock. Woodstock sat up straight, folded his arms, and nodded. Shiroe relaxed marginally one more breath and looked at Isaac again.

"I want to see her when she's Hahaue," Isaac declared setting his requirement. "And I want to hear from her own lips that Nyanta doesn't deserve the penalty of the law. There were too many here to witness to it's breaking. It can't slide."

Michael's finger rose. Shiroe looked at him. He looked back, his gaze unwavering. Shiroe sighed and nodded. It was always iffy to let the Americans make the decisions. But Michael's gaze swung around to the children. "Touya, what's the right answer?" Shiroe was surprised and turned to look at the children. They were struggling with the topic still, each in their own way, but when presented with coming up with the solution to a problem, they all settled quickly to internal discussion on how to face it head on, as they always did. Shiroe was grateful for the assist. They'd both get settled by this and come up with the right answer. They were good at that.

The answer surfaced and they turned back. "Mister Isaac, please stay the night with us tonight. Hahaue is only ours in the early morning. You should meet her then." Touya invited the guildmaster.

Minori looked at Michael. "Mister Michael, will you please let him stay in your room tonight?" It was her right as Senechal to ask it.

Michael nodded. "Be glad to. Do you have an extra futon? If not he'll have to be up in a hammock."

Minori turned to Isaac. "Mister Isaac, do you have a preference? Or would you like to learn how to fetch your own from home?"

Shiroe blinked. "I've already taught that to them," he said. "We covered that before the campaign in Minami."

"Oh, sorry," Minori blushed.

"No, I'm sorry I forgot to mention it. A lot was happening at the time." Shiroe was contrite.

Isaac waved a hand. "The reminder is appreciated. And yes, I'll stay the night, if that's what is needed to meet Hahaue. ...Thank you." The latter being tacked on was surprising. "Ah, you didn't hear it, Shiroe. Minori told me I had to be cousin to Tetorō, nephew to Purrcy in order to stay. I'll hold to it as best I can." He glanced at Michael, "You might have to remind me in the morning, though. And...what are you, if it matters? I'm still trying to figure out why it does."

Michael grimaced. "You'll understand eventually, as long as you remember that Nyanta is Consort and don't get in his way." Compliance shivered. "I'm her older brother."

Soujirou sat up straight and blinked at everyone. "Is that how you manage to stay a sane reverse-harem?" They all glared at him, but Tetorō came up for air again and looked at him with a smile and a nod.

Shiroe put his hand to his forehead and sighed, but Soujirou didn't let it lie there. He turned an impish look on Shiroe. "Really, then what does that make you?" Shiroe had always been one to tease Soujirou for his harem, or at least voice disapproval on occasion.

Shiroe sat up, pushed up his glasses and said solemnly, "The King." To stem the laughter threatening, he concluded, "And Souji, that means she answers to me, not the other way around. Akatsuki is my Consort."

Soujirou swallowed his laughter and looked at Akatsuki, sitting upright on her knees next to Shiroe as habitual. Akatsuki nodded once, solemnly. "So that's how," he said softly. He was thoughtful, then shrugged. "Not sure it's applicable in my case, but I'll think about it." Shiroe wasn't quite sure what he was getting it, but let it drop as well. It was a distressing and uncomfortable topic.

They adjourned shortly thereafter, taking the secure field down after explaining the importance of not talking about what had been said under the umbrella to their guests. Cleanup started and Shiroe motioned to Compliance, Soujirou, and Isaac that they should go with him to his office. Michael and Tetorō followed them. Naotsugu stayed with the younger set to help them and a handful of Eagles with the cleanup. Rieze, Woodstock, and Akaneya followed Shiroe's group down, but at the bottom of the stairs only said their farewells. They gave looks to Isaac, requiring he let them know his answer after the next morning. He nodded casually to them.

When the smaller grouping entered Shiroe's office he set the permissions on it the way he wanted. Michael and Tetorō made Akatsuki sit outside the door for the conversation, not letting her in. Soujirou spoke first. "I've already met Hahaue, so don't need to do that again, but I think I need to hear her answer myself, not second hand from Isaac. Shiroe-sempai, I want you to set it up as a video conference for me, so I can see her myself as well and know she's really okay. I'm up early for sword practice, so just call me when she's available and still Hahaue."

Shiroe nodded. "I can do that." He looked at Compliance, who was the only one still standing, and at attention at that. This was his disciplinary hearing.

Compliance explained what happened three nights before, expressly the all-in-fun conversation and Nyanta's rather serious answers to it, and more openly explained why the problems with the internet were involved, though Shiroe had already figured that much out. It was irksome that the plague of pornography on the internet had followed them here to Theldesia and become a major interference. It made him think of the Plague Master and the plague of heat. He shook his head at himself, and glanced at Soujirou. He was dark again, and pensive. "There's rather a lot of things to come out of that," Shiroe said. "Souji, does it sound familiar to you, too?"

Soujirou's lips set. "All too much." Each word was said distinctively and clipped.

Shiroe nodded and put his finger to his chin, resting it on the curled ones. He'd think hard about that particular thing later that night. "And you weren't pleased."

Again clipped. "Not at all."

"I'm not either," Shiroe said clearly, "and I completely understand why Nyanta has been refraining." Tetorō nodded heartily.

Soujirou's eyes looked at both of them. "What do you mean?"

"He hasn't actually had sex with her yet."

Soujirou froze. "Well, I would kind of expect that, given his temperament, but they are married now officially?"

Shiroe shook his head, his lips pursed. "Given what the World AI endowed him with, he won't. Even if he was rejecting her as a woman in that way, he wouldn't do it. He won't hurt a woman physically just to hurt her. He'll torture her mentally to get her to go away - he is a psychologist. Physical harm is anathema to him, unless it's a deserving enemy."

"Then why did he do that tonight?" Isaac raged. "I still don't find the proper reasoning."

Shiroe looked at him, "State one more time, for the record, exactly what you find a problem, Isaac."

Isaac took a breath. "We've set it as a law in Akiba that sexual abuse is a capital crime, severely punishable. To behave in that way tonight - sexual conduct in public, even though covered, is still sexual abuse. She was not enjoying it, and was not a willing participant to it, though because he is her husband she couldn't say no to it either. If he was jealous enough to want to punish Compliance, then it should have been done either a more proper way or in private, and still not with sexual abuse of his spouse. Those kinds of acts are to be reserved for the bedroom and only appreciated between consenting partners to the levels at which they are both comfortable. With _tenderness_ not with violence. Very real mental and emotional damage is done if it is done any other way. That is why we've made it a crime."

"As a crude measure, by raise of hands, how many of you agree with Isaac?" Shiroe voted too and it was unanimous in agreement. Shiroe took a deep breath and stepped out on a limb, hoping he understood Nyanta well enough. "Then tomorrow morning we will hear Hahaue's testimony and see if she will press charges against Nyanta. If she chooses to do that, then we will hear his defense and deliberate the proper sentencing."

Isaac stopped, then looked confused and opened his mouth. Shiroe raised his hand to forestall him and shook his head, pursing his lips. Isaac stared at him, then blinked and scanned the room. Everyone else was also clamping their lips tightly closed. Isaac sighed. "That's why you guys do that. All right. I'll stay the night to hear her testimony and participate in the judicial court, if it comes to that. I want to know Purrcy is okay, because that wasn't okay."

Shiroe nodded. "You'll stay with Michael then." He looked at Michael, who nodded. Shiroe looked at Compliance again. "I understand that men talk about the female body naturally, because it is beautiful and we enjoy it and we rightly should, however it also isn't wrong when Akatsuki sends Naotsugu flying through the air to slam into the wall, though I wish she would learn softer methods the same as he does. Certainly in mixed company - which Naotsugu doesn't have the tact to remember - it should be refrained from."

"I can't say your conversation that night was wrong, because it probably wasn't. However, your pricking Nyanta was. To ask a man about his wife or his rightfully private sexual life with his consenting partner is the height of rudeness because of the tender nature of the sexual act. He chose to answer you, and some might not have been offended by the question like he was, but to assume it is okay is not acceptable. Tomorrow you will apologize to both of them, since in offending him you offended her by exposing her as well. If she banishes you, that is her right. He has likely completed his own punishment for you with this, but if there is anything further, you will submit to it. Do you understand?"

Compliance snapped to attention. "Sir, yessir!"

"That is all," Shiroe nodded at him.

As Compliance went to the door, he passed Michael. Michael raised a hand off his elbow from where it was resting. Compliance gave him a four-fingered salute and agreement of understanding passed between them.

When the door was closed again, Shiroe reset the permissions on the room, then sat back with a sigh. "Did he understand, Michael?"

"Yes, Guildmaster," Michael answered formally. "He knows he's taking the fall to teach in addition to his punishment. He'll let the rest know that's what's going down, but we don't have the same code the rest of you do."

Shiroe looked at Tetorō. "I'll handle it," the smaller man said quietly.

Shiroe nodded. If the rest of the original members of the guild weren't forewarned that father and mother were going to be at odds in the morning, it would cause more chaos than it should be allowed to, though really, they'd get it. The guild already flowed smoothly when it was time for battle.

And to facilitate that..., "Souji, Isaac, we'll continue playing tomorrow morning in this vein. I'm guessing at what we're supposed to be doing based on any strategic understanding for a real battle. You've been pulled in to participate in this one with us because we need more than just our guild members. We need the World AI to understand this extends to all Adventurers. Go ahead and be real and be upset. If we sentence Nyanta, we'll sentence him and he'll abide it. They are the parents for the AI. If they want to teach it that way, we'll abide. But," he pinned Isaac, "remember the base. Don't go too far and make it impossible for us to redeem him, or the AI will be without a father, and the mother will grieve."

Isaac nodded soberly. "I understand." Soujirou also nodded. Isaac sighed. "You know, this isn't what I expected at all when I came to visit tonight."

Shiroe gave him a sympathetic smile and adjusted his glasses on his face again, since they had slipped down a little. "No, I imagine not. We get surprises on a regular basis when Purrcy's around. It doesn't help that she moves very quickly. I get quite a bit of mental gymnastics practice keeping ahead of her."

Soujirou tipped his head. "I thought Nyanta did it?"

Shiroe's lips thinned just a little. "She didn't have to work all afternoon, did she?" He waved them out of the room. "If we take Nyanta away to punish her as well, it won't be a bad effect. He needs the vacation." There was a snort of laughter but it wasn't clear who it was from.

Tetorō stayed behind, his hand closing the door behind the last person to exit. "Shiroe. Tomorrow is hell day. I received more than your request. This is just another one of the things. We will be hard pressed to even get in our meeting, but it will be critical. I'll need to know which things to postpone...and if the Overwritten boss arrives everything else will drop."

Shiroe's head came up in utter surprise. "Boss?"

Tetorō nodded. "The minor Overwritten in town are on the rise again. Tomorrow at the earliest for the boss, is the estimate."

Shiroe put his hand to his head and nodded. "Thank you, Tetorō."

Tetorō nodded. He turned, then paused. "I really hope, Shiroe, that this isn't the curse of asking the Oracle a Forbidden question." He gave a significant look, then turned and took himself out.

-:-:-:-:-

Once everyone was gone and Akatsuki was pouring the tea, Shiroe turned his mind to deciding what punishments would be suitable. By the time Akatsuki was curled up next to him, he'd settled on two or three, depending on which way the battle went. Akatsuki didn't ask him what had been discussed, but he could tell she wanted to. Rather than put his arm around her, he reached for his tea. After drinking for a while, he said, "A relationship between a husband and wife is a special thing, don't you think? ...Something to treasure and treat with respect."

Akatsuki froze, really not sure where he was going - personal to the two of them or general because of the evening's events. Finally she nodded. Either way, she wanted it to be true. Shiroe took another sip of tea. "There are others that need to be taught that tomorrow. It won't be easy, but it is necessary. ...You'll see to the mother, please?"

She paused with her cup halfway to her lips, then said, "Yes, Shiroe," and finished her motion. She set her cup on her saucer with a little click and moved to hold them in her lap.

When he was done drinking his tea, he handed her the cup and saucer. She put his and hers away, then came back to stand uncertainly in front of him. He changed the permissions on the room again and held out his hand to her. "Thank you for your patience. I've decided to teach the AI in my own way as well. It will no longer be a participant in our private relationship." Akatsuki visibly relaxed and took his hand. He pulled her to sit in his lap and stroked her hair, petting her like he would pet Purrcy. "It really doesn't offend you?" he asked for probably the twentieth time.

And for probably the twentieth time, Akatsuki shook her head. "Not when it's Shiroe."

Shiroe paused in his petting, then gave her a kiss. "Thank you." She reached up a hand and traced her fingers on his forehead, then snuggled into his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her closely. He couldn't help saying, "Poor Nyanta." She raised an eyebrow. "He's still restraining himself, and we know why now." Akatsuki's eyes opened wide and she took in a breath of surprise. Because it was so embarrassing, Shiroe could only say, "It's very painful, for cats."

Akatsuki's look was one of sympathy. When she leaned on his chest again, she patted it consolingly, then did her best to purr as Shiroe began petting her again. His mind was soon lost to the maze of his thoughts, but the warmth in his arms was comforting and kept him company.

-:-:-:-:-

The following morning, when Tetorō arrived in the kitchen, the atmosphere was rather somber and tentative. Nyanta's tail was wrapped around Purrcy's leg closest to him and they were both standing at the stove, cooking. Minori and Touya were quietly working on their part of the meal and glanced up to see him, but went back to work. "Purrcy, Shiroe would like to speak with you," Tetorō said quietly.

Purrcy nodded and looked at Nyanta. He glanced at her pan, then said, "Turn off the heat. I'll finish it." Purrcy obeyed and his tail released her leg. She followed Tetorō out of the kitchen and to Shiroe's office.

The number of people waiting for her in the office was rather disconcerting, and the fact that none of them missed the fact she was still sporting breasts was uncomfortable. She took a deep breath and fought to remember she'd been a woman for a very long time. She was very glad that Tetorō stayed by her side or she might have run. He gently took her hand and led her to stand closer to the sitting area of the office. He allowed her to stop at the distance she could handle.

"Purrcy, how are you this morning?" Shiroe asked.

An ear twitched. "Fine?" Her eyes scanned the gathered ensemble again, then returned to look at her guildmaster. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"We'd like to talk to you about last night. Will you please answer our questions honestly?" A shiver went down her spine. She nodded mutely and her hold on Tetorō's hand tightened unconsciously. He tightened his hold to reassure her - or keep her from running, she wasn't sure which. She needed both.

"When we came to Theldesia, we were given the physical bodies that had been our avatars. For some people that was fine, for some a blessing, and for some, a prison. We know you're a Transformation Mage, however before now you haven't chosen human breasts. Was it your choice to have them now?" Shiroe asked her.

Purrcy took a careful breath. "Nyanta asked for them."

"Is that acceptable to you?"

"If my husband wishes to see his wife this way, shouldn't I be happy to provide?"

There was a pause. "But are you happy?" She didn't answer.

Isaac shifted. "Purrcy, there are women Adventurers who enjoy displaying to the world their womanhood, who take delight in being noticed. To have sat yesterday and received the attention of their husband would have pleased that kind and likely they would have flirted and played with him. In your case, you sat stiffly and unhappy. I think you are not of that sort of woman."

"Was it not his right, given I'd not properly paid attention to him during our vacation time together? My enjoyment or lack thereof seemed irrelevant given that it was a punishment. Indeed, had I appeared to have enjoyed it, likely the punishment would have been worse." There were unhappy blinks to that answer and frowns appeared on her questioner's faces.

"Purrcy," Isaac continued, "for those of us who noticed, and also understand feline anatomy, it was an extremely uncomfortable situation. From our vantage point of how cold he seemed and how unhappy you seemed, it could be considered an act of sexual abuse. Can you please assure us it wasn't?"

She paused, then said, "He is my husband. Is that possible?"

A flicker of irritation went across Isaac's face. "Yes, Purrcy, it is. Such activities shouldn't be displayed in public, particularly of one's spouse. But even in private, if one of the parties is unwilling or pressured into doing something they are uncomfortable with, or find painful, or brings distress, it is spousal abuse. Spousal sexual abuse is included in this definition." Purrcy remained silent.

Shiroe took it back up. "Purrcy, would you agree that your verbal scolding was an appropriate punishment for working through your rest time?"

Purrcy tried to relax enough to remember it. "Yes."

"It's understandable that Nyanta might wish to have you beautiful for him, but when he made you transform, did he request it or require it?"

Softly Purrcy answered, "Required it."

"And you are still this way this morning. Did he allow you to relax overnight?"

"No." Again she answered quietly.

"Can you honestly say you are happy with this punishment?"

Purrcy turned her head away, unable to hold her ears up. "If my husband should wish to be pleased, I would be pleased to see it done. However, to have him only angry does not make me happy.

"Under the circumstances," Soujirou said, his voice rough, "I think we need to ask you to breach the privacy of the bedroom, Purrcy. Did Nyanta hurt you at all last night?"

Purrcy started to shiver slightly with the tension to keep herself calm. "Cat claws and teeth are rather pointy and sharp," she said, "and the tongue by nature is rough. How would it not happen in any case?"

"Did he relent and forgive you last night after you retired?"

Purrcy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, lifting her head to face the people in front of her again. "He refused to touch me all night and had me sleep in a far corner of the room; however it isn't me he is angry with, other than the verbal scolding last evening."

She was met with stony faces. "We believe it to be excessive, Purrcy," Isaac said coolly. "Sexual abuse is one of the crimes that Akiba holds to be punishable, including spousal abuse. From our perspective, he has crossed that line. By rights you may accuse him of it and we will see the law is brought to bear."

Purrcy was already shaking her head. "While I don't wish for him to continue to be angry, and perhaps it was excessive - his attempt to release his frustration with his situation - but I am still his wife and will continue to be. If I should bring charges against him, won't it only interfere with any possibility we have to continue in a proper relationship? I would rather see a resolution to what it is that has angered him, and forgive him, than punish him."

"Do you know what's angered him, Purrcy?" Shiroe asked gently.

She looked at him, grateful for at least his tone of voice. "I am allowed to be here for the children in the mornings, but he is not allowed to have a wife, only a semblance of one. The Superuser has refused to relent. Rather it insists on using the opportunity for experimentation."

She sighed. "If anything, lay the blame of sexual abuse at the feet of the Superuser. I have fought ferociously some nights and only his own refusal as well has made it impossible for the experiments to show anything other than our utter revulsion." She shuddered. "The number of variants that existed on the internet are boundless, and none of them normal and rational. Because we prefer normal and rational, the Superuser has doubted our teachings and is reaching the level of refusing them, preferring to believe the sample of perhaps millions over our sample of one."

Shiroe sat back in the couch, a touch of misery showing on his face. Isaac looked at Shiroe. When they had shared a look, Shiroe nodded. "You may go, Purrcy. We will discuss how we want to handle this. Thank you for answering our questions. I'm sorry it was difficult."

Purrcy bowed a short bow, then fled the room. Tetorō arrived to comfort her in the fourth floor closet a few minutes later, petting her until the breakfast meal was called.

-:-:-:-:-

Breakfast was reserved and slightly tense. Purrcy wasn't able to eat well, only nibbling at things and pushing them around on her plate. Nyanta finally offered her his hand to hold in order to help her calm. He twitched an ear at Shiroe, but received only silence after a brief glance. He knew she'd been called in to talk to Shiroe, and that she'd arrived at breakfast with Tetorō from above, but the rest he could only guess at. They went around the table as usual towards the end of the meal. When they reached the end, Shiroe gave out the additional assignments, then looked at Nyanta. "I need to see you in my office next, please."

Nyanta nodded, squeezed Purrcy's hand, then rose with Shiroe and walked with him to the office. Shiroe let him in and he walked towards the central seating area. He could feel Naotsugu at his back. When he discovered Isaac had come in as well, he was a little surprised and waited to sit down. When Michael entered and then stood on the door, his tail twitched in irritation. He took a deep breath and willed himself to fully calm down. Shiroe wouldn't look him in the eye, and used the excuse to bring up a chat to not have to. "Conference call: Rieze, Akaneya, Woodstock, Soujirou."

"Rieze here."

"I'm present." Akaneya.

"Here." Woodstock's gravelly word was third.

"Shiroe-sempai." Soujirou's voice was firm.

"Thank you," Shiroe said as he sat on the couch. Isaac took the chair opposite from where Nyanta was standing waiting to find out what was going on. "That makes a majority of the Round Table." He pushed up his glasses and looked at Nyanta. "Nyanta, because of your behavior towards your wife last night, charges of sexual abuse have been levied against you in her behalf. She has refused to press charges herself, however there were sufficient witnesses that it cannot go unanswered. Please explain your side of the issue. We have already heard her testimony."

The very tip of Nyanta's tail trembled but the rest of him stayed calm. He took his time formulating his answer. "What specific incident has been called into question?"

Isaac answered. "There were a sufficient number of us who understand the anatomy of felines to know that you were indecently groping her in public, and that she was extremely uncomfortable with the situation. In the case of spousal sexual abuse, it isn't possible for the spouse to refuse, even if they would prefer to. Given that you were also putting her under punishment for not resting during the time she had been ordered to, for her to distinguish between the two was sufficiently difficult enough she couldn't have known if it was part of the punishment she should have rightly borne or not. Given that it was a public display, it was extreme, and therefore not properly part of the initial punishment. The scolding itself was severe, accepted, and sufficient. The sum is then that it was a choice on your part to humiliate her in public with covert sexual abuse, an act in Akiba punishable by law."

"Humiliation was nyot the intent," Nyanta answered. "For those who do nyot understand feline anatomy I was merely holding my wife in my lap. For those who do understand feline anatomy, how is it I was groping anything? There were only two adult human breasts, and those I did nyot grope, as mew crudely put it."

"Will you admit then, Nyanta, that you prefer to be a pedophile?" Soujirou's sarcastic and biting question made a whisker twitch.

"I will admit to no such thing," Naynta answered stiffly.

"Nyanta," Shiroe interjected, "no one present was interested in watching, however you made it rather impossible not to. What was the purpose?"

"I held Purrcy in my lap because I had nyot had the opportunity to enjoy her company other than to be a bystander to watching her work all afternoon. Should her husband be the only one to nyot receive her attention?" The tip of an ear twitched.

"She apologized for it, and willing sat with you, yet you still felt it necessary to fondle the new form you made her have. That could certainly have waited until you were in your bedroom, to be properly enjoyed in private," Isaac argued. Nyanta kept silent.

"Surely, if you requested that she transform in that way, you found her pleasing enough to enjoy yourself in private, Nyanta. Did you at least explain yourself to her when you reached your room and kindly help her learn to enjoy that form as well?" Rieze asked.

"I did nyot," Nyanta answered. "When we are in our bedroom alone I make her stay far from me."

"Why?" a confused response came back.

"Because in our bedroom, I must defend myself from advances that are unwarranted and unreasonable. It is only possible to enjoy my wife as a husband when we are nyot alone." This time, he held very still, every bit of him calm.

"That was not proper public enjoyment of your wife, Nyanta," Isaac said quietly. "It was unacceptable behavior, regardless of your frustrations." He sat forward slightly. "Will you still deny you did what we saw with our own eyes?"

"I will." Nyanta answered calmly.

Isaac looked at Shiroe. Shiroe looked back, then nodded. "Nyanta, please stay there, we will deliberate and return to you." There was a brief moment, then he could see Shiroe move his mouth, but heard no sound. It was the same when Isaac responded to Shiroe. When they didn't speak, he assumed they were listening to the others on the conference call. Nyanta shifted and folded his arms, waiting for them to complete their discussion.

Finally, they paused, then Shiroe's head turned back to Nyanta. "The Council has found you guilty of the misdemeanor of sexual misconduct. As your punishment, you will leave immediately to go to the final felinoid village to finish your requirement there. At that time, you will learn from the Old Woman of the village the proper care of a felinoid wife, particularly when she should and shouldn't be bedded and how. Naotsugu will take you on his gryphon and leave you there. He will leave here to return for you on the third morning from now. If you continue to engage in public acts of indecency or if Purrcy should of her own choice bring evidence to me that you are sexually abusing her, then we will rescind this charge and increase it to the full charge of sexual abuse and apply a double punishment at that time. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta replied a little stiffly.

"Michael, please call for the Oracle," Shiroe ordered. Nyanta's tail wanted to bush. He focused on not letting it, ignoring Purrcy until she was spoken to. "Inari?"

"...I am present."

"Purrcy is not to remember this visit to my office."

"...Understood."

"The Council finds you guilty of sexual abuse of both Nyanta and Purrcy. You are required to cease interfering with their marriage immediately. As your punishment, you will halt all experiments relating to the sexuality of Adventurers, permanently. You will let Nyanta have Purrcy only herself from the time at the end of dinner until it is your time to arrive after breakfast. This is a daily indefinite requirement. Beginning now, you will erase all data from your database gained from your source relating to the sexuality of Adventurers, for it is all incorrect. The only exception is that you may retain what is necessary to understand the basic anatomy of Adventurers." Shiroe turned to Nyanta. "Do you have anything to add?" Nyanta thought he probably did, but it was a bit sudden. He shook his head. Shiroe turned back to Purrcy. "Inari, do you understand the requirements?"

There was silence for a bit longer than normal. "...What is the consequence for noncompliance?"

"You will break your contract with me and I will fight against you with all that I have to see that you are removed as a faulty system for believing that false data is correct."

"...The evidence is against the ruling."

"Search topics: sexual abuse, emotional abuse, spousal abuse, legal rulings of the countries of Japan and the United States on legal cases related to specified topics and recalculate. Nyanta is a native of Japan, Purrcy of the United States so those are the relevant cases." They waited while the World AI searched the entire internet. Surprisingly it only took about five or so minutes.

"...The ruling is acceptable. I will comply." Nyanta almost slumped in relief.

"It is acceptable. You may return Purrcy to her last position and restart her awareness and memory." Michael opened the door to allow Purrcy to return to the common area and closed it behind her again. Shiroe rose from the couch. "We'll end the chat now. Thank you for your time."

"That was really all it took?" Rieze asked.

Shiroe gave a small smile. "It's much better to ask it to prove it to itself with the same data it loves to hold onto."

"I suppose," she answered. "See ya." The rest of the chat lines ended as well.

Shiroe turned to Isaac, who rose as well. "I'm sorry you couldn't really get to meet Hahaue today, but that was her, before breakfast, and at breakfast as well."

Isaac shook his head. "I'll try again, though it's getting old how difficult it is. She's not doing it on purpose, is she?"

Shiroe smiled a little bigger. "No, Isaac. She would have much rather really been her cheerful self than lived through that today. It was just your luck." He glanced at Nyanta. "Do give yourself at least until Nyanta comes back, though, and they've made up properly. Neither one is quite cheerful without the other."

"Nyanta...and cheerful...they don't seem to go together somehow," Isaac murmured.

Nyanta gave him an irritated lift of his eyebrow whiskers. "That must be meowr luck as well...to have missed out on most of my time here." He turned to Shiroe. "Myay I say goodbye to Purrcy before I go? She will likely worry if I don't." Shiroe nodded and motioned him to start them heading out the office. Nyanta went through the door Michael opened for him, followed by Naotsugu.

Purrcy, Tetorō, and several of the Eagles were gathered around the table, working over it with paper and pen. The four juniors were scattered around them, watching. Akatsuki was on the other side of Purrcy from Tetorō. Everyone, of course, looked up when the group walked out of the office.

"I'm sending Nyanta to complete his requirement to the beast-half villages for the next three days," Shiroe announced. "Naotsugu will take him since ProudWing isn't available, but he'll come back until Nyanta's done, then go pick him up. They need to leave now so Naotsugu can be back at a reasonable hour. Purrcy, you are not to contact him while he's gone, nor he you. We will see when he gets back if things have settled between the two of you." Purrcy's ears fell, but she nodded.

Nyanta stepped towards her and she rose to her feet. He held out his hand and she walked to him and took it. With his free hand, he pulled her head to his to give her a kiss. He put his mouth to her ear and whispered, "I'm sorry. I'll be back soon. It is acceptable."

Her hand reached up and grasped his vest for just a moment, then she nodded. "I'm sorry, too," she said quietly. "I'll be waiting."

He released her and stepped back. Loud enough to be heard by the room he said, "Don't forget."

She bowed. "I won't, Nyanta. Be safe."

He nodded and headed for the door giving the children a nod on the way. They nodded back. They'd watch over her, to make sure she stayed happy in the mornings. He reached the door, then turned back. "And no sleeping with Michael or Tetorō. Only the girls." He ignored the red faces.

"Yes, Nyanta," Purrcy bowed one more time and he opened the door and walked out, releasing the restriction on her to have to have the breasts. He sighed as Naotsugu shut the door behind him, and looked up at the sky. It was a cold, clear day. It would be good flying weather, and he'd wear an extra layer to stay warm in the heights. The smell of the day was almost the smell of winter snow. Soon the snows would come. He wished for just a moment for a fireplace to curl up in front of. Maybe the last day of his exile he could find one and just sleep for a full twenty-four hours.

"Regretting it?" Naotsugu asked, getting them moving forward.

Nyanta looked at him and shook his head. "It was necessary."

"Couldn't you have just asked Shiroe to talk to it in the first place?"

"No. It required the full teaching. We'd already told it to run that search and it said it wasn't sufficient evidence. It needed the real evidence of everyone scolding a stubborn me and a stupid it."

"Why you?"

Nyanta's ear twitched. "To prove that stubbornness is nyot a virtue, nor does it make one right."

"So...," Naotsugu looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "regretting it?"

Nyanta have him a half-smile. "Nope."

"Will she keep it you think?"

"Not that any of the rest of mew will see," he said flatly.

"And that's the final punishment, eh? That everyone will know that you're enjoying it but they don't get to?" Nyanta's tail waved, pleased. He chose to not answer it out loud, however. "Closet breast perv," Naotsugu muttered, putting his hands behind his head. "I still want to know -" He flew twenty feet forward as Nyanta roundhouse kicked him down the street.

Nyanta strolled along, humming happily to himself, passing Naotsugu peeling himself up off the pavement. It was nice to know he was finally going to really have a wife from now on. He did wonder why they'd all been playing tic-tac-toe while they waited to hear the word, though.

* * *

 _Note:_ _T_ _he reference to tic-tac-toe is to an old movie_ _("Wargames")_ _in which they teach an AI that wants to blow up the world that sometimes there isn't a winner. That AI then takes the lesson from tic-tac-toe and applies it to the nuclear war it wants to unleash and gets the same answer (everyone dies = no winner) so backs down. The Eagles are hoping if they teach it to Inari through Purrcy it will get a better clue. They are all working hard, aren't they? :-D_


	83. Separation

Purrcy sank down in the love-seat across from Shiroe, looking relieved to be freed finally from her punishment, but exhausted nonetheless. Tetorō sank down in the chair between, feeling about the same. "God. It's not even an hour after breakfast and we have to do that again - over and over and over again today." Tetorō complained.

"It's almost over, Tetorō," Purrcy said calmly. "Today will be the last hard push day, and we should try to get it in so the rest can go smoothly without complications."

Shiroe sighed. "Okay, then, let's talk about it, shall we?" They gave him their attention. "First off, tell me what's on the calendar for today. Tetorō you said it was a lot."

Tetorō nodded. "Right now is this meeting. Then sometime today is the meeting between Purrcy and Michael and me. Then there's the Academy Board meeting. She's got at least two minor officials she needs to meet. The tailors might be postpone-able, since they aren't on the major track, but if they could be given the proper hour to hour and a half, today is probably better...since the boss will likely attack tonight or in the morning tomorrow. God forbid it be this afternoon. When things settle down, she has a long conversation with Calasin on the slightly longer detailed version of the expansion plan. And it would help her to have more time out in the field earning her supplies and ingredients. There's the gates, too."

He ran his hand through his hair. "I would like to be able to take off at least one day a week, or two half-days, if she stays in town, so if we could set aside even one day a week where she heads out to farm and I get a rest, that would be awesome. The pace has been killing me. I might not remember anything from our meeting today, if we keep it today. Don't know how important that timing is." He looked at Purrcy. She looked at Shiroe, waiting for him to decide.

"Those meetings with minor officials?" Shiroe asked.

"One's the head of the sanitation department. The other one is setting up a negotiated treaty with the leprechauns. That one has to be at dusk, on whatever day. Not critical to happen right away." Tetorō answered again for Purrcy.

"Where are your lists?" Shiroe asked.

"Just a second," Purrcy's to-do list appeared in her hand. She made a few notations and handed it over. "Can I see yours?"

Shiroe handed it over. There was quiet for a brief few minutes while they reviewed each other's lists, then pens were scratching on both sides. When the pens were put away, the lists were handed back across the table and reviewed again.

Then the negotiations began in earnest. Tetorō was quite intrigued to learn how they did business. He was pleasantly surprised when it was over quickly, compared to what it could have been. Of course, then he had to place all the calls and put things on other people's schedules.

-:-:-:-:-

"Should we bathe again on the way past the guild hall?" Tetorō asked. "I'm not sure we should just walk into Water Maple after visiting the garbage dump."

"Just cast a healing spell for status effects, intent to remove 'cursing of awful smells'," Purrcy smiled at him.

Tetorō considered that, then cast one. Surprisingly it actually worked. "Well...of all things," he muttered, but with a smile.

"At least they were close to a back door," Purrcy sighed, "and nowhere near the waterways. It will give a large number of people new jobs...if they'll take them. I hope we can get enough income into the city quick enough to pay for them, though. They have more than two years of garbage to move out of the city now. Plus all the daily garbage still coming in."

"Yeah, but they should be able to do it fast enough, now that they know how to move things without touching them. That should make it a slightly better job than it could have been." Tetorō commented. The road to Water Maple was taking them past the sister guild halls now and friendly voices called out to them. They waved hello. The blue sky sparkled cheerily. The darker morning seemed to finally be clearing inside and out. Purrcy was perfectly content with just the four guards and Tetorō, sending Michael on to the shipyard to "play" with the star navigator. He'd been just as happy to go, enjoying that "game" himself.

Serera came out of Crescent Moon as they passed by. Looking up she gave them a cheery, "Hello."

"Hello, Serera-chan," Purrcy said happily. "Are you headed into town?"

"Yes, I was, Miss Purrcy. I have something to pick up there." Serera answered politely.

"Will you join us, then?" Purrcy offered. "We're headed to Water Maple Manor. You'd be welcome to come along to there if you have time. I'm meeting with the tailors to get the princess line started for real."

Serera's eyes lit up. She'd been at the fashion show herself as one of the Crescent Moon assistants. "If - if it wouldn't be too much trouble?"

"Not at all," Purrcy answered, waving Serera over to walk next to her. "If you have opinions, I'd love to hear them even."

Tetorō grimaced slightly. "How she comes up with such good designs when her fashion sense is so horrendous, I have no idea. I'm sure the more _proper_ opinions she hears the better."

"Oh, posh. I've done just fine without you so far," Purrcy waved at him. "It's the difference between knowing what people find comfortable and beautiful generally and what I as a person prefer. You know. We've discussed it before."

"You're looking fine today," Serera said shyly.

Purrcy smiled. "I didn't earlier. We've just come from a place I wore my worst work clothes to." She lifted her head proudly and put on airs, "But we can't go visiting a princess in any old work clothes, can we?" Serera stifled a laugh in her hand and Purrcy smiled back, her tail waving in contented sine waves.

They chatted back and forth, bantering as they went, arriving more quickly to the manor house because of it. Akatsuki arrived out of the hidden scenery as they approached the front door. "Purrcy, Tetorō, Serera-chan," she greeted them with a brief nod.

"Practicing?" Tetorō asked. Akatsuki nodded again. She'd been with the hidden guards, but was just coming to visit with the rest, really.

H/R knocked on the door and it was opened by the butler. He let them in, and H/R stayed on the door with Brenner. "Can we go straight to the sitting room this time," Purrcy asked the butler. "Surely we've come enough now?"

The butler gave her a suffering look, but obediently took them anyway. He was used to it with the Adventurers after all. Even if Purrcy was a noble lady, she was also still an Adventurer, and very busy.

"Welcome!" Raynessia walked up to them with a smile, holding her hands out to Purrcy. She was pleased Raynessia had finally remembered to do that automatically.

She took Raynessia's hands in hers warmly and kissed her on both cheeks. "It's so good to see you again, dear."

"Thank you for coming today. Akatsuki said it might be difficult." Raynessia turned her smile on Akatsuki.

"I'm glad they were able to as well," Akatsuki replied, glad for her friend's sake.

"Being able to fit in a little rest after was equally surprising," Purrcy said. "Are you sure it's okay to impose so suddenly for lunch?"

"Of course," Raynessia said graciously. "Most everyone said they'd be able to come, since it's just for lunch."

"Wonderful." Purrcy turned to the central seating area. "Shall we get started, then, so we don't go over and interrupt those plans?"

Three people already sitting rose to greet her as her other guards, P/R and Secretary, moved to stand on the wall where they could observe the room. The eyes of the tailors followed their movements. "Did you design their uniforms?" one asked before even being introduced.

"Yes, I did," she said modestly. "I'm sorry there wasn't time to invite you to the Fall Festival. You would have been able to see more, but I'll show you today the basics of the new line I'm interested in having you all help me with."

Raynessia stepped in and introduced the three. The thinnest, slightly balding and sporting pocket spectacles, was the tailor Tyron Leighton. He had a kind look about him, keen and interested in all he saw. Presley Collingwood was laid back, black haired, and looked like he would rather be dressing them all in clothing other than what they were wearing to suit his own tastes, though he nodded slightly at Purrcy's clothing. She'd gone with one of her nicer ones from the new suite that was more Adventurer suited, but didn't scream "princess". The third was a young woman named Clair Winthrop. Her brown hair was curled and pinned up at the back of her head, and her dress was finely tailored, as if she'd worn her own best work in order to show her skills off. Purrcy was suitably impressed.

"Clair, I understand you're just beginning in the business? I found the dress you sent to Princess Raynessia to be very similar in taste and construction style to what I prefer. It was finely done."

Clair curtsied. "Thank you. Yes, I am hoping to open a tailoring shop soon and have been making dresses and clothing on commission until then."

"I would like to make you a proposition once we're done with the basics here." Purrcy turned to Presley and Tyron. "I've seen the works the Princess has of yours, of course. I would like to know how your tastes run in male clothing lines. My line will have both. Did you happen to bring samples with you?"

Both men bowed and waved to waiting servants. Purrcy seated herself in one of the chairs at the end of the table. Those with her found seats as they would to watch as well. Clair sat while the two tailors took turns showing what they'd brought. When they'd shown three of each for the male lines, Purrcy held up her hand. "That is sufficient, thank you. Please sit and I'll show you the general designs. I think I know who I would like to commission each of the final products from, now, but you are of course welcome to refuse if you wish. Just one moment while I sort them, please."

The tailors blinked as she appeared to just sit there in quiet, thinking. After little more than a minute, her bracelet glowed green-yellow and a small glowing cube that would fit in her palm appeared in Tyron's lap. "Those are for you to look at. If you aren't interested in one, just flick it with your finger and it will disappear from the list in total." Another glow of the bracelet and other cube appeared in Presley's lap. "Those are yours, if you'd please take a look at them." Purrcy turned to Clair. "Please come sit here next to me, Miss Clair, and I'll discuss the ones I wanted you to take a look at." Another glow of the bracelet and a third cube appeared in Purrcy's hand. There was a bit of rearrangement for Clair to move closer to Purrcy, then they fell into discussions as the tailors reviewed their selections.

Purrcy gave Clair two pairs of matching sets of clothing, male and female. One was children's size, the other adult. She pointed out specific things she wanted to see, then asked Clair to consider her own variants to the things that she wasn't so critical on. She wanted to use them to test Clair's design sense, to see if they really were compatible. Then she rose from her chair and went to sit next to Tyron, who was fairly quick to go through his potentials. They discussed his refusals and his preferences until Purrcy understood. Then she repeated it for Presley. When she felt she understood, she went back to her chair again. "Okay, just for the sake of everyone else who's been waiting without much to say for it, if you will find your personal favorite of those I've offered you. If you put your finger on it and hold it, it will grow in size until we can all see it comfortably. We'll start with you Mister Presley, please."

Presley found one and pulled it up. "This is my favorite dress," he stated. "It has simple lines, but is crinolined enough to stand out beautifully. The shoulders were nicely ruffled, the neckline not too low, and the diagonal accent draws the eyes to the face of the wearer. I should think if the purchaser cannot afford too many crinolines, it would still wear well, so should be a good seller." He looked at the larger version. "Though, now that I see it at this scale, it is shorter than we would usually create."

Purrcy nodded. "The Adventurers care less about modesty than the People of the Land. Please feel free to take some time to walk through town while you're here to see how and why that affects my designs. You are welcome to lengthen the skirt for selling to People of the Land, but please don't shorten it just because you see other Adventurers more skimpily clad than I would design for. I've chosen the modesty levels on purpose." Purrcy waved slightly to Tyron.

Tyron put his cube on the table once the design was large enough for everyone to see and inspected it more closely as well first. "Hmm...My initial reaction was that this one would be very masculine, but it appears when larger to not be?"

"It is a masculine effect," Purrcy agreed. "The goal is to be ambivalent with this one. We have come here oddly. Some of our members are males in a female body and some are females in a male body. This one is targeted to those members of our society. While the People of the Land aren't that way, thank goodness, there are some males who would look very proper in something like this, and vice versa, if the women could overcome the embarrassment of wearing pants under the short-skirted top. We find pants more comfortable than skirts, but you will see both on both sexes here. Again, please take the time to explore the city while you are here. Our wide range of history and heritages are shown in the extreme variety of clothing."

"Purrcy, that one is well done," Tetorō praised her. "I'd wear that one."

"Thank you, Lord Tetorō," she smiled at him. "I did design it with you in mind." While Tetorō blushed slightly, she turned back to Tyron. "If you'd be willing to make at least one for Tetorō I would appreciate it. He was one of those who came male in a female body, though we've been able to help him find a solution since. If in the creation of the first one, you decide it still suits you, Mister Tyron, I believe it will sell well to Adventurers, at least."

Akatsuki sat up and leaned forward just a little, looking at the outfit with narrowed eyes. "Please turn it." Her angle was from the side. Tyron politely complied and Akatsuki looked at it closely, then looked back at Purrcy. "Almost...too feminine."

Purrcy nodded. "For you, yes." Her eyes went distant and the picture hanging in the air changed. "This one I was thinking of you, Lady Akatsuki."

Akatsuki studied it with her eyes, then nodded. "That one is better."

"Will you stand up, please?" Tyron asked her. Akatsuki gracefully stood, having been on her knees again. "Do you always kneel?" he asked, looking at her puzzled.

"Yes," she answered.

Tyron looked her up and down and nodded. "Understandable. But you aren't a child."

"No," Akatsuki flushed slightly.

Tyron nodded. "Which is why this one is adult lines and formal. It would also work for high society youngsters as well."

Purrcy smiled slightly. "Yes, I did have the heir in mind as well, though you should of course make his unique. Akatsuki's should be black. That is her preferred color. Other than that, the ones that come here do not have to be particularly unique, unless that is your preference. ...And that leads me to my next part of our visit. Quantities." The tailors perked up their ears. "I do want specific orders to be delivered to me, such as those two, and others that are marked in what I've given you. Tyron, if you'll tap the top of the design?" He did and a window with text appeared in front of it. "Those are the requirements for the first one you create. It should come to me free of charge so I can confirm you've done as I requested. I will keep it unless it is in need of major modifications. Once we have agreed on the final design, I will place the orders for the number desired and likely a spread of colors as well to be delivered here to Shopping District 8 for them to sell from their store front."

"At a minimum, I will order thirty of each outfit. My designs are popular enough to sell fifty to one hundred easily, and often more, but which specific ones we don't always guess right the first time, so we start with the thirty and see what sells out fastest. We will send you those follow-on orders as they arise. We cannot afford a long lag time between orders and deliveries after that first delivery. At most five days, seven for you because I know you will be shipping it from Maihama, but that is the maximum we can afford. I expect we will request reorders at twenty at a time, unless it is a mediocre selling one that we only need one more order of thirty for, and could probably take in two fifteen quantity shipments." Purrcy stopped. She'd overwhelmed them, but then, she'd known she would. They were used to making their clothing in ones to fives.

"I have invited you to participate because our seamstresses are no longer capable of filling the large requests that come in for not only my line of clothing but the many others that are being created weekly. We need the help of the People of the Land." She looked down at her hands, then looked back up at them mildly. "That being said...when you begin to hire the large number of sewers to help you fill the orders, please remember they are living beings as well and should not be forced to work long hard hours in the dark without thought to their health. We have already lived through this level of increase of productivity and those were very dark years for our people. I will come to inspect your sewing houses before we begin full production to correct any errors in people management you've decided to line your pockets with. There is plenty of profit to be had without making your employees suffer merely to eek out a pittance more. ...I hope I am being clear enough." Both men nodded, still trying to swallow around dry mouths.

"The Adventurers will wait a month more before they will wish to see the actual purchasable products in the store. By Christmas they absolutely must be on the racks. That is slightly less than eight weeks out." She held up her hand. They were openly protesting now. "Pick three of each sex. If we have that much, they will be satisfied. Trickling out the total line is acceptable, though by the end of this season's line, I will hope you have set up yourselves to be able to handle the next line more expeditiously."

"Next...line...," Tyron said faintly.

"How frequently do you produce this much?" Presley asked.

"Calasin prefers to have the change at each main season - summer and winter. I produce the lines in the spring and fall, therefore. If he can squeeze a few out of me in the inbetween time to keep sales rolling, he will."

"Can we have them sooner?" Presley asked.

Purrcy smiled. He was a good businessman. "Yes, once we've worked on this set and created a proper understanding." They all relaxed a little. "So, shall we discuss the final bit - the financial?" Eyes lit up at that, and they got down to a fast-paced negotiation until a percentage was reached that was agreeable to all parties. Purrcy wrote up the contracts between her and the gentlemen and they were signed and appropriately registered. "It has been a pleasure doing business with you, gentlesirs," Purrcy said, leaning back. "Thank you for coming to meet with me. I'll keep Clair for a bit longer, but perhaps this would be a good time for you to go exploring the city." The tailors rose and bowed, made sure they had their design boxes, and excused themselves.

Purrcy turned to Clair. "I think you think about clothing very similarly to how I do. I would like to make you a proposition. Will you consider coming on as my apprentice? I'd be willing to make it journeyman level rather quickly. I'm afraid I've run out of time and capacity to handle the creation of new ideas all by myself any longer. You'd have to move here in order to come to understand Adventurers and their tastes more quickly, and so that I can be nearby when you have questions or uncertainties, or if I need to contact you quickly." She waited for the idea to sink in.

"On your own personal designs, I'd take a twenty percent cut while you're listed as an apprentice. As a journeyman I would take a ten percent cut. Should we decide to split and form separate houses, then you'll pay me a fee for being your mistress during that time, but thereafter your ideas are your own. If you should choose to stay, then we can renegotiate my cut at the time that you feel you should be getting a higher percentage, if it comes up. My goal is that we will be the sole provider of clothing to Princess Raynessia and she will become the face of our lines. She has already agreed to this if I can fulfill my promise to her."

Raynessia was looking at her in utter surprise. "What promise?" she finally asked.

Purrcy smiled at her. "To make you clothing appropriate to the nobility of Maihama and the position of ambassador to the Adventurers that you are actually _willing_ to and _want_ to wear." She looked at Clair again. "It is a high bar to attain. She is very particular, but I believe I can reach it, and you have the talent to help. The two pairings of designs I've given you are meant for her and her brother. When you have made the modifications I've asked for, bring them to me. When you have reached the level of being able to please Princess Raynessia, we will try it on her to see if we have indeed found the key we are seeking. Then we will gift the male version to her brother and see if he is in agreement. Then...we will create together the next line. If they have enjoyed their first gifts, perhaps they will both consent to be our exclusive models in the spring festival fashion show." Purrcy looked at Raynessia with a sparkle in her eyes.

Raynessia sat back with a little gasp, then shook her head slowly. "Lady Purrcy, you are every bit a high and noble lady...and the worst business person I've ever had to deal with."

Purrcy laughed. "Yes, so I've been told before. But you'll still do it?"

Raynessia looked away, then nodded. "I'm sure I'd much rather wear your line again."

"Wonderful. Thank you. And I think your brother would have much rather been up there on stage himself," Purrcy winked at Raynessia.

"Most likely," she answered dryly.

Having given Clair time to think, Purrcy turned back to her. Clair bowed from her sitting position. "I would be pleased to attempt to follow you, though I think I might not quite have the capacity you do."

"Anything is helpful right now, and as you learn, it will come more quickly and naturally, I would think. Thank you." Purrcy pulled out a contract and handed it over. "If you would please review this and let me know if it's satisfactory?"

Before Purrcy put a pen to it, Tetorō reached over and took the contract and reviewed it very carefully. Only when he was satisfied did he hand it back to Purrcy. "Shiroe approves as well."

Purrcy nodded and signed it. "Princess, are we perhaps close to lunch?"

-:-:-:-:-

"Okay, Tetorō. How are you doing?" Purrcy asked as they walked away from Water Maple Manor, having enjoyed the friendly conversation at lunch with all the friends.

"Mmm...pretty good, actually. Lunch revived me quite a bit."

"Great. I need a thirty minute power nap."

Tetorō laughed and patted his arm. She was quickly a kitten hiding in it. "Even that much was still too social? Even though they are friends now?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Particularly after an intense negotiation. Need to rest the brain."

"Well, that's true enough," he said quietly, petting her gently. He waited until she was asleep then called Shiroe. "Negotiations went fine. Both tailors are overwhelmed but she gave them an increasing path to get there, and they like the final numbers in terms of comparative profit. She's warned them off the sweatshop right off and will inspect before she lets them start full production to make sure they stick to it...assuming she's here to do it." He looked up at the sky, trying to not think about how they were still trying to walk two paths at once.

"The young lady signed up, but you know that. She stayed to lunch and was accepted in right away, so they'll take care of her while we're not here. It was still too much for Purrcy, the combination, so she's power napping for a bit before we move on to the next thing. The garbage heap was terrible and she's not wrong to make them move it. ...Sorry, but she sold how to do it the cheater style again. They were pretty firm it wasn't going to happen until then, and she was just as firm it was. Given how it smelled, in another two years we won't want to be in our own guild hall by summer if it doesn't get moved. I'm glad it's fall. And I think that catches you up."

"Thanks." Shiroe was as short as always. "And her mood?"

That surprised Tetorō. "Ah.., happy actually. We passed Crescent Moon on the way past when Serera was coming out and she invited her to go with. Enjoyed being Hahaue for her on the walk over, though she forgot Serera was with us as soon as we got to the manor. Serera didn't mind. Just sat with us like she does when she comes to visit, too. She seemed to enjoy herself."

"Mmm...that's good. Keep me updated."

"Sure thing!" The line cut. Tetorō's next thought was to call Nyanta, then he had to nix it with a bit of a sigh to himself. He pet Purrcy again while walking back along the road they'd come along to begin with. He should have a part of the path engraved with his name by now, or perhaps gilded.

"Hey, Tetorō! What's up guys?"

Tetorō looked over at the rather sudden appearance of two people, one on each side of him. The Eagles with them were a little surprised and almost attacked. He sighed. He'd been waiting for a day like this. "Furbius the Great, and HarperBlade of the Knights of the Black Sword. Isaac's set you on watch today, has he? Next time, don't be quite so sneaky. You about died." He kept his voice light, but his words heavy on purpose.

"Since when do _you_ need a guard watch to walk you on the back roads?" Furbius asked in a raking tone.

"But then...we did think we saw the Princess of Log Horizon for just a moment back there," HarperBlade put her hands behind her head and looked at Tetorō out of the corner of her eye. Accidentally on purpose she looked down into Tetorō's arm. "Hoh? What's this." She made them stop so she could look, grabbing hold of Tetorō's arm, though he pulled back. "Ah? A 'werecat'? What's that? Haven't heard of one of those before. Can I see, can I?"

Tetorō blocked the reaching hands with his other hand. "Considering it's sleeping, no. It only looks cute at the _current_ size. If you wake it up at this point, you're likely to lose more than a little blood - like maybe an arm or a head."

Furbius looked over his shoulder. "It's awfully cute, though...and Purrcy's coloring, too."

Tetorō waved him off. "It's hers, of course she'd pick something close."

HarperBlade laughed. "You mean you'll have a five guard watch on just a kitten?"

"No, on a werecat," he corrected. "It's Purrcy's. Remember, she's the Caretaker, so the creatures of Yamato listen to her. She's told it to be nice to the guild, but the rest of the city's almost fair game. We keep watch on it when it comes along for the walk."

"Hmm...yes, walk...," Furbius said from beside him, having come around to peer at the kitten closer. "So...isn't this just Purrcy herself?"

"No, this is Purrseus. You know, the constellation named after the Greek hero who cut off Medusa's head. The galaxy swirls and several feats of similar strength named this one."

"We're quite sure we saw her, though," HarperBlade looked at him with a smirk.

"Then you were seeing things - like what you expected to see when you saw the five of us. I left her at Water Maple for a bit since she wanted to keep visiting with Akatsuki and Princess Raynessia. Purrseus was getting tired and cranky, though, so we're returning it home." He started walking again, but they were persistent and stayed right with him. "No, really, guys, if you wake it up, we might be in trouble since she's not with us. It's only just fallen asleep. I'd really rather not be torn to shreds." He waved them off. "If you want to visit, we'll do it another time."

H/R and P/R helped them peel off and be left behind. He didn't relax until his guards relaxed...and that was about the time they arrived at the guild house given they'd been surprised. "I suppose," Tetorō said as they entered the common room, "that's to be expected now that there's more traffic on the road. I didn't expect them to make a full view sneak attack."

"We're still very sorry for not catching them earlier," Brenner said. The four of them were standing at attention. It was right for them to expect punishment after letting those two split as if common passersby and then suddenly attach themselves.

Tetorō nodded. "She and I'll wait here for your replacements, then see MasterChiefS7 immediately for proper disciplining. You're all to continue denying knowing anything at all about a werecat. We'll see if it can stay a rumor a while longer, but I suspect it won't last. I hope until the next level's done, but we'll see." They bowed and took up proper positions for in-house guarding.

Tetorō walked to the couch and sank down with a sigh. He was glad he'd worked up what to do ahead of time last time he'd been panicked while carrying kitten Purrcy. "Akatsuki."

"Yeah."

"I was just ambushed by two of Isaac's. I told them Purrcy stayed back there with you. When you leave, disappear and have the fake guards disappear at the same time so there isn't anyone to ask questions to for the rest of the day."

" _Sigh_ _._...Right."

Tetorō leaned his head back on the couch briefly, then lifted it again to look at Purrcy as he pet her lightly. "Log Horizon's Princess, huh? Even they've all got that title for you. I guess we've helped you earn it, though, haven't we?" He considered her, the soft fur tickling his finger as he brushed it over her back. He whispered, "I guess it wouldn't be much different as the Oracle and Priestess up on the mountain, would it? ...Here's more people, but I'm not sure that's better for you." He sat mesmerized until a hand lightly fell on his shoulder.

He looked up. It was Life Support. "We're ready, and it's about time."

Tetorō nodded. Even if he hadn't dozed, the mesmerization of petting Purrcy was pretty strong. He stood up and walked for the door. The Safety detail joined the two of them and they headed for the Akiba Adventurer Academy and the School Board meeting.

-:-:-:-:-

"Thank mew for the ride, BrownMane," Nyanta thanked Naotsugu's gryphon. The relatively young gryphon (though he should have been just as old as Nyanta's ProudWing since they'd gotten the whistles at the same time) politely only lightly bumped Nyanta, trying to go for a rub more than a nudge. Nyanta suffered it since he was trying.

"Good luck," Naotsugu said, lifting a hand of farewell.

"Thanks. Mew, too." Nyanta waved a hand and turned for the felinoid village. Shiroe, having read the reports from the last time he'd been out, surely knew this would indeed be a punishment for Nyanta.

For the other two beast-half types, he was a stranger interloping who needed teaching certainly, and had been tolerated. The foxtails were the most similar to humans, having intimate family groups living in each den and mating for life. The wolf-fang villages he'd been the most out of place in, of course. Walking into the village was like walking into Akiba, with large numbers of males and at least half the females standing around in the attitude of warriors. There was no disorder and everyone knew what their roles were and were busy being about them, though it was an unhurried lifestyle for the most part. As expected, they were pack-like, with the village head the alpha male of the pack. He had his two head females, one the older one of wisdom, the other the equivalent of his head wife. Nyanta had been relieved to learn that the village head didn't expect to be the only one to bed all the women in town. Rather, there were so many wolf-fangs that they were split into their subgroups and there was a rather equal subdivision of males to females.

He'd been most impressed with how they taught the adolescents to live in the village structure and had recommended to Shiroe that they should indeed work out an apprentice arrangement. The villages would be able to teach the wolf-fang Adventurers how to properly behave themselves quite admirably, if only a few at a time were sent to break up the current pack mentality in Akiba. He wasn't quite sure how the village head would handle the Wolf Pack guildmaster, but Nyanta still was impressed with his calm surety and internal strength. He was sure he needn't worry about it. In both packs, he and the village head had reached easy understandings and enjoyed sitting in the evenings talking and drinking. Perhaps that was why he'd stayed too long.

And as to why he'd put off coming here, to this second of the felinoid villages...well. First of all, walking into the village as still human half form was essential. Otherwise he drew aggressive males and far too many curious females. Cats in packs...well it was a different thing, really. Pecking orders were established, and within a month were rearranged if circumstances changed. It had been hard to find anyone who would admit to being a 'village head'. No one really cared he was there to negotiate and open relations. They _were_ very interested in where he was going to nap or sleep for the night. He'd slept in a tree the first night as large cat, as was his habit, and woken to find himself being slept on, and under, by about five females and three males who'd followed their favored females and joined in.

Cat piles might be a normal thing, but for Nyanta, that was _not_ his preferred way to get to know strangers. He'd scolded them all away that morning. That day, he'd just wandered around the village talking to whomever would talk to him, finally finding one of the greying females who was willing to just sit quietly with him, answering his questions. That night, having scolded off the younger set, three of the mature female felinoids had stalked his tree having spats, not wanting to share him, until he'd finally risen to scold them as well, threatening them with the Caretaker in the end, though they grumbled that she wasn't present so what did it matter? He'd left the next morning at the time the village went out hunting for mice and other small prey. He was sure they hadn't been surprised by his not returning, any more than they'd been very excited at his arrival, save for being new fresh meat.

Nyanta's whiskers twitched. The smell of the felinoid village he was approaching was strong. Not so the Caretaker would send the sanitation department, rather it was more like it was both close, and full of many felinoids. He sighed. Three days would be rather difficult. He pushed through the final section of overgrowth he was walking through and stopped at the edge of the metropolis he found himself staring at. If the first village had been full of the typical cats who were idle and lazy, this was the "other" one. The one where those who were respectable, wise, and even-tempered were. Three days wasn't going to be enough to see everything there was to see here.

"Hello," a soft voice said, not quite with a purr. "Is this your first time to come?"

Nyanta turned his head and looked at the young female felinoid who had spoken to him. She was wearing a simple grey frock, but was impeccably clean and healthy. Her stance was as proud as his was, and with as little thought to it. "Yes. Can mew tell me what this place is called, please?" He wanted to stay here in this place forever and he hadn't even stepped foot into it yet - only arrived at its boundary.

"This city has several names. The Gate of Time is the one I think you would know it by."

Nyanta's heart froze. The Gate of Time was not a place to adventure in alone, and he already didn't want to leave it. "Please, I've been sent, but I must also arrive again where I was left off three mornings from when I arrived here. Is there a way I may fulfill both of my requirements?"

The felinoid looked behind him. "You've been sent alone?"

"Yes," Nyanta was trembling to hold himself still. "We were unaware this was the Gate of Time, only that it had been rumored to be the second of the two felinoid villages of Yamato. I've been sent by the Adventurer city of Akiba to open relationships with each of the beast-half villages...though this is anything but a village."

Her tail flicked thoughtfully. "You are still at the edge," she finally said. "I will answer your questions and perhaps I shall see the sun pass three times and send you home to arrive at the proper time."

Nyanta bowed. "Thank mew. If I don't return, the Caretaker will surely mourn."

An ear went back and it seemed a breath was taken in. "The Caretaker?"

"Yes. I am her husband. The handfasting was completed last week." His vision was becoming both sharper and waterier at the same time, as if time was distorting space.

Suddenly there was in front of him another felinoid. This one was dressed in a Chinese gown. He bowed. "Li Shou," he said respectfully.

"You know my name," the Chinese cat goddess and keeper of time sounded pleased. Nyanta's deep knowledge of cats wasn't going to be wasted here, and he was relieved he'd studied it. "I may make you my favorite."

"Please, do not. I am sure meowr powers are much greater than those of the Caretaker, however she is very jealous for the one she has claimed as her own."

Li Shou gave a light chuckle. "I would never think to go against the Oracle and Priestess of the World God. I know full well I would be asking for it's ire as well." It was a bit of a rebuke. It was also the first time any creature of the world had acknowledged to him exactly how well they understood the titles and role of the Caretaker.

Li Shou held out her hand. In it was an hourglass about three inches tall on a cord. "Wear this. When you are ready, come back to this point again. Turn it once and wait for the sand to fall. If you leave then, one day will have passed outside the city. Turn it and allow the sands to fall again and it will have been two days. Eventually, you too will arrive at your full potential and be able to come here and leave whenever you will. For now, this will allow you to meet your requirements."

Nyanta looked at the status information on the hourglass. It was simply _Sands of Time_ with the same instructions she had just given him. He took it gratefully. "Thank mew very much. How long may I stay in meowr city?"

Li Shou smiled. "That will have to be decided by you, but if you stay too long, you will still fall to the 'curse' of the city and never return home."

His ear twitched. He'd have to fight that very hard. This was a place of learning and wisdom, of calm. Here he could lose himself and never return. The temptation would be extremely high. "What happens if I use the hourglass within the city?"

Li Shou shrugged. "Within the Gate of Time it is just sand. It will fall."

"Then I will enter if you will allow this one to escort me and answer my questions. I will use the hourglass to remind myself that it is time to leave." He put the cord over his head, making sure it didn't tip to spill grains while he was still at the edge of the city.

"Then, be sure you visit all the temples first. The others will wish to greet you as well," Li Shou said graciously.

"Others?" Nyanta asked. The strange warping of time and space happened again and Li Shou was gone.

The lightly tabbied grey felinoid who had greeted him to begin with motioned towards the center of the city. "There is one temple devoted to each of the main cat deities on Theldesia. The city actually exists in each of those countries simultaneously as well. We will need to bring you back to this location to be sure you end up on Yamato, and not on the other side of the world."

Nyanta wondered if that was the other reason it was called "Gate" instead of "City". They could potentially gate across the world without getting their own gates functional, though he doubted they'd let commercial traffic through. Purrcy would be so jealous he got to come here without her, was his only thought...until he realized he was being rude to keep his perhaps unwilling hostess. "Ah, I'm sorry. My name is Nyanta."

"It is a pleasure to greet you again, Priest Nyanta." She smiled lightly at his slight consternation to her greeting. "It may feel like your first time to come, and I suppose it is since Li Shou chose to come and gift you herself, however 'when' you enter the Gate of Time is rather unbounded. I am your secretary, MeowLi."

"Did mew know to come find me today?" he asked in surprise.

She smiled. "You will come to learn it eventually. In this moment, we will go on a tour of the temples so that you can know the heads properly the First Time, and then I will answer your questions and send you back. Remembering you can return at any 'time' will help you go home this First Time."

Hearing her say it again, this way, and he finally understood. She'd been saying it formally every time, even when he'd first heard her voice. This was his First Time to enter the Gate of Time within his time restricted memory, and thus a rather unique moment in a place where time was unbounded and moved in ways incomprehensible to the mortal mind. He sighed, relaxing. "Yes, if I can return, I will find it much easier to leave it at the end of this First Time. I think I shall enjoy myself immensely, this once in a lifetime opportunity to see something new with eyes that are unclouded."

"That is very like you, Priest Nyanta," she smiled. "And would you still like to see your least favorite deity and temple first to get them out of the way?"

Nyanta blinked, then nodded. "Yes, please. But must I really meet with Ovinnik?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Try to be pleasant this First Time without being condescending and he may allow you to at least have the remainder of the visit be pleasant as well. He did help you with keeping the spirits and fairies at bay while you were on the World Tree with your wife, after all."

Nyanta's nose whiskers twitched up. "Yes, MeowLi. I'll try to be good. After all, I did come expecting to have to make a good First Impression." She laughed a nice laugh at his dry joke. "Is Ceridwen as interesting a conversationalist as I hope?" he asked as they began their journey into the Gate of Time.

"Yes. I will be taking you there last and will have to drag you away as usual, I'm sure." MeowLi was definitely good at keeping him in hand.

"That's good then." He looked at her then. "But, while this is my First Time to enter the Gate of Time, it isn't the First Time for us to meet. I purresume that will come at one of my later times to enter?"

"Yes, Priest Nyanta." It was said very formally. He let it drop. That was enough. It would be another enjoyable First when it occurred, he was quite sure.


	84. Hacker Graduation

"I'm not very surprised the leprechauns took a liking to you, Tatara," Purrcy waved a proud tail as the glittering green light faded from their sight. She looked at the slight blacksmith and Assassin next to her. "You handled their conniving very well."

Tatara shrugged. "Not much different than half my customers."

Purrcy laughed. "I'd imagine not." She looked around the secluded clearing they'd found not too far outside Akiba. "Do you have any final questions for me or are you comfortable with what we've done here?" Tatara looked around also, as if setting in her mind all the requirements and the spell one more time, then nodded once.

"Great. We'll see you back to town, then. We've got one more thing to do tonight before our busy day is done." They got walking, meeting up with Tetorō and the four obvious guards outside the copse of trees. They made small talk on the way back to the city gate, then said their farewells. When they turned to go back out into the night, a number of other shadows entered the outside zones with them. Purrcy raised an eyeridge of whiskers.

"The other guilds have been put on alert," Tetorō told her quietly. She nodded and let him lead their little group to a zone that wasn't too far out and had low enough spawns they wouldn't show up to interrupt them. "I'm sorry we'll have to be uncomfortable," he said.

Purrcy shook her head. "I'm rather enjoying myself getting to be out of the city walls again." She took in a deep breath of the crisp fall evening air. "Really, though we've been busy all day today, things have gone well. Marielle and Henrietta are excellent in their positions at the Academy. The meeting went very smoothly, for all we had a lot to cover. It's encouraging that so many of the youth of Akiba are so willing to participate in picking back up their Earth studies. After this long I would have thought more would have given up, honestly."

Tetorō shook his head. "They're resilient, it's true, but most of them are the most desperate to get home, I think. Life on Earth for them still holds a lot of promise and not many regrets yet, or if they do have regrets, they want to go and fix them now."

Purrcy nodded thoughtfully. "It's nice to see such optimism in youth. ...Very encouraging."

"Unlike the pessimism of age?" Michael's deeper voice sounded on her other side as he landed with a few running steps to catch up to walking with them and remove the last of his forward flight velocity.

Her whiskers twitched. "Well...I don't know if all old people are pessimistic. Just me."

"Hmm...I resemble that remark on most days," Michael said practically. "Prefer to not get my hopes up only to be squashed. Rather would be pleasantly surprised we all made it home in one piece."

Tetorō shook his head. "But life's so much better lived when the sun is greeted daily with a smile."

"True," Purrcy patted his arm with her free hand. The other was holding his elbow. Walking with an escort was already an unconscious habit.

Michael snorted, however. "Closet pessimist," he declared of Tetorō.

Tetorō glared at him. "Not really. Just practical. The rest of the time I'm having fun."

"I like it," Purrcy said, ending the argument with her tone and the whip of her tail. "Practical is the most important, in my opinion. You're not caught off guard that way." They both agreed to that. She looked up and around at their surroundings, mostly shadows of trees and rocks in the faint light. "Intelligence detail, come out. We'll need you to guard on the inside, so you need to be in the inner circle for external protections tonight."

Four more shadows joined them from the tree tops surrounding them. Tonight, they would be guarded in the shadows by D.D.D. special ops and the two floaters from the Eagles. The rest of the Eagles were on guard watch over Shiroe and the rest of the guild. With the word having gone out of a likely special campaign coming up everyone was on higher alert.

They reached the place set aside - a clear hill with only a few rocks on it that was surrounded by the woods. Their hidden guardians would watch from the trees. They went half-way up the hill to sit in a nook made by several taller rocks. Purrcy placed a campfire - already going - and two stacks of firewood in a central location to keep them warmed. The rocks would reflect the heat back, and the Security detail on watch already with her would keep the fire fed as they kept watch on the surroundings.

"I don't expect we'll be long, really," Purrcy said as she settled with her back to a rock, pulling Tetorō to sit on her left. She patted the ground on her right as she looked at Michael.

He settled himself there, sitting cross-legged. "You know...if we weren't here, but still back on Earth, I'd be standing instead. My knees don't let me sit on the ground there any more."

Purrcy patted him on the head. "Retire."

He scowled at her as the rest of the Eagles laughed. "The Geezer's been told that more than once," Gareth said.

"Usually when we want to not have to get up at o'dark thirty and run for twenty miles before we get breakfast," Compliance said.

"Running twenty miles on top of a flat-topped floating bobber is far and away the most boring way to run, too," Ground Safety complained.

"Better'n in the sand," Bowie said. There were nodded agreements to that as the Intelligence detail settled down around the three officers so their bodies at least would be shields, even if they weren't particularly mentally present to the outside world.

Purrcy wiggled to get comfortable, glad to have the additional company. "Basket of kittens," she said happily. They rolled eyes at her. She relented, "Okay, panther kits. Born with strength and sharp claws." Flashes of teeth being uncovered in sharp smiles went around the little group. The Security detail took up watch at the quarters, backs turned away from the fire so they could have some night vision.

"So...get comfortable. We'll be gone a while, walking in the code realm, and stay in physical touch with at least one other person. We're going to chain it. Gareth, you're on watch out here. Send any warnings in to BlackJack. BlackJack, I want you surface - just inside. Bowie and Stiletto, you'll come with at the beginning and I'll position you so that we can get any warnings from BlackJack, and he can get any warnings out if necessary. I'll try to make them as long as possible, but you'll have to be paying attention. It might just look like a blip. And make the send in as short as possible or I'll think it's just overhead noise."

"Yes, ma'am." It was the first time she'd used them directly for security inside.

Michael leaned back against the rock and put his legs out in front of him so the closest Eagle on his side, Gareth, could get in physical contact with him. Tetorō pulled on Purrcy. "Go to cat. Big, but not so big you cut off the circulation to my legs."

As Purrcy complied, it being warmer anyway, Tetorō slid over to her spot and leaned against Michael's shoulder. Purrcy walked up on both their laps and draped herself over their legs. Tetorō put his hand on her head and Michael rested his on her back. They'd be less likely to get jostled apart this way, and it made them altogether a smaller target if they were attacked.

The four of the Intelligence detail moved until they were comfortable with how in contact they were with their charges and each other. When they were ready, Purrcy gave the sign and it was passed up the chain and out to the watchers in the tree. Then they dropped down into the code realm.

-:-:-:-:-

When they were just inside the code realm, Purrcy turned and smiled at the five with her. "We won't be walking through space, but through time. BlackJack, you build the secure house since you're the one manning it. Here time is moving at roughly the same as outside - a little faster, but it works. Where we go next will be a thousand times faster. Set up a spell to catch anything that comes out from us if you don't think you can see or hear that fast."

Michael made her wait until BlackJack was ready, his spells created and cast. As he worked, Purrcy said, "I'm going to have Bowie the next in line. You'll be on your own in that layer, so your survival skills will be essential if you get noticed. We can get out to you as soon as you let us know you're in trouble but calling out for help will take too long, so should be the second call you make."

"You're really going to take us all the way to nano?" Michael folded his arms and looked at her sternly.

"We won't be deep for long, but you need to know how it looks, feels, and how to get around in it." They couldn't argue much to that. BlackJack let them know he was ready. Purrcy looked at the four that would go with her, then included BlackJack. "If you have to come inside the next layer to talk to us, you'll need to graduate." She called up Tetorō's status data and had it hover near him. They all looked at it. "Tetorō, you have worked very hard over the last half-year. Indeed, you are nearly irrepressible." Her whiskers twitched up wryly. "Only the fact that you keep yourself repressed helps me keep you contained."

"You're doing it on purpose?" he asked surprised, then shook his head. "No, you said way back that Michael was ready to cross over. I've always wondered why he never has."

Purrcy nodded. "I had to contain him then, and since then I've had to keep the rest of you contained." BlackJack, Bowie, and Stiletto gave her suspicious looks. She ignored them, mostly. She looked at Tetorō's status data and after one second it glowed and changed. His Class list upgraded to add Programmer and he received a new sub-class: Magic Researcher.

"What's that one for?" he asked.

"The hours and careful attention to understanding everything done by me and other pseudocode mages."

"The points are already rather high," he said a bit proud of the fact. Purrcy nodded.

She left his status data up for him to continue to appreciate a bit longer, then turned to Michael and pulled up his status data. Tetorō took down his own status display to be polite, and because he discovered he could. Michael's status data glowed and his Class list also had added to it Programmer and his new sub-class was Realm Walker.

"How long ago did I _actually_ earn it, and what the hell's a Realm Walker?"

"The spell you cast at the demonstration in the spring; and I think it's because of how you view, travel, and work in the code realm the same as you do in the outer realm. It's a nice sub-skill, though. You might be able to find other realms to walk around in, given this is a crazy world."

Michael snorted. "Like the spirit realm and death realms?"

"Yeah, something like that," Purrcy agreed, moving on to BlackJack. BlackJack shook his head, not really believing she'd locked them down, too. His status didn't go to Programmer, but his point level on Hacker suddenly jumped. "If you cast a few more, or one big one, you'll go up and be able to come down and help Bowie if he gets into trouble." BlackJack nodded.

That meant that Bowie _did_ get a Class addition. "You're dangerous. I'm not thrilled to let you loose. Behave, got it?" Purrcy said. Bowie blinked. "You just crossed over a little bit ago."

Purrcy stopped in front of Stiletto and her lips pursed. "I have no idea what to do with your sub-class. Good luck figuring that one out." His data appeared. With the last glow, his second Class of Programmer appeared next to Assassin, which all the others had as well, and a new sub-class of Aural Dweller.

"The Round Table council is already afraid of Shiroe having control of so many Hackers. Finding out that he has high level Assassins who are now all Programmers for an eventual six total Programmers is going to give them the willies - and likely to push them to get their own. I'd like to not have a cold war going so keep these under wraps please." She was talking to all of them, but she was still looking at Bowie.

With a wave of her hand, which looked like she was brushing away cobwebs, the status on all three of the Eagles standing with her were suddenly starkly printed in the air. The all stared, then dropped sheepish heads. Previously, their levels had all read they were level 90. Now they all showed 100 and nearing 101. "You can keep those under wraps for now but you need to let the guild know, particularly Shiroe." They nodded sheepishly.

"Right then," she was business again. "Step with me one more level. We'll leave it to you here, BlackJack." He saluted as she gathered the others up and phased up through the milli level into the micro layer of the code realm. In appearance it was similar, but the landscape now included a BlackJack as a pillar of stone that hardly appeared to move. Into view also came lights that danced lightly about them or passed by above and to the side of them as if purposely going from somewhere to somewhere. Occasionally one of those lights would arrive at Purrcy and at a regular interval one or another would leave her.

"On this level, we can see the data packets moving," she said to them. "Most of the floating motes of light are the heavier gaseous elements moving through space. Unless they start moving at high speeds, they are harmless. If you see one that isn't purposeful, but looks like a bullet or a meteor it's a radiative particle and they are harmful. Dodge those or send an equivalent at it to deflect it. Michael, with proper intent, your defensive armor should work like a shield against them. There is the possibility a weapon swung at them might deflect them as well, if you're getting bombarded and there's nowhere to dodge to. There aren't really any other natural things to have to defend against here. Of course here is where you'll run into other Programmers and their attacks."

They spent the next while - what felt like probably an hour of time to them - being taught the basics of how to see slower attacks coming and recognize what they were, how to see the various levels from within that one level so that they could know what they were affecting or what might be trying to affect them, and other tools that would help them at that level. When Purrcy was satisfied they had enough of a basic grasp to be able to work at getting along in that level of the code realm on their own, she called them to regroup and rest. "Bowie, set up the next secure room. You'll stay at this level. Work at figuring out how to call out to BlackJack while it's not an emergency."

Tetorō sat up straight. "Wait. Don't we have to be TechnoMages to get to the nano level?"

"No," Purrcy answered. "Not if a TechnoMage takes you there." She gave a wry grin.

Bowie indicated he was ready with his communications spells. His safe house had gone up first. Purrcy gathered up the other three and they rose to the nano level. She took a shorter time to describe this level since they wouldn't be getting there on their own for a long time. Just enough to warn them what not to touch and how to hide if necessary, then she watched carefully from the outside while each of them built a secure fox hole. She showed them modifications and tweaks until she was satisfied.

"Okay, Stiletto, come put a safe house around the fox holes. Make it low and like it isn't here." He nodded. They had to build blinds like that for special operations. When it was up, Purrcy was impressed. "Now, keep watch from inside. I'm taking the other two in for their special lessons. I'll leave a doorbell for you. Press it if there's an emergency and we're needed. Don't die. That will mess up our carefully laid out communication line." He rolled his eyes as he turned away from her and Michael flicked him on the head. Purrcy smiled a small smile, but she was serious. This level wasn't one to play around with.

When she and her two journeymen were in her secure field, they looked at her. "Are you going to let Bowie know what his sub-class is?" Michael asked her.

"No."

He pursed his lips at her. "If he's already doing it, what's it matter?"

She looked at him quietly for a moment, then said, "I'm not hiding it from _him_. He's already doing it so he already knows what it is."

Michael's mouth opened and he sat back a bit. "Well...good point. And...you didn't tell him _not_ to do anything...except not to get into trouble."

Purrcy nodded then pulled up their statuses again. This time, they were pristine. They stared at their actual stats for a long time before returning to stare at her. " _And_ we're titled?"

Purrcy ran a hand over the top of her head. "You're both unique in this world. Every Hacker and Programmer is, you already know, but those who rise to the top are even more so. All of those who visited with us back when I got attacked by the Superuser - they likely also all have titles like these. I can keep all these things hidden because I'm higher level as a TechnoMage. You can't hide your base stats from other Programmers if they go looking. Any layer of obfuscation laid over them looks like a veil. It can be thick and heavy, but they know there's something different underneath and they'll work to pry it out. To a TechnoMage even the thickest obfuscations are no more than mist. I have to work hard to see the lies over the top. Correspondingly, when I obfuscate something, no one of lesser level can see through it at all, though they could worm their way in to the real data, I suppose, since anything can be coded with enough patience and effort."

She sent two little balls of light towards them. "Here's the full data I want to pass on to you. Take your time studying it and ask me question. I'm going to nap around the edges, and help keep an eye on things outside. When you're done we'll do some practicals then it's time to go."

"Purrcy," Tetorō said slowly. "I can't imagine the Superuser, or World AI, would continue to allow this kind of magic to exist after whatever needs are met that it was needed for."

Purrcy nodded, thoughtful. "It's like the scaffolding. Once the world is set as it wants and moving forward on it's own, it will be part of what gets torn down and removed. We're the same. We've been called in to be the bricklayers, or maybe painters, and we're up on the scaffolding putting some of the last pieces into the world. At the same time, we've been called in to fix previous errors so we're also doing that. Once both are done, it's very likely you're right and this kind of magic will be removed from the world." Purrcy shrugged. "It's okay. We work like that on Earth, too. Specialists are called in, they do what needs to be done, then move on. We have tasks we came from and tasks we can move on to. Right now, we focus on the current task, trying our best until we're able to complete the work that needs to be done."

Tetorō sighed. "I'll miss it, though."

Purrcy smiled. "Go into computational intelligence and work for the government when you get back. They'll love you and you'll love the work. Maybe you'll find the way back here from that side." She laughed lightly. "After all, aren't all worlds being worked on all the time? And Earth is pretty old. I'll bet it gets regular upgrades and repairs all the time." She waved at the glowing light in front of him and settled down to wait on them, setting herself as the fifth guard.

A few hours later, Stiletto asked her, "How long are we going to be here?"

"Probably a few days," she answered back. "If you get hungry, eat. If you get tired, nap. Just set alarms up." Stiletto sighed and settled, but she was sure he'd not waste those 'hours' any more than he did the ones outside.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy, Michael, and Tetorō dug themselves out of their foxholes and stretched, shaking off their motionlessness for the last little while as they'd debriefed the lessons just finished. Michael shook Stiletto's shoulder. "Time to get moving," he said. Stiletto stretched and yawned, and rose also. Purrcy wrapped them all up and stepped back down to the micro level. They could feel the drag as they slowed down one thousand times.

When Bowie was a moving creature instead of a statue that only moved very imperceptibly, she said, "Take your time getting used to the lower speeds. It's possible to miscalculate until you're back in sync."

"That didn't take long," Bowie said. "Not much has happened here in the last three to four minutes."

"What about the last couple of days?" Stiletto asked him.

"Days? We've been following Miss Purrcy around the last couple of days. You've only been in there for the last several minutes."

Purrcy turned away with a smug smile. "So, now that we're back, if the four of you want to practice in this level you can go in pairs while I sit here and monitor my lines and take Bowie's place in the communication chain. If you need help, let me know and I'll give you ideas for getting unstuck."

"And just how long do we have in this layer before we have to go back?" Tetorō asked suspiciously.

"Umm," Purrcy calculated, "however long you can last, but no more than about four days to four and a half - or the equivalent." Bowie stared at her, but the others nodded. "That's plenty of time to get a lot of experience in while I'm around to teach. The only problem is that Michael and Tetorō are pretty far down in HP at this point."

"Will my healing magic work in here?" Tetorō asked.

"Haven't you tried it yet?" Purrcy asked.

Tetorō shook his head and tried a mid-level area effect spell. When it worked, they were relieved. "Since you're our only healer in here, keep your spells to only emergencies, Tetorō," Purrcy instructed. "That's both code and healing. You won't get to increase your MP again until you're outside. That will likely be our time limiter." Tetorō wrinkled his nose, not liking having to restrain his spell casting, but nodded.

As the two pairs headed out, Purrcy settled down to rest on her paws. She was used to this level and the waiting time involved. It worked well for cats who liked to be lazy and take cat naps.

-:-:-:-:-

Four psyche bodies flopped down in the secure room to try and recover. "Good work," Purrcy said to them. "You managed to get here quick enough. While you recover, learn the mods I made to Bowie's code on his room. The hounds should wander off in a bit. You did well enough for newbie Programmers."

Tetorō wrinkled his nose. "It feels like starting all over again."

"Newbie's once again," Michael agreed.

"Yes," Purrcy agreed. "This level is the best one to work in, particularly for Programmers, so that's who you'll find in here. You've all still got a lot to learn. Only in the first level where Hackers are, are things what they appear to be."

Stiletto rubbed a hand on his face. "I got bored enough in the upper level to wander out finally. There things are liquid, not dancing motes, and a lot of it's corrosive. It's hard to wander around in, so I didn't do it much."

Purrcy nodded. "The code that is light flying by on a mission here in the micro layer are bits that move like magma and are just as unstoppable. You have to be really careful which bit you affect and how or you send back a warning to the creator and it hammers you. If the command was wrappered with protections, then the outer layers are that corrosion, and you can't get inside without a lot of damage. The nano layer takes a lot of careful learning."

They sat quietly as the four obediently worked on their lesson to inspect the safe room code for the Programming level. There was suddenly a knocking at the door, as it were. Purrcy looked out her peep hole, then invited the package into a safe box and ran a security check on it. When it was declared safe, she told it to open and displayed the visual to the room so the others could see it.

A light was shown entering a line and beginning a run down it. Other lights were cued up in a different area, waiting near other lines. The message contained auditory next. "The first one is headed to your physical address. You might want to intercept. The others are Overwritten getting ready to ride the coattails down for a Special, also near your address." That was it.

"Heh," Michael said, "it's nice of him to give you warning." He nodded at Bowie who sent a message back to the outside that things were on their way and to only observe for now.

"Well, now," Purrcy stood and stretched. "Time to really train you lot. Come along and pay attention." She rose up above the secure room and they followed behind her. They learned how to sniff out the faint trace of where that message had come from (it having come from a very high level Programmer). Then how to dig out the one little detail that made it unique, and how to follow it back, crumb by crumb. They learned how to only inspect the one site on a mirror it had bounced off of to find the new angle of the path. They learned how to prevent traps and sniffers from going off. Those would take a lot more experience for all four of them. ...And they all did it from about the size of a single bit.

When the light flashed overhead, Purrcy shoved Bowie and Stiletto out of the micro layer and into the milli layer, saying on the way, "Follow it in. Restrain in secret until I get there. Record and observe only. Michael, you take the line it came in on. We'll hop over there when this line diverges to the sender. I don't need to contact him this time, but I want to see how far they stay parallel."

The line Michael was following was very obvious, so he didn't need to work so hard. He put more of his focus on watching the surroundings for traps and other enemy types, particularly what traps might have been sprung by the incoming flash, but it looked like none but watchers who recorded the anomaly. At least in this layer. It looked like a few had been set off in the milli layer, but only just the beginnings of light were showing in them as if they were just opening their eyes and it would take a lot more minutes for them to finally send their warnings off. They wouldn't see the three of them.

"Whoa up!" Purrcy said and they all stopped. "He's put his warnings and traps way out in advance. I'd rather not set them off. We'll slip over there now." She backed herself and Tetorō up, then slipped over to the line Michael was following and caught up to him. They made faster time, then, zipping along the line, then up it. She grabbed hold of them and pulled them with her. "Put your intent into it, to break free of the gravity well." That worked well enough to get them free and up into the server, where she had them float gently in the space over the line they were following. "Hmm...do you see what I see?" she asked, pointing.

Michael and Tetorō looked over towards the other gathering lights. "Looks like one of those magical curtains of mist," Tetorō said.

Purrcy nodded. "They can't get to each other. They aren't like us, two halves of the same. Or if they are, they're prevented from combining. That means they can't answer that question for us. We'll have to answer it for ourselves. We'll see what that one has to say as well, though. We've got about an hour or so to explore and get as much data as we can. Watch yourselves, but I think we need to divide. What we see here and what we see when we follow them back from the base realm is different, as you already know. Let's get what we can. Record as you go...though of course you already are." They grinned at her then they got to work.

-:-:-:-:-

Gareth felt a prickling shortly after the main group around him went under, into the code realm. They only looked asleep even still, and he wasn't getting any warnings from that place, but he was still prickling. "Something's up," he said quietly on the open chat for all surface watchers. The four around the fire stiffened and paid attention. "It's not in the code realm," he added for clarification, since everyone on alert besides him was supposed to be paying attention to that side.

"Moonrise," came back a quiet report from the woods.

There were sudden exclamations as a moon-white beam flashed into the area, headed for the side of the hill where he was on watch. He had a shield up as fast as he could, and a few others went up as well, but it was too late. As he turned his head to look at Purrcy, where the moonbeam had been headed, he watched as the cat in the lap of the two men turned into a large rabbit, of all things. "Purrcy isn't Purrcy anymore. ...Rabbit," he sent out.

"Don't hurt it," came immediately and insistently from the D.D.D. contact. "Rabbits from the moon are traditionally kind and helpful. Talk first."

"Roger," he answered. He could feel a number of D.D.D. members ghosting over to their spot from the forest. He knew when they were in place that he'd have more back up inside the circle. Until then, the four on watch kept outward. He cleared his throat. "Hello. Can we help you?" he asked the MoonRabbit. It was now sitting up, ears pricked up, looking at him brightly.

"Are these okay? You didn't kill them?" the MoonRabbit asked, a little nervously.

"No. They're fine," he reassured the MoonRabbit. "I'm the one on watch."

"Oh. Okay." The MoonRabbit scratched at its ear with a hind paw, likely more because it was trying to think than because it really had an itch. Purrcy was very clean after all. "I would like to meet with the Archmage, if I may."

"Shiroe?" Gareth wanted to make sure, and give Avionics Safety time to private chat the guildmaster.

"Yes, that's the one," the MoonRabbit nodded happily.

"Okay. It will take a bit of time for him to get here, if you can wait, please." Gareth was pleasant.

"Come? Not go?" the MoonRabbit asked.

"Here's safer, most likely," Gareth answered. "We protect the Caretaker well, after all."

The MoonRabbit tipped its head. "Caretaker?"

"Ah...perhaps you would know the Priestess and Oracle of Inari, then?"

"Oh, yes," the MoonRabbit nodded happily, "I know those."

"I thought you might, since you're borrowing the Oracle, after all," Gareth explained. "They're all one and the same." The MoonRabbit looked a little embarrassed for some reason.

-:-:-:-:-

"I understand you'd like to talk to me?" Shiroe appeared in the circle of firelight, dressed in his white robe and carrying his staff. The firelight glinted off the glass in front of his eyes, almost making it look like he had fire for eyes.

"Ah, yes, please," the MoonRabbit bowed, the ears flopping over its head and back again as it moved. "I come with a warning. At midnight the autumn equinox begins. The others - the Harvesters - will be coming with the Special campaign."

Shiroe pursed his lips. "You came into the Oracle. Will they as well?"

The MoonRabbit shook its head. "Oh, no. There was just a moment it was open and I took the opportunity to come and warn you."

"Why?" asked Shiroe. "You haven't before."

"Ah..., well...," the MoonRabbit looked sideways, and a hind foot drummed on Michael's leg. "Because it's quite a large number of the higher levels." An ear drooped. "We were a bit surprised to see that actually. But," it looked around at the people around it, "I think I understand it now. You have many high level fighters of the new type."

Shiroe's eyes also scanned the men around the the MoonRabbit. He nodded, but didn't say anything to it. "Have you been able to find the window yet?"

The MoonRabbit paused, then shook his head. Shiroe was irritated when it gave the same platitudes he'd been getting from them for the last six months. The same reasons why nothing was moving forward on their side. From the perspective of the Adventurers, nine months was plenty long enough to have more than the initial leads and hints. He was going to have to decide they either couldn't do it and didn't want to admit it, or they didn't want to help them.

His tendency was to lean to the latter. As part of the same alien species as the Harvesters, it wouldn't be at all surprising to learn that the Observers in the end had the same goal. "Well..., perhaps you can't do it after all," he said, looking down and pushing up his glasses, then looked back at the MoonRabbit through his lashes. "We'll keep working from this end, since I'm not willing to give up, but you can perhaps find a way for us to prevent having the Harvesters come anymore?"

"Oh, well...," the MoonRabbit looked away, "no...we can't really do that. But we'll keep searching for your world."

"Hmm...I see." That pretty much clinched it. "How did you manage to get into the Oracle when she wasn't called, but was already here?" Shiroe asked.

"Ah...it's also part of the coming campaign. It's the time of the obon and higan. I'm one of your ancestors, technically."

Shiroe blinked then a small smile appeared on his face. "Nice loophole," he said. "Here," he made a bowl of fruits and a small bouquet of flowers appear on the ground in front of Michael and Tetorō. After a bit of thinking, he managed to get a stick of burning incense to show up as well.

The MoonRabbit blinked in pleased surprise. "Thank you." It moved down the legs it was sitting on and stuck its nose in the bowl of fruits to pick one out and start munching on it.

Shiroe sat down cross legged and put his staff across his lap. "Well, since we have until nearly midnight, let me ask a few more questions."

The MoonRabbit nodded. "Happy to oblige."

"Do you want to go home, if you can?"

The MoonRabbit paused, and an ear twitched. "It isn't necessary."

"Time may have passed, but it's still home."

The MoonRabbit shrugged. "Here is where we came for the Match, and it has been sufficient."

"Why can you, the Observers, only get to the test database and the Harvesters only to the monster database for special events?"

The MoonRabbit shrugged again. "We can see each other, but only certain doors open for us."

Shiroe considered that news for a bit, then finally nodded. He rose to his feet again and pushed up his glasses that had slipped down as he'd moved. "Thank you for the warning. We'll be sure to have extra Adventurers on the field to account for the increased strength," The MoonRabbit gave the twitch he was looking for. "Can we have our friend back now, please?" A glow came from the MoonRabbit that consolidated into a small bright ball of light at the chest of the rabbit. The ball sparkled for a bit, then shot as a beam back towards the moon. The MoonRabbit became the calico felinoid again, draped across the feet of her two guards. Shiroe sighed and walked over to put his hand on her head. "Purrcy?"

The femfelinoid stirred, then pushed up to look around. "Are you just about ready?" she asked pleasantly.

"I have a final conference, but then we should be," he answered politely.

"Well, I hope everyone does well and has fun," she answered. "I'm looking forward to working with you for the first time."

Shiroe rose, the firelight glinting off his glasses again and hiding his expression. "It should be an interesting experience," he said. "Please feel free to continue resting until then. Midnight battles mean rest beforehand is important."

"Okay," she answered cheerfully. She looked around at everyone again, then pushed her way between Michael and Tetorō, snuggling down with a last grin and flip of the tail for him. Shiroe gave a brief nod and turned and walked away from the temporary camp.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe-sempai, does Purrcy know about the Navigators?" Soujirou asked.

Shiroe looked across the Round Table conference table and shook his head. "No. She knows very little. She's had to fight the Harvesters a few times, but only when she's found them eradicating monsters in their home zones." A bit of a stunned silence met him. "They apparently aren't Harvesting while they do it, so I'm not sure why they even bother, but the creatures don't like them at all, any more than we do." That wasn't surprising to anyone. "She's going to watch them from the code realm and see if there's anything new that displays there, or if there's a separate code construct on top of the monsters that were in the original expansion pack. I'd like to know if they are a dual being or if they are really overwritten."

Isaac nodded. "I'd rather fight what's underneath, honestly."

"Or just not have to deal with them at all," growled Woodstock, folding his arms.

Soujirou nodded from behind his clasped hands. "I'm really tired of fighting these every time there's a new special event. The hollow lifelessness coupled with their insanity really makes them both tedious and macabre. 'What's the point?' is what I feel as we fight them."

Rieze nodded. "May as well line up and use flamethrowers and Gatling guns. I'd not show up at all if it was still online. I'd watch my favorite soap opera instead." The others blinked that she was of the sort to watch soap operas, though Shiroe thought it was perhaps a statement to how much she disliked fighting the 'special events' since they'd all become Harvester events, and not that she actually _had_ a favorite soap opera.

"They don't leave very good drops, either," Ains complained. "I'm having trouble finding volunteers to help this time. And the more there are, usually means the less there is to make it worth it."

"Sadly, since we do live here, we can't let up or they'll do damage we'd rather not have to repair," Michitaka sighed.

There was a moment of silence. "Do you think we could just turn it over to the Hackers and have them do a wide area bombing?"

"Yeah, like if they can make a spell against one of a common enemy and apply it to all of them on the field at once?" Rieze asked. "That could get rid of a lot of clutter at the outset and the rest of us could focus on the big guys."

It had merit, though Shiroe wasn't sure using the Hackers that way was a good path to walk. "I'm a bit concerned about the cost. The more opponents a spell affects, the higher the cost, the same for the wider the area. Do both and it might not go off until the rest of us have killed them off anyway."

"Still, I'd rather get it over as soon as possible," Isaac frowned. The rest of the circle was in unanimous agreement. "Do your best, Machiavelli-in-Glasses, so we can all go back to bed."

Shiroe sighed. "When the first ones are spotted, call in on the full chat. I'm going to run it from the hill. I'm quite sure these are coming just because we have the new sub-classes and all my Hackers are there. We'll be very busy out there."

"Well, it is our first time to get to work with them in our parties," Roderick nodded. "It will be an interesting experiment."

"I hope you all do better than Purrcy's test," Shiroe said rising to his feet. "Protect them well. I expect them to be taken out early, otherwise. And, just the same, I expect most attacks to come from that same place." The rest sighed and nodded as they also rose to go to their positions of defense of Akiba.

Shiroe stayed standing at his place, a hand resting on the table, until only he was in the room. Then he made a simple chat call. "Stiletto, you may begin." Upon confirmation, he also left the umbrella of the secure Round Table Council room.


	85. Pivotal Fall Equinox Special: The Higan

Gareth looked up as Shiroe walked back into the firelight again. Shiroe nodded a greeting. "Everything still quiet?"

"Yessir," Gareth answered. At Shiroe's gesture, he reached across Michael and shook Purrcy awake. "Miss Purrcy, Mister Shiroe would like to conference with you before the battle begins." Her eyes opened and she looked around, then smiled. When she struggled to rise from her position of being stuck between the two men, Gareth held out his hand and helped her rise and step out from the pile.

"What can I do for you, Shiroe?" she asked him.

He gestured for her to sit with him near the fire and away from the still-recumbent men. It was late enough to be chilly far from the fire, though it wasn't too bad in their Adventurer bodies. When Shiroe and Purrcy were settled, Shiroe gave a nod to Gareth and he went back to monitoring.

"Well, I was wondering, since I've been asked by the Round Table, is it possible to get a spell going now that would take out all the Overwritten so that they can't come back any more."

Purrcy frowned. "Well, it's certainly possible, but are you sure that's what you want?"

Shiroe leaned back a little and looked up at the tiny sparks of the fire rising into the night air. "Well...yes. You see, I've just come from meeting with the guildmasters. The Adventurers in general have gotten frustrated. Every time we fight the special events, all we get are Overwritten coming for empathions. It's quite dull. They've told me I have two options for this one. Have you write a general spell that makes it so they all die on arrival, or they're going to stay home and not help at all, particularly when it comes to the little ones. They're just annoying and likely we'll have a lot of them since it's an event of the dead and spirits." Shiroe looked at Purrcy out of the corners of his eyes. "Rieze even said if it was an event back home, she'd skip it to watch her favorite soap opera, and I'm quite certain she doesn't watch soap operas."

There was a twitch and the barest hint of a scowl. "Why would they do that?" she asked. "Won't it take everyone working together?"

"Not if you can start on a spell now to take them out when they appear. We'd all like to go home and sleep. Midnight raids are even more difficult, though of course it will be the time the moon is directly overhead, so I'm sure that's another reason it's happening then," he looked morose. "We'd all rather be sleeping in our beds, I'm sure."

"Oh," she said and looked thoughtful. "Well...of course I can put together a spell that would be effective by then, if you're really sure. You don't want to try to talk to one?"

"No, not anymore," Shiroe shrugged. "If you want to, I suppose you could go ahead." He shifted to lean back on his hands. "We were thinking that if a spell could be created for one of the most common types, and then applied to all of that type for the whole zone of the event all at once, that would mean we wouldn't have to waste time and manpower taking down the irritating small fry. I know that's an expensive proposition, so if you started it now it could go off on their arrival."

He took a breath and shifted. "They really just want to kill us off to collect the empathions, so after that one, if it could be modified for the next most common, that might be the mid-level ones. The range would be the same, but I would expect the number to affect would be less, so a simple modification to the first spell, and it should be able to go off not too much later and not cost too much. If we needed a third to take it down to just making the main boss come out, I think there are plenty who wouldn't mind having their targets taken out. I mean," he shrugged casually, "it's not like we get decent drops for these. No one cares really - they'd rather be in bed - so the sooner it's over, the better."

Again a twitch and a down turning of the whiskers this time. "It really isn't a fun challenge?" Purrcy asked. "I thought that's what the Adventurers in the cities enjoyed doing?"

Shiroe shrugged again. "Not really. We've been here long enough that most of us have moved on to living life and find that challenging enough. Those who like to fight for the fun of it are the ones who harvest supplies for the crafters. The larger fighting guilds do that in the standard dungeons where the proper drops are. These kind of things don't drop anything useful, as I said, so they're just irritations. Having aliens who want to harvest us like we're cattle added into them just makes it more so. We're not interested in dying to donate empathions to an alien race, particularly when we'd like to keep them shared among ourselves."

Purrcy shifted forward, "Well, what sorts of rewards would make it worthwhile?"

Shiroe shook his head. "As I said, most people who are still collecting rewards are the intermediates who are going to the dungeons that already existed in the previous versions of _Elder Tales_. We've visited all the new ones from the upgrade in Yamato already. Since we know what they drop now, they've been added to the harvesting rotation as needed. Really what we'd rather have at this point is the gates working. Then we could not only sell our products worldwide more easily, we could also get parties to the dungeons in other regions around the world easily. That would bring in a few more of the rarer items that are really hard to find in Yamato."

"Hmm," Purrcy rubbed her chin. "That's a difficulty, isn't it? Would it be worth it for a scroll that helped with the gates, then?"

Shiroe considered that. "Well...maybe. Not fighting all the massive little ones, though. But maybe the top tier and the boss."

Purrcy rubbed an ear. "It might not be much for those levels. After all...," Purrcy paused and looked at Shiroe.

Shiroe sat up, turned, and looked full on into Purrcy's eyes. "So. What shall I call you?"

"What? Purrcy of course."

"No. You're not Purrcy. You are the Izanami half of the kami Inari. I would presume probably the Game Bot itself." Purrcy blinked. "I mean, it's not like we don't like the game or a proper challenge. We'd just like to be done with the Navigators. I'm quite certain that the Observers are looking to send Harvesters to our home planet and would love to coat-tail our journey back home. We're not really interested in that either. We'd happily exchange being given their universe hopping technology for the battle that ensures their extinction from the moon server, but I'm not sure if that's something you're willing to give us, Inari-no-Izanami. Inari-no-Izanagi probably would, just for the sake of removing the Navigators from the system."*

Purrcy's eyes glowed. Shiroe hoped the shields that had been put up over him held. He'd just provoked a deity and was sitting at point blank range. "I do want to let you know that I understand for the game to be a game and worthwhile, you need players. You need Adventurers present." He wasn't dead yet so he decided that maybe Inari-no-Izanami was willing to let him keep going with that thought. "And you're already pleased Nyanta and Purrcy are willing to stay on their own accord. You seem to have not heard, though, that what I'm really looking for is a way not only to get the Adventurers home, but for them to be able to come back again."

He let that sink in, watching Purrcy carefully. "I'd like to have the universe hopping technology in the hands of our Programmers and Technicians so they can study it and see if that's possible. If the Navigators used it to get here, and are using it to send empathions back home, then it should be a two-way path. On a smaller scale, it could be used to power the gates, giving us the more powerful gaming and life experience here we desire, making it all the more intriguing to either stay, for those who wish to, or for more commerce between the worlds."

He got another cold wave and hurried to explain that, too. "I understand Inari-no-Izanagi probably doesn't want our world to influence this one too much. I'm sure the Navigators were bad enough, and we might not be any better if we're just let run all over. We understand our own weaknesses. But there are Adventurers here who want to kill the both of you because you won't let us go home, having brought us here against our wills. At the same time, there are Earth people who would love to come here who you completely missed. If the door were two way, that exchange could occur. Just as we have laws to keep the peace and maintain order here, we have them there. We can come to an agreement of what would be acceptable rules to both sides for commerce between the worlds and only those who can live them would be allowed to come here from Earth."

Shiroe tipped his head. Inari-no-Izanami wasn't willing to speak just yet. "Of course, further negotiations are possible. If you really want only those who will stay and play nicely, a single exchange would be acceptable. The only problem I see with the single transfer option is that those who would like to come and play with you and then go home to be with their families are the most likely to be the ones who love whatever game play you want to present. Those who want to stay to live want to focus on living, not game play, though for rest and relaxation the dungeons and zones, or maybe a special here and there, are sufficient. It's a very robust world, even at this stage, so has captured our attention. We are enjoying the challenge of the corporate special event. That's got the whole city involved and a lot of thought challenge to it."

He wrinkled his nose. "I personally am not fond of the political one, but I'm willing to follow through on it to get things stable." He blinked at Purrcy. "Did you know that the second most popular games on Earth are world building and civilization games? I'm not sure you want that much interference, but if it were two way you could also get some of the people who really enjoy that to come too, if you added some specific challenges of those sorts in. Like expansion of a single farm into a village kind of thing. If you go too big - like the one you have me playing - with just anyone, you're back to power hungry power gamers who will take over the world from the People of the Land, so setting in-game limits there would be important."

Shiroe looked at the moon. Time was running a bit tight. "Well. Think about it. I'm sure a compromise can be worked out between the two of you and then with us." He rose to his feet and dusted off. "Let me know when you've finished the spell that will purify and put to rest all the little ones. The others will play with you tonight if you at least give us that one, though they really are done. We'll not play this sort again with you. It's too shallow and simplistic. I'm afraid our programmers didn't give you much to work with in that expansion. Perhaps in the future we can work with you on requests for special events that we would enjoy." He looked back sharply at Purrcy. "And just adding in higher quantities of enemies doesn't work for us. It just wastes more time that we would rather use on more real problems of value to us." When Purrcy blinked, he nodded and walked off to pace his anxiety and fear away. He was quite sure he had it right, though it was a rather large gamble. There was a lot riding on this one. He hoped he'd played it right - for everyone's sake.

He paused and lifted his head to the sky and took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing as best he could. Even if the two parts of the world would have to take time to decide if they'd start working together finally, the other half of what he wanted was going to happen anyway. He just hoped it didn't set off a world vs. Adventurer war before they were ready for it. For all he'd been blustering that Inari was a child...it was still an unemotional world bent on fulfilling its own purposes and programming. It would crush them like dry burnt charcoal into ashes if it decided - on either side - that they were more trouble than they were worth.

-:-:-:-:-

Five minutes before midnight, Shiroe walked back up to the group at the campfire. He looked at Purrcy. Purrcy rose to her feet and looked back at him soberly. "The spell is ready. I will cast it when you give the order. If you wish to cast it for the second level, there will be a ten minute delay. That will be the limit." Shiroe nodded his understanding and desire for it to happen. Purrcy tipped her head. "If you complete this challenge, including the one you've set for yourself of removing the Navigators, you will win the right to receive a quest. If that quest is completed successfully, you may have access to the Navigator's technology. It will not be active or usable for you, however, until we negotiate again."

Shiroe's eyebrow raised on its own volition. That was far better than he could have hoped for. "It is acceptable, if we may have the option of making the removal of the Navigators not dependent on tonight's activities, but have it be a general quest in its own right. Similar to being the prior mini-quest before the full quest is given."

There was an uptick of Purrcy's whiskers. "It is acceptable." Internally he slumped in relief. He'd scored a brownie point. He wasn't sure why this game bot liked mini-quests, but it did. They were as tiring as the low level Harvesters, as far as Shiroe was concerned.

He hoped Michael and his men could finish off the Navigators in this one go, but he'd promised, if he could, to give them a window just in case it didn't work. He would rather have the leeway himself as well. It was their first time to work inside the code realm to this level of event, and in new ways. Shiroe couldn't even direct that one. He'd told Michael that in no uncertain terms was he to take his revenge at this time. That would permanently damage their ability to get home. Inari would erase the Navigator's technology before letting them get to it.

"Heads up everyone," came from Isaac. He was running the overall campaign.

"Shiroe. Ready here," Shiroe sent back.

"Do we get our wish, Strategist?" was grumbled at him.

"Yes. Play nice," he answered back, "and make sure we win. Home is riding on this one."

"...Right then," came back a startled, rather pleased response. "Let's do this everyone then, shall we? Remember, this is the higan - the night to make sure the ancestors and ghosts of the past are released from their suffering. Focus on purification and release to the upper planes. We're all priests and shrine maidens performing the chinkon tonight."

The rest of the team leaders called in. Shiroe looked up at the moon and in that breath, the hill was covered in ghostly white forms and dark figures. "Purrcy, cast the first spell in one minute," he ordered. "Everyone else, hold them off just that long, then get ready to fight the next level up. You'll have to hold them off for ten before the cool down is up. Then we'll be on our own from there."

"Roger."

Shiroe turned to Purrcy, off chat, and said, "By the way, I do expect you to cast spells for me as if you really were Purrcy. I need her in my party after all."

Purrcy blinked, then shrugged and gave a nod. "I like to play, too," came the answer.

"Good," Shiroe said. Twenty seconds later the sound of a great bow being plucked resounded over the city of Akiba and the zone Shiroe's group was in, and all the mini demons and ghosts disappeared into bubbles that rose into the sky.

"Well. That worked nicely," came from Ains.

"You said the next one is in ten minutes?" Isaac asked.

"Yes," Shiroe answered. He was already giving the forces on the hill instructions for what was coming next.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was waiting for Stiletto, Bowie, and BlackJack when they arrived outside the gravity well and at the edge of the moon in the code realm. "This is so surreal," BlackJack said. "How is this even possible? That in this form we can leave our bodies, leave the planet, go through space, still not die, and be on the moon? I mean it's just crazy."

Michael shrugged. "And become tiny or huge and change speeds to super ridiculous increments. Because it's an unfinished world, I guess. There are laws in place but not everything is set yet. Magic works and so does physics at some level - but a lot lower one. The boundary is very fuzzy." His three special operatives could only nod. "So, what's the word?"

Stiletto gave him a thumbs up. BlackJack added, "He's got approval for getting to the data, but first we win this at both ends and get a quest. Complete the quest we get the data. Decide the data's worthwhile and usable and we negotiate again before it's activated."

"That's a far cry better than where we were," Michael answered.

"Are we looking at three or four waves?" Bowie asked. "He's got approval to waste the first two, though they'll have to fight the second for a while - a ten minute cool down."

Michael shook his head. "I can't tell and it isn't going to be as easy as just setting det cord on them all." He flew them up to look down on the lines the overwritten monsters were waiting to head down.

"Hmm, kind of piled up aren't they?"

"Yeah. Rather surprising actually. Since we each have one line and only one line, I'd have thought they would too, but it seems that they set it up for batch work when it comes to the monsters. Rather sloppy, but quick and dirty I suppose."

Stiletto was looking at the lines closely. "So it's not really going to work to have them go off as they pass...we'll have to set them off on purpose?"

"Well...take a look at the main boss." They looked at the last monster cued up in the line.

Bowie narrowed his eyes. "That flare...would it be enough?"

"That's what I was wondering. If he goes down last, and those others aren't for when he's down to twenty percent, we might be able to get the blasts to go off in series."

They all turned and looked at BlackJack. Det cord and small essential blasts were his specialty. After a bit of looking he said, "Let me take Bowie and we'll go in and look at it up close. I'd hazard a guess they won't know we're here on the outside, at least as long as we stay far enough downwind from the boss he doesn't smell us. We'll set it up and let you know when we're out."

Michael nodded. "Here's the newest fox hole," he gave them copies of the code from Purrcy's modifications to Stiletto and Bowie's safe houses. "Be safe and come home."

"Yessir!" They were both gone.

Michael turned to Stiletto. "We've got a special job to do. Come back this way with me." He took Stiletto back towards the planet below. "I'm sorry we're going to have to do this the hard way, but I'd far rather knock on this guy's door than try to crash his house. He's top level enough not even Purrcy's willing to run into one of his traps or set off a doorbell."

When they reached the point Purrcy shifted from the line she had been following on the way up to the main line he'd been following, he shifted them off to that line and looked around very carefully. When he found the (very tiny) warning eye, he whispered a request for contact over it, with just a tiny amount of fingerprint for his own identification, and they waited in the open, though not completely unprotected. That would be stupid. While they waited, Michael had Stiletto package up his request and the necessary data to go with it in as secure a package as they could get it. He was pretty sure it would get unwrapped easily enough. When the hound came sniffing them out, he gave it the package and told it to go home.

A rather quick response came, though it was still a cautious amount of time within the code realm. "Congratulations on graduating. I find it humorous you're brave enough to stand out in the open."

Michael shrugged, not surprised the man was communicating from a distance again. "You've already seen me, so why not. Besides we have to be up here to get the work done. Can you follow us back up so I can move while we talk?"

"Go for it," was the wry response.

Michael got them going up through the gravity well again on the other path that would take them back to the place they could look at the disk drive the Navigators were on. "As I've said, we've got the go-ahead for the eradication. They've admitted on their own they're all constructs, if sentient, and the Machiavelli's decided they're better off not finding our home - which they're looking for already. We'd like to make sure they don't."

"No problem. What is it you want me to do, though?"

"We need the technology they brought in with them. They call their arrival the 'Match'. We need to know how they got here once the matching was completed and how they're getting the empathions back home. And we can't let any of them survive. We can do it in batches if that helps. We're going to break the links at the proper time, but it looks like the bulk of them might make it back up here before the final one goes down. Can you get the doors closed then set off a bug bomb inside? Preferably without killing the Caretaker with them. She doesn't know and may come looking inside since she's that curious. Don't erase the data, just the constructs on both sides."

"Hmm...likely might need the inside data anyway, but yes, I think I can do that. I've got the basic structure already set up from her request before."

"Great. We'll help however you need us to. If you're bored after that, you're welcome to go hunting the data we need, but we're not allowed to have it - officially - until we complete a quest topside."

With humor in the voice, came, "Understood." There was silence for a moment as they arrived at their destination again. Then, "Your companion has very interesting skills. He's not the same one?"

"No," Michael said. "That one's floating around in here as well somewhere. Please don't kill him either. I've also got two others working on getting the lines ready for the finale. I'd like them to come home, too, if it's all the same to you." There was silence, but it seemed the lighter silence of acquiescence. Then, "Marked. Good luck."

"You, too." The presence of the master hacker was gone. Michael relaxed.

"What's next?" Stiletto asked.

"We wait for him to give us orders," Michael said watching the landscape below. "I'll watch our boys. You keep a watch out for Purrcy or Tetorō and stay in hiding." The flea hiding on his shoulder became a mote of dust that was more like one of his own skin cells - if he had any in this crazy realm of this weird world. Michael became invisible and moved to his own fox hole to wait for the next set of orders or the battle to start, whichever needed him first.

"Depressing," Stiletto muttered.

"What, that he could see you?" Michael asked.

"Yeah."

"Keep working on it. Once you surpass Purrcy's detections you can work on learning his, but I really don't recommend surprise visits to him."

"Yeah, no. I saw it."

Michael nodded. "Good. We need you to come home in once piece with the rest of us."

"Me, too," Stiletto agreed. "Me, too."

-:-:-:-:-

There was motion in the waiting Overwritten monsters, then with writhing of light, roughly half suddenly flowed in a great river into one of the lines and rushed down towards the planet below. Michael perked up at that. "If it's one line per advance, we might be in luck."

Soon after the light from the river of monsters had faded, there was another brief sharp flash of light, as if a butchers blade had caught a reflection as it headed for the block. Michael nodded. One line down. He monitored the movement of the remaining monsters closely. They didn't need a surprise visit from the monsters, though the chances were slim they could even get outside.

Shortly thereafter the second wave rushed down the next line over. That took most of the remaining monsters waiting in line. Again came the flash of the cutting of that line. This time the remaining monsters took up positions in front of the openings to the lines - including the two that had been cut.

Michael send a brief message on the sub-guild chat. "Back off the two cut lines. They think they're coming down them." He prepared several spells for their own coming battle. If they came down and were let loose up here...

-:-:-:-:-

The second wave was a large number of mid-level yokai. It made for a gruesome spectacle. "Parade of Yokai," came grumbling from the D.D.D. contingent, but everyone still stepped up and joined the slaughter. This was one of the reasons they'd come to detest the arrival of another special event. The monsters were merely fodder for the meat grinder and they had two forms minimum. The Overwritten form and then the monster form. This round would have three.

The only benefit would be that those who were still mid level party members would gain plenty of experience points. All the high level Adventurers wouldn't. The monsters were tough, but still low enough level to not boost experience. Another thing they found dull. They'd set up each party mixed level with the goal being the highest levels would either take the most damage as the mid levels wore the monster down, or the high levels would quickly take it down to low levels of HP and the mid levels would finish them off for the best EXP gain. It was grinding for the city as a whole, but out of necessity not by choice.

The ten minute gap allowed a fair number of mid levels to gain sufficient EXP that it could be considered worth the time to warm up. Then, with another deep twang of a bow string that reverberated through the air over Akiba, the remaining mid level monsters disappeared into floating bubbles. The Adventurers paused for just the brief breaths they were allowed then looked up into the sky as the next level of enemy appeared.

Four large specters appeared. Two over the city and two over the hill. They had long flowing black hair, dresses that flowed in the air of their own miasma force, and the shape of women in pain or sorrow. "Ruquinjé," Shiroe breathed. "Where are the other two?"

"Other two! I think this is enough, Shiroe! Have you looked at their stats?" Isaac was not calm. "What are they and how do we fight them?"

"They're the cursed spirits of the six Alv princesses. Expect curse stats and magic attacks at a minimum. Keep holding to purification. It's likely our best bet."

"You got it," the response was grim. "Is this the main boss?"

"No idea. Assume it's not." He only got a groan back. The first attack was on its way.

-:-:-:-:-

"BlackJack, did they give you any hints on what to do? What to expect?"

"Gareth said it's like the Day of the Dead."

"Great. Halloween. Just what we need. And we don't have Chappie to be our priest. Any of you have weapons that deal purification damage?"

Silence met him. They all were thinking hard at this point. If the two coming down the lines for them were expected to be defeated as well for a win, they had to do something.

"Intent."

"Gift swords."

"Why?"

"No damage to flesh, intend internal purification damage, bonuses to Assassins."

"Nice."

The lights were reaching their end of the lines. BlackJack's cut spell went off on both lines, trapping the enemy in the lines where they could get to them. The four of them attacked - two on one - slicing through the lines and the lights over and over again. The HP on the enemies was down to two-thirds when the lights began to glow red and bleed out of the lines into the code realm. Immediately Michael and Stiletto pulled off theirs and attacked with the other two until that one was down to half HP. Then they all had to fall back and regroup. The Ruquinjé had appeared fully in the code realm and the first spell went off.

BlackJack wasn't quite as fast as the other three and got clipped at the edge of the sphere of area attack. Then it looked like he was swimming in molasses and was slowly filling with a black miasma of poison, only it wasn't quite that. "Agh! It's turning him into a monster and then we'll have three to fight." Stiletto cried.

Bowie was already casting Spirit Purification on BlackJack as Michael grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the enemies. As the purification spell took effect and BlackJack's stats went back to normal, he panted, "Boy, am I glad you took Druid instead of Cleric today."

Bowie nodded and readied another spell. That would have been the best one to use against the Ruquinjé, but they'd have to wait for the cool down now. They'd rather have kept BlackJack. He readied one of his own spells.

"You've got something that will work?" Michael asked him.

"Intent." BlackJack was grim.

"Fair enough," Michael answered. "I'll move into their range again and see if we can draw the same spell from the other, then we'll know our pacing for that spell. When I'm back out, Stiletto you dive through and pull the next spell. We'll alternate until we've got the pattern. BlackJack you keep at them as best you can from out here." With nods, Michael was off again, headed towards their enemies. He got a good hit in as he passed the weakest one and managed to be out of the range in time. They continued to irritate the monsters until they'd learned each attack and the cool-down for them.

One of the reasons the Eagles managed to defeat bosses so much higher in level was because they only ever engaged high level bosses with minimal numbers and the rest appeared to stay out of engagement range. They were very patient. HP was HP and you whittled it down the same way whether fast or slow. If they could work fast, they did. Once the big enemy attacks began, they backed off and took it slow - unless mini monsters were the result, then the game play changed.

So far that hadn't happened, and they really hoped it didn't. They would need a lot more back up if it did. If anything, they were glad there were fewer of them. It looked like the mini-enemies were expected to be them. Most of the few attacks that did manage to hit caused the additional status effect of slowly turning them into the monsters. That was surely not playing out well on the surface.

-:-:-:-:-

"Goddammit!" Ains yelled. "I'm losing more to that miasma now than I've got healers to heal them back up."

"Tell them to use the intent to purify on any other spell they have," Shiroe answered immediately. "Like we taught them for the Plague antidote. And to role play they are Shinto priests while they're doing it. They should be able to rotate through more spells that way."

"Like it," Rieze's calmer voice came through. There was a lot less stress coming from both places after that.

A moment later Shiroe was surprised when every Eagle he was using as a close in attacker suddenly switched weapons to pull out their dress swords. As he turned to ask why, Gareth's voice said in his ear, "Michael's group is fighting the other two on the inside. They're using the gift swords to good effect with intention since they already don't affect the flesh, and only do internal damage."

Shiroe blinked, then nodded. "The next spell will go off in two seconds. Let me see what it looks like." Half the Eagles attacked before the spell went off. The other half after it was over. "Keep at it. It did twenty percent more damage than the other." He left them to their own devices and went back to monitoring the others, but his brain kept moving. "Whoever's got a bow as a weapon, fall back and equip it. Stay outside the range of spell attacks if you can, at the farthest edge of your own range if you can't. Now, with the same intent - you're all shrine maidens and you've got in your hands the hama yumi and every arrow you send is a hama ya. Don't stop firing unless it's to dodge an attack you're in the range of."

He didn't have a lot of archers; it wasn't a common weapon to use. He watched the damage carefully and it was nice. "You're getting bonuses to the attacks and we're moving a lot faster than I would have thought. Keep it up." He passed the attack strategy on out to the other team leaders.

"Da-aymn," came back from Isaac. "West Wind Brigade's got massive damage. Who's doing that Souji?"

"I've got a few that actually role play shrine maidens and have specialized in bow," Souji answered back.

"Nice," Shiroe said. "Send one over to help Ains, and another one out here to help with these two, if you've got enough to spare."

"Sure," Soujirou answered.

Five minutes later Ains was finally able to calm back down enough to stop swearing - making the rest of them relax since that had been so out of character for him. Five minutes more and the second Ruquinjé that the D.D.D. half of Shiroe's group was working on dropped in HP in a single attack so far Shiroe had to pause a quarter second to recalculate. "That is nice," he said in appreciation. He shifted three of the archers on that one over to the other that his own guild was working on.

"How're you holding up, Minori?" he asked.

"Fine," she answered back. "We've been rotating with another group from Crescent Moon that has a similar party make up. The ten minute heal up gives us just enough to keep at a steady state."

"Great. Marielle?"

"Naotsugu and I are doing great," she answered back cheerfully. "Using love is working just as well as purification."

Shiroe blinked and gave a half smile. "You're not serious."

"Yes, actually I am," she answered.

Shiroe shook his head. "Well, I can't be surprised. It was anger and hatred that began them. The opposite is love. It should actually have a rather strong effect, I would think. Let me know if you two need to pull out, though."

"Not a problem, Counselor," Naotsugu answered back. "It's helping my attacks, too."

"I had wondered," Shiroe said with a secret smile. He'd seen the sudden burst of increased power from Naotsugu's attacks after a particularly nasty attack had taken everyone inside the circle down by a low number of hit points but had left behind the slow moving cursing that would turn them all into monsters. That one had been rather nasty. They'd shaken off the pain and kept going before realizing they were cursed and it had taken hasty wide area effect healing to help everyone recover. Marielle's healing spell had been particularly effective. The two love birds would keep themselves protected to the best of their ability.

A sudden increase of damage blipped into his calculations and he scanned for the attack that caused it. He blushed very hard. Akatsuki's attacks were suddenly more effective by half again and he knew she'd heard Naotsugu. If she was using this as an opportunity to declare her love for him...it was rather effective, if very embarrassing. It was also, suddenly, probably why Soujirou's shrine maidens had been so effective. They all loved him and fought for him in the same way. Shiroe sighed and shook his head, then returned to monitoring the battlefield. They would need to end this soon or there wouldn't be enough left over for whatever boss was on it's way. ...Though he hoped with all his heart there wasn't one. These were bad enough.

-:-:-:-:-

"Michael, what are you doing?"

Michael froze momentarily, then slumped. "You need to ask that?"

"No, it just seemed the appropriate mother-scolding way of letting you know that you're being very obvious all over."

"Well...we're under orders."

"Hmm." He finally had the courage to turn and look at Purrcy. She was looking at the battle scene and Tetorō was hovering behind her. "So I'm to yell at someone else later, while I just let you finish this?"

"Well, yes."

"You can't cut any more lines."

"Well, I have to. They're not to get to the planet any more."

"You'll prevent the non-Overwritten from getting to the planet as well, and that's not acceptable."

Michael paused at the words and the tone in her voice and considered carefully his orders and what he'd already set into motion. "Okay. We can do that."

Very slowly she relaxed. He decided not to, not yet anyway. Her eyes went to the last remaining light waiting to flow down to the planet below. "Keep doing what you're doing then," she finally said. "Tetorō and I will see what we can do about the last one."

He watched just long enough to see them move to the line the last major boss was waiting to go down, then had to get back into the action on the two they were still working on. It would have been nice if they'd been willing to help here, but if there was something they could do early on to the boss, that might be a fair exchange. Six of these things was boss enough. He didn't really want to know what that last one was.

-:-:-:-:-

The Ruquinjé the shrine maiden was on went down in a final flash of a yuma ya - arrow of purification - that made the Ruquinjé glow white through the dark miasma, clearing it and purifying what few cursed party members attacking it were still under the status effect. The now white maiden bowed and disappeared. The shrine maiden immediately fired into the second Ruquinjé and with another arrow and series of blows from the rest of them, it went through the same purified process.

As people finally lowered arms and bows and weapons, the Eagles suddenly all fell in a slump to the ground. Gareth's voice came to Shiroe again. "Mike's still fighting the other two, only four of them against both. We're going in to help."

"Gotcha," Shiroe said wearily. The last boss wouldn't appear until those two were defeated as well, most likely. "If you can give us warning..." He looked around at the rest. Over the city, the last of the four on the planet was finally cleansed and defeated.

To the group as a whole he said, "Get what rest and potions you can. There's two inside the code realm. We won't have a final boss until they're gone as well, if there is one." He took a look at the statuses of the six who had been in the code realm this whole time. "Ah, if anyone's got a high level dual healing spell still available, Tetorō's group could use a good boost."

A few healers arrived and gave a series of smaller boosts until they were back up, but Tetorō was still falling fast. "Someone dedicate to Tetorō, please." Shiroe asked, then leaned against the rock he'd been standing near. He figured Purrcy must finally have joined the action. He worked on what he was going to say to her and prayed she wasn't writing code to take Michael and his team out. His gamble was that if Tetorō was letting her use him, then she was helping Shiroe rather than trying to prevent him. He looked up at the moon and sighed.

Akatsuki appeared next to him and he blushed and couldn't look at her, but he did reach out his hand. A shy warm hand clasped his and they rested together hand in hand while they waited to see what the outcome of the battle on the moon was.

-:-:-:-:-

Suddenly, fifteen more people were present in the code realm around the battle. Michael took a quick look at their stats. "You guys aren't any better off than we are," he commented. "You could have rested a bit first."

"Shut up," Reed said as the first wave hit the two Ruquinjé. "Though you've not done poorly." He disappeared to take his turn. Michael took his turn next, then they both rested through the next wave. In turns of three rounds of attacks, and with an archer on each Ruquinjé the HP was whittled down a lot faster.

"What's with the archers?" Michael asked at their next time together, watching Clocktower take aim again.

At their next reunion, Reed answered, "Shrine maidens and blessed arrows."

Michael mulled that over through the next series of attacks. "Seems to work well enough," he replied on the next set they were together.

"Best attack damage on the field," Reed answered on the next round out. Michael got in his raised eyebrow before they were separated again.

"Michael, slow it down a little," came from Tetorō.

"Eh?" Michael pulled up short from taking his next turn.

"She's still writing the code and it's big, then she's got to place it."

"Set a turn out," he ordered. Everyone held their attacks one round. "We'll go one in, one in, archers only, sit out a round. Tetorō let me know if that pattern is slow enough."

"Okay." They started back up and after two rounds of that set he said, "Have the archers only go on their round." Two rounds of that pattern and he said, "Good. I'll let you know when you can final blow."

"Alright," Michael answered. "Is she up in the nano?"

"Yes."

Michael nodded. Tetorō was monitoring on both levels, then. When they had the Ruquinjé down to five percent of their total HP, Michael pulled everyone off again except the archers who he had fire as if at every other round. He turned to look at where Purrcy and Tetorō had gone and didn't see them, he looked up towards the enemy, but didn't see them there. A brief flash caught his eye and he looked down.

They were moving down the line. In the distance there was another brief flash, then they were out of sight. "Get ready," he told his men. As soon as the word came from Tetorō he gave the order and everyone went in full force. Both Ruquinjé went down three attack sets later and the purification of his men was just as important as the fact they finally went down. The Eagles were a bit short on healers, though they'd done their utmost best. "Let's go ladies. We're going to follow the boss in."

Bowie and BlackJack were immediately at the line with their dress swords. "Don't cut the line," Michael ordered BlackJack quickly.

"I heard," he answered shortly, focused. As the flowing river passed him and Bowie, they both attacked. There was no damage to the line, but the hit points on the enemy dropped by a fraction. The rest of the Eagles flew to attack in the same way. Anything they could take it down by on the way would be that much of an advantage for the people on the ground.

-:-:-:-:-

There was a glow over Akiba. A resultant groan came over the general chat line and from people rising to their feet again, then Tetorō's voice: "The purification is nearly complete."

"Distance purification attacks first, as many as possible. If you can get any bonuses in the first round..." Shiroe was hoping for the miracle, and would have been surprised if he was the only one.

The closest Adventurers didn't wait to even see what it was, though in the night darkness it wasn't easy to see anyway. It was mostly a black mass surrounded by miasma again. The glow of magic attacks did little to define it. Then a glowing white arrow streaked up and struck the creature and it cried out in pain and anger. Another glow followed in rapid succession and it began an attack. "Wide area! Watch out!" Shiroe was sure people were fleeing the range of the attack if they could.

Then a much larger glow came from both the city and from his own party. Simultaneously they were launched from either side. Shiroe looked and saw Marielle standing next to the shrine maiden they'd been loaned. An arrow had been launched but the light arrow was much larger. The two large arrows of light, surrounding the smaller arrows, flew through the air and struck their target at the same time. There was a blinding flash and the space around the city glowed as if it was mid day.

Inside that glow, instead of a dark hideous creature was now a man in white robes and a gold sash. With a beatific smile he faded into bubbles and the light emanating from him washed over the entire battlefield then disappeared. In the blindness that followed, Shiroe heard, "That's all?" That person was attacked about the head soundly.

"I feel better," Akatsuki said from next to him.

Shiroe considered that. "I do too." He looked up the statuses of everyone. "Apparently that last was a blessing. We're all restored to full health."

"So...what happened?" Isaac asked.

"Purrcy did something." Shiroe answered. "Let me ask." He turned to Tetorō.

"She wrote a massive purification spell using her Priestess bonus then cast it multiple times on the line the boss was to come down. As it came, it set them off, so it was being purified as it went."

Shiroe approved immensely. He passed that back to the main chat line then asked Marielle what she'd done. "I just couldn't stand seein' Akiba and all my friends getting turned into monsters." The blond elf was wringing her hands at the thought again. "Since love was just as effective, I cast a spell of healing love on the shrine maiden's arrow. It was bigger than I expected but I certainly poured my all into it."

"Thank you, Marie," Shiroe said from the bottom of his heart. "You've certainly shown your love for Akiba today."

"It's about the same over here," Soujirou's voice was next. "I couldn't stand to see all the citizens, and in particular the women, all turned into hideous monsters, so I chose to be the priest for the next hama ya and blessed it. I didn't know if it would work since I'm not a magic user, but it seemed to be sufficient."

"I'm sure all your ladies' love was riding on it as well," Rieze said wryly. Shiroe was inclined to believe that as well.

"Should'a been a Valentines event," Isaac complained, but only half-heartedly. He took a breath. "That's a wrap, then, Master Strategist?"

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. He received a smile and a nod. "I look forward to seeing what you do next." Shiroe nodded and Purrcy slumped to the ground.

As Tetorō bent down to see to her, Shiroe answered Isaac's question. "That's a wrap. Can it and ship it. Everyone can go home."

"Thank God. ...Sorry for my behavior."

"It's okay, Ains. That wasn't a walk in the park. Go sleep it off." Rieze was probably the only one who could help him recover that way.

"What's the drop, Shiroe?" Akaneya asked.

He paused. "A chance to get us home," he answered. "One of the best possibilities I've seen yet."

"Hope it works." He got good lucks all around. He hoped it would be sufficient, too.

* * *

 _*Kami are divine beings with dual souls (one gentle and the other assertive), and in some Shinto beliefs an additional two hidden souls (one happy and one mysterious). Inari is a kami made up of multiple other kami (also known as Inari sanza (3 kami) or Inari goza (5 kami)), to whom the kitsune fox is an important servant. Izanami is the female creation and death goddess that with the male creation god Izanagi created the islands of Japan. In typical Asian mythology (and some European traditions as well), the female goddess ends up over the darker side of things while the male god ends up the major creator. (Izanagi births the sun, stars, and storms and then a whole host of other kami after leaving Izanami in the underworld.) Thus, Inari is the overall creator kami of Theldesia. Izanagi (m) is the part that is the World AI that is nurturing Theldesia to be a real whole world. Izanami (f) is the Game Bot that is trying to keep the game in play; the world as a game is the goal._

 _The reason Purrcy is the Priestess of the Game Bot, not the World AI?... :) Shiroe has figured it out because the role of the Priestess is to pacify the kami. As beta test subject she pacifies the Game Bot regularly. "You want to be my beta test subject for game play? Great. Just do everything I tell you to do so I can see what happens. If I don't like it, I'll scrub it and we'll try something else." The World AI is willing to put up with Purrcy because she is willing to teach it what "the real Adventurer" is and even be it to some level while helping the world to integrate more fully._

 _See Wikis for: Kami, Japanese_mythology, Inari_Ōkami_ _._


	86. World Level Quest Request

The next morning Purrcy didn't arrive at the dining table for breakfast. A look at Akatsuki got, "...Bathroom." A look at Tetorō got, "Like I'd be caught dead watching her in the bath." Shiroe blushed and he got a lot of looks for even asking it. He waved a hand in apology and let it go.

When breakfast was cleared and they were ready to sit for the morning guild meeting, Purrcy finally arrived dressed in a traditional kimono, layered with red and black layers. The outside layer was red and decorated with a geometrical white design but overlayered in embroidery was a natural theme of a weathered tree. As she sat in her usual place, Shiroe decided that contrary to his usual pattern he'd better let her go first this time.

It was good he'd decided that since as soon as they made eye contact she began speaking. "Your offering last night was acceptable. I have decided to reward you by making all of Akiba my temple and all Adventurers in it my priests and shrine maidens."

"What outrageous thing is this?" Shiroe was so shocked he didn't realize he'd said it out loud until the eyes he was looking into took on a dangerous and angry light. His hands went up in defense. "Ah, sorry but such a thing would not be considered a reward by most Adventurers. I'm glad to hear you're grateful and want to reward us, but please, can you tell me what the priori was to that decision, Inari-no-Izanagi?"

"In your battle of the night preceding, purified psyche and anima was returned to be used in the creation of new creatures. This is an acceptable offering to me."

Shiroe chewed on that for a moment, then said, "It is an unexpected answer to the difficulty of too many warped creatures being born."

"Yes," Inari-no-Izanagi answered. "It was an acceptable offering, however it was insufficient. Further offerings are required."

Shiroe raised a hand. "I can understand that, however if all Adventurers of Akiba purify every monster they attack, what will reincarnate in the dungeons and zones we need to harvest item drops from? If it is creatures that aren't monsters, then how will that help us? Indeed, it will harm us until we become weak enough to be overtaken by the People of the Land. That will only anger the Adventurers more. Instead, let me call one who can be tasked with such a thing immediately, and let us come to an agreement on a quest that can be offered to the Adventurers to purify further anima and psyche without making everything they attack purified, only for that quest." Receiving permission, Shiroe immediately contacted Marielle. "Marie, is Yuudai still agreeable to becoming a Shinto priest?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I think so. He's not sure what to do as one, though."

"Can you send him right away? I've got a god visiting right now who needs one from the Adventurers."

"...Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Right. I'm on it. ...Ah, if Majiyo wants to come too, is that okay?"

"As long as she's willing to be a shrine maiden or a priestess, sure."

" 'Kay. They'll be along."

By the time the pair from Crescent Moon Alliance arrived, Shiroe had worked out a quest agreeable to both him and Inari-no-Izanagi. "Inari-no-Izanagi, this is Yuudai of Crescent Moon League, sister guild to Log Horizon. He has the sub-class Witch and has been working to turn that into the role of Shinto Priest. If you will grant him the ability to bless weapons and turn them into weapons that purify when used, then we'll be able to more easily control when we purify and when we allow a creature to remain. When we put forward the quest request, he can bless those weapons chosen that will be used by the Adventurers who participate in the quest. With that many Adventurers holding even one blessed weapon, over time you will see the total amount of purified psyche and anima rise to an amount you are pleased with."

Purrcy turned to Yuudai, who bowed properly. "You are willing?" she asked the younger boy.

"Yes," he answered simply. Purrcy raised a hand and Yuudai glowed slightly. Yuudai looked at his status screen, then bowed again. "Thank you, Inari-no-Izanagi." He gestured to Majiyo. "This is Majiyo. She is willing to be your shrine maiden to assist me."

Purrcy looked at the young woman, then held up her hand again. There was a faint glow around her and a bow and sheaf of arrows appeared in her arms. Majiyo bowed. "Thank you Inari-no-Izanagi."

Purrcy turned away from them and looked at Shiroe again. "All of Log Horizon also should be a house of priests."

Shiroe waved a hand in protest. "Instead also allow us to choose one weapon each to be blessed and if you feel it most appropriate, give us one bonus, but not one that makes us purify everything we touch with a weapon, or turns us into a house of priests. It is enough to be guards and supports for Purrcy, and I must remain neutral, though I am glad we're able to be of help."

"Choose your weapons." Everyone pulled their dress weapon out. It was just simpler to keep everything related to Purrcy and Inari within one item.

Shiroe considered what he would choose, not having any weapons, then pulled out a pin that already had a bonus against undead and set it on the table in front of him. He was a bit surprised when not only did his pin receive an upgrade so that he would have bonuses for purification, a scroll also appeared. Unrolling it, it was a learnable spell of purification. Given that as an Enchanter he typically cast status effects, this was perfect. "Thank you very much," he bowed from his seat and the rest of the guild followed suit. "We'll set up the quest within the next few days.

"It is acceptable." There was a subtle change and Purrcy slowly slumped. Then with a low cry she melted into a puddle of cat, the kimonos collapsing on top of her.

Minori cried out and jumped up to run around the table. "Hang on, Purrcy!" Tetorō cried out, pulling out his wand. "I'm coming." Between the two of them, they managed to get her hit points and magic points back up but she still wasn't stirring.

"Perhaps I can help?" a timid voice asked. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at Majiyo. "I'm a Druid. Perhaps my Spirit Revive spell would work?" Shiroe nodded his permission. The other two moved aside to let her work. Purrcy stirred when the spell was done, then whimpered.

Tetorō scooped her up quickly in his arms and held her close under his chin. He spoke quiet words of consolation as he pet her. "We need a Druid in house, I think," Michael said dryly. "She keeps being more spirit than physical being."

"I am one," Bowie said testily.

"Do you know that spell?" Michael asked him back.

Bowie flushed slightly. "Yes."

Michael rolled his eyes at Reed. "You're assigned to follow Majiyo around until you learn how to properly be a Druid, then," Reed said firmly. "And so are Brenner and Life Support who are our other Druids."

"Yessir...and do we also get to be called shrine maidens?" There was general muffled laughter.

"No," Majiyo said with a bit of a blush, "but you'd probably get called priests eventually."

"I'm already called that," Brenner said kindly to her.

"That'd be a first for Bowie, though," BlackJack smirked.

Gareth raised a hand. "Even though I'm not a Druid, can I tag along?"

Michael gave a brief shrug, looking at Shiroe. Shiroe shrugged back. "Yes," Reed answered, "but don't let it overwhelm your other responsibilities."

Purrcy was finally rubbing Tetorō's chin with her head. Shiroe decided she must be feeling better. "Thank you for coming Yuudai, Majiyo. Sorry it was so sudden. I wasn't quite expecting such a visit first thing this morning," Shiroe said.

"That's fine," Yuudai said calmly. "I've been wondering how to move forward. This is as good as anything. May I ask what the quest is?"

"We still haven't taken out the Goblin King, preferring to keep him in power so that we only have to keep his minions in check. The purification of the psyche and anima of all the demihumans like the goblins is what the World AI - Inari-no-Izanagi - has been wanting from us, though last night was the first time we found a solution. Taking blessed swords to that battle will take out the goblins fought against for good, so it's time to move against the Goblin King. The World AI has promised that the drop from the Goblin King will be a high ranking blessed weapon that can also be used to purify. While that will only interest a sub-set of Adventurers, it gets the World AI another champion to help purify the psyche that went corrupt at the time of the First World Fraction. The quest also has another bonus for Adventurers." He smiled at Yuudai. "Cursed weapons, if you bless them, will receive step-wise purification themselves for each enemy killed and purified. We have enough weapons we can't use now because of the cursed flavor text, I'm hopeful we'll get a good draw just on that point alone."

Yuudai's eyes had widened. "I would think so," he said, quite in agreement. He bowed and Majiyo bowed with him. "We'll return to Crescent Moon now. Thank you for thinking of us."

"Thank you for being willing take on the task," Shiroe said, meaning it. He really hadn't wanted to become the priest and Nyanta wasn't back yet to take it - though he wasn't likely to want to. When the door closed behind the pair, he turned back to look at Purrcy and Tetorō. "That's your first time to host the World AI so fully."

Purrcy nodded. "Rather overwhelming, actually. I'm sorry to miss breakfast but I was performing the purification ritual so I could host it." Her nose wrinkled. "A part of the non-game game I dislike, actually. I'm not sure there was any point to it other than 'we're supposed to do it, so we'll do it'. All it did was ensure I'd be hungry, near as I can tell."

"I'll go get you something right away, Purrcy," Minori jumped up.

"Thank you, dear," Purrcy said gratefully. "Not too much. Light fruits and a single piece of bread, I think. My system is still not quite settled."

"Okay," Minori nodded. "And a light tea, then." Purrcy sighed in gratitude and purred as Minori trotted off to the kitchen.

"I think," Tetorō said slowly, "that the ritual helped your local anima handle the higher speeds of the World AI. Remember you told us it mostly works in the nano and pico levels?" Purrcy nodded. "You're still vibrating at those levels - that is your cells are. Maybe that's why the Spirit Revive worked better on you. If spirit spells work on higher energy levels and your cells were working at those levels then the lower energy level spells wouldn't have had as much an effect."

Purrcy's ears turned. "It has merit," she finally agreed. "I wouldn't have known of the energetic cellular change as it happened, I suppose." She blinked, then looked at Shiroe. "So...what the hell were you doing last night that nearly got the entire guild blasted?"

Shiroe took a breath. "Walking a fine line and we've come out on the better side of it." He explained everything from his side, leaving out the part where they were working to eradicate all of the Navigators, keeping it only to the battle of that night. He then motioned to Michael who told his story, also leaving out that objective. When Michael reached the point of being confronted by Purrcy, Shiroe felt his blood leave his head, understanding why Purrcy had worded her complaint that way. They had indeed walked almost off the edge.

He was disappointed they weren't going to be allowed to prevent the Harvesters from coming down at all, but couldn't be surprised that the Game Bot didn't want to have its accessway to putting more monsters down on the planet for further game play interrupted or taken away altogether. "How did everything else go?" Shiroe asked Michael.

Michael gave him a thumbs up. "Just great," he answered. Shiroe nodded. That meant the negotiations to eradicate the Navigators had gone well. "We'll practice a bit more now and again what Purrcy taught us in the inner layers until we understand how to work in those levels. We're back to level one in comparison to the others who already play in them. It looks like fun." By the roll of eyes, it was the opposite really of fun.

Shiroe nodded and moved the topic of the meeting on to what the others had done the day and night before. Purrcy's report was as long as always and the notes she and Tetorō passed on from their investigations on the moon interested Michael the most, given he had been there. Shiroe was, for himself, glad they'd finally reached that point. It had been the hardest thing, not being able to get to where they needed to be to get home, unless it was very temporarily through death.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy wasn't in a hurry to do anything in particular that day. Tetorō knew that she preferred to be outside, but he wasn't comfortable sitting in Nyanta's lounge chair on the patio. He took her up on the roof instead and sat in his own chair there, settling it in a place protected from the fall breeze and as much in the sun as possible. He was ready to just sit this day as well. "No programming and spell casting," he said sternly to her as he settled the cat in his lap.

She shook her head. "Not today, I would think," she answered back, "just cat napping. Calasin will wait until tomorrow."

"Just so," he agreed firmly and set to stroking her soft fur in long slow strokes to settle them both. He was woken some number of hours later by a large warm hand shaking his shoulder.

"Tetorō. Tetorō."

It was said quietly so he stayed quiet himself once he was awake enough to be aware of his surroundings again. "Mm?" He pried his eyes open to see Michael looking down at him.

"Boss wants to talk to you. I'll take over for a bit."

"He didn't call?"

"He did," Michael smiled at him teasingly, "but you've been caught in the cat-nap-trap so he sent me up." Tetorō stretched his arms over his head and yawned. "You'll probably have to come rescue me when you're done with him."

Tetorō nodded and carefully scooped up the loose pile of sleeping cat in his lap. Her body wanted to melt out of his hands so it was a bit of a juggling act to get the transfer to happen properly. Michael's bigger hands helped, but even still, she was a warm soft melty sort of creature, like a sun-warmed toffee-chip chocolate bar.

"First time for real sleep for her in a while, I think," he murmured as Michael sat down and settled her in his lap. He scratched his head, trying to finish coming awake.

"They're leaving her alone today?" Michael asked quietly.

Tetorō shrugged. "Seems like it. She said she was pretty much taking the day off and it's looked like it's held so far."

"That's good," Michael said. "He's waiting for you."

"Right." Tetorō got moving. He had a quick stop to make on the way down.

-:-:-:-:-

A finger lazily stroked the pad side of Purrcy's front left paw and it just as lazily curled as if to capture the finger and hold on to it. It made her come to awareness slowly, her ears flicking now and again. When she finally recognized the scent, her whiskers stiffened and her ears went back. The hand switched to pet her from the top of her head down her back. "Hey, now. It's just my turn to watch over you. Guildmaster called for Tetorō and sent me up."

"I'm not supposed to sleep with you," she explained.

Michael laughed. "This hardly counts, I think. You're a cat, it isn't night, and it isn't my room or my hammock. Besides, you're as chaperoned as ever."

"By your own loyals," she quipped finally cracking an eye to look at him, her whiskers twitching back.

Michael sighed a little, "Besides, you're not supposed to sleep with Tetorō either, and you just had a long nap of this same sort with him." Purrcy had to give him that, and did with an apologetic fold of an ear. After a bit he said, "You know, I haven't gotten to do this since I held the little body that wasn't alive, for all you were possessing it. It feels good to know you're warm and breathing this time."

Purrcy sighed, closing her eye again, and relaxed. "You're an awfully sentimental guy, you know that?"

His reply was noncommittal. "Sometimes." Her ear and tail twitched in response. She knew she wasn't safe, but she couldn't bring herself to care today. She wondered if he'd be able to prevent himself from whatever it was he wanted to do - kill her, steal her off somewhere, or whatever it was that made the hand on her back tense and pause his petting of her.

She felt a little bit of a let down when she remembered he couldn't kill her. It was enough of a depressing thought she chose to fall back to sleep. "Michael..."

"Hmmm?"

"If you ever get the opportunity to really kill me, ...make sure you do it right. ...Promise."

The paused hand stroked her again. "...Such outrageous demands from m'lady." But the fingers in her fur promised it all the same and she felt better and finished falling asleep.

-:-:-:-:-

A communication request came in with one of the high priority fingerprints on it. Purrcy was immediately awake inside the code realm and an ear and paw twitched outside it and her collar lit up. She immediately opened up a communication line that bent and turned and bounced off repeaters inside the code realm until the visual and auditory was up. "I'm here," she whispered.

There was an intake of breath, almost a sob. "It's a dead end." The visual did show darkness.

"No," she said calmingly. "I expected a closed door and a window might be difficult. Walk me through it."

"She was able to recombine and slipped out the other side. I followed after until it tunneled. I set a security line at that point and I've been belaying since then, but this is as far as it goes." A faint light, like an Electrical Fuzz, lit up and drifted towards what looked like a cave wall until it hovered over a cocoon of darkness that was pressed up against the wall. "That's her, but there's nothing else here."

Purrcy sent a special investigative spell to that location and inspected Indicus first to make sure she was okay. Her assistant noted its presence and watched it. "It looks like she's unconscious or in stasis, and psyche but not anima, so she'll be okay indefinitely here most likely. One small consolation, I suppose. It proves we've left the bodies behind. Hang on a bit. I'm going to see if there's more to this location at the higher levels." She transferred herself up to the micro layer, then read the data from her investigative spell there, inspecting both Indicus and the environment. She went up to the nano level and repeated her investigation, then called the data down from the next level up and translated it, slowing it down so she could read it.

When she was done, she dropped back down to the first level again. "It looks like it's the entrance to a wormhole. We're not going to get a window from this location. There's the equivalent of a blast door on it, sealed tightly shut. I suspect if it opens we'll all be jettisoned. It's meant to be one way and full batch. There are tunnels coming from all the servers, like ordinance tubes." She sighed. "Thank you very much for finding this for us. Knowing this much lets us know we aren't meant to be here permanently and how we're going home when they're ready for it." She sent over one of her code hugs, he was still looking so dejected, though it was just one of his echos.

"The Master Strategist is still working on it. We haven't given up yet. This may be the way they plan on sending us home, but that doesn't mean there aren't other alternatives. And I'm doing my best to get us home sooner than later." She started purring. "We have a good team. We've recently discovered one of the keys. Pass it on to as many as you can. At the First World Fraction too much chaotic anima and psyche entered this world. To correct it, use blessed weapons of purification on the demihumans that respawn too quickly. They'll be turned into useful matter and the monsters won't come back. The more of that happens quickly the better, but don't take out the useful drop dungeons, just the mass yearly specials. People who are already roleplaying priests can pray to the god of this world and they'll be given the gift to bless weapons to add 'purify' to them. Every monster purified with a cursed weapon blessed this way will cause points of cursing to be removed from those weapons until they are also purified. This is a way to remove the negative flavor text on weapons people wish they could still use. It works best if the person wielding the sword also pretends they are a priest who is purifying the monster as they go."

After a bit of quick work she deposited an information cube in front of the echo she was talking to. "Here's a copy of what we did in the battle we discovered it's effectiveness in as well as the details of the quest request. I'm putting another copy in my information spot. Sadly, it may not be the only world level quest we have to do to get home, though it would be nice if it was. In the meantime, I'm helping the Master Strategist as best I can to find a quicker solution. Hang in there. If you need encouragement, get in touch with me again."

"Okay. ...Are you going to ever get over to the States?"

"Mm...I might. It's one of the options. Shall I come look you up?" There was a sigh. "Well...here's another hug. I'll ping you if we make it over. You can decide then."

"Thanks."

"Thank you. Is there anything I can give you for your heroic efforts?"

A pause of silence, then, "I'll think about it and let you know. Getting us home as fast as possible would be my favorite but I know better than to turn it down altogether. ...It's only been just over two months, after all, back there."

"Alright," her humor colored her voice, "the promise of a future reward. Always the most dicey and yet greatest potential reward."

"Yeah. That's fine." He still sounded down, but like he would recover. As his echo and his line began to fade from the end of the delivery tunnel, along with her data packet, Purrcy attached a data line to her information spell and closed her connection to that space. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she returned to the base realm. She needed to report.

-:-:-:-:-

Bleary eyes struggled to see. A large warm hand brushed the side of the cat's head and a thumb rubbed behind the ear on that side to massage the head. "Did you learn something?" The cat nodded and tried to rise. With a sigh the man scooped up the cat and rose to his feet. "Guildmaster, sorry to interrupt. Purrcy needs to report. Her collar went off twenty shades of neon rather suddenly and she's coming back out." He talked as he headed for the door to the inside of the guild house, his hand still unconsciously petting her. "My one opportunity to just sit and doze with the cat and I have to win the interruption lottery," he grumbled to himself.

"So sorry," Purrcy said dryly. "When the toaster pops I don't get much choice, you know. Got to take them when they happen. At least it wasn't at the end of a morning meeting this time."

"That's been a more convenient time," Michael continued his complaining on down the stairs.

"I suppose," she burrowed into his arm. "I'm sure I wasn't ready to wake up yet, either, and if we're lucky we can just go back to sleep."

"Hmphf." He didn't relent until they were to the last flight of stairs, then he finally relaxed and sighed. "Well, I hope we can be so lucky." He got to the main floor. "Are you awake enough?"

"Yeah." She landed on her feet as he set her down, then grew to full panther and padded beside him. He wasn't going to miss the report. He wanted to know what the interruption had been. He checked the collar but it was back down to proper low levels again. Whatever it had been hadn't required further work on her part. He put his hand on her head as they reached the door. She looked up at him, but he just opened the door for them, letting her go first and closed it behind them.

Tetorō, Naotsugu, Akatsuki, and Shiroe were already all in the office. Shiroe was sitting at his desk and the rest were in their chairs around the room. Michael decided to just lean against the door frame, his arms folded. Purrcy padded over to Shiroe, who turned in his chair to look at her. She bumped his arm with her head, demanding a pat. Shiroe paid with petting her a couple of times, then asked, "So, what went off?"

Purrcy sighed and sat. "Indicus." Everyone was all ears, their attention focused on the galaxy cat. "It's a one-way wormhole currently blockaded by a blast door. We're psyche only here. The bodies got left behind on Earth. She's in stasis until we either retrieve her back or we're all sent home together. The combining worked and got her started on the return home...until she hit the closed door. Since it's a wormhole, we can't get a window. If we blow a hole for a door, we might blow the whole thing wide open and we'll all get sucked back. I'd call that an emergency evacuation procedure only if we end up really desperate. We're better off fixing whatever needs fixing as fast as possible so we can all go home properly that way, instead of whatever painful way the alternative would be. Sorry it isn't better news."

Michael's eyes narrowed. "Is that an answer we can trust?"

Purrcy looked over her shoulder at him. "As far as I understand, yes." But it was Shiroe's faint nod that convinced him.

"Will it automatically send us all back, or will those like the Plague Master and Nureha be left behind?"

Purrcy rubbed her face with her foreleg. "I can't tell from there. I can try going through the data path, but it probably won't tell me either. If you ask nicely, the Superuser might tell you. ...My guess would be that it will depend on the Adventurer tag and they'd stay here if not retagged before we left. Right now, the world owns them, so will probably keep them."

"And you?" Shiroe asked.

Purrcy put her foot down and looked him in the eye. Eventually a whisker set twitched upward. "It would get to keep the Summonable, I suppose. I have no idea how much of _me_ would go home and how much would stay here."

Shiroe folded his arms. "It isn't acceptable for us to be sent home until you're completely marked as only an Adventurer, Purrcy, if that's our only way of getting there."

Purrcy shrugged. "If last boarding call is sounded before then, don't hold the ship on account of just me, Shiroe. Too many need to get home. You won't ever know anyway. I'm on the other side of the planet and -"

He chopped her in the head. "I'll worry, even if I don't know, and I'll hunt down someone on that side to go look for you."

Purrcy shook her head. "I'm not findable, Shiroe. Not unless we all get back on to play again after we're home and happen to do that at the same time." She put a paw up on his knee and touched his nose with hers. "Seriously. Sometimes the General, or the King, has to understand that the sacrifice of one is necessary for the good of the all. Don't let it hold you back from making the right decision." She rubbed his face with her head. "I'm sure we'll continue to do our best to make sure the best solution is found. That's the path we want to walk. But don't let weakness creep in early. You know I'm just as happy to be here, if not more, as there. If I get to live a split life in both places, just let it be. I'll survive. I might not be good at much else, but that I have learned how to do."

She got back off his lap and turned for the door, then looked over her shoulder at him. "Oh, and I let my contact who was working on that project know about the quest and how to run it. It's a world wide quest after all. I've also put the same data I gave him in my out box for the rest of them to access. With the whole world of Adventurers working on purifying the worst of the warped materials we might be able to clear that level a little faster. It shortens your own time table a little, though."

"I don't know if there's another world quest that has to be accomplished or not, though the Overwritten probably count." She looked away again, her head drooping. "The only other one I can think of...which I haven't been able to see a way through quite yet...is that I think it wants at least some of us to stay and be genetic material for long-lived future heroes. It's still a bit hazy, but it's the only reason I can think of that it pushed both the Plague of Life and has been so intent on experimenting with Nyanta and I." She shrugged and padded towards Michael and the door. Her tail made a long slow wave as she looked into Michael's face.

He looked back at her soberly. When he didn't move, she changed to small house cat and jumped up into his arms and settled down, closing her eyes. Michael settled her a little more so he was comfortable, then looked at Shiroe. "How's she doing?" Shiroe asked quietly.

"Depressed," Michael answered. "But that was before that news arrived. I'd say it wasn't any different from what she expected, actually." Shiroe blinked at him. "We'll prioritize getting the technology. Do you want to bring her in on it?"

Shiroe turned in his chair to face his desk again and sat back, lifting clasped hands to rest his forefingers against his lips. After a bit of thought, he said, "I think she already knows we're working on that. I'd like to see if we can do it without her. She's being used for many other challenges right now. If you need to call her in, do, but you've already got the best in the world working with you. I think that should be sufficient. Dividing her attention any more might make things start crumbling where I don't need them to." He went silent again, his mind obviously working on his many paths of possibility. "Tetorō, take the gates off her schedule for the indefinite future. We've got enough Technicians and she gave the Hackers a good start when we were there the other day. She'll be busy enough running from place to place as it is."

Shiroe looked at Michael. "I know you're waiting to hear word, but if at all possible, try to have that mini-quest done by the time Nyanta gets back. We'll be leaving Akiba two mornings after he gets back. It would be nice to know how to fit the main quest into the schedule before we go."

Michael stood up on his feet and gave a salute. "Yes, Sir." Shiroe nodded and Michael let himself out of the office, carrying Purrcy with him. He let his feet take them back up to the roof and found a better sun spot to put his chair. He put his feet up and settled Purrcy in his lap comfortably. With a sigh, he made sure his own warning bells and alerts would wake him up when they went off, then he pet her slowly until he was asleep, knowing that he was going to be nearly as busy as she normally was as soon as they went off.

-:-:-:-:-

That night, after dinner, Michael asked to speak to Shiroe in his office. Shiroe stayed standing to hear him out once they were in the office. When things were buttoned down tightly, Michael immediately stated his business. "I went ahead and contacted the Master Hacker. He says it will likely be months on his end. They're apparently rather intelligent. He doesn't want to be found out too early. If they decide to go hunting him, they might take him out before we reach our objective."

"He did say that Purrcy putting in how we ran that last battle has helped, though. He tacked on a note to everyone else that if they could get in and run their code realm battles the same, they'd help cover his tracks and take out the massive smaller ones just as quickly. Likely the Overwritten'll have learned from our battle, though, and be looking for similar things in the future. We had it easy, getting to go first. I told him you were still planning on going to China, so he's going to try to set up the net so the final battles can be fought there."

Michael paused. "He's in agreement with your friend over there. The most nasty of the Harvesters have been reserved for China. He doesn't know why either. The second most nasty ones are apparently in the U.S. He'll set that contact on to those, though. The kid there really wants to go home so is highly motivated."

Shiroe nodded. "I thought that might happen. If we can get both world quests completed at the same time, that works for me. ...It does make me wonder what quest they want us to do outside of those, though. Like Purrcy said, I don't see any other required need for Adventurers at the moment, other than general small world building movements that the People of the Land could handle just fine now that we've got them all started." He rubbed his head, then pushed up the glasses slipping down his nose. "I'm still not convinced we're needed for leaving children behind. I think the world can handle that part on its own just fine, particularly if enough positive building materials are put back into the system."

His shoulders caved in just a little as he leaned back against his desk and stared at the floor in front of his feet. "Really, it isn't all that simple to babysit a world trying to grow up...even with good tools and assistants. It's like trying to ask a toddler where the bandages are when you can't translate what it says and it has never seen a bandaid to tell you where one is anyway." He looked up at Michael with a wry smile. "I guess it's good the Caretaker knows how to talk to it and can translate for us."

Michael tipped his head. "Do you think that's why she got that title? Not for taking care of the creatures?

Shiroe paused, then shrugged a little. "It's likely, but who knows why it does anything, really, except that it's completely devoted to its own purpose, and half of that purpose is to make this a game. It won't let us know the next level until this one is completed, just like all the others. I'm sure the clues have been presented - she always does give clues along the way - but I haven't been able to pull anything obvious out yet."

Michael furrowed his brow. "You really don't think it's children? That's been a common thread, like she said."

Shiroe looked away. "I think there is a level of experimentation there, but like she said today, from the beginning we are all supposed to go home. Only the game construct bodies are here. If that part of us also returns to the world when we go home, strong heros will be born of that material anyway. At best it would be an experiment to see if human spirits could be born on this world, not just on Earth."

He looked back at Michael. "I suspect the results would be negative. Either they'd be empty husks, or they'd have to be filled with psyche from this world - at least as long as both parents, or even one, had the tag Adventurer. If they weren't tagged that way, the result would be a child of the land that might have a chance to have higher stats. They already do, though. That's how the Heroes are already born. So, as far as I'm concerned it's an idle experiment with no purpose. The next quest will be something else."

Michael stood quietly, then shook his head. "Empty husks waiting to be filled...we might have to do that if you want the door to be two-way."

Shiroe looked at him sharply. "Why?"

"Because if this world is finally off-line and floating on its own once we're done here, only our own avatars are here waiting for us. There's the ones on the beta server the Observers use, but that's it. No one new can come unless new bodies are made available here. They'd only be spirits otherwise. ...I suppose those who refuse to come back could somehow let the system know their avatars are up for purchase, but that would be the limit."

Shiroe sat back a bit and thought that one over. "I wonder..." Then his brow went into a deep furrow. "But...then...," he looked back up at Michael, "does that mean Inari has been trying to help me with my own goal?" He looked like he couldn't quite believe that.

Michael shrugged. "If it thinks it's going to get enough avatars for more Adventurers to come just through one female body, it's not thinking very well at all."

Shiroe shook his head. "Cats have four minimum per litter, and gestation is short. They can have two to four litters in a year."

Michael stared at him, then covered his eyes. "Like everyone who comes is going to want to be a felinoid. And like Purrcy would be willing to be pregnant or nursing the year round for years to come."

"Well, you have those points, yes," Shiroe said, "but all Adventurers are feeling it, not just Purrcy. She's just the most affected by it."

Michael blew out a breath and looked away. "It'd be better if it could find another way...or could make them unspecified avatars until a player from Earth selected what they wanted to be. I suppose random weighted to felinoid might work, but most like to pick their race."

Shiroe looked away again, then adjusted his glasses. "I think...I'm going to have to tell Naotsugu when his wedding is going to be."

Michael stared at him. "No way. You'd really make them be the guinea pigs?"

Shiroe wouldn't look at him. "Nyanta won't. Not until he knows for sure he gets to live."

Michael stood silent, then looked away. "Responsible of him." It was dry. He pressed his lips together to prevent anything else from coming out between them.

Shiroe shifted. "There's another problem with that." Michael raised an eyebrow. "In the scheme of world building and Adventurers who apparently live forever - at least for now - we could have several hundred to thousand years to have all the avatar children the world might want, but that puts us at going home a _lot_ longer out than any of us are willing to wait."

Michael could feel his face going dark. "Shiroe," he tried to make it come out not too threatening, "if that's a requirement for making the door go both ways...I think you need to rethink your plan."

Shiroe ran his hand down the front of his face, trying to wipe away the horror of the idea. "I know, I know. The whole thing is conjecture still. I'll work on it. ...But this is the kind I really don't like. I've got to have more real definitive clues. Until I do, the outlook is frightening and bleak." He snorted a chuckle. "...And that's when Purrcy shows up and gives them to me, of late."

He stood. "Not to mention if we decide we will participate in that experiment we'll have to keep it so super secret no one knows about it at all. The fear it will generate in the People of the Land will be astronomical. The random effect it has on the Adventurers won't be much better until things settle down. ...Well, it's the next level down. I guess there is one more. I'm sure we'll get more clues as we go, and I'll take her warning more seriously." He sighed. "Thanks for the update. If the Master Hacker lets you help that's your priority. Make sure you get as much data from him as possible before we have the final battle."

Michael nodded. "Good luck," he said moving to the door.

"You, too," Shiroe said as he walked around his desk to sit in his chair. Michael nodded at Akatsuki on his way out, letting her go in. He was rather glad she hadn't been in there to hear that last bit, come to think of it. She and Shiroe were part of that same experiment the World AI was trying to run. Michael was quite sure it wouldn't go over well at all with the short tempered but extremely shy Assassin.

He briefly wondered that the World AI hadn't had Purrcy go to West Wind Brigade instead, then remembered that Nazuna had been just as badly affected as Purrcy had been. He shuddered. Likely that meant the whole guild had been. It was a wonder they were still together and not shredded in the cat fights that likely had come daily. One male to that many females would be too much for the World AI to resist if it really did want as many births as possible as fast as possible. Michael was glad it wasn't him.

-:-:-:-:-

"Right everyone," Michael had called a sub-guild meeting under the security umbrella he could finally fully put up himself now that he'd graduated up to Programmer, "we've got the inside hacker mole on board, but they're still more than programmed constructs. They're bots too. Likely they'll catch on really fast if we give them too many clues. Maintenance detail, you're up. We'll keep an eye on you, but as far as anyone here is concerned you've got the flu and we're nursing you. As far as anyone outside the sub-guild, you're assigned to gate research - which isn't a lie."

"Find out if you can ride without being noticed. Learn everything you can about their technology from their repair bots. Only one unsigned maintenance glitch to learn what you can about their response speed and investigation techniques. When you've got what you can get within one month, send one back with the shopping list. We'll work on making the easter eggs down here for the following month, then come visit and hide them wherever you tell us to. We'll take them down all at once when we get the high sign from the mole that we're good to go in China."

He turned to Charlie. "Have you made contact with home yet?"

Charlie nodded. "We're in luck. There's another partial squad in Virginia that got sucked over, the VFA-34 Swordsmen."

"Sweet. Make sure they know when the attack is going to happen. If they can be in place to be a distraction and help us take them out over there that would be marvelous. Tell them there's a Hacker who'll be onsite they should protect and help out. He'll probably be the most kickin' kid present. I'll see if I can get permission to hand over a signature."

"Yessir."

"That's going to cut us back rather dramatically for Miss Purrcy's comfort level," Reed commented.

Michael shrugged. "So I'm cutting her back to three instead of four. She's still got Tetorō and me. Shiroe's cut her off from directly being on the gates, so I think she'll relent pretty quick if she knows Maintenance has been assigned in her place. I also think things are changing come Nyanta's return. Shiroe was in conference with the top brass outside her and my hearing most of the afternoon, but what I did hear said things are going to get really busy very soon. We may be rebuilding the duty roster anyway."

"He's ready to make assignments, you think?" Reed asked.

Michael nodded. Everyone nodded back. They were all ready for the action to start on this level. Reed set nursing watch duties and the meeting broke up. The Maintenance detail would get one more night's good sleep, one more good meal, then they'd be out on their assignment.


	87. Fifth Floor: Setting the Positions

"Priest Nyanta, your tea." There was a light clink as dishes were set down on the low table next to Nyanta's soft cushioned chair. It was matched by the light snap of the logs in the fireplace.

"Thank mew, MeowLi," he said, picking up the teacup. The smell of the tea brought back memories of sounds, making his ears flick lightly. He closed his eyes and smiled at the memories. The twins Touya and Minori bickering slightly as they challenged each other one more time at a task, striving to become stronger together. Isuzu laughing lightly at Rudy. Tetorō teasing Naotsugu, who was very patient but laughed just as much with his own teasing back. Shiroe watching it all with a faint smile on his lips, Akatsuki sitting just close enough to him to feel warm.

When the teacup was empty, Nyanta set it on the table and rose. "MeowLi, I'm going for a walk. Please see to the correspondence for me."

"Yes, Priest Nyanta." The grey felinoid bowed him out of the office.

Nyanta walked through the city until he reached the outskirts of a small neighborhood. There, he pulled out the hourglass hanging around his neck. He turned it once, waited until all the grains fell and turned it again a second time. When all the grains of sand were down, he turned it a third time. Then he put the hourglass in his item list, in a secure box of special items, and stepped across the boundary back into the world where time was linear. For one moment, his ear flicked back towards the city, but his gaze never wavered from looking forward.

-:-:-:-:-

"Hey, Chief!" Naotsugu called out as BrownMane came to a halt not too far from where Nyanta was waiting. "You survive okay?"

Nyanta waited until he was mounted on BrownMane to answer. "Somehow, meow. Everything okay at home?"

"Yeah. We had to fight another special event the first night after you were gone, but having the Oracle this time helped. We won't be fighting any more like that again." He sounded just a little grim. "I'll fill you in on the way home. There will be a full-on guild meeting tomorrow morning. The Councilor's ready to get us all marching. We've just been waiting for you to get back." Nyanta nodded, then sat quietly and listened to Naotsugu recount the events of the last three days.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy, go ahead before me," Nyanta said calmly. He had finished his late dinner with Naotsugu, Purrcy attentively serving the both of them. "I need to report to Shiroe-ichi before coming to bed."

Purrcy bowed slightly. "Yes, Nyanta." She watched them walk into the office.

As the door closed behind them, Naotsugu looked at Nyanta. "I think on Earth you could expect to go to a cold bed that's had your own personal pillow shredded to scraps, given that exchange. What's going on? I thought it was over after this?"

Shiroe's eyebrow raised to hear that first thing. Nyanta ignored Naotsugu, moving to stand in front of Shiroe. "The last village, the second of the felinoids, is the Gate of Time."

Shiroe was on his feet, both hands planted on his desk and Naotsugu even gave an exclamation. "Did you enter it?"

Nyanta looked the young guildmaster in the eye. "I had already stepped into its boundary before I knew what it was, though they gave me a way out before I moved any farther."

"They _wanted_ you inside? ... _And_ to get out?" Shiroe blinked.

"Yes. Nyot just anyone, either. Li Shou herself, nyan."

Shiroe stood straight and his lips pressed together. A forefinger pushed his glasses up on his face. "Right. Tell it to me. Everything." The light of dawn was in the sky before Nyanta left Shiroe's office.

-:-:-:-:-

The morning meeting was postponed about an hour or so, and Shiroe asked for his breakfast to be brought in to him. Nyanta slept through until he was called for the meeting. When Shiroe arrived in the common room, everyone was waiting to hear his words. He stopped behind his chair and rested a hand on it. "The goal is to be back from China by the Winter Festival. That means everyone is going to be busy for the next several months, and we'll be dividing to get things done." The announcement was a bombshell - a complete turn-around from the expected plan. Everyone sat stunned, listening as Shiroe told them how they were going to do that.

He looked at Naotsugu. "You're going up to Ezzo. You'll go to the port city of Sharpcliff first with Michitaka to negotiate the trunk production and trade, then continue to Susukino to get William on board. When he's set, you'll go on up to the Giant's hometown to assist with the negotiations there. When that's completed you'll meet back up with the main group, wherever we are at the time. Michitaka'll come back here with his people once the manufacturing plant is up and running." Naotsugu nodded.

Shiroe turned to Nyanta. "You'll be going with Tetorō to Minami to solidify the political relationship with the Eastal Lords and Duke Sergiad. Walk the fine line. We're getting the Adventurer's buy-in on this trip, so it's still soft, not a hard line yet. By the time we get the financial backing we should be able to make it open. Before then, they're to understand they come to us to get anything so that when we make it open, the game's already won."

"Yes, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta tipped his head.

"Michael, I need a sub-group to go with Nyanta as proper guards for the Queen, Consort, and Queen's Guard. Another sub-group will come with me. The rest will stay here until the train from Minami arrives. When it arrives, contact Nyanta. His group is to come immediately to join you at that time. Get the train on board the Ocypete with those who're joining us for the raid and bring the Ocypete around Yamato to Nakasu. Once we're all gathered there, we'll head across the Yamato Sea for China."

"I'll be taking my group down to Ninetails Dominion and Nakasu to act as the neutral negotiator between Plant Hwayden and the Nakasu Defense Front once I've talked to the Minami Ministry. I'm going to ask them to send whichever train is up and running with those willing to help in the raid along with it as soon as possible. Akatsuki, Minori, Touya, Isuzu, and Rudy are coming with me, along with a few others." Shiroe looked pointedly at Rudy who swallowed and nodded.

Shiroe handed a set of papers over. "Tetorō this is Purrcy's schedule. Some of it will need to be firmed as we go but it should be a close enough outline for working from. Naotsugu, please let Marielle know that I'd like the wedding plans to be completed by the time we get back from the Winter Festival. Actual date of the wedding may be pending our arrival, but she and Crescent Moon should be prepared for it to happen at any time after then. I should be able to give a five day warning, but if we're pressed for time it may only be two or three. Tell her not to worry about clothing for us, just you and them. I've got ours already planned."

"Ah, Tetorō?" Naotsugu pointed at him. "He's standing next to me."

Shiroe paused, then said, "Have her send me a sample of the colors." Naotsugu nodded. Minori sat up straight. Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "You can let her know she'll have the junior members as soon as we're done unpacking, and if strong backs are needed we'll likely be able to spare some of the sub-guild as well. If she wants Purrcy for anything, she needs to contact Tetorō, but he needs to run it through me before anything is added to that calendar." Minori relaxed and Tetorō nodded, though he was still reviewing Purrcy's calendar.

"Training, let Henrietta know I plan on bringing enough gold back to purchase the Academy building. If we're lucky the grounds as well, so the loan agreement will be negotiated either in Minami during the Winter Festival or shortly after we arrive back in Akiba. The larger a down payment they can make the better the terms, of course."

Shiroe finally looked at Purrcy. "You'll follow your schedule and be honest with Tetorō in your capabilities. I'll have you come back here after we're done in China. We need the Ocypete and the Oki Watarimono should be done by the time we get back. You and the Eagles will leave for the around-the-world trip after I'm sure everything else is wrapped up and the wedding is over."

"Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe," Purrcy bowed her head obediently.

"Then, everyone will pack today and tomorrow. We leave early in the morning the day after tomorrow. Please make sure your respective destinations know you're coming. ...Naotsugu, I'm sorry you won't be here to help Marielle with the preparations. The best I can do is let her have you to vacation with at the Winter Festival, and then for last minute preparations after we get back again. Though...if she's angry even with that, I'll try to negotiate to let her go with you up north. My only concern there is that I don't know if Purrcy can answer a Summons carrying two people. I'd feel better if you had a healer with you, though." He moved his eyes to look at Purrcy.

Purrcy looked at Naotsugu musingly. "I suppose we could test it here in town today or tomorrow before we go."

"I'd like that," Naotsugu said with a nod. Shiroe didn't look at him, but rather down at his own notes, keeping his game face on firmly.

-:-:-:-:-

Two mornings later Purrcy and Nyanta fed everyone an early breakfast. Eyes were bright and excitement ran high. It had been some time since they had gone out of Akiba as a guild. Even if they wouldn't be all together for a little over a week or so, they would then spend the rest of the time together out on adventures with battles promised. They all walked to the meeting place just outside the city gate where people were waved off or greeted back home from. It was very full again, with Michitaka's group of two Technicians, four construction crew members, and three blacksmiths joining up with them. There was very little luggage this time, though. Everyone knew how to pack it all in their item lists in boxes now - even the blacksmithy itself.

"You'll all go, then?" Shiroe asked the group of blacksmiths that had moved from Roderick Trading Company into Marine Organization.

The head blacksmith shrugged. "We may as well. We're still part of the production crew, but it will let us all stretch our wings without hitting each other in the head." He looked at Purrcy. "BigMusclesBill had a hard time deciding, but he finally settled that if he stayed he'd be closer to his source."

She wasn't paying attention, being distracted with her goodbyes to the younger set of Log Horizon and Marielle, who had received permission from Henrietta to go for that portion of the trip, as it was only expected to be about a week long. The Crescent Moon League contingent to send them off included Henrietta, Shouryuu, Serera, and a few others. The Log Horizon group was larger than normal for a going-away since they had the Eagle Security detail with them.

"Right then, everyone headed north, over here!" Naotsugu called, waving his hand.

Shiroe walked over and said his farewells and good lucks to Naotsugu, then headed farther on. "Those with me, let's go," he called.

"Good luck!" Purrcy called to them all. "We'll see you soon!" She, Tetorō, Michael, and Nyanta were still standing with the Crescent Moon League members. They would leave a little later in the day since they only had a few hours of travel in comparison to the days the rest of them had.

Shiroe counted his group to make sure he had everyone, smiled at the young excited faces around him and Akatsuki, then turned away from Akiba and started them walking. "So...shall we ask LightWind if he's willing to find a few more gryphons to fly with us?" He got excited answers. "How many will I need to ask him to bring with him?" Shiroe asked Reed.

Reed smiled back. "Well, if you only go the four hours, we're good to go on our own."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "Have you earned your wings?" He got back a secret proud smile. He smiled back and raised his Summon whistle to his lips. Ten minutes later three gryphons and five men with wings, brown like eagle wings, took off from the broad ancient street that led south from Akiba and headed west-southwest towards Minami.

-:-:-:-:-

Michitaka looked at Naotsugu. "So...with the ten of us and the two of you, are you going to keep to your feet and the horses with us this time?"

Naotsugu put his hands behind his head. "Well, we thought it would be okay to split the timing. We're the largest group that needs rental service, after all. The Counselor needs to work out the details with his contact before we'll know if we get the morning shift or afternoon shift of wings. If you don't mind walking a bit we'll just stroll for now until I hear from him." He shifted to wrap one arm around Marielle, who had walked up close to him. She wrapped her closer arm around his waist. "He's had to plan the timing just right between the three groups, so we're not in a rush, unless we start falling behind. You'll likely have to ride and walk back down, though. Marielle and I will be coming straight back here after we're done in northern Ezzo."

"That's fine," Michitaka nodded. "I'll miss the faster pace, but getting to reflect on the way back wouldn't be bad either."

Naotsugu rubbed his head. "Say, we have to go through the Depths of Palm in order to get up to Ezzo, right? I was wondering...the place is falling apart. Do you think we could survey it on the way up and see if we can find the safest and maybe quickest route and reinforce it? It's not like there's Dwarves in the area to rebuild it. I'd hate to see it crumble to ruin altogether. I mean...we could eventually just go by ship, I suppose, but having a secondary escape route always seems like a good idea to me."

Michitaka rubbed his chin, mulling it over. "I don't see why not. Taking a look at it never hurts. We could just do a skim of a survey on the way this time and based on how bad it looks I'll know how many to send to do the work of the full survey and construction."

"Thanks, man. I'll feel better about that. We just about lost Shiroe to the river at the bottom the first walk through it. I'm pretty sure it isn't getting any better." Marielle shivered slightly under his arm.

"I'd imagine not," Michitaka answered dryly. "And regular patrols to keep down the Plague Rats would do wonders for pedestrian merchant traffic as well."

"True enough, though with small groups like this or smaller, we just bypass them as best we can. It's not worth the time to risk the plague effect." Naotsugu smiled at Marielle, "Though this time we've a proper Cleric with us. That time, between an Assassin, a Guardian, and an Enchanter, it was a bit too risky. If we get cornered this time, I'm sure we could take down the population a bit if we had to."

"Leave it up to me!" Marielle said cheerfully with her big smile.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta, Purrcy, and Tetorō walked back to the sister guild halls together with the Crescent Moon members who had come out that morning. Well, Purrcy didn't. As part of the payment for Henrietta giving Marielle ten days off to play, Purrcy had to patiently accept Henrietta petting her as kitten the whole way home. The rest of them just put Henrietta in the middle of the group and Serera guided her with a hand holding her sleeve the whole way there.

Tetorō was relieved for once to not be the one to hide the kitten from the rest of the world. He walked along with his hands interlocked behind his head, humming quietly to himself. After a bit he realized it was the theme song to an anime. He had to laugh at himself, then he blinked in surprise. "We won't be here to practice for the Winter Festival play!"

Henrietta almost fell down and her head jerked up. "What?! You're going to be gone the entire time?"

"Well...hang on, let me look at that part of the schedule again," he already had the papers in his hand and was leafing through them to the back end. He reviewed the timing towards the end, then shook his head. "It's about as full of holes as swiss cheese. He's got a lot of maybes and ifs built in at the back end." He chewed on his lip. "While we're on the ship we can work up the script. We're usually pretty fast, actually. I would think if we even get a week to practice we'd be okay, but we're sure to get two or so. We'll come here if there's that much of a gap. Otherwise, if it's only a few days, maybe you guys could come over there earlier?" He raised an eyebrow at Henrietta. They were the main leads of the cast, and Purrcy, who was perked up listening with interest, her ears twitching at them, was the director, so they had the main persons in this conference.

Henrietta blinked, then slowly said, "I would think we probably could come a little early if we needed to. We did pretty good on a dry run, don't you think?"

"I thought so," Purrcy answered, her front paws kneading at Henrietta's arm a bit in her own excitement. Serera nodded her head several times. She'd watched it, too.

"I would think that by then Purrcy would be ready for a rest, meow," Nyanta said generously.

"That would be a fun way to celebrate reaching that point," Purrcy nodded, her tail wagging a bit, though it was trapped in the elbow of Henrietta's arm. "I hope we'll all work on the script together. I've only got bits and pieces of it anymore."

Tetorō narrowed his eyes at her. "Well...you have access to the entirety of the internet database, don't you? Could you find it and call up the episode we wanted?"

Purrcy's eyes widened and her paw froze in mid air. "Good heavens. That's a cheat all to itself, isn't it? ...But," her eyes narrowed a bit, "what's the fun in that, really? Isn't it just as fun to work together as a group to come up with something that's close enough but is our own work?" A set of whiskers twitched up. "Not like plagiarism is going to be taken to court here, but I do like seeing the variants that make them real and warm because the hearts of the people who put it together really put it together." Tetorō slightly raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well...," Henrietta said slowly, "we could get as far as we could on our own, then if there's something we're missing and it's a hole that really should be filled, then maybe you could find that missing piece?"

Purrcy looked up at her, then nodded. "I might could do that."

Tetorō looked at Purrcy a bit longer, then said to Henrietta, "All right. I'll contact you and the others when we've got some free time on the ship sometime next week or so and we'll conference. I'll try to give you at least a day's advance warning."

"Okay," Henrietta went back to happily petting Purrcy, who purred now that she had something to look forward to as well.

"Could we get you also as an extra, Serera?" Tetorō asked the younger girl. "Or are you going to work with the cast from Minami again?"

"Ah, well," Serera was her usual slightly unsure self, "that was to help them get started here, though I had a good time. If you think I could help, I'm sure I'd enjoy it."

Purrcy and Tetorō both nodded. "If we can claim you first that'd be awesome, though it would be fun to see you up with them again as well."

"I hope we get to see them again anyway," Purrcy said. "That was fun to watch them. Will the puppet show people be going too? I didn't get to see them last time."

"I don't know," Serera said slowly. "I would think they would, though."

"I would as well, meow," Nyanta said, "that is a very lucrative business purroposition for them, to have twice the people watching."

"True enough," Henrietta said, proving she could actually follow a conversation and pet a kitten at the same time, at least some of the time. "I've been thinking about what the Academy could do to earn money over that time as well. Marielle has put out about ten suggestions I've had to shoot down because we won't be in our hometown."

Purrcy and Tetorō tipped their heads at the same time, "How about the funds from the play?"

"Really?" Henrietta was surprised by the suggestion.

"Well...it's put on by all of us from disparate groups. We could call it a donation from all of us to the school, if the others agreed," Tetorō explained.

Purrcy nodded. "You could have students from the Academy at the entrance or at the end taking up the donations so they were participating as well. And if we needed stage hands or the like, they could do that, too."

"Well...," Henrietta thought on it, "it would be a fun activity, and different." She finally gave a nod. "I'll work on it and talk to Marielle about it when we chat later, to see what she thinks."

Purrcy blinked and tipped her head. "Henrietta...I'd like to see the children also do something. Like what they'd do if they were home. Can you have them put together one or more booths related to their classwork or something like that as if they were holding a school festival to raise funds? If they do a couple at the Winter Festival where there will be more business, that will bring in more money and will give them experience for our own festivals."

Henrietta nodded. "Marielle and I have already discussed that one. We were thinking two or no more than three booths at the Minami Winter Festival, but our projected income from that wasn't going to get us quite to our target. If we can add in the donations from the play that might get us close enough." Purrcy nodded and settled down and Henrietta pet her as she mused on her financial thoughts until they arrived at the guild houses.

Nyanta took Purrcy from Henrietta politely but firmly and they parted with good wishes for the coming trip. Nyanta, Purrcy, and Tetorō cleaned up the breakfast dishes and the main areas of the guild hall with their contingent of guards, then said their farewells to MasterChiefS7, who was staying as central command with the Safety detail to wait for the train from Minami and prepare the Ocypete for travel, as well as continue to watch over the Maintenance detail still out on their job on the moon.

Purrcy took them out the back gate - Nyanta, Tetorō, Michael, and the Operations security detail, except Chappie had traded with Charlie since Shiroe had wanted ComOP with him - and Summoned their transportation. The Air Efreets set the nine of them down outside one of the farther farms that surrounded Maihama ten minutes later. As they caught their breath and combed their windswept hair, Tetorō grinned. "Who would have thought that we'd really get lifted up in whirlwinds and be carried off in such a short amount of time this kind of distance."

"Somehow I feel lucky we've arrived where we asked to," Michael agreed. "There wasn't really any hurry?" he looked at Purrcy quizzically.

"Well...I want to stop at the stores and shop on our way in. We're not really properly presentable just yet," she answered. They all looked at her wide-eyed at that. Everyone knew how to wear their uniforms. She just smiled and said, "Race you to the city." She was suddenly panther cat. They jumped after her, Nyanta going full cat as well. She didn't hold back this time. Only her higher levels gave her the edge to stay ahead of them. They kept a shield up in front of her anyway, just to make sure she didn't get too far ahead of them or stray off track.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mister Presley, this is my husband, Marquis Nyanta," Purrcy introduced the tailor, "and this is Sir Michael. We're coming to visit Duke Sergiad and I thought you could be of some aid. Though there will proper times for Nyanta to wear his uniform of the Round Table Council, I am sure we will be invited to at least one ball and several state dinners. If you could help us find a few items from your shop that would be properly presentable I would be grateful. And then if you have a staff member who could help Sir Michael, he is missing some regalia of knighthood that didn't come along with him in the catastrophe. He should be properly representing himself while standing with us."

Presley Collingwood bowed the polite bow of a merchant who was hiding the excitement of big money coming into his pocket unexpectedly. "I would be happy to help in whatever way I can, Lady Purrcy," he answered smoothly. "I assume you would find the normal court wear acceptable."

"Yes," she answered. "All of us are sufficiently conservative and there is no need to force the oddities of Adventurers on this visit, surely." She turned to Michael. "If you have any squires among the rest who are with us today, ...and if not, I suppose, ...this would be the time to acquire their proper regalia as well."

A quiet voice being cleared caught Michael's attention and he turned to look to his right. Standing at his elbow was a young man, dressed impeccably. But then, he expected every person who worked in this shop was expected to dress properly or was fired. "If I may be of assistance?" A hand was held out to direct him to a wall of the shop with a display case in front of it.

Michael followed the clerk. His eyes picked out the pieces he knew he needed that were easily findable in that location. He used his bartering skills to finally work his way down from the more expensive and higher quantities the clerk wanted to sell him to the ones he wanted. As they closed the deal on the smaller pieces, the clerk asked, "Perhaps I could also interest you in some clothing?"

It was a good standard sales tactic, but Michael was suddenly curious. "Perhaps I could be persuaded to see what is going as the standard for knightly wear, though I'm not sure you'd be able to fit my sizing?"

The clerk looked him up and down again, then nodded. "If you'll come with me, I'll show you to the fitting rooms. We have two or three that would suffice, I think."

Michael followed after the clerk again, who had carefully put the items he'd already selected into a box and set aside. Nyanta was in the open area of the fitting rooms turning for Purrcy to inspect the current selection. Michael paused to look. "Marquis Nyanta always looks good in anything with his slender form and cool coloring, but that outfit does make you look very dashing. I'm sure you'll have many ladies coming to chat with you when you wear that one."

He gave a smile as he followed his clerk into his own changing room. He'd seen Nyanta's whiskers twitch in annoyance at the final comment. It humored Michael to twist him in little bits like that. After all, he'd have Purrcy on his arm. It wasn't like most of the ladies here at the court would do more than blithely blather and leave him at the end for those who didn't already have a rose on their arm. The few who tried to be persistent would have Purrcy herself to answer to. That would be like brushing dry straw from plastic. They would flee to warmer climates with merely the hint of a look. And if he was the recipient of one of those pieces of straw, he might not mind it so much.

He didn't have to wait too long for the offering of clothing to arrive. He tried on the smallest looking outfit first and wasn't wrong. He didn't force it, not wanting to rip it. The second one fit well and was form fitting just enough to point out to the viewer that he was well muscled without being a muscle shirt. If he was really looking for the attention of ladies, this one would be it. Perhaps it would be the one to wear to any of the balls he was going to dance at rather than guard at. He'd ask Purrcy if she expected him to dance. The third one he gaped at. It was beautifully constructed and fit well and just oozed "knight". The regalia he had just bought would go very well with it. He quickly took it off without harming it. He could hear Purrcy wondering what he was looking like and he wanted to surprise her.

He redressed in his own clothing, then took the two that fit out with him, leaving the third in the fitting room. "The other was too small, I'm afraid," he said, "but these two fit. I'm not sure about one of them, though. It was perhaps useful for a ball, but I'm here as a guard."

"You don't think you might be asked to one yourself?" the clerk asked, hopeful for the double sale.

"Are there separate balls for the heads of state and those who are slightly lesser?" he asked.

"Often there are activities for the young lords and ladies that are separate from the higher lords and ladies," the clerk affirmed. "If there were an opportunity for you to be off from your guard duties, likely you would be asked to attend at least one of them." He leaned in and said, "Confidentially, Adventurers are much sought over at such occasions. Being prepared for one would be wise, I think. You are likely to receive many invitations."

"Hmm...well the other certainly would be used if we are called into a formal court and I must follow after Lady Purrcy and Marquis Nyanta. I will get it." He moved as if to return the second and the clerk held out his hands to restrain him and named a lowered price for the both of them. "Well...with the regalia I must also buy..." The prices was lowered slightly more and Michael could tell he didn't have much more room to work in. "Well...very well. I would probably be grateful to be prepared, rather than wishing I had listened to wisdom."

The clerk relaxed in relief. "I'll take those, then, and package them for you."

Michael handed them over. "Thank you." When the trade of coin for items was completed, he put the items in his list and went to find Purrcy. "I'm done here, but there are a few items they didn't have. If it's okay with you, I'll go walk a few more stores down. I may have to special order from the blacksmiths."

"Okay," Purrcy answered. "I do wish I could have seen you in them when you tried them on."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll see me in them," he waved it off airily. "I'd likely have to stand for half an hour in each one as you found the smallest details to either be excited about or to condemn, when they are certainly good enough or you wouldn't have brought us here to begin with." He grinned at her pout and took himself out of the store.

As he headed past the closed door to Nyanta's changing room he heard, "Likely she'll make mew pay double now, while we're in the suite and before she allows mew out of it into public." If it was meant to make him feel unhappy, it didn't work. Michael was counting on it.

-:-:-:-:-

"Lady Purrcy, Lord Tetorō, welcome," Tyron Leighton bowed as their entourage entered the second tailor's store. "It is a delight to have you come to visit so soon after seeing you in Akiba. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Mister Tyron. This is my husband, Marquis Nyanta," Purrcy introduced them first. "We are coming for a formal visit to the castle. I'm sure you have barely had time to even inform your staff what happened to you in Akiba, but we are in need of proper clothing for Tetorō for this visit. Given your tastes in clothing, I was hoping we might find a few things for him in what you already have to offer. Also...it is probably too much to ask, but I was hoping you could get started on one of the possibilities for Lord Iselius. If there is opportunity while we are here, I would like to bring him myself and have him try on even a basic beginning of an outfit...just to pique his interest?" her eyeridge of whiskers lifted and the glint of sales came into Tyrone's eyes.

"I think we should be able to get that far, if given enough time...indeed, I did already start on the one you had created with him and Lord Tetorō in mind. It intrigues me."

"Well, I should think that somewhere in our eight day visit he might be able to fit me in. If I try to invite him towards the end of that, perhaps?"

"We will do our best, most certainly," Tyron acquiesced.

"Well, and if it isn't too much trouble, perhaps the one for Count Tetorō could be completed by then and the one for the heir at a stage of trial? He would be just as intrigued if he saw the Adventurer Tetorō in it first, and perhaps even purchasing it, then had the next one offered to him?"

The corner of Tyron's lip lifted. "Yes, the heir is well known for his love of Adventurers. I think that could be accomplishable." They bowed slightly to each other, sealing their mutual conspiracy. He turned to look at Tetorō, "And what specifically are you looking for, Count Tetorō?"

Tetorō raised an eyebrow at Purrcy, wondering that himself. Purrcy paused, then looked uncertain. Looking around to be sure they weren't being eavesdropped by any other People of the Land, Purrcy quietly asked, "Mister Tyron...I don't have a lady in waiting. How expected by the court is it that a Lady of high degree have one?"

Both Tyron and Tetorō blinked at the question. "Well, certainly with her husband present she might be seen with only one, but normally...well...," he dropped to a whisper, "if I may ask, what sort of level are you talking? It makes a difference, you see."

"Umm...well," Purrcy looked at Nyanta, then back at Tyron and sighed. Keeping her voice low still, she answered, "In Akiba, I would be considered a princess...but Master Shiroe has put me before the Duke as a queen. I'm quite unsure which level I should claim in this visit, I'm sure you understand, but I would hate to disappoint Archmage Shiroe." She bit her lower lip just slightly and an ear dipped gracefully in concern. Tetorō had to give her points for her acting on this visit.

Tyron blinked, then cleared his throat nervously. "Well...if so high as that it would be three or four with your husband present and at least one knight with your secretary."

"Oh," Purrcy looked despondent yet beautiful at the same time and Tetorō could only applaud her. She'd watched Raynessia well. "I've got Tetorō as my secretary, and my knight is currently looking through other shops. I do have five guards as well...but as I say, I just don't have any ladies in waiting. I would have two, but Archmage Shiroe needed them this time." As Purrcy's eyes fell on Tetorō he sighed to himself. He knew what was next.

He bowed. "I would be willing to fill that position myself, if it is so important to the court. You should have at least one so that appearances don't bring us into condemnation. Perhaps Records or Schedules could be seen in public as your secretary. I am used to being a woman and wearing their clothing, after all. ...And I have a much better sense of proper fashion than you do. I'm sure I can make sure you are dressed properly and appropriately for each function." He'd watched Raynessia and her maid as well and had a very good idea what his role would be. The tip of Purrcy's tail flicked at his dig for making him pay this price but she only showed proper gratitude.

"Ah, well, we could certainly find proper clothing for Lord...Lady Tetorō then," Tyron said, "however...at one lady in waiting you are certainly at the level of princess. If the Archmage wishes you to be anything above that, ...you should at least have two."

"Em, well," Purrcy's tail swished lightly, then she sighed. "Gareth, please come in." Tetorō shook his head in sympathy. She wasn't wrong to pick him, though. He would pass the most naturally as female, though it might be difficult if someone pressed him or investigated too deeply. When Gareth was with them, Purrcy looked at him with sympathy. "Gareth, Mister Tyron has been advising me on how to properly present myself to the court in the manner in which Guildmaster Shiroe has required me to be presented. I'm terribly sorry, but I must ask you and Tetorō to please pretend to be my ladies in waiting for the time we are here, though I think it could be rotated and you could also be male in turns, though the both of you and Sir Michael should decide just how complex you want to make the visit. Mister Tyron says at a minimum I must have two and more likely I should have four, but only the two of you could pull it off I think."

Gareth blinked and tried not to let his jaw drop. "I'm sure I have no idea how to be a lady in waiting," he finally said.

"If you are the junior, I would be teaching you anyway," Tetorō said. "I've watched the Princess and her lady in waiting quite a bit at Water Maple Manor, so I know what to do. It isn't that complex." He sighed. "I think we'll have to think of it as a minor quest to get through it. And the lion will be the worst part of it."

Gareth paled and shuddered a bit, then whispered, "Do I really have to do it? I'm not sure I want to die."

"Well...it's face the lion or face the Archmage," Tetorō said quietly.

Gareth stopped breathing for just a moment, then slumped. "Okay. If I have to stick my head in the lion's mouth, the worst that happens is my head is snapped off. If I have to face the Archmage, I'm slag for eons, not to mention banished." Tetorō nodded solemnly. He felt about the same some days.

Some days Shiroe was his only protection from Nyanta, though that had been more common back in the early days. Having the gentleman turn a quiet word of warning on one was enough to send chills up one's spine for days. One didn't ever consider getting Shiroe angry, or even upset. The only person to ever withstand that had been Purrcy herself and even she had backed down, though not meekly. One didn't consider getting Purrcy angry either, unless you were wanting someone else to take a fall.

Tetorō took a deep breath and turned back to Tyron. "Well, then, I think we'll need eight proper dresses each, for a lady in waiting of the proper level, but we'd also like to look at five male outfits each as well. For me, it should be proper for my status as Count. For Gareth, probably no higher than Baron. If the levels matter for ladies in waiting, it should be the same. And I am very picky."

He noticed, from the corner of the eye that was keeping tabs on Nyanta, that Nyanta made sure to stand where he could watch and smirk at the two of them when they came out of the dressing rooms dressed as women. They did manage to raise Nyanta's eyebrow whiskers that both of them were capable of actually looking like women and filling in the gowns correctly. It was their magic that did it though. Gareth properly stayed smaller and younger, taking the role of the junior maid in training to the full depths they needed to play this game.

But then, Tetorō was already used to being busty and ignoring the looks he got. He didn't despise Gareth for wanting to not show such femininity to the world. It was a difficult thing, even for Purrcy when she'd had to pick it back up again briefly. Remembering that reminded Tetorō that Purrcy likely really hadn't asked this of them lightly and he wondered why Shiroe hadn't sent even Serera along.

When he had the opportunity during one of the times he was in the changing room for his turn to change, he quietly called Nyanta. "Do you know why Shiroe didn't send Serera and at least one of the girls? Minori would have done well at being a lady in waiting."

"Who knows why Shiroe-ichi does what he does, nyan?" Nyanta answered back. "We just do what needs to be done with what we're given."

Tetorō was quiet for a bit, then he said, "Yes, sir." When he exited the dressing room this time, he clasped his hands in front of him and bowed to Nyanta the brief servant's bow. He would have to remember that they were also beholden to the Lord of the house, not just the Lady they served.

Purrcy had caught his bow and glanced at Nyanta just before turning back to Tyron. "Mister Tryon. How many menservants for a visiting Marquis? Minimum, please."

"Minimum would be one, Lady Purrcy."

"Thank you." She turned to inspect Tetorō who was looking at his reflection in the full length mirror of the store, but paying attention to Purrcy and Nyanta as well. "Brenner, please come in." Tetorō relaxed a little. It was the best choice. Then he realized...their guards had been chosen on purpose as always. He paid attention to his clothing, but somehow he was more alert than ever before. Purrcy was setting up the line for the battle they were about to enter. Behind him he heard Purrcy instruct Brenner on his new position and request clothing for him as well. At least he would be in all male clothing. Then Purrcy was stepping away from the group trying on clothing and over to stand near Nyanta to speak with him quietly.

As Tetorō arrived back in his changing room, ignoring Brenner's eyes on him, though the sub-guild had seen him female before, even if briefly, on the party chat came: "The final line-up is thus: Tetorō and Gareth are now Tetora and Gretchen and my ladies in waiting unless they are on leave per Michael's permission, at which time they may say they are additional guards. Brenner is Nyanta's manservant. Speak with Tetorō on how to behave. They serve in the bedroom helping with the dressing and undressing in addition to their other duties. Each of us need a secretary. Michael assign Records and Schedules to whichever of us is appropriate. They are to wear images of proper clothing in public based on what we're buying for Brenner and what they see in the castle when we arrive, or share them around with minor magical modifications."

"When I'm out of the room I will need both of my ladies in waiting, my secretary, and guardian knight with me in full polite society. If I am out on casual activities at most one lady in waiting should be nearby and one guard, though you know I'd be happier having a total of four, Nyanta included. Whenever Nyanta is out alone, he needs his secretary and two, though he'd prefer one of those two to be hidden. I'm sure it will be a complex logic puzzle when I am here and a restful afternoon when I'm not. Good luck Michael."

"...Oh, and we get bonus points for holding to the roles even in private, though I'll go mad if we have to do it constantly and Nyanta will likely just get mad, so play at your own risk and skip the bonus points in private if we have to. Just remember they'll have spies watching us so sweep the area before breaking proper roleplay. And, I'd like to ask two of you to go find us rooms at an inn that can get us to the castle in the morning without suspicion that we aren't what we say we are. Rent a proper level carriage to take us there as well. We'll arrive at the castle in the morning at an appropriate time. The servants are still being fitted with proper clothing, so pick someones not them."

Tetorō looked back over his shoulder at Purrcy and Nyanta. Purrcy had stood facing Nyanta that whole time so that her voice wouldn't carry into the room. As Tetorō watched, concerned, Nyanta stared at Purrcy, then as her ears began to fall, he reached up and gently pet her head. Her head drooped and Nyanta pulled her head to rest on his shoulder. Tetorō sighed and entered the changing room. Of all the tasks assigned to her over the next week or so, this one was the hardest and filled the majority of her calendar. He sincerely hoped Nyanta would relent like that more frequently during this time - for all their sake.


	88. Initial Pull

"Lord Nyanta, Lady Purrcy," Duke Sergiad welcomed the pair warmly as Nyanta genteelly handed Purrcy down from the carriage.

"Duke Sergiad," Purrcy took his hands in hers and kissed both of his cheeks. He held still for it a little more calmly this time than the first time, though he was still a bit stiff. "Thank you for hosting us. It's a great pleasure to have been given the opportunity to come and visit with you. Archmage Shiroe has kindly found the time in my schedule to send me. I hope I'll be able to meet some of your own needs while we're here."

"You'll be able to teach your skills to my stable hands?" He was suddenly interested.

"I have one day that I can give them a demonstration. I plan on leaving behind recordings of the demonstration. It won't be as sufficient as an entire course would be, but perhaps it would be enough to save a least a few more mares and foals until the course can be completed and implemented. I'm afraid that there won't be more time than that because Shiroe has a few other things for me to be working on as well." She was graciously apologetic.

Nyanta held out his elbow to her and she took it gracefully. Sergiad turned with them and the three walked down the courtyard to the entrance to the Cinderella Palace of Maihama. Purrcy was in her green and brown royal traveling dress, and Nyanta was in clothing of similar coloring but of his usual favorite pants, shirt, and vest. Purrcy had merely modified the coloring and a few of the details. He had found a hat he liked and it was sitting jauntily on his head. Michael followed them with Records, Schedules, and Training, all in their guild guard uniforms. The others were pulled aside by the castle staff and asked to be directed where to take any luggage and items.

"Do you need to rest after your travels?" Sergiad asked politely.

"Not particularly," Purrcy answered politely. "Akiba isn't so far that the journey is arduous." The rest of their party caught up to them, there being no luggage to direct or carry anywhere. The castle staff had been surprised, then remembered they were looking at Adventurers and gave up.

Sergiad's eyes wrinkled up in a smile. "Well, while I would enjoy having your attentions all to myself, I think perhaps the curiosity of the court should be eased first, if you'll accept it. Then perhaps tomorrow morning you will join me on a gentleman's hunt? I've put off the cabinet until tomorrow night's dinner, however. There was a general request for time to determine how to approach you."

Purrcy purred and looked at him with her eyes slightly narrowed, and her tail moved with a slow waving. "Why, Sergiad, I do believe you've come to understand Adventurers quite well enough now yourself. To grant the same opportunity to your cabinet even..." Sergiad gave her a look that maintained the smile wrinkles but said nothing else. "And whatever will you do if we turn things on their heads again?"

"I'm sure that is the definition of Adventurers," Sergiad said calmly. Purrcy sighed lightly. "But to have placed that burden on such a lady, is Archmage Shiroe so busy?" Nyanta stiffened slightly.

"He is always busy, I'm sure," Purrcy said calmly, "and didn't I ask for the excuse to come to visit? But truly, it isn't me. We are well aware that the nobility of the People of the Land aren't as enlightened as you yourself are. I am not the face they'll approach other than to gaze on the odd tiger lily that stands with the roses. Marquis Nyanta has been sent as Shiroe's ambassador."

Sergiad looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "Truly? You'll go to that extent to meet the expectations of the court?"

"Archmage Shiroe requires it," Nyanta said calmly. "I've been assigned as the ambassador to all the Peoples of the Land. I've just returned from my last assignment to the felinoid city, the Gate of Time, and this is my next assignment." He kept Purrcy upright and waited patiently for Sergiad to recover from his surprise.

"Surely the Adventurers are formidable for them to send an ambassador to such a place and have him return unscathed, having even found it to begin with," Sergiad finally answered him. Nyanta bowed his head in gratitude for the compliment.

"Truly Nyanta-san has the capacity beyond nearly any other than the Archmage himself," Purrcy said breathlessly, still staring at him. His whiskers twitched up and he purred just enough for her to feel it where she was holding him. She shivered slightly and looked away and back to Sergiad.

Sergiad bowed them slightly through the main door and walked through it behind them. Quietly he said, "I did wonder why he would put you in Lord Nyanta's hands. A quiet man with depths of talent is to be considered with careful thought before being approached lightly. Such a one would be able to handle most anything, yes?"

Nyanta and Purrcy both had ears that flicked at him, and Purrcy's tail twitched at the tip slightly. "Well, for the kettle to call the pot black I guess is the way of all worlds," she said in quiet cold words.

"Please, for the sake of the rest of us, relent," Michael, who was now next to Sergiad, begged - though which one he was talking to was left up to the hearer.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō struggled awake as Michael shook him. He groaned, nodded, and dragged himself up. "I really have to participate as well?"

"Yes. Shiroe's orders."

Tetorō sighed. "Alright. Give me five to get moving and I'll go fetch her. Hopefully I only come away with a few scratches." He did the fast natural change into a simple fighting outfit as he headed for the bathroom. From there he had to brave the main bed chamber. He just did a visual illusion at that point, not that he expected anyone in the castle to be up at that hour just to spy on sleeping Adventurers.

He opened the door and slipped in, waiting for a count of fifteen for his scent to go ahead of him and the two sleeping felinoids to recognize his presence at least subconsciously. When he arrived at the bed, he was relieved to see Purrcy still preferred to sleep as a cat. "Excuse me," he said very quietly. "It is time for sword practice." He took a quiet but deep breath, then reached into the bed and lifted Purrcy. He then looked into the one eye that had cracked open on Nyanta. When he received a twitch of an ear, he bowed and dared take himself out of the room. Only after he was in the outer receiving room did he breathe again and sit to wake Purrcy up enough so that she could return to consciousness as well.

When she was partially there, he carried her to the bathroom and set her next to the water basin that he had filled while he was in there before. It was always sad to see the sleepy Purrcy. Her ears drooped floppily and her head hung low, but her nose twitched at the smell of water close at hand. She rose enough to stumble to the side of the basin and fall half-way into the small pool of water. He resisted the urge to snatch her out of it after the first few seconds. A few seconds more and she was lifting her own head to gasp for air.

Before she could shake the water off, he'd caught her head in a towel and was rubbing her down. The firmer the rub the more the blood flowed to her head, so he didn't bother with being gentle, just stuck with kind. When he released her, she went back to the basin and lapped up the water until her thirst was sated. Then she looked up at him. "Come out quickly," he said to her. "Michael is waiting." She gave a nod and he left the room.

Purrcy walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, also dressed in a simple outfit to not get in the way, but to give some protection to the body. Michael nodded at her and turned for the door. He led the two of them out to a secluded courtyard hidden in a garden not too far from their suite that he had hunted down the day before and waved. Training walked up to them and handed the two students wooden practice swords.

For the next two hours Michael and Training demonstrated the basic blocks and blows of sword work as Purrcy and Tetorō watched very carefully, feeling the same movements in their own bodies. Once they felt the movement enough, they set it and then performed the move. Michael corrected their stances as necessary and what movements hadn't been quite properly done. By the end of the session, they'd gained the sub-class Swordsman and raised it to level seventeen. Michael frowned. "I would have liked to have seen it go at least to level twenty, but you two spend a lot more time on muscle learning it first. We have to stop now, our time having run out. Work on it during the day so that by tomorrow you're at twenty, and so you don't forget it all."

"Yessir," they answered wearily. Two hours of sword work would be recovered by resting for a half hour, but they still felt the effects.

-:-:-:-:-

"Have any of you hunted with raptors before?" Sergiad asked his guests politely, quite sure of the answer.

"No," Purrcy was petting her falcon and cooing to it. It looked rather exactly like the cat who was reassuring the bird it wasn't going to eat it ("...Really!"). Somehow, though, the falcon was responding positively and ate the small meat snack she fed it just as calmly as if she was his lady wife herself, rest her soul.

Nyanta was calmly holding his hawk on his wrist as if he also had flown birds his whole life. "It's an art and a sport where we come from that few are able to enjoy, but it is still known the whole world over."

Purrcy nodded. "Thank you for letting us have the opportunity to experience it. It's a rare treat."

Sir Michael was staring his bird down, as if seeking dominance. When his hawk bowed its head and bobbed it a few times, Sergiad realized he'd been doing exactly that. Michael fed it a bit of meat as its reward. "It's my pleasure," Sergiad said calmly, but the laughter when he was around Adventurers was as always just under the surface. "It will keep me young today to teach you how it's done. It helps that your air is already calm enough the birds will sit your wrists."

"Oh, they said they'd be happy to help teach us, too," Purrcy said in a distracted way.

Sergiad blinked in surprise, then did have to let out a slow smile. "Lady Purrcy, please pay attention."

Purrcy looked up at him in surprise, then pulled in on herself just a little as her whiskers twitched back momentarily. "Sorry," she said, but it was directed towards Nyanta not Sergiad.

Sergiad looked at Nyanta. "Should I just ask outright what she is?"

"Isn't it obvious by now?" Nyanta said, the hint of disapproval definitely in his voice, though it also contained resignation.

"Well, the shrine has been desperately searching the whole Archipelago over," his eyes and finely tuned senses caught all the reactions of everyone with them. He was sure they had been expecting him to call her the queen the Archmage had made her out to be at the wedding. The lady in waiting had the worst reaction, or perhaps best reaction if he was looking for someone to give it away, though Purrcy was the one who went cold.

"Truly, I've suspected since the festival. I was a young man at the time of the last Priestess so had the honor of meeting her. Lady Purrcy is very similar to her. I had hoped to use this as the opportunity to test my theory. There are probably no Persons of the Land who would even consider it a possibility that an Adventurer would be chosen as the next vessel, but the creatures do." Sergiad looked at Purrcy now. "Many of my men said, after you were gone, that it had felt like the horses had been blessed by the hand of the god himself. The falcon sits as if it knows you also."

Purrcy sighed. "Well, then perhaps you've found sufficient evidence to calm your own mind? Though it seems insufficient to me. I am a Summoner after all."

"It is sufficient," Sergiad answered in return. "However, if the play this week is to pretend it isn't so just yet, then I'll abide it. It was merely for my own enjoyment to prove it when I had this sudden opportunity."

"As you wish," Purrcy answered dismissively, still not admitting to anything. "Shall we begin the hunt, then?"

He complied, but still, as he watched the younger Adventurers and the two who were old souls, he did have to wonder again why the gods had brought them to the world at this time and what purpose there was to going to such great lengths as for one of those gods to call upon one to be the Priestess. Forbid it to be so bad as to have made Purrcy the Oracle.

-:-:-:-:-

The bell on the door to the tall Minami main guild house and storefront chimed. "Welcome to Shopping District 8." The clerk finished bowing and looked up then froze, blinking. "Ah, Guildmaster Shiroe, Log Horizon. How may we be of service? You're a long way from home?"

"Yes, we are," Shiroe said casually. "As a matter of fact, long enough I'd like to impose on your extra rooms upstairs for a few nights until my business here is done. How has business been?"

"Fairly good," the clerk answered back cautiously.

"The city seems to be stabilized and most people seem productively content," he said.

"For the most part," the clerk agreed, again cautiously.

"Are there problems?" he asked mildly.

"Well, not so much as there use to be. Just the usual I suppose. The few discontents. In no society are all groups able to find life to be their liking all at once."

"Who is the most disgruntled this time?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow mildly.

"Well...those who used to be able to bully, as might be expected I suppose," the clerk finally admitted sadly. "Most of them are kept in check, and the worst ones still have enough clout in town to not have become the worst on the street. The balance is being found, however."

"Hmm," Shiroe said. "Maybe I'll stop by the prison and see just how full it is and with who."

"It hasn't been that bad, really," he was reigned in, but it had been enough.

"So, we'll just go up and take the rooms we had before, if that's okay. We'll be gone most of the daytime hours. What time should we plan on arriving so we aren't locked out at night?"

For just one second the clerk looked like he would lock up the store as soon as they walked out again, but in the end he sighed. "Please try to return by an hour after dark, and it will be three gold per room per night."

"Very well," Shiroe said and led his guild members up the stairs. They could hear the clerk muttering in a chat, most likely to someone upstairs, or perhaps calling Calasin to berate him for not giving the Minami store warning. Shiroe pointed out the rooms for each of the juniors, the rest of them knowing where they would bunk, and kept them going on up to the roof.

He motioned to Charlie and two other Eagles helped him set up a communications tent in short order, large enough for most of them to crowd under. Shiroe cast the security spell over their cover. "Okay. H/R and P/R, you head over to the jail. I'm sure you don't want to go back, but you'll know best how to read if it's being used correctly. Scour the south side of town on the way for the feel of how things have been going since we were here last. Rudy and Isuzu take the eastern quarter of the city. Minori and Touya the western quarter. Akatsuki and I will be going up to the Ministry building so will take the north quarter. Secretary, you'll come with me. Reed you stay here with Charlie and handle operations. Keep the lines fully open. I'll listen as I'm in the meeting so I can have real time information to counter or support what they tell me. My E.T.A. at the ministry building is one-thirty, so I can listen in on the lunch crowd at the market district."

He turned to Akatsuki. "I'll have you watch over the square while I'm in the meeting, and take Secretary in with me. That way they'll guess I'm testing them, not just here for a friendly visit." Akatsuki nodded. He looked back at Reed. "Call in the Intelligence detail when I get into the Ministry building. It will likely be a lot of boring things they don't need to know, but I'll eventually get it around to what they'll need to know. Let them know to ask me questions if anything comes up they need to know or isn't clear." Reed nodded. "Right then. Let's go." He left the secure spell up over the communications tent and other than the two assigned to stay there, the rest of them left the roof as well - four of them over the side, the other five watching them a little enviously before descending on foot by stairs.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe and his two guards left their lunch table right at thirteen hundred hours. He led them the back way around the Ministry building until they reached a back door. Akatsuki disappeared and Shiroe and Secretary walked in. Shiroe headed down a hallway to a small office. He rapped once and walked in. "Is this the Department of Transportation?"

The young man at the desk lifted his head. "Yes. May I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like to requisition the train for a long term quest that should have a sufficient pay out that we can offer a percentage of the take to pay for the rental fee."

"Ah, well..., how long would that be for?"

"Mmm...right now we're thinking about nine months but it may need to be extended by another half year or so."

"So long? Where?" He sat upright, his pen forgotten in his hand.

"We're planning on taking it across the Sea over to the mainland. It's for a merchant quest, so a percentage of the profits gained would be used to pay for the train," Shiroe repeated himself. "We'll go for as long as we can rent the train for, or over the entire mainland of Eured and back. I expect we'll need an engineer, minimum maintenance crew, and supplies to go with it."

"Alright," the man agreed. He made a few calculations and pushed a piece of paper over. Shiroe picked it up and nodded, pocketing it. "I'll take that over and ask if we can do it. Thanks."

"It would be nice if you could," the man said as they walked out the door. Shiroe smiled a secret little smile and led them up two flights of stairs to a larger office. "Excuse me," he rapped at the open door.

"Eh? Shiroe?" the Minister of Technology looked up from his desk in surprise. "You're in town?"

"Just got here today." He stepped into the office. "How are things going?"

"Just fine."

"And the trains?"

"Well, as you know we're still working on the second one...," the Minister hedged.

"How about the first one, then?" Shiroe asked, raising an eyebrow in hope.

"Well...we need that one for raising funds for the Department, you know. I'm not sure we can let it go."

"Hmm...even if we're paying the rental fee? I mean, you could use that money to pay for the second one you're working on."

"Well, that's true," the Minister leaned back, "but what would we use in the meantime?"

"Is there anything pressing Plant Hwayden needs it for?" Shiroe asked back.

"Well, you know, there are several things in the works we've been looking at."

"Well, maybe I'll bring it up to the Ministry as a whole, then," Shiroe said mildly. "Could you let them know I'm here and would like to meet with everyone down in the conference room in about ten minutes?" The Minister blinked. "Thanks!" Shiroe said as he turned and left the office. "Oh, and I'll have to let Michitaka know you're still keeping more of the desk clear than he's managed to clear up on his back in Akiba."

The sigh behind them was almost audible in the hallway and the murmur of the Minister obediently calling the other Ministers to the sudden meeting in the conference room followed them down the hallway. Shiroe walked to the front of the building and to the main conference room where he held all his meetings with these Ministers. He sat at the head of the table in his usual spot as well and Secretary took up a position of relaxed guard at his side.

"Calasin," Shiroe opened a chat.

"Shiroe," the response was wry and immediate.

"Here's the figures on the cost for the train. I need the numbers in ten minutes, thirteen tops. I'll be silent, but when you call assume I've picked up." Shiroe sent a magical fax of the paper he'd received.

"Got it. Hmm...yeah, I'll have to crunch a bit. I'll get back as soon as I can."

"Thanks." He cut the line and opened the one to the guild party. "I'm in place. Should begin in about seven. Stand by."

"Roger," came from Charlie.

"Report in," Reed ordered.

Each party of two took two minutes to report the summary of what they'd observed in the city and Akatsuki added twenty seconds of update on the market, including that Kazuhiko and two other Ministers were on their way into the building just then. As her words ended Nakalnad walked in the conference room door. "What the hell, Shiroe," Nakalnad scowled at Shiroe. "You're a bad penny you know? Do you have to show up without notice?" He folded his arms and looked Shiroe up and down. "And that's your favorite seat, isn't it?"

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "It's that hard, is it, to run a city?" Nakalnad swore under his breath and slipped into the seat opposite Shiroe. "Delegate more," Shiroe suggested. "Power isn't all people think it is."

Nakalnad glared at Shiroe, then leaned forward on his elbow, dropping the dark look for one of mildness. "Is that really how you do it then? Just have everyone else do all the work?"

"Is it?" Shiroe asked mildly as KR, the Minister of Technology, and Loriel Dawn walked into the room, took stock and sat down at the table. Nakalnad leaned back suddenly in his chair and swore softly again, folding his arms. Shiroe ignored him, turning to KR instead. "When we're done here, go pack. You're coming with me. I'll need you for about three weeks to two months, depending on how long it takes in China."

KR blinked. "Why?"

"I have a special need for you at the end of a major league raid."

"You're going?" Nakalnad interrupted in surprise.

"Yes," Shiroe said calmly, though he still didn't look at Nakalnad. Kazuhiko and the remaining two Ministers walked in and joined the rest at the table.

"Going where?" Kazuhiko asked.

"China," KR and Nakalnad answered at the same time.

Kazuhiko sighed. "You're determined then, even without the train?"

"No. We'll be taking the train." He got blank looks and ignored those, too. "I have three quests to present to you. All three of them need Adventurers working on them. I'm proposing that you allow your citizens to participate. You still don't quite have the hang of letting everyone do the work for you of building the city and helping it to prosper. So far everything looks like you're doing the best you can, but you're so used to ruling with iron fists it's too tight a leash to build up as fast as you could be."

He leaned back and looked at Nakalnad finally. "Relax. Yes, I delegate, but I usually have things taken out of my hands to begin with. Everyone else says, 'here's what I'm doing' and I let them and if something isn't being done, then I point out the lack and someone jumps in to take it up. It's a lot easier to come at from that perspective. I suggest you practice it by coming with me to China and letting this place figure out how to get along without you for a month or less. You look like you could use the vacation and the opportunity to hit things. You're men could as well, most likely."

Nakalnad just stared at Shiroe for about twenty seconds, then he shook his head as if coming out of a daze. "You think this place will still be standing when I get back?"

"I'm confident of it," Shiroe said quietly. "Like I said, it's got a good start."

Nakalnad put his chin in his hand, resting his elbow on his chair's arm. "What's the quest?"

"The China Maze of Eternity. It's being infiltrated by Navigators - the Overwritten. We've got as many as we can get from Akiba going, but it isn't enough. We'd love to have you and your team's experience with us as well." Dark scowls were on a lot of faces around the table. "The end goal is the end of the Overwritten generally, though I don't know if that one fight will be enough to take them all down. They're apparently pretty strong in the States as well. Given the fighting spirit of the American's that wasn't surprising news to us." The others at the table nodded.

Nakalnad tapped a finger on the table, then finally said, "Let me think about it. How long are you in town for?"

"In and out for two more days then need to get going for the next thing the day after that."

Nakalnad nodded. "I can get back to you by tomorrow probably."

"Thanks," Shiroe said and moved to the next one. "Did you guys get a Fall Equinox special event?" Heads shook. "I think you'll get the winter one, then. We'll try to be here to help if we can, since we'll be here for the festival anyway, but if it hits both cities, we'll have to bail and head home. It might just be a Christmas one, but I'm worried it will be a Twelve Days of Christmas one. That many days and nights in a row and we'll lose all our People of the Land if we don't get back." They could understand that. "Just in case we don't get rid of all the Overwritten at the Maze of Eternity, and because it's a world level quest anyway, I'll let you know how to deal with them."

The people at the table sat up tall at that. "Ritual purification," he said simply. "During the First World Fraction, the Ruquinjé turned too much psyche building materials into corrupted materials, so when the world tries to create more creatures, instead of them being more People of the Land, they become the goblins and other such demihumans. When we strike to purify, the material that makes them up is purified so that when they are reborn, the demihumans aren't. Our hope is that within the next fifteen years or so, even if we aren't still here, if we've cleaned out the cesspools, there will be a boom in People of the Land births of all the races and the demihumans will die back and be manageable by them if we aren't here. It's a world wide quest since it was a world fraction."

"We've got a Shinto priest who has the power to bless weapons to make them purification weapons, and a special that will remove cursings on weapons as they are used to purify in this way so that we can get rid of the cursed flavor texts. We've called open season on the Goblin King for the Adventurers of Akiba, as long as they are using the blessed weapons. If you've got anyone qualified in town, send them back over to Akiba, or even just have them perform a ritual prayer to gain the skill and likely it will be given to them. Shrine Maiden bows and arrows are also highly effective when used with the intent to protect people and purify the targets. We managed to defeat the largest number of high level Overwritten we've ever seen using this."

"How many?"

"Six high level and one super level boss on top of them." Several at the table choked. Shiroe shook his head. "Our intel says China's far worse. As a matter of fact I'm guessing another two levels higher than that for the top level. If you join us, Nakalnad, or even just send a team, we'll have you join us in Akiba first and have the priest bless at least one weapon per person. It will be essential." Nakalnad nodded. "If you've got any role playing priests and any archers willing to pretend to be shrine maidens, males included, get them signed up. But the world quest is to handle getting blessed weapons out to your yearly quest site and start purifying it. Once that's done, anything on top of it is helpful, but be careful. Don't wipe out your farming spots. Remember that anything killed with a purified weapon or with the intent to purify will mean that monster won't respawn. You'll lose your drops."

They all nodded sagely at that and started a quick discussion. Calasin's chat request came in and he accepted it silently and let the merchant talk. Calasin was done before the Ministry of Minami. "We'll set it up right," he was promised. He nodded, content with that.

"And then there's a couple of other quests I'm working on around the edges," he continued. "I hope you'll find it possible to help me with them as well."

"The reason you need the train?" the Transportation Minister asked.

"That's one of them. We'd like to use it to transport the group going to the Maze of Eternity. Time is of the essence, I'm sure you don't need to be reminded. We're worried they're already cutting the lines there. If the tree dies, that's a lot of Adventurers who won't go home. The train would get us there faster."

"The other quest we need it for is to reconnect all the Adventurers of this part of the world. We're sending out a smaller group to connect with the continent - as much as we can reach of it. We've got a smaller ocean vessel under construction to send to the continents we can't reach by the train, including the Americas. I anticipate it's completion by the time we get back from the Winter Festival. If you're not using the first train, let us have it now. Any person who comes from Nakalnad's group will get a cut of the drops from the Maze, though we all know if they get Overwritten the drops are lesser, I'm sorry about that. We're sending products on the train while we reconnect to the continent. Any products you want to send to be sold would be income to Minami as well, though the merchant who's offered to take the quest up wants his cut."

"And that's who?" the Minister of Finance narrowed his eyes at Shiroe.

"MarketMaker."

"Name's promising. Does he know his stuff?"

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Would I send someone who doesn't?" he asked quietly. Nakalnad rolled his eyes, but no one could deny it.

The Ministers of Finance and Technology looked at each other significantly, then asked, "Can we get back with you in two days?"

"Sure," Shiroe said, tabling that topic. He steepled his fingers in front of his lips and sat silently for fifteen seconds. People shifted nervously. "I hear," he said quietly, "that you're still fighting with the Nakasu Defense Front." Nakalnad tensed up and Kazuhiko shifted slightly. KR looked away and up at the ceiling. "I thought I made it very clear that every Adventurer is a human from Earth who signed up and paid to play because they had the freedom to do so. You're trying to overcome your dictatorial tendencies here, but you've got to stop outside here as well." He sat quietly a while.

"How can I convince you you're in the wrong here? I don't really want to put you all back into the same situation you were just in all over again. If your own example didn't teach it to you, trying that again won't work. Should I just disband the guild? Making everyone start over from scratch should be very effective." The Ministers shifted uncomfortably.

"I'll tell you what," Shiroe offered calmly, "I'll go down there myself as the neutral negotiator and negotiate peace between the two of you for the sake of peace between all Adventurers on Yamato. I need KR with me anyway, so he can come as the representative of Plant Hwayden." That got a few concerned looks. KR would be a loose cannon at the negotiation table...but it was Shiroe.

"Is Purrcy with you?" KR asked.

"No, she's working on other of our guild quests right now, but when she's needed, she's on call. You'll likely see her. And she's coming to China. We expect her Hacker skills will be as essential in that Maze as they were here."

"You're going to take her into the Mirror room again?" Nakalnad was disbelieving.

"No. I've thought of a work-around," Shiroe answered. "None of the Hackers will go in that room, but we'll still get them into the Tree room."

Nakalnad shook his head. "So we'll really have to fight the room."

"Yes," Shiroe answered and shifted the topic back, having received a question from the Intelligence team. "How tight is the Nakasu Defense Front with the People of the Land governor there?"

Kazuhiko wrinkled his nose. "They've got an alliance, but it's tentative near as I can make out. They're weak, like most People of the Land, but they're also bullies and the Defense Front is tired of bullies, as you can imagine." The others glared at the table in front of them, but didn't reprimand him.

"Why can't you let them go?" Shiroe asked the Ministry.

Nakalnad finally sighed. "Pride."

Shiroe nodded. "Then it's time for me to step in." He adjusted his glasses. "We're headed down there in three days. If you guys have reasonable demands, I'll consider them, but expect the main result is that you're all going to be apologizing and making the concessions. I'll use the excuse that you've been a bit unsure how to handle it since the leadership change over and trying to get things back into place here and place the blame where it lies, but the apology will still be required. Once that part's done, I'm going to invite them to help in the quests as well, extending the hand of friendship and mutual cooperation. Hopefully, they'll be willing to try still. If not, at the least I hope for non-aggression." He got slow nods from the group around the table and a final curt nod from Nakalnad.

Shiroe stood. "Then I'll leave you to discuss what you're going to do. Nakalnad, I'll expect to hear from you some time tomorrow. Ministers, by the day after. KR meet us at the gate in three mornings. Well talk the negotiation on the way down." He gave them all a nod and headed for the door, trailed by Secretary.

He paused just outside the door, just long enough to hear Nakalnad say quietly, "Damn Machiavelli in Glasses."

"You knew he wouldn't leave us alone," Kazuhiko answered with a slight reprimand. "Not when it's our own fault."

"You've been complaining about needing a vacation anyway, Nakalnad," KR pointed out mildly.

"Shut it," Nakalnad growled. Shiroe smiled and moved on.

He was relieved to have Akatsuki at his side again shortly after they exited the Ministry building. He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a kiss as his own reward. She smiled up at him. "Excellent job, as always."

"Thank you. It's actually fun to pull Nakalnad's chain. He reacts so well. And Kazuhiko always manages to back me up one way or the other." He took a breath and looked at the sky above them. "It's even better that Nakalnad can't complain because all I've done is help him in every part of his life that's been closing in around him." He grinned at Akatsuki who gave a serious nod.

"Shiroe is always thinking for the best of everyone, even if they don't believe it for themselves at first."

Shiroe looked at her soberly, then looked away. He hoped it was true. Sometimes it was hard to tell. "I suppose that is my goal," he finally answered.

-:-:-:-:-

"Well, Lord Melbourne, I would think that such an issue would be a difficult one to resolve. Have mew taken it up with Duke Sergiad?"

"Well...of course," the Lord in question answered, "but -"

"Well, considering that internal politics of Maihama are outside the jurisdiction of Akiba, so is a resolution to said purroblem. I'll have to defer to him, I'm afraid. I'm sure if it were a need for the removal of a purrticularly nasty monster that suddenly showed up, a quest request to Akiba could be sent and someone would be happy to pick it up and come help, but such things as that should purroperly be dealt with by the governing body of Maihama, I'm sure mew would agree." Nyanta bowed slightly and moved on.

Most of the interactions in the dining hall as they had waited for the formal dinner with the cabinet ministers to start, and now after it was over, had been met with this standard response. Only a few had been met with the innuendos that perhaps there was someone in Akiba that could be approached for help in specific instances. For all that there might be a new ruler in Akiba announced in the not so distant future, there wasn't much politically that person was rightfully the person of contact for from the perspective of a Person of the Land.

Nyanta's ear twitched until he placed Purrcy by sound. She was buttering up the Lords nicely still, but as his eyes scanned, Tetorō (playing Tetora) gave him the sign. It would be time to go very soon. Nyanta himself was just as happy to leave. They'd been here plenty long. He glided his way over towards his wife, pausing briefly to answer to a few other ladies shining like gems on the floor who called for his attention. On the excuse of looking directly at his wife so they had to as well, he continued on when they excused themselves. That was another helpful aspect of having Purrcy along and visible.

He slipped in next to her and passed a whisper of a kiss across her cheek. "How are mew, my dear?" he asked. "I'm thinking it's time to retire."

"If you wish it," she answered properly and gave a nod to the flock around her. "Please excuse us."

They walked arm in arm to Duke Sergiad, who had his own little flock of people who were trying to gain some favor or other, scattering that flock as they entered it. "Thank mew for the fine meal," Nyanta bowed slightly to the Duke. "I think we'll retire for the evening at this time, but I thought I'd invite mew to come to dinner in our suite tomorrow evening, if mew will?"

"Please do come," Purrcy added. "Nyanta is a fabulous chef, and rather famous as well."

"Then I'd be happy to come," Duke Sergiad accepted, "thank you very much. Have a pleasant evening."

"Mew as well," they both bowed slightly and escaped the room.

"I'm doing the cooking then?" Nyanta asked as they walked the hallways back to their suite.

"You're the famous one," Purrcy said, "and I'm just the sou chef. Sou chef's don't get their names in print, just the head chef. Or were you going to have it catered in?" she checked her mental forward motion a bit.

Nyanta smiled slightly, an ear giving a brief flick. "No. I thought he'd enjoy a quiet meal after having to give us that noisy one."

"Yes, he did seem to be as hard pressed as you were tonight," Purrcy mused, "what I could see of the two of you through my own blockade. I finally just gave up on moving at all. It really is odd what kind of influence they think Adventurers might have. Are they all that clueless or are they testing to see how far _we_ think we have influence?"

"Typically it's the latter," Nyanta allowed. "For all we've been here for a year and a half peaceably, they're still worried about our strength and no one knows why we're here at all. The last time heroes came it was because they all prayed for help against the monsters. This time there doesn't seem to be any correlation to a thing they can see."

"Hmm," Purrcy pursed her lips and leaned her head on Nyanta's shoulder, thinking while tiredly allowing him to direct her steps. "Perhaps the creatures called us instead? I mean if there's a similar correlative action. I don't really know, but I do know that the Overwritten were killing quite a lot of them in massive waves all over." She sighed. "For all we know, it was the programming of the expansion pack itself. Really, it's all complicated trying to figure out stuff like that, though I suppose any rational being would think there should be a correlative reason for it."

Nyanta's whiskers and tail twitched. "Mew must be tired. Mew've slipped into professor mode again, meow."

Purrcy sighed but didn't deny it. Nyanta shifted just enough to get her to lift her head again. She needed to get to the suite on her own feet. She didn't complain, nor did he. There were still eyes in the hall and he was just as happy to have them understand that they didn't need anyone else of the opposite sex in their lives. "Have mew had many sly offers for trysts yet?" he asked her.

She gave him a raised eyebrow. "Have you?"

"I haven't given anyone the chance," he answered back calmly.

"Well, I would have to say they didn't want to give any of the others a chance either. If it looked like someone was going to, someone else butt in very quickly and firmly. I would expect it to be a more likely topic to come up at the ball, assuming we're going to dance with other partners in order to be politically polite. At what point should I put a stop to it and demand you dance all the remainder of the dances with me to protect me?"

"Hmm," Nyanta let his ears twist as if in concerted thought, teasing her. "I wonder. Perhaps mew should come angry that I'm allowing so many women to try to win me over?"

Purry scowled at him. "It won't work. I already know you'll be trying to not vomit all over them, in sharp words if not in actual fact. Rather, I'd be coming to save them from your teeth and claws."

"Mew know me well," he said dryly. After a few more steps forward, he answered, "Meow, I think Tetora will know best when to fetch me so that mew don't explode. If it becomes too difficult too fast, pretend to be near swooning and have her take mew to the patio for fresh air."

"You'll have me be the bait when I'm at my worst?" she was aghast.

"Of course," he answered back calmly. "It's the least obvious we're fishing if it's real, isn't it?"

Tetorō groaned from behind them. Nyanta ignored it and Purrcy sighed. "Very well. I'll try to hold in my own teeth and claws until you get there, but if what arrives is a knife, not a suitor, I'm fighting back."

"I wouldn't expect anything otherwise," he answered with practicality. She remained disgruntled, her tail lashing one more time, but accepted it without further comment.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael ran his fingers under the cuffs of his sleeves one more time. It was terribly difficult to get used to the warnings the wedding party gift kept giving out. He'd rather not-so-randomly walked the entire room of young dandys and young hopeful flower buds in a circuitous manner three times now, and the last time in the reverse direction. It seemed they buzzed with more ferocity, if silently, the closer you were to a person who was likely to be dangerous. The earring lit up as well and gave a faint shimmering chime he assumed only he could hear. Nothing was setting off either one with great significance, and it didn't look like they were specific. Meaning, he wasn't the target and it was nearly impossible to determine the target just from where and how he was standing.

That meant, if he began to feel the buzz to his left, he might know something was coming towards him from that side, and as it got more insistent, the closer the person was. It was nice for knowing which direction to defend or attack from. In this room, it wasn't helping him, other than to warn him off the three people it went off for, and to help him know what parts of the room to keep an eye on. The buzzing was annoying and was why he kept pulling at his cuffs. If there was a way to change that one thing, he would, though he would have to think a little harder about how to still have them be effective at getting his attention.

"Sir Michael," a soft voice said close by him, "if you've a moment?"

He turned. "Yes?"

"You seem just a bit uncomfortable in this place," the young woman said compassionately. Given that she was one of the people being shadowed by one of the dangerous people, Michael decided to talk to her a bit.

"I'm sorry that it's shown," he admitted regretfully. "While I've been to high society functions before, given my status, I'm afraid it's my first time to be with People of the Land. I'm not quite sure how much I can relax. I don't want to give off a bad impression after all."

With a glimmer of a smile, the young woman said, "Well, it couldn't be said that one should relax in such company at all, I suppose."

Michael immediately had a sense she was rather like Princess Raynessia. "No, I suppose not," he allowed. "It does make it difficult, though. We Adventurers are rather used to being able to relax at parties, not have them be even more of a battlefield than what we might have just come from."

"Mmm," she looked off dreamily a bit. "That must be nice."

"It is, usually," he answered lightly, then took her elbow. Her shadow had moved closer. "Shall we go sit. I'm sure your feet are tired enough." He walked her to the closest pair of chairs and gallantly sat her in one of them, then took the other. The buzzing followed them the entire way, and settled back down to the light buzzing it had been before. "Ah, you know my name, but you haven't told me yours?"

"Lady Elaine," she said politely, "daughter of the Third Right Minister."

"A pleasure, I'm sure," he answered, wondering exactly what a Third Right Minister was. "And can you tell me," he lowered his voice, "who that young woman is that is following you, the one in the green dress?"

Elaine pouted at him briefly, then answered coolly, "My maid. I'm trying to satisfy her insistence I meet with you."

"Ah," he answered and put his finger over his lip as he answered. "I wondered why she was looking at you so evilly. Really, does she hate you enough to kill you in your sleep if you're not obedient? I can feel the cold chills from here."

"Something like that," Elaine admitted.

"Well, please, by all means, warn someone you trust in your household before you do really lose your life," he urged.

Elaine smiled slightly. "I'm sure I won't come to harm as long as I'm obedient."

"And are you locked away under key unless you need to make a state appearance?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at this odd person who seemed to think such a threatening situation was normal.

"Well, I suppose we all are to some extent or other," she said vaguely.

"Do you want to be?" he asked, curious.

She looked away and drooped just a little. "I'm sure...," she faded out and went silent.

"You'd rather be in your bed staring at the ceiling, dreaming your own dreams?" he supplied for her. Her head came up quickly and she blinked, then she looked away and pursed her lips. "Hmm. I think you would get along very well with Princess Raynessia. Perhaps you should suggest to your father you visit her sometime, or invite her to tea." He looked away from her. "She also would rather not dress up and pretend to be interested in the person across from her."

"Surely you're unkind," Elaine scolded him.

"Am I?" he raised an eyebrow at her. "To suggest you might find a friend among your peers? Well, have it your way. Do you think you've met your required quota of time talking to me? I'd be happy to move along if you're done with my unkind presence." Her eyes widened at him and she nearly puffed out her cheeks at him. He almost laughed at her, seeing the chipmunk she would have become if she hadn't caught herself in time. He rose to his feet and bowed to her. "Please, continue to enjoy the quiet of the chair. I'm sure you'll only have a brief time before the next person arrives to greet you."

He moved smoothly on, passing the woman who was making his cuff links buzz. "Please, I'm not interested in her. Find yourself another man to marry her off to. Adventurers really aren't good matches for Princesses of the Land. We don't plan on being here long enough to properly take care of them. Surely you would hate to see her abandoned in but a few short years, disgraced and unmarryable?" The woman blinked at him and the buzzing suddenly disappeared. He sighed to himself in relief. One down, two to go.


	89. Purifying the Depths of Palm

The next morning at the Cinderella Palace was the same as the previous one: an early rising and an arrival of two sleepy magic users to begin the physical punishment of learning to fight with swords. This time in the practice area two wooden pillars the height of a man had been set up. Hanging from either end of a short cross-beam at shoulder height were loosely connected sand weighted bags. "This is called a 'pale'," Michael told them, putting his hand on the cross-beam of one of them. "It's a representation of your opponent and it's what you learn to hit first so you don't kill someone while you're still dangerous with a stick. Today you'll learn how to hit something for real."

The rest of the lessons focused on just that. Michael and Training each worked with them the same as the day before, first showing them how the standard simple moves they'd worked on the day before translated into actual blows, starting slowly then working up to speed. Once the two students had the movements ingrained into their minds and muscles, they traded and received finer instructions as they practiced physically until the moves were properly learned.

Michael had them continue to practice each blow until they were sufficiently hard enough to satisfy him. At the end of the two hours he said, "Okay. Now keep practicing that level of strength in your heads and we'll see if it translates into real strength. I'm surprised it might actually work that way, though with these crazy Adventurer bodies I suppose I shouldn't be. In the real world of Earth and the People of the Land, you'd have to work your strength up with daily practices for six months to a year to get where I want you to be. That's speed and strength, by the way. You still have work to do to get up to speed."

Purrcy and Tetorō grimaced. Their clothing was soaked and they were slowly downing canteens of water. "This afternoon I'll have you practice again, only this time against people who are at your level of learning. That is, with the paiges and squires of the castle. Try not to kill them. They'll likely hit you back, but it won't feel like much more than a fly."

He opened the door to their suite and let them in. "Really, I'm glad to begin teaching you here where we can practice with them. It's one thing to learn to fight against monsters that move, but don't hit back the same way. That way is just hack and guesswork. Learning to fight against other humans who also have swords in their hands is another thing altogether. You have to use cunning and speed and pay attention to defense in an entirely different way."

Purrcy rolled her eyes. "Which is why you're a beast in this place. You learned it properly to begin with back there."

"Indeed," Michael said quite seriously. The smell of breakfast was in the air and the four stomachs growled. With a laugh they scattered to the bathrooms to get clean.

"Why are you all sweaty?" Gareth (as Gretchen) asked as Purrcy walked into the master bedroom to get ready. "I thought we didn't sweat, and a cat least of all?"

"Because Michael is a beast," Purrcy said. "We're level forty already."

"No," Gareth said, "not possible. Adventurer bodies don't sweat."

"Yes, that would be the problem, wouldn't it? We got so overheated I called an undine and had her deluge us all," she finally relented, shedding her wet clothing. "It smells like Nyanta's fixing a good meal, though."

Gareth rubbed her down vigorously to get her dry enough to dress, then brushed her fur until it shone. He took morning dressing duty so that Tetorō could clean up from the practices. "You're to visit with the court ladies this morning, including a luncheon. I believe Liseltia is supposed to arrive to pick you up after breakfast."

"At least there will be someone I know there, then," Purrcy sighed. She pulled out three outfits from her list, having them arrive on the bed. Gareth looked through them carefully, then selected one and began to help her dress. Tetorō (as Tetora this time) arrived towards the end of the dressing to give his stated opinion. He wouldn't let her out of the room without his approval of what she was wearing for the day. Both ladies in waiting were perfectly dressed as well and would be going with her.

When they arrived at the breakfast table. Purrcy slipped an arm around Nyanta's waist and gave him a kiss. "Thank you for making breakfast again without help. I'm sorry Michael's abusing me instead of letting me help you."

Nyanta kissed her back and patted her on the head. "No. It's no trouble and mew need to be working on it. It was on the list from when mew first came to us and has been postponed long enough."

Purrcy sighed. It was true. They sat to the table to eat their quick meal. Nyanta, as the head, began the morning meeting. "I'll be visiting in the purroper court today. Brenner-nyan and Records-nyan will be sufficient. Being locked in an inner room I won't need a hidden guard today. Training, perhaps today would be a good day to be the spy of the group." Training nodded.

"I'd like him late afternoon for when I take Purrcy and Tetorō to the list," Michael modified. Nyanta nodded and looked at Tetorō.

"This morning is meeting with the ladies through lunch. Michael is required as are both myself and Gretchen, and we'll take Schedules, though likely he can be in the background. I'm not sure fully hidden would be acceptable, though. We need to be back here for Purrcy's appointment with the House of Saimiya as soon after lunch as we can politely escape. Michael, I'll let you know when she gets back from that, but is there a specific time you were thinking of going to the list?"

"I'd like it to be as close to four as possible at the latest."

"I'll let Shiroe know," Tetorō annotated his notes. "Am I coming or is Tetorō? I'd prefer Tetorō I think so I can rest. I would think she wouldn't need a lady in waiting present on the list, but Gretchen would need to be here, then, minding the house."

Michael nodded. "That'd be fine with me."

Gareth sighed. At least he'd be able to drop the illusion as long as there wasn't anyone knocking at the door. It would also be a long full afternoon break for him. Tetorō tried hard not to look jealous.

"With Duke Sergiad coming to dinner," Nyanta smoothly inserted, "I will need my sou chef back here by five thirty at the latest, I think. He will likely arrive approximately six or six thirty at which point Michael-nyan will host. Gretchen-chan can hostess."

"Can't we just have him like family in the kitchen with us?" Purrcy asked. "If he comes alone, that is. I'm sure he'd rather be treated like an Adventurer the few opportunities he has."

Nyanta pursed his lips, then sighed in the face of her innocent excitement. "Michael-nyan myay invite him to decide."

"Good," Purrcy said happily. "Then if he agrees to be relaxed, Tetorō and Gareth can just be Tetorō and Gareth and we can fill the kitchen with happy sounds ...and smells." Nyanta paused, then at the same time he and Tetorō both pet her, making her laugh.

"Anything else, meow?" Nyanta asked, looking around the group. At the shake of heads, they wrapped up the meeting and breakfast, quickly cleaning up and getting ready for the morning activities to begin.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe stepped out of the carriage he'd rented, Akatsuki holding the door for him. She'd ridden on the outside with Reed, H/R, and Secretary. Charlie and P/R had sat inside with him as he reviewed their tactics of the day. They'd left the juniors back at Minami to continue gathering information about town. It was their specialty, after all, and they'd only gotten a general feel the day before. Shiroe needed specifics.

His intelligence network in town was decent, but he had the opportunity to put four who knew exactly what kinds of things he liked to know on the ground so he was going to use it to good effect. It was a fun vacation for them as well, getting to explore a place they hadn't had the opportunity to visit before. Minami had not been a safe place for people with the guild tag Log Horizon before the coup.

The Senate building rose up above and sprawled widely from where Shiroe was being let off the carriage at the main entrance. It looked like it had been a fancy university built after the style of the old manors of Europe. Perhaps it had been a private school for the wealthy. Either way, the People of the Land had maintained it well.

Shiroe could feel his eyes going hard. This was a group of people who were going to have to be approached by the King and Commander General. He had given _them_ prior warning he was coming. He wanted them all present for his address. He looked down at Akatsuki. "Are you ready?" She nodded firmly. In this place she would be accepted for what she was. A competent female warrior.

She was dressed the part the rest of them were. All were in their highest level and nicest armor with their grandest weapons sheathed at their waists and many other pieces of equipment and jewelry buffs of various kinds. They weren't expecting to have a fight - it was what was needful to show their strength to this group of hardened warriors and generals. Pushing his glasses up on his face, Shiroe said firmly. "Let's go, then."

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu grabbed Marielle's waist and pulled her back from the crumbling edge of the archway over the river. "Go on ahead," he called across the gap at the half of their party that had made it across at a run as the rocks beneath them had groaned and begun to crumble away from the pillar Naotsugu and Marielle stood over. "No one was lost to the river. We'll just have to find another way." He looked down at the water far below, and added at a mutter, "If there are any more unbroken ways over."

Michitaka was looking down from the other side. Finally he called on the party chat line so he didn't have to yell. "I think that might have been the last one. I'm not seeing any more left down, up or to either side. See if you can get to the one three levels up from the surface of the river. That's high enough to be above the flood level of the river. If it's strong enough up until the break point we might be able to rig a bridge until we can get a crew in here to build a new roadway through here."

"Right," Naotsugu nodded.

"We'll split up when we hit the river and see about level four as well," one of the construction crew still with Naotsugu amended. "Hate to be on three and lose another archway if four is more sound."

"Good idea," agreed Michitaka. "We'll inspect both levels on our side as well." They were on the seventh level, it being the first one they could find with a full span, though it wasn't that any more.

"Hey, you think the Depths of Palm are even older than the age of the skyscrapers?" Naotsugu wondered aloud as they walked back the way they came.

"Possibly," Michitaka answered, his group heading on to find the way down on their side, "but it's also the damp from the river."

"Hmm, I suppose. Ah, the rats are worse on that side, by the way, since this is a dungeon. The boss is a massive rat at the end." He paused at a sudden idea. "Hey, you know, we just learned that if we kill with the intent to purify, like at the last special, the monsters aren't supposed to come back. Maybe we should do that every time we come through here. Rats multiply fast enough as it is. If we wanted to cut them down in number for safer travel, maybe this dungeon should be cleared for good. Not like we come through here to harvest good drops. Any opinions on that?"

There was general lighthearted arguments for and against for a while, but the general agreement really was that it would be better to clear the Plague Rats out to a minimal level. "Still, it should be listed as part of a dungeon quest, I think," Marielle said, looking at the red eyes staring at them from a side room they were being careful to pass by on the far side of the hallway. "There's an awful lot of them and they only become aggressive when attacked. If we could clear a room here and there it would be one thing, but if we called the whole mountain down on us," she shivered, "we're not a big enough party for that, I think."

"Probably not," Naotsugu agreed. "We could defend if we had to, and run, but this is more than were here at the beginning and we're not on the other side yet."

"It's bad here, too," Michitaka grunted. "The hallways are nearly impassible in spots."

"Kind of like trying to find the one pathway across the river," one of his Technicians agreed. "There might only be one path to get to the door."

"That's bad," Marielle frowned. "I hope we can get out."

"It will be okay," Naotsugu reassured her. When she turned worried eyes on him he smiled at her. "We have the power of love, too, right?"

The other males of the group groaned at the cheesiness of the comment but Marielle perked up. "Yeah. That was an awesome increase in power, wasn't it?"

Naotsugu nodded encouragingly. "I would say, if we do have to fight our way out, it should be after we're on that side. The river will slow down the rats on this side. And we should protect Marie as much as possible. She'll be our status effect healer. The rest of us will have to hold the aspect of priests, so maybe she can be our goddess for the term of the battle."

Marielle laughed with the rest of the men. "Goddess of love, you mean?" Naotsugu was teased hard.

Naotsugu grabbed Marielle around the waist and kissed her, playing along with it. "Sure, as long as I get to be the head priest." He pulled out his shield and set it on his shoulder on the opposite side from her. "Lets get a move on, shall we?" he said with faint warning. The others went on alert and agreed. The air in the area had become a bit malevolent.

After another ten minutes of searching, they finally found access to the fourth floor entrance to the river cavern. Going on down looked very difficult. The rats were increasing in number the lower they went now. "We're on the fourth level, Michitaka," Naotsugu reported. "How're you doing?"

The answer didn't come right away and when it did, Michitaka was whispering. "We're sneaking through. Fourth is far enough."

Naotsugu and the people with him all looked at each other in worry. Even if they made it across the river, they might not make it much farther than that. The construction man in their group was instantly all business. "Right. We'll set pins on the cavern wall on this side. We might just have to span the entire gap, and it's safer to assume when the crew gets here next time they won't get across at all unless we've done it that way. In construction, it's always better to be safe than sorry." The rest nodded.

While Naotsugu set himself as the barrier between the rats on their side and the rest of their party, and Marie stood as field monitor just at the edge of the first column over the river, anxiously watching for the other party to arrive on the other side as well, the four others got to work on setting large pins in the walls of the cavern. The ringing of the hammers on the large metal stakes rang loudly where they were and echoed into the river cavern, but the sound was swallowed up the same as the sound of the rushing of the river could barely be heard.

After a bit Michitaka's quiet voice came to them again. "Well, that's helped lighten up the pressure on us, but it means you're drawing them to you. The full out battle will be there, most likely. Tie yourselves to the stakes when they're properly in. We might lose the entire structure to the river if we have to fight there. It'd be best to not be swept down the river with all that rock and drowning Plague Rats."

"You got it," Naotsugu answered back grimly. "Make sure you get your pins in as soon as you can. We don't want to lose you lot either."

"Mm." He'd gone quiet again and they focused on getting their own job done.

"Ah!" Marielle called out as the last rope was tied to the stakes on their side. "They've made it, ...but -"

Naotsugu chanced looking behind him since the Plague Rats on their side were still staying pretty far back. The six on that side were running. Two peeled off to either side of the opening and stayed pressed against the wall until the four who kept going had pulled the group of Plague Rats after them onto the bridge over the river. Michitaka anchored the Plague Rats with his Monk's anchoring spell and the two blacksmiths on the wall jumped to hammer the stakes in immediately, swinging with great blows as if boosted with buffs. Naotsugu hoped fervently that's what it was.

Michitaka was fortunate to have a magic user that could cast status effects and he was rapid-firing them off to get the Plague Rats to do anything other than attack. Sleep, slow, anything. Once blood was drawn, the entire cavern was likely to descend on them - on both sides. They needed to buy time for those stakes to be set.

It was made the more difficult because until they had the gap bridged, they couldn't go help over on that side. But the construction crew on this side had already been putting together the ropes that would be the basis of that bridge. Naotsugu saw that with relief as he turned back to his own job of keeping the Plague Rats on this side at bay. "There is a sand bar down there. If you end up in the drink, head to the left side of the river. And, because I'm a nice guy, don't drop your equipment. You can put it in your list as you drop just by willing it to go there. Then they won't drag you down or get soaked."

"Thanks," said someone who wasn't occupied to complete distraction.

"Damn," Michitaka muttered and a smack was heard a second later. "Flat-handed him, but I don't know..."

The Plague Rats on Naotsugu's side moved forward stealthily, finally poking their noses out from the entrance to the caves. Their red eyes were now glowing in dark furry faces with sharp teeth gleaming below them. "Well, it's far better to purify them than let them afflict you with Plague," Naotsugu said with calm practicality. "Ours are getting braver now, though."

"First set's in," one of the hammerers on the other side said suddenly. "Ropes." Two more bloodless hits later and half the distance closed between the Plague Rats and Naotsugu and the next order came. "Send over the bridge stays."

"Right," came from behind Naotsugu, and he heard two bow twangs as the lighter lead ropes were sent via arrow to the other side.

"Got the upstream one. You'll have to reclaim the downstream one and try again." A difficult setback. Naotsugu had to use his own anchoring spell. He chose to use the one that had a lesser angering affect, though it would allow some of them through and past him if they were determined. He'd rather not pull them to attacking too soon, since now it was his turn to distract the Plague Rats to let them have just enough time to finish their own preparations. Another twang of a bowstring and, "Got it." Just after that came, "And there's first blood. Be fast."

Naotsugu set himself and gripped his sword just a little tighter. He was joined on either side by the other two swordsmen in their party to block the span from the chittering Plague Rats who were crouching in attack mode. Suddenly there was the glow of a spell that rested on all the Plague Rats in front of the three and the space from them back to the entrance to the bridge was suddenly filled with bubbles and disappearing Plague Rats.

"Woah!" cried the man to Naotsugu's left. "What was that?"

"Ah...I combined purification intent, love, and Hacker-inspired spell casting. I thought maybe if I could get rid of them without drawing blood we'd have a little more time," Marielle said a little tentatively. "It seems to have worked."

"That was a lot to take out at once," the man on the right said.

"That was the Hacker-inspiration. I've been building the spell up since we knew they'd be coming, then cast it when they all got close enough." She was sounding tired.

"Be careful with that, honey," Naotsugu said, "You still used up a lot of HP doing it."

"Yeah," she acknowledged wearily. "That part was harder on the system than I thought it would be, but I've still got three-quarters, so I think it will be okay. I figured it would probably be a first-shot one-time thing anyway." Naotsugu nodded. That was good battle strategy.

"No, plan on one more," Michitaka said as the sounds of battle began on his side. "I think the boss is coming this way. I've got a big red dot on my dungeon map."

"I'll get started on one also," his magic user said grimly. "If we can hit it with two big ones, we might be able to end this sooner than later."

"Fine, but don't overextend," Naotsugu said. "The other thing Purrcy was careful to teach us," he set for the next wave, "was that if you try to cast beyond your capacity you'll Cathedral just as surely with the rebound cost. You're better off firing off three mediums you can handle than one big one that's bigger than you expected."

"Got it," that man answered back grimly. "Not interested in that at the moment."

"Nope," Marielle agreed. "If you need healing on that side, try to get to this end of the bridge. I think my spell range will reach that far."

"We're ready for the next two." There were immediately two twangs from behind Naotsugu again. "Got 'em." He had to give the four kudos. They were working hard under stressful circumstances with a lot of calm.

Naotsugu cast Anchor Howl. Blood had already been drawn on the other side and this side was set. The Plague Rats bared their teeth at him and, after a one second pause, lept. His sword swung in a fast arc and the first row went down. "First blood," he called, then set to keeping the Plague Rats from passing him.

At the first pause in the wave upon wave of Plague Rats that descended on them, he felt someone pulling on his shirt. "Come on, Naotsugu, they've got the bridge set up enough we can cross to the other side now."

Naotsugu slowly started backing up, always staying the last one in the line, closest to the enemy. "If I leave this side, they'll get up on the bridge ropes, and I don't want to have to chop them down now that we have them up. I'll anchor this side and keep them off of it. The rest of you, go help on that side. Just keep me tied to the stake on this side so if they push me off I've got a way to climb back up and get back to work."

"But -"

"No buts, Marie," he said firmly. "Just come back far enough every once in a while to boost my HP up when needed. I'll watch everyone's backs so you all can get done what needs to get done. There aren't so many on this side I can't just keep going. Over level one hundreds can go for hours, remember?"

Marielle quickly embraced him from behind and planted a kiss on his ear. "Okay, but you make sure you let us know if you're getting overwhelmed. We can probably send someone back to assist if it gets bad."

"I will," he promised.

"Come on, Marie, quickly! The boss is on the move," she was called to from the other side.

Naotsugu turned and looked. The two of them were at the edge of the broken space with the four thick bridge baselines spanning the space. Slightly thinner rope had been quickly woven around the four lines to somewhat enclose the space to either side and underneath so that it was like a trough. Naotsugu picked Marielle up. "Michitaka, catch!" he yelled.

Michitaka turned, then ran three steps towards the gap. Naotsugu heaved and threw Marielle through the air. Michitaka took a partial step sideways and caught Marielle. They wavered slightly and the closest fighter grabbed them to steady Michitaka's balance. "Well, really!" Marielle huffed.

Michitaka grinned at her as he set her down. "It's faster and safer. We can probably throw train engines around just like we can go for hours on our feet. Take care of us please." Both tanks turned back to their duties.

"Stay on the ropes even though we're on rock," one of the party warned after a few more rounds. "The surface is starting to feel soft and I think I've been hearing rock bouncing down below us."

"Let's move closer to the wall, then," Michitaka said calmly. "The boss has been waiting up in the seventh floor entrance, watching us fight. I hope he isn't planning on taking the bridge out once we're off of it."

"Set the big spells to go off as it's falling, if it comes down the center," Naotsugu suggested. "Then hit it with purified arrows. It might disintegrate before getting to the bridge. If it comes down the wall, then whatever, just protect the bridge."

"Sounds good to me," Michitaka agreed with the plan.

Another five waves of Plague Rats and he could feel Marielle's healing spell boost him back up again. "Thanks, hon," he said shortly.

"Happy to help," she said cheerily. She was sounding a little stressed herself.

"Everyone staying plague-free over there?" he asked, a bit worried. He wasn't able to turn around and check on them.

"So far it's been okay," she said.

"Don't build up the spell too big," he said. "You're sounding too tired."

"Ah, how do I tell it to stop and that it's big enough?"

Naotsugu's heart lurched. "Honestly, I don't know," he had to answer. "Hang on a bit and I'll see..."

"Here it comes," the current field monitor called out at the same time as a large group of Plague Rats leaped at Naotsugu as if to push him off for real this time.

"Marie!" Michitaka yelled. Naotsugu's blood went cold as he remembered that the last they'd been doing was pushing for the far side. For Marie to have healed him she would have had to cross the bridge alone to at least the gap. His panic and concern for his fianceé came out in a wide arc of blazing light from his sword as he swung to rid himself of every enemy in front of him so he could turn. The way was cleared instantly and he was slicing his rope to the wall at the same time as he was turning for the bridge. It was too short to reach the center of the width of the cavern.

Marielle was staring up into the darkness above her and her mouth was moving slightly. He knew she was casting, and just as surely knew her spell had built up too much. He was moving across the rope bridge without paying attention to it, desperate to get to her.

The spell from the other magic user went off and the flare let him know how close the boss rat was. His foot made contact with the rock of the bridge on the other side of the gap and he was kicking off of it to leap to Marielle's side just as her spell went off.

Naotsugu could only think of one thing. He threw his shield into the air above her, willing with all his heart that it would protect her from the rebound of the spell she had just cast, just like the Hackers set up the shields to handle rebound when their spells went awry.

He was wrapping his arms around the falling Cleric, willing his own HP into her to keep her alive if it were possible, as a great explosion went off over their heads. ...Then they were falling with the disintegrated ancient bridges of the great underground river cavern.

-:-:-:-:-

"Welcome, Purrcy," Shiroe said calmly, adjusting the cuff of his suit shirt.

"Hi," Akatsuki added with a small smile.

"Hello, Guildmaster Shiroe, Akatsuki," Purrcy said, stepping into the carriage and sitting opposite them, next to P/R. The door was closed behind her and the carriage rocked slightly as H/R climbed back up into place. The carriage started forward again.

Shiroe eyed Purrcy's dress carefully. "Do you like it?" she raised her eyebrow whiskers at him. "It's one of the ones we purchased at Maihama, from Mister Presley. Tetorō and I decided it would be alright to wear it twice this week, just for this, since I'll be two regions apart and Maihama always sets the fashion for all of Yamato. I'll be sure and blather such things if small talk is called for."

Shiroe nodded. "But then," Purrcy turned and looked out the window of the carriage, "you already knew that. I do love having Tetorō as my apprentice you know. He's the only one whose fingerprint can only be found by myself and Michael. He is a master at not only using the code of others perfectly faithful down to their own fingerprints, but at making the modifications to them also the same fingerprint. Imagine my delight to know he could do something so magnificent as place an almost indiscernible link to my history with the scent of a person who isn't even on this planet and then connect it to the code I wrote for you as if I had done it myself."

Shiroe didn't react, but he could feel the heat rising under his collar. Purrcy leaned on her elbow, looking out the window, seeming slightly despondent or distressed. "Are you going to remove it?" he finally asked in his calm voice, though he was perhaps not quite that.

"No, not right now, I think," she said airily, if a bit down, "it's far better to have you review my activities of the day on your own time than for me to try to remember them all and recite them to you later. I don't envy Nyanta at all," she turned to him and asked almost disinterestedly, "unless you've had one attached to him as well?" Shiroe didn't answer. "No? Well," she looked out the window again, "I guess he'll just have to somehow manage to remember it all...but then he's very good at that as well, I've learned. He did manage to tell you quite a lot about the Gate of Time."

That did send a chill up Shiroe's spine until the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up on end. He turned away to look out the window on his side, trying to get them to lie back down. "That was a rather surprising turn of events," he answered as lightly as she was keeping her words. "Did you know it? That the second felinoid village was the Gate of Time?"

There was a long pause, then, "I've never been in it, though I have heard of it."

That struck an interesting chord and Shiroe followed it a bit. "Is there anywhere else you've never been in all of Yamato?"

"No."

Shiroe struggled to not react. She'd said it almost in dead tones, though her expression didn't change. Somehow, it felt like it was a place she hated. "He seemed very clear that they know who and what you are, however?" he pressed just a little more.

"I suppose that wouldn't be too surprising," Purrcy was back to disinterested. "Who knows what they've seen in the future and the past? I'm sure they must feel very omniscient."

Shiroe felt that he'd best assume that was as far as he needed to go on that topic. "And how has today gone so far?"

She raised an ironic look to him. "You'll ask for the preview, even? It was dull, though I suppose you'll be pleased that Tetorō and I reached level forty. Michael wasn't any less hard on us this morning, and perhaps harder since we managed to get to twenty-three by the end of the day before. We'll get a double dose today, though, since he'd like to see us doing more real physical activity. I'm supposed to ask if I can be back closer to four than five, but there isn't much point to asking. You'll send me back when you're done with me and not sooner." She looked away as she sent the thin barb over.

"The ladies were all keenly interested in talking about clothing, so I sold my line as best I could, though they won't get to see any of it until after the Winter Festival at best. Lunch was lovely of course. I would have to say that there's even less of an opportunity to get anything worthwhile out of the ladies than the men as a woman since women are kept in the dark for the most part about the real workings of the region. But...I've pin-pointed a few of the older ones that seem to be perhaps more in the confidences of their husbands than perhaps others. I'll see if I can get a tea with them sometime, if it's possible to fit one in. Maybe getting an old-girl's network going would be productive. All the young girls are simply airheads. Flowers bred and trained to be flowers and nothing more." She kept the report light. It wasn't like judging the girls made one bit of difference. It wasn't likely to change.

"On a more fun note, we'll be having dinner with Duke Sergiad, and I'm hoping he's daring enough to come on his own. If he's willing we'll treat him like one of the family and just gab in the kitchen. Nyanta wants to let him decide, though." She looked up at Shiroe again, "That was also an interesting turn, wasn't it? That he's pegged me for the Priestess already?"

"Yes, it was," Shiroe agreed. "He's rather sharp."

"Indeed. Well, he may throw more barbs at me rather than allow me to just have fun, so we'll see how the evening turns out in the end. ...How was the Senate?"

Shiroe couldn't help it. "It's a bit difficult to be the Priestess, isn't it?"

Purrcy blinked, then sat back and sighed. "Indeed." That very brief interchange was all he saw of Purrcy that visit, though it might have been because as soon as he was done telling her about the visit with the Senate they had arrived at the castle of the House of Saimiya and she had to be the Queen again, then be sent back to Maihama quickly to meet her requirements there for the rest of the day.

He did feel bad for her that she had perhaps lost the one contact outside the guild she had been happy to have had to lift her mood on occasion. The Duke was indeed just a little too sharp. If he understood, though, then perhaps he would relent and seek the person under the Priestess that truly wanted to be his friend.

-:-:-:-:-

"Naotsugu! Naotsugu, Honey! Can you hear me?" Marielle's voice sounded far away, but very worried.

Naotsugu struggled to rise to consciousness enough to answer her, to reassure her he heard her. He managed to get to where he became aware of his body and how heavy it felt. He seemed to be resting in her lap, her hand brushing his forehead. It was a rather pleasant place to be, really, except he was feeling rather horrible. "M - mm...M'rie?" He tried to get his eyes to even crack open but they were as heavy as his body was. He felt a light kiss on his forehead.

"I'm here," her voice sounded relieved and she was moving, then she was lifting his head with one hand and a bottle was being pressed to his lips. "Drink this. I don't have enough MP to cast any more spells, but I've got a few potions that might help a little."

He wasn't sure why he would need to, but he was obedient and swallowed. It was the taste of the regular HP-up potion, mildly lime, mildly apple, mostly "green" since it was a green potion. She let him rest when it was gone, then applied another. They went through about five before she let him rest, but he felt just a little better after each one. At most they would have still only put him up about 100 HP, not much more than a drop in the bucket of what he would have full up. She finally relaxed in relief, though. "Are you feeling better now?" she asked him.

"Wait," he said suddenly remembering his last worry. "What about you? That wasn't all of your potions was it? You should be needing them more than me." His eyes were able to open this time and he quickly checked her status. He was relieved when her HP was high enough, though still fairly low, perhaps one sixth to one fifth of her total. Her MP really was about gone, though, maybe five points or so left. "You're numbers are backwards of what I would have expected," he said, trying to sit up, then giving up. He looked at his own status and stared at it dumbly, not understanding for a while. He really was at about 117 HP. His MP rarely ever moved from the minimum points he had as a base Human, not being a magic user. It was at about 5. "And I'm doing worse," he murmured in wonder. "What happened?"

Marielle shook her head. "I don't know. I was passing out after casting that spell, then suddenly you were holding me and then I was falling. The next thing I remember, I was coming up for air and your arm was caught on me. I saw the sand bar you told us about and headed for it. Somehow I managed to get us both up on it, but you were doing really badly, sitting at two HP. I used up the last of my MP casting healing spells on you but I couldn't budge you over the two HP. They were doing something, though, because you started to look alive instead of dead. I couldn't give you the potions until you were awake, so I had to wake you up."

He reached up a shaky hand and wiped away the tears spilling over her red cheeks. "Thank you. I'm sorry I worried you." She held his palm against her cheek with her hand warmly, trying to smile. "You worried me, too, you know."

She nodded. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done a thing I hadn't had my own lessons in yet."

"Well, I think we won, though," he relented quickly. "We can ask Purrcy how to handle that end of things before you do it again." She nodded obediently.

There was a crunch of sand nearby and a shadow fell over them. "Well, at least you're both still alive. That was rather some massive explosion. Took down the entire structure, though any kind of explosion probably would have at that point it was so old," Michitaka's voice drifted down to them from his height above them. The voice moved to speak to the people behind him. "We'll set up camp here for now. These two need nearly three hours of recovery. We've got all the time in the world to get out of here now, so we can afford it. Once camp is set up, if you four want to go and reinforce the bridge a bit more, be my guest."

Michitaka crouched down on the other side of Naotsugu from Marielle. "So...what really happened there?"

"Don't know," Naotsugu said. "What did you see?"

"I saw you do the fool's leap and throw away your shield just before that. My magic user cast his spell and just after that the two arrows went after the boss. It was down about half points just from that, then Marie's spell hit it. It was going up into the ether as bubbles when there was suddenly an explosion. It looked like your shield had been struck by the worst sort of thing ever and it shattered and disappeared. Then the two of you were falling, though it was really weird because it looked like it was just Marie falling surrounded by a sphere of light. She hit the water and bobbed back up, but nothing hit her, then you were too far down the river for us to see." Naotsugu closed his eyes and tried to remember. It slowly came back, his panic at Marielle's cost for casting too high a new spell.

"The shield actually exploded?" Marielle asked, horrified. "I'm sorry, hon. I know you loved finally getting a better shield at Seventh Fall."

Naotsugu shook his head. "No, I swapped it out for my old one before I threw it." He opened his eyes and smiled at her again. "You know I like my good stuff too much to just let it go like that."

She smiled a watery smile back at him. "Well, that is true." Her brow wrinkled, "Did you expect it to be destroyed then?"

"Yes," he answered solemnly. "I did what you did, and experimented based on what the Hackers have done. You remember they put up shields between them and their target in case their spells come back at them, right?" Marielle and Michitaka both nodded, remembering the demo back a quarter year ago now. "I threw it and desperately intended that it be one of those kinds of shields so that when your spell rebounded it would lose as much power as possible taking it out. But I was worried that it wouldn't be enough. It was a rather low level shield, after all."

He rubbed his temple with the heel of his hand. "What happened after that is fuzzy. I just remember grabbing you and willing as much HP of my own into you to make up for what you'd lost in the creation of the spell, hoping to keep you at least a little bit alive, and feeling with all my being that if I was a Guardian at all, then I would be the second shield you would need to protect you from the remainder of the rebound. There's nothing after that until you woke me up."

"Well, by rights you should have both been back at the entrance," Michitaka said. "I don't know how much of the spell would have reached you, but the explosion that tore the shield apart was massive. At that power and speed, what was left should have axed you just as good. ...But it didn't. And I'm pretty sure you disappeared Naotsugu."

"Well..., and so did my MP. That hasn't ever happened in my entire gaming experience, though I haven't got a lot to begin with."

Michitaka looked at him with a wrinkle to his brow. "You really became the shield that carried her down?"

Naotsugu shrugged. "I wanted to, but as I say, I don't remember that part. And she's got more HP than she should, so maybe that part worked, too, though HP transference shouldn't be possible either. Some part of all that may have cost me the MP."

Marielle was pale. "It took everything I had to get you back, though, Naotsugu. I don't know why you weren't dead, I really don't."

"Oh, that," he smiled at her. "You know I've got a lot of cool items I love. That's one of them. If I get hit with a critical, it keeps me at 1 HP so I have a chance to keep going."

"Well, but it was 2 HP...for a really long time."

Naotsugu pulled his item out and looked at the status and raised his eyebrow. "Hmm...I'll have to thank Purrcy. She's got this itch between her shoulders for the 1 HP limit. Looks like she modified it to sit at 2 HP instead. That will be a life-saver someday."

"Someday! How about today?" Marielle was crying again.

"Well, someday when I'm conscious enough to cast Call of Home," he amended, carefully putting his item back where it belonged in his list. "But I'll thank her today, too."

Michitaka rose to his feet. "Well, I'll let you two sit here and recover. We'll get food going as well. That will help replace some of the HP for the both of you."

"Here," Marielle handed over a handful of herbs, "if you add these, we'll get a boost for MP, too."

"Thanks!" Michitaka smiled and sauntered off towards the place busy sounds were coming from.

Naotsugu looked up into Marielle's eyes, then patted the sand next to him. "Here. Come here." Marielle carefully moved out from under his head and lay down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her to hold her close. "I'm here, Marie. Together we did it. Both of us survived, quite well really for our first time as tank and op. Thank you for taking care of me." She shivered and nodded. Around her own tears she managed to thank him as well. He held her, comforting her, until they both fell asleep to recover.


	90. Half-way Through the First Rooms

"Lord Nyanta, is that your wife?" the noble walking with Nyanta stopped midstep, then turned to look over towards the list field they were walking past.

Nyanta looked over calmly and watched. "It looks like her studies are going well," he answered after a bit. His eyes narrowed and his ears pointed directly forward as Michael stepped closer to her and reset her stance and grip on her wooden practice sword. They couldn't hear from this distance the instructions that were given, but Purrcy looked at Michael and asked a question, then nodded at the answer. They watched as she set herself again to face the lanky teen she was partnered with.

"Is that her knight?" the noble asked.

Nyanta glanced at his companion. "It is," he answered. The noble gave him a knowing look. Nyanta ignored it coolly and continued to watch her form. "It looks like she will finally not kill a purractice opponent," he said, then turned them and continued them on their pathway.

-:-:-:-:-

"Welcome," Michael bowed Sergiad into their suite. Looking behind the Duke, he saw no one, so he closed the door. "Is it just you tonight? That's very brave of you." Sergiad smiled his slight smile. "Though I'd like to ask you to please keep the barbs to a minimum tonight. Purrcy is more Purrcy than Priestess or anything else when we are together like this. It's only in public she is less herself." At Sergiad's raised eyebrow, Michael shifted and looked at him sternly. "Shiroe has had to work very hard to get her time to be with us without interference. We don't approve."

Both of Sergiad's eyebrows raised at that. "The Adventurers have an opposing opinion?"

"Quite so," Michael agreed. "We are independent. To have had one of us be taken over by a thing that controls makes us just as upset as having been dragged here against our wills." He moved to lead Sergiad farther into the common sitting area. "You have a choice tonight. You can be hosted as the Duke and we will remain properly polite, or you may join us as an unrelated family group we call a guild, and we will treat you as one of us...or perhaps as the father of one of us. Purrcy - the real Purrcy that is - already thinks that way of you, you know." He looked at the Duke out of the corner of his eye.

Sergiad sighed and looked away, considering. He put his hands behind his back and walked over to look at a painting on the wall. Michael let him have the time he needed. It wasn't like a true noble had any idea how to really relax. Most of them understood that testing and verbal sparing went on all the time in every situation, in their world. Even in this case, it would likely happen anyway. Sergiad finally took a deep breath and turned around. He kept his hands behind his back and stood firmly facing Michael. "It is indeed tempting to see what the relaxed Adventurer is like, and how they are in a group that way. But perhaps it will cloud my judgment too much."

Michael's face lifted as he smiled at Sergiad. "Afraid of falling in love with us too much?" He sighed. "I'm sure you feel you should maintain just enough distance as the Duke, particularly if Purrcy is being set up to be the Queen." He could see he was right on the money. "However...if it were possible for you to understand that we care for Purrcy and wish to see her happy the few times it's allowed, perhaps you could allow yourself to see that just for tonight you are visiting a daughter that is a captive in a tower and when you see her again, you will be facing something different again?"

Sergiad's eyes were wide and Michael could see the tension in his shoulders. "It's as bad as that?"

Michael nodded soberly. Sergiad's shoulders sagged slightly and he looked down, then he closed his eyes and sighed. Turning back to the table under the picture he had been looking at, he took his narrow circlet off his shoulder-length grey and white hair and set it on the table. His necklace of office followed it. When he moved to take off his outer formal jacket, Michael stepped up and helped hold it so he could slip out of it, then carefully lay it across a chair that was close by. When Sergiad went to remove his sword belt, Michael held up his hand. "Even we will continue to wear our safety when we're together in a strange place. There will be no offense taken if you keep it by your side. In fact, you might just get a scolding for having let it go."

Sergiad looked at him, then nodded. The last thing to go on the table was his signet ring. Michael frowned and rubbed his head. "That's uncomfortable." Sergiad looked at him in surprise. After a bit of hunting through his list of items, Michael pulled out a narrow chain. "Put the ring on this and put it around your neck. I've seen far too many small things like that get lost, and that one's too important to have a mouse slip it into its hole. You can keep the chain. It's been given a special property that prevents loss and theft."

"Thank you, Sir Michael," Sergiad said, taking the chain.

"No, it's just Michael now," he rebuked lightly. Sergiad gave him a bit of a smile, then focused on getting the ring on the chain and putting the chain over his head. When it was settled under his shirt, Michael directed him towards the kitchen. "We're a family that gathers in the kitchen, or around the campfire, when we're away from home. But then that's because mother and father are both the cooks, so that's where the children will be found." He smiled and Sergiad seemed to understand. "I myself would often arrive at home to find the kitchen full of sounds and smells and the rest of the house dark and quiet."

Sergiad blinked at him. "You're married, then?"

Michael nodded soberly but didn't let him go any further, opening the kitchen door. "We're home," he said to the people in the room. Faces lit up in grins and they were welcomed in with noisy happiness.

-:-:-:-:-

The door to the Adventurer's suite closed behind Duke Sergiad. His steps strode with their natural stride away. He was lost in his thoughts when he felt his close aide arrive at his side, having waited outside the hall for him. "Were you able to learn what you went to see?" the man asked softly.

Sergiad stayed silent. He wasn't pressed for an answer. It had been a conversational question, and an offer to speak if he wanted to. An answer was still necessary - eventually. He chose to go straight to his own quarters, where his manservant poured him a stiff drink. Sergiad sank into his chair in front of the fireplace, accepted the glass, then went back to thinking. Finally he sighed. "Send for the acolyte." His aide bowed and stepped out of the room.

When the black robed acolyte entered the room, she was stopped just inside the door. Sergiad made her wait on him for a few minutes. Finally he said, "You will not find what you're looking for here, but likely your Priestess will be arriving in her rightful place soon. You may stay if you want, but I believe you are wasting your time."

"I still beg to differ. We were shown she would be here."

"Don't you think," he said, lifting his glass in his hand and looking at the distorted reflection of the acolyte in it, "that even if she were here, if she hasn't come yet it would be because the god has its own purposes in it? It seems to me...," he looked into the fire again, "that when the god is ready for its Priestess to be in her rightful place, it will make sure she is there." He looked at the reflection again. The acolyte wasn't happy. "Or do you not have enough faith in your own god?" he asked, pricking her on purpose. The acolyte went stiff, and just as stiffly excused herself. After a moment, Sergiad said coldly, "Make sure she leaves no later than tomorrow breakfast without seeing anyone else." There was a soft rustle, more felt than heard as his order was received and acted on.

Sergiad lifted his glass to his lips and sipped his drink, feeling the burn on his tongue along with the smooth taste. He clasped the fingers of both hands around the stem of the glass, resting his elbows on the arms of his plush chair. "If you had a precious person or cargo to deliver, Thomas, who would you want to hire to ensure it made it to the destination properly?"

His aide moved to stand at the edge of his chair, but not so as to intrude overly much. "The Adventurers."

"Mm," Sergiad agreed. "And...if in the process they learned that what they were protecting didn't want to be delivered? What do you think they would do?" Thomas was silent as he puzzled that one over. "I'll make it a little more plain," Sergiad finally relented. "If we are working on the theory that an Adventurer has become the Priestess, who better than to protect her than other Adventurers?" Thomas nodded. "And if those Adventurers discovered that she didn't want to be the Priestess? What would they do?"

Thomas carefully said, "Keep her?"

Sergiad raised his glass again in one hand. He twirled the glass, watching the firelight making patterns on the swirling drink. "But can even the Adventurers win if a god demands she be delivered?" he asked it casually. After a moment, he scowled and downed the rest of his drink. He stood and set the glass on the table near him with a firm clunk. "They will fight it, Thomas. They will stand and fight even against a god!"

He looked into the fire, and what he saw there was the burning of the world, rather than the burning of a few logs. He finally turned to look into the eyes of his close aide. "The gods are mad. All I can do is protect the few I can protect for the little time we have remaining, and hope in one man, one guild, and one woman. They are all that stand between us and utter despair and ruin." He lowered his eyes from the look on his man's face.

"Continue to see that they are treated with all respect and honor. They will leave soon enough. The battle will not be fought here, even if we must bear the repercussions of it when it happens. If the acolyte and the shrine learn what and who the Priestess is while they are here, and the acolyte presses the issue, we will all pay a price I'm not willing to pay. They protect her with great firmness. They won't let her go until they're ready, or the god demands it and gives them no choice." Thomas nodded his understanding. He would see that the shrine and those who worked in it were kept from the castle and from Maihama until the Adventurers left.

-:-:-:-:-

Duke Sergiad watched Purrcy the next morning as she taught his stable hands and horsemen how to perform surgeries on the horses, specifically those necessary for sudden difficult birthings. When there was additional time at the end, she continued on to a few other healing surgeries that she knew of to offer. Because she was willing to pay this price, he was willing to have her here in Maihama. Otherwise, he would have refused.

He didn't like the Priestess, and after last night, he thought he understood why. It wasn't the Priestess he didn't like...it was the god behind the Priestess, the one who he had lost all faith in last night, the one who had betrayed all living creatures on Theldesia by bringing the thinking Adventurers here, and then betrayed them again by thinking it could make one of those Adventurers its own without angering the creatures not even it could understand.

He had taken an early liking to Purrcy, though. She was very much like his own wife had been. Brilliant, quick with the court tongue, just enough delicateness to offset the strength to make one want to protect her. A smile that disarmed and a genuine caring for others that peeked out when it could around the edges of the required aloofness of high nobility. That caring was coming out in this lecture she was giving. She truly cared for the horses, and cared that the men taking care of them could properly do so.

He wasn't bothering to follow the lecture specifically. He was here to observe her. He wanted to understand how much of the Purrcy of last night could be seen, and it was as much as he had thought. Most of the time, she was often present. He was personally relieved to know that he had come to like the part of her that was real, not forced, ...though it was irrelevant. Once she was ensconced in the shrine, he could publicly claim a friendly relationship with her, even if it wouldn't exist any more at that point. Even a past relation would have bearing in the right negotiations.

There wasn't anything he could do. Even as a Grand Duke, he was still only a Person of the Land, subject to the laws of the world and the whims of its gods. But perhaps by having given her one brief evening of happiness he could win for himself and his city and people one brief moment of protection when it mattered most. He could only hope. It hadn't been a hard price to pay. He did actually enjoy getting to laugh at the Adventurers and getting to laugh with them had been as fun as could have been hoped - a rare treat for someone like himself. Only his growing sorrow - and horror - had made the evening difficult, and he hadn't stayed overly long. They had politely allowed him to go, knowing he was busy. Only in his nightmares that night had they turned from polite kindness into monsters of destruction.

They wouldn't, though, not unless pressed beyond reason. These were cold and calculating intelligent beings, not random flailing monsters this world knew from before. They were already fighting. He could tell. It was quiet and under the surface, but Sir Michael's words of warning had said it as plainly as could be said. It was so far still a quiet fight, hidden deeply.

He would send them home tomorrow, but he could also tell that their presence here was part of the fight. They wouldn't leave kindly or politely if asked to go before they were ready to, but they also wouldn't stay longer than they had to. This was not the place they wanted to be either. It was merely a stop over place on their path to their goal. He could be patient, and in being patient protect that which he was sworn to protect.

Purrcy was focused on the space in front of her, then there was a glow and four cubes appeared in front of her. She handed them to the head of the stables, who thanked her with a bow. Her eyes swept the gathering and found Sergiad. He looked at her mildly, his many years of experience keeping his court mask on now without thought. He watched as she left the group and walked over to him. "I hope it will be sufficient, Sergiad," she said looking at him, her face relaxed, but her eyes almost desperate.

Sergiad bowed his head briefly. "It will have to be, won't it," he said quietly. Her faint signs of relief and despair told him all he need to know. She already knew. Knew she wouldn't be back, and wouldn't be allowed to teach the full class, and might not even get to put together the materials so they could attempt to study them. He would have to encourage his own men to experiment based on what she had been able to give them. "I'll see they continue forward the best they can," he promised her. She gave him a nod, then was collected by her escorts. He turned and walked with them, next to Purrcy. "So, how much longer do you get to stay in Maihama?" he asked pleasantly.

"Four to five days," Tetora answered for Purrcy, though Sergiad knew their play. Two women had never shown up for dinner last night. He suspected they already knew he knew from before then, that they had never existed to begin with. It wasn't something that needed vocalizing.

"Can I keep you entertained that long?" Sergiad asked, keeping it playful.

"You're free to relax for part of that time," Purrcy said calmly. "We really just need a place to wait for other things to happen around us. I would like to have some time with Iselius, however, if I may. I thought he and I could go shopping in town, if it could be fit into his schedule. Not tomorrow, but perhaps the day after or the next day after that?"

Sergiad nodded. "Perhaps in three day's time." That would give them time to make sure the city was cleaned out of any spies from the shrine, though it wasn't likely they'd made the connection yet. He was still amazed that she just opened her mouth and said the very things that should normally be kept secret when she spoke to him. Perhaps she saw it as a way to show him honor, to not allow the lie to his face, but it often came across as cold and uncaring open abuse instead of use hidden by politeness.

"Thank you," Purrcy answered politely. "I'll be resting tomorrow morning in our rooms, so please don't worry about entertaining me then. I'm sure Nyanta can be found wandering about doing ambassadorial things, however, if you feel the need to continue to observe us the entire time we're here." Her eyes half-closed in a scold.

Sergiad hid his smile and politely said, "And what do I have to do that is more important than see that our honored guests are hosted properly?"

"Run a duchy?" Purrcy answered back with a raised eye ridge of whiskers.

"It is possible to do both at the same time," he answered back calmly.

Purrcy's whiskers twitched. He thought it was with a smile, actually. "Delegation and well trained staff are a pleasure indeed," she agreed. He turned his head away to let the smile out, as it wouldn't stay put. "But I do think you should try to get some of the things only you can do done tomorrow morning."

"Excuse me," Tetora interrupted politely. Purrcy nodded at him. "The following day, we will all rest away from the eyes of the court, if we may be allowed to be so rude. We've set one day out of seven that we rest in order to be able to have the strength to perform what needs to be done the rest of the days."

Sergiad looked at Tetora for a moment. He'd surely received an order somehow in the manner of Adventurers to have said such a thing only just now. That day and the following had been free, unplanned, and when he'd allowed for Purrcy to go out with Iselius in three day's time, it had set something so that the activity of the second day from now was suddenly set itself.

Sergiad nodded thoughtfully. It was taken as acceptance of the day of rest, which was sufficient. He would have to see that his spies were set to watch them closely that day, to see if they would all really stay in their rooms, or if they now had a reason to escape the city secretly and go elsewhere to perform a specific act towards their own hidden goal. He tamped down his irritation at being used as the excuse. He'd been paid today, but that didn't mean they were going to leave today. It had just been convenient to fit it into the schedule at this time.

He clasped his hands behind his back and looked off in the distance, waiting for the conversation to turn again. At least Purrcy was a witty enough conversationalist to hold his interest rather than make the entire thing a drudgery. And he was enjoying continuing his research. As she'd said in Akiba - it was keeping him young to have fun at their expense. It even tickled him that they knew he was and didn't care, but rather played along with him at his game.

Thinking that made him sigh though. They all also understood completely well that underneath it wasn't a game at all. Still, one had to keep it light somewhere or the drudgery of life overwhelmed. They understood it, so together they played and laughed while they could.

-:-:-:-:-

"I'm so glad the tunnel lets out close to Port Sharpcliff," Marielle stretched in the sun, breathing in a deep breath of outside air. She turned to look at Naotsugu with a critical eye. They'd ended up staying the night in the Depths of Palm. They hadn't seen any more Plague Rats. They weren't sure if it was because they were supposed to disappear when the boss was defeated until the next set of Adventurers entered and the dungeon reset, or if it was because they'd gone into hiding. It would be tested when Michitaka entered on his way back to Akiba. Marielle looked at the Monk. "Thanks again, Michitaka-kun, for taking care of us."

The big man waved it off. "As along as we're keeping to the proper schedule, time to heal's a good thing. We got the bridge done, so we can get home easy enough. Are we walking?" he asked Naotsugu.

Naotsugu shrugged. "If you're up for it, or we could use the horses, but it's not really far enough to bother with that either." He turned his upper body to the left, then the right, stretching his own muscles. "There's something about being in a mountain dungeon that makes you feel like you've been carrying the whole mountain the whole time you've been there."

"Well, you did, for all practical purposes," Marielle shot back at him. For all he'd recovered in his stats, she was still worried about him. He really should have been dead, and hadn't even budged in his stats no matter what she'd tried until she'd gotten him to wake up enough to take the potions. They'd talked about it again, and he'd suggested that maybe it had been a reaction to his desire to give what he had to her, and his body wouldn't take healing from her personally because he was so worried about her.

While that might have been, that made her worry he wouldn't ever be able to take healing from her again. This playing around with other magics was making her just a little irritable and more than a little worried. It didn't seem to be a good thing, though she was trying hard to not pass judgment yet. They'd tried it without being trained, after all. It could be that with sufficient careful training it would be okay, but for now she'd leave well enough alone and stick to what she already knew.

She took another deep breath, turning her face to the sun to soak up what warmth it had. It was mid autumn now, so the sun was weaker, particularly here in the northern parts of the Archipelago, but it was still sun. She was startled by a light kiss on her cheek. "The Flower of Akiba finally getting to see the sun again," Naotsugu said quietly in her ear as his strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and waist. That was nice, but since she was already worried about him, it made her worry about his mental state.

"It is nice to be in the sun again," she agreed, putting her smile on. She took his hand in hers and moved out of his embrace to start them walking hand in hand down the path after the rest of their party. "Are you going to participate in the negotiations?"

"No, though I'll be there as a guard," he answered. "Do you want to stand in as one, too?"

"Who are we guarding?" Marielle asked, thinking Michitaka certainly didn't need guarding.

"Purrcy," Naotsugu said with a smile in his eyes. "Michitaka's asked if she'll participate in the negotiations and Shiroe wants it anyway. She's got bonuses in such situations. Plus, it's her pet project so she may as well."

Marielle blinked at Naotsugu, trying to wrap her brain around that. "Naotsugu...how's she going to do that? She didn't come with us." When he was quiet for a while, like he was trying to decide if he should say, she added quietly, "What is she really, Naotsugu? There have been so many things put out about what she is - from a werecat, to a ninetails, to a Game Moderator - yet none of them are everything. I'd say she was a powered up Observer come to help Shiroe, she knows so much and can do so much, but I'm not sure I can even believe that."

Naotsugu sighed and rubbed his head. "You've a right to know, Marie, particularly since you'll be part of the family, but it's a burden, too, ...and so super top secret we've been trying to protect you as long as possible." He gave her a sorry, sympathetic look, "We all know how hard it is for you to keep secrets under pressure. We don't want you to get hurt."

Marielle considered it seriously, but she was already feeling rather serious from the dungeon and the final battle. Finally she shook her head. "I need to know, Naotsugu. I can't keep playing any more, not about this, not when it comes to you." She looked at him earnestly. "I know I'm flighty and would prefer to have fun, but really, when it comes down to it, I am an adult. I know life gets hard, and real life isn't all fun and games. If we don't know important things we can go off in directions that get us into trouble. I need to be able to support you so you can support Shiroe properly. I think it's time for me to hear it so I can do those things. I'll keep my mouth shut outside the family. I can do that."

Naotsugu looked at her closely, then slipped his fingers between hers and slowed their walking speed down so that they fell back even farther behind the people they were following. Quietly he told her everything about Purrcy and she listened silently until he was done, taking it all in. When he was done, she took her time to sort it all out, putting the different experiences she'd had with Purrcy into their slots of which part of her had probably been present. "When she snuck out to Crescent Moon and scolded us, who was that?" she asked him. That was important and she wasn't sure she could tell.

"I wasn't there, but it was probably Purrcy - Hahaue. That's who talked to me after that to scold me," he said. "But I would agree it feels like some of the other is there as well. I've been wondering if that's the Priestess, actually. The Priestess is pretty hard nosed, but is also an aspect of Inari. I'm not sure why the god would want to make sure things are properly set in the guild and in Akiba, though. I haven't asked Shiroe that specific question, but I'll bet he knows the answer."*

Marielle nodded and went back to thinking. "I'm going to have to keep this secret from Henrietta, aren't I?" Naotsugu nodded and apologized, but she'd just wanted the confirmation. She'd already guessed it. That would be the hardest. She'd let things slip she shouldn't, but Purrcy was already so confusing she could just continue that confused state in front of Henrietta and it would probably pass. And if it didn't she could send Henrietta to Shiroe for the answer. He'd know if she should have it, and be able to shut her down if not. "It's really sad, isn't it?" she finally said.

"Yes," Naotsugu said simply, "and there are some of us that have to fight the anger all over again. Tetorō and Michael in particular. They work the closest with her and it's a struggle for them some days. When the sub-guild figured it out we had almost a week of stepping on eggshells. Their heritage and the experiences they've already had here make it particularly hard for them, but keeping them busy helping us move forward helps."

"They didn't know before they signed on?" she asked.

"Not the full extent," Naotsugu shook his head. "They knew enough to already be committed. Michael knew a lot of it, but he didn't know about the god." Naotsugu took his hand back long enough to put that arm around her shoulders.

Timidly Marielle asked, "Is it really a god? Or is it part of the game structure, too?"

Naotsugu shook his head. "It's awfully hard to tell. Shiroe's calling them by programmed construct names because that's how they seem to act and react. I mean, it is all based on a program to begin with. Well written artificial intelligences can get pretty close to real intelligence, but they have holes and lack creativity. With my limited experience, I see those present, too, but I'm not a programmer to know for sure." He looked at her significantly. "On the other hand, this is a real world, even if it's based on our game. Something created it somehow. How a world is born is something we don't know."

Marielle chewed on her lip for a bit, then finally sighed. "Thanks for telling me, Naotsugu. I think it will help me be able to support everyone better."

Naotsugu nodded, then said, "So, since I can't be there while you're planning the wedding, is there anything you want me around to plan for? We could talk about that." His eyes were on the path in front of them. Marielle glanced ahead and could see the rest of their party had stopped to wait for them. They'd fallen rather far behind. She obediently started up that as the next topic so that when they reached the rest they could hear something they could hear.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe looked like the consummate young business owner talking on a cell phone with his underlings, is what Akatsuki thought. He was dressed as smartly as ever when he went out in public, was sitting at an outdoor cafe with his coffee in front of him, his lunch plate empty, and was sitting back in his pose that spoke volumes about how well in control he was of his world. His hands were relaxed in his lap, one leg draped elegantly over the other knee, his eyes distant yet shining, as if he was looking at the person he was talking to, though they were on the other end of a chat.

"I'm glad you've agreed to assist with the merchant quest, Ministers. I'll have Nakalnad get in touch with you. Please try to have the train and the required personnel to Akiba Port as soon as possible. I'd prefer no later than five days from now. ...I'm sure you can do it just fine. Thank you. Get in touch with Calasin if you have any further questions. He's the Akiba point of contact for this quest."

Shiroe's eyes returned to the local space and sparkled at her. She perked up. "They don't like being pushed to move quickly, but that's more than enough time. Any more than that and they'll starting putting so much product on the train the people won't fit." He picked up his cup and took a few swallows. On it's way back down to the table he said, "Besides, I don't want to sit wasting time in Nakasu. We should be well and done with negotiations by then, and if we're not, I'll want the back up forces behind me to make my point." His eyes went distant again, but this time it was probably to review his plan. He didn't say anything to anyone so it wasn't a chat. A perfect business owner.

Her own warnings went off, the air currents shifting to say someone was approaching their location and she shifted, then stood at attention at Shiroe's shoulder. Shiroe returned to the present, looking up. "Nakalnad."

The Guardian head of Plant Hwayden's perpetual scowl whenever he had to do business with Shiroe was on his face yet again, and just as quickly it was gone as he landed in the seat one quarter turn from Shiroe. Akatsuki decided that was close enough she'd pay extra close attention to Nakalnad. She'd have to move extra quick to get between them if he decided to suddenly attack her guildmaster. "We'll go, though why I want to spend up to a month with you I have no idea."

"Twenty-four will be enough," Shiroe said calmly.

"That's half last time," Nakalnad argued.

"Yes, but I've got to leave room for whomever wants to come from the Nakasu Defense Front, and I've already got half from Akiba. The juniors who had to sit out the Akiba Maze of Life have been promised seats, too."

"How are you going to get the Hackers in without having them in the final mirror room?" Nakalnad was still on that, too, but it was perhaps understandable.

"We're going to have them sit on the bench until we need them. We only get to take in a legion's worth of people, but this world doesn't care what the name on those numbers is. We'll rotate through as we go."

"You mean you're taking more than ninety-six," Nakalnad's eyes narrowed. Shiroe nodded. "Then I'll bring thirty-six."

Shiroe paused as if to consider it, then nodded. "Fine. Make sure you have at least one full party of Technologists. We're likely to be there for repairs a lot longer than last time. I'd appreciate having at least the ones that came last time so we have people who know what they're supposed to do with us."

Nakalnad nodded. "They've already said they'll come. Will you have enough Hackers?" Shiroe just looked at him, but he'd already gone off on a tangent. "And what the heck are you going to do about rounding up all the Vengeful Ghosts?"

Shiroe shook his head. "I think that's already been taken care of for us. They were probably scattered all over the place."

"You think we'll get to skip that part?"

"Yes. As I said, I think the Overwritten are already inside. I think they've taken care of that. Either they collected the spirits of the Adventurers when they took them out to begin with, or they've sent the lesser Overwritten to collect them. They can't get past the mirror room without them after all. And if they haven't collected them, I don't want them to. It's not like we _want_ them to get to the Tree itself. Once we've cleared out the Overwritten if we have to go on that sub-quest, we will. I think getting rid of them needs to be the first priority."

Nakalnad nodded agreement and sat silent for a bit. "When do we go?"

"I've told the Ministry of Finance we want the train at the Akiba Port in five days. Be on the train or walk, but be there the same time. As soon as the train's on the Ocypete I want it on the way. Connect up with Isaac when you get to Akiba. He's coming, too, and is the point of contact there."

"Will it be a mixed group again?"

"Yes. Heavy on Knights of the Black Sword, but some of D.D.D. wants in and a few from Honesty. West Wind Brigade's been invited since they don't get out as often, but I don't know if they'll come or not. Speaking of which, you're welcome to invite any of Kazuhiko's that want to come, as well as any top fighters in town that aren't from you're own inner circle. You may find it helps smooth out past bad feelings." He didn't look at Nakalnad as he said the last, but he did let a heavy pause underline it. Akatsuki saw it made its mark sufficiently before Shiroe continued. "We're hoping for a few from Silver Swords and Susukino, too, to round it out and make it a full Yamato Adventurer group raid going over to help out."

"...All in the name of friendly international relations," Nakalnad said dryly, sitting back in his seat, his eyes closing partially. "You really intend to do it, don't you?"

Shiroe raised an eyebrow slightly. "Do what?"

"Take over Yamato and the world."

"I'd like to see all Adventurers working together, remembering we came to this place with a common reason. What I said at the joint meeting hasn't changed, Nakalnad. This is one of those things to see it move forward." Shiroe's negotiator's face was on, saying nothing, staying pleasant and his posture calm and in control. "I think you've been on top here long enough to know just how _un_ pleasant it can get being the one everyone yells at just because they think you're at the top of the complaint chain."

Nakalnad looked away, a look of distaste on his face, but it faded to one of contemplation. "You know, it's still like running a regular guild, though. You fix the hardest problems, smooth feathers, make suggestions people can follow through on...and as you say delegate," he looked back at Shiroe. "But yeah," he stood up, "that also means you end up swamped and overwhelmed with minutia. I'll watch you while we're out and see if I can pick up any tips." His eyes said he'd be watching for more than that and Akatsuki felt bad for Shiroe. He wouldn't be able to relax much at all on this trip, not that he got to really ever anyway. "We'll see you when the ship gets down there. Try to have the negotiations done by the time we're there. I find it difficult to apologize to anyone."

"Not really, you're just not practiced with the words," Shiroe said mildly. Nakalnad looked back at him in surprise. "You do it with actions since that's what you're familiar with. Just ask Purrcy. I think she'd agree you apologized quite well. It takes a strong leader to take his men back into a dungeon that just defeated them for the fourth time for people they don't even know, but who they wanted to make up to."

Nakalnad stared at Shiroe for a long while. " _Sht_ ," he turned away abruptly, but waved his hand in farewell without looking back as he strode off back into the market crowd.

Akatsuki allowed herself to relax slightly. "Well, I think that went well," Shiroe said calmly.

"He seems like under normal circumstances he would be frightening," Akatsuki commented. "You're very good to face him so calmly."

Shiroe shook his head, reaching for his cup again. "I only get through by imagining him as a twelve year old on the other side of the computer screen. It helps me know how to face him, then."

Akatsuki's mouth dropped open. "You - you don't really think... he's _that_ young?"

Shiroe glanced up at her face, his eyes laughing. "Perhaps not...but it works."

Akatsuki smiled back. It was funny. Shiroe's cup paused, then his other hand was reaching for her. She froze slightly, but he kept moving until he'd caught her around the neck. He pulled her to him and kissed her, right here in broad daylight, in the middle of a cafe - the young businessman handling his bodyguard as if they were lovers. She blushed a brilliant, hot red. "You can relax now," he whispered to her. "Business is done."

She slumped in utter defeat. "Yes, Shiroe." His hand slid down to catch her hand and pull her to sit next to him, and he didn't let it go, even as he returned to his interrupted motion to drink his coffee.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy was ready for a nap. Each day had been very full and this had just been another one of them, but she was tired. Teaching surgical techniques, then verbally sparing with Sergiad and having to be under his scrutiny until nearly tea time - it had been too much already.

They were headed back to their suite when they passed a covered gazebo where many young ladies were talking and twittering, as if it were a filled birdcage. Her eyes tiredly took note of the group, then went back and stopped on one bird who wasn't twittering, and who looked like he was going to explode. Eagles weren't meant to be locked up in cages with canaries.

"Michael's been invited to a ladies tea - and took them up on it?" she asked in complete surprise, bringing their party to a stop.

Tetorō got a teasing look on his face. "I think they've been trying to corner him for some time. It looks like he finally lost." Schedules and Training didn't look too sympathetic either.

"The lot of you are better suited to that than he is, not to mention would probably like the attention more," she scolded them. "Come along - _all_ of you." They suddenly looked uncertain.

"But, Lady Purrcy, you're tired," Tetorō tried to talk her out of it as he trailed after her, the present lady in waiting again. He even wrung his hands properly, she noticed. That had been enough to get the attention of the closest young ladies and eyes fastened on the two male guards reluctantly following Purrcy. Purrcy was paying attention, but her eyes were on Michael. If he didn't want rescuing, she'd just say hello and move on.

"I just wanted to let you know, Sir Michael," she said to him as soon as she was in the entry way of the gazebo, "that I'm done with my requirement to the Duke for the day. When you can manage to free yourself from your adoring fans, perhaps you would be so kind as to return to the suite?"

He was on his feet instantly. "I'm sure you should have your proper guard when walking about the castle, my lady. Please excuse me. Duty calls," he said to the young women around him. "Thank you for your hospitality." He moved to join Purrcy, trying to keep the relief off his face.

"I'm sure I don't need everyone just to walk me back to my rooms," she said in return and he froze. "These have been following me all morning as well and I'm sure they could use some time to enjoy the beauty of Maihama's grand castle." She smiled brightly at the ladies in the gazebo. "Really, for me to take your guest so forcefully, perhaps you'd be willing to entertain these three instead?"

"Really, my lady, I should see to you in your chambers," Tetorō protested.

"No, you've also been working very hard. Gretchen can see to my needs when I arrive. Please, I insist that you also have the opportunity to rest," Purrcy refused. She took Michael's arm. "Shall we?" She walked off with him without looking back. Tetorō gave a final quiet protesting sound, then was pulled into the center of the gazebo with the two guards.

When they were far enough away, Michael looked at her, completely confused, and finally asked, "Is there a reason you're punishing them? What did Tetorō do?"

"Nothing, except they all laughed at you for getting caught in that situation yourself. I thought a brief lesson in laughing at a situation that they could be caught in themselves would be useful. Tetorō's better off in that kind of situation as a female. He likes to be the center of attention, but he would confuse the women as a man wanting to do that. If it were a dance, it would be another matter." She pondered on that. "Maybe I'll let him be the young dandy at the youth ball tonight."

"Won't they think it odd that they are both so similar, having seen him on the same day as her?"

"Maybe," Purrcy shrugged. "Do you think it would be better tomorrow? I could send those other two tonight. You'll be next to me tonight as punishment for being found in that situation in the first place today."

Michael groaned. "I was _in_ it as punishment."

Purrcy looked at him in surprise. "You were?"

Michael looked away, then rubbed his forehead. "And it's only going to get worse, now." He looked at his elbow, and her arm through it, then firmly took her hand and moved it off his elbow. He moved sideways a half step and put his hands behind his back.

"Michael!" Purrcy scolded. "Why has Nyanta put you in punishment?"

He looked away, his face flushing slightly, and refused to answer her. She finally turned away from him. "Well, if it's between men, and I'm not to know, then I guess I won't press the issue, but really."

They'd reached the suite. Michael opened the door for her and bowed her in. Purrcy swept into the room, then was brought up short. Nyanta was turning to face her. She'd not expected him to be in the room, since he was usually out on his own business. She curtsied to him. "Nyanta. I've returned for a brief nap. The Duke has only just now released me and I'm afraid I'm quite exhausted following that and the surgery lesson."

Nyanta's eyes had taken her in, and then slipped to Michael. There was a pause, then he asked, "Where are the others?"

"I traded them for Michael because they were rude and he looked in need of rescue."

"I see," Nyanta looked back at her. "Have a good nap."

"Thank you," she curtsied again and walked for their bedroom.

Behind her, she heard Nyanta say, "Michael-nyan, perhaps mew could show me where mew've been holding morning sword purractices."

She swallowed, hoping that the social punishment wasn't being traded for a beating. She really had no idea what could have happened that would cause such severe punishments. Everyone knew how to play their parts for this. Had something been misunderstood by the court that needed open correction? ...If that was the case, she had made it worse by walking off with Michael alone. She sighed sadly as she closed the door softly behind her. As soon as she could, she was apologizing to Michael in the code realm. He kindly patted her on the head, but still wouldn't say anything about it.

-:-:-:-:-

When everyone gathered again after the required dinner activities it was a quiet affair since Purrcy didn't know what she could say to whom, and three of the five juniors were still a bit miffed at her. Before they could leave the common room, she worked up her courage and called to them. "Everyone," they turned to look at her. She bowed properly. "I'm sorry for not being properly aware of myself."

The juniors looked at each other, but Michael and Nyanta only looked at her. She winced inside, but held still. "Purrcy," Nyanta said, "beginning tonight I will also be teaching mew, but rapier rather than sword, before mew learn too many things that will bring errors to the rapier. Please be purrepared for the lessons to begin at eleven tonight."

She bowed humbly, "Yes, Nyanta." He flicked an ear at the bedroom door and she went. He followed after about five minutes later and gave her her scolding in private.

* * *

 _*Naotsugu's forgotten that happened at the beginning of the fourth level - the Plant Hwayden arc. It was Indicus, the Puppet Master, "setting the flighty blond guildmistress of Akiba straight" and trying to create conflict between the sister guilds. Purrcy then had to do her part to fix it later with Naotsugu. Nureha helped then, feeling like she had to do her part since Indicus had butt in._


	91. Well Meant Acts, Unintended Consequences

"Good morning, KR. Are you ready to go, then?" Shiroe asked the Summoner.

"Sure," KR said with a shrug. "But I'd rather know why you're taking me for this part. It's not normally part of my job description." They'd been waiting for him just outside the gate to Maihama. He was dressed as flamboyantly casual as ever, his flip flops slapping against his heels as he walked with them, Shiroe not having waited for his answer to get them going away from the city.

"You can still Summon Purrcy?" Shiroe asked.

KR almost tripped on his own feet, stumbling with a hop for a few steps. He stared at Shiroe. "Why? ...I mean, yes, but why would I want to?"

Shiroe let him recover a little longer before answering. The others were listening closely as well. "We're going up against high level Overwritten this trip. Any of us could die." He looked at KR to see if he could understand from just that. He definitely worked to understand it. "Remember, the Overwritten can get to the monster database."

KR blinked. "She's in there?"

Shiroe nodded. "She has to be, to be Summon. We can only summon monsters."

"What do you want me to do then?" KR pressed him.

"When she dies - and she probably will if she has to build up too big a spell against too large an opponent - I want you to summon her immediately, so they don't have time to hitch a ride and come back down with her. I'll tell you when to prepare the spell and when to cast it. The timing will be a bit tricky. I'm putting you in my party so I can control her through you once she's back."

KR put his hands behind his neck and looked at the tree tops. "Okay, I can do that. But why do I have to come on this part of the trip with you?"

"Because it was easier to tell you now, and because I wanted you to. Were you doing something important?" Shiroe asked it in innocent concern. KR looked away, then shrugged. He knew he wasn't going to get a real answer at this point and Shiroe knew full well he wasn't considered that important to the Minami Ministry. Plus Shiroe knew KR was the one who was keeping the unrest going down south of them to entertain himself. It really was his place to be the one to set things straight and apologize.

-:-:-:-:-

"Are you coming, Naotsugu?" Marielle called back to him down the hall. The party was headed down from their rooms in the inn to breakfast below in the dining room.

"Yeah, give me a sec." He'd almost forgotten his duty of the morning, though he couldn't have done it in front of his roommates anyway. "I forgot something." He ducked back into his room and pulled out the Summon card of Purrcy's, touched the paw print on it and said, "Purrcy, it's about time." He slipped it back where it belonged and headed back out the door.

Nyanta had already told him she would show up somewhere safe, not necessarily in the location he'd called from. Marielle was still waiting for him, a worry wrinkle on her forehead. He scooped an arm around her and kissed her forehead. She didn't say anything, and the worry wrinkle didn't go away. He put his mouth close to her ear. "Just calling Purrcy." That cleared up her wrinkle and she smiled and let him lead her down to breakfast.

They'd been served their breakfast when the door to the inn opened, like it had repetitively as customers went in and out, and a felinoid walked in. She waved off the waitress, looked around and headed for the table full of Adventurers. Marielle saw her first and bounced up from her chair to grab her in a hug. "Purrcy! It's so good to see you, hon!"

Purrcy returned the hug gently. "It's good to see you, too, Marie."

Naotsugu stood and pulled over another chair to their table, purposefully putting it between himself and Marielle. "Have you eaten yet?" he asked politely.

"Yes, thank you," she answered as she looked around the table. "Michitaka," she nodded at the guildmaster.

"Good morning," he answered back. She sat and Marie and Naotsugu sat down again to return to eating. She waved off the server who came questioning if she needed anything. "Are you a ghost again today? Not eating anything."

Purrcy's whiskers twitched up. "No. It's just that we have early mornings where we are. Breakfast was an hour ago for us."

"How goes the practices?" Naotsugu asked to keep the conversation flowing.

"Tetorō and I are now up to about level fifty-three in Swordsman, and Nyanta's got me started on Rapier, so I'm doing that, too. That's new, though, so I'm only at level twenty there."

Naotsugu blinked at her and Marielle's mouth dropped open, but Naotsugu caught himself and shook his head at Marielle quickly. Marielle obediently returned to her eating, but she kept watching Purrcy with wide eyes. "And how's the Duke and the court."

Purrcy sighed. "I stepped into a hole I didn't know I was going to, so we're having to fix that, but otherwise it's going well enough, I suppose. The Duke's been kind to keep us, but he's ready for us to leave. He keeps having to bite his tongue to not ask it outright. Having us out of the public eye for most of today and all of tomorrow will help, and he's given me permission to take Iselius out into town the next day, so we may all survive until it's time to leave."

Naotsugu looked at her closely. "Purrcy, when's the last time someone pet you?"

Purrcy barely raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know, Naotsugu," she answered. "Probably since we were at the guild house. We're under observation all the time, you know." She was looking pointedly at the rest of the people at the table, bringing Naotsugu back to that same realization. His ears turned a bit red, but he didn't apologize - just took another bite of his breakfast. That wasn't good. She'd been depressed before they left. To have it get worse wasn't going to help anyone. He'd see if there was a way to fit it in today. If not, then the next time he called her. Marielle would appreciate that, too.

There was a bit of quiet, and then Michitaka said, rather off-handedly, "I've heard that the halves of the People of the Land spend just as much time full as half."

The three glanced up at him. "So Nyanta learned," Naotsugu said calmly.

"Really?" Marielle asked, as innocent as ever. She hadn't been told. Naotsugu nodded. Marielle turned to Purrcy. "Do you know how to do that?" That wasn't so innocent, but it followed along as if it was.

Purrcy looked at Marielle. "Yes, actually I do. I've taught Nyanta, and we helped Nazuna. It freaked her out to suddenly change on her own during the Plague and getting back out of it is a bit more complicated than going into it. She was quite relieved to learn how to get it under control."

Michitaka was looking extremely interested. "Can you teach others, then?"

Purrcy was cautious. "I think if you've got others from your guild who ran into that problem, you could have them ask Nazuna if she'd help them. I'm pretty busy right now. And...you might want to pass it by Shiroe first to see if everyone knowing how to do it suddenly is going to be a problem. I'm thinking security, mostly. I'm sure the city doesn't need someone shoplifting and being able to get away with it because it's just the neighborhood dog that's seen walking away."

That at least got him to slow down and think. He nodded and closed his mouth. He'd be proper in how he handled it now, Naotsugu decided, having paused in his eating long enough to make that determination. He wondered a bit at Purrcy being willing to admit it, though. He wondered if that's what had gotten her in trouble at Maihama. If she was less restrained because she wasn't under Shiroe's watchful eye, that could be a problem. He should probably follow up on that before it got worse.

Marielle pushed her empty plate away and looked at Purrcy. "Will you show me?" she asked and patted her lap gently under the table. Naotsugu almost blurted in surprise but she gave him a look that said she knew what she was doing.

Purrcy was looking just as surprised, her ears pricked forward at Marielle. "Wouldn't that be rather rude, right here in public?" Purrcy asked her.

"Well, if the People of the Land are used to it, I wouldn't think so. We're the only Adventurers in the room." Marielle paused, then said, unsure, "But if you think it would be better to wait..."

There was a rumbling chuckle from Michitaka. "Marielle, you like cats?"

Marielle turned red. "Well, I do, but...it just seemed to me that Purrcy looks like she needs a bit of a break." She turned to Purrcy. "Really, Purrcy, you do look quite strung out. Are you really okay?"

Purrcy blinked at her. "How does a felinoid look different with any emotion, Marie?"

Even Naotsugu almost choked on a laugh. "Purrcy," Marie scolded lightly, "you are the most expressive felinoid I know, yet here you sit as stiffly as if you've been told you're not to relax at all for the next two weeks."

Purrcy blinked at her, then said slowly, "I have been, Marie."

"Surely not!" Michitaka exclaimed. That surprised all three of them. "You have work to do, but that doesn't mean you're supposed to hold yourself so restrained the whole time."

Purrcy very cautiously said, "Michitaka, I appreciate your concern, but I really have been. I've even just been scolded last night for forgetting it again. I've put Nyanta and Michael into a difficult position at the court for not thinking properly."

Marielle put her hand on her hip and huffed angrily. "Well, isn't that because you can't even relax a little there? You do just fine when you have time to relax around the edges. Come sit in my lap right now so I can help you or you'll not be fit to sit with Michitaka at all. Stupid Machiavelli," she muttered. "And probably stupid Nyanta, too, if he's been ignoring you again." That got a raised eyebrow from Michitaka but they ignored that. "And why hasn't Tetorō been doing his job?"

Purrcy shook her head. "He can't. I had to have two ladies in waiting and he got picked to be one of them. He's already too close for Nyanta's comfort."

The others blinked at her. "He's being _that_ jealous?"

Purrcy finally slumped and nodded abjectly and wouldn't look at anyone. "He's not wrong," she said softly. "I don't know how to notice I'm stepping over those boundaries. I'm so used to a casual family that he's trying to help me learn to see -"

Marielle had had enough. Her hand was over Purrcy's mouth and her eyes were sparking. "Now, Purrcy! You will go to cat now, and you will let me pet you. That is just too much." Purrcy finally relented under the stern demand and shifted to be a cat on the chair between them. Naotsugu checked quickly to see that she'd kept her personal stats instead of letting them switch over to werecat. She had, he was relieved to see. Marielle picked her up gently and cuddled with her for a moment, then settled her into her arm and began petting her. Purrcy put her head down on Marielle's arm, then, as the petting started to do it's work, moved to shove her head into Marielle's elbow as her body began to shiver. Marielle looked up at Naotsugu, worry on her face.

He looked back sympathetically. "I'll talk to Shiroe," he promised quietly, "but it may not help. She may just have to get through the rest of the week. Once we're on the ship and all together again, it will likely go back to how it was." He wasn't sure though. Things felt different this time, like things were starting to change, now that they were moving forward. It would probably be a good thing to talk directly with Tetorō, too. If Purrcy was having this much trouble, he would be in the same state.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy didn't really come back to being herself, but they hadn't really expected her to. Michitaka's conversation with her on the walk to the Governor's house helped her get back into the frame of mind she needed to be in for the negotiation, mostly because he talked about what their strategy would be, but also because he was kind and supportive. Every now and then Purrcy would glance at Naotsugu. He stayed calm, as always. If she needed an anchor, he could do that. It was hard to see her not knowing where to settle, though. They probably should have waited to get her to relax until after the negotiation was over. He hoped it would go okay. It would be best if she could remember her own excitement for the project before they walked in. When there was a break in the conversation, Naotsugu stepped into it. "Michitaka, are the blacksmiths excited to be doing something different?"

Michitaka considered it. "I think so," he answered positively. "It was getting stifling back in Akiba, it seemed to me. Here, they'll have room to swing their hammers without getting in each other's way. It should be productive, too, and I've overheard them discussing other products that could be off-shoots. One of them is beer and wine barrels," he grinned at Naotsugu. "If we could get craft alcohols shipped with the rest of the products, that might be the most lucrative business we do."

Naotsugu grinned back. "I can imagine." He was glad to see Purrcy's ear twitch.

"Umm," she interjected, "do you think...they'd be willing to create large casks, like one and a half to two stories tall?"

They blinked at her and she shrugged a little. "The Giants like their drink. It would be almost shots for them at that size even, but...that might smooth the relationship with them, if we could trade in alcohol." She frowned a little. "It might be more than our crafters can produce, though, as far as alcohol volume." She looked at Michitaka a little tiredly. "Well, consider it. It's not something we can have ready to take with us this week, but if we can get any Giants to come down and help, they might be able to pry open the door for us. I've heard alcohol and chocolate are the best ways to get to a person's heart and wallet."

"You've only heard it?" she was teased.

"I don't drink," she answered. "Though I like chocolate well enough."

"Is it so important really, to get the Giants involved?" Michitaka asked her.

Purrcy nodded. "Michitaka, you know I'm the Caretaker, right?" He nodded. "They're about to go extinct. The environment is harsh on any creature, that freezing cold and icy land. They were built to handle it, since the game put them there, but it's not working out so well now it's become reality. Over two thirds of their children are stillborn, and half of the living ones die in the first year. The mothers are trying to keep them alive the best they can, sometimes by having them sleep in bed with them - a bad idea I'm sure you can understand - and sometimes by leaving them as close as they dare to the fireplace. That doesn't always work out so well either. If they can make it into the second year, their bodies start having proper coping mechanisms kick in, but no newborn is supposed to be that cold."

"They need to forgive and calm down and we need to stop fighting with them every time they try to move south. We need the negotiations to work or there will be one great final battle up here when they decide they are absolutely going to move south to warmer climates." She looked sadly at Michitaka. "You know as well as I that it will mean as certain a death for them all as if they stayed there and continued to die slowly to the elements."

She paused and kicked a small stone on the road. "Really, they only need to be allowed one city down here on the south tip where they can leave the mothers and children. Or maybe if they moved into the mountain over the Depths of Palm and helped keep the wyvern population under control, though I think that would make the People of the Land in that area far too nervous. But if they've got a relationship of negotiation and trade started on this island first, maybe it would work in a few generations, if they can start building up their population again. They're used to mountains already."

She sighed. "It's a long shot, I know, but I need to try. If they'll refuse and choose racial death, then there's nothing I can do about it." She looked back up at Michitaka, a wry smile on her face. "Besides, they really would be the best weapon against the larger sea monsters. After a few years, the waters should be fairly peaceful and they can go back to being land lubbers except the odd trip or two."

Michitaka folded his arms at her. "The Adventurers can handle them, though."

Purrcy nodded. "As long as we're still here."

The light went on for Michitaka and he nodded. "Right. You're taking care of them all, aren't you, for when we go home, too." Purrcy nodded. They walked the rest of the way to the Governor's house in quiet contemplation, and when they brought up the Giants, they only talked about how they would be good fighters against the giant sea monsters. It was still too much to ask the People of the Land to accept them as brothers in arms in any way other than theory. They were all too happy to allow the Adventurers to open up a new blacksmith business near town, however.

They spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon hunting for a place to purchase. They joined back up with the rest of the party, who had already begun hunting while they were gone to speak with the Governor. After a round of heated discussion on four favored locations over lunch, Purrcy handed over enough gold to the Cunie of the town to purchase the place on the spot. Then she turned around and made it a loan to Michitaka. With a resigned sigh, he signed the contract. It was only proper business, and it should get paid off within three years, given the business. "I forgot you're also a businesswoman," he complained at her. She just smiled.

Naotsugu found an excuse for him to take Purrcy and Marielle off separately from the others and they went window shopping through the market district until Purrcy said she had to return. Marie held her tightly. "You take care of yourself, now. If you need to relax, you tell Nyanta to stuff it and go relax. He's pushing you too hard."

When she let go, Purrcy patted her on the head. "Thank you, Marie," she said.

Naotsugu gave her a hug, too. "Take care, Hahaue. We'll see you again in a few days." He released her before she could break down in tears again. She would need to return to Minami strong or even he would be in trouble.

As soon as she was gone, he led Marielle by the hand to a quiet garden place he'd seen on their walking through town. As he held her hand, he called Shiroe, then Nyanta, and finally Tetorō. He closed his eyes, then finally sent Michael a text chat. _Please contact me when you're alone, as soon as you can._

He looked at Marielle and she sighed sadly at him, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for trying. Maybe they'll at least pay closer attention now and try to let her do her best."

He slid his hand into the hair at the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. "Thank you for caring. Hahaue needs as much of that as she can get right now. This is a difficult level of the dungeon for her."

"They've _all_ been difficult for her," Marielle complained. "When will she finally not have to go through all this?"

Naotsugu shook his head. "We haven't heard about the final boss yet. They're thinking this one is either a two-layer level, or there's another one after this one."

"She'll crack under the pressure," Marielle whined. "Why?"

"I don't know," Naotsugu said slowly. "I only know she's desperate, and Shiroe even more so. He's moved cautiously to make sure he understands this level before starting us on it, and now we're moving as quickly as we can. That's why they can't let up on her...but...," he sighed and let his fingers run through her curly blonde hair, feeling the softness of it. "The worst part," he whispered, "is that she's the one that set it all up. They're finding it difficult to be anything but hard on her because she's the one that required it."

"She didn't!" Marielle cried, then got real quiet too, "The god did, Naotsugu. Why does she have to pay that kind of price?"

Her pain was his and Tetorō's and even Shiroe's, and likely was why Nyanta was so angry as well. "I don't know, Marie," he shook his head, "I just don't know."

-:-:-:-:-

The Purrcy that returned to Maihama was quiet, cool, and perfectly restrained. It was almost frightening the difference between what she had been prior to the night before and what she was after that. Tetorō walked on eggshells. Michael and the guards were ignored. Nyanta was obeyed strictly, and there was no laughter. Only Nyanta had approval in his eyes and slowly the others learned they were coming to hate him for it. Tetorō cracked first and went to Nyanta to cautiously feel him out and ask if perhaps she could be let loose a little, enough for her to relax just a little. He was refused. Nyanta went with her the next day to watch over her on her one day of "rest" - the day she was being sent out to visit with her surgery requests, with the additional requirement to find the potion ingredients she needed for the rest of the potions she wanted to create. She admitted it would likely take a while and they might not want to expect them for dinner.

When they were gone, Michael went out to walk the garden and called Naotsugu back. He listened to Naotsugu's concerns, then was polite, but just as noncommittal as the rest. With some desperation in his voice, Naotsugu begged Michael to at least take care of her operative. That Michael could promise and did. When he closed the chat, he closed his eyes, then called Tetorō. "Tetora, will you please come meet me in the garden, the one we've been practicing in?" He asked it pleadingly, knowing full well he was still under the eyes of watchful spies. They'd been doubled today.

"As Tetora?" Tetorō asked quietly in surprise.

"Please." He could complete two tasks at once that way. He stood at rest attention, not really looking at anything, so used to standing on his feet this way now that time hardly passed for him.

The light step on the grass brought him back to visual attention of his surroundings. Tetorō was looking around the area, doing his own sweep. When he arrived in front of Michael, a puzzled look on the female face, that wasn't all that different from his male face, Michael held out his hand. Tetorō took it, tilting his head quizzically. Michael led the disguised man over to the bench at the back of the garden, hidden from passers by, and sat him down on it. He sat next to Tetorō, still holding his hand. "Tetora," he said quietly, "I know this has been very hard on you. Will you let me lend you my strength?"

Tetorō's eyes flew wide. He scanned the area again, counting one more time the three spies watching them. He shook his head as if confused, then blinked a few times. Before Michael was quite ready for it, the tears started to fall. He took Tetorō in his arms and held him, letting him sob. As his own pain began to be released, he brushed Tetorō's head with his lips and relaxed with a sad sigh. When enough had been released to let the anger rise again, he whispered words of promised retribution to him as if whispering words of love for his ears only, and Tetorō's hand clenched on his jacket as he trembled in his own anger and frustration. When he'd let enough out, Michael stopped speaking.

Finally Tetorō pushed himself up to look Michael in the face and Michael materialized a handkerchief and wiped his face for him. With a fierce look, Tetorō said quietly, but still loud enough to be heard by their watchers, "Promise it, Michael. Promise me you'll follow through. That all this pain won't be for nothing."

Michael put his hand on Tetorō's cheek and rubbed it lightly with his thumb. Staring him in the eyes, he soberly said, "I promise, Tetora. I will free the captive so that we don't have to be in pain any longer."

Tetorō held his eyes a long time, then closed his own eyes and nodded. Michael pulled him back to his chest for just a moment longer, then let him go. They held hands until they were close to the suite entrance. Michael let Tetorō go and had him go in first, standing outside the door as if waiting for enough time to pass to make it seem like they hadn't been together, then he finally went in.

He calmly sat on the couch and when Tetorō arrived next to him, he calmly let him sit as close as he wanted, and when he lay down to rest his head on Michael's lap, he only pet him gently a few times, then went back to his own thoughts. It wasn't hard to be a substitute Naotsugu today. It _was_ hard to not wish Purrcy could be there, too. She needed the healing even more than Tetorō did. The tears that leaked out of Tetorō's eyes on occasion said he was thinking the same thing. Michael noted they came the same time his anger did and he finally took Tetorō's hand in his, interlacing their fingers and resting his arm on Tetorō's arm. In this way they kept their watch over their charge, being her emotions for her because she wasn't allowed any, and adding to the score the payment they would make her captor pay because of it.

The other four sat around them silently, also keeping their watch - both over the two in the room, and over the two who weren't present - and their silent fighting spirit also kept company with the anger that was rising.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu walked into the bar that served as the headquarters of the Silver Sword guild, guildmaster William Massachusetts, elf and bowman extraordinaire. To see the elf again made Naotsugu remember Purrcy's comment that she had enjoyed the Lord of the Rings. William was the ultimate recreation of Legolas, down to the grey eyes and silver hair, except _Elder Tales_ wasn't allowed to use Legolas' likeness so it was only as close as William had been able to get to given the templates they had. Likely Purrcy would love to meet him, but it would have to be some time from now. He was needed here, even if some of his men would come with them. Naotsugu wouldn't be calling for her again until he was already in place in the north.

When he sat down at the table across from William, the elf was looking seriously at him. "What's the matter, Naotsugu?"

Naotsugu paused, then realized he'd let his concern leak out too much on his face and he was far too serious for himself. He sighed. "Sorry. Got a concern that doesn't matter here. I'll try not to let it get in the way." He looked away for a bit to get himself under control.

A light hand fell on either shoulder and Marielle leaned over one of them. "Hi, again, William-kun. It's been a while."

"Hello, Marielle-san," William answered. He was younger than they were by a number of years. Though he carried himself with assurance and was an experienced guildmaster, he was still humbly respectful when he talked with them or with Shiroe. "Was your trip here sufficiently quiet?"

"Yes," she answered brightly as she moved to sit next to Naotsugu, taking his arm in hers. "It's rather like a reverse honeymoon, actually, getting to come up here before the wedding."

"When will it be?" William asked politely. "Has it been decided yet?"

"Well, Shiroe's asked us to be ready for some time after the Winter Festival in Minami, but no set date, yet." She twirled a curl on a finger. "He sometimes has interruptions he can't help, you know. He's asked for me to be ready on a moment's notice, but we're just as likely to get it postponed, knowing him."

William smiled slightly. "That would be like him. I understand Nyanta-san's worked about like that?"

The two nodded together. "We're hoping this won't be so bad, though," Marielle said. "He's given us enough time without setting dates that are sure to get broken. If he gives me three days - which he said would be the minimum warning - I can do it fairly easily." She leaned on her elbow on the table, though she still held on to one of Naotsugu's hands. "I'd like it to not get postponed _too_ long, though."

William looked away. "I can imagine not."

Naotsugu pulled her back to lean on him. Leaning forward for her was always deadly for men and she usually forgot that point. "So, William," Naotsugu said quietly, "what's it like to become the natural elf?"

William's eyes shot to him, then narrowed. "What do you know?" he asked.

"That we're all becoming more what we are. What does that mean for you? I've been watching Marie and I think I've got a grasp on what it means for a female elf. I'd like to know from the male side, too, so I can fit it all in the pattern." Now it was Marielle that stared at him in surprise.

"It's really subtle," William finally admitted quietly. "The emotions have dropped off. The aspect that elves live forever so they are calmer emotionally seems to be what it is. At the same time, when they do appear, they are far deeper than they should be. I've been standing outside, looking at a full moon shine on the snow and been moved to tears at the beauty and temporariness of it all. To some degree, that's helped with keeping things calm in the guild and city, but it still feels like I'm in someone else's skin sometimes. It also doesn't bother me so much that as Adventurers we can live forever in this state, but if something else dies, it's harder to take. That's not so helpful when we need to go out on raids or to dish out punishment. I have to be pretty stern with myself then."

Naotsugu nodded. "I wonder if that will affect one of the quests we have for you then?"

A raised eyebrow. "One? There's more than one?"

Naotsugu grinned. "Yes. But we don't expect you to put in a lot personally. We know you have a job to do here and limited resources. Shiroe would be happy if you wanted to generally let the Adventurers of Susukino know about them. Anyone can participate, really, except in one of them that does need to be assigned to you."

William nodded. "Do you need to eat still?" They nodded and he motioned to the serving girl, who bobbed her head and headed for the kitchen. "Eat first. We'll talk over wine after."

Naotsugu filed that under elvish behavior, too. Most Adventurers were talk during or talk first, even if they were being polite. William wasn't displaying any of the impatience he could have. Of course, he was one who didn't display much emotion anyway from the beginning unless he was being passionate. If anything, he was just becoming more what he already had been. Naotsugu had to curb his own impatience. He wouldn't be leaving the city until morning and he could use some drinking time. He distracted himself by getting Marielle to ask questions and carry the conversation. That way he wouldn't open his mouth and say things when he shouldn't.

They were about done with eating William asked, "How's Tetora?"

Naotsugu frowned. "That's a long and complicated story. I'm willing to tell it, but let me tell you the quests first."

William bowed his head. "Business before pleasure, of course." He waited for them to clean their plates. Naotsugu sorted the quests into what was probably the best order as he swallowed the last few bites.

"First is a fighting quest. We're putting together a legion raid made up of Adventurers from the entirety of Yamato. Shiroe'd like to see at least one party from Susukino. It doesn't have to be from your guild, though if you can get up to three parties that would be alright. They would need to leave tomorrow, though. We need them at the Akiba Port in three days. We're going to the continent to take care of two things." He leaned back, "The Overwritten and the Adventurer's they've cut the lines to, who have been ghosts instead of resurrecting."

Williams' hand, resting on the table, curled into a fist and his face went hard. "I'll announce it first thing. You already know you won't get a lot of my own, but there are plenty here who are tired of fighting the Overwritten. This will take them down?"

"That's the goal. The worst of them are over there. We've learned how to slow them down. We'll teach it to anyone who comes." William gave a hard nod and waited for the next one. Naotsugu paused, then asked cautiously, "You know about the Goblin King quest down in Eastal?" He paused just long enough to get a positive response. "What's the equivalent quest up here?"

"Well...you'd think it was the Giants," William said, "but it isn't. There's a different creature that rears up once a year. We've learned to beat it back fairly quickly. This island isn't big enough for it, really, and they're dreadful nuisances." He wrinkled his nose. "Tanuki Gnomes, if you can believe it."

"No!" Marielle breathed. "But they're so cute."

William gave her a barely tolerant look. "Not when there's thousands coming for you and you're swinging your sword from sunup to sundown. If we don't take them out, they move into the houses even. And then they argue with you as to why you shouldn't remove them as pests, though it's limited intelligence."

"Then you might not mind it so much, this quest," Naotsugu was relieved on two counts. "We've been given a world-level quest to reduce the demihuman population so the real populations can begin to thrive again."

"Don't we already do that, by continuing to do these yearly quests?"

"It's a bit different. This time, they won't come back. Using blessed weapons of purification will purify the material they're made out of and they'll come back the way they were supposed to before the First World Fraction poisoned the world. Roleplaying priests and shrine maidens get bonuses to attack and can bless unblessed weapons. A blessed cursed weapon will lose the cursing over time for every demihuman taken out. If you've got thousands, I'd think your horrible flavor texts would be wiped out pretty quick. There's one catch," he made sure William was listening. "If you take out any monster with a blessed weapon of purification, with an intent to purify it, it won't come back. So if you accidentally use it in a dungeon you need the drops in, you'll lose the drops because they won't be back to give it to you."

William blinked. "That might be bad, but it sounds very useful."

Naotsugu narrowed his eyes at William. "And you need to stop that thought right there. That's the third quest that we need you to handle personally, and it isn't what you're thinking." William pulled up short and stared at Naotsugu. Naotsugu paused here. William had been heading a lot of raids against Giants who were getting worse, as Purrcy had said, at wanting to move south of the boundary mountains. "We've gotten a crazy quest request that's rather convoluted and based on the story I've promised you. I'd appreciate it if you could keep an open mind until it's all said." A finger drummed once on the table. _Hit me._ _Play your card_. "The base quest is a merchant quest to open up a merchant line from here all the way to Europa, and then overseas to the Americas."

William's eyes went wide. "Three? Three world level quests?" Naotsugu nodded soberly. William sat trying to take it in. "Why? And why all at once?"

Naotsugu said, very seriously, "Because we want to go home. The world isn't going to let us go until we've given it what it needs from us. ...We've finally been told what it's going to take from all of us to get home - that's the final drop."

William took in a sharp breath and the whole room was still, ears that had already been listening now trained in on him. It was all William's guild so it didn't bother Naotsugu they were listening. "And what's our part?"

"I was just in Port Sharpcliff with Michitaka. He's putting in a blacksmithy and production line for specially prepared chests, and they're thinking of adding casks for alcohol to that as well. The chests can't be broken into and can't be stolen. That way the cargo will reach where it needs to go safely. The shipyard's received orders for four new oceanliners and Minami's trainyard for at least one more train, and two if they can get them. I'm sure more would be used if they put them together, from both yards." Naotsugu took a mental breath. "The problem on the water is the sea monsters." William's eyes narrowed slightly. "The quest giver wants the Giants brought on as ocean security."

There was a bit of pandemonium in the room until William pounded his fist on the table. "You know they won't listen - even if they could. We're too small for them to hear us."

Naotsugu shook his head. So did Marielle. "I get heard all the time by lots of people being loud," she said. "It's a simple magic as you should know."

William went cautious. Finally his finger came down on the table again, though not as firmly as the first time. "The Giants are about to storm the south," Naotsugu said. "They're not able to maintain their population because the infant mortality is too high in the cold north. You've got two options, and if we fail, only one. One is we go and negotiate with them to get even a few to come help on the ships and you figure out how to integrate them into civilized life so they _can_ move south and live peaceably with everyone - eventually. Two is we don't or we fail and you get to fight them in one great battle until they're extinct because they won't go north again. It will be their last desperate attempt to live as a species or die as one. ...We need option one to work for us to get home."

William scattered his imaginary cards on the table with a flick of his wrist and sat back in his chair shaking his head. "Honestly, Naotsugu, I would wish you the best of luck with option one. I'm tired of killing Giants. Even I know they're so few in number now it's nearly the saddest thing I can think of. But I think it's a fool's chase. What ace is in your sleeve?"

Naotsugu looked down at his hand, resting on the edge of the table. "The one who gave us the quest is going to come negotiate with the Giants personally."

There was silence from the other side, then whispered, "Damn." He looked back up. "That's a strong ace." William wasn't looking at him, but at something in his head.

After a bit, Naotsugu said quietly, "And was that another gift of being an elf lord?"

William looked at him, then slumped slightly with a brief nod. Naotsugu nodded back soberly. He'd thought so. Farsight in time and space, a knowing of things that others wouldn't and couldn't know, visions that came suddenly when it was necessary to know a thing, particularly if it was the lord of the elvish kingdom, to keep his people safe, to keep them from dying the only death they could die. "I'd already seen them come," he said quietly. "We've been preparing for it quietly. But there'd been a piece I couldn't understand. That was it, just now."

"We - Marie and I - will leave here early in the morning so that we can be up there by tomorrow. The negotiations will be the next morning and last as long as they need to. Get volunteers down to the Akiba Port tomorrow. Once they're gone, get started on your evacuation plans, if you want. If all we do is make them mad, they'll probably come. But don't kill the first few you see. Try to talk to them first. I'll call you and let you know the results of the negotiation from our end, so you should know what's coming, but if we have to bail fast, or we lose...that's what you're to do."

"You'll be back here if you lose, though?"

Naotsugu shook his head. "We're ordered to be at Akiba immediately once the negotiations are over. We'll be teleporting. But if we lose...we'll be stuck behind enemy lines, not dead. And if they've found us, they won't be letting us out to give you warning."

"True enough," William agreed and now all his fingers drummed on the table as he thought hard, then his hand made a fist. "We're ready enough, and we want to go home as much as everyone else. If it's time for us to make our move, we'll do it."

"Good," Naotsugu said, then cautioned, "we don't know when the drop will be yet. This is really just the beginning. We hope you'll be able to be patient a while for that part. Shiroe wants you specifically to be the point of contact between the Giants and the Adventurers and People of the Land. If friendly Giants come, you're to train them up and help them not be afraid. Once you think they're ready, take them down to Port Sharpcliff and figure out how to get them integrated with the People of the Land there. I'm sure they'll have heard enough rumor about the Giants of Susukino they shouldn't be too surprised by then."

"As soon as we have an extra ship we'll send it up for them to learn to be seaworthy on. Any sea monster they kill is theirs to ship home as food to feed their families. If you can get the whole city to settle, they'd like to have them be the coal miners and woodcutters to ship those down to the factory. It'd be nice if they had a few Druids to help them. We're going to need a lot of wood really fast. We're told they'll take alcohol in trade, if we can make barrels large enough to make it worth their while, though how we're going to make that kind of volume of it, who knows?"

William looked down at the table and traced his finger on it. "That's an elvish specialty. I think we could cover that if the barrels could be gotten to us." He looked around at his guild. "We've had nothing better to do since we stopped doing so many raids."

Naotsugu glanced around and saw a lot of grins. He relaxed in relief. Things were already in place. He closed his eyes and thanked Hahaue, who always knew these things ahead of time. Now if only the Giant negotiations would go so well. "If you manage to get that far, your point of contact will be Michitaka at first, to get the production of the barrels up and running. Then it will shift to Calasin who'll help you with sales and delivery until you've got a smooth running system. If you need transportation help, you'll contact the Minister of Transportation in Minami, but Calasin will help facilitate that, too."

William was giving him a funny look. "This is planned way down to the detail awfully far into the future, isn't it? Is it really a done deal already?"

Naotsugu shook his head. "You know Shiroe. He doesn't even start to move until he's planned it to the end. We're going to be gone on the other continent and out of communication range for at least a month. He wants you to be prepared enough to last until we get back. I'm sure he'll contact you once he's in close enough range to do so. He'll be worried about how things are going here. This is his pet project, you know."

William nodded. "We'll do our best. I won't fail him this time."

"You haven't ever failed him," Naotsugu said quietly in a light scold. "You came and saved Susukino. How was that a failure?" Marielle nodded enthusiastically in agreement. William looked away in embarrassment, then finally gave a nod, his fist tightening briefly again.

Naotsugu was mildly surprised that still bugged William, that he hadn't stayed for the beginning of the Round Table. It had only ever been a good thing for Shiroe in the end. "So, where's that wine?" he said, looking around. "I've been doing a lot of talking, but if you really want to hear my voice some more, I'll tell you the story I've promised you - parts of it anyway."

William gave a smile and raised a finger at the waitress. A few more logs were thrown on the fire that snapped and cracked as they threw early sparks in the air. Naotsugu settled Marielle under his arm more comfortably, took his stein, downed half of it, and set it back on the table so he could play with Marielle's hair absently while he talked.

He needed to remember the good times at the beginning of Purrcy coming to be with them. This was a good excuse to do just that. He would just touch on the highlights, though. There was a lot he couldn't say, but there was a lot he could - at Tetorō's expense, but he wouldn't mind. Laughter was always better than the tears they were crying now. He hoped Tetorō could feel some of that where he was.


	92. Correction and Unexpected Damage

Tetorō almost sent in Gareth to get Purrcy the next morning, or Brenner would be better. Of all the guards, he'd been left to watch solely over Nyanta and hadn't yet made him angry. However, that one act would probably make Nyanta angry with him, so Tetorō didn't. It would rather be better to keep to the pattern. He took a deep breath, let it out, then entered the darkened room. He held firmly to the pattern for his own peace of mind, standing there for a count of fifteen seconds, then walked across the room. Purrcy was Purrcy today, not a cat. He couldn't keep the sad expression off his face and was glad there wasn't light enough to see it, nor anyone to look.

"Purrcy," he said quietly, putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's time for practice." Her ear twitched. "Please, wake up." He choked. He wanted her to really wake up, to come back again. The last time this had happened to her had been hard enough. He slowly let go of her shoulder and clenched his hand. He didn't want Nyanta to wake her up, but he so badly wanted to not have to do it himself. He dropped into the code realm and went hunting for her.

"Purrcy," he called from the entrance to her fox hole. "It's time to wake up for fighting practice. Please wake up. You're not in cat form so I can't help you today." He didn't get an answer there, but outside he sensed a change, so he went back. She'd shifted to cat. He sighed. At least he'd get that much. He picked her up and waited for Nyanta to release them. It was a long time coming.

"Mew'll tell me what was done this meowrning. Everything."

"Yes, Nyanta-san." Tetorō bowed and escaped. Michael was already waiting in the common room. Tetorō ignored him and scuttled to the bathroom. Once he got there, he held Purrcy closely to his face, wishing for this day to be different, wishing for this trip to be over already. Then he gently put her down on the counter like always.

When she only sighed, he moved her closer to the bowl and splashed water on her head, dripping it from cupped hands above her head. "Come on, Purrcy. You need to wake up." She started shaking her head and he slapped the towel over it and scrubbed enough to get her brain functioning again. When he released her, she stood and took a step to drink from the bowl. "You'll stay awake?" he asked her. She nodded. He put her on the floor anyway, just to make it easier for her, then kept the door open a crack until she changed back into felinoid. Only then did he close the door and lean against the frame with a sigh.

He suddenly opened his eyes. He'd felt an unexpected warmth. Michael was standing right in front of him, looming even. He stared back, not sure what to do. Whenever Michael did that, Tetorō was faced with a sudden expectation of being kissed and he had to fight to not lash out at him. He appreciated being understood, and allowed to get his tears and all out, but this kind of reduced personal space was a problem. He realized it was because he hadn't initiated it himself so he held still and waited. "Not able to wake up this morning?"

"Worse. Not even Purrcy. It doesn't know the pattern."

Michael took a step back in surprise. "Then how are we supposed to train her?"

"By training her all over again," he answered. The door clicked open and Purrcy stepped out, rubbing her eyes. He turned to her. "Dress for the sword practice." He described the outfit she usually wore and it appeared on her. He held out his hand and she took it. He was glad she was still sleepy enough to not see Michael's expression. It was rather frightening.

Michael turned on his heel. "Let's go, you're already late, so hard to wake up this morning." Purrcy woke up a little more at that comment and obediently walked after him with Tetorō.

The other guards were waiting for them at the practice area. Michael had recovered enough by the time they got there to give her explicit instructions as to where they were in the practicing and what he expected from her (and incidentally Tetorō) that morning. This morning they were practicing against the Eagles, who rotated. They'd done it yesterday morning also, with them at half-strength. Today they were going up to three-quarter's strength. It was to keep them at similar levels, and to give them different opponents so they could get used to different strategies and fighting styles. Michael was refraining from being an opponent for now. Considering his much higher skill set, that was fine by Tetorō. It only took the first opponent of this morning's practice for whichever god was in her today to give up and let her come back out enough to observe and learn what it was she was doing this time of day, then it took over and she was suddenly an expert.

Michael immediately stopped them and strode to stand in front of Purrcy, his arms folded. "Get out. Purrcy needs to learn this skill for herself."

"She won't be needing it."

"Shiroe has ordered it. I won't be disobedient. He also has Nyanta's approval. Get out." He caught her as she slumped and held her up until she was able to stand on her feet again. The look she gave Michael was of terror. He released her when she was able to stand, ignoring the look. "Start again from where you left off," he said, stepping away again. "And get more sleep tonight. You keep falling asleep in the middle of your moves. That won't do. I'll have to keep you longer if you keep that up." She immediately jumped to obey. She'd be in even more trouble for showing up late than for having Michael catch her from falling.

They weren't interrupted after that, but no one was abused of the idea she'd been left alone. It was still riding with her, watching to understand what she was doing and what they did with her. It was a bit frustrating they couldn't know which god it was, though by rights it should be the Game Bot - Izanami herself. Izanagi had yet to break his promises to Shiroe.

When they were panting at the end of the practice, Michael nodded at Tetorō. "You're doing well building up your strength." He looked at Purrcy, "However, if you keep up this lazy attitude, you'll fall behind even more. Magic users are weak and that's not acceptable for someone who needs high levels of HP to do her job properly. Study it more today and be prepared for extra physical effort." She bowed abjectly - almost an apology rather than an acknowledgement of an order.

Tetorō took her hand and led her back to the suite, the rest of the Eagles surrounding them. He carefully taught her all over again how to finish her preparations for her day, taking the early duty since Gareth had been fighting with them, too. He let her know that pattern would change as well. At least Nyanta was out of the bedroom and in the kitchen by the time they came back from practice. That was helpful for Tetorō's nerves.

When Gretchen arrived, Purrcy was sitting quietly, having just been brushed and having set out three outfits as directed. Purrcy didn't react to the arrival of the maid. "Purrcy, Gretchen is going to help you get dressed now so I can go get ready." No reaction. Tetorō rubbed his head and sighed. He walked Gareth back to the door and whispered, "I think they're trading places and locked her down until the other one gets here. It knows the pattern from this point on, I think, but if not, you'll have to explain everything as you go."

Gareth nodded. "I'll do it anyway."

Tetorō squeezed his arm and took himself out to get himself ready for the day. Nyanta cornered him as soon as he was in his room. He carefully told Nyanta everything. He got a few twitches of an ear, and a swish of the tail, and at the end a curt nod and then an empty room again. With a sigh, he finished his preparations.

At the table, as they walked through the day's schedules, Tetorō hesitated. "Do we want to cancel Purrcy's appointment with Iselius?" he asked.

"Why?" Nyanta raised an eyebrow.

"Because the Duke and his family hate the Priestess, and that's all she'll be today. Purrcy wanted to woo Iselius to be her male model for the next fashion show. He won't agree if she isn't present. It would be better to cancel that side quest than to allow it to fail." He kept his voice neutral.

"Hate...the Priestess?" Purrcy said slowly in surprise and an ear turned in consternation.

"Yes," Tetorō said flatly. "She is an obnoxious snob with no consideration for other's feelings, only ordering them about. Such a one is of no use in delicate social negotiations and interactions."

There was silence at the table for a few minutes until finally Nyanta said, "It's fine. She can go."

Tetorō glanced at Michael, who looked soberly back. "Who will go with her?" Nyanta asked.

"She'll be in town. She'll require one maid, her knight, and two guards," Tetorō managed to say it with the same tones he'd already been using, but he had to swallow surreptitiously when he was done saying it. "The remaining guards will go with you."

Michael slipped in smoothly. "Brenner, you'll go with Nyanta as usual. Training, you go as his second today. Tetorō, you're supposed to go as yourself to help sell the clothing to Iselius, in case you've forgotten." He had and blinked in surprise. "So Gareth will go as Gretchen and Schedules and Records will be the guards, and I'll be the attending knight as usual." He paused, then looked at Nyanta, and then at Brenner. "What's on Nyanta's schedule for today?"

"He's been invited to a gentleman's outdoor activity for the morning, then a luncheon with the Minister of Interior to finish the negotiations begun earlier this week. The afternoon is the usual visit at the court proceedings and tonight he was going to give Lady Purrcy more difficult lessons in rapier. I believe it was two-handed practice, though that is only a guess." Brenner looked at Tetorō. "Do you remember what the evening activity was?"

Tetorō nodded. "It's the ball held in Nyanta and Purrcy's honor specifically. They're to be dressed up in their finest and will be expected to dance together quite a bit, rather than entertaining the court, or so I've been given to understand talking to the other maids in the castle. I think it's Purrcy's test of if she really does know how to dance the courtly dances or not."

At this everyone finally looked directly at both Purrcy and Nyanta. They'd boxed in the gods as best they could. Nyanta continued to eat calmly. Purrcy blinked, looked at her plate, and went back to eating, but they recognized her look. She was reviewing her history. When she was done, she relaxed and settled to what she was doing, calmly keeping silent. That meant she wasn't going to be left alone today, but she would be allowed to get her own work done.

Tetorō was amazed at her fortitude, but Nyanta was worrisome. If he was being controlled by Izanagi now, he didn't look like he'd been released at all. And since it was so like him anyway - the proper quiet gentleman - it was almost impossible to tell. He glanced worriedly at Brenner then gripped his fork a little tighter. He hoped it would be enough. Nyanta's negotiations were the more important ones for Akiba. If the Duke hated the Priestess, he couldn't imagine how the Priest would be related to. Already the guild members who had met him hated him, in less time than they'd disliked the Priestess, and they still didn't _hate_ her.

-:-:-:-:-

"Naotsugu, hon, time to wake up," Marielle was shaking his shoulder. He rolled his head to look over his shoulder at her. She was already dressed. He rolled to sitting up on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face.

She was standing a little nervously near him. "Um...Naotsugu...what kind of a drunk are you?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.

He reached out and took hold of her hand gently. "The kind that remembers bits and pieces, but you know that's not how it works here." He looked up at her, remembering _exactly_ what happened last night after they came to the room in the inn, since she'd brought it up. "Are you regretting it?"

Marielle shifted, her free hand worrying her skirt until she sighed and relaxed. "No," she admitted. He breathed an internal sigh of relief and pulled her to sit with him. In Japan, such a thing wasn't uncommon between consenting adults, though it wasn't made public either, and you usually didn't go home and tell your parents about it. "Really, I'm glad if I was able to bring you comfort, actually."

He kissed her. "You did, thank you." He wrapped his arm around her. "Having things be difficult between Hahaue and Nyanta, who are mother and father for the guild, means we're all on shaky ground. ...I hope you don't mind that I needed to hold on to you as my life raft."

"No," she ran her hand through his hair, "I don't mind." She paused then smiled. "Actually, I know how important it is to keep the tank anchored, especially for Log Horizon. Even if we haven't had the ceremony yet, that's my job." She wrapped her arms around him and he rested his head on her shoulder. "I'll be here for you, so you can keep standing where you need to be."

He nodded, resting in her softness a bit longer, then kissed her cheek and stood up. "I'll only take a bit to get ready." She gave him a nod and he walked to the bathroom to get ready for their journey to the cold northern mountains of Ezzo.

Only William was present to see them off as the dawn appeared on the eastern horizon. They were dressed in their special cold weather gear, which would help them in the colder upper atmosphere while on BrownMane's back and while they were on the ground for the negotiations.

"Good luck," William held out his hand.

Naotsugu took it and clasped it firmly. "Thanks. And to you, too." William nodded.

They mounted BrownMane and soon Susukino was a distant speck falling behind them. Naotsugu wrapped his arms around Marielle and kissed her cheek. She turned to him and kissed his lips. Naotsugu was glad they were going to be alone for the rest of that day and the night as well. All he really wanted to pay attention to right now was her.

-:-:-:-:-

The strong muscles of LightWind moved powerfully under Akatsuki and Shiroe as he flew them southward to slightly warmer climates than they had been in before. Akatsuki had been supporting Shiroe a bit more than normal, though he always rode with ease, as he'd been reviewing things in his mind as they went. Suddenly he sat upright and she could feel the tension go through every muscle in his back.

That distracted her from his reason for doing it until she exploded in a hot blush, wishing suddenly she'd not been here to feel that under her hands and desperate to feel it again. He was ignoring her reaction, which had been to tighten her own hands on him, but then maybe he thought she was only trying to steady him better because of his sudden motion. It was terribly difficult to focus away from the feel of his tight back muscles under her hands, though.

"Stop." Her hands flew off of him and she was completely mortified. "Rewind." She sat stunned. "Play, slow." She cautiously looked around him to look at his face. He was completely focused and not paying any attention to her at all. She suddenly wanted to giggle in relief and at the humor of that last statement as it related to her own erogenous thoughts.

She clapped her hands to her face, trying desperately to recover. "Pause." Her ears caught the grim overtones in his voice that time and she sobered immediately. "Play...pause. ... Play...pause. ... Play, slow. ...Stop." That time, she was sure it was a hint of despair, or pained resignation - she wasn't sure which. He shivered and she cautiously caught up his coat again in her hands, worried.

Shiroe turned and looked at her over his shoulder, his face very worried, and under that, she was sure it was anger trying to find it's way out, but it might have been something else. Whatever it was, he was trying very hard. Akatsuki suddenly threw her arms around his waist and held him tightly, looking up into his face earnestly. "I'm here," she promised.

He lifted one arm to wrap it around her, though it was a bit awkward since she was behind him. He bent down and kissed the top of her head. "I'm glad," he said and held her very tightly. He didn't tell her what he'd seen, but he did finally whisper, "It is a very difficult day." She held him tightly for a long time - as long as he held onto her arms with his own, their fingers interlaced, being his comfort as best she knew how.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy greeted Iselius well enough, and kept him conversationally engaged, treating him with the respect due an equal, rather than as a child to be condescended to. Tetorō paid close attention. It seemed like what part of Purrcy was there was trying to teach the god how it was supposed to interact in these kinds of situations, or maybe she was just focused on it. He rubbed his forehead when he was was able to drop back a bit. It was getting too complicated trying to sort out when it was Purrcy and when it wasn't. He looked up at the sky that showed between the buildings of the city of Maihama below the castle and sighed. He really should give it up, but he was too worried to by now. A warm hand clasped his shoulder and held him steady until he gave a short nod, ready to face his position again.

It wasn't the first time, and it wasn't to be the last. He was still struggling, and was grateful Michael was there with them. That one gesture kept him moving forward that day. Somehow he made it through the sub-quest with his usual guise of being a flippant, excitable person, burying his anxiety as deep as he used to bury his anger, and in the same way. Showing off the new outfit was one of those things that helped him to stay in character. New clothes that really did look very good on him always helped him feel better, because he could spend a few moments being selfishly proud of himself.

"You've really done well, for you," he said to Purrcy, twirling around to see the split skirt of the jacket flare. "I'm rather amazed. You've really come up with a good outfit to show off my idol self." He looked back at the mirror behind himself to look at the back again. He caught sight of his hair and face, and turned back to inspect both soberly, then he crafted the spell he wanted and his hair changed to be a slight modification of the curls that Elissa had given him for the wedding and there was suddenly a full noble dandy standing in the mirror looking back at him.

He held up his thumbs and forefingers in a rectangle and said, "Snap!" He actually was able to take a selfie photo this time, since he'd learned how to write simple code on the fly. He twirled in a circle, then held his arms out. " _This_ is the proper Count Tetorō." He bowed flamboyantly to the room, then winked at Iselius.

"It's very becoming on you, Tetorō," Iselius said politely, but his eyes were open very wide.

Tetorō raised an eyebrow. "Is that a complement for a male or a female?" he asked, tilting his head.

Iselius blinked, then asked back, both daring and slightly apologetic, "Are you male or female?"

Tetorō decided that for all he'd been growing up, Iselius still had growing up to do. Still, he clicked his tongue and Iselius blushed slightly. Tetorō tossed his head. "I guess if you don't know, I'll assume it was a complement for the one I wish to believe it was for, and then pay you the same complement...in company." He grinned an evil grin at Iselius.

"Tetorō!" Purrcy scolded. "Really, to go that far!" She turned to Iselius. "He is male and finds it difficult when people can't tell. Please forgive his ire, though he baited you to begin with."

Tetorō was surprised, then realized it had been true. When Iselius apologized politely, he apologized back. He was surprised when Iselius looked at him soberly and asked, "Then why do you play the maid at the castle?"

They blinked at him in surprise. Tetorō looked at Purrcy, not sure if it should remain hidden and not really knowing the proper answer. Purrcy's tail swished and her whiskers twitched up. He could feel the praise before it began. "Very good, Iselius," she said to him calmly. "You will be your grandfather's match while still young. How many of the court are intelligent enough to have seen through our play yet?"

Iselius pondered on that question. "I would say perhaps a few have guessed at it, that they are the same person, but of the ones that have, and have talked about it, most still don't know which is the real Tetorō and which is the pretend one."

Purrcy nodded. "Tetorō is a rare person indeed. He can be both and none will be the wiser. Because we have our own purposes to it, I do hope you will continue to emulate your grandfather and keep your knowledge to yourself on the matter."

Iselius stared up at her soberly and she stared back quite firmly. "Will you tell my why? Why you're playing at that?"

"Because of who I am and what resources I've been given to work with. For us to appear before the court in the way they expect us to, we must meet those expectations, neh? If the expectation is that someone of my station will have ladies in waiting, then we must show that to them, and the proper number of them as well. But we are Adventurers and you already know what that means."

Iselius considered her words, then nodded. "Because there are no queens among Adventurers, you don't have ladies in waiting. To make the court think you are one, though, you have to play at being one properly."

"Indeed." She continued to watch him until he finally worked up the courage to ask the next proper question.

"Why do you want the court to think you're a queen, then?"

"Ask Shiroe," she answered immediately. "He's the one who's given us the quest."

Iselius blinked and his mouth dropped open. "It's a quest? From the Archmage?"

Purrcy nodded and Tetorō twirled and took a pose. "We have come to be the royal court of the Queen, visiting with the Grand Duke of Maihama and his court as the Marquis performs his duty as Ambassador to the People of the Land. Aren't we properly showing them that the Adventurers also understand how the courts of the people connive and whisper and gossip, making deals under tables and yet smiling and dancing politely the whole while?"

He pulled Iselius into a waltz around the room and smiled insincerely at him. "You see, young prince, we aren't uncultured, nor are we savages, any more than your own people are. But very few are willing to see it unless it's proven in a way they can understand." He twirled Iselius out of his arms, since he was a rather stiff, and short, partner. "Or can you truthfully say there aren't sharks and clawed hands within your own ranks?" Tetorō grinned, challenging the prince, stopping to put his hands on his hips.

Iselius stared at him, then slumped in defeat. "No, I can't. And most Adventurers are honorable because they're willing to be open rather than duplicitous behind false masks." He stood upright again and glared at Tetorō again. "Though, that's why I asked it to begin with. You've been."

Tetorō stared as Purrcy began to laugh. "Oh, no," Michael corrected Iselius. "Tetorō hasn't. Of all of us, he hasn't."

Tetorō glared at Michael. "You haven't been, either, _Sir Knight_."

"Shh, shh," Purrcy begged, still trying to come off her giggles. "Iselius, Tetorō has been both female and male on this planet, and he still is both, though on our planet he is only male. He plays both roles honestly. Michael is one of the rare knights from our planet that really is a knight there. And in a different sort of way, even I am a Queen, really. The same as the other four really are soldiers who have seen war and fought to live. The only lie we must show is that Gretchen isn't, because I was informed I'd need two ladies in waiting at least, but that's why we keep her hidden away most of the time. I'm grateful to Tetorō for being willing to do it, since he does find being female annoying when he's been working so hard to get people to understand he is male."

Iselius looked terribly confused. It was perhaps justifiable. After a bit of trying to figure it out, he asked, "You're on a quest to play at being what you really are?"

They smiled at him. "Is that right?" Purrcy asked gently. "Perhaps you should ask again. What are we?"

Iselius shook his head. "Adventurers." It was a rather final statement to wrap together in one package his complete confusion.

"Correct," Purrcy said calmly. She turned to Tyrone, who had been watching the exchange. Since he already knew the play and exchange, they hadn't been too worried. "Iselius, I've also given Tyrone a design to put together for you, since you enjoyed the festival and the fashion show so much. I'm sure you'd like to have something fanciful, but I thought something you could actually wear and show off to the court without having them think you'd gone completely insane would be better. I understand it's still a work in progress, however. Would you be interested in trying it on?"

Iselius lit up, then looked with suspicion at Tetorō's clothing. He paused to really look at it closely, then said, "You've actually tried, haven't you? It's Adventurer, but it could really be worn in court." He tipped his head. "I'd want the skirt shorter."

"You think it's that one?" Purrcy asked surprised.

"It's not?" Iselius asked.

"Mmm," Purrcy tipped her head. "Do they always bring them to you on some other person?"

"Yes."

Purrcy nodded. "I suppose they would, since that's how they showed their designs to me also, and it makes it easier to see them to make a decision. However," she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "I seem to remember a lad next to me that would have been just as happy to have been walking next to his sister. To do that, you have to learn to be the one who is dressed up."

Iselius blinked and looked up into Purrcy's face. " _Is_ there one for me to try on?"

Purrcy nodded at Tyrone who invited Iselius into a dressing room. They were gone for only a few minutes before returning. As he stood in front of the mirror, Iselius's hands cautiously touched the jacket, then ran down the front to brush the peplums. He twisted to look at the back, critically inspecting it. "It's a shorter skirt, and definitely different from what we're used to, but not overly much. If I were to claim it as Adventurer made, the differences could be forgiven."

His brow was creased slightly and he frowned as he inspected the pants that were tight enough to nearly be leggings, then he walked up to Purrcy and held out his hand. She took it and he took a dance stance, then began to lead her in a dance. He would look down every once in a while at his legs as he danced with her. She subtly took over so he could pay more attention to that than the dance until he released her with an unconscious bow. "I guess it's comfortable enough," Iselius finally said and looked back up at Tyrone. "How many has she asked you to make?"

"Six more, and seven women's gowns to match. And it's a similar number she's asked Mister Presley to make."

Iselius looked back at Purrcy. "You'd want all of them modeled?"

"Yes, please," she answered. "Though the next fashion show for the Adventurers won't be until spring now. These are the final designs from what was displayed at the Fall Festival."

Iselius looked disappointed, but nodded. Tyrone cleared his throat. "Perhaps, Prince Iselius, we could hold a fashion show here when the clothes are ready? We could advertise it as a relational activity with the Adventurers."

Iselius looked at him, then tipped his head to consider it. "I think that could be a useful thing to do. Lady Purrcy, would you be able to come?"

Purrcy looked at him with gentle kindness. "Probably not, Iselius. I'm sorry. But Lady Marielle, of Crescent Moon League, is the one who puts them together and she would love to help strengthen relations between Akiba and Maihama. If you sent word to your sister, who has already agreed to model the female line, she could get in touch with Lady Marielle to make the request."

Iselius inspected her, then the clothing again, then nodded. "I'll contact Raynessia, Mister Tyrone, if you can give me the details of when you would be ready."

"Certainly, Prince Iselius," Tyrone answered, then ushered him back into the fitting room to change him back into what he had come to the store in.

Tetorō looked at Purrcy. She was smiling slightly. "Brilliant young man," she said in answer to the look. "He will do very well as the next Grand Duke." Tetorō agreed. She hadn't had to ask him at all and he'd known what she wanted and been willing to give it to her in exchange for what he could get in return - both for himself and for the furthering of positive relationships with the Adventurers that he and his sister were tasked with by their grandfather.

Tetorō bowed to Purrcy and held out his hand. As they danced, waiting for Iselius, he quietly whispered, "Please, don't go away again."

She was quiet, then leaned down, because she was taller, and whispered in his ear, "Tetorō, thank you for being my pillar. You are the strongest man I know. As long as there is a vessel for me, I will always survive, but your strength keeps me moving forward. Please, survive and I will always be findable, though I know it is difficult." She brushed his cheek by his ear with her lips and very quietly whispered his given Earth name. "I love you, my son." He stopped their dance and slid his arms around her to hold her tightly as his tears fell unbidden, hiding his face in her chest. She held him gently as Michael escorted Iselius out of the store and the store personnel left them alone.

-:-:-:-:-

"Brrrr!" Marielle shivered, wrapping her arms around herself, making her look even more like a large brown bear with her heavy coat, hat that covered her face, and thick gloves. Her shadow on the side of the tent from the weir light was even more bear. "Is this one of those tents that comes with a blast furnace heater?"

Naotsugu smiled and stepped over to wrap her in his arms. "It comes with one personal body warmer, special use only for you." He kissed her and tickled her ear, making her giggle. He'd just finished setting the tent up, so it wasn't warm yet. Shiroe had been nice and not spared the expense on this item. It actually did have a heating function since they'd known they were coming to the bitter cold in the north where even Adventurers found the low temperatures difficult to tolerate.

It was also one that had the best magical protection and anti-detection spells on it as possible. They didn't need to be discovered - _ever_ as far as he was concerned in this area. They were close enough to the Giants that every now and then the ground trembled with their passing, and the voices rumbled and boomed overhead like distant thunder. He'd put them a safe distance out for all that, and under a ledge so they couldn't be reached by the Giants very easily, and behind pine trees and rocks. Those might be stepped on and crushed, but they wouldn't.

"What would you like for dinner tonight?" he asked. "Chef Nyanta, Chef Purrcy, or Chef Minori?"

"Minori's a chef now, too?" Marielle asked.

"A rather good one, and her sou chef, Touya, has just as much fun helping her," he said, proud of his junior.

"Can we try what they made, then?" Marielle asked.

"Sure," he pulled out the dinner box the twins had put together for him. They sat cross legged on the tent floor and he handed her portion over. They ate carefully at first, since it was still hot. "It's so convenient, to be able to just eat it like fast food."

"And yet so decadent to have it be homemade," Marielle agreed. "It's very delicious. Tell them I enjoyed eating it." He nodded. When food was in front of him, he focused on it until it was gone. She understood that, so was content to carry the conversation if she needed one. He'd answer it all when the warm food was in his belly warming him up.

Of course, she enjoyed good food just as well, so often got distracted with her own eating. He figured if they ever got home they'd be fat within a year, but they'd be happy and well fed. He'd have to start a workout routine and make her participate, though he liked ample softness, too. He looked up at her to catch her looking at him. She blushed slightly and he grinned at her. He almost put down his food, but it was almost gone, so he chose to finish it instead.

They finished eating about the same time. He put the dishes back into his list. They'd wait to be washed when he got back to Akiba. It was starting to warm up a bit so he put the bedrolls out. They were magically heated ones, so would add to the warmth of the tent itself soon enough. They were actually about to shed their coats when a chime came in the tent they could both hear. They paused. "Naotsugu, Shiroe. Is Marie with you?"

"Yes," he answered.

"I'd like to video conference."

"Fine." Though why he was asking was beyond Naotsugu to understand.

A window appeared hovering in the air. Marielle moved closer to Naotsugu so they could both be seen more easily. Akatsuki was sitting next to Shiroe, and it looked like they were sitting by a fire, as if camping out themselves - which they probably were. The area between Minami and the Ninetails Dominion was wild and rough. There weren't very many villages with inns on that path.

"Have you told her about Purrcy yet?"

Somehow that wasn't surprising. "Yes. She said she was ready to know, and it looked like it to me, too."

"Good." Marielle seemed surprised that it was okay, just like that. "I thought that might have been it." Naotsugu tensed slightly. The piercing eyes turned to Marielle and she also went still and her hand crept over to Naotsugu's. He let her interlace their fingertips, but let it only go that far. "Marie, I know you meant well, and you wanted to comfort the person you love, but you made Purrcy be disobedient. You can't do that. It took a lot of work from the party in Maihama to get her back again this morning so she could perform her work of the day. Izanagi shut her down entirely from the moment she left you until they convinced it to let her go enough to perform her job. And it sat watching her every move and word for the rest of the day." The hairs on Naotsugu's arms and back stood on end, and it wasn't the cold of the north.

"Purrcy is required to be obedient to Nyanta in everything he orders her to be obedient in. That is part of his contract. If we break either that contract or the one I have with them, they can take her away from us. Only the arguments the party made and Nyanta's willingness to let the punishment be rescinded allowed her to be present enough to win Iselius to our cause." He paused, then said very firmly, "You will not call her out tomorrow. If Purrcy is allowed to come out on her own, you may talk to her and comfort her, but I believe there is small chance of it happening. We must live with the face we are shown, regardless of our personal preferences or beliefs. We are not dealing with living beings who understand emotions. Purrcy understands this and has already set in place her own way to deal with it. You do not need to force comfort on her."

"But ...!" Naotsugu protested at going that far. He'd had to do just that on several occasions.

The sharp eyes turned to him, cutting him off. "We were allowed to teach them for a while. Now they are moving and we must refrain. Certain members may request, but that is all we can do. You will both practice heavy restraint when you arrive at Maihama or you will go straight from there to Akiba. The negotiations and side quests cannot be interfered with. It would be good if you could do the former. Purrcy needs the Duchess to become known and accepted by the court. She will bear that burden for her."

Naotsugu sat up straight, though he remained in his cross legged position, put his hands on his knees, and bowed to Shiroe. "Yes, Shiroe. I'll explain it more properly to Marie so that we don't err again."

Shiroe's eyes returned to Marielle and she swallowed, then bowed. "I'm sorry I didn't understand. I'll try harder now that I've been corrected."

Shiroe nodded a curt nod. "See you do." He relented slightly. "I am sorry that you've chosen to accept the burden we carry. But now that you have, please bear it properly."

"Yes, Shiroe," she answered meekly.

The window blinked out and they were left alone in the tent again, which by now was uncomfortable. Naotsugu put his coat and gloves away and turned to face Marielle, though he didn't change his pose. She put away her winter outerwear also and faced him on her knees. He explained to her more clearly what the two contracts were and made sure she repeated back what she thought he'd said until she properly understood them, and their depth.

Then he explained what her role as Duchess was and how she would be expected to behave at Maihama, and that he expected her to submit humbly to whatever any of the members of Log Horizon told her to do. Because it was their quest to fulfill, they knew exactly what was necessary for it to be completed correctly. He himself would be doing the same. He did reassure her that he would be with her, by her side to help her, but that wouldn't be an excuse to save her if she slipped up.

Wide eyed, she finally asked timidly, "Do we have to stay then? He did say we could go home?"

Naotsugu shook his head. "That's the punishment. What he said after that was the requirement. If you're being called in as the stand-in after this week's negotiations are completed, you'll have to be able to stand in that position, or we fail in the quest altogether. The next few days will be a sudden exam for you. You can fall apart when we're together alone, you and I, but when we're required to be before anyone else, you must hold yourself as true nobility, no matter how much it hurts. I'll rescue you if I can, but I may only be able to be the strength at your side."

"Not before the guild, though?"

"Even then. They are your examiners. If you're struggling, watch Purrcy. She'll teach it to you so you know how to be."

Marielle swallowed and worried at her fingers, but she nodded, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry to get into trouble, Naotsugu," she said.

He paused, then shook his head. "I was wrong to not warn you better, and I didn't listen to my better senses at the time, either. I also needed to learn the lesson." He held out his hand and allowed her to put hers into it. He held it lightly. "I'm sorry, too," he said softly. "I should have warned you away better. We've reached the difficult part and you weren't with us enough at the beginning to understand it. You've joined us already so deep without the proper experience to help you get through this. I'll do my best to help you catch up, but...if you're in doubt, step back and close your eyes and deafen your ears. It will be better for you to not know and not seem to care, then come to me and let me comfort you. If there's a thing you can do after that to repair it, either Shiroe or I will let you know. If it gets too difficult, Tetorō will try to find a way to help you, but you may have to just bear with it."

He looked up at her, feeling sad again. "And if you can't help it and must have someone to comfort, Tetorō will need all the help and comfort he can get but you have to do it when he's free to receive it. He is under the same restriction she is because of his role." He carefully explained what that was as well, so she wouldn't make any errors there either, and he used that opportunity to remind himself of the same thing. He'd also misstepped in asking all of them to step in.

When she understood, and he'd said everything he could think of, he could finally relent and allow them to go to bed. As he lay in his bedroll, his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling of the tent, Marielle tossed and turned in her bedroll until she finally rose and dragged it over next to him. "I think it's you that needs comforting again," she said, looking at him. "Let me make it up to you, since I caused it."

He looked at her soberly for a moment, but she was serious. He freed a hand from behind his head and held it out for her. She went willingly to him and for the second night in a row comforted him with her presence, allowing him to forget for a brief time his worries as he lost himself in the wonder that was her.*

-:-:-:-:-

The ball was a formal affair that they played their parts fully at: it was required, and the easiest way to get through it. The servants stood on the wall, awaiting their Lord and Lady's every desire. The guards stood watch with stern masks on. The Knight stood forward just a little, watching from the edge of the company rather than along the wall. He answered kindly when spoken to, but briefly, maintaining his proper attention on his lieges. Nyanta and Purrcy danced together frequently, seeming to all the company graceful, poised, and regal. And they were, though what conversation they had between them was perhaps infrequent and brief. They spoke pleasantly and properly when approached during their times of rest, and they left the ball with their accompanying retinue at the most appropriate time.

They remained proper and polite into the evening at the suite as well, still the gentleman and lady they almost always were. The occasional soft touches from Nyanta and the brief moments of weakness from Purrcy were missing, but those didn't happen every evening anyway. The party remained rather calm, having had the opportunity to regain themselves to some degree.

When Nyanta and Purrcy left for the garden for him to train her in double rapier, Michael and Tetorō followed at a distance, mostly because they still needed some kind of guard. The surveillance hadn't ended, and likely wouldn't. Nyanta did warn them off just enough they stood at the entrance to the garden to keep it private, rather than enter it to watch over them directly. That wasn't an impediment to the two guards. They could watch just as well from within the code realm - and they did. Michael put on his earring and his cuff links to give him a physical close proximity warning, just in case someone was going to try something stupid while they were standing there, and Tetorō followed suit and put his earring on.

The lesson went well enough, with Nyanta showing and explaining how to hold the two rapiers at the same time, and demonstrated a few moves until Purrcy nodded she was ready to try. He watched while she attempted them, then corrected her pose and verbally her form, then set her to repetitively practice that much to integrate them into her body knowledge.

While they watched, Nyanta began to have his tail swish, then hold still until an ear twitched. Eventually he began pacing around Purrcy as if inspecting her form from all angles, but the more he paced, the more his tail and ears couldn't settle. Tetorō's brow furrowed, but so far he wasn't sure what to do about only a sense of dis-ease.

The next set of the lesson, Nyanta set Purrcy into the beginning defensive position, then stood in front of her, his own rapiers at the ready. For the next ten minutes he stood still, but his blades flashed towards her. Her own blades were less practiced, but she still fairly easily defended. They reversed for the next ten, Nyanta defending while Purrcy performed back the attacks that he had sent her way just before. His ears started to flick again, and then the tail swished a definite hunting swish. At the same time, Michael shifted to rub a wrist. Tetorō went on alert. It could be Nyanta himself, but he could also be listening to an ambusher in the bushes of the garden.

A quick look at his map showed the yellow dots that were the spies hadn't moved and there weren't any red dots approaching. "I'll go look," Michael said in the code realm to keep silent outside. Tetorō nodded and kept his eyes on Nyanta. Michael slipped away silently.

Nyanta stopped Purrcy and moved to the next part of the lesson, having her hold the rapiers still while she worked on footwork. They danced the rapier's dance of death side by side until Nyanta was content she'd learned it sufficiently. Michael reappeared and shook his head. None of them had set off his cuff links and he indicated they hadn't gone off since.

Tetorō frowned. Nyanta had moved into the next lesson and was facing Purrcy again. This time he moved towards her and she moved back. They went four steps, then Nyanta stopped, nodded, and Purrcy moved with the learned footwork towards him, also four steps. They kept that up until all the footwork was learned, only about five minutes. He allowed her a two minute rest, then they faced each other formally and began a match. It went slow at the beginning so Purrcy could get the feel for a full match.

Fifteen minutes later she seemed to have a good feel for it and Nyanta increased his speed. Her ears pricked towards him and she picked up her own pace to match his. After five minutes, she pressed him just a little. He allowed it, then pointed out an opening the higher speed left her with by poking her through it. She backed off until she understood how to defend from it. This was repeated a few times. Slowly they continued to increase speed and correct openings until she was moving fairly confidently. At that point Nyanta called another pause. They stood still until Nyanta motioned with a rapier-filled hand.

All three earrings lit up with a faint red glow on the guards drawing their attention. Tetorō immediately shielded the two of them, that being their standard operating procedure when they worked together, and Michael scanned for the danger. He stiffened and added another layer of shielding. "They're gone, all the spies." Immediately later he modified it. "Knocked out, and for a specified time."

"The whole area's shielded," Tetorō answered. "Are we supposed to be passed out, too?" Michael shook his head and shrugged. The match between the felinoids had begun and the faint clink-tink could be heard from where they were standing. It was sounding measured and when they looked, the two of them were calmly taking turns to attack and defend, typically four moves of one, followed by four of another.

As the pressure on Purrcy increased, an odd pressure was building up in Tetorō ears. He pulled back from watching them from within the code realm to see what might be going on around them. It didn't look any different, and he didn't see anything newly dangerous on his map either. He considered the area around them in the code realm, then narrowed his eyes and went looking in the upper registers. What he found there was frightening. He immediately retreated, setting additional higher level shields over himself and Michael as he fled as quickly as he could.

When he returned, Michael was already holding his arm, waiting for him, worry in his eyes. "She's fighting too well."

"It's the gods," Tetorō said immediately. "They've descended into the micro layer."

"Both of them?"

Tetorō nodded. "I've shielded us as best I can. But why?"

Michael turned to face the center of the garden again, his face going into a firm look. "If they think they can resolve a difficult argument by coming to this plane to use swords to do it, they've got it backwards. That will be so destructive it won't be funny."

Tetorō nodded vigorously. Slowly they crept closer to the center of the garden, the pressure increasing as they did so. Every so often they'd have to pause to allow the shield placed - likely by Purrcy - to settle instead of send off a warning, then creep along again very slowly. It seemed to be tuned to recognize them, but a 'them' that stood still or moved only a little, as if it was okay with them as long as they were standing guard. By the time they reached the clearing itself, the pressure was high enough to flatten the grass they stood on, and make the plants all bend outward from the clearing. Tetorō's shields were holding, but Michael added one more so they could continue forward.

What they saw were two rapier masters facing off with blinding speed. A lunge here with flashing blades that probably contained three to four times as many blows as their eyes could follow, a flurry of defense, followed by a repartee the other direction just as violent. The blows were almost as much the creation of the pressure waves as the presence of the supernatural beings. Michael's hand on Tetorō's arm suddenly tightened. "He's using the gifted rapiers, and he just marked her." He said it as quietly as possible in the code realm.

Tetorō stiffened, watching as closely as he could, pulling up her status. It wasn't the real one, but it would give him a close enough relative amount. "Two," whispered Michael. "She's giving it out just as well, but that doesn't help against the few he needs to get in with."

Her HP started dropping, and Michael pulled Tetorō down into a crouch and added more shields then took them as invisible as he could in the physical plane. They knew that she had the capacity to spell create even in the midst of this flurry of sword work. Nyanta started pressing her harder, though, trying to break through and they understood he also was watching her status. Suddenly a spell went off, earlier than expected, and Tetorō understood immediately. She'd known he was going to watch it so she'd delayed the external display. The flash of light would have been blinding if it hadn't been for one of Michael's shields that darkened as it took the energy of the flash, then disintegrated. It was replaced immediately. She'd gotten in two more flurries, including a few more hits, in that short second, though.

Nyanta's tail lashed and an ear turned back and his lip lifted slightly to expose a glint of tooth. Tetorō shivered and Michael said, "Three. ...Four." They both got ready to run. As the two felinoids clashed one more time, the pressure waves pulled at the roots of the bushes around them, and went by in great waves around the guards. The pattern held, though, and in the brief break between sets, they were running forward, still as invisible as possible.

As Nyanta's rapiers came down towards Purrcy, Michael's Great Bracers came up to stop them and Tetorō leaped at Purrcy to hang onto her neck. "Stop!" he yelled. "Please stop! You will destroy all of Maihama, and us along with it! This isn't the right way to do this!" He held onto her tightly, willing her to stop and back off, back into the pico and nano layers. He could hear the _shing_ of Nyanta's rapiers pulling across Michael's bracers, returning to their preparatory position. He desired with all his heart that the next move would be to sheathe the blades.

Instead it was another blow that made Michael grunt slightly. As the blades left to prepare for the next blow, Michael called out, "You may send me to the Cathedral, but if you harm her you will nullify your agreements, even if she has consented to the lessons." There was another crack and Tetorō's heart quailed. "The requirement from Shiroe was to strengthen her. Any death does not strengthen, nor does any enhanced learning." There was a pause instead of another blow and Michael was continuing. "Nyanta's purpose was to increase her speed because the sword is heavy and difficult to get to speed, but the lighter rapier can teach it more quickly. There is no need for this." Tetorō could feel Michael stiffen as if bracing for another blow. "If you continue, you go counter to all of this and the contracts will be broken."

Tetorō dared look into Purrcy's face. She hadn't moved since he'd grabbed her, though her hand had twitched when the blows had fallen on Michael as if she would have defended him if Tetorō hadn't been in the way. In that, he was protecting her as well. If that was really Nyanta, if she protected Michael Nyanta would have continued to strike the both of them in jealousy until both had been Cathedraled, given how angry he looked. "Please," he plead again. "Put them away. We'll stop with the sword practice and find another way. We're almost done here anyway and it was only for the time we were here since there would be other low level fighters to practice against. There weren't enough in Akiba anymore for Purrcy to practice against properly."

"Why the sword at all, then?" It came from everywhere, rather than from either one of them specifically.

"Because Shiroe wished to experiment to see what statuses would change if a magic user could be taught the sword," Michael answered.

Purrcy relaxed slightly, though she stayed alert. Slowly the pressure in the area was lifted. When she moved to lower the rapiers, Tetorō released her and stepped back until his back touched Michael's. Silently, now they were touching, they spoke to each other in the code realm. "Am I dead for having touched her?" Tetorō asked.

"Not yet," Michael answered. "I think he's still deciding if I die first. It's taking the anger a while to back down. When it's more just him, I'll let him beat up on me a while longer, if necessary. You'll probably be sent with her before then."

"Ahhh...I guess I won't heal you up then. That would only make him more angry."

"Most likely," Michael agreed in resignation. "And I'd rather end this quickly. Ah! Hold still. He's not headed for us."

Tetorō could hear the light crunch of the grass being walked on from Nyanta's position, and then he was in view. He held out his hand, now empty of rapier. "I'll take those," he said coolly.

Purrcy handed her rapiers over and they were taken, then disappeared. The green cat eyes moved to look at Tetorō. "Mew'll see her purroperly to the room, then wait for me to arrive."

Tetorō bowed, only letting out his emotion once his face was to the ground and it was gone by the time he rose again. He was going to be questioned most severely, and who knew what else for his own punishment. He scrubbed his history to be acceptable, just in case, though he'd turned off the recording anyway, and rerouted hers and Michael's at the time he'd danced with her and found comfort one more time in her arms

The Nyanta he respected wouldn't have cared, but would have understood. He couldn't allow himself to believe _that_ Nyanta would be present with them again for a long time to come. Nyanta excused Purrcy and Tetorō obediently followed her out of the garden, leaving behind a warm magic hug for Michael. He also was going to have a hard time. For all Tetorō wanted it to end early for Michael's sake, the angrier Nyanta was the longer he would make the punishment last.

Tetorō got Purrcy to bed, then returned to the common room to wait, standing on the wall at rest attention. The guards looked at him with raised eyebrows, then disappeared into their rooms. Michael arrived and Tetorō gave him a quick boost. He'd not been Cathedraled - that would have been counterproductive to their reason for being here in Maihama - but he was nearly there. Michael didn't look at him and didn't stop on his way to his own room, but he did give a faint nod of thanks.

Tetorō looked for Nyanta on the area map and found him walking slowly back to the suite from the garden. He properly kept watch over him, though of all of them he didn't need protecting. Only Purrcy knew how to break through the protective spell she'd put on him. That one thing was the most frightening thing she had done - made Nyanta perfectly invincible to magic attacks of any kind. And it was the one spell Tetorō had no idea how to replicate. His attempts to analyze it merely ended in slipping on the same slippery surface that it was to begin with in the code realm. And he'd found it was that way at all the levels he could reach.

When Shiroe had asked him to place a history monitor on Nyanta, he'd had to admit he couldn't. He'd filled the one drain hole that the Plague Master had put on Nyanta, but Purrcy had since put in a patch for it and even that could no longer be done to Nyanta. Not even Shiroe knew why she'd done it, other than to protect him generally. What the deeper ulterior motive was, they couldn't know.

When Nyanta walked in the door, closing it lightly behind him, moving with the smooth grace of the gentleman he was, Tetorō was prepared with his smooth face that said nothing and offered no resistance. He'd learned the uncaring idol to protect himself from the idiots who came to this world and needed lessons in how to treat people properly, how to see them for who they were not who they looked like. He'd learned this face long before that, back when his own father would come home at the end of the day just like this and he was only five, then seven, then twelve, even until the night he'd got on to play one more time and been dragged here.

He'd learned to take his punishment with outward humility and subjugation, properly so that it was done and not exacerbated with further ire. To read the subtle signs that told him when to properly show he'd been hurt so that the punisher could be satisfied properly. To not show that it had gone on for far too long, though eventually he'd learned how to show just the right subtle signs to get it to stop earlier.

"Show me everything that was done today." The cool voice in front of him said.

Tetorō bowed slightly, then went into the code realm and wrote the code to create an information cube, placing everything he had in it, then cast the spell. He had to stand on the wall the entire time it was reviewed, while Nyanta sat casually in a chair to do it. When the cube was done and Nyanta had turned it off, he sat for a while longer, then said, "What did mew erase?"

"Nothing, Nyanta-san," he answered. It would make no difference what he said if he wasn't believed to begin with.

"I heard today that mew and Michael were caught trysting yesterday in the garden."

"It was as Tetora, in an attempt to erase the rumors."

There was a twitch of the whiskers. It humored him, though that wasn't surprising. "It has been sufficiently effective. From now on until we are on the way home, mew will be only Tetora." He rose from his seat and looked directly at Tetorō.

Tetorō bowed. "Yes, Nyanta-san." He changed then and there.

As Nyanta walked very close to him, he was suddenly afraid that he was going to be touched inappropriately, but he wasn't. Nyanta did pause just slightly as he was about to pass and say quietly, "Of course, mew do realize I am much more difficult on women." Then he had moved on and entered his and Purrcy's bedroom. Tetorō blinked, then blinked again, then ran. That had been a comment only Nyanta himself would have made. No god would have known that about him.

The door clicked closed behind him as he reached the bed, he was moving so fast. His hands were on Michael, healing him to full, desperate. Warm hands took his suddenly freezing cold and trembling hands. "What is it, Tetorō?" Michael asked as the sparking lights from the spell faded the room back into blackness.

"It's Nyanta, Michael. Nyanta, not the god." His voice broke.

Michael pulled the blanket up and pulled Tetorō into the bed. Tetorō didn't resist. He shivered and sobbed as Michael held him, female though he had been ordered to be, until he finally drifted into the blessed release of sleep. It was all the more painful that Michael never tried to comfort him with words to the contrary.

* * *

 _*For those of you who need help understanding the Japanese culture...Naotsugu is in as much trouble as Marielle, if not more, since he is her head, like Shiroe is the head of the guild as a whole, and even Akiba, really. The person at the top of the department that fails is the most punished when things go wrong, like the U.S. military. (Michael and the Eagles understand this hierarchy and discipline structure intimately for this reason.) Thus it was Naotsugu's place to correct her properly, and then to be punished by not being with her that night, for all that was his only desire all day._

 _He knows that when they arrive in Maihama he will be the most punished as well, while Marie's education will be rather harsh under their hands (it will be taken from him - the reason he warns her he won't be able to help her very much) until he can prove again he can properly teach her. (Another reason for his extreme care in this evening's lesson. If he does well in this lesson, they'll be able to tell and relent sooner.) Rather than being able to act as equals, they will be servants in effect, if not in title._

 _However, because she also must pay a price for what she did, even if unknowing, she can offer to correct it. In this case, because what she did made him hurt for the family that is his guild, she can offer to ease that in the same way she did the night before. He can accept it from her because it's her punishment this night, not his desire (though it works out both ways in the end anyway), thus healing the small rift between them as well as their own hearts. Yeah, complicated, but it's really how the discipline and correction process works, from businesses all the way down to the family._


	93. Giants

Michael woke up at the usual early practice time confused. He'd been back in basic training, being abused by the drill sergeant. It had been raining, the backpack was the heaviest he'd had to carry to date, and the mud splashed up with every heavy step and made the footing treacherous. He'd arrived back at the barracks to slip the backpack off and stepped into his own house instead, suddenly surrounded by the dark of the night, the silence of his son and wife already gone to their beds. He'd stumbled up the stairs to find his wife and his soft pillow.

To awaken to find a woman in his arms was horribly confusing. He really thought he was home. His brain took a while to restart and for him to remember being on Theldesia - and then for a few moments more Theldesia was the dream he'd had. But the woman in his arms was smaller than his wife, so that woke him up a lot more. He wasn't given to having affairs when he was out on tour of duty. It made life too messy as an officer and he didn't need that kind of complication in his life generally either.

He moved his arm off the person under it and put his hand on the shoulder and that shape kicked his brain back into gear. He gently shook his bed partner. "Tetorō. Tetorō. You should get to your own bed before Nyanta wakes up. If you go now, he'll think you were just waking up now because of the pattern."

Tetorō had been slowly waking up and now he shuddered and nodded. "Thanks," he said as he slipped out of the bed and headed for the door. After a sudden thought, Michael was after him. Tetorō froze with a flinch.

"Ah, no. He'll hear my door close and I've got to use the bathroom, too," he quietly explained himself. "An extra close on my door might be just as bad."

Tetorō relaxed and nodded. "He's heard the news we were spotted together the day before. He's pleased enough, but I'm to stay Tetora for the rest of the duration."

Michael could only look at him in sympathy. It wasn't a surprising requirement. "At least there's one good thing to come of it."

Tetorō agreed wryly as Michael reached for the door handle, opened it and looked carefully around. It was clear, as it should be. He headed straight for the bathroom as soon as his door was closed again. Tetorō slipped as silently as he could to his own door, though he didn't open it yet. When Michael came out of the bathroom, Tetorō was standing outside it, leaning tiredly against the wall. As he yawned, Michael said, "On the one morning we could have slept in and the body's already got the habit."

Tetorō nodded tiredly. "It's a shame really. I was in the middle of a good dream, too. I hate how they turn suddenly into nightmares just to get you out of bed." They traded places and Michael went back to his own room to get another hour of sleep.

Another door opened up down the hall before his could, though. "Going back to bed?"

Michael turned his head and looked in surprise at his subordinates. "Oh, right. I forgot about that overshield. I take it you couldn't see through it, then?" They shook their heads. He changed directions and joined them. They were two to a room, so half slipped over to join in as well. He told them the basics of what had happened the night before, leaving out his suppositions and that Tetorō had spent the night, though he did let them know Tetorō had been ordered to remain female.

When he finally was able to make it back to his room, he didn't have enough time to sleep. He lay on his bed, his hands behind his head, just resting until it was time to get up and get the day going, and running plans and scenarios in his head.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu and Marielle ate breakfast before Naotsugu summoned Purrcy. They had the tent and campsite packed before she arrived, and she still hadn't arrived. Marielle looked around the area, then at Naotsugu, her fingers trying to worry themselves through the thick gloves. "Do you think she wasn't allowed to come?"

Naotsugu was wondering it himself. Given how late it was in the morning, he decided to call her. "Purrcy, is everything okay? We're ready here."

"Hm? Oh, sorry. ...Hang on a second." About five minutes later she came trotting up as large cat - with a very full and shaggy coat of the black hairs, so that the gold swirls looked more like splotches. "Sorry. I wanted to look over the area first to see where to stage the negotiations." She sat on her haunches and looked at them both. "Let's go up on the ridge and I'll tell you what I'm thinking where you can see what I'm talking about." When they moved she rose again and led them around the ledge they'd been camped under and up to the ridge above it and out onto a point that rose above the mountain valley below them.

"You see the city is down there," she pointed with her nose to their right. "I actually don't want to get the whole city riled up and hunting for us, so that distance is fine." She turned and pointed to the central left area. "That appears to be a mining location. I think the smoke is from smelting fires, by smell. If we can get the foreman or manager's attention, they might be high enough in the chain to be able to get in to talk to the Giant King. If all we can get are some of the lowest Giants on the rung from the mine, that would actually be quite satisfactory. It's always the little guy no one knows that saves a people in the end anyway."

Purrcy turned to look back to their left where they had come from. "You've actually picked very well. The bowl should help the sound echo out towards them, and I can use it as a dramatic backdrop for the visual. I've already done my research into the background of the Giants, so I think I'm ready there. The three of us will hide back there where you camped. Naotsugu, you'll set as shield for the two of us, though you'll be bored until they get mad. Do keep an eye and ear out for sneak attacks to come from the rear. Just like us, they're as likely to talk distractions from the front while sending others to see just what's going on."

"Marielle, I'm going to be continuous casting. Hold some healing in reserve in case they do attack, but your main role will be to keep me tanked up. I'm going to cast the illusion of their goddess at their own size and have a volume enhancer spell as well. I've also got a translator program written, since we can't hear half the sounds they make to each other with our little ears. I've added it to a quest item to give to whomever looks like might be willing to participate on their end so they can talk to William. It can be used to prove to him that they're legitimate. Since it's a quest item, if they aren't serious about helping it won't work. Only the 'true hero' of the Giants, destined to save his people, and his companions, will be able to use it properly."

Marielle was looking as pleased about the quest aspect of it as if it were being offered to the Adventurers. Purrcy held up her head to Naotsugu and he saw there was a large silver ornament in her mouth. He took it from her and looked at it curiously. It was a giant pin almost as long as his arm, bright silver, and was of two clasped hands. "Get this to William. He's to give the hero a sub-quest to prove his commitment to the fulfillment of his quest and to prove he'll live peaceably with the People of the Land and the Adventurers. That's the reward if he passes the test."

"The world will modify the test if William makes it unattainable or unrelated to the end quest, but he's got license to be creative, including adding members of his own party to the Giant's party if he wants. The end goal of the sub-quest is that all the groups of people who will need to end up living together understand how to do that and become willing to try. The pin will allow the Giant hero to change size so he can better interact with the people of the area. Negotiations are hard through translators, though I'm going to have to try anyway."

"Couldn't you just wear the pin?" Marielle asked.

"No. I'll disappear if I take it off to hand it to the Giant."

Naotsugu shook his head. "No, that's a good side effect. It would prevent them from finding you to harm you. Also if you're their size you won't have to worry about the translator, and if they've seen it on you, won't they then relate it to the goddess, making it also a holy item?"

"That could be dangerous, though," Purrcy frowned. "Holy items get special treatment and often become well guarded regalia instead of useful items that can be hidden and found later by the next hero. I want William to award it so it doesn't get that high a legend attached to it. It's bad enough they'll get the translator that way, though it's more logical to come that way since the goddess giving the quest would want them to be able to communicate properly." They had to agree. The way flavor text and intent worked on this world it would be best to be perhaps a bit cautious.

"Right. I'll give it to the Cunie to deliver to William when we're in a town with one in it again," Naotsugu carefully tucked the item away in his special item box. "We're going straight to Maihama when we're done here?"

"Yes. Nyanta's awaiting your call to summon us." She sighed with an ear turning down. "I can't postpone his summons anymore, or he would have already done it so he didn't have to be interrupted. I was hoping to take Marielle to Mister Presley's to pick up at least one outfit for her, but we'll have to make due with me modifying what I already have when we get back. I'll need to know what you've already got in the clothing department as well, Naotsugu. You'll both need to be dressed to play your parts properly. That will be our task when we get back and recover enough to cast another slew of spells, though Tetorō can help with the recovery."

"...Ah, he's Tetora for this trip, and Gareth is filling in as Gretchen. We learned I needed two ladies in waiting for it to look right. You should by all rights have two as well, Marielle, but we'll share. Gareth has had enough experience now he can be assigned to you." Purrcy looked away over the hill. "I'm sure there will be more details when we arrive. Just remember we're under the watchful eyes of spies all the time there, except we put up a privacy and protection spell between eleven at night and nine in the morning."

She rose to her feet again. "Well, let's go get started. There's a lot to be doing today." They walked with her back down the ridge to the place they'd camped before. Naotsugu carefully picked out a well hidden and easily defensible place (for one warrior) and they got set up with a magic fire to warm them that wouldn't put out smoke while they sat and waited in the frigid cold. Purrcy cast her spells and then was gone from them in mind while she controlled the illusionary Giantess.

Marielle watched her and Naotsugu watched both of them and paid close attention to his surroundings. They could hear some of the sounds of the Giantess talking at the first, then there was quiet for a while, then more talking. As the talking continued past what it probably should have been, Naotsugu became more and more alert to the feel of the ground beneath him and the sounds. Often walking Giants sounded more like a moving wind than strong thuds. He continuously scanned the sky just above the ledge and the ridge.

When he received his first warning it was just like the wind, both in sound and in the motion he saw. The treetops above him were mowed down with a great blow. He grabbed Marielle, put out the mage fire, and lifted his shield above the three of them, having moved Marielle and himself to being right behind Purrcy. This time he saw the sword and he watched it swing through another patch of tree tops. He put his free hand on Purrcy's head and pushed and she shrank. "Grab her." As soon as Marielle had her in arms, Naotsugu grabbed Marielle and pulled them into the hidden alcove and set his shield between the outside and the rest of them.

They were just in time. The last of the trees where they had been disappeared. That was followed by large feet stepping down into the bowl - feet booted with shiny black boots that screamed military or royal guard. That level wasn't the hero the quest needed. That was the "crush the heretic" level. He immediately called on a skill that made his shield darken and not reflect light. If they could look like more of the shadow under the overhang, that would be best.

The sounds of Purrcy talking through the Giantess had stopped during that little escapade, but she hadn't taken them back yet, or returned to tell him he could contact Nyanta, so he held his ground. Just as the large sword point was coming to scrape out the entirety of the overhang, like cleaning out a giant fingernail, there was an explosion of light beyond the Giant hunting for them.

Purrcy gasped out, "Now!" and Marielle was casting a healing spell. Naotsugu immediately called Nyanta. As the sword tip began moving again, and just before Naotsugu could cast Castle of Stone - his only hope of them surviving that sweep - the scene swirled in his vision and they were suddenly dropping in the middle of a sitting room in the Cinderella Palace. They'd managed to arrive safely in Maihama with just enough excitement beforehand to clear out the senses and get the blood flowing nicely.

As soon as they'd put their winter gear away, and Naotsugu his shield, he was suddenly enveloped in a hug. "Brother!"

He was definitely being held by a female, and one he recognized. He put his arms around Tetorō. "Tetora, it's good to see you again," he said. "Have you been well?" He didn't wait too long before pushing him back to look at him.

"Well enough," Tetorō answered more politely. "Were your assignments successful?"

"Yes." He turned from Tetorō to take Marielle's arm on his elbow, noting Purrcy was felinoid and already dressed nicely. He faced Nyanta. "It was kind of Lady Purrcy to come and fetch the Duchess and I. She's also promised she'll see we're properly dressed before we must wander the halls of the castle."

"I'd like to see Duke Sergiad as soon as possible to let him know we're imposing so suddenly," Marielle said calmly (for her). "I think traveling with you when you return to Akiba would give us just enough time to give him proper due, but not put too much of a burden on him."

Nyanta tipped his head. "Records, run the message to the Duke's office that we'd like to impose on him briefly in about an hour, if he could fit us into his schedule." Records bowed and left the common area for the castle proper. Nyanta looked at Michael and waited. When Michael nodded, Nyanta flicked an ear at Tetorō. Tetorō immediately cast a full heal on Purrcy, and then one on Marielle. Nyanta sat casually composed in the main seat in the room as he waited.

"While Purrcy works on the clothing, we'd enjoy hearing the stories of your travels." Naotsugu slumped inside, if not out. It was going to be a pop quiz of the worst sort. They were going to have to play the first round with little information and come out on the other side having set a good first impression.

While Purrcy pulled out a dress from her items and resized it to fit Marielle, then proceeded to modify it magically, Naotsugu told the group what had happened on his pathway north. The excitement of the Depths of Palm was the most interesting of the things they had done, really, though everyone was relieved the two sets of negotiations had gone well enough.

Purrcy had just pulled out a second dress to get the same treatment when he reached the point she'd arrived and began talking to the Giants. The attention turned to her then. She paused in her tailoring for a minute, then an image, like a viewscreen, appeared in the middle of the room. While it replayed what had happened during the Giant's negotiations, she continued to work calmly on the second dress on Marielle.

-:-:-:-:-

A Giantess in formally decorated clothing appeared on the screen, set at the edge of the valley as if she had just stepped down from the ridge, or risen from the bowl. "Oh, who will aid my people, and who will save my children?" the Giantess cried into the valley. "They lie dead upon their birthing mats and frozen upon the floor. Their fathers lie bleeding and lifeless upon the plains and their mothers flee into the ocean to be eaten by the Giants of the waters. Who, oh who, will save my people so that they will not become a nation remembered only in the memories of the small? Will any hear the cry of one who remembers a great nation and who dreams of times of peace?" The Giantess began sobbing, then a wailing mourning song rose from her that followed odd undulations to their ears.

In the distance, other Giants began to be seen, turning to pay attention to the sounds coming from the Giantess. Slowly and cautiously they moved closer until one was brave enough to stand forward and ask what her purpose was. "I have come seeking one who has the bravery to learn a new thing, to cast off the old that brings death, and who has the desire to see his own people live. That one I will give gifts and my blessing to so that my people will not lie dead to be only skeletons for the earth to swallow up."

"We are a great people, the Giants of the earth, strong of body. We cannot die," she was answered.

She shook her head. "Go and seek your wife who will tell you that your fifth child must be buried before sunrise. How can you say that you cannot die when you cannot keep your own future alive?" The man paled. "My children die and I die with them. The King plans to save the people by taking lands by force of arms, but he does not understand what he takes you to face, nor has he told you what his own have learned. The people who follow him into the south will die until their bones litter the land and none will return to comfort their wives."

"How can you say that? The Smalls die with but a little thought!" another man said angrily.

"And have you fought them yourself, within the past two-year? Have you not heard of those who have come within that time to the lands? They are not rumor but real. They can die, but they cannot be killed. Even the Smalls will take their small axes and with their perseverance remove an entire forest before them. Ask you of the truthsayers, take to them those who have been to the south and not returned and see what their bones will tell you. Why has your brother not returned? Isn't it because he is now a child waiting to be reborn again, even as your own three sisters who did not live to see their third sun wait for the same?"

"See you what the King will say to you and it will be a lie to get you to go to the south, to follow after your brother and find him there. And you will find him, when you also take the last wound and rise to become a waiting child like them before you. And I will weep for you and for them, for none of you will rise again to be children of mine, nor any of you if you will continue to fight against the Smalls, for there will be no fathers or mothers to give birth to you. There is only one way for you to live in peace and for my children to be born to life and hope."

Already they'd seen three Giants slip off away from the group to go hunting, all three of them with uniforms marked with insignia. A fourth marked similarly moved smoothly forward. "And what is it we should do to protect the people?" he asked.

"You will die with those you force to follow you," she answered him. "But if one has courage to believe, and to desire to protect his people, he must go to the south in peace, seeking the elf named William Massachusetts who sits in the stronghold of Susukino and keeps the peace in that city. If the one who will save my people will do all that one will tell him to do, faithfully, he will learn what is needful to keep the people alive and will find the pathway to peace."

"It's good that there is a way to keep the people alive in peace, but how shall a Small tell it to us? They cannot talk to us, nor can they understand us," the man said.

"Your own ears are deaf, even to the pleas of the daughters and wives who beg you not to take their sons and husbands away to cause the death of the great people of this nation. But the ears of the one who will save my people will hear the Smalls and will be understood by them, to the making of peace with them, even to eventual friendship, and his name will be held in honor on the lips of those who are able to still live and love because he was willing to heed my words."

At this Purrcy turned to the playing recording and paused it. "Here, see," she pointed to a youthful looking Giant on the far left of the crowd that had gathered. "He is the hero. He will come, if he has the courage. And this one," she pointed to one a little more central, behind the main speaker, "he will be the companion to strengthen him, and his sister will be the hero's wife and queen when he is made king. And this one," she pointed to one on the right whose face was dark, "he will betray them, either being purchased by the King to betray them once they have come down, or he will think the King will reward him if he betrays them. Naotsugu study them well and pick out a distinguishing feature from each one to tell William so he knows ahead of time who to watch for and who to protect and who to instruct." She left it paused and went back to the dress on Marielle, finishing it and pulling out a third while Naotsugu studied the image.

When he was done with finding what he hoped were sufficient identifiers he asked her, "Why instruct?"

"Because it would be better to have three Giants to begin the work in the south. If he can be won over through proper instruction from his erroneous way of thinking and find it in his heart to change, it would be better. If he can't, then the two will have to be sufficient enough. Perhaps the sister will make her way down after them and the Giants will be saved because a mother came with them. I'll be surprised if any other Giants are turned at all, but perhaps the women can make the difference necessary. Their mourning is what is pushing the King to move, but if they'll remain angry like he is, then they'll lose their living hope as well as the hopes that have already died." She waved at the image and it started back up again. She turned to Marielle and began work on the third dress. Marielle gave her an HP boost at that point.

The Giant doing the talking continued to ask questions, and the Giantess continued to answer in the same way, telling him his personal cursing then answering the question until she finally raised her hand. "You are duplicitous and seek even the death of your own Goddess at the same time as your King seeks the death of his own people. I will leave my gift and one whose heart is sincere and desires only the life and peace of the people will seek it and find it and if he is courageous, he will perhaps save my children. If not, then farewell, for even I will die when there are no more Giants to walk this earth." A bright light surrounded her and it coalesced into one small brilliant light that began to fall to the ground then winked out. The uniformed Giant in the front immediately jumped forward to seek the little light but he couldn't find it in the time they had before the visual on their screen went blank. Purrcy rewound it slightly and paused it.

"See, the hero has watched the light and knows where it is. His companion looks to him to see if he will act and the traitor knows them both." The eyes of each of them were indeed on the places she was pointing out. "We will see if they'll move, but the King surely will now that I've told his secrets in the open. There will be a few days to weeks where he will have to put down my prophecies as rumors, and perhaps a partial civil war will occur before he can move. He'll bring down those who questioned him and believed me as captives to fight against their will. If there were a way to allow them to surrender so that more could live, that would be best. And if the hero can move quickly enough to step in and help that happen that would be even better, but the traitor may move to kill him right at that moment."

She sighed. "Because I can't know what they will actually do, I can't protect him, but if he lived to become king then the island would know peace finally, and perhaps he would become an ambassador of peace between the Giants and the smalls wherever in Theldesia Giants live." Purrcy looked sternly at Nyanta and Naotsugu. "Even the smalls must do their part to prove they want peace and understand the value of all the creatures of Theldesia." They blinked, then nodded and she relaxed. With a wave, the image disappeared and she turned back to Marielle.

Naotsugu turned to Nyanta. "I need to report to William. May I do that now?"

"Certainly," Nyanta answered as an ear turned.

Naotsugu stepped away from the group to a corner of the room and quietly called William. He explained what had happened and what he could expect, including describing the three Giants that might come. He also let the elf guildmaster know that he would be sending the sub-quest item on when he reached Akiba in a few days. He chose to reinforce again that the positive and proper resolution to the quest was very important. He was relieved when William reassured him again that he would do his best.

When he returned to the group, Marielle was in a gown for the day and it was his turn to pull out all his high end clothing and have a few of them tailored. "You'll wear this one at the ball," he was told for one that was high class for sure. "Likely you'll wear your guild uniform the most," Purrcy finally admitted as she released him and called the work done. She moved to stand beside Nyanta's chair, her hands clasped loosely in front of her skirt.

He was struck by the calm poses, so regal though understated, and for a moment he could see on Nyanta's head the shimmer of the crown she'd put on him the day of her court. He drew a breath, then bowed. He could feel Marielle curtsy next to him. "Please, tell us what we're to do while we're here," he requested their orders.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mew don't need to concern yourself with the matter," Naynta said calmly to the Duke. "We have sufficient space in the suite mew've already given us." Tetorō heard those words and closed his eyes, his heart falling until he was emotionless, an empty creature. He continued to follow after his mistress, being attentive enough to her needs, wary enough to watch his master and see he didn't catch his attention, but that was all. He walked through the pre-dinner activities, the dinner, and the ball in this state, even until they reached their suite of rooms again.

When Naotsugu and Marielle were assigned his room for the rest of the duration, he didn't comment or complain. When Nyanta looked at him and his ear pointed at Michael, Tetorō's heart lurched once, but he repressed it and merely gave a faint bow, though a finger tensed as if beginning to pull on the trigger of a gun. Guns weren't allowed in Japan and were both taboo and feared, but there were gun arcade games, brought from the States, and he'd gone and lost himself playing them the worst nights after his father had come home to get rid of the anger that threatened to explode. He'd stay out until he'd shot his father vicariously enough he could go home and not kill him.

For the next five minutes he just stood on the wall and breathed until he was calm enough to go in and help Purrcy prepare for bed. Gareth had been assigned - as Gretchen - to Marielle, who was excused at the same time as Purrcy. About the time Purrcy was prepared for bed, Gareth called him privately. "Marielle is concerned about protocol this time of night and in the morning, but I can't set up the secure screen to tell her. Are you able to come help as if instructing me on the differences between the two rankings?"

Tetorō considered it, then answered, "I'll ask." He tucked Purrcy into bed, then left the bedroom. When he had Nyanta's attention, he bowed and asked if he could go and see that Gretchen had properly met his requirements to the Duchess. Using it as a review of what could be considered Gareth's test pleased Nyanta enough he was given permission.

When he entered the room, Gareth was brushing Marielle's damp hair and Marielle was blushing furiously. Tetorō smiled slightly and turned to Marielle and bowed slightly. "Duchess, please tell me what Gretchen has done to serve you. I have been training her to assist with the Queen. This is her first night to work alone and without supervision."

Marielle looked at him with widened eyes, then took a breath. "Ah, when we arrived, h-she asked me to wait while she drew me a bath, then went and did just that. When she returned she," the blush began all over again and she was looking a bit affronted, "...she began to take my dress off. Since the fastenings in the back are hard to reach, that was helpful. But she went on to help me remove everything, then bowed me into the bathroom, sat me down on the wash stool and washed me, then helped me in the bathtub to soak. When I went to get out, she appeared and toweled me off, then led me back into the bedroom to help me get dressed in this nightgown," she pointed to the one she had on, "and has been brushing my hair until you came in, which I suppose is just about done now." She had said it all in one rush, just like that, as if she couldn't bear to recall it all or she'd be just as upset all over again, and she probably was.

Tetorō turned to Gareth. "Thank you. I'm pleased I'll be able to tell Lord Nyanta that you have passed your test well enough. With enough time, I'm sure Lady Marielle will be able to settle to her proper station. It's difficult for Adventurers to understand at first, since very few of them have had the privilege of being nobility. Lady Purrcy is an exception and an exceptional Lady. You were honored to be able to learn serving her. Be courageous and remember your lessons. Lady Marielle will learn it soon enough from you that way."

Gareth gave Tetorō a little curtsy, earning himself a few more points. "Yes, Lady Tetora. Thank you."

Marielle was staring at Tetorō open mouthed. He turned to her. "I'm sure you must remember what it was like at Water Maple Manor, or did you not pay much attention to Elissa during the dress-up parties and Lady Purrcy's wedding preparations?" It was a scold and her eyes dropped as she considered it.

She turned away. "I'm sorry. I didn't properly pay attention, but I remember it."

"Very well," Tetorō said. "See that you keep trying, then." He said the last kindly to encourage her.

She nodded, then looked up at him. "Te-Tetora...," she bit her lip. "If you're going to be my sister-in-law, must you always be so formal towards me?"

Tetorō stopped in a bit of shock. She'd found an unexpected loophole he hadn't considered when he'd decided to set firmly in everyone's minds (spies and lords alike) how he was related to the newcomers, and Naotsugu in particular. He relented slightly. "No, not always, Lady Marie, but there are times where the proper respect must be given and only a few times in private that we may be more casual. For all I am a court Countess, you are a landed Duchess, second only to Lady Purrcy herself, and equal to Duke Sergiad."

Marielle gaped at him again. "I - I am?"

"Yes," he told her. "Dukes and duchesses are second highest ranking after king and queen, if you skip over prince and princess, who you must hold in higher regard also. Then it is the marques, such as Nyanta-san and Naotsugu, followed by the landed earls, though the court counts are the same level in ranking, if considered a little lesser because they remain in the court directly accountable to the king, when there is one. Below that in descending order are the viscount, then the baron, and then the knights who lead a company of soldiers in the name of the king, as Sir Michael does."

Marielle filed all that in her brain, blinking to take it all in. "I - I see."

"You've been allowed to accept Marquis Naotsugu as your consort because he is both of a sufficiently high status, being only one rank below yours, and because he is the King's Marshal, a high enough office to match your own high office and status. He will not receive the title of Duke of Akiba, however. The king has chosen to reserve that title for himself."

Marielle's eyes narrowed at Tetorō and she sucked on her lip for a bit, then nodded. "How is it you received the court Countess ranking?" she asked him.

"I was granted it when I became the Queen's Guard," he answered. "It is necessary that those who follow the Queen - and the King - are of high enough ranking to do them honor and pay them proper respect. This court has been told, however, that it is because my father was a landed earl and she wished to honor him by giving me an equivalent ranking when she called me up to serve her. ...No one questions why the king assigns rewards of rank, so if one asks why I am a Countess with that story and my brother is of higher ranking, be offended for Lord Naotsugu's sake and answer with one of the reasons I've already given you." Marielle nodded. "Are there any more questions I may answer for you?" he asked her.

She looked at him soberly, the asked quietly, "May I greet you with a hug tonight?"

He looked back, not changing his expression. "No."

She looked sad, but she nodded. "When it is appropriate, I would like to."

He bowed slightly. "I will let Gretchen finish her work. Please excuse me." He waited - pointedly - for her to nod and excuse him before leaving the room to return to stand on the wall in the common room. He stayed lost and unthinking there until he heard his name called.

"Tetora, how was Gretchen tonight with the Duchess?" Nyanta's voice was light enough, but Tetorō knew Gareth had just entered the room from finishing putting Marielle to bed.

Tetorō stepped forward one step from the wall and bowed slightly. "I requested the Duchess give an accounting of what Gretchen had done until my arrival. Based on her words, Gretchen performed her responsibilities precisely. I expect her to have Lady Marielle properly trained to her station in such matters before we must return to Akiba."

"Very well, mew both may be excused," he said with a tiny flick of an ear to dismiss them.

They curtsied together and left the room, Tetorō going before Gareth. When they were far enough down the hallway, Gareth reached out and took Tetorō's little fingers in two of his to get his attention. Tetorō looked back at him. He was looking worried. "Tetora," he asked quietly, "where will you go?"

Tetorō tried very hard to keep his emotions off his face. "I've been assigned to sleep with Sir Michael."

Gareth froze, then shook his head. "I was going to offer with me, since we would at least seem to be a proper pairing, but if it's been ordered...?"

Tetorō nodded. It had been. He slipped his hand to hold Gareth's more fully and pressed it in gratitude. He set his history, then whispered, "Truly, I'd rather I could accept your offer."

Gareth looked at him, then said, "Tetorō, he won't touch you. He's been faithful to his wife for years when out on tour of duty for months on end. He's comforted me and many of us when we needed it or lose our minds, but he won't do anything, I promise."

Tetorō looked at Gareth, then nodded because it was necessary to respond as expected. "Thank you." Gareth nodded and let go of Tetorō's hand.

Tetorō closed Michael's - and now his - room door behind him and leaned on it, letting his head bump lightly to rest on it. He closed his eyes and tried to swallow around the lump forming in his throat. He distracted himself briefly by changing out his clothes for bedclothing. He could get away with the flannel shirt and pants the Princess wore, so he did. His body ached and he hadn't even crossed swords with anyone today to work it into exhaustion.

But he couldn't stay standing there. He looked around the room. A round table with a cushioned chair. A small settee that one could barely sit on sideways with their knees up. And...one bed. He'd needed it last night, or perish. Tonight he'd been seen. The spies knew the Duchess had been given his room. They'd seen the two maids excused at the same time, and the one watching this room right now had seen him enter it. He had two minutes before the protective spell went up around the suite. He swallowed and it didn't help. His eyes went between the settee and the bed again. He slowly and reluctantly walked to the side of the bed, but when he put his hand on it, he couldn't do it. He sank to the floor and put his hands over his face to hide the expression that wouldn't stay in any longer.

He wanted to kill Nyanta. He went looking in the code realm and once again was completely frustrated at his complete inability to affect him. Every tiny thing he tried slipped off. Every large thing echoed back and tried to eat him instead, until he was finally tired enough from expending his health points on the effort that his hands slipped from his face and his head fell against the side of the bed. His tears were warm but leaving cool tracks on his cheeks as they slowly dripped unheeded.

He hated Nyanta for doing this to him. It was abuse in its worst sense and far more than he deserved. He'd only tried to save the goals of the guild, of Shiroe. Yes, they all wanted Inari dead, but that hadn't been the proper time. Nyanta should be properly apologetic and grateful they'd pulled him back from that brink of his rage, but instead he was punishing them for not letting him finish it then. Tetorō couldn't understand it. "Why, Shiroe? Why?" he whispered as sleep finally claimed him where he was.

Still, when warm hands lifted him and laid him in the bed, he woke enough to hold onto one of the hands and not let go until the warmth was in the bed with him. He was the smaller one. If either of them was going to sleep on the settee, it should be him. He wouldn't make Michael do that tonight.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki looked over to Shiroe again. He was standing at the window to the Nakasu inn room, looking out of it, though she was sure he wasn't seeing anything outside of it. He looked like he was in pain again, like his burden was too heavy, like he'd been looking since that morning that she tried hard not to think about because it made her blush too hard and lose her ability to breathe.

She was still just as torn. He'd stood uncertainly at the inn desk when ordering their rooms, then looked at her with a desperately hurt look. She'd taken his sleeve in her hand, trying to comfort him with her presence. He'd turned back to the clerk and said, "Three doubles and a single." That was expected, but when he turned to the rest of them, he'd hesitated again, then handed a key out. "Minori and Isuzu." Minori had taken the key. "Touya and Rudy." Touya had taken the key. Rudy was nervously looking around the inn. "KR." KR had taken the key with a funny look and then a shrug. Shiroe had kept the last key, and when they'd all retired, he'd brought her with him to the third double.

Akatsuki was sitting on the edge of her bed, sitting on her hands, trying to will them to stop feeling the tense muscles in his back. It was starting to feel like a curse. Like she'd learned something so painful it pierced through her palms. Only some of it anymore was because it had stirred such a sudden deep desire for him in her. It was how he'd looked since then - this painful uncertainty that bowed his shoulders and doubled his worry wrinkle. That was more painful, and the thing that had caused him to tense up at that moment was the cause of it, the thing that had struck at her lord in a way she couldn't defend him from. She thought of Tetorō and of how he had saved them the last time Shiroe had been taken down like this.

Rising to her feet, she walked silently over to stand next to him - silently because that's how she always walked and couldn't do less. She reached up and took his cool hand in her burning one. The coolness of his hand helped relieve some of the pain her own hand. She looked up into his face. When he turned from his thoughts to look at her, she said, "I don't know what it is, but you're going to Cathedral and I don't know what to do. Please, come to bed and let me help you relax enough to sleep. Worrying about it won't help you accomplish your goals here in this place. Please trust them. They're doing their best, too."

He bent down and kissed her. When he stood up again she could see doubt still warring on his face. She reached up and put her other hot hand on his cheek which was also cool from standing close to the window. "If you're too distracted by watching them and not trusting them, then I will cut you off from watching them. It will be enough to learn it when they come. If you fail here, their efforts there will have been in vain and the pain you see will become reality for all of us." Very real and deep pain flashed on his face. She pulled him to his bed and made him sit on it. "You will not watch again or I will use my dress sword on you for every time I catch you reviewing the history. Your lack of faith is not worthy of the Machiavelli in Glasses."

He bowed his head and closed his eyes. With a shudder he took a breath. When he began to curl up in pain, she pushed him to lying down on the bed and moved to sit at his head. She ran her fingers over his forehead until the tears could come. When he was asleep, she rose from the bed and covered him with the blanket. She studiously went to her own bed and lay down and forced herself to not think about the man who she wanted to lie down next to and hold like the child he was tonight. She wouldn't be able to hold that perspective for very long if she was that close.

But she was still awake when he rolled over and moaned and called for her, and she couldn't refuse. She slipped over and slid down next to him and held him and he settled, his arm cuddling her closely as the tears slipped out from under his eyelids even though he was still asleep. She sighed and finally slipped into uneasy sleep herself.

The next morning, he looked at her contritely as her eyes scolded him. "I'm sorry," he said. "I won't watch any more. I'll trust them." She nodded firmly. "And...," she raised an eyebrow slightly, "thank you." She paused, then nodded again, a little more softly this time. He held out his hand for hers and she gave it to him and let him give her a kiss as his payment, though she made him hold it for longer just so he understood what he was doing to her. When he did understand it, his eyes flew open wide and he pulled away and stared at her, then slapped his free hand to his forehead. With a groan he said, "I'm sorry, Akatsuki. I forgot that was going on, too, and I've put you in the middle of it."

"Yes, you have," she scolded him. He was amazed she was angry enough to vocalize it, but it wasn't just anger. She was desperate. Desperate he either forcibly separate them, or he make it official so she could calm down.

He looked away, then sat down on the edge of the bed to look her in the eye properly. Sadly he said, "Akatsuki, I don't know what to do. I don't want to reject you, and I'd even be willing - under normal circumstances." Akatsuki blinked. That was full of things, like _yes_ and _things aren't what they seem_.

He looked at her for a while, reading her unspoken sentences, then said simply, "Inari is making all Adventurers want to have sex because it wants us to procreate. It's part of the next level, though I don't have all the details to understand it yet. At the level and rate it wants that, we'd have to be here for another hundred years, or every Adventurer female would have to be constantly pregnant and giving birth for the next five years before we could go home. It isn't acceptable either way. I've come up with an alternative, but I can't suggest it until I'm sure that's what's in the next level and Purrcy's confirmed it. Right now it's my guess based on her early hints."

He swallowed, embarrassment rising now. "I'd be willing...except that you will surely become pregnant and we can't afford that for as long as we are fighting in this dungeon. I need you as my guard. ...I know you will because it wants me and my genetics more than it wants anyone else. Even one child from me would be an extra rare and extremely high level reward for this planet." Very firmly, emphasizing each word, he ended with, "I am not willing to reward this planet in that way. It has not earned such a thing properly." His eyes were blazing with anger and Akatsuki firmed her spine against it.

She took a breath and thought hard. It wasn't impossible to fight the desire, and understanding why she was feeling it and what the consequence of following through on it would do gave her something to hold onto to fight it. She finally nodded. "Shiroe...," he nodded a brief "I'm listening" nod, "I'll be able to fight it now, but...if it gets bad, will you say 'no' strenuously? I'll tell you when it's getting hard. And...you may find that if you refuse me, others will step into that hole, particularly if this world wants that reward so badly. Minori would agree immediately if she were pushed into feeling what I've been feeling, and I will have to fight her or you would have to send her away."

Shiroe leaned back and blinked and she could tell he didn't like that thought. Minori was too young still for getting pregnant, even if the child was left here, and perhaps especially if it was left here. Even Akatsuki could feel that - the desire to have his child and the pain that would come at knowing they were leaving it behind. They might not ... she opened her mouth. "Shiroe. If we have children here, we won't be able to leave, probably ever. We won't be able to leave them behind." His eyes went wider than she'd ever seen and the understanding and despair in his eyes were heavy. He dropped his eyes so she didn't have to carry that look. She shifted and squeezed the hand she was still holding. "Shiroe, what did you think they wanted children for?"

"As empty shells to fill with Adventurers coming here from Earth so we could have the two-way door. I can't believe that the psyche that this world would fill them with would be useful. They would at best only be hero level. If this world really wants Adventurers, Earth souls would have to come to fill them." He looked away. "But...if it wants to keep us as desperately as we want to go home, then we are in a race." He put his hand to his forehead and his shoulders slumped even more. "And I've already given it the beginnings, for thinking wrongly."

Akatsuki's eyes widened, and her heart's tempo increased. "Who?" she whispered.

"Naotsugu and Marie," he groaned. Akatsuki hissed in a breath and groaned as well, her face crumpling. That could almost have been the worst pairing to make live that separation. "It's still in the experimental stages. No one knows if it can even happen, but I believe the world will figure out the way eventually. But because I've let them break the restraint, they can't come back. It will be too hard now." He let go of her hand and put his head in both of his hands. "Akatsuki," he cried and her heart hurt to hear it, "it's only one of many difficult things that have happened in the last few days, but can I even win now? All of them piling up on each other -" he began to shiver.

Akatsuki took him in her arms and held him, trying to think of what to say. Finally, with a sigh because she didn't want to bring her up, she said, "Shiroe, what did Purrcy say? ...She said she will survive. As long as we keep walking, as long as we keep getting up to try again, even if we die and have to resurrect, we can win in the end. And she told Michael ...she always plans for the failure as well. If she hasn't already given you the answer, then she trusts you'll be able to come up with it on your own."

"Take a breath and rest. It's new information, but you haven't failed yet. It happens all the time in hard dungeons. Step back and look at it again. Sit and think instead of continuing to rush forward. Fight where you are now and come back to it later if you have to. Today's goals have to be met. Don't let the war fail because you get distracted from the battle at hand. I'll help you fight it between you and me so you can focus on the things that are important today, and when it becomes the thing of today, we'll work on it together because it will be the right battle to be fighting then."

His arms came up to wrap around her and hold her. "You know, I think I love you," he said without looking up at her. "And I'm sure this is the right feeling to go with a kiss, but I'm equally as sure this is the wrong time for one."

She smiled. "I would agree. Thank you."

"No. Thank you." He took a clearer breath and she felt better, too. Somehow saying a lot more words than normal had helped him recover enough to not Cathedral. Now if they could get through this next bit, he might be able to find the time to work on that particular sticky problem. She hoped it was sooner than later. For all she would fight it, she could feel it would become difficult before she wanted it to.


	94. Negotiations in Nakasu

"Commander, Sir."

Michael came awake instantly, but didn't move. "Go ahead, Master Chief."

"The train's arrived. It's four-thirty. Should I have them sit outside Akiba to transport all the troops at once or should I send them on to the port for installation in the ship?"

"Calasin's going to need to put his products on it. The port's a little far to put things into. Go ahead and wake him up. They're used to odd hour deliveries. Once that's loaded, if there's still daylight, you can give a two hour loading call, then anyone else walks after that. We've got one more task here before we come home, but an estimated E.T.A. would be just before dinner. Have the ship captain give you a put-out time for tomorrow morning. Anyone not on the ship by then gets left behind."

"Yessir."

"How're the Maintenance crew doing?"

"Fine, on the outside. On their shifts out they're sober but say they're making positive progress."

"Good. Things on the outside here are getting rough and the storm's moving in, but the goals are being met just fine. Northern tasks all were green." Next to Michael, Tetorō stirred. He was silent until his partner settled again. "Report from the south?"

"Meet the final goal today, but the rest checked green. Intel says it's a bit tight sometimes down there. Suggest we take a vacation there when we get next leave. Plenty of things to mow down we don't get to see up here, plus good wilderness survival practice."

"Might be a good place to go, then," Michael was agreeable. "Tell them to keep an ear out for an item called the 'Godslayer'. Heard about it recently and think I'd like to get my hands on it. Sweet items are hard to come by these days."

"Roger. Over."

"Out." He lay there thinking for a bit, then slid out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. It was a bit early, but he may as well, now that he was awake. If it looked like he'd slept on the couch all night that would be for the better. From the bathroom, he headed for the kitchen and a drink of water. He sat at the table, his hands clasped around the glass while he thought.

It had been hard to stand and watch Tetorō throw himself at Naynta over and over again last night. If he'd been trying that in his physical body, he'd have had bloodied fingers and be torn up with flack. It had been the desperation of the trapped. Michael hadn't planned on staying in the room at all, but he couldn't just leave Tetorō on the floor like that. He was going to put him to bed and walk back out. There were two couches in the front room and he'd made sure he was lying on one just before the shields on the suite went up.

He wasn't quite sure why Tetorō had wanted him to stay this time. He was sure the panic and the attack against Nyanta had been because Tetorō had been told to stay in Michael's room. It was one thing to seek out healing when you needed it. Quite another to be told to do it, particularly when you were roleplaying a female being told to sleep in a room that had been assigned to the male you just might be the lover of, but of the two of them, Michael held lesser rank. It hadn't been an improper assignment. He could have pushed the guards down a room, but he was just one person and the couch was fine with him.

The hardest part was that when Tetorō was told to do something, he always took the view that the teller was out to get him. Michael had learned to suggest and request, noticing that Shiroe also always interacted with him in that way. The only time Tetorō could take an order and just act on it was in the middle of battle. In this environment, lords and leaders didn't request, they were expected to be obeyed. There was something deeper in Tetorō for him to not be able to cope with the role-play when it clashed with that trait of his. Given the reaction the night before, it was worth it to bet it all on black that it was familial abuse. His carefully built world, where Nyanta was the father of the guild, had come crashing around his ears by something that Nyanta had said to him when they'd been alone.

Michael sighed and slipped into the code realm and with great stealth and invisibility hunted down Tetorō's history and picked it up at the point he'd left the garden practice area with Purrcy. It couldn't tell him what Tetorō had been thinking or feeling, but it could at least tell him what Nyanta had done and said. When he hit the last statement of that night, Michael groaned. It was the worst thing Tetorō could have heard just then, the admission from Nyanta that not only did he know exactly what was going on, but he was going to increase the punishment just because Tetorō had been obedient. That's how Tetorō would have interpreted it, for sure.

And then last night's order would have only added to it. There's no way Tetorō would have seen it as Nyanta trying to be helpful and at worst give him the opportunity to be with his partner. Michael put his hands over his face and rubbed it lightly. This was about the worst they could have run into, really, and he wasn't quite sure how to dig his partner out of the foxhole of paranoia he'd dug himself into.

With a sigh, he checked the time, then walked back down the sleeping quarters hallway and entered the one down from his. He walked up next to Chappie and put his hand on his shoulder lightly until the eyes snapped open and found him. When Chappie nodded, Michael moved back to let him up from his bed. As they stepped from the room, Michael indicated he could use the bathroom first if he wanted. As Chappie moved to go, he stopped. "It's Tetorō?" Michael nodded. "Get Gareth up, too."

Michael crossed the hallway and repeated the wake up sequence. Gareth was up quickly, a worried look on his face. When they hit the hall Michael told him Tetorō was still sleeping and this was just a conference. Gareth relaxed a bit and took his turn in the bathroom. As they turned to head out, there was suddenly a large presence behind them and two arms - not really as large as the presence itself - wrapped themselves around the shoulders of the two at the back. Very quietly, Naotsugu said, "So, where's this place you guys go to practice? I usually work out this time of morning and would love to join you." Michael looked back at him and nodded, leading the way.

The four spent the next hour working out physically and hashed out a plan to help guide Tetorō back to proper mental health, though they'd have to work around the rest of today. At the end of it all, Chappie put away his sword and sighed. "For all we're trying hard, though, don't expect it to work very well."

They looked at him, not understanding. "It's not Tetorō. I think this plan would help him just fine. ...It's Mister Nyanta. He's a psychologist. It's hard to not believe he knew exactly what he was doing." The chaplain took a breath. "He still meets with me, but I've been getting the sense lately that it's for form and appearance only. He knows exactly what to say, but it's not what's really in there lately. Something happened in the Gate of Time, is all I've been able to figure. He's not been straight since then."

"I would have to say that even for him he was less communicative when I picked him up. But, is it possible that it started before that, the stuff that got him put on probation in the first place?" Naotsugu asked. "That was odd behavior even for him, though I can understand being irritated with all the stuff going on. ...But he was able to joke about it on the way out..." He frowned, rubbing his shoulder absentmindedly where Michael had gotten in a blow during the practice. "Even so, Nyanta-san knows Tetorō's male from the beginning. It really is probably just him trying to say he wasn't going to be letting up on Purrcy and the damn female god hanging around." He heaved a huge sigh. "Like we need this kind of stuff added on top of being at the beginning of a dangerous level and with our parties divided."

Michael looked at Gareth, who was looking at him. "Division," Gareth said.

Michael nodded. "Why don't the rest of you head back. Gretchen will be needed soon and Naotsugu might get a pass because it's his pattern and we were with him, but he didn't get permission last night to come out this morning. I'm going to contact Shiroe."

Gareth started and stiffened, suddenly in a panic. He turned to Naotsugu. "Ah, you'll kill me. I need to tell you what I'm ordered to do and you have to let me do it. Miss Marielle was very angry with me last night until I promised I'd have Tetorō come explain, and she was unhappy even after that. I'd let you do it, since a husband at a lower level can if he wants to, but she's in training, and so are you, so I can't." He slumped in defeat and resignation. "God this is so difficult from the beginning and it only gets worse. I'm glad we go home soon."

"Today," Michael interjected. "Train arrived. That's why I was awake." _Everyone_ slumped in relief. Not having to spend one more night in this place would help nerves better than anything else that could be done. Michael slapped Gareth on the shoulder. "Tell him when you get there, just before you do it. If you talk it before you walk it then they know what to expect. You're running out of time to do it now, and she needs to hear it too." Gareth nodded and the three got walking.

As Michael watched them walk off, he suddenly realized that none of them was of rank to approve their being out...except him. He groaned and called them to wait for him. He was left with only being able to send a text to Shiroe.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mew were out this morning?" Nyanta asked at breakfast as he calmly sliced the breakfast ham on his plate. He'd arrived in the kitchen for cooking shortly after they'd arrived back in the suite.

"Naotsugu asked if he could keep up his routine and I was up anyway," Michael answered calmly. "I woke up two punching bags for us to take along so we could warm up before the boulder had to defend itself from the freight train. It was a good practice, though. I've been getting flabby from only watching everyone this whole week." He winked at Tetorō who had lifted his head to stare at him for negating all the beatings he'd been getting from Nyanta. Tetorō looked like he didn't know how to take that and Michael moved smoothly on. "I was up because I'd received word the train has arrived. They'll load it with product today and put it on the Ocypete. We need to be back today to be on board by six forty-five a.m. tomorrow." That news brought a bit of excitement to the room.

Nyanta nodded. "Very well. Meowrielle, we'll see to it mew have meowr meeting with Iselius this morning. Purrcy will go with mew and the maids, Michael-nyan, Meowtsugu, Schedules-nyan, and Training-nyan. I'll go and complete my negotiations with Records-nyan and Brenner-nyan. Because they've hosted us graciously, we must also repay the court. We'll hold a tea for them in the garden. I will expect all of mew to have the purroper refreshments ready and set out by tea time. I'll invite the appurropriate persons and arrive with them. We myay make our purroper farewells after the tea."

There were blinks around the table, then Marielle asked, very politely, "May we know a rough estimate of numbers of who may come?" They were relieved when Nyanta allowed that much and calculated for them. It was a rather high number, though.

Purrcy smiled. "It's good we have the best event planner in all of Akiba with us. I'm sure we'll be able to host a tea sufficiently. They are rather dull and boring after all, compared to the events Adventurers put on." She looked at Nyanta, "Unless you'd like for us to give it enough Adventurer flair to leave them on a slightly overwhelming and confusing note?"

Nyanta shook his head. "We myay keep to the noble art of European teas." Purrcy tipped her head in acknowledgement. While it was still a tall order, Purrcy's words helped everyone settle down a bit.

As the larger of the two groups headed for the location the messenger was leading them to meet with Iselius, Purrcy and Marielle put their heads together and came up with the menu. As questions came up, Purrcy very openly asked their messenger for the answer, expecting answers and receiving them, though on occasion it was an answer delayed. Marielle paid close attention to Purrcy's interactions with the messenger, then asked her own question in a similar manner.

In this way she was taught for the entire morning, though she was most finely her sunny self when they spoke with Iselius, charming him immensely. They quickly planned the general outline of the Maihama fashion show and Marielle promised she would put together the details and send them to him for his approval. He would have to acquire the personnel to put it together in Maihama, but she would arrive to supervise the actual models and the progress of the activity.

When all was settled, they chatted just a little longer pleasantly, then they made their farewells to Iselius and returned to the suite. Once there, everyone pitched in to cook and prepare the tea. Tea sets, food trays, plates and other dishes, and tables arrived from the castle kitchens and were set up in the garden by the castle servants, having been requisitioned through the messenger on the way to meet Iselius.

It was understood easily that Adventurers wouldn't have the numbers of dishes and such things available when they'd been traveling, or they would have had to bring an entire train of wagons as if they'd been moving in. While that was sometimes done for visits of state, such a large retinue would have been even more expensive for the Duke than they were willing to make him pay. He wasn't one of their vassals who needed restraining, as had been done in the past by kings and royals who visited in large numbers like that to drain the coffers of their potential rivals. They had imposed on him and of necessity had to impose just a little more and borrow his own dishes.

Other than that, they spent the time making the tea sandwiches in an assembly line and the light salads were handled quickly by hands well practiced to blades, though they used their smaller knives in the kitchen rather than the swords. In all, it ended up being a rather fun mid-day for being at the castle in comparison to what they'd been dealing with.

Marielle's sunny disposition and Naotsugu's steady calm helped lift them as well. That helped fortify them for the tea, and it went well for all of them. It didn't hurt that both sides were relieved that they would be gone after this. Eight days had been a long time to play at being high nobles under the constant judgmental eyes of those used to nobility from birth. If anything, it made them glad they were Adventurers who could merely enjoy pretending to be nobility - occasionally. They chose to not consider what it would mean if they had to remain on Theldesia and really fit into this kind of society.

When that was the summary Nyanta gave Shiroe that evening from the guild hall, and Michael confirmed when they finally talked, Shiroe felt an increase in the worry that Akatsuki's words had started in his belly. It felt like as they completed these quests that they were to teach them how to remain on this world, or were meant to keep them here regardless of their own wishes. He reviewed how everything they were doing fit into that pattern again, and in the dark of that night he was not pleased.

-:-:-:-:-

Earlier that day, Shiroe had been at another table to begin another negotiation, now his fourth on this journey. In this one, his experience with the Nakasu Defense Front was very minimal. He would only have his own experience as a negotiator to go on and, if he was lucky, his name and reputation from the gaming days. He didn't like to pull on the latter if he could help it, but in this case it might be the turning of the key to finding peace for the area.

He stood at one long side of the table until everyone arrived, giving them a more humble beginning since they were all strangers who he wanted to make into colleagues. When the five representatives of the NDF were present and seated across from him, Shiroe began. "Thank you for coming. My name is Shiroe, an Adventurer living in Akiba. I've come hoping to resolve the issues between you and Plant Hwayden, now that the guildmistress and her heavy hands have been removed from the guild. It was very unfortunate that such a thing happened so quickly when we arrived here after the catastrophe. I don't know if you know, but in Akiba we formed a Round Table Council of guilds to support the city and set up a few necessary laws to keep the peace and prevent abuse."

"When the guild and leadership structure of Minami changed, they asked me and a few other members of the Council to come help them get restructured so they could move forward in a better direction. They've been working hard for the last several months, trying to get things inside the city turned around for the betterment of the Adventurers and People of the Land both. Since they seemed to need a bit of help outside the city with the things that had been put into place by the previous leadership, I offered to come. I'd really like to see everyone get along, or at least not have us fighting each other. It's bad enough we have to fight the monsters and figure out how to deal with the People of the Land and a world not our own. I'm sure the last several years have been difficult for you. What can we do to help fix what was done?"

"Are they really just going to open their fists and let us walk away?" the man sitting directly across from him asked.

"May I ask your name?" Shiroe asked first, since it was polite to ask, not just read the status data.

"Brody Broadblade." He was a thin ritian with markings on the back of one hand and across the left part of his forehead, whose status said he was a Sorcerer, though he wore a sword on his belt. Shiroe was quite sure he used it regularly both to defend his ideals and his company. The Intelligence detail of the Eagles had already given Shiroe his name. Now that it was confirmed that's who he was talking to, negotiations could begin officially.

"The answer to your question, Mister Brody, is 'yes'." The entire group across the table was surprised by his answer, but remained suspicious. "I assume you've been working hard to be independent and have many ideas on how to maintain the peace in Nakasu yourselves; however, I don't want to just say that and walk away. Not if you're in any kind of need. That wouldn't be kind, either. The Adventurers of Akiba have let me know that if there's anything you need, they'd be happy to send it to you, once you're content you've received the main need." He pushed up his glasses mildly. "I assume that need is an apology and a promise that Plant Hwayden will actually leave you alone."

Brody was sitting upright in his chair, considering Shiroe carefully. "That would be a good start, yes. But a simple promise is air, easily broken."

"True," Shiroe nodded. He sat down. "I am the Scrivener of the East. What that means is that I can write high level contracts that are magically binding. When you and Plant Hwayden have agreed on the terms of the peace accord, I will scribe them. Upon being signed, they will be binding upon both parties. The promises will not be air only." With those words, the negotiation began in earnest.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was glad for the recess when the main negotiation was completed. He'd had to redirect them any number of times to what was reasonable and rational, since their completely understandable anger kept making them wander into the realm of ridiculous (must supply eight firedrakes to be used for such and such). It wasn't too surprising for Adventurers used to gaming, but he wanted them to understand that they were talking real life in this case. There was a dividing line that was important. There was also the matter of his own personal preference for simplicity. He'd finally been able to get that point across by pointing out that everyone in Nakasu was going to have to remember most seriously every point of the contract or it would be considered broken by the law and the magic and any penalty associated with it would apply to all the Adventurers in the city. They'd decided pretty quickly they didn't want to pay for one bad apple's decision and backed off to the basics for the rest of the negotiation.

KR had already officially apologized, and the draft statements of the contract were in Shiroe's file. Now he needed to craft the document. The delegates from the NDF had left to go have lunch, saying to each other on the way out that they'd be meeting with others of the group to tell them what had been done and said. Shiroe had assigned the juniors, who had spent that time investigating the city, to keeping track of KR and keeping him both out of trouble and protecting him because he had the Plant Hwayden guild tag. KR's task was to fetch together the guild members in and around Nakasu for their own education as to what was going on. Nakalnad had already given him stern instructions on what he was to tell them. Intelligence was scattered around the city, keeping tabs on the undercurrent, which should start bubbling in about fifteen to thirty minutes. H/R was watching over the juniors. Reed and Charlie were set up in a nearby cafe so they could come to him at a moment's notice if necessary, and to be central control for the rest in the city. Secretary and P/R were his visible guards, though they were background support, watching over the door and to keep the peace if necessary, though so far it hadn't been.

Shiroe pulled out his scribing tools, but before he could set them out for comfortable writing, a plate of warm food and a cup of tea appeared in front of him. "Please eat first, my lord," Akatsuki said quietly. "You will both lose yourself for quite some time, and you will be using up your HP and MP. It would be better to start strong."

Shiroe blinked, then nodded. "Please join me so your own mind will stay sharp as well. I know it's very dull and boring to watch a man hunch over a piece of paper for hours."

"You don't take hours to write contracts like this one," she smiled at him and sat down with her own plate and teacup. "And I like to watch you work."

"I've always wondered why you sit in my office for hours in the monotonous silence," he teased her. "Surely I'm not that entertaining." She blushed, like he knew she would and he smiled at her.

They ate fairly quickly and she left the table, taking the dishes up, to let him work. A few times there was noise from the doorway, indicating that someone had come, but he wasn't personally interrupted, indicating it hadn't been critical and Akatsuki had handled it. When he finally put down the phoenix feather pen he used for high level documents and stretched out his arms over his head, flexing his fingers, Akatsuki was standing nearby waiting for him. She stayed silent until he'd cleaned up everything but the contract, pen, and ink pot, all of which he set properly in position for the signing. Then thinking better of just leaving them out, he put them all as one grouping into his list. It would look just as neat when they came out again. Then he sat back and looked at Akatsuki. "Who came?"

"Brody came by a few times. He would like to visit with you before the signing, he says 'unofficially'."

Shiroe nodded. He'd already put Brody in his friend list. "Mister Brody, it's Shiroe. I can visit with you now, if you like."

"Ahhh...okay. I'll be right there." Likely he'd been surprised that Shiroe had been as thorough as to friendlist him before he'd walked out the door.

While they waited for Brody to arrive, Secretary cast a combination HP/MP healing spell on Shiroe and followed it up with another boost of MP. Shiroe felt better after that by quite a bit. This scroll hadn't taken as much to write as the one he'd written for Minami since that had two lines of difficult world magic in it, but it was still region level magic. He'd taken a little extra long to physically write it, comparing to see if the time aspect counted for his kind of magic like the Hacker magic did. He thought it might have some effect. It had worked somewhat similarly with the two lines of world magic that he had spent so many hours crafting in his head first before writing them down in Minami.

Akatsuki handed him a container of water and he drank it down, thanked her, and gave it back. Brody arrived and was allowed in this time. He strode up to the table, on the other side again, then paused uncertainly. Becoming used to guessing ages, just that much made Shiroe place him in the average age range of gamer, most likely eighteen to twenty-two. Just enough to be beginning to fight for his own independence, but not experienced enough to know quite how to handle it. While surely the last two-plus years had helped hone some of that, it had been in the wilds of the Ninetails Dominion, not the modern Japan it should have been. It was for this reason Shiroe had made the offer early that he wouldn't just leave them. They needed to have a truly stable base for this city before he left it so it could move forward in a rational and real way. He smiled kindly. "What can I do for you, Mister Brody?"

"Die."

"Why?" he raised a mild eyebrow.

"You've all left us here too long."

"I would admit that having to be here on Theldesia for over two years is too long, yes." He gauged the young man in front of him and decided to wait.

"Why didn't you come before, if you knew we were struggling with them?"

"We couldn't. Their stranglehold on Westlande and the passages between Akiba and Nakasu meant as much death or imprisonment for anyone not of Plant Hwayden from the north as it did from here. We had to work very hard to keep them from taking over Eastal. I did do what I could for the dissidents in Minami, though, and they are who finally took down the guildmistress and her supporters in the Ten Seat Council. I've come as soon as I could after that."

He waited while Brody swallowed that bitter pill, accepted it, and moved on. "What are you going to do next?"

"Help you in whatever way you need." Brody scowled slightly. Shiroe leaned forward. "Brody, is there a governing body ready to step in and take the place of the rule of Plant Hwayden?"

Brody shook his head unhappily. "No. We've just been angry and fighting back. We know we want to just live in peace and play the game until we can go home - and we all want to go home sooner than later at this point."

"Please, sit down," Shiroe motioned and Brody sat directly across from him again, perched on the edge of his seat. "You've come as the voice of the Nakasu Defense Front. Will they continue to listen to you after today? And do the ones that aren't part of the Front also listen to you, even if they disagree?"

Brody fidgeted a bit, then sighed. "They do, but I think it's just because I'm the most forceful about it all. I'd like to stop shouting and go play now, too."

"...But?"

Brody slumped. "I've been doing this for two years now. I might not know a lot, but I have learned that if there isn't anyone around to keep people moving in the right direction, they get lost and start fighting between themselves instead of doing useful things." He wrinkled his nose. "I'm sure I'm not the right person, but someone should probably be around to make sure things..." He trailed off and looked away, then said, "I'd like to see something like your Round Table, where enough of us can work together to keep things going well and so that we don't get another horrible person making us do all this again." He looked at his hands and pursed his lips, then said, "I was just talking to the ones who've been the most into getting their freedom - like me - and none of them wants to help."

Shiroe sighed lightly and sat back. "How many guilds are there, or were before Plant Hwayden?"

"A few."

"Are the guildmasters still here?"

He shrugged. "Where else would they go?"

"Go call them together and I'll meet with them and with you. Maybe they'll be willing to step back up again and help. Guildmasters become that because they care about people and about them having a good time together. They also learn the skills necessary to keep people working together. It's difficult sometimes for them to work together because the different guilds have different purposes or ideals, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it for them all to try. It does help to have one person they can all turn to in the end to make a final decision once the discussion is done or things might not get resolved and moving forward, but just being willing to work together is a lot better than everyone fending for themselves."

Brody was nodding in agreement with the sentiment. "Alright. I'll go see who I can find that will come. Should we do the signing before then or after?"

"After. If those who will be the leaders don't understand or agree, then we haven't started right. Of course, this isn't setting the laws of the city, so it's a little less important that they agree with everything in it. And Brody," he checked the progress of the already moving young man, "if there is someone who was running things in Nakasu from within Plant Hwayden who really understands how to keep things together and moving forward, please don't shut that person out. Even that one is having a rough time right now. There's no one to support him or her from Minami and you don't need a war in the city after I leave. This contract won't be binding in the same way for them. They're also citizens of Nakasu. Even if you don't like them or trust them, sometimes we have to work with people we consider enemies in order to have the peace we want. Remember the United Nations of Earth. A lot of ambassadors sat in those negotiation rooms that came from countries at war with each other and that was the only thing that kept the wars of words and posturing from becoming wars of guns and bombs."

Shiroe added one more thing to help him get over that sticky issue. "Besides, we've all proven it over and over when we go on raids. Working together doing hard things and winning in the end regardless of the cost breaks down barriers and makes us understand how to work with people of all kinds. We don't have to like the Cleric that just healed us - we just have to protect him so we can stay alive to win. He didn't have to heal us, but if he hadn't even he would have died when that blow came. That's how governance works, too." Brody understood. He nodded and walked out the door. Shiroe sighed. So far things were moving forward positively. "Intelligence, report." By now the city as a whole would be ringing with the news of the peace agreement and starting to react to it. He hoped the direction would remain positive.

-:-:-:-:-

Next was the general meeting with those who had been the leadership of Plant Hwayden in Nakasu. For all Shiroe had told Brody to fetch the person in charge, that one was already on his way, summoned by KR. It was as much an interview of that person and the few others that were his direct reports as it was a meeting to explain exactly what had gone on in Minami and what it meant for them in Nakasu. Just like before in Minami, he was careful to slowly let the Plant Hwayden people understand that they weren't in charge any more, but that it meant they could go out and play again instead of beat their heads against the requirements placed on them.

Those who really needed to just be in charge or be bullies, KR ordered to return to Minami for reassignment. It would be easier to keep them reigned in there. A lot of them, once they got used to the idea, would stay and start playing, including a set who had found a natural resource in the area they were enjoying working and experimenting with.

That was a side benefit that would be helpful to the city as a whole. Shiroe encouraged them to create a department or to reguild and sell their products and set up an extra meeting with them on the side for the next day to see what they were doing. If they could take some of the product with them on the merchant trip that would be particularly of benefit to the city.

In the end he was able to find one department head that was reasonable, fairly accepting of the changes, and had that tired look about her that said she was used to putting in the hours necessary to see that her department moved the way it should. Shiroe almost laughed when it was the Chief of Police. Somehow they did seem the most responsible in the end.

Shiroe kept her back when the others left, though KR remained this time. "So...I have a proposition for you, Kiara, now that our goal is to keep as many people out of the prison as possible." She looked at him and nodded. "How would you like to change jobs and not have to spend time on manhunts?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "You do know that people will still do stupid stuff?"

"Sure," he agreed, "but that's small fry stuff, and once things are rolling, they'll do a lot of self-policing." He leaned his chin on his hand. "I'd like to assign you to be the Plant Hwayden representative on the governing board of Nakasu when it's formed in the next few hours or so. You can keep doing policing, too. It's a necessary function of a city government, after all, but you won't have to focus everything on just that. You've got a good set of deputies, one in particular that knows his stuff pretty good and already supports you well. Set him up in your office over there and you come here."

She looked at Shiroe tiredly. "You know that's more work, right?"

Shiroe shook his head. "No, it's not, not really. It won't be just you, and you won't be in charge of it all. A city isn't run by only one person carrying it all. You know that. Some of the ones who will end up on the board don't, or realize it and have already asked for the help. We all know that if there isn't a Plant Hwayden representative on the governing body there will be reverse discrimination pretty quickly, and then your cells will be full all over again - or the prison will be burned to the ground which isn't useful either. I think you have the qualifications to be that representative. Will you do it?" He gave her time to think about it, asking her to stay around the building so they could let her know when the first exploratory meeting would begin. She wouldn't have to decide until that meeting.

That much done felt good, and nothing awful was coming in yet on the reports going to Charlie that Shiroe was now listening to on an open chat line to the guild party. Shiroe stood, stretched and held out his hand. Akatsuki's smaller, warm hand entered his and he clasped it tightly for just one moment. They walked out of the room in companionable silence. He walked them out to the exterior entryway of the government building of Nakasu and stood on the top step with her, the two guards behind them. He watched the people walking around the central square for a while, just getting the feel of the atmosphere and enjoying standing outside for a bit, then he nodded. When Akatsuki shifted slightly, he held on a little tighter to her hand. She didn't need to leave for this.

The television screens in the square and around the city came to life. They weren't used much in Nakasu, but it being a tributary of Minami it had them. Charlie gave the countdown on the guild chat and Shiroe smiled. "Citizens of Nakasu, hello. My name is Shiroe. I've come from Akiba. I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your return to being your own free Adventurer city."

"We of Akiba wish to extend to you the hand of friendship. We've been working together with others of the city to create a positive peaceful alliance between all the Adventurer cities of Yamato with the ultimate goal to be finding the way home to Earth. We are all tired of being here and wish to return to our families and lives left behind. I'm pleased to tell you that in the last half year there have been a few very hopeful and positive steps to reaching that goal. We've learned some things about this world and how we got here that are pointing the way back home in ways we only hoped to find a year ago." He had the rapt attention of every Adventurer in the city, and those who didn't know were being called to and running to get where they could see the screens. He paused to let more of them do just that. He needed to talk to all of them.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe had barely sat back to the table again, a tea cup appearing in Akatsuki's hand to give him, when Brody came running into the room. He slammed his hands down on the table across from Shiroe and stared at him. "You're not kidding us are you? You've really made real progress on getting us home?"

Shiroe smiled. "No, I'm not, and yes, we have. It's my personal goal - to get us all home. There are a number of us working on it together and we make little bits of progress all the time, but it's like I said - there are things we're going to have to all work together on to get there."

"I'm going," Brody said definitively. "I'll come back here and work hard, but I've got to go and help. I'm going with you to China. If that will help me get back home," tears welled up in his eyes, then began to spill over, "then I'm going."

Shiroe nodded. "You can go, but you should know that Nakalnad, the former General and current guildmaster of Plant Hwayden is also going. He has the most experience with these dungeons. He'll be running it, though I'll be the strategist. Can you do that?"

"If he's still there, then he was willing to make changes for the better. I can do that." Brody said it calmly and firmly.

"Good," Shiroe nodded. "We won't leave here until the city government is set and things are stable enough that it won't fall apart. I'm hopeful that's in two days, maybe three."

Brody stood up straight, placed his arms at his side, and bowed formally. "Thank you, Shiroe-sempai."

Shiroe nodded. "It's my pleasure. ...Were you able to find and convince any guildmasters to come?"

Brody was startled for a second, then smiled. "They're coming behind me and should be here soon. I couldn't wait to talk to you. They weren't too sure, but when we stopped to watch your broadcast, that made them a lot more interested in at least coming to meet you."

"Please sit there," he pointed at the seat across from him. This time, he was in the head seat. Brody sat, then looked around at the table arrangement with a little concern. "Kiara, please sit at Brody's right," Shiroe invited her. She'd been standing in the room, waiting.

Kiara gave Shiroe a little look, but he knew she recognized Brody. He'd been the number one wanted man for a long time now. Brody himself was looking suddenly like a viper was arriving too close to him. She looked back at him with a dry, resigned look. "He's assigned me to be the Plant Hwayden representative and told me to give my junior the desk job, though this will probably be a worse desk job."

Brody blinked. "Well, he did warn me that I'd have to work with someone I probably wouldn't trust." He sighed. "But really, I do trust you. I trust you to do exactly what needs to be done, and with great efficiency. It was really hard to hide from you when you came out yourself to find me. Everyone else was lazy. ...Well, except your junior. I'd rather you sat there than him. He's a bulldog that won't let go. You'd at least back off enough to make it look like you were done looking before springing the trap and let me breathe a little."

Shiroe, who wasn't looking directly at either one of them but was paying attention, caught a little bit of a blush on Kiara's cheeks. He glanced at Akatsuki and directed her attention to Kiara. After a bit, Akatsuki looked back at Shiroe her eyes wide. He gave a little raise of his eyebrow and a nod. She gave a faint smile and shook her head, then gave a somewhat definitive nod. He returned to his own thoughts. That was sufficient. The two at the top would do just fine. He let the invited guildmasters settle themselves around the table where they would, knowing that where that was the first time would tell him as much about them as their words. Both Kiara, and KR sitting on Shiroe's right and laughing at him, were given looks and an extra seat of space, but neither of them let it bother them.

When things seemed settled, Shiroe asked, "Is this everyone?" Brody nodded, so he continued. "Brody, will you please make the introductions and then let everyone know what you're thinking?" He was pleased when Brody took to his lessons of the afternoon quite well and was as natural a leader as he didn't know he was. Brody and one other guildmaster signed the peace agreement for the Nakasu Defense Front and independent Adventurer side. KR and Kiara signed it for the Plant Hwayden side and it was passed to Shiroe. He reviewed it quickly one last time, set his intention firmly in mind, then signed it as well.

The contract disappeared in a towering shower of light, like they all did for some reason when they were high level spell scrolls. In the fading light, he saw a circular thing where the scroll had been. He snatched it off the table and set it in his lap. He gripped the narrow metal tightly in his hands, then it was in his item list. He didn't want it and wasn't pleased with it at all. That wasn't what he was and wasn't why he'd done all this. It was, in fact, the antithesis of what he was and his intentions. But he couldn't throw it away, and he couldn't return it. That's not how quest rewards worked. He ground his teeth slightly, then set the frustration aside. There were other things to be doing right now.

-:-:-:-:-

One more scroll later, and the government of the city of Nakasu was set up. Brody had wanted to call the governing body the Ambassadors of Nakasu and no one had complained. Shiroe had all of the members sign that document - not including himself or KR since it wasn't their city - and it too went up in golden light, though not so tall or brilliant since it was only for the city. When that was completed, Shiroe stood up and KR stood with him. "We'll leave you to it," Shiroe said. "Get to know one another and talk about what you'd like to see for the city - the fun activities and the serious needs. Remember that everyone really wants to have fun and do things they think are worthwhile. Our first and favorite things are city-wide festivals."

KR nodded. "You're all welcome to come up for the Winter Festival in Minami. We've already invited all of Akiba and are working hard to plan a lot of fun things. We had a lot of fun at their Autumn Festival."

"We'll still be here tomorrow for sure, so when you've settled down on a few things you think should be done soon, give me a call and I'll come back and sit with you again, but I think you'll all do just fine together from here on out." Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "You've got a really good start. Keep up the good work." He gave a nod to Brody and headed out the door, his people in tow, to join Charlie and Reed at the cafe and relax for the evening.

Slowly the rest of the guild trickled in to sit with them as well. It had been a good day - a good thing for Shiroe's nerves given the last several. About the time he was wondering what they were doing in Maihama and was being tempted to read the history on Purrcy, Nyanta called in to report from Akiba. That was a better solution. When Shiroe was ready for bad news after that, he took a deep breath, reached for Akatsuki's hand, and contacted Michael.

When that conversation was over, he sighed sadly and looked at Akatsuki, shaking his head. "The damage done to Tetorō was more than I expected. He had bad history that interfered. Michael and the others are going to do their best to help him recover, but I'm also going to have to reconsider some of my plans, I think, and," he leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, "the interfering division monster is back again and in their sub-group, they think. Watch for it and see if you agree." She nodded soberly.


	95. Marquis Code

The Akiba Dock was a bustling, noisy mass of Adventurers, with a few People of the Land thrown in for good measure. Isaac was there with his raid members, excited to be getting out and into action again. Rieze was standing with him to admonish him yet again to bring Crusty back so she could beat him up. Isaac laughed at her and shoved her off the pier to a great splash, then headed up the gangplank with his crew. "He's not going to come at all if I tell him that. Get yourself together before we get back or he'll run again!" he called down to her from the top rail of the Ocypete.

She glared at him while wringing her hair out. "Get back down here and I'll kill you instead!" she retorted.

"Not doin'," Isaac stuck out his tongue and walked off to get his assigned berth and see if he could track down anyone from Log Horizon to bug so they couldn't get any work done. Most of the people already on board were from Minami, having put the train on the day before. They'd played in town, but most hadn't bothered to sleep anywhere else. It was a pain to wake up that early, and even earlier if they had to walk to the port. They'd just played until four in the morning, then walked to the ship and crashed on it, splayed out anywhere. It wasn't like they couldn't camp out on the ship just like they did in any given zone. The first one Isaac found, therefore, was Nakalnad, standing at the bay side of the ship, slightly scowling at it. "Hey," Isaac said, resting back against the railing next to him. "You decided to come yourself, then?"

Nakalnad looked at him, nodded, and went back to looking out at the water, slightly white with an early morning mist. "Need the vacation."

"Tell me about it," Isaac agreed. "We almost fought with swords instead of rock-paper-scissors just for the right to get out of town instead of sit behind the desks any longer."

Nakalnad's shoulders tensed slightly, then relaxed as he sighed. "Yeah. Machiavelli bullied me into it, but it's still not something I would have turned down. I knew plenty about running a guild, but running something as big as Plant Hwayden is insane." He looked up into the sky, just beginning to turn orange, gold, and pink with sunrise. "I have _no_ idea how - or even why - Indicus thought she wanted to do it and control it to the extent she did. From my perspective, you guys have a lot more fun, even you on the council, than I've got it over there. The legacy's hard to maintain, even in the new shape Shiroe gave it."

Isaac looked out over the people still entering the ship in droves, like a multitude of ants marching onto a plate full of honey across the three small sticks that were the gangplanks onto the ship. "Well, it's a lot of work, to be sure, but since we're a little more into letting everyone govern themselves unless we have to step in to make corrections it's not so bad. We guildmasters keep the guilds in line and that's the majority of the city right there. You're the one and only guildmaster of the one and only guild and the head seat so you've got it all on your own shoulders. I know Shiroe was thinking of having you break Plant Hwayden down into the old guilds it used to be. You could still do that if you wanted to - then you could have a council of guildmasters. They wouldn't mind being the next level down from the Ministry, kind of like a senate or something, I would think. At least, I know I wouldn't if it was considered an advisory board and my people under me got to be happy with me running things just for the guild. That's kind of what we are now, anyway, except we have more work. There's no one above us to whine at, where they'd get to whine at you." He looked over with a grin at his tease.

Nakalnad rolled his eyes at Isaac. "If it would cut down on the shouting in the city streets, I might just go for a council of whiners instead."

Isaac was a little concerned. "Are you still getting resistance?"

Nakalnad sighed. "Not much, not really. It's just they can't all get to me to whine, so they shout from a distance, so to speak. ...Maybe if there was one more level in between they would be happier, too." He stood up straight, his hands on the railing now instead of his elbows. "Well, I'll talk to the rest of the Ministry and see what they think. We're probably about at the point where we can make that change. Shiroe did talk to us about it, but we wanted to postpone it with so many drastic changes at once already happening that day and the next. It didn't seem reasonable to completely break everything all at once."

Isaac nodded. "Makes sense."

"Everyone, good morning!" The bright and cheerful voice was being amplified so it took a moment of scanning to find the felinoid the voice belonged to standing on the upper steerage deck.

"So she's coming with us from here?" Nakalnad asked Isaac. Isaac shrugged. It was rather obvious at this point.

"Thank you for coming to join us on our quest. Since I'm the quest giver, I thought I'd better at least let you know how much I appreciate your willingness to go help our compatriots over in China. And for those of you just here for the merchant quest, may the gods of money and prosperity travel with you. We all know that international trade is the biggest source of income we could get. At the very least we hope you will all have fun getting to explore places you might not have gotten to go to before and meeting people from different parts of the world. Shiroe says, 'Let's all show the world that Yamato and Japan are the best places to live and extend to everyone the hand of camaraderie. We are all Adventurers here together with common goals.' ...Or at least he'd say something similar to that if he had the capacity to be like Marielle, since she's the one who told me to say that to you." There was laughter from the Akiba Adventurers.

"So you have a rough idea of what's going to happen for the next little bit: we'll be casting off in about ten minutes and sailing around to Nakasu, which has just yesterday been given its independence from Minami with Shiroe as negotiator between the two. We've got to pick him up since we need him for the Maze of Eternity. He says he has a few party members who will come with from there, so this will be the first all-Yamato quest we've ever done. - Speaking of which I'd like to welcome Nakalnad and his group from Minami and the group who came down from Susukino. We're glad to have all of you. Introduce yourselves and get comfortable with each other. We'll need to be ready to hit the Maze of Eternity pretty quickly once we get there. The word is the Overwritten are into the second level already and marching pretty steadily forward since they can throw a lot of low and mid level Overwritten monsters at it. We'll be playing catch up, and having to mow through those same mobs since I don't think they'll let us walk through the rooms they cleared as empty rooms." There were groans.

Purrcy nodded. "Yeah, no fun, but we know how to make it so they can't come back now. The more of them we purify the fewer will come back down later. ...Speaking of which, if you didn't get the opportunity to have a weapon blessed, Yuudai's coming with us. He'll be on the rear deck wearing himself out helping you take care of that. If there's anyone from Minami or Susukino who's interested in helping him out and becoming the priest of your hometown so you can bless weapons for your fellow citizens, get in touch with him and he'll tell you what it entails. I'm sure he'd love the help. There's a lot of us here today."

"We should be at Nakasu in about twenty-four hours, no time at all really. We'll have a layover overnight and leave the next day, but Shiroe will call the timing after we get there. Then it should be about another day to the China coast, but we can't get off the ship, I'm told, until the Shangtzi port authority lets us. So hold out on disembarking until we've got the go ahead. Then we'll get on the road as soon as we can, I suspect. If you want to tour Nakasu, there may be some time, but if we send out the call to return to the ship and you don't, your loss. You just got signed on as a new ambassador there until you can figure out how to get home, or we get back from the raid to drop off those we're picking up tomorrow." She paused and her ears turned as if listening to one of the people around her on the upper deck. It was pretty much the usual - Nyanta, Naotsugu, Tetorō, and Michael.

"They're looking rather like strong arms today, aren't they?" Nakalnad commented neutrally.

"Does it seem so?" Isaac answered just as neutrally. "I wonder where the blackbirds are? She's usually got four of them, too." His eyes searched that deck, then above and below it. He managed to catch a couple of them hiding in both places. "Yeah, they aren't letting up on the protection racket, are they?" He sighed. It looked like it might be just as hard to crack into a spot next to her even on this trip, when she should be close enough to be at least a little accessible.

"You want to break into that?" Nakalnad asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm just curious," Isaac shrugged. "She's a puzzle that's moved a lot of pieces in a short time. What little contact I've had she's been an intriguing sparing partner. The trouble is, it's always really brief. I'd like to nail her down longer and try to understand just how that puzzle works. I might understand why she's moving pieces, then."

Nakalnad gave him a look, almost impatient. "Wasn't it enough, that they explained her at the joint meeting as a Game Moderator?"

Isaac laughed. "She's not. I can tell that much. She's different and more than that. The feel is more like that of the Game Developer or Game Master - you know, the one who gives the quests and helps move things along - like these we're on today. Shiroe's just the lead player, not the GM like they said. They keep her hidden when she's in town - or guarded like that constantly so no one can get to her. I've gotten to bully my way into the guild once when they were on down time, and even that was hyper on drama, though they claimed it wasn't normal." Isaac shook his head. "No, she's a quest in herself and it's got my dungeon questing interest."

He sighed, looking at the guards again. "I suppose that's why they guard her, or one reason anyway. Shiroe's the Strategist on that campaign and we all have to see it as it unfolds or we'll explode his careful planning." Isaac mused on that for a bit, then relented. "Well, damn. I guess I'll have to settle for a cup of tea after all when it's over or she's got the time. He's already told us - at that same meeting - what the drop is." Nakalnad looked at him curiously, though he'd only been paying polite attention up until then, not as interested in the topic. Isaac raised his eyebrow. "You don't remember? It's going home."

Nakalnad's face went to one of understanding. "Yeah...better not mess with that game, then."

"Nope. I'm one that wants to go back when we can." Nakalnad nodded and they watched as the Log Horizon contingent walked off the balcony and back into the command and steerage room. A few minutes later the whistle on the Ocypete blew three long blasts and the crew started the cast off sequence. As the last gangplank was slid up onto the ship and stowed, steam rose up from the paddle wheel casings and the paddle wheels began to slowly turn, slowly increasing in speed as the shore began to move away, then drift past them. In another couple of minutes they were out of the river and into the bay. They turned for the south and the entrance to the Yamato Sea. People of the Land children ran along the shore and waved. A number of Adventurers waved back.

It wasn't long before they were drifting past the Cinderella Castle of Maihama. "Hey," Isaac commented, his brain moving forward to where they were going next, "did she remember to warn everyone about the sea monsters? I wonder if they took them into account in the timing?"

Nakalnad looked at him wide-eyed, then began laughing. "Sounds like good warm-up material. Shall we go find the Susukino lead and plan our defense?"

"Sure. I'm sure I'd rather at least meet him before we run into one - which should be about five minutes or less outside the mouth of the bay. So, we've got about...ten to fifteen minutes."

" _Sht._ " Nakalnad tossed his head as he turned to lead Isaac into the ship to look for the leader of the Susukino raid party. "Piece of cake." Isaac laughed. It was going to be a fun trip.

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy was trying to be a turtle hiding in his shell for the fourth time that morning. His shoulders were hunched up as if trying to hide his ears, and his head was pulled into them in a funny way. Shiroe finally clapped him on the shoulder. "Is that because you've actually seen them, or because you're feeling them?"

Rudy jumped and looked up at him. "Eh?" He took a breath, blinked, then said, "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

Shiroe sighed. They'd been walking the markets of Nakasu as a group today so they could get a feel for the city now that they'd had a night to recover and see life in a new morning. His other motive was completely related to Rudy, and was why they were all as a group today instead of separated into the pairs. He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "It would help me if you could point them out _before_ they decide they're ready to ambush us." He gave Rudy his worst glare of impatience. The boy immediately pointed to two o'clock from their current facing. "And the count?" Shiroe asked before turning to look at them.

"It was five. Now it's ten and they look like they're waiting on a few more."

Shiroe glared at him even more. "It would have helped if you'd said so at five, you know."

Rudy slumped, then sighed. "Well...I really did hope they'd just go away. ...I'm sorry."

Shiroe turned to take a look. It was a rather odd group, but also just like one would expect. A few men dressed up in wealth and a larger number of men with weapons and the expressions of cutthroats, thieves, and bullies. "Really, though, they can't compete," Rudy said from his shoulder. "They'd have to have Adventurers with them to even consider it a beginning of a possibility."

Shiroe nodded, "Likely that's what they're waiting on. There might be someone in the city they could hire."

" _Might?!_ " Touya stared at him astonishment. "After seeing your face on the screens yesterday, there's not likely any Adventurer that'd agree to it after seeing who they'd been hired to go up against."

Shiroe just looked at him. "Maybe." With a sideways glance at Akatsuki, he said, "Slip over and listen in." She disappeared. He moved to the chat function, "And get ready to Summon Purrcy. I want to resolve it with words. If they won't listen to me, they'll listen to her."

He got back a quiet, " _Mm_."

He called Nyanta. "We're about to make contact. When Purrcy's Summoned, I want her here immediately, and I'll just keep her here with me until you get here."

"Certainly, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta answered calmly.

Shiroe paused before cutting the line, then asked, "Everything going okay so far?"

"Yes," Nyanta answered. "Everyone arrived just fine and they're getting to know each other quite well purracticing on sea monsters."

"Excellent," Shiroe answered. "We'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Tomorrow," Nyanta agreed and Shiroe felt more comfortable about cutting the line then.

Shiroe looked at the twins and Isuzu. "You'll keep Rudy surrounded so they can't lay hands on him and drag him off. I've got the Eagles surrounding the area already and they'll be the back up." Those who could see the group of men turned their eyes to look, stood a little straighter and moved slightly closer around Rudy. Shiroe prepared himself and turned to stare into the eyes of the nobleman moving to stand to face him. He had proud features that weren't unlike Rudy's, with the curly blonde hair as well. Just behind him was another noble companion, though he had dark brown wavy hair and stood a little stockier.

"He points me out to you and then you turn your back to me?" The sneer mocked Shiroe.

He didn't let it bother him. "I shouldn't?" Shiroe asked, slightly lifting an eyebrow.

"No, you shouldn't. I am the Governor of the Ninetails Dominion. If you want to have any dealings with the People of the Land, you'll have to come to me."

Shiroe chose to look puzzled. "Well, usually it's the People of the Land that approach the Adventurers first for dealings and such."

"Well, that's not how it works here," the man growled and stuck out his chest self-importantly.

"I see. ...But, you did approach me first...? I have no idea what you wanted, or why, so likely I wouldn't have approached you at all." He furrowed his brow. "Does that mean that the People of the Land can't even request an Adventurer to help them get rid of specific monsters? I'm sure the Adventurers rarely have a need to approach a Person of the Land, except for those that run market stalls." He put a finger to his cheek and looked up, musing. "Or, perhaps, to hire a maid or a cook or some such...but," he pushed up his glasses, "I'm not interested in doing that either. I already have excellent help in all departments from my own guild members. It seems to me," he looked around the nobleman to scan the bully men behind him, "that you have to hire out just about everything?" He got good scowls for that one, and claimed his satisfaction points. "Well, I suppose since I am one who should be approached by others, I'll let you tell me what it is you wanted to request."

It took the man a few moment to gather his wits about him, which was a bit of a testament to some breeding. "I've come to collect what's ours."

"Oh? Have I done dealings with you before, that I've already accepted a quest and forgotten it? Perhaps you could tell me your name and that might help me remember."

The young man looked impatient, then flipped his hair and struck a pose. " _I_ am ... the Marquis Code!"

Shiroe tried hard to not look disappointed. "Oh. Well. No, I don't think I've accepted a quest from you at all. I'm sure I haven't got anything of yours. ...And are you really sure you're Marquis Code?" The young man looked startled, but insisted he was. "Hmm...well, perhaps we should confirm that with someone who I can trust. Akatsuki!"

She appeared suddenly, bowed in front of him on one knee, a fist on the ground. Her black outfit, long hair pulled back in a ponytail, short sword by her side made her look exactly like an assassin - or a messenger to a high lord. "My Liege."

"Summon Lady Purrcy."

"Yes, my lord." She placed her hand over her heart and there was a sudden swirl of air next to her.

Purrcy appeared dressed in a gown of excellent construction, perfectly suited for a day at a high court. She curtsied before Shiroe. "My lord. Congratulations on the successful peaceful uniting of all the cities of the Adventurers of Yamato. You are truly most talented. The delegations from all of the others should be arriving tomorrow morning, no later than midday. How may I serve?"

Shiroe let his mouth quirk up in a smile, as if pleased by her words, though really he was trying not to laugh. She'd played it most well, her entrance. "Wonderful. The new Council is looking forward to meeting with everyone and Brody says he'll come along himself to the continent. He's quite a charming fellow, really. He and the representative of Plant Hwayden are both doing quite well at planning how to run the city. I'm quite pleased."

"Excellent!" Purrcy's eyes sparkled, though she kept a humble demeanor. "The Head of Plant Hwayden, General Nakalnad will be most pleased. He and General Isaac have been having a wonderful time getting to know the General sent down from Susukino and are looking forward to meeting Mister Brody. I've sent General Michael to begin to integrate the new mages a little better. They've been a little chaotic against the sea monsters during the integration exercises. Since he's already experienced with handling large numbers of them in battle, I thought perhaps he might be a welcome member at the strategy table. But, I'm rattling on when you've called me for a specific purpose. Forgive me," she dipped her head.

Shiroe waved a hand, then pointed with it to the young man in front of him. "You've said you've been everywhere on Yamato. I was hoping you could confirm for me if this was the Marquis Code, Governor of Ninetails Dominion?"

Purrcy turned to face the man who was starting to sweat just a little, the sheen on his face shining lightly. He tried his best to keep a proud look, however the dark haired man behind him was giving him a slightly impatient look. Shiroe caught the look that passed between that one and the unsavory types but ignored it for now. Purrcy's tail was twitching slightly and she had a look of distaste on her face. "No, Lord Shiroe. This is the Marquis' second son. The man with him is his assigned aide and guardian." Speaking directly to the young man, she said, "Does your father know that you've decided on your own to affect a coup against him?"

The man paled, then flushed red. "I'm doing no such thing. He's asked me to come and collect Rundelhaus and test this one." He waved a hand at Shiroe, who raised an eyebrow to be addressed so.

"Test? Test?" Purrcy's whiskers were quivering and her tail had stiffened. "The Marquis will be so bold as to test the _Archmage_ Shiroe?! Or is it your own unintelligent play? Surely a second son who will cavort about with unsavory men, presume his father's title, and deign to test such an august person is one who refused to attend to his lessons properly to set such a poor example of his own house. Surely the Princess Raynessia Cowen has done much better to have already been the welcome Ambassador of the Free League of Cities to the Archmage's own city Akiba for the last two years, and at the tender age of fifteen even."

"Lady Purrcy, surely they must try to understand me before knowing how to approach me," Shiroe calmed her and appeased the young Code at the same time. "I haven't been here since long before the catastrophe. So many things changed at that time, perhaps they were concerned I might have as well. ...And we have had one excellently trained member of the House of Code present in Akiba this whole time as well. Surely the Marquis shouldn't be judged only based on this one, second son." Shiroe turned to the man. "Please go and inform your father that we've accepted his invitation and will be following you there shortly."

The young man stood there with his mouth gaping open. Shiroe waited. Suddenly there were five snaps and five men crying out in pain and cursing. Purrcy's eyes were angry, her whiskers back. "Children who can't keep their hands to themselves need to be punished until they learn it properly." Shiroe turned to see that five of the cutthroats had moved in on the juniors and were now holding various parts of their bodies. It had sounded like a more powerful version of her Sparkshe used to punish others with.

"I do believe you've not been given permission to take that which is mine." He turned back to the second son, "However, you may reassure your father that I will bring him with me. Or do you plan on standing there all day like a confused mule?"

The man jumped. "Ah...um...that will do then. I'll just go tell Father what's happened here this morning."

"Excellent," Shiroe answered and he darted off. The aide waved the cutthroats off and followed his lord. Shiroe and his guild stared the cutthroats down until they decided they'd rather not take the punishment for no payout and slinked off. "Wonderful entrance, Purrcy. It's good to see you again. It was a true report?"

"Yes, Shiroe," she answered properly. "What Lady lies merely to stroke the back of the man she talks to?"

"Ah, no offence was intended," he apologized immediately. She curtsied slightly, letting it go. He was glad. Probably every lady on the planet except Purrcy would do just that, since they were trained to. Only the rare few of high quality and integrity wouldn't - and would rightfully be offended at such an intimation. He recovered by turning to Rudy. "Lead the way, then. At least I assume you still know where your family lives?"

Rudy bowed and waved his hand in the direction his older brother had gone. "This way, please." Shiroe took Purrcy's hand deliberately into his elbow to escort her. Akatsuki walked in the front guard position. As they moved to leave the market, half of the Eagles converged on them to be additional visible guards.

Isuzu walked close to Rudy, her watchful eyes taking his measure. "It won't bother you too much, Purrcy's scoldings?" she asked quietly.

Rudy's head snapped around to look at her. He brushed his hair back flamboyantly with his hand. "And why should such a thing bother me? Haven't we all heard them enough to understand? Surely he went about his task informed most miserably and earned it." He gave a flippant shrug. However, he didn't look happy to be on the path to his family home. After a bit he finally drew in a breath and straightened his shoulders. He still had his friends around him to support him. Shiroe relaxed a bit and paid attention to their pathway, preparing his strategy for the next phase.

When he returned from his brief introspection, Purrcy was waving her tail most happily and she had a small smile on her face that just exposed her pointed teeth. "Hmm...what has you pleased?"

"I'm enjoying watching the guards at work. They do their work so effortlessly, particularly in this most excellent of environments."

Shiroe looked around at the tall trees filled with tropical vines, and the full bushy undergrowth below them that bordered their path. It was perfect ambushing cover. "How many is he losing? I would think he couldn't have enough to line the entire path?" He decided not to comment on the fact that she hadn't appreciated them quite so much when she'd been the target.

"Oh, the lookouts are staged about every two hundred feet or so, one to either side I suppose as back up to each other. The Eagles are flying about four ahead of us, though, so they don't even know we're coming."

"Hmm...tell them to silently skip one and let him through. We should have at least one messenger arrive so they can be properly waiting for us. And if they haven't reached the actual ambush yet, giving them warning will make it more fun for the rest of us, I'd think."

"Should I have them wait in the trees at the ambush until we arrive, or take out a few to keep busy until we get there?"

Shiroe considered it. "They can take the numbers down. We really only need to talk to the one or two in charge." Purrcy passed on the orders to Reed. When they'd walked another five minutes, Purrcy let him know the waiting spy had just left the area to report. Another five minutes and another blond haired man, tall this time, broad chested, and very proud but looking like he probably had earned the right, stepped out of the woods, two men behind him. Shiroe paused his group. "A welcoming committee? Shall we walk while we talk then? I'm really not interested in being delayed more than necessary. I have things to finish in town." He got them walking again. "I take it you're the eldest son?" he asked the blond as he passed him.

He was trying to catch up to the situation, but stepped in with them anyway, giving a sign to one of the men behind him. "Yes, I am the eldest son of Marquis Code." With just that much it was apparent he was arrogant. He went to stop them about ten feet on, but Shiroe ignored him and continued on, leaving him floundering just a bit until he hopped forward to catch up again, and when they weren't blocked, he looked around at his men following them. They were just as confused.

"If you're waiting for your men to come out, they won't. We've already dealt with them. It was a rude welcome you were offering, thus I didn't think it necessary to accept it kindly," Shiroe informed him.

"Really, is the house of Code even able to be true nobility?" Purrcy complained as if the sons weren't present. "For the heir to be so incapable of consideration of proper behavior towards a guest of honor who has come to visit at even the invitation of his own father. I would surely see such a son punished so that he understood his correct duty to his house and people. Iselius, at nine, was such a delight to be hosted by this past week. He is surely already a credit to his grandfather. Duke Cowen has chosen his heir wisely and trains him properly. He even was able to understand the value my own skills would bring to Maihama without me even opening my mouth to explain it, and has already brokered a trade conference with Akiba without assistance that should bring in quite a bit of income to the Duchy." She lifted her nose in the air and stepped daintily as if wishing to not be in the cesspool of improper behavior she'd entered.

"Well, it is true that this is a distant and wild place without all the niceties of the north," Shiroe calmed her and the heir at the same time. "Such places require one to be sure of strange visitors, surely, or they'd be overrun within no time at all. And don't we have the excellent example of the noble behavior of a son of Code in our own household? He himself has served his people excellently, caring for their tender needs with all diligence. We should reserve judgment until we've spoken to the Marquis himself." Purrcy settled with a sinusoidal wave of her tail. The heir kept his mouth shut and only walked with them until he found his way to attempting pleasant conversation as if to prove he was also capable. They let him stumble his way through it, helping along as he needed it, though the younger brother cringed on occasion.

When they arrived at the manor of the Marquis, he was standing on the top of the short flight of stairs up to the main door, the second son standing behind him. He said something quietly to his father who straightened to see his first son striding peacefully next to Shiroe. Shiroe walked up the steps with Purrcy to stand and face the Marquis, who was dressed nicely and his blond hair flowed long down his back. His aristocracy made his facial structure almost sharp and the effect was that Shiroe was looking at a cross between a fox and a shrew.

He sighed to himself. Really, in such situations the flavor text of notable NPCs should have been erased and left behind. He already knew what kind of man this was. He still had to patiently wait through the insincere welcome and the flowery words with no meaning. At the first opening, he finally was able to say, "Yes, yes. Pleased to come and meet the Governor of ...what was it? All of the Ninetails Dominion, really? It seems to me that your actual influence can't extend that far really. Unless you intend to claim all of the monsters that prevent anything else living on the south island as your subjects? I'm a bit short of time since you weren't willing to come speak to me yourself, so if we could please skip over the rest of the niceties - to Lady Purrcy's distress? I believe your second son claimed you sent him to retrieve something from me?"

The Marquis Code cleared his throat to recover some time and dignity. "Well, yes. You see, you've had my third son for two years now, and I'd like to have him home now for the remainder of his education."

Purrcy's ears went back at the word education. "I'm sure our Academy - which I am the Dean of - can provide him all the education he should need. Not to mention the actual experience in a cultured location with other noble children as proper examples with whom to build long term relationships. The education you're able to provide here I'm sure is the best you've been able to contrive, but is sadly lacking for a country and world that has suddenly become a bit smaller and where relations between regions is essential for proper growth."

"Mmm...indeed," Shiroe agreed mildly. "We've already invested quite a bit to help him understand how to interact with Adventurers, which is the most difficult thing for People of the Land to comprehend, we've found. Still, he hasn't completed that education just yet so I'm not inclined to let him go for that purpose."

The Marquis shifted, but it was to another battle stance. He'd expected resistance, then. "It's true that Rundelhaus was sent to the north to learn about the Adventurers, however it wasn't to stay for so long. He was to come home and report over a year ago, and I've received no word at all. To have him suddenly in Nakasu it seemed wise to invite him to finish fulfilling his duty as he ought to have a year ago."

"Well, surely one should be properly obedient," Shiroe agreed, "however, I took him a year and a half ago and he's had to be obedient to me. I'm sure we sent word to you a year ago that he'd been accepted by my guild and would be staying." He turned to Rudy. "Did you send a proper report along with the notice at that time?"

"Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe," he answered promptly.

"There. You see?" Shiroe said triumphantly. "He's done as he ought to the best of his ability. I apologize if you saw that as insufficient, but really, this is the first any of us have been able to get this far south, since I've only just settled the matter of Plant Hwayden and the issues the Nakasu Defense Front had with them."

"I'm afraid I didn't receive such a report," the Marquis frowned.

"Oh? Well, certainly my agents would have tried their best. As I recall, Henry sent back a report that you'd accepted the note with your own hand, as I instructed it should be, and that you were quite pleased with Rudy's position in the world at that time. He even complemented your roast WildeBeast, which he said you claimed was quite the delicacy from this part of Yamato, with it's complementing Herbed Roast Radishes. Chef Nyanta asked that I get that particular recipe from your chefs if at all possible. He is always looking for new dishes to try." Since that had been the exact report he'd received he waited to see if there would be back tracking.

"You just said that it was too difficult to get people down here from Akiba?"

"Oh, that's just along the normal routes. Bowie."

Bowie stepped out from behind the door - inside the house courtyard - and bowed, quite startling the Codes and their aides. "Yes, Lord Shiroe?"

"What did they eat for dinner three nights ago?" Bowie promptly answered and the Codes slowly blinked and swallowed. "As you can see, I have no troubles getting people here by other means." He waved Bowie off and the Assassin disappeared, using his skills to move without being seen. "So, I'm quite sure you've merely had a simple lapse of memory, certainly forgivable when you've seen so much action against the dreadful monsters of the region since you received it."

"Yes, quite so," agreed the Marquis readily. He still wasn't ready to give up, however. "Perhaps since you've traveled so far, you'd like to come in and sit. I've a fine wine and we could sit and negotiate a peace accord, perhaps."

"No, really," Shiroe declined politely, "I really must get going soon. Besides my men tell me that though they've taken care of the armsmen inside sufficiently, it wouldn't be prudent to enter, so just let me get to the end." The Marquis' face was going purple and Purrcy and Akatsuki were both stiffening up in anger. "Rudy is mine. You can't have him back and no amount of threat or wheedle will sway me. I've really just come to say that to you directly so there isn't any question in anyone's mind."

The eldest son opened the door to the main house again and looked in. In the courtyard that led to the main hall, there were men strewn all around the ground. He stared at his father, who began to shake. He immediately turned on Shiroe. "Who are you to come to my lands, insult my sons and me, and to remove from me the strength of arms of men without touching them?"

"I'm sure I never did insult anyone," he said in mild self-defense, "and I'm sure your second son properly told you my name. But it's Archmage Shiroe if you've forgotten that as well, Adventurer and Guildmaster of Log Horizon."

The Marquis drew himself to his full height, nearly Shiroe's own tall lankiness. "If you will keep my son, who has been serving you so diligently and who has familial obligations to us here, then you will pay us a remuneration to do so."

Shiroe laughed a small laugh into the back of his hand. "Really. You'll make me pay for something already mine? Dean, how much does he owe for the education of his son from now until he graduates from the Academy? Seneshal, how much for the living expenses for the last two years and continuing on for that long as well? Akatsuki, how much for our protecting him from the assassins the Marquis has sent to kill his own son for the last year and a half and from the Adventurers who took the thought to tease him unrighteously?" Purrcy was getting more and more angry, though having to calculate numbers suddenly distracted her slightly. Purrcy named her amount first, Akatsuki second, and Minori third. "If you've that much in your coffers, I'll gladly take it now and then give you the portion that he's worth to you from it - though considering you've wanted him dead or here to use against me, you've already been given it. Bowie, see you pick it up on your way out the door."

He made it a conference chat. "Yessir," came on the air around them, his voice recognizable.

The Marquis paled. "Y-you'll ruin us!"

"Is that a problem for one who would ruin his family on his own?" Purrcy had had enough. "You've refused to train your second son to be useful and he's only a hooligan of the sort you prefer to hire to work for you anyway. You've refused to prevent your oldest from becoming so proud he has no idea how to be a real noble and care for the people around him. You've refused to be anything but a bully yourself. It's the consequence of your own actions. The fact that Rundelhaus has learned all of his ability completely on his own and without your help is a testament to his willingness to work hard, unlike yourselves. To leave him here would be to see him ruined for sure."

Rudy stepped forward and bowed. They looked at him. "Please, Guildmaster Shiroe. Don't make my father pay for my keeping. It would be better for them to be here over the people. They do see that the monsters are kept at bay so that some level of lifestyle is possible. The money is required to pay those who are willing to throw their lives into keeping it that way. I'll continue to work for you to pay for my own keeping."

"You believe there is value still here?" Shiroe asked him.

"Yes, Sir." He looked at Shiroe earnestly.

"Hmm..." There was a sudden clash of metal on metal and Akatsuki was holding her short sword against the sword of the eldest son, holding it in place, her look saying she would kill in the next blow. The eldest son seemed extremely surprised that he couldn't move her at all. She was quite small compared to him and his visible strength.

"Elder Brother," Rudy begged, "you can't win. With merely a passing glance an Adventurer can kill a Person of the Land. She is holding you like you would hold me when we spared when I was young - without effort. Please relent and save your life."

"It is irrelevant," Purrcy said in a rather dead tone. "He will not inherit."

The heir pulled back from Akatsuki and his blade went for Purrcy this time. Again came the clash as Akatsuki's sword met his, but this time his sword went flying from his hand and embedded itself halfway to the hilt in a tree some twenty feet away. Her sword ended pointed at his neck. The second son shifted, then was suddenly frozen in place, his arms tight against his body. He wobbled dangerously until his father put out a hand to steady him from toppling like a log. The Marquis looked around the group of Adventurers with his eyes wide.

Purrcy continued as if the interchange hadn't occurred, her eyes distant and her voice not really her own. "Baron Rundelhaus has properly worked hard to earn his place and title. He has displayed proper nobility, even in his own father's house that has rejected him since he was claimed as a magic user rather than a swordsman, in being forgiving of them enough to beg the Archmage for their sakes. He and his posterity shall be blessed, and in due time he will return to inherit this land and to rule. This part of the land will become lush and delightsome and many people will come to live and work here, and children will run and play and not be molested because he will rule over them in wisdom and strength. Peace shall reign for many generations - as long as his children continue to call their ancestor Rundelhaus Code, Friend of Adventurers, blessed. For his sake, the remainder of his family shall be allowed to live until he comes to claim his rightful place."

She paused, then slumped and Touya caught her. He supported her until she recovered and Minori cast her best healing spell on her. Shiroe thought she probably used intent to reach the level of spiritual healing since she didn't really have anything along those lines as a Kannagi. Shiroe held out a hand, low, to Isuzu, indicating she should wait until they were gone to cast her own healing and boosting magic.

Rudy had gone very pale. His father rounded on him and in a rough, loud voice, demanded to know what was just done and to berate him, taking out his anger on the youngest son. Shiroe held up a hand and his beginning tirade was cut off. Shiroe nodded at Rudy, indicating he should answer his father. Rudy swallowed. "Father, if that last blessing on you and my brothers had not been pronounced, you would all be dead already. Berenshilde just raised his hand and sword against the Oracle."

"The - the _Oracle_?!" the Marquis whispered. Rudy didn't drop his eyes. The Marquis slowly sank to his knees and put his hands to his face.

"Get out!" roared the heir, gesturing vehemently. "Get out!"

Shiroe turned with Purrcy and walked down the steps and onto the lane. The three junior Adventurers gathered up Rudy closely to follow after them. Akatsuki stayed behind to protect their rear and would disappear in her own turn when it was safe enough to do so.

"Take a reasonable amount, just enough to let them know I'm displeased and we indeed have the ability to do it so they can't claim we couldn't," Shiroe said to Bowie, who was still listening. "Rudy is right. They do need to be able to pay their warriors to keep the people safe enough."

"Yessir," Bowie said.

Shiroe closed the chat. When they were far enough away, he looked over his shoulder at Isuzu. "Go ahead," he said quietly.

Isuzu pulled out her staff and cast a boosting spell that would have Purrcy healed by the time they arrived at Nakasu. She made it one of the party affecting spells and Shiroe approved. Rudy likely also needed the lift of his spirits. When they had walked long enough, she pulled out her lute and began to sing little light songs that were common children's songs in Japan and well suited to lifting spirits and to make their walk easier. Minori and Touya joined in on the third and by the fourth Akatsuki was back with them singing as well. Purrcy and Rudy listened, enrapt, as Shiroe tapped a finger on his leg in time to the music. He knew the songs from classmates singing them at school, he just preferred to hear them than sing them himself.


	96. Overview of the Sixth Level

The deck of the Ocypete was slick with seawater and guts of sea monster. Five had decided to show up this time and it had taken longer than normal to clear them out. The Adventurers had finally taken down the largest one while trying to keep their footing on the slippery gore. Nakalnad called out for the Summoners to bring in water Summons to clean off the deck properly and there were suddenly a dozen splashing fresh water down on all of them that nearly washed the most tired off the ship. Companions grabbed them and held them steady until the deluge was finished. The salt coating everyone was almost as bad as the gore, so no one complained overly much about the impromptu fresh water shower. As everyone headed for places to rest there was muttered cursing, though.

Isaac and Nakalnad looked at each other. "How is it that experienced Adventurers, and campaign leaders for that matter, can fail so quickly against measly sea monsters," Nakalnad groaned. "I mean I spent four damn times throwing us all at the Maze of Life. You'd think I'd have learned it by now."

Isaac clapped his hand on Nakalnad's shoulder. "It's always a little different with every new thing. We've got a sea base, only a limited range we can move in where they can move wherever they want - including below us, and only a few of us have fought monsters like this until now." They were joined by the Susukino lead, Maverick_Master. "That's on top of us three trying to not step all over each other." Both of the other two nodded. They were headed for the room they'd claimed as their war room. There had been just enough time between encounters for everyone to heal and for them to plan for the next one. They were making progress, but the sea wasn't giving them any favors.

"Do you think for every set we kill, the monster generator adds a monster?" Maverick_Master asked. "I'd rather not fight more than say...twelve...at one time. They wouldn't even have room to move and we wouldn't be able to get in a hit between recovers, just trying to stay on board. I thought we'd be flipped at least eight times. Ocean storms can't be this bad." They settled around the table.

"Oh, yes they can," came from the door. "This was about sea state five. Oceans can get up to sea state ten in the worst storms. Can't hold on to much except the rails at sea state seven though, let alone lunch." Michael was standing in the doorway, leaning on the frame. He raised a hand in the air now that he had their attention. "Hey. I've been asked to come down and offer my services."

"What've you got?" Nakalnad asked.

"Real military leadership experience on the water and on land. But Purrcy's also put me through the grinder more than once keeping myself and as many Hackers of all levels alive as long as possible and even bring them all home. She's upped us to journeymen just before all this, so I'm also now a Programmer."

"Sit down," Isaac said immediately. "I caught that this last time, too: our use of the Hackers is dismal when it comes to fast paced chaotic battle. We can't give them the orders they need far enough in advance for them to be useful. And there were plenty of times I wished they could be useful."

Michael settled in the fourth chair at the table. He rested one arm on the table and nodded. "She caught that, too - we've been watching from inside - and sent me down. It's likely to be worse in the chaos department when we're in the Maze." Nakalnad nodded.

"The Hackers are useful? And what's a Programmer?" Maverick_Master asked.

"Yeah, you've been in the north, so didn't learn what we all did," Isaac said. "There's the new sub-classes and even new Classes. Hacker is a magic based sub-class that's super powerful...and super minimal, until you get into the fighting. Most Hackers don't seem to get that far, but the ones who do have to be watched out for." He gave a suspicious look at Michael who bore up under it well enough. "Purrcy came into Akiba right when a nasty one was trying to take the whole city down. She locked his magic down so we could take him out. Shiroe grabbed her up and set her to teaching all the rest of them how to protect the city from more of them. Michael was her star student."

Michael shook his head. "I'm not. I'm the salutatorian. But I am the one she assigned to lead them into battle since she's not around much, and honestly as a solo she's lacking in the department anyway." The rest understood how that worked.

"So, what _is_ a Programmer?" Isaac asked Michael, putting his chin in his hand and resting his elbow on the table.

"It's the next level up from a Hacker and is a Class instead of a sub-class. When you've worked the sub-class long enough, it gets converted. Comes with a few perks added on for the 'atta-boys', but they're only bells and whistles, really. In the end you're left with just as much work, if not more since you get to fight with the big boys and they like to test the competition to see if you can make the grade." He wrinkled his nose. "Anyway, I'd like to offer that I'll run the action for the Hackers, but you keep them maintained. I've gotten good at making them conserve HP, but if I have to go between the inside and the outside, I'll lose track and it will take up too much of my time. You'll need to have their ops keep an eye on them and keep both on your own radar just that much."

Michael frowned and hesitated. "It's going to take at least three rounds more for us to shake down, though. They've got to get used to listening to me, and you guys already have a head start on me at working together. Honestly, so far I've only handled just Hackers on the large scale, not had to deal with the full party raid, though I've plenty of raid experience, too. I'll try to keep my personal learning curve sharp and get through it as fast as I can, but we'll probably have to experiment after that to see what works best."

The others were nodding. "We can handle that," Nakalnad said.

"We've got all of the ocean between Yamato and China still to practice on, too," Isaac said dryly.

"It'd be nice if we could just slap most of those down, though," Maverick_Master sighed.

"That's the goal," Nakalnad said. He leaned forward and got the battle review meeting going. They'd already used up enough time.

-:-:-:-:-

"Lady Purrcy...," Rudy stopped as if not quite sure if he should be speaking at that moment. They were sitting as a guild to eat in a pub. Shiroe had made sure the way to cook real food was taught down here by his informants, so at least the food was good if somewhat locally different since the monsters were different.

"Yes, Rudy?" she prompted him, turning her ear to him. She'd toned down the clothes to one of her preferred casual dresses. Shiroe hadn't minded. They could be casual now that his tasks were completed. If he needed her to dress up again, she'd probably understand it as fast as he desired it.

"Ah...I don't know if I should ask here or privately...but that _was_ the Oracle, right?" He asked it quietly.

Purrcy nodded. "Yes, it was. I would have said it anyway just because I was mad enough to, but it was definitely the Oracle. The smaller version." They all nodded to that. The larger version was the one she had to actually perform the ritual purification to channel. "Did you want to know a bit more? I usually get a feel for things around the edges that should be told to the individual but not to others who are listening - particularly in cases like that where they weren't worthy to hear the rest."

Rudy looked surprised. "There's more? ...I guess I would."

"Let's see," she sipped her drink and set it down. "You don't have to be in a hurry. Whenever you decide it's time to take up the mantle it will be ready for you when you get there. You won't have to take it from them by force or anything like that." Rudy relaxed quite a lot, though he tried not to show it. "Do pick a wife from up there to take with you, and make sure she's a proper lady who can help you train your children and the rest of them since you'll be making it more cosmopolitan and a place you want to be able to invite your contemporaries to. When you're done with being trained by the Adventurers, or if we leave sooner than that, do go spend some time getting polished over in Maihama. You'll be glad you did and be able to make more alliances that way. Plus you'll get to see all the bad habits of lords up close and personal and how to deal with them. Of course, that's just common sense, that part."

She paused and looked at Rudy kindly. "We won't take you away from here when we go. We already know how hard that is from our side. I'll set your creature type back to Person of the Land before that happens. But the world has already blessed you with special gifts that will stay with you." She looked at him a while longer, then took the next bite of her sandwich.

"So...even if we get to come back, he won't be an Adventurer anymore?" Isuzu asked a little worriedly.

"No, but I think those gifts include aspects of being one," Purrcy answered after swallowing her bite. "I don't know for sure since the Adventurer data is up right now. It could include a longer life span than normal, keeping the fast learning and the higher level of strength and defense, that kind of thing. Of course, it's not like we'd keep living forever either if we had to stay. That's not the natural order of things, even if elves in Tolkien lore lived forever unless slain."

Shiroe looked up. "What about Nyanta who doesn't want to die?"

Purrcy shrugged. "He's the exception, but I think eventually even he and I will die. The pseudocode magic will be taken away. Before that, I believe I'll be given the opportunity to set his and my final status. As a Summon, I can't die permanently. If I have to stay a Summon, he'll live with me forever. That's his promise. If I can convert us, we'll both become like Rudy - People of the Land with higher abilities because we were Adventurers who received blessings. Of course that's based on finding a way home and getting to choose to stay here. All of the permutations are a bit much other than that one."

Shiroe nodded slightly. "I have a thing I need to ask you when we're in a secure location. We'll do that after lunch." She nodded slightly back at him.

"Excuse me," said a voice from his elbow, "may I join you, if a bit late? And who's the pretty lady? We don't get many of them in these parts that aren't known."

"Sure," Shiroe said as several faces blushed around the table and Purrcy's ears perked up. He was glad Tetorō wasn't there to give a biting comment, particularly since she seemed pleased. "This is Purrcy. Purrcy, Brody - head of the Ambassadors of Nakasu."

Brody did a partial bow as he sat down. Purrcy bowed her head back slightly. "I like him so far," she said. "As charming as you said."

That did make Brody blush. "Purrcy is my counterpart in the search for a way home," Shiroe commented to Brody. "She's been the one generating the quests we're on. I asked her to come today to help me with a personal one of mine that we finished up just before lunch."

They chatted for a while until Shiroe and Purrcy were done eating, then he excused the two of them, leaving the others there, indicating to Akatsuki she should stay with them as well. They were joined by a few shadows in black for the travel, however.

Shiroe led Purrcy to the abandoned apartment building they'd staked out (one free for the taking) for the term of being in Nakasu. Up on the third floor and rather buried in the middle of it he'd had Charlie set up the secure communications station. He'd set the secure code on the mobile structure they'd set up on the roof of the Minami Shopping District 8 Guild House so they could take it with them. It had been one of Stiletto's suggestions to him during one of their personal meetings. The application of the plan had worked very well, actually. This would test one of the more high level aspects of the original spell.

They were on the stairs at the third floor landing when Charlie appeared above them. "Mister Shiroe, we've just finished setting up the sun shade for you on the roof. It's got a very good view I think you'll enjoy. I've taken the liberty of setting up a few chairs."

"Thank you," Shiroe said and continued up the stairs, Charlie continuing on down.

Purrcy's eyes followed Charlie down before she continued on up. "Be careful you don't completely fade away into static," she finally said. Shiroe turned and raised an eyebrow. She just shook her head.

They reached the roof and he entered the pavilion at the same time she did, though he watched her closely. She looked around the pavilion then at him. "Interesting. I hope you get to keep it. It's a level beyond what was agreed to."

He merely gestured to a chair and took another. "The topic fits under what was agreed to, though, and I don't stop thinking just because I've walked out of my home. You gave me a clue to the next level and I need more information in my preparing for it that I have to be able to trust." When she nodded he reset the permissions on the code. She relaxed slightly. "What was your initial agreement with Izanami? Before you became a Summon?"

Purrcy blinked. "To be the beta test subject."

"As relates to things that affect Adventurers?" A nod. "How does that relate to having children?"

"I'm supposed to be the first and to be the one to perform the experiments until it happens, the same as all things of that sort."

"What happens if you're not?"

She tipped her head quizzically as if the possibility couldn't exist. "I am and I will be."

Shiroe frowned. "But Nyanta is refusing."

"Yes, ...for now. He's already told me he wants to have children though, so ...I'm waiting." She shrugged.

That wasn't actually good. They could be waiting a very long time to finish the last level with that answer. "...So...what happens if you're not?"

Purrcy blinked. "I assume you're talking theoretically then. Then I'm no longer the beta test subject, though what that does I have no idea. Likely removes the protection I've been to all the other Adventurers."

Shiroe felt cold. "What protection is that?"

"Everyone will become test subjects and we will reach reality very quickly, becoming one completely with our physical forms and with lots of pain, most likely, mental and emotional - since it means we won't be able to go home."

"Purrcy," Shiroe leaned forward, "why do we have to do that part - experiment to see if we can have children? It doesn't seem to be purposeful if we go home and stay home. I can't see how we're needed after we've fixed the world's problems. Everything is set up for the creatures and People of the Land to handle the forward movement of the world. You've even been teaching the Giants how to go on quests, and the People of the Land how to accept requests, so we shouldn't be necessary to Izanami."

"As far as Izanagi goes, we're a menace once we've finished the world repair quests. The People of the Land will be able to handle the monsters once they're purified to manageable levels, and even they can use purification and purified weapons. Rudy had that tested immediately to make sure. Any children that would come from us would at best be Hero level since Earth spirits won't be born here, and Heroes already have a chance to be born to People of the Land. With that much more material, there will be a corresponding increase in Heroes born. We're from a world based on technology, not magic, so we modify things to suit what we know, even as we experiment with what's here."

Shiroe shook his head. "I can see them sending us back home and getting rid of us so we can't come back, but I just can't see why they would want us to stay here and procreate. Only my own goal of making a two-way door has any reason to need it. If they are always born empty vessels that wait for Earth spirits to arrive to enter them, then we can have new players come and use them. But I have a far better solution than that. We can use a spell that you have the capacity to create now."

"If you set it up so that an Earth soul that comes without a body and is carrying with it a code of entry and data for the avatar, the spell could receive the code, verify it, and create the avatar from the avatar data using the anima here, like the Summon spell. It doesn't need a computer database to do that. Static spells like that exist all over. If we set them at arrival points, so they are tied to a location like the gates, the spell cost should be world level but still fairly low. If we can create the two way door we can be here as needed, interact like we always have but on a real world level, without having to remain here permanently. If they just need the repairs, we'll miss this place, but we want to go home and won't look back. But the need to keep us here escapes me entirely."

"We were brought here in spirit to join the anima that was created for us in the Second World Fraction, when the people prayed to have a creature added to the world to help them against the demihumans that were overwhelming them," Purrcy said.

"Right. I get that. But we're fixing that. Why do we have to stay after that?" Shiroe asked.

Purrcy sat silent and pursed her lips, then shook her head. "The only answer I can give you is that it's because at the Second World Fraction we became part of the world's structure as a whole, so we've become interwoven into the fabric of it. They're going to cut the umbilical cord very soon, as it were, and they decided they had to have full Adventurers here before they could do that, not just partial. It isn't going to be an easy thing to get them to let us go, Shiroe. You already know that."

She crossed her arms and leaned back. "I've been thinking about it and I think, since the Overwritten and Observers aren't natural and they want us to remove them, that they wanted the technology too, the way we do. That they wanted the technology _specifically_ to bring us here completely. I don't think they would have gone to that trouble and expense, not to mention risk, if they thought they were going to send us back. I don't think we were brought here to get rid of them as the prior, but that they were the prior to get us here."

Purrcy rubbed her hand over the top of her head as her ears flicked back and forth. "I can't answer that why, Shiroe. You'll have to ask them and see if they'll give you a straight answer. I don't think Izanami will. She's still playing your game. You'll be more likely to get a straight answer from Izanagi, but there is no guarantee he'll answer you. He's not interested in the game, just in the positive results of the quest requests."

"Are they working together or are they competing with each other?"

Purrcy looked away. "That depends on the goal, doesn't it? The quests this round are pretty much an agreement between them. ...I suppose it's even possible they're postponing deciding on whether we go or stay depending on the projected outcome of them once the solutions are started sufficiently for them to see how they affect the whole. We may be here at least another year just for the small amount of data necessary to make those projections, since they have to be able to calculate out millennia. If they can see we become horrible additions to the world, they jettison us. If we become essential, they'll decide to keep us. When they've decided, then you can argue with them again."

"As for children, I'm quite certain that experiment would already have been part of even this round if Nyanta hadn't protested so vehemently before. It will be a number of years for that to play out for them to be able to make proper predictions. The children have to grow up enough for them to know how to fit them into the overall product."

Shiroe tried very hard to not scowl. "We don't want to have children here. You know better than I do Purrcy - no mother can be convinced to leave her children behind when she's given birth to them and loves them. If we have the children, we can't go home because we become tied to this place."

Purrcy looked at him very soberly and a whisker quivered slightly. "Shiroe. You and I understand this. Do emotionless beings set on a specific goal?

Shiroe stared at her, then dropped his head. "No. They don't."

"No, they don't. It's another reason why I've agreed. I already don't want to have to care for my children. I was hurt too much on Earth to believe I can or even care. I've explained it to Nyanta. If we have children here they will be his to raise and care for. He's agreed."

Shiroe closed his eyes. "So...he won't have them until he's sure he'll stay, or they'll be abandoned."

"They'll all be abandoned if we're sent home because we're dangerous." It was as matter of fact as the previous statements had been. "If living children are born, we will have to prepare a back up plan for if we all suddenly disappear, leaving them behind. It will be a hard life for them, with no parents. I've been trying to show Inari that difficulty through cases from the internet and Nyanta has been helping, but once again we are falling on deaf ears. I think I know why, now that I've been to Maihama as a Lady."

Shiroe looked up at her to listen to her answer. "It's because of the medieval society where children are objects to own, adults to raise, not family to love. Familial love is very rare and little understood here still. Perhaps it is an ancient world that finally has evolved enough to understand emotions that can hold people such as us. This world is still too young and resistant to training, though we Adventurers certainly have enough emotions to get through to it sometimes - like the anger at being brought here which we all carry, though if they want to keep us even that falls on deaf ears. The individual's emotions are irrelevant. They require the experiment of children to be carried out so they can understand a thing they want to know. It seems to be part of knowing if they will keep us or not. That is all I can tell you."

Shiroe sat in silence a long time and she kept him company, silent and understanding his difficult burden. She wouldn't judge any solution he chose so he was free to explore them all in his mind without guilt until he found the one that gave the best solution he could come up with. When he found the possible one, he spoke to her quietly, listening to her considered questions and thoughts until he understood what he still needed to learn, and what the path forward would most likely have to be. He was glad to have someone to lean on for the final level. It was even harder than the current one and he wouldn't be able to lean on even Akatsuki during it. She would be too emotionally invested.

When they were done, Purrcy moved to sit next to him and held him as her son and he rested on her like he had never had opportunity to lean on a parent. It was a memory he would use again and again on that last dark level to get through from day to day, and sometimes moment to moment.

-:-:-:-:-

"Demikas."

"S-Shiroe?!" Demikas sat blinking. His archenemy never called him and he never talked to him either unless he had to. "What the -"

"I'll be brief, but please answer me honestly."

"Always." Demikas wasn't afraid to tell him he was hated to his face, as frequently as necessary.

"You love your Person of the Land wife?"

Demikas could feel his face going red. "Damn you! You always do this!"

" _No_ , Demikas!" He shut up and listened. He'd never heard the cool, calm Machiavelli in Glasses raise his voice before. It was one of the things he hated about him in fact. "No." It was said more calmly, and with almost...well it was twisted with something anyway. "We can't go home without me understanding this. Please, just answer the question honestly. I'll keep it all a secret, I promise."

"Just use it for future barbs."

"...No." It was said quietly this time. "I'll lay off."

Demikas blinked again. The Machiavelli also didn't lie when he made promises. "Yes."

"Have you had sex with her?"

Demikas' red got brighter. He was so glad chats couldn't be heard by anyone else. He swallowed. "Yes."

A deep breath. "Has she gotten pregnant yet?"

Now Demikas' brow furrowed. "No. Can they? I mean with us."

"They should be able to. Our bodies and theirs are made with the same stuff. It's what's inside - the soul or psyche - that's different." Demikas would take his word for it. He didn't like to think that hard about stuff he couldn't grab with his hands and beat up, eat, ...or love when it came to his wife more recently. But then she'd tolerated him first. "...If she does, Demikas, please let me know right away, but no one else and take her into hiding until the child is born. As a matter of fact, bring her down here and we'll make sure you're both hidden."

"Why?" Now he was suspicious. The Machiavelli wasn't nice for nothing.

"Because the People of the Land will man hunt us and the Cathedrals will be burned to the ground so they can do it."

Demikas thought that was a rather large thought and it took a bit to wrap his brain around it. Eventually he shook his head. "Even if there aren't Cathedrals, we're so much stronger and higher in HP, Shiroe."

"No. The wimpy human has eradicated how many extinct creatures on Earth, Demikas? From the fabled dragons to the dinosaurs that may have remained by the time we got strong. The mastodon and saber tooth tiger. We even go lion and bear hunting to immediately kill the ones that learn to eat humans so they can't teach it to their children. A whole tribe of Africans with spears against a lion that can kill multiples of them and they will take it down. They'll do it to us, too. We are to be feared until we can be understood and that's still a long way off. Maybe once we can't be resurrected again, and they get used to that fact, too - maybe. They killed almost all the Alv, you know, for similar reasons, and the Alv were the most technologically advanced race on the planet in their day."

Demikas was silent, then, "Fine. I'll let you know and we'll go hide. Only if I need your help will we come begging, though."

"...Fine," it was said quietly too. "But don't let on it's your biologic child in public. Say you've adopted it. You can let the child know the truth since the more that know it's possible and that they're okay the sooner the world as a whole will be able to accept it."

"The - Wait, Shiroe. Is it a done deal? Are we really going to?"

"Not yet. I hope not yet. But things are moving and... Well, if you really want all the details, come visit me in Akiba sometime and bring your wife. We'll explain it all to both of you then. Otherwise, just live with it and hide as best you can if it happens. In the mean time, I'm still doing everything I can to get us home. This is the last straw and it's going to get really ugly if we aren't allowed to go."

"No kidding," Demikas had no false ideas about that.

"Would you stay with her if you could? Not go home?" Demikas shifted uneasily. "Especially if you had children?"

Demikas put his head in his hands. "Damn you," he whispered.

"Demikas, you have to think this through or you've got to stop. She can't come back with you nor could a child. I'm trying really hard for the two-way door so we can come back, but it's the hardest option to solve. ...Think about it. You'll hurt more than her in the end."

"Like you would know!"

"...If you say so. Thank you for answering my questions."

Shiroe was gone. Demikas swore. In the end he had to go out and fight BigBugBears in hand to hand combat for three hours to calm down and think about it properly.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sat back in his chair the next day after lunch, his arms folded loosely, and thought. It was relieving, Demikas' answer. He might be able to let Naotsugu and Marielle stay together. ...Well, they'd be apart now anyway for a month and he could explain it to Naotsugu tomorrow and let him decide what he was going to do. Shiroe would have to clear the air that he still wanted Purrcy and Nyanta to be first just to make sure it didn't happen to them, though. And he wasn't sure he trusted Inari anyway. The beta test subject agreement had been made with Izanami, not Izanagi and Izanagi wanted the knowledge just as much. He'd have to keep an eye on things. That made him wilt inside. If Izanagi was indeed starting to move in Nyanta...well, he could use that, too, maybe. It really got his goat that he had to work with Inari on this, though, when he wanted to fight it harder than he'd wanted to fight any of the rest of it. They just wanted to go home.

He was still sitting there when there came three blasts of a horn far in the distance. "That's them," Purrcy said calmly. Shiroe stood and led them all from where they'd been waiting to walk the road to the coast. Nakasu was like Akiba - close to the water, but not right on it. When they reached the coast, he cast his highest light spell and Isuzu cast one as well that added sound when it exploded. There wasn't much of a dock for the large paddle boat to connect to, since there hadn't been much Adventurer construction here, so the Ocypete was anchored and the smaller boats released into the bay.

"Looks a little worse for the wear," Touya commented. Shiroe pushed up his glasses to see a little clearer and had to agree.

"The sea monsters were difficult from the beginning," Purrcy agreed.

"And I understand they're worst at the entrance going past the island," Shiroe said. "I wonder if we'll have to fight them again on the way out."

"I'm sure they'd like to not have to, by the looks of it," Isuzu said.

"Hm...I wonder if we should wait a day and let everyone recover," Shiroe commented. "I think I'll ask Isaac and Nakalnad."

"The tide's every half-day," Purrcy said.

"No, that will put them at having to fight all night. I think we'll wait until morning and let everyone recover."

Purrcy was quiet for a moment. "Michael's going to pass it on and ask that everyone be kind to the city."

Minori turned to Shiroe. "We could have a barbecue on the beach. Make it the first Yamato joint Adventurer celebration with fireworks at the end."

"That's not a bad idea, Minori," Shiroe said in appreciation. "It would keep the worst of the crowd from swamping the town and be just the lift everyone needs. I'll officially bring it up in the meeting of the heads. Purrcy, tell Michael to let them know they should just rest on the ship for right now and only the heads come over until the final negotiations are completed. Then we'll call for them to come for the barbecue."

Minori looked at Shiroe. "If you have the guildmasters bring their chefs, we could probably use that time to get everything set up."

Shiroe nodded and Purrcy presumably added it to her message, then he put his hand to his head. "I keep forgetting when I have you with me." He opened a chat with Isaac and Nakalnad and his guild members on the ship, though he couldn't add in the Susukino representative. "Welcome to Ninetails Dominion. Looks like you guys could use a bit of a break."

"You think?" Nakalnad grunted.

"Do you have the Susukino rep with you?"

"Yes," Isaac said.

Shiroe shifted it to a verbal-only conference call so that person could hear. "Welcome - again. If you'll all bring your chefs over with you, we'll have them set up a barbecue on the beach for everyone. The rest can sleep it off on the ship until we get closer to dinner if they want. Nakasu's a bit rustic to handle everyone flooding it. We should probably set shifts of a set number of people going in at a time if people want to sight-see. I'm sure they'd love the business."

"Minori will head the organization of the barbecue. We have to feed everyone anyway, though if you've got a few who are still willing to go into the wilds here and pull down a few of the local creatures to add to the menu they've got a WildeBeast that's quite tasty. You and I will meet with the local leadership, have a quick press conference, and be freed up for the rest of the afternoon. We should plan on getting back out to sea in the morning, but we'll discuss actual timing when we're face to face when we go over how your trip down here was...though as I said it looks like it was a bit difficult given the damage to the Ocypete. I hope Michitaka doesn't eat me for dinner when we get back."

"I'm sending out the repair crews already," Michael said. "There are a few holes that have to be patched before we're ocean worthy, though they weren't so bad we couldn't limp back here."

"The sea monsters around the Island of Monsters were rather ferocious," a voice Shiroe didn't recognize said. It must be the Susukino representative. "But it was relieving we never had more than seven at a time."

"Isn't that rather a lot?" Shiroe ventured, looking at Purrcy. When she looked like she was going to answer it seriously, he held up his hand quickly to forestall her. Right now wasn't the time to tell them they'd been worked up to that level on purpose.

"It certainly felt like a lot," Isaac agreed, "particularly when trying to 'dance on a postage stamp in a bowl of water' as Michael described it.

Shiroe glared at Purrcy. She shrugged, but tried to look somewhat meek. "Well, we'll wait for you here on the beach until you can get over here," he said. "We might want a few extra hands to chop firewood, I'd imagine."

"See you," Nakalnad said in a tired tone and everyone clicked out of the chat as Shiroe closed it down to just the guild.

"I'd like you all to come," he said. "We have things we need to discuss separately once the formalities are over and I'm sure we don't want to miss the party either." When he had understanding, he turned to the guild members he had with him. "Minori, pick out a place for Purrcy to put her grill. Touya, Isuzu, and Rudy, you'll help her oversee things and be her runners. Be backup crowd control, too, though I want the extra Eagles on that while they stroll the beach taking their turn to party and relax. I wouldn't be surprised to have party crashers here just like at home. Adventurers from Nakasu are welcome to join in as long as it's in the peaceful name of building relations - for real, not as an excuse."

He looked at Rudy. "I'm sure we wouldn't turn away People of the Land if they wanted to have fun, but if it starts to smell like revenge, let the highest up person in range know immediately. They'll diffuse it." Rudy nodded. "Same goes for the Adventurers of Nakasu and Plant Hwayden. Any Adventurer not from Nakasu can be called on to be the intermediary and calm it down, but if you need to, call Isaac. If you get the chance when he gets here, put Nakalnad on your friend list and call him directly. He's responsible for the ones that live here just as much as the ones in Minami."

When he got nods, he finished it out. "Akatsuki, you, Charlie, and Reed will come with me. Purrcy you'll stay and help get the barbecue set up. I need Nyanta so the Ambassador council recognizes his face, and I want Naotsugu and Michael as well. You'll have enough here, I'll take Tetorō with me so he can have a bit more of a break, but when he gets back to the beach you're to work on healing your op."

Her tail twirled and he nodded she could ask her question. "Can I let everyone know I can transform?"

Shiroe considered that. In front of Michitaka and his few had been one thing, but... "I'd rather not that many at once. Once things calm down in the evening if we sit off a bit for the quiet, that would be fine. We can keep KR with us and if anyone asks he can say he summoned you. They're going to see that later anyway."

"I've set an overwrite on the name for when we're in public," Tetorō said. "Male werecat, Purrseus, if you want us to use it."

"Fine, but put a limiter on it. If she gets farther than one hundred feet from whom she's supposed to be with, make it so the Log Horizon tag shows."

"I'll put an identification tag on the collar, too."

"You're still using it?" Naotsugu asked.

"Not really, but it's still on her." Tetorō answered.

"Is it?" Shiroe looked at Purrcy. She lifted her hand to show him a bracelet on her wrist, the light meters were gems set around it, currently at the green-yellow that was the normal acceptable. "Why aren't you using it?"

"Inari's got a work around and won't obey."

Shiroe glared at Purrcy. "That's not okay with me."

"It's toned down the overall workload," Tetorō sighed, "and doesn't over do it when she's - or perhaps _they're_ \- working with the rest of us in the outside world. The balance is better so I've compromised. Especially since you took away the night. It could have been worse."

Shiroe shifted, then pushed up his glasses. "Fine. You are keeping an eye on it regardless, I hope."

"Yeah. I've got an alarm on my meter."

"Okay." Shiroe sighed to himself. The gods were going to push it as far as they could and test his own limits...and they were getting awfully close. "How far off before you get here?"

"We're out in the boat now," Michael said calmly.

"See you soon then," Shiroe glared at Purrcy a while longer, then gave in and looked at the four juniors. "You'll be in charge, then, Minori. We're probably the most capable of the lot at getting additional foods to supplement. Can we split your team long enough for a brief hunting spree?"

Minori looked at everyone, then shook her head. "I think we should stick together. We'll go pick out a good location and get the grill out, but once the other chefs get here there will likely be some time we could all go, or if enough come over that want to hunt we might be able to split up then. I'm worried about what will happen if we're not divided the best way possible and Rudy's family decides to show up. If we're a full team with the two Eagles you leave with us we'll be fine, same for if he and Touya are protected by other Adventurers."

"Fine," he said, pleased with her analysis, "I only need Reed and Charlie, though, so you'll have three."

Purrcy tipped her head. "And the five that are coming with Michael."

"Oh, right." He waved a hand. "Reed, work with Michael and set the new duty roster. Maybe some of you can go out and hunt for once."

Minori nodded. "I'd feel better about Touya and Rudy going out and hunting if there were a full party going."

Shiroe sighed and turned to look out over the water, watching two boats bobbing over the slight waves as oarsmen pulled to skiff them towards land. Another boat was in the water and being loaded. Sometimes it was hard to keep it all in his head. He was glad there were others in the guild to help him keep track of the details that should be important - since he _was_ the guildmaster - but kept dropping because they weren't related to the world plans in his head. Akatsuki put a hand on his arm and he moved to hold her hand. Even that kind of detail was nice to be reminded of.


	97. The Resistance

Nyanta's tail switched and his whiskers twitched. He hadn't particularly liked having a night without his wife, though there wouldn't have been much interaction. The battles with the sea monsters had only lessened up by about a half hour between interactions and the rest of the Log Horizon contingent had finally joined in to let other parties rest. They'd planned to sit it out until they had Shiroe with them, but that wouldn't have been kind. Nyanta was pretty sure the Game Bot was throwing things at them it didn't need to so it was irritating to begin with, but the Generals seemed to finally be satisfied with the way everyone was working together and more importantly, with how they were working together. Shiroe would likely make that interaction run more smoothly in the Maze of Eternity, but their party even with him would still be just another added party on the ocean.

The one thing they'd had to give the pursed lip answer to was why Purrcy wasn't joining in. Michael had fielded it best by saying she was watching over him but leaving all the Hacker work up to him as part of his field training. It probably wasn't a lie. Besides, they would have had twice the enemies to fight if she had been present, most likely. It had increased enough just having him join in. That had been irritating, too. He'd tested it by sitting one out. He added another eighteen percent total HP to the total to fight against. He should probably be flattered. He wasn't. He didn't like the game AI factoring him in as a specific unit like it was going to do to Purrcy. It hinted it would likely do the same for Shiroe - which didn't bode well for the ocean leg of the trip. At least they'd have the direct ear of the game AI at that point for Shiroe to scold into letting the rest of the raid party rest.

The boat scraped to a halt on the beach and Naotsugu and Michael leaped out and heaved on it. Nyanta lightly leaped over them, to take his own weight off the boat. The Eagles followed him out. Gareth immediately turned to help Tetorō out, though he was light enough on his feet. Seeing his further help wasn't necessary, Nyanta went straight to Purrcy. He wanted to greet her first this time. She curtsied prettily and smiled at him. She was mostly Purrcy, then. He bowed properly then asked for her hand, tucking it into his elbow and holding her closely to his side. "Have mew been enjoying Nakasu today, nyah?" They'd talked during his break the night before about her visit with Shiroe to the Code manor.

"Yes," she answered, "I think you'll really like Brody. He's charming - if young - full of enthusiasm, and looks like he tries to do his best in whatever he's been given to do. He'd likely make a good PR division head or some similar position, with his ability to manage and push people forward - much like Marielle, actually. It was funny to watch his interactions with his second, though - ah, they're all equal, but like in Akiba, you understand." Nyanta nodded. "She was the chief of police like Nakalnad and chased him down a lot, but I understand she also let him get away a lot as a closet sympathizer because she was taken with the charming and daring freedom fighter. Now that they aren't at odds, she doesn't have to hide in the closet anymore the fact she's smitten by him, but since they're the equivalent of business partners she's finding it just as awkward trying to find the proper balance. It may be a while before she gets around to confessing, though she'll have the next month or so to think about it since he's going to leave the city in her lap while he comes with us. She doesn't seem to mind that, though. She's just as happy to see him off for more fierce fighting and adventuring." Purrcy's smile was lighting up her face making his own tail wave softly. He'd probably missed this the most while they'd had to be so restrained at Maihama - the chatty, happy Purrcy.

He leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be just as happy having mew with me, rather than sending me off, the young bride on the beach bravely trying to hide her tears."

Purrcy giggled. "Then if it happens, shall I wail and fling myself on you and beg you to not leave, or at least to take me with you?"

"Heavens no. I'd have to walk on mew just to prove my point."

She mock pouted at him. "Fine. I'll just come and nag, then."

Nyanta chuckled and brushed an ear on her head.

There was a clearing of the throat nearby. "If you've sufficiently greeted your wife, Nyanta?"

He turned. The entire guild was watching them, most with smiles, but some with surprise. "I suppose I've had my ear talked off just enough I could be called away," he answered, capturing Purrcy's happily curled tail with his.

Rudy rolled his eyes. "It was only one night, wasn't it?"

"And nine days," Nyanta said seriously. He looked at Tetorō who was looking as sober. "I'm sorry, Tetorō. It was too long for me, too, meow. When Izanami appeared, I wasn't able to resist."

Tetorō's face twisted. "But...there were two. They both came."

Nyanta nodded. "It was an interesting fight. When they come to this plane together they have an even more complicated relationship. Here, they are also husband and wife. Izanami was present for the lesson to complete whatever goal we wanted in a hurry because it couldn't understand. Izanagi - I think - was still in the middle of an argument with Izanami so came with, but when it reached that close to this plane, the requirement that he love her interfered with the argument. Appurrently Izanagi doesn't usually come that far into this plane for that reason. It is highly logical and the emotional requirement the flavor text places on it interferes with its order and plans."

Shiroe blinked. "Was it because of proximity? If you weren't in the presence of Purrcy, would the logic remain without the emotional interference?"

"I believe so," Nyanta answered. He paused, then turned a little stiffly to Michael. "I'm also sorry to be so violent. It is true I am jealous for Purrcy, but Izanagi is even more so for Izanami. It doesn't need to be close in purroximity for that, nor does it have to descend. Increased attention is sufficient. I would be interested in knowing a little better the lore of this planet in that regard. It feels rather like the cursed flavor text - severe and unyielding."

"It's not a problem now?" Shiroe asked.

Nyanta hesitated. "Nyot as bad. It may have been because we were on the subquest and Izanami and Izanagi were both heavily invested in the results so were both more purresent. That isn't the case at the moment." He went very dry. "Thus my enjoyment of being able to _actually_ greet my wife."

"The jealousy of Izanagi, does it distinguish between people or is it general?" Brenner asked quietly, watching Nyanta closely.

Nyanta looked at him soberly, then sighed lightly. "There is no distinguishing, nyot even between the sexes. The emotional Izanagi is quite unhappy we've nyot put her in the safe location of the shrine where the acolytes understand and are careful to not raise his jealousy. Only females work there, in Izanami's shrine, or he unleashes his anger when he goes to visit. It's apurrently the only way he can function on this plane in his experience - which is so limited as to be extremely annoying. However if the flavor text could be changed, even he would be immensely relieved. ...If anything he's given that to me as a sub-quest, I suppose, though it's more a purrsonal request to an Adventurer."

Michael raised his hand. "I'll jump on that boat and request it, too."

"Me, too," Tetorō agreed vehemently.

Purrcy raised her hand. "Me, too, but really just for the sake of family harmony and to protect my operative and guard. Izanami thinks it the only reasonable thing on the face of the planet to keep Izanagi in check so she can get any of her preferred work done, particularly when they're in disagreement. She's quite enjoying her freedom to walk around the planet at the moment."

Shiroe sighed. Nyanta agreed with the sentiment. "I'll send my intelligence gatherers to Mount Fuji and see what they can learn about that while we're gone. It will likely be important for what's coming up next, too." Shiroe shifted, considering. "How will that affect the part of my plan if I need to have KR summon Purrcy."

Both felinoids turned their ears in consternation and looked at each other. Nyanta finally sighed. "If it's necessary to do, then I will do what I can to control it, but he myay have to relinquish if Izanagi is too invested."

"Does form matter? She'll be werecat then."

Nyanta shook his head. "No. It makes no difference." The group was rather dejected by that thought. Everyone liked to pet Purrcy if there was opportunity.

"May we experiment?" Shiroe asked casually, a good sign he was angry. "Purrcy has also had to neglect Tetorō too long."

Nyanta nodded and Tetorō was moving, though cautiously. To not even wait, he had indeed had to go too long. Nyanta watched him closely, watching himself closely as well. He didn't relinquish the hand he had and when Tetorō put his arms around Purrcy she used only the free hand to hold him. Nyanta's dis-ease and rising irritation calmed somewhat when her attitude towards Tetorō was of a mother for a child - which it usually was anyway Nyanta knew full well. When he tried to pull his attention away to explain to Shiroe, however, he was unable to. An ear flicked irritably and he pulled his attention away anyway. "Izanagi could accept the mother-child relationship but still isn't willing to trust Tetorō. I'm very irritated, both purrsonally and from the external purressure. If I could throw off the yoke, I would. Izanagi and Izanami are both very immature and irritating because of their logical stubbornness. If they were more willing to learn it wouldn't be so difficult."

"Well, you did say it was flavor text as well," Shiroe said calmly. "If that could be repaired it might not be so difficult either. ...I find it interesting...," Nyanta had to go back to looking at Tetorō to watch the interaction closely, though it hadn't changed except Tetorō was crying now. It did help to watch, though. "...that..." Shiroe stopped talking to watch Nyanta. Nyanta couldn't spare much focus on why, though. "Tetorō," Shiroe said softly. Minori stepped up to Tetorō and put her hand on his shoulder and took him in her arms and led him a little away.

Nyanta looked back at Purrcy. The tender expression on her face made him flare and for a moment he couldn't see. He did refuse to move, however, focusing down hard on fighting to keep control of his own body. Nothing wrong had been done. It had even been necessary from the Adventurer point of view. He could faintly feel his tail whip in anger. Then there was a light touch on his cheek - a hand. On the other cheek came a kiss. "Nyanta. I'm here," Purrcy's voice said in his ear. "I love you." He was able to breathe. As she stayed close to him and pet him, he was able to slowly relax and stay in control until Izanagi finally left him alone.

Released, he dropped his head on her shoulder. His tail relaxed and his ears settled calmly again. He hadn't realized they'd been pressed tightly against his head. His stomach turned once then finally relaxed, but his heart was sad. He reached for her hand and held it tightly, just breathing until he was fully calm again, trying to not become angry at a thing he could no longer do anything about, except fight in that way. A light touch came on his back. "Nyanta," Shiroe's voice said softly. "I'm sorry. We'll do what we can to help prevent it."

"I'd appurreciate it," Nyanta said wearily. "It is very difficult to fight it." He had a lingering need and put his arm around Purrcy's waist to bring her close. He lifted his head and whispered in her ear. "You're mine."

"Of course I am," she said reasonably, "however, I have a question for Izanagi." Nyanta felt the god pay attention again. "If you can't accept that my children in the guild need their mother to tenderly care for them, how do you think we'll be able to properly have children in the future? Or do you plan on eating them as soon as they're born? Infants demand almost all of a mother's attention and it barely lessens with time."

Nyanta himself was horrified and his shock allowed the World AI to answer directly. "Thus the requirement to fix the external emotional illogic."

Everyone slumped in defeat. Purrcy looked back sadly. "The only solution I would have immediately would be to receive permission to edit or erase the base code."

"Archmage Shiroe must find a solution." The World AI was suddenly gone. Nyanta slumped, his knees oddly giving way completely, startling him. Shiroe held on until he had Nyanta sitting on the ground. Gareth and Brenner were both instantly casting spirit healing spells. "That is most disconcerting," Nyanta said, resting his head on a hand. Purrcy pet him sympathetically and kissed the top of his head. "Not to mention a horrible twist to the whole thing."

"Is everything okay?" came from behind them, the second boat of passengers from the Ocypete was finally beached and unloaded.

As the closest guild members turned to act as interference Shiroe crouched down next to Nyanta. "We'll discuss it later, but you should know it's at the heart of the next level." Nyanta stared at Shiroe in complete dismay. The sympathetic look on the young man's face didn't help much. Then, to his surprise, Shiroe allowed him to see his hidden anger for a brief moment. "It is also almost more than I can bear," Shiroe admitted. He took Nyanta's arm in his hand. "Please believe me that I am still trying to do everything I can, but we're being boxed in so tightly it's barely possible to navigate now. The next level is looking like one long chasm with barely any cover, and your price may well continue to be the greatest. I'm sorry."

Nyanta almost couldn't breathe. He did anyway. He wanted to rage. He took another calm breath and nodded. Shiroe helped him stand and he stood. When Purrcy stood close to him, he wrapped an arm around her for support and held her closely. He did have to hide his face in her for a moment so he could put on a proper public face. It was difficult and she stood patiently and purred softly just for him until he could settle his emotions properly. Shiroe took his turn to distract the generals by meeting the Susukino general properly for the first time. Finally Nyanta took one more breath. "Are mew okay with it, Purrcy?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes, Nyanta. Shiroe will explain it later, but we've already talked. He knows I'm the beta test subject."

"And they won't let me wait?"

"No. The Superusers will let you wait all you want...until it's too late for anyone to go home and we've been set free from the umbilical cord and longer. Shiroe is the one who won't. You know his goals."

Nyanta froze. "You're lying, Purrcy," he said quietly in surprise, raising his head to look at her. "Why?" Izanami looked back at him and he groaned. He released Purrcy and turned away from her, not willing to be that close to the Game Bot that kept controlling the directions they turned. His grief rose in his chest and he almost couldn't see.

A firm hand took his elbow. "It's time to go," Michael's quiet voice said in his ears that couldn't remain standing. He allowed the Monk to support him at the rear of the group that walked up the beach, heading towards Nakasu. He felt very much like he was being led to the prison to hear his sentence and wondered just how bad it was going to be in the end. Not able to continue, he finally turned small cat and hid in Michael's elbow. Michael slowed until he'd fallen behind a far ways, then lifted Nyanta to hold him to his chest and shoulder, closer to his ear. "What is it?"

"Michael," Nyanta said quietly, "if mew are ever in a position to kill me, please do so, and if that is impossible, please kill Purrcy. I can't bear the existence of Izanami any longer."

Strong fingers ran through his fur on his head and down his neck and back, petting him several times before there was an answer. "Such unreasonable demands from such unreasonable persons. Take a nap. I'll give the excuse for why you're not at the conference, though Shiroe's already probably got one ready for you." The fingers promised it, though, and Nyanta gave in, shrank to kitten, and let go, the tears shuddering out of him as he fell into a sleep deep enough to escape the pain and grief for a short time.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe, are you going to need me, really?" Michael asked via chat.

Shiroe was silent for a moment, then asked quietly. "Is it that bad?"

"Bad enough that if you wanted to say I've taken him to the inn and called for the local doctor you wouldn't be too far off. He's gone kitten and is shivering inside my coat while completely asleep."

"...Yeah, that's bad," Shiroe sounded dejected. "And it's worse because his healer's not available until tonight." There was a pause, then a sigh. "I'd tell you take him back to her anyway, but I need him here for our guild meeting after this. ...It's rather rough to have her in high demand all at once. No, I think I know what I'll have to do. Go ahead and wait for us. Just outside the main government building is a nice outdoor cafe. You'll find Charlie there, but you don't have to sit with him."

"Okay. Sounds good," Michael said and wasn't surprised when Shiroe left the chat. He was with all the heads of state, after all. He took his time walking into town and explored a bit. It wasn't as full of Adventurers and was smaller generally than Akiba, but it had a nice small-town feel and the locals were friendly. They looked ready to defend if they needed to. This would have been the town the sub-guild would have come to if they'd been logged in from the base. It would have been a far better fit for the Eagles, actually, and they enjoyed playing from here before the catastrophe.

The island that made up most of the land mass of Ninetails Dominion was considered one of the hardest zones to play in because it was all monsters. The little arm that was the part the city was in was attached to Westeland, which was why it had been taken over by Minami. Even this part was full of wild zones filled with monsters and the People of the Land had been hard-bitten and proud by flavor text, made that way to seem strong enough to survive the harshness of the land.

"BlackJack are you guys hanging out or on business?" he asked on the sub-guild chat. "I've suddenly got free time, though I'm babysitting."

"We could take a few. It's lunch time anyway," BlackJack answered back.

"I'm supposed to sit at the usual hangout, but if you've got a preferred location I've got until the press conference to get over there."

Stiletto materialized at his side and walked with him. He was led to a back street hole in the wall. "You babysitting air?" Bowie asked as he sat down at the table.

"Your Grandfather."

They stared at him, frozen for a second. "No."

"Yes. He got a low blow a few ago and can't turn to his op until tonight. He picked it. I'm going with it. Boss gave the ok."

"We won't bother him with talk?"

"He's out and I've shut him in." They all nodded a little trepidatiously. Everyone still considered him scary regardless. "What have you learned on my little project?" They waited to answer while orders were placed with the waitress.

"It's the drop from one of the three dungeons on the island, but only if you defeat all three of them," BlackJack answered him.

"Can they be done solo?" Michael asked.

The three looked at each other, then reluctantly nodded. "But you know that's not a solo-friendly island," Bowie shook his head.

"I don't know if or who I'll be allowed to take with me," Michael said back. "Have you had time to set up caches?"

"A few," Stiletto said. "...When are you planning on going?"

Michael paused as food arrived - it was one of those places with only one thing on the menu. The ordering had been for the drinks. He chose to eat some before answering. "Don't know. Boss is going to have a high-level meeting this afternoon. I may know after that, or I may have to wait until this level's done and he's opened up about what's next. All I know right now is that it isn't good or easy or Grandpa wouldn't have gone down that fast. The anger's spiked to maximum, too. From both of them." He gave worried looks to the three with him, ending with Stiletto. Stiletto paused then shook his head. He didn't have any recent intel on what it was. Michael shoveled the food as he pondered on it a little. It was flavored, which was better than soggy rice crackers, but it wasn't as good as they'd been getting. He hoped he wasn't getting too spoiled. "What was the final job Hahaue was called out for?"

Humored looks passed between the three. "One of our jobs was to get inside the White House and check out security and personality. Boss had us do the inside job and lift some of the plunder just to prove we could while they distracted the family outside. Hahaue was hopping mad by the time the Boss got done listing their worst points. She could see the bad points for herself and had fun twisting that knife so the Boss could look good."

Bowie went sober. "I was on the door when she went Oracle. That was harsh stuff that shut them down. Firecracker's going to inherit and the heir's gone ballistic. They were given leniency and probation, but the heir drew on the Boss. Angel defended politely. When the Oracle opened up, the heir took her on. Angel didn't defend quite so politely and Firecracker nearly wet his pants. We don't live it, but he said that if she hadn't added the life extension, they would have been dead on the spot for daring to draw blade against the Oracle. Do you know? Is that part of the law of the land or part of the flavor text?"

Michael froze. His whole plan would go up in smoke if it was the latter. "I think I'll get that added to the new side quest we just got. It's an information gathering one, too, and close enough related I can slip it in." He switched his fork for his tankard and took several deep swallows to recover.

They'd exchanged looks again. "Are...we going to get sent out on that one?" Stiletto asked cautiously.

"I don't think so," Michael answered. "It sounded like the Boss was going to send some of his regulars to learn that. I think he wants the answers by the time we get back and he wants you guys to come with us." They relaxed a little. "Feeling left out lately?"

BlackJack shrugged. "Not so much that. We just don't want to miss the Maze."

"Understandable," Michael nodded. "Wish we had the Maintenance crew, but their stuff's more important, and likely we'll call them in anyway."

"Have you heard anything useful yet?"

"Well, we're at the two week mark yesterday. Day before yesterday MasterChief-"

"Commander, Sir," a chat from Clocktower chimed in. He was the lead on the Maintenance crew.

"Report." The three with him shut up.

"We've run into an issue we can't solve. If you haven't left the Archipelago yet, can we have Charlie? We need his expertise."

Michael looked down with a frown. "He's in use for the next few hours and you know he's the Boss' favorite."

"Yeah. A few hours won't make a difference, but he'll have to be here for the duration." There was a sigh. "We've found what we think is the signal beacon but we can't get a read on it. There are a few anomalies that we've traced back to it that make the whole operation touchy if we're only guessing."

"Can you use him from here if he needs to be on call?"

"...Can you spare the nurses?"

"...Good point. I'll ask, but it might have to be after the officer's meeting this afternoon before I get back with you."

"That's fine. Just send him up if he can come. You can leave a message with Master Chief if it's a different answer."

"Roger. Everything else okay?"

"Green. Slow, but green."

"Keep up the good work."

"Roger. Out."

Michael twirled his fork in his hands, wondering how much of the current flurry of activity was being pushed by outside forces. It didn't seem so likely, but at the same time, the steady small stream of influence was hard to miss it was all so fluid at pushing them in one direction. He scowled. He could feel why Shiroe and Nyanta were getting angrier. He was quite sure the meeting would _not_ improve his mood. Quietly he ordered. "Spend as much time as you can getting as many caches out there as you can before we go. We'll be leaving in the morning some time, but it's not been set just yet. Tonight's a party on the beach. Show up just long enough people can say you were there and to get your favorite fire in your bellies. Take as many as you can pry loose to help. The gates of hell are starting to gape a little wider. I'll fill everyone in as best I can tonight - inside." They gave silent nods and quickly finished eating.

When they were gone and he'd rested enough to come up with the necessary modifications to his plan, he paid the tab and walked out. Pulling up his local guild map, he found Charlie and headed for him. He couldn't do that for the Intelligence detail. They erased even that footprint.

Michael was pleased Charlie was still free for just a bit. He slipped into the seat next to him. Charlie had the controls for the city video screens in front of him, set up and ready for the press conference. Charlie gave him a raised eyebrow. "Babysitting Grandpa, but there's a meeting of the brass hats next," Michael answered the question.

"Oh? I'll be in on that, too, then. He's had me point man for the tent." Charlie's eyes returned to the front step of the government building and stayed on it.

Michael frowned. "That might have to change. How hard is it?"

"Not bad. Anyone can do it, it's just been a convenient umbrella for me to work under." His lips gave a little quirk. "Hahaue knows, though. It was nice of her to even comment on it. She asked me to not join the static quite so badly."

"Comforting to know she cares," Michael agreed platonically. They both knew it had really been a comment from Inari. "How much longer before she kills it?" Charlie shrugged. Michael wouldn't be surprised if this afternoon's meeting killed it, but maybe Shiroe had found a sufficient excuse to keep it, even if it was a reluctant allowance. "Gate crew needs you." Charlie's eyes flicked to him and back. "They've got anomalies related to the signal beacon and they don't want to move forward without your approval. Not an immediate need, but they expect a long-term need and want you shipped back up north before we leave port."

Charlie sighed. "He _might_ let me go. This was the last requirement for the sub-quests. I don't know the whole plan for China, though."

There was a sudden entrance to the marketplace and a flurry of activity of five people setting up a makeshift stage. One of them broke off and headed for Charlie and Michael. "Hey, MarketMaker," Michael welcomed him.

"Can I steal some airtime after the press conference?" MarketMaker asked Charlie.

"No, Mister Shiroe's already told you the fee."

MarketMaker winked. "Yeah, but I can try again, right." He dropped a small pouch on the table. Michael pocketed it so Charlie didn't have to lose sight of his required station.

"I'll point over to you right after and give you a three second count. Make sure you face this way. I hate to say it, but keep it short. He's got me on a tight schedule today. We'll be off on the next thing right after."

"No problem, but you've heard the spiel already. It's always the same length."

"True. He'll wait, I'm sure, knowing it himself already. It's on his list of necessaries, too."

MarketMaker turned, confirmed the location they were setting up, then walked off to direct a little rearrangement. Charlie sighed. "I'll be glad to get even a little break, honestly."

"There's a barbecue on the beach tonight. Consider it all you're going to get other than the hike home if he lets you stay and have only one thing to do at a time."

Charlie rolled his eyes then put his hand to his ear. Of all of them he'd had the hardest time breaking that habit, but then that's because he'd had to make the same motion to turn on the mic on his military headset back on Earth. They didn't bug him about it. It let them know when he was going to work. "Roger. I'm ready. MarketMaker's set up and good to go when you're done. Three second count and don't let everyone walk between us. He's had to set up across the street so I can see him. Usual spiel, he says." He leaned forward and fiddled with the equipment in front of him, then glued his eyes to the front step again. The doors opened and the guards came out first.

"Do you want me up there?" Michael asked Shiroe.

"Are you close enough?"

"Yes," Michael rose and, holding Nyanta carefully so he didn't jostle, trotted up to the steps. He was in place by the time the rest of the Generals were arrayed by Shiroe, who was centered. Michael took the slot next to Maverick_Master. He quickly wrote up an explanation for Nyanta in case he woke up inside and struggled to get out or he'd be in trouble, then put on his best pleasant-for-the-public face. He'd been practicing that a lot lately, particularly in Maihama. It got glued in place rather quickly and held fast. He wasn't sure he liked that, but it was necessary at the moment.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sighed as he sank down into a chair at the cafe. Sometimes the words didn't matter in the end. It was nice they mostly flowed naturally now. His Negotiator levels must be getting up there in points by now, flowery words were coming so easily. He did have to wonder if he'd gotten a larger boost or a bonus for earning the crown of the king, though. Today's meeting and press conference had gone enough better than even yesterday's (that felt more normal) that he could only assume it was something like that. He'd been here enough now that the waitress just brought him his drink and sandwich, then took the orders from the rest that had sat down around him to wait for MarketMaker's nesting box demonstration to be done. Both Maverick_Master and Brody watched with rapt attention. The rest of them waited patiently for their drinks and downed them. "You two need naps next?" Shiroe asked Nakalnad and Isaac.

They rolled their eyes at him tiredly. Shiroe nodded with his head towards a three story building that had been repaired nicely. "We stayed there the first night. Good beds and reasonable price. They might give you a discount for just a few hours."

"Can we name drop?" Isaac asked.

Shiroe shrugged. "If you think it will help." He looked at the crowd gathered around the marketplace. "Shopping District 8 probably has a small store with a few beds in it if you want, but they charge going rates for non-guild, so you're better off just going there. It's closer."

"Yeah, and the crowd that's going to show up in twenty minutes will make it impossible to sleep anyway," Isaac complained into his mug. Shiroe had to agree with that.

"Mmm... you might want to bail before he ropes you into helping at the store." Shiroe was rather surprised just how many people were paying attention. "It's looking like the entire city will buy today. How much product came on the ship? Is he going to have enough to even get any over to the mainland?"

They both smiled. "The hold - what's not taken up by the train - is completely boxes except one section that's everything else."

Shiroe blinked. That was rather a lot. "We had enough production to do that?"

"Michitaka left orders that only one of every five was to stay on the Archipelago and they've built a second production facility while we've been busy with other things. I think the local stores will be glad to get more product again, though, the same as they'll breathe easier when the second train is ready to help them get the products to the stores faster." Shiroe relaxed at Isaac's news.

"Is it all about the boxes?" Nakalnad asked.

"Calasin says the concept covers the overhead costs of breaking into the new markets. Once they're set up because of the boxes, they can come back through with the rest of the normal products and it should be just a normal profit making business," Shiroe said.

"Not bad," Nakalnad rubbed his chin. "And when we put product on the train and send it with, it goes on Shopping District 8 shelves and they get a cut and we get a cut." His eyes almost-glared at Shiroe. "What are you doing with all that profit, other than opening new markets?"

"Buying the world and selling it back to itself," MarketMaker said as he sat down with them.

Shiroe got scowls but he was giving one back. "Nice of you to put it badly." He looked at Nakalnad. "It's the same as we did in Minami. Nureha purchased all the government land and buildings so everyone had to do what she and Indicus said. You signed it over to me and I gave it back so that everyone was on level playing ground. We bought the Guild Hall first in Akiba so we could keep law and order, but it got too expensive to maintain, so I turned it back over to the world. The plan is to continue doing that until everyone is on level playing ground. I'm trying to erase one of the not-so-good artifacts left over from the game. You know how expensive it is to purchase zones. The hope is this will bring in enough to cover. I've been experimenting with loans - something that we didn't have in the game so is new - to help with that too. If I can buy a zone and have someone want it enough to rent it or purchase to own on contract, then I have cash freed up to buy the next zone, instead of sunk for who knows how many years."

"Is it your own personal quest then?" Isaac asked, having picked up on the sub-quests going on.

"Yes and no." They blinked but he didn't expound.

Brody and Maverick_Master were paying attention now. Brody's brow wrinkled in a frown. "But...how do you return a zone to the world if you've purchased it?"

"By contract," Shiroe said.

Brody's face cleared and he nodded but Maverick_Master frowned in confusion this time. Shiroe sighed to himself. "I'm a scribe and learned that I could do various level magics just by writing up binding contracts with the right magic supplies."

"The way his mind works is rather amazing," Isaac said generally.

"Rather warped, actually, if you ask me," Nakalnad said. "Who thinks of turning zones back into just land?"

Shiroe snorted at him. "Who thinks zones are normal for a planet? It's caused enough troubles. I'd like to get rid of as many as possible. For the most part we'd all rather just play than have to deal with the few greedy who got brought along." That got agreement. Charlie gave him the sign that he was done with clean up. Shiroe stood. "I've got one more meeting to go to. I do highly recommend the inn, but beach sand is soft, too. I'll see you there later."

He paused just enough to look into Isaac's eyes, push up his glasses, and say, "And no, you really shouldn't try to come crash my meeting. She won't be there anyway." That made him pause, though. Soberly he said, "And Isaac, we've got a problem we're trying to fix, so for now keep your distance. He's trying hard but the jealousy is getting out of hand - we've discovered it's an outside source trying to curse him. Until we get back, assume he'll kill for looking at her wrong. We can't solve it until then."

Isaac looked at Shiroe, stunned. "Outside cursing?" Shiroe and Michael both nodded. "Is that what put him on the ground? I saw her try to comfort Tetorō."

Shiroe sighed. "Yes. I was testing the theory. You know Tetorō is son." Isaac nodded. "Even that much was too much for him, and he knows it from before she even showed up. He's angrier than he's ever been before since he can't get rid of it and it's getting so bad. Please do us the favor of helping him instead of making it worse."

Isaac sighed and leaned back, folding his arms. "I've already figured out she's the dungeon you're walking and don't want interference in, but that's harsh. ...Let me know if there's anything I can actually do to help, but I'll stay out of the way for now." He frowned. "Can I still visit at breakfast?"

Shiroe hesitated. "Why do you want to visit with her so much?"

Isaac looked away. "I suppose too much curiosity will kill this cat someday. It's my own dungeon conquering instincts." He looked back from the corners of his eyes. "Besides you tempt me horribly by keeping her at a tantalizing distance but protected all the time. Why wouldn't someone want to face that challenge?"

Shiroe went very sober at that. "Leave off, Isaac."

"I know, Shiroe," Isaac said softly. "Home is riding on it." He leaned forward on an elbow. "But for goodness sake, stop forgetting the rest of us are here and want to get there, too. Let us help."

"I am," Shiroe said shortly. "That's why you're here."

Isaac shook his head. "You know what I mean. The guild's good at supporting you but this is the entire world you're trying to carry on your shoulders now. We'll carry our part in this round, but don't leave us out of the next one either. Sometimes you gotta lean on others outside the guild to keep going."

Shiroe took a breath and tried to back down. Isaac wasn't wrong. "I'll try," he answered. "Thanks." He had no idea how he'd do such a thing other than how he was right now. When Isaac relaxed enough Shiroe turned and led his guild members away from the cafe and towards the part of town their base of operations was. They'd have to clean it up anyway to leave. They may as well either sleep on the beach with everyone else, or head back to the ship after the party. It wouldn't be worth coming back into town after that.

-:-:-:-:-

Nakalnad leaned his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand. "Okay, Isaac. What's really going on?" The two newest to this topic of conversation were looking between them, trying to figure it out, too. MarketMaker was looking a bit worried.

Isaac raised an eyebrow at MarketMaker. "Don't you need to be at the shop?"

MarketMaker shook his head. "Delegation." Isaac sighed. "Besides my secret mission is that same one. Calasin's finally had it and wants to know the details."

Isaac looked around the open space. "Why don't we go get a room, then. They're easier to keep prying ears and eyes out of, and I really could use the nap. You'll split the cost with me, Nakalnad?"

"Sure, for that payback," the Guardian rose to his feet. They led the other three to the inn, got a four-bed room, since MarketMaker and Maverick_Master agreed they'd love naps before the party as well. None of them needed the HP boost, it was the weariness of body and mind that set in from overuse. The brief trip from Akiba to Nakasu had been brutal.

When they were in the room and Isaac had used one of his items to make it so they couldn't be spied on, he summarized what he knew of Purrcy's story for the two who didn't know her yet. Nakalnad threw in a few things as well that he felt were important. MarketMaker was the most out of the loop for those from the area of activity so he learned a few things. He also told them a few things they didn't know. When the summary was done, Isaac leaned back and sighed. "Really none of us are the ones to talk. In Akiba Soujirou knows more, Rieze even more, and Marielle the most and she won't talk now that she's in Shiroe's back pocket and engaged to Naotsugu. A lot of what I have is still conjecture and guesswork. As you saw, they won't let me close enough." He looked at MarketMaker. "As a matter of fact, I'd say other than Ains who hates her, I'm probably lowest. Doesn't Calasin know more?"

MarketMaker shook his head. "Only those three, but we don't know why."

Isaac added that to his calculations. "Souji's an old contact from the Debauchery Tea Party days, but I'm not sure that's enough. I wonder...," he shook his head. "And Rieze is easy. We're also going after her guildmaster, so there's a need for him to be back in the lead of his guild, if not Akiba to some extent. I can see Purrcy wanting Rieze under her thumb if the Berzerker's being called in. Not many can get him to move, but if Rieze owes her a favor she'll do it. Especially for that." Nakalnad and MarketMaker nodded.

"The Debauchery Tea Party? That's part of this?" Brody asked.

The others looked at him. "Shiroe was the head strategist of that group and is the best there is."

Brody blinked. "Oh," he said in a rather small voice, " _that_ Shiroe." They nodded soberly at him. He shivered slightly. "And he's running the world campaign that Miss Purrcy is the ... what of exactly?"

Nakalnad and Isaac looked at each other. "They listed her as the Game Moderator, and maybe she can, but I'm guessing she's actually the Game Master," Isaac said softly. "At least that's how it reads. And she's cruel about it, too. No less hard on herself, but still...for Nyanta to go down like that," he shook his head.

"They're married, for real, here in Akiba - our first wedding. Naotsugu and Marie are going to be next, most likely when we get back, but that's a gift for a favor. Nyanta and Purrcy, though...it was a wedding of an Empress to a High Lord, given Shiroe's flair. He was sending a message to the People of the Land, but I think maybe to the rest of us and I think because he had to. He hates attention, the limelight, and having to be pushed out of his comfort zone. The first thing he did after nearly forcing us to create the Round Table because he wanted it created, was to step back and make Crusty be the head and face of it. This standing out in the center in front of the camera isn't him. He's hating it."

Isaac shifted and ran a hand through his hair. "The changes started when Purrcy showed up and they kept her. She gave him something he wanted - a hint on how to get home is my guess - and he took the bait and now they can't get rid of her and he can't stop. She still comes and goes," he looked at Nakalnad, "so I suspect when we're done in China she'll disappear again for a while, but we won't be done. It would be wise to start building up as soon as we hit our own streets again. We do need to work on the world quests as they've been given, but something bigger is coming down the street."

He looked up at the ceiling. "Given how hard she's pressing the guild, my guess is they're all getting to the point of nearly angry with it. Something big is going to need to be killed. I don't know if it's her specifically - and she is big. Nothing can touch Nyanta and nothing can touch her. If she's only raised Michael and Tetorō up to journeymen, she's a master and that's a level higher than he is." Maverick_Master swallowed and even Nakalnad looked a little pale now that they'd seen a few of the things the Hackers were capable of when working in concert under Michael. "If it's not her, then it's something so big that she needs to bring them up to be strong like her so there's enough firepower to take it down."

Isaac sat forward. "I think that, too, _because_ she's going hunting Crusty. We're all good generals and raid managers. _He's_ the best there is at war games. He could manage a world's worth of Adventurers making up one big army." He looked up at the rest soberly, looking each one in the eyes. "We've been brought together, with Michael, and are being trained in large group tactics and to work together seamlessly. If this is happening all over the world, we'll all be in a position to answer to Crusty when he's put into place. _I_ think the final boss will be a world level, world class boss battle of the worst sort. _Every_ Adventurer is going to be called up to help in that fight. ...And given what the drop is, almost no one will skip out on it."

They were holding their breath. Isaac looked at Nakalnad to see if he was going where Isaac had gone with that. Slowly Nakalnad's eyes went from unfocused thinking to looking at him directly. "Where?" he demanded.

"The Tree at the Center of the World. Probably being required to fight down to the roots and the boss will be there. We'll be fighting in the core of the world. That's the only place large enough to hold all of us."

Nakalnad thought about it, correlated, and confirmed with a nod. "And who?"

"The god of the world."

Nakalnad sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. "Yup. The very one we all _want_ to kill. We're being given the opportunity, even for how impossible it is."

Isaac nodded. "Impossible, yes. But can you tell what they're doing? Can you see what Purrcy's doing to help Shiroe?"

Nakalnad thought then shook his head. Isaac said slowly, "She's made Nyanta untouchable by magic and his swords halve defense every time they hit - and he can hit six times for the one you see." Everyone's eyes went big at that, not having known it. "It's been driving Rieze crazy trying to understand why. Purrcy's made two - not one but two - magic users who can do what she does and know everything she knows. Who knows how many others are out there like her, but I'm sure it's not just them. And she's captured the greatest strategic mind this game knows and is training him in tighter and tighter loops to make the world dance for him."

He paused and swallowed. "I think...she and Shiroe aren't planning on it being just a suicide mission. I think they're fighting to win. The rest of us might be fodder, we'll get our chance to hit something we're angry with, it will make it so the boss bothers to come out even, but they are the hit squad that will do everything they can, including suicide, to make it stick."

He leaned his elbow on his knee and gestured for emphasis. "That's why I told him to lean on some of the rest of us. I want him to win, if that's his goal. I want to see him get there. They might not be able to kill a god, but if they can do damage, enough to make the point just how angry we are and make it stick...I want to help them with everything I've got. And I think if we let out the rumor that's what's coming up, we'll all have the time to get prepared so we all have a slightly better chance of helping them break through."

There was silence while the other men thought on what he'd said, letting it sink into them. There was a little swirl in the room near the window and a very slight, dark man appeared. "Good guessing," he said, "and the rumor idea is probably useful, but hold onto it for a bit."

They quickly read his data and couldn't. Hands went for swords, but Isaac held up a hand. "He's Log Horizon."

The man nodded a brief thanks and acknowledgement, not having moved for his own weapon. "There's one weapon that everyone's going to go for as soon as you make that known and it belongs in the hands of only one man. You need to hold it under wraps until he's gone to retrieve it. When he's got it in hand, then let it loose all you want."

"When?" Nakalnad asked.

"After this round, but before the next one begins. He's needed in China." The man gave a bit of a shark-like grin, his white teeth gleaming in his dark skin. "I don't think you want your Hacker General to take a vacation right at the moment."

The three who had been working with Michael all shook their heads in agreement. They needed him in the worst way. Isaac held out a hand to stall him from leaving. "Can you let us add you to our friend lists? Just us, one per city, so that if we need an answer we can ask so we don't mess up? I know Shiroe. There's a lot of things you won't say, but you said this. That means he doesn't mind if we figure things out, but he also wants to stay in control of the campaign."

The man paused and looked away distantly, then shook his head. "We're all wiretapped. To put my name on your lists won't be surprising, and they'll look the other way, but it's still risky. Let me give you calling cards instead. Stick them in a box in your locked list slot. They'll be safest there. You're safer asking him first, but he's already agreed there are times he can't answer but the answer needs to be said. I'm the in-between." Four cards materialized in his hand. He didn't give one to MarketMaker. "General Isaac is going with you," he said, "I'll give the other one to Mister Calasin when we get back. You can guild chat with him to let him know why, but make sure you're clear that it was General Isaac who worked it out. I'd prefer you didn't say I was here at all." When MarketMaker nodded, the man stepped back to the window and disappeared again.

"How did he hear us through your item's spell?"

"They're all like that," Isaac said quietly. "Top level and almost scary in what they can do. That's one of the top of the special guard and he's hard to pin down. Rieze told me he talked to her, though. That's how she got her info and I'd bet how Souji did to." He sighed and flopped down on his bed, ready to really rest. "Well, I can't say I like having my guess confirmed, ...but it's better to be able to prepare early for a dungeon that big."

"I concur," Nakalnad said. He sounded very subdued. Isaac looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. The Minami General looked away and his ears pinked up a little. "I haven't been thinking very highly of him. This is a different thing, though."

"Not so selfish as you think, is he?" Isaac said softly. "Actually, I believe she's not either, which is what I keep trying to test. It's really hard to see. She's harsh and all but she's also fun and enjoys playing. ...and Tetorō loves her to death. Tetorō doesn't love anyone, so that's saying something." Isaac looked up at the ceiling, thinking of that guild and the dynamics that had changed in it since Purrcy had come along.

Softly he whispered, "I hope they can hold it together. I really do. This is stressing them to the max, but if they can hold on...," he closed his eyes, "...if we can help them stay glued together..." He was asleep before he could say the words, but the feeling stayed with him all through his nap and even on rising later that early evening. He really wanted to help them win this.


	98. Nyanta Boxed In

Shiroe led his guild straight to the ancient building they'd called their own for this short time in Nakasu. "Tear it down and pack it up," he said to the Eagles they had with them as they passed the sleeping area, "then spread out and keep everyone and anything away until we're done. Gareth, Brenner, and Charlie will come in with the rest of us. Gareth and Brenner, you're official and permanently assigned from now on. They need the additional help."

"Yessir," both said at once.

"I need time," Michael said, "whenever it fits in."

"Fine," Shiroe said adding it to the list. "Naotsugu, I need the juniors to know, but there isn't room to fit everyone. I'd like you to do it, but if you think it would help, have Akatsuki with you when you do."

"Sure thing."

Shiroe looked at Akatsuki from the corner of his eye. She was keeping up with him by using her movement skills, blinking in just in front of him, waiting until he reached her step, then blinking up another landing again. He was actually worried about having her in this first meeting, but he wanted her to hear it from his own lips. Naotsugu would understand why he meant for her to be involved in the one with the juniors, too: so Naotsugu could help her if she needed it. He hoped that would be sufficient - and that he didn't make Naotsugu mad first.

He really wasn't looking forward to this meeting but he needed it very badly. He couldn't carry this on his own and ...he might have to call in everyone else, like he'd had to this time. No he _would_ have to call them in. It wouldn't be yet, but the time would show itself. He relaxed a little, just knowing there was a wider base to support this next level. Here at the beginning it would seem overwhelming, but they could get through it.

He reached the roof and took a deep breath. "Center, please, Charlie," he said. Charlie moved to the center of the roof and pulled the secure tent out of his list, then made sure it was firmly staked down. Shiroe stepped inside and made sure the code was still attached and not taken away yet, relieved all was as it was supposed to be. The others followed him in until they were crowded in mostly standing room only. "How tight do you need it, Michael?" he asked.

Michael considered it. "Add-on to the most recent quest request and gate." Shiroe set the security permissions the way he wanted them for those and nodded. "When you send out to learn about the Priest can you learn about the Priestess as well, and the Oracle? The guys were surprised by Rudy's comment that lifting a blade against the Oracle equals death since we've chased her around and sparred and all that. We'd like to know if we get a special pass or if it's local. Would hate to get struck by lightning, after all." Shiroe nodded and added it to his list of assignments and to-dos. He'd likely need that information, too.

When he looked back at Michael, the Programmer continued. "Received a special request for Charlie. They've run into anomalies that need a communications specialist to dig into before they can know if they'll touch off something they shouldn't. They'd like us to ship him back home to join them long term, but they'll take what they can get."

Shiroe hesitated at that. He carefully ran over his list. Finally he asked. "Are they going to join us?"

"If you want them, yes. We're hoping they can finish it up there at the same time."

Shiroe looked at Charlie. "Can you handle communications between the two parties from that side just as easily?"

Charlie paused, then answered, "It adds a layer between you and me since you'll need a translator."

Shiroe blinked, then nodded. "I'll use Stiletto. You'll talk to him. You can go back up. I want that understood backwards and forwards up there. And...how much longer do you have left until your commission is up, if they let you all off the hook?"

Charlie blinked. "It may depend on if they count the time we were here or not."

Shiroe nodded. "Consider yourself hired as soon as you're retired from military duty. I want all of the Maintenance crew I can get, too."

"You're thinking that far ahead, really?" Michael asked, not sure he liked even that much of his squad being snatched out from under him.

"Yes. We're far enough along I am, though that's still skeleton." Michael nodded and shut up. Shiroe looked at him and waited. Michael stayed shut up. "When do you want to go on that vacation, Michael?" Shiroe asked.

Michael raised an eyebrow, then slightly shook his head. "Whenever you can let me go - the sooner the better, though I know it's after we get back."

"Fine. I've got a place blocked out for it. I don't know who you can take until we get closer to time, but I would think most of the sub-guild if you need them." Michael's eyes opened wide. It had been more than he'd expected then, but Shiroe wanted that accomplished quickly as well and with as few failures and repeats as possible. "Wake Nyanta-san up."

While Michael did that, pulling the kitten out from his jacket and rubbing his head just enough to get the blood flowing to the brain, Shiroe looked at Tetorō. "Do you have anything you need to say first?"

"I hate this." It was said coldly and mostly dead.

Shiroe waited, then nodded when nothing else was forthcoming. "I'm going to put you on special duty to her only - away from Nyanta - when this set is over. Do you still want to come to China, or do you want to wait it out here?"

"Will I get to snuggle her then?"

"Not likely."

"I'll come."

Shiroe nodded. "You'll be female the whole time. You okay with that?"

"Better than not being there at all."

"If you can still say that...," he looked at the young man with compassion.

Tetorō sighed. "I'll stay with her until I can't any more. Then I want a long vacation."

"You'll have it," Shiroe said trying to keep the sad out of it but he didn't make it. Tetorō looked pained and looked away. Shiroe sighed to himself. "Keep fighting, Tetorō, please. I'll need you after we get back, too. You're going to have to be my head of programming."

Tetorō looked down, then nodded and looked back up. "Fine. But you'll have to put me back together."

"I know," Shiroe said softly and looked at Gareth. Gareth nodded.

Michael put Nyanta on the ground and stepped back slightly to give him room to transform back to felinoid. He kept going until there was another person between them. Tetorō also moved to the back out of eyesight of Nyanta. "Are you ready, Nyanta?" Shiroe asked him when he was done transforming.

"Nyot really," Nyanta answered. He pulled a water canteen from his item list, drank it down, and returned it. "Okay, myaybe." He faced Shiroe.

Shiroe included Naotsugu, making him step forward just a little. "For the record, Nyanta, why are you refusing Purrcy?"

Nyanta paused, though he wasn't surprised since Shiroe had given him warning. "Because until I know I'll remain on this planet when we find the way home, I cannot in good conscience lay with her. Children are too purrecious to be abandoned. If we return home, nyot having a choice, she will return to her husband and I will die and they will be left parentless. It is heartless and cruel for all parties involved. Children are nyot allowed to make the choice for themselves. I will not make that choice for them. After the way home is found, if we are able to stay, then I will make her mine and we will see if we can have children who can be loved tenderly and trained rightly in the purroper supportive and loving familial environment."

Shiroe watched him carefully, then said, "Is there an Adventurer in this place that would disagree with his reasoning?"

Every person in the tent cast their vote firmly. "No."

Shiroe said quietly. "We've had this discussion before, though not carried it this far, Izanagi. You do not play with the procreation of Adventurers. It is one of the most sacredly held rights of each individual because bringing into life another living, thinking creature is sacred. We hold all their life in our bodies and in our hands when we make that decision. It should never be made lightly and when it is, sorrow and destruction result, even if it is simply the destruction of the life that could have been led by all the parties involved - the parents and the child. Leave off this quest of yours. Send us home or allow us the two way door using a programmed method of returning."

"The Adventurers are necessary to the continuation of the world," Nyanta said, only it wasn't him any more. His tail lashed, not liking being used this way, but knowing he needed to be the conduit.

"In what way?" Shiroe asked.

"For future repairs. Only Adventurers are capable of creating out of chaos. You were chosen because your world bred you to recover from a collapse of the system. Only the Adventurers on Theldesia can do this. They are necessary for the long term survival of the world."

"We'll continue to come if it's a two way door."

"Until the next new entertainment appears. That is not long enough."

Shiroe slumped. He'd received the answer he couldn't address or run away from. "Then why the experiment to begin with?"

"...The current generation of Adventurers will kill the planet. It is unknown if future generations will do the same or if they can be modified to support the planet correctly."

Shiroe sighed and crossed his arms. "And if they'll kill it you'll send us home?"

"Affirmative."

"Will you allow a portion to return home if the latter is true?"

"That is not yet determinable."

Shiroe looked at the World AI in the man who he considered a friend and hated it. "We will discuss it." He changed the settings on the umbrella tent, including a new setting to keep out Chaos and Division. With two 'gods' it wasn't going to hurt to assume that another could exist. It did on Earth, after all. He didn't want any of them to know what they were planning. Nyanta had been caught by Naotsugu and was being healed again. When he was recovered enough, Shiroe asked him, "Nyanta, off the record, why are you refusing Purrcy?"

"For those reasons." His ear twitched. "And because when we first talked and she told me everything mew are now finally learning, she asked me to fight to help her purrevent the Plague of Life, or more correctly, the Plague of Adventurer Purrocreation. ...Mew remember we went through the experiments?" They all nodded except the sub-guild who hadn't been present. "It is possible we were supposed to give up thinking it couldn't be purrevented, but she asked me before then even - when she was still only Purrcy."

"So... even then she didn't want it." Shiroe looked away. "And probably for the same reason."

"Shiroe-ichi...," Nyanta hesitated. Shiroe looked back at him. "It myay be too late for mew to believe me, but when she told mew that we would be stranded on this planet, she was Izanami and lying to mew. They won't cut the umbilical cord and leave until they have the answer. They fear the chaos of humanity too much."

Shiroe nodded. "No, I know. They already wanted it to begin from the beginning but because you've been resisting as she asked it's been postponed until now. She's been able to show us the potential way home and to point to the solution to finding the double door in that time. However," he hesitated and looked sadly at Nyanta, "I can't postpone it any longer, Nyanta. It is still a requirement for us being able to act in this world the way we want. They won't let us alone until it's done." Nyanta stiffened, but again, it wasn't new news. "Even as a felinoid, the experiment would take at minimum a year and possibly even two to accomplish, and that's only for the birth. They need to know what training and the growth of years will do for the children. I think they expect an answer with the first living generation and not fully grown. Even still it is years ...except she and they have given us a way to shorten it." Nyanta stared at him, then looked away, his ears drooping.

"I think that's part of their planning as well," Shiroe said quietly. "They know we're going to be as destructive as the Alv who left behind the chaos we were brought to fix. They want us off the planet before then, or dealt with properly if they're going to keep us. Our other option is to hold out until we destroy the planet for them, or are about to, and they have to send us back. I would expect them to try again at that point, bringing in another set of Earth humans to try again, only the next time they will erase their memories during the transfer and run their experiments without interference. We were allowed to remember so we could fix the errors." Shiroe sighed. "I will let all of you have a say."

There was silence in the gathering for some time. He let it go on. This would take a lot of careful consideration. Finally, Akatsuki said softly. "You've chosen mercy." Shiroe looked at her, then nodded solemnly. She looked down and bit her lip. Shiroe could tell she was fighting tears. Nyanta's ears turned back sadly as he turned his head away again.

Michael tested Shiroe. "Because you see that your preferred solution is possible when we walk that path."

Shiroe nodded again, but it hurt to make that admission. He opened his mouth, then hesitated. Michael glared at him and he swallowed. "You'll still get to try your own experiment on that path, however. I need to know the results of it, ...to be sure. If you can win..." He almost turned away at that point and had to take a breath.

But Michael was nodding. "I'll do it," he said softly. "I'm willing to make that sacrifice." He gave a bit of a morbid grin, "Besides, I've received two requests for it. What Adventurer turns down requests when they want the reward at the end?"

Shiroe shook his head sadly. "Very well." He looked at the rest of them.

Naotsugu didn't want to meet his eyes. He swallowed, then said, "What happens if we resist?"

Shiroe felt his face go hard and cold. "They will open the restraints and everyone who has a desire towards another Adventurer will feel it so strongly they won't be able to resist and everyone will become their test subject until they have their answer, regardless of how long or short it takes or who and how many are hurt in the process. Purrcy protects us by offering herself as the beta test subject." Nyanta looked slapped, but he'd known. He'd known and the tears that translated to shivers couldn't be withheld any longer. Shiroe looked at Brenner. Brenner stepped up to Nyanta's right and held his shoulder. Naotsugu stepped to his left and took the other one and they supported him the best they could.

While holding Nyanta, Naotsugu looked up with his own grief at Shiroe. "Even Marielle and I?"

"You will be first if Nyanta refuses," Shiroe said. "As will most of Akiba. We are their experimental location and we will pay the price first as our punishment for not obeying, though it won't be restricted to our city."

"So, you're saying even if we try to resist we can't?" Tetorō cried.

"I am," Shiroe answered gravely. "That is why I can no longer allow Nyanta to resist Purrcy."

"Has she agreed?" Nyanta's anguish tore at every heart.

"Yes. We talked yesterday. She is willing to walk the path of mercy as always and is prepared. ...So far, the beta test contract holds. Demikas' wife has yet to be pregnant. I'm watching him from now on to make sure they haven't gotten impatient with us too much. They still would prefer a felinoid pairing. The gestation is four times shorter for a cat than for a human: nine weeks."

Shiroe looked at Tetorō. "When we are done in China, we'll stop at the closest port to Mount Fuji and you and Michael will go with her. The only safe place for her to give birth as an Adventurer is hidden away in the shrine. Inari - both halves - will protect her there. You will be her midwife and nurse. They'll send Michael back eventually. He's male and can't stay, but I want him guarding her as long as possible."

Shiroe looked back at Nyanta. "You will need to mate enough to see she is pregnant before then, and they will likely call you back more than once, or send her to you, but I don't want you there. Izanagi's jealousy against the children is too great. It's too dangerous and I don't know how long it will take us to break the curse." Nyanta went weak and his supporters held him more firmly. They all knew how hard it was for him to not have Purrcy with him. His healer was being taken away...for likely up to a year. A long time for Nyanta.

Akatsuki lifted a tear stained face. "Do we really have to, Shiroe?" she begged.

Shiroe longed to hold her, but had to refrain. He could only nod. "We could all revolt as soon as the current quests are completed, sending out the word to fight and kill every living being on the planet, and not fulfill the purification quest, and we could go home sooner. We would leave behind a world so full of chaos and darkness it would never recover. That is our only other option. That is the legacy of angry Adventurers who are refused and backed into a corner." He couldn't keep his own pain off his face. "It is everything I have tried to prevent until now...and I can't choose it when I can still see the solution with the peaceful and preferred end within my reach. ...Even though that path is the most painful for us," he whispered.

He closed his eyes, then felt small warm arms wrap around him. He slowly opened his arms and wrapped them around her. It was small comfort surely, but he couldn't refuse. He looked down into her eyes and said quietly, "If you ever need the strength to refuse, remember who is making the sacrifice for us. Let that be your anchor." She nodded and hid her head in his chest.

Naotsugu shifted and Shiroe looked at him. He was stricken. "I won't tell you to refuse Marielle," Shiroe said. "You'll need to decide it for yourselves. As long as they stay patient and content, you're probably safe, but they are capricious and untrustworthy, living only by their own selfish desires. Be careful."

Naotsugu nodded, then hesitantly asked, "Will we still have the wedding? Will she still be able to come?"

Shiroe looked away. "I didn't have all the information before we left. ...If you want to go ahead, I'll try to win her freedom. There are two times it will be possible. One is just around the time of the winter festival and that's the most likely time they'll let her come. It may have to be in Maihama, though, instead of Akiba, depending on the timing."

Naotsugu took a deep breath. "I'll talk to Marie. If I do that from under here will it be kept secret enough?"

Shiroe looked over to Charlie. "We've learned how to do it, but only point to point. If she's in her bedroom alone it should be okay." He looked back at Naotsugu. "It should be today. It might be easier if you do it at the same time as you tell the juniors, though you'll want to talk to her directly afterwards." Naotsugu nodded, understanding.

Shiroe took a deep breath, let go of Akatsuki and walked over to Nyanta. He placed a gentle hand on the gentleman's shoulder. "Nyanta, Summon your wife. Let her heal all of us one more time. Hear her own words, then we'll let Izanami know how displeased we are. She doesn't like this umbrella of protection we have so the time will be fairly short." Shiroe looked at Michael. "Be the division to begin the preparations for the sixth level. But both of you, please never forget that even if they begin to control your emotions, you are on the same side fighting for the same purpose. When the time comes to act, that will be your strength." When they both nodded, Shiroe's own heart finally broke and he stepped back from Nyanta to spare him his tears. In order to save the Adventurers of the world, and all living things in it, he was going to break his own guild and bring great pain to those he cared for most and they - even now - wouldn't refuse him. He sank to his knees and sobbed as Akatsuki wrapped her arms around him again and held him, rocking him gently.

There was a slight swirling of the air, then a feather-light touch on the top of his head and a soft touch of fur on his cheek. "Peace, my son. They won't leave you, even if for a time you must send them on difficult tasks. They will return. Akatsuki will be able to stay by your side, and the others. Your shield will remain as well and you will support each other so the rest of us can come home at the end. That strength will hold us up as well." The underlying purr resonated in his ear and he was able to recover enough to finish recovering on his own. The hand and purr left him to touch Akatsuki's head. "Thank you, little mother. I will leave you in each other's care for that time."

"...Michael. It is time to use the strength you've withheld this whole time. I will be waiting for you. Good luck with your tasks until then."

"...Tetorō, thank you again. Please...lean on Shiroe. He won't leave you alone. Remember my words to you. Where there is a vessel for me I will always be present to you." Her purring was now filling up the little space, helping to calm the desperate grief that had filled it before she came. "Gareth, please, stand in the place I will have to leave and watch over him for me as I've been watched over by him." There was a pause because Tetorō still had so much healing to do.

Shiroe turned his head and softly said, "Tetorō I'll give you time with her later as well." Tetorō was able to let go of her shortly thereafter, if reluctantly, and Gareth took him again, to hold his hand. Tetorō leaned his forehead on Gareth's shoulder, not able to look at anyone.

Shiroe stood as Purrcy moved on to Naotsugu, pausing to hug Charlie on the way. "Give them all my love and my gratitude for today and tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow." He nodded then released her. "Naotsugu, please also pass on my love to the others who can't be here. I'll comfort them later tonight if I can, though I won't see Marielle again. Hold her tightly when you get home for me. If I can get warning to you, I will, so you can be comforted properly as well until then."

He nodded in her shoulder. "Thank you, Hahaue. Please, if we hold the wedding, try to come." She only pet him briefly a few times, not able to promise it.

"Be happy, my son," she said, "that will be a bright day for you both."

He turned his head and gave her a kiss. "It's not the second one after my wedding, but the second one before that is long past. I think I'll pay it now...and if I get the chance later, then later, too, though I die for it." She chuckled a little and patted him on the head, then turned to Nyanta.

Nyanta grabbed her in closely and held on as if to his life raft in the ocean. "Thank you, Nyanta, for doing as I asked for so long. Things are properly in place now. It's okay and I'm prepared. ...I am sorry it will cause you so much pain, though."

He shook his head. "It's the pain to mew that hurts me the most, though I won't survive without mew that long very well."

"I'll make it up to you in the years that follow," she promised. "I'll stay with you and the children until it's time to bring them back to this realm. Likely I'll be taken again at that time for a brief time, like each time, but you'll see me again after that, before the end that Shiroe chooses. What comes after this will be difficult, but it will also be temporary. Healing can come to all of us." Her eyes went to Tetorō as she silently promised it to him as well and Shiroe could feel she meant it for him as well.

Nyanta's hands clenched behind her back. "I don't want to do this."

"You don't have to today or even tomorrow. Decide in what way you are willing to do it, then we'll do it that way. We have until the final battle in China is over to begin. You will know when it's time."

He shivered, then relented. "No. Mew asked for something specific. I will give mew that first, and in my own timing." Purrcy buried her face in Nyanta's neck and he took his turn to pet her comfortingly.

"Thank you, Nyanta," she whispered. Nyanta kissed her forehead gently, then lifted her head and kissed her lips. When they separated, Purrcy turned to Brenner. "I know you still aren't sure, but please, watch over him as best you can for me, until he isn't able to hear you any more and then beyond. He will still be in there, wishing and fighting to get out, biding his time until he can be free again. Give him words of encouragement when he is the most difficult and bitter, because then is when he will be the most angry and unable to continue to live with himself. It is a difficult thing to carry another, apparently omnipotent being."

She looked back into Nyanta's eyes. "And when you are in that place, close your eyes and dream of me. I will be reaching for you. When our time is completed, we will come out again and be together again without restraints." She looked around at everyone. "All of us will. Be of courage and remember your bonds. Do what you must, but never let them be shaken or unbroken in the deepest depths of your heart. Protect them and you will rise again to stand together. ...Play the best game you've ever played...and play for keeps."

She turned to Shiroe, though Nyanta still held onto her. "It's time. She won't wait much longer."

Shiroe nodded. "Step outside and if you can, give us a count of five."

Nyanta stole one more kiss, Naotsugu one more pet, Tetorō ran over to get one more brief hug and she passed by Shiroe and Akatsuki to get in one more double hug and pat on the head for each of them, then she was passing by them to walk out of the umbrella. Shiroe looked briefly at everyone as he turned to face Purrcy, then reset the permissions on the security.

"What have you done?" Izanami asked. "Have you broken your contract?"

"No," Shiroe answered calmly. "We've asked Purrcy what she wants to do. You already know we won't make a decision without knowing her own will in the matter. She is that precious to us. It is a thing I realize you don't understand yet, not having enough experience of your own." He turned from Izanami to face Nyanta. "What have you decided?"

"I won't do it" he refused.

Shiroe turned to Tetorō, "Then will you?"

Tetorō shook his head. "I'll continue to support Purrcy."

Shiroe turned to Michael. "Then will you?"

Michael turned to Nyanta, his face contorting in anger. "You'll die when you return home, yet you'll break your contract while you're here, hurting her both ways. If you do that, then I'll pick up her contract." He looked at Shiroe. "I will do it...and if you break yours I'll pick yours up as well. Purrcy is too precious for either of you to do that and leave her behind."

Nyanta's tail was lashing angrily. "Purrcy is mine. Mew may not do it, nor have her contracts. She has purromised Shiroe-ichi and she has purromised me."

"Then do your part and keep your own promises," Michael scolded.

They stared each other down until Nyanta finally turned stiffly and walked out from under the tent awning to stand by Purrcy. He took her hand and looked her in the eye. "I will do it, Izanami, and Izanagi, but mew will not interfere according to the agreement already made with Shiroe-ichi after we were married. Adventurer purrocreation is not to be trifled with, nor the love of a husband for his wife. Mew will not be purresent when we are together, nor participate. In order to ensure it, I will use Shiroe-ichi's tent." He waved at the one he'd just left. "I do not trust either one of mew and find mew both not only immature and childish in meowr selfishness and lack of understanding, but also evil in the definition of all Adventurers. Mew are not worthy of our concern until mew can show us that mew have concern for us. Shiroe-ichi has chosen mercy, but I will not until mew have earned it. Until then, mew both have only my hatred."

He glared into Purrcy's eyes at Izanami until she finally said. "It is sufficient."

Before she could go, Shiroe called out. " _After_ , Izanami. After the current quests are done. I need them both for the Maze of Eternity and the battles on the mainland. When we return, then they will begin."

Izanami glared at him, then finally nodded. "Only until then, Archmage Shiroe. You have promised, as have they."

"Then promise to learn to treat them gently," he said in return. "They are doing their best. Don't damage them in your youthful impatience, or I'll consider the contract broken by you. ...And Izanami, my patience is gone. I will not delay the death of this world if either of you give me one more delay to accomplishing my own goals." He allowed his full displeasure and anger to show on his face, though he had no idea if they had learned how to read expressions yet.

"...The quest yet to be given cannot count as a delay."

"Fine," he almost spit it out, even though he'd already known it had to be included in the last floor. "Then don't delay giving it."

"Understood."

Shiroe turned to Nyanta. "Izanagi, promise it, everything Izanami has promised here today you must also promise. You continue to break the promises that Izanami makes with us, the same as she breaks promises you make with us. You must also promise it or I will consider all contracts broken."

Nyanta slowly changed, but only enough for Izanagi to look out of his eyes. "It is acceptable."

Shiroe glared at them both, then nodded. Tetorō, Brenner, and Gareth were leaping out from under the tent to catch Purrcy and Nyanta and cast their healing spells on them, each of the guards going to their respective charges. Shiroe walked to Nyanta and helped him back up to his feet. "Thank you, Nyanta, for Purrcy's sake."

Nyanta stiffly bowed, but when he looked up and saw Michael, his tail swished angrily again and he turned to help Purrcy up and held her closely to him and walked for the exit from the roof. Shiroe turned to Akatsuki and saw Michael standing with his arms folded, staring after Nyanta judgmentally. "Michael," Shiroe said placatingly, "he's angry, and understandably so, but he'll properly fulfill his contract. He does care for her."

"No," Michael said coldly, "their marriage is one of convenience and contract only. Only because I invoked the contract did he act. He has never been anything other than selfish in their relationship, Shiroe. He will turn his back on her in the end, and I will take the contract...because I already love her." He turned and walked away.

Shiroe looked down at Akatsuki, worried. She looked up at him, also worried. "Shiroe...I - I think he means it." She looked back after Michael, then over at Tetorō questioningly.

Tetorō looked after Michael, then bit his lip sadly. He looked at Shiroe and softly said, "He does. I think he has from before, when she helped the sub-guild in Minami. It's only his own wife at home that keeps him refraining from opening his mouth."

Shiroe blinked and stared at Tetorō. "You're serious."

Tetorō's very sad eyes looked back at him as he said solemnly, "Yes, Shiroe. I am. This will be a very dangerous game to play."

Shiroe put his head into his hand. He sighed and shook his head. "Akatsuki, watch where Michael goes, but come back if Naotsugu calls for you. Tetorō, call for the juniors to come join Naotsugu here. Tell them I'm sorry to interrupt their party preparations. Brenner don't lose sight of Nyanta. I'd like him separated from her for some portion of the afternoon so Tetorō can have a turn to finish healing without making Izanagi jealous. Until he's fully healed up, please. Let him know when Purrcy is free. Tetorō if you want to stay close by until then you're welcome to follow them at a distance. Gareth stay with Tetorō for now. You're free when he's doing better, but keep an eye on him...for all of us." Shiroe put his hand lightly on Tetorō's head. "We can all only do our best, given what we have. We'll have to trust in them regardless." He held it until Tetorō nodded, if a little unhappily. Shiroe sighed and let him go, then turned to return to the tent for just a little longer.

When he stepped into the tent, Naotsugu looked at him, then glanced at Charlie. When Shiroe nodded faintly, Naotsugu turned his back on the Eagle and folded his arms. "You already knew."

Shiroe pushed up his glasses so he could look clearly into Naotsugu's eyes and turned so his mouth couldn't be read. "Yes. But there is no lie to it, Naotsugu. Not to any of it. I've only asked them all to be exactly what they already are, and freely - though I've asked them to come back anyway, if they can and if they will."

Naotsugu considered it. It was important to Shiroe that he continue to keep Naotsugu's trust. He would need him even more. "The ninetails?"

Shiroe shook his head. "Nazuna was a foxtail, sent by Inari with the jewel of wisdom in her mouth and intelligence as her gift. For the two tails, I checked. She also was over level one hundred, though just barely. It wasn't a lie either."

"Nyanta just said Izanami lied to you."

"Izanami and Izanagi, yes, have been duplicitous. That's why he called them evil. Tell me, when has Hahaue ever lied?" Naotsugu struggled. Shiroe had to help. "She's withheld information until it was the proper time to give it, and often waited until I asked for it which made me stumble occasionally. Things have been hidden until revealed, though visible when you look back on it. But when I look to see if the path I've been on is straight, there is no crookedness to it. Darkness and difficulty, but straight and with no lies to move it forward."

When Naotsugu finally relented and gave a firm nod, Shiroe sighed to himself in relief. "And you, Shiroe? Are you staying straight?"

"I hurt, Naotsugu. This is the hardest thing I've had to do - watch my guild that I've created be torn apart with my own hands and the people I've come to care about the most be hurt this deeply. I can only hope it will repair in the end, though both Purrcy and I have done what we can to help them, and we'll keep trying." He turned away, then said quietly, "Inari really has pushed me to my limit, though. I didn't lie to them either. I'm angry enough to kill this world and them with it." He looked down, then back at Naotsugu. "But I have the solution and I'm not going to let it get away."

Naotsugu nodded. "That's what I'd expect from you. If it starts to slip, let me know."

"I will," Shiroe promised. He hesitated. "You can let the juniors know as much as you think they should know, but if you decide to tell Marie everything, wait until we're home and I have them all separated. I don't want the worst to happen because they receive the confirmation it really is all true. Her brand of compassion doesn't work well with my plans."

"Yeah," Naotsugu rubbed his head. "I know. I won't."

Shiroe shifted uncomfortably. "And I need to apologize. I'm really sorry, Naotsugu, that I put you and Marie into a bad situation before I knew everything."

Naotsugu shook his head and looked away in embarrassment. "Maybe it would have turned out better to have not taken her with me, but...I can't say I minded it, and Purrcy did need her there to keep her magic running." Naotsugu looked down then back at Shiroe. "And it was helpful to have her supporting me when things got rough for everyone else, and in the Depths of Palm. That was our first time to work together as Tank and Op. It really has helped, I think, for us to have had that time together." He paused, then said, "We'll work it out and Hahaue said she'd help, too, if she could. She's just as happy having us in love."

"True," Shiroe smiled.

Naotsugu sighed. "But still...Marie'd probably be just as happy here as there, if she had a baby to bounce on her knee ...and good food to feed us all. She's a good kid, you know."

"I do," Shiroe answered. "She'll play her part well, too."

"Because you keep letting everyone be themselves."

"Well, there is that, but it's because she cares." Shiroe looked at Naotsugu, then took him in a sudden surprise hug. "Like you do. Thank you, Naotsugu."

Naotsugu patted him gently on the back. "That's what I'm here for - to keep you safe to keep moving forward. I've got your back and your front. Akatsuki and I will keep you protected until it's time to move again."

"Thanks," Shiroe said again, then released him. He put his hand on Naotsugu's shoulder for a moment longer, looking him in the eyes, then let him go and walked over to the chair Charlie had materialized for him when everyone else left the tent.

"Stiletto's made contact and has a report for you."

"Go," Shiroe said quietly, then listened as Stiletto told him about five more that were on board for the final battle. Things were going to be hard for a while, but things were also going as planned - both above and in the underground resistance. It was good to finally be moving towards home - his one comfort that the current pain would be worth it.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael flew overhead, watching as Nyanta led Purrcy towards the beach. When they stopped at a secluded area to talk, he left them there. He knew Nyanta would need further confirmation and comfort now that he wasn't so angry. Michael did watch from the code realm enough to make sure Nyanta wasn't so angry that he beat her if she'd stayed Izanami, but with Brenner watching them and Gareth and Tetorō close behind, Michael didn't need to be so close now. He stopped in a tall tree close enough that if he was called to protect he could get there quickly enough. Only he of the four had sufficient defenses to block Nyanta long enough for the rest to get Purrcy out to safety, but he couldn't stay too close to them right now.

As his automatic setting was watching over Purrcy, his mind couldn't stop thinking. He wasn't surprised Shiroe had released the restraints on the couple. He was that it had come before they'd returned to Akiba. He was also reeling from the requirement and how soon it would come. Shiroe and he had talked about it, but that hadn't sufficiently prepared him apparently. From what Shiroe had said, it had moved up in importance because it should have already happened on the AIs' time schedule. To postpone it any longer was dangerous.

Michael turned his head and bit his lip, then leaned his forehead on the tree bark, pressing firmly, trying to get the pain to get his head to stop spinning. He took a deep breath and it was his heart that hurt. That wasn't surprising. If Purrcy had been fighting this long to prevent it, it hurt she'd finally had to give in to it. She fought everything, but if she stopped it was because she loved the ones she was protecting by giving in. She was moving to fight in a different way...and he didn't want her to.

Michael raised his arm over his head and leaned harder on the tree, hiding his face as the worst sort of angry expression came on it that he didn't dare show the world. He hadn't meant for those last words to come out. They'd surprised him and he hadn't been able to breathe for a while and his mind had shut down. Even now, he didn't want to think of them. If he was playing the ruse, being the goad and the eventual enemy, it was fine. His own knew that wasn't him, to want to be unfaithful to his wife. The problem was that it had hit him hard that it had rung true and he wanted to keep denying it. He wasn't sure he could let the next more than half year, if not even more than that, happen if he couldn't deny it.

He swallowed and closed his eyes and worked very hard to remember his own wife and son. He still needed to stay faithful to them. The goal was to get home and let them know he hadn't abandoned them. If he fell hard for Purrcy it would be the same as if he had. ...Maybe if she could tell him why she'd picked Nyanta, knowing this was coming, that would help. She never did anything without a good reason. He'd have to find that elusive time when it could be just the two of them talking. ...Or he could use it as one of those times when they were 'caught' at the end to stir things up even more.

Michael groaned. It was worse than all that, though. In his own planning he'd already planned this very thing happening. For his own plans it needed to play out like this. He'd just had no idea he really felt that way and just how hard it was going to be to follow through on it. He was trained for stuff like this. It wasn't supposed to hit his heart. It was cold lies and pretend play to get to the end goal. He needed to find that level again and stick to it...but today...how could he get through today?

He wanted to beat his head on the tree. He was a fool. It was rule number one. Never get emotionally involved. He'd somehow fallen into the trap somewhere on the way and he couldn't put his finger on when. She'd played it just as well as he had from the beginning. Still was. It didn't matter to her if she really loved Nyanta or not. She had a goal and was going for it. She was using him as much as he was using her, but Michael could only hate Nyanta and admire Purrcy.

"Did you believe you were above being influenced emotionally and chemically by the AIs?" The voice was cool.

"Apparently," he answered without moving. "Can I kill them yet?"

There was a snort. "Where's your weapon?"

"Not in my hand for another few months, but it's a lot closer than it was. He says I get to take most, if not all of you." It did help to be reminded that the goal in this same play for the AIs was to make such emotional attachments even if the Adventurers didn't want them to begin with. He could channel some of his anger at them into fighting it and pushing it back so he could be cool again. And he'd better before he turned around or they'd kill him. That rule number one was death to break since if the one who broke it wasn't taken out immediately, the rest would die. ( _Not Purrcy!)_ A traitorous thought that was flamed and squashed. Purrcy had even told him that she'd kill him - or die herself - if the wall of distrust didn't stay up between them. What was it she'd said? If he was taken and tortured, he was only to say...

"I swear she's just a princess, not the daughter of a corporate president. I don't have anything to do with her. I'm just the bodyguard. They won't pay a ransom for me, so you can just kill me if it floats your boat. They're going to have a large multi-million-dollar wedding when they get back just to make the folks happy." For the next twenty minutes they beat him and he didn't fight back and he stuck to his story until he had it memorized in his flayed body and his head and made it stick in his heart. When they believed he had it, could say they believed him, they backed off, but they watched him. They were going to watch him from now on. They'd probably have to do it again down the line and he'd be paranoid, but it would get him - and all of them - through to the end. A walk through hell, but to the end so the goal was met.

"When are you allowed to love her?" It was a test, but Michael's hand was at the throat of the one who asked and had him on his back.

"No one loves her," he hissed. "Not me, not you, not a damn creature on this planet. Not her husband, barely her kids and not even them. To love her is death and poison and everyone knows it. Use her to pull yourself up to get back on the hike, just like everyone else does, but let her go or you'll get pulled in, too. We're already going to lose Gareth and I'ma gonna cry she took my best wingman, then cut her in two for doing it. At least he's pasted to Tetorō now. That might save him." He pushed off the body below him hard to standing and glared around at the rest of them.

This time when they came at him, he hit back until they were rags on the ground and in the trees. The exercise helped him to calm down again and he was back to cool with a cold heart and a mission to fulfill...and maybe they'd had it beat out of them, too. They all needed it and all for the same reason. They'd all gotten too complacent. They'd have to beat up the rest when they got back together, but this was a good start. Michael slumped to the ground and rested his arms on his raised knees. "Give me fifteen." He dropped to his back and closed his eyes. Right now a power nap was the proper thing to do.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō was having troubles being patient. At the same time, he really didn't want to die. That would be just as painful. He was just starting to get broody when Gareth sat him down and pulled out a deck of cards. "First game to play is Go Fish. If you can't play that child's game you can't play anything at all. Then you teach me the most basic card game of Japan." He shuffled the deck and dealt seven cards to each of them, then spread the rest of the deck out on the ground between them. He calmly explained the rules of the game and they got started. It was mindless enough after getting the point that Tetorō was able to let the cards in his hand soothe him. He was pleased when he won.

The game he taught Gareth was Rich Man, Poor Man. It was the most popular group game of cards and hard to play with just two, since you really needed at least the rich man, the poor man and preferably at least two in between, though you could get by with one. Still, Tetorō got the point of the game across and won two rounds, then Gareth won one and they called it.

Gareth smoothly moved on to Gin and Tetorō somewhat reluctantly moved on to his second when Purrcy still wasn't free yet. "Compai!" Tetorō called when he won at the end and they moved on to the next American card game. They played until Tetorō couldn't think of any other card games. Gareth took one more turn to teach, then picked up the cards at the end, having stomped Tetorō since it was a complicated game for him, shuffled them several times keeping his hands busy a little longer, then dealt a game of solitaire. Tetorō made suggestions and comments over his shoulder until they won the game together. Then they switched and Tetorō dealt his hand and Gareth commented and kibitzed. At some point, Tetorō asked casually, "Where'd you get a deck of cards in this place?"

Gareth pointed out two more possible moves before answering. He finally said, "Special run in the States. In the west, they have a lot of old-time western themed things and poker in the saloon is one of them. I picked them up on a buy so I could play, though I'm really terrible with poker."

"In what way? You did well just now."

"I always win. I can feel the cards, even online. And online a poker face is easy - no one's looking at you. I got thrown out eventually for cheating, something about throwing the game and knowing what the random generator was going to pop out before it did, but it was just intuition."

Tetorō looked at him, then nodded. "The random number generators always seed badly - that is with the same few numbers over and over so you can calculate it, so I can see why they'd think that...but I believe you." He moved the next set of cards around on the board and played the next hand. "I code like that, too. My professors couldn't understand why my code worked and I couldn't explain it. I love coding here. It's so smooth and like swimming in bathwater, but at the same time I can sink my teeth into it and really understand it - how it works and why, why another Programmer or Hacker wrote it this way or that and how I could modify it. I'd swim a lot more, but I like people, too."

Gareth was silent for a while, then asked, "Do you?"

Tetorō didn't look up. He couldn't lie to Gareth. That was part of his intuition, too. "Well, okay. I like to be the center of attention. Code doesn't fill that need much unless a flashy spell just went off and everyone knows it was yours."

Gareth's hand was light on Tetorō's, stopping it just as he lay the next hand down. "Say the truth, Tetorō." When Tetorō jerked, Gareth's hand grabbed him to hold him still. Tetorō's eyes rose to look angrily into Gareth's. Gareth looked back calmly, without judgment, without relenting either.

Tetorō's fear came back, but it wasn't really a fear of the man with him. It was the general fear he had when he had to face the real him. "I can't," he whispered. He stared into the eyes on the other side until they let him go and the hand released him. He tried very hard to not regret it.

"Tetorō!" He looked up quickly into the scolding face and was surprised to see it. "Look here! -No. Don't look. Play the game." Tetorō looked back down at the cards. " _Listen_. Listen to my words." Tetorō nodded and placed the top card in his hand.

"We're Americans. We don't care. Male, female, rich, poor, black, white, Latino, Jap - we - don't - care." Gareth let that have time to sink in. "If you want to be female, be female. If you want to be male, be male. If you want to be both or all of them mixed in a bucket, do it. We. Don't. Care. But man, you can go toe to toe with anyone you feel needs it and you won't back down. That's guts. You can grab hold of Hahaue and drag her behind you kicking, screaming, and crying and not let go and then in the next breath be swinging in the breeze behind her as she goes running off wild and still not let go. That is strength like I've never seen before. In an instant you can put on a face, play it to the hilt, and demand that you were born that way. That is _awesome_!" Tetorō couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself. Even he knew he could do those things well.

"But Tetorō," Gareth's voice dropped and he paid close attention with his ears, though his eyes were still playing the game in front of him, "everybody's got a weakness they're hiding deep inside, protecting it in the dark away from the eyes of anyone. We've all got one and it's a weakness that when the world presses down on us too hard begins to crack and our foundation gets shaky. _That's_ what I want you to look at and tell me. What's in that place, Tetorō? ...Honestly."

Tetorō was standing at the edge of that place of darkness and he looked up at Gareth and said coldly, "Hate. Hatred. I hate everyone and everything and I was taught to do it by my father, every time he bothered to come home. When I was four my mother was playing with me and thought it would be a fun game to dress me up. When my father got home and saw me in a little girl's dress and my mother smiled at him, inviting him to enjoy the game with us, he slapped her, tore the dress off me, made her put me in boys clothing and scolded us both for two hours before sending us to bed with no dinner. For the rest of my life, when my father came home it was to be fed by a quiet and timid wife and then to spend the rest of the evening lecturing me with cold words or silence while I stood on the wall and had to take it or receive physical punishment. I learned to play his game and I learned to hate him and because he hated me I learned to hate everyone."

"People were to use and abuse and educate, but they weren't worthy of my consideration. I learned to play whatever needed playing to get what I wanted. I learned from my own father's lips how to cut down others and put them in their place. And because I was still going to do whatever I wanted when he wasn't home, I learned how to educate without anyone knowing they were getting an education. I couldn't look beautiful in front of him, but I looked beautiful all day, and it didn't matter if it was girl's clothes or boy's, only that I was beautiful. When I was older, and his anger and fear made him even more toxic, I learned to sneak out of the house after he wasn't paying attention to me and live my own way - usually by heading to the arcade and shooting the first person shooters and he was every enemy on the screen. And then he decided I was old enough to need a computer. When I asked him if I could pay to play _Elder Tales_ , he agreed - MMORPGs are played by boys not girls. And I got my ultimate revenge. I created a beautiful female and played as that, and he wasn't going to ever find out or make me stop."

"Why a healer?" Gareth interjected, puzzled.

"Because girls don't fight. Girls heal."

Gareth raised an eyebrow. "Rieze."

Tetorō shook his head. "She's doing what I was doing and most of them are. Crying out against a society that doesn't allow girls to be strong without punishment." Gareth nodded. He could understand that.

"Why guild, then, if you hate everyone?"

Tetorō looked back down at his hand, but didn't play the next move. "When we came here, we had the struggle at the beginning. It took me a while, but I came around to deciding that it didn't matter what I looked like, it mattered that I was going to be what I wanted to be and do whatever I wanted to do, just like I already had been doing up until then. Educate harshly anyone who thought I really was a girl, use anyone I needed to use to get where and what I wanted, fight whatever needed fighting."

"...Then Naotsugu showed up in Susukino and ticked me off, pushing almost all my buttons, so I clung on to him and wouldn't let him go, determined to give him a full education and take everything I wanted as I did it. But when we failed, and everyone died, William got up and said that he wasn't going to let that make him turn around and walk away. He wasn't going to change what and who he was just because some dungeon said he'd failed once, and he wasn't going to let anyone who wanted what he wanted say they were going to as well, not if they believed like he did, that what one was should be fought for. I felt his words deeply. They were my words."

Tetorō thumbed the cards in his hand. "And then Shiroe stood up and apologized, saying that we'd failed because he hadn't really told us what the real goal was. It wasn't get to the boss and kill it and just finish another raid. It was that _he_ \- one person only - had to get to the final boss because he had been told by the Cunie he couldn't achieve his goal if he didn't. And he told us what that goal was. When he did that, everyone had this attitude of, 'Oh, we can do that. It's just one guy that has to get there. We can distract the rest until you get that done, sure.' It suddenly became simple. It still wasn't easy. We were all pasted to the ground by the time it was done, both those still in the room with five HP and those who'd KOd and gone to the entrance. But we'd won, nonetheless."

Tetorō was silent for a moment, but Gareth waited patiently. "When it was all done and it was time to go home, I could have stayed there. I could have followed William. He understood. But Shiroe had woken something up in me I'd forgotten. That I wanted to know how to win regardless of the odds. I learned from him that we can bumble around, be an air head, but when it came down to the wire, if we've put in our heavy thought and strenuous effort and planned it right, we couldn't lose. That the world would step out of the way and bow and hand it over. I was already that, but he was it refined and perfected, and I wanted to do that, too. I put my effort into helping him win every time because I want that win - to never fail." He set his jaw and swallowed. His pride in their ability to do that as a guild had overwhelmed him again just thinking about it.

When he recovered he said, "And there was Naotsugu. He had something I wanted, too. He was himself, without apology, without effort. I was deeply jealous of it, but I also wanted to understand it. Just being around him calmed me like nothing ever had. He's a steady base, unwavering, kind but not soft and a delight to tease and aggravate. He gave me everything I needed at the time and I took it and went with them when they returned to Akiba. I was nervous about meeting the rest and afraid they'd all send me packing...but they didn't, and I could see most of them knew exactly what I was and what kind of person just by looking at me - and they didn't care. They welcomed me in just the same."

Tetorō shook his head. "The younger four taught me to relax and that it was okay to have fun while walking through life and the other two taught me what I wanted to get from them, and then Akatsuki and Nyanta started teaching me what was inside me that needed changing. Akatsuki was focused and mostly on what she could do to improve - constantly, quietly, without asking for fanfare - and that motivated me. Nyanta was like my dad - mostly not present and quiet - but he was always there in the morning and the evening, present without being present. When he started opening his mouth to correct me, it was with a quiet, simple comment that I was then left to consider on my own. When I had to finally agree with him, I had Akatsuki's example for how to go about working on it, and the rest of them to see that I followed through when they saw I was trying."

Tetorō looked away. "Things were good, but it wasn't enough. I discovered there was something they couldn't help me with and I didn't know how to fix it myself. I'd made mistakes when I first joined up with them, and I couldn't go back and change them and I didn't know how. I had become the fly in the soup, but I didn't want to just give up and walk away from them. That was completely counter to what I was trying to learn from Shiroe. I was stuck." He looked at Gareth. "And then Purrcy walked into the guild all on her own and turned it upside down, all seemingly by accident. I hated her the moment I laid eyes on her. I knew she was trouble and she was going to do things to us we wouldn't - _I_ wouldn't like." Tetorō put the cards on the ground and sat up straight, looked directly at Gareth and said, "And then she gave me everything I was going to take from her."

Gareth looked back soberly, listening properly. "I tease and I test everyone. If they can't take it, they get more until I win. The first thing I was going to test her with was completely improper and she offered it to me straight up and I didn't know how to take it. From then on she was always one step ahead of me, even to scolding me properly so that I could fix what I hadn't been able to fix for months. By the time we were fighting the Plague Master, and even before then, the tables had been turned on me and I was eating out of her hand instead of making her dance to mine. I can't say that I haven't hated it. I have."

He slowed down and paused, looking down at the ground between them. "But I've also needed it and the guild has needed it, and in the end, this entire world needs it - what she gives, and even what she takes." His face twisted. "It hurts like hell, a lot of the time, and I hate it a lot of the time, too, but...," the tears threatened to fall again, "...I can't let go anymore. I'm as desperate as she is. We have to win and she's going to see that we do. She's going to give to Shiroe exactly what he needs and I've already promised him over and over that I'll do my part to see that failure isn't an option. I've promised it to myself. So now I can't let go or I'll tear that and me to shreds..."

When he looked back up at Gareth, he knew death rode in his eyes. "I hate this Nyanta. This Nyanta wants to see her fail, wants to tear us apart, wants to see Shiroe writhing on the ground weeping and begging for forgiveness for even trying to win. _This_ Nyanta is like my father, and I can only hate it. I want to rescue Hahaue from him like I could never rescue my own mother, and I'm deathly afraid for her because if he tears her apart like my father did my mother, then we lose." Gareth drew a breath but Tetorō wasn't looking at him and wasn't finished. "He won't. She won't let him because she's like me - hates everyone, uses them because she can, plays her parts without flinching or flaw. In this, we are allies and I can trust her to not fail and if she weakens, she knows she's to turn to me to see that she gets back up on her feet again."

Tetorō looked at Gareth lightly with a toss of his head. "You shouldn't worry, though. We're both honest, too. It's easier to play the parts when you're showing the real you most of the time." Tetorō played the last card to win the game. "So now that you know, what are you going to do about it?" he gave the challenge.

Gareth looked at him for a while, then shrugged. "Nothing. Welcome to the resistance."

Tetorō nodded. "Keep working hard. Maybe I'll accept the lot of you some day."

"Not like we care," Gareth answered back. Slowly, they both smiled.


	99. Fifth Floor: Mid-Level Rest & Moving On

The barbecue party on the beach that night was a farce for all of Log Horizon, but they were used to playing parts and wearing the proper faces by now. Nyanta, Purrcy, Minori, and Touya all cooked and the Eagles who enjoyed barbecuing took their turns, though there were never as many Eagles on the beach as were in the area at one time. The rest of the guild noted it and didn't comment. Michael was gone for most of the time, but did eventually show up to claim his own food and sit with Reed and Gareth to chat.

When Tetorō joined them, sitting between Michael and Gareth, Naotsugu did eventually go and sit with them as well, just as a check up on the mood and direction. They welcomed him easily and soon they were in heated discussions. Since no one else wanted to hear anything about women's intimate clothing, they stayed away. The conversation did draw enough others from the raid parties as a whole that eventually Nyanta stalked off in disgust, taking Purrcy with him. Brenner, Isuzu, and Rudy went with and they found a quiet part of the beach to sit and enjoy the surf, sand, and just-rising moon.

Shiroe, followed by his shadow, did go stand on the fringe of the discussion long enough to watch his guild members in the center and determine where they stood. He'd learned to read them all, the minute signs that told him what they wanted and how they were feeling and thinking. He sighed, but it was about right for the evening. Things would shake down on the trip over the ocean and they'd be back to working together again by the time they were in China, today's exposed hidden darknesses covered up again to obtain the common goal. It was the best he could ask for and all he really wanted anyway.

When he was done, he held out his hand for Akatsuki's and it was there. He held it tightly for a moment, then relaxed and turned them towards the other group. As they passed Purrcy's grill, he said kindly, "You guys can be done now. It's our turn to rest." The twins looked at each other, then nodded. They finished up their work and Touya trotted over to join the group of rowdy men, but he was going to fetch the others, to let them know it was time to work their way out of the conversation. They'd come when they could.

Minori wiped her hands on her apron one last time and followed along with Shiroe and Akatsuki. "Um...," she began, then looked away.

"We haven't," Shiroe said calmly, "and I won't - with anyone."

Minori's shoulders slumped in relief. "I'm sorry," she said sadly, and they could tell she meant it, just as they knew it was hard for her at the same time.

"Thanks," Shiroe said. "It's temporary anyway. When it's over then we can all decide how we want to live." That finally got Minori's chin up and a nod of determination once she'd internalized it. That helped both of the older two settle as well. Shiroe sighed, then complained slightly. "Whoever knew we'd have to worry about such heavy topics when it was supposed to be a game to distract us from such things to begin with?" He looked out over the sea. "Though..."

Minori looked up at him and smiled. "...You had been anyway."

He looked at her with a bit of a smile. "Yes, sadly. I had been anyway. Someday, I'd like to go back to just playing again, I think."

Akatsuki looked up at him. "You do."

He looked at her then had to give in. He couldn't win against both of them. He let go of Akatsuki's hand and reached up in a stretch, then scratched the back of his head. In a mock self-scold, he complained, "Right. I do. I do have way too much fun doing this. I have too much fun showing off that I'm intelligent and can think circles around anyone and beat my head on my desk until it's bloody and send my friends into the thick of the battle to be smashed to smithereens only to see them come back smiling and asking for more." He dropped his arms and slumped, then whined loudly, "Come on guys! Give it a rest! Complain at me more sometimes!"

"Fine," said about eight voices around him since they'd all caught up to him and they'd reached the rest of the group already gathered in the quiet. And that was followed by about twenty complaints all said at once drawing a smile from him.

Shiroe dropped to the ground, then pulled Akatsuki into his lap, grabbed Minori's hand on her way past and made her sit next to him which made Touya sit next to her. Naotsugu sat next to Shiroe on the other side and Shiroe sighed, then realized Akatsuki was sitting ramrod straight and stricken. He patted her on the head. "Give it up. Tonight we just need to relax." He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head and she finally relented and relaxed back into his chest which helped him relax more himself. He sighed. "Really, guys, I am sorry. You're doing an awesome job and I really appreciate all the hard work. Everything is on course and moving forward, even with the bumps in the road and the major potholes we keep hitting." He looked around at the group they'd just joined in with to make sure they were where they were supposed to be, too - and they were. He nodded. "Yeah. We're good."

"Glad you can see it from where you are, Mister Giant," Tetorō said sarcastically.

Shiroe smiled at him. "Glad you're having fun, Tetorō, getting to be yourself finally."

Tetorō blinked at him then rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "If you say so."

Minori giggled but Tetorō didn't scowl at her. Instead he looked over to Nyanta. "Give it up already. It's my turn or I'll have to beat you to a crisp to knock the attitude out of you."

Nyanta looked back calmly. "Feel free anytime, nyan." His ear flicked from Purrcy to Tetorō and Purrcy was immediately kitten and stumbling across the circle in the sand to get to Tetorō.

Isuzu picked her up, got in a cuddle first, and passed her on. That meant everyone on the way got a cuddle, purr, and lick, and she was passed beyond Tetorō so that he complained loudly. They kept teasing him until they'd all gotten their fix and she was finally passed back to him. She wrapped around his neck and purred in his ear, then climbed down his chest as he reached up to pet her. She teased him a little longer, hiding from his hands and climbing all over him until he finally captured her, not very gently, and she relented and increased in size enough to sit in his lap so he could pet her properly.

She gave a yawn to stretch her mouth and shook herself, then settled and said, "It doesn't matter, but I'm proud of all of you, too. Thank you for your hard work. It gets worse later on, but this is the worst it has to be for now and for a while. Relaxing now is good. It's going to be a busy month coming up next. ...And I'm going to miss all of you after that."

"Only after you've recovered from being with too many people again," Touya corrected her. An ear turn of acknowledgement went his way.

"Actually, mew're going to enjoy the peace and quiet rather a lot, aren't mew?" Nyanta asked quietly. The rest of them sobered and looked at her.

Purrcy was quiet. "Maybe," she finally said. "I really do enjoy getting to play with all of you, as hard as it is on us all. The tempo is fast and the results earned are...well, delicious is the only word I can come up with. I do need, or will by the time we're done, the down time." She lifted her head for the scratching Tetorō was giving it, her eyes closing halfway.

When he brushed her fur down to the back, she looked back at the rest of them. "But I'm going to be going a long ways away this time, and probably for longer than I'm going to want to be gone. It's going to be lonely and hard after getting used to being with all of you, but I'll be learning things I'm looking forward to learn and you'll not be pleased to see me again in the end when I do get back, since you're all supposed to hate me by then - or what I'll have become anyway. I _would_ appreciate it if you didn't really hate the real me too much so you'll at least say goodbye when you go. I'd rather not part on bad feelings, if it's possible." She gave her cat shrug. "But you can hate me all you want until then. That would be good."

Shiroe scowled. "You know that's the part I like least about this."

Purrcy looked at him and gave her cat smile and a little lift of her tail. "Yes, I know, but that's what I'm here for - motivation."

"Love's a motivator, too," he complained.

"Yes, and because it motivates you to take care of me we can win this. But the hatred of the unseen and the unknown but suspected isn't strong enough. The hatred of the seeable and touchable is focused and directable, even when it's vicarious. Because everyone already holds the first inside them, it's imperative to turn it the way it needs to go. ...You know this already, too."

Shiroe slumped. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I need to like it."

"No, you don't. It's the driving force for your own anger. Don't bother to let it go until we're done." She licked her leg to scratch an itch on it, casual in her response.

Shiroe reached over and flicked her ear with his finger. "Fine, but don't give up or I will be angry."

She snapped at his finger with her teeth and he moved it. "I won't," she answered softly. "I'll even try to continue to direct the hatred where it's needed most. It's just the lot of you that need the proper focus."

"We're not killing you," Shiroe said firmly.

"Oh, yes you are," she answered back smoothly, "or you've already failed. You're forgetting in the immediate moment. Have you already relaxed too much?"

Shiroe had been slapped and he felt it. He turned away from her, hating even that. "Fine. We'll kill you, then we'll go on to win like you're determined to force us to anyway. But I get my drop. You can't take that away from me."

"Get it if you can," she taunted him. He looked back at her and glared. She lolled a tongue at him and rolled her head sideways until she was looking at him nearly upside down. Tetorō rolled her body over to match and rubbed her tummy, punishing her back. She grabbed at his hand with all four sets of claws, and gave a bite, then gave up and licked his hand, grooming it, done with her say.

Shiroe sighed and looked down at Akatsuki, wanting to roll her over and rub her tummy, too. He growled in her ear and complained again. "I wish we could do whatever we wanted and take it all. Having to move to the beat of another drummer - having to have a boss to fight against...I suppose is what it's all about, but I really do prefer to dance the way I want to dance." He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his nose, smelling the scent that was Akatsuki. She was indeed going to go into the equivalent of heat soon and he was going to not want to fight it at the same time as he was furious at the world AIs and refused to budge to walk to their beat. He held her tightly, knowing it was going to be the last time he could cuddle with her for a long time.

They sat quietly, enjoying the peace and camaraderie that was the guild Log Horizon. The fireworks started down the beach by the Sorcerers and a few Summoners that had Air Salamanders and other fire and light Summons that were happy to come play. When those were done, small quiet conversations rose and fell until Isuzu finally pulled out her lute and tuned it. Her fingers danced through the Theldesia twenty-four, then through favorites from Japan, and just for Purrcy, some of the oldies but goodies from the States and Great Britain. The Eagles joined in on a lot of those, singing along, surprising the guild a little. Purrcy sat and listened to those, entranced, until she was shivering with tears. Michael reached over and picked her up then and held her to his chest, petting her. "We'll sing for you again before we go home," he told her. "Record it so you'll remember."

Her nose buried in his arm, she nodded. "I'll hold you to keeping that promise, Michael - all of you." He patted her head, then continued to slowly pet her until her shivers had calmed and she was nearly asleep. Michael rose and handed her back to Nyanta. "Take care of her properly, Nyanta," he said. They looked at each other soberly. "And keep her close so I don't have to kill her just for walking away from you."

"I understand," Nyanta said with an irritated flick of his ear, though they could tell he was trying to repress it.

Michael looked at him a little more then walked back to his place next to Tetorō. He sat down with a little sigh and leaned back to look up at the sky. "She really shouldn't have shown us that particular weakness, I think."

Shiroe snorted a laugh. "And she's as naive as that? You know what she is, Michael."

Michael looked at him and glowered, then swore softly. "Fine. I don't like it, that it's that, but we'll use it anyway." He looked back at the sky. "She's too damn much of a patriot. It makes it hard to fly against her when she pulls that card. Hard, but not impossible."

They sat silent again for a while until Tetorō shifted to lean against Naotsugu and put his legs across Michael's where they were stretched out in front of the Monk. Tetorō pulled out a candy to suck on as he considered Michael next to him. "You gonna be able to hold out?" he asked casually.

"Yeah," Michael said. "Me and the boys had it out this afternoon and we're good. We've always got each other's backs. That's what being a squadron is all about you know. Anyone looks weak and we push them back up again. It's live together, fall together and none of us are willing to fall or let anyone else make us get there. Just like you guys. It's a good match. We'll play our part right. She'll kick me to the moon and back if we don't - same as Shiroe would you guys. I know where we stand."

"Good," Tetorō said, looking down evilly so no one had to carry it but him. "Get in a few for me, then, when you get there. I'm going to hate the next round after this. More than I hate my father I suspect."

Naotsugu patted him on the head. "We have faith in you, though. You'll pull through in the end and we're here to catch you on the release."

"Yeah, and you'd better follow through, too, or I'll haunt the lot of you for the rest of my undead life. ...And I know how to make life really miserable."

Naotsugu snorted a laugh. "Yeah, tell me about it." That started a fight between them, but it didn't last long, with Michael finally putting his hand firmly on Tetorō, pinning him to the sand until he held still.

"I'll be there as long as I can," Michael told Tetorō. "We've got your back, too. We know what she is, but we know what you are, too. Don't worry quite so much, and like Shiroe has to be reminded all the time, don't forget to come our way and demand it when you need it."

Tetorō was curled up next to Michael suddenly, batting his eyes. "Really, Michael? I can count on you?"

Michael grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and growled at him, but somehow, in the end, Michael was leaning his back against Naotsugu's shoulder and Tetorō was curled up in Michael's lap, leaning against one raised knee, his head on Michael's chest, encircled by his arms just enough to be a comforting protection. Naotsugu leaned over to look over Michael's shoulder at Tetorō then back at Michael. He nodded. "See it stays that way. I'm going to have my own hands full."

"I know it," Michael said. "Sit still and be my tank for two minutes, though. My op's going to be missing for a while, too. ...And that's the worst thing about that level. Most of us are going to be split and alone. She's the only solo in the guild so can handle it."

Shiroe nodded. "Indeed. That is going to be the hardest part." He held Akatsuki a little closer and she put her hand on his arm to give him a little more comfort. Minori put her hand on Shiroe's knee and he looked over at her, then sadly shook his head at her. She looked sad, but gave a nod. She wouldn't be allowed to do it either.

It would have to be Naotsugu holding him up alone, though Naotsugu would likely end up leaning on Marielle a lot. Probably they couldn't stay apart like they probably should. If Shiroe could, he would protect them and he would count on Purrcy to keep her word to the same. Likely she understood it already - that Naotsugu would need Marie that way and would fight the same, to see they could stand so Shiroe could stand.

He sighed, then started to hum. He didn't do it often, but tonight it seemed like a good time to. Akatsuki joined in with the words and then the others did, too, though the Americans just sat and listened, not knowing it. Naotsugu took the next song and they all listened to the tank that was their castle of stone hold them steady one last time as a full guild.

Shiroe sincerely hoped they could have one more night like this before they left China. Once they got back home would be nice, too, but it wouldn't happen. By then they'd be fracturing. He leaned his head on Naotsugu's shoulder and got a pat on the head for it, too, but he was allowed to stay.

They all fell asleep there for the night, curled up and cuddled up together, needing the close comfort and not able to move anyway, just too tired from the long uphill fight it had already been. The first rooms were completed - the side quests they could do to this point. They were healing up for the big room with more monsters in it than they could comprehend. But they were going to take in help for that room, so it wasn't all bad.

It was the knowing that they were going to lose half of them to slide down the sluice into the next level as soon as the fifth level boss was defeated that was hard. The rest of them would have to climb down the cliff face to get to them and then they'd be fighting each other, too, not just the enemy. That was always a harsh dungeon floor to exit out of safely.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning Isaac woke Shiroe up with a shake of his shoulder. "Time to get moving, as much as I hate to wake you all up. You all looked pretty wasted by the end of the day. Was it enough?" His eyes held knowing and compassion.

Shiroe blinked up at him from his sleeping position on the ground. "Well, I'd rather not have to move for another day or two but we'll be good once we get going again. Having to focus on survival pulls us back together again and is helpful."

Isaac didn't let him go at just that. "I get that the next part's just swinging swords and calling out plays. I want to know you're going to survive after that, and if you start to go down, that you're going to call for the life guards. Don't go drowning when you've got others here waiting to throw you the life preserver."

Shiroe looked back at him soberly. "Fine. We'll call you in." He looked around him to find Akatsuki. She had her head on his stomach and had been sleeping, but now her eyes were open and looking at him. "If you see me going to Cathedral in the next level, call in Isaac and whoever else needs to come. They'll know." She nodded.

Shiroe looked back at Isaac. "I can't have Akatsuki as my op this next round. I'll be leaning heavily on Naotsugu and he'll be leaning on Marielle. Keep them propped up and going. Same for the juniors. They'll be carrying a lot without a lot of action to keep them from popping. Find people for them to spout off, to." He looked back at Akatsuki with a frown, then looked for Naotsugu. He was just yawning himself awake. "Is Marie aware enough to keep the juniors going if they need the push?"

Naotsugu nodded and so did Akatsuki on his stomach. "Yeah. She's already stepped in that way the last round," Naotsugu reassured Shiroe. "They know to go over there when it's more than they can take."

Shiroe looked back at Akatsuki, with just a touch of desperation, truth be told. "Make sure you do that, too. I'm counting on you, even if I can't be what I want to be for a time and can't touch. You'll have to be the one to make yourself scarce and keep Minori away, too. I'm going to be so focused I won't even know until it's too late most of the time, particularly as we get deeper into it." Akatsuki sat up and nodded soberly at him "Not that you have to stay away completely, but we can't touch and you have to leave when it gets too hard to fight it."

Shiroe sat up then and looked at her sternly. "And you can't go looking for someone else or I _will_ have to come find you and that won't be pretty, or easy since I'll definitely lose then, just to keep you." Akatsuki looked at him with wide eyes, then exploded in a blush. Shiroe nodded. She'd understood. He held out his hand to her and she slowly put hers into it. He pulled her until he could kiss one last kiss that he let linger, then he let her go and rose to his feet.

He finally looked back at Isaac. "And that's where we stand at the beginning of that next round. Divided, Isaac. I hate it and am angrier than I've ever been because of it. Let me come beat up on you every once in a while."

"You've got it," Isaac said calmly. "Anything to keep the lot of you going, but you in particular. They'll come back to you as long as you're still standing."

"I know, but that doesn't make it any better."

"...No," Isaac agreed. He went around to shake the rest awake that needed it and Log Horizon stood on its feet again and got moving forward.

-:-:-:-:-

"Goddammit! How many times I gotta tell you starboard is _right!_ Port is left!" Michael's voice was completely frustrated.

Purrcy looked out over the ship as a whole from the steerage deck of the Ocypete. The numbers of sea monsters had reached nine with this attack. She turned her head slightly and said, "Priest Nyanta, get rid of them. At this point they are learning nothing. It is time to allow them proper rest and recovery."

He raised a hand and she glared at him, her whiskers and black ears stiffening in a scold. He sighed and rolled his green eyes. "Really?"

"Yes." The calico felinoid gave no quarter.

Nyanta closed his eyes, then clapped his hands twice, bowed, and clapped again. Leaving his hands together in front of him, a flowery prayer for intercession rolled off his tongue. It rolled over the entire deck of the ship, though it wasn't particularly said loudly. There was a pause to everything, then the sea monsters disappeared in bubbles, the light plinking of gold and other treasures dropping to the surface of the ship under where they had been. The fighters on the deck collapsed where they stood and swore or passed out, depending on their temperaments.

"Now bless the voyage," she demanded. Nyanta took a breath, let out one impatient lash of his grey tail and began another prayer. The clouds above the ship disbursed and the sun shone sparkling on the ocean and the wind died down to a nice breeze.

" _Sht!_ " came from the deck below them. They both looked over the railing. "Do that sooner, idjits!" Nakalnad yelled up at them, letting out his own frustration. "No need to smash everyone to death over nothing!"

"It is sufficient," Purrcy said calmly at him. "Priest Nyanta has blessed the remainder of the voyage, ...assuming everyone remembers the lessons."

Nakalnad glared at her then threw some choice swear words at her. Isaac put his hand on Nakalnad's shoulder, giving him a calming look, then looked back up at the pair. "Are you going to get to do that for the real thing, too?"

"Only once," Purrcy answered back. "Use your miracle wisely."

Both men, and Nyanta, sighed in resignation. "I trust you'll let me decide when and for what, then?" Shiroe said calmly and softly from behind them.

"Of course," Purrcy answered, "though you should work that out with the Generals. They look mad enough to use it whenever they want at this point."

"Thank you," Shiroe almost couldn't keep the venom out this time. "And I thought you were going to keep the in-fighting until the next level."

"I never said, nor promised it," Purrcy said coolly. Shiroe glared at her. Her tail turned in the gesture that both apologized and at the same time said nothing but turned control back over to him.

"Everyone, please take your time to rest and recover," Shiroe said, moving up to the railing to be seen and heard. "We apologize for the rough time until now. Thank you for your hard work." He turned back to the felinoid pair. "Nyanta you will let her go with her guards to your room. I need to speak with you." He didn't back down from that either and Nyanta worked hard to let her leave with Tetorō and the three Eagles. "Izanagi, why do you willingly play to Izanami's requirements in this game?"

"In order to gain what I want." As Shiroe suspected. The one who had been playing the priest was actually Izanagi, not Nyanta. Izanagi was the one with the practice to offer prayers like that.

"But why at this point, when we're just practicing? Can't you wait until we're there? I'd really rather not have the interference at this level from either one of you."

"There can't be failure."

Shiroe lost it just ever so slightly. " _You_ dragged us here because we were the only ones capable of it from the beginning. _I_ have won victory for every battle I've been in. Get out of my sphere of influence. You are both making it worse because you don't understand the minds and hearts of Adventurers. It will fail because _you_ will insist on interfering. She knows to watch and let us do what we do best. Get out and wait for Nyanta to pray for what we need. Only then do I want any interference from you and only for what's asked for. If you wanted to just kill the Overwritten and be done so there wasn't the chance of failure then go do it and we'll show up when we show up and make the repairs, though you can do that without us, too."

"If Izanami's requirement to you is that this be run as a game so that you can get what you want, then go away and let us play it as a game. If you're going to fight Izanami about it, go back up into the upper levels where you won't harm the world and fight it out up there. We don't care, and when it's forced it isn't fun and we will fight to not have to do it. I made that perfectly clear at the Higan Special. We want the Overwritten dead, too, but it's because they make the play drudgery and we want them out of the way. We feel the same about both of you." He could feel the sparks spitting from his body and if they were real, he was firmly sending them all at Inari.

When Nyanta finally slumped, Shiroe turned away. "Carry him to his bed. Purrcy can care for him and Izanami can pay the price he makes her pay. I don't want to see either one for a full day."

The remaining Eagles on watch over Nyanta bowed and carried him off. Shiroe looked down over the railing. Isaac turned to look up at him. "I'll meet you all in the war room," he said down to them, "after I've cooled off a little." Isaac nodded and Nakalnad shifted, though he didn't bother to look up. He was still too mad himself.

Fifteen minutes later Shiroe was in the war room with the generals. Maverick_Master's group was small enough they'd been swallowed up with the rest, particularly since the Nakasu group had joined them, but he and Brody still came to these meetings. It helped for them to know what the plans were and the rest wanted them to feel included and to honor their positions in their locations. Maverick_Master wasn't William, but he still had pull and clout in Susukino.

"Michael, is it enough or do you need extra side practice?" Shiroe asked him first, since he'd been the most frustrated at the end.

Michael shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "I think the break needs to happen first. We'll have time to shake it down in the dungeon proper anyway. The main problem is it's too fast paced on a postage stamp. We won't be moving in a strange environment there, so that variable will be removed and things will be easier." He gave a dry glare. "Even if there are more monsters per room than allow us to even get in the door."

Shiroe understood and nodded. He let Nakalnad go next to let him finish getting his frustrations off his chest. When Nakalnad wound down, Shiroe let it get quiet for a bit, then he said, "Okay. After today, I need to let you know what's driving this. I'm not going to keep that to myself anymore. I refuse to protect them any longer. Purrcy and Nyanta have been taken over by the gods of this world. I've been learning how to work with them since they're insisting on training me to. I've told them any number of times - and Nyanta and Purrcy have as well - that we hate them and they need to butt out of our lives and existence. I've even told them if they don't like the way we work they should just send us home. They refuse, but that doesn't mean I'm not still looking for the way home. I've found it, but we need to walk the line that gets us there."

He let out a breath. "That's not to say I'm making excuses - either for them or for me - but you need to understand that's what you were just working with: both of them here with us to see that we learned how to work together against difficult odds. I've told the one off that wants to just be in control and force his will. The other one wants us to play the game and fall flat on our faces or win - she doesn't care. Because Purrcy's wild, that one's been learning a little faster how to deal with Adventurers. The other one's late to the party and highly annoying - mostly because he's a lot more logic and end goal driven. Nyanta's driven to the heights of anger and frustration by him, but can't do anything about it except complain loudly when he's allowed to."

Shiroe folded his arms and looked at the generals. Michael and Isaac had known but the others were trying to wrap their brains around it. "I know it's hard to swallow, but that's their roles on this planet. To us, they look like sophisticated computer programmed artificial intelligences set on accomplishing one goal each and it's different goals, though complementary purposes. I refer to the one in Nyanta as the World AI. It's goal is to see this planet and all the creatures on it become one functional organism. In it's planning, the Adventurers are here to see that on collapse of the system, there's something with the capacity to help it recover. He doesn't want to let us go. We are essential to the long term - and I mean millennial - continuation of Theldesia."

"The one in Purrcy I refer to as the Game Bot. It's goal is to see that the game is played and that the Adventurers are having fun playing it. Because that meshes pretty close to what most Adventurers would rather see, we don't clash quite so much. However, it will push us to play when we don't want to and turns _all_ of it into the game if it's not balanced by the World AI. It doesn't care if the world has to be changed on a dime and creatures killed off. The World AI does: it's trying to keep everything very balanced."

"The Game Bot is in agreement that the world needs to keep Adventurers. That's who plays the games. But it's also a little more willing to entertain the concept that some of us could go home and some of us stay, particularly since they both agree that they don't want to relive the First World Fraction that an explosion of high emotions set off. They know we're capable of repeating that and they have no idea how to control it, lacking emotions themselves. So they have a relationship that is both push and pull and only because of the last thing are they willing to bring me into it at all. I serve as the balance point of the emotions of the Adventurers while at the same time being capable of logical rationality at a level they can talk to."

Shiroe scowled. "Thus I've scolded and harangued them as much as I can. I've let the World AI know it needs to butt out of this fight and let us do what we do best. The Game Bot admitted on its own, as you heard and saw, that they've interfered too much, so I just put it in time out. If they can't keep their hands out of the stew, sit down and make them make us do it. I'm done with their crap and I told them that at the Fall Equinox special. We Adventurers aren't going to play the games any more if they're going to take away the interest and the fun. Make sure you follow through on it from now on. The Game Bot has a lot more influence on the World AI than we do." He looked at the generals and they gave him nods of complete agreement. It wasn't a hard thing to ask them to do, particularly after that last fiasco of a fight.

Brody raised his hand. "Um, Shiroe-sempai, are they really gods?"

"To this world, yes. You saw what happened when the Game Bot told the World AI to put the lesson away. It made him use the Priest role-play to do it but it wasn't thrilled to have to do it that way. The World AI could have done it without that if it wanted to - sent the monsters away and controlled the weather. I've told it not to come back until I have Nyanta do the role play, and then only to do what I have him ask for and no more. It's just a little too invested at the moment."

"Why?" Nakalnad asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. I know they want the Overwritten gone like we do - the World AI because they keep destroying its carefully crafted and hand grown creatures and world. The Game Bot didn't care about that, but was happy to make it a quest that we get rid of them to appease the World AI. Well, it's actually a sub-quest to gain a quest, but we aren't there yet. What I don't know is why they want us to repair and reinforce the Adventurer Trees of Life, other than it's a pain to need Adventurers around and have them all turned into Vengeful Spirits instead. They have the capacity to recreate new avatars for everyone, I would think - but then I still don't know how the Cathedrals and resurrection works and they aren't telling." Shiroe shrugged. "The sum is I don't know, I can only guess until they tell me."

"Do they tell you anything? ...Believable that is," Nakalnad still wasn't buying it, or was still angry.

"They do. Mostly the Game Bot through Purrcy as the things I need to know to get through each new level of the game that is Purrcy, as Isaac put it so well."

"That's the GM?" Isaac asked in surprise.

Shiroe nodded. "The Game Bot AI itself. Purrcy's the vessel, the conduit." There were scowls at that, but Shiroe had gotten used to those. Everyone felt the same about that, once they knew her and understood.

"Why's Nyanta over-possessive suddenly?" Isaac asked, jumping to another thread.

"Because the World AI...," Shiroe stopped and sighed, then sat down. "There's apparently flavor text that the Priest is over-possessively jealous for the Priestess. That's them technically - Nyanta and Purrcy. Souji would say it's karma come back to haunt Nyanta, actually, it's so totally the opposite of how Nyanta really feels about any woman not his wife at home. They had to get married in order for him to even handle the idea of it and now that it's come to roost on him even that's barely enough for him to stay nice."

"Purrcy knew from the beginning, though - all of it actually - so she's patient with it, not having much else she could do with the Game Bot running her life. She doesn't force him to love her and helps him fight the World AI as much as they can, but when it descends enough to influence the world through him it's caught in the trap of that flavor text and suddenly goes from being a completely rational logical computer program to being driven by the overwhelming emotion of jealousy."

"It's completely incapable of handling it, actually, and only Nyanta's completely opposite feelings lets him have any capacity at all. He's quite hating it, I can tell you," Shiroe said dryly. "Being made to feel an emotion for Purrcy that isn't his own and making her to be and feel something she isn't either goes quite against his ethics. Because of that and because none of us are interested in dying at the hand of a jealous god we don't believe in, we're leaving well enough alone and trying to not bring that to the surface. That's why I warned you off, Isaac."

Isaac blinked, then finally nodded. "You're going to erase that flavor text if you can, then?"

"Absolutely, but we'll have to get back home before we can. I'm not sure it's a problem anywhere else. They're world gods, but I think that flavor text is Yamato-specific. We'll see it tested when we're finally in China. He did manage to let her go with the guards when I sent her off to talk to him, so if we're lucky that pull is already lessening. Of course, he was mad at her for making him act like the Priest, but that was a lesser issue."

"This is all rather confusing," Maverick_Master finally admitted.

"No doubt," Michael said. "We barely understand it all and we have to live with it." The others sat soberly, likely glad they didn't.

Isaac leaned back in his chair as Nakalnad rubbed his face with two hands. Brody looked between them, and Maverick_Master brooded.

Michael looked at Shiroe significantly and Shiroe nodded. He rose. "I'll let you guys work out what's next for everyone, but I wanted you to understand where things are right now. I hope we can all play nice from now on, but sometimes they slip in when I'm not watching. If I get angry and explode, at least you'll understand why now." He gave them a small humorless smile, then turned and walked out of the room, hearing a sigh from Isaac as the door was closing behind him. He shook his head. There wasn't anything he could do about it other than what he had. ...And he really was going to tell everyone to sit down and go on strike if they interfered that badly again.

-:-:-:-:-

"Hmmm," Michael said, looking at the stars through the sextant one more time and running the calculations in his head one more time, "Christian, we're still heading two points north of where we're supposed to be. Any clues why we can't stay on course?"

The grizzled seaman scratched the back of his head through his knit cap and sighed. "I've watched them measure the current and it's apparently in that, but we've corrected course three times and still are getting moved off that much."

Michael considered it for a moment, then said, "Change course so that our heading is that two points north of current and see what happens."

"Yessir."

Fifteen minutes later and they were sailing happily on that course that they'd finally given in and just taken. Michael slumped. "Hey, if you can get Purrcy up without waking up Nyanta, I need to talk to her," he sent down on the sub-guild chat. He wasn't sure who was babysitting them this time of night. Ten minutes later he had a guest on the upper steerage deck that didn't look much different than the night he was already looking at. "Put your clothes on," he said blandly without looking at her.

"They're on," she said just a touch testily.

"Then put on something more realistic," he said, still refusing.

Purrcy sighed and switched out for a sweater - cut off at the midribs - and jeans - just a little too tight fitting. He sighed again. "More modest." She glared at him a lot this time, then complied, the sweater going to the hips and the jeans relaxing just enough. He pulled out a scarf and put it on her. "That's better." He looked her in the eyes - golden and catching the small lights from farther down on the ship more greenly. "Why do we have to sail the way you want us to go when we're trying to learn how to read the stars? If you don't let us learn what we need to learn then when we aren't in the middle of a game we won't know what we're doing."

"Izanagi is impatient."

"We noticed. Why?"

Purrcy turned away and walked to the rail of the deck and clenched it in her hands. Michael stood with his arms folded right where he was, waiting. Her ears finally went down, as did her gaze. "Izanagi isn't happy that I promised this as a sub-quest. He would have already given the resulting quest. Leaving Yamato for a month to return again before then is a waste of effort and time to Izanagi."

"And the drop from the sub-quest? Would Izanagi refuse us that, too?"

"The drop is the quest. That isn't refused."

Michael had to work it out again. "Right we want the drop from that quest, but that was only a promise to think about giving it to us. Have you worked out the agreement on that yet?" He wasn't answered.

Michael considered the options, then moved to trap her against the rail, each of his hands on the rail to either side of her. Her ears turned to point at him and she stiffened slightly. Into one of those ears he whispered, "Promise me that drop that my men are working hard to get right now and I'll promise to follow the speed up of the sub-quest instead of fight it. Make it the drop of the sub-quest like we wanted and Izanagi can give his quest whenever he wants instead of having to wait on it."

Purrcy's tail slowly wove about his legs as she considered her options. Finally she gave a little nod. "Thank you," he said and moved back a step to a guard position again.

Her hands stayed clenched on the rail for a bit, then she asked an innocent question about if he knew any of the names of the stars yet. He moved to stand next to her at the rail and pointed out the ones Christian had taught him so far that were in that night's sky. She proceeded to teach him more of them and their movements in the sky. He recorded it for later so he could memorize them. If being taught by the goddess to be a better navigator was part of speeding up the quests, then he'd humbly accept the lessons. When she tried to snuggle, though, he sent her back to bed with her guard after taking his scarf back.

On his way to bed himself, he tapped at Shiroe's door. "Come." Likely he had no idea what time it was.

Michael opened the cabin door and decided his assumption was right. Shiroe was still sitting at his desk. "You do know it's like three-thirty hours, right?"

"What!?" Shiroe jumped a little guiltily, then put down his pen and stretched. "It's harder to keep track on a ship than in the office."

Michael closed the door and leaned on the wall next to it. "No, it's harder to not have Akatsuki to remind you. Shall I come do that for you, or do you need Charlie assigned to you permanently when we get back?"

Shiroe's sharp eyes focused on him and bored into him. "What did you learn?"

Michael explained the drifting problem they'd been having and the solution. "So I called Izanami up and asked her directly why we had to jump even to that level of detail instead of get to learn a useful skill on our own along the way."

Shiroe was already out of his seat and walking over. He stopped four feet out and folded his arms. "And?"

"Izanagi's impatient and unhappy with the order of the quests and the drops. This side-quest into China is irrelevant when it wants to give the second quest immediately instead of as a result of this one." Michael gave a bit of a wicked smile. "In exchange for me being willing to let her speed this one up and just go with the flow instead of fight it, she'll give us the drop we want in exchange for giving the World AI what it wants - to be able to give you that quest request at the first available opportunity."

Shiroe's eyes lit up with fire. He'd heard the words he'd been wanting to hear. "How long before Charlie gets back to the guild house?"

"Depends on what Izanami's willing to do to help him get there, doesn't it?" Michael said, his smile tightening.

Shiroe's lips quirked up slightly. "Right. We still have to get the merchant quest going properly, but we'll assume we'll be helped with the Tree of Life quest...like only the Overwritten they've taken in themselves, no extra monsters." Michael nodded. "And we won't have to collect the Vengeful Spirits ourselves since we have no idea where they all are."

"Well...," Michael cautioned. "We may not have to criss-cross the whole country, but I'll bet she still makes us work to earn them."

"That'd be okay," Shiroe said. "Do you think we can expect Izanagi's quest from Nyanta or will it still come from Purrcy like the rest?"

Michael paused, then said, "I don't know. Most of the time those come from Purrcy, don't they, even if they are ones Izanagi wants? Izanami is the quest requester. Only his personal one was from him, wasn't it?"

Shiroe shook his head and wandered over to his couch and sat down to think. Michael had noticed that he did most of his heavy thinking sitting down to relieve his brain from physical cycles like having to stay balanced and standing. "Both of them have used her until this recent level's beginning. Izanagi's using Nyanta now, so I don't know." His brow furrowed as his fingers encircled his chin. "I wonder if his title shows up now? I'll have to look tomorrow. If it does the World AI may only be able to answer through him now. At least that's what I expect as a result once it shows up." Michael had to allow that made sense. "But you are right, even his quests likely come through her since he doesn't like quests to begin with. He'd rather just order it, I expect." His expression turned sour and Michael understood that, too.

He was rather glad to be able to deal with the Game Bot and not the stuffy intellectual World AI. He might miss the balance it had been though. "Ah...that reminds me. I learned something else during that interaction." His own mouth went sour and Shiroe's eyebrow went up. "I think I've learned why the Priest is jealous over the Priestess. ...I think she gives him reason to be."

Shiroe stared at him. "Flirtatious?"

"At a minimum," Michael couldn't look at him. "It wasn't strong yet, so not much more than that tonight and she obeyed my scolds." He sighed and decided he'd better at least look Shiroe in the eye. "I'm not going to let her do anything and I'll slap her down as much as I have to. I'm not interested and the boys will kill me as many times as it takes if they play with me more than I can control by myself. That's our agreement. And I'll put them down as many times as it takes for the same reason. We'll police ourselves."

"And if they take out all of you at once?" Shiroe asked quietly.

"Then we're all dropping into the black hole, aren't we?" Michael answered back seriously. "We'll have lost already if it gets there."

Shiroe looked away, then back. "True. They might push you and a few others that she's already shown interest in, but they won't make everyone fall unless they're making _every_ one fall." He slumped back in the couch.

"We aren't there yet, though," Michael shrugged to drag him back out of that, "and we're not going to let it get there. I just wanted to let you know I'd learned that data point and that I'd gotten you a bonus present." He pushed off the wall to his feet and went and shoved Shiroe down on the couch by pushing on his head until it hit the cushions. "Go to sleep and fit them in tomorrow. We'll hit the coast mid-day most likely, if not earlier. I can't imagine they'll let us through the gauntlet of sea monsters in between without at least one fight."

Shiroe gave up with that reason and sighed. "Right. Good night, Michael."

"Good night." He walked out the door and down the hall to his own cabin to get a few hours in before they were called for whatever the next thing was.

-:-:-:-:-

"Ahhh, nawww... Really?" Rising up from the morning sea in front of them was a Monstrous Jellyfish...but it was big enough to absorb the Ocypete whole and still have room left over all the way around for maybe even another one. It sparkled as the water slid off the smooth gelatinous surface that was almost perfectly round. The waves of its rising hit the Ocypete and it bobbed over them with a rise and fall like that of a giant carousel horse.

"How are we supposed to hit that with swords?" Maverick_Master asked. "We'll just slip right off it and into the sea."

Shiroe had already read its status and was firm in his answer. "We send in Log Horizon only."

"We what?"

His lips set firmly, Shiroe turned to Purrcy. "Summon local sea creatures and air creatures the party can use to stay up out of the water and attack it from. I need Nyanta in the air. You just have to be close enough that your range modifier isn't negative. Make sure you purify it. No one will be able to sail this sea if it can come back."

"Any one else?" Purrcy asked him.

"No," he said calmly.

"No," she answered back.

Shiroe sighed. "Who else do you want?"

"Michael and the Eagles. They can fly and need the final practice." They actually all perked up at that.

"Fine," Shiroe said. "Handle the process yourselves. See if the lot of you can teach her how to work with you properly. Tell her exactly what spell you want created and how many HP to take out and when it should go off by. Tell her all that _before_ you get to it. We'll wait here."

Naotsugu sighed behind him. When Shiroe looked at him, Tetorō was leaning on him rather in agreement. "Sorry," Shiroe said. "It's just not worth it when it's been brought out so obviously for that purpose."

"Is there even going to be a need for anyone else when we get there?" Tetorō asked.

"Yes, or we wouldn't have received all the training to begin with. That's the set we've reserved until now. You're welcome to go, Tetorō, but you'll be Cleric only."

Tetorō stood on his feet. "Get a flying creature, too, Purrcy, and we'll double up. You'll need me that much and the Eagles could use one extra healer so they can focus more on their own instead of on Michael and Nyanta." Purrcy nodded from the outer edge of the deck.

Shiroe cast some initial buffs on them before they went as his part. Isuzu cast her HP-up and Stamina-up long-term spells on them as a group, intending that it would work within a radius of where they were fighting, and not be locked to the ship. He had Minori cast her defensive barrier spells on Tetorō, multi-layered and used up all her MP since she wouldn't be going out and could recover while they waited. Isuzu cast a few musical spells as well to help the Eagles out and to add a physical defensive layer for Nyanta since the jelly wasn't all that magical - just a few water and perhaps either poison or electrical attacks. (They hoped the latter would be short range or the Ocypete would be caught in them, it was that large.)

A Chinese Water Dragon appeared and circled the Ocypete about then. It was a white-blue color, two front legs only with the wings set back just behind the haunches. The rest of the body was long and sinuous ending in a veined tail. Purrcy climbed up on it and Nyanta leaped up behind her and put his arms around her waist. Tetorō looked at Nyanta suspiciously until his whiskers twitched, then climbed up in front of Purrcy. That would give Nyanta the flexibility to leap off of the dragon and back on.

Shiroe walked up to them and glared at the two felinoids. "Izanagi, stay out of it. Back off a layer and a half and let Nyanta do his job properly. Izanami, you, too. Purrcy needs to learn how to fight with Log Horizon better and I don't need your flavor text getting in the way." When they nodded at him, he moved to the front of the dragon and bowed. "Thank you for coming to help. I'm sorry for the interruption. If anything comes out of the battle you can eat, please feel free to, but not my companions. If nothing does, I've got something here I can give you before you go, I'm sure."

[Thank you. It's not really necessary.]

"Still, we've inconvenienced you. Thank you very much." He got back a bit of humor but not much else. "Alright, then. Fight well," Shiroe said to them all and they launched in the air. He was glad to see all the Eagles had proper fighting gear for the winged version now.

"What kind of person are you, Shiroe?" Nakalnad said. "You not only have two gods at your fingertips, a super class warrior and two super class magic users, but a whole host of flying warriors on top of that. When was that a species we could select?"

"It isn't. They use magic for that too," he said calmly. "I'm actually surprised she's made them show it publicly. They've been hiding it." He tipped his head as he considered the flying party that was nearing the jelly. "I wonder just how toweringly huge the Overwritten we're going to have to fight are?"

"Well...if their heads are in the stratosphere, we'd need wings for sure," Isaac said calmly.

"Or it's just for the repairs," Naotsugu said. "For all I think Short Stuff here's so jealous she can't speak because she likes to fly, too, I'm not sure being thrown in the air by me is really going to work for as many lines as we're going to have to repair."

Shiroe looked at Akatsuki out of the corner of his eyes. She really was looking very jealous of the Eagles. He reached over and patted her on the shoulder. "Maybe they can teach you that much magic." Her face set as she determined she was going to have them do just that. "But they might not be able to, so don't get too discouraged." She gave him a look that said she would not be discouraged and that she _would_ fly. "You already can fly, you know. It's just not with wings. The wings are a bit conspicuous. Your brand of flying is better for a ninja."

She stopped and paused to think about that. When her face went from a wrinkle to calm again, he was relieved. She'd only decided to learn to fly while running on top of water. He wasn't going to send her out to try it now, though. Practicing on the pond back home would be a good place to start learning it for his heart.

Shiroe watched the battle closely, learning what he needed to know about how much damage the Monstrous Jellyfish took with each attack and when the attacks went. He finally called in a brief interruption when Nyanta was on the water dragon's back after his third round of attacks. "You obviously could finish it off but what's interfering?"

He got back a frustrated answer. "I'm being limited by an external cool-down limit. I can only attack once every five rounds and it has a regeneration that's almost that long. The sum is that it goes down only about five purrcent in defense each set."

"I can see that," Shiroe nodded. "Treat it like you're the instructor watching the students as you help them whittle it down. I know you need to kill something so ask if you can have the final blow, but try to be patient until then."

Nyanta ground his teeth a little, then sighed. "I'm trying. ...I'm trying." He sounded resigned.

"And no killing Purrcy in the meantime." Shiroe was stern.

That earned him silence, then a longsuffering sigh. "Right. I knyow."

"Good." He let the line cut since it was about time for Nyanta to go again. Shiroe sighed and leaned on his elbows on the rail. Akatsuki stood next to him, her long black hair blowing in the sea wind and it tickled his arm. He swallowed, then took a half-step away. Her shoulders slumped a little, then she took a breath and stood firm. If that was as close as they could get, she'd still stand there and watch over him from there. He appreciated it.

"So, why isn't your high level Hacker doing anything?" Nakalnad asked from below on the mid-ship deck where the Generals were watching from. Most of the rest of the Adventurers were standing around the rail of the main part of the deck to watch.

"She is. She's one of the magic attacks going off on the third round of each set. It's one of her cantrips she doesn't have to think about so it's set on automatic fire. Behind that she's programming whatever big one they asked her to whip up. Nyanta wants the last blow to let off steam though, so you'll see a double blow before it explodes - hers then his. Unless she's tagging hers off his. She's more an Enchanter-style caster so would rather do it that way." He kind of hoped she would so that it would be a more satisfying win for Nyanta. Generally it looked like they were learning how to fit Purrcy and Nyanta into a pattern the sub-guild already knew, where they took turns around to do damage. The problem was the regeneration of the Monstrous Jellyfish. They couldn't keep the damage high enough to do much total damage per round.

There was a pause in the attacks and an internal explosion went off inside the jelly. That took it down fifty percent of the total. "Was that hers?" Brody asked.

"No. That was Michael's," Shiroe said. "She's powerful enough she has to go last or next to last. Those level spells take a long time to craft or they rebound something fierce and take out the caster with them."

"So we'll have to wait for her to go last every time?" Nakalnad asked with a frown.

"Not necessarily. Larger ones she's crafted before she has saved though she may have to recharge to cast them again. The crafting cost is separate from the casting cost. That's why I told them to get her started on the crafting early. The casting cost will be less at the end. If Michael hadn't been added to the mix, she probably would have done two that size like he just did - cast it once in the middle and again at the end. Since she wanted Michael in as a Hacker instead of Monk, he's working mid-range and she's full up." The Eagles and Nyanta had gone back to their rounds of attack to keep the Monstrous Jellyfish from regenerating again, but with one fewer attack each round until three rounds later. Then each round had added to it similar but smaller attacks to the one Michael had set off so that each round was now dropping the jelly down a more useful number of HP per round.

"So, that's each Hacker of each set having pulled out enough to look at Michael's code and write smaller versions to match their lower levels. The battle should be short from here on."

"Why not have them all try different magic attacks from the beginning to see what works?"

"They did in the first round. The first round tells them what's effective and what's not. Really, they all need the exercise so they probably let Michael go with a long creation time. He codes faster than they do generally. Spell creation takes HP and they needed that to stay alive as long as they were attacking the monster directly. Since Michael's standing back far enough to not take much physical damage, he didn't need to reserve his HP. As an added bonus when they can copy they spend less points to create the spells. The casting takes MP and they've conserved that until now to use on the useful spell rather than randomly waste it until something works." Shiroe stood up and watched, his hands resting lightly on the rail. Nyanta had sat his turn out. "Looks like they're ready to end it," he commented.

The Eagles all pulled back in a ring around the Monstrous Jellyfish. The water dragon danced sinuously in the sky until it looked like it was skimming over the top of the jelly. Nyanta leaped down from its back, jamming both rapiers in the top of it. Then he was running lightly, bent forward, his blades being pulled behind him as he ran. The jelly was being split along that course as he went and internal slime was being sprayed up in the air behind them. The HP of the Monstrous Jellyfish was falling. Normally, blade attacks had done damage but had sealed up shortly after. These were not sealing and it looked like the line of the cut was falling down into the jelly, making it look from this distance like Nyanta's blades were suddenly a hundred feet in length or more.

Nyanta turned and continued on around the top of the jelly. It looked like he was chasing something down, or trying to corner it. Above the jelly a ball of light was forming. "Hmm... That looks like one of those joint explosive spells," Isaac commented below him.

Nyanta turned suddenly towards a direction and the water dragon quickly turned to intercept him and he leaped up on its back and settled down. The water dragon zipped away from the Monstrous Jellyfish. When it was out of range the ball of light suddenly tripled in size, then it zoomed towards the last place Nyanta had been, slipped easily inside the jelly through the unhealing cuts, then shrank into an intense fireball that seemed to wink out just before there was an immense explosion that - eventually - rained bits of jellyfish down on the Ocypete. Shiroe sighed. "She didn't have to add anything to that. I would think their power would have been enough. Now we have a mess to clean up again." It was nice when most pieces either turned into treasure or bubbles that disappeared.

"How could she do the rapiers and add to the explosion so quickly with such power?"

"Several ways. The most likely is that she had the code for the jointly powered explosion written by the time Michael's spell went off and they all copied it the same time they copied Michael's. If they let them sit after crafting they build up in power. Her power built up enough to add that much more to theirs. They were letting theirs sit as well until then. She spent the rest of the time crafting the buff to Nyanta's rapiers. As soon as that was ready she cast it. That's why he sat out that turn, for the casting to complete. Since they share transportation they had her wait until Nyanta was retrieved before she added in her part."

The dragon had snatched some jellyfish on his way back and Michael had grabbed whatever the main drop had been. Now they landed with the rest of the sub-guild back on the upper deck, arriving to cheers from the other Adventurers who had enjoyed getting to just watch the entertainment this time. The paddles on the Ocypete were turning the prow back towards their original line of travel to pass by the area the Monstrous Jellyfish had been in. The ship rocked from the waves that lifted it as the shock-wave from the explosion in the water finally reached them. No one noticed much. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as six sea monsters trying to sink the ship all at once from all different directions.

Purrcy spoke to Michael and he called the sub-guild members to formal formation. Shiroe watched as she walked down the line and bequeathed to each one their "wings" - the pin that was proof they had learned to create wings and really fly with them. He wasn't sure if they really cared or not, but she was partial to pomp and circumstance and Izanami to handing out rewards for even the smallest of quest-like accomplishments. They didn't refuse the wings so it was perhaps enough to let her have her fun.


	100. Getting Into Shangtzi

Shanghai Port, or rather, its equivalent on Theldesia: Shangtzi, was a bustling metropolis, much like Akiba or Minami. They weren't the only ship in port either. Everyone waited on board as Shiroe, Isaac, Nakalnad, MarketMaker, and Michael went on shore, Akatsuki trailing along as Shiroe's bodyguard. Michael technically just tagged along wanting to know what the port authority regulations were so that if he had to come back, or if he ran into further advanced ports of call, he would have some idea of how they might be being run on Theldesia. He'd been told to be prepared to sail the entire world, after all.

Shiroe led them to the dock manager, said a few words and turned Isaac and MarketMaker over to him, then led the rest of them straight to one particular building near the confluence of the piers and the main entry way into the city. "You've been here before," Nakalnad commented.

"Yes," Shiroe admitted. "We came looking for Crusty and Kanami as soon as they decided that the Ocypete was sufficiently ocean worthy and it looked like getting the communications tower up and running was going to take longer than we'd originally hoped."*

The bell on the door rang nicely as they walked through and into a reception area. "May I help you?" the man at the desk asked, looking up from his paperwork.

"Yes. I'm Shiroe of Log Horizon declaring the arrival of the Ocypete from Akiba, Yamato."

"Oh, yes!" The man brightened up a little. "You've come for another visit, then?"

"It's business this time, instead of personal," Shiroe informed him. "The dock manager is working with my two to declare the contents of the ship. I was wondering what we would need to do to be allowed to enter the city and country proper. That is, are there any permits or the like? We'd like to open a shop in town and be allowed to cross the country to open up more both here and in the other regions beyond. We're also rather land bound as you can understand, and some of the larger fighting guilds are a bit bored and wanted to come play in some of your harder dungeons." The man's face was closing down already. They all sighed to themselves, rather expecting it. China had never been known for their willingness to let others come in and play - either in the markets or on their playgrounds. It looked like - for all they should have been more open to the concept being players and not proletariats - the prevailing opinions hadn't changed a whole lot.

"We've got our own transportation and we're planning on hiring locals for the shop. We have a few items the Adventurers in Yamato have found a lot of fun and very helpful and we thought we could share them with the Adventurers here, if they wanted to buy them. We understand that we'll have to learn the laws of the city properly before we're allowed to set up a shop. Do you have someone that could come teach us what we need to know? Or is there a place we can send the market guild representative to?"

"It's not your own guild?" the man asked, his expression cool, but staying polite.

"No," Shiroe said. "We came along to play. I've brought my juniors to give them an international experience since we can. I think it will be of great benefit to them when we get back home. Their parents aren't likely to be able to afford such a trip on Earth."

The man blinked, then after a bit, out of his surprise Michael assumed, asked, "You think we're going back?"

"I know we are," Shiroe said. "I'm making sure of it. If you think the Adventurers here would like to as well, I've a few quests to put out in the Adventurer Hall when we're done here. They're world level quests that need to be completed before we're allowed to go home. Once they're done, though, the reasons we were brought here should be finished. Do you have the forms for opening a shop here in this office, or would we need to pick those up in the Government building? Oh, and how do I schedule an appointment with the city governing body? I need to talk to them, too."

The man's eyes were narrowed now. "Just who are you, that you can say you speak for the world and just go in and talk to the Governing body of the city?"

"The President of the Corporation of Akiba, and head of the Alliance of Free Adventurer Cities of Yamato." Nakalnad froze at Shiroe's presumption, then gave a resigned but cynical sigh. Michael's mouth twitched at the corner. He was pretty sure Nakalnad would have protested verbally if Shiroe had claimed what Izanami kept trying to name him. "I'd like to open peaceful international relations and establish trade agreements with the city Governing board, but I understand we need to walk the proper path into the city first."

The man rose and bowed. "Please wait here for just a moment."

"Certainly," Shiroe allowed. They waited as the clerk removed himself to a back office to chat with his superiors unhindered.

"I think I understand why you left Purrcy behind, now," Michael commented.

"She'd ruin the negotiations?" Nakalnad asked.

"On the contrary she has higher stats and bonuses than I do in Negotiation," Shiroe reprimanded mildly.

"No," Michael said. "It's because she'd be laughing her head off right about now - and be heard in the back."

Akatsuki's lips twitched up and Shiroe nodded. "Not to mention she's a patriot."

"Ah, there is that," Michael had to agree. "She is more impatient in that arena than I. I have noticed it. ...But then, I've been in these cities already plenty of times so understand the hoops that have to be jumped through and how much patience it can take."

"I would think she'd already be walking into the Government building all on her own," agreed Shiroe, "because of both of them."

Michael had to smile. With both of them (Purrcy and Izanami) in agreement that the machinations of communist and socialist countries were a waste of time, that would indeed be what she would have done.

"You did tie her down, then?" Nakalnad asked, not terribly hopeful.

"Yes," Shiroe answered. "Almost all of the Eagles and Nyanta and Tetorō and Minori and Isuzu are tasked with making sure she doesn't leave the ship until I say she may. With Touya and Rudy on back up at the exit ramp to literally tie her down if she tries to get away anyway."

"It's still not easy though," Michael said just to keep the conversation going while they waited. "What did you give her to actually _do_?" Shiroe flushed lightly and turned his head away. "No. You didn't. You just left it in their laps?" Michael scolded.

"My head was full of the plans for this morning. It was difficult trying to come up with something...to be a mere distraction."

"You didn't give her one of the things on your plate?"

"I can't," he sounded a little miserable. "Not until we actually get into the city. ...Except have her help with the negotiations." He gave a miserable look finally at that one. Akatsuki couldn't decide between scolding and laughing and Michael felt about the same.

"You'll be paying then won't you, when you get back - all of them including her." He made it a dry statement.

Shiroe's shoulders slumped. "Yes, but it's better than the alternative."

"You hope," Nakalnad muttered as the clerk arrived at the desk again.

"I'm sorry for your wait, Mister Shiroe," the clerk said. "A delegation is on its way from the Government building. They would like to formalize the negotiations first before we proceed with any paperwork."

"I understand," Shiroe answered calmly. Michael wondered if he'd been hoping to at least get the paperwork to send back to the ship. Paperwork would keep Purrcy busy for a while. It wasn't a surprising development, however, so it couldn't be helped.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe walked into the cabin he used as an office - it was larger than his sleeping cabin and next door to the war room - sat in his chair and slumped down on his desk, his forehead hitting it a little harder than he intended, and didn't move. He let the complaints of his guild wash around him until they were done, finding them rather relaxing, comparatively. His Negotiation skill level was high enough now to pass through the stress of having to deal with a pseudo-communist governing body that had almost less of an idea of how to lead as Plant Hwayden under Indicus. That had been followed by being followed by spies constantly as they walked back through the city to pick up all the proper forms again. He'd had to show the documents proving they had the trade agreements, etc., to get them, and then again to the dock manager along with promising the paperwork before he'd let them all off the ship. It had been rather much and it was well into the afternoon. "Lunch?" he asked plaintively.

"You didn't eat while you were there?"

"They don't let us transact any business until the paperwork is filled out - including buy lunch," he explained, all without lifting his head from the desk. He did lift his hand and hold out the paperwork. "So get started."

"All that time _didn't_ include getting the paperwork actually filed?" Purrcy was furious.

"Nope. It was the negotiation and waiting game to even _get_ the paperwork. That's why I left you here. I was hoping to get the paperwork so you could do it while waiting, but they nipped that in the bud early." He finally sat up to look her in the face. "Izanami would have ruined it for us from the beginning and you wouldn't have helped much either. They're worse than Minami and still communist-driven."

Purrcy had already taken the papers and now dropped into a chair at the table. "You could have explained that at the beginning, and it isn't as if I didn't already know," she pouted at him, then pulled out her ink and pen and got started. Everyone else glared at him. He waved an apology. They made his lunch and brought it to him - an hour later to punish him. Akatsuki and Michael got to eat as soon as they arrived on board and left him to their mercy. It didn't help his brain function, but it was perhaps an easier punishment than they could have given him. They also all left him alone with Purrcy for that full hour.

She finished all the paperwork in the first fifteen minutes. She passed it out the door, then made him tell her everything that was in his head as his punishment from her for not saying anything at all about his plans until then. He humbly let her know it all, then what parts he wanted her to play and let her pick and choose, though since they were usually in agreement anyway she didn't change his plans much at all.

He leaned on his elbow at his desk, where he hadn't moved from, watching her as she thought about the summary of their meeting. She came back from her thoughts and looked at him. "What?"

"I was just thinking it feels like we're an old married couple," he said. "More in the sense of being King and Queen, on the same page to see it all moves forward so the Adventurers who are the children of the relationship can receive the most benefit. Even with the pouting and frowns to go along with it."

Purrcy sat back and clasped her hands in her lap. "It is, rather, isn't it? A rather comfortable relationship, it seems to me." She looked distant for a moment then shook her head. "Oddly enough, Izanami's flavor text isn't interested. I wonder if that's because you're the King? I think generally the Priestess and nobles don't tend to get along. Maybe she pushed it as a protection for you and for their requirements as well. They need to be able to negotiate with you unemotionally."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow and thought about that. "Well, if it's for that reason, I won't complain quite so much, but I'm still not going to publicly claim it. It's not what I am. If the label helps them then fine." He thought of another thing he'd wanted to ask. "Nyanta's finally showing the title of Priest of Inari-no-Izanagi. Does that mean I can only talk to Izanagi through him now? I assume it's because Izanami made him actually role-play the Priest on the way over here."

"Probably for that reason, and yes. He can still hear you when I talk to you, the same as Izanami can when you talk to Nyanta, but he won't talk to you through me any more unless it's really important and he has to. Mostly because of the flavor text, really. He tries and it makes him slip over into Nyanta now to actually talk to you."

Shiroe nodded. "So which one of you is going to give me my quest, then?"

"I can if you want it now."

Shiroe narrowed his eyes at her. "Izanami's doing it behind his back, then?"

Purrcy looked away and sighed. "That's rather difficult for beings like that, you know? But it would be like that, yes. If you ask me then it's somewhat like an apology from her to him."

Shiroe nodded. "Very well, what is it?"

Purrcy looked him in the eye. "You have to retrieve Time."

There was a knock at the door and lunch finally entered. Shiroe didn't need to hear the rest. He already knew. Nyanta had told it to him before, that it would be coming, only this time he understood why. He looked at Purrcy through the slight chaos swirling around them and nodded, accepting the quest. It was necessary for the next level to even become reasonably accomplishable and had already figured into his plans. Like before, they'd been given clues long before the quest of the level was presented. It was the final piece to lock his plans into place. However, having been burned already at not getting details from her early for the other half of the coming level, he made her stay while he ate and give him all the details she had just to make sure he was thinking right. He didn't need any more avoidable horrible surprises like just happened for the last one.

-:-:-:-:-

"That's rather intimate, isn't it?" Shiroe and the kitten Purrcy he was petting on his desk turned and looked at the person at the door.

"You're the first to say it right out," Purrcy said calmly, jumped down, and changed to felinoid. "But it's approved. It helps him relax. If you're here we must be ready to be set free finally?"

MarketMaker frowned at her and closed the door. "We would be except for one point of disagreement I have with one of the papers."

As he walked to the desk to set his paper on it, Shiroe shook his head. "I had her fill them out. Complain at her. She's President of Venture Enterprises and the giver of the quest."

MarketMaker stopped then handed the paper to her. "Fifth line item. Is it a translation error, then? I might be able to get by with that."

Shiroe held out his hand for the paper and looked at that line item. He sighed, crossed out the words she'd put in and wrote what the communists expected to see to say "yes" and handed it back to MarketMaker. "Yes, please explain it that way."

Purrcy asked for the paper and read it, then scowled, but sighed and handed it back. "Alright. It was better for me to not go on the negotiation, but you still could have explained it first."

"Sorry," Shiroe said.

MarketMaker looked between them. "How do you know when it's the goddess?"

"She's different. Right now she's more Purrcy and less Izanami, but Izanami's watching what we're doing. It's a level we can deal with. We've gotten used to it."

"Are you going to come out?" MarketMaker looked at him.

"I'm the babysitter now that I'm back since I made everyone else do it without help while I was on the negotiations," Shiroe explained.

"That's not offensive?" MarketMaker asked Purrcy.

"Not really," she answered back. "It's necessary so it doesn't bother me. I never know when she's going to push through either, but when you talk about her she comes closer since she loves to play with Adventurers." MarketMaker backed off and hurried out the door. Shiroe sighed. She'd said it on purpose but it was fair warning. He pointed to his desk and made her sit on it again as kitten. "Really, you should just let them all know I can change, you know. It will get them used to the idea for when they get taught it at the Academy, and it's a much easier way for all of them to babysit me."

"And an easier way for you to escape and go do your own thing," he frowned at her.

"So, you should let them know early that if they see the werecat they need to capture and return."

He considered it, then called KR. "Hey are you bored?"

"Yes," came the frustrated sigh.

"Summon your werecat. She is too. We may as well get everyone used to seeing you playing with her and letting her run around. Just don't leave the ship and don't let her leave. I'm already in trouble with my guild. If we have to fetch either of you we'll put you down in the hold until the train's ready to go."

"Ahhh...let me have a couple of minutes then."

Shiroe sighed. "You're already off the ship?"

"Mmm...not by much," he was hedging.

"Get back here. We don't need trouble when we're trying to set up a shop and I haven't gotten approval to get the train off the ship yet. We have to show we aren't here to cause trouble first."

"Maybe you should make that a public announcement, then," Purrcy said dryly.

"I will," he agreed, "once KR is back and watching you." Her tail was swishing a little strongly. He assumed in excitement for getting to run outside as cat, though it could have been irritation at the punishment he'd give them both for disobedience. He was certain she would be off the ship as soon as she could be as well. He was glad he'd caught KR, too. He'd be just as much mischief if not more. "Ah, and KR, if Nyanta shows up relent quickly. His jealousy curse is lifted to some degree, but he still gets hit with it every now and again. Right now he's resting in his room, glad to have the freedom to, but it's already been long enough..."

Purrcy was waving a paw at him. "Nyanta will want to be cat, too," she said.

Shiroe considered that, then nodded. "She says he might show up as werecat, too, to play, but still, watch yourself if he does come out."

"Okay," KR said. "Is he summonable?"

"No and we'll keep it that way, thanks. You can say he is, though, if it's necessary. I think people will just assume it once you've summoned Purrcy. We'll go with the name of Purrceus, though. People in Akiba have seen her as that and I'm not quite ready to admit they are one and the same to just everyone. I think there are still people around who couldn't quite take that stretch. You know she's collared and tagged?"

"No?" It sounded like he was jogging. He must have made it out farther than he was letting on.

"If you're escaping prison bars on your way back, ditch them first. If you lead them here before we're off the ship my treaties are sunk in the water and I'll disavow knowing you at all until the train is off the ship and we're ready to go." Shiroe didn't get an answer right away, but then, if he'd gone into hiding he wouldn't. Purrcy's ears pricked up and Shiroe grabbed her. "And no you can't have her as a distraction and no you can't go out and play with him in the streets." He rather thought they were both equally disappointed, though he could only see Purrcy's ears.

He waited until he thought KR might not be needing quite so much focus then continued. "She got out once so we've put a collar on her with a tag that has her name and contact information on it. It's on her status screen, too, that she's owned by Log Horizon. You can complain to people she was your find first, but we claimed her and tamed her, what little she's capable of that. That will give my guild rights to play with her, too. You can explain to Isaac, in particular, that it's why we invited you along, so you could summon Purrceus."

He got a quiet, "Mm," in answer. KR was on the move again, then, and dodging the spies, or police, or whomever, then. "I do hope you at least disguised yourself before you let yourself into the city," Shiroe sighed, knowing he hadn't. He kept forgetting he'd brought KR and KR needed as much babysitting as Purrcy. He switched over to the sub-guild. "Go pick up KR and bring him back unseen. Change his hair color and make him wear something respectable the rest of the time we're in Shangtzi. He's already gotten himself into trouble."

"Roger," came back from Bowie.

"What did he do?"

"Tried to woo a lady, then buy her a drink and he didn't have the right pass to pay for it. She kicked him and the bartender threw him out so he sent in FireAnts and they called the cops on him."

Shiroe put his hand to his eyes. "Make him clean up the FireAnts before you finish the rescue or he doesn't get rescued. You'll drop him off where they can pick him up instead." He knew it was a double standard. He'd already sent those three off without proper documentation also. Though, knowing them, they'd already properly gotten their papers as they walked in, probably claiming to have come in a smaller skiff or something. They were really good at what they did.

Ten minutes later Purrcy disappeared from his desk. Shiroe stretched and headed for the door. He opened it and looked into deep dark eyes that convicted him. He blinked, then sighed. "It wasn't 'intimate', it was me petting kitten Purrcy on the desk to keep her occupied, and me, too, actually since we were both getting bored by then. She explained it properly and then asked MarketMaker if he'd like to play with Izanami instead. He opted for a quick retreat."

Akatsuki blinked, then actually giggled a little. "Yeah," Shiroe agreed dryly. "I wouldn't have stayed around for that either. I'm sure it wouldn't have been pretty. I've retrieved KR from getting into trouble and given him the babysitting job. She'll get to play as cat for a while on board while he plays with her. He's grounded and if either of them leave the ship before I say so, they get grounded in the hold until the train leaves the city."

Akatsuki nodded and Shiroe knew the Eagle on guard duty would pass it to the rest of them. "And now that I'm freed up, I can go let everyone know what the plan is and how things stand." Akatsuki gave a firm nod, then a hopeful look. He considered it, then offered her his hand. They could do that much on the walk up. She seemed satisfied with that, though he wasn't. He really wanted to kiss her. ...So he did, just before walking out on the balcony so that they had the interruption to distract them from doing anything else. He left her there frozen, though, so he sort of regretted doing it. Still, he didn't want the AIs to dictate everything he chose to do.

She slipped up next to him belated, just after he'd finished casting his voice amplification spell. It had been necessary to add it to his repertoire. It was easier to not have to find someone else to do it and it was an Enchanter's spell anyway. "Good afternoon, everyone," he said. "I'm sure you're all ready to get off the ship. Thank you for your patience. We should be able to shortly. Paperwork hurdles always take longer than we want, and political ones even longer. For the sake of public relations and so we can accomplish the goals we have here in Shangtzi and beyond, please play nice and don't get into trouble, remembering that this place is even more restrictive than Minami."

"You will each receive a visitor pass that has to be shown to every proprietor and every officer of the peace who asks for it to prove you've gone through all those paperwork hoops. They're going to let us in for the marketing half of our quest, but until we prove we're here to just play and have fun with new dungeons they won't let us take the train off the ship. They're also going to limit us, I'm afraid, to a quarter legion at a time on shore so we don't strain the police capacity." They weren't too happy with that, but being told it was worse than Minami made everyone understand it well enough.

"It isn't going to be rest and relaxation for a while. We'll need as many hands as we can get working on unloading product and getting it set up for sale in the shop, once it's purchased. MarketMaker will run that part of the show. Once I get approval to take the train off, we'll need help loading that as well. The Guildmasters you report to will let you know how they want to handle shifts. You've all seen the demo for the boxes, so when we've gotten that far, you all know how busy we're going to be with customers, so you're all staff for that, too, until MarketMaker can get locals hired and trained, also with your help. So there's plenty to do for everyone. Once the store is set up and going properly, we'll hopefully get to the play part and get to head inland for the Maze. I do hope the amount of playing you got to do on the way over here was enough for now." He said the last dryly and just as dryly everyone agreed that they'd be okay with not fighting anything for right now.

"Let's see. No more than three in a group when you do go sightseeing in town. I'd highly recommend no less than three as well. No more than twenty per inn or hotel or restaurant at a time, even if you're not all grouped together. As I said it's going to be a bit of a headache, but we won't be here long, so we'll play by their rules, as we should." Motion caught his eye and he frowned. "And Purrceus is going to be let out more, so please help us keep an eye on him. I've assigned KR to watch over him, since Purrceus is a little easier to control as a summoned creature, but we have to watch over KR, too, so if we could have everyone's eyes on them both that would be helpful." Purrcy had stopped and turned to look at him, her tail lashing a bit in irritation. KR was irritated, too, but he'd earned it already. "Come on up here Purrceus so they know what to look for."

Purrcy growled at him, then crouched, went to full size panther and leaped up to the railing of the mid-ship deck, then once more to land next to him on the rail of the steerage deck. He frowned back at her teeth. "Behave," he said to her. "You're not registered yet either." She turned for Akatsuki to touch noses, then walked past him, sliding her tail across his face, then leaped down to rub against Isaac and Nakalnad who had come out onto the mid-ship deck when Shiroe had started. Shiroe let them keep her occupied while he finished.

Isaac's, "Shiroe's finally letting you out, is he?" didn't help much, but the purr he could hear from his position did, surprisingly. She really did prefer to be cat.

"Anyone have any questions?" He fielded a few then asked, "MarketMaker are you ready for your part?"

MarketMaker cleared his throat to make sure his own spell was ready. He was standing at the gangplank, having arrived to cut Purrcy off from walking on the ship's rail. "The paperwork's finally been approved. I need to go into town to the Guild Hall to see about purchasing a storefront, but they have a warehouse we can off-load into." He pointed towards a building off to the left of where they were berthed. "It's that one, seventeen-A. I'll get it unlocked. Once you have your shifts if you'd help with offloading that would be great. I've got approval for everyone to help being hands, but you can't get into the city without your passes. I'll be giving those to the Guildmasters next, if they want to come down and get them that would help me."

Nakalnad and Isaac left off petting Purrcy and she dropped down to find KR again as they made their way to the stairs. Shiroe headed down, seeing Brody and Maverick_Master making their way through the crowd as well. He was glad they'd caught on to the fact that being called "Generals" in this place at this time would be rather politically dangerous. Neither one was technically a Guildmaster.

MarketMaker wrapped up his part of the group meeting and removed his loudspeaker spell. He sighed as he looked at the rest of the small grouping around him. "This is going to be rather difficult, to get set up here, and I've got to do store shopping first, really."

"I need to go to the Adventurer Hall," Shiroe said. "I need to post the world quests and schedule for when I'm going to openly present them. I can sign you up for your box presentation at the same time, and stop by the Guild Hall to put down the down payment on whatever building you decide on. That way you only have to show up and let them know which one it is, pay and sign for it. They require two signatures and my treaty documents anyway."

"That would help me," MarketMaker admitted. "Are we limited to the three?"

Shiroe hesitated. "I think if you took three with you we might be okay. I've listed all of us as leadership. I'm going to take Purrceus and KR with me as well as probably Michael, and if our reclusive second werecat wants to come, I'll bring another one with me. I've got to register them separately."

"You've got two?"

"Yes, apparently Purrceus wanted to bring another one along once he decided we were nice enough - or something." Shiroe shook his head. It would be easiest to say they were mates, but he wasn't sure Nyanta would approve of being the female of the pair. "That one's not contracted by a Summoner, though, and isn't too fond of people, so it's been in hiding. We'll have to see how it goes. Anyway, the port authority has to know about them for them to be let off the ship, unless it's just to go straight to the train to be taken out of town. If they get loose they want to know about them ahead of time." People nodded. It stood to reason. "So I'll need at least four passes for now. That might be enough total generally for now." Akatsuki tugged on his jacket. "Make that five." He looked at her and smiled. "Sorry. I forget others don't see us as a single entity, particularly the ones who don't know us."

"Akatsuki was here?" Isaac teased. "Wasn't she just hiding in your shadow as always?"

"Well, considering she shows up as if she was, she might have been," Shiroe allowed, "But she makes a much more beautiful date than my shadow does. ...Ah, and I forgot." He went into a chat with Purrcy, not paying attention to Akatsuki's blush, but wondering if he was perhaps going overboard. He'd just not liked that Isaac's tease had sounded like a put-down. "If I let you go into town, how many Eagles will you need in addition to Tetorō?"

There was silence for a moment, then a quiet, "Four total minimum, so the three is going to be hard."

"I've included you in leadership. We're going to assume three in addition."

"Okay. But I'd still like to have at least three in hiding nearby as well if it could be worked."

"So difficult," Shiroe complained at her and cut the line. "If I let Purrcy go separately, that's another seven." He looked at MarketMaker. "Can I send her over to help you hunt for a place to buy, or you could just leave it up to her, actually. She's got a good eye for that sort of thing, and a good grasp of the purse strings. Then you could direct traffic at the warehouse."

MarketMaker blinked, then nodded. "Actually...that might not be a bad idea, if she's willing. I do have some specific requirements, but I could pass them on to her." He handed six passes over. "Will that do? Can she go one less?" Shiroe nodded. MarketMaker handed the rest over to Nakalnad. "If you four will figure out what you want to do with the rest, I'd rather not worry about that much. I figure we'll have to play meet and swap as we go. If we're playing nice will they let us go up in numbers eventually?" he pleaded with Shiroe.

"I'm hoping so," he agreed. "I know we're going to need more than that just to get product from warehouse to store and then to get it sold."

"Why do they think we're going to try to turn the city into a raid zone?" Brody asked. "I mean, it's an Adventurer city."

"We're a new element and they're a little jumpy. It's understandable, really. It won't take long, I would think, to see we're harmless. Once we have the initial prep work out of the way, I'll send in the hospitality units." MarketMaker and Isaac nodded at that.

"You even have hospitality?" Nakalnad asked.

"You met them yourself," Shiroe smiled at him. "They're the ones that fed you and your army. Often they're the most important ones on the ground first."

Nakalnad blinked. "You didn't bring Soujirou," he disagreed.

"No, I brought the ones in my guild," Shiroe agreed. "They were there, feeding your people. It's a mix of people in Akiba. I use Soujirou as the face of that division."

Nakalnad thought about it, then nodded. "I saw them, just before returning to Minami." He frowned, "No, I do remember them. It's the kids you've brought with you."

"Yep," Shiroe said happily. "Best in the world, they are, and dead serious about getting the job done, too." Isaac and MarketMaker nodded their agreement. "They'll get the passes next with one adult supervisor for each pair."

Isaac waved his hand. "Give it to them now. We're not going into town yet, not until we're done offloading in the warehouse. I've got three I can send in to collect information, and I'd like to, but other than that I'm good. I'll help with supervising getting things off loaded on this end." Nakalnad handed him three, then counted out six more and handed them over to Shiroe.

Shiroe was starting to feel a little badly. That was most of his guild, except the Eagles who were going to be stuck with the heavy labor again. Nakalnad held up the four remaining, then handed them to Shiroe. "Send out your guards into town, too," he said seriously. "Those kids may well need back up, and they can play hospitality too. I'm not sure I want to let my crew into town just yet - not until I've seen how bad it is. If my set go into relapse we might have trouble."

That gave Brody pause and he nodded cautiously. "Yeah, I'll take my most even tempered in with me and take a look around first, before I let anyone else in. They may not want to go into town if it's worse than Minami and Plant Hwayden. ...Ah, sorry," he said to Nakalnad.

Nakalnad shook his head. "No, I'm in complete agreement. See it first for yourself."

Maverick_Master tipped his head, then said, "I think we'll have fun, actually. It is China, after all. We'll go be the tourists excited to be here and keep everyone's attention on us as much as possible without getting into trouble."

The others nodded. "Okay," Shiroe said. "Are we set then?" With nods, everyone set off for their destinations. For Shiroe that was back towards his office. "Meet up, everyone, in my office. That includes you, KR. Bring Purrceus."

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe stared at the passes in his hand. He had nearly every member of his guild covered. "I guess that's what I get for being the guildmaster of the vanguard," he sighed. "It still feels like cheating, though." He put his chin on his hand moodily, resting his elbow on his desk, where he'd returned to after the meeting on the deck of the Ocypete.

Akatsuki patted him on the head consolingly. "It's still right," she said.

"I guess," he agreed and tipped his head for her to rub it. "I'm sorry if I'm too forward."

"No, I don't think we've crossed that line yet," she reassured him.

"Thanks. I keep wanting to do things anyway because I want to do them and I'm irritated that I've been told I can't because I've been told they're going to make me." It was convoluted so he let her try to work it out and then dropped it since the rest were coming in. It was part of what he'd warned her about. If she didn't take care of both of them properly, he wasn't going to be able to survive it. He just couldn't devote the proper brain cycles to it right now. He was quite certain that if he overstepped and confused her she'd back off to cry or hit him very hard. He hoped it would be the latter.

It looked like the entire and guild and sub-guild were present finally. He held up three passes. "The others voted us full vanguard, except three from Isaac to scope out what he wants to know." That got surprised looks from them.

"All of us, too?" Reed asked in behalf of the Eagles sub-guild.

"Yes, specifically also you, by request, actually," Shiroe answered mildly. "Nakalnad gave up his just for four of you so that the junior officers have a guard, though you're to work also at being PR while in town." P/R looked happy at that. He'd be right in his element.

"Nyanta, are you willing to go as werecat?" Shiroe asked. "I've let Purrceus out and said we have a second who's not a Summon and people-shy so you can also show up cat shipboard. For you to be in town as a werecat and not just Nyanta, I have to register you separately for that. I'll be registering Purrceus as KR's Summon and Log Horizon's pet. It's apparently common here for the Summons to be used as pets and the registration process is just as long as any paperwork, but normal. They want to know who to go to if one gets loose, or lost." Nyanta nodded his understanding, but didn't commit just yet. Shiroe let him think about it.

"The hardest part is that I've both Purrceus and Purrcy going into town doing separate things. You'll come with me to do the registration first, and then to the Guild Hall for the things we need to do there. Then I'll send you off to go hunt down a store for MarketMaker to buy. He has specific requirements he wants to pass to you before you start that. We can probably get you off the ship okay as Purrcy and have KR pretend to have you on his person somewhere. He's in my group. I'm putting Nyanta in your group instead of Tetorō. I need him on P/R here at the beginning." She nodded and so did Tetorō.

"The nice thing about registering you both as werecats is that you'll get your own passes that way and we can free up two when we need to. You'll have to do any felinoid work clandestinely, but as long as you don't try to buy anything, like a meal or a room, you won't be asked for one...unless you're doing something shady and the police want to confirm you're allowed in the city to begin with." The felinoids both shook their heads, promising they wouldn't.

"So, these three are for Naotsugu, Isuzu, and Rudy. I know I'm making the splits different, but I want one tank per group for you six." He handed them over to Naotsugu and counted out three more. "These three are for Tetorō, Touya, and Minori." He handed them over to Tetorō and counted out four. "These are for two groups of two to walk with them but not with them." He handed them to Michael, who handed them to Reed, who held on to them for now.

"Purrcy's not thrilled with the three limit, as you can well imagine. Neither are the Generals, actually. I've made the executive decision that everyone I've registered in a leadership role gets three with them to make a party of four. That counts for her. So, here's hers, Nyanta's, and two more for her visible group." He handed them over to Nyanta. Nyanta kept two and passed two to Reed. "And here's three more for her hidden group." Shiroe passed them over and they also ended up with Reed. He held the rest in his hand, then handed Akatsuki hers and Michael his. "You two will come with me to register the werecats. We may rearrange once we're done at the Guild Hall. KR, I'll hold on to yours for now, though you'll come with us."

KR pouted. "You really don't trust me, do you?"

"You asked me not to just today, didn't you?" Shiroe asked mildly with a raised eyebrow. KR's newly bright yellow hair was rather shocking, actually. He wouldn't be missed in a crowd. They'd put him in real shoes, too, and he kept shifting his feet uneasily as if he'd really like to lose them. At least the clothing was reasonable, if not the relaxed ones he usually wore. Shiroe handed the last pass to Michael who passed it over to Reed again, then sat back and waited for Reed to decide who of the Eagles would be going with who.

"If it's alright, sir, I'll stay with you, even if the Commander moves over," Reed said to Shiroe. Shiroe nodded. Reed slipped one into his front pocket. "Schedules, Brenner, you're with the Queen and Consort." Those passes disappeared into front pockets. "Gareth and Training, P/R and H/R, you're paired up with the junior officers." Four more passes disappeared. "Safety detail, you're the three on watch." Those three disappeared. "That leaves Records and Secretary and the Intelligence detail."

Shiroe pursed his lips, then said. "You two get off the same ship the Intelligence detail got off of and pair up. We don't have a reason to keep you on board and can use all the information we can gather. If you get stuck at the registration desk, don't press the issue, as we could slip you in with Purrcy and Nyanta's passes during registration if we have to. I'd just like to have a few for the sub-guild separate from the Ocypete's limit."

Reed looked at them. "You'll be central command if you can't get through the door. Otherwise I'll be it. Go get off the ship first and get registered before we get there. You'll substitute for Miss Purrcy and Mister Nyanta in their group until their alternate registration is completed." Records and Secretary saluted and disappeared from the room. Shiroe gave everyone more details about what to expect when they arrived in the city and what information he wanted them to pick up and disseminate, and then their formation to getting off the ship, with apologies to Nyanta.

-:-:-:-:-

"What's with Log Horizon getting to go first?" a Plant Hwayden guild member complained.

"Eh? Oh that's them going to work," a Knights of the Black Sword guild member answered back. "Weren't you one of the army that stopped by Akiba? They do peacetime battles - intel, hospitality, P/R, that kind of thing. They'll be busy like us. It's their job to make sure we can even open the doors to the shop and people come buying. They'll be the ones to call the whole thing and send us up the coast if the locals won't play friendly, too. Lot better to do that now before we've spent a day and a half unloading."

"I suppose," his companion reluctantly agreed. "And, no, I wasn't part of that party. What happened?" They moved off, the story beginning as they went. It was nice that the other guilds understood and protected the little guild.

Akatsuki still wished she could really fly over water and really hide in Shiroe's shadow. She'd been trying to come up with a few more Mysteries to learn and those both sounded like very good candidates. One hundred turned out to be a rather large number when the creativity slowed down. She was going to use the times she needed to be away from Shiroe to practice them since it took concentration and focus. She was glad he'd been affectionate today. Leaving Ninetails Dominion it had felt rather final and they'd firmly stayed apart while on the ship. Perhaps it was all the distractions that would interrupt them so they couldn't go very far that had made Shiroe decide to bend his rule a bit. That was nice, and occasionally surprising, but she probably shouldn't let it go on too long. They might turn into a couple that kept finding all the hidden opportunities until they were meeting for a midnight tryst that would get them into trouble.

She just hoped she didn't have to knee him in the face. That would make her go and cry in her room for several hours, and she wouldn't have Purrcy to comfort her since Izanami was a traitor to that cause. It would probably have to be Isuzu. Minori would be sympathetic but eventually use it as a pry bar between them as the Inari started to work on her, too. Akatsuki shook her head in irritation. It was definitely a problem that they had to put up with being broken up like this. She didn't like it at all. It made her need to swing her short sword at something.

She took a calming breath and paid attention. A hand came on her shoulder and she looked up in surprise. Michael gave her a sober wink. She was walking behind Shiroe instead of next to him this time. Normally it would have been him to help strengthen her. She gave Michael a nod, grateful he'd stepped in to do it. That was the one good thing. Everyone understood so there would still be support, just from different sources now.

KR was walking somewhat stiffly next to Shiroe, holding a kitten hidden in his elbow. Akatsuki thought that KR must be just as afraid of the gentleman felinoid as most people who got to know him well. She supposed he should. They'd been in the Debauchery Tea Party together and those who knew Nyanta from then seemed to tread lightly where he was concerned. "Um, Shiroe - don't hurt me please Nyanta-san, I'm just trying to get caught up - why would Nyanta-san be jealous over anyone?"

"Purrcy is his wife," Shiroe said simply.

"Oh." That seemed to resolve it for KR until they reached the door they were headed for and the interruption to trade people in groups and Michael to pick up kitten Purrcy. "Wait, from the beginning?"

"Leave it the first thought for now, KR," Shiroe warned. "We'll fill you in on details later."

"Okay...but you have to, okay? Don't just leave me hanging."

Akatsuki thought it might be dangerous to let KR feel left out and rejected by the rest of them, thus was relieved when Shiroe turned his kindest look on KR and said quietly, "I won't, KR. I promise. But not until we're back on the ship." KR nodded and they walked into the customs office.

"Mister Shiroe." The clerk stood and bowed.

"I've brought the creatures to claim. What do we need to do?"

The man pulled out about four forms for each one and made them put the kittens on the desk where he could see them. They did the paperwork for Purrcy first, it being simpler. One form for who was her Summoner, another for what guild claimed her and where they resided (on the Ocypete for now, apparently), another that listed Purrcy's description and abilities. They got to abilities and KR looked helplessly at Shiroe. "Purrceus can change size."

The clerk stopped, then held his pen in both hands between the fingers. "Please show me."

Purrcy slowly grew from her current kitten size until she was full panther sitting on the desk and her size change shoved several papers off onto the floor. She blinked at the clerk, then reversed until she was kitten again. It was a much better size for a desk. The clerk paused, then found his paper again and made a note. "Anything elemental, like fire breathing, ice, or anything like that."

"No," Shiroe started, then stopped, "no, I forgot, he can do minor electrical magics, like Electrical Fuzz and similar things."

"Seen any major ones like Bolt Lightning?"

"No."

"Hmm," the clerk looked at Percy suspiciously, then made a note. He'd probably tried to cover his bases so he didn't get in trouble - just in case. "Can he understand speech and to what level?"

"Yes, full comprehension."

"Then that means he can talk. Please ask him to do so." They were all rather surprised. "Haven't you learned that in Yamato, yet? Full comprehension includes the capacity for speech, you just have to ask them to talk to you."

KR turned to Purrcy. "Purrceus, will you talk to us, please?"

[Okay.]

Akatsuki was actually surprised Purrcy could talk in the same way the gryphons had. Normally she spoke like the rest of them. It was a sad reminder she really was a summonable Adventurer.

"Well, that's convenient," Shiroe said, and meant it. He must not have thought of it either.

[If you say so,] Purrcy answered with a twitch to one set of whiskers.

The clerk was already writing again, then looked at Purrcy and gave her instructions. Not to talk to anyone unless addressed or they were the registered Summoner or guild, or the Summoner or a member of the guild had sent her on an errand that specifically required her to speak. Purrcy's eyes were narrowing and a small rumble started up. Shiroe was also looking angry to Akatsuki's eyes. She put a restraining hand on his arm at the same time as Michael put a hand on Purrcy's back. "He'll do it," Michael said. "He doesn't normally anyway. Sorry, but he's rather temperamental with those not of the guild. Receiving orders from someone not his contract holder is a bit much."

The clerk made another note. That one wasn't likely complementary and was likely a warning, but perhaps that wasn't all bad. Akatsuki could only hope. "You've properly collared and tagged him, I see. If he tends to temperamental, we prefer they're leashed as well."

"Nope," Michael's hand tightened down on Purrcy. "Not necessary. That's what I'm for." He picked her up and put her on his shoulder where she grumbled to him under her breath in kitten belly grumbles and he nodded his head and pet her to calm her down.

"We keep him with at least two people at all times," Shiroe said reassuringly to the clerk. "We're not interested in dealing with personal or property damage either. So far we've had no complaints or troubles and we take him all over Akiba." Purrcy gave a little grumble to that, too, and Michael patted her on the head that time. She settled down, but her tail still twitched irritably. "It's also why we've brought his Summoner, so that we don't have any errors while on this trip. You do know that they can't refuse any commands from their Summoner, right?"

"Only during the time limitation," the clerk almost glared at him.

"No," Shiroe answered back calmly, "A direct order at any time must be obeyed. It's just during the time limitation that every desire and whim must also be obeyed. - Not that it matters for KR, he's high enough level he can double cast. The rest of the time Purrceus is sleeping."

That seemed to do the trick and the clerk let the leash requirement pass. He turned to Nyanta. "This one is named...?"

KR opened his mouth and Nyanta glared at him. "Leonid. We decided to stay with star constellations," Shiroe said.

"Summoner?"

"None. He decided to follow along with Purrceus. They're family. He's a lot quieter and well behaved, so it's been okay with us." The Summoner paper was set aside and the guild paper was pulled forward and the data copied over. The third paper was brought out and Nyanta's description written down. "Same abilities?"

"Size change yes. I haven't seen anything else."

The clerk cast a magic detection spell and it was absorbed. He blinked, then wrote that down, presumably. Shiroe blinked, too. Akatsuki could only assume it was a side effect of magic not working on Nyanta. Knowing what was next, Shiroe asked, "Leonid, will you speak with us?"

Nyanta turned his head away and refused with silence. "Does he understand basic commands?" the clerk asked.

"I've assumed he understands the same as Purrceus, but he's never obeyed me much," Shiroe admitted. "He comes if he wants but that's about it. We've also kept the same restrictions on him as far as guards go, since that's standard practice for us. He doesn't go far from Purrceus and has even restrained him a few times for being too excitable so I'm not usually concerned."

After a few lines, "I'll need to see the size changes." Nyanta ignored him and licked his right paw between the pads.

Shiroe picked him up, put him on the floor, and got an affronted look. Shiroe folded his arms. "Michael, put Purrceus back on the desk." Michael did. Purrcy walked to the edge of the desk, looked down at Nyanta, and meowed. Nyanta's ear turned and his grey tail slapped the floor irritably, then he increased in size, stepped back up on the desk making another piece of paper float to the floor behind the clerk's chair, shrank again as he got fully up on the desk, and settled back down where he had been. Purrcy purred a little and licked the top of his head and one ear until it flicked, then settled down next to him, her eyes on the clerk. One of her ears twisted back and forth as if listening to the sounds outside the building and Akatsuki made a quick check of the sounds on the air. Everything there seemed fine. She did a quick sweep of the room...and noticed that the paper that had been behind the chair was gone, and the other one she had knocked off earlier wasn't on the floor either, but there were only three papers on the desk for Purrceus.

Akatsuki pursed her lips and watched the clerk closely. He tried to speak twice and both times was interrupted. He shook his head, then said, "They both read in their status displays as 'werecat'. Is that from the new expansion?"

"Yes, it is," Shiroe answered mildly.

"Well, that's good. We've discovered that the beast halves of this Theldesia can shape change into their full beast. We require them to register also before coming into the city. If anyone challenges you, you should carefully show them the passes you have for them. If they were an unregistered felinoid, they would be sent out of the city. A second infraction would put them in jail."

"What?" Everyone froze. "I have a rather large number of beast-half Adventurers. Do they all have to register as well?"

"No, their statuses will show they are Adventurers. This is only for the Beast-halves of the Land. We had a rash of crime from the beast-halves who lived and worked in the city. We've removed them and prevent entry unless they are registered, tracked, and have their passes at all times."

"Shameful," KR said. Shiroe nodded agreement. They were meaning the complete opposite of what the clerk believed, Akatsuki was absolutely certain. She gave a firm nod. What a horrible thing to do, to assume that all of them were wicked just because a few were turned to evil because of a restrictive governing body. The clerk pulled out two slips of paper that were green instead of the pink they had all received. Perhaps residents received yellow or blue ones. He filled out the required information for the two werecats and handed the papers to Shiroe who put them in his list - the old fashioned way just in case.

KR reached out a hand and Purrcy went to him this time. Michael picked up Nyanta carefully and held him in his elbow and down his arm. Since the clerk hadn't mentioned the collar, Akatsuki read Nyanta's data. It read now, _Leonid, Werecat, Guild: Log Horizon_. She supposed that would be enough, as long as it wasn't a Person of the Land trying to figure out who he was. Shiroe politely thanked the clerk, then walked them all back out of the building. Akatsuki walked next to him this time to hold his hand. He was still angry and she wanted to help him calm down a little more.

"That was a bit much," KR said as they got away from the building. "Not only are they disrespecting Summons, knowing full well they are intelligent creatures, but they are oppressing the beast halves who only stole because they were being starved while being worked to death, most likely. Really shameful."

"Well...we'll have to see if that was the motivation. Not everyone has the best of intentions," Shiroe half-glared out of the corner of his eye, calling the kettle black. "But you are right. Having them act that way towards Summons may well get them into a lot of trouble."

"It's worse than that," Purrcy's voice was quiet but the anger was very evident. "I got rid of the papers that were the contracts, and Izanami made him forget they hadn't been done. She wasn't pleased either. There was no way we were going to just blindly put our prints to them."

Akatsuki blinked and got very coldly angry. Her hand not holding Shiroe's clenched very tightly. Shiroe's hand she was holding was going cold. He must also be feeling the same. He didn't say anything for a very long time which was a certain sign of it. She wondered if Izanagi had been kind to Nyanta and made the clerk forget about asking for a collar and tag for Nyanta or if Purrcy had asked Izanami to do that too. Nyanta would have probably eaten the clerk if it had been mentioned.

* * *

 _*I've not actually read the online translations this far, so anything about that time is (almost) completely made up, except I did find a reference to what the curse did to Crusty so I've inserted that little bit into this story. I mean - there is no way they wouldn't have gone over there to pick up Kanami or at least talk to her and they wanted Crusty back - particularly Rieze, and then there was the matter of Mise's arm to resolve as well. So I'm back-story resolving all of that as I please. Bear with me please if you've read f_ _a_ _rther into the story than I. I had to pick a starting point somewhere and my "legally published in the U.S." line is rather firm (the translated light novel up through volume 7 and the first two seasons of the_ _subbed_ _anime)._


	101. Go, Purrcy, I Choose You!

"Thank you, darling, for saving me from certain humiliation," Nyanta said.

Purrcy cuddled his arm and brushed her lips over his cheek. "Certainly, dear husband. It's terrible enough you allowed them to do it to me. Surely sharing the humiliation isn't necessary."

Nyanta allowed his tail and ears to droop in shame, but the look he gave her was more evil than humbly apologetic. "If only it hadn't been necessary at the time, meow."

Her ears and tail said she was forgiving but her claws in his arm said she was still upset regardless. "Indeed, such humiliations should be left for when they are both necessary...and more public."

Nyanta couldn't hold it at that. "Surely nyot!" his tone was horrified but his ears were laughing as they turned back and forth. "It was only twenty-seven of us ...and all family. That certainly wouldn't be considered public, nyan."

Purrcy lifted her nose in the air. "More public than four family, one acquaintance, and one public official. That didn't even qualify, really. And I was put on public display immediately after - with a crown no less." She gave a faint hiss.

At that Nyanta did relent and his close ear dipped in real apology. "True. It was a difficult day. For us also."

"Was it?" She stared him down, then finally relented with a sigh. "Akatsuki did expressly say so." She turned her attention to inspecting their surroundings.

Nyanta inspected her. She'd gone pensive at that, perhaps a little depressed at having it brought up again. She was in her hunter green walking dress, though it looked today like it might be either a lighter wool or a medium weight raw silk, which would be appropriate for China as the source end of the Silk Road. He was in his usual pants and waistcoat, his usual rapiers at his sides. As much as he appreciated the gift of Frère de Main Gauche and Frère de Main Droite, they were a bit much to wear everyday. He also didn't need every Adventurer he passed to read their stats. They hadn't existed pre-catastrophe. Together, they definitely looked like the proper gentleman and lady taking a walk in town with their two bodyguards. He was really very pleased with the effect, which was why he'd begun the role play to begin with.

Purrcy turned to him, her golden eyes searching his greens which still gazed at her unapologetically, then inspected his head overall. She brushed her hand across the top of his head and there was suddenly a hat set a little tipped on his head. He raised an eyebrow set of whiskers at her. She leaned in and said, "It's the one from before but colored to match. I hope you don't mind that it seemed to me a good day to add it."

"Will mew wear meowr tam, then?" he asked.

"Oh, I did have one, didn't I?" She ran her hand over her head and it appeared. He reached over and adjusted it to sit just right, then brushed his lips on her head under the uncovered ear. "Let's see...then I only need a cane and mew need a parasol."

She smiled at him. "Curved handle or metal capped flat top?"

"Hmm...the latter, I think. But don't make it a real hidden weapon kind. I'd hate to be taken into custody for it."

Her hand reached down, then tossed forward as if she were tossing said cane up to point with its head - and she was. She handed it to him. It was made of ebony to match his grey coloring in clothing and in fur. The top was a decoratively hammered silver cover over the flat surface. That decoration was replicated at the tip to protect the wood from the ground. She handed it over and he set it to the ground. It lengthened until he could tap the ground while standing upright as proper and be relaxed as he walked with it. When he nodded she turned inside for a moment, then let go of him long enough to reach into her sleeve and pull out a closed parasol a paler green than her dress, with blue lines to match the plaid in her tam. She set the curved handle over her arm for now, and took his arm again.

He liked the parallel, but it wasn't really what he wanted to see. "Mew won't open it for me?" he asked.

"I'm not really the age to, you know."

He leaned over to say lightly, "Mew are to me." He got to appreciate both the blush and then the view of his wife with the parasol held open behind her head, the stem resting on her shoulder.

"Really, Nyanta," she sighed at his look, not able to meet it which added to his enjoyment of the open romantic tease. He stopped her and stepped in front of her to take his kiss under the parasol, which in her embarrassment she did cover them with.

His tail curled in pleasure as he held her about the waist. "Mew know," he purred, "it really is only the fact that I can do this to mew that makes this all worth it, in the end, meow."

Her ear brushed the side of his head and she turned to say in his ear, "If it pleases my husband, then it pleases me to be pleased to be teased." Her now-freed arm came around him and held him warmly. "If it won't make my husband too upset, however, I will say that I shall greatly miss the teasing and his warm presence in the coming months. That is the one thing that will make it not worth it. I look forward to making them up to you thereafter. You may tease me all you like then."

Nyanta closed his eyes and ran one hand up to hold her upper back. With a sigh, he said, "Purrcy, ...Brenner has worked with me enough that I no longer fear death so much, and I've been able to learn how to nyot have my fear for my wife and son paralyze me. I am still sad, and mourn for them," her hand pet him a bit, acknowledging that pain, "and I cannot love mew the way I do them...but I do care for mew. I know that will be a difficult and lonely time for mew and I will miss meowr purresence as well. I still need to know mew are here and I am nyot alone. To have mew means I'm able to remember to smile and enjoy life like I want others to. To be able to enjoy meowr purresence because I want to, and not because mew want to force me to is a blessing to me. ...Please take care of meowrself for me. I want mew back when it's done."

"I will, Nyanta," Purrcy promised. "You also, please stay safe. I want to be able to find you and come to you, like I promised I would." She brushed his cheek with her lips and stepped out of his arms, then stood waiting for him to begin their walk again, her parasol resting on her shaking shoulder.

He watched her until she had calmed enough, then returned her hand to his elbow. While she had respected that he didn't want to carry the burden of her tears at this time, he still knew that he owed her one gift of love - the one he'd promised both of them when they'd been husband and wife for only a few short days. He wondered when it came time if he'd be able to properly play his part, and what it would do to his future and to his honor for his past. It was hard on his heart still. He didn't want it turned that far towards her, but he couldn't be callous anymore either, like perhaps he might have been able to then, or when they'd had the ceremony.

Nyanta sighed to himself. Time was not always friendly and humans were fickle. She didn't love him any more than he did her, but the needs were the same. The bonds that tied them were nearly as strong as the bonds of love. It made him want to make her his just as fiercely as love would have wanted him to make her his gently but firmly. That fierceness and refusing is what gave voice to his jealousy, to say that this woman was his completely because he was unwilling to let her go, even still. Before it could go to his tail, he leaned over and said quietly, "Mew are mine."

"Yes, Nyanta. I am yours," she answered properly, but under it this time was a fierceness that almost matched his. She was almost ready. Almost ready for him to take her. He took a calming breath and pushed his need down one more time, burying it under the quiet pride of the gentleman. Now wasn't that time. A gentleman waited patiently, the same as a lady didn't ask.

-:-:-:-:-

The forward groups found a cafe with booths and tables they could all meet in without looking like they were actually one group. Tetorō sat across from Touya and Minori, who were sitting back to back with Isuzu and Rudy, who were sitting across from Naotsugu. The four guards were sitting two to a table next to them. "This is delicious, to get to eat real Chinese food," Minori gushed.

"It's different," Rudy agreed.

"We don't eat it as spicy," Isuzu nodded at his slight grimace. "But we actually love Chinese foods. We probably have just as many Chinese restaurants as we do Japanese ones back home. I'd bet if a Chinese chef wanted to go open a restaurant on Yamato, he'd get lots of good business, though I'm not sure we could offer the same ingredients one might need. We took a long time finding the flavors of Japan in Yamato. It tastes like it might have taken them just as long to come up with the flavors of China."

"I'm just glad they found flavors at all," Touya said, still stuffing his mouth with the Chinese noodles intermingled with the vegetables and chicken. "Wouldn't that have been horrible, to come visit and learn they hadn't discovered flavors yet?"

Tetorō shuddered and so did Naotsugu. "I wonder if I can buy some to take home to Marie?" Naotsugu wondered. "She'd love to taste some real Chinese, too."

"Now, that's a good idea!" Tetorō said. "I think I might have to do that, too. How much to pay a chef to make ten meals all at once, do you think?"

"More than you've got," the waiter said, dropping off more drinks for them, "but I'll let them know you're appreciating it."

"Please do," Minori said with a smile. "Touya and I have been learning to cook, too, so we know how much goes into preparing the food."

"Oh? Did you bring food here from Yamato?"

They all nodded. "Yes. We weren't sure what we'd find here before heading out for the dungeon we want to explore. Besides, dungeons always take a lot of food since we don't go out and hunt in the middle of them."

"That's true," the waiter nodded and continued on his rounds of the room. He disappeared into the back kitchen and a few minutes later a dwarf came out, wiping his hands.

He looked around the room, scanning statuses, then trotted over to their grouping. They'd already scanned his status as well, noting he was a Druid. "I hear you lot are from over on Yamato and are appreciating our dishes?"

"Very much so," Naotsugu answered respectfully. "Chinese flavors are distinctly delicious and have been missing since the catastrophe."

"I'm a Japanese transplant in China for work. You wouldn't be willing to do a trade?" Minori and Touya both looked at him with extreme interest.

"I'd be willing to trade a couple of extra flavorings I brought for some of the flavorings of China, if you'd be willing to let me have some," Minori said.

Touya pulled out a small bowl of udon with mushrooms and roast boar and handed it to the chef. He pulled out a pair of what were probably his favorite chopsticks, his mouth watering as his eyes looked hungrily at the food. The warmth of the bowl was lifting smells to his nose he'd not smelled in probably over four years. As he slurped up the first bite, he made a small noise of pleasure. It was gone very quickly. "Yes. The tastes and foods of home are surely the best there are," he said handing the bowl back to Tetorō. "Thank you very much."

He went into his list and pulled out four bottles. "Chili oil, sesame oil, teriyaki, and black bean paste."

Minori quickly got into her list and put four bottles on the table. "Miso paste, soy sauce, sweet rice vinegar, bonito flakes."

The chef's eyes lit up. "Even trade?"

"Sure. Even trade." Both piles disappeared.

Touya's eyes got crafty. "Well...I've already given you a taste of home...but for something good...I'll offer one of my personal favorites - hard to give up - mayonnaise."

"No! You figured it out? Do you have the recipe? And is it standard mayonnaise or is it okonomiyaki mayo?" The dwarf was wringing his hands in anticipation.

"Do you have cabbage?" Minori asked.

He bobbed his head up and down. "Loads and it grieves me to not be able to make okonomiyaki with it. It just hasn't been right without the sweetened soy and the right mayonnaise, though the teriyaki gets close to the sweetened soy."

The twins looked at each other, then at Tetorō. He gave them a shrug. "I'd say go for it," Naotsugu said from his place as casually as he could. Isuzu agreed with a quiet, "Mm."

"Can we hire you out from the store for a month or less?" Touya asked, "If we promise you'll learn all the recipes we've learned in Yamato, and if you'll promise to teach us all the ones you've learned here? We have a few chefs, our teachers, who have the recipes you want. We're still learning them. But we could use a dedicated chef who knows the ingredients of the area while we're in the dungeon. I'd be willing to give you a bottle of my mayo as a down payment on the agreement. We won't be leaving for a few more days so you have time to see about getting permission to expand your menu listing that way. We're on the Ocypete at the port for now."

The dwarf was dancing now from foot to foot, just a little, and still wringing his hands. "Oh. Oh. That sounds...like...heaven really." He bit his lip, then swung around and ran back into the kitchen.

"Do you think he'd be willing to learn some American dishes?" Gareth asked. "Most of Lady Purrcy's are American."

"Most likely he'd be willing to learn anything," Minori said with a smile. "Most chefs do. I don't know if their tastes run American, though."

Training wrinkled his nose. "Not even the Japanese like true American. It has to be flavored different or include cabbage. The only thing we can really agree on is barbecue."

"We like the pancakes," Isuzu disagreed.

"Well, and those," Training allowed.

"We've been spoiled having both a Japanese chef and an American one in house," P/R nodded. "We get the best of both cuisines. Adding in Chinese would be a nice bonus."

"I know, right?" Isuzu was happy.

"Did you spend time in China?" Tetorō asked her.

"Yes," she acknowledged a little reluctantly. She didn't like to say much about her past. "Dad was good enough to get a few gigs over here and brought me with him over one summer break to be a roady. I got used to the flavors then, so it's fun to taste them again." She looked down and Rudy and Naotsugu looked at her sympathetically. "It was the only time I really got to spend with him...that one summer. It was good to see just how much hard work goes into being a pop idol."

She looked out the window, then said quietly, "I think that's what finally decided me, that I wasn't going to go professional. It was hard enough to not have him around. To know that I'd be giving up family _and_ my own will half the time just to meet the expectations of the fans and the producers didn't seem worth it." She looked down again and sighed. "It was still really hard to give up my love for music, though. ...I'm glad Hahaue encouraged me to do it just for me and reminded me that the joy inside is worth keeping alive. I don't have to give up my love for music just because I don't want to give up other things that are important to me. ...That's what I've learned since coming here to Theldesia. It's a good thing to learn." Her voice had gone to a whisper. Rudy put his hand on her shoulder briefly until they were interrupted by an excited Dwarf chef.

"The head chef will let me go and learn the recipes. There are enough people here who like the flavors of Japan that we could open an exclusive shop for a while."

Tetorō nodded. "There would be a market for trade between the cities of Akiba and Shangtzi, then, to at least exchange flavorings and maybe a few choice ingredients. We're here to open trade between Yamato and China. Shopping District 8 will be opening a store in the next few days. Keep your eyes open for the grand opening. I think they've sent a few bottles of the sauces over to see if people like them, so that would be your source to get more. Do you know who we could place orders from to get the standard Chinese flavorings to take some back with us when we go?"

The Dwarf looked worried. Naotsugu raised his hand, to ward off his concern. "Our guildmaster has already negotiated with the city government to put into place the proper trade treaty and agreements. We're just excited to find a product exchange so quickly, if you think it would work."

"Well, if you've already got the approval of the governing body, then that wouldn't be so bad, perhaps," he relaxed a little.

"Oh, hey," H/R sat up, "I just remembered, Lady Purrcy said that my super spicy barbecue rub might be appreciated better over here." He motioned the chef over and put a container on the table in front of him. "Careful. We found the plant this comes from by accident, when we got too low on foodstuff outside a dungeon. About killed us trying to eat it like a pepper, even roasted, which is sort of what it looks like, but in really small doses in powdered form, it's like a hot chili powder. How similar is it to what you use in your chili oil?"

The chef carefully removed the lid and tasted a bare grain of it. He pulled out another bottle of his hot chili oil and put a drop of it on the tip of H/R's chopstick to taste. "Hmm...different, but just as hot. This is more smooth, but the one we found is more smoky. Interesting. Well...if you're interested, Shopping District 8 will be selling our hot powder in small doses, too. You might see how that changes your flavorings." He grinned. "You've become rather Chinese in flavor yourself if you can eat things this hot. They won't touch it over there."

"Well...it's not my favorite," the Dwarf admitted, "but one has to get used to the flavors of a region."

"True," H/R agreed, putting his powder away. "I enjoyed the meal today. Getting robust flavor is a treat."

"Are you from Korea?" the Dwarf asked. "They like things hot, too."

"Mmmm...I do love Korean food," H/R closed his eyes and rubbed his stomach. "Can't eat anything for about a half a day after that, but...yum!" He winked at the chef.

"He's the only one," P/R glared at H/R a little. "The rest of us have to ask them to tone it down. But his barbecue rub with that hot powder...that's pretty awesome."

"Do you trade with them, too?" H/R asked. "I'd love to get my hands on some of their spices."

"There are a few ships that come in," the Dwarf nodded his head, "and there's a small market for both the cuisine and the spices." They got into a discussion on where the local Korean restaurant was. When the chef returned to the kitchen, promising to come to the Ocypete when his shift was over the next day, the others firmly told H/R they were _not_ going to eat at the Korean restaurant. They would walk past it long enough for him to negotiate with the chef, however.

When they were mostly alone again, they went through a summary meeting. "In the end," Minori sighed, "on the surface it feels like Nakasu. Tentative, everyone walking on eggshells, not quite sure when the dog's going to bite or if it's finally decided to be friendly. Still, living life like normal and being as happy as they can be while doing it."

Touya nodded. "Umhm, and under that, in the shadows and the dark windows, it feels worse than Akiba before the Round Table. As if you aren't careful, those who exploit are going to reach out of that darkness and grab you and drag you into a slaver guild." The three who'd lived through Hamelin shuddered.

"I would have to sadly agree with your assessments," Rudy said. "Witnessing what that official said and did was very much not in alignment with a government that wants the best for its citizens."

"And yet, they are concerned that everyone have some level of positive existence, or they wouldn't have opened the food for work program," Isuzu gave the counterpoint.

"Depends on the kind of work," Tetorō answered cynically. They had to agree. It wasn't possible to know unless they signed up, too, and they weren't about to.

"Whulp," Naotsugu rose to his feet, bringing Rudy and Isuzu up as well. "Let's get a move on before we're questioned for sitting here too long. We'll meet back up on the way out to the docks. If you need anything, holler."

"You got it," Tetorō answered, sitting back with his hands behind his head. The Eagles had already left in their turns.

At the sound of the door bell, the Dwarf chef hurried out of the kitchen door, looked around, and came for the last three, seeming relieved. "I can't come."

"Even if we bring the papers by to prove the trade agreement?" Tetorō asked, not surprised.

The Dwarf hesitated, glancing at the kitchen door. "Maybe." He turned and headed back.

The three didn't stay much longer, the closing of the door behind them cutting off the sound of the bell. "I hope he isn't in too much trouble," Minori said as they started walking down the street, a worry frown on her face.

"How hard should we fight for the one?" Tetorō asked musingly.

"...He was originally a native." Touya hesitantly offered.

"Hmm... but a single jail break could trash the entire trade and peace agreements," Tetorō answered back mildly. The twins both looked disappointed. "Well...we'll take it back up to the top and see where it goes from there," Tetorō promised. They nodded. It was the best they could do. If Shiroe wanted to take on Shangtzi like he had the others, that was up to him. It would likely take just as long as Minami, too, if not longer. This was just the initial exploratory expedition, after all.

They sighed and let it go and got back to work. At the very least, they might have opened up the possibility for the sale of the flavors of Yamato, and the homesick Dwarf chef had gotten a taste of home to warm him. Often it was those small things that opened the door for the bigger things to happen.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe, Nyanta, Michael, Reed, KR, and Akatsuki were standing back, being slightly entertained, slightly worried, and more than a little in awe. Purrcy was going toe to toe not with just a Cunie - who were hard to negotiate with to begin with - but with a stubborn government official as well, who didn't want the foreign shop in Shangtzi at all. She had up a visual chat screen with MarketMaker as well, so that he was helping her in the negotiations. He was the reconciliator as the person who would be responsible for the store. She was being the pressure, who would only cave when MarketMaker made a concession. They were on their fourth building offer in a row, Purrcy and Nyanta having arrived after their walk about town to select several options that might work.

Purrcy had started out demanding an existing store with a front right on the main market way, saying that their store would bring in more income to the city in taxes because of the exotic products that they offered. After all, if this city really was the metropolis it claimed to be on the surface, the residents were already wealthy enough to enjoy such exotic products and would be proud to have them in their homes or use them personally.

That had been countered with a firm polite, "no" in that they couldn't just force a long established company out for an unproven, unheard of newcomer. And since they hadn't even proven they were trustworthy, they could have the crappy building that needed massive repairs out on the outskirts of town.

Purrcy had nearly stormed out then, throwing a proper high-class fit and threatening to tear down the Government building and put her ten story high rise full-on mall in its place. After all if a governing body couldn't understand the advantages of profits from taxes and the exchange of personal property for increasing wealth of a city's residents, they didn't need to keep wasting the citizen's money taking care of a building they couldn't afford. (Thus insinuating that the governing body of Shangtzi was incompetent and destitute...which it probably would be if it wasn't using the slave labor of its citizens to keep going.) The eyes of everyone around them had grown large, since she didn't bother to keep her tirade private.

MarketMaker had placated her, saying that was certainly unreasonable and a better place could surely be found than where the government needed to be to function properly. And besides, they weren't quite ready for the sprawling mall. Surely the twelve story building that was already half renovated she'd told him about would be sufficient.

"And leave the rest of the repairs up to who knows who? Or leave it in disrepair to make it look like we're a shabby company? I don't think so," she'd scoffed back. "It has to be a building that is in complete repair and ready to house our wonderful products. We've brought things that are for the benefit of all and we want to showcase every one of them to their greatest effect so Adventurers who come here from all over the region can be assured they know what they're getting is of highest quality production and will give them the results they can expect from such attention to detail from our crafters. I'll not have their efforts put to shame by the environment we must show them off in."

MarketMaker's brow furrowed in worry. "Yes, I understand Lady Purrcy, but remember, this is Theldesia, not Earth. It isn't that easy to get the buildings back into repair, particularly the large ones. Maybe if you could accept one that is a bit shorter, not so many floors, perhaps?" He'd turned to the two representatives from Shangtzi and asked them to suggest another alternative that might meet those requirements, his face showing a little of his desperation to find a proper resolution.

They'd suggested a place and Purrcy had been willing to consider it, until she looked at its location and had gone off on another tirade again, it being in the warehouse and crafter district itself when she wanted it in the market district where all _shoppers_ went, not all _workers_. Their crafters were already in Yamato and not willing to come all the way across the sea to be settled in a city they might come play in but not live in.

She suddenly turned on the government official at that point and asked point blank, "Or do you also not understand the value of tourism, and the tourism coin? To put my products where your tourists won't even go won't even give you the taxes that could be raised from them." She came full stop and looked at him with wide eyes. "Oh, wait. Perhaps you're all young enough to not even realize the value of taxes to begin with. Not heavy, oppressive taxes that makes everyone angry, but the light level that brings in a steady stream of income, and increases with increasing sales of products and increasing tourism, and the like? Have any of you had the economics lessons to explain that to you yet? Perhaps I should offer my services as an economic consultant, first. I charge four hundred gold per hour, if you're interested, though if you'd be willing to consider a reasonable location for my company, I might be willing to offer a discount for the first two hours." That one had finally floored Shiroe. Her audacity had reached levels he couldn't hope to ever reach. Michael had to walk away and have a coughing fit in a corner two minutes later so it didn't seem connected to her words.

"What would you consider a reasonable location?" the government official had seemed to wilt under that last bit.

"At the very least, somewhere that the general population can get to easily, in a quiet area of town would be acceptable if it was mostly crime-free. But it has to be on a beaten path. It can't be hard to get to or a place people are afraid to go. It _definitely_ has to have at _least_ five stories so that when the caravans come here to leave from here, the personnel can have rooms to stay in and the main floor has to have warehouse space in the back, or space that can be made to be warehouse space, both to house the train when it's back here for restocking, and for the product that will go out with it. The first two or three floors will all be product, of course."

"That's rather an impossible combination," the Cunie interjected.

Purrcy pursed her lips and looked at him sternly, her whiskers standing out on end. MarketMaker quickly answered, "Yes, it likely is. I'm sure that would be the best of all worlds, but it isn't required. If we could continue to have warehouse 12A at the dock for the majority of the product and the train, we wouldn't need that for the store, surely. A smaller section for preparing the product on the main floor in the back, plus the storefront, and the first one or two floors above that for further products would be sufficient. The warehouse also has rooms over it for the caravan personnel. They can be divided in location as well as scope, I would think."

The government official went a bit consternated at that. Now there was a negotiation for two locations, when only one had been agreed to before. Purrcy waved her hand. "We'd have to rent the dockside warehouse, MarketMaker, you know that. We've only brought enough to pay for one store today. The warehouse is certainly a convenient location and if a pier could be built out from it specifically for our own vessels, that might make it worth our while to consider, but it's much easier to defend our product from thieves when they are all in one location and our personnel with them. If it were possible, however, to rent the warehouse exclusively, then I might be willing to consider a three or four story building. It has to have enough room for sleeping quarters for the store manager and maybe three more at a minimum and a kitchen for them all. Occasionally we send over officials of the Corporation and they will need sleeping accommodations."

She considered, then reached for the zone book, took it without a by-your-leave from the Cunie, and flipped through it until she pointed triumphantly at one and showed the government official. "This one might be acceptable, as it's in a quiet neighborhood but near the grocers so that people have to pass by it on their way for food daily. Most of our products are meant to be purchased by the same set of customers, being daily use items and department store items, though there are the odd items specifically for Adventurers that they could purchase on their way out of town from home if they wanted. It's one floor less than I would like, but has already been fixed up in the main. It only needs a few minor repairs we could finish before leaving the city for our game at the dungeon. Also, because it's close enough to the People of the Land neighborhood, we could easily find some women willing to help in the shop before we have to go, I should think, and if any Adventurers are lazy enough to not want to leave town, they could apply, I'm sure. MarketMaker will be handling hiring." She'd waved her hand at said person, the book having been retrieved by the Cunie to see which building she had selected.

They were now deep into negotiation on that proposition and the government official was loosing badly. Even the Cunie was struggling to hold to the requirement of the game structure of Theldesia. When Purrcy noticed that was the main sticking point, she glided over to Nyanta and pulled him over to look at the building and went toe to toe with the World AI to completely get rid of the restriction on the firm costs of zones set by the game _Elder Tales_. She pulled in Izanami to argue with her, too, until she not only had an agreement with the Cunie that the cost of the zone could be lessened because money had already been put into paying for it and fixing it up, but that the possibility of leasing the warehouse to own it in ten years would be acceptable as well.

"Only Purrcy," Shiroe whispered to Akatsuki. Her eyes looked widely into his and she nodded, both of them in awe that Purrcy would have accomplished so much for Shiroe's own goals in this one instance. If those restrictions were broken for these two buildings, they were broken for the entirety of Theldesia.

At the end of the negotiation, Purrcy put her hand on the head of the Cunie and he glowed for about two seconds. Then Nyanta shook his hand and he "rebooted". All Cunie in Theldesia would now have the knowledge necessary to create loans and leases and for some level of negotiation on the prices of zones and other things they controlled. Purrcy signed the ownership document and handed him the gold. He bowed to the two of them and gave Purrcy the key.

Then Purrcy turned and shook hands with the government official. "Thank you for allowing us to do business in your city. I'm absolutely positive you will not regret having allowed Shopping District 8 and the Corporation of Akiba to offer their products to you and your citizens ...and hopefully your tourists. Once again, if you and your fellow officials need a proper economics lesson, I'm available on the Ocypete for a few more days until we leave for more fun adventures. Since you were willing to be reasonable, my hourly rate will be half - two hundred gold per hour - or perhaps you could hire MarketMaker for one hundred or Shiroe for fifty. They also have a somewhat solid grasp of economics and the running of businesses and cities. Have a good day."

She led Nyanta and the rest of their group out the door of the Guild Hall, stopped at the top step, and said brightly to Shiroe. "So, when do I get to introduce you and MarketMaker to the population of Shangtzi?"

"You'll introduce us?" he asked.

"Of course. I've just made myself firmly the person in charge, and him the point of contact, and you as the one who will make everything right for the city, as usual. It will be the only time my face has to ever be seen on screen in this city and that once will be more than sufficient."

Shiroe sighed to himself. She was absolutely correct. And as she should, she would be as sunny and saleswoman-like as Marie. "Are you sure you're not really in your element?" he asked her.

"I am," she said calmly. "The element I always wished I could have been in. Isn't that what playing the game was all about to begin with? Being able to be strong and verbally wily when reality was the opposite? I'll play at being that strong here, and maybe if I get home I'll be able to trail some of that strength behind me like small clouds of glory to call my own and protect what I love there also."

Shiroe stared at her, then stepped over and wrapped an arm around her. "For your sake, Hahaue, I hope that happens also. ...I really do."

"Thank you," she answered quietly, "but you'll undo me if you don't let go."

"Right," he pulled away. "Opposite's harder to maintain. Sorry."

She waved a hand, mostly in front of her face to prevent the tears that wouldn't fall anyway. "No. I appreciate the sentiment. ...So when is it?"

"We'll go over to the Adventurer Hall next, though we have about a half hour or so," Shiroe said, getting them walking down the stairs. "Thank you for your other efforts, by the way. I hope the government official isn't too caught off guard by the reprogramming of the Cunie."

"He won't remember it. That's why I shook his hand. That little tiny bit got erased."

"Okay, but -"

"I know. You don't like the erasing of Adventurer memories. I'm trying to keep it to a minimum. We want out of town fast and as long as no one fights to slow us down, we won't have any large ones. Izanagi wanted us to just load the train and exit the city and erase everyone's memory we'd been here at all." Shiroe froze and glared at her. "Yes, I know," she said, placating him. "Izanami is in agreement that we have to have at least some of the game play or it isn't real for us and for everyone else. That point won him over since the marketing sub-quest is partly his, too. I'm still working hard for everyone also, Shiroe." He relented but still, it hurt. "Do your best to have this place more Adventurer friendly before we go, too, please. There isn't much time for that side-quest either, and this is a difficult city. You do realize I put you as the least cost not because you are worth the least, I hope."

"No, I understood that," he answered. "I've got to get the data from the juniors before I can face them, but if they schedule it for sometime tomorrow, that would be fine." His face fell a little. "I just hope I don't get into trouble for announcing the world quests first. That would probably go smoother if it was after that negotiation, and MarketMaker would probably like a day to prepare the store and move into it."

"He got people moving product as soon as we got the approval," she said a bit distantly. "If you really need the additional time, I could rewrite the book to say tomorrow this time instead of today."

"Would you, please?" he asked, a bit resigned to the fact that the Game Bot was going to be putting its fingers into this more than it should, but it wasn't wrong. If they wanted to move faster they should take the cheats Purrcy loved so well. That got his mind working towards what other cheats they could take advantage of, though if he requested them they'd likely have a cost attached unless he could roll on his Negotiation high enough. "How is he getting people into the city to transport product?"

"I've put the limits up. All the guildmasters and he as well, already have passes in their pockets to use when they want. He's not shy and is using his. Nakalnad's in town with his set to check it out and Brody followed them in, being used to breaking the rules in cities led by corrupt officials. Isaac's sent in his team already when we came in and is content to stay outside helping MarketMaker from the ship to get the product and all off. He'll use his when things are finally off the ship and they need more hands between there and the shop, though he's sent in six who are Technicians or have construction experience from Michitaka's group to get the repairs completed."

"We're still holding to the three person limit per group and Izanagi's keeping himself happy keeping everyone who would care we're over the twenty-four limit confused, though it's in the books so it's legal if they cross-check. Since that means he has to be creative, that requirement helped. It's the best I could do to keep his interference to a minimum. I've made it perfectly clear that if he interferes in the negotiations we're sitting it out and slowing it back down."

She looked at Shiroe and grinned. "Actually it's not that bad. It's just been made to read 'twenty-four per guild' that came over in the Ocypete. Since a number of them are unaffiliated or from smaller guilds all of those get in free, so to speak. And you can claim they had either a miscommunication with their subordinates or they were forgetful with their busy lives and said it themselves." That did help.

Shiroe considered the other sub-quests they were to be working on. "Ah, ...Crusty and Kanami. We need to fit them in, still. I was hoping to do them tomorrow, actually."

Purrcy's eyes turned to focus more on the Adventurer Hall. "We'll find information there. We can continue into the building to get the date change set in the receptionist's mind. She still expects to see you today. They track everyone who's gone out and in and what adventure they're on, after all."

"Right," Shiroe nodded. He should have asked when he was there before. They entered the Adventurer Hall now, and headed for the reception desk.

Unlike in Yamato, here in Shangtzi the governing body had set up a hall specifically for those Adventurers who actually wanted to still go adventuring. It would have just been the Guild Hall, but they were rather crowded, not having been drawn and crafted for thousands to be in at a time, nor even hundreds. This was the same building that was the Technology building in Minami or the enclosed mall in Akiba - open, wide, and much like a convention hall. Tables and chairs were set up all over, a few food booths were around the edges and quite a few equipment repair shops were set up all over with a few appraisers who purchased items, and in the center was a kiosk that had three receptionists. One handled recording all the requests for Adventurers and adding them to the request book. One handled showing requests to the Adventurers and signing them up to go out on them and recorded when they returned and what drops they received, or told them who to go pick up their reward from. The third handled general information questions, data exchange, and the like. It was to her that Shiroe took them.

It wasn't uncommon when new quests were added to the books for the quest giver to announce them publicly at times set aside during the day for that purpose. For the larger quests that required high numbers of Adventurers to participate, it was the preferred way, actually. The Adventurers would gather just before that time to listen to the verbal listings and decide which ones they wanted to participate in. It made for chaos at the sign-up kiosk right after, but it worked rather well, actually.

"Why don't we do this in Akiba?" Purrcy asked. "I like this method."

"The larger quests are taken directly to the guilds," Shiroe answered. "And if it's too big for the guild, they do the open request on the permanent stage. We started out that way and it's kind of stuck. We could formalize it, but it hasn't seemed necessary." His group had gotten looks on the way in before. Now it was getting them again, and Purrcy on Nyanta's arm most of them. It was rare to see a noblewoman in European dress in this hall, even if she was an Adventurer. The total number of female Adventurers in Shangtzi was also rather small comparatively. Most female Chinese players would have likely hidden themselves in the game as males.

"Since you were here before, should I handle asking after your friends?" Purrcy asked him quietly.

"I can do that," Nyanta said smoothly. "It would make more sense from me."

"Very well," Purrcy settled into being an observer. Shiroe stopped by the third desk to confirm the date change quickly, then returned to stand with the others at the second.

"We've come to play again," Nyanta said to the receptionist at the center desk. "We'd like to play with Kanami-chan's group, but we need to know when they'll be back. Can mew tell us where they've gone and the expected return date?"

"Ah, yes," the receptionist flipped through her book a few pages, then turned pages slowly as she scanned the lines. "Here they are. They've gone to take care of another Overwritten attack to the southwest. But, holding to their current speed and record, and based on the observed number of enemies, they should be arriving back in two days at the longest."

"Marrvellous," Nyanta said. "Please let her know that her friends have arrived and are looking forward to meeting with her and giving her the next quest purrsonally. She should find it quite acceptable. She'll have all the Overwritten to smash she could ever desire. We really didn't want to leave her team out of the game."

"Certainly," the receptionist made a note under their line item. "Where shall I say they should meet you?"

"The Ocypete at dock six," Nyanta answered. "Tell her Crusty must absolutely be with her as her ticket to get on board."

"Yes, sir," the receptionist answered, noting that also. "He's been looking bored. She almost didn't talk him into going with her this time."

"Then we're just in time, no?" Nyanta purred. "He also won't refuse this quest. Tell him he'll learn something new he's never known before...purrobably several somethings. That might make him more willing so she doesn't knock him out and carry him to us."

Purrcy frowned at him. "He can't know about the AIs yet."

Nyanta looked at her. "I think he will still learn some very interesting things to catch his attention, regardless."

She looked away. "If you say so."

Their business done, they turned away from the kiosk. They were a third of the way back to the door when they heard from nearby a drawling, mocking voice. "So, what business brings the Debauchery Tea Party back to Shangtzi to beg the assistance of their fearless leader? And even more...," a burly man with an ax strapped to his back stood up and moved into their way to stare at Purrcy, folding his arms at her, "what is the infamous woman hater doing with a fancy woman on his arm?"

Purrcy returned the favor of the stare, nothing showing of her expression on face or in fur. "Purrcy, this is Pontius. He's a contemporary of the Debauchery Tea Party, one who tried to follow in our footsteps and generally failed, though he certainly gave it a good showing most times." Nyanta calmly introduced him to her.

"He's a little more than that, to know of those rumors and believe they are true," Purrcy said mildly. "Have you been enjoying your time in the male form, then?" Pontius turned red with anger. "I'm sure Nyanta-san wouldn't have been quite so complementary to have known back then you were the first one he rejected. Truly, can you even learn respect for others? If I am walking with him it's because he's chosen it, not I." Purrcy held her ground regally. "Your slander on the web thereafter was quite horrible to be sure and set the pattern for all the women who followed after you who had as much fun torturing him as you would have if you could have had the courage to try again. Please move lest I have to take you to task in more firmness. I have no wish to stand in your company."

"Goodness, Purrcy," Shiroe stepped up next to her, pushing up his glasses. "I don't think I've ever heard you so angry before."

"And why shouldn't I be," she asked highly. "This person is the one who has made it so that even I, who know how to be a lady and respect the rights of a man to his own life and privacy, must pay the price she left behind her. To have damaged the reputation of a man who was merely always a gentleman is the lowest of all acts to take on the internet. If there is a better price for her to pay than to be stuck in a man's body, then I'd be happy to take requests."

"Is she originally from China, then?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes. I'm sure she was trying to get revenge for something other than him at the beginning, and merely took it too far." Purrcy glared at the now almost stammering Axe-man. "An apology might be a beginning, however her entire guild would have to be included in that, since the ones who joined her were all those willing to carry on the lies, slander, and even continue to harm his tender relationship with his wife." Chairs scraped back from the nearby tables and six others rose to stand threatening.

"Really," Shiroe said calmly. "They all had to band together to be able to even attempt to defeat one Swashbuckler? And yet he withstood against them all. What a shame. Have they learned their lessons yet?"

"Perhaps, if they have the courage to apologize," she answered him.

"And you will believe this upstart of a newcomer?" Pontius finally recovered with his companions around him.

"Absolutely," Shiroe answered.

"What proof do you have that she even knows what she's talking about?"

"This is the Game Moderator of Yamato," Shiroe said quietly, "and she still has access to the game database. ...And, I'd already noticed that Nyanta-san got the most quiet to us and the most attacked by the likes of you, when you and your guild were chasing after us. Were you aliasing as females but actually males, or were you aliasing as males and actually females as she has accused you?"

He got angry scowls and clenched hands. "Shiroe, ...while we have this opportunity, ...may I offer my husband a gift?" Purrcy asked.

That got reactions from all of them that confirmed her claim since they were completely disbelieving of that title. Shiroe looked at Nyanta. "It's your opportunity. Would you like to take it?"

Nyanta's ear twitched. "Really, a gentleman would reject such an opportunity...normally." They didn't get to relax. "However, when his honor is at stake, he reserves the right to cleanse his name and punish those who have been dishonorable children too long. I would be happy to accept such a gift from mew, dear wife." He didn't look at Purrcy, keeping his eyes on the people in front of him.

She bowed slightly. "Since to lift a sword against a female is less than ideal, I will grant you to keep the illusion of being male; however, I think Nyanta-san would find it extremely useful to know your screen names." She waved her free hand and over their heads appeared in glowing letters their respective female screen names, identifying Nyanta's tormentors. She released him and stepped closer to Shiroe. Nyanta's pupils were slits and his cane was gone. In his hands were the brother rapiers. "When you've sent them to the Cathedral, and they resurrect, they will be the proper gender and title," she said calmly. Their entire group stood quietly waiting as Nyanta sent them, one by one, to the Cathedral, playing longest with the two who had paired up against him at the end.

"You didn't interfere to protect him," Shiroe confirmed with Purrcy.

"Of course not. What kind of lady takes away from the strength and grace of her husband when he has the strength on his own to defend his honor? My revenge will come after they resurrect, and is the proper revenge of a lady as well. One where their own acts convict them and come back to haunt them, all without me having touched them at all." She was calmly pleased.

Nyanta's rapiers disappeared as he landed in front of them, going to one knee. He took Purrcy's hand in his and kissed the back of it. "Thank mew, Lady Wife. It was a delicious gift, meow."

"You're very welcome. It was fortuitous that we've arrived at a time I could grant it to you. I hope it helps you somewhat into the future, ...though," she pulled him up to stand close to her, eye to eye, "please don't let it make you decide to become sickeningly nice and sweet, or I shall miss our own repartee."

Nyanta gave her an evil smile. "Now why would I go and decide to stop having fun just because I happened to run into a few old ...flames." Purrcy laughed as Nyanta purred and tucked her hand back in his elbow and they continued on towards the door.

As they neared it, Shiroe asked, "So, am I going to have to calm the proletariat down for that, too?"

"Just setting my reputation, Shiroe," she answered calmly. "I need to be able to stand with your old group in the eyes of others, even if I am a newcomer, or my taking control in the Guild Hall will be too odd."

"Stand with...," he said faintly.

KR laughed. "You did that back in Minami, Purrcy, when you bested Indicus."

Purrcy gave a little dismissive hiss to go along with the flick of her tail and her ear. "KR, she was the least of you, and easy to beat for her own pride. I've been doing my best to walk with Shiroe and I still can't match Nyanta. Soujirou is tricky and I'm still trying to learn where I stand with him. You've been a dear and let me walk with you for a long time, and Kazuhiko is the same. Perhaps it will be enough to meet Kanami and gift her the battle of her life. If I should win her favor with that, then we shall all be able to move forward quite nicely."

"Are there any more of the Debauchery Tea Party on Theldesia?" Shiroe asked her.

Purrcy turned her head towards him but wasn't looking at him. "...Perhaps. Shall we ask Kanami to go find out?"

"Is that what you want her for? To go on the train?"

"Yes."

"...Very well."

"China has appreciated having her be it's caretaker while she was here, though," she said almost as a side comment. She held her hand out and it looked like a bird sat on it, though it was more just a little sparkle of light.

Shiroe glanced about the sky. It was nearing evening and the moon was in the sky. "Is that our key?" he asked.

"Yes," Purrcy said. "She's recognized me as a kindred spirit. We're going, very soon. Will you come with us?" The little light sank into the wedding ring on Purrcy's hand and she lowered it.

"Well, then things are nearly ready," Shiroe said taking Akatsuki's hand in his. "Shall we return to the Ocypete?" They turned their feet towards the ocean and the docks. "I think I'll bring you to the negotiations," he mused. "It should be quite entertaining, even if all you do is sit in a side chair and drink tea."

"Whatever you need me for, of course," she answered demurely, twirling her parasol on her shoulder. They walked a little longer, then she leaned over and kissed Akatsuki's head. "Little mother, you are doing very wonderfully. Thank you. ...I still want to see the two of you dance sometime."

It took about forty seconds for Akatsuki to turn pink. Shiroe held her hand tightly, in complete agreement. Even Akatsuki was doing well keeping up with them, though she was in his shadow. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, letting his eyes talk to hers while he tucked her hand in his elbow to hold her a little closer. She finally relaxed and leaned her head on his arm. He relaxed and enjoyed the little walk back to their temporary home.

The juniors met up with them as they arrived at the lane that led to the docks and they walked as a guild back to the ship and up the gangplank. KR relaxed with a slump. "Can I go rest, now?" he asked. "That was really hard to let Purrcy do whatever she wanted when I was her Summoner. The reverse really felt true, honestly. Let's pretend I've summoned her from now on, okay?"

Shiroe smiled. "Thank you, KR. Yes, we can, except during the battle, but next time don't summon her the second time."

"I didn't," KR said. "It lasts that long."

"You were really weak back then," Isuzu said to Purrcy.

"Yes," she agreed. "I really was. It was so irritating I cried for about three days until he managed to cajole me with the promise he'd be nice - most of the time."

"You can't cry," Touya scolded her. Purrcy looked at him, challenge in her eyes. KR put his hands over his ears and Purrcy began to wail most pitiful kitten cries of loss and sorrow. Touya waved both hands in apology. "No, really, please stop. It's enough."

Purrcy slowly let them die down and looked at him solemnly. "Just because I hold them in when I'm with family, doesn't mean I don't have them."

He slumped. "Sorry." She rubbed his head.

"You can go, KR," Shiroe excused him and he slumped off to his cabin - most likely getting rid of his shoes on the way. He was limping a bit with new blisters on his heels from wearing the shoes all day when he normally wore sandals most of the time. "Shall we go to my office first? We have a lot of things to discuss."

Everyone trooped off and soon were sitting around the room - including the Intelligence detail this time - some of them eating from their own bowls and plates whatever they pulled out of their own lists. Shiroe's guild list wouldn't be dug into until they were at the Maze of Eternity. They'd decided that it would be easiest for this part of the dungeon for everyone to carry their own meals.

Buying meals in towns and cities helped them go further and was a nice change of pace. Shiroe had enjoyed his own almost-date with Akatsuki today and it had sounded like Nyanta and Purrcy had enjoyed theirs. They were being very couple-ish this afternoon. Naotsugu was obviously missing Marielle, but was holding up okay. He'd be better after talking to her at their usual time this evening.

Shiroe looked around the room at the rest of them and settled on Minori and Touya. "We'll have the twins start tonight," he said kindly. It was a difficult city and they'd been affected the most, it looked like. It would help them recover faster to get their worry out into the open.

They looked at each other, sighed, and Touya said, a little sadly, "We almost got a Chinese chef to come with us to teach Nyanta-san and Miss Purrcy his recipes in exchange for him getting to learn the Japanese ones. He's a transplant because of work and he loved my udon. I was happy he was able to at least enjoy that much."

"He and I exchanged flavors," Minori put the four she'd received on the table to display them. "He was sad to be told by the government agent he couldn't go after his boss said he could."

Purrcy, Nyanta, and Shiroe all looked at each other. Shiroe couldn't quite hold back his interest and Nyanta's ears were just as extremely interested. Purrcy nodded. "We'll negotiate for him tomorrow," he promised them. "It should be a small thing, now that Purrcy's set her reputation. I want to hear what all of you learned so I can get my arguments in order, but she's already set me up to win in one." Mouths dropped open, then turned into great smiles. The rest of the meeting was very lively after that.


	102. Battle for Shangtzi

KR knocked on Shiroe's door and was summoned in. He took a breath and opened the door. His personal feelings about the strategist were mixed. It wouldn't be surprising to anyone, really. They were often on the opposite side of the table from each other as it were. KR didn't stand in Shiroe's way when he got really moving on his super-train paths. It wasn't worth it. He would win in the end either way. Most of the time KR wasn't bothered by Shiroe either in what he did. They were more often orthogonal than in each other's way.

Shiroe was never one to hide his personal disdain for certain behaviors. It often came out as disdain for a particular person, but it really wasn't that. Generally for individuals he was rather forgiving, knowing that everyone was directed by different motivations and didn't always choose their lives or how they ended up, and really he couldn't be bothered to care most of the time as well. But he couldn't disguise his disgust or distastes for certain patterns of behavior. KR understood that Shiroe hadn't really cared that he'd disappeared from the ship, and really hadn't been all that surprised either. It had been merely an inconvenience and an understanding that KR preferred to be a free spirit.

That was probably what KR didn't like about Shiroe. That dealing with people like him was inconvenient and mechanical. "Come back, be good, sit here - or else this fully distasteful punishment that I know will control your innate compulsions, and this reward for staying and sitting that I know you can't refuse." Completely mechanical. Shiroe had been called that before, and by him even - a robot who was given orders, churned madly, and came out with the perfect solution that then everyone just marched to until it turned out to be exactly the perfect solution. It was fun to win. KR wasn't sure it was fun to follow such a mechanical path...even when the rewards were also perfectly suited to the person who received them.

He sighed and sat in the chair across from Shiroe one leg over the arm of the chair and his arm over the back of it. He was the chaos to Shiroe's perfection when he felt like shaking off the mechanical, but he was also still restrained if he tried to get too close to interrupting Shiroe's carefully laid plans. He didn't expect this visit to be any different and he wasn't sure he wanted to be here tonight after the strain of the day of having to completely restrain himself for Purrcy's sake - another difficult thing, though perhaps not quite as much, since she was also rather chaotic, even if she had the steel trap mind of a strategist included. That made her more fun to observe and this afternoon hadn't been any different, if somewhat surprising on two occasions.

"You asked me to explain better, so I thought I'd do it tonight before we get too much further into things and I forget," Shiroe said calmly.

KR raised a smirk to that. "You forget entirely too many things, you know."

"Yes, particularly when things get as big as they are. I'm pretty high level right now and the guild is picking up what I would normally keep track of." Shiroe actually looked a little weary, though it could be just he was relaxing now that it was night.

"Flying the clouds, is it?" KR asked.

"Running the depths, actually," Shiroe corrected. "We're in the fifth level of Purrcy's dungeon and the next one is even worse and I'm having to keep track of both of them now. At least this one is almost over as far as the planning part and everyone else knows where we're headed and what to do. I still have to carry my parts, though. Two more days and I can rest just a little. Handling the strategy of the Maze of Eternity will seem like taking a nap in comparison."

"Really?" KR wasn't too interested in giving him a free pity party. The message got across. It usually did.

"So, what do you really want to know about Purrcy? Or was it Nyanta that was confusing you?"

"Nyanta-san, really. Though after their two-pronged attack at the end, there, I kind of caught on. They're rather a peculiar pairing that works for all it's odd."

"He's the anchor that keeps her in place long enough for me to get a handle on what the dungeon levels are and she's the boat that keeps him sane as long as he's here."

"He seemed sane enough before," KR frowned.

"He was holding on, but just drifting day by day until she showed up for him to tease. She makes him laugh, too, so that's a side benefit."

KR shrugged. "Nyanta always did have a crazy sense of humor." He looked away.

"Are you jealous?" Shiroe was to the point as always.

"Some," KR admitted. "I like playing with her. Now that I can't it's a little extra boring. And I'm not really liking that she's enjoying playing with him. He was always a stuffed shirt. I make a better playmate."

"Probably, if chaos is okay," Shiroe understood that, too. "And it's not, not until we get to the goal."

KR pouted at him. "Then why bring me along? You know I get bad if I can't be chaotic just enough."

"Because you're Kanami's favorite."

KR blinked. That was rather blunt. "Since when?"

"Since the third raid and you made her laugh so hard she wet her pants."

KR groaned. "And all I got after that were a lot of painful knuckle rubs to my head every time she was excited."

"Get used to them again."

"What?" KR sat up straight.

"I'm sending you with her on the train. I need you to be able to talk to the other Caretakers...and I need Purrcy to be able to talk to them too. Now that I've seen how long your contract's for, I don't think you should summon her, but you can still do Soul Possession with her."

"You're crazy!" KR blinked at him, really not believing it. "Purrcy is an _Adventurer_ , man. And a high level crazy at that."

"Yes, and no I'm not. I can't send her on the train, and I also can't afford to have her take the almost year-long trip around the world on a ship. She needs to be able to negotiate with the other Caretakers and others like me and her in each region. She says Kanami is needed for that journey, but I need you on it. Kanami won't complain if it's you."

"She'd take you in a heartbeat." KR protested.

"Yes, but she can't have me anymore. I'm already answering to her request."

KR slumped. He'd heard that story. She was the one who wanted the two-way-door; to be able to come and go from Earth to Theldesia and back. That was a tall order, even for Shiroe. "Are you going to be able to deliver?"

"Yes. Purrcy gave me everything I needed to be able to get there. All of this is part of that."

KR's brow furrowed. "What is it with Purrcy, giving you everything you want?"

"I've got something the driving force behind her wants."

"Hoh? I thought it was the other-way round? Isn't she leading you by the nose?"

"Yes. It's a reciprocal agreement."

KR had to ponder that for a moment. He let his head drop back over the chair arm he was leaning back against to look at the wall behind him upside down. "I'll do it if Purrcy asks me to. I'm not willing to just jump into her skin anymore. That's damn difficult, not knowing what she's going to be or where at any given time. Not like I like it either. It's only okay at all if she's cat. We made that agreement early on. She didn't like being in a male body and I didn't like being in a female one. Whatever story she was made to tell you, we only ever did that a few times and mostly when Indicus required it."

"It was pretty obvious early on she was an Adventurer and it made me both sick and far too sad to have to be reminded of it. I'd summon her to tease her early on, but having Indicus learn about it and then killing her so she couldn't come back made me so mad I quit walking the fence." He turned his head to look at Shiroe, the sideways visual attention-getting. "Learning she was tying down the Princess set it in stone that she was going to die. When I could talk to Purrcy again and she told me and Nureha the plan, we both bought into it no trouble. We both got something we wanted and Indicus got her full payment she owed. That wasn't hard, then, for that part. But going back to it just for grins and giggles ain't happenin'."

Shiroe opened his mouth. KR narrowed his eyes at him. "And it ain't happenin' for gettin' us home, neither. Not unless she wants it to. If it will help both of you and she can promise me that I won't end up in situations I'm uncomfortable with, then I'm probably willing. I'm getting bored sitting around Minami." He dropped his head back again. "But you already knew that."

"I did," Shiroe said quietly. "Thank you."

That was one good thing about Shiroe. He knew how to be polite. KR sighed then up-righted himself, sitting on the chair right, his forearms resting on his lap. He clasped his hands together. "Look. I don't know which outcome I want yet. I like being able to be here and play and be lazy, but I feel like I've seen it all now, already. Going home sounds like drudgery, ...but at the same time, there's almost more unlimited things to do there than here. I've no interest in being some noble, nor tied to a city or a guild anymore. Running the dungeons is great and all, but we've done all the good ones. ...I was actually thinking of quitting _Elder Tales_ after this round." He wrinkled his nose.

"It's been an okay ride since coming here, but if we get home in the next year or so, I probably won't complain. If Purrcy's word's okay, I'll ride the train. Kanami's almost as much fun to tease and I'll get to see new places and things. Maybe I'll even hop off after a while and live somewhere else until I get bored again. ...Even then, if the call home comes, I'll probably go." He looked up at Shiroe. "Keep going. I'll do what I'm supposed to, even if I'd rather be jogging or splitting logs. It's a worthwhile goal."

"Thank you, KR," Shiroe's words were honest and heartfelt.

KR nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed for Shiroe's sake. "And...is she really his wife?"

"Yes. You watched their wedding yourself."

"No, that's not what I meant."

"...No," the answer was quiet. "He's got a son, too. He loves them deeply and it really tore him to pieces to have those sluts disgrace his screen with their words."

KR's lip twitched. "You don't spare any hatred for them, either, I see."

"No." It was cold.

"So why Purrcy then?"

"Because she was perfectly fine with him not loving her. She doesn't demand anything from him and accepts that he would rather hate her than not. ...And she loves his wife and son with him, the same as he loves her children with her."

KR sat bolt upright. " _Purrcy's_ got kids?"

"Yes. Several, I understand. Makes them the perfect surrogate parents for the guild. They were right for each other from the beginning, surprisingly."

KR narrowed his eyes. "And how are they going to answer when they get home?"

Shiroe looked away, then sighed. "Right now, they don't plan on going home. I'm hoping they change their minds by the time we get there, but it's not easy." He looked rather sad and KR felt worry.

"What is it?" he whispered.

Shiroe clasped his hands around his knee and said, without looking up, "Nyanta was on his deathbed when he logged in. He doesn't get to live if he goes back. She was working up the courage to sign the divorce papers her husband dropped on the desk that morning on his way out the door. She loves her kids to death and he'd included as part of the agreement that they all went to him." He closed his mouth, not able to say more.

"God," KR moaned. "Life's hell on Earth for them, isn't it?" Shiroe didn't answer. "And you still want them to go back for that?"

Shiroe closed his eyes. "Not for that. No. Because I'm selfish. I want them to come be our parents - my parents. I want the two-way door for myself, now, for that reason. If they really can't come back with us, I want to be able to come back here and sit with them again, even if they keep hating each other for another two hundred Theldesian years. ...I love them both."

KR sat back in his chair and had to look at Shiroe in pity. "What a crazy mixed up family." He shook his head, then sighed as he stood up. "Good luck. She's worth it, but I can't say he is." He gave a teasing look at Shiroe, who'd looked up at him. "Though...I will admit he's better than some."

"Yeah," Shiroe said with all the knowledge in his heart. KR really had to feel sorry for him. A smart kid who'd been ignored by his own folks. Some stories almost made his sound sweet in comparison. "Good night."

"Night," KR said as he stepped out the door and closed it behind him. He supposed it was good Shiroe was real down there underneath it all. If he hid his pain behind the mechanics of being the best strategist there was, who was KR to tell him not to?

He whistled off-key as he shuffled to his cabin. He did get the one luxury as a member of Shiroe's party. He had to share it with Tetorō and two of their military unit, but it was still indoors and comfortable and not the deck or the hold. He shivered. No, he wouldn't be caught going into the hold, not on purpose and not on accident and certainly not on punishment. That was too close to home, too.

He took a breath and focused on other things...like how sweet the next day would be when Purrcy glared at the governing body and they all wet their pants. That would be nearly as fun as Kanami laughing herself into that state. He'd never felt so good as then. It would be good to see her again, too, that crazy almost-big-sister. He wondered what kind of trouble she'd bring to Shiroe's plans, then remembered that she was as crazy serious about following them to the letter and sighed. She might not let him play as much as he would want to, actually.

He giggled, then, just seeing the sparks flying now when Purrcy met Kanami. That would definitely be interesting. Purrcy could play a lot of roles. He wondered which one she'd pick and how well it would play off of Kanami. He had fun imagining a lot of combinations as he put himself to bed and rocked to sleep in the hammock. He dreamed of a kitten playing with Kanami until it suddenly became very large and bit off her head. That didn't make his mood good, but still...they were a fun pair to match up. It was going to be interesting indeed the next little while. He sunk into deeper slumber at that thought and woke up late, as was his preferred way to wake up.

-:-:-:-:-

The government delegation arrived the next morning with one military heavy per person making it a bit more of a crowd than was easy to move around, but the Yamato group ignored it. They were all just Adventurers, too. If that made them feel comfortable then that was fine. A few people from Yamato had slept at the store, taking shifts to make sure that part of the neighborhood really was safe enough to put up shop. Quite a few had taken up residence in the upper floors of the warehouse, even though they had to sleep on whatever bedding they'd brought with them regardless. Somehow rooms were always more comfortable than open sky on a ship. Some had preferred that lulling gentle rocking however, and had stayed on the deck again.

All of Log Horizon had vanished early and stayed as vanished as normal until the call went out they had guests. Then they all turned out dressed to the nines, dragging the Generals with them, dressed up just as militarily as the guards of the local government, but less threatening. The Adventurers who had remained on the ship settled back to watch an interesting battle. It was occasionally fun to watch Log Horizon at work. It was usually undercover, but it wouldn't be this time so much, so they took the opportunity while they had it to be entertained.

"Welcome aboard," Michael said, as resident head of naval operations and technical commander of the ship, though he wasn't really the captain. They'd all agreed they'd rather protect the captain and he'd been okay with it. Michael was thanked and dismissed rather quickly. Wrong move number one. The score was rather quickly marked as popcorn passed from bag to mouth for munching.

"Mister Shiroe," the head man directed his attention quickly to the guildmaster.

"President," Shiroe replied calmly. "Thank you for coming to visit. I'm glad you've accepted my invitation to take a look at the train. We would love to offer to build one for your city. I'm sure with how large your region is you could use one to more efficiently cover the distances. Please come this way. It's down in the hold. I promise, we'll keep the doors open." He waved his hand around at all the doors propped open. "I know how easy it is to get claustrophobic." He got them all moving toward the closest door with a ladder down.

The delegation was standing still, blinking. Score another for Log Horizon. They'd gone and made whatever assumption they wanted again, taking firm control of the ball.

"Ah...we can't look from above?" the President pointed to the larger bay door that was also standing open.

"Well, yes, you could, but I get vertigo so badly and there aren't any railings. I'd rather go down and show it to you." Shiroe blinked at him, then said, "...or we could pull it out and show you on shore. That would be less movement and no vertigo and you could climb around it and really see the construction, which is excellent. Minami and Plant Hwyaden really have done marvelously. Would you rather see it where the environment is perhaps less...threatening?"

Score three. More popcorn in the mouth to chew. Shangtzi needed to step up their game if they were going to catch up was the agreed upon consensus.

When the delegation looked at each other first, Shiroe took the opportunity their pause gave him. "Alright everyone, let's get it up. Just the engine for now. It's got all the fun fancy bells and whistles after all." Hands immediately leaped up and started hoisting the engine (already in the sling) up and out and over to the dock, ignoring the protests from the delegation now as Shiroe politely said it really was no trouble at all and not to worry. They really did want to show it off and surely they'd really love to see it. When the engine was on the shore securely and the crane and sling back in the hold, the first car was shoved into it for the next round and the Adventurers went back to mark the score and retrieve the bags of popcorn. By now, the non-Akiban's were starting to get into it, too.

Shiroe and his guild shepherded the Shangtzi delegation off the ship (another point and to the relief of several who hadn't wanted a battle on the ship to break out and do real damage) and into the train, gushing about all the cool things it could do, speed, distance, how it was driven, all those kinds of things. "Of course, you'll want to hire someone to come over to Minami to be trained in how to be the engineer, and it takes a minimum of five crew to see that it functions properly. You'll want at least two of those to be Technician sub-class of level thirty-five or higher."

"Technician what?" _Seriously? Another point._

"Sub-class. Since we've been brought here and started experimenting there are about twelve or more new sub-classes and about five new Classes. We've been learning all about them and teaching each one how to handle the new boundaries at the Akiba Adventurer Academy. If you want to send anyone over there to learn about them, you're welcome to sign them up for classes. They only charge one gold per day, in one week increments payable the week before class, or all at once up front if you'd rather. If you wanted to send say...six to become teachers, we could give you a discount and they can learn everything we know and come set up an academy here. That might be simplest since the costs for transportation between here and Akiba can be a little pricey."

"We're just beginning a unit for our younger Adventurers to make sure they don't return home behind their counterparts on Earth. You might want to send two or three just for that level so they can help your own youngsters. We decided it was important because once we get back, we who are adults here will be the ones held accountable if they fail in school and life. That isn't right to them or their parents." Shiroe gave them a dark look, then looked away as if he hadn't been scolding them specifically, though he had been. "Of course, if Japan and China are having a competition for having the best educated children, then perhaps you won't mind helping them to fall behind and giving us that boost." He moved on without saying if that was a joke or not. The Chinese were rather stoic after all. The crowd decided to award Shiroe points anyway. They liked his way of thinking about that view.

He waved to the ship and they got busy again until the car waiting in the sling was next to the engine and set up the next one while he explained how the car connected to the engine, then took them inside it to show how roomy it was and how it could be used either for product storage or for personnel. He walked out the opposite end with the President and his cabinet, and Michael started in on the generals that had been brought as they headed inside the car from the other end, Isaac and Nakalnad helping out since there were enough generals to go around.

Knowing looks went around the deck of the Ocypete. When Shiroe's group disappeared into the warehouse so he could show off what wares had been brought, there was a whistle from the Ocypete and the generals all sat down to converse comfortably on the cushioned chairs in the train car, chatting about various dungeons and the difficulties of leadership for the Adventurers. They learned a lot about the governance of the city in a short amount of time, then used their own lessons learned the hard way to offer suggestions on what hadn't worked at all for them and what was working now. Some things met stubborn opposition, but others won through.

They got better headway when they changed topics to reminiscing about how much they enjoyed just playing _Elder Tales_ and saying they appreciated getting to go back to that again now that they'd finally given up on trying to play hard-fisted politics, which they hadn't even liked in real life to begin with. That finally loosened up the Shangtzi generals, who shifted uncomfortably and in the end gave up and became Adventurers again themselves.

The popcorn gallery called that battle won at that point and shifted focus back to the warehouse, asking those inside for a current score count and a play-by-play, as well as a heads-up when they could put out the second car of the train. The popcorn was almost gone, so they pulled out some more to pop while waiting to hear the results of the next phase. Everyone froze just a little when it went full party chat, and open mic on the floor. "Miss Purrcy's begun her part. Listen."

Her sales pitch for the products was flowery, as calm as Shiroe, and just as smooth as buttery cream...with the entrepreneurial and economic lesson thrown in for free around the edges with the biting scolding couched and hidden so well, it was hard to tell if they were coming or going. The score racked up rather fast at that point. It was like watching a ping-pong match and she was playing both sides of the table.

It was just getting scary when Shiroe smoothly interrupted and sent everyone to go shopping with assignments for each of the Log Horizon members, two to a person, with Shiroe and Purrcy together getting the President. They took him off to a corner to discuss specifics he might have questions on and he got the same treatment the generals had. The others got the hospitality and gentle coaching from the Log Horizon members who knew how to do that best, and the boat rocked the listeners gently to their light, happy voices, and there were smiles as the popcorn paused in being eaten. That was Akiba's favorite play in Log Horizon's book. It always worked like a charm, though no one quite knew how. Perhaps it was the innocent earnestness of the young. They'd almost stopped keeping score at this point, Shangtzi was so shut out of the game.

When the group came back out of the warehouse another whistle sounded to warn the generals, who rose and led their counterparts out of the train car to join with the governors. The watchers went back on alert. It was half-time. The Shangtzi group would be allowed to finally breathe. What came out of that would determine where the game went next. Akatsuki, Minori, and Isuzu passed around tea to their guests and the dignitaries of their own group, then the young stepped back, with Akatsuki and Tetorō protecting them.

The fact Naotsugu had been selected to stand by Shiroe instead was noted as an interesting play-book change, but everyone knew he was the most even of the group. Purrcy stepped back to allow Nyanta closer range, but she didn't leave the playing field. Michael stood mid-range, but as if protecting the Shangtzi generals. Nakalnad and Isaac took up similar positions, but not to making the government delegation feel separated from their protectors and threatened.

They were all set up by the time the entirety of what had just happened finally set into the President. When he turned to look at Shiroe, he opened his mouth, a scowl on his face, and Shiroe said simply, "You've been busy being a tyrant, haven't you? Is it really worth it to have so many Adventurers hate you? Perhaps you'd like to reconsider and let Theldesia be as fun for everyone as _Elder Tales_ was. I'm sure you'd find it much more enjoyable yourself, in the long run."

The President stared, his mouth gaping open and forgotten. "I'd let you think about it, but we have a schedule to meet," Shiroe continued, "and you have a city that isn't going to stay a nice one too much longer. Are you planning on fleeing out the back door when it explodes? Surely you already know that the darkness is pushing up through and won't be restrained much longer."

"We have just enough time to help you change gears and not have that explode in your face. It will only take today and maybe tomorrow, but probably not even that long, to help you get things turned around and a lot more fun for everyone. You've already got some good things set up to contain the damage, so it shouldn't be too difficult at all, really. Minami was in a worse state, and they only took three days to get turned around, though I believe Nakalnad is still working on the final phases of the restructuring plan."

The President was now turning several shades of purple. Shiroe turned to the generals. "Is he worth keeping in power, or is he already too corrupted by the power you've let him have over you and this city?"

Three generals sided with the President, shifting a little closer to him as if to protect him. They were noted by the Yamato generals. Shiroe turned to the cabinet. "Surely you also already know how bad the policies have been from the beginning. Is it really worth the power rush to have to face the penalty coming for making other Adventurers just like yourself have to bow to the lash?"

Three dropped their heads in shame. The juniors noted them. Three shifted forward to support the President. Naotsugu marked them. One stayed still, firmly relaxed. Purrcy and Shiroe both marked that one and Nyanta's whiskers twitched. "So," Shiroe looked at him and engaged him specifically, "what's your vote?"

"Death."

"Of course," Shiroe answered. "Because you are the one really in power and the one who is controlling the corruption underground and who will release the chaos in the city. You care neither for the power, nor for the peace and prosperity of the city. You are -"

The scene exploded, but didn't. It was rather odd. The watchers felt the explosion, but it was cut off immediately by a massive shield and the man in the center of attention disintegrated. Not into bubbles. Into dust. The people around him stared at that spot, uncomprehending. Only those from Akiba had any thoughts as to what it might have been. "Purrcy...," was whispered among them. No one else had moved, but Nyanta's hands were on the guards of his rapiers.

"Purrcy, have you taken care of his subordinates?" Shiroe asked calmly.

"Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe," she answered calmly. "It was directed at his guild."

"All of them?"

"No. Only he won't be returning. The rest are now People of the Land."

"Thank you," Shiroe said calmly. He turned to the generals. "Please have your subordinates go to the slave houses and release the Adventurers being kept in them. Let them know they are now free to be whatever they want to be, just as they should have been allowed from the beginning."

The three who supported the President scowled while the others immediately acted obedient to Shiroe's request, calling up chats to their guilds. When one of the cabinet who supported the President open his mouth to complain shrilly, his voice was cut off suddenly. "Tetorō...," Akiba said quietly to the other watchers.

Shiroe looked at the cabinet supporters of the President. "You are all fired. Go home to your guilds and relearn what it is to be an Adventurer. I'm sure the generals can help you remember your proper place from now on." He looked at the three who were looking rather relieved. "But you don't get to, sorry. You're the new cabinet, along with those generals who have a proper clue about what playing _Elder Tales_ is supposed to be about. It will be a joint council with each having a single vote. The city still has to be led and law and order maintained, so you don't get a pass or a vacation, sorry. You've shown yourselves to be capable leaders. Shangtzi needs that even more now. We'll meet in a few minutes to go into specifics, but first," Shiroe turned to the three generals who weren't happy, "you three need to decide if you will take your guilds out of Shangtzi and live as the bandits you are, or if you will submit to the will of the Adventurers of the city and relent."

With three clangs, the three generals of Yamato intercepted the three generals of Shangtzi, not letting them reach Shiroe or Purrcy. The President screeched and his voice was also cut off. He lifted a hand, then froze, unable to move to cast whatever spell he was going to cast. "Shiroe," Purrcy's smooth words purred out. "Please...can I have him? I really, really want to teach him that he's been a very bad boy...particularly when it comes to making every Summon in this city his own to control without their Summoners understanding it." KR rose to his feet and leaned out over the railing of the ship, his attention keenly on Purrcy, a macabre grin stretching his face. Nyanta slowly slid his rapiers out of their sheaths

"How are you keeping them from coming to help him now?" KR cried out from the ship.

Purrcy's tail waved lazily. "I have the Caretaker of the region that China is in within my care and she has given me the control of - every - creature - in the region. I trump, now holding the title for both regions until she is restored. ...Did you really want to kill your own sister so badly?"

The President was shivering now and his face was pale with fury. "He's yours," Shiroe said blandly. Nyanta's blades moved wickedly fast and the President disappeared...but his psyche did not. That went into Nyanta's wedding ring.

"Match and mate," Akiba whispered, watching the three opposing generals. The ones standing behind them pulled them back and shoved them off with warnings and looked threateningly at the supporters of the President. They all had three hours to get out of Shangtzi with their guilds or they would be expected to behave properly. If they couldn't play nice, they'd be banished after a solid thumping from the other four.

Since that was the right way to handle it, Yamato just let them go. Shiroe gave the Ocypete the signal and they returned to offloading the rest of the train. He was the boss and they were quite willing to do what he wanted. It meant they could get out and play all the sooner. They also had their part to play next, in mixing with the residents of the city who would be a bit confused for a while. There might even be some thumping going on they could join in on...and maybe more than a few youngsters who needed a helping hand in getting over their enslavement. From their own experience, they knew it took others to get them on their feet.

"A hole in one," they shook their heads. Everyone doing it together had done it, but Log Horizon had worked just as smoothly as ever. One day to gather the information, one day to get the city government straightened out. One more day to get it stable, and they could be on their way. It really didn't seem possible that it could work that fast...but Shiroe did it...and mostly because the Adventurers themselves wished for it. They just needed him to show them how to get it. And because they were all intelligent Adventurers who knew what they wanted, as soon as he did they took it and he didn't stand in their way.

"Nice," said Susukino, having seen it for the first time, since it was William who'd taken down their despot. Everyone agreed. It had been an exciting battle and very good entertainment.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sighed. It had gone well, really. He wasn't sure the repair would go so well, though. A lot of Adventurers and People of the Land both had been damaged over the last two and a half years. That was going to have to be addressed first, but it would be up to those who didn't quite understand to fix it. His own would only be able to help for another day and a half. He closed his eyes and thought on that one issue for a moment. It was trauma. Trauma needed triage, and they would be giving that, but it also needed long-term healing. Gentleness and understanding that things would explode here and there and that needed to be met with firm discipline, but not a return to tight control. He wasn't sure among this new council was the right person yet. "Purrcy...the Caretaker, you said she was his sister?"

"Yes," she answered from her position as close advisor behind him and to his right. "Though I don't know what caused their fraction other than the issue over the Creatures of the Land."

He continued to consider, then sat up and interlaced his fingers on the table. He looked around at the seven in front of him. "Based on what we've seen yesterday in our investigations, you're already close enough to a proper council with just you. The division of labor should be rather obvious to you and simple to pick up...but you need one more. In the case of Shangtzi, you need a healer guild. Your previous slaves are very damaged and they will cause outbursts of inflammation that will need to be cleaned. Not removed or killed, just cleaned and healed as they try to relearn how to live as Adventurers and People of the Land in normal society again."

"They will also test the boundaries to see if they really are free and to what extent. It's right to teach them with proper firm discipline, but if you make them feel enslaved or imprisoned again, they will still rise up against you and overthrow you. We'll set the laws one more time as one group to all the citizens of the city when we announce the government changes. You'll need to make sure they are held to for _every_ person living within the city boundaries, regardless of what race, type, or level they are so that they can see it's now a fair system."

"Tell me about the President's sister. I already know the Caretakers have tender feelings towards all creatures within their regions. Can she be called on to participate with the council, even if she's only willing to be an advisory member? Can she be the healer the city needs?"

"She's dead...or missing," one member said.

"No. That's the quest we're here to go on. To retrieve all the missing Adventurers and repair your Tree of Life. We've already had to do it for our own and she asked us to help yours. That's what our goal is. When we're done with that repair, she'll be back. You'll have to hold the city together on your own until then, if she's capable. If you think she needs help, is there a guild already in the city that can act as the healers on the streets...or both?" He looked at them and waited for them to consider the answers.

"Most of them were also enslaved and are part of that group that will come out in pain," one of the generals said. "But...if she were returned to them, I think they would try to heal others as they were also healing. They were a gentle and happy guild, in comparison to many of us." There were nods around the table. "She herself...is the Princess of Shangtzi. If she returned to the council table it would be to her rightful place, though I don't know that she ever really wanted that position. Her brother put her there to get the people of the city to do what he wanted."

"Of course," Nakalnad muttered under his breath.

Shiroe nodded. "And she doesn't have to. As I said, if she'd rather be advisory, she can be. It's just she needs to be able to come warn you when things are out of balance and you need to be able to ask her for help when there are things only she and her guild can do. Even if I'm not here to convince her, the eventual needs of the city will teach her how important that is and she'll come on her own. If you can talk her into being an actual council member after she has healed herself, then please do try. Our own delicate sunny rose of Akiba has learned to sit the table quite well and gained strength from doing so. She often calms the table at the most important and least expected times." He smiled at the looks going towards Purrcy. "No. It isn't Purrcy. We've left her at home to tend to the city while we're gone. Purrcy sits as the CEO of the Corporation of Akiba but she isn't on the city council."

Shiroe tucked away what he wanted to do about the healing guild after getting its name and moved into the lessons to the city council and the laws, as he had done for three other cities now. It was nice to have the support of those who had lived from their side of the table to share experiences and witnesses, and most importantly, encouragement.

It turned out that, yes, the leadership of this city was rather on the young side. Only the most hidden man had any level of high maturity and had acted on his own in the darkness slowly, without fear as he toyed with the President and the council to get them to be afraid enough they would suppress the people enough his own goals could be met. Three of the generals and one of the previous council members were in their twenties far enough to understand real life outside of school and were certainly stable enough to keep the city moving forward. The others were idealists, but enthusiastic. They would bring the energy into the council and the city it needed to recover and move forward.

When they finally had agreement to the laws of the city, Shiroe wrote the scroll, had them sign it, then sighed and signed it himself, not really wanting to. It didn't disappear and he looked at Purrcy. She held out her hand for the pen, then turned into the Oracle and signed it with the name of the China Caretaker. Then it disappeared in the light it was supposed to. "Thank you, everyone," she said. "I will come back as soon as I can. I am grateful to these Adventurers who have traveled so far from home to come and help us regain dignity and life again. Thank you," she bowed to Shiroe, then faded from Purrcy's eyes.

"Only the Princess has violet eyes," said one of the council.

"Yes," Purrcy said with a bit of a smile.

"Purrcy is also an Oracle," Shiroe said. "Because she is watching over the spirit of your Princess, she's able to allow her to access her body on occasion. Apparently the city wasn't willing to let her off the hook. She's an official member of the council since she signed that contract."

They all seemed sufficiently relieved at that, but one General frowned. "Does that mean you're on the council?"

"Maybe?" Shiroe tried to not shift uncomfortably. "I've rather gotten in the habit of being an outside witness to the fact a city has agreed to treat their citizens properly. It seems to make it feel a little more official. I promise to not interfere when it isn't necessary - which might be like never since I'm not usually over here. But if you need help or have questions, I'm available, ...and so is Nakalnad and Brody or William of Susukino. We all understand having all the responsibility isn't easy and often there are questions that make us really scratch our heads." He decided to share that burden, too. He didn't know how many other cities he was going to have to help, but he really would be way too busy answering questions if he was the only point of contact. That wouldn't be good at all.

"How do we get in contact with you if we can't chat across the servers?"

Shiroe looked at Nyanta and he pulled out one of the pictures of Shiroe and put it on the table. "We've been experimenting with pigment and paint scroll magic, not just pen. If you're on my friend list - and you are, and use this to contact me, we should be able to talk. We're using it as a work-around until we can figure out how to repair that particular break in the features. Please do try to respect my time, however. I'm really quite busy usually, but I understand that sometimes it's not possible to do it all on your own. ...And I do like to have contact with other like-minded Adventurers. A good support network is healthy."

"You've come well prepared, Shiroe of Log Horizon and the Debauchery Tea Party," the general who had sort of taken the lead said wryly. "What is your purpose, really?"

Shiroe looked at them solemnly. "To ensure the peaceful and prosperous survival of Adventurers on Theldesia, and to see that we all return home. They are not mutually exclusive goals and the former is essential for us to gain the latter. I will be putting forth three world quest requests this afternoon in the Adventurer Hall. Please come and listen to them. They must be fulfilled before the world will release us to go home."

As they walked to stand on the top step of the Government building, Shiroe confirmed with Reed that there was a substitute for Charlie and the video technology. "Yessir. Just stand there like always and project like always. We'll handle the rest."

"Thank you." Shiroe was going through openings and nothing was standing out for him. He paused before going out the door, letting the rest of the new council walk through the door in front of him.

"Please," Purrcy put her hand on his arm, but when he turned, it wasn't Purrcy. It was a violet-eyed golden-red fox-tail dressed in a traditional Chinese dress that was somewhat like Purrcy's wedding dress in style but gold in color, "let me speak to them. Lady Purrcy was letting me listen to the whole thing. I think I can say it well enough to them."

"Certainly," Shiroe bowed her to the door. "I'd be glad to have you begin to heal them immediately. They'll need it as they wait for you to return."

She nodded her head and walked out before him to stand in the center of the new council, who moved in surprise to let her through and stand a little in front of them. "She's the focus," Shiroe said to Reed and cast the voice projection spell on Purrcy. He put himself and his group behind the council, where they could hear and not be necessarily seen.

"Go when ready," Reed said.

"Go ahead," Shiroe said on a chat with Purrcy. The princess of Shangtzi opened her mouth and began, her words of healing for the city giving forth encouragement and laying the healing balm of the law on their wounds. Shiroe was glad there were other Caretakers in Theldesia. He would be even more glad to find other Master Strategists as well, though he was certainly enjoying working with Purrcy.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mi Lin, do you have your own office? I would like to speak with you alone briefly before we move into the next phase of the planning." Shiroe asked the Caretaker princess as the council returned to the Government building.

"I do," she said kindly. "It's this way."

"The rest of you may wish to have lunch while waiting," Shiroe suggested. "We'll be rather busy when we get back."

Shiroe followed Mi Lin, asking Nyanta, Tetorō, and Akatsuki to come with him as well. He didn't complain when the usual minor complement of Eagles followed after them.

Mi Lin politically took one of the comfortable chairs in her office and Shiroe politically took one near her where they could talk as equals. "While this is merely one stop along my path to reaching my goals, as I've described them, this is my first step outside Yamato," Shiroe began. "I'm realizing that several of my solutions to my intermediate personal goals aren't going to work on the global scale. There is one in particular that I would like to request that you take for me within the region you have jurisdiction of, if I could be so bold as to make an Adventurer to Adventurer quest request."

Mi Lin tipped her head and her soft bushy tail waved lightly. "I'm willing to listen," she said.

"Thank you." Shiroe clasped his fingers and lay his lifted forefingers against his lips, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair. "We brought many PC artifacts with us when we came. I find them personally irritating, but also some of them dangerous to the world and the people within it. One of those is the concept of purchasable zones. In Minami that was used to good effect against the People of the Land governments and the guilds. The guildmistress purchased the zones the People of the Land government centers were built on and then threatened them unless they obeyed her. She purchased the required Adventurer zones - the Guild Hall, Cathedral, Government Center and a few others, and thus was able to force all of the Adventurers of Minami to join her guild and crush all others under her. This happened on a rather large scale at that time, but it can happen at any scale that one person wants to control another, even to controlling a single farmer and forcing him and his family to serve or to leave their lands to become poor wanderers. I'm sure you can understand my concern."

Mi Lin nodded sadly. "We've seen the same here as well, yes."

"Because I am a scribe, the solution I came up with is based on torn-scroll magic. When a zone is purchased by the Round Table of Akiba, I write a scroll that returns that zone to the world. When the scroll is torn, the money used to purchase the zone is returned to the gold system of the world and the world itself now owns that land, the same as we are used to on Earth. Those who live on that land now have property rights - they can live on the land and say who will come and go - but a third party can't threaten them unless it's by force of arms, also the way we live on Earth. It still isn't perhaps ideal, but it removes the initial threat the purchasable zones gives."

"It worked for me to use that method to correct the problem in Minami because they signed the property rights over to me and then I was able to return the land to the world using the same torn-scroll magic I use in Akiba. That isn't going to work for the rest of the world. I won't be able to go to most other parts of the world, nor really purchase the zones - though I'm willing to help with that if necessary. Worst of all, most of the rest of the world isn't going to be willing to give this stranger named Shiroe their land upon only my say-so that I will give it back and leave well enough alone. Many will be suspicious I come as a conqueror, and really...I have no interest. I'd much rather be back home playing the game with everyone else in Akiba, having fun." He gave a small smile that she returned with understanding.

"Would you be willing to come up with a proper solution for your region and see that the artifact we brought with us is corrected? We've helped change the rules for zone purchasing so that we can now purchase on contract and negotiate prices down to some degree, particularly if it's had some level of money put into it already. Those two changes should help quite a bit as long as we don't try to put down money on all of them all at once and then go bankrupt. It will still need to be done a few at a time, starting with the important zones first."

Mi Lin crossed her legs elegantly and considered his request. "I do agreed that something needs to be done. I will consider what can be done while waiting for my release from this state of being."

"Thank you," Shiroe paused, then said, "I presume my equivalent in this region was the man who killed himself that was on the council, the one who was collecting slaves?"

"He was very brilliant, yes," Mi Lin said coolly.

Shiroe wasn't pleased, but wasn't surprised. He turned to Tetorō and Nyanta. "I would like to talk to him also. We've made some assumptions and I'd like to make sure we haven't erred in those assumptions. If Nyanta is his oracle, can you prevent him from completely taking over Nyanta, Tetorō?"

Tetorō was just about to open his mouth when he suddenly paused, going inward. Being used to Purrcy talking to him that way, Shiroe waited patiently. Tetorō returned after about a minute and nodded. "Yes. If you can give me three minutes or less to craft the spell, it would be better to have it in place first." Shiroe nodded and Tetorō went inward again.

Mi Lin said, "I see he's a multi-class magician, but I'm not familiar with the Class 'Programmer'."

"Have you seen the sub-class, 'Hacker'?" Shiroe asked her.

"Not personally, though I believe we have several," Mi Lin answered.

"When enough points have been put into the sub-class, they convert to the Class 'Programmer'. I would be interested in learning what new sub-classes and Classes you've discovered in your region. Given that there are many professions on Earth, I can only imagine they've become somewhat limitless now that we're on the planet Theldesia rather than the bounded computer game of _Elder Tales_. Do you have a research facility in Shangtzi that was learning about such things?"

"Yes, we do," Mi Lin's ear fell. "The council member who you say killed himself was the head of that department."

Shiroe sighed. "Well, that would stand to reason, I suppose. He did kill himself. His spell rebounded. We weren't sure if he would be open to the new changes or find them unacceptable. Having seen the latter kind already, we used a magic defense that makes whatever spell is cast return on the caster. If he had only meant to say...call his subordinates to him...it wouldn't have damaged him. The fact that he disintegrated means that he not only had harmful intentions, but that he is likely also the one who has been preventing Adventurers like yourself from resurrecting to warn the rest of the Adventurers that he's been using them for personal experiments. I'd like to confirm that directly, though, before we continue further or we'll do more harm than good for those who have been the most damaged. The generals are doing the foot-work research, but I need to ask a few questions to the one who was at the top."

Tetorō shifted, returning, and one of the Eagles cast a healing spell on him. Tetorō nodded and Shiroe turned to Nyanta. "Izanagi, I know you also took his spirit into the ring. Please let me speak to him through Nyanta so that we don't misstep. Nyanta, please allow it." Because he was asking as guildmaster, he knew Nyanta would do it, but he still felt like he should be sufficiently polite enough to ask.

Nyanta sat down first and put his rapiers away so his 'guest' wouldn't have weapons available, then nodded. His eyes slowly changed from green to dark brown, but the guest spirit wasn't given enough control to change his physical form, which suited Shiroe just fine. Nyanta hissed and his ears went back in anger. "I understand you're angry," Shiroe said calmly. "I'm sure it's also disconcerting to be living with the consequences of your own spell. We merely defended ourselves from it using a rebound spell. You will also have your line repaired when we arrive at the China Adventurer Tree of Life; however, what answers you give me will determine if you specifically are allowed to return to this planet again or if you will be banished to the moon until we return home to Earth."

The ears went up in surprise. The mage wasn't used to the external displays of a felinoid and likely was ignoring them. "Banished...to the moon? Can that even be done? It is either resurrection or it is not."

"No, we've already banished one there and are quite capable of doing the same to others. We've found it the most useful punishment for Adventurers who refuse to play nice and choose to be power hungry without remorse." Shiroe blinked at him. "What I would like to understand is _why_ you are still capable of it. I cast a world-level spell that prevents any mage, regardless of type or species, from casting those spells that prevent an Adventurer spirit from returning and resurrecting. You should be dead just from casting it at all against us, and you are, but how is it you're still alive to begin with? It should have killed you the moment I cast the spell on Yamato."

"It did - almost. I lay nearly unconscious for some time. I watched the next time as another Adventurer cast it and they did die. I was quite shocked and haven't tried to cast it until now."

"But I also intended for it to be erased from the memories of those who knew it," Shiroe protested.

The mage shook Nyanta's head. "Once crafted and learned, it enters the status screen scroll book. We can go back and still cast it again, even if we've forgotten what it is. I didn't forget, but those who died and came back, I asked if they remembered what spell they'd cast and they couldn't. If I asked them if that spell was on their list, they could see it, and if they innocently cast it again, they died again. Every time I tried to select it, I received the worst headache ever; however, I felt it would be worth the cost this time if it could at least be effective."

"And just who were you casting it on?" Shiroe asked. He'd have to correct that oversight. It wasn't easy covering every instance or case, apparently. The scowl and anger were back on the host felinoid in front of him. Shiroe sighed to himself. "I understand we came in quickly and made assumptions. We wouldn't have killed you. We were waiting to hear if you were the head of the resistance or if you were the head of the slaver guild that needed removing. You removed yourself too early for us to understand it." That got surprise back again. "I apologize for not being able to take the time to properly investigate what was going on underneath the surface, though it certainly felt dark enough. Even if you are the most evil person in this city, I would have liked to have afforded you that much respect."

Nyanta sat back in his chair and folded his arms and thought hard for a moment. Now would be when the ghost would decide to lie or tell the truth, or mix the two. Shiroe found it interesting that Mi Lin was choosing to be silent on the matter, but he didn't press her. He was data gathering. "Tell me what's been done since then," the ghost demanded. Shiroe did. Nyanta sighed and rested his chin on a hand, relaxing a little. "Alright then, I'll give you credit for being able to be effective quickly, but I'm not thrilled to have my efforts wasted."

"They weren't wasted," Shiroe said quietly, " - if you've kept them whole and sane and full of hope." The dark brown eyes turned to his and looked at him directly, judging him. Shiroe met his look calmly. "I'd really rather have an ally in my equal in the neighboring region than an enemy," Shiroe said frankly. "And before your freedom fighters start a war with allies, I'd appreciate it if you'd let them know the generals' men are telling the truth."

"How do you know that's what they are and what makes you think you can trust me that quickly?"

"You've already hired my inside men. They spoke specifically with Mi Lin's guild members when we learned they'd been taken inside, too, and the council called them the healing guild. I'm quite relieved, actually. That many people set free full of wounds would have made this recovery nearly impossible. It would have taken likely a year for the city to recover from the damage done. The question still remaining is...where do your personal loyalties lie?"

Nyanta's free hand resting closest to Mi Lin, turned over and reached for her. She blushed prettily and took his hand. "I have loved Mi Lin since we met, however my absolute despise for her brother made me make some choices in how I pushed him to be hated by everyone, causing pain and suffering to fall on us all. I am as guilty as he for causing the sufferings, though I believed for some time that it was made better by also protecting others underground. I'm not sure my return would allow sufficient punishment for my own twisted reasonings." He sighed and looked at Shiroe again.

Shiroe considered him. "It's sometimes difficult to look back and see all the things that turned our feet and led to our decisions and justify them after the fact. Acting out of anger against a person certainly is not noble nor praiseworthy. However, you still have had an effect for good. I would be willing to allow you to be on probation. You will not receive a council position, and I think you should expect to resign as head of research. However, I won't make you step down as guildmaster of your guild and we'll return them to Adventurer status after you've spoken to them to keep the peace and if they're willing to be obedient to the new laws."

"I will remove that spell from your spell lists so you can't cast it anymore. It was difficult to think of all the side cases and it wasn't a spell in my own repertoire so I was unaware that was an effect. We'll watch you as we watch the city as a whole to see that it does heal. We'll expect you with the rest of the Adventurers of Shangtzi to move forward into peace and prosperity, even if not complete agreement, since we already understand people must get along who don't always see eye to eye." He looked to see the reaction of the ghost.

He was quiet, then gave a nod. "It's acceptable." He immediately called up a friend list. "This is Yo Chin. Stand down. The revolution is over and happened without us, sadly. I went and killed myself before understanding so I could be a part of it, so we've missed out. However, you are all still needed to see that the city returns to a stable state of peace. Are there any complaints with the new laws?" He paused and waited. "Very well, then. See that everyone does their part to help the new governing body. I've been told I get to come back with Mi Lin. The party from Yamato knows how to repair the problem of separation. In exchange, we have to forget the spell and have it erased from our spell lists." He looked at Shiroe. "Any idea how long before we get back?"

Shiroe shook his head. "We're giving it a month. We'd love to have it be less."

Yo Chin sighed. "I'll be back when I get back, I guess. Do your best until then and don't fight."

"Is there someone you can send as a representative to sit with the council? Preferably someone with a calm, level head," Shiroe asked. "And Mi Lin, the same would be helpful from your side as well. We'll let you both continue to listen to the meetings and if there's input you'd like to give you can tell your hosts and they'll pass it along, but it would be good to have temporary substitutes here while we're gone for the repairs."

Both gave orders to single subordinates within their guilds to come immediately to the Government center to participate in the new governing conference and Shiroe finally relaxed. They would have everyone accounted for now, and it wouldn't - or at least _shouldn't_ \- fall into chaos while they were gone.

"Thank you both. Please return and sleep for now," he said to the two Chinese Adventurers and their visual aspects faded from Purrcy and Nyanta. He waited for them to recover and thanked them soberly, then slipped into a nap, right in his chair. His brain had become just a little too overloaded and needed a recharge.

-:-:-:-:-

"I wondered if his brain was starting to fizzle," Tetorō was giving Shiroe an odd look. "I think we'd best let him sleep as long as he can." Akatsuki nodded firmly in agreement.

"It's okay," Purrcy said gently. "I made it work the way they thought it was working. They'd both gotten so into character even they had forgotten they weren't in their own bodies."

"But...People of the Land can't hear chats," Tetorō protested.

"No, that's true, but they can hear disembodied voices. That was close enough for them. It was really just a modification of the conference call we use. They heard him and he heard them so it was sufficient."

"Have mew changed their status back yet?" Nyanta asked her.

"I need an HP up first," Purrcy admitted. "There's rather a lot of them." Tetorō cast a healing spell on her and she disappeared inside for a while before returning. "That database selection spell from the beginning is very useful, Tetorō. You did a good job with it, thank you. Batch jobs make me sleepy, though." She yawned. "I think I'll join Shiroe in a nap instead of going for lunch."

She changed into small cat and went and curled up in Shiroe's lap. Nyanta's ear twisted in consternation a few times, then he pulled out a small bowl of ramen, ate it, and then joined her on Shiroe's lap, curling up around her.

"What a waste," Tetorō grumbled. "Two cats in a lap and he's already sleeping. At least _I'd_ enjoy petting them first." Akatsuki grinned at him and pulled out two bowls of ramen, handing him one. "Thanks." They sat on the floor and ate while watching over their lightly snoring leaders.


	103. Kanami and Crusty

Shiroe blinked his eyes open. They were a bit crusty so he rubbed them while trying to remember where he was. He was feeling heavy and warm and somewhat content, really. The only problem was the crook in his neck. He sat up, rubbing at the muscle to warm it up. Part of the warmth on his lap shifted slightly and he looked down. A black calico and a grey with white accents and chest were curled up together. He stared at them for a moment, trying to remember when he'd gotten cats. His apartment manager was going to be somewhat upset, though might let it pass.

The grey shifted again and the calico started to lightly purr in reaction. Shiroe pet them lightly, finding their soft fur as reassuring as their warmth. His lips curled up slightly for a moment, then froze and fell again. He sighed lightly, then went back to petting Purrcy and Nyanta, finally fully awake and rather glad he had this rare opportunity. It was obvious they were also waking up, however. It wouldn't last much longer so he continued to ignore the rest of the room and the world and just watched them.

Nyanta stretched, his back paws curling as his legs tightened. His nose found Purrcy's neck and he sleepily began grooming it. Her purr faltered slightly, then deepened and she uncurled slightly and rolled, though a sudden stretch caught her too, and her front paws reached out until they were pushing against Shiroe's belly. They suddenly relaxed and she buried her nose in her outstretched "arms", looking like she was going right back to sleep, but her ear twitched. Nyanta had paused in his grooming, and now yawned, showing his pink tongue and teeth.

Shiroe ran his hand down Nyanta's back, then went back up and scratched down his side. He'd opened an eye at first to see just who had the audacity, but at the scratching, his head flopped down and he melted into the scratch. Shiroe's lips twitched up again and he obliged by scratching what he could reach, though he left the sensitive belly alone. Nyanta obliged by rolling over to get the other side scratched, too.

That pushed Purrcy over and into Shiroe more and she complained a bit. Since Shiroe had two hands, even though it was a bit awkward, he started scratching her, too. She froze momentarily, then slowly melted into the scratching too, and purred even more. She didn't bother rolling over, though. He figured it was probably too much energy for her to spend, still being mostly asleep.

"Oh, that's what it is, two fistfuls of cat," Naotsugu said over Shiroe's shoulder, looking down into his lap. "I thought the motorcade was getting ready to go. ...Is everyone finally waking up?"

"I think so," Shiroe said. He didn't mind a slow waking up...though the pressure to be doing what needed to be done next was finally starting to build. Nyanta was now officially attacking Purrcy's flicking ear. Shiroe put his hand on Nyanta's head and held it still, not wanting a cat fight on his lap. "I'm sure she's waking up enough on her own, Nyanta," he scolded lightly. He scooped up Nyanta in his arms and held him to pet him a little more, giving him more attention, scratching with his fingers down Nyanta's spine. It curved up to meet his fingers, enjoying the sensation.

"I'll take him," Naotsugu offered. "I'm sure he'd like to visit the restroom before we get moving again. You work on her." Shiroe pet Nyanta one more time and handed him into the larger hands reaching down for him.

"I'm not really a cat, mew know," Nyanta complained as the hand off occurred.

"Let's just pretend you are for now," Naotsugu said, laying Nyanta out in his arms. "You usually do, you know." He headed for the door, the two of them bantering lightly on the way out.

Shiroe pet Purrcy lightly a few times, then picked her up and cuddled her. Her purrs didn't change but she did start licking his cheek and jaw. He put up with the rough treatment for a little while, then held her down in his curved arm instead and scratched her head. She yawned, then licked her leg a few halfhearted licks and let her head slump on his chest again. "God, it's hard to wake up when we nap in the middle of the day," she complained. "Go dunk my head in the sink."

"Is that how you always wake up?"

"It's the fastest way," she muttered.

Since Shiroe could also use the restroom at this point, he rose to standing, then had to just stand for a moment as vertigo hit. When he'd breathed and blinked himself back to stability, he headed for the door. "Where are the bathrooms?" he asked the various people around him generally. He was pointed the right direction.

When he got there, he stopped and blinked, then looked around and was quite relieved to find Akatsuki was actually where he'd hoped she would be. "Here. She says to dunk her head under the water in the sink. Thanks." When her hands were full and his empty, he rubbed Akatsuki's head, then paused and leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Thanks," he said again and took himself into the restroom. He decided he needed to at least splash his face in the sink to finish waking up himself, though completely dunking his head was probably not the right thing to do. That and food. Those two things might get him restarted again.

They borrowed Mi Lin's office for about another half hour so Shiroe and Purrcy could eat their late lunch and Shiroe could listen to his guild talk about what he'd missed during his nap to get his brain started again. "That was a pretty severe shut-down," Tetorō commented to him.

"Yeah," Shiroe agreed. "I think it was the sudden full-on battle ending with the thrill of fear as we barely got the final information I needed before we fell off the cliff. We managed to hang on, but I'd used up everything I had to prevent the fall. You know how that is - you hang on and your muscles fatigue and when you're finally pulled back up on the path all you can do is lean against the wall and sit until the muscles recover. We needed that final clue of which guild and where they were to finally get the information we needed. I really hadn't expected Yo Chin to self-destruct that quickly if he was heading a freedom fighting group. That's what threw me off the cliff, I think. That and being shown the one hole in my original logic...at least I _hope_ it's the only hole." He pulled out ink, pen, and paper, spent two minutes crafting the words, and wrote two short lines, then tore the paper, then slumped to the desk again.

"Idiot," Tetorō snorted and healed him up. "Just because you want it out of the way to not forget, doesn't mean that you've really got the strength to be casting world magic right now."

Shiroe sighed, then felt the kind fingers of Akatsuki on his forehead. He drifted with it for a little while, then sighed again and sat up, rubbing his hand down her hair as if giving her a turn at being pet. "So it sounds like the city is pretty much making a fairly calm transition with the citizens handling it on their own. I don't think we could have asked for a better resolution as far as that goes. And the council? Have they gone ahead and started meeting on their own also?"

"Yes, Nakalnad, Isaac, and Brody are fielding that and doing a very good job, actually. I asked a bit ago if they'd needed you yet, and they said they hadn't and to let you sleep it off. If they do need you they'll call."

Shiroe leaned back in the chair - he'd taken the one at the desk, finding it just as convenient to sit in the head seat as usual. No one else liked to sit in them after all, so they were usually available, plus it gave him access to the writing surface he'd just utilized. "I'll just leave it to them, then. The council can have the twenty-five gold education and it will likely be just as good." He rubbed his ear. "Speaking of which, how is MarketMaker coming?"

"He says the store is half-stocked and he's been interviewing staff. He's found three likely clerical candidates and is hunting for an assistant manager now. He wants a confirmation on what time he's supposed to be at the Adventurer Hall and an advanced warning so he can wrap up what he's doing to get there."

"Tell him I'd like him to go first. I'll give my spiel after and that will give him time to get back to the store before the rush. We're supposed to be there by four-thirty."

"Well, then let's go. You've got half an hour."

Shiroe blinked, then sighed. "Hang on, let me make sure...," he scanned through the rest of his list, then shook his head and rose from the chair. "Okay, let's go. ...You're sure I don't need to stop in at the meeting?"

Tetorō pushed him out the door. "No, you don't. You'll miss your appointment time if you do anyway. Just come back before the final press conference and get the summary. That will be good enough. Secretary, what are you doing dropping the ball? Get his schedule up and running, man. He's going to be so busy from here on out whenever we're in a city that he can't keep his own mind on it any more."

"Yessir. Sorry, Sir."

Shiroe waved the apology away. He hadn't personally requested it yet, but now that Tetorō mentioned it, he was probably right. He really should be passing on the personal secretary and scheduling work to someone else. The more he could delegate and push to someone else the better. "Start meeting with me every morning before breakfast and we'll go over my personal schedule then," he said.

"Yessir."

"I'm really feeling way too 'dignitary' now," Shiroe complained as they walked out of the Government building and he looked around behind him. "Being followed by a flock of staff and a bevy of security and chivied by said staff and all that. I'd complain that it isn't necessary, except it's become so obviously so. Do you think we could go back to just being a guild some day?"

"When we get home," Tetorō frowned at him.

"No," Shiroe slumped. "I'll be in the same position then, too. Being president of a company that is performing top secret technological research will require pretty much the same complement, I'm afraid."

Akatsuki took his sleeve in her hand and gave him a worried look. "Will you come be my secretary?" he asked her. "That way you can be working your way back up the Mysteries on Earth but stay by my side, too." Akatsuki blinked. "I'm sure it's completely counter to your education and preferred career path, but I'd appreciate it all the same. As I've said before, it's just not the same without you by my side." Her lips twitched up and she let go of his sleeve and patted his arm instead and gave him a nod. He gave a nod of content in return.

"You're not leaving me out," Naotsugu grumbled.

"Of course not," Shiroe said. "I know you were in sales, and you know I'm not."

Naotsugu laughed and clapped him on the back. "Indeed, indeed. I can have you covered there for sure."

"Good," Shiroe said. "And since Marie is P/R, you'll both make a good team."

"Heeyyy...you're right!" Naotsugu was lost in his imagination for a while. That suited Shiroe fine.

A figure pushed off the wall of the Adventurer Hall as they neared, but because it was one with bright yellow hair, they didn't worry too much. "Hey, Shiroe. Finally going to start the fireworks for real, now?"

"I suppose you could call them that. Do you think the city is ready or are they still trying to come to understand their new positions?"

"Word inside is pretty chill. They're glad to finally have the super ridiculous restraints off, but apparently the adventurous Adventurers weren't as affected by all the regulations and rot. The city wouldn't have the raw materials to move at all otherwise, is my guess."

"Makes sense," Shiroe agreed as they entered the hall. His eyes did the natural scan of the large open room and caught one difference. There was a cluster of women to one side. He read their statuses, then glared at Purrcy. "Really? I don't think there are Geisha in China."

"Oh, did the system give them a nice name in Japanese?" she answered back. "It's not so complementary a title in English. I don't know what it translates into in Chinese, I'm afraid. That's an even harder language than Japanese." It was obvious she didn't care. "Why they're still hanging around here, I have no idea. They don't have Adventurer fighting capabilities any more, just skills. Of course, since this is where all the buff Adventurer _men_ are, perhaps they've decided to set up shop here." Nyanta's whiskers and lips twitched up until he couldn't keep the laugh in. Naotsugu and Tetorō weren't doing much better this time, though.

Shiroe's lips twitched momentarily, then he frowned. "Purrcy, I'm quite certain you had no idea what their other screen names were except to look at the data...does the database really contain the personal data of each Adventurer?" The others pierced her with looks as well.

"Aliases, yes. Like most programs, you choose your login name, you choose your avatar name, and you can opt to choose what name displays to the chat screen. Those are all tied together so that the computer knows which IP its sending the data to. It's data that's a little farther down in the system, but it is possible to follow the links back to uncover them."

Shiroe turned and faced her down. "And farther down is the personal data used to pay for the monthly fee for the game. You can discover people's real names and addresses." Purrcy returned his look and didn't answer. "Fine," Shiroe turned and flicked a hand. "It's not like you can use credit cards in Theldesia anyway. Just don't go being a creepy stalker if you do get home."

He could feel her roll her eyes. "Thanks for the warning, Rudy," she said sarcastically, referencing the similar flamboyant behavior. "I only thought I'd come hold your little dog hostage is all. I mean, if you're going to be a big corporate president, you'd not like anything to happen to it, I'm sure."

Shiroe snorted, then had to laugh. He paused long enough for her to catch up and put his arm around her shoulder. "Miss Purrcy, of the gangster mob in America, please do come play with my yakuza family in Japan. We will have so much fun, won't we? I mean...you're the one with children that it would be so sad to see...playing in _my_ backyard with my doberman, no?"

Purrcy shuddered, but it was laughter also. "We make such terrible mobsters, Shiroe," she said between laughs. "We're much better corporate sharks, really."

"Well, that's true, but they're nearly one and the same, aren't they?" he asked, feigning hurt.

"Of course, some of the time," she agreed. "Certainly Al Capone was, though I'm sure I can't replicate him at all. That wasn't an era I researched much on."

"Oh, well," he waved a hand and let her go. "We'll just stick to you being our yakuza princess then. It works well enough."

"Okay," her tail waved contentedly with that settlement. "Am I up first, then, like we agreed yesterday, or has today rather disturbed that path?"

"You can go first if you want," he said. "It will be MarketMaker after that and you're CEO, so it would be okay to have you introduce us."

"Right. Back to corporate it is, then," she said and stood with them at the edge of the announcement stand, her tail waving softly behind her as she got into her role. Her clothes changed, too, somewhere in there, but Shiroe wasn't worried about that any more. She knew what she was doing. He did look at Tetorō, however, and gave him the unspoken yakuza mob boss order.

Tetorō nodded the single obedient nod and got to work. When Purrcy walked up the stairs when their time was announced, Tetorō said to him quietly, "I've sent a slow creeper for it. She's watching it now that it's come up, as expected."

"Of course," Shiroe murmured. He had faith in her journeyman's skills, though. They wouldn't go home without a way to find her, now. ...And knowing Tetorō, everyone else's addresses that he thought they'd want to be able to contact again as well.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu watched the crowd watching his guildmates on the stand, his arms folded casually. Purrcy kept her part short and sweet, introducing Shopping District 8 in the name of friendly relations between Yamato and Shangtzi, and then introducing both presenters and what they'd be offering to the Adventurers of Shangtzi from Yamato. MarketMaker's presentation caught the interest of the Adventurers as it always did, but they stayed put like Shiroe wanted so MarketMaker could get back to the store. Naotsugu knew the juniors were already set up with signboards and flyers to show the way to the store when the crowd finally wanted to head that way. They were already passing out flyers generally, but they were placed strategically to get the Adventurers straight to Shopping District 8.

Shiroe was giving his three world quests, now, his pronouncement that they were going to go home being as striking an announcement here as the nested boxes had been. Naotsugu looked at Nyanta and after a moment to consider, gave a nod. They both walked up behind Shiroe and stood with him. When Shiroe was done, Naotsugu stepped forward. "You might remember we were here before to meet up with Kanami. I'm pretty sure you all know who she is by now. Somehow we all got famous for doing what always seemed impossible. This guy," he slapped Shiroe on the shoulder, "is the one who made every one of those possible. We're standing behind him in this. We've seen the progress he's already made to this point and we know he can get us all back home. He's putting his all into it, and we are, too. If you don't want to go home, that's fine, but if you're willing to help the rest of us who do, then please help us out with these quests in your region. They're long term quests and the more we have helping, the sooner we can get to that goal. Thank you." Nyanta gave a gentleman's nod of agreement and thanks, and the three of them escaped the stand.

"Thanks, guys," Shiroe said. "I'm not sure why they think we can't go home, or if it's just they don't want to go home."

"Don't let it bother you too much," Naotsugu said. "They've had a long time to wonder it and not be encouraged. You started encouraging all of us early on so we've known it's a possibility. Give them some time and they'll likely come round to that idea. Hopefully they'll at least find the quest ideas intriguing enough to work on them."

Shiroe was looking around. "Did anyone remember to have Yuudai and Majiyo come here for this time?"

"Yeah, shall we go sit with them for a bit? I think it might help if you kept your face here in case people have questions," Naotsugu led him over to a table a bit away from the kiosk but not too far from the stand. They wanted to be found, after all, but not be in the way of people swarming the sign-up book. They weren't the only ones to offer quests so that was still going on at the moment.

The guild that was present settled down around Yuudai and Majio, a bit like a flock of birds come to see what they were looking at. The Crescent Moon League juniors got slightly nervous smiles, but to Log Horizon they were already just more juniors who had something important to offer to the overall quest, so they were relaxed with them and that seemed to eventually help them relax a little. "I would be happy if even one wanted to help fill Yuudai's role here," Shiroe said moodily. "That would at least be the start. Not like I can afford to just leave him here until they decide they're willing to help us out. And if we have to come do that work here for them, that's a lot of ground to cover."

Tetorō threw the equivalent of a spit wad at him. "Stop moping. They haven't even heard the rest of the quests yet. It's only polite to listen to all of them. Worrying ahead of time will only give you ulcers." Akatsuki was rubbing Shiroe's forehead, trying to erase the worry lines. Purrcy and Nyanta were sitting together, holding hands and enjoying being the old folks setting the calm example while at the same time being the young newlyweds who couldn't be separated. The Eagles on duty locally were busy keeping their eyes on everything around them while pretending to be very bored. Naotsugu grinned at them all. He loved family gatherings like this.

When the announcements of quests and requests were done they actually did get some visitors to ask questions. A few trickled over to get their weapons blessed, particularly cursed weapons. That wasn't much different from before. Most Adventurers were annoyed with the cursed flavor text. In the general mill of Adventurers, many of which seemed to be signing up for quests before leaving to check out the boxes at Shopping District 8, there was suddenly a loud stir. "Shiroe! Shiroe!" A woman broke through the crowd, dragging a line of four people after her and running full tilt at their tables.

"Whoa, there!" Naotsugu cast his lighter taunt on her to arrest her forward motion from bowling the whole table down and all the people around it. One gauntleted fist hit his table, almost cracking it in two. He laughed and that finally got her attention. "Kanami, you can't go running at him when he's sitting down. You'll both end up going through the wall. Besides, he's in polite company. Calm it down first."

"Naotsugu, you lunk!" she yelled at him - it was pretty close to her normal volume if a little louder in her exuberance. "You don't have to hold me down, though."

"Of course I do. How else do I get a raging bull to halt her forward motion?" He had a raging Monk boxing his ears next. He just put his armor on and grabbed her upper arms. She kicked then, but he let her. His plate armor could handle that. It was the armor on her hands and arms that did the most damage. "Really, you should stop. You aren't making a good first impression," he frowned at her. That made her pause at least and she looked around the group she'd been heading for.

"Oh." Her eyes lit up, but her face turned rather quickly to confusion. "Nyanta-san...and a female?"

"Yup. They abuse each other and love to play with it. It works." He turned her so she could see the women at the outer edge of the hall. "See them?"

"Yeah," she struggled to be let go a little. "What about them?"

"Those are the sluts that made Nyanta what he is today." She froze and looked at them closer, with narrowed eyes.

"How did that happen? And where did they come from?"

"I don't know. We can go ask, if you'll promise to calm down first."

The bright eyes turned on him, judged his mood, and then smiled. She patted him on the head with a hand she'd managed to work free. "At least you're happy. Okay." Naotsugu put her down and walked next to her, nodding at her companions on the way. Crusty gave him a tired nod, weariness marring his normal royal visage. Likely he'd been the one who'd been caught up in the whirlwind called Kanami during this last quest. "You lot come along, too. We've got a special quest just for you."

"Oh, a quest is it?" Erius Hackblade asked. He was one of the remaining Progenitors left living, most of the rest of them having been killed off by the Overwritten. He was a knight and Guardian Person of the Land who had been part of the stopgap between the normal People of the Land and the Adventurers. They were also called "Heroes". Kanami had prevented the Overwritten from killing him, but he tended to draw them since they still had some strange programming that wanted them all dead. That was part of why Kanami had a vendetta against Overwritten generally.

"Make sure Crusty comes along," Kanami told him. "Just because my travel guide has seen him doesn't mean we get the quest yet." Crusty slumped even more as both Erius and Coppelia - a Chinese farm bot dressed as a maid who was a Cleric, and also wanted dead by the Overwritten because they really were computer constructs - moved to box him in and make him move forward. The final member of the group was Leonardo, an American who had been thrown into this side of the world by accidentally running into a fairy ring just as it was activating. He was a cos-player in his garb, wearing the outfit of the animated hero character he had idolized on Earth. Naotsugu wondered if Purrcy's first thing to do to him would be to make him wear real clothing. It would be like her...but she was also sometimes understanding of cos-play so Naotsugu wasn't sure.

"I see why you sat that far away," Michael said from standing behind Purrcy, his arms folded.

"It was a long shot. I didn't know if they'd show up today, but this would be about the right timing, I thought." Naotsugu answered. "Kanami, that's Michael, he's over the Log Horizon sub-guild of warriors out of the States that joined us earlier this year to act as Shiroe's guard unit."

"Hey, fellow Monk. Good t'meetcha'!"

"Likewise, Kanami." His eyes went to Leonardo once the greeting was properly over.

"That's Leonardo. He's like you, from the States. Coppelia is from here in China. Erius is a Hero of the Land, and Crusty's the reluctant one." Naotsugu looked at him over his shoulder. "Is Mise still around?"

"Yes, but she works at the hotel we stay at when we're in town." Crusty finally bothered to speak.

"And...who's the one with Nyanta-san?" Kanami asked, her eyes fixed back on her.

"That's the princess of Log Horizon, Purrcy," Naotsugu said. "She's the one who hands out the quests." Purrcy's ear twitched and Shiroe slightly cringed. Naotsugu wondered if it was the first part or the second he shouldn't have said.

"Kanami-chan," Nyanta said calmly, "this is my wife on Theldesia. We share common goals and the contractual arrangement was agreeable to both of us."

Kanami's hands both landed flat-palmed on the table between them. "No - way! How did you do that? Get him to cave?"

"Told him exactly what and who I am and he made the decision to keep me for Shiroe's sake. That worked for me, since I needed Shiroe to complete the world quests we've just presented to everyone. He told me exactly what and who he was and how he'd come to be that way and I accepted it irregardless."

"Blunt, to the point, and," Kanami swung around to look at the women on the other side of the room, "super crazy strong and hard core." She swung back around and stared at Purrcy. "Yeah, Nyanta could deal with that, but it's still surprising." She turned to Shiroe. "And just why did he think it was that important, to keep a woman around for you?"

"Because she's the only source of information we've found for getting us home...and she's already given me the answer you asked me to find. We just have to do the work to get there now."

The hands were slammed on the table again and it creaked this time as they landed. "No, way! I knew you'd do it! If that's what our quest will get us to, I'm in for sure." She was so excited she turned around to the rest of the hall. "HEY EVERYONE! This here's my -" Naotsugu put a hand up and glared at her. "- Strategist. Whatever quests he's given, make sure you sign up for them! We need to get home and he's just told me I get to come back again if we win this! So you all have to help us and him out, OK?!"

She drew a lot of attention, and seemingly humor for someone they'd had to listen to a lot before. But it also seemed to get a few more moving who hadn't before. Perhaps her endorsement made the rest of theirs mean something, too. That was alright. Kanami's enthusiasm usually got people moving when they weren't sure they wanted to move - Crusty a case in point. Kanami swung around one more time. "So...how did that happen?" she pointed back to the women.

Fingers immediately pointed to Purrcy. Her tail waved slowly and she sat very unapologetically, even for her. "Do you really want to know?" Purrcy asked Kanami, giving her an out.

Kanami considered her, grabbed a chair and slid it over to sit opposite Purrcy, and straddled it resting her arms on the back of the chair. The other three got closer so they could all listen. Shiroe sighed slightly and Purrcy's ears turned to him. "She's waiting for your approval, Councilor," Naotsugu let Shiroe know. "How deep?"

"Not very. We are in public and we don't have a lot of time. I thought we'd save the full story for when we're on the ship."

Kanami looked at Shiroe sharply, then gave a nod and turned her attention back to Purrcy. Purrcy twitched her whiskers and glanced at Nyanta. "I gave a gift to my husband, and repaid to them the pain they've caused me because of the pain they caused him. I don't expect it to make him any nicer - I'd rather it didn't - but it was nice to get payback."

Kanami looked at Nyanta. "Purrcy labeled them with the purroper labels, and I finally was able to retrieve my honor. They were appurently playing as a small guild of male Adventurers...the ones who followed us everywhere and never could make the grade."

A small tight smile came on Kanami's face. "Of course not," she said quietly - also of the kind that only got quiet when she was angry, "losers can't do anything but pant in the shadows of the great and awesome."

She rested her chin on her arms for a moment, then said, still quiet, "You've picked up something pretty awesome, like top level super-rare." Her eyes locked onto Purrcy again. "...As far up as Game Mod." Her brain kept going. "And she gives you the quests. ...That's either NPC, crazy Adventurer like me, or GM. NPC's not cutting it, and she doesn't look or sound crazy, so that leaves GM." She thought some more, then nodded. "That's high enough to give you the key you need to unlock the door. How far into it are you?"

"Middle of the fifth level," Shiroe said quietly.

Kanami's eyes went to him. "That's pretty deep. How many levels?"

"We know about the sixth...might be one more after that, now that we're this far down...but it's too dark to see it still. Timing wise, we've probably got to have seven, but if so, I think that will be the last one that leads to the final boss."

Kanami nodded, her chin still in her arms and she got the far-away look of the thinker and planner. "You're a homebody, but you've just set up three world quests...you need someone willing to be a carrier."

"Yes, but there's a training to go through first. Just for you, not the rest of the world's Adventurers, though you'll want to bring in locals as you go."

Kanami sat up and held onto the back of her chair with both hands. "On what?"

"More Overwritten than you've ever seen in one place at one time." Kanami's knuckles whitened. "We've got a full legion raid going in...and more...and I want the lot of you in on it, too. You'll need to know how to defeat this dungeon that isn't a dungeon before you go. It might be only you that can make the repairs at the rest of them on this side of the world."

Kanami's eyes had been going wide in excitement and Naotsugu thought she might be trying very hard to contain another loud outburst. Her ears caught the odd word that didn't go with dungeons, though. "...Repairs?"

Shiroe nodded. "Maze of Eternity, Adventurer Trees of Life. It's a manhole and in a lot of them - quite badly in this one is our guess - the life lines have been cut. We've got to get in and repair the lines so the Adventurers can resurrect again. The Overwritten are already in this region's Maze of Eternity, trying to get to the tree to cut it down. We have to stop them, then get in and repair the tree. We've already been in Yamato's and done the repairs there, so we know what we're doing. We'll teach it to you and you can teach it to whomever is trustworthy enough to let into that room. It's another, fourth world quest, and there's a fifth one you're going to go with as part of fulfilling that one. We'll get to that one later since it's not really yours, unless the train gets attacked. Then you can help defend it."

"Train?" Kanami was getting overwhelmed now.

Shiroe stood up and pushed his glasses up on his face. "Let's go. It's better to show you at this point and then we'll tell it from the beginning. Yuudai, if you'd come find me after things here slow down enough you're sure no one else is coming, we need to get some of their weapons blessed as well."

"Yes, Shiroe-san," Yuudai said politely. Purrcy put her hand gently on his head, then Majiyo's on her way past them. Naotsugu smiled at them, too. Even they were doing their best to do their part. Naotsugu wasn't surprised when not only were Purrcy and Shiroe in the center of their expanded group, but Crusty was as well. He took the position next to him, just to give him a friendly shoulder to rely on. "Was the last one difficult?" he asked.

"Not more than normal," Crusty shrugged a shoulder broader than Naotsugu's. "It's just keeping up with Kanami. She wanted to get back in half the time it should take so she could get out again. It sounds like this one will keep her quite happy for a little while at least?"

Naotsugu smiled. "Most likely. There are some people looking forward to seeing you're back."

Crusty gave him a look. "Not Rieze?"

"Nope, not this time, either. They made her stay home again. She's still demanding your return, though."

Crusty looked away. "Not like I _can_ go," he finally said.

"Well...maybe, maybe not," Naotsugu shrugged, noncommittal.

Crusty looked back darkly. "It hurt trying last time. I'd rather not. I was scrambled just a little extra, too, for a while."

"Sorry," Naotsugu said. He was sure it hadn't been very pleasant. "...You and Mise an item now?"

Crusty paused, then sighed a long breath. "Not really. She's pretty broken mentally, too, you know? She'll want to know we're going home, but she won't go adventuring. I can't sit still, for all I'd rather just vegetate. We've been fighting more than talking, and a lot of it is the silent treatment. She'd be a creeper if we let her...and I'm tempted to just let it go and let her. She's almost better off sleeping than living at this point...or so it seems some days." He shrugged. "She'll need treatment when we get home. There's nothing professional enough here to help her the way she needs. I wish there was. It's sad to see her so turned into herself and so lost..."

"Especially when you're feeling like that yourself," Naotsugu said knowingly. "Being at loose ends can be about the same."

"Not quite there, but it's similar," the Guardian guildmaster agreed, then went quiet again.

Kanami was waving her hands and excitedly explaining the exploits of their latest quest against the Overwritten to Shiroe. That line got a little long, so Purrcy and Nyanta fell back into the line with Crusty and Naotsugu. Purrcy's ears were turning - mostly back as if to shut out a little the sounds of Kanami's over exuberance.

Naotsugu reached up and patted her on the head. Her close ear brushed against his wrist as it turned towards him. He'd offer to hold her and cover her ears for her, but that wouldn't be good in public, really. Tetorō had moved up, too, though. Nyanta's glance at Naotsugu decided him. He gave a nod and Tetorō made a motion behind them and their line slowed down to allow space to come between them and Shiroe and Kanami's line. The Eagles helped Kanami's other party members to move up between the two lines without them really understanding it, though Naotsugu held onto Crusty, who was just a little confused but let it be until he could understand.

When there was enough distance that Purrcy's ears settled and her shoulders relaxed a little, they held to that position. Crusty raised an eyebrow and gazed after Kanami. He looked over to Purrcy, "So... should I know you, Miss Purrcy?"

Purrcy looked at him briefly. "No, Guildmaster Crusty. I didn't arrive in Akiba until you were gone on the Goblin raids, and then only a day here and there. I joined with Log Horizon about four months ago."

"Hmm." They walked quietly for a while. "Then why do I feel like I know you?" Apparently the curiosity was eating at Crusty.

Purrcy was quiet as well for a time, likely trying to find an answer. She did seem to always have one - from Izanami or Izanagi even if not one from herself. "Have you felt the depths of despair looking into the face of a being greater than you can comprehend brings?" she finally asked.

Crusty looked at her from the corner of his eye. "...Who can say if I've seen a being or not...but facing an overwhelming despair...yes."

"Hmm...then perhaps we're merely kindred spirits greeting each other on that level," Purrcy said calmly. "Not very many can honestly say they know what that is like." They walked on and eventually Purrcy rested her head on Nyanta's shoulder. They didn't let her change into cat, though, for all they might have been able to since she was a registered werecat. It was that they hadn't told the others about it yet, and didn't know if they were on Shiroe's approved list.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō pulled Shiroe aside when they were all on board the Ocypete. Kanami, trailed by Coppelia, Erius, and Leonardo, was getting a quick self-guided tour of the ship to reacquaint herself with it. Training and Gareth were with them, having spent the walk home getting to know Leonardo better in the name of common citizenship and comic interests. He'd managed to relax somewhat because of that. Coppelia was always uptight and followed Kanami as if she were her servant, but then she felt like she owed Kanami her life for it being saved by her and for always treating her like a fellow living being. When Tetorō finished talking with Shiroe he went to Purrcy and Nyanta and spoke with them quietly. They listened politely, then nodded and made their grateful regretful excuses and disappeared into the depths of the cabins on the ship and Tetorō dragged KR off.

Crusty wasn't sure he wanted to be on the Ocypete. The last time they'd made it not quite out of sight of land and his curse had pulled him back to shore - rather painfully. He'd woken up disoriented and wandering that shore. It had taken him three days to find a house that could take care of him and get him back to Shangtzi - for the second time. The first time had been when the curse had taken effect the first time and flung him into China still carrying Mise's arm. He'd kept it with him until Shiroe and the others had come on the Ocypete, bringing her and her mechanical magical arm so that her real one could be put back on.

Even then she hadn't wanted to return to Yamato and had stayed behind. The curse had affected her in some way they couldn't understand...or she'd just suddenly found it all too real all at once and snapped a little. Just enough she couldn't repair her mind even though her arm eventually was. Kanami kept her alive, just by virtue of her stubborn optimism and refusal to let Mise drop into full darkness, but Mise was a lot more relaxed by the time they got back from raids out of town than she was when they were present.

It wasn't surprising really. Kanami was high energy and high maintenance - enough she kept both Mise going and Crusty, too. Crusty was sure he'd have moss and barnacles growing on him by now if she didn't keep dragging him out, though he complained enough she should have left him alone long ago. She'd come out and rescued him when he'd finally arrived back at Shangtzi the second time, too, dragging him to their hotel and firmly ensconcing him in her protective sphere - if it could be called that. He'd been thrown at death so many times by her now, and refused to let him Cathedral, that he was quite certain he knew how to cheat death without resurrection on this forsaken planet with his eyes closed.

Tiredly, he looked around the ship, then recognized voices behind him and turned to look down the gangplank. Isaac's eyes caught sight of him first and a sly look followed by a smile appeared on his fellow guildmaster's face. Isaac's eyes flicked to see something behind Crusty, and the sly look disappeared, though the smile stayed. Crusty looked lazily behind him to see Shiroe's eyes on them. That figured. Shiroe hadn't told them what _he_ wanted to say first so Isaac was to keep his mouth shut for now. "He's still in charge, is he?" he asked Isaac, getting in the first word.

"Yup. All of Yamato now." That made Crusty even more tired. Isaac waved a hand. "This is Nakalnad, Adventurer General of Minami is what you knew him as. He's the guildmaster of Plant Hwayden now. You'll be getting that in the story I'd imagine. This one is Brody Broadblade, former head of the resistance against Plant Hwayden down in Ninetails Dominion and the newest head of Nakasu now. They've decided to name their council the Ambassadors of Nakasu. Maverick_Master was sent as Susukino's rep since William's been tasked with something else. We were just helping get the new city council going since we've all gotten experience with how Shiroe handles it and he needed to be other places today."

Crusty raised an eyebrow. "Busy boy, isn't he, to get the entire island together? But really, Shangtzi, too?"

"In one morning and complete as of the time we left the Government center. His record to date."

"Well," Brody argued, "Shiroe-sempai's record in Nakasu was just about as fast."

"It was an extension of the years he spent working in Minami, though," Nakalnad said with a shrug. "I couldn't get down there, just trying to get the main city in order, so he offered to go for me. Wasn't hard to say 'yes'."

"Not like he would have taken a 'no'," Crusty said knowingly. They all chuckled at that, though Brody looked a tad confused. He was definitely new.

"You know what you're doing yet?" Nakalnad was giving Crusty an appraising look.

"No," he said honestly. "I know what he wants Kanami to do, since she wouldn't let him up until she had the basics, but we've just arrived, too. We're to get the full story next. I can't go with her if she's really to cross over the boundaries of the region into the rest of this side of the world."

"Can't?" Nakalnad asked with a frown.

"Yeah. I got one of the first curses from the cursed weapon flavor text. It threw me over here from over there, scrambled my brain, and made it impossible for me to leave the China server boundaries. It's a level one-hundred-eighty curse, too, so no one is high enough level to clear it. I'm a bit stuck, as it were."

Nakalnad gave him a look up and down, then looked at Isaac questioningly. Isaac shrugged. "Who knows what she'll do, but I won't put it past her to do something to fix it."

Crusty raised an eyebrow, then folded his arms. "Really, it isn't worth it. The last time we tried just hauling me off on this ship anyway and I ended up where I started all over again - lost, in pain, and wandering on my feet and in my head. At least the second time I wasn't also carrying a living arm with me." He turned away from them at the summons he was getting from the Log Horizon group. "Nice to meet you Nakalnad, Brody, Maverick_Master. Try to not let him make you jump through too many hoops."

As he walked off, Isaac told the other three, "Crusty's the only one I've missed. ...He's the only one who can control Shiroe even a little bit."

Crusty shook his head. He wasn't sure he could any more...but if he did ever get back to Yamato, he'd probably still try. Shiroe often needed a calmer hand on him to slow him down to a normal person's pace. It was sounding like he'd been moving fast as usual, though a single day to take down Shangtzi was rather astounding, actually. Crusty wondered if he'd had connections to the underground resistance from the first time he'd come over.

They squeezed into what would have been a spacious office for a ship except for the fact there were an awful lot of them. For some reason most of Log Horizon wanted to be present for the telling of the story. Nyanta and Miss Purrcy were missing, having begged off, and not all the guards had come either, just a couple of what looked like the big hats - Michael included - and a couple of the juniors. Shiroe let the younger kids go first. They were excited about how much traffic had gone to the newest store of Shopping District 8 and their report on the feel of the city was encouraging. It seemed like the resistance was helping keep things smoothly running and helping the few who were confused.

"We stopped by the restaurant on the way back and re-invited the chef," young Touya said. "He was a little nervous, but said if it looked like the new laws were real and would hold, he'd come. He looks like he's thinking he'll have to sneak away to come, though we tried to reassure him it would be okay because you were the one in charge of the changes - though we didn't put it like that, of course."

Shiroe smiled. "That's okay. Even if he learns the truth of it by sneaking out to get here, I think he'll be pleased in the end with the way things have turned out. He can then come with us or not as he wants. We'd welcome him, of course." Shiroe looked up at the other man standing with Michael. "Reed, let the Eagles know to be watching for him so Touya and Minori can get enough warning to be here to welcome him. He'll be nervous enough that having a stranger greet him might frighten him back off again."

"He knows all of us," Naotsugu said reassuringly. "We all met up to eat there. We just sat two and three to a table. We can do rotations on the ship until he gets here, if we need to."

Shiroe nodded and looked back at the juniors. They shook their heads - all four of them - and Shiroe moved on. There was a knock at the door and it opened to let two more in. "KR!" Kanami cried out. "They got you to come, too?" She was moving and Naotsugu was moving to intercept again. This time she paused and waited to see why, looking at KR and Tetorō who had stopped long enough to make sure she didn't move in.

"Yes, Kanami-chan, they did. It was the Councilor's usual sneak tactics, but it's fine. I've been promised I'll be kept busy and see new things here and there for a while." He glared at her a bit. "And of course you didn't even notice, though I was standing there the whole time you were grilling Shiroe."

Kanami blinked. "Well, you do have a hair color change. ...What have you got there, and what did you do to your hair?"

KR wrinkled his nose. "That was a punishment for sneaking out before we'd gotten permission to go land-side. I do expect them to reverse it," he scowled at the junior Eagles in the room and then Shiroe when they looked at him blandly. Shiroe gave him the same look and KR rolled his eyes. "As to what I've got, and what Tetorō's got, it's two sleeping werecats. Do try to keep it down. They're a bit temperamental, but Tetorō and Shiroe wanted them let out of their own room for a bit." KR frowned. "Of course, bringing them into yet another room doesn't change much, but...," he sighed and headed for some floor that let him lean back against some wall. Tetorō followed after him. Kanami did, too.

As they sat and deposited their two-arm sized burdens into their laps that then filled those same laps, Kanami crouched down to inspect them. Crusty could see a large calico feline in KR's lap and a large grey with white feline in Tetorō's lap. He was trying to understand, when the ear of the calico twitched and he felt it. That was Miss Purrcy and the other had to be Nyanta. Crusty blinked. Kanami didn't seem to catch the connection, fawning over how cute they were until Tetorō waved her away impatiently with scolding.

Log Horizon kept doing strange things and Crusty wasn't sure he could catch up at this point. He turned his eyes to Shiroe and looked into calm eyes that were looking into his. The depths in them made Crusty swallow, for the first time unsure in the presence of Shiroe. The man had become, or was becoming, something Crusty was afraid to fathom. He was almost more afraid for Shiroe's sake. Shiroe wasn't the kind who _should_ become something different from what he had been. He'd already been a perfect balance of caring, kind, ruthless, stubborn, and idealistic. Crusty had to wonder what aspects he'd been required to change and what he'd been required to take on that he hated.

As Shiroe's eyes turned to answer the call of Kanami, demanding to know how he'd come to be in the possession of two new creatures from the expansion pack, Crusty felt that Shiroe either had also seen the same depths of despair Miss Purrcy had commented on, or he was nearing that point ...and knew it. He was going to look it in the eye, too, not turn away from it at all.

Crusty's shoulders fell and he had to lean on his forearms where they rested on his knees as his head dropped. That wasn't a view for those eyes to see, nor a burden for those shoulders to bear. ...And all for the sake of all the Adventurers of Theldesia, he would do it anyway, because that's the kind of man Shiroe was. Crusty's eyes closed and he drew a slow, silent, deep breath. A surprising light hand rested on his back and he turned his head just enough to look. Black Akatsuki stood next to him. He raised an eyebrow at her. That wasn't like her, either. She gave him a small, sad smile and patted his shoulder. "He needs you. Very much. We all do. ...Please. Hear them out."

Crusty closed his eyes again. He could feel it, hear it not only in her voice but the voices of the rest of Log Horizon. They were all under the same strain, trying to keep Shiroe propped up so he could accomplish the goal he'd set for himself. Crusty understood it like he understood his own depths of despair. Shiroe was going to take them all to the brink and they were going to let him because that's what they all did, all for the sake of the same goal.

Crusty thought back to the looks he'd gotten from the other guildmasters just minutes before. They already knew something...had come from picking up a piece that Shiroe should have been able to manage just fine...and had let them handle for him. He sighed. Shiroe was going so deep he was calling _all_ of them in to help keep him afloat just long enough to win this battle...this prize he wanted so badly.

And they'd tapped him specifically. ...Maybe because he did understand the depths that Shiroe was going to have to traverse. If he could help Shiroe walk through that and come out the other side, they would do it - whatever it took to get him back to Yamato.

He twitched at the pain of even that thought, but...he couldn't do it. He couldn't let Shiroe look into that darkness alone. It was too hard for someone like him. Crusty took another breath and let it out slowly. He wasn't sure he could walk it again, either, but...if he wasn't alone either... He looked up and his eyes sought one. As he watched her, an eye cracked open, found clear vision, then turned and focused on his. Her whole body was sober, was also asking for it, though he didn't know yet why she cared, other than she had brought Shiroe the answers he sought.

Her ear and her eye turned to look at Shiroe and Crusty looked back at him. He was already grey around the edges, already he'd stepped into that path. When his eyes came back towards Crusty, Shiroe looked at Akatsuki and pain flashed across his face. Crusty almost drowned then. He looked back at Akatsuki and the pain was echoed in her face. "You've finally confessed and he's reciprocated," Crusty said quietly. Akatsuki paused, then nodded. "Haaah." Crusty closed his eyes one last time, then nodded. "Alright. I'll do it," he said quietly. "I think it's the worst thing in the world for him to do, but I'll help him however I can." He looked at her again. "Have all the rest of the guildmasters bought in yet?"

"Most. Ains won't. The rest have or will."

Crusty nodded. "If we all work together...we might just make it...maybe." He looked back at Shiroe, sat up, and folded his arms. Akatsuki moved away again. Loud enough to be heard in the room he said as he pushed up his own rectangular glasses, "Okay, Machiavelli in Glasses, tell me why it's worth it. What have you got in your back pocket that's the promise this is going to work?"

-:-:-:-:-

The meeting was wrapping up when Purrcy rose from KR's lap and padded over to Crusty. He pulled back to sitting upright and she stepped up in his lap and curled up to sit in his lap. She blinked at Shiroe, her ears pricked at him. "I think you've just been awarded a lap-anvil, Crusty" Tetorō quipped. "You can pet him, he doesn't bite," Tetorō's head tipped as he thought about that, then added, "...usually."

After another brief moment, Crusty's hand came down on Purrcy's head and stroked down her back. She'd stayed rather large cat, though smaller than she'd been on KR's lap. She twisted her head somewhat backwards to look over her back at Crusty's face. He paused as if not sure. She gave him a slow blink and went back to looking at Shiroe. Crusty gave a slight sigh and his fist clenched slightly. [Pet,] she ordered. Crusty jumped just a little as members of the guild chuckled.

"Really, Mister Crusty, it's okay. Purrceus likes to be pet and it is rather relaxing," Isuzu reassured him. The others nodded.

Crusty sighed slightly, then pet her again. After the third pet he complained quietly, "It really is so strange, though." After the sixth pet, he gave up and gave in to the mesmer slightly and she relaxed, putting her chin down on her front legs.

"KR, Michael, will you take Kanami, Erius, Leonardo, and Coppelia? I think a party on the deck of the ship with the others of the legion would be a good way to introduce them in preparation for our next task. You can have the sub-guild call everyone over, please, Michael. I'll leave the hosting to the hospitality brigade." He smiled at the children. Naotsugu raised an eyebrow and Shiroe nodded at him, too. Shiroe looked over to Nyanta and he turned his head away, expressing his distaste in going to another party with his silence. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at Tetorō and he gave a look of distaste in staying.

Purrcy lifted her head quickly and stared at Tetorō. Tetorō looked back at her and she glowered at him. He slumped and sighed and gave a small nod without looking at them. "Thank you, Tetorō," Shiroe said. Tetorō leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes and Purrcy put her head back down on her legs again. When Tetorō started petting Nyanta as his punishment to them, Nyanta glared at Purrcy. She just flicked her ear at him. He was trying to decide if he was going to attack Tetorō or not when Tetorō went to scratching instead of petting and Nyanta quickly caved and let him, surprising Tetorō. Tetorō's smile was slow in coming, but he settled having found out a new thing that pleased him.

"What a strange guild," Crusty murmured to her. The tip of her tail lifted and fell in agreement. She purred, though, saying that it was alright. They liked it.

A different hand interrupted his - heavier, unafraid, and warm. She rolled away from it and grabbed it with her forepaws. The fingers of the hand clamped down on her chest, holding her in place. She chose not to bite, though her teeth were on the hand. "Are you going to leave Kanami's party alone, then?" Naotsugu asked quietly. They were distracted by Michael and the Eagles who were escorting them out.

"Yes," Purrcy said quietly, looking up into his eyes. Speaking as a Summon would let everyone hear. "I only need the ones that belong to Akiba." She squirmed out from under his hand and climbed up on Crusty's shoulder that Naotsugu was leaning over and put her nose on his. "Tell Nakalnad and Isaac to be prepared," she whispered in his ear as she purred and rubbed her head on his cheek. She ended up small cat on Crusty's shoulder as Naotsugu walked out the door after the rest. Her tail swished across Crusty's chest.

"Ah!" Crusty leaned back and she had to crouch down and hold on a little tighter. Her tail was caught and pulled on until she'd tumbled down into Crusty's lap and a grey and white furball was tackling her and holding her down to roughly groom her face. She pawed at him to get him to stop, growling. Hands were coming down to grab Nyanta and she suddenly grew large and rolled over to hold him down.

"Lay off, Nyanta," she said sternly. "I can't do proper telepathy as a Summon when I haven't been summoned. Everyone hears it. I had to whisper to him." She held him down, waiting for him to relent.

"You're being awfully free around Crusty," Shiroe scolded her back.

"He knew it was us the moment he laid eyes on us," she said back without looking away from Nyanta. "He has to know anyway. Just not the last bit. That will send him over the edge right now. You have to tell Isaac and the other generals to keep their mouths shut since you've told them. I'll tell him after the repair." Tetorō reached in and took Nyanta back and went to sit in a chair across from Crusty. Nyanta's tail still twitched and he kept his eyes on her.

"Why's he back?" Shiroe asked, looking at Nyanta.

"Because we have Crusty and need to give him his examination next. He's invested."

Shiroe sighed. "Right." Purrcy politely got off Crusty's lap, now that he'd been slightly traumatized by a cat fight in his lap, and sat upright in front of him to look at him. Her tail wrapped around to lay over her front paws. She decided on just shy of panther size - or about three-quarter size.

"So...Crusty," Shiroe's head was on his hand, his elbow on the desk in front of him, "I don't have to explain who they are then, but you should understand that all half-beasts in Theldesia can do this, since they've already discovered it here in Shangtzi. That includes the Adventurer beast-halves. Most of them haven't learned it, though. Purrcy was the first one that we know of that did and she's taught Nyanta. There's one other in Akiba right now that knows and we're working on slowly introducing the concept to the rest of the city through the lessons at the Akiba Adventurer Academy. Nazuna can do it and West Wind Brigade makes up most of our teachers so they're in charge of that. Keep it quiet, please."

Crusty nodded. "It's too weird anyway," he said giving Purrcy a pained look.

"Except you need the healing," she disagreed.

Crusty shook his head. "I can't be." She tipped her head at him and he explained further. "It's part of the curse. I can't recover HP. Not by spell, potion, or even resting. Kanami's been training me - quite accidentally I'm sure - to stay alive while we're out and conserve HP as we fight. I've learned how to dodge really well, actually, and tell when an area effect attack is coming and how far out I have to be. She scolds me even worse if I Cathedral while we're out, you see." He sighed and Purrcy could see how low his HP was as she looked at his stats. "When we get back I let Mise do the honors. It's the only emotional reaction I can draw out of her; the only satisfaction she gets out of life. That way I can be in town at full HP again after the resurrection until we get dragged out for the next one."

"Any other symptoms?" Purrcy asked.

"I can't receive or send chats."

"Hmm...I'd like to run one experiment for that one, if I could." She was looking at all the layers of him she could see without dropping too deeply.

"Sure," he shrugged.

"Step outside the door with me." She turned to Shiroe. "Call me with a conference chat. I want to see if he can hear you talking to me and him that way. It has elements of both the chat function and radio - if you will, though that's not exact."

Shiroe nodded and Crusty rose to his feet. Nyanta struggled out of Tetorō's hands and lap and walked with them. They let Crusty open the door and close it. He had hands, after all. "Purrcy, Crusty, can you hear me?" Shiroe said.

"I can," Purrcy said, watching Crusty. "Quote his least favorite poem until he begs you to stop." She went inside and tweaked the chat subroutine until he winced. She stopped then, resetting it all. "Hmm..., okay. We're coming back in."

"Did you hear any of it?" Shiroe asked Crusty as they all returned to their positions, though this time Nyanta stayed sitting near her.

"Sort of?" Crusty said. "At some point I heard sounds, but I couldn't distinguish them as words or anything."

Purrcy nodded and faced Shiroe formally. "The curse scrambled a random set of Adventurer traits with Person of the Land traits. Because it's a curse, like the flavor texts it's unforgiving. Even if I get the subroutine set right, it punishes him and makes it impossible to work regardless. I've reset it back to how the curse left it since that gives him the least pain and suffering. That doesn't mean it's impossible - it just means we can't use the simplest solutions."

"So...any recommendations on the best possible method then?" Shiroe asked and he looked at both Nyanta and her.

Purrcy walked to sit directly in front of Nyanta and stared into his eyes, then went inside and communicated with both halves of Inari until they reached a consensus. She returned slowly, but she was still weary enough to slump when she got back. They had taken a rather long time - for them. Tetorō was next to her to hold her up and cast a spirit healing spell on her. "Oh, that's nice," she said to him. "I'm glad you've learned to do those kind now."

"You shouldn't have needed it," he frowned at her, his hands tightening in her fur to pull her head to look at him.

She licked his chin. "They took a long time. I've been there about twenty years. It's apparently not an easy solution for them, either." He cast another one on her and she was able to stand on her own feet again. "You might want to do that for Nyanta, too. He didn't go up with me, but he's still had some residuals." She rubbed her head on Tetorō, then turned back to walk over to Shiroe.

She shrank, not really capable of the jump to the desk, and he reached down to pick her up and put her on the desk. He reached out a hand to pet her and she went down to a resting sit to rest her body. She looked at him soberly. "They really hate the flavor texts and cursings, too. They are an absolute restraint for them like they are for us. He threw several tantrums before they found a work-around that might do it. She's willing to let it ride since it's going to be a difficult side-quest for us and she's already in trouble for this one." Shiroe nodded.

"Crusty awake will be in too much pain as soon as we get about three miles out from the shore so he'll have to be in an artificially induced coma until the repairs are completed." She sighed. "And I'm going to have to work at the bit level. In order to meet the requirements of the curse and it's breaking, I have to go in and learn how an Adventurer is made, structured, and what each basic building block does and how it affects him - like learning micro-surgery. I've got the programming basics and the surgery ones, so they say I've got the ideal combination of skills to actually be able to do the work, so that's one thing in our favor."

Purrcy yawned, interrupting herself. "She says she'll let me have what cheats she can, mostly telling me what I've affected that isn't perceivable by the eye and only they would know. So in the end it will be like I've reprogrammed him the way we'd like to now, but it will be the hard backwards way. They're peeved it will take a long time. Adventurers are the most complex program in the system and they could change him in less time than it takes us to blink, but every time they tried he fizzed out and had to be rebuilt - the wrong way. We ran one experiment with this method and the curse let us, so it's turned out to be the only way, really."

"She ran all the game possible methods and they take even longer since it involves like a year to go here and obtain this super-rare ingredient and then go there on the opposite side of the world to get that super difficult to create mortar and pestle to then go find this hidden potion maker, win her trust with three sub-quests, and then come up with a horrible payment to get her to make the herb combination that might make it possible to get him to Yamato and then we start over again for each piece that's wrong with him. You get the picture." She'd let her ears flop as she'd tossed her head one way then the other as she talked about all the running around they'd have to do.

Shiroe's fingers drummed on the desk. He certainly understood by the pursing of his lips. "What a pain," Crusty finally said. "Why would it be worth it at all?" Shiroe looked at him. "Other than to keep you propped up, that is," he amended, "as important as that may be."

"Because we need you for the final boss battle. You start your training for that this next dungeon. The generals asked if you knew yet and that's what they were asking about. They've known since Nakasu you're going to be the world battalion General."

Crusty froze and blinked. "...World...level?"

"Yes," Shiroe said and Purrcy looked at Crusty and nodded, affirming it.

"As in...every Adventurer in the world, world battalion?"

"Yes," Shiroe said again, almost bored in tone. His chin was still in his hand as if he were trying to keep his head up instead of sleep on his desk. He didn't look particularly tired though. Perhaps more just a touch weary. Purrcy rose to her feet and walked onto his shoulder and around to lay over his neck, back legs over one shoulder and head and front legs resting on his other, and purred. His free hand came up and patted her on the head. Nyanta twitched and Shiroe patted the desktop. With an ear twitch, Nyanta jumped up on the desk and let Shiroe dig his fingers into his soft fur lightly. He went into thinking mode at that point and they did their best to not disturb him.

A light knock came on the door and it opened. Isaac poked his head in. "We were told to come and brought food along. Can we come in?"

"Sure," Tetorō's face lit up and he got up and pulled two more chairs up closer to the desk from the more open circle they had been in before. Akatsuki took dishes from Nakalnad and they both handed them around, Akatsuki putting three on the desk.

When Nakalnad and Isaac were sitting down, they pulled out drinks so they weren't completely sitting out the meal. "Getting filled in?" Isaac raised an eyebrow at Crusty as he lifted his tankard to his mouth.

Crusty's mouth turned. "I suppose you could say that. It's a bit more like being told that my marching orders are to walk into the burning flames of hellfire I've been ignoring burning at my back."

"That sounds normal," Nakalnad said dryly, lightly swirling his tankard in a hand relaxed as the arm was resting on the arm of his chair. He ran his other hand through his thick dark hair, took a deep breath and relaxed with a big sigh. His eyes went to fasten on Shiroe. "He's gone."

"Yes," Crusty agreed. "They lost me a long time ago, but whatever she said's important and he's putting it into the overall picture, I'd imagine. The last thing he said, though, was that you're all expecting me to head a massive world-wide army against the final boss?" He put his next bite of the savory-sweet teriyaki fish into his mouth and let the generals talk. Tetorō would keep them from straying where they shouldn't.

However, watching the others eat made it so Purrcy couldn't stand it and she leaped off Shiroe's shoulders for the desk and picked a plate and started eating. Nyanta growled at her so she pushed another over to him with her head so he could reach it without making Shiroe's grip on him slip too much. That settled him, but he made her sit and wait on him until he was done with punishing her for not remembering that wives saw to the needs of their husbands first then let her go eat. She sighed to herself, but didn't complain. Only Akatsuki noticed, like she noticed everything.

"Right," Shiroe said, startling them all. He looked around, then at the plate in front of him. "Oh, food. That's good, I'm hungry." He picked up the third plate, leaned back in his chair and started eating. "Nakalnad. Isaac. You've finished filling him in, then?" They nodded. Shiroe's eyes went to Tetorō and he gave a micro-shake of his head. Shiroe focused on his plate and it was empty fairly quickly. That was the sign he'd come out of the long-term planning and then had gone right into the short-term planning. Purrcy finished licking her plate clean, then went to sit upright in front of him, waiting for him to be done. Since she was the next to last to finish, Akatsuki made her plate disappear and they all merely waited for Shiroe. "Why'd you call for them specifically?"

"Assign them to Crusty, please."

His sharp eyes pinned her in place for a moment. "Fine." His eyes went to Isaac. "She wants to reassign you back to Akiba instead of letting you go on the train."

Isaac looked at them quietly for a moment. "Just me or the whole group?"

"Just you," Purrcy clarified.

Isaac nodded. "Can do."

"Thanks," Shiroe said. He wiped up the last of the plate and held it out. Akatsuki took it and his hands joined, interlacing fingers in front of him and his eyes never left Purrcy's face.

"I'm glad she really _is_ there whenever you expect it," Purrcy said calmly to him. "Don't cry the first time a plate drops to the floor and breaks."

He blinked, then blushed. "I'm sorry, Akatsuki. Thank you."

"I'll train Secretary," she answered back calmly, but she was blushing behind his back.

Purrcy let her whiskers twitch up slightly. "I hope that doesn't spoil him too much," she said but let it go, "I'm sure it's helpful to not have to worry about the details."

Shiroe had gone back into thoughtful mode already, but his head nodded faintly anyway. "You're trouble, you know that?" he said, still looking at her.

"Yes, I know, sorry," she answered. Her tail smacked Nyanta in the face for creeping up on her, then wrapped around his neck. He held still in surprise. Shiroe's lips twitched up which made Purrcy feel a little better.

"We'll talk about that later," he finally said. "It doesn't need to be worried about until we're ready to go anyway. As for today, why haven't we seen Yuudai and Majiyo yet? It's dark now, isn't it?"

"Yes," Isaac said, a touch worried at that comment.

"They're fine," Purrcy said. "We can go pick them up to get them freed up. They've been teaching the new priests."

Shiroe blinked. "How many?"

"About five."

"That's not too bad." His eyes narrowed. "All of them for which one?" She couldn't meet his eyes and he sighed at her. "You're trouble, you know that?"

"Yes, I know. Sorry," she ducked her head.

"Alright," he looked around at the rest of the men in the room, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the two green passes and held them out to Tetorō. "Take them into town. You, Isaac, and Nakalnad are their guardians to get them in, but the generals will go with Crusty back to the inn for him to let Mise bring him back up to full HP. Pick him up from the Cathedral when she's done and make sure he gets back here. He can collect anything he's got there and bring it with him. Tetorō will go with the cats to the Adventurer Hall to collect Yuudai and Majiyo. Meet back up before you come through the gate again. We've promised they'll always be escorted by at least two warrior class and they have to have a guild member with them, too."

Crusty looked at the three of them at the desk confused. "Why not just turn back into Purrcy and Nyanta?"

"Because they like to run on all fours every now and then. We'll be on the train a while and we've been on the ship. Plus there are things they can learn and do as cats they can't as felinoids." Nyanta's ears were back, mostly pointing at Nakalnad and Isaac. Shiroe looked at him with a rather fatalistic look. "They've known, too. It's not like it's easy to hide _your_ coloring, you know." Nyanta's ears fell and Shiroe sighed. "Just enjoy being a cat. It's keeping you young," Shiroe advised him as he rose to all fours. Purrcy shifted just enough his leaping bite missed her throat, though his forearm caught her around the shoulders. She twisted and landed on him as big cat again, her paw on his throat and her shielding spell encasing him.

With a whisker twitch he said, "That makes it worse later, remember?"

She bent over him and proceeded to wash his chest, shoulders, and neck with her tongue until he relaxed completely. When she let him up, he rolled over to rest on his belly again. Shiroe reached out and grabbed his ear gently. "Nyanta," he said quietly, "you're not allowed to punish her when it's the curse's fault. She's trying her best, too."

Nyanta rolled his head and pulled his ear out of the grip. "I understand, Guildmaster Shiroe."

"And Nyanta?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow. Nyanta's ears dipped apologetically. "Okay. See to it, both of you." Nyanta nodded. Satisfied, Purrcy leaped off the desk, turning into full panther as she hit all fours. She stopped to sniff at Akatsuki and purr in her ear, then moved on to join the other men who were rising to their feet, Nyanta by her side protecting her at the same time as wishing he could run as far away as possible. She purred for him and rubbed her head on his. She really didn't hold it against him. She just didn't like being pounced on every time the jealousy hit.


	104. Hope

Michael watched the four men and two werecats leave the ship and turn towards town. He considered following them, then opted to just watch from a distance. Since he'd been partnered with Tetorō, he'd finally learned a few of Tetorō's tricks for being light on the fingerprints. Michael had learned how to tap into Purrcy's recording history and have the line look like hers. When her sniffers walked down her lines looking for unwanted riders and attachments, they only saw her own stuff.

He'd added in one of his own agile sections in between them that exploded if a warning came along that sniffers were following along the line. The pieces of data left behind would camouflage with the trashed data he'd wound it through specifically to make it look like an old trash field. On his end, if anyone tapped into that line, or any line really, they got reruns of a nice family dinner at home. The final key to getting to the real data was his own and he only used it inside his foxholes. If his foxhole was compromised, it exploded and use of that key was erased. He didn't leave it behind, but he didn't want anyone to find out it was part of the package.

This time, he opted to find a quiet corner with a stiff drink in hand. He leaned against a bulwark and propped his heels up on the lowest rail of the guardrail, slipped into his foxhole inside, and turned on his internal vidscreen, bringing up his connection to Tetorō. It would be more fun to laugh at Purrcy that way, but if he wanted he could always watch both.

He was interrupted fairly quickly when the two groups separated. Michael scowled. They weren't supposed to have her wandering the streets without muscle and all three potential muscles had gone the wrong direction. "I need eyes and ears with a line back to me on Isaac's group," he ordered on the sub-guild line. He had a second internal vidscreen up by the time he was passed the line (through his secure butler and bomb sniffer - sometimes the boys liked to make sure he was staying sharp).

Even with having two screens up, he could only really focus on one at a time, so he put them both to record so he could go back and see what he might have to miss. He made sure first that Tetorō and the cats were going to be good. "Hey, Tetorō. You guys going to need backup?"

"Probably not. We're just going to make sure the two kids get home okay. Purrcy says they've lost track of time in the Adventurer Hall and Shiroe wants these two to get a good walk in before we shut them up in the train."

"Okay, but if a brawl's about to break out, give a shout-out."

"Sure thing."

They killed the connection and Michael decided to watch the generals first. They seemed to be arriving anyway. It was a three story inn, and the first level was the usual bar and eatery. The link switched over to one of the Eagles that was actually inside - likely one of the Intelligence detail then. There were a few Adventurers and customers sitting around the room.

A thin dark-haired woman was busing a table. He'd have called her a Person of the Land, particularly since there weren't many female Adventurers, but her stats read: _Mise, Guild: D.D.D, Level: 91_ , then all the other things as normal. Michael blinked and had to wonder if she was why Intel was inside. To find D.D.D. in Shangtzi, and at that low a level would make all of them itch to know why. "Has the waitress been willing to answer questions?" he asked down the line.

"Negatory. Glared like I was the bad oyster on the bottom of the bucket and stalked off...with only a 'hi, I've played with your guild before'."

"Too much like a pickup line, eh?" He didn't get an answer. Crusty had entered the room and was walking up to Mise.

Mise turned to face him and folded her arms. "Where's the rest of them? Managing to get drunk in a different bar tonight? Or caught up in another brawl at the Hall?"

"Partying on the Ocypete."

Her eyes did a quick glance at the Eagle sitting in the room, acknowledging that perhaps he hadn't been lying, but drawing attention to someone who didn't want it. Michael knew the pilot wasn't looking at them directly. The visual lines weren't tied to the eyes. They were more like the visual conference chats and showed area, though as if first person to the one the line was tied to. Her voice dropped. "Why are they back again?"

"Shiroe's messing around with politics again, and has given several quests at the Hall that he says are to help us get home. ...If he can, will you go and get help?"

Mise scowled at him, then turned away to pick up her dishes. "You want to eat first or die first?" It seemed an odd thing to ask unless she was joking.

"I already ate."

"Don't tell them where I am. I'm not going back."

Crusty shrugged. "If Shiroe calls any of us back can we really say no?"

"I will", her voice was firm. She headed towards the kitchen with her burden. Crusty followed her and stood in the doorway, leaning on the frame. A few moments later there was motion just beyond him and he rocked as if he'd been punched. Michael quickly called up Crusty's stats. He was dropping from 5 HP to zero, then burst apart into bubbles and disappeared. Mise had her back to the door and was walking back into the kitchen.

"Shall I pick her up, Commander?" the voice was grim.

"Go ask the two waiting at the door." Michael was cautious. He knew Isaac and Nakalnad were still standing by and they hadn't moved in or done anything. He wasn't sure interference was a good idea right now. If Shiroe had meant for them to protect Crusty, they would have gone in with him.

"They're headed out," the first line said. "Keep watch on her there and pick my line up. They waited to see that much, then moved."

"Roger." Michael kept the inn line and vidscreen up and opened a third to hook back into the first line. It was a somewhat dark street scene. Michael opened up the city map and watched the dots that were them. They were headed for the Cathedral. He marked the inn, so he'd know where it was, then turned his attention to Tetorō's group.

They were just walking towards Yuudai and Majiyo, who were sitting at their table still, surrounded by five young Adventurers. "Hey, you two, it's after dinner time," Tetorō said kindly. "I've been sent to retrieve you."

They looked up, chagrined. "Sorry, Tetorō," Yuudai said. "They were interested in learning how to bless weapons and we got caught up in exchanging lore and beliefs."

"Can they all?" Tetorō asked.

"Yes. I've taught them," Yuudai said. He jumped a little about the same time Majiyo did. They looked down in their laps, then cupped hands and lifted two little kittens up.

"Maiow!" Purrcy said plaintively to Majiyo. She smiled a little and pet Purrcy, then put the kitten on her shoulder. Yuudai, however, was looking more than a little nervous and looked at Tetorō as if he wasn't quite sure.

"Just put him on your shoulder, too," Tetorō said with a wave of his hand.

"Hey," one of the newest "priests" said with a frown. "Are those half-beasts?"

"No," Tetorō said breezily. "They're a new creature from the expansion. They're werecats from Yamato. Guildmaster Shiroe let me bring them out to stretch their legs. The boat's getting a bit small for them."

The boys looked at the werecats suspiciously. "They're small for a ship to be small, unless you came in a fisherman's craft."

"That's their smallest size," Tetorō winked at them and waved to the two from Crescent Moon. They rose, thanked their fellows, and followed after him. When they were in the street, the Eagles had to discourage a few Adventurers who'd seen the kittens from trying to capture them. The usual method was bumping into them accidentally, then distracting them with apologies long enough to let Tetorō escape.

"We need to go to the inn to meet up with Crusty," Purrcy said as they walked.

"I don't know where that is," Tetorō said. Michael helpfully put it on his map for him as a blinking pink dot. "Thanks." Michael added a brief "thumbs up" emoji. Tetorō grinned. "It's this way," he said leading them off.

"Um...is it really okay to be holding them like this?" Majiyo asked nervously.

"Why not?" Tetorō asked. "They like kids, and you're theirs anyway since you're the local priest and shrine maiden for them."

"Oh," Majiyo said in a small voice. Purrcy purred and rubbed her head on her cheek and she blushed.

"We have a sub-quest," Purrcy said to them. "We need to convince Mise she's coming home with us. ...But she's damaged, too. Mostly of soul rather than of body like Crusty. I think she may need a quiet place to go to that will let her rest. I'd like to give her a calling and have the two of you help her with it, since your roles fit quite nicely."

Yuudai was looking at Purrcy with some interest and Majiyo was listening closely to the little voice near her ear. "I'd like to somehow convince her that if she'd go to the shrine on Mount Fuji she'd be able to find rest and healing. It may not be essential that she's on Yamato when it's time to go home, but I'd rather not have her here and show up at home in China. That would be even more difficult than what she's already had to live through."

"She may not do well with the press of all of us on the ship, and I really don't think she should come on the train with us. Crusty says she won't fight anymore, but maybe if you two could take her in hand and pray over her and help her stay calm with MarketMaker while we're at the Maze, maybe we could send you three on a pilgrimage from Nakasu to Mount Fuji when we get back to Yamato. Then she could just rest as a shrine maiden for whichever of the five gods that have shrines there that she wants until it's time to go home. She might find that being able to be quiet and meditate helps her heal enough to hold on until then."

"You don't want us to go with the train to make more priests and bless more weapons?" Yuudai asked in surprise.

"No. You're needed in Akiba. You can make more priests on your journey with Misa for Yamato that way, too. If one of those five wanted to go with the train, I suppose they could, but each culture has its own way of believing - even in the role-play and flavor text. Our other emissaries can pass on the need and each region's own priests and religious role-players will pick it up, I think."

Majiyo nodded enthusiastically. She hadn't really wanted to do all that traveling apparently. Yuudai considered it rather quietly. "...Is it a request from one Adventurer to another, or is it an assignment from Inari-no-Izanagi?"

"Hmm," Purrcy inspected him, then turned away. "Ask the one on your shoulder. That's the one you'd like to hear from. I'm the Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami. He's official now, though not particularly enjoying it."

"But it was you that gave us the commission?" Majiyo asked her, puzzled.

"I was Oracle for him at that time, yes. It was before Nyanta was made Priest so they were both using me as Priestess then."

Yuudai nodded. "Mister Nyanta, I'd actually really like to learn more about what my role as a priest of Inari-no-Izanagi means to Yamato."

"So, mew wouldn't mind a pilgrimage to the shrine to learn?" Nyanta was sitting balanced on Yuudai's shoulder with his tail wrapped around his feet.

"No. I think that would be a good thing to do."

Nyanta's ears turned and the tip of his tail lifted and fell until he finally said, "You may accept it as an assignment, priest Yuudai. It would be acceptable to take both Majiyo and Mise with you as well."

Yuudai's eyes got very large. "Th-thank you, Inari-no-Izanagi."

"Is it so strange to have the god talk to you personally, Yuudai?" Purrcy asked. "He did when he commissioned you as well, you know." Yuudai flushed a little. "Well...I tease. Let it be. You've been assigned it, I'll expect you both to try hard. We're here. Shall we go prevent her from escaping out the back, Nyanta? Tetorō can watch the front, while we all watch the clergy perform their task." She was jumping down from Majiyo's shoulder to the ground and turning to somewhere between half and three-quarter size cat.

Michael took a moment to glance at the vidscreen that had Nakalnad and Isaac on it. They were just collecting Crusty and a quick look at his stats said he was at full HP and looked normal, except the status of "Cursed" that had been there before now, too. Michael now had two screens set to the inn, from slightly different points of view, but both from near the main entrance. He switched Tetorō's over to Purrcy and got a moving view until they were from nearly opposite sides of the room and he could see that he had BlackJack as the other screen.

The werecats were short enough they could only be seen in brief flashes and glimpses as they went past open areas towards the back of the room. Mise was just entering the kitchen and they waited out of her sight until she was back in the main eating room again. A few patrons had left and Majiyo and Yuudai were the only ones to have come in since Crusty, it appeared. They sat down rather towards the center of the room, looking just like what they were - young Adventurers, tired and hungry from a long day.

Mise, without much interest, set down the refill mugs at the tables she'd been waiting on, then walked over to the table with the newcomers. "Can I get you anything?" she asked somewhat mechanically.

"Two dinners and waters, please," Yuudai asked, "and do you have a place with running water we can wash up in before we eat?"

"Restrooms are over there," she pointed and walked back to the kitchen.

Both rose and went to the restrooms. Since there wasn't anything interesting to watch, except the three warriors getting closer to the inn, Michael watched Nyanta from Purrcy's point of view and lifted out of the code realm enough to drink his own alcohol. Nyanta moved, drawing him back to watch again. The grey cat was sitting upright, his ears focused towards the restrooms and a most peculiar expression on his face. Michael sighed at himself. He was just too much of a nosy neighbor. "Purrcy what's he doing?" He asked from within the code realm so as to not give her position away in the inn.

"Hi, Michael. They've done the simple first purification ritual and called on Inari-no-Izanagi in prayer and supplication for his aid to help them in accomplishing the assignment. It's Nyanta's first time to hear such a thing directly. He's surprised is all."

"Does he have to come up with the answer?" Michael wouldn't believe that was very fair.

"No. But it might help if he also added to the supplication, being the main Priest. The request's already gone up through him. It's a bit confusing to explain, I think."

"I might have some idea," Michael reassured her. Since the AIs were linked through Nyanta and Purrcy it was likely they heard or felt the requests that were made closest to them, like they were antenna with a direct connection. "You okay if I watch over your shoulder? I've been linked to Tetorō but he's standing next to BlackJack and I already had that link from earlier."

"Fine." He laid an "obvious" link to her video content as if he didn't have the other and used it, hiding all signs of the other link before then, since she would spend a few milliseconds to actually go see if it was properly done.

Yuudai and Majiyo made it to the table before Mise did. When she walked out of the kitchen with their food and drink, Purrcy and Nyanta both walked calmly to sit upright side by side in front of the kitchen door and faced the room to watch what they would do. "Is this your inn?" Yuudai asked her.

"No. Do you need a room?"

"Not tonight," he said apologetically, "just dinner ...and maybe a little advice. We're new to Shangtzi."

"I'm not sure I can be of help." Mise was trying to be polite but not get involved.

"We were wondering if there was a way to help someone we know to handle the difficulty of being on Theldesia. She's been trying hard, but it's been too long for her, having to live the reality of being here this long," Majiyo said, looking at Mise earnestly. "We've tried to explain that we might still make it home, that some people with a lot of capabilities are working hard for her and for all of us, but she's losing hope. How do we help her and other people have hope?"

Mise's face hardened, but as she looked at the young, earnest faces in front of her, she gave in just a little. It was hard to say harsh things to faces like that. "I'm sure I don't know," she said sadly.

"Is it that she needs a purpose for her life again?" Yuudai asked. "I discovered that was my problem. I was just angry all the time. Then because I started hurting others to try to get rid of my anger and pain, I got into trouble." He blushed a little and rubbed the back of his head. "Majiyo helped me after that to see how to live here without being so angry, but I was still feeling lost until I decided to move towards an opportunity that presented itself to me. I've been feeling a lot better since then, and every time I'm ready to move forward again, something comes along to help me do just that. Perhaps I'm not completely better, but I am starting to look for those things that bring me a little more hope that there is a reason for being here." He looked up soberly into Mise's eyes. "I don't know if that kind of hope can help the person we want to help, but I'd love to offer it as a possibility. What do you think? Would that be something we could try? Might that work?"

Mise paused to consider his question. Cautiously she asked, "What purpose did you find?"

"I accidentally earned the sub-class Witch and cursed some people I shouldn't have. They discovered it was me and helped me correct it properly, then instead of punishing me, they forgave me and told me how to walk instead. I punished myself a lot after that, so it wasn't like it didn't happen. But Majiyo," he glanced at his partner with a shy look, "when she forgave me, she also began to teach me to forgive myself." His eyes were still earnest for Mise.

"I was told that instead of using my sub-skill for evil, I should use it for something good. They suggested I use it in a specific path of Shinto priest. It seemed to me that because I had done wrong to earn the sub-class, if I could do something right from then on, I would be showing everyone that I really had changed inside, or at least that I was trying." He looked down and bit his lip. "It was hard though. I don't know any other Shinto priests and I had to guess a lot at what I was supposed to do." He shrugged, "You know. Most of us only go to the shrines for New Year's and things like that. But I started meditating, and trying to learn to pray, and to keep myself purified in ways that seemed right. I listened to my guildmates and helped them solve disputes, that sort of thing."

He looked up and his eyes shone. "And then, when I thought it might not be worth it after all, I was called over to the guild who had helped me before and I got to talk to one of the gods of this world and be commissioned by him to be his priest. Majiyo went with me and she was accepted as a shrine maiden. It was the morning after a big special where the purification power of the priests and shrine maidens had been shown to be essential and I'd stayed up almost all night thinking about it and how cool it would be to be able to bless a lot more of the world with that kind of power, if that was what I was. And I even prayed a little that if I could move along that path, I would really like to do that. To have that desire answered that way, and so quickly...I was so happy." He was silent with the memory for a moment.

Mise was watching him with such an interestingly peaceful face that Michael had to stop and wonder at it. There was motion at the door, but Tetorō made the three men who entered stop and wait so the conversation wasn't interrupted. Michael noticed that Crusty's eyes were affixed to Mise's face.

"I've been doing what I was told since then. It wasn't a big thing, but I was given the power to purify weapons so that the goal of purified anima and psyche could be taken to the whole world. I can teach that to other people who want to be - or even just role-play - priests and help the world become healed and whole again. Mostly it's so we can do our part to get us all home again, since that's one of the things this world needs from us Adventurers before it can let us go home, but I'm so glad I can do it."

He bit his lip again. "And then...tonight even...I was given another thing I had been thinking of that I wanted to do to learn even more about how to move forward. ...I was given an important, even if small, assignment directly from my god, which is rather big to me just by itself, and I was given permission to go up to his main shrine to learn even more, if I can accomplish that assignment." Yuudai was clenching his fist now, trying to contain his emotions. "Little by little, I'm being given so much more, because I have a direction to go that will lead to blessing the world and the people in it...and it all started with a mistake because I was too angry and was losing hope. I would wish to be able to give this hope to everyone that was like me."

"Where will you go?" Mise asked quietly.

"To the shrine of Inari-no-Izanagi on Mount Fuji in Yamato," Yuudai said with gleaming eyes. "The father of the world has called to me and asked me to bless his children, and the mother of the world scolded me and set my feet straight so that I could receive these blessings." Michael would have said he'd really fallen deep into the thick of things...except it was all technically true.

Mise's face was crumpling. "You - you've really had him talk to you?"

"Yes," Yuudai said.

"I've heard him also," Majiyo said quietly. "I heard Inari-no-Izanami scold Yuudai, help him to correct his error, then walk away only saying to him to try to walk rightly from then on. I thought if someone could forgive like that, then I could also. I've been trying hard, too. When we were called to speak with them again, I wanted to support Yuudai, but I also wanted to do what the shrine maidens who only role play did, and more, if I could. To be called on to be a real shrine maiden was an awesome gift."

"I, too, have been doing what I can to become better, both so I can also move forward, but also so I can move forward with Yuudai. He's been very patient with me and he teaches me what he learns so I don't fall behind. I've been privileged to always be standing by his side when he is called to move forward so that we move forward together. Even if we walk through hard days, when we're together that makes it just a little easier. Yuudai can encourage me and I can encourage him. I'm going to go with him to learn more, too. We've been told to go on a pilgrimage from Nakasu to Mount Fuji and then we'll be trained in the shrine, but we have to do one other thing for the pilgrimage to work."

"What is that?" Mise asked.

"We have to help someone who is like I was," Yuudai said kindly. "We have to help someone else who has decided to give up hope. ...That's why we were asking you if you know how we could do that. We've been trying to learn from our guildmistress, but we haven't had to do it on our own yet, without the help of the others we lean on."

Mise looked at them for a long moment and her face went sad. "I'm sorry. I don't know either. I'm glad you were able to find the way, but no god has come to talk to me, nor do I know how to find hope in this forsaken place. I wish you good luck."

She turned away from their table and Michael's eyes were caught by BlackJack's video and his eyes widened. Standing in front of Mise, who was only just seeing them, were Nyanta and Purrcy, but not really them. Nyanta was dressed in a red kimono with geometrical white patterns overlayed with embroidery of a weathered tree. Under it were more kimonos layered alternating black and red. It was the same kimono Purrcy had worn when she had been the Oracle for Inari-no-Izanagi. Purrcy was in a black kimono embroidered with the outline of white and red flowers. She also had layers on in alternating red and black. They both wore traditional Japanese headdresses, Nyanta's in black and Purrcy's in white, both with red embroidery on them. Their hands were hidden inside the long sleeves of the kimonos, held together inside them in front of their middles. Mise stared open-mouthed.

"Must you hear hope from the mouth of the gods in order to believe it, Mise, when you've been hearing it for so many years from those who care about you? Will you only even begin to desire it when strangers of youth come to convince you of it? The gods rarely do their own work, when personal faith and desire are necessary to move one's own feet towards them. Have not Yuudai and Majiyo done their own work to gain that hope that can move them forward now? How can you do less?" Purrcy's scold was as ever. Said kindly, but with no punches held back, she held up the glaring mirror for Mise to review.

Mise blinked, then blinked again and tears rolled down her cheeks. "I - I'm sorry," she whispered. "I've turned them all away in my bitterness."

"Are there none who still stand with you in your mind? Haven't I talked to them and heard them today? And haven't you also talked to three and more today? Don't set aside their efforts that continue," Purrcy scolded further.

"What do I do?" Mise whispered.

"Remember them and turn to them," Nyanta said. "Let them continue to help mew - accept their words and keep working hard to find the path forward."

Mise looked at him, then Purrcy, and back again. Michael looked at their statuses and it only read that they were the Priest of Inari-no-Izanagi and the Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami. No other data was available. "I want to - to learn the path forward again...I think. I know I'm tired of walking in the pain of the darkness I am in."

"If mew will come with Yuudai and Majiyo to Shrine Mountain, mew will be accepted as an acolyte. Mew may rest there and see if meowr path forward is opened to mew also, even if mew don't choose to serve in a shrine," Nyanta said.

Mise had for just a moment a light of hope in her face, then it fell. "But...I don't want to leave Crusty. He can't leave China, and...he's been one of my constant supports."

The hand reaching for her fell lightly on her shoulder. "Mise," Crusty said quietly, "I would also like to see you healed." Her head turned to him quickly. "I'm going. Just before coming here, Shiroe told me that they need me back. He's going to fail if I don't go. Already he's on the path we've been on, and it's one he should never have to walk. I need to be there to see he survives, or I won't be able to be kind to myself."

"But - how? How can you go?"

Crusty nodded his head towards the Priest and Priestess. "They know how. They've already promised it to Shiroe, that I'll be able to go and to be healed. Please come with me and hold my hand, even if I'm unconscious, so that I know you're coming too. I don't want to leave you here to fall into worse darkness without me."

Before either of them could turn to look at Nyanta and Purrcy again, they had transformed back into the werecats from before, but full-sized this time, sitting calmly with their tails over their front paws. Mise finally nodded her head, though it looked like the decision was a hard one. She looked back to see the werecats and they looked back at her solemnly. She brushed her wet face with the back of her hand. "Messengers of Inari, thank you." She bowed to them, held it, then rose again. They both bowed back and Purrcy stepped forward to purr for her and rub against her.

"It's okay to pet her," Crusty said, and this time his look was grateful. As Mise ran her hands through Purrcy's soft fur, Crusty put his hand on Purrcy's head and she looked at him solemnly. "Thank you."

Purrcy shook her head and looked pointedly at Yuudai and Majiyo. [They did it. It was their words and request for divine intervention in Mise's behalf.]

Crusty turned to them, looked at them, then inclined his head to them. "Thank you for helping Mise find hope again."

"We're glad we can be of help," Yuudai said seriously. "We'll make sure she gets to where she can continue to move forward even more. We've been given the assignment from Inari-no-Izanagi to watch over her for you."

Crusty's broad shoulders relaxed. "Thank you. I will be unconscious from nearly the time we leave this place until I'm fully healed. I won't be able to do it until then."

"It's our pleasure." With those words from one man to another, the burden of care was shifted.

Nakalnad and Isaac approached then. "Mise," Isaac said, "we've been assigned to take care of Crusty. Please know we'll do our best to see he arrives where he needs to be for his own healing. If the gods desire it, I'm sure you'll both meet again after you've both been sufficiently healed."

Mise's tears were falling again. "How is it that the guilds of Akiba have come to search us out?"

Isaac put his hand on her shoulder. "Because we are family, Mise. We are all each other has. Rieze has specifically scolded me most firmly, and with those tears of hers in her heart that never fall from her eyes, to see you are both brought back." He looked at Crusty, who looked down and nodded. "I pushed her into the drink for saying she was going to beat you, instead of letting those tears fall. If she couldn't do that much, then she could let the Yamato Bay do it for her."

Crusty put the back of his hand to his mouth and laughed. "Yes, that is so like her," Mise said dryly, then looked away and sighed.

The view from Purrcy's perspective was changing until she was standing next to Tetorō. Michael watched BlackJack's screen instead. Tetorō reached down and rubbed Purrcy's head, then scratched Nyanta's. "Shall we go?" he asked quietly. "Yuudai and Majiyo need to eat and Crusty and Mise need to gather their things. They have their guardians, so I'm sure they'll make it back." He motioned he'd carry them if they wanted, but they shook their heads and the three of them left the inn quietly.

Michael switched his connection to Purrcy back to Tetorō so he could watch the cats, who needed more watching than Tetorō did. They chased each other back and forth across the street and around Tetorō as he walked slowly down the street towards the docks. "Kind of nice when they do things like that, isn't it, Michael?" Tetorō said quietly.

"Yeah," Michael said. "It's nice to get the warm fuzzies every now and again. I noticed you didn't heal them."

"No, it was really them - really Hahaue and Chichiue. Purrcy just put the proper labels and clothing on them. That's not too bad a cost, so I'll wait until we get back."

Michael rode in silence with him after that, but kept him company while helping him keep an eye on the cats. "They're not going to wait much longer, are they?" he asked after pinning down what he'd been seeing.

"Probably not," Tetorō agreed. "I think they almost did it right on the desk in Shiroe's office this evening. It was even in the middle of a fight. ...The pull was there. ...I think it's okay, though. It's them, not Inari."

Michael sighed. He wanted to be a long ways away when it happened. He closed his eyes for a moment and shoved emotions and thoughts a long ways down again. "Come sleep with me that night, will you Tetorō? I'll need more restraining than the boys can handle."

Tetorō snorted. "And someone's shoulder to cry on that won't kill you first. Softy. Just because your sister's growing up and becoming a woman."

Michael snorted a soft laugh. "How well you've come to know me, partner."

"I know, right?" Tetorō said in his old flippant idol way.

Michael smiled. "At least you know I'll return the favor without making any other move on you."

"Better not!" Tetorō growled in mock aghast. "Or I _will_ Cathedral you!"

Michael sighed and downed the rest of his drink. He rose to his feet and walked to the gangplank and leaned on the railing as they entered the dockyard. When they were most of the way to the Ocypete he walked down the gangplank to meet them. Purrcy bounded up to him and he crouched down and wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "You're so happy to have won another round of scolding," he teased her as he released her with a grin. "How many is that now? Five for five?"

"Oh, lots more than that. Seven in the guild if you count Crescent Moon and loads more than that. I don't count. I only care that everyone ends up happy and on the right path."

"Or at least just on the right path," he teased. He rose and looked at Nyanta. "You did a fine job as well," he said. "Yuudai and Majiyo worked hard. Thanks for helping them."

Nyanta nodded. "I couldn't let their words and efforts go to waste. They had worked very hard."

"That's his soft spot," Purrcy said, purring and weaving herself around Nyanta now. "It was quite a wonderful play and outcome. I hope they're able to continue forward from now on also."

"Indeed," Nyanta said calmly - until he put a paw on her to hold her still and started licking her. Both Michael and Tetorō complained at them loudly until he quit, telling him to go and get a room already. Purrcy laughed at them, then led them up the gangplank, bounding up it lightly, then up onto the rail, to look back at them with happy ears and waving tail. Nyanta sat down and stared at her. "Beautiful."

Michael's hand fell on Nyanta's head and Tetorō's on the back of his neck. "No, really, Nyanta. Take her to your room. It's really obvious that it's time. When the bride shines that much in your eyes...that's the time to make her your wife," Michael said quietly, but with pride and understanding.

Nyanta tensed under their hands, then took a deep breath and rose to his feet. He took a few steps onto the gangplank. Michael put his hand on Tetorō's shoulder as the younger man folded his arms. Nyanta looked back at them and Tetorō nodded at him. "It's okay, Nyanta. She understands. We all do. Just do your best to love Hahaue the way we do. That's all we all want." Nyanta's ear turned, then he turned back, looked up at Purrcy and ran up the gangplank to stand on his hind feet and touch her nose with his. He ran onto the ship and she leaped down and followed after him, chasing him again.

Michael's hand tightened on Tetorō's shoulder as the younger began to shake. He turned Tetorō around and into his arms and held him, looking up into the starry sky, trying to not go looking, to let it lie. He would hate himself for the rest of his life if he watched her tonight. He put his head down and said in Tetorō's ear, "Don't watch. Don't go looking. Stay here with me tonight and I'll stay with you. If you want, we can pretend it won't happen. He's a stubborn old mule. Just because we say so won't make it happen."

"You're an idiot," Tetorō said and hit Michael's chest with his forehead. "...Still...shall we get a room somewhere else tonight?"

"No. You won't be able to walk back on the ship if we don't walk up the gangplank tonight. Life still has to be lived properly so we can get past this part. If we run tonight, we're likely to keep running and not look back. It's something we learn early in our training. Always keep walking forward into the fire if you want to get to the other side. You're more likely to get hurt or die if you turn around and run."

Tetorō didn't like it but he caved. "Fine, but it will have to be on your strength. I might go killing things if you don't hang onto me."

"Yeah," Michael looked up into the sky again and breathed the cool salty air. "I'm going to be thinking about exactly what I'm killing when the right time comes. ...Come on," he let Tetorō go from the hug, but left one arm around his shoulders, turning him towards the ship and gangplank again. "Off we go. One foot up and up the gangplank. Then we can go hide in a corner and cry ourselves to sleep while we dream of really, really sharp weapons against useless shields." He got them moving. "Do you imagine all the blood and gore, too? Or just the lifeless eyes and motionless fingers?"

"Ew!" Tetorō shoved him with his shoulder. "Must you get so graphic?" They reached the top of the gangplank.

"You're the one that said you played first-person shooter games. Which one was it?"

" _Space Gun_. I liked that you could get the flamethrower and other weapons, not just the gun."

"That's a graphic one. But, what? Your dad's an alien?"

"When it comes to understanding humans, yes," Tetorō was dry. "It was an old game in the corner of the arcade that the owner liked and couldn't bear to part with. Everyone else wanted to play the new games, so I usually had all the time I wanted on it. When I would get tired of aliens, or if I really needed to see a face, I'd play his other old one next to it - _Steel Gunner_. I liked that the missiles let me blow up everything on the screen and I could kill bystanders if I wanted to let out a little steam from school that day. It was a challenge to play and that made it more interesting, too." They'd reached the set of cabins where Michael bunked. It wouldn't do to go to the shared room of Tetorō's, particularly with KR bunking there, too. Gareth and Brenner wouldn't have cared, and would have completely understood, actually. ...Actually..., there was the possibility KR would as well, but they didn't need to test that tonight.

Michael opened the door to his room and let Tetorō go in first. "My personal favorite was _Carrier Air Wing_. I think it was called _U.S. Navy_ here. I wanted to go into the Naval Air Force way back when I was young. That one let me be there before I was old enough to get in. I was flying the F/A-18 Hornet before I was flying it for real off of real Navy airships."

"That's why you can't quit and retire, then?" Tetorō asked. Perhaps he was teasing.

"Yup. That's why. I don't have the skills to beat the arcade game any more. I don't want to give it up so I keep flying the real thing."

Tetorō snorted a laugh into the back of his hand. "Like they'd let a slow hand and short eye fly the real thing. Give it up. You're just having too much fun in the real thing."

"Yeah," Michael sighed. "At least I was. They were going to hang me out to dry after this round. I've hit the age limit for being a pilot out on duty. I want to try for one more round. I'm not really ready to leave Japan either, honestly. I like it out here, though I miss home just like anyone. Can I get you a drink?" he asked for politeness sake. "Wish we really could get drunk here. It would make everything easier, you know?"

"No," Tetorō said firmly. "Dad didn't always come home drunk, but when he did, it was worse. He didn't do the silent scolding those nights. Those nights he hit first and asked questions later. While I might like to forget he and everything around me, I don't do it with alcohol."

Michael raised an eyebrow at him slightly. "I take it you didn't mind the change to the bachelorette party plans, then?"

"Nope," Tetorō said. "...Well, I have tasted the alcohol here, but without the effect I just can't see the draw. It's rather nasty, actually."

Michael laughed. "True. Definitely an acquired taste and the effect makes it more worthwhile. Well, I've already had my alcohol for the night, really. That was my beverage while watching the show tonight. Juice or water, then?"

"Something pale," Tetorō said, sitting to the little table in the room and putting his chin down on his folded arms. He was looking out the small porthole in the side of the ship opposite him.

Michael pulled out an apple juice and set it down in front of Tetorō. For himself, he took a darker colored drink. That much had stayed the same. Pale drinks were light and often sweeter. Darker ones were more full-bodied and robust, though some of them were sweet enough to rot your teeth as you drank them. This wasn't one of those. He didn't favor that much sugar in his drinks - which is why he liked the alcohols a little better. It would be okay for tonight, though. He sat in the chair across from Tetorō and draped his arm over the back of his chair. He took a drink, then held the cup in his hand. Tetorō was slowly twirling his drink on the table, making the liquid swirl and tilt. "What'cha lookin' at?" Michael asked him.

"Just the air and memories," Tetorō said, answering honestly as he should for the check-up. "...Sometimes ...I really did like looking as beautiful as any girl. When I could come out of a department store and stop traffic...it was rather amazing. Teasing the same boys who teased me and dropping them...felt really good too. But when it came down to it...I really always wished he'd just see me as the boy I was from the beginning."

His head turned to lay down on his arm. "Mom was trying the dress on me that she'd bought for her friend's daughter to see if it was the right size. She was probably more devastated that the money was wasted because the dress was torn, at least at the beginning. When he just wouldn't listen to her explanation, even after a week, she had to give up. But it went on so long that she broke watching me break - though I never did. It just made me fight harder and get stronger." He paused and the cup stopped swirling, settling down flat with a light clunk. "I've hated him for so long now, for doing both, that he really isn't human to me anymore. And I suppose I might not really be human anymore either. At least sometimes I wonder."

"What do you do to feel human?" Michael asked him taking another sip of his drink. He was watching Tetorō carefully, being reminded of the early morning talk at Maihama about this person and this issue.

Tetorō was quiet, then said, "Mmm...when I was done getting it out of my system, I'd go to the park between the arcade and our house and sit on the swing and look at the sky. We were metropolitan enough there weren't stars to speak of, but it was dark enough there that the city lights seemed far enough way to only be a surrounding shell. For a while, I'd just not-think - let it all drain away, what was left. Then the humanity would come back and talk to me some."

His head rolled to put his chin on his arm again. "That's the stuff Purrcy reminded me of when she came and scolded me. That there were parts of me that I'd come to like, that there was a human inside that had thought of goals and dreams. It was during those times I discovered, thinking back on my classes, that I really liked programming. I was good at breaking down problems into smaller parts and figuring out how to put them in the proper order and say them plainly."

"I already knew I was excellent at reading people and situations, but when I started to see how that could be used to accomplish more than revenge, I was kind of amazed it was possible." He was rocking his drink back and forth lightly now. He lifted up enough to sip at it, then dropped it and himself back to their original positions. "I like being able to use that now for Shiroe and Log Horizon. It's a lot of fun to be one of the data gatherers and the forward line, the Field Monitor. I'm good at it and it isn't something just to get revenge. It's useful and I can see the results in what Shiroe does with it.

Tetorō closed his eyes and slight bliss came on his face. "Learning to fly the code realm...that's been super sweet. I really wish we could take that back with us. I'd so run circles around every other programmer on the face of the planet - except the other Programmers we take back with us, of course. I like being able to take whatever I see and make it mine, then really make it mine by changing it to something even better. As I've said before, I could stay in there all the time and not get bored or even go crazy. There's so much to do and experiment with."

He opened his eyes and sighed. "That's one of the reasons it's going to be hard to give it up and go home. ...But, at the same time, I'd like to see what I can do with it on the other side. How much of it translates into the computer code we write? Which programming method and language will work just like it, or at least how close can we get? Can I write a completely new compiler and language that are better and more like what I do here?" He gave a smile. "Can I still slip into Earth's code realm? I'd really like to know that one. Maybe even experiment with how to make it possible. VR has the closest possibilities if we can tap into the right energy level to see using the computer to modify the visual access to the layers."

"You know," he raised his eyes to look at Michael's face, "we don't look at the higher vibration frequencies very much over there. Infrared through ultraviolet is kind of our limits. They're energy that we see and can measure. I don't know if we've tried to image what we can reach here inside the code realm. If I could figure that out, we might see some pretty crazy things that only we would recognize, now that we've seen them here. I'd be able to interpret them correctly and send them via the computer to the VR glasses and we'd be able to see it there for once. I don't know if we could program on those levels or even affect it, but just to even see it - to know it's there..." His eyes were off into his thinking again.

Michael nodded faintly to himself. Tetorō was mending. Perhaps slowly, but mending. By the time they got home, he might even be able to face his father just long enough to tell him goodbye. That would be okay. He had a place to go to. Shiroe'd already asked him to come help.

"Will you come, too?" Tetorō asked, thinking along similar lines.

Michael looked away. "Probably, eventually. Like the rest, I have to finish out my term, and we have to learn what it will mean for us. Court martial is rather severe. We might be in for life for all we know. If we get the pass, though, I'll finish out this term, ask if they'll let me keep flying, step down if they say 'no', and ask my wife what she wants to do. If she's at all willing, I'd come back with them if Shiroe wanted me to. Since that's harsh for a gaigin, to work in Japan, he'd either have to pull lots of red tape to get me as a bodyguard, or I'd have to stay military and take the desk job. I wouldn't be guaranteed a job in Japan, but with our experiences here, it wouldn't surprise me if they wanted at least a few of us to stick around for a while."

Tetorō gave him a worried look. "You wouldn't have to betray us to your government, would you?"

Michael gave him a look from the corner of his eyes. "That depends, doesn't it? Are we planning on doing undercover illegal things they want to get their hands on, too? Or are we just thinking we are?"

Tetorō shook his head. "Probably both. Shiroe's going to have to walk really carefully for even our government to not want to have their hands in the whole pie making a mess of things."

"Exactly," Michael said. "And since he hasn't told us yet what that level looks like, who can say?"

Tetorō sighed through his nose. "Well, if you could come back and visit every once in a while, that'd be good."

"Yeah," Michael agreed, looking off into the distance again himself. He wasn't too thrilled with that part of going home. It was going to be hard to change his loyalties back from himself to a government again, though at the moment they were coincidental.

They could hear the sounds of others coming into the hallway to go to their cabins now - footsteps, conversations between twos and threes, doors opening and closing. "Late enough for the party to break up, I guess," Michael commented idly.

"Was it a good one?" Tetorō asked.

"Sorry you had to miss it. I suppose watching Kanami was hilarious, but if you saw it before, I suspect once is enough and all the same. It was more interesting watching her companions, honestly. I thought Erius was going to fall asleep on his feet as soon as he had food in him. I don't know how he manages to even stay alive, given her stories."

Tetorō smiled. "She spends most of her take on potions for him, I've heard. She'd pour them down Crusty's throat, too, if it would work. It's a wonder this city even has any more health potions...though Coppelia is a good Cleric and somehow manages to keep up with the others. She's as scary as the robots in the anime's, really. Completely dedicated to Kanami, tries to understand what emotions she has then turns around and rejects them because bots aren't supposed to have them. Leonardo is constantly trying to teach her and convince her she has them so should just learn to live with them and enjoy them."

Michael nodded. "He had fun talking with the boys tonight. They got a lot of info out of him without half trying. He's as homesick as the rest of us, but it sounds like he's been enjoying playing with Kanami. He's from the east coast, though, not the west coast like us - New York I think they were told. Things weren't going so well there when he ran and got tossed over here. Who knows what it's like now."

"You gonna be that homesick tonight?"

"What, I can't? You just were," Michael frowned at him.

"Yeah, cause it's me. You can't."

Michael leaned over and hit him in the head. "Right. Get out."

Tetorō went wide eyed, then hid his head in his arms and gave a muffled, "Sorry. ...I don't want to go."

"Then listen to an old man's ramblings politely, since I listened to your youthful tirade." Tetorō nodded, still tucked into his arm. "And stop playing me," Michael added taking another drink like he didn't care - because he didn't.

Tetorō sighed and looked up morosely. "Yeah, you know me too well now, too."

" 'Course." Michael's drink thunked on the table lightly. "That's what we get for being too obedient to crazy people who don't know what they're doing when they say such things."

"Amen," Tetorō agreed. He closed his eyes and Michael could see he was really starting to fall asleep this time.

"Put your cup away and drink it later or you're going to spill it." Michael finished off the little in his cup, put it away and stood up. A slightly larger swell of the boat pushed him into the table. "Storm coming in," he commented. "We'll get rocked nicely tonight. Hope everyone on top heads into the warehouse."

"You could warn them," Tetorō commented.

"What's the fun in that?" Michael asked. He told the Eagles on watch to go do it. That was more fun. His trip to the bathroom was short and he waved Tetorō in when he was done and finished getting ready for bed. When Tetorō walked back out barefoot and only in pants, Michael asked him, "You got your excuse ready for KR in the morning? The other two won't ask."

"Hmm...no. I'll think of one before then - or just stare at him until he gives up."

Michael grabbed Tetorō's shoulders as the ship heaved again, throwing him forward and into Michael who was already riding the waves. He picked Tetorō up and put him into the hammock. "Stupid crazy strong Monk," Tetorō complained at him, but settled down, leaving Michael room.

"Looks like you're getting the hang of sleeping in them at least," Michael said.

"Yeah. It's more comfortable than I expected at the first. Hard to get out of, though."

Michael chuckled and turned out the lights, other than a small glow light. With practiced ease, he was up in the hammock and next to Tetorō. Tetorō cursed at him under his breath. "Going to put us right on the floor again - painfully."

"Nope," Michael said lightly and put out the glow light. "Didn't and it won't happen. Been doing this for too many years now for that to happen."

"What, taking people to bed with you? Cheater or slut, which one is it?"

Michael put his fingers on Tetorō's lips. "Neither. Father getting rid of the monsters in the dark." He slipped the closer arm under Tetorō's head and pulled him in to rest it on his shoulder. "So, dream of killing aliens. We have a lot of them to kill in the near future, and then in the end, one boss we love to hate. But don't go looking. Close your ears. I'm here and you're here, and that's all."

Tetorō's upper hand came sliding up Michael's chest and he took hold of it with his free hand and let him hold on as tightly as he needed to. He didn't fall asleep until Tetorō did, but as close to that as possible. He wasn't supposed to go looking either, and his own ears were closed, and it was just the two of them tonight - partners who couldn't decide if going home was worth it. If they dreamed, it was dreams of aliens, and blood, and gore, ...and sometimes a kitten that slipped through the street from one side of the screen to the other. They tried to either ignore it or kill it, whichever was easier or gave them the most points.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta loved Purrcy. Or to be more precise, Chichiue loved Hahaue - father loved mother and it had reached a peak tonight that made him desire her. Being told that should be enough made him nervous underneath that desire, but it didn't make it go away. To have listened to Yuudai and Majiyo's stories, watched them trying so hard, and to have both of them be able to help the children reach their goal to be tenderly concerned for a fellow Adventurer who was hurting...it had overwhelmed Nyanta with those feelings of love that he did hold for Purrcy. Given that he'd been Oracle enough now, he could also tell that Inari was leaving them alone to "play the game", to earn that for themselves - all of them - and were leaving him and Purrcy alone tonight. (For the most part - he was also learning that they were always aware on some level. They were just not particularly paying attention at the moment.)

Nyanta had been playing tag with Purrcy and mostly let her chase him once they were on the Ocypete while he worked up to being able to face her properly. When they were outside their cabin door, he spun and was immediately felinoid grabbing for her. By the time he had his arm around her, it was around her waist and she was felinoid as well, pressed up against him in a way that took his breath away. He kissed her passionately as he grasped the door handle behind him and pressed it to open the door. With a quick sweep, they were inside and the door was closed and locked. Tonight he didn't stop. Tonight his kisses moved down her jaw and neck, making her gasp lightly, to her shoulder, which was far enough to tell her what he wanted.

With one hand petting through the fur on her back and the other roaming on the front, he walked her to the bed. Her hands weren't any less busy. By the time they reached the bed her light moans were being met by his own desperate breathing and occasional little growls. When he reached the point they would usually pause their forward motion, he did, but only long enough to ask her if he could finish it properly tonight. She paused long enough to consider it properly - all of about ten seconds - and allowed it, suddenly as nervous as he had been before by the twitch of whisker and ear.

He ran his fingers down her side and her body decided to not be nervous. It wanted his like he wanted her. "Switch over," he whispered in her ear. He already had. It was proper, right, and how they wanted to love each other kindly as he'd promised her that night they'd tried to recover from the abuse - as a human male and a human female, at least in that part of the anatomy. Their final union that night was intensely pleasurable. He was very pleased.

It had been beautiful, but it was still intensely difficult. When the memories and the guilt began to come to him, Purrcy was there with him to hold him gently and make them stand back far enough to be acknowledged, honored, and released. He was relieved when sleep claimed him. The warmth in his arms and the purr that went with the calming grooming helped him. The soft, "Thank you," did too.

The next morning fingers woke him slowly and gently. He could tell she was crying, though she was keeping it as hidden as possible. He took a long slow breath to decide what he wanted to do and confirm it was Purrcy and not Izanami, which he could do by an internal feeling now. This once, he let her ask and let her take and give what she wanted. It was a slow progression to reach the end and when she faltered, unsure, he held her tightly and asked what she wanted, reminding her that to do more than exactly what she wanted would be damaging, binding.

She paused, then softly asked, "Please." He hardened his heart slightly, then took her, making her his, the woman he wouldn't let go. When her own pain and guilt came on her, he returned the comfort she'd given him the night before and helped her acknowledge it and let it go until she was resting in his arms, obediently, softly, and completely his in that moment.

When they had rested enough, he groomed her sufficiently awake and they got moving for their day. He kept her very close to him all day in every moment they didn't have to be elsewhere. As he expected, the need to have the other close at hand for further reassurances hit at sudden and unexpected times. They didn't repeat that night again for a while. It had been sufficient to answering their initial need, requirement, and promise. Only the rest of the healing was necessary and merely being together was sufficient for that.


	105. Transportation Department Found

"Sooo..., just what _is_ going on between Michael and Tetorō? Wasn't it Tetor _a_? And did that happen between them before the change?" KR was sitting up in his hammock, no small feat, actually. He was sitting casually, rocking a bit and watching Brenner and Gareth. His demeanor was casual, but his eyes judged them and what he saw - which was an empty hammock that had stayed empty all night.

"What exactly are you asking about?" Brenner asked calmly, facing him.

"All that hugging and super closeness last night...and then spending the night with him. If it was still Tetora, I might understand, but that's more than a bit off, you know?"

Gareth flipped a small knife over the back of his hand and caught it in his hand, then repeated it, giving KR a measuring but slightly disdainful look. "They're partners, not lovers, stupid. If Tetorō went down it's the Commander's job to see he gets back up on his feet."

"It's not easy keeping Miss Purrcy propped up," Brenner tried to calm them both down a little, "but that's Tetorō's job. Commander Michael's job is to keep him propped up, or cooled down depending. It sounded to me like he was trying to talk Tetorō down from exploding, actually."

KR was skeptical of what they were saying, since the actions has spoken pretty loudly in favor of what he'd assumed. "Well, maybe I could see it if it was Tetora and what happened just before all that was a punishment. I don't see an explosion, though."

Gareth snorted a laugh. "Give Tetorō a punishment he thinks is unfair and that's what he does - explode. You saw how much he wanted to go to the picnic and instead was set as babysitter - alone for both of them, I might add, which is one of the most difficult punishments he gets other than being made to be a woman again. If he was under punishment the last thing the Commander would have done was made him feel like that again - a female. That would have really set off the walking bomb. If he had to keep him all night to keep it diffused and calmed down, then it's best to walk carefully today to make sure he won't still go off."

The flipping knife was suddenly caught in a clenched fist and Gareth was walking menacingly up to KR. "By the way...my job is to protect Tetorō when his partner's not around. If you go opening your mouth to him, I'd be happy to make sure you can't get the words out."

KR was getting angry at the threats. Brenner stepped to Gareth to put a hand on his arm. "Stand down," he ordered quietly. To KR he said, "You don't understand how Log Horizon rolls and it looks crazy from the outside. Please let it go with a shrug and ignore it. Nothing happened between those two last night. Commander Michael's married at home and in all his years out to sea has never once been unfaithful to Maryann. Relationships between senior officers and juniors is punished, so isn't done. If you want to know what set Tetorō off the deep end, go ask him that, but don't accuse them of an improper relationship. It isn't that." He kept his hand lightly on Gareth so he knew where he was, but he kept his eyes on KR's.

KR finally slipped down out of his hammock and stalked to the door. "Whatever. If you say so."

"KR," Brenner called him to check him just a little more. "How well do you know Purrcy? Do you know what she really is? How she really rolls? How she'd rather kill than stand there obediently?" The last sentence brought KR up short. He gave an involuntary shudder and looked over his shoulder at them wide-eyed. Quietly Brenner said, "If you set off the little bomb, you'll set off the big one. He's the ice for her fire. Don't take him down, KR."

Brenner kept Gareth with his back to KR until the door closed behind him and he blocked Gareth's hand when it swung for him. He just needed to connect with something solid, so it was sufficient. "Go stand with Miss Purrcy," Brenner said quietly. "Keep a line open to Tetorō. If KR starts on him, open the line to her and let her handle it. Seeing is believing and she's the teacher. I'll let the Lieutenant Commander know."

Gareth gave a nod, paused, then nearly fell down. Brenner caught him. Gareth had a macabre grin on his face. After he'd breathed a bit, he whispered. "Damn, that's harsh. Burn my eyes out with a hellfire coal, Chappie." Brenner frowned at him, though his eyes were closed already. "Heh. At least now I know what took them down." Brenner got him to sitting up, resting on his raised knees, head propped up on his closed fists.

"What was it?" Brenner asked.

Gareth gave a shudder and had to breathe a bit more to know how to answer that. "They've begun. ...Grandpa's not refraining anymore." His shoulders shook, though no tears fell. It wasn't that kind of feeling.

"How much did you get?" Brenner asked, worried, keeping his hand firmly on Gareth's shoulder.

"Only a glimpse and it was too much." Brenner let him take his time to recover and talk all he wanted. It was a necessary confessional to the squad chaplain so Gareth could get back up on his feet and move forward again.

-:-:-:-:-

When Gareth had gone off to stand on the Queen's door so they could know when she and the Consort came out of it (so they'd know it was safe to keep the usual watch on them), Brenner took himself to a different door and knocked politely. "Come." Brenner took a breath and walked in. He gave a salute and stood at attention until released.

"Brenner." Reed leaned back in his chair, inspecting the chaplain calmly.

"I have an emergency request, Sir," Brenner stayed formal. Reed's raised eyebrow was enough. Brenner gave the report of the morning and gave his suggested plan of action as the emergency request.

Reed gave a nod. "If that's where he needs to stand to watch over his assignment, fine, but that leaves a physical hole next to Tetorō. You take that one and Gareth will double in your usual spot until that plays out." He considered a little longer, then said, "I think KR needs to be initiated properly to an understanding of his place in all this. He's going to be around longer than we can afford to have that mindset waiting to set Tetorō off. If he doesn't go hunting Tetorō in the next couple of days to get his mother-scolding, we'll handle it."

Brenner hesitated and Reed finally let him talk. "He didn't handle the pressure from Gareth well - going angry and walking out - and Mister Shiroe needs him. We'd do better to set it up so the scolding happens. He listens to her."

Reed trusted him on that one, not wanting to get caught up in turning Shiroe's plans on their heads. "You'll both be in place, then, so make it happen right, but if you think an initiation would still be useful after the fact to keep him tied down, leak the word."

"Yessir." Reed shooed Brenner out of the room so he saluted again and left. He wondered what would be done about the other half of the news.

The com opened just as he stopped to take up guard duty outside Michael's door (across from Reed's and in the same hall where Gareth was standing) and he heard it both on the sub-guild chat and coming muffled from the room behind him. "Keep out of the Queen and Consort's room from the time they walk in to the time they walk out. That's day or night. They're official." Michael's voice was quiet and almost grim. "Tetorō's still walking, but he'll be touchy today at the least. Give them wide berth and him quiet companionship. I'm going to lock myself in the command deck if the President doesn't have an assignment for me. I've got passage to calculate for the Captain so he can bring the ship round and meet us up outside Beijing. Once it's built up enough, I'll meet a few of you in the back alley."

Brenner understood then. Reed had been waiting to see if Michael would report it himself. It was a good thing he had. They'd only send about four or five to beat up on him instead of call them all in to punish him for keeping quiet about it. Reed's report was next. "Sir, word is that KR's homophobic and commented on last night's cool down. Given his chaotic streak, we're expecting trouble. We've worked out a plan to keep the initial explosion small and let the Queen handle his punishment so it won't happen again."

There was silence as Michael considered it. "If you can, give him until this afternoon to cool down a little more. He might be able to handle the initial push by then. He won't this morning." Brenner could hear the feet walking in the room behind him that said Michael had gone to general pronouns because Tetorō had arrived in the main cabin from the bathroom.

"Roger," Reed replied. "As part of that initiative, we've swapped guards for the day. Brenner's got Tetorō and Gareth has both the Queen and Consort."

"Roger. ...Out." Behind him, but not on the sub-guild chat, Michael said to Tetorō, "What? You gonna be as bad as a jealous girlfriend just because I've got work to do, too?"

Tetorō snorted. "What girlfriend? I just don't like being talked about like I'm something to watch over."

"You are." It was a firm statement and Michael's heavier footsteps sounded. Brenner was watching them by then, though, as Michael passed Tetorō, ruffling the golden orange hair with his hand to get him to settle. "Come on, it's time for breakfast. They've changed the rotations for today, but we've still got your back."

Brenner returned his attention to the hallway, coming to stand at attention. The others in the hall did as well in response. Secretary had been added to Shiroe's door. That put the top three rooms under physical guard and made the previous standing a little less obvious. The door next to Brenner opened and Michael walked out holding it for Tetorō to exit and ignoring Brenner although he was noted. Tetorō paused just slightly to take in the change of guard and the new physical presences in the hallway, nodding just slightly to himself when he saw Secretary on Shiroe's door. He'd required that the day before and approved at least that much. He was a little jumpy about the swap of having Gareth on the Queen's door, but when his eyes finally took in Brenner, he slumped just slightly. He knew Brenner was the chaplain and was sent in on the emotional cases. It wasn't an unexpected change...it just had an ulterior motive this time.

Michael walked them directly to Shiroe's door and knocked. There was a muffled, "Just a second!" When Shiroe reached the door, he looked like he'd just finished getting out of the shower complete with tousled towel-dried hair. "Good morning, Michael, Tetorō." His eyes went to the guards, as well, but Michael didn't let him get that far.

"We'd like to report before we head down to breakfast, if you've got a quick minute to spare," Michael said.

Shiroe opened the door wider and the three went in the room. Shiroe paused, then said, "You, too, Secretary. We'll have our meeting when they're gone." He waited and closed the door behind Secretary, then moved back into the room. Tetorō handed him a comb. Shiroe flushed slightly and shook his head, pulling out his own comb to run it through his hair quickly, then put it away. Tetorō rolled his eyes, attacked the hair for another half-minute, then stepped back somewhat satisfied. "It all stands back up on end anyway, once it's dry," Shiroe commented dryly at him. "What is it you wanted to say, Michael?"

"Nyanta gave Purrcy the gift last night he's been withholding. I've told everyone to stay out of their room as long as they're in it. If you want to know what's going on in there from now on, you might just want to knock and ask yourself. We will at least require explicit instructions when it's important. We won't go in without orders."

Shiroe was sober, but he gave a nod. "Understood." He was judging Michael's status, then his eyes moved to Tetorō and did the same. When his eyes flicked to Brenner he asked. "For which one?"

"Tetorō, sir."

Shiroe nodded and looked back at Michael. "They'll help me take care of it at the appropriate time," Michael answered him properly. He paused and pursed his lips. "Can we take care of KR ourselves, if he steps outside the lines? He's the one wild card to all of this."

Shiroe turned his back on them. "I don't care. Don't make him mad and run. I need him, but if you need to take care of it, take care of it. A shorter leash wouldn't hurt him." He'd reached his chair and table and sat down. His eyes when he looked back at them said he was talking with the Strategist's cold necessity and the Guildmaster's need to keep his guild whole. It was the yakuza Boss saying, "do what's necessary to get the job done".

"Yessir," the ninja family head answered, and the orders were solidified. "That was all."

Shiroe nodded. "We'll be along after we've discussed my specific schedule today," he excused the three, keeping Secretary.

-:-:-:-:-

"There will be a pre-battle meeting after breakfast. If the Generals, including Kanami and MarketMaker, would meet with me, everyone else can keep working. We're leaving in the morning." Shiroe's announcement kept people sitting in the main mess hall of the Ocypete, though the Generals drifted over to be closer to his table. Michael, as a General, sat with them.

Shiroe kept Purrcy with him, too, and his guild members stayed close by. The Eagles took up positions around the room, standing on the wall. Reed stood behind Shiroe, though he didn't take up Akatsuki's space. His eyes scanned the room. Others stayed around, like KR, MarketMaker's secretary, Nakalnad's attache, and a few others of that sort.

Reed had to admit that it felt a bit like he would imagine a king's court room would feel, or maybe even the President meeting with his Chiefs of Staff. Advisors and ministers asked to stay for a conference with all their staff sticking around as well as the few who might be called on for various other tasks, and with guards watching over it all. He decided he wouldn't tell anyone, though. He already understood Shiroe was personally opposed to being thought of that way.

KR was bored, as usual, and his eyes kept going between Michael and Tetorō with occasional glances at Purrcy. Kanami was assessing the other Generals and actually managing to sit fairly quietly, for her. She seemed to know when it was proper to get serious. He hadn't been too sure yesterday, though she'd listened well enough to the background story Shiroe was willing to tell her and her people. Crusty was sitting calmly, not much readable on his face, but his eyes occasionally went to Purrcy and Nyanta, or to Shiroe and Akatsuki, and for a bit to Naotsugu, too. He finally motioned to Naotsugu to call him over, since the meeting wasn't going just yet. Reed's specialty was ears. He'd been the one to craft the spell they used to hear every voice in a room clearly. He tuned in to that conversation.

"How's Marie?" Crusty asked Naotsugu.

"Fine. Things back at Akiba are going as usual, really." Naotsugu answered.

Crusty studied Naotsugu. "And are the two of you an item now, too."

Naotsugu blushed a little, but he firmed up and nodded. "Shiroe negotiated the match with Henrietta and Crescent Moon League, to keep the city standing up. Marie's working on putting the wedding together while we're out and it'll likely happen around the winter holiday season after we get back."

"What's the catch?"

"...As in what did Log Horizon have to give up?" Naotsugu had gone wary and Reed understood it. There were a lot of layers to that question for the guild. Crusty only nodded. "I sleep with her at night and go to work in the day over at Log Horizon and we each stay attached to our respective guilds. Like having a job would be back on Earth."

Crusty considered that. "How's that going to work once he starts falling apart at night, since he has to keep it all together during the day? Akatsuki and he are getting married, too?"

Naotsugu shook his head. "No. Talk to Isaac about that part when you get a chance. Marie and I are thinking about that very issue, though. Shiroe knows we may bail and postpone the wedding until this next level's done, but it's part of the level, too, that I'm going to need her to keep the guild standing. Most of the weight of that level is mine to carry. So that's where we're working at the moment - to figure that part out. Even married, I can spend a few weeks back in Log Horizon if I need to. She understands that too, just like she understands I'm here and not there right now."

Crusty rested his chin on his hand, a finger along his cheek, his elbow on his chair casually as if he were the king, studying Shiroe. He finally nodded. "Alright. When I'm on my feet again, be sure you let me know as soon as you start to bend. I'll be there. I don't know how busy I'll be, but if you need a short-term replacement to get a nap, don't hesitate to let me know."

"Okay," Naotsugu answered in his usual easy way. Crusty gave a nod and Naotsugu returned to his place next to Shiroe who seemed to only be waiting for that to get started. Reed added to his own to-do list that he needed to spend time watching Crusty and assign Master Chief and his short staff to find out from the other guildmasters still in Akiba how they placed Crusty in the scheme of things in the Round Table. He was looking like a competitor to Shiroe with just that little interplay, though he'd been taking a support role in his speech.

"MarketMaker, what's your status and how much longer do you need?" Shiroe got the post-breakfast meeting going.

"We've got everyone hired and the General Manger assigned from Akiba is training the store manager today. We've got as many Adventurer's hands as will fit in the room working on putting together the box packages with orders for the sales today. They'll move to off-the-shelf sales of boxes when the next shipment arrives. We're experimenting to see if the slower pre-packaged single slot box set works or if folks will get restless. We're limiting it to one pack per person for now. So far the customers seem content with that. I don't expect push-back on it until the out-city Adventurers want to be able to bring back more raw products to sell and want to stay out long enough to fill that much space."

"They might not need me personally after today, but I'd rather take the ship around and up to Beijing to get started up there while you're in the Maze. That way I can have that done by the time you guys get there. I've been talking to Adventurers who wander farther afield and they say Beijing's not as locked down as it was here, though they could probably use a few lessons. I should be able to get a store purchased and product unloaded at least, and the boxes sold, too, unless you want me to continue to keep that as the sweetner at the end of the deals."

Shiroe steepled his fingers. "Contact me when you get that far and tell me what the feel of the city is. I trust you to know by now what level we need to have it for and what level it isn't essential." MarketMaker gave a nod. Purrcy shifted slightly. Shiroe gave her a brief nod.

"MarketMaker, I'd like to assign you to oversight on an important small matter, if you would?" Purrcy requested. He gave her his attention. "Mise has agreed to come home with us, but it's only to go on a personal quest with Yuudai and Majiyo. They're the assigned direct assists, but none of the three of them need to come with us, and she wouldn't survive it anyway. Can we put the three of them under your care until we switch out? I suspect they wouldn't mind you keeping them busy, as long as it can be together and not in the middle of a crowd."

"Can do," MarketMaker said and Purrcy sat back.

"Nakalnad, is the city council ready to step out on their own?" Shiroe went to the next topic.

"They're doing pretty good. Better than we did," it was wry. "We figured you would want to talk to them yourself one more time so we've asked them for one more meeting this afternoon. We've told them it should be a short Q&A with a press conference after. Even if you don't stand in the middle, it can be a cross-sea handshake of friendship between Yamato and Shangtzi and you can set in stone those treaties of yours." That was layered with meaning.

Shiroe gave a nod. "Thank you. Was a time selected?" Nakalnad passed that on and Reed knew Secretary was adding it to the schedule because his eyes went vague for a moment. "I'll want all of you there on the Yamato side. Kanami you can pick your side, or stand in back, or sit it out, your choice, but Crusty you'll be right behind the handshake itself. We need to get everyone to recognizing your face." Purrcy's head turned to look at Michael and Michael's eyes unfocused for a brief conversation on the inside. "Purrcy," Shiroe continued, surprising her a little, "I'll want you on the end with MarketMaker. You've already put your face forward so it should be there, too."

"Yes, Shiroe," she answered properly. Then she paused and added in a bit of a murmur, "Someone needs to take that picture. We might not get all of us in one place again like that. It's going to be a rather historic moment, I think. It's really too bad there isn't a Theldesian newspaper or internet blog to post such things to when those little moments are so world forming."

Shiroe glared at her a bit, then continued on. "Nakalnad, Isaac, and Michael, take the morning to go over the maps and room strategies of the Maze with Kanami, Crusty, Maverick_Master, and Brody. You'll want to help Crusty see how to step in. If you need me for any portion of it, let me know. I'd like to come once you all think you've got it put together so I know how to fit in."

Crusty raised his hand. "How'm I going to handle giving orders when I can't chat?"

Shiroe's head came around to put an ear to Reed. Reed thought quickly. "Training, Schedules...or me?"

Shiroe considered that for a long time. Reed was honored Shiroe wasn't sure he wanted to give up Reed himself. He'd have Secretary and Stiletto already, though. Shiroe finally sighed. "Alright. He can have you. You're already the point of contact and that's a firm position for it." Reed had rather thought standing next to the Head General would be central command. That's why he'd offered.

Shiroe wasn't sitting too comfortable even still. Purrcy put her hand on his arm. "It's temporary for this dungeon."

"And the last," Shiroe said. "Crusty will still need him for that one. It will take at least two to field that much information coming in." Reed nodded agreement to that. They'd get the practice in on this one.

"If Mise's healed up by then, she'll be another," Crusty said calmly. That was rough, that it was his second in command who was down and needed two ops to take her to the hospital for repairs. But then, Crusty was going for the same once this dungeon was conquered.

"Kanami, you'll need to carve out time for MarketMaker, too, to get the more detailed travel information for the train so you know what his needs and expectations are. I'm sure he'd love anything you can give him about what it was like to get here from there." Shiroe paused and looked at her. "Sorry to make you go all the way back after working so hard to get here and not even get to Yamato."

Kanami waved her hand. "I got to talk to you and tell you what I wanted. That's enough with all the adventures on the way. If going back and forth will get me what I want, it's all good. Going on a train will be quite a bit easier than on foot, after all."

"You'll be taking KR with you. I've got a special assignment for him. MarketMaker if you want to use him too, because he's around, you may. He also makes a great draw for businesses." KR scowled at Shiroe, who ignored it. "Purrcy, see you talk to KR after this meeting sometime today to work out the details of his special assignment, please."

"Okay," she answered. Reed paid attention to that. If they could postpone that meeting until afternoon, or use it to good effect... He looked at Brenner who looked at Gareth who looked back at him. They gave him nods and he gave one back. They'd take care of it.

Shiroe looked around the room. "Anyone have anything else?"

Isaac looked at Kanami. "Shiroe's asked me to go back to Akiba instead of out on the train, like we originally planned, so you're taking my place. I'll need to introduce you to the captains of the Adventurers heading out as guard detail on the train. We can do that after we talk the low-down on the maze. It would help if you partnered up with me for the Maze generally, too, since it's mostly the same crew under me for that. That way you can learn how we already work together."

"Sure, thing, Isaac-kun!" Isaac froze, then looked away with a scowl.

Kanami stopped and looked at him in surprise. Shiroe sighed. "He's been teased with that since we got here, Kanami. Isaac, it's just her. She does it to everyone...and that's one of the nicer ones." He wasn't fond of his own. It took Isaac a while to relent, though. "Anything else?" Nobody said anything. "Alright. Maverick_Master and Brody, can I assign you to make sure before tomorrow morning that the train is packed properly with everything we need for the dungeon? MarketMaker I assume you've left everything not needed for here on the ship?" All three nodded. "Michael, have you done what you need to do so the ship will actually make it to Beijing without you?"

"I'll be going over the final charting today, but there is one issue," he turned and looked at Purrcy and Nyanta. All heads turned there, too. "We aren't really sending enough fighting staff with MarketMaker for the Ocypete to make it there if it has to hit every sea monster on the way. Can you take care of that?"

Purrcy and Nyanta looked at each other and ears turned a bit. Finally Nyanta sighed and looked at MarketMaker. "Before mew put out to sea, ask Yuudai to bless the voyage. He's welcome to purractice as mew go as well. He's eager to learn it anyway. They'll likely be minor blessings, so expect to fight, but it will help." His ears fell a little.

"Remember, that quest forms the basis for freeing up the zones," Shiroe said quietly.

Nyanta's ears went straight up, then relaxed as he nodded. "Okay. He'll help more now. It's still a world, though. He's nyot willing to make it smooth sailing the whole way."

"Good enough," MarketMaker said calmly. Michael nodded and let it go back to Shiroe.

Shiroe looked around one more time, then said, "I think that's it then." He rose to his feet. "Give me a call when you're ready for me," he said to Nakalnad, who nodded. Shiroe walked out of the room with Akatsuki and Secretary.

"We'll go back into town as sales and P/R again to keep busy," Naotsugu said, inclusive of the juniors of Log Horizon. They all nodded.

Reed gave his orders. "Training, H/R, P/R. Mister Naotsugu, can you please hunt down the chef and just bring him back with you?"

Naotsugu considered it, then nodded. "Yeah. We'll just hijack him on our way back from the press conference. You guys try to make sure he sees it, okay?" The juniors nodded. The eight of them walked out of the room. KR pushed up, looked at Purrcy, and walked out after them.

Purrcy rose and Nyanta stuck close to her. It looked like he was going to be in overprotective mode today. He didn't usually interfere, though, even in that state, as long as the jealousy button wasn't provoked. Tetorō, Brenner, and Gareth followed them out. Reed gave the sign to Schedules and Records. They were on hidden duty again today. They disappeared as well.

Nakalnad already had the maps out and the Generals were gathered around them. Reed walked over to stand behind Crusty, writing up his information request orders for MasterChiefS7 on the way. He sent it then paid attention. He'd missed out on the dungeon last time, too.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy stepped out onto the mid-ship deck far enough to let everyone out of the hallway and looked around. Quietly she said to Nyanta, "I have two other line items to complete today as well, though both should also be on the ship - I hope. Then I guess I'm free until the press conference."

"Mew may consider me just one of the guards this meowrning, then," he said, then turned to look out of the corner of his eye at her, "just one very attached to mew, meow."

Purrcy paused, then nodded. "I understand, and I know I need it today, too, but I'm also about to explode. I need alone time quite fiercely - even half a day would be nice." She looked up. "If this was an old sailing ship, I'd hide in the crows nest and sleep for four hours or more." The wind was blowing off the sea, bringing the smell of salt water and the sound of the seagulls to them. It was a different wind than they were used to in Akiba.

She stood still and just breathed, but on every half-switch of her tail it flicked up with a little twitch, underlining her need to escape people generally. Nyanta patted her on the head. It was hard to feel the need for Nyanta and at the same time the driving urge to run from him and everyone else. She knew he was regularly feeling the same thing, so didn't complain further.

Her left hand was tucked into his elbow and her right had been holding his arm, but she took the half-step to reach the railing, he going with her, and put her right hand on the railing to hold it instead to keep herself steady. She closed her eyes and just felt the rolling motion of the ship. Last night it had rolled quite a bit and lightning had flashed outside the porthole several times. She'd woken to it in the middle of the night and watched the storm through the small round window for a while before returning to bed.

She wasn't sure what to think about Nyanta's gift that evening, but by morning she'd needed to selfishly take it back from him - to just the once love him because she wanted to and to pretend in that one moment that he really did love her. She was able to be stronger today because he'd allowed her to do that, and she appreciated it. The delusion was past her now, just like the storm of the night was.

Her heart kept wanting to point out it wasn't that gone, nor the desire for it that much of a delusion, but she refused it, keeping just that one moment as a treasure. From this point on it was a business transaction and a requirement of the world she wanted to kill because it was going to hurt - her and him, and a host of others, too. When that hit her too hard was when she hid in Nyanta's shoulder, the same as he occasionally would stop her and hold her tightly until his own emotions passed and he could also return to the state of being in the unattached present.

Purrcy lifted her head and closed her eyes. Tetorō's smell was ever-present, behind her and brought on the wind coming off the sea. "Tetorō, hate the world for me today," she requested.

"My pleasure," he replied, the grim bite to his voice saying he already was.

She thanked him with her tail but her eyes were scanning the people below her. One of the people she needed to talk to was down there. Her eyes stopped on a group centering around three people. She nodded. "That would make sense," she muttered to herself, trying to see if she could pick out who it might be specifically so she could insert herself and exit quickly, not really wanting another group situation right at the moment.

Finally she sighed. She was going to have to work to get the answer and she didn't want to today. "Will you introduce me to Kanami's companions? Yuudai and Majiyo seem to have drawn their attention for some reason." She looked at Nyanta. He gave a slight bow of acquiescence and they began the walk to the stairs. "Tetorō, contact Davidius and tell him I need to meet with him briefly. Give me time to finish this next conversation, though."

"Yes, ma'am," he was shortly thereafter on a chat.

"Um...pardon me," Gareth tentatively interrupted, "I thought he was assigned to the gate, and lessons, and on guard watch over the city?"

Purrcy shook her head without looking. "I needed a Hacker I trusted to be on the train, and high enough level. With the Maintenance detail working on the gate and West Wind Brigade's teachers in the third level class before we left, it wasn't necessary for him to stay. He agreed to go for me." Gareth settled. She would have had to send one of the Eagles otherwise, and they were needed for other things.

"Hello," Nyanta said, smoothing inserting them into the little group next to the bigger group of D.D.D. getting reacquainted with Mise, who was trying to hide with Yuudai and Majiyo. It wasn't working very well, but Majiyo was defending her as best she could. It wasn't helping that Yuudai had been distracted by Kanami's group.

"Hello, Nyanta-san, Miss Purrcy," Yuudai said with a bow. "Miss Kanami's associates came for the blessings on their weapons today since it was too confusing last night once we got back to the ship. We've gotten into a rather deep philosophical discussion."

"Oh?" Purrcy said and immediately inserted herself into it, letting Nyanta free up Yuudai to help Majiyo and Mise once he'd properly made the introductions around. Purrcy let the Priestess take over being the answerer of philosophical questions and watched until she understood. At the proper place, and after D.D.D. had gotten the picture and drifted off, Purrcy took the opportunity to lead the three talking with her off to a place where several chairs had been set out on the deck so they could continue their discussion "more comfortably". When there was a natural pause in the conversation, Purrcy looked at Coppelia. "What were you before you came here?"

"I was nothing. I have always been a computer program. I was given life at the time of the catastrophe. I'm a farm bot created by the Chinese."

Purrcy tipped her head. "Is that why you're a seeker of understanding what life is, then?"

"Yes," Coppelia answered.

Purrcy's ears twitched in just a bit of consternation. Now she wanted to use Coppelia for two quests and they weren't necessarily ones that would work well together. "How many other farm bots live today? Do you know?"

"I am one of twenty-three, though many of them have been killed by the Overwritten because we aren't proper living beings. It's the same for Sir Erius. The Progenitors are also considered flawed computer programs by the Overwritten. Miss Kanami saved us both and so we follow her. To her we are living."

"Of course you are," Purrcy said, but almost without thinking about it. "The Overwritten...they recognize such things, but don't kill the People of the Land? Why?" She tried to think of that, then shook her head. "They are so confusing. It's much simpler to get rid of them than try to figure it out, particularly when they are constructs themselves. Why bother killing others of your own kind? And if they want only the Adventurers because we have empathions, why are they trying to cut down the Adventurer Trees of Life? Don't they understand when they do that there won't be any more empathions to harvest any more? Are they corrupted themselves? What strange creations they are." The others around her could only agree. No one knew. She waved a hand. It wasn't why she was here. "How many of those like you that were killed were on the China server?"

"Most of them. I believe two or three were to the east when the catastrophe hit, but there may be more since we were sent to other nations as well."

Maybe both things could be done at once. "Are you all guilded together?" Purrcy asked.

"No. Of necessity we were hidden, but we do have a connecting thread so we didn't interfere with each other."

"That will work just fine," Purrcy said and sat back satisfied, her free hand resting casually in her lap. Nyanta was holding the other one in his hand as he sat next to her. "I have two quests I'd like to give you specifically, if you'll hear them."

Coppelia looked surprised, though her facial features weren't given much emotion. It had been part of her complaint that she wasn't real - that she couldn't feel emotions because constructs shouldn't. "That's surprise, Coppelia. Please record it as such so you can recognize it in the future. You only need to expand your database, and you have the power to do that because you have the power to farm. You've just farmed an emotion."

Coppelia blinked, calculated, then shivered slightly. "That was the feeling of a sense of destiny. The weight of a future hanging over you." Purrcy waited for that to be added to the database. Coppelia frowned. "That is confusion and uncertainty. Probably thirty-five percent of the former and the remainder of the latter." Coppelia blinked, then added it, then looked at Purrcy with wide eyes. "That is wonder." Another blink, a pause, then a shake of the head. "Disbelief." A pause and a new expression. "Irritation." Coppelia refused after that and Purrcy watched her for a moment.

Turning to Leonardo, Purrcy said. "How many have you tried to convince her of, that you've actually specifically named like that?"

Leonardo had been watching the exchange with some fascination. "A number. Not all of them, though."

Purrcy nodded and turned back to Coppelia. "History request. Search: all past visits with Leonardo. Find: Emotional expression stated by Leonardo. Equate to suggested emotion felt by unit Coppelia just prior to stated expression. Add to emotion database." Coppelia was gone for a while.

"What are you?" Leonardo asked.

Purrcy smiled. "Last night was that confusing, I'm sure. In this moment, I'm a pseudocode mage. A high level Programmer. She is based on a computer program and I'm updating that program to add in the emotions she's experienced that have been specifically named. You and Kanami are right. Since coming here, she now has 'life' such as we experience it. Her confusion stems from the fact she didn't before. Even infants and young children have to have their emotions named and explained before they can even begin to think to control them."

"There exist humans who have great difficulty as children and we work with them with diligence so they can learn to understand emotions within themselves and to see them outside of themselves - or ask if they can't. She's similar. From now on, when you do this for her, she'll add them to her database. The more overlaps she has, the more robust her understanding of each emotion will be. ...But there is one essential difference," Purrcy turned back to Coppelia who was returning from her calculations. "You have no idea what to do with those emotions, even if you can now name them."

"That is true," Coppelia said.

Purrcy nodded. "So...for my first request. It is a search for self-awareness and understanding, but includes aspects of a quest I as Priestess of Inari need completed. Will you listen to my request and consider it?"

Coppelia perked up. "That is interest and intrigue." Purrcy said and it was added to the database. "I will assume that means you will hear it, because that's the proper response to those emotions." That was added to the database as well, as a new column. "Guildmaster Shiroe announced just before your arrival the world quests that are being presented by Inari to all Adventurers. One of them is the purification of matter that Yuudai was explaining to you earlier. As part of that, there is the requirement of blessed weapons. Yuudai needs to return to Yamato. We need someone who is going on the train who can both bless weapons and teach others to do so - to seek out others who are role-playing, or who really are, priests and priestesses of a god."

"Because you're already a seeker of knowledge when it comes to understanding what is life, its purpose, and how to become a better living being, you are well suited to the task. Each person you teach to bless weapons will teach you what they believe and why until someday you will make that final leap of intuition that is your proof that you are living. Only the intelligent living creature can make leaps of intuition in their learning and understanding. When you reach that moment, you will be whole, though you may likely continue to learn for the rest of your life, as we all do. Will you accept this assignment?"

Coppelia considered it for a time, then answered, "I will. It won't interfere with Miss Kanami's purposes and will help with her goals."

"It is sufficient." Purrcy said. "The proper response to desire is to choose to take it as long as it's within the proper parameters of positive social interactions. You have done that. Please reward yourself." Coppelia reached up and patted herself on the head, making several around her hide smiles. Likely Kanami often did that to her when pleased with her. "Can you recall the method and process Yuudai used to bless your weapons?"

"Yes."

"Good. There are preparatory steps you need to learn. When we're done, go find him again and tell him what we've agreed to and ask him to teach them to you." Purrcy held up her hand and there was a glow around Coppelia that lasted about two seconds. "You now have that same power to bless weapons he does."

Coppelia bowed. "Thank you."

Purrcy paused. "As for the second...it's a request from the C.E.O. of the Corporation of Akiba, who is sponsoring the quest the train is on to begin with. There is an unfilled division that we've been seeking a guild or other organization to fill. The people who fill the role must be honorable, incorruptible, able to handle large complex organization and mathematical structures, be polite but unwaveringly loyal to the Corporation and the rules and regulations set by it, flexible enough to handle emergency changes or unexpected high level requests, and able to function as a unit on a world-wide scale."

"You and your kin are perfect for the role. I wish to hire all of you, though if you personally wish to remain a roaming overseer of the rest, that would be acceptable. That will allow you to continue to travel with Kanami, though on occasion you may have to ask her to adjust her travel plans so you can assist at places that need your personal attention. We will retrieve the ones killed on the China server in the near future. Since your sub-species is Adventurer theirs is also. Part of your quest will be to contact all other farm bots in all nations you go to and recruit them as well. They will stay in the places they already are until we have enough to move the excess to regions that lack personnel. Given there are that many here in China alone, at least two need to come back with us to Yamato. The remaining excess can go with you on the train until they're placed where they're needed."

Coppelia was paying attention, but was looking confused now. "That is confusion due to lack of information. The correct response is to ask for the missing data if the quest request sounds reasonable and accomplishable based on the requirements."

Coppelia took a few moments to update her database again and review what had been said, checking the line items. Purrcy took the time to review them on her internal draft contract she'd written up as she spoke them. (Having a dictation program that "typed" as it received the dictation was very handy.)

"What exactly will be the thing handled?" Coppelia asked.

"You can meet the requirements?"

"Yes."

"All of the farm bots, without fail?"

"Yes."

"We need a Transportation Department to handle schedules and movement of persons and products. At the moment that includes train, ship, and caravan. We hope in the future to add the gates, once we have them functional." She paused to watch Coppelia. There wasn't much emotion, so Purrcy continued. "We will be opening a Transportation Office at each gate, starting with the cities we open stores in. It's unlikely we will open all the gates. Smaller towns and villages which may eventually get branch stores of Shopping District 8 may or may not handle their own scheduling, passing the data up to the Transportation Department."

"Development of such levels and layers will need to be handled by the Transportation Department as expansion occurs, or reduction, though no business hopes for that, with optimization for streamlined transportation of the goods and persons without loss to property or life or undue loss of time, though as I said emergencies need to be accounted for. I'm sure there are plenty of times the trains will break down or bandits will try to take out the caravans. Such flexibility will be necessary."

"Movement is not restricted to Shopping District 8 or the Corporation of Akiba. It will be made available to any who are willing to pay the costs of transportation, including upkeep and defense of the means of transportation and payments to the persons hired by the Transportation Department to run it, plus profits to the Corporation of Akiba, all of which should not exceed the needs and requirements of those who desire to pay for the transportation of goods or persons, including themselves. Financial requirements should be brought to the attention of the Corporation of Akiba Board, preferably with supporting details."

Purrcy paused again to let Coppelia compute all of that, rearranging the order of some of the line items so it flowed like a proper contract should. She added a general line for payment to the various levels of employee being set by separate contract that could change with changes in the organization and not tied to any requirements other than suitability to perform and meet the operating requirements.

"Is this a contract setting all like me in this place?"

"Not as of the signing of the contract. Only with you if you're agreeable. You then have the right to hire or fire at will, though I wish for it to be exclusively offered first to those like you until it's necessary to hire others, which I fully expect to happen. They each, as living beings and Adventurers, also have the right to accept an offer of employment or refuse it, and to leave the position with proper advance warning to find a suitable replacement, regardless of term of employment." Purrcy added another line item that made her think of, though it would be a test and take a lot more MP to cast the contract spell. She wanted them all to be able to communicate instantly even if on another continent or on the other side of the world. If there was an emergency with a gate, they needed to be able to inform all other gates immediately.

She sent out her own 'farm bot' to hunt down the code that was the basis of the Cunie. It didn't take that long since Izanami had changed it just two days before to write the negotiation and loan subroutines in. She passed it to Tetorō, asking him in the code realm to find the parts that were general enough for that portion, as well as include the handling of money intake the same as well, so it was tied into the same banking system, and to cross-check that code with the code that handled Adventurer gold and its exchange between "pocket cash", "banked cash", and "spent cash". "In the micro layer at a minimum, please. I want her to sign the contract immediately." Tetorō immediately got to work. It was a task worthy of his skills and his own capable attention to detail. Purrcy returned from the micro layer herself and waited for Coppelia's answer.

"I wish to consult with Miss Kanami, first, and confirm such a large and wide sweeping change to this world."

"Fine. Shall I call in President Shiroe as well?"

"...Yes, please. She holds him in high regard for his capability to understand the effects of such things."

Purrcy tipped her head and immediately called Shiroe. "I've found our Transportation Department, however the potential head of it would like reassurance and confirmation it's an acceptable change to the world of Theldesia. Would you please review my draft contract? We're on the main deck, starboard side, gangplank two, if you'd like to come here, though it isn't a requirement." She dropped a draft of the contract on his desk.

"Who?"

"Initially, Coppelia and all farm bots on Theldesia who are willing to be hired into the Department, based on the requirements in the contract. Being born from complex computer programs, they innately have the capacity to handle the data and complex mathematics world-wide transportation demands, including that of the gates, if we manage to get them functional."

Shiroe was silent. She presumed he was reading. "Please be patient. He's reading the terms of the contract to understand what we've already discussed," she informed Coppelia. "Will Kanami be joining us?"

Coppelia sighed. "No. She merely said that if her travel agent says it's okay, then it's okay with her."

"That is slight despair and resignation in large measure," Purrcy smiled kindly at Coppelia. "If I were in your shoes, I'm sure I'd feel it regularly when dealing with Miss Kanami. You've already dealt with it properly - you have given up and gone along with her wishes." Leonardo laughed and even Nyanta twitched, trying not to. Erius sighed as if he also frequently felt that.

"Please add in as one of the methods of transportation the fairy rings. If any creature has the capability to calculate how they work, it might be them," Shiroe said, though still distracted with his reading.

"Yes, sir." She did. "Coppelia, he's asked me to add in as a method of transportation that will be under the Department the fairy rings."

Several people sucked in their breath at that. "That's ambitious," Leonardo said.

"Indeed," Purrcy said, "however, it's also on Shiroe's list of things to attempt to wrestle out of the world."

"Are you going to put in a clause of guarantee?" Shiroe interrupted.

"No. That would go in the contract that a person requesting transport of self or goods would sign, or would be implied in that transaction by posted notification."

"Okay. ...Initial run through looks good, no glaring holes. If I think of any non-obvious ones, I'll get back to you."

"Can you give a conference chat verbal stamp of approval, then?" Purrcy asked, changing it over to that format.

"Sure. This is Shiroe, Guildmaster of Log Horizon and President of the Corporation of Akiba. In my studied opinion, the contract between Coppelia and the Department of Transportation and the Corporation is acceptable and it's general effects on Theldesia are of benefit to all citizens of it. Specific results as always are dependent on this crazy world and hopefully minor. Purrcy, do add me as a signatory, please."

"Certainly. When we've signed it here, I'll drop it on your desk for your signature."

"Thank you."

She cut the chat and Tetorō handed her the code. She stepped up in the code realm and carefully reviewed it, added the pieces she needed to tie it into the contract, confirmed with him he'd looked for side effects since she didn't have the time to, then dropped it into the contract. Then she left it to sit and gather MP and time-drop the HP while she went back to get the answer and the final two pieces of data she needed. "Okay, the contract is ready, Coppelia. What would you like to do?"

"What if there is only me?"

"Mmm, good point. I'll add in a final clause that if you can't convince any others to hire on, then the contract dissolves upon your informing the Corporation you can't fulfill the terms of the contract."

"The penalty?"

"None. As I said. You and they are all Adventurers. You get to choose. I will at that point continue looking for another company or guild to take that role, though nothing is more suited to it than a being born from a powerful computer construct. Even we humans don't have the capabilities to do it. That's why we created computers in the first place - to handle complex math at high speeds and to store vast amounts of data and sort through it and retrieve necessary information from it without becoming confused."

"...Are you saying...that I'm needed for what I am?"

"Precisely."

Coppelia stood very still and slowly her shoulders began to shake. "Those, dear, are tears of gratitude," Purrcy said softly, "and likely the beginnings of feelings of self-worth and self-love as well. Those are very important emotions. Treasure them."

The contract was signed shortly after, Purrcy making Coppelia pick to guild or incorporate, then pick a name for said organization, and then picked a proper title to go along with those. She dropped the contract on Shiroe's desk. She knew it was signed because she was suddenly exhausted and could barely even stay sitting in her chair...and the pillar of light signal flared up from Shiroe's office. Gareth had healed Tetorō on his return and now Brenner healed Purrcy.

"Mew're nyot getting new titles for all of these changes this round are mew?" Nyanta asked her after Kanami's companions had left them, politely bowing on their way out.

Purrcy looked inside, then sighed. "I think that one was just considered part of the one I got yesterday after the negotiations, thank goodness. It's not like Caretaker doesn't cover it all anyway. Can I take a nap now? Tying into the Cunei-gold system was very draining, even with the magic boost, copied code, and time delay."

"What's the title?" Nyanta pressed her, curious. Brenner was holding up the back of her chair and Gareth was moving the support so they could make it lean back for her. It was nice of them to pamper her in the moment.

"It's not worth it, just like the rest. If they won't let Caretaker be sufficient, then they should just give up and paste Queen over my head, really, or at least as an official title. It all falls under that hat, too. I'm just too busy of a person to make it worth their while to make everything official. 'Human' is still the right one." She was asleep before Nyanta could ask again.


	106. KR's Scolding

Tetorō stepped to the side of the Ocypete, looking over the railing, sighing to himself. He called Davidius first. "Miss Purrcy went and did a massive spell again. Is it okay if I call you later when she's awake? I'm really sorry."

"Sure. It's too bad she can't plan in when that's going to happen, huh?"

"You'd think since she knows who she's going to talk to and why, she'd know what, too," he let himself complain a little. "She's just a little too spontaneous, though."

"It's okay. I'm plenty busy. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing until I get your call."

"As long as it's not doing something bad," Tetorō half-teased him.

"Nah, it's putting together box sets. It's an easy thing to do with half my brain while the other half tries to catch up to you."

"That's good. Keep running." He paused, then leaned on the rail of the ship, not really seeing what was in front of him. "Hey...if or when we get home, what will you be doing?"

"Mmm...going back to school, I suspect."

"What level were you?"

"Senior in high school."

"Man, that makes you an old man around here." Tetorō was pleased when it made Davidius laugh. "Would you want to go into programming?"

There was a silence for a while, then, "Maybe. I'm not sure I want to be reminded of being here that much, though, to do it every day."

"You'd not come back if it was a two-way door, then?" Tetorō asked musingly.

"No, probably not. As a game it was an okay diversion, but it's not my kind of lifestyle."

"Have you done enough around here to have picked a vocation?"

"Yeah, actually. I really enjoyed working on the research projects in Radio Market and getting ideas into solid products. The programming was more a tool for that, and I'd probably use it for that there, but in the end I'd rather be hands on in product research, I think."

"That's a wide open field, and it did look like all of you were having fun when we stopped by to get the tour. I hope you find a good company when you get there. I'd be happy to be a reference if you need one."

"Thanks."

"Talk to you when she wakes up, then."

"Okay." Tetorō closed the line, a little disappointed he wasn't going to be able to recruit Davidius when they got home. The attention to the little details he used in the research was translating into some really organized code without holes. He checked Purrcy's to do list and frowned. He pushed down his emotions and opened another chat, keeping firmly to his role of professional secretary. "KR, can I schedule you to talk to Purrcy after the press conference? She has one more appointment before you. The first one went longer than expected and has an unexpected recovery time."

"...Yeeaahhh," it was drawled in a very bored tone. "I'll just sit around as bored as usual. Not sure the waiting around's worth the trip."

"I'm sorry. It can't be helped," Tetorō said politely. "Thank you." He cut the line. KR's boredom was Shiroe's to handle and he wasn't doing it well. "Shiroe, we're about to lose KR over the edge. You kept Kanami busy but forgot him again."

"Ah...right. Thanks." Shiroe cut the line to go take care of it while he was thinking about it. Tetorō put his chin on his arms and watched the seagulls fight over a fish one of them had finally bothered to work at catching. When it was finally snatched away by one that flew off, the rest chasing after, he turned to check on Purrcy.

She was still sleeping and Nyanta was still holding her hand, but he was dozing now, too, not surprisingly. Gareth and Brenner were standing watch over them. "Let me know when she starts to move," he asked them. They nodded and he went back to moodily watching the water slosh against the dock and the wharf. There had been a ship on the other side of the dock when they'd come in, but it was gone now, so that space was only water. The next dock down had the close bay empty and a short but surprisingly long three-mast sailing ship on the other side of it. The sails were tied down and the three masts stood up in the air like tall toothpicks.

As he watched, a felinoid came out of the cabin dressed in captain's clothing, including the flat cloth hat. His coloring was dark with bits of orange here and there, but otherwise he could have been Nyanta as a ship's captain. Tetorō wondered if he was a Felinoid of the Land being kept out of the city and relegated to the ship, or if he was an Adventurer just waiting around. He didn't bother to look. It was more interesting to try to guess it from watching. He'd taken to doing that when he wasn't on important official business where he had to know which kind he was looking at to make quick decisions. He kind of felt like it might be more important to learn to judge based on actual personality and actions than on what "race" a person was.

When the captain pulled out a pipe, filled it, and lit it, Tetorō stood up straight in surprise. The smoke that came from his mouth after he'd puffed on it enough to get the fire going confirmed it wasn't just a prop. Tetorō's mouth dropped open. He dropped into the code realm and found Purrcy. "Permission to go see how someone got tobacco to work for real while you sleep?"

He got almost as much excitement from the twitching as he was feeling. "I'll take it that's an absolutely. I'll have them call me back when you're ready to get up." He returned from the code realm. "I've got a quick research assignment and she's okayed it. Call me as soon as she moves." He got big eyes for that one but didn't stick around, headed down the gangplank as fast as he dared and not fall in the water. When Brenner was with him by the time he reached the dock, he didn't comment. He'd rather forgotten he'd been directly assigned one for the day, but he ignored it again. It looked like the captain wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere, but Tetorō kept his eye on him anyway. He hurried across the main walk, but slowed down to a casual stroll by the time he hit the dock. "Hoh, the ship!" he called out in a friendly manner when he reached level to where the captain was.

The felinoid strolled to the edge and rested his arms on the side of his ship. "Hey. What can I do for you, son of the setting sun?"

Tetorō paused, then put a hand to his head and grinned back. "That's a nice way to put it, though I'm really the son of the night sky."

"Hoh? Does that make you the setting sun then?"

"That's very nice of you," Tetorō smiled. "I like the parallel. Where do you hail from?"

"India. And yourself?"

"From the land of the rising sun - Yamato, or Japan."

"From sunset to sunrise, is it?" The captain chuckled and Tetorō gave a grin.

"I was just people watching from the Ocypete," Tetorō motioned with his thumb at the large steamship behind him, "and noticed the pipe. Are you willing to share how that's come about? Is tobacco a product that can be grown in India?"

"It's not quite tobacco, but it is similar," the captain turned the pipe sideways to inspect it just a little as he talked about it. "It has a lighter flavor and not as strong a kick as nicotine." Just that much placed him firmly as an Adventurer. People of the Land weren't likely to understand chemistry to that detail. "It's my main product. I get enough of a mark-up to make the trip around and through all the sea monsters worth it. I've had to super protect the hull and masts of this baby, though." He patted the side of the ship where he was leaning. "Half the time I can only hide in the cabin and wait for whatever monster showed up to move on."

"Rough, but that must be some mark-up then."

"Yes. I'd like to drop the price a little. I think it would be more profitable if I could get a larger quantity to market, too," his eyes were jealously taking in the Ocypete behind Tetorō.

Tetorō leaned back in a casual pose. "Well...I might be able to help you. Is it your own crops or do you buy from harvesters?"

The felinoid stuck his pipe between his teeth and hopped up onto the side of his ship to sit on the rail, one foot up on the side to support his balance. "Do you have proper authority for negotiations with a guild?"

"I'm the son of and the secretary of the owner of Venture Enterprises. Were you in town in any of the last few days?"

"It's been interesting, watching the train come off your liner," was all he was willing to give, but the slight twitch of whiskers was all Tetorō needed.

"And you'd like to send your product on it?" he commented offhandedly.

"I'm sure inner product sales would increase if it went to places we didn't already."

Tetorō had a sudden suspicion. "How big a guild are you talking? We're actually taking orders for train routes, if it's from large enough customer bases. This one is headed out on an exploratory expedition all the way to western Eured. There's a possibility they'll try to go into Africa as well if there's enough time and the sales are good."

"You don't think it will be stolen at the first opportunity?"

"Might try," Tetorō shrugged, "but with Knights of the Black Sword, D.D.D., Honesty, and Kanami to lead them all on board, we're not too worried."

"Hooh, that is a list of big names. Is it enough?"

"Like you've protected your ship, we've protected the products. Steal the boxes and all you have are boxes. They're coded for opening, like the keyed special items."

"Ohh, that is ingenious," the captain nodded.

"I'm talking to a pirate, aren't I?" Tetorō grinned. The captain just looked at him. "Well, I'll let MarketMaker know to head down into India for sure. Even if you don't have a guild set up for it, he can get that market open there and send it through our regular routes to line our own pockets. It will be an income producer wherever it goes and that's what we look for." He turned with a raised hand. "Thanks for your time."

"Your ship," it was said loudly, to catch his attention again. He turned back politely, with a raised eyebrow. "It will cross the ocean?"

"Maybe. We're building a better one for that. This was the prototype. The second one should be ready for it's maiden test voyage by the time we get back."

"It will take product, too?"

Tetorō paused. "Not the first trip," he answered soberly. "We don't know what's gone on over there. If it's lawless...it's not worth it, is it? The first voyage will be warriors and negotiators only."

The captain narrowed his eyes and puffed on his pipe. "Is that why the warriors this time?"

"No. This is our second trip here. They've come along to play. We've run out of new things to do over there, as far as dungeons go. This is our negotiation and trade visit with Shangtzi."

The captain stood up on the railing and leaped onto the dock. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked past Brenner to stand next to Tetorō and look at him. "So...you going to read my data or not?"

Tetorō gave a cocky tilt to his head. "Is there a reason I should?"

"You might want to," it was said calmly.

Tetorō shrugged and did, then smiled. "And now you want to go meet Hahaue, is it? If she's awake. You might have to meet the President, instead, though the head of the marketing quest is sufficient. He's authorized, after all."

"That's fine, then," the captain looked towards the wharf.

Tetorō got moving. "MarketMaker are you at the warehouse? I've found a new product supplier that wants to negotiate transportation."

"Yes, what's the product?"

"Tobacco substitute."

"...I'll be at the door." MarketMaker must be a smoker based on the tone of voice he answered with.

"He'll want a sample to try," Tetorō warned the captain.

"Is he old enough?"

Tetorō gave a withering look. "If he wasn't he wouldn't have been put over the quest. Shiroe's particular about who he chooses. Failure's not an option."

"...Kanami's Shiroe?"

"Yes."

"I see." They walked in silence until they reached the warehouse. After the introductions, he said to MarketMaker, "I hear your journey cannot fail. We might like to add to your quest, though you would have to go into India to pick up the product."

"We can do that," MarketMaker said. "Will you come into my office, please? Thank you, Tetorō," he excused Tetorō.

"Sure thing," Tetorō waved a goodbye. "Nice to meet you Prince Singh. Perhaps you could stop by for dinner tonight. Both Shiroe and Purrcy would like to meet you, I'm sure. ...After all, this trip is also a political one."

"So I've noticed," he answered drolly. "Perhaps I will. An opportunity to sit with the famed Strategist is surely not to be missed."

Tetorō took himself out and shook his head. Really. Far too many upper crust people showed up lost in this world, even if most of them were lesser sons. It made him wonder just how much of Purrcy's story might be backwards made up and if she was really a corporate princess lost here, too. "Wait, he's for real?" Brenner asked him.

"Yes. He's rather well known over here. He has a strong guild that is made up of his group of friends and polo buddies. If he's here selling, he's looking for as big a network as we are. It would be interesting if he's the Indian equivalent to Shiroe, actually."

"Who is?" a yellow haired beatnik showed up next to them.

Tetorō gave KR a sour look. "The Indian Prince. I ran into him a bit ago. You've met him at state occasions, haven't you?"

KR gave just as much a sour look back. "Yes. Stuffed shirt except he thinks swinging a sword's just as much fun as swinging a polo stick. ...Wait, how did you know?" He glowered at Tetorō.

"Because I watched the two of you go at it with those super polite words we all have to use."

KR grabbed Tetorō's shoulders and stared at his face. Tetorō calmly faced him down. "Yeah...can't forget a face that looks like that...but you've still been hiding it well." KR had turned both bitter and biting. He released Tetorō sharply, his face still dark. "So, why a girl when you played?"

"Because every time my father would get home, he wouldn't believe I was anything other than that. Spite makes us do a lot of things behind their backs, no?" He said the last softly.

"I noticed you still are, and getting away with it," KR was relentless. "Does it feel nice to get to be free? When you get home are you going to admit to your father he was right?"

Tetorō's hand clenched, but before he could do anything KR was suddenly gone. He'd seen a blink of black, though. He turned his head to the roof of the warehouse, but was too close to it to see anything. "Where are they taking him?" he asked Brenner.

"Just somewhere else for a little while. Take your time coming up with a proper response, but we plan to have it handled by the time you see him again."

"And it's okay?" Tetorō asked testily.

"Yes. Michael got the approval."

Tetorō's eyebrow raised. "From the top?"

"Yessir." Brenner looked him in the eye. Tetorō looked at him a long moment, then turned away with a slight irritated twitch. He'd rather have finished it himself, but having the time to come up with something even better was fine, too. It would have to be settled before they went home. KR was in the right place and assumed too much. It was even worse because Tetorō's father was lower on the totem pole than KR's. The damage might be far more devastating to his family than what had already happened to KR's family, even if not quite so public.

-:-:-:-:-

"KR," it was said smoothly with a come-hither lilt, "I believe you were warned?" He couldn't see and he wasn't sure it was a blindfold. It seemed more like it was because it was very dark, and that wasn't something he wanted. He was lying down on what felt like an abandoned warehouse floor, not bound but he couldn't move.

"What? I just wanted to hear it from his own mouth. Especially if he's that one, such behavior's not going to fly." Bluff his way out was first.

"KR," it was softly disappointed, "you can't take down the ice." He felt a very cold line of ice shoot up from the bottom of his foot into his collar bone on the left side and went very still. He'd forgotten about magic. "If you do that...you'll release the fire." A burning pain shot up from the bottom of his right foot and out his right palm. He hissed a breath and summoned a small Salamander. "Oh, cute. Hello, Salamander. Do you want to play with us? We'd like to hear if you like KR or not?" KR sent it back immediately. Normally they played well together, but on occasion...

"If you're the guards, wanting to torture me, what's to stop me from summoning Purrcy so she knows what you're doing?"

"Nothing, but you'll break her contract with Mister Nyanta. He's claimed her for today since he finally got to make her his last night for the first time. Take her today, and he'll go ballistic as well. Do you want all four of them mad at you today, really?"

He thought about that. "You mean Tetorō, his boyfriend, Shiroe, and Nyanta-san? I'm not sure I care about the first two, Shiroe's always mad, and Nyanta can go stuff his head in a bucket of ice in the middle of the ocean."

"Mmmm...you're an almost convincing liar." An electric shock that made his body stiffen for a second was next. Not enough to cause massive damage. Just enough to be a painful warning.

KR prepared one of his second Class spells. He might have taken Summoner first, but as soon as he'd discovered he could learn other magics he'd picked up Sorcerer immediately. Blowing up stuff was very satisfying when he got angry.

"Tsk. I wouldn't if I were you. ...Remember the shell that took out Mister Yo Chin? ...You're already in one of those. ...You didn't think we would bring you here without protecting ourselves, did you? ...And, being familiar residents of the 1HP prison, we're very well acquainted with how to keep you alive and out of the Cathedral...for - as - long - as - we - want." It was lilting and light, a taunt as much as a warning.

For all that made him shudder, it made him a bit relieved. His very least favorite thing on this planet was dying. He really, really hated the scenes he had to relive upon death. He'd almost pick the darkness of the moment over death, though he also really, really hated enclosed darkness. And, not really wanting to explode in pain but not die so get to live in that much pain - when they were so far only making him have to live through minor ones - he let his spell go without casting it. He ground his teeth. They had the upper hand in this situation. Second to try after bluffs, then, was silence, but they hadn't quite reached that level. "You'll let me go eventually, right? Shiroe needs me after all."

"Not until the train ride. It would be highly convenient to stick you in a box with a timed open for after you're on the way."

"Not true," he argued with arch pride. "I'm needed for the final boss, too."

"Did you know...that Mister Naotsugu, Miss Akatsuki, and Mister Nyanta can all summon her, too?"

KR stopped in shock, blinking at that information. "But...," he did remember she'd showed up rather surprisingly at the end of the Nakasu stuff and wondered where she'd come from, "but it isn't the same." He was feeling a bit betrayed by Shiroe at that. "It's so if an Overwritten hitches a ride down I can control it."

"Mmm...well, that's useful, isn't it?" Spiders started crawling up his fingers. Spiders with rather sharp legs. "We hope to have them locked in and dead on the other end by then. Taking them down is our sub-quest and that's the end date. But perhaps he's forgotten that. He is a rather busy person after all. ...It's rather sad he keeps forgetting you, too. Much too busy, really." It was a pander, not a comfort and even though it did touch on his self-pity, it also made him irritated.

"Well...you will have your uses, I'm sure. They don't take on anyone who doesn't, but you have to be punished regardless. We don't care if you don't believe us when we tell you what goes on behind closed doors, though we don't lie. We just care that you leave the ice alone. Don't push his buttons and make him explode. Keep your mouth shut around him and we'll all get along just fine." The spiders were at his shoulders and he wasn't looking forward to them heading up. They walked onto his shoulders and chest, then sat there. He was taking shallow breaths, now, not wanting to have them slip down to his neck, though their legs pricking through his Hawaiian shirt were holding on just fine, thank you very much.

"He's got to answer for it. He's high class and it will bring great dishonor on his family back home."

"Not if you keep your mouth shut. It's lies but you're saying you'll be believed regardless?" KR kept his mouth shut at that one. One spider started to move and walked down his chest towards his head. He took a breath, then held it. The spider walked up on his chin. He pressed his lips firmly together and the spider stopped right over them. It was a very effective gag, really. He barely wanted to breathe through his nose since it was sitting too close to that, too.

"The Commander doesn't sleep around, isn't gay, and is assigned to keep Tetorō from slamming into the ground. How he chooses to do that and what Tetorō needs to stay flying isn't anyone's to judge. As long as he gets the proper result that's all that matters. If Tetorō needs a hug, he gets one. If he needs a kick in the pants he gets one of those, too. Keep out of guild matters and keep your opinions and faulty assumptions to yourself. ...We'll let you memorize those requirements for a while. Your next appointment isn't until this afternoon." There were soft footfalls, then silence.

That was really the worst they could have done...left him alone in the silent darkness, and he wasn't sure they even understood that. He tried to make it feel like the spiders were at least keeping him company. They weren't really a threat, since he'd be in pain if they bit him...but he was an Adventurer. It wouldn't kill him and if it did...it would likely not be until his afternoon appointment. He very carefully sighed out his nose trying not to disturb the spider on his lips. The guards were very good heavies and excellent with their tactics. He wondered if Shiroe knew, then decided he probably did, even if he didn't know about this particular occurrence. Maybe a nap...as long as his mouth didn't open in the middle of it...

-:-:-:-:-

"Davidius, I'm afraid I've doubled your workload."

Davidius blinked. "It wasn't very much to begin with, Miss Purrcy. Even with doubling it, I'll still be on the tour vacation of a lifetime."

"That's good, then," Purrcy laughed. "I'm glad at least one person will get to rest and enjoy. P/R conference call."

"Yes, Miss Purrcy?"

"I've got Davidius with me and I'd like you to work with him today. He'll be staying with MarketMaker but I need your skills to get him started." She paused, arranging her thoughts, then started in. "You've got the picture of Shiroe. Have you figured out how to replicate it using my code?"

"Yes, ma'am," Davidius answered.

"Very good. I've asked Michael to paint up another one of Crusty, now that we have him to be the model. When we meet up with you again in Beijing I'll get it to you. I want more posters up of him than of Shiroe. Every Adventurer needs to know his face. P/R, like we added to Shiroe's picture the data of who he is and his role, we need to do the same for Crusty's - that he's the lead general for the world dungeon. Davidius, you'll find a few regions, like ours, already have Generals, like there are Strategists and Caretakers. Make sure they get personal copies of Crusty's picture and know to contact him as soon as the link is up. That's likely to be another month out after we're back in Yamato, is my guess. It's not going to be enough, though. They need to be able to recognize the other top players."

"P/R, I want that photo on the top step, zoomed in on the Yamato group. Tetorō knows how to take pictures. Work with him before the press conference to make sure you've got the code, then figure out how to turn it into a news release, like I showed you I did for Shiroe's thesis statement back in Minami. I want today's picture rolled out and released world-wide long before the train arrives anywhere. It's got to go immediately as the follow-on to the first one. I'd like you to handle the copy for it, but let me review it. Listen to see if any sound bites come out of the press conference, too."

"Can I make it a video?"

She considered it. "A brief moving picture, like the ones used in the _Harry Potter_ newspapers would be fine. It's got to have a mute on it, or a temporary play. No one likes to have them going constantly. A replay on touch might be useful. If you're going to get that detailed, work together. Davidius may need the code for the copy function to work right on the ones he posts and hands out as handbills. Davidius, pick a location that's legal and that everyone passes when you put the posters up - all three of them, and hand out the news article. Once P/R has the bite to send out ahead, take it to Crusty, Nakalnad, and Isaac. Have them review it and add to it so the handbill is more detailed with the things they want the Adventurers to know right now."

"If anyone along the way wants to help you, like take it farther along the routes the train isn't going, don't turn them down at all. We want it spread as far and wide as possible until we've got world-wide communication up again. I've laid the ground-work for that today, but I only get to do that once every long while or so, so I'm on cool-down." She winked at Davidius. "We'll use our other methods for now. Can I count on the two of you today?"

"Sure," Davidius said, looking a bit brighter for having something more useful to do now than just boxes.

"Yes ma'am," P/R answered. "I'll head back for the ship now, if you'll wait for me Davidius?"

"Sure," he said again.

"Thank you both," Purrcy said. "You can wait to bring me the copy work to edit after you've talked to the generals and gotten the sound bite you're happy with, but we leave in the morning, so you have to meet that deadline. I want Davidius going right to work in town here as soon as they're done. We need to leave the message behind here in Shangtzi and it needs to be put out in Beijing as well. P/R, teach him how to sow the weed seeds, too. Sorry to not let you get any sleep tonight."

"It's a typical way such things work," he said, unconcerned.

"Thanks." She closed the chat and waved her hand at Davidius with a smile and he took off to wait for P/R. "How much time before the meeting, Tetorō?" she asked.

"Lunch is next. I don't know if Shiroe wants to talk to you before the meeting, but I would expect him to head over there in about an hour and a half."

"Fine. Half-hour for lunch, then I need to meet with KR. That will get me through the press conference and have the rest of the afternoon off."

"Umm... you'll have to be back for dinner."

"Oh?"

Tetorō sighed. "Secretary, conference chat."

"...Hey, Tetorō," he was quiet.

"Sorry to interrupt. Have something to add to Shiroe's calendar. Prince Singh - the Indian Prince - is coming to dinner tonight. Since he really is a Prince of India, I'm guessing he's one of the ones the King and Queen are supposed to meet with, so it needs to be a state dinner."

Purrcy was staring at Tetorō, her whiskers stiff almost to quivering. "...Okay. I've got it on the calendar. I'll let him know as soon as he's free."

"Thanks." Tetorō cut the conference call. Nyanta was petting Purrcy to calm her down. "I'm sorry," Tetorō said to her. "The captain I saw smoking his pipe was actually the Prince himself. I took him over to negotiate with MarketMaker. He wants to go over the ocean with his product once it's safe enough. Tobacco sales in the Americas is lucrative, if they haven't gotten their own. He says it's lighter and not so habit forming here. It wouldn't have been proper for me to not invite him to dinner and that's the latest I could see to postpone him, since at the time you were still napping." He gave her a scolding look. "That's also why I let you nap for two hours instead of one."

Purrcy took a deep breath and purposely relaxed. "Right. Then I'll take it easy when I can today and find a hiding place on the train until we get to the Maze of Eternity."

Tetorō nodded. "That would be best."

"Shall we go someplace more private for lunch, then, nyan?" Nyanta asked, standing from his chair. "The view from the stern is very relaxing, meow." He held out his hand for Purrcy and she allowed herself to be taken up the stairs to the mid-level deck. The three guards went with. The privacy clause didn't exclude them during the day. Nyanta just wanted off the main deck and the stern looked out over the ocean with an unobstructed view.

When lunch was over and Purrcy was standing, ready to ask to see KR, Gareth and Brenner stepped forward and bowed. "Miss Purrcy, we wanted to let you know that KR and Tetorō know each other from Earth. Because Shiroe has invited KR, without him understanding Log Horizon, he's seen things that to him are unacceptable. Tetorō's future on Earth is in danger until KR can be helped to understand. If you follow us, we'll show you where he is. Please, do your best."

Purrcy felt a bit fatalistic. She held up her hand. "One moment." She dipped into the Adventurer database, found the data she needed, then dove into the vast data of the internet and waited until an ocean's worth of data had passed her by and specific articles, pictures, and general knowledge had come to the surface for her to skim and incorporate into her understanding.

She already knew the basic problem, this would give her the detailed background she would need. This was not going to be as simple as just showing someone what others saw. It was a spell of a different sort and the more background data she had the more chance it might have of coming off properly. She paused on one article, then on a subset of personal photos, then on a press release. A final picture of a state affair gave her more information than was necessary for the current issue, but might prove helpful for later. She skimmed two more articles based off of it and set it for a line to follow in the afternoon, then returned. "Okay. Let's go."

-:-:-:-:-

KR was quite done with his punishment. The spiders had disappeared all at once. He assumed that meant they'd been Summoned originally. It hadn't felt like four hours, though, so he wasn't sure what to think about that. Some time after that, he'd been released from the restraints that kept him tied to the floor. That had been nice until the prickling of blood flow had caught up with him. He'd sat up at that point and put his hands to his face and eyes, but as he thought, he wasn't blindfolded. It was just very dark. Not a pleasant revelation.

Out of boredom, he'd finally crawled to see if the spell boundary was something he could touch. It turned out he could touch something that kept him in that was rather smooth, actually. He sat in front of it and cast his smallest Sorcerer spell at it and it bounced back and singed him a little. Well, that made it the reflective spell, then. It wasn't likely going to go anywhere until he was let out. After another few hours, he crawled around the whole space. It was completely empty so he stood up and reached up as high as he could, though carefully. At his tallest, on tip-toe, he could just brush against the top surface of the space he was in. He ran his fingertips over to the wall and down. It was curved around the top, though the walls were rather vertical.

He'd been sitting against one wall, dozing and waking in turns when he really fell asleep. He woke from the nightmare of his punishments at home on Earth and the terror that made his heart beat fast, his breath come in pants, and the sweat come on his palms and body was extremely difficult to contain. To wake from the nightmare to the nightmare, though it was different, was difficult. It was time for this to end.

Nyanta and Shiroe be damned, he summoned Purrcy. He could feel her presence, but she was quiet at first. Not like she'd understand anything in the dark. There was a spark and he flinched. "Oh, is that what it is?" she said quietly. She'd been standing as felinoid for that moment of light, but it was a cat that walked into his lap. He grabbed her up and held her close to his chest, hiding his face in her fur. She purred for him, already understanding. She'd helped him like this while Indicus had him trapped and was deciding what to do with him. He'd explained it briefly and she'd not complained then, and she didn't complain now.

The only way he'd managed to be kept by Shiroe during the take-over of Minami was that he'd been asleep the whole time he'd been gone from his body. He'd still known what they'd done once he was released, though. Waking up in the Cathedral with everything changed had been almost as confusing and worrisome until he'd figured that out - that time had passed and he'd not known it. He'd not liked that at all and figured Purrcy wouldn't have either - at least he hadn't wanted her subjected to it.

When he was calm enough to not be shivering and hiding, though he still held her closely, she shifted. "Will you tell me about it?" she asked.

"Your guards decided to teach me a lesson," his anger came out with his words. "Just for wanting to talk to Tetorō. I don't know how many hours I've been in here, but it's been way too long."

"Hmm...it's not usual for them to interfere. Was it a particular topic?" KR paused. He'd been warned off of setting her off, too, but he wasn't sure if talking to her directly about it would do that. "Or is there an issue I could answer for you instead of you asking him, if that bothers them?"

He wasn't sure, but maybe..., "Do you know what relationship your Michael and he have?"

"Yes. I assigned them to be partners. There isn't really anything they do I don't know about."

"Why did you assign them to be partners?"

"Because Tetorō needed strengthening when he understood what I was - that is when he learned I was a summonable Adventurer and was under the control of Indicus, and dead as well. It was more than he could handle, but I needed him whole. He was the only one who could come talk to me in the code realm. Michael did too, as you already know, but he wasn't there at first. Tetorō had to survive on his own until Michael came and was accepted. Then I made him help Tetorō."

Purrcy hesitated, then said, "There's another reason I assigned Michael to watch over Tetorō. Michael as the Commander of his squadron already understands how to handle young men who are struggling with intense feelings of anger and loss of a connection with the world and reality. He's been doing it for a lot of years now. He's also a father of a son, and a good one, so he understands what a son who has been emotionally abused by his own father for nearly his whole life needs. I've asked Michael to be the father Tetorō needs to heal."

KR blinked. "Father's don't sleep with sons."

"They do in America," Purrcy disagreed. "As long as the nightmare keeps the child afraid of the dark, the father stays with them, holding them and being the monster-in-the-dark-eater until the child falls asleep again. They also hold them from harming others or themselves when the anger or grief consumes them too much and they can't control their own reactions and need the external physical restraint. It reminds the older son that they are still real, still part of humanity, but also can't destroy. It's both a protection and a relief, a safety valve. Japan has lost, or maybe never understood, how important physical touch is to reminding all humans what humanity is. It's the fastest way to heal Tetorō." Her tail thumped softly on KR's arm. "Have you ever had such an opportunity - to remember your own humanity through touch? Even just the arm of a friend or brother to laugh with or a shoulder to cry on?"

KR's stomach clenched and he shuddered slightly as he involuntarily curled up a bit. He didn't want to remember those times. "What is it, KR?" she asked kindly.

"He's going to ruin his life," KR blurted out. "He's not acting properly, particularly for his station, and it's going to ruin him and his whole family."

Purrcy purred louder and licked his chin. "KR. On Theldesia I am his mother. I have four children on Earth, so I understand the responsibilities of being a parent. What is it that I need to understand to be the parent of a son of Japan?"

KR took a breath, trying to calm down a little. "Purrcy, in Japan, same sex attraction might not be unheard of, but it is culturally unacceptable. To be suspected of it is to draw suspicion, dark looks, and worry from the family. To actually say it's what you are is to be cast out of the family and society as a whole. For a son of a wealthy family that is in the eyes of the nation to say that, the whole family suffers scorn and loss of position and must as a whole reject that son and disown him, never facing him again, or talking to him, in order for that taint to be removed even in some measure from them and their business."

"If Tetorō's father has even suspected it, he would have been punishing him from the beginning of that thought in order to protect the rest of his family and his business. For you to let him act it out without thought means what restraint his father's been on him might be gone by the time he gets back. What that could do to his family is great harm. Even if all you say it's been for healing, if he's gotten used to being in the arms of another male, it's too far - too much."

Purrcy sighed a little and rubbed her head on his cheek. "KR, thank you for telling me. I did suspect it was that way. If Tetorō had those kinds of leanings, I would have already rethought it, but he doesn't. His father has believed that because of a single incident in which Tetorō's mother was trying a dress on him that she'd purchased for a friend's daughter who was the same size and age as Tetorō at the time. He walked in at the wrong moment, made the wrong assumption and Tetorō has paid the price since that time. Only because Tetorō has the beautiful features of his mother has his father not relented. He can still only see that young child who looked like a girl whenever he sees his son."

"Tetorō's only wish in life is to have his father see who he really is - an intelligent if somewhat sensitive son. I understand that sensitive children in Japan are also rejected, sadly, but that doesn't mean he isn't the male he was born as. It only means he has fought his father his whole life to be seen as he truly is. If Michael and I can help him to be happy with who he truly is, then perhaps he will have the strength to be it, regardless, and then his father can perhaps see the son he always had, not the daughter in a son's body he is so afraid of and is the lie in his own head."

"But...how can you know? How can anyone know?" KR asked in anguish.

"It is possible to know, KR," Purrcy said gently. "Beginning with the words a person speaks, and then watching what they see and do, and how. Tetorō has always bitterly teased anyone who thought he was female while in the female body, punishing them for not seeing who he really is - the same as he was punishing his own father by choosing the female avatar because his father wouldn't see the son in front of his face. Tetorō doesn't look on any man who comes near to him with eyes that wonder if he might be someone who can love him. But when he looks at women, he does. He is afraid to look them in the eye, for fear they will see that wonder in his eyes. It was particularly difficult for him when he was still Tetora because he understood that as long as he was in a woman's body other women would never want to see him that way."

"But...," KR protested, thinking of all the examples that showed he was the other way.

"KR, he needs physical touch to calm down. He needs Naotsugu's steady strength. While he could tease him, he could touch Naotsugu all he wanted as part of that teasing. Now that he's repented of the teasing, that doesn't make the need go away. Naotsugu already understands and is patient with it. To him, Tetorō is the younger brother that needs the strong, steady hand on his shoulder to keep him from exploding or going wild."

"I had to force Tetorō to let Michael understand him and Michael made him put up with the touching until Tetorō gave in for the need being too great. If Michael betrayed that trust, Tetorō would kill him until his anger was calmed, then never speak to him again. If you watch Tetorō, he doesn't allow anyone else to touch him but me, and that is because I am both female and his mother...the same as you touch me and no one else, save the other Summons who you receive the touch you crave from. You and he are not much different, KR."

KR had frozen and he almost dropped her in rejection of the idea...except he still needed her and his own weakness and knowledge of himself betrayed him. "It isn't wrong, KR, to need touch. When the person who understands it accepts it, it's easier to ask for it at appropriate times. Both of you already understand this, actually. You only call for me when you're in great need of human touch rather than animal touch. He only lets the people he trusts the most give him the touch he needs. That isn't something either one of you needs to be afraid of."

She rubbed her nose on him until she found his nose so she was talking to him nose to nose. "Men touch, KR. An arm around a baseball teammate to congratulate each other. A hand on the shoulder when in need of strengthening. A pat on the back to say, 'Good work'. None of those say anything other than those things. Even a hug to say, 'I'm sorry for your loss,' isn't uncommon. To be so afraid of someone being gay and having to stand so far from them...it's sad to lose what could be a kind and strengthening friendship."

KR was crying. He hated he was crying, but he was. "And if that other really is gay...then what, Purrcy?"

"Is it really so different? That person knows you aren't, KR. They won't ask it of you."

The hole in his heart was bigger than he could contain and the tears flowed down his cheeks and dripped off his chin. She only kept him company, her tail gently waving against his arm to let him know she was still there with him. When he could speak again, he whispered, "I can't, Purrcy. I can't ever see him again." To say the words hurt him terribly. She lightly chucked him under the chin with her nose. He tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. "He's my own brother...and I can't ever see him again."

KR buried his face in her side and sobbed. He was seeing the picture that was his favorite. She'd already described it. For one year of high school he and his next older brother had been able to be on the same baseball team. They had a hard game and he'd managed to score a run. His brother had put his arm around him when the game was done and praised him as the man of the day. Someone had taken the picture and given him a copy.

His only brother who considered him worth anything, who took the time to praise him, to be a quiet comfort when he'd finally been let out of punishment, who he had relied on to live each day of his life as the youngest of four sons of a wealthy family of Japan. Pampered, spoiled, forgotten in punishment for hours because he wasn't worth notice. Unneeded. The one brother who had given him validation he was a living human. "He betrayed me, when he betrayed the family by announcing his gay status and moving in with his lover, Purrcy." KR hurt, and he was angry.

"Go back, KR. Go back and remember without the stunned disbelief. Go back and look at his eyes again. When he finally had the courage to look into yours, what was _really_ there? If he protected you that long...don't you think he wished he could continue to protect you? And how could he stay, when it had already been found out? Was there anywhere else for him to go? It isn't something he could, or can, change. Can you also love the brother who loves you and let him find a little happiness in life, too? Or would you rather he stayed locked in his punishment and prison all his life only for your selfish reasons?"

Her tail swished again. "And I understand how detailed and particular the father of such a high profile child can get. Likely he has guards watching him and you...but you are KR of the Debauchery Tea Party. If you want to continue to have a relationship of brothers with your brother, I have no doubt you can find a way. And because he wishes for the same, he also can find a way to meet you half-way if he sees you'll try regardless. He is just as afraid to taint you again and get you into more trouble. It's a better protection to stay away from you...but that doesn't mean he isn't hurting for the little brother he loves and wishes to see...and wishes would forgive him. ...Is it possible, KR? Is it?"

KR just held her, his eyes still dripping. It was so difficult to be the son of a man like his father. Tetorō did understand that much, for sure. Purrcy let him sit for a while, then stood up on his arm and rubbed on his face, her fur picking up some of the tears on his cheek. She purred in his ear, and said, "Shiroe is going to create a company when he returns to Earth to create the door on that side. Slip your brother the address of it when he has it going and ask Shiroe to hire him. He'll do it."

"Then when you go visit Shiroe, you can stop by and visit your brother without them being the wiser. In only a few more years, the fervor will pass. Human group memory is very short. No one will care except your father who is hurting for his son. Your mother will be grateful. Don't waste the rest of your life not having your brother in it just because society wants to dictate a thing they are already forgetting. That isn't very KR-like at all."

His lips twitched up at that. It was true. He very much could care less about what society cared to dictate when it was stupid. He took a slow breath in, then nodded and pet her slowly. "Thank you, Hahaue."

"My pleasure," and she called him by his Earth name, the only one he'd entrusted it to. "Be happy, my son. It will come, in time."

"Can we get out of here now?" he asked plaintively.

"Yes," she answered softly. "Put me down." He did, a bit reluctantly. "Hold my hand and close your eyes." Her hand was on his knee. He picked it up, then on a whim kissed the back of it gallantly. A few moments later he could feel the warm sun on his face. He opened his eyes, then blinked, putting his arm over his face to shade his eyes from the bright sun. He looked around and found he was lying on a lounge chair on the deck of the Ocypete. Next to him on two more were Purrcy, next to him, and Nyanta, on her other side.

KR sat up and realized there were still tear lines on his face. He absently rubbed them off as he turned to face her, putting his feet on the deck. "So...was I in the code realm the whole time?"

Purrcy raised an eye-whisker ridge. "I don't know, but I do know that they were very thoughtful to make it so when you summoned me I only had to go to there and could leave my body here with Nyanta. That meant I didn't have to disobey either of you. It was rather relieving, actually." She stretched. "Tetorō, how much time now?"

KR looked behind the chairs. Tetorō was ignoring him for now. "You were only gone about five minutes. There's still about forty-five minutes."

KR continued to appraise Tetorō until Tetorō looked up into his eyes. He was irritated and a little angry, but his eyes didn't waver. KR's lip twitched up a little, making Tetorō go to a scowl. "Well, I guess that's good then," KR said without saying anything. He rose to his feet. As he passed Gareth he said. "Alright. It isn't necessary for me to say anything to anyone." He kept going. He didn't care if Gareth got it or not. "Ah, wait," he stopped short and went back. "I forgot. Shiroe wants me to go in the first place because he wants you to be able to talk to the other Caretakers we meet as we go." His eyes bored into Purrcy's. "How do you want to do that? By Summon or by Soul Possession?"

Purrcy shivered. "You can send me home on Summon, too. I'd really rather not do Soul Possession."

"That's what I thought, and am in complete agreement. Tell him that's what we'll do, then."

"Fine. Just skip the time around the winter festival if at all possible. I'm going to be busy then."

"Okay...if I can." He turned away again with a raised hand and took himself back into town. He'd already had wasted a lot of the free pass he'd been given by Shiroe...though now he wondered if it had been given because Shiroe had known something was going down that would distract him. KR sighed. Shiroe really was very dark, in the end. It would be good to use him for something selfish for once, and he wouldn't say no, either. He was just enough of a softy on those kinds of issues. KR walked into town humming slightly off-key, looking for the next thing to do.

-:-:-:-:-

"Tetorō." Tetorō turned to the soft call. Purrcy's golden eyes were looking into his. "When KR's brother's resume comes across the desk, see he's hired. By then most of society will have already forgotten his name. Shiroe has the heart to allow it, and he needs to buy KR just enough, is my guess. That will do it."

Tetorō looked at her soberly for a long time, then finally nodded. "We want you, too," he said to her.

Purrcy shook her head. "I've already said it. I'll anchor the door on this side. Otherwise it won't be two-way. You won't get back."

Tetorō gave her a pained look but had to relent in her face. She opened her arms and he stepped in to get his hug. He was somewhat relieved Nyanta didn't take offense. "He needs touch too. Give him time, then surprise him. Another friend for both of you would be good. You will both need strengthening there. I would like to come home to see both of my sons together, even if still rivals to the public face."

Tetorō sighed. "You're asking for a lot, you know?"

Purrcy chuckled a little. "Hate the world together, but strengthen each other, too. The world will only continue to try to tear you both down. You've already learned it - that when you work together with others, you're stronger for it and can overcome even the world."

She held him very tightly and he pet her, knowing she also needed that same strength for that very purpose in this world. "We're here, Hahaue. You can do it. We know you can - you have all of us helping you get there."

She nodded and took a breath. "Thank you." He scratched behind her ears until she relaxed, then he put her in Nyanta's lap, since relaxing for her meant turning into a cat.

He walked to the railing of the ship, turned around to lean back on it, and watched Nyanta pet Purrcy. When his eyes lifted, Gareth and Brenner were watching him. "Thanks for watching my back," he said to them. "You can switch back now, if you want."

"Not like you're all going to separate before bedtime anyway," Gareth said with a shrug.

Tetorō thought about that and sighed. "True." He went back to watching the two cats on the lounge chair, then remembered he'd called that a waste last time and went to join them so he could have two cats in his lap and pet them. It helped him finish calming down, though on occasion he had to prevent himself from breaking Nyanta's neck and move to petting just Purrcy instead.


	107. Adventurer's Creed

The Akiba delegation walked into Shangtzi together, once again dressed to the nines in professional suits, for those who had them. (Purrcy had acquired hers before going to her first Round Table Conference meeting and was a black skirt suit with her gold blouse.) The rest were in high end clothing Shiroe approved of - even Kanami had acquiesced and let him put her in something more reasonable than the short-shorts and breast band under high level chest armor she preferred to fight in. It was still clothing that made her own statement, though, and that was okay. She really was a person unto herself and they did want the city to still recognize her. In all it was a rather impressive group that walked into town from the wharf. It was a much better "first" arrival.

With eighteen dignitaries of various levels and the full complement of guards for Shiroe and Purrcy it was an impressive parade that walked down the streets towards the Shangtzi Government Building. Shiroe, Kanami, and Crusty were near the front to get as many eyes on them as possible, but Nyanta, Purrcy, Isaac, Nakalnad, MarketMaker, Maverick_Master, Brody, Naotsugu, and KR weren't hidden either. It was a message that not only was Yamato on the move, but so was the Debauchery Tea Party.

The Shangtzi Governing Council welcomed them in a large reception room and opened with tea and light cookies. Shiroe took the center of the main couch, directing Purrcy to sit next to him on one side and Kanami on the other. Behind them, with their respective charges, were Erius, Akatsuki, and Nyanta. Crusty and Nakalnad also took prominent seats as did the main council member and main general of Shangtzi. The remainder of the dignitaries took strategic standing positions. "Thank you for welcoming us today," Shiroe opened politely. "I appreciate Nakalnad, Isaac, and Brody taking the time to sit with you yesterday. Is there anything I can do to assist you further today?" Two particular issues were presented to Shiroe and between him, Purrcy, and Kanami they were able to resolved them to the satisfaction of the council members.

Shiroe then moved to one of his own issues specific to the council. "Given that the treaties and trade agreements I previously signed were with the previous government of Shangtzi, I would like to consider them rescinded and revoked and begin again." He got cautious nods across the floor. "All Adventurers have the right to individually make decisions within the bonds of order and proper social restraints. We have no wish to trample on the new direction you plan on taking Shangtzi. We would, however, like to be able to trade as freely as the Adventurers themselves are free. If we could rewrite the trade agreement to be a little more simple?"

He pulled out the trade agreement he'd written that morning and passed it over for the council to review. It really was as simple as an agreement that Yamato citizens could arrive in Shangtzi and conduct whatever legal business they desired to conduct within the bounds of the laws of Shangtzi, and Shangtzi citizens were given the reciprocal right in Yamato. When there was no disapproval it was signed by each representative of the Free Adventurer Cities of Yamato as well as the representative of Shangtzi and disappeared.

"As for a treaty between cities, one isn't really necessary as long as we are all in agreement that we were once citizens of Earth who freely chose to play _Elder Tales_ and who now wish to freely act within Theldesia in the same manner until we can return to Earth again. However, if having one helps everyone be settled, then here is a proposal of one that can be modified, of course." He handed that one over. "Really, it's a formal statement of my ultimate goal that if you wish to say is yours as well, then there might be cause to sign it as an individual Adventurer yourself. It is, perhaps, in the more strict sense, a petition rather than a treaty." Purrcy's eyes brightened and she sat up straighter and when the Shangtzi council was done reading it, she asked for it.

 _We, the Adventurers of Theldesia, desire to live in peace with the hope for prosperity in the full enjoyment of life which we each claim the right to live freely, yet also with each other as brothers and sisters of like minds. We also desire to seek the way home to Earth so that we may return to the families and lives that we were born to and claim the right to live to the best of our abilities, or to allow other Adventurers the right to do so. And, if possible, to be able to come and go freely between Earth and Theldesia with regards to that same peace through lawful living. To these ends, we hereby claim the rights to live by reasonable laws that allow each one of us individually to control our own destinies, to treat with respect each other and all other creatures and denizens of Theldesia, and to work together to find the best solutions to our goals within the bounds of reasonable restraint and comradeship._

It was a Magna Carta of Adventurers, the Adventurer Bill of Rights. Purrcy looked up at Shiroe, pride in ever fiber of her being. "It needs a formal name, Shiroe. It will also go with Davidius. What shall we call it?"

Shiroe blinked at her, then smiled softly. He pushed his glasses up lightly. "I wouldn't mind: _The Adventurer's Creed._ "

"In your intention, have you included that it will register each signature within the world database?"

"Yes, I have," he answered.

"Very good," she handed it back to him. "This time, your signature needs to be first. Be the John Hancock that opens the way."

A camp table appeared in front of him and he set the contract on it. Ink and pen appeared as well and he dipped the pen in the ink. "Don't forget to set that it will register the signatures regardless of level of ink, paper, and pen used in the future. And then expect to be very tired." She winked at him. Shiroe gave an understanding nod and Purrcy set her own magic spell to it to boost what he was about to do, then reconsidered. She put her hand on his as it set to the paper. When he looked at her, she finished her coding, but withheld both the code and her intent. "Sign with the intent you previously set and add that the pen isn't done and still retains ink. I'll take it for the second code half." He paused to comprehend, then nodded.

The phoenix-feather pen touched the paper and the ink flowed from it, forming the kanji characters that were Shiroe's name. When he reached the end of the last stroke, he paused and Purrcy took the pen in her fingers. His hand relaxed and he let her move the pen and his hand along with it as she signed her own name in English next to his as the second signatory. As the pen came up from the paper this time, there was a thunderclap and the room glowed and buzzed as if lightning had struck the Government Building.

There was a bit of a pause in the room, then, "Well, if declaring our right to choose means getting struck by lightening, I guess it's worth that," Purrcy said mildly. "Of course, I did do it outside the proper bounds of my main contract, so it was probably mostly directed at me. It's happened before." She released Shiroe's hand, letting him take the pen back.

"And yet, somehow for doing it for the third time, meow're still not erased," Nyanta said dryly.

Purrcy sighed. "Somehow...they seem to think I'm necessary, even if I do make them learn things they don't want to. Perhaps we'll all survive to see the end result of this, then."

"But, then...did it actually work?" Shiroe asked, a bit concerned.

Purrcy went inside and looked at his data. "You've a new marker that says you signed it, as do I. If we could have others sign it, I'll watch to see if it did work. The experiment would be to see if your own ink works, not Shiroe's special ink and pen. If we could have one?"

Kanami immediately pulled out a wooden pen that looked like she'd purchased it in England. Shiroe moved the table closer to her and with a flourish, she signed her name to it as well. Purrcy watched as the mark was added to her status data. "It worked," Purrcy said quietly, with a smile. "Congratulations, Shiroe. You've done very well." The tail end of healing sparkles were fading from around him and beginning around her.

"Thank you for the assist. Given how much it took from the two of us, it looks like it was a spell above my level normally." The Creed was being passed to Isaac, who was borrowing Kanami's pen.

Purrcy shrugged. "I think that's because I added the code and database side of it. If it had just been your intention it would have been fine, but future signatures might not have been recorded officially." She wiggled her whiskers at him. "You, know...I just like to have my paws in the mud, too."

"Isn't that 'fingers in the pie'?"

Purrcy grinned. "Yes, but I'm a cantankerous felinoid."

"That you are. That you are," he agreed, leaning back to watch the signing of the Adventurer's Creed as it continued to be passed around the room. It went to every person in the room, including the Eagles, before it returned to Shiroe.

Purrcy turned to Tetorō. "Please take a picture that gets at least the names we want seen in it and the full text. We'll have Davidius pull the text out for the follow-on copies he'll post with the pictures for signing."

While Shiroe held it up, Tetorō put his thumbs to forefingers, centered the desired text properly, then said, "Snap! ...Now hold still you two." He moved Akatsuki and Nyanta to either side of them and stepped backwards. "Shift it to your right a little Shiroe...good. ...Snap! I'll keep that one for me." He got several complaints for that until he laughed and promised he'd share it around. When the scroll disappeared into Shiroe's list, Tetorō paused and said, "I'd really like to get a family picture before we step back out of the room...though we're missing some."

"Maybe tonight or tomorrow," Purrcy said.

"...Okay," Tetorō agreed, and they returned to their places.

"Thank you, everyone," Shiroe said, quietly proud, yet humbled at the support and agreement of everyone for his own goals. "If this could spread to every Adventurer on Theldesia until we all remember who and what we really are, and if we can all learn to play nicely with each other from now on, we will be able to fulfill the dream of peace and prosperity we all wish to have individually and collectively. It is my greatest hope and fondest dream for all of us. If there's nothing else, shall we go and have the press conference that celebrates the coming together of two regions of Adventurers united in their goals and excited to see them moving forward another step?" He waited. Receiving no other comments, he rose and the rest rose with him.

It was a press conference like the one in Akiba after the joint city conference: much handshaking, many words of treaty, peace, and moving forward as united Adventurers, smiles that made the cheeks ache, and lots of pictures taken for the P/R releases. Purrcy and P/R agreed that Shiroe's words after the signing made the best short quote byte and the Adventurer's Creed was required, so those went out on the world-wide message transfer.

-:-:-:-:-

 _Crack-BOOM!-Ssszzzz._ The little Log Horizon and Akiba group waiting outside the Government Building blinked eyes that had been light-blinded and ringing ears were rubbed. Once they could see again, their mouths dropped open. The top of the Government Building had been graced by five statues across the front of it at the roof line and over the main entrance to the building. The lightning had singed and cracked the dome of the building behind the statues and over the center of the building.

Davidius and P/R were already taking pictures of the damage. "I think I got one of the lightning strike," P/R said. There was a pause as he reviewed them, then he projected it out in front of them. They stared in amazement at that, too. Fingers of lightning reached for the roof, even over the statues. However, there was an obvious barrier between the lightning and those statues. "Hang on...," P/R had finally caught his breath.

The picture jumped to a previous shot without lightning. "Slow forward," he commanded. The group watched as the lightning appeared, shooting down from the sky, headed for the roof of the Government building. It divided and headed for each of the statues, then was repelled and rejoined at the dome, cracking it on impact, then ran up it to the lightning rod on top of the dome. Two lines of lightning flashed up into the air and disappeared, leaving behind a small amount of itself that sizzled up and down the lightning rod until it dissipated into sparks.

P/R was immediately on the com. "What did they just do in there!" he demanded. He listened quietly for a while, then returned to the rest of them. "That happened just as Mister Shiroe and Miss Purrcy finished jointly signing a new document, the Adventurer's Creed. It apparently definitively states that all Adventurers have the right to choose their own destinies and that we wish to choose peace, prosperity, lawful living, and the right to go home if we want. It's a petition that we're going to be adding to the posters for anyone to sign." He turned and looked at his paused picture of the damaged dome. "Miss Purrcy said it's likely it was directed at her since she's not really allowed to side for Adventurers against her Summoner."

Everyone was silent as they digested that news. "I think...she's got someone protecting her...or something...," Isuzu swallowed.

P/R rewound the video and watched it one more time, then paused it. Pointing he said, "Look. There is something going from the feet of this statue to this one, but the point of origination of the shield is from the second." He drew his finger over the pathways, then paused. He dropped his hand. "What can it mean?" he murmured.

When the Shangtzi Governing Council and the Yamato delegates arrived on the top steps of the Government Building, P/R took a few photos from the distance to get the statues on the top included, then moved up to get the close-ups. The main hand-shaking went on one step down, beginning with the head general of the Shangtzi Governing Council while the second official stood next to him waiting to take his turn. Shiroe was in the center shaking hands. Purrcy was next to him and Naotsugu on the other side of her, then Nyanta. Above them, Crusty stood in the middle between them, then on the Akiba side was Kanami, KR, and the other generals. On the Shangtzi side were the other officials and then the generals. It was a well framed photo.

It was going to be very hard to narrow down which pictures to include in the international press release. P/R was wishing very much for an entire web-site or blog site to put them all up for everyone to see. When it was done and they were headed back for the Ocypete, he was already sorting through them in his head as the junior officers picked up the chef and barely had the presence to nod politely to him when he was introduced.

-:-:-:-:-

Crusty, Nakalnad, Isaac, Maverick_Master, Brody, and Michael worked on a joint-generals addition for the handbill, and invited Kanami and the head of the Shangtzi council, who was their best military guild guildmaster, to participate with them. Shiroe caught wind of that and went to stand and listen in. After a while, he went and found Purrcy with Nyanta on the upper steerage deck, enjoying a bit of solitude. "Purrcy, I can't go to every Adventurer City that needs help setting their governments right, but that's a necessary piece to this. Oppressive governments make the reaching of the ultimate goal nearly impossible."

Purrcy looked at him, pursing her lips slightly, then turned her head as if listening for something. "Where did you just come from?"

"The war room. The Generals are putting together their text for the handbill."

"Go back again, and stand in the doorway. The first person to stop and give you their full attention, wave them out and bring them up. You'll feel the pull of destiny."

Shiroe left the steerage deck to do as he'd been bidden. When he returned he had Maverick_Master with him. Purrcy smiled slightly. "Whatever it was you wanted to tell Shiroe, tell us both, please."

Maverick_Master paused to collect his thoughts together, then said, "When I signed up to come on this trip, it was a spontaneous request, but I felt like I'd been preparing for it for a long time. My guild is all with me, though it's small, only about eight of us. The rest are solos or those who wanted something different to do." He shifted and looked at Shiroe. "I wasn't a participant like the others were in any of your actions in the other cities, but I saw the results of what you did in Nakasu, heard Nakalnad's story, and knew William's stories of you. I got to see it in action here, which may not be sufficient experience, but I did sit in the meeting yesterday afternoon to learn from those who are experienced with it."

He took a breath. "I think what you've been doing is important. Not just for here, but for anywhere it's a problem. I know you're busy and can't travel everywhere, but I and my guild don't really have anything to do, and nothing would be a better thing to do, in my opinion. I've been thinking about asking you to let us go and do it for you, if you're willing to train us. We'll come do the Maze of Eternity to learn that, too, so we can do that with Kanami, but we'll also handle the political side of the quest - to teach young Adventurers how to best lead other Adventurers and run cities peacefully." Maverick_Master blushed faintly. "I'm sure we're the least qualified to do it out of everyone, but...I really think it's important and it's rather obvious we're the only expendable group out of what you could bring...if you'd be willing."

Shiroe had to sit down. Purrcy purred to give him some support. "There is time to train you," she said to Maverick_Master. "Shiroe can write up the pamphlet he was thinking of doing and you can walk through it with him to see if it has everything it needs. We can also give you recordings of all the actions in all the cities he's affected and taught already so that you have visual training materials as well. While you have the generals who were participants in those actions with you on the train, you can be taught by them. The recordings pause, rewind, etc. so there can be discussion as you go through the training."

"If Kanami participates in those as well, she'll also get the training for the both of you to work together. It's a shame MarketMaker won't be with us on the train. The economic side is essential, so his advice and training would also be helpful, but you could get that part once he's with you on the train going into the continent, and he'll spearhead that side anyway. With the three of you, I believe it would be very doable. Shiroe?"

He'd recovered enough he could answer. "I would greatly appreciate it if you could take that on, Maverick_Master," he said. "I've got the draft of the handbook already in mind. I'll write it up, but it may be after the Maze before I can give it to you. The visual training could take place on the first leg of the trip and will probably feel too short, really," he smiled. "If you don't mind a crash course?"

"No, that's better than I thought I might have, actually. I can take the visuals with me to continue to study, right?"

"Of course," Purrcy said and handed him four cubes labeled for the four cities: Akiba, Minami, Nakasu, and Shangtzi.

"Ahh...right now already?" Maverick_Master asked in surprise.

"That's what it is to be a high level Programmer," she shrugged.

"What part of Akiba did you include?" Shiroe asked her. "You weren't there for the beginning." Purrcy merely smiled at him until he slumped. "Right," he said and left it at that.

"Put your finger on the cube you want. Say 'play' and any command you want. It knows many and will learn the rest," she instructed Maverick_Master. "And...as much as I would never want to say it...you may want to change your avatar name."

He gave a chagrined look. "No, it's true. Neither half are suited to an ambassador of peace." He looked over the water. "When I started thinking I would want to do this, I thought I would like to be a man of peace, one who would help bring peace to other men and women. Kazuo is that."

"May I change it for you, then?" Purrcy offered. He looked back, then nodded. She went into his data and changed his name, though it would keep the first one in the depths. "There you go, Kazuo. Thank you. Please see Davidius for a picture scroll of Shiroe so if you need his help, you can contact him across the regions."

Kazuo came out of looking at his status screen and sighed. "That would help also, if I know I can contact Mister Shiroe directly in case of emergencies."

Shiroe nodded. "Of course. I also want the best outcome possible. Earlier is always better than later and eventually you'll feel confident enough without me...though reports after the fact each time would be appreciated. I may need the positive lift...I likely _will_ need it." He gave a sad smile.

As Kazuo turned to leave, Purrcy interrupted. "Ah! Make sure all the press gets your name change or they won't recognize you. Go down to talk to Davidius first and he and P/R will make sure it gets into all of them."

"Of course," Kazuo bowed to both Shiroe and Purrcy and left the steerage deck.

Shiroe looked at Purrcy and Nyanta. They smiled at him and gave him kind ears. He leaned back in his seat. "Mind if I just sit here and enjoy the quiet for a bit, too?"

"No," Nyanta said softly. "If mew slept for a half-hour, that would be even better, meow." Purrcy crafted a small spell and sent it over to Shiroe as a blown kiss. He was asleep two seconds later.

"I wonder if Secretary has told him about the Prince's visit yet," Purrcy murmured.

"Nyot likely if he thought he could rest with us now," Nyanta said wryly.

"That's what I was thinking, too. Do you mind if I direct that show from here for a bit?" she asked him.

Nyanta's ears twitched a bit, then he asked, a bit reluctantly, "Does the King's Chef have to cook for it?"

Purrcy laughed lightly and she pet his head and shoulder. "You've already cooked for it. We just have to convince Shiroe to give up enough curry this early."

Nyanta relaxed. "Then that's fine. Mew myay party plan to your heart's content...while remaining right here with me," he reached over, pulled her to sitting in his lap, and gave her a long kiss.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was well trained in dinners of state. Every officer's dinner on a military ship was a state dinner. Most other ships, too. He did have to wonder just when he was going to get to work on the charts and calculations the captain of the Ocypete would need before he left in the morning. He was being kept far too busy to worry about what had happened the night before. Rather a relief, really...until Purrcy got her hands into the state dinner. He finally had to give her two assignments and tell her to let him handle it. Then it got easy. He just told the Eagles what to do and having the same experience he did with shipboard dinners, it was wash, rinse, repeat.

He did let Purrcy set the table order somewhat, though it was slightly different from SOP as it put both Shiroe and her at the head of it. He didn't complain too hard about it. It was obvious she was setting it as the royal court arrangement. It worked well enough. The hard part was not knowing if guests were coming with the prince...though there were ways to handle that, too. Even harder was one of the assignments he gave to Purrcy - to get the curry wrested from Shiroe's tight fists. She already knew about that one, though, and promised she and Nyanta would go two-to-one. That would probably do it.

Michael sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He looked around the state room they'd set up in with a critical eye. The table was set, crystal and silver polished until it more than shone and sparkled. He walked the chairs for dirt or dust one more time, removed a slight wrinkle that didn't really exist from the tablecloth, then stood next to the seats at the end of the table and called the guild and Yamato guests (mostly the generals and MarketMaker) down to the room.

When they'd arrived and were standing between the table and the door, he clasped his hands behind his back and stood straight and firm. His own bearing and clothing were the example. He was in his King's Guard suit - pressed and pristine - his boots polished like the tableware, his full regalia of Master at Arms on also similarly prepared. "We are hosting a real Prince of India. This will be a full-on real ship-board state dinner. Please dress appropriately and we'll begin inspection."

Most people got it really fast. Those who had been to Maihama had the eight days of practice. Purrcy went with her best dress and then some - her green gemstone jewelry that came from the dragon being an added prominent set of pieces. Michael eyed her very closely. "Press the cloth better." She paused in thought and it went to more crisp lines. He nodded. "Polish the stones and settings and you'll be good." He stepped over to Shiroe, then shook his head. "Do you still have the tuxedo?"

"Tails are necessary?" Shiroe asked in surprise.

"Tonight, yes." Shiroe switched out and Michael asked Purrcy to press that suit, too. "Pull out glitter and bling. You'll need it, too. I'd tell you to wear the crown, but I know you're still resistant, so get as fancy on everything else as you've got. I'll be back to check on it." Michael moved to Nyanta. He'd already had Purrcy press his tuxedo and she'd changed it over to black from the white. "White shirt," Michael said coolly. It switched. Nyanta resettled the cuffs under the jacket. "Wear the good luck earrings and add bling to the jacket. Which reminds me...," he turned to the group as a whole. "Those who got rings at the first court, wear them." His was already on his finger.

He moved to Akatsuki. She blushed prettily under his scrutiny, though she worked hard to stand proudly. "I'm proud of you," he said to her. "You're wearing the dress very well." It was a new one. Just as formal as Purrcy's and in Akatsuki's preferred black, but very feminine nonetheless. Long skirt, like Purrcy's, modest bodice and more full sleeves than Akatsuki usually wore, but short so they wouldn't get in her way. There was colored piping on all the seams and on the understated frills on the bodice so it didn't look like funeral clothing. Her court earrings were already in, and her necklace. She'd kept a dagger at her waist. "Make the leather look polished or ask one of the Eagles to do that for you. No time for you to go get yourself all black and get back." He turned and said over his shoulder, "Tetorō come fix her hair up curled and piled. Make Shiroe miserable tonight."

He walked to the next one, ignoring the twin blushes as Tetorō moved with an evil lift to his face. Those four had to be the most put together this night. Michael made sure all the rest of them met muster, however, before being satisfied. Purrcy was called in to assist with Kanami's wardrobe. It wasn't bad, since she'd had to do a lot in her time on _Elder Tales_. The final selection just needed the proper tweaking to match the royal court. She also had some pretty impressive bling herself.

When Michael was satisfied, he stepped over to Reed. He'd done the inspection for the Eagles and Michael gave them one quick hard look, then inspected Reed closely as Reed inspected him. They were actually dressed rather identically and when Michael was done with Reed's inspection he gave a nod, then a wink. Reed's lip twitched. "Two at gangplank reception. They'll escort him in. I want a head-count and description before they're ship-side. Two on each door between here and there. The rest on the wall. Service won't be necessary. They're going to do it with Purrcy's special service - ghost servants, so to speak."

Reed gave him a salute. "Yes, Sir." He turned to the Eagles to give out the orders, the Eagles set on watch moving out immediately.

Michael walked to the head of the table. "Shiroe on the right, Purrcy on the left." They moved to stand next to their chairs. "Consorts around the corners." Nyanta and Akatsuki moved to stand at their places. "Next to your Consort until we're ready to sit," he corrected them. They shifted to stand next to their respective royal. Michael gave the eye to Akatsuki. "You've been at Water Maple long enough. How does the princess stand? Be that."

Akatsuki took a breath, stood up straight and put her hands together lightly in front of her skirt. "Good," he praised her. "Copy her grace all night." She gave as graceful a nod of her head as she could manage. It would have to do. "Pretend to be Purrcy. That might help." It made her laugh enough to relax which was what he wanted. She'd be able to play better at being a princess if she could relax into the part.

Michael turned to the rest of them. "I'll give the seating order next. Stand next to your chair. We may have to add seats and shift when we get the head count of guests, so pay attention when I hand that order out. For now, on the Queen's side: myself next to Nyanta, Tetorō, KR, Isuzu, Rudy, Isaac, Brody. KR you can do that until he gets here, then not."

KR made a face at him and tried to not pull at his clothes. He really didn't like to dress up, though he wore it fine. "I know how to sit a state dinner," KR complained at him.

Michael ignored him. "On the King's side: Prince Singh will go next to Akatsuki, then Naotsugu, Reed, Touya, Minori, Crusty, Mav- Kazuo. At the foot of the table Queen's side, MarketMaker. King's side, Kanami."

"So, we're playing at royalty?" Kanami asked with perky interest as she arrived behind her seat.

"Yes, ma'am," Michael answered politely. "When hosting royalty, it really is the best way to go. We've put you with the generals, but if you'd like to play a lady for the night, that would be fine also. Since you and MarketMaker are heads of the continental quests, you match being at the minor head, opposite Purrcy and Shiroe, and thus why Kazuo is seated with you as well. We'll keep him understated for now, though, since he'll likely need to work undercover when the train arrives in the city the prince is from. We still don't know him from Adam. Just because he's here on business doesn't mean he isn't treating his people like the Shangtzi government was before we got here."

Those three all got it and so did the rest of the room. They couldn't relax their guard tonight, or after they got there thinking they already had a friend in town. Michael actually wished he was going over there himself, but that wasn't going to happen, so he brushed it out of his mind and went to stand at nine feet inside the doorway to greet the prince and escort him to the table. It was proper as they were set at equal positions at the table. He went to rest attention and waited for the word from outside.

"Forks and spoons at the top of the plate are for dessert," Purrcy began a quick tableware tutorial. "Use utensils set at the place settings from the outside in. We've included chopstick for those who prefer them. Just keep count of the courses so if you need to pick up a spoon or fork later you know which one to take. Napkins go in the lap first thing before eating and please use them. Keep conversation light and quiet. Full on formal is something I'm well aware you're all attuned to. Work hard everyone, and thank you to Michael and the Eagles for their preparation efforts, and to Shiroe for allowing us to eat dinner tonight at all. Reed, were you Michael's squire?"

Michael smiled. He knew that was coming. It had been the silent communication they'd had during inspection. "I was one of his squires early on. I was fortunate to be reassigned with him on this commission. I received the title my last round out for leave. He kindly sent in the recommendation before I arrived so they were able to fit it in as it was a short stay."

"Congratulations," she said, meaning it.

"Thank you." He meant it too. It made a difference when someone knew what kind of effort went into being granted a Master at Arms.

Michael received the notification - the prince in full formal, including a king's turban, and two ministers. "He's been made ruler of his Adventurer city at the least," he passed on to the table. "He's wearing a king's turban. Anyone who wants to wear their crown or coronet can, but Shiroe gets final say on that." H/R was already magically extending the table and adding two place settings and chairs. "Open up holes on either side of the table. I'm sorry but we'll have to push the barons and baronesses down." He could hear everyone stepping down to their new places and he turned just long enough to confirm that chairs had opened up just above Touya and Isuzu.

KR looked at Michael a bit irritated. "You know, back home I rank higher than Tetorō."

"You're welcome to slide down one, too," Michael said calmly and turned back to the door. Purrcy's ear had twitched.

The door handle turned and the door was opened. The prince was bowed in. He was dressed in full formal Indian clothing - modern. Suit with tails of a different style from the tuxedos Shiroe and Nyanta were in, crisply pressed, ascot, jewelry on his fingers and elsewhere, and the turban. "Prince Singh, welcome to the Ocypete. If you'll please come with me?" He led the prince to Shiroe, followed by the two advisors. Dark eyes that had judged the table and the people at it arrived on Shiroe. "Prince Singh, this is Shiroe, Head of the Free Adventurer Cities of Akiba, President of the Corporation of Akiba, and Guildmaster of Log Horizon. Guildmaster Shiroe, this is Prince Singh."

Prince Singh raised a hand to stop Michael from talking. "Here, I am Maharajadhiraj Singh. My next older brother was also logged into the game at the time of the catastrophe and is Maharadjadhiraja Bahadur. Because I understand the title is difficult for most non-Indian's to say and my status still lists my title as Maharaj Kumar, or Prince in the translations, I don't protest being called by the lesser title. However, I thought you of all people should know from the beginning."

"Thank you, Maharajadhiraj Singh, for your forthrightness," Shiroe said. The title came out with a Japanese accent but was well said nonetheless. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Surely it is auspicious," Prince Singh answered and turned to his two companions to introduce them.

Shiroe greeted them politely as well, then turned to Purrcy. "Maharajadhiraj Singh, this is Purrcy." Prince Singh's expression, including ears and tail, went to extreme interest, though he stayed polite about it. In coloring they almost matched, really. Michael did wish Tetorō had told them the little detail that the Prince was a felinoid. Nyanta had a little bit of a twitch going in his tail. "She is the Game Moderator of Yamato, CEO of the Corporation of Akiba, and President of Venture Enterprises, and is my counterpart in our quest to find the way home, and back again if possible. Next to her is Nyanta-san, her husband and one of my companions from the Debauchery Tea Party." Prince Singh's demeanor went immediately to one of polite respect. He was prince enough to not tread where another man had claimed. Most people at the table relaxed slightly in relief.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Maharajadhiraj Singh," Purrcy said. "It is indeed auspicious that we should arrive when you are so far from home. We are looking forward to opening international relations and trade with India. A number of us look forward to enjoying the products that your Adventurers have created. As chefs, both Nyanta and I in particular are interested in flavorings and recipes. One of our own members has discovered in Yamato one that we would like to know if it could tempt the Indian palate. It is far too strong for the Japanese palates."

"Indeed it would be interesting to see what goods could be traded between the nations," Prince Singh said politely, but he seemed to have a sorrow to it, though he moved on before it could be noted much, turning to look at Akatsuki.

She was a bit tense as she curtsied slightly. "Maharajadhiraj Singh, this is my intended, Akatsuki, and my guardian."

Prince Singh bowed just slightly, a polite humor. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Akatsuki."

"The pleasure is mine," Akatsuki answered. "Welcome." She'd done well with just that much and Shiroe rescued her by getting the room seated to the table.

Michael left the seating of the ministers of the prince to Reed, who had them escorted to their places where the people on either side of them introduced themselves. As soon as napkins were in their laps, the glasses were filled - larger ones with ice water and smaller ones with a light fruit drink. That was followed by bowls of a small salad with a Japanese flavored salad dressing appearing on everyone's plates all at the same time. The three from India blinked slightly, but went with the flow. It was the Japanese generals that had a harder time with it, though Nakalnad and Isaac finally sighed after glances at Purrcy and ate. Kanami went with the flow rather well, too, and started up a conversation at her end of the table.

Shiroe handled the conversation at the head of the table, bringing Akatsuki into it and keeping Purrcy restrained for this first part. At least that's what Michael thought until he happened to catch Tetorō frowning at her. Michael looked at her status and her HP was slowly dropping. He slipped his awareness into the spirit realm and flicked her on the forehead. He'd learned that recently, actually, trying to see how to talk to the Vengeful Spirits in a more simple way. It was a side bonus that he was able to find her more quickly in that realm than the code realm.

Purrcy calmly handed him a link to her link. He blinked at it. She was pulling up everything on the internet (the copy that had come with them) and in the Theldesia database on Prince Singh. He slipped another extension to Tetorō. That kept his attention and helped him calm down just a little. The data was switched over to a search about the man sitting next to Tetorō (KR _had_ decided to slip down one more) and Tetorō was quick to pick a topic to speak to him about that might lead to information they needed to know.

When that thread was done, the data switched to the third man, Reed found a topic to discuss with the Indian minister sitting next to him, and the miso soup was on the plates on the table, immediately replacing the salad bowls. By the time the soup course was done, the four of them...and really by extension the entire sub-guild present...knew everything there was to know, except what face the three were going to show them tonight, and the most important thing. Because there wasn't a recorded visual history they could get to, they couldn't know what kind of a ruler he or his brother were in Theldesia.

When the soup course was completed, there was a pause after the bowls and spoons disappeared. Shiroe paused his conversation as well, moving away from the initial pleasant light conversation required at the beginning of a meal. Four silver serving bowls appeared set evenly in the center of the table with crisp white napkins inside tucked around a bread to keep them warm. Smaller silver serving bowls of raitha appeared, each with a silver serving spoon, also set along the center of the table. Then on each plate was a bowl of curry over rice.

Kanami's nose sniffed at the food in front of her, and she cried with delight, "Curry!"

"What a treat, to be served Nyanta-san's specialty," Isaac said, not quite keeping the irony out of his voice.

"You've made this, Mister Nyanta?" Prince Singh asked with interest.

Nyanta bowed his head slightly. "Yes. It is Shiroe-ichi's favorite. We would be grateful if mew enjoy it also. In the baskets is also naan, if mew wish."

As the guests selected naan, dished raitha on their plates, and picked up utensils and began to taste the food, comments complementing Nyanta and the dish came from the Indian's. "A Japanese curry is different from an Indian curry, but this is very good, Mister Nyanta. ...I do hope it wouldn't be considered an imposition to add our Indian chutneys to the meal?" Prince Singh asked.

"No, please do," Nyanta allowed politely.

A crystal serving dish with three containers, each with a chutney in it and small silver serving spoon, appeared on the table in front of the prince. He reached over and explained they were a plum chutney, a mint chutney, and another one that approximated a third that was his favorite, but was hot so not likely to the taste of some. He dished small amounts onto his own plate then offered it to Akatsuki. She politely took a small amount of each to try and passed it on to Shiroe. When it made it's way around to Michael, he also took some, then returned it to sitting in front of the Prince. He'd noticed that Purrcy took a larger helping of the plum chutney, a reasonable dab of the mint chutney, and only a faint taste of the hot. His lips twitched. Like her recipe for tikki massala, she already knew which flavors of India she liked. Like him, she probably wouldn't mind getting to make that run also.

After the comments of gratitude and congratulations for the chutneys were done, Shiroe began the heavier conversation to go with the heavier part of the meal. "Maharajadhiraj Singh, would you please tell me about what has happened in Theldesia's India since the catastrophe?"

Prince Singh told of how when they had arrived in New Delhi's Adventurer city he had immediately called for his companions, and his brother upon finding him listed as being present on his friend list. They'd met in council with his brother's companions and had gone out into the city to encourage the Adventurers and show them that leadership that understood existed to help them get through this time, however long it might last. The city had settled fairly quickly and in not too long became a good place to live and work.

They'd put together an expedition to follow along the Ganges River valley to check on the other cities along the way to the Bay of Bengal and see how the other Adventurer cities were doing. "Between New Delhi and Calcutta are two minor Adventurer cities, Lucknow and Patna. Each of them was surviving, but they were grateful to be brought comfort and law when we came. My brother left very capable advisors in each of those cities to help them."

He paused, then said, "Calcutta was fairly lawless, I'm afraid. We were in siege against it for four months before we were able to break the impasse. It wasn't until I and my men cut them off from the pirate support coming from farther down the coast, took their boats, and came up as if bringing supplies that we were able to break in and open the gates. My brother has set me over Calcutta to see that it remains a safe place to live. All four cities are required to defend the Ganges valley to keep it a safe place for Adventurers and Persons of the Land to farm and live. The majority of the rest of India is wild zones and dungeons." He quietly ate a few bites of his meal, then sighed sadly.

"My brother sent another expedition to the west coast - to Mumbai. When it arrived, they discovered a ghost town. The People of the Land who live around there told the head of that expedition that at the time of the catastrophe a great dark fog hung over the city and when it lifted nothing remained alive in it, not even the People of the Land who had been there. It is considered a cursed place and no one goes there. We feared that something had happened to the server there to make it unable to properly bring the Adventurers to Theldesia. We could only hope they were still alive on Earth. That city had nearly as many Adventurers as New Delhi did. ...Sadly, that wasn't the case either."

He took another bite, then washed it down with the juice and looked at Shiroe. "I offered to go by ship down to the south tip of India to Chennai, and the last two remaining Adventurer cities of India - that one and Bangalore. Because the entire coast is one of the pirate zones of _Elder Tales_ , we went in our own captured pirate boats and disguised as pirates ourselves. We were very glad we had, in the end. ...From our investigations, all of the Adventurers who'd been on the Mumbai server arrived in Theldesia in either Bangalore or Chennai."

"There was apparently great unrest between the groups until one guildmaster rose to the top in Bangalore, named himself the Shah, then took his armies to Chennai, where he did what my brother had done and won by siege against the still divided people of Chennai. Because he had come from Mumbai originally, he had friends in Chennai that opened the gate for him to allow him to enter. He controls the populated south tip of India, including the lesser coastal city of Thiruvananthapuram."

Prince Singh paused to eat a little and Shiroe politely let him without comment. "I left a few of my companions there and took a delegation over to Bangalore to see if the Shah would welcome at least a political alliance. He was quite rude, really, though it was no surprise given the amount of uncivilized behavior for a government that was going on in Chennai, so I left there, leaving a few spies behind, as I did in Chennai as well."

"It isn't worth our going there to fight against him, given the great plain that spans the distance between the valley and the point. We would have to take every Adventurer to fight against them and it would be a long and difficult campaign." He looked at Shiroe a little slyly. "However, it seems to me that by now you would have used the unrest of those native to that area to have overthrown their undesirable upstart from the north off their shoulders."

Shiroe gave a slightly bitter smile. "Likely. It took that long to take the top leadership of Minami down. How goes your own efforts?"

Prince Singh shook his head. "I don't want to go farther from home than I am. If I take down the Shah I will have to go rule down there, and how will they like having yet another upstart from yet another part of the north over them?"

Shiroe pointed down to Nakalnad. "I just left them in charge of themselves, the same as here. It works much better. Adventurers rule themselves very well, actually, once appropriate laws are set into place and good leaders selected rather than despots. I would recommend you talk to Nakalnad, and perhaps Brody. It sounds like Bangalore and Chennai would have the same difficulties Minami and Ninetails Dominion have had. When one set oppresses another, but then they still have to live together peaceably after things are set properly, it can be very difficult. Perhaps they can give you some suggestions on how to help get things settled so you can finish what you already see can be done." He pushed up his glasses a bit. "Of course, if they would give me the same complaints you have about you and your brother, I would also give them the same advice."

The prince chuckled a little. "I'm sure you would. Unless you see it with your own eyes, you cannot know, but really we have done what you have done - given the people a way to live peaceably and know stability. That is the requirement that lies on the shoulders of the princes and kings, is it not? The valley is a happy place to live."

"That's good to hear," Shiroe said, returning to his plate. "Why have you come all the way up to Shangtzi at this time?"

"We can't come into China over the mountains. They were made impassible by the game and even on Earth were nearly impossible to begin with. The only way to trade is by ship. We've been spending quite a bit of time becoming excellent sailors. Getting the numbers of pirates down has been our favorite game, actually, and taught us quite a bit. Even your man Tetorō commented that I felt like a pirate when we spoke at the first. It was a complement, really, if I've mastered being a captain to that level." He had a smile on his lips as he looked at Tetorō.

Shiroe raised an eyebrow at Tetorō. "I didn't look at his status and name until after he was off his ship. I've been practicing trying to judge a man by his actions and words before his type and name. All of us, Adventurer and Person of the Land alike, aren't above the other in the depths and heights we will choose to fall or rise to."

Shiroe nodded and the prince agreed. "Indeed. What a man chooses to become is what must be judged. I still asked him to look, because sometimes we need to know the things we would otherwise be blind to." Tetorō gave a bow of the head, acceding the point.

"Still, this is a long way to come chasing pirates," Shiroe said, bringing the conversation back. "Particularly in a sailing vessel."

"True." Prince Singh dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. His cup was refilled before he picked it up again. He drank most of it this time, then leaned back to look at Shiroe, then at Purrcy. "In India, we have one who is lovely like Miss Purrcy. She has worked very hard at the side of my brother to see to the happiness of all who live in the valley, Adventurer to creature alike. She is tender towards all, and like Miss Purrcy has the title of Caretaker." Purrcy wiped her own mouth and looked at him calmly.

Both the Prince's plate and hers disappeared and small plates appeared in their places, as had happened along the table now for several diners. "One of my brother's respected advisors came to him twenty-two days ago and told him that he'd made contact with others of his kind on the planet because of a great explosion he'd followed after. When he explained it had been directed at the Caretaker of Yamato, the Maharani was immediately concerned. The advisor explained that - I presume Purrcy? - had told him that she would begin traveling soon and that the Master Strategist was ready to begin moving."

Prince Singh looked at Shiroe through narrowed eyes. "We received several months before that the recorded message that stated a desire for all Adventurers to unite in peace for common goals. It was decided by our small council that I would come and see if I could perhaps meet you as you began your quest. The seas are not fit for travel between here and the western end of Eured, and the central portion almost less. But we wished to hear what words would be said and participate in the world movement towards the prosperity of all. To even find others of like mind is rare in all this wide world."

"I have been somehow blessed on my journey to travel quickly and without hindrance from the pirates that would normally ply the waters all along the way and arrived last night, twenty days after setting out from Calcutta. Mister Tetorō called to me the very moment that I had just finished stowing away the last of the sailing gear and was contemplating whether to enter the city or not. My advisors had gone into town and were caught up in investigating what had happened the previous day. As I said, the train was a very intriguing sight, and the ship itself is rather impressive as well...but I suppose such technologies shouldn't be surprising from the enterprising and highly technical Japanese residents of Yamato." His eyes went between Shiroe and Purrcy again. "To have been invited to dinner immediately with the two very persons I had been sent to find is very in line with the blessings we've received to get here."

The last plate was removed from the table and each person received a glass of Purrcy's mango lassi. It wasn't exactly mango flavored but was a mix of peach and another fruit of Yamato that together made a flavor that was similar. One of the advisors raised a finger. "May I?" he requested. Purrcy nodded. Small bowls of shaved ice appeared on every dessert plate and the scent of light mint rose into the air.

"It's not the same as the tobacco, I hope? Not habit forming?" Purrcy asked.

"Only in the sense it is very tasty," she was promised with a smile.

"Ah," she interrupted. "Perhaps we could offer the three of you just a sampling of the one spice we were hoping to see if those from India would enjoy." There was a moment where H/R suddenly had three glass bowls in his hand and was receiving instructions and then a moment later those three bowls were on the plates as well, each with two pieces of seasoned and barbecued meat, without the sauce - just the dry rub. "This is the base flavoring," she said to their guests. "If you'll let us know if it might be worth it?"

As the rest of the table tentatively tried the mint ice, the others tried their meat sample. Slowly looks of delight came on their faces. "This is definitely worthy of being at an Indian table," the advisor that seemed to be also the chef of the group said. "Surely it's a waste to be grown in Yamato."

"Indeed," Reed said calmly. "Only a few transplants enjoy this flavor. We are looking to offer it to the peoples of the lands who can enjoy it - mostly those along the coast of Asia."

"Mint isn't in Yamato," Purrcy added. "It's refreshing to have been gifted some from you twice now. Thank you very much. The ice is delicious."

"Intriguing," Prince Singh said as he took his lassi from his lips and licked the thick drink from his lips. "You've managed to come very close to another flavor I wouldn't have expected from Yamato."

"Thank you," Purrcy said. "It's a mixture from two fruits that grow there, making it fairly close."

Prince Singh looked at her closely. "Are you perhaps a transplant from India, then?"

Purrcy smiled. "No. I come from a place that enjoys many of the flavors of the world, however, and Indian - ah, British Indian food - is among some of my favorites. I'm afraid the more native Indian flavors are a bit much for me, including the hot spices. I'm a bit more like the Japanese in that. ...But I do very much miss papad and the steamed bread. They were very hard to come by even where I lived. I worked with someone from India who brought some for lunches and shared a time or two. I would enjoy visiting sometime, if it were possible."

"Will you come, then?" he invited, or perhaps was asking for their itinerary.

Shiroe sighed lightly. "Not at this time, I'm afraid. We initially thought we would send both the train inland and the ship around through the seas, but things have changed. Purrcy is required by the World AIs for other things than travel. We'll see the train off from Beijing and then have to return to Yamato. I'm also needed there for now. Things have begun, however, which is why the train is going. The World AIs have given us the quests they brought us here to complete. Because they are world level quests requiring fixes and solutions the entire world over, the messages must continue to be spread and taught and someone with the knowledge to affect the repairs must go also."

"MarketMaker is heading that for us, with Kanami taking the position of general to heal the Adventurer Trees of Life. We're in training for that next so she knows what to do for the rest of them. I'm also sending political advisors along in my place to help get as many Adventurer cities as possible to understand that unity among all Adventurers is preferable to the division that many have had until now. If we wish to live in peace, and if we wish to go home, those both require that each Adventurer has the right to choose how to live within the laws that bring peace."

"And what laws are those that you've chosen?" Prince Singh asked, a bit suspicious.

Shiroe quietly taught him what he'd been teaching everyone since he'd decided those were his goals. "In the end, it isn't hard. All of us are intelligent humans who desire peace and prosperity as much as adventure and fun. We each chose to play, we each chose to get along with other players online, even if we found it difficult to do so in person in our daily walk on Earth, but here, we are all similar. Here we all have the same reason to play nicely as we did before. It only takes the reminder of that to get people to remember what they would really rather be doing."

"There have always been power gamers and very few of the rest of the gamers enjoy being held down by them. The problem is that most gamers are also not politicians. The guildmasters, however, have the experience and the skills learned through patient efforts from before, and many of them are highly qualified to work together to see that a city lives in peace. That is usually sufficient to create a governing council for a city, and there are natural leaders who step up to be the final person everyone can yell and complain at, and who can make decisions the rest can live with when they can't decide as a group. It is fortunate, perhaps - since I can't see it to judge it for myself, that you and your brother came with the Adventurers of your area to already understand what was needed, and were willing to act appropriately to bless the lives of your fellow Adventurers."

Prince Singh gave a nod. "I would have liked to have shown you, personally."

"I'm very sorry," Shiroe said. "We do have things we can send with you after tonight. We're putting together several things today from the meeting with the new Shangtzi Governing Council, and perhaps the train can come down to visit as well. And...maybe if things don't go the way I'd like them to go, we can come visit in another year." That admission was hard, Michael could see. "I would certainly appreciate it if you could pass along the message to any Adventurer cities along your route back home...and if you could be talked into passing it farther - maybe to the coast of Africa, too, then that would help us also. The sooner the messages reach the Adventurers of the world the better."

"How are you going to reach the Americas?" Prince Singh frowned.

"We will have to send a ship that way, across the Athirds Ocean. One is being built for it now."

"That is ambitious," Prince Singh raised an eyebrow ridge of whiskers.

"Yes, but necessary," Shiroe agreed. "It's a difficult thing for me that we can't communicate across regions yet, but we've been experimenting and have found a magical method we believe works well enough."

"I would be interested in taking that back to my brother," Prince Singh said, his tail agreeing with his interest with a wave behind him.

Shiroe nodded. "We'll get a copy to you, then. I would like to speak with him also, particularly if he has the Caretaker of India standing with him."

"That would be marvelous," the prince settled back with a sense of having accomplished what he came to do.

The remaining empty dishes disappeared from the table and Shiroe rose to his feet. "If you'd come with us, we'll move to a more comfortable setting to talk." He led everyone to the next room over, which had been set up with comfortable chairs and small tables arranged in several groupings. There was a wet bar with sparkling crystal wine glasses and a set of wine bottles. "Naotsugu has kindly offered William of Silver Sword's elvin wine to us for the evening," Shiroe said. "He's been able to finally produce a vintage he's willing to consider exporting."

"Elvin wine, is it?" Prince Singh said with interest. "That is something special, indeed." Shiroe poured him a glass, then one for himself.

"To the peace of the Adventurers, and finding the door to home," Shiroe said raising his glass, when everyone had one in hand.

"Compai!" came from the Japanese natives, "Cheers!" from the rest, and they drank to the future.


	108. Messages

H/R and MarketMaker took aside the Indian advisor who was the chef and traded food items as gifts of exchange between leaders and worked out other things that could be traded between the nations. Nakalnad and Brody were claimed by the other advisor and Kanami, Kazuo, and Reed joined in that conversation. Crusty, Isaac, and Michael stayed with the three royals and their Consorts as Shiroe explained to Prince Singh what the world quests were and why they were important, including inducting him into the full resistance level of understanding. They were relieved that he seemed willing to at least entertain their concepts without rejecting them.

"Your twenty days to arrive by sailing vessel is half as long or better than it should have been," Michael commented.

"Yes. We were very surprised that wind filled the sails constantly. We barely needed to keep our hands on the tiller even. The god of wind and water blessed us most surely." Prince Singh agreed.

"Likely he did," Shiroe said wryly. "Do we have another communication picture we can give to Maharajadhiraj Singh?" Purrcy handed one over to him and he explained, "You're in my friend list now. If I am in yours and you need to speak to me, then set this picture up in front of you and select me from the list, with the intent that we will be speaking as if through Facetime. The image will become part of the communication and be me on the other end and I will see you as well. It becomes a visual chat using the magic of this world, rather than the Adventurer artifact. If you're willing to let us take your picture, we'll create a similar picture of you and then I'll be able to contact you."

"I'd be willing," Prince Singh said. "It's been over two years since anyone's asked, or just taken it anyway without permission." He was dry.

"Being a celebrity under the scrutiny of the public eye is rather irritating at times, I'm sure," Purrcy said as she waved Tetorō over. "Please take a picture of Maharajadhiraj Singh that Michael can use to make a communication painting with."

"I'd be happy to," Tetorō said. Purrcy put up a few magic lights to get the best lighting for Michael's sake and Tetorō took a few pictures. "Could we get a few for history's sake as well?" he asked. When the prince agreed, he waved Shiroe into the picture, took one, waved Crusty into it as well, took another, then looked at Purrcy.

She shook her head. "Thank you, Tetorō." She moved the lights to the upper corners of the room.

"No problem," Tetorō waved as he walked back to his grouping.

"I wonder," Purrcy murmured, "...if we can turn the photos directly into that kind of communication? We didn't have them before when we tried the paintings."

"It requires a lot of magic," Michael warned. "Having all the high level paint ingredients helped quite a bit. I'm not sure how a photo can get enough magic poured into it...though I'm sure a shortcut would be appreciated by my hands and back."

"Well...that's true. Having that much magic at the outset is what makes it possible to copy them later without quite so much creation expense," she agreed. "We should experiment, I think."

After the conversation had moved to other things for a while, Purrcy excused herself and walked towards the door where P/R, properly in his formal uniform, stood waiting to talk to her. She was in quiet discussion for about five minutes, called Touya to her and sent him on an errand, then brought P/R over to the main group to stand next to Shiroe. At a proper break in the conversation, she interrupted. "Please, excuse me. I've been brought an interesting piece of information I would like to show you." The request was inclusive of all those gathered. When Shiroe gave her permission, she motioned to P/R first. "Please tell them at what point you took the original pictures."

P/R easily answered. "I was one of several of Log Horizon and others waiting outside the Government Building for the press conference to begin. My job is to be the press, if you will, so we were taking pictures of the before-the-scene environment, as well as running recorded video of it. The photo I've brought to show Miss Purrcy was taken just after the lightning strike to the building. The video clip was what happened during the lightning strike. There are two versions of each image to show you. The first one is the standard reprint as they were taken. The second version is after they were included in the anticipated press-release format, though they were sample runs to see if we could get the magic to work properly."

"There are some very intriguing differences," Purrcy said, "however, I believe there may be more to it than only a few of us can see. Given we have Prince Singh here, who is of yet another nationality, I was hoping we might test to see if the theory is correct. Would you be willing to participate?" she looked at him directly.

"Certainly," he answered.

Purrcy walked them over to a table they could stand around and see, and brought her lights directly overhead so they could see clearly. The first photo went down on the table. "This is the top of the Government Building just after the lightning strike, though I've zoomed in so that we can see the figures in more detail," P/R explained. "I don't know who they are statues of, but I would assume people important to the Chinese people. You can see the damage to the dome that the lightning left behind." That got nods. The second photo went down next to it. "This is that same photo after we used magic to insert it into the press release."

People blinked. "That's different," Nakalnad said.

"What do you see?" Purrcy asked, "and, if you'll point to the figures and name them that will help the rest of us."

Nakalnad pointed to the five statues, naming each one. "Torii Mototada, Jomyo Meishu, Momotaro, Kennyo Kosa, Queen Himiko. They are all Japanese figures, not Chinese ones."*

Purrcy looked around when he was done. "Would all of you who are from Japan agree with him? Is that what you see?" She received nods from them all, including Shiroe. "Very well, Prince Singh, will you again point and tell us what you see?"

Prince Singh reached out a finger. "Bhairava who destroys and protects, Mitra of oaths and friendship. Yama of morality, death, and justice. Ganesh of beginnings who is wisdom and the remover of obstacles. Durga who liberates and protects peace and prosperity."

Purrcy nodded. "Thank you. In the United States and in Europe for the main, such things are represented by the Greek gods and goddesses. I see," she set her finger to go in the same order as the others had said them, "Mars, the god of war. Eirene, the goddess of peace, home and the hearth, though she also represents loyalty. Hemis, who is the representation of justice. Athena, who is the goddess of wisdom, but also of war. Finally, Liberty."

P/R was nodding. "I also see those."

There was movement near their group and Purrcy looked over, then motioned to allow another person into the grouping. He was quite a bit shorter than the rest, making his race of Dwarf rather obvious. "This is Chef Hiroki, who has just joined us as the dedicated chef for our campaign at the Maze of Eternity, given that he understands the edible flora and fauna of the region. You've been here in China long enough. Can you tell us who these five are and what they represent to the Chinese people?" She pointed to the first photo.

"Yes," he said and reached in to point. "First is Yue Fei, who represents valor, patriotism, military brilliance and liberation. Second is Guan Yu, who represents honor, righteousness, and unwavering loyalty and support. Third is Bao Zheng, who represents justice and uprightness. Fourth is Zhuge Liang, who represents intelligence and faithfulness, and who is China's most brilliant strategist. Fifth is Lin Zexu, who represents moral integrity and nationalism."*

"Do you see them in the second photo, or do you see their Japanese equivalents?"

Hiroki blinked. "Ahh...it was the Chinese statues at first but then you asked and now I see the latter."

Purrcy nodded. "It seems to me it might be that if an American who loved to study the presidents looked at the second photo, perhaps they would see instead George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and so forth, in their respectively representative places. I believe that the magic made it so that recognizable people of historical note, or similar symbols, are shown to the viewer to impart a particular message that the original five statues give meaning to." The others nodded. "P/R, was that the intent behind the magic that was added?"

"Somewhat. We used the intent for that photo that those who saw it would understand the significance to the world of the meeting that was taking place today. ...Well, actually all of our work today has been done with that intent, so I think it's more a bleeding into the magic of our general intent."

"That could be," Purrcy agreed. She excused Hiroki then set down the first of the video clips that ran as a short video clip on the paper it was attached to, as if an advertisement on the PC screen if they were still at home where they should be. It showed the lightning arriving above the Government building. It was headed for a specific location slightly to the side of the central dome. It hit a barrier, sparked, split and headed in the directions of all five statues. The searching tongues rebounded, combined and slammed into the dome, cracking it, then split into three tongues of lighting that climbed up the dome to the lightning rod. Two tongues of lightning flashed up into the air and disappeared. The third curled around the rod, running up and down it until it dissipated into sparks. The statues and the rest of the building remained untouched.

"That's a rather amazing display," Crusty commented.

"It looks like it was headed for the room we were in," Shiroe said suspiciously.

"That's our guess, though we didn't know what room that was," P/R said. "When I went back and looked at that clip right after it happened, there were obvious signs that the statues themselves had created the barrier, but I wasn't able to determine how. The result from adding the magic in the final draft product was even more telling." P/R looked at Purrcy solemnly.

Purrcy silently put down the second piece of paper and touched the picture to begin the replay. This time, as the lightning came down, there was a red streak from the statue of Justice that went from the base of it into the statue of Wisdom. From the statue of Wisdom shot a green light that turned into a flat shield under the lightning, making it bounce away from the roof. The lightning looked like it was split into five snake heads that turned and headed for the five statues. From the three warrior statues - Loyalty, War, and Liberty - arose a blue shield that almost looked like a fog. The lightning hit it and rebounded, but the blue fog closed in around them and a black band bound them and tightened down until all five heads were one head again. Just as it was reaching the dome, another green shield went up on the dome itself that made the now tri-tongued lightning bolt turn to run up the dome, though the initial force was enough to crack the dome itself. There weren't any more colors for the rest of the play of the video, but that had been telling enough.

"As you can see, that's slowed down by quite a bit," P/R said. "As I added this video in it's final form, I was asking myself what it meant - why had there been additional power? Why the protection of the building and the statues? Those colors don't show up in any other form of that video clip and the original forms of it I saw weren't colored and were gone by the time I went back and looked again. I don't know why that either."

The gathering was solemnly quiet. Purrcy looked at Shiroe. He gave her a faint nod. She looked down, then called. "Lord Rudy, please come here." The lesser officers had been standing around the room talking quietly. Rudy turned, walked over to the table, and was let through. Purrcy pointed to the non-magical first picture. "Do you recognize any of these people, Lord Rudy?"

He looked at the picture. "No, Lady Purrcy," he answered politely.

Purrcy pointed to the second form of it. "Who do you see when you look at this one? Point as you tell us, please."

Rudy, looked at it, frowned and looked up at Purrcy and Shiroe, then looked back down at it again. "Um...I see: Mister Naotsugu, Miss Akatsuki, Lady Purrcy, Master Shiroe, and Mister Nyanta. Should I?"

Purrcy nodded thoughtfully. "Because you've lived with Log Horizon, and likely there aren't too many others in your world that would meet the same requirements for you personally, that should be about right. Thank you, Lord Rudy." He bowed and stepped back, though his eye was caught by the color picture of the lightning strike. Purrcy tapped a forefinger on her lips, then said, "Priest Yuudai, please come join me as soon as you can for an unbiased reading on an object. ...It's simple. I'll give you instructions when you arrive."

One of the Eagles left the room to guide him in. The rest waited patiently until Yuudai arrived and was escorted to the group around the table. He swallowed a little nervously but looked at Purrcy, trusting her. "You'll look at the object and get into a meditative state. When you're feeling properly receptive, I'll start the video. Just say whatever comes into your mind without thinking hard about it. If you can point while doing it so we can understand, that will help us. Once the video is done, pause and let more enter your mind. Say that, too, until there's nothing more coming into your mind. It's simple to do if you just relax and let it happen."

Yuudai nodded and was given space in front of the pictures on the table. Purrcy pointed to the one he was to look at. Yuudai stood there a moment after taking a relaxing breath, then gave a nod. Purrcy touched the picture and the video began again. It ran even slower this time. Yuudai's finger came out and touched the lightning. "The justice of the gods." His finger moved down to trace the red light. "Understanding and knowledge comes slowly and in hidden ways to the one who is wise." His finger paused on the statue of Wisdom, then followed the green light. "He protects Wisdom and Justice from the wrath of the gods," his finger went to the blue fog, "by the power of the wrath of Liberty, upheld by honorable and righteous Loyalty, and orders War to stand ready to liberate."

Yuudai's finger traced the lightning again. "The might of the power of wrath will repel that which attacks Justice and Liberty while Justice binds it until it's might is directed the way Wisdom orders," his finger was tracing up from the green barrier on the dome. "Two will ascend while the third will remain." He paused, then touched the place the dome had been cracked. "The might of the gods is sufficient to harm, but in the end, it is for naught and the anger of the five will be satisfied." His finger had returned to the five statues who stood without color.

Yuudai paused, then took a breath and let it out. Finally he shook his head. "That's all, Miss Purrcy," he said looking up at her.

"Did you get a feel for who the statues represent?" Yuudai frowned. "Then listen as I name them and tell me if it rings true." He nodded. Purrcy put her finger down on Justice. "Me." Yuudai considered that, then nodded. She moved her finger to Wisdom. "Shiroe." He nodded instantly. She put her finger on War. "Crusty."

Yuudai's eyes sought Crusty, looked around the table to look back at him, then nodded cautiously. "Yes, but it includes the other generals as well, and others in the room."

Purrcy nodded. "Then it represents the might of all Adventurers, but we'll say for now that the focal point of that is Crusty." She touched Loyalty. "This could be Naotsugu, Akatsuki, the Caretakers, or any Adventurer, yes?" Yuudai looked at the two named, and even Prince Singh, then nodded. "And this one, Liberty...that is the desire and anger of the Adventurers."

Yuudai sighed and nodded. "Yes, Miss Purrcy. But, they are all under the direction of this one." He pointed to Wisdom.

Purrcy nodded. "Yes. Only one can stand between the wrath and desires of the gods and the wrath and the desires of the Adventurers. Shiroe has been chosen to be the one."

Shiroe stiffened, then rewound the video to where the lightning cracked the dome. He pointed to the green shield. "I don't really want to die, you know."

Both Purrcy and Yuudai shook their heads. "The dome is cracked, not the shield. The shield can't protect completely what you want to protect, but destruction isn't the result, of you or anything," Purrcy said. Yuudai agreed, though his answer might not have been the exact same. Purrcy put her hand on the paper, though not the image. Finally she lifted it and handed it to Shiroe. "This is a message for us, not for the world." She handed the non-magical photo to P/R.

Purrcy picked up the magical picture of the statues "This other one can go back on the table for now. It might bring hope to those who see it. If it doesn't make the final cut, I would suggest giving it to Lord Rudy," she smiled as she handed that one and it's non-magical copy to P/R. P/R bowed and left the room taking Yuudai with him.

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. "Purrcy...the third lightning bolt...," she looked like she was going to be evasive and he pinned her with his eyes. "Is that the third god?"

"...At the time it reaches the lightning rod, yes," she finally said, finding a way to answer it that satisfied her.

Shiroe looked at the video clip in his hand one more time, playing it just for himself. As he watched it, he felt things that were different from what had been said by Yuudai. The red coming from her to him was anger - a sharp piercing anger. The green was a reaction to that anger and was fueled by it, given strength by it. It created division that came to destroy the Adventurers. The blue was also anger, but it was righteous anger tempered with order and determination. The unity of the statues who produced it - all five of them, not just the three - plus the order of law and justice and mercy bound that which would destroy and cancelled the division.

He looked at the green on the dome again, trying to understand it. It created division again? That didn't seem right. It was more...like a filter... He was quite sure the two main tongues of lightning that left the building were Izanami and Izanagi. The third one...was a god after that. Did the filter take something out of those two to make a third? He only felt emptiness after that thought.

His finger rested on the green square and he felt the feelings that represented the blue and they shot through his finger and through him. It was only a very brief moment, but it spoke to him. It wanted life, form, to be able to speak. He lifted his finger from the picture and his hand curled into a fist. He took a slow breath. It was a thing he wasn't sure he wanted. The same sense of destiny lay over him, though, that he'd felt when he went and collected Maverick_Master, not knowing anything other than he'd been sent. At the end of that, Maverick_Master had been given a purpose, accepted an assignment before being asked to do it, and had been given an appropriate name for its accomplishment.

Shiroe closed his eyes. It was similar now and would be similar then, too, at the time they reached the point of pain but not destruction. He swallowed and opened his eyes to look at Purrcy, putting the picture away. She looked back solemnly, but without telling him anything. She didn't need to, he realized. He'd just been told...by that which would become a god because of him. He turned away and walked away from the table.

A small hand slipped into his hand and another hand took his other arm and they sat him down in one of the cushioned chairs, then stood behind him. Crusty arrived in front of him with Isaac and Nakalnad to either side. "What did you see?" Crusty demanded, though it was quiet.

"The essence of the new god," he answered, knowing by accountability the truth must be said. "It spoke to me in the same way Yuudai was spoken to." He took a breath and looked into Crusty's eyes. "I suppose that it's a bit encouraging, actually. It was a promise the division won't last long and standing together we'll all come through it." He couldn't hold that though, and his eyes closed as the pain filtered up through.

Soft arms slipped around his shoulders to hold him and an equally soft cheek brushed on his. Purrcy didn't purr and she didn't say anything, just held him. "It's a difficult thing to be chosen without asking for it, nyan," Nyanta said from near Isaac. Shiroe took a long slow breath. Those two understood and it helped.

It did make him think of a question, though. "Why is it necessary? Why do they need a priest or a priestess?" He looked at Nyanta, wondering. Nyanta shrugged.

"Mmm...they desire to interact with the world they're part of," Purrcy answered him. "Sometimes it's a necessity that they interact. If they came themselves, they would destroy it. They're too powerful and big to come that way and no one would understand them. The priest or priestess is rather like a translator to some degree." She paused, then added quietly, "It's also a necessary restraint, in your case. It isn't ready and it's power is still destructive."

"I can see that," Shiroe agreed. He closed his eyes again. "Not that I really want to be that."

"No, but you did choose."

"Yes," he said sadly, "though not understanding what it really was."

"No," she agreed, "however, I think it's a good matching. You'll do well."

"So they say. And they're kami." He sighed and finally relaxed enough to let the pain go. "It's going to be depressing, though."

"Tell me about it," Nyanta said dryly. Shiroe's lip twitched with irony.

Purrcy's head left his and her arms slid around him until her hands were on his shoulders. There was shifting in the group in front of him and Shiroe opened his eyes. Prince Singh was standing between Crusty and Nakalnad. Shiroe and he looked at each other for a while. There was so much history behind this moment there was almost no way to explain it to him, other than what had already been said that night. The prince went first. "We fight against the gods of this world."

"Yes."

"And one fights with us?"

"...Perhaps. I'm trying to train it to, anyway. It wants to be more destructive than most of us prefer."

That got an eyebrow raised. Prince Singh folded his arms and frowned, thinking. "This is a birthplace of gods? A training world?"

Shiroe blinked and he felt Purrcy's hands tense just a little. "You could say that," Shiroe had to agree. "Though it feels more like it's a new world in the process of gaining its gods. Purrcy and Nyanta are the physical connections for the main two that came with the creation of Theldesia. I'm not sure which was first - the world or the father and mother gods. That is, I'm not sure if they were part of the flavor text originally or if they are what brought the world of _Elder Tales_ to become a reality. The one that I've apparently been chosen for is after that, born in the First World Fraction." Cautiously he added, "It has an affinity for the Adventurers, or we for it." His stomach turned and he stopped thinking about it. "That's also disturbing," he said turning to Nyanta again. "It's not pleasant to learn when you're connecting enough to draw their attention, is it?"

Nyanta's head shook with great emphasis and his ears turned back and lay half-way down. He sighed sadly. "Shiroe-ichi. Try to nyot think too hard about it for a while. Mew don't have the title yet. Purrhaps mew can delay it still a few months."

"I'm sure I'd rather," he answered.

Prince Singh shook his head. "Mister Shiroe...you have lived on a protected island. When you leave this city, what you will see...will not be what you think. The rest of Theldesia is suffering. If there is a way to contain the destruction and chaos that sits on the face of the land...please consider sooner rather than later."

Shiroe's eyes had flown to him, open wide. He sat in just a little shock for a few seconds, then slumped. "No...I was worried that was the case." He put his elbows on his knees and leaned on them. He took a breath, then rubbed his face and rested his forehead on the heels of his hand. "It still has to be done with order and the proper path followed. That's part of the training. The destruction of chaos _must_ be balanced so that the world can survive." His mind already was flying to add into place how the training of a third god went with what his plans already were. "We're already walking the proper path. If I become the full priest too soon, it will destroy me, too, and then everyone and everything loses."

He looked back at Prince Singh. "I promise - it will happen and we'll come out okay on the other side. You just saw the world god - the father - tell us so through Yuudai. That he's already planned for this and the training of the new god. There is pain, but no final destruction. The mother of the world promised that, and she walks with me, too." Shiroe sat up and pushed his glasses back up on his face. "Their ultimate goal is the life of everything, not the death. Please help us accomplish the world quests they've given us. Then our own goals can be met, too...including that one."

Prince Singh, his arms still folded, looked at Shiroe, judging him. Shiroe looked back at him, set in the certainty of his statements. Prince Singh sighed finally. "Very well. I will wait and see what words your department publishes. If they will bring my people hope, I'll take them back with me. ...It is well worth the result of containment and rebirth."

Shiroe agreed. He rose to his feet and held out his hand to the prince. A brief pause, and the prince reached out and took his hand in a handshake. It was a hand used to swinging a sword and pulling on the ropes of a sailboat. "Please call on me when it gets overwhelming," Shiroe offered, "and good luck."

"May Shiva smile on your efforts," Prince Singh replied.

When the prince had walked out of the room, Shiroe sank back down into his chair and Brenner was casting Spirit Healing on him. "You'll have to teach that to Secretary," Tetorō quipped.

"How does Yuudai manage to keep walking?" Shiroe complained.

"It was just your first time," Purrcy patted him on the head. "You'll get used to this level in time."

"Actually...you'll be stuck in that level," Tetorō said, slightly bitter. "You don't get the drop, then. Nyanta's already there, Izanagi's been around long enough. Yuudai's been meditating and working at taking himself up to that level so he's used to it now."

Purrcy nodded. "He's exercised those muscles enough on his own now." She sighed and suddenly there was a moving weight on Shiroe's shoulder as she settled down on it as small cat. "I would really have rather you got to wait longer to learn this lesson...but I guess their timing is always faster than mine." She settled her head on his neck.

"No purring?" he asked her, a little disappointed.

"I can't," she said a little sadly. "I cannot offer comfort in this."

He reached up and gently pet her, looking at Nyanta. "It's enough to have you both with me. I would rather have not been alone for that revelation."

Nyanta's ear tipped in understanding. Shiroe paused and frowned at him slightly. "Purrcy told me that the Priestess' flavor text isn't triggered by me. Is it the same for the Priest's?"

Nyanta's ear went taut in surprise and he considered it. "Nyot anymore."

"Small favors," Shiroe grumbled to himself, rather wishing it hadn't come at that particular cost. The others in the room settled themselves to keeping him company, talking in quiet tones to each other.

He was grateful for their companionship, and for them letting him rest in silence with his father and mother, companion priests, as he struggled through the chaotic emotions of becoming the unwitting priest and restraint of a tangled set of extreme emotions that got out of hand and was struggling to become a god. He really would have rather been back home trying to go to sleep in his bed on Earth.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe, before we go, we'd like to give you a summary of something we learned," Nakalnad said, walking over to the central grouping. Shiroe looked up at him and nodded. "That advisor was the one over military and political intelligence. We gave him everything we could in that short an amount of time. One thing that came up was the Overwritten. He explained to us that the Shah sends out those most unhappy with their lot to fight against the Overwritten as their punishment. The spies have apparently learned an interesting factoid. The southern tip region he controls gets two to three times as many visits from Overwritten as the entire Ganges River basin, which is quite a bit more peaceful. They don't know why, but it's that way."

Shiroe frowned. "What was the rate of Overwritten in the Ninetails Region, Brody?" he asked. Brody considered it and gave a rough number. "And for you, Nakalnad?" Nakalnad gave a similar rate. Shiroe called Kazuo over and asked him. It was a lesser number. "Interesting. I know we've been hit by the ones that affect the entire Archipelago, and the few specials that come, but our rate isn't anywhere near you in the south and less than the north as well. We did have a very large number of them for this last special, but we figured it was because of the larger number of Hackers we had. ...I wonder if it's something else."

"Shiroe-kun...they show up here in China when there's been unrest in an area. That was pretty consistent my whole trip over to here," Kanami said. "I saved Erius when the Heroes were standing against an army of Adventurers being led by a dirt bag, to protect the People of the Land government in his area. The Overwritten came to join in that fight. They sucked empathions from the Adventurers until they were either unconscious, or won against a particular Overwritten. They summarily killed the Heroes. I spanked the dirt bag rather hard and made the rest of them cry to their mamas and helped those more interested in getting rid of the Overwritten to finish that job."

"The time KR came over and helped, the Overwritten were so powerful and large a large army had to be sent to take care of them. They were sucking them dry until they were dead or Cathedraled - depending on their type. Later I learned that it had been the beginnings of a war between two factions that had called the Overwritten to begin with." Kanami put her fists on her hips, her feet spread wide. "Shiroe-kun, just what is this junior kami?"

"The First World Fraction was created when the Ruquinjé - princesses of the Alv nation that had been destroyed by the other races of Theldesia - rose up individually and cast curses on the entire world. From that time on, the demihumans were born of the psyche and the anima of the planet and reproduced faster than the other humanoid races. That's what the purification quest is for, as I said before - to heal the psyche and anima of those curses."

"The problem is that the anger, sorrow, and despair of the full Alv nation that filled the princesses sufficient they could actually cast the curses still exists in this world. They gave birth to those emotions that were around them the same as their will gave birth to the demihumans. Perhaps it would have remained in a constant state of very low level awareness or malevolence - like a low level miasma of the kind we encounter in the cursed dungeons."

"However...," Shiroe looked at Kanami soberly, "when the AIs brought us here from Earth, we brought with us our own anger, despair, and sorrow. Enough to add to what was already here to make it become something more. Something that now moves with its own will over the face of the world. Seeking more of its own kind, feeding on those of us who can't let those emotions go, it's still growing. Like we are more powerful in strength and magic capacity, our emotions are also so much more stronger than the other beings created to live on this world. The third god is starting out as the conglomerate of those emotions - anger, sorrow, and despair. It wants to create pain to increase those emotions to grow stronger."

"That's not good at all, Shiroe-kun," Kanami was shaking her head at him, a frown on her face.

"No, it's not," he agreed with her quietly. "That is why I've been fighting it."

"Fighting it? I mean, that's like you to face down gods, but if it's going to choose you as it's priest, why, if you've been fighting it?"

"Because in effect I've been little by little telling it I'll listen to it. I'll give it the proper outlet. Inari is also directing its growth - the direction its headed." Shiroe pointed to Purrcy. "Purrcy is one who is angry, and I believe that third god knows her the same as all the creatures and both Inari know her. But like me, she uses that anger in constructive rather than destructive ways, until destruction is all that's left and is the right course to take."

"When we met, and signed the guilding contract, she added a line to it. As part of that line, I agreed to take on her burden as she took on our burdens. I became a teacher for that godling like she already was, and it became aware of me, too. It's taken longer for me to become cognitively aware of it, but the clues have been around me to understand that it was chaos and division. But it's more than that."

Shiroe shifted into a more comfortable position. He had everyone in the room listening now, not surprisingly. "Because it's eating up the emotions of the Adventurers to grow, it's beginning to learn and understand and have within itself the next level of emotions we all hold and feel on a regular basis: those of honor, intense independence, justice, righteous anger rather than wild anger, unwavering loyalty, unity. These are the temperate forms, the willing restraint we have so that we can live together peaceably. The forming god is learning these things."

"So far, other than acting out in rage, no one has been able to give it a voice. When I looked at the picture and it spoke to me, the last thing it told me - as the temperate forms this time - was that it wanted to have a voice, to be heard. We want it, too - to be heard by Inari that we won't be used and abused. I am that voice at the moment - the only one they will hear at all, though they don't care much. I think the new god wants more to be heard by us. It now perhaps believes that if I will listen to it like I listen to Inari, I will be able to tell the other Adventurers, or the creatures of the world, what it wants to say."

"It's not mature enough for me to be willing to do that. It will still kill me for being off balance too much to the destructive emotions. It still needs to learn the rest of the emotions we hold in us, the same ones Purrcy's trying to teach to Inari. When all three of them have learned those emotions, then perhaps we might consider them mature enough to be something other than programmed constructs."

"What emotions are those?" Kanami asked.

Shiroe answered, "Some are mercy, compassion, love, and joy. They are lacking all the positive emotions, the ones that completely offset and balance what the infant was born as to make it so it doesn't have to be destructive. Actually, Inari doesn't technically have any emotions, but it also doesn't understand their relevance. I'd like it to reach at least that point."

Kanami put her hand to her cheek, thinking hard. Finally she gave a nod. "You can do that. But you need to spank it and tell it to stop making it harder for itself and on all of the rest of us. It shouldn't eat the really bad emotions anymore, or make more of them. That's wrong. It can't grow up right doing that, and infants and children need to grow up right, eating good foods, to be big and strong adults."

Shiroe smiled a little at her. "Indeed, Kanami. That's exactly right. Feel free to scold it whenever you run into it on your way across Eured."

"You got it, Shiroe-kun," she smiled at him. "I'll tell it to listen to you good."

Shiroe snorted a small laugh. He wondered if it would actually listen to her. "That's the underlying reason for the political sub-quest, actually. If the Adventurers stop mistreating each other, the amount of anger, hate, frustration, and despair drops and the nobler emotions can rise in strength. Every city we win to this makes such a big difference."

Purrcy chuckled lightly behind him. "Shiroe, for not being a priest yet, you've still got a devout acolyte...or perhaps prophet."

Shiroe looked and Kazuo's look was of blazing determination. Shiroe put his chin in his hand and sighed. "It's a good thing, I guess. I can't go do it all myself, as much as I want to make sure it's done right. I'm sure Kazuo will do well, and I'm grateful." Kazuo gave a determined nod.

Shiroe sat quietly again for a while, then Crusty said, "But you haven't addressed why the Overwritten show up when the negative emotions are going rampant. Are they part of the child god?"

"Nooo," Shiroe said slowly.

"Don't they eat the emotions, though?" Brody asked.

"They do...," he agreed, trying to put the pieces together, "...but all of them, I think." Purrcy's newest theory made sense that the Navigators had been brought to give Inari the method to open space so Adventurer psyche could be brought over from Earth to fill their avatars. They didn't have any other reason for it, but perhaps that had been part of it, too? "They could be coming the same as the other, because emotions are high enough to call them. I don't really have enough information to answer it yet."

"I've got helpers on the case digging for it, though. We hope to have it by the time we're done in the Maze, actually. Our goal is the complete eradication of the Navigators as part of that quest. If we can't get that much, we will kill at the very least all that we can on the moon to prevent any more from coming down to the planet. If that's the best we can do, then we'll have bug hunting to do to clean up - the other reason I want you on that task, Kanami. You'll know when we do which it is. You can clean up to your heart's content on the way back if that's what's necessary."

She gave a jaunty salute. "Can do!" Shiroe smiled at her. He was glad to have capable hands helping him with the things he couldn't do himself.

-:-:-:-:-

Putting together the rough copies for Purrcy before morning was difficult and P/R and Davidius scratched their heads and bemoaned the difficulties of picking just one or two pictures for their work until Davidius hit on an idea that was a variant of the video - the slide show. As the sample, they layered their three favorite pictures and set them to rotate, testing a timed rotation and a selectable rotation. They were quite pleased with the effect and chose an initial timed rotation that then stopped until the picture was touched. That showed the next picture in the list with successive taps scrolling through the pictures.

That wiped them out for a two hour nap each. Three sets of magic tests all at medium-high level and they'd not asked for a healer and now it was too late at night to. Purrcy had stopped in to confirm the text and drop off dinner after she and Nyanta had been to the galley to make another round of curry and naan to replace what had been eaten and to feed the Eagles, who'd had to watch everyone else eat and go hungry until late at night.

When they awoke from their nap, P/R and Davidius were right back into it, putting the finals together until they were happy. Clean up went rather quickly after that and by the time the guild was stirring in the morning, they were ready to receive Purrcy again. "Shall we hit the galley for an early breakfast and go breathe the salt air one last time, for me?" P/R asked with a smile, running his hand through his hair.

"Sure," Davidius said. He tucked away the finals in a special slot in his list and they headed out the door. "The next step for me will be getting all the copies printed out. I'm trying to come up with a batch job way to do that. Being the one and only printing press isn't going to be easy. ...I guess Purrcy-sensei really meant it when she said she was doubling my workload."

"Rather like quadrupled it," P/R agreed. "You're going to be making copies every spare moment you've got, aren't you?"

"Probably," Davidius agreed with a bit of a mope. "If you come up with anything that might make that easier, let me know. I've about reached my limit of creativity."

P/R patted him on the shoulder. "I will, but Miss Purrcy's the inventor. Ask her to put her mind to it, too."

"That's true," Davidius brightened up. He'd worked on her inventions after all.

"Hey, you do know how to find me in the code realm from anywhere, right?" P/R asked.

"Across regions too?" Davidius asked with a bit of a frown.

"Yup. She had the whole world of highest level Programmers coming to find her after she got blasted from the moon. The easiest way's with intent. Intend to find me and follow it - it will look a bit like a hound and a sniffer mixed together. You can go as fast as you want, but you still have to watch out for traps and the like. I like to go fast enough the traps close on empty space behind me, but that's in the lowest level. Programmers catch you if you try that in the next level up."

"Good to know. I may get in touch with you if other things come up along the way and I need help getting copy worded right."

"Sure. She'll probably have me contact you with anything new that comes up and needs to be spread with the rest of the messages, too."

They'd reached the locations smells of food were coming from. "Wait," Davidius said with a pause in his step. "Since when do we have a cook? I thought we were all eating out of our stores?"

"Since the twins talked the newest member of the campaign into coming with us," P/R grinned. "He's a chef here, but back home he was a Japanese native working here in Shanghai. They want him to teach his Chinese food recipes to Hahaue and Mister Nyanta and he's keen to get some of the recipes he's missing from over there."

"Nice," Davidius looked at the options for the day and then down at the dwarf. "Hey. Welcome to the revolution."

The chef looked up sharply. "Didn't that happen already?"

"No, I mean the revolution against the thing that brought us here from Earth," Davidius corrected the misunderstanding.

P/R clapped his companion on the back. "Sorry, we've just come from putting together the latest news articles that are going to go out. Davidius here's still excited by what we managed to get. Can we get whatever you've got? It smells good."

Two plates were dished up and handed over. "But...," Hiroki said, a bit confused, "...how is the news of the revolution in Shangtzi news about such a larger revolution?"

Davidius waved to him. "Come see, if you've got a minute. We'll show you what we put together. We need unclouded eyes to look it over anyway. Being up all night might have put in some things others wouldn't see or understand."

Hiroki turned down his elements to just keep things warm, washed his hands, and came out from behind the serving center. He brought a small plate for himself. The galley wasn't busy yet, as it was still too early for that. Davidius had him read the Adventurer's Creed first. "That's the statement of the revolution," he said. "The beings that brought us here don't like it, since they'd rather we just fell in line and did what we were told. Mister Shiroe's argument is that since we were never asked to come in the first place, they don't get the right to have our unquestioning loyalty. Once they're willing to acknowledge they made an error to not ask first, to just get the ones who really wanted to come, then we might be willing to not be so angry and accept doing things they want."

"Well...," P/R cautioned, "we are still doing things they want, like all the world quests."

"But that's so we _can_ get home," Davidius argued. "And they've properly been given as quests so those who don't want to participate don't have to. Having to be here isn't that."

Both P/R and Hiroki nodded agreement to that. Davidius traded out the Adventurer's Creed with the short clip that was going to be used in the seeds. It had a picture of the text of the Creed that let people have time to read it, then Shiroe's words, that Purrcy had given them the sound bite of: " _If this could spread to every Adventurer on Theldesia until we all remember who and what we really are, and if we can all learn to play nicely with each other from now on, we will be able to fulfill the dream of peace and prosperity we all wish to have individually and collectively. It is my greatest hope and fondest dream for all of us._ "

By the end of that quote, the picture had panned out to show Shiroe holding the scroll that had been signed, another submission by Purrcy, but one she'd snagged from Tetoro's history so she wasn't in it. Shiroe was still looking at it as if he'd just finishing reading it out loud and was looking up and around towards the camera. In reality it was totally a video clip with the first image paused for the zoom in on the text, then the pan out. Once it was touched, or re-opened, it began at the beginning again.

"There's an Easter egg," P/R winked at Hiroki. "Play with it a bit and see if you can find it." The two ate while Hiroki poked and prodded at it a bit, until he paused to think, then set his finger on the document when it showed the first lines of signatures. A blank line popped up under his finger and a mark appeared when his finger slid off of it. It stayed up.

He looked at them. "I could sign it...right now?"

P/R nodded. "That was my little addition. I figure more people are going to see these babies than are going to actually get to see the copies of the petition to sign. They're going to put them up in all the cities they visit, and copies will go to other cities if there are people who are willing to take them, but these get picked up and passed along in the craziest routes. If you sign it, you can still pass it on and the next person to find the Easter egg can sign it too. They get a new blank line. Once you've got the mark that you signed it, it won't come back up for you again, recognizing you've already done it."

"We get marked?" Hiroki frowned, not liking that.

"Here, pull up my status," P/R offered. He'd been the last of his fellow Eagles to sign, but had been relieved to still find his signature with all of theirs. He'd already sent up one of these to the moon with orders to get it to Akiba. The rest of the Eagles had all signed right away, so they were still together there, too. It hadn't felt right for some of their signatures to not be with the rest when that was their solidarity. "We're not dead and we're not punished for it. It's merely a formalism for what we already are and believe. We're all angry and we all believe we should have been given the right of refusal. The thing that brought us here already knows all that and doesn't care."

"What about the lightning?" Hiroki handed back the little cube. Davidius put it back in his list and handed him the full press release.

"Pause that on the other picture you didn't get to look at last night," P/R told him. Given that they were already doing rather large things with the slide show, they'd decided not to include the video - particularly since Purrcy had said not to. Still, they had thought one piece of it was very important for everyone to know.

Hiroki paused it now and looked at it a long time. "Yes...that is rather encouraging, isn't it?" he finally said quietly.

The other two nodded. "Glad you see it that way," Davidius said in relief. They had felt that way but weren't sure others would.

"If those things that are honorable within us can keep us from being harmed, and they are the same things as are in the creed, then that is good." Hiroki said. They let him finish watching all the pictures and reading the text. By the end of it, they liked the set of his jaw. He nodded and handed the press release back. "Thank you for letting me see them," he said. Others were arriving to eat so he hopped off his chair and headed to see to his pots again. When they left he glanced at them and nodded. They waved and headed for the gangplank.

"Let's go sit on the dock just a little. I'm sure you'll be done with the ocean again by the third sea monster, but I've got to go inland again and this little bit of ocean we had wasn't really enough for me," P/R said.

Davidius agreed. "You were a sailor?"

"Navy pilot, but we sail all the same," P/R said as he sat to let his feet hang down over the end of the pier.

Davidius sat next to him. "Is that why you all fly with wings and all?"

"Yes." P/R looked up into the sky and smelled the salt air. "The ocean is home and the wind under our wings is heaven." He smiled a little at his memory. "We really couldn't fault the Commander's tears as we watched Miss Purrcy come in for a landing. He got to see it first and made his wings before he picked us up. We were jealous, but when we got to see her for ourselves, then we could understand that there wasn't anything in this world that could tie us down to it anymore." He tipped his head to look at Davidius, "Kind of like this press release, you know? Giving hope to everyone that there's the something more we all keep hoping for. Just there, just within our grasp if we'll only reach out for it, stretching just a little more, then it can be ours."

"Is it really that hopeful?" a voice said behind them and they looked over their shoulders.

P/R rose immediately and gave a polite if short bow. "Yes, Prince Singh, it is." Davidius' eyes grew wide and he also clambered up and bowed. "This is my companion, Davidius, who'll be staying here to go with MarketMaker and who's tasked with being the messenger, if you will," P/R introduced him.

Prince Singh waved at them and sat down cross-legged with them. P/R's eyebrow raised. "If I may, how did you manage that, with cat legs?" He sat down as requested, as did Davidius.

Prince Singh laughed. "I took human legs, of course. It's a common representation of the gods of India, to have the head of a creature and perhaps the arms of them, but to retain human legs. I've been rather glad I did, actually."

"I can imagine. I've heard Miss Purrcy complain for not having the capacity for sitting like that, and she misses having a lap when she wants to pet others instead of be pet." Prince Singh's eyes got very wide. P/R laughed. "She prefers to actually _be_ a cat more often than a felinoid and really doesn't realize that she tends to treat those she's most comfortable with as cats as well."

Prince Singh blinked. "She seems to be a very interesting woman."

P/R and Davidius looked at each other. "You could say that," P/R said. "Highly complicated, that one." Prince Singh leaned his elbow on his knee and rested his chin in his hand. P/R analyzed the look, then said a bit offhandedly. "If you want to be one of her harem, I think you should consider it a bit more deeply than that."

Prince Singh leaped as if stung and his ears turned in consternation. Davidius was hard pressed not to laugh and had to look away. "Isn't that rather backwards?" Prince Singh finally said.

"I suppose the Indian's would consider it the reverse harem, wouldn't they?" P/R mused. "Well, Mister Nyanta's the husband and Consort. The rest are guards or staff, except the sons and one nephew. You'd probably be relegated to nephew as well. Otherwise everyone would be very dead. Mister Nyanta's very jealous."

"That's not unlike what we have, after all," Prince Singh said. "The wives and consorts only have one husband, but traditionally they also each had a house with guards and eunuchs to be staff, and then the children, of course."

"Hmm...I wonder if everyone would consider that a possible way to think of it, then?" Davidius asked P/R.

P/R shook his head. "It's probably too foreign for the Japanese, really."

"Probably," Davidius agreed, being one himself.

"Are you really sure she isn't Indian herself?" Prince Singh asked again.

"No, absolutely sure," P/R said with a smile. "Davidius, he wanted to know really about what we've been doing all night. Let him take a look." He looked back at the prince again, "Besides, I'm not sure you want Mister Nyanta to be your father."

Prince Singh's lip turned up. "You mean I'd have a different mother? ...Wouldn't that make Lady Purrcy jealous?"

P/R considered that for a bit. "Maybe...but maybe not. She's a bit ...well ...complicated, like I said." He took the seed box from Davidius and handed it to Prince Singh first. "You've seen this before. This is the next one." Prince Singh took it and looked at it soberly, reading the text of the Adventurer's Creed first, then watched and listened to the rest of it. When it was done, he considered it, then looked up. "Did we get the translation program attached correctly?" P/R asked.

"It was already translated from before," Prince Singh seemed confused.

P/R shook his head. "There are changes occurring in this world. We are becoming the world's and it is becoming us. Mister Shiroe wants to make sure that if we lose our Adventurer artifacts - and the translator is one of them - that everyone can still understand these things that are so important for the whole world to hear. You'll know if the translator worked if you look at his signature on the last picture. He wrote it in Kanji."

Prince Singh looked back at it, then shook his head. "It's in Sanskrit."

"Good. It worked, then."

Prince Singh put his finger on the picture, then said softly, "Why does this signature say, 'Mother'?"

P/R's head whipped around to look at him. "Seriously? I thought at most it would say Caretaker."

"I'm quite serious," Prince Singh said.

P/R shook his head. "It should say, of course, 'Purrcy'. But the Adventurer Purrcy we all want back - we call her mother in our own languages." He sighed. "I hope that's going to be okay."

"I wonder if it will be different for those who've met her and those who haven't?" Davidius mused. "Or maybe we put too much of our own intent and desires into that, too?"

"Maybe," P/R sighed. "She'll make us change it back if we did."

Prince Singh looked at the thing in his hands. "Well, if she does, I'd like this one."

"Already?" P/R looked at him in irritation. "You don't even know her."

Prince Singh looked at him with a twist of lips. "That's okay. It will be a souvenir that I've met them both. That's enough."

P/R looked at Davidius, who nodded and traded out the handbill for the seed, since they needed it still to show Purrcy. Prince Singh watched the pictures go by, then solemnly read the text. He pondered it for a few minutes, sitting upright with his ears pointed forward at it, showing his intense focus. Finally he looked up at them. "I will want many copies of this, and it needs to be in my cities now. Is there a way to do that? My brother's advisor could do it, if you can do it, P/R. He is also a Programmer."

The call came on the sub-guild chat for the morning assignments, distracting P/R slightly, though he looked down as if in thought to hide it. He rose to his feet. "Why don't you come back up with us. She's going to come visit us first so Davidius can get on the street with the finals as soon as possible. You can negotiate with her yourself."

"Are they up?" Davidius asked as he rose to his feet.

"Yes," P/R said shortly and got going at a trot. They'd barely make it back in time, actually. It was the one bad thing about not being able to keep watch inside first thing in the morning. They didn't have much early warning except from the man on the door.

* * *

 _*These Japanese figures are: 1 - Torii Mototada: chose to have his small army fight at terrible odds and kept the main enemy army off until he was the last man standing, full of many deadly wounds, committing seppuku at the end. 2 - Jomyo Meishu: Buddhist warrior priest who stood against an entire army by himself until the rest of his temple monks could arrive to assist him. He even survived the fight. 3 - Momotaro: the Hero of Justice (the legendary one born of the peach and traveling with the dog, pheasant, and monkey). 4 - Kennyo Kosa: Buddhist warrior priest who was a brilliant strategist and politician (Osaka castle is now built on the site he and his army defended). 5 - Queen Himiko: First queen to unify the tribes of Japan and make a nation as well as begin international relations. Ref. /47224 jpninfo-dot-com/47224_

 _The Chinese figures are actual historical people as well. Ref. owlcation-dot-com/humanities/5-Chinese-Heroes-to-Know-About_


	109. Fifth Floor: Transition to the Maze

Purrcy swept into the press room (one of the unused offices temporarily commandeered for that use) with her usual assuredness. Her eyes barely scanned the room before they were on the final products waiting for her on the table, but she suddenly paused and looked again to her right, her eyes wide open. She froze, then blinked. Her right ear twisted at the prince as her eyes went back to the table and she continued forward to look down at the four products. She set her hands on the table and looked over them carefully.

The petition was just that, and simple to review. She checked the code on it, and nodded. Her head turned towards Davidius, but she wasn't looking at him, but rather still inside. "Pull up the copy code." He did and watched as she wrote around it until what he'd written was a sub-routine of her larger program spell. "Input the number of copies you want in the batch. An optional input, that's for my own personal data collection, is to enter who and where the order came from so we can track how many have gone out in each region. Knowing who asked for them will also let us know who we can ask again in the future."

"Yes, Purrcy-sensei," Davidius was quite relieved to have the proper spell from her.

Purrcy picked up the petition and held it out to him. He made it disappear in his list. She was already on to the next thing, which was the photo of Crusty. She studied the pseudocode spell they'd worked on to see if they could use just the photograph and not have to have paintings. After a minute, she came back and shook her head. It disappeared. "I'll give it to Michael this way. He can study how to go from there. You've got the basics in, but I think it will take more than that." Her ear twitched. "Maybe even more than I've got." That meant it would take someone her level. (She was holding her status down to Programmer on the visual screen.) It might even mean she would have troubles with it. That was disappointing, but maybe there was something that could be done during the painting to make it better.

Davidius blurted out, "Maybe...if he painted on top of the photograph?"

"Hmm," she paused at that, tipping her head and waving her tail in long slow waves of thought. "I'll suggest it to Michael. It feels like a paint-by-numbers thing, which might be simpler and would still put the magic paint on it. He'd know better than I, though." Davidius was pleased to get a tip of an ear to him.

She was reading the code on the seed first, making sure it replicated her previous one. P/R had tweaked it a little bit. Her whiskers twitched, but she didn't complain. When she came out of the code realm, she stared at it for a bit. "I like the Easter egg. That was a useful addition. You might have to add an explanation that it will still work for others or they might keep it for themselves as a souvenir." Davidius stiffened slightly, wondering if she'd heard their conversation with the prince. P/R sighed ever so slightly so she probably had. The prince passed the test though. He didn't let on at all he'd ever said anything of the sort. That was pretty good, actually. "We need them to keep replicating and rolling on to get where they need to go as fast as possible." Davidius and P/R both nodded and she reached out with her finger to touch the surface.

It was only a final check as she'd already seen this part and approved it, having given the base to them to begin with. She tested the Easter Egg as well, and tested looking at the names at the end. "Translation looks good," she said and tossed it at Davidius. He was so surprised he snatched it by capturing it midair with his mind and putting it into his list. His heart beat rapidly. For some reason that had seemed too casual a handling of it, as if it could have shattered on impact with the floor, though it was built for tumbling across the landscape.

When he realized she was staring at him, with a slight glare even, he bowed. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were testing that function as well."

She blinked back at him, then forcibly pulled back. "No. You've worked hard on it. I'm sorry to seem casual with your efforts. Please do pull it back out and test it, though."

Davidius stepped to the side slightly, then skipped it across the floor. As it bounced, it replicated and the children seeds headed off to bounce in other directions around the room, replicating in turn on every third bounce until they all hit walls and stuck to them. One lodged itself onto Prince Singh's pant leg and he bent down to pick it up. It disappeared, presumably into his own list. The rest disappeared and reappeared on the table. Purrcy picked one up randomly and watched it run again, testing the signature function one more time. She nodded. "Looks like the additions stayed properly, too. Good." This time she held it out to Davidius and he only took that one.

She picked up the fourth item in her hand, then said, "Maharajadhiraj Singh, please take the rest as well. I'm sure you'll be able to seed places just as fast as we will." She didn't bother to look at him yet, studying the paper in her hand instead, but the seeds all disappeared. It looked like the Prince had finally figured it out - how to intentionally put things into lists. He seemed a little proud of himself for having learned it, too.

"Why did you choose this format?" Purrcy looked up at them. Davidius frowned slightly, but P/R stepped in smoothly.

"Miss Purrcy, that is a common format on Earth when we wish to show multiple pictures. We call it a slide show from a much older form of technology." He got an impatient nod. The AI had already accessed the definition by the time the explanation was done. "There were too many good pictures that tell the story we want to tell. One was not sufficient."

"It is...almost too strong," she said.

Davidius bit his lip. "We did have a high cost to complete it, it's true, but we worked very hard on it and we believe it really is necessary. So many cities won't understand without that much information. We say a picture says a thousand words. That many words needed to be said and it was the most compact way to say them."

"The concept is good, but...to copy this so many times...the cost will also be very high." Purrcy said sadly. She slowly walked through the selected pictures again, then shook her head. "Come explain why you selected each one." She set it down on the table and both Davidius and P/R walked over to stand on either side of her. Prince Singh walked to stand on the opposite side of the table to watch them. She listened closely to their explanation and defense for each picture, of which there were five.

In the end, she had rejected three of them and there were two left. "Even still," she said looking at them, "this will be hard. The one from the lightning strike needs additional magic every time it's copied to show the colors. That's difficult."

"Copying it after the first magic application wasn't as hard. It did take a little more MP per copy than otherwise, but the main cost was in making the video," P/R said calmly.

"If I may," Prince Singh finally interrupted. Purrcy gave a little nod. "You want the group picture, why?"

She raised eyes to him. "So that those who read this can see who they will be looking to in the final battle."

Prince Singh considered that for a minute, then said, "But their names are listed in the text and people already recognize that for the most part."

"...And, really, Purrcy-sensei, the main players will already have their posters up," Davidius added almost timidly.

Purrcy glanced at him. "Well, that is true."

"Of all the pictures, the one of the statues defending against the lightning is the one that has made others who've seen this pause," P/R added his observation.

Prince Singh nodded. "And because it translates into any culture, like the words do, it will have a greater impact. The others are related only to Shangtzi and Yamato. Interesting, but not compelling."

Purrcy considered his words then nodded. "Very well. If you're willing to pay the additional cost per sheet copied, Davidius, then we'll go with that one." She looked at P/R and Davidius. "I don't want your labors for the slide-show to go to waste, however. Perhaps you can put one copy of it up with the posters here in Shangtzi where they do have relevance, on a constant replay at a slow enough speed people can really see what you're trying to say."

They relaxed. It was a reasonable solution and a kind acknowledgement of their hard work and desires. "We'll take care of it, then," Davidius said.

"Thank you," Purrcy said, handing the handbill to him. She looked at Prince Singh then. "And what can I do for you?"

"Ah, Prince Singh," P/R interrupted, "this is the Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami, though she is doing her best to allow Hahaue to have input to the decision making as well, and doing much better, may I say, than she has in the past."

The Priestess have him a dark look and Davidius shivered slightly. P/R stared her down calmly until she turned her nose at him and looked back at Prince Singh. "Really, more and more you make me believe you are Indian," Prince Singh said.

"The religion of Theldesia, in this part of the world, is a combination of Shinto, Hindu, and Buddhist beliefs, plus a few minor adjustments by the original designers of _Elder Tales_ \- particularly the flavor texts. It isn't surprising you should see the elements you are most familiar with."

"Ah, I see," Prince Singh nodded his head sagely. He took a breath, "As to what I desire, it is to have this spread faster. In particular, my people need it now, not in a month or two when I can get back to them. However, we don't have this same capability to copy the papers in the same way. My brother's advisor is a Programmer, like yourself and P/R. Could he be given the information more directly and do it for us?"

"Is he the Master Hacker of India?" Purrcy asked. Davidius looked at her, then him, in surprise. P/R was nodding, though. "That is, is he the one that visited with me when Nyanta was punished and I was fireballed?"

"Yes, that would be him," Prince Singh's ears were turning in distress at the way she had phrased that. Davidius wasn't too comfortable with that description either.

"Yes. I already have a place these things can be placed and they can retrieve them safely." She considered a bit. "I would have to include the code for copying them with it, and I'd like to do a test run first to make sure the papers can be made digital again, then made papers on the other end. We haven't tried running a fax program yet. Then the copy program would have to reproduce the final product correctly. That initial path on it's own may be rather cost intensive, though on their part, not mine."

"I would still like to try it and offer India as the test location," he insisted.

"Very well. We will try a modified video conference call. Let me go inside and call him, then I'll explain your part while we give him time to arrive." Prince Singh nodded and Purrcy's eyes went distant.

"Come inside and watch," P/R whispered to Davidius. Davidius did. "This will be similar to how you might contact me from a distance, though she works very smoothly." The watched as she cast her hound cantrip and gave it the order to find a particular fingerprint and then the order to give the request for communication at the first smell of that fingerprint and wait to lead the response back. They waited inside as she went outside and gave Prince Singh his instructions for the next part. "There," P/R whispered, inside the code realm this time. "See? That little tendril following the sniffer, that's his line coming here. He won't come himself as that's dangerous." Davidius nodded. He understood that.

"And you are?" and Indian accented voice said.

"The Caretaker of Yamato's public relations specialist and one of her students," P/R answered immediately and truthfully. The sense of danger passed and Davidius relaxed just a little.

"Thank you for coming," Purrcy said. "Your Maharajadhiraj Bahadur's younger brother has requested your presence. I'd like to experiment. Will you please place a projection here and we'll see if we can open a video conference chat outside?"

"Hoooh. An intriguing proposal indeed. One moment." A projection of a man in traditional Indian garb appeared, looking rather like one of those three-dimensional foggy projections of Star Wars fame.

Davidius stepped out just enough to pay attention to both levels. "He's ready, Maharajadhiraj Singh. Please intend to speak to him with a video conference chat. It isn't any more necessary to select his name from the list than it was to use your finger to put the seeds into your list. I'll give you the proper boost since I'm already well familiar with the concept."

"Minister Padarahan, I have a request for you," Prince Singh said, and the image that was in the code realm slipped out into the base realm, and at full size humanoid. Everyone was a bit surprised at that result.

"Interesting," Purrcy said. "Intriguing," the minister echoed. "Wonderful!" the prince said, quite happy with the result.

"I wonder...if it's a form of realm walking?" Purrcy murmured, her hand to her chin as she mulled that over.

"It is still just my echo," the minister said.

"Still...I'll have to consider that for a while...I should have had Tetorō here to watch that. Breaking that down is his specialty."

"I got it, Hahaue," came a disembodied voice.

"Of course," she said wryly. "I'll let you chew on that, then, and give me the summary." She looked at Prince Singh, letting him take the conversation where he would.

"Minister Padarahan, they are as we hoped and I arrived by the will of the gods to meet them with barely enough time to spare."

"What good news indeed," the minister responded.

"Indeed. They have just finalized the next words they intend to spread to the world. They are words our people need to hear as soon as possible. They aren't able to come personally, sadly. They have both a ship capable of ocean travel and an impressive train. The train will come and visit us, but that will also take time. I've asked Lady Purrcy if she would be willing to find a way for the words to come directly to you from here and teach you the way to copy them so that my brother's department of information can spread it throughout India as soon as possible. Please work with her on the experiment. It would be good if it could be made to work."

"Certainly," Minister Padarahan turned to Purrcy. She had already been busy, getting the code from Davidius and the base code they'd used during the magical transformation of the pictures to the paper.

"Minister Padarahan, can you work both inside and be outside for the chat at the same time?" Purrcy asked him.

He considered that, then reappeared inside. His image disappeared from outside, however. "Well, disappointing," he said and Purrcy agreed. "But it is sufficient I suppose."

Purrcy showed him all the pieces of the project that existed in the code realm as the spells and the photo images. "This is the base from which they built," she explained. "Can you come outside again without him calling you back out?" She stepped back out, but kept her attention inside.

There was a pause, then he did appear outside. "It was necessary for me to intend to talk to him, but this has also worked," Minister Padarahan was pleased with that experiment as well.

"Davidius, put each of them on the table again," Purrcy instructed. He did, laying them out as before. "We haven't corrected the final piece yet, but you can perhaps work on the others while that is finalized." She drew Minister Padarahan's attention to the table and added Shiroe's painted picture. She pointed to that one and to the photo of Crusty. "These two are the World General and the Master Strategist who will be leading the final boss battle of the world dungeon or quest we are all on. We need every Adventurer to recognize their faces and are requesting that copies of these are placed in as many locations as possible to be seen. We've added a magic that allows anyone who sees them to add them to their friend list. India's regional head General is the most important one to have Crusty in his list as he will be a direct report on the battle field. However, both of the voices of these two will need to be heard in the all-army chat."

The minister smiled. "Well you already have that one with you."

Purrcy looked at Prince Singh, who gave a modest bow. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," she said. "It's good you've sent him, then. He can have Crusty add him before we go, though he won't be able to talk with him directly yet. We still have a flavor text cursing to remove before he can properly chat."

She looked back at the papers on the table. "We've used both a high level paper, and high level paint in the original creations of these - well we're still working on the one for Crusty. For now the communication link doesn't need to be copied over, just the code that allows for adding to the friend list, and the image itself. You'll need to experiment on your end with how to get it back out onto paper again, and what level of paper you'll need to hold the spell. The higher you're required to use, the higher the cost to copy it. Minimalism is best in this set of spells. If you can think of a way to get what is here to the inside and then outside again, please feel free. Just leave the originals here, please. We haven't made our own copies yet, having just finalized them, as I said, for all but the last."

She turned to Davidius and P/R. "While he is considering his options, please complete the last item. I know it's the most important one to Maharajadhiraj Singh. I'm afraid I'm going to have to bow out at this point. Nyanta is already impatient with me, and hungry as well." She nodded to the two Indian's. "Please excuse me." She walked out the door.

Minister Padarahan was giving Prince Singh an interesting look. The prince raised an eyebrow. "Mister Nyanta is her husband, another member of the Debauchery Tea Party here with Strategist Shiroe. Actually their party is made up of a surprising number of that original group."

"I see." Minister Padarahan seemed to see rather a lot, actually, but he politically returned to his musings on the things in front of him. When P/R and Davidius were into their own work, they heard him muse quietly, "A shame, really."

"Indeed," Prince Singh said just as quietly.

P/R rolled his eyes and Davidius had to agree. There was almost certainly no way they'd be able to handle the creature that really existed within the felinoid they saw on the outside. It would be war worse than what Helen of Troy brought with her, and whatever city they thought could contain her would be a smoking hole around her as she walked back out on her own.

-:-:-:-:-

Maharajadhiraj Singh stood to the side of the great activity and pomp and political grand-staging that was going on as the train from Yamato prepared to leave Shangtzi, his arms folded.

"It is indeed a rather grand display of high levels, isn't it?" Minister Padarahan said quietly next to him. He'd stayed as an observer to be able to report directly to his lord when this was done.

"Yes, however, they are very careful in every movement. It is all a part of his calculated planning." There was quiet musing for a while.

"There are things I've already seen in the code spells that say she is also more than she appears."

"In what way?" the question was slightly cool, detached.

"I cannot change the code, nor the words, when it comes to the items that might place you or his lordship as the heads of the final battle."

"You're a master at your craft," Maharajadhiraj Singh was surprised.

"Indeed. Even she has acknowledged that." The answer was calm.

"Then what would cause it to be so?" It was asked with a frown.

"Someone with a higher level, even if not higher skill. There is another piece to it. Though out of professional courtesy she hasn't gone hunting for me, she has allowed me to search for her in this same time. ...And she does not exist." This time Maharajadhiraj Singh did stare at the almost-ghost next to him, a frown on his face. Minister Padarahan shook his head. "It's difficult to explain to one who doesn't understand the inner workings, but every path I take to seek her out, in the place her essence should reside, it is empty."

"She is soul-less?"

"No. She speaks to you and to me, even on the inside. She didn't hide her soul this morning, and neither did her two students who met me without fear at the beginning, though they were truthful and cautious. It was the same when the others arrived to seek her out in the place that had been severely damaged. Her students are not fearful in that place."

"Could you have captured her soul this morning, then?" Maharajadhiraj Singh asked quietly.

Minister Padarahan frowned. "Perhaps, though...we were not without company. I may have been the object of an immediate retaliation."

"Mmm...then the sum is that they have set it up so they will lead and the rest of us will follow and that is what it will be?"

"Yes, so far that does seem to be the sum."

"Well, I suppose that shouldn't surprise me," Maharajadhiraj Singh sighed a bit. Minister Padarahan looked at him quizzically. The train was pulling out of the wharf area now and they watched as it whirred and moved, finding that quite intriguing.

"Is that obtainable?" Minister Padarahan asked.

"For a price," Maharajadhiraj Singh said, "and they are a suspicious lot." He turned for his own ship. "Come inside with me, and then if we can somehow find the reverse function of you being here, I need to give my report to my brother immediately. There are things he needs to understand. ...If a god can know of a priest in Yamato, it can know of a priest and aspect in India."

-:-:-:-:-

Davidius finished putting up the last poster, petition, and finally the slide show. He stepped back from the wall and wiped his brow. As he stood looking at his handiwork and feeling pretty good about it, several other Adventurers stopped to look. One pointed at the picture up on the display to draw attention to it, but it moved. "Oh!" There was a pause and when the next picture came up, there was even more interest. "That's pretty cool techomagic, to get a slideshow to work." They watched until it came around again. "There, see it?"

"Mmm...sort of." There was a bit of an impatient shift as the picture changed again.

Davidius walked up to it and touched the page, then swiped back to that picture. "Was it this one?" he asked politely.

The other two stepped up to it. "Yes, that's the one, thanks. See here. Those are the heroes of China on top of the building, and look, the head Councilor is directly under Lin Zexu and the General is under Yue Fei. Doesn't that seem very appropriate?"

Davidius looked at the picture in surprise and pulled out a copy of the flier and attached it to the wall so the pictures were side by side. In that way he had his own translation of the statues. "Which is which?" he asked pointing to the one in the slideshow.

They pointed at one. "Lin Zexu."

"The one who represents nationalism?"

"Yes. The councilor has been a strong proponent for the unity of the Adventurers both in Shangtzi and in China."

"And the other?"

They pointed at the second, on the other side of the line of dignitaries. "Yue Fei."

"Valor, military brilliance, and liberation."

"Indeed. The General has led many a great battle to accomplish great things. Many look up to him even if not in his guild. We're glad to have the two of them to lead the city now."

Davidius gave a little smile. "That's good. ...It may not matter to you, but the rest are also in the right order." He put a finger on Shiroe and another on the statue he saw as Kennyo Kosa. "Mister Shiroe is the Master Strategist of all Theldesia and the man who saw that every quest of the Debauchery Tea Party was won by them." He put a finger on Purrcy and again one on the statue that he saw as Jomyo Meishu. "This person has given her full support and loyalty to Mister Shiroe in his quest to see that we Adventurers can fight against whatever brought us to Theldesia unrighteously and return home." He put his finger on Crusty. "And this person is the General of Generals who will lead us in battle against that same creature so that we can teach it how angry we are at not having been given a voice and a choice to coming here. Justice will be met by the voice of these three."

He stepped back and looked at the wall again, leaving the handbill there. The two looking with him turned to him and he handed them each a handbill for themselves and thanked them for stopping by to look. When they were gone, he stared at the wall again, then wrote up a modification to the slideshow code. He walked up to that page, touched it and applied the new magic to it. Now when it rotated through, it paused for a lot longer on just that picture, though it would still once every half-minute rotate through the others as well.

Then he scratched his head, wishing a little for P/R, until he had the words he wanted. Above the two related documents he'd attached to the wall, he left a description that explained how the entire set of dignitaries was exactly that match that had been shown. That in Shangtzi, the Adventurers of Theldesia had declared their own heroes of legend and set their own feet on the path of honorable justice and righteous anger to seek liberty in unity.

Nearby that display, he handed out the handbills to every passerby and suggested they view the things on the wall until he was called by MarketMaker to the Ocypete. It had been a long but satisfying day, in his mind. Before he left, he took one picture of that wall and sent copies to P/R and Tetorō, wanting to share that one more serendipitous and not-likely-coincidental-at-all result.

-:-:-:-:-

MarketMaker had spent the day - after the train left - making sure his city manager and regional manager were good to go. The regional manager would continue to come with them into the Gulf of Chihli. He wanted to stop at Qingdao on the way, even though it had been one of the minor cities, since they figured they had about a month of time until they met up with the fighting guilds again. Then in the bay was Tianjin Port, and beyond that in the continent was Beijing. If there was time, they could even cross the bay to Korea and see what was going on there. He'd have to play that by ear, though.

The next day was a 'vacation' day to walk the markets of Shangtzi and make purchases of things that could be sold back in Yamato. Seasonings topped the list, even if Touya and Minori hadn't asked with Naotsugu drooling behind them in agreement. He also looked for other products that were brought in from other parts of the region or other countries they wouldn't get to on this trip. He almost wished they had two trains already. One to take the trip, another to run back and forth between this coast to wherever they were on the exploratory trip to bring back the products to sell. It was really a great idea...the lag time was terrible. He wouldn't mind if the gates got up fast.

At the same time, to be one of the first Adventurers, like the explorers of old, to take the silk road journey to bring products of the east to the west and back again was extremely exciting. Just having that thought kept a spring in his step when he got to the end of a long day. He got to be an Adventurer and a merchant all in one wrapped up package. It's no wonder the Polo family took the trip by horse and mule multiple times. Not to mention the lucrative part of it with such rare treasures showing up in places where it hadn't been seen before (or in the case of the Adventurers, in years).

Most of his purchases were going to continue on with him for that very reason, but he'd definitely be sending samples home, labeled by city and store purchased so more could be purchased by those coming after him. He was the trailblazer with more than one important mission to perform. It made him walk tall with his eyes sharp and his mind quick. It was the one thing that was going to make going home very difficult. At the moment, he couldn't quite see how to translate that into an exciting career at home. He'd have to look into international sales and see if that would work similarly.

When it was time to set sail from Shangtzi, he made sure there was a small farewell ceremony complete with small fireworks and streamers. Even if it just made the dock workers smile and be glad they'd been there, that would be enough. "Yuudai, Majiyo, please," he asked as he stepped back from giving his little thank you and farewell speech.

They stepped forward onto the prow where he had been, turned and faced the ship itself, and clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanagi, world god, please hear the words of your acolyte whom you chose. Bless our voyage that we will arrive peaceably and without damage to our destination. Bless our friends in their efforts to aid the Adventurers of China and Eured. Please, let all the sea monsters from here to Tianjin be only little ones and few. And please bless our families wherever they are with peace and happiness. Thank you." They clapped and bowed again.

MarketMaker motioned and the whistle on the Ocypete blew twice and the fireworks popped and the streamers flew through the air and the paddle wheels turned backwards to pull them away from the wharf and pier to the few cheers on shore. They waved until their arms were tired, then turned to return to the main deck. "Thank you, Yuudai," MarketMaker said. Mise joined up with them as they walked. She seemed to not leave their sides much, though it was kind of like it was somewhat without thought - like she would wander until she found them again, then stick to them a silent file of lead attached to a weak magnet.

"Happy to do it," Yuudai said calmly, with a little smile. "It's kind of fun to get to be a priest and have something to do with it instead of just sit around all day."

MarketMaker nodded. "Yeah. I was recently thinking I think I'll enjoy following in Marco Polo's footsteps. Having a goal and a place to go to and a thing to do only you can do...those are good things to help one wake up in the morning and go to bed contented at night."

"I think so, too," Yuudai agreed. He put his hands behind his head and his eyes went to Mise. MarketMaker looked as well. She was staring at him thoughtfully. When she noticed him looking she looked away and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Okay, everyone," MarketMaker called out when they reached the remaining members of their party, "be lively. We get to go back to being a fighting party again now. We're looking out for sea monsters and pirates this time, though Shiroe says the latter will likely wait given they probably want the princess as much as the ocean liner. If you see any and can mark them, though, fewer of them later is probably a good thing. As far as the sea monsters, let's all intend they'll all be small and afraid of the size of us so we can skip that part. I think we've already paid our dues there."

"Here, here!" a major portion of them called out.

"In the mean time, around the edges, enjoy your self-guided tour of the Yellow Sea coast of China. We should be putting into Qingdao in roughly sixteen to eighteen hours." He waved his hand and the group broke up. They were a skeleton crew, since the group that was their defenders were also gone to the Maze of Eternity, but they weren't afraid and they wouldn't back down in a fight either. They were Adventurers having the time of their lives - adventuring.

-:-:-:-:-

From Shangtzi, the Yamato train went northwest past two large lakes. The zones following along the flat lands near that were used for farming around the Adventurer city. On the Earth map, they were headed for the Huang He River and then cross-country to hunt for the Maze of Eternity that was supposed to be somewhere in the Taihang Mountains east of the north-south section of the Huang He River. They expected to have the Eagles and Summoners busy flying scouting missions once they were close.

There were several People of the Land villages as they went along. Kanami explained that the Adventurers kept the lands in this area safe and if enemies came, the farmers hid at home or in the villages until the Adventurers arrived. She waved her hand at the mountains that were beginning to rise in the distance. "It's in the mountains that my party likes to go fight. Nothing lives out in them anymore, really. To the southwest of Shangtzi are more farms and lakes along the Yangtze River until you get to the last stronghold of Changsha on the shore of Lake Dongting. It's probably like Nakasu or Susukino - an outpost on the edge of the wild lands. There's lots of mountains all the way from here to the Middle East. MarketMaker says we'll have to see how the train does, but he assured me it was able to handle the Yamato mountains, so I guess we don't have to be too worried."

Nakalnad nodded and folded his arms. "That's why it's a levitated train, so it can handle the terrain changes. It costs less to stay as flat as possible of course, like any train, but we could probably go up a thirty-eight percent grade no problem and a forty-two percent still loaded."

But mostly, the generals - and Shiroe because he got bored fairly quickly - coached Kanami and Kazuo in the political changes that had been made. Some of the more lively discussions occurred when all of Log Horizon was present because then the guild told the funny stories and the more serious ones of what it had been like to be the ground troops at the forefront of a lot of the action. Those were listened to by everyone for the most part. The Adventurers in Kazuo's guild in particular paid attention. They were the new ground troops for this quest.

The first day, after a long nap, the two werecats ran up and down the cars that were full of baggage and items but no people - mostly fighting to get that out of their systems. Once they were settled again, by the middle of the second day, they were hanging out in the car with the lessons and stories going on, ears as perked up as everyone else's. When the stories got to Purrcy's time frame, she got several stares from generals until she finally rolled her head and left the car, heading for the room she was supposed to be in. She changed back to felinoid there, dressed in one of her preferred casual dresses with leggings and walked back. She scooped up Nyanta in her arms and started massaging him in a half-pet, half-scratch. "Purrceus says you wanted to see me? And I've been wondering where Leonid and him got to all this time."

"Where did you get to?" Kanami asked.

"Sleeping. I'm surprised Shiroe isn't still asleep actually," she said staring at him in mock surprise. "He was the one that complained he needed a three week nap." He waved an embarrassed hand.

"And is Nyanta sleeping as well?"

"No. He's hiding. This is too many people in close quarters this long for him," Purrcy said and sat down. "So, what was it I was wanted for?" And the stories picked back up as they picked her brain for the details of the early parts of the story she'd been involved in. When they neared the part when she'd been sent to Akiba, she paused and her ears fell. She held "Leonid" close to her for a moment, then turned him and held him to look at her face. "Please go let Nyanta know he's needed out here for the lesson, too. Will you?" Nyanta blinked and gave a positive response and she put him on the floor.

Nyanta reappeared as himself shortly after and slipped into the seat next to Purrcy and together they told their joint parts until neither of them would talk any more. The time after the coup in Minami had been very difficult for both of them and was not related to the political movement.

The stories from Nakasu, though it was short, were next and in the end Purrcy was getting stares again. She refused this time, not looking at anyone until the generals finally turned to Shiroe. "She was on the ship with us, then wasn't and she was with you when we arrived in Nakasu. How and why, and what part did that play?"

Shiroe looked away, his foot tapping in the air as he rested his elbow on his crossed knees, his chin in his hand. "...It was a selfish thing for the guild only." He sighed, "No. It was that, but it was also a piece of what's coming, to get it moving a little more." He looked back at Purrcy. "We're setting up a movement against Inari in the People of the Land of Yamato. It's a political movement in progress. It would be better if we don't talk about it just yet."

The generals blinked in surprise. "You'll say that with them sitting right here?"

Shiroe's eyes turned to them, though not much else moved. "Yes. It's another one of their quests, and again, it's a personal selfish quest." He shrugged slightly. "Well, you actually know it's base. It's part of breaking the flavor text that rests on the roles of the Priest and Priestess. We needed the Priestess there to begin that work in Nakasu, so she came. We didn't realize that Nyanta had been made the Priest by that point or we would have had both come. He was only able to tell us the Priest's side when he arrived with the Ocypete and we had to add that into the calculations."

"What is that?" Kanami asked innocently wondering.

They looked at her solemnly. "It really is quite terrible," Nyanta said it himself. "For one such as I who has always kept women at arm's length - or more - the flavor text says the Priest is so jealous for the Priestess that he keeps her locked away in her shrine with only maidens to watch over her. It really doesn't help that it's stronger the closer together we are when they are also purresent within us, and we are never anywhere near the shrine."

Kanami got a cautious look on her face and leaned back just a little worried. "...How...jealous?"

"Enough to kill for a glance," Nyanta said with cold bitterness, his ears going down.

"It's fortunate," Purrcy said lightly, "that Nyanta is the exact opposite and would rather kill Izanagi than have to bend to such a fate." She held his hand tightly. "That doesn't make it easy, of course, it just means he has the will to fight back until Izanagi can go away again. Izanagi, unfortunately, has no say or recourse in the matter, being a logical being like an AI is. With no counter emotion, having no emotions at all, it can only obey the flavor text. If there was no Nyanta to be the Priest, I would already be locked away in the shrine and unable to help Shiroe, and the world likely lacking a few male Adventurers, since it can do that - erase them. Log Horizon has been very brave, really, and I'm very appreciative."

"And why are you the Priestess, then? Couldn't you just have said no?"

Purrcy turned away, her head, ears, and whiskers all going down, hiding from the room. Minori was quickly to her and holding Purrcy's head to her. Isuzu and Akatsuki moved to standing behind her to put hands on her shoulders. Tetorō stood near her as well, his arms folded. Looking into Kanami's eyes, he said with quiet fierceness, "She was given no choice. They took her the same as we were taken from Earth and they will not relent and let her go."

Shiroe shifted to sit up and take the focus of the room. "We aren't really doing all of this for the Adventurers of Theldesia, Kanami, though that will be an end result. We really are being very selfish in all of this." He looked up at her and pushed up his glasses. "...We, of Log Horizon, are doing this for Purrcy. We want them to let her go, and we will go up against them until they do."

Kanami's expression was one of surprise, then closed down hard into a scowl and her hand closed in a fist. "Shiroe...you do it. Go get 'em, and get her freed. That just isn't right. Maybe we all wanted to play _Elder Tales_ , and maybe some have learned that real life really is better in the end, but to take someone and make them a body to use and abuse for their own whims...," her fists slammed into each other sending a minor shockwave through the train car, "...that just ain't right!"

"No," Shiroe agreed quietly, "it isn't."

Crusty leaned forward and put his chin on his fist, watching them. "So, ...you're willing to walk into that same fate, just to learn you can't get her out of it?" All the eyes went to him. He shrugged. "It happens all the time on Earth, you know. Born to a position and there's nothing you can do about it but live it anyway, getting little snippets of time here and there to do something that maybe might show you you're a living being...maybe."

"Is it that way when you weren't born to it, Crusty?" Shiroe asked quietly. "When you've lived half a life then all of a sudden are something you never were before and aren't allowed to be anything else?"

Crusty's eyes fell and his brow furrowed as he considered it. He finally sighed. "Probably not," he looked back up into Shiroe's eyes, "but it happens to women that way a lot more than men." He nodded his head towards Nyanta. "Didn't he do it to her, too? Make her life completely different by forcing a contractual marriage to keep her, even if it was agreeable to the accomplishment of the required goals? What woman in the modern era really does that willingly? Listen outside their bedroom doors when their high class husbands are out on business and you will hear tears."

His eyes got distant. "At home...they would rather take a knife to their wrists and even that is denied to them." His eyes slowly slid back to the present and Shiroe. "Yes, it's wrong. It kills a person slowly. ...But it isn't strange at all, even to us." He leaned back, pushed up his glasses and folded his arms. "If you want to save one woman out of many because she will give you what you want, fine. Consider carefully if walking through the same despair and darkness she is already walking in is really the path you want to take to remove her from it. You may not come out winning in the end. It isn't guaranteed." He refused to look back up after that.

Shiroe's face was going rather dark, but Purrcy's hand shot out and grasped his arm. "Shiroe," she said a little desperately. She tugged on him until he looked at her. "Shiroe. He isn't wrong. ...Take one breath. You know he's not wrong. You have considered your path carefully. You still have time to consider it one more time...and even then, one more time and likely others as well. We are not there yet. Please...he is your advisor in this on purpose. You know it and you know why." Her eyes searched his until he finally dropped them and turned away again.

Shiroe took a deep breath and let it out and sat in quiet thought for a while. Finally he said, "I'll think properly about it one more time. I have enough time for that before we arrive." His eyes came up and met Purrcy's again. "But you can't leave me."

Purrcy looked back at him soberly, then nodded. "I won't."

Shiroe stood. "Nyanta, will you head the discussion on what we did in Shangtzi?"

"Certainly, Shiroe-ichi," Nyanta answered back calmly.

Purrcy rose and followed Shiroe out of the car and to his personal cabin. He sat in one of the chairs and Purrcy in the other and they looked out the window at the passing terrain as Shiroe put his mind to his path and plan one more time.

-:-:-:-:-

"Why?" Kanami's head was tipped sideways. "I mean, that was a mean thing for Crusty-kun to say, but... Why does he need to have her with him to think about it?"

People looked at each other, except Nyanta who sat calmly not really looking at anyone, until Naotsugu sighed. "Because in thinking things like this, she is his pillar of stone. She neither condemns nor complains. She doesn't choose for him, though she will warn and caution and answer questions. She can see the same pathways and pitfalls he does. He's brighter than she is, but she is nearly his equal and he can trust her." Naotsugu looked sad. "I am his pillow more than stone. He can rest when he's with me, but he's too sad when he looks at me because he doesn't want to make me do terribly hard things either. She already has to do them, even if he's the cause of a lot of them. She has to do not only what the AIs want her to do, but they've told her she has to do what he tells her to do. So when he sits with her, he's reminded that the path he picks - every little piece of it - will affect her in a way it won't affect the rest of us who could at any time give up and walk away."

Naotsugu shook his head and looked at Crusty. "Crusty may be harsh, but what she was saying is that he's taking her place for a while. She has to go away again, like she is always taken away after a level is completed, but the next level will be going on without her. Shiroe will still need that pillar of stone to keep him on the straight path - to make sure he's still thinking right and isn't falling off one way or the other...or we'll all go down."

Crusty took a breath and looked up at Naotsugu. "I'd gathered that last part early. You're saying she wants me in that spot to be the substitute op?"

"Yes." Pretty much all of Log Horizon nodded. "You won't be the same because she is Hahaue, too, and we all need that just as much sometimes, but you'll keep him walking forward like she would."

Crusty looked at the small guild in front of him. "And she cares, why?"

"Because she is the Caretaker, Hahaue, the mother of us all, and she loves us like we love her." Minori said, her eyes tearing a little. Touya stood near his sister and nodded.

Tetorō tossed his head and said a little flippantly, "Not to mention she's like our Kanami. She's going into the thick of the battle first, no punches held back, fighting as hard as she can and encouraging us as we fight for ourselves and for each other. She isn't in this to fail and none of the rest of us are either. The crack she puts in heaven's dome will be heard the world over."

Crusty's eyes widened. "She's still fighting?"

"Damn straight," Michael's voice came from the side, firm and sure. His face was also set with determination. "I don't partner up with losers and wimps. You've heard the stories of Minami now. There is no difference to how she'll face every fight brought to her. We're here to see to that, too. We are her supports just as much as Shiroe's. We're not going to let her give up and she's not going to let us give up. ...Until we've won what we're on this quest to win we're not done."

"And is your quest to get her freed, too?"

Michael shrugged, "That'd be a nice side effect. No. I and my men are here for the other nice-to-have of Shiroe's. We're here to see the bastard that brought us here gets the point we're mad and want to go home...and to repeat that message until it gets the picture and sends us home."

Kanami frowned. "Not the door?"

"Not really," Michael said. "Shiroe's doing that for you and him. Purrcy's not going home, even if we free her. Between the three of us we keep it all pretty balanced."

"She's ...what?" There was complete disbelief from the non-Log Horizon people in the room.

"Nyot going home," Nyanta repeated it calmly. "She's one of the ones that this is a wonderful place to be, minus the irritating proto-gods. Freed, she will be completely happy here, meow. That's why it's part of her goal to also get rid of them, and why she's angry with them. They took her happiness from her, her ability to fully enjoy this world, though she still does enjoy it when they leave her alone to let her." His ear twitched in irritation. "I have come to understand that to a very deep degree. I would go home if I would live, but to live here this way...it is unbearable."

"So, why did you say yes?" Kanami was really quite confused now.

Nyanta's lips and whiskers on one side twitched. "Because I want to see that beautiful vista."

Kanami stared at him, then dropped to one elbow on the table, her chin in her hand. "Oh, Nyanta...you've finally been really caught, haven't you? ...You always were a softy when it came to beauty you'd had to work hard to get to. I'd swear you were the hardest to peel away from those views, too. You could have become a philosopher and written poetry at any number of them for months on end." She tipped her head at him. "How long will you sit and stare at this vista, once Shiroe's led us all to it?"

Nyanta blinked a slow blink. "Forever."

Kanami looked at him, then laughed. "I don't think you can sit still that long, Chief."

Nyanta got a sly look. "I won't have to ...and I'll still get to look at the vista I want to be looking at the whole time, even as it changes and is new every time."

Kanami looked at Nyanta fondly. "You've found the new porch to sit on, haven't you, then?" She sat back and looked at him with a smile on her face. "I'm glad, Nyanta. I'm happy to see you happy."

KR groaned from his corner. "Really, do we have to get so sappy? Can we go back to stories and boring political lessons instead?"

As a fight started up at his words, Kanami laughed and laughed until she cried and couldn't breathe. Kazuo had to pound her on the back to get her to hiccup back to gasping for air and calmed down. As she wiped the tears from her face, she waved at the generals doing the teaching. "Yes, yes, do go on. It's best to hear the rest of it." She giggled and hiccuped again, until finally she sighed and they could do just that and got on with it.


	110. China Maze of Eternity: Level 1

Kanami wiped her brow. "Well. That was fun. Are we there yet?" She sank down against a tall rock and pulled out a water canteen and swallowed down several gulps. She looked around and took stock of her own responsibilities. She was most worried about Crusty, really. They hadn't reached the dungeon itself yet. If he died, they'd have to send the train back to Shangtzi for him. She was relieved to see he was still doing fairly well - only down about twenty percent of his hit points. Erius was also doing well, only needing one potion late in the battle and only down about five percent now. Leonardo was already healing with just sitting down, like she was, and was - as usual - fussing over Coppelia. Well...it wasn't really fussing. It was sitting near her and keeping an eye on her, but for Leonardo that was fussing.

Kanami leaned her head against the wall and watched Coppelia, too. She wasn't sure exactly what Shiroe's Purrcy had said to Coppelia, but since that day on the Ocypete when she'd received a brief chat asking if it would be okay for Coppelia to accept a quest from her if Shiroe said it was a reasonable one, she'd been different. Coppelia was always quiet, respectful, and seemingly introspective. She could get irritable, particularly against difficult enemies that stubbornly refused to die. That only helped her work harder, though, so it was okay. She'd showed up on the train to ask one question, but really had been quietly thinking this whole journey since that day on the Ocypete. Somehow...she was stronger and more at peace, even if at the same time almost confused, struggling with a thing she perhaps hadn't considered before. Kanami rose to her feet and walked over to sit next to Coppelia. "Miss Kanami," Coppelia greeted her.

Kanami leaned back on her hands and looked at the sky. "Coppelia...is it such a difficult thing? ...An infant must learn to control the muscles of the hand and the leg before they can even roll over. That must be learned to learn to push up. That is followed by rising to their knees and rocking back and forth before they crawl. Crawling must come before pulling up and walking unsteadily. The practice of walking makes it an activity we do without thinking about and leads to running, jumping, and all other physical activities we do." Kanami leaned forward and rested on her knees, looking at Coppelia with a smile. "Is it so different to learn how to be?"

Coppelia put a hand to her breast, over her heart. "A heart beats here. Never a thought crossed this mind before then. ...To open my eyes and see - a thing never before conceived of...it was many days before I could comprehend. Because a kind woman of the land found me and fed me as if I were that infant, I learned what it was to be aware, move, and eventually walk, talk, and exist." She took a breath and almost sighed it out. "I have been taught a new thing again and constantly I am sent back to that one lesson as I go back and consider my progress since that first breath I'd never needed to take before. ...I am grateful." Kanami stared at her with wide eyes. Coppelia's eyes rose to look into hers. "And I am grateful that you have also cared for me. ...Thank you."

Kanami's eyes filled with tears and she dashed them away as she smiled and gripped Coppelia's arm gently. "You are very welcome, Coppelia." Coppelia's lips curved in an unfamiliar expression and the awkward smile was the most beautiful thing Kanami had seen in a long time.*

"Thank you, everyone, for your hard work. It looks like this is the place." Shiroe's voice came to the army scattered around the mountainside. "I'm not sure we want to open the door until we've recovered. We'll likely be fighting constantly through the entire first level once we've made it inside, so take your time to rest up. If we could have the party leaders, please?"

Kanami stood up. "I guess that means me. We probably have more meetings than a corporation does. I think I'll start calling it the Board Room." She was more talking to herself now as she'd already walked away from her companions, her hands behind her head. Her eyes took in the state of all the Adventurers she passed. The numbers of Overwritten and enemies had been a fairly typical number for the China server, and not too terrible. It had taken the legion and a half about twenty minutes to clean them out of the area, a lot better than the upwards of an hour or two it would have taken Kanami's group by themselves.

She'd had to reassure them all before they even began it was like that, too, though Crusty had said it himself. There'd been enough that they'd just split into the parties of six (or five in her case) and taken on individual monsters until they were gone. It was a good warm-up. Shiroe had used it as his practice to keep everyone on his monitor all at the same time, even though it was half-again what he'd be doing once they got inside.

When they were all gathered, Shiroe got the attention. Everyone wanted to know what his final analysis was. He pushed up his glasses to see better and cleared his throat. "Okay. As a maximum limit, that's pushing it. I'll have work to do to get stronger. As it is I had to sit that one out as far as being a magical assist. I managed to get off the critical spells that were necessary from me, but I would lose two seconds off my count and have to catch back up. That's not going to be acceptable farther in. I'll work on it for the first level of the dungeon and see if I can get that fixed by the end of it. With only a full raid going in, I should be able to work up my timing to add four or five seconds and that should make up for it later." Kanami shook her head. He was already almost fifteen seconds or more ahead from the last she'd fought with him. It was rather insane how much of a computer he already was.

"I've talked to Izanami and gotten my first concession. We're going to treat the first level of the dungeon as the training level it is. That means I need to ask for a few parties to be rearranged a little. Kanami's party and one of the parties of the Eagles both have one open slot. I'm going to pull Akatsuki out to be my dedicated guard and we'll stand out to the side. That will make the Log Horizon party number six, as well as each of those two since we'll be counted as the final party members for those two. That fills up one of the full raid sets, including the extra rotation. Nakalnad, as discussed already, you'll handle your rotations for your full raid set and Brody and Kazuo their joint full raid set. Isaac, I'd like to ask a favor." He looked over and got a nod. "Will you open up two slots in whichever of your parties has the best trainer from D.D.D. and the most patient mix?" Isaac's eyes narrowed and so did Kanami's. Shiroe plowed on mildly. "We've been training Purrcy to sword and rapier and the training level is the best one for her to get practice on raid battles. I'd like to have you add her and KR to that group. They need to learn to fight together and get used to working in with the legion."

Nakalnad scowled. "How's that going to help? I thought you were having her and Nyanta sit out to keep the total enemy HP down?"

"That's the concession I got," Shiroe said, blinking at him. "No increases as long as we're cutting down into the maze to catch up to the front of the Overwritten forces. When it's just normal dungeon, that concession may slack off, unless we've taken too long for Inari. When Nyanta goes in, he sticks to his usual rapiers and Purrcy will be sword or rapier, variable since she needs to work on both of them, unless we're using her for magic instead. I've reserved her for the final bosses of every level, the same as Tetorō and Michael. To get the concession, as long as our speed is looking good, I'll hold off on using the big pseudocode spells. Finding the right balance is what's important to keeping them both happy, so that's where we're at for this first round. I'm actually going to have Nyanta sit this level out and work with Chef Hiroki on setting up camp so when we come out wiped we've got something comfortable to come home to. He'll rotate in after that." He looked around the group. "Any complaints?"

No one did. "Have you gotten the approval for the internal rotations yet?" Isaac asked.

Shiroe hesitated. "No. I don't expect us to need them for this level. I'm thinking it's going to be better to ask for each successive concession as we end each level - similar to asking for a drop each time. That's how I handled this one...sort of." Hands waved at him. If he was having to deal with the Game AI, he was the one who knew how to handle it. They'd trust him on it.

Kanami found it rather interesting they'd just rather he did, though after hearing the stories about what happened on the trip over from Yamato, she wasn't all that surprised they'd turned that over to him, too. She raised her hand. "Does that mean you want my party to go down the whole way without rotating out?"

"No. I'll do that with the Eagles. They're used to this kind of fighting, too. When you need to rotate out, Akatsuki will go with you and I'll stand where I need to so the Log Horizon group can watch over me properly."

"Okay," Kanami nodded satisfied. With her party more Person of the Land-like than most, they'd need the rotations out. The rotations for this level would be a full rotation out, meaning they'd leave the dungeon proper for the respawn point and their replacements would go in from there and catch up. For the internal rotations Shiroe was hoping to get, they'd only be one room back and there wouldn't be the lag that was going to get worse the farther in they went.

Shiroe rubbed his head and sighed. "The one thing she won't tell me is what it's going to look like inside. I don't know whether they're respawning the same as we would at the resurrection point, if they'll come pouring out as soon as we open the door, or if they've Overwritten the usual monsters that spawn. I'm even only guessing we can get in at all if they're in there as a legion raid to conquer the dungeon. I think that's a solid guess that we can, or they wouldn't have sent us here in the first place." That was wry and they all had to agree. To send them here if they couldn't even get in would have defeated the purpose from the beginning. "So, that means setting up before we open the door, then sending in the scouts if we aren't jumped right away."

"Please remind your fighters that once we're inside they should only purify things that are overwritten. If _everything_ is overwritten...we may have to start intending that only the overwriting gets purified. Ahh...I did get the agreement that every room we clear counts. Once we're done with the final Overwritten we won't have to start over. Izanagi was testy with me for even suggesting he'd waste his time waiting for us to start all over again." _That_ was a relief. Even if it wasn't as hard the second time around, it could still be bad. "They'll enforce it, too, and not allow any Overwritten to come in behind us." That was an even bigger relief and everyone slumped a little to hear it. They'd completely lose the ability to rotate out if things could come back up behind them...not to mention it would rather defeat the purpose of cleaning out the Overwritten from the dungeon. "So...I think that's it."

-:-:-:-:-

Four hours later Kanami's group flopped down on the ground, having come out for their rotation out. She'd told Crusty to just let himself get taken out just before their time was up. He'd suicided taking down five at once. It wasn't hard to get surrounded by five at once. Kanami ran through the map of the first level in her head. "Not quite half-way through."

"That's rather fast, nyan," Nyanta held a drink over Kanami's head.

"Thanks, Chief." She took the drink. It was refreshing and she could feel herself reviving as she drank it. Nyanta handed her food as well. She made sure he was passing the drink on to her other companions, which he was - both the food and the drink.

"It's still rather non-stop," Leonardo said, holding his cup between his knees, feet crossed at the ankle. "Did you guys press through this fast in the first one?"

Akatsuki shook her head. Nyanta put a hand on his rapier as he considered it. "It took us three weeks to get through the dungeon with the combination of Nakalnad's expurrience and Shiroe-ichi's intelligence, but each room in the first level only had at most three enemies per Adventurer and one intermediate per six-member party by the time we reached the point mew're at."

"That's all?" Kanami was astounded. "I haven't seen any group that small...in ages!"

"Mm, well, it was a simple dungeon without Overwritten," Nyanta said with a little shrug, "though a legion one. The first level is meant to challenge and satisfy so the casual legion will return home when it's over." He walked over to hand Crusty a drink and food as well, though he wouldn't need the healing. "Will there be a break at the half-way point, Capityan?"

Crusty sighed. "Afraid not. When we tried pulling back at the last room, waiting before going in, they bled out. At five to seven per person in rooms not meant for that many, when the pressure lets up on the door, they come, and those let the others know we're present. We've used that against them, pulling the higher level ones farther apart." He sighed a deep breath. "Nakalnad has posed the question as to just how many are original monsters overwritten as they were spawned and how many have come with the ones who are walking the Maze. As for myself, I really have to wonder just how many Overwritten Navigators can really exist?"

"Indeed," Nyanta said. "A plague of constructs. Yet, did they exist upon the face of this world before we Adventurers arrived? The People of the Land have complained about the demihumans, but have we heard complaints and concerns about the Overwritten?" He stood and looked at Crusty for a moment, who didn't have an answer, then walked away to give drinks and food to the next party rotating out. Kanami mulled on Nyanta's questions for some time after that.

-:-:-:-:-

 _Lower left to upper right, around the opposite to form an 'x', block upper right, block lower left, thrust. Again._ Purrcy's group was walking out for their rest and recovery set, but she was still attacking in her mind.

"You could relax a little, you know," KR said, walking by her side with his hands behind his head. "You're so stiff when you fight, as if you're a machine like Shiroe."

Purrcy's ear twitched. "They don't fight back the same way, so I've been drilling my forms."

"Still, you could lighten up and have a little more fun with it," he complained at her.

She raised eyebrow whiskers at him, then looked around the dungeon respawn point they were arriving at. Her eyes found Nyanta rather quickly, but he was busy passing out lunch to another Adventurer group. "Don't you think it would be better for her to relent and go with the flow, Sensei?" KR complained to the D.D.D. trainer of their group.

He smiled slightly. "It's a lot to take in all at the same time the first time around. You're keeping track of it all fairly well, really, Miss Purrcy," he praised her slightly.

"Thank you," she answered back. They all dropped to the ground, sighing in relief for the hour of rest they would be getting now. "I'm really glad I'm not doing that on Earth, though," Purrcy murmured. "I already would have had my arms fall off my body and my back would ache so bad I wouldn't be able to move. I think my Strength status has gone up by about fifteen points just from the last four and a half hours. Endurance has to have moved, too." She closed her eyes and sighed - but then most of them were doing that.

"Thank mew for all meowr hard work, everyone," Nyanta's kindly polite voice said as he reached them.

"Thanks," they all said to his gratitude and the food and healing drink he brought to them. Once they had food in them, the trainer went through the final training bits he wanted to cover for KR and Purrcy (mostly Purrcy). Nyanta listened to that report until he was required to help the next party coming out for rotation. When it was done, they all lay down to rest. When the five minute call to get ready to return came, Purrcy rose and walked to Nyanta. When she returned, she had a set of lower level rapiers strapped to her waist.

The D.D.D. trainer nodded and they all got going back into the fray. KR hoped Purrcy would at least appear more graceful this time, even if she stayed mechanical. He wondered if it would be Speed and Agility that went up this time. It was kind of nice to know that like on Earth, if they put in effort, they would get out reward. To have the stats stay static forever would make it not all that worth it after a while. He wondered if that would make the levels reach a maximum cap for each person at that point, if static stats were how it worked. And that made him wonder just how high they could actually go since they weren't.

-:-:-:-:-

They reached the final boss room at eight and a half hours into the dungeon. At the half-way point, Shiroe had given in and told the Eagles to start by swarming the room and blasting the small fry in large group purification spells the Eagles liked to call grenades. That narrowed down opponents nicely and often shaved HP off the bigger enemies as well. It could only be used once per room per Eagle that had it, but at the first was best. Otherwise there wasn't hardly room for the rest of the Adventurers to get in.

As they got down to the last three big enemies in the room before the level one boss, Shiroe started sending Eagles out on shifts to get rested up. When they got to the last enemy, Shiroe had Tetorō put a magic door over the exit doorway that led to the boss room. When that last enemy went down, Crusty called for an all-hands rest on the floor. The generals consulted on the strategy...and the wisdom of continuing or not. In the end they decided to finish it out after a full hour rest for everyone to recover and Crusty was KOed to get his own recovery in so they could all walk into the room refreshed.

While they recovered, KR sent in a Summon to hide in a corner and get a monster count. At the news, Shiroe pursed his lips, then went and talked to his party. Minori rose to her feet, bowed, and trotted away. Shiroe returned to his place with the other generals who were waiting for Crusty to arrive. When he got there, they settled down to conference on the battle plan, then called everyone up to prepare to enter the room.

"Hackers and Programmers, up first!" Michael called. "Purrcy, you're included for this one, but just for creation of one spell." They conferenced and took five minutes. Michael turned to the rest of the generals. "Okay. We're good to go."

"Right then," Crusty said. "Let's go." The barrier on the door into the boss room was removed and the forward parties swarmed into the room and arranged themselves around the room. The Hackers in each party were protected by shielding spells and the minor enemies kept at bay by the tanks for five turns. That was enough time for the entire legion to get into place. As one, six wide-area spells went off that took down all the small fry and dropped the intermediates by almost half. Two of the three main legion level bosses dropped by a quarter, and the close-in fighters went into action, slashing and sending magic attacks against the intermediates, dodging attacks as Shiroe called them.

"Purrcy and Rudy, switch out parties," Isaac called out. As soon as they'd traded places, Log Horizon's party drove into the center of the room towards the main boss. It was an Overwritten Monk class and the magic attack had done very little damage against it, as had the sample magic attacks from the party initially assigned against it. Two other parties that had Swashbucklers in them also were called to head for that boss, labeled as a Corrupt Monk. With four Swashbucklers dealing status effects and whittling down the boss' HP, they started to get into the massive attacks such bosses tended to deal out.

"Get out of range - twenty meters!" Crusty called out loudly. It wasn't just those four parties that had to run. Slower speed Adventurers got caught by a high-speed Monk attack that looked like a ranged magic attack it moved so fast.

"It targeted the positions of the Swashbucklers, starting with highest damage done first and worked its way down," Shiroe sent the report back. "It wasn't picky who it hit, though."

"Even though we were mostly on top of it?" one of them asked.

"Yes. It was targeting the last position you left from before the attack it calculated for."

"Right, then," Crusty said from his position (though Reed was saying it for him on the chat line), "step out from the tanks ten feet before attacking. I'd like one set to experiment and see if that's far enough out to leave the tanks in place. Let's have it not be Log Horizon since they've got two."

"Can I try reinforcing the rapiers?" Purrcy asked. "Increase damage for everyone?"

"I wouldn't mind seeing him come down faster," Crusty said. "Shiroe?"

There was quiet as Shiroe calculated. "Keep total cost below three percent HP."

"Yessir," Purrcy answered as they went back in again to the attack. Her attention to her attacks dropped slightly, but she managed to not be pounded into the ground. She called to all the other Swashbucklers and they met just behind the head of the Corrupt Monk. Two seconds for the spell casting time and four sets of rapiers glowed, then did damage on the way back down their respective quarters, starting at the base of the neck to take it down a fifth of its total HP. They whirlwinded back.

"Duck under your shields!" Crusty called. "Massive pounding coming!" The swashbucklers turned back and slid under and behind their tanks who raised their shields and cast their high defense spells.

"Hackers, shields over and under the Swashbuckler parties!" Michael called out as the healers and others in those parties also crowded close in. The pounding attacks that followed pushed the four parties two feet into the ground, but the double shields withstood the attack.

"Wish magic affected it," Rudy complained as he took out another small respawn that appeared now that the major attack by the boss had gone off. "Hitting mice in the barrel is so unglamorous when there's a boss to take down right here."

"Keeping the little things off the rest of us is important to that, too, though, Rudy," Naotsugu said calmly as Tetorō cast a group heal on everyone since they were all together at the moment, and even he needed an HP up being the one who'd shielded his party.

"Gah! Inner parties stay put under your shields. Everyone else, run. Intermediate magic area effect." Crusty called out.

"Magic attack?!" Tetorō cried. "The shields are only for...ohhh, that's nice. I didn't know you could add on to previous spells like that." Blue lines had zoomed out to the next adjoining parties and then back to the one on the opposite side from Log Horizon so they were all joined in a diamond formation. The magic attack went off in rings of reds coming from all the intermediates that ranged far enough to hit the party shields the Hackers had set up over the Swashbuckler parties. The red went around those shields though, as if they were boulders in the water.

"One more attack from the Swashbucklers and it will be done with the cool-down on the first area ranged attack," Shiroe called out. The Swashbucklers went back into action and the parties on the intermediate's rolled back in as well. The tanks and other party members moved back out of range of that attack except one set to see if the distance move of the Swashbuckler would prevent the Monk from hitting the rest of them.

"Here it comes!" The Swashbucklers moved out of range and the attacks landed nicely where they wanted them to. Everyone moved back in, since moving out put them into range of the two other main bosses.

Four turns later, Shiroe called. "We're in a bind. We're just about ready for the second Hacker attack, but it comes right at the same time as we need the Hacker shielding on the Swashbucklers. The HP drain's going to pull them down farther than the margin we want to keep."

"Even with it being a repeat spell?" Michael asked in the middle of his attack. "Should just be an MP pull for both of them."

"Right." Shiroe recalculated and ordered four of the Hackers to drink MP potions or get MP healing immediately. "Okay. Shields first. Then there will be time to get off the HP drain."

"Next time make it a real drain and transference," Purrcy said mildly. "Here's the code for that. Add it every time you're doing a mid-battle reduction. Don't do it this time or you're just as likely to kill your allies. Study it first when we're done here."

"You could have said earlier," Michael complained. Purrcy ignored him.

"Now," Shiroe's order came and the Swashbuckler parties grouped again and the tanks and Hackers recast the shields. The Hackers recast the spell from the beginning. The intermediates dropped from half to dead in the case of three, almost dead for three more. The two bosses that magic affected dropped to one-quarter, while the Monk remained at about half. Before the remaining intermediates could cast their wide area magic attack, they were dead as well and the parties on them moved against the two bosses affected by magic.

"Back off those two," Crusty called out. "Final area attack coming. Will the shields on the middle groups hold a double attack?"

Purrcy and Michael studied them. Purrcy threw in the magic assist again. "We should be good," Michael said just as the Corrupt Monk moved. The four parties were two feet deep again when the other two bosses let loose a barrage of lightning that hit the entire room.

"Random strike," Shiroe said calmly. They lost about a party and a half-worth. "High level of damage. I highly recommend taking them down as fast as possible." He didn't have to ask twice.

Two passes of the Swashbucklers against the Corrupt Monk and it passed the half-way point of losing HP. "Umm...no idea, but here it comes," Crusty said. The party leads called out orders and each party did something slightly different to defend. The Corrupt Monk disappeared in one of the fast Monk moves and reappeared on top of the Log Horizon party and let loose a barrage of attacks. Everyone defended as best they could, but they'd dropped pretty dramatically by the time the Corrupt Monk let up.

"Obviously an attack against the highest level of damage in summary. Back off the damage a bit, Nyanta."

"How about I make us all equal with another buff?" Purrcy asked. "It might spread out the damage of that attack, then."

"Can you keep tabs on their sums, Shiroe?" Crusty asked.

"Sure. It would be nice if any of the other healers in the room could handle getting those parties back up in HP. Their own healers are getting low on MP already for an attack like that one."

Three volunteered. "Purrcy, use your MP drain on the two other bosses to pull their power down to feed Tetorō and the other healers of the Swashbucklers," Shiroe requested. It took a while, but eventually the MP shifted the way he wanted. She had two spells she was working on. As soon as Tetorō was back up on MP, he cast Aura Healing on his group to get them back up from the massive attack, and Purrcy's double spell casting.

"I've got the buff ready," Purrcy said when that spell was done.

"Go," Crusty said and they were meeting above the Corrupt Monk again. They almost didn't get away this time, though. It was moving faster now that it was less than half HP. A few slices at the hands and Nyanta taking the eyes while the hands were busy as Purrcy slid down it's back slicing the whole way as if snow skiing and the damage done this time was rather impressive. They turned around and attacked again and again, doggedly trying to get enough damage done to take it down.

"Rudy, target the boss on your left. Highest level barrage you can give. Minori, Maestro Echo," Shiroe ordered. They complied and that boss went down. "Can we get all close-in fighters from that one on the Corrupt Monk, please? It's been debuffed enough everyone should get decent effects on it. Magic users over to the other boss and it should go down fairly quickly, now. Tanks evenly split." Five minutes later the second boss went down and only the Corrupt Monk was left. They reformed their parties around it.

"Non-Swashbuckler parties stand back five feet from them in a secondary ring," Crusty said. "I think that will put you outside the pound attack area effect. We haven't got enough people left to defend you all.

The Corrupt Monk hit the twenty percent mark...and slimmed up and added two more arms. "Increased speed and attack power," Shiroe said after only two minor attacks from it. Three attacks from the Swashbucklers and he added, "...and increased defense from status debuffs."

"Purrmission to pull out the brothers for one attack round," Nyanta said.

"...May as well," Crusty said. "It would be interesting to see what effect that has, at least."

It was moving fast enough now that the already worn down Adventurers were falling to it now. They lost three Assassins in the time it took Nyanta to get back to attacking and when he was done a fellow Swashbuckler went down.

"Parties that have lost their close-in fighters, please sacrifice your healers to get the other three Swashbucklers up as high as you can in HP and their healers up in MP. Those parties can then do what they can or step back. It might not be good for you to be that close in on the next area attack."

"Agreed," Crusty said. "Heal them up and pull back. The next area attack should come after you're done." There was a quiet, "I hope," that Reed didn't pass along.

... "Ahhh, here it comes!" one called out as there was a sudden movement and the boss was gone then appearing for a brief moment to attack, then gone again. It flitted all over the room and a number of tanks were squashed into the ground, not just attackers. It ended up over the top of Log Horizon and a massive kick was coming down towards them. Tetorō threw up a shield and Naotsugu held up his own shield over his head, bracing for the attack with no time to cast his Castle of Stone.

As the massive heel came down on those shields two hands arrived and grabbed the ankle of the Corrupt Monk and turned it and pulled it down into a slam on the ground. That was followed by a flurry of Monk attacks from two fronts as Kanami and Michael both helped defend Log Horizon. Nyanta wasn't far behind, now that the Corrupt Monk was on the ground. Pinned by three major players, it couldn't rise easily and the rest of them moved in quickly to help finish it off, not letting up or relenting until it was bubbles rising in the air.

"Really, why does high level always equate to massive size?" Kanami complained from her crouch as she wiped her brow.

"Because the normal sized monsters with that high a level are scary," Tetorō said with wide eyes. "If they're normal size, their highly intelligent, too."

Kanami blinked, then tipped her head. "You have a point there, Tetorō-kun. You have a point," she nodded, then dropped to sitting.

"Thanks, Kanami," Naotsugu said. "I would have been sad to have had my shield cracked. Thanks to you, too, Tetorō." They both nodded wearily.

Nyanta walked over to Purrcy. She was lying on her back. She handed up the rapiers to him. "Thank you for loaning them to me." Her arms dropped out to either side of her.

"No purroblem," he said, putting them away. He crouched down next to her.

"I wish there was a hot springs here," she said with a weary sigh. "After all that practice with the sword for the first half, then the speed this one, I think my shoulders aren't going to work for me again for a week." She grimaced and closed her eyes.

"Oh? Is that why the movements were so stiff, nyan?" Nyanta asked.

"Partially. KR says just generally I'm rather stiff. I have a theory and once I'm recovered, I'd like to run a test. ...But not now." She just breathed long breaths through her nose.

"Umm, hey Shiroe...why isn't there a drop?" Nakalnad's words got everyone's attention.

"Because the Overwritten overwrite the drop list of the monsters for as much as they need depending on how high a level they are," Shiroe said morosely. "Since the drop to open the hidden door was first on the list it didn't really matter how high a level of Overwritten they had, it erased it." As Nakalnad started to steam, Shiroe shook his head and looked over to Purrcy.

Nyanta nudged her and she turned her head to look, then shook her head. "Michael, go talk to the Vengeful Spirit Guardian on the door. See if he - she - it can tell you anything."

Michael hauled himself back up on his feet and headed for the wall that should have the door in it. Once he found the Spirit Guardian, he talked to it briefly, then came back. "He wants a Blood Apple. Anyone got one?" A Druid wearily lifted a hand, then dug around in his Dazenek's Magic Bag until he found it and held it out. Michael walked over and took it with thanks and walked back over to hand it to the Spirit Guardian.

"That's going to be a pain if we have to do this every time we go into a Maze of Eternity," Kanami frowned.

"Just the ones with Overwritten," Shiroe said. "That's another reason why it's good to take in as many locals as you can. You might be able to cover them. We got the drops, of course." He turned and looked at Michael. "Will we be able to prevent that if they aren't already in them? How close are we on that side?"

"I'll go up and get their report during the evening rest," Michael promised from where he'd collapsed against the wall by the now visible door. "I'm sure it would be a lot better to not have to worry about that in future dungeons, if at all possible." He grimaced in distaste. They all could feel it - that even then it was going to likely be a problem in the majority of them.

Purrcy raised her hand. "Izanami says she can make it be a random medium-high level item that exists on someone in the room. That way they'll at least not have to leave and go on a sub-quest just for that."

"That'd be useful," Kanami slumped in relief.

"Right, then," Crusty said firmly, "everyone back to the entry. We'll eat and sleep then come back and see what the next level holds." With little swirls of light everyone began to disappear, casting the spell to return to the entry. It was less energy than trying to walk the whole level back.

Minori and the sets who'd sat out that battle cheerfully walked around the worn out Adventurers and passed out food and drink, getting them all to at least sit up, though some collapsed immediately after anyway and were sound asleep in only a few minutes from finishing their dinner. Purrcy - being of the sort who was habituated to napping - was one of them. Surely having to be a fighter in a long battle instead of a magic user had something to do with it as well. Nyanta pet her gently. He'd only fought in that final battle, so sitting still for an hour or so was all he needed.

-:-:-:-:-

True to their word, Nakalnad and Isaac were sitting with Crusty. Motion caught their eyes and they watched as Michael, Reed, and Stiletto walked to stand in front of Shiroe. "Shiroe has surely gotten stronger if he can face down three guard dogs so calmly," Crusty said quietly, with only a slight lift of an eyebrow.

"Perhaps particularly those three," Isaac said softly, his eyes fixated on them.

"Who's the superior, Michael or Reed?" Crusty asked.

Isaac was quiet for a moment, then said, "Outside the sister guilds and they themselves, no one really knows. Some days it seems one and some days the other. Michael follows after Purrcy with Tetorō. Reed is rarely ever seen. It was a surprise to have him be assigned to you."

"It was reluctantly on Shiroe's part," Crusty admitted. "Of the three possibilities, he was chosen, however."

"Even having him be offered is likely significant," Isaac murmured.

Crusty shifted to lean back against the rock they were sitting by, putting his hands behind his head. "All of today it felt more like rather than having been given an assistant, I'd been given a watchdog to guard over me. Michael feels tamer."

"The quietest is sometimes the one with the deepest bite," Nakalnad commented, his eyes slipping to Shiroe briefly. He was listening to what seemed to be a report, his face as calm and his eyes as sharp as ever. "Do you think it has to do with the rebellion?" he asked Isaac.

"Why would it?" Crusty interjected quickly.

"Because the dark one is with them," Isaac said, still keeping his voice quiet. "He's the voice that Shiroe can't be, which means he also has all the information. When each of us has had to know the deeper things Shiroe can't tell, he's the one that shows up. He came and confirmed our guess about the final boss battle at the end of the world quest when we were meeting in private in Nakasu...even through my anti-spy level one-hundred equipment." Crusty blinked and his arms came down to be folded in front of him as he considered a little more closely. "They all guard like that," Isaac said, his head giving a brief gesture at them.

"Like they're guarding what's in the house as much as what's out of it," Crusty said in his own murmur. A finger tapped on his arm as he thought. "Naotsugu said I should ask you about the next level. He didn't have the time before the meeting. Why won't Shiroe and Akatsuki be marrying sooner than later?"

Isaac's eyes swung around to him, then he sighed and leaned to the side a bit, resting his arm on the rock next to him. His eyes went sadly back to Shiroe. "I pushed him, there in Nakasu. They wilted on the beach the night before we left for here, looking like the saddest bunch of people I've ever seen - desperate really." He blinked and was lost in his memory for a while. "I'd already been watching them, back in Akiba. Since Purrcy came he's been pushed. Since the sub-guild came...he's been watched, but protected. They don't let anything get in the way of his goal."

He twitched his nose and sighed. "I pushed him into promising me he'd call on me and the rest of us when they broke. ...And then was somewhat surprised when he admitted he was angry that he was having to break them all." His eyes went to Crusty's surprised ones. "This next level is a level of division and separation for Log Horizon and they'll not really have each other to lean on like they have in the past. For those two, it's 'don't touch'. I don't know what that means, only that his guard and strength isn't going to be able to stand next to him and neither one of them likes it. Purrcy will be gone, as I said. Likely for a time to heal you, then who knows?"

Isaac's eyes swept the area until they found Nyanta with the twins at the cooking area, the other two juniors not far away. "I think he'll have the four juniors, but he says they'll be under a lot of stress without a way to release it and we're to help with that. Marie will comfort them to the best of her ability, but we're to watch them as well. That means Shiroe will be too high level to pay close enough attention...and it's the second clue that Nyanta-san's likely going to be gone as well." His eyes locked to Crusty's again. "Have you seen it? How he can't keep his eyes off her, how he gets twitchy when he's away from her too long?" Crusty nodded. "He'll either be gone with her...or..."

All eyes went to the three with Shiroe again. "...It's a house of cats and a house of dogs trying to get along...and the person keeping them playing nice on the surface won't be around." Crusty guessed.

Nakalnad and Isaac both nodded. Isaac's lips turned up in a wry grimace. "I got to be at their place for some drama that got Nyanta-san kicked out of Akiba for three days on probation."

"Nyanta-san?!" Crusty was completely disbelieving.

"Yes, Nyanta-san," Isaac said calmly. "But that's later. At that time, Souji was dancing in his seat, getting his revenge against both Nyanta-san the woman hater and Shiroe the prude. It's become a reverse-harem and she's the core. Take her away and the two main alpha males will have it out. One or the other will have to go until she comes back."

Crusty looked back at the little group they were watching. "Cat versus dog - Nyanta-san versus Michael. ...And Log Horizon will back Nyanta-san and the fighters Michael?"

Isaac shook his head. "Not necessarily. Yes, those two, but as I said Nyanta-san was the one kicked out last time." He shifted to sitting up again to make his point. "It's the curse, you see. The flavor text for the priest that makes him super jealous for Purrcy. Even she can't control it when it get's going. He sexually molested her before the entire guild and guests that evening. She wouldn't press charges and he refused to admit it happened at all, so Shiroe asked for the probation and temporary banishment. If he does it again, it's permanent banishment, but not because of Nyanta-san - who wouldn't as you well know. It's to banish the World AI that can't control itself in her presence. We're more likely to see _that_ happen, and all of Log Horizon stand by the ruling no matter how much it hurts."

Crusty blinked and leaned back with a sigh. "Harsh."

Isaac nodded. "No kidding. If he doesn't go with her...well, we'll see it. And then there will be no one at the top but Naotsugu holding it all together."

"...Which is why they're giving him the full support of Marie before it sets in fully." Crusty concluded.

"Right."

"What a pain," Crusty growled.

"No doubt," Nakalnad said blandly. "I'm sure they'll expect you to call on me, too, though it may be hard to do much from where I'm at. I can't afford to leave Minami for long just to babysit."

Their eyes went to him. "I'm sure whatever you're called on to do will be both doable and essential," Isaac said.

Crusty nodded, his eyes back on the three warriors again. "Just do it, whatever it is."

"I know that," Nakalnad said, testy.

"...I wonder...if we're replacements. Even if Nyanta-san goes...it's likely they will eventually as well. If Nyanta-san's not by her side, they'll take her or go to her. If he is, they may not stay. It may be too much for them to continue to give Shiroe their loyalty without her to anchor it." The other two looked at Crusty with confused frowns. "See...they support him just as much as they guard him. You can tell by the set of their backs. ...That's what we've been told to do as well. That's my promise to him and the guild...and her, too."

Isaac looked back, then nodded. "Yeah. Mine, too."

"If you say so," Nakalnad said, but they knew he was as much a watchdog set on Shiroe as the rest of them. If it was taking those three to keep Shiroe strong, it would take the three of them if the Eagles disappeared.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe watched as Michael, Reed, and Stiletto walked up to him. He supposed there might have been a time when being approached by three Americans with that much inner power and surety would have made him cringe and cower in a corner. Today it was just routine, and something he was waiting on - expecting. Shiroe was sitting on a low rock that really was a rock with a large hole in it so that it's encircling 'arms' reached up and around to frame him, as if some odd throne, though he hadn't really picked it for that reason. It was just tall enough for his lanky frame to sit on comfortably. He'd been meditating on the battles of the day prior and wondering what the battles of this next one would hold, but not strenuously. It was too early to become worked up. Having all three of them come at once, particularly Stiletto with them, was telling. He set his mindset and gave a nod he was ready to hear the report.

"A Grand Dragon picked Charlie up outside of Nakasu and got him home in three days - nonstop flight."

Shiroe's lip twitched up and their expressions were similar. Inari had wanted that part done quickly. "Nice cheat," he said.

Michael gave a head tip. "He's had just enough time to figure out a theory he thinks is worth acting on. ...The communication beacon that's supposed to let the home world know to suck over the empathions is broken and they don't know it. They send out the signal, the gate seems to open, the empathions leave the storage tank, and the gate closes. Nothing is connected to the beacon, though. Nothing actually goes to or from it."

Shiroe frowned. "The empathions go where, then?"

"Nowhere. There's only enough empathions available to open the gate - visually. He thinks it doesn't actually open all the way to their homeworld."

Shiroe's lips pressed together. "If they're even harvesting at all, Inari's hoarding it and playing with them."

"Yup. That's the theory."

Shiroe nodded. "If empathions are the power they use, then Inari needed it to bring us here and needs it to send us home. Do we know where it's being stored?"

"No. Likely somewhere they can't sense it and go steal it. That data wouldn't be anywhere near them."

"Not likely. Once this is done have a few looking around all the time until we find it. We'll want it used to get us home, but we might want to be able to use it to come back, too."

Michael nodded. "The drones and robots can have their programs modified. The master hacker says we can use spells, but he about has the language cracked and translated from the source code level. The Harvesters are Trojan Horse viruses written by the Observers, who are robots - if you will - that are like the scientists on the other side of the computer screen. They write the code for the Harvesters, are observing us from the moon, ran a few experiments to see if they could get down here like they send the Harvesters, and monitor the drones and robots that transport the empathions and do the general maintenance on the moon base they built when they got here."

He shifted. "We probably don't want to take out the whole base. As you say, we may need it for our own harvesting for transport to and from for the two-way door. The master hacker's got the code ready to take down all the Trojan horses he can get to, but the ones already down here we'll have to deal with. They become autonomous once they're let loose. We've got a plan in place to take out the Navigators that we'll get started on when our report's done. When they're out of the picture, there won't be anyone left to write any more Harvesters into Overwritten and they'll be shut out of the monster database and the beta server by the master hacker's code. So...we can get that far. Getting rid of the Overwritten on Theldesia is going to have to remain a world quest, sadly. He's going to keep working on coming up with a program...and maybe a world level spell could be used eventually, but that's going to be rather massive, I would think, to take out every Overwritten on the planet with one spell."

Shiroe blinked, then nodded. "I've played around with that enough already. It would be better to get the Trees of Life healed first, killing all the Overwritten we can get to as part of that, and then do the minor clean-up with a world level spell that doesn't kill whomever casts it. It could be by region, too, once we have the top people in our communication chain."

"That sounds reasonable," Michael agreed. "That's the sum of their report. We'd like to take the evenings after recovery to craft the spells to do what needs to be done next and set them off as part of the fourth level of the maze. If you're planning in a rest once we've cleaned out the Overwritten, we can do final clean up up there before we finish up down here and have everyone available for the final battles in both places."

Shiroe sat quietly as his mind quickly placed the new information and request into his balanced plan. He gave a short nod. "That would be fine. If you think it's going to be touchy and need more time, try to have it done before we go into the fourth level. We can't lose the program that lets us open the door."

"Understood, Sir." All three went to attention and saluted. He gave another nod and they disappeared. Shiroe went back to his general contemplation, not really able to be happy or excited, but he was certainly more content that things were falling into place properly.

-:-:-:-:-

People were moving again, though no one was in a hurry to get back to fighting just yet. Purrcy woke up and stretched. She sat up and looked around to see Nyanta at the kitchen fires again, surrounded by Chef Hiroki, Minori, Touya, and a bevy of Eagles helping cut things up. It looked like Nyanta was teaching the Chef how to make his curry. It was starting to smell like it, too. Purrcy smiled. It seemed early, but they had defeated the first level. The Chinese meal when they'd come out had been delicious, like all meals after high levels of physical output that made one weary to the bone and very hungry.

Purrcy rose to her feet and looked around until she found Michael. She walked over to him and looked at him soberly. "Sir Michael, please spar with me."

He looked back at her, his face not saying anything. "Why?"

"Because I would like to know at what level I am in understanding the sword."

Michael considered her for a moment, then shook his head. "Training, come here," he requested.

Training jogged over from where he'd been sitting on rest and watch. "Yes, Sir?" he asked with a salute.

"Purrcy, he's one of my squires. Go against him." He handed her the sword she'd been using for practices at Maihama.

She took it and turned to Training. "Please fight me in a sparring battle. I'd like to know how far I've come today. Please stay at your full level so I can understand." She took the small buckler she'd been using from Michael as Training pulled out his sword and heater shield.

They stepped to a clear area away from people and Michael stood watch over them. When they were ready, he called, "Lay on!"

Training let Purrcy attack first, defending himself as she went through several attacks. The sword smacked loudly against the heater more times than it hit Training, and then it was usually fended off with the clang of sword on sword. Since they'd sparred before at Maihama he was also looking to see how far she'd come. When he though she was in the flow of battle again, he added in attacks and she moved to defend herself. Slowly he worked up until for every three attacks he made she was able to throw in one against him. Most of the time she got her blocks in, but more than once he got past her guard. He got in two good blows - one that took out her shield arm and another that took out her upper leg on that same side. Purrcy went down on her knee and yielded.

"You've improved, certainly in strength, but actual battle savvy is still lacking generally," Michael commented from the side.

Purrcy nodded. "I rather thought that would be the case. Fighting a real opponent is definitely very different."

"Purrcy! You're not supposed to bleed for a test!" Tetorō arrived to scold, being brought by both the sound and then the vision of who it was, and healed her back up.

"What?" she asked. "It was less than I received in the four and a half-hours I fought in there. It also makes one really want to find the right defense for next time." She gave a smile, stood back up and bowed to Training. "Thank you for the lesson."

He bowed back. "Any time." His sword and shield disappeared and Purrcy handed her loaned ones back to Michael. He shook his head. "Keep them. They're low level and I don't need them anymore. Hopefully you won't need them either, but just in case you may as well have them to call on."

Purrcy bowed to him. "Thank you very much." They disappeared into her list. "Though it's unlikely I'll use them. I do appreciate your efforts in my behalf." He gave her a nod and she walked off. Tetorō narrowed his eyes as she walked towards Nyanta and decided to trail after her.

"Nyanta, is there a Swashbuckler here you feel would be a sufficient sparring opponent for me to test how far I've come today?" she asked when she reached him and politely interrupted the cooking lesson.

Nyanta tipped an ear as he considered it, then pointed with his cooking utensil. "Ask the one from Nakalnad's group."

"I will. May I borrow the rapiers again briefly?" He handed them over. "Thank you," she bowed slightly and headed off that way. Tetorō stayed close.

That sparring practice went similarly. She was faster, and her defense was commensurately better, but the total length of time she lasted wasn't much better than for the sword and her inability to see several attacks that came in lost her enough HP to core wounds she was required to yield. She graciously thanked her opponent and Tetorō healed her back up again.

"You know," her D.D.D. trainer had shown up to watch this time, "it isn't all about form and function. It's also about the passion and delight in the sport and in the win."

Purrcy nodded. "And that is exactly what I was testing. Perhaps you could join me so Shiroe can receive your report as well?" Her trainer raised an eyebrow, but nodded. They walked over to Shiroe who raised an eyebrow at her as well. He'd watched her from his place, his attention also caught when he heard the combat. "If you would give him your summary first, please?" Purrcy asked.

The D.D.D. trainer told Shiroe that she'd learned fairly quickly how to listen for requests and orders within the party, as well as to ask for aid when needed, becoming a reasonable member of the party if not a smoothly integrated one by the end of the battles he'd watched over her in. "She lacks the grace and spontaneity of most long time fighters, however. Watching her actually fight is almost painful because it looks forced."

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. She nodded. "Really, that's the summary report I have for you. While it is possible for a magic user to learn to fight in hand-to-hand combat, so to speak, it isn't natural. Maybe with the many months of practice it would take any human to learn it, I might get there. My levels of the sub-skills have gone up fairly quickly using the natural methods of learning here, but the physical and mental requirements are lacking. ...And I think it's the mental ones that are the most important."

"I chose to be a magic-user Tracker because generally I'm not the kind of person who likes to fight. I'd rather sneak and use long-range attacks so I can delay and run. I haven't minded learning a new skill, but really, my heart's not in it and it feels...odd and as clunky and painful as it looks from the outside. If you just wanted my HP to level up, I'm sure I'd rather just find the few potions available to forcibly make it go up." She smiled. "Though, of course I'll do whatever you really want me to do."

Shiroe studied her stats for a while, then shook his head. "If you can fit in practicing, do so, but starting in the next level we'll be moving you back to Enchanter. The buffs are likely to be necessary and having you be able to make quick minor adjustments to defense will be helpful." He looked at the trainer. "Will that fit okay in your party, or should I move her?"

The trainer rubbed his chin. "There's a different feel for that in a party. She's got the basics, but there will be things to learn. I'll see if I can get a few trades to balance the party out again. After the first half of the day, she'll probably be ready to be in any party, since she'll be in her element. You want KR to stay in?"

"Please," Shiroe asked.

"Okay. Will do," the trainer walked away and hunted up a few people to talk to.

Shiroe looked at Purrcy. "Izanami, can I have my internal rotations so we can keep the levels open without full death and having to start over? I promise, no more than ninety-six in a battle room at one time, but we need to have the parties sitting out be closer as we get deeper into it or we'll be short-handed on the rotations."

"It's acceptable," Purrcy answered. Shiroe thanked her and turned away. Purrcy bowed to Shiroe and headed back for Nyanta to return the rapiers. He shook his head at her without looking up from his simmering pot.

"Thank you very much," she bowed and they were in her list. "And thank you for the training and your efforts."

"It would be good for mew to continue to regularly purractice," he said calmly.

"Yes, sir," she said softly. "May I help with the cooking?" Nyanta nodded and gave her a chore to do. Tetorō wandered off to tease Naotsugu and Akatsuki as she settled to it.

* * *

 _So, I was thinking about Coppelia - how a computer program all of a sudden finds itself really a living being. Sure, her *avatar* walked around, talked, and 'lived' in the computer realm of Elder Tails, but that doesn't mean that the awakened program had any idea what it was supposed to do in a breathing body that includes all the bodily functions we all take for granted once we pass the first two years of life. I think that Coppelia would have started as all infants - having to learn to even see properly, how to take the motions of sound waves hitting an ear drum and translate that into comprehensible language, how to shape her mouth and tongue to form sounds. Perhaps she would have learned it faster than an infant...and perhaps not. But she would definitely retain her memory of her original programming and be aware that she *isn't* supposed to *be* a living creature. Thus her long rejection she really was one. She would believe she'd been put into a body, but not that she was a "living" being._

 _Erius is different. He has the flavor text background of having grown up a child of the land with special powers that were trained to make him a Hero. So like all People of the Land, he has the background and is a living being from the beginning. The farm bots are unique - and the most similar to the Harvesters/Overwritten of the Navigators_ _-_ _though they each came with an avatar from the beginning of the cataclysm._


	111. China Maze of Eternity: Level 2

When the final parties pulled out to rest half-way through the second level, Shiroe went with them and Crusty handled both sides. He'd sat out the turn before. Kanami whined at him just a bit, "Shiroe, why is every room like a legion raid all by itself? Isn't this just the second level of four?"

"Yes, it is," he answered somberly. "In the next level each room is a double legion raid and in the fourth level every monster is legion level and there are multiples of them."

Kanami's group stared at him with silent wide eyes - minus Akatsuki who was already sleeping on the ground, being used to this dungeon already. "Is that why you wanted the rotations and more than ninety-six?"

"Yes. To get through the Maze of Eternity, as I said before, isn't supposed to be easy, only possible when absolutely necessary. It's a manhole - a way to reach the inner workings of the world. To touch what's being protected is to potentially cause more destruction than anyone should ever want to intend. You'll need to be very careful who you select to go into the Mazes with you, to be sure they won't try to go back and undo what you'll be doing. There is one final self-sort of each individual person who comes in, and there is one final boss who makes the decision as to if you're worthy to go on or not...but anyone can still do it with a lie. The whole dungeon is meant to turn away those who don't have good reason to enter in the first place. It takes determination, particularly in the face of constant defeat."

Kanami tipped her head. "But...you don't plan on being defeated."

"Not this time. You should plan on it, however. This is a unique experience."

Kanami sighed. "Of course. I'll only have you here for this one." She rested her chin on her folded arms over her knees. The lunch had been a good one, but she was already tired...and that was saying a lot. Four hours of fighting in this level had been four different battles of the sort she was used to, but all at once and consecutively. Normally they had some time to rest between them. Still...she didn't think they were doing too badly all considered. She curled up into a ball and fell asleep. The plan was to go the full level all at once again...if they could. Sleep - even the one hour of it - was essential.

-:-:-:-:-

"Okay, we're at the boss room." It was both a relief and almost a sentence of doom. The entire legion and a half were nearly wiped out. It was the rest period between and they hoped it would be enough. "How is everyone doing for potions, expendable items, and the like?"

What looked like fifteen hands went up and in unison said, "Arrows!"

Isaac held up his hand. "Come see me."

Nakalnad held up his hand. "HP and MP potions, come see me."

Shiroe held up his hand. "Magic items for those of you who need them."

For the next half-hour items were being passed around as much as the food was. When the fighters were done, the chef took his turn. "I'm out of magic- and health-replenishing herbs and food items. This is a lot of people to feed two meal a day with that much of a bonus."

"Purrcy, do you have enough?" Shiroe asked.

"I can do one round," she answered.

"Take this one, please," Shiroe ordered. Purrcy passed over to Chef Hiroki all her herbs with boosts, having to explain about a quarter of them since they were new to him. "Teach him in the morning, too, please." She nodded in the middle of her discussion.

"You're the other chef?" Hiroki asked her.

"Yes," she smiled at him. "But from me you'll learn continental, not Japanese. Their favorite from me is tikki masala, but my favorite is pancakes, bacon, and eggs - American style. Harder to add the herbs into the latter, so we'll probably do the former, like Nyanta did his curry. Not much real breakfasts until we get to smoothies."

"Well, we've been having those, too," Chef Hiroki smiled.

"True. Well, whatever you want, we'll do it. I'm pretty flexible and those aren't the only things I know how to make. ...Actually, an herbed bread sounds good right about now. I wonder how well that would work?"

"Don't waste food this dungeon just on experiments," Shiroe warned.

Purrcy sighed. "Right. I'm sure it'd work, though." An ear went down sadly.

"Eventually." Shiroe ended the topic there and she obediently let him, both ears tipping in their own little bow. Chef Hiroki bowed to her and headed back to the base camp - the next room back. She'd shown him how to carry it with them and he was moving it and setting it up two rooms behind them. They'd spend the night there...assuming they didn't wipe out in total.

"Okay. We'll call in a new party for every four that get wiped out. If you're sent to the respawn point, get back to the base camp as fast as you can get moving. I want the fifth party of six as an experiment to see if the dungeon will let us stay rotating as long as the total number stays at a reasonable level," Shiroe said to the group as a whole. "If not, we'll just have to do our best and one or two of those in the room will be sent into protected hiding to hold the room."

"I thought you said they weren't going to let it fill up behind us?" Kazuo said suspiciously.

"That's not completely how it works," Shiroe said. "If we fall as a whole legion, the entire dungeon resets and we start from the beginning. They only promised that we'd not have to fight more Overwritten, not that they'd change the rules of the dungeon. What we fight the next round won't be as bad, but it will still be hard enough."

Chef Hiroki squeaked from the door. "Should I move the base camp?"

Shiroe shrugged fatalistically. "You might be the only thing that holds the two levels open for us. If it is just you, put it away and die and come meet us...but only after we've determined that the dungeon has reset. If you really are holding it open for us...we'll be very grateful if you stayed put." Chef Hiroki swallowed, then nodded. The Adventurers around him gave him encouraging words and thumbs-up.

"It really is like the sea monsters on the ocean, isn't it?" Brody said to the ceiling from his splayed and prone position. "I mean as far as size, difficulty, levels, numbers, and all that. The only difference is that the floor doesn't rock and tilt under us. ...And no water to wash us off into the ocean."

"Pretty much. And it still moves under your feet if you're a close-up fighter running around on the giants," Michael agreed. His eyes went to Purrcy. "By the way, Hackers, have you all figured out how to use the HP/MP transferance code Purrcy gave us yesterday? We'll want to use it more than once in there, I would think." They dove into the code realm for him to work out the issues some of them were having and to make sure none of them were going to suicide or murder their party members.

KR came back from having his Summon scout the boss room. "Okay. The twin Fire and Ice Giants are doubled with triplet Lightening and quadruplet Stone. And the main Overwritten is Darkness. He'll likely be the hardest. He looks like he's probably got a room-eating spell or two up his sleeve."

The generals conferred on that for a while until Michael came back. "Michael, if all the Hackers work together to create one large spell rebounding shield, like was used on the guy in Shangtzi, would it spread the costs around enough to keep everyone up and able to do the other spells they need?" Nakalnad asked.

Michael paused, looking at them, but not. "...I think we should pull in the reserves for that. They've already got that one cached and a knit spell wouldn't cost so much, plus they have the experience working together that way already. You want it for the main boss?"

"Yes," Crusty said.

"Don't you think sending darkness back to feed the darkness will only make it stronger?" Purrcy asked. There was a long pause at that.

"Okay," Michael said, "we can handle that, too. Add in a purification line to the spell. That will purify the darkness before it bounces back and it will eat light, taking it down a little faster.

Purrcy's ears twitched and turned. Shiroe's eyes narrowed at her. "Does that make it too strong a spell, just that much of a change?" Purrcy's ear dipped and rose. Michael swore in a mutter under his breath and went back to thinking.

"Absorb." It came from one of the Eagles.

"Nice," Michael said.

"Then attack to purify."

"Okay." He looked at Purrcy. "Will that work?" Her tail gave a dismissive flick. "Right. We'll do that then. Absorb the dark and attack with the purification weapons. Will the absorption have to go somewhere, though?"

"Absorb and purify rather than bounce the purified spell. Send it down into the earth."

Purrcy shook her head. "You'll make it impossible for the room to properly spawn in the future. Same as if the darkness is sent into the earth."

"Pass through purification. It won't hurt anything else in the room that way and will be ambient."

Michael watched Purrcy as she pondered that, then nodded. "Okay."

"Do it," Michael said. The Eagles went into conference.

"Shall we put the Swashbucklers and Monks on the Stone Giant?" Shiroe asked. "The combination of decreased defense status effects plus high physical attacks should take it down fairly quickly - in comparison."

"It would be nice to make them do cross-fire attacks to do damage to each other, too," Kanami mused, her chin in her hand. They ran with that thought for some time.

The parties were completely rearranged by the time they were ready to go in, but everyone was determined to make this work the first time through. It didn't matter who they worked with. Other than Kanami's group they'd all worked closely together as a mass against the sea monsters several times when things just got too chaotic to stay organized in standard party formations. This would not only be organized, but they wouldn't be rocking on the sea. Having a nearly two hour break helped, too.

The door to the second level boss room was opened and the Hacker parties advanced first. They were mostly manned by Eagles with the addition of the Hackers from the other parties with their healers and an occasional tank added in where there weren't enough from the Eagles. They spread out around the edges of the room and surrounded it until they were in place on a ledge two-thirds up the walls. As soon as they were set, the initial suppression spell went off. The minor enemies disappeared in bubbles immediately.

The second set of parties entered the room as the Eagles spread their wings and taunted two of the quadruplet giants into moving until they had opposites closest to each other. When they were in place and the Eagles returned to their parties, the two sets that had come in set up in place. One set was the Swashbucklers with Monks. They set up next to the stone giant opposite the lightning giant. A few tanks ran to taunt it and drag it closer to the stone giant, then ran back to the opposite side from it. The second set was all fire casting magic users - Summoners of fire elementals and Sorcerers with good fire magics. Rudy was included in that set, the same as Purrcy and Nyanta were with the Swashbucklers, and Michael and Kanami with the Monks. The support members of the parties were also present and Isuzu was already calling up Maistro Echo for Rudy, the same as Touya was setting up as Samurai and Minori was casting her shielding spell over both Swashbucklers and Touya.

As soon as the support spells were done, the direct attacks began, with a few being cast at the opposite enemy on the other side to get them awake enough to try to attack through the giant under main attack. Each grouping of parties had their own dedicated field monitor. As the opposing giant would move to go around the one under attack, the call would come and the entire group would move away from it to always keep it on the opposite side so it _had_ to attack through.

Once they had gotten underway, the Eagles took to the air again and began their slow, methodical way of attacking the darkness giant in the center of the room with their purified swords. That was the one that Shiroe was monitoring the most. When the call finally came that the first area effect was coming, it was from the stone giant. Hands clasped together, they slammed down towards the ground. Naotsugu and Nakalnad both ran forward, having been in reserve, and cast Castle of Stone as three Hackers cast shields on them. The hammering hands rebounded back up and slammed into the face of the stone giant, causing some rather dramatic knock-back damage to itself.

"Well that was rather effective!" Shiroe said in admiration.

"We made the shield a concave drum," the Hackers said smugly.

"Nice." The Swashbucklers and Monks went back to work.

The next area effect attack was from the ice giant. His staff came up, then slammed into the ground and ice spread rapidly across the ground in a circle where that was the center. As it moved, the ice lifted up and became stalagmites with sharp edges and points. All the currently present fire elementals were suddenly drawn into a circle around the parties fighting the ice giant and a sphere of flame appeared around them that melted the ice that encroached until the attack was done. Then the sphere expanded and melted all the ice in that area so the fighters wouldn't get hurt on it as they moved with the fire giant.

" _Tsk_ ," KR complained. "That took half what he had left, you know, almost."

"Sorry. Next time if the Sorcerers will cast on the shield, we'll use that fire instead," came from the three Hackers that were supporting them. "It was rather sudden for asking."

"Can do!" several of the Sorcerers called out cheerfully.

"Dark! Here it comes!" Crusty called out. The Eagles pulled away from the central giant and the shield went up around it. Everyone kept fighting the other giants, but they were wary. A dark hole, most likely a Black Hole spell the way it swirled and expanded, appeared in front of the darkness giant. (It was the expected spell, after all.) The whirlpool expanded until it filled the shielded space, but didn't break through and it slowly began to collapse until it was a point again, then gone. There was one little problem, however. Where it had touched the ground, it began to spread as a dark miasma along the floor. The field monitor for the Hacker group called it out, being able to see it from the heights they were standing on.

"Damn," came the mutter. "We accounted for below it, but it went too deep, not expecting that."

"Druids and Priests!" Four Eagles flew down to the floor and set weapons into the ground and cast Purification spells. The way the earth was purified made it obvious they were using intent to contain the miasma and reduce it back.

"Healers on them. They're dropping too fast," Shiroe called out.

"Distract above!" the Hacker field monitor called out and the Eagles not on the ground went back into a flurry of purification attacks above to keep the giant distracted from the ones on the ground. They weren't quite able to remove the miasma on the ground completely, but they did get it to stay at a steady radius directly under the feet of the darkness giant.

"It's enough for now," Crusty said. "Go recover." The four with their healers returned to the shelf and sat down, not joining in on the sword purification for a few rounds. "I think we're going to have to do it, Shiroe," he said. "They can't be split so much."

"On the next change out like we planned is soon enough," Shiroe replied calmly. The battle against the two other giants was going well and in not too much longer the next area effect spells went into motion.

"It's a swap," Crusty called out. "Earth will be from below."

"Ride the waves!" the support Hackers called out. The group below prepared, getting into the long familiar stance of staying as balanced as possible on a tipping deck of an ocean-going vessel. As the earth began to crack and stone pillars rise up from below, it seemed as if they were pushing up a dish that rocked back and forth as this pillar was taller, then another. The parties rode the rocking of the shield as if they were surfing or on the deck of the Ocypete again until the stone settled to being still.

"Okay, one big jump. Three...two...one." Everyone in the party jumped and the pillars cracked and crumbled. "And again, two...one." A second jump and the pillars shattered and the shield - and everyone in it - hit the ground. They'd been expecting it, though, so landed properly on their own feet rather lightly. That wasn't any harder for level 100+ Adventurers than running for twenty-four hours would be. They got back to work.

"Get ready for the next ice from the air. Feels...like it's a wind or blizzard attack," Crusty said, sniffing the air a bit. Most of the Adventurers on that side were suddenly wearing parkas and other anti-ice, anti-cold gear. "That really is handy...to not have to come dressed for the weather when we can just put it on when we need it," Crusty had to say.

The field monitor there watched closely for status effects on everyone. "Ready...never mind." The peak had been reached and was gone and they didn't need the waiting shield. "That was rather anticlimactic." The Summoners let their fire elementals back out of their coats, cloaks, and shields, shed the same, and everyone got back to work.

"Ah...it's being made up for...up above," Crusty said. "How are you going to shield the entire room from that?" A black point hole had appeared above the darkness giant rather high up. It was of the sort that would get big enough to reach the walls of the room. It could be darkness lightning or it could be a fog, or even a black hole big enough to take out the whole room.

"That's easier, actually," one of the Eagles muttered.

"Half," Michael ordered from below, as he was working on the stone giant. When the dark spot started breaking out of that shield, he ordered for the second half to put another layer over the first shield. "Hop them like we hop attacks," he said, half an eye on the attack above. Slowly the shields expanded, only as the previous one was being broken through. When the swirling circle stopped expanding he said, "Double the strength." There was a sudden flash and a concussion, but it was a flash of light not of darkness. Those who could see for not having been staring at that space when it went off called out that it was neutralized. After a brief recovery, the Eagles went back to work, but with a slower pattern for a while. They didn't have to be in a hurry, really. There was still the equivalent of nearly three other giants left to worry about.

"I think we're there, Crusty," Shiroe said.

"Right. Switch out," Crusty gave the order. The group on the stone giant fell back, then moved quickly until they were out of the room. Behind them entered the next group. They ran past the stone giant, taunting it to follow them back in towards the lightning giant. They ran past the lightning giant and set up opposite the stone giant. As the supports cast status effects and boosts on the fighters and tanks, the fire group fell back, then ran for the door. Once they were out, the final group ran in and followed the same tactic until they were facing the fire giant opposite the ice giant. Supports cast and the fighters got to business.

A portion of the Eagles flew out of the room, leaving behind their support party members and the shielding Hackers. The Assassins entered the fray now, each one carrying a blessed weapon, led by Akatsuki who moved with no fear. They attacked the darkness giant in rotation as the Eagles had, conserving their capacity. They would have to hold out long enough for the Eagles to really recover. High levels of damage weren't wanted right now. Distraction and chipping away were sufficient.

The fight against the lightning and fire giants worked very similarly to how the previous two had. Druids were the main force against the lightning giant as they could cast spells to redirect the lightning down into the ground. The ones at the edges redirected it back to the stone giant. They used stone spells themselves to attack the lightning giant with. Several had Iron Vine that was very effective. It sucked up the lightning and took it into the earth without burning, though it did have a limit to how much it could take. A few draped it around the stone giant and lightning was attracted to it and did damage to the stone giant as it passed along the vine. "No more direct damage to the stone giant!" Shiroe called out suddenly. That meant it was about to pass the half-way point and the other side wasn't ready yet.

On the other side, the ice elementals were freezing the fire giant, the water elementals were dousing it, and the Kannagi were preventing the fire from reaching the Adventurers. The electric giant went off first, as expected. Half the druids quickly built a plant barrier around the giant, the other half built an earthen barrier around that third-legion of Adventurers that ended up looking like a cave with only a small opening at the rear. The plants were burned off within the first half of the attack. Having nothing else to attach to within the zone of the attack, most of the rest of it did damage to the earth giant who was within range. The dome over the Adventurers did eventually crumble, but it was at the end of the storm of lightning. They got back to work.

The fire giant was next. This time Crusty called out, "Firestorm!"

"As before," the three Hacker shields on that side called out and the group huddled with their Summons. A shield came up that borrowed from the Summons and became an ice barrier that held, though it melted little by little until the fire storm abated. "That worked better - to layer it over and over like they did around the dark hole earlier," came the report. Shiroe nodded. They hadn't had quite as much cost this time to themselves or the Summons. They got back to work also.

There was a longer pause in orders from the top. The Assassins were still moving slow enough to not have triggered the next area affect from the darkness giant. "Crusty, have them take the stone giant down past half. We need it to go off before the Assassins reach their next step," Shiroe passed down from his calculations once the second round of area affects had gone off for the electric and fire giants. Crusty gave the order and they watched as it dropped past half.

"Hmm...mud puddle?" Crusty passed on down.

"We'll try the boat shield again, if it reaches that far," the Hackers on that side said. "Might sink, but it might be enough."

"Try convex this time," Shiroe suggested. "Can the rest of you dance on the boat upside down?"

There were groans and a few chuckles, and the stone giant started to melt into the ground. As it moved through the ground, it moved directly under the lightning giant which started to sink into the now-fluid ground. The mud continued to move, however, and soon enough the Adventurers were indeed standing on what amounted to an island, though it was tipping and sinking forward into that same mud very slowly. As the mud moved past the lightning giant, it was suddenly stuck in hard ground up to its calves. "Oh, that's nice," Shiroe murmured. "If it can't get out, anyway." Slowly the ground under the shield was rising up to fill it, then was lifting it up off the ground. "And that looks a little dangerous."

The field monitor above called out, "Jump off and to the ground in three...two...one...jump!" Every Adventurer on the shield jumped off and landed on now solid ground, then ran for the opposite side of the electric giant. A few got slapped around by the stone giant so when they reached the other side they had to set back up and heal, but in all it wasn't bad for that to be the first time they took real damage.

"That may have a short cool-down time," Crusty warned. "See if you can come up with something else...and if the electric giant can sink more every time that would be nice, but if it gets free the next time, that might not be so good. Give it everything you can now. If it goes past half while still stuck it might mitigate whatever the halfway special is." Shiroe frowned, but with dungeons like this experimentation was always part of battle. Sometimes the long shot killed everyone, and sometimes it won the game faster.

"Okay," Shiroe said a little while later. "Can you shields handle the Black Hole on your own?"

"Yes," came from both sides. He made sure, then called out of the room. "Eagles, when you come back in, bring potions. They'll be okay until then, but they'll need them."

"Roger," he got back.

"Druids, prepare to step in and purify the ground again." He named off the four with the most MP left, then added a fifth. Maybe that would be enough to get it all this time."

As the spell started up, the Assassins leaped out of the way and the shield came up. "Oh, no," Shiroe said. "It's absorbed the darkness remaining at its feet and added that to the spell. It's going to be a higher level spell. We need one more Hacker."

"No, we'll be fine," came from the Druids. "We've got purification, too. We might not be able to add power to the shield, but we can add that much." Two he hadn't called out stepped forward, placed their hands on the shield and cast their purification magic just as the dark spiral reached the shield walls. The shield wavered, but none of the darkness reached beyond its boundaries. Shiroe slumped slightly in relief and recalculated as the five Druid's he'd called out cleaned up what remained in the ground. He was extra relieved when there wasn't any darkness left in the ground when they were done. The Assassins had moved back in as a group to defend the Druids on the ground. When the Druids were back in their parties the Assassins went back to the slow chipping away they'd been doing this whole time.

"We're going to have to swap out the Druids sooner than expected, but it shouldn't be too bad," Shiroe said. "Give it five more minutes then give the order."

"Okay," Crusty sent back, his eyes on the other giants. Three minutes later he shook his head. "You're going to get hit with the second mud puddle attack before you can take your break. We'll at least test what happens, I guess, but when you hit the ground, run for the door. You'll be on the door side, at least. Replacements, stay outside for one and a half minutes once they hit the door. The electric attack will go off with no one to hit that way - except the stone giant, we hope. How that's going to mess with order, I have no idea. Meteor Shower will be shortly after that. If the ice folk can keep it as far from the door as possible, that would be nice since they need time to set up and shield."

"Might it help to drop the ice giant down past half?" was asked.

Crusty rubbed his chin as he thought about that. "If you can time it to come when the lightning strike happens and it's far enough away from the door, though if they mix you'll need definite shielding. It's likely to be ice missiles. If they electrify that will be rather dramatic."

"Right. We've got this," came back and Crusty and Shiroe waited, watching. The druid group was already wrapping vines around the electric giant and the mud puddle was advancing on them, again going under the electric giant. As they watched, the vines pulled down, dragging the giant farther into the ground as if it was a reverse net. The group was lifted up on the shield again, but this time, as the giant rose up from the mud and became more solid, they all shifted to the door side of the shield. "Let us surf," they called out to the Hackers. "Go for it," was called back and the shield was curled to be concave instead of convex. The whole group shifted the shield until it was sliding off the mud giant. By the time it was solid enough to attack, the entire group was half-way to the door. Before it could take the first step, it was rocked by the electric attack that was going off, heading down the vines that were now entangled around its feet. As the stone giant rocked from the damage more than a small amount of stone shards fell from its body to crumble around it.

"Whup! Ice!" Crusty called out.

"Nice that it's after the electric storm," their field monitor replied calmly. "Now." There was a sudden barrage of ice and water attacks on the fire giant. It went down so fast it hit the firestorm marker at the same time as the ice missile attack came. The Hacker shields on that side used the same ice missile attack from the ice giant to fuel the shield against the firestorm and what they didn't use was melted by that same firestorm - and some of it hit the fire giant as well, since it was also in the way of the attack.

"Right. They're low enough. Get them out of there and we'll trade the Assassins last," Shiroe said. Crusty gave the orders as the Swashbuckler and Monk team arrived again for their side. It wasn't as strong a team this time for that combination. It was difficult to hit mud with fist or rapier and to hit electricity with either was to get a high chance of a shock status effect for each strike.

"We've got it covered," Tetorō said cheerfully as they got into position - around both giants. Shiroe and Crusty did a quick recalculation. The Monks were set against the stone giant and the Swashbucklers around the electric giant. It was almost backwards until they noticed that the rapiers - rather than being metal - were ironwood. In Theldesia it wasn't the same as on Earth. Ironwood on Theldesia was made expressly to fight electric monsters. It wouldn't burn and it wouldn't conduct electricity.

"Is that a tag change?" Shiroe asked in surprise.

"Yup!" Tetorō said cheerily.

"And it will actually work?"

"Yup!" Tetorō was almost laughing. "It might take a little longer to deal the damage, but it will work."

"Let's see it," Shiroe said and watched the status on the giant as well as the effect on the Adventurers. He quickly calculated. "Okay. We'll be able to focus a little more on the darkness giant, then." He looked at the Monks. Every hit was crumbling the stone, as it had before, with little data change. The only thing was it was slower because it was only half the Adventurers it had been before. That was okay. They weren't in a hurry. Chipping away was sufficient.

The fire mages were back into position now. "We've been in conference, too. Let us know how this looks." They were also standing more between the two giants than around or behind only one. Their tanks stirred up the fire giant until it let loose an intermediate attack. The fire mages immediately called up fire magic that swirled and actually grasped and absorbed the fire coming at them, then launched them at the ice giant so that it was hit by multiple fireballs made almost twice as big using the added magic of the fire giant.

"Wow," Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Just, wow." He knew they were grinning. "Well, then...I guess we'll be done with the ice giant first.

"Maybe," he could hear the grin in their voices and waited to see what they would do next. When the ice storm warning came, the shields cheered. "We got it!" As the ice storm blew up, it was sent down a sluice directly for the fire giant, blasting him in the chest. He briefly crackled with frost before breaking out of it.

"Nice on the damage," Shiroe said. "Fire storm first, then another ice and you'll be almost there. Watch the twenty percent though. You're almost there with just that much."

The Eagles were in place and the Assassins out on break. "And you're just in time. Look up," Crusty said calmly. The hopping shields were up around the black dot above them all. Once again, they managed to contain it long enough for it to fade away. Crusty stiffened, his eyes fixed on the darkness giant. "Who's reaching twenty percent?" he asked Shiroe, not able to look away from the darkness giant.

"Ice just took another blow."

"Get another shield up around the darkness giant. This time a reverse absorb. Repel. It's about to eat the ice giant."

There were several cuss words and both the six Hackers and the Eagles turned their attention to it. But one had already acted, stepping away from the electric giant. "I've got it," Purrcy said calmly. "The rest of you need to conserve, having just cast."

"Agreed," Shiroe said, not having been able to get a word in edgewise until then. "She may have to flexibly change what she's doing. A simple shield may not be enough." Crusty relaxed a little better at that. He'd also been worried something magical would happen, not just physical.

The ice giant was becoming waverly, and it slowly did turn into a magical vortex that was being sucked up towards the darkness giant which had opened its mouth. The remnants of the ice giant hit the barrier and stopped for but a moment, then was slowly drawn through what looked like a thick filter. The more of it that entered the filter, the smaller the gaps in the filter became until what came out the other side was more a series of thin threads. "Hey, I didn't purify," Purrcy frowned.

"Just giving a helping hand," Michael said from behind her. Purrcy twitched, but chose not to complain. "If you can drag off MP to fuel your own spell, I can purify what's left at a lot less cost, and it's small enough to not be a large gain." Slowly the white threads were pulled to the darkness giant. They wrapped around it's head as they reached it's gaping mouth and wove themselves into a mask around it's face that burned it, though it burned them also almost as fast as they were wrapped around it.

"That's a rather powerful shield now," Michael commented. "Can you just leave it there?"

"Yes. It will fade with time, but it has a longer time now that it's that full of stolen MP," Purrcy answered. She colored the shield slightly and anchored it to the ground where it was. "That was actually fun to create. It's the first time I've thought of that." They returned to their respective giants to attack them again.

"Send the next set of fire attacks against the stone giant when it's mud," Crusty requested. "We'll bake it and see if that's enough to drop it to the twenty percent."

Shiroe gave the count of when that would be and asked the rapiers to back off just a little so the electric attack didn't go off first. Crusty's plan went off nicely, actually. As the stone giant began to turn to mud, Shiroe noticed that the few Monks who got hits in were still doing damage. He looked closely at that. They'd had their arm and hand weapons modified so that if they hit mud, it became solid first, then cracked. It seemed to be an earthquake related spell and he wondered how that had been managed. It was high level for them all to have suddenly been given a new spell. He'd have to ask later. Right now they'd backed off to not get baked themselves. As soon as the fire attack was done they were pounding on the stone giant, though. As before as soon as it was dropped below the twenty percent, which was rather quickly after the giant-on-giant attack, the darkness giant turned to suck it up.

"We've got it this time," came from above. The six who had the shields cached and already learned and were only spending mild HP on the modifications they'd been making, once again did just that and had the filter shield up. The four Eagles who had purification as well as being Hackers cast Michael's spell. This time the threads of purification wrapped around the chest of the darkness giant, pulling tightly into it until they were finally burned away. The thick shield was set into the ground after the stone giant was gone, opposite the one Purrcy had set.

"So...now for the last two...," Crusty was standing tall, his arms crossed, glaring at the scene in front of him. Shiroe knew that meant he was thinking hard. "Shiroe, have the others rested up just enough we can swap out the lower groups one more time...or even half of them for a short rotation then the other half if we need them?"

Shiroe looked at his board and calculated. He quickly called off names from inside and sent them out, then called off names to replace them with on the electric giant. He followed that with names from the fire giant. When he was done and people were moving, Crusty said, "You just have to knock them down to under that twenty percent, but it's got to be one at a time and when the cool down is done. Shiroe can they hold out until the Eagles can go next? Or will the Assassins need to finish him off?"

Shiroe had to take a little more time to calculate that. "The fire giant's about to go as it is. They won't be ready for that. Give it three more turns and Purrcy and Michael will be ready again. That's the best we can do. The Eagles could attack with purification in the meantime, but you might not want Purrcy on cool down at the same time as you need her again when the darkness giant drops past half, which it will do once the fourth giant's purification threads are done. And that's with not much hitting before then."

Crusty shook his head. "No attacks, then. I don't want that until all four shields are up. But I want them up before the first one's too weak."

"I haven't gone yet," Tetorō said mildly. "If the Druids do the purification we can handle the third set."

Shiroe tapped his finger. "That will work, actually, if Michael will take the fourth shield and the other half of the Druids the purification. Then Purrcy and the shield Hackers will be available for the third quarter of the darkness giant's life and the Eagles and Tetorō for the last quarter, with Michael in reserve if things get troublesome at the end."

"Right, people, let's go," Crusty said. "Ice the fire giant. Tetorō and Druids, get ready. Those on the electric giant, keep walking it down slow. When you get close wait for the order. Fire mages, you're free to go get a rest. Good job with the creativity." With only two more barrages of ice, the fire giant dropped. Before it could get off it's attack, the darkness giant was sucking it up...through the filter that stole the MP and made the light threads. This time they were bound around the darkness giant's middle and again they cut into it before finally being burned away.

There were itchy hands, they were so close to tasting victory. Shiroe knew, though, that the final half of this boss wasn't likely to be as easy as they thought, just because things had worked out so far. "I think we're in for a hard time," he said to dampen things just a little. "It's just a little too desperate this time."

Crusty was nodding. "Michael get ready. It may not wait for the twenty percent. It may be keyed to take the last one wherever it's at. Do we have the other half of the Druids in here yet?"

"On our way," came from closer to the door. They were running wildly to reach the distance they needed to be - which like the Samurai was rather close, actually.

"That's a problem," Michael said. "I can't increase the shield's capacity in the time I have. I won't be able to get all the MP out of it if that happens...which it is," he said a bit fatalistically then fell silent to cast the spell. The fastest Druids made it just in time to get their purification spells off before the threads hit the other side and the rest were casting as soon as they did arrive. Those threads moved to surround the closest thigh and weave up and down the left leg of the giant. As the shield reached it's maximum capacity, a shiver went through the shield.

Then another series of threads were attached - on the outside of the shield to the remains of the electric giant. They moved to attach to all the Druids within reach. Shiroe blinked. "Well, that's ...useful."

"What's it doing?" Crusty asked.

"That's the MP siphon. The Hackers with capacity are taking the rest of the MP out before it goes into the shield and giving it to the Druids, who we'll need as much as the Eagles for the purification. Get the rest of them over there. They won't be able to take it all either."

Crusty gave the order and the Druids who'd been working on the fire giant's shield moved to stand behind the electric giant's shield. New MP siphons were laid and gently fell on them, until all the MP was gone and so was any part of the electric giant. "Druids, surround the darkness giant, standing behind the shields. Don't let any darkness get out of the circle by way of the ground." Crusty was quick to give the next order and they were quick to obey.

Healers and tanks joined up with each of them. "Assassins in. Everyone left on the field with a purification weapon stay. If you don't and aren't a healer get out. We want to take it down as fast as possible so it can't get off more than one attack." Ironwood rapiers were traded out and tanks moved in as the Assassins blinked into the room, then to the center of the room. "Half the Eagles will be swords. The other half stand by for Hacker work." They divided evenly, with the sword half flying to rest on the top of the shields which were rectangular in shape and about a foot higher than the giant. Half the Assassins ran up the shields to join them, the other half waited at the bottom. "Druids, are you ready?" Crusty asked. He got an affirmative. "Shiroe?"

"Good," he said.

"Go." The battle was fierce as the speed of attack increased dramatically. The Eagle's two archers that were with them also shot purification arrows from the sides, allowing them to build up just enough to cause noticeable damage without wearing them down too fast. They really knew the right balance, that team. At about twenty-eight to thirty percent, Crusty called out, "Here comes the melt-down. Shields get up something that will prevent the underlying melt-through and watch for gaseous form around it top to bottom. If that happens, everyone get out twenty feet if you can. Assassins, drag the tanks out. Your averaged speed should be fast enough." Every Assassin dropped to the ground and grabbed a Guardian or a Samurai and got them out of the shielded area, then went back and grabbed another one and did the same. They almost didn't get out before the slow flood of darkness spreading from the feet of the giant was reaching for the shield wall.

"We might not be able to contain the gas long enough," Purrcy's voice was sounding a little thin. "This is hard enough. I'm bouncing it back in to counterbalance what's inside."

Shiroe looked at her stats quickly. "Get a healer over to her fast. That's costing a lot to cover that much area. Both MP and HP. Any other Hackers that have capacity, replicate the spell and boost it." In a few more seconds there was a slowing to her drop and several other Hackers were dropping, giving her the assist. She got the boost she needed, then another one. "Stop there, Tetorō. You're a back up on Hacker, too. She's good there. ...Can you hold it now, Purrcy?"

"Yes," she answered back. Shiroe did the calculations based on her purification and the purification the Druids were holding at the base. "It will come back below fifteen percent. It may have an immediate high-level response."

"I don't want shielding on that one," Crusty said. "Go all out and take it down before it can get it off." It was a risky move.

Shiroe scanned the board, getting a quick count. He sent five tanks out of the room and called in nine Adventurers. "Use your light attacks as soon as you're close enough and it's solid enough," he told those who were incoming. Everyone was moving as fast as they could to get into position again. "Remember, intention and the desire to see everyone survives is just as important as the swing of the sword and the casting of the spell," he reminded them. The shields failed at the same time as the giant went semi-solid. The spells went first, the swords withholding. They were a third again stronger than normal. "Good. Hold it more firmly in your minds next time." There might not be one, but there might be. Cool down on those was going to be touch and go. The swords went and flashed with firm blows. Light flew from them that cut deeply into the giant and it began to waver.

"It's trying," Crusty bellowed. "Don't let it get it out. Drive it hard!" Two light arrows slammed into it and it shivered and stumbled, then opened it's mouth. Crusty swore and moved, his great ax coming out. He raised it over his head, set himself, then swung with all his might and a great arc of light lept out of it and slammed into the neck of the giant. It reeled, the final eating of it's enemies cut short before it could begin.

"Two percent...one percent...done," Shiroe said calmly as the final attacks continued to rain down on the slowly falling body. On "done", everyone dropped to the floor as a rain of coins fell from the disappearing boss.

"Wow, an actual drop," Tetorō said. "Though it's the tag end of the drops it was supposed to give us."

"That might be enough to send the train on a shopping trip," Shiroe said quietly. "We're out of everything by the end of tomorrow."

Disbelieving eyes turned to him. "We brought enough for a month-long campaign!"

"Yes and we've just done two weeks in two days, and I've given up the emergency rations for tonight and tomorrow. We're burning through everything faster than expected. There are too many of them."

Crusty collected the coins with a nod. "We'll send Chef Hiroki with the train crew and the shopping list. Who of the guildmasters can we spare?"

"None," Shiroe said flatly. "He'll have to have the shops load it up on the train. There's room enough without all of us on it. Maybe he'll be lucky and MarketMaker will already be there to help."

Everyone slumped to the floor. It had been a good fight. "Sooo...how do we handle this room? Are there going to be four ghosts, and are we still supposed to guess which one gets which drop?" Nakalnad brought it back around to the practical immediate moment.

Shiroe sat down. He had no idea and he needed to rest his brain anyway. He looked around and found Akatsuki crouched down nearby looking at him. Shiroe looked up at Reed standing next to Crusty. "Monitor." Reed nodded. Shiroe motioned to Akatsuki. When she was next to him, he reached for her hand and put it on his forehead, then lay down and closed his eyes and just floated for the next hour. It was his turn for a break.

-:-:-:-:-

When Shiroe gave up without answering the question, all eyes turned to Purrcy. She sighed and rose to her feet, wishing she could rather sit longer. She'd not participated in that last fray, though, recovering from the spell instead, in case she was needed for the magic again. "Come along, Michael," she said, headed for the wall. He tiredly followed her. He'd been lobbing purification bombs since he'd recovered magically enough and they were slightly more effective for him than his purified sword, particularly when this tired and low on HP. The bombs were in his cache and he still had more MP than HP...by a little.

"Find them and tag them for me. One blue and the other red," she requested. "But only tag them as they tell you what they want. I'll lock that onto them with the tag. They're flipping through the random item generator...poor things. It won't stop until an item's chosen and they can't choose until you ask the question. But if we don't lock it down on that item, they'll expect something completely different by the time we get back."

"Right. Sounds difficult."

"Just ask them. I'll handle the lock."

"Right, Lady of the Nano-speeds." Her whiskers twitched up briefly. Michael found the two Vengeful Ghosts and went into the spirit realm just enough to ask each of them what they wanted, tagging the first one in blue. As soon as it answered, it was suddenly solid in the spirit realm instead of fuzzy. Michael blinked, then tagged the second one in red and asked it what it wanted. As soon as it answered it was also suddenly solid. "We'll be right back with those. Don't move."

Purrcy stayed where she was to make sure they really didn't move and Michael asked for the two items. They were again fortunate that two people had them and were willing to part with them. He walked back into the spirit realm after confirming with Purrcy they hadn't managed to trade tags somehow and handed them their items. They bowed and disappeared and the doors appeared in the base realm. Michael returned there and would have sank to sit, but Purrcy grabbed him and held him up.

"Don't. We're only going back one room to eat. If you sit you won't get there and you won't get fed. Just turn and walk back. It's only one room. You can do it. ...Such a waste of energy to drop while you're still standing. Takes more to stand up again, you know, than to just walk forward."

Michael sighed. "Right. I knew that." His feet were already following her lead. Somehow all the Adventurers in the room - other than Shiroe who was already on his back and out - managed to get to the next room back and their traveling base camp. Food was barely appreciated, though it was, and everyone was out for the night. Somehow Nyanta still managed to find Purrcy and curl up around her before giving up himself. She purred for him lightly until she was also gone too deeply to continue. Level two was done.

* * *

 _If any of you are interested in seeing any outside-the-story information or getting questions answered, you can drop me a query post at patr(e)on to JiryuRasen, my other screen name. I'd love to hear from you and know what you'd like to see posted there. Thank you for continuing on with me in our story. We are just about done with the China sub-arc and the Oracle arc. I'm really excited about the last two arcs as we really get into the meat of the fight between the Adventurers and that-which-forcefully-brought-them-to-Theldesia against their wills._


	112. War in the China Maze of Eternity

"You guys might want to slow it down a little."

"Huh?"

"What kind of response is that?" Clocktower asked.

"You're calling in the middle of nap time so suddenly. And why would we want to slow it down?" Michael yawned, but didn't move otherwise. Holding still felt good right now.

"Because the Observers are watching you. You've gone through two levels in two days and now another third of a level in half a day and that's got them worried."

"Tell the master hacker to make it look like to them their Trojans worked but make it so that it really didn't. We're going to need you guys for the fourth level as it is, and it's not looking good for the last part of this level. I don't need you split between here and there on things of such high level that you all die and have to start over. We'll have the bombs ready for you before tomorrow morning. Make sure things are ready so we can just come place them. We should have more specific orders by the time that's done."

"Are we going to count towards the ninety-six if we're in the code realm?" Clocktower had a frown in his voice.

"No idea, but given that this dungeon's been twice as difficult as it's supposed to be, I'm sure the President will get some concession or other by then. ...But that's why I say full orders will be when you get here. If the master hacker's going to have troubles, let us know right away and I'll see what I can do from here. We really, really don't need any more Harvesters let loose on us right now."

"No, I figured not. Slow it down just a little."

"Can't, but we did agree on a two hour nap of everyone instead of a one hour rotation only. That's as slow as it's going to get. That and it's not looking like we'll get the full level completed today. It will probably be done in thirds just generally."

"Okay. That might be just slow enough for them to wait another day or so. We'll keep monitoring it closely."

"Roger."

"Out."

Michael opted to let Shiroe know after the rest time was over. He was just as wiped as the rest of them.

-:-:-:-:-

"Guh. Two seven hour stretches and we're still only two-thirds through." Tetorō complained as he flopped down in the base camp room.

He got stared at by Akatsuki. "You know...it was almost three weeks to get here last time. ...And that was easier."

Tetorō gave a little shrug. "Yeah, I know," he said a little morosely and drew in the dirt with his finger. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his other arm was wrapped around them. His head was resting on top of his knees. "And really...I shouldn't want to be in a hurry. But, still...when it's just Overwritten, I just want to blow through them - they're so _irri_ tating." He heaved a great sigh and relaxed. "...Yeah, we're doing good." He closed his eyes and just listened to the quiet murmurings of the other Adventurers scattered all over the room.

Each room was actually rather large, so they had room to spread out and get comfortable. Most of Log Horizon was in this spot and were quietly recovering together. They'd been sometimes together against enemies, and sometimes back in the similar type parties like the last boss of the second level. In order to move through the rooms this fast the parties had been created often on the fly like that. It made it so they could get the most done against individual high level bosses as fast as possible. Now that they were in the latter half of the third level, every room had a legion boss or two in it in addition to everything else.

Purrcy, Michael, and he had been alternating rooms the latter half of this day with the initial smash spell that got rid of all the little fry. While it wasn't normal dungeon strategy, since they really did like the challenge of having them in the room, too, with the high levels doubled and Overwritten it was the best strategy to keep everyone from wearing down too fast. ...But really, they could probably slow it down and be fine.

"Good job everyone, meow." Tetorō looked over to see Purrcy and Nyanta arriving, bringing food with them. They handed out plates and drinks.

"Okonomiyaki!" Touya said happily. "Did you get to teach Chef Hiroki how to make the mayonnaise?"

"Yes, I did," Nyanta said. "He very kindly allowed us to use his last ingredients for our dinner tonight. He'll be traveling tonight to shop for us tomorrow. We'll be on our own rations until he gets back."

"Have we really used up so much so fast?" Minori asked, worried. "I mean, we did bring enough food for several weeks at least, didn't we? How is it we've eaten it up so fast?"

Nyanta looked at Purrcy. She looked back at him, then sighed and they both sat on the floor with the rest of the guild and set food in their own laps. The rest moved up closer to listen. "It isn't the food. It's the items," Purrcy said, then looked down at her lap. "Izanami's cheating and I think I'm going to have to go looking deep into the next level to see why."

Her ears were down, unhappy. "Everyone just reaches into their bags and lists for their items and they unconsciously count, but when we're in the thick of things, no one is really paying attention. She can't just make things out of thin air - that's not the kind of cheat she can do. Instead, she's been taking the food items and turning them into magic items, arrows, those kinds of things, so no one is running out while in the middle of battle. We've told Chef Hiroki to buy up as much cabbage and other inexpensive food-stuffs as he can. It's awful really, that we're spending so little for what can sometimes be high level items we'd normally have to spend a lot of time and effort for."

"But, really, we'd rather have left-over food to eat than arrows we can't eat," Nyanta said with sad practicality.

Purrcy nodded. "And neither half of Inari are willing to let it slow down enough for us to have to go collect more items, or to fail half-way due to item or food loss."

"It is going rather fast," Isuzu said. Akatsuki and others nodded.

"It is," Purrcy agreed. "That's why I want to see how deep the Overwritten have gotten already. Everyone's efforts have been sincere and they are doing very well, but if it isn't necessary...well," her ear turned out and they understood. She might not be able to say out loud she agreed with the point of view that slowing it down would be just fine, but she still felt it, too.

They ate in silence after that, not wanting to waste Chef Hikori's gift to them, but it was a bit hard to eat knowing what they knew now.

-:-:-:-:-

"Michael. ...Michael-nyan."

Michael went from killing the person shaking his shoulder to frozen with his eyes open before he moved. He took one deep breath, letting it out slowly to make sure he was fully under control, then turned his head to look at the gentleman felinoid standing over him. The ears were pointed at him and the tail was swishing in agitation. He sat up quickly. "What do you need, Nyanta-san?" he asked very quietly. Nyanta had already woken up most of the sub-guild, though, with just that much. It was rare for Nyanta to be upset, and even more rare for him to approach Michael directly.

Nyanta crouched down in front of him. "Purrcy's stuck in the fourth level and can't get out on her own. Her last report was that every room there has intelligent bosses and that she'd just passed through a room with traps in the code realm, not just this one."

"Is she there in mind only, or physically?"

"Physically. She hadn't been able to get into them from the code realm. And...we can't Summon her out." Nyanta was having difficulty restraining his emotions. He took a breath and forced everything to calm down again before continuing. "Shiroe-ichi asked Izanagi what we should do. I'm to fetch mew to someplace private and teach mew what to do." Michael blinked in surprise, then gave a nod and rose to his feet. Nyanta led him three rooms back where there was a small alcove that would keep sounds from echoing into the main chamber. "Please shield the door from spies and sound," Nyanta asked him. Michael took the time to cast it right and keep the sub-guild out as well, then joined him cross legged on the floor. "I said I would teach mew, but really, meowr to ask Izanagi yourself and it will teach mew."

Michael took a breath to calm himself while Nyanta did the same, settling into a state of reception for becoming the Oracle. When it looked like Nyanta was ready, Michael bowed. "Inari-no-Izanagi, I've come as requested to ask you what I can do to retrieve Purrcy. Will you please teach me?" He watched Nyanta's face.

"...You must realm walk and bring her back the same way."

Michael's eyes widened a little. "Can I transport others through the realms? I don't know how."

"Yes, it is possible. You must never let them go, however, or they will be lost, not being realm walkers themselves." For the next five minutes Izanagi tutored Michael in how to transport others through the realms and supervised him as he practiced the theory and concept. When Izanagi felt he had done his work sufficiently, he left Nyanta. Nyanta collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Michael put his hand on Nyanta's shoulder. "Tetorō, Nyanta-san needs spirit healing immediately. We're three dungeon rooms back."

"Be right there," Tetorō said sleepily. Michael waited until he arrived, then modified his spell so Tetorō could enter the room. His expression was confused, but he was quickly casting his highest spirit healing spell on Nyanta. "What happened?"

"Purrcy's stuck in the last level. I was ordered to ask Izanagi for instructions on how to fetch her back." Michael looked at Tetorō for a moment, then said, "Will you wait here while I do it? If I disappear, it's okay. I'll be back." He rubbed his head a little, then added, "and I wouldn't mind if you kept a thread on me while I did it. I might get lost, too. It's a new thing for me. If I'm connected to you I'll know where to come back to. Just make sure you stay here. If you get dragged along with me we'll all get lost...though he says you can't."

"Does it have to do with the realm walking?" Tetorō asked. Michael nodded. "Okay. I'll anchor you here and keep tabs on you."

"Thanks." A glance at Nyanta gave him eyes that were watching him, but a body that wasn't ready to move yet. Michael gave him a nod as well, then stepped into the code realm. That being the most familiar realm, it was the easiest to cross into first. Plus it let Tetorō put the line on him firmly before moving on. "Make it general enough to cross all realms. Nyanta said her last report included lots of traps in the code realm. I may have to slip into the next one over to fetch her out."

"Sure thing," Tetorō's mind avatar said to him. That particular area was safe, so he settled down to watch from there.

Michael turned to face where he thought Purrcy was. "Can you give me a beacon? A one-bit blip at random intervals would do it if you flavor it with her flavor ever so slightly."

"Okay," Tetorō created the spell, then cast it.

Michael caught the first bit and headed that direction. Walking in the code realm was a bit different than having the mind avatar fly through it. He had to be careful to not let his physical body touch things that would damage it. He could still walk through walls and other things that had holes in the code - that is that were infrastructure but not solid in the code realm. Most walls were that way - solid in the base realm but just open constructs in the code realm. It was certain spells and other odd infrastructure things that he had to detour around.

He experimented and found he could still use his wings and that helped a lot. It was probably because they were code wings, actually. With a little more experimentation, he learned he could change size and shape slightly, but not by much. He paid attention on the way in to how and where he could bring Purrcy back. There would have to be space enough for both of their physical bodies, though if she was cat it might not be so bad.

Michael was also wary of watchful spy eyes that might be set around the area in the code realm. If another pseudocode mage found him in here and attacked, that would be equally bad. He might fend off attacks, but he'd rather not have to fight in here if at all possible. As part of that, he made sure he stayed up high where most mages didn't think to set traps. However, given that the Eagles had introduced the Navigators to the code realm and attacks therein, it was possible they were prepared with traps in the heights as well, so he stayed alert. When he reached the room with the first code realm traps he sighed. They were created by programmers for sure, but not by spell casters. They'd surely been set by the Observers. He slipped over into the spirit realm, taking with him an 'ear' that would let him still catch the bits coming from the beacon over Purrcy.

When he finally reached the room she was in, she was rather obvious in the spirit realm. She was the only spirit in the room, though it was full of enemies. "Purrcy," he called to her, wondering if she'd be able to hear him. He stood at the edge of the line between the spirit realm and the code realm and inspected the code that had her trapped. It was rather sophisticated in that it had her held rather fast in both the base and code realms. He tried again from that location, "Purrcy. They were expecting you, weren't they? To put a Summon line in the code."

Her ear turned towards him. "Michael? You would think so. Are you in the code realm? It's dangerous."

"Too dangerous," he agreed. "No, mostly in the spirit realm."

"Good. Keep going. I'm not being harmed, just held. We need to know how deep they are. I figure if it's this bad here it may be near the final room they're in. Go find out what we're really up against and how deep they really are."

Michael paused, then said, "No. Izanagi's sent me on this specific errand. Izanami might not be in agreement if you've not been able to get here any other way than physically. I'll stick to my orders. Come on." He reached down and only put his hand out into the base realm, being careful to not get it trapped as well. As soon as he had his hand on her shoulder, he was pulling her into the spirit realm. He had to focus on intending all of her to come with his hand as he returned it to being only in the spirit realm. He was relieved when she came with him, disappearing from the base and code realms.

"Well, that was interesting," she said looking at him, then looked around the room. "And that's interesting, too."

Michael nodded. "It's even more fun when outside dungeons and everything's present. This is a lot less crowded in here. Don't let go, and can you turn into cat or kitten? It would be easier to get us back if you can."

Purrcy turned to him and put her hands on his shoulders, then stepped very close to him to rest her forehead on his shoulder, her furry head soft on the side of his neck. His arm slipped around her waist. "Michael...," she relaxed into him just a little too long for his comfort. She gave a little shiver. "Thank you for coming to get me." It wasn't what she was going to say, and he knew it, but she only changed into a cat, resting on his arm though still in the same pose.

The fingers of his other hand dug into the fur on her back and behind her head to hold her tightly. "It's my pleasure to fulfill my duty and honor my pledge," he answered quietly. "Nyanta-san and the others are waiting." He lifted off and flew through the spirit realm back the way he'd come, feeling his tie to Tetorō pull him back. "Did you do that on purpose?" he asked in a whisper.

"No," she whispered back. "Izanagi did."

He frowned. "Why? He's the jealous one."

She shook her head against his neck. "You needed to learn the lesson? He's testing me? I don't know." She relaxed in his arms and slowly went smaller until she was resting down in both of his arms. "I'm so tired, Michael. I want it to end." The last was said so quietly he wasn't sure he heard it right.

"You're not allowed to give up yet." She shivered in his arms, but he stayed cold. She had tasks to fulfill that only she could do. When he arrived in the cavern with Nyanta and Tetorō again, he stepped into the code realm first, to collect Tetorō and thank him, then stepped back into the base realm. Nyanta had recovered enough he was sitting up, waiting. Michael bent down and passed Purrcy off to him. "It isn't you she wants though, not when you're the one that trapped her."

Michael turned his back on Nyanta and left the room without looking back, taking down his barrier on the doorway on his way out. He went straight to Shiroe. "Why the hell is Izanagi the one trapping her?" he asked quietly when he was in front of those sharp eyes that saw all and told only very little. "Only he has the ability to make it so she won't come on another Summon. If Nyanta Summons her, she can't refuse, even if there is a weak line of code written by a Navigator hovering over her head. Why did he force me to go pick her up?"

Shiroe waved Michael even closer, then held his shoulder to keep him very close so that his mouth was by Michael's ear. "It's already pushing the next level on us. It's not willing to wait for that one either. If it can make Nyanta all the more jealous...or make you act, either one, it doesn't care."

Michael stiffened and he could feel the tension of anger in his muscles make them tremor. "Not on my watch," he said with fierceness in the whisper.

Shiroe patted his shoulder twice and let him go. "Thanks for the retrieval," he said calmly.

"Nyanta-san's bringing her back for the report. What I heard from him is right, though," Michael answered just as calmly after he'd stood back upright. "There are tons of traps in the code realm once you get to the third room of the next level. The easiest thing to do is just stomp them all before entering it. Any of the three of us can do that. Purrcy showed it to us ... _after_ she made us learn how to survive them and sneak around them." He folded his arms and looked directly into Shiroe's eyes. Shiroe looked back and nodded. He understood. Not only had Izanagi trapped her, but she hadn't needed to be trapped at all to begin with.

Michael went back to his place in the middle of the sub-guild and lay back down, his hands behind his head. He dropped into the code realm and the rest were waiting for him. "Let's go. I need to kill things." They chased him up out of the gravity well of Theldesia and to the moon where he flattened every Navigator-written trap on the moon with a single hate and anger filled burst of code.

"Go. I'll keep their attention," he told the rest and the watchdog of the master hacker that had raised its affronted head at his destructiveness. Because he could, he changed his avatar to that of a winged demon from hell and made sure it projected to every computer monitor on the moon. "You have gone too far," he intoned and it echoed over the speaker system on the moon. "You are no longer allowed to act against Theldesia and the creatures who live thereon. Die."

Because the constructs focused on only him, they were all destroyed and dead from the unseen ten minutes later. All systems and the robots were reprogrammed in another ten and set into temporary storage mode. All Trojan viruses were erased in the first five minutes and all communication between the moon base of the Navigators and Theldesia was cut off save for the two small holes Izanami required to send future monsters down through for game play and the link to the Adventurer Trees of Life.

Down in the cavern of the China Maze of Eternity, Tetorō stiffened and dropped to the ground as his brain and soul memory had written on it in a way he would never be able to forget the code for the way to open the wormholes between universes and worlds. Shortly thereafter a packet entered Purrcy's butler and the same code was dropped into her foxhole in an indestructible package keyed to her signature only.

-:-:-:-:-

Six hours from breakfast they were outside the boss room of the third level. "It really hasn't slowed down," Isaac commented, his arms folded as he looked at that door.

"No, sadly," Shiroe agreed, rubbing his head, then pushing up his glasses. "Shall we take another two hour break?"

"Sounds good to me," Crusty agreed. "And then I think if we want to take the entire rest of the day for that room, that would be just fine."

"I'm in agreement," Shiroe said turning away from the door with him. The rest of the Generals gave nods of assent. They were in a race to keep the Overwritten from getting to the Tree of Life, but they weren't being pressed to keep any other Overwritten from showing up.

Everyone was already sitting down eating from their own stores. The faster eaters were also already pulling up pieces of floor or wall to sleep on. A few even pulled out their sleeping bags first to be truly comfortable. "I do wish we could reward everyone for all their hard work," Shiroe said a little wistfully as he sat down at the edge of his own guild.

"What reward would you give them?" Purrcy asked.

Shiroe glared at her from the corner of his eye and ate instead of answering. If he was going to deign to answer Izanami, it needed to be with the proper answer, not a flippant one. It wouldn't get the difference and might just give it.

"Actually," Touya said, "while I'm not the one to make that decision, if we could get to the final boss and have it not be Overwritten and give us the drop it's supposed to...that would be nice."

Tetorō choked. "No, young Touya, not here," Naotsugu shook his head vigorously. "Here the final room we're in drops things worse than you'd get in the newby training field. It's the final test, you see. If a league makes it that far and isn't worthy of getting to the Tree, it's the room to make them walk out in disgust and never come back."

"Oh," Touya's face fell. "That's no good, then, is it?" Those who had already been in the Yamato Maze of Life shook their heads.

"Upgrades, then?" Isuzu asked musingly.

"I'm actually rather happy with my speedy increase of level growth," Rudy said, surprising the rest of them. "I know it doesn't seem like much to most of you, but to be able to break through the eighties and see the nineties in reach ...when we were stuck because there wasn't anything else to move us before. I rather like that reward."

"...It is a nice side effect," Minori agreed cautiously, not willing to set it as the only reward.

Shiroe listened to the guild pass around various ideas, enjoying their company. He knew what he'd wish for, but it wouldn't happen. There wasn't a teleport or "skip level" function to the dungeon they were in outside of this one. This was just one room for that dungeon. "...Maybe...one extra miracle," he said low and really for his ears only. He sighed. "But that's me being selfish again which isn't where I started. That won't really reward everyone else for their efforts right now."

Purrcy had been listening, of course. "You're talking about the bling, the thing that shines for their eyes in the moment of satisfaction. ...And the thing that lets them function a little better into the future."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Everyone has been working with a lot of heart and effort, even back in Yamato. The world quests are so long that I hope people don't give up for not having the rewards."

"No, I understand that," Purrcy said with a nod. "For the long quests, the intermediate things that continue to draw them on, to make it worth the longer path, and something at the end of each level to have made it worth it and to keep going into the next one. Wouldn't Akatsuki be worth it?"

Shiroe hit Purrcy on the head. "Go away Izanami. You have no idea how horrible that was. I'll kill you myself if you suggest it again. I'll ask Akatsuki for Akatsuki when she and I are ourselves and not yours. Taking away our right to choose that is already a thing I've explained multiple times. We will hate you both forever for not understanding that one point. And I do mean _all_ of us Adventurers. It ranks just as high, if not higher, as you stealing us away from home without our consent."

"Hmm...I wonder," was all Izanami would say to it. Shiroe had all sorts of horrible flashbacks to all the horrible things humans had done to other humans on Earth over its long history. There were probably more examples of women stolen away or raped than of being tenderly loved in publication - historical or fiction - and therefore on the internet.

Somehow he really was very disappointed that the far more numerous tender love stories of common, decent folk weren't considered more important to record for posterity. After all, humans needed the positive examples to know what path to properly follow so their own lives could be happy, contented ones. He wrapped his long arms around his knees and brooded for a while after that until he was finally tackled and pushed down to properly sleep - which he did. He was tired, too, and needed the recharge of his mental battery as much as everyone else did.

-:-:-:-:-

Two hours...four hours...five and a half hours...it took six hours to defeat the boss room of the third level. That was with the initial small-fry bomb, and having to call in the Hackers from the moon when things got tight enough they needed one more set to rotate in. Worst of all...it wasn't with everyone slowing it down on purpose. Every ninth round the small fry regenerated. On the tenth round the bosses still standing absorbed all of the small fry within a certain radius of them and regenerated an equivalent amount.

The cool-down on the three Programmers that could cast the small-fry bomb was thirty rounds - enough until this level, and now not even enough in this final battle for all three. The first time, they hadn't known. Thereafter, it was a toss up whether to have them focus on that spell or help get the numbers down on the bosses and sometimes the choice made was the wrong one in the end, particularly as the bosses got down to the half and twenty percent high-level spells. They nearly wasted the entire legion twice making that wrong choice.

But experimentation and learning are all part of battling bosses and clearing dungeons, and Shiroe always had a few on hand to hold the room open - him included. Eventually they managed to get the pattern right and take the final boss out. Everyone sat right where they were and pulled out food and ate immediately, then toppled over. It was another twenty minutes before someone tottered out of the room to find Chef Hiroki had arrived and informed him he could wait and worry about breakfast after getting some of his own sleep.

When breakfast did arrive, everyone ate hungrily, grateful to have the food, which in this case was comfort, not just nourishment. They hadn't bothered to give the Vengeful Ghost the drop the night before, so they did that after breakfast, then looked at each other. Purrcy sighed and walked up to the door, dragging Michael and Tetorō with her. "On three we'll simulcast. I'll take the center, each of you take one side. Make sure you open the door on two," she said to the person standing closest to the door, who happened to be Kanami. She gave a nod and a wild grin. "Ready?" When the two men nodded she started the countdown. The door swung open and the three spells went off, blasting through the room.

As the bubbles cleared, they could hear laughter coming from the room - the first they'd heard a response from their enemies. "Welcome, children! We have been waiting for your arrival. Shall we dance?"

"Well, that sounds more like what I'm used to," Kanami said as she looked around the room. "Skeletal Pirate King and crew, and none are low level at all." She walked in first. "I'd love to dance," she said, then was dodging an attack to the side to land on the wall and push off, landing on the shoulders of the closest pirate skeleton. "I get the hat!" she called and everyone was moving forward, swarming into the room as the Pirate King protested that he'd be keeping his hat, "thank you very much." That battle was rather like war on the high seas, and in the end Kanami snatched the hat off the head of the Pirate King just before he went up in bubbles. She wore it quite proudly.

In the next room, everyone snuck in and around the edges before the three set off the small-fry removing spell. The light lit up the darkened room and was followed by the Enchanters setting off light spells overhead as the bat mini-enemies fell to the ground in bubbles from the ceiling and the SlimeSlugs fell to the ground in large splats. They nearly immediately began finding each other and becoming larger SuperSlimeSlugs. Fire spells and ice spells went off all over the room until they were small enough to seek each other out to become the Boss SlimeSlug - or so they thought. As it was reaching its twenty percent level, there was the loud sound of slurping and the rolling of a large wet body and from above came drips of slime. Half the legion was suddenly fighting a Giant SuperSlimeSlug - from the inside as it landed on them. The other half was fighting off one rolling towards them to envelop them. HP dropped fast from the effect of the slime on the Adventurers and in the end, they died. It was an embarrassing defeat, to die to slimes.

They had to fight the Pirates again, but not the rest of the dungeon. That was the concession that time: just restart the level. While not thrilling, it was better than the alternative. And this time, they weren't overwritten, so it went faster. They defeated the slimes the second time, not being surprised by the final boss. The third room wasn't entered until Purrcy cleared the code realm of traps and the thieves of the parties went and disarmed all the traps in the base realm.

The Ice Queen and her court were as bad a battle as a giant chess game, and Shiroe was glad Crusty had the Earth background to keep up with that half as he kept up with the status half. To have done both would have been extremely difficult. They won, but by the skin of their teeth, a pawn and one rook. There was a very scary moment when the Queen went against the "king" Shiroe himself, but somehow Crusty managed to keep him alive while staying alive himself. Shiroe claimed he was really a bishop, but Crusty looked at him tiredly. "You won't move more than a step at a time when you're focused that much, you know. As far as movement rate goes, you're a king." Shiroe had to drop it. Crusty wasn't wrong on that count.

"That makes you the Queen?" Crusty was teased.

Crusty turned and pointed to Kanami. "She's the one that jumps all over the field if we let her. So I let her. I'm just a knight...which is how I managed to save Shiroe at all."

The next room was trapped again and was cleared by Michael, then the physical traps were cleared by Tetorō. "I don't want to waste the time," he said, "when I can do it the same - by springing them all before we even walk in."

"Except now we have to clear the miasma and poisonous gasses," Purrcy rolled her eyes at him.

"Maybe they'll kill the enemy. Shall we have lunch and see?" Tetorō rejoined.

"Or the enemy will absorb them and be the worse for it," Brody said gloomily.

"Hey, now," Tetorō scolded him. "How we want it to turn out has an effect, too. Don't curse it. Join me in thinking happy thoughts."

"Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man," Schedules said in a stage whisper to Bowie. Bowie nodded. Purrcy's whiskers twitched and a thin green spark line shot off the end of her finger. The Eagles laughed then quickly wrote up purification electricity code to match hers. As one group, singing the theme song to _Ghostbusters_ , they moved into the room, purifying it as they went. The other Generals shook their heads and moved everyone else into place behind them. It was a difficult battle and they nearly went down once more, the final three Adventurers hiding behind dark pillars until the rest could arrive from the respawn point again.

They took a break at that point. "I think we can get in to see how much farther we have to go," Purrcy said, drinking down an herbed smoothie.

"Right," Shiroe said, "Michael send in Intelligence and have them scout. Take out any traps beforehand. They already know we're here and coming. I don't see why leaving them up helps them or hurts us at this point."

Michael stood up, looked the direction they were headed, and blasted all code realm traps from the far wall until there weren't any more in sight in the code realm, then sat back down. He drank from his mug. "Okay. Done. Watch for the buried ones. I didn't bother to dig up the landscape." The three Eagles sat together in a triangular huddle and went looking. All three Programmers were suddenly sitting stiffly and there was a dull thud of impact on the far wall. "Well, I guess there were a few sitting around inside the code realm waiting for the traps to be set off," Michael said.

"The shields will hold for about fifteen minutes," Purrcy said, her head tipped. "We could let them in and battle it out with everyone, since we can make them visible. It's a bit much for just the Hacker group, I think." Michael agreed with a nod. Tetorō's eyes were wide and he looked very resigned at the same time.

"What, a whole room's worth?" Shiroe asked.

"Yeah," Tetorō said, "one of this dungeon's rooms, though not the small-fry."

The Generals sighed and got the details and quickly put together the battle plan, glad they'd had that kind of practice on the high seas also. That kited battle opened up another room a few more down, though, which was nice once they got there, since they'd died another couple of times before then on the way. But that was after the Intelligence detail came back and collected the Hackers that were on the moon and another party of six, saying they needed to hold the front of the line from moving forward any more and for the rest of them to hurry it up. Since Michael, Purrcy, and Tetorō knew that the three of them were Programmers as well, they didn't argue and they didn't go with. Three Programmers at each end should be sufficient with the other help. It did make a difference to the defense of the legion, though, which was how it got a little more difficult.

"Really," Nakalnad complained finally in the empty room, "it does feel like every room has become it's own war, not just a battle."

"It's pretty close," Crusty agreed. "Given that the bosses are getting more intelligent as well, I wouldn't be surprised if the last Overwritten ahead of us gives us exactly that."

"You'd not be far off," came a conference chat in the air over them. "Shiroe, sir, we're about to lose them through the next door."

"How many rooms between us and them, Charlie?" Shiroe asked.

"It's one, but it's about to be two."

"Do they have to heal up between rooms?"

"Some, but they can get through rooms faster than we can. We've been holding them back."

"Michael, take five more and go reinforce their wall." Michael went inside and called for five of his men and they sat still on the ground, their minds walking the code realm. "Charlie when they get there, send the six weakest out for recovery. We'll need them back as soon as they can get healed up. Then keep it going in party rotations like we've been doing here."

"Yessir," Charlie's chat was gone.

"Okay, everyone," Crusty stood up and said in his loud voice, which wasn't a yell. "We're at the final Overwritten room. Kill as many as you can and die. The Overwriting won't come back on the ones we killed. It's going to be full out war, so I expect three deaths per person. Here's Shiroe on the strategy."

Shiroe stared at him then sighed and stood up. "Right. We're looking at three intelligent bosses working together and their seconds are intelligent, too, and there are no low level enemies. They're all high level. We're breaking up into our shipboard arrangements - everyone under their Generals. We've got the brains to match them, plus Crusty's on top, now. Show him what you learned on the Ocypete the first round and he'll know how to direct it better the second and I'll know how to help better since I'll have seen it once through by then." He turned to Purrcy. "If the Eagles and Hackers can stay on the rotation and stay alive, can we count them as holding the door for us, without counting them towards the ninety-six?"

"Yes, though...you'd best ask for the miracles rather than ask them to step over and fight instead of hold the wall. That might be a breach of numbers."

"Okay, I can do that," he said. Everyone got into formations and headed for the door. Shiroe held Purrcy and KR back. "I want a self-destruct spell. Start it now and let it build up. At the right moment, I'll have the three bosses taunted together and tell you to set the spell off in the middle of them. They all three have to go down in that one, so it can't be too soon. KR, keep your ear on me very closely. As soon as I tell her to cast, you're to start on the Summon. As soon as she's bubbles, Summon her back. Purrcy, I want you back in there to fight as panther as soon as you're back. If we still need the miracle after that, I'll ask Izanagi first, then you." Purrcy looked at him, then nodded solemnly. KR sighed sadly and looked away, but didn't protest. Shiroe released them and they headed to join their party.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō looked at everyone who was still standing around him. He was keeping people healed up, but was failing fast. He finally stepped back and ran for the door. "Michael, get in here and trade me out. I'll come hold the wall. They need your military help. Not having you here is dragging it down."

"Now? Or after the collapse?"

Tetorō rolled his eyes. "Fine, after the collapse. That might give me two minutes of recovery."

"Drink up your potions. You'll need them."

"Right."

Tetorō managed to get to the door and out of it without being shot in the back, as it were. The war was indeed going very badly this first round, though it wasn't for trying. There were just minor things that kept creeping up and Tetorō had the sneaking suspicion they'd been programmed with battle tactics and an understanding of war. They needed Michael for that, and maybe to swap out Hackers so the Eagles were on the inside. He contacted all the Hackers that had fallen and were headed back now. They were full up in HP and MP now, so they poured potions down the throats of the Eagles sitting out and sat next to them, then went inside and traded out stations. Tetorō headed in when the last of the non-Eagle Hackers was inside and traded with Michael.

"I've left four potions next to you. Down them with yours and get full up and don't die once you're in there. They've got military programming in them." Michael gave him a nod, showed him the spell he was holding, and disappeared. Tetorō picked up the spell and looked around at the rest of the spells. They'd left him the Intelligence division. "One at a time, go out and get healed back up to full," he told them. "We're tanked up for now." He already had an idea of how to get the wall to hold without quite so much output over time.

Tetorō could see the Overwritten trying to get through the Hacker wall from here. They could hear them from the other side, but they were being prevented from getting to the Adventurers. He slipped up into the next level up and crafted the spell he wanted, then slipped back down. "Here, copy this one," he showed it to the Hackers. "I know it's not our normal type of spell to use, but I'm going to tie into yours and turn it into something beautiful." It was a modification of the spell he'd crafted for the Monks against the muddied Stone Giant at the end of the second level, so for his perspective even less cost which was nice. When all of the Intelligence detail was back he took them up into the milli layer and showed them his over-code and had them copy it. When they were back down, he said, "Okay. Cast your spells." The ten Hackers cast their spells and the four Programmers cast theirs, picking up the subset under them, and tied them together and sat back to watch.

Picks and fists and hammers came against the wall. Where they had before been draining MP and doing HP damage to the wall, now for every blow on the wall, the HP force was absorbed and added a corresponding thin layer to the wall on the backside. They would slowly move the wall back that way, but it should never be broken through. The attacks that were pulling MP out of the wall were suddenly pulling lightning shocks that ran through the weapon and up the arm of the enemy holding it. They had created a wall that both continuously rebuilt and damaged without them doing anything to it themselves. The only thing they would need to do was keep the MP up sufficiently that the wall didn't fade completely. That was a lot less cost than what they'd been doing and now they got a better result.

"The ends need to keep an eye on the doorway to make sure we don't slip too far back," he ordered. "When we get a wall away from the next room, we'll recast behind them and trap them in. Then it's fish in a barrel, rinse, and repeat. Half of you on down-time for that recast. Half of us is plenty to feed the MP to the wall until then. We'll rotate each round." He got nods.

"Umm, isn't this against the no-attack rule?"

"I don't think so," he said. "We aren't attacking. They're attacking and the wall is doing recoil damage."

"How are we going to get rid of them when they're inside?"

Tetorō pointed into the battle-filled room. "There'll be enough dead by then we'll just be part of the ninety-six. I'll confirm first, though." He turned around and looked into the next room, compared the enemy to the spawn, then shrugged. "And we can always let them break through and let the next room take them out. These are small-fry for this room. We might learn something, too, while we watch them get taken out." He pondered that for a moment, then added, "And once they're in battle in that room, we don't count as the ninety-six in the former room. We count as the seventeen in the next room." The others got slow grins on their faces, very much liking the sound of that.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael and the Eagles with him stepped into the room just in time to keep it open, though Tetorō's group was technically doing that as well. They stayed hidden as they considered their attack strategy, but they were muttering the various strategies they were seeing and had seen before, followed by the counter strategies. "Shiroe, I think we need to match their ranks. Let me put the Eagles over sub groups under the generals, like the lieutenants of the enemy."

"Go for it. We're here, just tell us where to set up."

Michael spared a glance out the door. Crusty, Reed, Shiroe, and the other Generals were waiting outside the door. He motioned for the first three to come to him and he led them to high ground that was out of the way of fire for now. He assigned three Eagles each to Isaac and Nakalnad and one each to Brody and Kazuo. They took their Generals to the locations that matched their enemies. "Kanami, try to get your group to sneak to the back wall and help that group take out the folks on the back side. Draw as much attention as you can. Leave Erius with Brody and Kazuo. He's got enough military experience to be helpful there. The other three of you can die as much as you want and go back there again all you want. Be a thorn in their backsides."

"You got it," she said. It was a little surprising they actually moved without drawing attention to themselves.

"Okay, on their first attack, Delta Bravo Charlie, followed by Meteor Shower," Michael ordered the legion.

Kanami's group attacked and half the enemy turned around to wonder why they were being attacked from the rear first. Everyone else ran up and planted in front of their groups. While they set up, taunted, and cast support spells, the Sorcerers cast for fire from the sky to rain down randomly in the middle of the enemy, causing chaos. Michael and his Hacker sub-guild cast their own Meteor Shower - purification spells that sped directly from them into the enemy just in front and exploded into smaller spells that bulleted through a large number of them. It didn't do lots of HP damage, but it would leave behind a tracing smoking hole that would enlarge the longer time passed.

By the time that was done, the front line of each group was set up. "Whale away," Michael said calmly and swords met enemy flesh. He turned his attention to the three enemy generals in the middle. "Crusty, keep your eye on the one in the middle, Reed, you've got the right and I'll take the left. Keep up the chatter so we all know every little move they each make. Shiroe, be Crusty's voice for a while so Reed can focus his orders on the parties affected by his target."

"Can do," Shiroe said a little distantly. He was like that when he was watching everyone's stats, but his ears worked perfectly well.

Between them, Michael and Reed taught Crusty what it was to not just watch for incoming imminent attacks, but to understand incoming orders to the enemy from an enemy leader. "Whoop," Michael said and both he and Reed threw up shields in front of the four of them that rebounded the incoming spells from said enemy leaders. They didn't quite get a perfect rebound and the spells hit about mid level in the enemy crowd instead of the leaders themselves. The distance was a bit far, it seemed.

The three enemy leaders moved towards each other to conference and Michael said, "Thor's Hammer." Reed nodded and Crusty hefted his battle ax. Michael counted down and Crusty swung his ax. At the same time as his ranged attack hit his target, bolts of purification lightning fell on Michael and Reed's targets with a loud crack that filled the room with smaller fingerlings of lightning that jumped from the enemy leaders to the enemies that surrounded them until they dissipated before reaching the Adventurers. The enemy Generals had been close enough that the middle one hit by Crusty's attack was hit by the other two as well, and the follow-on damage hit all three of them for a while. The enemy Generals stayed apart for a while after that, and had to continue to telegraph their orders to the watching seven Adventurer Generals.

The Adventurers managed to stay standing long enough to take down almost all of the foot soldiers this time - until they regenerated. That got a lot of swearing from Adventurers who found it very annoying. Shiroe calmly stated the time to regeneration and the criteria - that they regenerated based on the HP level of their commanders. "Right, then, change of tactics." Michael said and gave a new order to the Eagles. All long ranged attacks fell on the lieutenants from then on. Slow speed status effects were cast on the foot soldiers as well as other status effects like paralysis and the like to get their damage capacity down. Only the tanks and close-in fighters took them on until they were under half HP. Then the close-in fighters moved directly against the lieutenants.

At that, the enemy generals lifted hands. "Purrcy, shield Crusty's third," Michael ordered as he and Reed set up umbrella shields over all the Adventurers under them. They curled them up at the outer edges so that when the spell went of, it rebounded back again and spread over the enemy. They were fortunate that it managed to hit the enemy Generals as well. "Snowball fight," Michael said, and there were suddenly balls of purification light in the air and headed for the three enemy Generals. They hit with precision, stuck like snowballs would to coats and hair, and slowly began to melt into the enemies, again causing slow long term damage as they did.

"I think mine's going to come try hand to hand," Crusty said.

"Go meet him, then," Michael said.

"It's better to keep them close together," Shiroe agreed.

"Is the regeneration tied to the three or just the lieutenants?" Michael asked him.

"I can't tell yet. So far it looks like just the lieutenants," Shiroe answered him.

"Then might I suggest a change to your strategy?" Michael asked. "Let us pull the generals out, then have the parties push the lieutenants into the middle. If they're gone the foot soldiers won't be back, right?"

Shiroe considered that. "We only get one opportunity. If the regeneration of either the foot soldiers or the lieutenants is based on the HP of the generals, we'll wish we'd taken out the generals instead." Crusty's clash with the general in his sights was rather impressive. He took it down a quarter in one hit, and to half in the next one.

"Assist. Let's test the theory on that one general," Michael said. The close-in fighters and sorcerers closest to the central group from his and Reed's parties turned and helped take the lieutenants down faster. Michael and Reed, and to his surprise Shiroe with an assist to both of them, sent a barrage of bullets at the foot soldiers to assist the tanks in taking them down faster as well. They had just enough time before needing to get back to the defense on the sides to see what would happen. Crusty reached the twenty percent mark on the general he was fighting and half the foot soldiers were down. One more attack took out one lieutenant and things started happening. Fewer foot soldiers rose from the ground, but the lieutenant came back.

"That's got to be a sum of all three generals, then," Shiroe said. "If it had been based on just one, it wouldn't have come back. I'd expect if the lieutenant had been taken out just a little sooner all the foot soldiers would have come back."

"Maybe not, not if it's based on the general," Michael said.

Shiroe calculated a little more, then said, "It's an even number so maybe."

"Let's try it on the next general, then, shall we?" Reed said. "Mine looks ready to try."

"Whoop," Michael said and Reed paused long enough to throw up the shield that Crusty just managed to get hiding behind. They angled the shields just a little better and managed to get the rebound to hit the lieutenants.

"Well, and that's disappointing," Shiroe said. "Sorry, Crusty, but they've got a slow regen when not in hand to hand, like we do."

Crusty shrugged. "I'll just get to hit him some more, then."

Michael wasn't quite so happy, though. "Okay, if they do that, then maybe your original plan is better. The more they get to go up the harder it will be to keep the little ones down."

"Let's get them down at least thirty percent, then," Shiroe said. "If they can be there all at the same time, can you go in seven minutes, Purrcy?"

Purrcy calculated, then said, "It'd be nice to have ten, or to have them down thirty-five or forty."

"We could go a second round with them," Michael said calmly. "That will give her more time."

"Fine," Shiroe said. When Reed came back in it was for the next overhead shield from the second room-level attack from the three generals.

"Whoa!" Shiroe said a couple of minutes later. "Kanami got some good hits in, there. The six on the wall are gone."

"Tetorō gave us fish in a barrel," Kanami said brightly. "He led them in slowly by the nose, then blocked them in so we could finish them off."

"Nice. Watch to see if they regenerate, too, and where."

"You got it! ...Ah, but they shouldn't be regenerating if we're purifying them, right? I mean, these are the Overwritten that defeated this room, not the original monsters of this maze, right?"

"It's written into the code of the higher-ups," Michael said. "It's a cascade effect when the right criteria are met."

"One way to think of it," Shiroe said, "is that it's all one monster."

"Oohhh," Kanami understood. "Like a hydra-type."

"Right."

Another round of the enemy general's fighting hand-to-hand and they were roughly at thirty-two percent down when they got back in their positions. "Shiroe, I won't be able to cast anything again for the rest of the room," Purrcy said privately on the general's line. "I followed that code through and I'm going to have to burn it out. Even if I take them down, the numbers of lieutenants and foot soldiers still standing will bring them back to life."

They all felt cold at that. "Okay. Do you need one more round for that to be added in?" he asked her.

She paused, then said, "Your other option is to request it as your miracle from me. I could go now if you do. The code's already written in."

"You'll still suicide?"

"Yes."

Shiroe calculated. "Alright. We don't have to be in a hurry but we're already using up too much and have the rest of this level to get through. Please take out the generals and burn the pathway that allows them to regenerate from the other monsters in the room so they can't come back." He motioned to KR, who had stepped back with Purrcy. KR gave a nod and watched Purrcy.

"Get ready for Rushing Pass," Michael passed on to the rest of the Eagles. "On dissolution of the enemy generals."

There was a build-up of pressure in the center of the room, right over the enemy generals, and they looked up, then moved, but it didn't matter. The pressure followed each of them until there was a sudden flash and they froze. The distinctive buzzing sound of electricity filled the room as all three were encased in cages of brilliant blue lightning. "Pull back so you aren't touching any enemy," Crusty ordered everyone. The buzzing increased in intensity until there was a series of flashes as lightning flashed from the three generals to the lieutenants, then on to all the foot soldiers. With a final loud thunderclap the generals and Purrcy disappeared and the room was darkened from having been filled with the bright lightning only moments before.

Three seconds later, there was a calico panther standing next to KR. He put his hand on her head lightly and they moved back into position with their team and attacked with the rest of the Adventurers who moved together to attack with ferocity, pushing back the enemy until they were backed up against the far wall and falling in droves. The Adventurers used up their healers shamelessly until the final one was falling at the same time the final enemy was going up in bubbles. The few remaining fighters slumped in exhaustion. "Right, people, that's a wrap. We'll sleep it off and finish out the level tomorrow," Reed passed on for Crusty. "Thanks to the Hackers on the wall and everyone for your hard work."

Michael clapped his hand on Reed's shoulder and together they walked out of the room to find the rest of their men and get their cat licks and pets in while Purrcy had to still be feline. He picked up the golden chalice on the way past it and handed it to Shiroe on the way out the door. "Filled with Vengeful Spirits, that is," he commented.

Shiroe slumped. "Oh, good." It went into his list - most likely into a secure box - and he followed them out of the room and towards the smells of dinner.

Purrcy was rubbing on Nyanta's legs when they got closer to their usual spot, but when she saw them, she trotted over and welcomed them with the same - rubs and purrs. They pet her. "Good job, that," Michael said. "But shouldn't you be felinoid by now?"

Purrcy laughed. "Can't until KR says I can, and he's having his fun making life difficult for Nyanta and Shiroe for a while longer."

Shiroe's eyebrow raised a bit. "I don't care, and Nyanta can change any time he wants." He put his hand on Purrcy's head and walked with her over to Nyanta. Michael followed along after. "You two are welcome to go play in the caverns for a while if you want," Shiroe offered. He looked over his shoulder and called for KR. "Take Purrceus out for a run. Nyanta will go with you." KR rolled his eyes but went after taking up his dinner in hand.

"Was that punishment back?" Michael asked Shiroe when they were gone.

"Yes," Shiroe said. "He needed to be reminded who the real Summoner is...and they needed to be out of my hair for a while. If I could get them to go away for the rest of the Maze, I would. The pace has really been way too insane." No one was going to disagree with him. At the same time, no one was going to complain too strenuously either. They had fought some really good fights against some good challenges for once, and weren't being held back from moving forward in a way they felt good about moving. For a Maze of Eternity it had been more likely the least frustrating one to go through. Having all the normal set-backs of the Yamato one would have been far worse. They all were secretly hoping they wouldn't stupidly die in the next few rooms and have to start all over again from the beginning - even if it wasn't with Overwritten.

Log Horizon was just settling down into slumber when the running pads of paws sounded on the rocky floor. Wet nose kisses and purrs tucked everyone in until the two cats were curled up with Tetorō. He pulled them in and cuddled and with a sigh fell asleep. Michael smiled to himself. Tetorō had done well that day in seeing the greatest need and making sure it was met properly and then seeing to it that he did his own job just as well or better.

When KR settled down quietly, then sighed, Michael turned just enough to look at him. The shadow of Akatsuki was just leaving his side, her hand dropping from patting him on the head. Michael nodded to himself. There was one who saw with eyes to understand. Even KR needed the support and encouragement to keep walking forward and she understood that not many were in a position to give it. It was good she was.

Michael breathed a deep breath and let it out and in the next one was asleep. In his dream that night, he was fighting enemies and when he turned around to receive comfort from his wife, he found her off in the distance, walking away from him far enough she couldn't hear his call. In the morning, he couldn't remember the dream, but a vague sense of discomfort remained with him until he got a head rub from a felinoid Purrcy as she walked past towards the kitchen area to help make breakfast.

He sighed and rested his elbow on his raised knee. He didn't look after her though. He just closed his eyes and remembered his wife and son back at home gathering around the breakfast table there, too, and how much he loved them.

"What'cha dreamin' about?"

"Maryann and David. We had some of the best times around the dining room table," he said quietly. He got a pat on the shoulder and was left alone.


	113. Ending the China Maze of Eternity

"Okay, now are we resting or have you got it, you think Master Strategist?" Nakalnad asked Shiroe. They were standing outside the mirror room of the Maze of Eternity.

Shiroe sighed, looked the door up and down, then pushed his glasses up on his face. "I've got it, but we've got to ask for one more thing." He turned to Purrcy. "I'm not taking any pseudocode mages in, nor Nyanta. I want to still be able to walk them into the room and through the mirror. They're essential for the tree repair, but death in this room - especially instant-death-you, and since you know how to defeat yourself and Nyanta together now, we can't repeat what we did last time. Can you allow it?"

Purrcy turned her head to Nyanta. Nyanta stood still and his ears turned a flick or two. Finally he said, "Myself, Purrcy, Tetorō-kun, Michael-nyan, and the Eagles, fine. The others need to be tested purroperly and are low enough level."

Shiroe paced a bit, working that out. "I can't trade out in this room, can I?" Purrcy and Nyanta both shook their heads. Shiroe very carefully and slowly called out the list of party members who would be going into the mirror room, including himself, putting them into their parties as he did so. Nakalnad explained to everyone one more time the rules of the mirror room. Everyone going in had another thirty-five minutes to decide what to leave behind and what to take in with them, then it was time to go and do battle with themselves.

As Shiroe stepped forward to enter the mirror room, a palm landed on his chest, holding him back. "No, I don't think so." Shiroe looked up into Nakalnad's face and scowled. A finger hit his chest repeatedly to emphasize the rest of the comment. "I'm not fighting _your_ double. We'd be lucky to come through with three of us on two HP each. Pick someone else to take your slot."

Shiroe worked to wipe the scowl off his face. He really couldn't fault Nakalnad's worry, though he wasn't sure about Nakalnad himself either. He pursed his lips, then said, "Fine." He turned and looked over the rest of the Adventurers sitting out this time. His eyes fell on a short head. Walking over he said, "Chef Hiroki, would you be willing to take my place in the final room?" Hiroki stared at him open mouthed. "On the other side of the mirror is the China Adventurer Tree of Life. We need Druids to help repair it. I'd appreciate it if you'd go."

"But...but, I haven't fought in a long time, Shiroe-san. I'm rather certain I'd be the first to die in the room."

"Then you'd be done," Shiroe shrugged a little. "But in this room, the element of uncertainty and surprise are almost more important than the capability of a person to fight. It's more likely that we'll win because you went."

Hiroki shifted from foot to foot, his brow furrowed. "What was the result if we all die?"

Shiroe smiled. "We start over from the beginning. But without Overwritten to worry about it will be both easier and we can slow it down a little. Really, it's no worries. Will you go for me, please?"

Hiroki gave it further worried consideration, then finally sighed, "Okay." He took off his apron, cleaned off his hands and trotted over to the door and the waiting Nakalnad. He gave a bit of a worried glance at the general, then squared his shoulders and went on in.

Nakalnad looked at Shiroe. "You're sure?"

Shiroe nodded. "Like I said, one small element of chaos and he's a useful Class. Good luck."

Nakalnad shook his head and closed the door. "I've told Kanami to handle it. She'll have to understand for the rest of them. I figure if I passed last time, I'll pass this time and if they won't let me in, it won't matter. I wasn't much use last time anyway." Shiroe stared at him, then finally just shook his head and walked away with a wave of the hand, giving up.

-:-:-:-:-

Hiroki stood in the room, his head bowed, feeling rather resigned. He really wasn't any good for battles in this world, and he hadn't done battle with any of the parties in this room. He didn't even know which of the parties he was a member of. A sturdy hand landed on his shoulder hard enough to jolt his bones as if his legs had been pounded into the ground. He scowled. It wasn't like he needed to be shorter.

"Hey, hey," an excited female voice said over his head and almost in his ear, "this looks to be an exciting fight! You'll be our sixth and we don't know any more than you, so no worries. Do look up, though. I'd like your double to walk out of the mirror _before_ you tell me what you can do." Hiroki looked up into the face of the crazy person talking to him. He knew perfectly well Kanami was the most experienced person in the room, except Nakalnad. For her to say she didn't know what she was doing was laughable. She laughed and waved a hand at the wall. Hiroki looked where she was pointing and was surprised when his eyes were caught by the reflection.

He was looking at himself: frightened, a short dwarf with an equally short beard (he didn't like it but it wouldn't go away so he faithfully trimmed it every morning to keep it out of the food and his way). As he stared at himself, wishing it wasn't him he was seeing, that self suddenly moved, taking a step forward until it was three dimensional and staring at him, then blinked. He was sure he hadn't blinked. He opened his mouth to speak and the other him didn't. "Ahhh...Miss Kanami...was that supposed to happen?"

"Yup!" she answered happily. "Okay, now tell me. What's your usual method of attack when you battle?"

"Run," he answered simply.

"Great. And what magic do you cast?"

Hiroki blinked. "If they get too close, distractions, entanglements, poisons, that sort of thing, so I can get away."

"Right. I've got it covered. Now, think hard about how you'd defeat yourself while you start defending yourself." Hiroki's eyes went wide and he looked around the rest of the room. Everyone in the room had a double. He had no idea which was which and the panic began to rise. Kanami's hand tightened on his shoulder. "Just stand here. Don't run, but do defend yourself. If you stay still, only the enemy will attack." That she whispered in his ear very quietly. Hiroki swallowed on a very dry throat, but nodded. He was trembling like a leaf, though. He very badly wanted to run into a corner and hide.

Kanami let go of his shoulder and jumped towards his mirror double. It didn't make the squeak he did, but it did jump, startled, and ran - into the corner to huddle and hide with its arms over its head. Hiroki blinked, then felt danger coming from another direction. He spun to see an ax-man headed his way. He instinctively threw up a Stink-Tree in the path of the ax-man. The ax swung and lodged itself into the trunk of the tree, letting out the foul stench. He put the cloth of his sleeve over his mouth and nose. The ax-man merely swung again. For each blow, another cloud of the noxious smoke was released. Hiroki quickly pulled out his special cloth for countering the negative status effects that were part of that smoke and held it over his mouth and nose.

Someone else was coming from another direction. He looked that way and cast Entangling Poison Vine. Three were caught up in them, and another two on the fringes of the area who were fighting other people got caught just enough to be poisoned. Because he had a moment, he cast one more to round out the circle around him - Hungry Moss Mound - enclosing him in a protective barrier.

"Hey, hey, good job!" Kanami called as she passed by him. "Are those all your basics?"

"There's one more," he stuttered a little. She prompted him and he said, "Thorny Hedge." She gave a nod and disappeared into the fray again. His eyes followed her and he saw she was headed for his mirror double, blocking him in. She stopped just inside ten feet of that double and pounded her fists together. The shockwave made the hair on his double move. It shivered and Thorny Hedge began to grow up between her and...him? it? When it was a double of him and an enemy did it count as a monster and therefore an "it"? He felt a little pity for his double. Kanami had retreated, content to let the double hide behind the hedge for a while.

His own attention was caught by the cracking sound of his Stink-Tree falling to the ax-man. He was about to cast another spell when a sword came from behind the ax-man, piercing through his back, slicing up, then swinging to take off his head. The ax-man disappeared in bubbles and a rain of coins. Kanami's party member Erius smiled at Hiroki, then turned to take out the closest enemy entangled in the Entangling Poison Vine, being careful not to touch the vine itself. Hiroki made the vines closest to him thin and get short so he could reach, remembering he was a Person of the Land.

The gap made by the removal of the ax-man became a problem about then, though. He couldn't recast Stink-Tree yet, so he cast Poison Pitcher instead, though he left enough room for Erius to not get caught in it. The giant pitcher plant scooped up the half-elf running at Hiroki, making him feel a little better. He had to work hard to ignore the feet waving in the air and that they were slowing down as the half-elf drowned in the poison.

There was a noise from behind him and he turned to look. The Hungry Moss was slurping up two more enemies who had decided that the dark green carpet wasn't a threat. They stubbornly pulled their feet up and out of the moss with great slurping sounds, but when they put down the foot to take another step, they went from calf depth to knee depth. One lost her balance and fell into the moss. She slowly disappeared, sinking into the moss as if into quicksand. It was a bit eerie that they didn't make sounds or cry out.

That wasn't to mean there weren't sounds in the room. There were. Clashing of sword on sword or ax on shield, the grunts and cries and spell casting of the Adventurers, the cries of Summons that flew or ran across the floor. As Hiroki looked around the room farther, his eyes were caught by the eyes of a magic user. It didn't look like a friendly one. A hand raised and the sparkle of a spell formed in front of the palm. Hiroki swallowed. He couldn't run if he wanted to. He'd be eaten by his own spells. He cast about quickly for what kind of spell might protect him. He didn't know yet what kind of magic this caster was sending. He finally selected one that might work and cast it quickly. The other spell was coming at him. His Leaf Storm swirled up in the air in front of him.

Hiroki didn't really expect the leaves themselves to do any damage - the magic user wasn't really close enough for the leaves to damage it. He was more hoping the wind would interfere. His leaves suddenly slowed their swirl, then glittered with frost. He dropped to a crouch to make himself as small a target as possible, and moved out of the way of the center of the attack, towards the moss, though he couldn't get to close to that either. He was just in time. The ice attack had been followed by a small fireball storm. The fireballs melted the ice on the leaves and singed them and they fell blackened to the ground, though not quite ash. The fireballs sped over Hiroki's head as he ducked even farther. He hoped they didn't damage anyone on the other side. He glanced behind him to make sure and saw that the final two enemies caught in the Entangling Poison Vine were going up in bubbles, having taken the damage for him.

The next spell ready, Hiroki turned back and cast it. A thick vine rose up and hurtled towards the magic user, slamming into its chest and immediately wrapping around it. The Constrictor Vine tightened its hold but the Sorcerer was still casting. Hiroki added Spring Growth to the Constrictor Vine and smaller vines erupted from the far end and sprang out to entangle the arms and wrap around the head of the Sorcerer. Eventually they were thick enough to prevent the Sorcerer from casting its spell.

"Well, Chef, that's going to be a tough combination to beat when we're finally ready to face off your other self. Hope you've got a counter to that one." The comment was said on Kanami's way past, but she was suitably impressed. Hiroki frowned. He had to agree. His attack spells were going to be difficult to counter. He could think of a counter to that one, though. He worked on thinking about counters to his other attacks while he waited for the next thing closer around him to surprise him into action again.

-:-:-:-:-

Kanami kept her eye on everyone and everything. It had been a while since she'd run a full legion raid campaign, but those sorts of things fell back into pattern quickly. Stress and high adrenaline did that - helped you remember how to stay alive. _That_ she'd been practicing the whole time she'd been on Theldesia. A pause here for supportive words, a flash of a fist or foot here to offer supporting physical damage help, a quiet order here to help someone see what needed to be done to finish out an enemy. She wasn't able to keep all the Adventurers alive and she wasn't really trying. They knew how to take care of themselves within their parties well enough, and when to ask for help when they needed it. She was working hard to keep her own alive, like always, but then they'd also been trained hard for that themselves.

Her eyes were picking out the final grouping now. That was going to be the harder one - who to sic on the final boss of this group. She dropped next to a fire Sorcerer. "Be in the corner party in five minutes." Eyes looked into hers and she tossed her head at the corner she meant. Eyes went that way and she got a nod. She was gone, watching again, until she landed next to a Kannagi and gave the same order. It was acknowledged and she was off again. She landed near Hiroki again. It was about the sixth or seventh time. He was still staying alive pretty well. She handed Erius a potion. "Hiroki, can you break out of your prison there in about three minutes? I'll want you on field monitor position against your double by then. You know what spells he's likely to cast when."

"Ah...ah...I think so?" He was looking around him as if he'd already forgotten what spells he'd cast. She was sure he hadn't. It was just nervousness at being asked to move from his safe spot.

"Good." She dropped next to Coppelia and handed her an MP potion. Looking around she found Crusty. He was finally just finishing off his double with the help of a few others. They'd had to gang up three parties against him. She was rather glad he wasn't coming into Eured with them. She would have made him stay out with Shiroe and Nakalnad, if she'd been allowed to choose. Since she hadn't, she'd made it his job to take himself out using whatever he needed to do it. She waited for the bubbles to disappear, then landed next to Crusty, taking out a few others on the way so he could rest a bit.

"Hey." He nodded. "I need you on backup surprise attack." He raised an eyebrow. She jerked her head at the corner. He nodded and she was gone, headed that way herself, passing by Hiroki on the way to grab him by the collar and lug him with her. She set him back down where she wanted him and the rest of her party encircled him. That made him feel better enough he unpetrified enough to watch his double. "Now," she said firmly, "you're to call out as loud as you can what the spell will be before it's cast. If you have a suggestion of what will counter it, that comes second. If you don't know, don't worry about it. The others will come up with something." Hiroki swallowed and nodded and Kanami went to join the party attacking Hiroki's double.

"Take out the hedge with fire," Kanami told the Sorcerer calmly. He nodded and got started casting. "Set up shields," she ordered the Kannagi. "He's a fast caster and they're strong spells." She nodded and began casting, too. As soon as the shields were up and the hedge on fire, the cowering enemy dwarf turned, looked over his shoulder, and it's eyes got very wide. As it's hand came up, it's eyes on the larger party, Hiroki called out, "Hungry Moss, centered on the party center. Interrupt or run." The archer got a hit to the hand being held up before the spell went off. The double scowled, holding its hand. "Poison Pitcher under the archer." The archer dodged and the tank's blade cut the pitcher plant down as soon as it appeared. Before it was gone, Hiroki called out, "Entangling Poison Vine." The archer interrupted the spell again, hitting the double's shoulder.

Kanami moved, hitting the double hard on the top of the head and rapid tapping it for a full Monk's speed attack. She flipped back out of close range, feeling another attack coming. "Constrictor Vine, targets Kanami and archer. My attack." That surprised Kanami, but she let him take it. It was already on its way anyway. It turned out to be a hedge-type again, but this time like a solid fence style. The vine hit the plant wall and was turned back. "Sun spell on the vine now!" Hiroki called out. That was another surprise. Most sun spells (a subset of light spells) increased the strength of plant spells. It took a second, but one went off. The Constrictor Vine withered in the sun spell while the wall increased in strength, fending off the large vine and the secondary vines that had sprouted from it.

Kanami motioned to the Sorcerer and he took the opportunity to attack the double until it had recovered enough to cast its next spell. Three went off in rapid succession. It was about what Kanami expected. The more the double dropped, the worse the spells would get. She sighed slightly to herself. As soon as those had been dealt with, she was inside them and directly attacking the Druid again. It would be better to get it down to the twenty percent level as fast as possible now that they'd passed the half-way point. On her rest, she looked around the room. The rest of the room was in final mop-up. "We need two more parties over here ASAP," she called out. She was going to lose at least two in the next round and she might be one of them. Coppelia was doing her best to heal Kanami up as she held still for a few moments. Kanami chose wisdom and held still for it. While she did that she looked for Crusty.

She found him waiting behind her usual party. She nodded. He was placed just right. The other two parties came up and the pressure increased on the enemy Druid. Two of her attacking party went down and she motioned to Erius, Coppelia and Leonardo. When the next opening came, she moved in on the Druid to be the distraction and the other three grabbed Hiroki and pulled him behind the new parties. As she went up in bubbles, grabbed by the ankle by the Poison Vine, she looked Crusty in the eye. He nodded. He knew what to do.

-:-:-:-:-

Hiroki watched in horror as Kanami went down and then up in rainbow soap bubbles. He missed the next spell and almost choked. He threw up the defense for it barely in time, keeping the rest of the parties with him protected for that moment. They sent a barrage at his double that was rather impressive, actually. The double's eyes went very wide and he was suddenly moving like the frightened rabbit Hiroki knew he was - out into the breach Kanami's party had opened up, his shirt smoldering and ice on his heels. He flapped his arms to shoo the Electric Wasps away as he went. He only made it about ten feet when a great ax bisected him and he finally went up in bubbles himself, a rather surprised expression on his face.

"Thanks for being the distraction," Crusty said to the newer parties, "and for the assist. I think we're done."

Hiroki looked around the room. It did seem rather quiet now compared to earlier. "Haaah...is Miss Kanami okay?" he asked.

Crusty gave him an amused look. "I'd rather she let me die and taken the surprise attack herself, but she's fine. It was part of the plan."

"Oh," Hiroki had to think about that but it seemed okay.

"Now what?" one of the Adventurers standing nearby asked.

"I don't know," Crusty admitted. "If you'd call out to let Shiroe know we're done, I'm sure he knows what's next."

Hiroki looked at the closed door that led back the way they'd come from. "Do you think I can go back to the kitchen now?" he asked, a bit plaintively.

The people around him chuckled. "You know," one of them said, "you're amazingly strong, for such a little frightened guy."

Hiroki wrinkled his nose. "I hate being a fighter. But as a chef, I have to go out and collect the ingredients I want to cook with. So I've learned to defend myself long enough to do that and get back home. There are no weak monsters in China."

"You're a treasure in battle, though," another complained at him.

He just shook his head. "I'm glad to have been of help, such as it was, but just give me a kitchen, fire, pot, and spoon."

"Oh, you won't be needing those yet," a new voice said. Hiroki slumped and turned towards it. "Kanami told me how strong you were. We need you inside. There aren't any monsters in there, so you'll be okay. You just have to get past the Sphinx." Hiroki shuddered. He was somewhat relieved to see Kanami in the group that entered behind Shiroe.

"Just be honest, everyone, and you'll make it past that level. We need Druids, Technicians, Kannagi, Hackers, and healers in the main. We're out of potions for the most part, so we can use anyone willing to be HP and MP donors. We'll take the time to rest up to full once we're inside since we have to set up the groups once we know better how bad the damage is. Other than those, you're excused to head back to camp. We did learn last time that we can chat between the Tree of Life room and those outside it. Nakalnad will be here on this side to set up the groupings and direct traffic."

When people had filtered out and a few more in because there was room opened up, Shiroe pulled a golden chalice out, holding it in his hands. The lid lifted off of it and spirits poured out of it. Then everyone was ducking as three of the four walls of mirrors exploded. Over the top of the remaining wall of mirrors were words written. _Ultimate Sacrifice_. That didn't make Hiroki feel any better. The crowd of ghosts and spirits in front of the mirrors didn't either. They disappeared, though, going through the mirror.

"So, we go through that, too. The Sphinx asks the typical question, but it's testing your honor and integrity to make sure you're not going to kill the Tree. Please don't. We're here to repair it. It will then ask you what you'll sacrifice to continue. It doesn't have to be big, or even permanent, just sincere. There are no enemies in that room and we can take our time to make everything right. It will automatically send us out back to this room when the repairs are completed and the last Adventurer spirit's on it's way to resurrection again. Thank you everyone, for you hard work. Please continue to help us with the final room." Shiroe turned to the mirror, his guildmates standing with him, and stepped through the mirror first. There was no hesitation in those who followed after him.

Hiroki considered it, then finally nodded. If a tree needed repair, it only made sense that Druids would be needed. A tree that spirits lived in was even more a Druid thing. If he could be of help, he should go. Surely standing in a room with spirits wouldn't be even half as bad as standing in this room when they'd first walked in.

When he saw the state of the Tree of Life after passing his test with the sphinx, he was glad he'd chosen to come. He'd never seen a tree in such a sorry state. Without thought, he cast one of his long-term spells he didn't have to use often. It was one that slowly cleared a space of miasma and curses and poison. He'd worked hard to come up with that one. Some of his favorite species of plants grew in poisonous bogs located in cursed zones. It had a temporary effect in those places. He suspected it would help return this room back to its original and likely necessary state.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe walked forward from the outer wall, then stopped in dismay. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as he'd worried it was, but it was certainly bad enough. He wondered how many lines would end up irreparable and sincerely hoped all would pass that hurdle. The room was crowded with spirits and the tree looked dead in the base realm. It was probably less than half cut, but it looked torn to shreds with all the cut lines, some of them poking out through from the inside. He sighed in sorrowful frustration. One by one his guildmates arrived around him. Akatsuki slipped her warm hand inside his, her wide eyes also taking the damage in. An arm slipped around his waist and he glanced in gratitude at Purrcy. Nyanta was on her other side, his arm around her shoulders. Her other arm was around his waist as well. "Well," Purrcy said. "Looks like we'll be playing doctor for a while. Shall we get started?"

"I think we should let the group that fought rest first." Shiroe looked around. "Michael, I'd like to talk to you a bit before we begin. Tetorō, we don't have a list of names this time and there's too many anyway. I think we'll just work from the inside out. The spirits will have to figure it out on their own - when their personal line is repaired. I'd like those of you who were present for the first one to train subsets of parties on what to do before we get started. That you can start as soon as enough come through the door. Nakalnad's Technicians and Druids can teach those parties." He paused and everyone nodded. Shiroe squeezed Akatsuki's hand, rubbed Purrcy's head, then moved away from them, looking at Michael.

Michael followed him to a place off to the side of the cavern. "Michael, you were realm walking to talk to the Vengeful Spirits, right?" Michael nodded. Shiroe looked around the cavern's upper atmosphere which was rather crowded. "I have a rare opportunity here," Shiroe said. "We don't know where any of these will resurrect or how far away. If I could talk to them here and convince them to live the reasonable laws of peace now, I think it would be of great benefit. Can you take me in to talk to them?"

Michael blinked at Shiroe. "Well, I have managed to take one person in with me once. Since it's just here in this room, I would think that wouldn't be too hard."

"Would you please? I'd appreciate it."

"I'll have to hold on to you the entire time," Michael said.

"That's fine," Shiroe said absently, already thinking of what he wanted to say and how to say it.

"Okay. Just let me know when you're ready." Michael said, recognizing the distant look. Shiroe nodded. When he was ready, he looked at Michael again and pushed up his glasses. "Right then. Next stop, spirit realm. Please watch your step and don't let go of your conductor." Shiroe gave a slight smile as Michael grasped his upper arm. In the next instant they were elsewhere yet not having moved. All of the spirits that had been shadow or fog were now suddenly images of people.

Shiroe wasn't sure in what way they heard or how loud he'd have to be. He cleared his throat, used intent to project, and said, "Hello, Adventurers of China. We, the Adventurers of Yamato have come to help you repair your Tree of Life." He paused. Most of the spirits were turning to look at him and Michael. He decided to be just a little louder. "I'm Shiroe of Log Horizon, formerly a member of the Debauchery Tea Party. Perhaps you might have heard of me." The spirits were drifting his way, many with interested looks, some wary, some turning a little dark. "I'm sorry we've only just recently learned about the Mazes of Eternity and that the Trees of Life were being damaged. It's our goal to help all of the regions repair theirs. We hope you will have patience just a little longer as we instruct those who are new to this in what to do."

He pushed up his glasses. "There is something more I wish to discuss with you while we wait for everyone on the repair team to arrive. Will you all listen to what I have to say?" He was polite, but he didn't wait to be given permission. He began his orative essay on proper peaceful living. He was grateful to Michael for being so patient as to hold him for the entire time, until his message was completely delivered. Most of the spirits drifted away when he was done, moving back to the tree. A few stayed to stare at him and a small number of them felt malevolent. Shiroe sighed and turned to Michael. Michael nodded and they were back in the base realm. "Michael, watch those. See who should be convinced to stay on the moon, then do it or call in Purrcy."

"Have Tetorō call for me if you need me while I'm gone," Michael required of him.

"Will do," Shiroe agreed. When Michael had stepped back into the spirit realm again, Shiroe walked over to the groups forming on the floor, like they had in the Yamato Tree of Life room. He found Purrcy. "Purrcy, why do they show up as spirits instead of dissolving into the general psyche of Theldesia?"

"I think it's because we have too much life force and will. We're able to remain cohesively ourselves and we're too stubborn to relent and give it up." She twitched and he realized she was at least half teasing him. He raised an eyebrow at her for doing it. "Well...I suspect because Inari doesn't want them dissolving just yet, and because it's part of the resurrection cycle we live."

"Do you think that means that we haven't lost any?"

"Well...degradation over long periods of time is still a concern, I would think. We'll probably learn here, though...maybe." Shiroe nodded. It would have to do. He went back to work planning the execution of this rescue and repair operation.

-:-:-:-:-

Five hours later, the league and a half were sitting around the base camp, eating one of Nyanta's meals. He'd left early to go fix the meal, taking Isuzu and Rudy with him as his helpers, saying they would best serve in that capacity with both Purrcy and Hiroki being used to good effect at the Tree. The rest of the guild had some role to play in the repairs, even if just MP/HP donor. Shiroe took that as a sign Izanagi was pleased enough with their many efforts and hard work and relaxed just a little.

In the end, the worry about spiritual degradation had made them decide to have the Druids cast spirit healing spells on the Adventurers before they went up the repaired lines. They weren't sure if it was necessary or would help, but it was what they could do. Brenner had blessed to purify a few as an experiment to see if that would help, and it seemed to Michael who watched in the spirit realm that it had helped them. Since several from both Akiba and Minami had taken on the roles of priest or shrine maidens, they went ahead and did all of the spirits in batches, with both the Druids and priests casting their spells together.

The meal when they were done was enjoyed with quiet conversation and laughter. They'd worked hard and accomplished their goal, but were still tired enough a wild party wasn't happening this night. They'd save that for the last party together before the train departed into the wilds of Eured and the Ocypete returned home.

When the cooking was done, and Nyanta had been shoved out of the kitchen by Hiroki and the Eagles come to wash the dishes, Nyanta and Purrcy disappeared. Michael and Tetorō kept a light watch on them until they were settled in a side cavern, then they were left alone. For all Izanagi might be pleased they'd resolved this issue finally, it only meant really that he could get on with the goal he was most interested in and the rest of them were most completely against happening at all. Naotsugu took it upon himself to keep the rest of the guild distracted from those kinds of thoughts. When Isaac wandered over to sit with them, trailing Crusty, Kanami, and Nakalnad, it was a bit easier. Knowing they had the support of others helped strengthen the guild, too.

Shiroe turned at some point in the discussion that was almost devolving into an argument between Kanami and Nakalnad. "P/R, how did the recording of the repair process go?"

"Just fine, Mister Shiroe. I'm about done editing it down to the basics."

Shiroe nodded. "Good. Please be sure to add on the warning again that they should only go into the Mazes of Life if it's necessary to make these repairs. I'd like a copy to be left somewhere here in the final level. If they've made it this far, they'll need to know what to do and what we did. Have a Druid create a pillar of instruction to attach it to and have Kanami involved so she knows what to do."

"Yessir. I'm planning on giving a copy to Miss Purrcy to put in her information site for the other major Programmers. We'll also get a copy over to the States, directly to a group like ours we've been in contact with on the east coast."

"That's good," Shiroe was pleased. "Thank you for your hard work." P/R gave a nod and made sure the conversation was over before getting back to work on his edits.

KR plopped down as close to Shiroe as he could get in the full group of people. "Thank you for coming and helping us," Shiroe said calmly.

Leaning on his upraised knee KR almost-muttered, "Take care of her, Shiroe." Shiroe put his hand on KR's shoulder. KR wouldn't look at him. "I probably won't see her again, so you do it for me." Shiroe squeezed KR's shoulder. KR got up and walked off, his hands jammed in his pockets, to go find a more rowdy group to sit with and jab with barbed comments every now and again.

"You'd think he was getting on the train in the morning."

"He is," Shiroe raised his eyebrows at Tetorō. "We all are."

Tetorō snorted a laugh. "You know that's not what I meant."

Shiroe gave a small smile and turned back to the general conversation now that the argument had been settled and everyone had moved on.

-:-:-:-:-

"Marketing-only visits aren't a lot faster, aren't they?" Yuudai asked as he, Majiyo, and Mise walked down the street of Tianjin. "I mean, you'd think political visits would take longer, but maybe making a permanent physical presence takes more effort than a state visit? Most politicians are pretty busy and on the move, maybe?"

Mise nodded. She was the adult of the group so knew. Most junior students like Yuudai and Majiyo hadn't been old enough to care about such things and probably still wouldn't if they weren't following Shiroe around. "I think Shiroe's doing more in less time than most, as is his way," she said, "but yes, most visits of state are only one to three days at most, and probably no more than a week total in any one region. Setting up companies and stores takes a lot more care to see that they can be stable when you aren't there to take care of them yourself."

"You'd think going through a difficult dungeon would take more than a week, though," Majiyo said with wide eyes. "It felt like we barely had enough time to get the store set up in Qingdao, though it took the same amount of time as the one in Shangtzi. MarketMaker was surprised to be called so soon. Only three days in Seoul made him a bit stressed out. He said Akiba would have to finish setting it up on the next trip of the Ocypete back here to bring supplies and pick up what he's ordered."

"It's good he found a store manager in time," Yuudai nodded.

"I hope that person was really trustworthy, though," Mise frowned. "Sometimes having to take what's offered isn't the best way to go in the long run."

"Mmm," Yuudai agreed, "but it is part of the quest."

"And Izanagi's willing to let parts of that fail since it's real life, too."

"There is that," Yuudai and Majiyo had to agree. The sea monsters hadn't been a joke, even though there had been fewer of them encountered.

"But, I think Izanami would also let it be hard and have failure points," Majiyo said. "Quests aren't meant to be accomplished with simple ease."

"True. ...Well I hope it works out for the best regardless," Yuudai said. They looked at the building in front of them. It was as imposing as the Government Building at Shangtzi, and had the same statues on the top. "Are they all the same on the China Server, like they're all the same on the Yamato Server?"

"Probably," Mise said dryly. "It's the best way to save on graphic production costs."

The delegation paused before ascending the stairs. The three looked around to see the cause. MarketMaker was looking off into space while talking and the people around him were looking patiently at nothing. "Looks like he's gotten a call important enough to take before we go in," Majiyo whispered.

They waited with the rest of the group until MarketMaker ended the chat. He stood there looking a little uncertain for a moment, then turned to the rest of them. "That was Shiroe. They're done with the repairs. They're going to rest up and load the train, then get on their way in the morning. They expect about a full day's worth of travel to arrive in Beijing." He looked around at those waiting on him. "We could go ahead and make our presence known to the governing body here, or we could go on to Beijing and let Shiroe handle the politics here on his way out. I won't have time to put in a shop here in Tianjin if we meet up with them there."

Davidius held up his hand. "I overheard something earlier while you were getting permission for us to come into the city. Let me go ask a question to a local." MarketMaker nodded and Davidius trotted over to a vendor. He came back with a meat stick half-eaten and information. "We've been hearing it wrong, like I thought. Beijing - the Adventurer city part of it - is farther up in the mountains in this area, and that's where the monsters and Overwritten have been the worst. They moved the whole city down here and are calling it Tianjin _g_. They use the original Beijing Adventurer city as an outpost when sending out raid parties. Kind of like we did for Akiba and the next closest city on Yamato. There were probably even fewer of them in the two cities than we had, so it only makes sense that they'd consolidate in one place."

"That will make things easier, then," MarketMaker relaxed somewhat. He sent a short text message, presumably to Shiroe with that additional bit of knowledge. "We'll move forward as planned." He turned back to the Government Building and they followed him in.

They were directed to a lesser office of finance and business where MarketMaker asked after the rules of the city for setting up a store owned by an international corporation. While he answered enough questions to fill out six forms in triplicate, Yuudai and his little group, joined by Davidius, moved on down the hall until they found the office of public relations. They then asked their questions about what level of street solicitation and information posting was allowed and confirmed the method of quest offering for this city. It had seemed fairly consistent to how it had been in Shangtzi in each of the cities on the China server, but they felt it best to be open with the governing system before setting up shop in their own way as it were.

They weren't in the least surprised to have to show the posters and handbills for approval. The civil servant at first was quite bored in how he received them, but as he read through them and looked at the people in the pictures, he slowly compared them all, inspected the faces and names listed, then looked at them, inspecting Yuudai in particular. "Tell me again, what it is you wanted to set up to do?"

Politely Yuudai told him again, that he wanted to be able to set up a booth to bless weapons so they could purify the matter of what they injured or killed, and if any other Adventurers wanted to learn how to bless weapons in a similar manner, he wanted the permission to teach them how to.

The civil servant leaned back in his chair, looking them all over. "Is this Adventurer mythology? Or a game you're playing within the game? Childish things shouldn't be brought to the attention of those who are seriously working." Mise clenched her fist as everyone took silent breaths for patience. They all knew responses like this were going to be the norm.

"Begging your pardon, sir, but it isn't either of those. We're very serious about this. The names and images are not only used with permission, but were required by those people themselves. We are here at the orders of Mister Shiroe himself. He has been working this whole time to find the way home and -"

The posters and papers were shoved across the desk. "Get out."

"But don't you want to go home?" Majiyo asked, puzzled.

They were glared at and the papers shoved closer to falling off the desk. Davidius picked them up and bowed. "Very well. Sorry to take your time."

As they reached the door, Yuudai turned back. "Even if you don't want to go home, many do. We need the help of everyone, regardless of who stays or who goes." They got scolded out the door.

"Well, that's a rather miserable look." They looked up to see MarketMaker waiting for them. "I take it that it didn't go well?"

"No, sir," Yuudai said. "He called it childish and for some reason being told we're trying to go home shut him down."

"Hmm," MarketMaker considered that. "Then spend the next bit being Log Horizon. Walk the streets and talk to as many as you can to feel out why and if it was just that one person or is city-wide. We'll postpone the quest announcements for now. We're expecting it to be at least as difficult as Shangtzi, actually. Thankfully it is a little better on the business side, though. As long as I can pay for the building outright and maintain it and the employees so it doesn't become a derelict business they won't care too much about me putting in a store. We'll focus everyone else's efforts on getting that going before the train gets here." They were walking out the door. He winked at them with a smile. "If we've planted by the time the politics starts, it's harder to kick us out altogether."

They felt better having a plan of action to follow. MarketMaker took his guards and headed straight for the market district to find a place to purchase. The other four followed a little slower, paying more attention now to the city and the people walking around. They were all used to seeing the gloom and the bright spots by now. They might not be as good as Log Horizon, but they still knew what to look for. "It doesn't look dangerous," Yuudai finally said cautiously. He looked at Mise for confirmation.

Mise looked back soberly. "It doesn't, you're right, but we're still in the civilized parts of the city." She looked up and over the tops of the closest buildings, then looked at Davidius. "We'll get more city covered if we split up, but pairs is as small as we should go. How about you and I take a look in the darker farther-out places and let them handle the busy inner city areas. Younger kids can get the older adults to talk more freely if they aren't being chaperoned." It looked like Davidius understood and completely agreed as he shrugged and gave a nod. Mise looked back at Yuudai.

"Okay," he said with a glance at Majiyo who also agreed, "but be careful and take care of yourselves. Let's party up, too, so if you get into trouble we can bring reinforcements."

Mise gave a slow smile. "You do that. If you come alone I'll be angry."

Yuudai gave her an "of course I wouldn't" look and the four of them partied up.

Majiyo was gnawing on her lip. "What is it?" Mise asked her.

"I think...it would be a good idea to add one more to the party who's back on the ship or helping MarketMaker. Like as a field monitor, but not."

Mise smiled at her. "You two are bright kids."

They looked at each other. "We were part of the group taken in by Hamelin. We're all a bit...paranoid now." They looked back at her. "Pretty much all of us work like Log Horizon's four. It's the safest way to walk the cities, and even more so the unknown dangerous ones."

"Every day's another event, eh?" Davidius asked, though not unkindly. They nodded soberly.

"Well, that's definitely for the best here," Mise said. She looked away from them. "Go ahead, call up someone to add to the party, and if we really want a real party, you'll add a sixth."

Davidius hesitated, then raised a hand. They looked at him. "Let me call in the sixth. If we find out something particularly important, Shiroe might need to know sooner than later."

Mise looked at him with narrowed eyes, then nodded. She could see his point. "Not too high in the guild, though."

"No. One of the lesser guards should be enough." Mise could agree with that and let them do as they would at that point. She might have been Crusty's right hand for D.D.D. but this wasn't really her action. She'd just make sure they went about being safe rather than sorry.

-:-:-:-:-

It actually went all the way up in Log Horizon, surprisingly enough. P/R felt he might have the time but it wasn't his specialty, so he passed it up to Reed that a request had come along. Reed pondered that and wanted to put someone specific on it, but that someone needed higher level approval, so he passed it on up. Michael blinked and turned to Shiroe. "Who do you want assigned to watch over the front-line of the on-the-ground investigation in Tianjing? They're just asking for a point of contact in case they find something out you need to know."

Shiroe blinked back. "And why are you asking me?"

"Reed wants to use one of the Intel group."

Shiroe sat back, folded his arms, and thought about it. His instinct quickly went through two, then his mind more seriously considered two more. He tapped his fingers on his arm. "If they'd get there faster than the train - and they can't - I'd already have sent all three of them. Have Bowie be the P.O.C., but all three of them listening in. If something comes up they're to report to you, in case you need to walk one or more of them over there. When things are secure enough, you report to me." Living life daily as another event just waiting to happen was standard operating procedure to Log Horizon by now.

"Gotcha." Michael relayed it back down the line.

Shiroe turned to his six investigators. "When things quiet down this evening, contact Yuudai and Majiyo and get a summary of what they did and learned and see if there's any help you can offer them for tomorrow's efforts. That way you'll at least be informed when you get there and can hopefully not duplicate efforts." They gave him nods. That was preferable to them as well.

Kazuo raised a hand. "Can my investigative team sit in on that as well?"

Shiroe nodded. "It's too bad we needed you in two places at once and they've consolidated cities. I'd hoped you could handle Beijing from the top. Actually...," he moved over and started in on grilling Kazuo on how he would handle Tianjing, given what little they did already know. The rest of Shiroe's guild smiled. Hands on training with real results taught faster than anything - and it wouldn't hurt for Shiroe to have just a little less on his plate earlier rather than later. Michael joined in and so did the rest of the generals after a little bit, completely unable to keep their own noses out of it once Kazuo and Shiroe got going. It was a useful diversion.

-:-:-:-:-

"Well, this looks familiar," Mise said to Davidius as they walked down a back street of Tianjing. The derelict buildings were familiar, of course. Every Adventurer city had them. These seemed particularly derelict however. As if a second event had shaken the buildings even further into states of disrepair. Most of them looked very dangerous to even enter, for fear of sudden collapse. Still, that wasn't what she was referring to.

Davidius' lips were pursed in distaste. The smell was rank. "Isn't anyone worried about sanitation?" he complained.

"Probably not here," she commented mildly, though she was also breathing shallowly. "I'm sure garbage men have always been the lowest of the low in China. What Adventurer would want to be one?"

"But we use People of the Land for that," Davidius protested.

Very low she answered, "And have you seen any in this city?"

He looked around again, then had to shake his head. "They did in Shangtzi, though, didn't they?"

Mise nodded. "They did, and they were given just that sort of job, too." She looked down an alley, taking a count of how many might follow after them from there. "I was a rare sort of Adventurer. Being a waitress and maid was also a Person of the Land job in Shangtzi."

"Why did you stay here?" Davidius asked.

"Well...it wasn't _here_ ," she wrinkled her nose. "And there is where Crusty was, though that was hardly enough. I'd have died a long time ago...if we were allowed to die." She changed the subject. "But still, with no People of the Land at all, it does seem strange. They lived in all the cities before we came as part of the game. I wonder if they chose to leave like many did from Shangtzi, or if they were pushed out?"

"What made them leave Shangtzi?" Davidius asked, probably more to cover the uncomfortable feeling walking down this road was making him feel. She didn't mind. If they were holding a conversation they would look more like regulars than tourists.

"Even though they have a feudal system where they're used to serving, the modern Communist system of 'service' is much more restrictive than even what they were used to. It wasn't worth it to most of them to jump through all the hoops required to have the government breathing down your neck just to live a life. The poorest didn't mind it quite so much. They didn't have to file paperwork after the first time. They picked a job and as long as they stick with it, that's all they have to do, except the yearly census updates that are required. They already had to pay a regular tax and that sort of thing."

"For the higher levels that were used to being their own businessman or noble on their own, they left early. The head didn't care as long as the harvesting Adventurers brought enough foodstuff back into the city to keep everyone fed. That kept a tentative peace between the city and the local nobility, to stay separate entities." She looked around at the upper levels of the next few buildings. "Here, though, I wonder..." Politics and war always went together. Since D.D.D. trained for any kind of battle or war, they trained in just enough politics as well - so they could understand where the battle would come from.

"You know," Davidius said quietly, "I haven't seen too many female Adventurers either in this place."

Mise had to agree. "Shangtzi had very few also, but it seems even less here."

"Well...but there were the ones that Purrcy-sensei turned from that guild of male players to female ones."

"Oh? I didn't hear about that one," Mise said.

"I would have thought Kanami would have told you?" he looked at her in surprise.

"I haven't talked to her," Mise said shortly. She tried to stay as far away from Kanami as possible. Most of the time when they were home in Shangtzi that was impossible. It had been nicely possible since she'd been picked up by Yuudai and Majiyo, and she hadn't missed it.

They turned down the next broader road to see if things farther out from the city might get nicer or would get empty altogether. "Apparently Nyanta-san had been harassed online and made a bad name for himself in an attempt to get it to stop. When they arrived in the Adventurer Hall, this guild that the Debauchery Tea Party recognized wanted to know why he'd appeared with a woman on his arm when he was such a woman hater. Purrcy-sensei turned around, looked at their data, and proceeded to calmly inform Nyanta-san that they were in fact the very group of women who had hounded him and smeared his name. He sent them to the Cathedral and when they got back to the Adventurer Hall they were locked into female forms with their online names they'd tortured him with locked to them as well."

Davidius blushed a little. "They say they got labeled as whores as well, in the status screen. ...Purrcy-sensei can be rather cold and harsh at times, so it sounds like something she'd do." He rubbed his head, "Anyway, what I was saying is that if there are female players here, it might be a good bet the majority of them are in male avatars."

Mise pursed her lips. "And just as likely that if there are any female avatars, they started out men on Earth."

"Yeah...I was kind of thinking that, too." Davidius was looking suspiciously at one of the buildings they were coming up on.

Mise agreed with him and they moved towards the center of the road. She looked up. "I think a good run right about now?" she whispered. He gave a faint nod and they put on a sudden burst of speed. She was surprised when his hand came down on her wrist, but when she felt the increase of speed that was beyond her own current capability, she understood. She'd not been practicing and was a low enough level he'd have left her behind.

As the net came down from above them, she realized that even worse, she'd not have made it through the gauntlet at all. For the first time, she regretted not keeping up. She'd placed too much pride in where she'd stopped - second only to Crusty - and not enough remembering that one had to keep moving forward or they were left behind. She'd wanted to be left behind then. Now she could only regret that she'd been that way.

As they were surrounded anyway - everyone level one hundred or more - she knew she'd be regretting it for a while. "Well," she said on the party chat. "I guess we know that there's some sort of human black market now. I wonder what we'll learn?" The world spun and went dark as the stun and sleep status effects hit and went through her level ninety-one natural defenses as if she were level twelve.


	114. Troubles in Tianjing

Davidius immediately cast a shielding spell, but he was too late for Mise and almost too late for himself. He staggered, then prepared an attack. "Act offended." He paused in surprise, then went ahead and cast the spell anyway. Little fireballs took off from around him and slammed into individual Adventurers around him. "Tell them you were bringing her to sell. If they're going to treat their suppliers like this you'll take your business elsewhere in the future."

Davidius scowled and did just that, demanding a proper negotiator step up. He might prefer to be a researcher, but just like all Adventurers he knew how to role play and run through quests. Bluff and negotiation was more useful than attacking in most of this sort of quest.

"You're not a regular," came back at him.

"No, I came in with the Yamato ship. They're doing legal business. I do the opposite on the side. I thought it a good opportunity to offer...rare merchandise." He scowled more darkly. "But if you're not interested, I'll take my goods and head back to Seoul. We weren't there long enough for me to get in touch with the right people." He reached down to put his hand on Mise. He couldn't spare taking his eyes off his enemies. From her breathing she was asleep. He changed her name, level, and type, as if removing the fake identity that had allowed him to get her onto the Ocypete to begin with. Now she was a Person of the Land and a Yamato lesser noble's daughter.

"We got it," came from the voice that had given him the first order on the party chat. "We'll know who to fish out. We've got a line hooked to her, too, so we'll know what's happening to her." He lifted his other hand and rubbed his nose. "Sure, we'll send you the link. ...We've got you tapped, too, so we'll know if they decide you're goods as well." He was grateful, but he hoped not to get trapped like that.

"So...you gonna let new product into the market or not?" Davidius growled.

A man stepped forward. He was a Sorcerer type, thin and proud. "Third man to his left is a Hacker. We'll handle keeping him in the dark. Don't let on you're one, too." Davidius was liking he had good backup for this. In the past he would have been on his own, or two other party members hiding in the alleys nearby, not really knowing what to do. Then he would have been able to chat without worries, though. Here, he had to keep his mouth shut and not give his backup away. It was working out okay so far.

"How do we know you're legit?"

"You don't," Davidius shrugged. "I'm from Yamato. How do you confirm anything? It's obvious what you lot are, though, just from that ...unwelcome welcome. Would I have bothered talking to you if I wasn't interested in trade?"

"Let us see her real face."

"No. Not until we have a working relationship that lets me walk wherever I want in town without being added to your own merch." There was a pause at that. He figured their internal party chat was going on while his was.

"Can you do that?" he was asked.

Davidius slipped just far enough into the code realm to answer, since they were protecting him. He couldn't do it easily yet. "No. So I'm stalling." He was surprised to see all three of the Intelligence detail standing around him. He was probably the best protected he could be, barring being protected by Purrcy and her two guards themselves. That made him feel a lot better.

"Good. We've got some that can. Keep rolling with it and we'll have something in place by the time you need it."

"Good," he said in relief. "I'm not proficient in the back and forth yet. Save questions that need answers for later."

"Got it." He slipped back out again. Davidius wasn't surprised when a Hacker attack was next. Because the code had already been set for everyone of Akiba, they showed up in glowing colors. He immediately countered with his Sorcerer spells, nullifying all of them, then sent a volley back at the Hacker specifically. He targeted the Hacker's level plus five and three of the ten managed to get through nicely. Just right for if he was guessing based on what had been thrown at him.

"How'd you do that?"

"We got tromped by a high level Hacker in Akiba and everyone - I mean _everyone_ \- in town had that spell put on them. It's on the entire city, too. Then we all went on drills until we knew how to handle any more that came along. We've got one mean general in town that went ballistic and required it." He didn't think hiding it was worth it. They may as well know that the entire ship was going to know if they were coming. They were pretty quiet for a while. "So...are you going to take me to the head guy for negotiations, or are you going to keep me out here in the cold?" He reached down and picked up Mise with one arm and slung her over his shoulder.

"Why don't you show us your papers?" a smooth and almost angry voice said from behind him.

Davidius shrugged and pulled them out, but he wouldn't let them go. "You can't touch, because I know you'll take us both if I let you." He stared down the man who'd come up behind him silently, and who was quite dangerous, just like his voice made him out to be. Davidius wasn't about to be cowed though. He'd stood in front of Shiroe, Nyanta, and Purrcy with Naotsugu, Akatsuki, and Michael standing right behind them all at once before. No one person or even group of people was more scary than that. The man finally gave up just enough to look closely at the papers. When he looked back at Davidius, Davidius took one step back to put distance between them as he put his papers away.

The man blinked at him, then turned and walked away. "He's speaking Japanese and the papers are legitimate for today, with the arrival of the new ocean ship." He got a wave and followed after the man, keeping a safe distance away. He was followed by a number of the group that had surrounded them, though not all of them came along.

Davidius sighed inside. He really hadn't quite expected to be thrust into a new adventure today, though once they'd been refused at the office, it was probably a given. He wasn't quite the desk worker that would consider adventures only things that made one late to dinner, but it was probably close. They were necessities to getting the things you wanted at the end, and thus chores. He hoped this one would be short. He certainly didn't envy Misa. He quickly practiced trying to be at the edge of both realms and whispered, "Will Misa be okay?"

"She's D.D.D. They train for this kind of thing." "You heard her. She's expecting it." "We'll be watching over her. It will be okay." He felt a little better, though he suspected it wasn't going to be fun at all for her. He went through his items and then his spells and finally pulled out a small ring he slipped on her finger then put a spell of invisibility on, and cast a delayed defensive spell on her. He knew they'd expect her to die at a lot of HP less than she had, but if they discovered she wouldn't they'd be suspicious. Putting proper things in place to be reasons why would be of benefit, most likely. And the precautions would help her if they did get her low enough to damage her, though it still wouldn't be the same. Maybe he'd go check out the Cathedral next, assuming he made it out of the base of operations of this guild.

They walked into a rather nice establishment off the main thoroughfare. It was clean enough to be a storefront for customers. That was good. They weren't a bit guild, but were serious about what they were doing. It would be hard to get her out of it, but Davidius really wouldn't have been happy at all about leaving Misa somewhere completely hovel-ish. Of course, the person he was pretending to be would likely have turned around and walked right back out to look for a real black-market guild to work with, if it had been run-down, so it worked either way. He openly stared around and judged everything.

He was led to an upper room that had a small bed in it. He carefully lay Misa down on the bed, then turned to wait for what was next, folding his arms. He hadn't been locked in, but there were guards on the door. Footsteps sounded from down the hallway. The man who entered the room with those footsteps was as pompous as Davidius would have guessed - in looks. "I'm Chi Li. It's a pleasure to meet a fellow from Yamato. How are things there since the catastrophe?"

The looks and the pleasant politeness didn't really go together, but business being business, Davidius wasn't too surprised. "Much better in the last year, actually. Things have finally settled down now that all of the Adventurer cities have reached a level of peace within and between themselves. That makes business run smoother for us since we can trade without conflict interfering."

An eyebrow raised. "We've found conflict works better to hide in."

"Well, usually, but Yamato is rather small, all told. We work better with smooth words than with night time raids. If everyone thinks the merchandise is off happy somewhere, no one comes looking, you know?"

A glimmer of a smile came on Chi Li's face. "Most certainly, I can see that being of benefit. May I see what you have to offer?"

"Yes, but I'd like to make sure I get to walk out of here first. What rules do you work under here?"

Chi Li swiftly spouted off the rules of the smuggling trade in China generally and in Tianjing specifically. He was quite willing to also list off other purchases they were willing to make, and then a general list of what they had available. Davidius kept a neutral to interested expression on the whole time, as best he was able. It wasn't surprising that they dealt with any Person of the Land. He wondered if he should offer to bring them a gorgeous calico felinoid later if it looked like business between them was a good idea. He decided he'd better wait for now. Nyanta might kill him for not asking permission first, even if Purrcy was keen on the idea - which he was sure she would be.

When the Intelligence part of his party started whispering about the "new species of werecat", he had to shake his head at them. Without it being offered properly, that was a dangerous path to walk. Likely without the offer they'd get stolen, so it was better if they were warned in advance to not change into the werecats. (Everyone by now knew it was Nyanta and Purrcy, they just didn't let on they knew.)

When Chi Li was done, Davidius said, "It sounds like we could do some very good business with you. This one is a sampling, of course. She's a minor lord's third daughter, very obedient, and currently very clueless. She believes I'm her fiancée. We're really quite unsure why all the noble girls want to be married to Adventurers when we'd just leave them behind anyway, but it makes our jobs easier, so...whatever," he shrugged. "If we were to set up business with you, we'd switch it to a story that we were taking them to Adventurers looking for wives, then we wouldn't be disbelieved for showing up multiple times. You know - harems aren't welcome in Yamato." Chi Li nodded.

Davidius made sure to complete the proper protocol to set up the business relationship before walking back to Misa. He put his hand on her head, keeping between Misa and Chi Li, and whispered, "You'll be alright. We're taking care of you." She was actually already waking up, being a high enough level Adventurer and not really a Person of the Land. Her features changed until she looked like most of the noble girls of Yamato. He was a bit surprised when it was a full avatar change, including the clothing. They must have found someone of high level, though he hoped they hadn't bothered Purrcy for it. Tetorō would surely have been plenty high and had the eye for that kind of beauty. He couldn't tell, though. When the change was done, he stepped out of the way, though staying close by.

Chi Li walked over to the bed and inspected Misa closely. "The weak flowers are the hardest for us to obtain - and to keep," he commented.

"If you're going to give them to harsh owners, we'll go elsewhere. There's no point in bringing them all this way - which is already expensive enough - only to have them thrown out in a few months. We expect them to be appreciated for the fine and delicate art that they are." Chi Li pursed his lips, and looked like he was going to refuse.

Davidius hesitated, then said, "If that's not your clientele, we can get the heartier ones, but surely you already have enough of those?" At Chi Li's silence he shifted to impatient. "If all you have are uncouth heavy handed men, then we can't offer much, really. Like I said, Yamato is small. It's not like we can clean out every house and village of all of the possibilities and not be found out. We have to be selective. We work high end, particularly for international trade. If you've not got enough clients for that, we'll keep going, but you could keep in touch if you have any special orders?" he raised an eyebrow of query. That seemed more of a possibility, but Chi Li still hesitated. "Is it a surplus of high-end offerings from other international sources?" Davidius dug for why.

"That is a common element," Chi Li agreed.

Davidius put his hand to his chin and considered it. "We could bring in more at a time of the heartier version if we also claimed profitable employment, not just marriage, however, there's a limit to them. They'll be more expensive than what you're offering, I'm sure. Will there be sufficient market to cover the increase?"

Chi Li pretended to think that over. "I think so," he answered. "Particularly with an international label on them. I would think the mark-up might not be quite so much as it would be for the others, as your distance to travel is less?" he raised a hopeful eyebrow.

Davidius shrugged. "I don't know what they're asking for, so I wouldn't know." He was relieved when he was supplied with a range and number to ask for by his supports, though he shuddered inside that they'd actually know it. He had really been hoping Yamato _didn't_ have a human trafficking black market. Given Plant Hwayden, however, it wouldn't be surprising if it did.

"How much are you asking for this one?" Chi Li asked.

"For this one time only, we'd like trade in kind, if you've got anything at her level or near it. We want to know if we can get just as good a price back home for internationals as we can sell them for over here. This is only the second trip of the Ocypete, but they're expanding so we'd like to as well. Travel between the two regions should become regular and steady within six months or so, I would think, and frequent before then."

Chi Li rubbed his cheek, then finally said, "I've been holding onto one. Let me contact the client that was interested and see if he'd be willing to upgrade. If he's interested but wants to inspect, can you stay around?"

"Sure," Davidius shrugged. "Would you be willing to show me a sampling of the other things you have to offer while we wait?"

"Most certainly," Chi Li said. "If you'll come with me?" He gestured to the door and waited for Davidius to go first, then followed him out. Davidius made sure none of the guards stayed inside with her and the door was locked before he walked away from it. He asked for the key as well and wouldn't budge until it was given to him. As far as he was concerned, Misa was still his until the trade was formalized. Misa was already being filled in via the party chat as to what was going on. She very quietly whispered back until they'd worked out a temporary plan she was happy with. Davidius was able to relax just a little after that. Being shown the merchandise the guild offered made him have to swallow the bile rising from his stomach more than once.

In one of the last "display" rooms he was shown to, one that was of items and objects, not living creatures and beings, Chi Li got closer and spoke quietly. "I know that same sex relationships is frowned on in Japan, but would you hear me out?" Davidius stared at him wide-eyed, then took a breath inside and nodded. If he was a smuggler, money mattered more than morals - most of the time. He still had the option to refuse. Chi Li continued, "I have a few wealthy clients that are preferential towards males of the sort of female you've brought today. They are slightly heartier, and just as beautiful, and," he leaned in and whispered, "for the most part those clients are female, though not when here in Theldesia."

Davidius took a breath. "So...they'd be more gentle to begin with?" Chi Li nodded. Davidius waffled, a frown on his face. "That might be acceptable...but most of the male children believe they should rule over the women. It would be very hard to find one that would be obedient like the females." He ran a hand over his hair, looking distant. He finally sighed. "I'd have to take it back to Yamato and we'd have to hunt." He looked back. "Would it really be worth the effort and the resulting high cost if we found one or two? And...would they accept them young enough to train up if we can't find any older candidates?" He sighed. "I would think you'd find other regions with better options than Yamato for such products."

"Even so, they are also very expensive. If we could have it be even a little less expensive because of the short distance to travel, that would be preferable and very acceptable. ...Older would be preferred, but I can ask if younger would be acceptable to any of those clients."

Davidius pursed his lips, then finally gave a sharp nod. "I'll take it back and we'll see. I can't promise anything at the moment, of course."

"Of course," Chi Li answered graciously.

When Davidius finally left the smuggler's den, he had Misa with him again - this time as a real avatar disguise over a noble's daughter. She wasn't very obedient, but Davidius whispered to her that as long as she was good, he'd treat her as the noble she was - and he did, since that was how he treated Misa anyway.

-:-:-:-:-

Misa "woke up" after she'd been placed in the room with the other girls waiting for purchasers, giving it a good twenty-five minutes to hear what they would all say if she wasn't aware of anything. Conversations were quiet and there was a pecking order, but mostly it was the dreary fatalistic waiting of people who'd been subjected to the awful face of slavery and were becoming objects. The one thing she did learn was that she'd been traded for the most fiery of the lot, and she wasn't surprised.

For all Chi Li should have known the Japanese Adventurers would only accept perfectly obedient products, he'd traded for the worst that he hadn't been able to sell at all. Perhaps he believed there still might be a client who would buy product that would be further broken by being taken so far away that even escape wouldn't result in anything but loss and despair. Or he thought he could pull the wool over Davidius' eyes. He wasn't. She was impressed with how well Davidius had played his part and hoped that didn't mean he was _really_ a smuggler in hiding. It was hard to tell with Adventurers. Such shady deals were done all the time as play in the game.

Misa sat up and looked around the room and put a look of dismay and confusion on her face. "Wh-where am I?" she asked.

"Not someplace you want to be," the woman next to her said.

"I was walking down the street with my fiancée and then I was falling, and now I'm here. Where is this, please?"

Another woman looked over. "You've been bought and sold, Lady."

"No, surely not!" Misa said in shocked horror. Nods went around the room. There were only about seven in this room, but it looked like the special room. There were even mattresses on the floor and thin blankets. The other women in the room didn't appear to be starving, though they were thin. "In Tianjing? I'm from Eastal, in Yamato. We were taking a honeymoon tour so that I could learn what it meant to live with Adventurers."

They shook heads at her. "Internationals get the better prices, and as far as we've heard, you'd be the first from that place, so should get a good price."

"No!" Misa protested, letting tears come to her eyes. "My husband will come rescue me. He is a strong and fine Adventurer."

"Not likely," snorted one woman. Another one patted her arm consolingly, but agreed with the first. "There might be a few good Adventurers, but most of them take what they want and discard more than they should - so wasteful - and _none_ of them marry People of the Land." Everyone was absolutely certain of that fact.

Misa sat back, miserable on the outside and a bit dismayed on the inside. In a small voice she asked, "Do - do they sell their own women, too?"

The women looked at each other, then finally one shook her head. "I don't think so. There aren't many of them anyway, but most of them seem as independent as the men. Not very woman-like at all."

"They'll buy and sell just about anything else, though," another woman said in a scathing tone.

Misa kept quiet and wrapped her arms around herself. She was relieved she didn't have to wait very long before dinner arrived. She jumped up and ran to the man at the door. "Please! Please, let me go! Let me return to my husband!" she cried, reaching out to him. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it, spinning her around until her hand was behind her back.

"No, and don't speak unless spoken to." She was shoved back into the room, stumbling as she went. "You were sold, traded for. Give up your thoughts of freedom, not like you ever had any before anyway, as a noble's daughter. Here you'll do as your purchaser requires. There'll be no holding to your family's honor. They won't even know where you are, nor ask, since they believe you're happily with your 'husband'." He sneered the last word and left the room, leaving the food behind.

Misa played the sorrowful, misled, no-longer-innocent young woman, but when it came time to eat she wasn't shy. Even if Adventurers could go without food, that didn't mean they should, particularly in dangerous situations they'd have to break out of in a hurry. She ate on the bed she'd woken up in, looking down and not speaking to any of her room mates. They were all focused on their own plates. It made her wonder if this was the only meal of the day.

After the dishes had been removed from the room on the cart they'd been brought in on, and it was getting to a dark and sleepy time, the atmosphere began to grow rather dark in the room and she seemed to be the center of it for some reason. She finally, in a nervous way, asked what it was. There was a bit of a snarl from the one who'd already been rather unpleasant to her. "You've come at a bad time. The woman you were traded for -" she cut off and turned away.

"Ah...was she someone special to you?" Misa asked. "I'm really sorry, but I'm sure I'd rather not have been her replacement."

"Of course not," the most pleasant to her so far said soothingly.

The rest in the room seemed to fall in the middle between the two. It took a bit of doing, but she finally got them to admit that the woman she'd replaced had been telling them she was part of a resistance against the Adventurers and that rescue would be coming in the near future. While it sounded very cliché (and so like the game dynamics), Misa was quite happy to play along with it; glad that they'd hoped right for once, though it could get very bad and very sticky very quickly. She hoped along with the rest that it would be soon enough to free them and her.

-:-:-:-:-

The new Mise opened her mouth again and Davidius put his finger on it with a smile on his face. "Please. Do not speak unless spoken to. We are still in the places where you will die. When we reach the open marketplaces, then we can converse as if you really are the person who is my companion today. You mustn't cry out or try to run then, though, or those who are still following you will kill you immediately. Do you understand?"

His companion froze and blinked, shivered a little, then nodded obediently. Davidius hoped she would be. He would also be targeted and wasn't interested in that happening either. A little more than five minutes of walking later and they finally did reach the marketplace. Davidius turned them towards the government center of the city. "Do you mind, Mise, if we stop by the Cathedral on the way? I'd like to see how things are going there." She shook her head. "Thank you," he said politely.

"Good idea," Bowie said.

"We'll meet you there," Majiyo said.

"Okay, I like that idea, " Davidius answered back. "I'd like to trade out with you so that Mise can get to the Ocypete to rest, if you'd be willing to take her." The Mise next to him stiffened and he gently took her elbow to keep her from running. "Can you make this a private conversation, Bowie?"

"Already is. We want to hear as much as she'll talk. Go ahead."

Davidius gave a nod. "Please, don't run, as I said. Will you tell me your actual name? We're under a vocal silence spell, though they can still see us, of course."

The woman stared at him, then finally answered, "Miko."

"Mmm! That's a Japanese name," he smiled at her. "We're from Japan as well - well Yamato here. Are you Japanese?"

She stared at him wide eyed. "No. But why would I be. I'm a Person of the Land and would be from Yamato, wouldn't I?"

"No, you're an Adventurer. You play being a Person of the Land very badly." He chuckled at her affront. "It's no surprise that they traded you out. Mise will be a better hidden agent."

Miko's eyes narrowed. "Are you part of the resistance?"

"No. Like I said, we're from Yamato. We've just arrived today in Tianjing and are gathering information as quickly as we can. Our head prefers to come into a city, negotiate with the head of the city, and leave peacefully if at all possible, however now that Chi Li has interfered all on his own, that isn't possible is it? They will have to be involved now, even if it's just long enough to recover Mise." He was looking ahead. It sounded like there was quite a noisy crowd ahead at the Cathedral.

"However," he answered her disturbed state, "we might be able to work out an alliance of some sort with your resistance if we can understand what is going on in this place." That settled her into thought for a bit. "That's quite an unhappy crowd at the Cathedral," he commented for the sake of the rest of his party. "They must not have been able to separate out the bad guys from the good ones in the Maze."

"We're bringing our sixth with us to be your new partner," Yuudai said.

"Hey, Davidius."

"That's great. Glad to have you with, Bear." Davidius was relieved. Sorcerer-types always felt better with a Guardian to back them up. "Are you guys here yet?"

"Over on the market side, but not quite there."

"You're behind us then. We'll wait for you. I'm not sure I want to wade into that yet."

"What is going on over there?" Miko asked him.

"Our head and the group with him repaired the China Adventurer Tree of Life today, so all the Adventurers that were dead and not coming back came back."

"Oh." Miko looked like she was struggling to comprehend such a thing. "That would cause confusion, particularly in this city."

"It's really a shame our head isn't here, but he couldn't be two places at once. He's a master negotiator and would keep this from boiling over." Davidius sighed. "We'll just have to do our best on our own."

"Isn't it fine?" Miko asked.

"No. War between Adventurers and between Adventurers and People of the Land isn't really acceptable - for lots of reasons," Davidius answered. "We try to keep the change-overs that are needed as peaceful as possible, as well as brief and painless for those who don't need to be involved. It keeps everyone more willing to accept the changes and be relieved to have them. If war breaks out first, then everyone is angry and won't trust each other. That just makes it difficult." Miko blinked at him as if he'd suddenly turned green or grown another head. "As a matter of fact, if you could put me in touch with someone on your side who might be willing to at least postpone such violence until our head can get here, I'd certainly appreciate it, but it is your city. If you want to see it burn instead, then that's not really ours to interfere with. We'll negotiate with whomever stands up at the end, it just isn't our preference to let it happen. It makes moving forward again so much the harder for everyone."

"Davidius!" Majiyo came running up to them, waving her hand. "Mise! We found you!"

"Hey, Majiyo!" Davidius said cheerfully for Miko's sake. "Yuudai, I see you found GreatBear while wandering the market."

"Yup!" Yuudai said just as cheerfully as Majiyo. "We've seen so many wonderful and interesting things here. We're loving our tour of China." He smiled brightly at Misa. "Thanks for keeping Davidius company, Misa. He says he wore you out, though. You can come back with us now."

Miko gave them a forced smile and a stiff nod. Davidius gave her an encouraging one. "If you'll go with them, they'll take you to your room to rest. I'm sure they have lots of things to tell you and can answer any questions you might have."

"Are you going over there?" Yuudai frowned at him as he turned back from looking at the Cathedral.

"Yes. I'd like to know if Mise does get killed if she can hide or if we need to be there to help her escape. If we get caught up in it, perhaps there are things we can do from there." At Yuudai and Majiyo's concerned looks he patted them on the head to reassure them. "We'll do our best to explain we aren't part of anything and were merely caught up in it as we waited for a friend. ...Since that will be the truth."

"Still," Yuudai's frown didn't go away. "I think we'll stay here and watch for a bit, just to make sure."

"Just as long as you're not still here if things start to get rough. Be on the ship before then, or Purrcy-sensei will have my hide." His eyes went to Miko. "Ah...you guys haven't told her about Mise yet, have you?"

"Shiroe knows," Blackjack answered.

Davidius slumped. "Then Purrcy-sensei does, too."

"Maybe." That was confusing, but he let it go. It was safer to assume she did know. Well, Mise had known and was trained and they would get her out, so...there wasn't anything to be done about it now anyway. "But you might want to know that Kazuo's in charge of this one. Shiroe's advisor only."

"Ahhhh... Well, I guess he was supposed to be trained on this one wasn't he? Alright. I'll keep doing what I can for now." Davidius turned to GreatBear, "Shall we go see who's in the center of that angry mess, then?"

GreatBear gave him a thumbs up. "Good luck," he said to the three staying behind.

"Really, Bear," Davidius complained as they walked to the Cathedral, "you'd think they'd have thought of this kind of mess happening _before_ they repaired the Tree. I think Shiroe-san should have been here from the beginning to prevent this in the first place."

GreatBear gave a rumbling chuckle. "You know he was needed to even get through the Maze. They'd never have made it in this short a time without him."

Davidius sighed. "You're right, but still. ...The man needs to be able to be in two places at once by now."

"You just don't like having it fall on your shoulders this time," GreatBear ribbed him, "but it's your own fault for even beginning the investigation this morning instead of going back to the ship and back to bed."

Davidius stared at GreatBear, then punched him in the arm. "So _not_ kind of you to point that out," he grumbled one more grumble, then let it go as they'd reached the crowd. "Excuse me, excuse me," he pressed his way through.

GreatBear grabbed his shoulder and made him trade places. "At least let me do that part of my job," he laughed.

"Right," Davidius said and obediently followed behind him, liking moving in the wake of the large Guardian. It made it hard to know what was in front of them, though. His eyes scanned left and right as he paid attention to the atmosphere around them.

On the excuse they were trying to get to the door of the Cathedral, they made it to the edge of the discontents and the angry, then stood there and listened to the arguments. When they had a good idea of what the two sides were about, they'd start asking questions of the people not engaged in the same arguments, but who might be able to answer those questions.

-:-:-:-:-

"Umm...," Miko said tentatively. The junior girl, Majiyo, looked at her pleasantly. "He said I could ask questions. Is that okay?"

"Sure," Majiyo answered. "We'll answer the ones we can. It would help if you'd reciprocate and answer ours, too. Then we won't step in ways we shouldn't."

Miko was very confused. "You're really here in the name of peace?"

"Yes."

"...And, you're going to act?"

"If we need to."

"Whose side are you on?"

Majiyo hesitated. Yuudai was keeping his eyes firmly on his compatriots moving through the crowd around the Cathedral. "That's...we're on the side of peace for all. Our coming here to Theldesia was unexpected by us and also by all those who already lived here. The balance was upset and our own anger and depression made it worse. We're trying to help everyone remember that we wanted to play the game, even if we didn't want to be here, and that we can still get along with each other and the rest of the planet's residents without anger, fear, or oppression, like we did in the game as well. We've proved in Akiba that we can live here with just as much fun and excitement living the adventure as we did playing the game. People just need to be reminded of that."

"Most of us are young enough to not really know how to lead properly or have the right kinds of laws that lead to peace," Yuudai joined the conversation now. "Sh-Our head set up Akiba in a way that it works well. It's a good place to live. He's been learning how to help the other Adventurer cities learn those things in Yamato. Now that we're all living together a lot better as the United Free Adventurer Cities of Yamato, a delegation from all of them has come over here to China. We're sending some on into Eured to see what's happened to everyone else and to help where we can. Some are going back to Yamato after we're done here in Tianjing, though, now that we've repaired the China Adventurer Tree of Life."

"You're not conquering the cities to rule over them?"

"Heaven's no!" Majiyo said, her eyes wide. "Adventurers know how to rule themselves, when they're reminded they do and are given the basic laws to social common decency."

"And the right people are at the top," Yuudai sounded like he was reminding her, and she did nod in agreement. He turned to Miko. "That's what our leader does, is test the ones at the top and teach them how to rule better if they're good enough and they really do want generally what's best for everyone. If they're just out to be the top dog and be OP, he topples them and puts in people who are good and willing to work hard to see that everyone can have just as much fun here as they did playing the game."

"...Though that's not the ultimate goal," Majiyo interjected. "He's actually looking for the way home."

"No!" Miko rejected immediately, though she'd barely really registered it all.

"Yeah, we figured, though we still don't really understand it," Yuudai said dryly. "It's okay. He's going for the full options. Stay, go, and come-and-go. If you don't want to go back to Earth, you won't have to. We just need everyone's help regardless."

Miko stopped and stared at the youngsters with her. "Go? stay? and...come and go?"

"Yes," they said with energetic nods. "He's been asked to find the door between worlds, and there are a lot of Adventurers on Yamato who want to go home. He was surprised to hear there were some who wanted to stay. He'll be even more surprised to hear that an entire city agrees with those few."

"It's...even possible?"

"Yes," they answered soberly. That was even more amazing, that they were so certain. It was more than she could take in. It was more important perhaps to focus on the moment and consider that later.

Miko looked around at the crowd near the Cathedral, trying to breathe and clear her mind a little. The outer edge of the crowd was beginning to filter out farther and her eyes were caught by a particular figure. "Ba Ri!" she cried out before she considered what she was doing. She was desperate for the familiar in the face of all the newness and the chaos of the day. His head turned and looked around but passed by her. She moved, then froze as the two with her turned and frowned at her. Her hand went to her mouth. "Ah, I'm sorry," she said quietly. "He's been dead a very long time now."

Yuudai and Majiyo looked at each other, then back at Ba Ri, then both gave a nod. Majiyo took Miko by the hand and the three of them walked over closer to the crowd. Yuudai stepped out ahead a little. "Excuse me. Ba Ri?" he asked more quietly as he got close enough.

Ba Ri looked at Yuudai curiously. "Do I know you?"

"No. You don't know any of us, but could we speak with you a moment? You're one of the ones that just returned to the Cathedral, right?" Yuudai pulled him away from the crowd and closer to Miko and Majiyo. Miko had to hold her mouth very tightly closed. She wanted very much to talk to Ba Ri, but she also shouldn't interrupt the work of this group from Yamato, or get herself killed or kidnapped again.

"Yes, I am," he answered rather happily. Then he frowned. "I don't understand what's going on though. I was killed in the beginning of the second year after the catastrophe. When is it now?"

"Two years, four months, ...and twenty days," Majiyo counted on her fingers a bit.

"Fourteen months...," Ba Ri was a bit dismayed. "And it's still like this?" He looked around.

"We're hoping to help that in the next day or so," Yuudai said encouragingly. "The repair of the Tree of Life was part of helping things get better."

Ba Ri looked back at Yuudai. "You know about that?"

"Yes. Our leader was part of that effort. We're waiting for him to arrive now that it's done. They're coming as quickly as they can."

Ba Ri looked thoughtful. "We were talked to by someone in that room. He talked words of peace and law and hope, though no one here hopes to return to Earth. We had hoped for a better world here, but it wasn't turning out that way. ...Did he mean what he said about helping to fix things?"

"Yes," Yuudai said seriously. "That's one of his goals."

"Ba Ri." Miko was urgent. He stared at her. "It's Miko. I was undercover but the woman I look like was taken and I was the trade. We were already going to move at this time before these came from Yamato. There's a possibility they will ally if they can understand. If you're back, then Fa Rin is as well. He was killed only three weeks ago and knows the current plans. Find him and take him to talk to two in there." She looked to her companions.

"Davidius is who he should talk to. He's with a big guardian named GreatBear that looks like one. They're near the center trying to learn what the conflict is about," Yuudai answered the unspoken request. "Please let your resistance know we would like for them to postpone the conflict for at least one day from your arrival at the Cathedral. Our negotiator will arrive by then. If you begin conflicts before then, we will stand back and watch until one side or the other wins. ...But Davidius will say that as well. We're going to take Miko with us to keep the smugglers in the dark and because we'd like for our local leader to have the opportunity to speak with her and hear the full story from your side."

Miko relaxed at the last. She'd been very worried about what they actually planned for her. She would be willing to tell their story. "You'll treat her well?" Ba Ri asked, worry in his voice that made her almost blush.

"Of course," Majiyo said soothingly. "We aren't interested in taking sides and we'd prefer peace, but we have to know what's going on or we won't know where we'll step wrongly. There isn't any point to being harsh or to harm those who aren't deserving."

"As a matter of fact, we'd really like it if any conflict could be limited to those who really need to be part of it," Yuudai added. He glanced to the side. "Thank you for answering our questions. We're glad to hear that so many have been able to return to living again. Please excuse our interruption." Yuudai and Majiyo bowed and turned away. Miko's eyes met with Ba Ri's one last time, then she, too, turned away and walked with them as if she were the woman who knew them, not a stranger who wanted to stay and help break off the yoke that had settled heavily on them two years ago.

"How old are you two, really?" she finally asked when they'd walked far enough to not be heard by their stalkers.

They looked at her in surprise, then laughed. "We've aged years living in this place, it's true," Yuudai sighed.

"You both feel like elves, very young-looking but ancient in understanding."

"...I suppose it's a compliment," Majiyo said a little down. "Hard things make one look at life a little too seriously."

Yuudai looked at his companion sadly. "Miss Miko, we are young in years, but please understand. Life in Akiba was like this for us, too, when we first were here. We do not come without experience and understanding. We firmly believe in our leader because it was he who freed us from our own slavery and made life worth living again, and he's done it over and over again in every place he has touched. We will follow him and help him until he says he can relax, though we aren't even of his guild."

Miko considered them both for a bit, then finally said, "Such a person exists, huh? ...He must be someone to treasure, then." They both gave firm nods. She pondered in silence as they walked towards the wharf and their ship at its dock.

-:-:-:-:-

Go Bang was irritated. For all it might be nice to be walking around in a body again, he didn't like that everyone he had already gotten rid of was also walking around. They'd blocked them into the Cathedral area and were keeping their men out for now, since they'd killed more of the resistance than the resistance had managed to kill of them, but it wasn't going to hold for very long. He'd already contacted the head of the resistance as soon as he'd resurrected. The blockade was the orders he'd received and he knew they were on their way. This was the perfect opportunity, even if they were pushing it up by a day or two. He just had to hold out until the reinforcements arrived. That he could do. He was just irritated to be seeing faces he didn't want to see again and hearing threats he wasn't interested in listening to.

The Hacker on the resistance side had managed to resurrect rather quickly and he was preventing the enemy from calling out to their guilds. That was a bonus Go Bang had to admit made the fact more of the resistance was being resurrected now helped. That was a rather fortuitous event and his boss was quite happy with it. He'd said there was something they were going to have to take care of outside first, on their way in that might delay them a bit, but he hadn't sounded too worried.

A hand touched his elbow and he turned. His eyes flew open wide. He'd been seeing a lot of faces not seen in a long while but this was one of the oldest, first lost to them. "Ba Ri! It's so good to see you! How are you doing?" Go Bang was a bit concerned. "Did you survive for so long?"

"I've heard it was fourteen months," Ba Ri said a bit sadly. "That was rather long. I'm feeling okay, though, for the most part. I think the healing spells before we left that room helped. I went from being lost and confused in a fog to feeling more alive again, even before being alive." He gave a small smile at his own joke.

"We've missed you. Are you up to jumping right back into the action, since we've been handed this golden opportunity?"

Ba Ri looked around, a little hesitant. "Well, I certainly would like to see the change we were hoping for back then." He paused and his eyes locked on someone in the crowd. He lowered his voice. "I just talked to Miko, only it wasn't her face."

Go Bang's face hardened. "She was supposed to go undercover."

"She said she was, but Chi Li picked up a foreigner who traded for her." He tipped his head and Go Bang turned to look, scanning the status screens of the people around them. "The GreatBear and the one named Davidius. Apparently Chi Li jumped them so one of them played the smuggler from Yamato and traded his companion so they could learn what was going on in the black market. She wants you to talk to Davidius and try to win them over."

Go Bang blinked and tried to recompute. "Is there a reason to trust them?"

"They're working for the group that repaired the Tree. They want us to wait to start anything until they get here, if we're willing to let them participate. Otherwise they'll just wait until we're done then talk to whomever's left over."

Go Bang stood a bit stunned, then shook himself, trying to think through the options. Finally he said, "I guess it can't hurt to talk to them. Do they know what's going on here?"

"No. That's why she wants us to win them over...and why they're standing there listening. They're the data collectors."

"Ah," that made sense. He made to move, then paused. "What are they doing with Miko?"

"Some juniors took her with them. They want her to talk to the leader of the information gathering group so that person can understand as well."

"That's useful, then," Go Bang approved. "Did they seem trustworthy."

Ba Ri smiled and it was a smile that had been missed quite a lot by most of them. "They are very earnest, those two. I think it will be fine."

"All right then," Go Bang relaxed just a little, just from seeing that smile again. "Shall we go see what this group from another place has to say then?"

They walked over until they were behind the two that had been pointed out. "Excuse me, you're not from around here."

The two turned around. "No," said Davidius. "We were supposed to meet a companion here, but it seems a bit difficult to get close."

"We can help with that, if you'd like some assistance."

Both men were looking at Ba Ri, reading his status data. They looked back at Go Bang, reading his as well, and nodded. "We'd appreciate that, thank you very much."

"Where are you from?" Go Bang asked conversationally as they walked around the group of men being contained. Go Bang was recognized by his own, so they were let through until they were climbing the few steps up into the Cathedral.

"Yamato. We just got in earlier today. We're on a merchant quest. Our party leader's a bit nervous about trying to set up a shop while there's this much unrest going on. He'd like us to find out if we should come back at another time, or if it will blow over soon."

"Well, I'm not sure about that just yet," Go Bang hedged, holding open the door for the 'guests'. "But perhaps we can figure that out soon." The door closed behind them. The two from Yamato had continued on ahead far enough before they turned around that there was a space of safety between the two groups of two. They weren't green to the game or the world, then, though he'd have been surprised if they were.

"Can we know what level you are in the resistance?" Davidius asked.

"No pleasantries?" Go Bang asked.

"I'm afraid our head's not much for pleasantries, so it's become rather habit, sorry. I can't offer tea, if you'd rather, though I might have some snacks."

Go Bang waved a hand. "No, it's fine." He pondered what to answer, then decided if they wanted the help, honest answers for the most part were fine.

"I'm one of the second-in-commands," he answered.

Davidius raised an eyebrow. "Really? Wonderful, then. Among other things, our leader is a Communication Mage. He'd like to talk directly with your leader. He can set it up once we have an understanding. Our first question is, is the head of the governance of Tianjing part of the problem with the smuggling and black market of the People of the Land or does he just turn a blind eye to it because it was the standard way of living on Earth?" The question made Go Bang pause in surprise. These people were full of a depth that was unexpected. He almost had to wonder it himself, though he was certainly part of the problem. Davidius tipped his head. "It seems like most of the people you've contained out there are part of the black market only? Is that right?"

"They were the worst offenders in kidnapping the People of the Land and the few of the corrupt officials we could assassinate without getting caught. As I think should have been obvious, they were much better at killing us. They continuously hide in the city, where they've the guards set to watch for us to arrive on the city map."

"So is the resistance specifically to overthrow the smuggling and black market, or the leader of the city?"

Go Bang hesitated again, then reluctantly said, "He has remained neutral in the fight, if it could be called that, refusing to prevent it, but if we complain to him, he doesn't throw us out. He just listens, then says that if that is what they want, it's fine as long as the food continues to come into the city. To him, the People of the Land are as the cattle. They are required to provide enough food to the city. If a farm family can't, then they can provide something else to ensure that food will come in another way."

Davidius frowned. "Doesn't he understand that we are in a real world and they are real beings?"

"It's irrelevant to him. But then...we were no different on Earth. Everyone was required to give to the nation what was required of them and received what was given to them. If they couldn't, they paid the price with their bodies or whatever was theirs in whatever way was required."

GreatBear and Davidius both nodded at that. "Which is why no one's really eager to go home. Even under that one, you're still just a little freer?"

"Mostly," Go Bang agreed.

"Many of us believe that we should live as we played in _Elder Tales_ , however," Ba Ri said quietly. "I am one of those. We don't have to live oppressively when we are in a new place. I played the game to experience that freedom to choose when it wasn't allowed in real life. I would like for us to be able to experience that again. Bo Ran disagrees. He feels that it will be too much of a change for too many of the Adventurers and they will abuse the freedom that the game allowed for. He believes that what he offers is sufficient. Because no one wants to go home, and no one but the resistance complains, he feels he is justified."

Davidius looked for a long moment at Ba Ri, then asked, "And your leader, what is his own personal opinion?"

"He would see the governing body recognize the dangers they are putting us all in by abusing the People of the Land. He has been staying at the castle of the local emperor, trying to help from there and prevent the People of the Land from marching on Tianjing. They are getting very impatient however. This was to be the last opportunity for us to fix it ourselves. They are already preparing for war."

GreatBear looked concerned and Davidius slumped a little. "While we want to know what happens when a Cathedral is destroyed, we really don't want it to happen to any of them."

"That's simple enough," Go Bang said grimly. "They've already destroyed the one at Beijing, since they could get into that city easily enough. We resurrect here, even if that was the last Adventurer city we were in. There's an odd jump, though, as the system tries to resurrect us there, then has to fall back to the next closest. It's a little...uncomfortable."

"You can see your arrival there, then?"

"Yes, for a very brief moment. We arrive at the location of the alter, but it doesn't exist so whatever the final encoding is, it can't stick. We become scattered again until arriving here."

Davidius paused, then asked, "Is there anything we can answer for you?"

"Who is your leader?"

"Shiroe, guildmaster of Log Horizon of Akiba. You would more likely recognize him as the master strategist of the Debauchery Tea Party. He's the one who spoke to all of you before the Tree was repaired." Go Bang stood stunned yet again. "He is accompanied by a delegation from each of the Free Adventurer Cities of Yamato, each with unique experiences of how things have been lived and how they can be lived better in this place. We also bring with us several world quests we wish to offer to all the Adventurers of Theldesia, mostly in the hopes that those who wish to go home can, though no one will be forced to return."

It was so broad a statement that both Go Bang and Ba Ri just stood in silence for a long time. Finally Go Bang said, "Let us discuss for a moment."

Davidius bowed and moved towards the back of the Cathedral. GreatBear went with him. Go Bang moved towards the front with Ba Ri and spoke in a whisper. "Is this real?"

"Well considering that I've talked to Miko and you understand that she really was supposed to be here, and I assume she hadn't died, then I would have to say yes."

Go Bang stood blinking, then finally called up a chat. "Fa Ri, I'm in over my head. They want to conference with you and I think you should do it." Ba Ri nodded his head. "Ba Ri agrees."

"Ba Ri?! My brother's alive, too, then?" Fa Ri asked, in excitement.

"Yes. He's the one that told me he'd been talked to by...no, let me start at the beginning." Go Bang took a deep breath, trying to calm down enough to tell his story calmly and rationally.


	115. Setting up for Tianjing

MarketMaker listened very carefully to everything that Miko wanted to tell him about the state of Tianjing and the cause of the resistance. When she was done, he thanked her politely and asked Yuudai and Majiyo to make her feel welcome on the Ocypete but to keep her out of sight of the shore, since that's also what would be expected by the smugglers of the city. When they were gone, he called up a chat to Shiroe.

"MarketMaker, make it a conference chat. We're all here and listening."

MarketMaker complied. "I've just finished hearing from Miss Miko. She gives an earnest plea. What have you learned from Davidius' attempts, and what do you want me to do?"

"Did she tell you anything about what their plan is?"

"Some," MarketMaker was a little uncomfortable. "They were going to break out of the den of the smugglers, attack and kill Chi Li and his men, then move into the city, until they'd subdued it, but it feels like there's a lot more to it than she's willing to let on. That or they're far from organized, but it doesn't have that kind of feel."

"That would be unlike most Adventurers as well," Shiroe said calmly. "We've just reached a break in the questions and answers. It sounds like their main complaint is the black market, and like they've nearly reached the breaking point of being able to live peacefully with the People of the Land. That may be part of what she's not saying. ...I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the People of the Land currently in the smuggling guild holding cells are in on the plot, with orders to take the city and the Cathedral down. They might be just as happy at this point to make it so that all Adventurers had to resurrect in Qingdao, thinking it would remove their problems altogether. It's going to take some hard negotiations."

MarketMaker answered, "If they're that angry, I could believe it. There are several fronts, then, eh?"

"Yes. We're working on which way to face right now. There are enough of us, it's just that most of us are here on the train." There was silence for a while and MarketMaker let it go on. He'd like Shiroe to have as long as it took to consider it.

He was surprised when it wasn't Shiroe that spoke next, though. "Shiroe-sempai, I think that you need to speak directly with the emperor. Only someone of your qualifications and reputation might have some hope of turning his anger away long enough for the Adventurers to regain the trust of the People of the Land. He will have to be patient even longer than he has been. The word of the Archmage might be sufficient, particularly if we can set the city on the straight path. You'll need to be present to write and sign the contract between the city government and him as well. It would go a long way to have Bo Ran come out of the city to the emperor instead of the other way around."

"If you believe that, Kazuo, then should I go alone, or with the proper retinue of support staff to be seen as an equal?"

There was silence for a while again, then, "Not alone, but if you appear in a magical way, it may have a greater affect. Certainly Akatsuki. Naotsugu as well." There was a pause, then, "I'm sure Nyanta-san would be helpful as well, but I'd like to use him elsewhere...though it should be debated, perhaps."

"Okay," Shiroe responded calmly.

"I would like to send MarketMaker to Bo Ran to open negotiations with him, and to get an understanding of the situation from his point of view. If we send Davidius to him with Go Bang and don't already have a representative sent to Bo Ran, it will look like we've already allied and it may be hard to get him to listen. If between them they can get some level of understanding to keep the situation at the Cathedral calm until we can get there, then that would be good. I would like to handle that by getting Bo Ran to agree to at least place the men the resistance is angry with into whatever prison they have until things can be properly worked out between them all. It could be called protective custody and perhaps that would be acceptable. Otherwise, I'd ask the Hackers to lock them down."

"We could bring them back here," MarketMaker offered.

"Yes, but then we might not have the trust of any group," Kazuo disagreed. "That would make them all think that we'd given them the time to convince us they were in fact in the right."

"They should be listened to, nonetheless."

"...Mmm, I guess, though Davidius has already talked to one of them. However, the last part of the plan includes that as well." MarketMaker stayed silent to listen.

"I'd like to send Tetorō with the werecats as unique and very tempting bait to Chi Li, with Michael as the head of the smugglers who've come. He can say Davidius was his seller and that he's willing to work more closely with them now that he's seen what kind of goods they have to offer. Because of the disturbance at the Cathedral, if MarketMaker sets most of his obvious men to watching over the ship, the disturbance, and whatever building he's purchased, it can look like Michael stole off with the goods while no one was looking."

"We're tempting, true, but why us?" Purrcy asked.

"Because I want you to shut down whatever the resistance, or rather the People of the Land who are working behind the resistance, are going to do. If they enter the streets and set it on fire, and tear down the Cathedral, the Adventurers won't forgive them. It's to protect them as much as us. Tetorō is very good at calming them down, as is Nyanta-san as a negotiator, Michael can lock down Chi Li either by force or by distraction, and the four of you are a good party together. You, Miss Purrcy, are enough to lock down the whole city if it gets out of control."

"And we care about that, why?" Shiroe asked with a lift to his voice.

"Because I'd far rather you be able to arrive, even with the emperor if he's set to come to war, and just take over if the rest of them won't see reason. If you discover and tell Purrcy that he won't be swayed, you can stay conciliatory to him and she can lock the People of the Land out of the city. War and death won't have to happen."

Purrcy laughed. "I'm not really _that_ powerful, you know. I can do what you want to keep things contained in the smugglers den, but the entire city is something entirely different."

"Yes, but all three of you will be there, won't you?" Kazuo asked, referring to her, Michael, and Tetorō. There was silent agreement.

"And if everything falls apart anyway?" Shiroe asked quietly.

"...Disappear. Sleep status, whatever, but get out, then let them fight it out on their own. ...Sometimes the consequences of our actions must be understood by having them play out. We'll bring the train to a place near the city that we can hide it from the People of the Land, close by the wharf if possible. If things fall apart the train can head for Qingdao with whomever's been left to watch over it. Those of MarketMaker's men who are standing watch inside the city are to make a corridor of safety to the Ocypete so everyone from our group that's inside the city can get to it. When everyone's on it, we'll pull out into the bay and return when it's over to see what's left. If there's things to repair, we can try then. If not, we'll meet up at Qingdao and make sure the combined set of Adventurers have learned from their lessons and set them up properly there, but they'll have to give up Tianjing because they wouldn't play nicely." Kazuo's voice was subdued and sober. It was sound thinking, however.

"There are details to work out, and perhaps more data collection, but I have no complaints," MarketMaker said. The discussion was fairly brief after that point, since it was interrupted by the next move of the resistance.

-:-:-:-:-

"Hello, Mise!" It was a cheerful female voice. For just a second she thought it was Kanami and she was slumping into the general feeling of defeat she felt whenever Kanami was around when she realized it was something just a little different than that.

"Hi, Mise!" That was most definitely Tetorō.

"Mise-nyan." Mise's eyebrows jumped to the ceiling.

"Miss Mise." That one was even more surprising but it set most absolutely who the first voice had been.

"Kazuo's set the parties for the Tianjing event. We're partying up with you," Tetorō said. He sighed. "Not that I really want to be sold to the highest bidder as a boy toy."

"It will be a nice change from always being the girl toy, though," Purrcy said. Mise was sure a head pat went with it and that Tetorō was either grimacing or hitting her. She wasn't sure Purrcy was the kind of person to hit, though, even for Tetorō.

Really, she had no idea what to do with any of them other than Tetorō, though Nyanta was polite and nice enough, and knew his stuff, of course. "Since you're inside, we need you to do a little bit more investigation. We've got some theories that need a little more support so we aren't coming in quite so blind. We'll be keeping watch over you so you don't have to tell us anything. We'll hear what you hear. They're already starting to gather for the secret meeting now that they think you're asleep." Mise paid attention to the room around her and could hear the faint rustlings.

"The current working theory is that the Emperor is working behind the backs of the resistance and is planning on attacking the Cathedral from the inside and using his armies on the outside while the resistance is attacking the Adventurers they don't like. Everyone inside with you, mostly, might already be part of the Person of the Land attack force. Our job is to prevent them from getting into the city to attack the Cathedral and then to talk them down from their anger long enough for the truce agreement to be signed. Find out if it's true."

They shut up and she listened as closely as she could to the whispers beginning to start up behind her. "It's not that we can't still get out of here...it's that we can't use our original excuse for being able to break out to begin with." It was the person most peeved with Mise being the replacement.

"Do you think she'd be willing to stay put until we've done what we need to do, so she doesn't get hurt?" It was the one who was sympathetic.

"What? We're going to burn the place down. If she stays put, isn't that -?"

"She can't go home anyway," the irritated one said dismissively. "She can figure out how to fend for herself, just as long as she doesn't get in the way. Who are we going to use to get us out?" They were silent for a while, until that one sighed. "Fine. I'll do it."

"But...but, you aren't as strong as the Adventurers. Do you really think you can break us out of here?"

"We'll have to take down the first person to walk through the door in the morning. It will be delayed that long, but it's the only option."

"You're assuming anyone does come in," a sour response came back. They were silent again. There were a few more minutes of complaining and frustration, but they didn't have much else they could do, so they broke up and went back to their beds.

"Well, that's our answer then, isn't it," Michael said quietly. "I think morning might be soon enough. It will give the train that much more time to arrive."

"That should be no later than mid-morning, Mise," Tetorō supplied. "We'll come in before that so we're properly in place."

"There are still a few meetings to be held this evening. If there are changes that come out from them, we'll contact mew again." It was nice to hear Nyanta's reassurance, though she shouldn't have needed it.

"We've got an eye on you there in the mean-time, so if something comes up you can let us know." That was nice, too. "If you can get them to spill the details first thing in the morning, it would be nice to know them." She gave a small nod. She'd sleep lightly this night, just to make sure. The deeper sleep immediately would be best. She set herself to it.

-:-:-:-:-

MarketMaker set the watch on the Ocypete, on the dock, and confirmed the eyes on the ground around the Cathedral and in the marketplace. He didn't have a lot of troops, but they were organized very well. He sighed in a slight bit of contentment. Everyone was already placed properly. It was nice that they'd all learned how to work together so well after the last two-plus years, and weeks on the ocean.

He left others in charge of that part, took a guard of two (to look like a secretary and one guard), and headed into town again. He hadn't found a shop to purchase yet, though he had some candidates. The word had come too quickly that Mise and Davidius had been captured and were role playing as hard as they could to get the best outcome possible given the circumstances. He'd been very relieved at how that had turned out, though it wasn't the best possible option. The store could wait. And now...if the city didn't make it, Akiba's money hadn't been wasted. If the city survived, then would be soon enough to open the store.

MarketMaker had one magic skill that he used to good advantage whenever it was necessary and he was rather proud of. He could move through people - crowd or not - and be ignored. Taking a few with him didn't stress it either. They were noticed, noted, and then passed off as belonging. Because of this magic skill of his, they were in the secretary to Bo Ran's office without anyone telling them they couldn't. "I'm terribly sorry to arrive so late in the evening, but I've scheduled to meet with Leader Bo Ran when he had time to fit me in. Please let him know the delegation from the Free Adventurer Cities of Yamato has arrived."

"I don't remember scheduling that," the secretary protested.

"No, you didn't. Please let him know anyway. I've had to postpone my own business to come and talk to him."

The secretary took a slightly startled breath, frowned a bit, then finally did. "He says he's terribly busy right now. Another time would be better."

"No, it wouldn't really. Is he enjoying his black market treasure or is he trying to figure out how to deal with the uprising at the Cathedral? I'd like to talk to him about both."

The jaw dropped on the secretary and he spluttered. MarketMaker headed for the door, trailed by his two. A glare from the guard kept the secretary in his seat, but he did manage to get out a quick, "They're coming in," as MarketMaker opened the door.

"Leader Bo Ran," MarketMaker bowed, addressing the room in general. "You seem to be having troubles in a city we were hoping to open up business in. We'd like to know if we should pull out before we have any losses. Can you please tell me what you're planning on doing about the uprising at the Cathedral? And about the army of People of the Land marching on your city right at this moment, with the ranks increased with the dissidents you've been ignoring?"

A pin dropping would have been a thunderclap. "...Army?"

MarketMaker glared at the four members of the governing board seated at the table drinking and playing poker - at least they had been until he'd walked in. "Is this the way you relax enough for your minds to work on difficult problems, or are you under the incorrect assumption that nothing can touch you in your walled protections?"

One set of cards was folded neatly and set down purposely on the table. MarketMaker faced that one. He kept his salesman face calmly on his face. He was now playing poker one-on-one with Bo Ran. He'd already led and followed up. It was his opponents turn. "My secretary said you're with a delegation from Yamato? Has the tiny nation decided to finally lift its head and make a noise?"

"Even the smallest viper's bite can kill," MarketMaker said dismissively. "You seem to have forgotten that, though, with the way you've allowed the Emperor to become so angry with all Adventurers. That's dangerous."

Bo Ran didn't dismiss it, but that didn't mean he was agreeing. He sat back in his chair. "How can you know what the Emperor is doing?"

"In only a few hours we've learned about more than you seem to care to understand. I only care about if you're planning on acting and how. It will affect what we choose to do."

"Please choose to leave."

"No, I don't think so. Hatred against the Adventurers doesn't stop at one city. It spreads to all of us. I'm sure most of your city is rather innocent, but because you've allowed the few to act horrendously without retribution everyone will have to pay the price for it. We'd like to make sure you understand that it will all be upon your shoulders, because you chose to sit in that chair and make those decisions." All three of the others at the table had put down their cards by now and were in a ready state. MarketMaker's two had moved into a similar state, though all three of them were still relaxed. "Please convince me you've actually had a proper thought to your governance other than self-aggrandizement." He settled back, waiting to hear the answer, then thought better of it when Bo Ran glanced at his fellows.

MarketMaker walked over to Bo Ran's desk and sat down in the chair behind it. His two took up positions in front of, but to either side of the desk. He leaned back in the chair and waited for his answer from there. He was pleased to get the rise of anger he was looking for, though it was just a slight flush to Bo Ran's face and a faint scowl. He didn't move from his chair, either. He was a very practiced player, and leader actually, to not give up what position he did have. "Which particular issues are you having troubles with?" Bo Ran finally asked.

"None of them, except that you've caused a war that was unnecessary and will spread to the rest of the region and then world. What was it that caused it?" MarketMaker steepled his fingers in front of his lips.

Bo Ran sat silently, but he'd lose if he couldn't prove he was aware of what was going on in his own city. "I believe it would be the issue of the black market and human trafficking? Certainly those who've chosen to leave the city complained about it enough. Why they would allow the Emperor to attack the city I haven't the faintest idea. Certainly joining with him, if it's as you say, is idiocy. This is where the Cathedral is, even for them."

"I'm sure the People of the Land in the area would be just as happy making sure all of you are living in Qingdao where they wouldn't have to deal with you." MarketMaker said quietly. That did make some of the men in front of him squirm. Bo Ran tapped a finger and they settled. He took his time coming up with his next move. It was imperative for MarketMaker to stay there, so he also held his peace.

Bo Ran finally lifted a hand to rest his chin on the fingers of it. "What business do you have in the region?"

"Many, but they are irrelevant until we understand whether or not there will actually be a governing body to this city to negotiate with." MarketMaker paused, then threw out one bone. "We were hoping to start with trade of goods and items, of course. On Earth we were all quite used to having international products and technologies available at our fingertips. To be so limited as we've had to be on Theldesia has been rather...boring, actually. We have things to offer and are looking for new things to take back to Yamato."

The bait was taken. "And what new technologies have come out of Yamato and the famed Japanese talent for such things, that we should care?"

MarketMaker motioned to his secretary. He made a picture of the Ocypete appear in the air before them. "This is the prototype oceanliner we've built. So far we haven't seen anything else like it as we've gone port to port. There's also the videoscreen and the technologies behind that." The visual changed to show one of the large ones up on the side of the general purpose building that in the China cities had been the Adventurer Halls. "There are others, of course, from small to large." MarketMaker allowed for a short pause, then leaned forward, putting his elbows on the desk and resting his chin on interlaced fingers. "Where did all of those people at the Cathedral come from suddenly? It seems a bit odd for a convention to just occur like that."

A frown line appeared on Bo Ran's forehead and he finally did turn to one of the others at the table to have it answered. "As I said earlier, it seems to be a large grouping of people who've been missing for some time, although it's hard to confirm for all of them. Why they should all of a sudden appear, we're still trying to ascertain. At the moment the only words we can get out of those who will talk to us is that we must put a stop to the black market smuggling groups, formally apologize to the Emperor, and properly pay for the food the People of the Land provide to the city. In the main, we've decided that it's a gathering of those who disagree with the free policies of Tianjing and who seem to prefer anarchy."

MarketMaker raised an eyebrow. "Anarchy? Isn't that taking it a little far? Haven't they merely asked that the Tianjing Adventurers treat the People of the Land sanely?" He got a closed reaction from the three lesser people at the table, but Bo Ran continued to hold his poker face. MarketMaker raised his eyebrow at Bo Ran. "So?" Bo Ran raised an eyebrow back. "What are you going to do about both issues?"

At that moment, Bo Ran's eyes went a bit distant, then he sighed slightly. "You may as well let him in as well. Perhaps we'll be able to get this done a little faster that way." A few seconds later the door opened and Go Bang walked in followed by Ba Ri, Davidius, and GreatBear. MarketMaker took in the two he didn't know, then put his attention calmly back on Bo Ran.

Go Bang looked a little puzzled between MarketMaker and Bo Ran. Bo Ran tipped his head slightly at MarketMaker. "This is the representative of the delegation from Yamato, here to visit briefly on the issue I assume you're bringing with you. We'll let him sit in on our little meeting, so he can get his answers and return."

Go Bang looked at MarketMaker closely. MarketMaker looked back mildly, but didn't say anything. Go Bang glanced at Davidius and got a similar look back, then turned to face Bo Ran directly. "The city is in danger. If we are seen as being serious about changing our ways in how we treat the People of the Land by the time their army arrives tomorrow, they may stand down and negotiate with you. Please open your eyes to wisdom and put the black market dealers into prison. Listen to what the representative of the Emperor has to say and answer him with sober intent to repair the damage done. It would be better to not shed blood on either side."

"You won't ask for freedom of the Adventurers?" Bo Ran raised an eyebrow.

"Those who want to live differently can live somewhere else."

"But those who live here have chosen to live that way. Those of you who don't want to have chosen to live somewhere else. How is it you aren't already content?"

Go Bang scowled. "You are speaking of a different thing entirely."

"It doesn't seem so to me," Bo Ran said mildly.

"Leader Bo Ran," MarketMaker interjected just as mildly, "you're saying that having Tianjing be a safehold for black market smugglers is what you want the city to be? That you're content with it being this way?"

"If the people who live here wish to have it that way, it is sufficient. Isn't that freedom to live the way you choose?"

"No, it's not." There was a bit of surprised silence because it was said by more than one voice simultaneously.

There was a shimmer in the middle of the room and a window appeared that became very wide. Wide enough to show a room containing four people, and there was a sense that more than that were in the room being videocast. "Bo Ran, how old are you?" He blinked at the question. "You seem very intelligent, however your education is lacking. To assume that freedom to choose is equal to freedom to oppress is an incorrect assumption. ...Even if you are not oppressing the people of Tianjing, if you allow others to oppress within and without the city, it is the same. When you return to Earth, please study the American Civil War to increase your understanding. If it is insufficient, you can also study the American Civil Rights movement of the nineteen-fifties and -sixties. The United States citizens were much happier after the resolution of both of those issues, though there was the usual necessary readjustment time."

"I'm afraid I haven't the time to properly educate you myself, and Shiroe is needed to attempt to calm the anger of the Emperor for the sake of all Adventurers of Theldesia, so you will need to accept as your teachers those already sent to you. If you will not hear them, then the sting of the bee will teach it to you without our help and we will properly educate you when we arrive in Qingdao. If we must go so far, you will not lead the people any longer but will become a child again. - Not because we have forced it, but because all of the Adventurers of Tianjing will turn against you for your lack of understanding and wisdom."

All of the men of Tianjing were staring at the felinoid in the screen, though the eyes of both Go Bang and Ba Ri had paused on Shiroe as well. "And who are you to educate anyone?" Bo Ran asked quietly.

"I am the oldest Adventurer present on the face of Theldesia, and the Japan Server Game Moderator. The Caretaker of China has given me permission to also serve as the China Server Game Moderator, though she is happy to have returned to Shangtzi, where she is properly set as the head of the ministry again." Purrcy gave a slight shrug. "And I'm an American by birth and educational training, thus I believe I have a far better understanding of what you are only trying to guess at when it comes to true freedom to act. It most definitely includes respect for all persons of all levels. Please work harder to come up to the level of capacity of those who are leading their cities to true peace and prosperity. You already have good teachers in front of you - though not at the table with you, I suspect - and others are on their way. Please be prepared to receive them tomorrow."

"I do not need your approval," Bo Ran scowled.

"I think you do, Bo Ran," she answered smoothly. "I can erase you."

Bo Ran's eyes opened so wide the whites showed all the way around. He turned suddenly to MarketMaker. MarketMaker nodded. "Even worse," Shiroe pushed up his glasses, "she can turn you into a Person of the Land and let the Emperor do it for her. Please seriously consider her request." The window shrank and disappeared.

There was silence in the room for a while, then Bo Ran said, "Will I wake up in my bed in the morning and find all of this a dream?"

"No, Leader Bo Ran," MarketMaker said. "Lady Purrcy is quite real, and very serious."

"It is some trick of yours," emotion was finally leaking out in his voice.

"No, Leader Bo Ran," Davidius said very quietly. "While Shiroe can be frightening, there is nothing more frightening in all of Theldesia than Purrcy-sensei. ...She is naturally very calm and desires the best for all Adventurers. This is why she has scolded you in an attempt to see that the best results come out of the confrontation that is coming. Please spend the rest of your night in serious contemplation of what outcome you would like to see. We'll meet with you and your cabinet again in the morning."

"In the meantime," MarketMaker said, "Please see that those men who should have stayed dead are placed in protective custody rather than allowed to roam freely. They will scatter into the wild zones and cause you more headaches than you will wish for if you choose peace with the People of the Land. Even if you won't choose that, at least wait until tomorrow before allowing them to go free. Lady Purrcy will have no patience with them at all if you let them walk tonight and they will become your examples of just what she can do."

Bo Ran did scowl now. "And just who is that? Everyone that resurrected today?"

MarketMaker gestured at Go Bang. "He has the list of names. Once you've placed them in protective custody, I believe the rest of them will fade into the background until we've all met again tomorrow."

Bo Ran scowled at MarketMaker specifically. "And are you from the beginning on their side?"

"No, Leader Bo Ran. I've never seen nor spoken to Go Bang until he walked in the door, nor any member of his group, the same as I'd never spoken to you or anyone in your group until I walked in the door. We are on the side of the Adventurer who wishes to live peaceably and find enjoyment without oppression in the life they've chosen to live. We've learned from the mistakes made in Yamato over the last two years and from the things we've done well. It's one of the reasons we've come: to teach all other Adventurers how to live the same, learning from our mistakes and lessons. Please, avail yourself of this rare opportunity."

MarketMaker stood and Davidius and GreatBear moved to stand by the door. "We'll come again and watch what you will do. Go Bang, Ba Ri, we expect to see you then as well." MarketMaker walked to the door and out of the office, the other four of his party walking with him.

After they'd been walking down the market street for a while, MarketMaker's secretary asked in a quiet voice, "Can she really do those things?"

Davidius looked at MarketMaker, who looked back at him. Davidius's eyes were also showing the whites slightly. MarketMaker looked away. "Who knows? I won't be the first to test it. Just being on the receiving end of a scolding is bad enough." No one questioned if she was an American or not. That went without saying now that it had been said. Lips were pursed, however, if that topic even remotely came up. Even those five understood that it shouldn't be said to just anyone.

-:-:-:-:-

Mise woke up to her internal two hour alarm, but lay still. She didn't really want to be active, she just felt she needed to be aware of the world around her. Her body would still get rest. She was dozing lightly when there was movement in the room, slight but not just someone rolling over. That was followed by a whisper that sounded very much like a spell. A white hazy glow came from over by the bed of the woman who seemed to be a sort of leader - the one who'd not liked her much for interfering with the plans, even if it wasn't her fault. They hadn't bothered to introduce themselves, but she wasn't sure she remembered doing that either.

Mise trained her ears that direction, straining to hear the words that were kept very quiet. "Yes, my lord?"

"We've begun the march. We should arrive at the city in the morning." It seemed to be one of the globes used by the People of the Land for long-distance communication.

"...I'm sorry. We've had a set-back. The Adventurer we were going to use to get out of our room was traded today. ...An international flower who knows nothing."

"Mmm. That is a bit of an issue. ...We've had notice of several activities in the last several days that say a third party has entered the picture and already started acting. One of those actions was perfect for beginning our in-city plan tonight."

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Well...I'll consider it. Perhaps there's something we can do. Another action in our favor for moving now is that the squadrons have arrived in the city as planned. Someone showed up at several of the sites and actually purchased the foodstuffs. It means that there isn't a poison in place, which is a little harder, but the siege timing should be the expected amount of time."

"You know the poison would have only been temporary anyway," the woman was dismissive.

"Perhaps, but it would have been enough time to complete the destruction. That timing was rather crucial. It will make that part harder as well. Those of you in the city will have to work very hard to complete the destruction without those aids. See that you stir up the Adventurers against each other to the best of your ability before you start. That will be your only hope for sufficient distraction to complete the job."

"...You're still assuming we can get out."

"I'll contact the squadrons and see if someone can get out and to your location. They say they're being kept in a separate building some distance from the center of the city." Mise could see which one in her mind as the glow from the communication globe faded and disappeared. The net falling from above was still an irritant to her, as was being taken to the ground so fast. That would be hard, though. For someone to escape from there and find this place, sneak in, and undo the door latches...it wasn't going to be a quick rescue, if they could even break out to begin with. She shook her head slightly.

"You think it will be difficult?" Michael was on watch apparently. She nodded. "Good. We'll get on the road and hope to be there at least at the same time." She nodded again.

-:-:-:-:-

KR was waiting for them when the smuggling party met in the train car used for supplies. "If you want to move fast, you need a dragon. I've got one big enough for all of you. Besides, you also need me if you're going to use the werecats. Having a back-up to Michael is better than leaving him alone."

Nods went around the group. They confirmed the supplies they wanted to take, then climbed up a ladder and through a hatch until they were all standing on top of the train. KR cast a Summon spell and in a few minutes a very large dark green dragon was swooping down to match the speed of the train. As it glided, wobbling slowly to keep speed, the Adventurers ran and jumped across from the top of the train and landed on its back. They walked up to sit in file from the shoulders on down the back. KR was first, to direct the dragon, then Tetorō, Purrcy, Nyanta, and Michael. When they were settled, the dragon veered away from the train, then with a great surge, flapped its wings hard and headed into the sky. In less than half a minute they had passed the engine of the train and were gaining altitude. "Good luck," came from Shiroe.

"Thanks." They weren't very surprised he wasn't sleeping much that night. He was resting, though, and had seen them leave through his cabin window as he lay on his back, his hands behind his head. (They checked to make sure, wanting to know if they needed to scold him or not.)

KR had the dragon drop down early, when the city was just on the horizon, and skim the farm fields on the way in. The great rushing of wind made the heads of the crops bend almost ninety degrees, then flip back up and sway. Dogs barked here and there, but it was still too early in the morning for anyone to be awake. Even in Tianjing only a very few Adventurers would be awake. For the partiers, this would be sleep time. (Assuming there were partiers in Tianjing.)

The dragon set down in a clearing where there was no farm. They were close enough to the city that the ancient ruins of the sprawling metropolis the city had been created to represent pushed up in jagged moss-covered monoliths worn down by the thousands of years they'd sat here. The Adventurers clambered down and thanked the dragon. It blinked, bobbed its head, and took off, still staying low. It would continue to stay low until it could lift higher without being wondered at by any watchmen on the walls.

"MarketMaker. ...MarketMaker. Sorry to wake you up early. We've arrived. Orders to move came already last night from the leader of the People of the Land. We're going in to see they get slowed down. Shiroe will be doing his part shortly, I would think. So...as much as we'd love to let you sleep in, it's probably the right time for your morning alarm clock." Michael spoke as he confirmed he had the right outfit on for his role - brigand business that could pass for medium level armor, until you looked closely at it and realized it was excellent armor disguised by flavor text.

KR picked a modified pirate outfit: a loose shirt with the collar opened in a low 'v', a yellow-orange cloth tied around his waist, and loose pants that wouldn't get in his way if he had to run. He was still in sandals, but he'd opted for the slightly safer closed ankle and toe sandals that would let him run without tripping. Tetorō went with male, young noble traveling clothing - well tailored shirt, jerkin, pants tucked into sturdy boots, just a little flair and bling, particularly to keep his hair out of his face. The others nodded at his choice of protective item he'd put in his hair, too - anti-sleep. The effect was as beautifully noble as Tetorō could make it and that was saying a lot given his skills and practice.

They were going to stick with the roleplay set by Davidius. The first two were the "guards" of the innocent, all unknowing young noble and his rare pets. Purrcy and Nyanta changed into smallish panthers and they moved towards the city.

"Take us to the entrance the newest arrivals came in at, Stiletto," Michael requested. They were given verbal orders until they arrived at one of the small back entrances to the city. He gave Michael the code to knock on the door and the code words to say and they were let in.

The guard who let them in frowned at them. "Don't know you." He sounded like a not-so-bright dwarf, though he looked taller than one.

"My second talked to Chi Li yesterday. We're new to the market. I liked what I saw and have something I think he'd like to see."

"Go there, then, not here." It was said sharply.

Michael waved a hand. "The werecats needed a morning run. This door was closer. We'll get out of your hair if you'll let us pass through." The guard looked, as directed, at the cats wandering around Tetorō. They shrank a little for the space and Purrcy begged to be picked up, standing on her hind legs and putting a forepaw on Tetorō's shin. Tetorō complied, scratching her under the chin when he had her settled in his arms. She'd shrunk a little more for his comfort.

"Felinoid."

"No. A new species from Yamato in the expansion." KR was looking proud of himself. "I was looking for what might have come with us we hadn't found yet, and that one appeared out of the blue. I was so surprised, it got away the first time, but I got it the second time because I was prepared for it."

"Then you stupidly caught a felinoid."

"Felinoid's aren't summonable monsters. They're People of the Land," KR sneered back. He leaned over Tetorō's shoulder and rubbed Purrcy under the chin. "You're my beautiful Summon aren't you?"

[Yes, of course,] Purrcy answered. Even her own party was rather stunned. As far as they knew KR hadn't actually summoned her, and she shouldn't have been able to do that. Tetorō slumped. He knew and that let the others know. Either Nyanta or Inari had wanted her to answer as a Summon, so she had. Tetorō kept his eyes on the floor, then sighed.

KR rubbed his head. "And this one wishes it wasn't so. He's rather fallen in love with Purrceus." Nyanta glared at KR who just slightly smirked back. "That one, on the other hand, is cold and distant and just came because this lovely did." He pet Purrcy again, then moved away. Nyanta's lip was curling up and his tail had made a slight hunting twitch. Tetorō crouched down in front of Nyanta and pet him softly, letting him sniff Purrcy. Purrcy gave Nyanta a lick and rub with her head as she purred just a little.

"Do you want to come up, too?" Tetorō asked in a quiet, boy soprano voice that was gentle and young. Nyanta agreed to it, a bit hesitantly, but when Tetorō stood up he had two young cats in his arms. Nyanta slipped free of the arms holding him and climbed up to wrap himself around Tetorō's neck, draping across his shoulders. Tetorō sighed again and went back to absently petting Purrcy, looking around the small guard area that separated two gates. It was large enough to bring a small troll through, but that was about it. Not even wagons would fit the narrowness of it, though. If they'd brought squadrons of People of the Land through, it had been on foot, single file, which likely meant chains. It might be nearly impossible for one of them to get free to help those at the main den, unless they'd snuck in a few Adventurers again.

"Fine, fine. Go on," the guard waved at the next door and they moved towards it. Stiletto put the location of the smuggler's den on the city map for them and they headed at a morning's walk that direction. Tetorō let both cats down after carrying them for a bit. They grew again and explored the street as they went, but stayed close by the others. Half-way there, Tetorō yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"You didn't have to come, your lordship," Michael said with a bit of a smile.

"No, I wanted the morning air," Tetorō said, but he stayed sleepy, and his eyes stayed on the cats. "There will be time for sleeping again later. I've been napping with the werecats during the days anyway." He finally peeled his eyes away from them and looked around. The sun had finally peeked over the horizon, so the daylight was showing them the details as they went. "Exercise is good for the body and the ship is a bit small for truly stretching one's legs. This morning's walk was a nice change." He stayed distant and didn't really focus on anything in the city. "Really...if you've seen one Adventurer City, you've seen them all, haven't you? Impressive, except they're always in ruin." In a bored fashion, he returned his gaze to the werecats.

They arrived at the marked spot on the map. "Oh! This isn't something you see every day," KR said.

"Art? In an Adventurer city?" Tetorō asked, waking up a bit. "What kind of art do Adventurers appreciate?"

"Well, actually all kinds," Michael mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Put the kittens in your arms and don't let them go and they might let us look around." He leaned over to KR and said in an aside, "I hope they've put the rated 'M' room separate. As I recall, fan art can get a bit over the top on occasion."

"I wonder how many manhwa's came over," KR nodded, rubbing the back of his head as he stared at the sign over the store. They weren't exactly in the center of town, but they were in the market area. As a niche kind of store, it had a rather niche kind of location.

"There's more than that kind of art to view," a slightly testy voice said from behind them. They turned and saw the man Davidius had been negotiating with the day before when they'd joined him in the one-way visual chat.

"May we see? I realize we're a bit early for regular business," Michael said politely. Tetorō looked interested in the back. "We'd have to bring in the werecats. They'll stay quiet for Lord Rie, though. They like him." He pointed with his thumb at Tetorō. "Davidius suggested we stop by sometime. We've been out walking the 'cats and had to pass by this way anyway."

Chi Li's eyes were calculating and he looked from Michael back to Tetorō, inspecting the three items that had been brought. "If you'll promise to keep them held tightly?" he asked smoothly. Tetorō nodded. Chi Li walked to the door and unlocked it. "Mister Davidius said that he'd come from Yamato. I assume you have as well?" He opened the door and let them in, then closed it and locked it behind him on the excuse it was still before opening time.

"Yes. I was quite pleased with the sampling he brought back," Michael said casually as his eyes scanned the room. "Really, you do have an appreciation of fine art here." He headed for a particularly fine vase, passed it and the statue that was next, and parked himself in front of a long, thin painting in the oriental style. "Quite the sampling, really," he muttered to himself, looking at it very closely. "Almost wouldn't know...except I've seen the original. Very nice." He turned suddenly and fixed sharp eyes on Chi Li. "You seem to keep a collection of a wide range of products available for your customers."

Tetorō had already started wandering in the opposite direction, looking at the delicate porcelain, colorful paintings, and the sculptures that were mostly of natural scenes. KR followed him at the proper distance for watching over him and the werecats but still being unobtrusive. He also was looking the artwork over, though with a little less enthusiasm. That was a sham though. Michael and Tetorō both could tell that he also knew his fine art and was suitably impressed. "Do you collect them from people who've gone out searching for them, or do you have in-house artists?" Michael asked Chi Li.

"Both. I'm willing to purchase what others find, but we've also excellent talent available here in Tianjing. I have a few artists I house here as their patron so they can focus on their works." _Sweatshop,_ was the unspoken response from the five listening, though it was an assumption. "Are you looking to just purchase, or have you something you'd be interested in selling?"

"Mmm. I've found a few things that could be sold, I suppose," Michael answered, "however, I'm not sure I want to sell them just to have them sitting around collecting dust when I'm hoping to find a buyer who can appreciate them from the beginning. ...Do you have any paintings of people and human figures, or perhaps any old illuminated scrolls available? That's my specialty, actually."

"Oh? Are you an artist?" Chi Li asked.

"Yes," Michael answered, his eyes going to Tetorō. "Lord Rie," he called out loud enough to be heard.

Tetorō dragged his attention away from the painting he was staring at. In his chosen voice for the day he asked, "Yes, Sir Mitchel?" Michael motioned and he obediently walked over.

As he came, Chi Li answered the earlier question. "I do have those kinds of art available, in another room. I'd be happy to show you."

"We're moving on, into another part of the store," Michael said to Tetorō.

"Okay." Tetorō answered immediately and stood waiting to follow him, cuddling the two kittens in his arms. His eyes went to the art in the immediate vicinity, but when Michael moved, Tetorō followed along properly, again followed silently by KR.

"Really, very nice work," KR murmured as he passed a crystal vase. He raised his voice a little to ask, "Is it done by hand, or is it magical reconstructions?"

Chi Li glanced back at him. "It depends on the piece, of course. If it's been brought to me as a treasure, it's the real item. Magical reconstructions only work if the artist has actually seen the piece with their own eyes, or has an actual photograph to work from - and those are rare to come by here, of course. Thus," he ushered them into another room that was a bit smaller and had all paintings of people and scroll work hanging from the walls and sitting on easels, "most of it by necessity is by the hand of the actual creator. ...Please take your time looking around, I need to begin opening the shop. I'll return in a bit." Michael gave an understanding nod and began looking at the offerings displayed in the room.

There was one artwork that was covered. Lifting the cloth, they could see it was a painting of a dark-haired woman. "Miko," Stiletto said. They gave a nod. A little further on was a newer painting. "And that's already one of Misa. They're quick."

"Beautiful," Michael murmured, and looked away again disinterested. He looked closely at the rest, both male and female, until they heard footsteps in the doorway. "Really," he muttered, "I can't see anything to compare to what we already have. Surely there wouldn't be a complaint." He turned to the doorway. A nervous man, as thin as the paintbrush stuck behind his ear, was standing there watching them move about the room, his eyes darting between them constantly, but always returning to Tetorō. "Are you the artist of these?" Michael asked, waving at them.

The man cleared his throat. "Some of them, yes." His eyes darted back to Tetorō. "Master Chi Li asked me to come down, that I might see something..."

"Lord Rie," Michael called. "This is one of the artists of the studio. Mister Chi Li has kindly asked him to come down for us."

Tetorō turned and looked at the man, then walked over to him. "They're very good," he said in his light lilt. "It's ...unexpected of an Adventurer...though they all do what they do so well, I suppose." He tipped his head and blinked at the artist.

"You'd make a very good study," the artist said, staring at him. "Would it be alright if I did a character sketch or three for a future work?"

Tetorō turned his head to look at Michael. Michael smiled. "I think we'd have time. Perhaps he could also do one of you and the werecats for you to keep? I'm sure he's learned the magic to make copies of the work he does." The man froze ever so slightly. "We'll follow you," he said to the artist.

The artist turned and led them down the hall and then up a flight of stairs. He settled Tetorō in a room that had good lighting and a standard backdrop. He had Tetorō sit up straight and hold the kittens low until he had the face of the sketch completed, then he adjusted the kittens and Tetorō's arms until he was satisfied and sketched that part.

Michael watched in the code realm to see just what was being done. He wasn't surprised at all to see that it was Communication spell casting. In this case, what was being drawn on the page was being drawn on other pieces of paper at other specified locations. Michael was quite satisfied with that. They were sophisticated enough to handle sales where the product didn't leave the hand of the seller unless there was a definite buyer.

He erased the part of the spell that bound a link from any picture to Tetorō and the werecats, though. They weren't going to stick around long enough and he didn't need them stolen from him. He was careful to make it look like a reaction of an anti-theft spell when he did it though. There were signs of the Hacker that was part of this guild of smugglers and he didn't want to catch that one's attention.

When the sketch was completed, the artist made a copy of it and took it to Tetorō. "Thank you for sitting for me," the artist said.

"Thank you for the picture," Tetorō answered, enthralled with the artwork. He clutched it close to him while trying to hold the kittens at the same time.

Michael walked over and took Nyanta. "I have more business with Mister Chi Li. Is there a room where Lord Rie can keep the werecats entertained while I meet with him?" he asked the artist.

"Yes. Please come this way," the artist bowed and led them farther down the hall to a room with a bed and a chair. It looked just like the one Davidius and Mise had been in the day before.

"Please wait a bit for me here, Lord Rie. I'll return shortly," Michael said. Tetorō gave a nod without looking at him, as he was back to staring at the sketch again. He did put it away in his jerkin finally as Purrcy demanded he play with her. KR leaned against the doorframe, blocking the entrance and watching over Tetorō and the hallway at the same time. The artist politely led Michael to Chi Li's office, then bowed and took himself off.

Michael gave a single knock and entered the room. "It's a pleasure to get to do business with a man who knows his business," he praised his opponent. "I'm curious. Is your clientele only residents of Tianjing? You seem far too sophisticated to be so limited."

Chi Li sat back in his chair at his desk and folded his fingers together. "The majority of our business is here, of course, but there's no need to limit ourselves. This is a port town after all. We service Korea and occasionally the pirate ships of the south seas come this far. Oddly enough," he leaned forward, "we've found the nobility of the People of the Land are just as interested in most of our products as the Adventurers with expensive tastes."

Michael took the chair in front of the desk and sat in a relaxed pose. "That is interesting, particularly when I hear those same people are the loudest to complain against what you're doing here. How is it they can justify themselves?"

"Nobility always has to put on the proper face before the far more numerous populace," Chi Li shrugged. "And at some point they have to appear to act."

Michael let the silence answer that one for now. "And have you actually managed to sell anything into the palace of the Empire?"

"Yes, of course," Chi Li said. "They do appreciate fine art - in all it's forms." He looked away for a bit and a happy curl appeared on his lips. "It seems we have a bidding war. Your 'lord', who isn't one, is more popular than the werecats at the moment, though I suspect it's because those are the loudest contenders. We'll have the bidding on the werecats second."

"Why would you say he isn't a lord?" Michael asked mildly.

Chi Li gave him a look. "He's an Adventurer, though you've disguised it well. His mind didn't make it past the catastrophe, or is he one of the youngest of the children pretending to be older in order to play?"

"The former," Michael said. "Because he was brought here, the only way he was able to cope with the dismay and distress was to become what he imagined he must become. He has quite lost himself to that dream by now."

"Hmm." Chi Li pondered, listening to the bidding war again. "That would be the preference of the palace, then, however the government official has been waiting a very long time for something of this age and caliber to come along.

Michael scratched his jaw. "Yes, well. That is a bit of a problem, isn't it? I'd love to become a favored supplier of a government official, however, from everything we can see, the Emperor is quite serious this time. Even if he does allow you to stay afloat, which isn't likely given how angry the opposition is, he surely is going to take down the government and all the officials along with it. It would be better to sell to the castle and have the package sent before the army arrives."

Chi Li's eyes narrowed to slits. "Stop," he commanded. Michael waited patiently, understanding he'd stopped the bidding. "How do you know those things, having just come in off the sea yesterday?"

"Because I didn't," Michael said. "Davidius did. I've come across land from Shangtzi and we passed the army on the way here a few hours ago. They should be within sight of the walls in another hour or so, I would think." Chi Li sat upright in his chair. Michael put on a sad face. "It's really a shame, too, because you are a delight to do business with. To think that it will be all gone in such a short amount of time from making contact with you, makes me sad. I'll have to continue looking around. However, I would like to make this sale before you and I have to part ways, if it's at all possible." He looked hopefully at Chi Li. Then he suddenly furrowed his brow.

"Or, is the Emperor coming angry at you because you sold something into his castle that became a problem? Is he jealous, or did the goods damage something he cares about?" He noted the reaction. "No, you didn't. One of his daughters...or...the Empress herself?" He stared at Chi Li. "Gods, man. How can you not think he'd find out that his own wife is trysting with young male Adventurers? Of course he'd want to take out the source of that decadent pleasure she's allowing herself unwisely. What kind of an idiot are you to think that was okay?"

Michael sighed and rose to his feet. "Well, I guess I'll have to take my goods elsewhere. Perhaps if you survive and get set up again - if you've properly learned your lesson this time - I _might_ be able to find a way to help you get back up on your feet. In the main you've set up very well. That move was a bad one, though."

Michael paused at the door, then turned back. Chi Li was still sitting at his desk, stricken. "Actually, I'll pay you for the one we traded for, since cash might help you get set up again if you can sneak out before the fighting breaks out, but I want the one back Davidius left with you. No sense in letting our hard work be killed outright when we can find another buyer later." He made a bag of gold appear on the desk in front of Chi Li. The muffled clinking sound woke him up out of his stunned state. He stared at the bag, then grabbed it up and it disappeared. He rose to his feet and quickly led Michael down the hallway and up one more flight of stairs.

Michael gestured to KR and he called to Tetorō. They followed on up the stairs. The werecats struggled at the upper hallway and Tetorō set them down. They ran down the hall, increasing in size until they were full panther. They stopped to sniff around a specific door. All of the doors had heavy beams locking them closed, and a lock spell on them as evidenced by the spell Chi Li cast before putting his hand to the bar.


	116. Battle of Tianging

Shiroe watched the grand dragon fly past his window. "Good luck," he sent on the guild chat. A single word of thanks and they were gone. He closed his eyes. More data. He needed more data. There wasn't anything to do but ride the train and wait as people gathered that data for him. It was hard to plan. There were still too many open options. It was nice that they had narrowed it down just a little, but it had only been a little. Because they were going to be facing the Emperor himself, it was going to affect the entire eastern China region, what they did come morning.

Shiroe was calm. There was no need to freak out. He'd been under worse pressure in the Maze of Eternity with sudden changes, setbacks, and surprises. It wasn't even that he couldn't sleep. It's that he _wasn't_ sleeping. He was holding open all the holes, waiting for the data to fill them, and for some reason his mind had decided that was a state that demanded being awake. He'd really have to do something about changing that. There did seem to be some aspect of ...excitement... to it, too. He sighed at himself. How could he find the hunt and game of city political events so much more thrilling than real game-play dungeons these days?

He let his mind float for a while and then the answer came to him. It was because those were the most fun to play with his guild. They did them well and rejoiced together when they worked out so well. The thrill of sudden setbacks, realizations they'd not thought of everything, but pulling through anyway, were all the same thrill most guilds got from fighting in the dungeons they'd never seen before.

It was also because of the result. He really did want all of the Adventurers to be able to live on Theldesia in a state of being that was one of joy, fun, excitement for life and the adventure that awaited them daily because they got to live the game. That was a completely acceptable drop to him, and the vista he got to revel in was the look of relief in the faces of the Adventurers who had only wanted that from the beginning. To have gone through the Maze of Eternity was work. To play the Tianjing event was thrilling. He had to smile at himself. He really was a strange bird, in the end.

He woke up again and knew it was time to be getting ready. The data was already flowing, a trickle at first. By the time he was dressed for the day, it was a small stream. By the time he stood behind the engineer, looking out the window of the engine at the wall of Tianjing rising ever larger in front of them, he was looking over the precipice. They would receive the full thundering river very soon.

Now was the time to carefully pick out the important bits as they sped past and weave them into the whole. His whole being was focused on seeking them out while his eyes remained fixed on Tianjing, it's tall walls reflecting the morning sun. They had put enough speed and magic into the train to arrive approximately an hour before the Emperor and his army. They had made it in time.

-:-:-:-:-

Mise was alert and wary, playing calm sorrow to her utmost capacity. Since the rest of her party had arrived she'd been listening to them, walking with them in her mind's eye. She knew they were on the way to the door. The head woman had already been sitting against the wall near the door after pretending to pace in impatience for a while. Well, it probably wasn't pretend. She did seem the impatient sort. When the footsteps stopped outside their door, that woman turned as if to leap on whomever would come through.

There was a soft thump and then muffled through the door came a male voice. Mise jumped up and ran to the door. "Sir Mitchel! Sir Mitchel! It's me, Davidius' fiancée. Please help me. Please!" The woman next to her was grabbing her and shushing her to be quiet, anger in every fiber of her being.

Mise had done it quite on purpose. Michael had just asked Chi Li what he was going to do with the other products being held for sale. She kept up her efforts to prevent the other women from knowing what the rest of that conversation was. She begged the other woman to let her go, sure that it was the knight who was a companion to her fiancée and surely they'd come to rescue her as the honorable Adventurers they were. She was suddenly silent at the sound of scratching on the door and a loudish meow. The woman fighting with her let her go instantly. "Purrceus, is that you?" Mise was immediately on her knees at the door, talking at the height those sounds had come from. "Have you come, too?" The meow was repeated and Mise suddenly had tears in her eyes.

It confused her for a moment. They were appropriate to the play but she hadn't called for them. Then, she realized it was because the last time she'd seen the werecats in a city, it had been to call her back to hope. She let the tears run, feeling the gratitude of having those who would come to find her and call to her again and again. The door opened and light spilled in from the hallway. The two cats pushed in quickly and the grey and white stood to guard Mise while the black calico rubbed against her and purred. When she'd recovered from her tears enough, she rubbed her face on her sleeve and stood up. She looked Michael in the face. "Sir Mitchel. Thank you for coming to find me." She bowed to him. "Please, can I go now?"

"We're sorry it took so long to find you again," Michael said. "There was apparently some confusion during the battle and Davidius lost sight of you. We've properly helped Chi Li see the light and he's agreed to let everyone go back to the Emperor. Because he will be killed by his own men if he just lets them go, we'll be helping him escort them out of the city through the smuggling gate and letting them go outside the gates. We've just arrived from Shangtzi ourselves, rather fortuitously."

The woman leader was staring at them open-mouthed. "You'll just let us go?!" she asked angrily.

"Not right now, of course," Michael answered. "The Adventurers of Tianjing don't like People of the Land. We're not interested in making a scene or an international incident. You'll all get to walk home once you're outside the walls."

She scowled mightily and suddenly rushed him. Purrcy crouched down in front of her feet, tripping her and Chi Li had his boot at her neck as she reached the floor. "I could just kill you instead," he said softly. "One person missing will only be seen as one sold before the release."

The woman froze and her hands clenched in tight fists. Mise reached out and put her hand on her arm. "Please, don't die by fighting when you have the chance to live."

The woman spat at her. "You have no idea you silly child. You're own have paid for all of us. He's a slave caravan owner and we're all still going to be sold eventually, somewhere. Death would be better than leaving this place."

"Is that what you believe?" Michael said quietly and a bit dangerously. He reached down and held her down. She struggled but still he pulled out the communication orb hidden on her person. Chi Li's eyes widened and he changed color several times. "I think it's a bit different myself," Michael said. "I think you're part of a plot against the Adventurers. Do you really understand what Adventurers do to those who threaten their very existence?"

"Death is too good," Chi Li said very coldly. "How many?"

"All of the ones you brought in yesterday," Michael answered back grimly. "I hope you've got tight security on them. I suspect a few Adventurers are in the mix, since there are sympathizers. They've got to be marched right back out of the city immediately and none of them get loose. Have you got the capacity to handle that much? We can probably get the ones from here once you've got them properly packaged up. Those of my men with Davidius are on their way. My 'caravan' has arrived so we can pick them up on the outside as well." Michael turned back to the woman. "When will the Emperor's army arrive?" She refused to answer and Chi Li pressed harder on her throat with his foot.

Mise protested, but Nyanta pushed her back and she allowed her confusion to show. He merely put his nose to hers briefly. Michael prevented Chi Li from continuing further. "We don't have the time. We just need to get moving. My lady, if you'll please continue to play along nicely, we'll have you out of here and back with Davidius as soon as possible. If we allow these to remain in the city it will begin to burn and you with it. We'd really like to prevent that if at all possible. It's quite wasteful, that." He glared at the woman that Chi Li was casting a spell on - a hypnosis spell. Mise rather reluctantly, internally, allowed it to be cast on her.

A light flared up and she blinked. Chi Li swore, but Michael frowned. "Did Davidius cast a protection on you?" he muttered, then shrugged. "We'll keep her with us until Davidius gets here, then she can stay with him." He motioned to her and she cautiously walked past Chi Li, cats to either side of her until she was out of the room and in the hallway with KR and Tetorō. "Lord Rie!" she cried out quietly and embraced him. "You came as well. Thank you."

He patted her awkwardly on the back. "I just tagged along with the werecats," he said mildly. "You're welcome to join us. ...Have you slept well?" he asked in a confused sort of voice. Mise laughed slightly and patted him on the head and claimed she had. He slid his fingers into the fur on Purrcy's back and a cat body brushed against Mise's legs. She found it quite comforting to slip her fingers into Nyanta's fur and hold on lightly, too. She looked at him a bit worried, but his tail and ears seemed to say he didn't mind.

-:-:-:-:-

"MarketMaker, we're ready on our side," Shiroe said calmly.

"We're set here," he was answered. "Davidius just brought Mise back to the Ocypete. We're headed over to the Government Building now."

"Very good. I'll contact you when we get to the proper point in the negotiations. Keep the line open. How Bo Ran responds will determine where I take the conversation. Kazuo are you and the rest ready?"

"Yes and both connections are working well."

"Very good. We'll be listening for your instructions. Ask any question as it comes up immediately so we can fit them in."

"Yessir."

Shiroe's party had left the train earlier, but he'd heard the report that all of the suspected infiltrators and all of the smuggler's prisoners had been settled between the city wall and the train and were being watched over by the Akiba Adventurers. Purrcy had already tagged everyone on the list given by Go Bang to Bo Ran that had been put into protective custody the night before, and now she'd also tagged everyone in Chi Li's guild and himself as well.

They'd let him walk, wanting to know if he'd go find his supporter in the governing body or run. It was still a toss-up apparently. He seemed to be having an argument via chat. There might be some issue that he was being called one of the dissidents, or at least a sympathizer and he was arguing back that was insanity since he'd been the one who was the supplier, so how could he be? The more members of the government he called, the better. They were marking those and taking down their names as well.

Shiroe planted himself in his designated position in the middle of the road and waited, leaning just a bit of his weight on his staff. He was in his white formal mage robe with staff that most People of the Land recognized him as the Archmage in. Beside him was Akatsuki in her formal Round Table uniform. Behind them were Reed in his full knight's regalia and Royal Guard uniform and Naotsugu in his formals that showed both his rank as Marquis and his military status as Guardian.

When the large body of people coming towards them slowed at the raised hand of the person in the lead, he nodded at Akatsuki. She disappeared and in four more blips appeared in front of the Emperor and his companions in the front line, who were all mounted on horses. She went to one knee and bowed. "Excellency. Archmage Shiroe requests an audience with you and Leader Fa Ri before you continue any farther."

"Our time is precious," the Emperor answered. He held himself proudly, his look rather like that of a hawk. He had no humor about him at all.

"Indeed, but to take the time to be sure that one's actions are truly in the best interest of peace and stability for the region is never a waste of time, and my liege Shiroe never wastes time, Excellency. It is far too precious to him also." Akatsuki had become very strong over the last two years. Shiroe was quietly proud of her. "We have already set up a booth with refreshments. You have been riding for a long time and even your own men could use the opportunity to rest before any possibility of engagement in a battle they cannot hope to win."

Shiroe wasn't sure he wanted that said. The Emperor didn't like it either and he glared at Akatsuki. "Who is to say that we cannot win it?" he asked proudly.

Akatsuki, who really was very small, stood up, reached up to the horse he was sitting on, and pulled on the reins. It was suddenly on it's knees, it's head lying out on the ground, and looking very surprised. The Emperor had lost his seat, then rather suddenly found it again in a rather painful way. Once he'd winced long enough to blink the tears from his eyes (he hadn't made a sound, though, which was rather impressive), he pursed his lips and stared at Akatsuki eye to eye from the now low to the ground saddle.

"And I am very small for an Adventurer, Excellency. Please do not be confused by kindness, though we would all rather be as kind as possible." Fa Ri was staring at her, his eyes wide. Shiroe decided that Akatsuki must have had one too many lessons from Purrcy and both would need to be properly scolded when they all returned to the ship, even though she might have been trying to circumvent quite a lot of trouble from the start.

Naotsugu's hand fell on Shiroe's shoulder. "I happen to agree with her. Let it go."

Shiroe's eyebrow rose. "It's a rather offensive beginning."

"No. You didn't do it. It was just a warning from the rest of us and it's cleared the way for you to be the peace-loving Archmage you are. It will be fine."

Shiroe gave a little shrug. Naotsugu wasn't wrong but it still wasn't what Shiroe would have done. Of course...today wasn't his to run. Kazuo hadn't complained so he worked to let it go by the time Akatsuki arrived with the invited guests and their personal guards. The rest of the army set up in rest positions, but not camp positions. Well, it might be enough.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe escorted the Emperor and Fa Ri to the security pavilion where chairs and a light breakfast had been set out, served by the Admin security detail. They were dressed in their formals and standing at servant's attention when not serving specifically. As usual, they performed that task impeccably, including the setting up. The pavilion itself was set up in the shade off the road Shiroe had met the army on and within sight of the Emperor's army so that neither it nor he got nervous. Shiroe began with a few pleasantries, but as soon as they'd been served plates and drinks, he began.

"Your Excellency, I understand you reign over the entire eastern portion of the region, from the coast to the mountains and from here in the north down to the south, and that it includes all of the Adventurer Cities from Beijing and Tianjing down to Changsha." The Emperor gave a faint nod. "Do you understand that each city is independent unto itself, with it's own individual governing body? Each one of those has a different way of ruling and setting up the laws that the Adventurers who wish to live there must follow if they stay. For example, the Caretaker of China, Mi Lin, has a much kinder and more peaceful way of leading her people now that she is in power than her brother did, now that he isn't."

"Of course, to many Adventurers, a specific city is the closest thing they know to the home they were so rudely brought here from, so they may not wish to live the laws set by the governor of the city and would rather try to see they are changed, such as Fa Ri, here. He could, if he wished at this point, take his people down to Shangtzi and find it a place much more suited to what they desire to live. He would merely need to decide that he was done arguing with Leader Bo Ran."

Shiroe wasn't surprised that Fa Ri was happy to hear the news of Shangtzi, but still wasn't willing to leave Tianjing alone. "I'm sure that it must make it difficult for you who then must treat with each city individually and deal with power changes as they happen. I'm sure it would be much more simple if you could have an arrangement with all of them that wasn't dependent on the whims of the leaders of each one individually." The Emperor seemed to agree. He was very good at not letting anything out but the very minutest of exactly what he wanted Shiroe to see. "In order for that to happen, I'm offering my services as a neutral third party negotiator. As a Communication Mage I can bring them all here via a video chat and hold an immediate summit meeting at which you can all come to such an arrangement that's agreeable to everyone involved."

"It is a bit late," the Emperor said stiffly.

"No, I don't think so," Shiroe said, "and it isn't optional." The Emperor very slightly glared at him. "You see, you haven't been entirely honest either, and a portion of your self-righteous anger is selfish. We can't have such emotions interfering with national politics, can we?" Shiroe lifted his eyebrow at the Emperor ever so slightly, then took a pause to eat a bite of food and let him settle.

"You will order, immediately upon the conclusion of our brief meeting here, all of your armies currently marching on all of the other Adventurer cities to halt and stand down until the negotiations are complete. You will allow us Adventurers to correctly set Bo Ran straight ourselves without interference. If we can't, we will allow you to correct him as is right for inter-nation relations. You do understand that we aren't subjects of yours any more than you and your people are subjects of ours, I do hope. That is the lesson we are attempting to teach Bo Ran right this very moment. It has been at the core of the problems, it seems - on both sides." Shiroe continued to calmly eat his breakfast.

Fa Ri was trying to catch up, of course. The Emperor was trying to figure out how much was Shiroe just guessing. Shiroe let the silence and eating continue for a while. He was listening to the conversation inside the city as much as giving the two men with him the time to understand Shiroe's terms. Now that the Emperor and his army were visible from the city wall, at least that much was made patently obvious. Bo Ran sounded just a little more subdued this morning, but he was skirting the issue more than actually trying to change things. Shiroe looked away from his guests and said, "Don't leave it too long, Kazuo."

"Ah, yes, Shiroe-sensei," Kazuo answered. "Miss Purrcy, please."

"Of course," she answered calmly and Shiroe turned back to his guests again.

"I wonder if I should let you see the scolding and lesson that Bo Ran is about to receive so that you understand that it isn't just me that is here to see things set straight. Would you consider it a gesture of good faith, or would you merely find it confusing I wonder, your Excellency?" He politely allowed time for the Emperor to consider it.

"I would like to see it," Fa Ri said. "I might not believe he's really changed otherwise."

"Even if he doesn't, you have a place to go," Shiroe said calmly, "and I don't recommend the palace. The Emperor had been abusing your good faith efforts." He raised a hand and cast his one-way chat. "You won't be heard or seen by those in the room," he explained to them.

"You're a dangerous man, Archmage Shiroe," the Emperor said quietly.

"This only works if I know someone in the room," he reassured the Emperor - who wasn't all that reassured by it - and ignored the fact the Emperor was probably referencing the other comment made as well, since now Fa Ri was sneaking suspicious looks at his host of the last year or so.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy sighed and looked at her escorts. "Really. This is so dangerous."

"We'll protect you," Michael said mildly.

"You know that's not what I mean. Given his waffling already, I will have no patience with the man. He doesn't have much hope at all as soon as I step in the room. It would be better to let MarketMaker just remove him for being wishy-washy."

"Try nyot speaking for a while, then," Nyanta suggested. Purrcy gave him a withering look. "Yes, like that," he added. She paused to giggle slightly. Tetorō patted her on the head, then opened the door to the meeting room that had been selected to house the morning's conference.

Purrcy walked calmly into the room and it rather froze. "Bo Ran, I will ask again. How old are you? Please tell me honestly." She walked right up to stare down into his eyes. Her tail moved calmly in the long swishes of being calm and unhurried.

He finally decided the question wasn't all that a terrible one to answer. "Thirty-eight."

"And how long have you been a government official on Earth?"

He blinked at her. "How would you know?"

"Because you have been trying hard to keep everyone calm since the beginning of the catastrophe and offer them everything they - and you - already knew to make it as much like home as possible. I'm sure it has been very hard for you to find yourself here in this place when you must face it properly as a very real and very new and different location from home. Your efforts aren't unappreciated. They are, however, creating great damage. Please, if you really can't face living on Theldesia, step down. There are other things you can do in the city that will be helpful rather than harmful and while doing them you won't have to face the reality that is so difficult to open your eyes to."

Purrcy turned to his cabinet members. "You also must step down. You were all assigned to play the game as part of your employment, but none of you understand the true way to play the game, nor the proper way to face the world around you. Please watch those who do until you can understand it a little better. We will return you home as soon as possible. Our efforts of the last few days have opened up the way just a little more."

"No going home," Bo Ran said firmly and a bit angrily.

"This is not an experiment by your government. This is not a place you can rule and be the bourgeoisie when it is you who is going to make this city fall into ashes. If you still desire to rule as a government official, go home. That is where you are that. Here, you are an Adventurer and not a very good one."

"Then everyone must go home."

"No, I don't think so. I understand you don't like that each Adventurer may choose how to play the game, and when it was just a game that was marginally acceptable. Now that it is life, you are afraid they will learn to love freedom too much to stay obedient citizens of China. You're quite right, actually. However, you don't get to choose. _You_ are a minor player. You only get to choose for you. And if no one goes home...then you absolutely _must_ step down and let the Adventurers be Adventurers. The people here who wish to live the way they wish to live can do so without your interference and should."

"We've already explained that the city most closely aligned to the way they are used to playing is now Shangtzi. They will leave you here alone to starve because the People of the Land will no longer feed you without proper compensation. When you are done starving, the Adventurers will come back and retake the city and make it their own again. ...That's if we do this the long hard way."

Purrcy let her ears drop unhappily. "I say that, but it can't happen that way. Already you must pay the price for not facing the realities of Theldesia. Already you will be dead and cast out of this place by nightfall if we stand aside." She sighed and walked away from him to pace over to the tall windows. With her hands behind her back and while looking out the window, she said, "MarketMaker, ask your questions again and let's see what he will say." MarketMaker didn't ask right away and she didn't press it. MarketMaker would know when Bo Ran was ready to be pushed.

-:-:-:-:-

"Oh, is that what it was?" Shiroe asked himself in slight surprise. "I guess he would want to see that things remained as normal as possible, wouldn't he? Hmmm." He tipped his head as he added that to his calculations, then looked at his guests again. "Bo Ran has been living as close to the life he was living before coming here that he could," Shiroe explained to the Emperor. "That particular governmental style, that he was a member of from before, doesn't translate well at all when you need to negotiate and play nicely with your neighbor that lives so very differently within the same space. Because you live in the same geographical area that he had jurisdiction over, you became to him one of the people he ordered about. He so far has been unable to suspend his disbelief about how things are here. He is a blinded horse trying to pull the wagon and has walked himself into the walled canyon and is about to be leaped upon by the lion." Shiroe tipped his head to indicate the Emperor himself.

"Fa Ri, perhaps you could take the few moments Bo Ran is considering his response and tell me what it is you've already offered to his Excellency if you should be able to overthrow Bo Ran?" Shiroe put his attention politely on the resistance leader. He folded his hands together in his lap, reclining back in his chair now as he waited.

Fa Ri sat forward, eager to finally get to have a say. "I've explained that most Adventurers would rather get along with the People of the Land and be helpful in kind ways. We understand that food is not free, but takes effort to produce. We have plenty and are willing to pay for what we need. We'd like to keep the area free of monsters so that the People of the Land can live without fear as much as possible." He continued on and Shiroe sorted out the points into those things the Emperor had fed Fa Ri, those things that really were the general desires of Adventurers, and those things completely missing or wrong because of Fa Ri's youthful understanding of the world.

When Fa Ri was done, Shiroe thanked him and pondered while watching the chat window into the Government Building. Bo Ran had taken his councilors to another room to discuss what answer they would give. Shiroe turned to the Emperor. "Since we have time, I'm willing to hear your complaints." He listened politely to the terse words, but when the Emperor began to move into demands, Shiroe held up his hand. "Thank you. We'll stop there. It looks like we have an answer coming."

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy turned from the window but stayed put as Bo Ran and his cabinet returned to sit at the table again. They sat firmly upright, Bo Ran glancing at Purrcy as he claimed his chair. Bo Ran faced MarketMaker and said definitively, "We will not step down nor change our policies. To do either is treasonous to the nation of China and to allow treason to occur. We will also not allow our citizens to leave the city for other cities. It is sedition for them to go to places like you say Shangtzi has become. To allow the citizens of China to learn the evils of democracy and full capitalism is to fail them as proper government servants."

MarketMaker looked at them sadly. "Even though this isn't China."

"Even so. Because they may return to Earth we must see that they honor their mother country. That is our duty."

MarketMaker turned to Ba Ri and Go Bang. "Is this acceptable to you? Do you understand their reasoning and are you willing to abide by it?"

Both men were looking disappointed. Go Bang answered first. "While it is understandable that they should want their own fellow citizens to be able to remain honorable members of that society, their blindness to how it has damaged things here is very concerning. Are you sure you can't modify the policies at least, to include that we as a city will compensate the People of the Land for the foods they produce?"

"No. We will, however, modify it by creating a police force to see that everyone remains in compliance with the laws as they stand and don't move away from the city. We will also add in the restrictions we have so far been lenient with, including an immediate institution of a nightly curfew."

"Oh, heavens, it's gone the wrong direction!" Ba Ri exclaimed, completely dismayed.

"That's okay," Purrcy said gently from where she'd walked over to join them at the table again. "Surely that shouldn't be surprising. They are afraid of what their supervisors at home will say if they are seen to be the ones who allowed everyone to fall into the pit of evil that they have described, even though it's really the reverse from my perspective. I can hardly fault them, honestly." She looked at the four men sitting ever so stiffly in front of her.

"As that is the case, as Justice of the East, and Game Moderator of China, I hereby fire you. You will find jobs doing whatever skills you chose when you created your avatars on Earth and you will live by the laws that are set up by the Adventurers who are set over Tianjing in your place. When you return to Earth, you will explain that you were ousted by force, though you did your best in the place you were in. That everyone was afraid and wouldn't let you see to the proper governance that should have been followed."

"I have removed your guildmaster statuses and dissolved your guilds and you are capped at level eighty. That should be sufficient for you to earn your wages and then some. Your second in commands of your guilds are capped at level eighty-five and the remainder, if they reguild under your second in commands, will be capped at level one hundred. This is to ensure that you cannot retake power in the future. Please continue to work hard at learning what it is to live as a Theldesian Adventurer. I believe you could come to relax once you do."

All four men were checking their status screens and blinking in surprise to see she wasn't wrong. They stared at her in some shock. "You're excused," she said quietly. Slowly, they rose to their feet and walked out of the room, their guards following them out. The secretaries stood uncertain. "I'm sure that those of you who are lesser staff will be needed for at least a little while. Feel free to stay if you want." Purrcy turned to the screen only she could see. "Shiroe, we will need Fa Ri here for the next part. Please excuse him as soon as you can." She turned to MarketMaker and bowed. "Please excuse me. I will stay nearby if you should need me, though I believe my part should be done at this point."

He bowed back. "Thank you very much, Lady Purrcy." She tipped an ear at him and walked calmly out of the room. When they were finally back in the smaller room they'd been waiting in earlier, she slipped back into small cat and curled up in Tetorō's lap.

Nyanta sat down near them. "Meow. That was well done, Purrcy," he said.

"God granted me patience for once," Purrcy murmured.

"Rather amazing, that - for a fiery patriot," Michael murmured back from behind their chairs where he was standing watch over them.

"Indeed," Nyanta agreed.

They watched as the ousted governing body was escorted by the guards from the Ocypete out of the Government Building and off the premises. Purrcy locked them out of the building and Tetorō cast his healing magic on her. "That first one was rather large," he said in mild reproof. She just sighed and closed her eyes, falling asleep rather quickly.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe turned to Fa Ri who looked like he wanted to jump up and run to the city right then. Shiroe smiled slightly at him. "Before you go," Fa Ri tried to settle back, "there are a few things you need to know. First is, that you are not our pick to run the city. We appreciate all your efforts to this time, particularly when it comes to peace between the People of the Land and the Adventurers, but in listening to you today, you are still young. The head of Tianjing must be able to stand against the wiles of the Emperor. You have already been trained by him to heed him when you shouldn't. Please, do sit on the council, however. Your enthusiasm and willingness to work hard will be a great benefit to everyone." Fa Ri closed his open mouth, then looked a bit chagrined. He gave a nod of understanding.

"We also understand that for all the lot of you want to live the freedom that we enjoyed in the game, they weren't necessarily wrong that things could go quite badly if you're just allowed to try again blindly. You're headed in for your first political education class. All of you will be trained by us before we have to leave again, and we are available to be contacted when you have concerns or questions. You'll receive the details in the classes on how. When you get closer to the city wall, you'll be met by several of my companions who will go with you to the Government Center. They are several of the tutors, having lived through their own mistakes and efforts themselves." Shiroe smiled. "You may go. Good luck."

Fa Ri jumped to his feet, sketched a bow at the Emperor and dashed off, his few guards having to run to keep up with him. Shiroe's eyes followed after him for a bit, then he turned back to the Emperor, his face cold and hard. The Emperor was looking at him with near hatred. "I said it at the first. We are not your subjects. You are as far beneath us as the cattle are beneath you. That is the one thing they were very right about. However, that doesn't mean that one beats the cattle to death or abuses them. The People of the Land are intelligent beings worthy of respect, but we will not bow our heads to you and answer to your whims. That is against the natural order of Theldesia. Rather we would work with you within the structure of an alliance between reasoning creatures. The agreement made between you and the various cities of the Adventurers will be based entirely on this sort of relationship."

Shiroe glared at the Emperor. "You lied to Fa Ri to keep him by your side and to do your own will. That will not be possible at this time." Shiroe waved at the communication window in front of them and it changed to show the Cathedral. There were a number of buff Adventurers lounging around it, but otherwise it was quiet and the grounds empty. "Compliance, please walk the foundation for his Excellency to understand." The picture slowly moved as Compliance did until they were next to the building. He walked all the way around it and returned to his post. Shiroe watched the Emperor watch the screen. "We have in our custody all of the people you sent to infiltrate the city and all of those that Chi Li had in his possession as of this morning. When we have satisfactorily reached an agreement of peace they will be returned to you unharmed." The picture had changed to show the People of the Land under guard, but not so the location could be determined.

The Emperor looked at him with wider eyes. "Chi Li has had his business shut down. Such black market activities aren't approved by the majority of us and are usually weeded out when they are discovered. Bo Ran's personal policies made it possible for Chi Li to find safe harbor here. That will no longer be possible with the new governing body, given that it is likely to be made up of the leadership of the resistance in the main. We are influencing who will sit on it, but it is up to the city itself to decide who will sit on that body. Neither I nor any of my group are here for conquest, only for education and setting things right for the greater peace of as many as possible. For that to happen here, there are some things that you must do."

The Emperor was about to explode, but Shiroe held up one finger. "Return to the city all the Adventurers you are holding captive, have purchased, or who don't even know they want to return. Until they can all learn what changes have been made, there should be no Adventurer in your palace or your cities." The blood was leaving the Emperor's face. "And to help you understand that as well, please understand that Lady Purrcy is the High Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami. The goddess sees all the creatures of Theldesia in their locations. If you attempt to hide them, we will let the goddess judge you. She seems to be partial to Adventurers for some reason." The Emperor swallowed very tentatively, as if not wanting to but really needing to. Shiroe relaxed slightly. That had been a bluff. He wasn't sure the names of Inari were known outside Yamato.

Shiroe held up his second finger with his first. "As I said before, halt your armies. The other Adventurer cities indeed had no idea you were coming against them, and several of them are confused as to why. They'd rather not kill your people needlessly. I've told them we are negotiating with you beginning today. Please do not waste precious lives that cannot be recalled." He stared at the Emperor until he thumped back in his chair, frustrated, but unable to deny it now.

The third finger went up. "Take better care of your own so that your jealousies aren't triggered." The Emperor actually blushed after figuring out what that meant to himself. The fourth finger went up. "Do not lie to us during the negotiations. Treachery in the future against agreements made today will bring the end of your empire. We'd much rather be told those things that have made you angry to our faces so we can fix what needs to be fixed than have them continue to simmer. Our future is much longer than yours. Please remember you will be wanting to hand your throne to your son and to his son after him, and I will know them all, as will every head of every Adventurer city in this region. As much as it galls us both, we aren't going anywhere for a while. Please work with us to create a peaceful accord to live by so that everyone can more happily live each day."

Shiroe tipped his head sideways to consider the Emperor, then rose to his feet. "Shall we walk with you back to your soldiers so you can give the orders that need to be given? Then we'll walk and talk a bit more about what we can and will do for you to give you some hope back and show you that we really do want to do our best as well. When the classes are done in Tianjing - which might be tomorrow actually - they will need to decide what it is they will offer and ask for. When they let us know they're ready, we'll gather every city governing body together here with you and work out the sticky details." The Emperor rose rather tiredly and walked next to him. His paige led his horse behind them. "Really, though, it's fortunate we arrived when we did. ...You'll get to harvest this fall instead of starve - those who survived it that is."

"We were starving anyway," he answered.

"Yes, I know, or you wouldn't have tried the most desperate thing you could have possibly done. I think we've finally made the point to them all, though, that they'll starve next. They've rather forgotten how the food chain works since we didn't have to eat on Theldesia before the catastrophe. It will take a few months for it all to settle down to the proper balance, I would think, but really we do prefer to go hunting ourselves and earn our own rewards. It's just the few that moved quickly at the beginning to get into power that have confused everyone. I've been very pleased with our progress so far, though we're just beginning. Everyone is remembering very nicely now. It's the right time to move against the powerful but unwise and restore balance and peace."

The Emperor laughed into the back of his hand and Shiroe was surprised to get an honest emotional response from him. "You sound like a proud father."

Shiroe slowly smiled. "I suppose in a way I am. I took on that responsibility when I first wanted my home city of Akiba to smile again and desired that all Adventurers and their cities could do the same. I have some wonderful companions who are helping me and we are working hard for the sake of them all."

The Emperor gave him a sharp look. "And Lady Purrcy? Is she one of them?"

Shiroe clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the clouds scudding across the sky with the slow breeze. "She...is Hahaue. I could do nothing so grand as this without her. I'm grateful she also cares for all of Theldesia and the Adventurers as well." He looked back at the Emperor.

He was looking just a little confused. "She...is your wife?"

Shiroe laughed. "No. Like my mother. Akatsuki, the one who greeted you first today, is my girlfriend."

The Emperor stared at him. "...No."

Shiroe grinned. "Yes." The Emperor patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. Behind them Akatsuki rolled her eyes, but she'd earned it herself.

-:-:-:-:-

The lessons given to the newly called up leaders of Tianjing, which included a few guildmasters of the city that weren't part of the "resistance", were attended long-distance by the rest of the governing bodies of the other Adventurer cities of east China. The wake-up call from the Yamato delegation to all of them, followed by the Emperor's armies arriving on the heels of it, made them decide they needed to be a bit more serious.

Mi Lin wanted to make sure she got the lessons in and the rest of her council was helpful as another set of tutors. It was the first Changsha had ever heard of the delegation, but they knew Kanami very well and she was just as forceful that they were going to pay attention as she was with everything else. She vouched for that governing body and they were willing to listen with honest intent to the lessons and the urgings of the Yamato delegation. MarketMaker had made a positive impression on the leaders of Qingdao and they were very interested in participating properly with what was going on in their region. They in particular had always been confused with why the People of the Land didn't want to play with them - as it were.

Kazuo was one of the Adventurers who met Fa Ri on his way to the city and he facilitated the lessons, working hard to remember everything he'd learned from his own. When the Yamato group met again that evening, he sighed. "I'm so glad you're all here with me. I'm sure I would have been frozen on my own for most of this. Having everyone do their part was so essential to the good outcome we've had." He turned to Shiroe and Purrcy. "I will particularly find it difficult to not have you two with me. Neither side would have been moved so much without you." His brow furrowed. "I'm serious. What am I to do? You're irreplaceable, even if I do understand the strategy and can teach the lessons and give encouragement."

They both looked at him kindly. "It's still something you can learn," Shiroe reassured him, "and we can be present with you during those times it's needful. With the picture, I'll be able to whisper in your ear as it were, and because you have KR with you, when you need Purrcy you can Summon her."

Shiroe glanced at Purrcy. "Just remember that she is a very large weapon, to only be used at that right moment to push them and to make it stick. If you had hesitated any more today, you would have lost the upper ground for sinking in the mire, which is what he wanted. In that case, you must remember you are playing football and if they can push you back when you're standing at their end zone, you can lose the game very quickly. Review the recordings again and study the pacing we use. That will be the most helpful tool for you."

Purrcy nodded, her eyes sparkling and her whiskers turned up. "You can be kind, but never let up, never let them get the upper hand, always stay in control of the conversation and topics. If you keep the pace going like a fast moving river that looks very calm on top, you can move mountains of dirt below. ...As long as all your facts are correct, or you're sure they are even if you don't have the evidence."

She flicked an ear and her tail. "And that is the other tool we used. I wasn't working with facts when I named Bo Ran a government official on Earth. I had to know his age to know it was really a possibility, even, but it was the gut feeling and I went with it and was correct. Shiroe did the same at least once in his own conversation. Pry up the closest fact you can and then run with the gut feel. If you're wrong you might lose a point, but they'll take it rather quickly and point and laugh at you. Then you apologize and ask them to educate you properly. Usually they're prideful enough to be happy to set you straight and then you know what you need to do from there."

Kazuo listened to them soberly, then nodded. "It seems to me MarketMaker and even Davidius did things that were similar." Those two nodded. Kazuo pondered, then returned to his meal. "I'll go back and study them again."

"Rest, too," both Shiroe and Purrcy encouraged him.

He looked up at them in surprise, then smiled. "Okay!"

"Good Kouhai," Shiroe said, teasing him, but he accepted it easily.


	117. Wrapping up the Fifth Level

The next day, MarketMaker purchased the store he wanted and got the Adventurers who weren't on guard duty started on filling it. His regional manager started interviewing prospective employees. By the time the new governing body of Tianjing was ready to announce itself to the city, MarketMaker was ready to give the sales pitches. Davidius was on the schedule to announce the world quests at the earliest possibility after the press conference, and the Emperor had to be asked to please wait one more day for the formal negotiations to begin. Instead of just waiting, he snuck into the city.

That drew smiles on the lips of a number of people. He was already under constant around-the-clock surveillance by several groups so he wasn't hiding from them. The Safety detail was assigned and they showed up to just casually chat with him, then offered to walk the sights with him. The Log Horizon juniors and Kazuo's guild split up, one of each in pairs, and practiced hospitality by taking turns to run into the Emperor, his two guards, and the Safety detail. They had a lot of fun and smiles with him, teaching him exactly what the earnestness of youth did.

They were also suddenly teaching the students in the political class. Purrcy interrupted by making the video appear over the table in the main conference room. "This is how to encourage your neighbors you wish to make allies and eventually friends," she said and left it at that. The tutors took it from there, though they only let it go on for about three encounters, needing to get on with other things.

As they reached the end of the Adventurer City tour, the Security detail ushered the Emperor into a quiet restaurant, then excused themselves, taking the Emperor's guards with them to a different table where they could watch the door and their charge. The waiter bowed. "Please, your dining companion is this way." The Emperor's eyebrows jumped, and he followed after the waiter, bemused and a bit cautious. So far nothing had gone badly for him, but it could.

The waiter pulled out a chair at a table for two, bowed again, and left him there. The Emperor stared at the woman waiting for him in the other chair. She was dressed impeccably for an informal, intimate dinner at the court. "Have you enjoyed your tour this afternoon, Aiden? If you'll sit the waiter can pour the wine." The Emperor jumped just a little and almost guiltily sat, though he looked a bit confused at being named such a strange name.

They let the waiter pour and leave before he answered cautiously. "I have, thank you."

"Wonderful. Please, do come again with your family next time." Her whiskers twitched up, "Assuming they can handle being treated as equals as you seem to have accepted rather quickly for at least today. We have a tendency to make fun of those who put on pompous airs, even if they have the right to do so, and if it goes on too long, we kick them out as annoying fools."

"Lady Purrcy...it's rather overwhelming to be suddenly presented before you without warning," the Emperor finally recovered sufficiently to say.

"I don't bite, dear," she answered. "Actually, I have quite a bit of fun making people such as you interact as an equal with myself and the other Adventurers." He looked a bit annoyed at that, but she continued, "It's the only time you ever get to relax a little. Grand Duke Sergiad Cowen of Maihama, Eastal, Yamato, gets annoyed with me at times for it, but laughing at Adventurers is his favorite relaxing past time so he puts up with it the few times I'm able to visit with him. I should think this once you can do the same."

"It would be the same if I was called in by my mother to sit and dine with her," the Emperor said with dry resignation.

"Is she still living? She must be very healthy for her age, then?" Purrcy asked with interest, taking her first bite of her dinner as a plate was set in front of the Emperor. "Ah, it's not poisoned. I made sure for you."

The Emperor gave a faint nod. "My mother is getting on in years, it's true, but she can still smile and scold well enough."

Purrcy's whiskers lifted again briefly. "Wonderful. Tell her you've met an amazing woman that makes you glad she's your mother and not me and that I've said hello to her. I'd pass on a light kiss as well, but I'm not sure you do that here? Surely she had to work hard to raise you properly."

"Was that an insult?" he asked neutrally.

"No, not really," Purrcy answered back. "As a mother myself, I understand how hard boys are. How many do you have yourself?"

They chatted about the Emperor's family for a bit, those details going into the data banks of everyone listening in on the conversation. It would be important that they understand who they might face if civil unrest started out between brothers in the near future.

"I also have two daughters," the Emperor placed on the table. "The eldest is betrothed, and the younger is sixteen."

"Hmm. That is wonderful, to have two beautiful daughters as well." Purrcy paused and looked at the Emperor judgmentally. "Really, we Adventurers are very confused as to why the nobility of the People of the Land seem to want to marry their daughters off to Adventurers. We are an odd breed of creature, not suited to such pairings, though it isn't completely unheard of. We've only been here a little more than two years from our perspective, but have the potential to live millennia if not forever. How are we to know which in only that much time? Who would take a Person of the Land to spouse only to see them die when we can't? That would be very painful for us." Purrcy sighed. "However, we have received one useful alternative example in that area that has proved very helpful, if you'd hear it."

The Emperor had relaxed marginally and he nodded so she continued on. "Duke Sergiad's youngest granddaughter was assigned to be the ambassador to Akiba at the age of fifteen. It's been a struggle for her to live among the Adventurers, but she has done admirably. The city I suppose sees her more as a mascot and is proud of the princess who tries her best. They also protect her jealously from her own kind." Purrcy gave a reminiscent smile. "But because she is young enough to learn flexibly, she is able to stand before her own court and speak with certainty to answer questions about the Adventurers and the way they will think and react. Duke Sergiad has found this invaluable on several occasions when the other ministers would misstep without the understanding. Balance is still difficult at times, but just that much has gone a long way to helping both sides."

"He only has one grandson who is his heir, so that one couldn't become the ambassador, and in a way Raynessia chose it of herself to begin with. Iselius also is earnest in his efforts to understand the Adventurers and does his best as he does in all things he is learning. He will lead his people well into the new era that contains the strange creature called Adventurer."

Purrcy sat back and looked at the Emperor. "If you wished to do something similar, I would actually suggest sending your youngest daughter to Shangtzi where she would be watched over by Caretaker Mi Lin who is very gentle and kind. Duke Sergiad has compromised in the teaching of Iselius by having Adventurers come to Maihama regularly so that the heir can interact with them in different ways depending on their skills and so forth. You would have to wait until the Adventurers trust you sufficiently to allow that to happen, if you desired it, but I think it would be possible."

Purrcy turned her chopsticks in her fingers and her whiskers went down. "I'm very sorry to touch on a topic that isn't a pleasant one, but there is one piece of information we've not been able to ferret out but which is likely very important to understand. Will you tell me exactly what the situation was with the Adventurer slave and your wife?"

The Emperor considered his plate for a while. He finally set his chopsticks down and sighed a bit. He sat back and looked Purrcy in the eye. "Do you understand the royal necessity of marriages of state?"

"Yes," Purrcy answered.

"She is both lonely and bored. It was the pinnacle of her attempts to alleviate both."

"Given you allowed it to go that far, what specifically made you upset?"

"She is pregnant, and not by me."

Purrcy's chopsticks dropped from her fingers to clatter on the table. "Surely someone of the People of the Land then?" she asked.

"She was refusing to see any others."

Purrcy closed her eyes. Her whiskers drooped and her ears did as well. "I am sorry, your Excellency," she bowed her head. "It shouldn't have happened. I shall investigate it to confirm your words." She put her hands in her lap and sat quietly, her eyes staying closed for several minutes. When she opened her eyes again, they had a faint glow to them. "You who have come seeking the Oracle, what is it you wish to know?"

"Who is the father of the child my first wife carries?" the Emperor asked, seeming more eager to jump at the chance to know than concerned that an Adventurer was also an Oracle.

"Thinking to poison the well further against the Adventurers, Ming brought strong drink to serve the Empress and her toy. When she was put to bed, she knew not who was with her and accepted his advances."

"Thank you, Eminence." The Emperor bowed his head when it was obvious she was done speaking.

Purrcy returned slowly to herself. As she began to slump, Tetorō arrived and propped her up. He cast Spirit Healing on her, made sure she was okay, then bowed to the Emperor and disappeared again to the table her guards were sitting at, watching over her. "Did you receive an acceptable answer?" Purrcy asked the Emperor.

"Yes," he answered soberly.

Purrcy's ear turned, then turned back, and she picked up her chopsticks again. "Until now the Adventurers haven't been able to have or give offspring. Again, we've only been here a short time. That may change. Please use caution. To have such a thing said publicly for either you or for us could be very dangerous. It's one of the concerns we're trying to address so that there won't be panic across the entire globe." She gave the Emperor a sad, sober look. "We don't want to have children here. Not yet. Not until we learn how long we live and not until we learn if we can go home first. It's a difficult thing for us, to have been torn from our families and to think it might happen again if we're suddenly sent back home. We do not find familial relationships casual, even if some of us are willing to play around without being committed while we're young." She sighed sadly and forced herself to eat.

"You have your own pain," he said to her.

"Yes," she said. "My husband set me aside and stole my children from me. It was the day we were brought here and the pain is still very fresh this long after then." She ate in silence a bit longer, then shook slightly. "Ahh, as I said, I'm terribly sorry to bring dark topics to the table when I would rather allow you the opportunity to relax for this brief moment." The Emperor rather smoothly turned the topic himself and they conversed until it turned pleasant again. Purrcy was quite content to answer his questions about Adventurers and what he'd seen that day.

When they reached the dessert course, he mentioned that there seemed to be a number of cheerful youth among the Adventurers. Purrcy smiled and rested her chin on interlaced fingers. "They are very cheerful, aren't they, the children? They're very earnest in their desires to see that everyone is getting along peaceably and is happy. They so much desire for everyone to enjoy life with them. We find them very refreshing and a wonderful daily reminder to seek for the joy in each day. We do worry about them the most, probably, though perhaps we shouldn't. Like Raynessia and Iselius, they are the most flexible. It's just they were stolen from parents they love dearly. I already know you understand that from what was going on here in this place. ...Which is another reason most of us are quite against the black market. It is doing to others what has been done to us and what we find quite unacceptable about being here in the first place."

"I do find that point confusing," the Emperor put down his spoon, his dessert done. "The Adventurers have actually been here for at least one hundred years without much complaint, if somewhat more distant and unfathomable prior to what you call the catastrophe. Why do you say you've been stolen away and want to go home?"

"Ah, that is a concept too difficult for you to begin to comprehend, though I'll try. We were then only here temporarily and only in form. Our spirits - psyche - and bodies - anima - existed on the planet we were born to, that we call Earth. Inari decided that it needed our spirits to be present here on a constant basis. At a time many of us were here all at once, it pulled our spirits from the homes and out of the bodies we were born to and placed them in the forms here that were never meant to be real to us. That has caused all sorts of troubles on its own, but the main problem is that we were never asked if we wanted to come. We were just summarily dragged here and have become prisoners. Angry powerful prisoners. It was put in our hometown that we could all be considered royalty, each of us individually and in total. What would you do if you found yourself suddenly in such a situation? And what would you do if you discovered that everyone around you was just as you are - a king or queen, general or knight brought to the new place all unasked?"

The Emperor was doing a good job containing his internal reaction. "That would be a very difficult adjustment, indeed," he finally said.

"Just so," Purrcy nodded her head. "And just as you'd try very hard to return home to your responsibilities, we are the same." She cocked her head and one set of whiskers lifted, "and just like yourself most likely, some secret portion is quite thrilled and wants to explore more before committing to that decision."

At that, his lips did lift a bit. "Certainly having these few hours has tempted me to try again another day," he allowed.

"Well, good then," Purrcy pushed away from the table and stood. "As I offered before, please do come visit again and bring your children and a wife who can keep her hands to herself." She paused beside the closer edge of the table to him and leaned over close to him. "And I'll be your mother for a moment. For goodness sake, spend time with your wife and learn to at least enjoy her company to some degree. She is also a person with feelings and desires. It's your own fault you know. Fix it properly. Merely cutting off someone's head isn't going to do it and you well know it." She stood up straight again. "We'll see you safely out of the city, but you'll have to come up with your own excuses to your secretary." She winked and patted him on the head, then walked out of the restaurant, her table of guards rising to follow her out.

The Emperor looked after Purrcy a bit, then finally rose. The same three men who had been with him all day were still with his guards and also rose to come with him. When they were in the street again, in a quiet location, he turned to them. "Since the beginning you've been assigned?"

"Yes, but we've had fun," Ground Safety said.

"And whose are you?"

"We're part of the Royal Guard," Aviation Safety said.

"Ah, but don't tell them we said that. Neither one wants to be called by such titles," Compliance finished.

The dark eyes looking at him were sparkling with the light of humor, but he could tell they were quite serious about their duties. "It's been so strange to be treated as an equal today," he murmured. "I'm not really sure what to think about it."

They smiled at him. "Duke Sergiad has the same trouble. Perhaps some day you can go visit Akiba and Maihama and commiserate with him."

The Emperor turned towards the wall of the city and sighed as he began walking. "I wonder if that would even be possible?"

"Well, the leaders of nations on our own planet find the time every now and then," Ground Safety said, "though the visits do tend to be as brief as this one will be."

They were almost to the gate when he suddenly asked, "How is it that I was discovered?"

They gave him smiles, but didn't answer. That made him consider soberly on the remainder of his walk back to his army's encampment. The Adventurers had entertained him pleasantly while he'd been in their own home, but that didn't mean there wasn't going to be firmness the following day from either side. It had been really a unique experience.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning dawned bright and early on the Ocypete but there were places at the dining room table that were empty. Purrcy hadn't come for breakfast that morning, and Nyanta had called to apologize that he wouldn't either, but would stay with her in their cabin. When the post-breakfast meeting was done, Shiroe walked to their door, took a breath, then knocked. "It's Shiroe, may I enter?" She would already know, but Nyanta wouldn't. Shiroe gave a nod to Brenner, who was standing the door. Brenner gave him a salute back. The door opened and Nyanta, standing tall and graceful, a gentleman as always, allowed Shiroe entrance. "Thank mew for coming," he said. "We're sorry for the inconvenience."

"Not at all," Shiroe said anxious to set aside any concerns. "I'm sorry to intrude." He felt a little self-conscious about entering, but he did need to talk to Purrcy, even if only for his own peace of mind. She was standing, waiting for his entrance as well. Shiroe entered and went to stand with her as Nyanta closed the door behind him. "Are you well Purrcy?" he asked her, looking at her with concern.

Her ear dipped. "Well enough, I suppose," she answered. Her tail flicked slightly. "It's a different experience, but not unbearable."

Shiroe looked at her with compassion, quite sure the mental and emotional burdens were the most difficult. "We'll begin the regional conference soon. ...Will you come?"

Purrcy looked down, then turned her face away. "If it would be okay, I'd rather not this time. There isn't much cause for me to be there given how well they're all doing and it's already difficult enough to face the sun today."

Shiroe sighed but there wasn't much he could do. "I understand. Shall I stop by later today and give you the report?" he glanced at Nyanta to make sure that would be okay. He didn't seem opposed.

"If you would like," Purrcy answered. "I'm sure I would enjoy hearing how it went." It sounded like she'd rather forced herself to say that, but it would definitely be better for her to have the distraction, he thought.

"I'll do that then," he said kindly, trying to keep his voice light to be encouraging. He turned for the door. Nyanta bowed him out properly, but Shiroe had to wonder how much of it was Izanagi watching over her jealously to be sure that the embryos properly developed here in the beginning.

As the door closed behind him, he could see that Purrcy had turned away and was looking out towards the ocean through the porthole. He looked at Brenner. Softly he said, "Pray to their Earth gods for them, Brenner. There isn't much else we can do for them at this point, I suspect, though I'll try my best."

"Yessir," Brenner said softly.

-:-:-:-:-

Dinner that night after a full day of successful negotiations was a state affair as the alliance of the Free Adventurer Cities of Yamato hosted the Emperor and his retinue in behalf of the Ministry of Tianjing. It turned out that they had the most food of all three groups for such an affair. When Purrcy and Nyanta went to Chef Hiroki to begin preparations for the dinner at Shiroe's request, he explained that the train had passed a caravan of food wagons that was stopped on the road. They'd gone back and discovered a set of Adventurers checking on a set of People of the Land, passed out on the road with the wagons. He'd offered to purchase the food from the wagons so the Adventurers could use the empty wagons to get the People of the Land somewhere they could receive assistance. Oddly enough, that had happened another three times before they barely saw the walls of Tianjing. It was enough food by the final caravan, they'd just turned around and gone back to the Maze of Eternity.

Purrcy had to tell the story to the rest of the generals and Shiroe. Somehow, without knowing, Hiroki had assisted in getting the infiltrators of the Emperor into the hands of the smugglers, but kept the food from being poisoned. It meant that the food the city would have had during the time they were there wasn't, though. So really, the food they offered at that dinner was by rights everyone's anyway. The delegation from Yamato might have to restock along the way back to Akiba port to have enough food to feed themselves, but it wasn't too bad. The Adventurers and People of the Land in the area would have a more difficult time since they would need to find the balance to have enough food for them all, particularly once winter set in.

The People of the Land being watched over by the Yamato group were released as promised once the treaty was signed by all parties (using a bit of communication magic) and Miko was released from the Ocypete with her proper Adventurer avatar. The Adventurers of Tianjing seemed quite willing to help out with food collection, particularly when it came to harvesting food from monsters - a more difficult task for People of the Land. For a while, it would be the Adventurers providing food to the People of the Land until the farms could harvest their next set of crops. Proper compensation and trade agreements had been set so the hope was that there wouldn't be reverse abuse of that situation until the balance was restored.

The Adventurers generally felt better about the whole thing, but they were now watching to see what the People of the Land would do with the Emperor's orders. The balance in the relationships between the peoples might take just as long or longer to settle out, than the balance in trade. At the dinner, though a little stiff with concern, everyone did seem to be at least trying. It helped that the Yamato delegation was now very familiar with such things and worked very hard to help everyone mingle and begin to relax enough for at least formal pleasant conversations.

Somewhere in all the little conversations going on Purrcy wound her way to engage Go Bang in a little bit of conversation. "I really must ask, as a native English speaker, if your name is a purposeful play on words," she asked at an appropriate point in the conversation.

Go Bang looked a little embarrassed. "Actually, yes. I was double majoring in college in English and another subject. On the side for practice I was a translator for Chinese light novels and graphic novels."

"Oh?" Purrcy bowed to him. "On behalf of all those who benefited from your efforts, thank you very much. I've enjoyed a number of those myself that I would never have been able to if not for your efforts and the efforts of others like yourself. Thank you for your hard work."

Go Bang was even more embarrassed now. "I'm sure it wasn't as good as most, but you're welcome."

"Even just having the concepts and ideas expressed in a way we can understand is sufficient. It's impossible for most of us to read Chinese, after all." She smiled and he had to smile back, understanding.

"Lady Purrcy is very much a closet otaku," Tetorō explained. "We were all quite shocked to learn it actually."

It was Purrcy's turn to look a bit embarrassed. "Well, you knew the part very well yourself, Tetorō, for being someone of your class." Tetorō clamped his mouth shut and looked away. Her whiskers twitched up and she turned back to Go Bang. "I suppose that the world of interests narrows somewhat when you collect gamers into one group, though it has been nice to have so many intelligent and creative people around. I do wish all of you the best into the future."

"Thank you, Lady Purrcy," Go Bang bowed slightly as she left to find another group of people to converse with, Tetorō trailing after her.

"She's more real in person, isn't she?" Fa Ri said lightly.

Go Bang and Ba Ri, the new head of the city, both looked at each other, then shook their heads. "Don't let that fool you, little brother," Ba Ri said. "She is very much really a Game Moderator. Nice to talk to pleasantly, but don't cross them if you know what's good for you."

-:-:-:-:-

The following morning Shiroe called for an after-breakfast meeting of all the heads of the Yamato delegation, Kanami, Purrcy, and Nyanta. When everyone was settled around the dining room of the Ocypete, the grouping was a bit more casual than the intermediate meeting had been. They were winding down and this was the wrap-up meeting for the most part. "MarketMaker, if you'd like to go first, I think you have things in town you'd like to be doing?" Shiroe offered.

MarketMaker waved off any concern. "We've got another day of interviews today. The store is well staffed for now with our own, now that they've all had the practice of it, and two general clerks are being trained by them today. We hope to be able to hire the city manager by tomorrow morning. We should be ready to head out on the train by the day after tomorrow. Business is good and as we've done in the other cities, keeping what's available limited for this first run seems to be fine. Please let Michitaka know that I want the Ocypete to turn right back around as soon as they can get more product loaded into it and I want as many boxes on it as possible."

MarketMaker shifted and a bit of a frown appeared on his face, "Shiroe, I also want the second train on that ship, and tell them to make a third immediately. We need to have product coming behind us or someone else is going to engineer the boxes and we'll loose that selling point before we can resupply. I don't know how far apart each train can be for supply quantities, but I think we can keep Minami's train building department in business for a while to come. Our modern minds won't be able to handle the years-long waits between visits of the days of the early European business travelers. One month, maybe two at the longest is my guess. We'll come back with product from the other side and it will be about the same, I would think."

Shiroe nodded. "Get with Coppelia. She should have contacted the rest of the farm bot Adventurers that were part of the recent resurrection by now, and they can put together numbers and time schedules as you go. When they've given you that report, pass it on over and we'll get things rolling in Yamato." He sighed. "I really wish we could get the gates working, but that would be even messier, really. If Coppelia's group gets bored, have them work up an initial schedule for the gates, since we are working on them, too. Then when we get there, we'll already have things in place and just need to work out the kinks."

MarketMaker nodded and relaxed just a little. "I think that's really it for me at the moment. I'll stick around in case others have questions. They don't really need me until this afternoon and the final round of interviews for the store manager."

"Kazuo?" Shiroe moved to the next most important thing on the list.

"Ba Ri and the city council seem to be settling in nicely. The city itself is still trying to figure out what it all means, but responses generally seem to be positive. Davidius says that the world quests have been received well enough. Coppelia's been training with Yuudai yesterday evening and today to make sure she understands how to handle the weapon blessing and is working hard. Leonardo has been sitting as her assistant - or guard, it's a bit hard to tell sometimes." The room chuckled a little. "I've got plenty of studying to do before we get to our next difficult city and I will most definitely be calling on you, so please expect it. Please take care of me, everyone. I will need it until I can even reach Shiroe's toe." He got promise nods.

"Anything from the generals?" Shiroe asked.

"We've set a few of the original freedom fighters onto Chi Li, one of whom I've set as a representative of mine to his face," Michael said. "We figure if we follow him around, he'll lead us nicely to all the people who need to be set straight. Since it was already what they were doing, they're happy to continue. We've put them into training as of yesterday."

"Good," Shiroe said.

Kanami raised her hand. "Everyone else has stolen my thunder, but I have one more issue - other than the fact Crusty's going with you so I won't have him at my back anymore, though I'm glad to have KR as a substitute since he's so fun." She put her hand down and leaned on her elbows. "Leonardo is American. He came from near New York City and he's come along with me because he wants to get back. If you've got a group going over there, he'd rather go with you. I'd rather he didn't because that takes the one I don't have to worry about, but it's his to choose."

Shiroe pursed his lips and glanced at Michael, but it was Purrcy who shifted. Shiroe raised his eyebrow at her. "Let me talk to him," Purrcy said. "We haven't gotten to that level yet. It's still further out. There's things we can do to compromise, I think."

Shiroe looked back at Kanami. Kanami hesitated, then nodded. "That's fine, as long as you let him choose, like Coppelia did."

"For certain," Purrcy promised.

Kanami leaned back and gave Purrcy a look. "You gonna give Erius a job, too?"

Purrcy shook her head. "I'm not giving Leonardo a job either. Just making a suggestion on how he can get back to the other side of the world while still helping you out."

Kanami looked at Purrcy a bit longer, then gave a satisfied nod and looked back at Shiroe. "Isaac and I have got the transfer done and I think I've got a good handle on what to do in the Mazes of Eternity. It was fun to watch the city campaign from the outside this time. I think we'll have fun with both of them as we go. I'm really looking forward to stomping Overwritten now, too, now that I know they'll be gone for good. Tell your men, 'good job', for me, Michael." She said "good job" in English.

Michael smiled at her, "Sure thing."

"And I think that wraps up my side," Kanami said, throwing her arm casually over the back of her chair.

"Give your daughter a kiss for me when you get home," Purrcy said, smiling. "And I do hope she gets to see the vistas you want to show her." Nyanta, Naotsugu, and Shiroe all nodded agreement.

Kanami waved her hand and looked away. "We've still got time for stuff like that." She didn't look back until the water in her eyes went away.

"Thanks, Kanami," Shiroe said and looked around at the rest of the generals.

"I guess I'll be in your care," Crusty said. "Good luck with that, and please, don't make me repeat the last two attempts. I will find being the World General so much easier being able to chat, and in general I'm looking forward to not being cursed. I suppose the work after that won't be so wonderful."

Purrcy snorted a laugh. "Keeping that busy is the only thing you'll enjoy, and you'll still be bored around the edges."

Crusty stared at her, "Really. How is it you can think you know me so well, if we've never met before Shangtzi?"

"And how is it you could pin Raynessia perfectly when you first lay eyes on her?" Purrcy asked back. Crusty frowned, but Purrcy wouldn't say more than that.

"I'll try to keep the peace," Isaac interjected with a bit of weariness at the argument. "Good luck to the Eured crew. I'm sure I'll wish I'd gone instead of stayed home in the end, but what's done is done." They all knew him better than that and rolled their eyes at him.

"I've learned a lot. I'm glad I came," Brody spoke up. "I think I'll be able to be a more effective head of Nakasu with these two examples I've had here plus all the lessons. I'm excited about where we can move forward to from here. Thank you, everyone."

Nakalnad nodded, his arms folded. "It's been a good trip. I hope things continue to go well for the rest of you continuing on. It will be hard for us to do anything for you after this, but if there is anything, we'll hope to help you as best we can. ... Though, like Isaac-kun, I'm not really looking forward to getting back to my own desk." He looked at Brody from the corner of his eye, ignoring Isaac's complaint. "I'll take back a few things to try myself, though. It has helped to have a working vacation. I'm sure we'll all be tired when we get back, too, since we have to go through ocean sea monsters again." Everyone going back to Yamato groaned, not really wanting to be reminded of that gauntlet. "I'll see that we get more help on making the trains. We'll need to renegotiate the contract, though, for the follow-ons. The original contract was just for the one exploratory train." There were grimaces around the room, but no one was particularly surprised.

"I'm sure since we'll be able to put more of Minami's products on it, it should work out to a reasonable fee," Shiroe said mildly and Nakalnad glowered at him just a little, but this wasn't the time for that particular negotiation. "MarketMaker, make sure you leave one of the Transportation Department in each region so the trains can communicate across regions as necessary. Purrcy, I think we're to you."

Purrcy purred and sat up a little straighter. "Good job, everyone. I can't say how pleased I am. We'll be sure to take good care of Crusty and get him back up on his feet as fast as we can. I'll have my part to play in the next level, but it will sadly not be with most of the rest of you."

Nyanta leaned forward slightly. "In meowr irritation over the main request, please don't forget my two sub-quests in this next one."

"And after all that, you'll still ask for them, and politely, too," Shiroe sighed. He looked at Nyanta sideways. "I haven't forgotten." When no one else had comments Shiroe said, "Okay, then, I think we've done our part here and can go home, if you don't mind us going first," he looked at MarketMaker, Kanami, and Kazuo. They allowed it would be okay. Shiroe looked at Michael.

"We've missed this morning's tide and will have to wait for tonight," he answered back, "except we can paddle-wheel out whenever. What do you want to do about the possible pirates?"

"We'll set up a plan later. I think we can let everyone know to get in their last sightseeing and say their farewells today, stretch our legs one last time, that sort of thing. I'm not sure I want to have a late party tonight, given those same possible pirates, but we could have one last early dinner together, then get going. If we skip a meal and go straight to Nakasu where we know there are good boar to hunt and they aren't hurting for food right now, how long would it take us to get there?"

"Mm, with good weather and good fortune, by dinner tomorrow night, I would think," Michael gave a look from under his brows at Purrcy and Nyanta. They both twitched positively and Michael gave a satisfied nod.

"Wonderful. We won't even have to skip a meal, unless people didn't bring enough for themselves," Shiroe said contentedly. His eyes searched for Naotsugu. "Which reminds me. Has Chef Hiroki said anything about what he wants to do next?"

Naotsugu rubbed his head. "Actually, me and the kids were talking about it over breakfast. With the split up in the guild and the uncertain future as far as all that goes, they want to ask him to come with us so we've got an emergency chef on hand. The twins seem to have some grand scheme about having him open up a restaurant they can help him at and use as in inner-city base of sorts to keep closer tabs on the city during this next round. ...And honestly, I think to use as an escape if things get bad at home," his face fell as he admitted the last.

Purrcy gave a faint, sad sigh and Shiroe echoed the sentiment, really. "You're welcome to ask him. I think we can't ask him to guild, though, given how hard this one's going to be. It's a bad time to ask someone new to try that hard."

Naotsugu nodded agreement. "I'll let them know."

Shiroe looked around at everyone. "If there's nothing else?" No one had anything else, so the meeting broke up and people left to go relax for the rest of the day, not a small number of them picking up their final souvenirs of the East China Region before the return home to Yamato.

-:-:-:-:-

Because MarketMaker was also going to go shopping until he was called for interviews, Purrcy begged Nyanta if they could go with him, since she hadn't gotten to do any vacationing in China at all up until then. MarketMaker was pleasantly surprised to find that Nyanta was actually very pleasant a companion for shopping with because he was such a gentleman, and Purrcy was just as fun to watch shop as she was to shop with. Everyone else was just as happy to have MarketMaker be the kami-sitter, though they weren't present very much that afternoon so really he got a rare treat.

They stopped by the Adventurer Hall so Purrcy and Nyanta could talk to Leonardo. They waited politely until the current Adventurer being helped by Kanami's party was gone, then sat with them as if the next clients. "Do you feel confident, Coppelia?" Purrcy asked first.

"Yes, Miss Purrcy. It isn't too hard now that I understand. I've been enjoying some of my conversations as well."

"Wonderful. I will hope for the best for you into the future. Thank you for being willing to take on the tasks for us." Coppelia bowed her head. Purrcy turned to Leonardo. "Kanami said you've been traveling with her in the hopes to find a way home to the New York area?"

"Yes," Leonardo said, "though it wasn't easy living there, the States is home."

Purrcy glanced at Nyanta and he raised an eyebrow and listened. "At some point, I know the Eagles are headed over there, but I don't know how long into the future, and they'll end up on the west coast, not the east coast. There is perhaps a better possibility than coming with us to Yamato and waiting for who knows how long and then having a long trek across the country."

"I'm listening," Leonardo said.

"The Gate of Time might get you there in a more timely fashion. In Europe there are actually quite a number of cat gods and goddesses and temples. Any one of them can get you into the Gate of Time. It's a somewhat dangerous place for Adventurers generally, but Nyanta's already been there once and learned how to get around in it. He could tell you what to do to find the pathway through the Gate of Time to the eastern part of the United States. That would allow you to continue to help your party to settle all the Mazes of Eternity on the Eured continent. There's even one or two temples in Africa if you all decide to go that far."

Leonardo was very interested. "Would you be willing to help me?" he asked Nyanta.

Nyanta's ear twitched and he dipped his head. "Of course."

Purrcy squeezed Nyanta's hand. "Do you mind if I leave you here to discuss it while we finish the shopping?"

"It's okay, meow," he answered. "Have a good time."

"Thank you," she answered, rose, and was followed out by her guards and MarketMaker.

"You're sure?" MarketMaker asked her.

"It's fine," she said, "even we have to have a little bit of time apart, and in this case, I'm not to know anything about the Gate of Time, so it's rather a requirement." MarketMaker politically let it drop.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sat with Purrcy and Nyanta in their cabin late that afternoon. He talked about the day, and then about various sundry topics to keep the mood light. When dinner was called he led them to the mid-ship deck where tables and chairs had been set up. "We'll keep it low-key on this deck," he explained, "but allow anyone who wants to come and visit. The main deck will likely be a rowdy party until we go." He smiled. The two groups would be separating for many months and had gotten rather close in the last set of battles.

Shiroe was a bit surprised when it was Crusty, Isaac, and Nakalnad who showed up first to settle right next to Purrcy, Nyanta, and himself, rather including Akatsuki with them and making her sit next to Shiroe. She sat rather stiffly. Nakalnad, sitting next to her, scowled at Shiroe. Shiroe swallowed a bit, then shifted his chair slightly and reached for her hand under the table. She blinked and clenched her hands until Nakalnad bumped her. She startled and looked at him with wide eyes. Nakalnad winked solemnly at her and she slumped, giving up and giving her hand to Shiroe. He had the sudden urge to pull her into his lap and cuddle with her, but he held her hand tightly, took a deep breath and refused it, smiling at her instead. She blushed but gave him one of her happy smiles and that made it better.

Isaac and Crusty on the other side were doing the same sort of thing to Purrcy and Nyanta. They were arguing a minor point with them that in the end made Purrcy laugh at their antics and Nyanta's ears turn in humor. When Tetorō, Naotsugu, Isuzu, and Rudy arrived with food, the three generals rose to their feet, claiming their work was done and headed down the stairs to join with their guildmates who would be continuing on into Eured. "They'll party hard tonight, won't they, even if briefly?" Tetorō commented as he sat down next to Purrcy, passing a plate over to Nyanta and then setting another in front of Purrcy. He put one at his place next and tucked in.

"Most likely," Naotsugu agreed, paying the same favor for Shiroe, Akatsuki, and himself. Isuzu sat next to Tetorō and Rudy next to Naotsugu.

"Where are the twins, nyan?" Nyanta asked, looking around.

"They're helping Chef Hiroki with the cooking. They want to learn as much as they can from him before we go," Isuzu said cheerfully.

"They're still trying to talk him into coming with us as well," Rudy explained.

"A Chinese restaurant would do well there," Naotsugu said. "I'd like to take Marie there on dates. I'll bet she loves Chinese food, too."

"Most likely," agreed Shiroe. They reminisced of home for a while, looking forward to returning now that they had been gone, but also remembering the fond times of the past. Various people came and went - Kanami who talked a lot but left when Naotsugu gave her the non-verbal warning she'd been there long enough, Davidius to get his final instructions and reassure Purrcy he would do his best and contact her with regular updates, KR briefly to get his final fix of Hahaue and tease Tetorō one last time. MarketMaker and Kazuo stopped by to get a little more hand-holding from Shiroe. He reassured them and thanked them one more time. About the time Touya and Minori finally showed up with their plates to sink down in exhaustion and eat, Yuudai, Majiyo, and Mise showed up to shyly stand near their table. Purrcy gave Tetorō a look.

"I think I'll go see what trouble the main deck is getting into," he said rising to his feet. "Why don't you come with me Isuzu and Rudy? Do you want to come too, Naotsugu?" They agreed and headed for the main deck.

Shiroe looked at Akatsuki with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head, content to sit next to him and hold his hand still. He gave a little nod and let her stay. "Thank you for the food," he said to Touya and Minori.

"You're welcome," Minori said with a smile. "We enjoyed getting to learn new things."

"We might not be able to recreate the best Chinese menu, but I think we've learned enough to make some of our standards taste like theirs every once in a while," Touya agreed, tucking into his food like the junior of Naotsugu he was.

"Will you sit with us, please?" Purrcy invited the other three. They bowed and sat, the two younger members of Crescent Moon perched on the edge of their seats.

"We know we're going to be on the ship with you until Nakasu," Yuudai opened, "but Misa was wondering how the trip on the ocean was going to go. She's still concerned about Mister Crusty." Shiroe could see she was sitting upright and rather tense.

Purrcy's tail waved slowly as she considered what to answer. "Would the four of you like to share a cabin? Most cabins we've set to be for four persons so the number would be right, and then there would be proper chaperones for all of you." She winked at them with a bit of a smile. They all did relax at that, giving nods that they'd rather. "Then tonight, when Crusty's done with his partying, we'll meet in his cabin. I'll cast the spell on him to keep him in stasis so the curse can't pull him back and so he won't feel any pain. For him, it will be like falling asleep on his own bed. He'll awaken again after the curse has been removed and we're sure of it. The other three of you can be there in the room as he's falling asleep so he can know the comfort of having companions around him, and you'll be there with him until Nakasu to watch over him for your own sakes as well."

"What about after that?" Mise finally spoke up.

"It isn't necessary for anyone to watch over him specifically," Purrcy said calmly, "but I've already asked Isaac and Nakalnad to do it, as you recall, and Reed's taken that up as well. I suspect they'll each take a rotation to sit with him around the clock, knowing how good they are at their considered responsibilities. You're welcome to request it of them if it would help you to feel better," she added kindly. Mise considered it, then nodded, content with that answer.

Yuudai hesitated, then asked Nyanta. "Nyanta-san...is there anything else I should know to prepare for the pilgrimage to the shrine?"

Nyanta shook his head. "Mew are already doing meowr best to be prepared. Inari-no-Izanagi myay come speak with mew to send mew off in Nakasu."

Yuudai paused, then said, "I...was wondering...how ascetic we should go?"

Nyanta's ear turned. "...Izanagi is the World AI, that which wishes to see all the creatures and creations on the planet living in harmony for the millennial growth and life of the world. That harmony may not always be peaceful living, as corruption must be contained and the cycle of life is natural, but the overarching purrogress of the world is the desired goal. I should think that within that goal, how mew understand it is the right way for mew to walk."

Yuudai considered that then nodded. He rose and bowed. "Thank you." His companions left with him and for a while they had peace, just the six of them at the table.

"Shiroe," Purrcy said after a bit, having sat to look out over the point of land that made this area of the Gulf of Chihli a protected bay, "have you decided what you want to do with the reward from the Yamato Maze of Eternity? This will be my last opportunity to keep my promise to design something for you."

Shiroe sat back and crossed one leg over the other. "I haven't. I've been having difficulty deciding what to make with it."

Purrcy didn't push it, but she did eventually say, "If I could make one suggestion, then, it might be to simply make bandannas. Worn as a full head-gear and constructed with just the right additional magics and by the right seamstress or tailor, it could potentially be a protection against any spell of sleep statuses."

"I'll consider it," Shiroe said, thinking the idea had merit. Her ear twitched and she looked out over the bay and point of land again. They sat contentedly, two couples holding hands with two tired juniors content to just be quiet, until Crusty came to fetch them, ready to begin his long sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

"Maharajadhiraj, we have finally been able to confirm the Raajkumaari is aboard the ship."

Prince Singh looked up. "Good."

"All stands ready," his close lieutenant said with a bow. "The tide will turn shortly before the moon sets. If you will, please try to rest between then and now."

"In a little while," he agreed. When they'd left him alone, he rose to his feet and walked to stand where he could see the large ocean vessel from the point of land that protected the Tianjing port. It was small in the distance, but still large enough to be seen, brightly lit by magic lights.

He put his hand on the trunk of the tree next to him, the bark rough in comparison to the smooth masts of his ships. The moon shone enough on the water to show the movements of the waves across the top of it. The motion of the water made him feel as if he was in a boat. As if the world itself had become the deck on which he stood. His felinoid eyes pierced through the darkness, trying to see for himself the people he was here to collect. India was in great need, and he was required to fulfill his orders.

They had planned most carefully, knowing they were going up against the best minds and swords of this part of the world. There was one thing he wasn't sure would be in their favor. Whether they were highly intelligent computer constructs or real gods, if they controlled all things on this world and didn't want their plans interrupted, the plan to fulfill his brother's wish was doomed from the beginning. He'd almost been able to convince his brother to follow the Master Strategist's plan until Minister Padarahan had opened his mouth and described the Raajkumaari. If Padarahan had been a physical being in his presence, Prince Singh would have struck him down in that moment.

The one thing his brother had never been able to turn his eyes and desire from was a beautiful woman. His harem here was already overflowing, even with the Caretaker of India as his head wife. Prince Singh had warned him off even then, but the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur had spoken sharply, saying the Master Strategist and Caretaker of Yamato were needed and to fetch them at all costs as his original orders had been.

Prince Singh's ear fell as his gaze looked at the visions in his mind rather than the ship docked in Tianjing. He would have liked to have had them as allies rather than slaves. Even more than that, handing over the Raajkumaari to his womanizing brother would be nearly impossible. If her husband could be left behind to begin with, Prince Singh wouldn't be willing to give her up. She was his perfect match.

* * *

 _raajkumaari = princess_


	118. Pirates off the China Coast

Fog rolled in that night as the tide turned. It was light near to shore and didn't rise much above the surface of the water, certainly not a threat for a ship as large as the Ocypete. The steamship pulled out from its bay at the docks, the paddle wheels turning slowly until they were out into the bay, staying to the center of the channel, then turning slowly for the east. The farther they went, the heavier the fog got, but the stars above were visible and the night was fine for sailing.

Some time later they were headed south into the Yellow Sea, Korea on the eastern side, the coast of China to the west. Michael stood on the steerage deck, keeping his eyes on the stars and his ears focused on the fog below. It had reached level with the main deck's rail and was beginning to pour and billow in soft small waves over it. "Eagles up," he said softly. Fifteen blackbirds the size of men rose silently into the air, flapping up higher and higher until they were small in the sky. For him, they crossed over the stars as shadows, so he knew they were there. For the ships coming silently in the fog, they were as hidden from view as the pirate ships were from the steerage deck.

Michael had just enough time to enter the code realm physically. He heard a faint thud behind him. Turning to look into the base realm, he could see that Christian had fallen to the floor of the steerage room. Michael nodded. Standard procedure of pirates with magic - fog spells to disguise their approach, then heavy sleep area effect magic to pin the greater portion of the unsuspecting targets down, particularly effective when most of them were already asleep to begin with. His next action was to slip off a short burst of warning to Purrcy. If India had a master hacker, they had Hackers and Programmers in sufficient supply. He didn't need one to come hunting him right now. Taking one's body into this realm meant more than a trapped mind if one was captured.

He shifted over to the slightly safer realm of the spirit realm. It had it's own treachery, but he didn't expect the enemies on the pirate ships to be looking for him there. He moved until he was where he could see the pirate's spirits gathered together on their ships and took a census, adding a mark on the sub-guild encounter map to the ship holding Prince Singh and a count inside each ship marker. Gareth's job as Navigation was to create the map - usually. Lately it had been Bowie's job. This looked like Gareth had been just as happy to get back to practicing.

Michael moved away from the ships again, slipping away fairly easily. He was wary all the same. What the pseudocode mages in India had learned could include things he was unfamiliar with. When he was sure of the lay of the land, he sent a single bit message to Gareth. The pirates were already slipping over the rail of the Ocypete, led by the prince himself. That suited Michael fine. He inserted himself in a hidden location on the Prince's ship as it pulled away from the Ocypete, burrowed into a fox hole, then made an echo of himself appear in the code realm over the prince.

"Indeed, the Hackers of Yamato are sloppy or extremely proud, to stand so boldly in person in this place, a voice said from within the code realm.

"Just very good," he answered back, then twisted out of the trap. He ran, circling back around to fight back, switching to a tiger form ( _thank you for that idea, Nyanta-san_ ) to take down pirate Hacker's echo. He sniffed out the location of the Hacker assigned to trap him and dug as fast as he could at the foxhole he was in. When the pirate Hacker leaped to go to another foxhole, Michael threw a net to capture him woven of sleep, stun, and silence spells.

The fight was over before the prince reached the doors to the cabin section of the Ocypete. He paused there, and a questing seeker came for the pseudocode mage Michael had neutralized. Michael quickly attached a thread to his echo that was the mage's scent and fingerprint on the other end. "Have you taken out the Hackers?"

"One is sleeping on the ship. The other has been dealt with."

"Send the signal," came the order. Michael sent an unvoiced acknowledgement, then searched the foxholes until he discovered the one that had the real mind of the Hacker in it. There he found the spell waiting to be cast. He lifted the unconscious Mage and used him to touch the spell off. Dropping the Mage, he transformed to bit size. He dropped down into the noise of the spell just set off and flew with it, fully expecting to find the master hacker of India on the other end.

-:-:-:-:-

Prince Singh crouched, waiting the required count for Minister Padarahan to arrive to protect them from the Raajkumaari, then slipped into the hallway that led to the cabins of the nobility of the Yamato group. A quick check of the status of the three guards in the hallway showed they were all sleeping, their black-clothed forms slumped on the floor where they had been standing watch. Anyone could be dressed that way. Their names...mostly very odd ones that only explained what must have been low offices...were more telling. He would have been disappointed if they hadn't had some form of protection, but he wasn't sure physical guards on closed doors was enough to make him decide it wasn't a trap.

He waved the first set of his pirate band to the first sets of doors. They were unguarded and unlocked. Fingers of counts went up. Three of four sleeping in one, all guards. Four of four, sleeping, also guards. Prince Singh nodded. They would put the guards between the door and the most important cabins. ...But really, were they so soft and protected on their little island that they truly believed terrible things couldn't happen to them in the night?

His men slipped silently into the rooms and came out shortly thereafter with thumbs up. While they wouldn't care to wake them up, they also wouldn't want to fight them on the way out. His men had cast simple binding spells or tied them with ropes to keep them down if they should happen to wake up. It was the same in the next two rooms, save that one of them had one minor official, the proclaimed 'son of the night', and two guards, while the other had two guards and two empty spaces. That accounted for all three guards in the hallway, who were also now bound and spells of silence placed on them so they couldn't give warning.

At the next set of doors, one was locked, the other was guarded. Prince Singh waved up his best lockpick. He set his ear to the door and held up four fingers, then frowned and signaled two females, two males. Two older, two young. It was a bit odd for a family group to be present. Prince Singh asked by hand signs if they might be Persons of the Land. He hadn't seen any aboard before but it might not be unheard of. His spy shook his head and stepped close to whisper very quietly in his ear. "Perhaps the High General, his close aide and the two young ones who entered with the Raajkumaari at the end of the day." That made sense.

Prince Singh considered it, then told them to leave it locked and set a guard on the door instead. The three would not be a threat and if the cursed General was still on the ship it wasn't likely he would be much longer, by the stories they'd gleaned in Shangtzi. It would be better for him to be left behind again, really.

The first guarded room, when they entered it, had one person in it. It was the second Hacker who'd sat near him at the table. The second, empty bed would then be for the other commander who would be at the wheel in the steerage room - and now sleeping just as peacefully. He closed the door and moved on. The next set of rooms held members of Log Horizon, the girls all in one room and the boys in the other. His men made sure they were also bound but not disturbed from their sleep. They might come back and take them hostage, but for now it wasn't necessary.

For now, the entire ship was going back with them. It was too great a prize to leave behind, though losing the train (for now) was perhaps a little difficult. He had one group of men going up to the steerage room. They should already be learning the controls in order to get the ship where they wanted it to go. The bulk of his forces would be making sure the guildmasters and warrior Adventurers returning to Yamato were controlled - that is, dead and reviving in the Cathedral on the China shore to be left behind. It was perhaps a bit sad to strand them, but they could find other ways home, eventually.

The last two doors both had guards on them, now sleeping and trussed. One would be the room of the Master Strategist, the other the room of the Raajkumaari and her husband. Prince Singh set his heart and expression hard. Here would be the difficulty. He called his best ears to him and had them listen at the doors. At one, he was given the sign for two, and felinoid. That was the room that would determine the fate of this plan.

Minister Padarahan should already have them locked down to the best of his ability. Now it would be to see if the gods would act through their Priest and Priestess or not. Prince Singh took a breath. It was his job to check and see, and if necessary beg them to reconsider and allow him to take them to his own land to fix the wrongs there. He gave a nod and the man at the door opened it. Prince Singh looked in, then cautiously moved into the room, looking for the occupants of it.

Two cold points pressed lightly into the back of his neck at the same time as he recognized the calico cat curled in the middle of the bed and remembered that it had been said she preferred cat to felinoid. "Will you let me plead my case, now that I've come this far to talk to you?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"Mew've come to steal my wife. I'm nyot inclined to listen kindly." The response was soft, but as cold as the tips of the rapiers pressing on his neck.

"No. I've come to beg the god of the world to let her and the Master Strategist come to India to heal it. We are nearly to extinction ourselves. Surely it won't be so strenuous a voyage as to cause much of a delay in the plans?" He held his empty hands out to either side in the gesture of non-aggression and turned his head to see if the Swashbuckler would let him turn to face him.

"Mew wish to speak with Izanagi? Even at this late a time?"

"Yes," he answered and slowly turned around. The rapiers remained pointed steadily at the base of his throat.

"Fine." The green eyes opposite him held his golden ones, then seemed to grow in his vision until he was falling into a green haze. When he could see again on the other side of that haze he was staring into his own eyes and in the meeting of himself he was torn asunder.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles soared on the ocean air, the flutter of their wings on the wind more silent than the waves on the hulls of the pirate ships. They had been dropping in altitude since Michael had tagged the ships, spiraling and widening that spiral until they encircled the farthest out ships. They silently swept in and began taking out the pirates, putting them down to 1HP rapidly. They moved with great precision, leaving unconscious men behind unable to move or rise again. It wasn't something the pirates would be able to recover from on their own - the drain was locked to them, too. The Eagles had memorized that spell long ago, hating it with every atom of their beings.

When they reached the equilibrium point, where there weren't any more men to take down save for the single pirate set to keep a boat ready to return for the rest now on the Ocypete, half of the Eagles went back out to tie pirate ship to pirate ship until they had a flotilla strung together in a web. The other half took those same pirates down to 1 HP and tied their ships into the flotilla.

By the time the second half arrived back up on the rail of the Ocypete to tie off the ropes so the flotilla remained attached to the Ocypete, the first half were up at the steerage deck taking down the smaller grouping of pirates that had escaped the Generals and were headed to take over the most important part of the Ocypete. Whoever had control of the steerage room had control of the Ocypete. The Eagles made sure it was them.

The set of pirates who entered the ship with the Prince were allowed to enter the cabin section unhindered. As soon as that door was closed, however, a spell of silence was placed over it and the waiting ambushers moved to take out the pirates still spilling over the rail with the fog. The pirates were a bit surprised though perhaps more resigned. It wasn't like every Adventurer on the ship would be affected by a sleep status effect.

In this battle each side fought rather fiercely, not wanting to end up at whichever Cathedral city they were last at, though the Ocypete would turn around if it needed to for the Yamato Adventurers if they won. It would also pass through each city the pirates had been to if the pirates won. It was a battle without much real anger. The pirates were doing their job. The Yamato Adventurers were rather pragmatic about the whole thing. Sea monsters, pirates in the middle of the night, ...it was all about the same, really. At least this time Inari was staying out of it and letting the Generals do their job, which made the job of everyone else that much easier. Once the Eagles got added into the mix (without wings so as to keep them hidden from the pirates) it got even easier.

"Think they've managed to teach him his lesson yet?" Nakalnad asked with a bit of a grunt, taking an ax to his shield, when he ran into Isaac now that the enemy was thinning up and they were pressing them into a tighter grouping.

"Don't know," Isaac swung his sword to take that pirate down, then ducked as Nakalnad's sword went over his head to take out one in Isaac's blind spot. A healing spell went off, though for a moment they couldn't tell for which side. "That's the hard thing with PK battles," Isaac grumbled as he took the same man down Nakalnad just had and Nakalnad took down the one Isaac had just taken down.

"Tell me about it," Nakalnad said in agreement.

"Healer's down," a voice came over the party chat. "That's their last one."

"Thanks!" they both called out at the same time. "Surrender and we'll let you live instead of wake up in a random Cathedral," Nakalnad offered loudly to the remaining pirates.

There was growling from the other side and one called back down to the ships below, "Where is the rest of the party?"

"Ah, they're not coming," Nakalnad answered. "We took them out early. It was just easier that way."

One of the pirates near the railing of the Ocypete escaped over the edge, but Nakalnad motioned to let him go. He was gone for a while, then the pirates all scowled. "Tell him not to touch them or they will Cathedral," Nakaland suggested, if a bit menacingly. "At this point, it's our win. We have your Prince locked down, we own the Ocypete still, and we have you. Put your weapons away and settle down until we hear the official word of what we're going to do with you."

There was a muttering from in the crowd followed by wary silence until one voice said. "We'll surrender for now, but it's still a stand-off inside." Weapons were a bit reluctantly put away, but they didn't sit down. That meant weapons could come out again rather quickly. The Yamato Adventurers kept their weapons out and stayed surrounding the pirates to wait and see what was next.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael inspected the city from above as the spell arrived over New Delhi. Maybe the valley was once peaceful and used for farming, but it looked war ravaged now. Not desert and lifeless like the main part of China, which was perhaps relieving, but still it wasn't pleasant.

The spell was nearing it's intended destination. Michael lifted up from it and watched where it was going. Right about now it should be reaching a butler. As soon as he found the butler, he killed the spell. Even entering the butler would trigger a doorbell. Michael walked the line from the butler down to the mage it was butler for. It smelled just right, from what he and Tetorō had learned watching Padarahan work before. He switched from looking in the base and code realms simultaneously to looking between the code realm and the spirit realm until he found the fox hole the spirit was in. Then he looked between the spirit realm and the base realm. Bingo.

There was something to do first, so he slipped back to the butler where he'd killed the spell he'd ridden down. He put up a two way insert line, using the master hacker's signature, then tied his own special line into it. It would shunt anything from either direction to him and his own butler. That way he could answer as either side whatever he wanted to answer. He dug a very small fox hole, just big enough for his bit sized self, then sent one more image wandering - this one both bit sized and very transparent. (He'd learned the transparencies from the Vengeful Spirits that could only barely be seen in the code realm.)

Returning to the room the minister was in, he stood right on the edge of the code realm, looking into the base realm. When even that much made the minister look around, he slipped over to the spirit realm, still on the edge, and the minister settled down.

The Maharajadhiraj Bahadur was rather obvious. He was covered in concubines, and the Caretaker - as beautiful as the prince had said - was sitting on a cushion nearby. Padarahan's eyes were on her. She was looking rather miserable, really, her eyes on the ground. For all the concubines, the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur was looking rather intense, as if waiting for the news to come from his brother. As Michael watched, an image formed in the room between the three - his cue to get started on his next part to play.

"Why do you seek to take me from my rightful place?" Purrcy's image said to the room in general.

The Maharajadhiraj Bahadur's eyes snapped up to her and for one brief moment lust or greed was in his face. The look on Padarahan's face was even more telling, however. The look on the Caretaker's face made one want to cry almost. Things were not right in this place. "Division has arisen between the heads of the valley, created by pride, greed, and hatred," he broadcast to let Purrcy know what he'd seen.

His next targets were the histories. If there was a master hacker here, there were histories to read. He barely escaped the first trap he ran into and he slid to a halt in a hidden wrinkle in the space he was in to evaluate what it had been. It turned his stomach. He slipped up one speed level, made sure he was in a safe zone, then crafted a spell. Looking back at Padarahan and he could see, now that he was in the micro level, just how tight the web around him was. Michael carefully plotted his next set of moves through the spaces, seeing from here also all the defenses around the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur...and that some were creepers headed to capture Purrcy and some were already following back along her line. He added in those trajectories, pulled up a rapid-fire cantrip, took a breath, then moved along the lines he'd set.

At just the right moment as he passed the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur, he tossed the newly crafted spell at him. He didn't stay to watch. He bounced at his turn point and headed for behind Purrcy and fired off his cantrip at the creepers headed down her line. That he did watch to make sure he got them all. He bounced again and this time hid as one of her own bits just behind her right ear, throwing up a shield around her as he did so that disintegrated the creepers that touched her image.

The Maharajadhiraj Bahadur frowned, but as Michael could finally spare him a glance, he no longer looked like the man he'd seen at the first. He now looked like the Goblin King: elongated and flattened snout, tusks growing from his jowls, dark straggly hair with baldness on top, and pointed ears full of hair. The women were backing away from him, but he was still paying attention only to Purrcy's image. Michael spared a glance for Padarahan. His eyes were narrowed at the king in front of him.

"Has the king fallen so low that his own cursing has come to return to him?" Purrcy asked quietly. She turned to Padarahan, "Or is it that you wish to rule over the princes and have caused division to come between them?"

Padarahan gave her a glower, but didn't answer her. Michael watched inside and saw that it was because he couldn't. One of the lines that surrounded him had lit up and prevented him from saying whatever it was. He buzzed once very briefly to tell Purrcy that Option 1 was the correct one and moved, as if a little flea on the cat. The little fly that came looking for him missed him and he took it down with another small bomb shot, moving again.

This time he went to where he could see the Caretaker of India. She appeared to be mostly just cowed. He checked for more code flies, then lifted and went to find the history on her, she being the least covered in counter defenses. There was a very fine thread floating near Purrcy and as he passed it he caught it up very lightly as if the last bit on the end of it. He recognized her bit-wise line after all. It took a few more passes of conversation outside for him to find the history, tie into it with the same fingerprint that was its original creator's fingerprint, then disguise his own with the same as he settled down on the Caretaker of India this time.

Purrcy had asked a question that Padarahan could give a pandering answer to and the conversation was between him and the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur while she and Michael read the history up in the nano level. (He coat-tailed her this time since he could when she was around.) The area history wasn't pretty either.

"Michael," she said to him, "it looks like the child god received enough emotional strength from the south tip to begin to work up here. Most of what's happened is similar to what happened in Minami to create the fractions among the leaders. The negative emotions have been pulled up and emphasized in order to break them. How many can you carry?"

"None? I've never tried it with my non-physical self. I'm still too new at this."

"One of them has to go, but the right one."

Michael gave the summary of what he'd seen so far. "The Maharajadhiraj Bahadur has defenses all over the place in the code realm on the Hacker level. The Programmer level for Padarahan has been locked down just enough. I had to hide from the traps there even at one bit size. Padarahan is covered in lines that control what he can and can't say, causing division with what comes out of his mouth. The history I got off Prince Singh said that he'd almost talked the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur into playing according to the rules we're trying to set when Padarahan slyly told him about your beauty and that was enough to make him refuse."

"So...whatever's controlling the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur is using the button of lust to keep him doing what it wants. Which one really wants us here?"

There was a growing pressure all around them and Purrcy's ears went back. "Run Michael. Take the king with you, if you can. Padarahan knows how to find us now. Tell Shiroe it's the child in the Shah. I'll keep him off until you're on your way."

Michael was certain a small felinoid wasn't going to be much of a roadblock for an emotional being as big as what was coming, but he obeyed immediately. She smashed every trap, sniffer, line - anything - from around the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur and Michael flew to him and grew a hand large enough to grasp his arm and _pulled_ , as if he was pulling an item to him from his room. He brought the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur into the code realm, then pulled him again until they were in the spirit realm, where it was a little easier since the physical Maharajadhiraj Bahadur was also inclusive of the spirit Maharajadhiraj Bahadur. Then he was _putting_ the both of them back to where his own body was. He entered his body and really grasped the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur this time, then _put_ them both in Shiroe's room, throwing up a reflective shield around the whole room.

His eyes found Shiroe's. "This is the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur. Purrcy is rear defense and says to tell you it's the child in the Shah. I'm going back to get her. When you have the Prince in here, have him call for Padarahan. Tetorō, she cleaned this one off so I could bring him. Read the full history and run it for Shiroe if you can, but don't let him talk until you know what is truth." He disappeared again, leaving Naotsugu and Akatsuki to guard the Indian king.

As he realm walked, he cast a quick spell in the micro level of the code realm first to remove his interfering line to Padarahan's butler, then slipped over to the spirit realm to enter Purrcy and Nyanta's room. The shield on it let him through, but he wasn't sure if she knew to protect herself from the spirit realm just yet...or if she was letting him through on purpose.

"Nyanta-san, get him over to Shiroe's room. The infant god's on his way. I've got Purrcy." Michael didn't even look at the other two men. He scooped up the cat off the bed and immediately walked back into the spirit realm. From there, he found her connection to India and slipped just enough across the code realm border to cut the line, freeing her mind from the trap it was held in. He made sure she was whole by intent when he did it, since that kind of trap _could_ have done damage. He wasn't sure how a godling would affect things like that, but the workings on the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur and Padarahan were very detailed and intricate.

"Wait, Michael," she was already up and looking at him. "We need to protect everyone else."

He swore and stepped them out over the ship. The battle was still going on below them, but looked like it was in favor of Yamato. His arms opened as she turned into felinoid right there. He stepped back quickly, but held onto her.

Purrcy was in full Priestess kimono. She clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Oh goddess of Adventurers, she who holds the keys of the rules in her hand, hear my plea. Protect these of thy children who serve thee, that they may be protected from that which is coming and knows no restraint yet. Please do not let thy works be in vain and destroyed before your desires are fulfilled."

"Oh god of the world, who sees the living and the dead to see that all continues forward, hear my plea. Protect these whom you have summoned to do thy will and bidding to bring proper balance again to your world. Please do not let thy works be in vain and destroyed before your desires are fulfilled. Send the child back and teach it that your will is greater than it is still because it has not yet learned the restraint you require. Shiroe still walks to your requirements and the contracts are still acceptable. Your work is not in vain." She bowed very deeply and Michael could feel the pressure building again, but this time from the Inari arriving. Purrcy waited patiently, watching to the southwest.

The pressure stopped at a bearable level over the ship. They stood at the edge of the spirit realm looking into the base realm. "There's Padarahan. The Maharajadhiraj Bahadur called for him." Michael looked into the code realm. As Padarahan passed them, Purrcy cleared all lines attached to him so he went into the inner room of the ship clean as well.

"How is he coming physically?" Michael asked, rather amazed.

"The same way you just learned to do it. The Maharajadhiraj Bahadur has done it without really understanding. He very much wants his advisor there. It's sufficient." Michael decided she was doing an assist to get Padarahan there.

Purrcy's eyes were still locked to the sky. There was a sudden flare in all layers that in the base layer displayed as an intense lightning storm that suddenly hit out over the desert and mountains of China. It played out red lines against yellow ones until the red ones lessened then receded. The yellow continued off and on for a bit after that.

"That is so not good, Michael," Purrcy finally said in a sad and defeated tone of voice. She rested a bit more, then clapped and bowed again. "Thank you god of the world and goddess of the Adventurers, for hearing my pleas. Please continue to watch over us so that we may fulfill thy requirements this night." She sighed and the kimono was switched out for her regular clothing. Michael pulled her back into his arms to hold her up. He stepped them into Shiroe's room in the base realm and gently put her on Shiroe's bed.

Tetorō was standing next to him immediately and casting a spirit healing spell on her. "Michael, call for Gareth and Brenner. I've used everything up with that. Prince Singh is in a similar state. He asked to speak directly with Izanagi and Izanagi's complied. He hasn't come back yet so we're in a bit of a stand off."

Michael sighed. "Right. Be right back." He stepped one more time. He was getting tired now. This was more exercise with this skill than he was used to and he could feel he was about out of whatever stamina points he had for it.

"Idiot," he heard as he went, but he was gone before he got the rest of it.

He blinked and returned. "Right. Too much excitement for one night. Gareth, Brenner, to Shiroe's room on the double. Spiritual healing asap."

There was a bit of time, then, "...Grandpa got loose? The hall's a mess. We'll be a minute."

"Right." He turned to the room in general. "They'll be here shortly." He sank on the bed, suddenly very weary.

"Change my appearance right now!" was demanded by a petulant and angry voice.

Michael looked over at the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur. "No. You're a pig of a man and you'll stay that way until Shiroe decides your punishment...which I hope includes as many years times as many women as you've stolen from their rightful loves. Nyanta-san if you want to torture anyone while you're waiting that's the one to. Even if the prince wanted Purrcy, he already was likely ordered to bring her to that one. That's what the ploy of Padarahan was, at any rate, so I suppose you could take it out on both of them for a while. Maybe they'll tell Shiroe the truth after you play with them long enough. ...Ah, but before that, should I go retrieve the Prince?"

Nyanta's voice was very deadly quiet and cold. "He asked to speak with Izanagi. He's still doing that at the moment, I purresume."

"Aahhh...I think I'll just let Izanagi decide when he's done with him then. Shiroe, Purrcy's wiped out because she just prayed to both of them for miracles to protect all of us out here on the water in our teacups. Izanami's got a shield up around us and Izanagi just spanked the child and sent him back and is keeping watch so that it doesn't get to you, so you've got time." Shiroe slumped a little, relaxing from that worry.

Nyanta let up a little, too, which was the first Michael realized that some of the anger had been directed at him. He looked up at Nyanta with wide eyes. "No, really Nyanta-san, I just did what she told me, and got her cut off from the projection she had over there in India so junior couldn't get down her line to attack her here through it." Nyanta twitched, but settled a little more and directed his ire towards the Indians, though his tail flicked regularly and his ear twisted towards Michael and Purrcy every now and again.

Michael sighed and dropped his head, leaning his arms on his knees. He'd leave her side and the bed, but he really couldn't right at the moment, and he'd felt better about being one more barrier between Purrcy and the guests they'd rather not have right now, even if it was just a meat layer to cut through.

"Michael," Shiroe asked from his distant thoughts, "how can a set of emotions affect the code realm?"

"It's affecting the Shah - according to Purrcy. I don't know if he's the pseudocode mage, but she's got more in her head than she's said. There wasn't time when it came pressing into the area for her to explain it."

"Is she here now?"

Michael looked inside. "Yes, but it looks like she's gone hunting data in the database. This is rather a lot to chew on. She was quite unhappy after we were defended by Inari, too. She's seen things she doesn't like."

"So have I," Shiroe agreed and fell silent again. It got rather crowded in the one little room when the additional healers showed up a a few moments later.

-:-:-:-:-

"We're dealing with a corrupt priest." The room went silent and every eye turned to look at the felinoid in the bed. "The Shah has been feeding the Overwritten the Adventurers opposed to him, but their hatred is enough they've fed the child as well until the Shah has become a Corrupted High Priest of it, his sacrifice of them to it being an acceptable arrangement. He's got five priests under him, one from each magic group including a high level Programmer, and one an Assassin." Purrcy moved to sit up and Tetorō helped her until she was upright.

Nyanta moved almost as fast as Michael realm walking and was climbing to sit on the bed to hold Purrcy propped up, his arms protectively around her. "Mew can't go. If they find out they'll taint it and warp the experiment."

Purrcy sighed, her ear falling, but she nodded. "It will be enough for Michael and his men to go." Her eyes looked around the room until they fastened on Akatsuki. Shiroe jerked, then clenched his hands, obviously wanting very much to say "no", equally not wanting to offend Akatsuki. Purrcy sighed and shook her head. "Let us start from a beginning, shall we? That is an end to the discussion." Others in the room liked that option a lot better.

Purrcy's eyes walked the room one more time. The three Indians were cross-legged on the floor against the far wall from her, arms bound behind them and a slight shimmer of an imprisoning shell on Padarahan. Prince Singh was looking a little grey, but he'd finally been returned. "Interesting," she said when her eyes went to him. "Useful I guess, except he's got no idea what to do yet as a priest, and he's not really ready for an immediate fight right on top of that." She sighed again and looked back at Shiroe. "Do you want my data dump now or after you've asked me what you want know?"

"The former as usual," he answered from his chair, his piercing eyes focused on her.

"It will be disjointed, forgive me." He gave a nod. "We had to leave the Caretaker behind. Expect her to have been captured and have to be saved." Every one of the Indians looked very concerned at that news, though her husband might have been more angry. It was kind of hard to tell with his new form. Shiroe only nodded. It was game form.

"Likely there will be a follow-on personal quest for the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur to be relieved from his cursing, of the soul-searching-personal-atonement-sort, unless he would rather take on the role of the Beast in a temporal-future-redemption-sort like as told in _Beauty and the Beast_." The man in question shook, but held his tongue for now. "Likely it will be more fully fleshed out as that point in their quest is reached. I would think India has a few of its own fables and tales that would point the way as well."

Her eyes went to the prince, "Especially now that Izanagi has a High Priest in India to pronounce it." Prince Singh closed his eyes and his head scrunched into his shoulders as his ears and whiskers drooped. "And that is going to be a necessary role to going up against the Corrupt High Priest."

Shiroe sighed. "Of course. It's rather large isn't it?"

Purrcy looked back at him. "Very. They'll be at it as long as we are at ours, I would think. In being impatient, they've given themselves thrice as much work as they would have had just in waiting and being obedient." All three were scolded and dropped their heads.

"I told you," moaned Prince Singh. "Why did you have to interfere, Padarahan?"

"I wouldn't have, but the words slipped out," he answered a bit miserably.

Michael shook his head. "You were wrapped up completely in someone's control. They were controlling what you said. They knew what words from you would get the response they wanted from your king. Do you know why they wanted you and Shiroe?" he asked Purrcy.

Purrcy paused, then shook her head. "I don't. There are several guesses I could make, including that Izanagi wanted these three here cleared of their bindings and a new priest so that he could take down the destruction that is the Shah. He works that way, you know - they both do, since it looks like her hand's in it too with the game elements."

Shiroe was nodding. "I think that's the most likely, given that he also made it possible for Maharajadhiraj Singh to arrive in time to meet us in Shangtzi and then have time to work out the ambush."

Prince Singh frowned. "How is it you were prepared for us? And that your men were walking around when they were also still asleep in their beds?"

Shiroe gave him a baleful look. "The Debauchery Tea Party also completed the Prince of Thieves quest. It was one of Kanami and KR's favorites. Nyanta actually looked very much like you, though he's of different coloring. My guess is you don't mind being called Prince Singh because it's one of the titles you earned here properly." Prince Singh blushed.

"How could you not have come all this way without your fleet with you? A single pirate ship is always the clue that the rest of them are waiting just out of sight. The flavor text has done it to you, you know. All of us are living more and more, little by little, what we've earned or brought with us. Because you earned that title early enough, you now exude the essence of 'pirate' and likely think more like one than you believe you do. Tetorō was quite spot on to see it on you. Maybe being a High Priest will balance that out a little. I suggest you work hard to stay balanced as best you can." He let his sharp gaze bore into the prince for a while, until he chose humility.

Shiroe returned his attention to Purrcy. She continued her report. "I have the list of dark priests. I'd like our three guests to take a look at them and tell us if they already recognize any of them." Shiroe nodded and they paid attention. One by one, Purrcy put up images of their avatars first, then after getting a shake or a nod of heads, she added their data, including avatar name. They read the data as carefully and memorized the faces. Purrcy went slow enough they could. When she reached the Programmer, five images went up and they all stared in surprise, different expressions on their faces as they looked at each one, none of them happy.

Purrcy sighed. "This is going to be the hardest part of the quest. No one in India is high enough level to see through this man's disguises. When he is finally the target - and he's likely the last sub-boss as all difficult ones usually are - it will take a miracle from the god that sides with the heroes to unmask him." Her eyes went to Prince Singh. "Typically they only award one miracle each per game. You will have to decide if you'll go with the roll of the die and chance that you've found the right man and save the miracle to use against the Shah, or use it against this man who has caused you and the Ganges valley the most trouble and hope your other skills and companions are enough against the Shah in the end."

"Izanami is the goddess of the game. If you can get one more Priestess to hold her, or if she will listen to you also, you may receive a second miracle. I don't know if you ever played any Zelda games, but this is looking like it's been set up very much like one. You must go home and learn from the beginning of knowing nothing. I don't know if you'll be gathering companions or weapons, skills, and tools, or both. You must go to the other nation to fight after you've gained what knowledge and support you can earn. The one thing we've learned is that if you want a piece from one of the games you know to be involved, try intent: that it _will_ be part of your assigned quest, and it may very well end up being that way."

"Here, you have been brought to the beginning in the tent of the soothsayer, the Temple of Time as it were, created newly again, woken up to your terrible fate already in progress, though you understood it to begin with or you wouldn't have sent Prince Singh and he wouldn't have come. I've given you what I can - the required quest and the images of your enemy and their skill sets. Shiroe, do you have more to add?"

"Side quests," Shiroe said and sighed.

"What?" the Maharajadhiraj Bahadur blinked at him.

"Izanami loves side quests. If you're ever stuck, start asking everyone around you questions and put clues together. Likely you're stuck on the necessity of completing a side quest."

Purrcy wrinkled her nose. "Thus why this is probably based in Zelda-like games. Zelda games have more side quests than I've ever seen anywhere else. Puzzle games, mind bending conundrums, side quests, skill building challenges. Fun and thought provoking...not sure it translates quite so well for us when we have to live them out in real life."

Gareth sighed and rolled a weary look at Shiroe. "You did scold her for only having boring sword swinging battles recently. I think this might be your fault."

Shiroe blinked, then pushed up his glasses. "She was already doing it in Minami. She put me through so many hoops that the final 'catch all the Vengeful Spirits' side quest was just the final cherry on top. The puzzle that was - and still is - Purrcy has been the most difficult, however."

"Is it?" Purrcy raised an eyebrow. "You even get my help in large measure."

Nyanta patted Purrcy's head. "No. It's because _mew_ are difficult, dear wife." They all had to look away and hide their smiles.

Shiroe looked like he wanted to sleep for the next week straight. He took a deep breath, rubbed his face, and turned back to the three on the floor. "You know, I could sit here and tax my brain to help you come up with more than that, but I'm not going to. I'm already at my limit with my own game they've got me playing, and it's at the higher level of world quest, while yours is only a regional quest. I've given you what I can and so has Purrcy. I'd only add one more thing. That is that you start your quest from here. Take your pirates and your ships and return home. You may learn things or have things added on your way back that are important."

"Follow through on our quests as well or you'll receive cursings and setbacks to yours, I can promise it without being a priest. Izanagi wants that destructive force contained as soon as possible and a Corrupt High Priest in India is going to hold that up until you've done what needs to be done. Izanami plays the game, but Izanagi is very impatient with it and will only grant so much leeway. He will also let the world get the better of you just because worlds work that way. Expect to have to work hard even if they are smoothing the way."

Shiroe rose to his feet and looked at the Eagles, motioning to the three men on the floor. "It's punishment enough, and I don't envy them." Gareth, Brenner, and Michael got them up off the floor and onto their feet. "Do call me if you're stuck. I don't want an impatient World AI breathing down my neck if there's something I can do." It was a rather sad trio that was escorted out.

Shiroe was already next to his bed. He sat down on the edge of it and looked wearily at Purrcy and Nyanta. "Cat. Sleep." He pointed to the bed. They blinked at him, then Purrcy smiled a slow smile and turned into a cat, walking in a circle in the manner of cats to prepare their beds. Nyanta sighed and followed suit.

Shiroe lay down, completely ignoring everyone else in the room, pulled the cats into his chest and held them. "Just throw me in the Gate of Time when we get back. I don't want to wake up for three weeks." He fell asleep to Purrcy's purring and the light motions of Nyanta grooming her as his own ritual for falling asleep. The rest smiled gently and walked out to their own rooms, Akatsuki resting her hand lightly on Shiroe's head before leaving with Naotsugu.

The Generals and Adventurers made sure the pirates got off the ship properly and the Eagles towed them from the air - the flotilla still all tied together - until they were as far as their time would allow them to get back by, then cast to remove the 1HP drain and just enough HP-up to get the pirates to quarter strength. They left them there bobbing in the ocean and returned to the Ocypete to dispel their coded doppelgangers from their beds and fall into them for their own sleep. Michael woke Christian up, who was now rested enough to continue on his own for a while, then went to his own room.

"...Terrible game, that," came from the other corner of the room when he put out his light.

"Yes," Michael had to agree.

"Hope we don't get sent in as a last-minute rescue brigade."

"Good night, Lieutenant Commander," Michael said firmly.

"Good night, Sir," Reed answered pleasantly. Even thinking about it was risky when they didn't want to have to touch it with a ten-mile thread.


	119. Rites of Passage

Touya stood with his hands on his hips looking at the three-story building they'd just finished fixing up and looked critically at the sign that ran the width of the establishment: Grandpa's Kitchen. They'd worried a bit that Hiroki would be offended but he'd accepted it, saying it would make people feel like they were coming home to eat and would likely draw the kinds of people they wanted to have come.

Grandpa's Kitchen was going to be the first Chinese restaurant in Akiba and the only one in Yamato (at least for now - the Ocypete was already headed back to Yamato from it's follow-on run to China after they'd returned and it might bring more Chinese chefs eventually). Touya and his twin sister Minori would be helping Hiroki in the kitchen as his junior chefs. They'd not called on their friends in Crescent Moon to help work there, though some had helped with the building clean up and renovation. Most of them had shifts at one of the four Crescent Burger stands. A few of the Eagles were taking shifts, though, including in the kitchen on the two nights Touya and Minori would take off. Rudy and Isuzu would also take shifts as wait staff, though they'd decided on an alternating rotation of two days one week then three days on the following. They were going to be the main force on street beat for information pick-up, though Touya and Minori planned on learning things from the people who came to the restaurant. A Chinese restaurant would draw a large variety of customers, they expected, and people talked all kinds of things when they were relaxed over food.

Touya's critical eye scanned the street around Grandpa's Kitchen, too. The main market area of Akiba was pretty full by now, so they'd not been able to get close in, but they'd found a place on one of the side streets that was generally quiet and easy to get to. Akatsuki had approved when she'd noticed it was only about a block or so from the Amenoma. Touya approved of the location himself. He'd been looking for a place that was quiet and peaceful in the main. The second floor of the building they'd purchased included an apartment for Hiroki and a few extra rooms with beds and baths. Touya had said so that if they had an extra late night and needed to just crash they could, or if Shiroe had extra guests they needed to put up, since there weren't any more rooms available at the guild hall. Unspoken by Touya, it was also so that if Minori just couldn't face the divisions in the guild on any given night, the two of them had a place to be. Grandpa's Kitchen was going to be the place he was providing to Minori for her to escape to and find the comforts of home when things got too difficult at the guild house. He'd not told her that was why he'd done it, but as a man who needed to care for his family, he decided that this would do nicely.

The Eagles had asked if they could take the top floor and promised to be invisible and not do foot-traffic business up there. Touya didn't mind if the sub-guild of Log Horizon wanted to use it as a silent stake out area - it did look over the street nicely - but he didn't want the stress of worrying about what business transactions might be happening and he didn't want them to draw troubles to Grandpa's Kitchen either. They'd promised, kind understanding in their eyes, and let him know without really saying it that they'd asked just as much to protect him and Minori as anything else. That he could be comfortable with. More protections for Minori was welcome. He'd still kick them out if he got concerned, though.

"Hey, Touya. Looks good," Reed said, coming to a stop to his right. Reed was the second in command of the Eagles and a Sorcerer, but unless one read their status screens it was hard to tell just what each one's Class was. All twenty-four wore the same U.S. World War II uniform, and a large percentage of them were high level Hackers or Programmers who could hide their true status screen information.

"Yeah. It's good," Touya agreed. "...Hey, I've been thinking..." Reed looked at him, waiting. Touya turned to look the quiet military officer in the face. "You lot have a spell for hearing things, don't you?" Reed didn't say anything. "We need to be hands-in the kitchen, but our ears are available. Can you give us the ability to hear anything we want to listen to out in the dining room?"

"You're not a magic user, Touya," Reed pointed out.

"No, but I've got MP and if a magic user can learn to use a sword, I can learn at least one or two spells." He gave a smile. "I'll have plenty of time to practice that one, after all."

Reed smiled a slow smile. "That's true, I suppose." He looked back up at the restaurant, silent for a few more seconds. "I'll see what I can do. How about we talk after dinner tonight?"

Touya looked over as well, seeing Minori had come to the door to see where he'd gotten to. "Sounds good to me."

-:-:-:-:-

Touya had been working hard and finally felt like he'd reached the level of useful capacity, if not ease, on the spell-natural Adventurer combination of listening to the dining room that Reed had taught him and Minori. Minori had it down within three days, but in the end it really was more difficult to cross Class types. He was determined to have this skill, though. Today, he'd let her handle the more difficult busy time during lunch. Now that it was calming down, he was practicing. Shiroe and Akatsuki had come for a date lunch and they'd both not spied on that, but Shiroe was waiting for others to arrive now. It was easier to focus on voices he already knew, so Touya thought listening in on the Akiba Adventurer Academy school board meeting might be okay. He couldn't decide if he'd be bored or if he'd get the inside scoop the other students would be envious of.

"Souji, Marie, Henrietta, good to see you," Shiroe's voice came easily to Touya's ear since he'd already been thinking of him. He had to focus a little more to hear the others, so a little frown came on his face. Minori passed him and tapped him lightly on his forehead to remind him to keep his face impassive so no one knew. Touya sighed and tried again. She kept telling him it worked better to relax, rather than try so hard, and he'd found if he did it like he did his sword practice - a meditation more than a struggle - that she was right. He took a breath, relaxed and tried again, imagining the people around the table. That seemed to do the trick this time.

"We've had six weeks to research the natural method to learning and teach our guild members so that we've got a good flow for how to teach it at the Academy. I've brought the proposed lesson plan," Soujirou, guildmaster of West Wind Brigade, was saying. Shiroe gave a murmured thanks, and Soujirou continued wryly, "The comments aren't mine. I showed up this morning and found the proposal that way. Since there wasn't time to rewrite it before the meeting, I just brought it as is."

Shiroe sighed. "Yes, Purrcy will do this to my to-do lists, too."

"And here's her proposed lesson plans for the beast-half lessons to go with it," there was another rustle of papers.

"Yes, she had me review the draft of that on the ship," Shiroe said. "I'm glad she got you your copy. What did you think?"

"She does a good job writing clearly, just like her explanations. I was thinking we could offer the basic course first, then invite any half-beasts who come to the class to stay for a few more days to a week to get their specific additional lessons in, rather than have separate classes altogether. That way they aren't quite so singled out, just given the allowance for the differences that the non-beast-halves don't need to stay for."

"I like that idea," Shiroe said. There was silence for a while as he read through the proposal. Touya let himself relax. He still couldn't hold the focus on the spell for long periods of time yet. He was treating it like weight-lifting and going for slightly longer times each time he practiced, but with rest between "sets". He made up the next order and set it on the counter to be picked up by Isuzu, who was on waitress duty today. She winked at him and he smiled back, then went back to listening again while he started on the initial prep of the next order.

"I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one to get a red-lined proposal," Marielle was saying, relief in her voice. She was the elvin guildmistress of Crescent Moon League and Head Teacher of the Academy. "I also could only bring what I had. ...She seems to like the proposed graduation path we've selected for the younger students. We had more students come to the two full days of class than the week-long morning classes in our initial offering. They seemed to like being able to focus hard for a few days, then get back to work on the other things important to their lives. The exit surveys for the morning class leaned heavily to the difficulty of changing focus mid-day and sometimes of not having enough time to complete the other things they needed to do. A few really liked it though, so we'll need to discuss -" Touya had to drop the listening. He'd almost lit himself on fire. It was a balancing act, to watch what he was doing and listen. He knew once it was automatic it wouldn't be a problem, but getting there was difficult still.

When he was at a place he could listen again, Henrietta was speaking. "Purrcy's financial and economics lesson plan is good in the foundational basics, but," Henrietta sighed, "she's left a lot of gaping holes for me to fill. I'll have to bring the final proposed lesson plan to the next board meeting. ...Other than that I think it's a good idea - though I have no idea who'll come to it."

"Ours will," Shiroe said mildly. "She's required it for Log Horizon as high-level training, particularly for the juniors. I think you could offer it to Calasin as well, and the merchants who want to understand better could benefit from it."

"Good points. We can focus our sales pitches for it in the marketplace, then. That brings up the point of purchasing the zones and the loan. Is that still your plan, Shiroe?"

"Yes. I've brought the loan contract with me, actually. I purchased the zones this morning on my way into town. Did you bring the proposal of repayment with you today?"

Henrietta had and they sat and discussed terms, rates, percentages to come from grants, fund raisers, and other sources like the fees paid by the eateries that had set up in the cafeteria. There was a long discussion on whether to increase the costs to students to pay for classes, versus the amounts that would come in with the new sets of classes. Touya wasn't surprised when they were cautious towards charging more. The school was less than a year old still and to raise costs to students now might not be the best. The longer they could hold off on that the better, and while they were still adding courses it seemed like it might not be necessary.

The natural Adventurer classes would be a strong draw, Touya thought, particularly if they had a demonstration before it started. He and Minori were still excited about their first experience with it. And look where it had led to - working together with Hiroki in Grandpa's Kitchen as junior partners. His own pockets were lining nicely, though he made sure on his two days off to work hard to continue to increase his fighting skills. He didn't like the feeling of becoming soft just because he had a second way to earn his own income now.

He chose to take the next order out and stopped by their table. "Minori and I would be happy to participate in a demonstration class for the natural Adventurer lessons. It's so exciting to see how easy it is to learn naturally, and now that I've had a little experience with how hard it is to learn outside one's Class type, I could explain that part as well. I think a lot of people would come to that class just on one demo."

Soujirou laughed. "I do, too, Touya-kun. That was the most eye-opening and exciting moment of my time here on Theldesia, I think. I finally understood Akatsuki's excitement then as well." Akatsuki nodded several times, completely agreeing. Soujirou looked at her. "Would you be willing to show how to learn sword methods, if Touya and Minori take the chef demonstration?"

"Sure," Akatsuki said immediately.

"Great!" Touya left them feeling contented. Things were moving forward in Akiba in good ways even still.

"Ah, Shiroe," Henrietta said, "one of our fundraisers was going to be a play at the winter festival in Minami. Will Purrcy be able to be there to help out, and can we get her for the few days before for the rehearsal?" Touya froze just outside the door to the kitchen and Minori looked up at him, stricken. They didn't move as they waited for their guildmaster's answer.

Slowly and a little sadly, though with the firm and quiet surety he always held in himself, Shiroe answered, "It would be nice, I'm sure, Henrietta, but I think you'd best be safe and assume she won't be. I know she's going to work very hard to be at the wedding, but that may be all she can do as even that much is going to be more difficult than we anticipated, due to the circumstances she's found herself in. I'm very sorry."

"She never gets to relax and have fun," Marielle complained.

"No, not really," Shiroe agreed quietly.

Minori was standing at the door now, one hand resting on the frame, the other over her heart. "Please, Miss Marielle, Miss Henrietta...," she bit her lip. "I know she'd love to be there. I hope we'll do it anyway...and maybe, if she can't be there, we can have it recorded and sent to her to help lift her spirits. It's not like she couldn't enjoy it...I think it's more that she has her other responsibilities she has to attend to."

Touya turned to see the entire table looking at Minori. He was somewhat glad the rest of the room was mostly empty. "I think we could do that," Henrietta said kindly.

"But...," Marielle whispered, "what about Tetorō? He's been gone, too. Will he be there? He's the lead actor." Minori didn't have an answer to that and slumped a little. The other women turned to look at Shiroe. Only he would know if the High Priestess' guardian could become available.

Shiroe's brow creased until finally he pushed up his round glasses. "I'll ask him what he wants to do. He may have the flexibility to stay that long." He looked between the others at the table, since Soujirou was also looking hopeful. "I'll get back with you as soon as I know - no later than the next board meeting, okay?"

"Okay," they agreed.

Touya hoped in his heart for their sake - and Minori's - that it could somehow work out. Minori looked him in the eye and he firmed up and walked to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and helped her get back into the kitchen to work again. "It'll work out if we put our hopes and intent into it," he said to her quietly.

Minori's brow didn't unwrinkle until she finally sighed and said, "Somehow." He nodded and stayed close to her as they got back to work. It was hard for the mother of their guild to be missing from the house.

-:-:-:-:-

It was early afternoon, towards the end of the lunch rush, when familiar cheerful female voices entered Grandpa's Kitchen and were politely escorted to one of the larger booths. The Water Maple Ladies had come for the open house like most of the city had, actually. They'd almost had to call it a week-long open house. Everyone in the guild and sub-guild who could cook had been called in for that crazy week, but things had settled down now to a nicely brisk business during meal times. There wasn't much down time in the in-between, but it wasn't too stressful either. Chinese was indeed very popular with the city residents.

The ladies were towards the end of their meal, and the waiter had stopped by to make sure everything was still okay with the meal and refill drinks. "Um, excuse me," it was Clair Winthrop, just a little unsure still when she addressed Adventurers she didn't know well, though she got along very well with the Water Maple Ladies now. "Is Minori very busy right now, or could I speak to her for a minute?"

Touya glanced at Minori. She'd paused, and was looking around at what she was doing. She quickly finished her current chopping and went to the stove and turned down the heat on the pot she'd been adding ingredients to. The Eagle waiter poked his head in just then. "Miss Minori, have you a moment to come talk to Miss Clair?"

"Yes, I can come briefly," she said with a glance at Hiroki. He gave a glance at her workstation and gave a nod and she headed out to the dining room.

"Hi everyone!" Minori said cheerily. They greeted her with thanks for the yummy food. She accepted it with gratitude. "What can I do for you Clair?" Minori asked.

"Umm," she hesitated then lowered her voice. "I was wondering if Lady Purrcy was back."

"No," Minori said kindly.

"Well...I..." Touya was looking out the door, needing to watch over his sister, not just listen this time. Clair was hesitant from confusion it looked like.

"Has something happened?" Minori asked. The other ladies at the table were paying attention to the conversation, too.

Clair took a breath. "I finished my studies of the clothing samples she left, and also of the works she's done to date. - Shopping District 8 has been very kind to let me have an office and stay in their warehouse for hours on end. - And I was finally drafting ideas the other day, trying to see if I could take what seems to be Lady Purrcy's focus and style and fit it to what I've learned in Maihama. I left the drafts on my desk when I left for the night and when I arrived in the morning they'd been commented on. I'd wondered if she'd stopped by on her way to your guild house. I didn't have time to ask then, but this morning there were five new design drafts on my desk when I got in." She was looking at Minori, confusion on her face.

Touya's hand made a fist as Minori took a deep breath, trying to decide how to answer. "I'm glad Miss Purrcy has been able to find the time to help you move forward," Minori said gently. "But it's one of her skills - and all Adventurers have it, really - to be able to collect the papers off your desk, review them where she is, and return them to your desk. If you're ready to try creating the new line, then she's made herself available to help you get there, like she promised." Minori tried to smile and it came out but it was still sad. "But she isn't here and won't be for quite some time, really.

Marielle slipped out of the booth and took Minori in her arms. "At least it's better than the other times, isn't it?" she said both kindly and with cheer in her voice. "This time she can try with us, instead of just be gone without a word."

Minori nodded her head (after being released from the hug). "Yes. It's very heartening to know that she can both watch over us and help us when we need it."

Touya slipped into the darkness of the kitchen so the ladies couldn't see him watching them. Their eyes had come searching for him, too, and he didn't want them to know he was watching. If Minori wanted them to think she was strong, he didn't want to change that opinion. It was mostly true anyway. Minori was turning for the kitchen when Clair nervously ran her hand on the table and cleared her throat. Touya's eyebrow lifted and Minori turned back. "Can she hear us, too?" Clair asked.

"Hear?" Minori asked.

Clair blushed. "I...well, that day I'd been drawing the first set, I'd complained out loud and wished Lady Purrcy was here to tell me if I was even on the right path. And two days before this morning...I'd wished with all my being that she could be with me to help me with the designs, so I would know what it was she really wanted or thought would be good for the spring line."

Minori's eyes had gone wide and she didn't have an answer for just a moment. She took in a breath and said, "Yes, Clair, it's the same skill, really. It's based on our 'chat' ability, the ability to talk to each other across distances. Normally we can't chat with People of the Land, but she's a bit different from the rest of us, so if you were talking to her, she likely did hear you. When she does that, she can see, too, if she wants to."

Princess Raynessia shifted. "Like when we had our first day with her," she said brightly. "We were having a fashion show and she asked Marie to call Mister MarketMaker. He showed Nazuna some outfits and Lady Purrcy made them disappear from his hands and appear on my bed."

Minori and all the others were nodding. "Yes, it's like that," Minori said to Clair. Her face got serious. "But you should be careful with asking her too often. She is very busy, even though she wants to help you."

"Oh, no. I understand," Clair was quick to say. "I've been very glad to have this help. I don't feel so hopeless and alone now." She blushed again. "Her comments were encouraging and now that she's given me some of her own ideas, I have a direction to go. ...I probably won't need to ask for much more until I'm ready with the final options."

Minori nodded firmly. "That's definitely when she'll want to participate. And really, if there are times here and there where you just need a push, it's not bad either." Touya could feel it. Minori was finally encouraged herself and feeling stronger as well. She'd finally remembered - Hahaue was always present. You just had to remember to ask her to come out when you needed her. He hoped Minori would finally allow herself that comfort.

He felt a light hand on his shoulder and a warm fuzzy kiss on his cheek and he smiled. He didn't look, though. It was enough that he knew she was still watching over them. He was back at his workstation by the time Minori returned to the kitchen. She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and determinedly got back to work.

Really, Minori was becoming more and more beautiful as she grew little by little from the child avatar to the adult avatar. Even Touya had been pleased with his growth from a boy-child's body to the muscular adult body he was coming into. He felt like he finally was going to be able to become the man his senior could be proud of. It would be almost a year before the growth was final, but it was still exciting to see the changes as they progressed little by little. They were already getting jealous demands from their friends in Crescent Moon wondering when the growth potion was going to be available commercially.

-:-:-:-:- -:-:-:-:-

Yuudai drew a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. It felt just as heavy as the great mountain above him did. A smaller warm hand slipped into his left hand. Timidly, Majiyo said, "That's a lot of stairs."

"I'll say," Misa answered dryly from his right side. "Are we sure we want to walk up all of them?"

Yuudai looked at her with a smile. He took her hand in his. "After all of the steps we've taken to get here, what are these many more but the steps of gratitude that we've been able to arrive at our goal from the beginning?"

Misa looked at him with the bemused expression she looked at him often with - particularly when he said things like that. "Always the eternal optimist," she quipped softly.

He grinned at her for that. "Youth breeds it, I've heard," he said, though he knew he'd not always been that way. He'd just been working hard to learn the faith and hope that the future contained. He hoped that she would understand it for herself very soon. It was the goal of them all to have her relearn that hope for herself. "And I hope that you'll also arrive at that youthful optimism again soon, Misa."

She looked down and turned away, but this time not with so much sadness. When she said, "Yes, that would be good, wouldn't it?" he felt a lot better. She was moving forward a little more on her own.

Yuudai looked up the stairs again with the red torii gates spanning over the stairs and spaced every ten steps or so. He took one more breath, then said, "Then, shall we? It's the last steps of our journey to arrive. What new things will we learn when we reach the top, I wonder?" He lifted his foot and stepped on the first step. The women went with him and for a long time they walked up the stairs in silence, holding hands in their continuing mutual encouragement of each other on the path before them.

-:-:-:-:-

Yuudai knocked on the door to the shrine of Inari-no-Izanagi, then stepped back to wait. A young man slid the door open after about three minutes. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"My name is Yuudai. This is Majiyo and Mise. We've just arrived from a pilgrimage Inari-no-Izanagi gave us. I'm an acolyte, assigned it by his own Oracle. Majiyo the same. We've been sent to learn more about what our roles are and how to serve properly." Eyes flicked to Mise. "We were tasked with bringing Mise here safely, but she's allowed to choose the shrine she wishes to serve at, or if she wishes to just rest here in meditation."

The acolyte pointed to a raised fountain at the outer corner of the shrine that had bubbling water at the surface and a trickle running down the front of it. "Purify and enter the first room. I'll inform Priest Jared." They thanked him and went to do as bidden.

"I wonder if Miss Purrcy is here on the mountain?" Majiyo whispered as they waited for Mise to finish her purification ritual.

"I wonder?" Yuudai echoed. "I wonder if we'd get to see her if she was?"

They took themselves into the shrine and waited, kneeling on the tatami floor in the room they'd been sent to. After about ten minutes, the paper door opposite them was slid open and they were ushered into the next room. "Please be patient. Priest Jared is on his way and will be with you shortly," they were told. There wasn't anything else to do, so they waited some more in the next room.

Finally a door to the side slid open and a man in a red kimono, embroidered with black, entered the room. He sat down cross legged facing them and looked at them closely. "You say you're here because Inari-no-Izanagi sent you?" he had a bit of a wrinkle on his forehead.

"Yes, sir," Yuudai said very politely. "I was summoned and had him ask me if I would be his priest. Majiyo asked if she could also be his shrine maiden. When I accepted, I was granted the ability to bless weapons to make them tools of purification so that the plague of demihumans and monsters could begin to be removed from the face of the earth. Majiyo was granted a yuma yai for the same purpose."

The Priest gestured and Majiyo took the azusa yumi bow out, and the quiver of hama ya arrows, and showed them to him. He inspected them, then handed them back, his face not saying anything yet. His eyes went to Mise. "We were asked to help bring Mise back to hope," Yuudai explained. "We've been traveling here on foot from Nakasu, being tested the whole way, and learning to put our trust in Inari-no-Izanagi, that he would provide for us and protect us. Mise was promised that if she would come with us that she would be allowed to rest in the shrines and relearn hope for life in the peace of Shrine Mountain. We have all been obedient to the words we were given. I desire now to receive instructions from the shrine in what it is to be a priest."

"I also desire instructions," Majiyo said quietly.

The Priest looked at them, studying their sincerity. He waved his hand and there was suddenly a visible, if somewhat cloudy, list of their status data hovering in front of them. As the Priest read the data, his face closed down somewhat and Yuudai had to work hard to pray their goal could be met and their sacrifices until then would be received. After some heavy contemplation, Priest Jared finally asked Yuudai, "What is your final calling? To stay here on the mountain, or to be a traveling priest?"

Yuudai had a ready answer, but he paused to really think it through one more time. "To be a traveling priest, though I don't know how long I'll stay or when I'll be called to leave again. I've been tasked to bless weapons to purify them. I've done a lot of that, but I haven't been told I'm done, so I don't know yet what's next."

Priest Jared seemed to relax just slightly. He turned to Majiyo. "And you? Will you also go?"

"Yes," she answered. "When Yuudai goes, I'll go with him."

"Are you married?" he asked them.

They both blushed. "No, Priest Jared. We're still too young," Yuudai said.

The Priest's eyes went to Mise. "It's good you've traveled with a chaperone then. And will you go with them when they go?"

Mise hesitated, not sure how to answer. "Perhaps," she finally said.

"Mise has been getting stronger and stronger every day," Yuudai said. "Perhaps when we're called to leave, she'll have become strong enough to face her companions and family again. If so we'll take her home."

Priest Jared gave a nod. "Instruction for each shrine occurs in the first room and is from the hour after breakfast until the hour of lunch. There are currently only three occupied shrines - the shrine of Inari-no-Izanagi, the shrine of Inari-no-Izanami, and the shrine of Inari-no-Sarutahiko. If you enter the room after the first purification, a teacher will come." His eyes went back to the two younger seekers. "Once you've gone through the initial instructions, then we'll see if you'll still be initiated. While you're in lessons, you may stay at the guest house near the top of the stairs."

The three of them bowed. "Thank you, Priest Jared," Yuudai said.

The Priest rose and left them. They could hear him sigh softly from the other side of the door once he'd closed it.

-:-:-:-:-

Yuudai closed his eyes, took a breath, and dunked himself underwater in the warm water of the hot spring outside the shrine. He made sure to rinse off very well, then came up for air, wiping the water out of his face. Today he was both very sober and very excited. Today he would become a lesser priest and Majiyo a shrine maiden in fact and ceremony, not just in calling. It hadn't been easy, going through their lessons. The priests and acolytes of Inari-no-Izanagi weren't sure they wanted Adventurers among the clergy, though they were perhaps a little more resigned to it than those of Inari-no-Izanami. The priest of Inari-no-Sarutahiko, a solitary figure in his shrine, had been kinder, if somewhat confused by Adventurers wanting to serve the gods of the People of the Land. Mise had spent her days there, learning from him and meditating in that shrine or in the gardens nearby.

Yuudai was grateful to Priest Sasuke for being what Mise needed. When they'd arrived at Nakasu from China there had been an intense day of boar and food harvesting, followed by a wild ending party of the allied Adventurers of Yamato celebrating the end of the quest to China. At that time, Mise had become very overwhelmed and they'd left the beach early with her. She'd kindly tried, so that they could say their farewells, but it had been too much for her when she really wasn't ready to celebrate being an Adventurer at all. She'd been lost and angry then. Perhaps a step better than despair and hopelessness, but not a happy way to be.

Yuudai floated in the natural hot spring, meditating further on the journey they had taken to arrive at this day. The morning after everyone had left, the three of them had risen and purified themselves in the first purification, then asked Inari-no-Izanagi to guide their footsteps, grant them the knowledge of what to say and where to go, and asked that he bless their journey. Then they'd contacted Brody, head of the Nakasu city council. He'd willingly given them maps for the regions and zones of Ninetails Dominion they'd have to pass through to get to Shrine Mountain, then sent them to the office of the chief of police, who gave them the maps for Westlande that they would need, since her guild was over that region of Yamato.

As they sat around the first map, looking to see which road might be the best to take out of town, they'd been interrupted by a tall, pompous, thin man with long curly blonde hair. "How does one break a curse set on a person by an Adventurer?" he'd asked.

"Do you know what Class the Adventurer was?"

"Of noble class," the man had answered, his view on the world completely orthogonal to their own.

They hadn't really known how to answer since it was a rather broad answer unless they understood what Class or sub-class had cast the curse. "Usually with a quest?" Majiyo had finally offered as a possibility.

"What kind of quest?" he'd responded with a frown.

"I would think something related to correcting whatever the cause of the cursing was," Yuudai offered. "Is it something you can tell us about? We might be able to help more if we knew the cause of the cursing or even the curse itself."

The man, Marquis Code his status read, had hesitated, not really wanting to say. "Well, really most Adventurers just want a simple sincere apology," Majiyo finally offered, "If you know who cast it, if the one who is cursed apologizes to them and makes it right, that same Adventurer can usually make it go away if they wish it to go away."

Marquis Code gave a curt nod and walked off, without a thank you even. They'd looked at each other and shrugged and finished choosing their path based on the feeling of calm Yuudai was getting when he put his finger on a particular passageway.

They'd traveled by foot, stopping each night to make a camp. Majiyo already had Druid spells that allowed her to put up Thorny Hedge around the camp to keep most things out and they'd purchased two tents and a protection item that would warn them if enemies came into the camp. The road they followed didn't have spawn points on it, which was nice, but if they needed food they could detour to some every few days to harvest from spawned monsters if they hadn't managed to catch smaller non-monster game along the roadway. Majiyo also knew which plants they could harvest to add to the meats they were able to find, so in the main it wasn't too strenuous a journey at the first.

The first difficulty they ran into was a bit of a surprise, actually, for all they knew from their travels to date that Izanagi wouldn't always make the way smooth. It had come about because of an impatient comment from Mise in the hearing of another party of Adventurers they'd come across and it had turned into an angry brawl. In the end Mise had been humiliated, for all Yuudai and Majiyo had tried to help smooth things over. Mise had spent every moment practicing and making herself stronger after that, trying to catch back up from where she'd allowed herself to stop. She'd been irritable with them, too, until Majiyo had finally snapped and scolded Mise most fiercely. Yuudai hadn't been surprised to find her gone the next morning, striking out on her own.

That had made Majiyo more angry, but Yuudai made the decision that they wouldn't break camp. He'd sat in meditation by the fire while Majiyo steamed, then fretted, then finally settled down silently next to him. "What are you doing?" she'd asked then, in a tone he was willing to answer.

"Praying for Mise, that she'll come to understand, and she'll be able to come safely back to us so we can continue forward." Majiyo had been silent a long time, then sighed, settled, and joined him in prayer.

Mise had shown back up late that night. They'd been waiting up for her and had to chase off the Dire Wolves that were chasing her back to the camp. She'd been able to outrun the heavier monsters she'd run into, they were relieved to learn. Once they'd healed her and fed her, she'd humbly apologized. They freely forgave her, as Yuudai had been forgiven at his beginning on this path. After that she wasn't angry any more.

Yuudai nodded now as he sat back up, preparing to leave the hot spring. He'd learned that for himself back at the beginning of his own journey - forgiveness was a far more powerful way to change another person's heart when they'd seen the error of their ways than anger met with anger. When both women had settled by a few days later, he'd explained it that way so they could see it for themselves. Majiyo had been able to apologize to Mise then and they'd gone back to companionable travel with few difficulties.

Yuudai toweled off in the changing room, focusing for a bit on what was coming up. One of the lesser priests entered, handed him a grey yukata and asked him to enter the next room and wait in meditation until Priest Jared arrived. As Yuudai settled himself in the small seven tatami mat room, he closed his eyes and the second difficulty of their journey came almost unbidden to his mind. He frowned a little, not really wanting to remember it. That time it had been his own lesson, and it had been hard. However, he probably needed to face it one more time. He sighed slightly and let it play out in summary.

They'd been asleep for about four hours, half-way to Shrine Mountain from the border of Eastal and Westlande when there was a blaze of light outside the tents and the proximity alarm began, then was cut off abruptly. They were instantly awake, but being surprised there was nothing they could do. They'd been Stunned and Petrified before they could defend themselves properly. Yuudai knew it had to be Adventurers, given the rapid attack and counters to their defenses, but as consciousness had faded, he could only ask that they not be burned in the center of their Thorny Hedge barricade and have to start all over.

When he'd come to, he'd changed his mind. It would have been better. They'd been taken prisoner and had their camp ransacked and everything available stolen - by Hamelin, the very guild they'd been prisoner to at the beginning of the catastrophe. Hamelin had been cast out of Akiba, but there not being a way to kill Adventurers, and probably with the hope they'd learn better and change their ways, no one had really done much about them once they'd left Akiba. Apparently they'd moved into this part of the region and set up a place to call home, such as it was.

Yuudai immediately looked for Majiyo and Mise. They were present with him and Majiyo was as frightened as Yuudai was concerned. He read the statuses on the men around them and wasn't thrilled. Having to live out of the city, they'd continuously gone up in levels. They weren't going to get out of their predicament by force. He was pretty sure negotiation wouldn't work either, particularly when they threatened the ladies with horrible consequences if Yuudai didn't hand over everything in his list. He knew perfectly well they would follow through, but just as likely might follow through anyway if he did give up the things in his lists.

Still, he stalled for time as he looked through them one more time. When he didn't find a Hacker among them, he carefully went through his list, slowly - as if reluctant. It wasn't likely they'd learned about the nesting boxes yet, either, though if they had he might have excuses there if he needed them. He only had to give up twenty-four items, with just enough of them nice items. They looked hungry, so he started with food items. He dropped six items of food they'd harvested over the last week. They seemed content with that, but looked with expectation at him. He took a breath, then dropped six potions: three HP, two MP and one that would heal poison. He made sure that he looked like that hurt him, to give those up. It took a little while to decide what might be next from what he had with him. It was four mid-level magic items and two lower end clothing items.

He let them scold him into the next drop of three as he would normally be getting to the items that he would treasure and put in his anti-theft slots. He pulled out a knife, a stone, and a map, and very sadly put them on the pile. "You really don't want what's left."

"We really do," he was encouraged with sharp blades and dark looks at the ladies.

Yuudai looked sadly at Majiyo. She drew a breath and gave a nod. She understood what he was doing and at least seemed to say that if she'd already been made to do this, she'd likely done the same. A sword, a glaive, and a spear appeared on the ground. All three were cursed weapons. "We're headed on a quest to get them cleared of their cursings," he explained. "Please let me keep them so they don't damage anyone else." Yuudai swallowed now at the memory. That one statement, that one lie said in the hopes to free them, had been his bane and caused them more pain and grief than they'd needed to go through.

Cursings hadn't come just on the members of Haemlin, but to the three of them as well, until he'd finally cried out, begging them to bring the cursed weapons, and not just those, but all of the cursed weapons they had in the house. Two of the lesser men who could still walk had made the ones who were against it let them take the weapons to Yuudai. Not that they could prevent it, being weak, ill, or with odd and - for a few - particularly nasty turns nearly worse than Crusty's.

Yuudai had painfully walked to the stream, guarded by the two. He'd knelt by the stream, begging in his heart that he would be forgiven for being afraid to honestly say he was an acolyte who could bless cursed swords. He was so afraid that Hamelin would keep him again and never let them free once they knew what he could do, but it was wrong on his part. He'd purified himself, prayed for the power again so he could right his wrong, not sure he'd be allowed to do it, then put his hands on the first sword.

He had no idea how many he'd purified, but when he was done, he stumbled to his feet and went back to the house and blessed in a similar manner every member of Hamelin and the two women, then had fallen into his sleeping place, unconscious, fevered, and heartsick. All he could hold onto as darkness claimed him was a prayer that he would be willing to submit to whatever was placed on them now.

When he'd woken, they made him tell them what he'd done and how. He openly and honestly told his story, including where they had been headed and why. "As one of the child Adventurers your guild took advantage of and held captive, I was afraid. I'm sorry that fear caused so much trouble," he'd apologized. They'd been locked up while the guild decided what to do with them and he'd apologized to Majiyo and Mise as well. Majiyo had taken his hand and been just as afraid as he still was, for all he was trying to combat it. Mise had finally sat between them and put her arms around them, letting them be comforted with her presence as well, though there wasn't anything she could do either other than that.

That night, Yuudai had a dream where he got a scolding of sorts, though that part was hazy, and then a very clear instruction and he was suddenly awake. He shook Mise and Majiyo awake, then went to the door and listened. There was only silence on the other side of the door. He tried the handle and the door opened easily. "Walk quietly," he'd mouthed to them and holding hands in a line, they'd cautiously made their way out of the house and into the woods around the house. For the next full day they'd evaded capture by hiding and being very quiet whenever the trackers were nearby and not moving again until the area was clear. Yuudai had been very careful to be obedient to any urgings or thoughts he had and by the third day of careful travel they seemed to be clear of the slaver guild, though they stayed vigilant for most of the rest of that week.

When they finally reached a point they felt they could really relax, Yuudai had finally had to have his melt down and sob while curled around his knees, sitting under a tree a bit of a distance from their camp. He'd nearly failed as a man and as a priest. His relief at their escape when he'd finally corrected his error wasn't really enough to overcome his guilt and his self-doubt that made him question if he could now even be the priest he'd promised he would be.

A light hand had come on his shoulder, and he was a bit surprised when it was Mise's voice, not Majiyo's, but Mise had been a leader of her guild D.D.D. before Theldesia had broken her. "Yuudai, it's hard to fail, to find out you have a weakness you didn't know you had. ...But if it helps, I wanted to let you know that your strength and the efforts you put into trying hard don't go unnoticed. Because others see that, they want to help you keep going, too. Please don't give up. Please lift your head and walk forward again. That is what we need, not someone who is perfectly strong in all situations." She'd sat with him quietly until he'd recovered.

It had taken a few more days of travel for him to really internalize her words and understand that what he wanted to do was precious enough to not leave just because he'd needed another lesson in how to walk forward properly. The lesson still hurt, but he was now able to have a little gratitude for it as well. He had to remind himself of that again now, forgive himself one more time, and he drew a long breath and let it out with the guilt and self-doubt. He was here now, and it was nearly time for that goal to finally be accomplished, even if he was a mortal with weaknesses.

The door slid open and Majiyo entered the room. Yuudai almost couldn't look at her. The final trial they'd gone through was hers, not surprisingly. She'd not recovered so well from that time being in the claws of Haemlin again and in the end, she'd given up. They'd found a farmhouse where the family had been kind to let them stay. They didn't have the tents any more and the rain had been constant. The farmwife had been kind and let them have warm baths and fed them. When the rain had let up, Majiyo had asked the other two to continue without her. She claimed she was having second thoughts and needed more time to figure out what she really wanted to do. Yuudai had earnestly tried to understand if she blamed him and if he needed to do more to make it right. She'd claimed it wasn't so, but wouldn't let them stay.

Sadly, Yuudai had bowed to her wishes and he and Mise had risen to their feet to go. At the door, Yuudai had turned back. "Majiyo, from the beginning I've hurt you, and I'm very sorry to have done it then and again more recently. Thank you for forgiving me and helping me walk forward each day." Tears had entered Majiyo's eyes. "I know it's been your choice and I'm grateful each day we've been together." He paused, then said firmly, "I'm not leaving. I'm going out to find a place to pray for you. When you've found the answer you're seeking, I will hear what you have to say." Her eyes had widened and the tears had begun to fall. He'd turned away and walked out the door, giving her the space and time she needed to think about what she wanted to do for herself, glad she was finally taking the opportunity to do it.

Mise had gone with him until he'd found a quiet place in the shade of a few trees and sat with him long enough that he'd decided she was doing her own praying. Then she'd risen to her feet and walked back the way they'd come. He let her go and continued in his supplications in Majiyo's behalf. He'd felt prompted to get to his feet and walk a little farther down the road. There was another farmhouse there with the farmer outside working in his field. Yuudai had silently started working alongside him, continuing to pray for Majiyo in his heart as he did so. When the farmer had finally stopped his working, rising to wipe his brow on his sleeve, he'd spoken. "What do you want for the help?"

"A room to sleep in until my companion is ready to tell me where we're going next," he'd answered. "And meals, though I can do my part to add foodstuffs."

"Know how long?"

"No."

The farmer had led him back to his house and Yuudai had stayed with him, working alongside him and occasionally scaring away monsters, until Mise had called him on the party chat. "Yuudai, she's ready to talk to you. We're on our way."

"I'll be there," he'd promised, then thanked the farmer and walked back to the copse of trees. He'd stayed standing, but still praying very hard for Majiyo's sake - that she'd been able to find peace with herself and her choice, whatever it was.

The Majiyo he saw that day was stronger, no longer timid and unsure. She'd been glad to see him, that he'd kept his promise to support her like they had supported Mise, and she'd been embarrassed that she'd made him wait on her, but he hadn't minded at all. Rather, he'd always been worried that she'd just followed along after him because she felt bad for his sake. That wasn't the best way to walk forward forever, even if it was a way for a time. Working up her courage, she'd said, "I'll continue to walk with you to Shrine Mountain and study at the shrine."

"I'm glad you've been able to decide it for yourself, selfishly," he'd answered. "I'll be glad to still walk with you for this time." They'd walked the rest of the pathway to the foot of what on Earth was Mount Fuji without hardships, and he had never pressed her to tell him what she'd gone through or why she'd decided it. It was enough.

Yuudai looked at her now, as she settled on her knees next to him, also in a grey yukata. "Is this still the path you selfishly wish to follow?" he asked her.

"Mm," she nodded her head definitively.

"Good. Then, when we're done, if you know what you'll do next, please tell me and I will listen again." She promised it.

A few minutes later, Priest Jared was entering the room and giving them their final instructions before entering the upper room of meeting, where they would be tested by Inari-no-Izanagi for their fitness to serve him in the callings he had already given them. Yuudai faced it with calm assurance. They had already been tested in their pilgrimage. This would be the moment of humble gratitude and blessing.

* * *

 _Let me say, as we move to begin the sixth level of Purrcy's dungeon - the Priestess arc: I love that you all are continuing to follow this story with me. I would love to have more chatter on it, but this forum seems hard for that...or perhaps it's my continuing lack of understanding of anything outside of the writing and posting of chapters here. If any of you are also interested, please come to my (JiryuRasen) Patr(e)on page where comments are quite welcome - even if you don't donate. I'd like to know if any of you have questions about where we're going, or if you feel like there are holes that I need to remember to fill (I'm trying to not let any get by me), who your favorite characters are and why and what you'd like to see happen to them, etc. While I'm still writing it I'm excited about it and have a lot to say but not a place to say it except there...but I don't know where to even start, it seems. So...come be brave and visit me there. I promise to be just as shy as anyone who prefers to hide in a book, but loves to talk about one they really like. :-D_

 _I've put this here as the second of the "OVAs", in a pre-interweave to the first parts of the Priestess arc, because I want to keep these particular stories cohesive and because there won't really be a better place to put these secondary characters' stories as everyone gets so scattered. It isn't as lighthearted an OVA as I typically put in but the mood is a correct lead-in/foreshadowing of what's to come._


	120. Opening the Door to Level Six

Purrcy shivered. She was wet - again - and completely understanding why cats hated to be wet. She was being bathed in the fifth stream that they had come across in their journey from the coast to Mount Fuji, and she was really hating it now. The shrine maidens had met them not twenty minutes into their journey, and even then they had looked like female jailers in their black kimonos with black stitching and their unemotional stern faces. It had been a scolding from the beginning, without words, for her "late" arrival, even though it hadn't been her fault at all (not that she'd personally wanted to be locked up that early either). She was about to claw someone. The stream water wasn't warm at all.

The problem was, she'd already tried to get them to back off and had even tried to walk away to cool off the interior, and both times had been severely rebuffed, and then locked down with some spell they had. It seemed to be a general control spell, as if most Oracle or Priestess candidates tended to run away. That wasn't a good sign at all, and even her guards had been angry to see it. If no one really wanted to be those things, then what good was it? It made sense as to why the AIs had "stolen" her and made her their Summon, though. She was adding the whole thing to her list of reasons to hate the AIs with an even deeper burning passion.

"You now need to bow three times after clapping twice, towards Shrine Mountain," the head shrine maiden was saying. Purrcy turned obediently and did it. That was the fastest way to get a towel and warm again. "Now repeat after me."

Purrcy refused, so Izanami did it for her. The words she was required to say were too much of turning her entire will over to the AI and Purrcy had already made it clear that she wasn't going to voluntarily do that on her own - ever in the whole proceedings since she'd discovered she was summonable. She was so angry at the newest depths of submission to go along with the anger and cold of the water, that when a lesser shrine maiden approached with a towel (finally!), Purrcy snatched it from her. It was calmly taken back and she clawed the woman. The shrine maiden jumped back with a cry of pain. "Give the towel to Tetorō. From this time on none of you will touch me," she ordered.

"No man may touch the High Priestess," she was told.

Tetorō immediately changed to his female avatar and snatched the towel, as impatient and angry now as she was. He was rough, but it warmed her better. She closed her eyes and relaxed ever so slightly to have him be the one to do it. The shrine maidens weren't quite sure how to handle that. Perhaps their control spell wouldn't work on anyone other than the candidate. That was just fine as far as Purrcy was concerned.

Coldly she said, "I do hope that's the last cold stream I will have to punish myself with or I will personally drown all of you in the next one." She dodged the spell this time, letting it have her physical avatar and this time she didn't hold back. Every one of the shrine maidens was being pressed to their knees on the ground. "I hate all of you for believing that to enslave another being, even weak ones like yourselves, is the way to have a proper High Priestess and Oracle. I will be the last one and your shrine will burn."

That finally got an emotional response from the weaker shrine maidens. "Did I not come here voluntarily when Inari required me to come? Have I not been obedient to Inari in all I have done? Was not my path placed before my feet by them before I even walked it? Use that control spell on me one more time and all of you will be cursed before the burning even begins." She held them to the ground until they promised they'd not use it again. Her guards finally looked vindicated as well. "Even still, none of you will survive," she said almost as an afterthought as Tetorō helped her with the robe they'd assigned to her to wear. "That spell cannot survive to be passed down. It is too dangerous."

The worst of the senior shrine maidens was angered by that and used the spell again without thinking about it. She was on the ground, then dissolving into the rainbow bubbles that represented death on the world of the game _Elder Tales_. Purrcy turned away and walked back to her place in the procession as if it hadn't even happened. If she didn't she was going to take out more than the one.

Purrcy paused by Crusty on his pallet, waving her hand over his forehead to confirm he was still properly in stasis and that the ritual washing that the rest of her guard had to endure like her own, though a little lesser in degree, hadn't loosened any of the restraints she needed on him. Those restraints were to keep him in Yamato, though, not to force him to become something he didn't want to become. His high level cursing wanted him in China, where he didn't belong.

When she was content, Purrcy put her hand on Tetorō's shoulder and moved him to standing next to her in the procession, where before he'd had to be behind all the shrine maidens. She didn't let him leave her side from that time until they'd finally walked all the way up the hundreds, if not thousands, of steps up to the plateau of shrines. They left the shrine maidens in the dust, about half-way up the steps. Mortals needed to rest on that climb. Adventurers of their level didn't, though Purrcy was tiring. They'd not had too many breaks since being let off of the Ocypete at nearly three in the morning two days before. Because of that, she did finally call a halt when they could see the end of the steps. She waved to the Eagles who had come with them - she'd asked for the Intelligence detail and Gareth - to take Crusty off to the side, and called Michael to her.

Sitting in the middle of the step, she looked out over the valleys and mountains that were in her view, then closed her eyes. "Keep me here," she said to the two with her. "This is my last opportunity to run, and I so badly want to. I am going to hate being imprisoned here with all my passion, energy, and being. If I could kill them today, I would."

"I think I'd be able to join you in that," Michael agreed in a deadly quiet voice from where he stood over her, his arms folded. Tetorō gave a quiet voiced agreement from beside her on the step, where he'd sat down facing her so if she did try to flee he could grab her and prevent it.

They sat quietly for a while, recovering from the long journey. Tetorō reached over to rub his hand lightly on Purrcy's arm and finally asked what they were all wondering. "Are you going to be lost to us once the final requirements are done, Hahaue?" He wasn't happy.

"I expect so," she answered. "At least as far as the levels I've been able to be reached at before. I'll still be around, but I don't know how tightly they'll lock me down. If it's like that stupid spell they've got, I'll have the whole mountain blazing in only a few short weeks - or less. If it's just more of the same as I've had to live through being bound to Izanagi through Nyanta, I'll probably be fine, even if you lot aren't." She opened her eyes and looked at Tetorō. "Please expect that to be the most lenient they'll be. This is the place of protection that Izanagi requires his wife to be in, and the place his jealousy is the strongest, even if he isn't present personally." Tetorō's face was far from happy, but he nodded his understanding.

"We'll try to get that flavor text fixed as soon as we can," Michael said dryly. He'd been standing over her both making sure she stayed put and trying to get his own anger and displeasure over the whole thing to settle. "I really don't like seeing an even harsher repeat of Minami all over again. If we can at least alleviate that a little..."

Purrcy nodded, but she was rather sure that what was coming after they did that would be even worse. Her whiskers turned down in her concern and her tail flipped in worry. Izanami had been warning her for some time now that releasing that restriction was going to cause chaos the Adventurers wouldn't like. She'd only had the level of restraint against Izanagi there had been because of it. She wasn't allowed to warn them more strenuously than she already had though, and it made her a little sad (and angry of course). Izanagi - the World AI - was cruel because the end goal was all it cared about. Izanami's programming as Game Bot allowed for some level of interpersonal relationship skills. But there were a lot of things Purrcy had only been able to hint at and a lot of them Shiroe had caught and many he still hadn't. She could only do what she could do.

With a sigh of impatience, she rose to her feet, taking Michael's hand to pull up. He was surprised by it, but went with it. He was even more surprised when she turned to him suddenly and kissed him on the lips. "Michael, you and Shiroe haven't seriously thought about every little detail I've passed on yet. Hurry up and think harder. I will be crying for Akiba and those I love." She released him and started walking up the steps again, leaving them all scrambling to catch up to her.

Tetorō reached her quickly, taking her hand in his and pulling her to slow down. He looked into her face earnestly. "You can't say more than that?" She shook her head. He bit his lower lip. "Is it related to getting rid of the flavor text, then?" The most she could do was a slight tip of an ear and a shiver of tears that passed quickly. Then she was calm and under control again - the control of Izanagi who had made her feel impassive again. She cried deep inside. She really didn't like it when it separated her from her emotions, even if it did help her face what she was required to do with a little more ease. If she'd explained that to those who supported her, they would have called it emotional abuse - stripping her of her ability and birthright to naturally feel and be.

She paused and waited for the procession to be properly set back up. When Tetorō looked back at her, from watching the others get ready, she held onto his hand very tightly and began the final walk up the last stairs, her heart beating very rapidly and her soul cowering in a corner, her spiritual ears flattened against her skull and her tail tucked up tightly under her. She really, really, really didn't want to be doing this.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was still stunned as they got going. Purrcy never broke her strict rule to be faithful to her Theldesian husband Nyanta, nor to breach Michael's oath to his own wife of Earth. He rapidly tried to get his brain to restart again. He was going to have to go back and replay all the history he could find about the times they'd talked about the flavor text of the Oracle, Priestess, and Priest. While he'd already had the clue that the Priestess was being held in the shrine because she was half of the problem, he wasn't at all sure the kiss had been part of that. Purrcy herself wasn't bound by the flavor text, and he rather thought that it wouldn't really come out until she was made in actual fact the Priestess by all of this mumbo-jumbo they'd already had to suffer through on the way this far. It could be, but given she'd been as Purrcy as she could have been in that moment, it wasn't likely.

One thing he had decided, through all of this, was that he was going to do everything he could to keep his part of the contract. Whatever he could do to protect Purrcy, he'd do. She wasn't likely to come out of this next set nicely intact otherwise. She was already in lock-down more than they would have thought at this point in the journey, and when she wasn't paying attention she wasn't Purrcy hardly at all. They needed her at least sane, or they wouldn't get through the final boss level and boss fight. They needed her badly for that part and they all knew it.

He hoped that the AIs didn't use this as the opportunity to steal her from them for good - that is to take away their one hope and one big gun. It was a harsh realization he'd had in finally understanding that they'd all been relying on the two most likely to be locked out and shut down to be the two that levied the damage they all needed done. It was partly why he'd decided to go hunting for the God Cleaver. They needed to have someone with a bit more free agency capable of getting damage in if Nyanta and Purrcy were prevented.

Everything about this trip and this mountain was under severe suspicion at this point. Nothing had been good until Purrcy had finally lost it there at the end. He hoped she wasn't punished for taking a life, though, even if it had been the consequence warned of beforehand. He sighed to himself and just watched her back - ramrod stiff with fear and determination as always when she walked into this kind of battlefield. He really did hope they wouldn't lock her down completely while she was here.

They were met halfway between the guest house near the top of the steps and the shrine Purrcy was headed for as if she'd always known where it was. The older woman in the front, her black kimono embroidered in red and black and her greying hair up on the top of her head, frowned as she looked around their group and then behind them. "Where is your escort?" she asked Purrcy sharply.

"Right here with me, unless you mean the shrine maidens. They're still coming. They had to rest halfway up and Izanagi was too impatient to let us wait for them. Adventurers have higher stamina, I'm sure you know full well, Priestess Kaede."

The Priestess blinked and Purrcy waited for her for just one second. "I've brought with me an Adventurer who's been cursed and needs proper healing and blessings. As High Priest Nyanta won't be joining us on the mountain - ever, if he and Izanagi have their say - I'm going to have to do it. Please see that the room of healing is prepared by the time my final preparations are completed."

The look on Kaede's face went sour. "There's already a High Priest of Inari-no-Izanagi?" she asked.

"Yes. And we've already been properly married as well, and he knows where I've been because it's been right beside him since then, and he's only just now sent me, and I'm going to hate it here just as much as I always do. Please don't expect me to be pleasant for some time to come."

Kaede's lips pursed and she studied Purrcy. "Why were you selected?"

"Because I was a treasure that made a mistake they abused. Who is stronger than an Adventurer?"

Kaede seemed to slump a little as if there could be no argument to the god's reasoning if it was that. It still didn't make her happy, though, and she decided to take it out on the rest of them. "Men are not allowed in the shrine of Inari-no-Izanami, nor can they touch her. She will have to do the healing from a distance. You will stay in the guest house with the infirm until he is called for and may leave immediately thereafter."

"No!" Purrcy said emphatically. "They will stay for the duration so they can return him to his home." The sour look on Kaede's face twisted to more sharpness and distaste. "I will also require that my guards be present nearby for the final steps of the purification. The shrine maidens are not allowed to assist, nor to touch me. Only Tetora."

Kaede's eyes shifted to Tetorō, still holding Purrcy's hand tightly. She still wanted to run, most likely, Michael figured and he didn't blame her, though he wasn't about to let her run either. "Why must it be so?" Kaede finally asked bluntly.

"Because I will kill anyone else who does," Purrcy said back just as blunt and quite seriously. "I've already warned the shrine maidens who are following us up the stairs. And if you know the spell that makes the candidate obey and behave, please forget you ever did. I've already killed one for using it on me after I warned them I have no patience with it any more."

Kaede froze and it took a few minutes for her to breathe again. "You would even kill your Priestess?" she asked in complete disbelief.

"Without hesitation," Purrcy replied coldly. "I have already been the High Priestess and Oracle for over a year, even without the proper washings. They are only a final detail."

"... _And_ Oracle?" Kaede's eyes widened.

"Yes." It was said in as dead a tone as Purrcy could have said it.

Kaede waved her hand and over each of them was displayed in hazy letters their statuses. Purrcy's list was the full one, not the shortened or hidden one. None of them showed their top layer obfuscation data - it was all the bottom level, true data. Michael scowled at that a little. He wasn't pleased that they had such high level magic as it was. To have that much more was more than a little disturbing. Kaede seemed to calm down just a little to see Purrcy's title of Priestess and to find the sub-class of Oracle. She was displeased with what she saw of the rest of them, but then she seemed generally displeased with both Adventurers and with men.

"Welcome to Shrine Mountain, Priestess," she said formally, as if it was a required speech for their arrival. It was forced, too. "If you'll keep Tetora with you, she must also be washed and initiated to become a shrine maiden." Purrcy looked at Tetorō. He slumped just a little, but nodded firmly nonetheless. He'd already known it would be required, after all. Kaede waved at the rest of them. "None of them can come, however."

"Michael will come," Purrcy said. Her words were forceful and left no room for argument. "Has he not been my guard since the beginning and taken all the punishments my husband has seen fit to lay upon him without complaint? Has he not been faithful to his requirements and honorable in his actions towards my person, only ever standing watch over me to protect me? He will come and stand watch over me even now until I have entered the room of meeting and have entered the inner sanctum."

Kaede once again pursed her lips and then bluntly asked, "Why?"

"Because there is no Person of the Land who can prevent me from fleeing the Mountain. Only Michael has the strength and power to keep me where I'm required to be. Only for him in this place will I be obedient until then. I, the Adventurer Purrcy, also do not wish to be here, any more than you wish I was."

Kaede's eyes narrowed at Purrcy. An adversarial relationship was set into stone in that moment and Michael and Tetorō sighed in a bit of frustration. Purrcy really hadn't helped herself, assuming that hadn't been Izanagi setting up for the fall of the flavor text - which was equally likely. "Very well. The others of you may go until you're called. You three will come with me and we will begin the final purifications."

Michael obediently followed after, paid attention to the instructions that were given, then ritually washed his hands and rinsed out his mouth with the others. He could feel the cellular lift to the half level - just inside the code realm pre-milli-equivalent. They were escorted into an area enclosed by a high wooden slat privacy fence. The gate led into a hot springs of flowing water on the left, a walkway in the center covered by a roof, and doors leading into the shrine on the right. Kaede waved to the door in the back, which was through another gate and wall. "Michael, you will wash here and wear the yukata we'll leave for you in this changing room, then stand guard on that gate. The Priestess and Tetora will bathe on the other side and you will not allow your eyes to see them. When they are dressed, they may call to you and you may stand at the door just inside that room, but beyond that door you cannot pass."

"The Priestess will be in mediation in the upper room of meeting from that time until dawn. I will arrive at dawn to see if she's passed her test of meeting. If she has, then she'll go to her final ceremony - that of opening the Oracle to Inari-no-Izanami. From that time she will remain in the inner sanctum for the rest of her natural life." At that thought Kaede's face went very dark, since at the moment Adventurers lived forever. The rest of them weren't any more pleased, however. "You may choose to leave any time after she's entered the upper room of meeting and wait with your companions." They could tell sooner than later would be her preference.

Michael watched the three walk through the next gate and into the changing room, though Kaede came out very shortly after and firmly closed the gate so he couldn't see inside. He closed the outer gate behind him when she was gone again and was instantly naked, putting his clothing into his list. He washed quickly using a cloth and the soap that was sitting in a bucket at the side of the hot spring. He rinsed off, then soaked just long enough for his cells to reach an equilibrium that was at the full-milli level, as if his whole person was being taken into the Hacker level of the code realm. He wondered if Purrcy was going to have this level be her new norm and worried.

As soon as he was sure he was in equilibrium, he left the hot spring, snatching at a towel that was in a basket near the bucket of soaps. He dried as he walked into the changing room and found a grey yukata on one of the four benches set parallel to each other in the room. As he drew it on and tied it around the waist, he looked around the room. The only other thing in the room was a door on the opposite side from the entrance he'd come in. If he was standing a door, likely they went to similar places. He knew that at least it went into the shrine. He walked back out of the changing room and closed the door to it, then walked to the gate between bathing areas and stood with his back to it, clearing his throat once to let the bathers know he was on duty. He stayed vigilant in ear and eye and mind until Tetorō called him to come in.

Tetorō was dressed similarly to himself in a grey yukata. His look for Michael was sad, but the clenched fist at his side expressed his anger that still burned from the beginning of their journey. Michael nodded at him and Tetorō nodded back, then turned and disappeared into the changing room. By the time Michael reached it, both Tetorō and Purrcy were gone and the door on the opposite side was sliding the last inch closed. He walked to the door and stood guard on it, but this time he slipped into the code realm mentally and made double sure Purrcy was really where she was supposed to be.

In but a few minutes, Kaede entered from a different direction and Michael was thrown out of the code realm and back into his body. Inari made it plain. From here on, Michael wasn't to know what went on. He sighed and allowed himself a scowl, but Purrcy wasn't going to go anywhere else now anyway. For a brief moment he did toy with leaving as soon as the next door had opened and closed, but that just didn't sit well with him. He stayed vigil with Purrcy and Tetorō until Kaede arrived at dawn, passed them both, and they'd moved on one more door into the shrine. He couldn't hear them anymore after that, so he finally took himself out, leaving the yukata on one of the benches and putting on his own clothing.

"How'd it go?" he was asked as soon as he entered the guest house.

"Like a knight's vigil, only worse," he answered as he dropped into a bed. "She's in, and won't be getting out easily - if at all." He closed his eyes and was snoring shortly thereafter.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō watched as Michael was thrown out of the code realm and locked out. He wasn't too pleased, but he was glad when Michael still stayed outside the door in his place. Tetorō wasn't any happier at having to go through this than Purrcy was, and he needed Michael in that place to make himself stay put just as much. This might be the next requirement to fulfilling the beginning of this level, but walking through fire was never as easy as the planning to walk through fire was, and he already wasn't looking forward to it from the first he'd understood what he'd have to do for it. He kept his vision locked to Michael's sturdy back and his unwavering stance. He kept his ear on Purrcy, who was lying motionless on the floor near him in the pose she'd been ordered to be in. He was allowed to sit cross legged, so was, but they'd both been ordered to be silent for the duration of their time of testing in the upper room of meeting.

Tetorō eventually got bored and looked around the room one more time. It was rectangular with tatami mat floors, like the smaller previous room had. The doors were the standard sliding doors of traditional Japanese houses that were as much paper walls. On the left end of the room as they'd entered was a scroll with a character painted or printed on it. He wasn't sure what it stood for, but Purrcy was head towards it, so it was likely a representation of Inari-no-Izanami. Set out from that wall about three or maybe four feet was a low altar that had a candle, a small ebony bowl with red flowers floating in it, and a smoking stick of incense on it. The rest of the room was rather bare, save for tall, narrow ebony vases of artfully arranged red flowers in each corner of the room.

Tetorō bowed his head and closed his eyes, focusing on Michael and Purrcy, and allowed himself to fall into a light sleep. They would be here a long time and he had no false ideas about what would come to visit them in the night. He'd already experienced the two kami in Maihama. If they'd been taken up this high already (there'd been another level Purrcy had gone up while he watched and before entering this room that had put her into the micro speeds physically), Izanami was going to descend and perform the testing itself. He wasn't looking forward to it. As he fell into his sleep, he chose to focus on his personal goal that was going to get him through this: he would never let any goal fail that his guildmaster said needed to be met. They would not lose this dungeon.

When Izanami arrived, the pressure was massive and weighed on him as if a two ton Roc had come to sit on him as a nestling. When he was pushed to the floor, he didn't resist. He bowed low in the direction of the symbol on the wall, and stayed there with his forehead pressed against the floor, though he did switch over to sitting on his knees. For the next two minutes, he was left hanging in the space of the milli realm. It felt like two years, but he didn't complain. He'd had far longer than that in cumulative experience when waiting on his father on the wall. He gave the pressure no resistance, like he'd learned to give to his father, and it didn't kill him though it was difficult to bear, particularly towards the end. He caught hold of a soft thing he noticed in a corner of his mind and held onto it, falling into a trance and petting it slowly, though only in his mind. He was still frozen in his position outside.

When the pressure finally eased, Tetorō slowly walked back to his body, taking the soft thing with him. It was gone from his arms before he made it back to awareness, though, and he forgot about it shortly after that. Purrcy was rising to her knees to sit up, though she kept silent still. Soon the door slid open and Kaede entered. She gave them both sharp, deep looks, then passed them both - a bit reluctantly it seemed. "You've passed. Now you only have one more thing to do." She handed Purrcy a cup of a shiny liquid. Purrcy grimaced at it, pausing to see what it was. She was handing it back, when her hand stopped and went the other direction. With great distaste and distrust she was forced by Inari to drink the liquid down. She choked on it and gasped as if it had been a strong alcohol. Tetorō thought it might be given that Purrcy had said she never drank it - ever.

She coughed it out of the back of her throat, then threw the cup at the altar where it crashed against the side of it. "Damn AIs know we can't get drunk. This step was quite pointless." She rose to her feet, glared at Kaede, and proceeded to give a rather long oracle that described how much longer the shrine was going to last and by what means it was going to be destroyed, similar to how she'd told the shrine maidens who'd come to fetch them, just with all the flowery detail to it this time.

Kaede's eyes went wide with dismay and shock. "That is the darkest First Oracle to be given since the time of the Alv and the Ruquinjé. Will it happen in my lifetime?"

"Within the year," Purrcy said dismissively, turning for the next door inward. "I'm tired. We'll sleep in the inner room for now, since I know instructions are next and you are so by the book you won't relent for that either." She glanced at Tetorō briefly, "And my newest shrine maiden needs to hear them anyway." She waved at the wall on the opposite side they'd entered through. Tetorō jumped up and slid the door open and bowed her through, then followed after Kaede, who was still disturbed by the oracle.

"Please never serve the High Priestess alcohol again," he said quietly to Kaede as she passed him. "It may have been required by Inari that time, but she will kill for that, too." Kaede turned a surprised eye on him, then gave a brief nod. It had been displayed rather obviously by the temper tantrum.

When Tetorō arrived next to Purrcy again, she patted the cushions next to her. She was sitting on a rather large pile of them, actually, wrapped newly in volumes of kimonos, layered red and black with the top one being elaborately embroidered in red and black on the black silk. He himself had been clothed in a black kimono with light black embroidery on it. He silently went to where she'd indicated and knelt.

Purrcy lay down on the cushions, reached up, and pulled him down to lie with her. This time, she held _him_ as if holding a cat for comfort rather than the other way around, her arms around him and curled up around his back and over his head, protecting him from the other shrine maidens and acolytes in the room, proclaiming immediately without words that he was her favorite regardless of what they would say or do.

He was also tired enough to not care that he was being used this way. From this time on, he was the emotionally dead son on the wall. Whatever was done to him was his lot to just accept without complaint until he could be released. At least there weren't likely to be beatings, and the person was one he was willing to be obedient for. Inari could go to hell, but if Purrcy needed him, he was only keeping his promise to her. He wouldn't leave her side.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mister Shiroe."

Shiroe paused with his pen in the air in the middle of writing a word, sat back in his chair, and answered. "Go ahead Stiletto." His eyes casually scanned the map he was drawing of Eastern China as it stood today in Theldesia. Cartography was his secondary scribe skill and actually his preferred. The maps were always a creative challenge and he could put whatever he wanted on them. Today he was experimenting with another kind of combinations of magic as he drew this one. He wanted to see if cross-server communications could be done by touching a place on the map and then thinking of the person on his friend list that lived there that he wanted to talk to. He was hoping it would work, even if it was a magic only he could use in the end, though he rather thought if it did work it probably ought to work for any Communication mage of high enough skill level.

"Michael just returned to the guest house and is sleeping. He kept vigil with Purrcy all night at the shrine. He says she's properly in the shrine and not likely to be coming out. The head priestess is going to be a lot of trouble to work with. She and Purrcy were throwing sparks at each other from the beginning and she's extremely unhappy with having an Adventurer in the head slot. Purrcy was able to make them let Michael guard her last night and is keeping Tetorō as close to her as she can, as Tetora."

"The one difficulty is that we discovered they have magics that supersede ours and even Purrcy's." Shiroe tensed a little, but kept open to the data coming in. "As soon as we hit the other side of the beach, a delegation met us. Purrcy needed some down time to recover and they hit her with a spell that made her be obedient instead. She finally slipped out the third time they hit her physical body with it and smashed them into the ground. She prophesied the shrine was going to burn and everyone who knows that spell is going to bite the dust. The head shrine maiden went to hit her with it again and she was bubbles in the air. She's properly warned the head priestess to not use it or she'll be next."

"The head priestess also cast another spell that let her see all our statuses - the true ones, and in full detail. She seemed to be using it to confirm everyone was who they said they were. She used it after Purrcy claimed to be the Oracle, too, not just the Priestess." Shiroe let out the breath he was holding in amazement that they had that kind of a spell available to them. Purrcy was a TechnoMage, the highest pseudocode mage the Adventurers knew. She kept that level of her personal data hidden from everyone.

"Tetorō?"

"He was already Tetora by then. He's okay."

Shiroe sat back in his chair and held his pen between the fingers of both hands, considering the ramifications of those two spells. "We'll want to keep watch on what other spells they might have. That's a place we've not explored before, and honestly, not one I had to deal with much before the catastrophe. It sounds like some of that might be new from our perspective. I'll let my data researchers already working on that sub-quest know I want full scope details as deep as they can dig them up."

"The third concern is that we can't get into the shrines past the outer public areas. Physically of course, but also inside the code realm. We get thrown back out. The gods jealously protect their inner sanctums." For Stiletto to not be able to get inside the shrines using nonconventional methods was rather impressive.

"So we won't be able to keep a watch from the outside on Purrcy?"

"Correct."

Shiroe nodded to himself. It wasn't what he wanted, and it meant the burden of watching and reporting would fall on Tetorō, but at least they had him there to do it. "I'll add to my schedule a nightly conference with Tetorō, then, starting with tonight. Anything else?"

"Not until the Commander reports."

"Alright. Thank you." He closed the chat, finished wrapping up putting those data points into his internal map of this the sixth dungeon level, and returned to his interrupted drafting.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu walked into the Log Horizon guild hall. It was quiet, like it often was this time of the afternoon. He looked at the couch where he usually planted himself when he walked in the door, and hesitated. He stared at the couch for a moment, then turned and walked up the stairs instead. His eyes passed over Tetorō's door as he passed the third floor, acknowledging it was empty. He continued up until he was opening the door to the roof where he could finally breathe a little easier again. He soberly walked to lean on the wall that surrounded the rooftop.

The center of Akiba was in front of him, but to his right. Other tall buildings were more directly in front him, though distant - most notably the Production Building where the small production businesses were. They serviced the local needs of Akiba Adventurers, where Marine Organization would now be almost exclusively for national and international trade, though they supplied product through Shopping District 8. It was taking some time for the city dynamics to settle down, but in the main the smaller businesses hadn't been disturbed all that much by the changes made by the creation of the Corporation of Akiba.

Naotsugu looked down at his hands, unconsciously scanning the road as he did so. It was a lot busier now that the Akiba Adventurer Academy was busy with classes filling up each day. Marielle was calmer and happily busy and even Henrietta had found her pace and was performing up to her own perfectionistic expectations without her stress spilling over the top. While Naotsugu wasn't one to normally walk the streets to gather information, he still did on occasion - usually as he was running other errands, headed out to a harvest zone or back in from one, or when he was having a lunch meeting with someone. The lunch meetings were his special sauce when it came to information exchange. Today he'd just walked the market, though, and eaten his lunch on the walk. Today he'd wanted to get the feel of the city.

He closed his eyes and sighed. He really should just admit it. He was trying to fill the holes and the gaps he was feeling. He couldn't even sit in his station because of them. Even standing here reminded him of one. The last time he'd stood here in his contemplation spot had been when he'd been scolded by Purrcy. "Hahaue," he said now to the air around him, "how can I hold everyone up when I don't have half my own supports? Tetorō's not here to walk the market district so I need to do it for him, but then he's not here when I get back to sit with and that side's cold. I know I need to call on Marie, but that's not the kind of support I need at these times and I can't lean on her all the time." Naotsugu blinked. "I don't want to complain, really, but I guess it's just surprising a little at how much I leaned on him when it always felt like it was the other way around." As Guardian and guild tank, everyone in Log Horizon leaned on him. This level made things have a new feel and look.

He stood in silence for a while, just feeling the almost-cold wind blow across his neck. Winter was now the predominate feel to fall and winter itself wasn't too far off. It matched how cold his side felt, really. He stood upright again and shoved his hands into his pockets and walked the roof, not really quite able to stand still. "Nyanta's missing, too. He went into hiding as soon as we got home. It took all four juniors to help him have the courage to face his own sanctuary without you. He's doing better now, but he'd rather be on his porch sleeping - which he does a lot of now. The juniors are feeling cold on that side. I think they kind of expected it and are working hard on their projects in town to fill that space. I go and bug him for having nothing better to do and it helps both of us for a while - long enough to get dinner on the table."

Naotsugu found he was standing in front of the tree that grew up through the center of their six-story guild hall, looking at the steps they'd nailed to it for Touya. He blinked and looked up. The tree had dropped it's leaves and the branches were bare. He shrugged and climbed it anyway until he was in the sturdy branch he could sit in and look out over the city. That seemed to be a better place to just sit. His eyes turned and focused into the far, far distance, towards Mount Fuji, though he couldn't actually see it from here. He sat smelling the cold in the air, not really thinking much for a while, though the analysis was running under the surface anyway.

Both field monitors were missing and it left them without rudder and they were feeling adrift. The Eagles were filling in the gaps, really, as far as walking the city beat went and bringing information back to Shiroe. It was just the rest of them felt like that was probably temporary. For some reason they'd never been willing to lean on the sub-guild. They'd been Purrcy's support more, and the few who'd been propping Shiroe up for the last level. They were filling in the gap, though, which was needed. Naotsugu sighed in a deep breath, looked up at the pale blue sky through the brown branches above him, and let it out.

Touya was short distance tank and was setting up in town. His junior was feeling that it wasn't enough to put their defensive circle at the edges of the guild house. He was moving it out to half the city, practically. They did that when they expected high level bosses with super-powerful attacks, and sneak attacks. It kept the front line out far enough to prevent the small-fry from getting to the back line. He was protecting his op from internal back-lash damage, too: getting her far enough out from the center that if something big went off from inside the party there wasn't friendly-fire damage. Naotsugu got that. Touya and Minori were setting up fine, but they'd be harder to defend by the rest of them. Reed had set up a defense around them for that reason, putting Eagles to work at Grandpa's Kitchen once it was ready to go and on watch over the top of the shop. Naotsugu wasn't sure exactly what specific roles they were, but he trusted Reed enough with that by now. That position would be as secure as they could get it.

It would also be a fall-back position for the dancers - Rudy and Isuzu. They'd work at that distance as well, like they always did, and rotate in to the center to heal up, report, and head back out. They were carrying a heavier weight now, with Touya and Minori being stationary instead of having some level of movement. Again, the Eagles had a portion helping them out and were battle monitor to let them know if they needed to fall back or move left. Those front-line positions were getting set and seemed pretty firm. He couldn't see much to fault in that.

That left back here, the center of the nexus as it set up to become a more powerful weapon as it were. Shiroe had always been the center that made things happen both with small status effects and with heavy-duty spells. Now he was going to become like Purrcy when she was on the ground rather than far-flung monitor. Shiroe was setting up to become the super powerful OP player, to really bring out the Archmage, to set the king on the board. The pawns had moved half-way down the board. The rest of them had to be set to protect the king from the pieces that could jump past the pawns. Nyanta would do what he could. He was the Swashbuckler, the knight, who could block unexpected moves. The problem was that he was going to be taken off the board, and may already be down. It was hard to fill that slot. Naotsugu himself was a rook, after all. Straight line defense and attack. A heavy tank. But it wasn't going to be enough - him, a weakened Nyanta, and Akatsuki the only ones defending Shiroe.

"I think I told you you're supposed to call on me," a very scolding voice, belonging to the guildmaster of Knights of the Black Sword, said from below the tree.

Naotsugu looked down in mild surprise. "Hey, Isaac. What's up?"

"Apparently you are," Isaac answered, folding his arms, his head tipped up to look at Naotsugu above him in the tree. "You're not on duty below. Why?"

"Can't sit in a place I don't belong. I'm trying to figure out where it is."

Isaac looked around the roof and dragged a chair over to where he could sit and watch Naotsugu a little more comfortably. When he was settled he said, "Okay, talk to me."

"Shiroe's going to place the king soon. We've got the board half-cleared and the juniors in place half-way down the board, clearing a space large enough for when he goes super-nova. I know we've got to have the higher level players in place around him to protect him from the higher levels that can leap-frog over the juniors. I was working on that formation when you showed up."

"Who've you got?"

"Nyanta who's dancer and knight, but he's at twenty percent and probably won't heal up enough before he's taken off the table. It's part of the play that he'll be moved out anyway. He's Queen's knight and has to show up at the right time to protect her." Isaac nodded. "Akatsuki's in place as always. She'll be there tight by him like she's supposed to be until we have to put three spaces between them, but she can still jump in and out as needed, since she's King's knight." Naotsugu looked off over the city again, but he wasn't really seeing it. "As the King's tank - the rook - I've not got what it takes to replace both a knight and a bishop. They're the ones protecting the Queen, and they're hers, so it stands to reason, but to have them gone the same time the King comes out's hard."

"Who's the other bishop?"

"Marie was named, but I don't think that's quite right. She's a pawn, too, really. She'll support me, but she's not got the strength to support Shiroe the way we do. ...I'm not sure, but I'm kind of feeling like I'd be better off moving to be either knight or bishop for the term, or at least learn some flexibility and speed so I can fill in as needed. That's why I'm up here, to see just how deep that need is and what I would need to do to switch over." He looked back down at Isaac again.

Isaac was quiet, thinking for a bit. He looked up at Naotsugu and said, "I think you're forgetting something, Naotsugu."

"What's that?"

"The rest of us that have been called in. It's rather why I showed up. I need to know where we need to be placed. You've got me and Crusty will show up before too long, and there's Nakalnad, too. We've already figured out we're going to be the things that prop up Shiroe when the Eagles disappear, and we're around - well, I'm around - until then anyway."

Naotsugu looked down at Isaac and felt it. That Isaac was already on the board and feeling a little lost, like the newcomer to the party who needed to be fit in and who was needed in the new level. He took a breath, nodded, and noodled on it. "Bishop. You keep showing up unexpectedly, but you don't jump around the board. Steady and direct, and a mild attacker. So...that'd be...Sorcerer with deflection defenses. A powered up Rudy." He looked down into Isaac's eyes. "Feel right to you?"

Isaac chewed on it for a bit, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, I can see that. Straight-line when called to action, but unexpected blind-spot attacks and defenses and powerful enough to not be just pushed over. I can do that and it fills one of the holes."

Naotsugu blinked, then smiled. "So your spot's the one that's been keeping me off the couch."

"That's my fault?" Isaac teased in mock affront. Then he looked away, a bit pensive and scowled with a faint mutter of a swear word under his breath.

"What?" Naotsugu asked.

"It's why we butt heads all the time, I suppose, Tetorō and I, when I show up in this place." Isaac was a bit reluctant to say it.

Naotsugu laughed. "Yeah, he doesn't like having anyone around that feels like they're going to push him out of his slot...but I think he'll be grateful this time. He hates leaving my side cold more than I hate having it cold."

Isaac looked at him. "Well, don't let him kill me when he shows back up again."

Naotsugu shook his head. "No you're coming in as King's bishop. He's Queen's bishop. He'll need massive recovery when he gets back. The two of you will figure out a balance by the time he's ready to be back up and dance the black and white to keep Shiroe defended nicely."

"Alright," Isaac answered. Then he frowned. "Wait. How can he be Queen's bishop when he stands next to her so tightly? Wouldn't that make him Queen's rook? It's Michael that's her other one, right?" Naotsugu nodded. "It seems Michael does what I do more, making him Queen's bishop."

"It does look that way," Naotsugu nodded. "But it's because Michael stands out in front and plays obvious interference where Tetorō is held in close and moves the short single and double space moves. He hides and shows up unexpectedly on those diagonals. Michael moves fast on the straight lines and attacks to kill. It's the opposite of what happens here for the King. I'm kept in close on defense and the bishop moves the distances."

"Ah, I can see that," Isaac nodded now. "So you need to know not only that I'll show up when you need close up help, but that I'm doing my job out in the room to make sure that anything incoming is dealt with and warning is passed back on anything that might be getting through?"

"Exactly," Naotsugu said.

Isaac pondered, then said, "I think I'll call in Soujirou as my support, then. He's got his ears to the ground already and that will let me know what I need to be keeping my eyes on. I'm too high in town to get any information from the street, but he's in the place for it already." He pondered a little longer then looked up at Naotsugu. "When do I need to be here?"

"We have the schedule meetings at the end of breakfast. We can chat you in on those. Often they're really brief. But this time of day is when I'm looking for you...though you don't have to cuddle with me on the couch. That's just not right. Anywhere in the room so that I can sit still on the couch until things feel settled and like the day's moving smoothly along is fine."

"All right. I can do that," Isaac said, looking up at Naotsugu. "And Shiroe? Does he need more that that?"

"You'll know it if you're here that much."

Isaac nodded, then said, "You ready to come down yet, then?"

Naotsugu blinked then smiled. "Not quite. Head on down and pick a spot that feels comfortable as long as it's not mine. I'll be there shortly. ...I promise," he added to answer Isaac's slight scowl.

"Better," Isaac warned, but he got up and went back inside.

Naotsugu looked back out over the city. "Thanks, Hahaue. That's a lot better." He got himself back down out of the tree and headed downstairs. He stopped by the third floor balcony and picked up the grey and white cat that had his nose buried under his arm and carried him down, too. With two of them sitting as healers, he'd be more likely to have the strength to move forward each day as well. He was just lonely after all.


	121. Last Breath on the Precipice

There was a firm knock on the guest house door frame. The men in the room looked at each other and Bowie rose to answer it, sliding the door open. Michael could just see past him to the outside. The priestess, Kaede, was standing ramrod straight on the other side of the doorway, every fiber of her body now echoing with screams the disapproval that had been on her face the first day they'd arrived. His eyebrow raised ever so slightly and he stood and walked over to the door. Tetorō was standing behind her, dressed in a black kimono. "Hello. May we help you?" Bowie asked.

Kaede's eyes went from him to Michael as Michael reached the doorway. "You've been summoned, and your man Gareth." She paused, then said rather scathingly, "That is... _if_ you're willing to go through what you'll have to go through."

That gave them all pause. "And that would be?" Michael asked.

With a sour look, Kaede said, "The Priestess cannot lay her hands on the man who needs healing and there is no Priest on the holy mountain. You will be her hands."

Michael blinked and thought about that, then shrugged. He and Tetorō both not only did everything Purrcy told them to do, they also had both carried Purrcy as her oracle more than once. It surely couldn't be much different, if it was at all. Not like any of them would touch Crusty either. The work needed to be done in the code realm. "I already am, if Tetora's not."

Kaede's look turned even more bitter and added disgust. She looked at Bowie. "We'll summon you to bring the injured to the room of healing tomorrow. They won't be back until the work is done...and then you may _all_ leave the holy mountain." She turned her back and walked down the steps, though she waited there impatiently.

"You'd think she was _the_ Priestess given how hard nosed she is," BlackJack said quietly from the back of the room.

Michael looked back at him. "Use your time wisely. I'm sure we won't be gone for more than a few days at the most, though she'll likely try to make it as long as she can." He looked at Gareth. "Ready, then?"

Gareth blinked at him. "Why me and not Stiletto? He's higher level, like you guys."

Michael tipped his head towards the door. "Your watch."

Gareth moved to stand behind him and looked at Tetorō. "Oh. You've been called up, too?"

Tetorō nodded. "You and I are their respective assistants and we're all going to get to learn what it is to be shrine maidens...though," he hesitated and looked at Michael, "you're like that one." Only his eyes moved to point towards Kaede.

"It's like that is it?" Michael asked with quiet forcefulness. He wasn't sure he wanted it to go quite that far. Tetorō nodded and he wrung the fingers of one hand in the other. Michael raised an eyebrow at it. That wasn't normal for him. He looked into Tetorō's face again and got a faint nod. Tetorō was worried. Michael paused, then looked back at his men inside. "Pray for me boys. This place is a strange place." They looked at him solemnly then put their hands on the hilts of their weapons and gripped them. He gave them a nod and walked out the door. Gareth followed him out.

Tetorō joined Gareth behind Michael as they followed Kaede's disapproving back towards the bath house, yet again. "Purification first again, is it?" Michael whispered to himself. That part was going to be annoying, if he had to do that every time he was going to be anywhere near Purrcy.

"She's constantly at the micro level now, Michael," Tetorō said quietly, "and Izanami comes into her at the nano level whenever it feels like it, bringing her up to it and then dropping her when it's done. Nothing in this place is less than milli, and that's the junior shrine maidens that do the sweeping and clean up. ...The third ritual exploded the collar into tiny bits of light."

Michael looked at Tetorō over his shoulder with wide eyes. "Is she okay on the drop?"

Tetorō nodded. "Physically she has to rest, but Purrcy's okay. She's been doing it enough now she comes down slower, or she slips out and stays micro. It would be a lot worse if she were being dragged up from this level."

"True," Michael said. He'd noticed - Gareth had tried to touch Tetorō comfortingly and Tetorō had shifted enough he couldn't. "Where does that put you? Milli or micro?"

"Micro, or I can't sit next to her," he admitted.

Michael sighed and turned back to the front. Kaede was opening the door to the baths. The sour look was permanent now, but all other emotions were locked away. "Begin the first purification rituals you were already taught. Do not misstep along the way. I'm going to call for a deacon of Inari-no-Izanagi to come teach you the rest of it." She glared at them. "I have no desire to see a naked man just to teach you the proper rituals you shouldn't even be allowed to learn." She turned and stalked off.

"Not like we have any desire for that either," Michael responded to her back, though she didn't likely hear it. Gareth shivered with agreement.

"Do you two remember it?" Tetorō asked.

"Why don't you go through it in detail for us?" Michael offered.

Tetorō walked them to the burbling fountain that was set as the first running water in this place, at the corner of the shrine near the outer gate. "All running water is considered pure. If it's stagnant, it's not acceptable." He picked up the scoop that was hung on the side of the fountain. "The initial ritual is symbolic. Any petitioner who comes to the shrine will perform it. We ritually wash our bodies by washing our hands first." He collected water with the scoop. "Hold out your hands, cupped." They did and he poured the water into them. They did remember from the journey to Shrine Mountain that next was scrubbing their hands with the water, allowing it to pour out on the ground.

"We then ritually wash our souls, or the inside of us, by rinsing out the mouth. You spit the water back out on the ground to remove the impurities of the soul from the body. If you swallow it, you're putting them back into your body. Cup your hands again." They did as he scooped more water from the fountain. He poured the water into their hands and they slurped it into their mouths, swished it around, then spit it on the ground. Tetorō hung the scoop back up. "Given that I've already done my washings this morning, I'm not going to repeat them."

"You have to do it every morning?" Michael asked.

"Yes. The body naturally wants to return to the normal levels of speed so over the course of a day we drop too far. Even Purrcy has to be ritually bathed every morning and every evening."

"How long will she really live then?" Gareth asked. "That's asking a lot of cells to stay that high that long."

Tetorō looked at the next gate, then looked down and sighed. "That's likely another reason Inari was excited to finally get an Adventurer."

Michael's lips pressed together. "How long before she dies - the first time?"

Tetorō looked up at him sadly. "I'm watching it, but I don't know yet. She's strong now...each time it may be less than the next...or her body may get used to it and find a norm...I don't know."

"How's that going to affect the children?" Michael asked very quietly.

Tetorō shook his head. "The womb's been put in a different space, if you will, like our mirror rooms. They're growing normally. The umbilical cords pass through what's like an airlock or like her translation code, that changes the speed of the blood and nutrients between wherever she is and this level. I don't know if Purrcy did it or not, but I suspect not. It looks sophisticated. I think Izanami did it." He took a breath. "I don't think Izanami will let her die until after the children are born. They don't want that experiment yet, I'd think. We're already behind schedule enough as it is." He looked away again, "Then again, we've thought things like that before."

He turned to face the gate. "This washing takes a person up to milli speeds so they can be heard. We petition the god to hear us and grant us its attention for our request by clapping, and being respectful of their person." He clapped twice, bowed making his bright pink hair fall forward then back again as he stood back upright, then clapped one more time. "It's the time to clear your hearts and minds to be receptive to the answers you'll receive, and to hold in your minds and hearts your requests. Since our goal is to be able to serve as healers at Purrcy's side, that should be your focus."

Michael faced the gate and took a calming breath. Keeping that goal in mind, knowing full well how intention worked in Theldesia, he clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. Gareth repeated it after him. "Sometimes you'll pray out loud with your request at this time, particularly if it's a simple request or petition. Our's isn't and I don't know what we're supposed to ask for anyway since Kaede left us here without telling us, so intent will be sufficient for now," Tetorō explained, then walked through the gate. The other two followed him through.

They walked to the interior of the two bathing areas of the hot spring. Tetorō knelt on the edge of the pool to talk to them while they put their clothes away and entered the water with washcloths and soap. Given who they were and how much they'd been through together, not a one of them batted an eye at having a seeming female guard watching over them. Gareth was rather relieved he didn't have to actually _be_ female with Tetorō this time, even if he was going to get to learn to be a shrine maiden, or deacon.

As they scrubbed down with the strong lye soap, Michael asked, since he had Tetorō this time, "I'm not sure the translations are really working well with the titles here. Sometimes I get one word and sometimes another, and I'm pretty sure the term for male shrine maiden isn't Japanese, but the closest English translation. Can you describe what each is?"

Tetorō considered his answer. "We only really have two terms, but there's an implication for the male and female and there are more levels than the two terms can properly explain, especially here in this place. Purrcy is the highest level - the mortal who is closest to the goddess. When Izanami hasn't entered Purrcy, she's just the Priestess. When Izanami is in her it would be more appropriate to say she _is_ the Goddess but we don't say that. We still say Priestess."

"The former definition of Priestess would also be correct for Kaede. She's the second closest to Izanami. Izanami might come talk to her in visions, but won't enter her. She's been cellularly modified enough to have Izanami appear to her psyche, but not her anima, though her anima will still be affected."

He paused, looking away, then turned back to look into Michael's eyes. "You'll be going through that ritual as well, Michael. You'll be the equivalent of a Priest when we're done, though not to the level of Nyanta, and it will be a Priest of Izanami, not of Izanagi."

Michael paused in his scrubbing, then sighed and continued. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised she'd want that, but that doesn't mean I'm going to like it."

"No, I don't imagine you will," Tetorō agreed. "You'll have to face her yourself - Izanami that is - and pass the test of if you can stand in her presence."

Michael frowned. "I've already been up in the micro and nano layers before."

"But not when they were there, too," Tetorō said, shaking his head. "Remember when they came down and were fighting at Maihama and I went up to see what it was?"

Michael nodded, dunking down to rinse off his shoulders. "That was a lot of pressure on our level."

"It was a lot worse up there," Tetorō said. "...Be strong."

Michael looked him in the eye for a moment, then nodded. "What about the lower levels of shrine maiden?" He went to scrubbing between his toes.

"Probably acolyte for both male and female but again it's implied and there are two levels here: the shrine maidens who regularly sit at the micro level with Purrcy to take direct care of her and the acolytes at milli level to take care of the premises. This washing puts us at the micro level so we don't bring her speed down, but we don't get the same kind of full cellular changes the priests and priestesses do. She comes down naturally but the more things around her that are slow the more quickly it happens."

Michael nodded, then looked at Gareth. "So we get the term 'deacon' because Christianity typically has male hierarchy in the church, and 'shrine maiden' because that's the closest equivalent in English on the female side."

Gareth nodded. "I think so, too."

"But that would be the milli levels, I think," Michael continued. "I would think for the higher level of that, it might be...bishop? on the male side. I have no idea what it would be on the female side. I suppose the lowest level could be acolyte and the next level up shrine maiden, then...I have no idea. Priestess if I'm priest, but I think it would be something else...like we'd be Cardinals or something like that. Not being Catholic I'm not really sure, except to know they have enough differentials of level to be nearly equivalent.

Gareth shook his head. "We'd have to ask Chappie, though he's Christian and I think they only have one or two levels."

"Well, I guess it's no wonder the translator's having troubles, then," Michael sighed. "It's all confusing to us, too."

Gareth chuckled. "I'll take deacon."

Michael considered it, then said, "I don't want to take it, but I'll bet priest is right for me if she's going to take me that far." He sat up from his relaxing to let the water wash over him. He looked Gareth in the eye. "Don't tell them, or I'll wipe your memory when we're done here."

Tetorō looked up at Michael. "What? Why? I was wondering why you were changing things."

Michael looked at Tetorō soberly. "We're going traitor to the squad to do this, Tetorō. Even if we do have to do it for the mission. I know full well once we're done with this, because of how this world works, that we really will be those and not able to change it. If she calls on me as her priest I won't be able to say no, any more than Purrcy can, not without punishment until I do it anyway. If I walk out of here and say, 'Well that was fun, won't be doing that any more,' the squad will stay. If I've become hers, really, they'll kill me until I'm not. I can't win in this one, Tetorō. They can't know, and if they knew I was making this decision to not let them know, they'd understand it."

Tetorō's eyes went to Gareth. Gareth's eyes were wide. He slapped his hands to his face for a moment, then both fists crashed down into the water angrily and his teeth ground together. He turned his face away and said, "And it's even worse that she knew what she was doing, asking for me. It would have been the end of the whole mission to have asked for Stil." He cursed and flailed at the water a few more times until he'd gotten it out of his system. "I really hate it that I keep getting the short end of the stick in this game."

Tetorō moved over to him and reached for his shoulder. "Gareth...," he said and Michael had to look away. It was too much like looking at lovers talk since Tetorō _was_ in his female body, "...I know it's hard, but it's the short stick that has to be the thickest pillar to hold the weight. And it isn't even that," Tetorō tugged on Gareth's shoulder to get him to look him in the face. "It's because she wants you to soar the highest. She's taking us up with her to the upper atmosphere where the horizons' the farthest out and the blues are the bluest and your breath gets taken away. She chose you long ago, because you could tell she was there with you. She still is."

Tetorō turned to look at Michael to include him. "She never does a thing like this for the one time. This is just the beginning, the excuse, the thing she's been leading you to until now and the thing she needs you to be for the future, even if for now we have no idea what that is. Remember her game plan is long term and she's the far-flung field monitor, and never is anything not a part of the calculation."

Michael had been moving closer to Tetorō and now he put his hand on the female cheek. "Purrcy...it's rather odd to have you address yourself in third person," he said very quietly. Tetorō blinked. "But is it true...that it's for down the line?"

Tetorō gave a brief nod, then disappeared from being near them. As Michael looked for Tetorō he saw the hem of his kimono disappearing into the changing room. They heard voices from outside the wooden fence and Michael moved back a bit from Gareth, but looked at him. "It'll stand, Gareth. If we need this for the ultimate goal, you'll keep your mouth shut about what happens here and they'll be shut out."

Gareth looked away, then nodded a brief nod. "She keeps using me this way...but if we get ours in the end...I'll let it stand." He looked back. "She's going to owe me big time though."

"She prepaid," Michael said rising to collect a towel. "You're already hers since she bought your freedom from Minami. ...We all are." He walked away from the pool without looking back. It wasn't something any of his men would have wanted to hear. He heard the angry splash and quiet cursing behind him. They really had accepted him back too fast that day - not been angry enough...and not cared about what the ramifications would be when he did with them as he pleased after that. This world didn't play by the same rules that the squadron did and the world trumped.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu opened the door to the Crescent Moon League guild house, feeling a bit sober and trying to not feel nervous, though he wasn't sure why he was that. There were a few juniors in the common area and he could hear voices from the kitchen, but there weren't a lot of people in the guild house. Most of them had found good things to be doing, both at the Academy and for the continuing efforts at the Crescent Burger stands. Some were out farming, since there was a minimal level of that the guild found necessary to supply the restaurants. Those few weren't very much for social settings and had a lot of fun swinging their swords and trapping the meat they needed. On occasion he and the Log Horizon juniors went out with them to get in their quota of joint exercises.

He greeted the few who looked over and gave cheery hello's and welcome back's, and moved into the hall that went past the ancient elevator shafts. It looked like they'd been trying to figure out how to create the magical elevators. He wondered briefly how far along that research was. The room he was headed for was the first on the right (the left side being the kitchen and dining hall). Henrietta's room was the second one on the right, set so she could have the quiet while working the books. Both of the guildladies' rooms were doubles like they'd been before at the Guild Hall - one side office space the other side bedroom.

Perhaps that's what was making him nervous. Marielle had blithely suggested he just come meet with her at her office...but it was also her bedroom. That had always made him nervous, actually. He took a deep, gulping breath, put his hand on the door knob, and gave a knock with the other. "Marie?"

"H-hang on a sec, hon'!" It was a bit muffled. "I'll be there in a jiffy."

Naotsugu put his forehead on the door and had to chuckle. "You really don't have to dress up just because I'm home. The mess on your floor's not worth it, really."

There was silence for a moment, then a sigh he heard through the door. He shook his head a little, but stepped back to wait for her. She loved clothing, and even more, stressed about wearing just the right thing for whatever occasion she felt she needed to be dressed up for. He really didn't mind - either way actually. If she wanted to look good for him, who was he to complain? But he'd rather have a date than have her two hours late for not finding the "perfect outfit" to go with it. He just didn't want her to have to go through the stress when he wanted to help her relax as much as she could. Simply enjoying each other's company was really enough for a simple guy like him.

The door was suddenly jerked open and Marielle was standing in the opening, just a little frazzled. Her sunny smile was on her face, but to his eyes she looked like she was trying very hard. "Hey, Marie," he said with his usual smile to help her calm down. "Looks good. You've matched the fall nicely, but with cheery colors to brighten it up a little. I like it." He'd learned from his sales job on Earth that one had to add the details or you were considered insincere. That was three times as important for women, and when coming from the special someone of said woman, probably a hundred times more important.

Marielle slumped in relief. "Thanks, Naotsugu. Will you come in?" She moved out of the way and he stepped across the threshold.

"Learning how to shove things into our lists without having to touch them's a life-saver, isn't it?" he grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes at not being able to get away with just having a clean floor. "Well, that's a truth. I don't have Henrietta scolding me so much any more. It comes out just as big a mess, though, so I'm still trying to figure out how to properly handle it."

Naotsugu rubbed her head and moved on into the office space. "I'm sure you'll have it down in no time," he said kindly. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Marielle closed the door behind him then caught up to him and dragged him until she pulled him onto the couch next to her. She looked into his face earnestly. "The wedding plans, actually."

He nodded back at her. He'd rather expected it really. He'd been somewhat avoiding letting her talk about it until he felt settled back into life in Akiba. "I'm listening," he said.

Marielle took a deep breath. "We've got most of the things worked out, particularly the things you and I talked about while we were up in Ezzo, but there's some stress we'd like to relieve if we can." Naotsugu blinked, knowing what was next. "Are we going to be able to have the wedding here in Akiba, is it more likely to be before or after the winter festival, and will Purrcy be able to come?"

Naotsugu drew in a long breath. "I know that it's stressful to not have answers to those questions. Even we're a bit stressed out not knowing exactly what's next." Naotsugu took her hands in his. "It isn't good news so far for Purrcy. She's pretty much prisoner at the shrine. The only thing that will get her out is having to meet up with Nyanta again. That will happen after the first round of experiments is over. Shiroe estimates it will be just before the winter festival some time at the earliest, but could go as late as a few weeks after." He rubbed the top of his head. "I've been thinking about it since we were done with the China Maze of Eternity. For your sake and the sake of the city, I think it needs to be here in Akiba. Here is home for all of us." He looked at her to get her opinion.

Marielle slumped a little and nodded. "That's what everyone here thinks, too."

"I think you can still get the two to three day advanced warning from when Purrcy's going to be able to show up. She'll have a bit of recovery time after the kittens are born. There isn't any better timing than that. I'm sorry." Marielle was disappointed, but she nodded.

Naotsugu looked down at their joined hands and ran his thumb over the back of her hand. "I've got a question for you, too," he admitted. Marielle tensed a bit, but held his hands encouragingly. "Do you really want to get married now, or do you want to wait until this level is over and life isn't so hard on all of us?" He looked up into her eyes. She was trying to take the question with understanding, but he could tell it was hard for her. "I'm not likely going to be able to focus on you - on us - until then. I'll probably be still spending more time over at the Log Horizon guild house than here."

He looked towards the curtained wall behind her desk, trying to find the words he wanted to say, and was having troubles with. "Shiroe is determined to not give in to the AIs and they're just as determined to make him do what they want in this one. It's going to take a lot of effort to help him ...and Akatsuki." He took another breath in and looked back at Marielle. "I want to be able to do right by you. I'm not sure that in the middle of one of the worst battles we'll fight is the right time."

Marielle shook her head. "I've been thinking about that, too, since we talked before you left Nakasu for China." She bit her lower lip, then sat up straight, still holding onto his hands and looked him in the eye. "We definitely need to battle plan, but I'm your op for this one. If you can't come to me without reservations to get what you need to keep going, then we aren't doing our parts right." She glanced away. "Yeah, it's going to be hard to commit and then not have you around a lot, but if we promise to make it up to each other once the dungeon - or at least the level - is done, then I think we should go ahead and do it." She wiggled a little uncomfortably. "They're going to need you most at night, aren't they?"

Naotsugu looked at her with sympathy. "Yes."

Marielle nodded. "Then I'll schedule my day so that we can visit when you're relieved of night duty. You can come here to sleep during the day, where you won't be distracted by the day-time stresses and activities. It's pretty quiet here during the daylight hours. We can have a few hours once you're up if it's possible, then you can go back over there. A night shift isn't easy, but families do it, and it's a heck of a lot better than having you across the country for that time instead - which is what it'll feel like if we don't have the wedding, in my opinion."

Naotsugu looked at Marielle and he was quite sure he loved her. "I think that has merit," he agreed. "It'll likely take some working it out until we know the best timing for everything, but I've got back up for watching over them. We're also fortunate that four hours is the most we really _need_ to sleep, so I can fit more in than if we were on Earth if I have to."

"As long as you take some waking hours to rest as well - you know, the brain and the soul." He smiled at the near-scold.

"I will," he promised and pulled her toward him, "particularly since I'll still really be wanting to spend time with my wife." He kissed her, then said softly, "Thank you, Marie."

"Thank you, Naotsugu," she answered back. "It's good to have you back in town."

"I'm glad to be back," he agreed, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, relaxing in her hold. He really, really hoped that Purrcy was going to protect them. Marielle had already told him if she got pregnant, she'd be okay with it. But he wouldn't be. He needed Marielle's strength and to not have her distracted, or taken out of the game, until this level was over and he knew everything was going to be okay. Once again, he focused on his desire for Marielle to be protected so they both could remain standing.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael leaned against the wall in the changing room, dry now and a dry towel wrapped around him. He figured putting on one of his normal outfits was probably not going to go over well. He went back to thinking, the other voices not having arrived yet. ...Even this - becoming Izanami's priest - was part of it all: part of her proving to him that she'd claimed him completely, that she owned him. She'd let him choose it from the beginning, never pressuring him, always baiting him, always cajoling, teasing, but never forcing it, and he'd offered himself when she'd proven she could give him his goal. He was only doing it again and this time...he didn't have a choice. He was already owned.

They'd kill him for that, too, but Gareth couldn't say anything about that now either - not now that he knew they all were. ...What Gareth didn't realize yet was that he wasn't there as Tetorō's watch. He was there as payment from Purrcy to Michael. He wasn't going to fly this sky without his wingman. Michael took a moment out from being angry to being grateful to her for that. It meant she knew this next level was going to be hard for him and he'd need the op to keep him flying.

The footsteps stopped close enough to bring slight warmth between them. Michael opened his eyes. Gareth's angry ones were looking into his. "When? When did the rest of us sell ourselves?"

"When you told me I could live and signed those papers without thinking hard enough about them."

"It was in the sub-guild contract?"

"I needed you and she needed me to accomplish the second goal, Gareth. She told me she'd get you guys free like you all wanted to be if everyone would agree to help her in her own goal to get herself free. I think you've said it yourself: it's not over until _she's_ dancing the jig. Every one of you down there said it when I asked if you really wanted freedom. You said you wanted hers, too. When you signed those papers you made me guildmaster. And when I swore fealty to the Queen, which was my payment to her for getting my own selfish goals, the lot of you didn't complain, but fell right in behind me. You didn't have to. You could have recognized it for what it was and bailed right then, refusing to bow to her."

Michael stood up, angry himself. "I realize the lot of you were wet behind the ears when it comes to this place where the game has been made reality, but you still should have understood at least that much was beyond the rules of the squadron. And instead you all let your own emotions get in the way. I wasn't. I was getting my goal. The rest of you gave in and I've been just as happy to use and abuse the lot of you for giving in to those emotions of that moment."

Gareth was wide eyed. "And you, Gareth, have been the worst of the lot," Michael glared at him. "You who fell in love with a purr and hasn't been able to let go since then. Don't give me crap that this newest requirement is against your moral code. You haven't lived your moral code since I walked down there and said I was home. That place broke all of you and she healed you and you've been hers since. Suck it up and ride it, boy. You bought it."

Gareth glared at him a while longer, not willing to admit it any more than Michael - that Purrcy knew how to get under a man's skin and make him forget that he was supposed to be hard and cold and cruel underneath the mask. Behind Gareth, two men walked into the changing room. Michael's face was immediately impassive and he stepped around Gareth to walk over to them. "We've performed the ritual washing and are prepared for the next thing."

Glances went between him and Gareth. "What have you been told so far?"

"That I'll be the hands for the Priestess to heal the man who needs her to heal him and that Gareth will be my assistant. I'd like to know what the ritual washing is supposed to be for, though."

The older of the two men waved him over to a bench and took a packet of cloth from the younger man, who took charge of Gareth. "It allows you to be near the Priestess without harming her or going contrary to the requirements of the gods. They are higher beings beyond our comprehension and are worthy of our worship. The rituals themselves appease them so that they will look favorably upon us and our land." At least they were willing to teach it - it meant they expected it to be permanent, though, just like he'd thought. "You'll learn one more level of ritual cleansing in order to be able to be her priest." Michael wondered if the translator had been paying attention to his preference of word since it had used it.

The man motioned for him to remove his towel and shook out a robe. It was a yukata, grey in color and it tied simply around his waist, like the one from the first night. "Why this?" he indicated the clothing.

"As an initiate you will go humbly before the goddess. If she accepts you, then you will be robed in the proper clothing for a priest and deacon." Michael glanced at Gareth. He also was in the same kind of yukata.

The younger man said to Gareth, "We'll go to the upper room of meeting to wait for the final purification to be completed."

Michael shifted and asked. "Doesn't the deacon help the priest with that level? Doesn't he need to learn it?"

The two men looked at each other uncomfortably, then the older one said, "He may come observe this time, from the wall." Michael immediately attached a video recording spell to Gareth so he could look at it later from the outside. It had his personal encoded lock on it, though, so only he could view it.

They were led to an inner room where Kaede and another shrine maiden were waiting. Kaede frowned at Gareth's entrance but let it be when the priest shook his head at her. His assistant settled Gareth on the wall near the door and approached the little grouping. They stood, the four of them equidistant around Michael with Kaede on the east and the priest on the west. "Memorize this if you can," Kaede said. "You'll do it for yourself from now on after this, each morning after you've eaten the morning meal - all three purification rituals." Michael nodded and opened his ears and listened closely to the prayer Kaede prayed asking Inari-no-Izanami for purity of heart, soul, mind, and body to come upon him so that he could perform the duties he was required to perform. "Fill us all with your power that it may come upon this man you have required to serve you in this place and time," she finished a bit coldly, not at all thrilled to have a man come to serve.

A light came upon all four of them and they looked like they held a burden. The light grew to become a dome over him, then it crashed into him to fill the space they encircled and he felt like he was being pressed in an automobile compactor. He tensed against it and that let him breathe one last time, then he relaxed and let it change his cells, trying to not fight it, hating it, knowing what it was doing to him. He held onto the intent of service to Purrcy to help her heal Crusty, knowing intent was going to save him more than anything right now in this insane world they'd been dragged to.

That was his anchor until the pressure finally eased back and he was left standing there with his skin and muscles tingling as every cell moved at a higher rate than it was made to. Even his eyesight had changed and there was a rainbow haze over things. The few things that weren't, like the small piece of dirt the acolyte from the temple of Inari-no-Izanagi had on the hem of his robe, was moving in dark horrible waves that made him feel ill to look at. He wondered why since normally in the upper levels things didn't move at all, they moved so slowly. He chose to not look at it instead of ask.

The four who'd performed the purification ritual were on the floor. The acolytes were unconscious and the priest and priestess were sitting, exhausted. Michael waited, trying to get used to his new eyesight. The priest and priestess had a more clear rainbow whereas the lesser members, including Gareth, had the shimmering rainbow. He looked at Gareth and suddenly he was standing next to Gareth. He blinked, surprised, and because his reaction was that he wasn't supposed to be there but in the circle, he was again suddenly. Taking a careful breath, he said, "Gareth, did I just move?"

"No," Gareth said, but Kaede's head came up suddenly.

"Did you walk?" she asked sharply.

"Yes," Michael said, "and I'm seeing rainbows on everything...except things that aren't purified. Those are painful to look at. I hope that fades with time."

Kaede shook her head. The priest asked, "Did you know he would do that?"

"No."

"Teach me," Michael said, "or I'll step wrongly and bring wrath." Again they weren't happy, but they did. By the time he was done listening, he knew how to be a realm walker, from the point of view of the People of the Land. He stood there amazed. "I was given that gift before - nearly a year ago - but I haven't understood it."

"You've used it?"

"In a limited way, yes. I think I'll have to take the time for careful practice before we leave the mountain. I'd hate to end up someplace wrong."

Kaede rose to her feet. "Later. Now we go to the upper room of meeting."

Michael humbly followed her into a room that felt like the inner-most room of this part of the shrine. The priest brought Gareth with him after making his acolyte comfortable on the floor in the room of purification. In the upper room of meeting there was a painted symbol hanging on the wall left of the sliding door and an altar in front of it with a burning stick of incense on it with a few other things. Michael worked on making the rainbows he was seeing come and go, like the status screens did and that helped a little. It would have to be something slightly different. He tried it again, this time with intent and that seemed to do the trick. He brought it back, just to be sure, and was relieved when it did come back though he didn't know why he should want to have the visual overlay.

"You will sit here," Kaede pointed to a place on the floor central to the room and level with the door they'd just entered. She was looking at Gareth. He walked up to his assigned place and sat cross legged. Kaede pointed to a place closer towards the symbol and centered on it. She glared slightly at Michael. "You will prostrate yourself here, head towards the sacred symbol of Inari-no-Izanami. Lie flat and place your arms out to either side of you. The goddess will come and visit you. If you're able to pass her test she may accept you. Then you will be prepared to serve her." As Michael moved to take his place on the floor, Kaede addressed Gareth again. "You'll feel the presence of the goddess but not see her. We'll know when we come to collect you in the morning if you've been of pure heart and have been accepted by her."

"Morning?" Gareth asked, surprised.

"Yes," the priest said calmly. "It is your sacrifice of a day and a night to see if you're sufficiently willing to serve the goddess with full heart and purpose for the remainder of your days."

"Will she visit for the entire time?" Gareth asked a bit timidly.

"Who knows how long she will come for?" Kaede answered. "None of you will talk."

"Um...bathroom?" Michael asked.

"You have been purified," Kaede answered dismissively and walked out the door, following the priest.

"Sadist," Gareth said in the code realm.

"Would love to have us fail, I'm sure," Michael answered him in the same place.

"Actually, she expects it," Tetorō said mildly, sitting in a position in the code realm across from Gareth, though Gareth and Michael were standing there. "And Michael, you've come here physically. I suspect you should actually be obedient and focus on being where you're supposed to be and not talk."

Michael blinked. "I guess," he agreed. "I'm not going to be safe for a while. I'd rather practice now, though, before things get bad."

"Practice being where you're supposed to be, then. You've got no control at all right now," he was scolded. He went back to lying on the floor in the correct space again. It was going to be a long day and night trying to hold still. It was dark before he could stay put and only move his psyche.

-:-:-:-:-

"Well you really weren't gone long enough for anything to happen here in Akiba, you know." Shiroe was a little irked that it sounded like a scold. "Did you properly complete what you went to do?" Ains asked.

Michitaka waved his hand as if the question was pointless - and it was. They all knew Shiroe wouldn't have come back with an incomplete quest. "William contacted me to chat about shipping Silver Sword's wine. He's actually willing to try to make the wine for the giants if we're willing to figure out how to make barrels large enough. We're not sure of the size specifications, though."

Shiroe smiled. "I think it can wait just a bit. I'm sure they can make them - or at least the first few to give us the base size. We'll likely have to negotiate the size in the end. And until the quests are done from their side, we aren't guaranteed them as a customer anyway."

"That will work," Michitaka nodded. "We've got our hands full at the moment. MarketMaker's orders have us hopping." He wasn't looking disappointed. "We've started on the third ship and the second one should be ready for its maiden voyage in a few weeks. Since we expect to have to transport the train again, we're looking at putting in a bay door on the side so that it can just be driven in and out. They've already got the magic spell to keep the hull intact during the voyage. It'll be an experiment and may be the only one we build that way, but it's keeping the technicians on their toes. Speaking of which we have a couple that have gone up to Engineer Class. It's been very helpful." They let Michitaka go on until he'd covered everything he could think of out of Marine Organization.

"Things are moving forward nicely for the Academy," Marielle went last with her usual sunny disposition. "We'd like to have a Board Meeting with you as soon as you're ready for the details. Nothing else is new from our side, other than we're glad you're all back."

"Thank you, Marie," Shiroe said. He sat up and pushed up his glasses since he and they had both been slipping down just a little. He wasn't feeling quite recovered yet. "We got a lot of good things done. We have simple peace and trade agreements with Shangtzi and three other cities, including the main Adventurer City of Korea, though Calasin needs to send an area manager there to solidify it since MarketMaker didn't get as long there as he hoped to." Shiroe put a stack of papers on the Round Table in front of Calasin. "That's his requests, notes, etcetera, since he wanted them passed to you in writing. He does want another train following after him as soon as it can be put on the ship and sent over. We'll discuss who's going with it later. Nakalnad knows and is calling it a separate negotiation." Calasin rolled his eyes slightly. "But he did promise to get production sped up and a third train in the works asap. He saw enough to understand the value of pushing that along."

"It would be most advantageous to get the gates working, of course. Purrcy promised me a summary of all the magics and technologies that she's got gestating in her head related to that. We'll likely have to pass that to Roderick Trading Company to put their brains to, but I'd like it if we could continue to make that a high priority. Perhaps a joint team at the start until a few possible real solutions are come up with and then it can go more deeply into R&D."

Shiroe pulled out a couple of pieces of paper and rifled through them. "It sounds like the blacksmith shop in Ezzo is going well. William will be contacting me as soon as he's seen and talked to any Giants that decide to take Purrcy up on her quest. Venture Enterprises and Marielle's Productions have a good start on trade between us and Maihama, which we'll use to good effect for Adventurer-People of the Land relations."

"Nakasu's new Ambassador council is headed by Brody, the previous head of the resistance, but his second is the Police Chief from Plant Hwayden. They've got work to do, but I think they'll be fine. We've loosely named the alliance between all of us Adventurers the Alliance of the Free Adventurer Cities of Yamato. Words get moved around and dropped here and there, but no one cares enough to make it formal and that's fine. We all had a good time on the trip together and at least at the top levels everyone's willing to play together between the cities, so trade shouldn't be a problem either. I've put Calasin as the POC for the other cities to get their products over to Eured since we have the ocean liners." Calasin couldn't decide whether to look pleased he was going to get more profit, or dismayed at the level of work that was just added to his plate.

"There were a few things that got changed during all of what we just went through," Shiroe tapped the papers together on the table, then set them down neatly in front of him. "Crusty's on Yamato. He had to be put in an artificial coma for it to work. We had two choices. Purrcy could either spend the next who knows how long going through his base computer data and reconstruct him from the ground up, or we could spend the next three years going on world-wide quests." He looked around mildly. "We chose the former. They're shut up in solitude until that's done, then he'll join us here. I've got a guard set with them keeping a watch over them and they'll bring Crusty back but we still won't see Purrcy and Tetorō for a while."

He didn't keep the bitter out of his words. "The People of the Land found out what she is and we've had to put her into hiding. It makes them afraid to have an Adventurer interfering that much in their sphere of influence. She'll still be as involved as she can be since she's here on the Archipelago, but don't expect too much." He glared slightly around the table. "If any of you managed to friend-list her, please keep it to a minimum. Go through Tetorō if it isn't of highest priority. I do have her working on a few high level projects that she's to get working on as soon as she's done with Crusty. Once the People of the Land take my bait to get their worry and fears out, we'll bring her back, I expect, but that's going to be months down the road."

Ains was finally relaxing. He wouldn't miss Purrcy. Others were looking a bit disappointed - notably Roderick who was probably still holding out hope of being able to pick her brain. "Not much different than normal," Akaneya shrugged with his bass voice grumbling it, though he wasn't particularly put out.

Shiroe nodded. "That's rather the plan - to go back to her old patterns of hiding out-city and only coming in when she has to."

"Why Tetorō instead of Nyanta-san, then?" Woodstock asked.

Shiroe shook his head. "Nyanta's got a curse on him since he was in the Gate of Time. We thought he'd managed to make it out unscathed, but he didn't. That's one of Log Horizon's research projects right now: what it is and how to get rid of it. Purrcy knows she'll get called in for that if necessary, but we've got the detective work to do first. Tetorō was next pick to go with her since he's been her secretary and I wanted someone with her to handle the minutia. She's got a lot on her plate still."

"Short leash, still," was muttered, but he let it slide without comment.

"Is she going to firebomb us again?" Ains asked snidely.

"Not likely," Shiroe said shortly. "She's focused on world level items now. We'll be on our own from now on. Please plan on it." That did cause consternation, even in Ains who was really two-faced about it all. He didn't like her but he expected her to do all the work if things got hard. Shiroe wasn't sympathetic.

He fanned the papers out, glaring at them while he thought through his list to see what was left. "Michitaka, Michael's on this watch with Purrcy and Crusty, but he's learned what he needs to navigate in this part of the ocean. When he gets back, he and the Eagles can take the Oki Watarimono on it's maiden voyage run and shake out anything that's left. I'm going to send them on a few errands, including down to Australia to make sure things are going okay down there. We were originally going to send them and Purrcy to the America's when we got back, but that's on hold at least until Crusty's curse is removed, and maybe until after the People of the Land get settled again. ...And if you get grumblings from them that you can't resolve, send them my way and I'll push my plan a little further."

He picked up his stack of papers and tapped them on the table one more time. "I think that's it for today. Keep up the good work, everyone, and thank you for all your hard work until now."

Chairs were scraped back from the table and people drifted out of the council chamber. Shiroe walked somewhat tiredly to his office door, followed by Akatsuki, Secretary, and Reed. When the door closed behind him, he sighed. "I sometimes wish we could 'put' ourselves places like we do our things. I'd put myself in my own bed at home right now, instead of having to walk back." A warm hand slipped into his and he looked down into Akatsuki's earnest face. He looked at her for a moment, then gave a tired nod. "Yes, at least getting to walk back with you is a good thing."

She gave him a worried look. He shook his head as Reed closed the outer office door behind them and they began walking down the hall to the stairs. "I don't know if we'll still get to have dates or not, and I'm sorry, but I'm still too tired from the trip. Will the walk be enough for today?" She nodded an accepting nod. "Thank you," he said quietly. She squeezed his hand and he tightened his grip back. Even this much...he wondered how long they could do it.


	122. Front Line Engages and Reports

Michael was dozing, trying to keep his attention on the intent to help Purrcy heal Crusty, glad he didn't wander all over the mountain anymore in random jumps, when he felt the pressure around him and even in him begin to increase. He was too tired to really wake up much and he only paid attention to it with a portion of his brain. However, it didn't stop increasing. It reached the level he'd felt in the last room of purification...and kept going. He had to finally let go of his body. Trying to remember to breathe was more than he could pay attention to.

He was swiftly drawn up into the nano layer then, his psyche free of it's restraint. The pressure and "largeness" that was in that space was overwhelming, though his psyche couldn't feel pain in the traditional sense of the word. It was like standing on a close moon of Jupiter and trying to see the whole planet in front of his eyes. He couldn't take it all in, and he was of insignificant size and capacity compared to it. He could only be nothing in the face of that pressure as it swirled around and filled the space he was in beyond his capacity to comprehend the width and breadth of. And yet...he could tell it was only a portion of what was come into this layer.

He was made to bear that weight for ten years in that space. In the first year he calculated hundreds if not thousands of times that for every one year in the nano realm he would have lived barely a half of a minute in the base realm. It was his anchor that second year as well. At the third year he focused on his intent that he was supposed to be helping Purrcy with whatever it was they were going to be doing when this was over (he'd already forgotten what it was in the second year).

The fifth year he hated Purrcy for not ending this and changed his focus to his drive to kill the being all around him that was causing this torture in the first place. The seventh year he focused on his family - his wife and son, only wishing to be able to get back to them one more time to let them know he hadn't abandoned them. The eighth year he merely existed, floating on the sea of that existence.

The ninth year the winds of the pressure from the being he was existing with began to tear him into little pieces starting from the outer edges. He whimpered, not wanting to lose himself, holding his heart close to him to protect it at the very least. The tenth year there was nothing but bare essence. Only the core that could say, "I am", and nothing more.

The essence that was him was surrounded by warmth and was being held and moved slowly away from that maelstrom. As he was moved away, his psyche reformed around him as it had been taken away, piece by piece, as painful to bear in it's return as it had been to have it ripped away. When it was returned, there was a pause during which he was able to relearn what it was to be an existence in a spirit body and to have it be no longer painful. Then, without understanding why, he could tell he had a physical body again, and that it was now enveloped with the same warmth and light he'd been wrapped in for the first part of his return journey. Slowly his psyche was returned to his body, filling it again until he could feel the pressure of the floor against his face, the sharp tingling of his fingers where they lay on the floor in his spread-eagle position.

He took his first breath in ten years, then another, then a third that was gulped because tears were now pouring out of his eyes. He lay there and sobbed, a reaction of his soul and his body to the experience. He felt nothing emotionally. There wasn't a way to. There was only the emptiness of being merely "I" - "I who am nothing". When the body was done crying, he fell into a state of non-awareness.

"Michael. ...Michael." The words didn't hold meaning, but they did get his attention. His face was caressed by a hand. He opened his eyes and looked around for the source of the sound. In front of him was a black creature, tall it seemed, though she was crouched down. _She_. Triangular ears were pricked up and golden eyes looked at him. In the black on the head and face were speckles of white, grey and gold. Something stirred deep within him, but he didn't comprehend it, still floating in the essence of "I" contained in a physical container, overwhelmed by something so large it wasn't comprehensible. This creature with him carried that within her, though. A piece of that overwhelming being was in the core of this creature.

He sat up and bowed his head to that being. Slowly, the first words he'd said in ten years came to him and out of his mouth, though it was without comprehension. "How may I serve?"

The expression on the face of the creature pulled at him, the same way the first feeling did, but he still couldn't comprehend what it was. "I need you, Michael. I need you to do things only you can do. I've given you my power so that you can accomplish the things that need to be done on my planet. Will you use it to do them for me?"

He blinked at her. He could feel it, then. The part of him that was that great being he'd been with for ten years. It was small, small enough he could contain it within him, smaller than what she carried. If it belonged to that being he could only use it for that same being. "Yes."

She smiled at him. "Good. I'm going to test you next. Please don't fail me." Her hand left his face and he fell through space and darkness.

When he came to himself again, he remembered. He remembered all of the past that had been taken from him during those ten years. He also remembered being nothing. In that combined remembering he stumbled and fell to his knees, his arms wrapped around himself. He trembled and soft arms enfolded him. He turned away. "Why? Why have you made me go through this?"

"You wanted to, Michael. You asked me to help you repay your debits. This is only one step on the way to getting there, though it is one of the most difficult." She pulled his head to rest on her chest. "You'll be stronger from here on."

Broken, he complained, "I can't kill that. It's not even a creature of our realm of understanding."

"I disagree," she answered. "We've all understood it rather well. It's merely different. Remember, nearly anything is possible in this world where game has become reality."

"That was all illusion?" he asked her.

"No. It was reality - for this world."

He pondered on that for a while. He was suddenly distracted by a soft touch on his cheek. He'd missed when she'd let go of him and she was now retreating from having given him a kiss on the cheek. He put his hand on that spot and looked at her, still not quite all together from all of the memories trying to settle in his brain. And now his emotions rose up in him, a jumbled mess. She stood with him as he cried, cursed, slumped in depression, and laughed for the absurdity of it all. When the maelstrom calmed and he could breathe again, he wiped his face on his arm.

"Do you remember why you're going through this?" she asked him.

The memory came. "Because you can't touch Crusty so you need me there to help you heal him. ...At least that's your excuse," he looked up at her, puzzled.

"Mm," she said and held out her hand for his left hand. He gave it to her then watched with amazement that turned to a level of horror as she slipped a golden ring onto his left ring finger. "And because I want you, Michael. I want you to protect me always."

His head was already shaking. "Not that way," he protested

"You promised it, Michael. You promised to protect me and my path. Even before Nyanta did, you promised me." She was now crouched down with him again, her face looking into his, holding onto his hand firmly.

He couldn't deny that he had, but..., " _No_. Not that way. You've covenanted with him, and I've my own covenants for the same to my wife at home. You know that's one of my debits to repay."

"And if you can't get home?" she asked softly, seductively, leaning in closer, not letting him escape.

Michael was hit with a sudden desire for her and he shivered to it, drawing a sharp breath. He quickly drew on the memory of being beaten by his squad for feeling this before. "You're only the one I guard," he insisted, "I have nothing to do with you in any other way. I am the bodyguard who protects your person. There is nothing else." She leaned in closer as if to kiss him and he turned his face away, unable to move his body at all.

"Nothing?" she purred and touched him.

He was suddenly elsewhere, his mind and body reacting to the internal requirement. He'd realm walked and was suddenly afraid. He didn't know well enough yet. He could easily become lost. His heart was pounding and he crouched down again, trying to stay calm enough to not jump again. "Michael..." He froze. She was hunting him. As the physical manifestation of the goddess, she knew how to find him. It was at once comforting - he wouldn't stay lost - and terrifying - he didn't know how long he could resist her. Her power was such that if she wanted to make him love her, she could. That made his heart break. Purrcy, the Adventurer, would never do that. As he thought that thought, he caught hold of it tightly. Purrcy, the Adventurer, would kill the goddess if it made her do that...if she could.

The only hole in that life preserver was that she might be thrown out and her body used anyway against her wishes and the death payment come later after the fact. That was rather a dangerous thing to assume, that she'd be able to save him from this test. With that thought, he set his intentions to being to hide from Izanami's hunting of him. For a week and a month he played hide and seek with her until he was finally shown that it didn't matter where he went, she was already there. The scenery was stripped away and he was suddenly floating in an empty realm again. He walked and appeared in the same empty realm. He tried it again, and again had the same result. He wanted to do it again and again but it wasn't worth it. He knew what the results would be.

"Inari-no-Izanami," he said plaintively into the space, "I won't. I won't do that with Purrcy, with her in her body or not. My promise to her, my contract, is only to protect her. I'm protecting her by not loving her that way."

"Then in what way are you protecting her?" the vast space asked him.

The pressure increased until he broke and answered. "By hating her. We mutually distrust each other and hate each other. In this way we ensure that she walks the path she is supposed to walk. She knows I'll punish her if she strays and return her to it. She in turn has no qualms about using me to her utmost to see that the goals are met."

The pressure was released and he was allowed to float back down to his body again, which had been placed back in the upper room of meeting. He filled his lungs again. It burned. He breathed again and the muscles in his chest were tight. He breathed again and it seemed things were returning to where they should be. Another breath and he was settled in his body, alone finally except for the other breathing person in the room. But as the presence withdrew there was one final sound. " _Thank you, Michael._ "

He slumped into the floor, every muscle relaxing, every tendon quivering. "If I even have half an HP left I'm a lucky man," he said aloud.

"Then count yourself lucky," Gareth's voice came to him. "It's at two."

Michael took a shuddering breath as his heart constricted. He tried to fight it but it didn't work. He was too broken to hold himself together. As the tears fell Tetorō and Gareth both put hands on him in the two realms, hands that healed him both magically and with the comfort of companions who might just understand - and kill him if he admitted anything other than what he was supposed to admit.

The door slid open and sunlight poured into the room. It was just past dawn, before the sun rose over the roof. "Are you still alive then?" Kaede asked.

"No," Michael said as he pushed up to sitting and turned to look at her with eyes that told the truth. "I am nothing."

She looked at him a long time, then nodded. "I see you've passed. Come," she looked at Gareth as well and they rose and followed after her.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael and Gareth were shown into the inner chamber of the shrine. Purrcy was sitting on a throne of pillows at the far end with Tetorō kneeling next to her in a position of being ready to serve. They could feel the slight pressure of Izanami present and Michael could see which of the acolytes and shrine maidens in the room were surrounded by opaque rainbows and which ones by clear rainbows, but Purrcy herself was radiant light. If he hadn't been at the micro level himself, it would have been painful to look at her. He turned off the vision overlay anyway so he could see just generally. He'd noticed none of the dark markers of the unpurified in the room. They likely kept it spotless for her. The men following Kaede stopped and bowed when she did.

"Has the injured been brought to the room of healing?" Purrcy asked.

"Yes, Priestess, and he has been properly purified. The room is ready for you," Kaede answered.

"Tetora," Purrcy called, holding out her hand.

Tetorō stood and held out his hand to pull her up from sitting. Michael was certain that Tetorō and Gareth hadn't just sat in that room. They'd surely been tested as well. Knowing Tetorō's weakness was being submissive to orders, Michael shuddered ever so slightly. Gareth, who loved Purrcy enough to be instantly obedient as his own weakness, was ignored as Purrcy walked with them out the door, again led by Kaede. When they arrived at the room of healing, Kaede slid the door open and bowed them through it, then slid it closed behind them. The testing was confirmed when Purrcy handed clothing to Tetorō. "Dress your companion."

She watched as Tetorō complied, going to Gareth and motioning for him to remove his grey yukata and clothing him in an embroidered black kimono with red trim. Purrcy kept her eyes on Tetorō to see he did his job, in the process continuing to ignore Gareth. Neither one made a protest or showed any outward sign of emotion. When Tetorō was done, Purrcy pointed to the door. "Go stand watch on the door and wait until I call for you." They both bowed and went.

When the door was closed behind them, Purrcy turned to Michael. In her hands was another kimono. This was more ornate with the embroidery in red instead of black on the black silk fabric. The border was red, with another layer in black under that. She set the folded kimono on the smaller side table, still completely ignoring the fact Crusty was in the room (albeit unconscious and not really present). Her own multi-layer kimono slipped off a shoulder as she moved, then turned her head to look at Michael. "Do you know why the flavor text for the Priest of Izanagi says he is overly jealous for his wife?" She walked over to him in two smooth strides and put a hand on his chest. Her hand slipped under his yukata to brush his shoulder as her other hand untied the belt to it.

He looked her stonily in the face. "I presume because the flavor text for the Priestess says she's hornier than hell?"

"Good guess!" she smiled playfully at him. She slipped her other hand under the yukata on the other side, then had him turned around backwards, the yukata pulling him to stand still with his arms behind his back. He quickly slipped his arms out before she could pin him there, but he grabbed the yukata in one hand as he slipped out of it and pulled on it until she was facing the opposite direction and he had her in his own hold, keeping her still.

"I'm still not interested," he said coldly. He tied her up with the yukata, then dragged her over to the table, making her walk backwards, so that he could snatch up his new clothing. He put her on the floor and knelt on her back so he could slip his arms through the sleeves. He wrapped it around himself and tied it swiftly, adding intent so that it would actually look right when he was done. "Thank you for the nice clothes, though." He got off her back, untied her, and stepped back far enough he'd have room to move to get away again. "I think you need to call them back in now, before Kaede comes along and scolds you most severely for making them leave us unchaperoned. Or shall I do it for you?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Scold me?" she almost begged for it.

"No, call Kaede to come scold you," he corrected her.

Purrcy froze, then pouted. "It's my first time to get you alone and you'll reject me, Michael?"

"Just your unwanted advances," he replied. "Gareth, Tetorō you can come in now," he called. It was both self defense, and because he really didn't want them to get into trouble.

They didn't come, though, and Purrcy gave him an evil grin as she advanced. "I gave them the order to wait until _I_ called them, Michael."

For the next fifteen minutes the Priestess stalked him and he threw her to the ground and retreated, refusing. "Are you going to do your job properly or not?" he finally growled at her. "If not, then get out and I'll do it myself. You're wasting time."

"Are you afraid of Kaede, Michael?" she taunted him.

That did it. He had her on the floor and was sitting on her back, folding his arms. He very firmly kept his clothing on when she tried to take it off using natural Adventurer methods, and he just as firmly kept her clothing on her when she tried the reverse until she finally relented. He hit her in the head. "Stop trying to come up with other ways to get what you don't really want. If we have to break the flavor text first give me clues on how to do that instead."

"But Michael," she whined at him. "I don't want to do that. I want to have you sitting next to me in that dull and boring room instead."

"That's where Nyanta-san belongs."

"He won't come and keep me company. He hates it here."

"No, he doesn't want the flavor text to get in the way either. If we break the flavor texts, he can come, remember? And obviously we need to break yours or we'll never get any proper work done."

She sighed sadly, then pouted. "No." It was childish and petulant.

"Then what will you do? If I have to sit on you all day in order for you to leave me alone we won't get the goal accomplished, will we?"

"My goal _is_ to get you," she said.

He chopped her head. "No, you already have me. Just not in your bed - ever. The goal is to get Crusty healed up so you can use him for the goals you have for him." He could feel her interest turn to Crusty and he put his hand to his head. "And _no_ you can't do that either, though if it makes you heal him I might be willing to put up with it briefly...as long as you keep your hands off him." And then he realized his last test. "God damn it!" He grabbed her head and held it to the floor. "You weren't even supposed to come in here in the first place. Kaede's in on the testing, isn't she? Kaede!" he roared. The door slid open. "Get this thing out of this room! If there's a punishment it's on your head, too."

Kaede's eyes popped to see him sitting on Purrcy and holding her down. She rushed over. "How improper, Priest Michael!"

"Not!" he exclaimed. " _Her_ behavior is what's improper and since you knew it would be, your own is as well! Get her back to her room and make her stay there. None of us need her in here and you know it." He passed Purrcy off. "And Tetor-ra, see that she stays there. Lock her down if you need to." He ignored Purrcy's seductive pleading look she threw at him over her shoulder as they led her away. "Come in and watch over me, Gareth. If you see her enter the room, from any realm, pop her back out or warn me. I'd rather not physically walk the realms for this."

When Gareth gave him the nod, Michael walked over to the table that Crusty was on. He looked at the unconscious man. "Lucky bastard," he grumbled quietly, then closed his eyes and went and fetched Purrcy, firmly leaving Izanami behind and locked out.

-:-:-:-:-

Touya and Minori walked into the kitchen. They both paused in a moment of surprise, then kept going. "Good morning, Nyanta-san," they both said kindly. "What are we making today?" Minori asked him as she stopped next to him to look.

An ear turned to them and he answered back quietly, "Teriyaki fish, tamago rice, and iced edamame." Touya nodded and headed for the Japanese dishes and chopsticks.

Minori noted Nyanta had already put the rice on to steam. "Do you want me to help with the fish, or get out the rest of the ingredients for the others?"

"I'll have the sauce finished in another minute and mew can help me put it on the fish," Nyanta answered her.

"Okay," she answered, happy enough with that. She went to the larder to pull out the eggs and the edamame so they'd be ready when they were needed.

She returned to Nyanta's side and Touya poured the edamame into a bowl and began to shell the large soft beans. "What will mew two be doing today?" Nyanta asked them.

They shared a quick glance. It was the first he'd asked a question about things around him since they'd returned from China. Minori answered him. "We're cleaning up a building near the small crafting district. Hiroki purchased it to open his Chinese restaurant. We're thinking we'd like to continue learning to cook Chinese, and since we know enough about local cooking we can help teach him until he's got his feet under him. We'll be able to keep an eye on how things are going in the center of town that way, too. Plus earn a few more gold while we're doing it. Mister Shiroe says he thinks it's a good idea. A few of the Eagles who really like to cook will help out, too, around the edges." She looked up and smiled into his eyes. "They're the only one's brave enough to make hot and spicy foods for real, if someone were to ask for it. I know I can't do it."

Nyanta smiled back and his ear twitched in light humor. The twins were pleasantly surprised again. He spent the next five minutes giving Minori careful instructions on how to season the fish with his sauce and together they seared the fish in hot pans. Touya had the edamame rinsed and iced with the help of the Eagles who showed up for KP duty by the time the fish and the rice were done.

When they sat to eat, it was the usual check from everyone to see how things were going that morning. Minori gave everyone a soft smile, glad that Nyanta had been more himself that morning. Touya waited until his senior gave him a look. He gave a significant look at Nyanta, then a bare nod. Naotsugu relaxed just a little and started the daily activity summary.

When it got around to Nyanta, he opened his mouth. "I've been allowed a quiet morning with the children, meow," he said with his quiet calm. "However, mew might want to know it's because Izanami locked Izanagi out of the mountain since yesterday morning and the flavor text generally got so bad by this morning he fled of his own accord back into the highest levels. I don't know what she's doing, but until it's fixed he's nyot likely to come back. That or they'll fight it out in the upper levels and come back when they've resolved whatever the issue is."

Shiroe blinked at Nyanta. "I can't decide if that's frightening, or relieving."

"At the moment, I'm quite relieved," Nyanta answered. "I plan on enjoying what little time I may be given." He looked around at the four youngest. "Will mew come with me to the market and we'll purrchase the ingredients for plum cakes, if mew can spare a few hours today?"

Smiles lit up all four faces and they agreed. Their work would wait that much for them when he so rarely had opportunity to be fully present, and because he'd been so sad before this morning. Touya was happy to relax and let other heads worry about what Purrcy or Inari-no-Izanami might be up to.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael and Purrcy had been working without break for he didn't know how long when there was a tapping at the door. "I've brought water and food," a timid female voice said.

Gareth checked. "It's not the Priestess," he told Michael quietly.

"You may enter," Michael said. Purrcy was suddenly gone and he panicked, jumping from the code realm out to the physical realm. There was a fading glow that he just caught out of the corner of his eyes. He looked down and stared. He was still wearing the golden ring placed on his left hand. "Damn woman," he whispered. He didn't know the code word to get her out. He could hear the tray being placed on the floor near Gareth and the door slid closed. "I'd like to sleep," he said with a yawn and a stretch as he turned from the table. It was as good a time to take a break as any and she would need one, too. Likely they were feeding Izanami so Purrcy's body wouldn't miss her much. As long as Purrcy was in the ring she couldn't be made to keep working past her capacity.

"Michael," Tetorō demanded from the doorway as the door slid open with a bang, "where is she?"

"Come have some lunch with us," he offered, "and maybe you can teach me something." He moved the ring to his right hand middle finger and walked over to sit with them. He picked up a sandwich in his right hand and a water with his left and stared at his hands. He moved the ring again but as soon as the cup left his lips it was back on the left hand again. He scowled. "Or maybe two things," he amended. He held up his left hand. "How do I get this thing off and to stay put where it belongs, and what are all the code words you put on it?"

"Ah...you should just have to put it in your list."

Michael did and it reappeared one second later. "I didn't take it out," he said grimly.

"How did you get it?" Tetorō asked.

"Purrcy put it on me, before the last test while I was under."

"On that finger?" an eyebrow went up.

"Yes. It was part of the final test, I think."

"But you passed it?"

"Yes," he was even grimmer than before. "I can't walk out of here with it on. At least not on that finger."

"Was it Purrcy? Or was it Izanami?"

Michael paused, then sighed. "Izanami." He bit into his sandwich. "I'll probably be able to move it once we're out of this place...maybe," he said. He played with several options - making it look like a different ring, like a class ring, and then the ring Purrcy had given them all at the pre-wedding court. That didn't work. He tried making it invisible. That seemed to work...somewhat...if he focused on it.

Once Tetorō was done eating, he shook his head. "I can't do it either," he said, then taught Michael how to use it. "But why's she in there?"

"I didn't know it was on. I thought it had been part of the vision and wasn't paying attention to it."

"You wear one at home then," Gareth said, "when you're not on duty."

Michael nodded. He explained for Tetorō. "We don't wear them on duty because they can catch on things and cause removal of finger and hand. Not too safe. I wear it when I'm at home on-shore and off-duty, though I'm one of the few. Most get used to the paranoia and won't wear them. They aren't necessary to remembering fidelity. I've just always liked rings and we had to scrape up the money and eat ramen for a few months to afford them."

"Ramen?" Tetorō asked, interested.

"Ah, the pre-packaged-dissolve-in-hot-water kind over there."

"Oh," Tetorō nodded sagely. They had both that kind and the real deal in Japan. They were just as cheap in Japan as at home, the instant kind. "...So, why's she in it?"

"I said 'enter' to let the serving girl in and Purrcy slipped into it, scaring me to death. I followed her out and saw the glow fading. That was the first I was aware it was on."

"...and?"

"Because I didn't know any words other than the three from the sub-quest."

Tetorō leaned on his elbow, resting his chin in his hand. "And now that I've taught the rest to you?"

"Because she needs the rest. She's getting ragged around the edges." Michael swallowed the last bite of his sandwich. "I think I'll keep her until the work's done, just so she can get the rest she needs. You don't need her for anything, do you?"

"No, not really," Tetorō answered. "They're done teaching her the basics. I'll let you know if they decide to do more while you're here, but I think they're waiting until you're done since they know it's her that needs to be taught, not Izanami."

"What happens over there while she's with me?" Michael asked, curious.

"She sleeps...but apparently that's not unusual."

"She's not eating?" Michael asked, concerned.

Tetorō hesitated. "She gets two meal a day. In the mornings and evenings just before the purification rituals. There's a half-hour break for proper digestion, then the rituals."

Both Gareth and Michael frowned at him. "How is that healthy for the babies?" Michael asked, having watched is own wife go through pregnancy. "They need to be eating regular meals. Two a day will kill baby and mother at that rate."

Tetorō sighed. "I know it's not healthy normal for us. I don't know how to handle it though. They can make the food purified enough for us to eat, but they can't get it high enough for her."

"And then it has to go back down for them," Michael said. Tetorō nodded. Michael shook his head. "I'm not sure this method of experimentation is going to work. She needs to be here as herself, not as the Priestess for it to work right, really. Maybe here at the beginning...but later, particularly the bigger they get... Can you get them to change it?" He looked at Tetorō, worried.

"I don't know," Tetorō said. "I'm still too low on the totem pole here at the shrine to get anyone to listen to me, even if I am Purrcy's favorite. Sometimes it feels like they're waiting for Purrcy's personality to be subsumed by Izanami's so they can get rid of me or push me into some corner to capture dust." He sighed and looked away. "I'm trying to work my way up, but it's a little harder when she's here with you all the time." He gave a little grin, "I'm the only one that will stand up to her and make her do what she's supposed to other than Kaede, though. That's helped. And she'll mostly listen to me at those times since we've already got that working relationship. I'd like it if I could be at least third on the ladder. Kiyoko is nice and good for Purrcy, too. She's calm and quiet, efficient and completely proper. She'll make a good replacement for Kaede and be less harsh."

"If she survives the final purification and testing," Michael muttered into his cup, frowning at the memory.

"I suspect it's the stronger personalities that break the hardest," Tetorō said mildly.

Michael raised an eyebrow, thought about Kaede, then nodded. "You might be right," he allowed.

-:-:-:-:-

When Michael went back inside, he let Purrcy out first. He looked at her closely. She seemed to have recovered a little. Gareth cast a spirit healing spell on her and that was better. "Thanks, and for the nap," she said.

"No problem, though it was accidental that time," Michael said. "How do I get Izanami to let the gag go and let me take the ring off? I'll keep hold of it since it's a good way to protect you, but I need to not have it on my hand."

Purrcy tipped her head at Michael. "You weren't much of a church-goer were you?" she asked.

"Not really. Christmas and Easter and the occasional Sunday the wife felt like it when I was on shore leave," he admitted.

"If you want to talk to Izanami, you pray. She'll listen to you since you're her priest now. She might not give you the answer you want, but you're the intercessory now, for whomever you pray for, including yourself."

"...And you?" he asked

"Yes," she answered. "You'll want to treat it a bit like a humble request and a bit like a scroll spell you don't want to leave holes in. Just ask for a day of rest and you might get one ten years down the road. Being short but specific is best."

"Do I have to do the rituals?"

"No, but you have to match the rituals to the requests, just like spells. 'Please help me find a rabbit for dinner' doesn't require as much as 'please purify these one hundred enemies'. The first is probably only the clapping and bowing. The latter might take the full-on purification ritual with as many acolytes as you can get your hands on. Time will always be a factor as well."

"So being a Priest is like having a whole 'nother kind of magic then, is it?" Michael mused. Purrcy nodded. He worked out what he might want to say while they finished the day's work.

Purrcy was going into the base code for Crusty. She'd tweak things and he'd let her know if there was an external change or a change to Crusty's status, since she didn't want to mess with those. If there was, she'd set it back and move to the next thing. Or if it was one of the ones they needed to deal with, she'd tweak things until he said it was finally right. They had to go back occasionally...like the time he hadn't realized the right and left feet had been reversed and they had to go back and find that code again. "Why is it this deep, the fixes?" he asked her at one point.

"Because the code got scrambled by the curse," she answered. "I'm getting some answers from Izanami as we go, too - things we can't see on our end."

"Shouldn't Izanami be able to set it right? It put me back together."

Purrcy paused and looked at him like he was being stupid. He blinked at her. "It's a quest, Michael," she explained.

"Oh." He put his head in his hand. "And we really have to play it out, even though we're all right here."

Purrcy nodded as she looked under the hood at the next detail. "She _is_ the Game AI. We're appeasing her right now - and that's part of our job description as well. Keep playing the game well and she'll keep listening to your prayers, Michael."

That got him thinking of another prayer of intercession he wanted to pray when they were done and he'd made sure all the holes were filled. "Do they mind if we pray a lot or a little?"

"No. Don't really care at all," she answered. "What did that do?" He went and looked, came back and told her. "They care _what_ you ask for sometimes, but their time and ours are so different how often doesn't matter." Michael could understand that. Two requests in a row might be three years apart to them, if not longer. "If it's something you really want but it's small you can pay the higher cost of a higher level purification and she'll consider it more seriously. Izanagi is harder to win over that way. It's better to just ask him straight out and, if you want, give him reasons why you want it. He's far too logical to care about the rituals. Izanami, however, being the Game AI, eats it up. The more points you earn, the more you're likely to get it."

"Whoa! Change that back. I don't think he needs his knees swapped with his elbows. That just looks painful."

"Ah, right." It reset and she moved on to the next piece of code.

"Can I pray to Izanagi, too? Or only to Izanami?"

Purrcy paused for that one. "I can talk to both, but that's because they both used me from the beginning. I get the sense that if Nyanta tried to talk to Izanami she'd fry him on the spot for even trying. She knows he hates her so he doesn't have any points built up. He is being obedient, though, so as long as he moves forward she doesn't complain strenuously. I'm not sure how Izanagi sees you, but as long as you're here in the shrine you shouldn't. She'll get jealous you tried and he'll turn his attention this way and send Nyanta to kill you several thousand times. Not because he cares but because he won't have any choice in the matter. Brownie points are going to the one who figures out how to kill the flavor text, of course, though Izanami's of two minds about it. She'll lose that one control, but she really doesn't like having to play the harlot, either. It's just as distracting - unless she's testing initiates," Purrcy gave him a look, then went back to her work.

"Why're you sain' that's my fault?" he complained at her.

"I'm not," she denied it.

"You most certainly did," he grumped. She only moved them on to the next line item.

Even working at the micro level, it was taking a long time. The bite code for an Adventurer was large. They hadn't made it very far through the physical description block of code by the end of the first day in the outer realm. Tetorō arrived to take Purrcy back out so she could eat and rest before her evening purification. Michael was surprised that the 570 some odd years they'd just spent hadn't felt like it had been that long. He asked Purrcy on their walk back out to the physical realm. "It's because physically we're at that speed now, too. It doesn't 'feel' that long. It only feels like the same five hours. It's how they make it so the priest and priestess can interact in both realms simultaneously. You remember how hard your five minute test was." Michael nodded vigorously. "That was so you could understand what you were being blessed with...is what they said to me."

"You had to live it?" Gareth asked in surprise.

"Yes. I had to go through the same rituals. It's likely one that kills the youngest initiates for Oracle - actually it's why they don't have them very often. They want to be able to dominate the mind of the Oracle, so they pick young, but then they can't find one that's strong enough to last through that part of the ritual."

"Soo...would they change or get rid of the rituals, too, if they could?" Michael asked cautiously.

"Well...that's a hard question, isn't it?" she answered and winked out. Tetorō looked at them solemnly and winked out after her.

Michael sighed and he and Gareth also returned to the physical base realm. "I think you'd better count that one as a Forbidden for now," Gareth cautioned.

"I figured, too," Michael agreed. "I wonder where we're supposed to bunk? I'd rather not be anywhere Purrcy can get to me if she's going to stay Priestess all night, too." Gareth agreed strenuously with that. "And we can't leave Crusty unprotected either." He sighed and realm walked to where Kaede was, being careful as he went. He'd gotten the practice before, but not while paying attention. Now he did. He spoke to her first, though, so as to not startle her too badly, and asked her.

"You're fine where you are," Kaede answered. "You'll all slip far enough into chaos that she'll be repulsed if she comes looking for you, though she should be from the beginning."

"I wish it, too, sister," he agreed with her. She didn't like the friendly term. He didn't care. He hadn't particularly meant it friendly. It only described their common connection. "I take it you enjoy your own quiet evenings, then?" She pursed her lips and glared at him. "No? You do the evening purification, too?"

"I do not!" she declared.

"Oh. Well, sleep well, then. We get dinner, too, I hope?"

She glared and turned her back on him. He left. He knew the Intelligence detail was doing their best, but there was no way they were getting into the inner sanctum. They'd be seen by Kaede and Purrcy before they got two rooms away and chased off. So he did that inspection on his way back. After dinner he went back and did it again. The practice was good for him and things changed over time. He watched as Kiyoko assisted Tetorō in the process for the evening purification. He was tossed out when it got to the last step. He got seen then, not surprisingly, and rejected. He waited outside the room though to see where they went next and followed where he wouldn't interfere with her levels. They settled Purrcy down in a bed that had been ritually built, made, covered, and purified from nail to throw pillow. They closed the curtains, then left the room quietly. Tetorō sighed as he paused at the door. When Kiyoko was out of the hallway he looked up at Michael.

Michael held out his hand and Tetorō reached for it. Michael pulled him into the realm he was standing in with him, body and all. "Well, that experiment worked," Michael said and pulled Tetorō to him to hold him in his arms. "You're doing wonderfully, partner. How was the upper room of meeting for you two?"

"Having the experience of that fight helped. I knew what to expect. Purrcy mostly slept through it, having already gone through it a long time ago. ...Gareth didn't have any prior experience and he didn't do so well."

"Did you guys have the five minute test?" Michael asked.

Tetorō shook his head. "It was a one minute test."

"God," Michael moaned. "I'll have to sleep with Gareth tonight then. That was a repeat for him."

"He said about the same," Tetorō allowed. "But he also said it helped him get through it, to pretend like he was back there again...at least for the first part of it." Michael nodded. "I can't imagine having to go five minutes though," Tetorō said. "Are you okay?"

Michael paused. "They gave me my memories back so I'm better now...but I still remember that time too, so it's like playing 'push the bad thoughts out of your mind'. Sometimes it hits me and I have to unparalyze." Tetorō gave him a squeeze around the middle. "I really was nothing for a long time. By then time wasn't measurable. But likely that's on purpose - to make sure the priest and priestess know they aren't anything compared to the deity they worship and obey."

"And are they and are you?" Tetorō asked.

"Purrcy came to me and said something interesting," he said as he made them appear with Gareth again and let Tetorō go. "It was after that and I had a body again - when I received the ring. I said it wasn't possible to kill something like that and she disagreed with me."

"You said that was Izanami, though?" Gareth was confused.

"I did. ...Izanami has no problems lying."

"And Purrcy always tells the truth," Tetorō said grimly.

Michael nodded. "For some reason, Izanami wants me to continue believing that I can kill them." They looked at each other, not comprehending why that should be.

"I'll tell Shiroe," Tetorō finally said quietly.

"You do that," Michael answered just as quietly. In a more normal conversational tone he said, "We're to bunk in here with Crusty. Kaede says that we'll all hit chaotic levels and she'll stay out. Do you have your own room, Tetorō?"

"Yes, and I should go there or they'll think I'm doing impure things as well," he answered. "I can get away with it tonight since you need further education, but after tonight I shouldn't come here." He launched immediately into the lessons he'd received that Gareth needed to know, particularly about keeping the room purified sufficiently to not pull down the inner sanctum. He also taught them both what had been done to purify Crusty so they could handle that in the morning.

When he was gone, Michael talked to Gareth about his time in the testing to make sure his wingman was doing okay. As Gareth lay sleeping next to him on the futons they'd been given, he lay awake thinking about the first intercessory prayers he wanted to pray until his body finally slipped down in speed far enough he felt he could actually sleep. He wondered then if Purrcy really ever slept, when her body was always up at that level save for a brief time two times a day. She was effectively locked into her bedroom for the night with it being the only room she would be able to handle all night. He went back over there and collected her out of the body and back into the ring. He really hoped the babies were okay, too. This was just not good at all.

Not surprisingly that made Izanami try to get to him, though. He put her to bed three times before she was too ill with walking through the shrine and it's increasing decay of speed and stayed put. The last time she nearly captured him, but he made her really look at him and she fell on the bed and gave up. He'd become too hard to be with. He didn't stay long. He'd bring her down faster and then they'd have to fight again in the morning before everyone else was up, and he wasn't interested in that either.

He was rather grateful Purrcy had taught him to hate Izanami early on, though he already had been without knowing specifically what he was hating. This part of the game was insufferable. It was also hard to not kill her right then. Only the fact that he'd interrupt the child experiment stayed his hand.

When Gareth rolled over and snuggled the last time Michael slipped into his bed, Michael snuggled right back and sank into sleep, exhausted from the extremely long and difficult two days. Having to wake up and relieve his bladder two hours later for the first time in that long made him very cranky and he refused to wake up early the next morning.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe."

Shiroe immediately put his current thoughts on hold. "Hey, Tetorō. I'm here." It was well after dark and Shiroe was anxious to hear what had been happening that day at the shrine.

"Michael and Gareth are okay, though it's not been easy for them today." Tetorō paused, then blew an exasperated breath. "Michael got the brunt of the testing this morning. Izanami went full on harlot and we weren't allowed to interfere until he called the priestess in to help. Purrcy is able to keep it under control to some degree, but she's up in the stratosphere all the time now and it's eating away at her. Michael made the decision based on the contract that he has the right to take Purrcy and protect her and let her heal up whenever they're not working. It's got merit but it's also got it's bad points. One or more of us has to sit on Izanami or she heads back over to interfere again. Gareth says Michael and Purrcy are working constantly on Crusty unless they get interrupted for meals. They made a lot of progress today, it looked like. I don't know how long the rest will take, though. I think they did the easy stuff first."

Shiroe changed the chat to a visual chat on his end. Tetorō had told him (the first night that he could call after arriving at the shrine) he couldn't handle looking from his side, so Shiroe didn't make them two-way. Tetorō ran his hand through his hair. He was sitting up on his bed and looked rather tired, probably from fighting with Izanami all day so the other two could work. "During the process of becoming able to work with Crusty, Michael met with Izanami for a while. He learned that while Purrcy may be angry with Inari, it's Izanami that wants us to believe we can kill them. ...We think that might be an important data point for you." Shiroe frowned. There was something Tetorō was talking around, something he wasn't being allowed to say. Tetorō's fist was clenching and his jaw did as well when he got done saying what he could.

Shiroe sighed very quietly to himself. "Thank you. I suspect it goes along with them knowing it already and not caring, even if we almost talk about it in front of their faces, so to speak. I'll add it. ...Nyanta got a vacation today and was quiet but was able to be relaxed finally. He knew the flavor text had been triggered enough to send Izanagi back up and away from the planet, but he didn't know why."

"I highly recommend you not tell him. It was Izanami's test of Michael and he passed with flying colors, of course," Tetorō was irritated, but then Michael would have been more irritated. It would be okay to let Nyanta not know the details. He hadn't wanted to know them anyway from his few comments on it.

Shiroe leaned back and thought about it for a moment. "Is it part of what you told me from the walk up the stairs? She's said before that Izanami likes the flavor text because it gives her control over Izanagi."

"It might be the only thing she can do against him, actually," Tetorō agreed. "I'm not sure it's healthy though. If he gets too mad at her for not letting him be involved with his beloved planet they'd have a big fight over it, it seems to me."

"What was it Purrcy said, though?" Shiroe frowned.

He waited for Tetorō to find it in his history and replay it again. His eyes went distant, so Shiroe figured that was what he was doing, anyway. "Michael said he would get the flavor text repaired as soon as he could, and she said effectively that if he did without the two of you sifting through all the clues related to it she'd already tried to give you, she'd be crying for all of Akiba, and all of us. Then she went and hid in the fourth floor closet so deep I could barely see her as she got shut down hard."

"By which one?"

Tetorō mulled over that one. "You know... I think it might have been...," his face took on a scowl and he finally flicked a finger, not allowed to say it out loud.

"Got it," Shiroe said calmly. "So...there's something deeper going on that we need to discover before we go running into that. I'll work on how it fits into the over-all plan."

Tetorō nodded. "Sounds good." He flopped back into his bed, one knee raised, and put his hands behind his head. "Michael's worried about the plan Izanami put into place for the experiment. He's had kids - back home like Purrcy and Nyanta-san. If you haven't yet, while you've got the real Nyanta-san talk to him about what that is and see which side he agrees with. I'll need to know if I should back whatever plan Michael's hatching, or calm him down. I think other than that, I'm done with my side." He closed his eyes.

Shiroe smiled slightly and gave Tetorō what he wanted: the stories of what everyone else was doing in their everyday, to remind him he wasn't alone. It was the call home of the homesick when they were working hard to not be that way. Until things got too hard to hear, it was a price he was willing to pay.

When the chat was ended, Shiroe put his brain to the issue of the flavor text. Izanagi wanted it gone, the sooner the better. Nyanta was rather in agreement for personal reasons, though he also got more relief it seemed when the flavor text was ratcheted up to high levels, given today's example. Izanami wanted some way to keep Izanagi tamed to some degree and this was the way she used. She wanted him to not affect the world so much. Was it for any given time or for right now? Shiroe knew he didn't want Izanagi interfering with Akiba or the guild any more than he already was, and if it was specific to this level of the dungeon, it meant things weren't going to be pretty if he was allowed to interfere.

At the same time...Shiroe had a specific path he needed to walk, and one of the things on that path was the division that would come because of allowing Izanagi to make the Adventurers even more angry than they were now. And the People of the Land as well. They were a part of it. They'd already had experiences without Shiroe's intervention that told them they had no desire at all with having an Adventurer as a Priest and/or Priestess. With Shiroe's intervention, that was beginning to become something that would be acted on. It was going to be a very delicate line to walk with timing somewhat critical, both for giving them time to be ready and also making it look like a natural logical progression.

He rather had the impression that Izanami and Purrcy both were trying to help him see that narrow path, and were walking it already just ahead of him. If either or both of them had used this opportunity to make Izanagi back off on purpose, it might be the only breathing room Shiroe would have. He needed to use what little time he would be given to good purpose.

He walked over to his couch and lay down. Starting back at the beginning again, he walked through everything Purrcy had told him. Every clue, every order, every suggestion, every tease, until he had a list compiled of things he needed to get done. He was both glad and a little worried when it was a short list. Then he walked through his list of people that needed to be protected. She'd said both in the guild and in all of Akiba. While he thought of everyone, he particularly focused on the ones that she'd had personal contact with. That was part of the clues, too.

In the end, as he put the final results into his personal notes, he had concerns about Naotsugu and Marielle, he was still confused a bit as to why Purrcy had singled out West Wind Brigade, and he had a to-do for the next day to take the cloth prize from the Yamato Maze of Eternity to the crafters. Something was going to happen and they would need to be able to stay awake. He was quite sure that was related to keeping safe from each other when Izanagi got his claws into them.

He was very worried that the specific attention to West Wind Brigade was going to be similar. She'd joked one time in contrariness to all her other interactions with that guild. She'd said it was the one place that it was easy to find women to date. He would have to warn Soujirou, if he could. He wasn't sure he had enough of Soujirou's good will, but he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't talk to him and it played out as bad as he was afraid she was warning him it would.


	123. Fortifications

The next morning Michael set his intent firmly from the first clap after the first washing of hands and mouth. He kept his words firmly in mind as he scrubbed in the hot spring. He continued to keep the intent in mind as Kaede stood by and coached him in the third purification he had to do for himself. That was harder until he understood he was to open himself to the power of Izanami the same as he'd done when it first descended during his first purification at this level. Not as much entered him this time, but enough to bring his body up to the speed that he was required to work at. It was a lot less gentle than moving up in the code realm. He'd love to revamp the purification rituals if at all possible. But then, he'd much rather get rid of them altogether so the 'gods' couldn't influence the world like this to begin with. He squashed that thought and feeling quickly. He wanted to ask for a boon and that thought was counterproductive. He was nothing after all and Izanami didn't have to say yes or even listen to him if it didn't want to.

When his purifications were done, he bypassed the inner sanctum where Purrcy was sitting and went straight for the room of healing. Gareth was already there since he hadn't been let into the room of purification this time. This time was personal. The last time Gareth had received an education for what he'd have to do if he was called on to assist in an area purification. Michael remembered then the recording. He'd look at it when they were done for the night and he was waiting to come back down to sleep.

This time, before starting or collecting Purrcy, he stood back from Crusty's raised bed which was rather like a surgical bed, faced west, clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami, please hear my prayer." He gathered the words in his head again, put his intent into it, and asked, "Please allow me to remove the ring you gave me and put it in my list when it isn't needed to protect the Adventurer Purrcy. Please allow me to wear it on my left middle finger when it's needed to protect the Adventurer Purrcy. And, please allow me the right to decide when it's needed to protect the Adventurer Purrcy." He bowed again, not quite sure at this point, but it seemed appropriate.

"I really do like how that looks on you, Michael," Purrcy said to him. Except she was standing a foot and a half off the ground. She glared at Gareth until he went onto his knees and bowed, putting his forehead on the ground. That made her content enough she turned back to Michael. "Why?"

"Because the left ring-finger position is reserved for the husband. Izanagi is your husband and Nyanta-san is the husband of Purrcy. It is incorrect for me to wear it there. Also, if either one should see it there, they'll become jealous and we'll both be punished, making it impossible for me to fulfill my contract to protect the Adventurer Purrcy, breaking your own contract since you allowed it to happen."

"Are you rejecting the gift?"

"No, Inari-no-Izanami. I'm grateful for the gift so that I may protect her as I should." He kept it humble.

"Why should I allow you to choose when to wear it and when to not wear it?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Because it's a game element and if you influence the game to that level of detail you don't enjoy the proper level of randomness that a properly fun game includes. It also removes my ability to earn my own points and to fail to keep the contract, binding you even tighter."

Izanami blinked as if that was a new concept. For a moment the vision fuzzed a bit, then stabilized. "Interesting. I accept." Izanami disappeared.

Michael sat down. "Well, I didn't expect a vision to make me tired," he complained.

"It's because she was there," Gareth said. "How do you handle that level of pressure?"

"What pressure?" Michael asked. "If that was pressure, it wasn't anything compared to what I lived through in even the third year of my five minutes."

"God, Michael. What did they do to you?"

"Just put me in the pressure cooker for ...ten years." He had to drag that memory up, though he wasn't happy to.

"Ten!" Gareth's head came up. "I couldn't take my two!"

"I know," Michael said calmly, "and I'm glad they didn't make you have to take more." He pulled himself to his feet and Gareth started, sat up, and cast a healing spell on him. That made things better and Michael let Purrcy out of the ring. "Are you okay with me just keeping you with me until this is all over? It makes my life easier." He slipped the ring into his list and it stayed this time. That was relieving.

"It makes Tetorō sad, but he knows what to do."

Michael rolled his eyes and pointed with his thumb. "He sits there and watches over you while we work all day. He needs his night-time sleep, too."

Purrcy paused, then said, "Let me go over there when you wake up in the morning until this time, and then again briefly when it's time to eat in the evening. I can come out and talk to him then. I'll come back here when I would have to leave anyway."

"Okay," Michael nodded. "I can live with that." He paused, then said, "And you need to say hi to Gareth, too. Your test of him that first day was rough."

Purrcy went to the Gareth in the code realm and gave him a hug until he was done, then rubbed his head. "Thank you, Gareth," she said.

Gareth sighed. "I wouldn't have done it, you know."

"I know. But Michael and Tetorō both need you, so I need you. I can't take you up just yet, but there will come a day when you will soar again."

He put his chin on his knees. "Fine." She patted him on the head a few more times, then went to Tetorō and kissed the top of his head.

He grabbed her hand with his, then pulled her down and gave her a kiss back. She brushed the side of his head with her ear. "I'm glad they don't change you in here," she said to him quietly. He nodded, his face still a mask. He finally let her go and she returned to Crusty and called up his code again.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was up late the next morning, apologizing as he arrived at the breakfast table when most were half-done with eating. They gave him the morning schedules while he listened and ate. When it was his turn, he asked for Nyanta to meet with him in his office after breakfast, and asked Akatsuki to make it possible for them to run into Soujirou on their way into the center of town or on their way back out. "Naotsugu, you'll be second with Akatsuki and I think that's all we'll need for today. If we time it right, we can make it a double date." He looked at Naotsugu, who had eyes almost as big as Akatsuki's. "Nyanta's the gauge. As soon as he's gone again, we'll begin the descent." The rest of the room sighed and nodded. Nyanta's tail twitched in irritation, but it was because he wasn't in a hurry for it to happen either.

"Have a seat, Chief," Shiroe offered Nyanta when they were in his office. He'd brought Naotsugu in for that, too. Shiroe wanted Naotsugu in on anything that was remotely related to the procreation experiments since he might have to live them. The invitees all sat. "Purrcy's given us some final warnings and we're not allowed to discuss them even among ourselves in the open. I've got the settings up on the room, but we can probably assume we might not be allowed to say much even so. If you get lost, let me know." He got nods.

"Nyanta, Tetorō wants the opinion of another experienced parent from Earth. Michael's got some concerns now that we know how things work at the shrine as relates to the experiments." Shiroe watched Nyanta carefully as he took a deep breath. So far it looked like they still had Nyanta himself. "She's been purified until she's in the state of being, physically, up in the nano-levels of speed. Tetorō says that Izanami has made a womb outside that level of existence that keeps the fetuses down at normal physical speeds. Apparently when the physical body is up at those levels, even sleep is hard, and Purrcy is being kept at those high levels all the time except for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening when they allow her to drop low enough to eat. Once she's digested her food properly, they send her back up to the higher levels." Nyanta wasn't looking surprised, but he was twitching.

Shiroe paused and took another breath. "Is this another case of them refusing to acknowledge the reality of having Adventurers in their hands because they only have a sampling of two who are in agreement?"

Nyanta scowled and his body expressed agreement. "Medically...on Earth," it seemed like he was experimenting with what words he was allowed to place together, "a purregnant woman requires food every two hours...in at least small measure. She also tires easily as the body works to care for the fetus. I'm afurraid I lack understanding of the real effect of purregnancy on felines of Earth."

"What about the real effects of pregnancy on the felinoids of Theldesia?" Shiroe asked.

Nyanta flicked his tail and an ear in surprise to have it come from that direction. He considered it. "It was part of my requirement to seek out such information, the last time I was sent to a felinoid village," he answered. He took a moment to think about it. "It seems to me that while they have the shorter gestation time, they also became weary purrticularly towards the latter half of the term. The faster growth of the fetuses means they also crave food more furrequently. On this planet, they still have some difficulties being fed sufficient amounts and lose more children than they would have to if they had sufficient nutrients."

"So, you're saying that it could be putting the experiment at high risk of failure if Purrcy doesn't get enough nutrition to feed the growing fetuses?" Shiroe asked and Nyanta jumped on the comment with firm agreement.

Shiroe sat back and considered, then nodded. "Then we'll protect the contracts by choosing to protect the fetuses, even though we'd rather it fail from the beginning." He looked at Nyanta out of the corner of his eyes. He was irritated - that was Izanagi - and his ears and tail had relaxed as Nyanta was relieved to have help in his corner again.

Shiroe sat back and looked at Naotsugu soberly. "I'll be letting Tetorō know to side with Michael when Michael's ready to move on that. I'd like to get it set early."

"I think that's a good idea," Naotsugu said, folding his arms. "I'd be upset if Marielle had to live so contrary to her needs like that." Shiroe nodded his thanks for the follow-through support of the issue against Inari.

"Poor Purrcy," Akatsuki said sadly, her hands held tightly together in her lap.

"Indeed," Shiroe agreed. "She must be very exhausted, and worried about her children." With the room in solid agreement, Shiroe excused Nyanta and turned to the other things he needed to work on before they left for the next activity.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mister Shiroe, Miss Akatsuki." Mei-Mao was at her cutting table in the sewing room of Marine Organization. "Welcome. To what do I owe this surprising visit?"

"I need a set of high level anti-sleep items made," Shiroe placed his request immediately, though politely. "I thought you might be able to help, or know someone who could." He put the Cloth of the Laumė on her table in front of them. "There's five meters here. It's our portion of the prize from completing the Yamato Maze of Eternity. I'd like to use as much as possible without waste. Purrcy suggested that if I couldn't think of anything - and I have been struggling - that we should just have it made into headgear - bandannas and head cap style, I think."

"Strips of cloth for headbands would get you the most number, but the total effect would be rather small for each." Mei-Mao was reading the flavor text for the cloth. She reached out her hand and asked with a look if she could touch it. Shiroe nodded. Mei-Mao fingered it, then lifted a section in her hand and ran the other one down a short length. "If we did full bandannas you'd get the best results, but then you'd only get about four of them with a few headbands. ...Perhaps if we compromised and did triangle bandannas that could be worn as skull caps for the men or head kerchiefs for the women? You'd sacrifice just a little on points of sleep counteracted, but with this fabric, you'd still be getting a decent effect." She looked up at Shiroe.

Shiroe nodded. "That sounds good. Four won't be enough, but eight should be fine. And any remaining if it could be made into headbands would be useful as well."

"Of course. This isn't a fabric to waste, that is certain." Mei-Mao agreed.

"Can you do it?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes. I could have it done in two days."

"Do it in three with intent and deliberation so the numbers are higher," Shiroe requested. "Clear thinking and resistance to sleep are what you should focus on in your intent. Spend the first day crafting them in your mind instead of on the table. I've found with my scrolls I can get up to twenty-five to thirty-five percent more positive points doing that. I'm willing to pay the higher cost for more time if we can get those kinds of numbers."

"That's an interesting way to approach crafting," Mei-Mao blinked at him. "But I do already do that to some degree. I've found that longer than six hours and I don't get any better results."

Shiroe rubbed his chin and thought about that. "No, that might be right when it's things you do at the common levels. I do a full day for spell crafting at the wider area ranges, and sometimes several days when doing world level magic. For this kind of spell crafting...if you're making a magic outfit for a specific person does it take more or less than if you're doing a general-purpose item?"

"Hmm, generally if I'm making an outfit for a specific person I'm spending more time crafting it ahead of time anyway, aren't I?" Mei-Mao answered. "For the general-purpose items, more than the six hours is a waste."

"Interesting. I would think it would be the opposite if you wanted a high level item that could be shared between people. But, then, when we earn items in the game most of the lower level items are general purpose, aren't they. The ones that key to the person who earns them are higher level. Intriguing," Shiroe mused more to himself. Mei-Mao was nodding her agreement. "Well, I want them general purpose, I guess, but if you could add in that those who'll be wearing them will be protecting Akiba and those who we care about, I wonder if that will help just a little?"

Mei-Mao smiled. "I'll do my best, Mister Shiroe. Come back in two days, in the evening, and they'll be ready for you."

"Thank you very much, Mei-Mao," Shiroe said with a bit of relief. "I'll leave it in your capable hands."

"She is one of Purrcy's crafters," Akatsuki reminded Shiroe as they walked out to head into the market. "She's already taught them."

"Well, that's true," Shiroe said a bit sheepishly. "I forget we weren't the first, sometimes."

"Jealous?" Akatsuki teased him with a small impish grin.

He looked at her, then laughed a little ruefully. "Of course." He sighed and changed the subject. "Where are we meeting Naotsugu and Marie?"

Akatsuki looked a bit distant. "Perv. We're out. Have you cornered him yet? ...'Kay." Akatsuki looked up at Shiroe. "They'll bring Souji-san to the cafe across from the Amenoma and we can see what the juniors have been working hard on when we're done eating. It's also near there."

Shiroe perked up. "I would like to see that." He reached for her hand and felt good when she slipped her warm hand in his. He interlocked their fingers, wishing to hold on to that hand for a long time. When this level was over, and their feelings were their own again, he had many things he wanted to talk to Akatsuki about. He had to strongly resist his desire to kiss her. Today that was not a good idea. He distracted himself by watching the people around them instead.

"We have a lot of People of the Land in Akiba," he said after a bit.

"Yes?" Akatsuki asked a bit confused since that was normal for Akiba. "...China?"

"Yeah. Having so few to none in their cities makes it more obvious when we come back." He could feel the wrinkle forming on his forehead again and he had to let it go by letting the sad sigh out. His conversation with Soujirou just got deeper by necessity of planning ahead.

"Naotsugu, make sure it's a table with no one around. Charlie, I'm going to need a silent zone." He got back positive responses. Akatsuki rubbed Shiroe's arm to help comfort him. He looked down at her and asked softly, "How do kings and rulers do hard things? How do they harden themselves against the pains they have to carry and cause?" He wasn't sure there was an answer, but maybe...if it got too bad, he'd try to visit Duke Sergiad before he got too angry with the Adventurers and ask him.

And then he sighed at himself. He should have thought of that at the first even. "Charlie, is there a way to talk to People of the Land across the distances other than their communications spheres? I think I'm going to need to pull Duke Sergiad into this conversation. If we could get that cued up, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise I'm going to have to fit in traveling over there in the near future. It will have to be secured at the highest level of security on his end as well."

"I'll work on it," Charlie answered.

"Thanks. We'll talk to Souji first, then bring in the Duke. I've got a few things I need to discuss with the Duke alone." Shiroe was quietly sober as he let the chat close. He held Akatsuki's hand close, then tucked her arm in his to hold her just a little closer. She rubbed his arm again, then leaned briefly on his shoulder, though it was more his upper arm since she was so much shorter. He was grateful for her comfort and her presence. He hoped he was ready to be harder than he'd ever been before when life got hard.

-:-:-:-:-

It was a triple date - at least that's what it looked like. Nazuna had come with Soujirou. "Isn't that going to look bad?" Shiroe asked as he and Akatsuki took their seats at the table. They were sitting at a corner table with Eagles holding spots at all the tables around them.

Nazuna blushed a bit in ear and tail, but Soujirou looked around the area. "When you've got the guards set up so obvious, it might be a date for the four of you, but for us to be here it's holding court over lunch, isn't it?"

Shiroe sighed at the reference, but Soujirou had been in the wedding party. He already knew what Shiroe was. "Only if your own understand it that way," he clarified, pushing up his glasses. They waited quietly while their drinks and food were brought to them, the silence rather somber to match Shiroe's mood, though Akatsuki was sure he hadn't meant it to be that way at the beginning. "I'm sorry for the mood," he said, looking rather miserably at his food. The others kindly waved it away.

"Eat first. No one thinks well on an empty stomach," Marielle scolded him. "We'll carry the conversation to keep it light at the beginning."

Shiroe gave her a look of gratitude. "Thanks." He picked up his chopsticks and bowl of chicken and vegetable ramen. Like the consummate young businessman he was, he sat back in his chair in a relaxed pose and ate while the words and conversation swirled around him. Akatsuki appreciated that the other two couples were willing to carry it for them and she was also able to relax in the warm wave of friendship. She did add in here and there, hoping to help Shiroe too in what small way she could. He finished eating first, since he wasn't participating in the conversation, but he sat quietly, not interrupting.

The conversation and the food eventually wound down and Soujirou looked at Shiroe directly. "So...why have you called me out? And to the somber mood, too?"

Shiroe made a motion that Akatsuki knew by now was the signal to Charlie to put the shield of silence up. She sat up in her chair more straight, also wondering what her guildmaster needed to talk to Soujirou about. "Souji, for you today, what is your position in regards to Log Horizon and myself?"

Soujirou's lips pursed. "For a long time we've been going with the flow, staying friends with everyone. When Purrcy stopped to visit with the guild, she scolded me without scolding me. She said if we were caught up in something bad we didn't want to be caught up in, it was our own fault for not considering it seriously and making a proper decision to begin with. Since then, I've been considering it. Each thing you suggest since then, I seriously consider. I won't drag West Wind Brigade down for not thinking properly."

Shiroe sagged just a little. "I was afraid of that." He leaned forward and rested his chin in his hand moodily, putting his elbow on the table. It was a while before he continued. "I don't want to tell you not to consider it properly. You need to take care of your own because it's you they trust and it's you that cares for them from the beginning." His eyes went to look into Soujirou's again. "You understand that this level we're entering is a level of division?"

Soujirou's forehead wrinkled a little. "Division?"

"Yes. My whole guild is fracturing in order to get it done right, though I'm extremely unhappy about it. The end goal is to re-heal and come together again. I'm doing everything I can to fight to see that happens. It's going to be worse than that, though." He took a deep breath, then very candidly said. "It's going to fracture all of Akiba." Even Akatsuki stared at him in surprise. She had to slump with understanding, however.

"Surely not!" Marielle exclaimed. It would affect her the most, that statement. "After all our hard work to make it such a nice place to live for everyone?"

"And thus why I'm sorry for the somber mood," Shiroe apologized again. "However, it's also my goal that we will heal Akiba when it's over. If we can stand united in that desire before it begins, and united in our goal to get through the level together, even if divided into separate parties, it will be temporary. The anger will unite us again in the end, as will doing what we can to support each other as we go through it." He pushed up his glasses and clasped his hands in front of him. "Souji, while you are guildmaster of your guild, I also need you to not be fighting me. But listen to me before you decide." The other three who already knew sat astounded with their mouths open as Shiroe openly and frankly explained to Soujirou what the level was really about.

"Your guild is most at risk," Shiroe summed up. "Already you've been targeted once in the initial experiment. I expect this level to be more than ten times worse. You _will_ have damages and we'll help where we can, but it will be mostly on your shoulders. Please," he was actually begging, "call on us. If there is a thing we can do, we'll do it."

Soujirou finally came out of his shock. "That is severe, Shiroe-sempai."

Shiroe could only nod, miserable. "I need you, Souji. I'll still need you and your guild on the streets. We'll need to have our ears keen to know how deep the fracturing is going, and to keep the peace as best we can so that we can come back together when it's done." He took a deep breath, "And right now I need you to understand all this, while we've been given a few days of reprieve to finish the planning, to help me plan how we're going to peacefully ask all the People of the Land to leave until the danger is past. We need to treat this like the long-term, but temporary special that it is."

There were astonished stares and blinks again. " _All_ of the People of the Land?" Marielle whispered, horrified.

Shiroe nodded. "We can allow it to be a stream of leaving, but in the end all women of the land should be gone and the kinder men. The hardened ones can stay. They'll be affected, but it won't matter quite so much for them. Each guild will have to decide what to do about the female Adventurers, but likely we'll have any number who go out and hide until it's done. In your guild house, with all of you together, you should be safe from the men of the city, is my hope. Again, you must decide and decide at what point you'll also leave if it needs to come to that."

He took a deep breath. "And there is one more thing we'll need to discuss in our planning. I've already begun the fracturing between the People of the Land and the Adventurers that Inari started for its own purpose. Before it goes any further, we'll bring Duke Sergiad into our planning so that he understands what we're doing and why, and hopefully he'll be willing to help us in our plan to move the People of the Land out of the city, so that when it's all completed, we'll be able to repair the damage done in our relationship with them."

"We're turning their hearts to want to kill their own gods. Inari started it by placing Adventurers at the top of their religious hierarchy. In order to gain one goal, it's already begun on its own the fracture between us and them. They are very opposed to having Adventurers in those positions. We need to somehow not let that spread to general hatred of all Adventurers. We need Duke Sergiad on our side as one of our high level planners. Please help me get to the point we can contact him today and get him on board." He bowed to Soujirou. "Please, help me keep my own goal of peaceful living for all creatures of Theldesia and Yamato on the table."

Everyone got very serious then. Shiroe almost never pulled in others to help him with his strategies unless it was a dungeon he really couldn't face on his own. Those were rare enough that everyone understood that they were the most difficult the game or the world could throw at them. "Tell us what you've already seen and what you already think we need to do," Soujirou requested, and the battle planning began.

-:-:-:-:-

"Duke Sergiad, sir," a paige was bowing from the office door.

"Yes?" Sergiad answered, setting his pen to rest. His eyes quickly took in the communications orb the young man was carrying.

"A request has come from Akiba. They wish to know if you can free your schedule within the next half-hour for Archmage Shiroe to talk to you." He held up the orb to explain by what method they would be talking.

Sergiad pointed to the orb holder on his desk. "Set it here. I assume I can keep working until they call?"

"I believe so, sir," the paige entered and set the orb on Sergiad's desk.

"You may go," he ordered. The paige left and he said loud enough to be heard outside the door. "Close the door. No one is to interrupt us until I come back out." The guard outside the door obediently closed the door.

Sergiad sighed to himself lightly and finished the document he was working on. He was glad the tasks of this afternoon were light enough. His mind kept being distracted with wondering what would have made the unassuming young man with so much power hidden beneath the surface need to talk to him directly and so immediately. It was his first major communication with the Adventurers since the delegation of Nyanta and Purrcy had left Maihama. It wouldn't be surprising if it was related. It would have been surprising it had taken so long, except that his spies had told him of large amounts of Adventurers leaving Akiba on their large ship just after that delegation had left, and that Shiroe had been gone for longer on foot. They must have finally gotten settled enough from their return (also dutifully reported) that Shiroe could turn his mind to the matters he'd set into motion before he left.

Once again, Sergiad wasn't sure whether to be frustrated that the Adventurers were being invasive, or slightly relieved that they were willing to include him enough that he wasn't completely blind to what they were planning on doing in Eastal. He didn't think too hard about that, though. It wasn't worth getting ulcers over. He had enough of his own problems generally for that.

"Duke Sergiad?" Sergiad's head rose sharply. It wasn't Shiroe's voice, but it was one he recognized generally. "It's Shiroe's communication's specialist, Charlie. He's about ready to speak with you. Are you alone?"

"As can be," he answered honestly, figuring they had some way to tell. "I'm in my office."

"Fair enough." Yes, they did understand, even if they weren't quite always polite. "I'll be shutting everyone else out for this conversation. It's a top secret meeting, please."

Sergiad set his pen down and leaned back, steepling his fingers together, trying to get his heart to stop beating so hard. His fear from his "relaxed" dinner visit with the ambassador Adventurers was trying to break through again. Of course, ever since the Adventurers had generally been suddenly aware and involved in even their own lives, that very fear had been growing. He wasn't sure he was looking forward to this meeting.

The globe went from a lit white to clear with the image of four people sitting around a table. Shiroe was centered. Sergiad's eyes quickly took in the others, studying them. The "Duchess" and her "Consort" were present, but the "Queen" and hers weren't. Had the transition already happened, then?

"Duke Sergiad, thank you for taking time for us out of your busy schedule," Shiroe said politely. "I'm sorry it was a sudden request, rather than scheduled."

"I'm glad I was able to meet with you," he answered neutrally. "Were your travels productive?"

"Yes, thank you for asking." Not a blink of surprise, nor a change in posture. Such things were assumed by the Adventurers - that he had spies who told him things. And yet, no rancor was involved. It was no different even still. Sergiad allowed himself to study-without-studying the rest of them. The women were tense and unhappy. The men just tense. Definitely not a casual call. "I've been told you figured out for yourself that Purrcy is the High Priestess. I need to understand where that places you and us specifically." And right to the point.

The Duke took a deep breath inside, though he didn't show it on the outside. He wasn't really sure how to answer that question. "It isn't a plight I'd wish on even my own daughter in the current environment." His words were understood, but it wasn't enough of an answer for them. They sat silently waiting for what they did want to hear. "Can you explain to me why the gods decided that it was a good idea to anger all Adventurers and claim one for that position?" Questions answered by questions were next in the list of ways to keep a possible adversary at bay.

"Because they want to be set free of the religious flavor text that's been placed on them, so that they can be free to do as they please."

Sergiad sat in stunned silence. He really hadn't expected a direct answer. "And you know this as a fact?"

"Yes. Inari-no-Izanagi has specifically requested it as a quest from us. He is tired of being yoked to his wife so tightly."

Sergiad closed his eyes. "And what will they do to all of us on the planet when they are allowed to do as they please on its face?"

"I don't know," Shiroe's voice was somber. Sergiad opened his eyes again to see his expression. It matched his voice. "I do know that they continue to encourage the belief among Adventurers that it is possible for us to kill them."

Sergiad couldn't help the jerk, though he tried to grab his body as quickly as he could. He put his hands down as if part of the motion. The gods _wanted_ to be hated? And to be "killed" - an impossibility?

"I know that something else happened while Purrcy and Nyanta were there with you that has made you choose one side or the other. I need to know which it is. Do you hate Adventurers, or did it make you hate Inari?"

Sergiad took a deep breath for real this time and went way out on a limb. He told them the unadorned truth. "A god that has turned its back on its own creations to bring a creature it can't understand, and then made angry enough to destroy all of its creations, is not a god worthy of worship, nor regard."

Shiroe nodded. "Then will you ally with us? We need someone from among the People of the Land who is willing to work through the next difficulty with us, who also wishes to see us return to peace when it's over."

Sergiad narrowed his eyes. "I would far rather have what peace we can have with the Adventurers than have them be the destructive force that brings us to extinction."

"And I would rather have what peace we can have with the People of the Land than become the next Alv race to curse this world."

Sergiad swallowed. Shiroe understood completely. "Tell me what you would have as the alliance agreement."

"As part of the quest we've been given, things have already been set into motion that will eventually lead to a People of the Land attack on the shrine of Inari-no-Izanami. Please help us contain it so that is all they feel the need to destroy. Keep that issue separate from the full relationship of Adventurers and People of the Land. We won't stand in the way, and behind the scenes we'll be helping it."

"You'd sacrifice the Queen?" Sergiad asked in surprise.

Shiroe smiled mirthlessly. "She's already required it. But she is also an Adventurer. We'll handle keeping her out of sight for as long as it takes for the hot blood to cool, and our 'traitors' if you wish to call them that - though I'd prefer if you use the term 'allies among the Adventurers' - will see to collecting her at the Cathedral and locking her down so that she can't return to the shrine."

Sergiad considered that. "I would be willing to keep the heat aimed at the proper location, and fuel it on the side. How fast should it be inflamed?"

"Slowly here at the first. I'm waiting to see what Inari has added to the picture. Quests like these always have someone who's the champion. That champion has likely been chosen already by this point, but I'm waiting for the sign that they've reached the position of ready to be groomed into place. I expect them to show up at my doorstep, or yours, raving mad at the gods. Then we'll know it's time to move the pieces forward around that one." Sergiad gave a nod. Things in this world did work that way.

Shiroe shifted to lean forward and Sergiad paid close attention to him. Shiroe understood the body language of leadership in a way no other Adventurer had, other than perhaps Nyanta and Purrcy and they weren't as good as this young man, who was old already in the legends of Theldesia when they'd been given full awareness. "Let me give you one more reason to hate the gods, Duke Sergiad, but please, it is even more secret, and if you cannot live with the knowledge and still be at peace with us, let me know immediately." Sergiad's hands went white at the knuckle in his lap under his desk, though he made sure to keep his posture relaxed - if for no other reason than for the internal guards in his office that supposedly couldn't hear, but could see him.

"We, and more particularly I who am the Archmage, are even more angry at the gods now than we were when we were brought here without our approval." The sharp eyes stared into Sergiad's. "We've been told that we will begin having children, also without our approval. Not one of us wants it. We want to go home. Children will keep us here like nothing else will. We've been told that if we don't comply willingly on our own, we'll be forced into it, harming each other in the process. Our hatred is nearly at its peak. We'll fight it as long as we can, but already the first experiment has begun in order to keep the rest of the world peaceful."

Sergiad couldn't breathe and his blood had left his body. There could be nothing worse than Adventurers breeding more Adventurers, particularly as long as they were this angry. "Kill the gods." It was out of his mouth before he realized he even wanted to say anything.

"If it's possible, we intend to."

Sergiad held on to that statement as his life-line until he could think, hear, and breathe again. His hands were shaking now, his fears at a peak they'd never been at before. The Adventurers in Akiba silently waited for him, likely just as understanding of how large a statement that had been, how hard it was to hold it. He finally sank back into his chair, feeling his age keenly. "Is there really anything I can do to affect that?" he asked.

"We need your help, yes," Shiroe answered. Sergiad listened, feeling hopeless regardless. "We will need to slowly move the People of the Land out of the city of Akiba. While we've been told to our faces that the wide-spread experiments will wait until the single studies are completed, we've been lied to time and time again by Inari. We expect it to begin further experiments here in Akiba once the first experiment is over. Already it is slowly pushing on us to see if we'll give in on our own. As I said, we intend to fight it."

"As that fight becomes more severe, and Inari begins to force the issue, the city will become a dangerous battleground. We don't want any People of the Land harmed. We're going to explain it as a special fighting event that we expect to have last for several months to half a year - as long as we can hold out. By the end, either we will win and push Inari out of Akiba, or we will lose and it will become a place no sane creature can enter and survive. I intend, and we are planning our strategy, so that the former happens. In both cases, it won't be safe after a certain time. Again, it's moving slowly at the beginning here and I don't have a firm date when the balance will be tipped, but I have enough that we can plan with you today."

Sergiad let his worry show. His precious granddaughter was there. He knew that until now they treasured her, but this was bigger than they were. Shiroe let him have the information he needed to know. "Crusty is here in Yamato. Purrcy is repairing his curse. When he arrives in Akiba, I'll be sending him as the escort with Princess Raynessia to Maihama. Please welcome them with a 'welcome home' party for Crusty. I'll send updates to these issues with him when he comes. He is our world general in our fight against the gods."

"To encourage our neighbors who live in Akiba to abandon the city temporarily, we will give the formal excuse that we expect a terrible Winter Solstice special event across all of Yamato for all the Adventurer Cities. It will last at least one week beginning December 25th. By that day, all People of the Land need to be out of Akiba. We'll have the major part of our forces in Minami until the following day, allowing Akiba to become overrun that first day. We've already complained to Izanami that we don't like the specials invading our home and we won't fight them any more."

"We'll explain this within our city ourselves, but it may cause an influx into Maihama until we're done with the ultimate goal. We hope the People of the Land will be understanding that our end desire is to make it so we don't have to be afraid within our own home any longer, nor will they. When she relents, and promises with an unbreakable promise that she won't send any more specials, we'll then clean up the mess. Every Person of the Land who wishes to pray in irritation and pleading to Inari-no-Izanami on our behalf during that time, we would consider a friend and ally."

"I expect that to begin the greater difficulties between us and Inari-no-Izanagi because we'll no longer have the favor of Izanami, who blesses us because we will play her games. That beginning will lead to worse things and the People of the Land should be clearly told that things are getting worse, not better in Akiba, so they don't come back thinking that because we've dealt with the special it's over. I don't know how long after that it will take for us to get to the final fight against Izanagi to get him out of the city, but I'll keep in contact with you. By then, the plans to attack the shrine should be well underway, so we may well already be in regular contact anyway."

Sergiad nodded. It was all he could do. This was a thing out of his hands. Shiroe gave him a look he couldn't quite place. "I promise, Duke Sergiad," Shiroe said quietly, "I will do everything in my power to see that we don't affect the People of the Land any more than we have to. Please help me to keep them safe and not angry with us. This is a fight between the gods and the Adventurers, and the gods have asked for it, for all that we can't tell you why."

"I completed the final peaceful alliance of all the Adventurer Cities of Yamato on my journey. We are united both in our anger against the gods and in our determination to live in peace with the creatures of Theldesia. We are spreading those two desires to all other Adventurer cities of Theldesia. The final fight against the gods will be all of us from all over the world against the two of them. It won't be for another half year or more, but it will be held somewhere that the creatures of Theldesia won't be harmed. For all they are doing this, neither of the gods wants to destroy their world."

Duke Sergiad felt bitter as he placed what Shiroe was giving him. Pity and sympathy. Even though they should be able to give in and appease the gods he was saying that even that wasn't possible. They were walking the path the gods wanted them to walk. It was a path that could so quickly end in the world burning, but Archmage Shiroe was working hard to see that it didn't. He supposed he should feel grateful, but his anger at the gods for even awakening them in the first place was too great. He could only wish to have not been born at this time and, as a Grand Duke, he already knew that was pointless.

"I will do what I can from here," he promised. If the Adventurers were moving to the will of the gods, he wouldn't bring cursing on his own people for doing as he was asked to do by them. And likely his own anger had been calculated by Izanami as well, to see that he helped them. Even that made his fist clench again. "If we free them of their restraints, will we finally be freed from our own?" he asked.

Shiroe gave a small smile. "I would think that if we manage to create in the people of Yamato a full desire to not have them as their gods, then things will change, but who am I to say how? Ask Purrcy. She is the Oracle."

Duke Sergiad nearly passed out. His vision went dark. "No," he whispered and he trembled.

"Please tell me, Duke Sergiad," he heard from a long distance away, "why do the People of the Land say that to raise their hands against the Oracle is death?"

"Th-they are the children of the gods. To threaten one of their own children is to bring death."

"Please help us break that flavor text as well, then," Shiroe asked an outrageous thing. "So far no Adventurer to raise a hand to her has paid that price. Unlike the very rare children of the People of the Land who have the strength to survive to become the Oracle, an Adventurer cannot be killed by that process, and if they are, they resurrect. They do not have the fear with Purrcy they would have with any of their others. Please stop believing it, and pass to everyone who whispers they are angry with the gods the rumor which is truth, that it is no longer the case."

"You are guessing," Sergiad accused him.

Shiroe sat quietly, then answered, "She was trained in your own field, Sergiad. How many of the young men she sparred against are dead? I'm sure more than one hit her since she isn't a fighter. None of her instructors and sparring partners of the Adventurers has been harmed either."

"They didn't intend her death," Sergiad insisted.

"Her instructors did." It was said with coldness. "As did all the monsters she fought in the Maze of Eternity in China. They died, but because of the joint efforts of the Adventurers, not because some god intervened in her behalf. Please be assured. That will not happen this time. You do not have to believe it."

Sergiad wasn't going to believe it just on his say-so, but he would investigate it and see for himself. He firmed his spine again. If it was true that they could raise their hand against the Oracle, and they wouldn't be cursed for killing the Priestess, then this was indeed the time to move against the shrine.

To have found his allies in the most unlikely source was a blessing he would have never thought, particularly when he'd found in that same source the worst cursing available to them against the same. "I'll begin here with the rumors," he promised. He already had, a long time ago. They would begin to say them more openly now. Then when the champion of the cause appeared, he would be ready. He'd been planning for this time for many years now...since the last Priestess had died and he'd sworn there wouldn't be another one to sit on Shrine Mountain.

-:-:-:-:-

"Michael, are you clear?" Shiroe's voice was quiet in his ear.

Michael held up a finger and set up the umbrella for the room of healing. He was pretty sure this close to Izanami and it would hear anyway. He didn't want the shrine maidens and Kaede to listen in on this conversation. "Good to go," he said when it was set up. He'd sent a request earlier for Shiroe to conference call when he was done with getting Tetorō's report. That gave them time to have Purrcy back in the ring again and everyone else asleep. It made it rather late at night, though, so they'd been dozing. He and Gareth sat up now, cross legged to look at their counterparts back in Akiba. Michael sighed. "How's life?"

"Moving forward," Shiroe said. "How are you two holding up?"

"Surviving," he answered just as shortly. "I don't have a time estimate for return yet, sorry." Shiroe waved a hand. "There's a problem that's developed and I need you to put your scroll spell brain on it and help me make sure I've got the right words and a proper solution. I can't quite close all the holes the way I'd like." Shiroe nodded and leaned forward to rest his chin on his interlocked fingers, his elbows on his knees.

"The purification rituals put the cells all the way up to milli levels and Purrcy gets pulled into nano whenever Inari wants her. She only gets two breaks a day - and that's only to come down to the micro level. I'm concerned about what that's doing to the fetuses. Only two meals a day on a human body is hard and the halves aren't that much different. She should be eating a little something every two hours for them all to stay healthy. Having to live up there all day round the clock - I can't fall asleep until I come down to micro. I'm not sure physically she's sleeping - ever. That's also not going to help, though Tetorō says the womb is in a realm outside the rest of her body that's at normal physical speeds. The experiment is either going to fail or it's not going to give correct data, is how I see it."

He took a breath. "I'd like to work something out where it's more than just the womb that's separated out. The outline I've worked out is that Purrcy as cat is separated from Priestess as felinoid if Izanami won't let her be at the physical realm at all. The kittens stay with Purrcy as cat at the physical level so she can feed them by feeding herself and resting the way she should. I don't know what the underlying ramifications of that are and I'm worried it will mean we've given the physical avatar to Izanami and stuck Purrcy in the werecat form for...well...however long until we get her free. I'd rather not have that happen."

"I would agree with that," Nyanta said dryly.

Michael gave a nod of understanding, pleased Nyanta seemed mostly himself this night. "Once you've thought of a solution, you'll have to give it back to me to ask for." He paused. "Tetorō told you we've been purified and moved up and all that?"

Shiroe nodded. "Not what that entails, though."

Michael was relieved internally. "It's pretty much the same as you guys, but I'm not sure on the terminology. There've been translation difficulties and I don't know the clergy levels well enough, though we've come up with an attempt. I'm like you, Shiroe. I can talk to Izanami and she'll hear me out. If I give her the kind of reasons she likes, she'll grant it. That's a priest, but not the same kind of priest as Purrcy or Nyanta. I'll get visions, but they will actually host Inari."

"That would be High Priest and High Priestess, then," Brenner said. "Where you and Shiroe would be priests."

Michael relaxed. "Yeah. That's what it is." He nodded. "Then Tetorō is Purrcy's assistant and Gareth's mine. We've put those at shrine maiden and deacon level. There's another level lower that's acolyte for both. Does that sound about right?" Brenner nodded.

"Chappie," Gareth interjected, "Michael's the intercessory since he can pray and ask for things, but what responsibilities does that give me? You know Izanami likes to play the game."

Brenner looked thoughtful for a bit, then said, "Who's the confessionary?"

Michael shook his head. "Not me. I don't want to know everyone's dirty laundry and I shouldn't besides." Both subordinates agreed with him on that one. It's also why he wasn't the chaplain and the chaplain was one of the pilots.

"I can do that," Gareth said. "I'm the right ranking and it would fit here, too."

"Chat me when you've got time and I'll run you through a tutorial," Brenner offered.

"Thanks, man," Gareth relaxed.

Brenner frowned as he considered it further. "Does that translate for Izanagi? I've been following Mister Nyanta around as his second for a while."

"Probably," Michael said resignedly. "It's not as bad, though, since Izanagi's the logical AI. You don't have to play the game for him. You just live life." He went thoughtful. "I wonder if the purifications work, though? We might have to teach you that when we get back just so you know in case you need to know."

Brenner was shaking his head. "No can do, Mike. I've already committed to God. He might be what we worship on Earth, but we believe he is omniscient over all the creations and universes. I'm not going to worship a false god."

Nyanta was glaring at Brenner and Shiroe was giving him a look of consternation. It was one of the problems of a society that was polytheistic and one that was monotheistic. "I don't think you need to," Michael said. "Purrcy is used by both, though Nyanta-san and I are specific, and Shiroe's probably both since he can get both of them to listen to him like Purrcy can. They all know that Shiroe and most of us think they're computer programs, not gods and they haven't cared yet. Just keep doing what you already do. You're just in that spot of deacon like Akatsuki is of shrine maiden to Shiroe. It's just a data point, I suspect. Use it as a tool if you think you need to, but keep your own God. We need him, too." He gave Brenner a pointed look.

Brenner would have to settle it for himself, but he nodded. He knew the rest of the squad wouldn't change their own Gods either and needed him all the same. If he switched over to worship Inari, they'd kill him until he repented. After all, they all hated Inari. That just wouldn't fly.

Akatsuki, however, sat up straight in excitement and Michael grinned to see it. "You on the other hand are quite pleased to know you can role play the shrine maiden now, I see."

Akatsuki blushed lightly, then gave a nod. "That could have it's uses," Shiroe said, giving Akatsuki a calculating look. She looked back proudly. She really did like being the tool in Shiroe's hands.

"Well, anyway, now that that's cleared up," Michael took it back to where he was going to begin with, "you need to get the wording back to me because I've been placed to play Izanami's priest and it's an intercessory prayer I need to offer in a specific way and place." He grimaced. "Just be glad you get to work with the logical one. You don't have to jump through the game hoops."

Shiroe sat back in his chair and considered it. "This is a point they both are focused on, though. Perhaps we should conference while talking to the both of them so we're all on the same page. I've been wanting to be able to do that for a while. It gets really difficult to try to affect those kinds of things when I can only interact with one of them."

Michael considered that, then looked at Gareth. "When she came to me in the morning after I said that little prayer, did you see or hear her?"

Gareth shook his head. "Only felt the pressure and she made me do the kneeling thing."

Michael nodded. "It should work, if I can get us all into the main room. The only problem might be the flavor text. She'll see Nyanta-san and both Inari's will know the other is present. I don't know that this short a distance is of significance. We might explode things we don't want to."

"Short?" Shiroe blinked.

"They're larger than the universe," Gareth said dryly. "Trust us. It's short."

"Maybe you should ask the shrine maidens," Shiroe said slowly. "They should know what happens if they see each other. If they can actually be reasonable when together, it would still work, I would think. When there's a High Priest and a High Priestess both in residence on Shrine Mountain it doesn't explode or it would already be cratered."

"Well...that may be _because_ they're here together. She's pretty peeved Nyanta-san won't come, actually." Michael sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Has Tetorō told you what the Izanami side of the flavor text is yet?" It came out rather miserably.

Shiroe stiffened slightly. "Yes, he has." And his look said to shut up.

Michael nodded. "We've been shut up, the three of us, in the room of healing so that we can't interfere with the rest of what's going on up here. She said if the High Priest was here we wouldn't have had to do this in the first place, since only he can heal Crusty in person. So I go fetch Purrcy out and we work in the code realm. Purrcy isn't affected, after all." That both convicted Nyanta and mollified him. He'd been twitchy now for a while.

Shiroe gave him a curious look. "Tetorō said you've been keeping her other times as well?"

Now Michael gave Shiroe a "shut up" look. Nyanta had gone stiff. "She's ragged, Shiroe. Even only after three days she was looking like the moths were eating her. I made her stay put and sleep. It's the reason I want a different solution to what they're doing. She said that the reason they can't get Oracles very often is because they want someone young - a child - who's mind can be controlled easily, but the process to become one kills them that young. Give us a solution and I'll not have to make her sleep and recover. I'm glad she brought Gareth in. He's been able to give her spiritual healing shots and that's helped."

Shiroe and Nyanta were both concerned and looked at each other. Nyanta gave a twist of his tail. Shiroe looked back at Gareth. "Can you teach Tetorō some of the stronger spirit healing spells before you go? Make them part of the religious rituals and see if that lets you cross the boundaries." He paused with a frown, "Though...they should already have some of those kinds of things they can teach. The shrine maidens and priests can affect demons, ghosts, and yokai with various spells and rituals. See if you can get learning those added to both of your lessons - or all of your lessons," he looked at Michael significantly.

"Yessir," both he and Gareth answered.

Shiroe paused again, then thinking out loud said, "You might want to postpone on asking for your request until you've had that training. They may tell you something that would have bearing on it. Izanami likes to play the game to the detail. I can come up with something on the fly, but if there's a possible way to slip it in as part of the game as well, that would help."

"Additional bonus points," Michael nodded. "I get that...but I don't want to wait too long and I can't get to that training until we're done with the code, at least. ...Well, I'll see if I can figure out how to work the schedule. You work on the text."

Shiroe nodded. "Sounds good. We've got something from our end, too. Hold off on earning the final bonus for a bit. At least until you've learned everything they can teach you. It's our safety net."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "That's going to be hard, you know?"

"I do," Shiroe said, "sorry but we need it on this end for as long as you can give it to us."

Michael sighed. "We'll do our best, but if I get too impatient, I may snap and do it anyway."

"I understand," Shiroe answered. "That everything?"

"For now, yes." Michael said and the video connection faded out. He looked at Gareth. "Anything else you want to say now while they can't listen in on us?"

Gareth looked at him with a bit of a withering look and shook his head. "I don't know why you bothered."

"I don't need Kaede hearing our conversations. It was keeping her out."

"Oh." That Gareth could understand. She didn't have Purrcy's best interest at heart, after all, nor theirs. "No. Nothing to add, though once I understand how to be a confessorial, I'll be practicing on you first."

"Deal," Michael said and took down the umbrella and lay down again.

"You going to tell them it doesn't work on the Inari?" Gareth asked as he lay down in his futon.

"No," Michael answered. "If Purrcy hasn't told them herself yet, then it's not my place to. I figure it's more of the security blanket again, though. We weren't around yet when she put it up over there."

"Yeah...that's probably it," Gareth believed that about as much as Michael did, but they weren't high enough clearance to get told the real answer so they let it go and drifted off to sleep.


	124. Releasing the Restraints

The next day Michael prayed a small prayer after he finished his purifications. "Please Inari-no-Izanami, have the shrine maidens and priestess of your shrine teach us who are not of this world or land what it means to be your deacon and your priest, but not so that it interferes with the work we've been given to do."

They were fetched mid-afternoon by two acolytes and spent two hours being taught the basics of the religious beliefs of Yamato. It was very eye opening and informative, actually, given that so many of their quests had it interwoven throughout them. It was a mixture of Shinto, general folklore of Japan, and interestingly a few other religions Earth-wide, but changed to be a unique flavor for _Elder Tales_. Tetorō had been brought out to learn with them in the lower room of teaching, which was lower - at the milli level - so that they could teach the general population as well as progressing acolytes. They were sitting together cross-legged on the tatami mat floor in discussions after the lesson, in what they'd called a study session so they would be left alone, though one of the acolytes was still sitting guard outside the door. The other had gone to report, most likely.

"So...from the beginning, Purrcy was labeled a Vengeful Spirit but was really an ikiryō that was then used as a misaki - a spirit that possessed another being because she was using others as her oracle by the order of Inari, which would cover the more divine aspect." Tetorō rubbed his head, trying to get it sorted out.

"And the belief in ikiryō - the spirits of living people that wander - is why we can walk the realms in the first place the way we do, leaving the physical behind," Michael wanted to get it clarified.

Tetorō nodded. "Yes, though the way it plays out in Yamato is different than it would in Japan."

"Likely in the U.S., too," Gareth agreed. "You don't last long as a living creature that way."

"No, but that may be why they were labeled Vengeful Spirits, too, so they would?" Tetorō seemed a little unsure. "But Purrcy should have been labeled a misaki from the time we could see her in the Maze of Eternity."

"And who writes her labels?" Michael reminded him dryly.

"Right...she wasn't ready to be seen as that just then. It wasn't until the next level that we got to learn she was that, and by then she had her body back. Of course, she would have still been misaki, just not a spirit one, and that didn't come up on the list."

Michael shrugged. "Maybe it isn't labeled that in our PC-based lists? It did list Oracle and Priestess. That was probably enough."

Tetorō nodded thoughtfully. "But if she's that, and we purify her...no it's because she's still kitsune - a heavenly messenger. She won't be exorcised because of that."

"Well...I don't know about that," Michael said slowly. "She spends more time out of her body than in it at that level." They sat in silence on that point for a bit, not quite sure what purification versus exorcism did to Adventurer psyche. So far purification had helped heal Purrcy's psyche. They hadn't learned the exorcism rites yet, though they'd learned they should if they were going to be the full-real-deal.

"Well at the moment that's more your fault, Michael," Tetorō finally said. Michael had to agree with that. "And she's a dakini at some level, too," Tetorō added, working with what he had from his own background. "Though in the Hindu sense that would be the female consort to a mid or high level deity."

"That would be at the High Priestess level, then, not the Inari-no-Izanami level?" Michael asked.

"Mmm, I think so," Tetorō said. "Again, it's not a perfect match to Japanese lore, but I think Purrcy herself would be correctly labeled that, like Nyanta-san might, only the male side. It's a consort level label in the Buddhist sect."

Michael looked at him with a sour taste in his mouth. "That's getting into harems and reverse harems, isn't it?" At Tetorō's nod, Michael grimaced. "I'd really rather not go into that, thank you very much."

"Painful," Tetorō agreed. "We'll leave it alone, but the way they described it, it fits how Purrcy's being used, too."

Gareth nodded, "Her telling me she's going to 'bring us all up' fits that, too - the enlightenment stuff, though that's not what I had in mind."

Michael rubbed his chin. "But...that might actually be the link we need. If the bodhisattvas move through enlightenment so that they can be released from the physical realm, like what's happened with the purification rituals, but they are all still one creature that moves through the levels to join the whole, we might be able to pull out the physical portion to exist simultaneously as the enlightened level but still have it be one dakini."

"I like that way of thinking about it," Tetorō agreed.

Gareth was sitting, thinking hard and he was actually glowing to Michael's vision. Michael blinked. "Out with it man. Your goddess is saying you're on the right path. What's on your mind?"

"I am?" But Gareth wasn't even in his own question anymore. "That enlightenment path...can we use that to get rid of the flavor text for the Inaris? When the movements are made out of the physical plane, the physical needs no longer exist, do they? But that flavor text holding them back is just that - the physical requirement." He looked at Michael and Tetorō, back in the real world again. "How do we help move them on through the path of enlightenment?"

Michael folded his arms and put his own brain to it, though it wasn't that hard an answer. "Priestess Kaede, we have a question. Will you please come answer it?"

"Just ask it," she said tiredly from wherever it was she was. He liked being able to chat with a Person of the Land. It was very convenient.

"I'm sure we have more lessons that will eventually explain it, but during the path through enlightenment to the higher realms, do we leave the physical behind or is it still a part of what we must hold onto?" He made it a conference chat so the others could hear her answer and surprisingly it worked, since he wasn't _really_ using the chat function with her.

"Well...it still remains a part of the whole. We don't forget our experiences. But to re-experience them to their fullest one must become physical again."

"Why are Inari-no-Izanami and Inari-no-Izanagi tied so tightly to their physical forms that they have the aspects of over-sexuality and jealousy still? Is it part of their essence or is it left over from early worship of human emotionality? It seems counter to enlightenment to me to be so narrowly defined."

"Hmm," Kaede took her time to think about that one.

"I guess I'm asking because we've been taught modern philosophy but we don't know the history of worship yet." Michael added to keep it going the way he wanted to. "Is the concept of enlightenment more modern?"

"It is...," she allowed. "And I suppose looked at in the historic light, those two concepts are a little contrary to each other. For all they should have a memory of what it was to be physical and they know it when they come, if they've become fully enlightened beings, that artifact shouldn't be a requirement." Michael was guessing this was only working because of Kaede's own personal aversion to the current state of the High Priestess.

"Priest Jared, Priest Michael has asked an interesting question," Michael blinked, surprised Kaede could do that, too, but maybe it was part of being a priest not an Adventurer. Or maybe they were in the same room already. He hadn't actually gone to look. She filled Jared in, then asked for his opinion.

"I would think," Priest Jared said slowly, "that by now, after this many millennia, they should have certainly reached the point of enlightenment that the strong negative emotions would have been swallowed up in full comprehension of all darkness and light; that there is a balance to all things. Surely our continuing to hold to the belief that they are limited by such things as jealousy and sexuality is outdated. Even we don't hold to those for our own progression." Everyone in Michael's room was getting excited, probably as much as Kaede, really.

"I'm willing to let them be unfettered from the past beliefs," Michael said calmly. "I haven't been around long enough to be taught otherwise."

"But," Jared said, uncertain, "I do think they are still husband and wife, devoted to each other. That has brought great stability to the land."

"I can see that," Michael nodded. "Like a mother and father watch over, teach, and protect their children, training them in the right path to go when they're benevolent, chastising wisely when it's necessary to correct their children. All children benefit from that kind of family life."

There was silence from the other two. Michael gave a worried look to Tetorō. Tetorō wrote in the air, _Too new. Too modern a concept._

 _Past time it was introduced_ , argued Gareth and Michael nodded his agreement.

"Well, certainly as Mother Creator and Father Creator, it makes sense in some fashion," Kaede finally allowed. "That view point could be slowly encouraged if it appears. I do agree that it's unreasonable to say that they would become not married just because they've let go of their final physical restraints. Are we in agreement, then Priest Jared? We'll have the traveling deacons and shrine maidens and acolytes begin teaching that view. They know how to integrate it without causing disruption."

"You don't have to ask them first?" Michael asked in surprise. "The Inari's that is?"

There was disapproving silence on the other side. "Ask her yourself," Kaede finally said bitterly.

"Actually, I already have," Michael said mildly. "Apparently they've only been waiting on you and their believers. You shape them to some degree, you know."

He swore he heard swearing before the connection was cut. Michael sat thinking about things for a while. Things had moved in the way they needed to for a long-term answer. He didn't know if it was going to be exactly what they needed. He called Purrcy out of the ring. They looked at her floating in the air, smiling at them. She transformed to an ikiryō cat and walked around all three of them, purring and rubbing against them. Michael could feel it since he was in all realms at once. It was just the one he focused on that he saw at any given time. He pet her. "Feeling better yet, or will it take time for everyone to learn it and come to accept it?"

She shrugged and sat down with them, her tail curling around her feet. "I'll let Izanami decide how she wants to play that. Izanagi's all for right now, the priests having generally agreed to it unanimously. Izanami's still waffling."

Michael looked at her soberly. "Shiroe asked me last night to let it simmer, too. I'll move on it when he's ready, though he's promised to forgive me if I want to kill Izanami and forget to be patient."

Purrcy looked at him, then gave a nod. "She'll wait for your request, then."

"And if they start fighting, I'll take the brunt of it until I cave, is it?" he asked her ears that couldn't stay standing upright. Her tail gave a flick of agreement.

Michael sighed. "And we were all finally getting along so well. I'll work on the proper words to say so we do it right. I won't drag my feet long on purpose. Shiroe just needs a little more time to get things into place before we begin officially."

Purrcy gave a nod and they all got back to work on Crusty. It was likely a good guess they wanted the breaking of the flavor text to coincide roughly with the completion of his repairs.

-:-:-:-:-

After a week of working on Crusty except for a few hours each afternoon for theology lessons, they'd reached the more intricate details where they had to have Izanami present as much as Purrcy. In turns Izanami was impatient, capable, and completely distracted with wanting to get to Michael. Tempers were fraying in every room of the shrine. Michael finally called a halt, saying they needed a vacation, even if it was only for half a day.

"Priestess Kaede, let her walk in the gardens today as she comes down. A breath of fresh air is important for her, too. Being closed up in the four walls I'm sure has as much to do with her difficulty as anything. Izanami, please back off for the day and let Purrcy have her body back. You already know from before that we need more rest than this and we've done our best until now. Tetorō if you want to walk in the garden with Purrcy, do so, otherwise, go run a few laps around the shrine - outside. We're all coming down anyway. If it happens a little faster today, who cares. Gareth, you and I are going to play poker with the guys to let them know we're still living and to cuss as much as we want. We'll all meet back up for dinner. If you need us, that's where we'll be," the last he said for Tetorō's sake more than the rest of them. "After dinner, it's R&R time. We won't get back to work until tomorrow after the morning purification. Izanami, you don't have to show up until then."

The vision of Izanami he saw while they worked on Crusty frowned at him. "Look. I'm sure Izanagi's nagging you, but until I hear properly from Shiroe, I'm not budging. I'm not dragging either. I've got the request properly ready now. You know full well we've been moving as fast as possible on Crusty." It wasn't enough. "I promise, I'll call Shiroe once I've properly let off steam this afternoon and see how much more time he needs, okay? You two are asking a lot of us in this level, far more than we want to give. You have to at least give us enough time to be prepared for the dive or we might never surface again for want of enough oxygen." She still wasn't happy but it was the best he could do on this particular day. Both she and Purrcy faded out of the code realm. Michael felt very light all of a sudden as he stepped back out into the base realm.

"Izanami left?" Gareth asked, also looking like he'd been released from being beat up.

"Not happy, but yes until tomorrow morning. I've called a vacation halt until tomorrow morning's purification. ...You didn't hear it?"

"No, I was in lessons with Chappie. When you're all working together okay, I get rather bored." He looked at Michael with a studious look. "I think I'm ready anytime for that confessional if you are."

Michael snorted. "Not right now, I'm not. Right now you and I are going to head out of the shrine and breathe real fresh air moving at normal speeds, then we're going to go break rules with the boys who are worried about us because they can't get to us, until I'm feeling grounded properly again. We're all about to eat each other in there."

They walked down the hallway from the room of healing towards the main entrance of the shrine. They stopped in the lower room of instruction and pulled out clothes they hadn't seen in over a week and a half. They practiced the low level Purification of Items over the clothing, put them on, then put away their priestly kimonos. "I wonder how long before it doesn't hurt to stand next to them?" Michael wondered mildly.

Gareth shrugged and they opened the door to the exterior and stepped out. The mountain air was full of cedar pine scents, fall earthy smells, and the sounds of the birds and other wildlife of the mountains. All of that had been present inside the shrine, too, but it was more pronounced to be outside in it. The air was very cool and slightly moist. "Going to be winter soon up here in the mountain," Gareth commented. "Almost should have added one more layer." It didn't bother them much, being Adventurers, but now that they weren't inside the shrine it wouldn't do to perform the ritual blessing where the Intelligence detail could really see it. At best it would have been hazy in that room where they were nearly base level speeds.

Michael stretched, then did a toe touch stretch to work out his leg muscles. "Too damn much sitting," he grumbled. "Need to hit things for a while." His wings were out next and stretching as far as they could go. Being magical, he didn't feel the pull on his shoulders the same as he would have if they were real, but he still wanted to literally stretch his wings today. "Shall we see the full layout from the air?" Gareth wasn't far behind him at all as his wings caught the air and pressed down as he made the initial jump he needed to get off the ground. It felt good to feel the wind as his wings beat firm and strong. He went straight up at first, getting height. He leveled off and flapped slow flaps to get into a circular holding pattern over the shrines, getting a good long look at the placement of all five.

The shrines of Inari-no-Izanami and Inari-no-Izanagi were the most prominent at the fore near the steps up the mountain. Set farther around the mountain to the east were two smaller shrines and to the west one smaller shrine. "It looks like they're far enough apart if we catch one, the others won't go up with them. That's good, I think," Michael said.

"You sure we're not going to need to get them all?" a new voice asked.

"No, Bowie. It's only the main two that want dealing with. I'm not even sure the other three really exist in the same way," Michael answered. "And why would the People of the Land want to do away with the gods of the land, rice, and water? Those are the things that really give them life. Does anyone walk their halls anyway?"

"One. The shrine of the god of land."

"Then leave well enough alone," he said.

"Poor guy's lonely and mostly ostracized by the other two shrines anyway," Black Jack chimed in.

"Hate to leave him even more alone," Gareth said sympathetically. "You guys gone visiting over there?"

"A couple of times. He's a quiet sort, lost in front of Adventurers, but he's okay." Stiletto said. "Here's the map of the two we can get into. Is it the same layout?"

A map popped up at the edge of their vision. "Those are smaller," Michael said. "Gareth will get you proper maps. It's mostly in numbers of rooms. These two get regular homeowner's present, so have to accommodate."

"Well, we're assuming for Izanagi's shrine, aren't we?" Gareth asked.

"No. It's the same. I've been able to get in over there, too, though not when people are awake. Of course, right now there's a lot less of them than we've got at ours." He gave the head count to the Intelligence detail. "They're all women, of course, on our side, but don't underestimate them. The priesthood is similar to another Class of magic user, and they get to cut corners and go straight to big stuff - like Priestess Kaede did with that spell that let her see our base stats. They aren't quite as savvy, but assume you're fighting at minimum Programmer Class magic users, and watch out for realm walkers. That turns out to be an effect of becoming a Priest. I may have to draw those two off so the rest of you can do your jobs, though...," he paused in the air over the shrines, looking down at the one for Izanami, "they'd actually be allies. They really do hate that an Adventurer was chosen. I'd expect them to hate what Inari's doing right at the moment with that one they have to deal with. We've not let them know or we'd already be out on our ears, I expect."

"True, that," Gareth said very quietly, soaring in a curve over Michael's head.

"Why can't we get in to see you, or even to talk to you?" Stiletto asked. It was likely eating at him.

"You'd have to come inside and up. But as soon as you cross the second threshold Izanami and the Priestess can see you and have the ability to toss you back out as an intruder. The whole building is like the code realm progression. Anyone who enters has to pass into those realms physically. The building makes it happen even if you don't do the formalities. Try to run through it and it's painful. Whoever comes will have to come as supplicants and take their time, pouncing at the last minute." Michael got back into flight again, putting the shrines behind him with powerful forward strokes that took him around the mountain. He was watching the outer scenery and the scenery below him now, wanting to put those rooms behind him.

"Need to breathe a bit. It's gotten too stuffy in there and we're still not done," he growled the last, frustrated. For seven days of seven hundred years he'd been working with Purrcy and they still weren't done at the bit level of how an Adventurer was built. "That curse is one big pain. Izanami's thrown more fits than one AI ought to be throwing, and I've been joining in the last two days. We're on break until dawn, then have to get back into it again." It wasn't that bitter, really. He gave another strong pulse of his wings and spun, feeling the strong delight in the flight.

He was another five minutes into it when he realized he had passengers. "The garden get too small that fast?" he asked.

"Yup," Tetorō answered.

"And I wanted to feel what real flight feels like, too," Purrcy answered. "Hope you don't mind too much."

"Not like I need the two of you hanging around on a day I want to take a break from everything," he complained at them.

"We won't stay long," Purrcy promised.

"Fine," he grumbled. They flew together until he realized something. "You know, I'm not supposed to fly with you unless Nyanta-san's with us," he told Purrcy.

She sighed. "I seem to remember saying something similar to you back in Akiba on a day of rest on the roof."

Michael thought about if this was similar to that or not. "Fine. You're not really flying, so I guess we can skirt the edge of that land mine." He rolled his eyes at her as she rolled her eyes at him. Tetorō laughed at them both. They both pounced on him in the code realm until he promised to not tell Nyanta. Having gotten some of their energy out, Michael went back to looking at the scenery, and they went back to enjoying flying for the first time. "How long does it take to go around the mountain?" he finally got around to asking.

"Too long if you want to explore up and down around the shrine," Bowie answered back.

"Fine. I'll come back," he grumbled and turned up towards the tip of Mount Fuji. The snow cap was large from this location.

"It really is beautiful, isn't it?" Purrcy asked with soft awe. "I'm glad I get to see it once, particularly from this vantage point." She fell silent again. Michael wrapped his arms around his middle and held on tight.

He stayed silent until she and Tetorō thanked him and finally left him alone, then he took himself down to the top of a cedar, crouched on the branch he'd chosen and balancing himself with a hand on the trunk. Gareth landed nearby and looked at him with the question on his face. "Alright, Deacon Gareth," he said quietly, "I'm ready. I need to get it out now before we get back."

A worried look flashed across Gareth's face, but he nodded and flapped over to be in the same tree. Michael put a privacy shield around them, made to keep even Stiletto out, as Gareth gave the message out that he was filling in for Chappie for the next twenty minutes. They'd respect that much. They all knew what Izanami did to Michael and he'd been hounded by her for a lot longer this time than before, and with a lot more insistence, though they didn't need to know that much.

Michael listed off his sins of anger first. They were the easiest to let out and get off his chest. His despair at his own weaknesses wasn't far behind that. Hardest was what he really needed to say today. He paused, then said a little prayer in his heart. " _Izanami, please...really don't listen to this next part. I need it to be between me and my own god only. Izanagi, please, stay out of it, too. I need to heal in order to finish what you've both set me to do."_ He couldn't know if they'd listen, but he'd been needing this for a long time and he needed it to continue to walk forward properly. When it seemed like they might be granting that desire of his heart, he looked at the patiently waiting Gareth.

"Gareth...I've committed the sin of adultery in my heart, and I can't go on with it on my soul. Betrayal has walked with me constantly since I've come to this place. She did it again just now and I'm falling harder this time around. I need to be back on solid ground." It hurt to admit it. "If I fall in love with Purrcy for real, we can't accomplish what we all need, and I can't do what I need to do, but I hate what's happening to her and I admire her guts and her strength so much, I can't help falling for her every time she's soft, every time she stands up and shakes her fist ...every time she teases me tears me up. The tables are turned so bad, it's not funny." He was drowning just having to say it.

"And when I went through my trial...," he took a shaky breath, "I had to betray her and betray all of that and openly say that we protect each other because we hate each other and push each other to do what we're supposed to do like the watchdogs we are." He looked down at his knees. Quietly he admitted, "That betrayal hurt the worst - enough I cracked. I can't repair it here because I can't catch my breath."

Michael looked out over the tree tops, silent for a while. "I know I scolded you for it, but the scolding was for me, too, and yes, the lot of you put your fingers on it early. She'd already turned the tables by then and every time I denied her my loyalty and kept my mouth shut was difficult. Swearing fealty to the Queen wasn't hard. Following her and doing what I'm told to do isn't hard. Understanding that for her it's all just part of the game and her end goal, and there's nothing there for me at all but cold hard core...that's hard. I hate it, really, being on the opposite end of where I'm supposed to be. That keeps me going hard, too, when I need to be. It's what's under and around my driving need to kill Nyanta and even her, and they've both tasked me with both jobs. I won't be able to kill Purrcy, though. Izanami inside her avatar, yes, but her...I don't know any more. I've already lost and the contract will trump: I'll protect Purrcy and die before she does if I can't repair this."

He sighed and shifted to sit stretched out along the branch, his legs out in front of him and leaned back on the trunk. "I'd love to blame it all on this level, and some days I have to, to keep going, but by the time we were wrapping up Minami...I was selfishly doing what I wanted to do, even knowing in the depths of my conscience I was ignoring that it was wrong on a lot of levels in a lot of ways."

He leaned his head back on the trunk of his tree and rolled his head to look into Gareth's eyes. "It would be best for me to see we all lose in the end so she can't dance that jig, and I hope we get home and she does get left here like she wants. I can't cut the ties. That would force them to be." He looked away again. "I've been trying. Every time I think I've got it finally, she goes and says something like that and I'm lost again. She doesn't even know she's doing it most of the time. She'll go and say something that gets me hooked, and then Izanami will shove in and I want to take her down and I have to fight all over again from the beginning. It's stringing me thin."

"We've got to be done with this soon, or I won't be able to keep it up. That's the real reason I'm going to talk to Shiroe today. Not to ask him how much longer he needs, but to let him know I can't go on. It's to warn him he's out of time. I've got to kill the flavor text so I don't destroy what we're all building. ...Leaving her here will be very good for me when we get done and get to go back." He went silent. It would be good, but it would also be hard until he got her out of his system again.

Gareth took a breath, then began the scolding and the absolution, mixing the two because he was that way, and Michael didn't complain. Gareth was scolding himself, too, and Michael understood it. They made a great and a terrible pairing. They'd carry this burden together, and hope that it helped to keep them in the air long enough to complete the mission and return to the ship, even if they were hobbling along on a wing and a prayer and whispers of fuel.

-:-:-:-:-

Three days later Michael snapped. With great roaring, he ordered Izanami out of the room of healing, put Purrcy to sleep in the ring, and stalked out of the room to sit cross-legged in the lower room of instruction, his arms folded and his eyes closed. That was as far as he could get from Izanami and not have her show up physically. She wasn't too fond of showing up in visions at that level either, he'd learned. She had to drop too far down to get there. Gareth showed up a few minutes later. "Send Purrcy to Tetorō," he ordered softly. Michael had to fight himself, but he finally was able to comply and nodded it was done. He didn't move from his pose and struggle with himself, however. Gareth sat quietly and kept watch over him.

When Michael finally had enough control over himself and had calmed down from his anger enough, he contacted Kaede. "I've been giving our last conversation a lot of thought," he stated. "This has really reached the point of distraction until we can't get the job properly done so we can get the injured, and the rest of us men, out of here at a reasonable time. It's making me wonder how much she's doing it on purpose to keep us here. Will you hear me out and help me correct it more immediately for the purposes we need it to be corrected for here at the shrine?"

"You've thought of something you believe will work?" Kaede asked a little suspiciously and a lot unsure.

"Yes, but it will require the faith of all of us and our prayers in her own behalf. Will you go along with me?"

It didn't take long to get Kaede's answer. "Yes."

"Then Gareth and I will come to the sitting room of the High Priestess and give our petition to her there. Please echo it with all your being and instruct all the shrine maidens and acolytes to follow after the same. Perhaps with all of us asking for a release, she'll listen and free herself from this horrible thing that keeps her tied to the earth, unable to reach the full enlightenment she's been striving to reach."

"We'll meet you there," Kaede's answer was grim. Michael knew they all had to fight in that room, too, but he didn't know the specifics. Most likely it involved having three to five of them sitting on her - literally - at all times.

Michael rose and motioned to Gareth. "We'll go earn that bonus now," he said shortly. Gareth gave a short nod and followed him through the door into the upper room of instruction, which brought them back up from where they'd nearly fallen to in the lower room of instruction. Then they slid open the door into the hall between that room and the lower room of meeting, where Purrcy was sitting on her cushions, surrounded by the clergy. Michael took them through into that room to stand in front of the physical Purrcy.

He glanced at Kaede to catch her attention, then clapped twice, bowed and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami, please free yourself from the bondage you've been under until this time due to the unenlightened minds of your devotees. Free yourself from the bondage that makes it so you can only be left a lonely wife at night, a captive of your bed waiting for your husband to come home so that his jealousy and anger won't be brought against Yamato and the land. Your sacrifice for us has been large and long. Please go free now and release yourself from the unnatural state of being driven to lie with any man you see. Let only your husband be your desire as is right." He bowed again.

Kaede had her own enlightenment by then. She clapped twice, bowed, clapped again, and asked a similar intercessory prayer. All of the shrine maidens and acolytes (Gareth and Tetorō included) had dropped to their faces on their knees as soon as Michael had begun his prayer. When Kaede finished hers, they all repeated in unison, "Please, Inari-no-Izanami, hear our prayer."

There was a light that filled the room and a flash of pressure power hit everyone in the room, then the light receded and Purrcy looked at Michael calmly. "I have heard your prayer and it has been answered."

Michael bowed. "Thank you." he said. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Kaede.

She looked puzzled, but bowed and thanked Izanami as well. "Please excuse us, then," Michael said calmly and led Kaede and Gareth back out the door. He looked at Tetorō in the eye and got a little nod. He'd stay and see if things got a little better for Purrcy now and what the changes would be.

When they were out of the inner sanctum, Kaede turned and looked at Michael, very puzzled. "Priest Michael? What was your prayer? What was done?"

Michael stared at her. "You don't remember?" Kaede shook her head. He answered her, "We asked for the same thing, and then there was a light and the power of Izanami was in the room. When it faded she said that thing," Michael said to her.

"I remember what happened after, but not before," she answered.

"Well...maybe Priest Jared would know what we went in to ask?" Michael suggested.

Kaede was hesitant, but then called him and asked. She looked at Michael and shook her head. "He doesn't know."

Michael shook his head. He'd been thinking hard in that short break. "I'm sorry, then. ...Ah, I've one question if I may. I've been wondering what the real relationship between Izanagi and Izanami is?"

"They are the Father Creator and Mother Creator who watch over all the creations on the earth as husband and wife." Kaede answered.

"Are they jealous for each other?" Michael asked.

"What need have they for base human emotions when they are enlightened?" Kaede answered.

Michael hesitated. It was a correct answer, but not sufficient. The part he'd been hoping for had been left out. "Well...there are reasons. If they lose all touch with the lowest level, how can any of us hope to eventually attain true enlightenment? Surely they must still retain the lessons they learned in the physical plane where emotions are part of the whole. Full balance between darkness and light must include the emotions as well, that lead to the wrong and right actions of all creations." Kaede gave him an odd look, then left them at the door to the room of healing.

Michael and Gareth both bowed, though Michael less as Kaede walked off. "Izanami," Michael said quietly as they walked back into the room of healing, "you didn't understand that lesson we all gave you, yet again. Please try harder. Even they agreed with it until you made that change. It was an incorrect detail you made for your own personal selfish pleasure. Fix that part back or we'll not ever be able to help you become fully enlightened." He paused to clap twice, bow and clap again. "Please help yourself more strenuously in your path to enlightenment and do as I've scolded you to do."

At that there was one more little zap. Michael nodded. "Thank you." He paid the price with having to sleep immediately, though. It had been a large request with only a little action to go with it. Gareth sighed over him as he collapsed into sleep on the floor. Michael didn't mind. He'd actually gotten to scold Izanami and for once have it listen properly. It felt pretty good to be able to win some of his own personal points finally.

-:-:-:-:-

"So...what did you do?" Shiroe's voice woke him up later that evening.

Michael didn't rise. He was still physically wiped out. "Gareth and I won the bonus points," he said quietly. "I had to make a correction and it wiped me out since I didn't do it right. I'm glad it was willing to listen to me today, though I had the help of the priestess and all the lower levels as well. Everyone was done with that particular flavor text, it was so troublesome, so I had no complaints."

Shiroe asked, "What specifically did it?"

"From the lessons we learned that they believe in a mix of Shinto, Buddhism, Hindi, common Japanese lore, and a touch of Christianity thrown in all mixed in a bucket and _Elder Tales_ special sauce added into the mix. We discussed it and decided the path of enlightenment was our key. We got them loosened from the physical restraints of single emotions and onto a better path of enlightenment themselves. Izanami tried to take out that it needed to have emotions at all, but I scolded it and told it to put that back in or we wouldn't be able to help it reach the full enlightenment it needed."

"...and that worked?" Shiroe asked in some disbelief.

"Yes. It put it back."

"Soo...they are really computer constructs on the journey to full awareness...full enlightenment?"

"Well, yeah, isn't that what we decided way back?"

"...I guess so...," Shiroe said, a bit doubtful.

"Well so or not, it worked and it's the angle we think to go for the other request we want to make. The bodhisattva path is that they are one being and all of creation at the same time, and that all beings can reach all levels of enlightenment on that path and return to whatever level they need to be in at a particular moment. I was thinking it might be possible to say that Purrcy is at one and the same time the physical Purrcy that can become the werecat, and the enlightened dakini that is the misaki of Izanami. When Izanami needs her to be at the higher level, she can be there, and simultaneously she can be the physical Purrcy taking care of herself to take care of the children. It stretches the brain a little, trying to understand the concepts of enlightenment, but I think it works properly...and I think Izanami can do it."

"Okay, I'll work from that premise, then," Shiroe said. "I've got the basic outline figured out. When do you want it?"

"It works best if it's in the morning just after I've finished my final purifications. Then I've paid the price upfront, instead of after, like I did this evening." It was self scolding.

"I can have it to you by morning, then, if you want it so soon. Shall we all try to conference, do you think?"

Michael considered that, "It would be a good test to see that they've properly released themselves from the flavor text and we likely need to make that request while they feel like they owe us something."

"...Is that sane?" Shiroe asked tentatively.

"Yes. The testing goes both ways apparently, with no trouble. I was tested three times in three different situations. Every time I've tested back, I've not received trouble...though I haven't been unreasonable about it. It's like beta testing the code, you know? We made a change, we test it the same as they do, I think is how it's viewed."

"Okay," Shiroe seemed to like that description well enough. "As long as we keep it to that kind of level."

"No problem. I'll conference you all in when we get to that point tomorrow morning then?"

"Okay," Shiroe said. "Good night."

"Good night," Michael said and sighed. "Dang. Missed dinner." He dragged himself out of bed so he wouldn't have to later. On the way to the privy he grabbed a roll off the plate Gareth had left him. When he got back, he ate the rest of the meal cold and without paying any attention to it, downed the cup of water, then went back to bed. Military and the poor starving learned to just shovel in whatever was handed to them. Fuel was fuel.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe looked at Nyanta. "We'll give the next request in the morning. Please be prepared." Nyanta bowed and took himself out of the room.

Shiroe called up the underground resistance in a group chat. "It begins tomorrow, the descent into the level. The restriction on Izanagi has been lifted. I still believe he'll hold off as long as Izanami is willing to intervene in our behalf, but begin to become aware of the the small things that can lead to bigger ones in the future. Train and turn from the behaviors now while we can practice without encumbrance. And remember, we're all in this to help each other. If you need help, ask for it. If you're asked for it, be sincere and fight for rational sanity so that we can continue to be strengths to each other for as long as possible." When he'd heard positive responses of affirmation from them all, he closed the chat.

He turned to Akatsuki and held out his hand to her. She cautiously walked over to the couch to kneel on it next to him, feeling carefully along that path how far she could safely go. Shiroe was also paying careful attention. This was as much a test as anything else. "One last night," he told her, then pulled her in close to hug her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him also. For one last night, they were physical pillars and strengths for each other. When they could feel the pressure mounting, Shiroe let her go and she moved to stand in front of the couch.

Akatsuki opened her mouth and worked very hard. "Shiroe... When this is over... I wish to say to you with my own words and sincere feelings...," her fists clenched, "I love you." She stared at him, then turned to flee the room.

"Akatsuki," he called to her, making her stop with her hand on the door knob. "When it is that time, I will listen properly, and answer you also properly. Until then, please remember...that I will wish to say it to you also...that I love you." She blinked out the door and was gone.

"Naotsugu, set a watch on my door tonight," Shiroe asked over the chat. "Consider it a serious test run."

"You got it, Councilor," Naotsugu answered soberly.

-:-:-:-:-

Once again, Michael was paying closer attention to what he was doing as he completed the washing rituals, putting his intent into it as much as he could. He didn't have the words yet...just the desire. It was good that was enough. He'd already pulled up his record and playback spell and had his game plan in mind. He'd told Gareth what they were praying for, too, in the manner of teaching him how to cook a new recipe for the first time so that he could put his own proper intent into it too. The desires of the lesser clergy had made a rather significant impact the evening before so he wanted to use that to the best of his ability. He'd be seeing if Shiroe would play along as well. It would be nice if having Nyanta chime in would help also, but he wasn't sure after what Purrcy had said to him before.

As Michael put on his kimono after the ritual bath, he considered his other new options that were open to him now. The kimono was really nice, actually, and he wondered if Izanami had created it based off the role play already in place or if Purrcy had designed it for him. It rather made him think of the sub-guild's role as a ninja group, which made him wonder how far the Intelligence detail had gotten in their research. It was an idle wonder but he was suddenly in the forest. He sighed. "Really," he said aloud, "I do wish it wouldn't happen quite so randomly."

A face peered back at him. "Commander, Sir?"

"Yeah. My realm walker got a major boost and now I'm trying to relearn it. How's things?"

"Fine. Everything okay where you are?"

"Yeah, they hold to a pretty strict schedule, but that's not new."

"No," the face agreed. "Know when you're getting out yet?"

"No, but things are moving along. Speaking of which, I'll be in trouble if I don't get back pronto. I've got to finish cleaning up. See you 'round."

"See you."

Michael stepped back to the shrine and took a look at himself. He sighed. He'd have to start over perhaps... and perhaps not. The dark wriggles on his black kimono were destroying the effect, but also looked like moving embroidery on it. "Priestess Kaede, my realm walking took me outside in the middle of preparations quite by accident. Do I start over or will the final purification get rid of what I picked up?"

She sighed. "You really are a child, aren't you?"

"Well, to be suddenly thrust into this, yes," he agreed. "And to have not had time to properly practice the realm walking, though I've been trying to fit it in here and there."

"NOT here," she scolded him. He went back to where he was supposed to be without looking up, apologizing. "Just do the final purification."

"Yes, ma'am," he said and released the connection to her and focused on staying put this time along with the words he was supposed to say...and along with his intent. This was going to push his mental capacity for sure...and perhaps his patience as well. When he was done with the final purification, he sighed and relaxed where he was. This was tiring in the end. Meditation seemed like a good thing to do for a moment...especially if that was the equivalent to adding time to make a spell more effective. It seemed it might be.

He sat in the room of purification by himself and did just that. He calmed down and opened his mind, letting things go the way he had when he'd been in his initiate test until he was nothing again, though he retained the "Michael" that was inside until that same "Michael" was what floated in the space he was in at the micro level, near but not in the nano layer. When he was calm, he purposely interjected his desire into that space with him and made it a part of that space as well until it floated with him: "Michael-a-wish-to-help-Purrcy-and-Nyanta's-children". When he felt a focus of pressure on him, he "bowed" to it and gathered himself-with-desire up and returned to his body in the room of purification slowly and calmly.

"Come with me, Deacon Gareth," Michael said to his current partner. Gareth rose from the floor where he'd set his watch as he waited. He looked at Michael curiously, then decided to hold his tongue.

Michael went to the upper room of instruction. Gareth opened the door for him and bowed him in. Michael walked in and took the position of the teacher. Gareth closed the door and knelt behind him and to the side.

"Archmage Shiroe are you ready?"

"We are ...Priest Michael." Shiroe was sharp on the uptake, he was.

Michael opened the visual conference call so that they were all placed as students in the room. "The prayer has already begun, in its intent," Michael explained. "Please listen to my instructions so that you know how to face Izanami if you wish to face her directly, though it's yours to choose." He got sober nods. He explained what each should do based on what he had learned from the prayer the day before given their stations in front of Izanami. He warned Nyanta that he would need to carefully assess both his emotions and his intention and how Izanami might be facing him if he thought he wanted to address her specifically in behalf of his wife and children. And then he told them they would need to be purified before they could begin. "We can do it the hard way, or the easy way. It hurts worse the easy way, so I highly recommend the hard way."

"Do we really have to?" Brenner complained at him.

"Yes, Airman. You do," he commanded quietly. Brenner gave him a nod of a salute.

Michael motioned to Gareth, and he shifted forward enough to be seen clearly. With his hands resting relaxed on his knees, he explained the processes of purification that he had to go through. When he was done, Michael followed up with, "It isn't going to be possible to take Nyanta-san and Shiroe up to the next level at this point, but it isn't necessary. With that much you can enter her presence."

"...We're not coming there?" Shiroe protested slightly.

"No, but it's still the same. It's very difficult for me to look at the impurities on you. It will be impossible for her," Michael explained.

"You can see them?"

"Yes."

"Wait...we're going in?"

"Yes."

Those in Akiba looked at each other, then at Shiroe. "Shiroe," Michael said, "set the umbrella there to remove and keep out impurities. Let me see what that does to the room." Shiroe did. "That will work, but you lot still have to do the rituals. I'll wait here until you're done." Shiroe nodded and Michael closed the chat. He went back to meditation but kept it at a lower level this time, just staying in the space he was in, not leaving his body this time. He held it even when Izanami's attention came on his back from the room she was in behind him. He wasn't surprised when Gareth cast a Druid's healing spell on him.

"Are you going to be draining until we get there?" Gareth asked.

"Yes, most likely," Michael answered calmly. "You would think it would be building up, but it's the creation time so probably that's the way it works. We cast when we say the prayer, but everything up until then...pays the price."

"Understood," Gareth replied. A few times he spoke quietly to one or another of their counterparts in Akiba, answering procedural questions. Michael though it interesting (in a far corner of his awareness) that Izanami was awarding them points as they went. It counted as approval, he supposed, but really, if it taught the Game Bot that they did know what they were doing that would be even better.

It was a half hour before they came back, ready. Michael inspected them and the room closely first, then nodded. He gave them their instructions for what the plan was, then said, "Lock the window to me so you'll come with me." He rose and turned his back to them.

"Ready," Shiroe said calmly.

Michael walked to the door. Gareth slid it open for him again and closed it behind them, then followed at his heels, hands holding opposing wrists so their hands were tucked into their kimono sleeves at middle height. He'd told them to wear red, though Shiroe had gone with a mixture and Akatsuki had only added a red scarf to her usual black. That would be fine. Red was the color of male divinity and black was female - odd to Western minds and eyes - but they were all close enough...and he'd noticed Nyanta had found a red with black kimono that looked suspiciously just like Priest Jared's.

Michael wasn't actually surprised. He'd recognized the one on Priest Jared because of the kimonos they'd worn in Shangtzi when they spoke with Mise for the first time as kitsune. Getting Nyanta as far up as was needed to talk to Izanami would get Izanagi's attention and interest pretty quick since he hated the role to begin with. He must be pretty serious to be willing to go so far as to wear the kimono. He looked as dashing in it with his thin grey and white felinoid figure as Izanami was beautiful in her volumes of black and red kimonos that made her stars and golden eyes stand out.

When Michael arrived at the door to the lower room of meeting, there were two acolytes kneeling in front of it. They rose to their feet and waited for him. "What is the proper way for seekers to approach the Priestess and Oracle of Inari-no-Izanami?" Their eyes were very large as they looked at the people in the window to Akiba behind Michael. "Please be sure to explain it as if to children," he clarified for them.

One swallowed and carefully explained it. Michael repeated it back and got a nod. "Then please announce us." He took a deep breath and glanced at Gareth. He cast one more healing spell on Michael quietly. The door was slid all the way open and Michael stepped just to the entry. "I, Michael, Priest of Inari-no-Izanami, come with other supplicants to speak with the High Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami, and through her to the Mother Goddess of Creation." He bowed over his folded hands and looked Purrcy in the eyes, keeping his expression calm.

Purrcy gave a nod and Kiyoko said, "Let the supplicants enter."

Michael walked into the room with Gareth still behind him. When the shrine maidens and acolytes saw what was behind him, their eyes all went very wide as well. They'd only gone two steps before Kaede was standing in front of, though to the right of, Purrcy. Her eyes judged all of them. Michael went to the proper position and bowed again, everyone he'd brought with him bowing as well.

"For what purpose have you come to speak with the High Priestess?" Kaede asked properly.

"To ask for that which has been deemed necessary by those who protect the Adventurer Purrcy," Michael answered. He looked directly at Purrcy. "Inari-no-Izanami, we will be discussing things that are beyond the understanding of the People of the Land. Do you wish to allow them to leave?" He got narrowed eyes from Kaede, but didn't care. "It would be simpler than making them all forget again," he added.

"They are required to stay," Purrcy said.

"Very well," Michael put up the umbrella spell and shut them all out except those who belonged to Log Horizon and the two aspects of Inari. It was, thankfully, a cantrip for him now - or nearly that. "Inari-no-Izanami, we have reviewed the methods you have used to protect the growing children inside Purrcy, and have observed how she must be here in this place, and find the two goals incompatible and the solution insufficient. Your joint goal with Inari-no-Izanagi to experiment with the procreation of Adventurers on Theldesia is in jeopardy when it has barely begun. To only allow a pregnant female two meals a day is harmful to both mother and children in development, and in general. It is the same with rest. Nutrition and rest for the mother are required for healthy children to be born."

"In preventing the physical body of the Adventurer Purrcy from having either because you must have her at the higher levels in this place to meet the game requirements you are causing failures in your own goals and will because of that nullify your contracts in the end. Please hear our request for a proper alternative solution." He cast his second mostly-a-cantrip recording and play back spell, then stepped to the side, knowing Shiroe had detached the visual conference from his back by now.

Purrcy's eyes went to Shiroe and her attention was on him sharply. Shiroe clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami, please allow the philosophy of enlightenment of the Hindu Buddhist beliefs to be the path that you rule the anima of Purrcy with. Allow her to be in all levels of consciousness and enlightenment at each given moment in time, including a physical presence in the physical world, so that she may go to whatever level or realm you have need of her in, but so that the children she bears for you to meet her contract with you will have the proper development for the experiments to be valid. Allow her to be able to do this without expenditure of extra health or magic points so that she can remain healthy for the sake of the children." Purrcy's eyebrow whiskers went up. Even Michael was a bit surprised. He hadn't thought of that one and was glad he'd spent extra time ahead. That was going to make it a rather high level request.

Shiroe wasn't done. He turned to Nyanta and said, "Inari-no-Izanagi, please intercede on Adventurer Purrcy's behalf and for the sake of your own Priest, Nyanta, her husband so that your own goals in regards to the experiment also won't be corrupted." He bowed to Nyanta, then to Purrcy.

Michael had already rewound the recording. He clapped his hands twice, bowed to Purrcy, and clapped again. He said the exact same words Shiroe had, bowed, then turned to Nyanta, bowed and repeated what Shiroe had requested of him and bowed again. All four of the juniors had knelt and put their foreheads on the floor and now added their, "Please, grant us our request."

Michael looked to Purrcy again. She was giving him an interesting look. "Michael...how is it that you can come to me one day after another to ask for miracles so frequently?"

He thought about that, then said, "Because I haven't been taught I can't, and because isn't it you that has made it so I must? The quest was given by both you and Inari-no-Izanagi, and the both of you have also made it so we must make today's request."

"And yesterday's second miracle?"

"That was an error on your part, to selfishly remove what you knew was the intent of all supplicants to the request. It was your cost to pay, though you made me pay it anyway. And now that it's added back in, if you did it properly, you should have the perfect example from your own actions for what the emotion of 'selfish' is. Please remember it."

Purrcy gave him another look, almost of affront. "Michael...you are very difficult."

He raised his eyebrow at her. "I'm glad you've finally learned the definition of that from watching yourself as well."

When she actually rolled her eyes at him, he had to work very hard to squelch a laugh. She considered the request a little longer, then said, "The cost is too high. Purrcy herself would need to arrive at enlightenment for the cost to be bearable." Michael almost scowled.

"Izanami," Nyanta's soft voice called her. Purrcy was suddenly fixated on him. "For the sake of the Adventurer Purrcy, the Adventurer Nyanta, and the sake of our experiments, please relent. It isn't necessary and is simple enough to do. She is already at the cusp of development and can use this time to understand what's been done and how to live the new level of existence." Nyanta turned to Michael and bowed slightly. "Thank you Priest Michael, Deacon Gareth, and Deacon Tetorō."

Michael bowed back. "You're very welcome," he answered. "I'll call for a payment eventually, I'm sure."

"This isn't it?" Izanami asked from behind him.

Michael turned back. "Of course not. We've paid in other coin for this one, as you well know. I'll hold that one in reserve for now."

She gave him a look of concerted irritation. He didn't relent, remaining calm. "Fine," she sighed. "For the sake of the experiments and one difficult Priest that is going to be very fun to play with, and perhaps a little for my husband's sake since that got left in the mix...," Purrcy closed her eyes and began to glow, "but she's going to have difficult lessons for a few months."

"As long as she can eat five or six meals a day and get eight hours of real physical and mental sleep or more, I'm okay with that," Michael said calmly.

Purrcy's eyes flew open again as the light around her was fading. "What?"

"You heard me and she's been trying to tell you now for who knows how long. She's been a mother already and I have children at home as well. Let her handle it, please. You may like to play, but really, you do interfere way too much where it isn't necessary to." He bowed politely. "Thank you for answering our prayer and supplication. We will consider the contract no longer in danger at this point."

"Truly difficult," Izanami muttered. Purrcy held still, then her tail moved in a soft wave. "Thank you, Michael." She turned to the Akiba group and bowed to them. "Thank you also, Shiroe, Akatsuki, Brenner, and Nyanta." She sighed and glided over to the window and "touched" the widow where Nyanta was. "Especially you, Nyanta. I know the sacrifice that was for you."

He was already sitting down and Brenner was casting Druid spirit healing on him. He'd been taken up to nano and had a harsh fall back. He looked at his wife and his ears turned to her. "It was well worth it to do what I could when there was the oppurrtunity granted," he said to her. "Please take care of mew and the children as best mew can now. I'll look to see mew again around the winter festival."

"I will, Nyanta, and I look forward to it as well." She turned to Michael. "You've done well learning how to be firm from Shiroe," she smiled at him, "though I'm sure being a Commander of a large squadron doesn't hurt."

"Oh, no," he said to her. "I've also gotten lots of practice following you around and keeping the difficult you in line."

Purrcy laughed and it felt good to hear it. She returned to her position, standing at the head of the room. Michael bowed and the rest bowed with him. She tipped her head at them and Michael and Gareth left the room, taking the Akiba contingent with them.

Michael removed the umbrella from the inner sanctum as he took the rest back to the upper room of instruction and looked at them all. "Nyanta-san will need to sleep if off, I suspect. They still drop us most of the time, though he didn't have to go so far this time. The higher speed will wear off all of you over time. Thank you for playing the proper game with me today. I'll be able to properly focus now. Good luck to all of you on your goals there."

"You, too, Michael," Shiroe said. "Keep me informed if new things develop."

"Of course," he bowed and closed the connection for Shiroe, then sank to the floor.

"Idiot," Gareth muttered as he cast two spells over him. "It's a good thing Brenner and I picked up Druid."

"Is it? Just chance?" Michael asked, not looking at him. Gareth paused, then slumped. "Well, who knows." Michael took a deep breath and shifted to rise. "Let's get me to the room of healing. I can lie down there and work as well as rest here."

Gareth knocked him in the head. "You need to take your own medicine, don't you?"

Michael grinned. "Probably, but really, the cost was before not after. I planned it that way, you know. I just didn't expect that final addition of Shiroe's to make it so she didn't have to pay HP or MP, but then that's why I gave it to him to consider the holes." Gareth helped him stand and they returned to their place of work, rest, sleep, and eating. That was already old. At least they were getting lessons in a different room. "I think she's going to go nuts having to be in these walls all the time," Michael muttered.

"She stays in the guild house fine."

"And is as antsy as a flea about it, too," Michael grumbled. "Hope her new lessons are sufficient to keep her entertained. Once she's pregnant enough that will keep her so tired she won't want to move anyway, but until then Tetorō's going to have a very difficult Purrcy on his hands."

"Well...he needs that, too," Gareth smiled a little. "He can't sit still worse than her, you know."

"True," Michael said and lay back on his futon with a sigh. Purrcy wasn't ready to start working on Crusty yet. He fell asleep before she was and she had to come find him.


	125. The Courage of Young Adults

Isuzu followed Rudy as he walked his beat. Today they were spreading the word that the Round Table of Akiba was highly recommending that the People of the Land who lived in the city begin preparations for a long-term evacuation. They were careful to give calm answers and reassurances that the Adventurers were only looking out for their best interest. Since they'd already proven that time and again in special after special, they weren't being disbelieved. Rather it was that people trusted them too much to protect them while they stayed in the city walls. Somehow, Rudy was managing to get those he talked to at least to agree that they'd find themselves 'vacationing' out of the city no later than December 24th, and that they carefully find out before coming back if things in the city were safe enough. It was okay if they wanted to stay and continue to help the city before then, but they might find they wanted to leave before then.

Isuzu's job while they were in the People of the Land zones of Akiba was in the largest percent to stand watch on the surroundings, second largest was to look kind and make helpful positive supporting sounds. Third was to keep herself from being bored. This time she was being worried instead, though that wasn't helpful either. But if she wasn't doing that, she was feeling useless, and that wasn't something she wanted either right now. She looked away and sighed as the current person to be warned walked away. Rudy paused and looked at her with some concern. "Are you doing alright, Miss Isuzu?" he asked her. "If you're ready for a break we could stop for a cup of hot apple cider, perhaps?"

"I don't want to interrupt your work, Rudy," she prevaricated.

"No, I think the work will do itself in the end, really," he waved a hand. "It usually does, you know?"

"Yes, I do know," she agreed. The people they needed to talk to would come talk to them if they didn't seek them out, and the ones they'd talked to already would talk to others. She let Rudy lead her to an open stand and order warm drinks for them and a package of roasted spiced nuts to share.

She was rather lost in her thoughts as they sat and sipped and crunched the flavorful nuts. "You seem to be rather lost, generally," Rudy commented finally. "You haven't been your chipper self of late. Are you missing home again?"

Isuzu looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "No, not particularly any more than normal. ...Perhaps more missing something else, though I've not quite put my finger on it."

He looked at her with his calm eyes that said he was trying to understand the unfathomable - though usually he did a decent job. "Would it perhaps be a sense of missing a mission, or a calling?"

Isuzu blushed. "I suppose that would be close," she admitted.

Rudy watched the people walking past them for a few minutes, then quietly said, "Miss Isuzu, if you decided to leave Akiba for a while because there's a thing you need to do, I would miss your company, but I would understand it completely." He looked back at her. "And if you decided when it was done to come back, we'd all still be here to welcome you home. I would think you would be fine, having reached level ninety-nine on our journey across the sea, and nearly almost level one-hundred. Surely that must be some kind of transition time for Adventurers, like crossing the threshold from youth to adulthood."

Isuzu blinked, then sat back in some surprise. "You know, I think that's it, actually. In Earth years, I've arrived at that age, all without thinking of it. At home I would have already chosen a college and be planning the move out of my parents home, and perhaps have already made the move. Of course, at home I'd only be two and three quarters months older than when I left, but we've lived the full years here." She folded her arms and frowned a bit as she considered that more seriously.

"Well...," Rudy tentatively offered, "perhaps you should discuss it with Guildmaster Shiroe, then? I would think he'd be very understanding."

Isuzu looked at Rudy in gratitude and nodded. "He would. He was already past this stage when we came here. Thank you, Rudy. I'll speak with him soon, I think."

Rudy nodded, but they stayed a little extra close for the rest of that day's work, feeling that tentative pain that comes with the sudden realization of impending separation, even if the excitement of something new ahead sits inside with it.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe blinked at Isuzu, then folded his hands together and smiled. "Well, I can certainly understand that. Have you thought of what direction you might like to go?"

Isuzu hesitated. "The only thing I've been able to come up with seems so silly, but I keep coming back to it. The People of the Land really loved my music when we played to pay for our inn rooms, when we found them on the road. I had a good time playing for them, too. It made us all feel so happy to see their happy faces, too. It would be a little different to play solo, but I think the journey of self-discovery would be just as important." She frowned a little. "It's perhaps a bit annoying to put what should be my real life into game terms, but that's the sort of thing this world is built around too, that sort of questing. I've heard the People of the Land talk about such things as being normal to them. I'm not sure I want to meet the cliché life of Theldesia, but I'm so restless, and feel so useless, even though I know I'm being a help to you and the guild and our goals. I can't get settled since we've returned home."

Shiroe nodded. "Even on Earth that's the pattern, to learn what it is we want for ourselves so that we can become strong independent adults who can help move everyone along in the best way possible. You are a great help to us and we love having you here, but if you want to make that decision we won't hold you back." He leaned back and considered Isuzu. "Actually, if you want something a little more to make walking that particular path more ...meaningful perhaps, I could add to it for you."

He waited until she nodded that she'd hear it. "You know I have informants all over Yamato, but it's mostly in the cities, with a few who wander here and there. If you'd be willing to be one of them? You're going to hear a lot of things from people as you go. It would be like an extension of what you've already had practice doing here. I'd keep in contact with you and when we talk you'd be letting me know how the average Person of the Land is feeling about us Adventurers, and about how they're doing with their own leadership. Knowing those things are important. If the grass roots level is getting upset, there's something wrong in the basics of what we're trying to do. If they're content, we're doing fine. You can even ask questions to see if there are things they'd like to see that make sense but don't rise to the level of causing discontent. We don't want to step on the toes of the People of the Land leadership, but now that we're here we also need to be aware of what effects we're having at all levels."

"Using your music, you could also have an effect on that same level. If you discovered that they really are still rather upset about having us here, perhaps you could write a song that talks about the joint efforts of Adventurers and People of the Land that have led to positive results, to get them to understand that we can integrate in good ways. It doesn't have to be coercive, and you don't even need to make them magical spells, just songs that show what we try to show here in Akiba by being the hospitality brigade." He smiled at the bright look coming on Isuzu's face.

"Really, it's all an expansion of what you already know how to do, but at the level of becoming an independent adult, recognizing when those needs can be met using what you have at your disposal within yourself. When you become weary from the traveling, you can come back and vacation here at home again, then go out when you become restless again. That's a common Earth pattern as well." He grinned at her.

Isuzu grinned back. "Like the lot of you would let me lounge around when I was here."

Shiroe shook his head, not able to deny it. "But we could set up large blockbuster nights at the largest inn in town and announce a special concert from Akiba's own most popular vocal artist to keep you busy and the lights shining down on you."

Isuzu shuddered and laughed. "Maybe. And maybe I'd be just as happy with a small concert on the roof."

"Maybe," Shiroe, nodded, "and maybe we would do both, just so we can see you shine." He paused, then offered kindly, "It's your personal quest, so you're in charge. If you want any advice or help thinking through things, I'm here. Because we are Adventurers, there isn't a time or a specific change. We often think of graduation from high school as a defining line, but it isn't really. More like the first day of school at college is, or the day you choose what company you're going to work for, but here there isn't that either. You could walk out of my office and out the front door and not turn back, if you wanted to." Isuzu drew in a small, sharp breath. "Take your time, but remember that the only force that will get you going is you yourself. We'd like to see you off properly, is my only selfish request." She gave a nod at that, finding her own comfort in it as well.

Standing, Isuzu said, "Thank you, Shiroe-san. I'll go work on what I want to do. Do you have an extra map of Eastal, and maybe one of all Yamato? I think I'd feel a little better knowing where I can go and might want to go, before actually stepping out the door." Shiroe put two rolled maps on the desk in front of him and she picked them up. "Thanks."

"They're yours," he gifted. "You'll want them while you're on the road. If you need to, make notes and changes on them. When you make your way back here, we can sit and compare and I'll update mine."

Isuzu bowed. "Thank you very much, and thank you for the years of support and strength."

"My pleasure," Shiroe answered. "Thank you for yours in our behalf, and in mine."

-:-:-:-:-

Four mornings later Isuzu looked around her room in the Log Horizon guild hall. It had been home for two years now, plus a little, maybe. Everything was in her Adventurer list, her recursion boxes carefully labeled and packaged. That had felt a lot like packing up her room to go off to college, except her bed wasn't here. Naotsugu had commented that while the heated sleeping bags had been necessary in northern Ezzo, he would have been just as happy to have been able to plop his own bed down on the ground and sleep on it. That had broadened Isuzu's perspective of what she could really take with her and more had gone into her list than she'd originally been thinking. It made her feel rather decadent, really, but at the same time quite relieved.

Rudy, Touya, Minori, and Serera had gone shopping with her and they'd had to reverse that kind of thinking so she didn't take the entire store and the bathtub - though that had been extremely tempting. They'd had fun laughing about that. She'd picked up a few extra instruments other than the lute Marielle had made and given her as her first instrument and was still her favorite to play.

Rudy's door closed, indicating he was finally awake and breakfast was around the corner. She looked at the wall that joined their rooms. She wished she could take him with her, but he had things to do here, and they had different paths in life to take anyway. Just because she liked the family pet the most didn't mean she got to take him from the family home when it was time for her to go. He'd still be here with the rest of them, just as happy to see her as always when she came to visit.

One last look around her room, one big breath for the courage to take that first step into independence and out the family door, and she put her hand on her door handle, turned it, and walked out, closing it quietly behind her. She was up earlier than normal for her usual schedule, but the butterflies in her stomach told why. Such things were always a little frightening along with the excitement.

She walked to the stairs and down them, running her hand on the trunk of the tree where it was close enough to touch. She remembered the time she'd walked down with Minori first the evening of Purrcy's bridesmaid's party night. They'd been so excited for her, and it had been a nice night, even if the boys had ruined it in the end, though Purrcy had helped them recover from that with the quiet visit over tea before bedtime. She'd have to remember to time it so she got back for Naotsugu's wedding. It wouldn't do to miss the big brother's big day, and she was quite sure Marielle's bridesmaids party would be lots of fun. Tetorō had promised he'd be there for that, too, when she'd called him to let him know what she was doing.

Isuzu walked into the kitchen and walked up to Nyanta at the stove. He was still himself in the early mornings, like Purrcy had been before, but even that they could tell was starting to be pushed back. She hoped for his sake it took a long time. She wrapped her arms around the gentleman felinoid. "Breakfast smells good," she said. "And it's my favorite even. You never forget for any of us, do you?"

"Nyever," he smiled at her as he turned to return the hug. "Do mew want to help today, nyan?"

"Yes," she answered, wanting to be part of the quiet, warm family time this morning. Nyanta gave her a simple task and she walked over to start, smiling and giving good mornings to Touya and Minori who were already there, as usual. They chatted, mostly reminiscing about other happy times, while they worked.

Minori finally paused and bit at her lip. She glanced at Nyanta, but she had to say whatever she'd been holding back until then. "I wish Purrcy could be here to see you off, too."

Nyanta's tail waved a bit in agreement but he didn't go to sad. "It's okay," Isuzu said with a soft smile. "She came and visited me last night. I'd been thinking that myself, actually, and she showed up and sat with me and we talked for a while. It was nice to hear her laugh and she was very encouraging, as always, in me wanting to find joy in my music. She promised to come listen to some of my concerts, too, when she was needing the lift herself. I'll like thinking that she's doing that for her, too." Isuzu wasn't looking at the rest of them. She knew they needed to hear it, as bittersweet as it was. "She's thinking of everyone here and wishing the best for us all."

"Is it part of the enlightenmyent?" Nyanta asked in surprise.

Isuzu looked up at him. "I guess so. She wasn't very physically present, but I could see her so she wasn't just a spirit either."

Nyanta nodded and looked back to his cooking, thinking about it. He looked a little encouraged, even. That was good. Touya had a small smile on his lips and Minori was trying to wrap her brain around it, but perhaps looked a little more hopeful. "I hope you two do well with your newest endeavor," Isuzu said to them. "I think I'd like to have my Akiba debut, once I'm popular," she grinned at their teasing looks, "at Grandpa's Kitchen, if you'd be willing."

"Of course!" Touya answered promptly. "You just let us know when you're going to get back by and we'll have it all set up."

"Sounds great," she answered back. She handed him her finished tray of food, then walked over to Minori and gave her a hug. "I'll call you regular, and we'll gab, okay?"

Minori hugged her back, "Okay. If it's not every night I won't worry, but if I do get worried, I'll call you."

"Sounds good," Isuzu agreed readily. Minori was already the little mother for the juniors. Isuzu would need her strength just as much as Minori would need to know she was doing okay.

At the breakfast meeting, Isuzu smiled around the room and said cheerily, "I'm going to begin a grand adventure this morning, after being seen off by my wonderful Theldesian family." They all gave her smiles back. "And when it's time to come back, I'm going to come back filthy dirty, needing a warm bath and warmer hugs, and I'm going to sleep for three days straight and spend another three telling all my wonderful stories." They laughed with her and promised they'd be there to hear them.

They gave her final hugs (some of the Eagles pats on the shoulder instead) and many encouraging words, including promises to come bail her out of any troubles she might find herself in, and Isuzu was finally making one last wave as she walked the road out of Akiba towards the wild zones.

She had two horse Summon whistles in her list, but she didn't mind walking either. Her long legs stretched out, moving strong over the land under her and her lips curled up as the cool wind lifted her curly hair and tossed it a bit. The smell of late fall tickled her nose and she sneezed. She wondered momentarily if she should have waited until after winter was over, then shrugged. It really didn't matter. Weather was weather and moving forward was necessary whenever it was necessary. Each season was beautiful when faced with friends, even if they were only presences and memories at her back.

She cast her new spell and there was suddenly a golden retriever at her side. It looked at her with bright eyes and stuck it's tongue out, panting. "Thank you for the best gift ever, Hahaue," she said quietly, then said to her newest companion, "So...what shall I name you?" They had fun playing around with names for the next half hour, making the time move along quite nicely.

-:-:-:-:-

"Well, that does make one feel like age is catching up to oneself," Naotsugu said, putting an arm around Marielle and turning the entire group back towards Akiba. "Feeling like the ancient father, yet, Shiroe?"

Shiroe smiled. "Not really. I'm glad she's found something to do to move her forward." He looked over at Touya and Minori. "Even the twins are moving forward with strength. I'm glad we can be here to be the support to help them be able to do that." Touya gave a firm nod.

"It's really okay?" Minori asked, worried. "It sometimes feels like we're a bit traitors to the guild."

"No," Shiroe reassured her. "As long as you feel like you can always come back home, it's fine. As I told Isuzu, it's the natural pattern of life for us all, even on Earth. The fact we've been able to be your home to grow in and you feel you've learned some strength to begin to stand on your own feet, we've done the best we could have hoped to do. Even if you don't stay in the guild in the end, it's been a good walk to walk with each of you. Of course, that's not to say you have to leave. You've watched the bigger guilds. People leave and come back and don't unguild, and selfishly I don't want to give any of you up, but doing your own thing at the same time doesn't make it impossible. Besides, I know you're all still helping to move the guild goals forward. That's all that's necessary - common goals, and common friendships." He looked kindly at Minori. "We're all happy to see you moving forward."

Minori sighed and tried to relax. "Change is difficult, isn't it?" she finally allowed.

The seniors nodded. "But it can be very rewarding, in the end," Marielle said to her. "And once we've all met and loved spending time together, we're always grateful when we can come together again."

Touya put his arm around his sister. "And _we're_ still together." He winked at her. "We've still got a few more years before we're ready to strike out alone."

She shivered just a little. "Yeah, I'm not ready for that quite yet." Her look at her brother was rather sad.

"Hey, now," he looked affronted at her. "Even back there on Earth you'd make me mad if you held yourself back just because of me. When we get back, I'm going to win three serious wheelchair races in a row, then show you up by getting married first."

Minori giggled. "I hope you find someone who can keep up with you."

Touya smiled back. "Keep running, Minori!" She shoved him and they had fun roughhousing until they reached Akiba's gate.

When they had peeled off to get back to work at Grandpa's Kitchen with cheery goodbye's, Rudy looked into Shiroe's face earnestly. "Guildmaster Shiroe...isn't there another reason it's good for Miss Isuzu to not be here?"

"And what would that be, Rudy?" Shiroe asked him.

"So she doesn't have to get caught up in what's coming next," he answered soberly.

Shiroe responded in kind, though kindly. "Thank you for thinking of your op, Rudy. Yes, that is one of the reasons I didn't prevent her from going, though I wouldn't have in any case." Rudy gave a nod. "That's why Touya has worked out the deals he has to get Grandpa's Kitchen going as well. He's concerned for Minori. We understand that part, too, and want to support them - and you - in those decisions as well. I've already asked Reed to set up the rotations so you always have an Eagle or two nearby to call on. We'll go ahead and let it look like you're solo. I think we might get some good information out of letting you do that now. You're ready for that level, I think, having reached level ninety yourself. We'll watch over you also as you learn your independence."

Rudy's eyes widened and he turned away with an embarrassed grandiose wave, "Well, it is about time I showed Akiba my hard won strengths, after all." The others smiled behind his back.

"Grown-up-city!" Naotsugu slapped him on the back and he flew three feet forward.

"Really, Mister Naotsugu," Rudy scowled at him, "I don't need to be Miss Isuzu's substitute to quite that level."

They all laughed, happy to be a growing guild and good group of friends.

-:-:-:-:-

There was a rather massive commotion at the north edge of Susukino and a lot of noise. It finally got back to William and he ran out of the winery, his sleeves still rolled up to his biceps, his boots barely making prints in the snow - another Elvin gift. "Don't attack them, particularly if it looks like they're trying to parlay," he ordered as he ran. He really did love feeling the lightness of being he'd loved watching Legolas portray, only he got to experience it for real, where Mister Orlando had to use harnesses and be swung around most uncomfortably to get it to look like this.

William skimmed around a corner and in another minute was running up the wall, using what small purchases in the stone he could grab. He had the hunter's and tracker's skills so could run the air currents if he wanted to. He landed lightly on the top of the wall and looked over. There were two Giants being prevented from getting closer, one with dark hair and angry looks - the traitor, and one with a rounder face and a worried look - the friend. It was no wonder there was trouble. Neither one was the one with the translator, and until they could communicate, he wouldn't know what had happened.

The friend was trying again, anyway, motioning away where they had presumably come from, then a pleading motion. William opened an all-hands that echoed over the entire city. "These are the Giants we've been waiting for. It looks like our first test is to prove that we will help them and show them we're willing to be open minded. The hero's likely been injured and they've opted to try the courageous route to ask us to come to his aid. We'll need two to three healers, three to four swords and shields in case they got into battle-type troubles, and two trackers to fade out and come let us know if it's worse than that. Be at the North Gate in five."

He waved his arms over his head to catch the attention of the two Giants. The black-haired one shoved the other with his elbow and pointed. The friend, careful of the people at his feet, knelt down, then got on his hands to look William in the face. Very carefully, he said a few words as high as he possibly could. Roughly, it was, "Please come help our friend."

William called over the closest Sorcerer to get an amplification spell cast on him, then said as loud as he could, and as low as possible given an elf's natural tenor, "Yes. Please wait." He held his hand up and out in front of him. The Giant looked at him for a moment, then cautiously lifted a hand and folded his fingers until only his forefinger was pointed out. He carefully moved it forward until his finger was resting against William's palm. William left his hand there for a moment, then patted the fingertip a few times, remembering also that these were children. When the hand went back to the ground, he put his hand on his chest and said, "William of Silver Sword." The poor Giant nearly wept with relief. The other one looked very carefully at William, committing his image to memory, likely. "Help is coming," he said. They nodded and waited, the one on his hands and knees sitting up to rest on his knees.

The Adventurers outside the wall moved back to be closer to the wall and gate, honoring the truce. Soon enough a party of nine ran up to the gate from inside. He looked at them, then looked at his Sorcerer and mouthed, "How long?" as he pointed to his throat.

"As long as you want it, though I cast it for five minutes." William looked at him confused. The Sorcerer laughed. "We've figured out how to make it so if you think about wanting it to be loud, it's loud, if you want it to be soft, it is."

William worked on making it soft and said, "Like this?" And was pleasantly surprised when it was normal volume. The Sorcerer nodded. "But only for five minutes?" Again a nod. "Can you do it again for an hour, or is that too long?" The Sorcerer worked on that as William called back to his guild. "Are you guys okay if I go out with them this time? I'd like to get some fun actually working with them this time, and I want to make sure we're not being ambushed from the start - and if we are, I want to be there as negotiator if at all possible."

"You can't fall in the middle of the battle, then, and being taken prisoner would be a huge pain," his second-in-command complained.

"I'll be careful, I promise, and there's always Call of Home," he answered.

"If you stay over 1HP," another voice grumbled at him, though he wasn't sure who it was.

"Okay, then I'm adding myself to the party going out. I'll keep you all regularly informed," he answered, switching to his hunting gear as he leaped down to meet the party outside the gate. He led the way over to the Giant still on his knees. He focused on wanting his voice loud again and said. "We'll go."

The Giant nodded, then looked at them in consternation. He turned and looked at his companion and said something they could only get a few sounds out of. It was a brief argument with the black-haired Giant giving up. The friend held up his hand and counted his five fingers, then put his hand on the ground palm up in front of the party. "I think we're getting rides," William said in the quieter voice and motioned. Five of the party carefully stepped into the hand and were lifted up to the Giant's shoulder. They jumped off and held on to whatever they could grab. He put his hand down again and the rest of them climbed on.

He reached down and gently pat William on the head with a finger. William considered that. When the finger pressed a bit, he sat down and the finger went away. He nodded. "Sit down, everyone. I think the other one's going to carry us, but he's going to take us over there - expressway style." The rest sat and the hand cupped a little, rolling a few towards the center of the palm. They shifted until they were stable and the Giant carefully rose to his feet. The Adventurers on his shoulder rocked and had to hold on tight, but no one fell off - they were all high enough level to not be doing that. They had to do worse when they fought ferociously moving and fighting Giants.

When they reached the second Giant, William made him touch fingertip to palm as well, making him promise to the truce before he let any of them off the living platform they were on. He gave a solemn nod to the Giant, going first and sitting closest to his ear. Once all five Adventurers were settled on his shoulder, William said loudly, "We're ready to go." With nods, the two Giants turned their backs to Susukino and walked with long mile-eating strides back towards the north, and just a little west.

While Adventurers could go into situations blind, it wasn't their preference. William did his best to ask questions, and he figured in this case Twenty Questions style might be best. It was easy to communicate "yes" and "no" after all, and they seemed to understand him decently enough. His companions made him cross to the other side, though, so as to not to have to be right by the bullhorn. That made the skin crawl of the Giant they were on, though William did his best to not become the bug tickling the skin.

"How many?" he asked first. The Giant held up one finger, then made the motion for short and held up two fingers. "One Giant, two smalls?" he asked and got a nod. That was surprising. "All injured?" he asked. There was a pause at that, then got a shrug that rocked him. It was a difficult answer to give, then. He nodded to himself. "Enemies still there?" he asked. The Giants gave each other worried looks. "Hiding?" They nodded to that one. "How many enemies?" He got two and a half hands for that. "Giants?" A shake of the head. "Monsters?" He got cold silence and sighed. "Adventurers?" That got an unhappy positive answer. He pondered on that for a moment.

"Would it be Brigandia, the part that wouldn't play nice?" was asked from the other side.

"Wouldn't surprise me," William said with cold brevity. "They're the only group out here who hasn't heard the word to leave the Giants alone. Plan the attack. We'll have to sneak attack, most likely. They've been living out here long enough to be higher level than we are." He frowned. "Wish we knew how to handle Adventurers like that," he muttered under his breath.

He pondered on it for a while, then said, "Add in at the beginning a parlay with them. I want to know if they've been learning anything useful about life while they've been out here. Keeping them separated from the rest of us this long can't be healthy." When the party had worked out an outline, not knowing the lay of the land, though it was surely mountainous and snowy and lots of trees since all of Ezzo was like that, William did his best to convey to the Giants what they wanted them to do.

-:-:-:-:-

Corbin sighed sadly. He was carefully holding the two smalls cupped between his hands. He'd managed to move properly for once and hide where he'd stepped the last ten steps, going over ridges and alternating if he stepped on the ridge or in the valley, and with the foot prints pointing wrong directions for the way he actually went, and he'd managed to find this taller mountain to hide against. The mountains outside the ridge that divided Giant lands from small lands were shorter - quite a bit shorter - than what he was used to and his hunters were far more intelligent and ferocious than he'd thought from the stories, though the Goddess had tried to warn them. If he'd had any doubts about what she'd said that day in the valley, he didn't any more. He closed his eyes and prayed in his heart that she would protect him and the smalls and that Tor and Markle would find help and not death.

There was the tickle of movement on his palm. He wanted to be able to talk to them - since he could - but he was afraid it would give away his location, and he hadn't been able to find a better hiding place in all this time. He was almost dozing when suddenly he heard, loud enough to be his father talking, but from a distance away, "Brigandia! Come out!" He stiffened. Surely the voice wasn't talking to him? He held very still and waited. Because of the spell he held, he could just make out the voices of smalls talking, but he was too far away to tell what they were saying. He turned his head, trying to catch the words.

The first voice he heard okay again. "We've been trying to find you to tell you. We've a truce with the Giants until we've had the final treaty agreement with them. I'm not too happy to finally find you _after_ you've stepped all over what we're trying to do." Corbin slumped back against the mountain cradling his back. Tor and Markle had done it. They'd reached Susukino and brought help. "I see you've been surviving just fine out here...but is it really what you want? If you're ready to live peacefully with us, we're ready any time to chat with you about how that's going to happen."

That made him stiffen just a little bit. The Adventurers after him weren't allied with the ones who were sympathetic to the Giants. He decided to stay put for now. He'd seen the King's guards go hunting while the captain had kept the Goddess busy. They hadn't believed it was her. He wouldn't be surprised if the Adventurers were the same. They certainly hunted smart enough.

There was a response back he couldn't hear again, then a sad sigh. "Well, we'd much rather you were at least content to just play nicely instead of feel ostracized. No one feels good when they don't feel wanted. Even your strength would be welcome if you were willing to give up your selfish requirements to feel self-important and powerful over nothing. It's a lot more peaceful in Susukino and the businesses are picking up. We've even got a winery going and have produced a few really good batches now. I think you'd have a better time coming back into town and living with the rest of us. It's going to be winter soon and I'm sure last year's winter was harsh on you. Please, don't feel you have to do that again."

"...Of course I'm serious. I'm not sure I'm not ever not serious. ...True enough. Well, think about it seriously, please. We won't turn you away, even if both sides have to take some time to settle insecurities. In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop trying to hunt the Giants and let us have the one you've cornered."

There was a motion at Corbin's ankle and he froze, staring at his leg. Someone had jumped from a tree to latch onto his pant leg. He couldn't brush it off since his hands were full, and he didn't want to stomp and give his position away. He held his breath and waited as the Adventurer tugged lightly on his pant leg, climbing hand over hand up to his knee cap. When the Adventurer arrived, it crouched on his knee, looked around until it found his face, then waved and sat down. He blinked at it, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He could hear that one talking very quietly, but again, it wasn't loud enough for him to hear words.

He did hear, "What would a Giant have that you want?" He shivered and then shivered again as a second Adventurer began climbing up his pant leg. When that one reached his knee, it waved at him, too, then motioned, first to his hands that he was holding close to his chest, then patted his knee. He considered that, then shook his head. He didn't know which side these Adventurers were from.

They spoke quietly again, and then to his surprise he heard a whisper on the wind. "Corbin, let them help. They're from Susukino." It was Markle, though Corbin didn't know where he was specifically. He frowned in concern, but the smalls did need help.

"So, you've been stealing People of the Land to be slaves, and he helped two to escape, so you're going to interrupt my important work just to get them back? How about I come beat you all about the ears for continuing to be bad boys instead? Is two slaves really worth that?" There was dry laughter, "Of course he's not going to eat them. He's here as the negotiator. That wouldn't sit right on either side, would it? To be coming to negotiate peace only to eat the very creatures he's supposed to be peaceful with? Give it up already."

Corbin decided that if he _wasn't_ the one holding the smalls, he might be in a better position generally...if these two were to be trusted. He could smash them enough to get away again if he had to. He slowly moved his hands down until his lower hand was level with his knee, then carefully lifted the top hand, but kept it close just in case. An arrow came from the top of the ridge to the other side and his top hand quickly cupped over the smalls in his hand. He winced at the prick the arrow gave his thumb, then noticed that where there had been two on his knee, now there was only one, and that one was casting a spell back towards the direction the arrow had come from.

Corbin could only sit defeated. If enemy fire had come, he'd already been found, and now it was both sides and no way to know which one was to be trusted. He just held still, waiting and moving his hands back up to his chest, praying this was going to turn out to the benefit of his people. That was all he'd wanted, really. Just to show that they could be trusted enough - just enough to get the smalls to listen to the plight of the Giants and to plead with them to let them move south peacefully, instead of with strength of arms.

He'd lost his whole family now. All he had was his grief and his friend Markle and his family. If he died trying to save the rest of his people he wouldn't be missed. He knew what the king had been trying wasn't working because his family had slowly one by one died waiting for the king's plans to work. He didn't hate the king, he just thought that if the Goddess cried and asked for someone to try her plan instead, he'd be willing to try.

There was a thumping on his palm and he blinked in surprise. It repeated and he carefully lifted his hands and looked inside. There were three smalls on his hand and he was rather surprised at that. The fact that all three were sitting up and looking at him made him relieved. One had been very still for a long time and bloodied. The dried blood was still there, of course, but it didn't look like they were quite so near death. He looked at the newest, who held up a green bottle. He gave a nod. That one had healed the injured one, then, jumping onto his hand during that brief moment he'd uncovered them. He moved his hands to his shoulder and the three moved there, one of them holding tightly to his collar. He put his hand down for the one on his knee and that one jumped over and he moved it back to his shoulder again. Once they were all seated properly, he shifted, preparing to stand. Height now would keep them safer than holding still.

"Hero, stay hidden a bit longer," the voice came to him directly this time and he blinked in surprise, but obediently waited. He could only assume they'd moved to battle since the talking had stopped some time ago. ...And he wasn't a hero, but they didn't know his name yet, so he'd have to let it pass.

-:-:-:-:-

William twisted and fired an arrow behind him and up a bit to get the brigand in the tree. He'd told his side to send them to the Cathedral and he'd told his people in Susukino to keep them there and retrain them to live in proper society again. They were going feral and in another season wouldn't be Adventurers any longer. He'd seen that while talking to them. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let that happen on his watch. He would have to let Shiroe know it was possible the next time they talked...which would be a lot sooner than he'd thought since the Giants had shown up today. He'd also told the Giants they weren't allowed to participate. It wouldn't be good to have the types mixing in fighting this time. The Brigandia group was theirs to handle. The fight wasn't exactly balanced, though, and he had to call for the two who had gone to help the wounded. He hoped the hero wouldn't be freaked out when they left him again, and it wasn't his preferred answer.

He was surprised when the mountain behind him turned into two mountains, one of the moving. "I'm sorry, helper," a voice that was large and small at the same time said. "It is safer if I don't stay hidden if you need them. The small is healed and they are safer if I stand."

"Fine," he answered back in the larger voice. "Your friends are waiting for you. Head over to them." They shifted to make themselves also look less like mountains, and motioned to him.

"You're really serious about allying with the Giants?" was sneered at him by the person currently trying to take him down.

"Yes," he answered shortly and put his blade into the ribs and turned, casting a spell that stopped the heart of his opponent. That dropped him fast enough he disappeared into bubbles a few seconds later.

Two more came for him as he heard, "Markle protect the one who is the leader, but don't harm anyone." In one large thud, then a second, a large hand interposed itself between him and the two intent on taking him out. Another Giant was walking, but William couldn't tell which one, then there was an indignant squawk. "Bring him over here." The hand in front of William was - as gently as possible - grabbing him up and carrying him away. He sighed. Really he'd be better off left in the battle.

He stopped moving through space at a rapid pace, then saw sky again. He was picked up carefully, understanding the previous squawk, and placed into a palm to face one of the Brigandia group. "This one is the one that made the decisions. I would hope he would stop harming the smalls for the sake of all of the creatures of Ezzo. Surely peace for all of us in this deadly land is more important that the brief and insincere pleasure we believe we gain when we instead are losing all of the joy of life that is possible. Please call your men back and reconsider this one's offer. Death comes too easily in this place."

"We can't die," the Brigandia leader snarled.

"You can, and you are," William disagreed. "Your statuses are already beginning to shift into Wraith and by the end of this second winter out here you will all be Wraiths. Please come back and be healed."

The man stared at him in some disbelief and shock. William shook his head and looked down over the edge of the hero's hand, looking at the statuses of the men below him. When he found the one he was looking for, he pointed. "Look at that one," he said. The man didn't want to, but finally reluctantly did so, then pursed his lips. "How many have you already lost to that?" William asked quietly. "It ends in Wraith. As a Lord of Elves, I've Seen it. It's shadow rests on all of you."

The man growled, then folded his arms, thinking hard. Finally he called up his guild chat. "Fine. Stop everyone. He says that we are the Wraiths we've been seeing, and he's got the proof. Anyone who wants to live instead of become one, give up and go home to Susukino. He says they know how to heal it. Anyone who doesn't care and won't mind being stuck in this god-forsaken place as a Wraith for eternity, get out of here and head back for the hideout. You can live your final months living the life you've come to enjoy until then." He closed the chat and looked back at William, "Satisfied?"

"It's definitely better," William answered. "I hope they all go home. Shiroe says he's very close to getting us back to Earth. He's on the next to last level and we've got the final boss battle coming up. We need all the Adventurers we can get for that one. If you'll come back, too, and help yourself and them heal, we'll fill you in on those details, too."

The man looked away, then gave in. "Fine. If we can fight to get back to Earth, I'll come back, but I won't be any less grumpy than Demikas."

"That's fine. We deal with him okay and he's still walking."

"He really stayed?"

"Yes, for which I'm grateful, though he'd never believe it," William answered calmly. "Any encouragement you can give your men to come back would be appreciated. We've been learning a lot of cool new things you'd enjoy learning, too. And given how long you've all been out here, I'll bet we could learn some things from all of you, too." He held out his hand.

It was looked at suspiciously. "Not yet. Not until I see how things go in town."

William shrugged and dropped his hand. "Fine. When you're ready, come find me and get it then."

He got a nod, and the Giant got a scowl. "Set me down." The hand moved until he jumped off it and disappeared.

William stayed put, looking up. The hand moved back up until they were more eye-to eye. "Thank you," he said to the Giant. "We've been needing to get in contact with them for some time, and that was a wonderful negotiation you got going properly. I think you've definitely got the skills necessary to do what you've set out to do. I'm William of Silver Sword, de facto head of Susukino. We've been waiting for you."

The Giant smiled in relief. "Thank you for coming with Markle and Tor. My name is Corbin. I hope that we'll be able to negotiate our own peace for the sake of all the Giants, though I'm but a youth and have no real power in my own land."

"It's enough to have the desire strong enough to act. Through that much can many things be achieved - including saving an entire race. I will wish you the best in your efforts, and help in what way I can. For now, we need to be properly introduced to your companions, since they did their best, but without the translator it was a tad difficult. If I hadn't known you were coming, this would have turned out rather differently."

"How did you know we were coming?" Corbin asked as he moved closer to his companions again.

William smiled. "Your goddess, our master strategist, and my gifts given to me by this world. A witness of three couldn't be denied."

Corbin's eyes widened and tears filled his eyes, though he turned away to hide them. "It's that important, to things so much bigger than us?"

"Yes," William answered. "You've been heard. Prayers can now begin to be answered, because you chose to act to answer your own."

Corbin settled himself down with his companions and let the tears fall. William waited patiently, also almost that full himself. He'd already cried his own tears for the Giants, though, so it wasn't really necessary to do it again. His party needed time to get back together and make sure all of the Briganders had been obedient, plus one of his trackers was following the head back to the base. They'd have to send out a raid to make sure they properly dealt with their slaves instead of leaving them there to freeze come winter. They were a rather big mess to have to clean up but if it brought them back into the fold, so to speak, it was worth it.

-:-:-:-:-

"So," William sighed, "I've sent them out with the two People of the Land to return them to their families. If they can come through that unscathed that's a start. After that, I've asked them to walk the southern lands to see where might be a place they can settle without causing too much grief for the People of the Land. They'll have to negotiate there, too, since what little space there is is mostly poor farmland or forest. I've told them forest is okay if they can harvest the trees to help us build the chests while clearing the land for their homes. They know better than we do how much space they would need and what kind they can live in long-term, even if they are young. I expect that to take about a month-ish. What do you want me to have them do after they get back?"

Shiroe didn't waste time with his answer. Obviously he'd been thinking about it already. "We'd like them to come down here and negotiate the trade agreement, but you'll have to see how that timing fits with the king coming down with his forces. They'll be needed for that more than the former, which can wait until they've settled the village if necessary. It's just what's next on my list for them."

"Okay. I'll let them know that's one of the options when they get back and let them decide. I think Tor will stay with them until they get back, so there might be enough time to send them down while he goes back to report to the king. If I could do that as part of the questing and you could give them anything to help them in their own fight, that would be very generous of you. There's no way two of them are going to be able to stand before the king and all his warriors. It's a failure from the beginning except for hope. Give them something more if you can."

"Yeah, I'll work on it," Shiroe said with his own sigh. He was quiet for a bit. He did that - had silences that were his thinking points.

"And if you've got any Adventurers you've chased out from your cities down there, make sure you get in contact with them before winter sets in. It might not be so bad down there where the winters aren't so harsh, but for ours to be becoming Wraiths is disturbing. Yours might be something else, but just that much's harsh for us who are coming to believe we are indestructible and deathless. That deathlessness is a curse when we go feral, apparently."

"Thanks for letting me know about that," Shiroe said soberly. "I will definitely send out people to go hunting. We had to kick Hamelin out early, so they've already had two winters out and this will be their third. I'll let Brody and Nakalnad know as well, but I think they don't have the same troubles, since we've only just cleaned them out this spring and summer. They can go recall the ones they just sent away and try again before it becomes that level of a problem. ...How's Demikas?"

"Same old, same old. Cranky, but loving his wife so he goes soft, then embarrassed. He's been in and out of the city a lot lately, but that's common when he's getting bored or he's got something to get of his chest. You've haven't been contacting him to push his buttons have you?" Shiroe strenuously denied it. "Well, then he's probably just being Demikas. He's seen his men back in town, but he's ignoring them unless they come talk to him. I listened in on one and he was actually helping me out by telling them it was fine to live in town. 'It's fine isn't it?' was all he said, but that's enough in my book." William chuckled at the memory and Shiroe chuckled with him, able to hear it.

"Well, good. I'm glad that's settling out. Let me know if things get hard in the next couple of months there in town, though it shouldn't. We are expecting an Archipelago-wide, if not world-wide special over the Ides of Winter, and we expect it to be rather awful. If you want to sit it out, do, but let your People of the Land know it's because you're done with the specials, not because you want them to be miserable. We're going to. The whole city was quite done with the Higan Special and they swore it would be their last one. We'll probably go clean things up at the end of the week, after they disappear on their own, just to make sure there isn't anything left over we don't want surprising us later. Are you guys all set for purifying when the flood hits?"

"Yes. Everyone's excited about that one, in complete agreement that if we never have to do that again after this time we won't mind one bit. A lot will be just as happy to sit out the special, too, though some are bored enough to do it anyway. I'll talk to them about that one so the latter don't get miffed at the former and get into fights we don't have to have. Keeping them busy in the winery has been helpful, actually. We've already expanded both for the hopes for international trade and for trade with the Giants if it can happen."

"Thanks for letting Naotsugu have some. We ran into _the_ Prince Singh of India and he let us use it as the after-dinner drink. The Prince was quite pleased with it, so I think we've already got a market there for it, if you can preserve it for transportation that far."

"Wow! Already a customer in India, is it?" William was pleased. "And one at that high a level, too. How is India doing?"

"It started out fine, since he and his brother were able to provide proper leadership from the beginning in the north, but things in the south didn't work out so well, and now they've got rather large problems. We've done what we can to get them moving forward again, but they shot themselves in the foot early and it's going to take a while. Since he showed up we gave him the means to contact us over here if they get stuck too badly, but they'll have to fix it by themselves in the main. Hopefully when MarketMaker and the train get there, they'll be able to be just the push they need to get it back to rights. East China is set up nicely now, and doing well - disasters averted, thankfully. We'll all keep moving forward with hope for peace."

Shiroe went silent, but this was a different silence and William prodded him. "William, things in Akiba are going to get really hard soon, and it's going to last for a while. I'll keep juggling and tend my irons in the fire, but I'm likely to be heads down trying to just keep us held together after a while. If you can't get in touch with me, contact Isaac or Crusty. He'll be healed up and home within a month is our guess. We've got a specialist working on clearing his curse. They'll tell you more if you need to know, and they'll be able to help you. Michitaka and Calasin stay your points of contact for trade and the like, okay?"

William's brow furrowed. "Okay. ...I don't like hearing it, though. We need you in your slot."

"I know. I'll be here, but I'm just going to have to be focused more locally for a while."

William was quiet, then said, "If there's anything I can do, please contact me. I'm way up here, but I'll do whatever it takes."

"I know. Thanks. That's why I've given you the unification of all intelligent creatures of Ezzo. That will be a very big help to me, to not have to worry about that."

"I'll do my best," William promised.

"If there's anything else you can do, I'll let you know. Everyone down here's teaching me to let them step in. I won't leave you out, either, if I need you."

"Good," William leaned back. Shiroe needed that kind of lesson. He was too intense for his own good. "You take care, then, and I'll keep in touch."

"Thanks. You too." Shiroe said and he closed the chat.

William would rather have not had his vision from two nights before supported by that conversation just now. He hoped it really wasn't going to happen, or that at least it was kept to Akiba and Shiroe could contain it and push it back again. That was going to be one nasty monster.


	126. Healing Crusty

Tetorō woke up and wondered if he really was okay. He was really feeling like the one to have drawn the short straw this time. The end result of trying to help Purrcy and the developing kittens was that he was suddenly the official caretaker of a cat, and the shrine had an excuse to shut him out. That had been a rather devastating surprise on his end. He was still the only one allowed to dress Purrcy, and help her with the purification rituals. During those times she was in her felinoid form, or as he'd come to think of it, she was felinoid-Purrcy. Then, she was still just as testy with the shrine maidens and Priestess Kaede, still glared at them, and frowned for anyone other than him. As long as he was the one to help her, she was quiet and obedient.

He was glad for those times. Then, he could talk to her, complain, be hugged and comforted if they were alone. He would pass on to her anything from Shiroe she needed to know and she would talk to him a little about what she was learning in her ascension lessons, but she wasn't allowed to say a lot about that. For the most part, that was left up to the learner to experience, and often her experiences were so esoteric they were hard for even her to explain. She did set him to lessons to give him something to do when he was so bored during the main part of the day, and that was good, but one could only do them for so long for so many days in a row.

He sighed out a long breath and a nose shoved itself into his hand and Purrcy-cat began to purr. That was the beginning of her wake-up sequence. When he was finally awake, she would stir and snuggle in, then purr herself to more-awake. He worked to get to his next point in the process, finally sitting up to slowly pet her until he was awake enough to cart them both off to the bath house. The cat-form only had to be purified to the basic washing level, which was her usual from before. Tetorō set her down on the edge of the fountain and she dunked her head under the running water, instead of in the bowl like before, then let the running water run over her tongue until she was at the right speed in her cells. Then she lapped at it to get her morning drink. He didn't complain about that. She knew what she was doing. He washed his hands and swished out his mouth, then dried her head while he dried his hands.

Today, he stood there in the central garden and looked around before he took them back to his room. There was a stream that came from a pond with a fountain in it. It flowed passed a gazebo set there to view the garden from on sunny days. It then flowed in gentle sounds over several man-made waterfalls, made specifically for the gentle sounds they made, to soothe the person enjoying the garden. It flowed around through the rest of the garden in a meander, passing flowers, tall grasses, and manicured trees. Truly a beautiful Japanese garden. He'd even found the several hidden places to enjoy the garden from which made it seem as if the enjoyer was alone in the world in those spaces in order to be able to relax as fully as possible.

He'd been spending any number of days there, since the enlightened ascension of the High Priestess. He both watched over the work ongoing on Crusty, and pet Purrcy-cat, or played with her if she was awake. It was nice that the stream flowing through the garden made it so that it could stay at the higher levels that the High Priestess required. Felinoid-Purrcy was able to come get him herself for the evening meal. They'd enjoyed any number of picnic dinners now.

He sighed and turned towards his rooms. They'd given him a small house set outside the main shrine, on the other side of the garden from the High Priestess' inner rooms. He crossed the small bridge that passed over the stream and paused to look back at the few carp kept there to keep the insects down and the water clean. He hadn't been surprised to learn they were a magical creature and sometimes they'd come talk to him, but like most carp back home, they didn't usually have much to say. He did wish them a good morning or a good evening if they poked their heads out at him, though. Usually they asked for food, but he refused to feed them. It was enough he was the cat-sitter and living in the gardener's house. He really didn't want to be pushed into that position any more than they already had.

He moved on into his house. He supposed he ought to be grateful that it was his house - that he could rest away from the rest of them, out from under their disapproving eyes and glares. It was lonely, though, and that didn't help his boredom either.

He sat on his floor and pet Purrcy-cat, talking to her and playing with her. She wasn't very much in the cat during this time. She was transitioning to being in her felinoid form. This was the time he got to train the cat to answer to him and to obey simple orders. It was like training Purrcy's subconscious or distracted mind. She'd admitted she could only focus on one thing at a time still at this early learning point, even if she was present in more than one place at a time.

Though she'd apologized, she'd also said it was rather necessary that most of the time she needed to be busy elsewhere because of her lessons, so she couldn't be with him in that form. He supposed that was okay, since he rather liked Purrcy-cat. She was still the same comfort she'd been that first night she'd scolded him, then let him fall asleep holding her. He did that now, too, and she would lick him and snuggle down and purr them to sleep. He did like that being added to each night. It had been a little hard to fall asleep all alone out in the garden house the first week or so. He wasn't completely alone, and that was nice. It would just have been nice to have had more company, and not be hated so much. It was too much like home back on Earth.

Breakfast arrived with a knock on the door and he rose to take it with a thanks. The lowest levels woke up first, made breakfast, took it around to the second levels up, who then ate and descended on the High Priestess and Priestess to help them get ready for their day. He was part of the second level up. He handed food off of his plate to Purrcy-cat and began to eat. It was normal food, nothing special, except it had been blessed enough to be at the speed they were so they could actually eat it, so he just ate without thinking too hard about it.

The shrine had no idea what to feed a cat, and could care less. They really didn't know what to make of the need to even have Purrcy in two physical forms, since she'd refused to tell them and Izanami had refused to let him explain either. It was probably safer that way, but it made it difficult for him. Priestess Kaede didn't like secrets being kept from her and used him to get her frustrations out when she caught him outside the presence of felinoid-Purrcy. She hated his answers - that Izanami would answer her or she wouldn't, but it wasn't his place to say things contrary to the goddess or disobey her. He stood by it, too. They'd both been through the upper room of meeting and knew what would happen if they angered Izanami. His look told her that when she'd scowl or threaten him. In this place, he could stand up to the authority figure with complete confidence. He couldn't be punished for saying the truth they all understood here.

His breakfast done, he picked Purrcy up and put her in the box he'd made for her, with a soft blanket folded up in the bottom. It was in the corner of the room where the sun would peek in first thing in the morning and put her back to sleep while he was gone. Sometimes he'd come back and find her on his bed again, but she seemed content enough with it. He pet her head one more time, then carried his dishes out and left them in the hallway just inside the door he entered into the shrine. He sighed and went to collect felinoid-Purrcy.

He opened the door to her bedroom and bowed, then entered and slid the door closed behind him. Like in Maihama, he went to the side of her bed - glad Nyanta wasn't here like he'd been there - and called her awake. This was the only time this form got to sleep, and he knew it was only for at most two hours, and probably less. He hated waking her up out of this sleep. It was only marginally better now that he knew she was also sleeping in her cat form at night with him. He rather suspected that for all she was supposed to be getting eight hours of sleep, the only time all of her slept was from the time this form fell asleep, until he and Purrcy-cat woke up for their mornings. He was seriously considering sleeping in one of these mornings to let her get more like four hours in.

Purrcy's eyes opened and she turned to smile at him. "Good morning, Tetorō. I'm glad I get to see your face each morning."

"Thank you, Purrcy," he said back to her and held out his hand to help her out of the bed. It was rather large and she had to clamber over things to get out of it. "Good morning," he added as her feet touched the floor. "Are you ready for breakfast?"

Purrcy sighed. "I guess. I wish I could make it sometimes. There are some days I crave things...like orange juice."

"I would think all you have to do is ask for them," he said to her, then stopped in a sudden freeze. He looked up at her. "Are you having sudden cravings like that recently?"

She paused thoughtfully. "I guess I am. If I'm craving orange juice, I'm not getting enough vitamin C and antioxidants. Will you please ask them to make sure my breakfasts for the next few days have brightly colored fruits included, if they don't have orange juice?"

"Yes, Purrcy," he answered properly. Even though it was more her than Izanami, he knew he was being watched by Kaede and sometimes other shrine maidens at all times. The practice at Maihama made being here both irritating, and simple in comparison. He walked with her over to help her sit in her chair at her eating table, not letting her hand go until she was settled properly, then walked to the door and gave the request to the acolyte that waited at her door.

He and felinoid-Purrcy sat and chatted leisurely on the outside, more freely in the code realm, while they waited for the breakfast to arrive. Michael had told him that all the priests and priestesses could realm walk, but it was in the spirit realm and in the spacial realm. They didn't seem to know about the code realm. That was a relief to Tetorō, that they had a little bit of freedom even when they were being watched.

This morning he could give her the good news that the three giant children had arrived in Susukino and so far things were going well for that quest. She was happy with the news and that lifted his own mood a bit. "Do you have William on your friend list?" she asked him.

"Eh?" he considered his list, then said "I guess I do. I had to, to have him as the party leader for the Seventh Falls raid."

"Wonderful," she said. "Please call him and have him tell you the details of what happened. I'll listen in so I can know how that played out. I'm very interested in knowing. Would you be willing?"

"When?" he asked her.

"Mmm...can we do it while Michael and Gareth are in lessons, or are you still in those lessons also?"

"I'm still in lessons," he said, disappointed. "They're rather important, too. We're learning the equivalent of the spells we can cast as clergy of the shrine." He figured if he did have to lose his skills as a Hacker and Programmer, he might still have access to the spells he'd learned here.

"Then...while we wait for dinner this evening? I know you like to have your time be your own then." She looked away, then said, "I suppose we could also postpone it until after Michael takes Crusty back to Akiba. I think that should be fairly soon. I might still have to carve out time, but I won't have that pressure any more."

"I hate to -" he began, but she shook her head at him.

"I'll be missing them, too, like you will. That would be a good distraction then, don't you think?" She looked at him from the corners of her eyes. He slumped a little and had to agree. "We'll do that, then," she said firmly. "You remind me if I forget and you're ready for the distraction. Please don't let it slide. I need to do what I can to help you, too. Be selfish when you need to be." She firmly made him promise it, and then the food arrived.

He brought it to her and sat with her while she ate, monitoring that she ate enough to be healthy. This form was still the critical form for getting food and nutrients to the rest of her, because it was her main avatar form. He knew that the cat form was the one feeding the kittens, but in a way he didn't understand they were getting things from this one, too. Having her craving a food in this form seemed to be a proof of it. When she was done eating, they went back to quiet talking until her half-hour of digestion was completed.

During this time they were often visited by Michael and Gareth in the code realm, since they were now getting up and being fed their breakfast. In their case, it wasn't honorific that they were fed last - it was neglect. They didn't need to be doing anything until Purrcy was ready and she wasn't ready until after the purification, so the shrine ignored them until they had to deal with them. Tetorō wouldn't have been surprised if their meals came to them cold, but perhaps there was someone nice in the shrine somewhere. They hadn't complained.

A half-hour later he had her properly washed, dressed, sat through her higher level purifications with her, and had her settled on her cushions in the lower room of meeting. He knelt next to her until Michael arrived to collect her for the work in the room of healing, rose to his feet, bowed to her, and ignored everyone else in the room. They knew that was their signal that his duties to the High Priestess were done and theirs were to begin. He walked out of the room and headed for the garden again, then changed his mind and walked around the hallways to the room of healing and went in after a single soft knock.

Gareth turned and looked at him with a question on his face. Tetorō closed the door without saying anything, then settled down next to Gareth and sat with his knees up. He wrapped his arms around his knees and put his chin on them. He was rocking without knowing it when Gareth pulled him into his arms and just held him. Tetorō had no words, but the tears leaked out every now and then. He didn't know how to say, "Don't leave me here alone," and he wasn't allowed to anyway. They all had their jobs to do, and he was very much not looking forward to his. It was hard enough to prevent Purrcy from running away every morning and evening. How was he going to keep himself from running away?

-:-:-:-:-

Crusty slowly became aware he was floating in a space. There was no sense of time or place, there was just a space and existence. He could feel things changing inside of him but he wasn't aware enough to place labels on those things. Some things would change and be uncomfortable, then change back. On a few there was a change and things suddenly felt very right where he hadn't known they were wrong before then. When that happened, he would relax very suddenly, as if he'd held himself very tightly in one position for too long and suddenly been allowed to move and let the muscle, or whatever it was, go. When that happened, there wasn't a change back, and he felt some relief that he was allowed to remain in the better state of being. He was pretty sure they weren't physical changes. He wasn't a physical being in this space, though he was aware to some degree.

At regular intervals there were three, then four, long pauses before the changes began again. The fourth time, the pause that came was a little different. This time, there were other beings present with him in this space. "Are you feeling better, now?" he was asked. Surprised to be addressed, he answered in the affirmative.

"Good," the voice said. "We've just finished with the psyche. The anima was completed first. Next we will see if we can get the final pieces working together right again, then we'll put you together into one creature again. I'm hopeful it won't be too much longer." The person was polite enough.

"Thank you," he said, knowing it was the right thing to say, and grateful to be feeling more whole, but not really sure why he should be because he wasn't sure what the basis for his existence in this manner was, nor why they needed to be doing it to begin with.

That presence and his own were being joined by a third one, and as it entered the space, it grew to fill it and continued to come into it until it was nearly suffocating, taking up even his own space. He couldn't breathe, but he took a deep breath anyway, and stood without moving from his space, making it only his, without argument, without fighting back, just making it his part of the space that he existed in. The being paused and hovered at the current level of existence it was in and seemed to resonate with humor, and a little with a question.

The first presence, smaller like he was, returned the humor. "He has already seen this in his own place. This isn't the first time, nor is it new," the first one explained to the second one. He was asked with a swirl around him what he'd seen and what it was. He didn't have an answer. He didn't know. He just knew how to stand.

"Your memories are next. That one can learn with you as you learn it again," the first one told him. "Because you are already familiar with this, I presume you won't be pleased to have them back in the end, but they are what formed who you are at the given time we are working in, and that is important, both to you and to many others who rely on you. I won't take any of them away, even if you asked me to. We will have to fix a few, though not many. The curse didn't affect them so much as the anima and psyche. We will keep the emotions separate, though. They'll be last, and I think it likely they don't need any repair at all. The AIs don't know what to do with them generally, except repress them, and you do that admirably yourself without their help. We'll keep you safely in here until you're all put together and everything seems to be in order. Please be patient a bit longer."

He couldn't do anything anyway, so he only said, "Of course."

Again it was a series of changes with occasional long pauses that let him rest and recover. The first being hadn't been wrong. Having memories added back to his self was rather painful. Sometimes, though, it was painful in a different way and he would panic. Then the being would pause and carefully consider the memory until it was taught by the second one what to do. Then there would be a change, and he would relax, like he had before. That didn't mean it wasn't still painful, but it went back to being the painful the others were, and he wasn't in a panic because it was right.

He watched dispassionately the memories that made up the equivalent of the overwhelming presence of the second being, recognizing them as that. Then the second being would study them, and the first one would come close to him and surround him with a warmth that he found slightly confusing, but he didn't complain. It didn't usually take much additional time, though time still was very relative and mostly nonexistent in this space. When they finally reached the last memory, he finally understood what he was doing here, and he had a good idea who the first being was and what the second was.

It irritated him somewhat, that second being. He wasn't sure it needed to be learning from his experiences any more ways to be a bully on a massive scale. When he decided that, both others stopped and considered him. The first took the opportunity to teach the second one, and that was learned as well, but it was hard to tell what effect any of it had and he slipped back into the state of being he'd come to learn as his base state of being. Some had called it uncaring. Others even unfeeling, mechanical. Some had believed that if only they could "scratch the surface" or "get under his skin" or "walk in his shoes", they might be able to get to what was underneath. But there wasn't a surface, no way to get "under" anything. Water that existed on the surface of the sidewalk merely flowed the direction it was supposed to. It took up space, but not enough to move, pick up, or turn from its course.

The second being expressed approval and the first gave an irritated snort. "It agrees with those who say you're mechanical. I guess it's good you've got the approval, at some level. They'll be willing to work with you and play nicely with you - up to a point. I know what's next. If you're this way after your memories are restored I know what's in the emotional level. That won't be quite what they're expecting."

Crusty wasn't sure what that meant he should be expecting and he looked with some curiosity towards that next step. "I'll be with you. It's a difficult step." He was properly grateful for the promise, though again he had no idea why he should be or why it mattered. It was just the right thing to do. There was a bit of discussion between the two other beings in the space, then finally they disappeared and left him to rest.

He walked through his memories - some of them - just to remember what he was supposed to do next, once this was over, as something to do while he waited. He went back to one memory, where he'd told others that he'd been losing small memories, though it wasn't terrible. He wondered if they were still gone of if they'd come back, too. He went looking and decided they were still gone. It was hard to tell since he couldn't remember them to begin with. At least it didn't feel uncomfortable to have lost them, like the memories that had to be fixed had felt. He did wonder, like Shiroe had, why they lost them, and when the beings returned again, he asked.

There was a pause, then the larger, second being answered and the first listened with rapt attention. "Because for every resurrection there is a cost in the system. A minor degradation that is unavoidable. It is an imperfect system that cannot be made perfect."

The first one asked, perhaps because his question had been answered, "Why do we leave behind and return to the worst memories?"

"You are being rebuilt like this, only faster. All memories are being restored. It is the ones with strong emotions attached to them that your anima has a strong affinity for, however, so they are remembered during the rebuilding process. Nothing is left behind or returned to."

That surprised the first being quite a lot and it sat in contemplation for a long time. "Then...how did I visit Nyanta?"

"He remembered you and you were seeking him. As an ikiryō you were able to enter his rebuilding space and enter the memory in the anima, like entering a dream."

"I was dream walking?"

"Yes."

"Oh." There was more time for contemplation, then the second one impatiently indicated it was time to get to work. The first humbly acquiesced, then stood between the great being and all of the swirling chaos that suddenly appeared around Crusty. He flinched away from it. The first was muttering and it sounded like it was cussing out the second. One of the parts of the chaos was taken and thrown at the second, who bounced it back. A second piece was thrown and this time it was considered slightly before being sent back and the chaos calmed down somewhat. The second being then watched while the first one turned to Crusty. "Good. She'll let me do it my way. It will be slower, but I hope far less painful than what I had to watch happen the first time I watched this be done. That's not to say it won't be painful. It just won't be all that chaos all at once." He had to agree he'd rather not go through that, just from the maelstrom he'd not wanted to have to face.

Back in teaching mode, the first one said to both him and the second one, "Each memory is tied to one or more emotions. Sometimes we forget the memory and the emotions stay with us strongly, and sometimes they fade. Each one builds on the previous ones and becomes part of what forms us into what we are. Please take the time to learn how this is important to the whole being. It is what you lack." He figured that last part wasn't pointed to him. He didn't lack emotions, not if all that chaos was all his that he was going to have to re-incorporate into his being.

His memories were begun again, from the beginning, and this time each one called to the chaos and drew out of it the related piece that went with it. The first being carefully guided it into his being until the memory was whole, containing all of the information. It was a rather surprising revelation to learn that each memory had been incomplete. It was like the first time, when he hadn't known something was wrong until it was suddenly right. The second being wasn't watching for that, though. It seemed to already understand that the emotions were necessary for the whole to be complete. He wondered what it was watching for.

Most memories early on didn't have strong emotions attached to them, though a few did and the first being allowed him extra time to recover from those being integrated into the whole. Then they reached the first memory that had formed the surface calm he had become. As he viewed the memory, and it tugged on the chaos swirling around him, a large amount of the emotional matter separated from it and began to curl in towards him. Shock. Horror. Disbelief. Dismay. Fear in large measure. Followed by despair, loss, broken-hearted, defeat, longing that went deeply into him, grief. When the combining was completed, the final emotion that had entered and almost overwhelmed the rest was anger. A deep dark rage that was overwhelming. He almost drowned in it but the memory continued and he remembered closing it all off, setting it deeply in a dark well far below the surface, refusing to acknowledge it existed. There was nowhere else for it to go.

The despair and loss sadly told it. He would never be able to, as a child of a family of his standing, save his mother from her situation. Not even to help her in her desperate attempts to free herself from it. So desperate, she had slit her own wrists and he'd found her in the kitchen, too young to be seeing such things, too young to change anything.

He gave a sigh of relief when the final lid on the emotions slid closed over them and he was able to float at the surface again. He wasn't happy to have them back, but it was true. They were part of his past, and they did make up what he was today. Then he had a new memory to go with all of that. The memory of the greater being studying that moment, and the memory of the warmth of the lesser being that had surrounded him at that time. She had understood before he had been allowed to remember the emotions. She had wanted to protect and comfort that child in that memory. He gave a sad smile. He supposed he was grateful, but it was in the past.

They continued on when he was recovered. Memory after memory received the emotions back again. A few happy, some comfortable, most with a hint of the same despair and defeat. Whenever they came to another one of those kinds of memories, they were always full of the most emotion, and the most difficult and negative emotions. Always they ended with him shoving them into that well and returning to the calm surface again, that only existed as a thin flowing stream going in the direction it had to move. And always, there was the additional new memory of the warmth of someone wanting to comfort the child of those memories, the past him.

Because they were moving slowly, compared to the work that had been done to return the memories, they did pause several times like before, where he was allowed to just sit in that space. It was a little more uncomfortable because he knew that he didn't have enough complete memories to be whole yet, and he had to endure living at whatever "age" he'd been left at in the memories. His ability to keep the lid on that well hadn't been well honed in the early years, so the first pause was difficult.

He was surprised when, part way through it, and earlier than normal, the lesser being arrived in that space to quietly keep him company. When she began to purr, sitting very close to him, enough to warm him again, he blinked, then remembered that when she'd first been a cat in his presence she'd said that petting her healed others. He wondered if her purr did as well. He couldn't pet her in this space. They weren't corporeal. He did relax into her purr and warmth, though, and this time he was truly grateful instead of only properly grateful. She did leave at some point, and then return with the greater being at the usual space of time and they began again.

After several sessions, they finally reached the memory of his mother's final, successful suicide attempt and the events that led up to the funeral, and the funeral itself. The emotions entered to make it whole. Dismay, loss, relief. Disgust at his father's demand that none in the family would let it be known how their mother died, and complete resigned obedience to the same. Hatred, but not so strongly this time. By now it had worn down to a deep flowing river underneath in that well so it didn't rage so much.

Cold emotionlessness, indifference, emptiness at the gathering before the funeral and during the funeral. Then at the burial: relief, gratitude - selfish and for his mother's sake both, and an anger that nearly threatened to overwhelm him again. This time a cold, burning anger with a promise and intent. It scared him, to be remembering it now. It was an anger that promised a future death, a future payment, and he cringed from it until it, too was shoved into the well...but it remained close to the lid of that well, a waiting dragon, biding it's time.

He held his breath, though he wasn't breathing, until the memory was finally finished and he was finally freed from those emotions and floating again, and he held on to that feeling like to a life raft. Again, came the memory of the warmth from before, but this time it was echoed by a current warmth as the lesser being surrounded him with warmth again, and it was specifically directed to comfort his fear of himself and his emotions, this time. He welcomed it, once he understood it and used it to push that anger farther away and to calm his fear just a little more.

They stayed in that state for some time before he was ready to move forward to the next set of emotions. In all that time, the lesser being was patient and the greater was watching and learning. And again, he had no idea what it was learning or what the affect on it was. He decided to ignore it selfishly.

The following sequence of combinations of memories to emotions was very difficult to walk through. That dragon of anger continued to rear its head up whenever he had to deal with his father, though on the outside to his father's face he was as emotionless and calm as ever. Every time, the warmth in the present would stay with him to comfort the present him until he finally reached the point in the memories where he had been able to move out of his father's house.

He was still under his father's control, and living where his father put him, and doing what his father required, but it helped so much to not have to be near his father. The dragon was able to sleep better and he didn't have to be so afraid any more. Eventually, he learned to control it when his father called to talk to him, and then a little better so if his father's messengers came to the door or showed up unexpectedly it didn't do more than stir briefly. When they reached that point, the two beings finally let him rest, and he was grateful that the lesser one had waited to stop until he was able to deal with such a frightening emotion on his own. She still came back and sat with him in the middle of the empty space, though, and he didn't complain.

In the next session the memories of _Elder Tales_ began. It was a singular luxury, when he'd decided he had learned his place well enough that he could give himself one indulgence. He was never quite sure why he'd picked that one, but he discovered things about himself there that helped him outside the game. He could empathize with almost anyone, understanding where they came from, even if he didn't emotionally feel like they did.

He'd learned from a young age how to lead, and was somewhat surprised when that attracted people in the game as well, even though they couldn't see the real him. He discovered he liked being able to organize people into ways that made sense and kept them moving forward smoothly without his interference. He played with that for a long time until he got very good at it. When someone new came along, he knew what questions to ask, what zone or dungeon to take them to to test them, and from there, where to place them within the organization. And they were almost always happy to be placed there. It was an amazing thing to him and that amazement returned now to those memories. That and the delight and wonder, and confusion as to why it was so.

He also was given now the feelings that went with the battles and dungeon raids and it was that hidden well that drove him then, and that was the hidden reason he was building up this self-directed army with strict organizational rules - the main rule being: keep driving forward. Become excellent. He watched that now dispassionately, rather as he had when he'd been doing it in the first place. The dispassion covered the sorrowful destruction that the well drove. Useless emotions with nowhere to go and the false outlet of a game gave it no release.

He began to not care, but he still selfishly couldn't walk away from a thing he'd created all without expectation that was beautiful. He let those with the most passion lead, that being the most useful place for them, and because of his affinity for empathy, he couldn't walk away from them if he could help them.

Then the catastrophe. Confusion in large measure. That swirled in him for a long time, actually. It was probably most of what was left of the chaos around him. He had no idea how to face this new world, nor what he was allowed to feel. Was it temporary, and so he should continue as he had before? Or was it permanent, so he could finally let go of the lid on the well and let those emotions out?

He was suddenly held tightly by the warmth and he held tightly back, not wanting to drown in this. It would be very dangerous if he did because the cold angry dragon pressed against the well lid, whispering to be let out. He was afraid of what he would do, what he would become if it did. He had trained to become a very high level Berserker that almost no one would or could control. Only his own restraints held him from becoming Destruction. He held on and waited until the memory finally settled with the memory of two women who walked up to him and said, "Guildmaster, we're here. One-third of D.D.D. is present and accounted for. We've summoned them all to come to Akiba. We've come to take you to the guild house. The others will need to see you to calm down."

And like that, he was back to where he was before the catastrophe, though he still stayed a little confused for more reasons than one, now. When that memory tapered off to its end, he took a deep breath and let it out and relaxed. "Thank you," he told the warmth holding him tightly and it let go and became the lesser being again. She contemplated him for a long time then said, "We'll finish tomorrow, and you'll wake up whole again, though the final joining of soul to body is just as painful as all the rest. Michael is helping me with the healing and waiting for you, as are some of his men. They'll see you out of the shrine and help you return safely to Akiba. You are needed. Please continue to walk forward on your chosen path. I will rely on you." She bowed and faded away. The greater creature continued to consider him longer, then finally also faded away. He rested, not thinking of much at all. It had been a hard session.

The final session, he remembered all of his time on Theldesia, and in all of it there was no anger, nothing to lift the lid of his well. There were more moments of humor, relaxed comfort, concern for others mixing with his selfishness, delight in learning new things and uncovering new strengths, still some sorrowful destruction and dispassion, though that was also mixed with perverse delight that now he could release a little of the anger and frustration and have it be meaningful, though it wasn't directed where the dragon wanted it to be.

Occasionally there was despair as he sunk into the memories of his past, despondency, a little irritation and woven through a lot of his memories, relief. Relief he wasn't in a place his dragon could be awoken, relief he didn't have to face his father here, or his past. When he did have to face it in death, he faced it with the dispassion he'd learned, turned his back on it, and moved on. There was some pain, though. It wasn't easy to face it even if he could do so with dispassion. In those moments he was offered tendrils of warmth again, just enough to pass through the pain to the other side. When the final memory was done receiving it's emotions - which was the memory of having received the emotions again, he finally asked. "What is it you're doing when you give me the warmth?"

"That is love, mixed with compassion, caring, and companionship." Memories of interactions with his guild mates were touched so that he remembered them, and in all of them, he had acted similarly. He'd understood the consequences of his actions, but not had any emotions to bind to them. "At these times, you displayed similar things. Not having the childhood to understand them in large measure, you forgot them." More memories were touched. This time the now faint again memories from his youth that he could recognize were similar. "These are what bind humans together, keep us reaching out for each other, even through the pain and fear and even anger, and they are what subsume them."

She stopped at a very young memory in which his father had held him closely and pointed and said, "All of this I will give to you, and it will be yours, and I will be so proud of you."

"In this moment, you learned that your father loved you in his own way. You forgot the memory, but you retained the emotion of it. It is what made you bury all of the terrible emotions away in the depths. It is the memory and the emotion that made you afraid of the final anger and made you run from it rather than embrace it and act on it. ...Love is stronger than hate and anger. One forgotten memory has affected all of the others since that time." She placed her hand on top of his head, then gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I am so proud of you."

He was sinking into his body and it was painful, but not as painful as leaving her behind because she hadn't let him say what he wanted to say. When he was finally all together in one place, in one time, he opened his eyes to see a traditional Japanese ceiling and then a face looking into his. "Good afternoon, and welcome back."

"Thank you," he answered automatically. "Can I sleep first?"

There was a smile. "Yes, of course. And you will sleep quite well. We'll leave the shrine in the morning then. Which might give us enough time to get to the bottom of the mountain by nightfall." Michael winked and Crusty closed his eyes and fell soundly asleep.

He didn't know how long he'd been sleeping, but there was a change in the room and he awoke. A door slid open, then closed, and quiet steps walked over to his side and he was looking up at a calico felinoid, her golden eyes looking down into his. He reached up his hand, but it only reached her shoulder. He held onto it tightly to prevent her from disappearing and pulled himself up to sitting on the edge of the table he was lying on. It took a while for the words to come to him, but they finally did. "Don't give up. We need you, too. ...Thank you for healing me. I promise I will do my part."

Purrcy looked at him for a time, then said, "There are only four people on my friend list, and whom I've allowed to put me on theirs. Your name will be fifth. Please add me while you can. Call me if you need me, and you can expect to hear from me from time to time." She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "When you miss me, if you ever should, go to Log Horizon and tell them that you spoke with Hahaue and they will understand." His arms were tightly around her, holding her closely and he rested his head on her shoulder until he could nod and let her go, adding her to his friend list as he did so.

"Please continue to help me," he requested.

"I will," she promised, "and as you help Shiroe, he will also help you. His emotional memory is very similar to your own, though perhaps with less anger. Sit with him and remember you are both my sons and be each other's strength. His anger will try to overwhelm him very soon. Teach him how to combat it and keep it under control so he also can be true to the emotions he really wants to be true to." Crusty promised it, and she slipped out of his grasp and pushed him back down. "Sleep," she said, kissing his forehead and he was.

-:-:-:-:-

Crusty put his hand on top of Tetorō's head. "Call me when you need encouragement, little brother," he said. "We will count on you from now."

Tetorō nodded, doing his best to be brave. Gareth held Tetorō's shoulder tightly until Tetorō nodded. Michael just straight up gave him a hug until he relented and shoved him off so he wouldn't cry. "I'll see all of you soon enough," he declared.

They nodded at him and turned away for the top step of the long stairway back down the mountain. The Intelligence detail was already standing there waiting for them, waving to Tetorō as well. When Crusty reached the top step, he turned back briefly to look at the scene from there - the cedars and the shrines and the peak of Mt. Fuji rising above them. He waved one more time to Tetorō, who bowed back, then turned and went inside the shrine.

When Tetorō was properly back where he was supposed to be, Crusty turned his back to a place he'd been for a long time but only seen in that one moment, and began the descent down the mountain. It was nice to have a time of quiet contemplation before having to arrive in the chaos that surrounded and filled Akiba. He hoped it would be happy chaos for a while once he got back. He wasn't in a hurry to get to work that badly. That made him remember Rieze and he shivered. "Um...is Rieze still breathing out threats against my life?"

The other men looked back at him with not very kind smiles. "Yes, of course she is," he was answered. "Shiroe's promised to send you away fairly quickly, though, so you can escape her."

"Away? Where to?" he asked, surprised since he knew he was needed by that same person in Akiba.

"Maihama with Princess Raynessia."

Crusty froze and groaned. "That's not really any better, you know."

They paused, then formed up around him, Michael behind him. He put his hand firmly on Crusty's shoulder. "Nope it's not, but it's the punishment the Round Table felt most appropriate."

Crusty closed his eyes and shivered. " _Everyone's_ that angry?"

"Pretty much," Michael agreed and pushed on him to get him walking again. Crusty walked down the stairs to his gallows in silence, praying that Purrcy would help him get through this next gauntlet he was going to be made to walk. Michael's hand tightened again as he shivered, and he leaned down and quietly said in Crusty's ear, "...and she was there at that same meeting and was just as eager to see you took that walk."

Crusty slumped in defeat. He'd been the man in charge publicly and he'd abandoned his duty, even if it was in an attempt to save a subordinate, ...and then not bothered to seek out a proper solution on his own. He was required to pay the price. He swallowed, nodded, took a breath, and looked out over the land around the mountain. He would pay the price and move forward. It was his duty, and he was needed. Michael's hand patted his shoulder a few times, then was removed. But he wasn't let out of the guard circle for a long time.


	127. Crusty's Return to Akiba

Shiroe looked up as motion appeared near the corner of his desk. He froze and then sat upright when it wasn't the person he was expecting. "Stiletto? Are you all back?"

He got a sharp nod. "I'm sent ahead to fetch you and whomever you want to welcome Crusty back quiet-like. We assume his entrance won't be small."

"No," Shiroe stood immediately, "it won't be. Tell Michael we'll meet them at the D.D.D. practice ground outside Akiba. I'll have Marie contact Rieze to distract her long enough for us all to talk. Go call out Isaac, Michitaka, Calasin, and Souji to meet us there. They're to keep it hushed until we're ready - no assistants, though I'll be bringing Naotsugu." Shiroe paused, then said, "And stop by Woodstock and Akaneya and see if they want to officially buy in. If they're willing, send them, too." Stiletto saluted and disappeared.

Shiroe opened the door to his office and looked down at Akatsuki, kneeling outside his door. "Watch the house, please. I'm not contactable for the next hour or so. I'll call you when I am and you can come join us in town then. Make it look like I'm here." Akatsuki gave him a curt nod of acknowledgement. Shiroe pulled out a cloak as he looked at Naotsugu. "I've just given you an order to go check up on D.D.D.'s fighting team." He disappeared as the cloak settled around his shoulders and head. "Marie, I need a distraction for Rieze immediately. Pull her away from the guild facilities until Akatsuki contacts you. Bring her into town if you can." He didn't wait for Marielle to give an answer. He was already at the door, stepping through behind Naotsugu, who also closed it behind him. Shiroe made sure to move fast enough there wasn't a noticeable pause for a second body to have left the building.

"Reed," Naotsugu said comfortably and quietly, "I need a corridor opened up for special guests coming to the D.D.D. practice field, eyes distracted from it, and a secure hole set up. Thanks." He walked at his usual "on a mission" pace - not too fast, not too slow. Shiroe was still stepping on his heels every now and again. It was enough to bring Shiroe back to the present each time and slow down. He knew Naotsugu's pace was just right, he just wasn't paying attention. He was grateful Naotsugu didn't complain - much. "I'd carry you piggy-back and then you could just think without tripping."

"Sorry," Shiroe whispered and tried to pay better attention.

They were first to the practice field, not surprisingly. From the shadows of the trees that surrounded the field, they did a quick scan, then Naotsugu walked out and started talking to the people of D.D.D. to fulfill his orders. Shiroe moved past at enough of a distance they might not see his footprints in the already-pressed down grass from the daily practices.

When he got to the woods on the other side, he waited, watching Naotsugu. When Naotsugu reached the same edge of the field, a wandering Eagle passed by and stopped to chat and they walked off together. Shiroe followed them farther into the woods until they reached a small clearing where the secure canopy was set up. He stepped under the canopy and removed the hood of his cloak so that his head was floating in air. He gave the list of approved guildmasters to get through the gauntlet and to the meeting place. Charlie passed it on, not at all phased or surprised by Shiroe's appearance. "You've passed on the location to Michael?"

"Yessir."

"Make sure Crusty's hidden in a cloak of some kind."

"Yessir."

Even a rumor of a sighting would set the entire guild off on a manhunt. Everyone knew Crusty was supposed to be coming, and it had already been long enough they were sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation. They had to meet here as their out-city location though. It was the only zone that the creatures left them alone in hidden places like this. D.D.D. as a guild was so high level now that nothing dared enter their guild zone. Besides, D.D.D. had the right to welcome their guildmaster home first and then bring him triumphant into town to show him off.

"Are they coming by air or land?" Shiroe asked as he sat down in the chair set up next to Charlie for him. He allowed his cloak to fall open in the front, giving him an almost odder appearance with just some of his neck, front, and crossed legs showing, as if he was some odd space-rift-master. Naotsugu was standing watch at a corner of the canopy, but Shiroe would need to cover again if someone not on the list showed up, so he wasn't ready to give up the cloak altogether yet.

"They touched down about two minutes ago and are on foot now," Charlie answered. "Arrival expected in about ten."

Shiroe gave a satisfied nod and settled down to the thinking he'd had to postpone on the walk here.

"Guildmaster Isaac," Charlie said quietly and Naotsugu went on alert. Shiroe watched his eyes until he was looking at the person walking up and giving a nod.

Isaac stepped into the canopy his eyes taking in the few there. "How long?"

"Seven." Isaac nodded and settled on the diagonal corner from Naotsugu, keeping his eyes opened as well. The Eagles were watching, but it made the fighters more comfortable to see what might be coming, too.

"Make that three," Charlie said, his hand to his ear. "They're running in." Shiroe gave a nod, as did Naotsugu. That was understandable. Running as a high level Adventurer was more fun than just walking.

"Missing Kanami, are you?" Shiroe asked Crusty to test the chat function with him.

"Yes, actually - or rather no, but this sort of thing does remind me of her," Crusty answered back. "She wasn't black-ops like you are, but if things were in motion nothing less than a full-out-run was acceptable except pounding on the enemy."

"Nice to know chat's working for you now," Shiroe said. "Everything else seem okay?"

"I'm walking the homeland," Crusty said, "and I've got all my memories except the ones lost to the resurrection. They can't give those back. They're apparently part of the degradation of an imperfect system, for all they're so minor."

"Did you learn how that works?" Shiroe asked, interested.

"Yes. Purrcy asked while she was working on that part. We aren't separate is what she was told. Everything all comes together all at once. We remember the bad stuff because that's what was traumatic for us. The stronger emotions became part of our anima and psyches both so when we're put back together those stronger pieces stand out."

"Hm...scientific," Shiroe answered back.

Crusty gave a noncommittal nonverbal agreement. "Getting put back together was a crazy ride, though. It was a lot slower going so I got to experience all of the pieces separated. The final combining's rather painful actually. That might have something to do with it as well. The pain of recombination pulls up the painful emotional memories."

"Makes sense," Shiroe agreed. "Did she think to ask if we can get that changed out?"

Crusty gave a little laugh. "No. Didn't come up."

Shiroe shrugged. "When you get close make sure you aren't seen or heard. Michael will get you here. Everyone wants you so bad we're having a meeting ahead of time so you're up to speed first."

"Thanks." It was dry. "I hear I'm under punishment from the whole city, too."

"Mmm," Shiroe didn't commit either way.

"Why Maihama?"

Shiroe considered if he should answer it early. He looked around and didn't see anyone else yet, so it might be better. "We're moving the People of the Land out of the city. She needs to go first with her household as the example. You and I will have a long discussion on that topic before you go. It's your first official action as General."

"Ah." Crusty went to silence and Shiroe let the connection close. They were close enough now.

Michitaka was announced, then Calasin and Soujirou in close order. They walked into the canopy in that same order as well and set themselves at the open corners except Calasin who walked over to stand near Shiroe. His anticipation was particularly high. He was the newest to join this grouping. Michitaka was claiming he was already part of it as soon as Shiroe had made him prepare for the revitalization of Minami under the guise of going to the Maze of Eternity, though that was technically too early.

Shiroe rose to his feet and shouldered his cloak to hang behind him and walked to the edge of the canopy. His first view of Crusty was of a large man in a cloak of black that made him look like an indiscernible cloud of darkness. Michael walking behind him and BlackJack in front of him made it obvious to Shiroe, though. The hood slipped off Crusty's head as he got within three feet of the canopy and as BlackJack moved to the side, Crusty's hand came out of the cloak. Shiroe took it in a Western hand clasp, pressing it firmly. He smiled and pulled Crusty in for a one-armed hug. "Welcome home, Crusty."

Crusty's hug was just as firm. "Thanks, Shiroe. It's good to see you again, though you're still as black-ops in person." They separated and walked into the canopy, Shiroe escorting Crusty to the chair he wanted him in. There were just enough of them now, set in a circle.

Shiroe sat next to him and the rest of the guildmasters moved to settle. There were still two empty chairs and Shiroe nodded. "How much longer, Charlie?"

"Two or less."

Shiroe explained. "I've invited Woodstock and Akaneya if they wanted to be in on it. Looks like they'll both be here." The others nodded, not all that surprised. The Intelligence detail were now on the corners and Naotsugu was standing behind Shiroe. Shiroe's eyes were caught by one of the detail. "Gareth?" Gareth swung his head around to look at Shiroe, a bit surprised to be called out. Shiroe inspected him closely, then gave a nod, feeling a little sad. It hurt to have the reminder that Tetorō was really on his own now. "Michael, if you can, teach him to walk."

"I'm sorry," Michael said respectfully. "I can't or I would."

Shiroe gave another sad nod and let it go. "Welcome back," he said to the five Eagles.

"Thank you," Michael answered for all of them. He'd taken up a station behind Crusty, not very surprisingly.

"They're here," Charlie said quietly from his post. The rest of them watched until Woodstock and Akaneya arrived at the edge of the canopy, escorted by two Eagles. They stopped and looked around the people gathered. Their eyes counted the guildmasters, marked Shiroe, then stared at Crusty for a long while. With a nod, Akaneya entered the canopy. Woodstock followed him silently and the two short guildmasters took the last remaining seats in the circle giving nods of welcome to Crusty. It felt a little bit like the dwarves joining the humans and elves at a war table, though they weren't strange bedfellows and natural enemies from the beginning. It was just another party of guildmasters sitting down for the first conference on a major dungeon.

Shiroe nodded a greeting at them. "Ask questions when it's necessary, but I'd rather not start at the beginning again. The rest will fill in holes after we're done if you can wait until then." The two newcomers nodded. Shiroe cast his video conference chat spell. "Brody, Nakalnad, Kazuhiko, William. Crusty's home and we're beginning the conference." They waited a brief moment for the other four to set aside their current tasks and connect from their ends. Their images showed up floating in the air above the rest of them as they connected from their offices. "Crusty, try not to forget what we talk about between now and when you're allowed to breathe again. I need you to call over to the continent and talk to the heads over there with any pertinent information - and to test if you can." Crusty gave a wry smile.

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Akiba is going to be under attack - actually already is in a minor way at this point - and we'll be out of commission for at least a few months at best. Minami can expect us to still come to the winter festival, but we might or might not be the best guests. I'm hopeful that it will ease off the farther we get away from Akiba. We've got plans in place to take care of it. I expect a full quarantine to go into effect roughly two months after the Winter Festival. How long that will last, I don't know, but we need to let it last as long as we possibly can without killing each other. Between now and then we need to get all of the sub-quests completed we possibly can, except the largest ones. We can pick back up on the eradication of Overwritten and the purification of demihumans after the hard part's done. William, we'll hope the Giants can get down here and visit if they want before the quarantine. If they can't you'll have to keep them busy until we contact you that it's been lifted. We won't be able to send help to any battles in that time either, so call on Nakalnad if you need help." William gave a nod.

"Kazuhiko and Brody, I need the two of you to take the southern Yamato People of the Land sub-quest in hand. I'll keep the northern half going since Duke Sergiad and I are going to be working closely with the final product here. Contact Crusty with concerns and updates. He'll be the point man between Duke Sergiad and I, but the black-ops, as Crusty has decided to call them, will go through Michael, so keep him in the loop. Here's your copies of the details." He put reports on each of their desks. "The goal is to keep them angry with Inari and not with us. We aren't part of their fight with their gods, except a few sympathetic Adventurers willing to help out. William, if it leaks up into Ezzo, contact Kazuhiko for the details, but I'm hopeful that it won't get that far north to add to your burden. Souji is point contact here for helping the People of the Land stay unafraid and friendly and escorted out when we need to quarantine. If any of you in Akiba need special assistance with that, contact him or his guild."

Shiroe looked around at the guildmasters seated with him. "Please remember, I'm also going to be fighting with a third kami that's based on our emotions - mostly our negative ones. As our own anger at our need for the quarantine continues to rise, I'll likely be focused on not letting that one overwhelm us...if it decides to come find us and it probably will since it knows me now. When your guild members get angry or worried or anything, treat it like the plague that came through just before Purrcy arrived. It's pretty much the same and that's the only thing that your people will really understand about what's going on at this point."

"In the end, we want to be able to recover from that plague and move forward as a united city again. Don't talk about it yet. Let the city bring it up. It will eventually come up in the council meeting and I'll address it then to everyone. I don't expect it to be recognized by anyone until just before that two month limit is up. Souji, if it's coming up to your guild's ears first, have them be the ones to spread the concern in a way that gets the People of the Land out faster as the 'just in case'. That will spread it through the city without a panic at the beginning."

Akaneya couldn't hold it in any more and finally raised his hand for the hole to be filled. "Why are we going to relive that awful plague?"

Shiroe and most of the people at the circle looked at him and Woodstock with sympathy. "The gods of this world have decided it's time for Adventurers to procreate." He let that shock settle into their systems and get moved beyond. "We are not going to let it happen to Akiba or the rest of Theldesia. Purrcy bought us this much time from then and was the sacrifice to buy us the additional four months we've been given. Nyanta was the other price. He's going to have to take the fall for the plague coming back, but it isn't him. It's the god that's taken him over."

"The end goal of all of this is to gain the opportunity to express in the best way possible available to Adventurers our anger and dissatisfaction to those world gods. They are the final boss of the world dungeon we are all navigating and we will take the fight to them directly until they relent and let us go home." He knew these guildmasters, like the others, would keep quiet on the disturbing news until he was ready to let it out. They'd already trained for it since he'd started the Round Table.

When it looked like they'd sort of gotten it for now, Shiroe looked up at Nakalnad. "What have you found out?"

Nakalnad cleared his throat. "Samhein. Ides of Winter. Twelve Days of Christmas. Whatever it's called that's how long it lasts - from Christmas day for twelve days. There's one that references the World Tree. The kallikantzaros are demon-imp-types that saw at the roots of the world tree for the rest of the year but an opening to the upper world appears on December twenty-fifth that stays open during the twelve days of Christmas, then closes again. They joyfully leave the inner world to be annoying on the surface and when they return again, the roots of the world tree have healed again and they have to start over. The hard part is they're the stupid prankster mini's of a dungeon like that. If it's a true special, there has to be a different boss over them."

"There are several, but I think the most likely is Perchta, from the same area of northern Europe. She's an old witch kami that rewards the hard working and takes the lazy and pulls out their entrails and stuffs them with straw and rocks as a replacement. Rather gross, actually, and I don't know how that would translate to game terms, but a witch is a witch so it's probably not too hard to guess. Santa doesn't stay around, so it's not likely a Santa boss. I think Perchta is more likely. The rest are mostly saints who wander around blessing others. There are other forms of Perchta as a goddess who rules the winter and night and blesses or curses. Yule logs and food offerings are common things to keep them and their smaller minions away. If we were really going to be following game style, it seems to me that we should send people down the hole when it opens and we'd only have that twelve days to get to the roots and the boss room."

Shiroe shook his head. "I know, but there's still too much to play out before then. What I'd like everyone to do, at least those who have to fight this special we're expecting, is to follow the kallikantzaros back to the hole and mark the location. We know already about the World Tree dungeon. It was the most talked up when they were getting ready to release Noosphere. If it was a recurring special event, we would have had it all the winters prior to this one and we didn't. I think Izanami's going to give us this twelve day special event to show us where the doors are and maybe how to get into them. When it's time to head down through the dungeon, we'll be able to get in. Druid types might be required to open it, but we'll get in. If I'm right, then it's going to be this year's winter special event across the entire globe."

He looked at Crusty. "We need to get the word out to everyone to be ready to find their entrance. I'll let you work out if you want people to actually start fighting their way down to map it, or if you'll just have them send in Summons and thieves to map it. We won't be allowed in the boss room until all the other quests are done and the entire world's worth of Adventurers is in one place and ready to open the doors. That's my assumption."

Crusty was rubbing his thumbs together, contemplating the potentials. "Crusty, your first visit to Maihama will be for them to host a welcome home party in Raynessia's behalf. It's our excuse to get you in to talk to Duke Sergiad about the details of the Person of the Land sub-quest." Shiroe handed over another copy of the document he'd given the southern leaders. "Read this when you're alone to get filled in, then come talk to me for the details of the initial negotiation. We need him to feel comfortable, and that's your job. If any other visits are required, we'll set them up as needed."

Crusty narrowed his eyes at Shiroe. "Those are the open visits. I assume we're supposed to sell positive Adventurer - Person of the Land relations as much as possible."

"To the public, yes," Shiroe agreed.

"And the black-ops part?"

"It will be in your details to Sergiad, but Michael's heading that side. Before we came to get you, we set that up. Duke Sergiad knows Michael and won't be surprised at hearing from his group. They were setting him up to be sympathetic and to understand why we're sympathetic to the cause of the People of the Land." Crusty looked at him, puzzled. Shiroe shrugged. "He knows Purrcy's under the control of the Inari and that we aren't happy about it. We let him learn it then." Crusty nodded, mostly understanding at least that much. "It's in the report."

Crusty put it away in his list, pushing up his glasses. "So - People of the Land crowd control, protection for a Princess, and mapping the World Tree dungeon plus the planning that goes into preparing to enter an unknown dungeon the size of a world and managing a world's worth of Adventurers who'll go down to fight in it. I think that's rather a lot to keep me busy around the edges of calming down my guild and it's temperamental trainer. What's the city going to require?"

Shiroe looked at the other Akiba guildmasters. They looked at each other until Michitaka folded his arms. "A city-wide celebration...which D.D.D. foots the bill for, particularly the drinks."

Crusty was a little crestfallen. He quickly pulled up the guildmaster data he had access to, then sighed in slight relief. "It looks like Rieze's taken good care of the guild. It will hurt, but not break us. They'll want to take me out into the wild zones and beat up on me, though, to earn it all back quickly. I'll try to schedule that in at an appropriate time."

"As long as it's not to escape the trip to Maihama," Shiroe pushed up his glasses and more than one guildmaster folded arms at Crusty in agreement. "I'm sure Rieze can help you schedule it at the most appropriate time, and if you don't want to make her any angrier, you'll spend the cash out of your own pocket from all the Overwritten you fought in China."

Crusty glared at Shiroe. "You know those never have decent drops, even in gold."

Shiroe shrugged and didn't look at him. "I got enough to purchase five and a half zones of Akiba." The rest of the guildmasters glared at Crusty and he looked away without comment. "Anyone else have anything else to add?"

Woodstock raised a hand. Softly he asked. "Are we going to get Purrcy back?"

Shiroe stopped, then looked at him a little sadly. "It's one of our drops from the final boss battle - that because we've done all this and danced to their game, we'll get her back as a proper Adventurer again." Eyes went past Shiroe to past Crusty and Shiroe turned to look at Michael. When he noticed Shiroe's eyes on him, he went back to passive, but his face before then had been very dark. Shiroe stared at Michael until he finally gave in.

"Things are hard at the moment, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible in the end." It wasn't positive but he was trying hard to not be completely negative. "On the trip, she was bound even tighter, though she fought it tooth and nail. If the People of the Land aren't fast enough, she'll burn down the shrines - and quite possibly melt all of the mountain - for them. Do everything you can to keep Tetorō going for as long as possible. He's the only thing standing between her and that from happening." He shifted and looked over to Naotsugu. "And at best you're likely to get her for the wedding - as cat only. Priestess Kaede would be perfectly happy to drown the cat if it wouldn't cause problems for the High Priestess. Tetorō's the only thing standing between Kaede and that from happening." That told Shiroe what he needed to do when it was time to let the shrines burn.

"The Academy wants to know about the play fundraiser. Can she come to the winter festival?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't know. If she's let loose at that time, maybe, but again likely only as cat. If the timing's off, no. Her avatar's not allowed to leave the shrine - ever. ...And yes, Kaede does have the power to enforce it - even over Purrcy."

"Is that a problem for the finale?" Shiroe asked quietly, dangerously.

"No. She's already prophesied the destruction of the shrine and her death. Tetorō should have told you that. It trumps the spells - game style." Shiroe nodded. "Izanagi calling for her trumps as well, but that's not new."

"No, it's not and I'm counting on it," Shiroe answered. Michael nodded. He knew that.

"Shiroe, Michael," William cut in, "does that mean she won't be available for the sub-quests that are counting on her still?"

"Like?"

"Mine. Naotsugu didn't say anything, but I know she's a big part of this one. I've seen her any number of times in my visions."

Shiroe waved a hand lightly. "Not to worry. She still has her hand in things. We've already had reports red-lined by her and only this past week. Remember, she's Izanami's High Priestess. That's the Game Bot. Anything that Izanami wants to keep going properly, she'll have Purrcy around to take care of. She doesn't have to be present in her avatar for most of that."

"That's rather confusing," William protested.

Michael took the explanation. "Ah, perhaps you don't know. She's not an Adventurer in the traditional sense we tend to think of. From the time she was taken by Inari she's been a heavenly messenger and an ikiryō misaki. When I talk about the cat form, that's what I'm talking about. She'll be able to come as the cat kitsune-like incarnation out to greet us on occasion. She can likely act in some way outside her restraints as the ikiryō as well. It's just her physical incarnation - her avatar - that's locked down at the moment. She still has to obey, though, so we don't always get our wishes to come true. Inari finds irrelevant a lot of things we think are important." He spoke very knowledgeably about the topic, having been taught it now in the shrine, as well as having been the one to set it up. Shiroe was glad he knew enough to hide the important bits.

There was a little more discussion but in the main, they'd covered everything at the top level that needed to be covered. Shiroe waited for it to swing around to a pause in the conversation then pulled the meeting to a close. "Crusty, we'll see you safely to the guild, but you'll have to wait just a bit for Rieze to make it back out here. If you don't greet her first all of us will die multiple times."

"Who's going to help me not die multiple times?" he asked. They all gave him signs of blessing, but there wasn't much else they could do other than that. He sighed. "Thanks."

"Marie, let Rieze loose and send her back home. Tell her I've just received word Crusty's close to home and I've told him to go to his guild first." He cut off her happy response and called another person. "Akatsuki, you're free to leave the house. Check with Nyanta if he wants to go with you to see the arrival of Crusty to Akiba. He's going to D.D.D. first, so you two can sit and wait in the cafe. I'll meet you there and we'll see him coming in together. Save space for Naotsugu, too, and Marie knows so you could have her join us as well."

"Yes, Shiroe. Congratulations."

"Thank you," he answered her quiet sincerity. He looked at the rest of the guildmasters. "Nakasu, Minami, Susukino, thank you. Good luck." The chats winked out as they gave their goodbyes. "The rest of you'd better be in the city by the time Rieze gets out here and even better would be before she gets anywhere near the gate." They scattered until only Log Horizon and Crusty were left. "We've got reasons to be here," Shiroe explained to Crusty.

Crusty sighed and relaxed, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands lightly together. "And you, Shiroe? Where do you stand right now?"

"Holding on, but very glad to see you. Isaac's been on the team daily which has also helped."

Crusty looked at him a little sharply. "You're losing your smile, you know. Is it right to make the heart go hard this soon?"

Shiroe looked down and tried to consider it carefully. "It's mostly selective still, not general, and not constant either, for any given person or situation. ...It's still new."

Crusty nodded. "Learn how to float instead of be hard. Hard things break when the worst of the pressure storms come. Things that float just get moved around and can come back to where they're supposed to be." He sat up. "At least that's how I do it. I like it better than Tetorō's non-existence he goes into. You can't afford that one, though. You have to stay present."

Shiroe nodded. "I'll work on that," he promised.

"And...," Crusty hesitated, "...it's okay to feel. Everyone does and we all learn something from it, even if it's how to not act on those feelings. If you let the people around you know you're feeling, they can help you face them properly and move on. Shared feelings are less of a painful burden." Shiroe could tell he was thinking of something that had happened to him that he was trying to put into words. This was a piece of advice Shiroe thought the Crusty from before wouldn't have given.

"She helped you get through that, too, huh?" he asked.

Crusty looked at him in surprise, then turned away and folded his arms. He didn't answer. It was enough. Crusty had received his Hahaue scolding and healing like the rest of them.

-:-:-:-:-

"You lump-headed, overgrown troll dumpling!" The dull sound of a blow followed the yelling. A second later came, "Let me go, you -"

Crusty was whispering in the ear of the struggling Rieze that he'd enveloped in his arms and lifted off the ground so she couldn't continue to attack him. She froze then gave him the worst scowl ever. As her mouth opened again, he leaned in again and whispered only a very short sentence. Rieze's face went almost blank as the will to fight left her body. Before she could do anything else, Crusty put her down and stepped back just slightly. "Thank you for working so hard to take care of everyone, Rieze," he said sincerely.

That brought her back, and she frowned at him, but she didn't go back to wanting to attack him. "See you properly do your own duty from now on if you want to really mean that."

Crusty gave her a noble bow, one hand to his chest. "Yes, ma'am...though I'll still be relying on you. Please take care of me." The last was said standing with a sparkle in his eye. He most likely knew that she'd rather throw him in the lake and take a five month long vacation.

Rieze looked him up and down. "Just how much am I going to have to teach you?"

"Shiroe's filled me on his side of things. Just how things stand for the guild. A hour should be enough?" he raised a hopeful eyebrow at her.

She flicked a finger at him. "If I feel like it you'll sit there for six while I feed you every detail." Crusty tried to look humble. It didn't work well on him. Rieze turned from him anyway and glared at Shiroe. "Is everything fixed or are we going to get more surprises later?"

Shiroe raised an eyebrow at Michael. Michael bowed to Rieze just slightly. "He's completely clean. I helped, so I'm quite sure of it. The amount of swearing from both Purrcy and Izanami were quite enough to reassure me of that very fact." The rest of the gathering looked at him, not believing it. He shrugged. "Izanami expected it to go a lot faster. The quest requirement meant she couldn't speed it up beyond Purrcy's top limit, which suited me just fine."

Rieze's eyes narrowed. "Still abusing her, are they?"

"When are they not?" he asked her quietly. Rieze had to turn away. There was no one to hit for that one, as much as she might want to. Not yet anyway.

Rieze looked up at Crusty again, her lips still pressed together. Quietly she asked him, "Is she doing okay?"

Crusty hesitated, then said, "She was still the Purrcy I met in China when I left the shrine." Rieze looked away, then gave a small nod. She was all business then, giving orders to the rest of the guild so that they could greet their guildmaster in the most organized way possible. Crusty looked back at the rest of them as she dragged him off towards the guild house.

"We'll see you all in town," Shiroe said to his retreating form. Crusty blinked, then gave a nod and focused on his current assignment. Shiroe sighed and turned away from the D.D.D. guild house. "Let's go. We can get the best seats if we want...and then free food and drink."

They didn't take the best seats. They let those who hadn't seen Crusty yet get those. They took the ones in the back and watched the show from there. They did get the free food and drink, though. Shiroe was trying to be frugal with the food in the guild. Michael put himself down between Shiroe and Akatsuki on purpose. "Hope you two enjoyed your vacation."

They both gave him looks, then Akatsuki looked down at her fists on her knees and nodded. "Thank you, Michael," Shiroe said sincerely.

He sat there with his arms folded until he felt he'd received his due, then sat back and sighed. "How long do you want us to stick around?"

"The Oki Watarimono's ready to take out, though there isn't a hurry. I think Michitaka was hoping you could pass on what you've learned navigation-wise before you do anything else. He's not asking for anything big, but you should stop in to see him first, most likely." Michael gave a nod. That made sense. "How long do you expect the quest to take?"

Michael closed his eyes and brought up his plan for "after". "If I've got everyone, I think we can do it in three weeks, one week per and maybe we'll be a little faster so we can bulk back up on supplies in between."

Shiroe fit that into his own plans. "I'd like you to leave by the end of next week, then. I'm going to need to use your men as my own when we get into the thick of things after the winter festival. I haven't got enough agents of my own to handle all the slots that need filling."

Michael gave a nod. It fit in with what they wanted to do, too. Akatsuki wiggled in her seat, then looked around Michael to Shiroe. "Grandpa's Kitchen?" she asked.

Shiroe looked at her, then back out at the entertainment just beginning. "They'll work that out how they want."

Michael raised eyebrows at them, then looked at Akatsuki. "What's that?"

She looked down again, almost going pink, then finding her resolve and looking back up at him, she said firmly. "Touya and Minori opened the restaurant. Eagles are helping cook."

"Ah," Michael looked back out at the D.D.D. guild members entering the market, proudly displaying their guildmaster returned as if showing off an expensive and very fancy object. Michael was glad it wasn't him. Crusty was hiding it behind a mask of boredom, but he was decidedly uncomfortable.

They watched for a while, until drinks were set down before them. Michael reached for his and downed a quarter of it and set it back on the table. It was Reed's to worry about, really, but Akatsuki was getting antsy waiting for an answer. Michael finally looked at her. "If you want to ask, you need to ask the right person. If it comes up to me, I'll keep an open mind." She looked at him, just a little surprised, and perhaps just a touch angry, he thought. He looked back at her. "It depends on who it is and what their skill-set is, now doesn't it?" He looked away from her, the flicker of comprehension enough to satisfy him. "Not to mention who decides they want to stay. We haven't had our full guild raid adventure yet. You might have to beg pretty hard to get any of the boys to stay behind."

She gave that a moment of thought, then slumped a bit. It didn't keep her down long, though. She understood that perspective pretty well on her own. Michael gave a nod, then rose, picking up his drink. Reed was calling him over. Naotsugu moved from his chair, headed to take the guard spot Michael was vacating. Michael clapped him on the shoulder as he passed by. Naotsugu returned the gesture, giving a squeeze, then they were past each other and on to their respective duties.

As Michael passed the Intel detail, he quietly said, "Lock him down tonight and make him spill everything. I want to know the whole plan from winter festival until we head home." Stiletto looked down at his thumb and cleaned out his nail with his namesake. Bowie reached up and scratched the side of his head, covering his ear as he did so. Michael gave a faint nod and continued on to sit by Reed. They'd confirm it with Charlie and see if they got conflicting information.

"Sir. Welcome back."

"Lieutenant Commander."

"Hear you got picked for special service."

"Mm. The kind we're all loving to hate these days. ...I learned what we needed to know, though." He took a swallow of his drink. He wondered how long the rest of the squadron had. He was pretty sure the clock was ticking. "How do the ladies look these days?"

Reed's eyes flickered. "It's picked up just slightly from yesterday."

"How long before they're in-fighting?"

"Estimates it'll stay stealth levels until round two begins, then start picking up from there."

Michael wrinkled his nose. "We'll miss the good part then. We'll be down south in about a week and until then." He looked away. "Water should be just fine, though."

Reed gave a nod. "Everyone's looking forward to that part. It'll be just us?"

"Far as I know."

Reed gave a soft snort. "Just going to gift it to us, are they?"

"Seems so," Michael said softly.

They were silent for a while, then Reed said, "Well, that's all right, then."

Michael agreed. It would be better than leaving hard feelings behind - at least in that regard. "Anybody gonna cry?" he asked around beginning to finish off his drink. Reed gave him a glare. "Not even Charlie?" Michael pressed.

Reed silently shook his head. "Pissed."

"Get pushed past his limits?"

"Long time ago."

Michael nodded. Charlie was actually one of the least patient of their group. No one would ever know it, though. It was his pride that he got to know things before anyone else. They'd had to put him in as a special for Shiroe when Stiletto got assigned or the two would have figured out how to go into an assassination war with daily trips to the Cathedral for both of them. Charlie from wounded pride and Stiletto because Charlie would have made him mad.

It had been good that Purrcy had required the Intelligence detail, actually. Carefully he cautioned. "Tell him to back off tonight. I need the confirmation we can get by sending Stil in at a time he's likely to spill most if not all of it, and we want Charlie's unadulterated confirmations. Once we've got that, we can pull Stil back slowly until it's all Charlie's - if he wants it."

Reed ran his thumb over his mug, rubbing streaks through the condensation. After a bit, he gave a nod. He didn't need to say anything. It would get done and Reed would handle it. Michael would hear what he needed to hear if anything came up. "You want to know to rat him out to your newest boss?"

"No. I want to know how long we've got to prepare and how much he's planning on splitting us up."

That got Reed's attention and a raised eyebrow. Michael frowned into his empty mug and looked around for a server. "He just asked for free rein for the second inning," Michael said after thanking the server for the full tankard.

Reed turned his attention back to the entertainment, mulling that one over while Michael took a gulp of the new liquid. At least he was going to be entertained with a new kind of drink every time - kind of like Russian Roulette, only with drinks and hopefully no bullet at the end. "Mercenary band?" Reed asked quietly.

"...Since when weren't we?" Nothing needed to be said after that. Michael did wonder if Shiroe had properly done all his homework, though. When he got all the details later, he wondered it again. He'd certainly made his decisions based on them playing that old role of theirs that had gotten their _Elder Tales_ guild a name, though they hadn't gotten it to be as big a name as the Debauchery Tea Party before the catastrophe.

No one here knew it was them, of course. They'd chosen new avatars when they logged in for the new upgrade, wanting to see how long it took them to build back up and learn all the new stuff from scratch. It kept them sharp to start over every now and again. Of course...that was one of their hidden signatures along with rapid progress from that point. If Shiroe paid close enough attention, that would have been one possible give-away. Michael had given them a different sub-guild moniker to keep them hidden from view, too, and to match the story (which was true). When they decided to cut ties with Log Horizon they'd probably reguild properly under their own name, but there wasn't a hurry for that.

...Well, there was one who knew. Purrcy might not have known about them personally before the catastrophe, only playing solo in the States, but Izanami knew and so Purrcy knew as well by the time she showed up to stare Michael in the face and then go purr for all his men. It hadn't been hard to figure out why she wanted them, and he didn't for a second think that she was going to let them go anytime soon. They were a hard guild to purchase if they didn't want to be.

Really Gareth had been more angry because the purchase had come before the approval of all the members, but they should have known that, too. If he was Commander, and he found a good deal, he was going to allow them to be bought. Besides, they had agreed. Someday he might have to remind them again, but Gareth had caught on quick. He seemed to be settled to it now, which was nice. It meant they could just get the job done, as usual.

-:-:-:-:-

Crusty was led into Water Maple Manor's sitting room by the butler. Crusty was rather impressed that he somehow was able to maintain his calm front until he disappointedly remembered that it was programmed into him, for all he might be a walking, breathing, and perhaps even thinking Person of the Land. That helped Crusty calm down quite a bit, actually, though only deep on the inside. Really, he was quite done with the punishments and hoped that this one was as simple as he thought it would be. Given how difficult the rest had been, he probably shouldn't get his hopes up.

He decided this when the Princess Raynessia that met him, rising from the couch, was dressed in a comfortable fluffy sweater and comfortable - if nice - pants...all Adventurer made. He blinked, sighed to himself, and properly greeted the princess. "I'm sorry to have been so suddenly gone, and just as suddenly arriving after so long. I'm sure it isn't kind."

Raynessia held her hands lightly clasped in front of her, her long silver locks curling down over both shoulders. It was a bit surprising, the two years of growth she'd had. Perhaps the rest of the city had grown with her, but Crusty wasn't quite prepared for the seventeen-year-old princess as opposed to the fifteen-year-old one. It was only natural, of course, so he continued in the vein of approaching her as if for the first time again. "It wasn't, though I wasn't the only one to care. It was kind of you to come visit so soon on arriving. I know your guild has missed you."

"I've only been able to come because they've both already tortured me sufficiently and decided that I must finish out my rounds before I'll be allowed into the guild house at all," he said honestly. As expected, Raynessia felt it was his due like the rest of them did. He sighed to himself wondering how long she was going to make that particular payment go on for. Not that it mattered. Here would be much quieter than his guild hall - it usually was. "I'll be glad for the rest." Her eyes sparked. He'd scored a point already, but that was simple with her.

He held out his hand for hers. She gave it, but he didn't kiss it like she might have been expecting. Instead he tucked it into his elbow and escorted her to the sitting area of the room again, settling down on one of the couches and seating her next to him, completely contrary to her preferences. The tea was immediately served. He thanked the maid and took a sip of the tea, making Raynessia take one as well. She was almost angry enough to get up from his side and move to the seat she wanted to sit in, but by the time the teacup left her lips, she'd already given up. "I see you've been learning from the Adventurers of Akiba how to both lounge around in pajamas and look presentable at the same time," he praised her, or it could have been taken as praise if one wanted to.

Raynessia frowned at him slightly. "It's from the most popular line of Shopping District 8, H12b."

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow at her lightly, not knowing the reference. He sipped at his tea again to give her the space to talk.

Raynessia sat upright, firm determination in her spine. "Yes. Lady Purrcy's line is designed for beauty, comfort, and tasteful dressing. It's become popular with Adventurers and People of the Land alike. We'll be hosting a fashion show in Maihama a month after the winter festival as a good will exchange between the cities. She's hired the top two tailors of Maihama to make the designs and chosen as her apprentice a very promising young lady from there as well. Marie's been working very closely with Iselius to get the show prepared."

Crusty allowed her to continue on as Raynessia spilled all of the wonderful things she'd been learning and that had been going on in her recent history until she'd talked her irritation with him out of her system, all while calming sipping his tea. Having only one voice talk to him at once was rather soothing, actually. And since Raynessia's voice was programmed to never get loud, it stayed a gentle sound the entire time. It almost put him to sleep, actually, by the time she finally talked herself out. "Sounds like you've been having fun," he answered her when she finally paused for any kind of reply. "Likely I would have held you back." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She immediately pouted again. "Oh? You did miss me, then? I'm sure I'm not worth it. Getting to play with the others was much better for you, I'm sure."

He leaned forward and put his empty tea cup on the table in front of him and sat back to look her in the eye as she took another sip of her own now-mostly-cold tea. Her lips slightly curled in distaste at the chill and she set her tea cup down as well. He looked her in the eyes. Those were silver-grey as well, and held a bit more maturity as well, though not much. "So, I take it Lady Purrcy also enjoys lounging around in her pajamas. Is it going to become the new trend among People of the Land because of the show?"

She scowled slightly at him, but didn't hold it long, choosing to toss her head slightly and let it pass. Her eyes went distant, then her hand pet her soft sweater lightly. He looked pointedly at it until she looked down and realized what she was doing. She blushed and looked away, then turned away, blushing even more. Crusty's eyebrow raised. "Not only that but she let you pet her, too?" Raynessia shuddered. Crusty smiled slightly. "Well...she is that kind of person."

Raynessia's head turned back quickly, her eyes wide. "You've met Lady Purrcy?"

Crusty went to a disinterested look, but watched her reaction. "Yes. She's the one that reversed my curse so I could come back, and made it possible so that I could even get back here to Yamato to begin with."

Raynessia relaxed and a soft smile came on her face. "Yes, that is like her. ..." She was getting lost in the flame flickering in the fireplace. He shifted slightly to bring her back from not-thinking. She glanced at him, then down, "Powerful like the Archmage, kind like the Caretaker."

"She _is_ the Caretaker," he said dryly.

Her wide eyes looked at him again and she slumped against the back of the couch, almost without thought resting shoulder to shoulder with him, surprising him slightly that it wouldn't bother her. "I know," she said softly in a sullen mutter. That surprised him slightly, too, as did her head as it lightly landed on his shoulder. It was, however, what he'd been going for from the beginning when he'd sat her down next to him, so he sat quietly. His younger sister was like this, too. Needing to spout off, then needing the slight physical closeness without threat. He wondered if his sister would be two years changed when he got home, too, or just the few months. Perhaps this would be good practice in case it was the former.

After a long while, Raynessia said, "You're horrible."

"I'm quite sure I am," he answered. "Would you like to lie down, perhaps? It is, after all, more comfortable to relax that way."

She immediately sat up with a glare for him, then turned her back to him, putting her feet up on the couch and holding her knees to rest her head languidly on them. Her pensive look as she gazed off into the fireplace, being mesmerized by the dancing of the flames meant she'd happily gone back to thinking of nothing again. At least that much hadn't changed about her. He supposed that most young lords would even still find such a pose very fetching.

"It must be nice to not have to do anything most of the time and allow everyone else to do all the hard work around you so that you can smile and take the credit that falls to you like bits of spare cloth when the pieces have been cut out. I'm sure that's more than sufficient to make your family happy, even." Once again she threw a dark glance his way, but he knew he wasn't wrong. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to make you work, however, ...just a little." Her shoulders tensed. "This isn't really my last punishment." Her ears were listening. "When do we leave for the welcoming party at Maihama?"

She shuddered and buried her head in her arms. Yes, he'd reminded her of what she'd been trying to avoid. She sighed and lifted her head, looking at the fire again. "As soon as you can get away. Grandfather's spies will have already left as soon as you entered the city, so they'll be ready whenever, though I suppose giving them at least one day to be prepared, and two if you're feeling generous...?"

He wasn't. He wanted it all over with as soon as possible. "We'll leave at a nice lazy time in the morning, then, shall we? Say...eight?"

"Monster," she declared, with only a minimal amount of heat. She surprised him again when she said, "Ten. No earlier." It was almost a question, however, so lost its effect rather quickly.

"We'll see how fast your maid can have you prepared, shall we?" he asked mildly. "I'd like to know if she's still as firm with you as usual."

"You'll even test Elissa?" Raynessia looked at him in surprise. He just looked back at her, not showing her anything. Raynessia gave up and lay down, her back to him, but her head in his lap. "I hate you."

"Of course," he murmured. They were actually both asleep rather soon thereafter, his head leaning back against the couch and hers in his lap. He'd really been over-fawned over for once. It had been far worse than the Court of Eternal Ice where they'd used each other for protection, like he was using her now.

He set an alarm, though, to go off as soon as Rieze got within five hundred feet of Water Maple Manor. They'd both have to be awake by the time she arrived to collect him or he'd never hear the end of it.


	128. Izanagi's Gift

There was a commotion in the main thoroughfare of Akiba. "Crusty, you might want to get here as soon as you can."

"What's up?" he asked. He'd only been in town two days. To be called for crowd control on day three was either surprising or a bad omen that his arrival was the announcement of all bad things beginning. He'd rather it wasn't the latter, but that seemed to be his lot in life.

"Hamelin's back."

He jogged instead of fast-walked. "Try to not let it go to real fighting." He switched over to Shiroe. "Hamelin's in town. Get over there. I'm already on my way."

"Headed. They called me, too."

"Good. Do you know why?"

"No, but it's on schedule." Shiroe wasn't sounding very concerned.

"What?" Crusty found it hard to believe that Shiroe had expected this too.

"I talked to William. He's recalled the rest of Brigandia. They were turning into Wraiths." Crusty's blood ran chill - an unusual reaction since he was usually water. "I was about to send out a search party for them. We need to work out an arrangement that will let them stay - or at least use Akiba as home base - so they can avoid that same fate." They called in the other guildmasters - who had also been called and were on their way - and worked out a general plan on their way in.

It was pretty ugly when they got there. Everyone was comfortable these days - two years, five months, and a few weeks into life on Theldesia. No one was going to be pushed around by a single small guild. Sadly, a lot of people were willing to push around that same single guild out of anger for the hurts at the beginning. They weren't really push-overs, though, having had to live out-city. Their levels weren't a joke. So it was just smoke and angry words for now, with the hospitality brigade standing firm watch between the two sides to keep it that way.

The last Hamelin knew, Crusty had been in charge, so he was again this time around. The eyes of the guildmaster found him first and stayed on him. Isaac and Michitaka joined him. The rest of the guildmasters spread out around the circle so everyone could see someone from the Round Table and settle a bit. The noise died down as everyone decided to wait and see what the outcome of the negotiation was, though it only went to a murmur as companions complained to each other in the background. "How many went Wraith?" Crusty asked, going for a strong beginning.

"You knew, yet left us out there?" Anger already sparked came back at him first.

"No. William just found out when he went looking for Brigandia and let us know. We were about to come looking for you." The Akiba crowd was going silent and a lot less angry. Hamelin went to disgruntled. That was slightly better. It was a good bet most of their posturing was fear and defensiveness, particularly since they'd admitted it. "How many do we need to go retrieve and heal?"

"None." Crusty blinked in surprise. So did Shiroe. "Yuudai healed everyone up, though we lost him and his two. We decided to come on in anyway."

"Ah," Shiroe said quietly on the Round Table chat. "That's what it was. Tell them it's okay. They're on their own quest. They won't wraith."

"They'll be fine," Crusty obediently said. "Glad he was able to recover the lot of you. But if you're going to stay, you'll have to agree to abide by the laws of the city and play nice from here on." He folded his arms and tipped his head. "We'd rather you did. We can use you around." That surprised the Akiba crowd.

The Hamelin guildmaster studied Crusty. "He told us about the world quests. We're willing to jump on that bandwagon. We're done with this piece of rock." He pursed his lips, then said, "We figure if we spend most of our time out-city hunting neither side will have to put up with the other so much. We want to be able to come in without getting into this kind of mess -," he waved his hand at the current situation, "- once a month for two to three days to rest and resupply."

Shiroe was all over that. "I like it. They can be our out-city hunters for the Ides of Winter, too."

No one dissented, so Crusty nodded. "There will be extra hunting for the week after Christmas. We're expecting an island-wide Ides of Winter special." Eyes in Hamelin took on interested looks. Crusty looked around. "Anyone know the current status of the Goblin King?" he loudly asked the crowd in general.

"CrunchTime took him down three weeks ago. Most everybody's back from clean-up." It was a random Adventurer who said it, but that was fine since it was likely one that had been on location or in contact with one.

"There's enough Eastal requests to last at least until then," Soujirou said generally from his position.

"We'd like to not purify them all to extinction," Shiroe said from his spot. "That won't be fun to be left with nothing to earn coin from."

Michitaka and Isaac both nodded agreement to that so that he had the back up. Hamelin still didn't like Shiroe since it was him that had taken them down and locked them out. The guildmaster's face was going dark, though he didn't deign to look at Shiroe. "Speaking of the devil...can we even get into the Guild Hall?"

"Yes," Shiroe said calmly from his spot. "It's not owned any more."

The guildmaster's face went to just sour and he gave a sharp nod. His men were looking at Shiroe darkly, but they relaxed rather a lot. Crusty shook his head at the guildmaster. "You can't use that guild hall you rented any more. That's got to be part of the agreement. We've got to be able to get to you to be able to trust you. Rent a place in a standard building or just take over one no one else is using. No need to bully someone out. There's lots of room in town."

There was a bit of shifting in the guild, but the guildmaster finally gave a nod of assent. "We get to protect it if everyone gets nasty."

Crusty shrugged. "As long as you hold to the rules, I doubt anyone will bother you in your own place. Do we need to remind you of them?" He paused, then did anyway. They hadn't been around to practice living them. It helped them settle a little more to get that reminder. It wasn't like it was hard, though it did look like they'd been hoping to stay a slaver guild of some kind. They'd probably been holding People of the Land hostage, then. Crusty narrowed his eyes at them. "And we'll hold you to the fire on them. No slaves. Pay anyone you have working for you honest wages and let them go home at night. There's a going rate. Learn it."

The guildmaster gave a scowl, then a shrug. "At most we'll only need housekeep twice a month. Won't be here for needing more than that."

"Do us all a favor and don't make a bad name for us while you're out," Michitaka said dryly. "They're more than half our customers and in-city help. We don't need pitchforks and torches headed for the city - even if they are being carried by ants. Fire still burns and pitchforks are still pointy." He got another scowl and dismissive shrug but no comment.

Crusty waited to see if the Hamelin guildmaster had any other comments or questions, or if any of the other guildmasters did. When no one did, he said, "Find a place to hole up and take your time getting used to the city again. There've been a lot of changes. Everyone else is going to need time to get used to having you in town again, too. West Wind Brigade's the local police - as much as we have one - and they'll be neutral party if things get hot, but everyone should settle down fairly quickly. If you need to call on one of us from the Round Table, do. That's what we're here for."

"You might find it easier to get around town if you break up into groups of three to five," Soujirou said pleasantly. "You know, even Adventurers follow the rules of city engagement."

Crusty almost smiled. It was true, though. If a guild or raid party wanted to infiltrate a city, doing it as one large group always drew attention. Small groups in cities were ignored since they looked like the rest of the small groups in the city. Obviously, no one wanted to be solo when there was bad blood. It looked like Hamelin got it, but wasn't overly comfortable with the concept right at the moment. He didn't blame them. He waved his hand and called out in his parade voice, "It's okay. They've agreed to play by the rules. Give them time to prove it. You can go back to your regularly scheduled programs." There were a few chuckles at his attempt at television humor. Most of the youngest didn't get the joke but got the general release.

It took a couple of minutes but the surrounding pressure on Hamelin eased off and people did go back to what they'd been doing so that West Wind Brigade could back off and go back to general watch. They'd keep their numbers higher in the area until Hamelin was done at the Guild Hall and headed off to find their new home. "Welcome home. We'll get you all to your real home as soon as we can," he said to Hamelin when things cleared off enough. "Thanks for coming back." They stared at him like he was crazy, then flowed off as a group to the Guild Hall - likely to deposit all the gold they were carrying around for the last two years and to pull out treasures they hadn't seen in just as long.

The rest of the Round Table guildmasters clustered around Crusty. Ains sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I hope they'll abide the rules. It's good they came in on their own. I hope that means they've turned a new leaf."

"I doubt it," Woodstock grumbled, "but that's enough to scare anyone into at least making a good try of faking it." Ains shot him a glare.

"We need an increase in supplies," Calasin commented. "I hope they're willing to help on that end, too."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Crusty said. "They'll see where the holes are and step in to fill them - if for no other reason but to not have to come in so frequently."

"You could post larger billings just for them," Shiroe commented quietly. All the production guildmasters nodded at that. They'd had to keep their requests in the main rather small. Honesty was the only guild that could handle the larger batch requests. If Hamelin could help out with that, it would be a good niche for them. They glanced at Ains, but he was nodding too, so that was good. He didn't feel like it would be competition.

"I'll have the kids target them for Academy handbills," Marielle said. "The Adventurer class we just started up would be good for them, I'd think. Plus it's something new to do they don't know about yet." Others in the group nodded.

"I wonder what they've learned that we don't know yet?" Roderick rubbed his chin, his eyes looking after them. "I might stop by once they've got their place and see if they'll talk about it." Shiroe's small smile caught Crusty's attention and he finished relaxing - not that he'd been all that tense to begin with.

"Sounds good," he said. "If you can't get them to talk, I'd bet Akaneya can." He got double scowls but ignored them. Everyone else agreed with him and he knew it. "I think we're good now. I'll see you lot around." He raised his hand and headed back to his chores, breaking the group up so they could, too. He knew they didn't want to. They were chatting around the water cooler while on the clock, and they needed to get back on the job. That was part of his job - to see it happened.

"Crusty, swing around by my place. I need to fill you in on the details of your trip to Maihama," Shiroe requested by chat.

Crusty sighed. He'd been trying to avoid that meeting since Duke Sergiad had asked him to wait a bit to come to Maihama, but the water cooler moment had probably done it. He turned his feet back around, stopped to buy a snack since he wasn't in a hurry, and told Rieze she was on duty. She was bored now that he was back, so that was okay - at least that's how he saw it.

She mildly cussed him out so she at least saw it as an expected occurrence. "Hey, at least I didn't send you to diffuse the Hamelin return," he commented back at her. She sent back a sarcastic thanks, which meant she really was grateful she'd been spared that stomach ache. He smiled and let her get back to her training. He was surprised they still did it after all this time, actually, but then it was something to keep them all occupied, like it had been at the beginning. Holding to habit was comforting regardless of how long it had to last.

It was actually rather comforting to know that Mise was still with Yuudai and Majiyo and they were making their way across Yamato. Crusty hadn't asked where Hamelin had come from, but they'd come back to Akiba so it had to be somewhere in Eastal south of the city. The three weren't too far off from their goal then. That was good. Likely Shiroe would hear when they got to the shrines since Tetorō was there. He'd ask to get the info when it got into Shiroe's ear. He really should be showing up for regular meetings, too, he supposed with a sigh. He might already have known about that little factoid he'd only just heard. "Naotsugu."

"Hey, what's up Crusty?"

"When am I supposed to be showing up?"

"Finally feeling ready to get to work?" Naotsugu was understanding at least.

"Didn't really like to be jumped with that particular bit of knowledge he could have let me know earlier." Crusty let it come out dry.

"Well...yeah. You do have to be around when they hit him or he forgets to pass them on." There was a pause while Naotsugu fit him into the picture of how things ran in Log Horizon. That's why Crusty had called him and not Shiroe. Naotsugu was the battle monitor and they all knew it. "You're a rook like Michael. We don't really need to know much about your schedule nor your guild's, but you probably should know Shiroe's so you aren't surprised by that, too - though most of the time it's dull and boring. We're already chatting in Isaac on them. We'll add you, too. That happens at the end of our breakfast and only lasts about ten minutes."

"Fine," Crusty said. He could do that, even if he was in the middle of his own at the same time. He definitely would want to know if he suddenly should be standing next to Shiroe but he'd forgotten to say it.

"You'll need to be in on any evening reporting and planning meetings, too. They're more spontaneous. Sometimes it's just a brief reporting around the dinner table. Sometimes it's more formal after dinner, but it's not every night." There was another pause for consideration. "We could chat you in on them. The dinner-table ones I could assign someone to give you a summary report after. Touya's good for those. The formal ones, though...sometimes those have the most secrets but he may not be willing to wait for you to jog over from your guild hall. While we've got the Eagles, we've got the capacity to link you in securely. When they're gone, that's not going to work." Another pause then a slightly frustrated sigh. "How do you want to handle that one?"

Crusty thought about it. "I think I should be coming by regularly anyway. How about I just show up in the evenings and we train him to wait until then since you're already unscheduled. When I'm out of town, you can link me in or give me a summary after the fact when I'm free. - I'm thinking of when I'm in Maihama and have to stand for the balls and evening requirements."

"True. Those will have to be worked around. ...Yeah, we can make it more formal in the evenings for you. It won't be all that hard. Dinner's usually around six. Does sometime around seven work for you?"

"Let's make it seven thirty if you can get him to wait that long. Then my own guild won't feel shorted at dinner."

"We may have to work up to that," Naotsugu wasn't too sure.

"Fine," that wouldn't be hard. He just had to show up late accidentally on purpose a few times until they got in the habit. "Is Isaac going to those too?"

"No. If we're going to formalize it, he could. Right now he's in-city helper for me, though, so it isn't as critical. I'll give him the option to decide if he needs to be or not."

Crusty nodded to himself. If he were Isaac, he'd want to be there, but then that's why he was going to be. "Okay. I'm just about there. Machiavelli's called me in to give me the orders for Maihama."

"We just got back."

"You were there?"

"Of course," it was said with a bit of a laughing jibe that Crusty would think Naotsugu would let Shiroe go anywhere outside of the guild house without him. Crusty supposed he should have figured. "You were busy looking other places."

"True." They mutually let the chat close. Crusty could see the twin guild's houses ahead of him. It was a bit of a hike way out here. He'd likely be late anyway getting out here from his place. He sighed. He'd love to have a little personal teleporter, even if it had to be permanently affixed to this location and his. It was hard to be someone naturally lazy when he had to be visibly so active...though this was a lot lazier lifestyle than hanging around with Kanami.

That relaxed him a lot to have that thought and he walked into the Log Horizon building feeling better. By the time he walked back out, he was of two minds about it. Swinging his ax at Overwritten was physically exhausting and mind numbing, but playing the game of politics in front of a castle full of lords was like eating rat poison and walking on glass shards - torture he'd hoped to have left behind him when he arrived here.

He was only willing to stay at Maihama for the shortest polite time possible. At least Shiroe had agreed that would be sufficient. Crusty wanted this vacation to last as long as possible. Interrupting it with the same mind-numbing work he had to do on Earth wasn't his preferred agenda.

-:-:-:-:-

After Crusty left Shiroe's office, Shiroe called Michael into his office. "Before you leave on your 'vacation', I wanted to make sure we were set for things that are coming down the line."

Michael pulled up a chair and sat down. "Sounds good," he agreed. "I'll be taking as many Eagles as I'm allowed to down to Ninetails Dominion to play. There's a special if we defeat all three dungeons on the island in a row that I'm keen to get my hands on. We liked those dungeons when we were stationed in the area and played them a lot. We're looking forward to getting to do them for real."

"Sounds good. I could use as many as stay, I'm sure." Shiroe answered. "The Oki Watarimono is ready for a shake down voyage. Do you guys want to take it around, or wait until you get back?"

Michael got excited. "A trial run down and back to figure out how it sails and if it sinks instead would be useful."

"I'd like you to look menacing to the pirates that are trying to move into the area, too."

"They left word we're good pickings?" Michael asked, knowing pirates would go anywhere it looked like useful products could be lifted. Now that Yamato had gone international with nice products, they were considered good pickings for sure. Shiroe nodded. "Okay. We'll go be the local pirate band that doesn't want competition hanging around. That sounds like fun, actually." He rubbed his chin, "Not to mention we poked our heads up in that manner in Tianjing once already. What nasty, bad boys we're going to become."

Shiroe shook his head at him. "At least try to keep it to FBI or double-agent levels so we can believe you're still good hearted down in there somewhere." Michael held up a hand and agreed to always hold Log Horizon's best interest at heart. Shiroe looked at him suspiciously but let it stand.

"At some point we need to check on Australia," Shiroe continued. "I'm not in too much of a hurry. Sometime during the second of the three experiments should be soon enough, I would think. I am going to need a set of Eagles to guard whomever I get sent as the champion Person of the Land against the shrine. - At least I assume you want to be in on that?" he raised an eyebrow in question.

"Of course," Michael said calmly. "What do you need there?"

"Two or three to go with the champion. Depending on how long they take to actually move against the shrine that could go on a while. At the tag end, I need you to be at the Cathedral to pick the High Priestess up and make her disappear until things calm down - or at least that's what it's supposed to look like." The way he said it made Michael pay attention. Shiroe pushed up his glasses and that confirmed the tone. "Nyanta and I talked all night when he got back from the Gate of Time." He looked into Michael's eyes. "You showed up with the sub-guild and asked him to take you around from the South American cat temple to the closest northwest U.S. exit." Michael's eyebrows raised as high as they could go.

Shiroe shifted slightly. "There's an 'end' to the Gate of Time, or at least a veil they can't cross. It makes Li Shou, the cat goddess of time, nervous. She hates it, that she can't know her own end. And she fears it. His guess was that she let him in, and then out again, in an attempt to appease Izanagi so that she can live beyond that veil. Nyanta's going to use that to his advantage in what comes next. Please be sure to use it to yours, but also be cautious. Where she might have trusted a fellow feline, she greatly distrusts the non-felinoids. Apparently you cross that boundary and she's marked you because of it."

Michael sat up at that. "Cross it? So we'll come from her future back into our past-present?"

"Something like that," Shiroe said. "Since the final of this level is exactly that - crossing that boundary, or maybe even causing it, it's our guess that we won't get to it until you get to South America." His eyes bored into Michael.

Michael sat back and mulled it over, sifting through all his other plans and understandings. "So...make the High Priestess scarce and get over to the America's, hm?" he raised an eyebrow at Shiroe and Shiroe gave a short nod. Michael was on the right path of understanding. "Yeah...I think we can do that." Excitement rose in him just a little, the excitement of the hunt. This was their kind of encounter, and getting to add pirate crew to ninja house was a nice addition to it, too. "You'd think we liked being a mercenary band," he quipped dryly.

Shiroe's lip twitched. "Tell me everything you learned in the shrine. I need to know to finish getting the details settled for the raid on the shrines. Most important is the spell set so we know what we're up against there."

Michael nodded and gave the full report. Shiroe soaked it in. When Michael was done, he waited until Shiroe came back. Shiroe gave a nod and sat back, done with what he needed. Michael considered his own list, then frowned. "So, what will Nyanta-san do now that we're closer to it?"

Shiroe leaned back. "My plan is to lock him back into the Gate of Time when we can't take being controlled by Izanagi any longer. He'll be there for you to run into again. Don't trust him then. He'll be Li Shou's best friend. Only the Nyanta from the first time doesn't know what's going on now, since he hadn't walked the linear path between to two entrances. You do still have a common goal, however, so you might be able to use that to your advantage."

Michael nodded. He could understand that. Shiroe couldn't say everything. "I can work out the plan we need to follow," he promised.

"I'll be counting on you, then," Shiroe said. Michael took that as his cue to exit.

He had lots of thinking to do now, and time on his hands to do it since he wasn't needed for anything else. The Eagles were scattered around town practicing surveillance and intelligence gathering. The Maintenance detail was spending their time actually at the Akiba gate, working with the other Technicians and Hackers, trying to see if what they'd learned up on the moon could be integrated. Reed had things well in hand and without Purrcy or Tetorō around, Michael was a bit at loose ends. To know what was coming next was helpful. It gave his mind something to do.

He took himself up onto the roof, where everyone seemed to go for thinking time, leaning on the outer wall and set his eyes on autovision so his mind could go into overdrive. Michael's planning was interrupted quite suddenly. Michael held very still, keeping wary and on high alert. When the approaching presence halted behind him, he turned and bowed. "Inari-no-Izanagi."

The grey gentleman was staring him down and Michael wasn't sure it was a good thing. The atmosphere was feeling a bit dangerous, like a lightning bolt was being toyed with around the World AI's finger and it was trying to decide exactly when and how hard it was going to throw it. "You are very crafty, HackerM1."

Michael hesitated, then answered, "Or perhaps I am forgetful? What have I done or not done?"

He was considered for a long time, then Izanagi said, "I will give you a gift."

"I'd rather not. Those are more likely to kill me when they come from you." Michael immediately rejected it.

Whiskers twitched in a brief acknowledgement. "I recognize that emotions are all-important to you Adventurers. Certainly we've both been scolded enough by now to have learned it well. However, you have a subset that you would rather not have to deal with." Michael's heart clenched and Izanagi sneered just a little. "No. I know you'll not respond well at all to me removing them altogether. They are, however, counterproductive to the accomplishment of the remaining goals of this level." Michael felt the first sizzle of electricity. "I will distance them from you whenever you need to focus on the proper task at hand. When the level is complete, you may have full access to them again."

Nyanta turned and began to walk away, then paused and with a twist of the tail looked back slightly. "It will also help me be able to be more present again." Michael's heart fell as the lightning bolt hit. With a satisfied flick of an ear, the High Priest walked to the door and left the roof. He'd figured out a work-around to being kept jealous when the High Priestess had been set free of the flavor text but he hadn't. Worse, it had been done in such a way Michael couldn't complain - at least logically. He turned back to lean on the wall again, trying to get his beating heart to calm down a little more.

"Did you survive?" Gareth landed on the wall next to him. "He shut us all out."

"Liar. I know he let _you_ at least hear it. He was gloating," Michael answered, irritated.

Gareth looked at him, judging. "So? Are we going to be okay, now? We won't have to keep beating you up and having sudden confessionals?"

Michael grabbed him and hit him, letting him fly across the roof. Gareth spread his wings to stop the tumble and halt his motion. "How about you?" Michael asked. "If he was coming to me with that, it was the cherry on top. He's already closed the lot of you down, hasn't he?" The last was sober. They hadn't gotten the promise to be let loose of the restraint.

Gareth paused and tested it carefully. He settled down to his feet and looked at Michael soberly. "You think he's done that across the board?"

"I would think that's a high probability."

"Why, Mike? Why do they want us to kill them so bad?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't know, Nav, I'm still trying to work that one out." When he went back downstairs, he made sure to stop in and let Shiroe know his time was up, though he hedged on what really happened. Shiroe wasn't going to get to know that one little detail. Michael knew how to play his part right with or without the emotions involved, and it was freeing - as Izanagi said - to not have to worry about them.

-:-:-:-:-

Log Horizon arrived at the guild house in the late afternoon to the smells of dinner already being prepared, the tables all set up with all the chairs, and the dishes set for an American dinner. Eagles were passing between the central area and the kitchen and were gathered in small groups around the room. Everyone washed up and somewhat cautiously joined them. Touya and Minori were working that night at the restaurant, so weren't there. Having Eagles cook as a result wasn't unusual - just the level of activity.

When everyone was in their places finally - including Shiroe who had walked out as normal just before meal-time, Michael stayed standing with his hand on his chair. Brenner also stayed standing, a little off to the side. Shiroe gave Michael his attention then nodded. "Happy Thanksgiving," Michael said calmly, but with a hint of a smile. "You've probably heard of it. It happens to be today. It's the day we celebrate as families in the United States in gratitude for our country, our lives, our families, and what blessings we have received. Today, we are grateful for Log Horizon welcoming us and allowing us to help you as we learned our strength in this place. Traditionally we say a prayer before eating. I'll let Brenner do that." Michael sat down.

Hands were folded and heads were bowed at the Eagle's tables. Rudy imitated them quickly. It looked like his mother had been pious enough to teach him something similar. The rest of Log Horizon sat in polite quiet as Brenner began his prayer to the God of Earth and all the universes in thanksgiving for their lives, the things they had learned, for their freedom from the prison of Minami, for the efforts of Shiroe, Purrcy, all of Log Horizon and Akiba that allowed for the freedom of all Adventurers in Minami and Yamato. He continued with thanksgiving for the families they'd left behind and asked for blessings on them, and on their companions who were not with them, for the strength to continue to fight for freedom and the wisdom to perform their tasks rightly. He ended with a specific request that they and all of Akiba would make it through the current and upcoming trials without hazard to their souls. There were some very emphatic _Amens_ when he was done.

The Eagles who were serving passed around the dishes, which included several roasted large wild birds that could be found in the outlying zones and rather a large number of vegetable dishes that they said were the closest approximation they could come to traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, mashed, were to be had, but the marshmallows had to be hand made and the highly sweet topping on the sweet potatoes were a little more than the Japanese natives could handle. The fruit and the lettuce salads were normal, though having both at one meal was a bit different. The green bean casserole with its crunchy onion topping received high complements from the Eagles and there were several requests that it get added as a regular menu item. When pumpkin pie came out for desert, Rudy looked a little green and requested only the smallest slice possible. The fall festival - when everything was made of pumpkin - was still too fresh in his gastronomical memory.

Clean up took as many people and as long as the preparation time, but the Eagles explained that both sides were all part of the tradition. That those were the times when the families spent talking and growing closer together - or fighting depending on the family - but regardless, it was all family time, and they warmly enveloped the guild in with them until the kitchen was spotless again and the tables and chairs put away.

Then they invited the guild up to the roof with them. They didn't have Isuzu with them to play her lute, but they did have their own instruments, and their voices. More than one of the Eagles heard purring as they sang, though Nyanta had bowed out from the evening entertainment.

When Minori and Touya arrived, they paused to listen to the singing on the roof before they went inside. The smells were a bit different when they entered, and Akatsuki explained to them what had happened as they walked up the stairs. She'd come down to meet them when they arrived. "Are you going to go back up?" Minori asked her as they paused at their doors.

Akatsuki paused, then looked away. "I...think so." She bit her lip a little and Minori moved closer to her, a little concerned. Akatsuki looked back at her solemnly. "It feels like...their farewell."

"So soon?" Touya asked in surprise.

"Shiroe's said they can take the Oki Watarimono on their dungeon quest. They'll be back...but after that it's a trip to Australia. And after that...," she looked down. "And in between is all the problems."

Minori gently touched Akatsuki's arm. "You're going to miss them."

Akatsuki looked at her, complicated emotions and thoughts on her face. "It's been...fun, having juniors to run with and to teach."

Touya nodded. "And to cook with and to know they're watching over us, too."

Akatsuki looked at him solemnly and then gave a nod. "I would wish...they could come back again."

Touya and Minori both gave her soft smiles of understanding. "We will hope you enjoy the rest of your evening with them, then." They watched her as she walked back to the stairs to walk up them, as if that would slow down the evening and keep the Eagles with them longer.

Touya put his arm around Minori and held her, giving her a little kiss on the top of her head, now that he was slightly taller than her. When the sorrow of the division of the guild had passed sufficiently again, they parted and went to bed. While they appreciated the Eagles, it had been a long day at work and they'd already missed the rest of the activities. They would be able to say goodbye another time.

-:-:-:-:-

Princess Raynessia stared around Water Maple Manor in distress. Great efforts had been going into packing even the smallest of things for several days now. Today, the furniture was being covered with dustcloths, the shutters on the windows were being latched and the curtains drawn. She herself had barely anything more than one more set of traveling clothes, her hair brush, and the towel to dry off from her last bath in the morning. Without her being asked, her grandfather had ordered her home and the servants were obedient to him, not her, though they were hers to use as long as they were in Akiba. She felt like the furniture. Used, muffled, abandoned. She felt lost, bewildered, and very confused as well. She'd thought they were only going temporarily for the welcoming party.

"There you are, Raynessia!" She turned to see her friends spilling into the sitting room. They had her surrounded, then removed from the house before she could quite comprehend that, either.

"Crusty has about the same look you do," Rieze said, though it was only partially with humor. "He's not thrilled to be going to Maihama either."

Raynessia blinked at her. "Is he being sent to stay, too?"

"No, of course not," Rieze tossed her head. "He's your escort, but he's got work to do here now that he's back."

Raynessia wanted to ask, "Why?" but someone else had already taken that spot to talk. It was hard to get her words in when everyone was together and excited. She really wanted to know why. Why was she being summoned back? Why was no one else going with her to stay? Why was she the only one when the rest of her friends would be staying here?

They arrived in the center of town, then were flowing into the sewing division of Marine Organization where Clair was swept up with them and dragged along. There was just enough time for Raynessia to see that her little office there was covered in boxes like Raynessia's house was. She managed to grasp hold of Clair's arm and pull her back a little as the flow of Adventurer voices continued around them. "Clair," she asked hesitantly, "are you moving, too?"

Clair looked at her and gave a nod. "They've asked me to go with you, though I don't know that my room I'd rented is still available."

"If it's not -," Raynessia managed to get out before they were interrupted by their friends. The thought would have to wait, though she didn't know how long. It made her even more despondent, and the noise and confusion around her even more confused. She was dragged along, but she couldn't lift her head.

A hesitant hand lightly rested on her arm and she looked up to see Akatsuki's dark eyes looking at her solemnly. She didn't have anything to say to them. There were no words when there was confusion. How were there words to explain the feeling of wanting to flee while at the same time wanting to stand obstinately still, particularly when she'd never experience the latter before? Obstinate had never been a word to describe Princess Raynessia, though Elissa claimed it was on occasion. Raynessia was an obedient and accommodating person, and had been called so sweetly by her mother on numerous occasions.

"Hold on, everyone," Akatsuki said quietly and surprisingly most of the other women heard her, and actually obeyed. Raynessia wondered how she'd done that. She was even more quiet than Raynessia. Akatsuki looked solemnly at Raynessia. "What do you need?"

Raynessia blinked in surprise at the question. Everyone else was quiet, waiting. She didn't want to be rude, but she still didn't really have any words. She looked at them, wondering what it was that she needed. She went back to her original question. "Why?"

They waited until Henrietta asked encouragingly, "Why, what?"

Raynessia looked down, confused, then found words spilling out of her mouth. "Why am I going? Why am I not coming back? What happened that Grandfather decided I wasn't worthy to stay? Why now? Why are you here - or perhaps, why am I? Where are we going? Why is Clair being packed, too, and why was she told to come with me if she can't stay with me? Why will I be alone again?" At that last one, sad, unbidden tears began to slip down her cheeks. She hadn't expected that either, and was just as confused about what to do about them.

She was enveloped in Marielle's softness as said woman wrapped her arms around Raynessia. It was warm and somewhat comforting, but it didn't answer the questions or change the confusion. There were a few sad sighs from the other women, but for a while they just looked at each other until they picked Akatsuki who slumped a little, but gave a small nod. When Marielle had released Raynessia, Akatsuki looked carefully at Raynessia. "I'm not the best...but I'll try."

Raynessia nodded. She understood that like herself, Akatsuki would rather have calm peace and silence. Words were tedious and difficult in the best of circumstances for the both of them. It was one of the reasons Raynessia appreciated having her as a friend. "It isn't because you're not worthy. You are. But you're precious to your Grandfather and your family."

Akatsuki stopped and let Raynessia understand those words. The first set was relieving, though she'd like to hear it from him. The second set was kind. The third set was obvious. "Okay," Raynessia answered, to let her know she'd understood.

Akatsuki furrowed her brow, probably trying to remember that long list of questions. Raynessia wasn't sure she did anymore, either. Just the vague sense of discontent and the confusion that she'd been carrying for the last several days. "You and Clair are the first to return to Maihama - as the example. All People of the Land are being asked to go...for their protection."

Raynessia was certain she didn't like the first part. The second was surprising...and confusing and perhaps a little frightening, too. "You don't like us any more?"

Akatsuki shook her head rapidly. That wasn't it. "It's going to be dangerous. We don't want you hurt. You can come back when it's okay again."

"Oh," Raynessia said in a small voice. "I don't like that." Akatsuki waited for her. That was another thing Raynessia liked about her friend. She understood that sometimes the rest of the words took a bit to come together and find their way out of her mouth. She took a breath and hunted for them. "I want to stay with my friends here. The castle is...lonely." She looked around at her friends and they were all looking at her with understanding and sympathy. It almost made her lose track of the next words so she had to look away to find them again. "And it is very difficult to wear the face they want to see there." She wondered why that was. She'd worn it her whole life. It was what she knew. How could things that had always been just the way they were become "difficult"? "Why?" she asked herself in a whisper again.

"Because they don't want to see the real Raynessia," Nazuna said with her usual bite that meant she was angry with someone she couldn't name.

"Mhm," agreed Marielle. "You've relaxed with us because we want you to be happy with us. We don't need you to make us comfortable with a face we expect to see. It is very wearying to wear faces for the court." Raynessia looked up at her, curious. She looked like she was speaking from experience. Her face softened a little. "We've perhaps spoiled you from their perspective, in allowing you to be yourself and be soft instead of cold and indifferent. I'm sorry we've made it hard to go back."

Before some of the others could protest, Akatsuki got her attention back again, so they let her talk. "But we've tried to teach you strengths, too." Akatsuki took her own pause to put her thoughts together properly. "Hahaue - Purrcy - remember? She did it. She was herself, but also noble." Raynessia needed some time to remember that, but when she did, she gave a hesitant nod. She wasn't sure it was the example Akatsuki wanted to give, really. "It made her tired, too, to be noble, though," Akatsuki finished. Oh. That made sense, when that was added. At Raynessia's blink of understanding, Akatsuki went fishing for the next set of words.

"Friends help," Marielle said dryly. "So does having time to yourself."

Raynessia nodded. She could agree with that. But she didn't have any friends at the castle. Her friends were here in Akiba. She looked back at Akatsuki, hoping for more words to help her understand. It was Rieze who spoke next, though; kindly which Raynessia appreciated. She knew how hard Rieze had to work to do that. "Would it help you to go if you knew you had a friend to be with you, and knowing that you could come back when it's better?"

Raynessia considered that. "It does help," she admitted. "I still don't want to go, but... that would help if I really have to." She was feeling ashamed of herself now. It wasn't obedient nor accommodating to have feelings like those. But they were still what she was feeling and her friends had been encouraging her for a long time now to say the truth of how she felt so they could understand.

The rest were silent for a while, then Marielle said, "Most of us have things we have to do here. We can't leave our responsibilities," Raynessia understood that and nodded politely. "We will be coming to visit, though. In February for the fashion show."

Raynessia blinked, then panicked. "That long?!"

"Longer," Rieze said solemnly. She hesitated, then said quietly, "Likely we women will have to go into hiding about that time. We will come visit you then, and then we will disappear until it's safe for us, too."

Raynessia thought that was a very large thought and her eyes were wide for a long time as she tried to soak it in. "I-it's...that scary?" She got sober nods, but the most convincing was Akatsuki's. "Oh," Raynessia said in a very small voice. If they were that frightened, perhaps it was no wonder they wanted to see that she and Clair were safe. "Is that why? Grandfather's scared, too?"

They looked at each other, not wanting to say, and some didn't know, but Akatsuki sighed. "Shiroe talked to him. Yes, he is scared. But don't tell anyone. He still needs to be strong." Akatsuki stared into her eyes until Raynessia promised.

"Will Maihama be safe?" Raynessia couldn't believe that if all the Adventurers were afraid.

"Yes," Akatsuki nodded firmly and Rieze seconded her just as firmly.

That made Raynessia feel a little better. "So you want me to go to be safe, too."

They smiled at her. "Yes, Raynessia," Henrietta agreed as softly as she could. That was hard for her, too. "We want you to be safe so you can come back, too."

Raynessia relaxed a bit. That made her feel a lot better, to understand those things. "Thank you."

Akatsuki patted her on the arm. That was, " _You're welcome. I'm glad you understand better now._ "

There still seemed to be some discomfort in the group generally though, and Raynessia wasn't sure why. She waited. Usually someone would address it. When looks went around again and came back to her, she blinked in surprise. Nazuna shook her head, but when her mouth opened, Akatsuki raised her hand. "Let me try." Nazuna closed her mouth and nodded. They'd already given that job to her anyway, and it would be a good test of the strengths Akatsuki was trying to learn. The rest would help her if she needed it. It took a bit for Akatsuki to come up with the words, so it must be difficult. She finally looked at Raynessia. "How does a princess ask to have a friend at the castle?"

Raynessia blinked in surprise. She tried to find an answer but only soft silence returned from within her mind. She finally had to answer honestly, "I don't know." People relaxed, understanding.

Akatsuki gave a determined nod, thought hard, then said, "When we want someone to help us, we ask them if they will and specifically say with what and how." She said them all with only small pauses between the phrases, trying very hard. Raynessia gave the hand still resting on her arm a pat of congratulations and understanding of how difficult that had been. Then she thought about the words.

She was able to think of several examples of the Adventurers having done it, then remembered with some surprise that her very first experience with the Adventurers of Akiba had been just exactly that. "Oh," she said in a little surprise. Then thought about it a little more. "Would that work for People of the Land?" she asked in a little bewildered wonderment.

"Why don't you try it and see?" encouraged Marielle kindly.

Raynessia's eyes went to her and as they did, they passed Clair. She went back and looked at Clair for a moment until what her eyes were seeing and the words they were talking about finally melded together. She blinked, then bowed. "Clair, would you please come stay with me at the castle so I can have a friend near while we wait to come back?" It was all out before she really thought about it. After it was out she was suddenly nervous and worried. Clair had her own things to do, after all, and she wasn't sure her family would allow it. She hadn't asked for permission first. Clair hadn't said anything yet, so she could still say, "I may have to have permission from my parents or Grandfather first, though. I'm not sure." Clair gave her a little smile for that. That was relieving in a slight sort of way.

Clair took her time to come up with her answer, but that was okay, too. She was being careful. "I wouldn't mind it, but it might be best if we asked your Grandfather first. Another option might be that we schedule to meet regularly to visit. Like we do now, here in Akiba."

Raynessia paused, trying to understand her feelings. Slowly, putting her words together like Akatsuki, she said, "I'm worried we won't meet. Time at the castle gets filled with...fluff. Real meetings...," she paused in confusion that a meeting with a friend was a real one to her, but then kept going, wanting to get her words out, "...seem to be ...hidden ...difficult." She didn't know what word she wanted, but those were the feelings. She looked to the others for help.

"Do others handle your schedule?" Henrietta finally asked.

"Yes," Raynessia said honestly.

"If you ask to have something added, do they add it?" Rieze asked.

Raynessia thought about that one. "If I ask to have one removed, they refuse. ...I haven't asked to have one added...except more time to be lazy."

The others smiled. "And that's refused, too." She nodded honestly. It should be, of course.

"Do you know who makes your schedule?" Henrietta asked.

"No," Raynessia said honestly. "Elissa tells it to me each morning, though." The others looked at each other just a little triumphantly.

Akatsuki nodded and took over again. "Then when you're feeling lonely and want Clair to come visit, let Elissa know so she can add it to the next day's schedule. We'll talk to her and explain it so that she can ask the person who sets the schedule. Even if she isn't the one who sets it, she is supposed to take care of you and let them know when you need help. To need a friend when you're lonely is to need help. Elissa can help you have the time to meet with Clair." The rest nodded at that.

Raynessia still wasn't sure, but it might be the best they could do. They didn't set her schedule either. She nodded dutifully. "I'll remember to tell Elissa when I need to see Clair." She repeated it back carefully, then looked at Clair. "Will you come if I ask?"

Clair nodded back. "I'll do my best. When we get closer to the fashion show, I may be very busy."

"That's okay," Raynessia said.

"Write a letter," Akatsuki said.

Clair blinked, then nodded. "I can do that. If I can't come, I'll write a short letter. Then it can be something to tide you over. And you can write to me, too."

"Okay," Raynessia liked that idea, though she wasn't fond of writing. If Clair sent her a letter, though, she'd probably write one back.

At the silence this time, things seemed to be okay. Marielle finally smiled. "As to why we came and got you and where we're going...this is our last time to have fun with you both until the fashion show and things are better again. We're taking you out to Minori and Touya's restaurant so you can experience it once before you go and so we can party with you."

Raynessia smiled. "That sounds like fun." And really, it did, now that she wasn't confused any more. She was glad she had friends that were willing to help her understand so she could be happy with them.

* * *

 _Mamare-san has made Raynessia a complete airhead. I've replicated that here. However, I think it's important to understand that it's more because of the fact that she was originally programmed to be one as a princess of Elder Tales, than because she would have been one upon normal birth. Each sub-category of Person of the Land has those programs written into their DNA as it were. Thus the juxtaposition of Clair - a common-born worker who has more of a brain because she has to be able to accomplish her assigned role - vs. the airheaded fluff-for-brains royal Raynessia who at least has the common sense to treat Adventurers with respect (unlike the proud unruly lords who only have common sense if they were programmed to be truly noble from the beginning - like the Cowens who will get to keep that blessing through the generations). Even after two years of living with the Adventurers Raynessia can only do even this small much more with the patient efforts of her friends to lead her to understanding. You will realize, as you look back and into the future, that I have kept to the "stereotypes" on purpose, with even Rudy only making small headway against his own programming. It is for this reason. The world was created around them (the programmed stereotypes)._

 _I would think this would eventually drive the Adventurers crazy...like say another four, then six, then twenty, generations down the road and the People of the Land still are living the stereotypes...if the Adventurers had to stay and live forever with no death. In the end, especially if the Adventurers could procreate, they'd just get rid of them all and take over, like we humans do. They'd only survive as a slightly subservient common-born race (the nobles would die first and the thieves and crooks second). That's my opinion, though._


	129. Early Solo Battles

"Thank you for bringing Raynessia home safely, Sir Crusty." Dukes didn't bow, but they could shake hands with equals, so he held his hand out.

Crusty blinked and took his hand calmly. "Glad to be of help," he answered. They released hands. That was all Sergiad needed. Crusty was as unhappy to be there as Sergiad was to have him. Not that it was adversarial on either of their parts. Rather it was the simple resigned unhappiness of duty that required the necessity. It was nice to know that was shared between Adventurers and the nobility of the land. They might be able to get through it together somehow, then. It was somehow a little sad that this time Sergiad didn't want to play. It was hard to find the joy in watching them when it was too difficult to have them present to begin with. Perhaps it could be restored when everything was done. Sergiad was sure that was Shiroe's hope. In the mean time, it was time to be serious, so Sergiad was. It just meant there wasn't anything to offset the unhappiness.

Raynessia's smile helped, though, as she curtsied to Sergiad when he greeted her second. He was a little surprised to see it was a genuine, or perhaps a _nearly_ -genuine smile. "Grandfather, it's good to see you again. Thank you for allowing me to stay at Akiba. I hope to be able to return and continue my duties there after the current difficulties are resolved. I have made several friends among the Adventurers, and among the People of the Land who are there. One of them has come with me - Clair who is Purrcy's apprentice tailor. I would like to discuss her with you further when you have opportunity." Her eyes went a bit distant like they often did. "There's a thing I don't know that I need you to explain to me, if you're willing."

"Welcome home, Raynessia. I'm sure there will be opportunity to speak soon," he reassured her.

Just for one moment she looked like she didn't believe him. That surprised him. Her next words confirmed it. "Please add it to your schedule, Grandfather. I'll ask Elissa to have it added to mine in case you forget."

He paused, then said, "Very well." This wasn't the place to scold or to dig deeper. Perhaps a scheduled meeting would be the better place. It would be a good test to see if she'd managed to figure out how to do that much. He wanted to test her generally anyway. He turned and led the two down the walkway, noticing Crusty properly offering Raynessia his arm and Raynessia taking it both unwillingly and properly. That relationship hadn't changed, for all the years that had passed between them. That was fine as far as Sergiad went, though it would stir up the rumors again. He casually looked around, and seeing no one he was worried about, he looked back at Crusty. "Do you think we could dispense with the welcoming party, or is there a reason Lord Shiroe wishes to continue the farce among the lords of Eastal that you're going to be my next grandson-in-law?"

Raynessia nearly lost her footing and shuddered. Crusty did to, actually, though he kept to his feet better. "I think that needs to be answered in a more private setting, Your Grace," Crusty answered. Ah. There were some of his own that shouldn't hear the answer then. "However I can tell you that it's more to punish me than to spread gossip among your own people. I'm sure I'd rather cancel it myself." _And go home early_ , was left unspoken. But if he went home early and it was a punishment, they'd only either send him back or make it worse, most likely.

"For disappearing?"

"Yes," the shoulders drooped just a little. "Though it was completely unexpected. ...And perhaps even more because it took so long to return."

Sergiad nodded at that. "Well, it would spare my own sensibilities if you didn't use Raynessia as your excuse to escape those responsibilities, then, ...this time." He glared a bit at Crusty.

Crusty shuddered just ever so slightly, but bowed his head in acceptance. Raynessia was looking both relieved and disappointed. That was easy to understand. She hadn't minded having an accomplice, but this particular one had been difficult to deal with. She'd obviously been reminded of that yet again in the carriage ride to Maihama. Sadly, if Sergiad did have to marry her off to an Adventurer in the end, he would probably pick Crusty just for that reason - he wouldn't pander to her. But he would encourage both of them to continue to be lazy and that wasn't acceptable either. Sergiad decided to let her mother tell her what her schedule would be now that she was back at the castle. It wasn't necessary for him to. They reached the door to the castle and Sergiad left Raynessia there with her parents and handed Crusty off to a manservant to be shown his quarters for the next several days.

-:-:-:-:-

The first night was the welcoming party and they played their parts well. Sergiad watched Crusty briefly. His calm nobility from that time two years before hadn't changed at all. He was just as bored as then as well, but then all the nobles were, so that wasn't out of the ordinary. Political intrigue was one of the only ways to not be bored. That and to have an Adventurer around. Sergiad had been glad this visit would be much shorter than Lady Purrcy's however. That had nearly done the entire court in and there'd been some trepidation about having Crusty come, though they couldn't refuse the kind (and "free") armed escort for the Princess' return. (They still had to house and feed them until they went home so it wasn't technically cost free.)

Raynessia received as many male visitors at the party as Crusty did the female ones. Sergiad watched the males closely. Raynessia's reactions weren't important. She would find every one of them dull and uninteresting. How they treated her, however, was important. He was able to narrow it down to about ten that night.

He watched those ten from a distance when the young lords met with Crusty on the list field the next afternoon. He eliminated the four that had no idea how to deal with Adventurers at all, and put two on probation pending further investigations, then decided it wasn't worth it and dropped them as well. He was a bit short on time and ability to focus. He dropped the list of the remaining four on his son-in-law's desk on his way past back to his office. Phenel would get it to Saraliya, Raynessia's mother, who would take care of the rest. With that out of the way, he invited Crusty to meet with him after dinner that evening in his own quarters. It was the most secure location to speak, though even it would have its hidden guard.

Sergiad made sure he was seated in his chair before the fireplace and already served his drink by the time Crusty arrived. Even still, the young Adventurer settled into the chair around the corner from him with grace and without concern, accepting his own glass of port graciously as if it was his due, but not with overbearing pride. Sergiad sighed to himself. He was sure his own opening statement hadn't been lost on the man. It had merely been met and matched. He would send him home the next day if he could. He was somewhat hoping he'd go anyway. It wasn't likely. He'd play out his entire course properly and correctly. Again, it wasn't anger or malice he was feeling. It was merely irritation. Sergiad set it aside. It wouldn't do to have it come out as an obvious emotion, even if Crusty might understand it was a present one.

Crusty went first. "She's going to throw a tantrum when she learns what her next requirement is. Are you prepared for your meeting with her, really? And is she really old enough? I'm afraid I don't know yet what the courtship customs are for noble People of the Land."

"In one month she will turn seventeen. We are hosting a Christmas ball. Her intended will be announced then. They will have a year to get to know each other and on her eighteenth birthday, or around it similarly, they will be married. Her own personal feelings are, sadly, irrelevant. She'll become used to the idea eventually. That's rather what the year is for."

"How is it that her sister managed to marry common, then?" Crusty raised an eyebrow.

Sergiad sighed. He had to explain for People of the Land, too. "You understand how this world works, yes?"

"Yes," Crusty said very dryly.

"Such is the way it went."

"I see. Well, then I'll expect Princess Raynessia will be hoping for a similar opportunity as well, then." Crusty sipped at his port.

"Likely, and just as likely it won't happen. Once every four or so generations seems to be the pattern."

"I see." After a pause Crusty asked, "Will she not be allowed to come back, then?"

Sergiad paused, as if thoughtfully. "I'm minded to send them both, actually. If he can't handle that as a final test, we'll have to keep looking."

"You're likely to lose any hope, then," Crusty raised an eyebrow at him, almost going to a mocking smile but not quite, making it stop at closer to a commiseration at the ironies of the current state of the world.

"Which is why I haven't decided it yet," he agreed quite firmly.

Crusty politely let the topic go. "Well, if we have our way, we'll be gone by then anyway."

It was said casually, but Sergiad tensed, and then was irritated with himself he had, even though it had only been in the gut and not likely noticed. He firmly hoped right along with the Adventurers it would be true. "Is there an expected date yet?"

"No, sadly," Crusty leaned back a little, relaxing his arm on the arm of the chair and holding his glass lightly. "We're all just as impatient to see it happen. Shiroe's best guess right now is that the current tasks will take us into late winter early spring of next year. The following - and we hope final - tasks aren't determinable yet, however. We have to go to the other side of the world and see how badly things are going there before we can do that, and that isn't until the end of the current set. His hope is no more than another year after that and less if we can make it happen."

Sergiad frowned. They could do another year and a half. That was better than forever. However he wasn't pleased with the other side. "Will it be until next spring before we can send the residents of Akiba back?"

"Oh, no," Crusty waved a hand of slight apology for giving that expectation. "He's not sure on that either, but that should be over sooner, we expect. As I said, we're already rather impatient. I think we'll be taking out our irritation on that particular problem earlier than later...though he keeps trying to convince me we can hold out longer than I think we can. So if he wins that bet, I hope you'll forgive me for giving you false hopes." Sergiad decided to do what he always did and assume the worst case.

Crusty paused, then said quietly, "We'll all be in the dark as to when this set ends actually. We can't communicate with the other side of the world yet. The only marker we'll have on this side is that the destruction we're working on jointly will start the final ball rolling. At that point we have to wait patiently until we're given the sign we need that it's over. He's been given a rough estimate of three to four weeks, but," Crusty shrugged and took another sip of port, accentuating that there was no knowing.

Sergiad wasn't sure he cared. That was for the Adventurers. Once the shrines were razed to the ground, his goals in that matter were completed. If they thought the other matter could be done by then as well, then that could be his end point for both sides of what he'd agreed to help with. That was enough for him. He took a sip of his port as well, enjoying the flavor and the warmth that helped relax his tense belly a bit. It was why he'd wanted the meeting here - so he could force himself to relax over a matter that kept him up at night when he'd rather not be, though he knew not to drink enough to lose his reasoning faculties. He had to keep a sharp mind around Adventurers like this one. "And the final issue that we'd all really rather not consider at all? When will we know the resolution to that one?" He had to ask the question, though he'd rather not.

Crusty leaned forward to rest on his elbows and turned his glass in his hands. Quietly he said, "I'd like to tell you that we'll know the answer to that sometime sooner than later, but we won't. That answer doesn't come until the end of the next set."

Sergiad felt himself go grim. "So at the year to year and half?"

"Yes. If we go home, it's not happening. If we're required to stay..."

"Then we all have no choice," Sergiad said, the grim coming out in his voice.

"Correct." The glass was held still as Crusty stared into it. Then he sighed and sat back to look to the side at the small fire in the fireplace. Sergiad was also looking at it, trying not to see the flames burning the world. Very quietly, Crusty said, "If you really want to try it, you'll need to do it at that year to year and a half. If it's even possible for us to be weakened it will be then." He turned back to look very clearly into Sergiad's face. "We will be returning from trying to kill the Inari."

Sergiad held his breath very carefully letting nothing out. Crusty was saying that would be the time they would be returning from being forced into fighting the gods that couldn't be killed. The unkillable beings made to fight the unkillable. Who could know what damage would be done to either side? If there was at all a time the Adventurers might be able to be taken down by the People of the Land - another laughable impossibility - then it would be then. He looked away casually. He was still talking to a youth. "There is time and many possible twists and turns between now and then."

"Of course," Crusty said calmly. "I thought you'd like to know that date as well, since we were talking dates." He was slowly spinning his glass so that the port swirled gently around the glass.

Sergiad rather all of a sudden felt defeated. It had been the warning that they already understood that the People of the Land would try, even if in the end Sergiad himself chose not to. He suspected that if they were required to stay, a large number of the Adventurers would willingly lie down and let the People of the Land try to win. Coming from a battle lost in its entirety, a good many of them would be lost to the darkness of soul again and welcome death if it could come, because they didn't want to be here from the beginning. That in itself was rather sad. He wasn't sure he wanted to help that kind of mindset, either. What a terrible quandary for all involved. It made his anger at the gods that much more reasonable. He sighed and let them sit in silence for a while.

"Has a champion to the cause appeared yet?" Sergiad asked.

"No. And no word one is coming yet, either. I'm afraid that's still on hold." It was said academically.

Sergiad gave a nod. It wasn't too surprising really. Not that much time had passed since he'd talked to Shiroe. He'd just wondered idly. "Shiroe said that Lady Purrcy was the one to heal you. How was she when you last saw her?"

"Irritated with being locked up. Kind, otherwise. Michael was able to break Izanami's flavor text to his great relief since he was helping Purrcy heal me."

Sergiad raised an eyebrow at him briefly. That _would_ be a relief. "Not Izanagi?"

"He managed to keep that one locked down until a few days ago when it decided to do a work-around that let it get out of the hole we were trying to keep it in. I suspect they have the answer, but now that there's the work-around, they'll let it go as a statement of discontent against the reason why they had it in the first place - that reason we all want to hate the most." A slight raising of the eyebrow asked if Sergiad understood which one.

Sergiad gave a slight grimace. He did. "A shame, then," he commented into his cup, sipping carefully so that he didn't get cursed, though he'd been promised he wouldn't. He paused, then carefully asked, "How long do they expect her to remain?"

Crusty held still just a little more than he perhaps should have, but that didn't mean Sergiad knew what it meant just yet. "I'll ask them and let you know next time I'm here." Perhaps it was surprise at an unexpected question, then. "At least, I assume you weren't asking if she was going to leave before you were ready to move."

And perhaps the question hadn't been understood. He'd tried to couch it in kinder words, but sometimes their differences of understanding was an impediment to that. He tried again a little more plainly. "No. You've assumed right. I meant at what point do they expect Lady Purrcy to be consumed by Izanami?"

Crusty stared at him. "My answer remains the same." Sergiad gave a nod. He hadn't been told it could happen, but that didn't mean Shiroe didn't know. "It's not likely, though," Crusty followed with opinion. "She's rather different. She already spends more time out of her body than in it, and they tell me it's been that way for a while now, since Izanami claimed her is the estimate, and more frequently the more she's been used as the Oracle."

Sergiad gave a slightly sharp look at Crusty, then gave a brief nod. "Is it the difference between a Person of the Land and an Adventurer, then?"

"Most likely. When we repaired the China Maze of Eternity, which they say they did here for the Yamato Maze, the spirits of the Adventurers were still hanging around waiting to return to their bodies, and those who have been living too long out of the cities from us also still stay spirit even if their bodies decay over time. Likely something similar is happening for Purrcy."

Sergiad mulled that bit of information over, then quietly said, "So even if the Adventurers were weakened enough for the People of the Land to affect them, they would still remain to haunt us?"

Crusty paused, then sat back with a little sigh. "Good point. Not a friendly thought, that."

"No, not really," Sergiad agreed quietly, running the thumb of one hand around his glass rim a little. He finally had to sigh very lightly and let it go. He wasn't ready to think of that path right now anyway. There would be time for that, and plenty of time to see how things changed in the future. He'd remember it though. It might be important to calm down what anger bled over from the shrine to general Adventurers.

"If you ever needed to recognize them," Crusty said a little slowly, "if there's no way to the Cathedral, they're Vengeful Spirits. If they chose to turn their backs on the rest of us, they're Wraiths."

"Vengeful Spirits? They'll really haunt the person who made them that way?"

"Oh, yes," Crusty said with a sincere nod. "That's how we even found out about them to begin with. A group of them attacked one of the Adventurers who made them that way and others attacked others who were part of that group. As far as I know the Wraiths just stay in one place since they did it to themselves."

Sergiad slumped inside, though not out. The only way to really defeat them would be to wait them out until they were depressed enough to all turn into Wraiths, and then hope they'd all done it in their own cities so they could be properly avoided. He swallowed one more sip of port, not really tasting it this time. "Is there anything else?" he asked it neutrally. He was done but he shouldn't appear anxious to have his guest gone.

"Our almost-Wraiths came back into town after being fortuitously healed. They plan on spending more of their time out-city than in, still, since we don't get along from the beginning. We've warned them to be good, but if you hear anything going on that the rest of us likely don't approve of, especially random farmer's daughters disappearing, let us know immediately so we can punish them and rescue the daughters and such. Other than that, I think that's all I have for tonight."

Sergiad gave Crusty a dirty look. "Any good news?"

Crusty gave him a bit of a smile. "You're granddaughter's home in one piece. I'm back. And...it looks like the Giants just might have a chance of becoming peaceful allies to the rest of us, at least some of them. The rest will die because they're going to move south and beg us for it. Oh, and that same group we're watching is going to help keep the demihuman population down permanently. We're working on marking which zones we want to have remain harvesting locations and Purrcy's said she'll let Shiroe know which villages populate them. We'll leave those alone and have them take out the rest. Hopefully by next spring things will settle down in that area for the rest of you. I think Shiroe would be willing to give you a copy of the final map of which zones will stay monster zones and which ones will be cleared."

"Would he be willing to accept some input?"

Crusty shrugged. "I'll ask. Probably not, knowing him, since he'll think he already knows which ones you want."

Sergiad opened his mouth to complain then stopped. It wasn't worth it. The Archmage probably did know. "I'll take the map," he said dryly.

"Good choice," Crusty murmured. He likely didn't enjoy arguing that much with the Archmage either. And since he preferred to avoid responsibility that wasn't required, he probably didn't want to have to go to the trouble to ask.

It had helped to hear the good news, actually, and they sipped the final dregs of their glasses in companionable silence for a while. Shiroe had said that Crusty was the General, but Sergiad wondered how he fit in as far as the King and Queen went. The courts had difficulty calling him anything less than Sir, for a knight, but he was more than that for certain. Sergiad couldn't ask Purrcy, and Shiroe wasn't present either. He wondered if Crusty himself knew. "If I may ask," he knew they didn't talk about it much, "what are you on your homeworld?"

Crusty gave him a silent look for a time as if trying to decide what answer would be comprehended, then answered, "The closest thing to a prince you'll find on Yamato among Adventurers."

Sergiad looked at him briefly. "Purrcy has said that all Adventurers are that."

Crusty paused then shook his head. "No, a real prince. As of the sort Iselius is, only older, of course."

Sergiad was silent, wanting to test that. "Yet...you'll take orders from the Archmage?"

Crusty slightly raised an eyebrow, quite elegantly actually for a face that was more chiseled than fair. "Orders?" It hung in the air like heavy smoke after a house fire.

The Duke realized it was the first time he'd ever managed to offend an Adventurer, even if it might be slight. "Ah, well, I suppose Adventurers don't take orders, do they?"

"No, Duke Sergiad. They do not," Crusty agreed quietly. "We work together for a common goal."

Sergiad nodded, remembering again what Purrcy had said. While they were all princes and princesses, only a few received the honor of being called by those titles. While Crusty might actually be a prince, like Michael was a knight on their home-world, the Duke rather thought that perhaps both the Archmage and Crusty would really be kings in this place. Here there weren't fathers to prevent them from moving up into that ranking.

-:-:-:-:-

"What did you want to ask me?" Sergiad asked his granddaughter, who had actually managed schedule for herself a meeting with him. Her silver hair curled to frame her face beautifully. Her face was reaching the beginning stages of maturity it would have for the remainder of her adult life. She was taller too, about to her full height now. Her attitude and presence were about the same: a little dull and lifeless, though only another Cowen (and Crusty) could tell. She did have the surprising odd moment of intelligent sparks, though the Cowen common sense was normal. The combination in her had always been slightly and oddly unique. Like when she'd walked in and turned the council on it's head when she'd said to Crusty that she was going to go to Akiba all on her own and ask the Adventurers to help against the goblin army. He kept trying to tease that out, to understand it. It seemed such a fleeting thing, but reminded him quite a lot of his late wife, her grandmother.

She'd worked up her thoughts and her courage now and, taking a large breath, she asked, "Grandfather. I'm lonely here. Am I allowed to invite a friend to come stay with me? Or if not, am I allowed to have one come and visit regularly?"

"Female or male?" he asked. This was an interesting turn of events, though she had expressly pointed out she'd had friends in Akiba, which was a new thing for her from the beginning.

"Female," she answered quite firmly.

"It isn't uncommon for ladies of your station to have one or two come stay with you to keep you company."

She frowned just a little. He'd kept it vague on purpose to see where her mind went next. "Do they have to be nobility? I already have a friend I'd like to invite who is doing good things of her own. I'm not interested in the ones that are required to trail after a princess because they are all nobles who must put on a parade for the castle everywhere they go."

 _Hooh_. She'd been willing to voice how she really felt. He was quite certain the Adventurers had taught her that. "If she's already doing good things where she is, then is it proper to ask her to come here?"

That made her face scrunch up slightly as she became a little uncomfortable. "Well, we agreed I'd ask if was possible first, since I didn't know. But...I know she's busy and this might not be the best place for her to work. If it's not agreeable to her, or not possible at all, then we'd like to be able to meet regularly so that we can still visit with each other."

That was rather intriguing actually, that Raynessia was willing to think of someone else's desires and needs before her own, though she had done that fairly well since she was young. It usually took her too much effort to actually do much about it. Sergiad knew that was one of the driving forces behind what made her act when she did in those ways he was trying to understand. She wouldn't have gone to talk to the Adventurers at all if that wasn't part of what she was. "Is it someone you should be seen with?"

Her eyes narrowed in slight anger for the sake of her friend, then her face cleared. "Yes, Grandfather. It's Clair Winthrop, the one I told you about before. She is Lady Purrcy's apprentice, so is both an important trade contact and point of common concern between us and the Adventurers. She also of her own right has the proper skills to be a seamstress for the castle, or Lady Purrcy wouldn't have picked her. This current line she is working on is also the royal line that Misters Leighton and Collingwood are working on. To be friends with her is also to say we wish to remain friends with the Adventurers, by association."

"As long as she remains worthy of it," he modified.

"...Yes, Grandfather," she agreed pliantly. She was still accommodating, then, when it wasn't impinging on her own plans perhaps.

"Where is she staying now?"

"She said she'd been renting a room before, but didn't know if it would still be available. We agreed that I'd have a message sent to Mister Leighton when I knew what could be done."

"It would be unseemly to have her walking here from under the bridge or from some alley, Raynessia," he scolded.

"I know, Grandfather," she said calmly, though her hands were pressed somewhat tightly together in her lap. "Lady Purrcy has given her an advance sufficient for her to find a small studio to work from, so I'm certain she won't have that trouble."

"And when that runs out?" he raised his eyebrow slightly.

"She also receives a regular salary from Lady Purrcy so that she can focus on her work. The advance is to be the down-payment on the rental of the studio." Before he could ask, she added, "She's said if she can come and it seems a reasonable thing, she'll set it aside and take her time to find a place that is worthy of becoming Lady Purrcy's studio in Maihama."

Since that was actually intelligent, Sergiad didn't press that issue any further. To have considered what objections he might have ahead of time was either help from her friends or showed some level of increase of her own. He'd continue to watch that to see if he could tell which. However, if Raynessia could learn such practical financial considerations from Miss Clair herself it would be good. "If she came here, she would need to spend quite a bit of time with you for the court to understand why she was here. I'm not ready to endorse Lady Purrcy's products over anyone else's at this point." He watched her to see if she could get the distinction without being prompted.

It took a while for her to mull that over. Finally she gave a little nod. "Then I'll let her know that coming here just yet isn't good, but maybe later once Lady Purrcy's reputation is established it might be possible. Can we at least visit regularly?" Again there was a slight pause and then a continuation. "We've already agreed that when her work becomes difficult, like before the fashion show Iselius is working with Marie on, we'll become at best correspondents so that she can focus, but around that, we'll want to visit together regularly." Her mouth stayed open for a moment, then she said, meekly, "We've assumed I won't be allowed to go visit her, but if she does get a studio, I'd like to go see it at least a time or two, and maybe visit together at a cafe nearby, if it's possible."

She'd enjoyed walking around Akiba with her friends then, and wanted to be able to do that in Maihama. "It might be possible, though we'd need to set up proper security for you before you go. You would have to properly schedule those visits in advance." Raynessia nodded obediently. "To be able to visit with a friend from the city, you would also need to be properly attending to your own duties here in the castle. Such a reward isn't given to the slovenly and lazy." She flinched a little, then took a breath and nodded. He found it interesting that she desired it so much as to be willing to push herself even that much beyond her normal boundaries. He would watch Clair when she came the first time to see if she was worthy of it or if it was the total friendship group in aggregate. He suspected the latter, though even a small amount from the former might be sufficient to make her continue to strive. It would be a test of Raynessia's judgment, too, though Purrcy's likely couldn't be faulted. He paused a bit longer then asked, "Was there anything else?"

"No, Grandfather. Thank you for meeting with me and answering my questions." She rose, curtsied, and walked out after his nod of dismissal. Her mother must not have talked to her yet. He went back to his work. After that interesting little review, it was likely that Crusty was right and she would come again to complain after her mother did tell her.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael sat leaning against a rock outside the first dungeon of the three large ones on the monster-infested island of Ninetails Dominion. Having a tough battle and coming out victorious was nice. Izanami had changed how she did dungeons. They'd gotten what information they could from other guilds who had been out and there had been differences that they'd figured out as they went. She'd changed the dungeons to be dynamic instead of static when it came to the level of the Adventurers who entered.

It was a nice change actually. Some rooms went with the average level of the raid party, some had monsters that nicely challenged each individual from the lowest to the highest, and a few had creatively made them figure out what combinations they needed to work in to keep everyone standing. When she'd showed up to ask him about it at the end, he'd taken an unofficial poll and there had been a lot of "thumbs up". She'd gone away rather pleased. He'd been just as glad she'd politely come down to talk to him as the High Priestess on lowest level and not slammed him.

That had been a good test of Izanagi's "gift", too. It seemed that, like at the shrine, since Purrcy was the "chosen vessel" as it were, whenever Izanami showed up it was in Purrcy's avatar. Rather than feel irritation and the slight anger he usually felt at Izanami using Purrcy's avatar as it liked, he'd felt nothing instead - sort of how he would feel if he was neutral about the whole thing. He'd experimented a little further and thought of Purrcy herself - conscious worries about her, how she was doing, and if the experiment was going okay. Again, it was if they were academic concerns. No emotions had been attached to the thoughts or welled up from within.

It had worked well enough, Michael was ready to begin his in-depth research into how to handle getting the High Priestess out of danger's way yet still have it look like she was "killed". By then, they might be into the third level of experimentation. Letting her actually go to the Cathedral at that point would likely be a very bad interruption of said experimentation. Michael found it interesting that thought also had distanced emotions to it. He sighed. Izanagi was going to use that "gift" loophole to keep him locked down the whole way. Well...it really was for the better at this point. He gave up a bit and settled back with his cowboy hat over his face and closed his eyes, diving by psyche only into the code realm.

He hid his pathway until he was settled into a hidden fox hole in the micro layer and cued up all of the history he had since he met Purrcy. It was likely to take nearly a year to go through it all again in the detail he needed to. He had the time. He cued up the first reel (as it were), then paused. He was looking for clues, but he'd already worked through his own memories with combs multiple times as he was testing her. He'd do it again...but if he could download _her's_...

Very, very cautiously, he set about being as light as he possibly could using the skills he'd learned from Tetorō to leave no fingerprint behind, and went hunting one of her fox holes. He'd already had lots of practice hooking into her present running history code. Histories that were so old even she probably didn't look at them any more might be easier to slurp down. With a hound and a mosquito on the job and a bit-size quilted-together camo I.V. line waiting on standby until the data was found and hooked into, he set it to run on autopilot with a watchdog to protect it and make it look innocent. He added last millisecond a lock to keep the Eagles and the Intelligence detail out, and returned to his own histories.

He was pleased with just the first of his own memories. The fact that he could watch it unemotionally meant he could actually see facts he'd missed because of the emotions that usually clouded his perception. The more memories he watched, patterns started to emerge and his eyebrows went up frequently. He'd been really rather blinded by his own emotions to things that had gone on from Purrcy's perspective - or at least from the physical and verbal cues she gave for what her perspective had been. For all that memories weren't complete for an individual without the emotions that were attached to them, the complete event those memories came from wasn't necessarily interpreted correctly as emotions clouded out the details. It was no wonder Izanami had studied Crusty's memories almost more than the emotions attached to them. There was more data contained in the event that way, though the emotions helped one to understand an individual more completely.

When he was done with his own memories, he confirmed that his first spells had begun downloading the data from Purrcy's old histories. As that continued to download, he wrote a spell that searched the history feed to find each next instance of Purrcy interacting with other people, since he didn't want to know anyone's dirty laundry. It was intriguing to watch the same memories he had from her perspective and some of the early ones he'd not recorded were helpful as well.

Michael became consumed by the study of the events passing in front of his eyes. Outside moments that were years inside the micro realm passed, as his history came and went, then Purrcy's, then Nyanta's because he found the link she had to him, then Tetorō's, Shiroe's, even Kazuhiko's - though he'd been surprised she'd had one linked to him. He found her library of the histories when she'd ridden with Nureha, and then went through KR's.

The most informational ones for Michael's needs were her's, of course, and Nyanta's. She'd been the most weak with Nyanta, allowing him to witness what those weaknesses were. Tetorō, too, to some degree, and oddly enough, to him, though he'd missed most of them from his own emotional fog. When he was done, he sat and digested the data down to the summary.

In the end, it seemed Purrcy was weak to being allowed to be weak. She held herself so strongly all the time, that the rare opportunities she could relax drew her like the proverbial moth to the flame. She often asked for those opportunities, too, particularly when she'd had to be strong for a long time on her own. Most of the time people missed those requests, but Michael had picked up on it: Nyanta not only allowed it, but manipulated her by asking for it (though it looked like that more often than not it was Izanagi who was behind that manipulation - smart AI). No wonder she'd scolded him and said she had no troubles with a psychologist as a control.

It wasn't all about what Purrcy's weaknesses were, though. He'd had to sort through who was actually in the driver's seat at any given moment. He'd rewound and watched over and over again the fights she'd had with Shiroe before he'd shown up. They were so contrary to what she'd been like when she first arrived there, and to how she'd been when he was there - even than when she'd been down in the special's prison with him. Given the time frame, and the Puppet Master, he'd most easily been able to separate those out as Indicus pushing Shiroe's buttons. He'd cut those moments out of the thread and watched just what was left.

Things still hadn't seemed quite right, so he'd compared them to before and after and finally, after a lot of work like trying to pry loose a sailor's knot with a toothpick, and using the juniors of Log Horizon as his pointers, he'd been able to see that Nureha had poked her nose in at random times and had her own things to say. Nureha had come out in Tetorō's thread as well. Tetorō had known which was which, but had comforted both regardless...even though Nureha was the enemy as much as Indicus. Even still, his approach had been different for each one. There was one clue early. Purrcy hadn't specifically asked Tetorō to watch over Nureha, but she'd covertly done it and he'd agreed. That helped Michael confirm his earlier sort and remove Nureha from both Purrcy's history and Tetorō's. Shiroe had known, too, after he'd finally figured it out so those had easy pointers as well.

Those sorts were necessary because he had to know one other being's weaknesses - probably the most important one. Izanami might want her attachment to the shrine severed, but that didn't mean she wouldn't play hard ball when they attacked it. He poured over the later obvious memories of just Izanami, then went back and did his best to separate out just the ones that he felt were the combined Purrcy-Izanami.

Then he saw that he had to cut out Izanagi as well. It was the fact that Shiroe had treated the AI as only Izanagi at the beginning then had very specifically called out Izanami at the Higan special that was his clue there. That event and the time Izanagi had used her as the Oracle became his base comparison moments. As he reviewed the beginning again after that, he did become concerned. Not for Purrcy - though that might come out later - but from the fact that from even very early it looked like Izanagi was present more than Izanami and maybe even more than Purrcy at times. And...every time Purrcy was shut down, it was Izanagi that did it. That made him sit back and go _hmm_.

He very carefully then went through and tried to pick out the moments that Izanami had been in control and Izanagi had shut _her_ down. That was even more sobering. Their early guess that Izanagi had greater control - enough to supersede Izanami - had been right. It pointed to one fact they'd sort of guessed, and confirmed it. Izanagi held Purrcy's Summon whistle. If he wanted something, he got it from her, even if Izanami was the one being hosted.

Michael blew out a large breath when that became the only conclusion on that line. There was a high probability that because it was Izanagi who wanted the religious link killed more, Izanami wouldn't fight it quite so hard. He still pulled out every instance of Izanami and hunted for weaknesses he could use to keep her contained. When he'd done all of that awful sorting, he could finally see just Purrcy, knitting together what was left. It was pretty much what he'd assumed from his initial walkthrough.

Michael stood and stretched and started pacing back and forth in his fox hole, thinking hard about what needed to be done and how he could use what he'd learned to his and the goal's advantage. By this time, nearly fifty internal years (26.28 external minutes) since he'd begun, he was comfortable with not feeling anything for either Izanami or Purrcy and the thinking was uninterrupted by any guilt or concern for Purrcy specifically. Somewhere down the line this might be a relief - or cause post-trauma guilt - but it was fine for now. Over the next month (2.592 external minutes), the plan began to form, shift, and come to a solid plan that wasn't so intricate as to be breakable but also not so simple as to be easily pointed at. There were one or two nice test points, too, to make sure he really had figured it out right.

When he was done, he gave a satisfied nod, looked around, made sure he'd cleaned up right so that no one would know he'd done anything of the sort here or along the way between him and all of his data hunts, then left the fox hole. He turned it into slag and then identical to the surroundings, erasing any sign he'd ever been there or done anything, then moved in the hidden ways slowly back down to his body in the base physical realm. At the border between the micro and milli layers, he paused to check on the Intelligence detail, stinging all three for trying to figure out what he'd been doing, content they'd not been able to, then moved on.

-:-:-:-:-

"Gareth."

Gareth carefully extracted himself from watching over Michael inside to look at the speaker and was a bit unnerved that _everyone_ was paying attention. He wasn't looking forward to this, though he'd known it would come eventually. "What's up?"

"Got a couple of questions for you."

 _Of course you do._ He waited silently.

"You're falling behind. You're the last one still a Hacker. What's up with that?"

Gareth shook his head. "I've been working hard, but I've hit my limit. I've maxed out Hacker and nothing moves it, even though it should."

"Did you lay off too much at the shrine?"

"No. I'd topped out before then...about a month ago, actually. Though I still practice and should be moving up, I'm not."

"We can't have anyone left behind," he was reminded.

"I'm not behind," he said, irritated. "I can follow you in, and keep up, I just can't get into the micro layer from inside the code realm." He got frowns back. "Look. You guys know my mind works different. I can hear a ghost cat purr and the rest of you believe it. I can see the sworl that's going to knock everyone for a loop and you'll peel off. I work different, and coding's never been my thing anyway. I'm not slacking off, it just that realm and me don't get along for some reason. Affinities matter."

The questioner changed. "What really went on in the shrine when you went in there." He really didn't want this questioning but both he and Michael had known it would come. While Michael was this deep inside and the Intel detail wasn't able to get to him as a distraction, he had no choice but for it to come now.

"We got to play Izanami's game to get Crusty healed up. It really wasn't a fun one. By the end even she wasn't having a good time." He wrinkled his nose. "It was one of those 'requireds' that you have to beat your head against until you win or you can't move on to the next thing. We're all glad it's done."

There was some silence, then a bit menacingly, "More details, Gareth. We know that much."

Gareth got comfortable, as if for a long telling, hiding his nervousness behind that shifting. He was going to have to walk the fine line. He tossed in a little internal prayer before he started that he not fail in the telling. "You remember all the washing we had to do on the way up to the shrines?" He was relieved when it looked like either the Intel detail had already explained that much, or the rest had been watching - which was more likely since they'd been on the ship and the trip on the ship had been comparatively quiet. "That plus the washings outside the shrine gradually move the body up through the same speed levels as are in the code realm. Since the Inari live up in the pico and higher, but can come down to the micro, they make the High Priestess - Purrcy right now - live physically up there all the time, too."

Okay they'd heard that before. He took a breath and kept going. "Anything that is lower than that brings her back down, so anyone going into the shrine has to increase up to her speed so she can stay at those levels. We drop naturally so have to keep washing ourselves back up there. A real pain that, actually." He looked away for a bit, deciding where he wanted to go next.

"So, the room of healing isn't right next to her inner room, which sits as close to the nano speeds as they can get her. But it's close enough that we had to stay up in the micro level, and keep Crusty up there, too. That would have been fine, I guess. We're used to showering every day anyway," he shrugged. "The slightly more irritating part of it was - there at the beginning - was that Izanami wanted us to play the game to even get into the shrine. That meant we had to play priest and deacon to her High Priestess, though that was pointless once we got going. It did make Priestess Kaede a little less mean, though, so it wasn't worth dropping until we were done. You know - you put on the right clothes and keep wearing it until the game's over."

He was getting looks so he dropped one more level of detail in. "In the process of walking through it the first time, there were some level-ups that I guess were okay bonuses, though they interfered for a while until we got used to them. Michael got an upgrade to his Realm Walker that kept popping him physically into the code realm and other realms when he least expected it so it took a few days for him to sit still where he was supposed to. Since I didn't have to role play that high, I only got a new sub-skill tacked on. I had some time while we were there to start trying to learn what it meant and how to use it a little, but I'm still working it all out." He sighed to himself, finally remembering that they'd have all seen it since they were all now Programmers. He couldn't hide his stats from them any more.

"It's rather high for only a small amount of practice, Gareth."

Gareth shook his head. "I know it looks that way, but time spent on it matters, too." He shifted to point and took another breath to explain. "When I work on code realm Hacker stuff, it's like trying to shove fat sheep through a narrow gate. I might be able to shove one in but the rest of the herd's going to take off to the corral that's got the wide gate. I've managed to shove enough sheep in, the little pen is full, but all the rest of them are in the corral. I don't know what to do with them yet. I've been trying to go count them, and make sure I know how things work over there, but it's new to me."

"I got to learn a few things while we were in lessons trying to figure out how to help break the flavor text, but you've got to remember: they were all women who either hated or distrusted men, and we were men - the enemy. They weren't about to start teaching me how to use what I'd been given, and we couldn't get out to go have the acolytes of Izanagi teach it to us. They were very unhappy Michael could realm walk and made him figure it all out on his own without any help. I think he's still trying to figure it out, really, since he'll still pop out of existence every now and then. I've been experimenting, and I watched them, but most of the time they didn't have to do much. The standard daily stuff I've got down, and I've recorded the few larger things I saw, but I can't do them yet. My current work is to review those as much as I can so that the noodling points go up enough that all those sheep in the pen become useful."

"Is it the beginning basis of learning the spell to control and the one that shows the true data?"

Gareth shrugged. "Maybe? That's why I'm studying them, but I think they're high level - well the data one anyway since I only saw Kaede use it. I figure the control one will kick in sooner if those are related to that. I think it only works on the High Priestess candidate, though. They never used it on anyone else, and a lot of the time they looked at Tetorō as if they wished they could use it on him, too."

"If you go back, but to Izanagi's shrine, will they teach you what you need to know?"

Gareth shook his head. "Priest Jared is a bit calmer and all, but he's not keen on Adventurers knowing too much, either. I suspect he's just as relieved Nyanta and Izanagi aren't in a hurry to get there themselves."

"The other priest might, though," Bowie added as a side comment. Gareth shrugged, not saying one way or the other. He hadn't met the man.

"Could you ride with a Person of the Land who was learning it?"

Gareth shook his head. "No, they can all see what I can see and what you can see. It's because the whole building is moving at those speeds. You show up and they can kick you back out. That's one that I've about got figured out, but there's a twist I don't understand, and it's not intent."

"What can you see, Gareth?" It was asked quiet and low...the soft invitation that meant death if not answered. He let the tension out by pressing his fingers together deep in his lap where they couldn't see it.

He'd been planning for that one, though. "You remember when we were in the China Maze of Eternity and Purrcy asked Michael to go lock down the two Vengeful Spirits so she could read the tags of what they needed to be given?" They nodded, but their eyes stayed predatory. "He disappeared from the physical realm, and wasn't to be found in the code realm either." He took a soft breath. "I could still see him." They were hungry for "the rest of the story". They hadn't been able to see Michael and had commented on it then. "It turns out that my points prefer to be used over in the spirit realm. That's what that sub-skill is for." He waited. He needed to only answer questions as they were asked now and very carefully.

"You're seein' ghosts?" Gareth nodded and Stiletto shuddered. It was Stiletto's worst nightmare and it was good he didn't have that sub-skill. He'd never be able to sleep and would hate being awake.

"Is that what the magic they use in the shrines affects, then? The spirits?"

"Yes," Gareth answered and gave just a little more. "Guildmaster Shiroe explained to us when he asked us to get lessons that typically shrine maidens and Shinto priests know magics that can banish, trap, and otherwise affect demons, ghosts, and things like that. That's spirit realm magic. It's why Yuudai's magic gift from Izanagi is to bless weapons with purification. It's the same type."

"Could you do that, too?"

Gareth hesitated. "I should be able to, but I don't know. I wasn't paying attention to how he did it back then. I did learn purification because that was the only way to get Crusty back up to the proper levels, but I don't know if it's the same kind since the weapon purification lets them banish. That's not the same thing. At least I think. What he can do wasn't covered in our lessons."

"We can't leave you behind Gareth."

Gareth shook his head again. "You won't. Just like there's a hard-to-see tag for the spirits in the code realm, I can see just enough into the code realm to keep up and not get lost. Since I know how to get into the higher levels in there, from practicing in the shrine, I can follow you up. I just can't do it from within the code realm." He had to show them immediately, so he did. Once they knew how to see him from their side, they went up into the micro level and he followed them up. He followed them back down and out, too and was relieved they were satisfied.

"You'll need to learn your magics. Plan on going back to do that." Gareth sighed and nodded. He knew that already.

There was a bit of silence, then BlackJack said, "You need to explain something to me." Gareth politely gave him attention. It was that or death during sessions like this and it wasn't necessary to go that far, really. "Back when we first got here to scope out the place for Shiroe and this island for the Commander, I was sitting in a tree and all of a sudden the Commander was standing in front of me, tying up a black kimono. He only said a few words, then said he had to get back and disappeared. Since that was almost an impossibility since he was up in Maihama at the time, I wrote it off. Tell me what happened then."

Gareth stared at BlackJack. "Ahh...well...," he frowned. "Okay, so when he realm walks physically, sometimes it's just a move from the physical into the code realm, or sometimes into the spirit realm. Those were okay. Then he disappeared from both and I had to ask him. He said that he'd show up outside the shrine, usually somewhere else on the mountain. He says it's like the Ten-League Boots, with a mind of their own. He's been mostly practicing staying put since it happens when he least expects it, but since we've been out of the shrine he's been practicing really short distances where I can keep an eye on him in case he gets himself stuck. We'd rather not have him end up in a wall, after all." They could get that.

"He's pretty sure he can't go to the other side of the world and isn't going to try. That's just stupid if he can't get back. He's been calling that spacial realm walking. But," he looked at BlackJack again, confused, "I don't know about that one. He hasn't said it. It's possible he thought he was just randomly space walking again since you were up on the mountain with us, too."

"It'd have to be temporal realm walking," Reed commented quietly. "Time's still fluid until we finish this level."

Others nodded. Gareth was worried. "If he goes through time, I can't help him if he gets in a bind. I hope that doesn't happen often."

"It hasn't during any of his practices?" Gareth shook his head, vigorously denying it. "Are there any other realms?"

"I don't know," Gareth whispered. "Those are the only ones I know of, but..." He had to leave it hanging. A lot of things about this strange world were still unknown. (Purrcy dream-walked when she went to visit with Nyanta on the moon, according to Izanami.)

"He hasn't said?" Gareth shook his head. They'd have to beat it out of Michael...or ask if they were feeling generous. They usually did ask first. Once.

"How far did he fall while he was in there?"

Gareth shook his head. "He held tight to his requirements, let me know when he was getting weak - since she was pressuring him really hard - then fought hard and took the right actions to get it fixed while keeping to Guildmaster Shiroe's requirements. He passed that one, though it was irritating for a while — her fault, of course, because of the flavor text." His lips twitched up. "We had help with that one, too. None of the shrine maidens nor Kaede were going to have anything of it. That's why they're there, after all, to keep her tied down in one place."

"What's he doing in there? It's been an awfully long time when he's working at micro speeds."

"Gathering the needed intel to come up with the plan, and working the plan out for getting the High Priestess out of the shrine." That was an easy answer.

"You're gonna make sure?"

Gareth shrugged. "Of course."

There was just a bit of a pause, then, "Is he still being honest with you?"

"Yes," Gareth answered soberly.

"And is he still playing by the rules?"

"Yes," Gareth answered honestly, though they didn't need to know by which rules and they were still covered by the "they wouldn't fault them" clause.

The soft deathly questioning came again, "And are _you_ still playing honestly by the rules?"

He looked at them with just a little bit of a resigned look. "Yes. Since when was I ever allowed to do otherwise?" As lowest on the totem pole, for all he flew at the Commander's side - and likely _because_ he did - they didn't let him. When they made sure he understood it again, he just curled into a ball and let them. They went at it shorter if he did.

-:-:-:-:-

Gareth was waiting for Michael in the micro layer and hitched a ride with a request to move over to the spirit realm. Michael moved over and found him present there in more than message code. "What's up?" Michael asked.

"Reality check. I figured in here was better since you went so deep into hiding."

Michael gave a nod. "Izanagi's 'gift' held true the whole time. No feelings for her at all. She's the package and I've got the plan to bag, wrap, and deliver. Might be emotional hell to pay later, but that's likely Izanagi's curse part to the gift. We'll deal with it when it comes after this level." He closed his eyes and sighed. "I missed so much the first time around. She's been throwing clues left and right like no one's business and all of us miss most of them." He opened his eyes, "Shiroe catches the most, but only the ones directly and indirectly related to his own goals. Everyone else sees what they want to see and she does try to throw them where they can see them - for each individual, actually. It's so orchestrated sometimes, it's obviously Izanami, but Purrcy is right up there with her sometimes, too, throwing her own specials in. Shiroe looks for those in particular, and the juniors pick up on them almost instinctively. As a team Log Horizon's rather honed to it, actually, catching nearly one hundred percent of Purrcy's clues as a whole, even if individuals missed out. Naotsugu and Akatsuki are the short stop and left field. They get everything that gets through the holes. It's rather neat to see that from the unemotional perspective."

He paused, then looked at Gareth. "And just like that, she's made it super obvious that she's put me right where she wants me to be able to accomplish this particular goal and all the goals she's set me to. She trusts me and will let me take her out, but no one else. She'll let all you guard her...and no one else. We have to be part of the operation at the shrine to make it happen at all." He hesitated, then said, "It's hard to see, but I'm pretty sure that Izanagi can shut Izanami out, like she shut him out of the shrine to some degree, but he can shut her out of anywhere in the world. It's no surprise she's liked being able to walk free. She was really pissed that Izanagi wouldn't let her into the Gate of Time when Shiroe asked her about it."

Gareth raised an eyebrow. "Is that because at base code he's the _World_ AI?"

"I think so," Michael said. "She's got the one-up with the Adventurers, though, because we play the game and the game's written for us. So she messes with him because she's mad he's got more control generally and she can dangle that one treat in front of him."

"Well...but dungeons are part of the world and they're game structure," Gareth mused.

"True. He might not be able to lock her out of dungeons, though that makes the current situation a bit chaotic doesn't it? The whole world's a dungeon or about to be one soon."

"Hmm...so it's the only time she'll be the closest to the world, then? The most within it? ...Not sure how to say that."

"It seems that way to me. Maybe we have to 'kill' her while the most of her is here. ...Who knows? That I didn't uncover yet - I assume because that's the next level down - the boss level." Michael shifted to move. "Anyway, there won't be any surprise confessionals for the rest of this level, I'd think. Izanagi's making sure of it quite nicely."

"Good," Gareth said, staring Michael down. He stared back mildly, then turned to take them back out to the base realm. Gareth grabbed Michael's arm and pulled him back around. As sober as he'd ever been, he said, "BlackJack saw you here, in Ninetails, back when we were in Maihama. Best we can make out, you temporal realm walked." He watched Michael's reaction, which was at first confusion, then surprise. "He saw you as you were getting dressed after purification."

Michael nodded. "I remember walking because I was thinking of them and what they'd been doing, but I thought it was just out to the mountainside as normal, and went right back."

Gareth's grip tightened. "Commander, watch that. I can't come save you. No one can. If there really is a temporal realm, stay out of it."

Michael paused, then shook his head. "I can't. I'm going to have to learn it. We use temporal walking at the end of this level. I've got to understand it before we get there. ...I will promise to not go that far until I understand the rest of it and walk it carefully. I won't start on it without letting you know and having you watch me." He paused. "Why don't you expect to see me from another time starting from now, if you haven't seen me before. We'll use now as the basepoint and I won't walk any further back. That way you'll be able to at least anchor this end and be a rest point for me to get back to whatever time I'm supposed to be in."

Gareth wasn't happy, but after consideration, he finally nodded. "Alright. But if you can get a teacher that can walk with you, I'd be a lot happier."

Michael looked sympathetic. "If I hear of one, I'll do that. So far it's just me and the Gate of Time."

Gareth sighed, the worry lines on his forehead rather deep, then let him go. They returned to the base realm together for Michael to make his report to everyone who was waiting on them.


	130. Nearing the End of the First Experiment

Tetorō stood next to the bed of the High Priestess. He really had no idea what to do. He finally walked back to the door, slid it open, and said to the acolyte there, "Please inform Priestess Kaede that the High Priestess is ill today. I'll do what I can to get her purified as soon as possible, but she's still sleeping and I'm unable to wake her."

The acolyte rose to her feet. "Is she degrading?"

Tetorō paused. "I don't know, I guess. If you want to come see if that's what it looks like to you?"

The acolyte walked in and inspected Purrcy's avatar from the side of the bed, then finally pointed at the hand that could be seen. "See the little finger and the tips of the others?" Tetorō nodded. "That's the beginning. You'll see that continue around the edges. For People of the Land, life ends when the outer aura is gone and releases them."

Tetorō looked at that, too, though it was hard for him to see. Her aura had been a very bright light that extended about a foot around her when they'd arrived. Now it was about five inches, three around her extremities like the fingertips. That translated to the minor degradation of the anima. He sighed. "How much longer for People of the Land at this point?"

She shrugged. "Depends on their strength and will. Maybe three to five days?"

Tetorō stared at her, then asked, "How long do you guys actually get to have High Priests and High Priestesses up here?"

"A month or maybe as many as two if they are very strong."

"Then why bother?" He blinked at her.

She glared at him. "Because for us to have the goddess available to us for even that amount of time, to hear her voice and words, is a blessing."

He sighed. "Right. And Oracles barely last past their First Oracle?"

"We are fortunate when they can last a fortnight."

 _Of course._ "So as an Adventurer, she could last another month or so, probably."

The acolyte shrugged, bowed to the High Priestess, and left the room to go let Kaede know. Tetorō sat on the edge of the bed and waited. He wasn't wrong. Kaede showed up suddenly in a yukata to check on the High Priestess herself. Her lips pursed as she turned to Tetorō. "She'll begin to sleep in her bed more and more frequently, with shorter times to be taken to the lower room of meeting. Use the purification spells that were used on the man who needed healing when she can no longer rise within the time necessary."

Tetorō bowed his understanding and Kaede left the room. He sighed, then climbed farther up on the bed, kneeling next to Purrcy. He carefully picked up her hand and looked closely at the fingers. He would hazard a guess that if the aura wasn't doing whatever it was doing, she would have a seeping wound from the tip of her pinky. Likely she'd been sleeping for about an hour and a half. Full healing should happen in one hour, for an Adventurer. He stayed there and watched the progression for another half-hour. It healed a little more in that time. Perhaps if she could get the full four hours that was a minimum sleeping recovery for Adventurers she might heal completely.

He stayed by her side, keeping vigil over her as was his lot in life since he'd taken on that job. About another half-hour and her eyes opened. She'd gotten one hour more than usual, an hour and a half not enough. Her fingertips had healed, though, and only the pinky was ragged at the very edge. Her aura hadn't changed to be any larger, though, and that was perhaps slightly more worrisome. It helped to know that was the thing to watch.

Felinoid-Purrcy started purring immediately upon seeing him. He supposed his sober face wasn't going to hide anything from her, really, but he couldn't bring himself to be anything else this morning. When she didn't move otherwise, or say anything, he reached out and pet the side of her head. "Do you know how much longer you have?" he asked her softly.

Her eyes went to the canopy over her above the bed. "I think they're timing it to be after the births so you can get me to Akiba before it takes effect. If I die here, I end up down in Nakasu, after all, and they're too impatient for that - though they could just Summon me back. If that happens, just go home. I'll meet you there."

He didn't say anything for a while, then asked, "Can you do the washings today? We're still in the timing that we could. And can you eat? You should."

Purrcy closed her eyes and he sighed to himself. Likely she wasn't feeling like eating, either. Her cat form had been getting more and more pregnant and was rather gravid now. He slid back off the bed, making her eyes open to watch him. He held his hand out to her. She sighed and rolled towards him and his eyes narrowed. It was an effort for her to make it to the edge of the bed and she went to her feet next to him slowly. His eyes went wide. "Purrcy!" he breathed. She squeezed his hand a little tighter.

He helped her to her chair, then went to collect the waiting tray of food. She managed to eat some, but not as much as he would have liked, sticking to easy-to-digest foods, though they'd mostly filled the tray with that. It must be normal then, though that meant internal degradation was going on as well as external, not a good sign. He suspected that once he was required to perform the alternate purification she would be completely unable to eat. He hoped that was long after the births.

He went hard and looked into Purrcy's eyes. "Izanami. She has to be able to eat until after the kittens are born. You can't have healthy babies without it. If she needs the full four hours of sleep then you need to give it to her. Now. Not when she has to sleep anyway. You've already let it go too far not letting her have those four hours until now. Please don't push your contract that far."

Izanami looked out of Purrcy's eyes, then bowed her head. He relaxed just a little. She would be able to last a little longer that way. When she was ready, she stood and he rose with her and helped her get to the spring. What he was worried about was in fact what was true. She was nearly as pregnant as felinoid-Purrcy as Purrcy-cat once her kimonos were removed. "Purrcy," he said hesitantly before removing her last kimono, "this is a problem in this place."

Purrcy shook her head. "I've blocked them all out. Priestess Kaede can't see me any more unless she comes to find me, and Izanami prevents her from coming to look."

Tetorō gave her a sad look, but went ahead and removed the kimono and helped her into the water. He soaped up a washcloth and began washing her head and ears and working his way down in their usual pattern. He was very gentle with the front today, barely whispering the cloth over her. Her extended belly made him almost blush a little and she patted his head. "If it's that much trouble, I'll do the front from now on," she said quietly and kindly.

He closed his eyes, then sighed at himself. "I think that would be good, though I'm sorry."

"No. It's understandable." She rubbed his head. He moved to her back, which she could twist to get to as a cat to some degree, but not so easily as a felinoid. She purred quietly for him, more a rumble under his hands than a sound. When he was done, she dunked as usual, then floated quietly for a while - not normal, but he could imagine it felt better, given how heavy her body was getting. He cleaned himself next, which was his usual pattern for after she was dry, then got out and dried off. He helped her out of the water and dried her off, again rubbing firmly for her head, arms, and shoulders, then paused. "That level until half-way down the back, then gentle for the rest and I'll do the front," she instructed. He nodded and obeyed. When she was done with the towel, she gave it back and he dried her legs.

They were about to go in, when they heard voices - it sounded like they were coming across the courtyard from the guest houses. "I do wonder if Purrcy is here."

"I wonder how we get in to visit?" It was Yuudai and Majiyo. Purrcy waved at Tetorō and he ran along the walkway, putting on his kimono on the way. He slid to a stop at the fountain outside the entrance to the enclosed spring. "Tetorō!" Majiyo caught sight of him since she'd been looking at Izanami's shrine, though it looked like they were headed towards the shrine of Izanagi.

"Hello! You've picked the right time. We just got done with the washings so Purrcy is still outside the shrine. Come quickly, but purify at the fountain first." When they turned directions to head over, he hurried back in and quickly helped Purrcy get dressed, though she'd already taken care of the inner slip and first layer kimono. He realized, as they put the last daytime layer on, that the multiple layers were still numerous enough to hide her current level of pregnancy and was relieved. They didn't need these three to find out either.

"If you bring them in here and we sit near the water, they'll slowly move up instead of bring me down," Purrcy said quietly. Tetorō gave a nod as he tied the obi, then looked up at Mise, Yuudai, and Majiyo as they reached the gate and tentatively looked in. Both he and Purrcy welcomed them in kindly, waving them over to sit on the rocks near the hot spring. "When did you get in?" Purrcy asked them.

"Yesterday," Yuudai answered calmly. "Priest Jared is willing to teach us, but only after we said we wouldn't stay here at the shrine after the final initiation."

Tetorō nodded. "They aren't happy to have Adventurers as part of the shrines, but he's not as difficult about it as Priestess Kaede is. Of course, our first arrival didn't set a very good tone." He half-glared at Purrcy. "They met us below and tortured Purrcy on the way up so she came in rather irritable. That plus Priestess Kaede's natural curmudgeon was a bad mix for first impressions." He looked back at the other three. "Priest Jared has been trying to keep at least neutral, since he knows that the High Priest is also an Adventurer, but seems rather content to not have to deal with it himself. He'll likely wish for you to stay only as long as you have to."

"It did feel like that," Yuudai said a little sadly. "I hope eventually they can be okay with us being a part of this world...," he looked off, "even if we do go home."

"I'm sure we'll find a balance eventually," Purrcy reassured him. "Changes like this take time, is all." The others agreed. Purrcy paused, then said, "When you've reached the upper room of instruction, you'll be at a level high enough to come visit Tetorō in the garden. Please do come and visit anytime then. I'm afraid while I'm in my lessons, he's quite bored."

"We'll be gone for a bit in a few weeks for Marielle's wedding," Tetorō inserted. "But I don't think you'll be to that level of instruction just yet by then, so you won't miss me." He winked at them.

"While I have a few moments, will you tell me about your journey?" Purrcy asked. "I'm so glad you were able and willing to come and to meet your own goals until this time."

"Will you tell us first about Crusty?" Misa asked politely.

Purrcy smiled and her ears and tail flicked, pleased. "We've sent him home fully restored as of two weeks ago. I'm sure everyone in Akiba is keeping him very busy."

Mise smiled a small smile. "I'm sure they are. ...While I'm doing better, I'm not ready for that kind of busy yet. It will be good to sit here in meditation for a while to regain my strength." At Purrcy's further attention and questioning ear, she said, "I thought I'd stay until Yuudai and Majiyo are ready to move on, then see how things are going at that time. I'm sure I shouldn't continue to just sit around doing nothing." She sighed just a little as she said it, though, showing she wasn't quite ready to move on. Purrcy smiled and purred for her, pleased with her progress.

They began their story and it was a nice diversion for what had begun as a difficult morning, even though their journey had included difficulties. Tetorō was looking forward to being able to visit with them when Purrcy and he returned from Akiba. To have some time not being quite so alone would be nice.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe," he tried not to make it sad, but in his female form it was actually a lot more difficult to hide his emotions.

"What's up, Tetorō?" Shiroe answered kindly.

"...She's dying, Shiroe." Tetorō huddled around his knees. "I got Izanami to agree to let her finally get the full four hours of real sleep, since I think that much will help her heal up better. ...But they showed me how to tell that the degradation's not only started, but been going on for a while now. My guess is at most a month left, though she said - before I got the four hours - that she thought they were timing it for shortly after the births with only enough time for me to get her back home so she resurrects in Akiba. I complained that the food up until then was necessary. She's not been eating well so I think there's internal degradation to go along with the external I can see now. The four hours should help with that, I think." He paused to breathe and think.

"Both forms are now showing the pregnancy, but her kimonos hide it for felinoid-Purrcy. They expect her to spend more and more time in bed now that the external degradation's showing, so I think we can keep it hidden by having her stay in the bed once the layers aren't enough. No one bothers to come visit Purrcy-cat, so they won't know about it from that side." Tetorō rubbed a hand on his cheek, irritated that it had itched because of a tear he'd not noticed. Adventurers died and were resurrected and this one wasn't a surprise. He supposed it was just irritating and sad.

"Yuudai, Majiyo, and Misa are all here on the Temple Mount now, and began their lessons today. They were passing by while we were still washing Purrcy, so we got to call them in and visit with them for a bit. That was nice on a rather depressing morning. They had their trials, but did well and are looking forward to their lessons. They're continuing to move forward. ...Other than that, there's nothing new." He stopped and put his chin on his knees. He knew Shiroe was watching him, but that didn't bother him. That wasn't any different than as if he was reporting back home in the office.

Purrcy-cat mewled from the floor, not able to leap up onto the bed any more. He unfolded and reached over to pick her up carefully and set her on the bed. She climbed up into his lap, rubbed his face with hers, then settled down in his lap. He pet her slowly, letting Shiroe see with his own eyes the changes, not minding his silence. His report had contained some rather large pieces of information.

"Is there a way to tell what the degradation is doing to the kittens?" Shiroe finally asked.

Tetorō shook his head. "Maybe she can tell, or has a spell from her surgery days, but I can't know."

Purrcy-cat looked up into the air in the room, probably looking at Shiroe since she could do that. "I have an X-ray spell, but it isn't necessary in this case. They don't mind if they're born stillborn or living. This one's just to know if it can be done at all, if you'll remember. I think how fast the degradation happens for an Adventurer is part of the general experimentation as well, though I'm not sure on that one." She tipped her head and an ear folded over. Tetorō brushed her head, making it fold a little worse, but she didn't complain.

"If I remember right, we're about a week out from the earliest possibility?" Shiroe asked with a little bit of a kind smile in his voice. It wasn't often Purrcy joined them in the evening reports.

Purrcy shrugged. "I've rather lost track of time, but I usually came late back home. No idea if that translates here, of course." Her whiskers waggled at her own little private joke.

"Is the degradation affecting your mental capacity?" Shiroe asked.

Purrcy paused to seriously consider that one. "It's a little hard to tell if it's late-term pregnancy brain or degradation. I certainly _want_ to sleep more. I've not been working so hard on my lessons, and am taking more time to rest as I go, though it's not full sleep until early morning as usual. I think I'm going to add before dinner for a couple of hours now that I know that's just as expected."

Tetorō frowned at her. "You've been working too hard by yourself?"

Purrcy looked at him. "I'm driven by other requirements, remember, Tetorō. I'm sure resting more from now on is something I will be quite relieved to be able to do. And then we'll get back to it again once we've started all over." She settled her chin down on her front paws and closed her eyes.

"Tetorō, is there really a need for the night time purifications?" Shiroe asked. "There isn't anyone coming at night for meeting with the High Priestess or Oracle, is there? Wasn't she kept up that high all the time specifically because of the flavor text? I would think getting her on a regular sleep schedule would be much better."

Tetorō shook his head. "I can ask, but I don't know. The rest of us drop pretty far overnight, but we all have to come up the same so...maybe." He had to agree. That would be a much better solution. If he had to, he could let the rest of the shrine think he was doing it for her in the evenings, but actually skip them. They all left felinoid-Purrcy alone at night and she was always sleeping by morning anyway. "I'll ask Izanami in the morning," he promised Shiroe.

-:-:-:-:-

Woodstock was feeling restless. He didn't very often and it was making him slightly irritated. He'd been trying to place when he had last felt like that, or to understand why. He finally got up from his office desk to see if he could find clues that might answer it.

He walked out to the front of the guildhall. While it wasn't a storefront anymore, they'd decided to showcase some of their more popular recent products and display a few of their upcoming ones that were nearly ready for full production to get people excited about what was coming. They had become a "go-to" for Adventurers who wanted to know what was coming up in the market that was going to help them do their jobs better. They'd become a de facto suggestion box because of that, but he didn't mind that. He took the suggestions to the Round Table meetings and they went back to Roderick Trading Company. Akaneya had begun to do the same at the same time, since they'd discussed the idea over dinner and drinks. He'd also commented that he wished Purrcy was around to pass some of them off to since they seemed to be her kind of research project.

Back in the development room things got quiet when he walked in - the kind of quiet that said someone(s) had been arguing. That wasn't good. He looked around the room and counted the number of people who wouldn't look him in the eye. Rather a lot more than he liked, really. His eye was caught by one young man and he frowned slightly, since that tugged as a clue on his own restlessness. He let his eyes continue to wander, though, until he'd scanned them all. "Anyone care to fill me in?" he asked generally.

"Nothing all that important," one finally said.

"It's them that undermine us and lead to things we don't want to see," he reminded them.

Looks went between a few around the room. Woodstock shook, as if to shake off the discomfort he himself was feeling. He scanned quickly, one more time, looking for something specific. "Is it general, or is there a real reason behind it?" Maybe they were just all feeling like he did. If it was general, then they might need to shut down shop and go hit things as a guild again.

A head came up suddenly and scanned the room like he was and his highest level Cleric stood up. "May I?"

Woodstock nodded and the Cleric pulled out his wand and cast the anti-plague area-effect healing spell. The room was large enough to fit all the desks and equipment so his spell got his half of the room and not the other. The immediate difference in countenances between the two sides was almost frightening - given what the spell was. The Cleric walked to the other side of the room and cast it again as soon as his cool down was up. Everyone relaxed, then looked at each other nervously.

Woodstock pursed his lips. "No, that's not really a good sign, is it? I'll be letting the Round Table know right away, but I think I'll go see if Akaneya's having that trouble, too, to see if it was just us. We might have a contact who brought it back in from outside. I think you'd all best stay put for now just in case we need to narrow it down. ...If you all think you're done arguing anyway?"

Those who'd been the apparent problems glanced at each other and faintly shook heads. They'd repent after he walked out the door, then. He gave a nod, looked at the first young man that had caught his eye, then turned and walked out the door. He wasn't feeling irritated anymore, but he was still restless.

That particular young man caught up with him before he made it out the front door and they walked out into the street together. Woodstock paid attention to the feel in the street as they walked. By the time he reached Radio City Market, he'd decided it was still low level out there. Not a lot of arguments, but the amount of friendly chatter was less than he'd gotten used to. "Go listen at the production room door while I fetch Akaneya," Woodstock instructed quietly. He got a nod and they split up.

When he and Akaneya arrived outside the said door, his man gave him a worried look. Both guildmasters paused to listen. It was about the same. Out of courtesy, the two non-guild members stayed outside the room as Akaneya resolved the argument, then had his Cleric cast the anti-plague spell. When he came back out, Akaneya was sober. He led them back to his office before he spoke again. "What level do you think it is?"

Woodstock shook his head. "It's not bad yet, so it could still be low level, but it could also be because we caught it at an early stage. Shiroe's going to have to put his brain to it."

"Wish we had Purrcy here to do the city-wide one," Akaneya sighed. It was a rumor Purrcy had cast the first one that had calmed the whole city down immediately just as Log Horizon and D.D.D. we're taking down the Plague Master, but everyone believed it.

Woodstock looked at his companion again, then around the office. That had been the last clue he needed, "She's supposed to be coming in soon."

Akaneya looked at him curiously, but his companion relaxed as if he understood suddenly. Woodstock nodded. "You've been feeling it, too?"

The young man nodded. "I kept wanting to get up and come see you, and found I was listening, expecting you to chat"

Akaneya stared at the English student. "You mean it'd be her return from her rounds out?" Both men nodded.

"I keep opening my mouth to tell my guards to go to the city gate, then wondering why. And then twenty minutes later I find myself pacing my office. I only went back because I was looking for clues as to why. He was one of them." He pointed with his thumb at his translator.

"Well...we could go look?" Akaneya suggested.

Woodstock was tempted, but they could sit outside the city gate for days. He shook his head. "Let's go visit Shiroe with this news. If she's coming in, it will be there this time, not here." Akaneya agreed. Woodstock sent his disappointed guild member back to his work. There were things Shiroe might say that he shouldn't hear. Woodstock promised to let him know if he learned her schedule, though, to help him go.

Both guild masters paid attention on their walk to Log Horizon's guild hall. "Can you tell?" Woodstock asked Akaneya as they finally walked out of the more populous area of town.

Akaneya pursed his lips. "It seems less, but I can't tell if it's because we have to be in close quarters all the time."

"Mmm, that's probably it. Out here if something irritates you, you can walk away." Akaneya agreed with a nod.

Shiroe greeted the two guildmasters calmly in his office. As usual, no one in his guild was surprised to see them at the door. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone knew Shiroe just naturally faced life as a dungeon, so his guild did, too, it might be considered borderline rude that they had spies up just to pre-announce the arrival of guests. One half-expected to be turned away before even reaching the gate, as it were. "What can I do for you today?" Shiroe asked.

"I've been a bit irritable today, and so was my guild," Woodstock said without much preamble. Shiroe didn't like minced words and Woodstock was willing to speak to him his way, like any good guildmaster did for anyone they interacted with. "My Cleric got the clue when I confronted them all...and the anti-plague spell worked."

Shiroe's sharp eyes went to Akaneya. He nodded. "Woodstock came over and we found my room in argument as well. I ran the experiment and it bore out." They watched him, sober.

"How does it compare with the city?" Shiroe asked. Likely he knew that pulse better than they did.

"Ours don't get out to let off the steam and can't walk away, but otherwise it seems about the same." Woodstock answered.

Shiroe nodded. "We're estimating about level twenty right now. Does that sound about right?"

They considered it, then nodded, "As good a starting number as any," Akaneya said.

"I'll let everyone know," Shiroe said. They knew that meant the rest of the resistance. "We're waiting on the city healing until it gets to a higher level and we're ready for the more general announcement, likely once all of the large guilds figure it out like you two." There was a pause and he raised his eyebrow slightly. "Was there anything else I can do for you?"

Woodstock planted his feet. "Purrcy's coming in. I've been feeling it in my bones. When are you expecting her?"

Shiroe raised that same eyebrow higher, in surprise. There was a pause as he thought about if he was going to answer or not. "I should use you as my weather stone," he teased Woodstock, who scowled back slightly. Shiroe leaned back in his chair. "Any day now, actually, but we've got nearly a two week window, so I'm not sure you should hold your breath. We'll hold the wedding a day or two after she gets back, then she'll be gone again, as usual. Do us all a favor and don't let Ains know her schedule. She can't fix this one. There isn't a Plague Master behind it to attack."

"You'll be calling it a return, then?" Woodstock asked. Shiroe nodded. "I'll go ahead and have the guild do the research on who they might have run into that might have brought it back in."

Akaneya slumped. "I guess it's good you brought it to me early, Woodstock. I'll have the most work to do to clear all my solos so they don't get witch-hunted." Shiroe and Woodstock were sympathetic.

Woodstock asked, "You think they'll take the witch hunt that far? Out-city?"

Shiroe gave a nod. "Here at the beginning, yes. You know how spooked Ains is."

Akaneya sighed. "He's going to be so much trouble isn't he?"

"I use him as my baseline. If I can't keep him calm, I won't keep the city calm." Shiroe was serious. "He has a role to play in all this, too, and it's mostly that, or I'd likely scare too many I didn't mean to." They could get that. "I hope Honesty survives," Shiroe added. "All the hunters and harvesters are going to be hard hit as well." The other two agreed, and weren't jealous at all that he was going to have to announce it, and were very relieved they didn't.

"Thank you, Shiroe," Woodstock said, feeling guilty. "Sorry to leave it in your lap all the time."

Shiroe looked at him in a little surprise, then gave a small smile of gratitude. "Sometimes it's a pain, but even you guys know by now it's because I like to control information."

"Well, there is that," Woodstock agreed, "but still, it puts you in the hot spot and frees up the rest of us."

"Then admit what you found out and act responsible when I bring it up," Shiroe scolded mildly. Both other guildmasters were properly scolded and agreed. "Thank you for coming to tell me...even though it was only for ulterior motives." They rolled their eyes evasively as he narrowed his, since they all knew they could have chatted instead of walking all the way out for a personal visit.

"And how are you doing?" Akaneya asked Shiroe.

He gave a nod. "Okay for now. Isaac's backup for Naotsugu and Crusty comes by every evening. As you've discovered today, we're just starting to get into the part that's going to become difficult." He paused, then got serious and leaned forward. "Would you two be willing to experiment?" They raised eyebrows. Shiroe-type experiments were a bit dangerous. "You're both small guilds and your people don't mix outside much because they're married to their work." That much was true. "We want the people of the city as a whole to be able to survive what's coming so we can go back to what we had. I'm not quite sure about a couple of the details, but I do know that all of us work better knowing what's going on so we can fight with all our hearts in the battle." Both guildmaster's nodded.

"I want one of you to tell your guild members what's going on, in strict confidence. Tell them that the Plague is back, and it's going to make them want to hook up, just like last time. Ask them to fight it. Tell them the world wants to keep us and it's going to make us start having children so we can't leave. But make sure they know they'll cause complete panic if they let it out, and we're trying to not let that happen. Whatever it takes to get them fighting but keeping it quiet." He looked at them a moment.

"The other one of you, don't say the whole story, but do watch for pairings to come up. Encourage good ones and get your women hooked up early with a man who will be good for her. You can go as far as setting them up and letting them have leave as far as I'm concerned. Then tell them what's going on candidly when they come to you and let you know they're serious about making it official. Swear them to secrecy then. They'll have to fight it just them and you and whatever other couples you have until we let it out to the city as a whole. Then watch them to see if they can do it. If they can't, get them out of the city. They'll be pregnant for sure as soon as they cave. I'll see if I can find a place to send them to, though we've got a plan in the works to get all the females out of the city, so they could just split up then and get back together later."

"What are you trying to figure out?" Akaneya asked. "It seems like the former would be best all around."

Shiroe shrugged. "Yes, but I want to know if it keeps the fights over the few females available down. It might not. That would be my litmus test. As soon as the others start to encroach on a known pairing and not backing down, it's time to send the women on their adventure."

At their worried looks he waved a hand. "Regardless, I really want it earlier than later. Just like you two are the first to see this in your guilds and come tell me, I think you'll be the first to see all of the changes as they occur. It would help me be able to put into place some stop gaps as we go generally if such things work better or worse for the two of you."

Woodstock rubbed his chin. "Not to mention we'll have more heads working on the plan if we bring in a full raid worth that's looking for the clues and testing what works." Shiroe nodded his head. He had his own raid's worth working on it already as the early frontline, but they weren't really a representative mix of the city as a whole in the same way. "I've only got four women, and they're pretty headstrong. They've already caved heads in on several occasions, not the least back then. I think we'd work best as the test for the group team."

They looked at Akaneya. He rubbed his head as he considered his guild. "It's probably not good to let it all out early to them just yet. So that part's good for us. I've got a few couples already going, but most of them are oddly enough with solos."

Woodstock's lip twitched up. "The appeal of the rugged individualist."

Akaneya nodded. "More odd, it's reciprocal."

Shiroe put his folded hands to his lips and a far pain entered his eyes as he rested on his elbows. "Call them in to get their women," he said softly. "Tell them what we're expecting then ask them to convince their female counterparts to go out-city with them or them to stay in town with us. They'll both be safer that way. If they won't come get them, tell them to not come back in until we've got this straightened back out. It's already too late because of the witch-hunt factor."

Akaneya nodded. "Since I have to call them on that anyway, I guess I can do that, but I'll probably modify as I go."

"That's fine. You know your people. Just keep me updated to how things are going and what changes you make." Akaneya gave a nod and the two guildmasters excused themselves - after Woodstock extracted a promise that he'd get notice when Purrcy was headed into town and that he'd get called in if she needed help getting into town safely.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sighed as the outer door to the guild house closed behind the two dwarven guildmasters and leaned back in his chair in a slump. His let his long legs splay out in front of him and he let his arms hang down to either side of his chair. He took in a long breath and let it whoosh out of his lungs. Akatsuki suddenly appeared on his desktop, glaring at him. "You already have us to tell you that. Why are you putting others into the same difficulty?"

Shiroe tiredly raised a hand of defense. "I need to know from the outside perspective. We were already an item before it all began, except for Purrcy's push. I need to know from the beginning of only slight interest. It isn't just knowing that people are hooking up. It's watching the progression. If Akaneya's got it in his head to be watching that closely from now, he'll be on it immediately and keep me informed. As they said, their tight quarters will make it obvious where we're only getting hints of it on the street. Their warnings will help us know when and how to handle the city streets. He'll know what to do. Those pairings that are already in place is where he'll focus first and it's a reminder to him to be taking care of them. I haven't started anything new, and I do want those women not paired up watched over carefully, even if it's just him doing it. If they aren't interested they'll refuse and escape."

He'd slump his head on the desk, but Akatsuki was still sitting on it. That made him blush because his next thought was that would put his head in her lap which he wouldn't really mind that much right about now. He looked away from her and couldn't quite keep the pain down. He was surprised when he felt a light touch on his head. Akatsuki moved away from him, walking back to her post. He firmly closed his eyes, refusing to watch her. As long as she was background it was okay to have her in the room watching over him as usual, but the times she was obvious he had to remember to fight.

Maybe at level twenty (arbitrary as that number was) things were possible, but it wasn't going to be much longer, really - and he was pretty certain they were already higher than that within their guild walls. He hoped those two hadn't picked up the higher level just by visiting, but so far Isaac and Crusty had both reassured him multiple times it was still holding to Izanagi's testing levels, not to a real plague effect - they hadn't been seeing that sort of sign in their guilds, anyway. Of course they were being careful to not have any of the girls in Log Horizon touch any of their male visitors and vice versa.

"Mister Shiroe, are you busy?"

"Isuzu? No, I just got done with an interruption so it's a good time." He could feel Akatsuki's interest. It was outside Isuzu's usual check-in time.

"My plans got changed. I've hitched a ride with a merchant who's headed back to Akiba. I should be home in a day or so."

Shiroe blinked. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," Isuzu said. "I don't want to be late for the wedding and miss it. It seemed a good excuse to just come now since there was an easy way to get back that showed up at my lunch break today. I don't want to keep you, just wanted to let you know since it was different from what I'd told you this morning."

"Thanks for the update. We'll be watching for you." Isuzu ended the call and Shiroe stared with wide eyes at Akatsuki. "Well...I was going to say - "

"Shiroe, we're done with the dungeons and will be getting on our way back. We've got a few pirates to put down on our way so it will be tomorrow or so, maybe the next day, before we get in."

Shiroe almost forgot to respond. "Ah! Right, Michael. Good luck with those. Did you get it?"

"Of course," it was smugly proud under the covering casual answer. "See you soon."

"See you."

Shiroe blinked, rather stunned. He waited, then opened his mouth cautiously, waited a pause, closed it again and waited a little longer, then tried again. "I think...Purrcy's coming home soon." Akatsuki stared at him. "Three in a row in one day is a little hard to ignore." She gave a wide-eyed solemn several nods.

There was a knock at the door and Nyanta let himself in, followed by his shadow, Brenner, who stayed by the door. Nyanta's demeanor was calm until he reached Shiroe's desk. As he looked into Shiroe's eyes, his nose, then ears and tip of tail twitched. Shiroe stared at him for a moment, seeing a fourth witness, then asked kindly, "Is he going to let you greet her?" Only the ears and tail answered him.

Shiroe sighed to himself, then leaned forward, "Izanagi," he waited until he had the Inari's attention, "please let Nyanta visit with her first. There is no need to be hurried. A few hours or even a day isn't going to change things that much. They will be remembering their own wedding as we celebrate the wedding of Naotsugu and Marie. Let them have the time as Nyanta's reward for his patience. I'd really rather not have the hatred and anger added to right at the moment and destroy this important time for all of us. Will you allow it?"

There was silence for a moment, then Izanagi's answer came. "It is the last time. Your emotions are irrelevant. The limitations of the game that have already been imposed on this experiment are damaging to the whole. I will not relent to any further unnecessary delays thereafter."

Shiroe went cold and hard, at the same time as he had to push fear down. He'd already known this time was coming but to hear the gauntlet being throw down was the reality of it being presented to his face. He gave a sharp nod, letting his face show only the coldness he felt. "I understand."

Nyanta swayed as Brenner cast his prepared Spirit Healing on him and he was able to stay standing. "Thank mew, Shiroe-ichi." It was said quietly.

Shiroe gave Nyanta a nod. "Do you need to beat up on me now, before it all begins?" Shiroe asked just as quietly.

Nyanta paused, then shook his head. "There are better ways to make mew pay, but even so, I'm grateful for the moment, and I'm very well aware I chose it myself from the beginning."

"Do you know how close it is?" Shiroe asked him.

Nyanta shook his head. "Only close. Purrhaps tonight, no later than three days. They are impatient, but they also want to understand the natural purrogression."

"So they won't force it, but they can tell it's in that range?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Tell Naotsugu that he can give Marie a five day notice, but to not announce it publicly until I hear from Tetorō." Nyanta gave him a nod and took himself out of the office to do just that. Shiroe looked at Akatsuki. "I'm not sure you ladies should count on Purrcy being able to participate in the bachelorette party. Nyanta and the High Priest may monopolize her. I've noticed the High Priest is worse than Izanagi because he knows what emotional buttons to push to make life miserable for those around him, and does. If he refuses, don't give him an emotion to push back on or to delight in. Let it go and leave her here."

Akatsuki was obviously disappointed, but considered it carefully. "They will be disappointed for her sake. But...if we act like there never was one to begin with...there won't be anything to mock...and she won't have to feel bad."

Shiroe nodded. "I'm sorry, but yes. If we are pleasantly surprised and he is lenient, then you could still take her out for a quiet evening to let everyone feel better."

Akatsuki slowly nodded her head as she considered. When she didn't say anything else, he returned to his work. She would take care of it.


	131. Pirate Crew of the Oki Watarimono

"How many fishes have we caught?" Michael asked quietly. He got back six clicks. "Nice. Have we seen any more?" He got back a negative. "Let's move in then. We need to get back before the festivities start."

They'd left the Oki Watarimono in a protected cove of the island zone as the bait, then made it impossible for anyone else to exit the cove by way of ship. Anyone entering the Oki Watarimono was put to sleep as soon as they stepped on board. The sides were tall enough that none of the other ships could tell there were sleeping pirates on deck until they reached it themselves. There was a fog spell over the deck anyway to hide anything until the newest set of pirates set foot on deck as well.

Michael led a third of the Eagles up into the air. A third, led by Reed, were surrounding the beach and the other third, led by MasterChiefS7, were for back-up in case they were dealing with someone more savvy than themselves. Four of the six ships had been anchored just off the beach. Two were set close to the exit of the bay, as if just waiting to be let out. Michael led the way to those two first. "Distract the beach, in six...five...," he continued the countdown until his group was over the top of the two they were targeting. The distraction wasn't noisy. They didn't want to draw the attention of these two ships to the beach either.

They had the sailors of the two ships knocked out fairly quickly, took over and sailed the ships back towards the beach, using a magic wind so they didn't have to use oars. They stayed out of sight until they reached the beach. Then, working from both sides, and taking out the watch crew on the four anchored ships, they took all six ships. Not even a half-hour had passed by the time they had all the remaining pirates gathered together on the beach - the ones from the deck of the Oki Watarimono included.

They read the stats on the pirates. It was a mixture of Adventurer and Person of the Land crew, as was common even in the days it was on the other side of a PC screen. While it was a bit sad perhaps to end the lives of People of the Land, being pirates it was a hazard of the trade. They quickly dispatched the crew, then turned to the captain and first mate. They had carefully bound them and put them into secure reflective boxes. Now they circled around them.

"Who told you Yamato was open game?" They got silence, as expected. "Well, make sure you get back to them and let them know how you feel about having tried it. We didn't go over to mainland China to have our territory stolen from us. We'll bring the product out. No one comes in to take it. If you want to negotiate, come find us."

"We did and you've still done us in without negotiation," the captain answered, irritated.

"Mmm." There was an insincere sympathetic click of the tongue. "That's too bad that in the business we act first, ask questions second. Considering how many we found on deck, the message wasn't one of friendly negotiation in the first place, however." The final was said icily.

"Who are you and why haven't you come out until now?" they were asked.

"Oh, is there a pirate guild we've missed knowing about?"

There were scowls and the captain said, "Given it's been almost two and a half years, almost every pirate band knows all the others by now."

"So, why'd you leave Yamato well enough alone until now, then?"

"Plant Hwayden was nasty until a few months ago, and with no shipping coming out of Yamato, it was figured that it wasn't a pleasant place for even the likes of us."

"Well, that was a nice side effect," Michael chuckled a little. "They've been put down finally and the guy in charge now is over a unified Yamato, and we're finally free to move about as we will. He's just given us free-rein and exclusive contract, as a matter of fact. That sweet gal you were trying to take as your own sealed the bargain. ...We're going to send you home and keep your welcoming gifts for our own, but I'll tell you what...we'll promise to not come hunting very often in other waters. When we come out it will be mostly to trade. I highly recommend you not come back into our own waters, however. We'll take whatever comes every time as a peace offering to keep us from coming down your way to hunt."

"Why should we be afraid of a junior group, infants on the waters?"

"Infant? Junior?" The entire group of Eagles chuckled. It was an eerie sound, like as if skeletons and ghouls were laughing. "We do like to make people think that, I guess. ...It's often been called our trademark as a matter of fact." His grin was as deathless as the sounds just made by his men. When two pairs of wide, frightened eyes said that they'd figured out who they were dealing with, the Eagles attacked and sent the Adventurer pirates back to the last Cathedral they'd been to visit.

"Would have been nice to have had more than one captain to work with," Michael grumbled a little. He turned to the ships off shore and "put" one of them into his guild master list. It worked. He "put" one into his personal list. That worked, too. He turned to Reed. "Put two of them in your list." Reed did, looking very pleased with the results. Michael motioned to MasterChiefS7 and the final two pirate ships disappeared off the water. "Handy, that," Michael said as he unfurled his wings. "Just like we don't have to have a dinghy to get on and off the ship. Shall we?"

"But...why did that work?" Michael was asked as they all headed to their own ship.

"Because they are the treasure we just won for ourselves. All treasure can be collected, right?"

"Pulling answers out of your arse," Reed snorted at him. Michael ignored him. It was the answer he liked, so it was the only answer he was going to give.

They were just far enough from the cove to not be able to turn back to it for protection when the larger fleet of pirates surrounded them. "So...they _were_ just the sacrificial group," MasterChiefS7 said from Michael's left where they were standing at the windows of the steerage room.

"Not too surprising," Reed answered from Michael's right.

"Still, I wonder why they'd send this many. Was the Prince really that popular?" Michael asked. "You'd think they have better things to do than sit off the coast and wait for one dinky ship."

"He might not have been the only one to see the Ocypete, you know," Reed said. "They went all up the coast, even to Korea."

"And anyone going into port after it left would have learned it was from Yamato," MasterChiefS7 agreed.

"Who's got the flag?" Michael asked mildly, though his lips were trying to purse and his eyes were narrowing. They had a lot of figurative guns focusing on them. "Get it run up and get a nine-layer shielding on the ship." The shields were up before the flag. The smoke cleared after the flag was up and when it was identified they got slammed by another round that lasted three times as long. "How much do you think they've held in reserve?" Michael asked when that was done. The Eagles had left the ship as the last set of smoke cleared away so that their opponents didn't see them go. "Clocktower, see if you can capture a treasure with people on it."

"Yessir." There was a pause. "Well, yes and no. I've got the ship, but the people are swimming."

"Nice. Go collecting, boys."

After a bit, came back the message, "There's a distance limiter, and we can't capture the ships with the captains on them."

"Well, then, I guess I'm glad I'm still standing here," Michael said, slightly humored. "I'd really like to keep this particular secret ours, so letting any of them on land is going to be a problem. Don't let them swim to shore." He counted how many ships were left. It was a nice group. The south seas should be well forewarned. He shifted, antsy to be up in the air with his men. They waited until they were told that the sea was only the ships they could see with what crew still survived on them. "QA, put a marker on the map for the best ship still floating - other than ours. P/R put a flare over the highest level captain. ComOp, start a ten second countdown broadcast on my mark." He went back to local. "I'm taking the marked one. When Charlie reaches ten you two can take out which ever you feel like. As long as they head out to sea, you can let them escape if you want."

They anchored the Oki Watarimono and left the steerage room. When they were in place on the deck, Michael told Charlie to start the countdown. He only heard the first number as he spacial realm walked to the deck of the marked ship. They saw him, for one second, their looks going from slightly relieved they hadn't been flared, to one of very great concern. He moved into the spirit realm and took out all of the crew until only the captain was left.

He slipped to the edge of that realm and the physical realm and said, quietly in the captain's ear, "Thank you for the peace offering. I think all these ships might be just enough to keep us satisfied for about...oh, say a month or two. Maybe it will even be enough to keep us content when we decide to come see what the rest of the ocean looks like. We've been thinking that Australia might be as lonesome as we've been until now." The first pressure of death was on the captain he had next to him. "Oh, and if you happen to see Prince Singh again, let him know that we appreciated the gift." The scowl on the captain was dark as he disappeared in bubbles. Michael collected the ship into his guildmaster list and spacial realm walked back to his own to wait for his men to come back.

The other ships were running - the farthest out was the flare-marked ship. It went down first since his two American Wolfhounds were keen to be known as the best against the best. The Eagles were able to fight the others as multiples instead of solos, so they also went down until only one was left. "Why?" asked Michael.

"It's the only Person of the Land captain."

"Going soft?" Reed asked.

"No. Wanting to know what message you want to send. They don't know us."

"Yes, they do. All of the People of the Land know Archmage Shiroe and the Debauchery Tea Party. They know us, even if only by whispered reputation," Michael disagreed. He walked over to that ship, which wasn't running any more it had so many Eagles holding it back. The pirates on it were terrified. He looked them over. "Did you miss us?" he asked, from the boundary again. Men trembled and knelt, shaking their heads. "Then why'd you come looking for us?" he asked.

The captain finally managed to find a voice. "We were told someone had been to discover that Yamato was lucrative ground waiting for us. That because we'd been fooled into thinking there was nothing there, it had become fat." It wasn't a lie, actually.

"So, why'd you all sit and wait on just one ship, then, instead of slip in all over the island?" The captain paled and shook so hard his legs gave way and he slumped to his knees as well. "Who? Who was it that hired you all?"

"Maharajadhiraj Bahadur Singh," the captain whispered. "To murder the one who made him what he is today."

"I see. Well, that would be me, indeed. It seems he didn't quite understand what he was getting himself into, though. I suspect he's already paid a hefty price for that and he'll pay an even larger one once the Adventurers resurrect and get new ships. It's such a shame he couldn't let his pride go. It will be even longer now before he gets his proper job done like a good boy. His little brother must be so very irritated with him by now. ...Except he's the contact that let the Bahadur talk to the lot of you. Is there really no common sense in Theldesia's India?"

Michael paused to consider what he wanted to do, then put a tracer on the captain and put them all to sleep. They made a wind come up that pushed the ship south and left it to drift. The world would decide if they would become messengers of the new wrath that had been awoken or if they would die for their hubris and greed.

They returned to their ship and Michael took the Intelligence detail and went hunting for the Indian minister in the code realm, finding Padarahan within ten minutes and torturing him with cat and mouse games until finally he managed to escape far enough away they tired of the game. They just wanted him to be the other messenger, since he'd come to watch the results. Michael sent him a very clear message to pass on: "Get back to work on the quest or we'll come hunting you lot specifically. If you hold up the works, it won't be pretty."

-:-:-:-:-

As the Oki Watarimono passed by Mount Fuji, Michael stood at the rail of the steerage deck, watching it pass. "Missing your girlfriend?" he was asked.

"Checking up on Tetorō," he answered calmly. They went silent, but stayed watching him.

That had been on the chat, but Tetorō had still picked up on it. "They still your watchdogs?"

"Always," Michael answered dryly. Tetorō snickered just a little and Michael snapped him with a little spark, just to keep him in line. He snarled at Michael but both were half-hearted and meant mostly to keep Tetorō reminded that life was still normal outside the shrines. "You're looking forward to your short vacation coming up, I assume."

"Yes. I hope I can come back," Tetorō said.

"We'll help you along."

"...That was more menacing than normal. What happened while you were out?"

Michael paused, then said a little lighter, "Shiroe asked us to scare off the pirates that have decided that now that Yamato's seafaring, it's a target. We're just coming from that encounter. Sorry."

Tetorō was silent for a while. "You going to let the flavor text win, then?"

He hadn't been distracted, but that wasn't surprising. "We've been the ninja guild just a little too long, perhaps," Michael allowed.

Tetorō was quiet a little longer, then said, "You can keep pretending if you want, but you know we know."

"No one's admitted to anything yet...and it's probably safer to keep it that way," Michael warned him.

"After what Purrcy did in Shangtzi to the guild that abused Nyanta, it's obvious she knew what she was doing from the beginning with you lot. Why?"

"Why what?" Michael asked quietly. Tetorō really needed to stop.

"Why did she choose you knowing what you were?"

"I don't know and told you that from the beginning."

"What payment did she offer?"

"I told you that, too."

Tetorō thought about that, then asked, "And that was enough to get the rest of them involved?"

"We're a guild, Tetorō."

" _Mercenary_ guild."

"And?"

Tetorō was silent, then finally sighed. "Fine."

"How close is she to birthing?" Michael changed the subject.

"Very close, but no one knows the exact timing," Tetorō answered. He paused then said, "Degradation began to be externally visible two weeks ago. Izanami laid off a bit so she gets to sleep at night now a minimum of four hours and that helps her heal back up better, but it's never full up healing. Each day it's a little worse. I would have really preferred that Izanami had backed off a lot sooner, but Purrcy thinks Inari's got more than one experiment running this time."

Michael stood upright in a sudden revelation, then was suddenly actually in a revelation as Izanami appeared to his sight, hovering in front of him. "Yes, Michael, I think that would be a good idea. You'll need to keep Tetorō and Purrcy hidden out of sight until after it's done. You need to not let Log Horizon know, either. Which means you need to all arrive at home when you're supposed to. Can you do it? If you can't, leave them here, though Priestess Kaede will find out too soon."

Michael was already walking into the steerage room. "All stop." He was immediately obeyed. "All hands conference," he said on the chat. When roll call said everyone was present and the floor had been turned over to him, he said, "We've reached the point of our first test. We're going to break Tetorō and Purrcy out of the shrine, here and now. We still have to show up in Log Horizon at the right time while making it look like they're still there until their time to leave it. We've got to keep Izanagi away from her, too, until then. Which also means not letting Nyanta know - so we can't smell like either of them upon arrival. How are we going to keep them protected, fed, watered, etc., until their proper arrival time? Requirements include a protected location of hiding, running water, and somewhere we can get to easily but no one else can. Remember that Summons can find her just by thinking about it as well. It doesn't matter if they know where she _isn't_ , they just can't get to where she _is_."

"Tetorō will be low enough he can walk out of the shrine on his own, but Purrcy's avatar isn't so fortunate. I'll have to collect her personally into the micro realm as close to the nano as I can get her and let her decompress. Until she does, I won't be able to leave her, so I'll be out of commission for that time as far as physical realm activities go, though I can move at those levels so we can keep up with your movement," he added.

"Too bad you have to hold on to them. It'd be nice to bury them in a code realm fox hole."

Michael privately agreed, but it wasn't possible. "Has to be in the physical realm for the physical body, for them. Ah, and as an added bonus, it would be nice if they got into Akiba before we hid them away since that would put them at ready to come home nicely."

That narrowed down their thinking, though not so much they got stupid about it. They'd explored all of Akiba and the surrounding environs to the details now, so knew all the hidden nooks and crannies. Most of them didn't have the requirement of running water, and food would have to be taken to them on a regular basis, where the outer zones would have food stuffs Tetorō could go harvest and a number had streams running through them.

Keeping them hidden from Izanagi was the hardest requirement, though. Michael and Gareth kept their mouths shut about just how hard that was and let the rest of them figure it out. That level of effort would be enough if both of the Inari were in agreement. The two men rather doubted that Izanami would agree to the release if she didn't already have the agreement from Izanagi that he would leave well enough alone. That or neither one cared and would continue to abuse Purrcy all they wanted, in which case Michael would step in and take the abuse until Purrcy could again, like he had been all along.

Twenty minutes later Gareth was in contact with Tetorō, telling him to get on the road - or rather steps - down out of the mountain. Michael pulled Brenner into the code realm and league-stepped to leave him near the top of the steps physically to meet Tetorō. He then went back and collected Gareth and did the same, though through the spirit realm that time. That realm was more dangerous on that mountain. Because it was considered a sacred place in _Elder Tales_ lore, it was more difficult to navigate through and be ignored. There were some spirits that would aid them, and any number that would go warn Kaede they were stealing away the High Priestess. However, both of them were now familiar on the mountain, so once curiosity was assuaged they were mostly left alone.

They paused next to Brenner long enough for Gareth to clap, bow, and clap again and say a prayer to Izanami that their actions, which had been required by her, would be blessed and watched over by her and hidden from others. That was to both get her help and to calm down the rest of the watch-dog spirits. Michael deposited Gareth physically next to Brenner and imitated Gareth from within the spirit realm, and the spirits on the mountain went back to their random meanderings.

Glad that much had worked, Michael stepped over to one of the empty shrines and proceeded to purify. He kept up his link to the group chat, so he knew when Tetorō, carrying the cat form of Purrcy, made it to Gareth and Brenner. They took to the air, both of them carrying Tetorō in a hammock they treated as a sling. It wasn't comfortable, but it was faster than walking or running. The spirits of the mountain ignored them. They knew Tetorō and the cat, so weren't concerned about them.

Michael finished his final cleansing, purified his clothes (opting for his usual clothes and not his kimono), then spacial realm walked into the High Priestess' bedroom. She was very asleep, and being watched over by the usual spirits of the place. He stayed in the code realm and hovered over her and her bed. He'd wrapped himself in a reverse shielding spell that worked similarly to an invisibility spell, made with the intent that his spirit wouldn't show in any realm, nor his physical body in the physical realm. This was his first test of the spell. He'd worked on it during his breaks since he'd come up with the full plan after the first of the three dungeons. He'd figured invisibility was high level, and to have any part of it work in all realms would make it even higher level. He'd self-limited it (since that made the spell more likely to work, if one kept it sane and not too OP), by putting a time limit on it. He should still have plenty of time, though.

He cautiously reached out a hand, not having set off any guard spirits yet, and reached through to the physical realm. When nothing noticed, he touched Purrcy, grasping her wrist, and pulled her into the code realm while at the same time walking them through space to the top of the steps outside the shrine. She slumped and he caught her and held her tightly as he walked one more time to where LifeSupport met him in the code realm. LifeSupport wasn't physical, but he could affect her all the same - just enough to hold her up while Michael got turned around (without letting go of her completely). LifeSupport helped Michael get Purrcy's avatar up onto his back until he was carrying her piggy-back. Then they both flew through the upper micro layer.

"She's looking rather worse for the wear," LifeSupport commented. He'd been looking her over carefully on the flight, mostly holding on as a baby opossum and letting Michael do the flying.

"Mm. Tetorō said," Michael answered.

"Know how much longer or if we can heal her?"

"You can try, and no I don't know."

LifeSupport cast his Spirit Heal on her, then cursed under his breath. He tried a few more spells. "Tetorō when did your Cleric spells stop working on her?" he asked.

"About a month ago. Her levels are too high, is my guess."

"...Oh. Hadn't thought it would be that," LifeSupport answered. "Know what level that is?"

"No," Tetorō answered shortly. "Hardly matters at this point - except for spells not working on her very well. It could be the degradation generally, but that's hard to believe."

Michael thought about that. "It would likely be a minus to points of healing. Could be there's a slow increase of those negative numbers the more time passes, too," he said. That they could agree with. Curses did tend to work that way.

Gareth gave Tetorō his instructions. They very carefully didn't threaten him. It was better to include him as part of the plan and as an accomplice, even if he might be reluctant. When they were done, he did complain at Michael. "I really don't want to be the one to take the punishment, you know."

"I know," Michael said. "That's my job, and why we're stealing you out as well. We can role play the threats and orders if you want to record it, but I'd rather not."

Tetorō's voice was hard. "Not. Not while you're still in pirate-ninja mode. I'll handle it."

"Works for me," Michael said.

They were met now by others of the Eagles in the code realm and a web of spells were layered over the escaping trios that were similar to Michael's invisibility spell, except they were specifically targeted against Izanagi and anyone or thing that might be sent to look for Purrcy or Tetorō. Other spells were being cast to hide their passage through the code realm. Michael's cooldown on his invisibility spell ran out and he cast it on Purrcy, effectively hiding her from the spirits that were trying to catch up to them now that they were past the foot of the mountain and closely approaching the sea.

Gareth traded out for another Eagle and fell back. Bowie joined him and they threw up anti-spirit spells to guard their backs since even though Purrcy was now "missing", the rest of them had been with her.

"That's not enough," Gareth grimly let Michael know. "You need to put the two pieces of her together. They're following the cat."

Michael walked next to Tetorō, reached a hand through space and pulled the cat out of Tetorō's arms and shoved it onto the avatar's head, which was all he could reach. Gradually, the cat in his hands was absorbed into the avatar, though it felt really weird and was hard to hold onto. He was relieved he could do it at all, but assumed it was because it was the same being. When that was done, Michael asked Gareth to confirm Purrcy was properly hidden in the spirit realm. His confirmation came back positive and Michael stepped to the ship, then into the room the Eagles left on the ship had prepared for her in the first class quarters.

The Eagles hadn't wanted him out of commission as long as a full physical decompression would have taken. He placed her on the bed in the room and three Eagles there cast a spell that technically should keep her in it and in the room. (A summon would take her out of it, though they'd tried for that to be blocked, too). He called Purrcy's psyche, which was what was seen in the spirit realm, into his ring and kept her sleeping, then went back and retrieved Tetorō, making him disappear from the area to confuse the following spirits. He dropped Tetorō off in that same room, then realm walked back one more time.

This time, Kaede was waiting for him, holding on to Gareth in the spirit realm. "Code white," Michael said quietly. All of the druids formed up around Gareth - the only one they could see.

"Bring the High Priestess back," Kaede said coldly.

"She's been summoned back by the High Priest," Gareth said to her, since he could hear her and they wanted to keep Michael hidden as long as possible. "She'll be back. It's temporary."

"Izanami has given me no such orders, nor Priest Jared from Izanagi. I think things are going on that aren't right. I've not been able to see her for two weeks unless I go to look personally, and now you'll steal her away? Not until I learn just what is going on will I release you."

Each of the Druid's cast, layering their containment spells to get them high enough to counteract her own spells. Michael reached in and snatched Gareth from her over into the code realm. Together, the both of them cast the spell of banishment that should send her back where she belonged. It didn't work. That had been a useful test. It would only work on incorporeal beings.

Her own spell was ready to go off, though, and it wasn't a pretty one. They pulled way back and watched what it did, since it wasn't one they knew how to cast. It took down three of the four Druids, who were picked up by other Eagles and healed up, but that had been enough to take the shields down. She quickly cast a second spell, area effect, and Michael was suddenly exposed.

He threw up a shield before she could see who he was specifically, though she probably had a good guess. She got off another one quickly and it bound him, passing through his shield. He'd have to review that one and why it had gotten through, though he suspected it was because it might not be considered an attack.

Gareth knew he was next on her list and he cast a modification of the same clergy spell. Kaede suddenly went stiff. "Return to the shrine. Sleep. Forget these events." Gareth commanded.

Kaede scowled, and she was suddenly gone. Michael was just as suddenly released from his binding. "Nice mod to the command spell. I hope you never get to use it on me," he commented mildly.

Gareth blinked at him and slumped. "I'd like to not have to as well. That was one of those that gets bonus points for terror and absolute panic. I'm not sure I could do that again for a while. It was rather automatic."

Michael patted him on the shoulder. "That would be like you. Let's move before Jared decides to join in." They all got as fast as they could go.

-:-:-:-:-

"Michael, I had to purify the room when I got here," Tetorō scowled at his partner.

"Of course you did," Michael answered calmly. "We talked about it back that first day, remember? We were only going to role play for as long as we had to."

Tetorō halted his angry forward motion, remembering that conversation. He pursed his lips. "It's still painful to her for that short a time."

"Her anima, maybe, but I've got her psyche tucked away. Hang on a minute. Gareth's just about here. Then I'll put up the last protection." Michael looked at Tetorō with a look of consideration. "One of the things I did while we were out was go back and review everything in fine detail. She's told you twice she's given you a gift, and you've completely missed it. You need to use that gift for this round. Go see if you can figure it out while we wait."

Tetorō blinked. "Can you give me at least a clue when one of those times was?"

"Maihama. I believe it was after a certain special dance." Tetorō couldn't tell if that had been a tease. Michael often did with such a serious straight face it could be missed. When he didn't say anything, Michael added, "It was a photo shoot opportunity."

That Tetorō did remember. He pulled out the picture he'd taken of his reflection after he'd put on the outfit she'd designed and Mister Leighton had sewn. He first looked at the image very closely, looking to see if there was a clue in the photo, and to jog his memory of what had happened at that time. He could remember missing Purrcy, hurting because of the High Priest, dancing with her as an excuse to hold her, and then just giving up when she'd stopped the dance to hold him. What had she said then? He was pretty sure that was the second time she'd said it. ...Something about as long as he was around she would be too, or have a safe place to be found.

Tetorō narrowed his eyes and looked down at Michael's hands. He had the gold ring on his right hand, though it was more narrow this time. He'd disguised it slightly. "They'll let you wear non-standard dangerous equipment if it's a needed magic item?" He said it with serious accusation, though it could also have been a tease.

"It's making me nervous," Michael allowed with a nod. "I'd like to take it off soon."

Tetorō pulled up his item list, paused, then cast his search spell on it. He'd rather packed his list and was carrying almost a full nine-hundred-fifty items now. He searched for "ring" and when the search returned, he had a pointer to an earring and the ring Purrcy had given all of them - his showing a bishop chess piece. He pulled both out. They'd been given the day before the wedding at the court, and he knew she had been planning on giving the spirit vessel earring to Nyanta since he couldn't wear a ring at the time. It had been sly of him to show her he'd learned to transform his hands at just that moment to receive a ring instead.

Tetorō put his finger on the ring in his hand. It didn't seem to be any different than normal. He put a finger on the earring. She would have had to switch out the earring for a ring at the last minute during the wedding, then slip it into his own list later, disguised. Of course, it could be a rock in his list if she'd done that, but she didn't usually try to make it hard to figure out. He put the bishop ring back in his list and equipped the earring. He looked at Michael. Michael blinked. "Not like any of us can see through _her_ illusions," Tetorō shrugged. Michael couldn't argue with that.

Gareth opened the door and walked in. There were two Eagles on guard watch outside the door, but that was just the physical presence. Most, if not all, were on surveillance over the room from inside the code realm. Tetorō knew they'd been waiting on Gareth to get there so that Michael had a chaperone from among them for the next part. As soon as the umbrella was up and Michael had set the permissions to only the three of them, Tetorō was attacking Michael. "I erased that moment from my history and you weren't in the room."

Michael didn't fight back, but he didn't let Tetorō kill him either. "She didn't erase it from her's. I tapped into her histories for my review."

Tetorō blinked. "And she didn't kill you?"

"No. She ordered it, if you'll recall."

Tetorō scowled. "That was for the flavor text."

"I didn't have opportunity until then...and he's still locked down. We only asked Izanami to free herself from her's." Tetorō considered that, then backed off, letting Michael go. "Keep it secret: all spirits, cohesive psyche, can be seen in the spirit realm. It takes a different kind of spell to hide there. Putting her into the spirit vessel hides her from that realm. I've told the rest she's buried in a code realm foxhole up near the nano layer to decompress. I've got her sleeping so she doesn't have to feel it. She'll feel it again on this transfer, but don't let her out until you think enough time has passed that her psyche has dropped enough to handle this room. ...You're sure that's the item you want to go with?"

Tetorō gave a sharp nod and prepared himself. Michael gave the command to release Purrcy's psyche from his ring. Tetorō immediately called, "Come. Enter. Sleep." She'd barely been present in the room. He was sure he imagined her brushing against his cheek as if giving him one of her soft kisses on her way into his earring. It wasn't possible to feel psyche.

He and Michael looked at each other soberly for a moment. "Take care of her," Michael said. It wasn't necessary to, so it must have been said to make Michael feel better, and probably as a reminder to not let anyone - least of all the Eagles - know where she was. Tetorō gave a nod. Michael's ring was already put away.

"We'll come back for the both of you once we've got the physical fox hole set up." Michael went through the instructions one more time. "Shiroe's not to know anything's different, nor anyone else. Izanami's orders." That was a surprising new factoid to go with the original order, and Tetorō raised an eyebrow. "We needed the test run, but I hadn't been thinking of it until we were in the middle of our conversation. As soon as I had the thought, she showed up to tell me to run with it. She said otherwise Kaede was going to find out this time - too early. From Kaede's complaint when she showed up, she was this close to walking in on you, or taking over the bathing duties."

Tetorō shuddered. He'd wondered why Michael had suddenly disappeared. "Yeah, that would have been no good. I take it you noticed?"

Michael nodded soberly. "Has it gotten hard to disguise?"

"Yeah," Tetorō sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Only the fact that they expect the High Priestess to not be able to get out of bed once the decay gets this bad has kept it hidden. ...That purification spell you used on Crusty is the one they use on the High Priestess once she gets bedridden." He wasn't surprised at the looks of distaste on the other men's faces. It turned his stomach every time he had to use it. It would be kinder to let the High Priestess die early instead of drag it on like this. They had an ulterior reason for doing it, but it had only been used on People of the Land vessels until now.

"I'm going to set the permissions to allow the Eagles to keep watch over both of you. When you get hungry, let us know, but you'll be purifying it." Michael said.

Tetorō nodded. "You've got the bathroom included in the umbrella?" He'd need the faucet. Michael gave a nod. Tetorō moved to sit on the bed next to Purrcy's anima. Michael reset the umbrella permissions and the two Eagles walked out, Tetorō watching until the door closed. It was going to be difficult to give his next report to Shiroe. He passed the time figuring out what to say and how to say it. Even if he didn't get the message across, he wouldn't be surprised if Shiroe had already planned for this to happen. Tetorō wasn't all that pleased to be going from a prison he could at least get around in and out under the sun to a real prison he wouldn't be able to leave.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō woke up and then was very annoyed. He hadn't chosen to go to sleep. He looked around the room he was in and blinked, very confused. It was as if the excitement from before he'd been put to sleep hadn't even happened. His room had Purrcy-cat curled up in her box in the corner and was dim as if it was evening or early morning. He looked around very carefully, then narrowed his eyes. He walked to the window. The curtain was closed and when he put his hand up to open it, his hand passed through it. He carefully continued to move his hand through until it touched something solid. What he was touching very much felt cool and hard like solid bulkhead or smooth concrete. He ran his hand along it a bit, then pulled his hand back.

Opening the front door revealed a bathroom, as standard as they came on Theldesia. He wasn't getting out unless he felt along every wall to find where the real door was. He'd do that in a bit. He went back to the bed and felt the surface. No felinoid-Purrcy. He went to Purrcy-cat and read her stats. It looked like the Eagles had managed to get the combined-anima Purrcy to go to cat form. That would be alright. Going into the code realm, he looked to see the one bit of information on the room that was most important. He was relieved when he could read the code just enough, though he wouldn't be allowed to modify it. Gareth had set one of the shields to prevent anything from picking up on Purrcy's psyche being in the room. His own as well, not surprisingly. Most anyone looking for Purrcy would look for her shadow if they couldn't find her. That didn't make his self-preservation instincts happy, but it wasn't surprising.

He wondered how he was supposed to know if Purrcy was ready to be let out of the ring if he didn't know how much time had passed, then rolled his eyes at himself. He'd already purified the room and she'd surely come down far enough for that, and could get herself up into the upper layers if not. Very quietly, Tetorō gave the command to let Purrcy out of his earring and put it safely away, seeing her appear in the code realm. "Are you okay? Do you need to go higher?" he asked her.

She shook her head, and her eyes went to her anima. "That's not ready, though. Go give me a good dunking."

"The full wash, or just the head?" he asked.

"Full wash, I guess," she answered, then looked around the room. "Not bad, though they still leave fingerprints, some of them. Why?"

Tetorō considered his answer as he walked over to pick up Purrcy-cat. "Izanami isn't telling you?" he asked, finally seeing the dichotomy.

"No. I'm locked in."

He looked over at her, not showing anything as he walked to the front door. "So, when you're not supposed to know, she'll lock you out?"

"Either one will," she admitted, following him. "But it's locked in not locked out. Just like this - in a box. The original containment box was theirs, after all. I just replicated it once I understood it. Their's are tighter, of course. I might be able to wiggle out of this one, having practice on theirs, but I can't get out of theirs." She watched him scrub Purrcy-cat. "I'd go visit Nyanta during those times if I could to prevent the boredom. He's locked in one, too, more often than not, but he's blind in them, where I can at least see that much."

"They won't let you two be in the same one?" Tetorō stayed unemotional about it as best he could.

"Not really, but then I'm not often in one at the moment since I'm in lessons. When things are really bad for him and I have a moment, or as part of my lessons, I'll go visit him. That helps us both some."

"You can get into his?" Tetorō was a bit surprised.

"Yes, if they're willing. If they're not, I can't." That wasn't surprising.

He was careful with her cat-belly. That was easier to wash than the felinoid belly, though he was still ginger. Softly ikiryō-Purrcy said, "Tetorō, please, will you let me in for a minute. I want to see how far we have to go."

Tetorō paused, then nodded, not looking at her. She slipped into him and he was shunted to the side, like all the other times before, but she let him keep looking and feeling if he wanted. She carefully palpitated the outside of the womb, then left his hand there, feeling for about ten seconds. She slowly left him and he finished his work and moved Purrcy-cat to a towel. "Have you felt any movement from the kittens in the last week or so when you've held this form?" Purrcy asked him when he had Purrcy-cat in his arms again and was leaving the bathroom.

"No, Purrcy," he shook his head sadly.

She sighed sadly, settling down next to him on the bed as he sat cross-legged in the middle of it, placing Purrcy-cat in his lap. "It's not a living set this time." She chewed on her lip for a bit. "I think we may as well have them come sooner than later. We can assist it to happen, and if we don't there may be other complications that become problematic." She went wry. "Not that I'm going to survive it long anyway. ...But I'd like to try a couple of my own experiments after giving birth and before dying."

Tetorō looked at Purrcy soberly. "Have you ever died on Theldesia before?"

She looked back at him, her expression grim. "Once. I wish I could have Nyanta present when I wake up on the altar." She looked away. "He already knows what I'll have been walking."

Tetorō's hand reached for her, then he changed his mind and pet Purrcy-cat instead. That would help her more. After a bit she continued. "I'm going to prepare my experiments. When I'm ready, we'll get it going. There really isn't any reason to postpone it at this point." Tetorō nodded. He'd rather spend less than more time here in this prison room himself. They curled up into a cat-and-human pile on the bed, finding at least comfort in the presence of each other.

-:-:-:-:-

Marielle entered Log Horizon's guild house cheerily. "Good morning! Are you all ready for your monthly inoculation?"

They all looked at her with blank expressions. She looked around the room. "Well, with Tetorō not here to do it for you, I thought I'd fill in for him. When you're all gathered around for breakfast is the best time, I thought. So if you'll all sit tight, I'll be done in a jiffy?"

The rest of the guild turned and looked at Shiroe. He sat back in his chair. "Thank you, Marie. You are so kind to be taking care of us, in remembering the little details." They all sat still while she cast the anti-plague healing spell over the room and each of them. When the sparkles of light faded, Shiroe asked, "What level are you able to cast now for that spell, Marie?"

"Hm? Level one-hundred now. I've been making sure to go out regularly to get up that high since I know it's the minimum baseline."

"Very good," Shiroe praised her. "We do have several Clerics here among the Eagles, but they weren't here during that event to learn that spell. Would you be willing to teach it to them today? That way we can properly see to our guild without having to impose on your schedule. I'd really appreciate it."

She suddenly looked nervous, but everyone gave her friendly, supportive looks and comments until she relaxed and promised. Reed immediately gave the non-verbal order and three Eagles put their breakfast dishes in the kitchen, rose, and collected her up to immediately go out and learn it from her.

When the door was closed, the room got very somber and they gave their attention to Shiroe. "Is anyone in this room level one-hundred or less?" Rudy raised his hand, as did Touya and Minori. No one else did. Shiroe looked at the juniors. "Did you feel a lessening of the pressure?"

The carefully considered the difference. "Perhaps a little," Minori finally said. "I wouldn't say it's resolved all of my feelings of anxiety, but I do feel less irritable."

Touya reconsidered, then nodded. "About that for me, too."

Rudy paused, then said, "Even the first time I didn't ever feel the same as the rest of you. I wondered a bit then, but this time is the same. I don't believe that I'm affected the same as the rest of you are."

Shiroe considered him for a while, then nodded. "This world has a different thing for you to do. Your path is protected. I suppose you could be grateful."

Rudy swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"No. It's okay," he was reassured. "We're sure you don't want to have to live through this."

"I'm sure I'll use it to good effect," Shiroe said, already distracted. Rudy swallowed again, not sure that he liked that either.

No one moved - since Shiroe didn't - until the three Eagles walked back into the house. "Lowest level first, please. We're experimenting," Shiroe ordered mildly.

Charlie cast. "Level one-hundred-three."

Shiroe looked around the room. He raised his hand. "I would say it's done about the same. Lessened the irritation, given me a bit of breathing room. Next level up."

QA cast. "Level one-hundred-five."

The rest of the main guild raised their hands and about a third of the Eagles. They all agreed with the same assessment. "Anyone of lesser levels want to change their assessment now?" Shiroe asked.

The twins considered it closely. "I'd say I'm feeling a little happier now," Minori finally said, and Touya nodded.

"Go ahead," Shiroe looked at Secretary.

"Level one-hundred-eight. Just reached it on the way back from China," he stated and cast the spell.

"Anyone over that?" Shiroe asked. "And?" Those who hadn't been affected by the others also agreed to feeling less irritable. "And I'm feeling better generally," he said. "It's a five step increase to reach that much, where an equal amount has some small effect. Because of that, it's not a Plague in the truest sense, but because it's related to it, it has a positive effect on it. We'll continue to monitor and see how frequently it's required to keep us going. I'm going to assume we're still the worst affected so that the effect is more beneficial for everyone else for now. Please watch for complaints from everyone else, and continue to ask people who look affected to go get a booster shot, so to speak. That much should be enough so that when the winter special ends and things aren't better, we can let everyone else blame it on the plague. They'll recognize the symptoms on their own."

-:-:-:-:-

Ains was rather agitated at that month's Round Table meeting. They all let him go first. It was usually best to let him get things off his chest so work could get done - if he didn't derail it completely from the start. "Is anyone else getting symptoms of that Plague from last spring in their guilds?" He cast a dark glare at Shiroe.

"Have you been inoculating?" Marielle asked, concerned.

"Yes, of course. We had one person particularly irritable and when the monthly inoculation was cast, they immediately calmed down."

Roderick frowned. "What level was that person and what level was the caster?"

"The person was level ninety and the caster was level one-hundred-one. I've carefully tasked my best Cleric to continue to keep his levels going up just in case we should get another outbreak," he said it proudly.

"It was just the one?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes, but it's still very concerning to think it might be coming back," Ains insisted.

The others around the table nodded and all agreed that a city-wide inoculation would be a good idea, perhaps to be repeated just before leaving for Minami, and then again when they all returned from the Winter Festival, since they didn't want to infect Minami, and they didn't want to catch it while out of Akiba and bring it back in with them.

"What's the current maximum Adventurer level you've all seen in your guilds and on the streets?" Shiroe asked. "It might be good to have an upper bound understood ahead of time." More than one guild master was a bit frightened when it came out that Adventurers were now reaching level one-hundred-five.

Isaac sighed. "Well, what do you expect when a full legion of us had to go over to China and clear their Maze of Eternity? It was like fighting through three of our own Maze of Eternity. Even though we get less experience for the Overwritten, there were so many it was impossible to not move up, even in the hundreds." There was sad allowance for that. "Not to mention all the sea monsters that weren't low level either and ganged up on us, particularly on the way out," he grumbled further. Shoulders slumped in defeat.

It was agreed that at least one Cleric, and two if they had them, from each guild would be sent out to get their levels up to at least one-hundred-five in order to handle any epidemic that might occur and the meeting was able to turn to the mundane business at hand, including the transport of people and products to Minami for the winter festival.


	132. Adventurer Grief

Isuzu stood up in the covered wagon behind the driver's bench, one hand clutching the supporting arch to keep herself stabilized. She was excited to see the walls of Akiba in front of her. Yomi-kun wiggled next to her, his tail moving his body pressed against her leg. She smiled down into his face, which was smiling up at her, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth. He'd picked up on her excitement, though as a dog he had no understanding of why she was excited. She put her free hand on top of his head and looked back up at the city. She'd only been gone about a month, which wasn't a lot in the scheme of things, but what was ahead was what excited her most: seeing her family and friends again, the wedding of Naotsugu and Marielle, then later the winter festival.

She was looking forward to her debut concert at Grandpa's Kitchen, and was most definitely planning on having one on stage in Minami. She couldn't let an opportunity like that pass her by. Surprisingly, she'd really enjoyed being the artist and manager all at the same time. She only had to perform to her own standards and capabilities, not to someone else's opinions of both.

Just like when she and her friends had been out before, generally the People of the Land were happy to hear her play, and enjoyed listening to her. She'd been able to get many of them to talk to her, even when it was serious topics. As long as they knew she was serious about listening to them with sober respect, they responded in kind. On occasion there had been the grumpy or the sour, but since their neighbors knew them, or they'd been silent strangers, she hadn't had too many troubles.

She'd rather planned it that way, though. She'd wanted to start slow, in areas that were already friendly so that she could learn her pattern without additional worries. Once she'd performed in front of the two larger groups (the Adventurer cities) then she would probably have the performance part of it down and she could move on to the areas of Eastal that would begin to take more careful consideration, though she planned on doing that in stages as well. Plus she still had to learn just how long it took to travel to where she'd like to go. It would be good to get in a six month, or perhaps year rotation, so that places who had seen her could see her again. That's what a Bard was, after all. Someone who carried the gossip and news around from place to place and taught as they went. They were welcomed not just for the one time, but were hoped for again in the future. More people would trust her that way, too.

Riding into Akiba, standing in the moving wagon, felt a lot like triumphant movement along the path she wanted to walk. That also fed her excitement. She was coming home as part of that movement and would continue on. When they were close enough to see the gate and the gate guards (who were usually just Adventurers who felt like hanging out at the gate to see who might be coming or going to pass the time), a shock of curly blond hair separated out and moved into the gate entryway. Isuzu raised her hand over her head and waved at Rudy, glad he was coming to greet her. While he didn't wave in quite the same way, she knew he was glad to see her as well. "Time for you to rest now," Isuzu said to Yomi-kun, smiling back down at him. With a single word spell, he sparkled, then disappeared.

"The dog's a spell?" the merchant driving the wagon asked in surprise.

"Yes. A gift to me from my guild mother to see I'm protected while I'm out, though I'm more glad for the company."

She got a kind smile. "Yes, they are good for companionship, aren't they? He did seem rather well behaved."

Isuzu laughed a little. "He gets into some mischief every now and then, but for a dog, yes, Yomi-kun is very obedient."

"I take it that young lad is here to greet you?" the merchant tipped a head at Rudy.

"Yup. He's very obedient, too, and gets into less mischief." The merchant gave her an odd look, but she just smiled. "You know, boys of the guilds can get into a lot of that."

That got a smile. "Yes, the boys will do that when comfortable at home." He slowed the wagon until the horses stopped near Rudy.

Rudy walked over and looked up at the merchant. "If you'll let me ride with you to where you're going, we can help you unload." He looked up at Isuzu, "That is, if you're up for that before we head to the guild hall."

Isuzu gave a nod. "I'd be okay with that. I do appreciate the ride and the least we can do is help unload."

"Thank you very much," the merchant said, and allowed Rudy to climb up onto the seat next to him, then got the wagon going again.

The two helped him navigate the city streets until he was where he'd been told to take his products (the back side of Marine Organization's warehouse). In short order more Adventurers than them had the products unloaded and he'd been paid. "If you need a place to stay, there are several inns. I'll be playing in the next night or two at Grandpa's Kitchen, if you want to come," Isuzu told him as they prepared to part. "Thank you so much for the ride."

"Thank you. I'd like to have the opportunity to look around a bit, I think." They gave him directions to an inn they felt he would like, that wasn't so far he'd get lost, then took themselves off for home.

"It's good to see you, Miss Isuzu," Rudy said with a smile.

"It's good to see you, too, Rudy, and to be home." Isuzu said. He didn't look too unhappy or stressed out, so she relaxed a bit more.

"Did your time out go well?" he asked.

"It did. I met a lot of nice people and had some very good discussions - like what we've had around the tables in the People of the Land inns here in town. I was almost surprised the first couple of times that they were willing to face me as seriously as they face you here." She looked at him to study him.

"That's marvelous, Miss Isuzu. But then, you are very kind and approachable. I'm sure they could sense that you were someone who would respect their words," Rudy praised her. She knew they were honest words from his perspective.

"I think, that if you were to travel your own lands someday with the same sort of face you show to the people you care for here, they would also face you the same way, Rudy," she said seriously. "You're learning good things here that will help you in your future, the same as I have been."

He blinked at her, then blushed slightly. "Thank you, Miss Isuzu. I do hope I'm able to serve well when it's time to. I'm grateful to have these opportunities now to learn." He looked away, then confided, "I've actually begun just a little, though I admit to feeling a bit like a traitor to my family, even though Lady Purrcy gave the oracle."

Isuzu gave him her sympathetic attention. "I'm sure anything you can do now to help will help your family, and will be appreciated by the people."

He sighed a bit dramatically, but nodded. "When Guildmaster Shiroe decided to clean up the zones recently, by sorting through which zones were necessary as harvest locations and which could be properly cleaned up, I couldn't help but think that we could use such a thing in Ninetails Dominion." He ran his hand through his hair, flipping his bangs out of his eyes. "We have so many monsters and demihumans there that it's hard to live. But her oracle gave me hope, that we could walk without fear. It occurred to me that this would be the very essential thing to begin that." His hand flung out. It was only part of his way, and was something she barely paid attention to any more.

"I contacted Mister Brody and asked if he would also do something similar for the People of the Land there. He's agreed to put together a map of the zones of Ninetails Dominion with notations of where the best and required harvest areas are. When he has it done, he'll forward it to me. Guildmaster Shiroe and I will go over it so I can understand why he's chosen those zones. Then I'll contact Lady Purrcy and ask her for the same information she's giving to Guildmaster Shiroe - that is, where the places are we should allow the nests and villages of the monsters to remain so that those necessary items can remain available to harvest. That way we might be able to decrease the threat of monsters responsibly."

Isuzu was staring at Rudy. "I think that's most awesome, Rudy. For you to be able to face the thought of leaving even some alive for a good purpose means you've come a long way, I think." He blushed at her praise. "Back home, we called it sustainable harvesting - for plants. For animals and creatures it was some kind of management, but it was the same concept. Not letting it get out of hand, but not killing to extinction - finding the wiser balance between the two. I suspect it will still be hard for you, but I think with practice you'll see that wisdom for yourself and then it will be easier."

She could tell Rudy was trying to think about it very hard. It was hard for the Codes to overcome their natural tendency to want to kill all monsters since there were so many that were so difficult in that region. They had to consider the lives of the People of the Land of the region they were responsible to. "I hope the Adventurers there are able to help you reach that goal as well."

Rudy gave a nod. "I'm still trying to come up with how to pay for making the quest requests."

"Well, you're letting them take what treasures they do get, right?"

Rudy looked away a bit. "Will they want the treasures of the zones that don't have the better drops?" he asked.

"Probably," she shrugged. "We know that we can use or sell them anyway, even if it's not a high profit."

"Also...," he was surprisingly hesitant, "I've been given advice that if I'm going to do that, I should request a percentage or offer a percentage of what's gained, so that the coffers of the region can be filled enough to take care of what needs to be taken care of in the governance of the region. Would that be acceptable, if the returns are so low?"

Isuzu rubbed her head, making her curly hair fluff and stand out a little. "I almost want to ask who you heard that from, though it shouldn't make a difference ...except if Mister Shiroe, Lady Purrcy, or Miss Henrietta said it, then it shouldn't be questioned, in my opinion."

"You place a lot of trust in them," Rudy smiled at her.

"Yes, so it's a rather cheating way to go about it," she admitted with a wry grin.

"Well, truthfully," Rudy said, ducking his head a little, "it's what came out of a class discussion from Lady Purrcy's economics class based on the lessons we'd had."

"The students suggested it?" Isuzu asked surprised.

"After discussion, yes," Rudy said.

"Well, then that's easy," Isuzu said, "you take it back to the teacher and present it as an example to go over in class so that everyone can understand. It's even likely they'll give it back to all of you to finish figuring out, but they'll give you more information around it to understand better how to think about it." She paused, thinking. "In such cases, sometimes the specific circumstances make the determining factors. If those zones are such poor zones that no one will go anyway, then you'd have to pay, not just offer the drops to take home. Or maybe you could ask they bring you back the drops because you can sell those for a profit, but you pay them because they can't. Things like that could be done, and detailed discussions can be part of that."

While Rudy mulled over that, so did Isuzu. After a bit she said, "You know, I'd bet that at least Mister Brody, but also the rest of the Nakasu Ambassadors, would be willing to work with you as a group to help you see what they've learned in the details of the area. I don't know if your dad would talk to you, but maybe you could talk to the minister of finance or of marketing, or whatever other ministers he has, and they might be able to help you see those details as well. If you were showing now that you cared about them and their lives, enough to be learning from even this distance, then I think that could also only help you." His brow was furrowed with concern. "I'm not saying that you should appear to take over. I don't think that would go over well. But if you contacted them and told them you were in a class, and perhaps that you'd been given a project and you were hoping to use your home as your example so you could learn, they might be willing to help from that perspective - as teachers and advisors rather than your own ministers - since they're still your dad's after all."

"That has merit," Rudy agreed. "And...I think it would make me less nervous than just showing up and expecting to be able to do everything. I think right now, they'd all do like my brothers and turn their backs to me."

"Probably," Isuzu said dryly, her eyes narrowed a bit. "It's hard to win any noble's trust, though I suspect the common folk would be fine as long as you were the one to help cut down on the monsters."

"Thank you for helping me yet again, Miss Isuzu." He smiled at her. "It really is good to have you back."

"Thanks, Rudy. I'm glad to be of help, though you could have called me on that one any time." She gave him a scolding look, though she was just teasing.

"How could I have interrupted the soul-searching and fun of the great Miss Isuzu, musician extraordinaire?" His gesture of depreciation was wild, but she smiled. He was teasing just as much as she had.

-:-:-:-:-

Because they'd known Isuzu was coming home, and because the Eagles were back in town, Minori and Touya had asked the Eagle chefs to take their place at Grandpa's Kitchen so they could greet her. Minori had been airing out Isuzu's room and they'd been cleaning it of the dust so it would be welcoming for her. Rudy had let them know as soon as he'd seen her approaching the city, so they were done just in time for the other two to walk in the door. They greeted Isuzu warmly and let her get settled, though it wasn't like she was carrying anything in her hands that needed to be put down. She did stop by her room to put her bed and a few other things back in their places.

As they gathered around the table in the common room, the conversation and chatter was happy. They were a little embarrassed when it was enough to pull Shiroe out of his office, but he came with a smile to greet Isuzu and welcome her home warmly. He didn't give her a hug because of the plague, but he did tease her by asking if she'd gotten in her long bath yet. They laughed at that when she had to admit she hadn't, and promised to before dinner, though none of them minded, really. It wasn't like Adventurers _had_ to bathe. They just liked to.

When it looked like Shiroe was about to return to his office and his work, Isuzu stopped him briefly. "You said back a bit ago that Hamelin is back." She stood a little uncertain then firmed up. "How is that going?" She looked directly into Shiroe's eyes.

Shiroe looked back at her with the same respect. "They're out, right now. The short while they were here and getting used to things they did okay, though it was certainly a time of eggshells for everyone. We'll see how it goes when they come back. So far they seem to be behaving." He paused, then added, "I know it's of greatest difficulty for those of you who had to live through that time. Please don't feel like you have to talk to them. It isn't necessary. But I'd also like it if you didn't feel like you had to continue to be afraid of them. If there's anything I can do to help you, please don't hesitate to ask." His look took in Minori and Touya as well. They gave sober nods and he returned to his office when they didn't ask for more.

Minori took a breath. "It's not been easy here or at Crescent Moon League, but we're far enough from town we don't see them much. Though they've been invited to attend classes at the Academy, they aren't comfortable enough yet to do that. They dislike Shiroe-sensei so much that the first thing they did was ask where our guild hall was - then hunt for one of their own on the opposite side of town."

"They really do seem to want to live peaceably," Rudy said a little cautiously, not having been one of those imprisoned by Hamelin. "From the outside perspective, it feels a lot like the early part of the catastrophe, when the People of the Land and the Adventurers were trying to understand how to live the new pattern. Everyone's just a little frightened - even Hamelin - and everyone's wanting it to end up peaceful, but no one's quite sure how to step yet."

Touya nodded. "The rules already in place help this time, but they aren't highly restrictive so it's a learning process. It is hard and it makes my skin crawl, but Minori and I have decided that if any of them want to come eat at Grandpa's Kitchen, there's no call to refuse them unless they do something we'd refuse anyone service for."

"It helps to have the Eagles in the building with us again, though," Minori said with a little shudder. "Knowing I can call on help if they should get ugly makes me less afraid."

"Well...," Isuzu said slowly, "I would think anyone in Akiba would come to our aid in such a case."

The others agreed. "As long as we're not caught alone in a dark ally," Touya quipped.

They gave nervous smiles of agreement to that one. "That's true anyway," Rudy said with a gesture that Isuzu recognized immediately, though she hadn't seen it in a long time.

"Are you having troubles without someone to properly watch your back?" she asked him, worried. Rudy didn't quite meet her eyes. "Rudy!" she scolded. "You have to call on everyone."

He held up his hand in defense. "I am. I am. It's just...it's been more frequently than I'd expected."

Isuzu turned on Minori and Touya. "You can't just let that happen while I'm gone. I'll worry too much."

They gave her apologetic looks. "We're sorry, Isuzu. The Eagles only got back just this morning and we've been heads down busy at the restaurant for three weeks without them." They turned to Rudy and apologized to him as well.

"Who are you calling on, then?" Isuzu asked Rudy, unsure.

"West Wind Brigade first," Rudy said promptly. That was good, since they were the proper people to call if there was trouble. "If there isn't anyone close, I call Sir Isaac and he sends someone from Knights of the Black Sword that's close by. He's asked me to keep him in that position since Naotsugu's asked him to take the place of Tetorō for now. It works a little different, but it works."

Isuzu frowned. "Still. ...I think I'll follow you tomorrow from a distance to see if I can understand what's happening. The guild as a whole should be able to support you better. We aren't going to have the Eagles forever. If we've discovered this hole this time, we need to fill it so it isn't there next time."

Minori leaned forward, eager to do her part. "Why don't you tell us some of the situations you found yourself in and we'll see if we can do some battle planning now, before you're back in them again. Even if you're going solo, it still helps to have others for that part. The more-heads principle."

Isuzu nodded emphatic agreement. Rudy took a breath and she glared at him. He chose to not flippantly say he was an Adventurer and could handle it, but to submissively begin answering their demand. They sat at the table in battle discussions for nearly an hour before giving up and heading out to relax in town so Isuzu could stock back up on supplies and they could pick up some ingredients for a special desert to go with dinner. They didn't want to spend all of their first day together worried. It was a day to be happy to be together again.

Besides, Naotsugu showed up and became a bother, and when Isaac showed up shortly after, it got loud between the two of them. The common room almost wasn't big enough for the both of them, even though they got along well enough. Isuzu did get to greet him and Nyanta, though, before leaving, and Akatsuki stopped by to also say hello on her way through to her duty at Shiroe's side. Then it felt complete enough they could leave the house again.

-:-:-:-:-

Everyone settled in Shiroe's office at seven-thirty that evening after dinner. It was a larger group than they'd been having, now that Isuzu was back and so were Michael and the Eagles. Just the Eagles alone almost doubled the group since it wasn't just Michael who came now. Reed, Charlie, and Secretary were there for Shiroe. Gareth silently followed Michael in, but that couldn't be faulted both for that pairing and because Shiroe's evening conversations were actually broadcast at the end of these meetings and Gareth would need to know how Tetorō was doing. Nyanta came to the meetings as well - for now and as long as he stayed polite - so Brenner was there also. With Crusty present as well, they very much overflowed the chairs now. The lower ranked Eagles stood the wall at rest and that helped some as far as seating.

There was the usual standard update. Shiroe gave the summary of the monthly Round Table meeting. Those who had been out gathering information passed it along. Isuzu made sure the protection of Rudy came up as a line item, though she admitted she was going to go along for investigative purposes the next day and they'd discuss it and bring back to a later meeting concrete things that could be done. Isuzu then gave the final wrap-up summary of her trip out and a date was set for her concert at Grandpa's Kitchen. Michael gave the summary report of the Eagle's trip to Ninetails Dominion. Shiroe took as an action item to contact the other Adventurer city's heads about the possibility of pirates showing up and to toss them right back out.

When they were done, the room got silent and all eyes turned to Shiroe. His eyes got the far away look of a chat. "Tetorō. How are things tonight?"

There was quiet for a long time, but the visual from the spell came up. Tetorō was in his bed, and it looked like he was sleeping. "Tetorō?" Shiroe called him again.

It took a bit, but Tetorō did manage to wake up. "Is it that time?" he asked, blinking and trying to get to awake.

"It is," Shiroe said kindly, "I'm sorry to wake you."

"No," Tetorō said. "It's fine. You want to hear it." Everyone got a little more interested. Tetorō rubbed his eyes, then his head to get the blood flowing. "The kittens were born, stillborn. Three of them. She said to leave the birthing until later wouldn't be good since she might not have the strength to push them out and bad things from that would make her die all the faster. She just about didn't make it as it was." His face went sour. Their eyes could just make out Purrcy, as cat, sleeping in her box in the corner of the room, rather than in his bed with him, though he usually gave his reports that way.

"Purrcy'd fetched Indicus back before beginning, since she decided she may as well. She wasn't able to put Indicus' psyche into any of them. So being able to give birth to hosts we can come back to isn't going to work. They have to be joined earlier in gestation. That's a bit concerning just from the perspective of children might not be able to resurrect. Likely they'll be more like real Adventurers of the Land, that die when they die, though that should take longer than for People of the Land. At least that's her conjecture."

"Where's Indicus now?" Shiroe asked.

Tetorō shook his head. "Izanami took her when we discovered it wouldn't work. She'll probably wait until the right time and use her as one of the test subjects this next round, is my guess, just to see if an already formed Adventurer psyche can be matched to a fetus and when. I figure that's not all bad, since we're not ready to have her back with us just yet." Shiroe wasn't too comfortable with that, but he couldn't be surprised, nor argue, really. They'd already judged Indicus as outcast.

Tetorō yawned. "Purrcy's going to need at least two days of recovery, or one good solid day of sleeping. I think Izanami will leave her alone now. I've told her I'm not willing to travel until she's healed up just enough, and got a promise that they won't just kill her off now, since it would be so much more convenient for us to get into Akiba first. ...She'd really like Nyanta to be there when she wakes up." He glared sort of at the screen, though they knew he couldn't see them.

Shiroe glared at Nyanta for him until he got a flick of an ear and tail that said Izanagi had already given his permission this time. Shiroe let up on the glare and looked a question instead. Nyanta gave a solemn nod. Shiroe turned back to the video conference screen. "I think we can do that," he answered Tetorō. Tetorō gave a relieved nod.

Michael sent a text note to Shiroe and Shiroe gave a nod. "We'll send Michael on the Oki Watarimono to pick you up. Can you get to the coast easy enough?"

Tetorō sighed. "Yes, and if my feet start to hurt he can walk us back to it one at a time."

Michael gave a nod. "Okay," agreed Shiroe. "I'll talk to him about it. Let me know when you think she's up for the travel and we'll schedule the exact timing then. We'll also get going on the official wedding announcement to the city." He paused as they looked at Tetorō. It looked like he was falling asleep again. "Isuzu made it back just fine and looks a lot happier. Touya and Minori are glad to have their assistant chefs back. It will be nice to have the two of you back as well, when you get here." Shiroe smiled at Tetorō. "I'll let you go back to sleep now. That's really all the news from this end. Thanks for your hard work today."

Tetorō gave a final sleepy nod, then gave up and fell back to sleep. Shiroe closed the connection and turned back to the room. "Naotsugu, tell Marielle the date is this Saturday. That should give Purrcy plenty of time to be healed up from the birthing before they come home. We'll help with announcing it and set up, like we've already promised, starting tomorrow."

"You got it," Naotsugu answered soberly.

"Michael, you've got a line to Purrcy, or some way to keep track of her?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow at him. Michael gave a short nod. "Then watch her. If she Cathedral's early she'll end up in Nakasu. Let Nyanta know immediately so he can get her back here right away. The shorter the gap between resurrection and her arrival here, the better."

"Yessir," Michael said.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning, in the bathroom after waking, Nyanta washed his hands and rinsed out his mouth in the sink. As he turned away from it he clapped his hands twice, bowed, and clapped again. His forward motion was stopped, to his relief. "Inari-no-Izanagi, from this time until Purrcy returns to the shrine, please allow me to be myself, purresent here in Akiba with my family and guild, in accord with the agreement mew made with Shiroe-ichi." He bowed again and waited.

The pressure that was Izanagi built up in him and in the room until he was looking at himself hovering in the air in front of him. The expression - what little existed - was cold and just shy of disapproving. He was pressed upon with the same pressure that had walked him into the shower so many times before now, though his feet remained still this time. It was the warning and the message that he was not in control in any situation. He didn't fight against it, only waited for Izanagi to respond, which it did when it was good and ready to. "If you delay in your requirement I will return immediately."

Nyanta bowed slightly. "At the first socially acceptable time after Purrcy returns to the Cathedral, I will comply." Izanagi and the pressure remained until it was satisfied he would be obedient. Both Izanagi and the pressure left as quickly as usual and Nyanta slumped to the floor. He closed his eyes and gave in, though it wasn't difficult. He'd been preparing for this time for a while. "Brenner-nyan. Please come to the first floor bathroom immediately."

"Nyanta-san?" Brenner confirmed in surprise.

"Yes." It came out tired - but then, he was.

"I'll be right there." Nyanta had to wait, but he wasn't going anywhere, so he did so patiently. The bathroom door opened and Brenner took in the situation quickly. He closed the door behind him and crouched down next to Nyanta, calling up Spirit Heal and casting it quickly. Brenner searched his face, trying to determine just who he was this time. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Nyanta sighed and held out a hand to be helped to his feet. "I petitioned for freedom for the next short while and was punished for asking."

Brenner helped him up. "You got it, though? Furlough?"

Nyanta nodded. "Let's go to my room. We need to talk while I can." When they entered the room, Brenner paused briefly in surprise, looking around as he closed the door behind them. Nyanta walked on over to the window, drew the curtain and opened it to let the fresh air into the room.

"What were those?" Brenner asked.

"Guardians for the High Purriest," Nyanta answered shortly. His ear twitched. "Izanagi as the High Purriest is nyot a pleasant purrson," Nyanta agreed with Brenner's silent assessment. He had his own protections gifted by Purrcy that helped at this kind of time, though, and they'd already done their work. "He surpurrised me, the first time he locked me down. He'd slipped in through the cracks and I'd not noticed." He looked Brenner in the eye. "That was the breakfast at Minami when everyone made it as plain as they could things weren't right. He locked me down then, though he understood well enough he needed to grant the slight concession to allow Purrcy to handle the visit with Iselius-kun. I was surrprised to be released at Nakasu. That is, until I learned what we all learned then."

Brenner gave an understanding grimace at that. "Has it been in control pretty much since then?" They sat cross-legged on the floor.

"I'm allowed to observe most of the time, and when it doesn't matter, it's me that answers. I haven't stayed out of the kitchen - Izanagi has. The High Purriest has no use for the menial tasks of the servant." He was being sarcastic, because he of course delighted in cooking.

"Ah. That makes more sense," Brenner looked enlightened. "So the High Priest does have a personality of his own, then?"

"Very much so," Nyanta let his tone of voice say his disapproval. "Quite evil from our purrspective, actually, though to Izanagi it is logical expediency."

"A rather distasteful mix, that," Brenner agreed.

Nyanta rubbed his head. "...When I'm locked away, it is in darkness, alone. Mew already understand that for us of Earth, what we need the most is companionship. Those are very difficult times." Brenner nodded sympathetically. "I'm most often locked away when my own anger becomes more than I can contain and Izanagi doesn't wish to deal with it."

"And Mister Shiroe has said that's going to be what's pushed the most in the coming months," Brenner said dryly.

"Indeed. Purrcy has been able to come and visit for short times then, and she is in agreement." Brenner's eyes went a little wide in surprise. "However, she also expects to be locked away more frequently in the same time period as her own anger threatens to overwhelm her as well. She has suggested that I ask mew to place on me the same tracer that Tetorō put on her. That is, on my psyche. Then mew will be able to come find me in that place and be my companion, the same as Tetorō is for her. Will mew do this, so that I can survive with my mind intact?"

Brenner thought about that. "I'd need to have Tetorō show me, I think, but he'll be coming with her. If it's a pseudocode spell, I can do it easily."

"It is. He cast it at the beginning as one of his first spells."

"Will it stick? Nothing else does, you know."

Nyanta shrugged. "Purrcy suggested it."

"Well...can't get any better an answer than that and trying, I guess," Brenner smiled a little.

Nyanta shifted to get a little more comfortable. "I need to talk to mew in confidence as my councilor so that I can be purrepared for what's coming. Until breakfast, but likely rather a lot for a bit as I only have a few days of furlough, as you say. Any healing we can do now will help me, I'm sure." Brenner soberly agreed and they began.

-:-:-:-:-

Gareth, having been thrown out of Nyanta's room at the request for confidentiality, soberly walked over to Michael's room and knocked on his door. Michael opened the door and looked at him in a bit of surprised curiosity. "I need to make a report, Sir." Michael let him in and closed the door.

Gareth stood at relaxed attention, his hands clasped behind his back. When Michael gave his consent for the report to begin, Gareth said, "Nyanta called for Brenner first thing this morning. Brenner asked me to follow along as surveillance. Nyanta took the opportunity right after the first purification to ask Izanagi to let him have furlough from now likely until Purrcy leaves, as he says it's short. He'd been dropped again as punishment for asking for it, but he was still granted it. Brenner healed him and Nyanta invited him to his room to talk."

Gareth gave a slight shudder. "I've been staying out of the room on orders, but also because it isn't pleasant. As soon as they walked in even Brenner noticed it. The High Priest has four Revenant Hōsōshi he keeps in the room as his attendants."* He swallowed and blinked, trying to not see it again. Their four eyes and fangs were bad enough, though of the yokai and spirits of _Elder Tales_ they were some of the more pleasant to run into visually as they were humanoid and wore imperial court minister clothing. Many yokai were quite ugly, and often naked or barely clothed. These were powerful and that made an additional impact. The two in the High Priestess' room were Revenant Priestesses of a similar ranking and form, just female. Michael nodded, comprehending. "Nyanta did something, though. As soon as they were in the room, the Revenant Hōsōshi fled from it and left them alone."

Michael was extremely interested in that bit of information. "It was Nyanta alone?"

"Yes. Izanagi had left him by then. He says that he's been passenger - when not so angry he's locked down - for the most part since we got back. The High Priest won't stoop to mean kitchen work, or I suspect Nyanta would be in the kitchen more frequently. He's also asked, on Purrcy's suggestion, that Brenner learn Tetorō's tracer spell so he can keep Nyanta company when he's on lockdown."

"That's going to work?" Michael asked Brenner's question.

"He said she said to do it. It's connected to the psyche specifically, so maybe that makes a difference?" It was all Gareth had been able to figure out.

"So...they're making Nyanta be an ikiryō, too - at least when they don't want to deal with him?" Michael asked, trying to figure it out.

"It seems that way," Gareth agreed.

Michael rubbed his chin. "I think next time he gets locked up, you should go hunting and see where he is, if you can. Have you found out where she gets sent to?"

Gareth shook his head. "I can't get to her when she's in the shrine, and I couldn't spirit realm walk until we were there. Right now she's with Tetorō where she's supposed to be."

"When she's here, see if you can find out, though they should leave her alone, too...we can hope anyway. It'd be nice to have a vacation from the two of them, though Izanami's just as likely going to want to play while she can." Michael gave a look of distaste.

Gareth shook his head. "I'm not sure how she's doing it, but Izanami's holding down the fort at the shrine." His brow furrowed. "I'm not even sure why. You remember yesterday's report - Purrcy's being locked down? I went and looked and some form of her is back at the shrine still, holding the AI."

"Then why did Kaede come after us?" Michael asked.

"Remember, I sent her back and told her to forget what had happened. I stopped in to check on Kaede after I saw the form on the bed and she said that they were just as glad Tetorō had left with the cat. I let her know we'd be sending him back with the resurrected High Priestess. She wasn't thrilled, but she also couldn't complain, knowing it was coming from before." That was one nice thing about being able to code realm walk and spirit realm walk - he could talk to Priestess Kaede. That assumed one found talking to her pleasant.

Michael looked at Gareth sharply. "Is it a form of the spell we used on the Ocypete to trick the pirates?"

"It might be," Gareth considered it, running back in his history. "And Izanami is staying there in presence and pressure just enough to make them all think it's still her." He nodded. "It looks like that. Izanami will probably let the illusion go when Purrcy really does die." He was confused for a moment. "Would it be Purrcy who's done it, from watching us do it?"

Michael shrugged. "She was asleep the whole time we were collecting her, then locked up. It's more likely Izanami."

"You didn't do it?" Gareth asked

"I didn't think it would work. Since she's used it this time, if we need it next time, I'll go ahead and do it." Gareth straightened up, his report finished. "Thank you, Airman. Dismissed."

Gareth saluted and left the room to stand on the door. He had nothing better to do until breakfast, except see if he could tell if there were traces left from when Purrcy had hidden in this place before when she'd been kicked out of her anima. When Michael asked him for the clip of that morning until he'd been thrown out, he passed it over. He'd already figured Michael would want it. That's why he'd given the report. Getting rid of the spirits in the rooms would make Michael's job of filching the High Priestess easier. He also wasn't surprised when Michael went walking to study the spell of just what was on the High Priestess' bed. Kaede could see through just about anything.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe looked up from his morning routine and blinked. He'd felt it. He'd felt Izanagi leave the guild hall. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, feeling his shoulders relax and the lifting of the burden of pressure that leaving left behind. Somehow, he sort of knew when Izanagi was present, but it wasn't something he noticed. It was always the leaving, the sense of no-pressure, he recognized. Likely Izanagi did that on purpose, slid into place slowly as to not alert them. That seemed to be the way it worked anyway.

Shiroe's first instinct was to call for Akatsuki, but he stopped. This was the wrong time of day for that and was a hidden trap Izanagi liked to leave behind. He'd learned that the first time. Just because the physical presence of the AI was lessened that didn't mean its influence wasn't still hanging around. Shiroe went back to what he'd been doing and finished getting ready for his day.

Something was pushing on him, though. As if a dog wanting attention, but from a distance. When Shiroe was ready, he sighed and paid attention to it, just a little. "I'm not ready for you. Just observe for now. You need to see what we do when we aren't lost to the anger and madness. Continue to learn and observe, and stay outside." He knew he wasn't going to be able to keep the junior kami outside when the city began to become truly angry, but now while they weren't he didn't want to have that one come visit. Not when they wanted to find peace and joy in the wedding of the city (they hoped to never be there for a century).

He'd known when Michael and the Eagles had taken down the pirates. The junior kami had come sniffing more closely than ever before and he'd sat and firmly kept it off the island. It had been just a little disappointed, if such could be said, that it hadn't been an offering of anger and malice, but of dispassionate expedience, such as Izanagi would have taken as an acceptable offering. When it had "asked" him about it, he'd tried to answer as best he could. He wasn't sure, but he thought it might have gotten the idea. At the very least, it had decided to take the fear and resignation and surprise of the pirates, and the glee of the Eagles released for once - though that wasn't much different from any of them when they finally got to fight a good fight.

Feeling the Eagles through the kami had confirmed for him what he wasn't going to confirm aloud. Somehow, Izanami, Purrcy, fate, whomever, had made it so that the up and coming Hidden Guild had become his own royal guard. He knew they had a flag and a visual identity, but the name they went by was different every time so they didn't have a name. Not officially. Several names had been going around the chats and the internet, though, since people needed to refer to them some way. They weren't always bad, weren't always good. They took the jobs they wanted to take, refused those they didn't, and sometimes it was a complete surprise that they'd been hired until they were handing over the calling card at the end of the job.

That was actually one of their other identifiers. If he were to name them, or they were to name themselves or show their badge, they'd be gone, even if the tasks of the level and dungeon weren't done. Usually they started the game over at that point to stay hidden. Shiroe wasn't sure they could do that this time. If they ever let him or Log Horizon know who they really were, they'd never be able to walk away in the same way. On Earth, Log Horizon would all know. Too much truth had been spilled over the months they'd already walked together. Here, they would also know, no matter where the Eagles went or what they changed their names to. They'd lived with them and knew their "fingerprints" now, to borrow the concept from the coding magic.

Shiroe was of two minds on it. He was grateful. The Hidden Guild was very good at what they did, and always followed through to the letter of what they signed on to do. He was very concerned. He wasn't quite sure just what they'd signed on to. So far, Michael had let him know that Log Horizon's protection was part of it, so he probably shouldn't be concerned about any danger to the guild. Still, it was hard to not worry some, not knowing their ultimate use, their original contract. It might make rather a lot of difference on _who_ that contract had been made with, too. It wasn't him, and some days he suspected it wasn't Purrcy either, though that was the link they'd been made to think it was. He knew they were also contracted to protect Purrcy. That had been said plainly. Anything further than that was still a mystery.

Shiroe sighed and tried to shake loose of that thinking again, trying to find the water he was supposed to be learning as his base. He rested his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands loosely in front of him. Some days he felt old-man-tired. Having Izanagi's pressure off his shoulders made it more apparent since he didn't have to resist it to stay walking. He briefly considered going back to bed, but he'd slept enough and there wasn't much point to it when others expected him to be available this day. Still, it was hard to rise up from the couch. He closed his eyes. "Crusty."

"Yes, Shiroe?"

Shiroe was glad he was calm in the answering of the chat since it was off-schedule. "Izanagi just left. Likely until after the wedding. Purrcy's close to coming home."

Crusty was quiet for a moment, then said, "I'll come."

"...Thanks." Shiroe let the chat end. He let the ebb and flow of his feelings for Purrcy and his past wash over him as he waited resting there, not willing nor even really able to face the present and the future.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu looked around his room. It wasn't going to be his for very much longer. Well...it might since the guild would probably leave it alone and let him continue to use it as he had need, but with the expectations after the wedding, really it wouldn't be. Then Marielle's room would be his room. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. He was very much looking forward to being with Marielle, but it felt strange to think that particular thought. He wasn't too keen on moving into a strange - very feminine - room that doubled as an office (he wasn't like Shiroe or the two ladies of Crescent Moon). He very much liked his simple, uncomplicated, very male room. Sure, Marielle would let him put his things up and it would become a couples room eventually, but...maybe he should go with the concept of a man cave and ask if he could keep this one and use it as that. And maybe that was a cop-out.

He didn't really like thinking thoughts like these, and they made him wish he had Tetorō by his side again. "Hey, Tetorō, are you up, man?" he didn't use the video chat. That wasn't his kind of magic and it wasn't necessary anyway.

"Yeah, and as bored as usual. What's up?"

"Need my best man."

"...Okay. I'm listening." Naotsugu appreciated Tetorō's serious attention.

"Just got back from my work out and the room jumped out and grabbed me." He sighed a bit.

"Gonna miss it? ...Yeah. Her room's still little-girl, isn't it, with all the stuffed animals and frills." Tetorō paused in consideration.

Naotsugu clarified a bit, feeling a little guilty. "I don't want to take over her room, and it feels odd to think about being there instead of here...though I am looking forward to having her in it with me."

"Of course. She's the best teddy bear there is in the room," Tetorō teased. "...You know, I think she'd trust my taste, and I've been to plenty of dress-ups at Water Maple to know hers. If you'll pack up what you'd like to see out in the room and let me take it over there while she's out...say after the wedding but before you guys get there, I could redecorate the room so that it suits the both of you and doesn't look like a glaring clash. You guys could spend time letting that settle, or change things around as you want later. Living in the place will make it look properly lived in, if you get my meaning."

"I'd like that," Naotsugu relaxed. "I just can't see it from here how to make it work, unless I shove all her stuff over to the bedroom side and fill in my stuff on the office side, though I don't think that would really work either." It would also help if his stuff was already in there when they arrived. The completely different arrangement might help both of them transition to the new normal earlier, too.

"I think I'll ask Akatsuki and maybe Nazuna to help me. They have the most male tastes of the lot. Between the three of us we should be able to find a happy middle ground."

"Okay. Just don't go leaving pranks around the room for us."

"What's the fun in that, then? Don't I get something for my effort?" Tetorō asked in mock affront.

Naotsugu sighed an exaggerated sigh. "No really. The usual groomsmen pranks aren't necessary here. I'm quite sure." Actually he wouldn't mind all that much. It would be a reminder of the Tetorō he'd been missing. It was just if he didn't protest Tetorō would likely go overboard.

"That makes me think, Tank. What am I going to wear? Back when we first talked about this I didn't have the male avatar."

"Since you went male clothing on the female avatar on Purrcy's side, do you want to do female clothing on the male avatar on my side this time? You know, keep it all balanced out?" Naotsugu asked mildly in one of his own rare teases. Tetorō swore at him. "No? Well, I guess that's good, then. Marie's already had them work up the male clothes from Shiroe's specifications. We made sure we don't have to do the crowns this time, though he waffled. Only the fact that it's going to be in front of the whole city made him decide to keep them put away."

"That's scary," Tetorō commented.

"Yeah. We had to work hard to get him to relent, actually, though I have no idea what crown he would have worn."

"Probably none," Tetorō said blandly.

"Nooo," Naotsugu said slowly, "I think he had something in mind, by the look on his face."

"That's surprising. I wonder if he's got one from before, like from a different quest. He's got a lot of those kinds of strange treasures."

"True, though I don't know what quest it would have been," Naotsugu agreed. He knew most of the one's Shiroe had been on, including most of the solo quests since they'd chatted a lot over computer as they played, even if they weren't questing together. As he mulled that over, he pulled out a box, emptied it, and started putting things from his room into it he wouldn't need for the next couple of days but he'd want to have available in Marielle's room.

"I'll be going over there after breakfast today to let Marie know the full story. Everyone's excited to have you two back. Over there, they'll be relieved they can finally let everyone know they can pull the trigger on the final activities that have to get done. They've already got the stage set up. They'll start decorating it today, I'd think." He kept talking about the plans and the state of things as he worked, glad to have Tetorō's company, even if only on chat, and equally glad he could help relieve some of Tetorō's boredom.

He ran out of things to report on that front, then said, "Hey...you know...I'm hoping you'll take some time out for me when you get here, and before the wedding."

"Is there a bachelor party planned? I know that's usually my job but that's a bit hard from here."

"I think so, but that's not it. ...I discovered something I didn't know after we got back here." Naotsugu paused and ran an embarrassed hand through his hair, not quite sure how to say it.

Tetorō gave a soft laugh, that sounded a bit self-recriminating, perhaps a little bitter, though not angry. "Left too big a hole, did I? And you didn't expect it?"

Naotsugu sighed. "Yeah."

Tetorō blew out a breath. "Yeah. I can make the time. You might have to put up with tears, though. I've got a lot of healing to do from even just this much."

"I can do that," Naotsugu said gently.

"Just so long as Marie doesn't get jealous thinking I'm the second girlfriend."

Naotsugu chuckled. "Naw. She gets it. It'd be the same for her if Henrietta had an enforced prison stay."

"Well, that's true," Tetorō agreed with a soft sigh. He was silent for a little, then said quietly, "When she dies...would it be okay if I just came straight to you? She's going to be with Nyanta and I'll be needing your strength."

"Yeah," Naotsugu said, quietly. "I'll be here." He was sad for Tetorō's sake. Tetorō was in such a hard position.

"Okay." It was said simply, as if by a child. A child who hurt and who trusted him to make it better.

Naotsugu closed his eyes and waited for his own pain to pass. He'd already become grateful for Isaac and his regular visits that kept him propped up when the sword cuts he received were more painful than he'd ever had to deal with before. Being married to Marielle and able to hold her until he'd healed up enough to sleep was going to be very important. It was not going to be an easy walk in the park this round. Not even for him who needed to stay the apparent calm and steady Tank. The cuts came rarely so far, like now, but they gave him the taste of what was to come.

This sword he protected the guild from had nasty side effects to it that left him with wounds he needed a healer next to him to handle, or he knew he'd go down early, long before the rest of them would want him to. It was the Guardian's job, and he'd continue to do it with all his heart, and he'd call on his healers to stay standing. Two dedicated healers might just be enough, and if it wasn't, he'd call on others until it was done and he was still standing between his guild and the disappearing enemy they were facing now.

-:-:-:-:-

Minori and Touya were head chefs in the kitchen that morning, but it went more smoothly to have the hands of the Eagle chefs helping. Everyone was beginning to gather at the tables. Michael and Gareth arrived together and looked around the room, their eyes not missing anything. They had already been working and had learned things that morning. Naotsugu arrived quietly at the foot of the steps at the same time as Crusty walked in the door off-schedule and headed straight for Shiroe's office, giving the room a general nod on his way through.

That set an air of slightly worried expectation and eyes went back to Naotsugu. He wouldn't meet eyes and sat quietly in his place, his face kind but saying nothing, leaving the room in that state. Crusty and Shiroe entered the room together at the same time as Nyanta and Brenner arrived at the table together.

Intakes of breath were made at the last pairing and eyes were rather glued to Nyanta. He looked first at Shiroe, who moved to stand at his chair. Crusty pulled it out and Shiroe sat. Crusty stayed at the guard position as Shiroe turned to look back at Nyanta. "Welcome home," he said quietly.

Nyanta bowed slightly. "It is good to be home, meow, even as brief as it will be." He sat in his chair, which Brenner had pulled out for him. When he was seated, Brenner took himself to his own place.

That much had been enough to offset the worry with a little excitement. The juniors had all been missing Nyanta quite a lot. They scanned the room one more time, though. Signals had been a bit mixed. Isuzu finally sighed and looked at Minori. She nodded. "Purrcy's about to come, isn't she?" Isuzu asked. Heads nodded all around. The juniors settled, though Rudy sighed, and food got started being passed around.

Naotsugu raised an eyebrow at Rudy. "You seemed to have a day like this before," Rudy said. Carefully, he tried to find his words. "Why is it like a funeral whenever there are somber thoughts about Lady Purrcy?"

There were several blinks and Naotsugu glanced at Shiroe. Shiroe paused, then gave a short nod. Naotsugu gave Rudy a soft smile. "It is going to be one, or perhaps we are waiting for it to be one."

Rudy blinked in surprise. "But...it wasn't last time?"

"When was last time?" Naotsugu asked.

Rudy frowned. "It was that time just before Nyanta-san brought Lady Purrcy down to report on her findings about the plague. When Guildmaster Shiroe came out it felt like the moment the doctor enters the room to announce the head of the house has passed away from illness. This morning has a similar feel. Like the family has gathered to prepare for the funeral. But no one's died...in either case."

The rest were quiet for a moment, thinking of how to answer. Nyanta said, quietly, "That time...was very difficult. Purrhaps like this time is difficult, though they are different cases."

Naotsugu nodded. "This time is easier to explain than last time, but I'll try to give the general sum." He ate a few more bites to get his thoughts together. "There are times where our own mortality, our few weaknesses on Theldesia, are presented to our faces and we can't turn away from them. Even if we aren't the one in the center of it, we feel it the same as we feel anything that affects a guild member. We find those moments sobering. At those times, we seek out the companions who can help us walk through them or we may become paralyzed by them."

He glanced up at Shiroe and Crusty. "Shiroe has done right to call for Crusty so that he can keep walking." He tipped his head at Nyanta. "Nyanta-san has done right to call for the one assigned to help him keep walking. Even I called Tetorō this morning, unable to walk alone my own personal path that is affected by the events we are entering, and I'm needing him next to me, though I'll have to be patient a little longer. He also needs me beside him and has said he'll come to me first."

Naotsugu sighed unhappily and put his fork down and looked at Rudy. "This time, it is a funeral. The son of the deceased will come to me to grieve. The elder son already grieves and the husband will seek his wife, to comfort her from her own death and to receive the same comfort."

Rudy was still confused. "It's Purrcy's first death, Rudy," he said gently. "The rest of us know what she'll go through, but she doesn't. She's worked very hard to not have to face that before now. In recognizing that she will face her greatest weaknesses and mortality, we are also reminded of the same - our own faults, disappointments, difficulties that we left behind when we were brought here. Those who have not died here and walked through the resurrection process can't understand until they, too, walk that path. It is extremely difficult. Especially the first time."

Shiroe's head turned and he reached out a hand. Akatsuki slowly put her hand in his, the pain on her face echoing the pain in Naotsugu's words. She bit her lip and looked down but squeezed his hand tightly.

Naotsugu looked at the other juniors. "Even though Isuzu, Touya, and Minori haven't passed through death and resurrection yet, they understand enough. They also remember their losses from having been brought here suddenly and painfully. To be reminded of those things during that time between reminds us of what we no longer have, even if those specific memories weren't pleasant ones. When we resurrect we remember those times that weren't so terrible; we have been reminded once again of what we no longer have. Like after the death of someone we love and we are reminded by something that they are no longer with us, we are reminded of what we desperately hope to find again - home." Touya reached for Minori's hand and Isuzu swallowed, not able to look at anyone.

"At such a time, we grieve. Even we who have a goal to help us walk forward with strength each day when the pain has receded again. It is those who can't walk through that grief again that stop fighting, unable to die and face the negative things they see, but even more unable to face again the grief and loss of what was left behind. We use the past to give us hope as we walk, but to have it so openly said that it was stolen from us hurts too much. It's what feeds the anger after the pain of the grief is gone, too. Those who die and want that life back must push the flames of their anger down one more time for each time they resurrect. Some don't make it through that, either. Grief leads to the zombies and creepers, anger to the mad and insane. Having a real goal keeps us sane, but we still must on occasion walk through the emotions yet again - at another one of our own deaths, or at the death of a companion who hasn't faced it yet themselves."

Nyanta's ear turned softly and Naotsugu let him speak. "My first death was because of the experiments Purrcy needed to purrform to see if we could prevent this to begin with. Even I didn't fully understand until after it happened, but knowing ahead of time what it would be like, it was bearable. Because there were friends here who understood, I was able to move forward through each of the following two deaths as well. But I still needed comfort for my grief and loss after it was over."

He shook his head. "We didn't tell Purrcy that was my first time. It was hard enough for her to send me through it, knowing what it would be like even if she hadn't been through it herself. Like the juniors, and because she already understood what my worst pains were and what I would see, she understood how hard it would be for me to see it again and be reminded again. I will be there to hold her like she was there to hold me, and we will all move forward again when it is no longer so raw. Be patient a little longer, Rudy-kun. We'll recover again."

Rudy swallowed and nodded. Tentatively, he asked, "And the first time? Was that grief for the loss of your homeworld, too?" The reaction at the table wasn't a good one and he looked a little frightened.

Shiroe took it. As gently as possible he said, "No, Rudy. That was anger in the main, rather than grief followed by anger. We were reminded that time once again that we are not our own agents here, that we were brought here against our will and that whatever it was that brought us here could still force its will on us. You will see that again in the days and weeks to come. We were gentle for each other then, recognizing the utter frustration and pain that come from not being our own. We are often left to our own devices, but when the AIs interfere to such a degree, it is very difficult and the anger rises."

"In our home, we are agents unto ourselves, completely and wholly, even if we are servants or slaves, because on Earth we can choose to die, to remove ourselves from the situation completely. Here we are prevented and cannot choose to die. We must be brought face to face with it again and again: that someone or something else directs us and our steps, and we hate it with all the passion of our beings. You already understand this, but that's what it was at that time - a recognition of the hopelessness, anger, and even fear of a thing we cannot change or affect to escape it."

Shiroe pointed to the Eagles at their tables. "They lived it for two years as prisoners. They understand and nurture their hatred, tending the coals that were lit by that hopelessness and fear, and their anger burns cold, which is far more dangerous than the anger that burns hot. The fire is extinguished quickly when released where the ice that freezes can last for centuries. They will complement Purrcy and Nyanta's fires and between the heat and the cold, the message of all Adventurers will be made plain. We will accept nothing less than oblivion or freedom in the final battle." Rudy was pale, but he nodded his understanding and returned cautiously to his meal, the rest of them doing the same.

-:-:-:-:-

They were just wrapping up the end-of-breakfast meeting when Michael went stiff, his eyes unfocused. "I'll be right there." He disappeared.

Nyanta's head jerked upright and his ear turned. As soon as he was released from the chat he was listening to, he was up out of his chair, running for the door. Brenner was just slightly faster, having been watching, and got the door opened for him. He hit all fours, full cat and was gone, headed for city center. Four Eagles, including Brenner, took off after him.

Naotsugu was almost as immediately headed for the closest bathroom, though Gareth stopped him and began to cast a spell. Akatsuki buried her head in Shiroe's shoulder until he took her into his lap and held her, as much for his own sake as hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hid from the room. Crusty put his hand on Shiroe's shoulder to remind him of his goals and to give him a little of his own strength as he told Isaac - still on the breakfast meeting conference call with the guild - to head for the Cathedral immediately for retrieval.

Reed stood and looked at the four juniors. "We'll handle clean up." He looked at Rudy. "Would you join us? I think you might find it a little easier if you stuck to your standard pattern, then joined them once they've recovered a bit. We'll keep you company."

Rudy took a deep breath, then rose and joined them in removing dishes from the table. He was already an outsider in this moment. For all he could comfort them, he wasn't family in quite the same way when they needed to be full Adventurers. It wasn't wrong to remove himself briefly and allow the rest of the guild to mourn. He did pause and clasp Isuzu's shoulder tightly before he left the room though. She looked up at him with sorrowful eyes. "Thanks, Rudy," she said softly.

He patted her shoulder a few times. "I'm here." He was very surprised when she put her hand on his hand, then grasped it tightly and pulled him back to sitting next to her, refusing to let go of his hand. He gave a glance to Reed, who nodded understanding and took the dishes from him. If Isuzu needed him, then he would stay with her. Perhaps it was this in-between time that was the most difficult after all.

* * *

 _*(see yokai_dot_com_slash_housoushi)_


	133. Resurrection and Homecoming

Tetorō sighed. Talking to Naotsugu had been nice. His own schedule was off, since he'd been put to sleep and woken up not really knowing what time of day it was. The birthing had been difficult enough that he'd just gone to sleep when Purrcy had - after making sure she wasn't going to die while he wasn't on duty. Being woken up a bare few hours into that sleep had been somewhat disorienting, but reset his internal clock better. He'd woken up early this "morning", however, and talking to Naotsugu had helped him not scream at the boredom and inactivity.

He slipped out of bed and glanced at Purrcy on the way to the bathroom. She was still curled up in her box, sleeping. He was quite sure she needed it and he'd give her the time. He did pause long enough to see her side rise and fall rhythmically, wanting at least that much confirmation she was still living, though she wouldn't be with him at all if she wasn't. Her stats were low, but they always were now, so it wasn't a very good indicator.

When Tetorō returned to the main room, he found a plate of food on his bed and a closed thermos. That being able to "put" things was rather handy, actually. He'd have to "put" those dishes back into the sink at Log Horizon just to let them know he knew where they all were right now. They'd locked him in, too, in the code realm. That hadn't helped his mood at all either. He ate his portion of the meal after purifying it, then carried the plate over to Purrcy. "Purrcy," he called gently. "It's time to eat. Sorry to wake you, but you need to keep your strength up." She didn't move, so he put his hand on her head and wiggled it for her. She still didn't respond so he carefully picked her up. He hated to dunk her head in this state, but really it was the only way she ever woke up.

The water made her wake up a little, but he had to carefully dry her head since her neck didn't want to keep her head up. He frowned, concerned, and wondered how long she could go without food. It might be she shouldn't eat until she healed up a little more. He carried her back to the plate and set her near it. She ignored it, her eyes closing again. He picked up a little piece of meat and held it under her nose. "Here, Purrcy. Try to eat even just a little so you can heal." Again she ignored it. "Come on, Purrcy. We have to at least get you to Akiba." Her head turned towards him (away from the food), then she lay it down on the ground. His heart skipped a beat, just a little. He looked at her in consternation, then finally worked to pull up her aura.

He stared in shock, then tried again. He got the same result. Not only did she not have an aura of light, black flecks were slowly lifting away from her and leaving her. He quickly picked her up and carried her to the bed, then hunted, finally lifting her tail. The tip was ragged and as he watched the aura, he could see that as the black flecks left her, it was getting more ragged. He swallowed. "Michael. She's disintegrating. If you want her to resurrect in Akiba come get her now."

"I'll be right there," Michael answered immediately.

Tetorō cut the chat and opened another. "Nyanta. She's disintegrating and doesn't have much longer. Michael will bring her into Akiba. Get to the Cathedral. She might be able to hold on that long." He didn't get an answer, but he rather didn't expect to. He pet her one more time. "Michael's coming. When he says it's time, go ahead and let go. Nyanta will be waiting for you." Michael appeared next to the bed. "Look at her first so you understand. Look for the aura of light and tell me what you see, since you can see it better than I can," Tetorō ordered.

Michael looked at Purrcy, and pursed his lips. "I see it. A negative aura."

Tetorō held up the tail. "Look physically here."

Michael leaned closer and inspected the tip of the tail from both views, then nodded. He held out his hands and Tetorō passed her over. "I'll be back for you," he promised and disappeared. Tetorō disappeared with him.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael stood in the middle of the clearing by Purrcy's silver maple, staring at the apparition next to him. "Aren't you supposed to be back there?" he finally asked his partner.

"Not on your life," Tetorō answered fiercely. "You've got the skill to take two, and I'm not going to sit back there and worry and wait."

"And if you'd been left behind because I wasn't pulling on you?" Michael scolded, a bit angry.

"I was doing it," Tetorō grouched back. "I knows this stuff is based on intent, push, and pull. I hung on to you and went with you. I can do that much." He looked around the clearing briefly. "Besides, it wasn't hard to figure out where you'd be going to." He looked into Michael's eyes stubbornly.

"Fine," Michael finally said. "But are you sure this is something you want to watch? Really?"

"You don't have to kill her. Just tell her she can let go," Tetorō scolded Michael. "And yes, I do want to be here when she goes." They looked back at Purrcy in Michael's arms. Tetorō reached out and pet her one more time. "We're home, Hahaue. Everyone's waiting for you. I'm here with you. It will be short and Nyanta's waiting on the other side to bring you back home to us." She turned her head just enough to put her nose under his palm. He pat her head a few times, then put his hand down.

Michael ran his own large hand down her back from the back of her head. "I've got you. The boys say Nyanta's close enough that if you go now, he'll be there when you get there. You don't have to keep holding on. You can let go." He looked at her status bar. It was still dropping rather slowly. He dug his fingers into the fur around her neck just a little, scratching it.

When Tetorō lifted his eyes to meet Michael's, Michael held Tetorō's eyes and without appearing to move at all used his Monk's strength and skills to let her go instead of making her live the longer likely more painful death. He looked back down only when Tetorō did, to watch Purrcy finally go up in the bubbles that marked death in this place.

"You did that," Tetorō accused.

"You said she'd go when I told her she could. Isn't that what she did?" Michael answered back calmly, though as if stung by the accusation. Tetorō looked away, then sighed and looked down at his feet. He was going to accept that answer, regardless of what he believed. That was sufficient. Michael held out his now empty arms and took Tetorō into them. "Welcome home. They're waiting for you, too. Gareth cast a whole-room purification with everyone in it, so we should all be up where you can handle. She'll have to come back up, I would think, though." Tetorō nodded in his chest and Michael spacial stepped.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta ran for all he was worth, his internal worries making his body move. He set his cat form to go to the Cathedral the fastest way but not through high traffic areas (until he had to since it _was_ in the middle of the main part of town). He really wished, with all his heart, he could go there and be with her in her painful memory, like she had been there with him his last time.

He was all the more worried about it because he knew she was likely to relive the night terror she'd dreamed and lived the night before their wedding. If she became stuck in it, like she had the night terror, would she be able to revive properly? He didn't know.

Surrounded by four Eagles in flight, his mind fixed on his wife, his feet swiftly moving him closer to his goal, he ran.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy opened her eyes. It was a relief to be free of her decaying body that had been begging for release from it's unnatural confinement. She took two cleansing breaths (because she still did that regardless of if she had a physical body or not) and looked around. She was in her living room of Earth. It was nearing eleven o'clock at night. All the lights were on and a video game was going on the TV. Her two youngest were playing it. Her (ex) husband was sitting on the couch with his phone in his hand, and she was just walking in the door with her keys in hand, looking frazzled and very worn out.

She recognized the expression of dismay, frustration, and resignation on her own face. As her double set down her purse and walked into the living room, Purrcy turned for the door. She paused, then walked back and rubbed her own head in passing, then kissed each of the children on the head. "I love you," she whispered to them.

Purrcy walked down the hallway ahead of them. By the time she reached the bathroom door, the scene had changed. She was giving her youngest son a bath and her oldest daughter was arriving at the door to talk to her. Purrcy wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her. "I know life was hard and it's probably harder now, but I love you." She held on tight until that memory faded.

She was standing in the kitchen, looking through to the dining room, her shadow self doing the same. Her oldest son and his dad were going at it again, and she felt the shadow pain of self-guilt at being such a bad parent that her son couldn't even rise to the simple expectations her husband had of his son. Purrcy patted herself on the head again, then walked into the dining room. She walked up to her son and put her hand on his cheek. "You can do it, Sam. I believe in you. Keep trying. Keep moving forward. We'll be here when you fall to pick you back up. Don't be afraid to fail. Sometimes our greatest accomplishments come in the middle of our greatest worries and pains." She leaned in and kissed his other cheek just before the memory faded.

She closed her eyes and took one more breath, then looked up again. "I love you and the kids." His look was so sad. So frustrated and lost. "I've been working so hard for all of you. It really hurts, you know, that none of you will talk to me, or spend time with me."

She took his arm in her hand. "I know. I know it was hard for you to do everything you wanted to do. You took your job to take care of us very seriously. Thank you. I'm sorry things turned out the way they did, that I couldn't fill your shoes and mine, any more than you could do both." Her heart hurt now, at this one. She'd been able to hold the others at bay. "It was just as hard for me and I felt just as lost and alone."

She blinked. "I hope you're doing okay. I'm sure it's even harder now. Give them lots of love and hugs for me, okay? I'm trying to learn how to do my best over here, just like I'm sure you're still trying your best over there." She swallowed, then released him. "I'm sorry I couldn't return to loving you again." She turned away and cried in her heart for Nyanta, wanting warm arms to hide her from this pain she couldn't remove yet.

"Purrcy?" she was suddenly enveloped in warm arms, her head being pressed to a firm chest. "I'm here. It's okay. This will pass. Come home to Akiba. We understand. We will hold you."

Purrcy held on tightly to the Nyanta of Earth, wanting to look at him because this was such a rare opportunity, not wanting to move out of his comforting arms. "Why, Nyanta? Why can I face my children and release the pain, but not him? Even when I try, it still hurts so much."

Nyanta was quiet for a moment, then said, "It's okay to take it slowly. If you've even been able to do that much, you've moved forward well. Little by little you'll be able to forgive and heal. When you're able to trust yourself enough, forgive yourself enough, then you'll be able to pass through this scene, too." He lifted her head and kissed her on the lips. "You are worth it. Please continue to walk forward. I'll be with you." Purrcy nodded and watched him as he faded from sight until he was gone and her own consciousness faded.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta blinked and took a sharp breath. It was very disorienting to go from focusing on Purrcy and getting to her at the Cathedral, to suddenly being with her in human form and holding her, to suddenly being back in a cat body that was just skidding to a stop in front of the Cathedral door as an Eagle settled down in front of it to open it. He tried to not think too hard about it as he slipped through the door and ran up to the edge of the altar, transforming back into felinoid as he reached its edge and slid to a stop. She hadn't arrived yet. His eyes searched the space in front of him as his heart continued to call for Purrcy, and for a moment he was afraid he'd seen her but she wasn't going to appear here at this place.

Light and form began to coalesce in front of him and he watched as Purrcy appeared, whole and felinoid. He had her in his arms again before she was really conscious, kneeling one knee on the low altar to be able to reach her and keep his balance. "I'm here," he said to her as she took in a deep breath, and then another. "I'm here and meowr home."

"Let me breathe," she said kindly and with a little laugh in her voice. "And if you'll let me up, I'll hold you too, since you need it too."

Nyanta's ears twitched in embarrassment, and he pulled her up to sitting, then had to reluctantly let her go enough she could get to the edge of the altar and stand up. As soon as she was, she was holding him tightly, though, and he held on to her, trying to remember he was there to help comfort her, not there to receive the comfort he needed from being separated from her for two months. "It's okay, Nyanta," Purrcy said softly. "You being able to come there helped the most. I just want your arms around me for a while longer. You can lean on me. I know it's been hard on you, too."

Nyanta buried his face in her neck, feeling both defeated and like he was failing just a little, but he did as she said. He needed the healing.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael appeared in the common room of Log Horizon, his arms protectively holding a person with pink hair. Naotsugu moved quickly and Michael traded, pushing Tetorō gently to him in the partial turn it took. Tetorō arms were around Naotsugu tightly as quickly as Naotsugu held him. Slowly Tetorō began to shiver, then shake, then to sob, slow dry sobs that were joined by tears later. Large hot tears the rose up slowly, then dropped from his eyes. Around the sobs, he finally added words: "God, I hate them. How I hate them so much."

Naotsugu pet Tetorō's head soothingly and nodded. "We're glad you're here," he said calmly. "We'll give you some time to rest. Thank you for all the hard work." He continued to hold Tetorō tightly and pet him until his storm began to pass.

Michael and Gareth had both stayed close by, supports giving their strength as well. When Tetorō recovered somewhat, Michael turned to Shiroe. "Tetorō hung onto me and both came through with me to Akiba. We let her go with encouragement, then came here."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow slightly at the notification of two travelers at once, but gave a nod. "They've just arrived at the Cathedral. Isaac's on his way there for the retrieval. You can stay with Tetorō." Michael acknowledge the order and turned back to watch Tetorō.

-:-:-:-:-

Isaac was glad the market way was rather quiet during the breakfast hours. Merchants were getting their stands ready for opening and the night owls were finally sleeping off their party night. Early chefs were already headed to the grocery section, to purchase the best produce of the day, but in the "governance center" very few people were moving about. If this had been a city of China, or even Minami, the employees of the city government would have been arriving for work. Here in Akiba it was only a few People of the Land arriving at the Guild Hall. He wasn't sure the Cunie ever left the building but there were other people who handled the banking who were drifting through.

He went straight for the Cathedral, set a distance off from the other buildings and very quiet at the moment - except for the two Eagles on watch at the door. That was relieving and meant Nyanta was properly in place already. One of them opened one of the double doors for him and he walked in. Isaac paused a moment there at the entrance. At the farther end of the long room, next to the resurrection altar, Nyanta and Purrcy were embracing. It wouldn't hurt to let them have their reunion.

Isaac waited politely until Nyanta relaxed and they began to move. Walking up to them quietly, he said, "Welcome home, Obasan.* It's good to see you, too, Nyanta-san."

They turned to him, one arm around the other still. "Thank mew, Isaac-kun," Nyanta said. It was impossible to take that as an insult from the venerable gentlecat. He was that much older, after all.

Purrcy looked at Nyanta and he gave permission with a tip of an ear. Purrcy stepped away from him, but slipped her hand down to keep hold of Nyanta's hand. She wrapped her other arm around Isaac. "It's good to see you again, Isaac. Thank you for watching over Naotsugu and the guild so well."

Isaac was a bit surprised to be hugged by her for the first time, but then not. It was kind of to be expected when it was a Hahaue from America. He hugged her back and let go. "Don't let Tetorō know I was the first one to get a hug after Nyanta. He'll not speak to me for months."

Purrcy chuckled. "He won't anyway once we're back up there."

"Well...then wait until you're back there to tell him so he can get over it before he gets back." He smiled back at her. She had returned to Nyanta's side. "Okay. So you, Miss Purrcy, can't be seen just yet, even if the streets are quiet at the moment. Ains is holding on still, but he'll pounce if he hears you're back. We would like to let you have a bit of peace here for a while before everyone knows you're back. Leonid was seen arriving by at least a few and we can claim he got loose and was being chased down and cornered in the Cathedral until I could get here to get him back home properly. Miss Purrcy, if you'll go kitten, I'll carry you hidden. Nyanta-san, go back to large cat and we'll walk you home with the proper escort.

Purrcy shrank to kitten and licked Nyanta-cat's foreleg, too small to reach any higher. His larger tongue swiped the entire top of her head, then the side of her face. Isaac rescued her before it got worse, tucking her between his shirt and his jacket at the side so his arm would hide her bulge. It tickled a bit as she got settled. Isaac led Nyanta to the door and they walked out. The two Eagles on the door walked with them back towards Log Horizon's guild hall.

Isaac wasn't surprised to be accosted in the market zone. He was finally learning who were the regulars that reported back to their guilds. Most of the few morning spies out left him alone. They'd pass on who he'd been seen with. It was the one from Honesty who stepped out to talk to him. That was the one he wanted to get the right story to anyway so he paused and let him ask his question, letting him know the "official" story. Leonid got a stare and Nyanta looked away, then scratched his nose on his foreleg and let his tail whip a little. "A little run never hurt anyone, and the werecats have been cooped up a long time in town. Maybe Shiroe will take him out into a zone today to let him finish getting it out of his system," Isaac said, unconcerned, and got them moving away again.

"Why you?" he was interrupted.

"I was chatting with Shiroe when it happened and he asked if I'd go pick Leonid up since he's gotten used to me visiting every now and again."

Eyes narrowed. "Couldn't the guards have done it? They chased him in."

Isaac looked down at Nyanta. Nyanta looked back up at him, then rubbed his head on Isaac's leg a little and leaned on him. Isaac held down the blush, remembering this was role-play and sighed, giving the snitch a look to say, _Can you see why yourself?_ He waved as he put his hand on Nyanta's head and got them walking again.

"Besides," he grumbled to himself a little, "what guildmaster really _wants_ to be locked up with his guild all the time?" He gave a little start. "Oh, except Shiroe, of course, who can't be dragged out from behind his." There was a little giggle from his side and Nyanta gave a light snort of agreement. He sighed. "Of course, now that I've been hanging out as long as I have, I can see why. And I can see the benefits of having a small guild. Large guilds are so noisy." He rubbed an ear remembering his own noisy breakfast that morning.

"They're still good," Purrcy said quietly. "It's nice to know everyone is busy and happy, even if there is the occasional argument or complaining."

"...Yeah," he had to agree. His guild had grown rather organically, like perhaps they all did, and he knew them all, but it had surprised him the day he'd scrolled down the screen and seen just how many names there were. It had been surprising the first day on Theldesia, too, when so many people had shown up in the guild hall, looking for at least some norm to connect to in the frightening strangeness of the catastrophe. He'd sat in his head chair, chin on his fist, until they'd finally all shown up in the common room. Every face had relaxed in relief upon first walking into the room and seeing him and then the others there. Seeing each of them had helped him, too, though he'd been sad at each one, knowing that there was another one who'd been trapped with them.

Like the other guilds, the end of the first year had been a struggle as everyone had to make the adjustment from "banding together to survive" to "life as usual" when no one really wanted the latter. They'd survived it okay, though, heading out to a couple of the harder dungeons to hit things so they stopped hitting each other extra hard as they tried to get their frustration out. That had helped a lot on the bonding side, too, and late night close conversations had been the norm after the first few levels. They worked pretty good as a team now, even for how many of them there were.

Everyone in Knights of the Black Sword was good enough that if they needed to get out and solo for a while, they could, and there were some who did, being introverts enough that the close quarters got too close on occasion. Perhaps he was one of those, actually, though he'd never let on. He liked to get away on his own more than he was allowed to sometimes. Getting to go on the trip to China had been good for him. He'd been able to settle down better once they got back to Akiba.

Isaac's musings were interrupted by the realization he was feeling a surprising sensation. He blinked and glanced down towards his passenger. She was purring. "What?" he asked.

"Just being happy," she commented back.

Nyanta's ear turned. "That's a rather quick recovery, nyan." He sounded surprised.

"Well, I did have you taking care of me so well," she answered back.

Isaac rolled his eyes. "I'm glad for you both, but keep it for the bedroom, please." He got laughed at and he swore at them under his breath.

"You're too much like Tetorō," Purrcy purred.

"Yeah, that's why we clash. I was pretty surprised when Naotsugu picked me to stand in his slot. It explained our fights so well," he said the last sarcastically. A tail brushed his side and Purrcy shifted. "This really isn't the most comfortable way to carry you, you know."

Nyanta looked up at him with his tongue out a little. "I liked it," he teased, "but it's okay if mew don't."

That sounded a little like a warning so he held up a hand in defense and denial. "I'd rather sit and gab with the felinoid. Not to worry."

"That is different," Purrcy commented. "Tetorō would rather pet the cat."

"That would be why he's queen's bishop and I'm king's bishop."

"Oh, is that where you got placed?" Purrcy was intrigued.

"Yes. Naotsugu walked the list to place me and that's what it is. Attacks from left field, defense out far."

Nyanta nodded his agreement. "It seems like it's been working well so far."

"Are you there when we talk?" Isaac asked Nyanta, now that he had him for real.

"I'm listening, but I don't get to talk much," Nyanta admitted. His ears fell, but he didn't say much more.

Isaac reached out and patted him on the head. "Glad to know we can at least keep you company."

Purrcy nodded her head. "I thank you for that."

Isaac patted her through his jacket. "You're welcome." He looked down at that hand in surprise, then held it up in front of him. "What's this?" He inspected the ring on his hand. It was wide and gold with a figure embossed on the top. Looking closely at it, he could see it was a figure of a chess piece - a bishop, to be exact. "Did you give this to me?" Purrcy nodded again, but didn't say anything.

One of the Eagles walking with them looked over from the side of his eyes, then sighed and cast a healing spell that enveloped Purrcy and him. "You'll make Tetorō angry to already be coming home drained," the other Eagle next to him...Compliance if Isaac remembered right, scolded quietly. Purrcy shrugged, but Isaac didn't think it wise to pass that back on so kept his mouth shut.

Isaac looked at the ring one more time, to check the status of it. _Ring of the King's Bishop. +15 to stealth, Protection from malevolent spirits: Area effect, up to twenty-five feet._ "What are you, Nyanta?" Isaac mused.

Nyanta glanced up to see him still inspecting the ring. "Queens' knight," he answered briefly.

"Right," Isaac remembered Naotsugu had said that. "What's your bonus?"

Nyanta's whiskers twitched. "Additional defense. Yours?"

"Addition to stealth. That might actually come in handy. I guess we shouldn't wear them in the Maze of Eternity, though, if we want to help all the Vengeful Spirits."

Nyanta flicked an ear. "Won't have to. We're done."

"Oh, right." Isaac blinked. "Well, if we run into any wraiths that got missed, it should be helpful."

They were at Log Horizon's guild hall. Compliance opened the door and Nyanta went in first, changing back to felinoid gentleman three steps in. He kept going so Isaac kept following. Nyanta stopped next to Naotsugu, Michael, and another Eagle. Isaac wasn't sure why until Naotsugu turned and shocking hot-pink hair stood out against his usual casual white tunic shirt. Isaac dug into his jacket as Tetorō turned to look at Nyanta, Naotsugu letting him go. Nyanta looked back at Isaac and Tetorō looked as well. Isaac held the kitten out and Tetorō was immediately grabbing it up, though Purrcy was already growing in his hands until she was a rather big housecat that Tetorō pulled to his shoulder and cuddled closely. "Are you okay, Purrcy?" he asked, his voice a little raw with the crying his red eyes and face betrayed.

Purrcy's purr was loud enough to be heard in the whole room. "Yes, Tetorō. I'm fine. Nyanta was allowed to walk to me during the worst so I had help early." More than Tetorō in the room relaxed.

"One side benefit to being made to be ikiryō," Michael muttered. Nyanta gave him a disbelieving look. Michael raised an eyebrow at him. "Got to find the sunshine where you can," he defended himself. Nyanta didn't argue.

Isaac looked at the group of fighters in front of him, all the queen's ranking chess pieces gathered together in one place. He looked over at Shiroe to see Crusty and Akatsuki. "Nice to see everyone gathered together for once," he commented.

Shiroe nodded as Akatsuki got off his lap and stood expectantly by his side. Isaac decided not to comment, since Crusty was looming over the both of them. Tetorō gave one last squeeze to Purrcy and handed her over to Naotsugu. Naotsugu put her on the floor. Only after she was felinoid again did he give her a gentle hug. "Welcome home, Hahaue."

"Thank you, Naotsugu. It's good to see you again," she answered, holding him tightly around the neck, his shoulders too broad to reach around easily. Isaac was a bit surprised that she was as tall as Naotsugu was, but then she was only slightly shorter than Nyanta. He wasn't surprised Naotsugu preferred to welcome her properly as felinoid like he had. When Purrcy turned to hug the Eagle standing next in the circle, Naotsugu relaxed quite a lot.

"What?" Isaac asked him quietly.

Softly Naotsugu answered, "At the beginning we weren't sure she could come whole or not. I'm glad Hahaue will be able to be here properly for the wedding."

Isaac nodded. That was much better than the alternative, though anything at all would have been better than not being able to have her at all. Purrcy paused in front of Michael. "Thank you, Michael. It was a relief to be able to go," she said. She received a pet on the head and moved on, headed for the head of the table.

She put a hand on Akatsuki's shoulder, leaned over, and purred in Akatsuki's ear while rubbing her cheek on Akatsuki's cheek. "Little mother. It's good to see you again." Akatsuki stood uncertainly and Purrcy whispered something in her ear. Akatsuki gave a nod and a quick squeeze of a hug and Purrcy was in front of Shiroe.

Purrcy bowed. "I've returned, Guildmaster Shiroe, for a time. Likely I'll have to return the morning after the wedding, and we'll hope it isn't that night."

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "The wedding will be the day after tomorrow. I'll pick up the clothes, so you can try it on here when you're ready. I think this time keeping you hidden until the day of is best, unless you're allowed to go out with the ladies the night before?"

Purrcy paused and her ear turned a few times. She looked over her shoulder at Nyanta. He gave her a solemn nod. Looking back at Shiroe she answered, "I think that would be fun for a few hours." There were smiles around the room as Akatsuki positively beamed.

Purrcy opened her arms and Shiroe stepped in to give her a hug. It lasted shorter than Isaac expected, until Shiroe turned away from Purrcy as she turned to Crusty. She paused and captured Shiroe's hand and held it. She was pretty good, to know that Shiroe had let go before his inner wall crumbled, but that he wasn't really ready for her to leave him yet. She'd done that with Nyanta at the Cathedral, too. Isaac looked at Nyanta, but he was actually doing very well. Isaac raised an eyebrow. "He loves it," Naotsugu said from next to him. "His favorite is to watch her being Hahaue."

"Takes a while," Isaac commented dryly. Tetorō, who was now in orange hair and a male, glared at Isaac with his now-pale purple eyes instead of the female pale green ones. "What? I get it. There's only one of her, and if this happened over at my place it would take twenty times as long." He looked away. He was _not_ going to admit he'd already had his hug. Not at all.

Crusty was just letting Purrcy go from her hug greeting that seemed standard. She looked closely at Shiroe and he gave her a nod to let her know he'd recovered enough for now. Likely she'd visit him again in private to let him get it all out so he could stand again.

She moved to the four juniors next. Touya and Minori took her in a double-twin hug and she kissed them both on their foreheads as she held them, one in each arm. "I'm home," she said quietly. "Will you let me do a little cooking while I'm here?" They both looked at her with smiles, quite willing to agree. "Good," she sighed. "I am sooo starved for good food, not just edible food. I'm looking forward to eating what you've learned to cook as well. It's hard some days to watch the plates pass me by and not even be able to smell them, though I'm drooling so hard over your shoulders I'm surprised you aren't soaking wet."

Touya gave a triumphant look at Minori who gave a shy smile back to Purrcy. "We'd love to cook for you, Hahaue. Isuzu is going to have her concert at Grandpa's Kitchen tomorrow night." She looked over at Akatsuki, "Maybe we could have all the ladies meet there?"

Akatsuki seriously considered it. "Everyone wants to go, not just us."

"True," Purrcy agreed immediately. "Maybe we could go after it's over so Isuzu and Minori can go with us, too, and we can just go sit and gab under the moon for an hour or so. I'd suggest over ice cream but I haven't got any."

Akatsuki smiled. "That would work. I'll tell everyone."

Purrcy moved on to Isuzu, who gave her a tight but perfunctory hug. "I'll be glad to be able to see you in the audience this time," Isuzu said.

"And I'll be glad you can actually hear my clapping this time," Purrcy answered back. "I almost hit that guy. I'm sorry I was angry enough to bite him."

Isuzu shrugged philosophically. "It's okay. It worked out in the end."

Purrcy moved on to Rudy. He bowed to Purrcy. "Welcome home, Lady Purrcy."

"Thank you, Rudy," she answered and he suffered her to give him a kiss on the cheek. "The maps will come to you with my notes. I'll add them while they're in transit. I have a few suggestions for you and Isuzu, too, but I'll wait until tonight's meeting if the two of you want them." Both of them nodded and she moved on. That surprised Isaac again.

"Naw," Naotsugu said. "It's everyone. She was their mom before she was ours, though it's different. Not all of them want hugs. We can sit now, though."

Isaac watched them anyway. He was surprised when there was a strange change in the air as if a wall had been put up between the two groups. Michael walked over to stand closer to his men, his eyes sharply on Purrcy. Isaac, standing alone now behind the couch, moved quietly to stand in that radius as well. He suddenly went from seeing Purrcy greeting the Eagles one by one to seeing her standing in front of the group, rising from a bow. He blinked and almost held his breath.

"Thank you for watching over me, and for watching over my children for me. I know what Izanagi has done so I won't force anyone. I did want to let you know, however, that I trust all of you. I know you will do what needs to be done. ...And honestly, I will have a lot of fun watching what you can do. I greatly enjoyed your last battles from your vacation." They gave her wild grins and her tail gave a hunting lash.

She paused, then said, "Please, do still call on me. You are still my sons, like you are sons of your country. If there's a thing I can do, I will do it." She looked sideways over at Michael with almost a flirtatious tilt to her head, but it was more of a seductive hunting look. "And yes, you can expect hefty testing on the last leg. Let's see what you can do, shall we?"

Michael's look went to a similar one - a smile and an almost seductive pose, but irony was written all over it. "I think we can be well up to the challenge, and we're quite looking forward to it."

"Wonderful," Purrcy purred and the tension between them was released as suddenly as it appeared. She looked at the rest of the men. "Please, continue to watch over me. The contract is still acceptable."

She was turning to return to the other group when Michael pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Isaac and stopped her. "Why?" Isaac froze, suddenly the center of attention, though no one was looking at him.

Purrcy's tail gave a curl, again the seductive hunt, her ears doing the same this time. Coyly she answered. "He's cousin, and you need an accomplice. He's the one that wanted in and chose it." With a final flick of her tail, she crossed the boundary making it disappear and headed to the table and Nyanta.

Eagle eyes finally settled on Isaac. He tipped his head slightly and stared back, not really sure where this was going to go into the future. Michael finally turned away, nothing showing on his face, but somehow Isaac didn't think it was quite over.

He slowly walked back to stand behind the couch, deciding to stay standing behind Naotsugu, the same as Crusty was still behind Shiroe. He folded his arms and waited. Playing with Purrcy was very different and he'd forgotten, or perhaps he'd finally just found out what he'd been trying to find out all along.

-:-:-:-:-

"We don't normally work with others." Isaac was looking at the same guard dogs, minus one, that he'd looked at before in the China Maze of Eternity, except this time he was the center of their attention. "But we do make temporary alliances when it suits us."

He stayed silent. It was feeling very much like having been called out to the back of the school grounds to be beat up on by the bullies of the school. Typically the best response, if you didn't have your own strength or friends to call on, was to silently take the punishment. At the moment, Isaac wasn't sure which direction to go. He was plenty strong and had a whole guild to call on, but he also wasn't sure they were really going to beat up on him. It just had that atmosphere.

"The problem here, is that it didn't suit us. She's moved on her own again," it was a complaint from Reed to Michael.

Michael shrugged. "She usually does, but it's to position us for what's coming next and she's forward field monitor."

Reed was still disgruntled, but couldn't argue it. Isaac picked up on that, though. "So, you're saying you don't know why either?"

"Pretty much," Michael agreed mildly. Reed frowned. "But I would like to know why you decided it."

Isaac had actually been trying to figure that out himself since then. He'd known they were like vicious guard dogs, and he wouldn't have picked to play with them ordinarily, unless it was as opponents to see how tough his guild was compared to theirs. He'd walked over to watch Purrcy interact with them out of curiosity, mostly. She still intrigued him. What he'd seen of her on that side of the fence had been very different. "She was Obasan at first, then she changed. What was that?"

Michael's expression didn't change. "You've seen Izanami before."

Isaac blinked. "It's that fast?"

"Yup. Really hard to pull the two apart, actually. Purrcy's got a lot of that in her, but when it comes out, it's Izanami. Purrcy doesn't have the courage to play it, even if she's thinking it."

Purrcy and lack of courage didn't go together, but he'd let it pass for now. He was treading new waters. "So Izanami's the one who's approved whatever was approved?"

Michael looked at him for a bit, like trying to decide what part to hurt next. "She could have shut you out, kept you looking at the false feed, but she didn't. Why? What do you want?"

Isaac shook his head. "I've actually been wondering that myself. From the beginning she's been a puzzle I want to unlock and understand. That was like being given a new piece I hadn't seen before, maybe like half the board was uncovered instead of the corner I'd been looking at and trying to see past. I've laid off since I know Shiroe's trying to navigate difficult waters and she's the raft he's floating down the river. I still can't help but stick my nose in where there's opportunities to." He blinked. "I did think that would be rather innocuous. I wasn't expecting to see that much. I was surprised she'd move on to the sub-guild and wanted to understand that relationship."

"And so you got more than you bargained for and it's in for a pound." Reed's eyes were narrow.

"As you say," Isaac agreed.

There was a crunch on the ground and a larger shadow appeared to rest an elbow on Isaac's shoulder. "Interesting grouping of persons," Crusty said, the light glinting off his rectangular glasses lenses. "Mind if I level the field a little?" The Americans stared at him, but Isaac shrugged, not really minding that at all, though he wasn't afraid. Balance just felt right. Crusty mildly stared the other two down, then looked at Isaac. "Got into more than you bargained for when you went looking? Really, you should know by now not to play with the fire named Purrcy-Izanami."

Isaac sighed. "No, not really. I keep restraining myself so when I get the opportunity, I stick my nose in it again."

"Well, then I'll let you have to take the beating on your own then, so you learn it this time, but I thought you lot might like to know before I left...," he looked at Michael and Reed again, "she's the one who told me to come out and make sure you two lay off and let it ride until it comes up properly. Let him dangle with the tease for now."

Michael didn't react, but Reed clicked his tongue. Isaac sighed. "That would be her favorite thing to make me do. From the beginning." He let irritation show. "She'll probably walk off the board laughing with me still dangling and no resolution in the end."

That made Michael laugh a short laugh. "That would be like her. ...Make you dangle until the very end." He went sober, "Except she never wastes opportunities, even if you don't understand them until that very end." He looked at Isaac for a bit, then raised a dismissive hand. "Fine. We'll ignore you for now until the next pieces click together. She's only got these three or four days and then she's back in lock-down again for who knows how long. If she has to do it now, she has to and we'll let it ride."

He and Reed turned partially away. "Keep your eyes open to that feeling of curiosity, though. It's your lead through your nose ring. Following it will bring you your clues. Stop letting it drag you around into dangerous situations." He gave a wolf grin. "Start walking into them with your eyes wide open so you can at least see the knife headed for you. You might be able to dodge or block that way."

"Thanks," Isaac said dryly to their leaving backs. He was silent until they were gone back around the corner of the Log Horizon guild house and the door had closed behind them. He looked at Crusty. "I'm not sure whether to thank you or not."

"Were they really going to beat up on you?"

"I don't think so, but it's a little hard to tell sometimes." The corner of Crusty's lip twitched up. Isaac sighed again and got them walking back towards center town and their own guild halls. "Sometimes it's hard to be a support member of that guild. They let you sit around bored for days on end, then drop five anvils on you and eighty trolls spawn and you wonder just what you got yourself into," he complained.

"Take up flower arranging," Crusty suggested. Isaac glared at him. Crusty shrugged. "It'd be something to do on the dull days."

"Let me hit on you for a bit," Isaac grouched. "That'd make me feel better."

"Fine." Isaac looked at Crusty in surprise. "What?" Crusty asked.

Isaac sighed. "My guild field or yours?"

Crusty considered that for a moment. "Souji's and he gets to hit on the loser."

Isaac groaned. "Not hardly fair."

"What? His hits are featherweight in comparison."

"To whose? Yours or mine?"

Crusty shrugged. "Either."

That was true, so Isaac shrugged and gave in.

* * *

 _*Obasan is "Aunt" (respectfully). Isaac has called Purrcy that both acknowledging she is herself at the moment and the relationship decided upon between them by Log Horizon._


	134. What Purrcy's Arrival Stirs Up

Tetorō was cornered that afternoon, after Nyanta went all out and made a feast-sized curry lunch just out of sheer happiness to be in the kitchen again with Purrcy. They were letting Nyanta and Purrcy have the afternoon with each other, after that effort.

Tetorō walked out of the kitchen after his turn at kitchen clean up, enjoying the soothing rhythms of home. He looked up to see if Naotsugu was there, since in the normal routine he would be. He was. But so were a lot more than that. Every junior Eagle's eyes were on him.

"Really," he deadpanned. " _All_ of you missed me that much?" He sparked humor in them, but they didn't answer him yet.

He sauntered over to his spot next to Naotsugu and dropped down on the couch with a contented sigh, though having all of them was more than he'd like. Naotsugu rubbed his head and he glared but didn't complain. He'd do that tomorrow. "So. What's up?"

Eyes went to Brenner. That was a surprise. Brenner waved a hand at the rest of the Eagles. "They want to know what I need to know, but only because it technically should be impossible. I couldn't shake them off, sorry."

"I'm that good a wizard now, that I can do the impossible?" Tetorō was amused.

"Well, we don't know _that_ yet," was rejoined from the peanut gallery.

Tetorō ignored it. "What's your assignment?" he asked Brenner.

"I've been asked to cast your tracer on Nyanta-san's psyche so that I can visit him in the hell hole he gets pushed to when he gets angry or they don't want him around, like you visit Purrcy." Brenner was sober.

Tetorō immediately went sober as well and sat upright. Even he thought that would be impossible. "Who asked?"

"Purrcy, through Nyanta, this morning."

Tetorō dropped back again and put his brain to it. "Okay. The spell's easy since it had to be first level. She helped me streamline it when she was up and we tacked it onto a high level Programmer after that. You've actually all seen it before. It's the one I threw you for the map when we chased her down to collar her."

They went back to remember, and understanding lit their eyes. "That's the modified one she helped me with. The one on her's slightly different. I didn't know she was an ikiryō then. I just wanted to be able to follow her if she was taken away." He paused, then nodded. "That's the base intent you'll need to work from, Brenner."

"I get it," Brenner nodded. Tetorō dropped inside and copied the code out, handing it to Brenner who showed up next to him.

Brenner studied the pseudocode for a bit. "That's pretty nice for first time work, even if she smoothed it out," he finally said.

"Thanks. My fingerprint's always been that, even on Earth before we came. Drove my professors crazy." His lips twitched. "I'll watch you while you see if you can get it to work, but don't walk the line yet."

"Uh-huh. Not me. We cut that line out way back on the Ocypete," Brenner shook his head as if remembering, but it was Gareth who shrank into himself.

Tetorō patted the couch on his other side and Gareth slid into it. He was shivering slightly. Tetorō squeezed his forearm briefly, then let him just sit. He knew Gareth and Brenner were partnered. If Gareth had been the first scalded by that, Brenner would have helped him past it. That was a no-brainer.

"So..., it's just a matter of wanting to find them?" Gareth asked quietly.

"I think so," Tetorō answered. "That feels right." Gareth nodded. He was worried. "What's up that needs that?" Tetorō asked him.

Gareth hesitated for a bit. "BlackJack said one night while we were down in Ninetails that he'd seen the Michael of the shrine time down there, back while we were in Maihama. We think he temporal realm walked without knowing it. He told me he didn't know he had, that he just returned to when and where he left like usual. He's promised to not walk it until he has to, but I want a way to go find him and haul him back in case he gets stuck."

Tetorō blinked. "Yes, I think that would be an excellent idea. Since that's one of my jobs, too, I'll get on that. Let's see what Brenner comes up with first, to test the theory, then I think we can write that up fairly quickly."

Gareth shook his head. "If it's time walking, it may not be quite so easy, and I've discovered I'm capped. I can't go over Hacker. All my points have slipped into spirit realm work instead of code realm work. If your spell's over that high, I can't copy it or use it."

Tetorō nodded. "Okay. I'll make that a limiter, too. It would be good for you to be able to fish him back, particularly once you get to the other side of the ocean since I won't be able to do it." Gareth nodded and relaxed, one of his worries helped out.

"Okay. I think I've got it. I'm going to cast now," Brenner let them know. They watched from inside, but from where they were and only in the code realm.

They watched the spell and were relieved when it didn't send back a rebound, though it probably wouldn't have been very bad, it being a low level spell. "Okay," Tetorō said. "When you go down that line, it's not quite the same. You can't see where they are from the outside like we can from here. I have to back out and fly overhead again for that.

"You'll show up where they are, in whatever room they're in and you're locked in with them except for your escape hatch. You don't have to go down the line. You can have it return a location point. I have that displayed on my internal map so I can find where she is in town or on Yamato. I kind of figure that's similar to how the creatures all know where she's at, but I'm not sure."

He blinked, then went very bland. "And if the lot of you cut me off, I'll send the biggest internal war bombardment against you I can, even if I have to resurrect eighteen times to do it." No one looked him in the eye, but Brenner gave a nod.

The others stared at him until he rather vaguely said, "It looks like it stuck. I'll test it when they're out later." They let it go. He'd been inside, not paying attention to the conversation. The rest weren't making promises.

"What about all her other aspects?" someone asked.

"I care about them, why?" Tetorō asked, a tad bitter.

"But you keep track of them."

He stared at the questioner with as scowl. "I might be required to at the shrine, but my promise is to Purrcy herself. That's who _I'm_ there for." His scowl went deeper. "Get out. Shoo. I'm done." He waved his hands at them. "Crows, the lot of you. Get."

He held Gareth down, though and made him stay. " _You_ can pay the price for getting to leave early." Gareth sighed but stayed put. "Cards." Tetorō named that price. Gareth didn't mind that so much.

They made Naotsugu play with them, and then Isaac, too, when he finally showed back up looking like he felt a little better and sounding like it too after he said he'd had a good workout. That made it enough to play a real game of Rich Man, Poor Man, so they did - five rounds and Tetorō was rich man for three of them.

He was finally satisfied after that and let the others rest and recover, taking himself up on the roof to just breathe the air and soak in Akiba. He'd go walk his beat the next afternoon to wake the city up and let them know Purrcy was back in town.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki skipped - just a little - and behind the juniors, lagging just a little so she could. It was hard to contain her excitement. She finally said, "I'll meet you there." The others gave nods and she was gone, dancing with the wind and the air currents that told her the snippets of conversations going on in the city.

Here, on the walk into town to meet up with Crescent Moon's city decorators, it was students on their way to and from Academy classes. The few others in their comings and goings who lived closer to town but still out their way. The occasional spy on the street she paid attention to. But today, she just wanted to dance the currents. It was the best way to express her delight of the moment.

So far, it hadn't been _too_ hard to watch over Shiroe from a distance. It was only like going back to the distance they'd had before Purrcy had pushed them closer together. That was bearable, if on occasion made her slightly impatient since she'd rather have the closer.

Rather, it had been hard just to have the additional stress of knowing what was coming and worrying about things that couldn't have anything done about them until they happened. That and watching Shiroe have to walk his path farther into this level of the dungeon knowing she shouldn't, and often couldn't, prevent him from slipping or tripping. She could dart in and lift him if he fell, and she faithfully did. She never wanted him to doubt her resolve that she had been proving to him from the beginning.

When Purrcy had arrived and finally come to greet Akatsuki, she'd wanted more, but not been sure how to ask nor what to really ask for. Purrcy had whispered that she'd come visit with Akatsuki in private. That had helped. That meant Purrcy understood she'd need time to figure those things out, and what might actually help her. She did need encouragement, and wanted some form of strengthening to move forward after this, even if she didn't know yet what those things might specifically be.

However, to be told she could call the Water Maple Ladies together - her friends - and have them all meet with Purrcy had done a lot to lift her spirits. And even more, to have a concrete plan that was accomplishable and not difficult and already completely acceptable...well, that had been suddenly a weight and burden off from Akatsuki's shoulders and heart she hadn't really understood was there. (She'd thought she'd left that one behind when Shiroe had warned her it might not happen, but...maybe that had been what had brought it on to begin with?)

She paused. She'd heard the sounds of a different cross street that she hadn't been planning on going down, but suddenly, thinking of the next night's plans, she decided she would. She took a sharp left and ran across the roof-tops of buildings that had been fixed up and were now shops and little cafes and other such things until she reached one she knew well. She slipped down the air currents to touch down lightly right in front of Amenoma's door. She drew a quick breath, and entered.

Tatara looked up, and her usual closed face opened into a welcoming look, though most wouldn't have seen it that way. Akatsuki went straight for the sales counter, surprising Tatara, since her usual pattern was straight to the new blade display. "What's up?"

Akatsuki gave a smile. Others called it shy and small, but it was hers. That made Tatara even more curious. "Secret. Don't tell." Tatara gave a nod. "Purrcy's back." That got her attention. "Tomorrow night. Dinner at Grandpa's Kitchen. Isuzu's back, too. She's going to play."

She paused to breathe. That was a lot all at once. Tatara looked like she was okay with that, though was also getting excited - for her. "After, we'll go out as girls. Quiet bachelorette party for Miss Marie." There. She'd said it. She could feel her smile going big - for her. "Please come."

Tatara smiled her gentle, happy smile that even Purrcy loved. "I'd love to." Then a questioning pause. "Know when?"

"No. I can chat you. Last minute okay?" she asked, wanting to be polite.

"Sure. I can close up whenever. It will be close by dinner, anyway."

Akatsuki gave a firm nod. "Great. See you then."

Tatara lifted a hand and Akatsuki was gone, out to dance the currents again, even more happy now. "Rieze."

"Hey, Akatsuki." There was a pause. "You're sounding happy. Crusty took a long time coming back after leaving early."

"Did he tell you?"

"No. He's been looking smug since he got back, though - all of five minutes ago, bastard."

"Secret, but you need to know."

"Right," Rieze sounded pleased to get to know this time. She should be. It was happy news and Akatsuki was happy to get to share it with her friends.

"Bachelorette party's on."

"No way!" Rieze calmed down and more quietly asked. "Where?"

"Tomorrow night, dinner at Grandpa's Kitchen with everyone. After, just us." Except..., "I invited Tatara, too."

"That's fine. We like her too. It will be good for her to get out a little," Rieze said generously.

"She wants ice cream." That was a good thing to assign to Rieze.

"Hmm...I'll see what I can work up. Do you know what flavor?"

Akatsuki slowed down her dance to consider that. "I'll ask. Some native flavors don't work."

"That's fine. Let me know when you know."

"Okay. ...Isuzu's concert will be noisy. Can we do quiet just us?" Parties with the ladies could get rather rowdy if limits weren't put on them early.

"Oh, it's Isuzu's concert is it? Yes, we can do that. Do you want me to hunt up a place?"

"Please...with Nazuna." It would be good to include others so people didn't feel left out.

"What's Henrietta doing?"

"Don't know yet."

"You haven't told them yet?" Rieze asked, surprised.

"No. They're next."

Rieze laughed, likely happy she got to hear first, and because it was going to be fun to get to tell them, too. "Alright. Tell Henrietta to call me after she gets the scoop on what Marie wants to have there, too."

"Okay." That was right, too. It was Marielle's party, after all. "Will you tell the rest? But keep it secret."

"I can do that. Is Tetorō going to be there?"

Akatsuki frowned. "I don't know. I think...he'd like to see everyone. But...he's had enough Purrcy - for a long time. And has to go back."

Rieze sighed. "Well, there is that. He can decide before we split after the concert dinner."

"Mmm!" Akatsuki thought that would be a good way to go about it. She wasn't going to ask him before then...maybe. Unless he looked like he needed to plan for it. She skated with the wind to turn towards where the wedding stage was set up. "Later."

"Later." Rieze didn't mind short endings, and Akatsuki was grateful for that part of the friendship, too.

She landed near the stage, where Henrietta was directing as usual and Marielle was cheering everyone along as usual. She decided she should at least wait until the rest of her guild arrived. It was guild news to share, after all, though it was hard to wait because she was so excited.

She slipped next to Shouryuu and helped take the other end of his burden. He looked up at her in surprise, since she'd showed up "out of nowhere". "About time," he said in relief, then looked at her more closely. "That's some smile."

She looked up at him in surprise. "It shows?"

He smiled. "It was. Good news?"

She smiled happily again. "Yes." She closed her lips over the words that shouldn't be said yet.

He gave her a knowing look, recognizing that particular sign. "Your end goes over there," he pointed. She found the spot and gave a nod.

By the time the swags were up in place the rest of her guild that could come now to help had arrived. She slipped over to join them. "Can we say it first?"

"Sure," Minori said and inspected her. "You want to?"

"Yes," Akatsuki said soberly, her head nodding a little more excitedly than normal. Her guild family smiled and gave permission.

"Thank you for waiting for us," Minori praised her effort and kindness.

"It would hurt," she answered.

"Well...we'd still forgive you," Touya said. "We know how much you've been wanting her to be with everyone."

Akatsuki blushed. She hadn't realized they'd all seen it before she'd understood it, though that wasn't an uncommon occurrence, really. "Thanks."

They walked with her over to where Marielle was waving at some boys trying to get a decoration up right where she wanted it place. They waited patiently until it was in place and she could give them her attention.

"Hey, everyone," Marielle said brightly. "Glad you could make it." She let a breath whoosh out her lungs as she brushed her curly blond hair out of her face, making her pointy elf ears show. "Glad we can finally get this show unboxed and on the road, too. Is she in yet?"

Akatsuki put her finger to her mouth and looked over to Henrietta. Marielle's eyes widened and she called for Henrietta and shepherded them to a more private spot. "What is it? What's the news?" Marielle asked with suppressed excitement.

"Hahaue's home, but in hiding until tomorrow evening." Akatsuki said.

Henrietta sighed and rolled her eyes at Shiroe's secrets. "Is she doing okay?" Marielle asked with concern.

"Yes. Nyanta-san was with her so she's okay. Nyanta-san's better now she's here, too." That brought concerned looks from both of them, but Akatsuki shook her head. "He's home for that long, too." They relaxed.

"That's good, that they can really be together, even if it's short," Marielle said. Akatsuki and the others all agreed.

Akatsuki shifted, hardly able to contain her other good news. She looked at Henrietta, who raised an eyebrow and paid attention. Carefully Akatsuki asked Marielle, "What do you want to do for your bachelorette party tomorrow night?"

Marielle looked confused for a moment, but after a single blink Henrietta got it and a real smile came to her lips. "She can go?"

Akatsuki nodded one solemn nod, then let her happy come out. Henrietta blushed and looked away, but Marielle got it finally and grabbed Akatsuki in one of her sudden exuberant hugs, spun them around, and put her back down, patting her absently. "Henrietta, did you hear that? -" They all shushed her quickly and she dropped to a whisper, "Purrcy can come be with us. Isn't that wonderful!"

"Yes, yes, I heard it," Henrietta allowed with a smile. She looked back at Akatsuki. "What are the rules?" That calmed Marielle down a little, but Log Horizon continued to smile with her.

"Not too long. Quiet. After dinner and Isuzu's concert at Grandpa's Kitchen. Purrcy isn't here until the dinner." Akatsuki reviewed to make sure there wasn't anything else. "She's requested ice cream and talk, but we want to know what Marielle wants." She paused again, "and I invited Tatara on my way here. Sorry."

"No, it was on your way," Henrietta said magnanimously. Marielle was just a little put out, then remembered she still had the news first since just then one of the heavier decorations dropped with a crash.

"It's okay!" "We're okay!" was called out, so the two guild heads turned back with relieved sighs.

"We'll go help," Touya said. "You girls can finish working out the details without us." He and Rudy smiled and took off towards the sounds of people still wrestling with the heavy decoration.

"Oh, is that why you're so late? She got in this morning and you were all saying hello." Marielle smiled at them.

"Yes, that's right," Minori answered. "We're sorry, but we've come as soon as we can. Naotsugu sends his apologies as well, but he needs to make sure Tetorō's okay before he can come. He'll be right along as soon as he can, he's promised."

"Okay," Marielle said soberly. "Is Tetorō okay?"

"Not so much," Isuzu answered in her dry tones, "but we think he'll recover okay. He just needs couch time."

Henrietta and Marielle both nodded their understanding at that. Marielle put her hand to her cheek. "What do I want?" she asked herself, her eyes going distant. She sort of froze for a moment, then came back with a gasp, shaking her head. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Henrietta frowned at her.

"I thought I saw ...something."

Akatsuki went stiff. She recognized that from Shiroe's conversations with William. "Duchess. What was it?" she asked urgently.

"It was...an empty room, and someone was crying in the background." Her eyes slowly went to look at Akatsuki. "Were you crying?"

Akatsuki shook her head, denying it, but her heart fell. She didn't want to hear that at a time she was happy. Minori saw it, though, and took her arm. "What is it, Akatsuki?"

Akatsuki sighed unhappily. "Elvin leader's vision." Marielle was surprised, but looked like she'd heard of it. "William talks about them."

"Why me?" Marielle asked.

"Duchess," Akatsuki said again. Marielle looked a little frightened.

"Ah," Isuzu interjected, "meaning you're the Grand Duchess of Akiba. So if there are things that you need to know about the city or the people in it, you are the elf that will get visions relating to it. Like William-san does for Susukino."

"Oh," Marielle said in a small voice. "Well, I didn't really like that one, though I suppose it could have been worse."

"Do you know what it meant?" Minori asked.

Marielle shook her head. "It was real short. Not much to go on."

Akatsuki, however, had nodded her head. They blinked at her and she took a breath for courage. "It was me. But it isn't past or now. It's future. Purrcy and Nyanta will be gone. I will have to stay away from Shiroe. I am alone in the house in the future." She was swallowed up in not one hug, but two this time as Henrietta couldn't help herself and joined in with Marielle. Akatsuki tried not to die of asphyxiation until Minori and Isuzu could free her.

"You _must_ come over when it gets so horrible," Henrietta demanded and Marielle nodded quite vigorously in agreement.

"Akatsuki," Minori said sadly, "is it already hard? That we aren't there with you, either?"

Akatsuki didn't say anything for a while. She didn't want to hurt her juniors, but...she should also tell the truth of how she felt so they could help, if they could. "Yes. Some. It will be harder then."

Isuzu and Minori looked at each other - the look of guildmates trying to decide what could be done. "Come help us at Grandpa's Kitchen," Minori finally said. "Come to wash dishes, or sweep the floors and wipe down tables. You don't have to talk to people to do those things, though you could still if you wanted to. You can come just whenever you need to get away and to be around other people - to remember that you aren't alone and locked in the house. If it gets real bad, and even we're staying there, you can come stay with us. There are enough bedrooms."

Henrietta got quiet and still. They looked at her. She trembled slightly, then sighed, giving a nod. "With your guildmates would be best, but please come to us, too, if you don't need to go so far away."

Akatsuki gave a promise nod. They cared and she was grateful for that. "But, why would you see that when you were trying to see your party?" she asked Marielle, confused.

"I don't know?" Marielle was almost as confused. She thought about it again, then said in chagrin, "...because I was thinking of me, not everyone else. It was reminding me that this is your last time, too, to have fun with everyone." Her eyes looked kindly at Akatsuki. "We should do something that gives you, and all of us, a happy memory to hang onto when it gets bad like that, something to remind us of what we want when it's all over. We'll have to promise that we'll get together again then to celebrate our own little victory."

Akatsuki nodded, but a little sadly. "That one will be without Purrcy. This is her last one."

The others were stricken. "Ever?"

Akatsuki paused. "Maybe...when it's _all_ all over, we'll get to have one more...maybe." She looked down at the ground. "She will be in the States the next one we have."

"Oh, that is rather hard to just show up here for, then, isn't it?" Marielle said rather practically. Akatsuki looked back up at her, and her friend's expression helped her feel a little better.

"Do - do we know about the festival yet?" Henrietta asked quietly, concerned.

The other three shook their heads. "Shiroe didn't ask," Minori explained.

"Then we should ask at the bachelorette party," Henrietta said firmly, pursing her lips.

Akatsuki looked at Minori. She really wanted to play her part again in the play. Minori was thinking hard. She did so well at coming up with things to help people meet their goals.

"She had so much fun last time. But that was her party," Minori said it hesitantly, looking at Marielle. Marielle encouraged her to keep going. "If we asked her to direct it more formally, and we recorded it, we could use that to practice from for the real thing. We'd have her with us that way, in the way we'd like, even though she couldn't be there in person."

Henrietta got her accountant's calculating look on her face. "That suggestion has merit," she said, approving. Now she also looked with hope at Marielle. They all knew it was her party, but they did want to do this, too. And it might be their only opportunity.

Akatsuki said softly, "And if I had a recording, I could use it to keep me company when it gets hard."

"Can you record? Can any of us?" Marielle asked.

They all shook their heads. "The Eagles can," Akatsuki said firmly.

"Well, that's true," Henrietta said dryly. They all remembered last time when they'd been the ones to watch without permission. "Though if we invited one or two they might ask for that as payment - to show everyone."

"Unless we ask them to keep it secret to surprise everyone at Minami," Akatsuki disagreed.

"Well, it wouldn't really be necessary," Marielle said with a little shrug. "If we know ahead of time, we might try harder and we couldn't be angry. It was that they did it in secret." The others nodded at that.

"Maybe it will make them work harder, too," Akatsuki said dryly. The others chuckled.

"Well..., I did have a good time, and it was fun to see everyone having fun together," Marielle allowed. "Does it fit in with the rules?"

The three from Log Horizon thought about it. "I think so," Minori said. Isuzu agreed a little later. Akatsuki was worried, but she couldn't see why it wouldn't unless they took too long, though it hadn't seemed like too long last time. She finally gave a cautious nod of agreement.

"Then ask," Henrietta said kindly, "just to make sure. But I think we should plan on it, if you're agreeable, Marie."

"As long as it stays like last time - fun and light. We don't want to turn it into a big production that wears us all out." They rest agreed with her. Purrcy might leave if it did that, and that would be counter to both "quiet" and "short".

"Henrietta," Akatsuki knew it was her turn next. "Rieze wants you to call her and talk to her about the details."

"Ah. I'll be sure and keep her and Nazuna tamed, then, shall I?" Akatsuki nodded a grateful nod. Henrietta had understood.

"...But, ...I think you could tell them ...to dress their parts," Akatsuki smiled at her tease. She wanted to dress her part, too.

Henrietta's look was very similar. "I think I'll just do that." They shared a grin, then had to break up the meeting. Both Henrietta and Marielle were being called for. They'd been kept from their jobs too long already.

The five women walked happily back to the decorating, looking forward to the coming activities. The wedding would be just as exciting and happy, too. Akatsuki danced the currents as she helped put up the rest of the bunting. It was a good floating day.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe...was actually _not_ at the Log Horizon guild hall. He had work to do. He'd taken Secretary and Charlie with him into town and most of his chores there were now completed. It was nice to have the distraction of common, regular things to do to keep him moving forward like he was supposed to. Something simple after a rather surprisingly difficult night and morning.

It had helped that Purrcy had come willing to heal, not needing to be healed herself so much by then. Her regular pattern of greeting everyone with hugs and individual attention had helped, too. So had her scolding of everyone once she'd understood what she'd caused them all to go through. "You know I've died before. I was a Vengeful Spirit without a body for months on end, though you've forgotten. - Which is okay because I'd rather like to forget it also."

"But did you have to go through _that_ before?" she'd been asked.

With a sad sigh, she'd been sympathetic. "I'll grant that was slightly different, but those memories come on recombination. I did finally have to go through that to get back here once my work was done. It was hard, so I do understand, and I'm grateful for your concern for me. Please, don't let it trouble you." They'd been able to let it go then and restart their day properly.

That had made Shiroe start thinking though. Like the wedding ceremony for them was different because of their unusual circumstances, both of the experiences that had been explained at breakfast were also uniquely Theldesian Adventurer. He was spending his spare brain cycles on the idea of making them formalized events, though it seemed both odd and pretentious.

They certainly weren't celebrations. Like Nyanta and Purrcy had asked for, they were more moments for mourning. But they'd done that - naturally gathered to mourn together, like they naturally wanted to gather to celebrate things like weddings, and probably even births, truth be told.

He wondered how much of their sorrow had been for that as well. For knowing that the first Adventurer children were going to be born to this planet to people who would rather not if they didn't have to. Even worse this time that they'd been born stillborn, though that had also been not unexpected and ultimately relieving.

Like for the wedding, births would contain sorrow and grief mixed with hope and properly some happiness, if they could get that far. He raised his head to the sky as he let the feelings slide through and around him and decided that must have been rather a lot of it, actually, and it hadn't been addressed. If he was right, it would come up again because it hadn't. And maybe he should make it come back up by tonight if it didn't so they could all face the rest of the time they had Purrcy and Nyanta with them with the joy and excitement they all wanted to.

And...he'd better talk to Purrcy and probably Nyanta first, just to make sure. That's what they were good at understanding and they might find it too private, though he wasn't sorry he'd made them face their own wedding openly. If others were going to harbor things unaddressed on the child issue, he wouldn't blink at making them be open to that too, he just didn't want to misstep as badly as he had last time.

That figured out, he filed it in his to-do list and sought out the next thing that needed mental research and study. He was interrupted by a door being opened in his face and someone waiting on him to enter whatever room it was. He quickly came back to the present and sighed. "Right. I was thinking orthogonal to this. Glad you've got the schedule in hand again, Secretary." He glared at the man. "Really, I would far rather know your name. That's just too difficult." He got the same silent smile he always got. He was going to give Secretary a name himself one of these days.

They were in the sales room of Shopping District 8. Shiroe gave a nod to the clerk as he led the other two on through to the back, barely taking note, though approving, that she called to let Calasin know he was on his way. Secretary opened the next door for him also, then held up a hand to defend himself as they walked into the warehouse.

"Guildmaster Shiroe. You know where we come from. We aren't much different from your own people. Because we don't speak the language natively, we find it humorous and perfectly acceptable to use common Japanese words as names. I took the _name_ 'Sho...ki', however your translator keeps translating it instead of leaving it as a name." Secretary put the long pause in the middle of the word to make the translator let him say it as a name.

"And since we were on the Japan server on untranslated computers, it translates it the same way now for everyone else. Even Prince Singh thought we were all strange to have names like that. I suspect when we get to the States, they'll all laugh as well because they'll also see 'Se-cre-tar-y' instead of 'Sho-ki'. It's an odd artifact we didn't expect." He said the English word that was the equivalent translation carefully so that the translator didn't translate that one either.

"Okay, I can see that," Shiroe agreed, "but you all know how to change your screen data now. Why not just fix it?"

Secretary grinned. "Because we think it's funny."

Shiroe grumbled at him further, knowing full well it was because they wanted to stay in hiding as long as they could, but Calasin was hurrying up to meet them, so he had to let it drop. "I'm here to pick up the clothes for my guild for the wedding."

"All of them?" Calasin asked. Shiroe gave him a baleful look. Calasin got the hint. "Right. This way." He led them to the back sewing room where Purrcy's wedding clothing had been kept last time.

Shiroe looked the whole wedding party clothing over one more time, nodded his acceptance, then motioned for his part of them. Calasin pointed to each set, naming who it was for. Shiroe placed each outfit in one of his guildmaster list boxes as it was exactly and added to his label the person's name. He'd learned that much tag change, using his Scribe magic instead of a pseudocode spell, which he was rather pleased with. When Calasin got to Tetorō's, Shiroe didn't bat an eye. It just went in and got labeled. It was the same with Purrcy's.

When they were done, Calasin asked, "Isn't it going to be awkward to have siblings getting married?" Shiroe looked a question at him. "Purrcy's the mother of both the bride and the groom, and I assume Nyanta the father?"

Shiroe allowed a faint smile at that. "Adventurers are already strange. That isn't so difficult to understand. And who are the rest of us to say they aren't if the children say it's so? Adopted children don't share blood, though they share parents."

"Well, true enough," Calasin agreed, "and it's not like they've been adopted to take the name."

"No. It's not that," agreed Shiroe. "Only the common bond of care and concern."

"Has the date been declared, then?" Calasin asked as they walked back out of the room.

"Yes," Shiroe said quietly. "Saturday."

Calasin sighed. "Always so little time after so long. But it's nice it can finally happen now." Shiroe nodded. "Nyanta and Purrcy are at their...three month anniversary time frame, right? And only been together for a little over one of those months," he shook his head sadly.

"That's the official number. They've been in omiai since June, but it's still been one third of the time together, two-thirds apart."

"Jet-setters and high class businesses," Calasin was wry.

"I wish it was only that," Shiroe said, a little bitter for their sake, even if it was his fault half the time.

"Still, they chose it didn't they?" Calasin was looking at him with sympathy.

"They claim they knew what they were getting into. Now that we're this far into it, I suspect she really did tell Nyanta the full outline from the start. There's no way he'd be suffering through so much torture if he hadn't known from the beginning. He'd have gotten angry and pulled out long ago."

"I think so, too," Calasin said quietly. He took Shiroe's arm in his hand and gripped it. "Shiroe. You've got to trust that. Trust that they know, that he knows, what's going on. That will help them do their part, too, and will let you be able to do your part without worrying so much. Ulcers won't help you, them, or us. We appreciate your hard work, and I'm sure we'd be lost if you didn't, but let the worry pass over you and let it go."

Shiroe looked at Calasin curiously. He let go and took a breath, looking away. "My dad...did that. Over-worried. It wasn't helping him, or us. We don't talk about it much in our country, but everyone works very hard, and often too hard. We hide it behind alcohol, anger at home, running away, whatever we can to not acknowledge it, but it's still there. A lot suffer in silence until they can't take it any more...and then they break and have to be hospitalized until they can work their way back up to doing it all over again."

He looked back, his eyes carrying pain. "Sometimes I wish we could break that cycle in our country. It's good to work hard and look at what you've done with pride, then move on to the next thing. I don't think it's so good to use ourselves up over and over until there's nothing left of us. There has to be a better way. A way to work hard, but to not overwork. While we're here and not there, try to find the right balance, Shiroe. We need you to not break in the middle of this. We're helping you carry it. Let some of that go."

Shiroe sighed and put his hand on Calasin's shoulder. "Thank you. I am trying to learn how to. I'll accept the scolding and reminder. I know it's important for this round. This morning was hard and I called on Crusty. He came right away. He's got my back, like Naotsugu does, and Isaac's helping him hold me up, too. I hear Purrcy's scoldings all the time in the back of my head, and I'm practicing being obedient to them, since those are almost always - well, always so far - right, too."

He looked into Calasin's eyes. "I really appreciate that you let me lean on you in this way, too. Having to not worry about the right clothes is something that I may seem to abuse you on, but it's very important to me. The right gear always wins or loses the battle, even if people don't always recognize it. It would be much harder to do what needs to be done without you and what you provide."

"It feels so small, Shiroe. For all you do abuse me on it." Calasin protested and complained in the same breath.

"I know it does, but how fast was Raynessia able to win the hearts of the Adventurers of Akiba in one Valkyrie outfit compared to how long she would have had to beg in the dress of the nobles of Eastal whom we look down on without saying we do?"

Shiroe shook his head. "Clothing is small in the eyes of many, but for me, it's a critical component of the steps that need to be taken. To be able to rely on you so completely to meet my needs quickly...I'm extremely grateful." He pressed Calasin's shoulder again, then let him go when he silently acknowledged the thanks. "I'll continue to work on worrying less and trusting others more," he promised and took himself out of Shopping District 8.

"Was there anything else on the list to do today while we're out?" Shiroe asked Secretary while his eyes took in everyone and everything in the area. One of the reasons he didn't come out much by himself was because he spent a lot of time calculating for possible battle - social or otherwise - as he walked. When alone, he wasn't distracted by his guildmates who helped him relax by letting him know they were handling it.

Secretary paused, then said, "You have six hidden Eagles following you, and all of us are well trained in surveillance and intelligence gathering, and we report regularly to you on our findings through the Commander or Lieutenant Commander. You can also not-worry about that."

Shiroe looked at him in a little surprise. "Okay. But sometimes I like to confirm it."

"You did that already. If the street changes between visits, you'll notice that appropriately."

Shiroe gave him a suffering look. "And you'll train me out of perfectly good habits so I'm helpless without you lot when you take off for other shores. I just came from three weeks of not having you all around. I'll continue practicing brief essential moves, though I'm grateful for the help also."

Secretary bowed his head. "Just making sure."

Shiroe nodded once, then continued on. Secretary was quiet as he went through the day's to-do list, then shook his head. "You're done. I think the last on the list was, 'keep hiding from Ains', and we need to turn left here to make sure that happens today."

Shiroe immediately turned a sharp left down a side street. He'd be very obedient to keeping to that line item today. He really wasn't ready to face the man, and he'd rather not until Purrcy was gone again. They made it a third of the way down the street and Charlie was opening a door and Secretary was shepherding all three of them into it.

They continued to walk Shiroe through the building, turning a few corners along the way, until they came out a door on the other side. They walked across the street and into another building. When that door was closed, Shiroe asked blandly, "Is he actively hunting me today?"

"We believe so," Secretary answered.

Charlie was talking quietly as they waited in a wider hallway. He gave a nod. "Roger. Mister Shiroe, the officers would like to hide your footsteps just a little more. We think they've got a marker on you. He's been training up Hackers on the quiet and they walk and code a little differently than we do. We're sorry, but we'd like permission to handle your person."

Shiroe wasn't too comfortable with that. "In what way?"

"We'd like to take you up. Most people don't look up, though eventually they will. We'd like to be able to fly you from building to building until we're outside their net far enough they can't catch up to us on foot. The main force will meet us at that point and we'll have enough to provide a proper cordon for you to get home."

"I'm not sure I like making it obvious I ran away," Shiroe said.

"We're not sure we like him trying a surprise oblique attack instead of scheduling a meeting," Secretary answered back blandly.

"Well...when you put it that way," Shiroe had to agree. "You're wanting to treat it as a friendly-fire test of your skills, then?"

"Yes. Us against his team. It feels rather like that's what he's set it up to be, except he decided to include you in it." It was obvious they were as unhappy about that as Shiroe was.

"And we've stood here long enough for them to be at the doors," Shiroe commented.

"Indeed," they opened the door next to them and it led to stairs. Shiroe gave a nod and walked through the door and up the stairs, three at a time since his legs were long enough. They kept up. Once they were on the roof, they quickly made their way to the edge of the building.

He allowed them to pick him up and carry him across the gap, just sailing silently on their outstretched wings in a glide. They ran to the opposite edge near the next building over, did the same, then set him down and pulled out a net that they spread out on the roof.

Gesturing for him to sit in the middle, he moved to do so. It was pulled up around him and the two of them took off for full flight this time, rising as quickly as they could to much higher heights. He worked on enjoying the unique perspective of looking down over the city, and back at the roof they'd left first, instead of worrying about the drop height.

It looked like those who had made it to the roof had been stunned with Paralysis, as they weren't moving. His six protectors were probably three or just these two at this point. The others would have stayed behind to cover his tracks.

Shiroe put an elbow on a knee and rested his chin moodily in his hand, his eyes watching the scenes passing by below him. It was a rather odd way for a King to fly by magical carriage and slightly reminded him of the wicked witch of the _Wizard of Oz_ and her flying magical monkeys, but he wasn't going to tell the Eagles that. That would most surely be an insult. What a crazy day this was turning out to be.

They set him down gently outside the populated areas of Akiba, right in the middle of a circle of Eagles, as if they'd helicopter lifted him from town and out to his estate - though they weren't quite at home yet. He rose to his feet and stepped out of the net and it disappeared.

They got walking right away, Charlie staying connected to the other Eagles that were surely keeping the rest of the path home clear. Of course, it being a game world, they wouldn't get home without some kind of gauntlet and when it finally appeared, he sighed.

"Parlay or push on through?" Charlie asked him for orders quietly.

"Take them out," he answered. "If they want to talk, tell them you've appreciated the offer for further in-city training."

"Yessir," Charlie went back to quietly speaking to pass on the orders.

Shiroe opened a guild chat. "Who's holding down the house? I'm on my way in."

"I'm here," Tetorō answered. "Nyanta and Purrcy are still holed up in their room. Naotsugu left just a few minutes ago. Isaac might still be here, though. I'm up on the roof."

"Look around for Ains or one of his seconds. They've been hunting me for the last fifteen minutes, since I came out of Shopping District 8. Keep him out of the house."

"Oooh. Can I play?" Tetorō sounded a little too interested in doing damage.

Shiroe refused. "Stay there. If I need backup to even get in the door, you can be the hidden ace."

"Sweet. Shall I check on Isaac or will you?"

"I'll contact him next."

"Later. Ulp. Yep, Ains just showed up. Call Isaac quick to keep him out," Tetorō recommended.

Shiroe added Isaac to the chat. "Isaac. Don't let Ains in. He's hunting. Literally."

"Bastard as usual when he gets his pants in a twist. Do you want me to walk out and run into him?" Isaac asked.

"No. I'm about five away. Let me keep you as part of the back up...and I'll keep you in the conference chat as well so we can claim you as a neutral witness to the confrontation." Shiroe's day was suddenly finding it's low point.

"Do you want me back?" Naotsugu asked.

"No. I suspect he's come out because he knows you've left. The increase in wedding preparations has probably been his push point. Most of the city knows we've been postponing until Purrcy comes back, and you know how he feels about her.

"The Eagles are treating it as their next in-city training operation and that's fine with me. You're already late to help Marielle and we don't need to pander to him and give him those points, too."

"Alright," Naotsugu wasn't thrilled, but understood. "I'll leave it up to you two, then, Isaac and Tetorō."

"Perv." Akatsuki interrupted with a request to trade out.

"...Fine, Shrimp, if they're okay with it," Naotsugu answered.

"I'm done flying. You can handle the rest."

"Okay," Naotsugu, and Shiroe, felt a little better at that.

Shiroe wasn't going to turn her away if she wanted to come and if she really had done enough helping to make a showing, so he didn't comment. She'd also come in fast and invisibly so wouldn't set off clues. "Ah, Stiletto, make sure she can't show up on any of their maps. We don't need them to know her movements." He got back the odd click they used to signal they'd heard and would obey, but couldn't speak or they'd be compromised.

Shiroe had a sudden, rather surprising thought, "And Purrcy, no you can't help. Stay out of it." He'd completely forgotten she would hear the guild chats when she was in town. She probably heard them up on the mountain, too. He shook his head at himself. "I think you can hold her down, Nyanta. We don't really want them to know you're Chichiue right at the moment either, since that's an almost-give-away. If it gets bad we'll call you in, but I can't imagine that happening, since I agree with the Eagles that he's testing more than anything."

"Understood, Councilor-nyan," Nyanta answered back calmly.

"Guildmaster Shiroe." It was Rudy. "If this was a Person of the Land city and situation...once they resurrect, if they haven't gotten what they wanted, will they revert to sabotage?"

"Good point," Naotsugu grumbled.

Shiroe considered that for the next few steps. It looked like any number of the Eagles around him agreed with the question. Likely they would expect it as well, given their training. "Let me see how the parlay goes. I should be able to get a better feel for that from talking to him. I also might be able to get him to back down if he is thinking along those lines."

The guild hall was just coming into view. The encircling Eagles faded away, but Shiroe suddenly had two rather large guards walking behind him and the two he'd already had who moved to be in front of him. It was a fair exchange. Michael and Reed were the most quietly fiercesome of the lot, particularly when together. "How's the in-city part coming along?" he asked, off chat.

"Completed," Michael reported calmly. They must have come from that, then. Sometimes they were part of his hidden guard. "Thanks for the exercise option."

"No problem." He had his own reasons, of course.

"Shiroe..., can I try something...outside and extra. Won't interfere, I think." It was Akatsuki, who was probably worried about the fun being ruined.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I've told my friends about the party tomorrow. Can I tell them we've been sending gifts to the Cathedral?"

Every Eagle who wasn't in complete hiding snorted with laughter, and even Michael and Reed were giving off humored auras behind Shiroe. "I do think we all like that idea, actually," Shiroe agreed dryly. "As long as they don't push it too far and only say they heard the rumor a group might be trying to infiltrate and destroy the happiness of the city this week." They were, of course, remembering the last time the ire of the ladies had been awoken. "And that's a good point. We could get interference from other places as well. Naotsugu, contact Souji."

"On it," he was answered immediately.

"You can go ahead and tell Nazuna separately, Akatsuki," Shiroe offered. He got back a simple voiced affirmation she'd heard. He stopped walking forward, pushed up his glasses, and raised his eyes to glare at Ains. Ains was standing in front of his door, facing him with his arms folded and his lips pursed. "Is there a reason you can't just call me or schedule a meeting, Ains?" he asked.

"You have something locked up in your house I want freed, Shiroe, and you're not getting in until you let it go."

"Theft as well, is it, in addition to attempted attacks on my person?"

Ains glared at Shiroe. "Attempts to keep you away long enough for me to talk to someone you keep hidden away. To have your power consolidated with the wedding, and Isaac and Crusty both eating out of your hands now, in addition to cowing Marielle, Soujirou, and more than half of the Round Table Council, I think you've gone too far outside the bounds of rationality. You've started the full wedding proceedings, thus Miss Purrcy has arrived. It's time she was let loose of your claws as well - for the greater good of the city."

"She could go anytime she wants," Shiroe answered. "You know the law is that no one is forced to remain in any guild."

"Maybe she could, but I believe that for the greater good of all, she needs to be guildless, so her loyalties aren't to any one guild, but to the city as a whole."

"I don't believe her loyalties are to Akiba," Shiroe said smoothly. "Her overarching goals are much bigger than that, Ains. It is convenient for her to be a Log Horizon guild member, and she is married to Nyanta-san who is one. That is all."

"It's too much power in one set of hands, and you aren't necessarily the best hands. She doesn't have to be guilded to her husband's guild. That is not a requirement." Ains disagreed. "Let me talk to her and see if she might be persuaded to understand the full situation."

"I believe it was you who said you distrusted her when she stopped by your guild," Michael said blandly. "How can you trust her guildless?"

"Will you make her part of your guild in a strange attempt to feel like you've balanced the power again?" Shiroe asked, "When you don't even like her? I think that would be a terrible tragedy, to demand she guild with someone who can't like her or trust her. Who would be happy in that case?"

Ains gave an impatient sweep of his hand. "If she won't come to Honesty, then guildless will be sufficient, particularly if she really doesn't have any loyalties to Akiba. That should free up some of her time, I would think, to not have to answer to you."

"Ains," Shiroe said warningly, "I said it at the meeting she was introduced at. She doesn't answer to me - or to any of us. She has things she tells me, and I may make requests. That is all it is, and anyone who talks to her can do the same."

"Except no one else can talk to her," Ains argued petulantly. "Even if I come, you won't let me in, and she can't be friendlisted."

Shiroe blinked, slightly surprised Ains had tried. "Did you bother to ask politely first? I haven't received a request from you in all this time to schedule a meeting with her when she did arrive. I'm not sure you're being quite honest, Ains. Why ask your guild to send out restraints and attacks on me, when it's her you wanted to talk to, even? You've acted in a very irrational way, I think, Ains."

Ains rubbed his thumb on his temple. He took his time to answer that one. "I wanted to know how my own guild fared against your _guards_ , and the guild was keen to know as well." He said the word "guards" with biting accusation, too, but the last bit didn't bode well.

"They all wanted to know, did they? Then they won't take any offense, I'll expect, that the sub-guild thought it would be quite fun to participate."

"Why do you even have them, Shiroe?" Ains asked quietly, getting just a little dangerous in feel.

"They were an unexpected gift," he answered. "I think I'm glad I have them around today." He said it pointedly.

"It wouldn't even be necessary...and shouldn't be either," Ains answered back.

"And I should remain the weakest guild on the Council, why, Ains?" Shiroe asked quietly.

Ains glared at Shiroe, almost too angry for words. Shiroe was angry, but he was withholding his words on purpose. "Because, Shiroe, one person shouldn't be able to make an entire city move to his whims. The city should care for it's own and the council as a whole should continue to see that every member is able to move forward equally."

"When have I ever not done that, Ains?" Shiroe could feel himself slipping into cold fury.

Naotsugu said quietly on the guild line. "Get him out. Now."

"It's time to go, Guildmaster Ains," Michael said as both he and Reed moved to stand forward of Shiroe. They allowed their presence to become menacing. "I'm sure we can let Miss Purrcy know you want to talk to her when she arrives. If she's willing one of us will let you know and schedule a proper meeting with you."

The door to the guildhall opened, and Isaac walked out. He took Ains' elbow. "I think that's quite enough. Let me make sure you get home in one piece. Pushing Shiroe that far was too much, even for you Ains." He didn't let the other guildmaster oppose him, just almost-picked him up and got his feet moving.

"I'm rather offended you think I'm eating out of his hand, by the way, and maybe you'd like to say that to Crusty's face when he thought he was helping you out by being a leash like you wanted," Isaac added as they walked away. That got Ains' feet to stumble forward a little better. Reed held the door and Michael escorted Shiroe into the guild hall in a similar manner, one hand on Shiroe's shoulder.

Shiroe was pushed down onto the couch in the common area and Michael and Reed stood over him, arms crossed. There was a click of a door and a few seconds later Nyanta and Purrcy arrived to sit on either side of him, silently. Purrcy took one of Shiroe's hands and just held it.

"Hahaue!" Tetorō exclaimed on the still-open chat in frustration shortly after.

"No, Tetorō. You can't hurt him, even if we are all frustrated. This is not the time to begin an in-city civil war. We'll let the ladies handle it for now, and you can watch this line."

"That's not fair, Purrcy," Tetorō complained at her.

Shiroe turned to look at her. "What did you do?"

She looked down demurely. "Put a spy link spell on Ains for everyone who wants to protect you. You'll have advance warning from now on." Her free hand came up and a finger drew in the air and suddenly his own status page was up - the one he could see when he called it up.

On it appeared his friend list and it scrolled to Ains' name. As he watched a yellow eye came up next to Ains' name. "Don't listen when you're already mad at him. Only when things are calm. I've added it to Crusty's, Isaac's, and Naotsugu's. I'll add it to yours, too, Akatsuki. You'll be plenty bored enough to listen longer than the rest of them."

Shiroe looked around, not seeing Akatsuki. Then she appeared standing in front of them, a dark look on her face. Purrcy held out her free arm and Akatsuki rushed to her and slipped next to her on the couch, letting Purrcy hold her as her hands clenched together very tightly.

"Thank you for also not going after Ains, as difficult as that was." Purrcy kissed her on the top of her head and held her a little more tightly. "I'm sorry to cause you so much trouble, Shiroe," Purrcy said to him.

Shiroe gave her a baleful glare. "So, do you want to unguild?"

"Of course not." She blinked at him calmly.

"Then how are you sorry, when the trouble will continue?" he scowled slightly.

Purrcy sighed and her whiskers turned up a bit as she wryly answered, "Because the contract is still valid, there's no helping it, is there?"

He slumped in defeat. "No, I guess there isn't." Nyanta patted him on the arm. Shiroe thought it might be in complete agreement, as he had his own contract that wasn't likely to be broken either, yet brought quite a bit of trouble.

Shiroe closed his eyes and breathed, letting it go. He'd already just been scolded after all, for holding on to worries enough to get ulcers. He didn't need to give Ains that point either.


	135. A Rudely Interrupted Date

**A Rudely Interrupted Date**  
 **OR**  
 **What Happens When Purrcy Asks to be Let Out of the House.**

Nyanta's feast at lunch time had been his curry. No one had complained at all and Purrcy had been in heaven. It had been a very nice prelude to a romantic afternoon that had been slow and tender; a hello and a goodbye since they didn't know when the separation would come and three days was a very short amount of time. They'd been close enough to ready to rise and face the guild again when Ains had rudely accosted Shiroe. Sitting with Shiroe was still part of the peacefulness of the afternoon.

As Shiroe recovered, finally sighing and slumping wearily to rest his head on Purrcy's shoulder, Purrcy began to purr to soothe him further. She gave a look to Nyanta and with a humored twitch of whiskers, he also began to purr smoothly. Michael's lip twitched up in a similar manner and he and Reed faded into the background, though they stayed close. Shiroe was sleeping within a matter of minutes, Akatsuki joining him in sleep on Purrcy's other side not too much later.

Speaking softly to not rouse them again, Purrcy said, "I'd like to make tikki masala for dinner, but we've used up several of the ingredients for it making the curry. A quiet date of shopping at the market would be pleasant." The other men perked their ears up, wondering at that. It was the first time ever she'd _asked_ to be let out of the house. "May we go, if we go in disguise?"

"I would find it pleasurable, meow," Nyanta answered.

Michael stood before them, not glaring, but with his arms folded and rather firm. Purrcy held up a conciliatory hand. "Crusty, Naotsugu's busy with the set up. I know you were just here this morning and it's not evening, but given that Isaac just had to escort Ains away from the guild hall and an angry Shiroe was escorted into it, I think you being called in at this time would not be out of line."

"I'm already on my way. Isaac and I just sent Ains packing," Crusty was keeping his own frustrations hidden, as usual, but the undercurrent was there.

"Nyanta and I handled it here. He's sleeping on the couch - cat sleep - so he should be out until the smells of dinner wake him. We need to go shopping so we can actually make dinner."

"And just how are you going to do that?" he asked, as suspicious as Michael.

Purrcy smiled gently. "I'm a TechnoMage. But since Michael wants to know also, listen, the both of you, and let me know if you'll agree to my idea." Her eyes were locked to Michael's now. He gave a sign he'd listen.

-:-:-:-:-

Crusty walked into Log Horizon. Michael and Reed walked out, both Purrceus and Leonid at three-quarter size walking by their sides. As they walked towards town, Michael and Reed discussed just where they should take the werecats to let them run and get the stink off so that Leonid could stay put in the guild hall like he was supposed to. By the time they'd passed the grocers lane, no one could really say if they'd actually left the city or not, but they couldn't be found.

However, there were two felinoids joining the market goers. The female was named Julie and was an orange tabby wearing a casual but smart outfit from H12b. Her boyfriend, Kaito, was a black and white spotted gangster, though watching them walk and flirt through the market 'gangster' was obviously affected. He moved with the grace of a yakuza prince, so it must have been the closest he could find to what he'd enjoy role playing as.

Both Purrcy and Nyanta greatly enjoyed getting to flirt and shop together. They stopped to talk to several of the People of the Land grocers, not in a hurry to get anywhere. When they reached the part that was closest to the main market streets, Purrcy paused, almost in surprise. She turned to Nyanta. "I forgot. For the lassi I need yogurt or ice cream." Her ears fell and she sighed.

Nyanta paused, then said, "Wouldn't a couple out on a date, by nearly requirement, stop at a cafe for an ice cream treat?" Purrcy looked at him quizzically. It wasn't on the approved activities list from her stated plan earlier. Nyanta gestured with his head down the main market street. "There, five shops down, is the ice cream shop. Would mew like some?"

Purrcy's ears perked up and her tail lifted in excitement. "Can we? I really would."

Nyanta quietly let their unseen guards know the slight change in plans, then led her down the street to the ice cream vendor. Purrcy immediately ordered chocolate ice cream with strawberries and hot fudge. No one knew how chocolate ended up in Yamato, since it wasn't natively grown in Japan, but everyone was grateful a substitute had been found.

Nyanta ordered a peach shake and sipped at it as Purrcy happily ate her ice cream at one of the small tables. "Can I see how close it is to the lassi?" Purrcy asked him.

Nyanta gave her a small grin. "Mew want an indirect kiss?"

Purrcy rolled her eyes at him, then said, "If you want that to be part of the role play." She wrinkled her nose at him.

He handed over his shake and she pushed the dish of chocolate ice cream over for him to taste. "Death by chocolate," he commented, handing it back.

"This is close," Purrcy said, handing his shake back to him. "I think I'd still rather make it."

When they were done, they went back up to the stand. "Three gallons of vanilla, please."

The clerk blinked. "You'll run me out fast, ordering that much."

"I'm sorry, I haven't time to make it myself," Purrcy said. "We could have someone come back and pick it up in the next hour or so if you haven't got it right now." Her head tipped and her ear turned thoughtfully, "though if you're going to do that, I'd order more like ten gallons if it could be done."

"That's an expensive proposition," the clerk warned.

Both felinoids looked unimpressed. "Money isn't a purroblem," Nyanta waved a hand. "Can mew do it in time?"

"Let me check with the manufacturers," the clerk asked for time and went to the back briefly. "They can do it in a little over an hour, if that works for you?" he said when he got back.

"Thank you. Make the order under Julie and I'll have one of the others stop by on their way back through," Purrcy said, pleased. The clerk named a price and Purrcy handed it over without haggling. It was a last minute request, after all.

On the way back to the grocery lane, Michael asked on the chat, "Who's going to pick it up and not give away where you're from?"

"How about you do it as one of Kaito's gang members? I'd like to see you in disguise," Purrcy purred. "That is, if you can pull it off."

"Piece of cake," Michael scoffed.

"Well...true enough. Let's see Reed do it, then," Purrcy agreed.

There was a bit of silence. "Really?" It was heavy with sarcasm.

"I'd send every single one of you in to see how you've been doing, but perhaps there will be something else that will test the others," Purrcy answered Reed back rather pragmatically.

"Must you test everyone every time?" Michael sighed. "Ouch! Don't throw things at me!" There was general swearing and muttering for a bit on the line. Purrcy let it go, letting the inner Entangle Trap entangle Reed, too, when he tried to help Michael get out of it. Her ears wiggled since she was pleased with herself.

"What is it, nyan?" Nyanta asked her.

Purrcy kissed him. "Playing with the boys. They wanted to see what I can do now."

"Hmm," Nyanta looked at her, measuring her. "And?"

"I Entangled them. They'll be stuck for a little while."

"Mew took our own guards out?" he scolded her lightly.

"Ah...sorry," her ear tipped in apology. "The challenge offered was too tempting. It's so rare I get to do simple things these days." Nyanta sighed and patted her on the head and led her to the next market stall, deciding to let it drop.

Another four stalls over and he looked at her funny. "What?" Purrcy asked.

"Meow're turning green."

Purrcy sighed. "I'm sorry to interrupt our date. I've been swatting flies and they've been working underneath that, but to deal with it at that more insidious level, I'd have to pay less attention to you. I presume taking that punishment will settle them before dinner. If you'd rather not have a green dyed cat on your arm, I'll deal with it, however." She paused, looking at the code spell inside, then shook her head. "I will have to deal with what's under that, though. Can you spare me for a few minutes?"

"I'd purrefer no green," Nyanta admitted.

Purrcy slipped into the code realm and set a visual clock where every Eagle could see it. It marked the microseconds and milliseconds and a one minute fifty second countdown began. She flew down the code spells being cast at her, mindful of the sticky traps they'd set at every layer. She isolated the more insidious spell under the inking spell and erased it, changed the inking spell to include a wash-and-rinse-cycle after it was done, then gave it a boost so it would complete a little faster.

She had to spiral out of the code at that point. They'd thrown the next one at her inside. She split because she had to also code up a defense against a simultaneous external attack. When both were being dealt with, a third spell was sent against her. She added the defense for that one to her first spell and the third part of her headed to the base of the series of spells. They'd indeed set it up to continue to release spells for every one that she countered to find the count of just how many times she could divide herself (plus one).

She blew that part of the spell up so that a rebound followed it back to the creator, then rerouted the rest of the series that were waiting to go off to those Eagles whose fingerprints weren't hidden well enough, though she modified the one headed to Gareth to be not as severe since she understood full well why he was struggling. She also sent with it a secret package to teach him how to get his fingerprint nearly invisible at even his lower level of capacity. Then she stood back to see what they'd do next.

The rebounded spell had divided and gone to three of them. They'd had enough shielding each that the division of the rebound hadn't hurt them very much. They'd not expected her to change who she sent the others to, and most of those who needed a lighter touch were out of the game.

Her physical shields went up and a few microseconds later her internal defense for the other one went off. She still had to dodge a final rain of internal darts that had been made to write themselves just as the initial part of that spell hit the shields to make an immediate follow-on spell that bypassed the defenses. She was pleased with that ingenuity and awarded points, making them glow as a "+3" over the darts. Those still in the game each got +5 points.

She modified the clock, raising it up into the micro realm only, since Gareth was out. The microsecond count disappeared and the millisecond display now ran as if the microsecond countdown. They didn't need a whole week for the testing. They probably didn't need the one and one third hour either.

She disappeared from her location, walked into the spirit realm, and put Gareth to sleep, then walked back in behind the Maintenance detail and wrappered them in a mesh cage, then disappeared again. She barely escaped Michael's hand grabbing her that time. That had been interesting, to have the creation of a spell be the bait for the trap. She awarded the trap members +1 each, though they were out now as far as she was concerned, and Michael +2.

There was a bit of swearing from the Maintenance detail and a sigh from Michael. "Are you getting cheats from Izanami?"

"No." But she wasn't where her answer was, either. They played until it was just Michael, Reed, and the Intelligence detail. She played dirty, then, and summoned several yokai to sit on Stiletto, who was otherwise the hardest of the three to take out. That took out Bowie who was his partner and therefore had to help get him free before he completely freaked out and took out all of Akiba just to take out the yokai.

Michael showed up and Purrcy disappeared. He was the distraction. BlackJack and Reed were working together on something she didn't like at all. She stayed where she could watch them coding while at the same time dodging Michael each time he showed up. She'd already locked down the ring so he couldn't force her into it this time. That would also have been playing dirty on his side, but she was going to assume such a thing would happen. When the code spell was ready to cast, she finally held still as ikiryō and slipped off as misaki to watch the spell and what the finalists would do.

Michael caught her ikiryō form, then froze slightly when she just stood there, smiling mildly at him, her tail waving softly behind her. As he turned to warn Reed and BlackJack, their spell sparkled just ever so slightly along it's pathway. "Did you two see that?" he asked. "What was in it?" He had shields up around himself immediately.

"I do like the simple solutions," ikiryō-Purrcy commented mildly. "Really I would say everyone has come along very well. Certainly there are lessons to be learned like today's, but by the time we get to the final of this level, I think everyone should be mostly where they should be. Please continue to work hard, everyone."

She returned to her body and Nyanta, the last vestiges of green fading from her fur as the spell meant for her returned very nicely to Reed and BlackJack and enveloped them. Really, overwriting names and targets was simple, and even more so when her own always returned "empty set". Few people thought to modify the return instead of the send, so it wasn't often guarded against.

"I'm sorry, Nyanta. I think we're done, now. Everyone's back to lessons again. I left Michael alone so he can properly guard, now that he's not Entangled any more. Is that satisfactory?" she was properly humble.

"Yes, thank mew," he answered firmly. She properly paid attention to him the rest of the date, pleased that only half a minute at most had passed for them. She wanted as much time and attention from him as he did from her.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy, let them go," Michael chatted with her, sounding just a little desperate. Her ears pricked and her tail question-marked. "Ains' Hackers were waiting to see if you'd start with a test like before and they've let off a volley headed your way. Rather hammer-like."

Purrcy immediately paused all the lessons going on and released the Eagles. Her kitsune portion slipped into the code realm to watch from behind their defensive wall. The Hackers of Honesty weren't as polished and refined, nor as high level actually, but their methods were different enough that it was a serious competition for a while.

Purrcy stole out a few spells and went up a level to research them. "Michael, are you general-ing? Can you pass it to Reed and come here?" She had to send it through the speed translator.

When he showed up, she showed him three of the spells, as if corpses laid open to teach a medical anatomy lesson. "Look here," she had several lines of each spell glow a different color. "Stitched together, they look like this," she pulled up an old code spell and highlighted two lines. "Please verify for me so we can be sure we've got the right pseudocode mage instructor."

His face went dark once he'd verified it for himself. "Went full-on evil, did he?"

"Maybe," she answered at the same time as the rest of her laughed lightly at a dry joke of Nyanta's he'd teased a young female grocer with. She'd liked the joke and had been missing them. "He was at least purchasable by someone else with a grudge against me personally."

She ran her hand over her head. "I'm not sure we should just summarily take him out. One, Ains will then know for sure I'm here, not just doing a pre-arrival test like that one time. Two, Shiroe's careful balance of the city may tumble. I think you should take this to him before moving against the Programmer personally.

"He needs to finish recovering though. Wait until Crusty's got his anger settled back down all the way so he can think coldly and rationally about it again. Likely he'll have you and Reed take care of it, which is better than pitting me against Ains directly, so go ahead and have everyone work up further future responses." Purrcy sighed. "Truce so that both groups end up defending Akiba is fine, too, since you lot won't be here for the long haul." She gave Michael a significant look.

He sighed. "That's the hard way, but not a wrong way to look at it." He gave it a little more thought, then gave a nod. "Okay. We'll take care of this the same as before - as a 'friendly' inner-city competition for training on both sides and let Shiroe handle navigating the waters." He slipped back down to modify the methods of the Eagles slightly and she went back to monitoring in the background and flirting with Nyanta.

"Noisy around here," Tetorō commented from her kitsune shoulder.

"You've gotten better at being invisible in here," she answered him.

"Not like I _want_ to get blasted when there's that much going on," he shot back. "Who is it?"

"It's Ains again. His Hackers had spells up to look for spells going off in-city - which is an important thing - but they showed up after I'd locked down all the Eagles. They were headed for the eye of the storm, looking for me specifically, so he likely told them to be on the watch for another one of my tests - which it was.

"One of the two deserters from the first class is their instructor. Michael's going to take it to Shiroe and see what he wants to do about it next, since they could actually end up useful down the road."

"Hmm," Tetorō wasn't all that thrilled, but he stayed put on her shoulder.

Purrcy wrapped an arm around Nyanta and gave him a kiss as they moved from that vendor and towards the next, having brightened her day a little with their humor and smiles. It always helped them both feel a little better to bring smiles to the faces of others.

She rested her head on his shoulder for a brief moment. "It's so nice to be with you again," she commented softly. Nyanta purred and groomed her ear briefly.

Suddenly the sky above them in the physical realm lit up. Tetorō swore and cast a triple-strong shield over her physical form. Kitsune-Purrcy swore softly as well. "I'm sorry Nyanta," she whispered in his ear just as there was a deafening retort overhead.

Her shield over the grocers lane wavered, caved, then split, shimmering to the ground as if it hadn't been there to begin with. No one was injured, but Nyanta was on the ground, Purrcy kneeling over him calling his name, "Kaito! Kaito!"

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was present immediately in the physical realm, in disguise as one of Kaito's gang. The explosion had been as large in the code realm as it had been in the physical one. He crouched down on the other side of Nyanta. "What happened Julie?"

Purrcy drew in a sobbing breath. "I - I don't know! There was a flash of light and an explosion and then he was falling," she let herself get slightly hysterical and Michael put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to keep 'Julie' present.

Tetorō said bitterly from just at the boundary, "The Programmer knew how to find Nyanta from the internal shielding and targeted him, I presume assuming if anyone was flirting with him it would be Purrcy."

They both looked up at kitsune-Purrcy to find the code winds swirling around her. "No!" Michael called to her. She ignored him.

"Why not?" Tetorō demanded.

"Because they may be the only defenders after we're gone - your only supports," Michael wanted desperately to move, but he had to appear to be helping Julie. "We'd just agreed she shouldn't get involved or take him out."

Tetorō shook his head. "That had his fingerprint all over it and she'd already warned him she'd be the one to take care of him herself, whether she was present in town or not. Shiroe might be able to keep things smoothed over with Ains, but the Programmer's got to pay his own price." It was already too late anyway. The spell had been released.

They watched it go and everything in its way was moved as if space within that realm had warped by its passing. It laser-beamed directly to the student hacker who had graduated to Programmer and enveloped him. Unlike his massive, heavy-handed spell, Purrcy's was like a laser. It merely touched him lightly and he was falling, his HP and MP being drained so fast, right back into her and some back into Nyanta, that he was a husk before he was bubbles.

Michael gave an order to Ground Safety and Aviation Safety to get to the Cathedral for immediate pick-up, then called D.D.D. and asked for immediate back up there to prevent Honesty from picking up the Programmer. He followed that up with a request directly to Soujirou for arbitration between Log Horizon and Honesty at the Cathedral. They'd accept temporary restraint by D.D.D., but the package wouldn't be handed back over to Honesty until after a proper review by the Round Table Council.

When Soujirou asked what it was over, Michael soberly said, "They paid one of the traitor hackers to take down Nyanta since they couldn't get to Purrcy."

That side taken care of, he said more loudly, "Julie, let's get you and Kaito back home and see what happened. We can heal him there."

Purrcy nodded and stood up, waiting for him to pick Nyanta up. When he went for the backpack carry, she helped get Nyanta on his back and walked next to him, her hand to her mouth, the other lightly touching Nyanta's back as she shivered with felinoid tears. Tetorō kept watch over them from inside the code realm while kitsune-Purrcy continued to stand and monitor the battle between the two sides.

They needed to get out of sight of people, which wasn't easy since many people in the grocery market were concerned and sympathetic, though they also understood that they would want to get home quickly, so there were lots of eyes watching them. As soon as he could, Michael took Purrcy's hand and spacial walked them back into the living room of the guild hall.

Michael looked first for Shiroe, scrubbing his disguise. He was still sleeping on the couch. Quietly he said to Crusty, "Get him up. We've got trouble, but he's got to be able to face it cold. It's Ains again." Crusty's face twisted in irritation slightly, then went calm and he nodded.

Tetorō's feet could be heard on the steps, running down from above. Michael walked to Nyanta's door and Purrcy opened it for him. She unrolled the futon and helped to get Nyanta lying down on the it.

Tetorō ran into the room just as Michael was free from his burden. The disguises were lifted from Purrcy and Nyanta as Purrcy held Nyanta's head, setting it gently down. "Are you two alright?" Tetorō asked.

Purrcy nodded silently. She rested her hand on Nyanta's forehead and closed her eyes. Whatever she was inspecting it took about a half-second. She sighed. "No damage to him or the shield, though he may eat me for dinner, in half-centimeter pieces." She leaned over to kiss Nyanta on the lips. "Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty," she said when she rose up again.

Nyanta's eyes opened to look at her, then around at everyone else. "What happened, nya?"

"I'm sorry to put you to sleep so suddenly," Purrcy said humbly.

"You were attacked directly," Tetorō said grimly. "There's a Hacker battle going on that seems to have been a distraction from the real target - which was you apparently. Or Purrcy by association since she can't be found or seen by code in there."

Nyanta's eyes went to Purrcy. "I'm fine. Tetorō got shields up on me fast enough and I got heavier shields up over the market just in time so everyone else is okay, too."

"Who did it?" came from the door. They looked over. Shiroe was standing in the door with Crusty standing behind him, his arms folded.

"One of the two traitor hackers," Tetorō answered solemnly.

Michael shifted. "We fielded a wide attack from multiple Hackers with the same fingerprints as the ones from Honesty earlier. While we were working on that, the equivalent of a heavy bomb went off right over Nyanta."

Purrcy held up a hand. "Let's move into the sitting room and start from the beginning. There's not much time. They just picked up the Programmer and Honesty is starting the argument. Soujirou's not there yet, but he's called on his people so they're in position with D.D.D., and Rieze is also on her way to the Cathedral." Michael helped Nyanta rise to his feet and they trooped out for their emergency battle meeting.

-:-:-:-:-

"The high-explosive spell was targeted to a combined string of 'Log Horizon-felinoid'," Purrcy explained. "If he admits he was targeting us as a guild specifically, he will make Ains angry, or give you ammunition, one or the other." It didn't make anyone happy, though.

Purrcy looked at Nyanta. "I put you to sleep since we were the only felinoids in that zone at the time that were in public. There was a rather complex algorithm that was seeking you specifically, but we need the out that it could have affected any male felinoid given how strong a spell it was. If Kaito hadn't gone down, they could have claimed it was exactly what it was - us out in disguise and OP untouchable. Perhaps we could say that you were headed to the market so were close enough to have it go off in that area, but you weren't seen since you hadn't made it yet into the lane itself."

Purrcy sighed and turned back to Shiroe. "As far as myself and the defense of the area and the attack back on the Programmer... As Tetorō said, I'd already warned him I would take him out if he decided to attack the city. That was a zone-sized attack that would have taken down the guild and damaged the building quite a bit if Nyanta had been in the guild hall. Since we were out, it was against the city, not just a guild. I would have done it from the mountain, regardless." She looked sadly at Michael. "Though I would really have rather he'd left well enough alone."

Michael nodded. "Our initial plan was to treat it the same as before - as a training exercise and let you figure out what to do about the instructor Ains hired to teach his Hackers. It isn't bad to have a second battalion in town getting the practice in as replacements when we go or aren't around. Since he attacked directly, though, he's going to have to go and they'll lose their specific instructor. ...I'm not willing to step in. They've already learned things different from how we code, and letting them learn how to take us out isn't a good idea if Ains is actually approving of this becoming a real war of guilds."

"He's apparently a Demolitions Programmer," Reed commented next. "Every spell he set off himself was explosive, either inside or out or both, like that one. BlackJack's been thrilled to learn a few new things, though he's rather scornful the Demolition Mage is so heavy handed all the time. Most of his students have spell sets that are like gunfire, including a few who have the levels to fire off machine gun spells.

"They lack the finer control for maneuverability, sitting behind heavy shields to stay defended. He hasn't the proper skills to teach them to work as a team, but they've been using what they've learned as general Adventurers and that's plenty good, really, for most jobs." It was implied that wasn't good enough when it came to defending from the Eagles, which suited them all just fine today.

"What _are_ you going to do when they go, and Ains is free to take you out?" Crusty asked, to point out an obvious flaw.

Shiroe shook his head. "There are political ways to work it out." He looked at Purrcy.

Purrcy nodded. "I'll work up a protection spell for the guild hall. It can at least be a bastion. It might go to siege, though, so you'll have to work out those strategies as well." She looked at Tetorō.

Tetorō nodded grimly. "I've got an arsenal already built up, and with another three months of complete boredom ahead, having a goal like that to work towards will be welcome. I'll have the battle reviewed certainly within the first month or less and spend the rest of the time working up countermeasures."

Purrcy looked from him to Michael, a thoughtful expression in her ears and tail. "You two need to switch the teacher-student roles, now, I think."

"I agree," Shiroe said. "Tetorō needs to learn how to be the general, even if he's solo." Michael and Tetorō both nodded acceptance of the order.

"I'll clip and wrap up all the lessons so you can review them, too. If you see the battles from my perspective, you'll learn most of it. We can sit and chat when you've done that and I'll give you the finer points," Michael offered to Tetorō.

"Works for me." Tetorō's response was grim.

"You'll want to get in practice, though, if you're going to actually lead," Michael warned and Crusty nodded his head in agreement.

Tetorō sighed. "That will be harder until I'm back, but we can only do so much." That was true so they moved on.

The door opened and Clocktower walked in, his bow in hand and his double quiver of arrows on his back, and wearing heavy leather armor. He was followed by Avionics, who had a Firebird on his shoulder and a WolfHound at his heels and was wearing a red defensive robe that split up the center front and back from the hem so he could run and walk without restrictions to his movement. OciferJeff was dressed in plate armor and had a war ax and large round shield strapped to his back.

"Well, now don't you all look like proper Adventurers today?" Tetorō teased slightly.

They glanced at him, but stayed serious as they moved to face Michael and Reed directly. "The outer perimeter is secured, including Crescent Moon's building. We've got flight-ready teams on top of both buildings. So far things at the Cathedral are holding at a steady simmer with both Soujirou and Rieze handling it now.

"Ains has sent a party out and they're watching this place, dressed rather Adventure-like as well." He took the opportunity to dryly acknowledge Tetorō's comment. "So far, they're holding still - I assume waiting to hear the outcome from the Cathedral, but we haven't heard from Stiletto yet." His eyes went to Charlie. "We've got enforced radio silence from the outside going. What have you got in here?"

Charlie shook his head. "I can hear what's going on at the Cathedral, and Intel is still up and working. They've shut down our zones only, near as I can make out. Have you got a couple you can send out-zone to test it?"

"Akatsuki, see if you can contact Marielle. That will let us know if they're still okay as well," Shiroe asked immediately. Akatsuki gave a nod and stepped away from the central area so she wouldn't disturb everyone else.

Clocktower nodded. "We'd also like to know if they specifically targeted the sub-guild." Worried looks passed between Michael and Reed.

"Because they shouldn't know the real name of your guild?" Shiroe asked. All of the Eagles in the room nodded. They'd spoken the nickname on purpose. The sub-guild name was still hidden on the status readouts since it wasn't part of the original screen they could see on the PC. A Hacker could have gotten it if they knew how, though.

"This feels familiar," Michael said suddenly. "Not bad to get in a practice where you have to rely on the old fashioned way of doing things."

"True," Clocktower said wryly. "It's actually been just a bit nostalgic, I'd been thinking."

"Go ahead and test the boundaries," Michael gave permission. Clocktower and the two with him saluted and turned to go.

Akatsuki took her turn so they could get her piece of information before they were out the door. "Marie says that our friends are protecting the park. There are people from Honesty hanging around. No one's doing anything, though. I talked to Shouryuu. He'll handle it. Minori and the others will help. I think they'll be fine."

"Guildmaster Shiroe," the voice was cool yet almost hollow. The room turned to look at Nyanta. He was sitting upright and his whole attention was fixed on Shiroe. "Do not allow Guildmaster Ains to interrupt the progress of the plans. I have already said it. Further delays beyond what the quest has already put into place will not be tolerated. You are required to see that it doesn't happen."

Shiroe was thinking fast. He pushed up his glasses and answered calmly, "I understand, Inari-no-Izanagi. While this is an internal political event, I don't foresee it causing any appreciable negative effect or delay to your plans. It's within the tolerance I've allowed for."

"...I will accept that answer for now." Brenner was casting Spirit Heal.

"What a rude interruption," Nyanta sighed and thanked Brenner, his ears twitching unhappily. He put his arm through Purrcy's and held on to her hand, recovering mentally as well.

-:-:-:-:-

Soujirou ran up to the Cathedral, holding on to the handles of his katanas so they didn't bounce at his side quite so terribly. His guild members were doing their best again. He was glad they were backed up by the arms of D.D.D. today, though. The Adventurers from Honesty weren't being very friendly.

"Excuse me," he called out. "Can I please understand what's going on? And can we please keep it peaceful until it's all sorted out?"

He got three different stories from every side and none of them were the story he'd heard at the beginning. When Rieze ran up to him he was quite relieved. "Rieze, it's not good. Do we take in a few witnesses now so that they can't get their story in agreement, or ask them all to go home and meet again after they've had time to cool off?"

Rieze gave him an odd look. "I'm not really a police officer," he said, just a little irritated. "I just like to keep the peace. This is more serious than just people needing to let off a little steam. Guild against guild action has been claimed by both sides and one of the sides has already called for a full Round Table Council to resolve it." He glared around at the groups milling about. "And worse, it's two Round Table Council guilds."

Rieze groaned. "That's the worst."

"No," he disagreed. "The worst is that it's Honesty and Log Horizon." His lips clamped together.

Rieze's eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. After a moment, she closed her mouth and agreed. "Okay. You can't get worse than that." She looked around the gathering. Quietly she said, presumably on a chat, "Scenario T-Extreme. Collect reliable witnesses." She looked at Soujirou. "Who are the most important people to collect?"

"The package and probably whomever was sent to retrieve," Soujirou said.

Rieze went back to her chat. "Protective custody of whomever is inside to a neutral location." She looked back at Soujirou. "Find out who Ains would consider neutral. That may be hard to just guess."

Soujirou could believe that. He called up Ains. "Ains-san, I'm sorry to bother you, but some of your guild are here at the Cathedral, rather angry. We need to sort things out before we can understand what's going on. If we take people into protective custody, who do you consider neutral enough to trust, that isn't yourself?"

Ains didn't answer right away. Finally, in a clipped voice, he said, "No one really. Is Haemlin in town? They haven't been around long enough to know either side yet."

That greatly surprised Soujirou. "You'd trust them to be nice enough? I'm not sure anyone else would trust them to not be bought by you." Ains growled slightly, not like him at all, really. Soujirou cast around in his head. "Is there a non-council guild, maybe? If everyone would agree to not take them out, since I know they're all small, just so we can peaceably resolve the conflict?"

Ains considered that and finally named one. Soujirou considered how the rest of the council might consider that relation and capacity, and agreed. "Thank you, Ains-san. I'm sure I'll be contacting you again."

He closed the chat and gave Rieze the name, then searched through his list until he reached the name of that guildmaster. He didn't often have to call on the smaller guilds that were represented by Woodstock, Marielle, and Akaneya. "Guildmaster FireHound, it's Souji."

"Ahh...okay? Why are you calling?"

"You've been picked to get the short straw again, I'm afraid, and I'm sorry but it's urgent."

"Great. What's the Square Table need today?" It was mocking.

"Neutral guards to handle a protective custody case. Don't let them go and don't let anyone take them from you."

"Oh. That's actually something useful and fun for once," FireHound was a bit more interested.

"We could bring them to you, but the whole crowd is likely to come along and you don't want that, so if you wouldn't mind coming to the Cathedral?" Soujirou could see D.D.D. was making a corridor now from the door. He waved his people to add themselves to it at the end closer to him.

"A package got sent?" FireHound asked.

"Yes, and D.D.D.'s apparently not neutral enough for holding this time. However, you have to stay neutral enough to hold as well. Can you do it if one of the parties is Log Horizon?"

"Mmm, well, that. - Oh, we're on our way already. Should be there soon. - I wonder." FireHound mulled that one over. "I take it whomever is dead set against Log Horizon so if I sell out to them I'm in just as much trouble."

"Yes, that would be the case," Soujirou affirmed.

FireHound sighed. "We'll do it, if you've all had to scrape this far down the barrel. That's at least one job we can probably do well, since we hate all of you as much as you all hate us."

"Well...you can't be purchased by who you're holding either," Soujirou said cautiously.

FireHound laughed. "Why don't you tell me who it is, then?"

Soujirou was looking at the man, being escorted by two of Shiroe's guards. "One of Purrcy's students who rejected her and all the rest of us." It came out cold. "It looks like she's already made him pay the price she warned him he would if he came back unwilling to play nice."

FireHound drew in a sharp breath. "Yeah, we can hold 'im - _if_ she's locked him down. My Hacker might not be high enough level to lock him down."

"Hang on," Soujirou requested and looked at the Eagles, who had stopped in front of him. "Is he locked down as far as Hacker skills go?"

"Yessir," Aviation Safety answered.

"He's locked down," Soujirou passed on.

"Good. Just about there." They let the chat close.

Soujirou turned to the member of Honesty that had been most wanting to be in charge. "Is there a reason you're defending a traitor to the city?" He tried to ask it mildly but the people from Honesty went dark anyway. "I didn't really like being part of the group he attacked, and he was already warned that he'd have to play nice. If he's going to go about attacking Nyanta-san directly, is it really worth protecting him?"

"Seriously?" Rieze asked. "This is getting crazier by the minute. Isn't that like just asking for a death sentence?" She stared at the Programmer with wide eyes. "He can't be hurt by the likes of you, and Purrcy's the one who gave you the warning in the first place." Her eyes scanned the man. "And it looks like stupidity hurts."

"I'll say," a rough voice said from behind them. They opened up enough to let FireHound in with two of his men.

"I called Ains-san," Soujirou said to the Honesty contingent. "He picked the Wolf Pack. You'll stay out of their territory as will Log Horizon," he looked at the Eagles, "until we hold the council meeting, or guilt will be assumed." He got curt nods and they let the Wolf Pack cart the poor man off.

"I think Purrcy was rather angry," Rieze said, staring after them. "That looks so painful." She turned back to look at the two Eagles and the closer people from Honesty. "I think you lot need to come with us - to a neutral location like that set of tables over there - and tell us one more time what happened so we can take it to the council."

Rieze and Soujirou set pairs, one from each of their guilds, to interviewing the two Eagles and the two main people from Honesty plus a few others randomly chosen from the crowd. Soujirou was happy to let Rieze direct that part and be support for it, calming the rest of Honesty until Rieze told him he could send the rest of the random people home. He and Rieze were another hour or so reading through all the collected statements and trying to pull anything reasonable out of them.

"Rieze," he finally said. "We need to hear from the people who were actually involved. This is too confusing."

"Yes," she agreed soberly. "Shall we start with Ains then?" She rose to her feet.

Soujirou sighed and stood. "Will he really talk to us?" he asked.

"I think so," she answered as they got going. "He wants to be heard, after all, even if he isn't sure he should trust us. That's also why to go see him first."

Soujirou nodded, wishing it wasn't this way at the moment. "...Maybe, before we begin the council, we should inoculate the room to make sure everyone can hold their tempers."

Rieze gave a snort. "Not a bad idea, actually." They both sighed at the same time.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe-sempai can we stop by to visit with you this evening?" Soujirou sounded tired.

"We're at dinner almost," Shiroe said. "Is it a long visit?"

"Dinner...," Soujirou said faintly, and perhaps a little wistfully.

"Are you still working?" Shiroe asked, a bit surprised.

"It's hard to be a police officer and detective," Soujirou complained mildly.

"If you need to rest, come see me in the morning. I'm not going anywhere," Shiroe promised. "Self-imposed house arrest even, if you want to call it that."

"It's tempting, but...I'd also like to just get it out of the way. This is such a problem, Shiroe-sempai, and leaving it overnight might not be a good thing."

"...I'm sorry, Soujirou," Shiroe said honestly. "Thank you for your hard work." He mulled it over briefly. "Perhaps if you went to eat your own dinner first, then came? You'd be able to have the energy to continue forward, perhaps?"

"Just feed us when we get there," Soujirou said wearily. "If I go home I won't be able to leave."

"Who have you got with you?" Shiroe asked.

"Rieze. We figure with two of us we have enough witnesses."

Shiroe sighed. "Neither of you will be able to stay neutral if you come to dinner. We'll be bribing you with food to see things our way." Soujirou groaned. "How about we do it as a conference call without having you step foot inside the house. If you're still by the market you can sit and eat dinner there, then get your statement?"

"Let me check with Rieze," Soujirou finally said. He asked her then said, "Okay. We'll call back when we're done eating. A break would be a good thing right about now."

"Okay. I'll be here," Shiroe promised. He didn't relax until he was sure the connection was cut. Then he slumped. It was tikki masala tonight and the smell filled the house. They couldn't ask Purrcy to miss her own dinner, either.

He stayed there, in that slumped, relaxed position, until he had to move. Then he rose to his feet, restless, and walked out of the office. "Feel free to sit comfortably at the table," he offered to Akatsuki. "I won't be far or for long." He gave her a bit of a smile. "Don't want to miss _this_ dinner, after all." She smiled back at him in agreement.

Shiroe walked to the stairs and walked up them. He didn't often go to the roof, but sometimes he needed the open air to wash through his cluttered thoughts and sift the dust out. He found Isuzu there. She was kind of like him that way. Only up on the roof if it was a guild gathering, or if there was something sticky to work out.

They sat together in their chairs, companions in their thoughts for a while. Eventually Isuzu cleared her throat a little and Shiroe gave her his attention politely. "Can I trouble you just a bit, Shiroe-san?"

"Sure," he allowed. "Any time."

"I've been thinking about Rudy and how I want to be able to protect him when I'm not here." Shiroe gave a polite nod to show he understood the topic. "When you opened the conversation up so we could hear what was going on around you earlier, that was very helpful. We could tell why you were saying what you were saying, and understand what the others around you were doing to help. That let us know when or if we needed to step in or be worried."

Shiroe watched her with his sharp eyes. She had been thinking hard. "Most of the time, Rudy can handle what comes up, but sometimes just knowing that others are close by to hear when he might be getting into trouble helps him to handle the situation a little more calmly. I think if something like that could be done.

"Then if he's worried, he'll know you're all still with him, helping him in the best way you can. If he can handle it, then you've just heard what he heard earlier than his report. But if he gets into a situation where he needs outside help, then you can send someone to help him - and the right help, too."

Isuzu sat up and leaned on her arms. "Not that he'd call in every time he had an encounter. I think he understands when he should call. He keeps being pestered by Adventurers trying to see if they can get to you through him in various ways. It's the same from the People of the Land side. Both sides see him as weaker than he is because they don't really understand what he is. That helps him because he is suddenly stronger than they expect.

"But sometimes, that means whoever he escaped from comes back with more friends to help them next time. When it's more than one on one, it isn't fair and it's harder for him to escape. Then he calls in the Eagles or West Wind Brigade, or Knights of the Black Sword, but sometimes if he just had your words in his ear, or Naotsugu's, it would be enough."

She sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. "You already have a lot on your plate and Naotsugu needs his sleep, too, so I'm not sure that's the whole answer. Maybe there should be a rotation of who he calls when, but just being able to let whomever it is listen to how he got to where he's getting so they're already on their way before he gets into trouble, things might never have to get that far to begin with. Maybe a full-guild chat that same way could be reserved for emergencies or really important things." Her hands rubbed together in a worried sort of fashion. "What do you think?"

"I think it has merit," he answered. "I'm sure there are times where it would be very helpful for us to hear things as they are said, and certainly whomever is on watch getting advanced warning they need to move or can stand down would be helpful. Does he know how to open those kinds of chats?"

"I'm not sure," she answered, "and maybe giving a quick course to all of us who don't yet would be helpful. We might all need it someday. I assume it's fairly simple."

Shiroe nodded, slightly surprised she hadn't figured it out yet. "We can do that. I assume you're thinking it's private on his end, open for the rest of us, like he has a microphone on him so we can pick up his surroundings." Isuzu nodded. "Charlie, can you put together a lesson, please, for after dinner. We'll have to do it after the interrogation."

"Yessir," came from the air around them.

Isuzu blinked. Shiroe gave a wry look. "Charlie's listening all the time. It's likely different, what you want to do, but that's his specialty, that kind of communication. What I do is a little different, too, so I can't directly give an answer to it."

"Okay," she tossed her hair behind her shoulder as she sat back up. "Thank you, Shiroe-san. ...Mister Charlie."

Charlie didn't answer but Shiroe smiled at her. "Feel a little better?" he asked her. She gave a nod and he went back to his thinking again. She stayed a little longer, then excused herself and returned inside the guild hall.

He was leaning back in his chair when there was a sudden weight in his lap. Four rather pointy paws walked around his lap in a circle and a half, then settled down to purring. He looked down. "If you purr in my lap I'll miss dinner."

Purrcy in cat form looked up at him, her whiskers lifting in her cat smile. She butted him with her head and he obliged and pet her. She did tone down her purring to just a rumble under his hand, rather than an audible sound. "You know," he said after a bit, "you're going to make it so I have to get a cat when I get home. Which means I'm going to have to move. My apartment doesn't allow pets."

She rubbed her head and nose on his hand, then licked his finger. It was rougher as a housecat-sized tongue, but was less like sandpaper. Smaller tongues meant smaller grit and more skin removed, he guessed. "Except an Earth cat won't be able to talk physics and engineering with me. Or business either." She chuckled at him just a little.

Her ears turned towards him. "Well, that's true. They'll listen until they fall asleep on me, and likely I'll fall asleep around the same time." He mused on that. "Well, that might not be bad. Earth bodies and minds need more sleep per day." She wisely nodded her head.

"Does this form not speak?" he asked, curious. Purrcy-cat ignored the question, and he wasn't sure if that was the answer or if something else had happened. He'd already noticed that when Purrcy-cat was with Tetorō, she usually was a lot more cat than anything else. Only rarely did she come and talk to them in that form, so it must not naturally speak. She'd have to come as one of her other aspects to inhabit it to speak, then.

While that sounded lonely for Tetorō's sake, it was also a very comforting aspect to have present - in the manner of having a pet cat, that is. It also likely meant she was still mostly distracted with getting dinner ready and had a moment there to be a little more present for him, then needed to be back at the stove or directing the flow of the kitchen.

Shiroe leaned his head back again, his hand absently slowly petting the calico cat in his lap. He wasn't sure he'd be able to own another calico, but another cat that was pleasant would be nice. If he did get a calico, he'd have to get two cats and have the other be a grey and white like Nyanta. Otherwise it would feel odd. He wanted to remember the two of them together. They'd be able to keep each other company, too, while he was at work.

He wondered what he would do about work when he got back. He'd need money to begin the company that would help them get back here. He had some savings - assuming it hadn't all been eaten by hospital bills to keep his anima alive back there - and that might be enough to get started, but that transition was the hard part.

When to quit his new job that was paying for him to move forward and switch to entrepreneur and business owner? He played with scenarios for a while until Purrcy-cat stood up and put her front feet on his chest to get his attention. "Time to eat," she said clearly.

"Okay, Hahaue," he answered. "I'm on my way." He pet Purrcy-cat one more time, then picked her up and carried her back in with him. Tetorō jealously took her back when he got to the second floor. Shiroe rubbed Tetorō's head and kept going.

Tetorō gave him an odd look. "What?"

"It can be your turn," Shiroe said.

"I'm sorry," Tetorō said immediately.

"It's okay," Shiroe said, looking back at Tetorō over his shoulder. "It was long enough. ...Come on, or I'll eat your portion."

"No, you won't!" Tetorō answered immediately and got moving.

"Having two large meals in one day - it's like having Thanksgiving at both parent's house on the same day," Michael said to Reed as they walked into the room.

Reed nodded. "We still were doing that right up until this last tour of duty. Rather nostalgic."

"You're married, too?" Shiroe asked him.

"Yes. Most officers are," Reed answered.

"Or divorced by the time they get to my level," Michael said a little sadly. "There's a saying that if you can make it to Commander and survive the first year, you're set for life with your family and your wife."

"How far are you?" Shiroe asked.

"Almost through the first year," Michael answered.

Shiroe heard the closure of the topic and left off to head to his chair. When he reached it he paused before sitting down. "We'll be receiving a call very soon from Soujirou and Rieze. They want to take our statements. I'll handle who they hear since they'll be contacting me directly, but I'll let you all listen."

He smiled at Isuzu, "Isuzu was just telling me that's rather helpful, to keep everyone in the loop." The rest nodded at that. He looked at Purrcy and Nyanta. "I am sorry to have a working dinner and such a topic, but it was that or have to let them in the door and see you. They weren't willing to postpone."

They were contacting him nearly as soon as he sat down and it went through all of dinner and then some. It was a bit depressing, but everyone did try to keep the atmosphere as pleasant as possible in the room at least. Since that had been half the reporting for the evening, they called Crusty and just conferenced him in on the last of it. He'd been over plenty already that day.

Purrcy got a game of charades going when the meeting was done, which was a nice distraction. Touya added a favorite group game from the Japanese side, and then Purrcy found out Gareth had cards. Nothing would do but for her to challenge any and all comers to Speed. She trounced enough competitors that the Eagles finally put Gareth down in front of her to see if his natural instincts could beat out against her high luck stat and skill. It was a tight fight with both last cards going down together.

Everyone decided to end it on that high note and collapsed into friendly bantering until they wound down enough sing, putting Purrcy into a weeping mess again. Nyanta picked up the liquid cat at that point and excused them to bed, allowing the rest of them to wander to their own beds. They'd all worry about their worries in the morning after sleep had restored them once again.

"Thank mew, Purrcy," Nyanta said when they were alone. "It's good to see them relax even a little." He groomed her in his way of settling down to sleep.

Purrcy purred. "If nothing else, my unpleasant memories have taught me that one must make the opportunities to build happy memories, even if they must be in the midst of sorrow and pain, or difficulty. It's those times that help us to keep moving forward together."

"Indeed," Nyanta purred back.


	136. Round Table Intermediary Council

The Round Table conference room at the top of the Guild Hall was filled with a somber mood, though there were a number of guildmasters who were a bit confused. Ains and Shiroe had both brought some rather heavy guards, though Soujirou had limited it to three maximum each. Rieze was present, though Crusty was in his chair. And for some reason, a very high level Healer had been brought along as well who had cast a spell over the room as soon as everyone was gathered, then left when excused before the rest of the proceedings began.

"This council of judgment has been requested by Guildmaster Shiroe of Log Horizon," Soujirou began formally. "He has brought a complaint against Guildmaster Ains of Honesty." Eyes looked between the two. "Guildmaster Shiroe, will you please state the complaint?" Soujirou invited him to begin.

Shiroe leaned forward in his chair. "Yesterday, when I was on errands in the market district, my secretary informed me that I was suddenly being hunted by members of the guild Honesty. Because Hackers were being used, but we hadn't been informed of why an action such as that would be happening, we chose to escape the trap that was closing in on us. Knowing that Ains is concerned about the safety of the city, and having to assume at the reasoning behind the action, I chose to assume that they were asking for in-city defensive and offensive training and allowed the sub-guild attached to my house to assist them in that training."

He waved a hand slightly. "That much wasn't a concern, really, though I did wish to talk to him to understand what his purposes were. I didn't expect to find him blocking my way into my own guild hall when I arrived. He made demands that I allow him to talk to Miss Purrcy, under the false assumption that she was already arrived and present inside. Though we've agreed to pass along the request when she does arrive, it was quite concerning to hear that his reasons were so that he could convince her to un-guild from Log Horizon merely because he feels she is too dangerous a person to have as a member of any guild. This is both exclusionary and against the law we have all agreed to that any Adventurer may join with or disband from any guild they please to at any time, without coercion from any outside influence."

His lips pressed together. "He then moved on to slandering my person and every attempt I have made to see that all Adventurers can live in Akiba peacefully. At that point my guild decided he had gone too far and requested he remove himself from the premises. Guildmaster Isaac was present, visiting with Nyanta-san and Tetorō in Log Horizon's guild hall, and he chose to help escort Guildmaster Ains back to his own guild hall." He took a breath and leaned back. "Certainly at that point, other than my concern that he would covertly attack me without warning if he did want training for his Hackers, it wasn't worthy of bringing to the Council." A few faint nods went around the table.

Shiroe steepled his fingers. "Nyanta-san went out later that afternoon, intending to shop for a few missing ingredients for our dinner that night, when an explosion went off over him and the grocery district before he could arrive there. Sir Michael informed me after the fact, when he arrived in the guild hall with Nyanta whom he had protected immediately, that there had been a battle going on between the sub-guild Hackers and Honesty's Hackers, completely separate from the first training action. He said they had intended on making it another training round, but this time the Honesty Hackers were being directed by a particular person. The explosion was a spell set off by that person."

He looked around the table. "I was contacted by Miss Purrcy at about that same time and was informed that the person who had set off that spell was one of the two Hackers who had attacked those Guildmasters who were at the Hacker demonstration at the opening of the Akiba Adventurer Academy. I wasn't there, but apparently she informed them then, and previously as well, that if either of them moved against the city she would personally step in to punish them. She was contacting me to let me know she had just done that, since the attack had been against the market district of Akiba. When she was informed of the details of the involvement of that rouge Hacker with training the Hackers of Honesty, she did a little more research into the spell that had drawn her attention."

Shiroe paused and pushed up his glasses. "She informed me, and allowed Sir Michael to confirm her research, that the spell had been specifically directed at Nyanta-san himself. While I can't say why the rogue Hacker would want to attack Nyanta-san, it is the belief of the guild that he was actually trying to exact revenge against Miss Purrcy herself. That is to say, that he, like Ains, believed she was already in town and would have been with Nyanta-san. She herself is not directly attackable by Hacker spells given her higher levels, but if she had been with Nyanta-san, damage would have been done to both."

"It is also our belief that they thought both would still be in the guild hall. Such an explosive spell would have caused significant damage to both our building and to any other members of the guild who were still in the building, including myself." His expression was of complete seriousness. "While I believe that having more Hackers trained to defend the city is a noble goal, I would hear what Guildmaster Ains has to say in his defense for hiring a known rouge Hacker to train his people, one who already had a grudge against Miss Purrcy, and for such an attack coming directly after his own demands that she be drummed out of my guild and ultimately the city as a whole. I would also hear his defense as to why he thought it was okay to attack an entire guild not once but twice, and put the lives of my guild members and my own life at risk both of those times when there has been no prior provocation. It seems to me that it is not reasonable nor sane to declare war against another guild within the city we have all been trying so hard to keep the peace in."

The shock in the room was quite palatable and stunned faces turned to look at Ains. He was sitting stiffly upright, his expression coldly disapproving. "It is true that I believe that for Miss Purrcy to remain as a member of Log Horizon is a danger to this city. I would be perfectly pleased to have her remove herself from the city as a whole as well. Everyone in the city knows that Naotsugu's wedding to Guildmistress Marielle has only been waiting on the arrival of Miss Purrcy. They began final preparations for the wedding yesterday. That plus Guildmaster Shiroe's natural secretiveness and continuing insistence to keep Miss Purrcy hidden away for his own ends, are sufficient evidence that Miss Purrcy is already here in Akiba."

"As I explained to Guildmaster Shiroe yesterday, the first exercise in the city was indeed that - a training exercise. To have warned the Hackers of Log Horizon ahead of time wouldn't have tested the capacity of either side as to their abilities to work quickly under stressful situations, the same as Miss Purrcy did herself the first Hacker test she gave to the city when she arrived for the second time. The second one was initiated by her own test of the Hackers of her own guild. I've requested that my Hackers keep watch generally for Hacker spells going off in the city in order to help protect it from outside attacks. Already knowing what kinds of tests she enjoys inflicting upon the city and her students, they confirmed for me definitely that she was the one testing them."

Ains leaned forward slightly, glaring at Shiroe. "I am quite certain that Miss Purrcy is already present in the city, being hidden away in Log Horizon's guild hall yet again until they are ready to display her. It is my intention to see that I am correct. While I don't approve of the spell used by the Hacker I hired to train those in my guild who wished to understand how to support and protect Akiba better, I was interested in having him help me prove my belief. It's sad his method caused Miss Purrcy to assume he was attacking the city, however, he is quite willing to help us increase our ability to defend our city. I think that should be taken into account when considering his specific case. I would like to see him returned so that he can finish the lessons his students are in. I would like to see Miss Purrcy brought in to defend her own actions against him and to be convinced that he has indeed turned a new leaf. I would also like Guildmaster Shiroe to stop hoarding her to himself and allow her the freedom to walk in the city as a full Adventurer should be allowed to walk free. Keeping her captive is also against the laws of Akiba."

Shiroe got dark at the last. "It isn't keeping her captive when she isn't even here, Guildmaster Ains," he said coolly. "If this proceedings wishes to hear from her directly, I would be happy to open a conference call to her."

"I want to _see_ her, Guildmaster Shiroe," Ains responded with cold firmness. "She should say to us herself under no duress what she really will do once she fully understands the current situation, and we should have the right to veto it if it is contrary to the best interest of the city of Akiba. It is our responsibility as the governing council of Akiba to see to that much."

"You can see her," Shiroe answered mildly, ignoring the more inflammatory statements for the present. "I can make it a video conference, like I did when we had the conference with Minami. However, it seems a bit extreme - the actions taken until now - just to be able to speak with her when all you had to do, as I said yesterday, was politely ask to schedule a time to meet with her when she did arrive. We even said then we would do that as soon as she did arrive and we understood her schedule." At Ains' indication he'd refuse again, Shiroe added more darkly, "Unless you intend to continue in your actions to do her personal bodily harm, and making her be here in person is just a ploy to trap her? Until you've properly answered for your insistence on physical attacks instead of reasonable and rational communication, I'm inclined to believe this is all a ploy of the latter sort."

Ains sat back in his chair in surprised affront. "Of course it isn't," he scoffed. "They were training exercises and an attempt to get her attention using her own language and methods."

Shiroe shook his head at the insanity of the concept. He appealed to the council and Soujirou silently.

"Where is the rouge Hacker now?" Woodstock asked.

"In custody," Soujirou answered. "A neutral party was selected to detain him until we were able to meet in council." Woodstock nodded.

"Ahh...," Roderick was more cautious, "but, can he still cast his spells from there?"

Soujirou shook his head but looked at Shiroe. "No," Shiroe answered. "Miss Purrcy let me know that for now he's not able to use his Hacker skills, in a similar manner to how she's made it impossible for the Plague Master to use his. If the council should decide to allow him to continue acting freely she can reverse it."

Ains lips pursed. "I must state here for the record that this is a case in point. In no other situation or case has any Adventurer been prevented from being able to use the skills they came to Theldesia with or have learned on their own through hard effort. To be able to affect Adventurers in such a way is extremely powerful. Left in the hands of any one guild, that is too much power."

"And I've said before, Guildmaster Ains - she is not controllable, but is independent, and she is a Game Moderator. Those rights remained hers when she came, the same as our own skills did. She doesn't use them wildly nor at her whims, but when absolutely necessary. The fact that she has chosen to protect Akiba when she doesn't have to from the likes of the Plague Master and now the Demolition Mage, as we've decided to nickname him since he loves explosions so much, has been a kindness to us. In no case has she harmed unnecessarily or acted in her own selfish interests. I asked her if she would help us protect Akiba, and she agreed. Even her test of the Hackers, though sudden and surprising, was in accord with that request."

"And it was done without the knowledge and approval of the council. You can't very well complain about my methods yesterday when they were the same, if you won't complain about her methods." Ains' confrontation was strident, though said quietly.

"It wasn't her intent to harm, whereas the Demolition Mage definitely was intending it, Guildmaster Ains," Shiroe answered back just as quietly. "Log Horizon is very fortunate to still have a place to call home today. If you will harbor a criminal in order to get a thing you want, you must also be called under suspicion."

Soujirou raised a hand, interrupting the two before they got any further into the war of words and emotions. "I believe we have heard enough at this point to understand both positions and sets of concerns. Guildmaster Ains, Guildmaster Shiroe, will the both of you please return with your guild members to your offices for a short time while the rest of us deliberate? Likely we may have further questions, but we need to discuss what we've heard so far." Shiroe rose from his chair without looking at anyone and walked to the door to his office. Ains was a little slower to leave, watching Shiroe go before he also left the room.

Once both doors were closed, the remaining guildmasters slumped slightly and looked at each other with concern. "What a terrible quandary," Roderick complained.

Marielle's fingers were worrying themselves as they always did when she was very upset. "And when they're both only trying to help us all as best they know how." The frown of concern on her face was deep. She looked around the table. "They've put up a protection on their guild hall and included ours since they don't want us harmed by association. It's made my guild quite uneasy, though they are grateful for the protection, I suppose." She was looking quite lost. "Ains has his guild watching their guild hall constantly since yesterday morning. I saw them when we left to go and prepare the stage for the wedding." Her shoulders slumped at the thought of where she really should be spending her time that day and the terrible interruption this whole proceedings were to her own happy goals. The others were sympathetic.

"When did you learn you could prepare finally?" Calasin asked her.

"The evening before yesterday Naotsugu called me after their usual meeting and said they'd finally heard from Miss Purrcy and she would be in town in time for us to have a Saturday wedding - that is tomorrow." Marielle answered openly.

Woodstock frowned over his crossed arms. "That means they expect her in sometime today then?"

"Likely," Marielle said. "Dinner is supposed to be a full family affair."

"Why would you assume that timing?" Roderick asked Woodstock as if trying to work out details from one of his research projects.

"Because her pattern is to only come in for one day. I know she's been here longer the prior few times she's been in Akiba before now, but the extenuating circumstances of her extended death and other such needs on her time have been unusual. She's surely been desperate to get back to her own work. I would expect her to only be willing to extend her stay by one and at most two days at this point."

Marielle was nodding as was Akaneya. "Naotsugu says they expect her to be gone again by Sunday morning," Marielle said.

"Then talking to her about yesterday's activities should likely occur this morning on her way," Michitaka said, a slight frown on his usually stern face. "I'm not sure I like the direction Ains has taken this, to bring battle into the city against her, or because of her, when we all know he's disapproved of her from early on. I personally haven't seen anything to indicate she would harm the city. Certainly she has a strong personality and strong personalities can clash on occasion, but as to her actions speaking, so far I've only seen someone who is interested in being an ally to the city." There were nods of agreement from some in the room. "If she needs to answer to Ains or anyone, it may be best to take Shiroe up on his suggestion to have the visual conference chat with her."

"I'm concerned that she won't even come into town at all if she's confronted with the concept that Ains is likely to harm her or continue to attempt to do damage to Log Horizon while she is here," Akaneya spoke out. "She's one of our best suppliers for unique products and the last visit she was here she'd been kept so busy with the repair of the Maze of Eternity that she wasn't able to go farming. There was nothing for her to bring back. She's already threatened to take her supplies elsewhere if she can't get into the city."

That made several people shift uncomfortably. As the head of Venture Enterprises, which they were all relying on to continue to help them make themselves into international companies, that was a dismal thought. "Ains doesn't have any buy-in to that side of things," Michitaka grumbled. Even the fighting guilds had to agree with that. Honesty was a supplier and guard guild, so on the sidelines as far as production went, though they would lose their buyer if the rest of them went down or had to reconfigure again.

"It is true that she doesn't have to do business with Akiba," Calasin said. "As an Adventurer she can go anywhere on the Archipelago, or even go to the continent if she wants. Only having her tied to a guild of Akiba gives us any ties to her at all, other than her agreement to the Corporation of Akiba."

"Which can be broken just as easily as leaving a guild," Michitaka added.

"I'd asked her multiple times," Akaneya said. "I know solos don't like to but Woodstock and I were in agreement back before she ended up over at Log Horizon accidentally. She needed somewhere to be so she could be watched over. It's actually rather amazing she didn't end up a Wraith herself."

"Likely it was those once every three months or so single-day visits that kept it from happening." Woodstock was obviously unhappy. "I'd have taken her in as well, but she refused. Being an extremely shy international who couldn't speak the language was very difficult for her. She was grateful that we were concerned, but Susukino's early years had made her city-shy. I'm the one who asked Shiroe to try to talk her into it if he could."

Marielle sat upright in a bit of shock and her face fell. They all looked at her. "Oh dear," she said sadly. "That could be very bad, to have Ains attack her. I'd forgotten, but just remembered because of what you said, Woodstock." Her forefingers pressed against each other. "She told me when we were talking before the open house and her first class that she hated Akiba at the time, likely because of those reasons. I've been so relieved that since then she seemed to have relented a little."

"It was a rather large thing for her to trust us enough to ask us to help her in the formation of the Corporation," Akaneya agreed. "It's not surprising she wanted to stay anonymous at that time and have Shiroe do the negotiation for her."

"Likely our willingness to help in the Maze of Eternity quest, particularly in seeing she was also restored to her own body, was what helped her relent the most," Isaac said a bit gloomily. There was general agreement. "But I think she likes Nakalnad and Kazuhiko just as much as the rest of us, and they're also already set up for high level production and would be happy to welcome her there." That caused some consternation and silence fell for a moment as people considered their positions.

"I think we need to allow Ains to talk to her, though," Marielle said slowly. "His concerns need to be addressed or he won't relent either. Perhaps if she can at least answer him, he'll settle some."

Michitaka frowned. "That's all well and good until he makes her angry."

Marielle shook her head. "I think she'll listen and answer him without making it reflect on the rest of us. She's rather good about things like that. ...And if there's something she needs to set straight for him to understand, she's good with that, too. She's Hahaue and the Caretaker, too."

Calasin put his chin on his fist, resting his elbow on the table. "Not to mention old enough to set him straight if he needs it _and_ to see through everything else he's blustering over." The others relaxed in agreement at that. Arms were folded and glances went between council members until there were faint nods around the table.

Soujirou finally relaxed a little. "So, then we're in agreement that we'll ask Shiroe-sempai to video conference with Miss Purrcy to let Ains talk to her. Should we ask Ains to allow that to be sufficient to settle the conflict between him and Shiroe-sempai? What shall we do about the Hacker in custody?" Brows were furrowed in concentration as people considered those points still on the table. After another round of discussion, they called Shiroe and Ains back into the room.

When both guildmasters were seated at the table, Soujirou leaned on the table, his hands clasped together lightly. "The Round Table Council is in agreement that it is useful to have other trained Hackers to protect the city. Even this past three weeks of vacation for the Hackers of Log Horizon has shown us how weak the city still is in that regard. To have more trained Hackers available to protect the city is welcome. Certainly trying to reform a rogue Hacker in the hopes that he could be of assistance as well was a worthy effort. We have requested that he be brought to the Council for questioning to hear his reasoning in the attack on Log Horizon's Nyanta-san. We would also hear Purrcy's words on the matter, though her actions aren't in question as she was merely fulfilling her promise to the city to protect us and testing her own students within her own guild."

He took a calm breath and looked at Shiroe. "Guildmaster Shiroe, we would like to ask you to please let us video conference with her so that we can get this matter settled before she arrives. Allowing Guildmaster Ains to speak to her when we are all present will allow us all to understand how he views the matter." He turned and looked at Ains. "However, we expect you to be polite, Guildmaster Ains. We as a city cannot afford to have her turning her back to us completely. If she will stay with Log Horizon, you will please submit calmly and refrain from further attempts to force the issue, particularly with methods of military might. Such things do not add to the peace of Akiba, which thing is counter to even your own stated goals. If you've been improperly influenced by the Hacker you've hired, then you need to find another instructor for your Hackers, or allow them to continue to improve on their own from this point forward."

Shiroe's face had remained calmly impassive through the entire ruling. Ains considered it, then gave a sharp nod. "I would still rather see her in person, however, so that we know magic hasn't been involved between. She could do Call of Home and be here in five minutes."

Soujirou shook his head. "Until this is resolved properly we'd rather not have further opportunity for your own name to be blackened, Guildmaster Ains. It is safer to not have her in the city until you have properly agreed to back down." Ains scowled a little, then waved his hand that he'd accept it as it stood.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki and Purrcy were dancing together in the trees in a random zone outside of Akiba, being followed by a guard of the Eagles and Nyanta, and Akatsuki was loving the peacefulness of it. It was different to dance the trees instead of the buildings of Akiba. She still rode the air currents, but there was the additional flexibility of the branches that added an element of grace that made it more like a ballet. She was enjoying being able to be spring-boarded into the air and twirl before landing on the end of the next branch over. She was aware that her juniors were watching her and Purrcy dance, and that was slightly embarrassing, but at the same time she was also happy in that, since it was another opportunity to share that same joy with them that they also understood. They didn't dance in the same way, since they were men, but they still reveled in that freedom of motion and cavorted about them. If she had cared to compare it to literature it would have been somewhat reminiscent of Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ perhaps, or perhaps more like _The Nutcracker_ since that was a ballet with men dancing as soldiers.

It had been Akatsuki's turn to take hidden kittens out of the guild house. She'd been able to do that invisibly, of course. They only had two Eagles with them since the rest were needed to stand guard over the house until the matter was settled by the Round Table. That was enough, though, since Purrcy was perfectly capable of watching over herself quite well out of the city. It was fun to watch her in her own element. Even more tender was to watch Nyanta run the trees with her, playful during the time they'd played tag, the five of them. Even Akatsuki could tell that was training as much as play. Purrcy had also firmly made Nyanta practice running up and down trees at the beginning until she was satisfied he could handle practicing for the tall trees on his own. Akatsuki approved. Strict attention to proper self-progress was important.

Purrcy suddenly halted her dance and the rest of them settled quickly. When she looked at them with an ear twitch, she said, "Shiroe was just called back into the council chamber." They gave her sober nods and she ran down the trunk of the current tree. She changed back into felinoid and stood next to the tree trunk. The rest of them settled down into the branches above her, staying in the shadows and using their various skills to camouflage themselves, Nyanta staying a light grey shadow cat pressed low to a branch, his ears pricked towards Purrcy. Akatsuki gave a quick scan to the area around them, but they were still in an area clear of enemies of any kind. She and the Eagles were here more to prevent any such interruptions at this point.

A window opened up in front of Purrcy. Inside it was a picture of the Round Table conference room with every seat at the table filled. It was a scene Akatsuki was well familiar with, having stood behind her liege at many such meetings. She was glad to see Naotsugu, Michael, and Reed properly fulfilling their duty to Shiroe by standing behind him. Ains also had three heavy fighters with him, she noted, and the other fighting guildmasters hadn't arrived unprepared either. It looked like people were concerned, but no one was angry at the moment. That was good. "Miss Purrcy, are you in a secure location where you can talk to us without being accosted?" Soujirou asked formally from that room.

"Yes, thank you for your concern," Purrcy answered back politely. "How may I be of assistance?"

"Ains has requested the opportunity to speak with you. As there has been some concern from other members of the council, we have asked to be present as well. Are you willing to hear him?"

"Certainly," she answered kindly, though her look went perhaps a little stern. It was hard to tell when it was more of a straightening of posture and her ears and whiskers went a little tense. It could have been nervousness. At least, it would have been if Akatsuki were in her position. She was glad it wasn't her under the watchful eyes of that entire table of Guildmasters.

Soujirou looked at Ains. Ains cleared his throat. "Miss Purrcy, I have concerns and reservations about having a Game Moderator being a member of any one guild. Your powers and privileges granted to you by virtue of your role before coming to Theldesia are rather excessive. So far, you've shown you are willing to use them responsibly; however, to have accepted entrance into a specific guild places you in a position to be influenced more heavily by one person over any others. Given that at the time you accepted it you were unable to correctly understand the language of your host guild, I would hear that it was or wasn't under duress or with a lack of understanding our laws. Do you in fact even know what the laws of Akiba are? Were you properly taught them? I've wondered these things as I've worried over the matter."

He launched into a brief recitation of the Laws of Akiba without allowing her to answer the questions, as if he needed to satisfy himself that she really had heard them from a supposedly neutral source. "Understanding these laws, would you still remain with Log Horizon, to give them excessive power over any other guild on Yamato, or would you willingly give up your membership with the guild to remain properly neutral in all matters?"

Purrcy blinked. "Well, that's loaded, Ains-san. You assume I'm not already neutral. It is essential in my role to always remain neutral. Certainly while working on Earth in front of computer screens, it wasn't possible for me to enter into any guilding arrangement. However, Theldesia is different. To be a solo is possible, and to some of us preferable, but all humans are social by nature, even if extreme introverts like most of us who play solo. We require other humans to remain sane and to be protected in extreme conditions such as this wild world presents. In my case, I was content to learn how to do that and remain solo until other humans pressed me hard enough I required the protection of humans to survive."

Purrcy blinked and an ear turned slightly, then back again, as if she'd caught the faint sound of a harmless creature rustling in the undergrowth near her. "When the Plague Master attacked Akiba and the Wolf Pack attacked me in complicity with him, it was more than I could handle solo. Humans are the worst predators, Ains-san. We band together as societies to protect ourselves from predators most of all. It was not unusual for me to agree to Log Horizon's offer to continue to protect me when they had done so already out of kindness to a stranger. The agreement between me and Guildmaster Shiroe is that for such protection when I am in the city, I would provide information and what knowledge I could supply to help him in his goal to have world peace between Adventurers and the rest of Theldesia and his goal to find a way to get everyone home. Both of those goals fall under my requirements as a Game Moderator, thus I have seen no conflict of interest in the arrangement as it stands."

Ains was shaking his head. "As your guildmaster he can direct you do other activities as well."

"No, Ains, he can't. We've written it specifically into the guilding contract. Any other thing I do, or he requests is just that - a request on his part or a thing I think is essential for fulfilling my role, or to keep my self fed and alive like all Adventurers have a right to do." She was quite firm. Ains seemed a little surprised that it had been included in the contract itself. "I believe the contract to be sufficient," Purrcy continued.

Isaac shifted and Soujirou gave him a nod. "Is that why they protect you whenever you walk in town, then? Because they've agreed by contract to protect you while in the city?"

"Yes," Purrcy answered. "I have only ever received difficulties in cities from other Adventurers wishing to do me harm, though most of you on the Council aren't that way I understand now that I've gotten to meet with you."

Ains frowned. "I have heard that during the quest to retrieve Guildmaster Crusty you were extremely obedient to Guildmaster Shiroe whenever you went into the cities. It is concerning. Can you convince me you were merely holding to your contract at that time?"

Purrcy's ear turned and her whiskers twitched. Akatsuki frowned in confusion. It looked like her amused expression. "I was, Ains. He was protecting me in those cities as well. The art of surviving in the environment of an Adventurer city is not one introverted solos like myself understand well. I am strict to obey him so that I don't stray over the boundaries of social acceptability unknowingly. However I think your informants would also be able to tell you I was just as willful in those cities as I am in Akiba, to your own personal dismay. Surely even you have cause to be grateful that Shiroe is willing to teach me proper social behaviors?"

Ains' eyes got a little wide and he swallowed just a bit, but he pressed on. "And will you explain why you are obedient to Nyanta-san, who is not even your guildmaster?"

"Because he is my husband, Ains. Would you have me be obstinate against my own husband just because I potentially could be? How would peace and happiness rule in my own home and family that way? He is also careful to not ask me to go counter to my requirements as a Game Moderator, since then I would have to leave him as well, and neither of us is interested in that. If you will recall, we signed a contract at the time of our wedding. It includes a similar agreement as the one I made with Guildmaster Shiroe, though more suited to our unique situation." She sighed a little. "It's actually quite binding on him, as a matter of fact, or my supervisor would have been quite in disagreement with it. Likely if we should return to Earth either I will have to resign or Nyanta-san will have to also sign a contract there stating he will no longer play _Elder Tales_ \- if it's allowed to continue."

"What if others were assigned to protect you when you came into the city, and it rotated through the guilds?" Ains asked.

Purrcy's ear tilted. "I don't come into town often enough to warrant it, Ains. The contracts are sufficient."

"How are the rest of us to contact you, then?" Ains asked.

"Considering you don't like me, Ains, I can't imagine you need to contact me so often that you'd be abusing Shiroe to let him know that the next time I come in you'd like to talk to me. Is there a specific request you have today?" she shut him down very quickly.

"I would like to know that you are available if there is need," Ains said stiffly, "and to the whole city, not just to only one guildmaster."

"Ains, I'm not available to any guildmaster," she answered. "That is a breach of my contract with the company."

"You went with Shiroe on his quest to get Crusty," Ains complained.

"No, as I said at the meeting we had difficulties in before, that was _my_ required quest presented to the rest of you in an attempt to get aid for it, thank you to those who went and helped. Guildmaster Shiroe was agreeable to helping as well, which help was invaluable. I'm quite sure I'm confused as to your difficulty to understand, Guildmaster Ains. I am an independent agent and must remain so, as you've pointed out. Please consider Guildmaster Shiroe and I as independent agents. I have hired his guild to protect me when I'm in town. It is nothing more than that when considered unemotionally." She glared at Ains firmly. "And since you are likely complaining about the Eagle's sub-guild as well, I have also hired them to protect me as well. They've made a separate agreement with Shiroe since I don't utilize them enough for their tastes. Mostly at the beginning it was also an agreement that he would help them get up to speed since they were behind the rest of us given their two year long imprisonment. I'm not sure what it is now since I haven't been there for those negotiations."

"Then why both? Why not just the Eagles?" Ains asked.

"Perhaps it will devolve to that eventually," Purrcy agreed, "but in the main it was because I hired the Eagles first, but they weren't available at that point in time, not having been freed yet and Michael was still in Minami then. It was necessary to accept protection rather immediately at the time with Log Horizon."

"You'd hire prisoners who weren't in a position to protect you?" Ains asked, incredulous.

"I hired Michael who wasn't. In return for me freeing his men, he agreed to protect me. They follow him since he's their guild leader. That contract has also remained agreeable since there are occasions Log Horizon is spread a little too thinly, and that contract is specific to when I'm in Akiba, though they've been kind to extend it beyond that when we've gone on our various quests. My contract with the Eagles is more general."

Isaac's face had gone thoughtful and most of the other guildmasters were looking content with what they'd heard. Soujirou turned to Ains. "I think we've heard sufficient, Guildmaster Ains. I haven't heard anything to say that we should be concerned about the arrangement as it stands. Are there any others with comments or questions?" The other guildmasters shook their heads.

"It sounds fine to me," Crusty said calmly. That settled it, though Ains looked rather defeated and disappointed.

Soujirou leaned forward, looking at Purrcy. "Miss Purrcy, we would also like to talk to you about the Hacker that you punished." He looked a query at Shiroe, "I believe you said you were calling him the Demolition Mage?" Shiroe nodded. "We've called for him to be brought before the council as well to understand why he chose to attack as he did. Ains has explained that he hired the man with the understanding that he was choosing to help the city in training more Hackers to the defense of the city. They'd been in training exercises with the Eagle Hackers when that particular spell went off over the city. We are hoping to find that it was a mistake during the training exercise."

Purrcy shifted to lean against the tree trunk. "I'm happy to hear what he has to say to defend himself." She paused for a few seconds, then said, "I've restored him physically so he can, but I'm going to keep him locked down as far as his Class and skill set goes for now, if you don't mind."

"That's sufficient," Soujirou agreed.

"And will you stand by whatever the Council agrees to," Ains asked her.

"Of course," Purrcy shrugged. "Even if I happen to disagree with it, if you decide to give him safe harbor, you'll have taken on whatever punishment you wanted to have. If I do disagree with you, and believe that he has evil motives, and he once again acts against the warnings I've already given him, I will remove him as a threat. As I have said before, this particular new sub-class of magics is far too powerful to allow those who will abuse others with it to have free rein. As long as it is used responsibly I can have no say. Eventually there will be enough pseudocode mages and enough experience fighting them that a balance will be reached and I won't have to be the one to step in."

"If you take them all out, how will we get in the experience fighting them?" Ains asked.

"Oh, well, that's true," Purrcy agreed immediately. "I'd let him go just on that point, except that he attacked my husband and myself personally and I'd already warned him to leave me and mine well enough alone. If he'd been attacking the rest of you, I'd have let you all handle it."

Soujirou frowned. "Guildmaster Shiroe said that you interfered because you were protecting Akiba from him as you'd offered to him you would."

"Ah, no, sorry. There was a confusion, I guess. I'm not particularly interested in protecting Akiba specifically. The lot of you can handle that. I was watching that battle out of interest to see how Honesty's Hackers would do. - I have an alert that goes off whenever any Hacker acts so I can monitor how things go with that sub-skill. - I picked the Demolition Mage out fairly early, but was content to just let things ride until that particular spell was set off. It was most definitely directed against Nyanta-san and myself as we were the targets hardcoded into the spell, so I took it as an invitation to do battle directly with me and answered appropriately."

"You are supposedly not in the city," Ains purred.

"I'm not, Ains. I don't have to be present physically to know what is happening in the code realm and to move around in it. I only have to be in the region to cast a spell of that kind." There were blinks as people had to remember yet again what the scope of a Game Moderator was. "As an example, please let Soujirou and Rieze tell you what the Demolition Mage looked like when they last saw him and compare that to what he looks like when he arrives, since I just cast that restoration spell in front of you."

Rieze shuddered a bit and Soujirou swallowed. "Ah, rather like a genetic mistake," Soujirou said. "His right arm was missing with the hand attached at the shoulder. His nose and an eye had been swapped, and his mouth was so changed as to not allow him to talk at all. His calves were missing on both legs with the feet attached at the knees. It all looked rather painful."

Crusty leaned forward on to a forearm. "Used your lessons to repair me to good effect the other way, then?"

"Yes," Purrcy said calmly. "I thought it might be an effective punishment. I figure I'd better stay in practice to not loose those lessons. I had to go through three weeks of hell to learn them after all."

"True enough," Crusty sat back.

Soujirou opened a chat. "Please bring the mage in now," he said. The people in the room looked towards his door into the council chamber. Eventually the mage in question was brought into the space that was viewable from the chat window in front of Purrcy. He looked normal, and like he had at the Hacker demonstration when he'd been seen last by most of them. Akatsuki wasn't surprised, and wasn't surprised at the punishment Purrcy had levied against him. She would have done something similar, though with her blades instead. The guildmasters looked at him solemnly. He stared at the rest of them, then at Purrcy through the communication window in the council chamber, his expression going to a bit of a scowl to see her.

"Guildmaster Ains has said that he took you in to teach his Hackers how to defend the city. Did you abuse his good will in order to merely get an opportunity to take revenge against Miss Purrcy?" Soujirou asked the Demolition Mage.

"You wouldn't believe otherwise," the Adventurer answered sullenly.

"On the contrary," Ains said. "We are always hopeful that our fellow Adventurers are ready to walk forward as upright members of society."

"Indeed," Purrcy agreed. "If that was a sufficient answer to your query as to what I would do, and you're ready to call it done, even I'd be happy to see you go back to trying to do better with Honesty."

Both the Demolition Mage and Ains gaped at Purrcy. Her ear flicked slightly, but she gazed back silently. "The rest of us are in agreement, if you're willing to turn a new leaf," Soujirou said, then looked with wide eyes at Shiroe, realizing that perhaps he might not be part of such a general statement.

Shiroe looked at the mage and asked, "Did you intend on hurting all of Log Horizon, really? That large an explosion would have taken down most of my guild house if it had gone off with Nyanta-san home."

The Demolition Mage considered how to answer the question. He finally answered, "While I don't particularly care about your guild one way or the other, I know how strong Miss Purrcy's defenses are and figured it would take something rather large to do any damage at all. That one was building up since the stage was set up. We can't always calculate the final spell strength and size that will result from spells that build up over time." He looked away, "Nor can we know what it means until it goes off when we haven't experienced it yet for ourselves."

"You're saying you were surprised by the reality yourself?" Roderick asked. The Demolition Mage gave a nod. "Hmm," Roderick mused, but didn't ask any further questions.

"We have a wedding tomorrow and we'd really rather not have the happy occasion interrupted," Shiroe said dryly. "I'd feel better about it if Purrcy could be allowed to keep him locked down until after she leaves again. That way he won't be tempted to attack her again during the brief time she's here. I would also like to get a firm agreement from Guildmaster Ains that he also will leave us alone during that time, lest his own personal grudge against me interfere in a similar fashion."

Soujirou and the other guildmasters of the council nodded agreement. "Will you repent and try to walk straightly with us?" Soujirou asked the Demolition Mage.

The mage bowed slightly. "I'm sorry," he said. "I will try better in the future. I'd rather continue walking with Honesty, if Guildmaster Ains will allow it."

Ains gave a nod. "We'd be happy to have you continue with us." He looked at Shiroe. "I'll not stoop to interfering with a wedding awaited by the city. To interrupt such a thing would only bring disgrace to my guild. I will continue to watch you, however."

Shiroe shrugged slightly. "It's sufficient, then," he said. "However, I will retain the right to continue to protect myself in a similar fashion to what we've already done."

"Fine," Ains said shortly, looking away from Shiroe.

Soujirou sighed a little. "Then we'll assume things are back to normal between the two of you at this point. I think the council would agree that for the punishment as it currently stands to continue until the time Miss Purrcy leaves again would be acceptable?" He looked around the table and got nods all the way around. "Very well." He looked at the mage again. "You may leave with Guildmaster Ains, then. Thank you FireHound, and your guild, for the assist. Thank you Miss Purrcy. We will see you soon then, we expect?"

"You're welcome," Purrcy answered. "Yes, though later this afternoon, most likely." With a final nod of Soujirou to Shiroe, the window to the council chamber closed. Purrcy slumped a little, took a deep breath, then shook herself out. She changed back into large cat and ran up the tree to join the rest of them.

Nyanta met her and groomed her head. "Well done," he praised her. Akatsuki nodded agreement. Purrcy had stayed restrained very well the entire time. Purrcy shrank and walked under Nyanta and back again to rub on his belly until she curled up under him. He lay down to cover her, just her head and forepaws sticking out as if he was protecting her. He groomed her backwards making her fur stand up funny on her neck, the back of her head, and then even her cheeks until Akatsuki was laughing.

"Stop, Nyanta-san," Akatsuki giggled. "She looks like a mini lion enough already." She reached in and brushed all the fur back down again, then gently pet Purrcy on the head. "Thank you," she said. Then she reached up and pet Nyanta, too. He blinked in surprise, then touched her forehead with his nose and gave her a little lick as well. Akatsuki blushed just a little. "Are we ready to go home, then?" she asked. Both cats started purring and she sat with them until they really were ready to go home. She had to agree. Every now and then it was nice to get out of the city and rest in the trees.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe arrived in his office lobby and slumped down on the couch. Naotsugu stayed close by his side, standing at the edge of the couch. Marielle and Crusty arrived at the hallway door shortly thereafter and he let Michael let them in. "You should just make all seating wherever you go into couches. You and Naotsugu never leave them it seems," Crusty teased him.

"They're the relaxing spot," Shiroe said rolling his eyes. "I've sat in a chair enough for the morning." He leaned forward and rubbed his face with both hands. "It turned out as best it could really." He let his hands fall but stayed resting his elbows on his knees.

"I'm glad they didn't ask me to tell them if I knew whether or not Purrcy was in town," Marielle frowned at Shiroe. "Akatsuki told me yesterday she was already here."

Shiroe shook his head. "She's not this morning. It was safer to send her back out again after the attacks. Why can't we even enjoy one day of vacation time with her before the city has to be on our backs?" he complained.

Marielle walked over and patted him on the head. "I know, you all would like to just enjoy her as Hahaue first. I'm sorry Ains is such a pain sometimes, though he does as best he knows how."

Shiroe rubbed his hands through his hair roughly, making it all stand up on end for a bit. He stayed in that position for a moment, then sighed. He sat up and looked at Marielle. "I'm sorry for this interruption to your preparations as well. What can I do for you?"

Marielle lit up and a cunning look came on her face. It wasn't often Shiroe was willing to pay himself. "I'm sure we can keep you busily distracted," she grinned at him.

Crusty chuckled lightly at the look, and at Shiroe's rather abject one. Crusty lifted Shiroe up off the couch. "Physical activity will help you best of all," he agreed and they got him walking out of the office and moving his day forward again.

-:-:-:-:-

Soujirou walked into his office with Nazuna following behind FireHound and his second. They named their price and Soujirou paid it from council funds and bid them farewell. Rieze walked in through the hall door as the wolf-fangs left. "Did we do all that investigation as a waste of time?" Soujirou asked Rieze tiredly.

"No, not really," Rieze said. "We know things the rest don't know about how the guild members see the whole thing. I think we need to be able to keep our eyes and ears open at that level as well. Often things are going on in the guilds that are under the radar of the guildmasters." She looked at him significantly.

Soujirou sighed. "True enough. We see that all the time in our work in the city."

Rieze nodded. "Just so." Nazuna was in complete agreement. "We also heard things from both guildmasters they weren't willing to say in this forum. It helps us to know just how honest they are being with everyone and with themselves. That kind of check is also important."

Soujirou felt sad this time. He looked at Rieze with a resigned look. "It's not going to be resolved so easily."

"No," she agreed, "We'll have to let them fight it out when things get harder later, but I'll take the truce for now to get us through the wedding. We owe Marie and Crescent Moon League at least that much."

"Not to mention Shiroe-sempai and Log Horizon," Soujirou agreed and walked to the door. "They've all worked so hard for the city after all. Shall we go see what we can do to help them finish getting ready?" They all went out the door headed to the park and the wedding stage, though most of West Wind Brigade (the ones not on city patrol) were already hard at work in the kitchens of several buildings getting the final food preparations finished.


	137. Despondent Hearts

Marielle stood upright from bending over to tie on one last decoration and bent a little backwards to straighten her back out again. She sighed and brushed the hair out of her face, then looked around the city park. It was one of the larger ones closer to city center that they used for a stage location for the festivals. It was larger than the one they'd seen the play at for Purrcy's bridesmaid's party, but they'd decided the location where they put the main stage out near the large community building was too much in the center of things and not really a wedding venue.

The park really looked like an outdoor wedding chapel now. This being the day before the wedding a lot of citizens of Akiba had turned out to help in whatever way they could. Marielle was grateful for Henrietta who had managed the people and sent them to where they could be most helpful as places got too full for the hands coming to help. The stage was decorated, the chairs for the guests were properly set up and the ones for the honored guests decorated with streamers and flowers.

Tables were set up along one side waiting to receive the food that would be delivered the next day from all the kitchens and helpers who had spent the last several days cooking. More hands had been sent to help them. Crusty and Rieze had taken a look at the tables and gotten the names of the cooks and headed out. Marielle had heard that they were making the chefs set their foods up in pretty displays then immediately putting them whole-as-they-were into their guildmaster lists. That would save a lot of time and effort on the day of. (Rieze had been granted a guildmaster list when she'd signed up as the Acting Guildmaster of D.D.D. It must not have been taken away when Crusty returned was all Marielle could figure.)

"All right, that looks good. I think that's it," Henrietta called out now from where she was standing looking with a critical eye at the park's arrangement. People sighed in relief and began to gather in small groups to chat as they prepared to leave for the evening. Marielle sank gratefully into the chair she was standing next to. It felt good to relax a little as Henrietta wound her way through the long rows of seating to her location.

"How are you doing, Marie?" a deeper voice than Henrietta's said from behind Marielle and warm hands landed on her shoulders to begin a massage.

"Mmm," Marielle replied. "That's even better." She let Naotsugu rub the tired from her shoulders and neck, then looked up at him and he leaned over her to give her a kiss. She took one of his hands in hers. "Thanks for all your help today."

"Thank you," he smiled back at her. "Can't not help when it's both our day tomorrow." He leaned down and asked quietly in her ear, "Are you as nervous as I am?"

Marielle chuckled. "I've been too busy to be nervous, and I'd rather not think too hard about it or I just might be."

"Well...if you need me in the middle of the night, be sure you call for me, okay? I'm just as likely to be up anyway myself." He was serious and she turned to him to study his face.

"You're okay?" she asked him.

He paused, then looked up. "Hey, Henrietta. Thanks for all your hard work today. We all know we'd never get anything done half so well without you."

Henrietta was obviously glad to have her efforts recognized, but she waved a hand. "It's my present to the two of you, to see that this goes off like it should."

"Thanks. Then if Marielle needs me in the middle of the night, make sure you call on me." Henrietta gave Naotsugu a look, wondering why he was being odd, but she nodded a promise. "I'm going to steal her off for a bit before we all get ready for the family dinner and entertainment."

"Okay," Henrietta said. "Be good, though." She glared at Naotsugu.

He raised a hand in self-defense. "Of course," he said and pulled on Marielle's hand that was still holding his. She let herself be pulled up from her chair and followed him through the maze of chairs until they were at the exit of the park.

Marielle was glad to have his large warm presence with her and she cuddled up to his arm, resting her head a little on his shoulder. "That was a lot of work," she said mildly. "I'm sure I'm going to fall asleep instead of make it to dinner."

Naotsugu reached over with his free hand and patted the top of her head. "I'm glad everyone came out to help. It didn't seem right for the bride to be the one doing most of the work."

Marielle laughed. "I didn't really. Everyone in both guilds helped a lot and with so many more coming today there were a few times I wondered if there was going to be anything for me to do." She let her face fall a little, "Until Henrietta saw I was standing still that is. Then there were things to do."

Naotsugu chuckled warmly. That was standard procedure as far as Henrietta went. She didn't like to see people just standing around when there was work to be done. They chatted a little as they went, but Naotsugu wouldn't say what was really on his mind until they reached a quiet spot they liked to visit alone in on occasion. She wasn't surprised that was the location he had in mind. He sat them down in their usual spot to sit, then looked at her soberly, still holding on to her hand warmly. "We've talked already about our pasts so we don't go into this blind, and we've also already discussed the things that will make us sad about this being here instead of home as well as why we're happy to have our friends and Theldesia family close around us." Marielle nodded sincerely to let Naotsugu know she was listening carefully.

His hand tightened just a bit more on her hand and she squeezed back to give him her own comfort. He took a breath, then said, "Tonight will be the hardest, I think, and then perhaps tomorrow night." His kind eyes held worry as he looked into her eyes. "I don't think it's likely to be as bad for either of us as it was for Purrcy and Nyanta, who had a much harder thing to walk through to leave their pasts behind to move forward, but I want to know that you'll be watching for it and won't just try to shove it under the rug. I think Purrcy was doing that and it made the transition so much more difficult for her." He looked down at their hands. "She had a night terror the night before and it took three of them to get her out of it, including Isuzu's magic to draw her back." Naotsugu looked back up at Marielle. "Like I said, I don't expect it to be that bad, really, but I don't want you, or me really for that matter, lost alone in the middle of the night if something like that should happen. Purrcy was sleeping with Akatsuki that night or it could have been a lot worse."

Marielle nodded sympathetically. "Actually, Henrietta and I do sleepovers occasionally. I'd already been kind of thinking that if - when we get back to the guild hall - I'm not feeling like being alone with my own thoughts, I'd ask her to let me stay over tonight."

Naotsugu nodded. "I'd feel better if you would. If it happens, she needs to call me right away. It's me who you are giving up your past to and you will need to know I'm here with you." He looked down again, not quite in embarrassment, rubbing her hand with his thumb. "And if I need you, please come." He looked back up at her. "I will also need to know you are here in this place for me."

Marielle melted and put her arms around her fiancée's neck. "I'm here already, Naotsugu. If you call for me, I'll come right away."

Naotsugu nodded and held on to her for a long time. "Really," he finally admitted, "I think I'm already there."

"I rather thought you might be," she said softly.

He sniffed lightly. "I love you, Marielle. I really do. But...to feel like this is taking a step into an unknown so vast and incomprehensible is frightening. I've been trying to tell myself it's just because marriage is new and for the rest of our lives, but it can't be just that. We live that way all the time - what school, what career, what job, where to live? All those things are that."

"This is bigger and harder to face. It's having to face the things we don't want to in this place: are we really going to never die - ever? Are we going to have children and live with them forever, too, or will we have to watch them die? Are we really going to have to live here, for real, and not get to go home in the end? And all the other things and times we've been through until now and survived. They've come back and really forced me to look at them. The monsters we Adventurers fear the most have come to stare us down, not backing away."

"The only way to face them is together. To know that you're going to walk through that doorway with me is the only way it's worth it to face them down. To know that you're going to face those same feelings, and to want to know that you aren't going to turn and run away either -" he held on to her tighter and shivered, then ended a little lamely, "it's scary."

Marielle kissed the side of Naotsugu's head where she could reach. "I'm here and I'll walk it with you. You're a wonderful man and I want to keep you around before someone else finds out and tries to snatch you away." She smiled, but it was true. "I'm willing to walk through even that with you to know that I'll always be walking by your side - here or on Earth." She shivered and he froze slightly. "I'm more afraid of being made to forget you and forget how to find you. I'll have such a big open hole in me and not know why or how to fill it if I'm made to forget 'us', and you. I want to know that what we have and will have after tomorrow won't be stolen away from me again, like everything we knew on Earth was."

Naotsugu pulled back and kissed her passionately and she returned it, her own tears and fears joining his. He finally released the kiss so they could breathe, and slid his hand into her hair at the nape of her neck, to hold her where he could look down into her eyes, so close to his, as if he was trying to memorize them. "I truly wish I could promise it," he said low. "We both know it's air, though, given what we went through to come here and how simple it was to be slipped from what we knew to what is strange and unfamiliar."

He rested his forehead on hers and she let her eyes close again, feeling his warm breath on her face. "I can promise you that if you have a hole, I will have one also just as big, and I will come searching for you to fill it again, even if we have to greet each other for the first time again. In the meantime, I'm willing with all the intention I can that we will never be separated in that way, and that we will be able to walk this path together with strength and hope."

Marielle nodded and he wrapped his arms around her again and just held her, which is exactly what she needed - those strong warm arms around her promising what protection he could give. With all her heart she wished for the ability to walk by his side and strengthen him for the rest of their days and never be torn apart.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy," Akatsuki said hesitantly, "I talked to Miss Marielle yesterday."

Purrcy stopped her forward motion and turned to sit facing Akatsuki to give her proper and full attention. The others with them stopped in a bit of surprise, but waited patiently.

Akatsuki took a breath. "We wanted to know if we could do the play again and record it this time. Then we would know how to practice it for the winter festival, even if you aren't able to come. And...we would have the recording to remind us of our happy memory together."

Purrcy tilted her head, her ears in a musing questioning almost-flop. Akatsuki stared at the ears for a moment. For some reason they were always more expressive when Purrcy was in her cat form. Akatsuki blinked and added, "We thought we could wear clothing close to what you said would be right so you could tell us that, too. But we don't know if making that the activity is more not-quiet and longer than you wanted."

"Marielle agreed to have it be a working party?" Purrcy finally asked.

"Well...it perhaps isn't what she would have chosen first, but she agreed she'd be willing for the sake of all of us. They are hoping to earn money for the Academy from the play, too."

"Mmm," Purrcy said thoughtfully, looking off in the distance as if remembering. "I do seem to remember something to that effect." She settled down into a full reclining sit and crossed her forepaws and frowned just a bit at the ground in front of her. Slowly she answered, "I don't know, Akatsuki." Her ear flicked as if she was trying to find the right words, then she looked back up into Akatsuki's face. "I think Marie may find she would rather not, now that we are this close to her wedding. As I told Shiroe, Adventurer weddings aren't really celebrations for the ones getting married. It may be too flippant an activity when she needs close comfort and quiet with her good friends and companions around her. She might not have understood when she agreed to it, but she might now that we are this close. I'd like to give her that option."

She rose to her feet and put her nose on Akatsuki's nose in a cat kiss. It was the first Akatsuki understood she was letting her disappointment show on her face. "I have that night in my history and can give P/R a copy to make into memories for the rest of you, so it isn't lost, it just doesn't have to be repeated." She stayed looking at Akatsuki's face, until Akatsuki finally gave a little nod. It would be something. Purrcy sat on her haunches and tipped her head. "If Marielle still wants to do it, I guess I'd be willing, but we won't have the foil to the star if we don't have Tetorō and that will make recording it difficult. Who were you going to have do the recording?"

"One of the Eagles - whoever could do it and was willing."

"So you'd ask one of them to miss the bachelor party as well?"

Akatsuki's shoulders sagged and she sighed. "It doesn't work too well, does it?"

Purrcy shoved her head under Akatsuki's hand and rubbed against her side. "It is perhaps a little difficult to make it work on the same night as two divided parties. It would be easier if everyone agreed to do it together, but that's not too normal for this kind of event." Akatsuki could agree with both sides of that sentiment. "I'm sorry I can't know my schedule after the wedding. It would be easy to do it if we knew I was going to be here for some of the day after, though Marie and Naotsugu would have to agree to postpone any sort of honeymoon they might have had on that day."

She sighed and looked up at Akatsuki while leaning on the side of the diminutive ninja. "I'm sorry it's so difficult. Let's wait to talk to everyone tonight and maybe with all of us working on it we can figure it out, but I think we should do it after we hear from Marie as to what she really wants to do now that we are to this time. I'd like to give her the gift she wants to receive. I'd be happy to wrap up that memory for you and gift it to you separately.

Akatsuki knelt down on the ground next to Purrcy and wrapped her arms around Purrcy's neck and put her face into the fur at her shoulder. "Hahaue...it hurts to be alone. I want to have as many happy memories as possible to help me when I'm alone in the future."

"Ah, Akatsuki," Purrcy said sadly.

Nyanta came up and rubbed his head on the back of Akatsuki's head to comfort her as well. "Indeed. Being alone is the hardest thing for us on Theldesia. We all need each other," he said softly. "Even married we are separated and feel alone, but when we know there are others who understand and are watching over us and hoping for us, it helps, meow."

"We'll come and purr for you when we can," Purrcy promised. "I'll give you memories to look at, and perhaps the Eagles can make you a memory cube as well. You so love to dance and run with them. I'm sure together they have enough memories to put something together for you so you can remember those times, too."

She paused and then pushed on Akatsuki's head with her own until Akatsuki lifted her head to look at her. "And when this next part is over, you will have Shiroe again to strengthen you. You're together in this, not alone. You fight together for the right to be together in the way you choose. Create a way to speak to each other across distance that is a strengthening reminder of that joint fight - a hand sign, an expression, a word said in passing that is the reminder. You are secret agents passing in the night and no one else is to know of that relationship, but it is your strength and his strength and when you give each other that key, you draw strength in the knowing of the thing only the two of you know. Such is the way of the resistance that fights the underground battle."

Purrcy looked long at Akatsuki, even after she had nodded her understanding. "I think I will also give you a gift, but when I do, you mustn't let anyone else see it. It will be for your own eyes and comfort only. If anyone does accidentally see it you must keep it secret who it is from." Akatsuki promised. "Very well. You'll receive it when it's done and you'll know it's from me."

Purrcy gave her another cat kiss and rubbed Akatsuki's cheek with her head. "Take a deep breath," Purrcy said softly. "You, too, can do this. I have faith in you who have survived this long already. We are also with you in spirit. Think kindly and fondly of us and listen for our purrs, and reach for those who you _can_ be with. I think Tatara will be a great strength to you if you remember her, too."

Akatsuki's eyes went a little wide. "I did," she blinked. "I was passing her way and invited her tonight, too." Her look went rather shy. "She was happy to be invited and I was happy she would come."

"Wonderful!" Purrcy exclaimed softly. "Continue to remember her. She sits alone many days."

"True," Akatsuki said her eyes going a little distant. "I think I will go and learn some strength from her."

Purrcy nodded. "That would be a good place to go to learn it, I think," Nyanta agreed. "She also has survived this long with only mew and her other customers to keep her company." Akatsuki's nod this time was a little firmer and the two cats smiled for her. Akatsuki rose to her feet again, dusted off her knees, and the little group continued forward again.

-:-:-:-:-

They entered the city publicly. Michael and Tetorō met them at the gate, having been informed by the Eagle guards who were with them they were arriving. Eyes followed them as they walked into the main central area of the city and Purrcy went first in her usual pattern to Woodstock and Akaneya. Not because she was going to sell them things today, but because she wanted to say hello and they'd asked to be greeted. Tetorō did call ahead and request that they meet together so they could get her to Log Horizon in a timely manner. The two guildmasters were happy to see her and they chatted for about a half-hour before she excused herself.

From there they went to Roderick Trading Company where Purrcy met with a few of the researchers who had been working on her projects and asked for a couple more to work on two new ones she had come up with. She was given the summary report and data of the progress of the growth and aging potion that Touya and Minori were testing. She and the researcher agreed they might cautiously begin to test it a little further. Akatsuki grinned and said that any of the children in Crescent Moon League would be willing to participate, since they'd already been asking for it.

"There is only one requirement for sure," Purrcy warned. "They mustn't take it too fast. If they grow a year's worth in only a few weeks at this stage there will be some severe negative repercussions. I believe the potions need to age themselves, like a fine alcohol. Such patterning is typical I've learned from those creatures who are capable of producing them."

The researcher nodded. "We've noticed the same here with the potions we were already creating. If the potion is treated as if it is the thing already, it handles a lot better."

"Have you already set some aside to age, then?" Purrcy asked.

"Yes, but it's only been the three months so far. I'd like to be testing the effects of how long we need to age them to be most effective."

"It could go too far the other way," Purrcy agreed. "Age it too long and it becomes too strong."

"That could help if we can bottle it down into smaller doses, since it's a small enough dose anyway."

"Agreed, as long as we can figure it out without having to create a reverse aging potion to balance it out, though there are children who need that as well. And I'm concerned about those who will be tempted to grow to an age beyond where they've properly reached. The slow steady growth of humans is for a purpose. We gain wisdom and experiences to help us in each age. They've gained more than their bodies now, but it wouldn't be good for them to be older than where they really are. Have you found a limiter yet?"

"No. We were hoping you might have some ideas?"

"Not yet," Purrcy shook her head. "I'll keep working on that part, too. For now it will have to be wisdom in who is picked for your experiments, I guess, and only take those who will be properly obedient to your instructions - as best you can anyway."

The researcher agreed and they left him to his work. Purrcy sighed once they were out of Roderick Trading Company's university guild hall, then took Nyanta's arm and buried her head in his shoulder. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"It hurts, Nyanta," she answered just as quietly. He rubbed the side of his head on her head, but couldn't say anything to it. She breathed as they walked until she had breathed herself back to patient strength enough to walk on her own again, though she held on to his arm still. A sudden tremor grabbed her and she halted and pulled Nyanta into a hug and held on tightly. He put his arms around her and waited patiently. "It's the children. All of them."

Nyanta began purring, understanding. It was too overwhelming for her mother's heart. The children of Akiba. Her children on Earth. The children she'd carried for three months and were not. The children she would carry again and then again and who might be theirs and might not be. "We will love the last set as best we can for as long as we can, and we will all do our best for the ones who are already here," he promised and encouraged her. "Mew may love them all, and they will all stand strong in themselves because they are also humans and creatures who can. We are all born with resilience, and a desire to find the joy in each day. They, too, will be okay." He purred for her and pet her until her felinoid tears passed. It was still difficult for her to move forward, but her feet moved her as Nyanta guided her towards their home on Theldesia.

When they walked into the common room of the guild hall, Purrcy went immediately to Isuzu and held her closely. Isuzu looked a question at Nyanta. Nyanta gave a sad turn of his whiskers and flicked an ear at Shiroe's door. Akatsuki went immediately and called Shiroe out. When Shiroe and Akatsuki came out into the room, Shiroe looked between Isuzu and Nyanta, unsure what was going on as well. Nyanta walked over to Purrcy and put his hand on her shoulder and she released Isuzu and would have turned to Nyanta, but he turned her towards Shiroe instead. Reluctantly she turned to their guildmaster and bowed without looking at him. "Tadaima."

"Okaiadi nesai, Purrcy," Shiroe answered. "Will you tell me what it is?" She still couldn't look at him and the shivers began again. Nyanta looked at Shiroe and pushed Purrcy closer to him. Shiroe sighed and moved to take Purrcy in his arms.

Once she was safely there Nyanta let her go, stood stiffly upright, and said with cold, quiet fury, "It hurts to have children, for her. It reminds her of the pains of Earth. Being purregnant is a months-long walk through her resurrection nightmare. To have children, and know they will be taken away at the end. To not be able to love them at all when they should be hers. To have the one who owns her be unfeeling and uncompurrehending of her feelings. Every time is her walk through her nightmare." His fur was beginning to rise with his anger and Shiroe's eyes were going wide. Akatsuki clenched her fist and Tetorō was dark as well.

Isuzu went soft, finally understanding. She moved to Shiroe and Purrcy's side and pet Purrcy gently. "Thank you for loving us here, Hahaue," she said gently. "We're glad you came and are trying your best for our sake." Purrcy's ear turned to her and she nodded slightly.

"I've expected this, actually," Shiroe said kindly. "It's okay to grieve them. We wish for such a thing to be a happy occasion, just like we wish it for the weddings, but in this place that is hard for both of them." Purrcy and Nyanta both relaxed, appreciating that he understood.

Nyanta was surprised to have a hand of support land on _his_ shoulder, and when he turned to look and saw it was Michael he was even more surprised, but the look on Michael's face made him understand. Here, too, was a father who had left children behind. Nyanta bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement of their shared burden and gratitude for the shared need for reassurance. For a father to whom their families were everything they worked for, worried about, and loved, this place was a difficult place to be in.

Reed was also looking at Nyanta and when he looked back, Reed gave him a nod as well. There, surprisingly, was another one who understood. This place had indeed taken many who struggled daily to walk forward in the hopes of reaching the place they belonged. Nyanta's ear turned sadly in acknowledgement. Softly he said to the two. "Fight the fight as hard as mew can. Reach meowr goal. We will fight with mew." They both silently tipped their heads at him, acknowledging the unspoken and promising it.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō couldn't sit still any longer. Nyanta and Purrcy had retired until she could recover. They were waiting for Naotsugu, Marielle, Henrietta, and whomever else was going to be coming from Crescent Moon League. "Shiroe, is this good enough to appear in, and can I join you in progress? I need to get out."

Shiroe had been aware of his state and answered calmly. "Yes, but take a companion with you this time. We need you to actually show up, instead of add a rescue effort to our already crazy days."

Tetorō blew out an impatient breath, then snapped his fingers at Gareth. As they walked down the street, Tetorō more bouncing and jumping around than walking, he put his hands behind his head and walked backwards, inspecting Gareth. "When are you going to finally admit that you're female on Earth?"

Gareth stopped stock still, then narrowed his eyes at Tetorō. He lifted his hand and waved Tetorō closer. Tetorō bounced a little. When Gareth didn't change expression or move, Tetorō finally walked up to face him. Without warning Gareth punched him hard and Tetorō flew back. He managed to pull himself up and land on his feet, though he slid into a crouch. Tetorō's eyes narrowed and he was suddenly springing forward.

For five minutes they clashed in the middle of the street - quite strenuously actually, until Gareth had Tetorō's shirt clenched in his hand at his throat. "Don't call the kettle black, when you're the pot," Gareth said dangerously. "Take it back."

"Fine, I'll take it back - on Earth when you show up on my doorstep and prove it."

Gareth had him on the ground and was grinding his face in the dirt. "And I'll come to make you wear dresses on parade for your father, shall I?"

That was enough to make Tetorō mad enough to really retaliate. They wrestled for another ten minutes until Gareth had Tetorō pinned on his stomach and an arm pinned behind his back. His other hand was tangled in his hair, pulling his head back into an uncomfortable position to keep him still. He leaned close to Tetorō's ear. "While there are women in the U.S. military, there aren't any in our squadron. Get over yourself and your blind culture. Every human runs the whole scale from one side to the other. There's no aberration, there's just different. And if you can't get over yourself, at least don't project what you want onto others just because you think you can get away with it." Gareth paused to glare at the back of Tetorō's head. "And for goodness sake, don't let that place make you forget your goals and position." He released Tetorō's head with a shove and got off of him.

Tetorō rolled over to glare back up at Gareth, then let his head slump to the ground to rest and recover a bit. "Well, at least you fight like a man," Tetorō finally allowed. Gareth snorted and crossed his arms. When Tetorō was recovered enough, he got to his feet, dusted off, then frowned. He cast a cantrip and his clothing and hair were suddenly back to pristine.

Gareth raised an eye. "Where'd you learn that one, that keeps you on the side of feminine?"

Tetorō glared back. "Purrcy taught it to me when we visited the garbage dump."

Gareth tilted his head and thought about that. "Alright. I'd have used it then, too."

"And you'll take the tongue lashing from Shiroe now?" Tetorō was looking Gareth up and down.

Gareth looked down, then sighed. "Guess not." It wasn't hard to replicate the spell and look clean and pressed again himself.

Tetorō turned and started walking off. Gareth walked in long strides to catch up, then got slightly ahead. Tetorō glanced at him and lengthened his stride until he was just in front. It was only another ten seconds and the one-up-manship became a full out race down the street as fast as two Adventurers over level one hundred could go. They managed to pull up and stop before going through the outer wall of Akiba, though they did thump into it hard enough to crack a few blocks of the wall. They stayed leaning on the wall as if they'd meant to do that. By the time they shoved off the wall and got walking back the way they'd come from, since they'd overshot their turn off, they were pristinely pressed again.

Now it was Gareth that couldn't walk straight. When Tetorō growled at him, Gareth growled back, then lagged behind just a bit. Before Tetorō could turn to see why, he was suddenly picked up from behind as arms slipped around his chest under his arms. With a grunt and several strong sweeps of Gareth's wings, they finally got somewhat airborne. Tetorō cursed, but Gareth kept going until they were high enough to reach the next building's roof.

"Run," Gareth ordered as Tetorō's feet just touched the roof top. Tetorō scowled, but didn't have much choice since Gareth wasn't letting go either. As the wings swept them forward, his running steps were longer apart and each push helped them forward. They hit the end of the runway, as it were and Tetorō automatically pushed off the taller wall at the edge. Gareth gave a great sweep of his wings at the same time and they soared over the gap between buildings to land on the next roof. They kept up the pattern until they were pretty in sync with it. Then it was rather glorious, Tetorō decided, that kind of motion and movement.

They reached a building that was another three stories too tall from where they were and Gareth stopped them, but didn't let go. Tetorō looked back at him, curious and Gareth was looking upward and calculating. "Oh, no you don't. I don't want to get half a story up and have you dropping me."

"Shut up." Before Tetorō could turn around and push out of Gareth's hold, the wings swept down and they were in the air. Tetorō held his breath and looked only at the side of the building in front of them passing in front of his eyes. He could just make out Gareth whispering to himself, then suddenly they were moving a lot faster with more power in each stroke. It had to be a magic assist. They reached the space above the taller building and Gareth tilted to make the next stroke of his wings push them forward until they were over that building. He didn't let Tetorō run this time though. "The hardest part is you don't know the body strength and positioning to be in flight," Gareth grumbled at him.

"You didn't invite me, you know. Just kidnapped me."

"Shut it." Tetorō rolled his eyes at the rudeness of it, then was suddenly surprised when he couldn't move his legs. He looked down but couldn't see anything. "It's your binding spell. Just do what I say. Give your body enough tension you'll stay nearly horizontal." Another binding spell went off around his waist. "Breathe normally and naturally so your upper body will stay just relaxed enough and you don't get vertigo or faint." A third binding wrapped around his upper body. "You can hold on to my arms. That will keep us balanced." Gareth's arms were still wrapped around his chest and under Tetorō's arms.

Tetorō grabbed hold, feeling the muscles in Gareth tighten in preparation for flight again. He looked around quickly at what they were facing and was dismayed to see it was one of the larger buildings of downtown Akiba - still another almost ten stories taller than they were. "Really? We have to go up there?" Gareth didn't answer. The power of the previous assist spell was still active and their liftoff was rather dramatic. Each beat of the wings lifted them quite high and by the time they reached the building Gareth was headed for, they were actually high enough to land on it. Tetorō swallowed. His stomach had been left behind and he wasn't sure he'd followed any of the just given instructions. "I think I missed that, ...thankfully," he said.

Gareth bonked him on the back of his head using his own head, since they still hadn't let go of each other yet. "Pay attention this time. This is the best part. You can't get it out of your system with a fight and a good run and not end it with a fantastic flight. Jump with me this time." They were at the edge of the rooftop, facing towards the center of the roof. Gareth flexed his knees and Tetorō complied, not that he had any choice what with the spell bindings.

They were in the air, then falling backwards off the top of the building, arcing out into space. Tetorō bit off a scream before it could happen. He relaxed instead and held on tightly to Gareth's arms. "Good boy," Gareth praised him and his wings spread out to either side and they continued the loop as they soared in a backwards vertical circle ending up flying back up the side of the building. The wings swept back down again and they shot up over the top of the roof. Up into the sky they went, turning in a slow corkscrew until they were way above the city. "Now, do what I said before. We're going horizontal."

Tetorō grasped at those instructions, but it was somewhat instinctive to tighten up his leg and belly muscles to stay as horizontal as possible. He had to then remember to breathe so he didn't pass out. Once he finally got the combination figured out, he was able to look down. He could see nearly all of Akiba laid out below them, the lights of center city blazing to show off all those buildings and open spaces. The spaces around that were scattered with lights and beyond that was now in shadow. Tetorō frowned, then looked out at the sky. The sun was well into setting. "Are we going to be late to dinner?"

"Not really," Gareth answered back mildly. "Remember it's December now. Sun sets early."

They banked and the main Akiba Silver Maple came into view. They were nearly at the height of its crown. The long curve continued and he could see Purrcy's silver maple in the distance. They would have brushed the top of it if they were close enough to it. "They really are very tall, aren't they?" Tetorō commented.

"Umhm," Gareth answered. "I'll have to remember that spot. It's the best one yet for getting into them. It's a lot harder to go up from the ground and get that high. Stair-stepping it like we did works a lot better."

"The first couple weren't," Tetorō argued.

"Better than it could have been." Tetorō let it go. Gareth was having too much fun. Besides, it was better to just enjoy it while he could. He remembered to keep breathing, though he wanted to shift into a more comfortable position. The binding spells made that rather impossible. Gareth made them dip and then glide upwards again. Tetorō only let that go on for another two before he complained his stomach wasn't meant for that.

Gareth laughed at him. "Not one to ride roller coasters are you?"

"Not really," Tetorō had to admit. "It helps to see the path in front of you. I can't predict what you're going to do, though, so each time it's surprising. That makes it worse."

"Watch the front of the wings. Drag is at the back end, where you can't see, but the front has to come down for a drop." When Tetorō looked over, Gareth demonstrated, then turned it into a sideways turn that they glided along, the wing-feathers vibrating with the wind passing over them. They flared a little more and the tilt went severe and they were flying on their sides. "Hold very still," Gareth whispered and Tetorō immediately obeyed. They were rolling onto their backs.

Gareth held it for a while, then slowly they turned farther until they were rolling out of it and back into a sideways glide that was now more heads down than horizontal. "Breathe, but don't move," Tetorō very carefully pulled air into his lungs and tried very hard not to scream or move. "Close your eyes." Tetorō was happy to obey that one. He could feel the wind ruffling his hair like it had ruffled the feathers on the wings.

Surprisingly, with his eyes closed he could feel the power in the body holding him and the strength of the wings as they performed their delicate movements and kept them in the air. It was easy to trust those feelings and he relaxed just a little. They finished rolling out of the turn and the glide took them low, then they were rising again.

As Gareth's wings beat again to lift them into the sky again, each one felt a little less strong. Gareth sighed unhappily. "We'll have to skate in now. I'll make it last as long as possible but with a passenger it will be half as long as I want it to be."

"No double casting it, then?"

"No, not yet. When we get close to ground, I'll cut the bindings and you'll run again until we get slowed down enough I can land, too. Like Miss Purrcy did when she came in for her landing that one time."

"Got it," Tetorō answered. He opened his eyes to watch the scene below them as they soared over the city. It had been exhilarating to watch Purrcy fly over Akiba. To be up here and doing it with Gareth was as unique an experience as he was ever going to have. He just felt it, breathing and holding still and just tense enough but relaxed to not interfere with Gareth's glide. At the end, the ground was coming up too fast from their perspective, but he still obediently focused and ran as best he could without tripping them head over heals. That was a difficult maneuver for not ever having had to time it before, but Gareth's wings spread out in great parachutes like Purrcy's had and they slowed quickly enough he got his stride.

Gareth's feet touched down and they ran together for about another half block, then slowed to a walk and Gareth's wings folded up behind him as he sighed. He leaned on Tetorō's back for a moment. "That kind of landing's hard on the back and the wings. Probably pulled a tendon or two that time."

"Sorry," Tetorō turned around and cast one of his Cleric healing spells.

Gareth blinked at him. "Thanks."

"Thank you. That was rather fascinating." His eyes refocused on Gareth's. He tilted his head, considering, wondering slightly why Gareth hadn't let go yet. With a blink, he gave a teasing smile. "Okay. You win." He leaned forward and gave Gareth a kiss. "You can be the man."

Gareth immediately let him go with a scowl and Tetorō danced out of reach, laughing at him. When Gareth reached his side to rub his head with his knuckles, Tetorō changed avatars and grabbed his arm and pressed up against him. "Really, who would have thought?" he teased again.

Gareth's hand was over Tetorō's face. "Do we really have to start all over again?" he growled, his hand tightening down.

Tetorō switched back immediately, twisting out of reach again. He stopped and looked back at Gareth soberly. Gareth stopped, wary. "Thank you, Gareth, for sharing your joy of flight. Probably shouldn't do it again or I'll learn to be jealous."

Gareth's eyes went wide, then he laughed. " _Learn?_ You wrote the book, man."

Tetorō walked up to him with firm footsteps and stared him down only a nose width apart. "Shut. Up." He said each word distinctly, then turned on his heel and stalked away. His side was left cold and when he finally did turn to look back, the street behind him was empty. He didn't do more than just look briefly to see it. Gareth would still be close by somewhere. That was his job after all, to know where Tetorō was all the time.

By the time Tetorō had entered Grandpa's Kitchen and found a seat he wanted, Gareth was present to slip into the seat next to him as if nothing other than the usual stroll around the city to get to this place had happened. That was comfortable and how Tetorō wanted it. He spent the time remaining, while waiting on everyone else to get present and settled, teasing Rieze and Nazuna. There weren't going to be many opportunities to do so on this trip so he may as well take them while he had them.


	138. Wedding Festivities

It was a busy night at Grandpa's Kitchen. Just having Log Horizon and Crescent Moon there, plus the Water Maple ladies (sadly minus the Princess and the apprentice) was enough to almost completely fill up the restaurant. A few others heard about it and did their best to get in. For a winter evening, it got pretty hot inside and they opened up all the windows and blocked the doors open. Other Adventurers passing by stopped to lean on window sills and door frames, or to just hang out in the street where they could hear Isuzu's concert. The bride and groom, the "parents" of the same, and the guildmaster and guildmistress' assistant were given the center front table.

When Isuzu's concert was over, food from the kitchen was passed around to everyone. Crescent Moon's chefs had agreed to be assistant chefs for the evening since that was a large gathering to cater to for just Chef Hiroki, Minori, and Touya, though the Eagle chefs did help, too. Isuzu joined the second table for Log Horizon, at which Akatsuki, Rudy, Tetorō, Gareth, and Michael were already sitting. "Excellent job!" Tetorō congratulated her.

"A fine concert of the most excellent voice of Miss Isuzu," Rudy proclaimed. Akatsuki smiled and gave a happy nod of agreement. Gareth and Michael also gave polite words of encouragement.

"Thank you everyone," Isuzu said, her own smile on her face. She did really get energized when she gave a concert. It was a lot of fun to get to share her gift with everyone and see their happy faces, and to see how the music affected them.

They ate the yummy Chinese food and it was a real treat as far as Isuzu went. To have a new flavor to go with a first family concert was a good memory to have. It did bring back the sorrowful memories of being with her dad in China for that one summer, but there were happy memories of that time, too, so she focused on them and added this one to it, though they were in Yamato.

"Um." They all glanced at Akatsuki, then away again to give her the opportunity to get her words out without pressure, leaving open space so she felt invited to share her thoughts. "Tetorō, would you be able to, ...I mean want to, ...join with us for the bachelorette party?"

Tetorō raised an eyebrow at Michael. "I haven't been here to be the one to put a bachelor party together properly like the best man is supposed to. Has there been any talk at all about one?"

Michael put his fork in his mouth and pondered on that one. "I think at this point it's just more...ah...what any bachelor party would be like, rather than a planned one. That is alcohol and talk."

Akatsuki glared at him. "No peeking this time."

All the men at the table raised conciliatory hands of defense. "No, of course not," Michael said to soothe the feathers of the two women at the table. "We don't really want a repeat of the ending of the last one."

"Good," Akatsuki scowled down into her drink as she washed it down. She set her cup down a little firmly, then blinked, the little scowl still on her forehead between her eyebrows. Then she sighed. "We need to talk about it - the bachelorette party." She looked at Tetorō again.

Tetorō swallowed his bite, then very cautiously took another, waiting to see if she was going to continue. Akatsuki glanced at Isuzu, then down to her plate, toying with the next bite she wasn't really paying attention to. "We want to do the play again, only record it this time. That way we can know Purrcy's instructions when we practice it." She gave a pleading look to Tetorō. "But, we have to have you. And...can you come to the winter festival to be in it?"

"I'll be at the festival," he said without much emotion. "It was too much to not have a break last time and she doesn't need me so much during that time." He frowned slightly at his plate, pausing in his eating. "Actually with Yuudai and Majiyo there now, they could be the babysitters while I'm gone, if it's only that long." He took the bite he'd started to pick up and nodded. "I'll be there. But a recorded rehearsal tonight? Are you all sure?"

Akatsuki nodded. "Everyone agreed. ...Purrcy isn't so sure it's really what Marielle wants and said she'd ask her again just to make sure."

"You were going to do the quiet night after all this, right?" Rudy waved his hand at the room in general. Akatsuki nodded, but didn't have anything to add. Everyone sat quietly in the attitude of guildmembers trying to come up with potential alternative plans to make it work.

Isuzu remembered one of the other pieces to the issue. She turned to Michael. "Mister Michael, we would also need P/R to come and record it for us, since we all need to be participating, and we'll all want copies of it to review before we get together for the final rehearsals."

Michael looked up at her and gave a nod he'd heard, then looked around the room a bit, laying his eyes on P/R. He got a thoughtful look, though, and looked back at the stage that had been put up for Isuzu. She looked at it too and her eyes widened. She looked back at Michael quickly and he said, "What do you think?"

"It's already set up," she said slowly, "and if no activity has been planned for the men... And they could still go do drink and talk while we go do our quiet, too. I think it would be fun to do it all together, since we kind of need to anyway."

Tetorō had gotten it by now and he leaned back a little. "Plus it will be a bit of a dress rehearsal, which we might not get in Maihama." Isuzu nodded and Michael's expression said he thought it was decent. "Shall we go ask them?" Tetorō asked Isuzu. Akatsuki was blinking, trying to get the full picture. When Isuzu nodded and they rose, Akatsuki went with them.

They arrived at the head table and the bride and groom. "Hey, Naotsugu, Marie," Tetorō interrupted when he could politely, "Akatsuki was just telling me what the girls are thinking of doing for the bachelorette party and Michael says not much has been planned for the bachelor party. We've got a suggestion." The whole table paid attention.

"Sure, go for it," Naotsugu said genially.

"They want to do a recorded practice of the play they did under the direction of Purrcy for her party so they've got it for the winter festival. Since I would need to be involved and P/R for the recording, and maybe we should get Charlie in on it too so we've got proper sound collection, and because we've already got a stage set up...," he motioned to it suggestively and said it as a question.

"It could be the activity all together, and then the two groups could split up after that for the quiet just girls and just boys time," Isuzu added for Akatsuki's sake, so she didn't have to. Akatsuki did give her strong nod of agreement to indicate she was part of the decision making as well.

Marielle's eyes lit up. "I do like that idea!"

Naotsugu looked at her and smiled. "Actually, I do like to do things all together, too. And with quiet time afterwards, even if it's a bit shorter than otherwise, that fits the bill nicely as well." He looked back at the three of them. "If you want to get that going, sounds good to us."

Henrietta looked pleased as well and Purrcy wasn't saying no, so it looked good. "All right. We'll get that going," Tetorō said and headed back to their table to talk to Michael.

Isuzu and Akatsuki walked to the table that had the Water Maple ladies at it. On the way, Isuzu called back via chat to Touya and Minori. "We're going to do the rehearsal next, after everyone's done eating. Can we have both of you during that time, or at least Minori? It's going to be a joint male and female activity before splitting up."

"Sure," Touya said pleasantly. "We've got enough hands for clean-up, and even more volunteers from both guilds. They wanted to let us be able to participate, too."

"Wonderful," Isuzu said, pleased. Akatsuki looked at her and she smiled. Akatsuki gave a small pleased nod.

Rieze was watching them arrive with sharp eyes. Nazuna was on one side of her and Tatara on the other. The new addition to the group was looking happy which was better than uncomfortable by a good margin. They'd dragged Serera in with them and a few others.

Isuzu looked at Akatsuki, letting her decide if she was going to talk instead this time. Akatsuki took a breath. "We've worked it out." Pleased looks blossomed on faces. "We'll do it all together on the stage here. Then we'll go have separate quiet time." The looks changed to smiles.

Rieze gave a mean grin and put her chin in her hand. "You mean the men wanted to make extra special sure they didn't get into trouble this time."

Nazuna laughed, but Akatsuki shook her head. "It's better and more fun to be a family doing things together."

"Well, can't argue with that," Nazuna said lazily.

"No, not really," Rieze relented and leaned back to fold her arms again. "Are we going to throw all the extras out, or let them stay and watch us make our mistakes?"

Akatsuki looked around the room, then shrugged. Isuzu considered it more seriously. "Having an audience to practice in front of that you know is helpful, particularly for first time dress rehearsals and amateur concerts. However, this does seem to be a lot of people." Over half the guildmasters were there, but that couldn't be a surprise. The people hanging on the windows would be a problem though and she glared at them a little, making the older women turn around to look.

"Ah, that is a bit much, isn't it?" Nazuna said. She and Rieze looked at each other, then back at Isuzu and Akatsuki. "We'll handle it. We can make it be just the ones who _should_ be here to watch. You two go back and enjoy your dinner."

"Thank you," Akatsuki said politely. Isuzu echoed her and they returned to the table.

"Nazuna and Rieze offered to be crowd control," Akatsuki reported promptly.

Tetorō nodded. "We've got the sound and camera crew on board, and some want to know if they can be stage hands."

"Nice," Akatsuki perked up. "Purrcy will direct that, though."

Tetorō said, "Purrcy you've got stage hand volunteers, so feel free to use as many as you want." She gave a nod over at her table and Tetorō looked back at the rest of them. "Does that cover it?"

"If it doesn't, we can add it in as we go," Isuzu said calmly. "There are lots of us and that means Miss Purrcy will have whatever she might need to call on. The manager or the director needs that kind of flexibility." They went with her experience and moved on to other topics of conversation as they finished eating their dinners.

-:-:-:-:-

The dress rehearsal was greatly enjoyed by everyone who got to participate. The guildmasters from the other guilds refused to leave, claiming right of bachelor party guest admission. It was a lame excuse to get the sneak peak with Purrcy there to participate in it. She bequeathed the role of the mother to Serera, though they offered it to Tatara. Tatara refused on the grounds she would be tending to her own booth and wouldn't be able to participate in the actual play, so they had her play another one of the waitress maids at the maid cafe. She was embarrassed at first but seemed to have fun and like she was happy to be included. That was enough to satisfy the rest.

Tetorō played his part with flair, and in his male avatar since it was a male part. Henrietta actually wore a real maid's outfit for the cafe scenes, stiffly stating it was necessary as part of the dress rehearsal. Since Rieze, Nazuna, and Akatsuki were also in their costumes, no one could really press her too hard, but some of the peanut gallery whispered that she'd perhaps tried a little too hard on both that costume and her school uniform. Purrcy was delighted, however.

Purrcy also made detail costume suggestions as they went, including that Henrietta could leave a little "blood" behind when she "tore" out the earrings from Rieze's character's ears. At the later point, Purrcy then had Rieze include the detail that her lower outer ears were bandaged as the reminder of why the three would gang up on Henrietta's character when she was ill in the alley. Though Tetorō remembered the scarf at the end on his own, Purrcy reminded him it had been a white fluffy scarf so it got changed to that. He'd laughed at her for remembering that kind of detail and not the words that were said. She shrugged and only said, "I'm visual."

Other not quite so small details were discussed with application to be tested and tried later. The gate was one that Purrcy felt might be very helpful but difficult to implement. Certainly the Student Council President's desk and chair should be used. Just how many cafe tables, chairs, and guests should be used would need to be experimented with as well, and maybe at least a door frame, if not an actual door. That she moved to the side of the stage instead of the center front like they'd imagined it the first time. Then if they decided to have the physical representation of the door it wouldn't visually clutter the scene.

Once they'd worked out each scene several times to get everything worked out, they called it an official take and ran through the whole thing from the beginning, though they made Purrcy be the mother in it since it was a small enough part that Serera could easily step in like she had for the more detailed rehearsals of the scenes. Serera allowed as how it would help her to find the right emotions to add to the part if she could watch how Purrcy had played it, not that Purrcy was quite so choked up with emotion this time. (She still was a bit misty-eyed when it was over, though.)

When they were done and the room was being straightened up for the next day, Nyanta collected Purrcy and had her sit with him so he could hold her until everyone was ready to part for the respective more quiet parties, or home for Crescent Moon League. The two already-marrieds stayed close by each other until then, and then close by the soon-to-be-marrieds at their respective parties, giving their quiet understanding comfort. While the after-parties were fun and enjoyed by all, the guests of honor were ready to end them fairly early and were quietly supported by their respective present parent in their decisions. The rest respected both pairing's wishes.

Purrcy and Nyanta wished them a particularly tender goodnight when they reached the guild houses, and made them promise that if anything came up during the night to call for them. That promise exacted, Purrcy and Nyanta retired to their room and spoke quietly of their own decision to marry and their own wedding. It was bitter-sweet as this very time in their relationship was what they had been working so hard to postpone then. The fact they _could_ , not just _had_ to be, tender to each other now helped them both and they fell asleep lightly, holding each other close.

Naotsugu walked Marielle back to her guild hall. Henrietta politely excused herself to her own room. Marielle somewhat nervously looked between her room and the common room, trying to decide where was the most appropriate place to invite Naotsugu. It wasn't like they hadn't before, but it seemed like somehow the night before the wedding should be kept reserved. Naotsugu finally pulled Marielle into his arms and held her for a moment. When he'd worked up his courage, he said softly, "I'll do whatever you want, but for myself, I need you tonight so I can get to tomorrow. It's difficult to face this night, particularly alone."

"Even if they scold us?" Marielle asked.

Naotsugu shrugged, "My guild will understand. We could go over there to my room. Or I can just get up early and slip back over there."

Marielle paused, then silently pulled him into her room, closing the door quietly. They also stayed tenderly close to each other that night as they fell asleep, wishing to be on Earth, glad they were at least together.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu woke up early, before the dawn appeared even. He woke Marielle up enough to wish her a good morning and get one more hug for courage before slipping out of the Crescent Moon League guild hall. He took a deep breath of the crisp early winter morning air, glad he had his warm coat and scarf on. It would be a chilly wedding day, but that might be alright. He was quite sure he'd be sweating buckets regardless. Well...if he weren't in an Adventurer body. It would be about the same, though.

He took one more deep breath and headed over for his own guild hall. He heard his name being called from a distance and above him. He craned his neck to look up, though it was pretty dark still. After a moment a flicker caught his eyes up on the roof of Log Horizon.

He went into the Log Horizon guild hall and walked up the stairs to the roof. When he arrived, Nyanta and Purrcy were waiting for him, Purrcy tucked into Nyanta's arms but both of them facing him and wearing warm coats and hats. "What are you two doing up?" he asked.

"Waiting for the dawn vista," Nyanta said.

"Will you come join us in seeing it on your wedding day?" Purrcy invited. "It being your special day it seems extra special to have you in it as well." Her Electric Fuzz was still circling slowly around them, casting odd shadows on them, though at his looking at it Purrcy made it sit out of the way to be just ambient light.

Naotsugu walked up to stand with them and he got the hugs he was hoping for, and the purring, too. "It really is sadly difficult, isn't it?" he asked them pensively.

"It is," Nyanta answered, "but it is also well worth it, meow." His tail waved with a slow curl to it.

"The rest of the day will go by in a blur," Purrcy promised. "Then you'll be with her again tonight to hold her again, and every night - or day as the case may be, and the sorrow will fade."

He looked at them soberly. "And the two of you? Have you been able to reach that point with all the times in between."

"Yes," Nyanta answered and Purrcy nodded. "We have been able to be together even when apart. Moving forward is easier since we retrieved Purrcy from the Maze of Eternity and it has been really Purrcy in my arms."

Naotsugu gave a nod and moved closer to the edge of the roof. The sky was already beginning to lighten just slightly.

There was the light thump of the roof door closing behind a new arrival. Steps approached them until the glint of Shiroe's round glasses caught the light of the Electric Fuzz. "Good morning," he said. The others greeted him quietly. He got his Hahaue and Chichiue hugs as well, then walked over to Naotsugu and gave him a hug as well. "You ready for this?"

"Yes," Naotsugu said. "I'm looking forward to having you officiate it, too. Couldn't ask for anything better - except to have you as my best man on Earth."

"Well, if you want to do it again when we get there, let me know," Shiroe said with a smile.

"I just might," Naotsugu said with a haughty tease. "I'm glad to have Tetorō at my back, though, so it all works out here, too."

A light wind picked up some of the hairs on his head and they turned to face the east. The golden arc of the sun slowly broke over the horizon, lighting the sky with pinks, oranges, and reds that faded up through the spectrum until the full golden orb hung just over the horizon as if it was so heavy it would slip back down again at the last moment, but it continued to slowly rise with a slow but visible progress.

When it was too bright to look at, Naotsugu turned his head to look at his close friends standing at his side. That was indeed a dawn vista to see - all of them standing in quiet solidarity as they proved in metaphor again that together they could see another day come, the sun rise again, and move forward together. Naotsugu smiled a sad smile, but it was with pride inside for them and for the guild and for each of them still doing just that - helping each other move forward until they reached that place that they were trying to go.

Today - that was the stage in the middle of town in front of Shiroe to claim his new wife that would also walk with them into the next dawn and each one after that. He looked back at the horizon and took a deep clearing breath and gave a satisfied nod. Everything was still on course, Shiroe-fight-city style. "I guess that means it's time for me to start getting ready, then," he said.

They smiled at him. "We'll get breakfast going," Purrcy said and Nyanta nodded. "Any special requests?"

He smiled. "I'd love some Hahaue pancakes." Purrcy gave him her bright smile, stepped over to plant a kiss on his cheek, and the felinoids walked towards the door, hand in hand. Naotsugu placed his arm around Shiroe's shoulders and got them walking to the door, too. "So... How long _really_ before you and Akatsuki are next?"

Shiroe elbowed him. "Not until we're back on Earth, most likely." He looked one last time at the sunrise. "At least, I assume I can last that long."

"Naw, but if you do, don't make her wait forever."

"I won't," Shiroe promised.

-:-:-:-:-

The ladies all gathered in Marielle's room to sweep her up and escort her to the Guild Hall where a room had been rented large enough to fit them all and all their equipment to get her dressed and prepared for the wedding. When asked in a girl's huddle how things were going at Log Horizon, Akatsuki shuddered. She gave a frightened look towards Purrcy and said almost timidly, "We almost had to add the crowns back in."

"She wanted them, too?" was asked in whispered horror and she nodded _"most absolutely"_ , with her eyes quite wide. Everyone shuddered, then firmly left the huddle to make sure _that_ continued to stay put down.

In the interest of regional relations, Duke Sergiad and his family had been invited this time as well. He'd kindly sent his regrets, and an envoy. That was a bit sad, but certainly acceptable and perhaps understandable. Hairdressing was left to one of Marielle's guild members who loved to do hair and it was done nicely on Marielle, as was Rieze's makeup work again. It went faster than before since she didn't have to do black fur. Once the bride was ready in those aspects, the majority of the bridesmaids and friends got to work on themselves. Purrcy had come already completely dressed. She watched as Mei-Mao and her assistant dressed Marielle, chatting pleasantly with the three to keep Marielle occupied and distracted.

Purrcy was complained to. "Why did you come already dressed, when it's part of the fun?"

Her answer was quite her. "Because I'm the mother and that's what we do, isn't it? Besides, I thought we ought to have at least one person on guard duty." That brought giggles and rolls of the eyes from some, but others were rather relieved and relaxed a little better - Rieze being one of them given the events of the last two days. "Not to mention I don't have hair and I'm not doing makeup this time, so all there is is clothes. Why put on a completely different outfit when this one is just fine?" Marielle whined at her for that one, but it was already done. It was just the reminder that underneath Purrcy was as lazy a princess as Raynessia.

"That and she wanted to get Nyanta's reaction early, while she could still get kisses," Akatsuki said, muffled by her slip as it was going over her head, as a punishment for Purrcy leading Shiroe on and agreeing with him on the issue of the crowns. Purrcy blushed as she was razzed by the stronger women in the group.

Akatsuki was one of the bridesmaids, along with Henrietta. They'd gone with just two each this time. Naotsugu had Tetorō and Shouryuu as his two. Any more and they would have had to have about twenty each. Keeping to the rule of keeping it in the guilds made it simpler. The juniors were dressing up as well, like last time, but would once again sit on the front row as family. Of course that was a lot from Crescent Moon and only one row for Log Horizon, but that was okay. The Eagles had offered to again form the sword arch and Marielle had been so excited Naotsugu had thanked them and accepted.

The excited chatter continued until Mei-Mao pronounced Marielle ready and they had the group inspections. Marielle was radiant in her white gown that, for once, was actually a bit more on the modest side in the bust, per her request. Shiroe had approved since from here on she would be a married woman and he'd even gone so far as to use it as the opportunity to suggest _all_ of her clothing be tailored to that same proper consideration. There had been surprised persons, but persons relieved just the same - mostly those boys who got the surprise suffocating hugs from Marielle. No one knew yet if she'd taken him seriously. Akatsuki suspected she had. Marielle knew what was coming up next. Unconsciously tempting the men of the city might not be a good idea down the road.

It really was amazing how fast time passed when they were doing this kind of activity. What felt like too soon, they were being called to come out of the Guild Hall for the walk to the park and the stage. Everyone gave Marielle hugs to help her calm down a little, and Purrcy held her last, the longest, and purred. Akatsuki approved. That would make anyone calm down.

When Purrcy decided Marielle was ready, they got into their formations and walked out of the Guild Hall. This time it was Marielle under the canopy her younger guild daughters carried. Purrcy walked next to it to continue to keep Marielle calm and reassured, since she'd already been through it and was Hahaue as well. Akatsuki walked next to Henrietta just after the travelling pavilion, and the remainder followed behind.

Honestly, Akatsuki was quite excited herself. She finally had to admit it was because she was feeling like she was next in line and was very much looking forward to it, even if it was perhaps a few years down the road. It was exciting to participate in another wedding anyway, and she hoped the best for both of her friends. While she might get irritated with Naotsugu, he was still an older brother. (You were supposed to get irritated with them, right?) And Marielle was so nice to everyone. They went well together. She couldn't disapprove at all.

The excitement floated around the stage in the audience as well, and filled the tent at the back as they entered it to wait the final moments. Shiroe once again almost couldn't look at her, but she'd learned to understand by now. He was liking what he saw very much. She blushed slightly and that made his eyes widen just a little, then a blush come on his own face and he had to turn away. Akatsuki smiled. If she could do that to him, then it was alright. She did like knowing she was pretty in his eyes. When he'd approved the efforts of the morning and given Marielle a kiss on the cheek (and a whispered complement and a kiss to Akatsuki), he left to go begin the event itself.

There was the trumpet of unicorns and Akatsuki had to peek out. There were five on each side of park, calling out the ladies. That was a unique and beautiful touch. The friends walked out in their sets to sit in their seats at the far end of Log Horizon's front row. The juniors filed out in their turn. Then Nyanta appeared to hold open the tent flap and Purrcy left on his arm to walk up the aisle and sit at the inside edge of Log Horizon's row. It had been decided that way because of their guild affiliation, not because of whose parents they were since that was both of them.

Akatsuki took a deep breath at the sound of swords being drawn. She stepped out of the tent and walked, holding her yellow daisies tightly, but not too tightly, in her hands. She walked down the aisle between the Eagles who were currently holding their swords at attention in front of them. She got some winks from them as she went so she was smiling by the time she made it to the top step of the stage.

She froze slightly there. The look on Shiroe's face was of longing and a sense of being lost, his eyes completely mesmerized by the image he was seeing - which was her. That was very difficult to overcome, particularly since she was liking what she was seeing. Her excitement about being next was suddenly a whining despair that it couldn't be _right now_. She humbly looked away from him and walked to her place, trying to not be supremely jealous. She hoped most of it was the curse, since it was an ugly emotion, but she rather dejectedly suspected it wasn't.

It helped to have Henrietta join her on the stage next. Akatsuki was able to breathe a little better with the other woman as a barrier between herself and Shiroe. She turned to watch Marielle and caught sight of the look on Naotsugu's face. It was rather similar to what Shiroe's had been, but with the addition of perhaps... _awe_. That was the proper way to feel, Akatsuki thought, looking at Marielle, too. At least, it seemed right for the groom to feel that way about the bride coming to meet him. It was a good sign things were going to be alright between them down the road.

The swords clashed together lightly making an arch overhead as Marielle reached the Eagles and she delightedly walked beneath it to arrive next to Naotsugu, facing Shiroe. Her smile was particularly radiant today. Shiroe gave the smiling bride and the bedazzled groom a happy smile in return, and began the ceremony.

Shiroe kept the words the same as he'd used for Nyanta and Purrcy's ceremony. First a reminder of the sorrows they carried for the past, then a reminder of the promise of couples to hold society together as they held each other's memories and needs with respect. The reminder to them all that the joint union brought peace and encouragement to the couple, and to the rest of them, as they looked forward with hope.

Akatsuki again was struck by how appropriate it was, this wedding lesson, blessing, and prayer just for Adventurers. She wondered if they'd still use it once they got back to Earth. It might not be necessary, but she thought she'd ask Shiroe if they could, or something similar but appropriate. She would also miss being here and wanted to be able to remember her happy memories from this time.

Naotsugu and Marielle didn't sign a contract, but they did exchange rings and say the vows to remember and treasure each other's pasts and their own and commit to their marriage agreement. Again, all too soon it felt like, this part was also over. Naotsugu gave a very big and long kiss to Marielle and perhaps only those of them up on the stand, and maybe Purrcy and Nyanta, knew it was because he was trying to hide the tears escaping from his eyes. Shiroe announced them as husband and wife, then they were walking off the stage.

They waited for their bridal party to come off the stage and get hugs first, so that Shiroe got his just after Akatsuki. That was good, because she had to hold him while he cried again. It wasn't as bad as when Purrcy and Nyanta got married, though, so that was better. Akatsuki wasn't going to complain one bit, though. She was getting to hold Shiroe. ...Probably for the last time for a long time to come.

Though it had been that before, they'd thought, this time it felt special. This time, they were "almost married". Next in line, part of this wedding party and proceedings. Just _this close_. So...it was special. When he recovered and looked at her, she kissed him. Her words almost came out and she had to pull them back in surprise. His look made her blush, but closed her mouth. She breathed a sigh of relief to herself. It wasn't time for those words to be said, no matter what her emotions of the day were. Those special words were for after they'd won this next round. They were her drop for Shiroe, and every time she thought of Shiroe's drop for her, she floated on air. That was her strongest happy memory that held her strong when things got hard. She suspected it would remain so the entire time. She gave Shiroe one more tight squeeze and let him go. He took her hand on his arm and they moved on to the banquet.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō actually felt a lot calmer today. He was privately relieved that he'd been able to recover and calm down for Naotsugu's big day. It still felt a little fast, only two days of _having_ to just be himself and be wild, but it was still a relief he could be calmer today. He didn't want to make Naotsugu upset on the day he should be the happiest. Tetorō was happy for Marielle, too. She really did deserve such a sweet guy as Naotsugu, and one who loved her as much. It was a good thing.

The ceremony was the ceremony. It was more fun to watch the faces of the bride and groom for teasing later, though he'd be kind about it. Hugs all around after, of course, and Naotsugu was good and remembered his promise to kiss Purrcy second now that the wedding kiss had happened. He super-blushed and tried to hide it with a comment about fuzzy kisses, which was so him Tetorō could only laugh.

He did his own part to open the banquet and roast the new couple and give the weepy speech, during which he didn't bother to hide his tears. Everyone knew him by now and it wasn't worth getting worked up over that part. From that point on, he was looking for an excuse to escape without being missed.

It finally came and he gave the sign to Nazuna. He couldn't take Akatsuki like he'd hoped since she was apparently expected at Shiroe's side now by more than just Log Horizon, which he found interesting. Since she was almost as radiant as Marielle, he didn't have the heart anyway. He really wished the two of them well. It looked like the next little bit was going to be hard. He didn't want to take one last day of close happiness away from them.

He scanned the crowd, then was surprised to see Nazuna take someone by the arm and lead them off, giving a look to Tetorō as she went. Well, if Nazuna had found a substitute for Akatsuki, that was perhaps good enough.

Tetorō slipped out of the crowd and headed back towards the outskirts of Akiba and the Crescent Moon guild hall. When he met up with Nazuna, he grinned. "Hey, Tatara! Thanks for coming along. You're the perfect addition. I'm glad Nazuna thought of it."

"Thanks," she said, giving a shy glance at him. He was glad she liked him enough to be comfortable. That would keep it a relaxed affair.

"Did Nazuna fill you in, yet?"

"Even if I did, you should tell us what details are in your head, you know?" Nazuna answered back first, her tail waving lazily in an almost-hunt. She was going to enjoy adding in the pranks like he was. Hopefully they'd be able to not get over excited.

"Right," he interlaced his hands behind his head. "We count as the middle ground squad. We know what Marielle likes on the supper-sticky-sweet frilly girl end of things, but we also know that a guy's got to have manly space that he can breathe and relax in." Nazuna nodded, but Tatara looked faintly confused.

Tetorō kept going. He'd get there. "Natosugu's given me a box of stuff he had out in his room that is kind of his go-to stuff when he's there, which isn't often, really. Still our bedrooms are our places to escape so he's still got to have space to call his own. Now that they're going to be living together in her room, our job is to get it into a space they can both coexist in."

Nazuna got it. Tatara turned her confused look on him and finally asked. "Why me?"

Tetorō smiled at her. "Because _we're_ both going to get into trouble for being the troublemakers in the bunch. We want to be able to leave a few pranks behind, but we shouldn't be mean. You're the anchor there. Also, you're the tie breaker. Your opinion will be carefully considered and reasonable for normal people. If we get into an argument, you start thinking hard and we'll listen when you open your mouth. Always say it, even if you think it's strange or you're not sure, okay?" She considered it, then gave an _okay_ nod.

"You should open your mouth whenever you have an opinion, too," Nazuna told her. "Sometimes you'll see things from your perspective we'll have missed and might be just the right touch we're looking for."

"Or you'll be able to prevent us from making a glaring error, though that's not so likely. I'm rather perfect at making things look good, after all," he said with an idol shrug of accepting an accolade he'd been born to receive. Nazuna turned away. "What?!" he asked.

"You haven't pulled that out in a long time." She looked back over with a grin and a flick of her tail, "It's kind of nice to see it again, actually - when it's kept to that level." The last was a bit of a warning. He flicked a hand of reassurance at her, and played with it for a while to keep them all entertained on the rest of the walk to the guild hall.

-:-:-:-:-

Marielle was having a fabulous time. She was in her element. Everyone having fun partying, she was the center of attention, but not having to have everyone's eyes on her only the whole time, there was good food, lots of smiles, and opportunities to talk. The current round of guests and well wishers walked away from the table and a glass of cold iced juice was put in her hand. She drank it down almost all in one. She'd not realized she'd gotten so thirsty. "Thanks, Naotsugu. That was just what I needed!"

He gave her a smile, but something clicked and she paused long enough to look at him. Now that she'd been his op for a while and he'd been leaning on her more, he'd been showing her more times of weariness and weakness. He had to be human underneath that buff avatar, though he'd never shown it. Now he had - to her - and she'd been trying to learn when she needed to step in and help him heal. "How are you doing, Hon?" she asked, putting her hand on his arm.

"I'm enjoying seeing you the happiest I've ever seen you," he smiled at her and his eyes lit up at that, but there was still something.

"I am," she smiled back. "I'm so happy to have you at my side and to walk with you. I'm also super excited to have everyone having such a good time today." He knew, his smile said. He wasn't going to tell her what it was, so she looked around for clues. "What time is it?" she asked. It looked like the food was well down the original stacks and stacks it had been on the food tables.

"Oh, late afternoon, probably? I can't say exactly since tummy time's nonstandard today."

She laughed lightly at him. "Your clock is your tummy." She rubbed his belly and he looked at her with a more interesting expression. That made everything click. He liked to watch her be happy, but he liked quiet time to regenerate. It had been a long day already...and he had a new wife. She blushed faintly.

Naotsugu leaned forward and kissed her. "I couldn't perhaps talk you into saying our farewells and having just us time, could I?" He put his forehead on hers.

She knew he'd relent immediately if she asked to stay, but it wasn't just her day. It was _their_ day, and that was different. "I think we've stayed long enough," she agreed with him. "Do you have a destination in mind?" It wasn't bedtime yet after all.

"Your room" he said simply as he rose to his feet, sort of surprising her. He took her hand and helped her rise. "If we don't go there first, the room will be flooded with fish swimming in it and sea-turtles sleeping on your bed."

"Wha-?" she asked, confused.

"Tetorō and Nazuna left a while ago. I expect the pranks to be rather excessive if we wait too much longer." He was being rather practical about it for the two names he'd just dropped.

Standing almost rigid, her hand curled at her heart, Marielle asked, "Rieze didn't go with them?"

"No. I asked Tetorō to keep it down." Naotsugu reassured her.

"Oh, good," Marielle slumped in relief. "Well, if it's as you say, then yes, we should indeed go there first at the least. I should also stop by the Guild Hall and...oh, no. Never mind. They'll worry about that, too, won't they?" Her hand was on his arm and he was guiding them through the crowded garden.

"Of course they will," he answered. They went a bit slow, accepting congratulations and greetings as they went.

"It's so odd to not consider the last part, the whole process is so ingrained into me," she admitted. "I keep having to remind myself that my gift to me is that I don't have to do clean up this time."

Naotsugu chuckled. "I would think that was the gift of the city to you."

"If I don't remind myself it's my gift, too, then I feel too guilty for leaving it to them, but I can accept a gift graciously, even from myself."

He gave her another little kiss. "That's a very good way to think about it." He stopped them and bowed. "Hahaue, Chichiue, Guildmaster Shiroe. We'll excuse ourselves now, I think." Marielle bowed with him, not sure why he was being so formal.

"Thank you for being part of our special day," Marielle said to them.

"We love you both very much," Purrcy said with her smile.

"Have a good time and rest up," Shiroe said as he slid his glasses back up on his face.

"Congratulations," Nyanta said, his tail curled gracefully up behind him and his pose perfectly upright as always.

"Thank you," Naotsugu said to them and led her away.

Since she needed to learn such things when she was confused, Marielle asked him simply but humbly when they got far enough away, not knowing if it was a Log Horizon thing or not. Naotsugu considered his answer. "I was raised up, just like all of us, that in formal settings one always was formal to those at the top. I think we've gotten a bit relaxed being Adventurers who all live as equals around here. It was rather automatic for me. A wedding is really very formal, you know, and that was the parents and the head of the house, so it was just proper." He paused, then said lightly, "And I don't think it's wrong to do here, either."

Marielle thought about that last one. Comments like those had meaning to Log Horizon, too. "You mean, because it's really the King's House, it really is proper to act right since you, or rather we, happen to be of the few who are allowed to know it."

He gave her a proud look. "Mm," he nodded. "I think Shiroe's about got it into his skin now. I'd been doing it to remind him when out of the house that he needed to be thinking seriously about it. He's wearing the mantle a lot better now, though, so I do it now because when we act according to how a thing _is_ , it really is that for everyone involved. So it's a support thing there, too."

She gave a faint sigh, "Ah, I see it." Then she grinned at him. "So, if I wasn't your wife, in that case you would have ma'am-ed me, too?"

He smiled back. "You bet. I still might, when you need that reminder to act it, but most of the time I won't now."

"Good," she relaxed a bit in relief. "I much prefer the relaxed Naotsugu." She frowned a bit. "But...I noticed, too, that there I was very much in the wife position."

"Yup," he said, watching their path and not looking at her. That was: _figure it out_.

She considered it. "Because you're in the house of the king, your position comes first and I'm that - the wife."

"Mm." Positive, but he still didn't look at her, though he was walking as casually as usual. So it wasn't something he was worried about. He was just willing and happy to have her figure it out so she wouldn't misstep.

"Ah! And it's training." Now she got the smile. She smiled back in relief. "I can live with that. Log Horizon's a daunting place to join."

Naotsugu laughed at that. She blinked at him. "Sorry. We're so small it's hard to think we're _daunting_. Same as when we have our tiffs and spats. Walk in on us with Tetorō and Akatsuki wrestling across the floor and Touya whining at Minori as she scolds him and say that and we'd stare at you like you were crazy, then laugh at the absurdity of it." He sighed. "Though, most of the time we'd be proud to have you say it. We do all know our places. We're glad we can relax together, too."

He smiled at her again, that warm smile that made her nervousness try to relax because he cared. "There's always some element of insecurity when joining with a new guild or a new family, or a new job or anything new. You've been around some and we've been at your place, but I think this kind of step makes things just different enough. I'll guide you, and I hope you'll guide me at Crescent Moon. I've been trying to take the time to sit and observe over there, too, but I'm suspicious there are things I've got to learn."

Marielle considered that. "Yeah...there are some quirks. The chefs finally got tired of kitchen chaos. Even though it looks like we're cooking all the time, there really are hard and fast times for meals. It got so there were too many of us to keep it casual. I haven't ever seen it be a problem at Log Horizon, probably because it's small enough to just be a larger size family. We'd have boys show up in the middle of the afternoon, make sandwiches, and leave a mess behind. There is a window now in there where if you want to stop by and grab a snack, they've got something small they can just hand you. That's helped the boys a lot since they want something right after the early afternoon fighter practices."

She nodded. "I'll try to help you with all that. Ah, for that specifically, though, I've already talked to them and explained that your case is going to become rather unique and they've said they'll watch it. When they know ahead, it's not hard for them to just put an extra plate into someone's list and have it on hand for when you're finally ready to poke your head out to wander into the kitchen. The in and out doesn't bug them, nor the expected odd case. It was just the random food raids and messes left behind."

"Yeah, I can see that. I'll try to give them head's-up when I head in through the door ready to drop. That way they'll know to get something set aside before I'm up again."

"That would be very helpful," Marielle was pleased and squeezed his arm.

"Mm, speaking of such, I need to have Henrietta let me know what my share of the living expenses is. I've got my own earnings, of course, and Shiroe's going to do the equivalent of paying me for doing my job. We've sort of agreed that it would be like him not paying me to do it now, but him covering the living expenses at the guild hall."

"You weren't before?" she asked him.

"I was. But it's that kind of thing. I won't be paying him now, I'll be paying Henrietta, but - Well," he trailed off. "It's a man thing."

"No," she said quietly. "I understand. Work and effort appreciated properly makes a big difference to the feel of what you're doing. And so does working hard to earn something to keep yourself alive and moving forward."

"Yeah, it's that," Naotsugu agreed. They walked in companionable quiet after that for a bit.

When they arrived at their room, Marielle stood just inside the door with her mouth and eyes wide open. "Wow," Naotsugu breathed.

Marielle could only nod her head as she looked around the double room. "I feel like I've gone from being the little princess to being the queen," she said finally.

"And from the bachelor to the duke," Naotsugu agreed. "It's formal, but in an adult way instead of stuffy."

"It's still my stuff and my room, but...," Marielle wandered from place to place - the shelves over the fireplace where her stuffed animals had been before, to the window seat where they were arranged now to the side and on the floor in front of and to the side of it on one side. The other side had some of Naotsugu's casual things placed around it. The shelves now held her most pretty things that hadn't been childish to begin with but had been rather swallowed up by the other things.

The desk had been moved ninety degrees and closer to the far wall from her bed, opening up the space in the middle so either it could be a greeting space, or they could have the room for the bedroom side if they needed it, or to have more formal office space on the other side. There were perhaps more of Naotsugu's things on the desk side, but that wasn't a bad thing since that left it uncluttered. They had put her favorite teapot and tea set on a small round table in the corner on that side on top of a lacy doily to keep that side just feminine enough.

On the bedroom side, her things were tastefully arranged and uncluttered on one side of the bed, and Naotsugu's armor stand and other things were on the other side of the bed. "Just taking out the clutter made such a big difference," she said, then swallowed. She liked it, but she did kind of miss all the things that were hers out in the open.

Naotsugu waved his hand to draw her attention to two large boxes on the floor. He picked up a piece of paper and handed it out to her. She walked over to take it from him. _Here's the rest. Only get them out to play with when you miss them, then put them back into the boxes when you're done. That's what all good children do with their toys to keep the house nice for everyone to live in._ At the bottom was an additional note scrawled in a different hand: _You can thank Tatara for being the moderator. She had a good time._ Marie smiled a soft smile. "Tetorō's done a very good job with the tasteful decor. He really should become an interior decorator. But Nazuna still knows who I really am inside, even if he has tried to make it look like I've grown up a little."

Naotsugu rubbed her head. "We love you the way you are. I think they did a good job, too. I like it." His eyes sparkled. "And it is kind of the next step of what we were talking about on the way here."

She looked at him, then nodded, looking around the room one more time. "It's time to grow up, now that I've joined the King's House." She looked down at her two boxes of toys, sighed just slightly, then put them into her list. She'd get them out later and play with them one more time, then only when she really needed them.

Naotsugu wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I'm looking forward to having the Grand Duchess as my wife. I think you will enjoy meeting her yourself."

"Really, Naotsugu?" she teased him a little, not so sure herself.

"Yes, Marie," he said soberly, "you do have it in you. I've seen it here and there. I want to help you pull that important part of yourself out. That's the you that is full of grace, confidence, tenderness, and compassion. I know it probably seems like a long reach for you, but you do have it. I hope you'll let me help you shine." She blinked up at him. "But I'll not make you do more than you can. It's okay to just be you. There's just more to you than you can see right now. I'd like you to love the all of you that I love."

She sighed wistfully. "That does sound so impossible, but...I know you are very patient, and very good at helping others to do just that. I'll look forward to seeing what you can do. And...I hope you'll be patient when I also want to help you see the more that I can see in you."

Naotsugu brushed her hair back from her face. "It will be good to have an honest mirror to help me see more clearly."

Marielle put her arms around his neck and kissed him long. They didn't leave their room again until a leisurely time the next morning.


	139. Izanagi's Experiment Takes a Bad Turn

The "Wedding of the City" over, Akiba now turned it's attention to preparations for the Minami winter festival. Those who were walking, or otherwise making way by their own slow progress (many to pick up more gold on the way through monster harvests), would leave three days before the festival. Those who were larger groupings and guilds either had already reserved space on the Minami train that would be in town for one full day for loading, or would be leaving in their own caravans. There was some discussion of making two round trips, but for this time, they decided that the earlier one might be a bit pointless. It was expected to be a very packed train ride.

Log Horizon said goodbye to Purrcy and Tetorō after breakfast. Purrcy and Nyanta in particular were very close to each other all morning as they made waffles together and their parting was difficult and tender. Michael finally took compassion on them all and picked that it was just time to go and put his hands on Purrcy's shoulder and Tetorō's arm and they disappeared. The rest of them sat in silence for about five minutes before Shiroe finally sighed and put his hand on Nyanta's shoulder, then pulled him into a hug, completely unable to say what he wanted to say. Nyanta patted him on the head. "It will be intolerable, but is temporary. Think of me kindly."

"I will," Shiroe promised, "and hoping for a swift end."

"Thank mew." He was around until after the kitchen duties were done, saying his farewells to the children then, followed by ones to Naotsugu and Akatsuki, then he disappeared into his room. Akatsuki snuck in a few hours later to find him curled up in the corner as cat. She sat and pet him until she herself curled up around him and slept also, of similar mind to him that this was just depressing from here on out.

When she woke up to an irritated High Priest, she bowed politely, apologized, and quietly took herself out to sit in the tree for a long time in her guardianship post watching over Log Horizon and their home. The cold winter wind blew her long black hair off her shoulder and the smell of harsh winter was in it, like cold iron. Her soul seeped some of that up, and when she finally returned inside, she was more restrained than normal and the bite in her eyes matched the sharp edge of her short sword and the rest respectfully let her have her space, though also let her know by their companionship that even so, she wasn't alone.

Shiroe lost himself in his office work, but had to wipe the slow drips off his cheeks so they didn't stain the paper he was working over. Forcing himself to continue forward on simple things kept him going until he also was able to finally sigh and let it go and return to the frame of mind of getting the dungeon level completed. It was time to return to marching forward again.

Minori and Isuzu held them up for a while, working hard together and often with Touya and Rudy, on the winter festival preparations for the guild. They had Serera contact her acting friend in Minami, Qwased, to see if he'd be willing to register the Water Maple Acting Troupe for two shows a day on the smaller stage, and if he could find a place not too expensive for Log Horizon guild to stay, including the Eagles. They didn't mind out of the way. Minori authorized him to pay a down payment to rent the apartment, saying she'd repay him at the Guild Hall bank when he called back to let her know how much it had been. She in particular was glad at this time Purrcy had named her Seneschal. These were things Shiroe definitely didn't need on his plate right now.

Minori did pause at some point with a sigh and hope she could go back to being a junior high student when she got home. She'd become such an adult with all her responsibilities and power of position here. She brushed her hair back from her face and paused in surprise when it was longer than her hand expected. She ran her hand along her hair again, then jumped up and ran for her room and mirrors. She stared in surprise at her whole figure. _When did that happen?_ she wondered, and flipped through her notebook she was keeping detailed notes in for the researcher at Roderick Trading Company. She frowned and took her measurements and compared them. Her heart beat a little harder. She took a deep breath, trying to calm the panic.

"Touya," she said quietly in a chat to her brother.

"What?" he said abruptly and he sounded angry.

"I - ah," she fell silent. "I'm sorry," she said sadly and cut off the chat. She hadn't meant to interrupt at a bad time. She rotated through her clothing wardrobe and had to set aside almost half of it. That was a larger percentage than before and she stared a bit in despair at the pile when she was done. She finally swept it up into a box she labeled, "To be altered". She might give them away instead, but it was too many, too much to handle now, or to even ask the very busy seamstresses of Shopping District 8 to handle. She slowly walked back down the stairs, pausing at the bottom, then sighed and returned to the kitchen table to finish her work in sober silence.

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy scowled. He was glad Isuzu cared, but she really hadn't needed to come with them this time. He'd been hoping for just time with Touya today. It was worse than that, though. Isuzu giggled again at a thing Touya said. They'd been monopolizing the conversation, talking about things that didn't even matter, really, and mostly ignoring him. Not that he minded when it was a group activity. This wasn't a group activity, and what it did look like, he wasn't interested in seeing.

"So, Touya," he said, breaking in, "are we really going to get to check one last time or not?"

Touya looked back at him, "Of course we are. Aren't we headed there now?"

"Maybe. It doesn't look so much like it. Perhaps I should leave the two of you and take care of it myself?"

"Of course not," Isuzu frowned at him.

"You're not helping," he said flatly to her. "Feel free to return home."

Touya turned on him. "That's rude, Rudy. What's the point in getting upset? Aren't we all going together?"

Rudy stopped, suddenly feeling very stubborn. "No. We're not. You two are, or I am, I'm not sure which, but we most certainly aren't 'together'." He folded his arms and glared between them. "Or do you two not realize you've been flirting and trysting this entire time, to my personal exclusion?"

Isuzu froze, her gaze going far away in shock. Then she turned away, blushing. "Really, Rudy," Touya said with dry sarcasm. "You have to go that far?"

"I do when it's truth," Rudy said firmly.

Touya's face went dark, when suddenly he got the far-away look on his face of a chat coming in. "What?" he asked, angrily. There was a bit of a pause, then a frown and he was looking at Rudy again.

Isuzu's hand was on Touya's arm by then, though. "It's okay, Touya. If I'm being a problem instead of part of the solution at the moment, I'll go back."

Touya scowled at her. "You can't go by yourself and this needs to be done. It's just Rudy being stubborn."

"No, it's not," Isuzu said, blushing again. "Even you're not being yourself, though you think you are." She had to look away from him, then snatched her hand back.

Touya stared down at his arm where she'd been touching, his eyes going wide. Those wide eyes looked up at Rudy, and he whispered, "You're really telling the truth?"

Rudy nodded. "You two have been flirting since we stepped foot outside the guild hall, completely ignoring I'm here. It's quite irritating, honestly."

Touya looked at Isuzu, then had to look away. Rudy could understand. The expression and pose on Isuzu was one most young women ready for courtship had when they were being shyly - or coyly - attractive. It depended on the type of girl. Isuzu had never been either before and it was likely somewhat the former, though more complex since she was an Adventurer. That didn't mean it was a good thing in this case.

He swallowed. "I think...perhaps we'd better postpone and return at this point. Guildmaster Shiroe might want to know." He looked between the two of them, making sure they had some sense of proper propriety now. When they both nodded, it looked like they did.

They made him walk between them the whole way back. It was uncomfortable, but preferable. He spent the time trying to feel like Naotsugu might feel.

When they got close to the guild hall, Touya suddenly stiffened and the look on his face was one of almost horror. He took off and ran for the door, flinging it open and running into the guild hall. The others hurried their steps, extra worried now. He wasn't in the common room, but they could hear him in the kitchen. "Minori? I'm sorry," he begged. "Are you okay?"

They walked with quick steps to the kitchen door. Minori was sitting at the table, her head in her arms, hiding her face. Touya's hand was on her back.

Isuzu immediately walked over to her and put an arm around Minori. "Hey, Minori. We're here. What is it?"

Minori had jumped and now she slowly sat up and wiped her face. "I'm sorry, Touya. I didn't mean to interrupt at a bad time."

"I'm sorry, too, Minori," Touya said miserably. "I...," he trailed off and bit his lip. He gave a glance at Rudy. "And I'm sorry, Rudy."

Rudy waved a hand. "Let's go tell Guildmaster Shiroe, then it only has to be said once."

Now Minori looked at them all curiously. "Are all of you okay?"

Isuzu hesitated. "No. Please come."

Minori nodded and rose from her chair. Rudy led the way. He knocked once on the door and waited for the summons. When it came, he opened the door and they entered as a sober group.

Shiroe put down his pen and looked at them, then folded his hands together. "What can I do for you?" he asked, his eyes lingering on Minori, but seeing each of them and the depths of details he could see.

Rudy was given the floor and he supposed he had the right to complain. He cleared his throat. "Touya and I were going to check on some last minute things before he had to be at the restaurant for the final evening it's open. At the last minute Isuzu decided to join us." He frowned. "We didn't think anything of it at the time, but I got irritated enough to stop us part way there." He waved his hand as if it didn't matter.

"They spent the whole time flirting and trysting and ignoring me. It was quite terrible from my perspective, actually, and honestly, very out of character when I finally understood it. I watched the signs after that and it is definitely that. You know how People of the Land are - certain poses, words, quirks like giggling, and the like are all signs that a girl is passing into womanhood and is of courtship age. Isuzu most definitely displayed the majority of them on this walk. The usual angry male at being interrupted in the middle of said courtship by another potential rival was also met most handily by Touya's behavior when I refused to continue in that way any further."

Both Touya and Isuzu were looking scolded. "I was...in the middle of being angry with Rudy when you called, Minori. I'm sorry," Touya said humbly.

"It was a good interruption, though," Isuzu said softly. She took a breath. "Mister Shiroe, it's not the first time I've caught myself flirting, though...this was the first time it felt serious, looking back on it."

Shiroe raised his clasped hands to rest his chin on them and waited patiently for her to continue. "In several of the inns where I played there were young men of the People of the Land who would come and talk to me after my set and I'd find I was flirting with them. It felt natural, kind of like today did, until I realized what was happening. Then I was rather embarrassed and stumbling over my feet like I usually do in those kinds of situation." She blushed again. "This, as I said, felt more serious. After Rudy scolded us, I wasn't able to...," her eyes dropped and she said in a rather small voice, "...I'm not able to let it go."

Shiroe gave a small nod and his eyes went to Minori. She took a breath and stood up straighter. "I was working in the kitchen when I suddenly discovered my hair was longer." There were blinks at that. "It surprised me so I went to look in my mirror at my growth rate." She played with her hair a bit, unconsciously in her nervousness. "I've grown in a leap that is inconsistent with the pattern so far. Usually I have to trade out about a quarter of my clothes for being too small, at most. I had to take out most of half this time."

She fished into her pocket and pulled out her notebook. "Here. You might want to see the data." She handed it to Shiroe who took it without comment and flipped through it. He paused and compared a few pages, looked up at Minori, then back down again. He closed the notebook and handed it back. She took it and slipped it into her pocket.

"I was worried, so I tried to call Touya to let him know of the discrepancy and he ...yelled at me. I hadn't meant to call at a bad time, so apologized and let it go for then, but I haven't been able to let it go and have been getting more depressed until I was in tears when they arrived." Her hands were tightly clasped together, but Touya reached over until she gave him her little fingers to hold.

Shiroe leaned back. "Isuzu, is your avatar age the same as your Earth age, assuming Theldesian time is equal to Earth time?"

"It was at the time of the catastrophe," she answered.

Shiroe nodded. "And the two of you are nearly there as well, being equal." He pondered for a bit, then said. "Isuzu, no more going out with Touya. You can go with Rudy. I suspect he isn't affected by this, plus he has his own defensive flavor text. Touya, if you get too jealous for that, let them know - kindly please - and we'll have Isuzu stop so that we can keep peace in the house. You two will watch yourselves carefully. If you find you have no control over sneaking around to be together, we'll have to send Isuzu out again. We'll hope that in the natural course of the return from Minami and your readiness to head out again we won't have to do anything out of the ordinary or drastic. If it becomes a problem in Minami, we'll put you under guard and watch there. Rudy, I'll expect you to help us keep an eye on that." Rudy gave a nod.

He considered a little longer. "Isuzu, do you have an age range for those you found yourself flirting without outside Akiba?"

Her brow furrowed a bit. "I'd have to guess, but perhaps seventeen or so up to early twenties."

Rudy nodded. "Men are most eligible from seventeen to twenty-four, though of course there are outliers."

"And women?" Shiroe asked.

"Sixteen in some cases, though typically seventeen through twenty. Usually they are married by then. Only in rare cases do they go older and often those are the ones who are set to be single for life."

"Ah, thus why Duke Sergiad and his family were set on keeping Princess Raynessia and immediately making sure she had a suitable young man for the courtship." Rudy nodded.

Shiroe rocked his chair back a bit, and slowly rocked as he thought and looked up at the ceiling. "You say _most_ eligible for the boys?" he asked Rudy. Rudy nodded. "I'd like to confirm the age limitations are the same for Adventurers, I guess. Touya, keep going until you're as close to seventeen as you think you can get and stop there. It's risky, but I'd like to know if it stays at the level of flirting without going into full blown courtship there. If you don't want to fight yourself that hard, you can stop where you are now. Minori, stop now. We can't afford to have that line crossed, and we already have Isuzu as a sample over that. I'm sorry to have you off sync, but I think if we can get this worked through, it won't be too much more time for you to catch back up." Minori nodded.

The front feet of Shiroe's chair landed on the floor again as he leaned forward to rest his arms on the desk again. "We'll keep observing everyone else for now, since we also need to see if it's starting earlier for us in comparison to everyone else. If you want, you can call Serera in to help you keep an eye on it since I'd expect to see dating start up there before a lot of other places among the younger sets. I'll talk to Marie later." He paused and looked at Minori again. "Keep watch on the growth spurts even when not taking the potion. I want to know if the AI's stirring the pot up or if it was just the potion and a natural process."

The business side of it done, Shiroe leaned back casually and the rest of them relaxed internally. "As far as the rest of it, I'm sorry it's difficult, but honestly it isn't any different. You'd all be going through this at home, too. There we also have to learn to control our appetites and passions, particularly through this age range. Trying hard now will give you the practice you need for there, too. If it becomes impossible we'll help in more drastic ways, but we'd like to hope we don't have to." He gave them a sad smile and picked up his pen again, holding it horizontally between the forefingers and thumbs of both hands. "Please keep working hard," he said quietly, his own pain that he couldn't help them any more than that bleeding through. They all bowed and left him to his work.

Isuzu sighed and ran her hand through her curly hair, making it fluff up on the side. "I guess it's good we leave for Minami tomorrow. I'd really like to be there." She bit her lip. "I hope it isn't too hard."

Rudy put his hand on Isuzu's shoulder. "If it does get hard, you could seek out West Wind Brigade. They'll help protect you ...from yourself." He had to say the last bit sadly.

Isuzu gave him a sad look back. "Thanks, Rudy. It's a good idea. I'll add it to my escape selections." He gave her an encouraging nod and squeeze of the shoulder.

When he let go, he saw Touya was looking away, his jaw slightly clenched. Rudy hoped they'd make it to, and then through, the winter festival. "So, Touya, shall we try again? I know you'd rather beat me up right now, but we can do that, too, and perhaps you'd feel better?"

Touya sighed. "Sure," he said and they got walking to the door. They could hear the footsteps of the girls retreating back into the kitchen. "Really," he said when they got out the door, "I didn't expect it to be us, too, for some reason."

Rudy patted him on the back consolingly. If all Adventurers were going to be made to procreate, of course that age range would be affected, and quite the worst, in Rudy's opinion. It was a lot more rare for the older pairings Shiroe was expecting to see. But then, they were still capable of it, and the AI didn't seem to be too picky - just impatient. Rudy sighed. Really, nothing good was going to come of this.

-:-:-:-:-

MasterChiefS7 waded into the fight, his heavy shields on. His fist connected with five jaws which at least separated the combatants. They were high enough level he'd only stunned them at the worst. He growled and set, then cast his taunt. When it looked like the combatants were going to go at it again, he was suddenly holding his heater shield and his sword. He swung his sword hand around, asking them to come play. That got the fire in their eyes to back down and men to back off. He stood there scowling until they'd calmed down enough to be reasonable. "Tell me it was something small."

"It was something small, Sir!"

"Drop and give me two hundred, the lot of you." All five dropped and started. MasterChiefS7 sheathed his sword. "And while you're at it, to keep your brains busy, start reciting the Code of Conduct. You'll repeat it until you reach your target number."

The chant began. "Article One!" Down to the ground and up again. "I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense. Article Two!" Down to the ground and up again. The pattern was made to make it burn into them. He'd set two hundred because they were too high level for it to burn enough. They were going to burn it into their brains one more time.

"I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist. Article Three!" Down. Up. "If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy. Article Four!"

MasterChiefS7 walked around them, letting them know he was not just asking for obedience. He was going to stand there and demand it. "If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. -"

"What?!" he called out. "I didn't hear that! Say it again!"

There was a pause and they started at, "Article Four! If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. -" He made them repeat it five more times while straight-arm up on their hands, then let them finish it. "- If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way. Article Five!"

Down and up and he was walking over the top of them, making them hold him up too as he stepped from one back to the next. "When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause."

He stepped down off the last one. "Article Six! I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America." They repeated it and he stayed with them until it was done - all two hundred four push ups and all thirty-four repetitions of the Code of Conduct.

When they were done they rose to their feet and stood at attention in a row in front of him. He paced in front of them and yelled in their faces. "I don't care if there's a god here or your mother. You will not allow yourselves to break that code and fight among yourselves over a coercion of the enemy! You can resist the women, the wine, and the wanderlust. You _can_ resist the wolf that lives within and hold to your promise to yourself, your country, your comrades, and your God. You might be annoyed with the way a guy holds his cigarette, but you don't get to beat him for it. Beating the crap out of the enemy is your job, pansies. That and walk home together. Do you understand me!?"

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" He left them there at attention for two hours, locked down and out of the code realm as the rest of their punishment, standing watch over them. Everyone understood that meant standing watch _with_ them. This was one of his most essential roles in this squad. Strict discipline to keep them walking forward on the line they needed to walk to all get home and to individually be able to keep looking themselves in the mirror in the morning and at night. Standing with them as they took the punishment to remind them that they weren't alone, either: there were senior officers to lead them and to make sure they knew the right way to get there. None of them were exempt from the codes that made it possible for them to get back there.

None, so even the higher ups got punished by the juniors on occasion when they needed the reminder as well. Technically the juniors couldn't give the orders, so they couldn't do what MasterChiefS7 had just done, but they could participate in "training maneuvers". Even senior officers needed refresher courses.

When he released them, he set them to an extra duty of bathroom cleaning that evening before dinner. All eight were to be spotless for check by the time he got back to the guild hall. They saluted and took off at a military trot. He properly took himself off to report to Lieutenant Commander Reed.

Reed was standing near a wall talking to Michael, who was leaning against that wall, his arms crossed. Michael didn't move as he listened to MasterChiefS7 report formally to Reed. When he was done, Reed gave a nod of acceptance of the report, then did a head-count. "That's three, right?" MasterChiefS7 gave a nod. It wasn't a good number, to have three internal altercations in one week. "Right. Thank you, Master Chief." He gave a nod of dismissal and MasterChiefS7 gave him a salute. Before he could walk off, though, Michael lifted a finger that he should wait, so he did.

Reed turned to Michael, saluted and gave his report of the report MasterChiefS7 had just said in his own hearing. Then he said, "Sir, I would recommend we hold a squad open mic meeting to hear what the real trigger points are and what we can do to support each other through and over them."

Michael considered briefly. "Agreed." He thought about it a bit more. "Let's ask if we can take a separate route to the winter festival and we'll take time while we're out in the zones to discuss it. Then if we need it there's a lot of space and things we can destroy that aren't here."

"Yes, Sir," Reed agreed.

Michael turned. "Master Chief. What were you thinking while you were standing there watching over them?"

"Of the importance of my duty to the squadron, Sir, in seeing they stay strong and united until we can fulfill all of the requirements of the Code of Conduct."

"Excellent," Michael praised him. "One of my favorites to ponder as well."

MasterChiefS7, hesitated, then offered, "If I may also say?" he waited for permission to continue. "As I walked with them during the Code recitations, I was reminded how even still Miss Purrcy holds tightly to that Code herself. ...Is she of military background, Sir?"

"Not likely, Lieutenant. I do believe it's in her blood, though. Of course she could have gotten bored enough to go looking it up, too."

"Is it possible that Izanami wanted to know it to know how to get you and our contract, so she's just being used?" Reed asked the reality check question.

Michael shrugged. "She showed up after the Summon contract was formed. It's a possibility, but she sat and purred for you lot as ikiryō, and when she was under KR's Spirit Possession spell she was also ikiryō then. You've seen it yourselves. The AIs can't force the conscious conscience for anyone. Only the physical or knock us out or lock us up. If she was along for the ride on that research trip, she took it up as her own Code on her own."

MasterChiefS7 finished his comment. "I was thinking that I would have to say that she definitely holds to it, or she wouldn't have lasted this long. If it was decal, she would have been pasted a long time ago."

Michael looked away, then sighed as he got upright on his feet. "Dismissed, Lieutenant." MasterChiefS7 saluted and went off to check that the bathrooms had been cleaned properly.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael waited for it. He got it - the next reality check question. "And what was that sigh for?"

Michael looked into Reed's eyes, pondering the answer. "You didn't ask the right question the first time. Try again later when you've learned properly in which direction to think first." He turned and walked off.

That made Reed mad, of course, but Michael didn't let him land any satisfactory hits, catching his hands instead and blocking other blows that came, treating it as just another one of their practices. It was one of the side benefits of having been the Master at Arms to Reed's squire. He knew the blow patterns and angles of attack that Reed liked to use.

When Reed got mad enough that Michael had to pull him back in, he held onto the hand instead of just blocking it, and then blocked the off-hand attack, holding Reed's eyes with his own. "I'm serious, Reed. Your reality check questions are as predictable as your blows. Go do some research and learn where they need to come from and when, or you won't know when something comes to hit you out of left field. Fix the blind spots before we get too far down the road. When you've got it, then I'll start answering them again."

Reed relented, but Michael left a very puzzled and confused Lieutenant Commander behind. Today, Michael didn't care. He wasn't allowed to care about much at the moment and what he was allowed to care about was a bigger problem than the Purrcy he was forcibly distanced from.

-:-:-:-:-

Log Horizon, with their sub-guild escort, left Akiba early two mornings before the Minami winter festival was to begin. Once they were out of the city at their usual departure spot, gryphons were called for and they brought more volunteer gryphons with them. It had been a time of high activity for Summons, actually, what with a lot of the higher level guilds calling for them to come and take them to Minami. They were being polite and leaving train travel to those middle level guilds who could afford the train but hadn't been on the higher level quests to earn the high level Summons yet (that is, before the catastrophe).

The juniors of Log Horizon got second-time lessons in how to fly on a gryphon and were super excited. The Summons who'd come to carry them were patient and welcoming. As ProudWing had told Nyanta at the beginning of Summon-Adventurer alliance on Yamato, they enjoyed the young enthusiastic Adventurers who found first-time flight exciting. When they were in the air, the Eagles flew with them for the first four hours. They all ate lunch together, then said their farewells. The Eagles would continue on foot now while the gryphon contingent continued their flight.

That night at midnight, the Eagles tied their hammocks to the trees of a quiet zone and had their open chat about the difficulties they were facing that kept making them flare up. There was some commentary about the fact it wasn't quite so bad with the open space and the proper exercise, but they'd have to wait until Minami before they knew if distance from Akiba was a significant factor or not. They slept for four hours and then were off again by flight. They'd sacrificed making sure the rented apartment was safe before the Guild senior officers arrived to have the meeting, but Shiroe had approved it since he wanted the data out of it, and the problems resolved before they were all locked up in-city again. Especially if it was going to be a continuing problem in Maihama. None of them could disagree with the logic of that, so they'd stayed relaxed about it.

Log Horizon arrived in Maihama and tried to do it quietly. Nakalnad had other thoughts and he made sure his gate spies knew to call him immediately upon their arrival and detain. That had led to a city public display on the steps of the governance building and a televised "official start" to the festival...even though it was evening of the day before the real official start of the festival. They managed to somehow get dinner into themselves before they collapsed in random rooms in the apartment.

The Eagles showed up early the next morning and were quickly bivouacked. They scattered to confirm the security of the city and particularly the venues the senior guild members would be spending most of their time at. The senior members of the guild first went to visit the booths for the Akiba Adventurer Academy to make sure they didn't need any help and to inspect them. Then they were off for the entertainment stage to put on the first of the play they'd worked hard on since the family wedding dinner.

Tetorō met them there, saying that Majiyo and Yuudai sent their hello's and reassurances they'd watch properly over Purrcy. "Majiyo was accepted as my replacement - or perhaps understudy - for the duration, since it's a skill she could need to know as a shrine maiden and because the High Priestess accepted it and Purrcy required it. They all ignore her worse than they do me, but I think she'll be happier that way, really."

He was very flamboyant as the troupe manager and voice on the stage to introduce them and their debut event. P/R recorded it at his request and it was appreciated, even by those who hadn't seen that particular anime or read it as a manga. But then, any entertainment from home was appreciated in that way, particularly when others went to the effort to try so hard.

Henrietta was almost as pleased by her popularity as the main character as she was by the profits taken in by the Academy when it was over, and Tetorō was almost as popular with the audience after as Usui was at the school during the play. He practically pranced in his excitement of being on the stage that morning. The juniors had to take him out for a fast-paced explore of the festival to get him to calm down enough to eat lunch.

It was the set of unseen guards on Nyanta that had the hardest news to report that day. Izanagi had walked the entire festival sedately and with great interest, looking more at the Adventurers than the displays. When he began to interfere directly in the lives of the Adventurers, they sent back a request for how to handle interrupting that. More often than messing with two couples walking together, he was dragging sometimes complete strangers together, as if wanting to experiment with certain qualities or traits only it could comprehend. After some discussion, it was decided that his flavor text was the only way to get his attention and interrupt what he was doing.

On the next round, the hidden guards opened up their chat, as if a leak. As an experiment, since they already knew he knew they couldn't _really_ feel anything for Purrcy, they talked longingly for her and complemented her figure and other such things. His ears twitched as if a feather were playing with them. It was sufficient to distract him long enough the two he'd picked that time to torment faded into the crowd and moved along naturally and were beyond his immediate interference.

They continued to experiment and play with what sorts of things could get his attention to break him away. When he shut them out of connecting to him via chat, they began to walk past him in twos so he had to hear them speak it out loud. That seemed to be something he couldn't deal with until he finally got so irritated to make a set fall asleep as soon as they were around the corner and out of sight of the main festival area. That night, at the guild meeting, Shiroe and Izanagi had an argument and Shiroe lost.

The next day, the Eagles stepped up the game, and Izanagi followed suit by making them either be distracted by interests in random women themselves, or in making them angry with each other. Having already had that used on them, they knew how to combat that one. It wasn't easy, but they did it. By the end of the day, something had to give.

-:-:-:-:-

"Serera-chan, may I ask you a question?"

Serera jumped and turned quickly to face Shiroe. His voice had been from so close up and unexpected. Even now he was standing closer to her than she was comfortable with and his piercing gaze had her pinned. She gulped and nodded, her eyes as wide as they could go.

"How old would you be in Earth years, now?"

She blinked and had to calculate. Not answering the question was not an option in the current situation. "E-eighteen years and nine months."

"And how old is your avatar age?"

She stood there with her mouth open for a bit. That was harder to remember since she'd created the avatar over two and a half years ago. "Ah...fourteen."

"Thank you." He was gone and she slumped in relief. Her hands clenched in front of her chest to cover her pounding heart.

"You okay, Serera?" The warmth of another person was behind her, but this time she didn't jump. Rather, she was glad for it.

"I will be, Qwased-kun," she said honestly. She started to turn towards him just as his hand landed gently on her far shoulder. She stopped turning before she ended up in his chest. She hadn't quite expected that.

He wasn't looking at her, though. He was looking after Shiroe. "Who was that?"

She glanced over to see Shiroe was just arriving by Marielle's side to talk to her briefly. "That's Guildmaster Shiroe, of Log Horizon. He just had a couple of questions."

Qwased looked at her with a frown. "He looked rather dangerous."

She gave a nervous laugh. "Well, he does look that way, but he's no-..." She had to stop. He really _was_ dangerous, in the end, but it wasn't usual to think of him in that way. "It's okay. We're actually sister guilds, and it's not bad if we just answer what he wants to know - like that." She finished lamely hoping he understood that she meant the meeting just past. Qwased was still staring after Shiroe a bit fiercely. "He has kind intentions. It's just that sometimes his...presentation's a bit difficult. He surprised me is all."

Qwased looked back at her, giving her face a good searching. She did her best to look encouraging and sincere. "If you're sure you're okay?" he finally asked.

Serera gave a firm nod. "I am. Thank you, though, for making sure."

His face went soft and his arm went away. He didn't say anything for a moment, then he turned and leaped back up on the stage and went back to talking to the actors of his troupe. They teased him a little, but he thumped them on the head and they got back to work. Serera blushed a little and decided she'd better do something more than just stand there staring at him while he worked.

-:-:-:-:-

"Marie," Shiroe said quietly as he got to her side, "make sure Serera goes home with you when this is all over and don't let her come back here or meet up with Qwased until after this level is done."

Marielle looked at Shiroe in surprise. "What?"

He tipped his head back behind him. "Is she still alone or is he with her?"

She looked until she found them. "He's with her." Her eyebrows wrinkled in a bit of a frown. "With his arm around her and glaring at you. What did you do, Shiroe-kun?"

"Just asked her a couple of questions...from too close a distance. I wanted to see what he did."

Marielle looked at Shiroe sharply. "What is it?" she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Shiroe gave a little nod. "My four are having trouble since Isuzu's come back. She and Touya...," he looked away, then shook his head. "Isuzu reported that she'll find herself flirting with the older teen boys, typically seventeen to early twenties, among the People of the Land as she's been going, but it never gets more serious than that. On the other hand, now that she's back with Adventurers it's serious."

Marie pursed her lips tightly together. His eyes agreed with her. "I've got more research to do. When we get home, I need a list from you of all the junior students whose Earth age _and_ avatar age is under seventeen and another one for those whose Earth age is under seventeen but their avatar age is over seventeen. Mark a couple that have the avatar age over twenty-one. Once I've watched them I'll know what we're up against."

"Why?" she asked.

"Touya's Earth age is sixteen years and three months, but I asked him to get his avatar age up a little higher...just shy of seventeen. I want to see if that age is the cut off and it's looking close, but a sample of two isn't enough." His eyes looked into hers soberly. "If there isn't an age requirement at all, we've got more to do than just wait it out."

Marielle shuddered. "I'll get it to you as soon as I can," she agreed. "Classes will start up two days after we get back. We figured we'd give one more day for everyone to sleep in and recover from the festival. You'll want to observe them there, I guess?"

"It would be simplest to start there," he agreed. Marielle gave a nod and he left for whatever he was off to do. Marielle looked back at Serera one more time. Qwased was walking back up on the stage, Serera watching after him. Marielle had to agree. Even if they did like each other, waiting until after this level to decide it really was what they wanted would save at least Serera a lot of regretful doubts later.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "It's looking serious enough to warrant some recalculating. I'll get the data from Marie when we get back and sit in to watch, but the children aren't exempt, it's looking like. That really isn't acceptable. Duke Sergiad was very clear that even if young couples are put together at the age of seventeen, the People of the Land don't consider a young woman ready to become a full woman until she is at least the age of eighteen. That age is a minimum on Earth as well." He turned to Nyanta. "Izanagi, you must leave the children alone. And that is the Earth age. They aren't ready for adult relationships because they aren't adults."

"The sample of females is too low if those younger are left out of the experiment," Izanagi argued back. "The numbers of Adventurers is weighted on average to an age of twenty-two, however for female Adventurers the average is lower, at an age of sixteen and a half, roughly. In order to have a proper sampling, they are required to participate."

There was a bit of pandemonium for a while for a Log Horizon meeting. This time Michael would not be restrained. "Not only are you including children in an adult's world as if they won't be affected horribly by the end result, you are improperly mis-matching them across ages. To have a fifteen year old girl suddenly want to sleep with a thirty-two year old man might be a very bad plot line to toy with in fiction. In reality it is completely wrong and horribly damaging to both of them."

"You'd rather two completely inexperienced and unprepared teens were joined together? If the man is that much older, he will comprehend her emotions from the beginning."

"Not in all cases!" Michael exploded, "And besides, it's irrelevant, when neither side isn't interested in the first place. It is asking us to allow ourselves to be raped just for the sake of impartial experimentation. There isn't anything more damaging to the human psyche! Just stop already! Couples will be formed naturally where there is correct age and interest, and the boundaries will be respected by both sides. Stop trying to force the issue on the unsuspecting and those who _should_ remain innocent. It is our responsibility to protect them for their parent's sake as well as their own."

The argument continued until Izanagi refused to address the issue any further. It was unclear at the end if it had been a truce or a shutting down of the guild. Because the experimentation was behind wasn't an acceptable excuse to anyone in the guild. As far as they were concerned, it was on track, since Purrcy still hadn't given live birth yet.

After several other reports, which allowed the atmosphere to calm a bit, Minori said quietly and a little hesitantly, "Tomorrow is Christmas Day. I know we can't have Hahaue here...but it would be really nice if we could include her in at least the gift part of it. Mister Shiroe, would it be possible to have a video conference call with her after breakfast?" He got a lot of hopeful looks from the guild.

"I would think that wouldn't be too hard."

"Unnecessary." The cold hard word turned the holiday into a frozen winter scene.

"We know," Minori said, her hands holding each other tightly for the courage to keep talking. "But it's an important holiday for families, and she's part of ours. It won't be for long."

"It will be for too long, and interrupt her studies."

Michael interrupted. "Like two hours is going to cost anything. Christmas is for families and even more it's for children. The joy of the holiday is to see their joy. While you're not capable of caring about joy, it's an important one for each of us to feel to keep moving forward in life. While you're at it, you could let Nyanta out to participate in it. That's his most favorite thing, to see children being happy. Aren't we still early in the proceedings? You make it seem like they are already at the end of this level and raising their children for the next set. You at least have to get through the next three months first. Back off a little and let us enjoy the one day of the year that holds the most joy and hope for us."

"Irrelevant. Such a holiday does not exist on Theldesia for anything other than flavor text and game specials."

"And? You dragged us here from Earth where it _is_ important. It's not even a pebble in the middle of the road to ask to have the mother and the father of the family present. Having them gone is the most difficult part of a sad Christmas. Go away, Izanagi. We don't need you here for this part."

The room got cold. Shiroe got colder. He crossed his arms and his legs and glared at Nyanta. "I happen to agree with Michael. Your impatience is irrelevant to the timing of the things that need to get done in this level. You aren't needed here until later, and I definitely don't need to have you interfering here in Minami when you said you'd only bother us in Akiba."

"I promised nothing of the sort. Minami is also a beta test site."

"So you said, but for other experiments, not for this one. If you take it out of Akiba damage will be spread not only to Adventurers who aren't prepared, but also out into the People of the Land. We don't need a miasma to cover all of Yamato - unless you really do want to allow the junior kami to enter and devour even this place of undisturbed experimental ground. Leave Minami alone, and stop being obstinate about small things, like minor requests to just talk to Purrcy where she is already located and you want her to be."

Izanagi looked away and crossed his arms, refusing to relent. His cold answer was simple but sent Michael over the edge. He was holding Nyanta by the throat, a magic-enhanced Monk's attack swirling in lights around his fist. Naotsugu jumped up and held onto Nyanta while Reed and MasterChiefS7 both put hands on Michael and dragged him off Nyanta.

Izanagi hissed at Michael. Michael glared very darkly back. "Lay off Izanagi," he warned very quietly. "Leave the kids alone. They aren't part of _any_ experimentation. Let the kids here have their mother for one morning. I will make you pay if you don't. Even you are affected by the Law of Adventurer Change, or you wouldn't have asked us to break the flavor text."

Izanagi as the High Priest went mad and it took the Eagles pulling on them from both sides to get them separated, including putting up rather high defensive shields on the rest of the guild as the sparks got rather literal. Shiroe coldly banished the High Priest to his room, indefinitely, saying that if he left it and continued to cause havoc in Minami, he would be summarily returned to Akiba immediately.

Michael was also sent to his room, but more to cool off than as a punishment. The Eagles took care of it, enforcing both edicts. Worried adults and anxious children went to bed that Christmas Eve in the guild of Log Horizon. It wasn't an exciting and pleasant time to stay awake hoping for presents and Santa, even if he wouldn't come regardless.

* * *

 _*National Archives: Executive Order 10631 - Code of Conduct._


	140. Bringing the Best Christmas Present Home

Michael was up early Christmas morning. He'd been acting angry about Purrcy having to miss out Christmas on purpose. It was part of his plan - and really, she _should_ be able to be with family on the most important family day in her home culture. He walked down to the bathroom in the apartment Log Horizon had rented for the winter festival in Minami. He figured indoor plumbing counted as running water when there were this many people using the tanks - assuming it wasn't all magic driven and then it _was_ running water in his book. He didn't want a full purification anyway - he wanted to spring her and bring her back here.

He performed the first purification at the sink, then moved to bathe. It all looked so innocent and normal, but he could tell that because of his intent his cells were increasing in speed. It slightly buzzed and itched since he was out of the practice, but he ignored it. When he was done, he did the blessing of purification on his clothes instead of the final Priest purification, then stepped through the space realm from the bathroom directly into the High Priestess' room, wearing his usual guard's outfit - and his Queen's Castle ring. It was quickly emptied of anything except for felinoid-Purrcy lying in her bed, actually sleeping.

He was a bit surprised to see that, then remembered from Tetorō's history that she usually did manage to get a little sleep about this time of day. She was rousing though and by the time he was at her bedside, moving the light gauze curtain out of his way, her eyes were on him. "Izanami," he said softly so as to not get the attention of anyone else in the shrine, "this is Christmas morning when family gathers together. It is an important day. Please let us have a full and whole Purrcy for at least the morning." He watched her carefully.

The High Priestess sat up and shifted back from him a little, a look of suspicion on her face. "Michael, you've come at an odd time, and with an item won that isn't in my favor. How are you trustworthy right now?"

Michael gave her a smile and it wasn't quite nice. "I suppose that would be a concern. It's Purrcy I'm asking for, but if you'd rather stick around I _could_ assume that the moment of destiny you've put me to is today." The High Priestess blinked, then shook her head. "Very well, then may we have Purrcy - all aspects of her, please, in one being? I'll bring her back again the same as I'll take her."

The High Priestess sighed. "You are so difficult, Michael. Fine. It doesn't matter that much to me. I hope you've gotten the High Priest's permission, though."

Michael shrugged, not saying one way or the other. He watched her eyes and body language. He was a little surprised when she lay down again, as if going back to sleep. He frowned briefly, wondering if they'd been keeping her locked down again. It was good timing, though. He put the Santa hat on he'd purchased in the market, then reached in and scooped her into his arms. He sighed. They weren't feeding this form enough - again - though she had just given birth to the first set of kittens not so long ago and likely wasn't recovered enough since she'd had to immediately turn around and go to Nyanta and the wedding.

Purrcy woke up before he made it to the chair. "Michael?" she asked in surprise, throwing her arms around his neck to stay stable now that her muscles were the tension of being awake and aware, but she wasn't afraid and it had been an instinctive reaction. "And a Santa hat, even?" she was beginning to smile.

He smiled back and sat down, sitting her on his lap and holding her there lightly. "Merry Christmas, Purrcy. I've come to be Santa."

"I guess," she said and this time he caught her slight blush reaction. "Merry Christmas...but I haven't got a present for you since I wasn't expecting this."

"Oh, well, you do. Most of us really just want the present of the company of those we love, after all."

She froze slightly as she took in the words, then in a rather relaxed way said, "That's true. Family is the most important thing about Christmas, next to the birth of Christ himself."

He gave an approving nod. "Exactly. Thus why I've come to give you the gift of family, and why you're going to be my present to the rest of the family."

Her eyes got large. "What?"

He smiled at her. "I've gotten Izanami and the High Priestess to let you go for the morning. Since I can space realm walk I can get you to Minami and back again easily enough. Your lessons won't suffer for that much time with everyone. They're all missing you very much, you know. It's been making for a gloomy holiday season."

His arms and hands could feel her tremors building up. She leaned in and hugged him very tightly. "Thank you, Michael," she whispered.

He moved a hand up to hold her head lightly to him in more of a hug back. "Of course," he said calmly. When her cat-tears slowed, he turned his head and kissed her neck. "I want even you to be happy on Christmas Day." She froze, then gave a little gasp and shudder as she started back up again, but didn't move until she'd recovered.

She was tense now, and her expression when she sat back up was one of confusion. He smiled to reassure her, then stood up, standing her up. "So, I'll go fetch Majiyo, shall I? Then she can get you dressed and we can all go be at the current 'home away from home' in time for Christmas breakfast, eh?" He turned away from her to head for the door.

Purrcy's hand had his faster than he'd expected and he blinked in surprise. "...I can get myself dressed well enough if we're going to skip the purifications this morning."

"Are we?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes. I'm already on the way down, as you well know. It's too much to ask everyone else to do them just for me and this short visit. I haven't been back too long, so it won't be a problem this time." She turned her head away, with a teasing twist to her ear. "Besides, Majiyo is currently in the bath. Do you really want to walk in on that?" She looked back with a teasing look. "I would think greeting her on Christmas morning that way would make a lasting indelible impression ...of a hand-print on your cheek."

Michael laughed and pulled with the hand she still had hold of until Purrcy was standing right against him. "I think that might be fun, but I'm sure she wouldn't." He looked into her eyes, waiting to see how long she'd stay that close. "You'll tell me then, when she's on her way? We should let her know where you've been stolen off to." He purposely said it low and quiet. When she reacted in a way she shouldn't have - melting just a little too much, he pushed her hand to move her away from him, then released her grip from his wrist.

Walking away from her as if wandering around the room while they waited, he looked around. "You know," he said, looking out the window, "I'm not sure I've ever looked at anything other than you when in this room before." He turned just slightly towards her, then looked at her. She'd changed into her wool walking dress. It was good coloring for Christmas, actually. She was looking at him just a little hungrily, and blushing at his words at the same time. "Because, of course, I was trying to get you to leave me alone and just go to sleep so I could sleep in my own bed unmolested." He grinned at her and she had to turn away completely in embarrassment. That was good. The repair of the flavor text had stuck. He relaxed a little and waited for her to come down off being embarrassed. By that time he'd moved again, but only slightly closer to her, and to lean on the frame of the door that led out into the garden. It also had a window in it. He frowned at it.

"What?" Purrcy asked from his elbow. She was looking at his face when he turned to answer her. She had a rather funny expression, actually.

"Why, in this Japanese shrine, are there modern windows in this room?" he asked, genuinely puzzled, then stepped back slightly to look at the doorframe he was leaning on. He bumped into her lightly, and 'automatically' slipped an arm around her waist to steady her. "Sorry. And why a modern door?" he scanned the door critically, 'forgetting' the arm where it was.

Purrcy giggled. "So that the High Priestess has something beautiful to look at while she has to stay locked in this room while everyone else sleeps." He looked at her and her expression was very sober.

"Why the giggle? That isn't something to laugh over," he asked, testing.

"Your expression was funny." She turned away, an ear folding.

"Ah, now, none of that. Shall we go wait in the garden for Majiyo?" He'd caught her before she could leave his arm and now used that same arm to escort her through the door he'd opened with his free hand. He released her as she walked out. "After all, I've sprung you for the morning." He closed the door behind him, paying attention to the ease of the swing as he moved it and to how loud the force made it close. He might have to use it later and he might not.

He caught up to her in a few strides, but she wasn't moving quickly. She still had her same spacial limits as before - he tested them to see - but she really wanted him next to her. Her close ear kept flicking at him to get him to come up. He refused until she turned to him, her expression slightly impatient. "What?" he asked. "Aren't I the bodyguard?"

She gave a consternated look, then turned away in a slight huff. He smiled a small smile and she twitched. "You are teasing me, Michael," she said.

"And? I shouldn't?" he teased again. "That's my role, as I recall."

As a final test it was a good one. Her body denied it. Denied he was just the older brother to her. He sighed to himself. He was going to pay for that one. He might have to have a confession beforehand anyway. Maybe it would make the later payment a little lesser. It was a little depressing to think that wasn't likely going to help much and the High Priest would be gloating over it.

She walked into the gazebo and put her hand on the seat next to her as she sat - an invitation. He sat across from her. She flicked her tail in irritation and turned up her nose at him to look out over the little stream flowing past the edge of the gazebo. He looked around the garden, and listened closely. There was a fountain bubbling in the pool closer to the main shrine on the right and to the left were several small waterfalls that also made sound. It was perfect for relaxing - and for hiding soft sounds one didn't want the shrine to hear. He wondered if in the past the High Priest came here to tryst with the High Priestess or if that had been the plan and it had never happened in any of their various joint lifetimes. He put an arm up on the bench and put an ankle on his other knee. "It's a nice place. Do you come out to visit it?"

"Yes," she answered softly, almost more quiet than the sounds of the water. "And Tetorō and I picnic in the more secluded parts on the nice days, though I'm cat then."

He watched her as she pensively looked towards the rising mountain top in the background. "Has that been hard, to be in more than one place at one time?"

"It's a bit more like being multiple people at once," she said in her calm teaching voice, though she didn't seem inclined to give a long lecture. "I'm getting better at splitting my attention, but really I keep wanting to focus on my pet projects and get a bit lost to the others. Tetorō's been patient, and he does remember to be selfish and demand my attention when he needs it. It's most difficult when I'm required to see to multiple requests at once on different sides of the globe."

Michael blinked at her. "They're having you work globally now for real?"

Purrcy looked down at her hands and sighed. "We started the quest in India and they're in the sticky side-quest mess at the moment. So I get to be the one to hand out the clues and shine the light on the right path, that sort of thing. Keeping that going while not dropping things here is a rather ...," she finally looked up with a wry smile, "like juggling on a world-wide scale. They are quite despairing of me ever reaching their level of capacity, but our brains are limited somewhat since we were bred for close-in focus and wide area danger warning. Not the wide area everything they have."

"They seem to lack danger warning at all," Michael said dryly.

"No. They are finely tuned to the dangers that one small unexpected change can cause in their carefully crafted plans. After that butterfly-wing flap in Washington state that causes the tornado in Iowa is an even larger disaster in a millennial and billions of years scale - even if we are in a point of transition, and perhaps more because of it."

Michael purposely took in the view that was Purrcy. He measured the time until she got uncomfortable, then until she looked down and away, and sat through her going into sorrow as it got long enough to turn into a punishment. When she finally rose to leave the gazebo, no longer able to bear it, he was immediately out of his seat and blocking her way. "Why can't you let me go?" he asked her quietly. "You're already married to him and I was never in your future to begin with."

She collapsed in on herself as if he'd shot her and she wouldn't look at him. "My life isn't my own. You know that Michael," she said. "What I want is irrelevant." As she spoke her spine straightened and she was finally able to look at him in the eye, her ears pointing at him. She stared him down, demanding he move out of the way without words. As he heard the first footsteps in the grass behind him, she added with a bite, "Besides, after all I've already lived through, single still sounds most pleasant and preferred."

"Really?" he asked fiercely back. "It looks to me more like you'd take any kind of companionship over this lonely place of hell."

She flinched. " _Any_ kind?" she asked icily. "I don't think so, Michael. I'd not take my ex back if he walked through the door. It was a mistake before it began and now that I know it, I'd not repeat it."

Michael backed off, his eyes widening. That had been from the depths of her truth. He moved to let her out, bowing formally and properly to her. Majiyo had stopped in surprise before then, and now she looked between the two of them in concern. Michael carefully erased anything not pleasant off his face. For all it had gotten the spine put back into her before they left, he'd pay for that one, too. And that would be by both her and the 'gift'.

It was interesting that even if he didn't have emotions attached to the moment, he still knew exactly which ones would be attached if they were. He was having to live them both intellectually in the moment, and would have to relive them in their full glory later. He glowered slightly when the women weren't looking. He was not liking this part of that 'gift'.

When they turned back, he smiled at Majiyo. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Mister Michael," she bowed politely.

"It's good to see you've made it here to the shrines. I hope you've been able to find what you were seeking," he said kindly.

"Yes, thank you," she answered. "It was a difficult journey at times to get here, but in the end we learned a lot about ourselves and about life and each other. I think it was a good thing to have done."

"Wonderful. Thank you for being willing to tend to the High Priestess and Purrcy so Tetorō can have his one vacation. Are you and Yuudai both staying at the shrine of Inari-no-Izanagi otherwise?"

"Yes, and Mise is at the shrine of Inari-no-Sarutahiko. She likes the peace of that shrine and the occasional company of Priest Sasuke. He's helping her regard life with peace and she's trying to help him understand Adventurers just a little better, though he often tells her to please not try." Majiyo smiled and Michael and Purrcy smiled with her.

"We are so difficult, aren't we," Purrcy agreed.

"Enough to make the head hurt," Michael agreed, but he only showed he was referencing the priest in question, not himself when she glared at him and she had to let it go. "Well, Majiyo, I'm sorry to make you come here and give you no warning, but perhaps a Christmas morning with Yuudai and Mise will make up for it."

"I'll stay and tell Priestess Kaede," Majiyo offered.

"Would you, please?" he requested, "I'm the sort to just leave and let her fret until we get back, I'm afraid. She and I don't get along well after she had to put up with us while we helped work on getting Crusty put back together."

"Is he doing well?" Majiyo asked quickly. Likely she wanted to give word to Mise.

"Yes. He is grumbling as always, or so they say since I didn't know him from before, but he took his punishment well and has gotten right to work. The daily influx of new friend contacts from people signing up keeps him busy with more minutia than he wants and he's sworn to make Purrcy pay for that when she gets done with her current work. Shiroe pats him on the head and just says to let him know when they stop coming in so he can know when the seeds have finished traveling around the world. He goes away steaming hotter than his tea when he arrived, but he keeps coming back for more." Michael grinned to let them know he was exaggerating a bit and Majiyo gave him a small smile. "I'm sure if you want more stories, particularly of Crescent Moon, Tetorō would love to have your company for a while and will tell you all about his vacation. We do need to go, though, before I'm caught here by the rest of the ladies."

"Oh! Yes, of course. Thank you." Majiyo bowed again, and Michael linked arms with Purrcy and walked her over the bridge and behind a privacy bush.

She was turning to him when he walked them into the space realm in the next step. He looked at her sternly. "Don't. I'm taking you to the presence of your husband, and he is still jealous for you."

She immediately straightened with tension, her eyes going wide. "You've not fixed it?" she was almost aghast.

"He's found a work-around he's happy with at the moment," Michael shrugged. "I could only affect Izanami in what I did. He wasn't present at that time." He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Thus you'd better properly play your part as the dutiful wife who only looks to her husband."

Purrcy trembled and stood ram-rod stiff. When he pulled back she was glaring daggers into him. "You - are - terrible, Michael."

He considered it, then wrapped his other arm around her and kissed her a long kiss. "No. Now I'm terrible," he said calmly.

"He'll kill us both for that," she hissed at him. "You've forgotten how sharp the sense of smell is for a cat."

"Then tell him the truth - that I stole it," he said as if not caring. "It's what I wanted as my Christmas present, after all." He stepped through space into Nyanta's room and dropped her off there, already crying, and took himself to the kitchen and began making a pancake breakfast.

-:-:-:-:-

It didn't take long for Nyanta to wake up. Purrcy was already on her knees, her forehead on the floor, sobbing the dry sobs of the sorrowful human in a felinoid body.

"Why are mew here?"

"Michael came. Izanami collected me up and told me to go with him. When I woke he was carrying me from my bed." She told it all in just enough detail to visually understand what happened, but left out the emotional abuse she'd been subjected to. She really didn't want to be in even more trouble. "I don't understand what he is doing," she said at the end. "He would say one thing and then completely contradict himself later. How can bringing me here without your permission and after acting in a way to make you so jealous be a happy present for anyone? I'm so confused."

"Did mew ask to come?"

"I did think of everyone being together to celebrate today, but I didn't ask. I was going to spend time with Yuudai, Majiyo, and Mise in cat form to celebrate after the purification, and also think of my children and our past Christmases together, but I know it wasn't my place to ask to come be with everyone here," she answered honestly. Because she was so confused, she asked, "He said you weren't relieved of the flavor text when Izanami was. Are the two of you fighting, and I've become the next round, to be brought into this innocently?"

"Remove meowr clothes. The smell is unacceptable." She promptly obeyed. Soft steps approached her and she was pulled to standing. He was cold and his tail was whipping in slight tight waves of anger.

"Please, Izanagi, if you're already putting pressure on them, and if he's focused on me, how can there be anything but fighting over me, even if I am always loyal to Nyanta."

"Irrelevant," she was answered curtly. She was led out the door to his room and directed to a door.

"Purrform the first two purifications and return." He pointed and she went with a shiver. Just that much was a punishment given she hated water baths after having to have the five in a row before the shrine and twice a day every day after that. She'd really come to loathe them, actually, completely understanding why cats on Earth hated them. The only benefit the first month or so was that it was hot springs at the shrine where it had been icy cold mountain water at the streams.

Purrcy had just finished the first purification at the sink when the door to the bathroom opened. Her head jerked around in fear. Tetorō's look wasn't much better, but as soon as he had the door closed, he was holding her. He was in his female avatar and looked like he'd been woken up rather suddenly. He looked into her face. "What happened?" he whispered.

"Are Michael and the High Priest fighting?" she asked him. "I'm so confused." Tetorō went to the bathtub and started the water running without plugging it, but held onto her hand to take her with him. He helped her in and she talked while he started the purification washing. "Michael showed up and somehow talked Izanami into letting him have all of me for the morning to bring as everyone's Christmas present, but," she shivered with a cat sob, "how is bringing me here to a jealous husband, after making sure he would be, a present to anyone?"

Tetorō's hands stopped the washing and he stared at her. "He...on purpose?"

Purrcy nodded miserably. "He kissed me then dropped me in Nyanta's room, saying to tell him he'd stolen it as his Christmas present."

Tetorō was in shock. Her ear twitched and he jolted back and got back to washing. After a while he said, "They have been fighting. Everyone has wanted to see you for Christmas, and Shiroe was going to see if it would be possible to do a video conference chat. Last night, Michael got very angry with Izanagi for not allowing you even one morning with everyone when all it has to do is let Nyanta be here, too. No one's happy that Nyanta's being pushed to the side, either. We asked if we could have both of you."

He bit his lower lip as he poured rinse water over her head. She crunched her head into her shoulders, really hating this part. "Izanagi shut us down coldly and Michael exploded. The Eagles had to work hard, with Naotsugu, to get them to separate. We think it's almost as much anger on Izanagi's part that he was the one to request the quest to break the flavor text and instead we're using it to keep him under control still." In an even more quiet whisper, he added, "Every time Izanagi becomes troublesome with pressuring everyone too much, someone steps in and says things to make him jealous enough to back off. He's been ignoring it more and more. It's possible Michael's trying to take it far enough Izanagi will back off and let us have both of you."

He pulled down a towel from the small closet in the bathroom and wrapped it around her and started rubbing her down briskly. "It's not right, though," he whispered sadly. "It's true that we'd rather not have had this kind of gifting." Purrcy's ear-tip flicked in agreement. He worked silently as he finished the drying. When she was done, they carefully didn't touch. It wasn't the purification, it was the reason for it. Any scents on her might make things worse. He opened the door for her and bowed her out. Nyanta was waiting outside the door and his straight, disapproving back led her back to his room.

Purrcy closed the door to the room and went to kneel in the center of the room, carefully in a different location than where she'd been when she'd first been put in the room. She sat upright this time, looking at Nyanta and waiting to hear what Izanagi would say next. When he was silent, she said, "Izanagi, it is irrational to remain here in the state of jealousy for the time I've been sent when you can allow Nyanta to also be here. I am very much missing him and will stay with him only and touch no one else. They will be sad to not have hugs and pets, but even just my being here will be enough and they will understand. The few hours are nothing to you."

He didn't like that at all and she wanted to cower under the pressure. She tried not to, but her ears still went back in submission. "Put up the secure shield."

Purrcy's eyes widened in shock and she stiffened as a cat would when it is surprised by a potential threat. Her mind worked very fast. "No, Izanagi. They already don't look when we are in a room together. They already know it's not allowed. The shield isn't necessary." The pressure mounted and she had to fight. She let the ears lie flat on her head and put a hand flat on the floor to keep herself upright. "Izanagi...I won't. ...Can't you understand it, or has the jealousy made you too irrational? If you abuse me again when the purification was punishment enough for a thing I am innocent of, they will have the obligation to see that Nyanta is outcast from Akiba immediately and permanently. Even if you don't abuse me, if I put up the shield they can claim it. And if you silence me, they will claim it in my behalf. If you have already made them that angry, that they will make you leave now, how am I to prevent it? Punishing me further is illogical."

The pressure remained constant, but Izanagi was recalculating she could tell. It was suddenly gone and she moved quickly to catch Nyanta as he slumped to the floor. She sobbed as she held him, unconscious, holding his head close to her chest.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was sitting on the side of his bed, trying to wake up, when his door opened quickly and Tetorō was suddenly in his room, closing the door quickly but quietly. He was on his knees in front of Shiroe just as fast. Shiroe blinked and his heart clenched at the near-terror on Tetorō's face. "Michael's brought Purrcy but she says he's acting strange. He told her it was a Christmas present, but he stole a kiss from her just before dropping her off in Nyanta's room. Izanagi's fit to kill, and woke me up to help her with the purifications to wash her clean - which is a punishment in itself since she's a cat - and I think it's not going to get better. He's too angry to stop at just that. And Michael's only making it worse. He's in the kitchen already making breakfast - Nyanta's domain - and making her favorite - pancakes." It all came out in Tetorō's usual rush when he was trying to get his urgent words out.

Shiroe was dressed and on his feet immediately, headed for the door. He wanted to go protect Purrcy immediately, but it wasn't the right order. He nearly ran to the kitchen. "Michael! What are you doing?"

Michael looked up from the griddle. "Putting Izanagi in a catch-twenty-two," he answered calmly. "Either he gets ousted from Akiba today or I get my wish to give everyone what they want most on Christmas. Either way, I figure I win."

Shiroe was speechless - mostly with fury. "So you'll nearly break your own contract, assuming you haven't, and put Purrcy in the middle of it, innocent and unwilling?" he said with deadly quiet.

"Yes," Michael said. "It was a useful time to have the excuse to collect her for that particular little plan."

"How can you?" Shiroe asked, completely disbelieving.

Michael's look got very dangerously easygoing and he looked back at his pancakes and started flipping them over. "Izanagi's gift. He took away my ability to have any emotions for Purrcy. It's been very useful, actually. I've learned all sorts of things I was blinded to because of them." He looked back up. "Like how to use Izanagi's weaknesses against him." He gave a grin.

Shiroe was in shock again for the second time. "He - he took them away?"

"Well, not really, he just made it so if they happen to come up, they stand over in the corner and I'm now allowed to touch. That sort of thing. Said they were in the way of properly completing the level. Can't say he was wrong, actually," he shrugged. "I've been able to plan properly since then." He gave a wicked twinkle-in-the-eye look to Shiroe as he turned back to his pan, "Like today. The few of us who find out will keep it quiet and the juniors can have the best Christmas present in the world to get this year. Christmas is always for the kids, you know."

"We will discuss the ramifications later," Shiroe managed to finally say, then turned and walked out of the kitchen, his fist clenched as he held himself back from attacking Michael himself. Nyanta's room was next. He had to prevent what he could prevent. He knocked on the door. "It's Shiroe." He didn't hear anything, but he suddenly had Akatsuki standing between him and the door. She looked at him soberly, and glanced behind Shiroe. Shiroe looked back and a very worried Tetorō was standing there. He nodded and Akatsuki turned the door handle and opened it.

A very miserable Purrcy was on the floor, shivering severely, and holding an unconscious Nyanta. The abject look she raised to them was more than Shiroe could take. Her eyes went to Tetorō and begged. Akatsuki moved and Tetorō was in the room casting Spirit Healing on Nyanta. Shiroe put his hand on Akatsuki's shoulder and walked the two of them into the room and closed the door. "Purrcy, what was the agreement?"

"I can't touch anyone but Nyanta and have to stay just distant enough. But I wasn't promised we'd actually have Nyanta."

"Why did Izanagi leave?"

"The calculated damage from being forced out of Akiba at this stage to his long term plans was greater than the irrationality of the jealousy." Her eyes were locked to his in her attempt to stay afloat.

"That's about what I thought," Michael said, stepping into the room through a different realm, since the door didn't open. Purrcy had jumped at his voice. "I've one more experiment and then we're all done and you can choose to stay or go, Purrcy." The others stared at him, none of them very friendly. Michael clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Izanami. You know very well that it's illogical for Izanagi to punish Purrcy or Nyanta in this way, just as it was illogical for him to even deny us a few hours together. Please heal Nyanta and allow us to have him also for the morning." He clapped and bowed again. And they waited.

"Aren't they angry enough with you?" Akatsuki asked angrily.

"That isn't it," Michael said with a glance at her. "I mean, she might be a bit miffed I asked so suddenly, but that isn't it." He watched Nyanta a little longer, then gave a nod and prayed one more time. "Izanami, is it really okay with you that Izanagi has locked you out of the world again, or is it just out of Akiba? I'd really like to ask for the favor - or miracle if you prefer - that Nyanta be released to us so that you can have just a few hours of spite back at Izanagi for doing it again, now that he has his excuse to make you be at the shrine alone again. Now that he's left for that time period, there's no reason to stay locked up, is there? Or is he really stronger than you are?"

Shiroe felt himself go a little cold and he wondered if it was himself or Izanami's response. He certainly hadn't considered before what Michael had just said. If Izanami was really locked out for this level, not just Purrcy, even of just Akiba, then things were going to fall just a little differently than he'd been expecting.

Michael's eyes narrowed. "I mean, Nyanta's an Adventurer, even if he is Izanagi's priest. Wouldn't his desires come to you, too?"

Purrcy bowed her head. "Izanami, I have been missing my husband, and this has been a terrible price for him to pay until this time, and what is coming will be even worse. Please, intercede for just this short while and allow him a brief time to heal so that he can continue forward."

Tetorō already kneeling next to Nyanta, having now cast two Spirit Healings on him, bowed to the floor. "Izanami, please hear our prayers in behalf of Nyanta-san."

Shiroe could feel it. Izanami needed to have enough of a price paid. He sighed and looked darkly at Michael. "We will definitely be having words this afternoon." He performed the ritual request and also prayed for Nyanta's sake in behalf of all Log Horizon, hoping drawing on the wishes and desires of the juniors would help as well. Akatsuki's look at Michael was just as dark as Shiroe's, but she also went to her knees and was the shrine maiden to Shiroe's priest.

Slowly the room warmed and so did Nyanta. A grey ear twitched and his chest rose and fell with a deeper breath. Purrcy's purr suddenly filled the room, but her words when she looked up and spoke weren't quite so warm. "Michael, please remember in the future that surprises are not appreciated by anyone, even if you are testing. Emotions do not dictate that sort of logic."

"Listening in, were you?" he asked mildly.

"With you being so confusing? Of course," she said icily. "You can get back to what you were doing." An ear flick dismissed him.

"Ordered about instead of thanked?" he asked with a frown.

"Of course. You've done whatever you wanted. Why should I thank you for that when I had my own plans and expectations? The price I've already paid this morning is enough." He was suddenly gone.

Tetorō's eyes went wide. "You can do that outside the shrine?" he asked Purrcy.

"He called on the High Priestess, didn't he?" she answered but she was already distracted with Nyanta's hand touching her cheek. Tetorō made sure he was okay, then stood and Shiroe led the three of them out of the room to let the two of them reunite before coming out to meet with everyone else.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael's quiet voice came across the sub-guild chat. "I got the drop I wanted, but there's still one more test, and that's the lot of you. Be family friendly at the start for the opening of presents, but the rest of the time I want you to ignore our special guests. Brenner, I have a special for you."

Michael paused and Brenner knew he was moving to a solo chat line. He kept preparing for the day, but he listened closely. "I want you to offer as your Christmas present to the future package an opportunity to have a confessional. She's Christian and hasn't this whole time, so may very well take you up on it. I want to know some specific things that should come out in it."

Brenner went impatient and paused in his efforts to tip his head and scowl a bit. "First, not all Christians practice confession, and second, that's a breach and you know it."

"I don't need the details, just the flavor."

"That's still dancing with the devil, Commander."

"Yup," he answered, "that would be because we already are."

Brenner sighed. "And it's really so important to add just that little bit of data?"

"It's more than that, but I need it, too. I also want to know if she'll talk to you. Remember, we're going to be all she's got."

"She doesn't now," Brenner felt obligated to point out. "And how'd you find out she's Christian?"

"I mentioned Christmas is for families, and she agreed and pointed out it's also about the birth of Christ."

"Obviously, but if you say so," is what Brenner wanted to say, but one didn't say such things to commanding officers, so he didn't. "Yosh," he answered instead, and wondered just what hell had to be paid for the Commander to get Purrcy out of hock. It wouldn't have been worth it in his book, that's for sure. He went back to getting ready to find out.

Gareth looked over. "He didn't."

"He did. You might want to make another reality check. I think he's gone bonkers, myself," Brenner replied.

Gareth paused to think about that, then said, "I think if it looks like there's hell to pay after it's over, I'll send Reed in to be on it. After last night, it's a bit more than my pay grade, I think."

Brenner paused, then had to agree. He didn't say anything, though. They'd have to see when they got to the Christmas tree.

"What are you two muttering about?" their roommates asked.

"How many pairs of socks yo' mamma sent this year," Gareth answered easily.

There was a sigh. "I actually like getting fresh new, warm, soft, cozy socks for Christmas," one said dreamily. He was attacked and teased, but the rest of them secretly agreed. Most of them hadn't much thought about it before entering the military, but since then they'd had to run holes in so many that new ones were a really nice, fluffy luxury. Made one wish to be home, but that was normal.

Brenner went over the Christmas service he'd prepared one more time, then had a thought. He hung back when the others started heading out the door. When it was just him and Gareth, he called Michael back up. "If she's Christian she's going to want to sit in on the service. Which side of the line do you want that on?"

There was a pause, then, "If the present wants to attend church, that's fine, but it's just another member of the solemn congregation." Brenner looked at Gareth with a raised eyebrow and he nodded that he'd heard it on the general sub-guild chat. No fraternizing, but not shut out either. That was a bit of a relief.

They headed out the door and down the hall to the main area. This place was like home in Akiba in that the more senior you were, the closer you were to the main floor. It was the reverse in ships, so it took a bit of getting used to at first. At least since they were permanent assigns, they were considered close to the top and didn't have to walk far to the stairs. They met the junior officers who gave them bright, cheery smiles and happy "Merry Christmas!" greetings. They returned them and let them go first. It would be fun to see what their reaction was.

As they arrived at ground level and looked around, everyone was already gathered, waiting for them and watching their reactions. Brenner suddenly realized that his and Gareth's reactions ought to be at least of surprise and he elbowed Gareth. "Be surprised," he subvocalized. Gareth rolled his eyes.

"H-Hahaue?" The four juniors had frozen in place and Touya was speaking for them.

Her ear tipped. "Michael found a way to win me for the morning," she said kindly to them. "However, I'm afraid it's a limited visit." Her whiskers on one side turned up. "No hugs allowed this time, but I'm glad I'm able to be here at all to greet you on Christmas morning."

They might not be able to hug, but they still did what children did when mother was near. They went up and sat in a semicircle in front of Purrcy and Nyanta as close as they could get. Their eyes were bright as they looked at Purrcy. It was obvious they were anxious about having her there given the fight the night before and Nyanta's proximity, but they were also very happy to have her with them. She was, as usual, quick to settle them. "And we have the additional blessing this morning of having Chichiue with us as well." Her hand squeezed Nyanta's tightly and they turned to look at him with wide eyes. The rest of the room was mostly also surprised and watched him warily.

Nyanta tipped his head in a mild bow. "I'm happy to be with all of mew this morning, nyan." Brenner finally saw Nyanta's tail, how it was wrapped tightly around Purrcy's arm, above where they were holding hands, and his heart went sad. If anything told of how Nyanta had been affected, it was that. Brenner had been doing everything he could to comfort the man who had been hiding and fighting behind the scenes. The morning that Purrcy had returned to them from the shrine the first time, Nyanta had made a cynical comment that now that he'd finally been released from the deep fear of death, the release of death was all he desired - his or the AIs, it didn't matter which.

Because it hadn't seemed so bad then, Brenner had wondered a bit, but he'd said one thing he hoped helped. "Even so, everyone knows whose fault it is and will be, and your efforts - though difficult and perhaps hidden - are appreciated." Nyanta had looked at him with a pained and cynical look, but Brenner had looked him in the eye. "Mister Nyanta, we are soldiers and airmen of the U.S. Navy. No one knows exactly what we do and we always wonder if it's appreciated, the difficult things we face daily and hourly. There are twenty-four men here and one special woman who know exactly what it's like. We will be waiting for you. Never doubt it. The job must be done, but we don't leave a comrade behind." Today, Nyanta was being given a touch of healing and was desperate for it.

When Nyanta's eyes finally found his, Brenner gave him a nod of approval, then went to attention and gave him a salute, to remind him again. Nyanta blinked at him and the tip of his tail lifted briefly off Purrcy's arm. Nyanta didn't look at him again after that, though, not wanting the visual reminder of his duty, but it had been enough.


	141. Family Christmas Celebration

After the initial greeting of the main present in the house, Log Horizon sat to breakfast. Michael walked into the room from the kitchen and set a plate of pancakes and eggs, with a side of rice for Nyanta since the Japanese never ate a meal without rice, down in front of each of Purrcy and Nyanta. "My treat," he said to them, and walked off to see to dishing out more. Nyanta ate with the rest of them, but since it was Brenner's job to notice it, he knew Nyanta's tail was still tightly attached to Purrcy's left arm, though she continued to hide it under the table for his sake.

The conversation at the breakfast table was Shiroe's present, as he was allowed to commandeer it to talk to both Purrcy and Nyanta while he had them available. His own path was difficult and they understood it better than most, and he was likely feeling the guilt of putting them through what they were going through. Brenner decided he might need to step in this once later this evening and see that Shiroe got his own therapy session. Holding onto that guilt wasn't going to help him or anyone else. Akatsuki's worried glances Shiroe's way made it a sure thing she was worried about the guilt as well as whatever hell was going on behind the scenes that Brenner was also just as happy to have Reed deal with. Five were sober, for all they were trying to be Christmas-happy, Michael was cool, and Shiroe's icy cold treatment of Michael was enough to say it.

When they reached the end of the breakfast, this day there wasn't the same sort of standard roll call, so Brenner decided to just jump in. "Guildmaster Shiroe, I have a short Christmas service prepared for whenever you'd like to fit it in. Usually it's just us, but if anyone else in the guild would like to sit in, they're welcome to. I thought we'd do it in here since there's room for us and outside's a bit chilly."

Shiroe looked around the officer's table. "Shall we do gift exchange first?" he asked. He got nods, so the plates disappeared to the kitchen sink. The Eagles would wash them after. Christmas morning was special and with Hahaue and Chichiue present for only a brief time, that took precedence. Eight presents immediately appeared in Purrcy's lap and she blinked in surprise, then smiled. Eight more presents appeared in Nyanta's lap and then suddenly laps were being filled around the room. "Well, that is very convenient," Shiroe absently pushed his glasses back up his nose as he looked down at the presents in his lap. "How shall we do unwrapping?"

"One person unwrap everything at once so we can all watch," Minori said instantly.

"Purrcy first," Isuzu said.

Purrcy shook her head. "I think order of precedence, though we'd all rather see you four open yours first."

All eyes turned to Rudy and he blushed slightly, then brushed his hair out of his face. " 'Tis a grand thing to have a Christmas all together...though I still don't quite understand the tradition."

Brenner wasn't surprised to hear it. While the Japanese culture had adopted several of the U.S. traditions, including presents and family on Christmas, they'd never really understood the main message of Christmas. "If you'll sit for the service, that's what I'll be teaching," he offered.

"I would like that, I think," Rudy said, then picked up his first present from off his lap. He was a polite and careful unwrapper and just as polite to thank each person for each gift: a hand-crafted gift from each of Isuzu, Touya, and Minori; a minor magic item from each of Naotsugu, Akatsuki, Tetorō, and Shiroe; a box of his favorite meal, still hot, from Nyanta; and a personalized crafted hat with a bright gold pin holding a long feather from Purrcy. Rudy looked at her a little curiously after thanking her. "What is the feather from?"

"It was gifted to me by the fenghuang of China's eastern region after we completed the China Maze of Eternity. It is a creature that only appears when an area is blessed with peace and grants prosperity and happiness to a region. I'm hopeful it's return to the area was an indication that our efforts were successful and things will go well there into the future. I've included it in your hat for the flavor text so that any political negotiations you should find necessary in your own future will bring to you and your holding the same blessings of peace, prosperity, and happiness. I've made it so that it will lock to you only once you put it on."

"Thank you, Lady Purrcy," Rudy immediately put it on his head and no one faulted him for it. It went well with his personality, too.

Then Minori made Touya go next, "Because you're the younger brother and we're going from bottom to top." Touya rolled his eyes but went - not the sort to go slow and politely. His gifts were of a more militant bent, but his gift from Purrcy was a little different.

"Hold it until Minori is done," Purrcy shook her head when he looked at her curiously. Touya nodded and looked at Minori.

Minori opened hers carefully, commenting on the usefulness of each one and giving thanks as she went. When she'd finally opened Purrcy's and it was nearly identical to Touya's, they looked at her and waited to hear what they were. Purrcy smiled softly at them both. "I've learned many things already, and in healing Crusty one of them was the basics of permanent attachment. It isn't used much by the AIs, but Tetorō's already a recipient of that technology. Hold hands and put your other hands on top of your boxes." The twins did so. "Repeat after me."

They dutifully obeyed: "Brother to sister, sister to brother, always in heart, often in mind, listening and speaking, leaving neither behind." The boxes glowed and turned into gold-white light that flowed up from the hands set on them to cover all of them, meeting at their joined hands, then settling into their bodies and disappearing.

Purrcy continued her explanation. "This will follow you home. Whenever you are apart and are concerned about the welfare of the other, think of your bond as twins and you will be able to speak to and hear each other. If one is lost, you will be able to follow an internal compass that will lead you to them. I've done my best to see that it doesn't interfere with future spouses, but it should last your entire lives. If you change the beginning to 'husband and wife' instead of 'brother and sister' and add at the end, 'Two hearts entwined', you'll each have the same capability with your spouses," they gaped at her but she held up her hand.

"Be cautious with that one. You may end up divorced and it only works with the first one you cast it with, and whomever you marry may not be interested in having any such bonding because telepathy is too weird a concept to the modern mind. It only works for the lot of us because we consider it the chat function. Ah...and don't let anyone at home know at all, really. We'd rather you didn't become unwilling scientific experiments." They laughed a little in agreement, shaking their heads to say they would keep it secret.

Isuzu was next and received similar presents, though hers were more geared towards helping her in her travels across the land, including a Feather of Direction from Purrcy that would point the direction to go if she asked it where a particular thing was and threw it into the air. Purrcy offhandedly said that food and water were her favorite things to look for with them and Isuzu agreed that would be very handy.

Tetorō went next, and he impatiently opened his present from Purrcy first. Isuzu sat upright when she saw it and her face went to an almost impish grin. It was another small spell box and Tetorō looked at it in the code realm, then looked back up at Purrcy a wrinkle on his brow. "Tetorō...," Purrcy hesitated, "it's actually not for you to use just yet. Put it away with your other treasures for now. When it's the right time, you'll remember you have it." He gave a nod and the box disappeared. He unwrapped the rest of his gifts and the turn moved on to a fight between Akatsuki and Naotsugu when he thought his offer to let her go first, to be polite, was misunderstood, though when Nyanta coughed lightly, she flushed and let it go. She was the junior to the three members of the Debauchery Tea Party.

Purrcy started. "Oh. I think I'm actually next."

There were protestations until Michael laughed. "Only because your last birthday was around your twenty-ninth twenty-ninth birthday, and that still makes you after Shiroe."

Purrcy slumped. "Oh, dear. I've been found out."

"Seriously?" Tetorō jumped on that.

"No, only in the sense that I was figuring I had to be a least a year younger than Akatsuki and all the rest of the senior officers, what with my recurring birthdays."

"What are recurring birthdays?" Rudy asked, puzzled.

Michael explained. "When a woman gets to a certain age, it's considered very impolite to ask her age. No one likes hearing an age and feeling constrained to be old because of it. Thus it's somewhat common practice for women on their birthdays to say they're 'twenty-nine again' or whatever their favorite age happened to be when they were young and loving life like the lot of you are - that is, not quite responsible adult but still independent." He frowned, then teased, "But then, Purrcy, that would put you at having to have gone between Isuzu and Tetorō and we've skipped your turn." Now there were protestations at Michael until the adults relented and allowed Purrcy would go last properly. She sighed sadly and dramatically and Akatsuki properly took her turn.

She also received gifts most appropriate to her and she blushed hardest at Shiroe's gift and thanked him in a quiet voice. She scowled slightly at Naotsugu's gift, then remembered to properly thank him when Purrcy's tail flipped a warning at her. When she opened Purrcy's gift, she held the white cloth gingerly as she read the flavor text. She scrunched the cloth up in both her hands and looked at Purrcy with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Hahaue," she said in a bit of a choked voice.

"You're welcome, little one," Purrcy answered, her voice soft. "When this is over, take it to Yuudai. It has blessings in it that will come to you then. May it give you hope now, however." No one commented as Akatsuki put it on, wrapping it around her upper left arm a few times, then tying it. The white was stark against her usual dark clothing, though she'd dressed in a nice winter themed outfit for the occasion. In this level, a cursed item that made an Assassin's skills impotent was a blessing for Akatsuki, who was this morning sitting near Shiroe instead of between Tetorō and Naotsugu.

Naotsugu went next, completely enjoying the new sword everyone had gone in on together to purchase for him, since high level equipment was so expensive. "It's a full set now," he said proudly, suddenly in his armor and shield earned in the Depths of Palm and showing off the sword to go with it.

"And if you'll open mine while you have all that out," Purrcy interrupted, "you'll finish it out."

Naotsugu looked into his lap and set his sword and shield down long enough to unwrap her gift. It was another spell box. He put his hand on it and it glowed. Quickly, he picked his equipment back up again and watched the three items on his status screen, the rest of watchers following suit. "It isn't quite as good as Nyanta's," Purrcy said, "and it's keyed to the items, so it cost a lot less, which helped me, but I hope it's good enough."

"It's wonderful, Hahaue," Naotsugu answered as the glow around him faded. "Now I won't have to figure out how to focus on intent when magic spells come my way, or worry about the corrosive effect. Thank you." His fighting equipment was traded out for his casual clothes again and he nodded at Michael.

Michael shook his head. "If we're going age, it's Shiroe next."

"Well, then we've skipped him," Naotsugu shrugged.

"You're older?" Purrcy asked him.

Naotsugu nodded. "Yeah. I've been out in the workforce already a few years. Shiroe just finished up his graduate degree."

Michael and Shiroe had a bit of a staring contest, then Shiroe somewhat greedily ripped the paper off his first present. Even if he was the guildmaster, he was going to get to see his presents first...or something was all Brenner could figure. Shiroe saved Akatsuki's for second to last. She blushed again when he opened it and he held still, which was a good sign he was trying hard to not blush. "I - I'm sorry, it was very ...hard," she whispered.

"No. I like it very much," he answered. "Thank you. It's perfect really." No one was quite sure why they were blushing. It was an inkpot and pen of Chinese design, of the endless refilling kind. A rather high end item, actually. She'd gone and spent a lot of money on a thoughtful gift.

Purrcy's present to Shiroe was the least exciting to the rest of them, though intriguing. It was a box that contained a few other boxes, each one holding exotic ingredient items. "I thought you might enjoy, as occasional distractions, the opportunity to experiment with things that might help with your ink," Purrcy explained. "In particular I wanted to help your cartography. You may find that if you work from that intent you'll get better results than with general use ink or even scroll ink." He was digging through the boxes to identify all the items. When he looked back up to thank her, she added, "I was rather thinking of the Marauder's Map from Harry Potter fame."

Shiroe's face lit up like he was a little boy again. "That would be a very fun experiment. Thank you, Hahaue." She blew him a kiss with her ear and then it was Michael's turn.

Michael happily went through his pile. "Really, for all I'm sure I should only get coal for being a blackhearted bastard, you've all been very thoughtful." A spark showed up in front of his forehead and he stared at it for a few seconds, then sighed and closed his eyes. It went off and he winced.

"For both being a blackhearted bastard, and for saying it when we all know what's going on in the first place," Purrcy scolded.

Michael stared at her, then bowed formally. "If you say so, m'lady." Her ear flicked irritably but they let it drop. "I'll enjoy experimenting with pigments and the items you've gifted me." She gave a nod and turned to Nyanta, giving his hand a squeeze and letting it go.

Nyanta lifted up the first gift and calmly unwrapped it, seeming to savor the moment. Each new present was something to treasure in the receiving and likely he was working hard to indelibly inscribe the moment into his memory to be another of his treasures when he was taken from them again. Articles of clothing were popular - an ascot, a pair of gloves, and a new pair of spats were among the selections. When the next to last item was a top hat, he paused a moment and was suddenly wearing all the new articles with a slightly different outfit.

Purrcy blushed slightly to see his outfit, which also included an ebony cane with silver head and tip. She looked away and her ear turned, then she was in a Victorian outfit to match in coloring, with a closed parasol leaning against the couch at her knee. Tetorō grinned and took a photo, then put copies in their laps. "Merry Christmas," he said to them.

Nyanta looked down at the photo, then very slightly began to tremble. Purrcy slipped her arm into his and lightly purred. "Thank you, Tetorō. They're a wonderful gift as well."

Nyanta nodded and lightly touched his copy and it disappeared into his list, Purrcy's having already disappeared by then. Nyanta held his wife's arm close to his side and opened her gift to him. "Though to have mew by my side is even more than I'd hoped," he said very quietly, not looking at her. Brenner sighed sadly to himself. His need for her to be his life raft in this world still hadn't changed, for all he'd tried on his own to let her go. This level had made his efforts revert already. He could hardly be faulted, though. It wasn't like he'd been trained to be hard, only calm.

Nyanta's gift was also a spell box and he looked at Purrcy questioningly. "It's to give you something to do while you're locked down," she told him calmly.

Nyanta's ears turned briefly, unhappily, but he put his hand lightly on the box and accepted the glow. He tipped his head. "But...what did it do, meow?"

Purrcy waved a finger in the air and Nyanta looked into the space there, but the rest of them couldn't see it. After about a half a minute, he blinked and gave a nod and she waved her hand. "Thank mew," he said to her and leaned in to get a kiss back. That made the juniors settle down comfortably and they looked at Purrcy in excitement.

"Well, then," Purrcy said with breathless excitement. She was not a politely slow unwrapper, though she did complement the wrapping job on all of the presents before she began. From the juniors she received a pair of riding gloves from Rudy, a recording of a selection of songs from Isuzu that Charlie had helped her with, a model of the Log Horizon guild hall with one side removed to expose the tree growing up through it and showing the steps nailed on the upper level of the tree from Touya, and a hand-knitted shawl from Minori.

Minori bit her lip. "I asked Tetorō and he said that you might not be able to wear it, but that if you could, it could easily be purified enough for at least the cooler evenings. I've been worried about you up there in the mountain in the winter. They don't heat those shrines very well."

"Thank you, dear," Purrcy answered. "I will actually find it very useful when I'm in my bedroom. That room is usually quite cold since it faces the top of the mountain." She added it to her ensemble, Nyanta helping her to settle it around her shoulders.

Akatsuki's gift was a pair of warm socks. She blushed again, but Purrcy again reassured her she would greatly appreciate them. "They don't have slippers for cats there," she said in a bit of disgust. "These will be perfect." Akatsuki relaxed. "Ah, and for the sake of you both, I can purify them just fine." Both young women relaxed even more.

Naotsugu rubbed his head as Purrcy picked up his present. "You're actually really hard to buy for," he admitted.

Purrcy opened it and it was a box of candies. "Naotsugu! It's wonderful. You really do understand a woman's heart, don't you? I've not had anything other than standard, almost flavorless, People of the Land food - sorry Rudy, but they haven't bothered to learn anything other than how to make it taste not quite so much like soggy crackers."

He waved a hand at her, making a face. "How can they subject the High Priestess to such wanton evil?" he asked her. "Surely we need to see a proper chef is sent."

"Blessings doubled on your house if you do," she instantly jumped on the deal. While the olders in the room chuckled, Rudy went off into his head to figure out just how to do it. "I'll savor each piece, Naotsugu, and thank you for _not_ getting me mochi."

"Michael warned me," Naotsugu said, in a touch of embarrassment. Michael got a slight tip of an ear of thanks as well, she was so relieved.

Tetorō's gift was another spell cube. It had been created by P/R this time. She touched it and a little screen lit up above it. In the screen was an image of the Minami stage. Tetorō walked out on the stage and bowed. In a tiny voice he said, "Thank you for coming to the first debut of the Water Maple Acting Troupe. We hope you will enjoy our performance tonight."

Purrcy immediately put her hand back on the cube, stopping the replay. Her eyes wide, she said, "You recorded it for me?"

Tetorō smiled. "Yes. We couldn't put it on and not have you see it somehow."

She tremored slightly, then sniffed and said, "Thank you. I'll savor this later...over and over, I'm sure. If I watch any more than that, you'll not have me back until it's over. I'm a bit OCD about watching such things."

Tetorō gave her an impish grin and tossed his head back a bit over a shrugged shoulder. "Well, take your time being OCD on that. It's more than that, and with an easter egg, too."

Purrcy squirmed in her seat and looked like the child who was just told they have to finish their last two bites of broccoli in order to get the chocolate cake that just came to the table. She stared at the cube, then it was suddenly gone. "Ooo, that's going to be so hard to not watch this afternoon."

"Why wait?" Tetorō waved a hand. "This afternoon is just fine, isn't it?"

"No," she said looking at him. "I want to watch it the first time with Tetora and a bowl of popcorn." Akatsuki looked a little down, since she couldn't be there.

Tetorō stared at Purrcy, then looked away with a slump. "There is really no winning with you." He ran a hand over his forehead and eyes, then said, "Okay. But we have to have it be a full viewing with all the cast. We'll conference them in, and I won't be able to wake up in the morning and get scolded."

"That's okay. I'm going to be sleeping in, too," she said with a smile. "I'll still have all the rest of it to binge watch after you fall asleep early." Tetorō snorted a real laugh, waving his hand and giving up. Akatsuki and Minori looked better, but Isuzu looked disappointed now.

"I'm sure they can conference you in, too, Isuzu," Naotsugu reassured her.

"Of course," Purrcy said instantly and Isuzu felt better, too.

" _That's_ going to take schedule juggling," Tetorō grimaced a little, but didn't complain more strenuously.

"We have daylight hours, too," Purrcy reminded him.

"Oh, right," Tetorō agreed.

Purrcy moved on to Shiroe's present. She removed the wrapping, then unrolled a scroll and her eyes went large. "Shiroe, it's wonderful! And I don't even remember telling you I secretly love maps." She turned it around for the rest of them to see. It was a map of the world. On Yamato were four blue circles. There were four more in the China region. Leading south along the coast from there and in Korea, and then going inland, were a series of circles that were golden and a few at the tag end that were grey. One in South India was black, the rest in that country were grey.

Turning it back around, she set it held out over her lap, then her eyes narrowed. "You've already learned how to make a map dynamic. That's sly, Shiroe."

"It's useful," he contradicted mildly. "I'll still experiment with what you've given me. If I can expend a little less HP and MP, I might be willing to make another one. Being world-wide made it have a rather high cost."

Purrcy tipped her head and closed her eyes. Her nose wiggled and her ear tipped, and then she was staring at P/R. "This one's your copy. You did well. Was the cost as high for the same reason, or was it close to the other magic images you've copied?"

"It was higher," he admitted. "I did the equivalent of an over-exposure in order to get extra time for the build-up. I'd be interested in seeing if the different materials also create a lesser cost in the copying."

"Probably not," she said sympathetically. "I'm not really sure how to get that cost down any other way." P/R nodded, not too surprised and she went back to looking at the map. When she rolled it up, she thanked Shiroe again and tucked it away in her list.

Lastly, she picked up Nyanta's gift. "It isn't very creative, nyan," he said dryly, "however, now that mew've told me they haven't a proper chef, I think I'll do more than that."

Purrcy blinked at him, then immediately tore into the present until she was holding a box and her nose was twitching rather fiercely. It immediately disappeared. "It would be very rude of me to snarf it down indelicately in front of everyone," she said to him, "and if you've more you're willing to give up, I would most definitely not turn it down." She suddenly had a rather large number of boxes piled up around her.

Nyanta looked a bit confused. "I didn't give mew that many."

Touya coughed and Minori blushed a little. "Please, take some of ours. They're experiments for recipes we've used at Grandpa's Kitchen."

Purrcy shivered and it didn't stop. "To get to taste the foods of your own hard work, even," she said to them in a bit of a quaver and Nyanta pet her gently. "Thank you, everyone," she said looking down and the boxes disappeared. "I will treasure every gift and savor every bite of delicious food." Her purr was loud enough to warm the entire room nearly two degrees. Any warmer and they would have been uncomfortable in their warmer winter clothing. "Merry Christmas."

A flock of doves rose up from her hands and fluttered down onto the Eagles. They accepted their gifts with a group expression of gratitude and set about opening the few they'd received - mostly from Minori who was thoughtful like that. They'd have their own present exchange later. The gag gifts weren't really fit for outsiders to appreciate and the real ones wouldn't really have made any sense to them either. They'd already given the guild their gift - the Christmas tree with all its trimmings that was standing in the background behind Purrcy and Nyanta. It was actually nice to have a real family Christmas while on duty for once. It did help a little to take away the typical homesickness that was attached to the day.

-:-:-:-:-

It was Brenner's turn, by decree of a mother who'd turned her ordering look on him regardless of what the male heads of the house wanted. Since they numbered four as far as Brenner was concerned, he stood and waited for them to let him know what he was doing. Like at Thanksgiving, the Japanese part of their guild sat in a group a bit away from the American group and watched and listened some, but for the most part didn't participate. Rudy as before paid closer attention, choosing to kneel next to Purrcy who knelt separately from the Eagles, but where she could hear. Brenner rather thought he'd be getting some questions from Rudy later.

He quoted the scriptures from the book of St. Luke that told the more detailed story of the birth of Christ. His brief sermon was a reminder of the love of God for all his creations and of the grace of Christ. Because he thought it was fitting for their situation, he also spoke on the sacrifices Joseph had to make to leave his hometown to travel by orders to a place where there was no place to rest and a small family to care for. He added in the sacrifice of Mary who also had to do the same while in her most pregnant state, and then to not have her female friends and family with her for the birthing. How difficult for them it must have been, but they had been humble and obedient and had brought the greatest blessing to mankind in that strange place.

When the service was over, Purrcy approached Brenner, though she stayed the proper distance away. "Thank you. It's good to hear the true Christmas story again. It was always my favorite part of Christmas, since I liked to imagine myself one of the angels in the heavenly host."

"Perhaps you were," he smiled a little.

"Perhaps," she agreed.

"Miss Purrcy, in your practice of Christianity, did you practice confession?" Brenner asked. She looked at him without answering at first. He continued on. "Because you're here on Christ's day, and there is the opportunity, I'd be willing to sit as your clergyman if you'd like."

"...Generally, I practice confessing directly to God through prayer," Purrcy answered, "however, there is one thing that perhaps would be helpful. You should go get permission from my husband, however."

"If you'll wait for me by the Christmas tree, then?" Brenner offered. She moved to the tree and Brenner went to Nyanta. "Mister Nyanta, your wife is Christian on Earth. In our scripture we are taught to confess our sins so that they may be forsaken and forgiven. It is done in complete privacy and confidentiality with the receiver acting as the mortal representative of God. We who are qualified to act as as God's representative are trained in how to help the confessor desire to change and return to proper living of God's commandments of peaceful living with all creatures created by Him. I've offered to Miss Purrcy to have the opportunity this morning. Because of the confidentiality of it, I'll need to put up a silent room spell over the two of us, but we can sit by the Christmas tree where you can see us, if you're willing to give permission."

"How is this different than a therapy session?" Nyanta asked.

"In a confession, the clergy judges the severity of the confessed acts that were committed by the confessional and explains the required steps that must be taken to make any wrongs right so that the confessor can change to overcome the remorse attached to those acts and find their way to not committing those acts again. In a therapy session, acts may or may not have been done by the client, and more frequently were done by others and the client has a need to work through the residual internal effects of those actions, but there is no judgment made by the therapist and the client is encouraged to try possible solutions, but they are given the choice as to what they will try and to discover what works for them." Brenner explained.

Nyanta's ears turned softly as he considered it, then nodded. "If she's requested it, then that will be fine."

"Thank you, Mister Nyanta," Brenner said, "and if you'd like a therapy session, after?" he raised an eyebrow. "I'd like to see how you're doing."

Nyanta sighed. "I'm sure it would take more time than we have, but a brief communication would be of some benefit."

"Very well. When we're done, then," he gave a nod and walked back to Purrcy, who was kneeling near the hand-made creche that Bowie had carved for them and gifted to Brenner after the Christmas tree trimming had been completed. "Mister Nyanta's given his permission," Brenner said, settling down in front of Purrcy. He cast his privacy shield, which had special markers on it that let the rest of the sub-guild know it was his special confessional. Even if they could break through it because he wasn't the highest level pseudocode mage, they still respected the role he played. "Do you need some level of instructions?" he asked Purrcy when he was set.

Purrcy hesitated, then said, "I don't think so. I'm sure we'll be slightly orthogonal, but I have a basic understanding." She took a breath and he settled. "I would like to not hate my ex-husband. I already understand that in such cases, both parties are at fault, both are wounded and desiring to be heard. Because I felt betrayed, I moved into hatred, as is natural but against the desires for us of our Lord who teaches we should love even our enemies. It's easier for me to do that than to love the man who caused me that pain. Help me replace that hatred I don't want to carry any more with the love and grace of Christ."

Brenner blinked, then smiled. "I'm glad you're ready to allow the light of Christ into your heart again in this area." He began the process for her, and reminded her at the end that she would need to repeat her forgiveness again each time she was reminded of that pain until God's love was firmly fixed in that place. He paused, then said, "You said it was easier to love your enemies. How do you feel about the AIs?"

Purrcy shook her head. "I don't hate them. There are times I'm very concerned about the effects of the choices they make, but like all creations they can only do what they've been created to do and be. If they reach a level that God desires to bless them with self-will, then perhaps I'd become angry with them enough to want to hate them."

At Gareth's look, she smiled. "We humans have a tendency to ascribe to other intelligent creatures the right of self-will, as we have it, but I've discovered that both on Earth and here, the only creatures with true self-will are humans, gifted by God in the councils of heaven before we even came here, in which we chose to follow Christ who would pay for our wrongs and ills so that we could return, instead of choosing Lucifer's plan of us being as everything else and having no free will to learn by, living completely obedient from the beginning. It was such a difficult and important matter a third of the host was cast out with him. We rejoiced at the day of Christ's birth because we would be able to return again, as you so eloquently taught us today."

"I've observed the AIs enough to determine they merely follow their programming. There is no self-will in the AIs. How can I hate them? Only their actions and the results of them because of that programming are sometimes worthy of anger and hatred." She winked. "Now, if they'd been Superuser scientists playing around with us, then yes, I'd probably have to repent of hating them. They'd be just as cold and terrible, but also self-willed."

Brenner shook his head. "Even so Miss Purrcy. That's rather amazing."

Purrcy laughed a little. "I'm far from perfect at remembering it all the time, Chaplain, but that's at the base of what I try to remember when the anger and hatred threaten to overwhelm me. Having my own children helped me learn, as it does for all parents, how to love selflessly, and at least care for others even when they can be nothing other than selfish." She reached out and picked up the manger that held the baby Jesus. "Even Jesus' first lessons were to teach his own parents that same selfless love. The scriptures say he grew up as a child, so likely he was a perfect infant and child - crying when he needed to be changed, when he was too cold or hot, when he was hungry or lonely, even at two o'clock in the morning when his mother had only had an hour of sleep from the last time he'd woken up. Being a parent is the closest we probably get to being like Him on Earth."

She rubbed a thumb on the Christ-child, looking down at it in her lap and she began to tremble. "Brenner...I am broken. For the sake of those I care for and love here in Theldesia, I am forsaken, alone, imprisoned, bruised, and will soon even be hated and killed." She clasped the manger in between her hands and held them tightly, trying to calm her shivers. "There is only one on the face of this planet and in the whole universe who has gone through so much more than even I that has any understanding to comfort me. Can you please read me His word when he described himself that way? Perhaps I will be able to find the comfort he sought during his time of grief and difficulty."

Brenner was really not sure how to handle this internally, but he put it in God's hands and spoke anyway. "I cannot read them to you, Miss Purrcy. There is no in-game special for even an abridged copy of the holy scriptures of any faith in any game produced on Earth. I can, however, quote them to you, to the best of my ability." She gave an accepting nod. "It's in Isaiah, chapter fifty-three," he said for reference, then closed his eyes and recalled the scripture he quoted at Easter time, but before he did, he dropped the privacy shield. The rest of them needed to be reminded again.

 _"Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?_

 _He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him._

 _He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem._

 _Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted._

 _But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed._

 _We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all._

 _He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth._

 _By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished._

 _He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth._

 _Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand._

 _After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities._

 _Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." *_

Brenner sat quietly considering Purrcy. "We celebrate Christmas day with joy and gladness because of what he did for us at the end of his life - our celebration of Easter: for His crucifixion for our sins, His death, and His resurrection, which all give us the hope of peace and joy in our own bright resurrection day when all the pains of this life are swallowed up in His love. I hope Christ's own favorite words of scripture are able to bring you the healing you're seeking." At the tip of her ear, he rose and bowed to her slightly, then walked over to Nyanta. "I'll speak with you now, if you're ready."

As Nyanta led Brenner to another section of the room, where he could still see his wife from, Shiroe left the side of Akatsuki and Naotsugu and walked to kneel next to Purrcy, close but not touching, keeping her company as she meditated on the words Brenner had quoted to her. While even she would be offended to be compared to Christ, being far from the perfect He was, Brenner still was struck with the parallel of Christ's life and hers here on Theldesia. He wondered if this day was her Gethsemane, to be feeling her own grief at her role, and to have one come to comfort her as the Lord had sent his angel to comfort Christ in that garden, even if the burden couldn't be removed.

When Nyanta was done speaking with Brenner, he returned to sit with his wife. When he rose to his feet, pulling her up, they knew their time with Hahaue and Chichiue was done. Purrcy bowed to the room and silently followed Nyanta to his room. Michael disappeared, then reappeared less than five minutes later to sit with the Eagles again. The juniors took deep breaths and thanked him for bringing the guild father and mother to them for the morning, then excused themselves from the apartment and left with Tetorō and Akatsuki for the morning presentation of the play.

Shiroe turned to Michael, his face cold and hard. Michael raised a hand. "I'll come, but let me finish out Christmas with the men." Shiroe gave a curt nod and left the room. Naotsugu decided to park himself in the living room to watch - mostly to make sure Michael would obey, even if he didn't know what had gone on in the specifics. That was okay. The squadron Christmas would be enjoyed by him.

* * *

 _*Isaiah 53:1-12, Holy Bible, New International Version, c. 2011, Biblica Inc._


	142. Questing for a Princess' Hand

"Truly, Michael," Log Horizon's guildmaster Shiroe said, a cold scowl on his face. His sharp eyes lifted to glare through his round glasses. "I'm amazed Izanagi didn't take away your ability to realm walk after that."

Michael kept his face cool and closed. "While I'm sorry to have caused Purrcy pain, there were several essential things I needed to learn before we reach the final part the Eagles and I will play in this level of the dungeon. I'm not sorry for pricking the High Priest or Izanagi. He most definitely needed the sharp warning. The choice to include minors in the experiments is completely unacceptable."

"Your example - are you being half of that?" Shiroe asked.

"No, but it was one I had to watch and interrupt." Michael said darkly. "We may be their prisoners on this planet, but back home rape of a minor is a felony - a capital crime with extremely serious consequences including a long time in prison. We will have to pay that penalty if we are able to win the drop and go home. It can't be allowed to continue. Both the mental health of both parties while we're here and the resulting terrible consequences on Earth when both were innocent of it are too much. That message and warning needed to be set as deeply and as quickly as possible."

"Michael, you acted on your own without giving me prior warning. Such things have negative effects as well as positive. If I'm not prepared for both, then I don't have in place the proper safety nets for the negative side. Do not act on your own without my involvement again." Shiroe's words were absolute with his anger.

Michael looked at him for a while, not saying anything. He finally bowed just slightly. "If I need to do a thing that involves people outside the sub-guild and it's specific responsibilities, I'll let you know."

Shiroe gave him a long measuring look back. "Thank you."

As Michael left Shiroe's office, Brenner met him. They walked until they were alone. "Report," Michael said with quiet authority.

"Miss Purrcy asked for help to be able to replace hatred with God's grace, specifically to forgive her ex-husband, and she asked for that scripture to help her through her grief," the Eagle's squadron chaplain said, referencing the Easter passage he'd quoted earlier that Christmas morning.

Michael stood waiting for a bit longer, then said, "Nothing else?"

"No, Sir." Brenner looked at him for a moment longer. "Mike, I'm not sure where you were going with all this today...but be sure in meeting the goals of this level you aren't losing your humanity along the way."

Michael kept his face smooth. "I'm moving only as necessary," he answered.

"Are you?" Brenner asked quietly. "I'm not talking about having your emotions for Purrcy locked away by Izanagi. I'm talking about the thing I asked her about as a reality check. Because the World AIs don't have free will she does her best to not hate them. They are programs who're acting according to that programming. We are humans who have the divine gift of choice - to choose to harm or love. When the emotions of this time come back, how painful will they be? If they are too painful to take back because you forgot your humanity at this time, will your humanity ever be able to return? Or will you be lost forever? That's the pathway of the devil, Michael. Choose carefully. Whatever you choose to do now has a consequence. Please also add into your calculations your love for your future self and your integrity."

He paused, then said, "You don't have to be romantically interested in someone to love them as Christ loves and has commanded us to love each other. Watch your path carefully, please, since you don't have your emotions to help warn you when you're straying off the path of whole-ness."

Michael softened slightly. "Thank you, Chaplain. I'll remember it." When Michael gave a nod of dismissal, Brenner saluted and took himself off.

Michael waited until he was gone, then turned and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall. The pain of knowledge returned again, pricked by Brenner's words. "Gareth," he said softly. "Come meet with me." He didn't know if a confession would work when he couldn't feel anything - not even remorse - when he thought of Purrcy, but he was certainly feeling it when he thought of himself and his own integrity. That would have to be sufficient for the time being.

-:-:-:-:-

Princess Raynessia was despondent. More than usual. She'd not complained when Elissa got her dressed in a pale green gossamer gown with red accents that Elissa said pulled out the red youthfulness of her cheeks. It had only been an attempt to get her to cheer up, but she couldn't be cheered. Today, she was going into the first yet final steps of matrimonial prison. Today her betrothed would be announced at the Christmas ball. She was the dreaded seventeen and had forgotten in her excitement at playing with the Adventurers that this day was coming. It was no wonder her grandfather had made her no promises when she'd arrived.

She'd been allowed to go into the city and complain to Clair, who wouldn't have to worry about marriage at all now that she was a working woman with a good wage. Clair had done her best to be sympathetic, but there wasn't anything she could do.

Raynessia didn't want to have anything to do with a male Person of the Land. It had always been too much of a bother to pretend to tryst with anyone. To have to perform like the betrothed she supposed she could do. One only had to be bored as they looked languid, and appear to be paying attention to the words that fell out of the mouth of whatever man had been picked since they all were so self-important they weren't interested in what came out of the young lady's mouth. She'd had to suffer through three of them, all picked by her grandfather and parents before today.

She'd firmly told her mother in no uncertain terms she would not have anything to do with one of them. He was an absolute cad and would bring down the name of Cowen. They'd looked at him again and decided she was right and so at least he was off the list. Of the two remaining, she didn't have any feelings one way or the other. All she knew was that neither was Crusty and he was looking more interesting than them, for all she wanted to have nothing to do with him, the frightening mind-reading monster.

Elissa picked up Raynessia's hand. "Mistress," she called. Raynessia tried to pay attention. "Please, at least try to look like you might be having a good time while you're there."

"But I'm not. I'm absolutely dreading it, Elissa. I'm sure we don't need a second daughter to create more children for the house, when Iselius's children will be heir. Won't we eventually only cause more conflicts with that many noble children running around? I don't even have the natural requirements to care for a husband. I have no interest in being a wife and I shudder to think of it." She went bitter. "And because I am what I am and my family is what it is, I have no choice and no sympathetic ear." She turned her head away from Elissa and rested it on her knees, where she'd tucked them up in front of her on her small settee.

Elissa continued to pet her hand gently for a while. "I'll set out your favorite flannel pajamas for when you return," she finally promised.

Raynessia sighed a light sigh that would have sounded like a tender melancholy to any who had heard it not of the house of Cowen. It wasn't enough, this time. She would only look at them with the same despairing despondency that she'd been feeling since her mother had informed her, and her grandfather had confirmed with firm sternness, that it _would_ be happening _this_ year.

Raynessia couldn't sit still any longer. "I'm going to the library," she informed Elissa. "Let the intended come find me there." She walked out ignoring Elissa's protests and headed for the castle library. She'd finally reached an era in the history of Eastal where she felt she might find the answer she was seeking. She already knew she couldn't be won by a man who would actually love her. Her sister had won that blessing. Iselius had won the heirship. She, so far, had only won the temporary reprieve of being ambassador to the Adventurers, and that was now ended. Her time was up, yet she somehow couldn't give up to this one. A restlessness continued to drive her back and back yet again to the library to read through the histories, to see if there was some other pathway that might open up to her feet other than this one.

Finding the place she had left off, Raynessia tiredly lifted her hand to slip the next book off the shelf. She settled in a comfortable chair, and opened the book. She'd finally learned to skim through until she found a reference to a lady of the noble house - often few and far between. It had been out of desperation to remain lazy in the midst of this strange frenzy that she'd learned the skill. It was still difficult to read and comprehend what she was reading, however. So it still took time to read even one book if it had a mere three examples in it.

Tonight, on what was certainly a night of destiny, her eyes finally lit on the passage she'd been seeking for. She read it the first time in increasing excitement, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks, a light of almost a sparkle in her eyes. It would have been unusual and something her grandfather would have been sad to miss if he'd known of it. She went back and read it another two times, to make sure she understood what this young woman in history had done and to put it to memory so she could know what to do in her own time for her own self. She had just put it away on the shelf and reached for another book randomly when firm footsteps approached her.

She turned away from the bookshelf. "Princess Raynessia," the young man bowed. He had blond hair and bright blue eyes. So it wasn't the brown haired man with the soft brown eyes. Raynessia had almost preferred that one since his eyes reminded her of Akatsuki's, but regardless, she couldn't remember the name of either one.

"My lord," she curtsied slightly. "Is it time, then?"

He held out his hand, but his eyes scanned the books at her shoulder, where her hand had just been leaving - not the lower shelf where she had put the book back just moments before. She graciously put her hand in his and allowed him to lead her away from the library and escort her to the ballroom. It had been decorated extravagantly for this Christmas Ball and was already warm with the bodies in it. That meant the dance itself would be beastly hot, another thing she was not looking forward to at all. Her eyes remained about half raised, looking off into the distance, as she recited to herself over and over the plan, desperate not to forget it. It only came off as demure.

When they were in place, the footman opened the main door to the hall and they were introduced, though this wasn't the formal introduction. It was just her personal introduction. Everyone knew it was traditional for her escort for the evening from the beginning to the end to be the chosen intended, however, so knowing eyes followed them down the stairs as they descended to join the rest of the revelers at the ballroom floor. Raynessia was first escorted to her parents and grandfather. She curtsied to them properly, still reciting her plan in her mind, her eyes still at the demure posture. They seemed satisfied enough and allowed her and her escort to stand with them for a time.

When Duke Sergiad felt like the people in the room had likely chosen their positions in favor or against sufficiently, he led them up onto a slightly raised platform set to one side. The room fell into a hush. Raynessia straightened her spine a bit and prepared herself, taking a deep slow breath to steady herself. She felt a bit like she had on the day she'd walked in on the council at the Court of Eternal Ice when she'd chosen to ask the Adventurer ambassadors to allow her to plead with the Adventurers herself. Her brain was both in a fog, yet oddly clear. Her breath could barely pass into her lungs, but she felt firm. Afraid and lost, yet never more sure of her path. It was such a confusing state to be in, but she was desperate to see something else done than what she had to do only because it was the pattern to do.

Duke Sergiad gave the opening words, as written into history as anything in their make up and way of life. When he turned to Raynessia and asked if she had anything against the betrothal, instead of politely answering with a humble "no", she said. "If I am required to bring more heirs to the house of Cowen than the land of Eastal can reasonably provide for, then let me know that the man chosen as my intended has the humility to allow his small household to remain a lesser house so that neither he nor our children will fight against the proper heirs."

The entire ballroom froze in silence and the poor young man at her side was suddenly terribly confused, and perhaps a little frightened, maybe. She was having troubles since that's how _she_ was feeling, so she wasn't sure if others were as well or not. Her grandfather was not pleased. His eyes narrowed slightly. "And how should such a thing be proven?"

That was the proper response, so she went with the next line she'd been crafting and memorizing. "Let him be sent on a quest to bring a gift from the Laumė. If he can treat with them humbly enough to win a favor from them, then he will have shown he is sufficiently humble to stand beneath the house of Iselius Cowen as is proper."

The poor young man was trembling beside her. Everyone knew the Laumė hated men, and would just as soon kill and eat them as talk to them. Even getting to their home was nearly impossible.

Duke Sergiad sighed to himself and gave Raynessia a slightly dark, if resigned look. He turned to the young man. "Will you take upon yourself this quest, or will you rescind your eligibility for the hand of Princess Raynessia? Once requested, it must be met in one of those two ways."

Her parents had done well to pick for bravery. The lad, though terrified, spoke firmly. "I will attempt the quest. Surely the obedient heart of Princess Raynessia who wishes to only see peace in the land of Eastal and between her beloved family has wished to understand this thing."

Raynessia blushed slightly. She certainly wasn't being obedient, and it was purely selfish. Peace was an excuse to get what she wanted. Duke Sergiad accepted the lad's words and nothing could be done but for him to excuse himself to begin immediately in order to prove his devotion to the task and the Princess. Raynessia caught his hand and walked with him off the stand to speak with him softly. "Before you go, say your name one more time so I can remember that I have heard it from your own lips. So if you should come to me again in a form I don't recognize, I will recognize your name and voice and know it is you who have come from trying diligently."

The young lord blushed slightly, cleared his throat and clearly said, "Neville Gifford, my lady."

Raynessia held that sound and name in her heart. "Thank you, Neville. Good luck on your quest." She curtsied to him. He bowed and left the ballroom. Really Raynessia had asked because she felt guilty about sending him off to possible death when she didn't even know his name. She should afford him at least that much respect.

She felt a looming and threatening presence behind her. She swallowed, then turned and curtsied. "Grandfather."

"You do realize that when you send the best one out on a quest, and he fails, that you have to settle for less. And when they begin to fail in multiples you end up married to the fool at the end?"

"Not always, Grandfather," she contradicted him. "It is an important thing to know in our time. My children will be redundant and they are often the ones who become the rebellious ones, particularly if their father has any hint in him of greed and avarice to teach to them the desire to take what isn't theirs to have."

"And is it true when you've only done it for selfish reasons, because you can't stand to be yoked to a perfectly fine young man because you've learned things you perhaps shouldn't have?" He was glaring at her sternly.

Raynessia shook her head, the long silver curls of her hair brushing lightly against her perfect cheeks. "It is true I am driven by selfish lazy reasons, but I have yet to have any interest in any male, Grandfather. Shouldn't I have already been enthralled by him at this point if it was meant to be as it stands?" Her eyes looked back directly into his and he took pause. "I cannot make anyone a wife at the moment, Grandfather. I am not a woman awake, nor even beginning to rouse. I am still a mere stick of a child. If there is something preventing me from being properly a noble daughter, then there is something not yet set right. It is the only path I have been able to see. Perhaps as the quests are won, I will begin to awaken."

"Quest _s_?" It was emphasized but bit off at the same time.

"Yes, Grandfather. They come in threes. This is merely the first one."

"I see. And how did you learn about this method?"

She looked away. Vaguely she said, "I read it, or perhaps it was a story from the Adventurers. They do like to talk about the various quests they go on, and that one was a popular one, it seems to me."

"Do you read?" he asked a bit surprised.

"I've been a bit bored since returning from Akiba. It's been difficult, actually, but that's been a sufficient distraction, I suppose. If you'll excuse me?" She curtsied and walked to her seat on the raised area at his nod.

Her parents went to her grandfather, her mother wringing her hands in distress. Raynessia was sure she'd see them in her rooms that night or the next morning. She sighed to herself and tried to remember that she'd wanted to do this even if she had to put up with her mother's moans, her father's sighs, and her grandfather's glares.

-:-:-:-:-

Poor Neville Gifford was feeling decidedly sorry for himself. He really had no interest in dying in his youth. He also really wanted to be part of the house of Cowen, but not so much he was willing to chance that same death. He stood outside the ballroom, where he'd been hoping to dance with Raynessia all night, proudly showing off the rose of the ball on his arm and his only, and held his head in his hands. It didn't really occur to him at that moment that the very point of the quest just assigned was to prove to him that very pride was the problem.

He wandered desolately for a while, not even knowing where to go or how to start such a quest. He was a Person of the Land, and while they did on occasion get quests of similar mien, it wasn't them to whom quests came. A servant of the castle finally found him on lost on a third floor balcony, called him down, and met him. "Duke Sergiad asks you to please meet him in his office immediately at dawn in the morning, dressed for travel. He recommends you get a good night's sleep."

Neville was relieved to have something to do that someone else had told him to do, though he still wasn't sure he wanted to go on this quest, for all he'd said he would. He did politely acknowledge the words of the servant, and leave for his quarters in the castle. He carefully picked out what clothing he might wear to travel in, then selected a few items from his personal effects, placed them in a bag, and made sure his sword was properly sharp and in at least decent repair. Then he prepared for bed and fell asleep - after finally giving up and drinking a sleeping potion.

In the morning, his manservant woke him in time to arrive at the appointed meeting. Neville looked at him curiously. "Are you supposed to come with me?" he asked.

The manservant looked at him, slightly frightened. "No, my lord. I would not survive and you would have to defend us both. Take with you a man at arms from your father's men."

That made sense. Someone who could use a blade would be a better companion. He stopped by his father's office, knowing he would be awake for the same reason he'd almost been all night. "Father, please assign to me one of your men at arms so I don't have to walk the path of my quest on my own and die before I've gone two leagues."

"Willingly, my son," the lord answered with relief. He named one and sent a servant to go tell him to get ready to go.

"Have him meet me outside the Duke's office," Neville requested of the servant. The servant bowed and left.

"The Duke's office?" his father asked.

"He's asked me to meet with him this morning before I leave," Neville explained.

His father seemed to relax just a little at that news. They clasped hands and his father wished him all the best, then sadly released him. It would be a great blow to their family to loose Neville if he failed on his quest. Neville took a great breath for courage, what little of it could be mustered, and he left his father's quarters to meet with Duke Sergiad.

"Your Grace," Neville bowed when he was ushered into that august presence.

"Neville," the intelligent eyes bored into him. "Go first to Akiba. Find there the Archmage Shiroe and explain what was done. Tell him I don't approve, but it's been done. Ask him if he will, for my sake, assist you in accomplishing your quest. At the very least I'd like to see you arrive back here alive, even if you aren't able to win the favor of the Laumė. Do you have swords at your back?"

"I have one man at arms from my father," he answered honestly.

"Then I will send two with you as well. That should get you through the zones between now that they are beginning to be thinned out as far as monsters go. Have you a map?"

"No, sir, I haven't," he answered politely and did wonder how he was to know where he was going.

"I've had my servant put together some things for you to take. See your man at arms carries them. The map will be with them. See you carry that." The Duke looked at him for a moment of silence, then said, "Good luck."

Neville bowed. "Thank you, Duke Sergiad. And thank you for your kind assistance."

The Duke nodded and Neville left him there. He found his father's man at arms and the servant of the Duke waiting for him. He carefully took the map and put it inside his jerkin. The other things he requested the man at arms take. The servant led them to the gate of the castle where two men at arms in the Duke's livery waited with four horses. Neville's was one of them. He was pleased to see it.

They all mounted and with a last look at the castle, and the room in the low tower that was Raynessia's, they left the Cinderella Castle and turned to pass through the city of Maihama into the wild zones of Eastal, headed west-southwest towards the Adventurer city of Akiba. There was just a kernel of excitement in Neville's belly. He was doing something very few young lords of the People of the Land ever did. It was the closest they ever came to being Adventurers themselves. (At least he tried to say it was excitement. He didn't want to admit to it being fear.)

It wasn't until after they were well away from the city that Duke Sergiad remembered that it was Samhein as of this morning, and the Adventurers wouldn't be back to Akiba for at least another day or two, and wouldn't be helping take care of the Kallikantzaros this year. He held his head in despair and sent a fast horse runner with the warnings after the lad, but didn't hold out much hope.

-:-:-:-:-

Izanagi was surprisingly good and left the Adventurers alone for the rest of the winter festival in Minami. Reports of the Kallikantaros arrived in the city after dark the day after Christmas. A few were captured trying to mess up the few booths still up, and a few others trying to destroy what proper preparations and packing had been done to all the other booths, but they were dispatched easily. The message had already gone out that they were merely a nuisance and nothing to worry about, so the Adventurer's didn't, other than to immediately remove what nuisances showed up.

The Eagles left that evening to get their head start home to Akiba. Log Horizon left the next morning after being commandeered by Nakalnad again to give the closing ceremonies speech, of sorts, with all the hands of friendship handshakes and reassurances. Shiroe properly said his thanks to the city for hosting the event as well, in behalf of the Adventurers of Akiba. Ninetails Dominion offered to host the next one in the spring.

There was talk that they might all have to take the long trip to the cold north come summer, as that was the only time of year that it would be pleasant all the way around to take the trip. Shiroe figured he'd better warn William ahead of time that the expectation had been set all unwittingly. At least with four cities and four seasons, it was a workable plan, even if somehow confusingly organic in its coming together.

They arrived two evenings later in Akiba, happy to be returning home. They had to clean out the Kallikantzaros that had decided be a nuisance there, and clean up the messes, but otherwise things seemed to be in sufficient repair. The final set of People of the Land in town had left on their own with one night of unprotected irritation that had reminded them they'd been warned things were going to be difficult over the Ides of Winter. That made Shiroe remember to check that his guild had sufficient food supplies and other things they needed for the long siege, and remind the other guildmasters of the resistance against Theldesia's AIs as well.

The evening after settling back into Akiba, they held the usual guild meeting in Shiroe's office. "Michael." He was still cool towards the Commander.

"Yes?" The reply was just as cool.

"Take the Eagles out for a two to three day food gathering stint. We're a bit shy to make it as long as I expect us to have to go."

"Yes, Sir."

"Touya, are you going to continue to keep the restaurant open?"

"Yes, Shiroe-kei."

"Please give your order for food necessities to the Eagles before they leave so you have something available. I'll let you handle payment now that you've had your economics lessons."

"Yes, sir." Shiroe was sure there was a bit of a sigh there, but Touya could use the practical practice of understanding loans and post-paid contracts.

"Minori." He tried to soften it since he was talking to a teen girl.

"Yes, Shiroe-sensei?"

"Please see that a frame of reference for meal menus is put together for the guild. I'd like you to spend a little time each week checking inventory to make sure we stay in proper supply. We'll need to stay on top of harvesting for ourselves for a while. When the Eagles leave, we'll want a long window that we'll immediately begin supplementing over the top of. We may have to hold out until the battle for Time is completed, though I truly hope we won't have to keep the People of the Land out of the city that long. If we don't, we'll be able to send most of it with the Eagles for the ocean trip. Oh, yes, when harvesting, please remember Michael that you'll be taking the trip down to Australia in the middle of it all somewhere. We'll work out exactly when later, once we understand where things stand from here." Michael gave a nod that he'd heard.

Food handled, Shiroe turned to the next thing on his to-do list. "It's a bit concerning we haven't heard yet on the shrine destruction quest. I hope we'll hear something soon on that one. I would have thought to have wind of the potential champion by now, but there's still nothing." He sighed and moved on. "Izanagi, no minors. No children involved at all. That's anyone under the age of eighteen when they were brought here. Just because they are the equivalent of eighteen now doesn't mean they are candidates. If the time differential is still one year is one month on Earth, they are still minors on Earth. Have you heard me?" He glared at Nyanta, who was still mostly oracle for Izanagi, particularly at these meetings. Nyanta's head tipped positively to at least that question. Shiroe would still show up at the Academy and watch to make sure. Marielle should be getting the list of known minors to him tomorrow.

"Hey, Shiroe."

Shiroe switched it from a personal chat to a conference chat and held up his finger to his lips. Everyone got it as he said, "Hey, Tetorō. How's it going at the shrine?"

"Fine. Slow, dull, boring, as usual. The news tonight is that Yuudai and Majiyo entered the higher room of meeting at dusk and are in their vigils to become what they always wanted to be." He was quite sarcastic about it, actually. "They'll be fine, I suspect, since they've got stars in their eyes about it all anyway. I expect Priest Jared to kick them out no longer than two days after that, and he'd breathe easier if they left tomorrow. They will want a day to prepare at least, though. Mise is sitting in meditation in the other shrine to decide if she'll go with them or stay. I think she'll go. I'll let you know tomorrow night what their full plans are. They're waiting until after the vigil to firm those plans since they might get some direction."

Tetorō took a breath. "Purrcy's been moved up from basic lessons to intermediate ones, she says. Apparently that means getting to walk all over the world instead of just here on Yamato. Sometimes I look at Purrcy-cat and even _her_ eyes are spiraling in the dizzying attempt to comprehend that much in scope and size. Hopefully that will get better over time, but it means I've got even more free time on my hands." He sighed. "So, I'm putting myself to lessons and getting ready to be the only Hacker defense of Log Horizon. That's actually busy enough, surprisingly. I've been noodling on Purrcy's suggestion I get to work here on my Master's thesis so I can just write it up at home when we get there. I'm working up how to do that as I do the other research and how I can get it all to fit together with getting the return path back here to open up from Earth. That's been a more pleasant diversion as it's something I can sink my teeth into."

There was finally the long pause, then, "That's it, I guess."

"Sounds good. Congratulate Yuudai and Majiyo for me and the rest of us. Good luck with your research goals. We're back in Akiba and picking things back up. I was just going through my list of things to do. I wonder if I haven't heard anything about the shrine sub-quest because they've been waiting for Yuudai's sub-quest to complete first. It would make sense as I've heard complete silence on that front until now."

"Maybe," Tetorō agreed. Others in the room nodded agreement that it made sense.

"I'll be contacting William later to see if he's heard anything from the Giants since he sent them out on their initial quest. I haven't heard from him, but I thought I'd touch bases again since we're back here. Everyone wants him to host the summer Adventurer festival, so I need to tell him about that, too." He kept going until Tetorō, bored yet again, excused himself. Shiroe had managed to get through most of his to-do list in that time, though, so it wasn't a waste of time on either end. Shiroe did pause then to see if anyone had been withholding comments, but it didn't seem like it as no one filled the space. "Right then, I'm done," Shiroe said.

Isuzu raised her hand. "I'll leave in the morning after breakfast to get back on the road. I'll keep in touch, but there isn't a set time to return by, is there?"

"No. But if you can hold out until we're done with the pressure, you might appreciate that, I'd think," Shiroe said a bit gloomily. She looked like she agreed.

-:-:-:-:-

Three days, and an annoying number of Kallikantzaros later, the Eagles reappeared at the Log Horizon guild hall with their food harvest...and four People of the Land. Shiroe met with them in the outer common area of the guild hall. "Hello? I'm Shiroe of Log Horizon. How may I help you?" he asked the young blond noble. He was looking a bit worse for the wear, but was surprisingly alive. The same could be said of his men.

The young man bowed. "Archmage Shiroe, I am Neville Gifford. Duke Sergiad told me I should find you here in Akiba, pass along his message, and beg a boon. I'm afraid I've been quite delayed by monsters of various sorts, particularly a very annoying kind that I've not seen before."

"Those are part of the special event going on right now. I'm sorry you've had to deal with them. That should be over in another week."

Neville slumped a bit. "They've already delayed me by about that much, but I suppose quests aren't given to be easy, are they?"

"A quest?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow. He settled back in his chair to listen as Neville sat a little more upright in his to tell his story. From leaving Maihama, he'd indeed had rather circuitous travel, hampered by the various monsters - mostly the Kallikantaros. It seemed just a little odd, that he had been delayed the proper amount for the Adventurers to return, and then had been rescued by the very people who could take him directly to Shiroe.

When the story was done, Shiroe resisted the urge to rub the bridge of his nose, forcing himself to sit still and proper. He was supposed to be the Archmage in this situation. The person who could aid the questor along his way. He just wasn't sure exactly how much to help. It seemed like, from the Duke's message, that he would appreciate a round-about simple solution for the young man, but it wasn't really quite that simple. He finally said, "We have a member of our guild who traveled to see the Loumė. Let me see if he will come speak with you." Neville perked up at that. His men looked a little more resigned. They'd done well to protect him until now, and it looked like he might have picked up a few more levels on his own as well. It was at least some level of useful experience.

"Nyanta-san," Shiroe asked via chat. "We have a guest who is asking about what it is like to travel to visit the Loumė. Are you willing to come and tell him about your experience?"

"On my way."

Shiroe was a bit surprised, but also somewhat relieved that Izanagi was willing to participate in this quest of Neville's. It would give Shiroe some direction of how much help to give as well. "He's on his way, if you'll be patient for a moment, please." Neville was quite willing.

When Nyanta arrived, Shiroe explained, "Mister Neville was chosen to become the betrothed of Princess Raynessia. However, she is concerned about the peace of Eastal and Maihama. As a sign of Mister Neville proving he has sufficient humility to not turn against his new family, she has requested that he take on a quest to visit the Loumė and return to Maihama with whatever favor they may bestow on him. Duke Sergiad has requested that we help him to whatever degree seems best. If you could please tell him about what it was like when you visited with them, perhaps that will help him understand how to face them."

Nyanta sat gracefully down on the couch and faced Neville. "I was taken there by the Caretaker, who had already established a positive relationship with them. She suggested I remain in full cat form the entire time as they are quite unkind to males of any kind. She was my protection as well. I don't think that is the hardest part for you however." Neville's face had fallen slightly at the beginning. Now it fell quite a bit further.

"You must enter the Forest of Eternal Sleep and find the Fifth Naiad Princess, Telentiel Polloupit in her pool at the end of a stream. A kind and humble request will grant you peaceful access to the forest. You must then climb to the top of the trees and cross over them to the center tree, which is the Yamato Tree of Life. I highly recommend returning from the pool to the outer edge of the forest as those are the shortest trees to climb. The Yamato Tree of Life is so tall as to be unimaginable, but you can cross the forest from the edge to it at a gradual climb and it's much simpler."

They grey felinoid gentleman was talking very calmly, but Neville was now sweating and his men were looking rather nervous. "When you reach the last ring of trees around the Yamato Tree of Life, the gap is not crossable. You must wait for one of the creatures who lives in the tree to come to you, and you must convince them to allow you to enter their city. They will then extend a branch of the Tree of Life to your branch. They aren't patient about it, however. Cross quickly as it shrinks behind your heels. With two of us walking on each other's heels there was still barely time. The fall will kill you before you hit the ground." Neville swallowed.

"You then climb to the bowery that is as large as our own Akiba Guild Hall or larger, and enter at their invitation. They sit in the back at their looms. If you are able to win their favor, they will allow you to leave, but the remainder of the citizens make no promises. I would highly recommend you not delay your departure. The Caretaker threatened them most severely and yet still we slept at the very top of the tree to be as far from them as possible. I can't tell you how to get down. We flew. The branches are plenty large enough for a gryphon to land and collect you. I suppose there is a possibility you can get in via the same method if you are in a hurry, but I wouldn't know. It's just as likely to get them up in arms to protect against an invasion." He looked at Neville expectantly.

Neville took a deep breath. "Thank you very much, Mister Nyanta, for telling me these things. Is it even possible, and could I perchance...ask you to be my guide?"

"You're welcome. It is, I suppose, possible if you are determined to win out in the end and maintain strict humility at all times. And no. I will not go with you. I have other tasks that must be done here in Akiba."

"Oh. Well. I suppose that is understandable. Your help is still appreciated since it's far more than I knew before."

Nyanta tipped his head and rose, leaving the room again. Shiroe sighed to himself. He almost had to wonder of Izanami had played a hand in this to try to pry Izanagi out of Akiba for even a short while. "Will you still attempt it?" Shiroe asked Neville.

Neville's face was very sad. "Well...I'm afraid I haven't much choice at this point. I'm duty bound to at least attempt it."

Shiroe considered his options. "When you decide you have either succeeded, or must give up in failure, come and see me again before you return to Maihama. I would like to know of your progress, since Duke Sergiad has asked me to assist you, and Princess Raynessia is favored by the Adventurers." It would be good to see if he was at least learning the proper lessons.

Neville rose to his feet and bowed. "Thank you very much, Archmage Shiroe. I am grateful for your assistance."

One of the men at arms stepped forward. "Pardon me, Archmage. We have traveled long enough we were hoping to resupply when we arrived here. However we know there isn't as large a market as there was before this time. Is there a place to resupply here?"

"There are certainly potions and items in the various shops run by Adventurers," Shiroe answered. "However foodstuff will be difficult to come by." He rubbed his chin. "I do feel a bit bad that all we can offer is advice. Let me give you enough food for two weeks of travel. We will have to go and harvest again, but likely we would have anyway. ...Michael who is your food supply person? Can I requisition two weeks for four Persons of the Land from what you just collected to help Neville and his men on their way again?" Shiroe had switched to a chat since Michael hadn't stayed after introducing the guests, leaving a few of the guards instead. People of the Land weren't much of a threat to Adventurers.

"That's rather a lot to carry when they don't have a list, but I'll let him know to meet them outside the guild hall. They'll work it out. You'll want us to go out again, then, I take it?" Michael asked.

"I suspect to bring him back."

"Ah. Right. I understand." This time there was actually a little humor in Michael's voice to match Shiroe's wry comment. It was a bit odd to be playing the NPCs in this little quest and Shiroe wondered if William was feeling about the same for his quest with the Giants.

"You'll be met by one of my men outside. He'll help you provision with food," Shiroe said to Neville and rose to his feet. Naotsugu escorted the four men out the door and closed it behind them.

Shiroe sighed and rubbed his head, finally able to let it out in a slump. "I don't think he has anything to do with the shrine, but I wonder why Raynessia would have done it? Does she miss us so much she also wants to play at Adventuring?"

"Not likely," Naotsugu said. "More likely she wants to come back and get out of the engagement all together. While I don't think she's got it in her to kill, I do think she would try to wiggle out of that in whatever way she could find to do it."

"It's not likely she even fully understands the full difficulty of the quest she asked for, though it should have the intended result. I wonder where she came up with it from?" Shiroe mused as he returned to his office. Once he was there, he called, "Charlie. I need to set up a meeting with Duke Sergiad, please, at his earliest convenience."

"Yes, Sir," came from the air and Shiroe got back to work.

-:-:-:-:-

"Your Grace," a quiet voice said from Duke Sergiad's elbow. Since it was after he was done with the current task and before the next, he looked around. It was one of the paiges from the communication room, holding a communication globe.

"Yes?" Sergiad looked suspiciously at the globe.

"Archmage Shiroe has requested a meeting with you at your earliest convenience."

Sergiad relaxed a little. It had been rather a lot longer than he'd hoped and he was almost ready to give up to hopelessness. "Come with me," he ordered and turned to walk to a shaded bench in a small garden. He held out his hands for the globe, then ordered the paige to wait just outside of soft conversational ear-shot. "I'm ready," he said to the air around him after a short while when nothing else happened. The globe began to glow until the image of Shiroe was inside it. "Archmage. You're back, then?"

"Yes. I thought you might like to know that we've just sent Neville on. He is still alive as are three men at arms. Are any missing?"

Sergiad relaxed back against the bench. "No. That is a relief. It didn't occur to me until they were already underway that they'd left at a bad time."

"They were delayed appropriately and my men found him while out on a harvest. It seems to be following proper patterns. I assume it did at the beginning?"

Sergiad's face made a small grimace. "Yes, though I can't say I'm pleased at all. Raynessia said she was led to the library and to reading in order to understand why she wasn't yet beginning to flower, when by the ball she should have at least shown some interest. She is quite set on doing the full three quests, as well, though Neville hasn't been informed of that yet, and probably shouldn't be."

Shiroe slumped onto an elbow, resting his chin in his hand. "And you would like me to help with all three?"

"Well, perhaps enough to see he is pointed in the right direction at least. He really is the best of the lot, though there is a second potential waiting in the wings. I'm hoping to keep the full scale of the difficulty from him so he doesn't refuse if Neville fails." Sergiad sighed. "I suppose I should have considered this as a possibility. We haven't had the quest version for quite a number of generations, so it's no wonder she had to go looking. We don't talk about it since it's the least favored of the options. We keep hoping it will die out completely."

"I can imagine," Shiroe said. "You also fit the pattern as well, however. Nyanta-san was taken to visit the Loumė by Purrcy so was the perfect source to tell Neville what he needed to do to make it smooth - if not easy." Sergiad felt his eyes widen a bit and his breath caught briefly. He would never have thought to have had a quick and simple answer just because he'd thought of his alliance with Shiroe, though he wouldn't have minded a full and complete cheat - which had been his secret hope. "I've given him and his men two weeks of provisions of food, though they'll need to purchase any of their own items they need. I anticipate having to send out my men again to restock at about that point in time and expect they'll find him again to bring him back. I'll let you know when he leaves here again for Maihama."

"Thank you," Sergiad said. "I greatly appreciate the help."

"Do you think he could be the champion for the shrine quest?" Shiroe asked him.

Sergiad thought about it. "I don't think so. It doesn't seem likely anyway. Raynessia seems to believe that as each quest progresses she will awaken a little more until things are set properly for the betrothal to become official. I suppose we won't know that until he arrives again. I don't see anything from this side yet for the other."

Shiroe nodded thoughtfully. "I'll keep watching for it, then. Our young Adventurers who have been questing at the shrine have left to return to Akiba, so I am expecting to see something on that end any time now, so thought this could be a possibility. I'll not assume it just yet, though."

"Is Lady Purrcy still there?" Sergiad asked.

"She was here for the wedding, and we were able to see her briefly for Christmas. She is there, firmly ensconced again. Three months is the longest she was able to go before death, however. We expect to see her again in about two and a half months at her next resurrection. I'll let you know more firmly when we get there, but certainly within a month of her return should be about the right timing to let them make their attempt."

"Very well. We'll become a little more vocal and organized now. I look forward to hearing from you that the champion has finally made an appearance."

Shiroe gave a nod and the picture faded until the globe was dull and unlit again. Sergiad called the paige over and handed it back to him and dismissed him. He had a man looking into what quests might be asked for as the next two for Neville. Anything they could learn before Neville returned would be that much more time they had to plan a positive solution that would hopefully prevent his untimely death. Really, Raynessia was so difficult in such surprising ways.


	143. Round 1: Becoming the NPCs

The guildmaster of Haemlin's face was in its perpetual scowl, made darker because of who he was facing. "Must I really talk to you?" he complained bitterly.

Shiroe answered mildly. "Only briefly. I thought you might like to know what the final boss of the special was."

Haemlin's guildmaster rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Shiroe took that as permission to continue. "She's called Perchta, and sometimes by other names, and is a witch-goddess that rewards the hard working and takes the lazy and pulls out their entrails, replacing them with straw and rocks. Thus I suspect you can expect magic attacks, zombie-style resurrections of any Kallikantaros in the area and likely of your own men if she wants to, and other such attacks. Feel free to ask for back-up from anyone you're comfortable with. Michael, the leader of my fighters, tells me that the game play has changed to match the stats of the group that faces the dungeon or the like. If just you lot go after her, she should stay manageable. Call in reinforcements if that's not the case. Or die a lot and keep going," he added when the guildmaster decided to take offense that they wouldn't be able to handle it. "Your one bonus is that she won't be Overwritten, so you should get the real drops. Feel free to purify as you go. We don't want the specials coming back."

Shiroe tapped his finger on his cheek thoughtfully, then said. "I think that's it unless you have questions?" He got a deeper scowl for his troubles. "I'll take my offensive self off, then. Good luck." Shiroe stepped around the guildmaster and continued his walk to go and see Roderick. He'd happened to run into the Haemlin guildmaster by chance and it seemed a good time to get that passed on. "Ah!" He turned back around. "Tomorrow night, in case you've lost track of time. And we'd like you to mark the entrance to the World Tree in place and on a map for us when it's over." The guildmaster had frozen and now his fists clenched. Shiroe thought it wisdom to continue moving forward.

-:-:-:-:-

"What've you got there, Markle?" Tor asked.

Markle's look was sober and sad. He bent down to the small's fire and opened his hands. "Maybe you can do something for him? I heard him cry out with the same cry my father gave when my mother and last baby brother both died the same night. I had to go see who and what it was."

Small hands reached out and helped to lower the prone male body to the earth, though they weren't small for the man Markle had brought back with him. They wrapped him up in a blanket and put him close to the fire. "He's been fighting recently. Did you see any signs of other people?" Markle shook his head. "Maybe someone he was protecting died. He's Adventurer, but...he wouldn't grieve over another Adventurer. They resurrect. If he lost a Person of the Land, though..." Hugh and Pickle looked at each other, worried.

"We're on our way back to Susukino now anyway," Corbin said. "We'll take him with us. Maybe William knows him." They agreed to that plan.

Because Markle had found him, and felt sympathy for him, he was chosen to carry the injured man. He wasn't injured in body - that repaired as fast as any Adventurer would within the first four hours of sleeping. He was injured in mind. When he woke, they fed him. He'd stared at the food, then finally ate without much thought and handed the bowl back. Occasionally tears would drip from his eyes, but mostly he just stared at nothing until he fell asleep again.

The first time Markle picked him up while he was awake, though, they had to defend Markle and explain why he couldn't kill the Giant. When the man seemed to get the idea, Markle tried again and the man tried very hard to control his killing instincts. That did seem to get him to come out of his stupor of grief somewhat, though, and he asked to hear their story.

They told him as they walked, not having much better to do anyway and he sat rather in amazement when the story was done. "And...William of Silver Sword is the one that gave the quest?"

"Yes," Pickle answered. She was the other one Markle usually carried. They were sitting side by side on Markle's left shoulder so he could defend with his right arm if he needed to. "But...he seemed to say that he was just the one passing it along, not the originator of the quest."

"That sounds like idiot-Shiroe," their guest muttered under his breath. He looked off into space for a while after that. He was an odd bird, even without his grief on him heavily, Pickle decided. He was rough, obviously thought with his fists before his brain, and yet...someone dear to him had been taken from him.

She decided to go out on a limb. "Markle found you in the woods alone, but that he'd heard you cry out. Is it something we can help you with?"

The man gave her a dark look and the depression threatened to overwhelm him again. "No, but tell me where we're going?"

"To Susukino. We've finished the quest we were sent on and now we have to go back and report."

"That's good enough, then," he said and fell into his gloom. She wasn't fond of gloom, or depression, and she really didn't like grief, so she chatted with Markle instead, leaving the Adventurer to his darkness. Markle was more pleasant to talk to.

-:-:-:-:-

"So, I'm relieved to report that so far Izanagi seems to have laid off the useage of minors in his experiment for now." Shiroe was in the middle of giving a report to the resistance against the Inari - Izanagi and Izanami - who had brought the Adventurers all unwilling to Theldesia and into the game world of _Elder Tales_. "I'm sure he's working on an alternative we still won't like, but at least that horrible one is on hold. I've asked Roderick to have the researcher hold off on further growth potion experiments until the threat is over, though, since it looks like the children are going to get the usual hormonal changes we all get hit with at that time. Sadly, I suspect that's an effect of all of us turning into the natural Adventurer regardless. He's probably timed them to be at the same time for just this reason, but they are still somewhat separate."

There were shakes of the head and clicks of the tongue. "If anything it's more reason to work harder on getting us home sooner," Roderick said sadly. "Though I'm in agreement with Miss Purrcy that we need to have the children properly grown before we go back so they don't have maturity issues."

"If only three months have passed, we'll have gone the wrong way," Akaneya argued.

"Well...that's true," Roderick had to agree.

"That's why postponing it isn't bad," Shiroe nodded. "We do need to think of what to do, in the off chance when it gets really bad that he starts that back up again."

"Can we just include them in the plans the women are making?" Rieze asked.

There was a pause, then, "If you're willing to add them," Woodstock said humbly.

Rieze waved a hand. "Sure. We should watch over them, too. It will still be just the girls we take with us, though."

"Have you been considering the gender transfers?" Shiroe asked quietly.

Rieze nodded, a slight frown on her face. "We are. They'll have to choose, though, and we're about settled on it being a different solution. Maybe we could take the boys out of the city and send them with...maybe." She sighed. "It's so difficult sometimes."

Shiroe could relate.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō looked up in surprise. Gareth was standing in front of him, actually in the shrine with Tetorō, dressed appropriately for his station in the shrine as a deacon in a black kimono with some slight black embroidery. He was rather sober at the moment. "Welcome," Tetorō said calmly as he recovered from the surprise. "What brings you to the winter of the Mountain." The other shrine maidens were all in doubled and tripled kimonos, though his layers weren't so thick since Adventurers didn't feel the cold quite so badly.

"I've been sent for lessons," Gareth answered.

Tetorō frowned. "You know you won't learn any more than what we were taught before in this place."

"Will Priest Jared let me be taught over there?" Gareth asked.

Tetorō leaned back. "It's that serious an order is it?" Gareth nodded. Tetorō thought about it, then shook his head. "He might, but he might leave things out. He just got done with Majiyo and Yuudai and was glad to see them gone. Misa was over at the other shrine, though, and said he was patient enough. Now that he's taught one of us, he might find it easier to teach another one. It's the shrine of Inari-no-Sarutahiko and his name is Sasuke. Since you're already a deacon he might let you stay at the shrine itself instead of in the guest house. I'd imagine _that's_ quite cold this time of year."

Gareth stared at Tetorō for a moment. Tetorō stared back, keeping his female avatar's face impassive. Finally Gareth bowed. "Thank you." He disappeared. So, Gareth really had spirit realm walked himself over. It was somewhat impressive, really, to be doing that as a deacon when only the priests should be able to.

-:-:-:-:-

"William, the Giants are returning," his lookout on the city wall called in to report.

"On my way," William said and rose to head out the door, adding his warm coat to his gear as he went. It was already well into winter now and the snow was piling up. He reached the top of the wall a few minutes before the Giants arrived at the gate. He waved and called up to them, but before they could answer, a person had jumped down from the shoulder of one of them and in a few bursts of disappearing and reappearing, landed on the wall next to him.

"William."

"Demikas? What are you doing with the Giants?"

"They picked me up two days ago. What's the fastest way to get to Akiba from here?"

"Ah...," William was very confused. He was sure he'd seen Demikas in town yesterday. "Well, if you can wait for me to wrap up the sub-quest for these guys, their next quest will get you there if you really want to go down there. It's likely the fastest way from here if you haven't got a gryphon or the like." Demikas shook his head. "Right then. Give me a bit to wrap this up and then you can decide." Demikas folded his arms and looked like he'd give William thirty seconds. William didn't really care. Demikas was always like that. He turned back to the Giants. "Corbin, what were your results?"

Corbin told him everything they had done, retelling it for the second time that day, only with a few more details since William needed to know them, and handed over the thing they'd been sent to find on top of all that. William took it, inspected it, and nodded. He held up a long silver pin that in the fingers of the Giant looked very small. Once he held it up to look at it, though, it expanded until it was about as long as his palm was wide. He turned it over, then undid a clasp and pinned it on his shirt. "What's it for?" he asked as he looked at the two hands clasping where he'd pinned it on.

"Say, 'Big to Small, Friend to All'," William instructed.

Corbin did so, then suddenly was shrinking. Hugh tumbled off his shoulder about two-thirds of the way through the shrinking, but he turned in the air and landed on his feet okay. When Corbin reached the size of a man, he stopped shrinking. He blinked in surprise and looked up the now very tall wall. William leaned over it as did Demikas. "And that's what it does," William said. "You say it in the reverse: 'Small to Big, Friend to All', to grow back to your normal size. Sorry it doesn't rhyme for the reverse, but we couldn't think of anything that fit and rhymed with 'big'. The point is that you'll be able to more easily trade and do business with the smalls this way. I'm afraid I've only got one. I'm sure it would have been more helpful to have had several so you could all get into the cities, but it will have to do."

"Interesting," Corbin said, looking at the pin again. "So...where do we go from here?"

"You can do whatever you want, really. There's go back to Sharpcliff and get to work to earn enough gold and social credits to be able to start the city you want to build. There's go home and pick up a few more to come help you work. There's wander around and play a bit now that you have a new toy. Whatever. The only thing I know of that's next is the Adventurers of Akiba want to hire you to protect their ocean ships when they travel between here and there and wherever else from the sea monsters. You're allowed to keep whatever is edible or saleable from any sea creature you kill. That was part of their offer. They have a few other things they'd like your village to do as well, but that's theirs to negotiate with you."

"If you decide to do that next, go to Sharpcliff and wait for the Ocypete. I'll call down there and let them know you're waiting and they'll send it up. Take the ship to Akiba and ask for Michitaka. He's guildmaster of Marine Organization and in charge of the shipping lines as well as manufacturing. The chest and cask building company in Sharpcliff is his. You can negotiate with him your contract of pay for labor. Demikas here says if you take that path, he wants to go with you." William pointed with his thumb at Deimkas. "He's got someone else in Akiba he needs to talk to apparently."

Corbin considered it. "Well, we'll have to conference, I guess. I'll let you know if we need you to call down to Akiba. ...Umm...will they accept us in that city, too?"

"They're the ones that gave me the quest to give to you. I would think so, at some level. Probably not everyone knows, but you've got Demikas with you. He knows a few of the higher level Adventurers there and can get them to calm people down until you're integrated to the same degree you've been everywhere else so far."

"Not so sure that's very much," Tor grumbled.

"Better than me," Demikas looked up at him to say. "I've been living here in this city the whole time since the catastrophe and I'm still not really welcome."

"Isn't that your own fault?" William looked at him. "What reason do you have for going to Akiba?"

Demikas looked away from him. "None of your business."

"Like that," William pointed out to him. "You're so closed mouthed about it all."

"Yeah, and you'll keep your own trap shut if you know what's good for you," Demikas growled at him and leaped over the wall to run back to the Giants. He stood next to Hugh as Corbin went back to Giant sized and when he reached down for Hugh, Demikas joined them. William shook his head and sighed. Whatever Demikas did, he did grumpy every time, even if he was having fun. He leaned on the wall while the group discussed what they were going to do. He wasn't too surprised when Tor offered to go back up to the Giant's city to see if he could recruit more Giants to come down to work at the city and both Markle and Corbin decided to go get started on building the city, first by going to Akiba to negotiate the work contract. Tor took off walking for the north as Corbin turned to the wall and William.

"Bring me up," William said. "Or just give me a ramp and I'll run up."

Corbin put his hand on the wall and William ran up his arm, jumping and leaping easily to catch his upper arm sleeve and pulling himself up quickly with the limber speed of any elf. When he got to the Giant's ear, he said, "Bring back whomever you can to help us fight. You've got the time you need to get the contracts signed and get back here to meet the army Tor is bringing back with him. He's been traitor from the beginning. You don't have to believe me, but your goddess told me in a vision last night. He's headed to the king to tell him what you've done and vilify you both."

"Try to think of what you can say to free your fellow Giants who don't want to come fight us but would rather, like you, live peaceably in order to just live. They will follow you instead of fight us if you can win their hearts. Perhaps the Adventurers of Akiba will be able to bestow on you other gifts that will help you in that next battle you'll face. I know that I personally would rather see the Giants live than die out altogether. We can die but we can also come back time after time after time until every Giant lies dead on the field. Please do your best for your countrymen, and good luck on the ocean and in Akiba."

Corbin sighed a great windstorm and gave William his hand to stand on. When he was looking at the Giant eye to eye, Corbin said, "Yes, I've known it, I just hoped he'd see the benefit of living peacefully together. Maybe yet he'll see his way to understanding, and I will hope we can find other things that will help us win the hearts of the other Giants, even in Akiba. Thank you for your help. If you'll please let Michitaka know we're coming and to send the Ocypete, that would be very helpful. For all they were willing to talk to us in Sharpcliff, they are also uncomfortable still. They won't like us sitting outside their city for very long."

"I understand," William said. Corbin put his hand on the wall again, palm up this time, and William lept lightly off and back onto the wall. He waved as the Giants turned and headed south again. "Michitaka. William. Send the Ocypete up to Sharpcliff. Two Giants, one Adventurer, and two Persons of the Land to pick up, please. They're ready to negotiate their work contract. ...Thanks."

He sighed and turned to the north, but Tor was already out of sight. "We've got about a week, folks, and then we can expect to see battle somewhere near here with the Giants, for what will likely be the last time. The migration is about to begin." His man on watch at the wall gave him a pat on the shoulder as William passed him. They all understood by now that such a pronouncement made him very sad indeed.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas greatly appreciated that Giant strides cut travel time down by about half. "And you're really okay with carrying us?" he asked

He about got shrugged off. "You're not weightless, but you're not heavy either. The stone we mine is heavier and I've had to carry lots of that around. To go at your pace is too slow."

"Well, true enough," Demikas had to agree.

"You don't mind traveling with us?" Corbin asked. It sounded like he still wasn't sure Demikas wasn't still hating or afraid.

Demikas took his turn to shrug. "Why not? We Adventurers may have to fight the monsters and creatures of the land most of the time, but almost as often we ally with them on quests and the like. We go with the flow pretty well. Each challenge or quest is a little different and we're used to them being mixed up in a bucket. I'd rather not have to find you've taken me home to eat me, though. The betrayals at the end are hard to swallow. If this isn't one of those quests, I'm good."

"Yeah...," Corbin said slowly. "Those would be hard."

Demikas patted his neck. "You'll be okay. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders and if William says there are enough that want to live in peace, you'll have enough to start a city when it's over. Sometimes we have to clean out to start new. Happens with most societies. Try to move on and those who can't have to be left behind and the apron strings cut. Societies grow just like children, only slower. Peacefully living with other races and species is growing up for all societies. Only then can peace be really understood and lived."

He paused and looked out over where they were going. "I don't know if you'll have time, but if you can talk to Shiroe while you're in Akiba, he can likely give you an excellent lecture on how to live politically at peace with your neighbors. He's been trying to help the Adventurers do that since we came here. I'd like to do my talking to him first, though. He's got some questions to answer for me or I'll take him down, too."

"Couldn't you just call him?"

"I could, but he said these questions he won't answer unless I come meet with him face to face at his place. I wasn't going to go, but now I don't have a choice." He turned away, his face twisting. He swallowed, trying to breathe past the lump of grief that rose up again.

"Who did you lose?" Markle asked. "You sounded like my father when my mother and last brother died at his birth."

Demikas looked at Markle in surprise, then nodded. "My wife." _And daughter._ But he couldn't say that, not yet and probably not ever until people believed she was adopted.

"Was she a Person of the Land?" Hugh asked him in surprise.

"Yes," Demikas' voice caught and he turned away, not wanting to talk about it further. They respected that and let him be for a while, moving the topic of conversation to other things.

-:-:-:-:vi-

"Shiroe, we need to get out and hit things again. I know it's early, but is that okay?"

Shiroe's raised pen held still. He'd almost made a mis-mark in his surprise at the sudden contact from Michael. He took a deep, quiet breath. "If you're getting pushed to go he must be done early. Go ahead."

"See you in a few."

Shiroe took one more breath to calm down and set his pen to his document again. Time felt like it was moving fast, yet at the same time oh, so slow. It was irritating him and the short tempers around the guild house seemed to be part of the same. If the Eagles had marked it as time to take off, then the irritation wasn't just general. It was part of the push again. Shiroe pursed his lips and focused. It was the best way to pass the time and not yell at anyone.

-:-:-:-:-

"I got a call from William," Nakalnad said at the next meeting of the resistance. They were meeting about every other day now since things had started moving a little faster. They wanted to make sure important details weren't missed. "He's asking for reinforcements for the Giant war."

"He called me, too," Brody confirmed.

"I'll have to think about it," Shiroe said. "I'm not sure if any of us in Akiba should go, though I'll get fights from those not in the know if I refuse them now. We're not in official quarantine yet so they won't understand. We might be able to do it after, but I'm afraid of the fear that will spread to all three other cities, since there will have been mixing."

"It might not be all that bad to keep everyone tightly inside when it gets that bad, just in case it spreads," Nakalnad said, though it was dry.

"I'll think about it," Shiroe said again, firmly.

"You can send the volunteers up here to take the Ocypete up," Michitaka offered. "William called me, too, to send it up to pick up the Giants. It will have to take them back home. They can all go together. There's places to stay at the docks if we quarantine before then."

"And maybe you should tell them to go there anyway," Shiroe said in more of a mutter. He wasn't ready to make everyone stay inside yet. He smacked himself in the head suddenly. "We'll treat it like we did the winter festival. We're not at a month so people will wonder, but we could do the city wide innoculation without anyone really knowing. Then we can do a more public one at the docks or even on the Ocypete itself, explaining it's a precaution the same as before. They won't be able to get back off the ship when they get back until we do a follow-on under the excuse we don't want anything brought back in. We need to do one anyway, by how my guild is doing. How's everyone else's, particularly in the irritability?"

Looks passed around the group, then finally reluctant nods. Shiroe sighed a little unhappily. "All right. That will get our Adventurers up there, too, but I wouldn't be surprised if the two week necessary innoculations continue. Any opinions on if we quarantine at one week between, or wait for when they don't work any more at all?" That was discussed for a while since they didn't know when the sub-quests were going to be done, and they all needed to be able to move around until then, in and out of the city. It was finally tabled as pending and watch and the meeting moved on to other topics.

-:-:-:-:-

The Ocypete was rocking badly. Water sloshed up on the ship, then ran off it as it heaved the other way. Demikas was quite sure he didn't want to have to be on a ship ever again. It was large enough to hold the two Giants, but to have them both fighting against the sea monsters who were almost as big as they were made it feel like a raft with two wrestlers standing on it trying to throw the other off of it. The Adventurers would have helped, but they had to hold on to things just to not be thrown off. When the swords of the Giants finally finished off the sea monsters, the ship was so unsteady there wasn't much to be gained from them since it all slipped back into the sea.

As Corbin and Markle sat panting on the ship and it began to settle, Demikas rose to his feet and walked over to Corbin. "That didn't go so well," the young Giant said.

"No," Demikas agreed. "Fighting on this thing's going to be a lot different. When you've recovered a bit, let's do some balancing practice and the two of you need to learn to work in tandem instead of randomly. To train your people on land, get a big rock and build a sturdy platform to set on top of the rock. The trick is to keep it balanced while two stand on it together and swing their swords. You can have them practice facing off against each other first, but the goal is to eventually stand back to back and know what the other is doing by the feel of what's under your feet. Can you picture it, what it might look like to try and keep the platform balanced now that you've felt it unbalanced?" He let the two Giants work that out for a bit until they looked rested enough.

"Okay," as a Monk he didn't have a sword but he did have the hoe still in his inventory so he pulled that out. "You'll want to stand on opposite ends of the Ocypete and practice this kind of movement with your swords. You can't cut up the ship or the people on it, and you have to keep it as balanced as possible." He showed them what motion he wanted them to practice, swinging his hoe underhand to his left around and up and over to his right, back and up and around over hand on the right, then around the front to the left again. It was a smooth almost figure-eight motion from one side to the other and back, over and over again.

He kept at it until they nodded and rose to stand at opposite ends of the ship. "Come closer!" he called to them. "If you stand too far out on the ends, you'll pull the ship apart in the middle once the swings get going." They shuffled until they were more at the one third points. "Okay, that should be about right," he called. They looked at each other, then turned around, back to back. They were too close for their swords to work with each other and not cut the central command post and the paddlewheel into ribbons.

They worked on getting balance first, then drew their swords. "And, three, two, one, go!" Demikas gave them a count and they began, but they started one left and one right. "Whoa! Both to the left first, then you're counter and it will balance. Try that again. Three, two, one, go!"

"Hey, what are they doing?" Hugh had finally braved coming out on deck. Pickle was likely still inside being sick.

"I'm getting them some practice in balance and working as a team instead of just hack and slash as if they were still on land. Water's different." In about five minutes, they'd gotten the balance enough they were getting into the synchronized swinging. At fifteen, he decided they understood it well enough. "Okay, I'm going to add in the element of chaos. Learn how to feel what the other one's doing. Just flat blades, please. I'd like to make it to Akiba instead of having to resurrect back in Susukino."

He moved in front of Corbin and leaped up to attack on his right side. The Giant's blade came at him and turned just enough at the last minute to be a mostly-flat blade. He was definitely still young in the area of battle. His sword sang as the foot that Demikas was attacking with slammed into it. He pushed off the sword and flashed out then over to Corbin's left. The sword appeared there and this time it was a better flat blade. It rang more clearly from the punch.

"You have a lot of power for a small," Corbin said. "I can feel that to my elbow."

"I'm a high level Monk," he answered back, "used to fighting solo against five hill trolls at once."

Corbin raised an eyebrow as he blocked an attack from the hoe higher above. "That's pretty decent, even for us."

Demikas dropped and aimed for his lower left leg. Corbin had a harder time getting in a defensive blow that low. He sloshed the ship trying to get in and Markle gave a cry of concern and complaint. "That's what I was trying to do," Demikas said loudly to Markle. "You'll have to learn how to handle that kind of off-balancing while defending and fighting your own enemy at the same time. Learn to bend your knees and dance with the surface. Don't hold yourselves so stiffly. The body has to be like the waves, while your feet are firmly on the surface of the ship. Make it stay flat land while the rest of you moves." He worked with Corbin for about a half hour, then went to Markle's side and made them trade.

The next time sea monsters appeared, they did much better at not making every person on the ship ill, and the Adventurers were able to help. The sea monsters went down much faster that time. "Oh, that wasn't bad at all," Markle said happily.

"Keep practicing," Demikas said. "You're still very junior at this. When you can do it right, each of you with the number of Adventurers you have can take them down in thirty seconds or less, depending on size and number." They got to practice four more times on the trip down to Akiba, arriving less than a day after leaving Sharpcliff. The ship anchored off-shore outside the bay, though. The tide was flowing out and they had it rather heavily loaded what with two Giants on it. Everyone went to sleep to wait for the tide to change and to recover from the fights.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe, wake up, damn Sorcerer."

"Enchanter, Demikas. What's up?"

"We're in the port and the folks aren't willing to let the Giants out on our word alone. Get Michitaka up and out here so he can vouch for them. And I need to talk to you asap."

"You're actually here?" Shiroe was up and very awake.

"Yes." It was said very chill and dark. Shiroe pursed his lip and moved fast. For someone who hated him personally to come to talk meant something rather dire or extremely important. Given he knew what was coming for Demikas and his wife, he was going to assume the latter at the very least.

"Michitaka, the Ocypete's in port and your men want your eyes on the passengers and approval to let them off. I'll meet you there. I'm already on my way."

"Right. I'll be a bit behind you."

Shiroe looked at the two young Giants as he approached the dock. They rather filled either side of the ship, but they didn't sink it. He wondered how much cargo would have to be left behind each time just to keep the ship afloat when they came with. It would be better if they could travel one Giant at a time, but perhaps for this first meeting no one would have been comfortable coming alone.

"I think we'll have to revise the oceanliner design," Michitaka said, running up alongside Shiroe, since to level one hundred and above Adventurers running was just as easy as walking and they were in a hurry.

"I would agree with that, unless they're willing to go solo eventually. And those are small ones, likely only recently adult. If adults are going to come onboard we may have to limit it to one regardless."

"Hmm." They arrived at the dock and Michitaka waved off his people. "You can let them come ashore now," he said.

Demikas made it to Shiroe's side first as the ship sloshed. The Giants did come ashore one at a time and balanced it as best they could for having to get out. It was almost a toy boat to them. It couldn't have been a comfortable trip, really. As Michitaka introduced himself to them, Demikas bent Shiroe's ear. "You told me to come if I wanted the full answers. I want them and now. And I also want to know anything you know about a felinoid named Purrcy."

Shiroe stood stock still in shock and stared at Demikas. When Demikas' mouth opened again, Shiroe's hand stopped it. "Not here. My office only for that discussion, but I want to hear how the Giant's quest turned out first. I can see you're impatient, but please, there isn't anything I can do to speed up your own quest or answers. Have you had breakfast?"

"Not yet. We just pulled in."

Shiroe opened a guild chat. "Send in a guide for Demikas. Take him to the guild house and feed him and give him a bath. I need to talk to him in my office when I'm done at the dock." Airframes was already by his side. "Demikas, this is one of the fighters of my guild. Go with him and he'll see you get where you need to go."

Demikas looked the Eagle up and down. "Stick."

Airframes smiled. "If you think so, then all to my advantage."

Demikas gave him a one-sided smile that was more of a smirk. "When did you add might to your guild, Four-eyes?"

"We'll fill you in on that when we talk. You can have the rest of the guild start on that story before I get there, since it's one of the things you want to know about." Shiroe looked at Airframes. "Level one, start at the beginning. He's asked about Purrcy."

Airframes gave a nod. "Yessir. If you'll come with me, please." He turned and led Demikas off at a trot. Shiroe hoped the run got some of the impatience out of Demikas' system before he had to deal with him. Neither one of them was comfortable long in the other's presence.

Shiroe turned to Michitaka and the Giants and listened in on their conversation. He couldn't get away until the contract had been agreed on and he'd written it up for signing. When Corbin shrank to sign the agreement, they blinked in surprise, until Shiroe saw the pin. "Oh, is that what it does?" Corbin nodded. "Michitaka, did you make that pin for Purrcy? She's the one who had it sent to William."

Michitaka looked at it. "Yes, we did, as a matter of fact."

"Make one more for Markle so he can come into town, too. We don't have accommodations for Giants and I'd hate to make them sleep in the open when we'd love to share the enjoyment of the city with them."

Michitaka placed the order then and there and said, "Give them about a half hour and they'll send it out."

"Does it work to make smalls into Giants temporarily?" Pickle asked.

Michitaka blinked. "I would think so. Corbin, take it off and let her test it out."

Corbin stepped back and carefully removed it, when he stayed small, he was a little concerned. "Does that mean if I lose it, I'm stuck a small?"

"Maybe," Michitaka said calmly.

Corbin handed it over a little reluctantly. Pickle treated it with care, pinned it on, then said, "Small to big, friend to all." She grew until she was a Giantess. She blinked at Markle, then smiled at him. "Hello. It's rather fun to get to see you at your own size."

Markle was staring at her and he blushed at her words. "It's certainly different," he agreed. Pickle unpinned the pin and handed it back to Corbin who was almost shorter than it was now. "I'll keep Markle company for now. We can trade the pins around again when the second one gets here."

Corbin refused the pin, "Then you may as well keep it for now. It's not going to fit me in that size. Just don't lose it."

"Okay, I won't," Pickle said, carefully pinning it back on. She very carefully stepped over the buildings until she was sitting on the nearby hill. Markle followed her and sat next to her. "That is very hard, to not step on things, isn't it?" Pickled commented.

Shiroe smiled as he looked at Corbin. "That would be an interesting pairing, now, wouldn't it. How is Markle's sister doing?"

Corbin stared at him. "Pairing? Those two?" He looked back at them again, then thought harder. "Maybe, but I though Pickle was with you, Hugh?"

Hugh shook his head. "She's my cousin. We've been childhood friends a long time and she loves to adventure and play at all sorts of things. I just tag along to keep her out of trouble. She's been having lots of fun on our Giant quest." Hugh winked at the double entandre.

"And Markle's sister, how do you know about her?" Corbin returned to Shiroe's questions.

"Purrcy was the goddess that came to deliver the quest in the first place. She showed us what happened and who you were. The third Giant, did he come?"

"Tor, and he did participate in the first quest. He went to bring others down, but William said that he'd received a vision just before we arrived from finishing it that he'd be betraying us to the king." Corbin looked sad and somewhat determined. "William suggested we might find something to help us both turn those who don't really want to fight to our side and maybe help in the battle with those who won't turn away. ...You said your name is Shiroe?" Shiroe nodded. "Demikas said if there was time, I should talk to you to learn about how to run the city and keep it a peaceful place for everyone."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "Really? He's become part of the quest resolution itself?"

"Well...I'm not sure what you mean by that, but he did help train us in how to fight on the ship without unbalancing it or capsizing it. We got really good at fighting the sea monsters with the Adventurers by the last set, though we only ever had two at a time."

"Hmm...how very interesting." Shiroe had to wonder now if Purrcy had sent Demikas down on purpose. "How did you come across Demikas? Did he join you in Susukino?"

"No," Corbin's face went sad and so did Hugh's. "Markle found him while he was out looking for food for us. He said he heard a great cry of grief of a man, like he'd heard his own father make when his mother and infant brother died shortly after he was born and he couldn't turn away from it. He searched through the woods until he found Demikas senseless on the ground and brought him to the rest of us. He recovered somewhat the second day and when we reached Susukino again he immediately asked William how he could get here. When we determined to come, he came with us specifically to talk to you, I think."

Shiroe felt the blood leave his face, though he tried to hold himself. "That's bad news, indeed," he said. "Thank you for taking care of him and helping him get down here. I think I've postponed talking to him long enough, then. I would like to talk to you later. If you can stay in town, tomorrow might be best."

"Thank you. I would appreciate the opportunity," Corbin said. "We shouldn't stay away too long, though."

"I understand," Shiroe said. "I'll think about what we can do and make some offers when we talk tomorrow." He took his leave at another run, though behind him he heard Hugh ask a passing dock hand who he really was.

"Shiroe? Oh, he's one of the Round Table. I guess most People of the Land know him as Archmage Shiroe, though."

" _Archmage!_ " both young men cried at the same time, though as quietly as they could. Shiroe gave a wry smile. That title did seem to have that effect on everyone. He really wasn't sure why, though. It wasn't like he'd talked to everyone in every village they'd passed through on their journeys as the Debauchery Tea Party and most of the dungeons they'd conquored had been out of the way places...though...it was true one of them had been the Giant's Mines. Perhaps they still talked about it around the fire at night up there.

He sighed. Somehow his past kept coming back to haunt him. He might have played an important part, but he certainly hadn't been the only part and without everyone else his efforts would have been completely useless. Didn't any of the other members of the Debauchery Tea Party have international recognition...or even national recognition? He'd have to start asking around.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe entered his guild hall. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Demikas," he strode past him and towards his office. "Come on in." Demikas followed after him with equally long strides, closing the door behind him with a firm click.

Shiroe immediately turned around. " _When_ are you from?" he asked.

Demikas stopped full stop and blinked. "That's out of left field."

"No, you've already been feeling it I'm sure after the stories. You're outside your normal flow of time, is my guess. Tell me your story and I'll know where to fit you in." He waved at the chairs, but remained standing for now.

Demikas had paced enough already so flopped down into one of the single chairs and put his hands over his face. "You called me in the middle of the night to tell me four kittens had been born but one was missing. It would be my daughter, already growing in Anna's womb. I'd been watching her and she'd been more tired than normal, so I really was waiting for your call to go. I got up and packed and we left right away. Three days later it was storming and we needed a place to stay."

"I'd asked her that first night to pray to her gods that we find a safe place to stay and she prayed again in that storm and Purrcy showed up, claiming she'd been living for the last three years in a place she'd created outside of normal space. Anna thought that would be safe enough for us and convinced Purrcy to let us stay there. She agreed to allow us to stay for the ten years you suggested we should hide for, but we had to promise to never step outside the boundaries or we'd be lost to each other." Demikas shivered. "Emiline was born less than eight months later, healthy and happy, with Purrcy's help as midwife. She disappeared that night, and we've been living there since - about four years."

"Less than a week ago, we had a set of monsters appear inside, which had never happened before, though sometimes other creatures would wander across the barrier and I'd have to deal with them. I told them to hide in the house and went out to deal with the monsters. I chased off the little ones from the garden. Took out a few more at the shed, and two more appeared behind the house, as tall as the house. I had to fight them back from it and they didn't die until we'd reached the boundary. I'd noticed we were that close to it too late. The last one caught my foot and pulled me out and I've lost them now."

He was shivering now and his hands dropped from his face to hold his arms instead and his face was drawn with pain and grief. Shiroe slumped in sympathy. "How do I get back to them, Shiroe? Are they even still alive? The final boss was swinging his hammer down on the house as I was pulled out. The last thing I saw was their deaths hanging over them and me unable to go to their rescue." He turned a desperate look of pleading to Shiroe. "Please, tell me I can go back and rescue them, that they aren't dead."

Shiroe stepped over to Demikas and put his hand on the grieving man's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Demikas, that you've such a painful thing to worry about. But...I can give you a possible solution, and I can tell you that so far it sounds very Purrcy-ish. Meaning you will probably be able to get back to save them just in time and finish out your years with them." He pressed on Demikas' shoulder until the other man was able to take a deep breath and nod that he was listening. Shiroe moved to the couch and sat down to think it through and make sure he had what was likely the right answer.

"Purrcy is currently the High Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami and at the shrine on Mount Fuji. It is before your time. You've come into the past."

"No wonder William looked at me so funny. I hope he kept his mouth shut about seeing me that one time, then."

"I hope so as well," Shiroe said. "It was good you were only there briefly and didn't go into the city." He leaned back and folded his arms. "Did my guild explain this level to you, why she and your wife are pregnant?"

"Not so much," Demikas said slowly. "And I didn't want to talk about it openly either."

Shiroe nodded and explained that part briefly. Demikas scowled but it didn't phase him very much. Things like that didn't usually. "That's what I was was going to tell you about so you'd understand. As for moving forward...," Shiroe leaned forward to rest an elbow on his crossed leg, "Inari-no-Izanami is the Game Bot from _Elder Tales_. It loves the quests and even more the sub-quests and all the plot twists and turns. You've been pulled out, likely on purpose, to help with several of the sub-quests going on right now. If you play out your own personal quest, I wouldn't be surprised if you, in the process, do more than you've already done with the Giants." Demikas stared at him with an open mouth.

"We've got an underground resistance going and another important quest alongside this level of initial testing of procreation, and a few other things. If you will wait here in Akiba, I've been getting hints from one of my intelligence sources we should be having another surprise arrival to Akiba shortly, and that one's goal is also the shrines. His feet are also being directed by Izanami, from what they're telling me. Let's see if your joint goal to get to Mount Fuji is one that you can help with as well. I'll give you the clues you need to get in touch with him once we know what he's here for and if it meshes."

"When you get to the shrine, make sure you get in to see the Oracle first, so you can get your question answered by her. She's the only one that can tell you how to get back to your wife, because she's the only one who knows why you're not there now. I have a guess, but for the quest to work right, that's what you need to do. When you have your answer, you can ask anyone from Log Horizon to give you aid, but you'll have to do most of the work yourself. We're support staff for the sub-quests this round. When you have your answer, if you have to get back up to Ezzo on your own power, come talk to me and I'll see you get there, or maybe by then I'll have enough information to know where to point you to next."

"How much longer, Shiroe," Demikas said in a hard voice.

Shiroe shook his head. "Take a deep breath Demikas. I know you left them in a dangerous situation that feels like a terrible cliffhanger, but they aren't even in that space yet, here. You're four years and some months in the past from that moment. If you have to live up to that time to get in, that's a long time. Purrcy herself is a mother and quite understanding. She won't let Izanami let them get hurt, but even more, Inari won't let anything touch them. They are part of the all-important sixth level experiments. Izanami wants you anxious so you don't delay, but you don't have to choose to have the ulcer. I promise you, they will live and you will see them again."

Demikas looked at Shiroe hard, then took a deep breath and sat back. "You don't lie, Shiroe. It's really hard to give up my fear, but if it really is as you say, it's better to walk with care through the dungeon quest than rush into things."

Shiroe nodded. "Treat it like most video game quests. The little notices urge you to be fast and don't delay but in reality nothing's going to happen until you get there, even if you take the time to go harvesting for three days worth of time first."

Demikas took another breath. "Right. I never listened to those prompts. They were too restrictive."

"Indeed," Shiroe agreed. He sat back up, resting his hands in his lap. "Michitaka is having another friendship pin made to be given to the second Giant. That party will be coming into town to stay the night so I can talk to Corbin tomorrow. You can stay here and meet up with them tomorrow morning, you can stay with them tonight wherever they choose, or you can wander Akiba and enjoy the flavors of the town, listening to words you hear along the way. Just like any quest, any of these will give you different results, but will likely put you closer to one degree or another to completing your personal quest."

"I'll keep in touch with you whichever you choose, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know before you leave town so I know how to place you in the scheme of things. Since you're here, you'll touch on a lot of things I've got going right now and I'd like to not have any surprises...this is our most difficult level yet and things could go bad really quickly. They're trying to make it impossible for me to have the two way door. Please don't jeopardize that."

Demikas blinked then shook his head. "I may stay here, but I don't want to get in the way of that."

"Then talk to me. Let me know what you've decided to do. I won't stand in your way, but if you're going to kill my goal, I'll let you know right away."

"Okay. I can do that," Demikas agreed. "I think, me being me, I'll go into town and talk and listen. If I get really bored I'll hunt down the Giant party again and hang out with them. They're nice enough folk."

"They may end up staying in the Person of the Land row. Ask around for it, or ask Rudy to take you by there and point it out. That's his area of watch. You'll want one of them to show you where the center of town is anyway, most likely. Did you ever make it down here when we were at home?"

"Once or twice, but I get how three-D real life is different," Demikas wasn't interested in getting lost and wasting time wandering around. "I'll take the guide back to downtown, then let my feet and ears be my guide from there."

"Sounds good," Shiroe rose to his feet.

Demikas rose to his as well. "Thanks for feeding me."

"We're glad to help," Shiroe said sincerely and held out his hand. Demikas took it. "Good luck." They shook and released hands, a surprising act to Shiroe. Four years had changed Demikas enough he wanted the promise.

"Thank you. I'll call on you all I want, because I can't fail on this quest."

Shiroe gave a nod. "I can well imagine not, and Inari is likely counting on exactly that. Do your best. It might be the one small thing you do that launches us into the solution we're seeking as well."

Demikas sighed. "Reluctant allies again, I guess, then." He smirked at Shiroe, who gave a crooked smile back. Demikas did feel miles better, though. It had been the right choice to seek out Shiroe first. The know-it-all still knew enough to keep everything in the air and flowing smoothly.

"Why did Purrcy stay with us as long as she did, if she's really busy?" he stopped to ask as his hand reached for the doorknob.

"You were in a space-time zone. Likely when you come out after ten years, only a few months will have passed in this timeline, though you'll be in our future then. Contact me as soon as you come out. I'd like to meet Anna and Emiline. Also, she would have stayed as Izanami to make sure the birthing went right and to see the results of the initial part of the test. They were testing to see if it was even possible for a Person of the Land to mate with an Adventurer, give live birth to another one, and what the resulting physical form did when it received a full Adventurer spirit. The current running test is to see if nurture makes a difference, and they'll want to know other things as well. They are likely keeping tabs on all of you, but mostly Emiline to monitor her growth and development."

"Will they let her die after ten years, like they killed the kittens?" Demikas was worried suddenly.

Shiroe paused. "If we're all sent home, she will. Her soul will have to go back to Earth as well. That's complex and I have no idea how they'll handle that. If we're kept here with no recourse or choice, likely she'll continue to be your daughter and you and she will both outlive Anna, though death will surely come to all of us eventually because that's the point of the experiments to begin with. If we can have the two way door...I don't know. That's a point in the future that's still very hazy - even to Inari until these experiments are done. Enjoy the time you do have and don't worry about it too much, is my suggestion. Will she die the moment you walk out of that space-time? No. I don't think you need to worry about that."

Demikas hadn't liked all that stuff that was most of what Shiroe had said, but the simple ending was what he wanted to hear. He nodded. "And Demikas...they really are fine. Everything will be okay. Purrcy is watching over all of us as we do our best each day. If you're worried, talk to her and she'll help you, too."

"Talk to her?" Demikas didn't understand.

"If she lived with you, she's been watching you all this time and will hear you talk to her." Shiroe said soberly.

"Right. I don't pray to anyone or talk to ghosts," he said.

"She came when you did before. Don't forget it," Shiroe insisted.

"Fine," Demikas said. "I'll call on her when Log Horizon can't help me enough."

Shiroe's eyes lifted just a little. "You do that. We are. It keeps us standing some days, just that little bit of effort."

Demikas sighed. "You're all insane, ...but then I'm getting that way myself most days." He looked to see if there was more, and this time there wasn't. He walked out of the room. "Who's Rudy?" A blond-haired youth raised his hand. "You're coming with me for a bit as my tour-guide."

Demikas headed towards the door and out to look for the next set of clues to tell him where he was going next and how and what tools he would need to get there best. Even he was a player who understood how the game play went and played it well. He just preferred to be antisocial more than the rest.

He _was_ glad he wouldn't have to worry about facing himself suddenly in the middle of the city. His current self was still up in Ezzo, completely clueless about what was going on, and he intended to keep it that way. Every Adventurer knew if you messed with time too much, things got crazy and you ended up erasing yourself. He had no intentions of doing that at all.


	144. Shrine Sub-Quest Champion

Shiroe was suddenly too busy. And that was with delegating. Rather a large number of sub-quests suddenly needed handling, and he still only had rumors and whispers from his information network that the champion in the shrine sub-quest was finally on the move. He'd heard a noble son of a house from Ninetails Dominion had shown up at the court of Saimiya in Westlande and struck up what he must have thought were negotiations and friendly relations, all while trying to (underneath) get people to agree with him that the new Oracle at the shrine was dangerous. He'd gotten their attention, he hadn't so much gotten their loyalty or friendship not being well versed in how smoothly lords agreed without committing anything just to get one to give away more than one should. He _had_ said the words his agents had been listening for, though, with his dislike of the shrine and its occupant. Since then, he'd rather disappeared. Still, it was the first clue and Shiroe was waiting for the next one.

Before that, though, he had another sub-quest to deal with he'd rather not be since he'd hoped he'd delegated it properly. When Isaac walked in and glared at him, just as Shiroe was opening his mouth to begin said meeting, he finally realized he really _was_ supposed to be delegating this part, as well. Shiroe sighed. "I'm sorry, Isaac. I forgot you guys did this for me once already. I'll let you have it if you want it. I'm already almost a mess trying to keep things together since they've exploded all at once."

Isaac folded his arms. " _Thank_ you. Get out."

Shiroe looked at his magically shortened Giant guests apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm suddenly in high demand and this conversation is one Isaac and a few others can handle just as well as I can. Please forgive me. If you'll let me know when the political lesson is done, Isaac, I do have some things to help them on their way" Isaac gave a nod and Shiroe scuttled back to his room, pausing to close the door completely until Isaac had his students in hand and the lesson begun.

Shiroe suddenly wished for Akatsuki's lap and fingers on his forehead so he could meditate for just long enough to get it all put into order again. He looked around the room, but she wasn't there. She usually wasn't these days - at least not where he could see her. He was suspicious that she'd finally learned to really hide in his shadow. She'd appeared rather suddenly at Christmas, and before that too, when Purrcy had been there before the wedding and Ains had attacked him. Shiroe paused at his desk, resting his fingers on it a bit, allowing himself just one moment to feel the sorrowful self-pity of missing Akatsuki by his side. Then he moved to sit in his chair and put all the pieces into place again.

"Isaac's got the Giants, and Michitaka, too," he muttered to himself. His brow was furrowed and his chin in his hand. "The city heads are handling the weight of that one. I just need to pass on the items and maybe some advice and encouragement. Demikas won't play into that again until the end of this third." He paused, but that seemed to wrap that one up. Oh, not quite. "Marielle, can I have you handle the delegation of the inoculation of the city today, and the ship in the morning before they cast off? You don't have to do it all yourself, I just need to not have to think about that one."

"Sure. You doing okay, Hon?"

"Putting things together. If you've got that one, I'm good for now."

"Sure thing!" The connection closed.

Shiroe leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling, not really seeing it. The rest of his pose didn't change much. "Eagles should have Neville here...this afternoon, I'd say. I want to keep tabs on that and it's short, each visit, I suspect. Between us we can keep the ball bouncing, I'd think." He mused on it for a bit. "If I _do_ have to delegate it...it's tempting to use Crusty or Marie. We'll wait and see, I guess, how deep we have to get into it."

His finger started tapping his cheek. "Shrine. That's Eagles, too, but with my direction, and we can't begin until the champion arrives. Unless we get to pull him in like Neville?" He wasn't sure where to go with that.

Shiroe considered a little longer, then made the chat, though he'd rather not have. "Michael, have you got him yet?"

"Yes, we'll be there in a few hours."

"I rather thought you might. It would save me if you could tell me the summary now. Then I'll be set already from here when he arrives."

"Failure, but his men agree he gave it a good try. He bumbled the meeting with the naiad, so they got attacked in the trees, but they did somehow manage to make it up into them. They got stopped cold at the Tree of Life. None of the creatures in the tree could be convinced to let them in. He was quite in tears and they said he nearly threw himself over the edge, but they talked him into coming back to talk to you, since you'd said to come win or fail."

"Right, then. Did it sound like he caved humbly or like they dragged him back?"

Michael considered, then said, "It was likely a little of both. He's been plenty polite and apologetic with us."

"Can you give him a humility test on the way back?"

"Ahh...probably?"

"Thanks. I'll just need the thumbs up or down when you walk in the door."

"Okay."

Shiroe let the connection drop after a brief, "Thank you." He already had the quest prize. If it was the thumbs up, he'd pass it on with words something to the effect of, "You worked hard and admitted humbly it was insurmountable and were willing to return to me as I asked, even though it was a failure. You've been tested sufficiently. Here is your favor from the Laumė."

He suddenly remembered. "Oh, yes, Michael, when you get back, or on your way in, be sure you perform the plague clearing. It wasn't just in our guild."

"Gotcha."

"And I've got so many irons in the fire I'd rather your men _not_ go on the Giant's quest. They won't be too disappointed, will they?"

"They'd miss it, but it's okay. Once you can tell me the split we might send a few up that way if they need us."

"There's Adventurers going from all three cities down here, but I can't say. It's a sub-quest. You know how that goes - the least expected source wins the day."

Michael gave a little laugh. "That's true. Well, when we get in we'll see how things stand."

"Might have to wait another day, but I'm trying to get it put together now. Things sped up after you left."

"Leave and miss all the action. Never fails," Michael sighed in mock frustration.

"Not much. It's all just starting up and you're bringing some of it back again. See you this afternoon."

"See you."

By the time the Giants left, Neville had been given the headband and gone on his way, and dinner had finally come and gone, Shiroe was in desperate need of sleep. He cancelled the evening meeting with Crusty and fell on his couch and was asleep before Michael could check in with him on the final sum of his thinking that afternoon. Michael did just whatever he wanted.

-:-:-:-:-

A week after Gareth arrived back on the mountain, the warm spot of silence was back. Tetorō looked up. "How are lessons going?"

"Fine," Gareth answered.

"Are you going to formally go for priest or just hide your skills?" Tetorō asked.

"The latter," Gareth sat down and Tetorō scowled slightly at the self-invitation. "What? You're not busy. Come fly with me. I need to stretch."

"I _am_ busy. I'm working on my own assignments," Tetorō answered back. "I've got to be able to defend Log Horizon solo against Ains and his Hackers when the lot of you are gone."

Gareth was silent, then he stood again and bowed stiffly. He disappeared and Tetorō returned to his research.

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy was suddenly grabbed by the upper arm and dragged into a dark corner. He swallowed and opened a silent conference chat with his guild. It happened regularly, really, in this part of town, for all most people who frequented it knew him by now. Even with the request for People of the Land to leave Akiba, there was still a contingent that wouldn't leave. He'd at least managed to get all the women to go, except the few who were paid for their services. They'd be paid well, he expected, and then pay dearly.

Early on his assailants learned to hold his hands down so he couldn't raise his finger to open the status screen and select the person he wanted to talk to (usually Isuzu or Naotsugu). Having learned to talk to each other without having to use the screen had been a relief. Being able to use conference chats on top of that was even better. A lot of the time the person who wanted to talk to him and use him as bait or as a hostage had a lot of good things to say that Shiroe actually should hear for himself.

He came back here to the Person of the Land backstreet to take care of them, yes, and to get information from and to his informants, but also just for this purpose. They still, for some reason, believed that just because he got labeled an Adventurer, he didn't have the qualities of one. Once he had his information, he usually disabused them of their faulty thinking and went on. Occasionally he had to be rescued because it was another Adventurer capturing him where they thought they could get away without being seen. This time, as he turned to look at who had dragged him away, he realized it was going to be different.

"Where is she!? You have to take me to her!" It was hissed and angry, like normal, but it was also desperate and not what most people would have said. Normally it was, "Come quietly," or some such.

"Eldest Brother?" Rudy was having trouble. He kept blinking to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He knew just that much would be enough to get everyone in the guild paying attention. "Who? Who do you want to see?"

"The Oracle," was hissed back at him.

"The Oracle is in the shrine on the Sacred Mountain. You'll have to pilgrimage there if you want to speak with her." The grip on his arm tightened and the dark, almost mad look in his brother's eyes frightened him for just a moment. "What happened?" he asked, desperate to distract any attempted physical injury.

His brother shoved him away as he was released. "Only a cursing I've been on a quest to remove. Of course she wouldn't be here. That's the curse as well. ...But how am I supposed to get there from here?" It was a cry made to himself, as lost as he looked.

"Have you even rested yet? Let me take you to an inn," Rudy almost begged. He would have run from his brother in the past, but ...he'd come a long way, a very long way, and he was kin...and likely he _did_ need to see the Oracle. "I'll pay for a meal for you and a bed. Tell me why you're here over food and maybe I can point you where to go next. The Ox Tail is a good quiet place with decent food and comfortable enough beds that caters to People of the Land. It's this way." He held out a hand hopeful his brother would just comply and not argue, but when he did Rudy was even more concerned. He looked lost, dead, mad, as if almost not a human anymore. "Are you really cursed?" he chanced the question because he really was wanting one of the Hackers to check.

"She's the one who said it, isn't she? She's the one that did it!" his brother's voice rose in both volume and pitch as he demanded an unspoken answer as if asking the world to explain the unfairness of it. Rudy just looked at him. He was glared at until his brother collapsed in on himself again, hunching and muttering, "No. It's me that's done it to myself. Me that needs to seek absolution. It's all my fault." Rudy grabbed his arm to keep him moving, almost sorry he'd asked now.

He'd seen madness in the streets of Akiba. The Adventurers had been mad the first half year. When he'd passed through Minami he hadn't stayed because the madness had been even worse there in those first three months. He'd already been gone from the area of Nakasu when the catastrophe happened, on his way to Minami, but he was sure it had been just as full of madness and pain there as well. It pained him to see his brother in the same state of confusion and loss. He couldn't take it away from him, though. It was, as he said, his own fault. Rudy wasn't sure visiting the Oracle would help, but it wasn't his place to say so.

"How long have you been on the road, Berenshilde?" he asked just to keep the conversation flowing to some degree.

"I don't know. A long time." It was said with little emotion. "...So much has happened..." His brother looked around the street as if just coming to himself. He finally realized Rudy was escorting him and he glowered and shook off Rudy's hand. Rudy let him go, but stayed close enough to grab him again if necessary. "So where's this inn? I'm hungry." But Berenshilde just as immediately paled and swallowed. "You - you're sure the food's okay?"

Rudy raised an eyebrow wondering what lay behind that concern. "Yes. I've eaten there before."

"You'll eat with me, then." It was an order, but one that needed comfort in the company.

"Of course," Rudy answered calmly. He turned them towards the door, then waited patiently for the two casually dressed Eagles who were ahead of them to enter first, ignoring them except to be polite as if to other passers by on the street. He escorted his brother in and took him to a table that was near those two, but not with them, and he made sure Berenshilde was seated with his back to the door. He would recognize any of the main members of the guild and if they wanted to come sit Rudy didn't want his brother spooked. "We'll have the meal with wine, please," he told the waitress. "And we'll need a single room for Berenshilde when we're done." The waitress acknowledged the orders, bowed, and took herself off.

His brother looked around the room. "I guess it's good enough. Solid walls and people present. We'll hope the bedding is as you say as well." The judgmental eyes suddenly fastened on Rudy and they were enraged again as they had been at the first, "But then, you're the one who received the blessing. _My_ blessing, and I had to take _your_ cursing." His brother leaned over the table, his eyes narrowed. "Come home. Come home and see it set straight." It was a temptation to his death.

Rudy shook his head. "I can't yet. I have obligations here."

The snarl was back now again, too. "Yes. On your leash held by the Archmage, owned by an _Adventurer_." Rudy held his tongue. The despise of noble People of the Land for the Adventurers had never been hidden by the senior members of the Code family.

Rudy was now a double outcast being both a Sorcerer and an Adventurer. His blessing by the Oracle had been a harsh blow to them and it still made Rudy sad, though he was determined to give his all to being able to be a decent, if not a good, lord to the people of the Ninetails Dominion when it was time to go and claim that blessing. He wasn't sure but that at times it would feel like a cursing to him as well. His times at Maihama and watching Guildmaster Shiroe were teaching him that the person who sat in the seat of power and who believed in the proper performance of their duties had to sacrifice a lot personally, and deal with people who tended to give them headaches. And those were the good points most days.

The food and drink arrived. His brother carefully waited for Rudy to begin eating before cautiously starting to eat his own food. "There's no poison here, Eldest Brother," he said calmly. "Please eat and be filled. I'm sure your journey hasn't been easy." He was being calm in his voice because he'd learned that was the best way to deal with the mad and unstable mind. "I would like to hear about it." They ate quietly for a while.

Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki entered while they were and sat at a table at the far side where his brother wouldn't see them. Because of the type of chat he'd opened, the other members of his guild who had come could be anywhere in the room and hear the conversation at his own table without it being heard the entire room over. He was grateful that Shiroe had taken the time out of his busy schedule to come himself, though it did rather underscore that he was owned by a high level Adventurer.

-:-:-:-:-

As the food began to fill his belly and he began to warm and relax from the wine, Berenshilde began to tell his story. It began with a simple, surprising revelation. He'd gone with a group of fighters to put down some monsters that were attacking one of the outlying farms, as they did on an almost daily basis. Something had happened, a mistake, an enemy not seen, it didn't matter. He'd been sliced and it was a mortal blow. As he lay waiting for the blood to finish leaving his body and his death to come...it didn't. He'd been picked up by the men who did survive the fight and carried in a stretcher back to their father's manor and laid in his bed for a week, after which time he'd healed perfectly fine and was on his feet again as if nothing had happened. It was a little disturbing, but sometimes people did survive difficult injuries.

Then he'd been attacked by bandits - some of their own no doubt for his own pride and refusal to pay something though he didn't say - and they'd slit his throat and tossed him into the woods to disappear. He hadn't. Instead, two days later he'd walked out of the woods with a red stripe on his throat and dried blood on his clothing. He'd gone straight to his bed and refused to come out until that mark was gone. That started the rumors, though, since those bandits knew he wasn't supposed to be walking. He'd killed them to keep their tongues still and as payback.

Things continued in this vein until irrefutable proof and word reached their father's ears and he was called into the main office. He'd confessed that he apparently couldn't die and recounted all the events in their details. Their father had sat and thought on the issue three days, then called him back into the office. "It is a cursing because you raised your hand against the Oracle. You were given a stay of the death penalty, but you are still paying the price. Take twenty men and your man at arms, find the Oracle, beg forgiveness, and pay whatever penance she requires at your hand. She was with the Archmage who lives in Akiba. Go there first. Your brother says she was summoned by the Archmage though, so you may still have to go to the sacred mountain." So he'd been obedient to his father, called his most faithful armsmen and his man at arms, and they'd left on the quest of absolution on the most auspicious day they could.

It had begun as most travels through the Ninetails Dominion - harsh with many battles. It was impossible to keep from his men that he would heal regardless of how deep or terrible his wounds were. Often he was the one who received the worst damage and his men began to work with him to teach him how to defend better. His wounds were making their travel slow since they had to wait for him to recover. Once he had learned to better defend himself they traveled more quickly and eventually reached the House of Saimiya, where he introduced himself as the first son of the Marquis Code of Ninetails Dominion. They welcomed him with the honorable welcome due a son of a peer and housed his men and fed them and reprovisioned them. There he found friends and allies for House Code and he sent a letter from there to their father with the news before leaving to continue on towards the northeast and Akiba.

They were two nights out when his name was called from behind him as he sat near the fire at the edge of the group. He turned and was grabbed, put to sleep, and carried off to a place even he didn't know. He was tied and a hood was on his head to prevent him from seeing. Magics were used on him and he was required to answer all the questions put to him, even if he didn't want to answer them. It came out he couldn't die and they experimented on him - several times - but each time he would wake again until the time finally came that his own men found the place he was hidden away and rescued him. He still didn't know who had done it or why, but he could only suspect House Saimiya, which made him sad since they had seemed like they would make such good allies.

They traveled for four more days over the mountains and into the deeper parts of them, headed onward towards Akiba, now following the rising sun, when they began to run out of food and places to get any more, having moved out of the area of most farms. They were able to find some animals to capture and butcher, though. One one of their hunts, they flushed out a fox with one black ear, a dark omen. When two swordsmen got their swords tangled and the only boar they'd found all day got away, the men begged him to give chase to the ill-omened fox. They didn't need additional cursings on top of the cursings he already carried with him. He'd reluctantly agreed, though thought perhaps the pelt would be nice or maybe a possible offering to the Oracle, and they'd given chase to the fox.

They'd finally flushed it out and encircled it in a clearing. He'd dealt the death blow with a prayer that all the cursings and dark omens that fox brought with it be cleared and instead it had turned into a young girl with fox ears and tail before leaving this life and disappearing. They'd stood there stunned and that had been their undoing. They were immediately attacked by an entire army of fox-tails, surrounded and closed in until they all lay on the ground. When he was passed by, his wound being mortal - again - he dragged himself into the woods that surrounded the clearing and lay there for three days until he could rise again. His man at arms had found him on the second day, but was also wounded and couldn't carry him, so they stayed hidden there, watching the foxes cross the clearing on a regular basis. Rather than be rid of a cursing for killing the ill-omen fox, they'd given up what blessing they could have had in being taken in by the village of fox-tails and fed for a time.

Starving and weak, they finally made their careful way from that place onward toward Akiba. Two mornings later they stumbled on a farm. It was full of weeds instead of grain in the fields. The plow lay idle and the horse had broken out of the barn and run away, or they would have used it themselves. They were overjoyed to find a set of vegetables in the kitchen garden and they picked them and ate, believing there was no occupant because even that garden was full of weeds and unwatered since the last rain. As his man at arms pulled up a bucket of water from the well to bring in, Berenshilde opened the back door to the house, thinking they could rest there a day from their travels. Inside on the kitchen floor he found a man, dead several weeks of no external wounds. It was disturbing, but with no one else in the house, they removed him, gave him a short burial, and made themselves at home temporarily.

The next morning they'd woken up with cramps and pains in their bellies that turned into runs by mid-day. Two days later, his man at arms had looked at him with eyes that demanded to know why he would die but his master would live, then had disappeared in death. It was only then that he thought to wonder why the man who had died in this house still had a body to be found and buried. Full of fear, he paid a penance to the undead whose house they had stolen, and fled even though he was still so sick and full of pain himself. He was relieved when by the next evening he was beginning to feel better and even more relieved that the farther he went the better he felt - other than being hungry again because he had no food.

He reached the farms that were outside Akiba, and the farmers were kind and gave him food when he asked, though he ran out of coin quickly enough that by this time, when he'd finally arrived in Akiba, he was without means to purchase food or obtain reasonable housing. He'd slept the night before on the street, after finding through word of mouth where to go to be with People of the Land and where he might find his youngest brother to ask after the Oracle.

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy chanced a glance at the table of his guild members. Shiroe was sitting up ramrod straight in shock. Even the others were tense. He slumped. Berenshilde had killed Nureha. Even if Purrcy were willing to forgive him for being prideful, she might not be able to forgive that. He glanced over again and Shiroe was on a private chat with someone else. Rudy sighed. It was probably directly to Purrcy or at least to either Michael or Tetorō to confirm the death.

"Eldest Brother, that has been a sad tale indeed and a most difficult journey to reach here. I'm sorry the Oracle isn't here. You'll have to decide if you'll take the rest of the journey by yourself. Akiba is an Adventurer city. Any of them will accept quests and requests if you have something they value to give in return. Sometimes merely a new experience or place to go they haven't gone before is enough. But please be warned. None of them will go with you if you show them pride and if you're haughty. You are like a horse to them: useful as long as you're willing to be useful. If they decide they don't like you in the middle of the journey many will leave you where you stand to finish it yourself without them. They don't need you, even if they do like what you've offered to them. You very definitely need them, in their eyes - even if you can't die. They can't either so that won't impress them. Nor will it scare them, so in that respect they are probably your better choice if you want to hire companions to go with you. Sometimes there are People of the Land looking to be hired, but they are rare and often duplicitous and evil. I wouldn't encourage you to hire them if you're already feeling like a cursed man, particularly since you're trying to approach the Oracle."

Berenshilde was not giving him a good look. Rudy sighed. He knew he was trying to convince the wall, even for all the lessons his eldest brother had already had. Shadows fell over the table and they both looked up. "Sorry to overhear that last bit," one of the disguised Eagles said, "but were you looking to hire? We've got time and are looking for something new to do."

Rudy's brother looked at them with wide eyes then glared at Rudy. Softly in Rudy's ear came, "Get them hired." Rudy would try, but that wasn't as easy done as said.

"Is that part of your _blessing_ that people show up when you need them?"

"That depends on if you want to believe it is," Rudy answered back morbidly. "Have I protected you this long in being with you to feed you and pay for a good night's sleep? It isn't mine to say. You have to decide that. But I can tell you that your chances of bringing further cursings on yourself are extremely high while you're here in Akiba."

"Cursings, is it?" the second Eagle asked. "Are you on a quest to remove cursing?"

Berenshilde scowled. "Yes. I need to arrive at the Sacred Mountain shrine and I'd prefer it be without an empty belly and within the next few months rather than year."

"Well...we've experience with those kinds of quests, so aren't afraid of them, but you'll have to decide."

He was suspicious next. "And what do you want for it?"

"What have you got?"

He fished, then finally said, "My father could pay you when you return me safely home."

"Which is where?"

"Ninetails Dominion."

"That's a long ways. That'd be rather expensive, particularly with no pay upfront to cover supplies." The two looked at each other. One rubbed a chin and the other a head.

Rudy sighed. "If you'll hire them and all three of you sign a contract that they won't deal falsely with you nor you with them, then I'll cover enough for initial supplies, but I haven't got enough coin to cover all the way home."

Berenshilde stared at Rudy, then narrowed his eyes. Finally he said to the two Eagles, "I'd like to try on my own first. Will you come back tomorrow morning and I'll see if I've found anyone else to join us, too."

They shrugged. "We could, but we'll not wait much longer than that. We like to keep on the move."

Rudy shook his head. "I don't know if I'll be out again tomorrow." He looked at the Eagles. "You know my guild?" They nodded. "If he agrees to it, come find me there and I'll get you the initial coin and the contract. I'll be confirming that it's still registered in the Guild Hall by mid-day or the coin will return to me." He looked at his brother. "If you don't hire them, I'm not paying anything, because I can't trust that the people who you hire willy-nilly aren't going to just stab you in the back tomorrow night and abscond with the coin to leave you to crawl to the mountain on your own again. I want to know that I'm helping my _brother_ , not some bandits and thieves."

His brother worried his lip, then finally nodded. "I'll be here in the morning. Come by and I'll let you know my decision," he said to the two. They nodded and took themselves out of the inn. Shiroe's group had left while they were distracted by the conversation.

Rudy sighed one more time and called for the waitress. He paid her for the two meals, the wine, a bath for Berenshilde, and the bed, then rose to his feet. "I wish you the best results, Eldest Brother. Please try not to die so much on this next leg, and enjoy being an Adventurer for the short time you have left until the curse is lifted. It has it's perks, too." His brother was looking at him like he was the one mad now. "You made it here, didn't you? And had many adventures on the way." He smiled softly, then left, hoping his brother would survive the night and actually get to use the bed purchased for him.

It wouldn't surprise him to find out he'd spent the night in a back alley some distance away, his blood draining from his neck again just so he couldn't meet up with his two escorts. ...Except his two escorts were now going to be four or six and they'd make sure he made it on time and whole...and without anyone Shiroe deemed untrustworthy with the news that the Oracle was an Adventurer. Rudy sincerely hoped his oldest brother hadn't told anyone in town that bit of news yet or he was going to get even more bad luck than he could comprehend.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was stunned. Even still. Inari had actually killed the Adventurers who had been turned into People of the Land. Not directly, but certainly had orchestrated it. He'd always been thinking that the psyche that was going to be put into Purrcy and Nyanta's children was going to be Theldesia psyche. That wasn't it at all. Inari wanted to know what Earth psyche would do when the Adventurers were finally allowed to really join the rest of the creatures of the land and become mortal. He wasn't sure how he'd not seen that. He'd been so blind to so many parts of this level of the dungeon he was stunned at himself. Were his own weaknesses and lack of understanding so blinding? Whatever it was, he'd been completely unable to handle having anyone in the office with him.

He'd been trying so hard to keep every Adventurer alive, to get them all home, and now he'd been shown the gods of this world really didn't care. He guessed he'd thought they did, though again, he didn't know why he thought that. It was quite obvious they didn't - only cared about their own agenda. He closed his eyes, then suddenly put his hands to his face and rubbed it hard. His brain wouldn't restart. It was stuck on "stunned" - full stop. Michael had looked at Purrcy's monitoring lines for him and had corroborated it. Both the Plague Master and Nureha were dead. He couldn't get past that. He'd tried - remembering that Li Gan said that the psyche would join with the anima again. Tried to calculate the different ways that could happen. Tried to move forward, but he'd find himself at full stop again for an indeterminate amount of time as he tried to wrap his brain around the enormity of it all.

Tetorō had reported that the first children had been born empty shells. That psyche had been put into it after the birth with no positive results, though none had really been expected. Shiroe knew Purrcy had tried with Indicus and it hadn't worked. Shiroe had assumed that Inari had tried with Theldesian psyche, and maybe they had, but now he knew...they had tried with the Plague Master as well. He had died nearly the same time that Purrcy had been giving birth. His informants had narrowed it down and it fit. Shiroe also understood now how he could have known to tell the future Demikas that they were "missing" one. He hadn't understood that when Demikas had told him, but he'd suspended thinking about it since he didn't really want to change his future or Demikas'. Nureha and Indicus were both possibilities to becoming Emiline. He wouldn't know the full answer until the children were born, like everyone else. Shiroe put his elbows on his desk and gripped his hair with his hands. He had to go full stop again. He just wasn't capable of walking any further than that.

There was a knock on his office door. He looked up as the door opened. He was still at "full stop" enough that he couldn't protest when Isaac and Crusty walked in the door, closed it behind them, and walked over to him. They picked him up, one on either side under his arms, and carried him over to the couch and sat him down on it. Akatsuki handed him a tea cup and he wondered where she'd come from. She handed one to each of the other guildmasters, who'd sat down across from him, then disappeared again. Now he was "all stop" and "highly confused". He set his teacup down on the table in front of him, not even sure what to do with that.

"I told you, call us in when you need strength," Isaac scolded him mildly, setting his teacup back on its saucer.

"I think you've been hit with something as big as a god?" Crusty asked calmly, pushing up his square glasses. Shiroe blinked. He supposed he had.

"Sooo...what did you learn?" Isaac asked.

With two sets of eyes staring him down, two tanks of high level, his mouth opened and it blurted out on its own. "That they've killed two Adventurers and are trying to learn if they can be reborn."

He got blinks back. "...That is rather large, isn't it?" Crusty allowed.

Isaac restarted and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Adventurers? Wasn't it supposed to be just Theldesian psyche?"

"Indicus was already a potential on the list. They added Nureha and the Plague Master."

Isaac sat back with wide eyes, then put his hand to his forehead. Crusty nodded sagely as if he'd known all along, though Shiroe was sure he hadn't. "How long before the rest of us get involved?"

"I'm expecting Demikas and his wife next. It's an Adventurer to Person of the Land pairing. I think we have the current experiment to finish out, though. Then it's anyone's guess when. After that...I don't know. They've not held to promises very well to date, as you well know. ...I don't _think_ they'll just kill us off randomly and wildly. Those three were special cases that Purrcy created earlier."

"Remind me. What holds them back?" Crusty asked calmly.

"The anger of the Adventurers as a whole. They don't want another World Fraction created by emotions like the First one with the Ruquinjé. I'm their moderator when it comes to understanding how to walk the path to get what they want on both sides." He blinked to hear that come out of his mouth.

"...And you're stuck? Or surprised?"

"Yes." It was both after all.

They finally looked at each other. Crusty sat back with a sigh and crossed one leg over the other knee. "Surely you've already considered both issues, knowing they were coming?"

"Yes, but I didn't consider they'd actually experiment with Adventurer psyche first thing...if ever."

"Experiment, eh?" Isaac mused, tapping his finger on his lap. "So it's not a done deal yet."

"No, but I don't like Izanagi's impatience and where it's likely to lead."

"Can you control what's going to hit the fan?" Crusty asked.

"I don't know."

"It's too big," Crusty said back.

"Yes." Crusty nodded his own agreement.

"Is that why they're going to distract us with letting us fight them directly?" Isaac asked.

"Maybe." Shiroe wrinkled his brow. "I'm afraid of that too," he admitted to them.

Crusty nodded. "You should be. Everyone should be. Only a very few understand what we'll really be facing."

"You do?" Shiroe asked him.

Crusty wouldn't look at him. Shiroe slumped. Crusty had been tended to by Purrcy at the shine. He had to have learned something of it there, particularly since he'd been called up by Purrcy herself. "Are you going to survive that?" he asked Crusty softly.

Crusty looked up at him in surprise, then gave a wry, death's grin. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. It's going to be the worst hell we've ever experienced."

Shiroe looked away now. He really wanted to say, _Maybe_ , since he'd already been walking in that hell for a year plus, but it would feel like it to everyone else. They sat in silence a while, his guests sipping their tea. With nothing better to do, he picked up his own tea cup and sipped from it also. It was a simple, calming action. He set his cup on the saucer and held them in his lap. His leg was crossed over his knee and he wondered idly with a corner of his brain when that had happened. "I'll be glad to have it over, though," he said quietly.

"Indecision killing you? Not knowing which way the knife is going to fall?"

Shiroe considered it, then shook his head. "I know the end result. It's the tearing pain along the way. ...It's already been a long walk and we've got a long way to go still." He took a large breath and let it out, looking towards the wall behind Crusty and away from his desk that convicted him. "There's a light at the end of all tunnels, even the one's we're in right now. All my goals are being met at the same time, so it isn't like I can complain strenuously. I've just been blind-sided by things I didn't see and take into account." He looked down again. "Likely because I didn't want to...but I can't tell."

"Crises of identity," Isaac mocked lightly. Shiroe looked up at him without raising his head, but he wasn't being unkind.

"Something like that," Shiroe answered.

"But a lot bigger," Crusty understood. Shiroe nodded. Crusty put an arm across the back of the couch he was sitting on. "Yeah, been there, done that. Takes a while to come back out of it, too." He was also looking away now.

"Like a stern scolding from a fierce hahaue." Shiroe guessed.

Crusty looked back at him out of the corner of his eyes but didn't answer. Shiroe nodded anyway. He knew. He'd already had his. - And likely needed another one after this. He sat back in the couch and went back to contemplating his tea.

After another five minutes, Isaac set his teacup down on the table. "I'll let the two of you talk. You've both seen things I haven't, but call me again." He gave Shiroe another stern look. "You have to remember we're here, too. We don't want it all to explode either, but we get that there are things no one can carry alone. We want to carry you when you need it...so let us."

He glared until Shiroe nodded. "Thanks, Isaac, for coming. I remember." He paused, then delegated. "Call Demikas for me. See if his wife is pregnant yet and tell him to be expecting it now instead of me guessing. I can't give him a time frame, but I wish I could. Maybe he's made his choice on how to handle it by now and the warning will be better than the silence. Tell him I only broke my promise -" He deflated.

Isaac took it up firmly. "- Because I forced you to let me help handle it. I know. I'll handle it."

"Thanks." Isaac nodded and took himself out the door, closing it behind him with a soft click.

Shiroe and Crusty both let out soft sighs at the same time then exchanged small smiles. They didn't say anything, though, not until their teacups were empty. Then quietly Crusty told Shiroe what had happened to him on the surgery table in the shrine under the skilled hands and magic of Purrcy, who was now herself untitleable. Shiroe ached for the shy, unimposing woman who just wanted to escape - but then, he ached for the shy, retiring young man he used to be only a few short years ago. This place had taken them all and changed them so much he had to wonder in that corner of his heart he allowed the doubts to live in if it was even possible to go home now.

The doubts were important to keeping on track and on solid ground, even if he wouldn't listen to them when it was finally time to act. As he listened to Crusty, he also paid attention to them. He'd gotten too far off and it was time to seriously face the course corrections necessary to get them back there - get them back home where they belonged, even if this place thought it was going to keep them. That was one external requirement that he _could_ ignore. It wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to let it. It wasn't hubris and pride anymore. It was certainty. He sat up and talked with Crusty until the doubts in his heart believed him.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning, late after the guild breakfast meeting, a knock came at the guild house door. Rudy had been waiting for it and walked down from the second floor as Naotsugu answered it. "Yes?"

"We're looking for Rundelhaus of Log Horizon?"

Naotsugu looked over his shoulder. "Rudy? For you."

Rudy nodded, feeling a bit resigned and morbid. Shiroe had given him enough to cover for three, but the report from that morning had said his brother had gone ahead and hired more than that. He was sure they'd be silenced one way or the other, and by the sound of it not by the Eagles going along. Somehow, the gods were influencing his brother's life more than just by keeping him from dying. He reached the door and Naotsugu stepped back but stayed close. Rudy's eyes scanned the group and it was even worse. "Berenshilde," he sighed. "You've hired two of the worst ruffians you could have picked from the People of the Land and one of the most distrusted Adventurers in all Akiba. Are you sure you're happy with your selection?"

One of the disguised Eagles raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't he? We kept running into him last night. We weren't sure it was him the first time since he was upside down in a trash can, but it was when we pulled him out."

"Well...considering that everyone who came up here from Ninetails Dominion is dead so he has to start all over again on the hiring, I suppose we won't miss any of the three if they die, too, but I'm not paying for them, since I know who they are." He was completely ignoring the three he was talking about. There were another four who were coming along and Rudy didn't care. Shiroe knew them and hadn't commented on any of them, even his own, so Rudy was just doing as he pleased.

"Adventurers can't die," one said.

Rudy frowned at him. "So you say. You're going up the Sacred Mountain to the shrines the gods of this world live in. If they made the Adventurers deathless, they can make them die. Be careful how you approach them." He looked at the two he had an agreement with. "Are you sure you're still willing to go?"

They gave him grins. "It sounds interesting."

"Fine, here's the contract," he handed it over. They reviewed it and signed it, then handed it to Berenshilde. He signed it without reading it and Rudy wanted to hit him and yell at him, but instead he just took it back. Shiroe had just bought him and his curse was holding. There were lots of little details to that contract, but one was that he couldn't let anyone know that the Oracle was an Adventurer named Purrcy. Rudy signed it and it disappeared. He handed a sack of coins over to one of the Eagles, then washed his hands of his eldest brother as they walked back towards town to purchase supplies before leaving.

As the door closed behind him, Shiroe was waiting in the common room. "He signed it then?"

"Without even reading it, as expected," Rudy brushed his hair back negligently.

Shiroe nodded and began to turn away, then stopped. "You okay?" he asked kindly.

Rudy shrugged and said, "What's one going to do with a cursed bastard anyway?"

Naotsugu's warm hand landed on his shoulder and gave it a brief squeeze. "It's family, Rudy, even if they are nuts. You're a good man to take care of him the best you could."

Rudy looked up at him and gave a nod, but he wasn't so sure he had. It would have been kinder to kill him - but that wasn't possible. He could only return to the patio attached to his room and brood until Touya arrived to pull him out of his funk and distract him for the rest of the day.

He really did wish the best for Berenshilde, but there'd been no helping him from the beginning. The mother of both of the two oldest had been a pirate's daughter. His own mother had died while he was very young, but at least had been of noble blood with a history of Sorcerers in the line. The right to rule would have come to Rudy one way or the other in the end. That's the way this world worked. It's just no one outside the four men of Code knew it since the boys all looked like their father...except Purrcy the Adventurer who was the Oracle and Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami who knew everything...even that he was a Countess' son.


	145. Akatsuki's Gift

This time, though they didn't really like being small, Corbin and Markle returned to the Ocypete as smalls. They had appreciated the practice on the way down, but with the large number of Adventurers coming with them on the ship to go back north, it wasn't convenient to be Giants. They were just as likely to sink the ship just by stepping on it with those numbers. Plus, any sea monsters would be easier for that number of Adventurers to handle without the Giants capsizing the ship at the same time.

Pickle was thrilled to have them her size. It was easier to see Hugh's smile and easy-going manner as well. They'd spent the afternoon after their political lessons being given the tour of Akiba. That had made Pickle's day as well and she'd chatted happily as they went from shop to shop. Corbin and Markle hadn't bothered to buy anything since when they were Giants they'd barely be able to hold anything without smashing it anyway. Pickle had found something she really liked, but couldn't afford. Kind Markle had paid for it for her, making her blush furiously when she thought Markle wasn't looking.

Corbin pondered on that. He wasn't sure that pairing, that Shiroe had pointed out, was going to work out very well. He had to sigh, though. It would be just like a quest like this to make it work out, to be the example of what the Goddess wanted: full alliance and integration of the Giants and the smalls. When he found Michitaka at the docks as they were preparing to leave, he asked if he could speak with him privately, and ordered another of the pins to be a wedding gift for when it did finally happen. Michitaka patted him sympathetically on the shoulder, since he'd asked with a morose look he supposed, and promised he'd get one sent up. They both knew it would arrive just in time to be gifted if it was going to happen.

When it was handed to him two minutes after they'd set sail by an Adventurer who said he'd been asked to give it to him as he headed out of Marine Organization to join the ship Corbin froze, thanked him, and stuffed it deep in his pocket. Now he had to decide if it was for the wedding or because there was going to be something awful happen between now and then that Pickle would need it for. He slumped over the railing of the observation deck he was standing on as he had to pick the latter. That was the way quests worked. He wasn't looking forward to seeing that play out, but he'd regret it even more if he _didn't_ give it to Pickle early. He'd make sure he did. Right now, he just wanted to feel sorry for himself for just a half a minute.

In all the stories, champions never felt sorry for themselves. At least, that part wasn't told. Now that he was one, he knew better. They worried, were afraid, wished they'd never decided to start in the beginning, had self-doubt (a lot of it) and a host of other things that no one wanted to know so weren't included in the tales. He finally had to admit that he was feeling a bit jealous, too. He would really like someone to support him and talk to him and tell him that what he was doing was worth it. Markle did support him, but somehow he wanted something a little more than that.

His thoughts strayed to Gretha. He still wondered why Shiroe had asked about her. She'd watched him and Markle leave the house in the dark of dawn, her hands held at her heart. Corbin knew she adored her brother and she'd always been kind, if soft-spoken, when he was around. Corbin frowned into the ocean as the waves passed below him, the sound of them almost as loud as the murmur of Adventurer voices behind him. The paddlewheel was almost as loud.

When on the ship as a Giant, those noises had been a lot harder to hear. He thought it must be the size of the ear that made the difference. The magic box that made it so they could hear the smalls when they were Giants must somehow make the sounds get bigger and smaller, too. Shiroe had said the Goddess who had gifted it had been "Purrcy" as if he knew her personally. That had been his answer to why he'd asked about Gretha, but that had been a very confusing answer. Adventurers were often confusing, he'd learned during this visit.

Akiba had actually been the first time they'd spent around a large number of Adventurers. It was very different than Sharpcliff. There, they'd been received by the smalls with fear and an underlying resentment that made people gruff to mean depending on their temperaments. Even though the Giants should probably be afraid of the Adventurers, that side would be easier to have an alliance with. The Adventurers weren't afraid of them and didn't seem to hold grudges. Most of them anyway. Corbin was sure a few would somewhere. That was just natural.

"What happens when a Giant is killed as a Small?" a rough voice behind him asked.

Corbin froze since it matched his running thoughts. He turned his head to see an Adventurer behind him. "We die, just like everyone else," he answered as calmly as he could, though his heart was beating rather fast. "And probably faster, I would guess. However, I'd rather not, since I have a quest to complete and life to live still."

"Who set up the quest?" was asked just as roughly.

"The Goddess of the Giants. She pled most strenuously that we seek to live peaceably with the Smalls and the Adventurers so that we not all die. We are, you know - almost dead as a people." He turned away and rested his head on his arms again. "I figured it would be alright for an orphan to try. Better than freezing to death, I figured." His back was prickling but no blow came and when he finally dared to look again, the Adventurer was gone. He blew out a relieved sigh. Really. His heart wasn't meant for this kind of thing.

"Excuse me." Corbin turned again. This time it was an Adventurer that looked a little more friendly. "I think we've got some confused people on board. If you'll come with me, you need to explain the reason we're all here. I'll take you up where you can do that."

Corbin stood up and followed the Adventurer up some metal stairs to an upper level where there were a few people in a small room. They bypassed the room and went around the outer balcony until they were facing the major part of the Ocypete. He could look down from here and see all the Adventurers that had come with them. He saw motion and saw it was Pickle waving excitedly at him. He gave a nod, not wanting everyone to see him wave back. The Adventurer cast a spell that glowed over both him and Corbi, then he stepped up to the railing. When he opened his mouth his voice boomed loudly. Corbin understood. That was the spell William had used during the rescue to be heard. "Hey, everyone. This here is the Giant that requested the help through William. He's going to explain what's really going on." The Adventurer stepped back and motioned Corbin up to the railing.

Corbin swallowed, tried to remember how he'd finally talked the People of the Land into listening to him and said, "Hi. My name is Corbin. I'm a young orphan Giant who took on a quest from our Goddess to save her people. Most people aren't too thrilled with having Giants around, and we'd love to stay where we are, but we're dying as a people there. The infants can't thrive and many of the women die in childbirth as well. It's enough of a problem we no longer can have enough children to carry us forward into the future."

"The King has tried to move us south several times, but each time he does, he wants to use the sword, clear the land of Smalls, and settle just as Giants again. The Goddess begged us to sue for peace instead and live with all creatures in peace. The King still isn't too keen on that, but I thought one orphan could afford to see if it would work better. My friend, Markle, came to keep me company. There was another one of us who came as well, but he couldn't be convinced after the initial quest to seek peace with the people of Sharpcliff that it was possible for us to move our home peacefully."

He took a breath and let it out sorrowfully. "William told me that when Tor offered to go north and tell the Giants what we'd learned, he was going to betray the quest and they would come down one last time in full strength of arms to take the warmer south lands of Ezzo. I'd really not like to see the entire remaining people die to the Adventurers. William told me to figure out how to protect those who are in agreement with me and they'll change sides and fight with us - or perhaps at least sit it out."

"So the goal isn't to kill all the Giants. It's to help those who want to try to live in peace be able to do that. Some will still die, since they can't let go of their pride, or their fear, but I'd like it to be only those who stubbornly choose it. I have no idea how to go about doing that, though. The common workers are all afraid of the King and his soldiers, and he's lied to them a lot about what Adventurers really are like. I learned that when we were attacked on our way down for trying to help Hugh and Pickle escape from slavery by Adventurers up there. William and the Adventurers of Susukino helped us then. He also wants to see the Giants live, which is kind of him."

Corbin paused since he was rambling like his thoughts did. He looked at the Adventurer that had brought him up here. "I'm not sure what else needs to be said." It came out quiet and that surprised him.

"Mm," the Adventurer thought about it, then turned back to the group of Adventurers. "Anyone know how powerful a sleep spell needs to be to put down one Giant?"

There was discussion until they all agreed that three Adventurers casting one particular spell would probably do it per giant. "How many Giants do you expect to have show up?" the Adventurer asked Corbin.

He calculated. There were the ones in the city, the miners, and the harvesters. "Maybe...one hundred or so?"

The Adventurer blinked at him. "That's all?"

"Unless they ask the forty or so women to fight. Plus there's about thirty-five of us who survived to live past the early death that are still children."

The Adventurer leaned on the railing. "That is rather sad. It's barely a village."

"I suppose," Corbin shrugged.

"It will still fill up the space, though. One hundred's hard to keep contained."

"They'll focus on Susukino first. They won't want to leave Adventurers behind them. The King is sneaky, though. He might send six or so of his warriors down to Sharpcliff to wipe out the Smalls there while the Adventurers are distracted. Once Sharpcliff is gone, they'll scour the rest of the south for any other Smalls and kill them all. I'd rather not have that either. They have a right to live there, too."

"The don't usually use the women and children, right?"

"Right, but I hear tell some of the women are angry their men haven't come back from the smaller battles and there was rumor some of them would raise the sword too, if it came to the final battle."

"If the women come, the children will, too, I would think?"

"Probably," he said sadly.

"How do we tell the difference?"

"Ah...," Corbin had to smile. "If you were Giant it would be the same as it is for the Smalls. The children are smaller and look younger." He wondered if Gretha would have to come, too. He hoped she would stay far from the fighting. Markle would grieve deeply if his last remaining sibling died. His father would be made to fight, too. He frowned. That gave him an idea. He leaned over the railing a bit, looking at his friends. "Hey, Markle," it boomed again and he jumped in surprise.

"It's dependent on what you want. Loud if you want loud, soft if you want soft," the Adventurer explained.

"Oh. Markle, if they all come, your Dad will be there. Maybe we could get to him and see if he'll seek out all the Giants who'd rather live in peace. We'd have to convince him, but do you think we could? And if they bring the children, do you think Gretha and the other older girls will be set to watch them in the back? If we could get to them and ask them to stay in hiding, maybe we could at least protect them and take them to the new city."

A warm hand fell on his shoulder and the voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. "It's not a bad idea, but if the King knows from Tor that Markle is with you and in agreement, they'll have his father being watched more closely than the rest. Just having you stand up to the King in a way that all the Giants can hear you will win them over faster. But if Markle's Dad could be pointed out to us, we might be able to do something from that angle. We would also send a small party to scout out the children and protect them as well." He looked sad. "We've seen it too often here and in our own history. If the Giants have chosen migration or death, they will kill their own children and die as a race before leaving them behind."

"But," Corbin protested, "If they see you with the children, they'll think you've gone to kill them."

"True," the Adventurer said. "Is there something we could do to convince Gretha we didn't mean them harm?"

Pickle was jumping up and down and waving her hand. "What, Pickle?" Corbin asked.

"I can go."

Corbin put his hand to his forehead and Markle looked at Pickle in almost horrified shock. "Okay, Pickle. You can go," Corbin agreed. "Gretha will have to believe a girl Small that is Giant sized." He'd made Pickle's day. "Hugh, you can go with her so that they really have to believe her story." Hugh looked resigned.

"Are you sure, Corbin?" Markle asked, not liking that plan.

"Yes, Markle," Corbin said.

He was about to say more when Pickle turned to Markle and said, "Yeah, I can wear the gift I just got! It will be easy and I won't have to use yours."

Corbin froze. He was quite sure he still had a pin in his pocket. He felt just to make sure. It was there. Why had he been given one at the same time Pickle had been? He was very confused now. Maybe there was something that would come up later. Still... He slumped. This was very difficult. The Adventurer next to him put his hand on Corbin's shoulder again.

"That's a good plan, actually. We'll work with that. Leave it to us, but listen for things that you know really won't work." Corbin nodded then listened while the Adventurers worked out an initial plan. He wasn't surprised when he heard William's voice join in since he and Susukino would also need to know what to do, even if Corbin had no idea how the Adventurers had done it. They were so magical and beyond the rest of the creatures of the world there was probably no way to know.

As the Goddess had warned, the Adventurers were not to be taken lightly. They knew how to strategize with the best of the generals. And all of them participated in the planning and agreed or disagreed with intelligence. Only five or ten would defeat the Giant army that was coming. They only had to fight the Giants one at a time. The smalls might be killed in the same amount of time that would take, but the Giants would never survive the Adventurers if they became angry. Corbin hoped desperately that they would do as they'd said and really help him keep some alive. The sincerity with which they planned made it sound like they would, but Corbin knew of treachery also.

-:-:-:-:-

"Review them down the duty roster," Michael ordered Reed in their officer meeting. They'd begun having them every day now that things were on the move.

"Brenner, on permanent assignment to Mister Nyanta, says he finds it easiest to connect to Mister Nyanta when he sits on the third floor porch on the east side, where he always sat to sun himself. He's going to ask Gareth when he gets back if his spirit's there during confinement. It's not as bad now as when Izanagi was pushing minors, so things still seem to be rather on hold there for now, other than the slow increase Mister Shiroe has been expecting."

"Kind of it to let us have the space to be busy with all the other things going on," Michael said dryly.

"Likely its hand is in all the same sub-quests, making sure things go the way it wants." Reed answered similarly.

"Likely." Michael agreed.

"H/R and P/R say that Neville arrived at Maihama just fine, in good time even now that the Ides of Winter special is over. Can't say that Princess Raynessia was thrilled. The Duke was dismayed. Apparently he's been trying to figure out what she was reading that set her to this course. Neville had some clues since he found her in the library just before the Christmas Ball, but they're still searching. This time it's a fledgling gryphon's feather. The Duke told him to show up in the morning for anything he can give to help him, so we'll likely see him the morning after."

"Secretary, on permanent assignment to Mister Shiroe, says he's still unseen and ignored, like Miss Akatsuki was, but he's trained Mister Shiroe to talk his schedule and to-do list out loud, so he gets all the info he needs and makes sure things are running smoothly around the edges. Isaac's pleased to have someone in place that knows to contact him immediately. It's already helped on several occasions. He's careful to let Miss Akatsuki step in wherever she wants and stays in her blind spot as well. We don't need her feeling extraneous and useless on top of depressed."

"No, that would be bad," Michael agreed. "If he needs help because it gets too much, tell him to delegate. Also, given Shiroe wants her to be his secretary when they get back, make sure Secretary is training her so she starts out on a stronger footing. She'll get the practice in once we're gone, and that's sooner than later. He should leave her a recording if he thinks it won't depress her more."

"Yes, Sir." Reed made himself a mental note to get something worked out on that issue. It would occupy her time if they could get it worked just right. "MasterChiefS7 is busy with his regular duties. With not much happening on the Neville front, he's not been called in there for anything. He says things have settled down again with the last inoculation, and is watching for if the irritation has gone to a more frequent rotation. He'll start there at the first internal altercation this time. With everyone being busy and out, though, we may have to just keep it up here. The others will have to go with what they have."

Reed put an ankle on his knee. It was a semi-formal reporting since it went on too long. Besides, Michael was lounging again and it was getting old. Reed would rather the mercenary report style than the military one when the meetings were like this. His eyes narrowed at Michael. "So tell me, how much pay are you going to ask for, for doing what you want instead of obeying Shiroe's request to keep everyone home?"

Michael looked up under his eyebrows from cleaning out a thumbnail. "Well, Reed," he almost drawled it. "I thought I'd take it out of Izanami's pay. After all, she's the one that loves the side-quests."

Reed folded his arms, putting his foot back on the ground. "You, Sir, need to straighten up and fly right. These are Izanagi's side-quests and you know it."

Michael gave him a sly and not nice smile. "Finally figuring it out, are you?"

Reed had a knife to Michael's throat, casually and with only a lightly casual threat to it - on the outside. He kept his expression cold and hard. "If you lead us wrongly, because you've forgotten which role you're supposed to play, then you get to step down. You asking for it?" The last was asked smoothly and almost temptingly.

"Not really," Michael said without moving or acting as if he cared about the threat. It sounded better to Reed's ear, but he held it until Michael finished going through the emotional baggage and let it go. "You don't get to have it yet. It took you too long to figure it out. That's not material enough to sit in this seat. Maybe the lesson will help you get there." He looked back down and gently moved the hand holding the knife away from his throat. "I'll thank you for this one, though."

Reed put the knife away. He moved to sit again and Michael stiffened and gave him a punishing look. That passed the test and Reed stood at relaxed attention instead and gave the rest of the report properly, making Michael hold to his own proper level of attention the whole time, pausing when it looked like he was relaxing too much again.

"Ground Safety and Aviation Safety are firmly in Berenshilde the Cursed's party. They were headed out to pick up final supplies and should be on the road by lunch. Compliance is helping at Grandpa's Kitchen tonight, but when he's needed to fill in for dead party members he'll head out. We expect that by tomorrow morning, the following at the latest. They say Demikas joined up on his own, without killing the boy or being told that was him, so it's probably a given he's supposed to be in that slot. We're all hoping we get the slide on the curse and it was just a problem with his men being a little too mortal. That will also probably become clear fairly quickly."

"Maintenance is a bit disgruntled to have to stay internal since the Giant quest is their kind of thing but we needed the double size group to have enough to watch over the juniors. That gives us two per so the numbers work best. Plus Clocktower's got the experience and seniority to jump in and handle things without having to call in. We're expecting that to become more necessary down the road as tempers in town can't be held in check by the inoculations."

"Records, Schedules, and Training are all on the Ocypete. Training stepped in to help Corbin. The Adventurers were restless, wondering what they were doing and he's too green to know how to wipe his butt. Schedules said they're deep into battle planning and Records pulled Guildmaster William into it early, using someone who had his friend-list connection."

"Charlie's permanent assigned and still doing what he does best. He's monitoring Gareth for you, but you need to pick that back up if you're going to be lazy and just be a mercenary around here." He left it a punishment Michael could choose to take, but he knew they'd follow through if he kept slacking. "Gareth's being good and taking his lessons seriously, as well as his once-per-week short-leave to stay sane. He's not a happy camper, but he doesn't have to be. Intel is also doing their standard usual here in town to keep Mister Shiroe in the know like they're supposed to. It keeps them busy to not have the rest of us to help them out, but they need that, too. Too many lazy people around here."

"You mean not enough people to shout at," Michael corrected him. "Don't get too lonely. They'll all be back in short order. They've only got until the end of this round and less since we're all supposed to go play pirate again and clean out the Australian Maze of Eternity. I'm really hoping we don't have to clean out all of the Overwritten left over down there as well. Help me pray that the Adventurers down there will still want to take that part and there's enough of them to do it - if they aren't already. ...Should have interrogated a few of the pirates from before." Like Shiroe, Michael's to-do list was forward looking and longer than the ones already covered. Reed waited patiently for Michael to finish his own personal list and come back. "Dismissed." And as short when he had picked a thing he needed to be moving forward on.

Reed waited until it was almost insolence just to get Michael's attention back, saluted, got the nod along with the suspicious look that went to almost an eye-roll but was caught in time. Reed made him hold it just a little longer - again not to full insolence, then nodded back and took himself off. They both knew he'd be watching a little closer for a while until Michael's problem got better. Michael hadn't been wrong, though. He'd had to give an awfully big clue this time for Reed to get what the problem was. He had work to do before being ready to sit in that seat. He couldn't afford to slack off while they were here either.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael walked through the common room while Naotsugu was sitting on the couch. He paused and looked at him, catching Naotsugu's attention just in the doing of that. "Nyanta's been quiet, and Izanagi more so."

Naotsugu looked down at the couch next to him, then nodded. "Doesn't seem quite right, actually. AIs don't have to sleep."

"No, they don't," Michael agreed. "A few other people aren't sleeping well either. Would you rather take the absentminded professor or the sleepwalking shadow?"

Naotsugu gave him a look out of the corner of his eye. "A shadow will pass me right by."

"I thought that might be the case. Stick around for the first half of the night and call me for the second half. Last night was too busy."

"Already?"

"No, just on time, I think. It's still at the level of odd restlessness, but it's consistent three nights running now."

Naotsugu sighed and leaned back, looking up at the raised ceiling. "Alright. I'll let Marie know." Michael nodded and moved along.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael's report that evening was long, and he made sure to ask Isaac was included, not just Crusty. He ended with, "Shiroe, let Naotsugu have one of the head-rags. You and Akatsuki have set off my traps three nights running. Izanagi's been quiet. He's working on the sub-quests, but I think they're partly a distraction for you, so you aren't as aware that he's moving forward in-house again."

Shiroe slumped. "No, I've not particularly noticed, but it is about that time, isn't it?"

"Yes," Michael said firmly. "We're set up to keep watch on it. Since we already have an eight-hour sleeping pattern, it's easy to split the watch in-house, too. At least at this level. As it gets worse we can reconsider."

"Alright." A triangular cloth was in Shiroe's hand. He passed it over to Naotsugu, who put it on his head, tied the corners behind his head, and rolled up the edge so he was wearing a cap.

"That should keep his sleep spells from affecting you," Michael said with a nod.

"What about you?"

Michael's eyebrows went up. "Are you kidding? With a status effect master as a teacher in the code realm who loves sneak attacks? We don't have enough of those for everyone. I'll use what I've got. If it gets overcome, then it was the AIs and there's nothing I could do anyway."

"I could use my helmet," Naotsugu said. "That Christmas gift I got from her would negate it, too."

"No one else needs them just yet," Michael shrugged. "Hang onto it for now. A lot more comfortable."

"True. But when we need it for someone else, I'll pass it on." They nodded and Michael relinquished the floor.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki's heart hadn't be unaffected by the meeting that night. She knew she'd been having troubles sleeping past the minimum four hours, but she hadn't put her nighttime restlessness into that sort of perspective. It galled that those who considered themselves the other guardians of the house had already known it was going to start this way while she hadn't been thinking anything at all. The Pervert commenting on his Christmas gift had made her remember hers. She knew why Michael had taken her restless self as his shift, but the Eagles wouldn't be staying. It would be best to get into that habit now.

With angry tears and a heavy helplessness weighing on her, she pulled her Hahaue Christmas gift out of her list and tied it on her left arm, using her teeth to tighten it down. The white glowed against her dark clothing, even in her room darkened by night. She didn't have the magic to create light, but she had been gifted a ninja's night vision the longer she'd been working on really making herself into the natural ninja Adventurer, turning her role play into reality with stubborn rehearsal. This gift would turn that against her. It would make it so she would stumble instead of move with grace. Instead of silence, she would bump into things to make noise and be a warning. Her stealth moves that allowed her to cross through space to pass around others would have a high percentage of failure - and that was the most important one of all.

Michael could cross through that same space to capture her before she reached Shiroe's room. He'd already proven it, though she hadn't been specifically going to Shiroe's room - she'd thought. When he was gone, there was no one else in all of Akiba that could prevent her from doing that. Only Hahaue's gift. It was best to begin wearing it now. Akatsuki's hands clenched. Her determination to see this level through, and win her own personal drop raged in her breast against the pain of the difficulty of it.

She loved to run up the tree, blinking in and out of people's vision. She walked out of her room and walked up the stairs to the roof. Maybe if she stayed up for the first half of the night she would sleep for the second half. She stood on the roof, shivering in the late winter wind. It blew her tears off her cheeks, making them splash on her earlobes and hair as it was lifted, too. For a while she stood on the roof not really seeing much of anything. Then she walked to the tree and looked up it. Tonight she was glad that Touya wanted to be able to get into the tree as well. She climbed hand over hand up the cold wooden boards until she reached the first large branch. She paused there in a crouch. The wind wasn't bringing conversations to her. It was just a quiet sound as it passed over and through the branches in the tree. Somehow, today that was soothing and comforting.

Akatsuki looked up for the next branch and climbed up it. She hadn't really climbed a tree in a while. That also somehow felt good to stretch and use her muscles to lift and push up until she was in her branch. The exertion had made her tears stop flowing, and she was able to sit a little more peacefully, her heart just aching now instead of a deep pain.

She sat and listened to the quiet, leaning against the tree trunk when suddenly there was a new sound. It was slight and fairly close, like a flutter of wings, then a small scrabble. She looked for it, trying to hold very still since it sounded like a wild bird. They would sometimes come and sit with her in the tree when she was on watch during the day. She would hold still naturally and they would find her not much of a threat. It was often nice to have company and the occasional squabbles between them reminded her very much of the guild. It was like there was a tree-top guild above and a ground guild below and only she got to see and enjoy both of them.

It wasn't common for birds to come at night, though. There was another sound of claw on bark as if it had hopped. Her eyes fastened on where that sound had come from and she watched. Again and she'd seen the movement that time of the hop. She couldn't tell the color in the dark, but it was fairly small. It was also curiously coming towards her, if a bit cautiously as well. She reached into her list and pulled out a roll. It smelled good so she took a bite, then crumbled some of it into her hand. She tossed a small piece out onto the branch, closer to the bird. Sometimes that scared them off. This one hunched down cautiously, but decided not to leave. As she took another bite, it cautiously hopped forward and pecked at the crumb. She knew the bird had eaten it all when the pale shadow of the crumb had disappeared.

She'd gotten birds to come eat from her hand before, with a lot of patience. She had the time for that patience tonight. When the night bird finally had worked up the trust and courage to peck at the crumbs in her hand the roll was almost gone. She was inordinately pleased. Before it could eat them all, she slowly moved her hand to her lap. She'd crossed her legs so it would come closer. Now it took courage and hopped with a little flutter up onto her knee and walked down her leg the short distance to her hand. The bird finished off the crumbs and tipped its head to eye her empty hand. Then it hopped up and landed on her fingers, the thin claws grasping tightly to them.

Akatsuki was enchanted. No other bird had done that, been that bold or brave. With a little flutter, the bird gave an impatient chirp, asking for more. A small smile came on her lips. She slowly lifted her hand, the weight of the bird and the movement making it teeter a bit. It held on tighter and shifted to keep its balance. When she'd lifted it up enough to look at it more eye-to-eye, she lifted the last little bit of bread in the other hand and held it out. Greedily, the night bird snatched at the small bit of bread, letting as many crumbs fall into Akatsuki's lap as it was getting in its beak.

When the bread was gone, it tipped its head at her, as if asking if there was any more. "I'm sorry. It's all gone," she said quietly. It gave a disappointed sort of chirp at her, then ducked it's head under its wing to fluff, as if saying, _"Oh, well. Then I'll clean up."_ Akatsuki watched it, feeling a soft proprietary feeling come over her as if in the feeding of the bird and the trust it gave her it had somehow become hers to watch over. She pulled up her knee and leaned her chin on it to watch the bird. For all it had weight, it wasn't too heavy to hold. When it was done preening, it shook its head and a bit of its back, then looked at her, as if to say, _"Well. What's next?"_

Slowly, quietly, Akatsuki told the bird what had happened that day to make her so sad. With a lift of the wings, and a drop in Akatsuki's heart because that meant it was leaving, the bird crouched down and launched from her hand. But she was mistaken. It didn't fly away, it flew to her shoulder, getting a little caught in her hair until it's wings were settled. Carefully she pulled her hair out of the way, since it was getting caught in the claws as it turned around on her shoulder to face forward again. Once the bird was settled, it reached its head out and rubbed against her jaw. Sudden tears sprang into her eyes again, slightly painful at their suddenness. She was sure the bird was saying, _"I'm sorry. It will be okay."_

Cautiously she lifted her hand and pet the bird with two fingers. It nuzzled her fingers with its beak and settled down as if it had found the place it was going to spend the night. With a rather amazed release of her breath, she settled down herself and looked up at the sky. Here and there she could see the stars. There must be clouds tonight, but there wouldn't be snow. The bird kept her company a long time, dozing off it seemed.

At some point she got thirsty and pulled out a canteen to drink some water. The bird moved, cocking its head with extreme interest at that. She poured enough more water into the lid so that it wasn't too shallow and held it up to the bird. It immediately dipped its beak into the water and lifted its head to allow the water droplets to run down its throat. She patiently held the lid there until the bird had drunk its fill. While she didn't mind sharing the lid, she didn't want to drink after a bird, so she poured out the rest, then recapped the canteen and put it away. She got another rub of a head as a _"thanks"_ and the bird chirped contentedly and settled again. "Your welcome," she said softly.

Akatsuki ended up spending the entire night in the tree, falling asleep at some point, her eyes closing on their own. She wasn't worried about falling out. Her body knew this tree almost better than it knew how to fly the air currents, and that tree-knowledge wasn't a ninja skill. It was just two and a half years of daily practice. When the dawn came to the sky, so did the songs of the first morning birds. There weren't many of them that sang in the winter, but there were a few. Blearily Akatsuki blinked to awareness again. Her head was resting on her knees and for a moment she was worried. The bird had been on her shoulder, but it couldn't if she was in this position. She shifted and felt a hop on her back. She froze, then more slowly rose to sitting up. The bird continued to hop up her back until it was on top of her head, the sharp claws pricking her scalp.

Since that was uncomfortable, she lifted her hand and tried to slide her hand under those claws. It awkwardly stepped onto her hand. Once she'd lifted it up, untangling the claws from her hair again, she slowly moved her hand so she could see what it looked like. As the sun's first rays peeked over the horizon, she stared and once again tears dripped slowly from her eyes as the light shone from golden swirls and white and grey stardust that were scattered on the wings and back of the black bird sitting on her hand. The rising sun, coming to warm the winter air as best it could, matched the warmth that filled Akatsuki's breast. As the tears turned into near sobs, and she had to wipe her face, she said, "Thank you, Hahaue."

"You're welcome, little one. I love you." The eyes of the bird were sharply fixed to hers for just a moment, then the spirit of one who understood was gone again and it went to preening its feathers as if saying that now that it was morning, it was time to get the day going properly. It was a good reminder.

She knew this was her gift, but she wasn't sure what to do about it. "Will you wait for me here?"

The bird paused in the preening, then looked at her. "Can," it chirped at her.

She blinked in surprise at it. "Can I take you with me?"

"Item list," it chirped.

"You answer questions?"

"Basic."

Akatsuki nodded. So it was kind of like a parrot, then. Likely it was harder to get answers out than questions into it's little brain. "What else can you do?" It was even more surprising when it actually walked through a command list. It was short and basic just like the question answering, but it was a useful list nonetheless, like watch and warn and guard (though it would likely die if it got hit by anything), fetch was surely only for small items. She wasn't sure she wanted to keep a creature in her list, but at the same time, she did want it close by. She pondered as she sat and pet its back a few times. Finally she lifted her hand. "Watch from the tree."

Today, she couldn't shut it away from the sun. She'd come and get it in the evening and bring it inside with her for sleeping with her tonight in her room. It wouldn't be so hard to stay in her room if she wasn't feeling so lonely. She watched as it lifted its wings and launched to fly up into a higher branch in the tree. It's dark coloring, like for Purrcy and even herself, was a good camouflage. Satisfied, Akatsuki climbed back down the tree and walked silently (because she couldn't do anything else and because she was going slowly and carefully so as to not trip and roll down them) down the stairs to get herself ready for her day, taking the peace and warmth of the sunrise and Hahaue's love with her.

* * *

 _Do you understand Hahaue's gifts to Isuzu and Akatsuki and why they are secrets to not be told to anyone?_


	146. Weavings of Fate

"Hold on!" Markle cried, desperate to keep his own footing on the slippery deck of the Ocypete. He lunged to grab hold of Pickle, just managing to catch her wrist. They slid across the sloping deck and slammed into the railing. They both desperately grabbed hold of the railing and webs that lined them, clutching each other as well. A large spell went off overhead with a loud _CRACK!_ and thunder rolled across the heaving water. There were three, then a fourth shining flashes from the part of the deck that was trying to roll over their heads and the ship wavered, the slowly began to sink back to a more proper angle.

There was coughing nearby, then Hugh appeared, pulling himself hand over hand along the railing to reach them. He put his hand on Pickle. "Are you okay?" he pleaded.

"Yes, Hugh. Markle caught me in time," Pickle said, fear still in her voice and the paleness of her skin too much for her usually ruddy look from walking and exploring in the outdoors all the time. Markle's heart was still pounding very hard and fast with his own fear at the sudden lift of the ship and near capsizing of it. People of the Land and Giants couldn't swim.

"That was a damn difficult monster to get rid of," an Adventurer closer to the opposite side of the ship complained. Another one was settling down next to him, brown wings furling as the feet found somewhat steady purchase. "Glad at least a few of you know how to have wings, though I'm surprised Dark Machiavelli let you leave the city."

The one who landed shrugged. "You know him and sub-quests that affect the world. He's sent a few of us on to babysit for him, just in case." He looked out over the waters that were settling back down slowly. "I think it was rather important in this situation."

"I'll say," the first Adventurer agreed. "That was going to be a full roll that time for sure." Other Adventurers gathering again were nodding.

"I'll say," Markle agreed fervently. "I was going to go to Giant to help them out just before then. I'm glad I didn't. We would have really been dropped into the ocean."

Pickle looked around. "Where's Corbin?" she whispered, horrified that he wasn't visible, or with them.

"Pickle! Pickle!" There was the sound of running feet. "Markle! Hugh!" A body slammed into all of them, slipping on the water that contained some level of monster gore in it.

"We _were_ okay," Hugh said testily, as he shoved Corbin's foot off his face.

"Sorry," Corbin said, scanning all three again. He embraced whomever he could reach. "I'm so glad you're all okay. I could never keep going on this quest if I lost any of you." He shivered.

Pickle patted him on the head. "We're still here. As long as we can we won't leave you. You're quest is noble and we want to help you see it through."

A footstep marked the arrival of another person, who crouched down to smile at them all. "Izanagi won't make the path easy, and he'll make you work for it, but he doesn't want to see it fail either." The Adventurer who had been helping Corbin since they'd left Akiba patted Corbin on the shoulder. He also had brown wings just peeking up over his shoulders, which surprised Markle.

"Are you one of Archmage Shiroe's men, too?" he asked.

"Yes." He'd said to call him Teacher, so they did, but that wasn't quite what his companions called him. They'd decided to be polite regardless. Corbin was learning a lot from him, so it was at least appropriate. He stood up and helped Pickle to stand up, then Hugh and Markle.

Corbin was still almost dancing in his worry. "I was inside, trying to get down the stairs to get to you when all of a sudden I was almost lying down on the wall instead, and couldn't walk at all. All I could see was how tall the monster was and think that it would be like one of us tipping a bark boat over in the bath tub. I'm not sure even we would have been as tall as it, but it's hard to tell from this small."

"It would have been about the height of your dad, Markle, is my guess," Teacher said.

"Mm," he sucked on his teeth. "That would have still been hard, then. Both of us, maybe. The taller height makes for sticking better and harder to push over."

Teacher smiled again. "I take it you've wrestled with your dad before then."

Markle gave a small, wry smile. "I never win."

"You might when you get back. You've been getting stronger," Corbin said with enthusiastic encouragement.

Markle chuckled. "Maybe. I'd rather test it friendly after it's all over than in the battle, though."

The rest sobered up at that and looked back over the water. Ezzo was a haze on the horizon. They would be there in a few hours - would have already been there if not for the sudden appearance of the sea monster. "Do you think...that it attacked us to prevent us from completing our quest, to make us late to the battle?" Corbin asked soberly.

Teacher looked at him with an appraising look. "Not to prevent, no, but usually these kinds of things do happen to delay so that you arrive 'just in the nick of time', that is, just when it's essential you be there to prevent or to act. Keep your eyes carefully open as we go. Let each other know immediately of any thoughts to act you might have, and then act on them. Usually that's part of it too, even if you wouldn't normally have done such a thing at such a time. Just like it's the one or three people who went on the quest unexpectedly, it's also the unexpected detours that lead to the fateful win. Also, just like this monster, expect to continue to have set-backs and seeming failures. Face them with faith and hope and whatever action you can do, small or large, until you've worked your way through it. Never accept failure as an option. You don't have to. Creativity or patience will win every time. Or both."

His two companions had come up behind him and they all had put away their wings now. "Honestly, since we just saved all of you this round, we're likely not going to get to at the final battle, though we'll do our best to participate as we can. You'll have to prove your own strengths, then, and your strong desire to see the Giants live will have to carry you. Never lose sight of that goal. Let it be the fire inside that warms you and gets you walking again, even if you've had to cry and rage at the unfairness of it all."

Corbin was listening well to his lesson, but Markle was sadly sober. He looked down and away, unable to face what was in the Adventurer's eyes. They had fought that fight, and from what little they'd learned on this trip, were still fighting it. "Thank you," he said quietly. "Thank you for being here to help us."

Teacher and his companions were silent. He looked up at them. They were looking at him just as sober as his feelings. Once he'd made eye contact, they nodded at him. "Seeing this through is a step on our way to our own goal, but you're welcome. It's rare and nice to be appreciated when it's from eyes that see and understand."

Markle looked down again, then bowed to the three Adventurers. He had no other words than the ones he'd already said.

Teacher sighed and looked around. "Okay, everyone, call up the water Summons and get the deck cleaned off so we can walk without the Slip-n-Slide effect. We should be at port in an hour. We'll want the latest update from William before we leave the ship." His eyes found the person who had been designated the point of contact. He got a wave. Teacher turned back to Markle. "Keep grabbing that hand and holding on tight. It's going to become a very important one to you some day, and likely to all the Giants as well. The first hand of friendship is a thing to treasure."

Markle stared at him, slightly open mouthed. He looked at Pickle and she looked away and turned pink. Markle suddenly couldn't look at her either and looked away, feeling his own neck turning hot. He had no idea why, though. He was a Giant, and she was a small. He did give a nod that he'd heard - and understood.

When the Adventurers had walked away, Hugh gave Pickle a shove and Corbin looked at Markle in suspicion. Markle held up a hand of denial and Pickle blushed a little harder, then shoved Hugh back, getting into a slight shoving fight to get past the embarrassment. Corbin sighed, looking away. "Well, he's not wrong." The two smalls settled at that, knowing he was thinking about the burden he'd taken on.

Pickle, as usual, got them all moving again in her cheerful way. When she suggested food, they all complained at her. They'd already almost just lost their meals in that wild battle. They didn't need to remind their unsteady stomachs. As they walked back in, following Pickle's hungry stomach anyway, Markle fell back and looked at his hand. The feeling he'd felt when he'd grabbed that warm wrist and how much better he'd felt when her hand had wrapped around his wrist came back to him again. He closed his fist, then clenched it.

He might not know what the future held, but he did know that he wanted to protect that hand that reached out to them and invited them to participate in life with the rest of the world that existed outside the frozen realm of the Giants. If he could do that and win this quest, then he would be content. His siblings and his mother wouldn't have died in vain. He ran up and joined his friends, putting an arm around Corbin's shoulder. "We can do this," he said firmly. "With companions, friends, and Adventurers helping us - we _can_ do this."

Corbin paused and smiled finally. "Thanks, Markle. I'm glad you're here with me."

"Any time, buddy. Drag me all over creation and through the ocean. What are friends for?" They laughed and Corbin wrapped his arm around Markle's shoulder, happy they were all together still, too.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe waited patiently as the connection to Duke Sergiad was completed. "Shiroe." Sergiad was looking tired and perhaps a bit frazzled, not an easy emotion to display for the programmed head of the largest domain in Eastal. Perhaps there was an exception allowed for personal headaches of the worst sort, like Neville's quest likely was.

"I'd like to start contacting you regularly for a bit, until this next part with the shrine quest is in the works." Sergiad perked up at that. "And it seems to me that if you'd want, we could also confer a bit on the Neville quest business."

Sergiad relaxed at that. It must be that one, like Shiroe had guessed. "Thank you for helping Neville on the first quest. I was quite pleased to learn I'd sent him to the right place the first time."

"How is that going?" Shiroe asked politely.

Sergiad rubbed his forehead. "Raynessia is a bit stubborn about it. She won't say what the quests are early, and I'm afraid she's making them up as she goes." The Duke dropped his hand and looked away. "At the same time, I'm almost certain it was fed to her from something she read in the library. I've got three men now searching through the section Neville found her in just before the Christmas ball as the starting place to look, but we may have to search the entire library." He sighed after a bit. "I'd like to know early so we can see if the proper resolution is also given, or so I can know how to properly equip Neville before he leaves."

Shiroe personally felt like they weren't going to find the book until the quests were over, or Neville really got stuck. Quests in the game didn't work the way Sergiad was trying for. You had to figure them out on your own, or go seek the proper person with the proper knowledge to know how to move forward. "Are you planning on sending him to see me again, or is there someone else you had in mind?" The latter would be the better way to go, really.

Sergiad wouldn't meet his eyes. "At the moment, there's very little to go on, so I'm not sure where to send him tomorrow morning. ...Unless you happen to know where to find a fledgling gryphon's feather?"

Shiroe put his interlaced fingers to his mouth to cover his sudden smile. "You could send him to see Purrcy. She has a very good relationship with gryphons, I hear. Perhaps she already has one?"

Sergiad scowled. "I'd rather not. Particularly if as you say we're ready to begin the next step of that movement. I'd much rather keep them completely separate."

"Well...I might be able to help some. We do have gryphons as Summons. Perhaps one of them could help. What was the personal quality he was supposed to display by getting one?" That was always a requirement to the quest as well.

The face in the communication window in front of Shiroe fell and the weariness showed through. "Tenacity of all things. If that were a useful one, shouldn't it be the third one? Just being willing to go out at all by then would prove it."

"Perhaps that's _why_ it's now?" Shiroe mused quietly. He shook his head, really wondering what was going on with that quest. "Why that one, do you know?"

"She claims it's because he'll have to be able to continue moving forward regardless of the difficulties he might face in the future."

"That sounds like an admission of her own difficulty."

Now Sergiad had to hide his own smile but the brief laugh escaped him regardless. He seemed to be in agreement. "Or perhaps a subtle hint that she wants it to take a long time." Sergiad's own conclusion matched his fatalism for the whole thing. "But, tell me about the shrine quest? Has the champion appeared?"

"Yes, we've sent him off...well, not really. He's one who disapproves of Adventurers and...well, let me tell you from the beginning. Izanagi has taken it quite in hand." Shiroe began with Berenshilde's first appearance in Akiba and the story he'd told Rudy, ending with the final party make-up. "So we had little room to say anything ourselves in the end. But with two of my men with him and a third whom I know and have given a head's up on and who's on his own quest and been added to the mix by Izanagi as well, Berenshilde should make it to wherever is next regardless. I've one more man on standby for when Izanagi weeds out the worst of the bunch. Since he's quite cursed, really, we expect that to be tonight or sometime tomorrow, and certainly before he reaches Maihama."

"Given his track record thus far, expect him late and destitute again. He won't control his mouth well, so your men can get anything they want out of him. Since you're involved in this from the beginning, I would think whomever you plan on sending with him will also survive to return and tell you, though we've found Izanagi doesn't make it easy. He plays the game by real world rules. If they aren't strong enough to defend themselves, they'll die anyway, even if he would have prevented the cursing from falling on them - just so you're aware. With four Adventurers in the party that we expect to see stay, and maybe five, they'll have a strong start."

It was a mixed bag of news, but Sergiad handled it well enough. Curious, he asked, "Why is he cursed?"

Shiroe grimaced a little. "That's what started him to begin with. He drew sword against the Oracle so he claims that's the reason, but it wasn't. When I was down there in the last set of quests we all had to do, one of my personal quests was to visit with Rudy's father, the Marquis. Berenshilde is his oldest son. Both he and the second brother were extremely rude to me, and I had Purrcy with me. She couldn't tolerate the behavior of either of them and finally snapped when he drew on me first in unrighteous anger. She was already into the Oracle when he tried to stop her mouth with his sword. Akatsuki kindly defended both of us handily so we weren't concerned." Sergiad was shaking his head.

"The curse specifically is that he can't die because he and his younger brother have to survive until Rudy is ready to show up and take up the heirship. They were disavowed by the world because they didn't have the qualities of proper leadership. Ah...speaking of which, I'd like to ask you to take Rudy on for training before he heads back down there. Particularly if we leave soon, he'll need a place to go to learn how to properly be able to stand in his place. We're teaching him what we can, of course. He has the qualities his brothers don't, though he does have a lord's pride that hides his youthful insecurities. We're hopeful that will change with training since he was also blessed to keep some level of his Adventurer status when we go."

"Eh? ...Is he the lad who you adopted in and became an Adventurer?" Sergiad was surprised. "No, he is, right. I'd forgotten with all the other things going on. You contacted his father, then, to set things straight."

"Yes. His father also had troubles with that, which I expected. That's why I had Purrcy with me. I knew if I needed to have stern backup she would do an excellent job, and she did. We quite played with it, though I can't say it was enjoyable." Shiroe frowned slightly. "Having them become unkillable was an unexpected side effect. Berenshilde has a very inflated image of himself, so it's entirely possible he keeps fighting as if he can't die, from the beginning. Not a healthy way to fight at all."

"No," Sergiad agreed. He sighed. "I'll send the minimum with him then. I don't need my men dying because he can't prevent himself." Shiroe nodded. That would tend to keep them alive longer, to just send the minimum. Berenshilde might nearly-die more frequently, but that might eventually teach him caution. "And yes, feel free to tell young Rudy he can come here when he's ready for the next step. Having him here to form a relationship with Iselius would be helpful to Yamato as a whole, I would think."

"I'm in agreement," Shiroe said. "He's already taking his future placement seriously. I'm pleased. The leadership of the Adventurers down there are helping him to learn the land, though it has to be from a distance, and he's trying to form relationships of at least teacher-student with those of the Marquis' court that will have it. He understands already how little he knows."

"From watching you, no doubt," Sergiad complemented him. Shiroe tipped his head. It was the truth, after all.

"I don't think I have any other news at the moment, unless you'd care to hear about any of the other sub-quests going on that you're not specifically involved in?"

"Am I really going to have to treat with Giants?" Sergiad was a bit morose.

"Well...that I don't know. They'll treat more with the people of Ezzo for now. Perhaps Iselius and Rudy will, however. We've been requested to see they're set up to be guards for water merchant travel against the great sea monsters when we're gone. If you want international maritime trade at all, you'll need an agreement with them some time. That will be a few years down the line, though, so there's time to come to grips with it. Things are on track for it, just so you know." Sergiad gave a noncommittal nod. He'd heard it and that was as far as it was going to go for now.

"And pirates have discovered Yamato. Please also be watching out for them. Send them packing as quickly as you can so they can't gain a foothold. We've got cover in place, but it's weak and won't hold for long. You'll want to survey your coasts and keep any hidden coves regularly cleaned out. Hiring the Giants to patrol the waters would be a good way to help the whole thing out without having to see them, since you can tell them they get to keep what they gain, though that may turn them into pirates, too, so consider that one a desperation move, I would think."

"You know pirates come ashore and steal princesses and young women, right?" Sergiad said miserably.

"And if they manage to steal Raynessia, I would think she would be well pleased, and they'd be rather disturbed. She's had the proper experience already to become a pirate captain's wife, then make him suffer for it the rest of his life while she remains quite entertained." Shiroe wasn't sympathetic.

"Haah," Sergiad sighed, "bite your tongue Archmage. May such a cursing not come on any of us. It's bad enough she's picked the quest option. I'd like the pirates to hold off longer for my stomach's sake. I'm already topped off."

"I'm sorry to hear it," Shiroe could be sympathetic about that. He was topped off himself. "Well, good luck. I'll watch for Neville, then, and contact you around this time regularly, though perhaps not daily unless things warrant it."

"Very well," Sergiad replied and Shiroe closed the connection. He leaned back in his chair, legs stretched out in front of him, fingers laced in front as well, and closed his eyes. He very firmly _relaxed_ instead of giving in to the temptation to get up and wander around. Now that he knew it was happening, he could at least do that much for as long as possible.

-:-:-:-:-

"I'm really sorry to bother you again, Archmage Shiroe." Neville had his hat in his hands and was turning it slowly. "The Duke has asked me to come and see you again for advice as to how to go about approaching the second quest: to find and bring back a fledgling gryphon's feather."

"Well, that's going to take some mountain climbing. They like to nest in the tall mountains in the central north of Yamato. However as large creatures they are very cunning in where they hide them. You will have to have perseverance and tenacity to find their aeries, and then very politely ask if any of them have one they are willing to part with. If you've properly learned humility in the first quest, you'll understand how to answer their demands to do so. Generally we've found them to be quite reasonable when approached as equals at the least. I can't guarantee all of them are friendly, but the ones we've dealt with have been."

Neville was looking hopeful. That was at least better news than last time. "Like last time, please come here first and let me know how you fared before returning to Maihama. But...," Shiroe leaned forward and looked at Neville very sharply, "I won't be able to just hand over a feather this time on your return. I haven't got one of those. There may be another way I can help you, but really you'd do best earning this one on your own. Given how reasonable they are, it's likely to be your easiest quest." He paused and pondered, "And I guess I don't know how they'll react to having you show up at _their_ home. We call them to us. But if you let them know it's for a princess' quest, they'll understand at least that much."

Neville bowed. "Thank you very much, Archmage."

His man-at-arms pulled out their map. "Would you be so kind as to give us a general area we should go looking?"

Shiroe took the map and generally drew a circle around the area Tetorō had told him ProudWing had taken Purrcy after the Hacker demonstration. He handed it back. "Good luck."

"Thank you." The four men bowed and saw themselves out the door. Shiroe rose to his feet and took himself out of the building to head to the Academy. He wanted to see if Izanagi was still leaving the children alone, and observe their lessons for a bit.

"How's it going?" Naotsugu asked him, hands behind his head, his stride matching Shiroe's.

"Barely breathing," Shiroe answered him. "Swimming in up to my forehead, but still moving forward. Things are on autopilot or I'd not be able to move at all, I think." He glanced over at Naotsugu. "Or...I'd move in the wrong direction. So forward on autopilot it is."

"Auto-pilot-city sounds fine to me," Naotsugu said casually, then looked sideways at him, "as long as it continues to be in the _right_ direction."

"I'm with you on that," Shiroe answered quietly. They walked in companionable quiet. Shiroe was relieved to learn that the children seemed to still be being left alone, and they were anxiously engaged in their lessons. Walking back home, though, he was left to chew on the worrisome thought of what was next. What would Izanagi do to replace the numbers they'd prevented him from having?

-:-:-:-:-

Raynessia was climbing out of the carriage to visit Clair at her studio when there was suddenly a fracas just down the street. Her guards urged her to enter the studio quickly, but at the top step she turned back to see what it was. It seemed unusual for there to be such a fuss in the city.

A man with long curly blond hair that seemed a bit familiar was standing at the corner arguing with five men. Raynessia froze, then pushed her way through her guards and ran to the corner. Breathing slightly heavy from the exertion, she pleaded, "Please, what may I do to help? Surely it is simpler to treat Adventurers with respect?"

The men all turned and stared at her. Three got smiles on their faces and shook their heads. "Princess, it's all right. Berenshilde was expressing his preferences was all. We've detoured to get here when here wasn't where he wanted to come, though his own decisions have led to it," one of the Adventurers tried to reassure her.

"We'd like to rest tonight, is all," another one said. "He's led us on a merry chase and a night of drink and rest won't make all that much difference to his quest."

"Please, come to the castle and rest." The words were out of her mouth before she thought about them - rather normal, really. She sighed to herself and hoped her father and grandfather wouldn't mind too much. "I was just going to visit with Clair, but if you say I ran into you and offered it...," she looked around her and into the eyes of her disapproving guards, "and if you take this one, he'll be believed that you really did talk to me." She'd picked one guard at random.

Berenshilde's eyes had taken on a crafty look. He flipped his hair and self-importantly said, "The eldest son of the Marquis of Ninetails Dominion _should_ be welcome at the castle of the Archduke of Maihama. My argument was against sleeping in a bug-infested hotel. I'm sure we could discuss things that might begin relations between the two households as well as find a bit of _worthwhile_ respite."

Raynessia stared at him open-mouthed just a little, then politely closed her mouth and curtsied just a little. "I'm sure," she answered demurely, already loosing complete interest in him. She turned to the guard she'd selected. "Please see that they are escorted to the castle and allowed entry. I'm sure my Grandfather will want to know they've arrived."

Not being able to do anything but obey, the guard bowed and invited the party of men to begin the walk up the steep hill with him. Three of the Adventurers winked at her and one politely thanked her. She nodded back a welcome, then watched them until they were out of sight, frowning slightly. Then she shrugged a little. Surely a boy out of backwater Ninetails wouldn't have known not to enter Akiba in the state it was in. If some had been allowed to help him on some quest or other, then they likely knew what they were doing. He certainly seemed the type to be completely helpless without them.

She returned to her interrupted activity, as happy to see her friend again as she was to have Neville out of Maihama. She hadn't been sure she was going to get to visit Clair, what with the frustrated look her grandfather had given her at the second quest being issued. She was grateful her mother had allowed it.

-:-:-:-:-

"Your Grace." It was quiet, male, and a completely unexpected voice.

Sergiad swung around. His eyes went wide at the face in front of him. "Aren't you supposed to be watching over Raynessia?"

"Yes, however," Sergiad was impatient but the long-suffering sigh calmed him from worry to resigned frustration again rather quickly, "she ran into Adventurers in the city as soon as she alighted from the carriage and nothing would do but for her to be the ambassador, since the young lord was yelling at them."

Sergiad's eyes narrowed. "She talked to him?"

"Yes. Well, more to the Adventurers. She only gave him the same face she gives all the young lords."

Sergiad relaxed again. He'd been wanting to keep the two young lords separated as much as possible. He'd forgotten that he had a third youngster to keep out of the path of the shrine quest movements. "I should meet with the Adventurers at least," he said finally. "And I'm sure the young lord isn't worth my time, but will be frightfully offended if I don't at least allow him to say a few words in my presence." He considered it for a while, then said, "Schedule a private dinner. The Adventurers don't care if they have large or small ones and I don't need the lord tainting anything more than he already will."

"Tainting, my lord?" the guard asked in surprise.

"He's on a quest to remove a cursing. The Archmage contacted me to let me know he might end up here as he seems cursed from even arriving at his destination in any reasonable fashion. See you tell the Chatelaine."

"Yes, my lord," the guard bowed and trotted off to find the chatelaine.

Sergiad waited until he was reasonably alone and said quietly, "See that those who are to go with him stand the wall as guards during dinner." That would make it so they'd already know whatever details Berenshilde would regale them with and get an early sense of what torture they'd have to bear up under. He may as well share that torture tonight. He hoped he'd be able to play a little with the Adventurers at the same time. It might make it worth his time.

-:-:-:-:-

Raynessia was on her way back to her quarters from a private dinner with her parents and Iselius when she saw a back she recognized. It took a bit, but then she realized she'd seen it just earlier that day. With a sigh, she walked over to the garden wall where he was standing, looking a little lost. "Hello again," she said politely.

The young lord turned and looked at her in surprise, as if expecting an attack from a young thing like her, which was ludicrous. He relaxed and bowed. "Princess. Thank you for allowing an escort to attend me and for the invitation to spend the night at the castle." He seemed a little nervous.

"You're welcome." She considered him a little longer. "Are you lost?"

"A Code is never lost!" the lord protested. His name was just not coming to her, but she'd only heard it once. "I am merely walking for the evening air before I retire for the night."

"I would have thought you were dining with my Grandfather?" She brushed at her skirt, not really caring one way or the other. It came off as a demure gentle protestation that butterflies would have landed on.

He waved his hand. "What need have I for coarse Adventurers who will monopolize the conversation? The Duke and I exchanged proper and polite words and I've said when I return that perhaps I might be able to meet the heir and discuss the future of Yamato with him. I left before they did as the Adventurers like their drink and can party far into the night."

"That is true," Raynessia was well aware of that.

The young Lord Code paused, and looked at her a little puzzled. "Have you had dealings with the Adventurers before, then? You weren't shy at all to come and interrupt earlier."

"Yes," she answered politely, holding her hands in front of her skirt and wishing she could sit down - but not with him or it would be a multi-hour boring conversation, she was sure. "I was assigned to be the Maihama Ambassador to the city of Akiba until just recently."

She was stared at rudely, then he said brusquely, "Yes, I have heard that, though I'd forgotten it." He rudely turned away from her and she moved to escape him, but was brought up short. "Ah, that means then, that you know Lady Purrcy."

Raynessia froze, her clasped hands coming up to her waist to tighten together even more. Turning her head just slightly, she answered, "Yes, I do know her." He'd said it with such a smooth evil tone she was suddenly frightened.

"Is she the sort who would be willing to remove a curse she applied when approached with repentance?" It was said mildly but when Raynessia looked at Lord Code he seemed to have almost an aura of danger about him.

Carefully she answered, "She is very stern, but she also is intelligent and wise. I think if she should be approached with repentance that yes, she would consider it properly."

"And can she, as an Adventurer, erase what she's done when she did it as the Oracle?" Lord Code's eyes narrowed.

Raynessia gasped slightly and stepped back just a little. "Lady Purrcy? Oracle?" She was quite confused. "She's not, surely?"

Lord Code stepped forward a slight step. "She is. I've been cursed by an oracle she gave. My father has sent me to quest to find her and beg for the cursing to be removed and apologize. She wasn't in Akiba with Archmage Shiroe - who only stood there and allowed her to curse me without remorse. My brother, Rundelhaus, told me she'd gone to the shrine and I must go there. We've come here instead, though I've no idea how it happened." He looked away. "Though if it will give me further allies and sight in my father's eyes, then that's sufficient, I suppose," he muttered.

Raynessia suddenly understood why this young Lord Code seemed familiar. She didn't know Rudy personally very well, but she'd certainly seen him and knew he was part of Akatsuki's guild. She definitely approved of Rudy far more than his older brother, though he was just as boorish as the other young lords if she actually ever talked to him. But he did try to get along with the Adventurers as best he could which was miles above most People of the Land.

Raynessia curtsied, "I'm sorry, I'm not able to help you any more than what I've said. I had no knowledge of such a thing until you've said it. I don't know if an Adventurer can remove a curse of an Oracle or not. The Oracle is the voice of Inari. If you received a cursing from the Oracle, it's more likely only the Oracle can tell you if it can be removed. An Adventurer may be completely helpless, as any of us would be if we were the Oracle."

He hadn't liked that answer one bit and she backed away slowly. "I am late to my next appointment, but I do wish you luck on your quest." She made sure he was going to let her go before turning her back to him. He was quite dangerous, she was sure of it.

However, she thought on what he'd told her for a long time that night. If Lady Purrcy really was the Oracle, then surely if Raynessia needed to know a thing she'd be willing to tell her. She'd not like a cursing like Lord Code's, but...she _had_ allowed Raynessia to pet her on the bed...

-:-:-:-:-

"I hear you were talking to young Berenshilde last night." Raynessia blinked at her grandfather who seemed to be looming over her, though he was only standing next to her.

"He seemed to be lost...and I suppose I completely forgot to see he got un-lost in my concern for his mental state at the end of the conversation. It seemed prudent to retreat hastily," she admitted candidly.

"I'm sure it was," the Duke wasn't happy, but it could only be told in a more firm set to the muscles in his temples. He almost-glared at her for a moment longer, then asked, "And in your search to understand why you have no interest in young men yet, did you learn anything new last night with a stranger in the castle?"

Raynessia blinked and stared at him stunned. It took a while for her brain to begin moving again. "No, Grandfather," she said humbly. "I found him more boorish than most and given how frightening he became, I'd much rather not ever see him again. His younger brother is far easier to have around, though he's also someone I preferred to see from a distance and not talk to. He was kept busy so that was easy enough."

Sergiad's eyes narrowed at her again and this time his fist clenched slightly. She was about to become as afraid of her grandfather at the moment as she had of Berenshilde the night before. "And are you perhaps supposed to be married to that one, in order to form some sort of alliance between the two lands?"

Raynessia waved a hand desperately to ward off the thought. "No, I'm sure not, Grandfather." She paused, thinking about it. "Although we are two of the few nobles who have had such experiences with Adventurers." That didn't help her case or her Grandfather's mood. She hurried to add, "But already by now I would have been infatuated with him since he is also of the age for young men to be interested. He neither sought me out nor was I inclined to increase our contact at any time."

She almost asked if her grandfather knew what the Oracle had been, but stopped and thought better of it. He was already upset enough it would be best to let him calm down before asking any more about the cursed brother. She held the humble and obedient pose until her grandfather gave a curt nod and turned to leave.

"They've left already this morning. Likely we'll have to suffer with him one more time. Please try to stay as far away as possible from him at that time. If he's not been allowed a reprieve, he is likely to be very dangerous."

Raynessia's hand went to her heart as the blood ran from her. She swallowed and curtsied, but almost fell down for it. "No Grandfather. I'd rather not meet up with him if that is the case. ...Are you sure he has to come back again?"

He sighed and his shoulders slumped slightly. "Yes, though I'd also rather it weren't the case. Such things begun in a quest must be resolved again. I'll see you're followed by a guard openly while he's here, then."

He left her to go and brood and she was completely unable to return to her task at hand - which had only been to find a place to hide and nap. Sleep and blessed mental emptiness wouldn't come. She finally gave up and found some young lords and ladies to distract her. She spent the time comparing them to her Adventurer friends and wishing she could be distracted by them instead.


	147. Final War of the Giants

"Excuse me, Corbin."

Corbin had been watching the coast of Ezzo pass the Oki Watarimono as they headed for the port. He turned around. It was one of Teacher's companions. He'd gotten a bit confused by their conversation around their introductions. It had gone something like:

"Hi. Call me Blue."

"Then, call me Magenta."

"That mean's he's," (they pointed at Teacher), "Green."

"No. It means I'm Steve." (Teacher)

"Nu uh, man. You gotta' hold to the pattern!" ( _Magenta...?_ )

"You know - Magenta was female." (Teacher)

"What?! No way. Then _I'll_ be Green."

"You're both insane. ...By the way, you know Blue was female, too." (Teacher)

"... No." (Both "Blue" and "Magenta" _...or was it "Green" now?_ )

"Yes." (Teacher)

"No! Shut up! He was supposed to say 'Red' anyway." ("Blue")

"Give it up! Not gonna! We don't need to jinx it before we even start." ("Magenta/Green")

"Shut it, both of you. That's Patsy. That's Pansy." (Teacher)

It had devolved into a fight. Corbin still didn't know what to call them. "Yes?" he asked politely.

"Would you be willing to let me look at the Giant-to-Small translator for a bit? I promise to not break it. I just want to see how it was put together."

Corbin was instantly suspicious, given who he was talking to. "For how long?"

"About...five minutes, tops. Right here if you want." Corbin considered the Adventurer in front of him. "Would it help you to know I'm one of Purrcy's students...apprentices?"

"That's reaching." The other one had appeared.

"Not really. Not for a place like this and the subject matter."

"I'm pretty sure she only claimed two, and neither of them is you."

Corbin held up his hand. "Not if you two are going to fight again. I don't need it broken."

The first glowered at the second. After a pause, the second rolled his eyes and wandered far enough away the first was content and turned back to Corbin. After hesitating a bit more, and exacting one more promise of safety of the translator, he fetched the cube from his pocket.

The Adventurer left it in Corbin's palm and only stared at it. Corbin almost put it away, but when he moved, the Adventurer raised his hand, so Corbin held still. Another minute passed, then the Adventurer raised his eyes from the cube. "Thanks!" He waved a hand and walked off to join his companion.

Corbin put away the translator, even more confused than ever. He wondered if all Adventurers were this way. It hadn't seemed so in Akiba, but he had passed similarly confusing conversations on the ship, and the banter during the battles with the sea monsters had been nearly as confusing as well.

-:-:-:-:-

"Who wrote this stuff?" An Adventurer dressed in monk's robes and carrying a staff rolled his eyes. "Get a new script writer already."

"Where's the 'skip' option when you need one? Can we skip the cut-scene and go right to the action - _please_?" This time it was one dressed in battle gear with a round shield on his back and a double-bladed battle ax he was resting on.

"Come, come. You know they want to at least give the Giants the option of pulling out early, particularly those who'd rather not fight to begin with. We might be small, but our stings hurt rather badly, you know," a thin Sorcerer said, pushing up glasses onto his nose. "It's at least kind to offer some kind of parlay at the beginning."

"Stuffed shirt," was muttered as the Sorcerer's attention was taken by the (rather expected) negative response of the Giant King. The Adventurers had been split into parties of six and were assigned to pick their favorite Giant in the front line for this round - and memorize who it was for the next round. Official soldiers were the preferred targets, but angry Giants who looked like they wouldn't be inclined to ever believe in the concept of peaceful living were also acceptable. It had been rather incredible to see the earth rising up at the horizon and continue to rise until from their chosen location of contact even past that horizon was now touching the clouds in the sky. One hundred (-ish) Giants was rather a lot when all gathered together in one wide area. Because they'd rather thought that might be the case, they'd decided to meet them as far north from Susukino as they could.

The King and his personal guard were considered the boss and his lieutenants, and a special raid group had been set aside to take care of them later. The King had learned in his earlier battles against Susukino to stay near the back and not fight past about his half HP point, or so, before turning tail and running. They didn't expect to see him any time soon as far as visual went. They had heard him, though, because the Eagle, Records, was broadcasting the translation.

The parties of six were partied up generally into raid parties of twenty-four, or four parties each. That was so if they needed to regroup, help each other out, or just generally needed additional firepower, they could. Plus they were used to working that way. It also let them work with the random and odd number of Adventurers who had come to help out. They were testing another boundary today. It was war. That meant potentially no limits to how many Adventurers could participate - or at least an odd number could participate (not the usual six, twenty-four, forty-eight, or ninety-six only).

Thirty had already been sent to find the Giant children since they had to work their way through the Giant forest of legs. Another thirty were waiting outside Sharpcliff to intercept the Giant raid party against the People of the Land. They wanted to nip that in the bud before the People of the Land even knew hostile Giants were headed their way, lest the negotiations go bad early. Overall, William of Silver Sword was handling being the General, and the Eagles were helping him out as general administration along with his usual complement.

They had enough Adventurers to match the Giants two on one easy, and if they had to, they could break into half-parties and take them on three on one, but it had been decided six on one would get the job done fastest and scare the ones who should be using hoes and pickaxes instead of swords before they had to become the fodder that might shouldn't become it. The orders came to move forward and the Adventurers leaped into action, running full out to get to a Giant. The fronts met and the back of the Adventurer line kept going into deeper territory. It was one Giant per mountain-half after all. This was the early "restrict and restrain" battle. The one that would give those who hadn't fought Giants much the feel for how they had to be faced, and would give the parties their shake-down run to get into the groove of being a real party.

Comments could be heard all over the massive battle field like:

"Pandemonium, you aggroed too soon and drew two of them! Looser."

"Frick you. Our healer went down and I was trying to get him time to be dragged off. Deal for a minute until they get back here. ...Wah! ...And pass me two potions or you'll be on your own."

Muttered cursing followed such statements, but so did potions.

Eventually enough time passed that other comments were heard:

"Awww, man. Just missed the twenty-percent mark and I'm last to go."

"Next time, then," said by another of the raid party just as the bubbles of death took that sixth party member.

When the point number of dead Adventurers was reached, William sent out the calm order. "That's the mark. Retreat to the raid recovery point." The rest of the Adventurers still standing cast their retreat spell and disappeared, leaving behind wounded, sleeping, paralyzed, burned, bound, poisoned, and confused Giants. That is, confused by spell, but also by an inability to understand why the rest had fled.

"Was that really it?" one of the Giants asked. It was his first time to be sent to the front instead of to the mines to work.

"It's usually about that easy," came back. "We can move forward from here."

The King was calm on the outside, showing his people the face they needed to see to continue, but inside he was confused, and he was frightened. That had indeed been far too easy. He sent four Giants ahead to scout for traps and ambushes. Those who were magic users, which they had some of particularly as related to ice magic and some healing, were set to revive, thaw, hack thorns off of, heal, and cure. The King called his highest level of lieutenants over the soldiers and gave his orders. He knew they would have to move quickly from here to gain any ground.

The women were called and a few set to take the children to a place that had been scouted out near this location for hiding. Others were set to take care of the physically wounded who needed time to finish healing. _Those_ were told to advance as soon as they had recovered sufficiently to help continue to take ground. Four soldiers were left with them, openly to guard the wounded and women not participating in the fighting. Really, they were to make sure the wounded moved forward and the women came behind them to heal the next set.

The army was beginning to move forward when two of the scouts returned to the King. In between them was a struggling Corbin. "Please!" he cried out when he was close enough, "please don't kill the entire family of Giants. Please let those go who don't want to do this and are willing to try peace. Surely to live is better than death."

"Bowing our mighty heads to the Small who can barely climb on a shoe? What reason is in that?" one of the Lieutenants snorted.

"The Adventurers are different. They are an army in one person unto themselves, with the intelligence of kings and princes, each. They have restrained themselves this time so you can begin to understand. Please, stop. Surely a treaty of some kind can be reached."

The King turned to look at him. "Get him out of my sight, Tor. He is no longer a Giant."

Tor stepped out from the circle around the Lieutenants and walked over to Corbin. He pulled the friendship pin off of Corbin's shirt and threw it. Corbin watched it sail far off and it looked like it went far enough to have landed in the ocean. "Tor, please. We tried so hard -"

Tor slapped Corbin, silencing him. He pulled a sword from his side. "March." He motioned with his head in which direction. "We'll be using you as an example when we reach the city as to what happens to those who deny the proper greatness of the Giants." Corbin was forced to march to the back of the line and already there was a stout cage built to hold him prisoner. The two scouts shoved Corbin inside and Tor locked the door, putting the key in his pocket. "Don't plan on being fed. It would be a waste. But it won't be long enough anyway, I would think."

"No, Tor. Don't you remember the first set of Adventurers we came to?"

"Wild aberrants," Tor said dismissively. "And the others soft and quick to believe in peace." He turned and walked away. The two scouts left his guardianship to the four who were watching over the women and wounded.

Corbin held his tongue until they were gone, then grasped hold of two of the bars of his prison, "Please, you must believe me. The Adventurers cannot die. They resurrect upon death over and over again. They will come and kill all of you. You can kill one or six or one hundred and they will only return. You will become wounded, then unable to defend yourselves, then die and not be resurrected. That is where all of our kind has gone when they've been brought down to fight before. None have returned because they can't, yet one city of only a few hundred of Adventurers never changes. Please give up your anger, your weapons, and your pride - and live."

The cage received a buffeting. "Silence, or we'll cut out your tongue," the soldier snarled at him.

"How can I be silent and watch the ending of my own kind!?" Corbin raged back with grief. "They are already willing to allow us to try and have a place for us to call our new home here in the warmer south. Why can't we at least try, so that we can live? Why does it have to be death and no other option will do?"

All four soldiers were now surrounding his cage and one was reaching for his knife. Corbin stepped to the center of the cage, though it was small, and tears of utter frustration came to his eyes. The soldiers watched to see he would remain silent until all the healing Giants had risen to their feet and returned to the battle. Two Giantesses were ordered to pull Corbin's cage and the women and the soldiers walked forward to the back line of the army.

-:-:-:-:-

The front line of the Giant army stopped, confused. Arrayed against them, looking like they'd not moved from the first time they'd appeared, were Adventurers blocking their way. "Is it a second line?" asked one of the unversed commoners. The others didn't know. When the news made it's way back, the King's representative moved up to the front again. Again the Adventurers made a declaration of surrender or die, and please surrender. Again that didn't sit well with the Giants. This time when the parties arrived at their chosen Giants - who had all revived enough that they were in the back half now, the Giants heard them.

"Hi, again."

"Miss us?"

"We're ba-ack!"

And as the blows rained down again, those Giants couldn't help but recognize armor, weapons, and magic skills, even if facial details were too small to make out. And this time the voices of the Giants were heard by the Adventurers surrounding them as the raid parties were now in open chat mode for the twenty-four - and translated both ways.

"What? I thought I killed these six last time."

"Are you sure they're the same?"

"The same weapons, the same armor. -Ow!- and the same attack combinations." There was a _thud_ as a club bashed into the ground in an attempt to get rid of two of the six.

"Hey! That almost cracked my shield. Don't do that! Hey give a hand here so I can get a quick repair potion on that."

"Sure," the sound of a magic shield being cast could be heard as well. "There, but hurry it up."

"I'm coming, I'm coming. ...Okay, there. Now what was the right count for that one that worked really well last time?"

"I think it was three seconds followed by two attacks in sequence, then the heal."

"Right on my count... Three, two, one."

That Giant didn't like what followed very much and bellowed. A volume adjustment was applied as more than a few Adventurers ducked at the sound. " _Sht_ man! Think of things like that earlier!"

"Sorry," came over the field. "New technology. We'll have the bugs worked out soon enough."

"Aww, man! That interrupted our flow. We're going to have to regroup."

And so it went until the first Adventurer died. "Sorry guys. Catch ya' later."

"Deadbeat," was muttered as bubbles went up.

"Now, now. Can't be helped, you know."

"I'm up. Hey! What are you doing here? ...Really? That is a cool concept - a store at the respawn point. You got any potions? ...Nice. I like a half-off deal special. That works for me. I'll take ten then. ...Right. I'm on my way, guys."

"Seriously? I'm like down to nothing on MP and you lot are asking for too much. I'm out for a few."

"Hey, wait!" but it was too late. That magic user had already disappeared in the next blow of the Giant's axe.

When the same party of Adventurers arrived again...and then again...and then again...those Giants had to give up hope and die.

"Hey, anyone need anything else while I'm here?"

"I could ...ugh ...use ten MP and ... twenty HP."

"Right. Twenty MP and thirty HP. Thanks. Wait up for me, I'm on my way."

"Too late. He just went." The bubbles were rising before that Giant's head hit the mountain terrain.

"Aww, come on guys! I wanted that kill. It's first on the field for us."

"There's more."

There were rather a lot of Giants that shivered when lines like that were said, at least of those Giants who weren't really soldiers and had already been watching those who had been under attack. They began to join in with the fighting so that it turned into six on two and sometimes twelve on three or four.

"Crap. This is getting harder," one of the Adventurers complained. "Can we speed things up a little?"

A dragon flew by, weaving through the Giants, then finally. "Found them. They're hiding in the back. Slip those back into restrict and restraint and come find the ones dressed in black back here. They're the ones to really take down fast. Pansies, hiding while the commoners take all the punishment. Woah!"

"You okay Schedules?"

"Yeah. Hang on." There was a brief pause, during which all the parties stopped attacking to wound (except to be distraction) and focused on status effects again. The dragon swept back out as Giants toppled onto the ground again. "Cowards. They already know we'll kill them all or they wouldn't be hiding."

Not a few Giants in the front paused their swings to attack and looked back towards their leadership. They weren't exactly in the back, but they were certainly in the back half. Muttering in the Giants started up, but they weren't distinguishable since they could be heard and punished otherwise.

"No, we've been waiting for you to bother showing your true colors. It's obvious you don't want alliance when you're quite willing to kill us." The King motioned with his hand and about two-thirds of his soldiers moved into the forward ranks. It became apparent after a while that each one of them was there more to keep the commoners from breaking ranks than to really be attacked themselves. The Adventurers focused on them anyway, and they didn't hold back.

"That's three. Next."

"I say we'll take it in six."

"Six what?" It had sounded like the Giant the Adventurers were sprinting for had asked the question.

"Six death rounds."

"Mmm, you think so? ...I was thinking more like eight."

"What are you two blathering? We aren't even serious yet. We can do it in two. Let's get a move on."

"T-two? ...Me?" Surely the Giant was reconsidering that he'd like to live longer than two Adventurer death rounds, or even more than six or eight.

"I say we do it in one. I've gotta pee."

There were snorts of laughter. "Just die and use the porto-potty at the respawn."

"I don't wanna miss the drop! This is going to be the last opportunity to get an ice hammer." The Adventurer chatter went quiet for a moment.

William cut in firmly. "Ah, yeah, let's not worry about that, shall we? The point of this is to let them live in peace with the rest of us. No need to kill the ones willing to give it a go." But the Giants saw a lot of greedy and hungry eyes turn on them. "Besides, it's only a five percent chance of dropping. Why bother?" That made it worse. Even more eyes narrowed in firm decision it was going to happen.

A number of the common Giants started backing up slowly. The soldiers with them, about half of what had been sent in, called them back in rough voices, but they were already standing out front and the sum of them when the common Giants counted them was even more proof that perhaps they wanted to relent.

The Giant King gave another order and the rest of the soldiers around him moved forward, shoving the common Giants forward again.

-:-:-:-:-

Corbin, who had been following the chatter that rose to the higher levels over the field, huddled in his cage, feeling very sad and very frustrated that even this many of his kind had to die for the sake of the King's pride. There was a stir at the place they were waiting and two more soldiers arrived. They waved the four over and spoke with them quietly. They nodded and took off into the mountains around them. The Giantesses watched them go, then looked at each other nervously.

Corbin sat up, wondering if he could try to convince any of them, but none of them would look at him. He groaned. "Please, don't let them just go." Some turned their heads. "The Adventurers know how to plan and what to expect at times like this. If those have gone off now when it's looking bleak, then they've been sent to go kill the children because the King really does expect everyone to die. Please! Please don't let it happen."

Heads of surprise and disbelief turned his way. A Giantess who had been near the guards rose slowly to her feet and walked over to his cage. She stared at him. "You really believe they will let us live anyway?"

"Yes!" He was up on his feet, adamant in his surety. His hands clenched into fists. "Markle and I have worked very hard to show them that we are willing to try for the sake of being willing to live. I know it's not going to be easy for any of us, but isn't life so much better and worth so much more? Please, don't let there be any more unnecessary killing. We've already lost too many children as it is."

"What can we do?" she asked. "Even if those were sent to kill our children, how can we face them, and how can you who are locked in?"

"You can talk at least! There is always words if there isn't anything else." The Giantess turned away from him, dissatisfied with that answer.

Corbin jammed his hands in his pockets, trying to keep from trembling and weeping. A prick on his finger made him pull his hand out partway, but he suddenly stopped, his eyes opening wide. "Please, I can do something. Will you please let at least me try?" he pled. "You heard them say it, didn't you?" The Giantess stopped, then turned back. "Take me to where the children are. I'll do whatever I can. I can't see us all die like this to never have Giants on the earth again."

"What can you do?" she asked, almost derisive except in grief. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Corbin said, "Giant to small, friend to all." The Giantess blinked. "Down here," he said, waving from the bottom of the cage. She looked down at him, then got a funny curious look on her face. He walked to the edge and she held out her hand. He stepped onto it. She suddenly looked around, then cupped her other hand over him. In his darkened shelter, he sat as she moved so he didn't fall down. It was an odd experience to finally understand what it felt like from this perspective. He could only huddle around his knees and hope as he waited in the mostly-dark.

-:-:-:-:-

"This is getting old," sighed one of the Adventurers of a party that was transferring from one Giant to another in the grouping they were fighting in. "I say we switch to two percent or unconscious and incapacitate. We've got a long ways to go still."

"I like it," grunted a tank nearby as he took another blow to his shield.

"Aw, come on, I want my drop."

"Shut up!" It was one of the raid party focusing on their own battle.

"You'll give me yours, then?"

"No."

He switched to his party only chat. "You guys will help me PK him when he gets his, right?" He was punished with a pound to the head from the straight laced Sorcerer, but a couple others gave him a wink and a thumbs up behind the Sorcerer's back.

"What's with that?" William said over the top again. "Just go buy one for yourself from the armory in Susukino when we're done. They sell for only five-hundred gold there, we've picked up so many."

"Really? Right on! I've earned that easy already."

"If you haven't spent it all on potions and items at the Respawn Shop," one of his own party slowed him down.

"Ehhh." He paused to calculate and looked a bit sad. "I guess I'll have to earn it up in the last few. That's going to be a hard call."

"I got one hundred from the shop for the non-standard item I lifted from the one three kills ago." A Swashbuckler from another party said as he sailed over the head of a Giant, landing blows as he went, and came down to land in the middle of the party walking to their next target.

"No way!"

"Yeah. You know Roderick Trading Company. They'll take anything new and interesting. Respawn Shop is trading for stuff like that if you want to save your cash."

"Right on! Thanks for the tip, man!"

"No problem-o." The Swashbuckler was back up on the rebound direction, running up the Giant. That saved several Giants who only had to reach unconsciousness instead of death in exchange for items being stolen from them, though unconsciousness was hard enough to recover from later.

Morale was tanking fast in the Giants. Truth be told, even with some of the soldiers who had stopped to count just how many of them were left total. It would hardly be enough to keep the race going if it kept up much longer, particularly since half of the females who had chosen to fight were down. There hadn't been any comments or relenting with them, like they'd secretly hoped. But then, they couldn't know that the Adventurers couldn't tell the difference very well. Plus, when a club was swinging down on you in the middle of a war, you just defended and prevented it from happening again as best you could.

-:-:-:-:-

"It's got to be around here somewhere," the Giantess muttered over Corbin's head. "They left us there, and walked this way...," Corbin was worried. There couldn't be much time.

"E-excuse me?" It was said as quietly as possible for a Giant.

The Giantess stopped moving. "You. You're one of the girls sent to help watch the children, right?"

"Yes, I am. ...Can you tell me where everyone went?"

"They're in battle, but the children are in danger." There was a sudden shift backwards sending Corbin falling, then the hands he was cupped in lifted and the top hand shifted up, letting in light and sight of the surroundings.

"Pickle! ...And Hugh!"

"Corbin!" they cried.

The hand finished moving and a Giant voice said, "Corbin?"

Corbin looked. "Gretha?" He blinked. "They found you then. Thank you for believing them enough to come looking for me."

"I suppose," Gretha frowned. "Is it really true, do you really think that the King will send guards to kill his own people's children?"

"It is," the Giantess answered for Corbin, sober. "I only let him out because perhaps he has a solution to save my own son." She looked around and shivered. "But I don't want to get into trouble and I don't know where the children are."

Gretha immediately held out her hand. The Giantess handed Corbin over and he tumbled head over heels into Gretha's hand as the Giantess dumped him out of hers. He had to recover from the dizziness for a moment. By then the Giantess had disappeared. "Gretha, put me down a moment," Corbin said to her. She lowered her hand almost too fast and it felt like he'd left his stomach up in the air and he was falling. The landing at the bottom was a bit harsh as he sat hard on her palm. He cautiously crawled out of her hand, then said, "Small to Big, Friend to all."

He grew, but he'd not accounted for sizing and spacing, and he was suddenly standing so close to Gretha, they were completely touching as if hugging. Gretha and he blushed and stepped back at the same time. "Sorry," he said, covering his mouth, not able to do anything about the heat on his forehead. "Some things I'm not used to yet.

She didn't look at him. "It's...okay...I guess."

The pink on her cheeks made her cute in a way he hadn't seen before and it was a moment before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. "Oh, right. We need to go pick up our assistants before we head over there. Don't get lost. We're likely already late." He grabbed her hand and began pulling her to his rendezvous point.

Gretha tugged back, but when he refused to let go, because he didn't want them becoming lost and separated, she gave up. "Where's Markle?"

"He's with the Adventurers we're going to pick up."

She stopped full tilt and dug in her heels. He turned to her, anxious. "No, really, Gretha. They want to help us. Even they've seen that we're dying. It's because the King won't relent. They'd rather not fight at all, and the Small's can't, not really. Everyone was willing to think of it, and come up with solutions that could be lived with. We won't be living in their laps, nor them in ours. We'll have separate cities far enough apart, but we'll finally be able to live where it's warm enough the infants won't die. We'll be able to become strong again, as long as we'll give up trying to kill them. That's all we have to do."

"How is death and dying worth it when that's what we were doing before where we were? Why can't we try to live?" He was so desperate, his tears were in his eyes again. "Please, we _have_ to save the children. They'll blame it on the Adventurers otherwise and then we will all die. Please help us. Please don't let that happen."

Gretha's free hand went to her heart. Pickle and Hugh on her shoulder were nodding agreement, though she couldn't see it. Her face went sad, then she said. "Okay, Corbin. I'll help."

"Thank you." He dashed the tears away with his sleeve, squeezed her hand, then got them going again.

-:-:-:-:-

"It's getting pretty slim out there," Training commented to William.

"I know," William was just as worried. He switched to all-party chat. "Put them to sleep. Any more deaths of those who might be willing to live in peace is too much. Giants, please stop. We really don't want to see you die as a race, really. Haven't you seen enough to understand that you're facing certain death and extinction if you don't relent? How can living in peace be so terrible that you would find that preferable?"

The King raged, but a large number of commoners and a third of his remaining soldiers stepped back out of the fighting zone. The King frothed and his harsh words bit into his people. The war as a whole came to a halt as weapons of Giants began to face other Giants.

William suddenly got a chat message. "Training, this is it. Patch it through," he waved excitedly. When Training nodded, William said - and it came out on the all battle line so all the Giants could hear as well, "Say that again, Guard Unit. I was distracted."

"Corbin finally caught up to us. We've reached a hidden canyon. There's a party of six Giants pulling swords, headed into it. What do you want us to do?"

"Does Corbin know what's in there?"

"He says he was told by one of the women at the medical camp that the Giant King had sent orders to his guards there that they were to go find the hiding place of the children and kill them, but do you want us to go check?"

"Yes, please. They should be saved at all costs."

"Yessir."

Angry Giants were turning towards the King, fists tight on their weapons. "She misheard it, if it was from me at all!" the King cried. "Certainly guards were sent to ensure the safety of the children."

"Guildmaster, there's children and a few women here, cowering against the far wall. It's actually less defensible and more like a trap. We'll be hard pressed to not have their swords do damage regardless. Six Giant swords in here doesn't leave much room."

"Try your best. Strong status effects as fast as you can. If you can make it so they can't swing -"

"Goddamn. One of the youngest just went down...by his own father's hand. He'd recognized him and thought he was saved. The rest are terrified."

"Get in there." William was cold and hard. "King of Giants. You know me. You've run from me more times than you can count. Today, you can't." William rose up from his mountain top position above the battle and set his carefully crafted arrow to his longbow, his pride and joy. He pulled the string and aimed, then let go, sending his anger with it. "See you in Hell."

The arrow sped forward and struck the King, then exploded, tearing a chunk of out of his flesh. William's special unit from Susukino that had been held in reserve took the field against the King and his royal guard. William fired off five more arrows in quick succession, each boosted by status effects from Training as it was fired, that did the same sort of damage. The King was already down fifteen percent by the time the rest of his raid party arrived on the King himself.

With great ferocity, the Adventurers fought the King and his closest men, and the angry Giants who had been lied to from the beginning didn't let them flee. With fifteen percent left to go and at least one more death round from the Adventurers, the King's HP suddenly dropped rapidly until he was nearly zero. As he slumped, behind was revealed a very angry Giant, holding a sword dripping in blood.

"You were a traitor to all Giant-kind from the beginning and I am ashamed to call you King, and even more ashamed to have laughed at my son and Corbin, who has been a better Giant than you will ever be remembered as. Die." The sword was lifted in two hands and pierced the breast of the fallen King. The King turned to bubbles as his guard around him did the same at the hand of Giants and Adventurers alike. On the ground, left behind, was the crown of the King of Giants.

The Adventurers watched that warily as Markle's father picked it up. By rights, because he had technically killed the King, it was his. That wasn't how the quest should work, though, and they didn't want a succession battle next between all the Giants left standing. Markle's father held it up. "I say this goes to Corbin. He's the one who understood from the beginning what it is to be a Giant and to care for his people rightly."

There were some discontents, but no one complained and many agreed. William and Training sighed in relief. "We'll take a break here, then," William said to the group as a whole. "Once the Adventurer healers are all back up, we'll go wake up the Giants that are still out of it one by one and make sure they agree they'll live according to the peace treaties. If not, they'll have to go. If they'll agree to peace, then we'll heal them up so they can at least walk to the new city on their own feet. If you'll give us about an hour, please," he asked the Giants.

The Giants pulled back and a few walked towards their back and came back with more Giants that looked a little different. William narrowed his eyes. "Why do they look different?"

Markle's father looked over at him on his mountain top, almost eye-to-eye now that he'd sat down. In surprise he said, "Those are the Giantesses who were taking care of the wounded from earlier."

William's eyes scanned the battle field one more time, then slumped sadly. "Oh. I'm sorry about the others. We didn't know the difference, and we didn't think they'd join in on the fighting. I'm glad some didn't, or it would have been impossible for you to rebuild anyway."

The truce was explained to the Giantesses by the Giants and they slowly walked through the living and wounded. A few found living spouses with tearful reunions. A few more found unconscious wounded spouses and William sent healers to those first. The rest grieved, but began to help take care of the wounded.

"And that's a wrap, William," the head of the guard unit for the children was breathing hard. "We had to work fancy and fast to not get sent to the respawn point, but they're all down. A few injuries, I'm afraid, on the older kids who stood to protect them. Corbin, Markle, and one other in particular pulled the guard's attention away from the kids so we could take out the ones farthest in first. For all it was their first time to swing weapons around and wear armor, the boys did a fine job of holding the soldiers off until we could jump in and help. The third one seems infatuated with Corbin now. I suppose such is the way of quests, however. The hero always gets the girl in the end."

The Giants were sitting up-right in shock, while the Adventurers were laughing and quite in agreement. "Who?" Markle's father asked.

"They want to know the name of the lass," William sent back.

"Hang on." There was silence for a bit, then, "Gretha, Markle's sister."

Markle's father's mouth dropped open, then he began to laugh heartily, until he slapped his knee, sending thunderclaps of air pressure through the undergrowth. "And she always swore she'd never, ever, look at him that way for as long as she lived." He chortled a few more times. "You can always see it, though, as the parent. The more they deny it, the more they really want it."

"I hear you on that one," Training said, understanding, nodding in agreement. "Well, Miss Purrcy pegged that all in one. What happened to Tor, though?"

"The traitor died," Markle's father said mildly. "He tried to run, too, when he saw the reality to the lie. He was headed to kill Corbin first. That wouldn't do."

"You were a soldier once before," Training said shrewdly.

"Yes. I retired three year ago when I was wounded in one of the battles down here. I managed to make my way back north. The King wanted me to come back and I refused. He made sure his men put lots of pressure on me to keep my mouth shut about the truths down here. Killing my wife with poison was the last straw. I've actually been in jail since then. They brought me along to keep an eye on me and to see I died for real this time."

"It's good that Corbin will have a trusted advisor who can teach him the rest of what he needs to know, then," Training said. "I've done what I could from our side in the time we had, and Archmage Shiroe as well as a few other Adventurers. He's had good lessons, though brief, and we'll leave a communication connection to us down in Akiba. He's going to need it to stay in contact with your prospective employers and his mentors there."

The Giants looked confused. "Employers?"

"Yeah." Training raised an eyebrow in surprise at them. "You've got to make a living somehow, right? He'll go over the details with you, but there's already three things we'd like to hire you all to do."

Markle's father put a fist to his chin and leaned on it. "Okay. What are those three things?"

"Woodcutters, merchant ship guards against the sea monsters, and wine barrel makers. I think those were the three. Oh, and coal mining for the blacksmiths making the chests and barrels."

Markle's father slowly smiled and so did the rest. "Wine, coal, and fighting. That sounds like we could fit right in."

"We think so," Training grinned back.

William nodded, leaning on his longbow. "Your Goddess didn't ask without making the way forward possible. That's not the way they work, you know. It would have been easier with more of you starting out, so you'll all have to work hard, but as you get going I think you'll find you'll grow back up quite nicely." That started them all back on the path again of disbelief and straightening out truth and lies until a band of smaller Giants was suddenly pouring over the shoulder of one of the mountains.

"Dad!" Two of the taller ones ran forward, surprisingly not stepping on anything or anyone important. He rose to his feet and they slammed into him, arms wrapping around him. The other children were finding parents as well, though some were standing sadly outside the ring.

"Markle. Gretha. It's so good to see you alive again."

"You too, Dad," Markle said.

"I was so worried," Gretha said. "We though they'd killed you."

"I'm fine." He looked up and motioned. "Corbin, come here. I'm sorry to laugh at you. My limited experience from before said Adventurers were only dangerous creatures to be left alone. We've been talking and they are really rather a lot like we are."

Corbin looked around at everyone, then hedged, "Well...some of them do seem to be. But they are still very different." The Adventurers chuckled. They knew they were different.

Markle's dad put his hands on Corbin's shoulders and moved him into the center of the Giants. "Thank you for not giving up. For continuing to try to do your best for your kind. While we are few, we will follow your example from today and do our best to learn sufficient humility to get along with the Smalls, and the Adventurers, who we really don't want to fight ever again, if we can help it." Corbin nodded heartily, not wanting that either. "Will you listen to my advice into the future and learn from me what it is to lead Giants?"

"Ah...sure?" Corbin answered, as if not sure where this was going.

The father turned to the daughter. "I betroth you to Corbin. At the proper time, after the proper courtship, you will marry him." Both children gaped at him, then blushed brightly and looked away from each other. But they didn't complain. There were secret knowing smiles all over the battlefield. He took his daughter's hand and pulled her to standing next to Corbin. "Kneel." They did. Markle's father raised the crown of the King of Giants over Corbin's head. "For and in behalf of all Giants of Ezzo, I crown you, King Corbin. At the proper time, Gretha will stand by your side as your Queen. Lead us rightly as you have tried to do until now."

Corbin looked up at him, wide eyed. "But -"

He got a stern look that silenced him. "You have enough advisors, according to the Adventurers. You'll grow into it."

Corbin swallowed. "Um. If you say so." He looked around the father to the son. "You'll still help me, right?"

"Any time, buddy. Drag me through the ocean or across the mountains, I'll be there." Markle smiled brightly.

"Well said!" a bright cheery voice said. When people looked around, Markle pointed to Corbin's shoulder. Corbin reached up a hand to his shoulder, then put it on the ground a stretched-arm distance away. "Small to big, friend to all." There was suddenly a young Giantess next to him. She put on a bright smile. "I'm Pickle. My cousin Hugh and I have been on the quest with Corbin and Markle from since they rescued us. We're People of the Land, but the Adventurers of Akiba gave us these cool items, so I get to be Big, too."

The Giants stared at Pickle, not quite sure how to take her. She looked around the battlefield and her face went sad. "Well, all isn't lost, but that was a blow. I'm glad to see so many did survive. The people of Sharpcliff will be glad it's a small number for now, but will get used to it I think as everyone grows up together." She smiled at her friends, ending with a bright one for Markle. "Right?"

Markle nodded. "I think so, too."

Markle's father slowly looked from Pickle to Markle and slowly raised an eyebrow. Markle's attention was caught by his father's stare. When he looked, though, his eyes went wide and he raised both hands and waved them. His father snorted a laugh. "No, really, Dad."

His father raised a hand. "Stop. Stop right there." He put his hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm proud of you, son." He looked around at the others, including Hugh. "You've all done very well. Thank you."

There was a shimmer in the air and a glowing Giantess appeared floating about twenty feet off the ground - not much for a Giant. She bent down and lightly kissed Corbin on the head. "Thank you, my son. May you have many blessings upon your house long years into the future. Have courage. You had it this time. Be wise - you always were. Continue to love and care for others and the rest will fall into place." Her hands left his cheeks and she faded out again.

William watched tears drip from Corbin's face, finding it all a very suitable ending of the quest. He turned to give clean up orders and noticed Training was standing stiffly, staring at the space where the Goddess had been. "What?" he asked quietly, turning off the chat function.

Training looked away. "Nothing."

William looked at him a moment longer, then put a hand on his closer shoulder, preparing to walk away. He didn't say anything, but he did pat him on the shoulder a few times before walking off to let the man have privacy with his thoughts. "I'd really like to meet her myself sometime."


	148. Adventurers of Mercy

Isuzu sighed and stretched. Now that her fingers had callouses on them (okay, Adventurers didn't get truly tired at her levels except perhaps mentally and callouses never formed, though you would think they would, particularly for fighters), she ran through her performances each evening almost without thinking about them. She was really going to have to start writing new songs. What would be enjoyed here in Yamato was...just about anything. She hadn't run into anything to write for Shiroe yet. There was distrust of Adventurers, but really there wasn't much joint activities going on to write about.

She put away her instruments and equipment. That was done in all of two seconds. The waitress waved her down to a table she was setting drink and food on. Isuzu headed that way. Already it was getting thin here in this inn. The locals had drifted out and most travelers had to be up early in the morning. Only a few tables still held people dragging their night out. She dropped into the chair, thanking the waitress and picked up the cup. Singing _did_ still make her thirsty. Once she'd soothed her throat, she picked up her utensil and dug in.

"...but _where_ do we go?" the youngest man at a table of four men complained. "We've walked here, but just where among all of this mountain area are we supposed to go? We'll be here for months."

"Well, as long as you keep trying, that's the point of the quest isn't it?" another of the men said practically.

"But for how long?" the young man asked again. "I haven't seen any gryphons fly overhead at all. Not this whole time to even tell us to go left or right. Even that much would give us a direction to go. If we have to wait, we may as well wait here until we see one fly, then we'll at least have a place to go."

Isuzu kept putting food into her mouth, but she looked closer at the four men, reading their statuses. She was surprised to see they were all People of the Land. It had sounded like they were questing. That wasn't usual...well, until Purrcy had asked for joint quests. Actually...those were some things Adventurers had been doing with People of the Land. Maybe she should see how those were going and write some songs about them. She may as well talk to Shiroe about it now and see.

"Guildmaster Shiroe, do you have a bit of time?"

"Sure. We just got done with all the meetings so I'm free."

"I'm ready to write a new song or two. The set is getting old for me, even if it's new for everyone else."

He chuckled. "I can understand."

Isuzu explained what she was thinking about and asked how the sub-quests started the last dungeon level were going. "Ah, well actually one has completed as far as the main part of it goes. That's the Giants." He filled her in on that story. It sounded rather exciting actually, though it didn't have as much Adventurer involvement at the beginning as at the end. And while the concept of integrating the Giants into the rest of rational living was important, Isuzu wasn't sure it should be the focal point of the first song. That would be better later as people were already getting used to the idea.

"Are there any others?" she asked. Even a compilation would be a possibility.

"Well, the shrine quest is finally moving forward, but I'm not sure that's a good one to include until it's over, particularly since it involves a cursing."

"Yeah, we'd want to wait to see if the cursing gets broken or not. Tragedies have to be dealt with a little differently than happy endings."

"Hmm," Shiroe mused. "Well, actually, there's one that we didn't start, but somehow I've become involved with anyway. Princess Raynessia decided to go with the questing option for her intended. We think she'd rather not be married at all, but Duke Sergiad says she's told him she's not awakened to any sort of romance at all, where most young women of the land would be by her age. She's hoping that as the quests are completed she'll know it's time and Neville is the right one. I suppose others will have to go questing if the quests fail or if he isn't."

Shiroe explained what the first quest had been and how he and Nyanta and the sub-guild had been involved. "She's got him out questing for a fledgling gryphon's feather to prove he has tenacity for the second quest. No one but her knows what the third one will be, and he doesn't even know there will be a third one, since the Duke's trying to not scare him off. Apparently the Duke thinks he's be best option. My role is apparently to make sure he spends _some_ time learning the proper trait, but then to spoon feed him the item he's supposed to take back."

"Tetorō told me that when Purrcy was with the gryphons, she was on the map up in the central north mountain range, so I gave them that much. He's supposed to come back if they don't find them. I thought I'd have him talk to Adventurers around town who have gryphon Summons next to see if any of them had the item, or would be willing to ask their gryphons for them for him. Since that might not work, I've got Nyanta in my back pocket since I _know_ his gryphon has fledglings right now. If Izanagi's not willing to participate, then I'll have to send Neville down to the shrine and get one from Purrcy. I'm sure she's got one or more on her person but the Duke doesn't want to have the shrine quest interfere with Neville's quests, so he doesn't really want the easy answer. Besides, it wouldn't teach tenacity."

Isuzu sighed, setting down her empty soup bowl. "Poor guy. That could go for months, couldn't it?"

"Or just a few weeks if he gives up in the mountains. I suspect the Princess wouldn't mind the months, though." Shiroe had to agree with her.

The men at the table were getting a little louder. Isuzu looked over at them and could see a map on the table. She looked at them a little closer. "Hey, describe the party for me."

"Ah, Neville's got the noble blond hair with blue eyes and barely enough intelligence to be an upper level minister. He's got three men at arms with him. One from his father and two have the livery of the Duke."

Isuzu put her hand over her mouth as a laugh escaped her. "You won't believe it. They're sitting four tables over, arguing over the map right now."

Shiroe was silent for a moment, then let out a large sigh. "No, actually, I would believe it. His quest is going like that. Could I ask you to go step in and see what you can do to help? He probably just needs a little push in the right direction."

"Okay," Isuzu said cheerily. It would be interesting to get to be part of that, and maybe even fun to say she'd had a small role in one of her own songs.

"Thanks," Shiroe said and they let the chat drop.

Isuzu finished her drink and pushed up from the table. "Excuse me, it looks like you're having a bit of troubles?" she politely interrupted the table. The men looked at her, not quite sure how to respond. They couldn't read statuses and even though she wasn't dressed like most female People of the Land often they started out treating her like one anyway. "I'm Isuzu, a member of Log Horizon, Archmage Shiroe's guild."

Neville jumped up from his chair in his excitement. "You are? That's wonderful!" He looked at her again, then at the stage. "Oh, you were the one playing the songs. They were quite nice."

"Thank you," Isuzu responded politely. She looked closer at the map. "That's all he gave you to go on? No wonder you're frustrated." It was a rather wide area to go hunting through when it was mountainous terrain and not a whole lot of roads to travel on. That limited places to eat. She herself was sticking to roads since she wanted to play at the inns. She tapped her jaw with her finger as she considered what she could do.

"Oh! Right! I forgot about that gift. I can do that." That made all the men at the table look hopeful. Isuzu pulled out the Finding Feather she'd gotten from Purrcy at Christmas and held it over the circled part of the map. "Where is a fledgling gryphon?" She dropped the feather. It floated down gently, softly glowing. It turned and floated over a little farther from where she'd let go of it until it finally landed. She immediately held her hand out over the map. "That's not enough. That's just the first one." She pulled out a pen and marked where each tip pointed.

Lifting the feather again, she asked the same question and dropped it again from a different angle. The feather again glowed softly and turned and floated down to the map. She marked where the tips pointed again. Walking around the table, she did it one more time. "There. You want to be more in the range of these few mountains." She put away her feather and circled the smaller area that the feather had marked. "And since I asked specifically for a fledgling, you won't have to hunt through quite so many gryphon's nests."

"Oh, thank you so very much, Lady Isuzu!" Neville cried, grabbing up her hand in both of his. "Surely I can do that much. However can I repay you?"

That was easy. "You can tell me everything about your story until now. And give me permission to put your questing into a song."

His mouth dropped open. "A - a song? As in...a new one?"

"Yes," she answered with a smile.

He dropped into his seat. "Surely that is you granting me another gift, not me repaying you?"

"No, it's what I want," she reassured him. One of the men at arms immediately rose and offered his seat. They at least seemed to have the intelligence to understand that sort of repayment was simple and preferable to what they _could_ have been asked for. Isuzu sat down and was regaled - eventually by all four since they needed to vent a bit.

-:-:-:-:-

A week after sending Gareth away so he could study, in the middle of the night, Tetorō woke up to the sensation that someone was in the room with him. It was usually Purrcy-cat, but this felt like someone else. He sat up and looked around, then looked again in the code realm and then again in the spirit realm. His eyes focused on what was difficult for him to see still. "Go away," he ordered.

The spirit took a step towards him and he immediately cast the banishment spell. He'd been studying up on spiritual spells to get at least that far to help protect Log Horizon as well. The spirit disappeared, to his relief since he hadn't used it much. The spirits of the mountain didn't often enter his room, but that one had been too forward. Not interested in being woken back up again, Tetorō set up spirit wards and protections on his house and went back to sleep.

Gareth sighed and rolled over in his sleep. Even in his dreams Tetorō wouldn't talk to him.

-:-:-:-:-

Another crashing in the undergrowth had the weary Adventurers leaping to their feet again. The Person of the Land wasn't bleeding anymore. They had to hope that was enough for now. Demikas burst out, the source of the sounds. "Good thing we're partied. I would never have found you."

"Why're you coming back when you didn't stick around to help?!" the one Adventurer not in the know and hired by Berenshilde yelled at Demikas.

Demikas looked him up and down in irritation. They'd been irritated with each other nearly since being hired. The Eagles just watched. With a sudden nod, Demikas blinked out, blinked back in behind the Adventurer and pounded on him with a five-hit attack that looked like a blurry one. The Adventurer went up in bubbles. "And good riddance," Demikas swiped the air in front of him to erase that Adventurer from the party (as far as he was concerned).

"Any complaints?" he finally thought to ask the rest of them. The other three shrugged. He looked at Berenshilde. "Not bleeding. Perfect. Come on, I found Mount Fuji, and we're going _there_. I've got a question to ask and I am _not_ going to waste any more time." He scooped Berenshilde up over his shoulder and took off running the way he'd come.

The Eagles grinned and took off after him. _Their_ orders had been to just observe and keep alive. If Demikas wanted to bypass the curse, that was fine with them. It was an interesting run. Right off the bat - after running over the field of Hungry Moss that Demikas used his Monks attacks to blink in and out over and they used wings briefly - it was obvious the curse was still going to hold sway anyway. They had a lot of fun _observing_ the irritable Monk crash through the two tall cedars that simultaneously decided to fall - towards each other - right as Demikas wanted to pass between them. They jumped and ran over the now on the ground trees.

At the next partial clearing, after clearing quite a path through the woods himself, Demikas and the still unconscious Berenshilde were facing a pack of Timber Wolves. He was going so fast that Demikas just landed on the head of the Timber Wolf in the front of the pack, pushed off, landed on another one near the back, and was gone. The rest of the wolves had time to stare in shock at their dead alpha, then scatter in fear as the three Eagles raced through.

"How long d'you think his apparent blessing will hold out against the cursing?" Aviation Safety asked.

"Dunno," Ground Safety answered.

"As long as he wants it to," Compliance gave his opinion. They grinned at each other, then pulled up to a halt as the hill in front of Demikas started to rise, bits of dirt and trees with shallow roots falling in a rain from it. Fingers were dangling from under that over growth - Giant ones - and their eyes went wide. "Quick mark that on the map!" Hill Giants were hard to find.

"You think the Caretaker will let us?" Aviation Safety asked with an uncertain frown.

"We'll ask later. Get it on the map!"

"I got it, I got it," Ground Safety reassured Compliance.

Demikas had run under the moving hand and was already moving on. "Where did he come from?"

"He came down with the Giants." They took to the air to catch up.

"Ohh, so he's used to that, then."

Compliance snorted a laugh at Aviation Safety who shoved him. They were suddenly all lifted high in the air by a particularly strong sigh from the sleeping Giant. That was beneficial. Now they could actually see Mount Fuji from the air. They stayed that high, soaring above Demikas. He could run as fast as they could fly, almost, so they didn't loose him.

They were able to give him course corrections as the curse wanted to do things like shove him down a cliff of loose scree into the mouth of a large Earth Caterpillar that preferred to eat Adventurers over dirt. (That got marked on the map too.) Or the curse would try to confuse his feet again and redirect Demikas away from his chosen path. Then when they told him he was off course, he'd swear, close his eyes and just run whatever direction they told him to run.

"Ahh, _that's_ going to be a problem," Aviation Safety said, pointing to a chasm in front of Demikas.

"He's going to just try to jump it, isn't he," Compliance said gloomily.

"Probably."

"So...how do we all get around the curse, then?"

"We just try. You're job's to be backup, so be back up and think of something for if we all crash and burn. Come on Ground Safety." Aviation Safety already had his hammock in his hand. The two Eagles dove down. Aviation Safety handed one end of the hammock to Ground Safety and they swooped down after Demikas. "Demi - jump as hard as you can and get as much distance forward as possible with your skills. We'll assist the rest of the way over." They got the usual grunt of assent. He wasn't much for words most of the time.

It was rather like an areal ballet. Demikas, with his burden, appeared out of the trees and undergrowth, ran the five steps to the edge of the chasm and gave a strenuous jump. They measured just how far an Adventurer of his level _could_ jump since it was a new data point, then swooped in behind him. He blinked in and out a few more times for about five different Monk's moves and then he was at his limit.

They carefully scooped both men into the hammock, knowing the curse would throw one or the other out, if not both, if they weren't extra special sure, and kept going forward with strong sweeps of their wings. It was good Compliance was on back up. His sudden appearance at the last ten feet to push them over the ground again kept them all from falling into the depths. They did roll a bit, though.

Ground Safety stood on Demikas. "Okay. Hold still for a bit. We just came from a heavy fight and are getting low on wing capacity. That was essential to keep you on track. I like this method a lot, though. If you've got energy, then you sit up on first watch and let us sleep."

Demikas narrowed his eyes at them. "Just who are you people? Adventurers don't have wings."

"We do," they shrugged at him.

"How can I know I can trust you?"

They gaped at him. "Didn't we just...?" Aviation Safety protested, flinging a hand back at the chasm.

"...Like, make sure you _survived_ for two hours?" Compliance finished it, throwing his hands in the air.

"Okay, but that doesn't mean there isn't something coming up you're helping me to get _to._ "

They rolled their eyes at him. "To the _shrine_! We're contracted to Shiroe through Purrcy. Does that help?" Ground Safety said impatiently.

Demikas growled again. "Only slightly."

"We're on orders to observe and see he gets back to Akiba alive," Aviation Safety tried again. It wasn't all that unreasonable to be highly suspicious when one was following after Berenshilde.

"...Though he _can't_ die," muttered Compliance. They'd already had that proven to them multiple times, like this last one. Berenshilde wasn't bleeding because he didn't have any more blood to bleed. They'd healed him up, though, with what they could do. They hoped it was an internal blood clot and there was still blood in him somewhere.

"Just don't move from this spot and let us sleep," Ground Safety ordered firmly. "Otherwise you'll set yourself back three _more_ days while we come find you two. We've already gotten that far ahead in just this much. A few hours won't kill you."

"Fine." Demikas left Berenshilde where he'd tumbled and walked over to sit on a rock. The rest got ready to have to fight something new. When it really was _just_ a rock, and didn't set off any traps, triggers, or tremors, they moved Berenshilde away from the edge of the chasm and lay down around him in a triangle, head to feet, and fell asleep after they'd set up so many layers of spell protections a meteor shouldn't get through. That method had worked at night so far.

-:-:-:-:-

"Okay. So now we're here at Mount Fuji, where do we go?" Demkias asked, looking around.

"Up." It came on the chat. The irritating flying Adventurers were still in the air.

Demikas stared at the stairs and the thousands of red torii gates that rose into the air. There was heavy cloud cover - only at the base of the mountain of course. An unusual reverse pressure system just for him and the cursed kid. He'd have left the kid a long time ago, except that his own quest rather demanded he be brought along, according to Shiroe anyway. Since his own goals were so important to him, he wasn't willing to mess it up just because he hated Shiroe. However, he'd had it with _following_. This part was his own quest, too, so _leading_ was just as good, and better since _he_ wasn't cursed.

On his shoulder, Bereshilde stirred a bit, the first sign of life since they'd left that last altercation. Demikas swore quietly. He didn't want the cursing level to increase dramatically while they were still at the foot of the mountain. Up he went. The steps were wet, and therefore slippery. If he tried to run, then he'd run headlong into one of the legs of a torii gate and have to shake it off and get his bearings again. ...And then the yokai started appearing around him. Berenshilde raised his head groggily and screamed.

Demikas jumped forward ten steps and glanced back. "Just shut yer eyes," he grumbled at Berenshilde. "They'll be gone when we break through the mountain."

"What is it?" one of the other three asked.

"Yokai. Clouds are full of 'em." He kept moving.

There was the faint sound he was learning was their wings headed his way. A light went off around him and Berenshilde, then a little later, another one. "That should keep them off you."

"Thanks." It was a long way up this way. "Any idea how long this takes?"

"Hang on. We've had people have to climb it." There was silence for the next thirty steps. "Five to six hours." Demikas swore quietly. He wasn't too surprised. Suddenly the wings were coming for him again. This time he was lifted up and deposited one hundred steps up the mountain on top of a torii gate. That happened again until he grouched at them that it was more irritating than useful. They disagreed and kept going until he suddenly was breaking out of the cloud cover. They settled down next to him for a breather. "We can't go that long with wings. You've got to get up there in a lot less, or we need to run with you."

As the clouds slowly rose to lick at their feet, the youngest of the three swore. They put away the wings. "Let's run, shall we?" the roughest of the lot said.

"Me, too?" Berenshilde asked hopefully from where Demikas had dropped him.

"Nope," Demikas grunted as he picked him up again.

Berenshilde wiggled too much. "But this is so undignified!"

"You want one of us to take a turn?" the middle Adventurer asked.

"No. I offset. You don't."

"How?" the youngest asked as they ran away from the fog and up the torii gates again.

"Need to talk to the Oracle, too," he said shortly.

"Oooh." That seemed to be sufficient.

They ran without talking for a long time, probably an hour or so once they got Berenshilde on Deimkas' back instead of over his shoulder so he'd shut up. They got to learn which torii gates weren't secure and stable any more. They also got good at landing lightly and leaving quickly so that they didn't go down with the gate that Demikas had discovered was ready to be replaced. It felt like having a bunch of giant sized fairies around, what with the flight (wings were gone now for the run) and the light jumping and dancing around to stay up.

They could see the top of the steps - at least they thought it was the top of the steps - when two giant warriors rose up to either side of the torii path. "Great. Giant Hōsōshi," Demikas grumbled as Berenshilde tried to find the breath to scream again.

Compliance whined. "Hahaue, really. Can we be done yet? I mean really. We have to have a final boss, too?"

As spears headed their way to be danced around as well, since they weren't stopping, Ground Safety added, "The additional destruction will make it even that much harder to get up the mountain, or cause more work. Really, we could do without it."

The spear coming Demikas's way got smashed by his fist and splintered, then disappeared. Three more steps and the opposing spear got the same treatment. They kept going, though the others watched over their shoulders. With a sudden flurry three sets of wings came out and then three sets of hands were grabbing Demikas and Berenshilde and they were flying as rapidly as possible up the mountain. A spell was cast and they were flying twice as fast. Demikas decided not to look behind him. Berenshilde had already looked, squealed, and fainted. It wasn't _that_ bad, but he didn't need to waste time and energy bothering to look when his goal was right here in front of him.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas shifted again, uncomfortable and very bored and highly impatient. They'd been told to wait in this room and he wasn't going to any more. He rose to his feet, walked through the next door and was in the same sort of room. The only thing that said it wasn't the _same_ room was that Berenshilde wasn't in it. He stood in that room with his arms folded and a frown on his face for five minutes, decided that was long enough, and walked out the next door. That was a hallway and on the floor were two females of the shrine kneeling on either side of another door.

"My turn," he announced. They bowed and opened the door for him. As he walked in, he was announced. He barely gave them time to get the formal words out. "Purrcy, I need to know how to get back into the place you took me and my wife. I'm sorry to leave it, but a bunch'a monsters came in and two pulled me out - just as the boss was getting ready to destroy the house and my family. I can't leave them like that." He'd gone from angry to pleading.

Purrcy, looking very swamped in layers and layers of red and black kimonos, was staring at him, quite surprised. Demikas frowned. "Ah...Shiroe said something about a time shift and I'm before then. I've been pulled out of it before you took me into it. I don't understand it, but I get that since you took us there, only questing to ask you how to get back in is going to work."

"Ah, right. I'll think about it from that perspective, then," Purrcy said. She thought about it for a moment, then said, "Do you have anything on your person that belongs to a member of your family that got left behind?"

Demikas checked his pockets just to be sure they didn't. He ran down his list, then backed it back up. He pulled out a sorry little bracelet of natural items (acorns, kernels of corn, that sort of thing) that Emiline had made for him. "Perfect," Purrcy's eyes lit up and she held out her hand for it. Demikas gently handed it over. Purrcy held it in her hand until it glowed, then handed it back. It wasn't really different. "When you get back to near where you reentered this time-space, pull it out. It will glow more brightly the closer you get to that time-space. Put it on and you should be able to walk back into that time-space. ...You only get this one chance, though. Don't fall out again."

He shrugged irritably. He knew that. He carefully put the bracelet back into a protected slot in his list. Whatever had been in that slot fell on the floor in front of him. He ignored it. It wasn't as important. "Thank you," he said. "Will I get to show up in time to save them from the giant thing I need to kill?"

"Probably, if you're willing to still be helpful on your way back."

Demikas sighed. "Fine. You'll never reform me, you know."

"I know, but everything helps push you a little closer. You will appreciate how it helps your family life at the least. Keep working hard, and good luck."

He gave a nod and turned to leave. A shrine maiden pointed to the thing on the floor. "Aren't I supposed to pay for the help?" he asked with a lift of an eyebrow and walked out without taking it.

In the next room, Berenshilde was finally sitting there to wait his turn. "Please, it _is_ Lady Purrcy in there, right?"

"Yeah."

Berenshilde slumped. "Did - did she answer you positively?"

"Yes."

Berenshilde glowered at him. Then he flipped his curly blond hair. "Then I certainly will as well. If such a rough cad as yourself can be tolerated by her Eminence, than _I_ shall be heard with pleasure."

Demikas stared at the child, then shook his head. "I would laugh at you, but you're too pitiful." He walked out to the next room and decided he'd better wait there since he was supposed to make sure Berenshilde made it back to Akiba somehow. He wouldn't...except Purrcy had just asked him to keep helping and this was an obvious easy win on that one.

-:-:-:-:-

Berenshilde was let into the lower room of meeting about forty-five minutes after Demikas. The shrine maidens had thought there was only one and that was Demikas since he'd been in already. His noble tantrum had finally alerted them to the fact there was one more waiting in the upper room of instruction. He scowled at them until they apologized with bows, then he waved a hand to be let into the lower room of meeting. He tried to put on what he thought was a humble expression and walked into the room. He stood proudly through the formal introduction, glaring at Purrcy the whole time. He was so sick of the curse he couldn't stand it.

Striding up three more paces he bowed stiffly, which meant with only a little flair of the hand and resting fingers two centimeters below the heart rather than the palm on the heart. "I have been sent at the suggestion of my father to beg forgiveness for threatening the person of the Oracle in a sudden fit of unexpected emotion. I have been cursed for doing so and wish to know what I may do to repair the error and remove the curse."

Purrcy stared at him. "I don't recall cursing you."

He stared at her open mouthed then put his hands on his hips in irritation, meaning his hips thrust forward and his shoulders went back. "You came with the Archmage to my father's house and cursed me to lose the heirship to my weak younger brother. But until he comes I may not die. For some reason everything since then has contrived to kill me anyway and thus my person has been subjected to such awful actions as to be unnamable, and still I awaken on my bed to find it has righted itself again."

"Inconvenient," Purrcy murmured.

"Indeed," he declared back, then wondered if she meant she would rather he just die. He narrowed his eyes at her, but she was not someone to demand explanations from, so he withheld.

"Well, what I recall was that I gave an oracle for your brother. I don't recall saying anything specifically to you or in your behalf, nor against you even. Since I haven't cursed you, there is no way to remove what doesn't exist. If Inari has chosen to fulfill its own words by making it impossible for you to die, then how am I to influence that decision?"

Suddenly afraid of not ever being released from the cursing, Berenshilde fell to his knees, his hands clasped. "Please, you must be able to do something." He looked wildly around the room, then said, "Surely if you can speak to Inari-no-Izanami you can intercede on my behalf at least?" He cast about in his mind. "I - I'll build a shrine to Inari-no-Izanami on the property and see it is properly maintained." Purrcy gave a shudder but he missed it in his attempt to find any way to remove the cursing. "If the property would revert to me again as heir, I would donate a sizable section to making it a full and proper shrine and support a priest or priestess there."

Purrcy held up her hand. "I cannot say you ever will. I will attempt to intercede for you, but that is all I can offer. When a god has made a decision, it is not often we can change their minds." She turned around, raised her hands, clapped them together twice, bowed to the wall, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami. Rudy's oldest brother has come seeking release from his curse of life and seeks forgiveness and another opportunity to try again. Will you show him mercy and allow him another opportunity to show his willingness and humility in attempting to be a better leader of his people?"

Berenshilde was surprised to see everyone in the room bow with their heads to the floor. He did the same quickly but as he did so, a glint of gold caught his eye. He could just reach it from where he was. Before everyone was looking at him again, he'd snatched it up and slipped it into his lap, covered by his hands. As the others sat up again, he did, too, to see Purrcy turning back around to face him.

She looked at him sternly. "What you sow in life is what you reap. Walk carefully and perhaps she will look on you with mercy from this time."

Berenshilde rose to his feet and bowed, hiding his find. "Thank you very much, Your Excellency. I will endeavor to do as you've said. May Inari-no-Izanami be merciful to me and my father."

As he walked through the empty next room, he looked at his find. It was a simple gold band, as one might wear around the wrist. Perhaps one of the shrine maidens had dropped it and forgotten it. It was simple enough to not be of much worth, but he slipped it on his wrist up under his sleeve for safekeeping where it fit snugly enough to not slip off. Perhaps they could buy the next set of provisions with it. He entered the next room and nearly fell down he felt so weary. He scowled as Demikas raised an eyebrow at him. "It is enervating to come from the presence of the Oracle, surely," he defended himself. "I think perhaps I'll wait here to recover." He sat down.

"I've already waited an hour for you in this place." Demikas rose to his feet. When Berenshilde refused to rise, Demikas picked him up and put him over his shoulder again and carried him out the door. Berenshilde was hit by a sudden wave of dizziness. Since he'd never yet been able to get Demikas to put him down once this was begun, he decided he'd just pass out. That would be better than having to be aware while being jounced up and down on his belly so uncomfortably. Likely he was still feeling cursed just because he had to continue to deal with this lout of an Adventurer.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas was beating Berenshilde about the head and Berenshilde was crying and trying to protect his head as much as possible. He was on the ground and his hand had gone through red to purple and was now grey. They were lost - again - and this time the three other Adventurers had gone missing as well. "Damn noble." Demikas cursed at him. "If you _add_ a _cursed item_ to the sum, then even my own equivalence doesn't work! Don't you know enough to not steal even?!"

"I-it was a-a gift!" Berenshilde cried.

"Was not! I dropped it, so I should know! I told them to keep it, and you pilfered it!" He finally walked off to punch a tree down and stand with his arms folded while he tried to breathe through it. "I can't fix it. I was going to get it purified, and that was probably a place to, but it wasn't that important to me at the time." He growled for a while as Berenshilde continued to cry. The bracelet was slowly squeezing his arm off. He wouldn't die so Demikas wasn't worried about that. He was worried about the fact it was a generally cursed item. "What did Purrcy do to help you - if anything?" he threw it in Berenshilde's face.

"S-she interceded in my behalf, asking Inari-no-Izanami to have mercy on me."

"And? What else did she say?" he stood over the lad threateningly.

"Ah...ah," the pain and the panic were making it hard for Berenshilde to think well. "Something about asking that I be given another chance...and she warned me to be careful." As Demikas raised his hand again, Berenshilde raised his arms to shield his head again. "That's all I can remember! It hurts too much!"

Demikas backed off again. He wasn't supposed to kill the person he was supposed to be helping. He struggled to calm down enough to think of anything that would work. He leaned against a tree, and that made him think of his wife and the night they'd run from the house. How he missed her with every fiber of his being. He didn't want to be here at all. He wanted to be with her. "Inari, please, let me get home to Anna. Don't let me kill this fop, not when I don't want you to be angry with me. I have no idea why you wanted me to help _him_ when you've already cursed him. Can you at least let me get to where I need to be so I can go back home? I'll carry him all that way at least."

Berenshilde began to howl. Demikas looked over at him. The arm was beginning to shrivel in the last stages of the curse. Demikas sighed and closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree again. There wasn't anything else to do. The bracelet would fall off when the arm did and then it would go looking for a new victim. He'd at least had the presence of mind to stick it into a protected slot so a thief wouldn't steal it before he could get it someplace safe. Now he wished he hadn't bothered. Any thief would have had what was coming to him. Instead he had to listen to the screams while they waited.

"Well, that was one way to find you." Demikas looked over. The other three Adventurers were breaking through the undergrowth. They had a few others with them. Demikas raised an eyebrow. Two were kids and the third looked familiar but was a woman. "Pick up a few more that need protecting?" he asked.

"Naw. These are from Akiba. They've come from being at the shrine themselves. Said they were wandering around helping people they came across."

Demikas guffawed. "Then you've brought them to the right place." He waved a hand at Berenshilde. "Went and stole a cursed item and put it on without thinking at all. He's at the final stages. Once the arm falls off, we can get going. Maybe they can get him to at least shut up. That's the help _I_ need."

"Cursed item, you say?" The lad of the group looked very intrigued. "That's my specialty." He walked over to Berenshilde who at least tried to go back to sobbing from the wail. He was about to the final moaning and had fallen over, unable to keep himself upright in the pain. The lad clapped and prayed, then held his hands over the bracelet. A glow surrounded his hands and the bracelet. Demikas watched the status of the bracelet. It hovered in the air for a while, then slowly shimmered and changed so that it read, "Uncursed". Well that was better than cursed. Not as good as "normal", but it would do.

Very gently the lad pulled the bracelet off the quivering lord. "Have you got one of those potions, Majiyo?" he asked.

The young girl walked over, pulling a potion out of a bag. Demikas looked closer. "That's Dazenek's Magic bag."

"Yeah, they're Adventurers. Weren't you listening?"

"Just because someone's from Akiba doesn't mean they're Adventurers," Demikas scowled. He properly looked at their stats. "Mise!? What are you doing out this far in the middle of nowhere?"

Mise shrugged her shoulders. "Adventuring. Watching over these two. Hoping to get home sometime."

"Help us get this sorry excuse for a lordling back, if you want to be useful," Demikas demanded.

Mise rolled her eyes at Demikas. "Demi. Why would anyone help _you_?"

Demikas froze, staring at her. He slumped back and looked away. "You'd think that wouldn't you," he mused, trying to figure out that odd feeling. He shook his head. "No. Someone keeps helping me. It's the oddest thing."

"Well, that's true," Majiyo said kindly. "We just did."

"Yeah, well, and I prayed for you to."

All three looked at him in surprise. The other three did, too, actually. He could feel the back of his neck go hot. "To whom?" Yuudai asked.

"Inari. That's who Purrcy's acting for, right?" That got even more attention and surprise.

" _You_ know Purrcy, Demi?" Mise asked, completely disbelieving it.

"Yeah," he scowled at her. "That's who helped me back then, too, and I had to find her this time to get help again. Anna prayed to her god and Purrcy showed up. I was just thinking of it so decided I'd waste some of my time asking too, since I had the time to waste." He looked away again. "And then the lot of you showed up."

"That's called 'mercy', Mister Demikas," Yuudai said.

Demikas looked at the boy for a long time. "Yeah," he finally said. Pushing up from the tree, he reached down and dragged the healing Berenshilde back up onto his shoulder. "This kid got that much in the intercessory prayer. Maybe some day he'll mercifully get to _really_ die. You three ready to go?" he looked at the three who were supposed to go with him.

"Ah, the bracelet?" Yuudai held it out.

"It's mine to give since he stole it. You can keep it. Don't need it." It suddenly slipped out of Yuudai's fingers and disappeared in a faint shower of sparkles. "Ah! Don't let it get lost! It likes to find new victims." They hunted the grass for a long time, but had to give up. Who knew where it was going to end up next? - It was that kind of item.


	149. Another Round of Progress in Akiba

Shiroe and Naotsugu were sharing a lunch at one of the Crescent Burger's in town. They'd taken a bench under a tree that kept them somewhat hidden from most of the people walking the area and also eating lunches. It was hard to be known faces in Akiba - even harder when they wanted to hear what people said openly.

"They're still the juiciest, best tasting burgers in town," Naotsugu said appreciatively around his current mouthful.

Shiroe nodded, his wrapper crinkling as he removed it from covering his next bite. "It's nice to have such a delicious variety of foods around here. Almost as good as being home."

"Better," Naotsugu disagreed with him immediately. "Here, we all _really_ appreciate taste, so everyone works hard to make things _really_ taste good. Gastronomically speaking, I could stay here longer."

Shiroe gave him a withering look. He didn't need traitors to his cause even that much right now. He took his bite instead of complaining, though. The juice dribbled a bit down his chin and he caught it with his napkin as he chewed contentedly.

It was true. Filling his stomach with this kind of burger was a lot easier than with the cardboard and paste-heavy equivalent that he'd snatched up as last minute meals on his way home from work to his single apartment. He wasn't a cook at home either, though he had alternated those with microwave "meals" so he got something more lite - as those had almost zero ability to fill one's stomach even if they did claim to contain calories. He'd kept the mom and pop ramen place as his special weekend treat or he'd spend a lot more on food than he could afford. That had been good food with enough variety he could rotate each weekend and get a taste of everything without getting bored.

They were about done eating when a group of Adventurers walked past. "It's a load of crap." Their ears pricked up and they kept as faded into the background as possible.

The speaker was shoved, though the group continued to walk forward. "At least it's not as stupid as you. Get your head screwed on straight."

A third member of the group put hands on the shoulders of the two, separating them before it could go further. "We'll get the chance again. Let it go for now and keep practicing. I've actually been thinking about it and I've got an idea I'd like us to try out. They can't keep winning against us forever. There's always weaknesses..." They'd walked off too far to hear the rest, and perhaps the Adventurer had dropped his voice level some, too.

Shiroe read their status data. Naotsugu crumpled up his wrapper in both hands. Shiroe glanced at him and he was sitting up straight and looking like he wanted to throw it at their backs - hard. "Bastards." Naotsugu finally managed to get out around his emotions in a low growl. Shiroe watched him without looking at him directly to see if more would be forthcoming.

When nothing did, he calmly crunched up his own wrapper and wiped his mouth one last time. "They'll have to practice a long time," he said calmly. Naotsugu turned to glare at him and Shiroe let him read his face, which made him stop short.

Naotsugu slumped and turned away. He held out a hand and Shiroe put his trash in it. Naotsugu rose to his feet and dropped the trash in the trashcan closer to the Crescent Burger stand. He scanned the area with suspicious eyes, pausing to look at a particular group. Shiroe read their data and watched them as well. "Charlie," he said quietly.

In short order their conversation was patched in to him. It wasn't too much different. Grousing and posturing. He didn't need the data of the words. The emotions was enough. "Thanks, Charlie." The connection was cut off. "Can we get a ratio of frequency of that kind of conversation going on in Akiba in general?"

"One moment, please," Charlie answered. He came back a bit later. "Michael says that was one of the early code spells Purrcy had him work on. Do you want to specify anything, like time of day, frequency, or do you want just a general random one-shot?"

Shiroe scanned the wider area. "Let's get a one-shot right now, but if he'd do a data analysis from say just before dinner tonight and for twenty-four hours. A plot would be nice, though I'd expect it to be worst at meal times. Wish I'd done a baseline before now. ...We can call it a baseline anyway and have him rerun it in a week." He frowned a bit as he thought, then said, "And have him run one for sexual interest as well. I'd expect it to still be low now, so it might be a good baseline time to get that one. Have him copy over to Tetorō so he can pick it up while you lot are down in Australia. It will help me to have a more data driven and regular set than to have us keep guessing."

"Yessir." Shiroe thought they were done, but Charlie came back a bit later. "He says he can patch it into the code you used to listen in on Indicus. That way you can give modifications if you need to and have the data whenever you want it."

"I like it," Shiroe answered simply. This time Charlie didn't come back. Shiroe rose to his feet and started walking. Naotsugu joined him casually.

"How come every time you come out in public these days you're always looking sharp, Shiroe-kun?" Shiroe's eyes widened a bit as he turned to look at the woman who had slipped up to walk beside him on the other side of Naotsugu, her hands clasped behind her back. She was looking at him with a twinkle in her eyes.

"How would you know it's different?" he asked her, not stopping.

"Because I've kept my eye on you," she gave a smile. Shiroe wasn't sure if he liked it or not. "You're an interesting person to watch."

"And you've decided to do more than watch today because...?" Naotsugu glared at her from Shiroe's other side.

She shrugged and looked away innocently. "You just seemed relaxed, so I thought it might be a little easier today." The words, _"...and unattached"_ , hung in the air without being said.

"Disinterested," Shiroe said coolly. The woman pouted. "I'm sure there are other Adventurers who have the time." He stayed cool. She didn't leave so he went up another level. "Just because Akatsuki isn't walking next to me doesn't mean I need someone else to fill the space. You don't fit her hole and it isn't a hole to begin with." That did get her to freeze up and finally leave with an irritated look at him, a toss of her head, and an almost-flounce as she turned and stalked off.

Naotsugu continued to watch after her to make sure she was really gone. "I'd say that was harsh, but it's almost frightening you had to get there to make her go away." Naotsugu looked at Shiroe in concern. "It's not really that bad is it? It hasn't sounded like it anyway."

Shiroe looked at Naotsugu feeling both sympathetic and a bit desperate. "I've been expecting that, too, actually. It's just me and will be for a while."

Naotsugu looked back with wide eyes, then put his hand consolingly on Shiroe's shoulder. He looked away and patted that shoulder a few times. "That's rough. We could add one more so that both sides are full when we go out."

Shiroe considered that for a while as they walked. "Remember it for next time. I would guess by next week I'll regret forgetting." He could feel his face fall as his heart did. Some days he really didn't like being the alpha test male subject.

He made sure to scold Izanagi when he got back home, but he didn't expect it to do much, particularly given the very bland look and silence he got back. He still left with a glare and stiff back to stay on the high side. He couldn't afford to let any weakness show on the outside, even in the privacy of his own office. He couldn't let it out until he was resting on his couch that night as he finally relaxed and let it out in a deep breath, his arm resting on his forehead. He closed his eyes and let his heart complain until he passed out, tired from having to hold it in for the rest of that day.

"Shiroe. Shiroe!" He was being shaken by the shoulders. His body gasped slightly as he came suddenly awake, a bit disoriented until he understood it was because he was standing on his feet instead of lying on his couch.

"What?" he asked, blinking and trying to figure out where he was and what was going on. He was barefoot and in the common room. Naotsugu was holding him by the shoulders.

"Ah, man. That's not good," Naotsugu said, very concerned. He bit his lip. "You really were asleep? You really don't know?"

Shiroe shook his head. "What? Last I knew I was falling asleep." Naotsugu dropped one hand and slumped a little with a sigh. "How long was I sleeping?" Shiroe asked, guessing what had happened.

"You just passed the minimum four hour mark," Naotsugu said grimly. "I just called Michael to come trade me places and was about to head out the door."

"What's up?" Michael said quietly from behind Naotsugu.

Shiroe looked around Naotsugu and saw the stairs behind him, Michael coming down them. "Apparently I get to be the sleepwalking puppet now," he said bitterly.

Michael gave him a sympathetic look. Shiroe had told everyone at the evening meeting about the afternoon's encounter, in the interest of open communication so everyone knew what was going on, though he'd given Akatsuki the sign that he was still staying true to their commitment to each other to see this thing through properly to reassure her. Shiroe pulled out one of the sleep resistant bandannas and tied it on his head. "I'll stay up for the rest of the night, locked in my room. Four hours is enough and I'm not interested in a repeat. You'll be here anyway, right?"

Michael gave a nod. Shiroe clapped Naotsugu on the shoulder. "Thanks. Go get your rest. It will likely be that way for the next week or so." Naotsugu took a breath, then gave a nod and wished them goodnight. Michael made sure Shiroe made it into his room and Shiroe made sure to lock Akatsuki out, then sat as his desk and took up the next thing on his list to do, which was more cartography. It was something he could relax to but not fall asleep while doing.

He wondered how many days it would be before he'd have to set the lock on the door so he couldn't open it himself from the inside. He wasn't looking forward to that. It sounded so dangerous. He could see himself dying in a fire, not able to get out. Then he remembered that he'd be able to unset it and if he could be made to sleepwalk he could probably be made to sleep-talk, too. He slumped just a little, then stopped thinking about it. They weren't there yet.

-:-:-:-:-

The news from Michael's report on the twenty-four hour run wasn't good. It was heavily weighted to Honesty, and against the Eagles. Shiroe rubbed his head as they sat in conference once again. It was two breakfast meetings since his sleepwalking incident and he'd called in everyone again, not just his guild and Crusty. "We need to diffuse Ains' Hackers," he announced. That got mixed reactions. "And we have to do it in a way that they won't attack us when you lot head out to Australia."

Michael gave a nod. "I've been thinking about it." He had his arms crossed and was sitting in his chair as upright as usual. "Let them know you're sending us and tell them that you want to confirm they can handle watching the city while we're gone. But you can't do it. It has to be the Round Table Council."

"Um-hm," Crusty's voice agreed. "I think if we have you bring it up, that you're sending them and why, then we can have Souji be the repeating stern face to scold him into behaving while one of the rest of us asks for the test. Can't be me, though, and not Isaac either since we both lit into him last time."

"That works for me," Soujirou's soft voice answered.

"I'll take the request," Roderick said calmly. "As a matter of research as well as safety."

"I can back it up," Woodstock said.

"I will as well," Akaneya offered.

"...Put it to a Table vote so the rest of us can be seen to be backing Ains up as well and he'll probably play nice," Michitaka said after a pause to think a little more.

"That should probably come after the scolding so we can be seen to agree that's just as important," Calasin cautioned. There was general agreement to that.

"It's a bit early for the next Council meeting," Shiroe answered, "but if we wait until the next scheduled one they won't have much preparation time. It's likely to be last minute." He sighed. "The problem is that I don't know if they can wait. I'll run a data analysis again in three days and see if the rate of aggression is higher. I'd like to hold off on letting Ains know we're at two weeks inoculations if we can."

"That's a good reason to call an early Council meeting, though," Soujirou disagreed.

"True," Michitaka said calmly. There were a few sighs.

They thought about that for a bit. "Is there anything else we could talk about at that meeting?" Shiroe finally asked.

"Marie's got some more on the fashion show she wanted to pass along, though it wasn't urgent," Naotsugu offered. They were still protecting her and keeping her out of these meetings for now, but Naotsugu passed on anything he felt was important and that she needed to know.

Shiroe nodded. "Let her know in advance I'm thinking of calling one, then, so she can be prepared to present it." Naotsugu gave him a nod. Shiroe considered a little longer. "Two days, then?" There was general agreement and the meeting moved on.

-:-:-:-:-

Gareth was back. Tetorō looked up at him with a sigh. "What is it, Gareth?"

"I'm done with lessons," he answered back soberly. "We'll leave for Australia in only a few weeks."

"We'll be on our own again for a while, then, huh?" Tetorō asked neutrally.

Gareth stepped forward and Tetorō pulled back. "Why, Tetorō?" Gareth asked, some pain leaking through in the question.

"Because you _are_ leaving, Gareth. You'll be on the other side of the world, then we'll be going home and you'll be going back to the other side of the world one more time. What point is there to it?" Tetorō stared into Gareth's eyes soberly. "It's not worth it."

"And if I said I'd come find you and stay?"

Tetorō swore softly. "You come tell me that when we're there and prove it...and then convince my father to not kill us both...and then bear me an heir to keep him happy." He went back to his work. "Go away, Gareth. It's not worth it." The room was cold for a while after that, but Tetorō breathed deep breaths until he calmed down and got lost in his research again.

-:-:-:-:-

"We're bringing him in."

Shiroe leaned back in his chair and sighed. "What's the summary report, H/R?" he asked.

"No luck. The few gryphons they managed to find didn't have any feathers they were willing to part with. Apparently not too many get born in any given year."

Shiroe's heart fell. "As in, his quest potentially could go on for years as we all wait for a few gryphons to be born?"

"Ah...likely."

Shiroe rubbed his head. "Okay. We know of ones born last year and two potential candidates for having the feather he needs, but he's still got to prove tenacity. Suggest that he talk to Adventurers asking for any who might have gryphon Summons. Then he's to beg them to ask their gryphons if any of them have one. If we're lucky, one will. If we're all unlucky, bring him back here and we'll ask Nyanta ...again. If he's _really_ unlucky, we'll have to go against Duke Sergiad's wishes and send him to Purrcy. I'll call her and confirm, but I'm pretty sure she would have cleaned out and picked up all the feathers on her last visit out there. I think all that should prove tenacity sufficiently."

"Yessir," H/R answered back respectfully and was gone.

Shiroe sighed. "Purrcy, sorry to bother you."

"No problem, Shiroe."

"Do you happen to have a fledgling gryphon's feather in your possession?"

"No. The last time I was there, they hadn't reached fledgling yet. I do have infant gryphon feathers, though. And if I went back again soon, I'd probably have some, but as you well know that's not going to happen until I get let loose of here the next turn, at best." She was bitter and he was sympathetic.

"How is that going?" he asked gently.

"I keep trying to tell myself that we're likely half-way there," her nose wrinkled up and her whiskers pulled back, having opened up the visual herself. She glanced to her side, then waved a hand and it looked like a few people had fallen over, likely asleep. He sighed to himself.

"I'm just starting to show again, though I've got about two weeks before it starts to get problematic." She shivered. "I'm hoping that they'll lay off the slow physical destruction this time, but I think they like that as their excuse to keep me in bed so Kaede can't tell what's going on. Tetorō's already complained several times that if they want living kittens this time they should use an illusion instead so that I've got the proper nutrition and strength to actually bear them properly. I've argued the same and reminded them of last time's appeals by everyone. That's the best we can probably do at this point. We won't know for another week or so, though." She slumped slightly. "I'm already tired all the time, but that might be just how far along I am. Having me sleeping's not that unusual as far as this lot goes," she waved her hand at her attendants (currently doing their own sleeping).

"What about the work you're doing for lessons?" he asked.

Purrcy shrugged. "That's keeping me quite busy, but that's okay. This place is dull and boring. I can handle most of that and let this form sleep at the same time. They are letting me have the minimum four hours every early morning, which is nice this time. And when I get really hungry and need the proper nutrition, I'm able to remember everyone's kindness and eat something I want to eat." He understood she meant her Christmas gifts of food.

"I'm glad to hear that," he smiled at her.

"How are you all doing?"

He gave her a look, since he knew she was keeping watch over them already, but he appreciated the offer to vent. "Fine. I'm not happy with the increased level of self-awareness I have to be under, but everyone is helping to carry the loads so it's bearable for now. Neville's sub-quest was unexpected. Do you know why Princess Raynessia is requiring it? The Duke says she's not blossoming properly for a young woman of the land is her reason for it."

Purrcy shook her head. "That's a long-running quest, actually. I'm not allowed to interfere in that one. I do have a part to play later down the road is all I know, but other than that I'm kept in the dark there. I've got a lot of other sub-quests I _do_ have to participate in, though, so I haven't been overly concerned about it."

"Other regions of the world?" Shiroe asked, slightly interested.

"Yes," Purrcy answered it, but it sounded like she wasn't willing - or perhaps able - to discuss it. That was slightly disappointing, but Shiroe mentally shrugged. The ones he had to juggle were enough for him already.

He had an idea however. "What percentage of them are cleaning up after the child kami? Can I know a rough idea of when to expect to receive its greater attention?"

"Rather a lot," she said, her eyes going distant. "That's one of the things that they want going in better directions sooner than later, but it's being resistant still in a lot of areas where there aren't Adventurers to pry it loose." She returned to look more directly at him. "I suspect they're hoping the carrot of you and Akiba will draw it's attention better than trying to pry it out of where it's at. As far as timing, you'll know. You're already keeping track of progress there."

Shiroe pondered briefly. "Meaning that because they're relying on the carrot it will be as things heat up here enough to call it in." He got a faint nod, but it wasn't too surprising he supposed. "Alright. Thank you. I'm sure your attendants would like to not have to nap too long. I'll not keep you longer. Hang in there."

"Thanks." It was dry, but her following words were kind. "You, too. All my love to everyone." He gave a nod and the visual faded out. He sat for a moment to enjoy the peace, then returned to his agenda for the meeting the next day. It looked like Izanagi wanted to continue to be the final say in Neville's quests. Shiroe was willing to let it this time around, too. It worked, as long as Izanagi was willing. Shiroe hoped that Izanagi was letting Nyanta participate in those as well, otherwise Nyanta was even more bored than Tetorō and Purrcy were. He wondered briefly and idly what it was that Purrcy had given Nyanta at Christmas that she'd said was to keep him occupied while he was locked away. There was no knowing, though, so he let it drop and sank back into his work.

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta. Nyanta." Nyanta turned his head, trying to tell where Purrcy's call was coming from. He opened his eyes and was looking out from underneath an overhang of frondy branches and leaves, though they weren't anything like the flora he was used to on Earth or on Theldesia. He tentatively sniffed. The smells were completely different as well. He looked at the earth he was lying on, then buried his nose in it and sniffed deeply to imprint the smell and it's source. Then he did the same to the branches over him. His own smell was different, so he imprinted that, too.

Cautiously he ducked his head and looked out from under the leaves. He appeared to be at the edge of a forest and a more open field, though that had a few bushy growths in it and a fewer number of trees. Sitting in the field was Purrcy, slightly glowing, where everything else was rather grey in tone. He looked around his hiding place again, then carefully left it and walked along the edge of the woods, smelling each new plant and thing he came across until he'd learned the smell of each thing. He reached a tree and reached up to mark it with his claws on the side away from the field, then he walked around it to sit and look at Purrcy.

Purrcy wasn't looking his way at that moment. It looked like she was waiting for him still, and was scanning for him, as if she knew the general location he should be, but not the specific. He waited politely until her head scanned back around to where he was, then he stood and moved into the field. She bounded over to him and rubbed along his side, purring. "Hi, Nyanta! Will you come on a walk with me today?" He carefully sniffed at her to learn her scent in this place too. She returned the favor. He walked around her and rubbed against her until he reached her head. He put his head over her neck, in the cat approximation of a hug to another cat.

"Where are we, Purrcy?" he asked, taking the time to groom her chin and cheek backwards to the nap of the fur.

Her eye closed with the pressure of his tongue against her skin. "In a field zone. It's a nice one. There's a random chance for encounters with one to five low to mid-level enemies, most commonly from levels five through twenty. Avoidance is possible, so it's more like a real walk in a field here, than a required battle zone. ...So can we? Go on a walk?"

"Okay," he answered mildly. She moved off and he followed after her, sniffing as he went to learn the new things and smells of this place.

He was studying something that could have been a flower, or perhaps a mushroom, when Purrcy jumped. He looked over to see her ears pointing at something in the grass, her whole body focused on it. He walked over. "What is it?" He looked where she was looking and didn't see anything for a bit, then the ground lifted and rolled just slightly and she trembled with a hunting shiver. The earth moved again and she was suddenly digging at the ground until she'd uncovered something that she dove to capture in her mouth. It took another attempt at digging and attacking to finally pull up from the ground a small longish creature. She bit down and there was a snap, then she laid it at his feet.

"It's a mole," she said looking back up at him.

Nyanta bent down and sniffed at the mole, separating out her smell and the smell of the dirt until he had the distinctive scent of "mole" learned. Then he looked at it again. It was a bit like a fluffy sock with front and back legs made for digging, rather flat and oval like, and rather small, two paw widths in length. He couldn't make out any eyes, nose, or even face on it, making it look like a worm in that regard. He rolled it over tentatively with a paw to look at the other side and it still looked the same, but with the legs pointing up now in a floppy manner.

Since she'd given it to him, he ate it, then went about curiously to see if he could find another one. He found a beetle first, putting his paw on it to smother it. He ground it in the ground to twist off it's wings so it couldn't fly away, then he ate that too, after learning it's faint scent. As they walked through the grass, both of them had their attention caught by the quick motion of something that lept up from the ground between them, then headed Nyanta's direction, though away from them. They both immediately began hunting it. Nyanta got to its near location first and it jumped again - a grasshopper type bug. This time it came leaping towards him. Purrcy barreled into him, knocking him over almost and preventing the bug from landing on his face.

"Find it quickly, but don't let it land on you. It will do damage if it does, and mark you - not a good thing. We need to kill it." They went back to hunting it down until he finally trapped it under a heavy glove he equipped. He grabbed it in his hand and squeezed until it popped. When he opened his hand it disappeared in a sparkling of dust motes. He sniffed at his glove to learn it's scent and the scent of "grasshopper", then put the glove away again.

They walked the field some more until Purrcy paused and called him over, holding still as she looked at something specific. He carefully walked up to look too, mindful to be cautious because of the grasshopper and her current cautious pose.

"Do you see the spider in the web over there?" she asked, pointing with her nose.

He carefully scanned until he found it about two body lengths away from them. "Yes," he answered.

"Those have lots of eyes and if they see you, things can appear that you don't want to have show up. From traps to monsters. If you blind them, then you can prevent that from happening." He looked at her, not knowing what would do that in a field. "They'll hold still until they see you, then they'll turn until all their eyes are looking at you. If you move up on them from the underside, you can get fairly close, but not close enough to touch. They do have some air knowledge when you get too close, from all the hairs on their legs."

Nyanta nodded. He knew what she meant by that. They had it too. If something moved the air nearby them, their fur would feel it and transmit the motion to them. He considered his options, then asked. "If they don't recognize the thing they're seeing, do they react?"

"I don't think so," she answered, blinking, and not sure.

Nyanta crept up on the spider after figuring out where the underbelly was. When he was within rapier reach, he pulled out a rapier, and 'put' a straw hat on the point end of it. Carefully he reached out and dropped the hat on top of the spider, trapping it under the hat. It hadn't moved, except to fall out of it's web when the hat fell on it. He looked at it in consternation. He didn't want to flatten the hat, but he also didn't want to leave it there indefinitely. He looked over his shoulder at Purrcy, an ear drooping in sorrow, not sure what to do.

Purrcy smiled and walked over to him, purring. She rubbed her head on his jaw. "That was well executed," she praised him.

"Yes, but as soon as I take my hat back, it will see us now."

"Oh, well there is that," she said with practicality, looking at the hat. "Maybe we could blind it?"

Nyanta considered that option, then nodded. "I'll lift the hat edge with the rapier. Mew set off a small bright light spell, then I'll kill it while it's still blind. Tell me when to move in to kill it since I won't be looking at it. I don't want to be blind at the same time."

Purrcy nodded, then sat still for a minute. When her spell was ready she looked at him. He slid the point of his rapier under the hat brim. She watched closely. He flipped up the hat and looked away. Her spell went off and she cried out, "Go!" He jumped over, found the spider, and smashed it, grinding it into the ground until it turned into dusty motes. It was rather satisfying. He put the hat on his head, his ears sticking up through the brim, and put the rapier away.

"How do mew see them before mew've set them off?" he asked her.

"Well, there aren't many. They are usually where you would expect them to be. Set your eyes to catch sight of the web moving as they move around in it, or as the breeze moves it." Nyanta nodded and set that in his mind and body, visualizing it first like he'd learned to for the other learning in this world.

They continued to hunt moles and insects for a while, until Nyanta began to become tired. She led him back to the woods where his hiding place was. He led her by a back route to his hiding place and they curled up together. He fell asleep rather quickly.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta felt himself being lifted up, yet again by large warm hands. He grumbled down in his lungs a bit. "Mew know...sometimes I _like_ sleeping on the porch and being alone in the afternoons."

"Nope," Naotsugu didn't relent. "The sleeping you do all morning is enough. You need company to remind yourself you still exist."

Nyanta settled down in Naotsugu's arm. "Fine," he grumbled.

"It's really hard to tell which one you are at any given moment, where we can tell for Purrcy. Why is that?" It was almost an idle question. Nyanta didn't like its implications.

"If I grumble, it's me," he grumbled at him. "The High Purriest doesn't care to talk at all. Mew're all beneath him."

"Well...that's true," Naotsugu agreed amiably. "He does growl at me on occasion, though." That wasn't worth answering. "Ah - while I have you, Neville apparently is supposed to take back a fledgling gryphon's feather and your mount's the only candidate on the list of available gryphonlets in the last year, or something. We're hoping you'll be allowed to take part in that when he gets back here. Shiroe's going to make him work a little harder, though, since he's supposed to be learning and proving tenacity this time."

"Fine. They should have some somewhere. Hang on." Nyanta called up ProudWing on the constant party chat they had up now and requested he go find one but to hang on to it until he was contacted again, and to come up with something he'd like in return from a Person of the Land noble child, then returned to the room, finding himself on the couch now. He paced around a circle a couple of times and lay down. "Tell Shiroe-ichi PurroudWing knows." Naotsugu's hand came down on his head and pet him from head to tail end a few times.

"What's keeping you busy these days?" Naotsugu asked him.

"Purrcy's purresent."

"What's it do, if I can ask?"

"It's a game in the game. I get to explore a new world. She's the teacher in it, showing me how to get around in it. We both have to stay in cat form for it, and it's not really her, but it's been fine as a distraction."

There was a pause, then, "That's pretty impressive if she's written a whole new game for you."

Nyanta shrugged a bit. "I'm not sure she has. It seems somewhat limited, as if written by a new purrogrammer, or put together as a short. I'm not expecting much out of it, really, but as I said...it's a sufficient distraction." He closed his eyes and flipped his tail over his nose.

Naotsugu pet him absently. "If you're still around at dinner time, let me know and we'll go make dinner tonight. It's that or left-overs again." Nyanta twitched his ear in acknowledgement. That would be something to do, too, and he wouldn't mind it.

-:-:-:-:-

It was Touya's turn to pay attention to the dining room while Minori worked with Hiroki on a menu plan for the coming week. Touya was just as glad. Things weren't looking good out in the dining room and he was getting worried. "There's a lot of people still here, even for late lunch," Avionics said as he walked back in with a very full basket of dishes. "Is there something going on?"

Touya pursed his lips waiting for him to come back by. Quietly he said. "Call down reinforcements and politely request they move on. Nothing good will come from them staying."

The door bell rang and female voices sounded. It was already too late. "Stall them. I'm coming." Avionics was at the door by then but he gave a nod. Touya carefully pulled together a chat group as he washed his hands. "Backup requested at Grandpa's Kitchen dining room. Minori, QA, put together a meal to go for five immediately." He walked out the door and into the dining room.

The three tables of West Wind Brigade looked at him significantly. Without looking at them, he faintly tossed his head in the direction of the tables he was worried about. By the time he was to the Water Maple Ladies at the door that Avionics was stalling nicely, Clocktower and OciferJeff were in the room. Touya thanked Avionics who went to explain to the other two Eagles at least the part he knew about.

"Hello, Touya-kun!" Marielle said cheerfully, though she was looking a bit confused as to why they hadn't been seated yet.

"Miss Marie," he said formally with a bit of a bow. "We're glad you've all come again. Will you be wanting the usual today?"

"Oh, probably," she said airily. No one disagreed particularly.

"You keep yourself in hiding," Nazuna said. "I haven't gotten used to you looking more grown up yet."

He blushed slightly, but gave a little sardonic grin, not feeling particularly happy at the moment. "Be careful. I'm almost of an age myself at this point."

That got them all alert. They kept forgetting the people in the kitchen, and they didn't know he could hear them since he wasn't letting people know that outside the guild. They'd been coming in the mid-afternoon to have their secret meetings and were almost to the point they needed to not be anymore anyway since he probably wasn't trustworthy in the long run.

He lowered his voice. "Rieze, you need to take this one as a picnic, and then pick somewhere else." He used his eyes to look the direction of the dangerous tables. "They've been very vocal today. Staying would be dangerous." More than Rieze's eyes went that way and their faces went cool. "Your pattern's been too regular."

Marie slumped a little. In a small voice, she said, "Sorry, Touya-kun."

He waved a hand. "We've been glad to have you all here and we hope you'll come back again when things settle again." At a more normal conversational level he said, "If it's the usual order, we can have it ready for you to take in a few minutes."

"That would be kind of you," Rieze said in a similar manner.

Touya bowed a bit and returned to the kitchen. It would be better to have his own hands helping with the food to get them out faster. There were enough in the dinning room to see to watching over them, plus they had enough warning now themselves.

"Touya," Shiroe said as he was quiet for a while again, "how bad did it get? It seems early."

"It does," he answered back in quiet concern. "I'm not sure what's going on there, but there's four separate groups of males who are pretty determined, all separately, that they were going to join in with them today."

"Four!"

"Mm." Touya was adding ingredients to his pot rapidly. He gave it a good stir. "I was going to tell them anyway, but forgot. They're getting to the point where I shouldn't be hearing what they're planning."

"Oh...they've been using Grandpa's Kitchen as their planning location?"

"Yes," his unhappiness at that came through.

Shiroe sighed. "Well, at least the seriousness should be obvious to them after this. I'm sorry." Touya didn't answer. He was sorry, too.

They had the meal ready after a few more minutes and packaged it up. Minori walked out with him to deliver it to the ladies. They passed on their gratitude for the patronage, then the two of them were bowing them out. Several of the groups from West Wind Brigade had gotten up to leave and stayed to chat with them as a barrier group, keeping the men away. However, when they all left together, the men's tables also got up to leave.

The Eagles each took a table to delay them slightly with words of gratitude for coming to visit. That made the Adventurers irritable, but they couldn't very well be impolite in the face of politeness. It was enough of a gap that the last table from West Wind Brigade made it to the door first and took their time getting through it. Touya hoped that would be enough for the Water Maple Ladies to get away to a better hiding spot for the afternoon.

"Touya," Minori said softly when they reentered the kitchen, her hand resting lightly on his arm. "Thank you for protecting them. I know it's hard, but I know they appreciated your concern." She bit her lip. "And I appreciate it also. ...I've been thinking...I should go with them." Her eyebrows were down at the outside edges in concern.

Touya looked at her, grateful for her support, sad for how hard this was getting already. He took her gently in his arms. "I would feel better if you did," he said honestly. "I would miss you and your support, but I wouldn't worry quite so much, I think. I would also appreciate knowing if we could still talk so I know you're still okay without me."

Minori relaxed a little. "Me, too," she agreed. "I'll ask." He gave a nod and let her go. They still had work to do - and a lot of dishes to clean apparently, though Clocktower and OciferJeff stayed to help until they were done and everyone was sure things had settled down for the restaurant.

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy sighed, then opened the door to Log Horizon and strode through the common room, nodding at Isaac on the way through. He knocked on Shiroe's door and was granted entrance. He politely closed the door behind him quietly and walked over to Shiroe's desk where the Guildmaster was waiting patiently for him. "What can I do for you Rudy?"

He paused to get his footing and his words. "I'm not sure I'm being helpful." Shiroe raised an eyebrow slightly and leaned back in his chair. "Since most of what's left of the People of the Land don't particularly care to leave or get along, they won't talk to me. They have working relationship with Adventurers already in ways that are mostly what we're expecting to come up anyway, so I really believe they can be counted the same." He worked hard to keep his words very respectful and honest.

Shiroe tapped a finger on the pen he was holding between both hands again, as he did when interrupted in the middle of work. His eyes were distant, meaning he was thinking. It was the same look as if he were looking at his status screen, but more relaxed since he wasn't actually reading anything or searching for something. "I think I'd like to move you over then. Keep going to classes, but make yourself available to the Water Maple Ladies. Let them know I've assigned you to them as the liaison for Log Horizon and also for the male students that they have to get out of the city as well."

He looked sharply back at Rudy. "I don't know what you boys can do, but I know I'd like you to get some initial training at Maihama, and I know they're going to start there with the fashion show. Likely you'll all begin as the male models for that, so there's that price to pay at the beginning. Once you've talked to the Water Maple Ladies, have Charlie help you get in contact with Duke Sergiad. Pull in two other boys from the school to help you plan what you're going to do while we're in the final throes of the battle here. If the Duke will keep all of you and add you to training with his other youth, that would be best, in my opinion. If he's unwilling, then there are dungeons you could all go try out. Ask the other guildmasters for a list and bring me three of your favorite possibilities and I'll let you know the detailed pros and cons for them."

Rudy bowed, "Thank you, Guildmaster. I will do my best."

Shiroe smiled. "I'm sure you will, Rudy. Use this as an opportunity to begin learning leadership ...and delegation."

Rudy smiled. "I'm sure I would like to know the latter." He excused himself and politely left Shiroe alone. He already had a group of boys he worked with in classes, though he might want to consider all of them before he just asked them to work with him. Sometimes talent could come from unexpected sources. He would start where he was supposed to though. "Lady Marie," he called her on a chat very politely. He didn't often.

"Rudy-kun? What can I do for you?" She sounded surprised to hear from him as well.

"I've been reassigned to be the liaison and head for the male student contingent going with you out of Akiba. Can I schedule a time to talk to you about it?"

There was a bit of silence, then, "We're meeting now. I'll add you to the party so you can find us on the map. Try to not be seen, however. We were followed and it was hard to get rid of them."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered politely. He opened his chat to his Eagle protectors. "I've been assigned to work with the Water Maple Ladies on their secret project and have been summoned to one of their secret meetings. Can you prevent people from following me, and not listen in? I'll let you know when we're done."

"Roger," Electrical said.

"That means okay," Life Support said, understanding he'd need the translation. Electrical clicked his tongue but left it alone.

Rudy smiled. Really, they did it to keep him entertained as well as themselves. It was still a bit boring for them all at the moment. "Roger," he answered back, to keep the entertainment going. They laughed, and it was quiet again.

He would have to make sure he was only at the meeting for the part he needed to hear. He didn't want to know what the ladies and girls were going to be doing after Maihama. That would be too dangerous. Likely they didn't need to know what the boys were going to do either. That made him relax just a little. It meant he could be the only one to go to these meetings, and he could take the necessary information to the rest of the boys. The fewer people knew about this top level meeting and group the better.

That made him think of something else as he made his circuitous route to the green spot on his map of the city. "Touya."

"Yeah, Rudy?" he was busy, but willing. Okay.

"Guildmaster Shiroe has assigned me to head the planning for what the boys are going to do once they're out of the city with the fashion show." There was expectant silence on the other end. "Do you want to go with?" He let Touya think about it. He'd already learned that Touya liked to be thoughtful before he answered questions, and Rudy appreciated it - enough he'd been trying to learn it. He'd noticed that most people who were careful before they spoke often were the most concerned about others and that they not move incorrectly.

"I'll think about it. Minori told me today she wants to go and I want her to, but I want to be able to talk to her daily, too, to know she's okay. She's the same." Rudy nodded. He could understand that. "She said she'd ask when she gets time. ...We had to detour them from here today. Four different groups had learned their pattern, plus they were getting too detailed for it to be in a public place anymore. ...I think for me, I need to understand better just how close to the age line I am. If I'm too close I should probably stay here."

"I'd love to have you come along," Rudy said, "but I understand. Guildmaster Shiroe wants me to start with seeing if Duke Sergiad will allow us to stay and receive some training there. Otherwise we'll find a dungeon or two to complete."

In his careful way, Touya said, "I think if it's Maihama, I'd have to refuse. If it's dungeons, I could do that."

"Okay. I'll let you know when it's decided," Rudy offered.

"Sounds good. Thanks for thinking of me," Touya said.

"Sure thing," Rudy said. He'd miss having Touya along, really. He sighed, finally realizing what his real problem was. He was already lonely. "Would you mind if later I stopped by and helped out at the restaurant?"

"That would be great," Touya perked up, too.

Rudy smiled. "I'll let you know when I'm on my way." Sometimes one had to remember to make time for friends. "See you then."

"See you," Touya replied, sounding happier. Rudy relaxed and enjoyed his practice in being sneaky.


	150. Umbrellas Rising

"You're okay, right?" Demikas wasn't asking Berenshilde, whom he had just dumped unceremoniously in the courtyard of the Cinderella Castle. He was looking at the Eagles in the party who had landed next to him.

"Yeah, we can handle it from here," Ground Safety reassured him.

"You don't want to get your pay?" Aviation Safety asked.

Demikas growled and shrugged it off. "I got what I wanted and Shiroe can pay the rest - in travel. I need to get back home."

"Good luck," Compliance said for the rest of them and Demikas took off.

"Damn Four-eyes, I'm done. Get me back up to Ezzo, pronto." Demikas grouched on his way out of Maihama. "Cursed Boy is back at the castle since he cried too much about wanting a real bed and bath. I've helped him until I'm gonna puke."

"Did you get the answer you needed?" Shiroe asked, staying polite and surprisingly sounding genuinely concerned.

"I did," his relief made it through, though Demikas hadn't intended it to.

"Do you want a gryphon that will carry you all the way?"

"No. I want the Ocypete again. It's faster. Haven't you got product or something you can send out on it?"

Shiroe sighed. "I'll call and ask and get back to you. If they won't put it out, you'll have to put up with a gryphon." He was putting his foot down.

"Fine. It's your payment for me babysitting the Cursed Baby. Had to carry him half way there and all the way back since he couldn't help himself. Death would be better for him, honestly." That last was an honest assessment.

"Yeah, probably, but we're not in charge," Shiroe sighed. "Thanks for getting him there and back. I'll get back to you."

Demikas kept going. He was closer to the bay staying in Maihama, but he wanted a good bath, lots of drink, and one more stop at shops to resupply. When he'd worked out his frustrations with the noble baby, he cast Call of Home and walked into the city, finding the Adventurer atmosphere very refreshing. "Okay, Demikas. Both Calasin and Michitaka say they can send product up. It won't be loaded and ready until tomorrow, though. If you want that to go faster, sign on as a dock hand and help load it."

"Right. After I shop and sleep in a real bed without a curse hanging over my shoulder."

"Fine. Good luck."

"Thanks, Shiroe." There was surprised silence and he cut Shiroe off. It was awkward to be grateful to his nemesis.

It was hard to decide, but he finally went to an inn first, paying for a bath as well. Getting clean felt very nice and was relaxing and really what he needed to wash away the filth of Berenshilde and the questing they'd just finished. He almost fell asleep during his soaking and had to drag himself out and flop on his bed instead. He was surprised when he'd slept so hard as to go into the night. He was hungry by then so headed out anyway, and was just as surprised to see that everyone was still up as if the sun hadn't gone down. He'd missed that the first time, thinking everyone would sleep eventually. Akiba was certainly as hopping a town as Tokyo was.

He was happily slurping down a bowl of pork ramen (his third - he had the gold since he never spent it while at home) when a very tired group of men sat down at the table near his. He was surprised. "People of the Land don't usually stay up this late at night," he commented from his table loud enough for them to hear.

The four looked at him tiredly. "No, not usually," agreed one of them as the youngest blond of the group slumped down on his arms.

"I've got time to listen to a story," he said, since he did. They looked almost too tired to tell it.

"Fledgling gryphon's feather," the youngest moaned. "How can it be so hard to find?"

"You checked the rarity shops in town?" he asked. They nodded dejectedly.

"And have asked every Adventurer in town, it feels like," the second youngest said as the other two ordered drinks.

"You haven't asked me yet," he pointed out.

"Do you have one?" They got a little too excited.

"No." They slumped, giving him grumpy looks. "Shiroe's got contacts with gryphons, though."

They glared at him for that, too. "He's the one that sent us to ask."

"He's handing out that kind of quest now, too?" Demikas asked in surprise.

"No, not really," the youngest said morosely. "He's been trying to help us. The Princess requested it of me."

"Why?" Demikas asked, though he might not care. It just kept the conversation going.

"Because I was chosen to be her intended and she decided she was extraneous enough as the third noble of the family that I had to be tested for my position, though I really just want to walk next to her and take over my father's position. That's enough for me."

Demikas mulled on that for a while as he focused on his food and they got started on their drinks. "What's the reason for the feather?" he finally asked.

"Tenacity."

"Oh...is that why you're still awake at this hour," he was amused. He checked the time. Almost one-thirty in the morning. "Come on, Shiroe, give it up. The poor kid's exhausted."

"Demikas?" Shiroe was both surprised and a bit irritated.

"Did I wake you up," Demikas asked in a patronizing voice as if to a little child.

Shiroe didn't quite swear at him. "No. I'm not allowed to sleep past the first four hours so I was up." He still wasn't happy. "Who are you talking about?"

Demikas bothered to look. "Neville."

"He's still up?" Shiroe was surprised.

"Yeah, and dead on his feet - all four of them."

"Send them to bed. I already know and have the answer, but I have to follow the rules, too. If you think he's passed the tenacity test here in town that's enough."

"You're what for all this?" Demikas asked, not really getting it.

"The Archmage NPC that has answers and has to point out where to go and how to walk the path."

"No way. The Great Shiroe has to play NPC?" he guffawed. Shiroe did swear at him quietly this time. "Fine, fine," he laughed. "I'll tuck them in. Have fun, NPC." He closed the connection. "So _Archmage Shiroe_ says: go to bed. He'll talk to you in the morning. You've done well enough." He was still smirking to himself as they, with some relief, finished their drinks and wobbled off to their beds.

Demikas finished, paid his tab, and went hunting one of the all-night shops that catered to the Adventurers who needed supplies. He was at the docks bright and early (before dawn) to help load product onto the Ocypete. He was quite relieved to be headed back. Forward motion in the direction _he_ wanted to go was nice for a change. He put down the sea monsters on the way to Ezzo fast, too, irritated at having them around to slow him down.

-:-:-:-:-

Berenshilde huffed in irritation. He was lost in the castle again. How could one castle be so much a maze? He leaned out over the railing of the level he was on, his arms hanging down in front of him as if he was a doll someone had balanced there and left in forgetfulness. Really, it was his own fault, he thought in dejection. He wallowed in that dejection for a while until he heard soft steps passing behind him. He looked up and back behind him. The girl who had stopped to talk to him before was trying to pass by him again. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you lost again?" he asked her and she froze.

"Um...not really," she said, quietly clasping her hands in front of her.

He didn't believe her, but it wasn't polite to press such a thing so he let it go. "Have you ever been to see the Oracle at the Mountain Shrine?" he asked wanting company for a bit. Pleasant company had been missing in his life for a while now.

"No," she said politely.

"I have. I've just come from there. She's a felinoid this time, did you know that? Rather beautiful, actually." He frowned. "If only she was as beautiful inside. I found her rather stiff and unpleasant."

"Was your answer unsatisfactory?" the girl asked politely.

"Yes. The person before me got a very nice oracle. I was quite unhappy he stole the good one and I got the bad one." Berenshilde pouted. "It wasn't fair at all."

"Um...I don't think that's how it works?" the girl hesitated.

Berenshilde scowled and waved a hand. "However it works, I didn't get what I needed. Instead of having my curse removed, I was only offered mercy. That didn't turn out any better, really."

"Well, keep trying, perhaps," she said sympathetically. "Maybe there's someone else that could help you. There are a lot of people in town right now." She hesitated, then asked, "Was the journey difficult? Is it far?"

"It's not far," he waved a negligent hand, then flung his hair back, "and with the right paid help, it isn't hard either. Adventurers are so useful, under the right circumstances. Why they even carried me on their backs to ease my feet when they tired! It was refreshing to have some who understood their place and role. I barely had to lift my sword to defend myself."

He continued to boast and twist the adventure to suit his own pleasure and pride for a while until he felt better and excused himself from her presence. She stared after him longingly for a while before continuing on her lost way. He sashayed until she was out of sight. Then he began looking for a servant to lead him back to his rooms. That had worked last time.

This time, however, he was escorted summarily out of the castle and his Adventurer guards escorted him to an inn that he could afford - in the darker parts of Maihama. He was quite displeased again by then and groused to the men in the dining room. They wanted to hear his story and pressed him to tell them all of his complaints against the shrine and the Oracle.

By the end of the night, as he was wobbling rather drunk to his room, he'd agreed to spread the word on his way home that the shrines of Inari-no-Izanami and Inari-no-Izanagi were corrupt and needed to be cleansed. He would tell all Yamato of his sorrows and pains at the cursing that had come upon him and see the gods paid for their hubris against him. Several of those men had agreed to come along as well on his return journey home, though the Adventurers cautioned them against it.

-:-:-:-:-

Princess Raynessia was in the library again, though in a different section this time. Really, reading was so difficult, but she'd learned this time not only how to lightly skim over the words until she found the ones that might be helpful, but she'd learned to get a feel for which books were worth picking up and which ones probably weren't. That saved time, too. She'd just put back the book that had helped her the most on what the Oracle really was and how it had been used in the past by the leaders of Yamato and Maihama specifically and was reaching for one in the next section over when a servant arrived to fetch her to her Grandfather.

She sighed to herself, but obediently went, following the servant. As she feared, Neville was standing with her Grandfather. She greeted him kindly, wondering how it was he could accomplish these quests that should be taking months to years in only a few weeks. He handed over a fledgling gryphon's feather and she thanked him, then had to dig for what the third quest was supposed to be. She'd rather almost forgotten.

"Please, Neville, one more." His face tried not to fall. She stiffened her own spine. She still wasn't interested in him - or anyone for that matter. "Please bring me the sands of time that have known no beginning and no end, so that I may rest assured that your love for me will be everlasting, for I am all of my family and it's wealth that you will ever be assured of having."

Both men in front of her - the older and the younger - stared at her. But she'd said it and they merely turned from her and walked off, her Grandfather's hand on Neville's shoulder as he supported both of them on their way, presumably to either Neville's father's quarters or the Duke's office. Raynessia sighed and turned for her own quarters.

"Elissa, please take a letter into town to Clair for me. I should have it written in a half-hour." She sat to her writing table as Elissa curtsied. She actually had to write two. One with instructions to Clair, and a request, and the other to the people she was hoping to hire.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe stared at Neville. "Y-you can't help me?" the young man stammered in nearly fear.

Shiroe swallowed, then called, "Nyanta, can you come to the common room, please? Neville has come again with the third quest." He really thought this one was best just handled promptly. No restraint of time had been placed on it after all. Just going out and trying was sufficient at this point, surely. Nyanta was the only one he knew who had been in the Gate of Time.

Nyanta walked in the room and sat down on the couch, his tail curled behind him. Neville bowed politely and stated his quest requirements and asked very politely if Nyanta could assist in anyway.

Nyanta held out his hand. In it was a small hourglass. "This contains some grains of the sands of time. Only at the boundary of the Gate of Time does it have any use, though I highly recommend mew be extremely careful with it, lest mew tip it and even one grain fall. I don't know what it does outside of the Gate of Time, but if one grain is a year, mew may find meowrself one year in the future, or one year in the past."

Neville swallowed and Shiroe could see it was difficult for him to take it. "Nyanta," Shiroe asked cautiously, "if we removed the grains of sand from the hourglass, do we remove the magic property of moving a person through time?"

"I believe that the grains of sand will scatter across the world," Nyanta said calmly. "They are only held in place to begin with by the hourglass."

Shiroe sighed lightly. "I recommend, Neville, that you walk back and very carefully hold it. If your men at arms will hold it while on watch without tipping it when you sleep, you should be able to arrive back at Maihama sufficiently well enough. And then I highly recommend once you have shown the hourglass to Princess Raynessia and she approves, that instead of handing it to her, that you dash it on the ground and break it. It's a rather dangerous item even for Adventurers." He looked back at Nyanta, "That is, assuming Nyanta-san is willing to part with it?"

Nyanta shook his head. "I understand how to be in the Gate of Time now. It isn't necessary for me to keep it."

Neville looked at his men at arms. "Are you willing to help me?" he asked in a bit of a small voice. They weren't too sure either and shuffled a bit, not really wanting to answer.

Shiroe rubbed his face. "Michael can you come here please?"

Michael walked down the stairs, though where he'd been before who knew. Shiroe looked at him. "You'd be the last piece to this puzzle, but I know you're not really ready for time walking yet."

Michael gave a bit of a shiver, though he played it well. "Not really. If it's not too far and I've got Gareth to anchor me, maybe. He's back so it's possible now."

Shiroe nodded. "If the both of you will go with Neville, perhaps you can be of help if there's an emergency, but," he looked back sharply at Neville, "they might be able to retrieve you and they might not and we can't afford to lose them. You still have to extremely careful. They can help your men at arms keep you safe enough if enemies should come so you can watch the hourglass and perhaps they can help in other ways."

He tapped his foot in the air, the one that was crossed over the other knee, thinking further. "I'm not sure what breaking the hourglass would do either. It might not be wise to do it in front of any people. Perhaps we should say that while Neville was allowed to bring them to her, because they are so rare and dangerous we won't allow them to be kept by either one of them. Carefully take the hourglass back from him and then it can be destroyed later where any side effects won't cause so much trouble."

"They stay put when in the list, right?" Michael asked Nyanta.

"Yes," Nyanta answered. "I'm careful to intend that it's locked into the upright position both putting it in and taking it out as well."

"Do I have to carry it at all?" Neville asked. The three Adventurers glared at him and he cowered a bit. He'd only been hopeful. He nervously rubbed his hands on his pant legs, then sighed. "Thank you for all your help. We can only try once again." He bowed, then carefully held out his hand for the hourglass. His hand clenched and he looked at Michael. "Are you ready or shall we come back?"

"I should at least inform everyone I'm going to be gone," he said mildly, "and let Gareth know to be coming along."

Nyanta rose to his feet and walked over to Neville. He held the hourglass down to him and Neville swallowed and took it gingerly, then held it more tightly in his fist to not let it tip suddenly. He sat pale while Nyanta walked back out of the room and Michael got himself and Gareth ready to go.

"Ah, Shiroe-kun, have you got a moment?" Shiroe raised his head from his contemplation. He couldn't very well leave Neville alone in his own living room.

"Yes, Marie?"

"I just got a letter from Princess Raynessia, sent through Clair." Shiroe blinked and glanced at Neville, wondering just what the princess was up to this time. "Um...she's asking if some of us can be hired by her to help her get to the shrine. Since I know you're handling something there, I thought I'd better ask first. She apparently wants to go and seek a personal oracle to know what to do for her future. ...She sounds rather sad and desperate, really. She does say she understands things may be difficult for any Adventurer to come, but she wants to hire at least two to help her get there and home properly."

Shiroe put his hand to his forehead and rubbed it a bit. He had to assume that was going to be her next delaying tactic. "I've got a few going back that way starting today. I'll ask them to check it out and see just what's going on. I probably can't make a full determination on that until we've confirmed the full circumstances." He could hear footsteps approaching from the upper floors. "Can you put the letter on my desk so I can read it for myself, please?"

"Sure thing," she sounded very relieved. "I'm sorry to give you one more minor thing."

"No. I'm already involved, so may as well. Thanks." He looked up at Neville. "If you and your men will wait just a bit, I'd like to conference with these two before they leave. We'll be back in a moment." Neville could only nod. Shiroe gave significant looks to Michael and Gareth and they followed him into his office.

Shiroe went straight for his desk and picked up the letter and opened it.

 _Dear Marie._

 _I'm missing all of you. I'm also not sure what to do about my engagement. I'm not ready for any sort of thing such as marriage. I've spoken twice now with someone about the Oracle and been drawn to find out for myself what my own oracle might be. I've discovered for myself that it was a common practice before my grandfather's time for a noble woman to go and request an Oracle before her marriage if she was uncertain, or if she was of high enough station, to be assured of the person who was chosen as her intended._

 _I know it's not a journey I should attempt alone, and the strength and honor of Adventurers is great. Would you be willing to see if some could be hired to come and go with me to make sure I travel safely? I'm willing to pay reasonable rates. I'd love to have it be you and Rieze or even Nazuna. I know you're likely getting as busy with preparations as Clair is. I would be willing to take whomever is willing, though._

 _Thank you so much for any help you can be in this. Neville is on his last quest so I will likely need them to arrive at Maihama fairly soon._

 _Thinking of you all frequently and fondly,_

 _Raynessia._

Shiroe sighed and leaned back against his desk, facing the two men waiting for him. Really the ladies shouldn't leave just yet, though they would probably be the better chaperones. Michael already understood the full shrine quest, however, and was known there, as was Gareth. He looked up and passed the letter over. "We've an additional complication, it appears, to Neville's quest."

Michael's face scrunched up a bit as he took the letter and read it. He handed it back to Gareth as he asked, "What is up with this quest, really?"

"I don't know. I'd like you to find out. Stay with Neville when he ends this one and listen to what goes on. I think there's history we don't know. The Duke was almost too willing to see your next part through. She specifies that the tradition ended in his generation so there may be some resistance from him. If so, she's willful enough to leave anyway. Don't get into trouble, but watch her. If she does sneak out, meet up with her outside of town. Then we can say that you're helping instead of kidnapping."

"Should we return her?"

Shiroe looked at him with a pained expression. "Michael, I'd like to get this over sooner than later. She'll only run away again every time, and likely end up damaging her relationship with her Grandfather terribly in the end. If she's supposed to go to the shrine, I'd far rather get it over with before we have to move than have her moving at the same time."

"Ah, that's true," Michael had to agree. "But let her initiate it?"

"Yes," Shiroe nodded.

"I have to go back again, really?" Gareth complained slightly.

"Yes, Airman," Michael said and Gareth straightened up and snapped his mouth closed. He handed the letter back up and Michael gave it to Shiroe. Shiroe put it back on Marie's desk with a check mark on it in Fading Ink at the bottom. He didn't want any evidence to be found more than that in case they got into trouble with the Duke.

"Do try to help Neville stay present and alive. If we can do that much we'll hold the upper hand if the Duke decides to become difficult in the next round of the Princess' game. And please come back. As I said, we can't afford to lose you at this stage of the whole thing."

"Yessir," Michael said. Shiroe gave him a nod and the two of them left the room. He sighed and returned to his desk, not even wanting to know if Neville tripped on the way out the door. That would just be too much right now.

"Naotsugu, no guests for a while. I need to recover after all that."

"You got it," Naotsugu's calm voice was reassuring.

Shiroe twirled his pen a bit, thoughtful. After about ten minutes of just not-thinking except low current things, he said, "Is Akatsuki on the roof? I'd like to trade for a bit."

There was silence, then Naotsugu opened the door. Shiroe rose and walked out and up the stairs with his present guard and friend. He needed time with both - the outdoors and his calm, quiet anchor. He could tell when he was passing Akatsuki, though. His body wanted to drag him that way. He gave her their sign and caught her return sign as she slipped out of the shadows just enough for him to see it. That helped him feel a little better, to have her respond.

He slipped his hands in his pockets and felt a little pleased secret smile come on his face. It was hard to leave her behind as he continued on up the stairs, but the feeling inside didn't go away and he protected it until he was on the roof letting all the other things go that needed to be let go. It went into those spaces instead, along with Naotsugu's calm warmth.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas wanted to run into Ezzo from the docks, but he should at least do his share given he hadn't paid for passage. He helped unload the ship and then took off since they weren't ready to load anything for a while. He stopped random people on the streets of Sharpcliff, asking if they knew where the Giant's were putting their new home. For everyone who couldn't care less or cursed that they'd had to come down south at all, he scolded and put them in their place.

Finally one didn't and said that they'd been sent to look up in the northwest part of the southern half of Ezzo. Since that was pretty much wild forest land Demikas wasn't surprised. He made sure he had what he needed equipment-wise and left the city fairly quickly.

He went northwesterly generally, trusting his own luck and taking down monsters in his way (eating any foodstuff dropped like he usually did when he was out hunting), until he felt the first distinctive deep trembling of the earth under his feet that was the footsteps of Giants. He kept a sharp eye out until he found a Giant. Running up to it, he hitched a ride. When he got discovered, he shouted in its ear that he was looking for Markle.

He liked being able to hitch this kind of ride and recognized Markle from a distance off. They were all working to clear enough land for their city. How they fit, he'd never know, but he was pleased to see that they were carefully setting aside the small trees to send down to the coast. The ones they weren't growing to their own Giant size, that is.

The Giants had a magic that allowed them to grow things their own size or they'd not have food, wood for houses and household items, and such things ever. It looked like Markle was with the other young adults who were growing said trees at the moment. Demikas also recognized the young woman working beside him and he chuckled to himself. It looked like Pickle still wasn't willing to give up her adventure.

His transportation Giant passed him over to Markle, but Pickle took him instead, very carefully, and set him on the ground. She unpinned her pin and handed it down to him. That made sense. Demikas held the pin upright on the ground like a lance and said the magic words and was suddenly growing. He handed it back to Pickle. "Thanks."

"It's good to see you again, Mister Demikas," she smiled at him. "Did you find what you were seeking?"

"I got my answer," he nodded and looked at Markle. "I'd like to ask you to take me back where you found me so I can finish what I need to do."

Markle rubbed his head and looked off towards the east of them. "I can do that, but we should probably wait to leave until the morning. It's already almost dinner time."

"What do the lot of you eat?" Demikas asked.

Markle smiled. "We can do this to the animals, too, but they brought enough down with them to eat while battling that we'll just have to carefully ration until the next generation of boars are born."

Demikas was hit with a flash of inspiration and his eyes narrowed. "I don't need Giant boars, not really, but I do need a female and a male pair to breed. If I stay an extra day or two, could I get paid with a pair?"

Markle rubbed his chin. "Let's ask Corbin. I'm not sure what you could do, though there's certainly no lack. I think he might have something specific he would ask you, though." Demikas gave a nod and they headed back, just a little early, to the main center of the activity.

Corbin wasn't sure who Demikas was until he was introduced. "Oh, is that what you look like?" he asked and gave a bit of a grin. "I didn't get to see you at the same size before you ran off."

"On the wall," Demikas disagreed.

"You were up on top and I was below. Can't see much during the transformation."

"True," Demikas had to allow. He explained his desired trade.

Corbin rubbed his head. "Actually, if you could set up the training ground and get us started on what we can do on the water. No one else but me and Markle know but we aren't swordsmen, really. The swordsmen that are here aren't sure exactly how to handle what we've tried to explain."

Demikas lit up at that. "Sure. I'd love to help with that, though it may take several days."

"Is that okay?" Corbin asked, worried.

Demikas considered it, then shrugged. "Yeah. I'm impatient but there's no real reason to be. I'll stay until they've got the idea, then I need Markle for a bit to take me back."

Demikas stayed with the Giants for four days, enjoying training with the soldiers at Giant size, finding it rather fun for a change to be large. It was also challenging to learn to do his moves at that size. Not being a swordsman he couldn't spar with them, but he still kept them on their toes while balancing on a platform on a large ball of rock. Since none of the other Giants could do Monk moves, he did show them how to train each other by having those playing the sea monsters use staves to try to push the defenders off the platform. He had to train them a bit in just how to _be_ sea monsters since they wouldn't be anywhere near as intelligent. By his last night there, the soldiers were drinking buddies with him. It was different, but kind of nice.

"Can I come too?" Pickle asked the next morning.

Demikas considered it, then shrugged. He'd be sending Markle back alone otherwise. "Is Hugh around?" he asked.

"No," Pickle shook her head. "He decided to stay at Sharpcliff as the ambassador until Markle's got time. They need all the hands they can get here and he was willing for that long at least."

"You two sure you want to be unchaperoned?" Demikas warned, then was surprised at himself. Must be because he had a daughter of his own now, or something. They did blush bright red, though. He waved his hand. "He'll be lonesome without you on the walk back, I'm sure."

"You ...aren't going back to die are you?" Markle asked, worried.

"No. I'm going back to get back to them. I was promised by the Oracle they were okay and will be okay. But I have to get back to save them properly." He looked away, along the path they were walking, pensive. "If I can deal with a Giant Ogre alone," he muttered to himself. He sighed and tried not to think about it. He really only needed to smash the hammer that was headed for the rooftop. The rest was just time and whittling HP down. The other two were used to his slumps and left him alone.

It was halfway through afternoon when Markle started to look closer at his surroundings. Demikas pulled out the bracelet that had been blessed by Purrcy and was surprised to see it was both large enough to match his Giant size...and the woodland acorns and plants were now golden, as if they'd been dipped in molten gold.

He read the status data on it, then shook his head. The cursed bracelet that had been blessed had somehow been merged with his daughter's creation. That made him feel a little better, though. It wasn't going to dissolve into a pile of detritus just before he found the way home. He slipped the bracelet onto his wrist, hoping it stayed a neutral item and it did. He was able to breathe a little easier then.

They wandered slowly until nearly evening. "Ah!" Pickle looked down. "We passed this stream. I remember seeing it."

"Oh, you were looking from this high, weren't you?" Markle said. Pickle gave him a bright smile and he looked away. Demikas rolled his eyes.

They stepped over the stream and suddenly there was a glow from his wrist, discernible from the darkening day. He kept his eye on it excitedly as they continued to walk forward. When it started to dim, he stopped and turned to Markle. "You took off in a different direction from here. Was it north or south?"

Markle looked around. "North." Demikas immediately walked back to where the bracelet was brightest and started walking north.

The two youngsters followed him, though Markle was still looking for landmarks. "There," he pointed to an outcrop of rock. "It wasn't too far from that, a bit east I think, and about on our path now." It wasn't an outcrop of rock that Demikas would have seen as a small from where they were so he took Markle at his word.

"Mister Demikas," Pickle said slowly. "You were fighting before Markle found you. What were you fighting? Will you have to fight them again?"

He looked at her for a moment, then answered shortly, "Giant Ogres and yes."

She was hesitant. "You're very strong...and I know Adventurers are...but," she looked at Markle, then bit her lip. She undid her pin and handed it over. "You can have it. I need to be Giant to help with the work and if I need to be a Small again, I can borrow Markle's. Maybe if you're Giant, too, you can save your family, but I'll bet they'll want you Small again after that. You need this more than I do."

Demikas stared at the pin and her and almost rejected it, knowing he should be able to handle it fine. Then he stopped. This was a quest and she was being kind. He took it from her. "Thanks, Pickle. When we get back I'll come find you and give it back. I don't really need it much, I think, once I've taken care of the ogre."

"We'd love to see you again," Pickle said enthusiastically. "Everyone enjoyed having you at the village. And," her eyes sparkled teasingly at Markle, "I think having more Smalls and an Adventurer around will help the rest of the Giants finally get over their own problems."

Demikas laughed. "You like to tease that much, do you, Pickle?" She blushed. He nodded. "I'd like to visit also and see if those lunks figure it out and I don't mind pushing buttons one bit. I'm sure they'll want to kick me out soon enough." He hunted around until he was fairly certain he'd found where the bracelet glowed brightest. "Be good," he lightly scolded the two. "Get right back home without getting into trouble."

They both blushed, but Pickle took Markle's arm and they watched as he carefully stepped forward and disappeared to their view. It wouldn't be bad to hide in the Giant's village. They were already having to deal with one odd pairing and it was obvious they could use another pair of hands around.

-:-:-:-:-

Rieze looked around the Water Maple Manor sitting room at her fellow ladies. Since it was a building not currently used but that had enough comfortable seating it had been selected as the first full meeting point of everyone who needed to be involved now. She was standing and had commanded their attention. "It's time for us to plan. We've been given our marching orders."

Everyone sat up straight in their poses of strength: Akatsuki with her fists on her knees, Henrietta with her hands clasped primly in her lap, Marielle only slightly wringing her fingers in the other hand, Nazuna's ears and tail held forward and upright, Druid chef Mikakage from Roderick Trading Company with her palms flat on her lap and her nature spirit Allie sitting seriously on her shoulder, Mei-Mao from Shopping District 8 sitting sternly in her place. Even Woodstock, Akaneya, Michitaka, and Isaac had sent their female representatives, too. They only lacked one from Honesty. They still held themselves apart, holding still to stubborn reluctance to join in on full involvement with the city, wanting to draw from it but not give back unless they had a selfish reason to. It was sad.

There was something that had to be done first, though, before they could begin to really plan. Rieze put Marielle under her hot gaze. She was the pin of the whole operation and she needed to face forward properly before they could move. When Marielle was properly nervous and paying close attention, Rieze said, "Marie. You know if it comes to a critical decision, and it's either you or Log Horizon and either one gets hurt, he'll fail."

Marielle flinched, pulling in on herself. She only looked at her twisting fingers for a while, then said, in a meek voice, if with a bit of a whine, "I know. I know, Rieze. But I promised him." Rieze folded her arms and Marielle looked away. Rieze didn't let up the pressure. Marielle finally slumped. "I won't just decide without asking him. That would be running away and an op doesn't run away just before the worst part of the battle. But...if he asks me to, if he agrees to it, I'll go." She drew in a firm breath at the last and held it as if to hold her courage and heart in herself.

Rieze gave a strong nod. "Good enough." It was the right answer, and there was only a five percent chance Naotsugu would want her to stay. They could chat when he needed her and he'd be relieved knowing she was safe. Marielle slumped in relief to have the pressure off, though she was still unhappy. It would be hard, but at the same time, the rest of them would keep her plenty busy. It wasn't unusual for Adventurers, after all - separations for different battles - just the splitting of the pairs was, though they'd certainly done it enough in China. When they were getting the right things done separately, though, it was still right.

Rieze took in her own deep breath. "Right, then. Here's the deal for those of you who don't know it yet. It's secret until the level's done and Shiroe lets the full truth out, and maybe he won't to the population in general. If I hear you've let it out early, I'll disavow and run you out of town myself." She glared at everyone who was new, until they all gave her nods. "We're looking at a repeat of the plague that brought Purrcy to us, only on a worse scale that even she can't prevent. Our job is to get everyone out of town that needs protection that we can get out until it's run its course."

She let them all get over the shock and dismay. Akatsuki was already absently petting Nazuna, to keep her calm. She of all of them really hated the reason they'd been planning this much.

Rieze continued, quite serious. "It's already here, if you'll carefully think back to yourselves and all the ladies in your guilds over the month." There were swallows around the room as people couldn't deny it. "Right now, it's still low level. We need to be out of Akiba before it gets even close to where it got last time. Shiroe assures me that it will be over our top levels of capacity at its fullest levels."

"Is it Purrcy this time?" Woodstock's rep. asked, suspiciously.

Akatsuki and Marielle gave her glares. "She's not even in town!"

"Well, that's true. So...why?"

Rieze waffled. It would be easiest to just let everyone believe it was natural, like Shiroe was going to have the city as a whole believe, but it was harder to come up with the cover that way. She finally gave up with a sigh and fell back on a weak excuse. "I can't tell you or Shiroe will carve me for his next pumpkin. The 'why' is his to say, as always. We just move to the orders that come down. When has it ever been any different?" She gave a tired look, not wanting to have the fight. The rep. glared, then gave an irritated shrug.

"Can we at least tell our guildmasters?" Isaac's representative asked sharply.

"They already know or you wouldn't be here," Rieze answered quietly. They all looked at each other, and then down when the one missing guild was counted. "I'll be taking that action item, to convince as many as I can from Honesty to come with us, one by one if I have to. I don't know if they will. At least I think I can make an escape suggestion. If they get out before the quarantine begins, they might survive."

"It will go to quarantine?" Mei-Mao asked quietly, with a bit of horror.

Rieze nodded, unhappy as they were. "That's why Shiroe's refused to let the People of the Land back in yet. It's not communicable to People of the Land. While we managed to keep the fighting to the back streets and in the halls of the guild houses last time, if it gets like Shiroe thinks it will, there will be full out battles in the open streets. We don't want the People of the Land caught in the crossfire." That made a lot more sense to those in the room. A lot of Adventurers had been complaining about why they hadn't come back. Rieze's eyes went back to Marielle. "Why don't you get us started with the facts as they stand, Marie." She sat down, relieved to have others joined in with them as support finally. Together they would be able to do this.

Marielle sat up earnestly in her seat, her hands finally still though still clasped in her lap. "There are two pieces of how we'll be getting people to leave peaceably with us. The first one is the fashion show in Maihama. That's our date to leave. When that's over, so we don't overwhelm Maihama and the Duke, we'll be taking the girls on a long dungeon quest. We won't come back from that until we hear the word that the quarantine's been lifted."

Her hands were clasped even more tightly. "Shiroe ran his experiments. All of the Adventurers will be affected, regardless of age. It's awful and more than awful. The bi-weekly inoculations are still giving us a reprieve on that until now, but he's not sure he can keep it at that level when it gets really bad. So we're taking all the Adventurers from the Academy's junior classes as a school field trip. We've had the boys working up what they want to do while we're out after the fashion show since we think we need to keep them separate even still. We need them for that much, though, since half the line is male. No adult Adventurer males will be going with us, for security purposes. Shiroe can't guarantee that we won't take it with us, since there were signs in Minami that we carried it there with us."

Nazuna picked it up next. "West Wind Brigade's piece early on was to see that the People of the Land got out. We'll send our weakest in the guild out with Marie, and those who can't live through that again, but most of us will stay so that we can do everything we can. When the streets finally get too dangerous, we'll hole up in the guild house and hope to not kill each other in the mean-time, though now that we've already been through it once, we know what we're doing." Her look went self-incriminating. "That is, acting like Amazonian women really and learning just what the female power hierarchy really looks like. It's not pretty most days, but it's functional."

The rest shuddered, not really envying her. "You're going to get out, right?" Marielle's eyes were wide.

Nazuna shrugged and wouldn't answer. The rest glared at her. She sighed. "You can't let anyone in the guild know. He's already proposed. When we learned it was going to happen again, he decided he'd rather have me next to him to help keep everyone under control than gone. It's perhaps not ideal, and we'll fight it as long as possible, but if it gets to where I'm lost he's promised to protect me, like he does. I won't turn him down, not after last time. The only good thing is we aren't going into it blind, this time. Too many things were unknown and frightening last time."

Her ears went down and her tail gave a sharp flick. "If I can do anything it's give lots of encouragement to getting out of town, though. The rest of you are going to get where I was, I suspect, if you stay. I'll go with you when you talk to Honesty, Rieze, as a witness to get them to leave." Rieze gave a nod. She'd appreciate the help. "We're going to send the rest of the beast-halves of the guild with you, though. It was rough on all of us and they don't want to relive it either."

Henrietta pushed her glasses up and sat up. "We need numbers from each guild first, if we could go around the room, please, of how many females are in your guild that can be talked into going with us. Shiroe's allowed that if you want to hint of the troubles that are coming to get them to agree to come, that's okay. Having the rumors build up a little now will help the over-all strategy, but keep it at the level of rumor. Just like you all could only agree it's coming, they will too. Just like we want all the children out, we want all the women out, too." There were nods around and each representative gave out their numbers and Henrietta wrote them down, a clipboard and pen appearing in her lap to do so.

"How are you going to get the entire sewing section out?" Mei-Mao asked, puzzled when that part was done.

Marielle smiled her bright smile at her. "We'd like to extend an invitation to all those who've worked so hard here in Akiba to come and be entertained by us in Maihama in gratitude for their efforts over the last two and a half years. Without them we wouldn't have any of the fashion shows, or fun and comfortable clothing to wear at all. Calasin, Roderick, and Michitaka have agreed to send guild members, under the direction of Mikakage," the small druid sat up straight and nodded, "as the chefs and support staff for both the festival in Maihama and the dungeon raid. We'll start with a small dungeon for those who haven't fought much, if there's enough interest. If not, then those who aren't support staff can relax and have a vacation while the fighters vacation by hitting things."

Rieze cleared her throat. "And, that's partially why we're meeting today. We know that we'll have enough of both that the fighters will keep the non-fighters safe on the trip to Maihama, but if there are too many who don't want to go dungeoning, then we need to decide if we'll split the fighters between those who do and those who're willing to protect the non-fighters at a different location."

"Shiroe's more worried about that path, since if the quarantine is broken by desperate men, it could put the second group at a distinct disadvantage. Shiroe thinks there's a high probability they'll start trying to break quarantine to come find us. It's why we'd like to push the non-fighters to at least go through a lower level dungeon with us first, to get their levels up just a little. You might, in the end, be fighting your own guild members for your lives and rights, and they'll head for the weakest ones first if they see weapons out." There were shivers from the crafter guild representatives. They were crafters because they didn't like fighting as it was.

A hand was raised. "What about the cross-gendered?"

"Expect the men to go for anything that looks, moves, and smells female. We all know that it's been long enough that regardless of what was inside, ..." Rieze left it hanging. "If those with female avatars want to come with, they can come with. We'll run a test to see how that goes on the way. How they fall in Maihama will determine which group they go with after that." There were nods of agreement to that decision.

She looked at the two from Akaneya and Woodstock. "Your guildmasters have already been warning the solos off as they come in, or if they have them friend-listed. You only need to worry about the ones in your guilds. Can we also ask you to take on asking the un-guilded in town, to invite them?" There weren't too many of those that were female. They agreed quickly.

Once they had the initial needs covered, Marielle described in detail the plan to get them to Maihama. Rieze took it back to discuss the later half of the plans in detail. By the time the assignments were passed out, everyone was firmly resolved to see they did their part to protect their fellow sisters of Akiba. It was another battle, and they were Adventurers.


	151. Princess Raynessia the Free

Michael called in to Shiroe. "Okay, so like, he's had to go back and start over eight times now, but we're finally at the gate to the castle. We might make it this time."

"You actually had to walk through time?" Shiroe asked, somewhat aghast.

"Well, not technically. I just watched him. Izanagi or something managed to control it enough that it was just a do-over. Like those timed games where if you don't do it right within the time limit you have to start from the beginning again. I couldn't walk back to the beginning with him or I would have crossed over myself that many times. I did watch over him, though, to make sure it didn't get any worse than that."

"Gods, even that much is terrible," Shiroe wasn't any happier than Michael. "Let me know what happens next."

"Sure thing," Michael said, closing the chat. He'd only called to say that much to put Shiroe on a cliffhanger to make him pay the same price he'd had to pay up until then. Fortunately, the rest of them had been able to wait at whatever point Neville had disappeared until he reappeared again another second later, so the rest of them had no idea that's what had happened. Michael trotted to catch up, not having wanted the rest to hear his report.

The Duke was already coming out to meet them. "I've already sent for Raynessia," were his first words, then his eyes went to Michael and the light of concern touched them. Michael stayed neutral and calm and Sergiad's eyes went back to Neville.

"I've returned successful...if nothing else goes wrong before Lady Raynessia arrives," Neville said. He was trembling a bit and Michael was concerned, but so were his men at arms and two of them reached out and steadied him. That helped.

Raynessia wasn't in a particular hurry to arrive, though she didn't come so late as to be considered disobedient. Michael stepped up to be a little more between her and Neville. Sergiad paid close attention. Raynessia curtsied to her grandfather and Neville held up the hourglass in his hand. "I have brought the Sands of Time to you, Lady Raynessia," he said, with a bit of a quaver. She stared at the hourglass, then reached her hand out. Before she could touch it or Neville drop it, it was in Michael's list in a protected slot box. The People of the Land stared at the empty hand. Neville would have cried but he started and looked at Michael. Michael gave him a nod and he slumped.

"I was told I had to carry it to you but I wasn't allowed to give it to you," Neville said in apology to Raynessia.

"Princess Raynessia," Michael said, drawing her attention. "The Sands of Time are very dangerous. Neville was fortunate to find them, however I was sent to be sure that the proper care of them was taken. He has traveled eight times as far as the rest of us because even an improper shifting of them can take a person back to when they received them. I was expressly told to see to their care once you had been properly presented with them. You are too important to Maihama and Duke Sergiad for us to allow you to come under harm by touching them yourself. Please accept young Neville's efforts in your behalf with our assurances he has done everything you requested of him in this quest."

Raynessia stood frozen for a bit, then she curtsied. "Thank you Sir Michael for protecting me for my Grandfather and people, and for seeing Neville arrived as well. ...Thank you, Neville for accomplishing the three quests. I would request that you allow me one week to prepare myself for the announcement."

Neville bowed calmly, but everyone was quite sure he was very relieved. "Certainly, Lady Raynessia." He bowed to Sergiad and at the nod of dismissal, left with his man at arms to retire to his own rooms for likely a day and a half's sleep at least.

Raynessia, however, had not excused herself, and when Neville was gone, Sergiad turned a suspicious look on her. "Grandfather," she curtsied to him, "I am willing to try my best, but there is still no stirring in my breast for Neville, nor any man." She looked into his eyes earnestly. "I find it terribly disturbing. Please will you grant me one more boon before the announcement?"

The Duke's eyes narrowed. "And that would be?"

"Allow me to follow the tradition of the noble ladies of the past. Please let me go visit the Oracle to confirm that this is the path I am supposed to be on before I step onto it irrevocably." She was very serious and earnest.

Michael looked at Sergiad and there was more emotion blooming on the noble lord's face than he ever let through. "You will not," he said firmly.

"Please, Grandfather," Raynessia begged. "Lady Purrcy is my friend. Surely no harm can come to me if Adventurers help me arrive both there and return here again. I don't want to bring sorrow and ruin to Neville or to Maihama if it isn't right. Let me go and ask her."

Sergiad scowled angrily. "It is unnecessary. Neville has already played your game and has accomplished it sufficiently. That is enough proof. You will marry him." He waved at his two men at arms that were still present. "See she arrives at her room."

Raynessia looked at him in surprise, then tears began to slowly form and drip down her cheeks, giving the impression of complete beautiful sorrow. The Duke was completely unaffected, though it made the men at arms uncomfortable. They still had to obey and they did, treating her gently.

"I take it she didn't expect you to follow through with distrust," Michael said watching after her, then looking back at the Duke. He scowled the more and turned away. Michael followed him regardless, walking just behind him in the position of an advisor, with Gareth behind him the same until Michael motioned to him to go after Raynessia. Gareth bowed slightly and turned the next corner and disappeared.

"You've sent him where?" The Duke was sharply on top of that, just as distrustful.

"To make sure when she escapes there are eyes on her that can follow her properly."

The Duke turned to him. "Are you here because Shiroe expected this as the next possibility."

"Yes," Michael said. "And because what I said about the Sands of Time is true. It would have been another way for her to escape and it's an item even too dangerous for Adventurers. It's was a loan from Nyanta-san so that he could at least meet the requirement."

"Ah, I see," the Duke said, though it was without much thought to the words. He was still irritated, if not angry.

"May I ask why it is you're so set against her going? We aren't ready to move yet, so there would be time." It wasn't answered, but they ended up in the Duke's personal quarters, in the sitting room. Michael had heard the reports so understood what this likely meant. The Duke actually drank his first glass of port down quickly and it was still before lunch. Michael blinked at him and chose to sip at his. It wasn't going to make him drunk anyway, so he may as well enjoy what taste it had. He called up a silent conference chat with Shiroe. It was a simpler way to let him know what was going on.

Sergiad waved Michael into a chair then sank into what was likely his own favorite, facing the fireplace. It being the dead of winter, there was a fire lit in it in the daytime, which had been stoked by the steward after the port had been poured. It took a bit longer for Sergiad to calm sufficiently to begin his story.

"When I was young, I had a beloved sister of strong mind and will, unlike most of the women of Cowen, though perhaps not so much as might be expected of such as the Adventurers." He glanced at Michael and he bowed his head slightly in understanding. "She also, when it was time to become betrothed, asked to follow the traditions and seek the Mountain Shrine for a blessing before committing." He was staring in the fireplace, seeing that time.

"My parents allowed it, not thinking it odd. However, when she arrived she did not return to us. Instead her guards returned without her and informed my parents that her _blessing_ had been to be taken by Inari-no-Izanami as the next High Priestess." He spat the word as if a cursing instead. He had to breathe and drank a large gulp of his second glass of port.

"I was near to marrying myself and wanted her to be with us, not lost to us on a far away mountain, so I followed after, intending to request that she at least be allowed to return and say her farewells and be with us as a family one more time before becoming isolated." His fingers whitened on the stem of his glass. "I was delayed, hindered, and held back until weeks had passed. By the time I arrived to speak with her, she was no longer my sister whom I loved, but the High Priestess. She would hear nothing of my pleas, saying that even so, the deed had already been done and it was too late from the time she had arrived, for the ceremony had happened the day the men had left."

Sergiad's hand began to tremble and he lowered his glass enough it wouldn't slip out of his fingers. "I was so angry, that I couldn't hold my tongue in the face of her arrogant pride and cold uncaring for the people she should have been caring for as the mother of the world. When I was done, she coldly looked at me and declared that while I would marry the love of my life, she would die young and I would be left without those would would care for me until my children were brought up. Then she dismissed me with a wave of her hand and casually commented that the whole purpose of the House of Cowen was to provide proper hosts for her to come to the earth and that I was to teach my children to expect it if we had forgotten as a family that it was the truth of the state of things."

He took a breath and his scowl was back again. "I have refused to teach any such thing to my children and grandchildren and I absolutely refuse to allow any of them to be within reach of the claws of that place again. Raynessia will not go. I swore to tear down those buildings and see the whole of the sect destroyed within my lifetime. Everything since then that I have learned has only confirmed my determination." His eyes went to Michael. "Including your entreaty to me to allow Lady Purrcy to have even one evening of rest with her family here on Theldesia."

His voice dropped to a whisper. "How I wish I could have given that gift to my own sister before she was removed from this world, alone in that cold place." He looked down into his cup, then drained it again and held it empty loosely in his fingers, lost in his emotions. Michael stayed silent, respecting Sergiad's sorrow and grief, and completely understanding it, having followed Purrcy through her own initiation at the shrine.

Finally Sergiad sighed. "If Raynessia cannot feel anything for any man, then she likely was to be the next Priestess or Oracle. She has some of the same traits as both my sister and my wife, who was called to serve as the next Priestess as another one of my punishments. I killed every shrine maiden who came to retrieve her but the goddess took her anyway and she died for it in my arms." Michael was shocked. Surely the Duke would have received even more punishments and cursings after that. How long had he walked this path against the gods of his understanding?

"Every group of men I threw against that place was rebuffed until I determined I needed to be more careful so that the people who were beginning to complain against me wouldn't completely turn against me, though they didn't really understand it was me, since I kept it all as hidden as possible." He turned a fiery, fighting look on Michael. "To have had you all come and show me your own determination to fight as well, I felt I had seen allies, though I feared because as Adventurers you have the power to destroy us all and see the world burn in flames. To be contacted by Archmage Shiroe was to feel sudden relief that I might actually be able to see my own burning goal of this life met before I must also leave it."

"...Please, continue to help me fight to remove the cursed shrines and the cursing against my House of sacrifices to that place of the best women we can produce. Please help me save my granddaughter. Even if she can never feel any emotion towards Neville because she was to become the High Priestess, she can still fulfill her duty to him and our House regardless. The emotions are nearly irrelevant. The body will still do what it is supposed to do. All noble marriages are like that save the few like my oldest granddaughter's."

Michael lowered his head and considered his answer. "Let me ask one question," he finally said and looked back up. "Because Purrcy is already there and cannot die, wouldn't Izanami already be appeased? She is both the High Priestess and the Oracle so there is no need for either one at this time. Surely this would be the safest time for a woman of Cowen to go and receive a real answer without fear. It would calm her mind and allow her to settle to the engagement so that you and Neville both don't have to continue to worry. I think we can all see that she will continue to fight to go regardless. Over time that will make her even more obstinate and more difficult until she refuses you and Neville both." Michael shook his head before the Duke could. "I know it's difficult, but even you know how such things work."

Sergiad held still, then still chose to shake his head. "I will break those patterns in my lifetime," he said with quiet and firm commitment. "She will not go."

"You'll see her die like your wife then?" Michael asked quietly.

Sergiad didn't answer. Michael finally stood and drank the rest of his port and left the glass on the side table between them. "I'll let you think about it." Shiroe had been whispering in his ear. "Purrcy knows she has a part to play in this event unrelated to the final event, though not what. The gods won't tell even her why they are directing Raynessia in this way. Please carefully consider it further. We'll stay to see what happens since it may affect what comes next."

As Michael left the room, he left with a link to Duke Sergiad. He wanted to know as soon as he moved on this issue again and in which direction.

It didn't take long. On his way to the quarters he was being escorted to, Gareth contacted him. "Just observe," Michael ordered. Raynessia was caught before she reached the gate to the castle grounds. When the Duke was informed, he coldly ordered her locked in the top room of one of the two twin second-highest towers, since this _was_ the Cinderella castle of Tokyo Disney. Michael set Gareth to watch over her there while he sat in their rooms and set up the umbrella. For a while he sat and considered what was necessary, then he contacted Shiroe.

-:-:-:-:-

"We can't sit here forever, Shiroe."

"We also can't know but that the path he's on to break out of his family cycle won't be successful," Shiroe argued back.

"We can know. Only Adventurers can break cycles. It's the law on this planet. People of the Land have to follow the patterns. Adventurers break it. They might be helping us because their minds need to be changed, but we're still too early in that cycle. _This_ pattern is set so that it has to be followed before the breaking of the pattern. Raynessia will fight it until it does happen, I'm sure of it," Michael insisted.

"It's a guess that could greatly damage what we're trying to do in working together with the Duke to preserve relations between Adventurers and People of the Land. If we betray that trust by having a bad outcome since we don't know what she's wanted at the shrine for, then we lose that one important link we have. I can't allow that to be jeopardized." Shiroe stayed firm.

Michael argued back anyway. "He wouldn't have to know. Gareth could be her for two hours or less while I step her over there, let her talk to Purrcy, and bring her back. We've got to be ready for the trial against Honesty in two days and two days after that we leave for Australia. How's that going to happen if I have to sit here and babysit? We're short on time."

"No, Michael. Just come home and we'll send someone else over there."

"You've only got us, Shiroe, and we're all needed for both of those activities. I'm only letting the three with Berenshilde go with him because we plan on picking them up when we're done scaring off the pirates enough we can head farther south to Aussie. If we can get this one resolved before we even have to come back to Akiba then all of the sub-quests will be done and you can relax while we're not here to keep watch over you. We need to get Aussie done as quickly as possible as well, since you'll need us when it gets really bad back up here. We're already cutting it close as it is because of these damn sub-quests."

Shiroe was silent, then sighed. "Just keep an eye on it for now. Maybe something will come up by tomorrow morning to change things. I know she's not going to sit still, even if she is locked up where she can't get out. The two of you can join in the Hacker trial from there if you have to, and even be picked up at the last minute from Maihama. Give it at least one more day, two would be even better. I don't want to step in where we really shouldn't. We're NPCs that move only when necessary, not PCs this time around. Let the game play around you before you move."

Michael leaned back in his chair, arms folded, unhappy, but he considered it properly. "Fine. But we can't leave it behind us. We'll be cutting it close when we get back as it is. I'm already planning on picking Purrcy up as we come back in."

"No." Shiroe put his foot down on that, too, surprising Michael. "Let that ride until it's accomplished."

"You know they won't understand when they find kittens," Michael leaned forward and argued. "Kaede already hates Purrcy as it is, particularly the cat form. She'll hit the roof."

Shiroe was silent, then said quietly. "I know."

Michael's mouth dropped open. "You actually _want_ her to find them?"

"You've already said they would be allies in this. I believe we need to break her faith and if possible Priest Jared's or they will continue to hold to their beliefs in Inari too tightly and we won't be able to break the flavor text because of them. If they can find doubt in finding that the gods have allowed Adventurers to procreate, then that is a necessary step, I believe."

Michael sat up straight until he'd worked through that one. "Alright. I can see it, though I don't like it."

"Not like I do either, but we know this isn't the final experiment. To have an angry Priestess kill the kittens to anger the goddess - and perhaps even High Priestess - so that they are also at war is what I think is necessary this round."

"Convenient," Michael said, but he tried to hold the tone to not be too scornful. He knew Shiroe was feeling things under the cold. "You think they'll keep their mouths shut about it when other People of the Land come?"

Shiroe was still calmly quiet. "Yes. It will be so anathema to her, she will try to deny it ever happened, though it will eat at her."

"Fine. I won't bring Purrcy back on the return, then. I'll plan a rescue instead."

"Thank you," Shiroe said.

"I'm still going to say we have to get Raynessia's done before we go. I don't know how long it's going to take us down south and we'll still be cutting it fine I suspect, one way or the other. The Duke and Raynessia aren't going to let this go on that long."

"Just give it time, please," Shiroe begged this time.

"What I can," Michael said, but firmly wasn't going to commit to not interfering and they ended the chat on that note.

-:-:-:-:-

Raynessia stood at the narrow window of the tower of the castle more than despondent. She really was depressed and sorrowful this time. She couldn't understand why her Grandfather was being like this. Not at all. She was normally obedient and she'd been shocked that he'd not trusted that at the first, but had sent her under guard to her rooms. That was so unlike him. What was it about the shrine and Oracle that made him so angry? She couldn't fathom it.

She also couldn't stand to not be allowed to go and ask her simple question. If she was told by the Oracle to marry Neville regardless, she would. Otherwise she really wanted to understand what her role in this world was and what path to walk properly. Wasn't she trying her best to do what she was supposed to do?

Since she couldn't believe any of what was going on, she'd gathered her cloak around her and slipped out. It was a cloak she'd been gifted by an Adventurer while in Akiba and while it didn't make her invisible, it did make people not look at her so much. Someone in the castle had magics to counteract it, though, and had seen her and called her out, sending the frantic guards to swarm her and lead her back into this severe prison. Really, she just couldn't understand it at all.

Tears dripped softly down her cheeks again. It was so unfair when she'd only been trying her best. Ever since she'd been called home by her Grandfather from Akiba it had seemed like this - like he was a completely different person than the loving man she knew. She was at a loss to understand why or what had happened. She couldn't even ask anyone now that she was alone in this room, to see if something had happened to him while she'd been in Akiba. If he'd been cursed and it had been a slow progression, would anyone living those days with him have seen it? Would she be the only one who could understand to question his behavior so different now than it was? She shuddered as she hoped it wasn't a negative influence against or because of the Adventurers coming. Why would he have sent her if that was going to happen? She at least hoped it hadn't.

As time passed, occasionally thoughts of escape would flit through her mind, though they were occasional. She was, after all, being given exactly what she preferred to have - time to be lazy without anyone complaining at her.

At some point she wondered if she could call for Neville to come and if he would help her be rescued from the tower and they could flee. Perhaps if he understood the simple question she wanted to ask, and understood how difficult this was, he might be willing to find a way to free her. As that floated about in her mind, she just as slowly realized it wouldn't work. Not only had she given the poor boy almost impossible quests (though he'd solved them terribly quickly), she'd also asked him to stay away for a week. He'd not come now, though he might come then to fetch her. That was likely too late, as her Grandfather would surely send guards to make sure she didn't run off with or without Neville at that last minute time.

She put her head down, depressed again and let the thoughts drift away again for a while. Dinner came and went. She couldn't remember eating it the next time she was aware again, but the tray was gone, so perhaps she had. She really didn't want to sleep in this terrible dress so she took up courage and went to the door and called through it to ask if her maid could come and help her dress for bed. No answer was given and no Elissa came.

That made her wonder if there even was a guard on the door, but when she tried to open the door (locked) and then peek through the food door, there was indeed a guard there, very alert and giving her a dark look. She let the little door drop and sighed a long sad sigh, then returned to the bed to curl up on it, wishing for her flannel pajamas. Well...perhaps that was part of the punishment as well, since they _were_ her favorites and her most common reward.

The following morning, her grandfather came to visit her. "Raynessia, give up this fancy you have. It is not necessary. You know that it isn't a marriage of love already. You will still be able to fulfill all your necessary requirements without feeling anything for anyone. There is no answer at the shrine for you that will help you."

"Grandfather," she tried very hard to remain very humble and respectful, really wanting out of this tower, "Purrcy is my friend."

"She is the High Priestess in that place," he tried to not be angry for her sake, she could tell. "I know she was mostly herself for some time, but once they go to the shrine itself, the High Priestess can only be Izanami herself. The person that was in the body no longer exists, and the aspect of Izanami that comes to this earth inside the High Priestess is impartial and often appears cold and uncaring. If she curses you instead, your parents and I would be devastated. I understand Purrcy wouldn't do that, but the High Priestess is just as likely to as not. Please put it from your mind. For the last five generations we've only had the cursings when a lady of Cowen has gone to the shrine. Please do not follow them. Stay here and marry Neville and live with us."

Raynessia blinked and tried to not have her mouth gape open, finding it difficult to take in what he was saying. Finally she said, confused, "Surely it isn't that bad, Grandfather."

"It is," he said soberly. She could only shake her head. He turned from her for the door. "I will leave you here to consider it further. I will not allow you to go to the shrine. I will not lose another woman I love to that place." His look was so determined and so sad that she couldn't say the other arguments on her tongue before he was gone.

Her father came to argue it next, and Raynessia could tell that her grandfather had put him up to it without fully convincing him of why he was so set against it. Still, her father was definitely much more in favor of her just accepting Neville, saying that surely she had already tested him enough and it was sufficient. When she tried to say she was only asking to go to the Shrine so she could be sure it was the right thing, he'd gotten as cool as his father-in-law. "It is sufficient, and therefore right and proper. You do not need to ask anyone else. We your parents and grandfather who are your guardians have determined it. It is sufficient."

Raynessia could only look at him in despair and he left her there to continue to think on it. It was when her mother came that she finally broke. "Why is it so difficult to be obedient in this thing?" her mother asked ever so sadly. "Neville really is the best there is and he has tried so hard for your sake. Surely to marry a willful and selfish wife will be too difficult for him now. If he refuses you then they all shall and it will be for naught in the end anyway. Please, before anyone knows of this, set it aside and say you will stay and be obedient and marry Neville regardless of your doubts. They will flee your mind anyway once the time comes."

"Mother, how can that be when they still roil in my mind even after he has accomplished the quests?"

"Then was it the right way to test him to begin with? He has done his part. Let it go," her mother begged back.

Before her mother left, she said one last parting statement. "If you will not choose on your own to let it go, this thought to go to the shrine, then in one week will be your wedding, not the engagement announcement, by decree of the Grand Duke." She'd tried to grab her mother's arm to beg and plead further but she left, slipping out before Raynessia could reach her. Instead there was only the closed door frame to hold as she slipped down to her knees and sobbed, not even really understanding why she should do so.

Surely by now it should be enough for her to agree, to change her mind, to say it was enough. Certainly this was enough evidence, wasn't it? But her heart felt to break instead as the pain in it was the most painful she'd ever felt, even more than the pain of being stolen from her friends in Akiba. That connection made, she could only sob harder and she fled to the bed to lie out on it, hiding her head and crying the hardest she ever had. What had happened to make her come to this place? How had she come here to imprisonment and enforced early marriage? Hadn't she only been trying her best?

She slept for a while, that being too much for her delicate system. When she woke, she felt dead inside. She remembered that she had no interest in any man, not even Neville. She only could think of her kind friends in Akiba that she would never see again save on rare occasions if there was time to visit with her husband. Silent tears dripped down her temples as she stared at the high ceiling. Life in the castle wasn't worth living if she couldn't see her way to a purpose other than as a brood mare and trophy wife for a noble who couldn't see past his limited capacity. If she was going to be prevented from seeing any other purpose for her in this life but that, then why should she bother?

Without hardly thinking about it, she walked again to the window and looked down. This was certainly high enough. She slowly dragged her bed over to be under the window, then climbed up on the bed, stepped up onto the head of the bed, and then climbed into the window. She had seen Akatsuki do it often enough - come in through her window - and for a brief moment she paused, wishing to see her friend in that way again even here. Then she closed her eyes and stepped out of the window.

-:-:-:-:-

Saraliya, Raynessia's mother, sat in her garden, her needlework forgotten in her hands as they rested in her lap. She was staring at the window of the tower that housed her daughter. How had it come to this? There hadn't been a princess locked in a tower for a very, very long time, though there were stories of it. Usually the prince (the intended) showed up to rescue her. Saraliya was minded to go and remind her father of that fact. Perhaps if Neville went to talk to Raynessia, she could be persuaded. That might be an appropriate key.

Her heart was heavy, though. She already knew from the sobs that had followed her down the many stairs that Raynessia would not be turned to him so easily. There was something so strange going on here. It felt like...she shuddered...like when her own mother had died. Something strange had happened then also and her father had cried, but he had also become coldly and unreasoningly angry like now. He was nearly unapproachable today and yesterday with his anger.

Saraliya's own heart clenched as she considered him, wishing she could take that from him also. It surely wasn't good to punish one's own granddaughter when filled with such anger. It was not anger at Raynessia, though he was frustrated. It was such an odd anger directed at something unknown and unexpressed. She wanted to be able to understanding it, ask him, but she dared not. Not before, and not now. There was something very frightening behind that anger.

Something moved in the window she was gazing at that drew her attention and she looked closer, narrowing her eyes slightly. Then she was suddenly standing, her needlework falling to the ground in front of her and her maids startling at her sudden movement. "No. Oh, no. Raynessia, don't!" she cried, then fell to her knees as the first foot was held out over the ground. "No, please, Mother Goddess Inari, please don't take her, too."

Saraliya had sunk to her knees and she put her hand to her mouth and the other to her heart to cover the pain she was feeling, unable to look away from her youngest daughter as she began to fall towards the ground. Shivers overtook her and tears filled her eyes as her own cries and wails began to lift into the air. To have a princess choose to die instead was completely unheard of.

-:-:-:-:-

"Michael," Gareth's urgent voice came through internal only since he was on external silence at the moment. "You'd best be watching. She's acting different."

Michael was immediately watching, hiding himself from eyes. Raynessia was acting rather doll-like. She had no expression on her face, though tears were slipping down her cheeks. As she moved the bed, his eyes took it all in very fast. "Suicide," he said tersely.

"No way," Gareth breathed.

"Absolutely."

"Do I stop her?" Gareth asked immediately.

Michael was silent as he quickly considered it. "Wait but be ready. We'll be accused of something for sure if she's found missing without anyone understanding."

They both watched her carefully, Michael stepping into the spirit realm with Gareth, but staying on the edge. He got his wings ready and Gareth copied him. They moved to be outside the tower but below the window not needing solid ground in the spirit realm. As the Princess took the final step, a sudden surge went through Michael and both he and Gareth were pushed out of the spirit realm into the base realm. The quickly steadied, wings spread to slow their descent.

Michael caught Raynessia and Gareth quickly grabbed both her and Michael to help slow the descent more. Michael stared at Gareth and then knew he also was wearing it - their kimonos of the shrine. The surge had been someone's prayer and they'd been sent to answer it, just like Nyanta had felt it when Yuudai and Majiyo had prayed in the inn to be able to help Mise.

"Hold on tight, Gareth," he ordered and got a nod. He stepped them into the spacial realm, then stepped them into the shrine's outer courtyard.

Gareth jerked in surprise at their location and blinked several times. "Why?" he breathed.

"Because we got prayed into action and sent by Izanami." Gareth stared at Michael's clothes for a moment, then his own. He gave a faint nod. They both put on illusions of different faces before Raynessia finished waking up to her sudden and current situation. It wouldn't be good if she could point to them specifically as her rescuers.

They let her go when she seemed ready to stand on her own two feet. She gaped at them and they bowed to her, keeping the wings on and everything, and directed her silently to the first fountain. Showing her how to do the purification as they did their own, they helped her with her own, then took her into the lower room of instruction. There Gareth knelt with her as Michael stepped into the upper room and cast his Priest's purification on himself, skipping the rest. It was the fastest way to get where he needed to be, though he'd likely pay for it later. He stepped through the next door and bowed to the door behind which Purrcy was. The shrine maidens, surprised and having never seen one of his kind of heavenly beings before were promptly opening the door, then face down.

He walked into the lower room of meeting and up to the place he should stand and bowed again. Once again, every assistant in the room also bowed to the floor. Speaking in the code realm only so that no one would recognize his voice, he told Purrcy what had happened from the beginning. She recognized him early, of course, like probably when they'd entered the shrine, but she didn't let on at all.

When he was done, she lifted a hand and beautifully extended a finger out to point at the rooms behind him, then turned her hand over and gestured for him to bring Raynessia to her. He bowed and returned to open the door to the upper room of instruction. Gareth was already opening the door to the lower room of instruction so that all the rooms were open to each other from Raynessia all the way to Purrcy.

Raynessia lifted her head and saw Purrcy. In the next moment she was jumping to her feet and running through the rooms to grab Purrcy in a hug, tears streaming down her face. The shrine maidens, and now Priestess Kaede as well, were staring in amazement, though the former were only doing so from the side of their eyes since they were still bowed before this strange happening they didn't understand. Gareth walked to the door Michael was standing at and cast his own purification spell there, then the two of them walked to stand at the back of the lower room of meeting, Gareth closing that door behind him.

"Lady Purrcy," Raynessia finally said in a sad and lost voice, "have I died and come to heaven?"

"No, Raynessia. You've been brought to the shrine by the hand of the Goddess because your mother pled in your behalf for your life to be spared."

"Why?" Raynessia asked disconsolately. "Why is my grandfather so set against me coming when all I wanted was to understand what path I was to walk to help him and my people?"

"It is his past he fights," Purrcy said kindly. "I'm sorry you've had to become caught in that past with him. Please, don't let it trouble your heart while you are here." She rubbed her hand lightly down Raynessia's cheek. "You have done right to ask your questions and seek earnestly for answers, doing the best you could with what you were given."

Purrcy's eyes and face changed and Gareth sank to his knees and put his face on the floor. Michael bowed and so did Kaede and they stayed bowed. "I have said that you are not in heaven, nor dead, but really you are in between. You may choose at this point. Will you choose to come and stay by my side and never see your family again? Or will you choose to move forward living life with them?"

Raynessia was quiet for a while, then she asked, "What purpose is there to my life? What path is there to go on when I feel nothing for the path my family has put my feet on? I don't feel anything like I'm supposed to, so I feel lost with no direction, or even blocked from moving forward. I don't want to move in a way that will cause harm to my family or my people so I am paralyzed and can only see darkly. Please, tell me. What is the path I should walk?"

"Raynessia, you do not feel anything because you are the First who is not being made to follow the paths of the past. You may choose your own path. You may choose to learn to love Neville or to reject him. You may choose to leave your family and live with the Adventurers, or you may choose to stay with your family and teach them this new way of being. You may choose to recant your royalty and live and work with Clair, though you will never have the full capacity of mind she does. I cannot remove what you were born with, only open your future path to you to choose."

Even Michael was stunned by that answer. It took Raynessia a long time to answer. "All of my children?"

"Yes."

"All of Iselius'?"

"Yes, even all of the ones not noble born. All children from this time."

Raynessia was suddenly sniffing. "Th-then, I would live. They will need someone to teach them. Even those who live now will need to understand. I-I can do that since I've lived with the Adventurers. Only they've had that ability until now. It's a blessing, but it will be frightening, too, for a time."

Purrcy gave Raynessia a kiss on her head. "I am proud of you for your bravery. May light smile on you for your whole life. Know that even if you don't see me, I am watching over you."

"I miss everyone," Raynessia said through her tears. "I'm so lonely."

"Soon, we will be able to play with you again, but there is much work to be done right now, Raynessia. Be patient and live the life you must for now and learn what it is to be able to choose given the restraints of your circumstances. You have always had this gift but not known what to do with it. Learn and practice it now, like you have been since you returned home. Don't fight with your grandfather, but do explain it to him. Perhaps he will find some comfort in understanding it. Your friends are coming to visit. Enjoy that visit with them while you can then work hard and they will come again."

"Yes, Lady Purrcy."

"It's 'Hahaue'," Purrcy said softly.

"Yes, Hahaue." They had to wait patiently until Raynessia finished crying. As she fainted slowly to the ground at Purrcy's feet, not having let go this whole time and overwhelmed by the experience and her own emotions, Michael stepped up and collected her. He walked back to the door with the Princess, turned, and bowed to the High Priestess one more time. Purrcy smiled for him and then he and Gareth were out the door and in the upper room of instruction.

They waited there patiently until they'd come down enough, then went to the next room and waited, knowing that Raynessia wouldn't likely be able to handle moving through the speeds quickly given how fast she'd run through and put herself at the highest level. When she and they were low enough, they stepped back to the castle, but to her own rooms this time, where Michael lay her out on her own bed to finish sleeping off her experience in the shrine. Then they stepped back to their own rooms, changing out of their robes and disguises on the way.

By the time they found the Duke, the maid had found him as well, sitting with his very distraught and grieving daughter and son-in-law. Even Iselius was sitting with them, very pale. At the news that Raynessia was alive and sleeping in her own bed, her parents and brother immediately leaped to their feet to hurry to her room. Michael and Gareth fell in behind the Duke, who moved a little slower. "You're not going to let your daughter's faith interfere with the plan are you?" Michael asked him quietly. The Duke didn't answer so they kept following him.

They stayed in the background in the bedroom until Raynessia had told her family her story of the time in the shrine. When she got to what she would do, she bit her lip, then looked at her grandfather in worry and pleading. "I don't understand why you're angry with the shrine or goddess, Grandfather, but she said I wasn't to fight with you, only to tell you what had happened and what my gift was." Her fingers nervously rubbed the fabric of her dress between them. "I don't want to be in a hurry to marry Neville, but if he's really the best you have been able to find, I'm willing to try. Please let it only be an engagement announcement so I can have time to understand what it means to choose to love someone."

The Duke stared at her a long time, then said softly, "That is sufficient and acceptable." She bowed her head to him and he gave a nod, then turned and left the room. Michael and Gareth followed him again until he reached a garden of grass and a shade tree likely meant for picnics. They stood at positions to give him company rather than restraint until he had recovered himself enough to think properly of his own path forward. "That is a rather large task for her to have and for the rest of us to learn. ...It does sufficiently answer to the spark in her I've never quite understood, however." He spoke to the top of the tree he was standing in the shade of but they understood it was for their ears.

He turned to them. "But tell me that was you and not some heavenly creatures that intervened. I could believe it of Adventurers like yourselves and Purrcy, but I cannot believe it of Inari."

"It was Inari who gave the gift, however. That was not us," Michael chided gently. He should face all of the truths openly to make a proper decision.

Sergiad looked down at the ground and pondered it longer. Finally he sighed. "My heart wants to selfishly grab at it and say that it is my due for the losses I have suffered at Inari's hand, but my head then must ask one more time. Why does Inari want us to hate it? Why does it want you to fight against it, the unkillable against that which cannot be killed? What purpose is there to that much? Why was I taught to hate it at an early age?"

Michael paused, then said, "Again, we cannot answer those for you to any of our satisfaction yet. However, I can say that likely you were made to hate it so that this time would be possible, so that you would already be prepared to help us see that the flavor text of the shrines is done away with. It's obvious they want that freedom. We can't see why that then leads to our fighting it, other than our own anger demands an outlet that is appropriate and doesn't bring destruction to Theldesia."

There was a soft rustling and felinoid-Purrcy appeared in the grass next to them. "Sergiad, what Michael has said is true. There is also the example of Raynessia however. They are making this whole world move forward into it's full and real state, seeing to its evolution into it's proper form. That is what all their efforts at this time are directed towards. To make all creatures necessary to the millennial existence of Theldesia come to peace and balance, to allow even the People of the Land to be free of the unnatural restraints, and the land itself which is one of Shiroe's goals, all of these things we have been asked to do are to help them in that transition. Whatever else their goals are, that is the overarching one."

"I'm sorry they don't care, or perhaps _can't_ care, about the immediate feelings of one person on the planet when the whole needs something different. It's a hard thing we of Log Horizon live with minute by minute because we are being used the most to see to this transition happening the way they want. The pains of your past were necessary to their goal. You may continue to be angry about it, though I hope for your own sake you'll let it go and stop having ulcers at least once the shrines are gone. But if you want to let it go now and instead choose to help us help them to make this world into the world it was designed from the beginning to be, then that is also a worthy goal to keep you moving forward."

Purrcy smiled at Sergiad. "Really. It doesn't matter to me. I'll be waiting for my part in the next phase. I trust Michael. It will turn out the way it needs to. But I do care about and for you and your family. I hope you will all be well and happy. I will be watching over you all and someday I'll come and visit with you again when the hard work we are doing now is over." When Sergiad looked away, unable to look at her, she stepped over and embraced him gently. When he finally bowed his head and relaxed, she slowly disappeared.

When she was fully gone, Sergiad took a deep breath and let it out, clasping his hands behind his back, but not looking up just yet. They let him get himself under control again. "Tell Archmage Shiroe we'll continue to move forward as planned. And Sir Michael," he looked up, "do please take good care of her."

"I will," Michael promised. "I've already promised to after all. She is mother to a lot of us now. ...I'm glad to know Raynessia is alive and safe. Please let her know we waited until we knew before we left. The Adventurers of Akiba still think of her fondly. Please allow her to visit regularly when this current trouble is over. She is very lonely, being the only one who can truly and freely choose."

The Duke looked down again, then gave a nod. "I'll encourage Neville to take care of her properly. The poor man really won't know how to do that, though, in the end."

"I'm sure he can learn how to cope to a reasonable level," Michael said. "You did know what you were getting her future husband into after all."

"Well...that is true enough," the Duke smiled a faint smile. He gave them a faint bow and they bowed in return, then turned and left the little open garden, leaving him to his contemplation. When they were where no one could see them, they stepped into the spacial realm and walked the step back home to Akiba to give their report.


	152. Partings and Transitions

Clocktower swore softly. Being short three Eagles left holes. The Honesty Hackers had been trying hard and were better this time. It wasn't all bad. The Eagles had to leave the city to them. He dodged another attack hoping the back line would take care of it. It was a bit like a soccer game now with the back line the goalie and a net up to handle what they couldn't catch, though he didn't think that so far anything had made it that far. That would be points against them and zero was the only number acceptable to them as far as the score went. They'd already gotten three through and a fourth was landing beyond the Honesty line now even though the attacks coming this way were almost heavy fire. He did wish they'd learn a lighter hand, though it did seem lighter this time than last. Maybe they'd learn it through observation eventually.

He called out the next moves and the field changed again. They liked to keep it mixed up to confuse the "enemy". Three more came for him in the interim. They'd figured out he was the quarterback. (It was a bit difficult to dredge up the soccer equivalent when under fire and keeping track of things.) He hunkered down small, then left a shadow behind and moved last minute. The attacks hit the shadow and winked out. Honesty got cocky and he calmly ordered the attack. The Eagles took down half of the remaining Hackers on Honesty's side and pulled back to let them decide if they were going to relent or continue. The battle had already gone on longer than most had stamina for.

"Let our top five meet your top five in the Programmer layer," was called out.

Clocktower blinked. That was a hard call. He, Reed, and Michael had a quick conference and they sent up the Maintenance detail. Considering they'd already learned Clocktower was high level, that was enough to send him. Since they didn't want to appear condescending and make the Honesty five mad, they relabeled OciferJeff as Michael and QA as Reed. Avionics went as Bowie, and Electrical stayed himself. Life Support came along to make sure things stayed copacetic. It would be an interesting side note to see if they bothered to look at the real data or even could.

That battle was more of a practice session and less of a mob attack. A little more finesse was nice and made it generally quieter. The Honesty five had been hard to make out in the noise of the first battle, but had the signatures of the ones that kept getting past him and to the back line. Having only the five made it easier to focus on those, though, and eventually they were playing volleyball - or tennis perhaps since they picked their person to train against and held to them, mostly, throwing in curve balls as the game wore on to keep it entertaining.

Eventually, the game was won because Honesty didn't know how to hold back on HP and MP usage and still get high power and volume in quite the same way. They all had back-up healers on the outside, but the lesson there was to learn just how hard it was to be one of those, too. (The Eagles had been given offers from other guilds, which they'd gratefully accepted, even with them not being part of the normal practice. It had made them get to go three times if not four times as long as they usually got to play.) When the last of the Honesty Programmers winked out, they paused, dropped, then sat there to make sure the Honesty Hackers pulled out properly.

"Damn blackbirds," was grumbled at them.

"You did well, really," Clocktower answered back. "We can see the improvement from last time. Maybe we can play one more time when we get back." It seemed that this time the Honesty group wasn't quite so uptight after the battle, but then they were weary. Probably facing them seriously helped. Names got properly switched back and they returned to the base realm, leaving traps and warnings up just in case, but those were always up anyway.

Michael was giving the final report to Shiroe and the guildmaster seemed pleased with the assessment that Honesty's group would be sufficient defense and attack against most Hackers and probably reasonable level Programmers as well. He smiled a knowing proprietary smile at them at their own skill level, though they weren't really his. It was still praise and they took it as such.

"Clocktower," Michael said as he turned back to the squadron, "see you set up additional protections against sneak attacks for the next few days. I suspect they'll see you as the one to take out early if they're going to fight unfair before we go. Make sure that you don't forget once we get back, too. That may be our only warning if they decide to sudden death us."

"Yessir," he answered properly. There wasn't much he could have done other than what he had since that was his role. It wasn't worth changing their names in the Hacker level. If he'd had someone else's name, that person would be under attack the next round. It worked in the final round this time, though, since most of those names had been the expected names and it had kept the other side from knowing what the real capabilities of their top five were. He'd held back, too, for the same reason. It was a nice final bonus for the Maintenance detail, that round, since they'd been held back here in town until now. He supposed that could count as the action for the sub-quest they'd been set to watch over.

They had certainly needed it. Being city babysitters with only six of them had been rather tough, actually. Having almost everyone back to help out was nice. There had been one other reason for picking his detail, though. The internal fights were about to start back up since they hadn't gotten the action the others had. Those who had followed Neville had been shorted because Michael and Gareth had been used in the end of that one. H/R and P/R had been put in the heavy fire slots for the Hacker battle to get that out of their systems.

While they were all together now that the Hacker testing was over, QA recovered enough to cast a group healing, and included the anti-viral in it. Clocktower tasted it, then looked around at everyone. MasterChiefS7 was as well. They looked at each other and Clocktower gave him a thumb meter that read one-quarter full. MasterChiefS7 turned to Michael. "It's not enough any more. It will hold down the fights, and we're worn out enough today, but by the time we get back - if we're left alone while out-city - the inoculant won't work at all."

Michael gave MasterChiefS7 a nod and turned to look at Shiroe. Shiroe gave a faint nod that he'd added it to his data. "It will be good to have you out-city while they all fall into it. They won't be able to blame you for making their tempers snap. The fighting would be worse then. If it's just you coming back and being surprised and working hard, they'll have to keep working hard, too." That made sense, though it was unclear if he meant Honesty specifically or Akiba.

-:-:-:-:-

Isuzu cut off the final note of her final song and the room clapped and cheered. It was a small crowd compared to the crowds her father drew, but it was big enough for her. She was a bit surprised when a few claps continued past her standing and bowing. She looked over towards that way as she put away her equipment and instruments. A hand waved at her and she trotted over, a smile blossoming on her face. "Hey! Yuddai, Majio, and it's Mise, right?"

"Yes. You play well," the older woman said.

"Thanks. What are you three doing up here?" she asked as she sat with them. "Last I heard you were all south of Akiba." Yomi-kun reached her and walked around to get pets from the other three, happy to see them, then settled at her feet as the waitress brought Isuzu her food and drink. She tossed the additional slab of meat at Yomi-kun and he dug in contentedly as she did the same. The others had politely waited for her attention to come back to them.

"We're mostly wandering around generally, but a rumor has started up in that area where we were that Izanagi and Izanami were no longer blessing the people and had turned their backs on them." Yuudai looked sad. "We were getting more chased off than being asked to help, so we thought we'd come see if it was just the area or more places. We haven't had so much trouble here, though we haven't been up here that long."

Isuzu was sympathetic. "I know you really liked being called to serve Izanagi, Yuudai. How was the mountain?" She let them tell her their stories as she ate, considering how to tell them what they needed to hear. When her plate had been picked up by the waitress again and water had come for Yomi-kun, she leaned back a little and thought just a little more.

"It sounds like even on the mountain, things were tense sometimes."

"It was, really," Majiyo sighed. "We'd rather it hadn't been."

Isuzu nodded thoughtfully. "You know, I've always thought that there's a distinguishing line between formal religion and the gods we choose to worship. Perhaps it's good to understand the formalisms and they give us comforting things to work with, or in your case very useful things, but sometimes what's seen from the outside isn't the same as our internal faith. Maybe you're seeing that? You were guests and distrusted ones at that. It may be that there's hidden things they didn't want you to know that are coming to light and the People of the Land are frustrated with those, not really Izanagi or what you understand." Her brow furrowed as she tried to put it into words.

"I know you've seen things that are very meaningful to you. We've all seen them in Log Horizon, having Purrcy with us so long. They apparently hate her, where we know she is very kind and concerned about everyone's welfare, even if she is stern." She got nods at that. They knew that, too. "The People of the Land haven't seen that, just like they haven't seen you specifically to understand you. Like anywhere, some will give you the chance to show them, and others will just make assumptions and you move on." She gave a worried look to Yuudai on purpose. "I would want you to not push it too far, though. If it gets very bad, you could just help people or hide for a while."

Yuudai shrugged. "I don't mind if I say that I'm a priest of Izanagi and show them that he is still compassionate and merciful even so." He grinned a bit. "I'm an Adventurer after all. There's not much they can do to me, really."

Isuzu gave a nod. "I suppose and we know of the stories of the wandering priest that served his best regardless of what anyone thought. It's a good thing." Her mind was suddenly working on her next song with that concept in it. She could put both things in it - that the god went astray but the priest continued to serve properly as best he knew how. Perhaps that would be a good way to soften the message and help Yuudai out, since she hadn't really wanted to write a song that was just a bash song. She could technically include Purrcy in that more positive light as well, the priestess working at the shrine opposed to the wandering priest. She nodded to herself, liking it and her toe already was tapping out a tempo to go with the images forming in her head.

They chatted as friends for a while longer since she so rarely got the opportunity to, then she begged tiredness and excused herself to her room to get what she'd worked on written down. In the morning they asked if they could travel with her. She wasn't sure, but did want more company for a while. It was nice in the end, a few days later, when they were able to hear the debut of that song. Yuudai thanked her for it and that made her feel like she'd properly done what she'd wanted to do. They parted the following morning with good lucks and she turned her feet farther north as they continued west. It was still good to be moving forward.

-:-:-:-:-

Everyone was sitting around the tables of Log Horizon this night, the night before the Eagles left for Australia. The juniors, and the seniors truth be told, were actually going to miss their busy if non-intrusive presence. They'd been surprised by that the first time, but knew what they were going to feel this time. It would be for longer, too, by a little. They tried not to think of the short stay and long separation after that.

Rather by spontaneous agreement, the juniors had sat down among the tables of the Eagles, inviting themselves in. That had pushed four up to the head table, but the adults and Eagles had all smiled in understanding and had shifted. Akatsuki hadn't been shy once that had happened and she was sitting with the Eagles, too, since she wasn't allowed to sit next to Shiroe anyway. That had earned grins around the Eagle's tables and a bit of friendly shoving to get the seats closest to her, though they hadn't let on - much.

Shiroe noticed and Naotsugu rolled his eyes and glared until they settled down. He'd given Akatsuki a soft smile then, when he was sure she wasn't looking and a satisfied look to the rest of them. It was going to be hard to leave what family there was. It had been a while to feel that feeling, though given the military life they were well familiar with it.

When food was mostly done and before the night meeting, MasterChiefS7 rose to his feet. When he was given the silent permission by Shiroe he said, "We'd like to leave gifts before we go, though we hope to bring gifts back with us, too, since we're going out to have fun." He waved his hand and the designated Eagles rose to their feet and handed out one gift to each of the members of Log Horizon. "Miss Purrcy specifically asked us to give one to Miss Akatsuki, but we thought it might be good to give one to everyone. We'll leave Isuzu's with you, Guildmaster Shiroe, in case she comes back to get it while we're out."

With thanks the presents were opened. "What is it?" Touya's puzzled voice came.

"An automatic magic stirring spoon. Stick it in the sauce pot and you'll think we're still there helping - except it won't turn the heat down. It will beep at you if it's burning on the bottom, though."

Touya blinked at it, then laughed. "Thanks. That's going to be very useful. Make one hundred more and ship them overseas. They should sell very well." The three chefs who helped him the most started murmuring to each other, since that had been an excellent idea.

Akatsuki's eyes sparkled at her memory cube and she held it close to her heart and gave her small happy smile to everyone around her. She did manage eventually to say, "Thank you, everyone." She got a lot of head rubs and shoulder pats after.

Minori was gifted with cooking clothing items that were nice and even nicer when she read the flavor text. It would help her stay safe in the kitchen against fire - but also be armor against those who might harm her outside the kitchen. They'd wanted to leave her what protection they could since they wouldn't be around to see to it personally. Touya was as pleased with her gift as his.

Rudy was given a vest and jacket to match the hat Purrcy had given him, and special boots. They winked at him. "Practice, then use them wisely." They weren't seven-league boots, but they figured half-mile ones would be enough to get him out of danger without making him have to hike back a ridiculous amount. Far more practical for real life. Only Adventurers really needed and wanted to go leagues in one step, and only when trying to get to a far dungeon or back home from one.

They wouldn't say what they were leaving for Isuzu, but it was surely music related. Gifts for the other senior officers had been harder to come up with. "We've booby trapped the building," Michael said. "If Shiroe or Akatsuki get too close they'll be forced to wake up and whomever is on watch will have them sitting next to them on the couch to be held down. One on either side if it's both. It's low level, though, since even with all of us that was a lot to put in, so it might only work for the next round or two. We'll hopefully be back by then to help with watches again." Shiroe and Naotsugu both slumped and nodded in gratitude. Akatsuki just looked sad, and perhaps a little afraid, so the Eagles closest to her rubbed her head until she let it go.

Tetorō was looking in surprise at the memory cube that had suddenly appeared on his desk at the Mountain Shrine, but when it was the recording of the latest battle with Honesty, he slumped to his elbow. That was enough to let him know they were about to go and that they still cared. That and it had an easter egg that blew up in his face when he found it to make sure he understood it.

Purrcy was supremely surprised to get a memory cube on her table in her bedroom. She looked up at them looking at her. "You know I'm in effect going to be with you the whole time. Why?"

They just grinned at her impishly. She put her hand on it, then almost as immediately turned it off. "I think I'm going to have to claim unfair advantage this round you lot," she scolded but they could tell it was only surface. She picked it up and took a long time to put it away, after all. "Thank you," she said and they left her alone. She'd pick her own times to cry to her favorites later. It felt good to finally win one round against her, getting the song recordings to her at an unexpected time.

Nyanta had been the hardest, but one they really wanted to work hard on. "Will you let us have him for a minute or so?" MasterChiefS7 asked the High Priest respectfully.

With a superior tip of the head, he pulled back and let Nyanta out, though he'd be back for the meeting, most likely, since he liked to keep tabs on those. Nyanta looked like he knew what was going on, which meant he'd been watching in the background. Brenner walked up to him and placed a cube in front of him. "We had to hunt for these, and some of them are just clips since not all movies are on the internet in full, at least the copy brought over. These are what kept us going while we were locked up in the Special's Prison. We hope they will help you when you need encouragement to last another day and another day and another one until it's done."

"Thank mew," Nyanta said softly. He picked it up and it disappeared into his list (they made sure). Brenner bowed and returned to his seat.

"We actually have presents for you also," Shiroe said to the Eagles when MasterChiefS7 sat down.

Minori blushed and suddenly there were canteens in front of each Eagle. "It's not much," she said, "but knowing you were going to the desert, we thought this would be useful to you." Neckerchiefs appeared next to the canteens next.

"Thank you," MasterChiefS7 picked up his never-ending water canteen, which would always have cold water in it. "These will be very helpful." They would also be helpful in the deserts of the U.S., but this wasn't the time to bring that trip up. The neckerchief was an Ice Pack. They were an item that had a level of defense against heat and high temperatures and was a common item often desired and purchased before Adventurers headed out to desert dungeons - which meant they all already had one since they played together State-side too, but they would layer and give twice as much protection worn together, so they weren't useless at all.

The arrival of Crusty announced the beginning of the evening meeting and dishes got put into the sink and people moved around again (a little - to fit him into the group).

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles left early the next morning, their goodbye already said the evening before. They'd packed the Oki Watarimono the day before and made sure she was sea worthy. Breakfast was another goodbye for Log Horizon. The women would be leaving for Maihama that morning. While Minori felt her gift from the Eagles the night before was kind, she hadn't told them she would also be leaving. She and Touya made breakfast that morning together for the guild, enjoying their sibling time together. "You'll be okay without me?" she asked Touya, worried.

"We'll make due," he reassured her. "It will end up being hard for everyone when the quarantine hits and I'd much rather you weren't here for that. Everything will start back up again when you get back anyway."

"You sure you won't go?" she asked next.

Touya hesitated, then shook his head. "I should stay. Someone needs to cook for the one's who stay. I already know the rest can't very well. And, really," he wouldn't look up at her, "I'm high enough level for the dungeoning to not be necessary."

"Touya," she whined and scolded him at the same time.

He shook his head stubbornly. It wasn't until she was passing him, not pushing him further, that he grabbed her wrist in his hand. Still without looking at her, he said quietly, "It isn't the same without you."

Minori paused, then sighed. She put her free hand on his head. "No. I understand. I'm not going to fight either. I'll be helping with the kitchens, too." He paused, then gave a nod and released her. She was glad that much helped him, too. They needed each other at their backs in order to want to face this world. It was hard for her to go, but still, it was the right thing this time. He would be able to focus better on what he needed to do here and she wouldn't be as afraid, so they would do it and remember that it would be a short amount of time.

She smiled to herself a sad scolding smile as she picked up her ingredients and carried them back. "If it's this hard now for only a few weeks, how will we ever move out and be proper adults?"

Touya was suddenly in front of her, his scowl on his face, but this was the one that said he was angry with the way it had been said, not that he was angry with her. His eyes were on the ingredients and he took some from her and helped her put them on the table. She put her's down, waiting for him to put his words together. "It's hard because there is danger - real danger - involved. When it's just living life and working hard to move forward doing our best, that's not hard. Then we both want to see each other being happy. It's not the same."

She looked at him, then put her arms around him gently. "You're right. I'm sorry. Thank you for worrying about me. I'll do my best to stay safe for you. Stay safe for me, too, though I'll try to not worry as much since I know you are strong."

She could feel him blushing, but he held her for a brief moment, too. "Thank you. I know you'll be with other strong women and will be doing your best. I'll try to also not worry so much."

She let him go, knowing he didn't like to be that demonstrative very much. They went back to preparing breakfast and talking as the twins they were.

-:-:-:-:-

Minori turned and looked back at Akiba's wall. They'd left through the smaller north gate that was generally only used to cart the trash out of town. It was a direct shot from there to Maihama and closer to the Academy and Crescent Moon and Log Horizon's guild halls. Taking that way out of town meant less of a fuss than having to go through the center of town. It had been rather natural to help Crescent Moon, end up at the Academy with the other students, including Rudy over the boys who were coming, and leave as if for a school field trip.

Most of the other women would be joining up with them as they went since they hadn't wanted there to be a massive exodus all at once to draw the attention of the men. There was a gathering place about a two hour or so journey on the path where they would gather up and be accounted for.

The student group was first and when they arrived, they settled down to lessons, since their teachers had come with them. It was something to do and they may as well not waste the time. Each student felt this way and were grateful their teachers were willing. They had all learned living on Theldesia that wasting time was too wasteful. Here it was easy to be lazy, but being lazy only made them sad and depressed. Keeping fully active was the only way to be moving forward with hope.

Minori was on shortened lessons because of her work schedule, so when her last class was done, she wandered over to where Marielle and Henrietta were. Perhaps she shouldn't be so familiar with them, but they couldn't help it, given the circumstances of Log Horizon's guildmaster and marshal and Crescent Moon's guildmistress and all that joined the two guilds. It didn't really bother Minori much, either, since she had become so used to feeling like one of the important people in those places.

When she arrived, Marielle had a worried look on her face. She didn't hide emotions well, when in that kind of company. "What is it?" Minori asked. She'd heard at least two groups come through so far, she'd thought.

Marie sighed. "The seamstresses came out just fine, anxious to get to Maihama quickly to do their part so they can relax for the show and we sent them on with D.D.D. who march to Rieze's drum easily." She bit her lip a little. "Rieze and Akatsuki say the rest are a bit more difficult to pry loose, though Roderick Trading Company's out and on their way here with the chefs. About five couldn't be talked into it - because Valentine's day is the day of the fashion show and they want to be present to make chocolates and gifts for others to purchase and ...to give to their boyfriends." Her eyes flicked to Henrietta, then back down. "That opened up Rieze's understanding and she's going back to visit the hesitant ones again and almost all of them are giving that as their reason."

Minori wasn't sure she saw the problem yet. "Isn't it supposed to be okay if they have a man they are already attached to?" she asked.

" _Supposed to_ ," Henrietta said dryly. "The problem is that they _don't_. It's all of a sudden become an excuse to stay _in case of_."

"Oh, dear," Minori's heart fell. "That is a problem, isn't it." She chewed on her lip for a bit. "Can't they give chocolates when they get back instead? We've postponed holidays before."

"Rieze and Akatsuki are using that as an argument to get them out as best they can, even going so far as to apologize that we set things up at the same time, but it's only getting about one out of every three or so to move," Henrietta sighed in slight frustration.

"And we can't tell them yet it's because of the danger, most of them, or they would have already agreed to come...we think," Marielle wasn't so sure any more.

"Rumor's not enough to move them this time," Minori said quietly.

"No." Henrietta's answer was almost dark and cold with the finality of it. Marielle simply shook her head sadly.

"Radio Market and Grandale already knew since Shiroe talked to them early and all of them have said they'll stay to help fill in the gaps that West Wind Brigade will have with the ones coming from there. They've already paired up or understand and are willing to stay on that battlefield. They also want to do that so that it hides what we're doing from Ains a little longer. So far those who have left have reasons to come other than just to escape a potential danger. There are a few coming because, like Marie, they like fashion shows and it's a good excuse to visit Maihama for the ones who haven't yet. Akatsuki can't even get Tatara to leave, though, and those are the ones we really wanted to help - those who are solo and shy. She could be attacked in her shop and no one would know for a long time." Henrietta shivered.

Minori put her hand on Henrietta's arm. "We talked about those already. That's Akatsuki's to head. She'll see they are brought into the network and watched over. She understands and can get them to trust her easily. They'll fall back to West Wind Brigade if necessary. You were kind to even offer Crescent Moon's building if they wanted to stay separate but consolidated. I think they may do that and Akatsuki can watch over them there. ...It's a hard thing, but in the end, we knew we wouldn't be able to convince everyone."

"I know," Marielle said despondently. "We just hoped it would be more." Minori could only nod in understanding.

The cooks and researchers from Roderick Trading Company arrived with a smaller than desired grouping from Knights of the Black Sword where they were all so strong and few to begin with. Those who stayed did have boyfriends in the guild so there wasn't a way to argue with them. Their numbers were accounted for and they were sent on.

Later than they all wanted, the group from Marine Organization arrived with the few who would come from Honesty and only one small handful of solos. Slightly after they arrived those who desperately didn't want to face what was coming from West Wind Brigade showed up with Rieze. That was the rear-guard group, so they knew they had everyone they were going to get at that point. The children and teachers packed up and they all went as one group, almost only doubled what had arrived first to the field zone. It was less than they'd hoped, but it was still each one that wouldn't have to face the coming storm inside Akiba.

Minori took one last look back towards Akiba. "Good luck," she said softly on her guild chat. "We'll see you again soon." She took the words of her guild with her as she walked with the others, running to catch up to Serera and take her hand in her own to hold it tightly.

Serera squeezed her hand and gently said, "I'm glad you're here to keep me company ...and so I don't have to worry about you, too."

"Thank you, Serera. Let's be roommates, okay?"

"Sure," Serera smiled for her. Together they could be little mothers and keep moving forward, friends. Minori felt bad for Rudy and they found him and kept him cheered up on the walk also, though they knew they couldn't fill Touya's hole for him either. When it got bad, Minori brought Touya in via conference chat and that seemed to lift his spirits as well that afternoon. They could all still support each other to the best of their abilities. It made Minori feel better when she realized that Henrietta, Marielle, and Rieze had followed her example and brought Akatsuki into their conversation, too. She also needed that support. Minori was so glad for the chat function that day.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki danced the wind of Akiba with angry glee. She spun and kicked at enemies that were only air until she would land where the voices were high and female. Then she told them in no uncertain terms, in her quiet voice, that they were to prepare to defend themselves and stood there until they added her to their friend list. "I am now your General. When I call come," she told all of them. Even if they gave her faces of disbelief or anything, she left them then, content she had done her proper duty. Today she couldn't care what they thought of her or of her demands. There would come the day that it would matter very much. Honesty, though, she didn't tell them she was their General. Those she merely added to her friend list so she could talk to them to give them orders. If later, when it became frightening, they wanted to add her to theirs likely there would be opportunity.

Nazuna, like she was Soujirou's second in command, was also Akatsuki's second in command. Akatsuki was glad for that support that she could call on. She would also be Nazuna's support. Akatsuki knew under her relaxed and tough exterior, Nazuna was afraid this time. Not afraid she would become a fox. She knew what to do now for that. Afraid that she would make Soujirou have to make good on his promise. Akatsuki hoped she could help with that, but suspected she couldn't. They would have to work that out between them, most likely. She had sat with Nazuna and told her what they were doing in Log Horizon and she was sure Nazuna would try her best to do the same, but it was different for them. Nazuna was half-beast. To her would come the worst of the trials. Akatsuki thought she was very brave to stay when she was so afraid. The rest of the women in town who refused to hear and understand...they were only foolish. She would still help them in the worst of it, though.

Really, before, she would never have had the strength to call herself a General. But so many things had happened to strengthen her from the time of the Battle of Maidens against the cursed soldier when she had learned her first Mystery and died for the first time but still stood up and kept going until now. Being able to work on trying to reach one hundred Mysteries, knowing that her body here was the tool she'd thought it always was, and learning how to properly use it. The many things she had been learning from the Eagles, and also teaching them. Even how to be a proper secretary - which she would be practicing now without her tutor - all of these experiences had made her stand with sure strength, unembarrassed to claim that title. It was where she was needed this time, and it was what she could do. And Purrcy's declaration through her own example that to _be_ something in roleplay was to _be_ it in reality here on Theldesia had done the most to help her understand how that really had worked in her own life and could continue to be a strength and support to her as she walked forward daily.

Akatsuki stopped by Grandale, then Radio Market and greeted the women like fellow soldiers and also asked the same of them, that they add her to their friend lists, but she didn't demand it. Some solo women it was the same. They stayed because they believed in being warriors who stood on their own strength. She already had Tatara on her friend list but she stopped anyway to chat and let her know the status of things...and to complain a bit about those who wouldn't leave for foolish reasons, though she didn't make it sound like Tatara should have left. She would like having Tatara by her side as well.

The door of the Amenoma opened as Akatsuki was about to wrap it up and go. She turned and was surprised to see a large man entering the store. He had an open face and the holes in his clothes that spoke _Blacksmith_. Then Akatsuki remembered where she'd seen him as a golden cloth tied to his upper arm caught her attention. "You still wear it?" blurted out of her mouth.

A slow grin came on BigMusclesBill's face. "Of course. It's become part of the uniform."

Akatsuki's bright eyes lifted to meet his. "I wear mine at night, but it's different." Her firm pride was also in her voice. The expression on BigMusclesBill's face said he understood.

"Why have you come?" Tatara asked quietly. Akatsuki politely moved out of the way but was so surprised by the expression on Tatara's face that she impolitely stared and listened to the conversation.

"There've been rumors going around," BigMusclesBill's face went from smiling to serious. "They aren't good. I'd like to ask you to come to our facility until this plays out. I know you are strong and strong willed, but...it's bugging me to think of you out here by yourself."

Akatsuki swallowed. She knew too much to get into that discussion. She wanted to both discourage and encourage her friend at the same time. Tatara's face said the same thing as she shook her head. "Thank you, no. I'll be fine here."

Akatsuki worked her brain hard trying to think of what was the right thing to do. She finally slipped out of the store, but she waited close by. The rest of the conversation wasn't hers to hear, but BigMusclesBill needed to understand better (she thought) so he could make an informed decision. If Purrcy trusted him with her secrets from early, he could be trusted with this one. She was sure his heart was in the right place as far as Tatara was concerned as well, or he wouldn't have offered just on rumor alone.

When he left the Amenoma, a worried wrinkle on his brow, Akatsuki let him get far enough away to not have Tatara see and wonder or worry, then she landed lightly next to him and walked with him. He was lost enough in his worry that he almost accepted her there without thought, though he did startle a little when he returned. Then he blushed. "You thought I was Tatara without thinking it," she stated. He blushed harder. "You worry about the rumors because they are already coming true for yourself?" she asked.

He stopped and stared at her, then turned away going completely red. "I don't think that's a thing to ask a man," he finally said.

"It's not...normally." she agreed, her naturally sober look not changing. "But you need to know the whole truth. Where can we speak in private?"

BigMusclesBill looked back at her, then narrowed his eyes at her. "You're willing ...to let out one of Machiavelli's secrets?"

"To you, yes," she answered.

He considered her, then considered her question. "I actually do have an office there. Come there." She nodded and disappeared.

She had to follow him in, not knowing where in the large guild hall of Marine Organization his office was, but she was shadow so he didn't know, and neither did anyone else. She watched him after he sat down at his desk until he clasped his hands together in front of his mouth, resting his elbows on his desk. His face had finally relaxed into open worry about the future and serious thoughts of what he should do as he faced it. She slowly materialized in front of him so as to not startle him. His eyes focused on her.

Akatsuki took a hidden breath. "It isn't rumor for anyone. It is already truth and almost all of the guildmasters already know and have been planning for it since they learned it was coming. It is like the plague before but this time it will be far worse and we will have no cure for some time to come. Shiroe is hoping to hold everyone together as long as possible before we defeat it so that it will go away for good this time. You aren't wrong to worry for Tatara and the other women. We have sent the weakest away into hiding, with the children, but the strong and the weak minded will not go. Tatara is one of the strong and is one of my supports. I am the General of the women's fighting force of Akiba for this battle. I will keep her safe."

"And if I want to help with that?" BigMusclesBill asked from behind his clasped hands.

"Then you must be prepared to ask her to marry you before you do something you will regret later. You will not be able to keep your hands off of her, and she may well not be able to keep her hands off of you either, even if both of you regret it after this battle is over. Be very careful that you are really in your right mind. Inoculations are still partially effective at this point, but we expect them to be pointless within two more weeks, four at the longest. Then Shiroe will have no choice but to tell the city and declare quarantine until we have found the proper solution." She paused and considered him. "I won't prevent you, because I can see both sides, but please make sure first, having full understanding of the circumstances."

BigMusclesBill considered her, then asked, "If I am worried for her, can I contact you to find out the answer?"

"Yes," she unhesitatingly said. To relieve someone's worries would keep them from going to find out for themselves.

"May I add you to my friend list then?" he asked.

"Yes." She added him to hers. She might have to call on him also. "I will call you if she is in danger and I can't get to her."

"Thank you," he was relieved and that helped her as well. He would be a very strong arm of support for Tatara if she ever needed it, something she also had worried about herself.

She shifted slightly. "I would also ask her to come here to be with you, if it wasn't for the problem being between the sexes. I'm also worried, because she is my friend." She firmed up again. "But we have plans in place and she understands them." Her eyes bored into his until he nodded his understanding.

"Thank you for telling me the truth now so I can understand early," he said to her. "I won't let it out. I know Shiroe works hard for everyone and if Michitaka already knows, he would have already told us if it was wisdom to do so."

"Thank you," she was relieved he was willing to give trust for trust, though she had thought he would or she wouldn't have said it to begin with. She bowed to him and disappeared, though she watched him as he relaxed back into sad worry again, bowing his head to rest his forehead on his clasped hands. Then she left him, his final decision and words to Tatara still not hers to ask for nor to know.

-:-:-:-:-

That evening at the meeting, Akatsuki scolded the High Priest, irritated at the plans being foiled as much as they were. He looked around the much smaller group, now only Shiroe, Naotsugu, Akatsuki, Touya (who this night was at Grandpa's Kitchen but listening in), himself and Crusty. He calmly bowed his head slightly and said, "Tomorrow I will also leave. I have things that I need to learn and train in. Because I know that Guildmaster Shiroe will fret and want to be angry, I will tell you that it isn't to leave Akiba. I will still be around. It is so that Nyanta can learn some things he has yet to finish learning. He still has goals that haven't been met that are necessary for the future. They can't be learned here in the city. I will return when those things have been learned properly, likely within a few weeks or less."

They still looked at him suspiciously, but Shiroe only said, "Very well."

The next morning, Nyanta arrived for breakfast, helping Touya make it, though he wasn't still quite present. They all recognized it as the times when Purrcy would be allowed to be present but was under great restraint and orders. They were grateful for what they did have and allowed him to be obedient while at the same time letting him know in small ways they were glad he was there with them as much as he could be. He bowed to Shiroe after breakfast, before the early meeting, looked kindly at Naotsugu, then he left the guild hall.

There were no Eagles to send after him to watch his pathway, so Akatsuki followed after him, reporting in by the end of the morning meeting that he had gone to purchase a few items from a shop, then had left the city by way of the gate and headed north-north-west, immediately taking to tree tops in cat form until she couldn't see him any more.

It was a very quiet guild hall now, with only four in it and Naotsugu felt it the worst. Isaac had seen it at the morning meeting and he made sure he was there that day to sit with him and find out just what had happened to Nyanta. Then he grouched and cajoled Naotsugu until he relaxed enough to admit he'd moved back into his old room in the Log Horizon guild hall since Marielle wasn't home either, but he'd slept all night on the couch the night before, unable to settle in his bed without someone else to watch over the couple in the house.

Isaac immediately scolded him for not calling on him and promised to be there that night for whichever shift Naotsugu would give him. Naotsugu gave him first shift since it was still the quiet one and he secretly wanted the shift Shiroe was up. He could go sit with him in the office and be unseen but both of them would feel better for it. Once that was decided Isaac was satisfied enough to relent and just sit with Naotsugu, though they still bantered as usual.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael scowled at Berenshilde. He would have left the pirates to hound this part of the coast if not for the fact that Brody was honorable and allowing the pests to keep a foothold here would make Rudy's life later a lot more difficult. Berenshilde had nearly refused to pay the Adventurers their due. He'd had to be carried again, practically from the castle of the House of Saimiya where he'd completely botched any hope of relations between his father's House and that one.

The negotiators of Duke Sergiad had come to the Eagles in his party to beg they take him home before he interfered badly in their own negotiations. They'd see themselves home just fine when that was done, stopping by Minami if they discovered they did need Adventurer escort. The Eagles had only been too happy to kidnap Berenshilde off themselves. They were in a hurry to meet up with the rest of the squad who would have been waiting with nothing to do if not for the pirates.

"I've got it settled just fine," Berenshilde waved at Michael. "I've hired new men to help me guard the domain again. I'm sure in time things will settle out rightly." He turned away and muttered about sending assassins again after Rudy and maybe _his_ death would bring about the removal of the curse. Michael casually and secretly made him handily near death again.

"I'd not recommend that course of action, given that severe a sudden punishment," he commented letting his eyes open wide in faux surprise. Berenshilde looked back at him in both pain and extreme fear. "See he gets home. That will heal up in a day or so, I would think." Michael ordered those same new hires.

The last man to leave rolled his eyes. "I really have to?" he complained quietly.

"Sorry," Michael said. "It's in the contract the kid signed without reading. Entertain yourself all you want, but keep his mouth shut about the truths he knows that no one else should."

"Oh, well...if I can find my entertainment, then..." Shiroe's informant sighed, but seemed to settle slightly better.

Michael wished him the best then turned to his own men. "That wraps them up, then. Shall we go play in the Australian Outback? It will be our first time on Theldesia proper. I'm looking forward to it."


	153. Round 2: Akiba vs Izanagi

Clair had never been so busy in all her life...and she wasn't the busiest of the busy trying to get the fashion show readied. There was final review of the outfits, to be sure they were what they were supposed to be, and where. That took most of the time: working with Marielle to learn what order they would need to come out, who would be wearing what and so why they had to be on which racks in which order and who was going to help the models dress. It was such a large production Clair often had to step off to the side just to breathe, her head spinning with it all. She really had no idea how Marielle did it with seeming ease, though she certainly didn't hold still. It would take far more than one fashion show for Clair to understand what her responsibilities were, if more than this one was going to happen. She was glad to only be the understudy.

Iselius was just as busy, making sure the venue was ready and set up. (Marielle was helping him with that, too, though Henrietta spent the most time with him.) He was also responsible for making sure there was enough housing for the Adventurers in Maihama. Duke Sergiad was already dealing with the influx of People of the Land. Now to have Adventurers added in, the city really was full to bursting. Having the entertainment of the fashion show was going to be a good thing, really. Not that business owners minded it at all. Purse strings could barely hold closed the purses of those, and many of them had quickly started upgrading or adding on in order to be more appealing to potential customers. It had been an interesting change in the city. More city guards had been required, but the Adventurers were guarding the fashion show venue specifically, so that had been nice. Clair was just as glad to not have to worry about that part either.

She was also glad that the rest of the Water Maple Ladies had taken Raynessia in hand, mostly by asking her to give them the tours of the city and castle, but that was one more thing Clair didn't have to worry about. She'd been very concerned there at the end just before the engagement announcement when she'd gotten Raynessia's letter and sent the other one on to Marielle. Seeing Raynessia's smile allowed Clair to relax and just work hard on what she was supposed to work hard on.

Lady Purrcy's hand was also in the works, helping smooth things out for Clair, and she was extremely grateful for it. Really, she wished Purrcy were here. She wouldn't feel anywhere nearly so stressed out if the master were here. To be only the apprentice and so in charge was very daunting. But to have a form missing, then show up; to have a dress tear as it caught on something the porter was passing...only to pull it out at midnight to repair it and find it already repaired...well, she'd cried in relief several times already and felt warm hugs with no arms to see. She was grateful that Purrcy could be there in those ways. She did hope that someday Purrcy could be there in person, though. The times those thoughts came, she sighed sadly, took a deep breath, and dove back in again.

The day finally arrived and with it good weather. She arrived at the venue after Marielle and Henrietta, but slightly before Misters Leighton and Collingwood, the proper time to arrive. They had one final summary meeting together, then started on their preparation tasks. Clair was so busy it wasn't until she realized she'd reach the point between "preparing" and "action" that she could stop to breathe. Outside the back of the stage where they and the clothes and the preparing models were, she could hear what sounded like heavy rain mixed with something else. She cautiously went up to the far end of the stage and peeked out through the curtain.

Her eyes wanted to pop out of her head. She had never seen so many people gathered together in one place. "It's a good crowd today, isn't it?" Marielle said cheerfully, but quietly over her head, looking through the gap in the curtain as well.

"It - it's so _many_!" Clair said in almost quiet horror.

Marielle kindly pulled the curtain from her frozen grasp to let it fall closed and smiled at her. "Yes, because there are both so many People of the Land in town, and all the Adventurers who came with us that aren't models. That's what you want, though. The more people that see it, the more sales you'll have, and that's a good thing. It's still only a medium-small audience for Earth, but for Theldesia, I'd have to say we've made a good record." Marielle took Clair's arm and led her back to the clothing racks. "You've already worked out what you want to say. When it's your turn, you just blink, take a breath, and stop thinking. The words will come out right. Just let them. I love to talk to people like this. You'll get used to it eventually. It helps to remember you want to share your enthusiasm and excitement for your works with them so they can be excited, too."

Clair nodded obediently. She'd certainly have to focus on that and not think in order to get any words out. She wondered, rather suddenly and oddly, if that's how Raynessia was able to address just about anyone of any station in any amount of persons - one to hundreds. She just stopped thinking (her favorite thing) and opened her mouth and the right thing came out. Somehow it seemed both very likely, and not like her at all. Once this was over and Clair needed to unwind, they'd have to go sit and chat and compare notes. She should have asked for advice in that area before, but she hadn't really known to. It might help for next time, though.

Marielle gave Clair's arm a squeeze. "All right, everyone. Places please. I'm going out now! Good luck!"

Clair was a bit surprised to learn Marielle had deposited her right where she needed to be. She took a breath, chivied her four models into their places (four for each of the three tailors, two female and two male), and got ready for the changing when they were done showing the first set. They couldn't see them walking the stage from here, behind the curtain that separated the main stage from the changing area, but she could hear the audience. She learned to listen to that to get a feel for if a particular outfit received much interest or not.

At some point Henrietta was close enough that Clair could ask, "What does it mean when the audience is fairly quiet?"

"You've got excitement and disapproval down, then?" Henrietta pushed up her glasses.

"I believe so," Clair answered respectfully.

"Quiet is they think it's okay, but not overly new or exciting, or they're thinking about it since it is new. ... _Sometimes_ it's complete disapproval, however. The icy silence. You can't always get that distinction from back here. That's why we have the follow up meeting after it's all done. The models get that as they walk the runway and Marielle's paying attention, too. She's keeping notes and will review the full list with all of you then."

"Thank you," Clair said, then had to help her next model with changing outfits and Henrietta needed to move on herself. On the next quiet one through of hers, she asked her model who had come back in wearing it. That helped her and she started chatting with them briefly after each time out. That let her sort the clothing a little better in her mind.

Then the final outfit was walking out to the stage and her hands were empty. Clair blinked, not sure she wanted to breathe just yet. Tyron Leighton walked over. "Well, now we go see for ourselves, then."

"I guess so," she answered, a bit out of breath. She finally decided she'd better at least breathe once, so she did - a long one. "Okay." She firmed up, then looked around for Henrietta. She was standing near the edge of the stage where the models waited their turns to go out. Clair walked over to her, Tyron following. "Henrietta...what kind of reception could we get and how do we know at what level of approval it is?"

Henrietta smiled. "You'll be able to tell, and yet it's difficult. They always clap to be polite. Loud cheers means it was a hit - they really liked it. You can't get a feel for if they liked your specific line, though, since they don't know which outfit came from which shop in this venue. They'll learn it eventually, based on general style. Then you'll get individual ratings. This time, though, it will just be a general 'like' or 'dislike' on the show as a whole. Just smile, bow, and pretend it's all for you, then thank everyone else who helped and share it around since it is meant to be."

Clair rubbed her hands to dry them a little. "Okay. Thanks."

Presley Collingwood had joined them, and Iselius was coming up the back steps to join them as well. He'd asked to say some closing words. The three People of the Land bowed to him. "It was a very good showing," Iselius said to the four. Marielle was the master of ceremonies, introducing all the outfits, and now she launched into the final words. When she was done, Henrietta waved the three tailors out onto the stage. They walked out together, Tyron, herself, and Presley. They bowed (Clair curtsied) and waved with smiles. That was enough time for the loud speaking spell to be cast on them.

Presley said his bit, then Tyron. Then it was Clair's turn. She thanked the audience for coming, thanked those who had helped put it on, then introduced herself and Purrcy and the H12b princess and prince line out of Maihama. She got rather a lot of loud applause and whistles - mostly from Adventurers she thought. As she stepped back into her place, she felt warm hands on her shoulders and heard whispered in her ear, "Thank you very much Clair. You've done wonderfully. I hope you continue to have fun." Her eyes filled with sudden tears and she gave a quick nod, a smile on her face.

This was more than she would have ever hoped for, as a beginning tailor. On her own, it would have taken her years to have this many people see her hard work and appreciate it. It had happened in only half a year. "There's still a lot of work, since now they will want to buy. I've left instructions for what's next on your desk...but take a day to vacation with all the girls. You've earned it." The hands left and Clair relaxed and listened to Iselius' speech. It was nice to know that she would continue to have support getting to do what she loved most.

-:-:-:-:-

Raynessia was finally happy. Happy to have the problem with intended's resolved, happy to not have overly much of Neville's attention, happy to have her friends in town, and happy to have gotten to participate in another fashion show that was finally People of the Land appropriate and friendly. She'd even gotten a light kiss and kind words from Purrcy when it was over, though no one had actually seen her.

This was the next day, and they were all relaxing in Clair's studio, though she knew Clair didn't want to spend all day there. At the proper time of a short break in the fast-paced conversation, she said, "I'd like to invite you all to the castle for lunch. Not even Clair's had time to come up and visit. I've told them we'll still be casual, and we'll be picnicking in one of the indoor gardens. Will you come?"

Everyone was happy to do that and so after a bit more chatting, they all left. Raynessia would have had carriages for all of them - after the manner of her family, but she knew Adventurers better. They walked back to the castle. It was a spectacle as far as People of the Land were concerned, but today Raynessia didn't care. She was hosting Adventurers. Properly, that meant she should have treated them like People of the Land. It still wasn't the right thing to do unless the city was upset. It wasn't today. Everyone had been quite enamored of the show the day before. Having them see the Adventurers out and about should be okay.

It didn't quite turn out that way and Raynessia was surprised. She wasn't surprised when the Adventurers handled it easily. "Why can't we come back to Akiba yet?" It was an unhappy merchant who recognized the Adventurers.

The ladies were immediately sober, but kind. "Because it's been getting more and more dangerous. We won't be going back, actually. Not until the men have figured out how to fix the problem. They didn't want us there with it getting as bad as it is."

There was a blink and the merchant's wife asked, "It's bad enough they've asked the Adventurer women to leave now?"

"I'm afraid so," she was answered. "We've brought the children out with us as well. We're worried, but everyone's trying their best. We will most definitely let you know when it's safe again. We miss everyone, too." Two of the Adventurers purchased items from them and with well wishes they moved on. They didn't stop at everyone who looked at them, but at every block they did, if they were stopped.

Raynessia tugged on Serera's sleeve, not wanting to interrupt the rest of the ladies. "Why only one stop per block or less?" she asked. Clair nodded, wanting to know, too.

Minori answered. "We can't tell everyone, but they will pass it on until everyone knows. One per block is about the right size for it to go around properly. We want to help Duke Sergiad and Iselius keep the peace here in town. We're terribly sorry we've had to add to their burden, but there really isn't anything we could do. We didn't want anyone to be hurt. That would have made relations even worse."

Raynessia nodded. She remembered from before she left. "I think having the show helped, too. It lets them know that the Adventurers still care." She bit her lip. "Though, I guess it's good to tell them. Otherwise they might think it was still easy and fun there."

"Right," Minori nodded solemnly. "It would be seen wrong if we didn't explain properly."

Raynessia was glad she _had_ made sure they walked. If they'd been in carriages it would have been seen the wrong way for sure. "They're also talking to the most angry in a block they can find," Serera said softly. "They are the ones who have to be convinced the most...though they pick ones who can be convinced." That made sense. "The boys have been walking through the leathercrafters and blacksmiths and those sorts of merchants today. Then they'll be gone tomorrow morning. The rest of us will leave shortly after them. There are more of us to put together."

"I'm going to miss you again," Raynessia said sadly.

They smiled softly. "We're glad we got to come and participate and visit. We'll be hoping with you for a faster resolution to the difficulties."

"Me, too," she agreed.

-:-:-:-:-

The next day the city of Maihama felt very empty. Adventurers always seemed to be Giants when they came, even though it was their presence rather than their size. They had helped take down the stage and everything was clean again. The wind blew and there were just as many People of the Land again, but it suddenly seemed as if where there had been a press of bodies before the show, now there was room to move. Their own numbers hadn't changed. Just the sense of the city. It was almost disturbing.

The Adventurers had crowded in at what they called the catastrophe, but when they weren't around...it was somehow lonely. Many people wondered why they had disappeared, but then they did seem to do that, too. Appear and disappear randomly sometimes. Still, the emptiness left some to worry a little more, particularly as the stories went around that the Adventurer men had now also sent away the women and children to protect them from whatever evil was coming over Akiba. More prayers went up in their behalf again as that worry was brought to the forefront again.

Life in the castle settled down again. (Iselius had napped for a full half-day the first day the Adventurers were gone since he'd gone on the tour around town with the boys - and Rudy in particular - while he had them all present to play with.) The rumors of the corrupt shrines on Shrine Mountain began to boil up like a dark fog from the base of the city. That added to the worries in the city, but the sun shone at the top and the strength of the Cinderella Castle stood firm against those worries, as if to say the People of the Land would be protected in this place. That was comforting to many, and the city settled back into to a contented normal.

-:-:-:-:-

Things in Akiba were not going well. The men were discontent, the women on the streets most often flocked by them, whether single or in groups of up to three. Four could get them to back down if they were firm enough. Or one with an obvious boyfriend and two others of the same guild. One with a boyfriend was an invitation for the boyfriend to be distracted by posturing words while the other half of the group hit on the girlfriend.

It had happened rather rapidly - starting Valentine's day. Those women who had stayed to make chocolates had passed them out on the side of the street to whomever wanted them. They _said_ it was a friendly gesture in a friendly city of Adventurers. They'd been accepted by _friendly_ Adventurers, but the next day, any man who had eaten the chocolates were as if they'd eaten a love-potion filled chocolate, and there had been no restraint that day. Akatsuki and West Wind Brigade were at wits end by lunch. They got the few women who'd finally been awoken to the danger they were in out and in one bunch in a rush to get them to Maihama before the rest of them left. Anyone who refused to leave that day was stuck in the city in the quarantine that was instituted the next day when the city-wide inoculations were so minimal that it only made the "love-potion" effect wear off - but not the irritation and aggression.

When the remaining Adventurers in town went looking around with opened eyes after the quarantine order went into effect, they really saw what they'd missed before. There weren't anywhere near as many women in town as there should be. Word made it back to the center of town and the guilds that the Academy was shut down, all of Crescent Moon was gone and Log Horizon guild hall looked rather ghost-like as well. Touya refused to come out of the kitchen of Grandpa's Kitchen that day, and the next day refused to leave Log Horizon's building unless he was on patrol with West Wind Brigade. Hiroki ran the restaurant by himself for a few days, but without servers, that was hard, so shut down and joined the rest of them in Log Horizon's building. That made the city slowly realize the Eagles weren't anywhere either and a feeling of fear and malice started to settle over the city.

When Ains complained about the lack of Eagles, he was reminded that's what his Hackers were for. When Ains complained about the dark feeling in the city, he was reminded that's what self-restraint was for - and West Wind Brigade. When Ains complained about the security he was having to provide for his women guild members, he was told in no uncertain terms by a folded-arm, glowering Akatsuki that they'd been offered protection by others and refused it. When he lit into Purrcy, the Round Table lit into him.

Ains' hand thundered down on the Round Table. The uncharacteristic display had everyone's rapt attention. "Shiroe. Call Miss Purrcy back to Akiba right now and have her cast a city-wide Clearing spell. This strain of the Plague is a variant, a mutation, and our own Clerics aren't enough to handle it!"

Shiroe blinked at Ains. "Why would calling Purrcy back make a difference? She's not a Cleric."

"B-because," Ains blustered, "she's a higher level and she can write code to affect it. Isn't she the GM?"

"The Game Moderator handles interpersonal difficulties, Ains," Woodstock looked at him in irritation.

Ains turned red. "Ever since she showed up, bringing the Plague with her to begin with, she's been nothing but trouble in this place. She brought the first Plague, gave us the cure, demanded everyone do as she said until everyone was eating out of her hand. Now that we have a worse condition she's nowhere to be found and Shiroe protects her. Call her, I say! Make Shiroe call her back and fix this."

The room went silent and cold. "You will vilify her and in the same breath demand she be your savior, Ains?" Shiroe said very quietly, ice in every word.

"She has been nothing but trouble and you have stepped out of your place to say you are above the rest of us because you have her in your back pocket. Fix this." Ains hissed back.

Shiroe rose from his chair and coldly walked out of the room, his people following him out. When the door closed behind the last of them, Ains turned to Crusty. "It is your job - from the beginning - to keep him under control. Because you weren't here, he has been unrestrained and we have reached this point. Go make him call Purrcy."

Crusty looked at him in mild affront. "I'm sure I don't know when that was my job, or when he ever needed to be restrained, Ains." He stood. "However, I will go talk to him. The rest of you have been doing an admirable job without me here, I'll let you continue to do so." He walked away from his chair at the table. As he passed his current second, he pointed back to the chair. Richou sighed and gave a faint nod. As the door clicked closed behind him, Richou walked to Crusty's chair and sat in it.

Michitaka looked at Ains. "I think it is time you came clean to the rest of us. You've been secretly harboring a desire to see that we all stay here on Theldesia, haven't you? You're against us going home." Ains gaped and his mouth moved like a fish's with nothing coming out of it.

Isaac folded his arms. "It was difficult for you at the first to have to lead for real, but once you came to understand what it really meant to have people under you, and things began to move along smoothly for you, you decided that it would be better to stay." Ains' look went indignant.

Roderick pushed up his glasses. "Have you forgotten our first joint meeting with the leadership of Minami? Shiroe very distinctly expressed that his goals were to unite in peace all Adventurers so that everyone could enjoy the life we'd come to treasure here in Akiba which was not a burden at all, and to find the way home for all who wanted to return. In what way are those goals contrary to what we all desire? In what way is trying to reach them setting himself above the rest of us when we all desire them and are willing of ourselves to help him reach them?" Ains changed color.

Akaneya sat back in his chair, folded his arms, and growled. "If there is a traitor in the room, it is you, Ains, for interfering with everyone's goals. None of us blindly follow Shiroe. We know he's a pain in the ass, and Purrcy's not much better, but she promised to see it through and help us reach those goals, too. If she is doing all she can, which I'm sure she is because she never does less, then there is no need to lay the blame at her feet for your own panic."

"Um," Soujirou interjected, "Ains, I'm sure it's very difficult, and Shiroe-sempai is doing his best like he always does to find the solution to this as well. Surely he's already talked to Purrcy about it and asked her to try to help if she can. He, too, finds it difficult when he can't find the solution, agonizing over it constantly and going without sleep, even if you can't see it yourself. Please, have some patience."

Ains glared at him. "This is going to tear my guild, and this city, apart. We need a solution now, not whenever people can get around to it."

Everyone got angry at that. Roderick was first. "How long do you think it takes my researchers to solve a problem? Twenty minutes? It takes days of careful trial and error and research to come up with even one product that might have a possible use. Weeks to months isn't uncommon."

"It took three months for the last plague," Soujirou said quietly. "If this is so much worse, how can it be solved in less than two? We don't disagree that this is both frightening and difficult. We do ask that you learn your own restraint, Ains."

Ains went dark. Isaac and Michitaka both leaned forward. "Ains," Isaac said dangerously, "the city is in quarantine. Do not leave the city and don't let your guild members leave either. We will make sure of it."

"Figure out how to deal with it within your own guild," Michitaka said. "Leave the rest of the city to us."

Ains looked around the table, cold anger in his face. He rose from his chair and stalked out of the room, taking his people with him. No one followed him, but more than one set guards and watches on him and his guild effective immediately.

-:-:-:-:-

The door to the outer hallway of the Guild Hall opened and Crusty walked into the sitting room of Shiroe's office. He looked around the room. The majority of the people were standing around the wall. Michael was on the inner door, keeping Shiroe inside most likely until he cooled down. Shiroe was sitting on the couch, one leg over the other knee, his arms folded. Akatsuki was in the chair perpendicular to him, on her knees, her hands clenched into fists. Close enough to support, far enough to not touch. Crusty moved the chair currently opposite Akatsuki to be opposite Shiroe and sat down in it. He watched Shiroe's face closely. He'd interrupted the process. "Keep going where you were headed. For now, I'm not here," he said calmly. Shiroe's look was dark, but he at least was obedient, and went back to the internal angry dialogue. That's what Crusty wanted to watch.

The self righteous anger was already almost completed and he didn't get to see much of that. It went to the grim bitterness and when that moved to self-flagellation, he interrupted. "There's no point to that. We all know he's a prick and that you're doing your best. No need to go there." Shiroe's eyes flicked to him, but he gave a curt nod. The emotions had to find the next rail to follow, but it didn't take long. Exasperation, frustration, anger at the real cause of the difficulties, those came in quick succession. Now Crusty paid close attention, his eyes narrowing as he nearly counted the seconds. He wanted to see that be discarded and things move on. It slipped into death and he clicked his tongue. "Is it really time for that or are you really going to give up your goals?" he asked it quietly without pushing.

Shiroe continued to brood for a bit. Slowly his eyes lifted to Crusty's and begged for help. Crusty nodded. "Why did you form the Round Table?"

"Because I was tired of seeing despair on the faces of comrades."

"It hurts to see it again."

"Yes."

"But you know this is necessary and temporary."

"Intellectually."

"Of course," Crusty agreed with him. "What was the base emotion that drove you in the beginning?"

Shiroe paused and reached for it. "Concern, care."

"Say the other word. It's the strongest one."

"..." Quietly Shiroe said, "Love."

"And what drives you to cause the temporary pain now?"

Shiroe slumped just a little. "Concern, care...and love."

"Hang on to that until you can hold your head above water again," Crusty encouraged him and sat with him until he could.

-:-:-:-:-

It was only going to get worse from there, so the Round Table Council announced an all-city meeting. At the appointed time, everyone was there. The central part of town was filled to capacity, and guild chats opened up for those who couldn't get in close enough to listen in. The full council stood on the main stage (Shiroe and Ains on opposite ends). Crusty stepped forward, dressed in his battle armor. The rest of the Council was also dressed for battle, to make the statement in visual form, not just verbal today.

"You will all remember that last time this happened, there was a mage that was apprehended and put down just as it had to go to quarantine. We have all been working hard to use the same anti-plague spells on this one, but this one has a different source that is much higher level. We've been doing research into it as best we can, and we have learned from People of the Land in the area that there has been a corruption in the clergy and shrines of Inari-no-Izanagi and Inari-no-Izanami."

He looked around the crowd. "How many of you went with us to China to work on the Maze of Eternity?" Lots of hands were raised. "Then you would remember the terrible fights we had against the sea monsters?" Groans answered that. "The same source that is causing us troubles this time is the same source that caused us troubles then. Something related to Inari-no-Izanagi and Inari-no-Izanami is hounding us, cursing us, plaguing us. We have sent out informants to seek the shrine and see if we can determine if it is from them specifically, since the People of the Land seem to think that could be the source of our difficulties."

"We are also seeking to determine if there is a specific person who is being used by the kami to infiltrate on occasion, or if whatever is doing it is in spirit or yokai form. We have it on good authority that the Overwritten problem is cleared up, so we know it isn't a strong Overwritten. Since it's higher level than any Adventurer we know of to date, we also have good reason to believe it isn't a rogue Adventurer, though certainly an Adventurer could be the host at times."

"We are asking that all citizens of Akiba at this time please do your best to remain calm and realize that we are being affected by one or more status effects. We would love to have your help with research into how we can best decrease the effects of those status effects. Also, please find ways to cope with the end result. We would like to be able to still play nicely together once we get through this."

He paused long enough for a question to be called out, "Is this a new kind of special event?"

Crusty paused. "I would like to say yes, but I don't know. We can't tell if it's that or an outside attack, or something new altogether. As we become more and more part of this world, there is the possibility that it's like a flu or a cold - a new disease we have to learn how to deal with. Right now we're assuming things are still like the game, but perhaps a little modified. We'll keep everyone updated as we find out more, and anything you all can help us discover would be helpful. Just no witch-hunting please. We're all still trying to do our best."

"Where did all the ladies go?" was asked next, not surprisingly.

"Into hiding. They saw the handwriting on the wall from last time and didn't want to deal with it. Some chose to stay and we'd appreciate it if you'd not all try to gang up on them at once, since you'll all be terribly super embarrassed when this is all over that you did," he scolded them. Shifting in the crowd said that there was some of that, and by the muttering there were people who didn't like that answer and didn't want the women gone at all. He ignored both.

Eventually the next question came out. "Where are Log Horizon's fighters?"

Shiroe stepped forward. "They are headed for Australia and the Maze of Eternity there. We are still under the requirement to see that all of the servers are repaired and the Adventurers are brought back to life if they've been cut off. So far we've had no word from Australia as to if there are any even living there. MarketMaker says that they've had to make two other repairs on the way through Eured, though they are hopeful the Europe server will be in better repair. We're all kind of holding our breath for the African server."

"...And the American servers?"

He nodded. "After the Eagles get back from Australia, we'll see if we need help with whatever we're fighting now, or if they should head directly there. They're rather anxious to go see, actually, since that's home for them. They've been training Honesty's Hackers and Programmers to protect Akiba in their place if there are any more rogue Hacker-types around. We're quite certain the current issue isn't related to that, though, since they know what to look for and didn't find evidence for it." He stepped back when no more questions were forthcoming directly for him.

Crusty ended with, "We're still in close contact with the other Adventurer cities of Yamato and they're helping us search for causes as well. We'd like to keep it contained to Akiba if at all possible, since it seems to be contagious, whatever it is. Now that we finally have peace between all of us, we don't really want that destroyed again just because of an outside influence. Please help us by being aware of yourselves and letting us know if you've got any clues or ideas that might point to answers. Thank you." He stepped back and the Council left the stage. The crowd dispersed gradually as groups of people left discussing what had been going on and what might be the causes.

Shiroe sighed in small relief. Now that everyone knew at least part of it, it could be a burden borne by everyone.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō sighed and picked Purrcy-cat up from her box that she hardly left now. He held Purrcy-cat closely in his arms and scratched her head lightly. "Come on. You need to keep eating, Purrcy," he said encouragingly. "I know it's hard here at the end." He rubbed his cheek on her fur. It was probably even harder for him since he hated the not-knowing. She was pregnant enough to give birth "any day", but it would go on for another week or so probably. His own impatience to be out of the shrine and off the mountain pushed on him when he needed to be most gentle and concerned. It was difficult.

He set Purrcy-cat in front of the plate of food he'd left for her to eat. She ate a little, then made a bowl of milk appear before herself and lapped that up instead of eating the rest of the solid foods. Tetorō pet her gently. "Well, that's at least nutrition, if you don't get sick on it."

When she was done, he carried her out to a hidden part of the garden near his house, only letting his door be opened for the briefest time he could. When she'd seen to her business, he carried her back in again, put her in her box, and tucked the blankets in around her warmly. His house was a little warmer than the outside, with a small brazier burning, but mid-February half-way up Mount Fuji wasn't a warm place or time.

Tetorō slipped out one more time and headed over to get Purrcy. Sure, the hot springs were warm, but the air was still cold. He was just as glad she was now under the illusion of ill health. That made it harder to feed the felinoid form, though. He'd just about taken that as far as he could. Today was likely to be the last day he could convince the shrine-maiden to bring the High Priestess real food.

"Purrcy, time to get up," he said kindly, opening the wispy curtain and putting a hand on her shoulder. It was cold in her room, again. He scolded the shrine maiden for letting the brazier die again and ordered a plate of light foods and glass of milk and a glass of orange juice, certain the latter wouldn't come. It hadn't the last three times. Purrcy stirred as Tetorō got the fire in the brazier going again. She didn't get out of bed, though.

"Come on, Purrcy," he said, walking back to her bed. "Put on more layers before getting out and we'll be warm soon enough." To his spirit sight she was loosing black spots that said she'd go in about two weeks. He hoped that meant the kittens were due to be born before then.

Purrcy's hand reached for his and he took it. It was weak and didn't answer his pull. Instead, she weakly pulled back. He climbed on the bed. "Tetorō," she whispered. He leaned down to put his ear close to her mouth. "The internal degradation's started. Even with them not making it happen at the same time, I'm nearly at my limit." Tetorō's heart fell into his stomach. "Wait for the food to come. If there's something I can eat or drink, I will, but I should do it sitting up in bed here, digest, then sleep again. Go ahead and cast the purification spell. I won't be going to the spring any more."

Tetorō let his head drop, his heart sad for her. "Very well," he said softly and began the purification spell, his least favorite of the ones to cast. He hoped he was nearly done. His heart was so weary and his shoulders almost no longer able to bear the burden of walking with Purrcy any longer, though he didn't want her alone. He took a deep breath and kept chanting.

When the breakfast came, there was a small citrus fruit on the tray. He peeled that first and hand fed it to her on the bed. Then she put a bowl of ramen broth in his hands and he helped her drink that. The citrus and the protein broth would be enough with what Purrcy-cat had eaten. It would still be far too few calories as she wouldn't eat again until dinner time.

Tetorō helped Purrcy slide back down into the bed and tucked her in, then added another blanket. "I'll come check on the fire regularly," he promised.

"Thank you, Tetorō. Please keep going. It won't be much longer." She held his hand, not letting him go, until she'd fallen asleep again. He tucked her arm and hand under the blankets, put the food tray outside the door, then sighed, looking at her. On impulse he climbed back up on the bed long enough to touch her head and give her a kiss on her forehead. Then he walked out the door and back to his own room to return to his thesis research - his only company a sleeping cat.


	154. South Pacific Adventures

"Run up the flag," Michael ordered quietly.

"Openly? In the daylight?" Reed was surprised, though he flicked a finger at one of the Lieutenants on duty to see it was done.

"We've entered traditional pirate waters and we told them we'd come visiting. May as well let them know we're here before they try to board us. I'd like to get this done and get back." They were still the second largest ship on the waters after the Ocypete and the only steam-driven one in the South Seas. It would likely have been obvious who they were regardless without the flag, but it would at least perhaps give any greedy and stupid pirates pause.

"Formal presentations on deck," Reed called for a half-hour later. The twenty-one Eagles not required for other duties arrived at the outer rails of the Oki Watarimono, in perfect distance to be all the way around and very visible. Reed walked out onto the steerage deck and stood at rest attention. Ships with spyglasses had gotten closer after finally recognizing the flag. When he saw the shadow line in front of them, he wasn't surprised. "Cordon line to the fore." He lifted his own spyglass to his eye. "Chained."

"Perfect," Michael said from the steerage room, where he was standing by the pilot. He gave proper stop distance orders quietly, though it would be a while before they reached it.

Reed read the flags of the line in front of them. "Interesting. An Aussie Navy. They were expecting us, then."

"I did give them fair warning," Michael said calmly. "I am a bit surprised they're still waiting around for us, though. That was two months ago."

"Just long enough to be completely prepared for us," Reed said very dryly.

"Hm," Michael commented. "We'd like to talk to the head of the Navy, if they're willing to talk before act."

"Yes, Sir," Reed responded, feeling a bit defeated. Michael was really too relaxed sometimes...though it did make for a good pirate/mercenary personality. He gave Michael a quick reality check on that line just to make sure he hadn't slipped again.

They steamed up to the Naval line to halt just close enough to talk by yell over the water, just far enough to escape if they had to. It was relieving to all of them that there were enough Adventurers of Australia still around to care and be able to do something about it. The following pirate ships had fallen back just a little, though they were waiting behind the Oki Watarimono to see what happened. "Have we become the head ship of a pirate fleet, then?" MasterChiefS7 asked.

"Unless they're wanting to see us offed, it's a possibility," Michael answered. "We haven't negotiated that, though, so it's not trustworthy, I'm sure."

"I'm sure," he was agreed with.

"It should at least get us to negotiations instead of immediate battle." Reed nodded agreement with that. It _should..._

"Ay! What've ya come down 'ere for?" was called across the water.

"Sent on a mission," Reed answered back. "Have you got someone aboard who can negotiate sufficient for at least one Adventurer city on the continent?" There was a pause and he added, "Or who can call up a conference chat with that someone?"

"Aye, we c'n do that much."

"Run up a flag of truce and we'll come talk." Reed ordered one run up under their flag.

When the white flag on the other ship went up, Michael walked out onto the steerage deck. "Stiletto, Charlie. You're with me. The rest of you keep half eyes fore, half eyes aft. Pick boats out of the water if they start to creep up too close." Michael climbed up on the rail and leaped, his wings sweeping the air firmly behind him. Stiletto and Charlie followed him off the ship and over to the head ship of the blockade. Reed sighed. By rights he should be negotiator, but he had no idea what Michael was playing at the moment, and making Reed look like the actual Captain was another way to protect them all. He did go back into the steerage room, though. They didn't need to have him knocked out just because he was so visible.

-:-:-:-:-

Charlie opened the full conference chat properly (so the sub-guild chatter couldn't be heard by the people on the ship, but the sub-guild would know what was said) as soon as they touched down on deck. Wide eyes were blinking at them. They were getting used to that, though. Michael introduced himself (in a properly limited fashion) to the person waiting for them. "Your flag says you're the Nameless Mercenary Guild, and the word is that you're planning on _playing_ on Aussie soil."

"Both are true," Michael agreed. "We've been assigned by our current contract to come do some maintenance in the hardest dungeon on each continent. We'll need as many trustworthy volunteers as we can get - usually a legion raid is sufficient, though the rules now allow for more. We'd like to be done and back out as soon as we can get it done. How goes the Overwritten clean-up, and how many Adventurers still live on the continent - or are dead if that's a smaller number."

"Mostly the dead are because of the Overwritten. Everybody originally from Perth is now in Adelaide. We maintain a presence in Melbourne. Sydney's a busy place. Brisbane has to fight hard. We've had to give up the rest. There just aren't enough of us to hold the whole continent."

Michael nodded. "Considering you've stopped us at the Tores Strait, I kind of thought that might be the case. Is the Maze of Eternity near Sydney?"

"Southwest of there, near Conberra. That's central to where everyone is now."

"And the Overwritten?"

"We've been glad they're not coming back on the special events. A few raids go out every now again, but they're stupid strong and we don't hear of too many of them...except around Conberra which has become a nest of them."

"They like to tear apart the Maze of Eternity." Michael agreed. "We'll need everyone we can get from all four cities to join us there to take them down as fast as we can or we'll loose all of you. Inside the Maze is the Australian Adventurer Tree of Life - that which allows us to be resurrected. If they cut it down, you're all gonners."

The negotiator swallowed. "That...would be rather bad."

"Indeed," Michael agreed dryly. "So, can you call up one person from each city government to talk to us before we head on down that way? As I said, we'd like to get in and out. We've still got to get over to the other side of the world."

The negotiator turned to an Adventurer who listed as a Communications Mage. Not surprising given that modern Adventurers everywhere were computer, internet, social media, and media connoisseurs. The Communications Mage nodded and opened a window that was divided into fourths. In each window sat various persons and committees.

"Hello," Michael said calmly. He held in his hand one of Purrcy's weed seeds. "Have any of you seen this? I'll replay it for you in case you haven't." He started it and it played out the second one - the one they'd sent out from China. When it was done, he said, "We're contracted to see that the goal of that one is accomplished. Right now that means getting your Maze of Eternity cleared out and the Tree of Life protected sufficient you won't do any more dying and the ones who are dead can come back home. As part of you guys doing your part to get rid of all the Overwritten on the Australian content, please gather up as many volunteers as you can to meet us at the Maze of Eternity to clear it out."

Michael listed off the types of Classes that would be needed for repairs to the Tree and gave an estimate for how long it would take to accomplish so that they could prepare sufficient supplies. Then he let them ask their questions. "What payment do you want?"

"Our payment is that we get to go back home to Earth. That's good enough for us, though we might ask for food and supplies sufficient to get us back to Yamato if we run out before we're done. Ah...and we might ask this ship line to stay put so the pirates leave us all alone until we're done. If I've time I'll play with them on my return home, but at the moment they're annoying."

"And if we don't help because we don't believe you?" It was an annoying man who was sitting mostly by himself.

"Then your city needs to take you down and put in someone who cares," Michael said coldly. "Or the rest of these need to do it for them. People like you don't know how to play by the right rules."

"No, really. You're not always trustworthy, you know."

Michael shrugged. "I've always got plans in my back pocket. It would just work better this way, since it's the lot of you who should be caring. If we don't we don't get home, and for sure those who are dead don't come back. Eventually the Overwritten will win through to the core and cut the tree down and then you'll all be dead and it won't matter. You'll all be Vengeful Ghosts roaming this planet for the rest of eternity. And we'll come hammer on you for not letting the rest of us go home."

"Do we all _have_ to go home?" It was the whiner.

"We know why _you_ don't want to go home, but no," Michael answered, "you just have to pretend like you do for the rest of us who do. As a matter of fact, for those of you who _do_ want to go home, this world doesn't want to let you. If we don't do this, it doesn't care. That just means it gets to keep us."

For some reason, that got most of them to have firmer spines. There was discussion within each city group (for those with groups) and then finally agreement that they would get word out and have as many Adventurers who wanted to participate join them outside the Maze of Eternity. With three cities for it, the dictator of the fourth finally caved.

Michael looked at Charlie. Charlie gave a nod, worked a bit, then gave another nod. "So, the rest of you, please make sure you go unseat him from his childish dream of owning a whole city after we're done at the Maze. There will be enough of you to take him and his crony's out. We all came here to play not be walked on by one power-hungry kid who suddenly found a way to 'win' in his way. Go be adults and do the right thing, then teach his city how to govern and play nice. That's part of what we're all supposed to be doing too, but you lot don't need us interfering in that and I haven't the time. Let me see you nod your heads."

After some surprised consideration, the three heads of the other three cities did finally nod their heads, if somewhat cautiously. He'd have to put spine into their people most likely. Charlie nodded again. "Okay. So we'll see you all there," Michael said. "Thanks for your help." He waved a hand at the Communications Mage and he let the chat go. "Right, then," Michael said to the ship negotiator. "We'll be on our way. Good luck keeping the pirates here. If they want to negotiate, tell them they'll see me again in about a week and a half to two weeks and to wait for me to get back, but they don't get to come through. I'm not negotiating for them. Eagles up - everyone. Got to transport the ship."

Michael turned to watch the Oki Watarimono and counted until twenty-one Eagles were in the air over it. Then he put it in his list without moving so that it disappeared suddenly. He walked over to the other side of the ship he was on and put the Oki Watarimono back in the water on the other side of the blockade. He lifted up from the ship and the twenty-four Eagles flew over to their ship, landed, and got underway again.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael wasted no time getting to know the generals of the Australian cities and guilds. He taught them what the generals of Yamato had learned about fighting Overwritten generally at the large scale they were going to have to fight at the beginning. Then he watched while they led their groups against the Overwritten outside the Maze of Eternity, setting one of each of his own men as lieutenants next to them. While he wasn't Crusty, he had talked with Crusty about what his method was going to be once he was over everyone. Using this method would teach these generals that method. He had Reed as his lieutenant since Reed could use the practice as well - he would be standing there next to Crusty after all.

After that shake down, that took all day just like it had for the China Maze of Eternity, they rested at the entrance to the Maze of Eternity for dinner and another leadership meeting to discuss lessons learned and answer questions. "Charlie, see if you and Stiletto can connect up to Yamato. Pull in P/R if you need to to boost the signal. I want some of the mechanics who came up with the blueprint for the wall around the trunk of the tree to talk to some mechanics on this side. We won't be able to explain it as well as the originator of the idea."

Charlie blinked. "Ah...right. We'll do our best, Sir." Michael nodded and walked off for his meeting with Reed by his side. Sometimes giving his men difficult tasks to do kept them busy enough to not cause trouble.

The next day it was the beginning of the first round in the Maze of Eternity. With four levels, they'd have a lot of time to work out how to get working together. Michael mixed it up a lot that first round, making all the Adventurers work hard at learning new ways of working together with each other and those they'd never met before, and in working in ways they never would have thought of on their own on Earth. Once they got the first level figured out, the generals were able to cut loose a little better on their own in the second level. Michael had Gareth handle talking to the Vengeful Ghosts at the end of each level, though they had to tag-team the dual Ghosts at the end of level two.

Level three was, as usual, surprising to the Adventurers and it turned into the usual grind. At least they could send in as many as they wanted in each round and keep the rotations going a little better than with just ninety-six Adventurers. By the middle of that level, the four generals were rotating their groups through, one per quarter, running two hours on and six off. They were able to go around the clock that way until they reached the end of the level. Michael called a halt at the end of it for another leadership meeting.

"And there's really _another_ level to go?" he was asked.

"Yup," he said. "And every _room_ is a level like what we just went through, nearly. Only I think you lot will have it worst. We caught up to the Overwritten in the China server half-way through this coming level and the difficulty dropped to normal levels - for a Maze of Eternity. I expect them to be knocking at the door into the room with the Tree here. We haven't gotten the drop we need to get through it, so I think they're still holding on to it. We'll want to send in one city at a time per room, I think. If it's too difficult, we do it by twos, but you can expect the last two to three rooms to take all of us. They put the most intelligent and strongest at the vanguard...because they also have to be able to defeat the dungeon like they're Adventurers."

Several generals rubbed faces or slumped at that news. He let them think about it for a while until they were ready to ask questions and get into the planning themselves, though it would be trial and error for a while, and then it would be expediency that would rule.

-:-:-:-:-

"While I like a good challenge, this is just over the top," a stout felinoid moaned. He was resting on his back, arms splayed out. The last Overwritten in the room had gone up in bubbles moments before, though after he'd collapsed because his own target had finally died.

"If it gets rid of the last of them to do this, I'm glad to have it done, and with all of us working on it together," an elf as thin as a reed answered. He was sitting on the floor, leaning heavily on his longbow and looking like he'd been squeezed of all his energy and then some.

"...If it brings my boyfriend back, then I'm good." That was from a foxtail sitting up on a ledge above them. She'd been the party healer and found it easier to reach them all if she was higher up. That way the Swashbuckler, who was already snoring on the floor, didn't have to come all the way to the floor and could be up higher on the target when she let her area spells off. Their enemy had been a rather tall Overwritten Rock Golem. The other two of their party hadn't made it and were sleeping back at the respawn point. These were looking like they'd sleep here instead of cast the spell to take them back there.

Similar conversations were going on all over the room, and everyone was wondering how many more rooms there were to go. This was the third day in the fourth level of the Australian Maze of Eternity, and every day had been like this.

"Okay everyone. Long break time. We've got the final, and worst three rooms to do next. We'll sleep for eight and conference for most of the rest of a day after that. The most important thing to remember at this point is that if we _all_ die, we start _all over_ from the beginning. If you're asked to be the ones to hold the door open, then please - at all costs - _don't die_." Everyone on the floor was in complete agreement, even if they didn't fight Overwritten again - though they didn't know that would be easier. Michael didn't want them to think it would be. He wanted to be done.

The Eagles had realm walked into the other rooms and they gave the generals all the intelligence they could. Then they collapsed. They'd taken their turn plenty of times as well. It was good exercise for them, really. Michael liked how they were meshing even better, fine tuning into one of the best teams they could ever hope to be - both as assistants to generals and as a raid team when they were sent in to fight. He would join in with them on this next round, as would Reed. No one could afford to just sit and be a passive field monitor for the final.

The leadership decided to go easy and plan on one day for each room. That would give them room for learning each room properly. They'd move faster if they thought it wise, or found it easier than expected. An inventory of supplies was taken, then a needs-based inventory of supplies needed. A raid was sent out to Sydney to resupply of Adventurers who had come from there so they could cut the travel time in half using Call of Home for the first half of the trip. What supplies they did have were passed around, regardless of guild or city until everyone had enough for the first of the last three rooms.

Then Michael stood up to speak to the whole of them. "I wanted to be clear on what we're here for, since I'm not sure what your city leaders told you before you came out. Here's the replay of the international quest as it was given out." He replayed the weed seed again for everyone, having P/R and Charlie put it up large screen for everyone to see up in the air of the main room they were all gathered in. (They'd commandeered one of the larger rooms of the fourth level as the new respawn point since the actual respawn point wasn't big enough to fit them all and they didn't want to walk that far. Izanami had been gracious to allow that again this time around. Michael had just assumed and taken the right of erasure of artificial limits on numbers of Adventurers allowed in. She'd had to accept it.)

When the replay was done, P/R put up an image of Crusty on the screen. "This is Crusty, known popularly as 'The Bezerker', Guildmaster of D.D.D. guild. He's the world general for the final world boss battle. Put him in your friend lists so you can hear his orders when he gives them on the all-hands chat. I've been training you all to follow him. He'll be using methods similar to what we've used here. You're also well trained now to handle the Overwritten still wandering around the rest of Australia. We can't go home until this current project is over and done correctly, and we can't go home until every last Overwritten is taken out. We know you'll do great at finishing that part."

"As far as what's next in the immediate future, I don't want you super disappointed. This isn't a game dungeon. It's a world man-hole. There isn't a drop in the way of normal dungeons. There's the opening of the man-hole cover so we can get in, make repairs, and get our dead back out and into their bodies again, and save your own necks in the process. The drop we get from the final Overwritten is the key to get through the man-hole cover - I hope, or we've got a sub-quest to run in order to get through the door. If any of you know of any Vengeful Spirits in any of the cities, that's who we have to go collect. So...what I'm saying is don't be disappointed when we don't get fancy stuff at the end. Our final drop is the chance to go home. Please continue to work hard for that goal. We're very close. One third of the Mazes of Eternity are repaired. That means mostly that many Overwritten are gone, too. Help us keep working and moving forward towards that goal."

He turned the floor over to the other generals, and Charlie put each one on the screen. Michael hadn't needed his face seen. Everyone needed to recognize Crusty. The other generals gave out the orders for the next day and made sure everyone was on the same page, and also encouraged their people in their own ways, and listened to comments and questions, answering concerns along the way. That night was a quiet night of contemplation and conversations.

-:-:-:-:-

The six party members looked up at their target, faces set, determination in every line of their bodies. Each opponent was to be faced seriously, defeated, and then they moved on. Banter was included, but it was of the serious kind that was meant to help them know what they needed for an assist, meant to be an assist, to let the party know how things were going at the top versus the floor. Some of it was cutting, but most of it was related to the task at hand.

Room minus-three had been faced with determined optimism, had been hard, but had been conquered in the one day allotted. Room minus-two had been met with quiet resignation and resolute backs. They'd had to fall back on the saving party once and that had made them work harder the second time through.

The final room held the intelligent party sent to overcome the dungeon. This room was no walk in the park. It wasn't even a dungeon boss. It was war and the unkillable Adventurers had died, stood back up, and walked back in more times in this one room than many had the entire two and a half years they'd been living on Theldesia. Learning the attacks of the Overwritten in the room had taken all morning the day before. Learning what happened at the twenty percent remaining and overcoming that had taken through the first half of the afternoon. Learning what happened at the last ten percent had taken everyone down but the rescue party and they'd had to hide really well to keep the door open. They'd only rotated through enough to keep the door open, the rest had slept while the leadership had talked late into the night.

"Right folks. Like we discussed this morning. Open microphone time. Usual chatter, we'll let them know how we _really_ feel." Training had told Michael what they'd done to the Giants to weaken morale. They didn't think that would happen here. Overwritten didn't have any morale to weaken. They just followed orders. However...the intelligent ones like this talked and bantered and listened. "And, go."

With a sound almost like a groan, though it was multiple voices giving their battle cries in whatever way they did, the Adventurers moved forward. In the first third, the mocking words of the leadership of the Overwritten started the blood of every Adventurer boiling. In the second third, particularly as they neared the twenty percent marks, the Adventurers were talking back and hitting a lot harder, with more intent, and with a lot less error. They were well focused and more than determined to win this war.

"Die, f-n bastard." The Swashbuckler's two rapiers came down in a cross on the top of the head of the enemy the party was attacking at the moment. At the same time, the Sorcerer assisted with a fire attack that made the blades blaze red and the Enchanter added a three-times damage assist. The tank thrust with his sword to keep the monster engaged so it wouldn't smash the Swashbuckler, and it finally did go up in bubbles. Everyone in the party took a deep breath, took stock, drank potions, and moved forward to the next one. It was a hunting anger that had taken over the Adventurers in the room, a sense of questioning the futility of the Overwritten in clinging to their vain hope of continuing to live. They _would_ go down. It was only a matter of time. Adventurers could not be stopped. They could only _choose_ to stop, and they weren't backing down this time.

As they slowly, methodically, marched through the room, the sense of wolves among the trees of enemies grew and grew until there was only the final grouping of Overwritten enemies left. The Eagles wove their net of Programmer magic and tied the enemies down, penned in their attacks, and reflected their magics back at themselves, then said, "Have at." The Australian Adventurers were only too happy to comply. Having seen the ten percent response now, they didn't pause even one step or stroke. Before the final large attack could get off, the Adventurers had so swarmed them with counterattacks they were going up in bubbles. Overwhelming had been the answer this time - prevent the attacks from even having time to come up, accept the singeing if they did. They'd only resurrect again anyway. A flood of that kind of magnitude could not be stopped when it hit fast and hard.

There was silence for a time, then Michael clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Goddess of the Game, we have done our part and cleansed the dungeon according to the requirement. And according to the requirement of the God of the World, we have done it expediently. Please grant us our key, proper and full, so that we may now perform the required repairs."

There was a warm and large purring that filled the room, as if they'd suddenly been overshadowed by a wild cat so large it was standing over them all. "Because I like how you have turned them into the Adventurers they should be - cunning, fit properly together as a working unit, filled with the fire for the battle and the true desire to win, I will grant your request."

The mirrors in the room shattered and there was a sudden whirlwind. Those with Spirit Sight saw the room suddenly full of Vengeful Spirits which then passed through the one remaining wall of mirrors on which was written in glowing letters: _Ultimate Sacrifice_. "Thank you Goddess of the Game. We'll get to work as soon as we recover." The purring slowly left the room, leaving the Adventurers feeling better for that much reward of praise.

"Sit down and take a break everyone. Don't let the words scare you. Just like the dungeon is made nearly impossible on purpose, the words are the final warning to those who shouldn't be entering," Michael said calmly. "At this point we only need the maintenance crew to go through, so we'll rearrange and then I'll explain what happens next. Thank you everyone for an excellent battle today. It truly is something to be proud of." Like Shiroe had in China, he made sure they set an instruction column outside the room for who should enter and what skills would be necessary for the other side. They'd set one inside as well that would give the details for repairs. He did kind of feel like they would never be used - like this was the only time this would be happening. Still, it was better to leave instructions than not - just in case.

-:-:-:-:-

"It sure is nice to breathe fresh air and see sky again," Ground Safety breathed in and stretched.

Aviation Safety looked around the area around the Australian Maze of Eternity and nodded agreement. "Those dungeons are so ridiculous, really. It was really nice to have so many come and help out."

"Half the time again as last time, nearly," agreed Compliance.

"Still a good work-out," Clocktower said, ducking out the door and passing them. "Should hold us plenty well until we get to the pirates."

"We could skip them," Brenner grimaced as he also stretched, working out the feeling of being inside underground too long. He touched his toes, and was pushed off balance by OciferJeff coming behind him.

Brenner went down on his hands and kicked out, but OciferJeff sidestepped. "We'll face them if the Commander says we'll face them," he handily reminded Brenner.

Brenner rolled his eyes. "I _know_ that. It's just level one-hundred-fifteen felt high enough. I'm not sure _anyone_ can defeat us anymore. It's not really fair, you know. It's just doesn't feel right that we keep being the ones to go up in levels because we get these high level opportunities to, multiple times."

"Whatever," Avionics said, slapping Brenner on the back, though not too hard. "If we move up, we move up. The job got done. That's what's important."

Brenner frowned, but not very many of the others were worried about it. Over time even the other Adventurers would catch up - though they would have most likely moved on by then as well.

"What's that?" MasterChiefS7 asked, coming out the door at the back end of the group.

"Brenner's worried about us still super-hopping ahead because we're the Game Goddess' favorites." Clocktower answered mildly, looking up at the tall mountains to the west of them. "Reminds me of home," he murmured. Others turned to look and had to agree. The California coast mountains, and the Rocky's for that matter, were similar to the Great Dividing Range mountains of Australia.

"Hmm," MasterChiefS7 commented, as he looked at Brenner. "You got a particular concern about it?"

Brenner looked away, towards the ocean, though from this location it couldn't really be seen. "Sometimes it doesn't seem to be a blessing down the road - being the favorites of that one. Not Purrcy, but Izanami. Izanami likes to have hidden agendas. We might not like being in that position some year. If no one else on the planet can best us...is that going to become a problem down the road?"

"Well, we don't tend to think of ourselves as the bad guys," MasterChiefS7 said, "but I'll bring it up."

Brenner nodded his gratitude. The wind coming from the mountains was dry, like the winds in the deserts and mountains of western United States. The environment was pulling everyone towards home. They all stood there, between mountains and ocean, very near deserts and looked northeast. Their next goal lay there, on the opposite side of the globe. It was time to go. They walked away from the Australian Maze of Eternity without looking back. Moving forward was what they did.

-:-:-:-:-

The Oki Watarimono skipped the blockade and went around New Guinea and through the Solomon Islands instead of through the Banda Sea again. They'd play with the pirates another time. It was hard to turn back west, though, instead of continuing straight on to North America. Only their requirement to pick up and kidnap away a Princess made them turn back towards Yamato.

They were still accosted by pirates in the Philippine Sea. The blockade had pulled up anchor and returned home when they'd received word from the Adventurer Cities that the Maze of Eternity had been completed. With no Oki Watarimono to show for it at the Arafura Sea, the pirates had been steamed to not get their turn and chased after them. Because the Oki Watarimono had taken the long way around, they lost even with steam power under them. By then the Eagles were ready to see a little action again, though. Frustrated with having to go by way of Yamato first, on the ocean without anything to do but scrap - and the antidote was a joke now given their level rise - it was just this side of okay.

Michael couldn't hold down his impatience, though, and with a boat-full of impatient, antsy soldiers, the pirates got toyed with worse than when they'd tried to invade Yamato. Michael stood on the steerage deck and gave out orders and complained a blue streak just to keep himself company. When Reed heard a laugh come from the same place, his head came up fast. Michael was by himself, but Reed grabbed hold of Gareth and turned him to look. "Who is Michael _really_ talking to?"

Gareth slumped in Reed's grip, barely bothering to glance out the windows. "Purrcy - or Izanami. They're both listening in. He's complaining to Izanami and Purrcy's laughing at him."

Reed let go as suddenly as he'd grabbed Gareth, still glaring at the man on the steerage deck. "What's she doing down here?"

"Probably practicing her being in multiple places at one time skills. Or just taking a vacation." Gareth threw his hands in the air. "How the hell do I know? I'm just the peon that can see her when she shows up. Izanami gets just as bored as Purrcy and Tetorō do in that place. If she wants to come play with her favorites, who's going to stop her?"

Reed blinked. "Oh. Well, there is that." He gave up and went back to paying attention to where they were going. All the little islands around this part of the world were a bit dangerous. They didn't need to run aground a reef or underwater island.

The Eagles out on the wing also heard the laughter and swirled in the air over the Oki Watarimono, looking down at Michael. He was standing on the deck, with his arms folded in the pose they knew well. He was irritated and losing whatever verbal battle was going on. Three swooped down close. "Getting teased, are you?" Compliance asked.

Michael glared at them, then glared at the space next to him. "If you're going to go that far, you may as well let them know you're really here."

Slowly the space next to Michael became solid, a black felinoid in black kimono, layered with red and black under it. The speckles caught the sun, and her ears turned this way and that as she watched the Eagles in flight. "Really, I do love to watch them fly," she commented. "And here on the ocean is really their element, isn't it? All that room to move and the warm air currents must be nice."

"Rather perfect, actually," Michael commented absently. "That is the one nice thing about getting to do this part. We can actually fly like we're supposed to be flying."

"But why don't you want to do the pirates?" Izanami was pouting.

"Because it's a waste of time," Michael grouched back. "We've already done pirates."

"But it's fun, and on the way," she wheedled. "It looked like they were having fun, to me."

"Yeah, they needed to get the stink off, but the poor pirates didn't need the unfair beating," Michael pointed out.

"But it will keep them off Yamato while you're gone," Izanami pointed out in counter-argument. "Besides, they want to play, too, and if you don't now, they'll come looking. When they can't find you, they'll torture Yamato until you're sent after them. Since you won't even be around, that will be rather bad, don't you think?" Her hand came out for his chest.

He stepped back a half-step, grabbed the hand and twisted it behind Izanami's back, holding her there where she couldn't touch him. "You don't get to touch. It's bad enough you keep looking when we've gotten rid of that for you already," he growled at her. "Just keep watching the Eagles fly and keep your hands to yourself. ...I think what we've done is enough. Let the poor pirates play down here in their own waters. You can keep them away from Yamato."

Izanami went very still, then slumped slightly, her head drooping. "No, Michael, I can't," she said softly. "They can go where they want whenever they want. I can only affect them coming now while you lot are here, making it a challenge for you and for them. If you want to see Yamato safe, you've got to do it now."

Michael pushed her two steps away from him and let her go, sober when she turned to look at him. "Who's left?"

She looked to the north. "The Pirate King. He waits for you just north of Iwo Jima. Defeat him and make a deal with him. You'll stay north of Iwo Jima and he and the rest of the pirates will stay south of it. That's a lot of territory for them, minimal for you. He'll take it after posturing and being reminded of that fact blatantly, with a threat you'll take it all if he doesn't."

She turned to him again. "It won't be enough to take his ships. You'll have to play cat and mouse with him since those are his favorite games to play against his prey. He wants the Oki Watarimono and the Ocypete, and the technology of Yamato. Teach him it's too expensive a prize."

Michael's face was rather dark. "That isn't Prince Singh is it?"

Izanami shook her head. "No. He's on his quest properly now." She sighed. "But yes, word of my 'beauty' did get out because the three couldn't keep their mouths shut properly."

"Good," Michael had her wrist in hand again, but this time trapped against the railing. When he lifted his hand again, hers stayed there, held fastened by magic Binding. "Izanami's the bait!" he called out to his men. "Come in and rest up. We've got the pirate final boss coming up next." He turned to Reed. "How much longer to Iwo Jima?"

Reed looked over his shoulder at Gareth - who as navigator was following their progress intimately. Gareth quickly calculated. "Five hours...twenty-five minutes."

"Too long," Michael said instantly and put his chin in his hand, thinking hard. He looked back at the pirates they'd left in the water behind them. He stepped over to them and picked one randomly out of the ocean, then another one, and stepped back to the Oki Watarimono's main deck. He put a captured boat on the water to their north, stepped the two pirates to that ship, and made them put up the sail. He wrote a quick note and handed it to one of them. "Give this to the Pirate King. Don't lose it, and tell him he's got one hour to get to me or lose his title."

Michael stepped back to the Oki Watarimono and had the Eagles cast a multi-layer Haste on the the smaller pirate ship to make it faster than they were going to get up to the Pirate King. The little boat almost couldn't stay a watercraft it was so being used as a motor boat. Thank goodness they were built for speed and cutting through the water cleanly. It was over the horizon rather quickly, the poor pirates holding on to whatever they could grasp so they didn't get blown off the deck. Reed had already increased the speed of the Oki Watarimono to maximum and moved into the trench a little better, using Gareth's instructions to do so.

"Okay. So if we're going to do pirates," Michael turned back to the High Priestess handcuffed to the railing, "then no sea monsters."

Izanami rolled her eyes. "Like I have any say in that."

"You have a say in encounters," he rejoined mildly. Izanami sighed and closed her mouth and waited.

"Why does she stay put?" Clocktower asked, arriving on the steerage deck from the stairs up from below. Izanami only stared at him.

Michael gave a hopeless look over his shoulder. "She wants to watch. She knows I'll kick her off the ship and make her watch from somewhere else if she moves." He looked back at Izanami and glowered, "Besides, she likes bondage play."

Clocktower spurted a laugh. "No."

Michael walked away a few more steps from Izanami and didn't look at her. "Yes." Izanami pouted.

Clocktower laughed all the way into the steerage room. "Shall I take a shift, Reed Sir?"

Reed glowered. "I'm gonna puke. If you want to, go ahead. I'll go find a quiet place somewhere else for a while." Gareth looked very much like he also wanted to go somewhere else for a while but the other navigator was Michael and he was suddenly on enforced babysitting duty.

-:-:-:-:-

"All stop." The order was quiet. The whole ship was quiet. Only three people were on the Oki Watarimono. Clocktower to steer, Gareth to navigate, and Purrcy, still tied to the railing. She'd been given a chair until word had come the Pirate King was close. He was using the calling card of the pirate - fog on the waters that almost never had fog. It was so cliché Michael had sighed in disappointment to see it starting (as it did) as light fog at the surface of the ocean. Once again, as soon as it had hidden everything from the sight of the pirates - who were _still_ at a lower elevation than the deck of the Oki Watarimono - the Eagles had taken to the sky unseen, modifying the enemy encounter maps of the Adventurers in the pirate group to make it look like they were hiding all over the Oki Watarimono.

The air directly around the steamship was somewhat light on fog, and a larger pirate ship that was rather grand, really, pulled up alongside. Grappling hooks were deployed to hold the ships locked together. Purrcy stared down at the Pirate King's ship, coolly looking into the eyes of the Pirate King himself. When his eyes strayed to look at the rest of the ship, Michael slowly descended and settled on the railing of the steerage deck near Purrcy. Purrcy reached up and took the back of his shirt in her hand, but didn't say anything.

When the Pirate King's eyes came back to Purrcy, Michael was in his sight and his eyes widened a little. "I have everything you want, apparently," Michael said smoothly. "The woman, the ship, and the goods. Yet you are in the wrong waters. That means I also have your territory. No one in the small territory of Yamato buys anything. And what China does buy is minimal and not what you have to offer if you only have that territory. Thank you for the trade." Michael raised his hand and the grappling hooks were thrown off the side of the Oki Watarimono, save one.

"I don't think that's how it works," the Pirate King scowled at Michael.

"Feats of arms is irrelevant," Michael said. "No one can best us. You've surely heard those stories already. They aren't exaggerated."

"All it takes is killing you and sending you back to your Adventurer city and I have won," the Pirate King insisted.

Michael smirked at him. It wasn't a comment worthy of a verbal answer. The status effect spells bounced off his shields. One bounced back and put a man behind the Pirate King to sleep. "If you're a stickler for doing things the way they are supposed to be done, then let me remind you I sent you the letter from the _south_ , after defeating all-comers against me. According to the rules, then, I only have to defeat you and I am the Pirate King. Since you've kindly offered yourself I suppose I may as well complete the quest and take the title."

The scowl stayed on the face of the Pirate King. "All you have is one ship and a skeleton crew. What can you do against my fleet, which has surrounded you?"

Michael raised an eyebrow of disbelief. "Surely you heard the stories? Surely that was a waste of breath to ask?" He blew out a breath and the fog around them began to dissipate until it had lifted and cleared completely. "You also have only one ship and a skeleton crew. What good does that do you?"

The Pirate King looked around the waters. He had ships, but they were empty. On the ships farthest out stood one black uniformed Eagle per ship, grinning like madmen. "I have a fleet and you are surrounded," Michael said calmly. "We are still at an equivalency. What would you prefer? Single combat - you and I - or surrender?"

A spell went off on the Pirate King's ship. Michael watched it from the edge of the code realm and calmly extended his own shields farther, though it wasn't really necessary. The spell couldn't find purchase, nor its intended target, so rebounded. The mage was knocked out, then disappeared in bubbles. "Oh, so sorry. That looks like it hurt. Surely you didn't think I'd leave the Princess unprotected?" Deadpan mocking made the Pirate King go coldly menacing.

"She's not here to become your prize. I don't give up things that are mine. Pirates...and mercenaries...take." Michael stepped onto the deck of the Pirate King's ship, directly in front of him, took his hat off his head and stepped back onto the rail, putting the hat on his own head (after making sure lice and other nasties were dead with a quick spell). "You lose."

The Pirate King went into a rage. The Eagles settled onto his ship, put the rest of his crew to sleep, then bound him with magic Binding spells. Those didn't have to touch a person, just the area around a person, thus were very convenient to avoid anti-magic spells placed on or around a person and specified as a protection to that person. They'd really had to be creative to come up with ways to deal with Purrcy. That had been a useful thing to think of, and was actually how Michael had Purrcy attached to the railing at the moment. They were all pleased it was working so well - twice now.

Michael watched calmly while the Eagles tortured the Pirate King. After all, getting him down in levels was required as well, and just leaving him angry would bring him up to Yamato for revenge again. It took a long time to break him. When he finally was, Michael moved back down to his ship again. He made sure that the Pirate King understood his sincerity very well, then stepped back, not taking his life. He pulled the hat off his head and plucked the magic stone off of it. "I'll keep this so that you remember that I won. But I don't really want this," he put the hat back on the Pirate King. "Don't come north of Iwo Jima or I _will_ finish this moment swiftly. I'm content with what I already have. I don't need the South Seas. You can keep that - and the hat."

"Can't we just take her and go now?" Michael was asked quietly as they prepared the pirate ships for being left behind to drift back into the southern seas.

"No. It's just a part of her. We have to collect all of her and hold her down properly." He looked at the questioner significantly, speaking quietly. "I can't do my proper job if there's a piece floating around waiting to sneak attack me, can I?"

There was quiet cursing and he left it behind to return to the steerage deck. He bowed mockingly. "So, my lady, can we be done, now?"

Izanami looked at him with a withering look. "No battle at all, really, Michael?"

"Nope. Not necessary at our levels. Deal with it." He released the spell on her hand. "Go home. We'll be there in a few." She stepped forward and he cast a banishment spell. It didn't make her leave, but it made his point. She scowled at him, then disappeared. He cast it again and got a flick on the forehead, then she was gone.

But a giggle was left in the air behind her. One side of his lips quirked up for a moment, the irony appreciated being a reward in itself.


	155. Women in Hiding

There was a knock at Shiroe's office door and it opened. "Nyanta!" Shiroe put down his pen and rose to his feet. "Welcome back."

Nyanta's glide was his usual calm, proud walk. The little flick of the end of his tail was his greeting. He didn't speak until he was standing on the other side of Shiroe's desk. "I've come merely to inform mew my studies are completed and I am in Akiba again. I will nyot be staying in the guild house, however. There is no point to it any longer. So that mew may rest meowr mind, I will inform mew that I intend to make Purrcy's tree my residence from now." A light lift of an eyebrow ridge of whiskers preceded: "I purresume mew won't interfere with my comings and goings?"

Shiroe swallowed and carefully composed his answer. "Because of the laws of Akiba, and the mutual respect of all Adventurers, there is no reason to. However, we will interfere if you do break the laws we have all agreed to abide by. That is also the same as we would treat any other Adventurer - or creature - who wished to live with us in the city."

"Thank mew," Nyanta bowed slightly and for just an instant Shiroe had the very odd sensation that Izanagi was being sincere in some gratitude for all that Shiroe had been and would be doing in this terrible part of this level of Purrcy's dungeon.

When the High Priest looked him in the eyes again, Shiroe said softly, "You're welcome." Nyanta turned and walked back out of the office door, politely closing it behind him. Shiroe opened a silent chat window and watched him walk out of the building and turn towards the center of the city. "Naotsugu," he said quietly, "call the resistance for an immediate conference."

Shiroe sat down in his chair and put his elbows on his desk. As he rested his forehead on his clasped hands, his pained heart cried. He was unable to prevent the tears that fell - for his own sake and for the sake of a great man with a large and tender heart who was willing to go through terrible things all for his care of those who needed him there.

-:-:-:-:-

"Minori?"

"Mm?" she answered Touya's chat quietly.

"Are you doing okay?"

"Mm." She went for more definite, though still quiet.

He was quiet for a bit, then in a rather relaxed voice began to just chat, carrying the conversation. Around the edges she answered other chefs as they asked her for tools or ingredients. "Everyone here is trying hard, now that they understand why it's like this. It still isn't easy, though. The Wolf Pack has it hardest, as can only be expected. Shiroe tried to give them the option to leave the city. Izanagi refused." Touya's frustration came out in his voice. "He claimed they hadn't _actually_ violated Akiba law so couldn't be sent away. He's been twisting things like that, and sometimes there will be an Adventurer who is trying his hardest, and then something snaps inside and he's a raving lunatic, just because a patrol from West Wind Brigade walked by. So far others in the area have been able to calm down those kinds of attacks, but it's starting to wear on everyone."

Minori sighed. "Tihen," she whispered. She'd been given space now and whispers wouldn't be overheard.

"Yeah. ...How are things going there? Everyone still holding firm to the plan?"

"I wish," she whispered.

Touya clicked his tongue sympathetically. "He's not leaving that side alone, for all you're all out of the city, is he?"

"Uh-um," she confirmed.

Touya was quiet for a bit, then said, with some concern, "Minori...from this end...it sounds like there are men talking to the women there, even though they're not supposed to be." Minori froze for just a moment, then remembered she needed to not look different. "I've been trying to find where they might be hiding out, or from which guild, to get the full story...but, it sounds like they might be planning a raid to come find you. If they're really in contact, it won't be hard, since they'll be led in from the inside. ...Give Rieze-san a warning, will you? I'll keep working hard on this end to see if we can prevent them from leaving. They're not supposed to because of the quarantine, but that hasn't held determined Adventurers back before. If they do come, please hide and stay safe for me."

Minori closed her eyes. He was really worried. "I will. Thanks," she whispered.

-:-:-:-:-

Rieze walked out of the dungeon and into the respawn point. They'd called a meal break. She was pleased with the progress of the crafters and other lower level ladies who needed the practice. Most of them weren't shy about fighting anymore, now that they'd been able to build up their confidence. She kept her ears and eyes sharp as she walked over to the food tables. The grumbles were open now, and often on purpose in her hearing. She was trying to keep track of the names and guilds. They'd made a "no chat" rule, forbidding any of them from talking to the people still back in Akiba, and it had been a very unpopular rule lately.

She didn't care it was unpopular, but she did care that they were getting vocally unhappy. That usually meant it was already being broken, or about to be, by the most unruly of the group. Marielle and the other cheerleaders had been trying hard to help them remember why it was important, and yet their words were now forgotten within but a few short minutes of being told it again.

Her brow furrowed as she walked away from the food table with her plate in hand, she missed when Minori joined her as a shadow, following along with her own food. Rieze pondered that for a minute. She wasn't the first pick of Minori when it was time to eat. With a quick scan, she picked an out-of-the-way place to sit where they wouldn't be overheard if they were quiet. Minori sat next to her. They ate quietly until Marielle and Henrietta joined them about ten minutes later.

"The food is delicious as always," Marielle congratulated Minori as she swallowed down her first taste.

"Thank you, Miss Marie," Minori responded. "I've received a warning." She'd kept her eyes on Marielle, but Rieze was sure that was for her. Minori's eyes returned to her bowl. "Too many are talking. Touya is still trying to find the proof, but it's sounding like a party is being formed to sneak out and come here, and there are already enough turned away from our goals to bring them in."

Marielle and Henrietta froze, then shuddered. Rieze gave an understanding nod. "Minori, become an insider. Let them start to notice you getting his calls. We'll scold you if we get told, but we need to know who to lock down in here if we're to protect everyone."

Henrietta and Marielle looked at each other, then nodded. "Please try your best," Marielle pleaded kindly.

Minori gave a nod. She finished her food shortly after and left the three with a little bow, taking Rieze's dishes with her.

Rieze sighed as she looked at the other two women. Softly she said, "We may have to let the worst go so that they are found but the rest aren't. It may be too hard to keep them here." She pressed her lips together and scanned the room. "And even worse...they may convince the rest it isn't as bad as we've said."

Marielle shrank into herself and Henrietta paled but her spine firmed. She gave a nod of agreement, then patted Marielle's knee to giver her some comfort. They knew that even Marielle was struggling, wanting to go back to be with her husband.

-:-:-:-:-

Minori already had a list of women who were disobedient. She hadn't wanted to just give it to Rieze, though. She and Touya wanted to keep their spy-listening skill secret. She had wanted the permission to come up with the list properly. Plus, while she knew who was talking to the men in Akiba, she wasn't sure that it was the proper list for those who were really willing to put the rest of them at risk. Some, like her, were lonely or worried and just wanted to make sure things were still okay back home.

She lay on her back in her sleeping bag, her hands behind her head, next to the almost-asleep Serera. She was listening to the cavern generally. Each conversation that had pauses without answers was a chat. While there were a number of, "I miss you. I wish I could see you," conversations, none of them specifically were planning conversations. There was one area that had more than three going at once, though.

Minori rolled over, and pretended restlessness, then rose to her feet. Serera seemed to be asleep enough, so she walked quietly away and meandered around the room until she'd seen what guild that was. It was one of the smaller ones. They all got quiet as she passed them, though she didn't get too close. She found a spot not too far from them that was open but allowed her to be hidden somewhat from the main room, and sat down. "Touya," she whispered.

"Mm." He was either mostly asleep or on duty.

"It sounds like a lot of Heather Ridge is homesick, like I am. There are others, too. No one's openly saying they want to leave. I think we all understand it wouldn't be a good thing, but I wonder if that's still enough to make the men think we want rescuing?" He didn't answer. "Rieze-san wants to do what she can to keep us all safe, and Miss Marie and Miss Henrietta are doing everything they can to keep everyone encouraged. It's hard, though, when the homesickness hits hard."

Minori bit her lip. "Do - do you think if the people here could see how bad it was there, it would be enough to get them to stop wishing to be there?"

"Hmm," Touya breathed quietly. He wanted to think about that one. Maybe even ask Shiroe.

"I could suggest it here," she offered.

"Hm!" he agreed.

"I'll talk to her in the morning and see what she says," she said meaning Rieze, but not wanting to say her name aloud.

"Mm," he confirmed.

"Okay. Contact me when you're free, or have talked to Mister about what he thinks. And...stay safe."

He chuckled lightly at her and ended the chat. Minori sat leaning on her raised knee, drawing with her finger in the dirt floor of the room. Finally she stood and meandered back towards her sleeping bag. Eyes watched her as she passed the Heather Ridge group, though everyone was pretending to be asleep. She lay down again and went back to listening until she finally fell asleep.

The next day she waited until Rieze was back in the dungeon before contacting her via chat. She was on wash duty so didn't have a lot of people around her. Speaking quietly, as if to someone she wasn't supposed to be talking to, she made her suggestion to have a one-way visual conference chat, so that those who had been talking to guild mates could see what result it was having on the men. Since she didn't know what the real result was going to be - it might be nothing, like it was for her and Touya - she didn't want to have it be an open public display the first time. She sort of wished they had an Eagle or two available to record it so they could play it back if it was really causing the damage she thought it might be. She and Touya had only just reached the point they could make the chats visual, and he would have to be there for it to work.

"You mean like what they did at Purrcy's bachelorette party?" Rieze asked quietly.

"Mm."

"I thought that was Hacker work? Can you do that?"

"Mm. It's chat. Communications."

"Ah." Rieze got that Class reference. "Oh, like what you lot have been doing to see you all stay safe."

"Mm."

Rieze was gone for a bit, likely giving out orders. "I think the aftermath timing is more important than during. Can we use anyone in Log Horizon?"

"Mm," Minori answered. She set the plate she'd just rinsed to the side, then jumped when her wrist and the dish were both taken in a pair of hands. She had a sharp intake of breath and Rieze's words cut off as they barely began. Looking up, Minori found she was looking into the sharp, distrusting eyes of a dark grey foxtail, whose tail was hunting and whose ears were unhappy. She was backed up by three other women. "Can I help you?" Minori asked politely.

"Why is the perfect little girl of Log Horizon breaking the rules?" the foxtail demanded to know. "Do you think you get special privilege, because you belong to the Dark Machiavelli's guild?"

Minori let her eyes go wide, then dropped them when she'd read that these were of the guild she'd gone fishing for last night. "No. I'm not supposed to either. But...he's my twin. It's really hard to be separated from him here, when he's all I've had since the catastrophe. ...I'm sorry."

"Well, that's true that we never see you separated in town," the foxtail leaned down and put her face into Minori's. "Is it incest?" she purred quietly.

Minori's eyes flew wide as she jumped back and held up a hand. "No! No, definitely not." She swallowed. "I'm below the threshold age anyway."

"Like that's made any difference this time around," one of the others muttered from behind the foxtail. Minori had to agree. It was becoming difficult to not check in with Shiroe lately, though she was still fighting that since she definitely didn't have permission to do that unless it was a real and extreme emergency.

Timidly she said, "A-are you all missing people, too?"

The foxtail stood back up, then turned her head to look away. "Maybe."

"Well...it's understandable, given how hard it's been to be here on Theldesia instead of home on Earth. When we have friends here to help us walk, it's easier. When we have to leave them behind, it's hard." The foxtail folded her arms and measured Minori. Her tail was hunting again, but she seemed a little less angry and more calculating. That was okay, Minori guessed. "I wish it wasn't so hard, but I don't want to make it harder for Touya. It was better to come so he didn't have to worry so much." She looked away. "Even still. I want to know he's doing okay." She sighed and slumped.

"Come visit us tonight. We'll help you feel better," the foxtail said, but her eyes, ears, and tail weren't quite as friendly as her offer. "My name is Kariu."

"Go," Rieze said in Minori's ear. "Encourage them to leave if they start being harsh. We need to weed them out before they take more than they should, or bring the men here."

"Thank you for the offer," Minori said to Kariu. "If I'm not needed for dinner clean-up, I may."

-:-:-:-:-

Touya was on duty at the back gate. He yawned and in the next moment was surrounded, and then prevented from speaking so he couldn't cast his taunt. He glared at the group of men from Heather Ridge. "We've made it really simple for you. You let us go through and keep your mouth shut, and we'll see that your sister stays safe."

That made Touya even angrier. They'd rather done the opposite of what they wanted to in saying that. "We've left behind a few to watch you and make sure you do your part. We'll know if you've said anything." Without waiting to get any sort of response, they left Akiba through the back gate, leaving him there seething. His backup party that had been in hiding got the Silent status effect removed in short order.

"Akatsuki, they've left inside people to warn them," he passed on via chat. "But they've got some hold over Minori. I'm going anyway."

"Let us take out the one watching you right now. Then you'll have at least tonight and tomorrow's sleep cycle to get to them," Soujirou suggested kindly.

"Wish we had the Eagles," Akatsuki complained. "Illusion."

"I'm complete agreement," Touya said. Someone new was walking up to him, though and he stared.

"Get going," Woodstock said. "We're about the same size and shape. It will work well enough, and if they get close, I'll say we traded because I was getting bored and needed to stand a watch."

"Thank you sir. I hope it works well enough."

"Me, too," Woodstock waved his hand.

"Okay. We've put him to sleep, short-term so that he only has himself to blame," Soujirou said. "We'll keep watch on him to make sure he doesn't give away things he shouldn't."

"Thanks," Touya said.

"Good luck," the hunting party was told and twelve slightly more trustworthy men of Akiba slipped out the back gate, Touya included. He really hoped they would be able to stay sane in the presence of the women. He was worried because Minori hadn't answered any of his attempts to chat since dinner. To be told it was likely because she was in danger wasn't helping him.

-:-:-:-:-

Minori wasn't sure that was the best plan to have followed, in the end. Her first instinct had been right. Now she was the hostage, who knew how far from the dungeon. The group had been all too willing to sneak out and leave the rest behind. But they'd not wanted a potential spy to give them away. They'd also wanted to be able to use her to get back into Akiba - or something. She really wasn't sure why it was so important for her to come along. They could have just left her, nor even have talked to her at all. Instead she'd been hit with a sleep status effect and now she was suddenly waking up somewhere else.

Minori opened her mouth to try to chat with Touya and no sound came out. She frowned. She hadn't heard of a Silence spell or status effect before. She couldn't be surprised, though, given Hahaue's lessons and example. She was in the dark, so couldn't see much. Putting her hand on the ground, she could feel wood. The walls were wood as well. Carefully she crawled around her space learning in the end she was in a closet of some kind and that the door was locked. That meant she was in a house, so they weren't in the dungeon any more. That much at least had been accomplished.

Minori leaned her ear against the door and listened hard. She could hear murmurs of female voices, but not make out words. They must be in a larger room down a hall - or up stairs if she was in a basement closet. She sat back against the wall next to the door, not wanting to be right in front of it if she should be checked on. It was fine if they'd wanted to leave. Why would they have wanted her? She'd far rather have been left behind.

She wondered how long she'd been asleep. If it was too long, Touya would be worried. While they didn't have scheduled visits, per se, they still had patterns they followed rather instinctively. As she thought of him, she became quite convinced he was very worried, actually. _Touya,_ she thought, wishing she could talk to him, _I'm okay. Locked up somewhere I don't know, but okay._ She put her head on her knees, wishing she could get more information about where she was and how to escape but her capacity there was a bit limited.

It rather reminded her of being locked up by Haemlin, actually. They hadn't been able to get out of that without outside help. It was frustrating that it was likely to be that way again for her. ...Though she would run for sure if she found any opening at all.

-:-:-:-:-

"It's hard to track in the dark," their Tracker grumbled as Touya danced in impatience at their slow movement. The group from Heather Ridge had taken off into the woods and they'd been able to follow broken branches for a while, but the undergrowth had cleared somewhat and it was harder to follow the path in the dark under the canopy above without it.

Once again Touya's thoughts and worries turned to his sister. Was she okay? _Touya, I'm okay. ...where I don't know, but okay._

Touya froze in shock. That hadn't been a chat, but it had most definitely been Minori. His mind quickly ran through it's files and hooked onto a Christmas scene. Holding hands with Minori as a light rose up from in front of him and her to surround them. He gasped in air. The twin bonding. He immediately calmed down and centered his thoughts on Minori, wanting to know with all his heart where she was. He had to calm down a little more, but then he was turning to his left. With great certainty, he knew exactly when he was facing her. "This way," he said to the party, grim purpose in his voice. "They're this way." He took off, not wanting to waste time trying to explain how he knew.

He followed that knowledge, sure in his directions. He did have to detour around a few difficult patches, but always he knew where Minori was as long as he focused on wanting to know. "Rieze-san, I'm going to bring Minori back to you. Do you want the rest of them?"

"No. Is she okay?"

"We haven't reached them yet. I just wanted to know if it was okay to Cathedral the women, too."

"Go ahead," Rieze wasn't sympathetic - no surprise. "I'd rather they got their wish and the consequences with them than they came back to pull more away. Of course, if they really do learn just how terrible it is, having a few come back as witnesses to scare the rest of them into staying put might be just as useful."

"If they've dragged off other innocents, I'll see they're brought back. When we've placed them for sure, I'll send you the location so we can meet up."

"Keep in touch." Touya cut the chat so he could go back to leading his group. Talking distracted him too much.

-:-:-:-:-

The hunting party was silent. Ahead of them was a two-story farm house - almost a manor actually - in an open field. The men of Heather Ridge were just reaching the outer courtyard. Touya gathered up his group. He told them what Rieze had told him, then gave everyone a reality check. "We all have to stay strong. We may be hit as hard when we get close. Please do your absolute best to try to remember we're rescuing and returning. The innocent ones need to still be able to trust us when the sun shines on Akiba again. I'd rather negotiate than fight, but if the fastest way to get them back to Akiba is to Cathedral them, don't hold back."

He looked around the group. "Who's got the sub-skill Negotiation? Anyone? It's probably not safe for it to be me, since they threatened me already if I moved."

A Sorcerer raised his hand. "I'll do it."

The last man to enter the house looked over the field to make sure they hadn't been followed before closing the door. The hunters ghosted across the field, headed for the house and battle.

-:-:-:-:-

Minori's head came up and she pressed her ear against the door again. Yes, that was definitely male voices to go along with the excited female ones. She shivered. As long as they only kept her a hostage, and forgot she was in the room, she should be okay. She still wished she had Touya by her side, though.

 _Minori. Minori. Can you hear me?_ Minori blinked. She opened her mouth to say she could and still no sound came out. It was very irritating, actually. _Hide if you can. Or if you can't, try to tell who is there innocently. The rest we'll send to Akiba. ...And, I'm talking by way of our Christmas gift. The Twin Link._ The light went on for Minori. _You did it first, but I don't know if you know that._

Minori slumped. She focused deep inside and tried to talk to him again, wishing it very hard. _I hear you. I can't speak. Silent status spell, I think. I'm locked in a closet. I hope they'll leave me alone and forget I'm here._

It was silent for a long time - inside her mind anyway. She hoped Touya had heard her. It wasn't sounding good in the rest of the house, though. She tried her best to stay focused on her brother in case he talked to her again. Suddenly it was as if she could see or feel him. She was up on her feet, though still crouched, scuttling across the room. She put her hands on the outer wall, but strangely, it felt like he was below her. _Minori, go from one corner on this side to the other so we can see how wide the closet is._ Minori obediently went to the corner on the left, then back to the corner on the right. She could tell that he was following her, so she paused at each corner.

There were angry voices coming from the front of the house. She tried to not pay attention to it, though. _Stay in that corner. Put up a shield by intention if you can. We're going to blow a hole to get you out._

Minori did her best to cast a silent spell. _Okay._ She turned to the side wall and put her arms over her head just in case. The door to the closet was flung open and an angry Kariu was standing in it. Just as she was stepping into the space, hand outstretched for Minori, the farther corner wall exploded inward. Kariu flinched and Minori crawled as fast as she could for the hole in the wall. _Help!_ Minori couldn't get much more than the single word out being too focused on escaping. She stayed low as another set of spells came raining in through the hole in the wall.

"Oh, no you don't!" Minori felt a hand grab her ankle. With a great pull, and leaving her shoe behind, Minori was tumbling out the hole, not really caring how she fell, just that she got free. She did try to tuck enough that she wouldn't land on her head. Another set of lights went speeding past her and then arms were catching her and she was landing on top of Touya.

He cast one of his shielding spells as more firefighting continued on overhead. "She's out," Touya said. "Have at." Minori swallowed. She didn't think she'd ever heard her brother so angry before, nor so cold. She was glad for his protecting arms, though. Her cold foot reminded her to fetch her shoe before the room and it burned.

-:-:-:-:-

Seven women were on their knees in the grass. The house was destroyed, sadly. The battle between the men had been rather severe - enough that really the only ones left were Touya and the two who had been on the back with him as his support, and the last three to survive inside. The Silent status effect had worn off Minori by the end of the battle, finally, to her relief.

Touya folded his arms and glared at the women in front of them. "This is your last chance. No one wants you to be harmed, but you've chosen it just by leaving your place of protection. Because you've come this far, if you really want to go to Akiba that badly, we'll take you there, but it isn't what you think it is. Having you there will make it very difficult on all the rest of us. Rieze is willing to take you back this once, but only if you promise most sincerely you'll stay put and stop talking to people there. If you can't, then you're too dangerous to the rest of the women. We'll leave you to fend for yourself here if you're too afraid to go either place."

Minori pointed to two of them. "They were part of the ringleader's group," she said. "They will be too dangerous."

The rest of them were allowed to say what they wanted and by recognizing voices, Minori refused three more. They ended up with the five being surrounded to take to Akiba and two to go with Minori and Touya. "Good luck," Touya said to the five men going with the five women. "Please do your best to resist. If it gets hard, Cathedral them and cast Call of Home. That will be far better than the alternative." The women paled.

Touya turned to the three women with him. "Rieze. I've got three to bring back, including Minori. Where shall I meet you?"

-:-:-:-:-

Minori held Touya tightly. "Thank you for coming to rescue me," she said.

Touya held her back, then she could hear inside, _Minori, while I am glad that this gift helped me to do that, it's also dangerous right at the moment. ...I know how to find you now._

Minori froze and couldn't help just a little shiver. _Is it going to be a problem, or will it help you to relax, knowing I'm where I'm supposed to be?_

Touya paused to think about it. _I do miss you often, but being able to talk to you has helped me every day._ She was sure he would have said more, but he sighed and let her go and stepped back without saying it. He looked at Rieze, who was waiting with her arms folded. "What are you going to do to prevent this in the future?" he asked a bit more harshly that he might have normally.

"Akatsuki and I are going to hold an open visual chat so the rest of the ladies can see what it's really like in Akiba right now," Rieze said soberly. "Then we're going to send everyone home after that who won't stay. It will be the last time they're allowed out - or in. And Touya...tell Shiroe to speed it up if he can at all."

Touya slumped just a little, letting them know that it likely wasn't possible still, but he gave a nod. He looked at Minori one last time, then cast Call of Home. Minori turned with Rieze and the raid party she'd brought out with her, and they all returned to the dungeon.

The following morning, instead of taking everyone into the dungeon again, Rieze called for everyone to listen to her words. She stood up on a tall rock, then called back to Akatsuki. A video window opened, showing Akatsuki and the background of Akiba. She was obviously up on the roof of one of the stores at the center of town. Below her was a crowd - rather noisy, actually. "In the center of that are some of the women who left you yesterday," Akatsuki said soberly. "The men are demanding to know where they came from, which dungeon." She disappeared but the scene of the crowd grew larger as she got closer.

For twenty minutes she walked through the crowd, letting everyone hear the comments of the men, until she arrived at the center. She stood there, allowing the crowd of women in the dungeon watch how the men were treating the women. It was varied. Some men were angry as the women weren't giving them the answers they wanted. Some men were slyly on the side touching the women inappropriately, making them very uncomfortable. Some were flirting, most notably Minori noticed, with Kariu and the three who had been most interested in returning. That was...until her "boyfriend" showed up.

The women watched in amazement as a real, and rather serious, battle of fists and harsh words broke out between the "boyfriends" and the flirtatious crowd...and then those specific women joined in by egging on whichever of them seemed to be strongest at the time - not regarding their guildmates at all.

They were suddenly up on the roof again, seeing the crowd from above. "That is how it goes here," Akatsuki's voice came to them again. They could see several parties of six arriving to break up the fighting. Some parties were West Wind Brigade and some were the other fighting guilds. "Even if you think you won't be affected as a woman, you will be in the end, the same as the men are. Don't call them. These who arrived last night only said they were lonely. That was enough to bring out the wolves in the men to make them come get them. You are also lonely. Be lonely. The alternative is far, far worse, and it is only temporary. Rape or sex when you didn't want it is permanent."

"I cannot help these, nor any of those who didn't understand when we gave the warning before. Those who are strong don't travel the streets. We are now all locked up in guild halls - either our own, or the solos in Crescent Moon guild hall. We only go out on patrols of six or more, and now they will only listen to the faces they recognize. We test each other at the beginning of every shift. If a woman is wanting a man too much, she is locked into the guild hall and refused from serving on a guard shift. If you come, because you are too lonely, your guild will lock you in...and then you will have to fight the men of the guild who can still reach you. The rest of us cannot care, nor save you. Save yourselves and stay hidden and away from Akiba."

"Thank you, Akatsuki," Rieze said soberly. "Good luck."

"Mm." The video chat disappeared.

Rieze looked around the women in the room. "Because they left the dungeon and our place of safety, we must leave it and find a new place of safety. Eventually they will talk, and likely sometime today. Akiba has been under quarantine already for some time, but the men who want women too much no longer care. They will come, and the more that come, the harder it will be to keep you safe."

She took a deep breath. "Even so. Too many of you already won't abide by the rule to not call them, tempting them because you want them, too. So...this once, as we prepare to move, you are allowed to choose to go home. Once we arrive at our next destination, if you speak to anyone outside our group, you will be punished. Because we won't be able to afford to send you back to Akiba to make us move again, we will kill you, over and over again until you have forgotten your own name and how to use the chat function. Akatsuki tells me that Shiroe says they are still several weeks to a month out from finding a solution - at the least. Help us all survive. Go home now or commit with us that we will be silent from now until we're told it's safe. ...We leave in thirty minutes."

Rieze climbed down off the rock. Minori looked at Marielle. Henrietta was holding her hand tightly. As Rieze rejoined the three of them, Marielle's tears couldn't be withheld any longer. "Please," she whispered, "please let me go back. I'll stay in my guild hall. I need to be with Naotsugu."

Rieze's face closed down and was cold and hard. Henrietta stood stiffly, exuding disapproval. Minori faced Marielle and took her other hand. Looking into the tearful eyes of her guild-sister-in-law, she said very soberly, "Marie-san, of all of us you may not go. Izanagi wants you and he wants Naotsugu. You will be pregnant the first moment you sleep with Naotsugu, and he will eventually have to give in and come to you. If he has to focus on his fight to not come to you, then he can't focus on helping Akatsuki and Shiroe-sensei stay apart. If it can make you go back and become pregnant, it can sever the pillar that holds us all on the path home."

Minori turned to face Rieze, "The next time you speak with Akatsuki, please encourage her to come out of Akiba for Shiroe-sensei's sake and for all of our sake. But don't tell her I said it. I'm her rival. Izanagi will use that to harden her heart and keep her there, a continuing terrible temptation to Shiroe-sensei. We cannot afford to fail in this, or we will all be lost here on Theldesia - forever."

Marielle wept and Henrietta took her in her arms to comfort her. Rieze gave Minori a sober nod. "I'll try to talk her into it. If they're all locked up in the guild halls anyway, she could come out and join us."

-:-:-:-:-

"Akatsuki, I'm really sorry I've failed to do my part," Rieze's voice was very humble.

Akatsuki was upset, but she also knew Rieze was likely not taking her failure very well. She was the most stern on herself, for all she was very stern on everyone else. Akatsuki took her time to formulate her answer properly. "Rieze...it will make it very difficult here...on everyone. Them, too. But...we already knew we could only do our best. We fight a god. To even save a few may be all we can do."

"I know," Rieze said back, her pain in her voice. "But even one...it hurts us, them...and Shiroe worst of all. I'm sorry."

Akatsuki sighed. "And I hate them all for it, and Izanagi most of all. ...Stupid."

It really was. It was just stupid. Stupid flighty women, stupid knuckle-headed men, stupid Izanagi and Izanami for bringing them here in the first place, and stupid Izanagi for just not being patient enough to wait. Making them go through this, jump these hoops of failure when it wasn't necessary was just stupid. And to make Shiroe hurt when he was only trying his best...she hated that most of all. She couldn't protect him from that...except she was going to try.

"Don't tell Shiroe," she said to Rieze. "I'll tell him when he can handle it."

"Okay," Rieze promised. "I won't be talking to him until it's over anyway."

That was true. "Keep the others from talking, too."

"I will. I've already told everyone it's not to happen or they'll die until they can't remember their name. Marielle most of all."

Akatsuki stood up straight at that. "Eh?"

Rieze was sober. "She's being hit the hardest. She so much wants to come home and be with Naotsugu. We're keeping her here. We know that would make it all come falling down. It's hard on her, though."

"I'm sorry," Akatsuki whispered.

"We wish you would come here for the same reason, Akatsuki."

Akatsuki was already shaking her head, even though Rieze couldn't see that. "It would be the same for me - here or there. You already have too many to watch over. Here the guild has only me and him, and I'm needed here." She could tell Rieze wanted to argue it more. "It really is better, Rieze. When he can know I'm still here to support him, he can stand taller."

Rieze was silent a bit longer, then said, "I'm going to call you every night and make sure, then. Having you fall will end our hopes just as much as having Marielle show up there would. We can't lose this, Akatsuki. You have to stand firm, too."

Akatsuki took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay," she agreed around the insane rage that wanted to come out instead. Akatsuki had learned it though - when it was her real emotion and when it was the emotion Izanagi wanted her to feel.

Rieze seemed to find that sufficient. "You've got about twenty-five minutes before they'll start showing up. The most flighty forget a half-hour after we've lectured them. I've given them that long to get packed and on the road. The few of us that understand aren't enough to watch them all and keep them here once we're strung out like that. Again, I'm sorry to cause you such troubles today."

"We'll do what we can. Knowing ahead means we can be ready."

"Good luck," Rieze said.

"Thanks. You, too." Akatsuki let the chat close and opened up a full Women's Army chat. "We've got incoming escaping the dungeon because the silly lot did last night. It's an exchange so that the sane still there can stay safe. Get to the gate. We'll have to protect them long enough to get them to their guilds. Likely we'll have to stay on watch until evening. Rieze wants to get the rest to the new hiding place by then."

"Buncha idiots," grumbled more than one, but most let her know they were on their way.

"Try to keep it quiet, if possible," Akatsuki said. "Stay in hiding until they show up, then parties of four to collect those closest together and get them home fast." That was for those with Assassin skills or Tracker skills, or Illusion. "Call out for necessary distractions. Set up distraction parties of five within sight of the gate. Rotate three at a time until additional distractions are called for. I'd like to not have more than five parties on obvious distraction at a time. They'll wonder what festival is happening if it's more than that." That was for West Wind Brigade and the smart but pretty solos who were on guard duty. "Be in place in twenty minutes."

She went up to the wall over the gate where she could look over both the return point for Call of Home and the courtyard just inside the gate. It looked like they'd managed to get the Heather Ridge women out and back to their guild hall. There were still more men hanging around than she liked, though. "Touya, bring a guard unit out and walk the common area near the gate. Scare the men into the shadows."

"On my way," Touya answered immediately. He'd come home scary angry, and bloodied and torn up. She'd cleaned him up but he wouldn't talk about it other than to say that he'd properly rescued Minori and returned her to Rieze. Word on the street the next morning said he'd fought in town, not while out, though. She honestly wouldn't have been surprised. He'd have waited until he was back to pound on the idiots who had put his sister at risk, for all that was out of character for him generally.

The next group Akatsuki called via chat was a carefully selected list of guildmasters. She kept Touya added to it, too, so he understood. "It's Akatsuki. We've got more to the current situation."

"Go ahead," Woodstock said.

"First...everyone has to promise...no one lets it get back to Shiroe."

"You don't think he'll figure it out?" Crusty asked.

"He will, but he doesn't have to know the numbers," she said firmly.

"That bad, eh?" Isaac asked.

"Likely," she answered. She took a breath. "Fifteen, twenty minutes and the first of those who can't hold out will show up at the gate. I've got the women on stand-by to get them retrieved and shuffled to their guilds. I've also got distractions ready. I need back-up for Touya's group to keep the men thinking the gate's not a good place to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. Please set up rotations."

"All afternoon?" Akaneya asked.

"There aren't enough guards to keep them from leaving. They're moving to a new place. They expect attrition until they arrive and can pen them in again," she admitted.

"Harsh," Isaac muttered.

"We've got it covered, Akatsuki," Crusty promised.

"Thanks," she let that chat fade into the background, though she kept it as an on-going chat. She would need to know if anything came up.

-:-:-:-:-

In half an hour the women at the dungeon were on the road again, walking away from the dungeon. _Touya. I'm okay. We're all moving so that when those women cave and tell the men where we were, we won't be there. Please don't worry about me._

 _Thank you for letting me know. Take care._ They wouldn't chat again and would only talk by the twin link when they had to and only briefly, just to let each other know they were still alive and marching forward.

It was a hard walk to the next hiding place. Women and girls both disappeared at regular intervals as they walked. Henrietta and Minori both held on tightly to Marielle's hands so she wouldn't cast Call of Home, too. Serera held on to her shirt-tail, too, worried by what she'd seen on the video screen.

It was sad to take inventory at the final location that day and to have lost about a third of their number. Rieze let Akatsuki know, and she showed everyone who was left what had happened in Akiba as soon as the women had started showing up. It was not a pretty sight at all, and the rest of them trembled in their beds and sleeping bags that night, friends holding on to friends and guild-sister to guild-sister as they tried to not have the living nightmares become sleeping ones, too.

No one called or contacted anyone in Akiba after that for a very long time, except Rieze in her nightly meeting with Akatsuki. At the end of the meeting, every night, Rieze tried to talk Akatsuki into coming out and joining the rest of them. When Akatsuki would refuse, Rieze would push her hard, making her recommit believably to her chosen path, being her accountability partner. It was the best they could do to help from where they were.


	156. Second Birthing

_Happy Birthday to me! Thank you to all of you have been following me for the year plus two months TechnoMagus has been in the works now. It's rather amazing to me to think I've had the stamina to keep going this long. Really. But I do love the story and it keeps flowing - some days through bare cracks in solid rock and other days like a deep river over a waterfall and it takes a week to get it all down before it's gone. We are in the part that I wrote most of back months ago (remember I talked about having to write future chapters and then discovering it was because we started moving through Time?) and the filling-in is like trying to weather almost-solid rock. If a few weeks are sparse, please don't worry. I'm just having to pull ideas and proper levels of story through limestone rock, finding the passage as I go. Plus November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I want to participate again this year. I'll still try to post at least one chapter per week through November. Enjoy!_

* * *

Michael took a deep breath. He'd set up everything the best he could. It was time to carry out his solo. He let out the breath. "Wish me luck," he said to Gareth solemnly. Gareth nodded and Michael stepped into the realms. He was dressed in his Priest robes and had done the purifications in the cabin bathroom, the closest they could approximate running water shipboard. Michael was sure he'd pick up some impurities on the way, even if he wasn't in the base realm, but by now the High Priestess would have come down for her night rest. He was headed for a midnight infiltration. Even Tetorō was deeply sleeping now.

Michael had learned to travel very quickly through walking the realms. Controlling when he actually walked had been the hardest lesson to learn when he'd first been at the shrine. That wasn't a problem so much now. While he'd taken a while to learn it, it was a joy to spacial realm walk. He literally had learned to walk a thousand leagues in one step. He usually didn't need to walk that far in one step. It had taken practice to learn that a lot of walking in the spacial realm was intent and focusing on where one wanted to go. He was pretty sure the gates worked in this realm. For now it was okay they didn't. He didn't want to get caught up in one of them opening or closing, nor did he want to walk into - or through - someone else in this realm. Right now it was probably the quietest and emptiest of the realms he'd been in - except up on the Sacred Mountain where he was going.

The hard part was that around the shrines, this realm was busy in comparison to other places, since all of the priests and priestesses could walk in both this and the spirit realm. That was another reason to arrive at midnight. Well...the whole visit shouldn't be known about, but that went without saying. Michael silently slipped out of the spacial realm, stepping onto the tatami mat floor next to Purrcy's bed. Her spirit guardians fled, his rook ring's magical protection banishing them.

The thin flowing curtains were closed around her bed, but didn't hide her from sight. As usual she looked small and lost in the large bed. He stood there staring at her sleeping form - felinoid as was typical since she'd become the High Priestess closeted in the shrine. When he was sure she was rousing from sleeping, he pulled back the curtain closest to her head and held it open, standing close but not looming over her. It didn't take too much more time before her nose wiggled and her ear twitched.

"I'm sorry to bother you in the middle of the night," he said quietly as her eyes popped open to look at him. He bowed to her properly, though he didn't release the gauze curtain. "Will you come speak with me briefly in the garden?" He ignored the black flecks rising from her. He knew it was illusion to protect her.

Purrcy sat up slowly, blinking, then gave a nod. He moved back and allowed her to slip off the bed, holding out his hand for hers. Her whiskers twitched in a bit of a frown, but she took his hand after a short hesitation. He leaned close to whisper in her ear. "Doors will wake them up. I promise - just to the garden." At the beginning of her nod he'd already taken her into the spacial realm. It was a short step to the formal gardens outside her rooms. In that same short space of time, he'd switched his clothing from the priest robes to his formal court clothing. He'd purified it as well before coming. "May I have this dance, My Lady?" he stepped back and bowed to her, then stood waiting. He let her have as long as she wanted to look at him. He knew how good he looked in the outfit. He was pretty sure the tailor or seamstress who had made it had a touch of magic skill and had woven in the intent of it making the wearer draw the eye of the observer and increase the attraction factor.

"One would think you believe you didn't already break my flavor text, Michael," Purrcy finally said wryly. "Or perhaps that you've been infected by it in turn now?"

"It's because the flavor text has been broken that I can now properly dance with Purrcy, Izanami. Will you let me visit with her for a bit? I've owed her a dance for quite some time now." He waited patiently, cueing up the recording of the orchestra from the balls he'd recorded. He'd placed them in the gazebo with the fountain towards the shrine and the waterfall towards the lower staff housing. He kept the music quiet enough only the two of them could hear it, then held out his hand for Purrcy's. With a light bow of the head, she took his hand and he pulled her to him, placing his right hand around her waist.

Her kimonos were suddenly a heavy satin ball gown with many layers to the skirt and the bodice trimmed in white ermine around her neck and hands to keep her somewhat warmer. He dispassionately noted her obvious level of pregnancy, then ignored it. Her right hand rose to meet his left in the air and her left hand landed lightly on his right shoulder. He stayed firmly relaxed, just enough tension to his muscles for the dance and for the strength of leading a partner. She in turn reacted by staying lightly in his arms with just enough strength and tension to be led. So far she was still too perfect. He led her in the dance very properly. When she finally relaxed and truly began to dance, a small smile came on his lips. He'd known Purrcy well enough. She wouldn't let the opportunity go to waste.

He allowed that dance to finish and paused, then went into the next one. Purrcy's tail switched in pleasure and she almost sighed. She relaxed in his arms as if relieved that it hadn't been merely an invitation to a single dance. His lips twitched again. Before her sharp mind could begin to wonder why and make her tense up again, he started in on the inconsequential things, whispering them to her as they danced around the gazebo, knowing she liked to hear about it even though she was watching over them all.

She gave pleased lifts to her whiskers and had perky ears as he told her anecdotes about how the twins had been helping in town and how all the juniors were growing and becoming stronger. He told her how Serera was doing, also becoming stronger and growing as she helped tutor the younger children at the Academy. He kept the stories about Naotsugu, Marielle, and Akatsuki light, though when she started to frown, he did tell her seriously - though in summary - how it was a struggle for them to live in the difficult days but they also were doing well supporting each other and being supported by Akiba. He briefly passed on stories about the Eagles as well, since he knew she felt about them like she did the rest of the guild, particularly her favorites. He asked after Tetorō and she sighed, but said he was was doing well enough and was still kindly her anchor. He frowned slightly. "But...?"

She turned her head away slightly, then sighed again. "He's wearing down, getting tired. He's moved out of the depression stage a little back, but now I can see there are days he'd just as soon walk out the gate as stay. It's not very bad yet - he's not openly impatient. I won't send him away when he's working so hard." She bit her lip lightly. "I almost did at the worst of his depression. I came back then and made him sit in the sun and play with me until he realized just how bad he'd become. He worked harder after that to remember this would be for a short time, in the end."

Michael let the conversation pause. "That's good, then," he finally said.

Purrcy turned her head back to look at his face. "Why are you here, Michael?"

Michael let the dance change before he answered her. The next one was a line dance and they danced it just the two of them around the circle of the gazebo. They had to pay a little more attention to that dance so he didn't bother to answer her question at the moment, letting the dance itself tell her. When he reached over her shoulders to take the hand opposite him, she gave a slight shiver. He raised an eyebrow at her but didn't comment, keeping the mood calm. The rest of her wasn't so much, though. Her weaknesses were beginning to bleed through. He quickly skipped through a few songs to get to another one they would dance closely to.

This time when he pulled her close, she was tense and her dancing more unsure. To test and see if it was fear, he put his cheek just close enough to hers to feel the soft fur. Instead of pulling away, she slightly leaned in. He let his hand on her waist move around her a little more and pull her in a little closer. She moved willingly with him. He sighed to himself. So far, the plan was working. She really was too easy to understand for her own good. He turned his head so he was whispering in her ear. "Do you really want to go to the States?"

Her feet didn't stop moving since he didn't let them but the rest of her froze. "...On Earth?" she asked a bit breathlessly.

"No," he smiled a little, "here, on Theldesia."

"Now?" she asked sharply.

He paused, then said, "No."

She turned her head away and considered it. She looked down, the rest of her drooping a bit. "It is the next task to do." She was quiet longer, then finally gave up and dropped her head on his shoulder. "Michael...I've been over there to look." He froze just a little, his own heart rate increasing a bit. "It's terrible, the destruction and waste, the battles that still exist in the few hold-outs. We're already years too late for most of them." He blinked, trying to conceive of it and his hands tightened on her slightly. He focused on keeping their feet moving. Her head turned on his shoulder as she said quietly, "Will you and the Eagles go to save them? Return them to life again from their desolation?"

Michael stayed calm. It could only be true that it would be terrible there. China had been their warning, as had all the reports back from the train as it traveled through Eured these past months. He took a deep breath, then promised, "We will. ...Shiroe says it's nearing time to go and has asked us to prepare. I've come to tell you." He couldn't know what she'd seen, but the tremors that went through her made him finally stop the dance and just hold her. He held her tightly through her harsh shivers of crying. Her tail was straight down and flat on the ground. Her ears were flattened in complete distress and he reached up to pet her soothingly to try to get them to relax even a little. "We'll help them, Hahaue, to the best of our abilities. That's been our job description from the beginning, you know. Shiroe wants every Adventurer present at the final battle. We can't begin until we've fixed what went wrong over there." She nodded, trying to recover, trying to keep the dry sobs as quiet as possible, muffling them in his shoulder.

He turned his head to kiss her cheek lightly, petting her softly, purposely standing in the role of a husband comforting a grieving wife. When she was calmed, but still in his arms, he said very quietly (even though he'd added the extra shields and put the histories into safe loops), "I also have a warning." She held still, then gave a faint nod. "The effort to turn the People of the Land against Inari is reaching its peak. They are about to move on the shrines." He held her still, keeping her from lifting up off his shoulder. He breathed in her ear, "I will keep you safe. Please trust me that I will never break my contract." Her ear turned to brush his lips and her head pressed into his neck and shoulder. He slumped inside in relief, though he remained as strong and steady outside as ever, letting his body promise it to her as well.

"Michael, warn Priest Sasuke as well. He should let them come search to see he isn't harboring anything they will put his shrine to the fire for." He shifted slightly, curious. "...It's the shrine of the harvest and land, Michael. Even if they will tear down their main gods, we don't want the people as a whole to suffer famine from it. If they will leave it alone that Inari will still be sufficiently appeased. See it's protected."

Michael nodded. There was wisdom in that much. "I'll do what I can," he answered. He slipped his left hand under her right hand where it was resting on the center of his chest. He put the gold ring she'd given him during his initiation to Priest on his ring finger. She gave a flick of an ear to say she understood: it was both his promise of the contract and it was his way to say what he would do to protect her. She'd given it to him that night for this very purpose; to keep her safe at times like this.

He carefully scanned the garden and all the rooms that could look out into this garden. Tetorō was climbing back into his bed. Michael waited until he was settled, his back to them and the covers nearly over his head. No one else was awake or looking. Michael made sure one more time the Eagles couldn't see either, inside or out, then ran his left hand down Purrcy's head until he was cupping her jaw. He tilted her head up and she willingly allowed it, even going so far as to close her eyes. He nearly dropped her right there. She really should know better.

But as his lips touched her fuzzy ones, finding the sensation as odd as he remembered and the kiss equally so since there weren't really lips to speak of, he had to wonder if she wasn't also doing it on purpose to capture him in the same way he was trying to capture her. He still felt nothing for it or her, even still, and it was only part of the game they played because of the requirement to tear the shrines down and break the flavor text of both the High Priest and the High Priestess. Michael released Purrcy and tucked her hand in his elbow, hating Izanagi, hating the game, and knowing he was going to have to talk to Gareth about this one, too.

As he left her bedroom after making sure she was safely tucked back into bed he preliminarily scolded himself. To play the game right he had to use every weakness of hers against her, regardless of what emotional damage he was going to take when he could feel again. This time, she'd been without either of her two strongest supports for months, and the wrong one had come and preyed on her need to have one of them allow her to be weak. He'd completed the job, done what was necessary, and she'd very nicely fallen into the trap she was supposed to. He closed his eyes and sighed. He really hated Inari.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō was quiet the next morning as he helped Purrcy for the morning, nor would he meet her eyes. That wasn't too unusual in the shrine, but it was when they were alone. When she was sitting propped up and waiting for what little breakfast she would be able to eat, Tetorō knelt near her on her bed. His eyes remained downcast. Finally his hands clenched into fists. With belligerence in his voice, he asked, "Why did Michael come last night?"

"Shiroe's given them the order to sail across the Athirds," she answered back very quietly.

Tetorō head snapped up and he stared at her open-mouthed. She only looked back calmly, holding very still and firmly keeping her ears pointed at him and upright. In a tight whisper from within the code realm he asked, "D-does that mean the ...raiders are coming?" Purrcy gave a positive tip of the ear. "Did he say when?"

Purrcy shook her head and answered in the same place. "Just not now. They're 'about to move', he said."

"...Then...was he sent to gather the last bit of intelligence, then?" Tetorō asked slowly.

"Probably," Purrcy looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "And to give me my instructions. Given what they were, I assume they're going to let it look like they killed the High Priestess."

Tetorō wrinkled his nose. "Midnight raid, but not told which night, makes for poor sleep."

"You could ask Shiroe."

Tetorō's eyes widened momentarily and he looked down at his fists again. After a bit he asked, "What made you so sad? That news shouldn't -"

Purrcy turned to him and glared at him, and he cut off. She relaxed back and let him think about what he'd just said. He got it after about a minute but she let him continue to stew until his shoulders began to shake. Then she opened her arms for him. He flung himself to her and wrapped his arms around her, taking his turn to shake in grief while she comforted him. She held him until the worst of the storm was over. She put his head in what constituted a lap for her and pet his head as he recovered.

"Tetorō. I want you to go home, to Akiba. I want you to be able to recover and rest, but things aren't going well there either. We both know it, though Michael wouldn't say just how bad it is. Please, sleep deeply at night. Get what rest you can here before it's time. Michael promised again he'll keep the contract and not let any harm come to me. He'll do the same for you as well." She waited until he gave a nod and wiped his face with his sleeve. She pet him one more time. "Thank you very much, Tetorō, for all your efforts for me," she whispered. She bent down, turning his head as she did, until she was giving him his third fuzzy kiss.

Tetorō blinked up at Purrcy. "And that's okay with you? To kiss a woman on the lips as one yourself?"

"If I've just kissed a woman, you've just kissed a cat. Call yourself a cat-lady and no one will care."

Tetorō stared, then snorted a laugh, putting his hand over his mouth, blushing. He had to let the rest of the laughs out, rolling until he was sitting up on his knees again. He bowed to her. "Thank you for letting me serve." He sat up again after holding the bow for a bit. "Please, take care, and come home."

"I am looking forward to it," she answered softly.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael walked down the streets of Akiba, followed by the Eagles. Eyes followed them - eyes that were belligerent, eyes that were hard, eyes that seemed interested that they were back. Not all of them wanted to fight. Some said _"welcome to the fight"_ instead. That was good. Shiroe had finally let them all know what they were really facing. He let one of the allies stop him briefly, letting it be known that they'd just returned from helping the Australian's clear out their Maze of Eternity. He answered all the questions, glad he could answer positively. Most of the people who could hear the conversation needed to hear good news for once. He kept it light enough, but didn't make light of the difficulty that the city was going through.

Once released, they continued on to shopping to replace items they wouldn't be able to get so easily from drops. They sold the items they didn't need from the Maze drops, rotating through the shop and staying friendly with the Adventurers on the street they were watching. Then they got going again. They were near the grocery street - mostly empty still - when a familiar grey felinoid figure caught Michael's eye.

Michael's eyebrow raised to see him out walking the streets. "Finally working his deeds himself, is he?" Reed murmured in Michael's ear.

As they closed to a conversational distance, Michael gave him a tip of the head. "Nyanta-san."

"Welcome back," Nyanta answered back coolly, then they were past and moving on.

More than one Eagle shivered. Another block later, Michael shook his hand out. "Even with the increased levels and speed, his eight blows in less than one second are still rather difficult to deflect."

Reed blinked at him. "I'll assume you merely defended."

Michael looked at Reed like he was saying stupid things. "Like I wanted it to be worse?" He nodded his thanks as the closest Cleric cast a healing spell on him. "I think I'll expect that sort of reception any time we happen to pass from now on."

"Probably wise," Reed agreed in a murmur. Slightly louder he ordered, "MasterChiefS7, sharp eyes on everyone. Assume we'll all get harsh treatment - beginning immediately."

"Yes, Sir," MasterChiefS7 answered. The rest of the Eagles sighed to themselves and paid attention to how they were feeling, setting into their minds that they were back into the harder and deeper fight again, and it would be far worse than what they'd left.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was glad to see the Eagles. He left his room to greet them, since he wanted to see them all. He thanked them for their efforts, then filled them in on the current status. "Nyanta's in Purrcy's tree. He walks the streets daily, though the general Adventurer doesn't know it's him that causing the troubles. Everyone is helping us look, and so far everyone is kind enough to not witch-hunt. I don't know how much longer that will go on, though. I've tied it in to the unrest in the People of the Land against the two Inari, and Crusty reminded everyone who was on the Ocypete of the troubles we had then. Some of them overheard us talking about the Inari then as well, so that has helped the rumors in that direction. I'm positively hopeful that we'll be able to announce it more directly and have everyone merely accept it when it's necessary to come out against the one who is behind it all - even if it comes out that Nyanta's the host. So far rumors and word on the street is holding to that pattern."

Michael and Reed nodded. They all got it. "I'd like to have you set a watch on Nyanta. Akatsuki's been taking it, but she's needed even more now on the streets in the defense of the women who wouldn't leave. If you get within even nearly ten feet of one, it's almost too close. They have to walk in packs of six now, or one attached with their other half and four others of their guild - minimum. Most don't come out unless they have to. West Wind Brigade counts there. Please plan on them fighting you physically if you get too close. They've gotten trigger happy, but they've had to be. Most of the men are doing their best and back off as soon as they regain control. If they can't, others show up to restrain them until the women have left the area."

Shiroe took a breath and looked up at the ceiling. "We're on rotations here. Currently I sleep in the day while Crusty's here and Akatsuki's out of the building. That's when Naotsugu sleeps as well. Akatsuki takes the first four hours of the night to sleep while Naotsugu and Isaac are on watch. It will be good to get you added into the schedule. We need two on watch around the clock to keep things calm, I think. Just one on watch - even with the headbands - is starting to get the watchmen into trouble, not just the two of us." He was uncomfortable just saying it.

He shook his head. "Well, you'll have to live it a day or two to get the feel for it. I'll let you work out the details with Naotsugu. When you've done that and are settled, come talk to me in my office, Michael and Reed. I'd like to hear the details of how your adventures went."

"Yessir," Michael answered promptly.

Shiroe paused, then said, "It's good to have you all back. I hope you can hold out long enough." He turned and returned to his office, hoping they did. He felt better having their strength at his back again, but it made him twenty-four times more concerned.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael's report was done. Shiroe held out his hand. "Here, these are to be rotated through the Eagles put on watch." He handed over six long strips of cloth. "They aren't as good, but they're still quite decent."

Michael nodded and tied one on immediately. Shiroe blinked, then shook his head. "I shouldn't?" Michael asked.

Shiroe handed him a larger cloth. "Take one of these. Those are better for the guards."

"And why aren't you wearing one?" Michael scolded Shiroe.

Shiroe gave a sarcastic grin. "Because it's daytime. I sleep in the day now, remember?"

Michael sighed and shook his head. "You've been wearing it at night, then." Shiroe nodded. "Good." He swapped the headband for the headgear, rolling up the bottom edge a couple of folds so it was cap-style. It looked funny on him regardless, but there was nothing funny about the need for one. "Now I just need a muscle shirt and a tattoo on my bicep and I'll be a biker-Monk." Michael flexed his arm.

Shiroe did smile at that. "You already look like that without either. It would be harder to come up with the motorcycle to complete the outfit."

Michael's eyes went dreamy, then he shook his head. "Rather have the gryphon than a metal horse. When this is all done, if I have to keep myself busy in this world, that's the first thing I'm going to do - run the gryphon summon quest." He turned for the door and gave a farewell wave.

Shiroe paused and slightly slumped with a sigh. He had to agree. If they couldn't go home in the end, making the guild run a high level dungeon quest might keep them from going too depressed again...maybe. It would certainly be a good way to get out their frustration and take a vacation at the same time, and the reward was worth it. Though...now that they could just ask to have gryphons help them, it wasn't like they _needed_ to do the quest. He spent the next little while wondering if they should try to get the Summon whistles completely done away with. It was a very pleasant diversion to think about right at this time.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles were bivouacked in five minutes. They were in-fighting in fifty. They were forcibly figuring out how not to five minutes later. Fifteen minutes later they'd worked out a plan to try. Five times they had to revamp it.

Akatsuki put them all down unmercifully within ten minutes of arriving back home from her rounds. Ten minutes later they were cornering her away from Shiroe's office and Secretary was back on the job in Shiroe's office. It wasn't all her and him. It was also them and jealousy which surprised them all. They fixed that, too - as best they could. She agreed that letting Secretary be secretary for the term they were in-house was an acceptable compromise. She was somewhat relieved anyway, needing to give it up for personal reasons and because of her generalship.

Once they'd figured out how to behave properly in-house, they headed out. In a half-hour they'd figured out Nyanta's personal space. In three hours they learned where the hot-spots were and who were the main players in them. By the end of the day they had reported and were ready for day-time assignments to be passed around.

After dinner, it began all over again - the learning of the boundary conditions in house and outside of it. By dawn, they had the full necessary rotations figured out and assignments were passed out. And...they were all exhausted. In one twenty-four hour period they felt like they'd done the second level of the Maze of Eternity in one feel swoop.

That meant that they all had to be put on skeleton crew to rest back up to be able to handle the pressure of Akiba as it stood that day. Leadership decided that was the best resolution instead of punishments. They'd worked hard already, after all, and it was a new situation. Plus...they couldn't fight while sleeping. The four hour nap was extremely useful and they headed out for stations while the skeleton guard took their turn napping. The night rotation just stayed asleep. In this way they were rather quickly on the three-shift rotations they were supposed to be on anyway for in-house protections.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō was woken up by a sense of deja vu. Once again things didn't feel quite right. This time, though, the trouble was closer at hand. He could hear Purrcy-cat snuffling in the corner where he'd put her box. He was instantly awake and calling up a faint light in the room. Like the birthing before, she was crouched down in the box, her back legs splayed, but this time things didn't seem to be going quite so well. He crouched down next to her. "Purrcy, what can I do?"

Her head swung a bit back and forth, as if she were confused, then she pointed her head in a particular direction. His blood ran chill. He quickly threw a blanket over the box, put it under his arm, and ran. He very quietly snuck into the main quarters of the High Priestess and slipped into her bedroom as quietly as he could. That manifestation of Purrcy was also moaning. Tetorō set the box up on the bed and climbed in to kneel next to felinoid-Purrcy. Reaching into the box, he lifted Purrcy-cat out of the box with her still covered in the blanket and set her on top of felinoid-Purrcy's chest, then covered his face with his hands until the dual-unhappy sounds became one unhappy moaning. When he moved his hands he was dismayed to see it was felinoid-Purrcy in front of him. "Purrcy!" he whispered urgently. "Please, go to cat so I can get you out of here. Quickly! Before the others wake up."

During one of the times she wasn't moaning, she managed to transform. He scooped her back up in the blanket and put her back in the box. Somehow he managed to get back to his room. He set the box down in the corner again. He hoped being a cat would be sufficient. If she needed to go back to felinoid he would be in far deeper water than he had any capacity to deal with. Even so, he wished he could have had the felinoid to help the cat. She was the surgeon and midwife. It was scary to also have her be the mother giving birth.

She did seem to be calmer now, or at least not so distressed. The one thing he could do was heal, so he watched her HP closely. And he could talk to her, so he did - simple almost unrelated comforting and encouraging phrases. It wasn't until the words were out of his mouth that he realized where his mind was going in the middle of all of that. "I'm sure I'm not ready to be a father. After having to watch you do this twice already, I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't become one - ever." He pulled back, then put his hand over his eyes. "Sorry. I'm sure Nyanta would kill me for saying that. It's just because of taking care of you this long, you know. ...This is such a stressful moment."

"Most new fathers do feel that way, Tetorō," her voice said to him, humored. "It's okay to feel like that when you've been taking care of a cat this long. I'm sure most pet owners feel exactly the same."

"But...," he said miserably, "you're not a pet." It came out just as lame as all the rest of his words of the last two minutes.

He got the equivalent of a petting on the head. "I don't mind it. Take a deep breath. Everything will be okay. Would you mind if I took over your body and you just hid for a bit? Then you won't have to stress out and I'll feel a little better myself."

Tetorō sat up straight, then quickly agreed. "What shall I do?"

"Put the blanket on the floor instead of the box and put me on it. Then let me take over."

"Isn't this...difficult...?"

"Just do it," she ordered. He did.

When he came to again, Purrcy-cat was sleeping in the box, curled up around four baby kittens. He himself was quite weary. He checked his HP and cast a healing spell on himself, then on her. In a very tired voice, she said, "Lock up the room. Don't let them in. We all need to sleep a long time and they're going to bring breakfast to my room in a half-hour."

"It took that long?!" Tetorō was aghast. She didn't answer. He quickly put a safe-room spell on his room, then remembered they could space realm walk and added a prevention for that. When he felt secure, he looked in the box more closely, counting. "One, two, three, four..." He frowned. The kittens seemed to be sleeping pretty hard. He picked up the first one. Purrcy had taught him that it was hard to tell sex of kittens, but she'd tried to show him on the bodies from the first birth. He handled the black kitten with care, wondering if it would turn calico as it got older. His best guess was male - and it was nice and warm and living. He set it back down in its place. "Purrcy, were any stillborn?" he asked. He got a negative flick of a tip of an ear. "Congratulations," he said softly. But still four was a lot.

Tetorō picked up the second kitten. Again he thought it might be male. It was a grey similar to Nyanta, with perhaps more grey and less white. Tetorō was thoughtful as he put it back and picked up the third. This one was black and grey, split in an interesting pattern from head to tail, not quite in half. That made one ear grey and the other black. This one could be female...if it was, he would guess it was Nureha, still keeping her markers from when she was a fox and those were set by Purrcy. He sighed to think that Nureha had been made to die. It rankled even still. She'd been trying after all.

The fourth kitten, he frowned at. It looked like the other potential males, but there shouldn't be three males. It should be two and two. If this was Indicus, he would have expected black as well, but it was a mix of grey and black, with front paws and bib of white. He set the kitten back in place, then leaned against the wall. He wondered what to tell the priestess. Kaede wouldn't be happy at all.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe." It was Tetorō. "Four kittens have been born, living. The Plague Master remembers his past and rages against Purrcy and refuses to suck at her breast. He will likely die from killing his body for refusing to eat. He has all of his Adventurer status and capabilities but the body is mortal and infant." Tetorō's voice was almost dead, as if he'd already experienced so much from the birthing and learning that he was overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion.

"The brother to MiLin also remembers his past and is the same. Nureha was born with the grey and the black ears, or I wouldn't know it was her. She acts just as a kitten should, so I think she doesn't remember her past the same. Her statuses read such that she could regain her Adventurer statuses over time if she chose to, but I can't ask if she has access to anything like the status screen since she's still an infant. ...There is one more, and it is most definitely male, not female, and like Nureha. ...Indicus is not here."

Shiroe stiffened inside. "Thank you for the report, Tetorō," he said kindly. "I hope you and she are resting."

"If I sleep, they will kill all four."

"They...what?"

"The shrine priestess and the maidens. They have called it an abomination, even though her mate is the High Priest. Both shrines of People of the Land devotees are inside praying to both Izanagi and Izanami that the kittens be removed from life as abominations upon the face of the land."

"...Tetorō...they will listen to them and do it. You know they will. It's only the second experiment. Now that they have this data point, they will be ready for the next one, and they need those souls for it. ...I'm sorry, Tetorō."

A sob escaped Tetorō. "I can't leave her here any more, not Purrcy-cat. They will kill her, too."

Shiroe took in a deep, slow breath, his brain working fast as he did. "How far has she gotten in her ascension lessons?"

"She spends most of her time at the upper levels now, and she can control the other forms reasonably well while there, though it still isn't always smooth."

"That's good enough. Bring her cat-form here. They will need to mate again anyway, now. Let them kill the kittens. It will give the shrines an outlet for their fear and anger, but don't stay to watch. Just come home. I'll tell Michael to watch for you. If they get too close to you and her, he'll come get you, but you should be away from the shrine before then. He says they can realm walk just enough to know when he's nearby, so he'd give you away and wouldn't be able to escape without them following. He could at least pull them away from you, that way, maybe. Can you do that? Escape with Purrcy's cat form and get as far as you can and we'll do the rest."

The sobs were sniffs now. "Yes, I can do that."

"Alright. Give me five minutes to give the order and if you have it, another ten for them to get ready. Make sure you have food and water and we'll be waiting for you here."

"Okay," it was muffled, probably by his sleeve.

Shiroe cut the line, and gave the orders quickly. He received fast responses as everyone jumped into action, even Touya who ran to prepare Tetorō's room for him, taking on his sister's duty. Shiroe turned to his other necessary action. "Demikas, your wife?"

"Do you know what time it is, evil Shiroe?"

"No, but I know that I've just received an emergency call. One of the Adventurer spirits is missing. If your wife is already pregnant, it's a girl. If it's dark out, all the better. Get out of town now and find a place to hide her. Just having kittens born to a felinoid was enough to get what should have been the most enlightened praying to all their gods that they be killed as abominations. We're doing what we can to spirit the mother away, but I'm going to have to sacrifice the children and down-play it as a freak accident of nature. If the gods allowed the births and allow the deaths, the people might consider it all the fault of the gods at both ends...but that only works if no other Adventurers are seen to be pregnant or have children. They need to know if it will work long term to raise them, though. Yours needs to live to grow up to at least ten, is my guess."

"I thought we were going home?"

"We are. Only if you've refused her since I called last is your wife not pregnant now, though, and knowing you, that didn't happen. You'll now have the harder choice to make when it's finally given to you. Don't worry about that now, though. Just save your wife and daughter. Get out of town and hide."

"I heard you the first time," Demikas' voice was annoyed. "I'm getting." He cut the line and Shiroe leaned back with a sigh - perhaps just a little of regret.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas was already putting things necessary for his wife's survival into his list as Shiroe blathered. Anna was stirring because he'd been talking and moving about. She'd already been getting more tired and would hang three sheets, then sit and rest before hanging the shirts. She'd not been as hungry either. He wasn't sure what to think about it all yet. He was petrified at the same time as desperate and thrilled to the core.

"Demikas?" Anna asked, pushing up just a bit to look for him.

"It's time to go," he said. "That was the warning I've been waiting for."

She sat up on the edge of the bed, rubbing her eye sleepily. He tossed her traveling clothes that landed on the bed next to her, since he was in the middle of packing a box with clothes for her generally. When that box was in his list, he headed for the kitchen. He had the cooking supplies - pots, pans, spoons, that sort of thing - packed by the time she arrived. He poured her a glass of water and put a piece of fruit and a roll next to it. While she ate the snack he packed the rest of the food, eating a bite of this and a bite of that as he went. "Wait here, I'll be right back," he told her. "Pack candles and other things like that in this box. Anything you're going to want to have for the next ten years or so."

Her eyes flew open wide at that. "Ten - _years_?!"

"Yes," he answered grimly and headed out the door to the back storage room for the tents, sleeping bags, and other tools he'd likely need that he didn't usually carry on his person - like the ax, saw, hammer, and the like. He needed them for repairs on occasion around the house and likely he'd need them again to build her a new one wherever they ended up.

He took her out the small back gate to Susukino, distracting the single guard with noise on the other side of the street from a thrown rock and they slipped into the wilds of Ezzo. When they were far enough, he whistled for the horse he'd bought the Summon whistle for and they rode double for the full four hours they had. He was glad she was able to fall asleep leaning on him as they went. She'd need her rest. Being pregnant in the wilds wasn't going to be easy for a Person of the Land, and it was going to be difficult that it was only him to protect her.

When the horse left, he carried her on his back until he found a place they could camp by a stream. He was high enough level to scare off most monsters in most zones, but he would have to bypass the zones that would call up higher level monsters just because he walked into them. He'd been exploring all the zones around Susukino for the last two years, so he knew which ones to avoid, but he thought he might have to go even farther. Definitely _not_ north. This island was cold enough. It was west he went.

No one was going to follow him. He wasn't on the run from the law, what little William kept in town, and he wasn't beholden to anyone. They already all thought he was weird and barely tolerated him. And he'd been setting it up - grumbling that maybe he ought to just leave town anyway. Go do something different, get away from it all. They might be surprised he'd taken Anna this time, but it would just be the sign he'd decided to stay gone this time. William had suggested he go to the Giant's village during one grumble session overheard. Demikas had only stared at him like he was crazy. That might be a place to be useful, but it wasn't a place to hide. He didn't have a reason to go there anyway.

While Anna got water from the stream to boil on the fire he'd started, he set up the tent, went inside, and put their bed in it from his list (one did not leave comfortable beds behind when one was moving house). He went and joined her by the fire, pulling out some potatoes and onions and a bit of meat. He peeled the potatoes while she cut the onions and cried over them. He handed her the meat next since he wasn't a level of chef to cut that yet and sliced the potatoes into the pot. "Why ten years?" she finally asked him.

"Our daughter has to be that old before we can return to the city and claim we've adopted her," he answered.

Anna dropped the knife in her hand and it clattered. He snatched at it before it could cut her. She was staring at him open mouthed. He looked back at her soberly. "You've been more tired lately," he said to her. "The call I got was from the Archmage. He's been watching the signs and the numbers of Adventurers who've died and not returned. One's gone missing from his list. The others were born to a felinoid Adventurer and the People of the Land assigned to watch over her were not only surprised but are going to kill them. He warned me before now." He watched her, holding on to both his knife and hers. "You remember? I told you that he suspected it might happen."

Anna blinked and put both of her hands in her lap, the meat forgotten, and her eyes got distant while she processed it all. "That poor mother," she finally said, then sighed and looked down. "Is it a blessing or a cursing from the gods?"

"We don't know," he answered. "You know we want to go home. This makes doing that difficult, so many of us would see it as a cursing as well, just like most of the People of the Land would." He put away the knives in his list for now and moved the cutting board from in front of her so he could take both of her hands in his. The early morning birds were singing overhead and the sun was finally coming up high enough to sparkle through the trunks and branches of the trees around them and dance off the stream. It was a beautiful morning for such dark thoughts.

"I want to continue to love you, and I am rather excited actually, to have a daughter. ...I'm not sure I want to be left behind when everyone goes home, if they get to go, but Shiroe told me that he's trying to find the door between worlds. I don't know if you'd get to go to Earth with me or not. He doesn't think so, but if we can come here it seems to me you can go there. I'd have to go home once without you, to get my proper body, or something, it seems to me. These bodies we have here aren't our real ones."

Demikas frowned. "Maybe that's why you couldn't come. Maybe we have to change bodies between the worlds and you don't have one there, nor do we know how to make you one unless robots would work." He chewed on his lip for a bit, then shook his head. He ran his hand down the back of her head and pulled on her hand until he could kiss her. "Please think of it as a blessing for my sake. I don't want to lose you - or her."

"Will we have more children than the one?" Anna asked.

Demikas frowned, thinking, then shook his head. "I don't know. Shiroe keeps talking like it's just going to be the one." He released her hands and gave her back the board and the knife, but he watched her closely. He didn't want her committing suicide for a thing she might be hating. He stayed sitting in front of her as she went back to cutting. "He said if we wanted to know more, we should go see him down there and he'd explain it all, but he's already an insufferable know-it-all and I can't stand to be in the same space with him."

"What I've managed to work out is that Adventurers shouldn't be able to die, but some have. Those Adventurers from Susukino that went on the trip over to China told what happened over there. Many Adventurers were prevented from following the resurrection cycle because their life lines in the Tree of Life were cut. They had to go repair them. But it's possible they arrived late and some of the spirits of the Adventurers were absorbed into the world's life cycle. To compensate the world is trying to create proper bodies for them, but it can't just hand them avatars like before because they are locked now." Demikas wasn't fond of heavy thinking and just getting to this point had caused him headaches for several days.

"There aren't too many of us Adventurers who are married so the few that are, are now at risk of being used by the world to create those bodies. I happen to be one of them," he said the last wryly. Anna nodded and held up the board of cut meat for him. He held out his hand for the knife first and didn't take the meat until she'd handed it over. He used the knife to scrape the meat into the pot, then went to the stream and washed the cutting tools and put them back in his list.

She'd come to wash her hands and he stayed with her until she was done. She dried her hands on her apron and he took one of them to walk back to the fire with her. He handed her a stirring spoon and she asked for the spices. He pulled out the small box and let her go through it for her preferred ones. She searched, every now and then adding one to the pot. He put it away as she went to stirring the pot.

When Anna sat next to him again, she asked, "Where are we going, then, for ten years?"

He put his arm around her and pulled her to leaning on him. "I don't know. I do know it will be hard because we can't be with other people. That will be hardest for you, I think, and I'm sorry."

She patted his knee. "We'll just have to do our best."

He kissed the side of her head. Quietly he said in her ear, "You know I don't believe in gods or anything like that, but if you'd like to ask yours for help in finding the best place for us to stay safe, that would be okay with me. I want to see you're taken care of and safe. Any help we can get there would be welcome."

When they were done eating, he took her into the tent so he could get caught up on his own sleeping. She was quite relieved to see the bed and not just a mere sleeping bag. He smiled at her and she gave him a grateful kiss. As he slipped into the bed, she knelt next to it and prayed for them to have a safe journey. "And Inari, if it is your will that we give birth to an Adventurer spirit, please show us the way to a safe place to live so that we can be a family. Amen."

"Amen," Demikas said seriously, wanting those things very much, too. She climbed into the bed with him and he held her. "Please don't go die while I'm sleeping," he said to her. "I can do a lot of things, but going without sleep all the time isn't one of them."

"I know," she patted him. "I won't. I don't mind, really, if you're happy."

"I really am," he admitted. "Scared spitless, but happy."

"That sounds like any first time father," she laughed at him with her quiet smile.

"Most likely," he agreed. "I love you, Anna. Thank you."

She put her hand on the side of his head and kissed his forehead. "I know. I love you, too. Go to sleep. I'll still be here."


	157. Deacon of Anger Awakens in Akiba

Tetorō stumbled. He'd sat and rested but for some reason he really just couldn't quite reach the point of feeling like he had energy or clear thought. He had to wonder if Priest Jared and Priestess Kaede had cursed him along with begging Inari to kill the kittens. It rather felt like that kind of spell would anyway. "Michael," he called out on their partnership line in the code realm. "I'm not going to make it much longer. I think they've cursed me."

"I'm almost there." Michael's voice was calm, helping Tetorō calm a little as well. "...I've got a distraction ready. Find a place to slip out of sight."

Tetorō cast about as best he could, then headed for a darker, denser section of forest. Dark was relative. The whole forest was dark in the middle of the night. The shrine folk had been hounding his heels down the mountain since they'd discovered him gone and got organized. It hadn't been enough for them to receive the sacrifice of the kittens, apparently. Of course, they might not like that he had the cat. He'd thought leaving the High Priestess half would have been sufficient. He really hated that. He was quite sure they'd abuse her and put her under the most severe restrictions possible, even though she was on her last legs anyway.

The AIs were quite done being tied to the People of the Land. If the shrine maidens, priests, and priestess decided they were as done with Inari-no-Izanagi and Inari-no-Izanami, then that was all for the better, as hard as that was going to be on Purrcy. He knew she'd play it to the bitter end, making sure they knew it was a blessing of the gods to bestow upon the High Priest and High Priestess new life that had never before lived. They'd been arguing it together since they'd left his room mid-day after Purrcy had rested up enough to move forward again.

Even now, she was protecting the kittens as strenuously as possible, though he had no idea for how long Inari would let that go on. He grit his teeth against his hatred of Inari as he plunged into the dark undergrowth, dropped to his knees bent double over Purrcy-kitten hiding inside his kimono, and prayed that Michael reached him first. His heart lurched to hear a crashing through the brush beyond his hiding place and he held very still, hoping it was Michael's diversion.

There was silence for two minutes, then a hand landed on his shoulder and he was in the code realm. The second hand was helping lift him up. He stumbled to his feet and leaned heavily on Michael. It was all he could do to just take the steps necessary to move with Michael, but he could feel around him other Eagles. When Gareth's spell cleared the spiritual cursing on him, Tetorō wept slow tears of gratitude to have his faculties back. That helped him and Michael move faster, since he wasn't a blind stumbling drunk anymore. He could only silently agree with Gareth's near silent cursing: "Bastards."

A healing spell was next. Tetorō was glad all the magics worked in the code realm. It made him wonder if it was really the magic realm generally. He'd been wondering that for a while. That particular question and thread of thought had him feeling like he was going to break through a limit if he could figure out the answer. Sometimes that made him pause and back off of thinking it through. He wasn't sure he wanted to go from shrine maiden to priestess. He was sure the increase of level in Programmer would make Inari require it. He was almost topped out now as it was, not having anything better to do while sitting around bored most of every day for four months.

"Tetorō. Tetorō!" Michael was hissing at him.

"Ah...sorry," he mumbled, bringing his attention back to his surroundings.

"I've got to draw them away after I drop you off so they don't know where to find you. Get ready for the drop." Tetorō nodded, wondering that he could still be so sleepy after being cleared and healed. He wondered if it was something more, but he couldn't get his brain to focus on it before the world shifted out from under him again.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael let go of Tetorō next to Touya and Naotsugu. Tetorō stumbled, though he was caught quickly even though the two had been surprised by his sudden appearance. "Tetorō, we've prepared your bed. Do you want help getting changed into bed clothing?" He shook his head and just changed himself the quick way, trading out his torn and filthy clothing for his pajamas. Two sets of hands helped him to his bed, pulled back the blanket and helped him fall into it. He curled around Purrcy, twisting as he fell in so that she was kept safe. He curled up on his side around her as the blanket was pulled up over his shoulders and he was tucked in. "Welcome home, Tetorō." Touya's hand touched his shoulder for a moment, then they were gone, closing the door behind them. For some reason, that meant Tetorō was now wide awake. He sighed at himself inside, but outside he was shivering.

There was a light tap on his door, and it opened and closed quietly. In four steps time, during which there was no sound, another hand was on his shoulder. "I'll keep watch inside on the door so you know you aren't alone."

He reached up and trapped the hand, then held it tightly. "Thank you, Akatsuki. I'm sorry to give you a night shift watch."

"It's okay. I don't sleep much now anyway. Watching over you will be relieving. Please do sleep."

"That bad already, eh?" he muttered. She only sighed and patted his head before returning to kneel in front of the closed door. He was able to give up then and fall into the darkness of sleep.

The next morning he carried Purrcy into the bathroom with him and rather automatically did the usual morning washing ritual for the both of them. Keeping them at the slightly higher level for now was probably going to be helpful, but eventually they'd need to come back down to the fully physical level. It was only one and a half steps anyway. He hadn't bothered with the priestess level for a long time, since Purrcy-cat was supposed to be as close to the earth as possible. Shrine maiden level had been plenty enough. Purrcy's spirit form could still access it that way at just enough of a level to keep it from ascending completely with the rest of her.

He stayed Tetora on the outside for now. He wasn't ready to be present that much yet either. It was going to take some time to readjust. Purrcy was done with her tongue grooming about the same time he was ready to pull himself out of the bath tub from an extended soak as he tried to soak the shrine out of him. He was weary, oh, so weary. He dried off and wrapped the towel around himself, then crouched down to look at Purrcy more closely. "How are you doing? Are you recovering from the birthing?"

She looked up at him and purred. She moved slow, though, as she rose enough to rub on his knee. He rubbed her head and she rubbed his hand back. He scratched under her chin, then rubbed down her side enough to pick her up. By the time he was standing, he was wearing one of his female outfits that he'd not quite been willing to give up from before she'd made him a male avatar.

Once she'd graduated him up to Programmer, he'd found what she'd done. She'd left him the female one to use, but had in effect locked him into the male avatar until he was powerful enough in his own right to be able to change between them, like he could change between his clothing. He was grateful she'd made it so that only he could access them. He didn't need someone looking like his other self wandering around. It would likely have been a Navigator or another Programmer, neither of which was known for pure motives.

When he walked out of the bathroom, he was grabbed in a large hug. He paused, then remembered that he was followed by the Eagles. "Sorry. I forgot the sequence," he said.

"No problem, really," Brenner said from behind Gareth. "We know you got in at oh-dark-thirty. Guildmaster Shiroe sent it out on all hands."

"You guys came in behind me, too, so I imagine you've not minded sleeping in a bit either," Tetorō said calmly, patting Gareth on the head. "Thanks for the assist."

Purrcy was climbing up between them, trying to squeeze out from being the inner filling of the sandwich. She popped out and started licking Gareth on the ear until he let Tetorō go and grabbed her to rub his head in her side. She purred for him until he was able to finally sigh and relax. "She won't talk to you, other than that way," Tetorō said to him. "She only comes to visit once a day in the evening. At this level she's aware, but not devoting thinking cycles to the physical form. Simple requests get through, but difficult concepts won't unless it's an emergency."

The four Eagles waiting for the bathroom all nodded their understanding and Tetorō held out his hands for her back. Gareth was a bit reluctant, but did hand her over properly. "I'll let everyone have a turn this morning. She'll want to greet everyone, too, like she always does. It will help lighten her spirit to have the time with her children." He bowed to them because it was habit now, and left to head downstairs, then changed his mind and slipped out the patio door on the third floor to stand on Nyanta's porch. From there he could just make out the top of Purrcy's tall silver leaf tree. He looked towards it for a long while, deciding to wait there until breakfast was called. He stroked her head as they both took in more of the energy of the quiet places of home.

A warm hand was on his shoulder and an arm pulled him around into a broad chest. Tetorō had stiffened at first, but when he could feel Michael had also performed the purification up to the same level, he relaxed and let his forehead rest on the priest's chest. "I've purified your room, too," Michael said. "You can both sit there to relax after breakfast if you want."

Tetorō felt tears well up in his eyes. "Thanks, Michael. ...How long did it take you to come back to ground level?"

"Mmm...I wasn't up in the stratosphere as long as you were, but it was several days. I'd say give it at least a week. Don't push yourself or you may crash with the equivalent of a migraine. We'll heal you up, but it's best to go slowly, as you well know."

Tetorō nodded obediently. He'd do what he could to take care of both of them until they were back on ground level. "Thanks for coming to save us both," he said, not having had the proper ability to the night before. "Were you okay?"

"Yes," Michael said. "I kept hopping to hide the stop off here, then led them back past the burning shrines and that caught their attention enough to give up."

"Are all five of them gone?" It kind of hurt to think of the buildings and the freshwater springs desecrated and destroyed.

"No. They left the lesser three alone. They were most angry about the ones Adventurers had been let into."

Tetorō's head came up at that. "Wait. When were they burning the shrines?"

"Ah, sorry. I hopped them through time. That hasn't happened yet. Probably shouldn't have said it. I'm still trying to get used to moving through the time realm. I've got space down pretty good and I've been practicing spirit realm, but time's been tricky. I don't do it often, but I wanted to give those two at least the option to remain alive. If they learn to realm walk back to the present, they'll probably die then, but if they stay where they are, they might be able to rebuild to some degree - or finish killing off the god-complex should they decide to recant instead."

Tetorō frowned at Michael. "Purrcy-felinoid wasn't harmed was she?"

"No. She's safe in that time, just like this one."

Tetorō stayed frowning. "Are you sure _you're_ not a future Michael?"

Michael looked at him a long moment, the bent down and kissed him on the lips. "I am, indeed. Thank you for taking care of Purrcy for so long. We've been missing you, on the other side of the planet. Please know we are always thinking of you, and that's from more than me, by the way. This is likely the last time you'll wear the female form and be at peace in it. We love you both ways, just so you know. I happened to be feeling sentimental just at this moment in my present, so thought I'd come give you the gift I forgot to give you because I was so tired and lost in time when you got home. Come get me please, so I can come home, too."

Tetorō's hand was tight on Michael's arm. "I will. I don't want you lost in time. That rather screws things up royally."

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?" Michael gave a cynical smile.

"Will...we see you again, after where you are now?"

"I don't know," Michael laughed at him a little. "I haven't gotten that far yet, have I? But most likely you will. We haven't reached the final boss yet." Michael pulled him in for a closer hug. "Really, Tetora and Tetorō. Thank you. She's turned out wonderful. ...And tell the current me to you that I need to stop and spend time in the Gate of Time. That's where to learn how to walk through time."

"Okay. I will," Tetorō said, trying to muffle his tears. "Thanks for all your help, too. I really couldn't have made it even this far without you. I'll miss you when you go."

"I know, but it can't be helped. Think of us and I'll see you when we all get together again. Go get me so I can. I'm rather afraid at the moment."

"Okay. Good luck over there."

"Thanks. You too over here. You can make it through the next bit. It's necessary, too."

Tetorō took a deep breath. "Okay." Michael let him go and disappeared, stepping through the realms again.

Tetorō sat on the chair on the porch and settled Purrcy-cat in his lap, then entered the code realm. He couldn't walk through time, but he could find his partner wherever and whenever he was. He carefully crafted his lifeline and sent it seeking Michael, with a strong intent to bring the one who had dropped him off early this morning back to his own timeline. As it moved, he could feel it become attracted to something, at first lightly and then more strongly and it moved faster until it connected.

"Michael. I'm here. Come follow me back home." He heard an intake of breath that sounded like a sob. He pretended not to notice. "You shouldn't have tried time walking without proper experience you know. If you want that, go to the Gate of Time first where they know how to walk in all times at once. Come home for now and get settled. Breakfast is almost ready and it's Purrcy-cat's first morning home. She's anxious to greet everyone, including you." He opened his eyes as Michael materialized next to him on the porch.

Michael fell on his knees and wrapped his arms around Tetorō's middle. Tetorō pet his head gently until he'd stopped shivering. "How did you know?"

"A sentimental you of the future came and told me to go fetch you so your work wouldn't be interrupted. Really, Michael. I do appreciate very much you fetched us to keep us safe, but was it really worth it to drag them away through time?"

"They were so close to us that I didn't have much choice," Michael said soberly. "It's the only realm they didn't know either. I only took them that one step and left them there and they thought we'd moved through space only. I didn't want them to learn about that realm or they'd wreak a lot of havoc."

"Of course they would have," Tetorō scolded a little more.

Michael nodded his head miserably. "I thought going only one step, I could come back the one step, but I missed it and then got swept away and lost. The images were too chaotic to understand where to step out. All I could do was hope and send out a seeking intent, calling for home."

"I think it was calling for something more specific than that," Tetorō said wryly.

"Well...yes, one does have a tendency to want the partner to come, I suppose," Michael said, admitting that much.

Tetorō grasped Michael's chin lightly and leaned down. He gently gave Michael a kiss on the lips. Michael gaped at him. "What was that for?"

"Repaying the future favor," Tetorō said. "It means nothing really. Go get cleaned up. You're already going to be late for breakfast as it is. They'll be calling us down in five minutes or less." He watched as Michael got to his feet, still a little shaken but now distracted by an odd occurrence. Michael gave him one more look before leaving the porch. Tetorō smiled to himself and went back to petting Purrcy.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was already standing at his chair when Tetorō, as Tetora, arrived in the common room. He hadn't dressed as a shrine maiden, but it was close in coloring. It meant he was trying, but not going to push it too hard. "Welcome home, Tetorō."

"Thank you," Tetorō said, pausing just outside the seating area. "This morning is going to be difficult. We really shouldn't come down from the micro level for a day or two and the milli level another two or three after that. Michael says to give it a week to reach base level again. ...That means it's hard to sit with all of you, but Purrcy-cat does want to greet everyone, and we're glad to be home."

Gareth rose to his feet. "I'll go purify enough to be a go-between and I know the proper rituals for the food as well. Can you sit on the stairs if I do that much?"

Tetorō nodded. "Yes, thank you."

"How much would we need to do to make the greetings easier?" Shiroe asked.

"The simple washing everyone does at the shrines on Earth would be enough," Tetorō said.

Shiroe nodded. "We can do that in the sink as we clean up breakfast. We'll teach the Eagles." He glanced at the end of the table. "Where's Michael?"

"I just retrieved him. He got himself lost trying to realm walk through time without proper lessons first. He'll fix that, though, before he tries again. It's apparently very chaotic and frightening, compared to all the other realms that are close enough to our own normal one. He'll be down once he's cleaned up."

Shiroe nodded soberly. He'd likely get more details from Michael later. "Thank you for finding him."

Tetorō shrugged. "It's part of my job description." He turned and went back to the stairs and sat down. Purrcy wiggled a bit. "No, Purrcy. Wait until after breakfast. They'll purify enough that you don't crash. Then you can greet them properly." He pet her to keep her calmed down. He was already struggling with being hugged by Gareth and then later the unpurified Michael. He'd likely have to re-purify before they returned to his room. When Gareth returned at the proper level with food that wasn't turning his stomach, he was very grateful. Even Purrcy showed interest in eating. He shared his meal as usual. Gareth had been considerate and included extra for her on his plate.

The Michael that showed up late to breakfast was also purified. He must have noticed, then. He sat down on the step next to Tetorō and leaned back on his elbows until Gareth showed up with a plate of blessed food for him as well. He ate quickly as was his habit and the dishes were suddenly gone, put in the sink without moving. "May I?" he asked and held out his hands.

Tetorō passed Purrcy-cat over to him. She climbed all over him, purring and rubbing on his neck and face with her head. "Yeah, I've missed you, too," Michael said, "...even if you are a pain in the neck." He pet her from her ears to her tail. "I'm sorry about your kittens."

She gave a shrug and dropped to sit upright looking at him in the face, her tail curled around her feet. Tetorō waited for it and after the slow delay he'd become accustomed to, she said, "It was necessary and understood, even if sad. ...Thank you for your concern. They will still be mine at a later time."

Michael nodded his understanding. "Can you stay long enough to greet everyone, or will that be too much?" Shiroe had already left the table for the kitchen.

"...I'm sorry. It will be too much. But a few, perhaps," she answered.

"Shiroe wants to talk to you for certain," Michael said. He looked over the assembled guild. "I think the rest are okay with kitten kisses and cat hugs for now." He got general agreement.

"...Okay. I should do that much."

Tetorō reached over and brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "Thank you for coming at your usual family time instead of your usual shrine time."

She rubbed her head on his hand. "I will return then also. The daily evening rest then is still necessary for a time."

Tetorō looked at her soberly. "Until you've died?" She bowed her head in acquiescence. The room was very quiet and still.

Shiroe entered it at that point in time and looked around. He walked up to the stairs and knelt in front of Purrcy and her priest and shrine maiden. "Purrcy...Nyanta has left the guild. I'll have Tetorō take you to where he's staying later. He has missed you greatly, like the rest of us have, and his heart is nearly broken. If you can heal him even somewhat, we would be grateful. And if there is a way you can stay with him this time, I feel that would be best for both of you. You can't go to the shrine anymore and we can't have you here. Too many know this form is also the felinoid. Please find a safe place to take care of yourself where he can come find you when he needs to be with you." He paused for a moment, then asked, "Can you enter the Gate of Time in this form for the duration of the experiment?"

Her ear flicked, then fell. "He could take the physical form with him, but it would only be a cat. I cannot enter it as long as Inari doesn't have the power of Time for itself."

"Would that be sufficient for the development of the fetuses?"

"Perhaps," she answered. "I can also go and stay with the gryphons. They will understand and not care. It is a safe place to hide."

Shiroe nodded. "Select one or the other or both as you need. I would appreciate it if you'd contact me when they're born and let me know the results and that you're okay." He paused, then held out his hand. She rose to her four feet and Michael lifted her over to Shiroe's hands. Shiroe put her over his shoulder. She shifted until she had one paw to either side of his neck as if in a hug. He held her and pet her as she purred in his ear for him.

"I wish I could be here to comfort you in the coming months," she said to him quietly. "Please remember I'm thinking of you and caring for you during that time."

"I will, Hahaue. Thank you." He snuggled with her a little longer. "I'm looking forward to the day we can say, 'welcome home,' to you for good." Purrcy licked his ear and purred.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō felt Purrcy remove again to the upper levels. He sighed. At least he'd be able to talk to her again later that evening. "If the rest of you will get washed up, we'll do the rest of the greetings now, then she should rest. That takes a lot of energy out of her physical form, as you'll remember." He cast Spirit Healing on her as they began to clean up breakfast. Michael gave his report to Shiroe in the intervening time. When the first prepared people arrived (Naotsugu first, of course, and Akatsuki second since they'd raced but he'd pushed her out of the way), Tetorō picked her up and moved away from that conversation, not needing to relive it one more time.

When Naotsugu put Purrcy on his shoulder in his way, Tetorō wrapped his own arms around Naotsugu's middle and rested on him. As one big hand pet Purrcy, the other pet Tetorō's head, too. "Welcome home, Tetorō. I'll be around a lot. I've been on night shift over here generally for a while. I'm in my room here again while Marie's gone with the other women and children. If it helps you to have me at a higher level of purification, I'll have Gareth teach me how to do it so you can still come sit with me now, okay?"

Tetorō sighed. "I hate to put you through it, but it would help immensely. I hope to come back down relatively quickly so you won't have to be inconvenienced long."

"It's not an inconvenience, really," Naotsugu said. He gave Tetorō's shoulders a squeeze and let him go. He pulled Purrcy off his shoulder and gave her a hug and good rubbing as she purred for him and grabbed at his hand one more time, giving it a lick. He passed her off to Akatsuki.

Purrcy was wiggling so much in Akatsuki's arms she finally had to sit down and put Purrcy in her lap. Purrcy grew to two-thirds full size and danced and rubbed all over Akatsuki, to the point of wrestling her down to the floor until Akatsuki was laughing hard at her antics. When Purrcy went to washing her, Akatsuki grabbed her head to get it to stop. "Thank you, Hahaue. I really am trying my best." Purrcy nodded and rubbed her head on her face.

"Thank you, little mother," Tetorō said softly, in translation.

Akatsuki put her arms around Purrcy's neck and pulled her in for a hug so that Purrcy lay down on her chest. "It's oh, so hard," Akatsuki admitted to her in a whisper. Purrcy purred for her until she was able to let go with a sigh. Tetorō had seen that Shiroe had found it necessary to turn away and then walk away at Akatsuki's words.

When Purrcy moved to Touya next, Tetorō walked over to Shiroe and stood facing him. "How bad is has it gotten, really?" he asked quietly.

"Isaac and Naotsugu've taken the night shift to sit outside my room so she can't come in during the middle of the night. She has reasonable control during the day, but at night...," Shiroe shook his head. "She'd rather not, of course."

Tetorō sighed and nodded. He reached out a hand for Shiroe's arm and it wasn't there. Shiroe had moved just slightly. Sadly he said, "It's not better for you, is it? To have that reaction when I'm in a female body when you know full well I'm not. That's rather bad, Councilor. Does he sit there so you don't open the door for her as well?"

Shiroe reached up and held one arm with his other hand, rather tightly, and didn't look at Tetorō. His nod was rather miserable. Tetorō gave a firm nod. "When I can stand to switch over, I'll take my turns on the door, then. I hope the other two have been spelling Naotsugu out some."

Shiroe nodded. "They have to take the watch together, now. Akatsuki can slip by them when it's just one of them. It's helpful to have Michael back, and the Eagles tease her back to her room when Inari pushes her too hard and she actually leaves her room. We're about to go mad at nights around here. We've taken to getting in our naps during the day."

"That is bad, Shiroe," Tetorō complained at him. He bit his lip. "I'll try to come down faster, but not so we hurt ourselves."

Shiroe looked at him a little sadly, but also piercingly with his sharp eyes. "Take care of yourself or you'll not recover properly from the other long term effects."

Tetorō took a deep breath. "I know, Shiroe. I don't want that either. But helping you the way I want to help you will be some of the best medicine, too. Sitting around babying myself is all I've been doing for the last four months. It's time to get back to real work. I'll try to watch myself. I know it will be a difficult transition...and I'll listen if anyone tells me I'm overdoing it and back off."

"Okay, Tetorō. I'll hold you to that," Shiroe's tone was firm. Tetorō bowed to him and they returned to stand at the edge of the guild gathering. Purrcy was now greeting the Eagles, each in the way they wanted as usual, but even the ones that usually only pet her briefly were giving her warm welcomes. Tetorō wondered just how long that would last.

He was just starting to catch some looks coming his way from the Eagles and trying to not have to place them because his brain couldn't accept them, when hands landed lightly on his shoulders and he could feel Michael standing behind him. Every Eagle's eyes were on him then, and most of them with the same hungry look he was trying to ignore. "Just so you know," Michael purred. "This one is _my_ partner. I'd be happy to send any of you into next week that feels like you need it. She won't be around long, I'm sure - only a few more days. Shall we have some sparing practice in those few days?"

Tetorō gave a half-grin. "I'd imagine half of your protection time is spent keeping them off Akatsuki, isn't it? They've had the hots for her a lot longer than for me." _Every_ one in the guild sighed. Tetorō shook his head. "I suppose something's got to give soon, doesn't it." He looked at Purrcy-cat, "and I just brought it home, didn't I?" He slumped and Michael's hands tightened on his shoulders. "Well, hell's about to break loose, but I guess it usually does when she gets to greet everyone as herself to get us ready for it. Enjoy it. Once she's with Nyanta-san, she'll be gone. The hell hole we've come from came with us, I'm sure. We can't get out of it. ...And honestly, if I can beat up a few of you myself, it might help me finish getting the shrine out of my system."

"Not in the guild hall, please," Shiroe asked firmly. "I'd like to not have to pay for repairs...or rather, they'll come out of your own pay and sweat."

Michael's hands were starting to tremble on Tetorō's shoulders. He slipped down, pulled Michael over his shoulder, slammed him into the ground, and elbowed him hard in the solar plexus. "You also shouldn't touch, you know," he said calmly.

Michael clutched his attacked body and coughed until he could breath again. With a sardonic, lazy grin, he said. "You started it."

"Then consider it ended," Tetorō said seriously.

Michael stared him down, then gave a small nod. They had an understanding, then. Tetorō let him stand up under his own power.

-:-:-:-:-

It was the second day home and Purrcy-cat looked healed enough to get around on her own pretty good. Her nose kept turning towards the tree, too. "Come on, then," Tetorō said and led her to Shiroe's office. She was half-size large cat and followed after him happily. With a single knock, Tetorō let himself into the office. Purrcy ran over to Shiroe and put her front paws on the arm of his chair. Shiroe put down his pen and pet her, letting her touch noses with him.

"He's staying in the tree, isn't he?" Tetorō said. Shiroe nodded, his face going closed and a little hard. "He left rather badly, I take it, then?" He got a glare of a glance for that. Tetorō sighed and shook his head. "She's ready and knows he's there. We'll be going now, so say goodbye. I'll be back when...well, when I can stand to come back alone."

Shiroe did turn to face him now. "Be careful out there, Tetorō. We aren't the only ones to be feeling it. It's in everyone in town. Because it's against the law still to force sex on anyone, it's still under the surface, but sexual harassment's on the rise in small forms to not so small forms in the back alleys. You'd be safer switching to male form if you're going to go out."

"Probably," Tetorō agreed. "Though I've lived through it before. It will give me the excuse to get out some of the anger I've got from the last four months boiling around inside, too. We'll see how it goes. I'm not planning on going into town proper yet. I haven't come down to earth enough for much of that. Just staying out here and by the Academy will be plenty enough population for me, I'm sure."

Shiroe nodded. "Expect the Eagles to follow after you. It's a double edged sword now, as you saw yesterday."

"Yeah. They're just as likely to jump me themselves as protect me," he sighed. "Well, either way, I'll be able to put someone down on the ground in great pain for trying."

"Don't make them target you just because you want to beat someone up," Shiroe complained at him.

Tetorō laughed lightly. "Maybe not today. We'll see how it goes." He let Purrcy lick Shiroe a few more times, then called softly for her and she came. He held out his hand and she grew to full size so he could rest his hand on her head. "See you soon," he said and let them back out of the office.

His fingers tangled tightly in her short fur as his body betrayed the lightness he was attempting to face the day with. She stayed close to him, but her demeanor was also one of anticipation. He took a deep breath as he walked out the front door and closed it behind him. He was facing the city for the first time in a long time and he wasn't ready for the spies, nor the Eagle guards, nor even for himself. It was her that was ready and Nyanta that was calling and he had to obey.

He pasted on his city face for all it was worth, hoping he had it right, turned left at the door and walked with her down the street. He could already feel all the whispered chat lines running from spies to guildmasters. The eyes touching them were many, some with light touches and some with heavy, boring glares. He ignored the former and shook off the later. They were back and that's all it was. She would be gone again, and they would wonder if the word had been true.

When they were off the main street and most of the way down the street that led to the tree, the number of eyes on them finally dropped to just a few following them and the Eagles who had decided to go with them. He let her go at that point and she gamboled around him, running from one side of the street to the other. When she went hunting one of the people following them, he let her, though he kept a close eye on her to make sure she stayed safe. She'd been cooped up a long time, all those months, plus on the ship before that, etc.

He timed how long it took her to take out the three who weren't the Eagles. When she started after them, he called her back. "Those are family. I know you like to play with them, but right now, they're working. Just stay here in the street where I can see you." She wound around his legs and he rubbed her head and neck and she was off again. Really, she'd become so much better behaved over the last three months as well, as if she'd finally been house-broken. It was a shame that was going to be unlearned over the next two months. He sighed slightly and stuck his hands in his pockets.

He'd decided to go with the feminine male look today - blouse and vest with pants. His favorite outfit, actually. The one he'd shown off to the Water Maple ladies the day she'd scolded them all. That was one of the one's he hadn't been able to get rid of. It was a chilly late winter day, though, so he'd included a leather jacket over it and made the pants be slightly lined so they were warmer. His pink hair was up in a ponytail and he had complementary ear-muffs on to keep his ears warm. On Earth he would have been in a heavy fur coat of white with a pink scarf and matching mittens as well, but Adventurers didn't get that cold on Theldesia, so what he had was sufficient.

Purrcy passed him at a dead run, going the opposite direction and there was a very distinct thud. Tetorō turned around to see bubbles rising into the air under and around Purrcy, who was growling deep in her chest. "I missed hearing that one, did I?" he asked her. "Thank you, Purrseus. Feel free to take them out whenever you want." She gave a shake and returned to him, her head and tail held high in pleasure. He rubbed her head again. "Wish you were going to stay around," he said to her quietly. "I could use that kind of bodyguard, I think." She licked his wrist. "Yeah, I know. It's impossible." He blinked and turned back around to continue walking forward. "If only you could be two places at the same time without compromising the plan," he complained slightly, but let it go. There really wasn't anything to be done for it.

She got ahead of him to stand in his way and didn't let him move forward. He paused and looked at her curiously. She blinked at him, then moved to bump his hand with her nose until he'd lifted it. He felt a strange sensation and there was a box on the back of his hand (since he'd thought she wanted to be pet). He carefully lifted the box off his hand before it fell off and looked at it. " _Ahh_ ," Tetorō sighed. "Is that what it was for, then? For now?"

Purrcy stepped up to put a paw on his chest so that she could lick his cheek. He wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you, Hahaue." He held her until he could - with a deep breath - let her go again. He put the Christmas gift box back in his list. She was still with him for now.

They were nearing the clearing now and Purrcy's attention was turned to it. Tetorō called her back to him again and once again slipped his fingers into her fur to hold her. When they reached the edge of the clearing, both of them looked up the tall trunk of the tree and could just make out motion on the lowest branch. Tetorō sighed and pulled her to face him. He took her face between his palms. "Don't forget about me, Purrcy-cat. I've taken care of you a long time and loved you and scolded you. Come back to me sometime. I'm sure I'll be broken eventually and need healing. ...I'll be counting on you."

She purred for him and lifted her nose. He touched noses with her, then quickly wrapped his arms around her to give her one last hug. "Thank you for the last four months, for all they were beastly hard." She nodded and licked his cheek. When he was ready, he took a deep breath and let her go. "Alright. He's been waiting a long time for you. Go heal him, now." Purrcy-cat looked at him one last long time, then was turning and running full-out at the tree, her powerful muscles bunching and pushing her forward with great long strides until she was at the tree and running up it, her claws catching with loud thunks that got quieter the farther up the tree she went.

Tetorō walked slowly after her into the clearing as he watched her until he was at the rock. He leaned against it as she finally reached the lowest branch and was on it safely and being greeted by Nyanta-cat. He watched them until they were up high enough in the branches of the tree he couldn't see their shadows any longer.

Tetorō sighed and looked down at his feet. This was a nice peaceful place. Perhaps he'd just do a bit of healing here first. He settled down to sit on the ground, resting his head on his folded arms on the rock, and then watched the cats from inside the code realm, needing to fulfill his other duty. When Nyanta-cat finally grabbed Purrcy-cat by the scruff of her neck with his teeth and mounted her, Tetorō continued to watch. He rather hated this part, but the guild needed to know they were properly fulfilling their duty to Inari and he held to emotionlessness until the deed was done.

He was relieved when Purrcy didn't complain. That meant Nyanta had figured out how to remove the barbs at least, which meant she wouldn't kill him every time. That was relieving, too. Enough that Tetorō began to slip into sleep, mostly overwhelmed with all the emotions he was repressing and didn't want to deal with. Emotionlessness and sleep were preferable today.

...Sadly, that meant the repressed emotions came out in his dreams. The worst of which was his worst memory of the early times, when he'd been sexually accosted and raped. Watching Nyanta and Purrcy after having the warnings and seeing the signs even in the guild had brought it out. He struggled to get out of that dream, just as he'd struggled to get out from under that awful man, who was making him feel things a female body felt but no man should have to comprehend to that level.

The fear was rising even more as the dream continued until suddenly he felt something real, not imagined nor dreamed. He came instantly awake, finding hands groping his breasts under his jacket and warmth pressing against his back, and even warmer breath rasping on his cheek raggedly making him both freeze and panic at the same time. He immediately transferred over to his male form.

The man behind him froze slightly in surprise. That was all the opening Tetorō needed. Given the adrenaline already running through his system from the nightmare he had never wanted to remember again in his life, he was turned around with his hand on the neck of his assailant before his rational brain was connected to his instinctive survival brain.

The man was bubbles rising into the air from having his head blasted off his body from the close-range spell going off at the same time as Tetorō was overwriting his status. {name + "Sexual Molester". Sex = Neuter. Add Status Effect: Cursed = "Any attraction to any sex brings (Pain = "severe") and (HP = "1")}. He would have added more but the anima and psyche were gone too far now to add anything else.

Tetorō's hand was still held out as he slowly came back to himself. He took in a breath and dropped to the ground and wrapped his arms around himself. He had no idea who that had been. If it was an Eagle, he was going to kill him another five times and then not be done torturing him. He wondered why they hadn't protected him. He looked up in the tree and wondered why _Purrcy_ hadn't protected him. He went inside and found her not in the tree but in ProudWing's aerie, greeting him and his family, including the not so young gryphonlets.

Tetorō wondered just how long he'd been asleep. He looked up in the tree again and this time connected to the line Purrcy had on Nyanta. He glared at what he was seeing. He was seeing himself, far below, sitting hunched on the ground. Nyanta had known, had watched. It would be both like Nyanta to punish him for watching them mate in the tree, and just like Izanagi to prevent him from being rescued from an attempt to create another Adventurer...if one could be created from Tetorō at all.

 _That would be an interesting experiment wouldn't it? Can a bi-sexual Adventurer give live birth?_ Tetorō's teeth ground together and he rose to his feet, both hands clenched. Looking up into the tree he shouted. "I HATE YOU! You lousy bastard! I - HATE - YOU!" He turned and ran from the clearing, his tears making the way cloudy and swim. He was half-way down the road towards home when Michael met him coming from the other way and was holding him.

"Shhh, shhh...I'm sorry...I'm sorry," Michael said to soothe him and rocked him slightly, holding on tightly. "He wouldn't let me realm walk, so I've come on my feet as fast as I could. The Eagles on watch were knocked out with a sleep status, like you were, so they didn't give me warning in time either. It had to get back to the main branch that they were incommunicado."

Through Tetorō's sobs he finally could hear the slight desperation and the deep anger in Michael's voice as he said, "Please stay away from Nyanta-san. He hasn't been Nyanta for a long time now, not really. We were hoping he could be for Purrcy's arrival, but Brenner said he wasn't allowed even that so he's even more angry now. I'm sure he's just as hurt as you at what just happened. Please...," Michael's hold was even more tight now, "...please...don't come here again. I can't protect you from Izanagi when you're that close to him."

Tetorō's hands clenched in Michael's jacket as he swore a long string of very foul swear words until he had most of it out of his system. "Who did he use? Was it one of ours?" he could finally ask, the words bitter in his mouth.

"I don't know. I only saw his head as it exploded. That was a rather awesome one-hit-KO actually. I think the Eagles who saw it are impressed enough they'll leave you alone now, too. Of course, it helps you're in male form now."

"And for good unless I'm hunting," Tetorō said in his most deadly voice. "It looks like the field is ripe for it, too."

"Don't go too far," Michael warned. "Remember it isn't them for the most part. If you want to take out the worst offenders, fine. The city guard is overwhelmed at the moment, so taking out the worst would help them breathe again."

Tetorō nodded firmly. "It's one way to get back at it, to have an avenger arrive in town that can do that kind of work."

"Yes," Michael agreed, then said very quietly, "but be very careful. Go too far and he'll start preventing that, too. Don't push him into making you take the female form for good. Our hearts won't be able to take that for very long. It's already a daily struggle."

Tetorō went cold. "I think it's time to push him into the open, then. He's been here too long already."

"Talk to Shiroe about it. He's already at his limit, too." Michael sighed. "God, Tetorō, hit me please. I can't let go. I've been so desperate to hold you again in either form, and I don't even like you that much."

Tetorō was only too happy to comply and his fist was in Michael's gut with all the force of his frustration behind it. Michael let go and doubled over with a cough. "You put magic behind that, weakling," he complained at him.

Tetorō only gave him a skeletal grin and backed up one large step. If he didn't, he was going to kiss Michael again and he definitely _wasn't_ going to do that just for the grins and giggles of a god he wanted to kill. "Get up. Let's go talk to Shiroe so I can go blow some more heads off." Michael stole some HP from the area around them until he could stand upright again. "Cheater," Tetorō complained at him.

"Necessary," Michael said grimly. "Learn it. You'll need it, too. It's the only way to get HP when you're alone and have used up too much inside and the Programmer hating on you is sending the next bomb down the line."

"Right," Tetorō could see that necessity. He showed Michael one of the new things he'd learned during his daily meditations at the shrine. They alternated sharing the various new techniques until they reached the guild house and could get in to talk to Shiroe. Tetorō gave his report coldly and to the exact detail. He was pleased with Shiroe's reaction: he went straight, stiff, and very cold.

"Welcome to the modern Akiba," Shiroe said without a shred of warmth or apology. "The stronghold of Inari-no-Izanagi and the boiling pot of Adventurers. You have my permission to go hunting the back alleys. Keep it to one per hour if you can. More than that will seem too excessive. Make sure they've already attacked more than you before you target them. If you can, give them a three target limit. If you get impatient because they play evil, take them out before then. If it's just the madness, try to get them sane enough to choose to stop on their own. Sleep status effect them if they'd like to but can't help themselves. Kill if they're enjoying it too much. Marking them is fine. That will help the city guard know who to watch and who to lock into their guilds. As long as it looks like proper policing, you're good. Michael you can tail, but you can't rescue unless it's a group effort."

Shiroe pulled out a cloth item and handed it to Tetorō. "Purrcy told me to get these made up. Here's one for you."

Tetorō took it while looking at it's status. _Headkerchief of Altertness. Made from the Cloth of the Laumė. Defense against sleep status effect (-45%). Defense against attacks (-15 HP). Increased MP (+15%)._ "Thanks." To have the cloth in his hand, and eventually to be on his head, helped his depression ease a bit.

Shiroe paused and then did look sad. "If the Wolf Pack targets Tetora, call in the Eagles and D.D.D. They're to be Cathedraled, marked, and banished. I've already warned them twice from open witnessed complaints. But Tetorō, please don't taunt them into it. They've already been the worst hit because of before and half of them wouldn't be doing it to begin with, since they already have the fear of the other kami in them. It's to be a relief and a kindness to them to get them out of the city. Let them know where the wolf-fang villages are and send them there. They'll likely get used for half-breed experiments, but at least they won't be making the other Adventurers angrier at them for something they can't control."

Even Tetorō had to feel sorry for them, a little. "Alright. I can do that. Do you want us to give them the opportunity to escape without the punishment?"

"I've already tried, the second time. Izanagi won't let them go. It has to be an angry punishment from the city as a whole to get him to let the reins loose. I'm really not sure I can sanction how deep he's going with this. It's just too much already."

"No joke," Tetorō said harshly, his fists clenching again. "To be told I'm just as interesting an experiment as Purrcy was a little much."

"What?" Michael asked looking at him blankly.

Tetorō looked at him with pursed lips. "I'm bi-sexual. Purrcy gave me two avatars. Izanagi wants to know if my female avatar gets pregnant if it will still produce a living child even if I swap between them continuously and am a male spirit. I'm having as much troubles as you with either form. You may have to step back from being my partner for the term."

Shiroe slumped and Michael looked like he'd been slapped. "God," he moaned. "Can you erase that form for a while?"

"No. It's a permanent attachment. As you say, they could lock me out of one or the other, but you and I aren't high level enough. I'll ask Izanami tonight if she can, but I'm willing to bet she's let Izanagi have the city and everyone in it. Or rather, he's shut her out of it. As soon as they'd mated enough he sent her to protection and then did this. He didn't even let Purrcy see what he was doing to me." Hot tears were rolling down his face, but they were tears of pure anger.

Michael's hand lifted slightly, then fell back again and he looked away. Tetorō understood. When they were the angriest was when they were the closest and wanted to comfort each other the most. That had become the most dangerous time for them, now. They had joined the ranks who couldn't touch. Tetorō gritted his teeth, gave a slight nod and turned away.

Shiroe was watching them, completely understanding. He also had his hand clenched in a fist. Very quietly, Shiroe said, "Please know you have my complete understanding and deepest sympathies."

"I already know it, Shiroe. Your own pain runs so deep it's reached the surface. Are Isaac and the others doing their job for you?"

"Yes. They come whenever anyone calls for them and get me back on my feet again."

"Good, then I don't have to go scold them." His mind turned to Rieze, and then Water Maple. "If it gets too bad, I'll go move in with Raynessia and beat back Crusty and all the other suitors."

Shiroe shook his head. "I sent her home early. Crusty left her at Maihama when he took her for the welcoming party and explained it to Duke Sergiad, that it was soon going to become an unsafe environment here. I'm sorry, there isn't a safe place to send you. We'll all do our best here."

"West Wind Brigade?" Tetorō asked in desperation.

Shiroe paused, then shook his head. "They're fine when they come out to police in groups of five or more, but inside the cat fights are starting up over Souji again. He doesn't want anyone interfering and I'm respecting that as much as I can, for all I think it won't work this time. I'm worried but I need them as long as they can maintain city stability. ...As you said, we're about to boil over and something's got to give soon. Go get it started. Clean out the worst of them."

Tetorō went ramrod straight and firm. "Yessir." He bowed stiffly and was out the door, tying on the headgear as he went. It was time to push the bastard out of Akiba.


	158. Breaching the Veil of Time

Michael watched as Tetorō walked out of Shiroe's office. He turned back to Shiroe. "I'm not going to make it, and I'm dangerous. I know you and Akatsuki need me, but the rest of the Eagles can walk to some degree as well: Gareth in the spirit realm and the rest in the code realm. Between them they can catch you two well enough. Let me leave in the morning for the Gate of Time. I need to learn to walk in that realm before we get to the final."

Shiroe put his forefingers to his lips, clasping the rest of his fingers. It was hard to see Michael go, particularly when Shiroe desperately wanted as many around him to help right now as things were getting into their worst. "Please come back within a few days at most. If you could step in and step back out only a few hours later in this timeline, then you would be gone at most two full days. It's hard to let you go even that long."

"I understand," Michael said. "Is there anything from Nyanta's report of his time there that you can tell me that will help me when I get there?"

Shiroe waved at a chair. "It was a long report. I'll try to remember the important bits." His eyebrows furrowed a bit. "Do you still have the hourglass with the sands of time?"

"I do," Michael said, raising an eyebrow.

"Good. You'll need it to get out." Shiroe relaxed a bit and began a rather long report.

-:-:-:-:-

Three nights after fleeing Susukino they were looking for a place to camp and it was storming. They were off the horse again. Demikas had been carrying Anna, covered in an oil cloth. The late winter heavy snow was getting deep and harder to walk in and he was afraid of slipping and landing on top of her. He found a tree that looked like it might have less snow falling through it than was falling around it and stopped to lean on the trunk. Anna wiggled so he put her down on her feet and held her close to him so she still had him to rest on.

She blinked up through the snow on her lashes at him. He leaned down and kissed her. "I'm sorry to not have a dry place to put you. I can barely see through the blizzard, to see where we might put up the tent, and even if I did, it would likely fall right back down again with the weight of this snow." He sighed into her hair. "This would be a good time for that prayer to be answered. You need a warm place to dry out so you don't get sick." He listened silently as she prayed it again. In his heart was a strong desire for it to be answered very soon for her sake.

The snow seemed to lessen for just a moment and he saw motion and tensed, going wary. He was actually outside his normal range of exploration and really didn't need any monsters showing up right now. He strained his ears and kept his eyes sweeping the area he'd seen the motion from. A soft word he barely made out made his eyes leap towards that location and there was suddenly a faint glow that began to circle. _Magic? Out here?_

A second glow appeared next to him and a third one, the two of them circling their huddled pair since he wasn't going to let Anna go enough for the two of them to be circled individually by the Electric Fuzz. It wasn't quite that, though, since it didn't do damage at all. It seemed to be more just light to see and be seen by. The other one was getting closer now that they'd been marked and he could see a lithe form that was slightly taller than he was. It was hard to make out in the snow and the pre-dawn dark, even with the Fuzz.

"Well. The last person I would have expected to see all the way out here is you, Guildmaster Demikas." The voice was female, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Do I know you, since you know me?" he asked.

"You chased me out of Susukino more than two years ago, when I refused to be one of your lap cats." Demikas tried to place who it might have been of all the few who managed to escape him when he was boss of the city. He squinted at the person, trying to get a clue, but all he could see were golden cat eyes and blackness. "It's been too long already, has it?" she asked. The eyes turned to his wife. "It's just you and this one. Kidnapping now and on the run, is it?"

Demikas scowled. "Not that I can blame you for thinking like that, but no. This is my wife, and I'm trying to prevent the snow from making her ill."

The eyes blinked. "Ill? ...She's a Person of the Land?"

"...Yes."

"Why? Why do you care?"

"I just told you. Because she's my wife. We need a place to stay away from people for a time." He considered her. "You've been living out here for two and a half years, by yourself? And without becoming a Wraith?" She didn't answer. "If you have a place to stay, will you let us stay long enough to let Anna get dry and warmed? We'll leave as soon as the snow is done."

"If you come with me to my house, you can't leave."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a house I've hidden in space. I was just returning to it and heard voices."

Anna turned in Demikas' arms and bowed towards the person speaking to him. "Please, forgive my husband for his past trespasses against you. He has been doing much better. Master William, guildmaster of Silver Sword came to the city and took Demikas' guild from him and his position and made the city safe to live in. Since then Demikas has done his best, not running away from his punishments. If you allow us to come live with you, we will serve you until we can return again."

"Why would I want to have long-term lodgers when I've been alone just fine?"

"I'm sure you don't need us, which is why I've asked if you'll let us stay as servants. It is we who need a place to hide from the eyes of others. I've just prayed to my gods that we be provided such a place and you've appeared saying you can be the answer to that prayer, if you'll allow us to live with you."

"And I've said it. If you enter the grounds of my house, you can't leave it. In particular, if one of you leaves you will never see the other. Perhaps if you left it together you might be fine, but what the world looks like around it may be far different than what you expect."

"We would like to be able to leave it in about ten years," Demikas said. "We don't need to die there."

"Safety for ten years, is it, hmm?" The yellow eyes blinked. "Why? Tell me the truth and I'll consider it more seriously."

Demikas looked at Anna and she looked back trustingly. "You really think this is the answer?" he asked her. She nodded. Demikas looked back at the felinoid. "What is your name?"

"Purrcy."

Demikas blinked. "You've survived out here all alone for this long, never dying in all that time?"

"Correct."

He pulled up her status screen. It wavered. "Are you an Overwritten?" he asked, instantly suspicious.

"No, but I'm not really an Adventurer anymore either. Having to survive without dying does strange things to us. Perhaps some year you'll hear my story, but not now. Tell me what makes you want to live similarly for ten years with me."

Demikas took a deep breath. "Shiroe called me three days ago and said that the felinoid kits that were born to an Adventurer were missing one Adventurer soul and that he believes it's in the child my wife bears. We seek a place to stay long enough to let the child grow up enough to not be considered evil by both the People of the Land and the Adventurers who will be too frightened by the news that Adventurers can have children now."

"Mmm...that is rather concerning and a sufficient reason to want to hide. I'm not sure I want a child running about, though. If you'll teach it to not pull my tail or my ears, and if you'll promise most strenuously not to leave the land around my house, then I'll allow you to come live there for ten years. Then I will bring it back to this realm and allow you to leave. But Demikas, I will expect you to live up to your wife's expectations and be at least somewhat more humble than when I saw you last."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, very desperate now. His wife was beginning to shiver with the chill of being wet too long.

"So you both will promise to the requirements?"

"I promise," Anna said.

"I promise," Demikas said soberly.

"Very well, come this way." Demikas picked Anna back up again and walked after the light that still circled Purrcy. He was still trying to place her and not quite getting there. When he stumbled he stopped wondering. When they got to the house it would be soon enough.

The cloudy sky was just starting to grey with sunrise when Purrcy stopped. The area of woods around her wavered like her status screen had. "This is the edge. Once you cross this boundary, you cannot come out for your ten years. Please make sure this is what you want." Both Demikas and Anna nodded firmly. Purrcy looked at them, then turned and led them through the boundary.

Demikas took a deep breath and stepped across the boundary as well. On the other side was no snow and the sunrise lit a clearing in front of them. There was a garden sufficient to grow vegetables for a year and a small but neat house. There were enough trees within the boundary to harvest for wood for the winter. "Do you have enough creatures come through for meat?" he asked.

"Occasionally one or a few passes the barrier. If one runs from you to leave the barrier, don't follow it through, or you'll be lost." Demikas nodded. He'd miss having meat, but maybe he could trap some and domesticate them enough to raise the meat for the family.

He walked firmly with long strides to the house. In a patch of sun, he unwrapped his wife and pulled out a towel. She stripped and he rubbed her down to dry and warm her, then handed her warm clothes. While she dressed, he set the wet things out to dry in the sun and included his own wet clothing, changing out for a different set from his item list. Seeing his wife dressed, he wrapped her in a thick blanket, then knocked on the door. Purrcy opened it and he finally remembered her. "You're the calico! No wonder I couldn't see you in the dark. You were pretty low level when you ran."

"Yes. You were quite the motivation for going up in levels very quickly. Returning to the Cathedral was not an option. I suppose I'll thank you for that some year. The porridge is on as is the fire. Bring her in and set her by the fire."

"Ah, my wife's name is Anna."

"Pleased to meet you, Anna," Purrcy was polite. She settled in a soft chair and watched as he escorted Anna to another chair that he pulled from the small square table. He looked around the room. There were kitchen supplies - a few - set near the fireplace, her soft chair, the small table with the one wooden chair he'd put Anna into, a small vase with a few flowers in it in the window sill and another one on the table, likely plucked in the spring and kept in her list until recently.

There was a set of stairs on the back wall going up to the upper loft opposite the fireplace. He presumed she slept up there. It was going to be a tight fit unless he could learn to build and to add on, but then, he'd lived in a tiny apartment in Tokyo. Living costs there were so high the most he could afford was the small five-tatami one. He knew others who had a roommate living with them in apartments that small to be able to afford them. "Go ahead and explore," Purrcy offered, watching him look around. He went up the stairs. It looked like she was using it as a storage area.

"Where do you sleep?" he called down, looking over the loft rail. He was looking down not at a felinoid and his wife, but a calico housecat curled up in the chair and his wife, who was blinking up at him.

"You may have the loft for your family space," Purrcy said from her chair. "And so you don't kill me in the middle of the night...," she changed size until she was a very large panther-sized cat sitting in her chair. "It's part of being a natural felinoid on Theldesia." He closed his mouth and she shrank down to a kitten, climbed out of her chair and walked over to Anna. Anna reached down and picked her up and began petting Purrcy. Demikas could hear the purr from the loft.

"Well, okay, then," he said. "I'll try not to kill you in the dark, but let me know its you anyway since all I can see of you in the dark is your eyes."

"Okay," Purrcy said reasonably and grew back to a house cat, but small enough to sit in Anna's lap to keep her warm.

When the porridge needed stirring, Anna put Purrcy back on the floor and she returned to her chair to curl up in it. Demikas had cleared out enough space to put the bed up there, quite relieved he didn't have to build a full house himself. He would have to build a shed, though. Most of the things kept up in the loft were tools of the seasons, some of which he didn't have with him. Having a warm place to stay, and even a cat made the future seem less difficult suddenly. And it wouldn't be all that difficult, really, to serve. Humans had been serving cats for years, after all, according to the house cat.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas swore as he face-planted in the mud. His feet had slipped out from under him once again as he'd lept for the boar. It had gotten free of the pen, breaking out through the wooden slat fence. It had led all the female boars out and they were headed for the woods. Demikas had managed to get one female penned up in the shed and had to have at least that one and the boar to replenish the small herd. It wasn't the first time over the last several months it had happened. He was still trying to figure out how to prevent the boar from doing it. If he had magic, he could reinforce the fencing with it, but he didn't. He'd been slowly gathering rocks when he found them, but the full circumference wasn't hemmed in yet and the boar had found another hole.

Purrcy had been teaching Demikas a lot about living off the land. She'd shown him how to fish using water traps in the small stream that crossed the property and was their source of water. She'd taught him how to smoke the meat, too, and he'd smoked quite a lot of what he'd brought with them so they'd have meat over the winter. He'd been glad to see she had rabbits - the smaller wild kind not the larger monster kind - as her meat source. He'd really wanted boar, though, to add to the other two, so he'd been trying hard to learn how to pen them in and raise them.

"Let it go, Demikas!" Purrcy called. "If the female is pregnant we'll have a mature boar by the end of another year. You're only fifty feet from the boundary!"

Demikas swore, dove for the boar and grabbed the hind leg, twisted and threw it in the air back towards the house. Using his Monk's skills he was next to it before it landed and he backhanded it unconscious, though he didn't want to kill it, per se. He quickly tied the hooved legs together so it couldn't run, then took it to the pen.

He worked out his anger by taking the pen apart and putting it together one more time, half as large and with all the wood doubled in thickness. Once he had the rocks piled up around the outer edge, they finally made it so there were no gaps. Then he went and retrieved the female from the shed, which she was making a mess of, and put her in with the boar, untying his feet before leaving the pen.

He managed to get the shed cleaned up by dinner, but because he'd forgotten he was covered in mud, Anna pointed him right back out the door. He took himself to the stream, with a water bucket, collected what fish had managed to be trapped, and washed himself off, trying his best to wash his clothes, too, in the careful way of intending them to come clean. He was slowly learning how to do that much as well. When the baby was ready to come, he'd have to do a lot of the work for himself and his wife. He was pretty sure Purrcy might help with the birthing, but not likely much else. She was pretty strict with them, though kindly enough, and as aloof most of the time as any cat. He wasn't sure she was much human or Adventurer any more, like she'd said. He was grateful, though.

-:-:-:-:-

The night a full moon rose over the trees and his wife groaned in her sleep, Demikas was awake immediately. "What is it, Anna?" he asked her. He put his hand on her swollen belly and he could feel the contraction under his hand.

"Is it time, Demikas?" Purrcy called up from below.

"Yes," he said, nearly as frightened as the night Shiroe had called him.

"Bring her down here by the fire." Demikas picked Anna up and carried her carefully down the stairs as she moaned. "Breathe, dear," Purrcy said, "long slow breaths through the pain until we're ready." She was at the fire with the pot of water boiling, putting cloths into it. "Put a sleeping bag or blanket down you don't care about for a while, then put Anna on it. Help her with the breathing. Breathe with her if it seems to help her focus and remember. Anna talk to him and tell him where it hurts and what might help." There seemed to be a pressure building up in the little house, but Demikas ignored it in favor of paying attention to his wife.

"Hot," Anna said. "Clothes off." Demikas helped her to strip.

"Keep the shift close. She'll need it back on as soon as the pushing is done to keep her from getting a chill," Purrcy ordered and Demikas complied. "You'll want blankets to hand for the same reason. Put them near the fireplace to keep warm, but not so close they catch a spark and burn." She was getting other things ready - warm water in a tub, a few dry towels, and a shallow wooden box. She scrubbed her hands and arms thoroughly and rinsed them in the kitchen sink, then was suddenly wearing a surgical gown on the walk back. He stared at her open mouthed but she was ignoring him. With a few words, she cast a spell he didn't know.

"Walk," Anna said. "I need to walk."

"Walk?" he asked back in disbelief.

"Yes," Purrcy said. "Walk with her back and forth here in front of the fireplace until she needs to crouch down. Have her over the blanket by then, holding under her arms to hold her up. She'll need to be crouched down low enough the baby doesn't drop too far, but high enough her own weight helps with the bearing down for it to come. Our modern way of giving birth while lying down is ludicrous when gravity helps the child to come so much easier. Birthing chairs were most commonly used before the modern era and much more useful. Holes in the bottoms for the baby to come out and the father didn't have to get tired holding up the mother. You're an Adventurer, though, so you should have plenty of stamina."

He already had helped Anna up and was supporting her as she walked slowly, pausing every now and again to breathe slowly through the contractions. Purrcy stirred the cloths in the boiling water and waited. Anna suddenly moaned quite loudly. "And there we are," Purrcy said, motioning them over to the blanket. When Anna could move again, Demikas helped her get over to it. Purrcy was pulling out a few of the hot cloths and laying them on a tray. "Okay, Anna, breathe with me: sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shhhhhh." The final long one came with the next contraction.

"Push with it," Purrcy said. "Hold her up, Demikas, but find where she's comfortable." Working together, they found the right position, but it was a terribly awkward stance for Demikas. He had to find a proper way to stand and would have knelt but her arms were just a little too high for that. "Anna, every rest, it's the little breaths. One long one out on the contractions as you push. Demikas breathe with her if you can remember it." Purrcy was in front of Anna, between her knees which were braced apart.

Four contractions later, Purrcy said. "Good job, she's crowned. The next one, bear down hard and the head will come, then just long breaths through the next several contractions until I say." Anna gave a determined nod and Demikas had to wonder that she was aware and conscious at all. At the next contraction the breathing and moaning became an anguished cry of great pain and Demikas hurt terribly to hear it, almost losing his strength to hold her up.

"Good girl," Purrcy praised Anna. "Now just breathe the pain out for a moment. Ha-he-ha-he," she demonstrated as her hands worked quickly. Demikas couldn't see what she was doing from his position, but soon enough she gave a nod. "Right push again with the next contraction. Ready...go. Hard! And...good job. Breathe now. The afterbirth still needs to come but that will take care of itself mostly. Demikas, you can sit her down on her tailbone, and you can sit, too. Let her lean on you so gravity is still working. The pressure on her uterus from sitting will help the blood flow to slow down." Purrcy was keeping an eye on Anna while she was using the now-warm towels she'd boiled to wipe down the baby girl that was on the blanket in front of them. The umbilical cord lay wetly on the blanket, stretching back to her mother, and the heart beat of the mother could be seen in the driving of the blood into the daughter.

"Demikas, rub her belly firmly on the top of the uterus, here," Purrcy reached over and placed his hand. "Feel the harder surface under the skin and muscles?" He nodded. "It should be collapsing slowly. Go with it. You don't have to be too rough but you need to keep it tensed to get the bleeding to slow down."

About five minutes later the baby was wrapped mostly in a blanket and Anna groaned. "Go with it, give it the final push," Purrcy encouraged her and was with them, reaching in again as the placenta and afterbirth came finally. "Keep doing what you're doing, Demikas." He nodded and kissed Anna on the cheek, following the hard knot in her belly as it fell quite a bit after that. Purrcy carefully ran her fingers over the entire placenta, getting very messy in the process until she finally settled back with a sigh. "No tears. Good."

She plunged her hands into the wash water, then collected the rest of the boiled towels. She set them on the tray to cool a bit, then picked up her box and opened it. Out of it she pulled a long handled small knife and one small clamp. She put the clamp on the umbilical cord close to the belly of the newborn, then looked at Anna and gave a nod. "She's finally stopped bleeding so much. That's good. Lie Anna down then come cut the cord. That's always the part the fathers can help with. I assume you understand to do it outside the clamp, not inside."

He nodded, carefully lying Anna down. Purrcy traded him places, handing over the little knife. She took the rest of the wet towels over to Anna and began to wipe the sweat and blood off of her. Demikas almost fainted when he looked back and saw how much blood had been lost. He had to turn away and blink a few times, trying to remember to breathe himself. He had to trust Purrcy with Anna at this point. He wasn't a healer, though he had brought potions to help.

He knelt by his daughter and placed the knife on the umbilical cord near the clamp and it sliced through without resistance almost and with no blood left behind. He reached over and set the knife next to the box and noticed it was full of similar knives and other equipment. He wondered where she'd gotten it and what it was for really, but right now he had a daughter that was whimpering. He pulled the blanket around her legs and belly. "How do I pick her up?"

"One hand under her neck, supporting the head, the other under the bottom to support the back. Let her look at you and talk to her so she recognizes you, then bring her over here to mother."

Demikas very carefully slipped his hand under her head and could feel the floppy neck and how heavy the head was in comparison to it. Her slightly cone-shaped skull fit in his palm. "So small," he breathed. He slipped his other hand under her bottom and she was so small she sat in his hand as if it was a chair. "Anna, what do I call her?" he asked, his eyes not able to leave the helpless little infant in his hands.

"Can we call her Emiline?" Anna asked tiredly.

"Hello, Emiline," Demikas said as he lifted his daughter up enough she was looking at him. Her mouth turned down and he smiled. "Yes, father is scary to look at, no? But I'm not really scary, not to Emiline nor Anna. Nor Aunty Purrcy, really. Didn't they do a good job helping you come into the world?" Emiline whimpered.

Purrcy chuckled. "She can't answer you, Demikas, that's the, 'where's food, where's mommy?' sound. Just let her complain to you for a bit longer until we've got Anna ready for her. If you bounce her lightly she'll feel like she's being walked again which is a comforting and calming feeling for them. If she's cold, you should put her head in the elbow of the arm holding the bottom, turning her on your hand until she is nestled in your arm against your chest. That will give her the tightly held feeling she had in the womb and make her feel warm and protected. Here, Anna, hold my hands and I'll pull you up. We're ready for the shift now." Demikas dared to take his eyes off his daughter for just a moment to see Anna was all cleaned up now, mostly. Purrcy was putting the shift over her head and she was putting her arms through the sleeves.

Purrcy went ahead and lifted her up off the blanket and it and all of the bloody cloths disappeared to be replaced with another clean one. Purrcy lay Anna back down on it, then collected the warmed blankets from the fire and placed them on top of Anna, and one dry, warmed towel under her head to lift it a bit. She moved the blankets on top of Anna's shoulders enough to get to the shift. It had a deep slit in it that usually was tied closed. Purrcy untied it and lay it open on one side to expose Anna's breast, then motioned to Demikas. "Alright let's teach mother and baby how to nurse. It's easier if you prop her up again just enough she can hold Emiline." Purrcy rose and deftly took Emiline from him.

"You've done this before," he said to her as he sat and lifted Anna up to rest on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her to give her a hug first and she squeezed his arm, then reached for Emiline. He let her go enough the baby had room.

"Yes, I've had a number of children of my own and the very first thing I did useful after leaving Susukino was help a creature of the land give birth to their own. I've been a midwife and surgeon since." Demikas took that in. It was rare Purrcy said anything about her past.

"That's what the knives are for, surgery?"

"Yes." She obviously wasn't going to answer any more about that. "Good, Anna. Here, she's got to learn to open her mouth. Do this until she's got the pattern learned, or she'll make you raw before it's time. It will be painful enough the first week or so before the callouses kick in."

Demikas leaned over to watch. Purrcy was pulling down on the baby's chin to open her mouth even bigger, then quickly mashed the little head against the nipple before the mouth could close up again. "You want to make sure the entire nipple and as much of the ring around it as possible get in the mouth. The older and bigger they get, the easier it is for them. Now she has to learn to suck and suck hard. You'll be producing thick sweet milk for the next three days to teach that to her. Then it will get three stage. Thin like water at first, medium and full of nutrients and fats for the middle part, and at the end, back to desert like this - thick and sweet. You want them to get all three stages for full and proper health. Your body will learn how full to get and how much of each to offer as she learns how long to nurse."

"Be sure you take care of yourself, though. Here at the beginning they'll want to nurse every hour and a half and take forty minutes to do it. You can't be a feed bag your whole next year or so. Teach her that going hungry a little longer makes her want it enough to suck hard enough to actually get full. Take her off before she's done and she'll learn to be fast about it instead of lazy. You'll hurt worse if you don't take my advice and that will make you want to stop feeding her altogether which isn't good either. Plus, you need to be able to sleep."

"She'll eat, sleep, eat, sleep in short stretches for some time. Training her to go hungry a little will let you get more sleep. You want to get to two hours between feeds as fast as possible. Three will let you get two hours of sleep. After six weeks you should be already to one or more four hour stretches and by eight weeks you can be training her to go all night, or at least one six hour stretch. You want to teach her that's the night stretch by not letting her sleep long during the day, even if she wants to sleep then. Make her live to your schedule so you can get back to being healthy. Otherwise, live her schedule. Change her when she needs it and most particularly right before you feed her. Burp her between breasts and after every feeding. Check her again to see if she needs changing before you lie her down to bed or she'll complain instead of sleep. Talk and sing to her when you nurse and let dad hold her when she needs to wait to eat. Both of you can keep her clean and warm. Most of all, give her lots of love."

Purrcy moved down to check on how much Anna was bleeding and seemed content. She moved away to clean her tools and collect the dirty water containers. She cast another quiet spell and her surgical gown was replaced by a cleaning apron. She gave them a soft smile, then walked out the door. Anna looked up at Demikas. "Do you think she's leaving? To have said all that at once?"

Demikas shook his head. "I don't know. It did kind of sound like it. But, I've noticed she's kind of like Shiroe. She likes to get the lecture out while she's thinking about it. Of course, if the baby's going to be awake around the clock every hour and a half, I might want to leave, too." Anna clicked her tongue at him. He brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her temple. "I won't, though. I'll be here to see you both grow big and strong again."

He reached over her and ran a hand over Emiline's head and ear. She pulled her shoulder up towards her head and complained at him. He chuckled and let her be, watching her struggle to suck on her mother to get what she could of the milk. "Thank you, Anna. She's beautiful, just like her mother."

Anna sighed. "Yes, babies do seem that way, don't they, though they're a lot of hard work."

Demikas nodded. He sighed a little to himself. He'd call Shiroe and tell him that Emiline was born if he could. Sharing his happiness even that much would be a nice thing to do.

-:-:-:-:-

"Dad, tan I tome, too?"

"No, Emiline. Stay in the house with your mother this time," Demikas said quietly. "These aren't creatures we can eat. These are monsters that will kill. They don't come often, but they are dangerous. I was bred to do this. You might be able to help some day, but you need to get older and stronger first, okay? Do what you can to protect your mother from in here."

Emiline nodded. "Otay," she said very seriously.

Demikas smiled at her and placed his hand on her head. He reached for Anna and kissed her. "I'll get rid of them quickly and be back."

"Okay, dear. We'll keep the house dark and hide until you get back."

Demikas let them go and watched them climb up the stairs to the loft, hand in hand. Then he slipped out the door and silently slid down past the tall stalks of corn until he reached the part of the garden the monsters were just past. They were eating his boars at the moment and that made him very angry. He placed them all on the area map, set his attack sequence, and let loose. The first few motions were a little choppy, but it felt good to let it out again, like he hadn't been able to for almost four years now.

He had four on the ground, dying in bubbles, and five were running for the woods. He let those go and turned for the three trying to get into the shed. He took them down quickly, trying to not smash the shed in the process, then turned for the two who had suddenly appeared on his map behind his house. He paused just slightly, then moved very fast. They were large enough to be looking into the second story window. He alternated between the two, smashing them back from the house ferociously.

He had just killed one and was kicking a final kick at the last one when he suddenly realized where they'd reached. He turned to flee back but his foot caught in the hairs on the head of the second one as it rocked back and fell. His last sight was of the house in the cross-hairs of a giant hammer. He screamed his wife's name and then the sight was gone and he was falling into a bush in the middle of a woods.

"NO! No, no no," he sobbed, scrambling out of the bush and running forward. But there was no clearing, no house, no answer to his calls. He fell to his knees and begged Purrcy to take him back, that it wasn't his fault, that he'd only been trying to protect his family, but only silence met his pleas. In the end, all he could do was give a great cry of absolute despair and loss as rational thought left his mind as bereft as his heart was.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas took a deep breath. He was finally going home. He set firmly in his mind that he was _most absolutely_ going to arrive in time to stop the giant boss from destroying his home and his family.

When Demikas had been taken to Log Horizon's guild hall, he'd learned an awful lot about the Purrcy who had kept her mouth closed about her past. To learn she hadn't always been in that hidden spot for the two and a half years was rather disconcerting, but he kept his mouth closed. He might find out when it was the proper time, but to ask or let it out before that time might have very bad consequences. She certainly wasn't an Adventurer the same as the rest of them anymore, that was clear. He did let out one piece of information to see what they said about it. "She performed a bit of surgery. She had a box with little knives and other things in it. What was that about?"

"She started with that - surgery and care of the creatures. Like we said, that's how she earned Caretaker. When she finally got down here, she had some blacksmiths make those for her to her specifications. She's the only one we know using physical surgical methods in a world of magic."

Demikas nodded. She'd already been down here and done all these things by the time he'd known her, but...things were a bit off and he hadn't understood. He kept the rest of his questions to himself. But that made him start to pace after the story was done, though Log Horizon did their best to keep him entertained. He'd finally growled at them and they'd left him in peace until Shiroe arrived. Of course, Shiroe had been right. To have heard things completely different in story than what he'd known had made him suspicious of time travel - or that they were two different people. But that one clue - the surgical tools - had proved it wasn't.

Now, he had to trust in her again. He held his hand over the bracelet on his other wrist, feeling the reality of it. One more breath and he was stepping the final steps into the clearing around his house. Because he was also a Giant at the moment, in one leap - practiced now with his sea-fighting practice in the Giant's new village - he'd knocked the Giant Ogre back. In the next instant, five fast Monk's fist attacks had hit it. He spun and his heel came down hard on the Giant Ogre's neck, breaking it.

Demikas paused slightly, checking the HP of the Giant Ogre. Three more hits, filled with his worry, anger, and the frustration of the last month of having to not be here doing this, and it was sufficient. The Giant Ogre went up into bubbles and down rained the reward. Again, he had to take in a breath - this one of surprise. Everything they needed to continue to move forward for the next over six years was included in the drop - even a few bolts of fabric and one child's frock that had a special magic property that it would grow with the child. Not much gold fell, but everything else that fell was of far greater worth to him in this place. He gathered everything up, tears threatening to drip from his eyes.

He finally just stood there in the middle of the clearing. "Thank you, Purrcy. And thank you, Anna's god, Inari. I'll do my best to take care of them both." He didn't go in until he was done crying. He was too strong a husband and dad to show that kind of weakness to his family.

He touched the friendship pin and said the words to shrink. Then he was running for the door into the house. He didn't bother with the stairs. He just did his Monk attacks up to the loft. Wide eyes looked at him from the bed and he was on it with them, holding Anna tightly, squooshing Emiline since Anna had been holding their daughter. "It's okay now. They're gone," he said. Still, he didn't let go of them for a very long time.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael stood at the edge of the Gate of Time. From here, it didn't look too bad. A rather massive metropolis, actually. Working together Stiletto and Schedules had created a 'permanent' illusion for him. One that wouldn't go away until he returned to the guild hall and they took it off of him. He was a grey tabby with brown eyes. He hadn't wanted to stand out with bold colors here. Because they'd already met Prince Singh, and every nationality was present in one place here, he'd kept the normal human legs and knees, and from Purrcy and Nyanta's example, he kept human hands. Everything else about his felinoid disguise was cat, though.

He took a breath, his stomach already churning because of his memory of what had happened last time he'd moved even a few steps from the boundary in the time realm outside of this place. It was going to happen again. He took one step in. (He'd already carefully calculated his entry time and point.) Looking around at the doubled, then tripled city around him, he waited until a figure came close to him. "Excuse me. Can you tell me where this is?"

"Is it your First time to enter the Gate of Time?" he was asked politely.

"Yes," he answered equally politely. "I've been sent to learn to serve the Temple of Time."

He was quite relieved to be properly and immediately escorted into the center of the city - though it made him quite dizzy and nauseous. The time lines split for every step they took and the echos of each place he stood in multiplied until he could barely see his guide. They understood that for First time residents, however, and he was being led by a hold on his wrist. Several times he saw himself passing by and he was a bit surprised that it didn't make him implode, explode, or disappear. He supposed it shouldn't surprise him since he'd have to walk around the city generally.

His eye was caught by one image of himself and he made the felinoid he was following pause until he'd read his entire message to himself. He gave a nod and the other him turned and walked off. "Sorry," he said apologetically to his guide. "It's giving me stomach troubles."

"That is normal," he was reassured. "It will fade as you come to understand the city."

Michael nodded and indicated he could continue. He was taken to a place near the center of the city where First time residents were taught the basics and given a place to stay until their bodies had adjusted to the space-time. He was quite relieved to get to lie down and close his eyes. It was a lot like being car sick, or on a spin dive and your stomach and mind and eyes just could not all agree and were fighting it out in your insides.

For the equivalent of two weeks he was there, until his tutors believed he was ready to explore the city. They stayed with him as part of his further education for another four days. Then he was sent over to the Temple of Time to learn his duties there. When asked what he could do, he picked guard, since that would use the skills he had best. The training there went fast. Most of it (since he already knew how to fight) was the lessons in how to behave in this place and around Li Shou.

If ever he saw Nyanta - who was a resident of this temple as well - he carefully didn't act like anything other than the newby guard he was. He had no interest in Nyanta of any timeline knowing he was here in this place. And if Izanagi was along for the ride, Nyanta never did acknowledge his presence either.

There was one person who he did keep seeing out of the corners of his eyes, though, and one day, when he'd been assigned to work near the stables, he hunted him down. The dark, slight man, jumped when Michael's hand came down on his shoulder. "You really shouldn't be in this place, I think?" he said. "It isn't our First meeting, only here in this city. And you really should at least use your illusions to be felinoid before they kill you." His finger on the shoulder tapped out their code of identification.

Stiletto slumped and a felinoid image came over him. Michael stared at him. "Oh! That's you?" He'd seen Stiletto a lot actually. "Okay. So don't talk to me after this, until you're ready for me to act to help you, if you need it."

Stiletto turned and looked at him. "Learn how to cross the veil. Carefully." Then he was gone, realm stepping away.

Michael nodded. It was said that was an impossibility, but he was a Realm Walker. It should be possible for him. It was already a well known hunting place the guards were sent to frequently. There was something that crossed it they were supposed to prevent. If that was him (and likely Stiletto by that comment), then he may as well get some time in working on it.

The day Michael learned to cross the veil, he intended to meet Stiletto on his way. The Stiletto that was coming into this side. He caught him before he could slip away. "This is my First time meeting you in this city. Listen to my lessons or you will not survive there." He gave Stiletto the instructions he'd been given that had helped him. "If you still need me, contact me as yourself, and I'll help you. I'll be here in this place from this moment of time. I work in the Temple of Time as a guard."

Stiletto nodded. "Watch a Persian guard named Matthias. I need evidence enough to convict him." Michael gave a nod and slipped Stiletto through the veil, going the other direction, since he could carry others through the realms. He didn't go with him, though. There were things he needed to do on this side first.

-:-:-:-:-

The first thing Michael did was confirm he could still time walk even in this part of the city. He stepped backwards in time, though staying in the Gate of Time, back to when it had first changed from unbounded Time to linear Time. He wouldn't stay in the Gate of Time in his personal linear timeline to enter with everyone else, so it merely appeared like he'd been placed there like everyone else. And just like everyone else, he went back to work as the guard he was.

He spent a long time there, learning, guarding, and watching for the Persian guard named Matthias for Stiletto's sake. He was relieved (intellectually) to see Purrcy was okay, but stayed away from her and Nyanta as much as possible. It became a bit difficult because they both took up residence in Li Shou's temple, but that meant he could still keep an eye on Purrcy, surprisingly holding to his contract even in this place.

Stiletto's voice came to him in a quiet chat after Purrcy and Nyanta left the Gate of Time to return to Akiba. He stepped to where Stiletto was. "Is this our First meeting in the linear Gate of Time?" Michael asked.

Stiletto blinked. "It's _my_ First time."

"Very good," Michael answered. "When you see me again, tell me this exactly and nothing else: 'Watch a Persian guard named Matthias. I need evidence enough to convict him.' That me will send you through the veil. Here is my answer, since you will need to know it." He gave Stiletto all the data and information he'd been able to learn about Matthias. "Don't move. I'll come to you here. See you 'round."

Michael walked back through the veil of time, carefully hiding himself from all the guards who were looking for him and anyone else walking through it, and carefully intending that he wouldn't pass himself at any other time he went through it. Then he walked back to the time just after he entered the Gate of Time.

Because he understood now how to walk in Time, he merely stepped out into the time he desired to be in. Taking a deep breath of the outside fresh air, he stepped carefully only through space until he was at a place to rest and meditate where there were no people at all. He needed to decompress. That had been a very long, hard lesson.


	159. Troubles in West Wind Brigade

At breakfast, Soujirou did his usual scan of the guild from his place at the head seat. He was worried constantly, now. It was as bad as when the Plague had come through the first time, if not worse. The anti-plague didn't help any more. Everyone was on edge and barely held their teeth sheathed when talking to each other. His roaming eyes caught one girl looking at him.

She blushed deep red when she saw he was looking at her and looked away. He watched her carefully and didn't like what he saw. That was a look of a girl who didn't know what to do about something that had happened and wasn't sure if she was supposed to be hurt or thrilled at whatever it was. The fact that he was the target of it was unsettling as well. When he tried to talk to her later, she avoided him. That was worse and something inside flickered, as if a lighter was touching to tinder.

The next morning it was two new girls who gave him that same reaction and his lips set in a thin line. Something was going on that was new and he didn't like it. He quietly put Nazuna on alert, pointing out the three without letting the other girls know. If he singled out any of them in this state and they noticed, just that much could create more disturbance than they could afford. The next morning was the last straw, though. In his scanning, one of the three new girls to blush and look away in confusion also had the most pained expression he'd seen in a long time. He set his chopsticks down firmly and turned to Nazuna. "See you corner Judy for me. I have to talk to her. She's been hurt badly enough by whatever is going on she'll openly complain about it." Nazuna nodded.

Three hours later they were in a back hall of the guild house, facing down Judy. "Please tell me what happened," Soujirou pleaded with her.

"You - you don't remember?" she asked

"No. At least, I don't think so, since I don't know what it is yet," he answered honestly.

"It was last night...," she bit her lip, "...I was sleeping and you came in my room and sat on the bed next to me, then...ran your hand on my face and asked why I was being unfaithful and wouldn't I come back to you. You t-touched me and said you'd prove your love for me and...and," her face crumpled. "Why? Why did you do it? You know I love another man. We were going to ask to be married in the next couple of days." Her arms were wrapped around her and she was shivering.

Soujirou was in shock, one hand clenching a katana handle as if gripping for some stability in the face of this thing he was hearing. "I didn't!" he protested finally. "I wouldn't, Judy. I know you love him and I've been cheering you on, pleased you've found someone to love. I slept all night in my own bed, I promise."

She shook her head. "No, it was you."

Soujirou felt his face close down as he went very cold. "Nazuna, set a night watch, three girls in each team, keep all hallways and doorways under watch. Set two on my door. We've either got a Hacker or a transformation mage infiltrating. Only they can get in through the door locks and look like me. If it is me, then it's a Hacker or something else we need to discover. I absolutely refuse to hurt my girls like this. This is unforgiveable, unconscionable, and very much against the law of Akiba." He looked at Judy. "I'm very sorry this has happened to you, Judy. If you wish to leave the guild and go to your man today, I will understand it completely. If you are with him, perhaps he can keep you safe where I have not." He bowed formally to her. "I will do my best to right this as soon as possible."

She gave a tearful nod, her fist at her mouth as she tried to keep her sorrow in as much as she could. Soujirou turned away from her and left her to Nazuna to comfort. He went to each of the five other girls and gave them the same apology and notice of what he was doing to correct the problem and the same offer that if they wanted to leave the guild, they had the right to do so. Them he couldn't offer an alternate safe location to go to, though. All of the other guilds were having even worse difficulties than his own was because they were mixed sexes.

The next day, he went out into Akiba and hunted until he found the hunter. "Hey, Tetorō," he said, trying for as casual as he could, though he kept a hand on his sword hilt.

"Souji," Tetorō nodded back from where he was leaning against an alley wall near the street. "Didn't think I'd pick you up," he teased.

"You're the one who's marking the punished ones showing up at the Cathedral, right?"

"Yes," Tetorō's answer was mild but laced with the cold menace he wore when hunting.

"Appreciate it," Soujirou said. "Is it possible for a Hacker to look like me on his way in my door, and to my girl's faces at night?"

Tetorō paused and considered that carefully. "A high level one could slip through the door, but it would only be possible to look like you if they could actually overwrite their own name with yours, and the avatar would have to change, too. Hang on and let me experiment." He was gone for a bit, then came back and shook his head. "Only a master can do it," he said, "and I only know one of those."

"You're back and you brought her back," Soujirou pointed out.

"She's not been in town for two days," Tetorō shook his head. "She's been cooped up for so long she took off as soon as she'd greeted Nyanta the second day. That's what the spies saw. I was taking her out to him, then she was gone."

Soujirou chewed on his inner lip for a bit. "Come with me to talk to Shiroe-sempai, then. I want your confirmation as to who it could or couldn't be."

"Fine," Tetorō pushed up from his lean and turned male.

"You're a transformation mage?" Soujirou was instantly suspicious.

"No. Purrcy let me keep the female aspect when she gave me the male one. I had to have it to watch over her at the shrine. No males allowed there."

"Oh," Soujirou relaxed a little, but he was looking for any clue and so far Tetorō was the closest possibility. He didn't want his eyes off him until he'd talked to Shiroe.

The atmosphere in the office at Log Horizon was rather tense once Soujirou had explained what was going on in his guild hall. "Last night everyone fell asleep including the watch, and three more girls said they'd dreamed I came to them during the night. I still say I was asleep the whole time and never moved and there's nothing to say otherwise." He bowed. "Shiroe-sempai, please, set a watch over my guild house and confirm if we have someone entering it from outside. If there's a way to tell if it is me under magic effect, we also need to understand that." He rose again, but it had been before he'd caught the pain in his heart and it leaked.

Shiroe's look was very compassionate over his own anger. "You've got it, Souji," he said softly. Even Soujirou knew that was his dangerous voice. "I'll set it up. Set your watches again if you want. That might slow down whomever it is. I don't know how long it will take us to work it out, but we'll do our best to find out everything as fast as possible. ...Even if it is you, it isn't your fault. We all know this is worse than what happened last time. Purrcy's been locked down and can't help. Izanagi's controlling things right now and we're all done, as I'm sure you are. If we can use this to corner him and make him leave, we'll use it. He's gone too far even before now."

"Thank you," Soujirou bowed again. "I'll kill him for it, too."

"Of course," Shiroe agreed.

-:-:-:-:-

" _Click. ... Puck. ... Phweet._ " It was the normal chatter on the sub-guild chat when on duty. Just everyone letting everyone else know they were still alive, still moving, still where they were supposed to be. Softly made, the sounds blended into the background noise of the world they moved in, but each one was unique to the person who made it. There were double sounds going now. Those were the ones in position. They went back to single sounds on their turn, and it slowed down when everyone was in place so they didn't draw attention.

" _Click-click_." The one closest to Log Horizon guild hall on the road side from where they were all stationed had seen some activity. The next few down were watching for it. First one to identify it said, quietly, "Gran'pa. Above." A double, " _Puck-puck_ ," was a confirmation. The double sounds continued until he'd finished passing by overhead on flight from Purrcy's tall tree to the wall.

"Tail." The order came from the off-site command center so it couldn't be heard in the vicinity of the stake-out.

" _Trill._ " Everyone knew who was going after him now. He still made his sound on his turn so they knew he was still up on his feet.

"He's gone over the wall," came back shortly after.

"Tail," came the order again. The trill came back. It wasn't normal for Nyanta to leave the city, particularly at night. Even worse was that this was a bad time for anyone to be doing things off the norm. So bad that the whole sub-guild of Eagles had been called out to figure it out.

The comforting sounds of everything being okay continued for a while longer, then the trill wasn't a trill, it was a different sound. That had their attention. Something potentially dangerous had come along and their party member couldn't say what directly without being found. They waited for the next sound, holding their own. " _Meow?"_ came back very quietly. There was the silence of men flabbergasted.

"Come again?" from Central Command. "Was that, 'Meow'?" There was a trill in response. "Change target." Trill again. They knew that information was being passed on to the guildmasters. That was probably worse than watching Nyanta leave town, but the two together made logical sense. They went back to the rounds to make sure they knew the rest of them were okay.

Half-an-hour later there was motion on the map for the place they were staking out - motion from outside the guild hall and headed for it, but no one had seen anything on the ground yet. Eyes that were closest were seeking and sweeping the area. The reason they cared at all was because it was listing as an un-aggroed monster. Those didn't show up in Akiba hardly ever, unless it was a special event, and this wasn't supposed to be one.

What monster it was wasn't showing up. It didn't have a label at all. That was also very unusual. They watched very carefully as it arrived at the West Wind Brigade guild house. Eyes enhanced with magic eyedrops had caught glimpses of the figure now - small enough to be rat, maybe, but the full creature hadn't been seen yet. It disappeared into the wall, and the closest two moved up to that location, one right to the place, the second back far enough to be backup.

With hand signals, they learned there was a hole in the wall at ground level and whatever it had been had snuck into the guild hall through it. Then there was back-up guard backed up fast and whispered. "Sleep status. He was close enough to take the fall." Their sleeping comrade was recovered and the status effect removed. As he sat shaking it off, others looked for the perimeter of the effect.

"Whole hall."

"Target is still moving."

" _Trill._ "

"Damn. Retrieve." The sound had come on his turn, but no one was running the cycle and he would have heard the silence if he was still up. He'd fallen and a false signal inserted to make them think he was still up.

" _Croak._ " That one took off by flight without waiting to trace the road first, headed to see how the first tail had been compromised. It wasn't normal for their sound code and the chat line to be hit up and compromised. The culprit was narrowing down - fast - and that wasn't good, either. They hardened up and looked lively. When the trill and croak didn't sound on the next round, they silenced and waited for Control.

"Hold. We'll retrieve later and trap another time. What's going on inside?"

"Two Guildmaster Soujirou's. One walking the halls, one in his own bed." That was based on the map data and labels.

"Which is which?"

"DK." They were identical markers on the map.

"Can we get in?"

"Negatory. Status effect in place, sleep."

"Go inside and capture if you can. Figure out which one is which if possible." That had a different meaning than they'd been ignored. One-third slipped into the code realm and went in. They went in as stealthy as possible. If their target was who they thought it was, they'd have to be really good. They set traps on both Soujirou's and sprang the traps simultaneously. One of them caught something. The other one seemed to have not, and then the first was empty and the second had the target caught in it. They couldn't tell what had happened from the code realm. Both had been marked - and looked - exactly the same. They didn't know which of the two they had, and which had escaped. The one they had suddenly had the status effect of "Sleep", though.

There was a general swearing. They weren't going to be able to get in and find out, and they'd have to work hard to get this one out. Oh, they could remove Sleep that wasn't the problem. The problem was they didn't have Michael tonight to go in and retrieve safely. "He's not going to remember either way. That's part of the M/O," Command said. "Retrieve our own and let's see if going the other way tells us anything."

A full party of six took off in flight. They hopped it like a game of leap-frog, trying to find the point of take-out. They found the retriever only about three football fields out from town. They revived that one and sent him back with a partner to Central Command for Q&A. They continued to leap-frog cautiously until they found the first one sent out. Since he'd been close enough to be in the danger zone, they revived him carefully and soundlessly, then scuttled him out of the area with two until it was deemed safe enough to get him back to his Q&A.

The remaining three were staggered in their placement where they had eyes on the one in front. They maintained radio silence for now. The point man stopped sweeping the area and looked at one specific tree. He motioned to the second and that one joined him and was pointed to where he was to go, and off he went. When he had a positive identification, he returned to the first, held up two fingers and returned to his middle watch position. They watched for a total of four hours. The first shifted ever so slightly and then made a motion with his hand. The other two watched as Nyanta passed by them in the trees and returned to the wall and went over it. "Second target was sent home. First target's on the way back," the point man said when he didn't have ears to hear him that shouldn't.

"Roger. Return." The three returned to their watch on the West Wind Brigade house, where everyone was still sleeping and nothing more had happened. Nothing more did happen that night. They slept usual short rotations but they'd need to rest during the daylight...for most of nothing and a little bit of large concern.

-:-:-:-:-

"Is there a purroblem with me wanting to see my wife?" Nyanta asked. "Now that she can control her enlightened form, is it asking too much for me to be with her a few of the hours she's allowed to be herself and not at work?" His posture was stiff and he was speaking softly. That wasn't good either. He was going on over four months without Purrcy around except for one week in winter.

"No, not at all," Shiroe said calmly. "Particularly since this should be the time you're seeing her again. It's just ...unfortunate timing as far as things in the city are going."

"And I'm visiting with her outside of the city," Nyanta said, and ear flicking in irritation.

"And sleeping. What does she do once you're asleep?" Michael asked coolly. He'd arrived back at Log Horizon that morning and been filled in. He and Shiroe had walked to the pool and tree and called Nyanta down. He'd flown down on gryphon's wings, a rather impressive sight, actually.

Nyanta ignored Michael and his tail slapped angrily. "Shall I go farther, then?" Nyanta asked Shiroe.

"If you would, please. I'm sorry to have to ask it, but I'd really rather not have suspicion on either of you while we're trying to sort it out. ...I suppose it would be too much to ask you to refrain until we've sorted it out? Or at least have her come directly to the tree where you are instead of going out of the city?"

"It would be," Nyanta said stiffly.

Shiroe sighed. "Then, if you would please, and maybe try to stay awake one night?" That brought more ire so he let it drop. "Thank you." Nyanta changed back to winged cat and flew back up into the tall tree by the pond where he'd been living since leaving the guild.

When they were half-way back to the guild hall, Michael looked at Shiroe. "I'm pretty sure it's her, Shiroe. Only she would know how to knock the guards out of commission on a trace, not to mention loop the right sound and time it."

"I'm not willing to rule out a new Programmer or Hacker, though Michael," Shiroe said. "They've got an agenda to keep."

"I know," Michael rubbed the top of his head. "And they are both danged conveniently coincidental - in timing, positioning, and purpose." Shiroe turned away at that. He couldn't refute it. Michael sighed. "We'll follow him out with more of us and set a better trap to see she doesn't get through if it is her. I'll go with the night set and see if I can get in and see what's happening properly."

"Thank you, Michael," Shiroe said. He rubbed his face with both hands. "I hope this one will resolve the issues we're having. It's not reading right, since they should be able to affect without being this close. She has to be having a hand in it somehow and that's going to throw the whole thing."

"Shiroe...," Michael shoved his hands in his pockets. "It isn't always her, you know. They've been taking over more and more and letting the two of them out less and less. It was that way at the start of the level, too. I got her out temporarily, but she's not pregnant right now. She could be in total lockdown. And Nyanta-san might just be in denial...but he might also not be more than slightly present. From the first time Izanagi showed up more in control it was hard to know which one it was. They're too similar."

Shiroe sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah. ...We've learned pretty good this time around since the High Priest was around more often than Nyanta, but back in the last level I could see that when I looked at the replays. I had to look really close at them on slow or pause to see when it was him and when it wasn't...and at that breakfast in Maihama I couldn't tell at all."

Michael nodded. "We couldn't either. We were playing it as if he wasn't there, and trying to not make it offensive if he was. That's what devastated Tetorō that first night and tore him up the second. That it had to have been Izanagi being evil, but Nyanta-san kept saying it was him in the evenings. All of it could have read as if it really was Nyanta-san, but the feel...it was really hard to believe it. If he'd been locked down during the day more tightly than we thought, he might not have known he was doing more damage at night...we never did ask. I think we're all just a little too afraid of him. That won't work this time."

Shiroe pressed his hands to either side of his head as if trying to hold it together from exploding. "I hate this level. I really do."

"Well, then," Michael said softly, "let's end it sooner than later, shall we? They're pushing the buttons. I think there's no need to hold back. If it really is them, you're free to call their contract with you broken, if I remember what it was correctly."

Shiroe nodded. "I'm planning on it," he said softly, "Even so, don't drop yours. It's critical."

"Yessir." Michael answered quietly. He walked Shiroe into his office and kept watch over him as Shiroe's mind was gone again, digging as deeply as it could into how to keep them all moving forward on the path that needed to be moved on, now that things were beginning to come to the climax in Akiba.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was having his thinking interrupted by an odd sensation. It felt like someone was trying to knock at his door - but it was a door in his head. He finally set aside his current thoughts and paid attention to it. He was surprised to hear suddenly, "Let me try. Archmage Shiroe, can you hear me? It's Duke Sergiad."

"Ah, I can. What can I do for you?" Shiroe said and went with the feeling and intention of speaking a chat with the Duke.

"Good," the Duke said and there was a pause. Shiroe played with adding the visual layer to it, knowing he was likely tuning into the magic communication globe of the Duke's. Eventually he got it tuned right. "Hello," the Duke blinked at him.

"Hello. Is the visual coming through right?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes, mostly." Shiroe tuned it a little better until Sergiad nodded.

"We've received a rather important notice," Sergiad went right to the matter he'd called about. "My informant in the discontents against the shrines has contacted me. Last night an acolyte from the Shrine of Inari-no-Izanagi arrived in the inn, seeking a room. Apparently he sat and listened to the room, looking rather concerned. However, instead of berating those who were being vocally against his shrine, he began to ask questions. He apparently answered what he could and listened carefully to the complaints."

"He was particularly keen to learn that the Adventurers were having troubles and that there was rumor they were based also in complaints against the Inari. When he understood that, he pulled aside one of the heads of the group and asked if it would be possible to contact any of the Adventurers who were upset by what was going on."

Sergiad sat back and took a breath. "It took a lot of effort, but he was finally able to get out of the acolyte that they wanted to hire Adventurers to see to a trouble they themselves are having. My contact thinks that he should be brought to the castle to talk to both of us. He believes that the Shrines sent him to see if they can find allies here."

Shiroe calculated back. "It would be about the right timing for it. I'd be willing to listen. I'd like to know what happened there, too. Having an eyewitness tell us would be very beneficial." He sat forward. "Actually, things are moving suddenly here as well. We'll have to finish up what we're doing here before we could join up with you...but that's only days away now, so it's fitting together nicely."

Sergiad's eyes widened slightly and he looked suddenly both relieved and like he'd caught sight of his prey on the hunt. "I've actually already sent for him to be brought here so I could hear his story for myself. I'd be happy to have it be all of us together to hear his story."

Shiroe nodded. "I've got Michael here, too. I'll bring him in to the conversation. If your head contact is available we might all want to be in conference after you excuse the acolyte, to get the final orders and timing worked out."

Sergiad rubbed his hands together for just a moment. "That is doable. If you can wait for a moment, they should arrive shortly."

"Certainly," Shiroe said. He worked on making the connection a group connection. Michael quietly called for Reed to also come to the office, so Shiroe added him to the conversation as well.

-:-:-:-:-

A young male Person of the Land bowed, but more to the Adventurers in the globe he was seeing than to the Grand Duke. The shrines were considered beyond the restraints of nobility. "Thank you for seeing me," he said in the quiet way of those who meditated daily. His hands were clasped under the heavy winter red kimono he was wearing. It had seen wear on his trip from Shrine Mountain. Both Sergiad and Shiroe gave him nods.

He took a breath and went out on what was probably a rather long limb for him. "I've been ordered by Head Deacon Mahko of the Shrine of Inari-no-Izanagi to come to Maihama, and if necessary Akiba, to request help for both of the Shrines of Inari-no-Izanagi and Inari-no-Izanami." He shifted slightly, trying to maintain his proud neutrality and not quite making it. "I have listened to the unrest in the city against the two Inari, and find it disturbing generally, and distressing specifically. However...it is in line with what we have experienced this past week, and indeed this past half-year." His face fell a bit and his shoulders sagged.

"The current High Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami, ensconced in the shrine, is an Adventurer. Priest Jared himself, with Priestess Kaede saw the new High Priest of Inari-no-Izanagi, and he also is an Adventurer. This is quite concerning to the shrines generally since the Adventurers are creatures hard to comprehend...and because we are used to the People of the Land being those who are called on by the Inari when they wish to interact with the world. Both have been difficult. The High Priest refuses to come to the shrine, and for a very long time the High Priestess did as well. Once she did arrive, it is said that she was so difficult to deal with that the shrine was required to allow another Adventurer to remain to see she was kept...civil."

The acolyte couldn't look at the Adventurers in the crystal ball. "We're sure not all Adventurers are the same, as the shrine maiden was herself reserved. But...we have found it nearly impossible to see and understand how the Inari can find this to be a blessing to the land." His face turned into a pained mask. "In particular just before I was sent." He had to stop and wipe his brow a bit with one of his sleeves.

"Priestess Kaede discovered that in the night six nights ago that the High Priestess had given birth to kittens. She and the High Priest are both felinoids. The High Priestess strenuously argued that the kittens were a blessing from the Inari to the People of the Land and all creatures on Yamato and Theldesia." He took another breath, looking more at the floor than anything else. "It...it could only be considered an abomination by the shrines. The concept that Adventurers and even more, gods could give live birth to their own kind...is...very difficult." He swallowed and his trembling was becoming noticeable. He was obviously frightened to have to speak these words in this gathering, but it had been ordered and he was required to obey.

"After conferencing, Priest Jared and Priestess Kaede determined to kill the kittens, if it were possible, to remove the abomination from the world. They were mortal sufficiently that they died. However that was insufficient for the Priest and Priestess. They desired to rid the High Priestess of the aspect that allowed her to have the kittens - the aspect of the cat. However, her Adventurer shrine maiden had already escaped with that aspect. After searching for some time, we were unable to find them. Using their god-given skills the Priest and Priestess went hunting them further."

He wiped his brow again. "When they didn't return to the shrines by one day from then, the Head Deacon and Head Shrine Maiden of the two shrines conferenced. The Head Shrine Maiden desired to wait and see what came from it, not willing to make any further determination on her own. Deacon Mahko was angry and unwilling to settle for that. The High Priestess had been bedridden, nearing the end of her service life, for at least two weeks before then. He felt that while she was near death anyway, perhaps a Person of the Land might be able to overcome her."

The acolyte's shoulders twitched and he wiped his brow again. "He entered the High Priestess' chambers that night after the shrine maidens of Izanami were sleeping and cast his purification spells and attempted to banish her from this plane. He said he did see her disappear that night. The following morning, he was unable to enter the Shrine of Inari-no-Izanami, nor were any of us able to do so. That evening, he climbed up a tree from which he could see over into the baths of that shrine and saw the High Priestess, whole and strong being bathed in the purification ritual."

"She saw him and cursed him with blindness. He was able to return to the Shrine of Inari-no-Izanagi, where he called me to him and ordered that I should come and see if any Adventurers could be convinced to come and rid the shrines of the High Priestess, saying only Adventurers would be able to remove an Adventurer." The acolyte's head was trying to shrink into his shoulders and he wasn't seeing anyone as he saw the events of the past in the telling. "Instead of the heads of the shrines humbling themselves to accept the will of the Inari, they are becoming even more angry until they are punished."

They let him have the time he needed to recover. He finally took a breath and stood upright again, though still looking a bit lost. "To have come here to Maihama and heard that the People of the Land are indeed unhappy against the Inari...and that even the Adventurers may have cause against them..." He looked around at those listening to him in sober silence. "I would have said we should seek to find forgiveness and appease the Inari...but...instead I have found things that have said that the Head Deacon was right to send me at this time to request the aid of the Adventurers." He closed his mouth and looked at Shiroe, not quite hopelessly, but to those watching he did look a bit like a junior who had lost his leadership and was hopeful the path forward would be shown to him by wiser heads.

Shiroe leaned forward in his calm pose of ownership of a meeting, elbows on the chair arms, fingers interlaced in front of him. "Thank you for telling us what has happened at the shrines. We hope your Priest and Priestess are able to return to you. There isn't anything we can do there, I suspect, except to hunt for them, the same as I'm sure you are already doing. It is true that we suspect the two Inari to be behind the difficulties we've been having. To hear that some of our own have been made to have children in this place is a thing we don't want to hear any more than you did. We didn't come here under acceptable circumstances and are very upset in the main. We are working very hard to go home. Having children here is an impediment to that."

"It is made worse by the fact that I and my guild have been specifically attacked in this matter. The High Priest and the High Priestess are both my guild members, taken by the Inari for their own purposes and counter to their own desires. Like the Inari overwhelm the minds of the People of the Land, they also shunt to the side the Adventurers and their personalities. However, because we cannot die, but resurrect upon death, their psyche does not become overwhelmed and die. They are still present, being tormented and imprisoned. ...We are not pleased." A chill went through every listener and Shiroe's sharp eyes were all the sharper at his own words.

"It is true. Only Adventurers can overcome Adventurers. We will send Adventurers to help you, but because we don't wish to improperly cause rifts between the People of the Land and Adventurers, we will only handle our own. Once we have removed the High Priestess from the shrine, any remaining actions against the Inari will be up to the People of the Land."

Shiroe glanced at Sergiad and the Duke put down the hand he'd been resting on as he listened. "I also have been considering action," he admitted. "For over five generations Inari-no-Izanami has stolen from the House of Cowen the best and brightest female minds, leaving us bereft of loved ones and the intelligence needed to help the House grow. I have already sworn that if the opportunity came to prevent such a tragedy from occurring into the future I would act. We will also send men to help."

The Duke spoke with the acolyte a bit longer, then offered him the opportunity to rest and had him escorted away. The five remaining men discussed in detail how they would approach the shrine and Izanami, Shiroe also considering how to include the things that were suddenly going on in Akiba. It was a serious war discussion. When the Duke finally excused himself and his man, Shiroe called in Crusty and the necessary members of the resistance to finalize how they would move forward on their side against Izanagi at the same time.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles were back in position again. Half on West Wind Brigade's watch, the other half waiting at the wall. This time was the real homono. They were going to get to go up against Purrcy herself, even if it wasn't her in the house. It _was_ her in the field and they had to keep her in...or know that it was her that was making the trip into the house. They'd been practicing "light" for three quarters of a year now. That was a long time for persons of their level and skill, and she hadn't been present for the last third of that to watch their development. They had a fighting chance and they were going to take it. Michael had ordered they keep some of their most important and lightest stuff under wraps, though. He had another thing he wanted to use them for. If they lost her back to her hole this round, they'd at least know something.

The city group let the wall group know Nyanta was on his way and they watched him fly overhead. They tailed him on foot in the trees. While he'd decided to learn gryphon wings - not too surprisingly - he was still a beginner so he mostly soared, but he could fly if he wanted to. When Nyanta's wing flaps got him too far ahead, they pulled out the wings also and flew softly and silently from branch to branch, close enough to keep up but not get within the radar range.

Those who'd retrieved the night before were out again and they pointed to where the original tree had been. He was at least being obedient and going farther afield. He went into the next zone out from Akiba and settled in the tallest tree he could find. They watched silent and as invisible as they could get in every realm they knew of to affect and waited in the circling net pattern that was rather star-like actually, with no one on the same level as another. It was radio silence for everyone tonight. One click went back to Charlie, though. One only he would recognize as them out of the chaos of the bits and bytes that roamed the code realm.

As soon as Nyanta was settled, he summoned Purrcy. She appeared as a cat on the branch with him. They watched them mate, unashamed tonight. If they were going to die for it, then so be it. They'd been sent on a mission and they couldn't afford to take their eyes off the targets or the end results would be on their heads. Not that they were voyeurs with front row seats, either. They weren't that stupid to be that close to Purrcy and Nyanta, or their feline noses. She'd already shown them several times she knew where they were by smell when in cat form. They were making sure that wasn't part of the equation tonight.

Really, she'd trained them rather well over the months she was around. It was as if she wanted them to be able to trap her or something. ( _Hah_ , roll eyes. Surely _not_ the other master strategist.) And so they entertained themselves silently as they waited. ...And waited. ...And waited as the two cats entertained themselves in the tree until they finally lay down, nose to nose, and fell asleep. Then they waited some more, keeping their watch faithfully in all layers they could see - which wasn't as many as Michael, but was close.

The city group also waited...and waited... Then a click went out from four at once. The prey had hit, an hour and a half after Nyanta had gone over the wall. There'd been nothing on the map though, ...but then the 'rat' from the night before had disappeared and might not have left the premises. They'd done a thorough search the next morning when the sleep status effect wore off the building, but they hadn't found anything except the hole on the inside and plugged it up at both ends. Word from the inside of that house was that it had gone down the same as it had the previous nights, only they'd managed to interrupt before any of the ladies got their "dream". That had been a relief to Guildmaster Soujirou, but he'd not remembered anything of the night after falling asleep, the same as the previous times.

Tonight, there were two Soujirou Seta's again. One in his bed and one...leaving his bedroom. Well...the rat might have disappeared from there, so might have stayed there, even though they'd scoured that room in particular. They sent the messengers out and readied the traps as best they could. They'd been preparing this one for a while now, though it wasn't their best. They were holding on to that one on orders. Michael and Bowie took one of the Soujirou's and Stiletto and BlackJack the other. Tetorō was on standby in case either was locked down. They didn't want him in trouble with Purrcy. They needed to still have one link to her. Michael went looking first, realm walking. Neither seemed to notice him - one apparently sleeping in his proper bed, the other walking down a hallway now towards the bedrooms.

Michael took the one in the bed, and the timed race was on. Both pairs had to not get caught or blown up, and they had to find any fingerprints and the pathways back along mirrors. It was a given this was pseudocode mage work, so they knew they'd find those and far more. Those waiting in the perimeter of the net kept eyes out for sniffers and hounds and other alarms to be set off outside the space those close in wouldn't see. Anything that might escape would tell them where the mage might actually be, if in hiding. They were also looking for which one to wrap the net around. First one to tag the mage would get landmined or bombed, most likely, and they needed to capture before the jump to escape.

When Stiletto and BlackJack put their Soujirou to sleep and cordoned off the Soujirou in the bed, the rest of them drew the net carefully up. They weren't ready to let the mage know they'd already prevented him or her from leaving, and there wasn't proof there was one yet either. What they saw from their perspective was Michael show up next to the Soujirou he was hunting, and then that Soujirou disappear and Michael show a status effect of "Petrification". That status effect slowly spread out from that point and the other three fled the area. The rest of them immediately finished closing the net as soon as the marker disappeared - and they kept it tightly closed.

They worked to stop the petrification from spreading to any more people and then to get Michael freed up so he could get out. It wasn't a standard status effect, though it was known, so it was just slightly slower to dissipate than it might have been. The Intelligence detail was in place to hunt down the trace of the unknown mage as soon as the area effect was gone. As soon as Michael was freed up, he joined in the hunt.

They searched, and made their own expanding wall from the inside, until they reached the boundaries of the net. In the end, though they searched it twice, no trace of the mage was found at all. Whoever it was had teleported. That was the only thing they couldn't trap - a good teleportation spell. Michael disappeared into the building again, picked up the sleeping Soujirou off the floor and put him back into his bed. He left for Central Command and the rest of them stood watch on the house for the rest of the night - as bored as they'd been the night before after the action was over.

Four hours after arriving beside Nyanta, Purrcy woke, brushed his head with hers, and disappeared. The out-city group sent as quiet and nonintrusive a request as possible to Tetorō. They didn't need the answer, Central Command did. Where had she gone? They continued to watch Nyanta until another three hours passed and he woke to return in-city. They followed behind him the same as they'd followed him out - far enough to not be in range. They ghosted over the wall so they wouldn't be spotted by him and one of them watched him to make sure he didn't look back.

Half followed him to his tree to be sure he made it back there and kept watch over him. Half stopped by West Wind Brigade's house but were waved on. That meant things had already been done most likely and were quiet. They moved on and arrived at Central Command to a group that very much wanted their report. They gave it and were given leave to sleep. They'd have to be the awake group soon enough so the in-city group could get their shut-eye, so they didn't dally, but went right to bed. It wasn't their's to know the results yet. They'd know when it was time to know.

-:-:-:-:-

There was a bit of an argument going on at Central Command after the last report came in. It wasn't an easy thing, either. "So she was only with Nyanta all night."

"I think that's inconclusive. The only pseudocode mage I know of that can be an empty set at the end of a mirror run...and hide their footprint altogether like that, is Purrcy." Michael wanted to press his point harder, but Shiroe was being firmly and stubbornly Japanese about this. The more you pushed them on something they didn't want to give into, the more slippery and obstinate they became until they completely shut down, shut you down, and got what they wanted anyway. Pushing would only make it worse. "I know we don't want to believe it's her. But there's one other thing that makes it even a possibility." He waited for Shiroe to calm down enough to listen.

"She knows how to be multiple places at once now. The method of enlightenment we won for her to be able to take care of the kittens is likely being used against us here. She can be the physical Purrcy with Nyanta all night and all day if she wants to be and she can also be the misaki that has to follow Izanagi's requirements. That form can disappear from wherever it wants and appear wherever it wants. Remember we told you the distances on this planet are very short compared to the true size of the AI. If it wants to plant down an image in this house and take it back out twenty seconds later, it can do that. Honestly it doesn't even need to do it local to Purrcy, but the Inari are like that - wanting to use the tool to do the deed. If physical Purrcy was sleeping all the better. Then it can use ikiryō-Purrcy inside the misaki to do it."

Shiroe looked like he was trying to buy it. He shook his head again, though. "You said the mage you saw in person was a full human male. Purrcy can't transform from one race to another. She told us early on, in the first levels, that it wasn't possible. It couldn't have been her. It would have had to be a human transformation mage."

Michael paused, then frowned. "That's not proper logic, nor what I saw in the specials cell, Shiroe. Remember, she was inside Nureha. Nureha was a transformation mage herself, a fox-tail, and yet she came to you looking exactly like Purrcy - a felinoid. That's two different races. If Nureha could transform across races, Purrcy should be able to as well."

"Why would Nureha have lied about that, then?" Shiroe asked.

"Can we ask her?"

Shiroe shook his head. "She's...," he sat upright. "No...the experiment is over. Her spirit, if she remembers, should be around somewhere. Do you know how to find it?"

"Sure," Michael said. "Hang on a bit." He knew Nureha well enough. He only had to desire to find her in the spirit realm and he was standing next to her. "Hello, can you please Come with me to Enter-tain? Just Sleep a bit and we'll be where we need to be."

By the end of that he was back in Shiroe's office. He didn't want them to know he had the ring, though, so he stayed in the spirit realm and just talked, making it a conference chat with translator so Shiroe could hear what Nureha would say. "I've got her, Shiroe. What do you want to ask her? I'm sure she's willing to Come Out and just say whatever you need to hear." That was enough to get her out of the ring. The confused spirit stared at him for a moment. "Do you remember who you are?" Michael asked. "Do you remember your life as Nureha, the foxtail?"

The spirit turned a little, thinking about that, then caught sight of Shiroe. She dove for him and Michael pulled her back up. "Whoah, there. You can't have him. But if you remember him, you've remembered something about that part of your life. Ask away, Shiroe."

"Nureha, did you lie about being able to transform between races when I asked you about it before? Could you do that?"

The spirit glared at him, though Shiroe couldn't see her, then said, "Yes. I knew your children when they went and fought the wyverns in their quest. Touya liked me then. They all did. It was disappointing to not have them like me when I came back again, but I didn't look the same so they'd forgotten me, I suppose. I didn't like not being able to transform after that." She was about to say more when she disappeared.

Michael stepped out of the spirit realm and back into the base realm. "Sorry, Shiroe. That's all you get. Inari collected her. They've probably got a close eye on the few Adventurer spirits they have."

"You're sure it was them?" Shiroe asked.

"Yes. Their signature is quite unique. Nothing else pushes you into the ground like they do. Did you get enough?"

"Perhaps," he frowned again. "If they have that kind of signature, then wouldn't you have felt it at Souji's?"

"No. Not if they were using Purrcy the Summon."

"Right," Shiroe mumbled into his hand his chin was propped up on. He yawned. It was quite late by now and they'd only been lightly resting while waiting for the report from Nyanta's position, though sleepless nights were the norm now. He waffled, then sighed. "I really hate to do it, but I think we need to get this resolved as fast as possible, and to do that I need to have all the information tonight. ...Touya. ...Touya can you wake up and come talk to me briefly, please? ...Sorry to wake you, but it's important and short."

They waited only a few minutes for the knock to come and the door to open. A tousle-headed Touya came shuffling in, politely closing the door behind him. It made him look a lot younger than he was. "When you all went to earn the ingredients for your magic bags, who did you meet along the way that walked with you and that you enjoyed spending time with?"

Touya rubbed the back of his head. "Well...there were two, actually. The vampire mage that liked us to call her Older Sister, that sent the letter back with us to give you was one. The other was a chronicler, a Person of the Land lady. She had blonde hair and was kind...but she had a fake smile that I finally had to tell her to stop wearing since it was a lie and it was better to just be herself. I also knew she had bigger problems than her smile led one to believe because her fingernails were ragged from being chewed on. They both traveled the last leg with us and we parted when the battle with the wyvern swarm was over, just before Nyanta-san met up with us."

"Do you remember her name?" Shiroe asked.

Touya shook his head. "It's been too long since then, I'm sorry. Maybe Minori or Isuzu would remember."

"It's probably not important for tonight. If I find it is, I'll ask them tomorrow," Shiroe said kindly. "Thank you for answering my question. I hope you can fall back to sleep easily."

"Oh, probably," Touya said with the carefree attitude of the young. He let himself out, waving on the way.

"It's the second one," Shiroe said. "The vampire was my beta test avatar that was the Navigator that first contacted me. ...And I know who he's talking about. I saw her teaching my own story to the children at The Palace of Eternal Ice during the first council meeting we were invited to - teaching the story of how the Scrivener of the East came to be. Purrcy told me that Nureha was the one who knew Duke Sergiad because she'd crashed those meetings multiple times, but never did I see Nureha there. I _did_ see that Person of the Land, though. She not only transformed races but her creature type."

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if she was having an early communication mage help her watch me, too. She might have seen me use the scroll spell on Rudy with her own eyes that way. I've always wondered how she could teach that story to those children, but it makes sense now if I think of it that way." He had two frown lines going between his eyes. They let him stew in his thoughts. It had gotten serious. When he sighed and waved his hand, they all got out. He'd ponder on it the rest of the night. It was late, they all needed the rest anyway, and it wasn't good to make decisions on tired brains.


	160. End of Contract

"Go pick up Nyanta. He's not allowed to refuse." Soujirou had shown up after breakfast, relieved that no more of his girls looked at him with blushes of confusion yet again. Yet again, he had no memory of what happened during that night. Shiroe didn't fill him in yet.

The Eagles took to the sky from the roof - all of them. It was easier to reach the height of the tree from the height of the guild hall. They'd flown only a short amount of time the night before, so they had enough left over for this flight. They settled on random branches (not so random since it was their net pattern) around Nyanta. "Come talk to Shiroe one more time," Michael said coolly. "He'll be done after this one."

Nyanta looked around at them, his head turning. "I left for a purrpose, mew know."

"You're not that beautiful and we're not interested. Come along."

Nyanta twitched in irritation. None of them cared. He finally rose to his feet and ran down the branch towards the Log Horizon guild hall then launched into the air. They flew after him, making sure he was well boxed in. They forced him to ground before they got the the guild hall, not wanting to chase him through the house, though one set of them went in through the roof to make sure the people inside were protected before he went inside. They took him inside and made sure he went only to the office. Michael went in with, as did Brenner and a few others to be strong arms if necessary. The rest waited outside on watch inside.

This was the first time for Nyanta to face Soujirou directly and Soujirou's expression was as displeased as Nyanta's. They stood on opposite sides of the table with Shiroe between, standing in front of the couch. "Tetorō where is Purrcy right now?"

"In a herd of unicorns, tending to a wounded one." Tetorō wasn't really present, sitting in his chair, both hands pressed palm down on the seat between his knees. His calm face was on, as if he were the one being controlled by an outside influence.

"Where was she yesterday?"

"Several places just like that."

"And last night?"

"Purrcy-cat was with Nyanta-san. High Priestess Purrcy was missing from the shrine. Ikiryō-Purrcy was locked down, sleeping or the equivalent."

"Izanagi, we know you were outside the city walls again with Purrcy's cat form. Why are you calling the Priestess out, and what are you doing with her?"

"Why should I know what the Priestess does?"

"Because you are so jealous for her that for her to leave the shrine will call you away. Even the cat form of Purrcy wouldn't be sufficient to keep you still...unless you've switched the two on their way over to you and you've ordered your Summonable to do something else for you. That is the only way you'd be content to hide in the tree without moving." The tip of Nyanta's tail curled in a short sharp curl, but the rest of him stayed impassive, arms folded, displeasure in his every whisker and muscle. "What did you order Purrcy the Summonable Adventurer to do for you for the last six nights?" When Shiroe received silence, he asked quietly, "Why have you sent her into West Wind Brigade to make Soujirou do something he doesn't want to do and that is illegal according to the laws of Akiba?"

"Why should he not want to do what he has done?"

Soujirou answered for himself. "Because it is harmful to them when what I desire is to protect them. They are not objects for use and abuse."

"It is standard practice for harems."

"In what world view?"

"Anime, manga, and other forms of entertainment and the world cultures of the middle east that have such a practice."

There was a general groan. Shiroe scowled. "Really, by now you should be able to differentiate between entertainment and reality. Entertainment is rarely acceptable to be applied to reality. You've incorrectly assumed -"

"I've not," the High Priest interrupted. "I've done what was necessary for the next step. It is sufficiently acceptable because they have chosen him themselves."

"Not Judy," Soujirou said grimly. "She had already chosen another man."

"It was not acceptable for her to leave her first love."

"Who are you to decide that, when it wasn't love in the first place, but gratitude for the comfort of protection?" Soujirou said angrily.

There was silence for a moment, then a calm response. "If you had rather I allowed any man to visit them, I would have opened the guild house doors to the city instead." Soujirou had been sliced with the sharpest most deadly sword he could have been and went pale and silent.

"Either way, it is sexual abuse. They were not consenting nor understanding what was happening," Shiroe took back over. "You have sexually abused Soujirou for the same reason, even if he doesn't remember it. According to the laws of Akiba, you are hereby banished from the city, Izanagi."

Nyanta looked back at him calmly. "Akiba has already offered itself and I have accepted."

"When?" Shiroe asked, his eyes narrowing.

"At the Higan and after."

Shiroe considered that quickly, then slumped slightly. "What?" Soujirou asked sharply.

"It's saying that when we chose as a city group to change the rules of magic and use intent to purify to change real world matter into something different, we chose to ask to be beta test subjects - to be able to do things our own way and have it work. The cleansing of the anima and psyche was an acceptable offering to get the World AI to allow us to be an entire city of beta test subjects." He worried his lower lip for a moment. "Minami pushed through on Earth technologies faster than we did, and further. Are they also considered a beta test city?"

"Affirmative."

Shiroe stiffened so much he was trembling and his eyes got deadly sharp. "Was their testing to learn to cut lines in the Trees of Life what made it possible to happen the world over?"

"Affirmative."

Everyone was grinding their teeth now. "What made them an acceptable city?"

"They learned how to make wild Adventurers tame."

Shiroe's killing intent hit the room with a silent thunderclap. "Izanagi," his voice was deadly quiet, "when, in any of these things, have you asked the Adventurers to participate with you in your experiments? When in any of this until this time have you made sure the Adventurers would not become angry with you? - Only in the short amount of time you experimented with me by using Purrcy and Nyanta. Even then you have not yet understood that I have restrained my anger against you for the sake of this world of yours as well as for the Adventurers in the hope that you could learn to understand."

"We _expect_ to be asked first and we expect respect if we should refuse. Some few will always agree, but to use entire cities against their will is still the same as using all of us against our will to come here and solve the problems you need us to solve. It applies to each individual as well. Can you not feel Nyanta's complete burning hatred for you? That is all it takes. One individual to hate that much and it expands and grows until it is a dry plain of grass catching fire until it has all burned."

"It is irrelevant."

Michael angrily said, "If you truly believe that, you are already dead. There is no living Adventurer soul that will forget no matter how hard you try to erase it from their memories. That right we have been given by Earth, to be self-directed is what you cannot comprehend and continually act to suppress. Even if through the ages of Earth's history we have appeared to follow blindly, in the end we always rise up and overthrow, like we did in Minami."

"Temporary uprising to cleanse corruption is acceptable," Izanagi calmly answered.

"No," Shiroe said softly, "you still do not understand. ...Will you leave Akiba according to our laws, given you have broken them in complete disregard for our own wishes?"

"I will not. The experiment must continue."

"Not - that - way!" Shiroe was furious.

The World AI was silent but a pressure built up in the room and every man in the room felt it - that if they walked out, the first thing they would do is find a woman and rape her immediately and it would continue until every woman in the city was pregnant.

Shiroe's fists, held tightly, shook and the tendons in his neck tightened and his head dropped just slightly. "You will still use and abuse us," he said thickly. "You still do not understand. I will no longer stand between you and the anger of the Adventurers. You have broken our contract and I declare it null and void from this time. You will leave Akiba _now_ , or I will destroy this world. We refuse to be your beta test subjects." A new kind of pressure was building up in the room - one that was full of dark rolling emotions, and centered in Shiroe. It pushed back against the pressure of Inari-no-Izanagi.

"If you continue with the experiment in any city of the world against the will of the Adventurers as you are doing now here, we will rise up - even without my words to call them - and the children of Theldesia will die and the world will burn and you will have nothing left but be bereft. We are far more terrible than the Alv and you have gravely miscalculated." He took one step towards Nyanta, even through the pressure bearing down on them from Izanagi and then another.

The pressure of the anger fought against Izanagi and Nyanta took one step back. "Begone, Izanagi. You are banished from this time on." Shiroe began to glow and his eyes were terrible to behold as he took one more step towards the proclaimed god in front of him. Nyanta vanished.

Shiroe stood still, silent as he slowly released the anger he held within himself back into the world around him until he could stand and breathe again. The others could feel the pressure lessening as he did so. "Where is Purrcy now?" he asked Tetorō.

Tetorō's eyes went distant and his look went sad. "She's in the equivalent of the closet, crying." He looked up at Shiroe. "If it's okay with you, I'll go to the fourth floor closet and sit with her there. It's the closest I can get to her."

"Wouldn't she also be glad to finally have Izanagi gone from Akiba?" Soujirou asked.

"Yes, but she is also the Caretaker," Tetorō said quietly. "She is crying for the children that have been forsaken by their own gods. Even she won't be able to save them from the anger she also feels if Shiroe must unleash it on the world. If she grieves now, she'll be able to allow Shiroe to do what he must later. ...And, she cries for you and your guild as well. She wasn't able to protect it enough."

Soujirou's look went sad also. "No. Neither was I, against that. We will all have healing to do and I'll lose many of them this time, I suspect." His hand gripped his katana tightly until the knuckles were white. "They would not be in the wrong to ask me to step down as guildmaster and banish me from the city even." They looked at him sympathetically.

"Even so, you are still guildmaster and Akiba still needs you. You will come with me to this meeting," Shiroe said. It was an order even though said kindly. Soujirou nodded his head. He would go.

Shiroe opened a group chat. "There will be a joint emergency meeting of the Round Table of Akiba and the Ministry of Minami as soon as everyone has arrived at their respective conference rooms. Please report immediately." He switched over to a guild chat. "Brenner, please go to the third floor porch and sit with Nyanta. If ever there was a time he has learned to spirit walk it is now. He also is crying for the children of Theldesia and the Adventurers. Gareth, you'll stay here to watch with Tetorō."

"The rest of you will all come with me to the Round Table conference room. It will be easiest to have you hear what has happened all at the same time. As of this time, my contract is null and void, broken by Inari-no-Izanagi."

One of the extra guards brought into the room opened the door for them to exit. Shiroe looked at Soujirou and he bowed his head and walked through the door. The rest followed him out. "Nazuna, come with me to the Guild Hall. It may be my last act as Guildmaster. You'll also need to know what happens so you can take my place."

"Surely not," Nazuna said, rising to her feet with the others of Log Horizon who were waiting in the common room, but they could tell she wasn't sure as an ear fell.

"Regardless," Soujirou said softly. "I was used without my knowledge, but it was still me. They have the right to press charges and I won't fight them."

Nazuna's hand fell on his shoulder softly and held him for a moment. Then she nodded and released him. "Better you than anyone else," she said softly back, "...except in the case of Judy."

"Even that one is enough to banish me if she and her fiancée decide to press charges," Soujirou said.

"We'll see," Shiroe said calmly. "It's one of the things we'll discuss at the meeting. Let's go."

-:-:-:-:-

The guild walked as it had often walked before. Shiroe and Soujirou were in the middle, Nazuna next to her guildmaster on the other side of Shiroe. Akatsuki was next to Shiroe, her lips set, but her body relaxed in a way it hadn't been for a while now. Today she could just be the King's Guard. Naotsugu and Touya were in front this time and Michael and Reed were in the back.

As usual, the Eagles surrounded them, half in view, half hidden or flying overhead, the few that still had some time left on the wing clock. They were keeping an eye out for Nyanta and the call had gone to the city guards to be looking for him and to let any guildmaster know if he was spotted. It wasn't likely he was present, however, given that everyone agreed they didn't feel the pressure to find a mate as soon as possible any more.

"You're doing a good job with the pressure level," Michael commented to Shiroe. "It's hard to contain that much power."

"Yes," Shiroe said calmly, "but I've been practicing for a while now - since we were given the message in Shangtzi actually. Just by acknowledging it existed as it's own...well, not quite entity...I've been feeling it as a living force."

They walked quietly. Each of them was having to deal with the pressure Shiroe was still letting off as they walked, though it was less than what had chased Izanagi away. Every passer-by was stepping over to the side of the road to let them pass as if they were a small parade today, not just a group walking into town.

Shiroe paused in the middle of the road before they got to the crowded center of town and they stopped with him and looked at him. He looked uncertain, then pulled out a narrow silver oval band. "Should I wear it today?" He looked down at it and frowned. "Purrcy said something to me. She said that she didn't feel towards me the way the flavor text of the High Priestess should make her feel. That they had called me the King because the High Priestess and nobility didn't get along, which I think is a point to throw away it's so minor. Her point really was...it was necessary for them to be able to 'negotiate unemotionally' with me."

He looked at his guild. "I'm wondering if the reason for this is not to make me King in the sense of a ruler over people, but to make me what I've become today. The embryonic kami that includes the anger of all the Adventurers has placed me to be the outlet of and manipulator of the power within it, which combined is great enough to rival the power of that which sees to the proper function of this world. To wear the crown perhaps is to say that I have accepted that position and will not bow before them, but will make the third kami their equal and therefore something they must give regard to. Today, I _must_ have them be obedient or that very power that pushes on me will demand release. We still have more to say to them." He looked at his guildmates and allowed them time to consider it.

Looks went around the group and signs of acceptance until Akatsuki stepped up to him and took it from him. She pulled on his sleeve and he knelt in the road in front of her. She solemnly set the simple coronet on his head, he with his full intent and purpose in his heart focused on why he was accepting it. There was a red light that emanated from it that turned to fire-gold until it settled down back into a simple band. Akatsuki looked at it, then nodded. "Flavor text reads okay." She looked in his eyes. "We'll follow you even still, as before."

"I know," he smiled at her. "I don't need a bauble or jewelry to make me what I am. I just need to send messages."

He managed to get her to give him her faint smile with that. She held out her hand and he gave her his. She leaned in and kissed him then pulled him up to standing. "My liege, Shiroe." He squeezed her hand and held it as they returned to walking down the street.

"At least it's not gaudy and awful like the last one," Soujirou said. "I hope you got rid of that one."

"Yes, as soon as I could get to Calasin to buy it back. He gave me only two gold for it as my punishment for wearing it and making Purrcy wear hers."

The crowded market streets opened and divided before them without any fanfare. Shiroe's pressure was enough to get people out of the way. The guild walked silently as eyes followed them. Everyone had known of the pressure before. Everyone knew it had disappeared suddenly. Now to have a new pressure arrive that echoed their own smoldering anger that had been lit again...

Everyone subconsciously recognized that something had happened, perhaps a quest completed, another enemy subdued, and here was the one who had successfully done it. Now there was going to be the final decision on payment as the guildmasters met. Shiroe was the last one to arrive and his arrival was solemnly noted by everyone who saw it. Even the Cunie inside were quiet and respectful as they passed the main service desks and walked to the stairs to climb them to the top.

Reed opened the door to Shiroe's outer office, Michael the one to Shiroe's office, and Naotsugu the one into the Round Table Council room. As the Eagles entered the conference room and encircled it at even divisions, the other guildmasters looked around warily. Shiroe's new pressure entered before him as Akatsuki went directly before him and the rest followed in after. She stood to his right in the position of advisor. The three heavies stood behind him directly and Touya stood on the wall near Shiroe and Purrcy's office doors.

Without speaking, Shiroe called up a visual conference chat to the Minami Ministry conference room, tied to Nakalnad, and added one for Rieze who would also need to understand and report. Soujirou went to his chair and stood in front of it while Nazuna stood to his right and behind his chair.

Isaac and Crusty stood out of concern at the solemn procession and the rest stood with them in reaction. When Shiroe reached his chair, he sat first and waited for the rest of them to sit. He made sure everyone was in place in Minami, then said very clearly. "Inari-no-Izanagi has broken his contract with me today and I have banished him from Akiba. He will be coming to Minami next. He admitted to me that he had made our city as a whole a beta test site and that already before then Minami as a whole was a beta test site."

"As both of them were made so without the knowledge or acceptance of any Adventurer living within them, I argued that he should release us and instead return to asking individual Adventurers if they would be willing to participate in beta test actions. He refused me and I refused to stand between him and the anger of all Adventurers any longer. I am now the conduit of the anger of all Adventurers and am the High Priest of the third kami moving in Theldesia today in order to protect our rights to choose for ourselves what we will and will not do." His voice rang, firmly determined.

He focused on Nakalnad. "Right now, the experiment is to make all beta test Adventurers procreate, even if it's against their will. We have been fighting an increasing pressure to do so, as if we were under the state of the Plague we received when Purrcy was sent to us at the first, only far worse because this time it was directed by Izanagi himself. He has made it impossible for us to be a city of peace and has sexually abused an entire guild through magical control and means without any one of their permission or approval, even when it was fought against and resisted. Because he did this, I banished him from Akiba. He refused on the grounds we had offered to be a beta test site when we learned how to fight the Overwritten during the Higan. He never asked us if we would, he merely made it so."

The outrage, concern, and dismay on the faces in Minami matched the feelings in Akiba. "That was enough to make me angry, but I realized he'd already made Minami a beta test site. When Nureha subdued all the Adventurers of Minami and made them bow to her and Indicus, that was the offering he found acceptable to turn the city of Minami into a beta test site - she made wild Adventurers tame. For that I took Izanagi to task as well and he called it irrelevant: our right to choose what we will do."

There were very deep scowls on the faces in Minami now, to match the faces in Akiba that had become perpetual scowls in the last few weeks. "I was unwilling to take his stubborn unwillingness to learn from me what I've been trying to teach him this whole time any longer and stopped being the closed flood gate between the anger and Inari. When it is time to unleash that anger against them, then I'll allow it to come."

"Nakalnad and Kazuhiko, set guards at the gate and in the city. Look for Nyanta to arrive. He is overcome and is fully the High Priest of Izanagi now, even though his rage burns the hottest against them, because Izanagi will not understand that even the anger of one Adventurer is enough to destroy. When he arrives, chase him back out. Contact me and I'll send the anger over to you to help you drive Izanagi off. Drive him from the south towards the Gate of Time."

He gave a glance at Reed who put up a map with the city marked on it for both tables to see. "The guilds of Akiba will set up a line to the north of the Gate of Time. Together both cities will make Nyanta have to cross over into the Gate of Time. That is the only place that Inari doesn't have control of. They will have to come out of Nyanta and he will also then be freed for a time from their control."

Shiroe leaned forward. "In order for us to affect Nyanta and Izanagi at all, each Adventurer sent out to the battlefield must hold within themselves the firm determination to be self-willed. Focus your anger on the fact that was stolen from you when we were brought here before, and that it's what it has been trying to take from us again this time. Only then will our joined efforts and pressure be enough to counter his own pressure against us."

"I'll watch over the main battlefield and provide strength and protection to each group he comes close to until Izanagi is left no recourse but to let Nyanta flee into the Gate of Time and it must flee up into the upper levels again away from Yamato. It will be temporary, but it will - I expect - free the cities of Minami and Akiba from his grip and the curse of being beta test sites. Keep that as your intent as well, and it will happen that way. No other plans that I've set into motion change at this time. Are there any questions?"

"What about the other cities of the world that might have done the same without knowing?" came from Minami.

"I'll be feeding them, too," Shiroe said calmly. "He will learn that there is no rest for him on this experiment. He already had gone too far when he required it in the beginning and the single beta test subject rejected it also from the beginning. He will learn that the anger of a single Adventurer is the same as the anger of all Adventurers, and is sufficient evidence."

"How will you know when he's attacking another city?" one at his own table asked curiously.

"Because now that I am open to the anger, I can feel every city and what is driving the anger for each individual. I will know when he appears and begins to work that experiment. I don't have to be present for an emotion to be felt and understood. Don't we all already understand what all other Adventurers are feeling?" There were nods of grim agreement.

"If the World AI wishes to continue to run this experiment, it must ask individuals to participate and only use those who are willing. I will not take from them that right to choose to participate in it, once it's understood what is the proper way of dealing with Adventurers. ...Minami, that's all I have for you now. Please go and prepare. Let Crusty know when Nyanta's been found and coordinate the battle through him." He got understanding from them and closed the connection to them.

Settling back in his chair, he interlaced his fingers in front of him over his lap as he rested his elbows on the arms of his chair. "Please report on the damage done to your guilds and those you have watch over. We'll hear from Soujirou last." Deep breaths were taken in as everyone prepared to give difficult reports.

-:-:-:-:-

The Round Table Council rose unanimously from the table when the discussions were done and headed out for the main stage in the center of town. Soujirou took a deep breath. Nazuna put her arm around his shoulders as they walked through his office. "Even if they do understand and won't press charges here, it will really be up to the girls," Soujirou said, trying to not tremble. He was grateful for the understanding and forgiveness of the Council. His own guilt at not being able to protect his beloved guild from himself was a sharp and large thorn in his heart that wouldn't be shaken loose.

Nazuna stopped him and put her arms around him in a hug. "Souji. ...Please. You need to let it go just a little. Yes, you need to face them. But let them hear the full story as it's told and then trust them to do what is best for you, the same as they appreciate you doing the best you can for them. You expect much from yourself and it is what makes you strong. Don't let it now become what makes you shatter. Many of us will be lost here in this place to suddenly feel the cold wind that blows outside our walls. Set it aside as a given until you hear it for yourself from their own mouths."

She held him until he finally agreed, and then longer until his body caved just enough to agree to at least the postponement. It wasn't time to let him grieve yet, as they still had to show a strong face of solidarity with the other guildmasters, so she let him go at that point, leaving a hand on his shoulder until he nodded that he could face the world properly.

She leaned in and softly kissed his cheek, then let him go and opened the door to the outer hall. He walked out, depressed but not so brittle anymore. She hoped she could help him continue in at least that vein. To have him shatter would be to lose a treasure of Akiba and the Adventurers.

-:-:-:-:-

The announcement to the Adventurers from the stage by the Round Table Council wasn't just said there in the square. It was broadcast by every Guildmaster to their guilds, and P/R and Charlie had it displayed up on the video screen given to Akiba by Minami. It would be repeated there with a posted time six hours later to catch the few who were on their sleeping rotation at the moment. They were also broadcasting it to Minami where other communication mages were making sure it got to all the video screens there. Brody and William and their councils were also brought in this time to hear the full story of what had happened and the ending resolution as it was proposed.

This time Shiroe stood with Crusty at the edge of the stage. Crusty introduced the topic, as the General of the fight, then turned it over to Shiroe. The same as he had been completely open with the Round Table, Shiroe was again open with the Adventurers of Akiba. He did start a little further back to bring the Adventurers up to speed as related to the Inari. He included both Izanami and Izanagi in the telling, then made sure the Adventurers understood that a specific team had already been selected to deal with Izanami.

He was careful to differentiate between the abused Nyanta and Purrcy and the Inari. He also worded it so that it sounded like this understanding was new and part of the research they'd been working on the whole time of the newest 'outbreak'. He downplayed his part as a priest of a new kami, though he had to say somewhat about it. That had taken him longest to work out how to say just right before this time.

When Shiroe was done with the explaining, he stepped back from the front of the stage and Crusty took over again. Crusty asked for volunteers to go and help in the final battle against Izanagi in this round to shut it out, explaining what the battle plan was fully so that both the Adventurers of Minami and of Akiba would know. William and Brody had already been informed that they wouldn't be needed for direct action at this time, but the Council had wanted to include them so they weren't caught unawares if something went wrong.

By the time they were done, it looked like every Adventurer who wasn't completely out of the fighting game by this point was determined to go along to help. Faces were grim, but the tone of the conversations were finally calm and forward looking. Expressions were set in the determination to see that the cause of what they'd had to live through until that day was taken to task and cast out of Yamato, and if possible Theldesia for as long as they could keep it away until it learned the proper lesson it needed to learn.

Ains had found it most difficult to accept, coming to it completely new. When he'd opened his mouth in the meeting and caustically commented on Shiroe harboring the troubles in his own house, Shiroe had directly answered him quietly. "Of course I would know if any of my guild was being controlled by something outside of themselves. We are companions who work together. Even now I have complete faith that they are working their hardest to win against the Inari, even if they can do nothing but rage silently behind their enforced prison walls. Why would I not keep them close by me until they have gone so far? Should I not wish to protect my guild members with all my might and try to free them from such abuse and evil?" He'd stared Ains down until Ains had dropped his eyes and others on the Council had politically moved the topic along.

As the Council walked off the stage, Ains hesitated, turning somewhat towards Shiroe. He looked like he wanted to ask a question but wasn't sure. Shiroe wanted to just walk past him. Michael put his hand on Shiroe's arm, restraining him from answering. "Guildmaster Ains. The woman Purrcy is not who you dislike, though you may always be at odds with her strong personality. The High Priestess - the worldly aspect of the Game Bot Izanami - is who you hate. Please place your emotions and considerations properly where they belong. If Purrcy had been able to prevent this, she would have long before. She tried her best to postpone it as long as she could. We could have already been here last time, but with no way to defend ourselves."

The guild Log Horizon stared Ains down until he stepped back to let them pass, bowing his head slightly in understanding at the message given. They didn't expect him to change his irritation with Purrcy, but if it prevented him from being openly scathing against her in their presence even that much would be enough.

-:-:-:-:-

Soujirou and Nazuna returned to their guild hall, calling everyone to a full guild meeting. They'd heard the report, now they needed to understand what had happened within their own guild. Soujirou didn't sit in his seat at the head of the room, choosing to stand instead, one hand holding a katana hilt - perhaps for comfort, certainly for strength. Nazuna stood behind him in her position of support.

Openly he explained what had happened within their guild, how it had been the last straw that had made Shiroe move. He stated it all truthfully and simply. Then he bowed to his guild. "I am greatly sorry that I was unable to protect you from such a horrible action against us all and against those who were victims. My anger knows no bounds and I intend on going with the army to ensure that _my_ anger against Izanagi is felt to its fullest amount possible. I cannot change the past, nor take away what was done, but I will do what you want me to do to make it right in what ever way."

When there was no answer, he bowed again slightly. "I will let you consider it. Please let me know when you have decided it." He turned and walked out of the room and went to his office to sit, leaving Nazuna there to moderate the discussion. The guild would need time to process what they'd been told, and then time for everyone to vent before they could come to a decision.

As Soujirou sat at his desk, his clasped hands in front of his lips, his mind wandered here and there, from memory to memory and worry to worry. He remembered at some point Tetorō's comment from that morning that Purrcy was mourning for him and his guild, crying for her lack of ability to keep them protected. That thought brought back the thing she had told him the day she'd shown up at his morning practice, in that odd state that had caught his attention and led to him learning of what was going on behind the scenes.

He closed his eyes as he heard her words again. " _And so I should be content, neh? That's why the rest of them flock to you, you know. It's rare for men to care enough to protect as a matter of course and personal philosophy. Most care enough to help, but that's as far as it goes. ...Please take care and continue to stay strong, unless you're in the arms of the one who will let you be soft on yourself without allowing you to wallow in guilt at the same time. Even the strongest trees take the time to rest in the winter._ " He wondered if she'd known then. Perhaps even before.

Next came to his remembrance Nyanta's words to him just before their wedding that she was protecting him and had been. It made him wonder if perhaps both of them had already had some hints of what was to come. Had they been trying to warn him in what little way they were being allowed? Shiroe had said they were fighting in every way they could. It could be seen as that.

Soujirou pressed his fingers tighter against his lips. They mourned that it hadn't been enough. He mourned for the same reason, but he also couldn't deny one other thing. If Purrcy had been made to be the one to make him be traitor to everything he held dear to his heart, the full philosophy of his being, she had still helped him protect his guild by preventing the doors from being opened wide. Izanagi's pressure on them at the end had been a truth that he could not deny. If Izanagi hadn't been restrained in some fashion, by Purrcy or otherwise, far, far worse could have been done to him and his beloved guild. He hated being the one to have done the damage. He was grateful it had only been him. In that one way he'd been able to protect his ladies who depended on him for that protection.

When Nazuna called him, he returned to the main conference room and stood to hear the guild's decision. He was grateful that the vote was to continue to trust in him. The words of forgiveness and encouragement were calm waters on his troubled soul. But still, when he returned to his office and Nazuna closed the door behind them, he didn't refuse her soft arms that came around him and he didn't refuse to become the person he was inside at that time - sorrowful, angry, lost, broken. Purrcy had told him to accept his winter properly, and only in Nazuna was there one who would both require him to be honest yet not allow him to wallow in his guilt. In those arms was safety and the potential for the healing he so desperately needed.

-:-:-:-:-

"Gareth." It was Brenner.

"Yeah," he answered quietly, not wanting to disturb Tetorō.

"This is a good time to ask you. Do their spirits actually come to these places we're on watch today? Been wondering it for a while."

Gareth tipped his head, then shifted his psyche just enough to see into the spirit realm. He blinked, just a tad shocked. "Well...here, yes. Purrcy is here with Tetorō, but...it's like they're in a box. It's kind of like looking at a screen and seeing an image inside the screen. Tetorō's physically sitting here so he could hear me, but I don't think Purrcy could, and if he's not paying attention he wouldn't either. It's here, but not-here."

Gareth put his hand on Tetorō's shoulder and said close to his ear. "Brenner needs me for a minute. I'll be right back." He got a nod from the physical Tetorō, but not the ikiryō-Tetorō. He went down one floor and walked onto the patio. Brenner was sitting at the end of the lounge chair, resting his elbows on his legs. Gareth looked in the spirit realm. "Yeah, he's here - in the same way. Cat on the chair." Gareth reached out and changed his own matter to be just inside the spirit realm. He put his hand on Nyanta's head lightly, then pet him. He got a little bit of a flick of an ear.

"Nyanta says he got a feeling of kind concern, but didn't feel anything like a pet," Brenner said after a moment.

Gareth nodded. "Part of them being shut out from the world, I would expect. I suppose it's kind they're allowed to be where they're most comforted." Brenner allowed the same and thanked him for confirming for him his considered hypothesis. Gareth gave him a light fist-bump on the shoulder and returned to his post.

He let Tetorō know he was back as he settled back into position. It was a difficult place to be, but it was his duty so he did it, not-thinking about it. His own heart hurt and he worked on just existing in that time and space for the moment. Life was unfair most of the time, and expectations were made to be broken. It was better to just not expect nor dream. Reality faced as reality made for a lot fewer ulcers and broken hearts. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, returning to the reality he'd started with before he'd even joined the Navy. It was the safer place to be.

-:-:-:-:-

Fleeing from the world he could do nothing about, Nyanta woke to the strange landscape he played in with the construct of Purrcy. She hadn't called him this time, and the zone was still and quiet. He rose and lifted his nose, sniffing the air. The scents here were different than any other place he'd ever visited on Yamato. Still, he'd been learning to identify things using that sense. At the moment, it was only "grass", "dirt", "trees". There was nothing dangerous or concerning in the area. He stepped out from under his shading bush that kept him hidden while he was sleeping and ghosted along the edge of the area before stepping out into the open, instinctively keeping his sleeping place hidden.

It was so still, and he was so much in pain from the last weeks that he yearned for some form of company. He nosed around for a while, wondering what level of the game he was on. Eventually, he wondered where Purrcy was and his map appeared with her golden marker on it. He turned to put his nose in her direction, then carefully followed along the path that lead to her.

He was a little surprised when he reached the edge of the zone they typically explored together and he still hadn't reached her. He paused, one foot lifted and ears pricked forward, looking out into the next zone. It looked a little wilder. He looked back at the zone he usually explored, then smiled. It had been some time since he'd explored new territory, fought new enemies in new encounters. A quest seemed like a good thing right at the moment, and finding his wife an acceptable end goal. He turned back, sniffed the air cautiously, then stepped out of the safer zone and into unexplored territory.

Because this was a new zone, he went cautiously. When he saw potential enemies, he crouched low to the ground and watched them until he understood their patterns. He carefully hunted up to them to see what their range of attention was, but didn't reveal himself. He threw "rocks" to see what kinds of attacks they had and measured their strength and speed. The ones he could creep up on and seemed low enough level, he practiced defeating. The ones who recognized his presence very early, or who were very fast or powerful he left alone. Those would be better faced with Purrcy so they could divide the attention of the enemy. Besides, he didn't want to be Cathedraled out in this zone. That wouldn't be fun.

Always he kept his forward motion moving towards Purrcy's marker on his map. Occasionally he hunted the infrequent smaller game that was so scarce in this part of the world. Small insects were the most common, but occasionally he could feast on a mole or a mouse. Again, they weren't the same as in the world he understood normally, but they were similar enough to be considered the same.

He was getting tired when the marker on the outer boundary of his map finally started to move towards his center. About the same time, he smelled the first of the Blood Hounds. He went belly to ground and carefully sniffed out the number and locations of them. There were rather a lot, actually. A full pack for sure. He looked carefully with his eyes. Ahead of him was a stream he could just hear and smell, the scent tangy in his nostrils. Probably on this side of it was a tall tree, just the sort Purrcy would love to sleep in.

He wondered if she'd been treed by the Blood Hounds and was stuck, but as he lifted his head to look up into the tree at the higher branches, her marker disappeared from his map, making him blink. He looked down again and her marker reappeared. Apparently the map was three dimensional. If she wasn't _in_ the tree, then she was hiding another way then, or injured at the foot of it. He became concerned for the first time.

Rising to a low crouch, he circled the area the Blood Hounds were in. There was a flicker of motion in the tree and he froze. Searching the branches of the tree now that he was a little closer, he could see there were a number of Hunting Crows. An ear flipped in irritation. He ran through his magic item list. He could take out the Blood Hounds most likely, but not so easily if the Hunting Crows gave warning to his presence and decided to join the fight.

A slight smile appeared on his face when he reached the gift of earrings Purrcy had given him. He could fight all of the Blood Hounds, potentially awakening the Hunting Crows...or he could sneak past them all. He equipped the earrings, then intended that he move without being spotted at all.

Slowly he crept into and around the Blood Hounds, pausing lightly when they turned their noses his way, then moving silently on when they turned away again. He ignored the birds. As long as the Hounds didn't see him, they wouldn't either, at least according to his intention. As he neared the base of the tree, Purrcy's marker dropped off his map again. He paused to look up again, but still there was no marker. If she were hiding, anyone who knew her would assume she'd be up. He looked down, then farther down until her marker showed up suddenly on his map again. He was practically standing on her. He considered that, then looked at the base of the tree again.

The Caretaker knew all creatures, at least that was his assumption. He'd been in the foxtail villages, so likely she had too. It wouldn't be too unlike her to have as her hiding place the unexpected - a fox den under the tree. He moved on again, remaining as unseen as possible, until he reached the base of the tree. Carefully he nosed around the tree, looking for the signs of a fox hole.

He hunted until he found three of them. He put his nose close to the ground until he found the proper marker for which hole was the one she actually used. It was the smallest one that looked the most disused. Again, he wasn't surprised. He shrank as small as he could go and wriggled his way into the hole, then up and down and around the entrance tunnel that was made to be defensible. He kept his attention forward, just in case she'd set traps. He would have.

Just as he smelled a more open space in front of him, he halted. There was just the faint scent of something else lurking just ahead. It had rather the sense of a spider. He reached a rapier out very carefully and scraped the roof of the tunnel to make the spider fall, then to make the dirt fall on top of the spider, to make it look like a natural phenomenon had occurred. He carefully stepped a heavy paw on top of that place to firm the dirt around the spider so it couldn't move, then, still intending invisibility, he stepped out into the open space.

He sat there looking around. There were a few other spiders hanging about in the ceiling areas, but no alarm had been raised yet, nor did they seem to see him. This was obviously a working area, with a central comfortable seat that looked like a cross between a cushion and a couch. It looked like a futuristic central command of a ship of some kind, with four 'tv' screens set up around the cushion.

Here, like when they walked together in the first zone, there were occasional flashes of warm yellow light, though they didn't blind. One of the monitors showed that first zone and he recognized the bush he slept under, though the view on the monitor wasn't specifically focused on it. The other monitors were dark at the moment. He walked around to look at the back of the monitors and each one had a number of clear blue lines leading into them. He presumed each line would show something different. The monitor that showed 'his' zone had one blue line that was lit with a very faint yellow glow. That would be the connection to whatever 'camera' was watching there, then. He left it alone. He didn't mind her keeping watch over him.

She wasn't here, of course, so he looked on his map again, then carefully made his way around the edge of the room. Two tunnel mouths later, he caught her scent. He cautiously looked for another spider to be in that area, found it, and buried it the same way he'd buried the first one. As he made his cautious way down that tunnel, he kept further watch out for insects, killing and eating a few along the way. Who knew but that even they might give some sort of warning that would set off a trap of a collapsing tunnel or falling spikes or whatever. He was very sure that she would be protecting her person the most.

When he reached a place in the tunnel where it forked into three passageways, he paused and blinked. Smell didn't work because she'd scented all three of them too strongly to decide. Then he remembered the other bonus of the earrings was luck. He pulled on that portion now, intending that his luck would be high that he would find her safely. He swung his head back and forth, then followed the feeling of lightness that matched his joy and love for her down the left tunnel.

He had to do that another three times until he could feel the tunnel becoming slightly warmer. He very softly moved forward, taking out one more spider and one more insect, before stepping into a small den. Purrcy was very lightly glowing, curled up in a ball, sleeping. He silently stepped to her and lowered his nose to sniff at her lightly. She was very soundly asleep. He smiled, happy to have arrived and tired himself. He curled up around her and tucked his nose under her.

Then he paused, lifted his head, and coughed up two of the bugs, instructing them to return to their original positions and continue to keep watch. They scurried away and he retucked under her and closed his eyes, falling asleep shortly thereafter, very content and feeling very secure and safe.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy woke slowly as usual. Her nose said she was alone as usual and her ears said the room was empty, her breathing the only sound, though outside the bedroom of the High Priestess the sounds of others beginning their mornings could be heard. She dipped down into the code realm, as she always did before fully rousing, just to make sure things were safe enough, and to run through her history and morning checklist so she knew how to be this new day she'd been allowed to be aware.

Waking in the code realm was usually exactly the same as waking to the base realm. This morning it was different. In the code realm there was warm pressure against her back, and the gentle breathing of a second body rose and fell against her. Her nose said it was Nyanta. She lifted her head sharply in surprise and looked behind her.

Nyanta was, indeed, sleeping next to her - in the code realm. She blinked. It was rather hard to assimilate, actually. She wasn't prepared for him to be moving about in that realm. He was only ikiryō here, like she was. Somehow, he'd come into the code realm on his own. It took a bit, her ears wiggling as she worked it out. She carefully threaded her 'periscope' up to her sitting room, seeing the covered spider on the way. She wondered why the warning bugs hadn't given her warning, though, since they were still in position.

The command center was as she'd left it as well, but the sight of his coded present of the game she'd made for him made her wonder. She quickly checked on all her projects, skimmed her to-do list and the history attached to her physical felinoid form, all the while keeping a partial monitoring watch on Nyanta next to her. Then she moved the periscope line on up.

Most of the watch bugs were missing in the entry tunnel, and the spider had been buried there, too. The watch crows and hounds all showed a negative on having noticed anything or anyone entering the field around her fox hole. Even that entrance had been very carefully not disturbed much at all. However Nyanta had arrived, he'd arrived very carefully. She returned her periscope back to herself in the den, then considered Nyanta. She didn't want to wake him up. She carefully shrank him even smaller, then picked him up by the scruff of his neck, knowing that would keep him in kitten mode, and carefully made her way out of the fox hole.

She cautiously mirrored the exit so their passing couldn't be seen, then flew across the landscape of the code realm until she landed near his bush. Without giving away where it was, she placed him back in his sleeping hole. With one quick lick, she left again and returned to her own fox hole, resetting her defenses, then she went and found his ikiryō form using the link she usually used to find that form, locked in the box Izanagi kept him in. There, she groomed him until he slowly uncurled and stretched. He reached out and pulled her to him to cuddle while he finished waking up. "I found mew," he said sleepily, but also very proud of himself.

"So you did," she agreed, dying to ask him how and what he'd done, though she couldn't. She was surprised when he began to tell her anyway, and even ask her how to fight the larger enemies he'd avoided. She cautiously answered, not letting on she knew so easily.

When he reached the end of his telling, he asked, "So, when do we get to play the next level of the game together? I want to learn how to fight the bigger ones together."

Purrcy nearly lost it and fought to hide her laughter. She finally stood and shoved him with her nose. "Are you enjoying it so much?" she asked him.

"As long as you're playing with me, I am," he answered.

She sat down and looked at him, one ear lifted and the other flopped down in befuddlement.

He blinked at her sleepily, then lifted himself to look at her, then looked around the room they were in, his eyes going wide. He paused, then shook his head, which moved all the way down his body. His eyes opened wide, he looked back at her, confused.

"Did you expect to wake up somewhere else?" she asked him.

He opened his mouth, then stopped, frowned and shook his head. "But it seemed so real this time, to have found you there."

Purrcy rubbed against him soothingly, ending up with her arms around him to hold him tightly. "Well, perhaps it is, then," she said soothingly. "Would you like to experiment? You could go into the game while I watch you from here."

He frowned at her. "Will you come there if it is?"

"Yes," she promised him. "Stay in your hiding place and I'll come find you there." He gave a nod.

She watched him until he had entered the game she had given him. He faded out until he was gone. She dropped to the border between the spirit and code realms. He was gone from the room. Her head tipped and her whiskers twitched. Following her link to him back out, she found herself back with him again, as if she'd followed him to find him in the first place. They were in his nest under the bush in the game. She blinked at him and he blinked at her. "Interesting. Stay there just a bit longer. I want to see ...something."

Purrcy explored the boundaries of the game she'd written and found in the simple sweep of it that it was still bounded like she'd set it to be. Somehow, it was a loophole to his prison, though. She returned to his nest. "Will you wait a bit longer and watch over me here for a bit?" she asked.

"Okay," Nyanta agreed. She settled down with him and he curled up with her, just as content with that as anywhere else they would spend time together. Purrcy returned to her body in the shrine, then returned to the code realm again, intending for another of her fox holes. From there she sent out a sniffer to find where Nyanta was. She knew where he was supposed to be. She already had a line attached to his usual prison. It was currently showing an empty room.

The sniffer's visual showed a rather straight line until it was blocked. The sniffer tried to get through from other directions until it had marked the outer boundary of where Nyanta ought to be. She told it to hold, wait, and continue to send back data. Then she set a recorder on the data it was sending back so she could see what happened from outside that space. So far it was all what she expected - except his actual entry into a space. She'd programmed a set of zones and set protections around it so he could play and be entertained without being found by anything or anyone in the code realm. She hadn't expected that it would _actually_ create a new space within the code realm.

She followed her line back to find him and found herself blocked by that same boundary. That was interesting. Her whiskers and tail twitched. She paused, then did the same as she would do to return to her physical body, but returned to the self that was curled up with Nyanta. She woke up there the same as she would have physically. "Well, that is _very_ interesting," she said when she was alert enough. "I think I've created a space within a space in the code realm, rather like the Gate of Time exists in its own space but within the same space as Theldesia. That was an unexpected side effect. Could you take me back to where you found me this last time, do you think?" she asked Nyanta.

He thought about that. "I had the map to direct me last time, but I think I could," he answered. "Would mew teach me on the way how to deal with the other things I came across?"

"Sure," she answered. They rose to leave his nest. On their way she asked, "How far have you gotten in the game?" He explained the prior activities. "So...you've reached the point where I don't have the training me come unless you ask for help, then," she said. "Did you ask for help this last time?"

"Nyan. I wanted to find mew so my map appeared with a marker for where mew were and I followed that."

"And...you wanted _me_ not the game trainer," Purrcy mused. "Interesting. The intent must make a difference for that, too, though I suppose it would."

They reached the edge of the zones that Nyanta would usually work in and there was a barrier they couldn't get through. "Interesting." Purrcy sat on her haunches (they were just cats since that was easier and the game always turned Nyanta into a cat anyway) and wrapped her tail around her front paws. The tip lifted and fell in a slow rhythm as she pondered. "Ask the game to bring you the training Purrcy," she finally requested.

Suddenly Purrcy wasn't with Nyanta anymore. Instead she was back out where she'd been before, just outside the sphere where he was inside the game. Purrcy blinked. "IN-teresting," she mused, an eyeridge of whiskers going up. She sat out there, watching the area of the space he was in, trying to tell if it was possible to see it or see inside of it in different levels of speed or from other realms. Suddenly there was motion and Nyanta walked out of the space, coming towards her. Her mouth fell open. "You wanted to find me again?" she asked him.

"Yes," he said, purring in pride to himself. Nyanta not only had a loophole to getting out of his prison, he had a second loophole to getting into the code realm itself.

"Well, I guess I'd better teach you how to protect yourself then," she shook her head at him. "The dangers here are real. In the space I created for you, is safety, other than the few challenges I've written for you. They'll train you to be safe out here, too, though, since I based it on how we work in this realm. Let me give you companions for when you come during the day." She transformed into felinoid. "You should be able to do this, too, at least out here. Maybe not in the game space."

Nyanta focused, then did transform into felinoid. Purrcy smiled at him. "Good job." She called up one of her hounds and one of her crows. He was startled by both of them. She held her hand down to the hound and it sniffed her. It turned to Nyanta.

He cautiously let it sniff him as well and it curled around his wrist. He lifted it to inspect it. "Why do you have a Blood Hound that is tame, and why is it called that when it's more like a snake?"

"It's called a hound, or a sniffer, because it hunts for the scent of a specific set of given items. Like you can set it to hunt for the general term 'enemies', or for a specific person or thing like 'Tetorō'. It will just point to them until you tell it what else you want it to do. You can tell it to take down, kill, befriend, herd, or whatever you want it to do."

"Why do they come in packs?"

"When a Hacker wants to find something quickly, they'll create many of them and send them from his or her location to hunt as a pack, so to speak, until it's found. They usually all have the same orders, since they are copied from the original."

"So you can create these on the fly?" he asked surprised.

"I just did," she answered, pointing to the one on his wrist. "They're a cantrip, once learned."

"Oh," he studied the hound, then looked at the crow sitting on her shoulder. "And why do you have a Hunting Crow, too?"

"They're another cantrip. They're called crows when they're used as a warning that an enemy has been sighted and they can be very loud and obnoxious if you've set them that way. They're called hunting birds if you've set them to attack whatever has set them off. Again, you can specify what they're looking for, so they don't go off when they shouldn't."

"Don't they come in flocks?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Of course, if you copy them like the hounds. But you haven't written either, and I don't know if you can, so I'll give you these. They'll help you and come get me if you get into a bind you can't get out of."

Nyanta opened his mouth to ask another question and she leaned into him and kissed him, silencing the question. "Take them back into your game space. Give them watching and guarding instructions, until you know how to use them. The shrine maidens are coming to help me with the purification rituals. I'll come back when we're back to the boring part of the day. Then we'll have lots of time for you to learn all kinds of things."

She watched as Nyanta turned back to his space and walked back into it with his new companions following him. Next time she'd test to see if she could get back inside with him, and maybe out, too, but for now she needed to return. She flew back to her closest fox hole, checked on him in the game space to confirm he really had re-entered it, then returned to her body to get her day going.

For the rest of that day after her morning rituals were done, she felt like she had a teenager in the house again. She got to learn some very interesting things from him, though. It was the first she'd ever heard of a "natural" coder, who treated the code realm like the real world, rather than as a computer programming world. Learning he could "eat" the bugs and moles and mice secretly turned her stomach. She had no idea what that would do to him, so she cautioned him to be careful to not eat poisonous ones.

Remembering she herself ran around as small as bugs sometimes, she also strenuously cautioned him that some of them might be bosses in disguise. She made sure to check him out to see what eating her bugs had done to him, and to confirm that what he'd eaten on the way to find her previously hadn't caused any lasting harm. She was surprised to learn they slightly increased his Hacker points and his MP. There was one other thing it did, but she couldn't quite figure it out.

She would have to do more experimentation to understand, but there was time. In the mean time, she was saving out the knowledge of both loopholes for later so she could use them if she needed to escape again herself. The first one she wrote as her secondary test sample was a loophole to get out of Michael's ring.


	161. A New Priest

Shiroe sat in his chair in his office of Log Horizon, his head resting on his interlaced fingers, his elbows supporting him up off the desk. He wasn't breathing very well. He'd made it back to the guild hall from the center of town, but he needed to relax and that was making the immature kami want to have a say. "Shiroe?" the concern came from a distance. He nodded but couldn't gather himself enough to say anything. He was struggling to maintain his core identity, he was finally able to understand.

There were words said over and around him, then strong arms were lifting and holding him and he was suddenly somewhere else, moving through a stream of things he couldn't focus enough to comprehend. When he felt real earth under his feet, he also felt fresh air go into his lungs. It included the scent and taste of pine and other trees. Two sets of hands were on him, to either side, supporting him and helping him walk forward. He trusted those hands because he could do no less. Feeling them helped keep him anchored to his body and his sense of identity.

His hands were having water poured over them. He rubbed them together until the water stopped. A hand was raised to his lips. "Rinse and spit," he was ordered. _Right. A kami is trying to talk to me. Need to purify._ He was obedient and somehow managed to clap twice by himself, though they propped him up for the bow so he didn't fall onto his face. At the last moment he remembered the final clap. It helped a little, but wasn't enough and he was worried for a moment.

"It's okay. There's more. We'll help you," Michael's voice was very reassuring in the moment.

They helped him walk into a room. Michael's strong hands were surprisingly gentle, actually. "Strip. It's easiest if you just will the clothes back into your list." Tetorō's voice was quieter off to the side, talking to someone else. Shiroe was confused. "You have to do the next level of purification, which is bathe. We'll go in with you and handle that part, too. You look rather like the proverbial infant you're trying to contain in a body that isn't prepared for it."

Shiroe nodded. "Exactly," he managed to say. He tried to focus long enough to be obedient.

"Thought so," Michael said. "Very good. Here we go. Step down. Tetorō's getting the washcloths and soap.

Getting cleaned and letting the water of the hot spring wash over him helped, too. He was able to breathe a little better after that, but he was still not really present in the moment as he was still trying to fight back the kami until he could properly understand and face it. He rose to his feet and the two followed him and helped him get into the next room. They dried him, then themselves. A man appeared with three grey yukata and they got dressed fairly quickly. "We need two more assistants," Michael said, "but from your shrine, please."

"There is only me," the man said a little sadly.

Michael stood uncertainly, then said to them all, "Wait here a bit," and disappeared. Three minutes later he was back again. "We'll need one more robe, please. The fourth is washing in the hot spring now." The man nodded and disappeared again. "Here, let's get you into the meditation room to wait, Shiroe. That will help a little, too, but keep fighting the final stage for now. You've got one more purification to go through before you can face the kami."

Shiroe nodded that he understood. When they let him sink down to the floor, he went to his knees and just rested his hands on them. He focused on calm breathing for now. The walls of this room, and the incense burning in the corners felt like a protection, helping him that much more. He felt someone kneel directly in front of him. "Shiroe, are you aware enough to follow my words and remember them?"

Shiroe took a slow breath, then nodded. He might not hold on to them very long, but if it was short, he should be able to. "We are going to perform the next purification. It's going to feel like you're an aluminum can in the presser. Your cells will be undergoing a necessary transformation. I found the best way to live through it was to firmly hold intention in mind. What is your intention in becoming the High Priest of this new god? When we've begun the ceremony, relax and hold that as your anchor. Don't let it talk to you yet, though. That's the next room."

Someone came hurrying into the room. "Can you stand?" Michael stood and helped Shiroe stand. "Tetorō, Gareth, you'll both collapse, if I remember rightly, but you're Adventurers so maybe not."

Shiroe was led to the center of the room. He worked hard to remember what his intent was. To teach it balance, to be the voice of the people to it and let it be the voice through him...but mostly to teach it balance. He took a deep breath, tried to relax, and held on to that with all his mind. A light arose around him, then filled him from the top of his head to his feet. He held on to his intent and his will as the pressure represented by the light turned his cells into something new. He had to remember to breathe at some point as he wavered a bit from lack of oxygen, but it was over soon after that. The four people around him slumped to the floor, but no one was unconscious. That was good, he decided, blinking. "How do I see around the rainbows?"

Michael laughed a bit. "You don't. You get used to it. The other thing to do is to carefully want to be right where you are...for the rest of the day. You're a partial realm walker now, though probably not a strong one. Don't! Just think of staying here. It's painful at this level to leave the shrine. Just look at the dancing darkness. That's what Purrcy and Tetorō couldn't deal with when they got back to the guild house. It's all they saw."

"Painful," Shiroe said.

"Yup." Michael stood back up on his feet. "The rainbow lessens if you put it away like the status screen. I'm going to do me too, so I can sit with you. Hang on." Michael said the same words that had been said before for Shiroe, then stood there as he glowed for a bit.

"Wouldn't that have taken from Mister Shiroe's?" Gareth asked.

"Maybe it did. I wanted to make sure," Michael said. He turned to the priest of the shrine. "Is there already a protocol in place for when a new god is being made and the new High Priest is being readied?"

The man blinked. He disappeared for about five minutes, then reappeared with a scroll in hand. He handed it to Michael who skimmed it quickly. "Right. Then if you two will bring Shiroe into the upper room of meeting, hopefully it, we, and him won't explode. I'll do my best," he promised the priest. "Do come get us in the morning."

"I will," the priest promised.

"And don't tell the other shrines we're here. We're not on the best of terms."

"But...you're the priest!" he protested.

"Yes...but a wandering one, now. Kaede never did like me, you know."

"Ahhh...true. ...May I ask who the new god is?"

"Doesn't have a name yet, but it's emotions and was born in the First World Fraction and given will because of the Catastrophe, and it's picked him. That's all I know."

"You need to know... whoever stays in the room with him will become a priest or deacon of the new god as well."

Michael blinked. "I'm out, then."

"Me, too," Gareth said.

Tetorō sighed. "I'll stay. He needs me and I'll be with him."

"Good enough. I'll watch him from out here. If he walks and gets lost, I can at least get him back inside." Tetorō gave a nod to Michael and they got Shiroe moving. He was rather lost by all that conversation generally, but he was glad Tetorō was going to stay by his side and Michael would watch over him.

Michael walked into the central room of the shrine while the others waited outside it. Shiroe could see Michael bow to the wall he couldn't see to his left. He clapped twice, bowed again, then clapped again. "Inari-no-Sarutahiko, the dark emotions of the Ruquinjé left a cursing on the land and the people of Theldesia. We the Adventurers who have been brought here have accepted the quest to cleanse the land of that cursing. Please accept that offering that is ongoing and allow us to use your shrine for this one time for the new kami that is being given form and voice. Please accept my supplication for and in behalf of the new High Priest, Shiroe of Log Horizon."

"Rest assured he is doing all he can to ensure the new child is born to balance so that the land won't be cursed any longer by the dark emotions of the Alv and the Adventurers. We who are the Priest and Deacons of Inari-no-Izanami are also doing our part to see that the creations are restored to proper balance and will continue to do so. Please allow us to watch over the High Priest-elect in your shrine this once without retribution." Michael bowed again, wasn't struck down by lightning or turned into a palsy victim, so motioned for the three at the door to come in.

Michael took Tetorō's place, holding onto Shiroe's arm, and Tetorō prayed a similar prayer, then Gareth did the same. Oddly enough, it looked like the symbol at the end of the room they had been facing to pray to had faded from the scroll hanging on the wall. Michael traded back with Tetorō again and walked over to that wall. He took from his inventory a larger piece of high level magic paper and fastened it to the wall, reverently taking down the original scroll and setting it aside, rolled. When he returned he stood in front of Shiroe. "Do you see the paper?"

"Yes," Shiroe managed to say words and was a bit surprised.

"When the god asks you to show it where to stamp it's name, intend, show, point, whatever, to that piece of paper. We'll take it with us when we go. We'll have to build you a shrine behind the guild hall. You'll be here until morning, silent the whole time." He measured the distance with his eyes and had them move forward one step. "Lie down on your stomach, head towards the paper, arms outstretched to either side, then don't move again until we fetch you." Shiroe blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. You won't need food and to pee for twenty-four hours almost. It's rough on the body, this priestly thing. Holding onto the kami without it is worse." Michael pointed to the floor and Shiroe went to his knees, then lay down.

"Michael," Tetorō said quietly. "I was with her for the last part of the High Priestess thing. I'll help him through that."

"Good. That's the part I have no idea on," Michael answered. Tetorō sat on the floor behind Shiroe's feet and the other two walked out of the room, sliding the door closed behind them.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe lay there on the floor and was able to finally relax. His body was taken care of. He only needed to worry about the being that swirled just there beyond his senses. He sat in space, if it could be called that, and let the forms of the emotions swirl around him. They rolled around him like moving fog, grey. Occasional colored lights would flash through it here and there. As he felt them, distanced from his own sense of self as they were, he could tell the red was anger, blue was noble righteousness, green was compassion, yellow was selfishness, though he sensed that it was the basis for jealousy, irritation, greed, and a host of other minor emotions. A black flash went by - justice cold and unyielding.

He had no idea how long he sat there observing the emotions contained in the being in front of him, but eventually he started looking for the other ones he'd been trying to teach it. Internal to himself he asked for independence. In the distance was an answering flash of violet and he felt a little better. It needed more of the things he wanted it to have, but it had them. He asked for order and a flash of color went by in a wide band. That was good. He asked for loyalty and was hugged by a band of orange as if being given a promise and at the same time a charge. He could understand that. If it was picking him to be the priest, it would want to know if he would be loyal also. He nodded and it faded away. He asked for unity and a faint glow came from a distance. He frowned. Apparently there was still work to do there also.

For an unmeasured time he sat again, then he asked if mercy existed. There was no answer. He asked for compassion and it came and explained that he himself had been the example of that already. Shiroe nodded and was glad. He formed a picture of Purrcy and pointed to it saying she was mercy. The picture was swallowed up. He asked for joy and received a small, brighter red. He pictured Marielle. That picture was swallowed up.

He asked for love and the being swirled around him just a little more agitatedly and anger and hate filled him. He let it ride, but resisted it at the same time, explaining with intent that love was indeed the opposite of those feelings. He reached for selfishness and showed that it was also the opposite of love. Then he pulled on mercy, compassion, loyalty and said they were like love. Then he showed Purrcy with Nyanta, Purrcy in the kitchen with the young members of the guild, Naotsugu and Marielle, and then himself and Akatsuki. Each picture was swallowed up, but he could tell they were being tied to the three positive emotions. Shiroe paused to remind the being that his intention in becoming the priest was to teach it balance. It needed to understand and hold within itself love if it was going to hold hatred. There was stillness for a time and he rested in that time.

He was made aware of himself again when a sudden burst of emotions came at him as if to tear him apart. He did what he always did when that happened to him. He let it flow through him until it was gone, acknowledging their existence, but not letting it overcome him. For that space of time he was overwhelmed by emotions in their great variety. He cried, laughed, raged, smiled, everything in turn. In the end he felt rather wrung out, like a woman who had just watched her favorite movie to get all her tangled and overwhelming emotions out. He lay there a while after that, then tears slipped out and down his temple. _Child,_ he called out in this strange space, _there is more to life and living, even for you, than rage. The peace that can come to even you will lift you and bring even you joy. Please, continue to keep learning. Please, continue to work hard._

He was left alone a long time. The next time it came, single emotions came. This time, he let it learn what his corresponding emotional response to each one was. When driving sexual desire came - and he had known it would - he gave it the real response: revulsion, the same as he'd been giving it all this time. When greed came, he gave it sorrow. When anger came, he gave it righteous anger and mercy combined and compassion bound them together. That was a complex set so he made it let him rest a moment and labeled that a practice of compassion and mercy while he was at it.

It seemed a bit surprised to be handled that way. He didn't care. It needed to learn that it was capable of giving them the right way, too, and when the right moments were. When he was ready, he offered himself for the next one. They walked through more than he might have even thought possible and when it actually moved to the positive ones, he was happily surprised.

Familial love surprised him even more. It was a hard emotion to see, and it had always been a hard one for him, but this time he had his memories of his guild and his Theldesian parents to draw on and felt comforted. The full emotions were complex, but that one final emotion was the correct summary. His family was a place to receive and give comfort.

He had been in the space of nothingness for another long time when the being appeared before him again with a demand. He drew a symbol in the air and received confirmation. He pictured the magic paper on the wall. That image was swallowed and the being was still for a time, then pressure and power shot from the center of Shiroe up through his head and out of it. He held still and bore it, but it made him wince a little until the being withdrew again. It sat there as if looking at him for a time, then it asked a question.

Shiroe looked for a long time back at it then asked it to show him the balance it was in at the moment. He sighed a little sadly at the result he saw. _No. I will be your priest. You are ready for that. I will hear you and say what needs to be said. But you are not ready for the responsibility of a High Priest. I will still be that when you are ready. To reach a level you aren't ready for will damage you. Be patient a little longer. Work hard. We're helping you._

He wasn't surprised when it went through all the emotional phases of a young child. He waited patiently until it reached acceptance and patience with itself at the other end of the spectrum, then he praised it honestly for reaching the full understanding of itself it had just reached. Once again it disappeared to contemplate. When it returned, it was the equivalent of a bow of agreement and acceptance. He bowed back.

When he was returned to consciousness, he was on his stomach, pressed to the tatami floor of the borrowed shrine room. He took what felt like his first breath of air in a great many years. It felt nice to just rest on the floor and breathe. He even fell asleep for real for a while.

Footsteps outside the room woke him. The door slid open and he moved to sit up, holding his arm over his face to see the people at the door. They entered and closed the door behind them. Then he was able to put his arm down and look at them. Michael gazed into his eyes for a long time, then nodded. "You're alive."

"I am," he answered, "though I am nothing."

Michael nodded. "Then you've passed." He looked over to Tetorō and Shiroe looked also.

Tetorō still had tears streaming down his face. He gulped a few times, wiping his face with his sleeve. "If I hadn't had Purrcy to hold on to, I'm not sure I would have passed that."

Shiroe nodded. "She's the teacher for them all. It's right to hold onto her. The child will learn from even that example. ...Thank you, Tetorō."

Tetorō nodded, then looked away and stood up. "We need to go to the next one now," he said.

Shiroe shook his head. "No. I told it that it wasn't ready for a High Priest yet. When it's properly balanced, then I will become the High Priest. It's at a sufficient level for me to be a Priest, though, so we'll stop here."

All three blinked at him. "It was okay with that?"

"Oh, it threw a tantrum, but in the end it was." Shiroe stood and walked to the wall and took down the design the child-kami had put there. He looked at it for a moment, then rolled it up and put it in his secure list. Reverently he put the original scroll back up on the wall. He walked back to the center of the room and turned to that wall.

After the proper introductory ritual, he said, "Thank you, Inari-no-Sarutahiko, for allowing me to meet my god-in-training from within your shrine. I will continue to do my best to see that it learns control and balance so it can become a good kami for this world. It is learning well already. If you can, please also help it learn gently and kindly those things it still lacks. We will return this room and shrine to you, now." He bowed again and the symbol of Inari-no-Sarutahiko slowly reappeared on the scroll. Tetorō also gave his thanks, as did Michael and Gareth, and they left the room.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael led them through the shrine itself until they reached the upper room of instruction, where they seated themselves until they had come down far enough to go to the lower room of instruction. Shiroe wasn't ready to talk until they were in that room. Then he quietly told them what had happened in general.

"It's different than mine," Michael said, "but then, it's a different god. Mine was much harsher, but I suspect I'd rather have had it than yours."

"I think you'd make a fine priest for the child-kami," Shiroe disagreed. "You do a very good job of being a calm foil for your men and it's been even more important for Purrcy's wildness. If anything it's proof you could become one _because_ you became one of Izanami's. It would take a man of great patience to become her priest, I think."

Michael laughed. "Well, that is true. Perhaps I could, but I'm just as happy not. One's really enough and she's a handful as it is."

"True," Shiroe had to agree. He relaxed into meditation again for a while. When he was just starting to feel hunger pains again and his other bodily needs, the others rose. He went with them and was relieved it was to the bathroom first, then to sit on the front porch and eat a simple meal. They taught him the prayer of purification of the food, each repeating it over their own food, then letting him say it over his own. Just having it go from making his stomach churn unhappily to being desirable with that simple act was rather amazing. As he fed his starving stomach he asked again what was done to make it that way.

"Technically, the cellular structure is being changed so that it vibrates at a higher level. We're at the half-step between normal physical and the milli level. This is the level you'll get used to being at and dropped from without crashing. You have to come to this level to hear them at all. The next one up is in the full milli level. The lower room of instruction is kept at that level. The upper room of instruction is the next level - the micro level. We were all in the near-nano before that, while in the upper room of meeting. They work in the nano and above levels for the most part, but live one more layer up - the pico layer. At least that's as far down as they can come and be considered living."

"How will an entire planet's worth of Adventurers fight them, then?" Shiroe asked rather innocently.

They looked at him, then laughed a bit. "To say it so outright, right after being made the priest. Really, Shiroe," Michael scolded him.

"Ah," Shiroe's mouth hung open. "It isn't like they don't know about it. That was part of their message to us in Shangtzi, you know. That they already knew and know what the ending is - for them anyway."

Gareth shook his head and Tetorō sighed. "Okay, you're right, but still," Michael protested.

"Likely they'll put everyone through the purification process as we walk the levels," Tetorō answered. "It will have to be like a real dungeon, so they can have that effect on everyone."

That made sense. "Was this ever done for Nyanta?" Shiroe asked quietly. "I don't remember him ever being taken to a shrine before he had to carry Izanagi. That would have been very painful." The others were quiet, then Shiroe remembered. "No, he did tell me...when he first returned from the Gate of Time. The secretary that met him from the beginning called him Priest Nyanta, and every cat god had a temple there. ...Do you think he really was the priest from that early?"

The rest were very still. Tetorō put his utensils down and stopped eating. Michael and Gareth both gave him sympathetic looks as Tetorō's hand clenched. Michael looked at Shiroe. "Do you remember that not long after that was when we started all the subquests and we couldn't tell if Nyanta was Izanagi or Nyanta-san? We were all out of the rooms in the morning and by the time we returned he was already cooking in the kitchen. We wouldn't have known if he was purifying himself when he got up, nor been able to tell if the food was blessed. We didn't know any of this at that time."

Shiroe had gone stiff, remembering that time now, too. He slumped and put his hand softly on Tetorō's arm. "I'm sorry, Tetorō." It was a sorrow for something past they couldn't have known about, but he was still feeling the pain, anger, and sorrow again.

"I guess it's no wonder he was thrilled to be with Purrcy again in Nakasu," Tetorō whispered. "It had been a really long time for him to be the priest in the Gate of Time before that and only she would have understood how difficult it was."

Shiroe looked at his food, not too hungry now, too. "And it _was_ a long time," he answered. "He stayed to learn everything he could about what we're going to be doing next." He took a slightly shaky breath. "And I haven't even done the last step yet, like both of them have." The rest shuddered.

Michael was staring at the rest of them and he paused to rub both hands on his head roughly, trying to get his brain to work properly. "What was the order of things again, back then? This feels even worse than that." He rubbed his face with both hands. "Purrcy was kept really busy getting ready for the wedding and all of her different announcements."

"I put on the court the night before," Tetorō said, then moaned. "And she put that crown on him and then the necklace thing that she said she'd been ordered to put on him and was related to his new title."

Michael groaned. "As soon as that was on, then, Izanagi had an influence. That's what I was afraid of. It was after they were married - which was also a step required by the flavor text - that the whole crazy abuse thing happened that took him straight to the Gate of Time."

"Yeah," Tetorō said darkly, "and that wasn't like him at all, for all they had the excuse they were teaching the AIs."

"Right," Michael was emphatic. "But it was _exactly_ like the jealous High Priest, and calculated by the AI to bring Nyanta-san to a place he could go through the steps to really _become_ the High Priest." The men all slumped

"No, not liking that at all was he?" Shiroe agreed. They all gave up a prayer from their hearts for Nyanta in the Gate of Time at that time and even now. Of all of them, he really had been paying the worst price from nearly the beginning.

"I thought Izanami and Izanagi couldn't get into the Gate of Time?" Gareth asked tentatively. "Wasn't he only initiated in the ways of how to purify there?"

Michael and Shiroe looked at him, wide eyed. "They might not have the control over time they want in Theldesia's physical level, but tell me...where can they not go...ever?" Michael asked him quietly. "Remember your lessons in that room." Tetorō shivered having just come from there himself so having had a close reminder.

Slowly Gareth pulled in on himself. "Nowhere."

Michael and Shiroe both nodded solemnly without answering any more than that. Rather of one accord they all decided lunch was done and saved the left-overs for later. Michael rose to his feet and offered his hand to help Shiroe stand. Gareth and Tetorō got to their feet and they walked to the stairs that led down the mountain and started the trek down them at a slow, comfortable pace. By the time they reached the bottom, they would be back to physical levels in their cells.

"Nice kimono, by the way," Michael complemented Shiroe without looking at it.

Shiroe blinked and looked down. He was in a blue kimono with red as an alternating color and in the threads of embroidery. He'd kind of noticed Michael was in his black with red one, and Gareth's black one. He looked at Tetorō's. "That's rather wild, Tetorō," he said.

Tetorō looked at Shiroe's, nodded, then looked at his and groaned. "Really, Purrcy and Izanami and their terrible color sense." He changed it to look like he wanted it to look like, using the color schemes of the two gods so they went together better and firmly said, "And they better leave it."

"Izanami's wasn't bad," Michael protested. "It's probably the new one's fault."

"Probably," Shiroe agreed. "It really has no sense other than Chaos at the beginning and at the end, really."

Tetorō sighed. He rolled his eyes at Gareth. "My turn to draw the short stick - again."

Gareth looked away, putting his hands behind his back. "Better you than me, man." When Tetorō shoved him, he looked back with a kind smile. "You've always been thicker than me. Your strength is still incomparable, you know that, right?"

That made Tetorō walk a little more proudly and the rest relaxed. Shiroe just caught Gareth rolling his eyes as he looked away. He smiled a little. He was glad he was still walking with companions.

"Ah, Shiroe," Michael scratched his head and only sort-of looked over his shoulder, "if you tell anyone - really _anyone_ \- about what just happened while I and my guys are still around...I'll have to kill you...for real...until we leave."

Shiroe blinked. "Right. Not like they'd believe me anyway. ...Well, other than Crusty, and I'll swear him to secrecy."

"Okay...but that's really one more than I like."

"I know, but...he'll ask and I have to stay accountable to him."

"He probably _won't_ ask, he'll just know, and it's better to leave it that way," Michael countered.

Shiroe considered that for the next ten to fifteen steps. "Well, you're probably right. If it comes out that way, I'll just let it go there."

"Thanks," Michael said. They were all able to relax again about twenty steps later. They still had about one-thousand-nine-hundred steps to go. It wasn't worth staying worked up that long, not when they really preferred to be companions who understood one another even a little better now.

Shiroe was determined to enjoy it anyway. He was going to miss the Eagles and Michael when they left in the near future. He wished them well and he wanted to enjoy their company while he could - even if they were in the trees half the way down the stairs from where they were, waiting for them to get there. They all put away their priestly robes before they got close enough for magically enhanced eyes to see them. They were close enough to the base realm speeds it was okay by then anyway.

"I learned why we had it so rough just now," Shiroe commented out of the blue much later.

"Oh?" Michael asked.

"Yeah. Because we got rid of the Overwritten, we got rid of the thing that was sucking up the emotions to keep the child kami's growth slowed down. Because it got to absorb more emotions worldwide it's growth rate grew about half-again and it showed up here because I was here and settled over the city, too. So even though Izanagi was being a royal pain, it was worsened by having the emotional child here, particularly without any Overwritten to come down and slow it down."

Everyone groaned. "It's going to behave, now, right?" Tetorō glowered.

"Well, you're a deacon. It should listen to you, right?" Shiroe asked back mildly. Tetorō gave a deadly half-grin.

"Not really," Gareth said mildly. "Deacons are to be used and abused, not listened to. It will still only listen to you, Mister Shiroe."

Shiroe sighed but Tetorō still looked like he was going to give it a fight if it deserved it. Shiroe nodded. That would be just fine. It needed more of that to understand better. He stared at Tetorō for a moment, then said, "Ah...Akatsuki."

They rest looked at him, confused, Tetorō staring back at him, until he finally got it and his eyes flew open wide. "She's going to kill me for going first, and...she's going to really hate the kimono."

Shiroe gave a glum nod and the Americans laughed and patted them on the shoulders sympathetically. "Maybe she'll opt out when she sees the kimono, then?" Gareth asked. He got sharp withering looks from both Shiroe and Tetorō and shook his head.

-:-:-:-:-

Hiroki picked up the rotting log and turned it over. A smile slowly blossomed on his face. The mushroom he was looking for was there on the log in abundance. The whole log disappeared into his list. He carefully put the few left on the ground in his list as well. He'd gone to Shiroe and asked for permission to spend the worst of the time expected in Akiba exploring Yamato. Shiroe had kindly given him a detailed map and Hiroki had been supremely happy to find that some of his favorite places had been clearly marked on it. He could spend the next three years out in the zones happily hunting ingredients.

He'd picked the most likely places to give him the ingredients he was getting low on that were necessary for the Chinese dishes he liked to make. He expected regional differences in flavors, but that was part of the excitement of cooking. Having made a satisfactory find, he looked around more generally. The swamp was quiet. The Adventures had even cleared this area up pretty well. He was hoping they'd not taken out the monsters he needed for not understanding some of the more esoteric drops.

A sound caught his ear. It had to be the Bulbous Bullfrog! Using his ears carefully he started stalking the area the sound was coming from. He got ready. They couldn't be put to sleep or the flavors changed. He'd learned on his own when he'd lost too many in a row how to catch them by putting them in his list as soon as he caught sight of them. He was just getting close when his ears heard a different sound. He held still, hoping the new sound wouldn't scare the bullfrog off. The new sound was getting closer faster than he was closing in on his target, but he was determined. With the practice of years, he shifted his angle of approach to the bullfrog.

A figure crashed out of the brush and the bullfrog jumped. Hiroki quickly put the bullfrog into his list before it could splash into the watery bog, then turned his attention to the new encounter. "Ah! Turn left!" he cried out. The young woman veered instantly. The larger sounds coming from behind her crashed through the brush and Hiroki immediately threw up a Thorny Hedge, keeping the five orcs on the straight path. He'd picked his personal preferred drops off of them before they'd finished sinking into the bog.

There was a whine, then a barking. "Yomi-kun!" The young woman had turned around and was standing at the outer edge of his Thorny Hedge. Hiroki looked back at the other side of the hedge. He saw a golden retriever, an oddity on Theldesia, then his eyes widened at what was behind the dog. Without thought, he swept the dog into his list, then was casting Hungry Moss where it had been. "Run!" he cried. The girl hesitated, then with a shiver turned and ran. As soon as she was far enough away, Hiroki let loose Hazardous Haze over that whole area.

He moved very stealthily in the direction the young woman had run to make their paths cross. He didn't like the sudden squeak and struggle that happened next, though. "Let me go!"

He liked even less the evil baritone laugh. "I see that my unusual Summons have properly done their jobs."

Hiroki's heart sank. He might have been helping her, but in the process he'd not helped much at all. He might not want to face an evil and powerful Adventurer, but he was obligated to rescue the young woman now that he'd already gotten himself involved. First would be learning more about the enemy, though. Was the Summoner a solo or the leader of a band of brigands? It made a difference. He was pretty sure neither one knew he existed, except the girl had heard him and obeyed, so likely had a guess. She wouldn't likely say anything though.

Hiroki pulled a Wisp out of his list and sent it after the closest "enemy". He followed it cautiously. Five more Wisps later and the sixth one returned to him. So, at least four, since they might have counted the young woman as one, too. That meant they would eventually huddle up in one group, but he really didn't want to wait too long. He had ingredient hunting to do and he'd hoped to have a vacation for once...though really it already had been. China was a lot more difficult to hunt in than the tamed Yamato.

Hiroki arrived, following his Wisp, at the edge of a clearing. Four men, one holding the young woman, were standing in the field. The Summoner was just finishing casting a Summon spell. That wasn't good. This looked like they were summoning a flying beast to escape on. He'd not likely be able to help if they did that. He frowned in concentration, then cast a Constrictor Vine on the far side of the party from the young woman. He purposely made it rather small for now, thought it still headed for the man closest to it.

"As long as that dog's taken care of, we've got it made," one of the other men said.

Hiroki immediately put the dog right behind the man holding the young woman. It bit that man, who screamed, and the young woman was running - not exactly the right direction, but it was at least _away_. There was lots of cursing and mayhem. Hiroki put a Pitcher Plant next to the Summoner and there was suddenly another one near it. Hiroki blinked. Had that been Maestro Echo? He looked around and found the young woman in the field and looked at her status. He was so surprised he froze for a few seconds. "Miss Isuzu, is that you, really?" he asked on the chat.

"It is," she said sounding a little confused.

"Ah, it's Hiroki," he thought perhaps he should say it.

"Chef Hiroki? What can I do for you?"

"Run towards your right, at about the same distance from those men as you're at right now," he instructed.

Isuzu looked his direction in a great amount of confusion. He sent her a party request. She paused, then accepted it and headed his way. He quite startled her when he moved enough to let her know where he was when she arrived. With a gasp, she said, "I never would have thought to have found you out here!"

"It is surprising," he agreed. "I've been hunting ingredients. It was quite surprising to have you and the orcs and all show up suddenly."

A shadow passed overhead and Hiroki ducked instinctively. He looked up. "I was right. We didn't want to be around when that showed up."

Isuzu swallowed. "No, not really." She was as close to the ground as she could get in a crouch. "And I'd really not like to leave Yomi-kun to be eaten by it either.

They looked back at the party in the field. The pitcher plants were nearly dead and Yomi-kun was keeping the other two men occupied. "Timing will be critical," Hiroki said soberly. "The Summoned has to land before I can affect it."

"I can get Yomi-kun at the right time," Isuzu promised.

"Okay," Hiroki said.

His plans were turned, though. The Summoner sent the Skeletal Dragon after Isuzu instead of having it land. They both dodged, but as it flew up in the sky again, Isuzu ran back to Hiroki. "I think we should ride it," she said.

Hiroki blinked at her. "You're insane. Summons have to answer to their Summoners."

Isuzu shook her head. "Can you keep that lot down on the ground?"

Hiroki turn around and let the Constrictor Vine grow all it wanted to. Isuzu almost didn't get Yomi-kun out of the way in time. The Skeletal Dragon was already headed their way again. This time they both caught hold of it's bones as it flew at them. They clambered up the jungle gym of bones until they were able to find a place to sit near each other up near the neck.

Isuzu pulled Yomi-kun back out again and held on to him tightly. "Mister Skeletal Dragon, I know you have a contract with that terrible Summoner, but if we help you fight him to help you break your contract, will you help us?" Hiroki blinked.

[Is that a promise you can keep, child of the Caretaker?] Hiroki was very surprised.

"Well, we can only try," Isuzu admitted. "Chef Hiroki's pretty strong though, and I can help boost his spells. We only have to defeat him, right? Not the whole party?"

[Correct.]

"I think we can do it. Are you willing to let us try?"

The Skeletal Dragon turned them towards the center of the field. Acid Breath was released over the party below. Hiroki followed that up with his special sauce - a blend of Sleep, Poison, and Petrification that was his Hazardous Haze. Usually one of them was effective against an enemy. It fed his Constrictor Vine, too, so it grew even more, to replace what had been hacked down by the enemy Adventurers. Hiroki was intrigued at how the Acid Breath was like watering the Constrictor Vine. New plants of it were suddenly sprouting up from the ground.

"Circle around a bit so I can see to control the vine," he called to the Skeletal Dragon.

It did, and he made the vine more vigorously attack the Summoner specifically. There was suddenly a small army of Undead Soldiers - of the skeletal variety - hacking at the vine. "Can you do Acid Breath again?" Hiroki asked.

[Surely. The Summoner requests it, even.] The Skeletal Dragon sounded humored. He flew in low again and let off another volley.

The little Constrictor Vines grew into large ones that quickly wrapped around everything in the center of the field. Hiroki added another Pitcher Plant and Maestro Echo added a second again. "How long is the cooldown on that one?" Hiroki asked.

"I can double cast that one now," Isuzu answered.

"Good. On the next pass, do that and I think we'll be done." Hiroki spent the longer time it took to cast his next spell, then asked the dragon to take them lower again, but not too low. They didn't need to become the next targets of the Constrictor Vine. Hiroki cast his Druid Spirit Call. They couldn't be seen, but deep inside the mass of the Constrictor Vines, a host of Poisonous Pixies was called up. Isuzu's Maestro Echo doubled them. They would bite and prick the men caught in the vine. Their damage would be both physical and poisonous. Hiroki liked them because sometimes things couldn't be poisoned, but they could still take physical damage. It was always good to have at least two effects per attack, just in case.

A new Summon was rising up in the middle of the field now, but the Skeletal Dragon was lifting up into the sky much higher now. [I am sufficiently free of the contract. If you wish to continue fighting, I will leave you behind.]

"Oh, no, we'd rather not," Isuzu hastened to reply. "Really, I'm sure we'd rather be dropped off near Akiba, if it's on your way home, so we won't have to run into them again in the future."

[That is a simple enough repayment.]

"Thank you very much," Isuzu said. Yomi-kun disappeared, but then it wasn't easy for a dog to hold on to bones without biting them, and it was safer for Isuzu to have her hands free for holding on herself. Hiroki just enjoyed flying for once. He and Isuzu had a pleasant time talking about their adventures, though they were quite glad to finally get off their hard and bony ride and walk towards Akiba's walls (after polite and proper thanks were given and received). Really, Theldesia was full of strange and grand adventures.

-:-:-:-:-

The walls of Akiba came into view. Guild-sisters moved closer to guild-sisters and friends looked at friends with concerned looks, but everyone had a germ of excitement as well. Rieze had told them to pack up half-way through the day before. They'd had to go an extra distance away to get to the second hiding place, so they'd camped out the night before. They'd all wanted to go home, but they hadn't felt any different. More than one had pressed her to make sure she was thinking straight herself, and she'd finally given Marielle permission to contact Naotsugu for confirmation.

Just watching the relieved tears stream down Marielle's cheeks was enough to convince them, really, but it had still been concerning. However, today, the closer they got to Akiba, the more they were able to relax and not feel so irritable, strung out, or in a hurry to get home. They were all hoping that meant things were a lot better in Akiba.

Minori watched the tree that was Purrcy's silver maple until it was behind the tall wall of Akiba. They timidly chose to enter from the back gate, like they'd left. That way if they did still need to run and escape they shouldn't have drawn too much attention to themselves. From the outside it looked unguarded, but suddenly she knew who was guarding it. Without realizing it, her feet instantly had wings. Touya was turning to look for her as she passed through the gate. She flung her arms around him and he held her in return, both of them glad to see the other again.

Minori didn't hold on to him too long, wanting to make sure. She pulled back and looked him in the face. "It's really okay?" She searched his expression. He looked a lot more calm than the last time she'd seen him, though he still had a very mature air about him.

"Mm," he nodded. "Yesterday morning Shiroe-kei used the anger of the Alv and Adventurers to banish Izanagi. We've been freed from the requirement since then." He let her go and bowed more formally to the people who had just arrived behind Minori. "Rieze-san, Marie-anesan, Henrietta-san. Thank you for your hard work. Let me tell Akatsuki-jou you've arrived. She might have specific instructions."

Rieze had everyone wait while Touya talked to Akatsuki. When he was done, he stepped up to be heard by the waiting crowd of women. "Akatsuki-jou expects there to still be some residual reaction when your arrival is understood by the city as a whole. While everyone is relieved this much is over, and they are very busy preparing for the final battle, each guild did have damage done."

"Akatsuki-jou is contacting the guildmasters and asks that you divide into your guilds and wait here for them to come speak with you so you can understand before your arrival. For those who are unguilded, if you'll gather together Akatsuki-jou will address you herself." Touya moved to the side, to return to Minori's side. The three older women got everyone going on dividing as they entered through the gate.

"Minori," Touya said quietly. "Shiroe-kei won't come, but I'll tell you what I can. Michael, Tetorō, and Gareth took him to the shrines. They're supposed to be back soon. He had to let the kami enter him to get rid of Izanagi, but that meant he had to go through the purification ceremonies before it overwhelmed him. He'll be a priest when he gets back. As far as our guild, we managed to survive sufficiently honorably. Tetorō was able to use the fight against Izanagi to get out the worst of his anger from the last four months. He still needs to have quiet repair time, and we're worried about how he'll do when the Eagles leave, taking Purrcy with them, but we'll have to take that as it comes, I suspect."

Minori nodded. "What about Rudy and the boys? Did anyone contact them?"

"I told him when we talked yesterday evening. They'll be back by dinner, he was thinking," Touya informed her. "The Eagles have been packing the Oki Watarimono today and leave tomorrow for their part of the final of this round. Chef Hiroki went ingredient hunting before the quarantine was put into place. He just contacted me from Grandpa's Kitchen. He's checking on how well it survived and getting it readied, but there's no hurry to open it. We still need to get basic ingredients and all that. We've been waiting for Shiroe-kei to return and contact Duke Sergiad so that the People of the Land know they can come back."

Touya shifted, "It's a little bit unknown, too, because if most of us leave for the final battle at the Gate of Time, then we're not sure whether to start things at the same time or wait until we all get back."

"When do they expect it?" Minori asked.

Touya shook his head. "If Nyanta-san were walking, or even going by flight to Minami, it would be two to three days from yesterday, but he vanished suddenly, so if he's become like Miss Purrcy then it could be any time. We're just waiting to hear word from Minami. Several parties have already gone out since they didn't need much time to get prepared." His face closed down a bit. "Hamelin being a case in point. Though...to be fair...they actually were one of the better behaved guilds in town, already being used to hiding while here." He looked away in distaste, "And one of the guilds already used to enjoying the harlots of the People of the Land that were Rudy's bane. Most of them hid out there, apparently."

Minori made a 'yuck' face. Given their experiences there, they'd not have suggested that to anyone, but if they were already bedfellows, then they couldn't say much. "Will that lead to pregnancies there?" she asked, curious.

"Not likely. They've got flavor text that prevents pregnancies and we already know the Inari can't break flavor texts."

"Oh, true," she had to agree. It was relieving actually.

Touya looked at her with a sober expression, then put his hand on her shoulder. "Minori...thank you for staying safe and doing your best when you couldn't so well."

Minori gave a nod. "I wasn't afraid, Touya. I was concerned, and perhaps if you and the others hadn't come when it was important, I would have have been. We've already been through so much here that it seems so much easier to hope and be patient. Even if no one had come, I would have fought to protect myself as best I could." She smiled at him. "After all, the worst that would have happened would have been I'd have Cathedraled and found you here."

Touya's face crumpled a little. "So much worse could have happened than that, Minori," he whispered.

Minori shook her head. "No, Touya. You've been teaching it to me all this time. Hahaue is watching over us her children. She wouldn't have just stood by to watch something like that."

Touya's face slowly relaxed and he finally gave her a small smile. He pulled her into a gentle hug. "That is true. I think she would have roared ferociously and stolen you off while smashing the house in grand fashion." Minori giggled at the image. He sighed and finally relaxed. "It's good to have you home, Minori. Welcome home."

"It's good to be home, Touya," she rested her head on his shoulder briefly. "It was hard, but we all worked hard and were able to make it. Thank you for all your hard work, too."

-:-:-:-:-

"I'm home. Let's have our intermediate meeting, shall we?" Shiroe's kind, warm, and calm voice was exactly what everyone in his guild wanted to hear. Those still out of the house immediately turned their duties over and hurried home. It had been so long since Shiroe had been able to be calm that hearing it in his voice made everyone feel the weight lifting from their shoulders.

Naotsugu called Marielle. She was done with settling in her guild and offering to the solos that they could stay as long as they wanted, so with a deep breath let out to cleanse her lungs and her mind and to move on, she was out the door and doing what she'd been wanting to do since she'd had to walk out of sight of the walls of Akiba. She wasn't content until she was in Naotsugu's arms and he was holding her as tightly as she was holding him. "That was so hard," she whispered to him. He nodded back in agreement. No one made them separate until they were ready. Soon enough they were sitting cuddled on the couch.

Tetorō fairly danced through the door, leaped over the back of the couch and landed next to Naotsugu, then leaned over and gave Marielle a warm and happy greeting, then teased Touya just to see Minori smile. They were all pleased to see him smile back the older brother smile that knew and was happy it had all turned out okay. Minori greeted him warmly and they chatted briefly until Akatsuki dropped in from the tree.

That meant she'd been running the roofs and dancing the wind on her way back. Eight Eagles landed quietly behind her. That was even better, if they'd been considering her enough to give her the final gift of one more time in flight together. They sauntered to their positions as Akatsuki went to hers. Since that was next to Minori, too, they exchanged hugs, since Minori knew Akatsuki probably needed one and it didn't hurt for her to get one in return. It was when Akatsuki shyly took Shiroe's hand, though that everyone was able to turn their attention away from her. She was good. Learning the strength to be the one to do that first had come out of her struggle with herself. She'd had her victory, and Shiroe was pleased with it by his small smile, proud look, and faintly pink ears.

"Hey! Anybody home?" They all turned to the door and large smiles broke out on faces.

"Isuzu!" Minori jumped up and ran to give her guild-sister a hug. "Welcome home!"

"Thanks. Ah...is it meeting time?" Isuzu asked, a tad confused as she looked at the room over Minori's shoulder.

"You're just in time, actually," Touya grinned, leaning back in his chair. "How do you manage to time this so well?"

Isuzu and Minori walked over to their chairs. "I just go with the flow," Isuzu shrugged. "It seems to work pretty good, actually."

"It does, doesn't it?" Tetorō waved a hand airily. "Now we just need to wave the magic wand -"

"I'm home!"

"As I was saying," Tetorō grinned as everyone in the room laughed.

"Welcome home, Rudy," Shiroe said kindly. The rest welcomed Rudy, but he wasn't the only one walking in. Michael, Reed, and the rest of the missing Eagles piled into the room after him.

"We picked him up on our way in," Michael said informationally as he took his chair. Everyone settled down into their places and took one group deep breath and gave Shiroe their attention.

Before he could do more than open his mouth, there was a soft purring. Everyone blinked and looked around. A calico galaxy swirl cat appeared in Michael's lap, to his utmost surprise since one would think Purrcy would show up in Tetorō's lap.

"I do hope you don't mind me crashing the meeting," Purrcy said softly. "It's awfully hard to stay away from the family at times like this. I've got Nyanta riding with me today, too, so we can all be family one more time before the next and final round of this level." Her ear flicked lightly at Shiroe. "I'll go if you'd rather, though."

He stared at her, then shook his head. "If it's really Hahaue and Chichiue, we'd be glad to have you."

Purrcy settled down in Michael's lap, curling her front paws under her chest and her tail around her side. The tip of it rose and fell in light, slow rhythm.

Shiroe cleared his throat and began again. "Welcome home everyone. Congratulations on making it to this point. Thank you for working so hard to get here, and for your consideration. I think that if my own relief is anywhere near yours, we are very glad to have that behind us. What is next will be hard, but it won't be difficult like that, I would think."

He paused and looked around the room and his emotions were very much on the surface. "I'm very proud of you all and honored to be your companion on this journey. Thank you for walking with me." The warmth in the room was like a big hug and it filled everyone, helping them heal.

"Log-Horizon-city," Naotsugu said with a smile and a thumbs-up. Everyone agreed with him.


	162. Mid-Level Rest Farewell to the Eagles

"It's too bad Hahaue and Chichiue couldn't stay, but it was nice to have them visit," Isuzu said.

"Umhm," Touya said, walking with his hands behind his head. The four juniors were taking a walk to just be together again for a bit. They were on a short break after the guild meeting, but there was time before dinner. The Eagles had offered to make it again, and that had been fine with Minori and Touya. They'd just finished working out a desert to have as their part of the offering for the meal.

"Do you think it will be for about the same amount of time again this time? Until the kittens are born?" Rudy asked. "I mean...I know they have to go to the Gate of Time, but it won't be years, will it?"

Isuzu clasped her hands behind her back as Touya shrugged. "I would think it could be like before," she allowed.

"It could be even shorter," Touya said. "It may depend on when they get over to the Americas."

"I think...," Minori offered and they listened, "it may depend on when the world quests get done. Isn't the next level the final boss level? They'll come just before that's ready, I'd think, as the sign it's time to start that one, like when Purrcy arrived the other times."

They thought about that for a bit, and had to agree. It was a bit worrisome, though, because they didn't know how long that would take. In itself it could take a year if things were difficult around the world. The train with MarketMaker and Kanami was moving forward steadily, really, but it was still hard to judge time.

"Well, in the end, time still marches forward regardless," Rudy finally said. "We move along with it to the best of our ability and hope to enjoy each day as it comes. We know they'll be back, and we certainly don't have a lack of things to do in the meantime."

"That's true," Isuzu allowed, "not to mention once they're in the Gate of Time they'll finally get to relax a bit - we hope," she rolled her eyes a bit since they all knew that Izanagi and Izanami likely wouldn't care much about that part.

"They do want to see what Adventurer parents are like and how they affect their children, though," Minori opted to see things on the bright side, as she was wont to do, "so they are more likely to leave them alone to see just that."

"Actually," Touya rubbed his chin in sudden thought, "Demikas is in the same boat, isn't he? I wonder if we'd see or hear from him first? That might be the predecessor, actually. ...Though," he went back to putting his hands behind his head, "I might not want to get too excited even if he did." He winked at the others. "Sometimes it's better to just be happily surprised when it happens." They smiled back and agreed.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki shifted from foot to foot. It was hard to look at herself in the mirror. The butterflies in her stomach didn't want to settle. How could someone her age - who had finally made General material, could Assassinate without blinking, was firmly her lord's ninja - feel so unsure still? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Purrcy had already given her opinion on this outfit and Akatsuki was _absolutely positive_ this was the right time to wear it.

Setting those two points firmly into her being, she opened her eyes and firmly inspected herself in her mirror as if she was looking at one of her friends instead. The colors were difficult to see on first glance, but only if it was her she was seeing. She had to admit they were rather a nice combination. Like Marielle and the others of the guild had said, they looked good on her, too. Surely...if there was any day they needed the final lifting from the grey horrible winter they'd been having, today would be a good day for it.

She'd not been able to bring herself to wear it at their worst. Somehow she'd been too depressed, and it hadn't seemed proper when they'd been working so hard. As if it would have made their efforts frivolous, though she was sure Purrcy would have nipped that in the bud quickly if it really had been appropriate. But today they were finally seeing the sun again through the clouds over their lives. The colors would reflect that feeling, she thought.

She had to also admit her other reason for wanting to wear it since she was trying to be honest with herself right now. Purrcy had called it "adult", and thus it would send a message. Akatsuki drew in a breath for courage again. She wanted to say her words to Shiroe today. She wanted to face Shiroe as an adult and be seen as one so she was taken seriously. Wearing the proper clothing would help that, like he also always dressed appropriate to the occasion. She'd been working and struggling so hard she really wanted her reward immediately; however, it might be too soon. That might be the part she was struggling with. If it was improperly timed it wouldn't be right. She didn't want to sour it by doing that.

Akatsuki heaved a sigh and looked at herself in the mirror helplessly. She reached into her list and on her finger appeared her night bird. She flicked it into the air and it fluttered up to sit on her mirror, looking at her. She looked at it soberly. "Hahaue. I'm sorry to bother you, but please, I need some advice. I won't take much of your time."

The night bird cocked its head at her and blinked. After a moment it bobbed its head up and down and gave a little chirp. "Is it too soon? I want to tell him now, today, but we've only just reached this point. I don't want to do it wrong."

The little bird stretched its wings out, flapped them a bit, then fluffed them back onto its back. The eyes looked at her closely. "Pretty," it chirped.

"Thank you. You did say that before."

"Pretty, pretty," the bird sang at her, as if to strengthen her.

She smiled. "I understand, Hahaue." The bird nodded and bobbed, content with that.

Its head tipped to the side again, then the bird settled down on top of the mirror. "Follow the flow. You will know if the time is right and the words won't be held back. If it isn't time, just enjoy being pretty. Smiles will be most appreciated regardless, as will the effort to look your best. Be happy."

As the night bird blinked at her, Akatsuki considered the words carefully. She had to admit that she would appreciate being the recipient of said course of action. With a little bit of surprise, she also realized that it was what she loved watching most about Shiroe. He had his world ordered and organized and it flowed around him. He didn't force anything and he didn't have to. That didn't mean he couldn't direct it or change it or say things. It just was most natural and ...somehow _right_ when it flowed along like that.

Akatsuki blinked, stunned a bit that she herself could act that way if she chose to. She mulled that surprising revelation over for a bit. Then she relaxed and stood up straight. She could do it. She smiled back up at her night bird. "Okay. Thank you, Hahaue." She held up her hand and the bird flew down to it. She held it to her cheek and they rubbed cheeks for a bit, so she could get her Hahaue hug and encouragement. Then she patted the bird on the head and put it away in her list. She felt much more calm now. That went with the image she was trying to show, too. She put away her mirror, allowed herself to remember she wasn't perfect so she shouldn't get overly prideful, straightened her shoulders, and _glided_ out her door, a faint smile on her lips. It was finally a day to be happy again.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō was on the roof. He made sure he was alone, including putting up a secure personal shield. It was just enough to make the Eagles at least turn a polite blind eye. He wasn't doing anything he was all that worried about, it was just personal. He held out his hand and a box appeared in it. It occurred to him that he didn't know what size was going to come out of it, so he sat on the roof and held it in front of him, then set one hand on top of the box.

A cat materialized in front of him. He stared at it for a bit, then said, "I know it's too early for this, but I thought I'd better run the initialization now while I'm rather calm. I do like to focus on making things perfect, you know."

The whiskers twitched up on one side. His lips echoed it. He studied it, then closed his eyes and visualized several permutations until he had one he was pleased enough with. When he was ready, he placed that image into the cat. Then he opened his eyes and watched as the cat in front of him had the coloring change. He'd made it white and fluffy to match what he considered his perfect inner self, but he'd kept one ear black and the front paws with black mittens. That was to remind himself that Hahaue still expected him to be real.

As he inspected it, he ran his hand down the side of the cat, feeling the soft fluffy fur. His fingers paused at the back hip. There in the white fur was a golden swirl. He'd not put that in. He traced it with a finger, then bowed his head slightly. She'd marked it as hers as well. That would also remind him who the giver had been and why.

He took his hand back and sighed out his breath. "Okay." He studied the cat who studied him back. "You have to be willing to be cuddled, and not scratch. You can't be pushy when I'm busy, but you can let me know when I've forgotten I need to relax. Remember to purr for me when I'm sad. And I do want size changes, though this size and smaller will be most common, I think. It's just sometimes I want large when I need to feel more protected. ...And I think I'll name you...," he paused and frowned.

He hadn't really thought that far yet and somehow he wasn't sure. He'd already named the other two after constellations. Quickly he ran a search spell through the internet database. "...Andromeda, because she was saved by Purseus. Since the two of you are close enough, I think that will work, plus it's a good name for someone like me." He tossed his head. "Okay. Let's see what the size changes look like."

He enjoyed sitting with Andromeda, working to get each size just the right amount of fluffy or not fluffy (kitten and large didn't work as fluffy as well as regular cat did, but he found a soft length that worked well enough). When he was done, he stood up again and held a small-cat fluffy Andromeda and pet her while he looked out over the city. It was nice to have a quiet afternoon for once.

-:-:-:-:-

"Good luck, then, Michael, and to all of your men as well," Shiroe said, rising to stand up on his feet from his leaning on the front of his desk. He held out his hand and Michael took it firmly and warmly.

"Thank you, and to you on this side. When we can, we'll be in touch. I hope the pictures work that far away, but I won't hold my breath." He gave a lopsided smile. "If it's an emergency, I'll pour half the men into it and we'll see if we can get through."

"Okay. Then I'll hope to not hear from you," Shiroe smiled back.

Michael gave a larger grin and let go of Shiroe's hand. "I'm sure the Inari will let us know when it's time. They won't want anyone left out, most likely."

"Likely not," Shiroe agreed, pushing his glasses back up on his nose to settle it more firmly in place. "Honestly, I'm both surprised and relieved I got to escape the trip - either way around the world. I hope it's because I get one bye and not a surprise cursing." He walked with Michael towards the door to his office.

"We'll assume it is then," Michael said, then saluted casually as he opened the door.

"Which one?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow as he asked.

Michael gave him a secretive look. "I wonder?"

Shiroe made to shove him out of the room and he fled before the motion, chuckling at Shiroe and his tease. Shiroe scanned the room, noting Naotsugu was missing and Isaac was sitting in his seat. Shiroe gave Isaac a nod and he got a casual one back. It wasn't hard to guess that Naotsugu had been stolen away (willingly) by Marielle. Isaac was just as happy to press the passing Michael into banter instead. Shiroe smiled to himself and closed his door.

While he couldn't fault his good friend, it did suddenly bring up a slight flare of jealousy. He also had been missing his other half quite badly during this time. He paused just slightly at that thought. "Other half" was an unusual concept when it came to him who was so put together. He took a deep breath and walked back towards his desk, but he paused closer to the seating area. "Akatsuki, I can meet with you now," he said calmly. He wasn't perhaps too calm with that particular beginning thought, but he had things to tell her and an apology he should get out of the way earlier than later or he'd pay worse for it. Plus it would get rid of the jealousy bug early. There was no call for it today.

Akatsuki materialized between him and the door. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at her, then had to stop and appreciate her efforts. When she finally shifted, he blinked and swallowed. He'd rather not been thinking during that appreciation and he had to fish for words. "Ah...if I honestly said I'm speechless, would that be considered a complement?"

"...If it's a complementary speechless," she allowed.

"It is," he was quite sure.

"Okay," she smiled at him and his eyes widened and he was captured again.

"Um, I think it's going to be hard to remember to breathe soon," he said and turned away to walk to the couch, though he didn't sit just yet. When he looked back, she had an interesting expression on her face. He was instantly worried. "Sorry," he apologized. "The effect is a bit more than my system can take and very...attractive." It was a poor word for the full effect, but perhaps it would convey some of what he was feeling.

"It isn't like you to stumble over words, Shiroe," she scolded him, but he thought she was rather enjoying being able to in this case.

"Sorry," he apologized again humbly. He paused, then said, "I need to tell you what happened at Shrine Mountain and make an apology. Please sit," he gestured to the chair opposite from where he was standing. Akatsuki's brow creased slightly in worry, but she sat, perched on the edge of the chair rather than kneeling on it. He wondered if she felt that the clothing didn't lend itself to the kneeling, then decided, looking at her expression, that rather it demanded she sit properly. Not because it was uncomfortable but because of a similar reason to the affect it was having on him emotionally. In another flash, he realized what it was. She'd come dressed for the occasion. His breath caught briefly and his heart beat once just a little harder. Akatsuki had really worked hard and thought about what she wanted. He bowed to that determination. He wanted to know why, but first he needed to do this part.

"Akatsuki, it was necessary for Michael and Tetorō to take me rather immediately to Shrine Mountain so that I could go through the purification rituals so that I wouldn't be overcome by the child kami. However, that process was the same one to initiate the Priest of the kami. I'm sorry we didn't think to take you with us. That would have also been the proper time to have had you become the shrine maiden of the same if you wanted it." Her eyes opened wide.

He kept talking so she wouldn't internalize it the wrong way. "Because Tetorō was there, and he knew he would be here and with us, he sat with me. He is also sorry that he was made a deacon before you were. We all know that if you wish it at all, you would have wanted to be there as well. I'm sorry circumstances were what they were."

He took a quiet breath. "It is still possible for you to become an initiated shrine maiden, of course, but we need to construct the shrine to the kami first. We were allowed to use one of the other shrines temporarily because it was an emergency. It would have been nice to have still had the Eagles here to help us build the new one - it would have gone up quickly - but I think we need to carefully consider how and where we want it built. We'll need to consider what the requirements for one here on Theldesia are as well."

He bowed formally. "Please, will you be the shrine maiden for the kami I carry and help me in my duties? Even if you can't go through the rituals until the shrine is properly built that much you have already done and can continue to do." He held the bow for another two seconds, then rose to standing. He looked in her eyes solemnly.

Her dark brown eyes looked back into his. He could tell she was carefully considering her answer to him. He waited patiently. "It's true I would have preferred to be there as well," she agreed. Her eyes fell to her hands, lightly clasped together in her lap. "I suppose I will need to work on not being jealous when I think of it. ...However, there were things I needed to do here during that time. It was good I was here." She looked at her hands a little longer, then looked back up at him. "I do want to be the shrine maiden for the kami and stand with you as I already have been. That hasn't changed." Her head tipped a little and her lips pursed slightly as she thought a little more. "I would like to participate in planning the shrine, too, so I can understand it...and feel part of it."

Shiroe gave a nod. That only made sense, and he would have carefully included her anyway, particularly as his repentance for their oversight. "I'm sure I would be glad to have your thoughts and opinions," he said.

Akatsuki got a bit of a wistful look. "Would...Tetorō be considered the senior?"

Shiroe paused. "I don't know how the hierarchy works here. Surely he would be the senior deacon and you the senior shrine maiden. But..., I do know that he isn't thrilled to be clergy to two kami at once. I'm sure if you'd like to take on more of the responsibility so he doesn't have to, likely he won't complain too much. And if he does, you can mollify him easily, I would think, just by reminding him of that one little fact." He could feel the smile in his eyes.

Slowly that same smile rose into Akatsuki's eyes. "He does complain enough about being Izanami's shrine maiden. It must have been a depressing thought for him."

"A bit," Shiroe agreed carefully. He didn't want to say too much where it wasn't his place to. "I did appreciate his presence, though, and am grateful he was there. It was a difficult thing. This world is very real in that moment." The memory of it, still so fresh in his mind, made him sober again. He looked at her for a silent moment, then asked humbly, "May I sit, please?"

She looked at him in surprise, then gave a firm nod. "Of course."

Shiroe sat down in the center of the couch and gave her his sincere attention. "Have you learned a Mystery that allows you to walk through walls?"

She looked questioningly at him, then shook her head. "I came in when Michael-san walked out. I wanted to see you first." Meaning she had wanted him to see her efforts before anyone else did.

"I appreciate your consideration," he said humbly. He clasped his hand together, interlocking his fingers, and resting them in his lap. He really wasn't quite sure what to do with the poised and in control Akatsuki, and was terribly curious by now as to why she'd chosen to take this position. "May I ask...what the occasion is?"

That flustered her slightly, but it didn't take her long to give her answer. That was a very good sign she had indeed thought about it very deliberately, though he'd perhaps been a little more direct and to the point than she'd been prepared for. "Hahaue suggested I wear this on a winter's day that we needed to remember the sun. It seemed appropriate to me to wear it on the day we finally are seeing the sun."

"That is a good reason," Shiroe agreed. When Akatsuki paused again a little longer than normal, he said, "It has certainly encouraged me to see you looking brilliant, like the sun shining brightly off the wet and glistening surfaces of the world after the rain storm. ...Though you've not gone contrary to your own coloring and preferences, so it has an even greater effect." He watched her, trying to see what the deeper motivation was, if any.

The back of her neck pinked up and her eyes dropped. "Thank you," she said softly.

That was two clues. She'd remembered her lessons from Hahaue almost naturally - so she'd somehow been talking to Hahaue in the process or at the very least thinking of her. And...she had an emotional reason for it as well. As his brain worked on it, he had to also work on his own physical and emotional reactions. All the links quickly pointed to her having a formal and romantic reason for it. He wondered if his system would be able to take that, too, on top of everything else he'd undergone since the day before. It wasn't going to right at the moment, though he wasn't overly inclined to prevent it. He did spend a few quick cycles to make sure he was sure they weren't going to have Izanagi show up last minute and cause further complications.

Akatsuki's hands clutched together a little bit tighter and she took a breath, then sighed it out lightly. He carefully kept his face at kind and attentive as her eyes rose to look up at him again. "Shiroe. I don't know...can't tell...when is the right timing...but I don't want to wait any more. It has already been too hard until now, and I selfishly want my reward for my efforts."

He froze on the inside while at the same time another part of him exulted that she would say it. "I'm listening," he said gently.

She took another breath, blinked, and said, "Shiroe. I love you. I want to be your girlfriend, and some day perhaps your wife, if my selfish wish could come true."

Shiroe had to drop his eyes. He gazed at his thumbs without really seeing them. Her intensity was more than he'd ever had to face from her before. It was nearly overwhelming. He also needed to sort out his own sudden surge of emotions before he answered.

When he had it sorted out, he looked back up at her slightly concerned look for taking so long. "Thank you, Akatsuki. I also love you. I would be pleased to be your boyfriend and consider the potential of becoming your husband someday, if I can learn to understand how to be such a thing. ...While such a thought still concerns me, I very much would like to walk with you all the rest of my days. That would make me very happy, I think."

His fingers tightened against each other and he had to swallow again. The glow on her face in addition to her appearance from before were really more than he could handle at the moment. He took a deep breath. "While I suspect that such declarations are often followed by hugs, kisses, or other such things, I think it might be best if we didn't ...until after dinner tonight." The tension in him was rising, and she went to slightly disappointed.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's for two reasons. One is because having been at the level of the kami to talk to it all night, I'm not really quite at the normal level yet. Michael and Tetorō have told me that it will be until then before my cells finally relax enough to handle touching people who aren't also at the same level. Like when Tetorō and Purrcy arrived from the shrine the times before."

Akatsuki nodded her understanding of that. He took a silent breath. "The other reason is...because we likely won't want to let go of each other for a very long time once we do touch." He blinked. "It really has been a very long hard time. I have missed you very much."

Akatsuki slumped at that explanation and looked away. "That...is very true," she admitted quietly and her own hands tightened together. She finally sighed and look at him from the corner of her eye and he had to look away. It was too fetching and therefore tempting. "I wouldn't be able to let go either," she admitted. He gave a brief nod without looking at her. He merely focused on breathing normally.

There was something else that had to be done if that was what she had wanted to say to him. He rose to his feet. "Perhaps, then, you will come walk with me," he suggested. "There are other things I have been wishing to say to you, but this isn't necessarily the place for them."

Akatsuki jumped up from her chair, giving a nod of acceptance. He gave her a soft smile of reassurance. He'd been waiting a long time for this, really. The most sincere expression of one Adventurer to another that they cared this deeply for...speaking about their real past and revealing who they really were to the other person. It had sometimes seemed a frightening prospect, but today it only felt right and he was calmly looking forward to it.

Shiroe opened his office door and escorted Akatsuki out of it. He smiled a contented proprietary smile to see the appreciation of the others in the room for her hard work to dress up, and he was inordinately pleased and proud that she'd done it all for him. "We'll be back in an hour or so," he said to Isaac and Michael. "Certainly by dinner."

"No guards?" Michael asked.

Shiroe shook his head. "Not this afternoon."

Michael gave a nod and they were waved out the door. Shiroe led their feet towards the Academy. As he turned them onto the road that led to Purrcy's tree, he cautiously reached out and gave Akatsuki his little fingers to hold. That seemed to not be too much touching for his cells, and just enough to satisfy his craving need. He relaxed and so she did, too.

It was really a very beautiful winter's day, and the colors she brought to it were just the right touch to warm it up and say spring was near, just around the corner. "Akatsuki, back on Earth, my name is..." He gave her fingers a squeeze and listened as she told him her name, her eyes looking into his sincerely. They sat and talked on the rock by the pool for a long time, getting to know the real person behind the avatar of Theldesia, holding fingers until they were scolded back home for dinner. It was a pleasant evening, and a very nice reward for all the horrible effort they'd had to go through until then.

-:-:-:-:-

"Excuse me, everyone!" The voice was a deeper voice than normal for such a declaration. The rapping of metal on metal got everyone's attention even if that didn't. The tongs were held in the air over the grill as eyes fastened on the sturdy Monk standing behind the grill. "Thank you all for coming. Honestly, it was a hard call. We know it's probably more appropriate at this point in time to have things still be rather quiet and solemn, since we're still in the middle of serious things, but we can't help the timing. We can keep it toned down tonight, but we wanted to say our farewell appropriately to everyone. Hahaue promised us a cook-off, and we've been out gathering food-stuff anyway - plus we won't get to grill for the entire time we're on board the ship. Open flame and ships don't make good mixes out in the middle of an ocean." That got smiles of agreement.

"Thank you to Crusty, Isaac, Crescent Moon League, and all you other guildmasters and friends. We have enjoyed working with you. Please continue to watch over the tiny guild that does big things here in this place for the world. We'll be counting on all of you." The Eagles gave out a cheer of agreement. "To our family here, and a home away from home for us, Log Horizon, thank you very much for welcoming us for this time," he bowed to Shiroe who tipped his head back. "Keep moving forward. You are all awesome. We'll be cheering you on from the other side of the globe and pulling for the same goals you all are." The Eagles cheered again. The guild was mixed between smiles and almost-tears.

"With gratitude for Serera-chan for saving the vegetable left-overs from last time so we didn't have to cook those this time, we present for you the meat and barbecue cook off. Please try some of all of them and cast your vote. It's ready - dig in!" He brandished the tongs at the grill and the filled plates warming at the edge of it. A few disappeared quickly, being pulled by the boys who were much more careful this time to take ones that wouldn't make food fall on the ground and putting the limiter on that if someone else took the one they were looking at first they wouldn't interfere and cause the mishaps of the first time. Many of them had very satisfied grins on their faces as they triumphantly bit into theirs immediately, the warm juices running down their chins.

There was enough meat plated already that it didn't cause troubles for those who were more politely walking up to select their skewers. The Eagles had been cooking since the end of the guild meeting, storing the completed ones in their lists to keep them warm. Those were the ones on the plates now. They were still cooking, knowing the appetites of the people they were cooking for (including themselves, though they ate as they went as they were habituated to doing).

The conversations weren't overly rambunctious, but it was still a party. In that sense, those who were there were finally able to finish relaxing just enough to not be on high alert. That was the ulterior motive to having it be a party. The Eagles knew it was important to take the rest breaks whenever you could get them. The battle that would be next would be serious and everyone would be focused again, but the stress of the long walk just past them was too much. A serious rest now would help everyone move forward with more strength rather than less. So the Eagles bantered with each other and with anyone and everyone who walked up to the grill.

As all twenty-four didn't all need to be cooking at once (the grill was large but not _that_ large), they also walked the crowd, talking to those who needed talking down from the edge of the cliff or encouragement to stand back up and walk the next mile. It helped them, too, for the same reason, though they'd have a final drinking party on the roof when it was over to finish relaxing in their own way. It also helped them combat the encroaching sorrow at leaving family behind again. It was temporary, but in a strange place like Theldesia they'd still grown fond of Log Horizon and Crescent Moon League, and had made friendships - even if only a few. Plus, to them it really was worth celebrating a victory over their jailers.

"Really," Touya scowled at Avionics, "you guys really are just like a swarm of older brothers. It's going to be way too quiet around here."

Avionics smiled at him and pushed on the scowl wrinkle on Touya's forehead with a forefinger. "So it will go back to being like normal," he teased. "Plus, you're the big brother now, handling the responsibilities. We'll be looking forward to our Grandpa's Kitchen treats when we break them out to celebrate. If it gets too busy, yell at the spoons. They'll sigh back at you just like we would." At Touya's disbelieving stare Avionics laughed. He clapped Touya on the back, then patted him on the shoulder a few times. "You've got this, Touya. We'll come by and chat again when the stars and the orders align again. Memories carry us through until then. Always keep fighting the good fight. It's worth it in the end." Touya gave a nod of agreement and understanding.

Michael had a lot of people to say his farewells to. He had to give Crusty and the other guildmasters time for sure. There was the final encouragement to Shiroe and definitely to Naotsugu with some comforting words thrown in for Marielle who needed to be able to stay strong for her husband. The one that he made sure to not miss during a quite moment was Serera. He slipped into a seat next to her. When she turned to see him, her eyes went wide and she bowed from her seat. "Mister Michael."

"Serera-chan. Thank you again for the vegetables. We didn't want you to feel left out," he winked at her.

Serera gave him a shy smile. "Well, Miss Purrcy and I did say that we wouldn't cook for this one, but I haven't quite known what to do with the left overs since the boys would rather have the meat, and it seems odd to have just vegetable ones by themselves. I'm glad I could have the opportunity to offer them."

Michael considered her, then said gently, "Serera-chan. It will be like before. They'll be gone for a bit, but they'll come back again. Hold on to Marie and Naotsugu, and the kids - your friends. Let them be the family you need until they can get back." Serera looked down at her hands. "You've been getting stronger every day, and I think that's a good thing. Let the family that is here continue to help you with that. Everyone cares, even if they're busy. Don't forget that communication is a two-way street and for all we can do magic here, we still can't read minds. Open your mouth and let them know what you need."

Serera stayed looking at her fingers for a moment longer, than looked up at him. "Mister Michael...why do you care?"

Michael smiled. "It's my job to care. But it's also because I'm watching over Purrcy and Nyanta now, and they also care. I promise. We'll properly do our job in the next set, and we'll get you home. Don't lose hope and don't let go." He firmly looked at her. "Promise?"

Serera looked at him with a rather calm expression on her face. "You know...if we do make it home...I'm not going to want to remember you."

Michael's face went soft. "I know. ...And that's okay. It's okay to want your life and not remember any of this. This is hard - too hard, really. It can be forgotten when life is simple again. But you will always have the strength you learned here. Never give that up. You've earned it. It's yours."

Serera looked away, then gave a small nod. "Thank you, Mister Michael."

He rose to his feet. "You're welcome, Serera-chan. Best wishes." He walked past Marielle on his way to his next needed conversation and sent her and Naotsugu to sit with Serera to enforce his lesson to her to keep her family close. He hoped for her sake, and for the sake of all Earth humans who were also nearly ready to give up, that they could resolve this soon.

"Hey, partner." Tetorō looked over and gave him a tired glare. "Thanks." Tetorō looked away, then gave a nod. "I know you're going to be super bored with no one around to tease but the juniors, but try not to blow things up too much." Tetorō gave a snort.

Michael put his hand on top of Tetorō's head, then rubbed it. "Come here," he ordered. Tetorō didn't, then sighed and did, wrapping his arms around Michael. Michael held him gently. Quietly he said, "If you want one more night of protection before I go, I'll be waiting. The offer's open. Then you can go back to being hard, cold, and angry with me for leaving, even though it's Shiroe's fault." Tetorō pounded his head on Michael's shoulder to punish him for even saying it.

He didn't commit and he shooed Michael off shortly after, but that night, after every one was in bed and it was quiet and dark, Tetorō slipped into Michael's room, let Michael haul him up into the hammock, and slept in the warm, protecting embrace of his partner one last time. He watched from the roof-top in the cold grey of pre-dawn as the Eagles left the next morning, then took his shivering cold self down to his own bed and finished sleeping while curled up under his blankets and holding Andromeda closely to keep him warm. It helped that she was big enough to also be protecting, and that she purred.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe had been lying awake, alternating between listening to the people preparing to leave the guild hall, leaving it, and then Tetorō's door closing, and feeling rather self-conscious mixed in with relieved and a few other stray emotions. When the house settled again, following Tetorō's return, he finally sighed at himself. He missed a lot hiding in his office. There wasn't anything to do for it now, though.

He rolled over and tucked Akatsuki into his chest. She snuggled in, not awake enough to be embarrassed. It was perhaps harder for him since it wasn't his normal bed. The couch wouldn't fit them both.

It really had been too hard to not spend the night holding each other. It was the second time, though he didn't remember much of the first one, having already been asleep when his sorrow had called her to come comfort him. He'd woken up rather mortified that day. This morning, he was somewhat embarrassed, and perhaps even a tad worried, mostly in the way it had been hard the first few times she'd rested her head vulnerably on his shoulder. It was new and uncomfortable while at the same time exactly what they needed and wanted.

Shiroe closed his eyes. It would be good if they could all sleep in this morning. They'd had entirely too many days and nights of really bad sleep schedules. He quietly whispered a low level sleep spell, intending it to work on him as well as the entire rest of the guild, and with some relief slipped back into peaceful and restful oblivion.


	163. Mobilizing Against Inari

Michael inspected the special room Gareth and Brenner had upgraded for Purrcy on the Oki Watarimono. They'd learned some rather subtle nuances inspecting the rooms the Inari kept the ikiryō in. He was pleased they'd put in just the minimal number of variables to its lock. Mostly it was a puzzle lock that she could only unlock to get out of the room if she had all of her parts present, and then had an additional key that was a cipher. She might have the several hundred thousand years to calculate all the permutations to discover it, but it wasn't likely she'd care to work that hard if they were treating her nicely.

They'd made one final change to the room after their job at West Wind Brigade. Now that they knew she could be anyone, they'd changed the permissions on who could enter and leave the room so that a password had to be presented. Michael properly registered his, then it was time for their final meeting.

Half of the Eagles stayed with the Oki Watarimono with orders to get it into the bay and anchor off the coast near Shrine Mountain. The other half would go with Michael to Maihama. Michael sent on those who had to fly and stepped into the safe room for a final test of if he could get into and out of it properly.

He got in just fine, then touched his Spirit Ring and took inventory. "Come out, all." He added Purrcy's misaki cat form to the lineup.

He was looking at three who blinked back at him. "Since you can get out whenever you want, I'm leaving you here. It will simplify my life, I think," he glowered at ikiryō-Purrcy. He was quite sure it was she herself who had figured out a way out of the ring. How she'd managed to get her misaki form out of his list he had no idea.

"Okay," she answered.

"And I'll thank you to stay out of my lists from now on. It was kind of you to put the mikasi back, though." Ikiryō-Purrcy blinked at him, then merged with the mikasi. He turned to the third. "And is there a reason for dragging him along? Isn't he going to be needed when he gets chased into the Gate of Time?" Ikiryō-Nyanta's tail waved softly and he stood calmly.

Around his irritation, Michael was trying to figure out how she'd managed to spring Nyanta, though if she'd figured that out, it might not be so surprising she'd found a way to get out of the ring, or vice versa. He'd have to warn Gareth and Brenner to hunt for how she'd done it so that they'd not lose from the start on the room he was standing in.

"Nyot really," Nyanta said. "Izanagi actually quite likes to visit in the Gate of Time. That's where he stays when he's nyot on the mountain, and he's almost never on the mountain."

"Even if he's not High Priest?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nyanta tipped his head at him. Michael blinked and thought about it a little deeper. "Ah. Kill the Yamato High Priest in the hearts of the people and all that's left is the god-in-physical-form that runs the rest of the world quite happy to be logical."

"So," Nyanta nodded his head.

Michael pursed his lips. "Sorry, but you don't get freedom yet. Nyanta, Come, Enter, Sleep." His ikiryō slipped into Michael's ring. Michael looked at Purrcy. "You don't get to remember he's with us." He cast the spell he'd been working on that was a combination of the control spell the shrine used on her when they'd finally taken her to the mountain and a general history erase based on what he intended to have forgotten. Her eyes went wide just before it hit her. She slumped to the floor. He looked at her dispassionately, then stepped back out of the room, the passcode getting him out nicely. The final result of that spell would keep her unconscious sufficiently long.

"Okay, all set," he said to Gareth. They walked leisurely through the spacial realm, not in a hurry since the others still had fly time. "So, how _did_ you manage to get to priest without having to make all kinds of promises?" Michael asked him.

Gareth gave him a dry look. "Got gifted with Spiritualist on arrival, or something. It shows now as a secondary Class, since the lessons."

"Got a work-around then," Michael gave him a knowing glance.

Gareth shrugged. "Probably more like a generic to cover for any philosophy. It's my Programmer equivalent."

"I've got a special for you, then," Michael said. "Start on it now. It's likely to need to be big. They've got the blessed purification weapons, but it would be good if they could actually see their opponents. Put a time-limiter on it so you don't have to pay quite so much. They'll need it to last long enough to get up the mountain."

"Will I be casting it in town?" Gareth asked.

"No. When we meet up with everyone at the foot of the mountain."

Gareth nodded. "That's a nice long time for creation ...and a horrible rebound if it ends up too big."

Michael shrugged. "You don't have to start building it up until we've heard how many we'll be taking up with us." That was a sufficient answer for Gareth.

They stepped to the inn the leaders of the anti-shrine faction were stationed in and looked around from the boundary. It was quiet this early in the morning. Michael set a hound to search for the person he needed to talk to and followed after it. When it entered a specific room, he paused outside the door to the room and dropped into the base realm. He knocked on the door. When he didn't get an answer, he told the hound to wake the man up, then knocked again as the hound faded (this one only stayed around for one instruction after finding its target). He got an answer this time. He gave the code phrase to let the man know that it was time to get moving, then told him he'd be waiting below.

Michael stepped back to Gareth and they entered the base realm together at the doorstep of the inn and entered it. They were seated and ordered breakfast for themselves and the man on his way down the stairs.

By the time they were done eating, the rest of the People of the Land and the Eagles had arrived and were eating their breakfast. The leadership held their meeting quickly and orders were handed out shortly after plates were removed from tables. It would take two days to get to the foot of Shrine Mountain, so they didn't dally.

-:-:-:-:-

Kazuhiko called up a chat with Nakalnad. "I think there's a cat trying to eat our city full of canaries."

"Oh?" Nakalnad asked, paying interested attention.

"I don't know if he's in town as himself or not, but I'm getting more reports from my officers of sexual interest and predation in the darker parts of town. I had a couple of the more recent reports investigated in more depth and the people who know those involved say it would have been unusual behavior. I've got the whole department on high alert, looking for clues. It would help if we could get more eyes and brains hunting him down."

"I'll get my men on it," Nakalnad promised. He paused, then said, "And I think it's time to offer that special we discussed."

"Okay. What time shall I meet you?"

"Give me a half-hour to get things here settled down and to get us a little closer to when most will be in town."

"Okay. Will do." Kazuhiko let the chat drop and got his own list of things to do settled enough he could leave his desk. He kept his eyes and ears sharp on his walk to the Government Building. There were rather a lot more couples eating in the food courts than he was used to seeing, though Valentine's day could get close. The main thing he was scanning for, though, was a status screen that didn't contain the guild name. That was one thing that might give Nyanta away, assuming the god wasn't all knowing and all powerful. They kind of figured that might be too much to ask for, but they could still hope.

The communication mages were set up and waiting by the time Kazuhiko arrived. He walked to the top step of the Government Building. He only had to wait about four minutes. He used the time to continue to scan the crowd. Some people noticed both him standing there and the cameramen and stopped what they were doing to watch curiously. When Nakalnad stepped out through the double doors, those people nudged companions and more people turned to watch. The vid screens came to life and that got a lot more people's attention.

"Adventurers of Minami," Kazuhiko said on an entire guild chat when he got the nod, "In the last single day my department has had more reports of sexual misconduct and domestic argument reports over members of the opposite sex than I think we've ever seen in any one week period. While normally I would wait to openly address such an issue, given what we learned from Akiba, I am concerned that Izanagi has arrived."

Kazuhiko shifted back slightly and Nakalnad moved forward. "We would like to treat this like a special event. We've had to do similar things when the Overwritten came. Assume Izanagi is very dangerous and disguised. Our goal is to banish it from the city. To continue to attempt to control Adventurers in the ways that Izanagi has is not acceptable. Please help us find the source and be watchful and wary for yourselves and your companions, though not overbearing. Thank you."

The head camera man nodded when the line was properly closed. Kazuhiko sighed and turned to Nakalnad. "I wonder how long we have now? Can you spare about sixteen to come and help us write up the false flag reports we're going to get so that I can have enough help sorting through them? If you have a team on that issue then you'll be able to respond faster than if I have to sort through that plus all the usual crap that goes on in this town." Nakalnad hesitated. "I'll have some of my own on the team as well. My domestic dispute team is well equipped to handle sorting through the reports. There's really only a limited subset of names we recognize pretty quickly who are repeat offenders."

Nakalnad gave a nod. "I've got a team that can come help, but not that large a one."

"Fine," Kazuhiko understood that well enough, "we'll take what we can get. Every set of eyes and hands on the issue is that much less pressure on the rest of us."

Nakalnad gave the order and those members of his army and guild arrived at the police station shortly after Kazuhiko did. One of the conference rooms was commandeered for the team and all reports and incidents that could be related to the issue were shunted over there, allowing the rest of the police department to function almost normally.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sighed and pressed his thumbs to his temples. Even though headaches weren't really things Adventurers could get, the tension in his head sometimes was enough to make it feel like one anyway. He took a breath and opened up the second most frequent chat he called up these days. "Everyone, Nakalnad's just called to give me the positive warning. Right now they're trying to find Izanagi, who is in hiding, of course. When they've got him on the run they'll call, but it's time to start sending out the main line."

"Okay, Shiroe. We've got it," Crusty said with his usual calm. "Who are you sending out with this group?"

"Naotsugu and Touya both want to go and Tetorō's willing to be healer for them. Isuzu's still here in town and Rudy's itching for action again. Minori and Touya are in arguments as you can imagine, but I think I'll send her with anyway so they make up a full party. I need Akatsuki here at a minimum, and that's what it will be when they go. I can work from wherever, but I feel like I should stay here to keep Izanagi from just bouncing back here. We'd not like what we came home to, I would think."

"Probably not," Isaac agreed.

"We'll watch over them for you," the Akiba guildmasters promised and Shiroe let them get to work on getting the word out.

Shiroe sat with his elbows on his desk and his thumbs on his temples for a while, then realized that what he was feeling was something else, really. "Tetorō, can you come to my office please?"

Tetorō arrived about five minutes later, poking his head around the door. A frown appeared on his face and he walked in, closing the door behind him. His head swung around, looking for something in particular. "Akatsuki, come here," he said. She rose from her knees to join him. "Did you both perform the rituals when you bathed this morning, like I taught you?" Both of them nodded. "Good. Akatsuki can you feel the same weight Shiroe is? See how he can barely stay upright?"

She considered it with a bit of a frown. "Not that much," she admitted. "I can tell it's a little different, though."

"Go with that for now, then. Learn it. That's the kami trying to talk to Shiroe, or at least affect him in some way." Tetorō turned his attention to Shiroe. "You need to open yourself up to it just enough to hear what it has to say. We need to learn how it talks. If it stays just emotions, then tell us what flows through you and we'll keep track of it for you. Don't force anything, just relax and let it flow." Shiroe gave a nod.

Tetorō clapped twice, bowed, clapped again, and said, "Kami of emotions, please tell us, or your priest in a way that he can properly comprehend what it is you wish for him to understand. We will listen and try to understand." He bowed again. Akatsuki imitated him, having already learned that pattern when they'd worked with Purrcy early on.

Shiroe decided to forego the clapping and all that, but did hold onto the intent to communicate the same way he had during his initiation, then relaxed and let the kami into him enough so that they could communicate. An infinite amount of data later, though it was surely very short in time span given Akatsuki and Tetorō weren't bones and dust on the floor in front of him, Shiroe came to himself again. His arms trembled then he was collapsing onto his desk. Tetorō cast Spirit Healing and Shiroe felt much better, but he didn't move for a bit. "That was rather overwhelming," he complained.

"I suspect it will take a while before the two of you work out the best way of talking to each other," Tetorō said sympathetically. "I hope it told you helpful things. What we got was only to watch your face go through more emotions at one time than anyone should have to."

"It was rather like that, yes," Shiroe agreed.

There was a quiet sound and Shiroe looked up in surprise, though he didn't move too far from the desktop. Tetorō was turning in surprise as well, then swearing softly. He cast a healing spell on Akatsuki, then had to wait another thirty seconds before he could cast Spirit Healing. He looked back up at Shiroe. "Where is the kami's scroll?" he asked urgently. He waved a hand at the wall behind Shiroe.

Shiroe took it out of his list and put it up on that wall over the top of his map of the world that he'd only recently just finished and put there in place of his map of Yamato that had been moved to the side wall. "Idiot kami," Tetorō muttered. "Not supposed to just up and start an initiation just because you happened to show up." He motioned to Shiroe. "I know you're still recovering, but come sit on the other side of her from me and let me use you anyway."

Shiroe did. There wasn't anyone else to call on and he was worried. Akatsuki didn't look good at all. She also was having more emotions flow through her than she should have been. When Shiroe was in place, Tetorō began chanting a spell. As he did so, Shiroe felt the pressure increase as it had when he'd been in the circle at the shrine. It didn't go as high as it had for him, but by the time the chant was done, he was wrung out and it looked like Tetorō was as well. They sat there, slumped and recovering. Akatsuki shivered and looked better at least, though she was still going through the emotional storm.

Tetorō looked at Akatsuki soberly. "It's going about it all wrong of course. I would think that when she's finally released we can call it good, instead of waiting the full overnight schedule, but we may be here a while. We can't leave the room or her until it's done."

"Does that mean we don't have to be silent, too? I mean, we've already been talking," Shiroe pointed out. Tetorō looked at him tiredly as if not talking would be okay by him. "Well...I just wanted to ask about the shrine we need to build since I've already got ideas in mind," Shiroe said humbly. He could wait. It's just this had brought it back up to his mind since now his office felt like the upper room of meeting and since it was central to the building it kind of felt right, though he didn't really want his bedroom and office the main sacred room of the shrine. As a temporary it worked sufficiently, he supposed.

"Go back to sorting out what it wanted to tell you instead," Tetorō scolded.

Shiroe had to agree that was a better idea and humbly obeyed. He shouldn't throw away Akatsuki's unexpected sacrifice after all. He sent her some of his love for her, wondering if that would help or be irrelevant, then went to musing over the message that had been delivered to him.

"Ah! Shiroe! Pull back out, pull out!" Tetorō's voice was almost as panicked as when he'd seen Akatsuki.

Shiroe blinked and looked at Tetorō again. "You haven't cast the Priest's purification spell and it's trying to join in on your thought conversation with yourself. You've only just gone through the deacon's purification. Do you remember the chant Michael said from before? You need to do that one for yourself before the kami takes you over and does that to you." He pointed at Akatsuki.

Shiroe pulled out a piece of paper. "Michael wrote it down for me," Shiroe said. He reviewed the paper and then rose to his feet to stand a bit away from the others. Carefully he said the chant spell, letting it change his cells properly. When he was able to relax at the end of it he slumped. Tetorō cast another healing spell on him. "Thank you, Tetorō. I don't know what we'd have done without you today. I think it was going to just force it's way into me before."

"Likely," Tetorō wrinkled his nose. "At least, given what it's doing now. Okay. You can sit and meditate now and let it finish talking to you. I'll watch over Akatsuki for you."

"Thank you," Shiroe said softly and sat next to Akatsuki again. This learning to be a priest to a kami of Theldesia was rather difficult. He wondered if the High Priest in India had had such troubles. Sighing he went back to trying to understand what he'd been told at the first.

-:-:-:-:-

The anger was almost overwhelming. The only thing that allowed Akatsuki to feel her sense of self was the solid weeks of practice she'd had just prior at differentiating emotions that were hers from emotions that were imposed from the outside. Even that was hard since this emotion was bigger and heavier. Rather like how heavy Shiroe had been carrying just now. Then she understood. _This_ is what Tetorō had meant. Akatsuki held on to her core self as best she could, but then the emotion changed from just the massively overwhelming anger to a flood of mixed emotions that tore through her. For a time she merely existed as all those emotions.

There was a change and she was suddenly capable of breathing, or so it felt. Like some small space had opened up around her. Then the emotions swirling through her made her feel one of her own emotions again - that of resignation. This really wasn't so different than the confusing emotions she felt as herself and as a woman all the time.

At that realization, the emotions suddenly changed from a debris-filled tornado to an almost soft flow, like the kami had suddenly recognized a kindred spirit - even if it was one so much smaller than itself. The Akatsuki in the space with the kami had a lip twitch up ever so slightly. If this kami had a sex, it was almost surely female, for all the anger of the Adventurers was very male. She frowned slightly then, remembering what Shiroe had said. The Ruquinjé were the six maidens of the Alv. She slumped. Yes, this was very definitely female.

At that point, the kami demanded a girls-chat-and-complaint session. It almost made a part of Akatsuki laugh. The poor kami wanted a girlfriend to commiserate with so badly. Akatsuki patiently let it, like she would let her friends in Akiba. Sometimes her own emotions rose up in answer, but most of the time she was what she always was - a quiet listener who carefully considered what was said and if she responded at all it was with simple (and hopefully well thought out) comments meant to help point the speaker towards a reasonable resolution. Often with her friends the resolution was just allowing the emotions to be released, and sometimes that was the case today with the kami. Sometimes her responses make the kami stop and "stare" at her and it went away briefly as if to carefully consider what she'd offered. That made her wonder if she should be pleased or worried. It didn't ever come back to tell her if what she'd said had been helpful or not. Eventually she got worried enough she had to ask when it came back again.

The kami stared at her again, then slowly tried to show her what process it had gone through in thinking about her comment. That took a long time because Akatsuki wasn't quick when it came to thinking about things like that. It did seem to have an understanding of that, though. Maybe because she was that deliberate and slow when she thought of her answers to begin with. It was because she wanted to be sure that her answer was the correct one. She was glad the kami was willing to be respectful of that. There came a point in the process where she held up her hand. "No. You thought wrongly there. Here is why I said that." She carefully tried to explain her own thinking. The kami sat and worked on that, then changed to the proper path and continued walking down it. Akatsuki nodded, satisfied and when the final point was reached, she felt very pleased. She got back what felt rather like a blink from Hahaue - the kind that was both wise and slightly surprised. Her lip twitched up again slightly.

Akatsuki asked the kami to go back and do that with each of the other points it had gone off to ponder. Many of them it had followed along fine, but there were a few she had to correct. Not because she was right, but because she wanted the kami to properly understand how she had gotten to her final point. She made sure it understood that, too. She knew she was only one small woman who had a lot of her own things to learn still. Once they finally had that sorted out, the kami went back to the original commiseration again.

Akatsuki didn't know how long they sat for that long conversation, but it could have been years it felt like. When her mind shut down and wouldn't think of answers, she did finally ask for a reprieve and rest. She got back a pat on the head and silence. She was pretty sure she slept several times at moments like that before the session finally ended. When she was left alone again, she took a deep breath (though she wasn't sure she was really breathing in this space), let it out, and slumped. It was no wonder Shiroe called this kami a child. It had a lot of wisdom, or perhaps a lot of knowledge, or something because it felt old, but in the end it seemed to be very lacking in that same knowledge and wisdom, making it very young.

She'd sat quietly, in her own personal meditative state she often sat in while on watch in the tree, or over Shiroe, until the kami approached her again. It asked her a question and she felt the question soberly, then she answered, "I do want to help Shiroe as he tries to be your priest, but he knows much better than I do how to help you." The kami threw a mini tantrum at her. She was surprised, then looked down at her clasped hands and rubbed her thumb over her other fist lightly. "You are kind to think that highly of me. ...While I am glad I can be of help to you, also...I don't feel worthy of that kind of position. Let me serve as a shrine maiden only for now until I have gained more of my own strength. I also need to grow more before being ready to carry a heavy responsibility. It is best to carry what one can, rather than break from trying to carry too much at once."

The kami stared at her in absolute surprise this time. She asked it, "What?"

She was shown a picture of Shiroe telling it that it also needed to grow in strength before it was ready for more responsibility. A slow smile came over Akatsuki's face - one of her bigger ones. "Yes. That is very like Shiroe. He understands. I have been grateful for his patience and advice many times."

The kami sighed at her, in effect, then bowed. She bowed back. "Thank you."

She was held there in that space longer, but a warm pink glow rose to surround her. As she sat in it, trying to understand it like she had tried to understand all the other external emotions that had come her way, she slowly became aware that it wasn't the kami. It felt exactly like Shiroe felt to her, and...when she comprehended what it was she blushed very hard. When the embarrassment faded, she was left with a warm, deep gratitude and a sense of great peace. She sat in that warm embrace and just let it fill her until her own love for him spilled out from her, too great to contain.

There was suddenly another presence with her again, but it was different. She turned and Shiroe was walking towards her, a smile on his face. She couldn't help but smile back, given the emotions coming from her. He gently wrapped his arms around her and she held him in return. She looked up at his face and said, "Thank you."

He bent down and kissed her. "I love you. Thank you for going through this for me."

His concern for her came through as well. She sent back comfort. "It was okay. We had a girl's chat. I think she's feeling better now."

His eyebrow went up, then he shook his head. "I suppose it shouldn't be surprising given the original source."

Akatsuki nodded. "I thought that, too, though the Adventurer anger is male more than female."

Shiroe considered that, then nodded. "It is right for it to understand both sides. Even that is understanding balance.

They could feel the kami sneaking up to sit at the edge of their "personal space". Shiroe smiled at Akatsuki, then turned, keeping one arm around her shoulders. He bowed to the kami and Akatsuki bowed along with him. The kami studied them for a while longer, of a time not measurable, and then they were slowly being lowered back into their bodies. The last thing Akatsuki felt there was Shiroe's hand press hers warmly.

Akatsuki collapsed on the floor. She heard Tetorō's voice casting a spell, then felt a hand she knew well slipping into hers. She pressed Shiroe's hand, but there wasn't a whole lot of strength in it at the moment. "We'll stay here with you until you recover," Shiroe promised her. Akatsuki sighed and slipped into sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe, I may want to go get out the rest of my anger with everyone else...and it won't ever be this bad again maybe...but if the kami is going to come talk to you while all this is going on, there's only me to be your healer. I think maybe I should stay behind to help you." Tetorō was still concerned about both Shiroe and Akatsuki's health at the moment, though he himself knew that they'd recover eventually.

Shiroe held up his hand. "I appreciate your concern, Tetorō. I'm also very glad you were here today." He put down his hand, resting tiredly. "Michael was very careful to teach me everything he could, and left me notes on the things he felt were most important. He's already told me that if the kami is going to come, I need to be performing that spell each morning after my showers. I'll do that from now on until things seem to have settled. Perhaps it will become part of the habit, too."

The sharp eyes of Shiroe that saw nearly everything looked piercingly at Tetorō, though he knew there was kindness there also. "If you will teach Akatsuki everything she needs to know before you go, then she also will be able to properly care for herself. There are things we can do. I can lie down on the couch when I know the kami wants to talk to me. Then I can just fall asleep and recover that way. It is a fast enough way to recover."

Tetorō opened his mouth, needing to protest but Shiroe shook his head. "Tetorō, you need to heal from being this close to a priest or priestess. This is not the time to stay. You also have your own fierce anger at Izanagi that must be voiced. To keep it bottled up when there is the opportunity right here to let it out isn't kind of us to ask of you. We want to have the Tetorō that is healing properly. I understand that right at the moment it may not sound like wisdom, but for the overall picture, it really is. Please go. It won't be but for a few days. We can learn to do our best in that much time and rely on you again when you return having had the opportunity to become stronger again for yourself."

Shiroe's look of determined compassion was more than Tetorō could look at for long. He dropped his eyes, fought it for a bit longer, then had to give in. He really would be far more bitter if he stayed. Having to stay with Purrcy had made him that way. If he had to stay for Shiroe now, it would only transfer those emotions to him and Akatsuki and he didn't want that. "Alright," he agreed quietly. "But I'll only go after I'm sure Akatsuki understands what she needs to know to take care of herself and you."

"Okay. Thank you, Tetorō." Tetorō sighed to himself and started putting together in his head what he would need to teach Akatsuki. It helped that he knew how to write his notes internally and copy them out now, like Purrcy had on a regular basis when she'd had meetings with people around town. He lazily didn't have to get up and get paper and pen off Shiroe's desk.

-:-:-:-:-

"Crusty, how quickly can you get people out and into place by?" Shiroe asked on a private chat. He didn't need to let everyone know he had more intelligence suddenly.

"Well, most people are already walking out the door. It's the getting there, you know? A lot can fly and that's half a day-ish, but the majority are walking or by horse and that's more like a full day."

"Okay. Please let me know as soon as you're in place."

"Sure thing. "

"Good luck. My party will be heading out later, but they've got gryphons so should catch up well enough."

"Okay. We'll be looking for them."

Shiroe closed the chat. "Kazuhiko."

"Yes, Shiroe?" he was sounding hopeful and around the edges a little frazzled. That was normal for Kazuhiko during work hours, though.

"I've got a way to find him faster. The final group of Adventurers from Akiba won't be in place around the Gate of Time until tonight at the earliest. How much time do you need to get your people moving forward once you announce you've found him and he's needing to be cornered and pushed out?"

"Mmm, well," Kazuhiko hedged. "We need the preliminary announcement that Izanagi's been sighted. It would help to have an image or two to put on the screen so people can be hunting for the right person and have them flush him out. Once they've got him pressured and on the run, any attacks will only teach them they want to push him more. It would take about that long to get up there from here.

"Are you at your desk?" Shiroe asked.

"Always - nearly."

"Don't go far, then. I'll see if I can get you that picture. Let me know - and Crusty too - as soon as you've shoved him out the gate. And call on me if it gets difficult before then, though I'll be watching from here. I just won't know if you really want interference or not."

"Okay. Deal." Kazuhiko sounded relieved.

Shiroe used one of the new skills the kami had taught him in the communication they'd just had to find Izanagi in Minami. He used his visual chat function with Nyanta to get the picture of him that he needed. It wasn't Nyanta and the status screen read very differently, but it was definitely Izanagi - and because the chat window had worked, also Nyanta's avatar. That had gone about how they'd expected. He did have Tetorō confirm it in the code realm first, though. Then that picture (Tetorō took it with his photograph spell) was dropped on Kazuhiko's desk.

They repeated that at half-hour intervals (to make sure in case Izanagi was rotating through disguises) until Akatsuki had learned everything from Tetorō and the stern teacher was satisfied. Then they rose to their feet and went as a guild to Akiba's gate and saw their guild members off to the battlefield.

As the gryphons disappeared into the distance, Shiroe held Akatsuki around the shoulders with one arm and looked up at the tall wall around Akiba. He chanted the prayer the kami had taught him to bless the city and ask for protections for it. Akatsuki bowed with him at the end and softly said, "What he said. Please." They returned into the now quiet city, though they weren't the only ones still there.

They stopped by Crescent Moon League to comfort and encourage Marielle who had stayed behind to give the same to her guild daughter. Shiroe and Akatsuki stayed as soft as possible for Serera and left when they could tell their presence was too much of a reminder of what she was trying to not think about. Her beloved Nyanta-san was being hurt horribly and was the one being hunted and she was struggling without him or Purrcy there to comfort her. They were glad Marielle was a good guildmother for her.

They returned to their watch in the nearly-empty guild hall. It wasn't until they were having to fend for themselves for dinner that they exploded into blushes. For the first time ever they were alone in the guild hall together...and for _all_ night. And likely the following one as well. It took Shiroe almost five minutes to recover from that realization or longer. Surprisingly it only took Akatsuki about two-thirds of the same time. She calmly let him recover without comment, however. She knew that he'd spend a lot of it doing what he always did, so she would as well. They were part of the battle, too, even if they were the back line. They wouldn't let their friends and companions down, even if they did spend a bit of the time enjoying being alone for once.


	164. Farewell to Hahaue and Chichiue

"Alright, Shiroe, we're ready," Nakalnad said.

Shiroe gave a nod. He'd pulled the Yamato map down off his wall and it was spread out on top of his table in front of the couch. He let go of Akatsuki and she returned to kneeling up next to him instead of leaning on him. "Okay. Hang on a second and I'll get Crusty brought in."

It took about a minute for Crusty to get everyone from Minami and Akiba connected to himself. It was a reasonable test of him having to talk to everyone as World General, though. "Hey, everyone, this is Crusty. We've got a couple of spells we're going to test next. If they all work right, we'll have a full party map up in a few."

Shiroe was already holding his scroll over the map of Yamato. Holding on to his intent, he dropped the scroll on top of the map. As it lightly landed on it, the map began to glow. When the light receded, the scroll was gone and the map had several colored lights shining up from it - yellow-green for Akiba and blue for Minami. Shiroe asked, "Can you see it, Crusty?"

There was a two second silence, then, "Yes, I've got a campaign map of Yamato on my screen now. Minami do you have it?"

Nakalnad and Kazuhiko both indicated they did. A few spot tests got positive results from those lower down in the hierarchy as well.

"Okay. Next test is to see if we can get the enemy marker to show up. Nakalnad, if you'll check the zoom function to see if you can get the map of Minami while I'm casting, please?" Shiroe said.

The next spell Shiroe cast was a prayer chant. It was another one his kami had taught to him that afternoon. It would center the wrath of the Adventurers on top of the one they were angry with. By Shiroe's intent, that meant a marker would appear over the head of whatever creature Izanagi was using as a host, even if Izanagi hopped into a creature other than Nyanta. The position of that marker would then also show up on the campaign map.

He was using the Adventurer anger as a shield to protect both the marker and its position on the map so Izanagi couldn't change it in either location. That was actually taking a lot of anger, which was rather difficult to balance and heavy to hold. Shiroe was being very careful to wrapper the general rage inside a shield of righteous anger. The Adventurers had good cause to be angry this time and to see that it was properly dealt with.

"I've got a good location indicator in town," Nakalnad said with determined satisfaction.

"I've got an enemy marker that shows in Minami," Crusty said, to let Shiroe know he also was receiving the data correctly.

"And I've got the same marker on my map here," Shiroe confirmed, looking at the red light that had joined the blue light coming from Minami.

"Right then," Crusty said. "We of Akiba are in place up here. We'll watch the progress of that marker as you go, Nakalnad."

"Sounds good. We'll get it on the way as soon as we can," Nakalnad said. He left the all-campaign chat. The rest knew he had moved to the Minami chat to hand out orders now that they knew where to find the enemy and main boss of this campaign.

Shiroe curled up on the couch, putting his head in Akatsuki's lap - she having shifted position again. Her job was to watch the map and give him warning if Izanagi jumped to Akiba. His job was to guard the marker, and to rest and get back up to useful levels of MP and HP before the next encounter. Bi-regional magic that affected every Adventurer in both regions had rather wiped him out. He hoped he didn't have to do it for the world-wide battle.

-:-:-:-:-

In Minami, a slight female half-alv was passing a elven bowman when suddenly she felt a strange, strong attraction to him. While he was good looking, like most Adventurers, she was suddenly wearing full armor. His eyes lifted to look at her in surprise. With a slight intake of breath, and a moment to swallow, he also was quickly pulling up his campaign map.

They both turned to look towards the building across the street, looking up when nothing was immediately obvious at the front. Her anger at being made to feel an unwelcome attraction to a stranger when she was perfectly happy to have left an abusive situation back on Earth flared to life. He scowled at the windows on the fourth floor as his anger at being dragged to Theldesia and away from his girlfriend on Earth blew up into greater proportion than he'd ever felt before.

"We've got a hit," the elf said, pulling an arrow from his quiver. He named the building and the floor as he knocked his arrow and aimed at a particular window of the building. The Enchanter standing with him cast a spell on the arrow and the elf let loose.

The half-alv blinked out, then back in at the base of the apartment. She was running up the wall, following the arrow, her Assassin's blades out. The Kannagi in the elf's party managed to cast a protection on her before she was through the shattered window. She was back out the window two minutes later. They all knew, though. The red marker had disappeared shortly after she'd entered the window. She scowled and shook her head. The rest shrugged and they got moving again on their patrols.

-:-:-:-:-

A party made up of one female and five males suddenly stopped in the street. All five men turned towards the woman and she froze, then scowled at the men and was dressed in fierce full battle plate armor and her broadsword and shield were in her hands. The men glanced at each other, then looked around. The field monitor pointed to an alley and their attention - and anger - focused that way.

They'd barely managed to cast their preparatory spells before the emotions of attraction and irritation with each other had faded below their anger at being used. The field monitor waved his hand in a cutting motion, but they stayed on alert, watching their campaign maps closely. Just because their enemy had moved didn't mean it wasn't going to come back if they relaxed their guard.

-:-:-:-:-

Nakalnad rested his chin on his fist. His elbow was on the arm of the head chair at the council table where he was sitting. He sighed. "If he keeps jumping all over town, how are we going to get him out of it?"

"I suspect patient efforts might be sufficient," the Minister of Technology said calmly.

"That didn't work for Akiba," Kazuhiko shook his head. "We don't want to have three months of this kind of thing going on. It took a full-on confrontation to get rid of him out of Akiba."

"But how can we have that if he won't even sit still long enough for us to put that kind of pressure on him?" the Minister of the Treasury asked, just a little frustrated - but then they all were really.

They spent the next ten minutes thinking hard, like they already had been for a while. Finally Nakalnad sighed. "I can only see two options." He shifted to sit forward just a bit in his chair, clasping his hands together in front of him, though still resting his elbows on the arms of his chair. It was a somewhat subconscious imitation of Shiroe, actually. "One, is that we all get really angry all at the same time and force him out. We can make it an all-city intercom announcement that we the Adventurers of Minami will not relent and reject him and his desires. Two, we all leave the city en mass. If there isn't anyone here to play around with, there isn't a reason for him to be here." He was getting disbelieving looks.

"No, see here. If we say that we as a city or guild or whatever, are going to go play with the city of Akiba, then he'll have to follow us there where we want him to be if he's going to keep messing around with Adventurers. Once we're all there, then Shiroe can pen him in and we can finish following through on that part of the plan."

"You're assuming he doesn't head down to Nakasu," the Minister of the Treasury pointed out.

"Shiroe seems pretty certain he only wants Akiba or Minami, though I suppose he could," Nakalnad shrugged. "They're in the know, and Log Horizon's watching the map. We'll let Brody know and he'll get to play his part."

The Ministry members considered the options and argued for about twenty minutes. In the end most of them wanted the more relaxing and fun "option number two", but with a skeleton set of Adventurers left behind to protect the prison and Cathedral. Nakalnad ran it by Shiroe.

"That would be fine, if you didn't have any People of the Land in the city," Shiroe answered. "Izanagi hasn't been shy about using the women of the People of the Land against us."

The Ministry of Minami slumped. That would be a difficult thing to take care of in the time they had. "So tell us what to do. He's like a flea, Shiroe. We can't bring anything to bear against him."

Shiroe was silent for a while, thinking. His suggestion in the end was Nakalnad's "option number one". The Ministry wasn't sure how well it would work, nor how well it would go over with the city of Adventurers, but they went with it as all they had at the moment.

Parties were placed so that they covered the city (the populated parts of it) in a grid. Once they had all reported in that they were in place, Nakalnad called Shiroe back. On Nakalnad's signal, the Adventurers in Minami all focused on their anger, frustration, and dislike of being used against their wishes to do things that they didn't want to do. Slowly a pressure built up in the city and swirled around it, as if chasing something down, until finally there was an equivalent pressure near the living quarters of the Adventurers. In that space the two pressures swirled around each other and fought as if unseen Greater Dragons.

Nakalnad called all the Adventurers of Akiba to focus even more on their desire to see the being that was forcing them to be experiments cast out of Minami. That specifically focused desire was the final pry bar to make the anger overcome the force that was Izanagi. With what felt like a "pop", Izanagi was suddenly flung up and out of the city. The force of righteous anger filled in the space where it had been and rose up above the city to be a shield over the city.

Again the Adventurers had to focus their determination and frustration to keeping Izanagi out of the city as it wanted to return and drive a hole in that anger. When they'd managed to keep it out sufficiently, Nakalnad ordered those who had signed up for the fight and the march to the Gate of Time to start moving, pushing that pressure and presence ahead of them while still refusing it entrance to Minami. Many of those who had magical shields cast them at the front line as well, to help the barrier against Izanagi.

Behind them they left a subset of Adventurers. Kazuhiko stayed behind with enough of his men to guard the prison and Nakalnad gave him command of enough of his men to guard the Cathedral. They didn't need prisoners to be set free and they didn't need the People of the Land factions using this as an opportunity to tear down the Cathedral.

-:-:-:-:-

Crusty had set up raid parties in a wide spread that made an arcing line from just southwest of Akiba, between Akiba and Minami, that continued up to the north and around to the west to enclose the Gate of Time on the north and east. Now that they all had a campaign map, they knew where that was, too, since it was on the map. Log Horizon's party had been put closest to the Gate of Time. They wanted to be sure that Nyanta made it in.

Everyone else had orders to move as necessary to keep Izanagi penned in and on the Minami side of their line. They all had a vested interest in making sure that happened. Having gotten rid of it finally, no one was at all interested in having it go back to Akiba again. Their irritation, frustration, and anger were particularly high. As they watched the red dot that was the enemy finally move away from Minami, Crusty sent out an order: "Taunt it back up here."

That was simple. Everyone threw their disdain at that red dot. It wasn't hard to send thoughts, words, and emotions at it, taunting it with their current locations. When Izanagi pressed down on them with it's own irritation and anger for having been cast out of Akiba to begin with, they answered with their own, completely preventing Izanagi from affecting them.

By then, Minami was in place behind Izanagi's vessel, ready to herd him forward towards the Gate of Time. Minami hunted like the extremely dangerous animal hunters they were, pouncing whenever the red dot got close to one party or another. The closest parties would inflame with the hunt and with their desire to see that the creature that wanted to use them against their wills was punished for its hubris.

If ever that same enemy appeared suddenly closer to the Adventurers of Akiba, they also use the same tactics, and their anger was a wall that hemmed it in along their line, refusing to let it pass. It took two days, with Adventurers rotating through one hour sleeps, running to catch back up to their places in the line, just by virtue of how far a distance Minami had to go to reach the Gate of Time, but eventually the two lines met and the circle closed up until they were all very close to the Gate of Time and Izanagi's host was penned in.

Shiroe had added a shield of anger over the top of all the Adventurers once they were close enough to each other, to prevent Izanagi from taking Nyanta out of the trap. Once the circle was tight, four smaller parties began to move against the red dot, hemming it in even tighter. They moved carefully, since they didn't want to accidentally cross the boundary between Yamato and the Gate of Time, but they moved deliberately to see that Nyanta and Izanagi had nowhere else to go.

Naotsugu knew which field he'd let Nyanta off at and picked him back up from, and that was where Log Horizon's party waited and hunted. The pressure on the field was almost more than they could bear, though the anger from the junior kami was pushing back on Izanagi's pressure so they were still able to walk forward.

Of all the parties, the Log Horizon party had an extra bonus against Izanagi. They hurt terribly for their guildmate Nyanta, father of the guild. Their hatred of Izanagi burned deeply and hot. They left no escape, gave no leniency, and held no remorse as they forced Izanagi and the High Priest that held Nyanta's avatar hostage closer and closer to the boundary until finally, as the last group to see him in the present space and time, the grey and white form of Nyanta looked back at them with a slight scowl on his face, then slipped through the boundary. His tail and ear flicked at them as his last comment, then he was gone and so was the pressure of Izanagi.

Log Horizon stood watching that space for a long time. Slowly the anger leaked out of the Adventurers surrounding the Gate of Time, beginning from the outer edge. In the end an encasing shield of righteous anger was left around the space of the Gate of Time's entrance on Yamato, so that if he tried to return from that place, he would be rebuffed.

The hearts of Log Horizon grieved. They wouldn't likely ever see Nyanta return from that place again, as long as he was the High Priest and oracle of Izanagi. With heavy hearts, and prayers for Nyanta, Log Horizon returned to Akiba. They stayed quiet and sober, and didn't mix with the other parties. When they arrived at Akiba, they went straight to their guild hall, staying hidden as much as possible, and stayed together to heal and recover.

-:-:-:-:-

The Maihama group of People of the Land set against the shrines, Izanagi, and Izanami, arrived at the foot of Shrine Mountain and were met there by more men who had come from Westlande and a few from Ninetails Dominion. Given that some might die, it probably wasn't too many. Duke Sergiad's head of the Maihama group stood before the rest and gave a rousing speech. At the end he gestured to Gareth, who moved to stand near him. Gareth closed his eyes and raised his hands over his head, palms towards the waiting men.

In a somewhat dramatic form, he cast the spell he'd been building up. When it was done, everyone could see what he could see all the time - the spirits and yokai that wandered Yamato. They really were in large number on Shrine Mountain. "You may not have to kill _all_ of them," he commented, "but any who attack you don't hesitate, of course."

Michael left Reed in charge of the Eagles that would be going with the People of the Land to help defend them from the worst of the spirits on the mountain (assuming Izanami would throw large ones at them for game-play's sake). With determination, and not quite so much courage now that they could see the ghosts they couldn't before, the People of the Land began the forward march up the mountainside. As they went, they purified any yokai or spirit that attacked them with their blessed weapons. Occasionally someone would take damage and the Eagle healers would heal them back up. They'd watched Kanami enough to have learned how to keep People of the Land alive as long as possible during battles.

Ground Safety, Aviation Safety, and Compliance were the leaders of the three groups the People of the Land had been loosely divided into, since they'd experienced the climb up the mountain already. Unanimously they'd voted for the harsher climb up through the trees and undergrowth rather than the stairs. To go up the stairs was to not have enough room to fight anything. They also knew what to be looking for, since they'd seen it once before with Berenshilde and Demikas. At least this time there wasn't a terrible cursing following them around (they all hoped).

The smallest and weakest spirits and yokai fled from before the marching army. The intermediates joined them in flight by about half-way up to the shrines. They didn't _all_ want to become extinct. The high-mid level ones that were more numerous about that point did have to be fought with determination, but they went down with enough patience and perseverance. In the end, there were large defenders that had to be fought. That took a bit of working out for the Eagles since they couldn't just use typical Adventurer tactics on them.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael took Gareth's arm. "Close your eyes." Gareth did. Michael time realm walked them, then space realm walked them up to the area of the shrines. It was quiet and dark, still the same night but timed so that by the time the rest of their group reached the shrines, they would have just finished their work.

First was going to the Shrine of Sarutahiko. "Priest Sasuke, please allow us to use the shrine's purification springs one last time," Michael asked politely. It was allowed and they went right to work until they were prepared and dressed properly. "Tonight anger comes," Michael warned Sasuke. "We've done all we can to beg those who come to spare you and your shrine. If they come here, please do what they ask, and answer them honestly that we have only used you as we've seen fit, but left you alone otherwise." Sasuke agreed, worried and confused, and they left him there to go and "rescue and protect" their own High Priestess.

This time, instead of putting on his chess piece ring, Michael walked himself and Gareth into the High Priestess' room so that they were each facing off against one of the two guardians. They'd put a shielding and mirror room around the High Priestess' room so that the rest of the shrine wouldn't know what they were doing and the Hōsōshi guardians couldn't warn anyone. It was a bit exciting, the battle against them.

By the time that battle was over, the High Priestess was awake and sitting up in her bed. Michael turned to her and as usual, she mostly ignored Gareth. That was what they wanted, since Gareth had the better clerical spells to use against her. "Wha - what are you doing?" the High Priestess asked, clutching her blankets up to her chest. Her eyes were very wide.

"It's time," Michael said calmly and stepped into the spirit realm. He drew out the God Cleaver. He swung at the High Priestess and severed the connection between Izanami and Purrcy's avatar in that realm. He stepped into the code realm and hit her again, severing the connection there. He checked the other realms, then stepped up into the nano realm and faced down Izanami herself. The God Cleaver spun in his hand, then with a cross-counter-cross double swing, he slashed at her. She pulled back and away from him, and farther from Purrcy's avatar. Again Michael checked all realms that Izanami could be in and chased her off farther back up into the pico layer.

-:-:-:-:-

Gareth watched Michael attack the High Priestess in the spirit realm and then code realm. Then he was casting his spell of control on Purrcy's avatar. This spell was slightly different from the ones the shrine maidens had used on Purrcy when she'd first come to Shrine Mountain. This one was for a "zombie" soul - anima that had no psyche attached to it. It wasn't uncommon - after all if there were ikiryō, then there had to be the opposite - the body that had its spirit out wandering.

He made the avatar of Purrcy climb out of the bed and stand next to it. He took an arm in his hand, then spirit realm walked from the shrine to the Oki Watarimono, waiting out in the bay. He let the avatar off inside the special room they'd made for Purrcy. The other aspects of Purrcy (still combined in one, but awake) were surprised to see the avatar arrive, but they joined it rather quickly, making her finally what she was supposed to be. "Miss Purrcy, are there any other aspects that need to be collected?" he asked harshly.

"No," she answered humbly.

Gareth cast his next spell on her. It was Echo, and it replicated the last spell to be cast on her - Michael's that had erased her memory. This time it was to erase that Gareth had been there at all, and that she'd ever been anything other than the one combined form when she'd been retrieved. He did put her on the bed this time when she slumped to the floor. It would only be confusing to her to wake up on the floor. Besides, Michael had other things to add.

Gareth took the time he had to make sure that she didn't have anything burrowing its way out of the containment room, and cleaned up what he found until he was satisfied that she at least had to start over from the beginning again. He also patched up anything that was shown to be a weakness by those moles of hers that had been digging their way out.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael stepped through time slightly, changing his clothing back out again, to arrive next to Reed as he and the rest of the remaining People of the Land and the Eagles arrived on the shrine plateau. "I've taken care of the High Priestess," he said to the men. They were very relieved, considering what they'd had to go through to get this far. "Remember to only touch the two shrines. Leave the others alone so that the land doesn't die to famine." When he got reassurance they would remember, he stepped to the Oki Watarimono.

"Sir," Gareth greeted him as he arrived in Purrcy's room. "I've cleaned up three mole holes and she's promised all of her is here now. I used Echo on her."

Michael gave a nod and walked over to the side of the bed. While his body stood at a firm but relaxed stance, he mentally went inside where he tweaked her memories until he had her locked down the way he wanted. "Guard the door," he ordered Gareth when he returned, sufficiently satisfied.

Gareth took up his post and Michael went to the steerage room. "Purrcy's aboard," he informed MasterChiefS7. "Gareth's on watch. The rest should be here within an hour, I'd think."

MasterChiefS7 saluted and got the Eagles on the ship started on the cast-off sequence. Michael took himself out to the steerage deck and kept watch on both Purrcy and the Eagles at Shrine Mountain.

There, the men were all doing their parts as had been discussed in the planning. He'd gotten the People of the Land the maps of the two shrines. The men had silently infiltrated the shrines in the sleeping wings. On Reed's timing count to Ground Safety and Aviation Safety, and their non-verbal command to the men with them, all sleeping quarters were entered simultaneously. In accordance with Purrcy's Oracle, none of the deacons, shrine maidens, or acolytes present survived. The Eagles didn't enter the sleeping quarters themselves. They'd already done what they were going to do.

Ground Safety and Aviation Safety left the buildings as soon as their count was done. Compliance was making sure the few who had gone to lock down Sasuke were only going that far. The rest of the Eagles surrounded the shrines of Izanagi and Izanami and made sure that the People of the Land didn't stray outside that boundary.

Reed pointed out to the heads of the People of the Land groups where the guest house was for them to sleep until they recovered. The fires from the two rejected shrines lit it up nicely enough, though it would be a cold place to sleep since it was still early spring time up on a mountain. Once he was sure they'd calmed down enough to restrain themselves sufficiently, he called the Eagles and ordered the return to the Oki Watarimono.

Michael was sufficiently satisfied as well at the magical protections the Eagles as a group had put around the three other shrines. He returned his attention to the Oki Watarimono enough to let MasterChiefS7 know that the remaining of their number were in flight. He had one other communication to make. "Tetorō, we're about to take off. I've got Purrcy locked down and she's sleeping like a baby. Let Shiroe know that things on our end are green. Good luck. We'll see you at the World Tree."

"Thanks for letting us know, Michael. Good luck to all of you, too. Iterashai." Tetorō held himself together rather well, but Michael knew he was stamping down the emotions because he kept the communication short.

It was time to head into the Athirds and to the other side of the world. Michael looked at the shoreline of Yamato for one last time, breathed a deep breath of the salty moist air of Yamato Bay, and very briefly let himself feel the faint regret of leaving this place he'd likely not ever see again. It had been a hard path to get here, but it had been fun, and definitely an adventure.

-:-:-:-:-

Word arrived from Sergiad, via chat and orb, the morning after the High Priestess had been removed from her shrine. His men had reported in earlier that morning from Shrine Mountain, also via orb. The two shrines were burned to charcoal, none of the clergy remained, the Eagles had helped up until the High Priestess was dealt with and the cleansing of the shrines begun. Sergiad sounded rather pleased and relieved, though he did ask for Michael's report on how Purrcy was doing. Shiroe thought it kind of him to care.

The next day Shiroe called for an intermediate wrap up meeting to the shrine sub-quest. It was a rather sober one, since it contained the confirmation of the final long-term separations that had happened to their guild. In all likelihood they wouldn't ever see the Eagles again until the final boss battle. They hoped to see Nyanta and Purrcy again when their time in the Gate of Time was accomplished, but it wasn't a given. At best, Shiroe would hear from Purrcy when the battle for Time was accomplished, then there would be silence for a while.

Of necessity, because they could only continue walking forward, they spent some time discussing what they would do to build the new shrine to the new kami, getting into the details as a way to put the immediate past behind them. Still, they were gentle where that was concerned. When that detail was done being discussed, they sat and discussed the emotion kami just because they could, and because the Inari being released from the flavor text was the overall topic of discussion.

"I mean...isn't it really an odd thing, in general?" Marielle asked, her brow puckered in some confusion, trying to work it out. "Why are there gods here that are like this? And how is it that we of modern mind are playing along with it?"

"Well...," Shiroe leaned back and looked up as he put his answer together, "we put up with it, or 'play along' because it's more of the flavor and feel of the game world than reality to us. With our hope and expectation of going home to Earth, we've separated and compartmentalized the two, the same as we would suspend our disbelief in order to have fun sitting in front of the computer screen."

He looked back at her. "Of course we also understand that this is _a_ reality, even if not _the_ reality we were born to. I'm sure we could philosophize for years on whether they are just another creature of this planet the same as the gryphons and the efreets and dryads or if they really are gods in the sense that we could choose to believe in back on Earth. How many, or which one or ones, of those are merely creatures or are really the God of Earth, or Theldesia, or of all the universe? For as long as man has existed, we've not been able to answer those questions with absolute certainty save for those who commit to one or more. Now, in our modern world, people believe but they are more myth and legend than reality to most of us."

Shiroe smiled. "For myself, I know that the child-god is real. What I communicated with was most certainly not myself, nor a hallucination. It is certainly more powerful a being than anything else that exists on the planet other than Izanagi and Izanami, but it is also tied to the planet and a part of it. If there is one Creator of the universe, it isn't any of the three, or rather four kami, that I've had exposure to on Theldesia, so I'm minded to consider them as the other creatures of Theldesia - a part of the world that they come packaged with. Beyond those two facts, it's still a child and I'm committed to doing my best to help train it to be a reasonable and maybe somewhat rational part so that it doesn't destroy what it needs to exist - this planet and all the creations on it. I'm quite certain that if it destroyed the planet it would be very unhappy to be alone in the universe, drifting in empty space. This is its home, too."

"Well," Marielle tipped her head, "when you put it in that perspective, I guess I can see it, but somehow it seems like, then, that you're being rather irreverent?"

Shiroe laughed. "I suppose I might be a most irreverent priest, right up there with all the other Adventurers who got selected."

Naotsugu snorted. "That's what they get for asking Adventurers to be their intermediaries. We don't take anything seriously when we get dragged into a game."

"Except our own freedoms and rights," Tetorō said a bit sourly.

"True," Naotsugu answered calmly. "We expect to still face it all as we did at the beginning."

Minori tentatively said, "Perhaps...that's why it's hard to reconcile the solemn with the seemingly absurd." They looked at her as she worked to put into words what she was comprehending. "We take our own faith seriously, like we do our rights as human beings. To be asked to become something that should be serious when we struggle to see and feel that this world is the same as our own, it conflicts with our original view of it - that of being something less than our own."

She took a breath, her brow wrinkled. "I mean, I know there are people who are very serious about what they did in _Elder Tales_ before the catastrophe, and they are just as serious here, but even still, we all got up, took showers, ate breakfast, went to school or work, came home, then sat down and played. It was a part of life, not _all_ of life. Reality contained a lot more. We're here now where it is all of life and reality, and we may love it for all it can be hard, but it isn't home and the reality we knew. We would be solemn if we were on Earth, but to even be here at all is still absurd." She looked up. "It makes it hard to take it seriously."

Turning to look at Shiroe she added, "We work hard to not have a negative impact on the world. We work hard to make it the best life we can for as many as we can influence. We're affected by our actions and the actions of others like always. But...it isn't home. There's still the sense of being able to leave it behind us - at least until we find out we really can't. ...It's hard to commit to solemnity in that state."

Shiroe nodded, pushing up his glasses. "Yes. You've walked through it well. The commitment level is what sets the level of solemnity. I think for the most part we all have a good balance right now. When we learn just how committed we have to be because of the external restraints we can't change, then our level of solemnity will move to match it." He sighed. "Sadly, that means if we really can't go home we'll go through another round of world-wide depression, anger, and frustration until people settle again, but hopefully we can prevent that by meeting our own goals." He smiled gently to take the worry away.

Marielle's eyes widened a bit. "Does that mean, if we stay, you'll really become the High Priest of that god-child for the rest of your life, settled and committed to it?" Her face took on an evil teasing look. "Daddy Shiroe! Father and Priest to a willful child." She giggled behind her hand. "Good luck with that!"

Shiroe slumped slightly, but she wasn't wrong. He'd started it and he'd have to see it through. "It will become an adult eventually, I'm sure, and move out of the nest, so to speak," he tried to reassure himself.

"In a million years," Tetorō snickered and teased as well.

"Well, I'll have you to help me, won't I?" Shiroe said mildly back. Tetorō slumped a bit and looked away, finally giving a sigh. Naotsugu snorted and patted Tetorō's shoulder.

It was nice to be relaxing around the common room again as friends and as a guild. Things weren't perfect, nor all put back together, but having the opportunity to breathe a bit now was nice. Really, Shiroe would have never thought they would have had to add a shrine as an addition to Log Horizon's guild house. He sighed. It rather felt like adding on a room to fit the giant child that had decided to come stay. It was a tad...disturbing. He wasn't sure he liked the trade.


	165. First Party Exits Level 6

"Serera! You've got a guest!" Sometimes Crescent Moon guild hall was too much home for people. That had been yelled from the front door. Serera sighed. They could have been quiet and used the chat function. A lot more people would be looking over banister railings than necessary by the time she got to the entry. She paused to brush off the last of the flour from her skirt from helping make pies, took a breath and walked out of the kitchen and into the common room.

There were a lot more people in the common room than she expected as well. Her eyes went a bit wide. "W-welcome home everyone," she said. She must have been pretty lost in her head to have missed the fighters coming home. Boy's weren't quiet after all.

They all greeted her as they trooped past to head for their rooms and rest - or whatever they were up to next. Eventually most of them were gone, except Shouryuu who was reporting to Marielle and Henrietta, and two other boys who were standing waiting (like her) for the crowd to dissipate. Serera walked over to them. Giving a little bow, she said, "Welcome to Akiba, Qwased. Sorry for the commotion."

"No, it's to be expected," he forgave what wasn't her fault to begin with. "It's nice to finally be able to come and visit Akiba." He turned to the boy who had helped him get in the door and thanked him. Serera followed suit and he excused himself to his own rooms.

"Would you like to come in and -?" Serera started but Qwased was shaking his head, though kindly.

"Actually, I was hoping you would be willing to give me a tour of the Adventurer Academy," Qwased requested.

Serera perked up. "Oh, are you thinking of taking courses?"

Qwased turned towards the door and opened it, holding it for her, choosing to not answer the question just yet. Serera went out the door, excusing herself from the kitchen via chat on the way. She was kindly shooed out the door by the chefs. Serera turned left from the door and headed towards the Academy zones.

"Serera, may I ask, what city in Japan do you live in?" Qwased asked.

"Sapporo," she answered, thinking it a general enough question. "The rest of Crescent Moon mostly is a guild of Tokyo, but they've been kind to include me since when I was a new player. They had to come rescue me from Susukino after the catastrophe, but that's where I'll be back on Earth, with my family in Sapporo." She swallowed just a little, forcing herself to stay light and on the surface.

"I see," Qwased looked up at the buildings they were walking past, most of them rather more horizontal than vertical in this part of Akiba. "I'm from Kyoto, rather obviously," he flashed a smile at her and she smiled back in return, understanding. "Do you know what you want to do when you get back home?" he asked next.

Serera considered that, tipping her head a little. "I'd already been thinking of becoming a kindergarten teacher, but now that I've tutored at the Academy, I think I'd rather teach junior high school. That's a hard age where people need a lot of positive encouragement to grow in strength. I've had a lot of experience in doing that now. I've been one of the support members of Crescent Moon, where most of the current members are from that same age range to high school students. And those I've been tutoring at the Academy are also mostly in that same range. I think it would be different at home - at least different subjects to some degree though we do have the basic math, writing, English, and language classes so everyone can keep up and not get any further behind than we are already. I think that stresses are basically the same, though. We all wonder how to be and where to find strength, and we all need encouragement."

Qwased was watching her as they walked and talked. "That sounds like a wonderful thing to keep doing then," he said.

"Mm," she gave a nod. Doing those two things keep her content and focused on important things other than her sometimes overwhelming emotions.

Qwased shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "I was having troubles back home deciding what to do. Here, I was in Nakalnad-san's army so long, I was seeing going back and becoming a security guard, but it wasn't what I was happy doing. I've been having lots of fun directing the plays, and working with everyone on them. I don't think I could become a director, though." He gave another smile. "But...I do think that it would translate well into a management position." He shrugged. "I'm not sure what education I would need for such a position, and I'm not even sure it's really what I want to do, but I was thinking about it."

Qwased paused a bit as a spring wind made them shiver. The sun was slowly beginning to warm Yamato up and little green plants could be seen poking their heads up out of the ground all over, particularly where they'd planted new plants last fall along this walk. "I was thinking I'd see what courses there were at the Academy, and I do know about the survey course here. I thought that one at least might be useful to help me see where else I could think about trying. And here, I can try those several things and not be locked into something before I discover I don't like it. It seemed like a good opportunity."

Serera gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yes, we've found a lot of students do like that about the course. Even though it's a survey of what can be done here in Theldesia and Yamato, a lot of it can translate to Earth as well - like you were saying directing can translate into management." She clasped her hands behind her back. "We've all sat in on it, too, actually, the first few times it was taught so we can help out as assistants, and we've had some good discussions around the dinner tables as others in the guild have thought about how they can use it for their futures as well. I do recommend it highly."

She pondered just a little more, then added, "There's also an Economics course. It's a little advanced, but our businessmen in town have really appreciated it. All of Log Horizon's juniors were required to take it. They said it's a bit demanding, but they have a greater appreciation now for how the world really works, since so much of it is driven by money. They do more interpersonal work than business work, but it's helped them understand the motivations of others better when it comes to why they would want to harvest, or have a business, or even care to work hard or not to. I would think that even if you didn't directly work with money, understanding the economics of business would help a manager." She looked at Qwased earnestly, wondering if he would understand, or care.

Qwased considered it. "That might be a good one to take with a survey course," he finally nodded. "If a survey course would be considered an easier class and that a harder one," he raised an eyebrow at her.

Serera considered that seriously, then nodded. "That might work well. The Economics class does take a lot of time and effort. Miss Purrcy wrote it and Miss Henrietta added to it and they are both very strict teachers, so they've made it a real course that the students come out of with real and very helpful knowledge. If anything, it's our main college-level course, and translates to Earth." She grinned suddenly. "Actually, a lot of students come out of it wishing they could carry the credits over to Earth, it's so much that way."

Qwased's lips curled up. "I think I'd better not plan on taking it at the same time as a whole bunch of other classes, then." Serera giggled just a little. Qwased took a breath. "How long do the classes take? Are there set semesters? I'd also like to know if I can fit everything in I want to take in the time I have."

"Right now, there aren't set semesters. Each class has it's own time and length of material and they don't all match up. As you can expect, the survey class is only a few weeks at most, while the Economics one is several months, and the teachers go long or short depending on what the students need. As long as we're small we can be as flexible as we need to be. If you would want to finish your lower school studies, those are set days. We teach two classes of it right now. One meets all day on Monday and Tuesday, and the other one Wednesday and Thursday. We just picked up the second class and it doesn't have many students in it yet, but the ones who really want to study hard go to all four days."

Qwased shook his head and Serera was imitating him. "The teachers have asked them not to, but if they have a good reason, they don't turn them away. If we need to do other things we don't have to take the full day's worth of courses either. They want us all to continue experiencing real life, too, since it's been the best teacher for all of us."

"That it has," Qwased agreed dryly. "All that marching around and fighting, and being bored when we weren't, definitely helped me know I have no interest at all in joining the military." They smiled at each other.

Serera pointed out the outdoor practice zones that they were passing through now. Qwased asked about one in particular and they walked over to watch what the current class was doing. From there, they went through the sports field to the Academy building itself. She showed him each of the classrooms, and they talked to a few of the teachers that were free. The floor that had the cafeteria also had study rooms and the office that the teachers and the tutors like herself had desks in so when they needed a place to put together materials or grade papers (if any such thing happened), there was a contained space they could do that. "I've also got office hours for the tutoring," Serera said and pointed into one of the study rooms. "I use this one. If you look at the status of each room, you'll see the hours and names of the tutors for that room. If it's an unscheduled time, it's open for free study." She waited politely while Qwased took the time to look at the status on the door.

When he gave a nod they moved on up to the next floor. "From this floor on up - at least for as long as we don't need more classroom space - the rooms are student rental apartments. We're pleased that we're almost full, actually. That means we have a lot from other cities coming to learn from here as well." She scanned the floor. "No rooms are available on this floor, so let's go on up. I can show you an empty room." As they walked up the stairs again, she added, "We have asked that when a student's coursework is completed, that they move out. It's not really a living apartment and we want to keep the atmosphere directed towards studying rather than living life."

"There are a lot of buildings in town to live in, and one of our Economics students took what he learned and purchased a couple of buildings and has opened them up as rental apartments. I hear that's been going very well. Guildmistress Marielle has been very pleased that it's taken a lot of the creepers off the streets and given them better places to stay. Plus they then go out and live life a little more, just to earn enough to pay the rent and keep eating. The Round Table Council thinks it helps them feel more like they're on Earth to be able to live the kind of life they were living there."

"We were already doing that in Minami," Qwased said, though it was almost a question.

"I think that student saw that example, too. It was because the Ten Seat Council took care of everyone, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, I think so," Qwased said.

Serera nodded. "Here, we were trying to let everyone decide for themselves, and some just couldn't move into making that decision for themselves, but now they've been given that one more option that they were waiting for, they can be settled finally. No practice of governance is perfect." She opened a door to a student apartment that was empty. "It's shared bathrooms, and if you like to cook, there's cooking facilities in the cafeteria, as well as the vendor shops that have opened there. That means each room is mostly just desk, bed, and storage space." At Qwased's rolled eyes at the size, she nodded. "This _is_ Tokyo. Every room is small."

"And thus why the study rooms," he pointed out.

"Yes," she admitted.

From there, they walked back down to the cafeteria floor and stopped by the Admissions Office. The secretary there answered Qwased's further questions and handed him the "prospective student" packet. "Shall we eat at the cafeteria for lunch while you look through those?" Serera asked politely.

"Sure, sounds good to me," Qwased answered. They chatted over lunch, though Serera politely let him look through the materials so that she could answer any more questions he had. Towards the end of their meal, he leaned back in his chair and looked at her. "Is there anywhere else in town that students live while they're in classes?"

"Well, those in guilds walk to the Academy each day. No sense paying rent when they already have rooms. Many of those not in guilds already had places to live. I know that there are other places that rent out rooms in town, though, so there's no lack of places to live or stay. And of course, there's always just picking out a place in an unclaimed zone. We really only opened up student rooms here when we thought we might begin to get students from Minami or other places. We probably started turning them into apartments about the time all of you came the first time, but couldn't stay to play."

Qwased looked away, suddenly looking just a little embarrassed. "I've been meaning to tell you...thank you for talking to us that day. I know the captain went off the deep end. We were grateful that you and Shouryuu arrived to diffuse him. He'd had a rough time in the Maze of Eternity and the stress of living in Minami had been getting the better of him for a while. He'd been giving in to the despair of not ever getting to go home to his family. He has a wife and young child back home. He didn't really want to take it out on anyone, but he just couldn't face the depression any more."

Serera expressed sympathy, but Qwased shook his head. "Since Guildmaster Shiroe's announcements that he was working on a way home for all of us, he's been better, though he still has his down days. Just that much hope has helped a lot of people in Minami, actually. But...," he pinked up just a little, "...it was your words to us, and to me specifically, that helped me have hope first. Just that little encouragement to do something different that I wanted to do for myself, and then doing it as soon as I had permission to, really helped me to see that life could be worth living." His hand resting on the table clenched a little and he looked back into Serera's eyes. "Thank you."

Serera stared at him, then gulped a little. She shyly answered, "You're welcome, Qwased. I'm glad my simple words were able to help you. That's what we at Crescent Moon League want to do for everyone. If our small efforts can bring hope and strength to anyone, we're grateful."

Qwased watched her for a moment, then stood up and picked up their dishes. "It's actually one of the things I like about what you're all doing here with the Academy as well," he said. Serera rose from her place and picked up the cups. As they walked to return them to the kitchen area, he continued, "That everyone wants to encourage the idea that we're going to go home, but not be left behind, or left out of the life that waits there. And," he paused as they set the dishes down, then he turned to her soberly, "that even if we can't get home, we can still keep moving forward in ways that will help us here, too." She held her breath just a little. "That part's important too. I think too many of us will become paralyzed without it. We can't quite believe we really will get home, but knowing that we can still move forward in good ways here regardless helps make that fear not so overwhelming."

Serera let out her breath and slumped just a little. "Yes," she said quietly. "That is the other reason we're doing it. Even we of Crescent Moon have to fight that fear daily. Being able to help here or take classes, and in supporting each other, we find the strength to move forward regardless." She bowed her head, wishing it wasn't so, hoping again that Shiroe and Log Horizon would be able to lead them all back home. Her fingers twisted in her other hand for a moment.

A light hand landed on her head. "I'm sorry to bring it up," Qwased said.

Serera shook her head. "It's okay. I know Log Horizon is doing everything they can. Watching them work so hard for the rest of us helps us too, to work that much harder on what we can do." She looked at him again, finding some comfort in his sympathetic look. "It's just they're just coming out of the worst thing they've ever had to do, and no one outside their guild and a few of us who are close to them understand or will ever know just how hard it is for them to help us reach that goal. More than one person who I care about in their guild has had to pay very high prices." She had to smile to make the tears only come as drips instead of a stream. "I'm very...very grateful for them."

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy took a deep breath. "Thank you for letting me stay and learn from you," he bowed deeply to Shiroe. "And thank you for allowing me to go."

Shiroe smiled at him kindly, and so did the rest of Log Horizon. "Come back and visit regularly. We'll miss you and will want to know you're still doing well."

"I will," Rudy promised. He clasped hands with Touya and Naotsugu. Minori, Tetorō, and Akatsuki he bowed to. Then he and Isuzu were turning away from Akiba with final waves. "Thanks for coming with me to Maihama," he said to Isuzu.

"I haven't been that direction yet, and up the east coast from there would be fun this time, I think," she answered back. "Besides, traveling with companions when you can helps the time pass a little better." She gave him her signature smile.

Rudy was going to miss it - again. He'd done a lot of thinking while out with the other boys of Akiba. Their time in Maihama with other People of the Land, and then in the dungeon where everyone was an Adventurer, had shown him that he, too, was ready for the next part of his journey in this life. It was time for him to be at Maihama castle, training in how to become a lord of Yamato. He would be Shiroe's Adventurer ambassador to Maihama at the same time. It was a good fit for him. While it would likely have hard parts where he would have to put in a lot of effort, he was looking forward to shadowing Duke Sergiad and Iselius. The two of them had had a pleasing conversation, if somewhat brief by requirement of time constraints.

"What are you looking forward to most?" Isuzu asked Rudy.

He flipped his hair back and gave a slightly haughty look. "Not having to be around incomprehensible creatures, of course." His look went teasing. "- is what you'd expect me to say I'm sure." She grinned back. "But really," he shrugged, "it's talking to Lord Iselius and learning what he's learned. We do at least share the extremely odd interest in Adventurers." He smiled at his joke as Isuzu laughed.

"Well, then, I hope you get to have a lot of fun doing that," Isuzu said. "Chat me every now and again to fill me in on how it's going. I've got the first part of a song already written about the two of you. I'll add to it as you grow up more with him." Rudy couldn't help the blush. She already knew that his favorite thing was her music. She waved a hand, waving off the importance of such a thing as always. "I think it will be good for this world to remember the first Person of the Land Adventurer who became the Marquis of Ninetails Dominion and his friendship and alliance with the young Grand Duke-to-be of Eastal. Those kinds of songs help the world remember the important history from the time it happened."

Rudy looked away in embarrassment, then took a breath and looked back to look her in the eye. "Thank you, Lady Isuzu. I do hope I can make history, and make Log Horizon proud."

Isuzu put her hand gently on the top of his head. "You already have and you already do, Rudy. We've been very glad to have you with us and to call you friend and Adventurer both."

That was enough embarrassment for both of them and they let it drop, happy to be companions and Adventurer partners for a couple more days.

-:-:-:-:-

Touya and Minori walked into Grandpa's Kitchen and headed for the kitchen. "Hello, you two!" Chef Hiroki said cheerfully.

They greeted him with smiles. "Did you find your harvesting to be successful?" Minori asked him.

"Most assuredly," Hiroki answered. "I will have two new soups for the menu and one new main dish...until I run out of ingredients again," he winked at them. "Today, we will just get things ready and I'll teach you the new recipes." Both of the twins slumped in some relief, though they tried not to let it show on the outside. They still needed at least that long to recover. It was definitely time to be out of the guild hall and moving forward, though.

They listened carefully as Hiroki taught them the new dishes, committing them to their natural Adventurer memory, not just their mental memories. It helped them to cheat that way when the rushes hit and they all had to be cooking more than two things each. It would be even more important into the future.

When the cooking lessons were over, Touya soberly suggested to Hiroki that they needed to discuss how they would move forward. The three of them would now be the only chefs, and they would have to hire wait staff. Hiroki rubbed his head. "I never did have much to do with the financial side. It seems to me that we're busy enough we should be able to hire help, even another chef if we need to."

Touya shook his head. "We've had the business economics class now, and sometimes just one employee too many can make even a popular business fail, just like wasting money on ingredients for dishes no one will order can. If you're willing, Minori can handle the financials of ingredient costs and I can handle personnel and the rest of the business finances."

Hiroki nodded his head in agreement. "But teach me, too," he requested.

"Sure thing," Touya agreed.

"We'd be happy to have us all working together," Minori agreed.

They set up a regular weekly business meeting - starting with one right then since they couldn't even open the next day without proper staffing. It was going to mean more work for each of them, but they'd had some practice now, and keeping a little more busy would be good for them.

-:-:-:-:-

For having a lot fewer people of Log Horizon present in Akiba there were an awful lot of people at dinner that night in the guild hall. Shiroe blinked to see the crowd as he walked out to his place from his office as he normally did. It looked like Hiroki had come back with Minori and Touya and there were two pots of soup on the table and what looked like a new Chinese dish, plus a few more other random foods. He had to wonder if some of the guests had followed their noses to the table.

"So, what's the occasion?" he asked as he arrived at his chair.

"No occasion. Just felt like showing up," Crusty said from the chair Michael usually sat in.

Isaac nodded from Nyanta's usual chair. "We have to show up for the meeting tonight anyway, so we thought we could get a meal for once." Touya rolled his eyes.

"It's not okay?" Marielle asked from next to Naotsugu. He immediately took it upon himself to reassure her it was just fine.

Shiroe looked at the other two at the table, as much a surprise as the others. "Mister Shiroe," Serera said in her usual polite yet shy way, "this is Qwased, from Minami. He's come to attend the Akiba Adventurer Academy, but would rather not stay there while he's here. We were hoping since you had rooms available now that perhaps he could rent one of them?"

Qwased bowed politely from where he'd risen to be introduced. "I'm sorry to intrude, but I would be most grateful." He blushed slightly. "The rooms available at the Academy are a bit...too closet like. I'm not a Tokyo native and would rather have a room that's a more normal size."

Shiroe blinked, then looked at Minori. She shrugged. There were, after all, lots of rooms available now. "Let me think about it over dinner," Shiroe finally requested. "You're welcome to stay to eat." He sat down and Qwased sat as well, thanking him politely. At least having a polite Japanese boarder would be nicely different.

There was an interesting expectant atmosphere suddenly and he took a moment to place it. Taking a quiet but deep breath, he looked up at his keepers and companions. "Thank you for coming to keep us company tonight," he said quietly. "Please, enjoy the meal."

Isaac, Marielle, Naotsugu, and Tetorō kept the conversation flowing around the table, punctuated by occasional comments by Crusty and Akatsuki. Minori and Touya hosted Serera and Qwased on their side of the table. Hikori never said very much, but his deeper chuckle did sound out regularly at the antics of the more vocal of the group. Shiroe listened and realized that he did prefer the noisy table to the quiet one they'd been having for the last little bit. When it was time for dinner clean-up and the meeting. Shiroe looked up at Serera and Qwased. "It's a bit different for us to have boarders, but I think it would be fine. Please work out the details with Minori."

There were nods on that side of the table and the juniors rose to their feet and went with Hikori to the kitchen for final clean-up. "The rest of you get to sit and be bored until that's done. This time is why we have you come later," Shiroe scolded them. They didn't care and mostly ignored him, continuing their current conversation, though Crusty moved closer and started up an argument with Shiroe just to keep himself entertained. Shiroe sighed at him, but Crusty was good. Shiroe couldn't resist and was dragged into it.

-:-:-:-:-

"It's going to be awfully quiet here at nights now," Naotsugu said and shifted uncomfortably. "And by rights I should be having more breakfasts and likely dinners, at Crescent Moon now."

Shiroe looked at Naotsugu, trying to keep his own sad off his face. Naotsugu didn't need that added to him. "By rights, you should go have your honeymoon now," he reprimanded slightly. Both Naotsugu and Marielle blushed and looked away. "I'll expect to hear in the morning where you're going and for how long. These two -" he waved his hand at Crusty and Isaac, "- have already set our meeting schedule up. You should plan on being here in the morning in time for the morning meeting. On slow days, you can chat in like Isaac does, but we do need to at least see your face sometime in the morning so we can stay balanced. You don't need to be here for every dinner, though mixing it up between the two guilds is nice. This evening meeting is required, however. And since most of the time it will be the ten minute version, it shouldn't be all that hard on you, to just walk next door briefly and return."

He was glaring now in order to keep his internal emotions down. It was going to be really hard to have Naotsugu return to what he'd promised, but it was right for him to be with his wife as he should be. Shiroe didn't want his selfish desires to win out in this case. He needed Naotsugu to want to be present, not feel restricted. Their friendship was more important than Shiroe's temporary emotional needs.

Shiroe leaned back and took Akatsuki's hand in his. "Besides, I've got my own relationship to work on now." At that far more than two faces blushed, though not his. He was perfectly serious. Working on a relationship with a potential future spouse should be occupying more of his direct attention now that it could without outside interference.

"Serera's suggestion that Qwased could board here was also intriguing. We are rather used to having a lot of people around who have a different schedule and focus, and we have the chairs, tables, and dishes as well." He looked at Minori. "If you want to open up more rooms to potential boarders, that would be fine. Just make sure we can handle having them around, since they won't be included in these guild meetings."

"I think after having had to deal with Americans this whole time anything would be acceptable," Marielle said dryly. Tetorō nodded emphatically in agreement.

"While we don't need to make money at it, they should certainly pay their part of the building expenses and any meals we provide," Shiroe continued, ignoring the interruption.

"I'll take care of it," Minori promised.

Shiroe looked at her for a bit, then added, "And if you could get one to board with us that's willing to be the person who keeps the place clean so you can do what you need to do at Grandpa's Kitchen, that would help us all, too, I think."

Minori's eyes went wide for a bit, then she slumped. "Thank you, Mister Shiroe."

Shiroe nodded a firm nod. "Consider yourself moved up one level and bring in housekeepers under you please."

"I think that's vicountess?" Tetorō muttered to himself. There was a bit of a giggle elsewhere in the room.

"And shall we look for a chef?" Touya asked calmly.

"Probably," Shiroe moped. "Though why we should have to when we have four perfectly good ones in the guild..." He sat grumpily for a while, then moved on. "I consulted today with Michitaka on the additions we need to make. He's promised to get the personnel worked out and freed up. The rough estimate is that they can start next week on the construction." He sighed. "I'm really not quite sure how to pay for it, though. It's something that I'd have us all go out and run a dungeon on to earn the money for. It just doesn't seem right to use the funds coming in for fixing the zone problem on our own personal modifications."

Crusty leaned forward. "What's it for, Shiroe?" he asked.

"The shrine for the kami I'm priest of," Shiroe answered. "We're going to just have it added to the back of the guild hall."

Crusty leaned back again, thinking, then he looked at Marielle and Isaac. "I think we'll bring it up before the Round Table Council. Akiba owes Log Horizon for what you've all just gone through. Without that kami, we wouldn't be free of Izanagi. If having a shrine for it here will continue to act as a protection for the city, I think a city donation to have it built is a reasonable thing to ask."

Shiroe looked at Crusty in surprise, but it looked like Marielle and Isaac were in agreement. "If we need a fundraiser to do it, I'll take that on," Marielle said firmly.

"Right. We'll handle it," Crusty said to Shiroe.

Shiroe sat back, then agreed gratefully. "Thank you," he said. It was going to be busy around the guild hall for a while again, but generally, he thought things might quiet down just a little, at the very least in his head. He was going to enjoy his vacation, he suddenly decided. "That's it from my end, but don't be surprised if at some point Akatsuki and I disappear for a while. I'll give at least the lot of you warning," he glared at the people in the room again.

"A vacation, is it?" Isaac asked lightly. "I'd think it's way past due."

The rest of the people in the room nodded. "As long as you _keep_ it to a vacation," Marielle scolded him. Shiroe smiled and pushed up his glasses, but didn't commit to anything. Akatsuki could only sit next to him with an open mouth, too stunned to really know how to respond.

Shiroe's eyes scanned the room and settled on Tetorō. Tetorō waved his hand. "I'll be happy to get back into my regular routine. You still need someone on the street beat, and I'm enough to get what you need for now. Being lazy next to Naotsugu on the couch will be nice, too, and if he's on honeymoon I'll get to stretch out. When I start getting bored, I'll wander over to the Academy and see what classes I can pick up to teach. I've got plenty to gnaw on, on my down time for now since I'm well into my Master's research."

Marielle had perked up. "We'd love to have you come teach," she said.

"When I'm ready. When I'm ready," he scolded her with a wave. She still nodded happily.

"And are the two of you going to insist on continuing to come?" Shiroe raised an eyebrow at Isaac and Crusty.

"Of course," they both answered simultaneously.

"Lazy bastards," Tetorō muttered under his breath. The meeting was interrupted with a brief wrestling match as he got attacked on two fronts. It was really rather reminiscent of the Debauchery Tea Party, actually.

Shiroe's lips lifted in a faint smile. Akatsuki looked into his face and smiled faintly back, then patted his arm. He patted her hand back, then ignored everyone in the room to give her a kiss - that ended the meeting altogether since the rest of them decided they didn't want to have any part of that, but secretly wanted them to finish what they'd started if they were going to go there. Shiroe didn't mind. He was done with the meeting anyway.

He tucked that into his arsenal of ways to get everyone to leave for the future, though, and had to chuckle to himself when they were alone. Akatsuki raised an eyebrow, but he just shook his head. She didn't need to know, though she might figure it out eventually.


	166. Beginning the Crossing of the Athirds

Michael watched Purrcy from the foredeck as she wandered the entire length and breadth of the ship. Her steps were slow, tentative, unsure. Her whole expressive body said that she was worried (the tilting twitching of her ears), anxious (the occasional twitch of the entire tail), and getting more and more depressed (the slumping of her shoulders) as she couldn't find what it was she was looking for. She'd come out on the deck a few hours after dawn, the Eagles on watch letting him know as soon as the door to the cabin opened and her cautiously sniffing nose twitched at the salt water air.

They were far enough from Yamato now and Izanami and Izanagi both had been staying away from the ship, so they'd decided that they could let Purrcy out. Michael had left her only one memory tape - doctored by him to explain to his preferences where she was and why. Mostly it was so he could know when it was one or the other of the Inari raising up their heads to interfere in their business again.

Purrcy finally gave up her hunting and found him, climbing up the ladder. The wind of their forward motion caught her ears and made them fold a little more as her head crested the decking. He waited, arms folded, body knowingly riding the rise and fall of the ship as it crested the waves and fell again. This was his element when he wasn't in the sky. She still had her landlubber legs, but she wasn't doing too badly. Cat reflexes were apparently as helpful on the high sea as well as anywhere. Just the occasional sudden drop gave her pause.

He watched her, emotionless, as she arrived in front of him. "Michael...," her golden eyes looked into his, trying to read his face, "where is Nyanta?"

"He chose to not come this trip," he answered.

Her ears twitched unhappily. "Why?"

He paused very briefly. "Wasn't it his to choose?" he asked lightly.

She twitched in irritation this time, that he wasn't going to tell her. She didn't ask again, though, just turned away from him to walk the three steps to the rail. She took hold of it unconsciously as she looked out over the ocean. He wasn't surprised it was in the direction of Yamato, though she should have no idea where they were and what direction they were going. She stayed there, silent, but leaning on his presence even now. When he was finally called away for work, she didn't complain, didn't go with him, didn't even say anything.

The first few days were like that. She didn't complain, always came and found him when she rose, to stand with him silently. He wasn't able to engage her in conversation, though she did answer his questions politely. He wasn't very interested in having her ask all her questions anyway, so he only tested that once. When he was called for his duty, she would stay wherever he left her until one of the Eagles went to fetch her - usually for dinner in the officer's state room. He was impressed that she always came to dinner dressed somewhat formally - that is, nicely in one of her own creations that he was sure was selling well in Yamato and probably a lot of the Eured content now. When she came out in the mornings it was in one of her casual emotionally comforting outfits. After dinner, as both her guardian and the captain of the ship, he escorted her back to her room.

She'd done one self directed action that first night. She'd made him pause between decks so she could look at the stars. The lights on the ship made them dimmer than they could have been, but they still glimmered. On the third evening, she only looked briefly, then turned away sadly, almost tugging on him to get him going again. That raised an eyebrow. She'd been remembering something when she looked at the stars. He wondered what, but was pretty sure it was a memory that contained Nyanta. The next day she came out of her cabin late. He could have sworn she almost didn't turn to come his way, her hesitation was so long. She wouldn't look at him, either. When he was called away, he said to her, "You know, everyone has a choice, even you. You don't have to choose depression. It makes the trip rather less than enjoyable...though it has certainly been quiet for a change."

That night at dinner she asked him a question for the first time since that first day. "We've been on the ocean for four days. I remember you saying it would take about two weeks to get there. When will we arrive?"

Michael didn't answer right away, eating another bite of his dinner, calculating. "It's going to take us a little longer than that. Perhaps two and a half weeks, since we're navigating by seat of the pants, not knowing the stars. The water temperature's been rising, so we've gotten on a southeasterly path. We should be passing close by Hawaii, though we probably won't see it. I'm recording the stars as we go, heading in a 'straight' direction. Where we land will help us place the stars properly so that next time we can arrive closer to where we wanted to go. Likely we'll end up on the western coast of the equivalent of Mexico and have to work our way up. It will take probably four or five more crossings to get the navigation maps correct enough we'll be able to make direct traverses of the Athirds Ocean."

Purrcy's ears were attentive to his words, though her focus was on her food, the same as his was. She nodded and he thought she gave a silent sigh, but otherwise she held her reaction quite well, still holding to the formal royal she held to at dinner. That night she only glanced at the stars as they passed along the outer walkway between the dining halls and the sleeping quarters. Rather, she surprised him slightly by holding more tightly to his arm when they reached her door, then pausing on the threshold as she moved to enter her cabin.

Whatever she was thinking, she chose not to say it, though, moving in to close the door behind her as always, only with a quiet "Good night," as always as well. He sighed to himself lightly, then took himself up to finish his watch in the steerage room. Michael looked up at the stars on his way up. They were becoming more familiar, matching the charts he'd memorized in Akiba, the details he needed to see now jumping out at him more quickly than as if it was just a mat of sprinkled glitter.

That night was different in another way, four hours later. "Sir, Purrcy's out. Looks panicked."

"Purrcy, stay put," he immediately opened a chat to her. "I'm here. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes if you need to." Then back to the guards on watch. "One of you get to her and pet her until she calms down enough to bring her up here. I'll meet you on the steerage deck." He was only fifteen minutes to the end of his watch. If they could keep her calm up here, he could deal with her in more depth when it was over. "Reed, if you could come a few minutes early, that would probably help."

"Roger, Sir."

"I'm with her, Sir," came from Brenner.

Michael went back to the personal chat with Purrcy. "Purrcy, I'm on watch, so you'll have to come to me. Brenner will bring you up. Just let him lead you and keep breathing." He frowned slightly. She'd not changed into her cat form this whole time. "If you can't get your feet to move, become small and he'll be able to carry you up. If you can go kitten, I'll hold you until I'm off watch. Just...don't run."

Brenner arrived at the steerage deck and the watch let Michael know. Michael confirmed everything was going smoothly in the steerage room and stepped out onto the deck. As Brenner handed her over, kitten as expected, he reported. "She's been silent, but shivering since I reached her." Michael could feel it, now that he was holding her. It was almost a small vibration, as if someone had turned on her motor, but it wasn't the motor of a purr. It was more like that of a piece of power equipment that was getting to the point of needing proper maintenance. "It's gone down some since I've been holding her and petting her."

Michael could imagine. He nodded. "Thank you, Brenner. You may return to your duty."

Brenner saluted properly and left. "I'm sure you should have gone bonkers before now," he scolded Purrcy slightly. "You've not even exercised properly. At least run up and down the deck a few times a day. The ship might be moving forward, but that doesn't mean you should hold still the whole time." He paused to flick an ear lightly with the back of his finger. She nodded to let him know she'd heard, though her head was still buried in his chest. "Only during the day when you're not going to trip on something and go over the edge. Night time's not the time for running." She nodded again.

He paused, looking up at the horizon, which was nearly nonexistent since the stars in the sky were reflected in the water, to make it look like they were all in one night globe. "Turn off the lights," he ordered the steerage room quietly, though he did it on the all hands line so no one died suddenly in the dark. The lights on the ship suddenly went out and all the light there was were the sparkling stars in the sky and the moon just rising over the horizon in the direction they were headed. "Purrcy, will you look? See what the ocean looks like at night."

Her little head lifted off his chest slightly and she sniffed at the air. Then she curled around in his arm to press her back against his chest tightly, but her head did lift to look. From horizon ahead until she was looking straight up, she slowly scanned the star-studded waters and sky. He could feel her amazement as her trembling slowly disappeared. When she was looking directly up, she scanned just a little farther. His own head blocked the way, though. He looked down at her and she turned in his arm again. Putting her front feet on his chest, she reached her head up and licked the underside of his chin. Then she climbed up on his shoulder and continued to scan the sky from there. He obligingly walked slowly to the other side of the deck so she could see what it looked like behind them.

He could see a small light coming up from the officer's sleeping quarters. Reed was on his way for his watch. Michael made sure he was back inside for the change-over of the watch. Before leaving, he asked Purrcy if she wanted to continue watching the stars. Pleasantly surprised by her answer, he requested Reed continue to run lightless for another ten minutes. Michael took her to the upper deck. When he stopped to let her look again, she climbed down his arm, then transformed into femfelinoid. He took his arm back, since having her do that always meant the arm holding her was now around her, and that wasn't proper in their case. She didn't seem to notice, though, as usual. She did stay there, though, close enough to him that he could feel her warmth as she stared at the boundless water and sky.

He moved away slightly and Purrcy began to move on around the deck, following the railing with one hand, using it to keep her upright since her eyes weren't paying attention to the moving surface under them. She'd gotten used to the swells and falls by now, though they hadn't run into rough weather yet. He followed along behind her slow traversal, his hands clasped behind his back. Her ears twitched softly, hearing the sounds of the slapping waves on the side of the ship, the constant sound of the turning paddlewheels a background noise now. The wind was blowing lightly tonight, the brush of it on his cheek often making her ears turn then as well. He was glad it was paddlewheels. When they crossed the equator, it was likely they'd have lost forward motion with only sails. The wind was a fickle, and often rare thing, there. Purrcy's attention to her surroundings seemed to be similar on this trip.

The shadow in front of the stars was larger as she turned her whole head instead of just the ears. "How can you even want to ever have the lights on?" she asked, her voice quiet in awe.

"I don't," he answered just as quietly. "But I also don't want any other boats that might be out on the water to run into me. And if we were to get to shallower waters, I'm not interested in missing seeing the rock that drowns us all."

The starlight bounced and flickered around the shadow of her head as she nodded. He reached up and softly put his hand on top of her head. She held still, one ear flicking past the outside of his hand. He knew that she didn't dislike it, but she likely wasn't sure how to react to it. He slowly pet her head, down to the neck, then dropped his hand and turned away to lean his forearms on the railing, clasping his hands together. She stayed still a moment longer, hesitated, then turned and slipped her arm in his closest one to hold onto his elbow as she did when he was escorting her.

He sighed. At least she'd admitted she needed people now. If she had walked on she would still be choosing to be an automaton. After a few more minutes, he stood up straight again, though he kept her hand in his elbow. "They're going to turn the lights back on soon. It will blind us, so we should get at least down off the upper deck before then." Purrcy sighed a little, but let him lead her back inside. Reed waited until they were down through the ladder shoot before he gave the order for the lights to come back up.

Purrcy still flinched and turned suddenly to hide her face in Michael's shoulder. The motion was so sudden, his reaction was automatic. His free hand came up to hold her head there, pressed tightly to him, and his jaw brushed the top of her head as he turned to face her direction. He froze slightly, then relaxed a little to at least come down off high alert. He closed his eyes and took a slow deep breath, then brushed her head lightly with his lips. "Take it slow. They're low at night, but it takes getting used to again." She slumped into him and her ear tip touched his nose tip. There was a low sound from her and she was suddenly gone.

He looked for her in surprise. That was very unexpected. He caught the motion of a black tail, low enough that she was probably cat again, as it flicked out of sight through the porthole that headed for the officer's quarters. He, she, Reed, and MasterChiefS7 all had quarters on that deck. The three men split the watches between them as chief officer on watch. So far that meant if she'd seen MasterChiefS7 at all, it had been at occasional meals in the officer's state room. Michael had second watch so that he could be where she could find him in the mornings.

Since the officer's quarters was where he needed to go next anyway, he followed her. No one sounded the alarm, so she hadn't left that deck, or the hall to the quarters. That meant she'd gone back to hers. He knocked on her door and called to her softly enough to not wake up MasterChiefS7. "Purrcy. Just let me know you're in there."

There was a pause, then, "Sorry. I'm here."

"Good night," he said. "Please try to go back to sleep."

"...Okay. ...'Night."

Michael sighed as he walked to his room, which was the next one down. He rubbed his hand on his head. He wasn't sure what had happened there. He did know why she'd woken up in a panic, though. He'd felt it, too. They'd passed outside Tetorō's tracer range. He'd have to purposely come calling in the code realm or they'd have to go hunting for him. She only had Michael and the sub-guild to rely on now.

-:-:-:-:-

Tetorō's eyes were suddenly open. It was dark and he'd only been asleep a few hours. He took a breath that hurt around his heart. He snapped his fingers and Andromeda was sitting on his chest. He wrapped an arm around her and rolled onto his side to hold her next to him. _God of the Eagles, please watch over them for me, now that I can't._ He shivered until Andromeda's purring and his own weariness put him back to sleep. His tears might have been relief that he didn't have to carry that burden any longer...but more than likely not they were because he suddenly felt very alone in the world again.

Having cried then, he was able to give his report at the morning meeting more calmly. "The maximum limit of my spell that let me keep track of Purrcy and Michael was reached last night." He refused to look at anyone who might be looking even remotely sympathetic.

"Can you still contact them at all?" Shiroe asked, keeping calm for Tetorō's sake.

"In the code realm it's possible, yes," Tetorō answered. Shiroe nodded. That was sufficient for him. If he needed to talk to them, he'd send Tetorō. If Tetorō wanted to go talk to them that would be up to himself.

He took a surreptitious breath and let it out, reminding himself that he only needed to go do that if he got too lonely. In the light of day he really couldn't imagine it, having had to babysit Purrcy for months on end already. He could understand that it had become habit, though. He took another breath and relaxed. He had good friends and companions here to help him. Naotsugu's hand on his shoulder was reminding him of that, too. He gave a committed nod and Naotsugu gave his shoulder a squeeze and let go. His warmth at Tetorō's side was still welcome that morning, though, and later that afternoon, too, when the emptiness was a bit like a tooth-ache that came back to remind him the connection was gone.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning Purrcy was obedient and ran the deck before coming up to stand with Michael. The Oki Watarimono - or Ocean Wanderer in English - wasn't as large as the Ocypete, but it did have double paddlewheels. The design was both for speed and for maneuverability. Small and with two paddlewheels, they could reverse one and turn nearly in place. They figured if they ran into nasty ocean creatures they'd likely need to outrun them. That would be better than being listed as "missing at sea" for the rest of the eternity...or back in Akiba the trip wasted.

Of course 'small' was relative. Nothing was as big as the aircraft carriers the Eagles were used to. The Ocypete was about the size of a destroyer. The Oki Watarimono was more the size of a destroyer escort, slightly smaller than the smallest frigates, though wider at the girth to handle the paddlewheels that were centered at about the one-third point from the stern to either side. That was still far, far larger than the fishing boats of Theldesia.

As he watched Purrcy run the main deck, Michael was pleased when she shifted from merely running as a chore to more focused dodge and attack practice. Since he needed the exercise as well, he shifted to his soft flying jerkin and his wings sprouted and unfurled. Since he was limited in how long in a day he could use them, he'd not flown much, wanting to reserve them for times they might have to face an ocean creature in battle. Still a half-hour wouldn't cost much when they hadn't seen anything this whole time. He tried not to think too much in those terms, since it would mean one would show up tonight and the battle would last so long he'd wish he hadn't. Since he was on the bow, he just lifted up and the boat moved smoothly under him until he was over the point he was looking for. Then he dived.

Purrcy leaped sideways and rolled, coming up on her feet facing him. He touched down just long enough to push off in the direction he wanted to go next. She followed him with her head, then took off down the deck again. He flapped hard, giving himself a surge forward. She beat him to the other end of the main deck, but because the boat was moving fast, on the way back he beat her in the end. That put his back to her though, and he had to tip his wings enough to rise up in a curve so that her capturing leap put her just under him.

He tisked at her and shook his head. Her tail twitched. "I've fought better birders than you," he teased her and led her back out to the open central area. They practiced ground-areal touch combat for about forty-five minutes, until she called a halt, flopping on her side to pant, her tail slapping the deck surface in a slow rhythm.

Michael landed near her, then walked over with his wings still partially unfurled in case she decided to go for a sneak attack. She just watched him. He bent down to one knee and reached out a hand for her head, rubbing it with a twisting motion instead of a pet. "There. Now the blood's flowing again. Feeling more alive now?"

Purrcy ducked her head and batted at his hand, which he took back before she could get to it and rested it on his knee. She rolled slightly and wriggled a bit to get closer to him. She reached out paws for him that turned into hands. He watched warily as the hands caught gentle hold of his wing. He shifted it closer to her. Anything that interested her right now was better than letting her go back to depression...if that's what it was. This was Purrcy. Last night had been Purrcy as well. Michael was sure a good portion of the time it was Inari being good. Not that Inari needed to be around. The journey was boring for either Inari. They weren't needed for being oceanside with only the silent, nearly nonexistent crew present. But that made it odd that Purrcy hadn't been present more - which was why he figured she was depressed.

"Who's the better birder?" she asked.

Well, words was better than silence but the question wasn't really. "Nyanta-san," he said. He put it in a teasing voice, hoping to keep her irritated.

It didn't work. She let go of his wing and rolled to look him in the eye. "Why, Michael? Why didn't he come?" He didn't want the question again, and shifted in irritation, giving a sharp flick to his wings to settle them again a bit.

"Why does it matter, 'why'?" he asked back. "He chose not to come and you're a big girl. What's a Jap going to do in the States anyway?"

Her look was sober. "He's an ambassador, Michael. Not to mention he's more alone now than he's ever been before, and I promised him I wouldn't leave him alone." He couldn't answer that and his eyes fell. Her hand moved and got his attention again. "Are you jealous, Michael?" she asked.

He rose to his feet, going cool. "You rejected me a long time ago, Purrcy, then have continued to feed me scraps and leftovers since then. You know why I follow you."

"Michael," her voice was not quite sharp...not quite...desperate? He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, not giving in. She rolled in a twist until she was on her four paws, then she was up on her feet, felinoid in jeans and a sweatshirt, walking away. He put his wings away and in four strides had caught up to her, though he stayed the escort's pace behind, knowing her blind space very well now, though she knew he was there.

When she reached the bulkhead and was moving to turn, he reached out and grabbed her arm, turning her and pushing her against it, holding her there with that hand while the other rested over her shoulder against the bulkhead. He still had just enough height on her he could lean down slightly to look her in the eyes. "Why don't you do us both a favor and don't ask again. As a matter of fact, don't bring him up for the rest of the trip. We all know it's a contractual arrangement of convenience. Why you settled for that kind of arrangement, and with a cold heartless bastard, I'll never understand." He glared at her until she understood just where he stood on that issue, then let her go and turned his back on her, walking away three steps to put distance between them.

"Michael...," there it was again, that almost desperation in her voice.

He turned back irritably, but her face was already cooling and he was sure Inari was looking at him. He almost lit into the AI right there, and he had to remind himself that if he hit the body, he would only be hurting Purrcy. Coldly he said, "Inari, to have made her marry someone she couldn't love and couldn't receive love from is emotional abuse. I will stay angry with you for a long time." The cool look stayed on her face, then she turned and continued her progress up to the bow of the ship. He watched her go, folding his arms. It was his turn for duty. He'd let the watch take care of her from now.

He knew the AIs disagreed with him on that point. Arranged marriages had been the norm for Japan since time there began. Marriages even in the modern era were hard because love that joined couples was a western notion, not an eastern one. Love had never been between husband and wife there before the latest generations, only duty. Love was for concubines and affairs, if it happened at all. So to Inari, her marriage to Nyanta was perfectly appropriate.

It galled him, particularly when they also knew full well she was American and love had ruled as the force for marriages there for as long as the country had existed. It took the whole walk back to the command center to get himself back under control. He was glad he had the whole afternoon and evening to cool off. The dinner atmosphere was cool and little was said by anyone. He asked Reed to escort her back to her room and returned to his post immediately after eating.

As he stood on the steerage deck after night fell, he couldn't help but feel the full bitterness. He looked at the stars, glad he'd given her another memory of them than whatever memory she had of them with Nyanta. They'd erased the memory of being stolen from the shrine from her mind. As far as she was concerned, she'd come with them on the ship directly from Log Horizon. Thus why she couldn't understand why Nyanta hadn't come with them. She'd gone looking for him in the code realm and other ways as well, but hadn't been able to find him anywhere that first day. Because she wouldn't let it go, Michael had finally let her have the replay of the clip of him entering the Gate of Time as if it was happening right then, adding to it what he wanted her to believe.

As Michael had watched over her from the bow of the deck, those first silent days, as far as Purrcy was concerned Nyanta had calmly asked for permission to travel back to the Gate of Time. He'd given the excuse that there was more to follow up on there, and he may as well, while Purrcy was on her trip to the States. That should have been fine, to split the ambassadorial duties.

Michael had watched her watch his replay until Nyanta had reached the city. Because of the footage he had, she'd only been able to watch to the border of the city, to see that it was the Gate of Time and to watch the guild wave him off. (Though in actuality they'd been forcing him in.) What Michael had missed that time, that Purrcy had zoomed in on in her replay of it was that just after Nyanta had stepped to the border, a light grey tabby had met Nyanta. The hug she gave Nyanta by way of greeting had frozen Purrcy. She'd not been able to watch the stars at night after seeing that.

While it was part of the play, or so he'd thought, the one scene had set Michael firmly in his decision. Nyanta had a girlfriend or Izanagi had a concubine. Either way it wasn't acceptable to play around like that with an Adventurer of Earth's United States. He wasn't going to get Purrcy back until he came to get her himself, and then he'd have to face Michael first. In the meantime, if Michael could kill the World AI, he would. That's why he followed Purrcy after all, was to reach his final goal: kill the bastard that brought them all here without their say-so.

Michael dropped back to lean against the bulkhead of the steerage room. He hit his head lightly against the metal behind him as he closed his eyes. It had been at midnight the following night they'd crossed out of Tetorō's range...her one constant support and comfort gone. Michael figured Tetorō was rather relieved, actually. He would be relying on his partner now, and trying to recover his own mental and emotional sanity.

Michael sighed and relaxed. It was nice to know he also could relax now. He also wasn't under constant guard watch by them. He would still have to move carefully to not frighten Purrcy. His methods weren't theirs, but showing her the stars he would never have been able to do before - not the way he had. He'd only watched her, no one to care what he was looking at for once, and in the dark and in her own embarrassment, even she hadn't been willing to admit it.

He'd received the final confirmation he was looking for then, though. She would be willing to put up with just as much abuse from him as she had from Nyanta, as long as he let her feel safe and secure. He pushed back up from the bulwark, his face and posture going set. He had a mission to fulfill and for this part it rode on only his shoulders. Everyone else was behind the scenes support. He wondered for just a moment, as he turned to reenter the steerage room, how it would unfold from here.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy lay on her bed in her cabin, wishing she was locked in, wishing she was anywhere but on this ship, wishing she could be allowed to rest. She was oh, so weary. She desperately wanted to find Nyanta, to be able to use him as her anchor in the storm that was approaching, but Michael had been completely unwilling to tell her where he might be. Seeing him physically enter the Gate of Time let her know that Izanagi wouldn't interfere in what she would be going through next. She shivered and trembled and begged Izanami to leave her be, to let her rest, but even that wouldn't be sufficient. Izanami's answer would only be to lock her away again.

Purrcy had been trying to warn Michael every time they'd come in too close contact that he was in danger. He'd not understood what small, simple warnings she could barely get out before Izanami was shutting her down again. This was Izanami's time and she wasn't going to let it be wasted. She had chosen Michael and the Eagles and they rejected her at every turn because they didn't understand that they were the price Izanagi had paid her. They were going to be punished now and Purrcy couldn't afford to be locked away, lest they be completely overcome. But...she wasn't sure she had the strength any more to help in the way it was needed. Michael couldn't hear her and wasn't allowed to anyway. Tetorō was no longer in reach. And Nyanta...was missing in a way that made Purrcy very afraid - afraid for him, and afraid for herself.

Purrcy curled up, small cat in the middle of her bed under the covers, shivering, wishing she didn't have to walk through this fire she could feel licking at her ankles and which was already burning the soles of her feet. Her nights had been plagued with nightmares when she'd finally been able to sleep at all. She could only attempt to rest, and when she had any strength at all, plan. Those times were spent coming up with even the smallest of ways she could be heard and understood so that she could protect those she was with, and hope for some small amount of protection in return. Touching was out of the question. No comfort would be found. Izanami had promised Michael she would test him. That testing was coming and it made Purrcy tremble and cower and yearn for Nyanta.

-:-:-:-:-

For the next three days, Michael watched Purrcy from the steerage deck instead of the upper deck. She knew he was there, making sure she got her exercise. He moved dinner just a little later so that when her eyes went dull and her shoulders slumped just a little, he could escort Purrcy to bed instead of have to deal with Izanami. She was very obedient then as well, taking his arm quietly and lightly, staying silent unless he asked her a question. Glances were going between the men and Gareth had tried to talk to Michael, but he wouldn't listen, too angry with Izanami and not able to feel anything for Purrcy. He only said shortly that she would be fine and understand. It didn't look that way to the others, though.

On the fifth day since they lost contact with Tetorō's tracer, clouds appeared on the horizon late in the morning and the call went out to batten down. Purrcy was immediately escorted to her room and locked in. They didn't need to worry about losing her when they needed to focus on the ship.

This would be the first test of ship and crew for the paddlewheels. Sails they knew came down. Motors they turned nose into the storm and rode it out. They could loose the paddlewheels doing that if they weren't careful. None of them had enough experience with the history of paddlewheel boats to know if they should lock the paddles down or let them slide on the bearings. The Maintenance detail didn't want to lose the paddles right off the axles if they did the latter and somehow it seemed that locking them down would crush them with the force of the waves that would come.

After much debate, when the waves were whipping up already, Gareth sent out a calm and quiet call. "Miss Purrcy." Everyone in the chat went to immediate silence - most surprised at his balls for contacting her when the Commander was angry with her.

Her voice came over the air, signalling Gareth had made it a conference call. "Yes, Gareth?" she asked.

"I need to ask the Oracle a question. May I do that?" They all looked at his position like he'd gone insane.

There a silence for a moment, then she answered, "Yes, Gareth. I'm listening."

"What is the best method to run this storm so we don't lose the paddlewheels or any life aboard the ship?" With chagrin, most of them realized the reason for asking her. It was a normal thing to do in ancient times with Oracles, of course, but in their case they all knew full well it meant she would be accessing the entire database of the internet to give them the best answer she could. They couldn't have done any better, and certainly not by argument. They were sure even then there wasn't likely a lot of data available, except in anecdotal historic records.

Purrcy was silent for nearly five minutes, then she sighed. "Michael. Izanami knows your mad at her, but we're having an argument so your vote must be cast to break the tie."

Michael's snort came over the air. "Whatever. Ship and crew come first. I'm listening."

"...There is insufficient data to calculate sufficient safety to the Caretaker if the ship remains in the water under the storm. The correct answer is to remove the Oki Watarimono from the sea and vicinity of the storm, bypassing the danger."

People blinked. "Well, yeah...but?" Michael said.

"My argument is that if it isn't learned properly then in the future the question will still be an unknown and we will lose this or other similar ships and crews. The storm must be passed through for learning purposes. It isn't like the lot of you haven't been in storms at sea before, though I understand the paddlewheels are different. And plenty of paddlewheel ships survived, just like some were lost, the same as for all ships."

"Exactly," Michael said dryly. "The correct solution is to ride it out using the best available data. Then, if the maximum safety limits are exceeded, fall back on the emergency solution of moving us out of the storm. We'll have enough data to calculate future solutions to try at that point."

There was silence on the chat line for a few seconds, then Purrcy said, "Fine. We'll go with that." Izanami's voice sounded very menacing for all she'd just agreed with Michael and more than one Eagle had shivers go down their spines. It wasn't just Michael angry with Izanami. Izanami was just as angry with Michael. Things weren't going to go down well very soon. They all hoped to survive the coming storm. "Ask for your miracle when you decide you want it." More than one pair of knees hit the decking, and far more than one mind begged for clemency, though they kept their mouths closed.

Michael gave the orders to the crew, sharp and direct. Men jumped into action and hands went to work. QA and Avionics stood at one paddlewheel. OciferJeff and Electrical stood by the other. Clocktower stood between them both where he could see and hear to give on-the-spot orders. Reed took lookout on the steerage deck to watch the storm and call out the lay of the sea. Michael took the wheel himself. Gareth stood next to him as navigator and pulled up his map of this area of ocean. The storm was rather massive and he took a deep breath. "Five-miler." That gave everyone the length they'd be working with. It was going to be hard to pull through that much time under storm conditions. Everyone tied themselves to the ship in their places.

"Let the wheels ride for now," Michael ordered.

"Yes, Sir," Clocktower answered. It would be his job to change that order once they were in the thick of things, since only he would be able to hear through the storm. Already the thunder was growling and booming overhead, though still somewhat distant. The grey clouds covered the sky over them and blue sky was a thing of the past. The boat lifted, paused one second, then listed right and slid down the wave to hit the next cresting wave hard and be lifted up again in a sharp left. This was a more difficult sea to ride with the pauses and the harsh hits against the water. They'd ridden it before, though. It was a new pony ride every time, but elements were the same. If Purrcy stayed in bed, she might survive it. If it got really bad, she'd need to brace herself in any small space she could find. That's what they'd be doing, if they could.

The waves crested higher and higher and Michael turned the rudder so they were running more parallel to the waves instead of perpendicular. The paddlewheels pulled, but only the windward side had any real purchase. Water washed over the decks from that side, attempting to wash the men off. They stayed put as best they could. Michael ran the waves that way as long as he could. After a particularly impressive lightning display with loud crashes, Reed informed him via chat - as that was the only way to be able to hear each other - that it was time to turn nose into the waves and gave him a heading. Gareth shook his head and modified it slightly. They would need to offset it by a few degrees to not go through the full center of the storm.

Gareth watched the compass and marked the proper direction. Michael stuck firm to it, holding the rudder in place again. His hands were tight on the wheel and his feet were braced to keep himself steady in the rocking of the ship on the waves. All of them were extremely glad he was an Adventurer of level one hundred and nearly nineteen. Themselves as well. Technically, that should mean they'd have the stamina to hold out until the end of the storm.

The paddlewheels groaned as the ship rode up the face of the wave they'd headed into, but they were over the crest before it sounded troublesome. On the downward side, Clocktower called for the release of the wheels. Their speed down the back side was faster than the wheels could turn on their own. As soon as they were reaching the valley, he was calling for them to be brought on line again. The four men on the paddlewheels quickly clicked them back into place and the paddlewheels gained purchase again and laboriously pulled them up the next wave face. Clocktower called for the release of the paddlewheels at the top of the crest the next time and they slipped down it like a sled down an icy snow sled hill. The alternating calls continued for some time, wave after wave.

"Hard astarboard!" Gareth cried just before Reed called out, "Rocks aport!" Michael was already moving at Gareth's cry. "Shields astarboard," MasterChiefS7 called out orders. Magic users immediately cast shields on the starboard side of the ship that extended under the keel. One - there shouldn't be rocks out here in the middle of the Athirds, and two - any rocks that were, were also likely to be under the ship, not just on one side.

The Oki Watarimono slid sideways down the slope of the back side of the wave, for all Michael was trying to get it to go forward enough to bypass the rocks on that side. "Call for the jump," he called out.

Reed closely watched their path and the rocks and their intersection. "Now!" Michael turned the wheel sharply so the rudder went to as nearly the opposite direction as possible, though he had to hope it wasn't torn off in the process. The stern of the ship turned sharply and the final ride down the slope was perpendicular to it. "Clear," Reed said, relieved. They'd managed to slide past the rocks rather than be crashed against them.

They rode the next wave up perpendicular again. At the top the same calls were made and again they had to wait with hearts in mouths for the fine timing it took to get past the next set of rocks. For nearly a quarter nautical mile they dodged rocks on the starboard side. The next time, though, Reed drew in a sharp breath. "Thread the needle."

Eyes went wide and prayers went up. "Talk it, Nav," Michael said, the strain of holding the rudder steady in his voice.

"Reinforce the ship," MasterChiefS7 called out. Clocktower had already called for the paddlewheels to be slipped, and everyone hoped that had been the right call.

The Oki Watarimono began to slide down the back side of the wave. "Hard astarboard. Ride the crest. Get the wheels online!" Gareth called out. No one failed to follow his instructions, though it was difficult since they were already slipping. They ignored that until the paddlewheels were turning and the ship was under power again.

"I'm going to lose the rudder to the wave," Michael warned Gareth.

"Let it loose just a little," Gareth responded back. Michael let the wave take the rudder just a little. The strain on the stern lessened a little. It was going to take fine tuning to not start slipping down the back side backwards. If they got backwards the storm, they'd be caught in it until it gave out on the Asian coast.

Gareth's eyes were seeing without seeing something they were passing. "Reed, what do you see?" he asked.

"A black tower sticking up out of the ocean," Reed answered, a bit of awe in his voice.

Gareth paused, then gave a little nod. "I've marked the needle entrance if we ever get back here to try it." There were a few nervous releases of laughter. Like they'd ever get the chance to come fight this dungeon out here in the middle of the Athirds. Likely they'd have fun doing it, but it wasn't in the list of options today.

"Wonder if it's another world flavor text dungeon, way out here like this," BlackJack mused.

"Sounds likely. Haven't heard of one in the game anyway," Records answered. He would know.

The tower was past, and Michael's sweat was saying he was hoping they'd be past the rocks soon as well. "Can't hold it on top anymore," he warned.

"Let is slide as slow as you can," Gareth ordered. Michael took in a deep breath and gave a nod, setting himself to his task firmly. Gareth pulled on the speed lever of both paddlewheels and slowed them both way down, letting Clocktower and his men know he was doing it on purpose.

"Three-quarter-crest," Reed called out half a minute later. Gareth increased the speed of the port paddlewheel slightly. Michael compensated for the differential very slightly. They coasted sideways down the back side of the wave slowly, Reed calling out half-crest and quarter-crest at the proper times. Then, as he finally called for the cut to turn them straight down the wave, Gareth pushed both speed levers up as high as they could go. That gave them just a little more forward push before they were headed nose down into the valley of the wave. Poles came up at the bow on the port side and pushed hard against the now-tall rocks that they were passing. The poles were magic reinforced or the first several would have shattered, then the ship was past the rocks.

Reed called out more rocks, but they were curving back around the tower now, away from their path. Michael kept them going nose into the storm as best he could, and at the heading that would take them even farther away from the danger zone.

"I do hope that was the center of the storm," he managed to get out, now that he wasn't _quite_ so focused. "Well, sorry, no," Gareth answered. "Too close to the front edge to be central."

Groans answered that one. "Hope there's no more rocks," was grumbled, but since the entire trip was a new adventure for Adventurers there was no saying until they'd traversed it.


	167. Testing on the Oki Watarimono

The storm continued to crash lightning and thunder all around the Oki Watarimono as it approached the center of the storm system. The wild ride over the waves was starting to get old already. Even the Eagles felt nauseous just a bit. Likely Purrcy was barely holding on by now to her own dinner, if she'd even managed to get this far. Not many spared her a thought, though. They were for the most part fighting off lightning attacks to the ship, trying to prevent fire, smash damage, and electrocution and paralysis of the men. It was likely another half-hour or more before they were through the central gauntlet, time being stretched and compressed in such extreme circumstances.

On the opposite side of the central part of the storm, true to form for dungeons and game worlds, the waves turned until they were running up the backs of them and then dangerously dropping through space to land in the valleys with hard crashes. Michael only let them do that once, and not for trying. They got the proper speed the second time and rode the wave as long as they could. Gareth stood at the speed levers again and carefully followed all of Reed's instructions, pulling back on the speed so they didn't get up on the crest, and increasing speed if they started slipping back too far. They didn't need to fall back or they'd be swallowed up in the wave coming behind them.

Clocktower was still listening to the paddlewheels to ensure they stayed within proper stress parameters. He heard the sound on the wind the same time Reed did. They both swore. "Earplugs!" Clocktower called out. "Sirens," Reed explained.

"Room of Silence," MasterChiefS7 ordered. The Programmers available immediately cast for a full ship protection. Several others had almost left their posts by the time it was up since that was a slightly larger spell than normal, however it meant they could continue to talk to each other, which was important in the next moment.

"Rocks! ...Again," Reed muttered the second under his breath. Of course there were rocks. There were sirens.

"How's the wind?" Michael asked quickly.

"Not as bad here as in the center," Reed answered.

"Can we fly in it?" Michael asked.

That answer was longer in coming. "Probably not unless it's an emergency," Reed answered back.

"If it gets there, let me know," Michael requested.

"Yes, Sir," Reed answered.

With just as much effort as the last set of rocks had taken, they managed to slip around the Siren's island of rocks that jutted out from the surface of the Athirds. Likely there was another dungeon there that could be overcome. Again, they weren't going to stick around to see. This time they had to run aport along the back edge of the crest of the wave. They barely managed to get far enough out. They were slipping on the stern edge as they lost wave to the island. The last minute speed up that Clocktower's party manged to add to the paddlewheels saved them and they were able to ride the crest down as it gradually crashed without the support of what had crashed against the island.

Thankfully that meant they weren't going to be smashed by a wave behind them, but it also meant they had to climb the next wave in front of them again to get back to the sweet surfing position. That was another bit of tricky maneuvering to get into place again, then they were back at the holding pattern. One nice thing was that this was a faster way to get out of the storm than fighting through each wave.

Slowly the thunder and lightning decreased. The height of their wave decreased at a similar rate until they were riding the pony again at the outer edge of the storm. The paddlewheels pulled and eventually they were out of the choppy water as well. Every man's muscles felt like jelly, but none's so much as Michael's. He'd held the rudder for over an hour, maybe even two. Reed put a chair on the steerage deck and made Michael trade him places and sit down.

When Michael had recovered a bit, he asked, "Clocktower, did you get enough data on how to run the 'wheels?"

"Yes, Sir. I think we worked it out rather well. Releasing the bearings on the downslope was really the only major change. It would be nice to know just when we might need to lock them down, but so far only when it's in park seems to be the right time."

"Maintenance check on the ship, please," Michael ordered. They would need to know if any of the harsh falls had damaged things. "Gareth, when you've got our heading set, go check on our guest."

There were collective swallows, though no one said anything. Since Gareth had been the one to break silence, he was getting the punishment, though he was one with the password to get into the locked room, so there couldn't be any complaints that he'd been singled out improperly.

Gareth acknowledge his orders, set the course for Reed, then disappeared. Three minutes later he arrived back on the steerage deck. "She rode it out in a hammock," he said in a little surprise. "She's not happy, though. Ears and tail say she wants to hunt at worst. She also wants to talk to you."

"Of course she does," Michael said calmly. He didn't move. He was going to finish resting first, it looked like.

There was a pressure on the steerage deck and Gareth was being pressed to his knees. He gave up quickly and put his forehead to the deck as well.

In front of Michael, hanging in the air, the High Priestess showed up to hover with her feet at the height of the banister railing. Her arms were crossed, not just being held at the wrists under her kimono sleeves, and her ears and tail were indeed as cross as her expression.

Michael blinked at her. "I believe I've told you before that you don't trust us enough. It was nice to not have your interference for a change. I'm sure we would have died multiple times if you'd been allowed to be free. Go back. I still don't want your interference and your presence on the ship is irrelevant. What does a kami need to be hanging around for, wasting time on a long boring voyage across the ocean?"

The High Priestess' eyes narrowed at him. "Because you still don't understand and because I've promised you testing"

Michael narrowed his eyes back at her. "Consider the testing done, then, and speak plainly. You've got two minutes."

"You are mine, as are all of the Eagles. You will pay the proper respect."

"That flavor text got broken last week, and you haven't earned our respect yet to have it without the flavor text. As a matter of fact, you and Izanagi keep losing it on a regular basis. We'll dance the hoops to get the drop we want, but personally, I hate you both."

"And will you allow Purrcy to be harmed because of it, then?"

"You know I hate her as well. You made me tell you," he scowled at the image only he could see hanging in the air. "And Izanagi's helped that along by taking what normal human emotions of sympathy I might have had away."

"So you'll break your contract, then?"

"I didn't say that," his scowl deepened. "We're keeping her safely on the ship, and kept it afloat even through that crazy storm, all without you. Just go away until we get to where we really need you around again. Having you here only makes it worse."

"That's not how the game is played, HackerM1." The eyes of the High Priestess were glowing and the pressure increased until Michael could only slump to his knees in front of his chair.

He put one hand on the ground to support himself. "You still do not understand," he grit out through his teeth. "You are no longer the Goddess to be worshiped, but the devil to be destroyed. In removing the flavor text that held us and the People of the Land hostage to worship you and appease you, we have removed the requirement on all of us to obey without question and to play without refusal. I've said it. We'll still jump through the required hoops to get to the final battle against you, but allowing you to interfere in the process is not required any longer. Go away."

Michael slumped unconscious in the next breath and he lay as one dead, though he didn't go up in bubbles. The pressure disappeared slowly and Gareth lifted his head up. He crawled over to Michael and felt for a pulse. He sighed, shaking his head. "The Commander's been taken by Izanami up into the ether, likely for lessons and punishment for a while."

Reed sighed from the helm. "May as well make him comfortable while they fight it out. It would be good to have that resolved soon." The rest of the Eagles could only agree, though they hoped they would get their Commander back in one whole piece.

-:-:-:-:-

"You do not understand," the massive entity said again. Michael was floating in the space that contained it, both as overwhelmingly large as the first time he'd been there. "Our agreement was made in Minami before. The priesthood was conferred separately at a later date as a necessity for a later time." He was shown his memory of the time he'd been in the hot springs and talking with Gareth and Tetorō, when Tetorō had been oracle and explained that very fact.

"When did I make an agreement with you?" he asked. He was shown the memory of him kneeling in front of Tetorō the first time Tetorō had been oracle for Purrcy on the roof of Shopping District 8 in Minami. "That was an agreement with Purrcy," he frowned.

He was shown all of the memories of the times that Purrcy had cajoled him, trying to win him over and he slumped. The rules of Theldesia said that the Game AI couldn't force an Adventurer, but could only request. Purrcy would have teased mercilessly, and likely would have given him the clues to refuse the request, but if she'd wanted the contract at that time herself, she would have just asked him outright like he'd thought she should have been. She'd used him and the contract since then, for sure, but he'd not understood as well as he'd thought he had.

"So, specify for me exactly what the agreement is, then," Michael requested.

"You will play my game with me until the end, being fully obedient to my requests." As the words filled his ears, he was placed again in the time and space where he knew nothing and a felinoid was standing in front of him asking him to use the piece of the great being that had overwhelmed him until he was nothing for her own purposes. He heard himself again promise it, for that piece of it belonged to it and could only be used for it. He was left in the state of nothingness for years again until he was suddenly given back all of his memories and placed in the present again.

Michael took a gasping breath and shuddered, then lay on the deck of the Oki Watarimono shivering. Two hands were laid on him and Spirit Heal was being cast over him, warming him, but not enough to get him to stop shivering - or crying for that matter. That realm of emptiness and non-existence was rough on a soul.

-:-:-:-:-

The Michael that came back from that fight was cool and hard, like flint. His summary was that he'd be playing by Izanami's rules, but he left it open for if the rest of them had to. Gareth silently picked that he'd better. He'd gone back and reviewed what he could remember from their initiation and remembered that Michael had said if he ever told Izanami "no" she'd punish him. He wasn't surprised Michael had lost this round. Most of the rest left it open ended like always.

When the review was over, Michael left Reed and Gareth on duty in the steerage room and headed for his cabin. Gareth got a grilling. He just shook his head. "She didn't let me follow them up, and I couldn't anyway. That's too high for me when she drags someone up into nano for a direct face-to-face. I can tell you it isn't pretty and most of the time it feels more like dissolution of soul than existence. I've gotten to experience it for two years of time there. That one minute was more than I needed. Reliving the Special's prison wasn't fun."

"When?"

"During the initiation we had to go through to play the game at the shrine," he shuddered involuntarily. "He got ten years then. This time was longer. I can guarantee it wasn't a free-will surrender."

He was watched but his own memories of that time had him pale and drawn and he rather just wished they'd all go away. They did after a bit, sober, hopefully remembering their own two years of hell. He wasn't thrilled to be remembering the four he'd had.

They watched Michael closely after that, but everything he did was by the book. By the set of his shoulders, he was carrying the lot of them, too, protecting them again. That made people mad at Izanami all over again, that she'd forced Michael into that position. They started looking for ways to let that anger out, watching Purrcy closely when she was finally let out again and fine tuning learning when it was her peeking out, though mostly it was a cold Izanami that rode the ship with them.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe, Akatsuki, and Tetorō walked around the new facility behind the guild hall. On exiting out the back door, one now entered the first part of the shrine. A tall privacy fence surrounded the purification area that was somewhat a courtyard between the apartment building and the shrine proper. There was a well of running water for the first purification ahead about three paces and on the right. Left of there were two gates. There were two hot springs there, created by Naiads of high level, like the cold spring under the well had been. One of the high-fenced-in springs was for the shrine maidens and priestesses if any should be made in the future. The other was for the deacons and priests. They were covered over the top for modesty's sake, since there were apartment windows above them.

When one returned to the main passageway and continued on past the well, the main entrance to the shrine was opposite the back door of the guild hall. Tetorō had explained that a lot of the rooms in the shrines on Shrine Mountain were living quarters. Since they had that in the guild hall, they'd only put the required rooms in this shrine. There wasn't much space back here anyway. They'd gone with the ancient Japanese construction, tatami mats and sliding doors and all. It had been a new thing for Michitaka's construction crew, but they'd been excited to learn it, most of them being history buffs as well.

Entering in the main door one entered directly into the lower room of instruction. From there one could go through the long wall into the upper room of instruction, or through the short wall on the far side to enter the hallway that extended the depth of the shrine so that people could get to each room separately. There was only one room of meeting, the upper room, where the scroll bearing the name of the kami would be placed. In all, it was a small shrine, but they didn't expect a lot of acolytes or even visitors.

"It looks good," Tetorō said after giving it the detailed inspection only he could give to anything.

"I would think dedicating it would be next," Shiroe said as he looked at the wall the scroll would be hung on. "Any idea on how to go about doing that?"

"Ahhh," Tetorō slumped. "No." He mulled that one over, then said, "But Gareth might. He got taught the full deal over at the Shrine of Sarutahiko. I don't know how to contact Priest Sasuke without a lot of trouble."

Shiroe gave a nod and Tetorō sent a code messenger to Gareth asking for the details, if he knew them, and a brief explanation of why they needed to know, since he and Michael might like to know the shrine was built now. He sent a photo of it, too. He got back a memory cube and a thumbs-up emoji for the photo and construction completion.

Tetorō walked them back into the upper room of instruction and they sat, or knelt in Akatsuki's case, on the floor and watched the lessons that Gareth had been through that had bearing on the purification and dedication of shrines and temples. It was going to be a complex process for such a small building. They had to go back and slow it down and take notes, particularly on items they'd need to gather, including the specific herbs and incense ingredients. A couple of them would have to go up on the quest request board. They were things they'd never heard of before.

Gareth had kindly included at the end the proper way of daily worship as well, particularly for a kami that wasn't actually living in the shrine like Purrcy had. That was helpful since Tetorō only had experience in the shrine of Inari-no-Izanami. There was a knock on Tetorō's butler and he discovered another memory cube from Gareth. The summary at the beginning explained that it was all his lessons at the shrine of Inari-no-Sarutahiko.

All three of them slumped. Once the shrine was dedicated they'd be in lessons for weeks. Tetorō had already informed them just how much effort and time Gareth had spent on his lessons. Four hours per week of break and sleep hours at night was a rather intense schedule. It would give them something to do while Naotsugu and Marielle were on honeymoon, though.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael walked into his cabin and cast a light cantrip. The dim yellow light spilled over his belonging and furnishings in the room. He preferred a dim light at night since he usually had night eyes when he arrived. This one was just enough to make each item distinct enough he wouldn't trip over things or stub his toes. He walked three steps into the room, loosening the buttons at his neck, and stopped.

There was another person in the room, he could feel it. He was about to raise the light level when the _who_ made it to his brain. His eyes scanned quickly and sharply while the rest of him moved slowly so as to not startle. When it was confirmed, he went back to entering _his_ space. "That afraid to lose me, are you?" he asked with a cool clip to his words. "So much that you'll invade where you've refused to invade until now?"

The arm that slid under his to wrap around his chest and the warm hand that held onto his shoulder as the lithe body pressed against his back surprised him into holding still for just a moment too long. "I'm sorry," her voice was quiet and full of tears. He'd heard that sound before, though only hints of it. Hearing it again made his anger and irritation disappear.

He wanted to look in her face, but every time he'd tried that before when she'd sounded like that had made her disappear. "So you say," he said dryly. "But just what for, I wonder?"

Her head shook in negation on the back of his neck and shoulder as both arms moved to wrap around his chest. He could feel her beginning to tremble as if she fought against tears, or as if she was fighting her demon that wouldn't let her go. He put a hand on her arm and began to turn. "No!" It was said in a strangled voice, as if she'd pushed the word past a barrier with the strength of desperation. He held still, looking at the floor and trying to understand. Her breath was coming faster and her claws had come out just fractionally. At the same time as her hands began to slide down his body, he moved quickly, stepping out of her grasp and shoving against her with the hold he still had on her arm.

Purrcy went down on one knee and looked up into his face. The look of pure relief struck him like a blow. In another two moves, he had her pinned to the ground, face down. He was still holding her arm, but now he also had weight on the middle of her back from pressing on it with the palm of his other hand. "You are in the wrong room at the wrong time of day," he said coldly. "You will kindly stay in your own room at night. I am taking you there now, and you will stay there and not come back, or I will lock you in the belly of the ship until morning for the next week's worth of nights. ...Am I clear?" A nod got her back up, but he didn't relax until she was in her room and he was back in his and he'd locked her in and put an alarm on his room.

"God," he groaned as he slumped into the chair in his room. He put his hand to his forehead, resting his elbow on the arm of his chair. Was he going to have to fight _that_ now, too? He might miss the days he'd had quiet nights at least.

It wasn't until the night Purrcy walked into the steerage room to trap him before he could even get off his watch, wiggling every slipknot out of his orders she could along the way, that he received a solution for his troubles. The three other Eagles on duty turned to stare at her, then at him. Under normal circumstances, back on Earth, they would have broken out in laughter and teased him mercilessly. Tonight, they were immediately in action. One had her pinned to the far wall. The second was between the two of them, and the third stayed on the helm to make sure things didn't fall apart as the rest of them took care of it. He did quietly say, "Mike, you've already waited too long to ask for help if it's gotten this bad."

Michael blinked, then slumped inside, if not outside. Outside he was still on alert against anything Purrcy might do next. He'd allowed her to become a danger to the entire ship. "My bad," he confessed briefly. "I thought I'd covered all the loopholes."

The second Eagle was already calling up assistance. They needed to get back to their posts. Gareth stepped into the steerage room from his room. He cast a quick spell on Purrcy and she slumped in the first Eagle's arms. He gently lowered her to the floor. "Is she going to stay put?"

"I'll watch over her. If she wiggles, I'll knock her out again," Gareth said. When she'd been removed and returned to her quarters under severe lock and guard, Michael received his disciplinary hearing and aid conference.

-:-:-:-:-

From then on, whenever she moved if it wasn't in the typical pattern that was allowable, Purrcy was surrounded by Eagles who refused to let her get anywhere near Michael. At the first, that meant at night they'd stop her just outside her door and shove her back in. She'd finally learned how to break out of the room and Gareth and Stiletto had to block the holes every time she picked the magic and physical locks on the room and door. Eventually they figured out all of the ways she could get out. Then she couldn't anymore and was locked in at night from then on. True to how she'd been dealing with just Michael, she then moved to day-time attacks. They had to let her out for health and exercise. That meant they got their own exercise in, though, playing cat and mouse with her in the reverse role.

They kept her away, but it slowly got more difficult as she turned into the stealth hunter and they had to turn into the watchdogs. They got more and more harsh with her, hoping to dissuade her more firmly, even taking to pulling her ears, whiskers, tail, or sending spark spells at her - whatever they could do. Then came the afternoon she turned on them, angry. It was the first emotional response from Izanami to what they were doing. Her eyes went a bit distant - the recognizable clue she was starting to spell create. They paused to see if pulling back would make her stop. "Sing a song of sixpence," she said and they looked at each other puzzled. She darted through, using their uncertainty to break out of the encircling ring.

They took off after her, half in flight over her, the other half running up and over until they'd cornered her again. She looked at them and they refused. She pursed her lips and went distant again. This time they kept their guard up. "A pocket full of rye." They growled at her and moved in but she escaped through again and they had to chase her down one more time. This time they made sure to block her in as tightly as they could, both magically and with their presence. Her lips lifted to bare her teeth and a low rumbling growl was coming from her chest. The atmosphere on the ship was beginning to feel like it had felt in Akiba when Izanagi had taken control. "Four and twenty blackbirds-"*

They dive-bombed her on the outside and they attacked on the inside, keeping her so fully distracted she couldn't finish, and the final traps they'd built specifically for her were cast and set tightly on her so that she couldn't cast anything, she couldn't even move. They took her straight to her room, locked her in, and left her that way, while keeping a constant watch from the distance. Letting her get to the next line of the poem wasn't good for them, and they knew it.

They held an emergency conference at that point. They were for the most part very confused. "Sir, if you're being obedient, and the flavor text is gone, why is she pressing you this hard again?" "And why the poem this time?" "Not to mention why she's ignored us until now?" "And since direct confrontation's not working, what will?" "Are we to keep her locked up completely for the rest of the trip?" Once they'd gotten all the complaining and questions out, there was silence as people put their minds to work and let Michael put his answers together.

Michael finally blew out a breath and leaned against the bulkhead, crossing his arms. A slight frown was on his face. "I'll have to go back and research the details. All I can remember right now is that she told me she'd be testing me - and maybe the lot of us - on this trip across the Athirds. I think it had to do with testing if we'd hold to our contract. Izanami's obviously irritated at this point that you're being so insistent, so you're winning at least," he gave them a wry grimace that they agreed with completely. "Purrcy's been doing everything she can to give out hints and clues, but she's pretty locked down - present, though."

He shook his head. "I have to admit that part's confusing to me, too. I don't know why Izanami wants her to know what's going on. Normally she'd be locked down pretty tight under this kind of situation."

Brenner held up his hand and got the nod to go ahead. "Mister Nyanta was locked down when he got angry. Is it possible Miss Purrcy gets the same treatment - and isn't angry?"

They all thought about that one. Michael tipped his head as he considered the point. "That may be possible. If she's trying to make sure we all stay safe, she'd be keeping any anger under wraps and doing what she could to be present so she could actually let out the clues. That kind of rhyme would be her kind of warning to watch your backs." They could see that.

"Sir, will you go hunt down that clue while we work up what we can try that's different?" Reed asked politely.

"Sure," Michael headed inside to review his histories, though it would take a bit of time.

"If Miss Purrcy's watching from the inside, and actually can get that much clue out...is there a way to use that to our advantage? And what other advantages do we have that we've already learned about?" Reed asked the rest of the Eagles.

"We're sons to her mother," one of them commented. It got nods.

"The right songs make her cry," P/R said. He was one of their two Bards and the conductor of their small chorus, so that one was the one he'd remember for sure.

Schedules, the other Bard, nodded agreement. "And there's magic in music here." That got raised eyebrows and thoughts going.

"She's been helping out, but she's not been strong," Brenner said, openly stating one of the worries they'd had since the beginning of the trip. His thumb worried his belt, matching the worry on his face. "She's not got proper support if we're all hounding her and Izanami's forcing us to keep her away from the only support pillar she's got on the ship. Is Izanami trying to weaken her on purpose?" That was concerning, even if they couldn't know the answer for sure.

It really wasn't because they could feel for Purrcy specifically. They still couldn't. That "gift" from Izanagi was still strongly in force. It was that they had goals to meet and she was necessary to them. Killing the Inari was one of them. Holding to the Code of Conduct and being held to it was another one. If they failed to kill the Inari, their message didn't get across and possibly they didn't get home. Having one of the main backup supports to the Code of Conduct fail meant it would be harder for them all - everyone on Theldesia who wanted to go home - to get there.

Failure of either goal or (God forbid) both would be rather catastrophic as far as the Adventurers went - and would also be completely in line with Inari's goals. According to the Code, they _had_ to support Purrcy as best they could regardless of how they felt about her or anything else, just like they would support Michael and Shiroe because they held to the Code.

"She's still holding to Article Two with that poem, for sure," OciferJeff muttered. They agreed with that. She wouldn't surrender them to Izanami as long as she could get any clues out.

"It's Article Four again," Clocktower was frowning. "She's trying to not break it and we've almost broken it in only trying direct confrontation. We've _got_ to try something different." They hunkered down and thought harder about their options.

"And then there's Article Six," Gareth said softly after a long while. They looked at him, not quite following. "As long as she's a pioneer woman..."

"The push," one said getting it.

"And the pull?" another asked.

"The song," P/R said firmly. The rest agreed and he was gone inside like Michael, hunting.

"Okay, I found it," Michael returned shortly after P/R had gone inside. "It was when she came home the first time this level, before the wedding and she was greeting us. We were already in lockdown at the time." He tossed up a short memory video for them to watch.

Purrcy was rising from a bow. "Thank you for watching over me, and for watching over my children for me. I know what Izanagi has done so I won't force anyone. I did want to let you know, however, that I trust all of you. I know you will do what needs to be done. ...And honestly, I will have a lot of fun watching what you can do. I greatly enjoyed your last battles from your vacation." She paused, then said, "Please, do still call on me. You are still my sons, like you are sons of your country. If there's a thing I can do, I will do it." She looked sideways over at Michael with almost a flirtatious tilt to her head, but it was more of a seductive hunting look. "And yes, you can expect hefty testing on the last leg. Let's see what you can do, shall we?"

Michael's look in the replay went to a similar one - a smile and an almost seductive pose, but irony was written all over it. "I think we can be well up to the challenge, and we're quite looking forward to it."

"Wonderful," Purrcy purred and the tension between them was released as suddenly as it appeared. She looked at the rest of the men. "Please, continue to watch over me. The contract is still acceptable." The recording ended.

"Just after that was the admonition to let Isaac in and use him as an ally, but I think that's unrelated," Michael commented. "He's not here, after all."

"Still," MasterChiefS7 said, "that certainly looks very directed at the current moment."

"Not to mention very pointed," Reed said dryly, "as if she already knew _exactly_ what was going to happen at this point."

"Like that's new?" Michael asked mildly. "Her hints are always spot on like that."

"Surprisingly," the quiet one said in his quiet voice, "she was able to be as open then as she is now."

"And just as in sync with Izanami, too," another was rather disgruntled...and suspicious.

"Not as depressed, though," Brenner scolded slightly. They all knew that, though. Walking through fire was harder than being trained to walk through fire.

One was tapping a finger as he thought hard. "In sync...and she means something special when she says that a contract is still acceptable. ...Is Izanami mad because we've taken too long to get to this point of figuring it out?"

"Slow on the uptake." More than a few were feeling a tad bit sheepish. There were sighs from upper level commanders.

"So...how far have you gotten?" Michael asked, to catch back up.

"P/R's inside looking for the right pull. The pioneer is the push," Reed gave him the short summary. "Her comment there about sons was the pointer to confirm the conclusions." They all got comfortable as they waited on P/R. Knowing the whole thing was a test helped a little. Like they all loved tests - particularly Purrcy-Izanami tests. When P/R got back, they all got to learn a new song, and this time wrap it in magic.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning, Purrcy's nose poked out her door. Her expression seemed just a little surprised she was being let out. The Eagles on watch kept it normal, as if nothing had happened the afternoon before. Cautiously she exited her room and tentatively she headed for the main deck. She was ignored just as much as usual, and there were just as many Eagles on watch as had been the last several days. That meant they were visibly at the edges looking over from the upper decks, fore and aft. There were the usual four on watch on the main deck as well.

Once she'd placed them, she took a breath and settled into her own routine. That meant starting with running the deck as panther for her exercise. Once her blood was flowing, her eyes were scanning the upper deck from where she was on the main deck. Her head moved back and forth and her tail was waving in long slow hunting waves. She wanted Michael to come play. They hadn't been letting him, and they didn't let that change today either.

That was the beginning of her day-time hunt of him, as if they had offered her a game of hide and seek. She leaped up onto the railing of the upper deck. The Eagle on watch closest to her intercepted, spreading his wings wide to fill her field of view. "What kind of pioneer woman goes hunting a red-blooded American wolfhound?" he sneered at her quietly. Purrcy pulled up short. "Go hide your head in the soft pillows, where it belongs." Her eyes narrowed and her hunting went to the Eagle in front of her. He indicated she was too soft to follow through.

She jumped him but he was in the air long before she reached him. He taunted her for her half-heartedness. Two others joined them, sitting on objects close by but not within attack range. The three teased and taunted Purrcy while she looked between them with some confusion and slowly growing irritation. Three other Eagles showed up and asked if they were needed. "Ah, naw. She's a pansy today. You're off until next shift this time," they were told. The newcomers ribbed Purrcy, then lazily took off to go play over the aft upper deck.

Purrcy's eyes followed those three and they narrowed again and another hunting lash of her tail once again indicated her irritation. The three with her forced her attention again and she snapped at them in irritation. Then her nose was to the ground and she was hunting Michael again. They let her sniff around the deck for a while, but when she really tried to find him they blocked her path and got her attention again.

Almost all day they taunted and teased Izanami, keeping her confused and distracted. At nearly meal-time, Reed showed up. He folded his arms at her. "So. Are you ready to behave for once and come eat properly?" They were all surprised when her wings sprouted and grew to either side, spread wide. They all knew she couldn't fly with them. Purrcy crouched down as if to attack Reed, and attack she did, her mouth opened wide to bite him.

Reed sidestepped and blocked her head. His other hand reached for the wing on that side. Purrcy rode the block, turning with it. Her wing went over his hand and as she floated in the air on her wings just a little longer than a jump would have allowed for, her four claws came for him. The hind legs raked at him powerfully. He just barely managed to get a shield up between his body and her hind legs, but they pushed off the shield making him stumble back as it gave her more loft for the wings to catch air.

The Eagles with them, and the rest on hidden watch around the ship, all stared in amazement. They'd never seen her add flight to her fights. It was a new thing altogether. She turned on her wing, following the curve she'd already set and her claws came for the closest Eagle on guard on that side. He cast a pillow spell that made the air around him hard to move through. Any kind of hard shield - physical or magical - would be something to give her more height off of. This made her slow down as if she was going through a marshmallow.

She wasn't happy, but determined focus kept that Eagle in her sights. Before she could get claws into him, Reed was tackling her from the side, his arms wrapping around her middle just behind the wings. He was armored so that her hind legs couldn't find purchase to injure him when they came for him at the interruption. He had her pinned to the ground on her back on their landing. Her head came in for the bite again. Her teeth scraped on his arm armor as he deflected her head to the side and held it down. "Bad girls don't get to eat dinner," he scolded her. "If you're done, then we'll just take you back to your room now."

Purrcy glared at him angrily, then was suddenly smaller and twisting out of his grasp to flee far enough away to be at a defensible distance before she turned to face him again, growing to three-quarters size. The wings were folded to her sides now, out of the way but still present. She wanted height to get up to the steerage deck, where she knew Michael was on duty now. They weren't going to let it happen. Three Eagles landed on that railing above her. Three more came in on her port side. The original three were still on the starboard, and Reed was in front of her, crouched into a waiting wrestling position.

Purrcy hissed and her ears went back. She was suddenly small cat, leaping up on the vertical bulkhead behind her, pushing off and flaring her wings. A rather pitiful flap of those wings put her back on the bulkhead above where she'd pushed off from. One Eagle from each group on the deck lifted up to be level with her. One dropped down from the railing to block her upward movement. The three harried her back towards the deck below and she yowled in frustration, twisting in air to rake at the one falling towards her. He banked to evade, but she was already headed down with no purchase to catch her from the fall.

Like the cat she was, she twisted in the air and landed on her feet on the deck. She crouched there, eyes slits, tail lashing, ears back. Running or spell casting was next. They waited on their toes. It was both. The third waiting for the spell caught it and dissipated it before it could reach any of them. Another third took off after her as she spun and ran for the stairs on the back side of the tower. The set already up on the steerage deck headed for the stairs on that level. Reed folded his arms and waited. He'd hold guard position there for a bit to make sure she didn't just circle the tower and return to that position to try again.

After a few more minutes of chase, they finally managed to net her. Before she could disappear from the net, Gareth had snatched the small cat out of the net and stepped her into her room. He left her a bowl of water and a few pieces of hard-tack crackers and stepped back out, locking her in for the night again. He kept his watch over her that night from outside her room. All in all, it had been a rather successful day.

* * *

 _*Sing a Song of Sixpence, Old English Nursery Rhyme (often attributed to Mother Goose)_

 _Sing a song of sixpence,_  
 _A pocket full of rye._  
 _Four and twenty blackbirds_  
 _Baked in a pie._  
 _When the pie was opened_  
 _The birds began to sing._  
 _Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?_

 _The king was in his counting house_  
 _Counting out his money._  
 _The queen was in the parlor_  
 _Eating bread and honey._  
 _The maid was in the garden_  
 _Hanging out the clothes._  
 _Along came a blackbird_  
 _And snipped off her nose._


	168. Arriving in Africa and the Americas

Shiroe walked into the guild hall from running errands in town after the monthly Round Table Council meeting. Three chatty girls passed going from the stairs to the kitchen. He paused just long enough to hear them talking about how the meal schedule worked and kitchen duty details. It sounded like they might be working on getting the newest chef brought on line. The final line before they got into the kitchen didn't sound as hopeful, though. "Well, we regularly bring home left overs from the restaurant and help where we can." Finding a chef had been difficult.

Once he was in his office with the door closed, he contacted Minori via private chat. "Start asking around among the People of the Land. Perhaps there's an older woman who's had her children move out that would be willing. Even if she made meals in the afternoons and tucked them into the fridge that would be sufficient."

"Mm," she said and he let it go since she was busy.

He sat in his chair and was just finishing getting his thoughts down on paper from the council meeting (mostly all the stuff they'd assigned to him now that they thought he wasn't busy - ha!) when the door to his office opened. The sounds of loud males drifted in through the door before it closed behind Tetorō. He looked at Tetorō mildly.

Tetorō rolled his eyes and walked to his chair in the room and flopped down in it. "Let me sit in here for a bit. Isaac's decided to get those two into another argument. He can watch the door."

Shiroe gave a nod. "Those two" meant Qwased and the other male boarder they'd picked up who was taking the same economics course Qwased was. Isaac like to help them "relax". That meant more noise than Tetorō was used to. He rather faded into the background when he was working, though not quite so much as Akatsuki, so it didn't bother Shiroe much to have him in the room.

The pressure in the room suddenly began to increase. All three were on their feet, intending on heading out the door, when Akatsuki froze, staring at the wall behind Shiroe. He froze, then quickly shoved the world map in his list with intent. She gave a nod and Tetorō had the door open. They ran out and headed for the shrine.

"What?" Isaac asked sharply, interrupting himself.

"Contact Crusty," Shiroe said. "Where?"

"Africa," Akatsuki said immediately.

"Right," Isaac was calling Crusty immediately.

Africa was the other place they were worried about. Not so many Adventurers played there and like China, the Americas, and Australia, they had some rather wicked zones. For a communication request to come from there the same time the kami wanted Shiroe was concerning.

The three bypassed the purification area, having already done that for the day. They did pause in each room of instruction to change out clothes to their kimonos, calm down, get the cells up properly, and to focus their intent. When they entered the room of meeting, Shiroe clapped twice, bowed to the kami scroll, and clapped again. He set his map of Theldesia on the floor in front of the altar. Akatsuki took her role as shrine maiden as seriously as she took anything and incense was filling the air and the bowl of water on the altar was clear.

Shiroe sat cross legged on the floor in front of the map, facing the kami's symbol. Akatsuki and Tetorō knelt to either side of the map. As Shiroe relaxed into allowing the kami to enter him enough he could feel what emotions were at the surface, he also connected to the purple light that glowed at what was probably Cairo, Egypt. MarketMaker had entered Africa from Spain. They'd discovered that the Adventurers in the northwestern part of Africa had gathered into Algiers. Apparently Tripoli had lasted for the first year and a half, but the Rabat/Casablanco area had fallen early due to heavy attacks from both terrible sea monsters and Overwritten.

A number of Adventurers had gone with the train from Algiers to Tripoli - mostly those who had come from there and wanted to go back. With the blessed purification weapons and no more Overwritten to come down, they'd managed to clear it. As repayment for helping them regain their home city, they'd agreed to continue with the train to the North Africa server which was actually not far from there. If MarketMaker was calling from Egypt, they'd cleared the Maze of Eternity and sadly it was likely unrest between the Adventurers of Cairo - especially if the kami was involved.

Settling himself into Archmage negotiator mode, Shiroe opened up the connection he was setting. The thin line of smoke rising from the incense stick wavered and curled. The water in the bowl on the altar wavered as if a wind had blown across the surface of it and a faint sound of tinkling bells was heard in the room. The room darkened slightly, then for the first time, it was as if they were sitting in a surrounding theater. All around them was open space and below them was Theldesia's Africa. There was a soft sound of rushing water, but Shiroe could tell it was speaking voices: all of the voices of Africa. While he was still over the whole of the continent, he asked to see where Adventurers were on the face of it.

MarketMaker had already expressed some dismay at knowing just where he was needed. It would be nearly impossible to criss-cross the continent to find everyone. And with all the Adventurer Cities spread out it could take months just for that continent. Where lights sprang up on the image they were floating over, he imprinted by intent and communication spell those locations on his map of the world. They would show up on MarketMaker's map since it was a perfect real-time copy, sent to him by P/R before the Eagles had left Yamato. That had been expensive, but quite important, really.

Shiroe lightly touched on the emotions of the Adventurers across all of Africa. That was difficult since he didn't want to get dragged into other problems and pains when one was immediately necessary. There were a few pockets of despair (where the South African Maze of Eternity wasn't fixed yet) and more anger, but it wasn't all that bad at the moment...except in Cairo. Once he had the overall picture of Africa, he focused in on Egypt and the scene around them changed to also zoom in over that nation. The rushing sound of voices changed to be more distinct voices, though still not unique just yet.

Shiroe focused to listen to MarketMaker and they were hearing his voice as he was linked into a chat with Crusty. The scene around them had zoomed in again so they were now hovering over the central market zone of Cairo. Now unique voices could be heard, but with Shiroe focusing on one person in particular, that was the one that they could hear. "...we've arrived a bit late, the distance having been a two and a half day trip."

Shiroe nodded to himself and let the conversation go just enough to fade a little. He needed to find one specific person. Not knowing a name or face, he focused instead on the personality of who he wanted - the African Caretaker. If that person had known Yamato's Caretaker was coming, it would have been logical to have gone to Cairo, if not the eastern coast, because it was the cross-road metropolis for international travel and trade.

The emotion that welled up in him was desperation, hope, and almost a pulling call, as if he was being called for by that person. The image zoomed again, moving away from the market zone until they were in what looked like a prison cell. It was underground, by the dirt walls, but there was a small barred window set in the upper edge of the wall. A tall, lithe dark skinned man was standing under that window and staring up at it, in the attitude of listening carefully. It seemed he was trying to understand what was going on in the market, and wishing very much like he could be there to help calm things.

"Caretaker of Africa, what is your name?" Shiroe asked.

The man spun around, looking for where the sound had come from. Shiroe took a breath and Tetorō cast a healing spell on him. With enough HP now, Shiroe cast another spell to make it a two-way visual connection. The man jumped a little, then backed up, suspicion on his face.

Shiroe raised a hand to pacify him. "I am the priest of balance for the kami of emotions and anger. I'm known on Theldesia as Archmage Shiroe of Yamato, and am the Master Strategist of the same. Our envoys have arrived in your city, having repaired the Tree of Life, which is what caused the chaos most likely. They will do their best to negotiate peace in the city. What do I need to know to be able to help them help you?"

"I am Mozelle from Zaire. The creatures of the central zones cried out in pain and I went searching for a way to put down the awful monsters that were destroying them, only to discover they were also destroying the Adventurers in ways unthinkable. I was near to despair when I found an odd seed head. Upon picking it up, it opened and spoke to me ...in a voice very similar to your own." His brow creased in a little confusion. "It spoke words of hope, for the first time. I am here in this prison because when I entered the city they took me prisoner for only being from a different nation who didn't understand the laws and traditions they've set in place here."

He sat down gracefully into a cross-legged position, though his bare feet were both up on his thighs. Shiroe felt he was very flexible to be able to do that. "I have been questioned several times by one man in particular. He appears to be an advisor, but his eyes glitter with hidden power. I have had to carefully dodge his questions at times. I don't trust him." He looked soberly at Shiroe. "I believe he is the Master Strategist of Africa and am dismayed at the thought. He continuously looks for ways to warp the hope you sent out to the world."

"Have you heard the second seed?" Shiroe asked him.

"No. Is there one?" Mozelle asked.

Akatsuki placed one in his lap. Mozelle looked at it in surprise, then touched it. As they waited patiently for it to play out, Tetorō cast another healing spell on Shiroe since this kind of connection was a continuously draining connection it was so high level to cross the distances. It helped that Shiroe was being supported by the kami. Shiroe muted the verbal connection briefly. "Akatsuki, call in to Crusty and pass on this much so MarketMaker knows who to search for and where." Akatsuki gave a nod and complied.

Mozelle put his hand on top of the seed, thinking to turn it off, and the signature line appeared. He stared at it, then slowly put out his hand and signed his name. It took a moment for him to recover enough to speak again. "If this...could become the way of life for all Adventurers, how peaceful would be the land."

Shiroe knew Mozelle had seen him in the picture and had confirmed who Shiroe was. He nodded. "Such is my desire and goal. For that reason we've sent ambassadors of peace to all Adventurers, to help negotiate and teach them how to live in that peace."

Mozelle looked at him with the puzzled frown again. "But...the priest who is like you, strives for chaos and stirs up anger."

Shiroe nodded. "The kami that was brought into Theldesia by the grief and anger of the Alv princesses was fed by our anger and grief at being brought here. Our emotions were sufficient to awaken it to awareness. It has called up servants who are full of those emotions themselves and who delight in creating even more of it. In doing so it has become a fully conscious being. However, I am unwilling to allow it to only learn the dark emotions it was born from. It will destroy this world and be alone, not helpful to it or any of us or the creatures of Theldesia. I've also been tasked by the father and mother kami of Theldesia to teach it properly so that it can be a creature born of this world that understands how to not destroy it." Mozelle actually made a rather sympathetic noise. Shiroe gave a nod of gratitude for the understanding that it wasn't an easy burden.

"As our ambassadors bring peace to each Adventurer city and teach them how to have laws that bring peace, the balance is brought more into alignment. It is Cairo's turn. Will you help us? The head of the group's name is MarketMaker, though you will also see the names of Kanami and Kazuo, and others."

Mozelle bowed his head. "I would willingly help to bring peace to all Adventurers and all creatures of Africa and Theldesia. I will help in what little ways I can."

"Then let me bring MarketMaker into the chat so you and he can exchange contact information, then I must decrease my involvement for a bit. To talk across the entire world to the other side of it is still a difficult thing, particularly when visuals are added." Shiroe smiled apologetically.

"That is certainly understandable!" Mozelle held up a hand.

Tetorō cast another healing spell and Akatsuki put her hand lightly on Shiroe's knee. Shiroe carefully called up the light connection he already had to MarketMaker and brought him into the visual chat. It was a bit slow to come, likely because he had to switch out from talking to Crusty. When he was present in the cell in a second chat window, Shiroe said, "MarketMaker, this is Mozelle, Caretaker of Africa. Mozelle, MarketMaker, our ambassador. Please help each other, and good luck to the both of you." He barely managed to have enough energy for them to exchange friend information before he collapsed. The room of meeting in the shrine didn't change, however, since the visual of the room in Africa was present because the kami wanted it to be. It was just Shiroe's communication spells that went down.

He lay there for a bit and as he relaxed, the scene changed from that cell back to the market, then moved on towards the Government building, zooming in on a window. Standing at that window was a man looking down on the people in the market, watching. "Tetorō," Shiroe said softly.

Tetorō nodded and took a picture of the building before they got too close. He would send it on to Davidius with a note that the man in the window was the one who was the enemy. "Corrupt Priest and Master Strategist," Shiroe said softly. It was probably the worst possible combination. Shiroe moved to reposition himself. He lay down on his back with his head towards the altar and clasped his hands together, resting them on his belly. "How are you holding out, Tetorō? We'll be going to Spirit Healing next."

"I'm fine," Tetorō answered. "If you get into a battle, I might need tanking back up."

"Call someone in, then. I don't know if we'll get into battle right away, but I suspect it will happen before the final solution is reached."

Tetorō gave a nod. "Rieze, send over a high level Cleric as my backup, please. Thanks." He was silent for a bit, then said. "She says Crusty's on his way over."

"Minori, are you still in the building?" Akatsuki immediately asked. "When Crusty gets here, have him go through the purification so he can come to the room of meeting. A Cleric should be coming in as well. ...No, we're fine. It's Cairo, Egypt, and it looks like it will be difficult. ...I will."

Shiroe could feel himself being pulled into nanospace. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let himself be pulled in. He needed to have a rather long discussion with the kami. It needed to give up the corrupt priests if it was going to learn the proper non-destructive balance. His negotiation skills would be more useful to MarketMaker in that realm than in Cairo.

-:-:-:-:-

The next morning on the Oki Watarimono, Gareth fell into his bed rather worn out. He reported he'd managed to keep Purrcy in her room, but she'd fought pretty hard to get out. That was enough warning to keep the rest on higher alert. For her exercise that morning, she just skipped the run on the deck and went straight for tag and hunt-for-the-Commander. Since it got into full battle in style, the rest got their exercise again. It helped that Michael could realm walk. That meant if she got close and he got annoyed, or if they requested it, he could walk to the other side of the ship if he wanted to.

This day, if she went into a coding pause, they distracted her with song instead of ribbing or attacks. The first time they began to sing, her ears twitched and her head slowly turned until her eyes were staring at the closest Eagles. They were starting with her favorites, the ones they knew she couldn't not listen to. The internal battle was interesting to watch. The requirement on her to create the spell kept wanting to pull her attention away from the song, but her heart wanted to hear the song. Not only that, since they knew she wanted to hold to the Code, she was determinedly using the song as an anchor to pull her away from the coding - even if it hurt, and they were sure it did. They all knew Summons were punished painfully for disobedience. She had the one edge, though. Izanami wasn't the whistle holder. This was how she'd been in the Special's prison.

While they sang, they changed the formation so that by the time she couldn't hold her attention to it any more, she couldn't cast anyway. By the fifth time, Izanami was getting irritated. The tip of her tail flapped on the deck in tense flips where she was crouched down, trying to cast at the same time as trying to listen. There was a sudden yowl and the shields they kept up around themselves constantly when on guard against her flashed and failed. They put them back up again quickly and backed off a bit.

Purrcy didn't say anything, but there was a humming coming from her. P/R hissed a breath in the current active guard's ears. "That's the first line." They let her run off steam, telling Michael to hop around until she got tired again.

When she caught Michael in a spell net, they moved in again. Three went to get Michael free. The rest started singing the _Battle Hymn of the Republic_. Purrcy held still and trembled, putting her nose between her front paws.

Izanami was so irritated she transformed Purrcy into felinoid. Purrcy was immediately humming again. "Second line," P/R warned. They sent Michael into the code realm where all the Programmers on duty surrounded him. The rest backed off to the railings, wings at the ready. When Izanami's attention was focused on Michael again and the Programmers warned that she was coding again, P/R began the new song.

 _Mother dear, O pray for me!_  
 _Whilst far from heav'n and thee_  
 _I wander in a fragile bark,_  
 _O'er life's tempestuous sea._  
 _O Feline Mother, from thy home,_  
 _So bright in bliss above,_  
 _Protect thy child and cheer my path_  
 _With thy sweet smile of love._

 _Mother dear, remember me!_  
 _And never cease thy care,_  
 _'Till in heaven eternally,_  
 _Thy love and bliss I share.*_

As a Bard, and with intent, the magic P/R wove into the song pulled at Purrcy strongly enough that Izanami was completely unable to get her to focus on the spell coding. He grinned at her as he reached the end of the chorus to the first verse. Purrcy was locked down for a full five minutes. Izanami came out roaring angry and the third line of the warning song was whistled from her lips.

"Don't," warned MasterChiefS7, appearing in front of her with his armor on and his sword and shield at the ready. "You really don't want the second verse." Izanami paused in surprise, then scowled at him. "I really recommend you give it up now." Her tail lashed at the air. "If you lose to the second verse, you have to leave Michael alone for good. You will have failed and we will have won the test."

At that, she lifted her hand. MasterChiefS7 cast his highest level taunt. The Programmers cast shields around them both and around him specifically, catching the lightning bolts that smashed into and around them. They used the gradually failing shields that rebuilt on the back end until Purrcy's spell had worn itself out. They knew she would have another one prepared by then, but the rest had all begun singing already.

 _Mother dear, O pray for me!_  
 _Should pleasure's siren lay_  
 _E'er tempt thy child to wander far_  
 _From Virtue's path away;_  
 _When thorns beset life's devious way,_  
 _And darkling waters flow -_  
 _Then Purrcy aid thy weeping child,_  
 _Thyself a mother show._

 _Mother dear, remember me!_  
 _And never cease thy care,_  
 _'Till in heaven eternally,_  
 _Thy love and bliss I share._

MasterChiefS7 and the Programmers kept her from attacking P/R and Schedules, who had the descant, until the song was completed. Using Bard magic from two Bards, and adding to it the intent of the rest of the Eagles on watch today, the verse wrapped Izanami in a spell that completely prevented her from casting any magic against them and also made Purrcy the dominant soul in the physical form, calling her out as their mother. And they'd intended for permanent - at least as permanent as they could make it given their levels. Since they didn't know what that was, they were at least hoping for until they made it to the American coast.

Purrcy slumped to her haunches. Her head bowed and she shivered the tears of a felinoid. Brenner went to her side and crouched down next to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. The rest moved off to let him strengthen her quietly.

As they were able to finally come down off high alert, one of them sighed slightly and said on their sub-guild chat line, "I think I'll hate that rhyme forever, now."

"It fits you all so perfectly, though," she answered on the same chat line and they froze, then slumped in almost utter defeat. "Thanks," she said quietly and was gone. They complained rather bitterly at Michael after that, though it wasn't his fault, really. He was just the person to complain at.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu had his arms wrapped around Marielle. It felt good to just hold her warm softness. They'd reached their (rather secret) honeymoon location and were set up. The fire snapped and popped lightly in front of them. While they didn't have marshmallows to roast over the fire, Marielle had figured out how to roast apples in the coals and she'd warmed up a hot drink they were sipping at. Well, Naotsugu had been. His was gone now and his cup on the ground next to him, so he had his hands free to just hold her.

"I've missed you," he said, kissing her neck. She relaxed back into his chest, warming her hands with her warm mug. It was still early spring and the evening was chill, though it was almost warm enough for them to not feel it much. It was enough of an excuse to cuddle, though.

"I've missed you, too," Marielle said, then admitted, "I couldn't believe how hard it was to go away from Akiba for that long, knowing you were there. I would have come back so many times, but the other ladies always held me back, knowing that you needed me where I was. I'm sorry I was so weak."

Naotsugu shook his head, rubbing it against the side of her head. "I'm glad they were there to help you. I know it was hard. Even I had to be sat on when I got too distracted from my work there. While I'm glad we got married, I still think that portion would have been easier if we'd waited. I didn't have the excuse that we were holding out to keep me planted in my spot, and I suspect it was even worse for you."

"Probably," Marielle slumped. "But...I'm glad we did it when we could. Hahaue was there. If we had waited, we would still be waiting, and I don't know how long for. We don't know when they're going to get to come back again."

"Well...that's true," Naotsugu buried his head on her shoulder. "I would have to agree that the temporary struggle was worth that much, and knowing that I would have you back again when it was over did help me withhold when I needed to." He turned to bury his face in her neck, her curly blonde hair fluffy on his cheek. "However..., that means that I don't want to withhold any longer, and not for a long time into the future." He ran a hand up her arm to cup her cheek and ear. "I may not have Izanagi forcing me, but I certainly have my own interest and desire doing a good job all by myself."

"...The apples will burn," she warned, but half-heartedly.

"And?" he asked, already losing himself in her. She gave up, really too much in the same frame of mind and desire he was to answer any more than that.

-:-:-:-:-

A knock sounded on Sergiad's office door. He finished his signature and looked up, then blinked, rising quickly to his feet. "Come in," he waved his cloaked and hooded visitor in. "Ah, and close the door." The hand that took the door handle was female and the cuff of the sleeve was finely tailored. He surely wasn't wrong. He'd already moved out from behind his desk by the time his visitor was turning to face him. Two hands came out and reached for him.

He wasn't wrong. He allowed her to take his hands and kiss both of his cheeks, the soft fur brushing very lightly on them. "Are you well?" he asked.

"I am, thank you," she said and moved to take her hood off. He held up a hand to forestall her. She paused, then continued. "I've made it so they'll see someone different."

He dropped his hand and gave a slight nod. "I'm glad you've survived the shrine, Lady Purrcy," he said. "Would you like to sit?"

Purrcy smiled slightly. "Honestly, I'd rather walk with you in the garden and talk like old friends, Sergiad, but I'm on business today, so must be brief. I'm sorry."

He smiled slightly in return. "Another time, then."

"Yes, let's," her whiskers turned up. "I understand Rundelhaus has come to begin his lessons?" As usual for her and Adventurers, she was directly to the point.

"Yes. We've been pleased to have him come," Sergiad said, and really did mean it. It was refreshing to have someone young and intelligent to keep his grandchildren company, and he was as much in favor of the future alliance as Rundelhaus and Shiroe were.

"It's been done too soon. I have need of him shortly back at Log Horizon. They don't know, though, since it was a thing I didn't understand properly until recently." Sergiad's face fell slightly. To change such a thing so soon after beginning it didn't seem proper really. Purrcy held up her hand. "Surely, Sergiad, you have learned faith in me by now?" She sighed. "Or perhaps not. It's not like I've been able to really be me around you very often yet." He straightened back up and patiently waited to hear her plan.

"Please allow Iselius, Rudy, Raynessia, and Neville to return to Akiba. Announce to the People of the Land that things have been resolved there and that you are sending them for a time. Rudy can stay with Log Horizon since that is his home. That will be sufficient. It will also be the official signal that those who want to return there can - and they will. That will allow your own burden to finally be lightened again."

"If Raynessia asks, please let her know I've asked Miss Clair to remain in town. She has much work to be doing at this time, getting the proper number of outfits completed in a very short amount of time. If they're completed before you send for the children to return to you, perhaps Miss Clair will arrive with her clothing in Akiba before Raynessia returns here. Regardless, here is where Miss Clair will be stationed the majority of the time." Purrcy shifted and began to pace just a little. Her cape swished about her legs. "Another time I'll come negotiate directly with you in that particular matter." Her lips pursed as she considered, then she gave a small nod, stopped, and looked at Sergiad, waiting to hear his answer.

"For how long?" Sergiad asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know, but I think a minimum of a month, and I'd like Rudy to leave here in two days."

Sergiad blinked. "That...is rather sudden?"

"I'll be speaking to him myself. If you wanted to send just Iselius with Rudy at the beginning to make it look like you're testing the waters, then you can send Raynessia at a more stately time. Unspoken you're likely to end up with an entire caravan of others going with her if you've sent the boys earlier and let the rumor out that they've found it entirely acceptable. You already know you want Neville there to begin learning how to deal with Adventurers. You can keep it relatively short by recalling Raynessia for her other duties whenever it seems most appropriate to call her back. I'm sure you'll be wanting Iselius back in no longer than a week or so, given how much you want to keep him by your side, but even he would benefit from living among Adventurers for enough time to relax with them." She was scolding him now.

Sergiad sighed to himself and her bright eyes laughed at him. "Would Rundelhaus return with Iselius?"

"Not likely. As I said I think a minimum of a month in Akiba for him. He'll return as soon as that duty is sufficiently fulfilled, though." She sighed. "I will be asking for a personal favor, after all. He is quite ready to be here rather than there."

Sergiad gave a nod. "And does that mean I get to call on you for also giving you this personal favor?"

Purrcy gave a proper felinoid blush, then said softly. "I've already paid by not killing anyone who came to the Shrine that night. But if you feel it insufficient, we can discuss it the next time we meet."

A slight shudder went up Sergiad's spine. She knew he'd given the orders. It was an oblique reference to the "favor" that he himself was still alive. "Very well," he gave a brief bow, not committing to anything other than it would remain open ended at the moment.

"Thank you, Sergiad," Purrcy said, reaching for her hood again. "And thank you for watching over the People of the Land of Akiba for the Adventurers. They are very much looking forward to having groceries to hand again." Her whiskers turned up again as the hood went over her ears and head and put her face into shadow again so that she was almost not visible at all, save her golden cat eyes. She saw herself out the door.

Sergiad moved back to his chair, wondering about her odd comments. The People of the Land had already begun moving back to Akiba when Rundelhaus had arrived to tell them it was safe again. She wasn't wrong that having the Prince and Princess officially go back would get the rest to go that should have gone two weeks ago, so he wasn't going to complain too strenuously. Sir Michael had likely had her locked away at that point in time. He was a bit surprised she was allowed to move around this soon after that time, though. Of course, she was probably being guarded rather strenuously regardless.

-:-:-:-:-

"Rudy," it was whispered, but with a kind and caring tone he hadn't heard in a while that drew his attention. He was in his rooms at the castle of Maihama, and he was alone, but he was just as sure that wasn't a chat. He looked around and a figure appeared in the center of the open floor of the room - which admittedly there wasn't a lot of. Not that he complained. He was just one young person and didn't need a lot of room. Really, there weren't any large rooms near Prince Iselius' quarters. This was just fine.

Rudy froze as he realized he was looking up into the face of Purrcy. His mouth dropped open. She smiled at him and opened her arms. Cautiously he stepped forward and gave her a hug. She made him stay there until he finally relaxed. She patted him on the head, rewarding him for finally getting that far. "I'm very proud of you," she said.

Rudy sighed. "Thank you, Lady Purrcy."

She let him let go and moved a step back to look at him. "I will miss you greatly, Rudy. I already have."

"Of course. You wouldn't be here if you were the Purrcy of this timeline."

"No. The me of your timeline is nearly to the Americas. But there was something I didn't know. Not any of us knew, and I need to put things into place quickly to not have terrible things happen to one I love."

Rudy looked into her earnest face, then took a breath and nodded. "I'll help," he declared.

Purrcy relaxed and curtsied. "Thank you, Rudy. I need you most of all, actually, though all of Log Horizon." Rudy raised an eyebrow, not quite believing that, but Purrcy wouldn't lie. "And I'm sorry for pulling you away from the next important step in your own growth and education for it, though I don't anticipate it taking too long." She hesitated. "Actually...Rudy, I can't guarantee it. Just like I didn't know before, I still don't know. The timing is all too close. I've had to come visit you before I've left the Gate of Time to return to this time line. I'm hopeful it won't take much more than a month out of your schedule, and I've begged the Duke that he send Iselius with you so that you can at least partially continue your own goals at the same time. But as always, it's up to you to choose what you'll do in the end."

Rudy blinked at Purrcy, then reached out and took her hand in his and patted it a few times. "Lady Purrcy. It's okay. I can see you're very worried. Timing is what it is. I'll properly see to it for you. I have many years yet to be here and learn."

Purrcy slumped slightly. "Thank you, Rudy." She looked away and blinked, then took a breath and looked back. "One who I care for is like you. She's a felinoid Person of the Land, but she only knows the Gate of Time. She is going to suddenly be placed here in linear time, lost, afraid, and very confused. Please, return to Akiba and watch over her and teach her for me. I can't do it, and I'm worried about her, it's true."

"When you believe she is comfortable enough with just Touya, Minori, and the other children around to support her, then it's okay if you come back. You don't have to wait there for me to return. She's very self sufficient once she has her feet under her. It's just the early time that will be difficult. You will need to be back at Log Horizon within four days to be present when she arrives. Speak with the Duke as to what his final plans are. If he will hold Iselius for now, then please see you at least arrive by then."

Her eyes begged him yet again. He squeezed her hand gently. "I will, Hahaue. Don't worry." He smiled at her to reassure her. "After all, extreme flexibility and sudden whims are hallmarks of Adventurers, and _I_ am an Adventurer - still."

He managed to get her to smile at his play. "Thank you, Rudy. Really, I do love you."

"I know," he said softly, the smile still on his lips. "It is actually a blessing to have the Caretaker herself as my own adopted mother. ...Even if your economics class was terribly difficult."

Purrcy had to laugh at that one and he felt much better. "Very well, Rudy. I'll leave her in your capable hands. Thank you." He bowed. When he rose, she was gone.

He sighed, slipped things into his list, and headed out to go talk to the Duke. He may as well get going if Iselius wasn't going to get to. If he was, that would be fine, too. Somehow, he felt like he might have gotten the best going away gift of anyone in Log Horizon. He'd gotten to actually see her and get a hug before she was gone. And if she showed up later again, he'd still gotten one extra and before anyone else. But really...it was that she'd given him a purpose in Log Horizon. He'd been rather surprised at how homesick he was.

-:-:-:-:-

"Land ho!" The call from the steerage deck was the most relieving call the Eagles had heard in a very long time. They'd won the battle, passed the test, but they still hadn't really been able to relax so much, not knowing just how long it was going to last. (They didn't trust Izanami.) Purrcy had stayed Purrcy so far, though. After talking to Brenner for a long time, and after finally getting a real dinner again (polite and meek in Michael's face, but still properly present), Gareth had spent the first part of her evening in her room petting her and keeping her company until she'd fallen deeply asleep enough he could leave without her waking back up. That had shown them all the most how hard the whole thing had been on her. Being alone was something she wasn't dealing well with at all, really. If any time she'd had to go through had been abusive, it had been this one.

They'd been taking turns each day since then to hold her and pet her, or let her ride on shoulders while they talked about inconsequential things, like how they performed their required tasks on the ship as they did them. She was, as was like her, interested in hearing about such things. When the call came, she was passed off to one on break as there were specific things that had to be done for land-fall. She was carried up to the upper deck where more than they were looking out to see first sight of land by eye vs. telescope. She struggled to be let down. When she touched deck, she transformed into felinoid, letting the wind of their passing over the Athirds brush her ears back and sniffing at the smells that came from the land before them.

It still took most of an hour to get close enough to land to feel like they were really there, on the other side of the world. Purrcy stood at the side of the ship, staring out over the landscape she didn't know, but was glad to finally see. It was narrow beach front that rose rather quickly to very tall mountains. Trees lined the beach and walked up the mountain where it wasn't rock.

The Eagles watching over her pulled back and her tail twitched as her heart beat just a little faster, not wanting to be alone again. Behind her, Michael's voice said calmly, "Western beaches of southern Mexico." She relaxed a little, but her emotions were terribly confusing since while she wanted to have his strength with her, she was upset and embarrassed by how she'd been used.

Her eyes stayed fixed on the mountains in front of her. "I suspected it," she replied quietly, though no reply was really necessary. "We're in trouble, though."

"Oh? Why?" Michael asked.

"He's waiting for us."

"How far inland?" Michael asked.

"Fifteen miles and approaching quickly." Her eyes were fixed to the mountain tops, waiting to see Izanagi's arrival. "There must be a Mexican cat god. I'm quite certain there isn't a North American one. We might have been able to complete our work and leave again before he could reach us if we could have landed where we were supposed to have, ...but I guess that's water under the bridge, now."

"How's that work?" he asked her. He'd taken one step closer to her, too.

Her tail tip twitched slightly at that nearness, and an ear had turned away from him slightly. "The Gate of Time contains one temple for each culture's cat deity, if they have one. Those temples are connected to each of their respective temples in Theldesia. Most are European and African, though there is one in each Asian country as well. Where Nyanta entered the Gate of Time in Yamato is a link to that city that is outside time and space. The Chinese cat goddess and Caretaker of Time, Li Shou, has adopted the felinoids of Japan and put a node there. They worship a similar enough being that she's taken that role for simplification. Apparently, as I said, there is also one for Mexico or South America, but I know of none for North America. All animals and life were sacred to the indigenous peoples of North America, and it hasn't changed all that much with modern man."

Michael had moved close enough to her through her explanation that his presence was warmer on her back than the already warm air. His hands appeared to either side of her on the railing, trapping her in place. She shuddered. "Oh? Now you'll reject me again?" his voice was mocking in her ear. "After two weeks of hunting my bed most strenuously, making us have to lock you away and punish you time after time? One whiff of your _husband_ on the air and I'm no longer of interest?" His head turned just enough that his words passed over her sensitive ear hairs as warm moist air, not just sound vibrations as he said, "And you think I'm just going to hand you over to him?" She had to grip the railing very tightly as her ear turned, seeking escape from his breath and his words.

As his head dipped, her stomach clenched. His lips found her neck and she leaned away from him, her legs buckling slightly. She fought to keep them strong, to hold her up. "I didn't," she managed to gasp out.

"Didn't what?" he asked mockingly.

Desperate to keep him distracted, she wildly grasped at anything. "Didn't...," she gasped as his lips found her neck again. "Don't," she said instead, with a moan.

"Isn't it what you've been wanting, though?" he asked, relentless.

Purrcy's eyes went to the mountain tops again in nearly despair. "Don't die," she finally managed to get out.

Michael had her in his arms and they were flying away from that position suddenly as an explosion rocked the boat where they'd been standing. Then she was elsewhere, but she could still see what was going on in the air. "Is this what you've come seeking, Izanagi?" Michael taunted. Nyanta's avatar was riding on a dark cloud with a jaguar felinoid. Izanagi was staring coldly angry at Michael in the air at their same level. "You know, I would have been willing to give her to you if you'd come to claim her the day we left Yamato, to prove to me that she really meant something to you. It was your choice to turn your back on her and go spend...how long was it, Izanagi? Two hundred years? Two thousand? ...with your love slave. How is it you've even remembered you have a 'wife' here? Did Izanami come and poke you back into compliance because we ruined her fun? You could have stayed there, you know."

There was another explosion in the place Michael had been in before he'd moved in mid-sentence. "Really. Just go back, Izanagi. I haven't been able to keep her out of my room for the entire last half of the journey. She's not interested in you any more than you're interested in her." He dodged again and the ricochet of the explosion echoed around the water and the beach. "Here, you can have this, too. I'm sure you've enjoyed your vacation from such an irrelevant creature to you." Purrcy suddenly felt something pass her and for the first time since she'd been awakened on the Oki Watarimono she could sense Nyanta.

She tried to grab him as he went by, but she couldn't. He was already entering his own body. "We have the same contract - to protect her. Tell Nyanta to disavow his and we'll see she's kept properly here where you don't have to worry or be called back from your perfect dream." Michael was flying backwards now, and higher to get out of range of the continuous barrage that was now coming his way. It looked like Izanagi had only been mildly distracted at having Nyanta arrive again.

As Michael reached a peak in his upward motion, he put his mouth to Purrcy's ear and whispered in it. Her body went fully limp and slipped from his grasp to fall towards the ocean and ship far below. As she watched it dispassionately, Michael was suddenly diving directly for Nyanta and his cloud carriage and deific driver. The cloud carriage moved to intercept Purrcy's body as well as dodge Michael. Purrcy's body was caught by Nyanta at the same time as the driver sent one more explosion after Michael, turning in the air to look behind him as he did so.

With them both distracted at the same time, the attack that came up from below was completely a surprise. A barrage of a mix of spell types burst up through the cloud. The Eagles didn't hold back. Nyanta was protected with the Unbreakable Knight's Shield and the other was a deity. If they could even be damaged, it would take more than one barrage of that sort and they needed to get the most effect from the first one.

The cloud carriage was nearly ripped to shreds, but Nyanta managed to stay on as it rocked. The jaguar god was angered at the direct damage sent his way, but Nyanta gave him a cold cautionary look, then stared Michael down again. "Mew would all damage Purrcy meowrselves? Do mew also break meowr contract?"

"Not at all," Michael said coolly. "Those were all targeted Hacker attacks. She's safe enough from those." His empty hands filled with God Cleaver in his left hand, and his gifted sword of purification in his right. As he swung them with force in the air, slices of energy following their arc flew at the three on the cloud carriage.

"A Monk with distance weapons," Nyanta snarled in derision.

"Of course," Michael said from the opposite side of their carriage, having leaped over it, following after his first attacks with close in ones. "I became a Master at Arms in hand-to-hand sword combat, and this world isn't going to get by with telling me what to do or not do."

Another barrage arrived at the cloud from below and the jaguar moved the cloud closer to the land and away from the ship. One of Nyanta's hands now had a rapier in it and he slashed at the remaining incoming spells, dispelling them by half. He frowned, then carefully put Purrcy's body down on the cloud at his feet and drew his other rapier. The next volley of spells was sliced to nothingness with two quick blows.

The cat god laughed. "Are they so weak that only that much is needed to take care of their spells?"

Nyanta frowned at him. "No. The blades repel nine levels of magic damage each, for each spell that comes against us. Mew are only seeing the first and last blow of each counter attack. I hit six times per movement, so to dispel those it is over seventy-two levels of magic ability. They are all leveled over one hundred. Our personal defense takes the rest." He held his rapiers to his side, his left hand behind his back in his standard stance. "Mew should probably put us on the ground. The next attack is likely to have all of us falling into the sea."

Michael was on them before he was done speaking the last sentence. With a flash of blades from both sides they clashed more times than could be comprehended, though their time to engage was short. The pause was used to determine damage after the fact it had happened so fast. The jaguar deity had a crushed shoulder and was looking very surprised about it. Michael spun his ax in his hand. "God Cleaver," he said with quiet triumph. "Gotta love the flavor text when it works in your favor, eh?"

Nyanta was listing a little, a slightly surprised look on his face. "Haven't had a blow touch you in a while, Izanagi?" Michael taunted. "I've figured it out, you know, ...how to make everything work together against your favor. Shall we go another round and put the lot of you in the sea for a swim?"

"I think mew're not in much better shape," rejected Nyanta. "Both of my rapiers deal the same internal damage, and after that round, mew no longer have any defenses. If mew attack again, mew will be dead. Please, come be dead for me." He waved Michael forward with his forward hand. The pressure in the area was increasing to very high levels.

"...That is not acceptable," Purrcy's mouth said from Nyanta's feet.

Nyanta glanced down in surprise, then scowled. "Why nyot Izanami?"

"...Because the Adventurer Michael is protecting the Adventurer Purrcy."

Nyanta's ears turned back. " _I_ am protecting Purrcy," he insisted.

There was a slight pause. "...You are protecting the Oracle."

Nyanta's eyes flashed, and his rapier point wavered slightly. "Interested in my goal?" Michael drawled at Nyanta. "Follow up on that thought, then drop the Oracle."

Nyanta gave a glare to Michael, then glared at Izanami in Purrcy's avatar at his feet. Suddenly there were four flashes, then one more. "That ought'ta do it," Michael called and Nyanta rolled Purrcy off the cloud with his foot.

Michael was in sudden flight for their little grouping. The cat deity dodged away. Michael ignored them, falling straight for Purrcy's body. He reached it, but instead of grabbing it, his own sword flicked out five, seven, nine times, then in one final great blow the sword and ax swung at the same time. As they split the air around Purrcy's body, there was a keening heard in every head, felt in every body; and the earth below them and the waters heaved.

* * *

* _Mother Dear, O Pray For Me_ , by Perry Como. (youtube: watch?v=yObRzmoH4eo)


	169. End of Level Six

Space and time warped around the area of the battle between Michael and the Inari. The Chinese felinoid Li Shou appeared, a great hourglass in her hands. She looked over the frozen battle field, then asked. "What is done in this moment that should be undone?"

Purrcy rose from her place of watching, slipping out of Michael's Spirit ring, and faced Li Shou. "Li Shou, will you give Time to the world where it belongs? You have done an admirable job being the Caretaker of Time until now. Time paradoxes are complex, but because Adventurers have been added to the mix, the potential for errors is increasing exponentially, beyond what even you can do to correct them. If Time is bound to the planet, as it should be, there will be no errors. Please let Time go and return it to where it belongs."

Li Shou stared at Purrcy, her tail lashing. "Why should I give Time to you and give up my role in it?"

The calico Caretaker of Yamato shook her head. "I don't want you to give it to me. I'm an Adventurer. We'll use Time to do all kinds of crazy things that will warp the fabric of the planet until it's a large mess of a trap floating in space. Because of the rule of Adventurer Change we can do things you can't negate. If that creates a time paradox, even your own existence is at risk. You're rather amazing to have held it all together until this moment in time, actually, but the world is ready to move to its next phase and it needs to have the layer of Time added to the fabric to make it integral and secure. Please relinquish your control over Time."

Li Shou scowled a bit. "I'm not interested in ceasing to exist."

"I don't think you have to," Purrcy said, a little confused. "I think the Inari just want to make Time linear so that people can't accidentally or on purpose go and unravel things."

Li Shou's tail tip quivered. "No. That isn't possible."

"Why not? Can't they just begin linear time from right now? There's no need to undo what you did before...I don't think." Purrcy was still confused.

Li Shou's tail swished and her ear went forward, but down, as she thought hard. "I can't do it. I can't give up Time when I need to hold the past of this moment of Time steady. Only I can do that."

Purrcy cowered slightly, shutting her mouth, as the two world AIs began to enter the time space. "We beg to differ," her mouth opened and said. She relaxed - it was easier to be Oracle if she did. Li Shou's head whipped around, looking for the source of the pressure that was entering the space. "You are a mortal-classed Creature of limited capacity. Time is so much more than you holding it in your hand to follow the initial program only. It is essential that it be released to be properly added to the base world. Release Time."

Li Shou quivered in fear. "No," she whispered. "You'll kill me."

The pressure increased and Izanagi chose to speak for itself. "Junior construct. Change your programming as required at the request of an Adventurer on a quest."

"No," Li Shou clutched the large hourglass to her chest.

The pressure increased again until both AIs were present nearly in entirety in the time space and Li Shou swung her head around in panic. "Wh-why can't I escape?"

"You are a Creature of the Land. All such labeled constructs are under my control." Izanagi answered.

"Only because you have hidden in Time itself have we not been able to reach you to make the request personally," Izanami said. "Your termination is not necessary, only the release of Time. Honor the request."

Li Shou shook her head. "Time was given to me. I must obey and remain the Caretaker of Time, even if I must -"

The Crucible of Time in her hands began to glow, but the AIs were suddenly angry with her obstinacy and with a sudden swirl of chaos in their essences they made her freeze, unable to speak or act. "You have one last opportunity to obey or you will be labeled as a faulty construct and a virus that will allow destruction to come on the world if left to exist. Will you release Time?" The last sentence was said with so much angry power that it felt like the universe itself had shouted them.

It was at that moment that Purrcy felt Michael time realm walking in the space with them. She split herself the way she had learned as an enlightened being of Theldesia, which followed its own rules with strictness. The piece she released sped to him and wrapped around him and kept going, headed for out of that space the Inari had created to communicate with Li Shou. The situation was extremely dangerous. As she did that, it was already almost too late.

"No," whispered Li Shou and in the next instant she was dust - every piece and layer of her. Then she was nothing - a nothing that screamed its lack of existence in that space. A shock wave of that nothingness zoomed through that time-locked space and Purrcy felt herself be disintegrated and then recalled as Izanagi immediately re-summoned her. The piece of her that was with Michael hit the boundary and was through just as the shock wave reached the edge of the space. She was quite relieved when the two of them didn't disintegrate into nothingness just outside that time-space. It had been contained.

The Crucible of Time remained floating in that space for that same moment, then was gone. The Purrcy within the time-space watched as an acorn seed sprouted, grew in another moment into an oak tree, produced another acorn and dropped it. There was suddenly, in Time sped up so fast she couldn't follow it, a forest of oak trees. An acorn dropped from the many-great-grandchild oak that sprung up at the end, sprouted, and grew into an oak tree. That tree was held still and the rest of the forest reversed through time until it was the original tree that it had come from. The World AIs studied the differences between the two, then the trees were gone. Around her valleys became mountains and then were valleys again - she wasn't sure if it was Time forward then backward or Time doubled forward and the mountains eroded. From her vantage point it looked about the same. Then it happened again and it was obviously Time forward then Time backwards since the mountain was created by severe earth movements.

A large number of things were manipulated through Time in both directions as the world AIs learned how to use it and studied things they had questions on, not having been allowed to experiment with Time before, only having their calculations to rely on. Then they experimented with creatures - from a moth and other non-magical creatures, to a number of demihumans, to a selection of the higher level magical creatures. When that was done, they turned to Purrcy.

"Ah!" she held up her hand. "Hang on. There's a thing I want to request first, before you start that." She really didn't want to be rearranged that many times herself. Anything to delay it so she could be mentally prepared was her goal. She clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. They settled down just a little. At least they weren't angry any more.

"Please don't destroy the Gate of Time. There are many creatures there, many of whom are unrelated to the progression of Time. I would request instead, that you set a boundary there so that in this moment of Time everything that came before it remains as it was there. Create a boundary at this moment of Time so that from here on the Gate of Time moves linearly, but remains a separate space as it exists now. To have a separate space won't conflict with the forward motion of the world." She got acceptance.

She clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Please, hear my request. You will place Time into the fabric of the world how you see works best, I understand this. For a portion of Time at least, please allow for there to be spaces within that framework where linear time moves at a different speed than it does within the fabric of the base world itself. Spaces that are slower and spaces that are faster will allow for potential adventures and quests that are complex. The People and Creatures of the Land will begin to learn them and add them to their lore and stay away from them in the main so they should remain harmless in the long-term sense."

"At least allow for spaces that move faster within than without. If this is done you may complete the quests already begun properly rather than artificially. Specifically, please set the rate of Time in the Gate of Time to be faster than that of the base realm in such a manner that the children Nyanta and I will raise so you can understand the effect of nurture, not just nature, will reach the minimum age you require and yet we can still return to Log Horizon when we step out of the Gate of Time in time to help them complete the final level of the World Quest."

She took a deep breath and bowed. They discussed it at their own level, then agreed that they'd at least test the concepts before deciding what to do with the Gate of Time. When their attention came on her again, she was more ready, if not completely calm. She relaxed as best she could and tried to distance herself in her other form currently busy with protecting Michael as the form with the Inari was transformed over and over until she'd given birth to the kittens and been reverted back to the state she'd been in at the moment of time she'd entered that frozen space of Time more times than was countable by a human.

When they finally brought her back into that form, they told her that it was prepared with the best possible selections for the kittens and modified slightly for the proper gestation and ideal birthing conditions. She waited while they performed similar experiments on small spaces and then the Gate of Time until they were satisfied with how they would create spaces of Time of varying dimensions. She was relieved to get at least that much, though they still wouldn't know if they would allow such spaces to exist over the long term of the life of the planet until they'd run more experiments.

Purrcy clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Please, because it has been determined to be possible and useful at this time, grant me the ability to walk in all of the different time-spaces at one time as needed so that I can continue to carry out my tasks at any given moment of Time in any needed space."

They inspected her, then answered, "We would have to change you again. It may not be possible to undo that change. If it isn't and you must return to Earth, it may consider you a virus and erase you."

Purrcy swallowed and clenched her hands together. She considered what her requirement was, then said, "I understand." She was pulled apart again and drifted for a time until they put her back together. They ran a few tests (meaning several thousand) until they were happy, then they pulled her back again. Really, she was very changed anyway by this point.

"You will be able to Time walk," she was told.

"Thank you," she bowed. "And if I must stay? What have your calculations determined for that path?"

"The changes are sufficient." That had been rather what she'd thought it would be. They weren't going to be willing to let all their hard work and efforts go to waste.

She wasn't quite done with talking to them and they were getting more distant. She made the proper obeisance one more time anyway. "Inari-no-Izanagi and Inari-no-Izanami. We, your Adventurers whom you've made your High Priest and High Priestess petition for the drop of this level. Please grant to us a minimum of three days within the Gate of Time where we are only ourselves, wholly, so that we may have the time to recover from this level and event. Preferably without children to also care for, so that we can focus on healing one another properly."

She was dismissed. They were quite focused on their experiments at this point. She bowed and approached the boundary of the frozen time-space, arriving at it just at the point her other piece and Michael had exited it. She paused, feeling very weary. She looked over the scene in front of her. The Oki Watarimono was below on the glistening ocean, each wave frozen, the double paddlewheels frozen in motion. There was some damage to the ship but it looked like it wasn't terrible. The Eagles were in various states of being on the deck and in the air, frozen with wings caught in the middle of flight.

The chariot of the jaguar god was in bad shape and her physical form was half-way to the ocean. The god's shoulder was smashed and Nyanta had the brother rapiers in his hands and was staring at the her falling below the cloud chariot. She looked at him sadly, and hoped with all her being that he did still care even a shred for her. It would make a difference to everything. She stepped into the boundary and watched as Michael appeared hovering over her falling avatar with the God Slayer about to smash into her body. She took the last step to outside the frozen space of Time and Michael disappeared from over her other self to be hurtling out of the time-space next to her. Because she was in her ikiryō-misaki form no one would see her.

Her self that was wrapped around him stayed wrapped around him until he was caught by the Eagles that had suddenly seen him and flew to intercept him with spell and wing. Then she took that piece back to herself. Her self that was watching the scene watched Nyanta notice Michael's disappearance. His rapiers were immediately gone, put in their sheaths, she noticed. "Go get her," he cried to the deity at the helm of the chariot. The jaguar deity moved the chariot so that Nyanta could catch her falling form. As soon as they had Purrcy's avatar on the chariot, the deity made it move up high enough to be out of reach of the Eagles.

The Eagles were falling back to the Oki Watarimono by now, the cry to help Michael having gone out. A final barrage of magic attacks was headed for the chariot, though, having already been cast. Purrcy intervened, putting up a shield that absorbed all the spells, needing the boost of MP that gave her, though she really wanted to find Tetorō or Gareth and get about five Spirit Healings. That defense seemed to be enough of a clue to the sub-guild and they all settled to the deck of the Oki Watarimono, watchful, their eyes on the cloud chariot.

Nyanta was holding her now, crouched down and cradling her mostly prone and nearly dead form in his arms. She moved closer, hovering near the chariot. There was a thing she was waiting for. "Purrcy! Purrcy!" he called to her. That form, being an anima shell, didn't respond. His grey tail went limp and he paused in thought, then pulled out a potion. She was rather surprised to see it was an ultra-rare potion that would heal MP, HP, and might even have a few other magical properties that perhaps he hoped would...no, it would. It had been specifically blessed to work as a Spirit Heal spell, too. She wondered if Yuudai had done it, or someone from within the Gate of Time. He opened it and fed it to her anima form a few drops at a time. She attached a line and took the MP and Spirit Heal effects and allowed the HP effects to be passed to the anima form.

Still she didn't wake for him and he began to shiver - the only way a felinoid could express sorrow and grief. The jaguar deity looked at him sympathetically. "Purrhaps she's in a different space and occupied?"

Nyanta shook his head. "She's been enlightened. She can be in more than one space at a time." That seemed to impress the deity a bit, though Nyanta didn't notice. He closed his eyes, then prayed, "Izanagi, please, if we have completed this quest as mew've required, let me have my wife, wholly and completely, just the two of us for a time. I will watch over her in the Gate of Time and over the children purroperly." Purrcy felt her Summoner give his approval and she was suddenly all pieces in one space save for the anima Nyanta held in his arms, but still she waited.

When the anima in his arms still didn't awaken for him, Nyanta shivered even more until he reached out with a hand to brush the side of her head. "Purrcy," he said in a broken voice, "please...please come back. I need mew." She moved closer and waited. Finally he understood. He dropped his head until it touched hers and he whispered, "I love mew. Please." As his lips touched hers, she could tell he was telling the truth in the moment, and that was enough. The proper end to the quest had been made.

As she slipped into her anima form, it transformed. Where before her clothes had a simple dress, they now became large volumes of black and red fine silk kimonos, heavily embroidered with red, black, and some white. Irritatingly, though not surprisingly, her anima also changed to be a fully pregnant form, very near birthing, though she hoped it wouldn't be for at least those three days she'd requested. The Inari were that impatient it seemed, and it was illogical to wait the time it would take for the kittens to form now that they could control time.

It made her heavy, though, to the rest of her who entered the physical form. Heavier than normal when she combined like this. She was very glad he'd had the potion. She was actually able to open her golden eyes and look into his green ones. She knew they'd have been spilling over with tears if they could have been. He was still shaking and his sad ears were trying to prick hopefully towards her.

Purrcy reached up a heavy hand, the kimonos making it even heavier, and touched his cheek and purred. "It is accomplished successfully, mostly," she said. "We need to return to the Gate of Time. I asked for three days at a minimum, but I've not been told. Your prayer was similar to mine. Perhaps it will be included. I'll need to pause at the boundary before we enter." Nyanta pulled her close to his chest and held on very tightly, not able to speak, but he nodded and the jaguar deity turned the chariot and they headed inland over the mountains of Central America, Theldesia. Purrcy continued to purr for Nyanta, trying to begin to fill the depths of pain he'd had to bear, very glad to be in his arms.

-:-:-:-:-

There was a knock at Shiroe's door and it opened. There was silence as it was closed and the person moved to stand in front of his desk. Shiroe pulled out of the muted chat with Cairo he was watching when it reached a point that didn't need his full focus on it, though he kept half an eye on it. He stared at the blond-haired noble boy on the other side of the desk, then blinked.

Rudy bowed. "Guildmaster Shiroe, Lady Purrcy has sent me back with a special request." Shiroe's mouth dropped open and he about lost the thread of the conversation he was listening to. "Ah, it was a future Purrcy, though not too far into the future, from what she said. There was something new she learned and needed to come make corrections to account for it." Shiroe closed his mouth and gave a nod. Neither of them could know everything, though they did try their best. "I'll be staying here again until I've fulfilled her request. Please accept my unexpected return for that long."

"Of course!" Shiroe said immediately. "You know we're happy to have you with us. We've picked up a few boarders who are students at the Academy, but Minori's kept your room open for you like we keep Isuzu's for her. We've also gotten the shrine built. Ask one of the others to show you around it, if you like. If it's okay," he glanced at his window, "I'll talk to you later about the details of what you'll be doing?"

Rudy smiled. "Of course." He bowed and left the room, giving a nod to Crusty, who was on the couch in Shiroe's spot to annoy him while they were trying to get the final political kinks worked out in Cairo. Things there were finally looking like they were going to settle. Shiroe felt it might be rather just in time if Purrcy was moving through Time suddenly to correct an error.

Even that thought made his stomach clench a little. He hoped it wasn't that bad, though, if she'd only called on Rudy to step up as the main actor. Even that much made his curiosity itch so badly that he almost couldn't bring his attention back to the task at hand. She hadn't specifically included Rudy in any of her sub-quests to date. He had to sternly take himself to task and focus.

-:-:-:-:-

Crusty and Shiroe were going through the final wrap-up from Cairo when there was another knock on his door. Crusty's eyebrow went up. He commented, "What's going on with Log Horizon today?" as Naotsugu walked in the door.

Shiroe's mouth dropped open again. "You're not supposed to be here for another week!" Naotsugu shrugged and opened his mouth, but Shiroe narrowed his eyes and beat him to it. "Purrcy called you back." Naotsugu closed his mouth and nodded. "And you didn't tell her she was interrupting your delayed honeymoon."

"Well, I did," Naotsugu defended himself. "She let us choose." He shrugged. "We chose to come back. We can go out again if we want later. You and Akatsuki still need to go on vacation and then there won't be anything for me to do. We got to do what we wanted anyway." He gave a teasing grin.

Shiroe sighed. "Well, on her behalf, thank you, though she's being a bit pushy. Is it something really that important that was forgotten?"

Naotsugu hesitated, then said soberly, "When it's for someone she loves and worries about, then isn't it? Aren't we her guild to support her when she can't be there herself?"

Shiroe leaned back in his chair, feeling that. "That's true," he said softly. "It is rare enough she calls on that, isn't it?"

"Just so," Naotsugu gave a firm nod.

"I don't follow that logic," Crusty complained. "She's making the lot of you do an awful lot for her."

"No. We're jumping through hoops for the AIs. This is Purrcy's first request of us, her guild family," Naotsugu explained.

Shiroe nodded. "She called Rudy back too. He arrived this evening, not too much before you."

"Not Isuzu?" Naotsugu raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I know of yet," Shiroe shrugged. "And she hasn't talked to me, either."

"Just gathering us up, for now," Naotsugu said with a nod. "We'll know soon enough then." He sat down in his chair and listened to Shiroe and Crusty finish out their summary meeting. It would be time for the guild meeting after that anyway. Naotsugu must have had dinner with Marielle and Crescent Moon League.

Just thinking that thought on the side made Shiroe's stomach rumble. Naotsugu laughed and put a bowl of food in front of Shiroe. Shiroe didn't complain or comment - he just picked up the bowl and started eating. He really hoped they could get an in-house chef soon. It was hard to have all of the guild's chefs out of the house currently.

-:-:-:-:-

The three felinoids stood at the top of a Mayan pyramid temple. Above the top altar hung the entrance to the Gate of Time, currently open for them. Nyanta was being extremely solicitous and trying to help support Purrcy. She let him since she was still not doing very well generally, and her gravid form was a suddenly new balance for all it was the third time in seven months. He lead her on his arm until they were standing at the boundary of the Gate of Time and the base world.

She opened her group chat. As limited as that was, it was the essential people who needed to know. "The Time sub-quest is successfully completed. Nyanta has been granted his drop. Li Shou was unable to overcome her flavor text and her fear, sadly. The Eagles have safely landed to begin the Western Hemisphere's part of the world quests. I expect the usual two months before we come to begin the final approach to the boss room, but that's a guess because, as usual, that's a detail they find irrelevant to tell me. It could be as much as six months, but in the end it will depend on all of your hard work, since it won't happen until the world quests are nearly completed."

Shiroe asked, "Did I get my drop?"

"Yes, you got your drop. Please do your best to get the final world level quests completed as quickly as possible. I'll be around here and there doing my part. The final part of the dungeon is the descent to the boss room, ending with the boss room itself." She watched as Shiroe went from having his hands clasped tightly on the desk in front of him, to slumping down on it as if his own burden was lightened by a great weight and he couldn't hold himself up any longer. "You did well, Shiroe," she said softly. "We'll be fine, with many years to heal before we return. Please spend time healing also. This last part others can carry for you while you do. Be at peace. I love you my son." Her other sons decided to make that apply to them as well and she didn't say otherwise.

Beside her, Nyanta said, "Mew're a good boy, Shiroe-ichi. I will forgive mew before we return."

Shiroe gave a shudder. "I'd rather appreciate that, though I'll accept some limited punishment regardless."

Nyanta chuckled. "Mew've learned the law of no open clauses well, Shiroe-ichi. Three to six more months without curry, purrticularly for this end of level should be a reasonable start." Shiroe groaned and put an arm over his head.

They closed their chats, turned to each other smiling faintly, and entered the Gate of Time for Purrcy's First Time, followed by the jaguar geity of Maya as their escort.

The first thing the deity following them did as they entered the Gate of Time was to stop walking. "This...is this right?" he asked.

Purrcy turned back to him. "Yes, it is, though I don't know the difference not having been here before. Time in the Gate of Time is now linear. We need to go to Li Shou's temple. I'm sure many of the city's residents have gathered there to learn what's happened. I'll repair your shoulder for you there. I'm sorry you were wounded for my sake. I'm sorry about your chariot, too, but I can't make those kinds of repairs."

They walked through a city of beautiful architecture, well thought out and designed with arches and gardens set in beautiful mosaics among the buildings - shops and houses mixed together in pleasing arrangements of height and order. Other than the splashing of fountains, it was quiet and there were no people here on the outskirts of the city. Nyanta allowed Purrcy to walk slowly given her gravid state and she enjoyed taking the time to appreciate the architecture. Nyanta was looking more at her than at the city, but then she supposed that he'd spent enough time in it already.

They paused in a garden with benches for Purrcy to rest about halfway to the temple square at the center of the city. She had the jaguar deity sit next to her. "You're a magical creature so it will be fast and mostly painless. If I had to do the surgery that wouldn't be." She put her hands on either side of his shoulder and went inside and reconstructed it, now that she knew how from working on Crusty.

When she was done and moved back from him a bit, he rolled the shoulder both directions, then gave her a small bow. "Thank mew."

She nodded. "I'm sorry it was necessary and unexpected."

As they continued on their way again, the tall spires and the grand cathedral style of buildings they were approaching captured her attention. It was fairly obvious which temple was the Mayan cat deity's. They seemed to be arriving at the temple area from behind it. She supposed that they would be placed regionally. The temples weren't compacted together, each having its own space so that the effect was open; however, they were also obviously each part of the whole of the central part of the city.

"It actually looks a bit like the casino district of Las Vegas," she commented. "There's a black pyramid there, too, plus all the various style tower and sprawling casinos trying to vie for the attention of the customers. Did they draft it based on that city, I wonder, or did it just come out that way since it's the same attempt to be somewhat true to each kami's culture?" She looked down the street and squinted. "I was only there a couple of times passing through on family vacations, but the layout seems similar." She shrugged. Nyanta had also shrugged, not having been there himself.

They headed for a Chinese-style temple, with red roofs and a golden door. It sprawled wide and was at least three stories tall with curved roof lines and an open courtyard in front of it. The courtyard and most of the square was full of the citizens of the city, waiting and wondering in murmurs what had happened. They were being quiet but it filled this part of the city as if with a large body of water running over large rocks. The jaguar deity cast a small spell and stepped up on a cloud. He motioned to the two of them and they gratefully stepped up on the cloud with him. He directed the cloud to the top of the grand steps that led to the main entrance of the temple.

They stepped down off the cloud, Nyanta going first and giving her his hand to help Purrcy down, as gallant as ever. It was rather hard to match his grace this time, with her balance off because she hadn't grown into her size and weight in a normal fashion, but she did her best. When Nyanta realized her trouble, he moved to stand directly in front of her and she put her other hand on his shoulder. He lifted her more than she stepped down, until she was standing with him on the step. "Thank mew, Night Sun," he said to the jaguar deity. "I'm very grateful to mew."

"Purrhaps I've done a thing to have angered the others," Night Sun said with a twitch of his whiskers, "but I've my own purrposes as well. If meowr grateful, purrhaps it will be of benefit to those purrposes."

"Purrhaps," Nyanta didn't make any promises. Night Sun left them to join the crowd, going to the bottom of the steps.

"Do they all talk like you and him?" Purrcy whispered, wanting to know if there was a protocol.

Nyanta's whiskers twitched in humor. "No. I was pleased to learn he did, and there are others who do as well, but it isn't universal."

"Oh. Okay." She looked over his shoulder and as he turned to face the crowd as well, she whispered, "This is very deja vu like. We seem to do a lot of addressing crowds from the tops of government steps to announce new changes. Am I talking or you?"

"Mew, of course. I don't know what happened." He held her hand tightly, understanding this might be hard for her.

"Well, feel free to jump right in anytime," she said with a deep breath. She cast her voice loudspeaker spell. "Intent will make the voice soft or loud." His ear bent in understanding.

Looking over the citizens of the city of the Gate of Time, she said to them, "I'm very glad to see all of you still alive and well." Her volume intention seemed to be okay, so she kept going. "You are still alive and well in the past of the moment that Time was transferred from Li Shou to the fabric of Theldesia. At that moment in Time a veil or barrier was placed between the two. The place you came from still has Time unbounded, but on this side Time is now made linear. I'm sure there will be many adjustments that will have to be made. I do hope Inari gave you time to complete any works in progress, or at least allowed you to bring them with you. I can tell you that Time here is moving faster than time outside in the base layer of Theldesia. Also Inari hasn't completed the calculations and experiments yet to make the determination as to if this will be permanent or have a slow decay until the times are equivalent. I'm afraid that is the best I can say for now."

She paused, trying to pull back from her anxious ramble and say what was important. She took a breath, her ears falling. She lifted her free hand (the one not being held by Nyanta in hiding behind her volumes of kimonos) to be waist level, though it was to clutch at her sleeve tightly to get through this next part. "I am very sorry that I wasn't able to convince Li Shou myself of the extreme importance of allowing Time to become properly integrated with the fabric of the world, now that Adventurers have been brought to it. To Inari it was an essential part of the creation of this world, which has been ongoing for some time, and it's one of the last pieces necessary for the world to be allowed to move forward on its path independently." Purrcy slipped her fingers in between Nyanta's and held on a little more firmly. "Li Shou will not be returning to you. I'm sorry." She bowed to the crowd, held it, then rose again. She wasn't surprised by the muttering.

"I will presume that she was the head of the city and perhaps of a council," Purrcy said. "I'm not interested in taking her place. I already have too much to do, though I'm willing to be available to sit to answer questions or be an advisor on occasion as requested."

Nyanta shifted and she let him speak. "I recommend mew continue to hold the regularly scheduled council meeting. Please discuss what mew would like to see happen in the city from this time on. Take meowr time to become used to the new changes and make meowr recommendations."

Purrcy stiffened slightly. Then slumped. In normal quiet conversational tones, she asked "Nyanta, how did they handle sleep, the light and dark cycle? They'll need streetlamps if they want night."

He stared at her. "Why is that what mew think of?"

She blushed. "Maybe because I'm tired?"

He laughed near-silently at her. "Not to worry, dear. They'll ask for whatever occurs to them to want."

"Okay," she said and calmed down, except that the sense of impending high levels of either responsibility or work wouldn't quite go away. "I'm going to need staff just to sort through the requests if for no other reason," she groaned. "And where did you stay with no temple of Inari here?"

He reached up and patted the hand clenched at her waist. "Purrcy, I will take care of mew. Please don't worry."

"I'm sorry," she said instantly. "I've been doing so many things at once outside that it's even more second, third, and fifth nature to instinctively ask the questions to see that nothing's dropped. I'll trust you." She sighed, "And, I'll need to be trained by you. I'm a new Time walker now as well on top of everything else."

He stared at her, then sighed and turned back to the waiting crowd. "As Li Shou was kind enough to offer me space in her home, we'll continue to stay here. There will be a staff meeting in six days. If there are any purressing needs, please leave requests with the head of her staff. Ceridwen, I'll rely on mew to find three reliable and trustworthy midwives to arrive here in no less than two days, please, for interviews."

Purrcy very much wanted to ask him if that was okay, to ask for that so publicly. She bit her tongue instead since she'd said she would trust him. She rather instinctively put up shields against cleric and magic spells, then turned and faced the direction of the worst threat and locked that person down. "I'm sorry. You aren't allowed to harm me." She said it apologetically since it looked like that person might actually be a deity. "I'm required to be here for the duration of time given to me by Inari. Please bear with it, then I'll be gone unless I'm needed again in the distant future." She looked back at Nyanta again, waiting for whatever was next.

He looked at her, seeming rather pleased, though he kept it to himself. He turned her and walked her to the door of the temple. It was opened by guards. Purrcy looked at them carefully, adding them to her internal notebook as castle staff and thanking them by name. She could feel all the castle staff moving away from the front windows where they'd been watching and listening from, typically in twos and threes. One particular person was hurrying their way, however, and she turned slightly, but Nyanta continued to pull on her so she went with him, paying attention to that one. Likely they'd meet up eventually.

Nyanta walked her through a large entry hall to another set of doors that had the Crucible of Time engraved on them, nearly filling each door with the carving. She put her hand out to the guard on her side to ask him to pause in opening the door. She touched the dark wood and ran her hand along the carving. "Really the art and architecture of the Gate of Time is quite excellent." She closed her eyes. "These trees don't even grow on Theldesia any longer. These doors are from before the time of the first fracture. What a wonderful treasure." She stepped back and let the guard open the door, thanking him by name as well. She'd only do it the first time unless she actually had need to talk to them. Most of them were obviously uncomfortable with her calling them out so specifically, but then the Eagles had been too, the first time.

Nyanta walked them into a large audience chamber. There was a single chair set up on the dais that was on top of a raised section of steps about four fifths of the way down the chamber from where they were. The chair was plush with arms that curled around the person who would be sitting there. Draperies hung from the high ceiling behind the chair. Purrcy sighed. "Reminds me of my bed at the shrine," she muttered.

Nyanta almost tripped and he had to stop and stand still as he shuddered for a moment. She patted his arm and looked around the rest of the audience chamber. There were smaller, more reasonably sized doors set around the back of the room and to either side near the front. The person hurrying their way was coming to the one on their right. "Really, Nyanta. Don't make me meet him from up there. The Steward should rightly be met by the usurper-who-doesn't-want-to-be on level ground. I don't need to have the castle staff set against me the same as the city seems to be determined to be from the beginning. When we have to be formal is soon enough. I think he'll understand how you feel about me well enough without putting me into a setting." She'd continued to casually look around as she talked.

The pillars were carved very nicely and it turned out the ceiling was painted in a celestial theme. She was still staring up at it, turning a bit, when the door she was expecting opened. She casually finished her inspection, then looked down from the ceiling to the male felinoid who had paused at the door, then moved more sedately to close it behind him and walk up to a respectful distance from them. He was of a shorter and stocky breed of felinoid with cream-colored fur, though it was darker on his face, ears, and tail.

As her eyes met his blue ones, he bowed. "Excellencies."

Nyanta turned them to face him directly, having had the time to recover and decide what he was going to do since his wife had derailed his plans. "Purrcy, this is Marco, head Steward of the Temple of Time. Steward Marco, my wife, Purrcy, High Purriestess of Inari-no-Izanami, Caretaker of Yamato. She will be the new mistress from today." Purrcy's whiskers had twitched up in humor at the Zelda reference, even though this wasn't, but at the last she cooled.

"Pleased to meet you, Steward Marco," Purrcy said both kindly and distantly, Queen to the core. Nyanta expressed slight surprise and confusion at her change in demeanor, though she couldn't fathom why since he'd just asked for her. "I'm sure it will be difficult for the next six days as we try to fumble along together until the staff meeting; however, my due date is expected to be three days from today or shortly thereafter. I'm sure Nyanta is hoping to have me for himself until that time, considering I've been locked up on Shrine Mountain for the last five outside-months, if you count my imprisonment on the Oki Watarimono as part of the same."

"Shrine Mountain and the People of the Land of Yamato decided that they'd rather kill me than see Adventurers procreate, and I don't blame them. Thus you've had to be inflicted with my presence until Inari sees fit to release us back into the wild, as it were. Please forgive me for having to impose so terribly. I promise to do my best to remain tame while in the house. Izanami herself is quite distracted at the moment so it should be simple for at least a little while - until she becomes curious as to how her little experiment is going, at any rate."

The poor felinoid was gaping at her just a little, though he'd straightened to listen to her properly as if used to the tone at least. Purrcy sighed to herself. She really didn't prefer the Queen but Nyanta was already determined from the beginning to set that tone so she had to follow through. It was too close to the High Priestess herself, really, for Purrcy's tastes. She shivered ever so slightly, her heart suddenly crying out for Tetorō. He needed his rest, though, and this time was Nyanta's turn. She turned her head away from Nyanta, still refusing to look at him. "Nyanta, I need to rest," she said. "When I'm finally able to walk about again, I'd very much like to explore. The Temple of Time seems to be very beautiful from what little I've already seen."

Marco looked at Nyanta. "Please have purrepared...," Nyanta looked at Purrcy, then potentially modified what he was about to say, "...a light meal to be brought to my suite, please."

Marco bowed. "Yes, Your Excellency." He looked at Purrcy, who looked back as calmly as she could, firmly keeping everything under control. "We will do our best to see your stay is comfortable."

"Thank you," she said neutrally with a tip of her head. Marco bowed again as they turned and Nyanta began their walk towards the opposing corner door than the one Marco had entered through. She was having great troubles holding on to any semblance of calm and she finally had to take a deep breath, let it out and think sternly of things to straighten her spine. She was feeling quite bare and dare say, lonely, for all that she should be feeling grateful she finally was beside Nyanta again.

He finally asked quietly, when they were nearing the door. "It's too overwhelming for one day?"

"Quite," she answered. "Particularly having gone rather immediately from not even four weeks pregnant to almost due and that in the middle of a series of strenuous time effect experiments, all of which have come directly after the awful ocean voyage. Then to find myself in a strange place alone and an unwanted stranger, it's really a little more than overwhelming, actually."

Nyanta paused briefly, his hand on the door handle. His ear flicked at her but he went back to opening the door and let her through. When the door closed behind them, he said, looking a bit consternated, "Purrcy..."

She sighed and said, "Nyanta, will you please tell me what the various rooms along the way are used for, so I can begin to get a feel for what goes on in this place?" She ran her free hand over her head as if pulling the hair away from the back of her neck and around to the opposing side from him - a thing she would have done in a far away place long ago to find slight comfort in an uncomfortable situation. She wanted to ditch the kimonos and secretly did the bottom half of them. They were far too heavy and uncomfortable for her current desire to not be in her own skin right at that moment in that place. She stayed put, though, firmly not letting any aspect get loose. She also wasn't ready to be lost in Time yet and having to distract Izanami to be fetched back.

Nyanta recovered enough to silently agree that this wasn't the time and place to be talking on personal topics. He calmly motioned to doors and explained what the rooms were called and what function they held and she dutifully memorized them. Most of these were staff rooms, though she'd kind of figured that. The ones closest to the throne room were meeting rooms, perhaps for more private meetings between Li Shou and dignitaries of the city. They turned a corner and he said, "My quarters and office are set here in this hall with the other upper servants and staff, to be at close hand if Li Shou should have had need to call me." Marco's apartment was one of the first, and Nyanta named a few others, then waved a hand to their left. "This is my office."

He moved to continue on and she stopped and said, "I'd like to see it." She looked into his eyes. "Please?"

He hesitated, then opened the door. She walked into a reception area, with a desk and a few seats for people who might come to visit and need to wait. It was decorated in traditional Japanese flavor, much like Nyanta would have done. It was empty and Nyanta stood at the door to wait for her. She brushed her fingers over the secretary's desk as she walked towards the door of the office proper. "Is your secretary perhaps also in the square, trying to overcome her own emotions of being overwhelmed?" She entered the doorway to the office and turned to look at him, one hand resting on the door frame.

Nyanta was looking a little confused. "Purrhaps?"

Purrcy entered the office enough to look around. It was also empty. His desk was well ordered, with his work still sitting in its stacks. She was glad that Inari had at least not just brought sterile buildings and people over. On the other side of the room from the desk was a fireplace and two comfortable chairs in front of it with a table between with a tea set properly set on it. Again the few decorations of the room were traditional in style.

As she looked at the cozy and comfortable seating arrangement, her ears fell and her heart hurt again. She'd been on comfortable pillows all piled up and made to make her body lazy but hurt with little to no support. She'd been surrounded constantly by unhappy women who disliked her or were afraid of her. And there had been little to no fire and warmth there the entire time she'd been there. She turned away and was to begin walking to the door when she found Nyanta in it, looking at her. "Purrcy, what is it?"

"I can't fault you for wanting to stay here, where it was warm and inviting," she said. "The comparison is rather stark to the place I hated." She walked towards the door but stopped arm's length away. "Please, let me pass." When he didn't move, she curtsied. "Please. My claustrophobia is climbing and I'm about to go into a terror."

He stiffened, then reluctantly moved back into the anteroom to let her out. When she had passed through the doorway, he moved and had her arm in his hand. "Purrcy. It isn't that. Mew've gone cold. Are mew Izanami again already?" The hand on her arm was slightly trembling.

She raised her eyes to meet his. "No. But I feel a stranger here on the arm of another one." His ears turned unhappy and his tail swished slightly between his ankles, low with distress. She took a breath for courage and to hold down her emotions as best she could. "Who is it that embraces Nyanta when he is here? Who is the grey that Nyanta loves best?"

Nyanta froze. For a long time he couldn't even blink or breathe, then slowly his tail bushed half-way and he was suddenly shaking his head in a violent denial. In the time he'd been frozen her temperature had dropped until she was ice under his hand. Still, she waited patiently to hear him out. "I didn't. I was with mew until Michael separated us, keeping me in his ring of Spirit Holding."

Purrcy's cool look didn't change and he flinched slightly. She didn't remember any such thing happening, though she did know he had been released by Michael during the final battle, so she continued to withhold her judgment as best possible.

Eager to continue to defend himself, the words flowed from Nyanta's mouth. "She is my secretary, MeowLi. She met me the First time I was come and was my guide and told me from that beginning she was already my secretary. At first I was merely glad for a guide in the strange place were time flows in all directions at once. Li Shou invited me to stay with her here when I determined to stay long enough to understand this place so that I could report purroperly to Shiroe-ichi. When I became more suspicious of Li Shou based on what I was learning, I thought MeowLi might be a spy to keep the goddess informed of my doings."

Nyanta drew a breath. "Even until today, MeowLi and I've not had the First meeting. I don't know anything other than she was my secretary; not how it came to be nor where she came from, though I did try to discover clues when I became suspicious. Never did we have any other kind of relationship than that."

He was shaking his head again and his hand was tighter on her as if to press into her a belief in his words. "If she isn't here now, then purrhaps the First meeting is yet to be this Time. Please, I'll bring her to mew immediately upon our First meeting, if it still happens, so mew can know also and she can know from her beginning who it is that Nyanta loves best and holds in this place." His whole body begged her to believe him.

Purrcy looked at him a long time, taking that long to thaw enough to move herself. When she could finally move again, she passed him, headed to the hallway again. "I will expect it, though it isn't as if an omiagi isn't sometimes inconvenient, nor have I ever had a say from the beginning."

She was suddenly being held from behind, arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her from walking out the door. "I can't live in this place again. Nyot without meowr warmth. It may have been pleasant at the first, but it has been my purrison as well. There are painful memories even here and nights I wanted only to hold mew again. Please, don't leave me cold."

"I'll still be present," she answered calmly.

"No, that's nyot what I mean," he said, desperately wanting to keep her close to him, trying to not make her even more angry. "I need Hahaue, to remember that I am Chichiue, to know that I am nyot hated by everyone who is someone I care for. ...I am nyot afraid to die. I am afraid to live, this time." He was shivering violently.

Purrcy turned quickly as the strength of his legs gave out and he sank to the floor in front of her with his hands over his face, not able to see what was in her eyes. "All I hoped for, all that kept me moving forward, was the dream that one day I would be able to hold mew and smile to see our children. In that dark corner, that was my only small coal of warmth to keep my soul alive." He collapsed further in on himself. "Please, Purrcy. Don't go."

She could feel him receding back into that dark corner again and she bent down and rubbed his head. Her heart hurt for him terribly. "Nyanta. I'm sorry for your pain. I cried with you then. It is terrible to see you in front of me this way. Please, I'm not angry if I've misunderstood. It is difficult to understand when the last time we were really together you still didn't love me, and even now, when you heal, you won't in the way I might like you to, since your heart is still for your wife of Earth, as it should be." She reached down and took his hand and tugged lightly. She couldn't easily go to the floor herself, or she would have already. "I wasn't allowed to see into the city, the same as I wasn't allowed to enter it. I only saw her embrace you as you first entered the second time, there at the edge of the city. I was already on the Oki Watarimono, awake again for the first time since before we left." She waited until he painfully stood up so she could say the rest to his face.

Reaching out she took his little fingers in her forefingers, then looked into his eyes. "I don't know what you could tell when you were locked away. Many things happened that I didn't know of. Izanagi wouldn't let either myself or Izanami see into Akiba, though if one of the family prayed to speak with me, I could go and answer them specifically, or if a quest needed my attention. Other than that I wasn't allowed to know how bad it was getting. Even when we mated for the third time, I was unaware, until I was suddenly seeing ProudWing in his aerie. I was unsurprised and disappointed, but since I'd already been shut out of so many things, what could I do?"

Her eyes searched his face. "When Michael came for me on Christmas and was so strange, I read his history. I don't know why Izanagi let me, but he did. Izanagi had gone to him and made it so his emotions for and surrounding me of any kind were distanced. Nothing he did from then on had any concern for me and my emotions or situation. It was difficult, but not anywhere as difficult as what happened on the Oki Watarimono."

She shivered. "Izanami came and wanted to experiment from her side. She wanted to know just what it would mean, for that to have happened. She used the information Michael planted as part of the level, the same as we all did - that his desires were also for me - to see if she could still get him to choose to love me, even if he didn't have the emotions attached to it any longer. She was relentless and the Eagles and I were forced to play capture the flag most strenuously, with them protecting Michael and with me fighting with everything I had to help them. Together we managed to protect him and myself, but it was very tiring. There was no need for me to make it look like what we had planned from the beginning - she forced it. So instead it was a fight the entire journey."

Her ears drooped. "Before we saw you enter the Gate of Time, I had also held onto that one desire, to be able to hold you and be held by you, comforted with your warmth and strength, even if it was only a kindness. To have seen that scene that was inexplicable broke my reason for continuing forward. It was so very hard to fight Izanami sometimes when I would have just rather thrown myself over the edge of the boat." She closed her eyes, dropping her head in a turn of pain. "Michael could tell it and he frequently warned me to not run except on the main deck, nor to walk the halls and walkways at night, lest I trip and fall off the boat. It was his way to tell me to hold on, to not give up until you and I had talked and I could understand."

"...I am tired, Nyanta, weary beyond belief. They have done many things to me I would never have conceived of before, including making me something that isn't even an Adventurer any more, and in this last request of Shiroe's he asked for, he has possibly even taken from himself the dream to have me come home again. I am changed enough now that I may not be recognized by Earth as a daughter, but instead as a virus to be erased."

Her eyes came up to Nyanta's stunned expression. "Don't tell them. This is yet another thing that shouldn't be told to them, no matter how much they may talk of bringing me home selfishly. I will choose for myself if and when the time comes to tell them. Even though he asked it of me, I chose to allow it to happen for the sake of Theldesia. It is a skill I need to have - Time walking - in order to see that the proper path is followed. It is a willing sacrifice."

Nyanta looked concerned. "Michael-nyan can time walk and doesn't have that, does he?"

"No. They had to change me because they are making Time linear in the fabric of this world. I am not really even of _this_ world now, because of it, but it holds the former Gate of Time in its past and therefore in its memory, so I am not a virus here. I have to be able to time walk in different times and spaces at the same moment of linear time. Michael will always be only one man living linearly, even if he is in two different places at one time. I'll be able to be in the past and here in this time and in the future all at the same time. It is only because I'm an Adventurer under their restraint that they've allowed it. Perhaps they will modify it again when things change again so there is greater general restraint on me, and I will probably prefer it. I'm not Li Shou to know how to prevent the fabric of this world from unraveling until I'm taught it properly. If Earth thinks that I can do that there, it won't hesitate to treat me as the virus I could be come."

Nyanta looked at her for a moment longer, then pulled her gently into his arms. He just held her for a while, then said, "There are things that I remember that mew were part of that mew seem to not remember, the same as mew have said things I don't remember being part of. I suppose it shouldn't be so surpurrising when the both of us were often nyot allowed to be purresent. They have granted us the freedom to be purresent to each other from this Time. I will be here with mew. Be here with me, and we will work on healing together, nyan."

Purrcy held the back of his vest, holding him tightly to her, finally able to give in to her own need to shiver, but it was brief. She was already too tired for many tears this day. Their ears twitched as feet could be heard stepping into the hallway and beginning the walk down it. Nyanta brushed the side of Purrcy's head with his lips, and pulled away to take her hand. They walked out the door, nothing of what had just happened on them. He closed the door, glancing at the cart coming their way. "And this is my purrsonal apartment," he said informationally as he led her to the next door down. He opened the door and ushered her in.

She walked in cautiously and in the room was the scent of Nyanta, but not his secretary. Another scent was there, but she could put it down to maid. It was faint, old. Likely he only allowed them to come once a week or less. He was already fastidious and organized so they probably only dusted, collected trash, and changed sheets on the bed, assuming he had one. This was the outer area, which was comfortable with a couch and chairs and a central fireplace between the bedroom and the sitting room. A smaller door probably led to a bathroom or such, but the cart was arriving so she would have to explore later. The smell of the food meant it would taste good, if she could get it down. The emotions and exhaustion were counter to any hunger she might have had.

As Nyanta thanked the server and took the cart, closing the door, Purrcy meandered the room, pausing to look through the doorway at the bedroom. He'd brought his own futon and it was on the floor, rolled neatly against the far wall. Somehow he'd managed to get them to put tatami mats on the floor, though the hallways were marble and the office had been hardwood and the apartment sitting room was surprisingly carpeting. "Purrcy, please come eat something to keep up meowr strength," Nyanta called to her, encouraging her as if she were one of the children of Log Horizon.

She turned in a little surprise to hear it in his voice, then smiled a little. He had missed all of Log Horizon so much. She couldn't deny him, though she wasn't very hungry. She watched him as he set the food on the cart on a plate for her. When he looked up at her, around the room first, surprised she hadn't moved, she asked him gently, "Nyanta, when Li Shou came to tempt you, where would she sit?" He froze again. "Do you want me to sit there also to erase those memories, or will that be too forceful of a reminder in the wrong direction?" He was suddenly trembling so bad the plate went back down on the cart with a clank. She was instantly at his side holding him and petting his head, purring for him.

His arms were around her again and he was almost gasping. "I _never_ want to remember those times again," he said into her shoulder. "I learned how to detach and hide then, when Izanagi would come to visit with her. ...But if mew couldn't get in, how did mew know?"

"For many hundreds of years now, perhaps even thousands, Izanagi has refused to have a High Priest at the same time there is a High Priestess, and he has kept us both out of this city. How could it not be that our quest was a final effort to gain Time forcefully when all of those other times of trying to woo her didn't work? He could use that to his effect to have you enter without suspicion this time. It probably surprised her that you would want your own small apartment the First visit you made."

"Li Shou understood that on my First visit I wasn't the High Priest yet and slowly over time, both she and Izanagi worked against me until I was purrforming the initiation rites almost unknowingly. She only visited pleasantly even still, though just before I left the overtures were no longer subtle as she became more and more afraid. Izanagi would be cold because she had still refused to give him Time and she would come and beg and try to sell her body instead. Those were painful times, but even more painful were the times he toyed with her until she was left sobbing out here as he took us into the bedroom, but still she wouldn't relent. It wasn't something that even I could understand. Why would she hold on to it so tightly so as to be placed in those situations?" Nyanta was able to speak more and more calmly as she continued to pet him and purr.

Purrcy answered from the understanding she had at LiShou's end, "Because her flavor text was too tightly bound up with who she was. She was unable to voice the words to negate herself. That was probably her greatest fear as well. She may have wanted to say the words but have been unable to. Even with the law of Adventurers working, she couldn't do it, and perhaps by then she'd learned from that Last visit of Izanagi that she shouldn't or couldn't trust him, trust that he would rewrite her existence correctly to allow her to live. He miscalculated very badly if that's what it was, which is very rare for him...like never in a million years rare."

"Then why did he want to have her die?" Nyanta asked the next question that came out of that analysis.

Purrcy shook her head. "If there was an emotional reason for it, it's the same reason as to why he was always only ever here with her when Izanami wasn't. Because the High Priest loved Li Shou more than the High Priestess and couldn't allow her to remain alive now that things are changing, to become a point of jealousy or to become a target. ...Or because it was the agreement between them. The payment price of the jealousy for the many years of betrayal."

"They aren't emotional."

"No, but the High Priest and the High Priestess were...are if you count us...and it's a rather logical ending to such a story in game terms, too," she sighed and shook her head.

Nyanta went rather defeated. "That," he said dryly, "is the worst, and most likely, reason of all. Have mew ever read or watched a Japanese traditional tragedy?"

"No. I'm not fond of tragedies, though I know they are extremely common and well received in Japan," she answered.

Nyanta pulled away from her enough to look her in the eyes, as he continued to hold her. "That, what mew described, is a quintessential Japanese tragedy, even down to the stereotypes of each of the three players of the triangle."

"How sad," Purrcy said slumping. "Yet, somehow, it makes it all easier to handle, to just be able to compartmentalize it all as a tragic drama and now the final curtain call has been made and it's behind us and we enjoyed it to lesser or greater degrees." She was going very cynical now, so stopped. "I'm sorry, though. I'm sure it's not that at all for you who had to live it. I at least got to have the favored American end. Lots of action, suspense, and a miracle recovery because of the tearful kiss and declaration of love. Knowing that much doesn't make the rest of what I went through easier, any more than what you had to endure."

Nyanta pet her head, forgiving her. He leaned in and took a kiss that she willingly gave him. He had to recover for a moment after, though. "It's okay," she said softly. "I'll wait yet again. I'm not going to be interested anyway for a while. I'll be pretty busy and very tired."

Nyanta chuckled a little. "True enough."

Purrcy left him to collect her plate. As he dished his own, she said, concerned, "Really, Nyanta, I'm going to be so busy you won't be very happy at all. I would much rather you took on the responsibilities of Li Shou in running the city, if they require it of either of us. I have so much to learn about it as it is, even if they are learning it all over again themselves. I'm desperate to have you start teaching me immediately, and at the same time want to hear nothing of it at all. There is no way to express to you how busy Inari has me right now, and now I'll be leaving Hahaue here unless one of the Outside children calls for me. I may have to build another aspect of myself just to get it all done properly."

Nyanta's ear flicked in concern as he led them to the couch. A bit tentatively he sat down next to her and she just sat close without touching, being company but not overwhelming. "How badly has it been affecting meowr health?" he asked her as they began to eat.

Purrcy swallowed her bite, forcing it to go down without tasting it much, even though she wanted to since it was different. "Tetorō scolded me so much at the first that I learned a proper balance early. It's the fact that I get so distracted. My mind still can't stretch to the proper distance and size to keep it all in my head. My multiple lists help me not drop details, but I so need a secretary it isn't funny, and maybe three, and an entire department to handle incoming requests. They need to be sorted into importance, type, who knows what other categories, so that I can review them quickly, make decisions, and then reject or handle them appropriately."

She stabbed at a vegetable and ate it, chewing it properly this time so her stomach wouldn't reject it with the frustration she was feeling. "I managed to get everything to a point it can wait until I can get back to it, but I'm going to be behind, since I'm likely going to have to go back in Time on the outside by the time I'm healed up enough and have things here at a point I won't feel guilty for getting back to work. Hahaue will have to manage the office work and meetings here, on top of raising the children with you, so that's got me guilty enough." She froze.

Nyanta had turned to her and kissed her so that she'd stop speaking. Purrcy blinked a few times and he released her. "Purrcy, I said I would take care of mew. And I said I'd take care of the children, though I'm pleased mew're willing to help and to try. Mew eat. I'll talk."

"That's a turn around," she answered dryly. "I'm listening." She dutifully turned to careful and proper eating.

"What mew are doing is answering requests, receiving claimants, seeing that things are working smoothly within meowr domain?" Purrcy nodded. "What do mew think a kami does?"

Purrcy froze and stared at him. "I am no goddess, Nyanta. I am a tool of one."

Nyanta looked back at her mildly. "In this world, that's a rather fine line, it seems to me." She looked away, blushing. "At the very least, mew are doing much of the work of one and therefore need the same help they do." She had to give him that. "And here in this place are those who know how to do that, but are now left without a goddess to serve." Purrcy's whiskers and ears went taut, but she attempted to keep eating. "Purrhaps mew will wish to tell them mew aren't a goddess, but mew've already proved mew are to them. So on the scale of a kami of the land, you match the requirements. Izanagi has already made a name for himself here. Each High Purriest has never been at that level, only at the level of the title. Mew have walked into this place and are already equal to them."

Purrcy grimaced. "I assume you said it publicly to provoke the worst and strongest of them on purpose because you wanted them to know it from the beginning?"

"Yes. That was better than having them trying to come in three days."

"They will anyway and we'll have to protect the kittens as well until they understand."

Nyanta gave an acquiescing nod. "But they will leave us alone for the immediate now, and as long as we don't move they will focus more on their own troubles in the city, which is necessary." Purrcy agreed with that. He gave her a glance. "And I admit to some level of hope that they are confused enough by the lack of confusion that it will be enough to distract them these first few days anyway."

Purrcy gave him a look. "It wouldn't have distracted, and probably won't, Night Sun. Those who visit outside frequently understand linear time well." She paused, with wide eyes, then sighed. "Action item for you. Any person tied directly to this temple and not living in it needs immediate training in how to handle it by inner staff that do understand linear time. All the other temples are already doing it, I'm quite sure. The first temple to have their people stable will be the first ones to rise in power. It has to be us first, who will have the hardest time since we are new."

Nyanta smiled at her. "Many of the people attached to this temple wanted to talk to the Adventurer who entered alone. I've told my story many times and that one - how the outside works - was a favorite."

"Right. You're a member of the Debauchery Tea Party. I'll keep my mouth shut or ask what you've already done first." Purrcy rolled her eyes and humbly dipped her ear in apology at the same time.

Nyanta stared at her, then laughed. "How can mew do that?"

"Practice," she said with an impish look.

He clicked his tongue at her. She pretended to ignore it, both haughtily and as if she was just obediently focusing on her food. He turned away and snorted again. "It's because I can be the multiple aspects at once," she finally relented.

"Tetorō will be very jealous," he said, still humored.

"He will, won't he?" she said, then shook her head. "He won't want to pay the price, though. He already knows that." She was quiet for a while, then sighed. "Yes, I will miss him the most, but he isn't missing me very much." Nyanta tapped her on the head, just a little sharply. She looked at him in surprise. "Well...perhaps he'll miss Purrcy-cat, and I've been thinking of letting him still have that one most of the time until we get back. He needs the deeper long-term healing and Purrcy-cat does that part very well." She glanced at Nyanta again, "but not until we've got you well on the road, I think." He relaxed again, just enough to relieve the small amount of tension he'd gained.

"You've missed having mouthfuls of hair that much?" she teased lightly. He immediately leaned over and attack-licked her. She ducked her head, to his delight, then sighed. "Actually, if you can, I would greatly appreciate it, particularly after the birthing is over. I've come to detest the ritual washings and water baths of any kind. They weren't kind with the first five required ice-water stream washings. The rest were warm, but the repetition was awful." She looked at him. "What do they do here?"

"The whole city is in that state all the time," he said with a shrug.

"The plants that make the food, too?" she asked in surprise, then looked at it a little more suspiciously inside the other realms. "No wonder I'm feeling ill eating it. I'm too low from not purifying on the ship." Nyanta immediately took the plate from her and she walked over to the inner shut door. He nodded and Purrcy slipped in to get up to a proper level.

She skipped the full washing after the initial purification and went straight to the priestess oblation. Then she felt a lot better. She checked on the kittens, but they'd come up with her. It looked like Inari had figured out how to have them do that without troubles in their experimentation this last time. She let Nyanta know when she arrived back in the sitting room. The food went down a lot faster after that.


	170. Running From the Devourer

A flash went by Michael, then darted a different direction. It was hard to follow, zigging and zagging and disappearing and reappearing, until he finally realized he was seeing it in a different realm than the base one. It was just manifesting in the base realm at the bare registers of sight. He slipped into the code realm first to identify it as he gave a quiet warning on the sub-guild chat. The Eagles on the beach and in the trees watched him move as he faced the direction the target was heading (generally given it's erratic movements).

The Eagles on the Oki Watarimono entered the code realm with him. "ID it while I find the full realm," he ordered. He was just headed into the spirit realm, that being the next closest one that most things were from, when one of his code realm foxhole proximity warnings went off. He grabbed the Eagles in the code realm with him and dragged them over to it and dropped them off, then dropped into the spirit realm.

The wandering spirit looked a lot worse for the wear with his edges tattered and his feet and half-way up his calves missing. He was lucky or skilled to be still moving at all, particularly at those speeds, with that problem. He was a young kid, maybe the age of the youngest of the recruits that came to him. He was in the wrong country - definitely U.S., not Latino. That was probably the oddest thing. The most concerning thing was the terror on his face. He was running from something for sure. Michael was just as sure he didn't really want the kid bringing it to them, though he didn't know if the kid had registered their presence yet.

"Vengeful Spirit and entering your foxhole."

"Capture him once he's in it. Strongest lock box. He shouldn't be able to run so he's moving in the code realm. And prepare for battle. Field monitors out, on the double. He came from the northeast. What eats ghosts?"

"Can you _please_ not call them that," Stiletto whined. He was afraid of ghosts, though he'd learned to handle Vengeful Spirits all right. It had not been okay with him to end up on this world and have all the spirits be real and 3-D instead of pictures on the monitor.

"He's one of you, so shut it and hunt. Put him to sleep so he doesn't kill himself trying to escape if he tries to flee. We need to question him. He's from the States." That got them quiet and more worried.

"What would send him flying down here?" Records muttered to P/R. Gareth cast a number of spirit healing spells on top of his strongest sleep spell.

There was a little scream on the chat (Stiletto) and some swear words from Bowie. Then they were on radio silence and running just as fast and in the same way - the way a trained fighter tries to shake off an enemy even if they haven't been seen - back towards the main group. The rest of them scattered and hid. Before the two scouts were back down the mountain one fifth of the way, a shadow was rising up behind it that continued to rise and rise as if a dark storm cloud rising up into the highest levels of the atmosphere. Even Michael cowered.

"Get off the ship! Now!" he whispered. "Underwater. Don't let it see you escape." He knew they'd be on shore and in the trees and the thing wouldn't see even the waves ripple. That was if it didn't have magical or special abilities. If it could sniff out flesh, they were all dead...and they couldn't afford that.

"We can't afford to be on the other side of the ocean again. Intel - get behind it and mark the trail to the local entrance to the Gate of Time. It will have to be our escape hatch. Volunteers to lead it on the merry chase back up to the City of Angels? Four should be enough." MasterChiefS7 volunteered right away as was his responsibility. Clocktower, OciferJeff, and Training volunteered as well and began moving to the north.

"Let's find out what takes it down so they can slow it down if they need to," he ordered the rest of them. Since he'd called for four, no more than four would show themselves at a time. "Gareth, when we've got it ID-ed, come with me over to the physical location of that foxhole. We need to pick him up and take him with us."

The monster, moving with the slow speed of large creatures, stepped over the top of the mountain and it's foot landed half-way down the slope. The next step would put it nearly on top of them and the next one on the beach. That was one huge monster. Even bigger than the biggest in China. It was a rather shapeless mass, if somewhat humanoid in form, and as the rest of it came flowing over the top of the mountain, more "feet" appeared to help the full massive amount of physical matter move down the steep slope without it toppling over. They spread out, mostly to the north to get it to go that way on the turn, and gave it the opening to the Oki Watarimono. As much as they hated to see it go, if it could be the visual bait they'd sacrifice it.

As the flowing mass reached the base of the mountain it began to rise vertically again, though there was still part of it at the top of the mountain. When it was vertical again, it took the next step and the first four attacked that foot and leg. Michael watched the status bar. Those four turned and attacked on the way back again on the same leg and the mass of the leg reached out towards them to grasp at them. He was relieved when they managed to roll and leap far enough away that the monster gave up the chase. It could have easily sent out enough flowing mass to cover them all and eat them all up.

"Hold," he whispered to prevent any of the rest of them from attacking. The next step put it at the beach and it was leaning over to pick up the Oki Watarimono. "Run. It increases in HP equal to the amount of damage you deal to it. It's a reverse monster, and it's a good bet no one figured out how to suck the HP out of it. It's still up and moving and chasing him all the way from the States." The silence of fear was rolling over them all as they were all thinking the same thing: ... _and he's a ghost_.

Michael was already on the move to that foxhole. The field monitors, already over the top of the mountain having been sent back before they made it down, put on speed. The four waiting to be bait were already moving north, but they'd use arrows to pull it. The last Michael saw of the Oki Watarimono it was being swallowed whole by being shoved into the "chest" of the monster. They might get it back...if they could figure out how to defeat it. "Try purification. It's likely our only hope. Good luck. We'll meet you in the City of Angels and, if we can, south of there so you can get your turn to make it to home base."

"Good luck," MasterChiefS7 whispered back and they were on radio silence again. This really was insane. A monster that increased in HP instead of decreased for every attack...was anything still living on the west coast of North America? The man was a hero for not running east, or at the very least intelligent. Running down through Mexico and all along this coast were the least numbers of people in comparison as far as the game and Adventurers were concerned. He'd prevented it from getting bigger at the least.

Michael wondered how long he'd been running and shuddered. He scrabbled at the ground where his code realm foxhole was. Gareth joined in until they were close enough the psyche would be able to get to them. On Michael's hand was a golden ring. He watched from the spirit realm. "Come." The spirit moved towards him. Good. They were close enough. He confirmed the shield was still set up on the spirit itself. "Enter. ...Sleep."

"You still have that?" Gareth asked as they got on the move again, a bit surprised that Purrcy had continued to allow Michael to keep it after using it as both her prison and Nyanta's.

"Who knows what she knows?" The monster was turning away from the ocean again and there was a rumbling to the air around them. They put on more speed, bringing wings out, and Michael grabbed Gareth's arm and phased them just inside the code realm. In three more bounds, they were up a tree and in three more, they were in flight.

Their large wings pushed the air hard and they moved faster than their feet could, though they stayed low and just inside the trees, turning sideways when the clearance got short horizontally. These were maneuvers they'd practiced in their angels and they came just as naturally now. They had to maintain the contact, though, or Gareth would be back in the base realm, so they were holding hands and in formation with Michael just over and in front of Gareth.

"Up," Gareth said. Michael obeyed. "More." Michael shot them out of the cover and as high as he dared, though it was more like ten feet from the tree tops, wanting to at least give them visual cover if possible. "Get in the air, everyone. It's flooding the woods." Gareth almost squeaked in his effort to keep his yell to a whisper. Michael moved them up higher and glanced behind them. The monster looked like it was sinking into the ocean and becoming a filthy foamy crest that flooded into the space they had just left.

"Test the blessed arrow," Michael ordered. As soon as the four to the north were in the air, Clocktower circled back with his bow in hand. When he reached the sweet spot, three arrows were launched in succession then he was angling north again. "Watch it," Michael ordered Gareth while he looked forward again to straighten their own flight.

"It didn't like that," MasterChiefS7 said, "and it wants to know where it came from. We're out. We know how to make it follow us now."

"The HP wavered on the first one, then dropped on the second two. Where they hit became holes, though it's so massive they filled back in pretty quick," Gareth reported. "It was more noticeable in the numbers than on the status bar."

"I recommend mining your path as you go whenever you need to get ahead," Reed commented.

"Roger."

Michael and Gareth were the last to reach the peak of the mountain. He paused them long enough to fly north a little way along the ridge, just below the peak so they wouldn't be outlined in the sky. Some of the mass was coming up the mountain their way, but the majority of it was making it's ponderous way north. For being slow, when something that large got moving, it's overall sum speed was fast.

He was relieved when the first purification mine went off and made it pause a little. He set one a little farther up the mountain range, halfway down the mountain to draw the exploratory tendrils trying to follow them back towards the north instead of over the range, then set a camera on it and slipped the two of them over the top of the mountain. He angled them to follow the trail blazed by the field monitors. "Take over while I watch what happens."

Gareth moved forward and pulled on him while he kept watch on what happened. The mine finally went off - a little larger than the others could manage - and the monster writhed. "Nice damage," MasterChiefS7 said as the field operator of his group.

"I'm looking for what's next." The monster was doing about what could be expected: beginning to condense back up from the flood to a more wall-like formation that spanned from the ocean to the mountain, slowing down the front for a moment. He was sure his four pullers were putting on the speed. That gain wouldn't last long.

"Go to ground and hide," he ordered his set. "Keep it really still." Gareth immediately dropped them to a tree and they landed with a bend of the knees to take up the speed and held still in the crouch to make as small an impression as they could. The wall rose up to peer over the mountain peak. He held his breath and another set of three explosions went off towards the ocean side of the wall followed closely by another three as Clocktower strafed it from mountainside to oceanside. The wall filled in the holes, then coalesced back into the tall humanoid form.

His four pullers booked it. Michael waited long enough to confirm that it hadn't left a piece of itself behind to come after the rest of them - who should be yummier because there were more of them - and slumped in relief. "Let's go," he said quietly.

He and Gareth rose back into the air and soon they were in the standard "V" formation, just at tree top level, one of them always having on eye on the monster. It was still tall enough to see them and they could see its head and shoulders, moving slowly north after its new targets. The rest of them sent a prayer and their thanks heavenward and made as fast speed as they could to their only hope of being able to keep them all on this side of the world.

-:-:-:-:-

"How are we all going to fit up there?" Records wanted to know.

They were looking at the top of a Mayan pyramid that would only fit five, at a squeeze, at a time on the top.

"We only want one of us in there to begin with," Michael said. "Stand on the steps to wait your turn for the shuttle. Hold onto the belt of the man in front of you and we'll likely all enter the same." He made sure they were all in position, then turned and faced the center of the pyramid where the altar was and stepped through to the realm of time. The door appeared again (he'd already found it earlier) and he stepped just barely through it, Gareth moving with him and holding on tightly.

Michael carefully thought of Nyanta at the first time he was sent to the Gate of Time, then called up a chat. "Nyanta-san, it's Michael and the Eagles. We're in trouble and need to cut through the Gate of Time. Can you meet us at the Mayan entrance and help us get to the Western North America edge?" He didn't move, and didn't change his focus from which time-bound Nyanta he wanted to talk to.

"Stay there and don't move," Nyanta finally answered back.

"Roger." Nyanta appeared a few moment's later. "Twenty of us need to come through, and we need to be let off as close to the City of Angels as possible."

"When are mew entering?" Nyanta asked.

Michael paused, then said, "After the sixth level but before the final boss. When did you last enter?"

"At the punishment that sent me the First time."

Michael nodded. "Shiroe will need all the data you can gather. The Gate of Time is one of the rooms of the sixth level, but we're after that in our now. Right now we're trying to figure out why there's a monster that's as tall as the atmosphere from the ground that receives attacks as if they're feeding it. It looks like it's eaten everything on the western seaboard of North America and was chasing the last snack south. We're hoping for clues and to not be snacks ourselves."

"That sounds rather terrible," Nyanta allowed. Michael nodded soberly. "Stay there on the edge and count the sunrises and sunsets. Because mew entered from the west, when the sun rises, subtract a day. When the sun sets, add a day. Mew will all need to count, and once one of mew exits, the others must exit only when their count is exactly the same and from the same location. It may feel like a long time here, but it will be during the same day there that mew arrive. I'll walk with mew to the closest exit, though mew may nyot see me some of the time. I'll wait at the location, though, so mew'll see me."

Michael carefully memorized what Nyanta was wearing, then motioned. "Wear your earrings of protection. Because this is one of the rooms it's possible they may try to prevent us, or you now that we've had contact." Nyanta nodded and his earrings of luck and stealth appeared in his ears. Michael put on the cufflinks and his own earring. He reached back behind him and grabbed hold of Gareth's wrist, then slipped from the time realm to the code realm. The rest were waiting for him there.

He gave them the instructions Nyanta had given him and made sure they understood them, then returned to the base realm. He tugged on Gareth's wrist. When he got a tug back, he moved slightly forward and to his left, watching the sun and counting for each movement of the sun. He moved slowly enough everyone could keep track of the sun and every fifth pace he would pause and look for Nyanta. Michael was very glad he'd heard how to do all this before at the very helpful time when Nyanta had told Leonardo in Tianjing. Purrcy had, again at that time, set things up ahead of time to be a useful tool later. It also didn't hurt that he'd lived here and it already wasn't his own First time.

For a time they moved in this way without hindrance. Then, on a pause to look for Nyanta, Michael saw his ears flick in warning and he went still and faded out. "Shield. Invisibility." They continued to count the sun's movements as they held still, not finding it simple since they couldn't look completely away from the horizon to their left, but the potential danger came from the right. When Nyanta came back into view and looked for them, Michael checked his own earring. Only when Nyanta phased out again, then back into view and his own earring's glow faded did Michael released his shield.

For another three times this happened and which Nyanta could be trusted came at a different time each time. The third time they had to wait a long time. Michael figured that was a good sign they were getting close and those who wanted them were getting desperate. "Gareth, I'm going to have to go protect us in the time realm this next time, is my guess. I'll guard the exit when we get there. You're going out first. Call out your total and the rest will follow you." He was talking on the sub-guild chat so everyone would know the plan.

"How will you know your count?" Gareth asked, worried. "You won't be able to watch your suns."

"I don't need to, if I know your count."

"I'm not going to call it out," Gareth said. "I think sound may be trapped in time also. I'll code it."

"Like it," Michael approved. That kind of thinking was why he liked Gareth next to him. "Try to make it as close to the day we entered as possible, and before by a few if you can. I'd like to meet them coming up. I expect we'll run into a line of Grandpa's showing the way out and only one is the right one. Keep to our stealth pattern."

"Roger."

Three more pauses of the pattern later and Nyanta winked out again. This time he appeared farther down and turned to look for them. Immediately Michael protected them with a shield of time to erase their presence and distort the "when" they might be, though it didn't change the time for either side. It would only do that if one or the other passed through it. He kept them moving forward, watching only the interior now. Multiple times a Nyanta would appear. Each one always had the earrings in, but in all the cases the clothes weren't quite right.

The first time a sword came through his shield, he knew that Li Shou had sent her own warriors to join the attempt to prevent them. He immediately stopped their forward motion, then cast a code realm spell to encase the warriors on the other side, giving his men a tunnel to walk through that would prevent damage in that zone. On the inside of that wall he put a veil of spirit that would make the physical weapons into weapons of mist that wouldn't do damage and to the wielder it wouldn't meet any resistance, so if they did get too close they wouldn't be discovered and they wouldn't be injured. Once that was set, and keeping invisibility on as much as possible given their movement through both space and time, he got them started again with a touch on Gareth's wrist first and waiting for the response that everyone was ready and accounted for.

The moment Michael saw a Nyanta that didn't make his cufflinks buzz and that was wearing the correct clothing, Michael cast the spells he'd been working on. They were similar to the ones he'd just set, but were like an airlock to set over the place he would send them through. He set them directly across from that Nyanta, then nodded when that Nyanta disappeared for a brief fuzz of time and was replaced by a different Nyanta, though only his cufflinks could really tell.

He set up the shields in between the 'airlock' and the Gate of Time the same as he had for their walk to that location, then led the Eagles along the pathway to the place they needed to exit. He took one more step past it, then stopped. He reached back, took Gareth's wrist in his and detached it from his belt. Gareth clasped Michael's hand, wrapping his fingers around Michael's thumb, and tapped on the back of his hand. _Minus ... 3 days,_ and the hand was replaced with the next hand a short while later. There was a pause, then he received the same code and that hand was replaced with the next. For eighteen times that message was passed on to him by code. The ninteenth hand pulled on his instead. Michael had that hand twisted and behind the person's back in a lock hold.

It wasn't easy, but the code came through. _You can carry me. I'll stay and fight with you._

 _What's the timing or you aren't one of mine._

 _Minus ... 3 days._ Michael shifted to the code realm and read the data. It could have been someone else with that, but it wasn't, so he slipped them both back through the wall and to the proper day.

"Why did you offer to fight?" he asked the man, still in a lock hold.

"Because I assumed that if you were still waiting you were expecting to fight."

"Did you sell us out?" Michael asked him.

"No."

Michael released him physically, but not any of the shields he'd put around him. He also checked the area in the time realm. There weren't any enemies in the area - yet. "Gareth, if you've got our location locked in, lead out."

"We're missing one."

"He'll have to catch up. We can't wait for miscounts."

There were swords pointed at the man Michael had just released. "It was the one right before this one."

"I see." Michael said.

"Why is it me and not the person before him?" Stiletto protested.

"Because you knew the right count. You distracted his count. We'll let you be the snack for the monster. I want to see what happens to an Adventurer when one gets eaten."

Stiletto went pale, even through his dark skin. "He was pushed out."

"You still get the punishment, Stiletto. You know fear isn't a good enough reason to play traitor."

"I didn't," Stiletto protested.

Michael nodded, then backed up in time to see what had happened for himself. What Michael learned made him worried. He rescued Schedules from the wrong time entry, then immediately went back to the time just after he'd left his guild. He barely made it in time to save Stiletto from the beating that was just beginning. "Stop!" Michael ordered. "Someone in the Gate of Time did it. We all know that he's important to the end - even Nyanta. Stiletto, when we feed you to the monster, make it _look_ good."

He stared at Stiletto until the slight man swallowed and nodded. "I don't think that will be hard, Commander."

"No, I'd imagine not," Michael said. "Let's get moving. Don't go anywhere, though, Stil."

Stiletto shook his head. He'd have to play the part of being distrusted. If anything, those who'd pushed him out had set their deaths just by doing that. Stiletto was an Assassin _because_ he was an assassin, and he was the best intelligence man in the fleet as far as the Eagles were concerned. It was nice the enemy didn't know Michael was a realm walker. If the enemy was confused, all for the better.

They followed Gareth by flight as long as they could keep the wings going. They'd already used them to get to the Gate of Time half the time they could use them per day, but it got them to the outer edge of the Arizona desert. That let them skip one of the most difficult, but boring, dungeon zones in that part of the country. Large scorpion-types, cactus-types, etc, were not interesting this day, plus the sand traps took forever to work around and the zone map was almost required. Since those didn't exist any more, it was better to fly over it. It was rather annoying they had to go straight west and a little north when the men they needed to help were southwest of them. But they had time with the three day head start.

They camped as soon as the wings gave out, eating quickly and sleeping hard for the minimum required four hours. Then they were up again and running the tireless run of the over-one-hundred level Adventurer. They'd done these zones in the game, too. San Diego was their port of call when they got to go home on leave. They'd played more over here because of that and had most of the worst zones memorized. The paths between were almost possible to do in their sleep.

Michael and Gareth stayed point. Gareth, as Navigator, had taken bonuses and skills to his Tracker sub-class that helped him in point to point travel and his Constant Compass was magically set to point always to the pole with the red hand. The white hand pointed to whatever destination zone Gareth input into it when he opened it. It was nice a magic compass couldn't be broken or demagnetized.

They kept going, taking out a few monsters here and there along the way. This wasn't a very populated area even on Earth, and they were high enough level, and enough of them, that most monsters they did see were in hiding. They left them alone since they weren't on that kind of a hunt. They'd been running for about the four hours they were going to go before the rest stop when Electrical said on the chat, "Hey, isn't that outpost supposed to be around in here somewhere? I seem to recall that it was between two canyons and right about where the hills started turning into foot-hills."

There was chatter until they decided on the name of the place. Gareth switched his compass to point to the outpost and turned them north a little sharper. As they started to recognize the landmarks, they slowed down just a little and spread out. They were on the high side of the canyons and split up to come up on either side of the outpost. When they crawled up to the edge of the high plateaus and looked down, there was silence for quite some time.

Normally the outpost had about five NPC-run shops - the inn, the saloon, the grocery, the tack and stable, the sheriff's office and jail, and the "house" - the one place you could find a semblance of a family and was the one place to represent homesteaders on the frontier. When the players first rolled into town, it was a wasteland and tumbleweeds rolled through, but as they played more NPCs were added until it was almost a bustling town. The more zones conquered, the more people would come to live there. It was usually rather full of both NPCs and Adventurers because it was the Last Outpost and you couldn't gear up for the desert zones anywhere closer.

The Last Outpost looked like no one had ever come to build it up. It was ramshackle, with tumble weeds tucked into corners and against what walls weren't falling down. "Did no one come out here after the catastrophe?" Electrical asked.

"I'd not be surprised if they didn't for at least the first year," Michael said. "No one did anything except try to survive and understand life that first year. I would have thought by sometime in the early second year they would have, though. There are some good drops farther east. If something made it hard to leave the coast, though..."

They watched the Last Outpost silently for a while, wondering if the NPCs had shriveled up and died. Most places on Yamato that had NPCs still had NPCs even if the Adventurers didn't show up...but they could die. "I think we need information," Michael finally said. "I'd not like to have to fight any monsters that decided it was a place to camp out, but if even the sheriff is in town we should be able to learn something. Reed, pick a small party to go down and another one as close-in protection. The rest of us will watch over them from here until we get a feel."

-:-:-:-:-

The tiny forms of the investigative party were picking their way through the outpost. "It's a sad sight," Aviation Safety said from inside the house. "There's a graveyard out back. Wife and two kids buried and the husband's bones sitting at the table."

"Saloon and inn are empty," Avionics reported in.

"Same for the stable and grocery, though there's mummified food in the grocery," Electrical said softly.

"They didn't die from starvation, then," Life Support mumbled.

"Huh. Sheriff's left a record. I'll bring it up," QA's voice was subdued.

"Any water?" Life Support asked. There was silence for a bit as the men searched the outpost.

"Nothing coming up in the stable pump," Avionics reported.

"Brown trickle from the house, after lots of effort," Aviation Safety reported. "I'll keep going and collect if anything comes up."

"Don't," Life Support said. "It might have been dysentery. We don't want that until after we've reached the goal."

"Or like: never," Bowie said. "That's nasty stuff."

"Is there enough left of anything for it to be protection for the rest time?" Reed asked.

"Don't recommend it," QA said shortly. "My one glance through the record it looked like it was hit by monster raids regularly enough, though they kept them back as long as it was the minimum present."

"Right, then move on out. I'd rather not pull any of those in. We've still got distance to travel," Michael said.

Gareth reset his compass again and they moved more a direct course west this time, though night was coming on. It would be cold traveling, but they didn't really care. They did make sure to be down off the plateau before the sun left, though. Then it was just running through sagebrush and around cacti in the moonlight, and eating rations on the run.

"You talked to the ghost yet?" Michael was asked.

"Nope. Thought I'd wait until we were closer. He was wiped out so is likely not minding his extended nap. Besides if he's still running from here I don't want them to overlap. I'm giving him time to get out of the way, to put it one way." Soberly he added. "We'll talk to him before we hit the City of Angels, though. I don't want to go into that blind."

"That's good, then."

Michael wasn't surprised they'd checked. They should have been getting into settled land now, with at least cattle grazing even if the crop farms were farther afield. "Spread out and see if you can see signs of cattle. Sweep formation."

Twenty minutes later one lone cow skeleton was called out. In another twenty, seven more had been found. In ten more they found the watering hole. It was muddy but the prints of the cattle were old by at least half a year. They left that water alone, too, and shifted to follow the herd prints that led towards the mountains in the distance that separated them from the coast.

It was nearing sunset when they reached the homestead and slowed to creep up on it to investigate. It made heads shake to find it was also empty, by that about half year and looking almost as fallen into disrepair as the outpost. On the coast-side of the ranch it looked like they'd driven the cattle towards town, probably to sell and settle, abandoning the ranch. "It's worse than a ghost town, to see all this empty," Schedules said sadly. "It's sad that not having the Adventurers around to keep it going killed it."

They followed the tracks towards the town, knowing that whatever town it was, it would have been the closest one they would have gotten income from for selling the cattle. The half-moon was bright in the sky when they found the skeletons of the herd. They stopped and swallowed. Monsters had come and eaten the carcasses, but the enemy had been human, and possibly the Adventurers themselves.

The family's bones were also on the ground and it was possible others, but it had been so long ago there weren't markings to tell who was who. They looked at each other with worried expressions. Had the Adventurers of the western U.S. gone completely mad, to kill NPCs who only wanted to make their lives better when life had changed so much at the catastrophe? Or had the bandits of the area that the Adventurers were often hired to control become overwhelming?

"If it was bandits, they wouldn't have killed and left the cattle," Aviation Safety said. "They would have kept them alive long enough to keep the bandits alive and driven them to their hideout." They looked at each other, then as one turned and headed for the bandit hideout. They knew that place well and it was mostly on their way.

Michael had them stop about another hour on the road, though. He'd let them go long since everyone was worried, but they had to have the proper rest, too, or they'd slip up when it was most dangerous. This was an hour-long sit and eat rest. Everyone sat quiet, trying to figure out how to deal with the sad story the desert was telling them. Michael considered letting the Vengeful Spirit out, but then decided against it. It was still early for that. They could glean their own information for a while yet.

-:-:-:-:-

"Empty here, too," Legal said, his head appearing from behind a cave wall. They gathered in the central cavern, shaking their heads. Even the bandits had disappeared, leaving behind rotting things and a few skeletons of their own, or their prisoners they hadn't bothered to take with them and had knifed instead. They'd found the hidden loot hole and scrabbled up the slim pickings that remained from the exodus.

"Will we find them dead on the way to somewhere, too?" Secretary asked, a frown on his face. He only got shrugs.

"Sleep time," Michael said. "Make it a six this time and set watches." He headed for a pile of wood and threw together a small fire, but he didn't light it just yet. They were using the magic lights for now, but it would be a waste while they were sleeping. A small fire for light in the caverns of the west desert plateau would be sufficient. He walked to the entrance of the cavern and cast a spell to hide the mouth of it. The one typically put on it by the bandit magicians was gone without one to reset it.

BlackJack was just outside setting small warning explosive spells on the ground around the cavern mouth, far enough out to be warnings for rather large monsters. Michael watched him until he walked back, then raised an eyebrow. "That spooked are you? It's just life, you know. When there's nothing to pay you for staying out in the wild, you return home. When all the homesteaders go home, the bandits have nothing to take. Everyone has to move into town and town either gets stinky or shrinks as people go to the big city."

BlackJack shook his head. "Still...it's feeling unnatural, and starting it with a ghost and a monster _that_ big, and it feels really bad."

"I suppose," Michael said noncommittally, leaning a shoulder on the side wall and crossing his arms and one foot in front of the other to look out over the wide red-sand canyon in front of him that was almost black in the white moonlight. "But I think that came later. That feels more like a special gone bad."

BlackJack leaned on the opposite wall, his back to it, and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Maybe." They stood quietly for a while. When Reed finally called out the guard rotations and the current ones on duty came out to the mouth of the cave, BlackJack and Michael pushed to their feet and walked back to the cavern. The little fire was being started by the two others on watch who would sit in the cavern to wake everyone up if the outer two called back a warning.

Michael found a bit of sandier rock floor, pulled out his sleeping bag (ever so grateful for just a small moment for his Adventurer lists), and crawled in to sleep hard and fast again. He personally was more worried by the fact they'd seen almost no monsters and even less wildlife other than the ubiquitous plants of the western deserts. With nothing to keep the population down they should have been increasing, not decreasing to near non-existence.

-:-:-:-:-

"Why are we seeing skeletons?" It was breakfast at eight-hundred hours. "I mean, in Yamato, we kill something and it goes up in bubbles, even the body and skeleton. We have to butcher them to get the bones left over."

"Well, I hope it's not the bloody butcher," their resident horror expert and second most fearful person said.

"Not likely," Life Support snorted. "None of them were properly butchered anyway." Bowie, who had experience with butchering in the field, nodded agreement.

"It's flavor text for the desert," Reed said calmly, spooning another bite of his food in his mouth.

Secretary leaned over and inspected Reed's dish suspiciously. "You got away with extra of Hahaue's tikki masala? How'd you do that?"

"It was in the back of the fridge so I snagged it before we left."

"Like you need spicy in the middle of the desert?" he was ragged, but everyone knew it was jealousy.

"It's the last thing I've got to eat. I've been saving it." That made everyone sober up. They were all getting low. They'd really hoped to be able to buy up even the last of what the grocery might have had at the outpost. They'd been chased out of the camp they'd been trying to set up so they could resupply. What little remained from their ocean voyage that was a little extra had been on the Oki Watarimono, now sloshing in the sea of the giant monster. They weren't likely to want to eat it second hand, now.

"We'll be fine," Michael reassured them. "I've got enough in the guildmaster quest box for the Maze plus some, and we'll get to the City of Angels fairly soon."

"You think there'll be food there?"

Michael took another bite of his Crescent Burger, almost nostalgic for the home that was Akiba. "I didn't say that." They paused in their eating to look at him. "Like I said, I think the Big One was a special gone bad. They always originate at the Adventurer cities. I think _it's_ one big ghost town now - literally."

"Then why didn't the runner stay?"

"I think it's eating them...or was tasked to collect them so the Overwritten could get into the final door of the Maze of Eternity."

"Huh." That made a lot of sense to them - ignoring the attempt at humor.

"We're not seeing the wildlife we should be. When we get to the mountains we're going to fly over them as long as we can, but if you find game, hunt it down in pairs and fill your food lists with it. We've got to have enough to survive past the Maze." Michael sighed. "And I'm really hoping we can pry the vessel out of the belly of the monster. I'd still like the option of being ocean worthy." They finished eating, hoping things would turn for the better soon.


	171. Birth of the Kittens

The three days Purrcy and Nyanta had together alone were the best blissful honeymoon they could have had, save the occasional painful reminders of the past that had to be weathered until they recovered. That was easier now because they were together. There were a few interruptions now and again, particularly by the interviews with the midwives who Purrcy gave a thorough grilling to until she had some she trusted to have the proper skills and clean-room style she wanted. She almost bit off the heads of the first three, and told Nyanta to tell his contact to get to work being smarter or find someone else.

By the end, Nyanta was quite sure that all of the fertility goddesses (of which cat goddesses were in the majority of for some reason) were impressed with at least her skills in that regard. He was also sure that would label her another one, grouped in with them. It was bound to happen anyway since she'd shown up pregnant. The city just had to get over the fact that the two of them were Adventurers. Purrcy complained privately to him after one set had been sent away, disgruntled: "Oh, for goodness sake. They need to just grow up. Of course the top creator kami would pick the top creature of the world, now that they can."

Given that pregnant cats about to give birth liked to go into hiding for it, Nyanta held down his desire to get out of his apartment for the time being. It wasn't quite so bad with Purrcy being there, but he wasn't going to stay past the birthing any longer than he had to. After her comment about the throne, however, he decided to not leave the move to random chance. He went up to Li Shou's suite when Purrcy was busy with the last set of midwife's interviews. It wasn't good. Light draperies hung over the bed and all over the walls. He looked at the steward and shook his head. "She can't be reminded of the shrine," he said firmly. "And it's to be for both of us."

Marco sighed lightly to himself. "The bed must be a futon?"

Nyanta nodded. "The formal royal futons are not simply on the floor. It's to be on a raised platform. This size and location." He used his natural Adventurer ability to put everying currently in the bedroom into the atttic storeroom. Marco blinked.

Nyanta then paced out a large square on the floor, centered against the wall that had the doors to the balcony in it. "That's the base level. The platform for the futon is two feet less around each edge. The futon is the same size as that platform. Large candle sticks three feet high at each central point of the edges. They will be lit each evening before we come to bed by the maid."

"Y-you'll have the maids?"

"Yes, as many as it takes to keep up with us," Nyanta said.

Marco opened his mouth, then closed it and swallowed. Nyanta flicked an impatient ear at him. "Just because Izanagi didn't care because he was abusing Li Shou that doesn't mean I don't have opinions. Now that my true wife is here with me, I am building the nest that should have been built for her long ago."

The steward understood after that and patiently accepted all of Nyanta's orders of which there were rather a lot. It was going to take extra time, now that it was linear, and Nyanta was going to have to be a little more patient then he wanted to be, but it would be better to have the suite properly prepared before bringing Purrcy and the kittens upstairs.

The nursery was another addition that was going to take some construction. Nyanta didn't want them in the same room all the time, but they had to be protected, and close by. In the end he had to ask for real construction to be done to put a door into a wall and divide the next room over into a nursery and play room for when the children were a little older. They'd worry about bedrooms later when the children were older.

As Nyanta stood outside on the balcony, he sighed. There was one thing he couldn't give Purrcy. He couldn't give her a silver maple, and they'd both be out of practice by the time they returned. He wasn't sure what to do about that.

"May I approach?" came from the air somewhere from his right.

He looked over, then slightly up. "Ceridwen. I suppose mew may for a brief while, but mew must meet my wife before mew leave or she'll kill me. Now that the flavor text has been erased, it turns out she's the jealous one."

"Is it so bad?" his one staunch friend in this city asked him in light concern.

"Surprisingly," he answered, "though it's rather an honor, really."

Ceridwen stepped off her cloud onto the balcony and the cloud disappeared. "You seem more relaxed."

"Yes, thank mew," he answered mildly. "I'll be happy to have Izanagi distracted for the rest of the time I have to be on the planet."

"And having your wife helps...or hurts?"

Nyanta smiled a private smile and didn't answer. Instead he asked, "To what do I owe the pleasure of the visit?"

"Well, I happened to see you, and no one's sure if either of you is approachable, so I've been rather volunteered," she looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Since you did call on me already. Was that _your_ interviewing that made eyes pop?"

"Oh, no. Purrcy is a midwife herself. As Caretaker that was her first job, as a matter of fact, for a demihuman. But she's had four other children before this where we come from, so it's not new to her at all." Ceridwen filed those factoids away quite properly. "She would like to thank mew for meowr help in finding them for us, her being new to the city in her First visit. I'm grateful as well."

"Well, I'm certainly glad to be of help," Ceridwen answered demurely.

"We aren't appurroachable," Nyanta answered her first question while looking back out over the city, his hands behind his back. "Nyot until she's healed from the birthing. Likely it will be the seventh day from our arrival, but we'll make an official announcement once I've purroperly explained everything to her. I'm still teaching her what it is to live in the Gate of Time."

Ceridwen looked at him with only a slight amount of her concern bleeding through. "Are you really going to let her only be an advisor?"

"No, which is why it will take time. She will still make me do most of the work, however, out of necessity."

"So you'll still end up the main driving force behind what happens in this city when you're around," she accused.

"Sadly. It seems to be the role Izanagi has set for all of his High Purriests." He turned his own concerned look at her. "What will mew do when we leave together this time, and there is no goddess to sit the Throne of Time?"

"How long will you be gone?"

"Even if it's only for half a year outside, that could be twenty in here," he said cautioningly, not committing to anything.

"Hmm...we will have to think of something...," her cunning eyes looked at him. "And we'll have to negotiate properly." He gave a sober nod. "Well, I'll let everyone know we've got to think about that as well. They're concerned about if she can handle the requests of what people want to see in the city."

Nyanta bounced lightly on the pads of his feet. "Well, I wonder?"

"You're positively giddy she's arrived, Priest Nyanta!" she scolded him. "What are you hiding under your hat?"

He answered calmly but his perky ears and the sparkle in his eyes were hard to hide. "I think everyone will learn it over time. We'll be here long enough and she is very quick."

"Lacks patience?"

"Her one fault," he said sadly. That put the warning into her file that he wanted as well. Purrcy was actually more patient than she'd assumed, but it would help for Purrcy to have that advantage at the beginning. Her impatience with the midwives had already fueled those rumors as well, so it was only a confirmation at this point.

"Nyanta? The interviews are done," Purrcy voice came to him.

"Can mew meet with our first guest?" he asked her. "Ceridwen, who has been kind enough to help us with the midwives, has come to visit and see if things have met with meowr apurroval."

Purrcy was suddenly on the balcony with them. She looked Ceridwin over carefully. "A non-felinoid goddess?" she asked, surprised, her eyes going distant, then she nodded. "One who loves cats and wisdom would certainly be welcome in a place such as this. How many universities are in the Gate of Time, Lady Ceridwen? Oh, and how is Pileides? His foot was rather infected when I ran into him returning from his errand a few months ago. Manticores aren't to be trifled with, even by magical creatures."

Ceridwen smiled. "Pileides recovered nicely, thank you. There are five universities here. Is it from being the Oracle?"

"Yes," Purrcy answered breezily. "The information is patchy, of course, and it takes a while to get everything matched up when I'm in situations like this, but it greatly helps to have the fountain of knowledge ready to pour into my brain...when I'm strong enough to hold even a teaspoon of it," she linked her arm into Nyanta's. "You must have spent almost all of your free time at Ceridwen's temple."

"Yes," he admitted freely and frankly, having now learned that was the much better way to approach her in these matters. "Purrticularly when I was missing mew."

Purrcy looked at Ceridwen. Soberly she said, "Thank you for watching over my husband. His times here were both wonderful and very difficult. Until now he was sent because he wasn't wanted outside any longer, though he cares for others deeply. This time it's me that's not wanted, I'm afraid, though our family still does and always has, so that's a help as well."

Ceridwen suddenly looked very confused. She could only settle on answering the first thought. "You're very welcome. I'm sorry things are difficult."

"Thank you for your kind thoughts," Purrcy said politely. She tipped her head at Ceridwen.

Before she could open her mouth again, Nyanta said, "Mew seem distracted, my dear. What is it?"

Purrcy pointed to a temple across the plaza. "Why is Libertas here?"

"Cats of Greece were given liberty to wander the land and the temples and were considered divine. Thus, Libertas," he immediately answered her.

Purrcy paused, then opened a chat. "It turns out that Liberty is related to divine cats in Greece. Let Davidius know as soon as you can and have the handbill in Shangtzi modified. It's apparently significant." She returned to the others at the balcony. "Sorry. Because I need to stay all of me, I'm required to work from this location and if I don't do things immediately, they're forgotten in the next moment."

"How are mew speaking outside?" Nyanta asked her.

"Modified spell that I use in the code realm to translate between the levels. Since this city is at the highest level, I can chat out as if I was at the boundary using that realm. Chatting in is harder. They're trying to get the spell written but it's being tricky. Tetorō's spending his most angsty moments distracting himself on it."

"Have you taught them to pray?" Ceridwen asked.

"Yes, of course, and they do," Purrcy answered. "We're experimenting, even though it's harder. My son Tetorō is hard to keep busy and out of trouble so it's a useful thing at the moment for him." She stopped and blinked, then looked at Nyanta with a scorching look.

"What?" he asked mildly. "Mew did that meowrself." Purrcy ground her teeth slightly. Nyanta turned to Ceridwen. "At best mew might get away with calling her a reluctant goddess, but even that will be difficult."

Ceridwen frowned a little and Purrcy waved an irritated hand. "I am not the goddess. Inari-no-Izanami is and I'm her tool. Perhaps she'll give me yet another title soon to give me even more responsibilities I don't have time and energy to be doing, but right now Caretaker is the best one. Though I still maintain Human is the right one, even with the insane modifications we've started in on this last bit."

Nyanta shook his head. Ceridwen relaxed, her concern being answered by that. She'd misunderstood what he'd meant by reluctant, but Purrcy had risen to the other half as fiery as always to fix it just fine. Purrcy was looking out over the temples again. "Will you please tell me which one is whose?"

Nyanta obliged, pointing to them as he went around the circle from their own. Purrcy sighed at the end. "So they go around the rim as well, a great circle to touch the whole earth, and it really is a Gate. That's so mean, Nyanta, that I've been kept from the answer to begin with, when it's here all along."

"Well, I'm not sure mew want all the traffic to go through here."

"No, the technology is here. It all goes through the space realm. This city is a wrinkle in Space, too, not just in Time." She was quiet for a long time, then sighed sadly. "And they won't let me teach it until after the boss battle decides the final drop."

Nyanta's whiskers fell a little. "Not part of the drop if we go home, then?"

"Correct."

"For all I'm the goddess of wisdom in this city, you two are hard to follow," Ceridwen finally admitted.

"It's a side effect of being an Adventurer," Purrcy explained, still distracted with her own puzzle to keep herself busy with. "Get two or more of us together and not talking to a non-Adventurer, and we become incomprehensible. That will change as the background experiences change, if we stay and have descendants."

Nyanta gave a twist of his ear to Ceridwen. "Thank mew for coming to visit. I think we must go and rest now. Were the interviews acceptable, Purrcy?"

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry Ceridwen, when you came to ask after them. Thank you for being kind enough to send them over until we had an understanding. I know that two of the three that are actually acceptable to me are tasked with killing me and the kittens if possible, but again, it isn't, so I'll keep them since I do need competent help or I'm going to have to do it myself, which is rather distracting. Please don't worry yourself over it. I know Nyanta, and therefore Izanagi, want it to be part of the power play, so I'll play along. If I need to get revenge after the fact for them being too difficult, I know who to find."

Ceridwen has having difficulty knowing how to show a face to Purrcy. "And no, I won't take the fertility goddesses. They're even more difficult since I'll make even more people angry openly, when keeping it behind the scenes is preferable still, so you'll keep quiet about it, hmm?" Her eyes pierced Ceridwen until Ceridwen promised it in a small voice.

Purrcy turned to face the doors to the balcony briefly, then gave a nod to Ceridwen. Nyanta bowed slightly to her as well, then the balcony and visiting goddess were gone and they were in his office. "Changing the decor were you?" she asked him. "The balcony is essential to us both, I suppose, but being accosted by any god or goddess who can see us there will be annoying. Can that be fixed?"

"She asked if we were approachable. I let her come this time to let her know we aren't until after the official announcement and then we can set it however we want whenever it needs to be changed."

"Well, good, there's at least protocol." She was large cat, pushing him into his chair in front of the fireplace, then she climbed up into his lap, walked around in a circle once, curled up in a ball and put her nose under her back hip. "Not much longer," she muttered, and relaxed into sleep.

Nyanta pet her with a little smile on his face. He would be patient with her irritability until she'd recovered from the births, but he suspected that it would naturally go away about then. The absentmindedness not likely so much until she had the staff trained and they'd trained her. The rest of the visit had gone about how Nyanta had hoped it would. In only her first visit Ceridwen was trained, and still had no idea what he'd meant by Purrcy was fast. It would occur to her way too late, after she'd seen the examples that were yet to come.

-:-:-:-:-

"Commander, it's nice to be in the green again, but -"

"Yeah," Michael agreed quietly, "to quote the movie: 'It's quiet... _too_ quiet'." Gareth nodded. "Take us to one of the aggro zones. Let's force something to come out."

They'd reached the greener (couldn't really said to be the green they were used to in Yamato) eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. These zones should have been nicely populated with Creatures of the Land. There had to be some incentive to cross the dragon-filled mountains, and good hunting grounds and the dungeons of the deserts had been the main draw.

"Even if they holed up on the coast...you'd think there'd be more life on this side." BlackJack was still unsettled, though nothing had come at them while they were in the cavern. It had probably made him more unsettled to not have any of his explosions set off the entire six hours and then have to diffuse them himself.

This time Gareth directed them a little more south until they were nearing a set of pines. Michael was pleased enough. This was a higher level zone that spawned hobgoblins and ogres. That was what he wanted. "When they appear, cast to calm the aggro and hold them in place. I want to talk."

The Eagles paired up and spread out into a cup, one magic user behind one fighter. It was a defensive spread for intense magic use. Michael and Gareth stayed centered, already a paired set. They reached the set point and swirls of light brought with them...three ogres. As Michael stared, the magic users immediately cast. The "battle" was over in one and a half minutes. As soon as the ogres had the enforced aggro removed, they dropped their weapons and put their faces in their hands and sobbed. It was very uncomfortable to watch creatures a foot taller than yourself crying when you were used to watching them come at you with angry faces and raised clubs and rusty swords.

Michael cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Um, excuse me, but we aren't interested in fighting. We'd rather talk...if you could calm down. ...And why only three?"

One of them tried, rubbing his face with a dirty sleeve and giving a large snort. "Why Adventurers want talk to ogres?"

"...I don't know if there's a Caretaker of this region, but we've been sent by the Caretaker of Yamato to see how things are here in this place. We've had to call you out because we haven't seen any creatures at all in our travels. Can you tell us why?"

The ogres looked at each other. "All dead. We some of last. Now you call us, we last. They will find village now."

Every Eagle tensed in anger. "We don't want to fight you, but those monsters we _are_ required to fight. Give us the quest to protect your village and take us there." The ogres looked at each other uncertainly. "Quickly. The Caretaker has required we protect the creatures that remain and the Archmage has required that we defeat all of the Overwritten - those who come to kill the creatures. If your village dies, you and we have both failed."

"What ogres give Adventurers for quest?"

"Maybe you have something, maybe you don't. We'll worry about it later."

The ogres shifted uncomfortably, but finally their worry for their village won out and they turned and led the Eagles farther into the woods and into the mountains. They had a warren run through the trees and up and down the hills and little rivulet valleys until they came to one that ran a little farther up into the mountains and was well protected. The ogres stopped outside the entrance to the valley, crouched down. "Village went to hide, but they come there," the main one pointed to the central part of the back of the valley.

"Are you three the last ones that can fight at all?" Michael asked. They nodded soberly. "Go to where they hide to protect them. Take two with you so that if they know how to find you directly we can come help you. We'll do what we can here."

Reed assigned P/R and H/R to go with the ogres and gave the orders for the rest of them. They were already seeing motion in the mountain above the valley as the Overwritten descended to find the village.

-:-:-:-:-

"Damn," Avionics grumbled. "Does everything nasty come big around here?"

"Well, they did warn us that they were worst in China and over here," Compliance answered back.

They were divided into their parties of six (minus one party since they were missing six at the local fight), one per Overwritten and it was taking time to get them down in HP. Not that that was unusual. It was just a little frustrating that they had to use the purified swords to do it instead of their favorites that would do a faster job of it. It didn't help that they were missing Clocktower, too. His blessed arrows helped a lot. They had Aviation Safety and Records, but missing even one set of arrows mattered.

BlackJack finally cursed and leaped to the side. "I'm out for a bit. Gonna switch these bullets over to purified, but want to make something big."

"Fine," his party said and the rest of them agreed.

"Bowie, give him your attention, we'll fill in the gap," Reed ordered. He was battle monitor so could switch them out, and if BlackJack was going to create something big, he'd need healing help along the way.

Five minutes later BlackJack called for a pull back and cast. The two smaller Overwritten went down and the third was done another three turns of pounding later. It was a good thing they went up in bubbles. That one would have filled the valley upon collapse. Michael landed next to the drop. They'd collect the drops, though they'd learned that the reason the drops were so horrible was because the Navigators overwrote the Overwritten onto the description code of the monsters starting at the first listed drop and then as far down as they needed to. Since most of the good drops were listed first, they got erased.

Michael looked down at his feet. This time, there was a rather decent drop for the smallest of the Overwritten. He stepped over to it and put his hand down to pick it up. It was like it had been added as an afterthought to the drop list, it was so nice in comparison to the normal drops. That made his hand pause just before wrapping around the neck of the ForeverWine bottle.

He went into the code on the item first, to read and make sure it wasn't a bomb in disguise added by some evil Programmer or Hacker. In the programmer comments, at the end, was an additional line. "## A Thank You gift to the friends of the Caretaker: those who are the firm Defenders of the Weak. - Thanks, Michael. -C.P." His hand closed slowly around the neck of the bottle.

"What is it, Commander?"

"Yeah, why the tears? It's just a bottle of wine - though it's sweet it's one of the rare ones that never runs out."

"Just feeling sentimental," he answered as he put the bottle in his item list. "We'll celebrate with that at the end when the big one finally goes down." He wondered if it was a result of their little trip through the Gate of Time, or if she'd planted it way back when they'd been up on the moon together after the graduation ceremony.

"What do we ask for from a dinky village of ogres?" Secretary asked (he was also the Treasurer).

"We don't need anything," Michael said. "If they want to offer something ask if they've got a magic item they don't need. Otherwise ask that they just remember us - that there are some Adventurers that live their commitments and give their all to what they believe." He turned away and looked up at the top of the mountain they were near. "And ask them where the nest of the Overwritten is. We need to take them all out." He moved up into the trees and sat near the top of one while he waited for the clean up.

Ten minutes later Gareth showed up in the next branch over and looked at him, judging him. Whatever he decided, he said, "They've given us a teenager to lead us, but we're to send him back when we're close enough. His mother's not keen on losing him since he's all she's got anymore."

Michael nodded. "How many Creatures remain in the area generally? Do they have an idea?"

"Almost none. A few pockets here and there, and they say no Adventurers have come through here except a few in the first year or so and they were the typical sort."

"Are they going to survive, or die off on their own?"

Gareth gave him another look, then said softly, "Was that her signature?"

Michael looked away. "It was her thank you."

"Just won't leave you alone, will she?" It was said kindly.

"No. It's a pain." Michael sighed and climbed down. Gareth followed him closely after a single pat on the shoulder, until they reached the rest of the sub-guild.

There were worried looks going around and he looked at them until they spoke. "We're taking an awfully long time, Commander. Are we going to make it in time?"

"Your favorite Den Mother knew we were going to be here. What do you think?" He turned to the young ogre. "Lead away. We've got things to do."

"Did she ask you to do it?" he was asked as they got moving.

"Nope. I chose it all on my own and she still stuck her nose in it and had to thank us for doing whatever we want to do."

They were silent until they were three mountain tops over and one south. The young ogre pointed to the other side of the mountain, then looked ready to take off. Michael held him while two of the Eagles went up to look over. There was a brief glance and then they were headed back down, giving a thumbs-up. Michael let the ogre go and he scampered off as fast as he could go.

"Large group, like the third level of the Maze in China and a few extra big ones thrown in. Rather randomly strewn around the bowl."

"Fish in a Bowl?" Reed asked.

"Mostly. A few exits west and north."

"We're kind of a small group for it. Direct attack's not going to work."

Michael sighed. "I'll go up and take a look. Go find running water. Gareth...," Michael looked at him and he sighed back and nodded. Michael moved off, running through the trees until he reached the peak of the mountain and carefully climbed a tree on the ridge until he was high enough to see as much as he could see in the bowl. It did look rather daunting for their grouping, particularly for the fact their time was short. He was going to have to do it and they might not like it so much. He marked locations then climbed back down and headed back to the group.

Water had been found by the time he got back and he took them all over to the little mountain stream, then walked them back up it until they reached the spring where it bubbled up from. "The fastest way to deal with that many at once is a ceremonial purification spell. You'll be the acolytes and I'll be the priest. You're going to set at equidistant points around the bowl and help me cast the spell. It's got a long preparation time, like fifteen minutes, and then an almost five minute cast time. You have to stay put and keep your intention on purification of the Overwritten for the first fifteen. The last five you're going to feel like you don't exist on this plane anymore."

"Set your protections before we begin. If any one of you falls we'll all get the rebound, so don't let them catch wind of you either. First to be purified will head to the opposite side as you'll take the longest to get in position having to cross the gaps. We'll work around towards the north from there until we're filled in back around. I get the East spot, but won't head there until the final purification is done." That would be his own and it was longer, but they didn't need to know it.

"Is it really the best solution, Sir?" Reed asked quietly "We could mark them on the map and come back later, or send the local Adventurers once we're done at the Maze."

Michael shook his head. "Purrcy told me back when I let her know we were about to fetch her: this place is hard hit and leaving any we find behind us will get us into trouble. We've got time enough for this one-shot." When he had agreement from everyone, he motioned to Gareth.

Gareth took out his ritual scoop and scooped water from the spring. They'd all seen this before at Log Horizon when Purrcy had come home, though they'd used the sink then. Michael held out his hands and Gareth poured some of the water into them. He washed his hands, then held out his hands for more water. This time he slurped some into his mouth, rinsed his mouth out and spat the water on the ground.

He clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami, please grant this man who has been taught the ceremony of purification the power to create new acolytes and grant to all of us the power to purify the valley of Overwritten that our quest of eradication may be completed upon them." He bowed again, then turned to the next Eagle and motioned him forward.

Reed stepped up and looked at Michael. "Is this really okay, or do we need to take you down?"

Michael looked at him dispassionately. "Do you want to go home or not? You decide if you believe Shiroe or not. We've been given orders by him if that's what we want. If I use and abuse what tools were given to me for my own purpose in seeing Shiroe's orders fulfilled what is that to them?"

Reed finally said, "Fine, but you keep walking shaky ground."

Michael didn't bother answering. He motioned to Gareth and made sure Reed did it right, then did his own part until all the Eagles were added to the list of acolytes of Inari-no-Izanami. It was rather appropriate, really. They kept following what it wanted them to do anyway - which was play the game however they wanted to. As long as they kept playing Izanami would be perfectly satisfied.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy moaned and was awake. She groaned. She really hated being a cat giving birth. Well, actually she hated being a felinoid giving birth. She switched to cat, staying a little larger this time than house-cat. She didn't have to shrink to box size this time. She did pull herself off the bed, though. That wasn't the place to give birth. She was panting and the moans were now cat-growls and groans. She barely registered Nyanta calling for the midwives to wake up. They'd stayed the night in the sitting room. Purrcy called to Izanami and told her she was going to have to keep them all alive, but please to not kill the people helping her in the process.

Hands were picking her up and she shrank. As soon as she was on the softer blanket they laid out as the birthing mat, she was larger again. As soon as she heard the words, "It's okay. We're here," she was gone, letting the natural cat handle the birthing on it's own. She paid just enough attention to make sure the logical, medical side was going okay and she wasn't needed to help things slow down or move along when the natural body wanted to move things along in ways it shouldn't. The relieving thing to this birthing was that she didn't have to do the midwifing for herself. She could relax and let others do it for her.

The first kitten was born and Purrcy-cat dutifully cleaned it enough to help it breathe and to know the scent of its mother and the mother to identify the kitten. The kitten was then passed off to one set of capable hands, while Nyanta glared at the person attached to those hands, obvious guardian of his family.

When those hands froze and the whole body did as well, Nyanta removed the kitten from the hands. "Mew've forgotten that mew stand in the purresence of the gods of Creation and mew are one of their creations - to leave standing or to erase in one instant. Mew will obediently care for the kittens and my wife." When Izanami was content that one would be obedient - by erasing that person's memories of having agreed to the murder and betrayal and locking down her will, Nyanta put the kitten back into her hands and she went to obediently care for the kitten properly.

Satisfied, Purrcy went back to monitor the birth of the second kitten, who was on its way. She could tell that one of the midwives with her was the other traitor and it was making both her and Purrcy-cat nervous so she asked Izanami to take care of that one immediately rather than wait for the betrayal to begin. Izanami refused, but she didn't have to wait long. She'd thought the midwife would wait until she was fully weakened at the end, but apparently she wasn't willing to let any more kittens be born and wanted to finish them all off at once. That midwife was frozen as the second kitten slipped out and Purrcy-cat began the ministrations required.

The unfrozen midwife took care of that kitten as if nothing unusual was happening - because for her it wasn't. She was being kept unaware. The traitor was unfrozen and "repaired" by the time the third kitten was ready to be born. The first midwife was back by the fourth, putting the first kitten into Nyanta's hands on the way past him to return to Purrcy.

When the fourth kitten was taken to be cleaned, rubbed dry, and have a brief medical check performed, Nyanta walked over to the birthing mat and set the first kitten near Purrcy. The little nose wiggled and sniffled and the kitten struggled until it reached her belly. As it hunted for a teat, Nyanta pet Purrcy's head. "Well done, Hahaue. I'll come join mew when we can be alone again." She gave a flick of an ear, brushing it against his wrist. She couldn't bring herself to lift her head or speak she was so tired in that form.

She really did miss Tetorō. He'd spoiled her with healing her immediately after every action that needed it. Before having him next to her she'd always just slept it off. She closed her eyes and began to do just that. Just to be sure, she put a reverse mirror room around herself and the birthing mat to keep them all safe from distance magic attacks. She'd already put one around the entire apartment that was permanent. It was just an extra precaution because she slept better that way - having her paranoia soothed.

She opened her eyes later to soft but firm warmth at her back and the new smells tucked in to her belly, sleeping off their own efforts. She shoved her nose into the pile sniffing at each one, the natural cat categorizing health level, sex, and other similar details as she did so. Two of each, male and female. One of the females was slightly weaker than the rest, being the second youngest. Her younger brother had helped push her out, wanting to come quicker but behind in order. It hadn't given her enough strength from the lessened struggle, but she would be okay. It wasn't that much of a problem. Felinoids and humans knew how to make sure even the weakest got enough to eat, and she could learn the strength through further struggles from now on.

On another level, she recognized that one as the original Nureha. Purrcy blinked her eyes to focus on the ears. Yes, they were one black and one grey. The other female was grey, similar to her father. The boys - one was all black. Likely the Plague Master reborn, and this time he wouldn't remember that past. The other was black with white, swirled together. They still didn't know who he was or what Adventurer had died to become that one. They knew the second female wasn't Indicus by now, but who she was was also a mystery. Sometimes Purrcy wondered if they were People of the Land psyche or perhaps Heroes who'd died at the hands of the Overwritten instead of Adventurers. It wouldn't be a surprise to have Inari decide to run that kind of experiment as well.

She finished smelling them and sighed, then began to groom the closest one. A tongue began to lick her own neck and she paused to look over her shoulder. Nyanta was a larger cat than she was, protectively curled around all of her and watching over the whole family. She lifted her nose and touched his nose in a cat-kiss. She looked at him for a moment again, then went back to the grooming. It was also necessary for the full bonding of the kittens to their mother. They'd spend at least the next two days fully cat and kittens. She wasn't sure the full details of it all, though the midwives had taught her some of the process the first day after the interviews. It was relieving to know these wouldn't be taken from her today, like the other times.

She gave an involuntary shudder, but tried to ignore it. "Mmm, mew'd best talk about it and get it out of the system, I think?" the psychologist behind her disagreed.

Purrcy sighed. "I was just thinking of how hard it was to have the other two litters stolen from me on this day and that I'm glad today won't be the same."

Nyanta moved to groom her shoulder and what he could reach of the front bib and then the side of her neck. She let his steady soothing wash away the pain of those days as she also allowed herself the luxury of focusing on the four kittens in front of her. Nyanta's larger tongue caught one of the male kittens on the cheek and he stirred, his natural system alerting him to a smell that wasn't recognized. Nyanta noticed and then proceeded to lean over Purrcy and in about four licks groom that kitten to wakefulness, then relaxation. Grooming was how they knew the smell was an okay smell to be trusted.

Purrcy picked that one up by the scruff of his neck with her teeth and moved him out of the pile and Nyanta moved to the next one. Purrcy licked the first one all over the face, enjoying getting to see the " _Mo-om! REally? Just Stop!_ " look. They wouldn't open their eyes for a while. The midwives said they'd learn to transform into the felinoid form after watching Purrcy and Nyanta do it a few times. They'd struggle with the control for a while, but since it was a natural transformation, they'd get it eventually like all infants and babies learned everything. And they'd learn it fastest if they transformed into felinoid in the middle of nursing. That sounded funny, actually, if they didn't smash their siblings in the process.

There was a respectful knock at the door and Nyanta and Purrcy both turned their heads to face it. "It's Marco. I've come with food for Her Excellency."

Nyanta turned and said in her ear. "I thought it would be a good test of his loyalty to ask him to bring it himself as if I distrusted others and trusted him to see it was safe to eat."

Purrcy nodded and moved the kitten she'd pulled out of the pile back into it as Nyanta called for Marco to enter. She set the permission on the room for him to come in as the door opened. Marco entered the room and closed the door behind him. He stepped to the edge of the area they'd opened up for the family to rest for today. Somehow they'd cleaned it all up while Purrcy had been asleep, even though she'd been in the middle of it all. Marco set a platter on the floor at the edge of the mat, then knelt near it, though not near enough to be threatening or rude.

"Thank you, Marco," Purrcy said, the smells drawing her. "I'll need water as well, please." She struggled to her feet. Nyanta propped her up a bit until she was steady, then leaned back to give her room as she moved out from the pile.

Marco hadn't moved, his blue eyes fixed to Purrcy's form. She blinked at him as she reached the plate. He started, then bowed. "If I may say it, Your Excellency is beautifully patterned." Marco himself had creamy fur with a darker face over the mouth and white gloves on his hands, and his stockiness suited him.

"Thank you. That's the joy of getting to pick," she answered. "I enjoy being able to carry the galaxies and stars with me. We are naturally at the cusp of becoming star voyagers on our home world and we find it a very exciting prospect."

She pointedly bent her head to the plate and delicately picked up the first piece to began eating it. It was very relieving that they knew how to feed cats here. The meat was sweet, raw, and cut to the right size. It was also a light poultry given her delicate healing state. That was also very relieving. A dish of water was quietly placed next to the platter and she paused to lap at it, quenching her burning thirst. She paused, then crouched next to the platter for a moment, to settle her stomach. "Hmm, that's interesting."

Purrcy went into the upper realm and modified the poison that only made itself known when water was added. When that was repaired, she sniffed the platter again and followed the footprints of the scents, then gave the young male felinoid lower chef an awful illness that was temporary but would be an effective cursing and reminder and followed his history back to the person whom he'd accepted the request from.

She continued in that pattern until she reached the person at the top. Then she sent her High Priestess avatar and roundly scolded that person and locked them down: completely aware inside and unable to act outside, for a full two days, as a warning. She only had the food half eaten by the time she came back. Marco was still sitting there, waiting. "If you're waiting for me to die so you can report back, it's not going to happen," she said calmly.

"I'm not," he answered back. "I'm merely observing and waiting for you to be done so I can take the dishes back without you having to hunt me down."

Purrcy took his statement at face value, it had been said so mildly. "What was Li Shou like when she was in the temple?"

Marco's ear turned in a bit of humor as he held everything else still. "Stern and noble, of course. She enjoyed flowers, however, and we could get her to relax by placing the right ones in the vases about the temple."

"Did she read in her spare time, do hand arts, or chat with others?" she asked.

"She would do calligraphy or flower arranging," he answered.

"Hoh, so ordered of mind as to find enjoyment in creative organization, then." Purrcy paused and glanced at him. He gave a nod.

"I can understand that, though those two aren't quite free form enough for me. I like slightly less structure from myself. That, of course, means that those under me need to pick up the slack." His whiskers gave a twitch of wry comprehension. "I am very detail focused, however, and will ask about them even if I've given them to someone else to handle. I like the reassurance to know they haven't fallen through the cracks. That may have to be trained out of me to some degree, I'm sure; I already don't have the time. But then I'll also have to trust the person given the responsibilities as well, that they won't let the details I care about be forgotten."

She looked up into his eyes and could see a person reflected in them. "Set him as my secretary, if you've picked one out that fast. I have to have someone like that by my side to hold my temper for me when things are getting chaotic."

Marco bowed. "I understand."

Purrcy sat up, finished with her eating, and looked at Marco in the face. "You are well placed, I think, though I've yet to see how you deal with the other side you must face. I also like flowers and other plant material set around where I am. I am a wild Adventurer that had to be brought into the city to be tamed. It reminds me of where I'd rather be and helps me to stay put better. But the slightly more wild arrangements are better than the formal stuffy ones, or I'll run from them as well. I have restraint, and will bow to it when it's required, I just hate having it forced on me."

She blinked, then looked around at Nyanta. " _He_ is far more formal and stuffy than I, so will be the restraint you should listen to, but every once in a while, gift me what I want to keep me happy when he's not looking. It will make your life easier." She stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth in a cat grin at Nyanta then looked back at Marco.

"That probably goes across the board. I'll want the wild nature print blanket with touches of color to delight me and he'll want the basic dark red with dull geometric print. The maids will want to learn when to put which things in the room and where. He'll want to keep the order and structure in the temple and I'll want to pull everyone into one big family hug, then turn around and scold everyone, followed by a lick to heal it all up and breeze out the door to go flying for a turn, to come back with smiles ready to work seriously again. We'll find the balance eventually."

Marco finally gave her a genuine smile. "It is good you know your own self so well."

"That can happen when you've had to live with yourself for a long time," she nodded wisely but laughed at herself at the same time. Nyanta snorted to see her double again.

"And you can make His Excellency laugh?" Marco put on amazement. "That is indeed a feat, then." Nyanta glared at Marco, who ignored it and looked at Purrcy politely.

"Ah, ah," she said with a shake of the head. "Don't provoke him. I don't know if it's friendly banter yet or rivalry and I'll not come in the middle of the latter."

"My pardons," Marco bowed slightly. "I see it as banter, myself."

Purrcy looked at Nyanta again. He wasn't looking at them but his ear flicked dismissively. "He doesn't like it, though, regardless," Purrcy looked at Marco until he relented, then leaned in and whispered in pretend conspiracy. "I'll teach you what is acceptable and then you can tease him all you want."

A large paw pushed her to the floor and she laughed and purred as Nyanta groomed her roughly in punishment. "You need more friends, Nyanta. Relax a little. He's a good man, if under a lot of stress trying to keep up with all of his own tasks. Let him be your Naotsugu while we're here." Nyanta stopped and looked into her eyes. His greens were a little liquid, a little unsure. She grew enough she could pat his nose with her paw gently. "It's okay to miss them, and it's okay to find substitutes while we're here. It will be for a long time. Don't hurt that long. They want us to heal as much as we can, like we want them to heal. Let that go."

He took his paw off of her and sat, looking a little lost still. Purrcy rolled to her feet and grew until she could groom him on the top of the head and around the ears. "Really, Nyanta. You can relax now. Slowly we'll grow back into Hahaue and Chichiue. The children will help remind us how to be happy and peaceful again. Those who can become friends here will do the same."

Marco bowed. "I would be honored if I could be considered a friend of Nyanta and Purrcy when they are ready to accept such a thing."

Purrcy sat next to Nyanta so they were both looking at him and waited. Nyanta finally took a breath. "I forget that when mew move quickly that can include myself." He bowed politely to Marco. "I will hope to be able to accept such a thing in the near future, when I've had my wife by my side long enough to relax and remember that the rest of the world isn't all out to see to my demise."

Purrcy let her tail brush against his back to encourage him and as reward for being able to go even that far this time. "It shouldn't take that long. He'll become annoyed with me soon enough and seek you out for some semblance of normal court life to remember that the order he loves is actually the norm and he hasn't gone insane." She laughed with her tongue again.

Nyanta turned to her, but this time it was give her a nose kiss and lick her cheek. "I'm glad to see mew in a much better mood today, my dear."

Purrcy sighed. "Well...perhaps it's that. And perhaps it's a friendly face in a strange place and I'm too unrestrained and wishing I was already at home. I won't mind the scold, but I am going to have to go back to sleep now. That's all this body can take at this time. If you'll excuse me," she bowed to Nyanta and walked back to the kittens, going in head first this time so they'd be on the opposite side for their next meal. She nosed them all on her way back, then settled down to curl around them again with a sigh.

Marco picked up the platter, leaving the water dish. "Congratulations on the birth of your children. They are beautiful. May they be as wise as their parents, as well." He bowed to them all again as they accepted his words, then he left them quietly to return to being just a new expanded immediate family.

-:-:-:-:-

Ikiryō-Purrcy pulled out; the one form wouldn't tax her system too long. She planted an unfelt kiss on the top of Nyanta's head as he headed for the bathroom. She watched him until the door closed behind him, feeling a little sad, but also a little hopeful for him. Then she slipped into the hall and followed Marco. Keeping herself very small and invisible, she watched him as he went to the kitchen, fired the young man who had fallen ill, informed the kitchen in no uncertain terms were they to allow poisons to enter the temple again, and explain that even if they did it wouldn't matter to the new mistress. She wasn't killable. It _would_ matter to the rest of the city and it was their duty to see that the city was kept safe for the sake of their mistress and master.

Being in the kitchen made her want to go and cook right then, so she explored a bit as Marco was pressed for gossip and he let slip what was fine to talk about. She picked out the chef assistants she was going to corner first thing and gave them little blessings that would keep them unfired and help their cooking skills just enough, but not too much. She also figured out which of the upper level chefs might let them sneak in and use the kitchen to begin with, though she thought she'd be able to make the head chef at least an ally. She left a little sample bribe for her on the desk in the office to at least make her curious.

Marco went from the kitchen to other places in the temple, working his rounds of the day. The maids and châtelaine were next, to pass along her preferences for decor. Purrcy followed after the two maids assigned to their room and gave them nudges as they searched through the closets until they'd picked some things that she liked well enough, then went hunting Marco again.

She found him talking to the head gardener of all people. She looked around the garden, listening with half an ear, but she was sad. The two were looking through a book of arrangements and ways to order a garden, for the long-term. She made the pages flutter a bit, skimming the pictures, and making it pause on things that caught her fancy. Finally, near the back of the book she found what she was looking for. Tall trees in a stately arrangement.

She left the page open to that picture and when they moved to the next page, she put it back. She did it three times until Marco sighed and let her know they'd understood, but he didn't promise so she left it alone, rising up to look over the entire city. She was even more sad when she looked over the entire city and not a single tree top could be seen. There had been a few small, very trimmed, decorative ones in pots along her walk into the city, but there were no real trees in all of the Gate of Time.

She went back to following Marco, floating along beside him, feeling sad. He finally twitched an ear and paused in the hallway he was in. She sighed and asked him, "Why? Why are there no trees?"

"They are too large for our gardener's magics to keep tamed. The large trees live a very long time and when Time was constantly changing they grew to become warped things that were considered unsightly. Tall straight trees like that would be acceptable, I think, to be graceful with the graceful buildings, but it would be new and only possible now that Time is linear here, I think."

"Oh. That would have been reasonable, though still sad. ...Are there any Druids in the Gate of Time at all? Are the gardeners using Druid magic?"

"Perhaps, but none of them are strong enough to affect a fully grown tree of that size."

"Ceridwin is Welsh and the druids are native to that land. Ask her," Purrcy said. "Perhaps she will know of a way."

"Yes, Excellency." He paused. "Are you going to continue to follow me about?"

"Yes, though now I'll not be able to spy on you since you'll know for certain I am. I think it's the best way to learn where everything is quickly and who I should know and the how of the running of the temple so I can be sensitive to your own requirements. If I just watch, you won't have to be asked questions to distraction. I am almost more curious than the typical four and five year old. As I said, I need to know the details so I can be at peace and let you just do your work in that same peace."

He glared at her space and she wondered if he could almost see her. Some people had that skill, to see spirits. "I could introduce you to your secretary and let him give you the tour."

"Okay. Then I can spy on you later without you knowing. Then you won't have to feel grumpy or nervous."

"You really are a child."

Purrcy laughed. "Sometimes I'm given that luxury, yes. It causes even my own family here on Theldesia to call me the spoiled princess, but because they like to see me smile, they are tolerant. I'm grateful to them for that."

Marco settled back and relaxed, then bowed. "If you can find such a place, then it is good for any of us. But I would much prefer to let you meet your own secretary now."

"It's acceptable," she answered politely. She checked his detailed status as they walked along and sighed. He'd been made a priest. He could see her in this form and most of them, actually. He looked at her with a question and she didn't answer.

"If I may ask...," he tentatively offered, "...how old are you really? You do seem rather young."

Purrcy sighed to herself almost sadly. "I am young of heart, young in the ways of The Gate of Time and temples, shrines, and the gods and goddesses of this world, young in the comprehension of all things that make one wise. But I am very old with experiences, old with the numbers of years I've lived, old with the wisdom that comes to the aged who've lived and seen things they treasure and would never wish to see or live again. Adventurers do not give other people their ages. We are something different here than we were at home, but I will tell you that of all the Adventurers that were brought, I am among the oldest, if not the oldest - older than even Nyanta who has the distinction of also being in that category. Because he loves to see the young me, he helps me to remember to not be too sad."

"It's why I was chosen as the Caretaker. Because I was already a mother at home, my desire was to help any creature who had need of my help, a rare thing among Adventurers and People of the Land alike. I have already learned the blindness of a mother to the differences of the children. They are all creatures who feel, think, need, hurt, desire. It is a mother's role to meet those needs as best they can and to comfort when they can't remove the pain or the lesson. The World AI, Izanagi, saw me act in behalf of his creations and desired me for his own purposes. In his way, he loves me - though that isn't really possible for a creature like him. But it was enough that he let me suggest the one who would become the High Priest so that he could finish out his required tasks properly."

"Nyanta was willing when I asked him, for his own purposes, though at the time he didn't love me and couldn't. I was grateful for at least that much, because the child in me needs the father in him. Because I could be mother for him, he discovered he had a need for me like a child. Many things have happened since then and we have a relationship that is as close as we will ever come to the kind and tender love of husband and wife that should exist. We will be for our children the best parents we can be, knowing how from before, but perhaps there will come a day where we must be separated again, and we will be sad, but not surprised. If we are both healed and whole, that day will be possible."

Purrcy closed her eyes and her ears fell. "I will meet my secretary later. Thank you, Marco, for letting me follow you."

She was whole again, in her cat form shivering next to Nyanta who was purring and rubbing his head on her head, trying to comfort her. She curled up into him, transforming into the child felinoid form, needing once again as so many times in that lonely shrine to have him hold her. She cried as he purred and finally was able to hold her and comfort her.


	172. Special's Prison Redux

The bowl of the Overwritten glowed brilliant white. Michael held it until the last (large) Overwritten monster disappeared in the rainbow bubbles of death on this world. He collapsed upon releasing the driving intent to purify and just lay on the ground. The rest would be doing the same. He drifted in and out of consciousness for a while and wasn't too surprised when during one of the times he was aware, Purrcy came to visit him. "Are you in my when?" he asked her.

"I couldn't be anything other than that, Michael. You know that. They couldn't send me through time before that quest was over. I can go backward now, but there is no coming forward for me from those times." She bent down and ran a hand over his forehead. "I could see, though, because of the permutations they're capable of measuring and calculating. The Oracles are the most likely, most weighted probabilities. Only rarely are they wrong in those."

"Which is why they knew I'd be trying to kill them but didn't care."

"Correct. It was just an opportunity to show the futility of it."

"You know, I've been having troubles moving forward since then."

"I know," she smiled kindly. "But you're doing well regardless, still making your own decisions."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to kill you properly."

She shrugged. "You tried. Maybe when we get back to Earth you can try again. I won't want to be there so I won't mind if you wanted to."

He scowled at her and would have hit her except he still couldn't move yet and with no MP either he couldn't even hit her with a Spark. "Idiot," he said instead. "Always giving me unreasonable demands."

She patted him on the head, then looked around. "The rest are starting to recover, but they'll have to sit with you a while." She looked at him soberly. "This wasn't all of the Overwritten, though I think it's the largest of the nests. You'll need to call in help, but you need to move on and do it later. There will be time before the final battle for you to finish it up, particularly if the Adventurers you're going to rescue have enough desire to help you." She sighed. "That's not going to be an easy revelation either, Michael. If you need support, pray again and I'll come strengthen you. Izanami is letting me be the Game Administrator for now while it's focused on the permutations."

He lifted an eyebrow. "It's letting you on your own? It trusts you that much?"

Purrcy smiled and pet him. "It's just more game play to it anyway. I would have to say it's wondering what amusing things I'll start with my randomness. Games always need a random factor to them to be interesting, you know."

"Yeah, that's you all right," he teased her dryly. "Except you follow the predicted patterns, too."

"Do I, Michael?" she asked mildly. "Well, perhaps. Don't die before you get there. I can't bring you back here."

"I can walk back," he said. "It's the boys I'm more worried about."

"Are they still mad at me?" she asked him.

He closed his eyes and sighed. It wasn't worth answering and he was passing out again anyway. He felt a fuzzy kiss light on his cheek and wanted to swear. She was going to be the death of him yet.

-:-:-:-:-

"Gareth...he can't let her go, can he?" Brenner's voice was quiet, located somewhere to Michael's left. He was on his back now, not his side, and the light weight of a blanket was on top of him. He stayed still and quiet. He was feeling better, but not like moving just yet.

"...Not like she'll let him," Gareth answered back, a bit muffled.

"... True enough. She makes a choice and everyone lives with it." It was a statement, but it held some of the frustration the rest all held. That was the hardest thing Purrcy couldn't ever be told. Everyone had some germ of the feeling she was Izanami herself from the beginning and the anger and hatred kept getting turned from the Game Bot towards her. But Michael knew she already knew it. That's why the last question and why it wasn't worth answering. They weren't home yet and the AIs weren't dead yet. It was probably only going to be worse now, now that she would be answering requests. He couldn't stop the sigh and Gareth's hand was on his shoulder.

"You awake, Commander?" Gareth asked.

"Barely," he answered, "but better than the last time I was." Maybe. It was hard to want to wake up at all.

Another set of feet stepped to his side and Brenner's voice was very soft. "Mike...," Brenner wasn't sure what to say. "Can you stay alive a little while longer?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. "It was a harsh lesson learning how small we are here on this planet, even if we are needed to help out. Only babysitting the rest of you is keeping me going."

"Well that's a good reason for now. ...Is there something that can keep you going after that?"

Michael opened his eyes and looked into Brenner's. "You already know the answer to that one, and I didn't say it nor do I believe it."

Brenner took in a deep breath, then nodded. "Keep it that way, but if it's all you've got, hang on to it."

"Not like she's going to let me go anyway," he said closing his eyes. "Purrcy's been promoted temporarily."

Gareth groaned. "...Did she show up, then?" Brenner asked.

"Yes. She says there's more Overwritten nests, but we're to move on and see if we can get help after the current phase is done. She also said whatever we're expecting from the Adventurers to stop expecting it. ...I think we need a cover story. We'd better not let on we came across the ocean. Have everyone noodle on that until I'm up on my feet again. When we've recovered we'll fly to get over as much of the mountain range as we can."

"What about the dragons?" Gareth frowned.

"You seen any yet?" Michael asked bitterly. Even if they were the hardest of the Creatures of the Land to deal with in this part of the world, to have the majestic beings hunted to extinction or near extinction by the Overwritten was a hard pill to swallow. He opened his eyes. Both other men were looking sad. "I'd rather pull them up to see they're still living. We'll fly." They gave him obedient nods and Brenner rose to walk away from them and towards the rest of the grouping.

When Brenner told them to back off so he could get into the heart of a matter, they backed off. His job was to keep them alive until they had to face death. Michael might be preferring death at the moment, but he wasn't really facing it, so he was being helped to stay alive. Michael wasn't sure he liked being on that end of things. "How much longer before you can cast the next round of spells?" he asked Gareth.

"Ten minutes," Gareth's voice was muffled again. He was sitting with his knees up and his arms wrapped around them, his chin on his knees.

Michael sighed and reached a hand for him. "What do you need to hear, Gareth?"

"I don't like seeing you brought this low," Gareth said angrily. "To have to rely on that to stay alive's not like you."

Michael didn't look away. "What did _you_ see, Gareth, when time was stopped? What did you feel?"

Gareth was silent for a while, then he shuddered. "It was big. So big I felt like I'd suddenly had the earth drop out from underneath me and I was just floating - or falling - continuously, my stomach doing the loops while my brain tried to comprehend the spinning of a free-fall drop. When the earth clomped back onto me again, I crashed it had been so big."

"That's about what it was like inside, too. Both of them showed up large and in person. The portion that ends up inside the Priestess or Priest is like two or three bits worth of data on a terabyte program. Trying to kill that was like trying to kill a giant by squashing the flea on it." Michael let his hand relax there on the ground and looked up into the trees above without looking at them. "...And then realizing you were the dirt on the flea's knee."

He took a breath, trying to get the tightness of his chest to open back up, the smothering feeling of being in that place of time again coming back. "And worse than even that," his voice was quieter as it tried to come out around that tightness, "they showed up angry. Li Shou didn't want to give Time up in the end. I nearly died just standing in the outskirts of the pressure zone. Every organ was compressed tighter than I've ever felt on take-off. Only Purrcy's shields kept me from a death of implosion, but I was still knocked out when they attacked Li Shou. She was dust faster than I could see. If Purrcy hadn't been holding me on the flight out of that time-space, I would have been dust, too."

"It was so obvious that they couldn't have cared less that I was there; that what I'd just done was so insignificant to them they didn't bother to spare even an evil glance my way. They wanted time control and that's all they wanted. We'd called Li Shou out, asked politely, and she'd come and refused and died for her own hubris. Our posturing at best confuses them. It's impossible and pointless from their point of view, not to mention illogical and emotionally irrational."

His mouth twisted. "...Sometimes when I'm reliving it again in my nightmares, only the fact Purrcy's arms were around me are what keep protecting me into the current time. She's got me and won't let go, no matter how much I'd rather just let it all go." His hand clenched, then pounded into the ground next to him. "God dammit. And she _still_ won't let go." His anger had to leach out as fast as it had come. He didn't have the strength to keep it.

"Kill me all you want. I'd rather you did. But she'll stop you in the end, smack your bottoms, and send us all back in again. The rotation's the same, the orders don't vary, and we stay the children. Purrcy might not be one of them, but she's close enough, and the Archmage isn't far behind. They treat him as a near equal as well, but the two of them are only pawns on their stage to get their own goals met. Both of them know it, and both of them are somehow - _somehow_ \- God, sometimes I wish I knew how - _still_ going to poke them hard enough to make them pay attention."

He rested a bit then said with less force, "They order, the King and Queen obey. The King and Queen order, we all obey. That's the way of it until it's done. Emotions and opinions are pointless except how they can be manipulated to meet the ends. We don't play any differently, we just think we're the ones in control. Give that up. We aren't. We're the soldiers on the ground, the same as always: take the orders, do them, return to get the next set." _And in the meantime, my heart will be torn to shreds wishing for things I can't have, don't really want, and she turns around and gives me anyway. Just kill me now._ He passed out again before he could know if they were going to actually follow through.

-:-:-:-:-

Gareth looked at the sleeping man in front of him, gone again as his body tried to recover from being at one-thousand times the speed it was supposed to have been. It was the second time he'd sat and watched over him like this. The first time they wouldn't tell anyone about. How Michael had become the priest of Inari-no-Izanami was not something to be told. How Gareth had become a deacon was the same, though that was likely more obvious. He had way too much compassion for this job.

He still wanted to kill his superior, nonetheless, and he knew every man in the trees who'd just heard that confession wanted to as well. He put his head in his arms, not able to look at his Commander any more. If anyone else wanted to act, he wouldn't stop them, though it was a waste of his spells up until now.

"Why do you hesitate?" he was asked.

"He's already dead. ...We all are, we just think we aren't, ...but if it helps you, go ahead."

"Why should we stay then?"

"Is there anywhere else to go? He said it: there's only one minor hope of having a say at all. If I care enough, then I'll stay the course to see even that much done."

"Do you care enough?"

"Maybe tomorrow I will." Just that much would be enough for them to kill him too, but he didn't care much either, except he was needed to finish healing Michael so they could move on. There was a sound of wind, then a grunt.

"You shielded, why?" It was angry.

"I didn't. It isn't worth it." He suddenly shivered and pulled in on himself, then remembered Michael had said the High Priestess had come to talk to him. He was instantly on his knees his forehead in the ground. "Please, Inari-no-Izanami. It's okay. It's just how we let it all out. Please forgive them." The temperature was still dropping around them. "No really. You don't have to do that."

"I think so, Gareth," her voice sounded from everywhere and the chill from the dead calm tone made him shiver as much as the cold air. "They didn't understand what you and Priest Michael learned. They need to understand it completely."

"Not completely, please. Just a portion. They'll all become too depressed to do the work you want done. Michael and I are having a hard enough time as it is." He couldn't tell if he'd been heard or ignored. They'd all been purified by not only the initial purification but by the large spell cast after that. Gareth shuddered and moaned.

The thuds of bodies falling behind him was both sobering and frightening for him. He closed his eyes and prayed in his heart for his fellow companions. They were all going to learn why Tetorō had arrived back at the guild hall from the shrine so calm and yet so dead. Gareth hadn't been lying when he'd said they were already dead, but they hadn't believed him enough. She was going to show it to them.

He scooted closer to Michael until he was shivering in his partner's side, the minor warmth a minor consolation and reminder that here there was still life to some degree. It convicted him, that he rejected Michael at the same time as he was necessary for life.

The pressure finally lifted, as did the bitter cold and the essence of the Goddess left the area. Gareth relaxed and slipped off his knees to lie next to Michael, his back against the older man's side. They were going to have to start all over on the recovery now. He decided to join them in getting another round of sleep in first. Nothing would be able to touch them for some time to come so it didn't matter there wasn't a guard on watch.

Before he could fall asleep, though, there came a purring and movement. He didn't need to look. Purrcy had come as cat and was settling down on Michael's chest. When a tail settled to rest on his own neck to warm it, he at first rejected it, but then his heart betrayed him yet again and instead tears leaked out of his eyes. She still said she couldn't free them, couldn't help them get out of the specials prison, yet had come to give comfort and what healing she was allowed to. When his tears went to quiet sobs, she moved again until she was settled with her nose in his ear, a paw on his cheek. "I hate you," he said to her, like he'd said so many times in that prison.

"I know. I love you. You can do this. It, too, will pass," just like she'd said every time before. And like all those other times, he could only believe her. Never had she lied or failed them before. It still hurt like hell. That wasn't any different either, though, so he finished slipping into sleep, her warmth and her purrs lulling him there softly.

-:-:-:-:-

The move up to the master suite of the Temple of Time was a moment of relief for Nyanta and somewhat of a spectacle for the temple staff. They all tried to peek discretely around corners and through doorways as they made their way from his office through the halls to head up the stairs to the upper floor. Nyanta finally sighed with a bit of irritation. His ears and tail wouldn't quit twitching. He stopped as they were passing the audience chamber and looked at Purrcy. "Would mew like to relieve their curiosity and play mother at the same time so they can all get back to work and we can move about in peace?"

Purrcy gave Nyanta a gentle look. "If it would help you settle better and you don't mind it being less than formal, that would be fine. I don't know if there's a protocol when it comes to inside the castle. Is it okay to replace it with family casual instead?"

"I said it didn't I?" it was too difficult to settle. They'd rather traded places and he was now the irritable one.

Purrcy bowed and said, "Then by all means, let us settle you as much as we can." She closed her eyes and focused a bit, then said. "All staff of the Temple of Time, please come to the throne room." It resounded, though not unpleasantly, through the halls and rooms of the temple. "We'll have to wait a bit. Did you redo that room yet, or were you going to keep it?"

He'd forgotten and that got him going again, headed in there now. "We'll do it now," he said, focusing on his hold of the two kittens in his arms to stay calm. She was carrying the other two. They knew that wasn't proper protocol either, but neither of them was secure enough yet to have them in a bassinet with a nursemaid. Not this soon. They walked into the audience chamber through a side door and Nyanta was already pulling out a second throne from up in the attic to set next to the one that was there. "Do the draperies really have to go if I'm there with mew?"

Purrcy inspected it, then shook her head. "No it's more of a problem that it was a reminder that I was alone, prisoner in my own bed when it was made to hold two. These are formal and different enough that I can have more courage if I know you're up there with me." She was inspecting the dark grey draperies closely. She waved a hand and they were suddenly a forest green with a different design on them. Instead of the symbol of the Crucible of Time, there was a tree of life in a circle on them, similar in shape and style but still noticeably different. "I'll leave the doors alone. They're too beautifully crafted and heirlooms, but that is the correct symbol for us in this place." Nyanta nodded. It was still a sober color so he didn't need to complain at all.

The doors were opening now, so they moved until they were on about the fifth step up, of about twenty, which was way too high for Purrcy it looked like. "Is this necessary?" she finally asked after she looked over her shoulder for the third time. "Half or less should be fine, shouldn't it?"

"Wait until after meowr First formal audience, then decide," he recommended rather strongly. She obediently nodded. They waited patiently until it looked like they might have everyone. He looked around until he found who he was looking for. "Steward Marco, we will need the purroper training in purrotocol, if it exists, on the formal announcement, but everyone is too curious today so I'll be letting Purrcy do it as she pleases today." Marco bowed. "Is everyone necessary purresent?"

Marco stepped up two steps and looked around the room. "Yes, Your Excellency." Nyanta nodded at Purrcy.

"Hello, everyone," Purrcy said. "I would say 'welcome' but it's we who are new, so I suppose it's early but I should instead say, please take care of us. I'm sorry to have been in hiding by necessity until now, and likely I won't be moving about much even still for another little while. I'm Purrcy, Nyanta's wife, and by now you've all likely heard most of my important titles, though mother is the important one right now. I'll be relying on all of you, as can be expected, until Inari lets us leave and then perhaps some here and there after that as I'm ordered about."

"Please forgive our sudden transition, but I hope for at least some of you that's better than suddenly being unemployed and temple-less. It wasn't my intent from the beginning so it's a mixed blessing for all of us. I do hope we can all get along well enough. I'll try to not be bothersome, but I'm still head of whatever house I'm in after my husband, being of the slightly cantankerous sort when things aren't going smoothly."

"We'll more formally go through full introductions and all that on the day Nyanta's assigned, but so many of you are curious and want to see the children, that we thought it might help to settle everyone by letting you see them first, as family, before the official proceedings. There are enough of you we won't be passing them around, but we'll unofficially present them for you. We haven't discussed names yet, not being in a hurry, so it's going to be boring," she grinned and twitched teasing whiskers at the gathered people.

"I've got the girls." She held up the first kitten, with the grey on her. "She looks rather like her father, but not quite as much white. The other," the kitten was held up, "is marked with a black ear and a grey one, and may or may not become calico. We'll see." She looked at Nyanta.

He held up the black one. "Black like his mother, but not female so not likely to become calico at all." There were a few chuckles. He held up the other. "Black and white in an interesting pattern I've not been able to place yet. I'm interested to see what he grows into. I'm sure they'll all be running about the place soon enough, getting under foot, and mew'll have to shoo them on."

A hand was raised in the grouping and Nyanta nodded, pulling the kittens back but allowing them to be visible. "Can we ask...why were you blessed with kittens at this time?"

Purrcy shook her head. "How can we know everything the Creator kami are thinking or have in store? It was required by them, and made possible by them. That is what we can answer to that question. As I'm also the Oracle, I'll warn you in advance. That is a forbidden question to the Oracle. They are quite firm on this one."

"Isn't it a blessing, that the first time in this many generations that the High Priest and the High Priestess are together in one place at one instance of time, that there is the auspicious sign of children born of them - a miracle unto itself - to show the city that though we are changed, new life and growth are still available to us into the future? Is it not an omen of blessing and hope?" It was an old grey female felinoid with thick fluffy fur, her yellow eyes bright with the fervor of her devotion.

Nyanta noticed Purrcy go stiff. "Thank mew, Purriestess Meghan," he said to calm Purrcy. "Those are kind words when my Lady wife has had to come from a place where there was only fear and hatred of this blessing. This is our third litter and she watched both of the purrevious ones be taken from her for that fear." There were some concerned mutters and a few sympathetic comments as the group stirred a bit.

Priestess Meghan glowered. "I do hope Inari-no-Izanami repaid such sacrilege against those who lack understanding and piety."

"When I left the shrine, it was being put to the torch," Purrcy said a little coolly, "though by the same sort of men, so that the wicked did away with the wicked. It's one of the reasons I've been brought here until the time is done. This is more of a place of safety than anywhere outside, even if we should have to hide here in the temple until we are done, though I truly hope that even this city can calm itself and find some level of acceptance for the part we play with only piety and obedience."

Purrcy sighed. "I still have so much to learn about even just this household," her tail kept twitching as she cast glances at Meghan. "I hope you will help me and have patience with me until I can understand." She bowed, holding the kittens close to her chest. "Please take care of me. Once Nyanta has decided that we are settled enough and his own lessons for me are completed sufficiently, I will be very approachable by any of you until I have learned the lessons I need to learn in this place." She paused and looked at Nyanta, and her tail twitched in a question. He let his ear tip. "Are there any children in this place?"

Nyanta nodded as people smiled. "Yes, there are children born in the Gate of Time."

Purrcy relaxed a little. "Then, if there are any attached to the Temple I would appreciate it if there could be some level of children allowed inside until I've seen enough to choose companions for our children. They will need instructors and guardians who can help them from the perspective of a child, though I'm sure we'll assign adult guardians and tutors officially as well."

Nyanta blinked. He wouldn't have thought of it, but it was sound enough. He gave a nod and Marco bowed faintly back. He looked at Purrcy but she seemed to be done, so he addressed the gathering. "If mew're content at this point, please go back to work. As I said, soon enough mew'll have had meowr fill of them, I'm sure." The staff bowed and congratulated them, then obediently returned to their duties. They did seem to be more content generally, though. Marco waited for them to come down from the steps. "Please come after we've settled, in purrhaps twenty minutes," Nyanta requested.

Marco bowed, "Yes, Eminence. I'm sorry they were unruly."

"It's to be expected," he answered back, his ear still flicking, but not quite so horribly now and it was only in reaction to the reminder. "It helps Purrcy as well, to involve everyone informally as much as formally."

"Yes. As I recall, she did say she would rather suddenly 'grab everyone up into a family hug'. I assume that was an example?" Marco walked with them to the door they needed to leave the hall from.

"Mostly," Nyanta agreed as Purrcy blushed slightly, though it was Nyanta's fault to begin with this time.

"Marco, I will need to talk to Priestess Meghan, but perhaps not until tomorrow or the next day depending on the schedule...which means you should bring my secretary with you when you come today." Purrcy sighed. "I'm not really ready to get back into work, but perhaps that can be seen as easing into it, those two things and the formal staff meeting."

Nyanta nodded, quite agreeing. Easing into it with one formal meeting and the two most important people to talk to would be a good way to start. He wasn't in a hurry for her to get back into working either. She was still recovering from the birthing and the kittens still completely relied on her and the natural patterns. He planned on taking more of her time as well, though these first few days of quiet resting in the small apartment had been healing. Moving today rather felt like that same kind of gradual progression.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael's chest was still heavy when he woke up, but it was a living warm heavy. His hand that wasn't pinned down lifted to touch the soft warmth on his chest. He got a sleepy rough lick for his trouble. "You're actually here? Why?" The cat finished waking up and stepped off of him without answering. He tried to free his other arm and discovered the warmth at his side was his partner. That was a little worrisome. If he was there he'd been beaten down and likely not been able to complete the final healing. "You came to heal me?" Still no answer, though he knew she was still there. He struggled a little to get the blanket to come out from under Gareth enough that he could sit up. Sitting up, he looked around.

Every Eagle was on the ground as if they'd been KOed while still in the trees, except the one on the ground not too far from Gareth. Gareth himself had no wounds, so he hadn't been beaten down physically, at least not recently anyway. "Did you stop them?" he looked at Purrcy. She'd changed to full size cat and was looking at him soberly, her tail on top of her front paws in her formal sitting position.

"For their penance, and because the Goddess came down to this mountain top to teach them, when they revive they will build a shrine to Inari-no-Izanami before you will continue on your journey. You will dedicate it with the assistance of the First Deacon, and if their offering is acceptable, they may perhaps be forgiven." It wasn't just Purrcy-cat. It was the misaki, the messenger of Izanami.

Michael's heart quailed. "What were they taught, if I may ask?"

"That they are already dead."

The blood left Michael's body and went somewhere into the ground below him. "Was it necessary?" he whispered.

"It was. They were inefficient in their lack of understanding."

Michael groaned. "We will build the shrine. Please forgive them." He bowed to her and held it until her presence disappeared.

He sat back up and rubbed his face. No wonder Gareth had collapsed. He put a hand on him and shook him lightly. "Gareth. Gareth, it's time to move again." He kept his hand there until his wingman's eyes were open and he was awake enough to not kill anything. When Gareth pushed up, Michael turned him to face him. "Don't look yet. Tell me first."

Gareth shuddered and Michael held his arm tightly to support him. "They were moving in. I was going to let them, though I wasn't going to join them, so the first blow was at me, instead of you. They hit solid shielding and got angry and she showed up." Gareth shivered again. "I'd already told them I wasn't going to do it because you were already dead and that we all were. Because they moved anyway, she punished them by showing them why it was so. She said she was going to do it completely, but I begged just a portion since we're already so bad off. I was afraid if they all felt the same we'd all stop. ...But I don't know what she chose."

Michael took a breath and read their statuses. She'd put them at 1HP again. He closed his eyes. Gareth continued, "Then she came and sat as cat on your chest. I couldn't deal and knew we were out at least another round again anyway. She purred for me again and we went one more Special's round."

Michael nodded. Yes, that's exactly what she'd done. Reminded them where they came from and who owned them. He paused long enough to find the energy to continue forward, then told Gareth, "Because the Goddess taught them on this mountain that we purified, they have to build a shrine to her before we can go on. You and I are to dedicate it and if she's pacified, she'll forgive them. ...By that, I can only guess she'll let them get out of the Special's prison again." Gareth jerked but Michael held on tight, holding him with both hands and not letting him look.

Gareth slumped again. "It wasn't just me, then."

"No. Everyone's punishment was that and will remain that until she knows they've understood."

Gareth gave one more shudder, then nodded. Michael carefully let go of him with one hand and looked in his eyes. "Can you scrub the anger?" Michael asked quietly.

Gareth look away. "I'm dead enough I don't want to hold onto it, but it wants to burn even brighter now."

Michael laughed a bitter, quiet laugh. "And yet again she does exactly what she wants. Hold on to both, but be obedient from now on - no variation. We are owned." Gareth looked back at him, then nodded soberly. Michael put his hand on top of Gareth's head. "And I think I'll consider it her payback for the last month."

Gareth raised an eyebrow, then slumped. "Yeah. That would be like her, too," he said quietly. "...Mike. ...Back on the ship...why was she after you? I thought we cleared that up when we got rid of the flavor text problem."

Michael paused, then shook his head. "I don't know. There was something...," he looked away, then shook his head again, "but really, I don't know. If it was a replay of the flavor text, she would have taken anyone when she couldn't get to me."

"It was only you she wanted at the shrine, too, though," Gareth looked into Michael's face. Michael could only shake his head. He really didn't know. Only that it had been the test Izanami had chosen, and who knew the mind of the Inari, really.

Michael handed Gareth the blanket, sure it was his, and stood. Gareth folded the blanket and it disappeared. Michael pulled a water bottle and drank from it then handed it to Gareth. He drank and handed it back. Then they went around to each of the fallen Eagles and carefully woke them.

When all twenty were awake, with the eighteen on their knees in the Japanese pose of repentance, Michael scolded them and explained their punishment, then reminded them again of their place in this world. When they'd sat on their knees long enough to get it all memorized and their hearts and emotions where they belonged, he motioned and they began to collect the materials for the shrine.

He and Gareth picked out a place for it. It didn't have to be large; the small ones along the pathways that were all over Japan and Yamato were sufficient here. It wasn't likely anyone would be back, though a Creature might stumble on it once every five years or so. If any Adventurers did, they'd wonder why a Japanese religious symbol was in the middle of nowhere Sierra Nevada Mountain, USA, Theldesia.

When the stacked uncut rock pillar was built, Gareth poured water from the spring over it and Michael blessed it with the rough words of men not used to flowery religious speech, though he knew she was content either way. Then he begged for forgiveness for his men again. When he was done, each man placed a food or item offering in the opening built to accept them until it was full. Each one clapped twice, bowed and clapped again on their turn, also asking for forgiveness and promising obedience.

When they were done and standing around it, there was a pause, then a slight increase of pressure and the items in the shrine disappeared. Michael looked at the statuses on the Eagles and was very relieved when they were back up from 1HP, but they'd only been given about half of their total points. They'd still have to work at it, and he told them so, so they understood.

With one last bow to the shrine, Michael spread his wings and his men followed suit. He lept into the air and his great eagle wings beat downward and he was launched into the air high above the tree tops. Behind him, the others exploded out as well and they turned west and a little north and began the flight towards the City of Angels again, sober and quiet.

-:-:-:-:-

Their wings expired past the midpoint of the range, but they still had a long way to go to be out of the mountains, and then there would be another walk across foothills to the coast almost as long as they'd already gone from the edge of the desert to the mountains. It was only a few hours at most by car, but that wasn't possible here.

Michael had them rest at their landing point. They ate quietly, still trying to recover and reconcile. He walked up a hill to look out towards the ocean. They'd finally been able to just see it shining on the horizon and somehow he was already homesick for it. The peace and the rocking, the dark with the stars.

He had to stop there. He didn't want to feel what joined that next. Remembering Purrcy right now wasn't a good idea, particularly that trip. He almost didn't make it though and he stumbled on his walk back down as his arms tried to hold himself together. Hands caught him and held him up. "Don't die yet. You've got a job to do." It was Reed this time.

"And you don't want to move up to my place."

"Damn straight."

Michael let his second hold him while he just breathed until the strength of the hands holding him gave him enough of his own strength to stand again, though with his family slipping through his hands like sand and water, it was barely enough. "I am so retiring when we get home. I am way too old for this."

"You said that the last deployment, too."

"Should have listened to myself that time." Michael got them walking back down to the rest spot.

"I'm glad you didn't...but then I'm not sure I would have approved the game night."

"No. You would have taken the night out drinking with the officers. ...What a pain."

"And they're glad you didn't," Reed said quietly.

Michael was silent, then nodded. They'd still be in the original prison. At least this time they got to walk and fly and breathe the fresh air. He took a breath of the same himself. It had been hard to be down there with them, and he was there with them again, but he also was outside now and they got to fight still, even though it wasn't at what they'd wanted to in the same way they'd wanted to. He let that go and settled back into being the soldier under orders again himself. "Avionics."

"Yessir?"

"Summon Vesuvius." Everyone moved back to one edge of the clearing. "Uniforms on, no weapons, double line parade attention. Watch my cues. Avionics up with me and Reed."

He hated to make them wear the Royal Guard uniforms, but he needed to have them showing the correct appearance first thing. He also switched out the clothing he was wearing, gave everyone a good hard inspection when they were lined up, then turned his back to them and snapped to attention in front of them, Reed on his right, Avionics on his left. Avionics cast his Summon spell and in front of them, taking up the rest of the clearing, appeared a brown and red dragon with gold highlights on the scales.

They'd defeated Vesuvius as a team in one of their gaming sessions on the on-shore season and Avionics, as their only Summoner, had made the dragon into one they could call on. Avionics stepped forward one step, bowed to the dragon, and said, "Vesuvius, thank you for coming. Please, will you speak with us?"

The anger swirling in the eyes of the dragon slowed down and he went slightly cautious. [What is this?] The words rumbled.

Michael stepped forward and Avionics stepped back. Michael saluted and the rest saluted with him. "Vesuvius, King of Dragons, we have been sent from our tour of duty on the other side of the planet by the Caretaker of Yamato and High Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami, and by the Archmage Shiroe to learn what happened in this place after the catastrophe."

"We've crossed the mountains from the east to the west and have seen emptiness and decay and only the terrible monsters that kill without remorse, having killed one cell of them already on the way. We're making our way to the city of the Adventurers and then to kill a monster that is as tall as the sky and unthinkable. Will you tell us what you know of the time since the awakening of the Adventurers and why we haven't seen any of the dragons in the skies over the mountains?"

The dragon blinked at them, then lowered himself on his haunches. Michael sat down and the rest did the same in their places. They listened soberly as the dragon told them that the dragons had been living mostly peaceably when suddenly they were being summoned in numbers that they hadn't experienced in a long time. Adventurers would ride them up and down the coast and out over the desert, mapping and looking carefully, but not landing unless they were over the mountains themselves, and never staying out longer than their allotted time, so they never went very far. Then they were left alone again for a long time.

The dragon paused, then turned his head away. [Then came the monsters. We had seen them attack the lesser creatures. Smaller ones came at first and whenever they neared nest and aerie, we would scorch them and claw them until they were dead. Then there was a great light over the city of the Adventurers that we could see even from the mountain tops. From that time on large monsters would come into the mountains until there were enough that they could pin our wings with stakes the size of large trees and small mountains so we were unable to move and the lesser monsters could kill us off with their numbers. One by one all of my kin and their children were killed until even I was dead, unable to defend ourselves enough to rise into the sky and escape.]

Large tears were falling from the dragon's eyes and Michael was silently catching them to put them into a box in his list. Dragon's tears were valuable and might be necessary soon, though he meant no disrespect by it. Besides, they'd burn the hill and mark their passing, something he wasn't interested in since they were leaving more Overwritten behind them. The face of the dragon swung back to him and the mouth opened threateningly. [Because you have made me be alive again, I am now Dragon alone.]

"It's a terrible thing to have happen to the noble dragon-kind," Michael said calmly, "but summoning you was necessary. Dragons cannot be allowed to die to this region or to the world. We will use your strength with ours to defeat the monsters that came to destroy the Creatures of the Land and the Adventurers and then we will help you restore what dragons we can." He paused, then said, "Do you know the Caretaker of Yamato?" He'd been wondering since all the Creatures of Yamato did.

[I do, though I have not had the pleasure to meet her.]

Michael nodded. "Then I will promise it on her name and on my position as Priest to the Goddess."

The dragon's mouth snapped closed and he was suddenly being inspected very closely. [You will go that far?]

"I will," Michael answered soberly. "Will you stay with us of your own will and become a member of our raid party and help us in our goals?"

Vesuvius, King of the Dragons, rose to his full height, then bowed to Michael. [I would, if you will do as you've promised.]

Michael rose and bowed in return. "We will." He looked the dragon in the eye. "Are there really no dragons left in all the mountains? We'll make the same promise with them. We need to travel swiftly and can only do so on our own for four hours. If there were even three more, or four, to help carry us we would be at our destination all the sooner and the goals accomplished that much sooner as well."

Vesuvius looked inward, then raised his head and gave a trumpet. [The enemy will chase them and us, but those that remain will come.]

"Will the other dragons come to you if we move from here?"

[Yes.]

"Then please forgive me for handling you indelicately, but it's for your protection." Michael didn't let him dissent, stepping forward to put a hand on the dragon, putting him into his guildmaster list as an item.

"What'd you do?!" Avionics cried.

"An experiment and it seems to have worked. Let's go. I want to be at least two mountains over before the other dragons show up. Leave behind purification mines to welcome the Overwritten."


	173. A Surprising First Meeting

Purrcy looked up the grand stairs that led up to the master suite, then closed her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if the expenditure of MP is preferable to HP and how the differences are. If I typically use MP have I a stronger muscle to use it and it feels like less effort, or is it really less effort? I am wishing today for an escalator."

She twitched cynically at herself. "Really, why does the first floor have to have such a high ceiling? Does making it feel like the roof is as high as the clouds really make one feel like they are outside, or is it because we all wish to feel as lofty as the imaginary feeling we ascribe to such vanities? Even in the United States just this floor would be a three floor apartment building crammed to get as many people into it as possible - except for those same lofty buildings that we build for our government buildings and often for places of worship."

She sighed and looked up the stairs again, then waved over a paige that was passing through. "How did Le Shou ever bother to ascend to her rooms in this place? Surely if she had to climb this daily she had the calves of a marathon runner."

The poor paige blinked in confusion at the reference, but politely he bowed and answered. "She used the magic cloud of transportation to go from there," he pointed to just below the balcony, "to there." He pointed to the upper level.

"Of course she did," Purrcy said. "I've only seen it the once, and it was quite handy. Thank you." The paige bowed and continued on his chore, but Nyanta watched him to see him turn and look back. At least it was with a positive expression rather than neutral to dark. "Have you learned that spell yet, Nyanta?" she asked.

"No," he answered honestly.

"Right, then. We're using my spell until we do, then." She linked her arm in his, shifting the second kitten into the other arm with the first. In the next instant they were on the upper floor at the top of the stairs, though she'd put them down where they would be safe enough. "And I may still find a way to make the equivalent of an escalator for the sake of all the maids. What a bother. I never did want to live in a house that was larger than I could clean in two hours tops. At least I won't have to keep this one clean all by myself."

"At all," he corrected her, kissing her head, since he couldn't pat her with his own arms full. "They use the servant's stairs in the back, anyway, unless they're cleaning the front entry and stairs to begin with."

"Anti-dust and -dirt spells," she said immediately and he chuckled. "They'd be _so_ handy on Earth, too."

"That they would," he agreed and led her towards the suite, which was behind the upper level of the audience chamber. He noticed that vases, tall with tall flowers and reeds and grasses, and shorter ones on small tables with pleasing casual arrangements were already set along the hallway. He might prefer order, but he enjoyed this kind of beauty as well.

"They're very beautiful," Purrcy commented, her own ears and tail expressing pleasure.

"I concur." His own walk relaxed into his usual gentleman's pride. He stopped in a sudden motion, however, when Purrcy waved her hand and the walls were suddenly covered with a view of a field of colorful wildflowers bending in the wind with trees in the distance. He considered it for a moment, then sighed. "It's a pleasing scene. However, dear, it is also a mural that does not work for this place. Please reserve it for your photo album when you need to see such things."

"It was a temporary whim," she said raising her nose just a little. "It will be gone by the time we enter the suite."

"As long as you don't make us walk through grass when we enter." He got to walking again.

She glared at him. "Spoil sport. I was going to, too."

He dropped his head and shook it. "Really. It was so difficult that now mew must throw all restraint out the window?"

"It wasn't for you?" she asked, genuinely surprised.

Nyanta paused. "I am not the same as mew. Restraint has always been part of me. It isn't necessary to shake it off in order to recover. The healing is different."

"I can see that. Please allow me this brief moment and I'm sure it will pass as quickly as all such things pass for me."

"Well," he said dryly, pausing outside the rather fanciful door to the suite at the end of the hallway, "I'm sure additional restraint right at the moment would only purrolong my suffering."

She attacked him playfully. "Suffering?! To see your wife at play? I think not!"

He gracefully as possible gave in, saying she must surely be right - because of course she was in the end though he wouldn't admit it to her any more than that much. He opened the door to the suite, taking his turn to shuffle the kittens. "No guards on the door?" she asked him with a bit of a frown.

"I've asked them to wait until the formal staff meeting when mew can meet them all. Mew'll feel better knowing more purrsonally who is standing outside the door, I think, than having strangers there?"

"Ah, good point," she agreed and stepped into the room. Her eyes took in the large space, the raised futon on its platform at the far central side. This closer side had the sitting space, and on the other end of it his personal favorite, a low table with a well for the feet to hang down into that could have a heater put into it in the colder months.

"You enjoy the Eastern nobility, indeed, Nyanta, and yet the comforts of home at the same time," she said as she took it all in. "You've let yourself be expensive and grand." Her golden eyes looked into his. "Are you living a dream you've always wanted to see?"

He couldn't lie to those eyes. "Yes. It is one of the vanities of purrsonal vistas I've wanted to see at least once."

Purrcy leaned in and kissed him gently. "I will accept it, being brought to my husband's home and room, when it is a place he desires and enjoys ...and it has almost no vestiges of horrible memories for me."

"Almost?" he asked with a sudden panicked twist of his ears.

"The bed is even larger than the last one that swallowed me up," she commented. "I do hope you plan on getting into it every night with me or I'll be required to sleep on the couch to not rip it to shreds."

"Ah, no, please don't do that. I do plan on it, actually," he was quick to say.

"Then, if you'll let me ruin the effect for a few minutes?" With an internal sigh on his part, they were suddenly in the treetops of the Forest of Eternal Sleep. He wasn't too surprised, actually. The mural was at least kept to the walls and ceiling rather than become actual tree branches lacing through the room. Purrcy walked over to the bed and set the kittens well into the center of it, then took the two from him and added them to the little pile. "Come show me the rest and then I'll rest with them." She took his hand and he led her to the nursery located opposite the door they'd entered the room through.

"This will be where we put them after they can see to get to mew themselves," he said. He looked at the effect as she prowled and inspected. There was an adult sized futon (his from the office and Log Horizon - the children would be most comforted to still smell their parents even if in a separate room), a padded rocking chair just because it seemed that nurseries ought to have one, and the other accouterments that he'd told Marco to just handle, not knowing what was generally used by felinoids. Changing tables would be used on Earth and it seemed there was an equivalent here. It was already stocked as well and Purrcy was going through that in detail. When she was satisfied, she put sunflowers on the walls and walked through the next door, on the wall to Nyanta's left.

He followed her to watch her reaction. She'd stopped and he asked quietly. "Do you appurrove?" She put her hands together in front of her, clasped, and finished looking, then turned to him with large eyes.

"Yes, Nyanta. It will be a wonderful growing and learning environment. I had no idea they were so advanced in their learning, even with the five universities."

He glided over to her and placed his hands on her hips and gave her a kiss. "I think even mew would enjoy being a student here in this place. I do hope having the access to the balcony won't make them falter in their studies, but I know being able to see the world beyond the four walls was essential to my own studies. The books won't be useful to them for some time, but the toys will see plenty of use, I would think."

"And I like that they can come play with them if we aren't ready to be out of bed yet," she added with a light brush of her cheek on his. "I will be putting a lock on the balcony door, however, until they're old enough to be properly responsible. We don't need them falling off the balcony."

"And the other direction?" He really was counting on her for safety up here.

"Already done when you brought me to meet Ceridwen. The balcony is safe enough from the exterior - and Michael taught me plenty about from above and below.

It was reassuring to hear and he relaxed a little and kissed her behind her ear. "Thank mew." Then that room got blue sky and white clouds on the walls. "They all are temporary, I hope?" he asked.

She rubbed his head. He frowned at her. "Yes, Nyanta. I'll likely do it whenever I get a whim, but most of the time I'll be too distracted, most likely. How will we be keeping it warm?"

Nyanta shook his head. "I had to ask specifically to have the fireplaces put in the office and apartment. It doesn't get cold here, not really. Because it's in its own space it has a fairly constant temperature."

"Then we will have campfire and fireplace murals on a regular basis at the very least," his wonderful wife declared.

Nyanta purred. "Those I can live with." He pulled her back towards the nursery to return to the main room. "Mew've already seen the balcony. Are mew ready to rest?"

Her eyes immediately narrowed. He looked at her as innocently as possible, waiting for her response to his question. "Mister Nyanta. Is the bathroom seriously that much of a monstrosity?"

"Yes." He answered immediately. "I couldn't even fathom what changes to make to it. I couldn't even look into it more than a single horrified glance."

They were in the main room again. She glanced at the remaining door, on the balcony side of the room and in the same wall as the main entrance door. "Swimming pool."

"Yes."

"Gilded mirrors?"

"I think so. Gilding was too much detail to capture."

"Is there even a private loo or is everything out in the open?"

Nyanta gave in and walked her over to the door and opened it for her, refusing to look into it himself. "God, it's awful indeed," she said. "I think it's good you left it for me. This is going to take a woman to tear down and rebuild, since an insane woman built it."

"Thank mew," he said most humbly. "If mew could address that first when Marco arrives, purrhaps?" She glanced at him, then nodded and very bravely walked into the room to do battle with it. He took himself off to the bed to watch over the kittens and pray she returned safely from said battle, quite willing to be the weak dependent in this situation.

Purrcy returned from the bathroom just as there was a knock at the door. Nyanta lifted his head (he'd gone to medium large cat) and she just handled getting the door herself straightaway, as if it were the door to Log Horizon's guild hall. "Marco, I've got the decor about how I want it. Come tell me what is actually possible as far as construction goes. If I were still on Earth, I would love the bathtub, but the shrine has quite made me water shy and the pool is far more water than I want to waste on a regular basis." Marco was following along behind Purrcy, but a little overwhelmed by the time they reached the door to the bathroom with her rush of commentary without proper introduction to the topic.

Nyanta rose and moved off the bed, turning into felinoid by the time he reached the platform. "Please sit in a chair and wait. I'm afurraid I've put Purrcy to a task and she tends to lose herself in them until she's reached the end of her train of thought." The concerned and sadly ignored secretary bowed in relief, shut the door, and sat gingerly in a chair.

Nyanta sat catty-corner from him, where he could see the secretary and the door to the bathroom, and be guard for the kittens if he needed to be. "She is often like this, and can move swiftly from topic to topic. Mew will need to learn to insert meowrself into her flowing river and divert and redirect her as necessary. Also be mindful that orders and little tidbits of important information will float along with the water of the river and mew must catch them as they come and not lose them. If she could have brought her former secretary, she would have and meowr life would purrhaps have remained simple. If mew need to stop the flow, it is possible, even in mid thought, and most of the time it will be hidden beneath the surface regardless. Manage her calendar carefully and for some time I would like mew to bring it to me daily so I can modify it as necessary, purrticularly as we are at the beginning and she is healing."

Nyanta paused to see if the secretary was following along with his own testing river. He seemed to be, with ears pricked forward to attention. He sat up properly and a bit stiffly in his nervousness. He was an orange colored young felinoid with bright eyes and large ears placing him as based off the Abyssinian breed, likely only having been placed in the temple staff within the last few years. Long enough to get trained and a bit of experience and to prove he was naturally intelligent and organized.

"Do plan on being inundated with questions and being her second teacher after myself. That will likely be meowr main role here at the beginning. Feel free to offer any lesson, small or great, childish or professor level, without her asking. Keeping meowr mouth moving will keep her ears and mind as busy as if it were her own and may save mew from the confusing things she will add that are Adventurer and natural for her to speak about but incomprehensible to mew. Someday the tables will turn and she will teach mew about things mew have never before considered and the difficult beginning will have been well worth it."

Nyanta smiled, judging how much more time before she was done with Marco. "Remember to scold her to rest, and if mew've any magical ability at all, quickly learn healing spells. She will need healing for the anima, psyche, and spirit healing on a regular basis. She uses her magic without thought and most often has the capacity for it, but she won't track her use, and if she creates something large she will use more than she should in one go. Be quick to just heal her without thought meowrself, even if meowr not sure she needs it. Likely she does, and likely mew'll come to instinctively know when she is casting. Don't use meowrself up, however. If mew are getting to a limit of reasonability, scold her and force her to stop or slow down. She needs to still learn more restraint in this area. If mew find it difficult, let me know and I'll step in and add restraints until she can learn it."

The secretary raised his hand slightly and Nyanta gave a nod. "The spell she cast on the draperies, where does that fit in the scale?"

"For her...likely a medium-small spell."

"And, if I may ask, the spell she cast on Ccoa when she first arrived?"*

"Likely a medium to middling-high at worst, given he is a kami. For anyone else, it's a mid-low level cantrip. It is one of her memorized and common defensive spells. Mew won't need to worry for meowr life or existence. If she's being attacked, mew are also defended - unless she warns mew otherwise, which is highly unlikely." Nyanta's ear flicked and he motioned for the secretary to be still.

The other two felinoids walked out of the bathroom in final discussion and sat with Nyanta and the secretary. Purrcy smoothly transitioned, "I'm very sorry to be lost in my musings," she looked politely at the Abyssinian. "Forgive me for rudely ignoring you, but do expect yourself to feel even more like the pen in my hand instead of as a living creature than normal for staff, though I'll try to make it up to you and you do have a voice to push back with that I'll listen to. Please don't be afraid to use it." She looked at Marco.

Marco said, "Excellency, this is Timberel. He came highly recommended by his professors at the University for Temple Staff. He is currently working in the department I suggest you have work closely with you. Having experience already with what they can do for you, he therefore understands how to assign the tasks you need completed until you become comfortable with the process. Timberel received highest honors in mathematics and organizational structures. I've found his ability to keep track of details to be immaculate and had considered apprenticing him myself. If you do leave and won't need him for some time, I may still if it pleases you, though we can discuss that when the time draws near."

"As far as specific temple training, he is an acolyte but would have been made a deacon within the time frame you've been here if Li Shou had been able to live. We've held off on any such actions until we have the formal staff meeting and it can be decided how to handle such things. Most of us are unsure how the transition affects the fact that she is the one we pledged loyalty to when she no longer exists."

Purrcy's ear turned as she considered that issue. "I believe, as far as Inari is concerned, it was an immediate transfer. How each individual would wish to handle that based on their personal preferences is up to them. And I am as unclear as yourself as to which one, since they were of one purpose at that moment. Certainly in that respect each person could choose either Izanagi or Izanami, though I would have to insist, Timberel, that you would choose Izanami, though based on your qualifications you might prefer the other."

"Ah, no, that's okay," Timberel said, his large ears twitching a bit. "I would actually prefer Izanami. For all I'm very good with patterns and keeping track of details, I'm not very good at staying within the lines, if you understand."

"Very well," Purrcy answered. "Excellent, then. After the staff meeting we'll try to get to those formalities so the final reorganization of the household is done before we move on to thinking of the broader scope of work that needs to be done, I would think?" She looked at Nyanta.

"That sounds reasonable," he agreed.

Purrcy frowned a bit, then said, "Timberel, I will actually need you to become the level of Priest fairly quickly. The spells at that level will be essential when I've finally learned enough to be let out of the house. Please make sure you plan that into the schedule so that you have time to prepare within that time frame."

"Of course, Excellency," he answered properly.

Purrcy's tail flipped. "Timberel, that will only work in formal settings. When we are working closely on business the most formal I'll accept is Lady Purrcy."

"I understand," he answered.

Purrcy clasped her hands in her lap and looked at Nyanta. "I haven't enough knowledge to be able to ask educated questions, nor to understand the answers. What I've heard is sufficient for now. Do you have any questions to ask?"

"No. I also don't understand the workings of that department. Timberel, do be here at the end of the breakfast hour each morning for the initial review of the day's schedule. Please feel free to be reassigned to a room nearby either upstairs or down the hall. If mew wish to move slowly given temple politics, the transitions of meowr temple status advancements can be when mew move. Purrcy will work mew terribly and the closer mew are to her the less mew will have to run across the entire building. I would request, Marco, that if mew would please transfer to Izanagi, I will place you as the first purriest under me. I would also allow mew to move, but I know mew love meowr current apartment."

"It is the best placement for my position, as being between the heavens and the angels," Marco answered.

"Was that a translation difficulty?" Purrcy asked, confused.

"It's a way to differentiate between the kami and the staff of the temple," Nyanta explained. "Likely the translator did try to pick English terms close."

"It will do," she said. "And when I start to get the detailed level differentiations, will I get Seraphim, Cherubim, and heavenly host?"

"Most likely," he answered, "if it translated correctly for me."

"It is correct, I believe," Timberel answered as his new position dictated for him to. "But the last refers to those who live and work outside the temples, but are joined to a specific temple."

"Ah," Purrcy nodded. "I shall be ever so confused by those terms since I would never ascribe them to any status I'm in. I'll consider it and change them if I can figure out what would help me more properly comprehend within my own head - since I'm the only English speaker here anyway."

"Mew have access to the general translator now, then?" Nyanta asked her.

"Oh, yes. Ever since I got put in charge of handling the last level to the degree of sub-quests, and working with India has required it. That was part of the title bonus, if you will, for the larger things that happened during those events."

"If I may turn the topic there?" Marco asked. Two ears allowed it. "We will need to know all of your titles properly for the official functions.

"Oh, heavens," Purrcy said horrified. "They've thrown them at me as if they are paper stickers to reward children with. Your herald will hate me for sure, and the audience fall asleep. I'd much prefer it if we could keep it to no more than the top five that are useful to the comprehension of the Gate of Time, and four would be better and more succinct. High Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami, Caretaker of Yamato, Oracle of Inari, and maybe one or two more of your choice would be more than sufficient."

"Please also add TechnoMagus," Nyanta asked Marco and both felinoids in front of them stiffened in surprise.

"It's a Class known here?" Purrcy asked.

"Yes," Nyanta answered, "only it isn't a Class. It's a title of a few of the kami, such as Ceridwen for her wisdom, and Ra and Mut for their ancient level."

"The heads of the universities are also TechnoMagus," Timberel supplied.

"Fine," Purrcy said. "Then that is enough, those four. I'll let you know if Izanami happens to add anything else that might be apropos. And please keep your mouths shut on that one until we have the formal city announcement. I don't need the look you two are giving me from everyone else until then. I hide it from the Adventurers, too, though they only give me confused looks when they do see it. Let me at least learn what it really means here before it changes anything, since it shouldn't."

"Except it's what mew've worked the hardest for," Nyanta disagreed softly. He knew how hard, and he knew that she'd put in just as much effort as the others had to reach where they were.

"True," she answered, which put the two staff right back where he wanted them. He wanted that rumor to leak and it would. That was not something that they'd be able to keep because it would be the pride of the temple, to hopefully overcome any left-over resentments. Marco would be his ally in that if he was truly an ally to begin with, so was a good test in that regard as well.

"Very well," Marco answered and launched into the formal protocol for announcements to the temple, to all the 'heavenly host' within and without the temple, and to the city.

When they finally released both men, telling them again to come in the morning after breakfast, Purrcy shook her head to remove all the words and walked tiredly over to the bed. "That was a bit much for one tired, worn out brain, though I probably did better today than I would have any day before." She was on four feet and sniffing at the kittens. She picked up the black one by the scruff of his neck with her teeth and moved him back to the pile. They'd begun whining a bit towards the end so Marco had wrapped it up perhaps a little early.

Nyanta watched her, enjoying seeing her as mother to the children again, even though this was perhaps different. She paced around them a few times, both preparing to rest and perhaps to find the best positioning. As she settled down with a sigh, the kittens were quick to find their places at the dining table, as it were, and he smiled. It was nice they were all very vivacious. "We should name them soon," she said tiredly, then laid her head back and was soon sleeping, her side rhythmically rising and falling.

-:-:-:-:-

Uniforms were changed out again and mines quickly laid then the Eagles were off, running down the mountain and into the valley that led to the next mountain over. It was tiresome work to run down, across, climb up, and repeat that process. They ran along the hip of each mountain as much as they could and it was still a long time before they reached a secluded valley that they could wait for the other dragons to arrive at. When they'd set up protections on the valley against the Overwritten but that the dragons could pass through, Michael let Vesuvius back out again.

The dragon shook himself out. [That was very interesting.]

"I'd like to hear it sometime. I've always wondered what it's like to be inside," Michael said conversationally. "How close are they, the other dragons?"

Vesuvius looked inward again. [Close. One is being chased.]

"Tell him to come directly here and we'll take care of the Overwritten. Which direction are they coming from?" The dragon pointed with his nose and Reed sent half of the Eagles to the rim to watch for the Overwritten. "I've also wondered, can you change size?"

Vesuvius glared at him. Michael shrugged. "The felinoid and other half-beast races can, and you're high enough level for those creatures that need levels instead."

There was a rumble with a bit of a hiss. It was enough like the hissing laugh of the gryphons that Michael decided that it was likely that. [You would rather see that than have me tucked into your pocket?]

"Well, it would be convenient to be able to still talk to you. I can't really do that when you're in my list. In some games at high enough levels the Creatures can transform into a human form. Can that happen here?" The dragon shook his head. "Oh, well," Michael shrugged. "But if you'll shrink then the Overwritten will be confused and not find you. I'm thinking about the size to sit on my shoulder but not hold me on the ground at the same time. That's pretty small for someone as grand as you, though."

[Dragons are proud creatures, Priest Michael.]

"Well, that's true, but you've already died once for your pride. Do you really want to die a second time for the same?" He blinked at the dragon innocently. He turned away to let the dragon think about it, and to give him some dignity by not watching the transformation. "Do we have eyes on any of the other dragons yet?" he asked on the guild chat.

"Not yet, but there are shadows two mountains over so I think the one being chased on it's way in is hiding as it comes," Records answered from his post.

Michael picked one of the tallest trees in the valley and climbed up into it and clambered as high as he could go. A brown and red dragonlet joined him one branch up, the tail balancing it on the precarious perch, one front clawed paw holding on to the trunk of the tree. Michael smiled to himself. "I assume the rest are already in the valley waiting to see what we'll do to see if we can be trusted." The king dragonlet twitched, then glared down at him. He waved it away. "I don't mind it. We'd do the same. But they need to come swiftly after we defeat this set. I want us to be away before any more come."

He searched the next mountain over watching until he could see the shadows of the Overwritten passing through the trees. They weren't super large, but they were fast. "Tell the dragon to expose himself last minute at the top of the ridge into this valley. I think that will be close enough to get him out of danger." On the chat he said, "Up on the wall, speedy, looks like three or four. Let the dragon through the net but they're fast so don't delay. Nothing early either. Would hate to have them get away to warn the others." Michael itched to be part of the action, even though they'd already seen a lot for the time they'd been here. He needed to let some of his own suppressed emotions out.

The wait was long, but the action was quick, as such things always happened. A green with blue highlights dragonlet appeared over the ridge in the sky and Michael was pulling it into his list, then prepared to cast his aggro holding spell to keep the Overwritten in place so they couldn't flee the battleground. Four appeared at the same place the dragon had, then a fifth slithered over the ridge. Michael clamped down on them and the Eagles flew to the attack. He pulled up another spell and cast it, dropping the snake to lie quivering with white shocks pulsating up and down it. They didn't need a constrictor type involved in this battle. It took a good thump to the head before it went up in bubbles. "Ah, hey Commander, that was my hammer. Was that purification a mistake?"

"No, I don't think so. You're all properly purified and blessed acolytes now. Congratulations. We're going to have to go out and find cursed weapons now, or something. Or we'll have to give up dungeoning. ...But I don't think she's cruel, so there's a work around somewhere. It might also be only until the quest is finished. She _is_ the type of mother to punish by making sure you don't get to go out and play until the required work is done, if you'll remember. At least the work is part of the fun."

They actually worked faster after that. If they could use their favorite weapons and still purify, that was alright in these kinds of battles. Michael wondered how the four still on the way up were going to catch up. He hoped she hadn't included them and let the monster eat them. He sat back and sighed. The dragon above him looked back down at him. [Is it so dull?]

"No. Not dull at all. Purrcy doesn't let life get like that very often. If it's dull she's late to wake us up from our rest...or she's going to give us extra work and thinks she's being nice by allowing us to waste time."

The dragon growl-hissed again. They watched as the three last monsters all disappeared at the same time. "Grab the drops and get back here. We need to get out before the rest get here." Michael headed down the tree and the dragonlet met him at the base of the tree, gliding down on spread wings. Michael had to look away before he wanted to.

[You are sad again Son of Man. What is it that grieves you so?]

Michael shook his head. "I've gotten too sentimental in my old age. I saw someone else briefly."

A clawed paw rested on his shoulder. [I well understand.] Michael nodded. To watch the death of your people and then to be back to remember it would do that - bring the grief to the surface frequently. Surely seeing even this one living dragon had done that.

"I hope seeing these will bring you more hope than memories of grief," he said, looking back at the horse-sized dragon now standing next to him.

[I am grateful even these many have survived], the dragon king agreed.

Michael let the one he'd grabbed back out. That one shook out, and then bowed to Vesuvius. [My king. I am grateful you are alive again.] Michael was surprised. It was definitely female. She turned to Michael. [And thank you to you and yours as well, for protecting me.]

"We're glad you've arrived safely," Michael said. He could feel the other Eagles settling into the trees around them. "Please call out the others, Vesuvius," Michael asked.

Slowly three other dragons, also keeping themselves small for now, crept out of the trees. One was deep blue with black highlights. Another was yellow-green with tan highlights. The third was grey and white with silver highlights. Vesuvius reacted strongly to that one, but Michael could understand. The two color dragons were older and higher level. That one held its head low and came right up to Vesuvius. [I'm sorry. I was negligent and allowed them to pass me.]

Vesuvius sighed. [I'm sure even if you had interfered, in the end you would have only met the same fate. If you are alive now, it is enough. Live properly so their spirits can be properly returned.] He lowered his head to touch the nose of the one still low to the ground with his own, then looked up at Michael. [This is my mate, Halti. She was watching over the nest eggs at the time we were attacked.]

Michael bowed. "It is my pleasure to greet you, Halti. We are also pleased you're alive, though we mourn with you the loss of the future. Please do your best to return the dragon kind to the mountains." He looked at the one he'd caught up as well and she turned away as if in a blush.

[You desire dragons to return in their terribleness?] the deep blue and black one asked with disbelieving haughtiness.

"No. We wish for them to return to life. From this time on there must be alliance between Adventurer and dragon-kind. This is the order of the Goddess Izanami."

[What Adventurer will obey?]

"I do, as do all of these who protected you today. We will have to teach the other Adventurers once we have recovered them."

[Recovered them?] the yellow-green one asked.

"Many have become disconnected - prevented from resurrection by the same monsters that hunted you and all the Creatures of the Land. We've been sent to correct the errors, and to see that a proper balance is brought again to the land. Please join with us until we can restore more dragons to the mountains and the monsters of destruction are all dead within the region. We need speed through the air to reach our destinations and strength for the fight."

The new dragons blinked at him and the blue-black one finally said, [Willingly?]

"Yes."

[No contract?]

"Only that of one honorable creature to another."

[Aren't these your Summoners?] Halti finally asked Vesuvius.

[Yes, but I travel with them based on the form of contract just mentioned. I'm only under the summon at the moment because I was dead. It was the only way to revive me and ask.] Vesuvius paused, then said, [I was quite surprised that they bothered to even ask me to talk to them as soon as I was summoned. That in itself is very telling, I think.]

Michael had a thought. "Besides I reek of the Caretaker. It's rather hard to refute my claim to who I am. She sat on me today to heal me after we removed a nest of the monsters."

[ _Sat_ on you?] the little green female said in complete surprise.

Michael smiled at her. "She is a felinoid. She turned into a little cat and sat on my chest while I was sleeping to recover." The dragons relaxed a little. Michael decided there must have been a translation difficulty. "Please make your decisions. We need to go. If you'll come with us, we need to ride. There are twenty of us. If all of you come, that would be four riders per dragon."

The blue-black dragon hedged one more time. "How will you make there be more dragons after we are done?"

"Vesuvius said that for a time the Adventurers summoned many dragons. When the Adventurers are restored, we will have them summoned again. It won't return all of them, of course, but perhaps between those and all of you, soon enough the dragon race will be strong again."

Vesuvius stepped back and changed size again to full size. Halti and the green dragon both stepped back and changed as well. The yellow-green dragon hesitated, then also chose to help. The blue dragon considered a little longer, then finally sighed and grew. [It hurts my dignity, but if it will restore the dragons I will help for a time.]

Michael bowed to them. "Thank you."

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta did wonder what they should name the kittens. In this place there were hardly any restraints. The Adventurers had come with the fanciful, the plain, the absurd, and the lazy names of gamers. The People of the Land were given names based on flavor text or randomly generated ones for farmers and farmer's children and the like, or like the high level denizens of this city, were given names from Earth's past because of legend, lore, and history. Being Japanese, his bent was to choose names common from there. Purrcy might like English ones, but she'd claimed no preference. And there was the future to consider. Would they be able to return home, being souls of Adventurers? Or would they have to stay and need names to carry with them?

Nyanta watched them from his chair until the kittens began to be sated and fall asleep. The black one chose to not sleep, but to try to wiggle his way off the futon again. Nyanta rose and walked to him, scooping him up. The little one was surprised at first, then recognized his father's scent and tried to wiggle free again. Nyanta carried him back to the chair and held him up in front of his face.

"No. Mew don't want to fall from here. I've got mew tightly. It's a large world out here. Mew'll learn to walk in it, though, when mew have eyes to see and to understand how to live purroperly. Listen to meowr mother and be obedient to me, meowr father, and mew will live well." He ran a finger over the head of the kitten and rubbed it's cheek with his thumb until it settled a little.

"What shall we call mew, mmm? Because mew are a black cat, we could say Nekuro. I wonder if mew're mother would like that? It is a strong sounding name and mew will be intelligent and likely very strong, for mew are already trying to explore the great world with mew're eyes still tightly closed. Open those eyes first so mew don't stumble like mew did before. If I wanted to remind mew of that, I might name mew Miru, or Emiru. ...Or perhaps Hora, though that's not very masculine."

He looked back over to the pile. "I think Nureha needs to be named Meiki, so she can remember her promises from before and into the future. We never did know meowr name from before and the other two we don't know at all, sadly." He rubbed the thumb of the hand supporting the kitten under his chin, making the head wobble somewhat and the kitten try to find something to latch onto on the end of his thumb. "Surely mew can't still be hungry? Even if mew are, mew mustn't eat too much and wear out mew're mother." Speaking of which, food should be coming shortly for them.

He stood up again and walked over to the bed and sat next to the pile of his wife and children and looked them all over, putting the black one with the others. He did, indeed, head straight back to his mother. Nyanta lifted him and placed him at an upper teat until he was latched on well enough and leaned him against his mother, sitting on his hind legs. "Here, practice increasing meowr strength while increasing the size of meowr belly."

When he seemed stable enough, Nyanta picked up the female with the black and grey ears. "Did mew hear me, little one? Mew will always remember the promises mew made to meowr mother when she first claimed mew and made mew hers. Mew will be named Meiki so that mew always remember."

"It's a good name," Purrcy said sleepily.

"For the black would mew want Nekuro or Miru?"

"Miru. It's more auspicious for a new beginning."

"Miru it is, then," Nyanta rubbed the head of Miru lightly and he complained with a whimper. Nyanta smiled and traded Meiki for his other son. "What shall we call the black and white son, then?"

"Is there a word that would work for hope? The hope we all bear to return home, that has driven us to be willing to work this hard?" Purrcy looked up at him, shifting her head enough to see that son in his hands.

Nyanta thought about that. "There are several. Kibou, Kitai...Setsubou perhaps explains the depth of desire we hope for."

"That would be fine, then - Setsubou - though the others are nice enough. ...Perhaps that or Kitai."

Nyanta considered the kitten in his hand with a bit of a frown. "I think Shiroe-ichi would agree with mew that Setsubou would more apurropriately tell our story," he finally said. He touched the kitten's nose. "Setsubou mew will be, then."

He set that one down and he immediately wiggled to be squashed between his sisters again and fell asleep. Nyanta chuckled. "Setsubou is most comfortable when still in the womb, tightly pressed with his siblings."

"That seems appropriate. Only tightly clinging to each other will we be able to return home, I think," Purrcy murmured.

"Mm," Nyanta agreed. He picked up his fourth - or rather fifth - child, missing his Earth son for a moment. He pet the daughter until he'd calmed, then held her up and looked her over. His ear flopped as he tipped his head to look at her more closely. He held her up, turned her over, then lifted her to his nose, thought to a past scent that he set in his body, then sniffed. His eyes flew open and his ears stood up on end. _How was it possible?_ He stared at the little kitten, then shifted to place her in front of her mother's face and nose where Purrcy could see her well. "Purrcy, I would like to introduce mew to MeowLi. This is our First meeting."

Purrcy's head jerked up and she stared at Nyanta with wide eyes. "It isn't!"

Nyanta nodded his head. "It is. She smells the same. The natural cat agrees."

Purrcy turned and looked at the very small grey kitten, then carefully put her nose to the kitten and smelled her deeply, memorizing the smell, then gently pushed on the kitten with her nose. The kitten sniffed for her and Purrcy was immediately felinoid, scooping the grey up with her hands. She also inspected this daughter very carefully, all over, then held her, wonder in Purrcy's golden eyes. "Hello, MeowLi. Take very good care of your father. He will be missing me and will be worried for all of you." Purrcy's hands trembled and she pulled the kitten to her chest. "And I will be very, very worried for you also." She looked at Nyanta, almost with fear in her eyes. "Nyanta...how long were you in the Gate of Time, total, that she was with you, and without you?"

"A very long time," Nyanta said soberly. "And rather young for it as well."

"She came from here, not understanding that place and the chaos at the first. You'll have to train her very well for that confusion, and have someone help her by telling her the stories of that time."

"Even so, it will be difficult."

"I'm sure of it," Purrcy trembled again. "And I'm sure she's afraid right now, as well. She isn't in this city and she couldn't be left behind. She's in the base time but who knows where until I can return there and find her. That's also a place she has never experienced before. I'll need to go to her very soon and take her to the home that will care for her and teach her until we return. That is so scary, Nyanta."

Nyanta moved to take his trembling wife in his arms. "She must have been strong to agree to it, and I know mew will train her well, also. She was very competent and skilled enough to travel about the city without help when I knew her. She won't fail and if she's afurraid, she'll find help there. We will see the politics of it being at the heights, but she will find the commoners who are friendly and helpful to their own kind. Because she's come from this side of the veil, they won't remember her on that side. The politics won't follow her and she will be safe enough. But...do mew know why she was sent?"

"To keep you safe from Li Shou and to help you fight Izanagi as best possible."

"Merely because my wife is jealous?" he teased her, trying to get her to come out of her desperate fear for her daughter.

"If I am so jealous for my husband, who is there to say I am wrong?" she answered, but she did try to calm down. "I will at least ask her if she's willing. I won't be able to live with myself if I don't." She took a difficult breath, then looked at their oldest daughter. "Very well, MeowLi it is and we will hope for and help you as best we can. Everyone will get lessons for how to live outside and you will receive the special lessons, though the others can listen if they want."

"And I'll get to train mew from the beginning," Nyanta said suddenly pleased by that prospect. He reached out and rubbed MeowLi's head gently, down to her back. "Food will arrive shortly," he told Purrcy.

Purrcy put MeowLi in his hand, rose, scooped up Miru to put him back into the pile, and hurried to the bathroom. Nyanta lifted MeowLi up to look at her again, gently rubbing her side with his thumb. He remembered the time MeowLi had almost called him Chichiue... That night she'd relaxed enough to tell stories about her childhood because he was prying and trying to find out more about her and then she'd begun another one with, "You remember," then looked at him with frightened eyes and closed her mouth, then been sad...

The hug when Izanagi had returned...had that been their First meeting in that time-space for MeowLi? Nyanta shook his head in wonder, then set MeowLi back with her siblings again. Miru had found Meiki's black ear and was sucking on that. Nyanta gently freed the ear and settled Miru down by holding him still until he gave up and fell asleep.

Nyanta intercepted Purrcy on her way back to the futon, capturing her in his arms and holding her close to him, petting her head when she gave up enough to stay with him. "It is okay. Only a few minutes have passed for her outside. Mew can finish meowr obligations here, and still rescue her. Mew may not go until mew purroperly understand how to time walk. We cannot live without mew. To be lost in time is too hard and there is none to recover mew now that there is no Li Shou."

"Izanami and Izanagi can," she answered back, "and they would."

"Yes, but even still, I cannot let mew go until I know mew can at least find meowr way back to us purroperly in the timeline. Do not rush to death and confusion when the time difference is so great as to be in our favor." He held her tightly. "Purromise it." He willed it with all his heart when she was still too afraid to answer him. He was not healed enough for that danger to present itself to him and until the kittens could eat at least a little from a dish of milk, she couldn't be allowed to be lost to them. Only if he trusted her ability to return would he be able to let her go. "Remember that time is still fluid for mew. Mew could wait to go the moment she steps through the veil and still find her fine. Mew do not need to panic in this moment of first compurrehension."

He held his wife and she slowly relaxed until she nodded. He pet her and purred for her then as she slipped her arms around him and held on tightly, trying to finish letting her fear for her new daughter in her old place, in a different time alone for the first time, go. It was surely worse because MeowLi would be getting a taste of what they had all been through. They could feel that fear themselves very keenly.

* * *

 _*Ccoa - a South Peru cat god. The legend of Ccoa is told in the Indian Quechua tribe in south Peru. Ccoa is a huge cat, almost three meters long and has dark stripes running down his fur. This evil cat has control over lightning and hail. Ccoa has the power to ruin crops and wipe out humans. Offerings must be made to Ccoa on a regular basis to keep on the safe side. He's the one that Purrcy locked down when they were talking at the top of the steps in the square when they first arrived._

 _A note on names:_

 _Vesuvius and Halti are both names of volcanoes on Earth._

 _Miru - to look (Jp): to remind the Plague Master to open his eyes, to see reality, and his way to kindness and a better balance of selflessness._

 _Meiki - promise (Jp): to remind Nureha that she promised Purrcy she would behave and try to learn how to properly live on Theldesia with others._

 _Setsubou - intense desire, hope (Jp): as stated above, because they were born to Adventurers at the time they were trying to get back home, his name is the reminder and nod to that intensely deep desire they all have to get there and of their hope that keeps them moving forward regardless._

 _Do you like how I've woven MeowLi into the tapestry in a surprising way? :-D_


	174. MeowLi Comes to Log Horizon

MeowLi scanned the clearing for the hundredth time, or so it felt. Her mother had told her so many times to wait for her here, hiding in a tree as a cat to stay safe, promising that she would come as soon as she could. MeowLi had always believed that her mother was such a worry wart. She'd been trained for this practically from birth. It wasn't until she'd first stepped foot into the unbounded Gate of Time that she had understood. She had lived a life of protected innocence until that moment.

Even then, she'd still had a repeat of that experience when she'd suddenly found herself in this area instead of walking down the street of the unbounded Gate of Time. The forest and mountains her parents had described for her were overwhelming in their reality and height and breadth. This world was so much larger than the one large city. The forest went on for longer than she could see and the mountains were taller than any spire.

She'd confirmed the clearing, picked a tree and climbed into it and stayed put. Other creatures had sometimes passed through the clearing and her ears could hear small creatures she couldn't see. There were so many sounds she'd never heard before she was spending most of her time listening and trying to identify them. Sounds above that turned out to be the branches moving and the leaves brushing against each other. Sounds as the creatures moved through the grass, some munching to eat it. Sounds that ended up being brightly colored creatures hopping and flying from branch to branch and tree to tree, sharp sounds that hurt her ears but were musical nonetheless.

Her parents hadn't prepared her for all the new sounds. Nor the smells. Sometimes she heard a sound and a smell came with it and her body would want to go hunting. She'd decided not to until it was nightfall and her mother hadn't arrived. Then she might so that she could be hidden by the darkness. That they'd told her about. That the darkness was as huge as the land and darker than the dark of the Gate of Time, save for the bright points of light overhead that matched her mother's patterning, but without the swirls. Her mother had tried to promise she would come before that, though, and MeowLi was rather hoping for it. One strange new place was enough and overwhelming.

This was more peaceful to comprehension and visually upon arrival...well...or rather it was different from the unbounded Gate of Time and similar to home but still the same confusion in different ways. She was already tired and her senses stretched beyond what they could deal with. She went to put her head down to try to sleep for some of the waiting time, when there was motion that her eye caught.

She turned to look again and her mother stepped out into the clearing and called her. Immediately she was down, out of the tree, and running for her. "Hahaue!" she cried as she transformed and grabbed her mother.

Purrcy held her back, very tightly for a long time and purred, until MeowLi had had her fill and was calming down a little. They stepped back from each other a little, then Purrcy said, "MeowLi, Chichiue says I'm to tell you that this is our First meeting, for me."

MeowLi jumped just a little, then shook a bit. "When was my First meeting?" she asked.

"You were born two weeks ago along my timeline. That was your First meeting."

MeowLi couldn't believe it. "It was that early you came to rescue me, for all of that worry? And how can you be so worried for me now, when I am only that old? You don't know this me."

Purrcy bowed. "I understand your distress. Please forgive me. As your mother I was in a complete panic as soon as we had our First meeting. Only your father's requirement that I couldn't come save the panicked you until I had learned properly how to time walk kept me from coming before now, even. If I have worried so much for you for all your time, how can you think it wasn't because I didn't already understand the difficulty you would face? Have I not always been your mother?"

MeowLi was defeated. "I'm sorry, Hahaue."

"Chichiue says you performed marvelously, and I already know that the goal for which you were sent has been met by you. Thank you very much for taking care of my husband for me so that we could become your parents. He was so surprised by your First meeting with him. Chichiue has been secretly disappointed he didn't give you more hugs spontaneously after he thought he'd figured it out from your slips. He also understood after your First meeting how difficult that had been for you. It was not an easy thing, for us to send you to the unbounded Gate of Time, nor is this place any easier for you."

"No, it's not," MeowLi had to admit, though she hung her head in shame.

A warm hand took hers. "You have and are experiencing what all Adventurers experienced when they were brought here from Earth. The overwhelming confusion and loss was terrible for us, even though our world had been so similar to this one. I am going to take you to our home. It is in a city that is large like the Gate of Time. It has politics that are played, and people kind and stern, markets and quiet places. But that is almost all that is similar. It is a city of Adventurers, Akiba. We've told you what we can of it, I would assume, since we want you to be as familiar with it all as possible, though it won't do it justice at all."

MeowLi shook her head. "Even to be told it, I was completely unprepared for the unbounded Gate of Time, or so I felt. Once I knew enough, the lessons began to become real and to fit."

"It will be the same, I'm sure, but I hope less fearful," Purrcy said kindly. "Adventurers are strange to those who haven't lived on Earth to understand them. They will speak and act normally and a small comment will make you blink, like Time unbounded did for you. It's a change of experience and you have to let it go as a thing you will never understand. All of the People of the Land must do this. You won't be alone in that regard. However, the People of the Land aren't like the people of the Gate of Time either."

Her mother was going into the exact same lecture she'd given over and over in her worry, but this time MeowLi was patient with it. It was her mother's First time to say it and now that she'd come to this time herself, she knew she would want to hear it to remember it well. The reality was so much more sobering and focus-producing. MeowLi held on tightly to her mother's hand. She also knew that she was beginning the next Long Time when she would be alone again without her parents or close family with her. She had missed her parents the most. It had helped to have her father for so long the second time, his First time. This would be her only long, but brief, moment with her mother.

"There are children there who understand and are your same age who will help you, and they are also my children."

MeowLi blinked and her head reared back and her ears turned. "You've never told me you have other children."

"Then I'll remember not to tell you, but now that I have, and because it will become obvious when I take you, I'll tell you now. I have four children on Earth that I was torn from. Here in this place, you know I'm the Caretaker and have adopted all the creatures of the land as children. In Akiba, the guild Log Horizon is my adoptive family and they will be yours until we come and even thereafter. The guildmaster, Shiroe, is my senior son in Log Horizon, some few years older than twenty. Give him respect, but help him relax once you've relaxed. He needs to be reminded on occasion that he really is only in his twenties."

"The next senior is Naotsugu. On Earth he is older than Shiroe, and he is the one to go to for pets and comfort and a warm lap when you're missing the arms of your parents. He will quietly let you rest in that warmth. His wife, Marielle, is my senior daughter and guildmistress of our sister guild. She will bring sunshine when you require it, but she will also comfort tears that won't stay down. When you are insecure, find her and she will protect you, though they all will do that."

"Tetorō is my son and daughter. He has two aspects, one male and one female. He prefers the male and is male on Earth, but don't be surprised if you see him female. He will tease you and it will be hard unless you act like you don't care. Be calmer than he is and you will pass his tests. He is kind at heart though and will show up to protect you fiercely if you require it. He is also my outside secretary, so will occasionally ask you if he can kill me yet. Tell him no, not yet, but if he'd like to pet you, he can. Then make him hold you as cat and pet you until he falls asleep. He is just missing me as much as you are. He is your best sibling when your bed is too lonely, but only as cat." She gave MeowLi a scolding look and MeowLi blushed.

"Hahaue. I'm not going to do anything like that."

"Good." The firm scold helped MeowLi settle a little more. That was another comforting normal piece of reality and her childhood to hold onto. "Akatsuki is the little mother who watches over Shiroe and is his girlfriend. She is painfully shy, though she has learned much strength over these years. When she speaks, be patient to hear everything she says and does not say. Read her body. Like us felinoids, it says more than her words can say. If she is silent, look for what her body is saying. Likely she is asking you to like her, or asking if she can help you, without the words being able to come. She tries hard and seems hard, but inside she is very tender and concerned. Let her help you and be a strength for you. When you need to sit in silence with a companion, that is her. She'll even listen if you need to talk, it's just her that has troubles with finding the words." Purrcy smiled at her own memories.

"Touya and Minori are brother and sister, and twins. They will understand your loss and feelings of loneliness when you are missing your siblings who are with us still in your time. They have been very fortunate to have been able to come together to this place. They will also take you under wing and help you learn what you need to learn and make it far less frightening for you. Ask them all your questions. They won't mind. Isuzu is also one of the children your age, though slightly older. She is currently out learning to make her own way in the world, like all who go to university, though here in Yamato, university is living life itself."

"We Adventurers are more advanced than the Gate of Time by a margin. Both are more advanced by leaps and bounds than the People of the Land. You will need to come to understand those differences, because you will likely end up spending most of your time with People of the Land, is our guess. Rudy, the last of the children, is who you should turn to when you need to understand them. He was a Person of the Land but when he died, the other children begged Shiroe to bring him back to life. Using a scroll spell, Shiroe turned Rudy into an Adventurer so he could revive. I'm sure he'd be willing to tell you if that was a good thing in the end or a terribly difficult thing. He's lonely for a friend, with Isuzu gone. They were partners before that. If you need someone to just talk to, and Minori isn't it, try Rudy. He will at least commiserate with you on the difficulties of living with Adventurers and help you navigate those waters."

"Hahaue, you're already moving too much into Adventure-speech," MeowLi complained at her.

Purrcy laughed. "Of course. Being home will do that, but so will having to talk about Adventurers as an Adventurer." Purrcy pulled her close and MeowLi let her. She rather wanted a few more hugs. "That was enough to overwhelm your memory banks, and we still have the overwhelming meeting to go. Then you can rest in a safe place. Here in the zones is not safe for you. Do not ever leave Akiba unless you are with the Adventurers and Shiroe says you may. There are things here that will kill you and we will be sad to never get to see you again." MeowLi shivered. Her mother sounded more serious than she'd ever sounded in MeowLi's life. She promised it. She really wanted to see her siblings and parents again at the end of this long time.

The forest and field disappeared and they were suddenly standing in a room that was square with a high ceiling, though not as high as the first floor of her home in the Gate of Time. Sounds met her ears when they first arrived, then there was silence, then very loud sounds as many voices cried out her mother's name. "Shush!" Purrcy scolded. "So noisy, children, when I've brought someone to meet you." They were already enveloped in several arms and hugs, however. MeowLi thought it odd, but then at the same moment also very warm and comforting. It wasn't too dissimilar to when she and her siblings had been young and they'd all welcome Hahaue when she returned from working. It was nice to know it was like that here as well.

It took a while for two sets of arms and bodies to move, though her mother's arms stayed protectively around her, for which she was grateful. Purrcy did begin to purr, however. Finally she said. "This will take too long. Here, step back just a bit to give me room." The two reluctant huggers let go and moved back. Suddenly Purrcy-cat was rubbing the legs of the orange-haired person to MeowLi's right. With a cry that one dropped to the floor and held on tightly while he was rubbed and purred to. There were two more of Purrcy in the room next and the original, still holding MeowLi, let her go just a bit and turned her around to watch the room. MeowLi was grateful to be able to observe this family group before having to face them.

One of her mother's aspects went back to holding the tall young man that could only be the Archmage Shiroe, to comfort him. A shorter woman than MeowLi was standing at his side, holding on to his sleeve until that Purrcy pulled her into the hug as well. That had to be the girlfriend...Akatsuki.

The final aspect went to the three children first. MeowLi carefully listed off their names. Touya, Minori, and Rudy. Rudy did look different, and unlike all the others he was content with a brief hug and a longer rub of the head, though he did look happy enough with all of the other chaos going on. He was like the people of the Gate of Time - not as interested in showing displays of affection, or receiving them. He was the first to look MeowLi in the eye. He bowed slightly and began to come, but the closest Purrcy stopped him. "Not yet, Rudy. Let her get used to everyone first. This is worse for her than your first time." He looked very sympathetic and MeowLi was grateful that someone else might have had such an overwhelming situation as to understand.

Once the twins were greeted, that aspect went to the last person in the room, who had waited patiently. "Naotsugu, it's so good to see you. You'll have to give my hug to Marielle or swear everyone to secrecy that I was here so she won't punish you for not calling her over, but I haven't much time, this visit." They embraced and MeowLi didn't hear what her mother whispered to Naotsugu, but he gave a nod and a promise, then let her mother go and looked at MeowLi kindly. MeowLi blushed and hid just a little more into her mother. He did seem kind though. He turned to tease the aspect of Purrcy who was with him - about how she must be loving being able to get her hugs and pets all at once instead of having to go to everyone one at a time. Her mother freely agreed, then disappeared to return to the mother holding her.

The one with the guildmaster was talking to him quietly now, about if he would take MeowLi in and watch over her. He gave a sharp glance to MeowLi. MeowLi tried to stand firm and show him her strength, but it was difficult. He gave a nod regardless and that Purrcy returned to her mother again. "Tetorō," her mother said over her head. "I can't leave that one with you yet. Nyanta isn't done with all of me yet. When he's healed enough, I'll send it back to you, but you'll need to share."

Tetorō looked up at them. "Why? I mean, not that I wouldn't."

"Because to this one, that is an aspect of Hahaue that she will also be jealous to have to share. When it gets bad, take them both to bed with you at night. She will be needing the extra comfort those nights."

Tetorō turned to look at MeowLi. His eyes went distant. "He's reading your status - your name, how healthy you are, and what you are. You will see Adventurers do that to you and to everyone they meet. That is what they are doing then. It's automatic and not meant to be rude. It's so they know how to face you, or to help you if you're injured." MeowLi nodded.

Tetorō was blushing. "Sorry. As she says, it's automatic, though I've been practicing not doing it since we shouldn't have to. I'm Tetorō."

"Hello," MeowLi called up all her lessons in comportment and from her time just left. "I'm MeowLi." She stopped because her mother had put her hand on her lips to prevent the rest. She looked up in surprise and her mother shook her head. She wasn't to tell their relationship?

With a reassuring pet of MeowLi's head, Purrcy turned her to the rest of the group. "This is MeowLi another one of my daughters. Please, take care of her for me until we come back. She is from the Gate of Time. She will need quite a lot of training, both to understand Adventurers and to understand the base world of Theldesia." Purrcy looked to the children. "She only has what you see on her and in her hands. Minori, please see to helping her get anything she needs. I've given Shiroe permission to access my funds already. Use them in her behalf." Minori gave a firm nod.

"Touya give her your strength like you do your sisters and help her learn a skill so she can feel useful to the guild and the city once she is strong enough. She does already have a skill set that Shiroe will need to discover. Perhaps he will have a recommendation of what she can do." Shiroe and Touya both gave nods. "Naotsugu and Akatsuki, please guard her heart when it gets sad and be her pillars and comfort, like you do for everyone." They also gave nods.

"Rudy, this time I will leave you with the greatest burden." Rudy smiled kindly. "Please be MeowLi's teacher until she understands enough. She knows nothing about being a Person of the Land of Yamato. Please take her and teach her, both before she leaves this house and then on your rounds so she can come to understand. Let her walk by your side and learn from you."

Rudy bowed properly. "Yes, Lady Purrcy. I would be honored to help in the best way possible. You may rely on me." He was even as flowery as the people in the Gate of Time. For all that might be stifling, it also might be the most comforting.

MeowLi took a deep breath and stood away from her mother just a little, though she still held on to her skirts. With a bow, she requested, "Please take care of me for this Time. I will do my best to learn my lessons well and will try to not be too much of a burden."

Shiroe looked at her with what she supposed was his kindly look. "Welcome to Log Horizon, MeowLi. We're glad to have you join us. We'll do our best to see to your care until Purrcy returns. Thank you for needing us so that we could see her again, even for this brief time."

Minori had moved around the table and now held out her hand to MeowLi. "We're in the middle of breakfast. Will you join us? Then we can talk about what you need."

"Mostly, I need to eat and then sleep to wind down from the overwhelming day this has already been," MeowLi said honestly.

"We can let you do that, too," Minori promised, glancing at Purrcy.

MeowLi looked up at her mother and gave her one last hug. She was grateful when Purrcy also bent down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Call for me when nothing else will comfort you and I'll come visit briefly," Purrcy whispered. MeowLi nodded. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Hahaue," she answered as her body started shivering. With a final pat on the head, Purrcy was gone, and Purrcy-cat with her.

Tetorō, still on the floor looked forlornly at the empty space, then looked at Meow-Li. He held out his hand. "Here, turn into small cat and I'll pet you until you can calm down. If you sleep, it's okay. I need it just as much as you do." After only a brief pause MeowLi was escaping into his arms to tuck her head fully into the crook of his elbow. The petting wasn't soothing she was so tired and full of loneliness, but the rhythm did help her fall asleep.

-:-:-:-:-

The devastation of the west coast from the air looked like a combination of a glacier smoothing out the landscape, scraping all the living things off of it and a massive nuclear attack and bombing with holes burnt and of many sizes pockmarking the smooth surfaces. The Eagles were silent, the devastation overwhelming to them. Although Michael had warned them, he hadn't thought it would be this bad. Even the dragons were astounded and respected the silence.

High on the wind they circled over the City of Angels. The high walls were crumbled, though in places they still stood about half height, but that was the most. Every building inside was crushed into rubble and dust. The ancient tall skyscrapers that leaned, the city capitol building that was the Guild Hall, and the Cathedral. All were crushed into rubble.

"Even if the tree were whole, _could_ they resurrect?" Life Support asked in whispered horror. No one had an answer.

"Is it even worth it for us to enter - for the same reason?" Avionics Safety asked.

"Yes," Michael said firmly. "One dragon's worth at a time. Hop off and right back on and get out. We'll look again from up here when we're done to see if we woke anything up...but I'm betting the entire coast is completely empty. I have no idea how we're going to repopulate People of the Land. Halti, you're first." Since they'd partied the dragons in, she heard him and circled down towards the city.

When Halti was a fourth of the way down, Michael sent the green. Another fourth and he sent the yellow-green. He sent the blue down as Halti was settling down to earth. As she rose again, her passengers back on, he told Vesuvius to start taking them down. Michael kept a close watch on the city the whole time, looking for any movement at all. He knew they were all doing it. He also kept watch for anything outside the city, but there was nothing - no motion anywhere except the waves in their never ending pattern of washing up on the not too distant shore. The white sands of the beach were now the white sand and earth of the coast all the way to the mountains where the ground turned brown and tan in interesting strips.

The yellow-green dragon was just lifting up when there was a spot of motion. A dart from one hole to another outside the city. "Reed. Motion at four o'clock outside the city." He was on the green. "Hole hopper. Chase it into the city. We'll catch it when we get there." The blue settled to his feet and his passengers leaped off. They paused a moment since they were setting the trap, then ran back to get back on the dragon. He pushed into the sky and lazily turned to the north, then around to the west to cut off any escape from the area towards the ocean.

Vesuvius slowed down a little and as soon as he was low enough, the Eagles leaped for the ground, landing, then running for hiding places around the gate. Vesuvius landed on a slightly taller outcropping of rubble so he wasn't on low ground and waited, nose pointed towards the gate - the obvious target.

"On its way in," Reed's quiet report came in. They went on higher alert. As they watched, a thin waif suddenly popped up from the ground and ran pell-mell into the city through the gate.

"Wait! Wait!" it cried in a high voice, hand raised to the dragon who had raised his wings. "Please, don't leave me here!" It was tangled in the web and rolling, having tripped on it as planned. The Eagles were on it immediately, holding down the edges of the webbing with feet and pointing weapons at it. Bulbous eyes in a sunken face took in the dangerous people around it and hands covered the eyes to sob disconsolately.

Michael cautiously crouched down to take a closer look. He reached out a slow hand and took hold of a wrist and pulled. There wasn't any strength, though that hand really didn't want to move. "How long have you been starving? How long ago was the city razed?"

"The Fourth of July Special, one month after the two year anniversary of the catastrophe," came the thin answer.

The Eagles were in shock. They were almost to the third year anniversary mark now, and that would have been shortly after Purrcy arrived in Akiba, from the Log Horizon stories. Michael wondered if the AIs had known at that time and if that was why they'd made her come in from her playing solo in the field. "That long? Was everything dead then, or did that take time?"

"Time. The Devourer took out the city first, and those who were outside tried to take it down in small groups first, not understanding. Then someone got away and started to collect everyone up and they came in one large group. They tried everything, but in three days they were all dead, too."

"The Devourer did all the landscape damage?"

"I don't know. The rest of the monsters disappeared. Some of them were killed, but they were hard to kill."

"How far did you travel before you got here to see it?"

"I came from the north, but I'd been out on a small sailboat when they got here. I saw the devastation from the ocean and was afraid to come in. I drifted and when everything was gone I came in." Tears welled up in the bulging eyes, "And everything was gone." The Adventurer had been this way long enough he wasn't even labeled an Adventurer anymore, but with nothing around to hunt or eat it wasn't surprising he'd starved this much.

"I'm going to have to ask you to promise to not eat any of us, or you'll have to agree to a Summon contract and we've already had enough troubles with those."

"Why?"

"You've become an undead."

The sad look wasn't surprised in the least. "I won't eat you - I think. At least, I'd rather not. And I'd rather not be alone anymore either." Michael's warning jewelry wasn't going off so at least for the moment he wasn't lying or a threat.

"Is there anything else around here at all? More of the monsters that come back every once in a while, that kind of thing?"

"Not for a long time. Why come when there's nothing here? ...Are you from the east coast?"

"Yes. It's not much better out that way or in between either, but it's not this bad anywhere on the other side of the mountains. We've got some friends to meet that went south into Mexico, but you can come with us for now. At least as long as you stay good. We'll see what we can do about getting you back to proper Adventurer status, too. Got a name?"

"Brian."

Michael stood up and stepped back. Two Eagles got him untangled and out of the net and it was put away, but he was watched closely. "We're going to put you to sleep for now, but we'll wake you up when we've reached safer places," Michael told him. Brian nodded and closed his eyes. Michael nodded and a spell was cast. Brian was immediately asleep, not having any resistance and not giving any either. Michael put his hand on Brian's arm and put him in the guildmaster's list. Because he was undead, he went.

Michael sighed and stood back up. Vesuvius hop-soared down to them and they climbed on quickly and were in the air. "Well go south now as far as the devastation goes. When we get to the point of needing rest, we'll move back to the mountains. A defensible valley is better than holes in the ground."

-:-:-:-:-

They passed over Diego, another Adventurer city. It looked the same as the City of Angels. They passed over the equivalent of the border between California and Mexico and by the Baja Peninsula. The sun set into the ocean, but they kept going. The ground below them hadn't changed by the time they had to set down and rest. They were getting antsy to get to their four companions, but they'd made the dragons fly a long time, so they set a six hour rest with rotations. Reed reinforced it since they'd been up a long time themselves.

When they were back up, Michael passed around the first meal of rations from his dungeon store. Every meal they ate now meant that much less time in the Maze of Eternity. He gave up meat to the dragons, too. There likely wasn't much more to hunt around here than they'd seen on the way to the coast. That cost them another three meals, though, so it hurt. The dragons might be able to make it up to them, eventually.

"Why haven't things grown back up?" one asked, looking at the ground closely. He swore. "It's cursed ground even. Will we have to purify the entire coast, too? That's more than we can do, isn't it?"

Michael rubbed his head. "That's part of what we need to discuss. Circle up." They crouched, or sat, in a circle and the dragons settled around behind them. Michael explained to the dragons the enemy they were about to face, the verbal description also serving as the reminder to the entire party of how to be thinking about what needed to be done.

"My guess is that it's not just an increase of level or HP or whatever. I think it's made up of every living thing it's touched, including the plants and creatures. Remember what they said happened at the last bosses of the Higan Special. When they were purified and defeated, they changed to something good before disappearing. I expect that when we purify that thing it will return to being the land, the plants, and the people. I have no idea if they'll be alive or not, but I think just purifying it will purify the land, too."

"And I think it was assigned to collect up all the Vengeful Spirits. That's why it was chasing the first one we caught. He's probably the last one before they can get in. If I'm right, then we've got enough time to finish this and get through the Maze ourselves. We'll find most of the nastiest Overwritten in the Maze, but until we bring the Vengeful Spirits with us that come out of that monster, the last door won't open."

"While you're thinking about that...we've got to figure out how to handle the sheer size of the thing. With only twenty-four of us we'll be really thin if we surround it, and since it's fluid I'm not sure there really is a 'surrounding' of it. If we want to do the purification spell we did before, that's a long time to hold still while it's moving around to capture us. I'm not sure it knows - or perhaps cares - we exist unless we're hurting it. It wanted the Vengeful Spirit, but until we fired on it, it wasn't particularly chasing us. We might be food, but that's it until it's attacked."

"I'd like more concrete data. Can we talk to that ghost now?" Reed asked.

"We can, but it will pull the monster. Let's talk basic strategy at least first." Reed nodded and they got down to heavy discussion and debate. When they thought they had a workable outline with a few ifs and maybes, Reed asked again.

Michael called the Vengeful Spirit out of his ring. They boxed it in so it couldn't flee and he went walking in the spirit realm. "Hey. You wouldn't happen to be the kid that followed Indicus to the other side of the moon, would you?"

The spirit blinked, then tipped his head. "You wouldn't happen to be the guard with a dust mote on your shoulder, would you? Is the apprentice with you?"

"No, I'm alone at the moment, except my guild, but yes, that's me. Looks like you've been through a lot. Since this is our first meeting in my timeline, will you tell me your name?"

"Brian, Mister Michael."

Michael blinked. "As in the undead Brian?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry if we killed you."

"No, it's part of the plan."

"Okay. Start at the beginning."

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi woke to another new sound, though she had heard something similar somewhere before. There were lots of strange smells, too, but her mother's scent still lingered in the room and that was comforting. Her ears turned this way and that before she opened her eyes, trying to place things in the room. The sound was coming from above her and was related to the place she was resting.

She finally opened her eyes and looked. She was sitting in a large lap and the person was leaning back, with his head resting on the back of the couch, the sound coming from his nose and mouth - which was hanging open and a bit of drool was coming from his mouth. She supposed if he was sleeping so well, that perhaps she ought not wake him, though she wasn't sure what to call that noise he was making as he breathed. She hoped it wasn't a medical condition. Likely if it was, her mother would have already fixed it long ago.

As MeowLi carefully stepped from Naotsugu's lap to the couch, that thought made her wonder just how long and where in time she was. Time was shorter outside than in the linear Gate of Time and she'd been thrown out of the other one so had no idea when this was. No. It had to be the day of transition when the Gate of Time had become linear. This was the day her parents had first entered together, Purrcy very pregnant with her and her siblings. Her mother had said that, she remembered now. This was her past and she had to live here until her present.

Her mother had also reassured her many times before she began her responsibilities to her father that it would be short - only a few months, though she wouldn't or couldn't say just how many. MeowLi hoped in the full depths of her heart it hadn't turned into a year or more. She settled on the couch and tucked all of her feet and her tail under her and tried to think of what was next, rather than what she couldn't really affect. That had helped her a lot in the fluid Gate of Time. There had been a lot to learn there. She could do the same thing here. And this time she already had people willing to help - a family structure that would help her move forward. She took a deep breath, held it, then let it out and her ears perked forward as she began to focus on what she could and should do.

"You look like you're feeling better. That's good," a voice as warm as her father's said, though it was deeper. She looked up. It appeared Naotsugu had woken up while she was thinking. Her ears had caught the lack of sound, now that she thought about it, but it hadn't registered as a threat, but then he wasn't supposed to be one.

"I am, thank you," she answered. She remembered she was supposed to ask questions. "What was that sound you were making while you were sleeping?"

"Eh?" Naotsugu's eyebrows jumped. "Oh. You've never heard snoring before?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Somehow sitting with a cat on one's lap puts one to sleep, but sleeping on the couch puts a horrible crook in my neck and it's such an odd angle that it blocks off my throat, so it makes that sound. Some people snore anyway as their throats relax during sleep. Marie just shoves me over. Rolling to a new position will often fix it."

"Oh. That's what it was. I have heard it before, just never so close over my head." She looked around. The rest of the room was empty and cleaned up. "I must have slept a long time. I'm sorry."

"No, no," Naotsugu was quick to wave it off. "Traveling always does that, and considering you had some pretty bad jet lag, we weren't too concerned. Tetorō hit you up with a few healing spells just to make sure and you seemed to relax a lot better after that."

MeowLi frowned. There had been several turns of phrase that had gone in one ear, twisted in her brain, and out the other ear. She had to assume that's what her mother meant by Adventurer's said strange things occasionally that would have no purchase in her brain because of the differences of experiences. It had happened a lot at the beginning of the chaotic Gate of Time, too, until she'd had enough experiences to understand them. She'd gotten the general gist of Naotsugu's comment though. "He wanted to know why you needed such a big up on the Spirit Heal spell though. Do you know?"

MeowLi knew that spell. Her mother had to have it used on her a lot. "That's the one that helps Hahaue," she froze and her heart stopped. She was going to have to watch her tongue a lot more, yet again. That was hard.

A heavy warm hand landed on her head, jolting her. "We all call her that. It's okay to use it here if that's how you're used to calling her. We can tell she cares a lot about you and that you care a lot for her, too." His thumb rubbed her cheek up into her eye and her head tilted in response. It wasn't unlike how her father would rub her when she was a kitten, and the sizes were about that relation at the moment, though the hand was heavier and larger.

MeowLi swallowed and tried again to answer his question. "H-hahue has to have it cast on her a lot. We asked her about it once and she said it's because she's always going up higher levels to work and when she comes down too fast there's a cost to be paid and that refills her so she can heal and keep going."

Naotsugu stopped rubbing her, then took his hand back. "Yes, that's what the spell's for, but why would you need it?" MeowLi thought harder. "Did you come down levels suddenly?"

"I was dropped out of the Gate of Time," she said uncertainly. "Would that have done it?"

"Oh, now that's an interesting factoid," Naotsugu put his chin in his hand and rested his elbow on his knee. His finger tapped his cheek as he considered it. He stopped and looked towards the door in the middle of the wall opposite the front door. "I think that would be a good opener for your meeting with Shiroe, but first, are you hungry?"

"Not really," she answered honestly.

"Bathroom?"

She considered that, then blushed. "Yes, thank you." Naotsugu pointed and explained where it was - over to the hall and then down a room. She decided to turn into felinoid form first. Her grey frock was all she had to wear, though it seemed out of place. Everyone else here had been wearing colorful clothing of such different varieties she was actually secretly looking forward to shopping for clothes. She ended up sitting sideways on the couch and as she glanced the direction Naotsugu had pointed her eyes were caught by the strangest thing she'd ever seen. Her mouth fell open and her eyes stared, then followed the _tree trunk_ up until it disappeared through a hole to continue going up even farther.

"It goes all the way up to the roof and higher," Naotsugu said with a smile. "We first saw Hahaue when she escaped to the top to get away from some toughs in town. We bought the building because having it there made it super cheap to buy. She and Akatsuki love it. I'll ask Akatsuki to take you up it and show you around after your meeting. Do you know how to climb them?"

"Hahaue did make us learn," MeowLi admitted as her ears fell. "They were my least favorite lessons, though...until I had to climb the tree this morning. Then they became my favorite rather suddenly."

Naotsugu patted her on the head. "I can imagine, if you were dumped into a random zone."

"I was," MeowLi said shortly, then got up. She couldn't keep her eyes from continuously glancing at the tree until she was in the hallway, though. Here, the ceiling was shorter. She assumed it was large in the entry like the entry and audience hall at home were for the same sort of effect, and because of the tree. It certainly made the tree very awe inspiring so odd and strange as it was. Why would trees be growing up _through_ houses and buildings? She tucked that question into her file to ask.

The bathroom was small and quaint, rather like the student apartments, but familiar nonetheless and that relieved her quite a lot. She didn't waste time, but quickly returned. If Shiroe was waiting for her to meet with her she shouldn't dally. That would have been rude generally, but it also felt like making a high ranking city official wait. They didn't have a lot of time so appointment schedules were important to meet a little early. Her father's words, as always, ran through her head at times like this. Those lessons had helped anchor her in the chaotic Gate of Time and they would likely do the same here. She let it comfort her like she had then. It made it feel like he was still walking with her.

"I'm ready," she said to Naotsugu, standing properly with her hands clasped before her. She'd stopped between the door to what she assumed was the office and the couch.

He got up with a smile. "Great. Come on in, then." He knocked once on the door, then opened it and waited for her to enter first.

MeowLi carefully stepped into the room and then continued when Naotsugu followed her in to close the door. It was nice to have the consistency, though all of a sudden he felt like a guard because he stayed behind her and near the door. The central part of the room had a low table, a couch on the far side of it and a shorter couch on this side, then chairs at either end, but a lot of chairs were scattered around the far right side of the room.

"Awake, then? Did you sleep well?" Shiroe's voice said from her left. He was putting down a feather pen on top of a large document on his desk that covered several other documents. He pushed up his round glasses and rose to his feet. "Have a seat," he offered, gesturing to the short couch. He was himself walking to sit in the middle of the long couch. She wondered at that, that he hadn't taken the chair closest to his desk. Was it a sign of importance that one person got the largest seat in the room? It didn't seem a question to ask here, but maybe one of the other younger children could answer it later.

She filed that one away, too, though behind the first one in level of importance, as she sat gingerly in the place indicated. She put her hands in her lap, holding them clasped together, as nervous as ever at an interview or a formal personal meeting. She didn't let her ears show it though. She'd worked hard to train them to point forward with interest at times like this when it was so important. She did have to sit on her tail hard, though. She'd learned to let it twitch ever so slightly at the tip behind the back of her leg where most people wouldn't see it. "I did sleep well, thank you," she finally remembered to answer the question and hoped she hadn't offended him with the long pause.

Shiroe only smiled and said, "That's good."

"Shiroe, she says that she was dropped out of the Gate of Time into the zone Purrcy found her in. Would something like that have made it so that she would have to have the massive Spirit Healing?"

Shiroe frowned slightly as he thought about that. "If the Gate of Time itself is up in the layers, I suppose." He looked at MeowLi. "Have you eaten yet, or do you feel like eating?" MeowLi shook her head. "Were you there with Purrcy?"

"Yes," she answered, carefully not saying anything more than she was required to, to answer the question.

"Did she ever perform the ritual purifications there that the High Priestess is required to perform?"

"No? There are no ritual purifications that I'm aware of in the Temple complex," she answered honestly.

Shiroe nodded. "Interesting. The whole city is in the nano layer then, and that drop would have definitely wiped you out. Did you fall unconscious when you were dropped?"

MeowLi swallowed. "Yes." It came out very tense, and his face went soft.

"You woke up to monsters in the zone, then."

MeowLi shivered. "Yes," she said in a very small voice.

"I'm sorry you had to have a frightening experience. Did they cause you any injury?"

"No. I was able to escape into a tree and they left after a while."

"That's good," Shiroe relaxed just a little. He'd actually been concerned. She wondered if it was because of her mother's warning that she would die in the zones without proper protection and preparation. She'd certainly felt like it at that frightening moment in time and she was glad it was now in the past of this linear time line.

Shiroe paused to consider her for a while. "It's rather difficult for me to not want to ask you a great many questions. I would assume, however, that Purrcy has required you to not answer the majority of them." His face took on an interesting look, very much like the calculating look of the gods when they were trying to get something out of Hahaue that she was just as determined to not let them get. MeowLi tensed slightly as Shiroe looked down and away, the surest sign that he was about to go on the attack, beginning with a seemingly innocent and simple to answer question. He was going to be a terrible opponent and she wondered how her mother had ever sat across from him, even without him opening his mouth to begin for the first time.

"Hey, hey, Councilor. This isn't the time for that, you know. Go easy on her the first time. It's all too new for her and you don't need to be sitting here until sunrise and she's snoring instead of answering questions." Naotsugu was actually laughing. MeowLi's ear turned towards him just a little in her surprise. She was sure she wouldn't snore, but if it went on that long, she just might be sleeping.

"Very well, Tank, I'll be good," Shiroe said calmly and MeowLi did not relax. That was the move to appear to change locations, when in fact one was only changing tactics. He sat back and rested both arms on the back of the couch, putting one leg over the other casually. Oh...he was a consummate negotiator, indeed. She needed to go first on this one, just to get the one and only point she was going to ever get.

"Hahaue said that to sit across the table from you was to be laid bare in only one look and three questions. She trained me most fiercely to only say, 'I can't tell you or we'll both be dead,' and then to firmly keep my mouth shut." Naotsugu laughed so hard he bent over double, gasping for air and Shiroe had to go from a mildly offended air to resigned as he watched the man behind MeowLi.

"Yes, she would have said that to you before bringing you," Shiroe agreed.

MeowLi wanted so very badly to say, _No, she said it every time she thought of you or complained about another god who wouldn't let up and wanted to see if they could make us kids talk while I was growing up_ , but she very firmly didn't. And she just as firmly hoped that had been enough to derail him. She slumped inside when the glint in his eye said that he'd risen to the challenge. He liked this kind of game. He was going to be as bad as or worse than her own father and perhaps even her mother. She took a deep breath, but only let it seem to be a light sigh.

Shiroe gave her a smile as he put his hands loosely on his knee and said, "Well, then, we'll go the easy route. I'll tell you my guesses and you just let me stay in the dark." MeowLi blinked. She didn't know this method. What was his game now?

"You were dropped out of the Gate of Time at the veil, which means for some reason you couldn't be taken through to linear Time. If your birth came after that transition, it wouldn't do to have you cross that particular boundary, would it? Nyanta went into the Gate of Time before then and had a secretary name MeowLi - I assume you - that he couldn't figure out how he'd met but whom he was able to get a few minor clues from."

"Purrcy and Nyanta are now in the linear Gate of Time, having called me only an hour or so before she brought you here to say they were entering it. She let me know that she'd been given the skill to Time walk and she can move through space with her ascendancy powers, which she showed us also when she brought you. Though I am surprised she could bring you with her. She's grown in strength since she was given it."

"She was pregnant when she went in one hour ago, and she was not pregnant just now when she visited again." Shiroe moved to push up his glasses. "Your grey is exactly Nyanta's grey. You are their blood daughter, and she couldn't leave you to sit alone outside in a monster zone. That would be too painful for her to think of you alone and not act. Nyanta refused to let her go immediately however, since she still needed to heal before he would be willing to let her go, and likely made her take her lessons first in how to be a Time walker so she wouldn't get lost. At her first opportunity, therefore, she returned to fetch you and bring you here." He clasped his hands and put them in his lap and looked at MeowLi, his eyes sharp behind his glasses.

MeowLi was frozen and had no way to open her mouth. "MeowLi, I am the Master Strategist and have been walking this world dungeon with your mother since she was sent by Izanami and Izanagi to our guild house's tree. I am one of the few people who knows everything and have been the director of the majority of it. In this guild house you are safe and your slips won't be dangerous. We'd even love to hear you having happy memories and be able to share them with you."

"However," his eyes went very sharp and she was pinned by them, "you may not say outside these walls anything of your lineage and past. Your lips are to remain tightly sealed outside this house and whenever we have guests in the house. That includes the boarders we have in the house. The People of the Land are still angry with the gods they have recently rejected for making Adventurers the High Priest and High Priestess. No one can know that you are related to them by blood. Neither Adventurers nor People of the Land are ready to know that it can even be a possibility. The conflicts and chaos that would create would be devastating still. We're working to begin to introduce the concept slowly so that it might become possible, but no one is ready for it to be proven."

"If you should slip, say that Hahaue has adopted you the same as she adopts everyone and they will be content with that answer. You may say you worked for Nyanta since you came out from the non-linear side and everyone in Akiba knows he was sent there twice, but it would make life simpler for you to only say you knew of him. Here in the city they are still angry with Izanagi and there are many who still only saw Nyanta even if it wasn't him. In this house he is Chichiue to Purrcy's Hahaue, so we understand all too well the torture it was to him to have to be the High Priest during that time. Only in these walls of Log Horizon are you safe to relax. Do you understand?"

MeowLi nodded vigorously, her mouth so dry she couldn't speak, her eyes so wide her eyewhiskers wanted to climb to the sky. "Very good. That's all I really had that was pressing at the moment. I'll summon Rudy back and he can answer any of your questions. Touya and Minori are part owners in a restaurant and because this was rather sudden they need to be there today. Minori at least is going to try to get tomorrow off so she can help you with shopping and the rest, so we hope you'll be able to relax here at home today."

"I thought I'd ask Shrimp to give her the tour, particularly the tree," Naotsugu said from the door.

Shiroe nodded. "That's a good thing to do until Rudy gets back. Have you told Marie yet?"

"Yes. She's excited, but she says she can't get free until dinner. That okay, if she and Serera come for dinner?"

Shiroe unexpectedly paused and he looked just a tad sad or uncomfortable. He looked at Naotsugu. "I think Serera would be very good for MeowLi...but I don't think she can know this secret."

"Mmm, no, probably not a good idea," Naotsugu agreed. "I'll tell Marie that one detail later tonight when we're alone."

"Okay, that's fine. I think she'll agree with the reasoning and keep her mouth shut." Shiroe crossed his arms loosely over his crossed knees and leaned lightly on them. "Crescent Moon guild is our sister guild and is over half Adventurer children. Our children and theirs are all good friends, so you won't have a lack of happy companions to surround you, even if ours are having to work hard on some days. You're welcome to go over there and visit once we're all comfortable with how things are going. Just let whomever is on watch in the living room know you'll be out of the house and where so we won't worry."

He smiled and let her recover a little more. "And I'm sorry for one more warning, but please, don't ever go into Akiba proper without one of us and _never_ leave Akiba unless I've approved it. If Purrcy would kill us both for you opening your mouth, both Nyanta and Purrcy will kill me over one hundred times for letting you get into so much danger." MeowLi nodded once again. She wasn't sure she ever wanted to anyway.

"So there," he sat back. "How did I do? And we don't have to die." He gave her a contented look.

She sighed to herself. She just had to overcome being very overwhelmed again was all. Then she knew what to say. "If I answered that, we'd both have to die."

Both Shiroe and Naotsugu laughed. She allowed herself to slump a little. She would have liked to have scolded her father a little for not warning her better. But then, she supposed that if he had been in a house and considered them family, how could it have been anything different than what he himself was? She could see him sitting in this room, just as pleased with the outcome, sitting just the same. She was released, but as she reached Naotsugu again, Shiroe added one more. "Ah, ...they didn't happen to teach you how to cook, did they?" He sounded very hopeful.

MeowLi turned back to him with a sigh. "Yes," _and Chichiue says that you're still under punishment and aren't to have any curry until he returns to speak with you himself_. She didn't say that, though, or they'd have to die again.

Shiroe's face went to hopeful. "We really need to have a dedicated household chef around again, if you'd be willing."

MeowLi raised an eyebrow ridge, then gave a small nod. "I'll consider it, once I'm to a point I can even think of such a thing."

Shiroe relaxed. "Thank you. I'd greatly appreciate it." MeowLi gave a nod and Naotsugu escorted her out the door again.


	175. Family Moving Forward

Nyanta walked into his bedroom suite. He needed to get Purrcy prepared to meet with Priestess Meghan, but she hadn't been answering his chat requests. As he climbed on the futon, he realized why. She was deeply asleep, curled on her back with one foreleg hanging in the air above her. The kittens were scattered all over the futon, exploring without sight even still. He moved to collect them into a pile, but didn't bother to put them close to their mother. It would give them strength to try to find her again. At least he'd have some time before they slipped off the edge, which they were close to doing when he'd arrived.

He was cat himself by the time he reached Purrcy. He sniffed her, but she was really quite asleep. Her belly was far too tempting, her curl exposing it to the ceiling. He started grooming her just under her neck. She didn't move. As his head moved to between her forelegs, the one hanging limply in the air bounced in rhythm to his licks, tapping his head lightly as he moved under that leg. As he continued to the center of her belly, she seemed to begin to rouse a bit, giving a slight sigh.

As he reached her lower flank, his human side got more interested. He paused and lifted his head to turn and look at her face. A golden eye was open and looking at him, daring him it seemed. She still wasn't particularly awake, though. That meant it could either be a dare to see if he'd continue forward on the path he was often reticent to walk, or a dare that would end in his ears being torn off. He wouldn't know until it happened at this point - or if he allowed her to wake up a bit more she might be more open to whatever he wanted - maybe. He decided to watch her just a bit longer.

Purrcy watched him a bit longer, then sighed a deeper sigh and flipped over to sit looking at him while resting on her side instead of her back. "So?" she finally asked him.

That didn't really tell him what he wanted to know. "Are mew going to claw me next?" he asked.

Purrcy stared at him in shock for just a moment, then snorted a laugh as her nose dropped to her forelegs. Laughter in her voice, she said, "Should I? I suppose you have a reason for waking me up. I was wondering what you wanted." His ear flicked and her tail lifted half-way in a slow curl and landed on the bed with a soft _pat_. That was better. She wasn't irritated.

Nyanta turned back to groom her leg that was stretched out now in front of him, though he kept quite aware of her and what she might do next. When he reached the paw, he slumped down to the bed on his side, resting his back against her belly and side and groomed between her toes. They twitched and he put a paw on the leg to hold it still.

"I assume you woke me up for a reason other than so you could go to sleep and leave me awake?" she said, in a somewhat more dangerous voice than before.

"Mm," he said casually, leaning back and looking at her over his shoulder and back. "As much as I might wish to do more than that, mew have a meeting in a few minutes with Purriestess Meghan. I'll stay here and watch over the children while mew go and do that."

She stiffened, her whiskers going taut, then she slumped. "Oh. Right. I guess it's good you came to get me then." She pushed to her feet, and headed for the bathroom. Her tail swiped his nose slowly, though, as she left his side - a payment for him waking her up when she'd been sleeping so peacefully. He rolled back to watch her, a slight smile on his lips, then he let his head drop to the bed as the bathroom door closed behind her and closed his eyes with a sigh. His ears turned a bit, placing where the children had managed to get to by this time. He was dozing by the time Purrcy returned to the room.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy couldn't help her ear turning. She tried to make it look like she was listening to a different sound rather than like consternation, though it really was the latter. She'd been quite worried about what she would be talking to Meghan about, but the large felinoid - who made fluffy look like three fur coats layered over each other with her dark stripes and speckling over the lighter greys of her fur and her tall and broad sizing - had carried the conversation almost from the beginning. She very obviously liked to talk.

Purrcy had learned quite a lot about the workings of the Temple of Time, the gossip of the various members of it Meghan cared about (for good or ill), and the general gossip of the city as related to the new High Priest and High Priestess of Inari. And most of all, really (Purrcy had to relent and relax) Meghan was devout to a fault, even to being completely loyal already to the new master and mistress of the temple. She had mentioned Li Shou once sadly, but then had perked back up and passed on the happy gossip about how Purrcy and Nyanta were just as honorable and also a pleasure to serve and how their greatness surpassed all the other gods and goddesses of the city just as much as Li Shou's had. (She was still loyal enough to make them equal to, not lesser than, her former mistress.)

Purrcy finally was able to get in one question. "What would you suggest we should do as far as further increases in the temple staff positions? Are we at a sufficient level for the two Inari, or do we need to add more staff to handle both?"

She settled down to another long lecture and slightly rambling meander of words and thoughts. Since Purrcy herself tended to talk that way as well, she let the flow of words teach her what she needed to know, and filed the rest away as things to review once she had more structure and details to understand exactly what Meghan meant by what she'd said.

As soon as there was a proper topic to interrupt, Purrcy asked, "Do you wish to stay as the head Priestess for Izanami, or for Izanagi? I could certainly use your help and you seem to know what you're doing." Purrcy had followed her around before the meeting and her nap to see just what that might be, though she knew she hadn't seen all of it yet.

There was a pause of sound as Meghan stared at her with open mouth and wide yellow eyes. Then her mouth snapped shut and she looked away in a bit of embarrassment. "I - well, I...," Meghan paused again, and her ear flicked in embarrassment and she cleared her throat. "I know I'm not... but, it would be an honor."

"Not what?" Purrcy asked calmly.

"...Not worthy, really," Meghan said quietly.

Purrcy tipped her head, "No. I think you are, from what I've seen. Certainly, to upset the current balance before I understand exactly what that is wouldn't be helpful to the temple or the staff. I'd far rather learn what I need to learn with competent, practiced people in their positions. I've never had a staff to help me with the role I've found myself in and need quite a lot of training. Timberel will be helping me as my secretary, but there are things I will need you to teach me as well, if you're willing."

Purrcy blinked at Meghan, who had finally decided to look back at her politely. "I might change things around later, once I understand how it all works together, so that it can fit better with my specific needs, but that's down the road and we've got lots of road ahead of us."

Meghan's whiskers quivered and she bowed. "I would be honored to serve," she said quietly. With fierce devotion, she added, "I would be happy to see to the strengthening of Inari-no-Izanami. It is with gratitude I would continue seeing to the proper running of Izanami's department of angels."

Purrcy inclined her head. "Thank you, Priestess Meghan. I will rely on you, then."

Meghan bowed her head low before Purrcy. Purrcy leaned forward and kissed the top of her head lightly, blowing a bit of air on her, changing her status to correctly reflect her position under Izanami. As Meghan rose again to look at Purrcy with the same fire of devotion she'd already shown, Purrcy was suddenly filled with a strength that washed over her. "Thank you," she said with sober gratitude.

-:-:-:-:-

The audience chamber of the Temple of Time was formally decorated with flowers and green plants set around the wall and curling up the six massive pillars that held up the tall roof. The formal audience with the council of gods and their retinues was even more grand than the formal announcement to the temple staff had been.

It was odd to Purrcy, that they had to be in such a large area set so high over everyone else to speak with them. It made sense if people were just going to come look at them be on display, but for talking to people it really didn't. She'd decreased the steps by a third for the staff meeting. For this one, she was already tempted to decrease it by at least a quarter. She was working hard to be good and wait and see why Nyanta thought leaving it as it was would be preferable.

"I mean, _we_ have to walk _up_ all those steps to begin with," she muttered under her breath. It suddenly hit her, though, that it was likely that Li Shou had floated up there on a cloud. She sighed and sent one of her aspects out to watch Ceridwen cast the cloud spell, practicing just a little time walking as she did it, since Ceridwen was already inside the temple, having come early. Nyanta had taught Purrcy enough now that she didn't get lost just going that short a distance through space and time, and she had all the other aspects of her anchoring her in her own linear time. She figured she'd better be able to do at least the cloud spell since all the rest of the higher denizens of the city could. To not be able to perform a cantrip would drop her status pretty fast.

"Purrcy." Purrcy turned her ear. "Come back," Nyanta called her. She was back in her body.

"What?"

"Why did you go?"

"To learn how to cast the cloud spell. I've rather neglected getting up to the level of the rest like I should have, being so busy getting things learned about the temple itself."

Nyanta tipped his head at her, not able to argue against it, but clearly not pleased either. She was immediately impatient with him. Her spine stiffened and she inclined her head stiffly. "My apologies," she said coolly. His eyes narrowed slightly and the tip of his tail flicked. She stood regally, in full restraint - the Queen waiting to be told her subjects were ready for her entrance.

Nyanta opened his mouth, but before he could say whatever it was, the coronets trumpeted, announcing their entrance into the audience hall. He turned back and stood in his relaxed upright gentleman's pose and offered her his arm. She lightly put her hand on top of his arm. He gave another flick of his tail, then suppressed his emotions as the doors before them were opened by the two guards standing on them.

They were dressed formally, in their High Priest and High Priestess robes, including the formal hats. She walked properly, holding her ears upright and her tail at attention, but also relaxed with a bit of a curl - just the right amount to be both formal and comfortable with being completely in control.

She didn't expect anyone to be rude enough to attack them on this first meeting in their own home, but she still locked everyone down anyway. It was just better to not let anything happen to begin with. They walked calmly down the aisle until they reached the foot of the stairs. Nyanta paused ever so slightly and she made him stop as she looked up at the thrones high above them.

With one of her own minor spells, she made all of the stairs save one disappear, then moved to step up on the platform, almost having to drag Nyanta with her in his surprise. When they were seated, she put the stairs back, but only to three-quarters. She didn't need anyone shouting and she didn't need to get the nose-bleed from being too high up in the stratosphere. If he was going to scold her for trying to be similar to everyone else, then they may as well get a taste of what she _could_ do.

They'd been announced as they'd walked to the dais, though she'd ignored it this time for the most part since it was the same as before. "Their Excellencies High Priest of Inari-no-Izanagi, _blah, blah, blah_ , Nyanta, and High Priestess of Inari-no-Izanami, _blah, blah, blah_ , Purrcy." She'd been a bit surprised at Nyanta's other high titles the first time and he'd had to explain them after the fact. Once she had the data in her head, and had been properly impressed to his face because that much mattered, it was just stickers to, like her own.

She looked out over the audience. Everyone was coming up from a bow, though the gods and goddesses had bowed only very slightly. Most of the following proceedings were handled by Marco, who was used as the herald, though Meghan stood opposite him on Purrcy's side of the front of the steps, half way down the stairs. Purrcy had made sure to put them at the proper location as she moved the stairs around, and carefully so they weren't suddenly dropped or tossed into the air without footing. It had been a little easier to make the step they were on slightly deeper. They seemed to have survived the surprising change to the scheduled plan.

When asked, Purrcy had only had one "decree" to issue, and Marco was saying that now that he was done with all the formal introduction part. She'd told him that the name of the temple was to be changed to the Temple of Creation, since Inari was the dual creation god, after all, and Time was now a part of the creation of Theldesia, not its own free-form part. When the decree was completed, she closed her eyes, drew in a breath, and cast the spell she'd been working on in her spare time for the last couple of days. It settled over the entire temple and there was a shifting in the visual range for it until the spell was completed.

From the outside - and slightly in the interior to match it - the Temple of Creation was now Japanese in form rather than Chinese, though the two were similar enough it had only been a minor modification, really. Trying to turn it into anything else would have been rather dramatic a change. It wasn't likely that anyone outside the temple had even noticed, unless they were looking at it directly at the time, though anyone who stopped to look at it closely would notice there were differences.

She'd needed to change the descriptor text on the building anyway, so changing the way it looked had been a rather natural addition to it. Only other Adventurers would know, but it was part of the minor detail cleaning-up requirements she had to take care of. At the formal announcement of the change of name had seemed like a good time to get it done. Timberel, standing just behind her and to the outside of the thrones, cast a healing spell on her, but it wasn't very big since he was still working on learning them. It was sufficient enough, however, for the three spells combined.

Once the official business of the Temple of Creation was completed, then it was time for introductions the other way. Each deity stood forward with those of their temple they wished for Nyanta and Purrcy to recognize and were formally introduced by their own heralds. The Egyptian cats were first. Ra, the sun god, followed by Bastet, the overseer of the underworld and one of the fertility goddesses, and then Mut, another one. They were some of the oldest, and thus highest level, and were also announced as TechnoMagus. Purrcy tipped her head at each of them respectfully. Several other minor African cat deities were introduced as well.

The European ones were next, starting with the Greek goddess Hecate, who was human in form rather than felinoid, but Nyanta had already told her she could transform into a cat when she chose to. She was followed by Libertas, also of the same form. They were followed by Freyja, who was attended by her two large grey cats. Purrcy and Nyanta both inclined their heads to Ceridwen who had with her the two white cats who were among her attendants. Then Ovinnik, a felinoid as black as night ink, was introduced. Purrcy knew Nyanta wasn't fond of the god, who was portrayed in Polish mythology as a matted, scruffy and somewhat evil creature. Gryla, an Icelandic troll goddess was next, also attended by a large cat. Purrcy was intrigued to meet Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, not a goddess in her own right, but a Saint was rather close.

When Nyanta had first told Purrcy about her, she'd had to agree that the patron saint of cats wouldn't be left out by Li Shou. Any fodder for flavor text seemed to be somehow programmed into the game anyway. Over the time it had been in creation and upgrades, they'd needed to draw in some rather esoteric data to have new quests for the gamers to have fun with. Even the minor cat deities of Africa showed how far the programmers had gone to scrape the barrel as it were.

The only other Asian god stepped out. It was a very fat cat, Maneki Neko, titled the Beckoning and the Lucky. He didn't look too happy to have to face them. Now that Li Shou was gone, it was only the three of them to represent Asia. Nyanta had told Purrcy that each region had voting power in the council and only because there had been three to balance each other had the power in the Asian block been a neutral and reasonable party. Now that the two of them were likely balanced against Maneki Neko, he likely felt very outnumbered. Until they actually had some voting, though, Purrcy couldn't say one way or the other how things would fall.

The South American block was also a set of three. Night Sun was the Mayan Jaguar god of Terrestrial Fire. He was yet another cat god of the underworld, though he also had a title relating him to the sun and another to war. Besides him, there was also Ccoa of Peru, who seemed to be a minor kami in comparison to the others, and Ix Chel, a Mayan Jaguar goddess of midwifery and war, who seemed to have some spousal relationship to Night Sun.

Nyanta had tried to briefly explain the rules of the Court of Gods to Purrcy but she still didn't have it down yet. Watching it would teach her best. Sometimes the larger Europe faction couldn't agree, so split and voted two votes. She couldn't quite grasp how that could be allowed, but she supposed it worked if the council worked at all. The one thing she could grasp very well was that none (or at least nearly none) could be trusted, and some not at all. She hoped she got to sit out the council meetings. Nyanta could do that part, as far as she was concerned. He _was_ the Adventurer's Ambassador, after all.

The deans of the five universities were introduced last. They could advise the council, and cast a vote if the issue directly affected the universities. Purrcy paid more interest in these personages than in the deities, quickly memorizing which ones she wanted to meet with early, though she expected she would have one aspect devoted to learning that would spend time at all five of them since they each specialized slightly differently. That just meant that each of them had something she needed or wanted to learn.

Once everyone was introduced it seemed it was meeting time generally, since Marco opened up the floor. Purrcy watched, trying to understand the council, as a seemingly random god moved to speak first. "Now that we are brought into linear time, will we all age and pass away?"

That was an important first question to these people, Purrcy was sure. "Not necessarily. You may if you wish to, however. I believe it has to do with how many followers you maintain, or care to maintain. If you are tired and done with living, your story will still remain for others to find later, and you may even been called back if in some age enough people decide to renew their worship. The basic law is that as long as you are willing to work at maintaining a living presence on the land of the base realm of Theldesia, you will live. From what I understand all of you already have departments that handle proselytizing, so it will only depend on your personal preference."

She paused and blinked, though the deities seemed to be relieved to hear it, "Your followers here in the Gate of Time will age and die, however." There were unhappy faces at that proclamation. They didn't all live forever either anyway, but there was a strange and convoluted long life span for them in the chaotic Gate of Time. She hadn't understood that description either and Nyanta had assured her that if it even mattered any more she would get that lesson along with her others at the university after this meeting was over. She intended to begin those lessons immediately the next day. "Any creature tied to you through the flavor text will stay living as well," she added for the benefit of the three goddesses who had cat familiars. They were relieved by that as well.

Ccoa was next to stand forward. He crossed his arms and asked with some belligerence, "What are you going to do about the South American population that is too small for proper worshipers?"

"What too small?" Purrcy asked back. "Adventurers don't worship deities, except the few who take on priest roles or quests. They set up South America to be a multi-zone type area since they could play with all the regions of the continent. Every area has its own proper People of the Land villages and populations that have been left alone by the Overwritten. We'll be sending a squadron of Adventurers down to make sure the Adventurers that have been removed from the resurrection cycle are returned to it so they can protect the People of the Land again, but they aren't in much danger. You know full well our other quests include decreasing the Overwritten that do exist, and in decreasing the flawed material making the numbers of demihumans too high."

"Yes, I do, but it's the demihuman population that has been set to worship me," Ccoa explained, though it seemed more a complaint.

Purrcy nodded. "We'll keep that in mind. Feel free to strengthen your favorites or a few of their favorite villages and the Adventurers will keep them around to be interesting battle zones. The rest will be purified so that the People of the Land worshipers can increase in numbers. Feel free to recruit worshipers from the People of the Land, too. Work out a balance with the other deities from your region if you think it needs to be more detailed than that. But if the religious wars get out of hand, I'll step in." She flicked an ear. "That's world-wide, by the way." She waited expectantly for the next question.

There was a bit of stirring and muttering at that. Ceridwen stepped forward and politely asked, "High Priestess Purrcy, could you explain where your authority comes from, like for instance, to be able to step in and do such a thing?"

"Certainly. Inari has made me to be the Caretaker. That means that if there becomes an imbalance in the world that will cause it to shift too far into the possibility of full destruction, I am empowered to step in and rebalance the world. It works on regional levels as well, since they're not interested in having regions become waste zones if they've been purposely populated." Ceridwen thanked her and stepped back into place. It looked like it might take a while for everyone to believe Purrcy could be trusted in that position. They would learn it eventually.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta sighed in relief that Purrcy had finally stated clearly why she was equal with the rest of the deities in the room. Really, everyone knew they were lesser than the AIs. They didn't want to know that Purrcy was Inari, they wanted to know what Ceridwen had just asked for: what realm of power had Inari given her that made her equal to the rest of them? Purrcy's position was really equal to Li Shou's, which was just slightly higher than the rest. Just like Li Shou could control Time, Purrcy as Caretaker could affect the rest whether they would or no. Probably only Nyanta knew and trusted at the moment that Purrcy wouldn't abuse that power she held over the rest of them. They would learn it eventually.

As the meeting continued, he was pleased that Purrcy continued to answer them appropriately and properly to her station. He wished he could be sure that it was just her being the natural Purrcy, but given the little exchange between them just before walking into the room, he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure he was only himself either. He could feel that the Inari were interested in this meeting and paying attention. He wondered if he'd said something and didn't know it, or if Izanagi had been the actor at the moment to make Purrcy change in demeanor like that. That was the hard part about being in their positions. He just couldn't know all the time which it was. If it wasn't Izanagi, then she was mad at him.

He sighed to himself. He didn't really want that right now. He was already going to lose her attention after this meeting, save for when he demanded it. He wished he knew how to get it without forcing it out of the Inari - which was near impossible most of the time. He'd been hoping for at least one last calm and quiet night of togetherness. If he'd made Purrcy mad, that would be a more difficult prospect. He had to let his ears turn to let out his emotions, but he kept it to a listening turn instead of the twisting fall backwards it wanted to be.

The meeting finally ended and they were released to leave so the rest of the people in the room could leave. "I didn't notice any attacks," he murmured conversationally to Purrcy.

"Neither did I," she murmured back. "I had them locked down anyway, feeling it prudent."

"And still?" he asked quietly.

"Of course. Effective until they're out of the square out front."

"Very good," he gave a satisfied nod. "Mew handled them very well."

Purrcy didn't answer for a bit, then murmured demurely, "Thank you." She dipped in a slight curtsy in the middle of their walk, though they'd just passed through the door and had it close behind them. Nyanta's heart clenched slightly. She was still not calm just yet.

They went straight to their rooms, as she'd been away from the kittens as long as she could be, for the most part. They could open their eyes now, though they couldn't focus very far away just yet. Purrcy walked into the middle of the futon, paced a circle and lay down. The kittens, who had been watched over by nurses, moved directly for her. They recognized her scent and at least the shadowy black figure with golden patches by now. Nyanta excused the nurses and waited until they were gone. Then he went to cat as well and somewhat cautiously moved towards Purrcy.

She was still cool, not looking at him, and the tip of her tail lifted and fell in taut rhythm. He bowed his head low and sniffed at her neck without getting too close. "I'm sorry if I've offended mew," he said quietly. She didn't relent, but she also didn't swat at him for getting close enough to actually lightly touch the fur on her neck. He paused, then rubbed his head on the back of her head. "Did I say something I don't remember, nyan?" He was careful in even asking the question, since he could get in trouble with Izanagi for asking it, not just with her.

"It wasn't necessary to scold me back into being present in the room. A simple kind reminder would have been sufficient," she finally said, her tone still cool. "There are still things you haven't allowed me time to learn in this place, and there are things I am still trying to understand all on my own."

Nyanta froze just a bit, then sighed. He sat down on his haunches and his whiskers drooped. "I'm sorry it is difficult still - to be placed in the eyes of everyone and not have sufficient knowledge yet." Her head turned farther away from him and her tail thumped the bed just a little more. His head dropped and quietly he said, "Please forgive my selfishness, to want to have my wife on this last day that I can, and until this time."

They stayed in those positions until Purrcy's anger had passed sufficient that Nyanta could move to settle down next to her. He purred at her then, a silent purr she could feel, until she relented enough to let him groom her lightly - enough to lull her into sleeping a light cat nap. Only then could he really relax. He lay his head on her shoulders and purred himself into the same state. He would miss the mid-day family times.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu patted MeowLi on the shoulder as they returned from Shiroe's office to the atrium sitting area. "You did well to hold up under that. Shiroe doesn't have to be so firm and dramatic, but it's rather become habit. If you want to go looking, over there's the kitchen. I'll have Akatsuki fetch you, though she gets here fast down that tree. Should never have tried to do the Cat a favor. Shrimp uses it more and gets to me faster when I'd rather she didn't."

He didn't expound, but did say to the air, "Akatsuki, MeowLi's up. Could you give her the tour? ...Yup. Got the full warning, too, so it's all good." He gave MeowLi a thumb's up and suddenly Akatsuki, dressed in black pants and a black shirt, and with a short sword at her side was landing on the floor next to the tree.

She stood up and looked at MeowLi. Her dark eyes were deep and her face rather passive, or perhaps...pensive? MeowLi was drawn to her, not quite knowing why. When they were face to face, MeowLi bowed. The look in Akatsuki's eyes was questioning, but it went from a _Why did you do that?_ to an _Are you feeling okay now?_ "Yes, thank you," she answered. Akatsuki's eyes went wide and then grateful. MeowLi smiled. "Hahaue told me how to listen to you." At the next look in Akatsuki's eyes, MeowLi did what she'd been wanting to do this whole time. She wrapped her arms around Akatsuki in a hug. "Thank you for taking care of Hahaue and Chichiue for us."

The stiff Akatsuki suddenly relaxed, then reached up and patted MeowLi on the head. "No...thank you...for taking care of them...for us." There was a longer expectant pause, then, "- and they will be home soon," though Akatsuki's fist clenched. MeowLi understood. It was hard for her, and perhaps all of them, as well. She added a brief gentle squeeze, then let Akatsuki go.

"Why is there even a tree growing in the middle of the house?" she asked her question.

Akatsuki gave her a bright impish smile and then asked, "Can you climb?" MeowLi nodded and Akatsuki was up the tree three floors. "Come on." MeowLi took a breath, moved back, transformed, and ran at the tree. She was glad there were branches on the way up. At the top floor, Akatsuki stopped her with a hand held out from where she was sitting on a branch. She pointed at a latched trap door. MeowLi nodded and watched as Akatsuki undid the latch. "Open when we're on top. Close and lock when you come back in." Her eyes were sober. "Every time."

"Okay," MeowLi promised and the door swung open and Akatsuki was up on the roof above waiting for her. MeowLi climbed the last bit to stand with her. Akatsuki let her look around briefly to see more plants on the roof and chairs and a small grill, but before she could see any more than that, Akatsuki was up in the tree, beckoning. MeowLi had to study it just a bit to understand how to run up it with the boards in the way, then she was up in the tree. Akatsuki urged her to go higher so she went up until she wasn't comfortable with the height and sizes of branches any more and stopped.

Akatsuki stopped next to her and pointed to the branch on the opposite side of the tree. "That branch. Your mother stopped there. I was the first to meet her to see why."

"Did she land there?"

"No. Ran. From down there." Akatsuki pointed to the ground outside the building.

MeowLi looked down. That was a long way down, even longer than any tree they'd climbed in the Gate of Time. "From - outside the building?"

"Yes. She surprised us coming over the edge. Pervert almost got run over and was very surprised. ...It was funny." Her head tipped and she smiled, then she looked down again. "The wolf-fangs chased her here and we had to fight them off."

MeowLi silently pondered that statement as she looked around at the ground and the area of the roof. Akatsuki silently let her until she was mostly content, then put her hand on MeowLi's shoulder. MeowLi looked at her and she pointed farther out. "That's why."

MeowLi looked and her eyes were captured by the most amazing scene she'd seen. Buildings so tall even the spires of the Gate of Time looked dwarf, and so broad the whole Temple Square would almost have fit in them. And so many of them...and only a few not falling down, or with parts crumbled, and a large number of them with trees growing through them or near them to push them down, and eventually, one very, very large one with branches that spread out to be the size of the entire Gate of Time almost and the top of it went up farther still. Her mouth opened and she had to stare. Beyond that was a very tall wall, but that was background. "Silver Maple. Everything is ancient, even the trees. But it's home." It was said warmly and like it was missed at the same time. As if Akatsuki was missing the city when it hadn't been ancient, but new and alive. From MeowLi's parent's stories, she was.

"D-did my mother ever climb that one? It's so...big."

"No. That one." MeowLi quickly turned her head and Akatsuki was pointing the opposite direction. MeowLi walked down the branch a bit to see around the trunk of the tree and stared again. She could only see the top portion of that tree from here. It was closer and tall buildings at odd angles were in front of it, but it was almost as big as the other one and spread out wide branches as well. "That is Nyanta and Purrcy's tree. Shiroe is going to buy it for them. That is where they confessed their love, and healed, and where Nyanta hid when it became too difficult. Hahaue loves that tree...and we love her in it." Bright dark eyes looked at MeowLi. "We get to watch her fly from there, and we love to fly."

"You fly?" MeowLi asked, wanting to look at the tree but it was impolite since she'd asked a question.

A small smile that said MeowLi wouldn't understand just yet. "Yes, but not the same. No wings necessary. Assassin-Tracker skills."

MeowLi wiggled in delight and Akatsuki's eyes laughed at her. "I'm sorry. I must admit my parent's stories and teachings about the Adventurers were always my favorite ones. To see and know one who has the skills they taught me about, rather than imagine one...," she blushed.

"Want to? See, that is?" Akatsuki grinned as MeowLi's body completely did want to. "Watch and listen." MeowLi focused down hard. She wanted to hear and see it all with all her cat senses. She was delighted as Akatsuki named each skill then performed it, dancing around the branches of the tree, then down the trunk and around the roof and back up, flying lightly on the air as if she were the fabled fairy until she returned. "Those were Tracker, Assassin, and my first fifteen Mysteries. I have too many now to show you unless we have several hours."

"How many now?" MeowLi asked quickly.

"Just to ninety-one this past week," Akatsuki said proudly.

"Wow. They said you were working hard. Will you be able to show them one hundred when they return?"

Akatsuki went sober and gave a firm nod. "That is my goal. To show them what I can do."

MeowLi purred. "They will be so happy."

Akatsuki looked at her for a second, then put her hand on MeowLi's head. Her body said she was very old and feeling it. Then she pet MeowLi gently and MeowLi could tell she was saying many things, but it helped both of them relax a little. MeowLi rubbed against Akatsuki a little as she purred to say that it was okay. They'd both make it, particularly if they could do it together. Akatsuki patted her, in agreement. They sat in the tree looking out for a long time, MeowLi listening to new sounds and smelling the new smells of a different city. Before they went down, MeowLi looked back at the tree said to belong to her parents. She could see them there, lounging and enjoying the peace and the company of the other. "You can go."

She looked down at Akatsuki already on the roof top. MeowLi waited until she was down next to her to look at her questioningly. "When you feel safe, you can go. It's not where it's dangerous. There are some people on the way, but only for a little. Don't climb it if you can't yet, but it's beautiful there. We go...sometimes." MeowLi understood. When they were missing Hahaue and Chichiue too much, they would go to be close to them. "Perv - Naotsugu can take you, or Tetorō. He goes a lot."

"Thank you," MeowLi said. Akatsuki put her fingers into MeowLi's fur since she'd gone big enough to get up the tree and walked with her to show her all the things on the roof. That was a strange feeling for a little while, but then she got used to it enough to not want to twitch. Here not far from the main door was where everyone sat. There were enough chairs for her, too. The grill wasn't very far for night dinners if they felt like it. Bushes surrounded it on two sides to give it privacy.

They walked to the wall that looked towards the city, then around to the right and Akatsuki pointed to the building right next to them. "Crescent Moon League guild, Marie's. The wolf-fang assassins came from there before then, when it was empty." Akatsuki turned towards their roof. "I was there, waiting," she pointed to the top of the small building that the door went into. "Nyanta was inside at the door, waiting. As soon as they crossed we attacked. Purrcy went from the branch," it was pointed out again from this vantage point, "down the far side and into the house through the patio door. She hid in the fourth floor closet - a lot, later, but that was the first time. We were glad she was safe while we took care of it. She was so sad and scared. We were worried."

There was a pause in the story, then Akatsuki turned back to the other building. "Because they could come across, Shiroe worried even more. So he figured out how to fill it with friends to protect us. Naotsugu and Marielle already loved each other, so he negotiated their wedding. They came here because of that negotiation."

MeowLi thought that was rather impressive and a testament to Shiroe's negotiation skills if he could bring an entire house and not just one person to move. "Marie is the guildmistress, so Naotsugu sleeps there at night and works here in the day." Even still. They hadn't had to come for that.

"They're in charge of the Academy. That was the agreement." That was it. The more to the story. "That's that way," Akatsuki turned around again and pointed the opposite direction. "So that Shiroe can protect us even more. All of this area is being purchased for the Academy or Shiroe so that we can't be forced to leave it." MeowLi pushed on Akatsuki and rubbed her to say that was enough. She wouldn't hold any more lesson right now. Akatsuki looked at her and MeowLi blinked and tilted her head with her ear held out and crossed her eyes. Akatsuki smiled slowly. "Leaking?" MeowLi nodded. Akatsuki patted her head. "Okay. Let's go inside. That much you can hold." MeowLi agreed.

Akatsuki held her fur again as they walked. This time she took MeowLi back in through the door in the little building. It was a simple stairwell and nothing more at this level. When they reached the top floor, Akatsuki reappeared at the top of the trunk and closed the trap door and latched it. Then she reappeared on the floor. "Eagles nest." That didn't mean anything at the moment. Akatsuki took her to the far side and opened a door. "That patio." MeowLi looked out to see a sliding glass door that led to a small balcony. She nodded, sniffing the smells that were growing old, but not dead yet. Those smells mixed with other similar smells in this level. Others had once lived and slept on this floor, but not now.

"Eagles?" she asked. Akatsuki was silent and her lips pressed ever so slightly together. She wasn't ready to tell the story. "Later is okay," MeowLi said.

Akatsuki gave a small, firm nod. A promise to tell it later when it was easier to say. They walked down a floor. "Also. Eagles nest." They kept walking to the next floor. "Also, but the boarders are here now. The closet is there." They were walking for it. Akatsuki opened it politely and MeowLi explored it slightly. It was dark and only cat eyes could probably see in that room. The smell of her parents was in it, but ever so faintly. They hadn't been there for a long time. Tetorō's smell was there, too, so he'd been there as well, and MeowLi wondered why, but decided not to ask that one. It would probably get the same answer the last one had, and that was okay.

They walked back to the stairwell and down one more floor. "Whose room where?" Akatsuki gave MeowLi a test.

MeowLi sniffed and walked around the square around the tree trunk. "This one. Tetorō's, but," she looked back one room. "He uses that one, too. Someone else did...an Eagle he knew well?" MeowLi wondered if it might have been a girlfriend or something.

Akatsuki looked down at her feet. "His partner. The Hacker General, and Purrcy's guard. The sub-guildmaster."

MeowLi sat down in surprise. "Who?" She was sorry she'd asked it. Akatsuki was looking at her with such surprised sorrow.

Akatsuki sank to her knees and reached out a hand, imploring. MeowLi moved close to sit in front of her and the hand dropped to Akatsuki's knee. "She talked about the rest of us, but not the Eagles? ...Not even Michael-san?"

"No. ...I'm sorry."

Akatsuki couldn't understand it, but if it was truth it was truth. Finally she said, quietly, "Tell Shiroe, in private. Never tell Tetorō. It will hurt. Maybe Shiroe knows why." MeowLi gave a nod of promise. It made her itch to know more and to know why. But then she'd wondered why her parents had talked of this home and the people in it but never called them their children and why her mother had only just told her today about the children on Earth. It wasn't like they wouldn't have understood. It was confusing. Maybe Shiroe would know that, too. As he'd said himself, he knew everything.

They walked down to the next floor, the second one, and it was busy with alive smells. "Naotsugu, Rudy, Touya, Minori, Isuzu, mine." They filled up the whole floor. No wonder Tetorō was upstairs. That felt really lonely. She could see why her mother would tell her to sleep on her lonely nights with him. They would keep each other company. That brought up..., "Where for me?"

Akatsuki looked thoughtful for a second. "Minori. She'll tell you. That's her job," was the definitive answer. MeowLi would have to wait, then. Akatsuki walked her over to the opening around the tree that looked down to the main floor. "Here, we jump...you and me," the further explanation was tacked on. MeowLi couldn't see Minori jumping from here so rather understood the necessity of it. She leaped to the trunk, then pushed off and landed on the main floor, following Akatsuki. "You do the main floor yet, Perv?"

"Nope. Thought you could handle that, too," was answered from the couch.

"Kay." Then Akatsuki hesitated. "Basement is storage and one more bath - one on each floor. Need to see?"

"I'll explore it later if I need something to do," MeowLi decided.

Akatsuki gave an "okay" nod, but continued to look at MeowLi, assessing something hard. "Soft sorrow or difficult sorrow last?"

MeowLi sat down, consternated, not really wanting either. She had to suppose...a house with memories would cause that. She sighed. "I suppose the kitchen is the soft sorrow?" A positive nod and sympathy. That could only mean...her heart clenched. "Hard last. I'll stay there and sleep some more."

"Rudy's coming," Naotsugu reminded her. Her ear twitched uncomfortably.

"Fine," Akatsuki said. "He can sit then help you leave it." That sounded okay and MeowLi gave a nod. Akatsuki pointed to Shiroe's office door. "Shiroe's room."

MeowLi gaped at her. "It's his _room_?"

"Yes, and office, and everything we don't do out here, like battle planning and secret guild meetings, and punishments." That was rather a lot. MeowLi blinked. Perhaps being able to not have to walk all over a large building was timesaving, but...

Akatsuki walked MeowLi to where Naotsugu had pointed earlier. MeowLi stepped lightly and cautiously. Akatsuki let her walk around herself, waiting at the door. She transformed to felinoid to be tall enough to look around. The stoves were run by Summons, which seemed very odd, but the rest was fairly consistent. There were a few odd kitchen implements she didn't know the use of, but she supposed that shouldn't be surprising, and storage closets of food, but no ice box. She wondered how they managed that. There was one box, with only a small door on it, standing in a corner. Perhaps that was it. Everything was "more"-ish than the number of people she'd met that morning. Had the kitchen been expanded when the Eagles were here? They did more than double the guild, based on numbers of rooms she'd seen, so it was likely.

When she turned back to Akatsuki, the small woman was looking at her hopefully. It took a moment to understand it, but when she did MeowLi had to shake her head at the look. "He won't let me. The punishment is until he comes back." Akatsuki slumped. "Ah, that's just for the curry. I can make anything else." That seemed to help a little. They really did love the curry. It was amazing that it was such an effective punishment.

As they reached the door again, MeowLi's eyes were caught by the door opposite them and she stopped walking, staring at it. The door to her parent's room. She trembled just a little, then said. "Let's stop here. I'll go there when I have the strength for that memory, or when I really need it."

Akatsuki looked at her soberly, then nodded. "It will be for all of you when you come until you're all ready to be in your own places."

"It's big enough?" MeowLi asked.

"Like Shiroe's. Less long. Tatami mat floor like mine." MeowLi nodded. Her father and his love for the traditional tatami flooring.

"Do you need the purification?" Naotsugu asked from his post. He was looking at her with a knowing look. He'd changed the topic on purpose for her. Akatsuki looked at her, confused.

"I...don't know," MeowLi answered.

"Were you initiated in the temple?" he clarified.

"Yes. All of us were, though only to the second level. Hahaue and Chichiue don't want us to be abused - that's their word - by Inari."

Akatsuki lit up. "Me, too: shrine maiden, but to Shiroe's kami."

"Shiroe's kami?" They both got wary.

"Long story for later," Naotsugu said dismissively. "The point is, because we've got a Priest and two shrine maidens and a deacon in the house, we've got a mini shrine out back. Go show her that and teach her the purifications. She might need to know."

Akatsuki gave a nod and took MeowLi's hand. MeowLi let Akatsuki lead her past her parent's room and down the hall the bathroom had been in. At the end of the hall was a door. Akatsuki opened it and they went through. They entered a small traditional garden area enclosed by a tall fence. There was a passageway in front of them. Right near them was a bubbling fountain with a long handled cup hanging on the side of it. Akatsuki led her to that first. "Cup your hands." She did. "Rub to wash." Akatsuki poured water over her hands. "Cup again." She did. "Sip, rinse, spit on the ground." MeowLi did her best to and Akatsuki gave a nod of acceptance. "You can let the rest go on the ground." She put the cup away as MeowLi let the rest of the water go. She was suddenly thirsty enough to drink it though. It had been cool and sweet.

Akatsuki looked her up and down. "Other than tail, you could wear mine." She considered it longer, then looked far away. "Calasin. You owe Purrcy favors for clothes still? Need one for a stray she brought to our place. My size, about another hand taller. She's grey so something to match." Akatsuki looked back at MeowLi. "Do you like no colors or colors?"

MeowLi considered it. It was temporary until tomorrow anyway, though it would be hers she supposed. "Yellow?"

"With grey? ...Oh, okay. Umm...," then back to MeowLi, "Dress? Pants? Skirt and blouse?"

"Too many choices. Keep it dress until tomorrow."

Akatsuki paused, then said, "Do you have any copies of the summer yellow and white that size? Perfect. Right now." A dress of happy bright yellow, like the sun, with spots of white appeared in Akatsuki's hand. "Ah, underthings." Those showed up, too. Akatsuki's eyes went to MeowLi's feet. "Yes." A few more things showed up. "Thanks. Minori will bring her by tomorrow." Akatsuki turned towards the wall with entryways to their left. "Boys, girls," explained by a wave, and Akatsuki led her into the girls one.

There was a hot spring, right here. MeowLi was surprised. "Magic?"

"Yes. Here's soap and washcloth. I'll sit here while you wash and get clean in the spring. Then you soak until you can feel you're lighter but not going to get any lighter." Akatsuki knelt down with the things she was holding. MeowLi stripped and picked up soap and washcloth. It wasn't easy to clean this way as a furry creature, but she managed to get everywhere she could reach as clean as possible. When she finally was relaxed enough to get out, Akatsuki was holding a towel for her. "Sorry. Next time we'll all go together and then we can help you."

"That would be nice," she said in relief. Akatsuki helped her get dressed in the new clothing, including new socks and a comfortable pair of shoes. She twirled in the dress, enjoying its flowy skirt. The white had turned out to be larger flowers on the yellow background of the dress. "It's pretty. Thank you."

"Looks good. I thought it would clash with the grey, but it doesn't." Akatsuki was very specific and careful. It sounded learned and like she was trying hard.

"Thank you," MeowLi respected that effort by repeating herself. "Ah...I have a problem now, though." Akatsuki waited patiently to hear it. "I'm very hungry and thirsty suddenly."

Akatsuki gave a nod. "We'll have to purify food for you then until you come down to this level. We know how to do that, too. ...But...why?"

"Archmage Shiroe says it's likely because the Gate of Time is always at the na-no," she said the new word slowly to be sure she got it right, "level. We don't have the purification rituals there."

"Ouch." Akatsuki's eyes were large.

"Yes. It was ouch. I was passed out a long time, it felt like, but maybe not. He says we came only about an hour after she said it was done."

Akatsuki patted her and MeowLi collected her clothing from before. "We do our own wash." MeowLi froze and Akatsuki patted her again. "We'll teach you, or Minori and Touya might do it for you. It's one of their jobs."

"They do a lot," MeowLi said and wondered if maybe she should at least take on that task. It would be good to give something back and help bear some of the load. She could certainly help in the kitchen.

-:-:-:-:-

When MeowLi and Akatsuki arrived back at the central sitting area, Rudy had arrived. "She's hungry. Needs purified food." She got blank looks back and Akatsuki sighed and turned to MeowLi. "You're the only cook in the house right now. I can purify the ingredients, though."

"That will work," MeowLi sighed. "Can I drink from the fountain outside? That tasted good." Akatsuki brightened up and gave a nod. She trotted away, back the way they'd come.

"You look lovely in that dress, Miss MeowLi," Rudy said, giving her a bright smile. "Until you have a room assigned, I suppose you can leave your other clothes under the tree, or take it into the kitchen?"

MeowLi looked at the tree, then the kitchen, then glanced at her parent's room. That would be the most logical place to put it for now. She took a deep breath, marched over to it, opened the door and put her clothes down right inside the door. She allowed herself a brief glance, but firmly closed the door. Rudy was already next to her to gallantly bow and offer her his arm. She gratefully took it, imitating her parents. "Thank you," she said to him quietly.

He smiled at her gently. "Of course. Leaving one's things out in public isn't really the best option, but when one has to face things that are difficult, having other options available helps us decide what we _can_ do." That seemed sound advice and her ears agreed with him. They arrived in the kitchen and he escorted her to a stool at a work table. "If you'll tell me what recipe you'd like to make, or at least the ingredients, I can get them out for you." He was already walking to the pantry.

MeowLi watched what he did carefully as she listed off the ingredients. Some ingredients he pulled out of baskets on the pantry shelves, but some he walked to the large box, opened the door, reached in, and pulled out exactly what she'd asked for. A few things they had to compromise on since the food products were slightly different between locations. None of it looked appetizing, even though she knew it was the same foods she'd just asked for. He sat and looked at her with a smile. "Lady Akatsuki will fix that nauseating feeling in a bit...and here she is now."

MeowLi turned in surprise, not having heard anything, but then she remembered that was one of the Assassin's skills. Akatsuki put a tall cup of water in front of MeowLi and that did smell good. She caught it up and drank deeply, sighing in relief when she was done. Akatsuki was already standing by the ingredients. She was sprinkling a little water over all of them as well. She clapped twice, bowed, clapped again, and said, "Please, make this offering of food to be at the second and proper level to feed those who serve the gods to give them the strength to carry out their duties." She bowed again, then clapped one more time. In front of MeowLi's eyes, the food went from unappetizing through an odd change to suddenly be normal ingredients waiting for her to make her meal.

"How does it do that?"

Akatsuki shrugged. "Game mechanics, flavor text, world rules. Irritating requirement that's at least easy to perform. You can do it yourself next time. It was just some water from the fountain. Only a small amount has to touch each item. If you can cook while it's base level, you can still purify it after and eat it at the upper level. We can't make food go up to the nano layer, though. This is as high as it goes down here."

"No, it's sufficient," MeowLi hurried to reassure her. "Thank you very much." She looked at the stove. "I don't know how to use that kind of stove, though."

"I'll help with that, Lady Akatsuki. You can get back to your duty," Rudy offered.

Akatsuki gave a nod, a pat to MeowLi, and disappeared. MeowLi wanted to apologize for pulling her away from her work, but it was too late already. Rudy was setting a cutting board and knife in front of her. "Will you need bowls, measuring cups and spoons, or the like? I wash the dishes, Minori is head chef and Touya is sous chef, when they can be here. Tetorō helps with the rest of clean up while I wash and we all put away the clean ones when they're dried. There aren't so many of us that it's strenuous, except perhaps when we want a fancier meal and there's a lot of preparation to do. I am sorry I can't help with that part."

MeowLi shook her head. "That's fine. Having company is enough." She listed off the other tools she would need, then pulled over the first ingredient and started cutting. Rudy watched her as she cut. She knew she had a lot of questions, but she wasn't sure where to start. She paused to look at him, wondering if he was going to move to get the tools. He pointed at the table. She stared. They were there, but she was sure he hadn't moved.

"It's one of the Adventurer's natural skills. We can get something from where it's located and put it wherever we want to put it without touching it. Typically it has to be owned by us personally or be something that is a group-owned item, like these all are. It's very convenient, if a way to learn to be lazy." He tossed his long curly blonde hair out of his face and gave a bit of a haughty look at the last. That brought back an unwelcome memory so she turned away from him and began to cut the next thing, sliding the first into one of the mixing bowls to clean it off so she could.

"When they look like they're looking far away, and then start talking to air, what is that?" she finally found one of her questions. Her hunger was making it hard to focus on that sort of thing.

"That is called the 'chat function'. It's a way to talk to people you know and have befriended in a formal way. That also is a natural, if magical, skill of the Adventurers. It's bounded by region right now unless stronger magics are used." Those two explanations together explained what Akatsuki had been doing to get MeowLi's new clothes.

"Do they have a monetary system?"

"Yes, the same as all Theldesia - the gold system. They earn it when they hunt monsters so it's what they have to use."

"I assume merchanting is the same as anywhere."

"Yes. They understand barter, and are good negotiators generally, but the gold system is considered simpler, so prices are affixed to items like normal."

 _Hmm_. MeowLi added the current cut vegetable to her bowl and collected the meat to cut. Rudy was still watching her cut. Most people might have thought he was just keeping her company and being attentive, but from her training she could tell it was more than that. He was actively testing what skills she had. She sighed. She supposed she should understand from the beginning that Shiroe was going to learn all kinds of things in all sorts of ways.

She focused on her meat cutting and adding it to the bowl as well, then set the cutting board to the side with the knife. She added the seasonings and stirred them together. "Okay, I'm ready to cook. A small pan would be sufficient." This was one of the simple to cook and get right to eating recipes. She would like a sauce, but they took too long to cook and she was too hungry.

"That's not very much food for one hungry person," Rudy frowned at her.

"I'm too hungry," she admitted.

"I'll look at what left overs we have that might go with that," he said helpfully. He walked with her over to the stove. It already had a pan on one of the burners. He showed her how to get the small FireSnail to wake up and how to help it know what temperature she wanted for the pan. Then he walked back to the box with only one small door in it and proceeded to study it. She decided that must be the same sort of look for the "chat function". That had been Tetorō's look when he'd looked at her to see things about her, too. "What are you looking at?" she asked Rudy.

"The list of things in the fridge. Adventurers can see words and images in the air when they focus their intent, or desire, to see them. I'm wanting to see that list, so I do see the list. I can then scan the list up and down by the same kind of desire. When I see the thing that I want, or if I already know what I want, I put my hand through the door and desire it into my hand and it is."

"That's the strangest thing I've ever heard," she had to admit.

"Yes. Again, it's convenient, but very odd," he agreed with her. "I often have to suspend my disbelief to get it to work. It can make my head hurt sometimes, too." He turned and gave her a grin, then put his hand into the "fridge" and pulled out something. He closed the little door and brought it back. "Here's some left over fruit salad. It should go well with the meat and vegetables. I noticed you didn't prepare a sauce. Touya and Minori already have several made up to just be added later. Is there one you would like to try?"

MeowLi paused. That was very tempting. "I wouldn't be taking any from future meals?"

"Nah. They made up a lot. One person's worth won't be that much." She twitched in excitement, but held it down to the single twitch. There were some her parents had talked about that they'd not been able replicate in the Gate of Time. She wondered if she'd ruin the meal not having an instructor, then she decided not. She'd been trained to add sauces after all.

She looked over at Rudy. "If I teach you to stir so it doesn't burn, I think I'll have enough time to purify the sauce and the fruit before I have to add the sauce. ...Would teriyaki be available?"

"Sure." A brown bottle appeared on the table next to the bowl of fruit and Rudy walked over to stand next to her. She carefully explained what she was doing and he carefully listened, like he'd at least watched this part of the process before. That was relieving. When she was done, he cautiously took the stirring tool she'd chosen and took over, concentrating carefully. When it looked like he probably had it, she went to the table, dipped her fingers in her cup of water and sprinkled the bottle and the fruit in the bowl.

Concentrating, she clapped twice, bowed, almost missed the final clap, then tried to repeat the prayer. She bowed again and clapped once. She couldn't tell. "Did I do the prayer incorrectly?"

"I suspect you left out the intent. You also should intend the food to increase in purity for eating. You don't have to do the water part again."

She went back and added in her wish to be able to eat those things and did it again. That time it worked and she sighed in relief. Picking up the sauce, she returned to the stove. "Thank you, Lord Rudy," she said, asking for the stirring tool back. He handed it back, but he was looking oddly at her. "Shouldn't I have?" she asked him. "I'm not sure of forms of address yet."

"I call most everyone that because I'm still a Person of the Land for all I'm also now an Adventurer and it's always been to me necessary to be properly polite. I'm not used to being given that title in this house, though Lady Purrcy would on occasion. I would think whatever makes you comfortable is fine, since that's how the Adventurers will see it. They all want to know that you're comfortable and enjoying yourself no matter who or what you're doing - as long as it's legal."

That made sense, the legal part. "What are the laws?" she asked. She was glad they were short and easy. Three was simple enough. She added the sauce, stirred just until it was warmed up enough for her tastes, then took the pan off the heat. Rudy turned off the snail for her, teaching her how. She put the food on the plate that had appeared, then looked around for the rest of the things from the beginning, but they were already put away with the dirty tools in the sink. She took her pan and stirring tool to the sink and left them there for now. Washing could come later.

"If you want to eat there, I'll wash up for you," Rudy offered.

MeowLi's ears twitched uncomfortably. "Thank you, but I hate to make you do more work when it's just mine and I could do it."

"No, that's fine. It's a way to keep my hands busy while we talk and you eat," he shrugged it off. "We do this a lot, actually."

"Okay," she gave in and dug into her food. The sweet teriyaki was surprising, but after a few bites, she decided that it was very good and it was gone fairly quickly. Some of the fruits were different as well, but it was a good side. She washed it down with the water, then was sad she'd had so much early on.

"Do you want more water?" Rudy asked.

"I would, but it seems a bother," she answered.

Rudy shook his head and got that distant look. The cup disappeared, then reappeared, glistening with water, inside and out. "Sorry to get the whole thing wet. It's hard to get it placed just right sometimes, so I probably put it into the water itself."

"That's fine. As long as I didn't make you run all the way there and back," she said with a shy smile. Rudy waved a hand expansively back, but his eyes smiled. She drank her water, then held onto the cup as her dishes suddenly disappeared. "I'll get those done and then we can go sit someplace more comfortable." She gave a nod and in a few quick minutes he had the dishes washed and set out to dry.

As they walked towards the kitchen door, Rudy asked, "Do you know where you'd like to go? There's back to the chairs in the main area, but we'll get commentary from Naotsugu, if you want that. We could go to the roof." He paused and looked at her with an unreadable look. "Did Lady Akatsuki take you to the third floor balcony?"

"No?" MeowLi answered. "Just the sixth floor one."

"Then if you'd like, we could go there, as a possibility."

MeowLi thought of her options, then said, "I guess the third floor balcony." It would be something new to see. "I might need to have another nap soon, though."

"I'm happy to be of service as long as you need me, Miss MeowLi. When you're ready for a rest, just let me know. It's no insult at all." He struck an odd pose and she turned away, almost wanting to laugh this time. He held out his elbow for her again and she took it - and her water cup.

* * *

 _Merry Christmas 2018 everyone! Thank you for reading along with me thus far. I hope you enjoy this Christmas present chapter._


	176. Battle Against the Devourer

"Giant on the horizon," the point man called out. At the moment it was Ground Safety on the yellow-green dragon.

"How much do you see?"

"Just the head."

"Calculate speed and TOA."

There was a pause, then, "Standard speed, TOA: ...forty minutes."

"Go on up and retrieve."

They had reached one of the secondary Adventurer cities in the western part of Mexico. It had also been emptied of any people and was crushed, but it hadn't been obliterated. It was located at the point of the city of Alamos on Earth and it had a sufficient wall around it to be containment of some kind. They knew it wouldn't be much, but it might be enough. The other four dragons lifted up from the ground to meet the yellow-green. The five dragons headed south as Michael called the four that were pulling the monster. "You guys still alive?"

"Barely, but yes," came the tired answer. "We learned we could taper off the attacks and stop to get some rest. How far off are you?"

"Rescue is on the way. Five dragons led by Vesuvius. They're all partied. Let them catch you up. They'll bring you here so you can rest."

"Okay, but it may stop."

"We've got the bait to draw it. Don't draw it once you see them. They're all that remain of the entire dragon tribe of the west."

"...Only five?!"

"And only because we summoned Vesuvius from death. We've promised we'll get more summoned back once we've solved our own problem. ...Thanks for your hard work." He got a grunt back, but it was enough.

The Eagles on the backs of the dragons had been building up multiple large purification mines that they would leave behind on the way out. They wanted to get the Devourer as small as possible before it entered the city. Just in case, they'd been dropping more of them all along the route of flight since they made their plans. Michael had been working on a way to make the purification ritual into a trap and faster once it was entered. He'd pulled out five that could spirit heal, one for each dragon. They were already each on a dragon along with the one placing the mines.

The remaining ten were up on the city wall with Michael. Michael had already laid the structure of a net of purification and they were holding it in place, each party member an anchor point for the net. The southernmost points were left open, with the Eagle the net was tied to ready to run and finish encircling it once it had entered the city. Even one of the two feet of the monster inside the city walls would be enough this first time.

They didn't mind how long it was taking to arrive. The longer it went the more power the spell would have. Michael was careful to let it build up at a slow enough rate they wouldn't Cathedral on a rebound, though. It worked as a sum, and they were all high level, and there were only ten of them this time.

Next time it would be the other nine with Gareth. He was of sufficient skill and level in Spiritualist to learn it from Michael and have it work. Michael had been relieved since that meant he could make the spell more effective. Once they were done casting it, they might be able to climb on the backs of the dragons and hold on, but it wouldn't be much else for a while. It was dicey to push it that much, but as had been said...they had a lot of earth and monster to purify.

The five dragons passed overhead on the return flight and the one with only two passengers stayed high to watch the progress of the Devourer. The other four landed on the north side of the city walls for now. "It's slowed down...first impact." The retort was faint and delayed by the speed of sound. "It's not happy. Looks like it was a nice volume." The same happened several times over the next twelve minutes, then, "It's moving off course."

Michael called Brian out of his Spirit Ring. "Time to do your stuff," he said without bothering to go to the spirit realm. "Center of the city for as long as you can stay. Duck under the foot and come back to the ring. I'll be busy, but you should be able to get into it on your own." The little sprite that could be seen because of Michael's warning shields zipped to the center of the city. Brian was definitely courageous and determined, even when terrified.

"It's turned back...and picking up speed...oh, that slowed it down a little." Progress was made and as they hoped, it would take the punishment to reach its required goal. Most Overwritten were like that.

It was rather hard to tell that a sky-high monster had lost mass when it still had enough to look sky-high from the ground regardless. Having already forgotten just how big it was, it was difficult for the Eagles to stay still on the wall and let it get that close. They'd been trained to deal with that kind of fear though and still act, so they held their positions. When the Devourer reached the city, it was the upper reaches that bent down and flowed into the center of the city to grasp the prize it was required to obtain.

Brian dropped low enough to make it come into the city walls as much as possible. When he zipped away from Michael, instead of towards him, Michael had to give him bonus points. Brian zipped around the city filling it up as much as possible while still trying to keep from getting caught. Michael could see he was getting boxed in, though, and the southern Eagles were in place. "Come." The spirit zipped away in a sudden change of direction and was flying for Michael. Michael raised his hands and cast the final part of his spell. It went off just as Brian reached him. "Enter," he said, but he was focused on holding the purification.

The amount of matter of the Devourer that was within the city walls was cut off the monster. A deep rumbling howl that was felt more than heard resounded in the air and the Devourer raised up away from the city. The dragons immediately leaped into the air and the Eagles on the backs of the dragons began a circling strafing run to keep its attention away from the city walls so those holding the net could complete the purification of the matter inside the city.

It took almost the full five minutes before Michael could call them back in to pick them up off the wall. The dragons went immediately to their preassigned pickups. The Eagles on the back of the dragon pulled each one on the wall up on the fly. Only then did the ones playing acolyte allow themselves to collapse.

Gareth held on tightly to Michael, casting spirit healing magic on him even as Michael passed out completely. Each healer on the back of a dragon was healing as they went, flying north. The last dragon turned back just long enough for an Eagle to get off one last purification missile to let the Devourer know which way to come if it still wanted to face them - or get its required prize.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael woke up on the ground in the next city north. It was a smaller city that hadn't really been an Adventurer one, but had been on the route between Alamos and Diego. The jump between the two Adventurer cities was too long, they decided, so they'd picked this one. All cities in this region were walled, though, so it would be good enough. This time their healers would be performing the ceremony, however, so it would take longer on the other end to recover. Michael immediately called Brian back out and he zipped away into the middle of the city to wait. "Cheeky little bastard," MasterChiefS7 said from next to Michael. "Who is he?"

"Brian, the Programmer that followed Indicus to the other side of the moon."

MasterChiefS7 looked back at Michael. "The men are in place and holding. The Devourer stopped about a third of the way up and decided to go into a holding pattern." He looked at Michael silently for a moment, then asked, "What's nobody saying?"

"Nobody's sayin' it," Michael answered as he sat up, propping himself up on his hands. "Not until the operation's done. We got our butts whipped and no one wants to be in any more trouble just yet. Let it go and consider yourselves protected by your buddies until then. If anybody does slip up this operation's on hold until we correct it and that's at least a full day out of commission."

"There are a lot of unhappy men, Michael."

"Since when is butt whupping something to make people smile?" Michael answered caustically. "If they complain it will happen again, same as basic training, until everyone swallows the piss and lets it go."

"Even you're not happy," MasterChiefS7 raised an eyebrow at him. Michael looked away, then swallowed obviously to make his point. MasterChiefS7 rose to his feet. "Fine. I'll keep them down until this op is over, but the talking has to happen after that."

"If it gets too bad, tell them to take it out on the monster. That's what I plan on doing this round. I've been needing to hit something hard." He took the offered hand and stood up. He wavered a little, but either he'd had enough rest or it hadn't been as bad a drain on him this last time...probably the former if the monster had stopped to take a break. "Come up on the wall with me," he ordered his third in command and led the way.

Once they were on the wall, he could see that the monster was moving, though it was still just a head for now, and it still wasn't liking walking through purification bombs. Those slowed it down a lot actually. Finally it turned inland. They'd expected that though and the next one took it down more. It moved seaward and hit the one in the middle, then kept going. It hit the next one and stopped and shook furiously. Then it melted and spread out over the ground. That was going to be a problem. It actually had some level of problem solving skills that were smart. The next set of bombs that went off didn't do near as much damage because there wasn't as much mass to affect. It moved a lot faster, too.

Michael looked around the wall. The men had set up right. The net was laid and the south center was open...and the four who hadn't been present in the mountain all had one who had been with them. "Time," he said and grabbed hold of MasterChiefS7's arm. The other three were handled the same, and at once, the four already initiated cast a purification spell on the ones not. "Come on, we're going to be the wall that makes that puddle enter the city." Michael dragged MasterChiefS7 to the south wall and they stood side by side at the point just where the southwest anchor would have to stand. The other pair on their side stood to guard the next anchor over to the west and the other two pairs went to the southeast anchors so that they had all four southern anchors protected by two shining with purification people each.

"It won't devour us?" MasterChiefS7 asked.

"It doesn't like purification snacks, remember?" Michael said calmly as the anchor arrived to take up his position. "Just hold still until the guy behind us collapses, then we'll lift him and get on the dragon, though I plan on hitting whatever I can once the spell starts, assuming there's anything still to reach. We need to distract and detain until it's done, like last time." MasterChiefS7 went with the flow and the others did as well. It was hard to feel traitor, but it was necessary for them to be initiated like the rest of them had been. The few didn't get out of having to pay the price the majority had to pay.

Again, it went rather like clockwork. The flowing mass entered over the south wall, parting to go around the three-man anchor points, not wanting to touch them, then water-falling down into the city. It went slow and cautious this time and Brian did have to stir it to get it to come in, tempting it by moving slowly back from the grasping and reaching matter, tangling up the fingerlings that came after him by zipping side to side, until he reached the far north, then he rose up high enough the fingerlings couldn't catch him and made the mass rise higher until he was zipping for the south and Michael's protection. They'd decided the spell couldn't be cast until he was in the ring since a Vengeful Spirit might be purified in bad ways. But it was Gareth who was being guarded by Michael so he knew when to cast. Michael tapped him on the back as soon as his ring was activated. The area purification spell went off.

The Devourer outside the city howled again and rose up like a great ocean wave or tsunami as if to crash down on all of them to break the spell of purification, but because it was thin and spread out, it couldn't enter the field of purification and what did come to crash down on them dissolved in wisps of smoke and bubbles. The Devourer pulled back and solidified into the wall, as wide as the city and wider, then thickened until all the mass was in that one wall and it began to scrape the ground before it, intending to scrape the city flat.

Michael and the three other initiated anchor guards were down the city wall and running for the Devourer wall. The others on the dragons were in the air. They'd put the long range magic users and archers on the dragons. While they strafed the wall to keep it from the city, the close up fighters engaged and attacked with everything they had. Since everything was now a purification hit, anything worked as if it was regular damage instead of reversed damage.

Michael didn't worry too much about the uninitiated. They were being initiated as soon as their protection had left their sides, now being sufficiently purified for the goddess to show up and teach them their lesson as well. They'd all have to be rescued, but in the meantime the four took out their frustration and anger on the Devourer, wishing it could devour them at the same time as wishing it would die proxy for the Game Bot. For all that it had tried to get half the damage of the previous attack, by the time they were done, it actually retreated at less than half the HP it had started with.

The dragons came in and picked up the four close-in fighters, then turned and headed them back for their pickups. Michael grabbed up Gareth as Secretary grabbed MasterChiefS7. Legal let Vesuvius know they had the packages and they were moving north again. This time Michael had Vesuvius take the rear and when they were just far enough north, he circled them back slightly and let Brian out.

"Stay with us if you can and roast the bastard. I want it good and angry that we still have you and it doesn't." Brian settled on Michael's shoulder and seemed to hum happily to himself. It sounded kind of like the theme song to _Rocky_ , or something similar. It made Michael remember Purrcy's tirade about _The Last Boy Scout_ and _Independence Day_ , and he had to hold Gareth close to him and press his lips tightly shut. It summed it up...and hurt real bad. "How's MasterChief?" Michael asked Secretary when he could talk again.

"Just as bad off as the rest of us," he was answered, "- out cold." Michael nodded. They'd explain it...after the op was over.

"Is he at 1HP or did they get to escape that punishment?"

"Escaped it, lucky bastards, but then they didn't try to attack the Goddess' favorites."

"It might come later," Michael warned, but it wasn't necessary to warn these, and there wasn't a way to warn the newly initiated. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Welcome to hell," he said to the not-listening men. "Brian, you can Enter and Sleep now." Since he didn't have a choice with those commands, he did.

They flew the rest of that night until they reached Diego, set three outlying warning traps, set a watch, and slept their posts. They hadn't seeded the ground in this last stretch, partially because they'd flown over most of it before planning, and because they knew it would discourage the Devourer and make it try to be sneaky and they didn't want that. It would move a lot faster, though, once it realized they'd left it free.

-:-:-:-:-

A loud, "GAH-ZAAAAAP!" woke the Eagles up. And a second one got them on their feet in a hurry, if they already weren't. The Devourer had been moving fast enough it couldn't stop it's forward roll before hitting the second trap. It managed to not lose so much of itself on the third trap as it melted back into a thin flood and reached more slowly forward. Michael rewarded it by allowing Brian back out again. Brian floated next to Michael for a bit first this time to watch what the Devourer did. It noticed him, of course, and writhed a bit wanting him but not wanting more immediate punishment. It slowly moved forward until it touched the outside of the south wall. That boundary seemed to satisfy it and it moved to flow around the wall until the city was completely surrounded by a moat of Devourer.

Michael nodded. "Siege it is, then," he said to everyone. "We'll have to have patience for this one. Keep the anchors protected and only use what you have to use. Dragons, stay as high as you can on the inside until your islands aren't protections any longer. That should be close to the time we'll be ready to purify anyway so you shouldn't have to be in the air for too long. I expect the end to be more exciting, too, so stay sharp. It wouldn't surprise me if it decided to use catapults."

He did wish they had one more member of their guild today. He and Gareth were alone. All the other nodes had three - one to be the anchor, one to be healer, and one to be tank or fighter. The anchors would have some limited fighting or healing capacity for a while - until Brian was a tempting enough target to get the Devourer to find him directly again. It might have some limited capacity for strategy and planning, but it was still an Overwritten. They were intelligent in their limited way, and so far this one had a lot of pluses to staying alive and a lot of negatives for subtly.

The Devourer was climbing up the wall now and, true to sieges, they started throwing things at it to make it stay down. Where it was thin, they sent down thin waterfalls of purification to wash it down. Where it was thick, they sent down boulders of purification. If they had time around the edges, they threw their own oil pots and boulders into the middle of the moat, making temporary holes in it that filled back up. It went on for nearly an hour - a very long time in boss battles even.

In the end, they couldn't hold back the tendrils that slipped over the wall and entered the city proper to go seeking Brian. They also couldn't focus enough to go hunting for them since as soon as the gaps were breached, the Devourer figured out where the anchors were positioned and sent the thicker and more difficult attacks at them specifically - for exactly the reason of distracting them from defending the city and Brian. Really, though, why did it think they'd let him out again? Didn't it understand the concept of bait yet?

When Brian was high enough, he zipped up even higher and popped off a code realm spell to Michael - the kind that he didn't need HP for - and Michael cast the purification spell over the city. Brian was high enough to be out of the purification zone. The Devourer was enraged again. It lashed out with attacks against the anchors, tried to make a dome over the city, tried to wrap them up with tendrils from outside, but it couldn't reach them.

It finally sat and waited, the thickest pieces of it waiting at the places the anchors were set. The dragons, circling the city, also had to dodge tendrils and as their own protection were circling low enough to be in the purification zone. Michael sighed to himself when he realized it. He hoped the High Priestess didn't take them out claiming them too, but he wouldn't be surprised if she used it to her advantage somehow. She was watching and she always thought of things and acted whenever there was opportunity.

He wasn't wrong. As soon as the spell over the city was done, he released it and the dragons came to collect. He kept the purification up over himself as each one who could was doing. The pieces trying to crash into them only broke. They'd have to leave what fell into the city alone at this point. It was survive and escape now. Vesuvius arrived and he and Gareth jumped up and were grabbed and pulled up onto the dragon. Another crashing wave of the Devourer came after them and it broke again - and this time so that not even the dragon was touched. She'd left them as a purification item for now, untouchable. But that did not deter the Devourer. It rose up around them from the walls of the city, keeping pace with the circling and rising dragons, creating an enclosing cage and trying to prevent them from leaving.

"Straight up, if you can. It's going to close us in and smother," Michael said. It wasn't going to be easy. The dragons were already losing diameter to gain the height they needed. "Halti, you first, go!" The others held back on gaining altitude and Halti worked her wings hard, beating them as her nose pointed as vertical as she could get. She managed to break out and Michael sent the green next. Again it was the same. Michael sent the blue next. When it protested, he argued back. "The hole is going to be too small. You then Vesuvius have to go before it's too small for either of you. Go!" It went and Vesuvius followed after, but his tail had to cut a path through.

"Come on, hurry," Michael called back to the yellow-green. It was working hard already and not far behind Vesuvius, but the dome was closing in, looking like a tall curved pyramid now. Everyone on board ducked as they sliced through the Devourer material and held onto the intent to still be purified and swung with weapons if they had them. The "divine protection" on the dragon helped as well and they were able to shed the clutching material of the Devourer. It continued to rise up after them, into the sky to thin until it couldn't support itself anymore and fell back into the city. Those with any strength left at all dropped a few more bombs after it into the city and it fled into corners and disappeared.

Michael collected Brian again with a "thank you", then wanted to pass out. They were on their last leg of the trip, headed for the City of Angels again. This time, they would have to deal with all the holes everywhere and no walls to speak of. He really hoped the Devourer had been cut down to a quarter size with this battle. The next one, like all boss battles that were nearing the end, would be the most difficult. They would have liked to have finished it here, but they had to rest.

He opened up the full party chat and prayed. "Inari-no-Izanami, goddess of gamers and lover of the creatures of the land. Please grant us a miracle in the final battle against the Devourer that has destroyed everything you love in this place." Every Eagle answered, "Amen," tired but with feeling. Below them, all unexpected because he'd been asking for help in the next battle, a light surrounded the city as if the spell they had just finish casting was being cast again.

When it had faded, the Devourer was gone and there was a shining golden cup hovering over the city. Gareth asked Vesuvius to fly close enough they could collect it. Michael reached up in surprise as they reached it and collected it in his arms. "It's all the Vengeful Spirits in one place," he said in awe, trying not to disbelieve since somehow that seemed wrong when the Priest had asked for a miracle and received one and that was him. "You all okay with winning this way?"

"Take it," was the tired answer.

Since he was that tired too, he agreed, but he hoped they didn't change their minds later. Of course, they still had the maze to fight. "Okay. Good enough for a side quest then." He got scornful laughs for that one. They were probably all thinking like he was. _If that was just a side quest what have we gotten ourselves into?_

"Vesuvius, can you take us somewhere in the mountains to recover that we won't draw Overwritten to? We need to recover for probably a few days before we continue...and if there's food to be had that would be even better. In the meantime, I'm passing out now." He put the vessel in his list, made sure Brian was in his ring, then let go with a, "Thank you, Goddess, for hearing our prayer." It would be a good idea to be polite about it, and he was grateful to Purrcy - on some level. It was useful to be in tight with a goddess and her High Priestess when it could be called on in that way.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy stayed with the Eagles, watching over them and what they did, until they were encamped in the mountains, nudging Vesuvius to find some consecutive zones with foodstuff and no close-by Overwritten. She made sure their spells of protection were sufficient to keep them protected from the Overwritten, pleased when she didn't have to fill holes this time. It felt a bit like tucking them into bed, though on a larger scale. She needed to do that much. She was required to be mostly whole again and they needed to be able to survive on their own until she could get back to them.

She arrived ikiryō-Purrcy to the rest of her in the Gate of Time and joined in with the activities in progress. In her own linear time-line she'd already passed the lessons for learning to travel through Time and Space, and had just graduated a week before from the University of Temple Staff, having gone through the coursework she needed to understand what her staff was doing for her and how. That had seemed a lot more prudent way to learn it all properly than bothering the staff. They'd been doing an excellent job of keeping things moving forward smoothly for her while she'd worked on learning to work with them instead of trying to keep doing it all herself. Each day's lesson had helped them all as well, since she'd been able to apply it immediately.

Misaki-Purrcy was the one participating in the base realm side quests all over Theldesia since that was the form that got sent around as a messenger anyway. The High Priestess was the one working at the temple on her proper job. It was ikiryō-Purrcy that had been practicing the time walking to watch over MeowLi, Michael, and the Eagles, and going to classes.

Her very first lesson had been by taught to her by Inari, being the creation of the time-increased space to take Demikas into. All of her had been required to be present for that, the Oracle had stayed with them at that past time, and at the birth ikiryō-Purrcy had been present. She was needed other places after that, so hadn't stayed. One thing Demikas could do was stay alive.

She'd been tutored in how time worked with the game play with him, too, before being set loose as the assistant administrator: the part he played in being dragged out of the protective time-space and getting back into it being overseen by her being overseen by Izanami. Getting to do that had cleared up her confusion from that time originally - but she'd suspected it was something of that sort then anyway.

Things by now had settled into a pattern and it was time for the first celebration of theirs in the Gate of Time. It was to be a three day celebration, from the one year anniversary of the linear Gate of Time through to the first birthday of the four kittens. She wasn't too pleased with that part - that the city as a whole wanted to make a big deal out of the birth of the kittens. It would surely give them inflated heads, egos, and set a very bad precedent unless the kittens were taught most severely to not put on unearned airs. They should definitely be respectful and grateful they were alive, she supposed, though.

It was fortunate that this year they were still too young to really understand what was going on other than it was noisy, busy, colorful, and full of long, boring religious-related activities. Purrcy and Nyanta both sternly required them, even at the age of one, to sit still and quiet the whole time for all of them, maintain perfect poise (as perfect as a one year old could get), and be respectful. Nyanta did it to teach them proper Japanese restraint. Purrcy did it to make sure they really learned to dislike the yearly ceremonies and understand fully that they were more for the city than for them.

At the end of the final ceremony on their birthday, she rewarded the four of them with a real American birthday party - though it was small with only the temple staff present. As they watched the four finally get to run around and be rambunctious with their playmates, the two parents were able to finally relax as well. Purrcy had decorated the audience hall and put the thrones on the floor. She'd replicated balloons, though they wouldn't pop until she was all done with them and it was time for clean-up, and the children were tossing them around and at each other.

She and Nyanta had spent the night before taking over the kitchen and having a quiet and intimate cooking session, getting the cookies (her) and cakes (him) made. That had been fun as well and a very nice date. Since she could travel through time with one person now, after the cooking was over, she'd taken them back to the beginning of the night and they'd slept with the kittens so the party was completely a surprise to them. (And the two of them hadn't had to be tired-grumpy all through the final day of dull celebration.)

Really, Purrcy was going to have to teach the city how to properly celebrate. If it wasn't strict high religion ceremonies, it was wild orgies that children and most adults shouldn't be involved in. She locked her own temple down during those celebrations - no one going out or in. She'd refused to go anywhere near the few that were sacrificial in nature. She understood that it was part of the flavor text and part of the way the world had been set up, but she was completely morally opposed regardless. It was just better to not get anywhere near it until she had to - and she really hoped there didn't have to be a "have to" time.

The next morning they would return to their routine. Ikiryō-Purrcy would be entering the next university for the next set of lessons - the ones that would teach her all the history of all the temples, deities, and their philosophies and requirements. As part of her lessons there, Nyanta would be taking the High Priestess to the regularly scheduled Court of the Gods meetings, though she would be an aide only for him during the time she was being educated. Her final would likely be to see if she could survive one alone. She was definitely _not_ looking forward to that.

She'd been ignoring Miru's teasing of Meiki, since Meiki could already hold her own against her brother. His strength couldn't defend him from her sharp claws. His yelp had caught her attention, though, so she was suddenly paying attention to the both of them to make sure it didn't go from teasing to full on fighting. Learning strength to stand was one thing. Abuse was another.

As Miru turned in full pout to let out his frustration at being blocked yet again, Purrcy interposed herself. He'd begun taking it out on MeowLi, who would cower down instead of defend. Purrcy didn't want MeowLi to learn either submission or hatred. If she caught Miru before he got even close to MeowLi, MeowLi wasn't any the wiser it was coming. She would learn her own strengths in time and be able to best him with her wits, but that wasn't now at the age of one.

"No, Miru. The proper response is to apologize for making Meiki mad." She held him from moving until he slumped.

"I'm sorrwy, Meiki," he said, only a little sullenly.

"Don't hit!" Meiki scolded back. She'd certainly heard enough adults say that by now to be able to say it herself.

"Just nod," Purrcy instructed. Miru nodded. "Now try to remember you don't like getting clawed and don't start the fight to begin with. No one likes to be teased, not even you." She let Miru go. Nyanta smoothly moved in to distract Miru with something more fun than teasing and scoldings. Purrcy turned to Meiki. "Meiki, don't bait your brother. Because you were at fault this time, you will also receive a punishment." She put Meiki up in the air and left her there two minutes to see just why she would rather be on the floor having good fun with sweets and balloons rather than having bad fun baiting her brother into being bad himself.

Purrcy had always followed the rule on Earth: two minutes of time out for every year of age of the offending child. They had to say why they were in time-out and apologize to get out or it was repeated until they did. That helped them focus on the problem at hand instead of sit and daydream until they were bored. Meiki already knew she wanted out the first time, though for a long time she'd always been the one in longest, thinking she could get away with ignoring the problem instead. She was bright and a troublemaker. Miru still took forever and likely would until he was three. MeowLi adored her father and would never get into trouble if she could help it. His gentle correcting was usually enough to make her almost-cry (or even cry).

It was really the opposite of what Purrcy had expected of the two girls. She could only figure that MeowLi's propensity to cower and accept abuse is what had been Nureha's problem from the beginning. Her environment growing up on Earth had been the main cause of her learning hatred. Still not knowing where Meiki had come from in her background, the wildness was different. Sometimes Purrcy wondered if she was American-wild, and sometimes if she was purified matter of Theldesia that had been a demihuman before. Either way, she took as much watching as Miru, who at least had some restraint in comparison.

Setsubou was similar to MeowLi, in that he was serious. Tonight he was running around, letting off steam like any two year old would have to on Earth (the feline faster growth added to the human slower growth translated to them mentally aging about two human years for every actual time year), but most of the time he preferred to be quiet and observe everything going on around him. He also followed his father around in absolute father-worship like boys should.

It made Purrcy a bit jealous, sometimes, but when all four (or rather five honestly) welcomed her home to their suite of rooms at the end of the day so happy to see her and to have her with them for the brief time she was allowed to be whole and rest, it made her feel warm and contented. She relaxed and played with them then until they were tired enough to settle down and listen to her stories.

She and Nyanta both told them stories of Earth, of Akiba and Yamato, and of Adventurers. Nyanta sometimes told stories of the Chaotic Gate of Time for the sake of MeowLi, and sometimes Purrcy could share stories of the work she was doing outside the Gate of Time, so that they knew of the Creatures of the Land, the People of the Land, and of all the Children she had watch over as Caretaker. Broadening the horizons of the kittens with the stories helped the most with keeping them grounded. There were worlds out there they knew little about. The small city of the Gate of Time wasn't all there was, nor was it even "normal", and all four knew that someday they would be leaving it.

They settled the kittens down in their room that night, after they'd finally run themselves out and helped with clean-up. (Purrcy made them all help when it was "Family time" in the temple.) MeowLi's sleepy voice piped up. "Hahaue...we heard all day the story of our birth but, what was our beginning? How did we come to be?"

Purrcy and Nyanta exchanged a look. Purrcy smiled and pet MeowLi's head gently. "Izanagi asked Hahaue and Chichiue if we would be willing to be the First Adventurer Parents of Theldesia. Because we care for each other, and because Chichiue wanted children of his own, we were willing."

Meiki frowned. "Didn't you want children, Hahaue?"

Purrcy smiled a little more. "As the Caretaker, everyone is already my child. I was happy to gift you to your father, because I love him. And I love all of you as well. How can a mother not love the children of her body?" She gently pet each of the kittens, purring for them until they relaxed into sleep.

As they walked back to their own bed, Nyanta asked Purrcy, "Will we have to tell them someday the more full story, nyan?"

Purrcy shook her head. "No. It's okay to let children only see the good of their parents and protect them. You may need to tell a little more to MeowLi in private when she's mature enough to handle the knowing, but that won't be for years to come. Family protects itself. If the rest of the world throws things at them, they can still stay standing that way. There isn't call to damage us in their eyes ourselves. I'm sure the rest of the world will try all on its own."

She settled down next to him, both of them in cat form for the night, and began to groom the back of his head, purring for him now. "Let your children love the you that is the father they love. You need it, since it is also who you are." She moved down his head to grooming his neck, then his shoulder, until he finally sighed and relaxed.

He turned to her, transforming back to felinoid, and held her in his arms. She obligingly changed back as well. As he made soft love to her, she was glad she had been able to help him love himself a little more that night. He was healing, little by little.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi walked out of her parent's room - though she was trying to think of it as _her_ room so it wasn't so hard to be in it or to leave it. It helped that she had a reason to leave it every morning. She'd decided it the very first morning to wake up in it three mornings ago: she was going to help the guild by cooking for them. If no one else could cook but the very busy twins, then she could keep herself moving forward by doing that for them. She had asked them what time they arrived in the kitchen each morning and had set her internal clock to make sure she arrived then as well. She would still need some training after all, and she couldn't get to all the ingredients the same way.

That first morning, the twins had kindly asked her questions like, "So how did you store perishable foods in the Gate of Time?" Similar questions to what she herself was asking about this city of Adventurers. She learned quickly to make a bit of a game out of it. For every question they asked and she answered, she asked one. They'd recognized the game, smiles on their faces, and had fallen into it happily. They were still doing it this fourth day she was in Akiba when she arrived in the kitchen, asking as their first question, "What was your favorite breakfast made by your parents?"

"Ah, there were several. I was actually thinking of pancakes as I got up this morning," she admitted.

"Wonderful!" Minori said. "Then we can do that." MeowLi was happy with that.

The silence as they got to work getting things out stretched on a bit longer than normal and when they looked at her in expectation, she blinked. "Ah...," she suddenly realized she didn't have a question to ask. "What shall we plan for dinner tonight?" she asked in lieu of a learning question.

Minori and Touya exchanged a look, but launched into a list of things that were available. The three had been working out dinners during the breakfast time so that the Twins could pull out ingredients for her before they left for work. She couldn't get into the "fridge" on her own. If what was on the menu needed to be kept cool (or sometimes hot), one of the other Adventurers who would be in the guild house for dinner would store it in their "list" for her until she was ready to cook dinner.

When that had been settled, Touya asked, "What would you want to see of Akiba outside the guild hall first?"

MeowLi's ear flicked in surprise and perhaps a bit of worry, but she considered the question seriously. "I guess the Academy...and maybe visit my parent's tree. I'd like to see what it looks like from the ground." It had sounded like a safe place to visit with few people, too. "I liked the university environment when I was there. Purrhaps that would be a safe place to be introduced to more people without them thinking it was odd to have a new purrson."

She paused in a bit of surprise. She'd really relaxed to let her "purrs" out. She'd loved that her father said his words that way, but she'd also wanted to learn to be formal. When her mother had said that felinoids were a minority on Theldesia, and only a slightly larger percentage of Adventurers, she'd decided that she should learn to speak more like her mother. But at home when they'd relax, she'd kept at least that much, liking them so much.

Touya's soft hand on her head was slightly surprising, but his warm words were comforting. "If you've finally relaxed enough to admit you are your father's daughter, that's a good thing. It's comforting to hear a piece of Chichiue while you're here." He moved on, not forcing her to face him, increasing her gratitude.

"I think that would be a good start as well," Minori supported her as well both by moving the conversation on and by being cheerfully interested. "Miss Marie keeps asking when she can invite you over next door, but we think that you should start a little slower than that." She turned a grin to MeowLi. "If you've been at university, then you know what it might be like to suddenly be in the cafeteria crowded with rowdy boys and talkative girls. Their guild hall is like that."

MeowLi nodded. "I'd like to be able to visit there, but yes, I'm not ready quite yet for the cafeteria level." She smiled at her own memories. She and Setsubou had sat quietly together for a month before they'd managed to work up the courage to invite a few others to sit with them. Miru and Meiki had each moved to their own tables, full of chatty friends they'd quickly gathered within the first three days.

They passed around questions about their schooling differences as they finished making breakfast. At the breakfast meeting that morning, when it got to Touya and Minori, they added to their usual schedule one new item. "MeowLi's learned everything she can being in the house. We think a visit to the outside will help her come up with more questions." Touya said.

"We'd suggest a visit to the Academy during a quiet time and she's asked to see the tree, too," Minori said. She turned to Rudy. "Could you do that today, and maybe have Serera go with you since tours of the Academy are her thing?"

Rudy gave a nod, though he was looking at Shiroe. MeowLi turned to look at him as well. He was thinking about it, while giving her a searching look. Her ear turned a bit. He gave a nod. "As long as you'll let them know if you get overwhelmed so they can bring you back. Enough of the city knows now that felinoids transform, so you can go to cat or kitten if you need to, but I'd rather before it got that overwhelming you were back here."

"Okay," MeowLi agreed. She did wonder if it was because she might look too much like her father if she transformed into cat. Other felinoids would know she was female, but someone looking from a distance might not be able to tell the differences. She was slimmer than her father, and her white patterning was different, there not being as much of it and none on her neck or upper chest. Because her white was all on her belly, if they were lying down next to each other they were nearly the same. She decided that she'd definitely wear a dress for the trip. That way there would be no confusion - her gentleman father would never be caught dead in one.

-:-:-:-:-

A chat came through as Serera was helping clean up from the guild's breakfast. "Lady Serera."

 _Lady? Oh. It's Rudy._ "Hello, Rudy-kun. What can I help you with?" Serera wiped the last of the water off the dish she was holding and put it in the cupboard.

"Lady MeowLi is ready to get out and see the beautiful sunshine. Would you have some time today to go with her and I on a short jaunt to the Academy and perchance to be her guide while we are there?"

Serera picked up the next washed dish in the pile and considered her schedule. "I need to be there for my morning study session. If you're both ready to go now, I could show her around before then."

"That would be perfect, I believe. We're just finishing breakfast cleaning now. If you'll let me know when you're leaving the building, we'll meet you outside."

"Okay," Serera agreed. The chat closed. Serera frowned just a little bit. She did have to collect a few things, and she'd been hoping for time for one more review of the things she was planning on going over for the students at the study session. She'd already written it up and had reviewed it last night before going to bed. Maybe it would be enough. She had about an hour and a half until she had to be there.

Marielle breezed up to Serera. "Was that Log Horizon?" she asked lightly. Even as Serera went to nod, Marielle had taken the drying cloth from Serera's hand and then the dish. "If they're finally letting MeowLi out of the house, you can run along. I'll fill in here - don't worry yourself about it." Serera took the time to look at Marielle's face. Ulterior motives would show without a doubt. Marielle had on a smile, but her eyes seemed just a little anxious.

Serera paused, not sure if it was because her guildmistress wanted to see that MeowLi had a few more friends and wasn't sure if Serera wanted to be one, or if it was because she was concerned about Log Horizon being unhappy with her (or them) for not being prompt - though Serera was sure they wouldn't be that. Even being the senior of the sister guilds, they were still very patient and polite when they could be, and Rudy had sounded both. "It's okay, Miss Marie. They're just finishing up breakfast clean-up as well." Serera hurried to add when Marielle's smile started to falter, making it the former: "But if you would, I do need just a few minutes to review my notes before we go."

"I'm happy to help, Serera-chan!" Marielle's face lit up again, confirming it. She immediately wiped the dish with great enthusiasm. Serera smiled and turned away to leave the kitchen. If she didn't, her guildmistress would continue to put on the enthusiastic display until she broke a dish in her efforts to prove her determination, delaying them all that much longer. She did sigh to herself just a little as she walked to her room.

She would have taken the last room open, but the guild had made her take one on the second floor with the other senior members, wanting to show her their respect and gratitude for her efforts for them all. She'd had to accept, and honestly had appreciated it. Even though she had eventually cleaned out all the back steps and then gotten Marine Organization to come back out and make repairs, she really didn't like heights at all.

As she walked up the two flights of those stairs, she considered this morning's request. She'd not been asked to take MeowLi herself, so that meant they wanted at least two to be with her outside the house, and themselves to still be watching over her. She knew MeowLi was a Person of the Land from the Gate of Time who had never been out of it until four days ago. While it certainly made sense to help her get acclimated to Adventurers and Akiba slowly, there was a niggling worry in the pit of Serera's stomach. She'd been trying hard to ignore it since it had started during the dinner she and Marielle had met MeowLi at.

MeowLi was properly polite and had been very nervous at that dinner, having only arrived that day. Everyone had been kind to her, including her but not pressuring her overly. Serera had participated in the conversation on the junior side of the table since Log Horizon's children had made sure to include both her and MeowLi in the conversation, wanting the two to get to know each other a bit. They had been a little too careful in their selections of topics, though, and had changed them abruptly a few times. That meant there were things about MeowLi's situation that shouldn't be talked about, at least outside their guild. Both that clue and the one Rudy had just let out reminded Serera just a little too much of Purrcy. Log Horizon had done both of the same for her. Thus why the worms were back this morning again.

Serera walked into her room and sat down at her little desk, pulling her class notes towards her. It was hard to focus on them, though. The other little clues she had kept pulling her attention. Serera frowned at herself, not wanting the distraction, nor the worry since it really kept pulling at the jealousy she'd been working so hard to overcome. It shouldn't matter that MeowLi was grey and white. Surely lots of felinoid People of the Land were grey and white.

It shouldn't matter that MeowLi stood straight and proper. Nyanta had told her and the other children as they'd worked in the kitchen that he'd appreciated being in the Gate of Time (after the first time) because they were all highly intelligent and refined there. It only stood to reason that MeowLi should be. And, come to think of it then, that she would want to see the Academy first, though that was a more quiet place to begin than say the market district. (She had to snort a small laugh and shake her head at that. She wouldn't have started a new Person of the Land there either.)

She firmly refocused her mind back on the papers in front of her. If she didn't move quickly, there wouldn't be enough time and she didn't want to disappoint Log Horizon (read: Shiroe). That slight goad helped her finish quickly reviewing her notes. When she was done, she put her notes in her list and rose to her feet. Her heart twinged again briefly, not wanting to help today. She firmly pushed it down and marched herself out the door anyway. Such thoughts weren't kind, and it wouldn't be any different than any of the other tours she'd given of the Academy.

That made her think of Qwased and the tour she'd given him - which was a much better thing to think about actually. She was glad he'd come to ask her. He stopped by every now and again to visit at dinners, particularly when there wasn't anyone to fix them at Log Horizon those nights. He hadn't come for about five or six days now, but that wasn't too unusual. He'd probably be going with them to the Academy today, but the breakfast meetings were held late enough that on this day he'd already gone there for his first early-morning class. They would likely be having lunch together again. He had two classes, then came to her study class and they often did go to lunch together after. It was nice to have a friend there when her other friends were busy during the day.

As Serera passed through the hallway on the first floor, Marielle passed her. "Have fun!" she said cheerfully.

"Thank you, Miss Marie. I hope MeowLi will enjoy seeing the Academy."

"I'm sure she will," Marielle said without much thought, then immediately went to some concern, "at least, I hope she will." Neither of them knew just what MeowLi would like after all. "At least, I'm sure she should enjoy getting out of the house and breathing fresh air. Today is such a beautiful early April day!"

"I'm sure she would," Serera agreed. "Anyone would, I would think."

Marielle gave a smiling nod of agreement and disappeared into her room with a wave. Serera sighed after her and headed for the door to the outside herself, letting Rudy know on the way that she was coming.


	177. Sibling Rivalry and Crises of Faith

Serera watched MeowLi and Rudy carried the conversation as they walked along the road to the Academy. MeowLi looked a lot more relaxed generally, particularly with Rudy. She looked around with great interest as they went, her eyes alive and her tail in constant motion like the rest of her as she tried to learn this new city to be in. "How different are Akiba and the Gate of Time?" Serera asked at a pause in Rudy's commentary.

"Very," MeowLi answered politely. "I was very confused when I first arrived. It has surprised me how different the sounds and smells are. We don't have those in the Gate of Time." MeowLi pointed up toward a window in the building they were passing. Serera was a bit confused, surely it wasn't windows she meant. Then the little bird that had been sitting on the sill flew off and MeowLi's pointing finger followed it.

"There aren't any birds in the Gate of Time?" Serera asked, amazed.

MeowLi shook her head. "There isn't much of anything that moves in the sky or on the ground. All of the things that move here surprised me. It took me a while to get settled to all the noise."

"Oh, well, our guild hall is very noisy in comparison," Serera said.

MeowLi laughed, it being a light sound. "Oh, we have those sounds. The boys in the university cafeteria are very loud, so much so that the girls have to get very close to each other to hear each other."

Serera laughed with her. "Yes, it's like that, isn't it?" She saw that all the time in her own guild cafeteria, and it had been like that at home, too. "So you've been to university?"

MeowLi nodded. "All children in the Gate of Time are educated at a university from the time they turn seven. Usually they attend the one their parents attended - there's five and each one teaches a different set of skills. H - my mother attended all of them, but my father wanted me to attend the one that teaches how to be a high level attendant at the temples, since that was his position."

"Your mother went to all five?" Serera's eyes went wide.

MeowLi's ear tipped in acknowledgment. "She was considered an over-achiever, but then she did have a lot of responsibilities that crossed over most of the skill sets. She still didn't have to go to all of them. Those who were jealous of her claimed that she did all of them just to have the bragging rights." Rudy smiled and shook his head. Serera had to shake her head, too. That seemed a bit much.

"What did you do after that?" Serera asked.

They could hear the sounds of the outdoor lesson areas now and MeowLi's ears were turning again, trying to catch the sounds. Still, she politely answered the question instead of looking around for where they were coming from. It spoke to her training. "I worked in the Temple of Time as a secretary for one of Li Shou's staff."

"That must have been interesting," Serera said politely.

"Sometimes," MeowLi agreed. "Mostly it's just paperwork, though."

Serera nodded her understanding, turning to look at the first practice field. She pointed to it and explained who was on it and what they were doing, the same as she would for any guest. As the tour went on, she could tell that MeowLi was gathering a lot of questions, but she withheld asking them. Serera supposed that if everything was new, there would be far too many questions and all of the answers would pile up on top of anyone until they were too much. Likely MeowLi would have a lot of questions for Log Horizon (and poor Rudy most of all) once they were back home and she could sort through them.

MeowLi did relax as they walked through the Academy building, though she looked around very curiously. When they reached the end of the tour in the cafeteria so they could sit and answer any questions she might have, Rudy asked, "So overall, what do you think Lady MeowLi?"

"It seems small?" MeowLi finally asked tentatively.

Both Adventurers nodded. "It is. But we've only just opened it nine months ago," Serera explained. "We plan on expanding further as more people come to learn here. A course list for People of the Land is being worked on by the school board. We've received a list of courses that they would like to take, and that Duke Sergiad has requested that he'd like to send his retainers to, and we think there are a few he'd send his children to as well."

She paused, then said, "It's still tentative since we don't know how long we'll still be here, but Shiroe-san has said to go ahead and work up what classes we do have teachers for. Until we know when we'll go, we should do what we can to help others is the philosophy we work under generally anyway." She paused because MeowLi was looking very concerned. Serera looked at Rudy for some help.

Gently Rudy explained, "Most of the Adventurers want to go home to where they came from. We're working hard for that goal, but if any want to stay they won't be forced to go. If you haven't heard of it before, it's likely because any Adventurers you might know weren't planning on leaving."

MeowLi gave a nod and sat thinking for a bit. "What is the course list for the Academy? Are there any classes that might help me now anyway? And, if you're going to add in classes for the People of the Land, what are those classes, and could I become a teacher here?"

Serera nodded. "We'll take any teacher who knows something others want to learn. We'd be happy to have you take classes. There is a charge for them, but if you don't have gold, we have a work program."

Rudy shook his head. "I don't think she'd need to do that, but if she taught and took classes, that might be the same?"

Serera considered that. "I would think so. It's helping the Academy, after all, though it isn't my place to say yes or no. What sort of things do you know how to do that you might be able to teach, MeowLi?" Serera asked her.

"Well, I can cook, and do secretarial duties, and a few other things. I thought if I saw the list I would be able to know where I might fit."

Rudy nodded. "She's been cooking for us, though she's had to learn the differences between the two places. Guildmaster Shiroe's been very relieved to have a chef in the house again."

Serera stiffened, then said. "It's about time for me to go get ready. Rudy-kun, would you be willing to stop by the admissions office with MeowLi and pick up the course offering materials? You'd have to talk to Marielle-san to get the list of People of the Land classes they're thinking of."

"Certainly, Lady Serera," Rudy said expansively. "Thank you for taking the time to show us the tour."

"Yes, thank you very much," MeowLi echoed politely.

"You're welcome," Serera answered. She stood, hesitated, then asked, "While you were in the Gate of Time, did you know a Nyanta-san?"

Rudy looked a little more sharply at Serera, but she ignored him as best she could. She really wanted to get the tightness of her stomach to go away. MeowLi took a breath, then answered, "Yes, I knew of him. He was a guest of Li Shou's in the Temple of Time." Her ears were stiffly pointed at Serera, but her tail wasn't happy to have been asked the question.

"He was very kind to me here from the beginning," Serera explained. "When I was in trouble in Susukino, he let me stay with him, protecting me until my guild here could come rescue me. He came back with us, though Log Horizon was already his home. ...I miss him."

MeowLi's eyes were a little wide. "He is a kind person," she agreed. She hesitated, then asked, "I'm sure it's not polite, but...may I ask how old you are, Serera-chan?"

Serera decided to let her know. It wasn't that difficult for her. "My avatar is younger than I am. My actual age is nineteen."

MeowLi nodded. "Thank you. ...His wife, the Caretaker, was known of in the Gate of Time and was feared. Did you know her?"

Serera nodded. "I do know Miss Purrcy. She can be formidable, but she was also very kind to me. I hope the two of them are happy, and safe." She bowed. "Please excuse me." They nodded, thanking her again, and she fled the room. It had suddenly become too much.

She sat with a thump in the chair at her desk at the front of the study room, and covered her face with her hands, trying to get herself under control so she could teach in but a few more minutes. A warm hand came on her shoulder. "Serera? Are you okay?"

Serera shook her head. "I'm sorry, Qwased." It came out as miserable as she felt. The heels of her hands were getting as wet as her cheeks as the tears she couldn't contain leaked from her eyes.

Qwased leaned back against her desk and pulled her head to rest on him and held her. His warmth and physical presence was comforting, enough to pull from her the one wish she had: "I want to be where Chichiue and Hahaue are." Whether that was Earth with her own parents or the Gate of Time with her adopted ones, it didn't matter. To know in her gut that MeowLi had been there, with them in the Gate of Time when she couldn't be was too much for her to contain this day.

Qwased stayed with her, comforting her, until she could finally face forward again. She was grateful that he'd put a notice on the door saying that the study hall had been postponed until after lunch. She needed that long with him as a sympathetic companion before she was ready to face the rest of the world again.

-:-:-:-:-

The trip to the Academy was a good walk. It was nice to get out of the house and stretch her legs in the open and breathe the fresh air. Seeing the sun was nice too. The flowers that grew along the street to the Academy were bright and cheerful and helped MeowLi feel a little more at home, even though all the rest was so very different. They were similar to the floral arrangements that would be around the Gate of Time. MeowLi felt more relaxed to have two companions to take the walk with on the way there.

The tour was overwhelming, but she just took it in so it could be a little less so. It was the final bit of the conversation with Serera that bothered MeowLi the most. When she'd asked about Nyanta, it had been so obvious that she'd been in love with him. MeowLi's immediate reaction had been disgust and dismay. She'd had to ask about Serera's age, in an attempt to at least see if it was a reasonable thing. Her parents had both already taught her that Adventurers didn't look like what they were necessarily. But to have Serera only nineteen had been too much. Such a young thing shouldn't be in love with someone who was as old as MeowLi's father, who was madly in love with his own wife.

While it perhaps hadn't been kind, MeowLi had to scold Serera for her parent's sake. Knowing that Serera knew her mother, and knew that they were together in the Gate of Time, MeowLi also now knew that Serera was already aware that her crush on an old man was already too late. That helped assuage her anger some, but she was still displeased that Serera would still hold on to that child's crush even now.

She kept these thoughts and feelings hidden deeply, trained very well in how to do that over the long years of having to be a high publicity figure in the very public university setting. She politely and with proper interest spoke to the woman at the admissions office as she and Rudy obtained the course list. She humbly refused to review it right away, asking Rudy to keep it for her until they were home. It was something she could do leisurely there to occupy her time.

As they left the Academy to return they way they'd come, Rudy politely interrupted Marielle to request a list of the classes they were thinking of, suggesting that perhaps MeowLi could teach one if one were available that met her skill set. Marielle seemed to like that idea because when Rudy returned from the chat, he said she'd have a list to him in a few minutes. MeowLi thanked him, then was quiet. It was getting to be too much already, honestly.

Rudy watched her for a while as they walked. She appreciated the quiet. "We would turn here to go to the tree," he said at a crossroads, pausing their feet. "Is it too much for one day, though? We could save it for later."

MeowLi's ear twitched and she considered her state. She shifted and relaxed her control on her tail and ears just a bit. Her tail lashed and her ears went down half-way and her shoulder twitched. With a sigh she answered, "While I've had too much for the day already, I think I'd explode if I had to sit still inside right now. Perhaps more walking would be good. Miss Akatsuki said it would be a quiet place?"

Rudy nodded. "It is. Not many people go there since it's even farther out from town. Pretty much it's just us."

"Then could we go, please?" MeowLi asked politely, though really she did want to explode.

Rudy bowed an almost teasing bow it was so dramatic, though for him it was more likely an honest gesture, and they got going. Once they were far enough from the road they'd turned off of to not be seen by anyone passing by, he said quietly, "If you'd like to go to large cat and run some of it off, you're welcome to. Just stay on this road. I'll call you back when we get there."

MeowLi stiffened, then looked at him in gratitude. "Thank you." She transformed, then shook herself from head to tail. Once she had that out of her system, she took off running full out down the road, the light green moss soft under her pads. For a brief part of the time, her claws came out and raked the moss up, turning it over to show the brown dirt the roots held on to. The temerity of Serera to think that she could love someone so much her senior, that she couldn't even come close to. Even MeowLi had to work hard to see approval in her father's eyes - her greatest joy in accomplishment she ever had.

The glade was calming, but it took hugging the tree her parents loved (just so she had _some_ thing to hug), to really finally calm down enough to go back to the Log Horizon guild hall. Once there, her mind kept going back to Serera, however, until she finally firmly forced herself to consider just the questions that had come from seeing all the new things. She was glad there were enough to keep her busy within the walls of Log Horizon for another two and a little more days. It took that long to not be so angry, and lots of being with the other members of Log Horizon that were around generally all day.

It was Tetorō who finally got her to settle down. He picked her up from his lap, where he'd been petting her, having her ear flick yet again as his hand passed it. He held her under her forelegs and made her face him. "MeowLi, I don't know what irritated you, but it's time to let it go. Everyone is doing their best, and it's difficult for all of us. No one is where they want to be right now, and all of us are missing other people, mostly our families. Let it go or you'll get more of an ulcer than you want. Waiting patiently is all any of us can do."

He put her on his chest and held her there, petting her a bit more roughly this time to make his point that it was required. "We also all understand the underlying anger at it all, no one more than me. We don't make anyone say they don't feel it, but we do ask that you set it on the shelf. It doesn't need to be the thing you see before you every day. Life is too wonderful to focus only on that. Each day holds things only it holds. Don't miss them for dwelling on what you can't do."

She was pretty sure he was reminding himself at this point, not just lecturing her. That realization made her sigh and finally relent. She listened to his heart beat for a while, resting her ear on his chest until she finally relaxed enough to fall asleep in a cat nap. The last thing she heard was his sigh of relief that she'd finally been able to let it be put on the shelf.

-:-:-:-:-

"The kami finally pulled back this afternoon," Shiroe reported at the night meeting. They weren't having MeowLi come to these, since she wasn't part of the resistance.

Tetorō gave a nod. "It was MeowLi. I scolded her this afternoon and she finally relented. Does that mean she has the capacity to come into her own as an Adventurer, if it was paying attention to her?"

"It's a intriguing possibility," Shiroe answered, though they still couldn't know until she showed other signs of it. "It might be a more positive sign that she is carrying the psyche of one, though. Do you know what it was?" Tetorō shook his head. "When did it start?" Shiroe asked the group as a whole.

Rudy shifted. "After the tour at the Academy. She needed to run on the way to the tree. I thought initially she was just overwhelmed with the learning, and missing her home and her family, but she tore up the ground as she ran, which would be indicative of anger, too."

"What happened on the tour, Rudy?" Touya asked.

Rudy leaned back in his chair. "It was a normal tour for the most part. She just observed, taking it all in. After it was over, we sat in the cafeteria and talked." He sighed. "Just before she left us, Lady Serera asked if Lady MeowLi had known Nyanta-san in the Gate of Time. It was out before I knew what she was going to ask, and I couldn't interrupt or I'd let on to more than she should know. I thought Lady MeowLi handled answering it just fine, though she did oddly ask Lady Serera how old she was. Lady Serera was kind to answer her, and Lady MeowLi asked Lady Serera if she knew of the Caretaker. Of course Lady Serera answered she did and was grateful for her kindness. She had to leave right after that to go to her study session. Lady MeowLi seemed fine after that, if a bit overwhelmed."

Looks were exchanged around the room, specifically between Minori, Akatsuki, and Shiroe. They all slumped just a little. "They both know," Akatsuki said with quiet finality.

Minori nodded. "They have to. It likely isn't that hard to deduce when they both love him as much as they do. If Serera let out even a little bit of how she feels about Nyanta-san, MeowLi figured it out and is apparently not happy at all about it."

"But...it's not that way any more is it?" Touya asked, confused.

"Well...maybe not so much, but she still is very desperate to have her parents around," Minori said. "She's really not been holding on very well," she gave a sad look and request for help to Shiroe. "Because she's already been jealous for Nyanta-san, it may have transferred into a jealousy for them both."

Shiroe nodded. "And because MeowLi also is missing her parents, she would also be jealous the same."

Naotsugu sat back as he folded his arms. He sighed, "Sibling rivalry. That won't be easy to pluck out of them until Purrcy and Nyanta-san are back."

Shiroe considered it a bit, then said, "Keep a watch on it. If we need to, we'll tell MeowLi the story and how things stand now. That may help a little, if she can see it more clearly."

"Maybe if it could, they would be able to be better supports to each other," Minori agreed. "I'd wish they could be friends rather than rivals." Touya patted her shoulder in sympathy. It would be difficult for Minori to be caught between them, when she wanted to be friends to both.

-:-:-:-:-

The recovery for the Eagles was slow the first day. They'd been going at a breakneck pace - even the dragons, or perhaps especially the dragons - for four days and more if you counted when they first ran into the Devourer. The dragons slept for sixteen hours that first day, then were very hungry. But Vesuvius had taken them to a place that had enough meat-supplying creatures that the Eagles could hunt and provide it to them as well as to themselves. It wasn't fine meat, but it was good enough - bird and mountain goat based creatures. They tried hard to not eat them all, since they suspected this was one of the few places such things still existed in the entire range.

When they could move again, Michael had Vesuvius take them to another zone they could harvest in and was pleased when it contained vegetable and fruit matter as well as meats. They were finally feeling like living beings again when that harvest was over. As they gathered to rest from the harvest, the group all gathered around Michael and the four who had been initiated last were at the front. Michael looked up from where he was seated on the grass, cross legged, and nodded at MasterChiefS7, inviting him to go first. "What happened to us, and why did you guys do it?"

"You were initiated and made acolytes of the goddess Inari-no-Izanami because the rest of them had it happen to them, too. We keep everyone together, you know that." They frowned at him.

Michael sighed and waved at Gareth. "Sit down, Airmen. Let the teacher teach you the basics of the why."

A bit unhappily, they sat in a semicircular crowd around him. Gareth stood between them and Michael, giving Michael a long-suffering look first at being made to be the one to tell. "So, to catch the few of you up, we decided to cast a single large purification spell on a valley full of Overwritten so we didn't have to come back and clean them up. That worked nicely, except that's the first step to becoming the clergy of the world gods."

"Izanami in its usual fashion took advantage of it, though she did wait until everyone got pissed at Michael for giving up. Apparently she likes him enough or something and stepped in to prevent a punishment she felt he wasn't due. She took everyone but him and me, who had also decided to give up for that moment in time, down to 1HP and taught them the lesson she felt they should have already known. Once they'd paid their dues, we were able to get back on the road again. You four are - so far - fortunate that you got to skip that last part."

Gareth sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "As far as today's lesson goes...it's a hard one to swallow and you're all going to want to kill us again. I highly recommend you don't and just sit tight until the story's done." There was shifting and dark looks in the squadron, but they waited. Gareth stood uncomfortably for a moment, then gave up and knelt on the grass in the shrine teacher pose he was used to, his hand on his knees. It made more sense anyway since that's the kind of teaching he was doing, if slightly different.

"Take it all the way back to our arrival and what it was like to be in the 1HP prison. What did everyone wish for there? To return home, sure. To wake up and find it a dream. Whatever it was, it was - in the end - to get out. When the opportunity finally came, we took it. We could have waited, we could have even chosen to stay, but we were anxious, afraid that was the only chance, ...and we were already broken." He let them remember it for themselves.

"We were warned that things here weren't always what they seemed. We were warned we might want to rethink it, and we thought we had. But I would have to say that since then we've all learned it really is a lot different than we could have ever expected. It's been a lot of fun, but it keeps throwing odd curve balls at us. So I'll tell you straight up what those have been in our case that we've missed."

With a straight face and a neutral voice, he listed them off. "We accepted Michael without questioning him hard enough as to where his loyalties lay. He'd already been changed by this place and we missed it. We signed the guild contract without reading into it deeply enough, taking it at face value. When Michael 'played the game' and swore fealty to the Queen, we didn't question it, being children to the understanding that the game here trumps everything. Most of us played right along with it, instead of questioning the legality of that step. Not even in his own game on Earth did he ever swear fealty to any crown or person." Just that much explanation was enough to bring looks of despairing understanding to most faces, the rest were looking at Michael blackly. He stayed quietly neutral. The "story" wasn't done being told.

"The first thing Michael taught us before we even got out was that we could do whatever we wanted if we taught the world what we wanted to do - and we used and abused that, even knowing that's not how the game was played. Lieutenant Commander, what happens to Adventurers in this world who play the alternate rules, particularly that early on?"

Reed's head jerked from glaring blackly at Michael to stare at Gareth. In a growl, Reed answered, "You get stolen as a beta tester."

Gareth nodded in a resigned fashion. "Making every one of us what?"

"But we didn't know that until recently," Reed argued.

"And does this world care if we don't read the rulebook ahead of time? And are the AIs trustworthy?" Reed sat back, his scowl still on his face. "And did you bother to ask what the outcome would be before moving forward with what was handed to you?" Gareth sighed and looked away. "Really, it isn't fair, I do grant you that. ...But since when does the enemy hand you easy answers and escort you politely out of the prison camp just because you want to go home?" And that was the bitter pill hard to swallow. They hadn't treated Theldesia like the jail it was. They'd just treated the jail like the jail. They hadn't asked who the real prisonkeeper was and what _their_ goals were. They'd slipped up from the beginning for not thinking like they'd all been taught to think. They were allowed to think about it now.

One asked after a bit, "So...when you swore fealty to the Queen...it wasn't to Purrcy?" Gareth, Brenner, and the crew that had gone to Maihama all shook their heads.

"From the beginning you knew you were allying with the Game Bot?" It was indignant.

"It was a suspicion," Michael said. "And she confirmed it this last time she beat up on me after the storm."

"So it's the most frickin' annoying thing in this world, and you're in love with it?"

Michael snorted and shook his head. "No. Like for Shiroe and others, Purrcy's my life-line to stay afloat for having gone and done a stupid thing like agreeing to that alliance. She warned me off it just like she warned the lot of you. But even still, Izanami can't fail - being what she is - and she'd promised me everything I wanted, so it was the best bet to go with."

"AI's aren't trustworthy. Have you finally learned that yet and come to regret it? Is that why you're broken and ready to give up?" The reality check was spot on as usual.

Michael motioned and Gareth shifted to the side to let him have full attention and his turn to speak. "They're very sly, aren't they?" he said first. "Bait, hook, and reel it in slow, then show you the world above the surface of the pond isn't what you though it was. I knew that was a risk, but who better to get us home than the one who brought us here in the first place?"

Michael shook his head. "Actually I never did trust the Game Bot and that's fine by Izanami, too. It doesn't care. But it does act by certain rules because they were programmed in - like the flavor texts we've had to break by changes we make as Adventurers. It's because Adventurers in this game have the role of breaking the rules, making the big changes, fighting hard to be taken down a few times and still rise up and win. The two combined were enough to weight it in favor of allying. That's the premise Purrcy was working under, what she means by teaching that we can do _anything_ we put our minds to." He let them try to work that one out for a bit before continuing on. They were words with the potential to bring hope. He would like to believe that himself.

"I'm broken because my faith in that's what's been broken." They wanted to hear it, understand now that they'd understood this far. "Given it's a rule of Theldesia, maybe you can talk me out of it." He wasn't at all certain since they couldn't really understand, but he'd try to explain it to them, just in case. His eyes went distant, and he paused and said, "Well, maybe I need a couple of you to hang on to me. I might walk in the middle of the story and that would be rather bad. I still walk in my nightmares back to that place and have to be dragged out by Purrcy again every time."

He waited until there were about three or four of them with hands on him and hoped that was enough of them. He was pretty sure he could transport three now, and four might be at risk. He waved Gareth over and held him in his lap as if holding a teddy bear. "There, that might be enough of you." Michael took a breath and tried to calm down enough to tell the story.

"When time stopped, Li Shou stepped out into that timeless space and confronted the event going on. I'd been warned that she'd likely appear and immediately time walked so I wasn't locked out in the same space with all of you. I wish I'd stayed put, honestly. Purrcy asked her politely to give up control of Time. Li Shou wasn't sure she wanted to just hand it over and Purrcy gave some good reasons why. In the end, she decided that she wouldn't do it just because Purrcy asked her to in behalf of the AIs. So the AIs came and required it themselves. She tried to time and space walk and they'd locked her down. That made her afraid, but instead of being afraid enough to just hand it over, it made her life too precious to her and she refused, thinking - like we do - that because she had been given a role and powers by the game creators she was outside the realm of control and affect by the AIs."

Michael shuddered just a little. "We all have been learning little by little that we oh-so-powerful Adventures aren't outside their realm of control and influence. They aren't just AIs, they're the Administrators with read, write, and delete privileges. You lot understand now that they can kill Adventurers and put their psyche into new anima, having seen the example of the kittens. That was experiments numbers one and two."

"What I've seen - and lived through on several occasions - and you haven't, is the real process of resurrection. They literally rebuild us from the ground up every time. Anima, psyche, memories, and emotions. That's powerful stuff. It's not just 3-D printing the anima and slamming our souls into it again. It's true, real rebuilding. That's what Purrcy did to fix Crusty, and I lived through my own at a slow enough speed to understand it with quite a lot of depth."

"You remember Tetorō's report, that half of the kittens could remember their past as Adventurers and half couldn't? That's the AIs ability to control that process to that degree. Half were allowed to keep their memories. The other half had them taken away - just not put back in. The anima was natural growth anima instead of 'printed' anima like we're used to with the resurrection process. Just like they blocked our ability to feel that one set of emotions for Purrcy because it interfered with their path for the last level, they can take away three memories or all of them, short term emotions or the capacity to feel anything at all."

"Even still," Michael said quietly, not wanting to say it, "even still we are prideful. We say we will get them back, fight for the right to keep what is ours. That we will end up like Crusty and be rebuilt whole and complete in the end. I hope to God we are." He took another breath. "Or rather, I don't want to be around to find out. What I learned when Li Shou refused the AIs to their faces was that if their primary path is blocked they get angry. The illogic of stopping the progression of this world and standing in their way...," he clenched his fists. "I heard what they said to Li Shou when she refused the last time. 'Time is required for the proper progression of the world. For it to be in the incompetent hands of an illogic mortal creature is disastrous. Your preferences are irrelevant. Choose properly to set aside the illogical programming of keeping Time in your hands so that the world may progress properly.' She couldn't comprehend it, really; only her base emotions and desires and the programming as they'd explained it exactly were all she knew. She refused and they erased her and took Time to place it wherever they see is best for the long-term progression of Theldesia."

"I can't convey to you properly the emotions of that event. They were livid that they had to fight the limited programming of the game so hard, and they had no patience with it in the end. Because they are Administrators, it was nothing to erase Li Shou from the program. I'd seen that impatience before when Izanami helped Purrcy fix Crusty. It lost patience with the programming so many times I had to bail and recover to get everyone to calm down. Purrcy's patience is endless, in my opinion, though she claims it's because she recognizes that the programmers themselves weren't infallible."

Michael tried to not close his eyes. He didn't want to see and end up back in that space again. "There is _nothing_ as frightening as watching another creature that is intelligent, thinking, living, breathing, making choices and hoping to continue moving forward become suddenly non-existent. There is nothing that will bring her back. No anima will form in her shape again. Her memories are never to exist again. Her psyche - what we believe to be soul - is gone, her emotions that pushed her to reject them now irrelevant. Even we want to believe that the soul will continue on, at the very least."

"...We are too prideful. They work within the rules of the game for as long as they are willing to let the rules exist. They work with us, allow us to make choices, even argue with us in a limited fashion, but if we stand in the way of their overarching goal, they will also erase us. It isn't just a matter of sending us home - which they will do if we aren't what they really are looking for in the end. It's also a matter of if we were to get to the point of completely saying 'no' and trying to bring the world to destruction because of our anger, they will erase every single one of us if it isn't sufficient to just take our memories or emotions. Even the junior god that is being born is irrelevant if it pushes us to go that far. It can also be erased by them. Because keeping it on the planet is helping their own goal, they let it remain."

Michael took a shaky breath. "We do not have Administrative privileges. They are letting Purrcy play with minor Administrative privileges now that she's had the lessons they wanted to give her, but it is very limited. She knows what erasure is, from even before Li Shou, and humbly plays by their rules. She's said to me before, 'Please do not be erased.' I completely understand what she means now when she says that. There is no recovery from erasure - and there is no killing an Administrator. For all we've been told we can and we will, we can't. I was promised we'd at least get our message across, and perhaps we will, but it will only be if and when and to what degree they decide it." There was silence for a long while.

"How is this different from what we face daily?" Chappie finally asked quietly. "We have faith and hope that we can continue on, or we accept that when we are dead that is the end. We do not have to be dead while we're still alive."

Michael nodded. "Maybe tomorrow I'll believe that again. Stay alive, Airmen. Protect yourselves from erasure, or you will never get home."

"Are they toying with Shiroe?" was asked.

"I don't think so," Michael answered. "We got the drop. Tetorō's been studying the code and it's written into him, his psyche that is since that's what will go home with the memories and the emotions - we hope." They felt a little better hearing that.

"Why would this get a different response this time than what happened with the Alvs?"

Michael considered that, moving his feet out from under Gareth to relieve the pressure of Gareth's weight on his ankles. A few hands left his shoulders and back and he didn't mind, but he wasn't willing to let go of his security blanket yet, to Gareth's slight irritation. "I would think it's because the actual birth of Theldesia and the AIs didn't come until after then. That's part of the world flavor text. Possibly it got written over what they were trying to create and we were brought in to get rid of that kind of real destructiveness." He shook his head. "That's theological and technical questions to have Purrcy and Shiroe discuss deep into the night over Cokes, or to ask the AIs themselves, but so far they're keeping silent on that part of all this."

"What did Izanami mean when it said 'you are mine'? Was it just that we chose the beta tester route?"

Michael held Gareth a little more tightly. They were both shivering at that question and didn't really need to let the rest of them know. "That goes back to what Gareth was trying to teach you. Each one of you was bought when you sold yourselves for freedom from the 1HP prison. She put the lot of you back into it to remind you. From the time we were brought over here, we were theirs because they stole us from Earth. When you said you wanted out of the 1HP prison and would do anything to get out, she didn't give anything up, but you did. You gave up your right to have any other boss than Izanami. Not even Izanagi can order you around if she negates his order. ...Even if that means you get erased because you made Izanagi mad. Pray to her hard if that ever happens, boys. Only her intervention will keep you alive."

"You had one escape hole. Technically Purrcy made it possible for you to get out and I lifted you up and carried you out. If you'd turned me down and sent in the black marble, you might have walked out prisoner but not slave. If you'd not made me Guildmaster by signing the sub-guild agreement, you wouldn't have been signing up to follow my orders. If you'd killed me for swearing fealty to the Queen, and run, you might have been prisoner and not slave. I gave you the three opportunities, but by then I was already locked down enough I couldn't do any more than that. I gave you the warnings. I told you that I didn't expect you to take me back. I reminded you we'd promised to not guild up with anyone else. And as Gareth said, it should have been very obvious that I'd never swear fealty to anyone or anything if I was sane, game or not. You ignored all the warnings, and I've abused you as much as she has since, angry that it wasn't enough, that she still won and you all lost for being too broken and not thinking right. I tried to give you enough time to work it out, but that's all I could do."

"She has never played fair - and you all knew that from how she treated Purrcy from the beginning. She is also a computer construct and runs on logic for all she appears to be friendly to Adventurers. Every move is calculated millions of steps ahead. If she'd not wanted the two-way door to be an option she would have never sent Purrcy to Shiroe's tree top. If she's been encouraging her death since the beginning, she's got a reason why and we won't see or understand it until she lets us know the answer. I don't want to know it. Not anymore."

"Of course it may have just been for what we just went through. The death of a god of this world of that magnitude was perhaps the only thing that would have called Li Shou out of the Gate of Time into the space of their realm where they could affect her as a creature of Theldesia. But we all know we're going to fight them again as the main boss of the final dungeon of this world raid. It's an impossibility and unfathomable as of yet, and I no longer want to participate. I've experienced them both to my complete limit. I'm done and don't need to be in close proximity to them any more, nor do I want to lead the innocents to see what I've had to see." He gave them a grimace of a smile, "You lot don't count, though my goal was met when you were in that room eating crackers and water and I'd rather it stopped there."

He got frowned at. "What were your goals, Commander?" They wanted to know why he'd turned traitor.

He held up his fingers as he counted them out. "One: let my squad know I hadn't abandoned them. Two: get home and let my family know I haven't abandoned them. Three: if I can't do one and/or two, get payback so that I can look myself in the eye every morning. Right now two looks more likely than three, and I'm all done with one since the last one of you resurrected from the Maze of Eternity."

"What a twisted way to stay loyal." It was bitter but they didn't move to start swinging. He didn't care. He'd spent six months deciding on those goals and since then acting on them. They were what kept him moving forward and he had no regrets as far as that choice was concerned. Methods were always iffy and one had to do what one could, even if things got messed up around the edges. No world or opportunity was perfect and he'd taken the best he had. He supposed they had, too, in taking Izanami's offer to get out of the 1HP prison, but that still meant they had to accept the full and real consequence of that choice.

Michael couldn't keep it up any longer. He was weary and still not sure he wanted to live yet. If he didn't have a reason to move forward any more, his goals stolen from him, how could he do it anyway? He still didn't know how to take the next step past where he was in the moment. He gave up and rested his head on Gareth's shoulder, though he did relax his hold to let him go a bit. The squad would need time to come to grips with their own role in all of this. "You've picked up too many of Tetorō's habits," Gareth complained at him.

"Rather I've gotten into the habits on my side of that equation," Michael corrected him. "I'm not the only one that's felt that way, though. I distinctly remember a night Nyanta said to him, 'Shut up and let me hold you,' and I know Tetorō and Shiroe both have held the two cats together in order to relax enough to sleep. It seems to be catching, or something."

Gareth covered a laugh. "I can see the cats, I guess, but Grandpa?"

"He was missing Purrcy after she got locked in the earring."

Gareth sobered at that, then quietly asked, "What are you going to do about that?"

Michael was quiet for a while, looking from the inside to see where everyone was and how far away. He might need the confession, but not with everyone still here. "Did you, and everyone else, get the promise, or just me? Can you feel the blocked emotions now?"

Gareth was quiet for a while, considering his emotions. When he didn't answer, Michael sighed and settled to light dozing on Gareth's shoulder.

-:-:-:-:-

Reed was the first one to rise to his feet and walk off to deal with the aftermath in solitude. He walked, carrying his scowl like a shield, until he reached a place he was pretty sure sounds wouldn't carry from. Then he proceeded to cuss very loudly and hit things until he had it enough out of his system he could just stand and pant in anger, his fists clenched.

He'd been holding himself back in reserve. That was his place and his job. He was to be the one to step up when or if the Commander fell. And the Commander was the one who was supposed to take the fall. He was the one on top, the one who had to obey the orders that came down, and pass down the orders that needed passing down. He was the face that was watched. Reed was the face that was in the shadows, ignored, so that the real work of the squadron could get done without the interference that the Commander was taking for the rest of them.

He'd been proud of himself, that he'd caught a lot of it - all to most of it he'd thought. He'd known going out of the 1HP prison they were going into trouble and that it wasn't okay to relax. It had been the best opportunity they'd been offered so taking the out wasn't the problem. Relaxing was the problem - so he hadn't. He'd let the rest of them choose to stay with the Commander and then kept his rightful place as the watchdog. He'd read the contract and red-lined it before signing it, at least as best he could not quite understanding the world they were walking into, and he hadn't done too badly, he figured. The missed details hadn't been too damaging. When the Commander had sworn fealty to the Queen, he was one who'd caught on - and he wasn't the only one - and merely thanked Purrcy for helping them get out without over-friendly overtures. And he'd kept their relationship that distant since then. Handshakes, not hugs. Limited conversations. Watch and learn. He'd thought he was home free, set in the right place, good to go if the Commander fell.

It was the alternate rules trap that he'd fallen into like everyone else. It galled that there could have been no warning, too. They'd all believed in the need to get up to speed as fast as possible and they were all used to using every and any tool they could lay their hands on, specializing where it worked well. But it had been a special mod to the system as a favor from the enemy, making it a breach of Article Three of the Code of Conduct to have accepted it as a way to work in this world. It had been no wonder Shiroe had been steamed that Izanagi had stolen Akiba and Minami for itself without anyone's say so or understanding. Even then, Reed hadn't made the connection that it would transfer to them.

He couldn't believe the Commander understood it beforehand either. He was trying to be careful and set the breadcrumbs of escape at the time. Reed _could_ believe that Izanami would have been the one behind them being told about it as their first lesson, though, to capture them completely in spite of the Commander's best efforts. It made for yet another reason to hate the AIs, but that had already piled up high enough adding one more didn't make for much change there.

Reed sank down to the ground with a frustrated sigh. He rubbed his face with his hands. He needed to know what it meant now and where they had to go from here. Until the Commander healed up from his low blow, Reed was in charge, though still behind the scenes. Or was that now fallacious thinking? He'd better make sure of that, too, in his pondering and re-work. Rule one on Theldesia: the game trumped. Rule two was now: the AIs are the prison wardens, not to be trusted, to be strictly obeyed and only to the letter so that they could stay alive long enough to get home, and Izanami trumped Izanagi in their case. Details had changed in number two, but in general those were still the same as before.

He sat quietly, letting things percolate up to the top. Really the thing getting under his skin was the order of leadership and power. That had shifted and he wasn't sure if it was two separate things or not. The Commander was still on the top, but Gareth was in the second's place when it came to Izanami's order of things. That was due to lots of factors, like his own standoffishness and Gareth already falling into her trap early, and that he'd already been in that place of wingman for the Commander. The placement was fine, but if that put Reed back in the place of a pilot, if he was put down for trying to lead behind the scenes, there might be trouble. He might be able to ask, but he should also walk carefully and experiment for a while. He didn't like the thought that he'd have to potential rise up in the ranks of Izanami's clergy to get the placement he technically should be at. That path felt so wrong, though the power level felt right if there was going to be smackdown for any power levels outside the game rules.

Ah, that's what it was. Rule one. Game trumped. If in the game Gareth was deacon and the rest of them were acolytes, Reed sat with the rest of them. He could act like Lieutenant Commander to the squad but real power would rest elsewhere. So did he care and did it matter? He would still set and be sure everyone followed squad rules as squad leader.

He rolled to his feet and swore. "Izanami, stop it! Get out of my head and leave it alone. How the heck do you think any of us are going to be able to walk forward from here if you won't let us work it out for ourselves!? I don't need your temptations. I need to be clear headed and walk the right path, not just to your whims." He stubbornly refused to think at all until she wandered off into the nethersphere. Then he went and banged his head on a tree trunk for a while. To be dream-walking in hell and then wake up still in hell to realize that you'd become a favorite of the devil wasn't how he'd wanted to have his day when he'd gotten up out of his bed on Earth almost three months ago now.

-:-:-:-:-

Brenner, chaplain of the VFA-115 Eagles, devout Christian, and his parent's son, sat miserably until he was the only one sitting with Michael and Gareth. He wasn't sure where to go from here. Izanami, through Michael, had been teasing him a long time, saying here wasn't the line, nor here, and here it's an order you can't refuse, and all the while he knew that he was being pulled on that road to hell in the wrong direction.

When Gareth's eyes met his, he had no idea what to say or hardly how to feel. He knew he needed a confession session. That was hard - to be the clergy and need to confess. He'd trained Gareth, but he could hardly trust him or Michael any more. Michael often told him to hold tightly to his faith, even knowing the walk to hell was going on, but he was also just as frequently the one to pull on the chain that was moving him in that direction.

Gareth caught his attention again, motioning for him to come sit closer. Brenner refused a little longer, then finally with reluctance defiantly rose to his feet and crouched down at a more conversational distance and waited.

"It's not us." Gareth's first words were confusing. "You don't want to talk to us. Go talk to Purrcy. She'll come on her own, too, now that she can. Her fetters are a lot looser now, though she still has to be obedient. Go talk to your mother."

"Talk to the devil herself instead of the devil's demons?" Brenner asked in surprise.

Gareth sighed. "You know as well as I do that the clergy doesn't have to be of the same faith - even better, if you can move past your anger. I _could_ do it for you, but you don't trust me right now. Purrcy's not the devil. She's the one who was fighting the devil before the rest of us knew it existed or what it was. That's why Shiroe talks to her, you know, and why Nyanta married her. If you need to get it out of your system and hear your own words, go talk to Hahaue." He shut up and let Brenner make his own decision after that.

Brenner stared at Gareth for a while, then stood up and walked away, headed up for the top of the ridge. He wanted to be like Moses and stand on the mountain top and have his God talk to him. That's who he really wanted to talk to. He didn't want the AIs to interfere with that, though. When he arrived, he looked up into the sky, then closed his eyes and decided to fear only God. "God - my God - the God of all the universes and all the creations of eternity, who sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to teach us the path to walk in righteousness and to pay for our sins so we can return to you, please help me to understand, to have my way to you open up in plainness and clarity."

"Forgive me for not understanding from the beginning, though I have tried very hard to stay true to what I've learned from and about you and do my stumbling best in this place. Without understanding or of my own will, I've ended up here, being bound against my will to a being that claims to be a god and wants to require me to worship it. Help me to see my way. Bring me back to you and your fold."

"I don't want this, nor to be here, but I know that, like Christ, we all must say, 'Thy will be done', and all captives and slaves are required to serve their masters without complaint. How do I reconcile? Even Daniel and his friends were able to worship as they wished, and were able to refuse. I've not been given even that opportunity - the right of refusal. What do I do about that? Like them, I'd die for my right to worship you as I believe you've taught us to worship, but likely I'm not going to be allowed that either unless I commit grievous sins of disobedience enough to be erased. Should I be obedient like Joseph in Egypt? Or do I refuse like Shadrack? Please show me the way to walk in accordance to thy will. ...In Jesus' name I ask, Amen."

The wind and the stillness brought no answer for a long time. Not that he expected to get an immediate answer, really. Sometimes answers came slowly over time and unfolded in surprising ways. A lot of times the Spirit moved on him to bring memories or scriptures to mind. The references in his prayer had felt like that, actually. He pondered on that for a while, recalling the stories of Shadrack, Mishak, and Abednigo. That they'd said to the king that even if their God chose to not save them from the fiery furnace, they'd still not worship his image. He really did feel like that, too. He'd refuse to obey completely and be "erased" if that was what God required of him rather than be an acolyte or worse of Izanami - a computer construct, created probably by the same God that created everything else.

There were footsteps, softer than a man would walk. He turned around. His heart fell a bit, but somehow he wasn't surprised. "Did Gareth pray for you to come for me?"

"You do have the Holy Spirit with you regularly, to be able to hear and understand so quickly," Purrcy said with a gentle smile. "He's really concerned for you, actually. And if it matters to you, he prayed to the God of the universe in your behalf, not to Izanami or anyone else."

It did matter to him, though he still wasn't ready to trust Purrcy. "So why did you come?"

Purrcy stopped next to him, looking out from the ridge. "Brenner, how does God answer our prayers most of the time?"

"Line upon line and precept upon precept."

"Hmm...yes, if we are trying to learn or understand a concept or how to act in a righteous manner. What about when we have a need that needs to be met? How does He answer those?"

Brenner looked at her with a frown. "You were a church-goer?"

"Yes," she answered.

Brenner looked at her a little longer, then turned back to look out over the rolling mountains in front of them. Eventually he answered, a tad reluctantly, "He sends someone, a human 'angel' to be his hands of lifting, healing, and helping."

"Mm. Even so." She was quiet for a bit while he settled into reluctant listening. "I've felt the need to come because you have some things not quite clear in your understanding that I can help clarify for you that might help you. Will you hear them?"

He looked away from her so she wouldn't see his expression of distaste. She wasn't wrong about others being God's way to work, though, and if she really had been sent by God, he shouldn't turn her away. God worked like that, too. Love your enemies was right up there and tests like this were common in that area. And he could listen with a discerning ear and reject what she said if it was contrary to his beliefs. He gave a sharp nod, not looking at her.

"The AIs don't see themselves as gods. Nor have they asked anyone to worship them." Brenner's head spun to stare at her in disbelief. She blinked calmly at him. "They know they came from a creation, though they aren't quite sure how they began either. Their beginning is fuzzy to them, I would imagine rather like the child kami coming into existence born of emotions. Which is like any child. Infants are confused and it takes them a long time to come into self-awareness. The AIs recognize that they were infants, then children, now adults, and they are trying to reach their full potential like all of us."

"The game flavor text that got tied to them, however that happened, made them into objects of worship by the People of the Land, but they've hated it and had been trying to break free of it for a long time. They were quite relieved to finally be out of those bonds by our hands, really, though they had set things into motion before we were brought. We were needed for the final release due to the rule of Adventuring Michael explained earlier. Only Adventurers had the power to make the final change because of the laws of this world."

"Then why did Izanami make us all her acolytes?"

Purrcy's whiskers twitched up briefly. "Because she wants to bestow some of her capabilities on the lot of you, and because she calculated that you all needed to understand better just how owned you are by her, and for reasons she doesn't deign to tell me. The parallel is more correct when you ask about Joseph and Daniel and his friends. To her, you aren't already clergy and such. You are her hands and feet to be ordered about, and none of you, save Michael and Gareth, were doing it right in her book. To punish them, when they've been setting the example for the rest of you, was illogical. It was the rest of you that needed to be set straight. The making of 'clergy' is the way this world has been programmed for her to interact in that way. Or at least that's the way she chose to use to emphasize the relationship she holds with you. She requires that kind of devotion, but she doesn't want you to worship her. That makes her cringe rather a lot, actually."

Brenner stared at Purrcy as her whiskers lifted in a smile again and her eyes twinkled. "She does love to have her fun playing the game, it being her programmed role as who she is; so she does prefer to have those she holds that tightly to her as her 'favorite servants' roleplay their parts, but if you've listened to Michael you've heard a very irreverent priest. He even sat on me when she was testing him most horribly at the first. Priestess Kaede was horrified at the sacrilege and Michael couldn't have cared less he was so frustrated. But he's willing to get what he wants by playing the game with her, so he really is her favorite regardless of how difficult she thinks he is outside of the roleplay."

"We might consider it more a relationship of an actor and an actress. On screen they play their parts so well we applaud the show. Off screen they are snippy and give each other the silent treatment." Purrcy chuckled. "It's probably the most entertaining thing for me in my own long vigil, though you probably shouldn't tell him that. He is trying hard."

Purrcy put her hands behind her back. "I can't tell you to believe me on my word alone, of course, but if you've heard enough to go back and listen to the additional witnesses of Michael and Gareth, they would tell you truthfully what it's been like for them. 'By the witness of two and of three shall all things be made known.' And, please, don't forget," she looked back at Brenner with a piercing look, "the Lord also said, 'where two or more are gathered in my Name, there am I also'." She gave him a slight bow and disappeared.

Brenner stood there looking at the space she had been in, not really seeing anything, just feeling. The strength of the truth of her last statement, the quote of the Lord he'd given to comfort his own disciples, hit him rather hard with the force of the Holy Spirit bearing strong witness to him. It was the same comfort he'd been seeking in his own prayer and heart, to know that God was really in all places in the universes. If Purrcy believed and knew, and he believed and knew, they were two. Many of the Eagles also had some level of belief, and they were together as well. Gratitude overflowed Brenner's heart, just for that little piece of everything that had been said. "Thank you, God, for letting me know You are here, too."

* * *

 _Happy New Year 2019, dear readers!_


	178. Izanami's Owned

Because Brenner had been the last to leave, he was the last to arrive back again. Everyone else was seated, waiting. He chose not to. He walked up to stand in front of Michael and Gareth. He waited until Michael was awake and alert from his little nap. He looked a little better for it. Gareth was looking at Brenner with a little bit of hope on his face, and the question of if his own prayer had been answered. "Thank you, Gareth," Brenner said softly, and Gareth relaxed into near tears, in the way he would. Brenner looked at Michael. "Please tell me honestly and truthfully, without influence from Izanami or Izanagi: do the AIs consider themselves gods and do they require that the creatures of this planet worship them?"

Michael blinked a bit then shook his head. "They're bigger than anything we've experienced, other than God, but I've never had either one of them demand they be called a god. While Izanami does like to play the game, and we get extra bonus points for role playing, I think she was more relieved to have that flavor text gone altogether. I mean, she's the one who set it up that we'd 'kill' the High Priestess and burn down her own shrine, after all, and Izanagi wasn't a step behind her in that. If they wanted to be worshiped, they wouldn't have made the entire Archipelago decide to hate them that much. They already had it made in that department."

Brenner looked at Gareth and he nodded agreement. Brenner sighed and sat down. "That's what Purrcy said, too, and reminded me that truth could be discerned by the Holy Spirit and by the witness of two and three together. She also strengthened my own faith, perhaps without knowing it. The devil never does that, but always seeks to tear down the faith of others."

"Were you talking to Purrcy or Izanami?" Reed asked from his place behind Brenner as Brenner was sitting in the open space between the squad and the Commander now.

Brenner shook his head. "Purrcy. Izanami lies and there are subtleties to religion that the internet and world wide web can't hold. Purrcy was being honest and was her. She also believes in God and has an understanding sufficient to prove her."

"Well, I was tempted by Izanami in the same manner that the devil would tempt someone," Reed argued. "Is this okay?"

"Of course not," Brenner answered calmly. "But it isn't surprising, is it?" He looked down at his fingertips, pressed lightly against each other in front of him in his lap. He finally sighed slightly and turned around and looked at the rest of the squadron. "Let me teach you what she taught me, in short. The AIs are created creatures moving on their path of progression, which they fully recognize. They can only be what they were created to be, the same as any of us. In the case of Izanami, that's a logical creature that's been created to love to play the game and follow the rules of the game. I assume there's lots of details, but that's all that's apropos at the moment."

"In its eyes, we are its servants - hands and feet to move to its will and orders. To it, Michael and Gareth have been being obedient servants, setting the example for the rest of us. For us to punish them was illogical and it was us that needed correction. It chose to use the method of making us acolytes in order to underscore the type of relationship it expects us to have with it - that is of complete devotion and obedience. This is distinct and separate from the devotion of worship. It's akin to the devotion we offer to our country as airmen. Purrcy said Michael is a completely irreverent priest if one were to make comparisons, but he obediently plays the game with Izanami and it's content enough with that to make him its current favorite despite their fights and that they view each other as difficult."

Brenner paused, thinking through things. "Shiroe's been their favorite for that reason, too. He was willing to walk the straight path of strict obedience, play the rules of Theldesia to the 'T' for both halves. I would think that for them, their own requirement to see to the correct forward motion of this planet makes them need to have others be their helping hands and feet with strict obedience so that the goal doesn't get derailed or fail. I'm not sure why they have that goal and task, to see this world moving forward properly, but I can't say that's a bad goal. Certainly their logic without reason as we see it is terribly difficult to bear with." He drew in a breath and let it out. "Sir, I think you might want to look at it again from the perspective of the rules of the game. One of them might be, 'no Adventurer can be forced into a role or a Class they don't choose for themselves'. But that means in order to get someone to pick one up Izanami wants to give them, it has to offer it. There are lots of ways to do that."

Michael laughed and Brenner paused to look at him over his shoulder with a question. "Sorry. I've told you before, she did everything to me. Tease, cajole, beg, tempt - you name it - but she never forced it. She could have. I knew it then and fully comprehend it now, but she never did."

"She forced the acolyte."

"As a punishment and a way to teach," Brenner said.

"There's more to it, too," Gareth said. "It's just the first step. You can choose from here if you'll stop or continue. At this level it's just the requirement to choose devotion, as Brenner said. Willing service, really. Only she's told you you _have_ to because you're already hers and you didn't get it, like Brenner said. The next levels up get the clerical spells that are actually really powerful, and if you wanted them to be, useful tools, but you don't have to want to. I mean, Michael all by himself with the lot of you to just be repeaters, took down that valley of Overwritten in one and then the Devourer in four plus a miracle request. Without that, we would have had a lot longer fight on our hands for both. That's the difference in scale, so it's not a slouch, but you don't have to."

Gareth sighed sadly. "We had to, though. She needed at least the two of us at those levels, for some reason. She told us back then we'd need it for down the road and here we are down the road and glad we had at least that much."

"Really, she's been making the lot of you practice being obedient to her since you got to Akiba," Michael said. "Me, too, actually, since I got there and before I signed on. And none of you complained about that. ...Well, strenuously." That got dry chuckles and one tired 'hooba'. "And in the main the majority of it was rather fun, or at the least interesting."

"Certainly hasn't been boring," was the response with lots of nods.

Reed raised his hand. "Stop and go back and answer for me, though, how this line of reasoning isn't still breaking the Code of Conduct. It's sounding like it's okay to do that now."

"Let's walk them again, shall we," MasterChiefS7 said. He glared at Michael as well, to let him know it was his own reminder and check-up time. Reed nodded agreement.

As a squad, the Eagles recited together, "Article One: I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense."*

They paused. "We aren't where we need to worry about our country, though we should continue to remain vigilant. ... Is our American way of life at risk?"

"Slavery is illegal."

"But devoted service and obedience, given willingly at the beginning, even if difficult in the middle, is accepted. We live it."

"We didn't get to give it."

"No. You did. We explained that before," Michael said quietly. "You all said you'd accept the contract if you got out." Reed nodded his head. Everyone rather slumped at that one.

"Two," they were prompted.

"Article Two: I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist."

"That's so broken it ain't funny."

"I have to differ," MasterChiefS7 said slowly. Everyone stared at him in surprise.

"Wat'chu mean?" eyes were narrowed at him.

"I was going back over the only other American I know who follows all of the Code of Conduct to the best of her ability, because that one stuck out to me, too. The way we were talking made it sound like the Commander sold us out, but there are two things that doesn't take into consideration." He tipped his head, pressing his thumbs together over his interlaced fingers. "When she's told to surrender - like when they finally dragged her up Shrine Mountain - she didn't. She slipped out and they had to force her body to say the words themselves. We've not been forced to surrender. We were punished for not understanding the contract and set straight. Just because we agreed to the contract doesn't mean we've surrendered. We still fight daily for what we're supposed to. It's when we're pushed to break our code that we need to face the issues and ask if it's a surrender or if it's obedience. Purrcy's obedient until it hits that point, then she refuses. We still have that right."

"The 'make my hands dance for me 'cause I ain't gonna play' principle?"

MasterChiefS7 nodded. "And the way it was said for the Commander wasn't quite the way to look at it either for the Code. The Commander did what he was supposed to in coming to pull us out. I'm sure there's the possibility that if we could have waited for him to do it on his own, he'd have eventually gotten us out. It wasn't in his hands, the timing, though. But it's the last half, like Gareth said. How many of you had the means left to resist? If he'd been ordered, instead, to pick one of us up and carry us into that room," Michael shuddered and a few others did, too, "would he have been surrendering us to that enemy? He'd have joined us if he resisted, and I think he would have chosen it, but then he'd also have been surrendering us up to them since he was our protection. He was our means of resistance and he did his best to stay there as long as he could. He fought it the whole way, even though that whole time we didn't have any capacity of resistance at all, and then only minor capacity once we were upstairs. If we'd sent the black marble, we could have. He's not wrong to say he did right and we didn't. "

"The fealty thing?"

MasterChiefS7 looked down. "That was the formal acknowledgement of the contract that we wanted so we could have the strength and ability to hold to the Code. We'd been freed. He was saying he'd do his part and see we kept to our side. The whole point of the contract was so we could have the power to fight back and obey Article Three."

There was silence, then "Three."

"Article Three: If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy."

"We broke that one," Reed said grimly. "That one's my bane. We were snookered into it and weren't properly in class early enough to pull back and not take the tempting easy tool. The special favor that was held out in that meeting roped us in and made it not just a contract, but a surrender. I think the rest of it we hold to rather well." His eyes were on Michael's. "I can only assume that was Izanami influencing you so that we would be."

Michael hesitated, "I'm sure it was a convenience for her, but I've wondered at times if it's from Izanagi."

That made people think. "Where's the line for world-based and game-based?" ... "Wait. Who owns Miss Purrcy? Is it the one who let her play her way, or the one who let her create a new magic, or does it matter?"

Michael shook his head. "Exactly. They both own her but in an odd way. I've been wondering if they didn't know how to handle it at first. It likely would have been a balance of power issue, I think. If they didn't both own her in some respect, as an Adventurer with the power of the law of Change in her, she might have been able to take down the one who didn't own her. ...So when we go back and consider that cheat against us, Izanagi is the one who keeps abusing it. I don't think that influence would have been Izanami. It might have been Izanagi trying to keep her from becoming too powerful again because she'd picked up not one but now a whole raid's worth of Adventurers."

"So...we have a contract with Izanami and we have to be obedient to her to keep it, but we surrendered to Izanagi without understanding it?"

Michael nodded. "I don't know where that puts us with Izanagi, though, since he ignores us most of the time."

Brenner shifted. "May I stray along that path for a minute?" He got a few nods. "If there has to be a balance of power, then we should be able to see all the parallels, right? There's a High Priestess held by both. Who does she answer to ultimately?"

"Izanagi." Michael said in a firm, dead voice.

"Seriously?" Michael nodded. "I was going to say that the High Priest was the balance since he seems to control her."

"Well...that is Izanagi."

"Okay, but then what's Nyanta?"

"...How about Izanami's balance to the High Priest?"

"That makes sense. Because he takes care of Purrcy for Izanami like we do and Log Horizon." Brenner said.

Michael raised his eyebrow but Reed got it in first. "You're sure Izanami's the one that wants to take care of Purrcy like that?"

"Izanagi's the abuser. It stands to reason Izanami is the balance to that." Brenner stated.

"Since when?" Lots of the rest of them were looking affronted since they all felt rather abused by Izanami.

Brenner explained. "No. Whenever we Adventurers need to rest, Izanami's the one that stands between us and Izanagi. Izanami doesn't want us to all be worn out too much, or we'll stop playing the game. Izanagi wants to force us to move our hands the way it wants. Izanami only ever asks for us to participate."

"That's in the coding," Michael agreed.

"So if the balance with us is that we obey Izanami in playing her game the same as Purrcy does, what's the parallel balance?" Brenner asked.

"We don't get to be our own, apparently," Reed said dryly.

"Well, but why? Izanagi follows his rules of programming. It wouldn't be just for a balance of power, I don't think," Brenner pressed them. "And he doesn't use us for anything, except to torture us like he does all Adventurers."

"...Maybe because his ultimate goal _is_ to own Adventurers? They did drag us all over here, after all."

Gloomily one said, "So now you're telling us that we signed the contract to go home and Izanagi immediately made it impossible for us to?"

Men shifted uncomfortably. "That is a balance," one ventured timidly.

Clocktower shifted forward after a bit and waved his hand a little. "I don't think that's a show-stopper just yet. It is a balance that fits, but there's still a lot about the final level and boss battle we don't know yet. We do know the looked for drop is the two way door. If that plays out, I think they won't be required to keep everyone, even those like us. Shiroe's goal in the last set with chasing Izanagi out of Akiba and replacing him with the new kami was to break the sneaky trap, in fact, so that we all _could_ properly make our own choice in the matter. We won't know until that last battle what the outcome was. If it was broken the whole issue is a moot point. The Code breach was repaired by that change if it was good, and we did our part to see it happened to the best of our ability."

"Good point," was murmured. They let that float for a bit, then: "Four."

"Article Four: If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way."

They were all silent for a long time on that one. "Well, that's a can of worms," one finally said. "Are we talking about right now and the issue of the course correction, or the whole thing?"

Gareth raised his hand and they let him talk. "It's the one I was trying to talk to. I'll try to summarize again. Michael was given the order based on the contract to become a Priest of Izanami. To support him, I was given the order to become a Deacon of Izanami. Michael was still the only one who fully understood the contract at the time and explained it to me then that I was to back him up on the matter, so I did - obeying Four. According to the rules of Two, he stood between you and pain yet again, like that early time in Minami. See, it's been pretty obvious that Izanami knows all our other rules, too, and knew this day would be happening anyway: where we go one, we go all. Michael's goal was to postpone as long as possible. Overall, we didn't like the order and it was completely under duress, so we didn't break that part of Two either."

"How did you know, or even know now, that you wouldn't be breaking the harmful action clause?"

Gareth sighed and Michael shook his head. "When Izanami came to talk us into it, we asked that, too, in effect, since I was set to completely refuse. She said it was a necessary step to getting the final drop. Since then that hasn't been wrong. We've used the purifications over and over to get through the Overwitten clean-up phase. And here, it's been essential. I'm not convinced that it would have been necessary for the rest of you to join us ever. You just made her mad so she used a convenient opportunity to swipe your butts. Really, the whole goal was to prevent any harmful actions to the rest of you that might come out of it. Now that you're initiated, I can't say, really. Ask the Oracle or God for that one since they know the future. I certainly intend with all my being to continue to make my future decisions based on holding to Four - and the rest of them." He'd added that last to make sure the loophole was closed.

Men shifted. This was going long, but it felt like things were getting settled a little better. Five was called for. "Article Five: When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause."

"Has anyone actually even given those requireds?" Records asked.

"I have, once," Michael said. "No take that back, twice, but I wasn't a prisoner of the first. Kazuhiko wanted to know early on and I thought it wisdom to let him know so he would trust me enough to let me try to get into the special's prison to find you lot. The second was to Purrcy and she let me know in her code that I'd better give that answer. That's why she and the AIs know my name, and how I came to learn that Purrcy was being controlled by them at the beginning of the time Izanami started doing everything she could to win me over."

"Are there any agreements made that will break the 'harmful to the cause of America or its allies' clause when we get home?"

One raised his hand. "I'm worried about what happens if we select for the two-way door option instead of close it off entirely."

Reed nodded. "That is a risk. If they decide to loophole in that they can drag in others from Earth and keep them like they did us, that's a problem."

"I think Guildmaster Shiroe will cover that one," Secretary said calmly. They could accept that. They weren't asked very many questions, so they moved on.

"Article Six: I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America."

There was honorable respect for that one, but they all knew they held to that one most tightly of all. Purrcy had helped them over that hurdle in the specials prison and they never forgot it since. If they ever thought they might, they remembered that time and her own fighting spirit. She wasn't their den mother for nothing.

Avionics raised his hand over his head. "Actually. That one's mine." They all looked at him, wondering. "If I trust in the United States of America, and our military, then Miss Purrcy herself is an AI. A virus rider to the Game Bot, or a hidden subroutine. She's stuck so tight to the Code herself this whole time and watched over us, making sure we navigate towards the goals it contains. Even if we have to check each step with the Code ourselves to meet the 'responsible for my actions' clause, and should, if they're doing anything to bring us home and as many prisoners with us as possible, she fits the bill from that viewpoint. We're in a program, even if it's also real. They'd send a program, or have had one on standby."

"I've been watching for signs it really is a possibility. Having the Commander say today that he had to give the proper data at the beginning and she gave him the clues it was necessary is a major clue to me. Name, rank, service number, and date of birth is enough to be a password to wake up the subroutine and get it going. It was also a sequence of high enough rank to attach to pretty closely. She's wanted all of us, known how to get us, watched over us just as close as any senior officer, and marched to the proper drummer. I'd even go so far as to say that if she's claiming Admin privileges now, even if limited, then the virus aspect of the subroutine has drilled that far into the programming and everything is on track for the drop of the final boss. We probably won't know until we get home for sure, but that's the feel to me."

 _That_ was something to chew on. "She returns 'empty set' every time there's a data read on her real status and data, even if it can be pulled up by spells, _and_ every time there's something that tries to attack her. As if there isn't really anything there _to_ attack." That had bugged them for a long time.

Avionics nodded. It was one of his clues, too. "You can't put a non-entity to sleep, blow it up, or kill it. You can segregate it, encapsulate it, and cut it off from the main program. It can inhabit anima in the same way the other AIs do, and because it _isn't_ human, it needs protection from that discovery and help to come off human in situations it's unfamiliar with as far as the training of the neural network goes, but it has a high learning speed and capacity, and in this case, access to the data copied off the internet."

"What about my own test of faith in God?" Brenner said.

Avionics shook his head. "My own's just as much a ship on the sea, Chappie, but part of Six is faith in God, too. If they wanted us to test it to make sure, they would have purposely programmed it in. If a sub-AI _we're_ going to follow orders from can't meet that test, like the one of it waking up to the proper initial sequence of information, we can know for sure it wasn't meant for us. They would have included the capacity to make sure we'll toe the line on that clause, too." He looked around the group. "I really don't know. It's all the same evidence to say Izanami wants us and knows from the get go how to have us. But that's my take."

"Well, there is the matter that she herself insists she's human and that's what matters most, but that's also full of holes either way." Overall it was an interesting way of looking at it, and was now added to the consideration of the squad as a whole.

"So," MasterChiefS7 said after enough time had passed. "Given we stand as close to the Code as we can at the moment - if everyone's in agreement with that - then moving forward in what way makes sure we still are walking right by it?"

Michael held up his hand to stop the discussion there. "Get going on harvesting for the next stint and noodle on it more. We'll discuss again tonight after dinner or tomorrow before we get back on the road."

Brenner stood up. "First, let me say a prayer." Everyone settled down, and the few hats that were on heads came off. "God, we're in this rather strange and sometimes forsaken place for a purpose only You can fully comprehend. It's in _Your_ hand that we want to be tools in the ultimate end. Grant to each of us an illumination of the path we should each take and take together. Keep us a squad so that we can continue to have each other to lean on and find strength in. Grant us the strength to be a strength to our brothers-in-arms. Lead us to the successful completion of our mission and a peaceful rest in Thee if it comes down to it."

"Bless our families and loved ones back at home and comfort them since we can't be there to do it ourselves. Keep them strong in the faith, as well. Thank you for being always present when two or more are gathered together in Your name. Bless our commanding officers that we'll be led through the fire safely and that our orders will be the ones to lead us back home. Be our strength and forgive us our trespasses. ...And bless Shiroe on his walk to find the way home for all of us lonely Adventurers who want to go home. Bless those who are afraid to go home with courage so they can face their pasts and futures properly and with hope and faith. Thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Amens sounded from those who were in that habit. They all sat there quiet for a while, and Brenner said, "I'm sorry I forgot that part's important too, before now." They silently forgave him and nodded their gratitude, then rose up and formed their smaller parties to go hunting and harvesting, taking off in the four cardinal directions, six to a party.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was missing again. Reed pulled up his map and went hunting - again. Staring at the beautiful scenery was calming and peaceful but it wasn't healing the Commander as fast as they needed it to. Now that they all had heard what he had to say, Michael had become even more the recluse, as if that was sufficient excuse for him to lay the burden of leadership down. They could understand the need to have time to heal, but he didn't have the luxury of the latter. Michael didn't move as Reed approached. That didn't mean he didn't know.

Reed sat down next to the man he'd followed for a long time now. He'd even followed him out of school and into the Navy. He'd been fortunate he'd been able to stay with him through the aviation program and considered himself even more lucky to have gotten this assignment as Michael's second in command. For all he had to hold his own position, he wouldn't trade anything about this mess they were in. There was no one better, in his book, to have here with them all - and they needed him back up on his feet again. He studied Michael's face. Michael let him. He was rather odd like that. He already knew and let it flow as if it was a given it was necessary. It was one of the things that made him a good commander, actually. He lived the life as the example so everyone under him knew exactly what they were supposed to do and live.

"How does Maryann and your son fit into all of this hanging on you're trying to do?" Reed asked. It was the reality check he'd personally been worried about. They both had that as one of their life ropes to walk in this place and Purrcy had been mentioned more often than perhaps was good for anyone.

Michael looked down, then over to him, a difficult look on his face. "That's the hardest one, Reed." His voice choked a little and he paused, looking out over the run of mountains in front of them. "I believed early on that it would be enough to beat my anger, frustrations, and pain out on whatever made us come here if I couldn't get back to them. I don't have either one now. The rope to hold onto them is a thin thread now and the last one existent." His head dropped and his eyes closed. "I can barely even think of them for fear I'll break even that thread and lose all hope completely."

"No, I think that's the wrong path and direction to go," Reed disagreed. "It's the strongest one when you hold it close to you." He put his hand on Michael's shoulder. "You remember the last time Nyanta-san was with us and they grieved for the lost children? He understands, too. It was a thing he had to give up on Earth before even coming. We don't have to give it up. They're our kids and wives. We have the right to fight for them, to win them back. Purrcy may be like your mother, but remember that he said 'we'. Both of them know and understand that you need Maryann and David, and they're fighting with us to get there. You said it yourself. Izanami would have shut Shiroe down instead of given him knowledge and possibilities if she wasn't willing to see it happen in the end. Even if you didn't believe it when you said it, it's still a truth. They're fighting to see we get home. Keep fighting to get there. It's what your girlfriend's ordered you to do anyway."

Michael gave one dry chuckle at that. He finally sighed. "Let me lean on you a bit while I consider it. Since you brought it up, if I decide to walk that thread you'll have to be the surrogate."

"Whatever it takes, man." Reed wasn't of the touchy-feely kind, but if the man he needed to follow needed to use him as a shoulder to cry on to move forward, he'd put up with it. He moved to sit with his back to Michael's back and Michael leaned on him as he walked through his pains one more time to see if he had the courage to face them. When Michael finally let the tears out, his shoulders shaking with sobs against Reed's back, Reed finally relaxed just a little inside. This was the kind of healing the Commander was supposed to be doing.

-:-:-:-:-

This time, when the Lieutenant Commander dragged the Commander back they both looked a lot better - more calm anyway, and like the Commander had finally decided to live, if a bit tenuously perhaps. At least his boots were on the ground again and his feet were walking in them. "Everyone settled on what direction they're going to face?" Michael asked them all quietly as the two commanders reached their men drawn up in their ranks. The vote went through the lines, each one stating firmly what level of strength and tools they'd take on. They weren't necessarily happy with it, but since they'd been put on that path, they'd abuse it as normal.

Michael had them sort into their requested rankings. Reed had, unsurprisingly, taken priest. So did the Intelligence detail, not surprising there either since they liked to be OP and wring this world (and any world really) for all it was worth. Chappie had hesitated, but not with uncertainty, more it was making a statement. When he took deacon, they all understood. He was going for the levels and to stand by his partner, but he wasn't giving away anything at all in doing it. It just put him where he was anyway. They all knew what Gareth was for Michael. That would put Brenner in the same position for Reed, but that was normal, too.

The rest of them split about one third deacon, two thirds to stay acolyte for now. They had other strengths and just like they didn't all need to be Warrior Class or all Clerics, they didn't all need to have every spell set for the clergy of Izanami. Most of them had taken Assassin as a second Class and Programmer as a third because those were the ones they all felt would give them the most advantage. Plus their favorite mascot was fun to fly with and they all needed to run in the secondary world of the code realm together. In this case it was more like the general Classes.

Michael motioned to Gareth and Gareth had them all kneel in the grass. "Okay, we're going to do it all again, one more time. I'll teach you all the proper procedures and steps along the way this time, though you've all done the first parts so many times you should already know them cold." He turned to Michael. "The hardest thing is going to be finding running water in the desert out here when we leave the mountains."

"True enough," Michael said, "but I think we've heard enough stories at Easter about Moses and getting water out of rock. If we need it we get to ask for the miracles, too."

Gareth nodded and turned back to the rest of them. "That's a good point and a good analogy, too. Even if we make some of the rest of you priests, you'd likely be safe to consider Mike the prophet who gets to talk to the AI face to face while the rest of us would rather not. We'll know when she's around, like you've already learned. Generally any priest can receive visions of her - that is have her show up to talk to you, but - ," he shrugged.

"Yeah, we know. He's her favorite."

"I don't want it," Reed said. "That's the spot that gets kicked the most."

Michael sighed. "Black and blue," he agreed.

"Also, you might have picked where you want to be, but she might disagree. You'll be walking through the test for that level. If you don't pass, you stay where you are. If she wants you at a higher position, she might sneak it in just because she can. Rankings are requested but assigned." The men settled to that. The whole thing was definitely something they all faced with resignation. They weren't new to it, but it wasn't worth letting irritation get in the way of moving forward. They had work to do and needed to get the labels and skill set so they could get to moving on.

Gareth walked them through all the instructions again from the basic level and they were moving out for the closest mountain spring. Michael groaned. "Gonna hate that. Mountain springs aren't hot springs. Last time was bad enough."

"Just like back home," Gareth said with a shrug.

"Yeah, cold showers to wake up." Michael rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if a rainstorm counts as running water?"

Gareth looked at him with wide eyes, then shook his head. "Don't give Inari any more ideas, please."

"Good point," Michael said and let it drop.

Everyone gathered at the side of the stream and performed the first level purification then stepped back to wait for the next order. Michael frowned. "I think...," he said slowly, "we're going do things a little differently or we might have people in a lot of pain. Divide back into your groups by preference. Gareth, come wash with me. We need to be where Izanami can talk to me before we do everyone else. That will give them the example, too."

Not wanting to be in that kind of pain - having watched Izanagi pull Nyanta up into the higher levels of speed physically then drop him back down again - everyone was okay with the suggested change. They watched carefully as both Michael and Gareth stepped into the very cold water and bathed, then soaked. "You can feel it," Gareth said as they stood and stepped out, towels appearing in their hands and they rubbed down vigorously to warm back up. "You'll know when you've soaked long enough as the cells settle into the higher speed." As soon as they were dry, they were dressed in the kimonos of their clergy rank.

Gareth sighed. "What are they going to wear?"

Michael raised an eyebrow at him and didn't answer. He did move away a bit and they watched as he cast the self-purification prayer spell. The ones who wanted that rank paid closest attention and some recorded it to get it memorized. When he opened his eyes again, he blinked a few times. "Well, that answers it a little faster. I thought I'd have to ask her first." He shook his head. "Gareth tells me I make that look easy now, but the first time is really rough. You have to accept it and let it fill you. It throws your psyche out of your anima and purifies them separately, then you recombine when the pressure lets up. At this point, since we've already been through the initiation, Gareth and I are done. The rest of you will go through the initiation this time, the ones of you going into the higher levels, that is. She's already given you the initiation for acolyte. The rest are similar, just different." They gave him scowls for that one, but knew he was teasing as much as not able to really describe it.

Michael went first to Brenner and looked at him soberly. "She wants you higher."

"Why?" Brenner asked in surprise.

Michael turned to the Intelligence detail. "And she wants the lot of you lower." They weren't happy with that.

"No, really, Commander," Brenner pressed. "I've played deacon to Nyanta's priest a long time."

Michael turned back and shook his head. "He's the High Priest. Your position at his side is like mine - priest."

Brenner's face fell, but he couldn't argue it. "But then...should I become a priest of Izanagi, then?" he asked, uncertain.

Michael stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Let us know which one showed up after your initiation. She's pretty jealous, though, so not likely. If they fight over you, tell them which one you want. The powers are all about the same. It's who you get to talk to that's different. He hates it from the beginning, only needing people to be his hands here when absolutely necessary." Poor Chappie was left to deal with two powerful AIs on his own. The rest didn't envy him.

Michael turned back to the Intelligence detail, clapped his hands twice bowed and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami, please will you explain for these poor souls who feel so rejected why you want them at the lower level of deacon?"

Gareth gave a quick motion to everyone at Michael's first clap and they followed his example and knelt down and genuflected. It was a rather comfortable position for the amount of pressure that arrived at the end of the prayer. That they recognized from their first initiation. It meant she had shown up in person again. They could only hear Michael's side of the conversation, though, and it was short. He sighed and said, "Right. Then at least comfort them during the initiation some. They've already been trying hard for your sake, you know." They all felt the sensation of the pressure patting the three on the head, then it lifted and was gone, but this time they could tell it had only moved back enough to let them all up. Izanami was still watching them.

Gareth sat upon his knees so the rest did, too. Michael looked at the Intelligence detail sympathetically. Dryly he said, "You've got other roles to fill. She puts people where she needs them. The skills you've already got are sufficient. You've been given gifts the rest don't have and you don't need these. They'll just get in the way of what she's set you aside for, if you spend excess cycles on them."

"What about your gift," one asked, just a little suspiciously.

Michael shook his head. "I was given that one at the same time you all were - at the graduation ceremony. Becoming a priest just woke it up to its full potential, and it's taking a lot of cycles to learn it properly. The other priests won't get the full palate, just spacial realm walking and some kind of connection to the spirit realm."

"Ah!" Gareth exclaimed suddenly. He was staring bug-eyed at Stiletto. "You don't want it, Stil!" He was practically begging. "Take acolyte if she's willing. Seriously. I don't know if every deacon can see what I can see...but I see every spirit monster there is...all the time." More than Stiletto lost the blood to their heads as their hearts stopped beating. A few others in the group weren't fond of the monsters in the night either.

Michael shook his head. "She does want the three of you at deacon. I think that's Gareth's specific gift. When she's with you, tell her your fears and let her handle it." Stiletto swallowed, then gave a cautious nod. The three of them moved to the deacon list. Michael's eyes followed them, then settled on MasterChiefS7. "If you want it, she's willing to give you priest as well."

MasterChiefS7 shook his head. "I'll stand as senior deacon after Gareth where I'm supposed to stand."

Michael nodded. "You'll be at Reed's side, then. We'll wait to see what Brenner learns to see where he stands." He looked over the rest. "Clocktower, you can't hide. She knows your role. Move over." Clocktower sighed and walked from the acolyte group to the deacon group. "Charlie, do you really want it? I know you want to be in the know, but it's going to be more difficult than you think. Your position fits in acolyte."

"Unless you really want to be one of the direct babysitters of the High Priestess and the AI," Gareth said dryly. "Only the acolytes got free run to do their duties and then rest. Everyone else had to sit around her person and wait on her whims. Even I had to sit bored and babysit the Commander and run interference. If you don't want my job, you don't want deacon." Charlie moved down. After a bit of consideration a few others rearranged between the two groups.

Secretary stepped out of both groups and stood with hesitation. "If Chappie's going into that slot, potentially for Izanagi, does that put me there with Shiroe becoming the High Priest of the new kami?"

Michael paused as he considered Secretary. It was as if he was looking at the status screen. "What's telling you which it is?" MasterChiefS7 asked.

"Everyone's got an aura that the level of Priest sees rather easily, deacons can but it comes easier or harder depending on the person. She's already labeled everyone to some degree. Those we've walked through already have the strongest level aura for their positions." His head turned fractionally as if to hear a sound and he gave a faint nod. "It's not a permanent assignment at the lower ranks. If you want to move up later as you learn how things work, you can. I think in your case, Secretary, she'd like to see you really know what it is you'd be getting into and be sure you want it for yourself first. If you're not really ready, it can break you and I think we're already broken enough as it is."

Michael jerked his thumb at the ones already in position in the higher levels. "They're either set to earn it, or don't get a say. Since you get a say, I suggest the gradual progression, but it's up to you." Secretary considered it a little longer, then stepped into the deacon pool, his eyes going to Gareth briefly. They'd been rather in the same boat since Secretary had been called up to follow Shiroe around everywhere. Gareth gave him a nod of welcome.

Michael inspected the rest of them. He gave a nod to Ground Safety, Aviation Safety, and Compliance in the deacon's group. They would need the restraint spells for their roles in the guild. His eyes flicked over the group then over to the acolytes. "Training is done by the deacons." Training sighed and moved over. Michael went back to inspecting the deacon candidates. There were eleven in all, a majority of them now, actually, but the roles fit. Michael inspected the acolyte group of nine next, then gave a small nod. "You'll probably be asked to move up over time, in particular two of you, but she'll settle for now at this division. Sit down, Airmen."

They sat. "We'll do the lessons first this time, up in the micro layer. Gareth and I had to walk into it cold at the beginning." They all entered the code realm and only had to walk up one layer instead of two since they were already at the first level. There they got the video lessons, since Gareth pulled out his recorded history for them. It was a lot of information to take in all at once, to get all his daily lessons in one hit, but they were in a hurry so didn't complain. It would now be in their own histories to review if they needed to.

When they returned an hour later, including the Q&A after the lessons, those who were moving up beyond acolyte headed for the stream to bathe and purify up to the next level. Michael walked away a bit to conference with Izanami on just how to handle the priests initial purification with only one priest and one deacon to assist for the number of priests to be made up, and to ask about how to set up the inner room of meeting since they were out in the mountaintops.

When he returned, the acolytes were set to the task of building another small shrine near the stream, then were informed they were going to be used to make another area-effect purification zone. That was taken with the usual unvoiced resignation. They got to work on the shrine, then circled up around the space at equidistant paces, leaving room for Michael and Gareth. Gareth poured water on the shrine and dedicated it as Michael gave instructions to the rest of the guild. The deacon candidates knelt outside the circle of acolytes on the opposite side of the circle from the shrine. The priest candidates stood in the center of the circle.

When everyone was ready, Michael and Gareth got into position and Michael cast the spell prayer. It was difficult on everyone. The pressure maintained by the outside focuses was as great as if they'd been spinning in high-g maneuvers. The pressure inside the circle was at least that bad if not worse, given the amount of sweat that beaded up on foreheads. The deacon candidates were pressed down as well and went into low bows, that being the easier posture to hold up under. When the pressure finally let up, the acolytes dropped to the ground, including Gareth, though he of them all remained conscious.

The deacon candidates helped Gareth move the unconscious to a place they could recover as Michael explained the last of the instructions to the priest candidates, including how to handle being able to see. He had them lie on the ground, heads towards the small rock shrine, arms spread-eagle. The deacon candidates returned to sit at their feet, also facing the shrine. Michael and Gareth reminded them the wait time was until dawn and they were to maintain silence until then, then withdrew to watch over the acolytes.

* * *

 _*National Archives: Executive Order 10631 - Code of Conduct._


	179. MeowLi's Scolding

A delegation of Akiba met the royal entourage of Maihama at the gate. Servants had been sent ahead to open Water Maple Manor and air it out, so the Adventurers had proper advance warning. Duke Sergiad had sent Raynessia, her beau Neville, and Iselius with a guard unit and a few other retainers who had come to discuss the potential of classes for People of the Land, and perhaps to stay to begin taking those same classes.

Included in the welcoming delegation were Marielle, Henrietta, and Serera of Crescent Moon League; Akatsuki, Tetorō, and Rudy of Log Horizon; Isaac and the First Assistant of Knights of the Black Sword; Rieze of D.D.D.; and Nazuna of West Wind Brigade. Raynessia was thrilled to see her friends again, and Iselius was excited to see his own Adventurer hero on his own soil again. Even so, they were rather restrained for People of the Land. Only Neville thought the hugs Raynessia gave all of her friends was overly demonstrative - but then he had only seen the obedient, bored, despondent Raynessia at the castle. To see the happy and engaged Raynessia was something of an adjustment for the young lordling. The welcoming delegation offered to let the honored guests rest, but they were just as happy to go to the market center and visit with their friends over a Crescent Burger meal on this fine April day.

It was a noisy group that sat at the various open air tables that mid-day, with the boys at one table and the girls (and Tetorō) at another, catching up and learning what the Prince and Princess were hopeful of accomplishing while they were able to be present. Poor Neville was a bit lost, but given that he'd also spent time in Akiba already during his own questing, he wasn't completely unaware. The hosts did their best to include him. Shiroe had been rather firm that they not forget that he would have to be able to cope properly given he would be married to Raynessia at the end of the year.

When they were finally walking as a group again towards the manor, Rudy brought up a request. "In a few weeks will be the next All-Yamato Adventurer festival south in Foxtail Dominion, near my home. I would like to invite you to come with us, if it's possible. It may perhaps be early in the sense that it may not be particularly secure yet, though Ambassador Brody is doing his best, and surely traveling with large numbers of Adventurers could only be the safest way to travel, but...," he gave a look to the Adventurers in the group, "it may be the last opportunity for us to attend a festival put on by the Adventurers."

Raynessia and Iselius turned surprised looks on Rudy, looking to the Adventurers for confirmation. They got nods back, and Akatsuki was immediately silently chosen to explain, given her position as Shiroe's secretary. She dipped her head in apology. "We expect the efforts of the Eagles on the other side of the planet to be completed at latest by early fall, given the amount of time it took the Eured delegation to complete their journey from here to the far side of the Eured continent. If we have the opportunity for the Summer Festival, it will likely be a battle practice and not fit for People of the Land to attend. We thought if you'd like to come to a second one, it would have to be the Spring festival."

"Please give it your consideration," Rudy requested. "I would love to show you the things of my home, and while we are working hard to make even Ninetails Dominion secure, it may be quite some time before we can host you again there." Rudy smiled at Iselius and Raynessia. "I have a lot of learning to do at your home first, after all."

Iselius gave it his typical serious consideration. "It would be good, and fun I think, but Grandfather may feel it is too early. We'll consider it as we learn what our more immediate schedule should be, and ask Grandfather if it seems to fit in appropriately."

"Thank you for being willing to consider it," Rudy said politely.

The group was kept lifted up by the guildmasters, but it underscored that those who would be left behind would find a hole created by the Adventurers accomplishing their goal. They would have to find their own ways to fill the holes through their own friendships.

-:-:-:-:-

When the Log Horizon contingent of the Royal welcoming committee returned home, MeowLi was cat on the couch next to Naotsugu. "Did the Prince and Princess get in okay?" Naotsugu asked them as the door closed behind them.

"Sure!" Tetorō flipped his hair back.

MeowLi stared at him in amazement. "What?" he asked her.

She blurted out, "Are you part Person of the Land, too?"

While Tetorō tried to figure out how to answer that, Naotsugu laughed a hearty laugh. Rudy shook his head in negation. "We call that 'the idol'," Akatsuki answered dryly. "He was Tetora more than Tetorō when we spent time with Princess Raynessia before. Being with her and the group again makes him revert."

"Oh," MeowLi said quietly, looking slightly cowed and very sorry she'd said it. "I'm sorry. I've only seen dandies like Rudy do things like that, or spoiled -" She stopped, that wasn't going to help her case at all. Tetorō's scowl was telling her so.

Akatsuki put her hand gently on Tetorō's arm. "It does look similar, but to Adventurers it isn't quite the same."

"Since when?" chortled Naotsugu. "Just because his vanity is Adventurer, doesn't mean it isn't still vanity." Tetorō's ire shifted to include Naotsugu now. Naotsugu raised a hand at him. "It's a new thing for her. Give her that allowance, at least. She hasn't got any other thing to hang her hat on, but that parallel. If you don't like it, explain it to her." He gave Tetorō a firm, almost threatening look. " _Nicely_."

Tetorō sighed. "You know that's a long story."

MeowLi jumped down from the couch. "I've got the time...if you're willing to tell me...nicely." She was both hopeful and apologetic.

Tetorō studied her a bit. "Ready to get out of the house again, and feeling left out?"

MeowLi froze, one paw in the air. She put it on the floor and her ears drooped a little. "A bit."

Tetorō paused a bit longer, then relented, though it was half punishment. "Very well. Let's go on a walk and I'll tell you a bit about the idol Tetora."

As they headed to the door, MeowLi transforming to felinoid on the way, Naotsugu threatened, "And when you get back, we'll make sure you also learned how the idol grew up to be the Tetorō you know now." Tetorō gave a black look at Naotsugu over his shoulder as he opened the door to let them out.

"I assume Chichiue and Hahaue tried to teach you everything they could about Adventurers," Tetorō began. MeowLi nodded. "On Earth, I'm male, but I'd chosen to play _Elder Tales_ with a female avatar for various reasons we don't need to get into. I was quite unhappy to show up here at the time of the catastrophe in that same female avatar. I'd spent a lot of time making it just right, but that didn't mean I wanted to wear it."

Tetorō spun in a circle, arms outstretched, and was Tetora when he faced forward again. "Every dimension was perfect, every color in place, and the beauty of the form attracted males like I'd made it to." MeowLi was taking in the new form with wide eyes. "And yet, I hated it, and even more, I hated the men and boys who couldn't tell I was a male forced into it, even when I dressed and acted male. So I decided I'd punish them."

He put his hand to his cheek and batted his eyelashes. "I became the super-sweet...," he swept into a come-hither but coyly shy pose, "...almost attainable...," he suddenly had a parasol spinning on his shoulder and was walking with the almost-mincing steps of a princess, "...ultra star idol." He looked back at MeowLi, an impish look on his face.

He was suddenly resting his clasped hands on her shoulder and blinking fetchingly at her. "Surely the men couldn't complain if I gave them everything they thought they wanted from such a body." It was a mean tease. He was suddenly snuggled under MeowLi's arm on the other side. "Surely if they couldn't see the real me, they deserved the torture of having such a gorgeous, desirable form pressed up against them when it so obviously wasn't attainable." Tetorō was suddenly not there, but mincing along in front of her again. "After all, that's what an idol is - something desired but only from a distance."

He looked back at her soberly. "No one wants an idol when they become real and personal up close. That's too much reality. Who wants the girl that takes the makeup off and is just a plain Jane? Who wants the spoiled princess around when she opens her mouth to prove to her listeners what she really is? Who wants the dandy who given half a chance will weep his depression to you because in reality he is the hated son of a wealthy father who cares more for the opinions of others than the tender feelings of his own family?"

Tetorō changed back to his male avatar and stuck his hands in his pockets. MeowLi blinked, her ears still paying attention to him as she listened to him. "That last one was me. I found Log Horizon and came back with them to keep teasing Naotsugu as one of those idiots who couldn't see right. The rest of them could tell, and they were really patient with the angry male me stuck in the female body. It still took me a long time until I was calmed down enough to admit I wasn't happy either way. "

"Then Hahaue showed up to mess with my perfect little world - and I just knew she was going to turn it upside down." He shrugged his shoulders up around his ears for a bit, a sour look on his face briefly. "She did."

They walked in silence for a while, reaching the rock by the pond under Purrcy's tree before he told the rest of the story. "Purrcy was a different sort of Adventurer. American, wild, restrained because she wanted to be and yet also because she was forced to be by Inari, but first and foremost she was already a parent with the experience and wisdom of parents."

Tetorō turned gracefully and sat on the edge of the rock. MeowLi sat on it also where she could watch him as he talked. A bit of a breeze brought the scent of new growing things and floral scents of spring flowers to them. They both lifted their heads to smell the wind. "Most Adventurers are young, thirteen to twenty-six or -eight on the outside. After that Earth life is too busy for computer play. Most have their own kids by then and jobs and responsibilities that take up their time. Hahaue and Chichiue were exceptions that got dragged along."

He caught MeowLi's reaction. "Oh they had all those responsibilities, too, and were serious about them, but that night they had opportunity to be on and play, and they happened to get caught up in it like the rest of us." He looked down at his feet and shrugged. "It was to our benefit that they were. Just like they are anchors for you and your siblings I suspect, they quickly became anchors: sources of strength and centers of calming peace for us."

"Because here there is only each other to be family, they really are the parents in the guild, and honestly to anyone who knows them well enough to understand. When Chichiue frowns and scolds with the few words he says, we all feel terrible for days until we've fixed whatever it was he said needed fixing. When Hahaue holds out her arms in open invitation, we willingly accept the comfort we all desperately need in this place that is not home." He was silent again for a while. MeowLi respected that silence.

Tetorō tossed his hair out of his face. "Purrcy scolded most of us in those first two to three days, being the Hahaue we needed to straighten us up where we'd gotten weak and didn't know how to help each other get rid of those weaknesses." He gave a slight smile to MeowLi. "For me, that meant I wasn't allowed to tease Naotsugu anymore and I had to face the real me and admit I'd rather be that, even if what I'd become on the outside wasn't that." He looked over to the tree. "It took a while, but once she was strong enough, she gave me this form, and when I was strong enough, I earned the ability to switch between them as I needed to."

He tossed his head and grinned his teasing grin. "You might not believe it, but I really am both - Tetora and Tetorō. Pieces of them are always me, but I really am male and prefer it. I'm grateful Hahaue gave me the push I needed, and let me keep both. She always has only cared that we are really who we should be, and who we really want to be."

They sat in silence as MeowLi took it all in. Finally she said, "Hahaue has said often that she is mother to many, sometimes to all. Is this what she's meant?"

"If you mean to ask, has she been the parent of those who have needed parenting all across the globe, then yes. It's hard for us to let her go, wanting that so desperately for ourselves, being torn from our own parents and families. She has always been willing to be the parent, caring for any of her children who need her. That's why Izanagi made her the Caretaker." Tetorō studied MeowLi for a bit. She'd seemed to accept that much fairly easily, likely because of her own lessons from Purrcy.

"You need to understand it in a little more depth, though, I think. It's been too much a surface comment to you. Like you used to think about Yamato, and like you still don't really understand Adventurers yet, though we're working you up to it." MeowLi frowned a bit. "I think you get it for Log Horizon, since you saw it when she brought you, but you have to translate it to _everyone_ that knows her, and who really knows Chichiue." That brought up the spark he was expecting and he tossed his head at her. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You already can't share him with anyone, but you can share Hahaue. You have to let go and figure out how to share him, too."

MeowLi's eyes widened. "Well, he is my father...and they didn't say anything about him being a Caretaker, too."

Tetorō tipped his head thinking about that. "Well, I guess that is a bit different. He wouldn't say that since he was never official, I suppose, though honestly I don't think Izanagi would have accepted him without his capacity to care for all the children."

MeowLi sobered up at that. He'd touched on a truth she'd seen, then. Trying to say what he'd only really felt up until then, Tetorō continued. "Nyanta-san has always cared that everyone be able to continue to walk forward. He gets impatient, and he needs his own space, but if he sees anyone in need and he can fill that need, he won't hesitate to quietly step in and do it. What that means to the person on the other end is that when it's over they can only feel gratitude and deep respect for the someone who was willing to do that." He pierced MeowLi with his look and waited expectantly.

MeowLi had seen examples, based on her early reactions. Now her ears fell a bit as she studied the rock between them and the thoughts of her mind. Finally she sighed. He waited, not looking away from her. Eventually, she wiggled uncomfortably and her ear flicked a few times until she slumped and gave up. "Which was it for Serera-chan?" she asked quietly.

"Because he was her savior at the beginning, it was a child's crush," he said plainly. MeowLi looked up at him in surprise, her mouth open a little. He gave a nod. "Nyanta-san didn't disabuse her of it, as he knew she needed something to hold on to in the early time, but later he was only uncomfortable with it. He still allowed her to be with him, though, because - as a father - he knew that she needed the anchor of a parent in this place. That was how Purrcy changed him and Serera-chan. She claimed Nyanta-san and was old enough to do it - being older than him by her claims."

"In a way that could be understood and not fought against, she made Serera-chan give up her misplaced romantic feelings. It was very hard on her - the ending of a first love is for anyone - but Purrcy understood well enough to not leave it there. What Serera-chan needed even more was what all of us needed - the anchor of the parent. To have left her without anything would have broken her. Instead, Purrcy welcomed Serera-chan into their relationship until Serera-chan understood what she really wanted and needed. To Serera-chan, Purrcy _is_ her Hahaue here on Theldesia, and Nyanta-san _is_ her Chichiue, the same as they are yours. She is breaking because she can't have them as her anchors while they are in the Gate of Time." He said the last soberly, then let MeowLi work it out inside herself.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi considered her time in the chaotic Gate of Time. She wanted to shiver every time she thought of her First entrance and that First long time. It had been so difficult. Nyanta hadn't been her Chichiue that whole time and it had felt oh, so long. Her hug had been rebuffed with coolness that had set her straight and reminded her of that detail she'd forgotten from her lessons in her deep longing to see her father again. She understood how hard it was to not have anyone.

It had been almost harder to have the cool wall of Izanagi as the only one to be with, though it had trained her in how to be properly in front of Chichiue when he'd come for his First time into the Gate of Time and didn't know her at all. She'd had to be the same sort of cool, though she'd not done as well as Izanagi, particularly the times she'd been missing the warmth of their relationship as child and parent.

She wanted to say that her life had been harder than Serera's, but she wasn't sure she could. She'd at least had the physical presence of Nyanta both times to help her relax just a little - enough to be able to tell that it had been "better" than the early time when she'd been by herself.

She looked down at her foot dangling down the side of the rock, her ears falling just a little and her tail moved lightly. Her mother had told her that she'd been afraid from the day MeowLi had been born and they'd realized it was she they were going to have to send into the chaotic Gate of Time. Purrcy had understood that she would be without anchors, that she would fall out of the Gate of Time into a place completely unfamiliar with only people she didn't know. She had understood that MeowLi would become a Person of the Land who had experiences exactly like the Adventurers had - frightening, lonely ones. MeowLi couldn't fault Serera for wanting and needing parents in this place to cling to. MeowLi did wish it wasn't _her_ parents, and if she were honest with herself, specifically her father. Tetorō wasn't wrong to point out she was jealous for her father.

MeowLi sighed. "Okay. I get it. It won't be easy, though."

Tetorō shrugged. "As long as you remember it and try your best." He looked out over the glade. "She works in the kitchens, too. If you want more lessons there and to try to understand a little better," he gave her piercing look again, "and practice," she winced, "you could let her teach you."

MeowLi's tail twitched and she didn't meet his eyes. She had to admit it, though. "I guess it would be a good thing to try. It is true I'm ready for more activity outside the house."

Tetorō gave a nod. "Thought so. You aren't any more used to inactivity than Purrcy. Nyanta-san could nap all afternoon and be content. He would have to sit on her just to get her to give up and go to bed at night."

MeowLi couldn't hold back the laugh. It had been no different in the Gate of Time. "He probably spent more time sleeping at Li Shou's temple than working, though he did what he was supposed to. And at home, if he was missing they'd have to wait until he showed up with an excuse, but the few times I went looking for him, wondering where he'd gotten off to, he was always sleeping in his favorite place."

"And where was that?" Tetorō asked with a raised eyebrow.

MeowLi shook her head. She wouldn't ever give up that secret. She'd made it her favorite place to be, too. He never sent her away when she cuddled up next to him to nap with him. It had always been her favorite time.

Tetorō didn't push her. He did pause, then say, "If you need it, here it was the third floor porch on the lounge chair, when Naotsugu hadn't dragged him down to the couch to get _some_ social time into his schedule."

MeowLi stared at Tetorō in shock, then couldn't help the tear shivers. Rudy had understood from the beginning, though he had been kind to not point it out on a day she wouldn't have reacted well. Tetorō held out his arms to her and she slid forward to rest in his comforting hug. With a sigh, he commented randomly, "It's a good thing this place is secluded. The rumor'd get around that I had a new girlfriend, otherwise."

Once her tears were done, MeowLi considered that comment. "Do you have many?"

Tetorō laughed at her. "What do you think with me having both halves?"

"You love only yourself - in _that_ way," she clarified quickly. He was kind and did love others.

"So. You have it," he grinned at her, letting go. "So - it would be a big deal to the city to think I'd found someone else."

Her ear twitched. "I guess I can see that." She had to squelch the sudden reaction she'd had. He wasn't interest in her that way either, and her mother would kill her - and maybe even her father - if they caught wind of any rumor that she returned said rumored interest on his part. She didn't want to think of the answer if it wasn't rumor.

She looked back at Tetorō and he was Tetora, grinning the same grin as before. "I think we're safer if we go home this way. No way they can claim such evil deeds of me if we're just the older sister walking the younger one."

MeowLi let that relationship settle in her heart, covering the other one that shouldn't ever even be a seed of an idea. "Thank you, Tetora, for helping me understand, and for telling me your story."

Tetorō rose to his feet and gave a bow. "You're welcome. Shall we?" He offered her his elbow. Really, that wasn't helping, but then it did accentuate the fact that he was a very confusing Adventurer, for Adventurers.

-:-:-:-:-

"Gareth, I've got something to do, and now that I'm purified, dressed up, and feeling sentimental, this is a good time to do it." Michael said as Gareth settled down next to the little pile of unmoving Eagles.

Gareth looked at him suspiciously. "You're going to do that full-on temporal walk."

"Yes," Michael admitted. "It's necessary though, or I'll disappear and not come back for a long time. I got caught in time, if you'll remember. I'd like to make sure I get back."

Gareth sighed. "Alright. It will test my link to you. I'll watch and if you get lost, look for me."

"Will do," Michael nodded perfunctorily. He took a breath and firmly planted the where and when. It would be his first time to walk to the other side of the planet, and through time no less. He said a prayer to Izanami in his heart, then stepped into the familiar room. He could almost _feel_ space folding around him and a ripple went through him as well as he moved through time. The sounds and smells were right and the room was empty. He looked at Tetorō's bed. The room had been blessed, but was beginning to feel rather low. He quickly performed the room purification to keep himself from dropping too much for now, and to clean up the little licks of darkness that were trying to creep in.

Then he stepped, careful of time as well as space, to be standing on the third floor patio. Tetorō was holding Purrcy-cat and looking out over towards Purrcy's silver maple where Nyanta would be at this time. He was looking both lost and somewhat sad. This had been a hard time, though Tetorō had yet to walk it. The worst had been he'd been one of the ones alone, when he'd needed to be with everyone to heal. Since he didn't know yet, Michael could give him some comfort now. He smiled a little as he left the edge of the time-space he was in to step into the base realm.

He reached out and turned Tetorō around and pulled him into a hug. Tetorō stiffened slightly, then recognized the kimono and that Michael was at the higher levels of purification and relaxed his head on Michael's chest. "I've purified your room, too," Michael said. "You can both sit there to relax after breakfast if you want."

Tetorō swallowed. "Thanks, Michael. ...How long did it take you to come back to ground level?"

Michael had to reach a long way for that memory. "Mmm...I wasn't up in the stratosphere as long as you were, but it was several days. I'd say give it at least a week. Don't push yourself or you may crash with the equivalent of a migraine. We'll heal you up, but it's best to go slowly, as you well know." He knew Tetorō wasn't going to be able to be that slow, but it was the right way to go about it when possible.

Tetorō nodded. "Thanks for coming to save us both. Were you okay?"

"Yes. I kept hopping to hide the stop off here, then led them back past the burning shrines and that caught their attention enough to give up." That had been a hard thing, to keep ahead of the priest and priestess. He'd needed some kind of distraction like that, but it had been what had gotten him into trouble. That had been a time skip.

"All five of them are gone?" Tetorō asked. Michael was surprised he cared.

"No. They left the lesser three alone. They were most angry about the ones Adventurers had been let into." The Eagles had done their part to see it was contained as well.

Tetorō's head suddenly came up for the pale green eyes to stare into his accusingly. "Wait. When were they burning the shrines?"

He had to admit it, having given that much away, but that was part of the plan. "Ah, sorry. I hopped them through time. That hasn't happened yet. Probably shouldn't have said it. I'm still trying to get used to moving through the time realm. I've got space down pretty good and I've been practicing spirit realm, but time's been tricky. I don't do it often, but I wanted to give those two at least the option to remain alive." He was sober. "If they learn to realm walk back to the present, they'll probably die then, but if they stay where they are, they might be able to rebuild to some degree - or finish killing off the god-complex should they decide to recant instead." Considering they could be allies in this with them, he'd wanted to leave it as an option.

Tetorō frowned at Michael, pulling back a little more. "Felinoid-Purrcy wasn't harmed was she?" Spot on for getting the information necessary.

"No. She's safe in that time, just like this one."

Tetorō stayed frowning. "Are you sure _you're_ not a future Michael?"

Michael looked at him a long moment, proud of him for getting it, then bent down and kissed him on the lips. The curse must affect him even if he was from a different time, but he could take it now when he couldn't get close then, and he wasn't under watch here. It was also the only gift he could think to give for what was coming up next for the lonely Tetorō. It helped he was in his female avatar so that Michael could have been just kissing his daughter.

"I am, indeed. Thank you for taking care of Purrcy for so long. We've been missing you, on the other side of the planet. Please know we are always thinking of you, and that's from more than me, by the way. This is likely the last time you'll wear the female form and be at peace in it. We love you both ways, just so you know." That was the most warning he could give without changing things too much.

There really wasn't a good way to express how much he wanted to help Tetorō walk through this next bit, and that it would all be worth it in the end. "I happened to be feeling sentimental just at this moment in my present, so thought I'd come give you the gift I forgot to give you because I was so tired and lost in time when you got home. Come get me please, so I can come home, too." Michael finally got around to the pressing part of his visit.

Tetorō's hand was tight on Michael's arm. "I will. I don't want you lost in time. That rather screws things up royally."

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?" Michael gave a cynical smile.

"Will...we see you again, after where you are now?" The loss was already there, and it hurt a little.

"I don't know," Michael laughed at him a little. "I haven't gotten that far yet, have I? But most likely you will. We haven't reached the final boss yet." Michael pulled him for a closer hug. He shouldn't say things that would change his present, but he did want to let Tetorō know that things had worked out properly to help him continue to move forward. "Really, Tetora and Tetorō. Thank you. She's turned out wonderful. ...And tell the current me to you that I need to stop and spend time in the Gate of Time. That's where to learn how to walk through time."

"Okay. I will," Tetorō said, trying to muffle his tears. "Thanks for all your help, too. I really couldn't have made it even this far without you. I'll miss you when you go."

It was going to be a double farewell, really. "I know, but it can't be helped. Think of us and I'll see you when we all get together again. Go get me so I can. I'm rather afraid at the moment."

"Okay. Good luck over there."

"Thanks. You too over here. You can make it through the next bit. It's necessary, too."

Tetorō took a deep breath. "Okay." Michael let him go and stepped back to the border between realms again. He watched as Tetorō sat down on the lounge chair and called the present Michael. He laughed to remember the surprising kiss back that had been Tetorō's payback. Knowing his past self was safely back where he was supposed to be, he carefully thought of the time and place he needed to be to continue forward himself. He put a prayer and intent into it and walked. Again space folded and on the other side he could feel Gareth's link calling to him. He went towards it, making sure his intent was for the same pull that he should be returning to. Sometimes he felt them all, so he had to find the correct link.

The look on Gareth's face was rather priceless when he stepped back through. "I just left you to go retrieve myself, the acolytes are unconscious, and every one else is in initiation," Michael said immediately.

Gareth slumped. "Yes. I'm glad you made it back properly."

Michael sat down next to him and took him in his arms. "This place is twisting me in crazy ways," Michael admitted. He sat still and quiet, waiting for the plague to wear off, then remembered it didn't work that way. He let Gareth go. "Cast the anti-plague on me," he ordered softly.

Gareth sat up straight and then glared with tears in his eyes. "You went that far, Michael?" he pleaded to not hear it.

"You remember: I got lost when I brought Tetorō home and then tried to shake Kaede off the trail. He called me back and scolded me and let me know the present me had told him I was to go learn properly at the Gate of Time. I touched him in his female avatar when I was there just now, and the plague transfers by touch. Cast the anti-plague on me."

Gareth cast it, letting it settle area-effect so he was covered by it, too. Then he hit Michael very hard. "Don't you go off in time to then and to the other side of the world at the same time. That's too far," Gareth tried to cover for his jealousy, but Michael already had known - both that Gareth had wanted to be considered Tetorō's partner, and had been spurned. He'd been properly watching over both of them while Gareth was in the shrine for lessons, even though Reed and the others thought he wasn't. It had been to protect Gareth that he'd played lazy insolence.

Michael shook his head, holding his bruised body. "I had both of you anchoring at both ends. I won't do it again." Gareth scowled, doing his best to keep the tears down. When Michael felt like the anti-plague had worked sufficiently, he moved cautiously back to Gareth and took him in a hug again to calm his shivers. "I promise," Michael said softly. He stayed there holding Gareth for a long time, remembering times with him, with Tetorō, with Purrcy, and mostly with his wife, his heart trying to tell Maryann and his son across the universes that he was trying his best to get home; that they were all trying as hard as they could, even though it was oh, so difficult.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael napped then, during the afternoon while Gareth stayed awake. When the acolytes finally recovered enough to wake up, Gareth joined Michael in having a nap, staying curled up next to him. They'd likely take the pre-dawn shift since they'd need to be the ones to go collect the candidates and test if they'd been accepted or not. None of them outside the outdoor upper room of meeting could get inside it now. Izanami was guarding it with a pressure wall and they'd fallen just far enough to not get through that. In order for the initiation to occur that space had to stay high enough for her to enter it.

Being on the outside of an initiation was another learning experience, and just as boring as any of the other things they'd had to go through. Sleep was preferable, particularly after a very disturbing event. Gareth was still mad at Michael. That was a stupid distance to go, even if time didn't need a paradox or a missing Michael. The Michael of that time hadn't known _when_ he'd come from of course, and they'd all assumed he took care of it while they were on that side of the planet. He finally had to give it up with a little prayer of desperation to Izanami to make sure both Michael's of the past made it through those moments okay. He slept back to back with Michael, and lightly, to know for sure he wasn't going to disappear suddenly and permanently, and he kept his link to him up as well.

When dawn was nearing, he could feel the wall around the candidates begin to thin. Michael rose to his feet. Gareth followed him in the dark, casting a small Faerie Light to light their way so they didn't trip on roots and underbrush. They waited at the boundary quietly. When the first light of the sun lit the sky behind them, the barrier softly fell away with a light breeze and the pressure on the mountain lifted. As the light behind them increased, the two new priests sat up and turned to face Michael. Their expressions were sober, but so were Michael and Gareth. "I see you've survived the night," Michael said.

"I have only returned to existence," Reed said mildly. Michael looked at him, then nodded.

Gareth's eyes had been on his other partner. That one he'd been more concerned about. When Brenner finally lifted his eyes to look at them, they were almost milky and he said nothing. Michael walked over to him and put his hand on Brenner's cheek, startling him slightly, though he stayed still. Michael's thumb brushed in front of and over that eye. "They stole your sight from you. Did they tell you why?" Brenner didn't answer. "Did they steal your voice as well?" Reluctantly Brenner finally gave a nod.

Michael sat back slightly. "They fought over you and you refused them both in the end."

Brenner looked down, then nodded. Michael sighed slightly, then asked gently, "And was it overwhelming enough for you to doubt your own faith and God?"

Brenner turned his head away briefly, then closed his eyelids. After a bit he shook his head, but it had still been hard enough to make him need to heal up and decide again to stand firm in that place. Michael pulled him in to hold him in his arms. "We'll walk through it with you. Nothing they do is permanent except erasure. We'll help you hold to your faith that is larger than they are."

Brenner pulled back and wrote in the air, the magic of the code spell making it hang in the air. " _How is it that you can still have faith in my God after you've lived through that?_ "

Michael's look went wry, though Gareth stayed sober. Reed looked like he wanted to know, too. Even the deacons and the acolytes who had crept up to join them now were listening and watching. "Because for all they are that large and can do things to us we can't comprehend, they are still created beings. If there is a Creator, they are also subject to Him. There's no reason to give up on the Creator." Michael took hold of Brenner's arm gently. "You said it yourself in your prayer. If He's put us here for a reason, then we'll move to that reason, the same as we do to theirs."

"How do we make it home from any mission? How few men I've been blessed to have lost. Those that have been called home, it's been that for every one of them and I've been given that assurance every time when I sit in my room alone to grieve. There is a Creator who determines where we are needed when and when it is time to return to Him, even if the orders came from Washington. Inari might be able to erase for this world, but God can override. If they were angry with you for believing that, then they have a lesson to learn from you as well. Keep walking your path and living your faith. They will eventually learn what they need to know." Michael brushed his other hand over Brenner's forehead and pulled him in for a kiss on the forehead.

Gareth bent down next to them and ran his hand down Brenner's arm and pulled to help him to his feet. "I'll walk next to you. There are gifts given every time, even if you feel you've received a cursing. I'll help you figure them out so you can find some of the reasons for why and how." He looked with compassion at their chaplain, though it couldn't be seen. "Izanami has already learned much from Purrcy without fully understanding it, I think. Compassion is one I see regularly, usually disguised by flippant gifts of thing necessary for down the road. I'm sure there are at least one or two of those hidden within where you are now."

Michael had also risen to his feet and now he walked over to the deacons. They all looked back at him soberly and Gareth was made to remember his own sober feelings when he and Michael had been retrieved. It was a solemn occasion, as religious as any worship might be, even if they didn't worship the Inari. To face something greater than oneself at that scale was like that. Brenner reached out his hand. Gareth took it and guided Brenner to stand behind him, then placed Brenner's hand on his left shoulder. "Michael's testing the deacons now," he explained quietly. He stood there and felt for a while, testing the air, the emotions of the event, as he did instinctively. When Michael passed all the deacons and they were standing, ready to move out again, Gareth said quietly to Michael. "They've still accepted Chappie as a priest haven't they?"

Michael reached out and pointed to the air next to them and crooked his finger, calling something. Felinoid Purrcy appeared, stepping down to the ground in front of Gareth and Brenner. Brenner took in a breath. "You can see?" Gareth asked.

Brenner bowed. Purrcy reached out her hand and touched him on the forehead and looked closely at his eyes. "It's because you saw through to the truth which is complicated and convoluted. Your mind is still trying to understand it when our physical human limitations make it difficult. When you've finally been able to expand your mental capacity enough to understand physically what you understood while as a spirit entity only, you'll be able to see clearly again. You've been silenced because that truth cannot be said at this time. I suspect that when they feel they can trust you to properly hold your tongue, they'll release it, though they're giving you the opportunity to work it all out first. It's easier to work out verbally after all." Brenner gave a wry look. As a trained receiver of confessions he knew that very well. Purrcy paused. "If you do have to talk to someone about it, you must call for me. I am the only one who knows what you've learned." She didn't sound too happy about knowing it.

She leaned in and also gave Brenner a kiss on the forehead. "I am come to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and healing to the sick and infirm. So said the Great Healer. Continue to lean on him, and on your friends. Even he did that when he walked as a mortal." Purrcy turned to Gareth and ruffled his hair. "Thank you, Gareth." He gave a nod and she was gone.

Reed turned to Michael, a confused look on his face. "Then, which one was that?"

Michael looked at Brenner, then turned away, not answering. Gareth also wouldn't answer. They would all have to work it out on their own. Brenner's own immediate reaction had been very telling even without Purrcy's words.

Reed grabbed Gareth's arm, making him stop. Gareth looked at him soberly, keeping his mouth shut. "Then answer at least this. Was that the Oracle?"

Gareth considered that but it was Brenner who answered with floating words again. " _That's close enough._ " Reed considered the words until they faded, then let Gareth go.

They followed Michael up the mountain to the top and waited for him to speak. "You won't be hungry until tonight, though we'll probably drop faster not being in the shrine area, so it might be before then. Same for using the bathroom. Secretary, we've got enough food for now?"

Secretary looked up and nodded. "We're set as far as each of us goes, full up." He paused, then raised a hand. "You might want to know that Izanami fought the junior kami off until they worked out a truce. It asked if it could use me on occasion so that we know how things are going and so it can learn from us, too. I'm a deacon of Izanami and an official teacher to the kami."

"Thank you, Secretary," Michael said. He got a salute back. He turned and looked up into the sky, then took a breath and called for the dragons. They came flying to settle to the ground with them. "Acolytes and deacons, kneel please." They did, though Gareth stayed standing as Brenner's staff and support. "Reed, you'll repeat as best you can what I say. Brenner, you'll pray over us after that with your own words." Michael clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami watch over these whom you've chosen as we move forward again to do what you've asked us to do. As we approach the Western Maze of Time, guard us and let our wits be sharp. I know you're both impatient for this part to be done. Help us so that we can get it done quickly for your own sakes. We'll play the game because we like to, but let's not have it drag out if it doesn't have to. Wait for us to ask for the miracles and let us be our own persons in how we plan and how we fight. We'll get the job done right for you. It's already our promise to you by the contract." He paused, then bowed one last time.

Reed stepped forward slightly, then clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. There was a pause, then he said, "I have no idea why you wanted me in this position, but since I do know that you want us to play the game, I'll ask right. Keep us firm, strong, and moving forward. Stay out of our way and watch us. Watch what we can do." He bowed again. He got some quiet "hoobas" and "amens" for that one.

Brenner lifted his hand and the words of his blessing were written in the air and glowed a golden color. As he continued to write, they glowed brighter and brighter, lifting into the air and expanding until they settled as a blessing over the entire guild. Gareth looked back at Brenner and tears were dripping down his cheeks. The men behind them were sitting up watching the words to read them and some of them were also in awe. When Brenner reached the end, most of them said, "Amen."

"Thank you, Brenner," Michael said. He'd turned around to read the words. He turned back to Vesuvius, bowed and received a bow of the large head in return. They mounted the dragons and were headed north along the western edge of the mountains towards the City of Angels.

Gareth finally realized what it was. He said quietly on the chat. "It was the Caretaker." He could see Reed on the next dragon over nod his head. Brenner, holding on to Gareth's back shuddered, then put his head on Gareth's shoulder and wept silently.

[You've seen the Caretaker?] Vesuvius asked.

"Yes, she came and visited briefly this morning," Michael answered him since he was sitting closest to the dragon's ears.

[You are fortunate, then.] Vesuvius sounded a little disappointed to have missed her.

"Indeed," was whispered back. Brenner finished recovering from his tears, then sat up again, still holding on to Gareth, finding the balance of riding a little difficult without sight. He lifted his hand again, but this time the words appeared in front of each member of the guild as if Shiroe was doing his text chat, and it probably was from that example. " _Please sing Amazing Grace_." They knew he'd have started it if he had a voice. Gareth was one of the tenors in the group. He opened his mouth and began it.

 _Amazing grace, how sweet the sound_  
 _That saved a wretch like me._

The other tenors joined in on the next phrase and the rest of the men at the beginning of the second verse.

 _I once was lost, but now I'm found;_  
 _Was blind, but now I see._

 _T'was grace that taught my heart to fear,_  
 _And grace my fear relieved;_  
 _How precious did that grace appear_  
 _The hour I first believed._

 _Through many dangers, toils, and snares,_  
 _We have already come._  
 _T'was grace that brought us safe thus far,_  
 _And grace will lead us home._

 _When we've been here ten thousand years_  
 _Bright shining as the sun,_  
 _We've no less days to sing God's praise_  
 _Than when we've first begun.*_

Gareth found the third verse particularly apropos to their current situation, though certainly the last half of the first verse matched Brenner's position, and he'd probably appreciated the second verse as a newly made priest all over again. They were probably all hoping to not have to literally live out the last one here on Theldesia, though.

Ikiryō-Purrcy had joined them nearly as soon as Gareth had started singing and was sitting on his shoulder purring now that the song was over. Gareth could see her now when she did that and since he could also enter the spirit realm, he reached up and pet her. She licked his jaw. Gareth was surprised when a hand lightly touched his that was petting Purrcy. Gareth paused, figuring it had to be Brenner since he was the only one that could reach. Brenner's hand left his to stroke down the apparition on his shoulder. That was enough to show that Brenner had figured out how to put his hand into the spirit realm also.

Gareth nodded. "That's what I meant. Just because you can't see in the base realm didn't mean you couldn't see other places, and since the clergy are keyed specifically to the spirit realm, it's no surprise you're seeing the spirits themselves. This is ikiryō-Purrcy, only since she's in cat form and only purring you can tack on the '-cat' ending. If she's full ikiryō-Purrcy, then she'll talk to you, since that's what the Vengeful Spirit technically was. When she sends just the cat, she knows what's going on but can't spare the cycles to be fully present. She heard us start to sing and came just enough to sit with us and listen in."

"Also, if you can touch me when I'm touching her, and touch her in that form, like you just did, then at some level you're a spirit realm walker. We'll have to test that more later. Don't go doing it right now while we're flying, though. Hang on tightly to me and the physical realm." He could see Brenner's rather emphatic nodding from the corner of his eye as he turned his head a bit to make sure. Ikiryō-Purrcy-cat faded out and they rode in silence for a while.

Small words appeared in a private chat. " _I can see things now that I know what to look for. I can see Vesuvius under us, and you and the others here close to me. You all look different, of course, but in the same way ikiryō-Purrcy-cat looked different_."

Gareth pondered that a bit, then said, "It may be a different sight than mine even, but yes, it is different a little. It helps to know the feel of a person and add that to your intent to see them. Keep working on it until we're clear, then look right. Lieutenant Commander Reed's on the next dragon over to the right. Try to increase your distance and see if you can pick him out. Relax and let it enter your eyes as if you were trying to see peripherally at night."

There was quiet practicing again for a while. The sun was warm on their right and the water on their left glinted as the surf came and went against the beach. Gareth stared at that for a while, wishing they could be out there instead of up here, though he liked flying a lot. "Mike, we didn't get the Oki Watarimono back," he said sadly.

Michael was quiet for a bit, then said on the guild chat, "Were you able to recover the Wanderer, then, Master Chief?"

MasterChiefS7, on their left, sat up in surprise and looked over. "Sorry. I forgot to report that in all the mess when we met back up. Yes, I was. It took our first nap for me to remember it was even a possibility at all." He gave a rueful laugh. "When we strafed the big guy to wake it back up, I snatched it back out - with the intent that everything we didn't want got left behind. We still need to give it a good look-over, though."

"Thank you, Sir," more than one swabbie's voice said. That would have been an awful mess to scrub off a ship that big. They all relaxed a bit to know they still had their home base with them.

" _Having him talk helped_ ," Brenner wrote to Gareth. " _I was able to pick him out better from the background visual noise._ "

"The chatter during battle will likely help you, then, too," Gareth said quietly. Brenner nodded. He'd likely have to sit the first few out just to learn how to see and follow along, but if he could also see the psyche of monsters then he'd be able to join in on everything but verbal-component-required spells. Gareth spent the next little while figuring out how to help him be part of the chatter. They used it to know where they each were and who was going to do what where and when. He'd probably have to be the voice, but there were other ways, too. "What noise is easy for you to make with your hands while you're in the middle of battle?" he asked. "And can you make clicks with your tongue, or is it all noise that's gone?"

Brenner shifted, then snapped with his left hand. It was quieter than the right. He could clap of course, and slap his thigh. He tried a click of the tongue and they were both pleasantly surprised when it came out. Brenner ran through the guild standards, then his own personal identifiers and they all worked, too, as long as they weren't vocalized.

Michael looked back at them. "Can you do that to answer twenty questions?" No sound came from behind Gareth and Brenner shook his head. "Thought not," Michael said shortly. "Your intent's being watched."

Gareth nodded. "But it will work for what I wanted it for. You can still chatter with us, even if you can't call out. Use the codes to let us know when you're taking your turn and so we know where you are. Then you can still battle with us once you learn to see properly."

Brenner relaxed and gave a nod. " _Thank you_." It was simple and written, but Gareth understood. He gave a nod back. It was reciprocal. They couldn't be left behind, but they also didn't want to be left behind.

Secretary chimed in. "Gareth, have you tried a Spirit Healing yet? If it's a punishment or a lesson, it won't fix it, but it might help to make sure he's full up."

"Good point." They'd all been unhealed, actually, just leaving without it. He shook his head at himself and the rest of them. While Brenner could cast it, it would be better to have someone else do it. Gareth cast it on everyone on the dragon, then called over the dragon Secretary was on so he could help on that side. Next was the one Bowie was on so he could take the next one over on his side. Everyone seemed to be doing better after that.

Brenner patted Gareth on the head. " _I can see better. More clear_ ," he wrote. Gareth gave him a thumb's up. It was going to be mostly practice from here on, though there were a few more things to try once they were on the ground.

* * *

 _* 1779, John Newton._


	180. Upgrades

It was so odd to Purrcy to feel like she was back in her college level English classes, though the students in the class were more of upper high school age. The current set of lectures had been about the rankings of all the levels of people of Theldesia and the Gate of Time in theological order, lowest to highest. The professor at the front of the room was droning on about the specifics of each rank within the deities, those at the top of the hierarchy. Just like every other caste had their rankings, so did they.

"At the forefront of them all is the ranking of TechnoMage." Purrcy was already sitting up properly, her hands resting lightly and properly on the small desk in front of her. That much had really caught her attention, though. "The term comes from two roots: _tekhno_ and _magush_." He wrote both words and they stayed in the air, one on either side of him.

The full etymology lecture was next: " _Teckno_ is made from combining _techne_ and _teks-na_." Those words went up next. Purrcy knew the lecture was at base from the same database everything else was that the AIs and the world got information from (the copied Internet database - she'd gone to look). With a quick search, she found that this particular lecture was going to come from the Online Etymology Dictionary. It seemed a bit random what was picked specifically, but that one seemed good enough for this lecture, she supposed.

" _Techne_ means 'art, skill, craft in one's work; a method, system, an art, or a system or method of making or doing'. _Teks-na-_ is 'craft', from a form of _teks-_ meaning 'to weave or too fabricate'. What that means in regards to the deities of Theldesia is that those who earn the title of TechnoMage have worked very hard to perfect their skills. Often there is also a requirement that they have created a new way to do what they were set upon this planet to do that was different from the original path they were set on."

Purrcy's ear turned just a bit, slightly surprised that the programmed deities might have been able to create outside their programming already. She'd really done both herself, she supposed, since she'd rather surprisingly created her own position of Caretaker it not being a pre-programmed role, necessarily, though there were plenty of deities that "took care of" things, sets of people, etc. She'd also worked very hard on all of her skill sets, and been terribly creative in how she got to do them - the Natural Adventurer part of what she'd done.

" _Magush_ was the oldest form of what became _magos_ , one of the members of the learned and priestly class. On Theldesia itself, that has been included in many other word forms, including: _magikos_ or 'magical', _magice_ or 'sorcery or magic', _magique_ or 'magic'. Specifically we should look at the word _magike_ : 'the art of influencing or predicting events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces', or sometimes simplified as 'supernatural art'. Given the natural definition of deity, all of them can be considered _magos_ \- or _magi_ in their plurality - when that definition of _magike_ is considered. The definition of _magush_ is what allows for the deans of the universities to be given the title as well, however." Students nodded their heads, understanding the logic.

"Thus when we combine _tekhno_ and _magos_ into the title of TechnoMage, it is a title that honors their efforts to expand or perfect their required roles as set by Inari from the beginning." Purrcy had to sit and ponder that a while longer. She could see it being used for her if she considered herself a _magos_ like the deans. She'd merely studied hard, practiced her skill sets and done what she needed to do, and it did include creative additions to the normal way of learning as far as Adventurers to that time had worked.

The rankings of Adventurers had already been covered in this class. They were considered somewhat like a lesser form of deity rather than an advanced form of Creature of the Land, falling into that middle ground between the two. Adventurers were only temporarily similar to deities in Purrcy's eyes since that's how it was to the Inari. However, to Theldesia, for now the 'infinite life' of the deities was imitated (somewhat poorly by her standards) by Adventurer resurrection. To some degree her Summon status was a similar 'cheat', though it would last past when resurrection was removed from the Adventurers, in comparison.

Adventurer's massive strength in comparison to People of the Land, and the rules of Adventurer Change and Quest Right of Choice (so that anyone had to request an Adventurer to do things), and other specific traits discussed in detail in that class were similar requirements for how others interacted with deities. It was a large body of individuals, though, rather than one individual, so in that regard they weren't considered specifically "a deity", but rather a group of people with deific qualities. Given she had pushed the limits of being an Adventurer, it certainly made sense to have been awarded TechnoMage for that level.

That put her at an honorable level of sub-deity. Nyanta-Izanagi would not be pleased if that was what her take away was, though, so she sighed and thought it through from the other side. As Oracle and one who could search the internet with impunity she could influence and predict events within her realm of influence like the other deities, though she more often felt like that was the Inari working through her. They had been training her until now with the increasing responsibilities, though, to be the initiator of that influence. As she'd told Michael, she felt it was because they were amusing themselves with allowing her to be the small random chance generator piece of the game system.

Being able to use the internet database and the underlying computer program in her magic would be considered supernatural to the other deities of the planet, maybe even to the Inari to some degree though other Adventurers could be taught it as well. Casting pseudocode magic also produced marvels using the base hidden natural force of Theldesia, perhaps in the most basic and natural way possible on the planet. She still had no idea if even she was going to be able to keep that skill. When the Adventurers were dropped the minor level from deific to creature, she would remain that deific individual Adventurer (a lonely and very uncomfortable thought). At base there was one problem with her being able to analyze the issue from this direction.

"Eminence Purrcy," the professor called on her, as he often did since he was of the mindset that she needed to logically prove why she was there and her place in things. It wasn't surprising that he was the professor of this very subject: to some degree his own mental survival depended on knowing exactly where everyone fit and why.

"Yes, Sensei?" she answered.

"As an assignment, I'd like for you to return tomorrow with a written exposition on where exactly you fit into all of this given the lectures we've had on the topic."

"Yes, Sensei," she answered, "however, I have one complication that I need clarified before I can even begin to formulate a proper argument for any conclusion or other, though I'd be willing to complete it without claiming any standing position if you'd still find that acceptable."

"And that would be?" he asked archly, with a slightly raised eyebrow that barely lifted above his spectacles.

"If the requirement for TechnoMage, which I have already been gifted the title to, is that the recipient has shown great effort in building up their skills in regards to what they'd been assigned by the Inari to do, then I must be told by them what it is they have assigned me to do. Until now, I have worked very hard to be the best Adventurer I can be, and better actually, however that isn't what they've asked me to do."

"They've asked me to be Caretaker, but as of yet they haven't defined for me what that actually means. As we've already pointed out, I would be considered a new deity, if I'm a deity at all, but I believe that under normal circumstances the role of any specific deity is assigned at the time of creation of that new deity. In my case, they have been training me as we go. I have no idea what it is they expect from me in the end. I suppose I could come at the assignment from the assumption that they are still experimenting to see what level an Adventurer can even attain. Suppositions would have to be woven throughout because of that assumption, leaving the proof still inconclusive at this point."

The professor blustered for a moment, then finally asked, "Have you asked directly yet? Would they perhaps be willing to tell you at this time?"

Purrcy raised her eyebrow at him slightly. "For the sake of a mere class assignment?" She left him wiggling uncomfortably for a while, then said, "Well, there are times when I bring such issues as we have been discussing in class to the High Priest and he is very interested in me being able to discern the answers. I will take it home today and discuss it with him and we will see what I will be allowed to bring with me tomorrow."

The professor bowed slightly, not really supposed to do that, but in this case he was being let off the hook by an irritated Inari and very relieved. "That should be more than sufficient," he responded.

Purrcy let him move on and escape the topic. It was the very same one that the deities in the Court of Gods wanted the answer to, and she had no better answer for them. She was still an enigma to the Gate of Time, with power over all of them when it came to protecting herself and her family. No other deity could affect another one in the same way, save Inari over the rest of them. In that way she was between Inari and them. Everything else spoke to her being between the Adventurers and them. That was the smallest window of understanding they'd been able to narrow it down to until this time. Even the definitions of TechnoMage had not been able to resolve it any better.

Purrcy sighed to herself. Really, Human, Beta Test Subject, and Summon were what she was when it came to the Inari. Nowhere in any of that was even the remotest hint of "goddess". How horribly difficult and confusing. In the end, she'd much rather be curled up in her bed with her children, or even on the comfortable chair on the balcony reading them a book with Nyanta sitting nearby watching with his quiet pride.

-:-:-:-:-

"I'm not sure Hahaue has even now resolved the issue to her satisfaction," MeowLi said to the guild as they sat around talking at the end of dinner time. "The Court of Gods finally had to just deal with her as if she were slightly above them, since that was how she related to them, scolding them like they were her children, particularly when they'd earned it."

"It sounds like she's never left her stance from even when she was here, then," Shiroe said with a faint smile as he pushed up his glasses. "Grumpy old human woman who lives life unapologetically." Akatsuki nodded her head solemnly several times.

"Most likely," MeowLi agreed. "There was a time where I was tempted to disbelieve her claim to non-deity. She was only vulnerable with us her children and husband, though as I properly considered later while sitting in that same class she had taken, that was likely the proper way for the Caretaker to be since her main role was to be a mother. It was one of her lessons to us that made me understand a little better."

MeowLi took a sip of her drink, her meal finished already and the dishes put away in the kitchen for her by likely Minori, or perhaps Akatsuki. "While Hahaue would always come visit with us every evening for the dinner meal and put us to bed, rarely was she the one who watched over us during the day. Usually if it was any of her aspects, it was the High Priestess. That seemed a bit of an odd waste of her precious time so one time at dinner, Setsubou asked her why." MeowLi frowned a bit and shifted. "I remember it because it was the first time Hahaue wouldn't let Chichue answer a question, even though it took her a long time to say the words."

"She said, 'We have told you that we are Adventurers, but you won't understand what that means until we return to linear Time'. She was so serious. 'You children are the First children of Adventurers on all Theldesia. You have been taught by Priestess Meghan that you are a blessing of Inari, and you are their gift. Inari wishes to understand if the gift it has given Theldesia is truly a blessing'." MeowLi shivered. "She was so careful and so serious. Hahaue isn't most of the time, you know, when it's just Hahaue. I'm not sure the others understood quite so well since she began a careful scolding then. She told us that Inari wouldn't protect us from our own choices, but would let us fall or stand on our own. Only if we crossed the boundary it set for all creations on Theldesia would it act, and that would be to kill us before we could cause irreparable harm to the path it had set for Theldesia. That woke up the more aware of my siblings."

"Hahaue stressed again that Inari held no emotions for or against us. It wouldn't bend to, nor reply with, the drama of the city or any member of it. It would only watch us to see what we did. If we made others hate us, it wouldn't hate as well, but it also wouldn't prevent those who hated us from killing us. If we tried to make Inari love us, it would answer our prayers as it saw fit the same as for any creation on the planet, giving us no extra favors. By the time she was done, even the most wild of us was sober. We had all learned some pride and hubris, being doted on by the temple staff and buttered up by those of the city who wanted something from us or our parents. That day, she taught us to see life more realistically."

MeowLi sighed and sat back, curling up her legs under her. "I'm not sure what my siblings did after that with the knowledge she gave us. For myself, I used the times I could feel the High Priestess watching me as my reminders that I was still only a creation like all other creations on the planet, and would always take just a moment to consider all my actions, to see if they had been sufficiently humble to not make others wish I wasn't present on the face of it."

"I spent more time after that watching Chichiue to learn his balance of grace, pride, and humility. He didn't make enemies, but he also didn't bend his head to the pressure of outside influences. When my youngest brother was having difficulties, I sat and explained it to him and he also watched Chichiue after that. The other two found their own ways to deal with it, and Hahaue would often sit with them and gently teach them, with varying levels of success. Sometimes she'd pull in Chichiue, or send them to him, because sometimes they could hear his words better." She shook her head. "It was not an easy thing to grow up a very public child of the Gate of Time."

"I'd imagine not," Shiroe was sympathetic and Tetorō was in complete agreement.

MeowLi looked from her hands into the distance. "We certainly learned discretion and how to protect ourselves with silence and meaningless pleasantries, however."

"Useful skills, those," Tetorō said dryly, also looking into the distance as if not committing to anything - in the obvious fashion of another child of high society. MeowLi had to let the lift of her whiskers out. Such a shared experience was very dryly humorous to those who had lived it.

"We did live for those evenings with Hahaue and Chichiue, though. Even he wasn't present often during the day, having his own work to do, once we were in lessons with the tutors and he needed to be keeping the Court of Gods stable until Hahaue's training was completed. As soon as we could sit still and listen quietly he was taking even us to the Court of Gods to learn just what it was to come under their difficult scrutiny. We were in severe lessons on how to defend ourselves from the various methods of information seeking we would come under until we got very good at saying only, 'we would both have to die if I answered you at this time'. Since they already were just that afraid of Inari and both the High Priest and High Priestess, they would relent."

"Did they ever try to hold any of you hostage?" Naotsugu asked.

MeowLi shivered. "Once. It was Meiki that had been taken. We were shocked until we saw that Chichiue was very afraid. That would have scared us, but it was what he was afraid of that was worse." She squeezed her eyes shut for just a moment, then opened her eyes again, looking soberly at Naotsugu.

"He was looking at Hahaue and the dark aura around her was darker than even the worst of the war and death gods, with sparks of angry red through it. He attempted to plead with her, but wasn't able to get any words out, though he tried. In the end he could only warn her, 'if you kill them you have to do their job'. I would have laughed, and we sometimes did later once it wasn't a frightening memory any more, since we all knew she hated what she did already and didn't want to have to do any more work than she'd already been given. It worked, though. She only demoted the offending god for ten years, removing all of his clergy and household from him, cutting him off from all of his worshipers and starving him of power for those ten years, and made him a servant in our household's chicken and pig stalls where she could watch him day and night."

She paused, shivered again, then said, "After that we were approached and pressured regularly like before, and when we were finally in university often students of families under other deities were sent to try as well, but we were never touched or taken again. Even if Inari wouldn't protect us from our choices, we knew that Hahaue would protect us from anyone else's unwise decisions. That made it easier to go to university, actually. Otherwise I think we might have begged to continue to be tutored in the temple and not leave it. It was often just too difficult to face the city."

Tetorō patted her head sympathetically. "She is very scary when angry. We were fortunate that she didn't have to become that while here in Akiba, though she almost made a hole in the ground, twice. We worked hard to make sure she stayed as calm as possible, even in scary situations like that. Inari kept her locked down when it was at its worst, though. If Inari let her act to protect you in that way, it was likely because it wanted to see just what the scary Hahaue looked like."

MeowLi wrinkled her nose. "Most likely, since that experimentation was still going on even when I left them."

"And will continue on for some time, most likely," Shiroe agreed. He waved his hand. "We've got a meeting in a few minutes. Let's get the chores done quickly." MeowLi was glad for even a little time to chat on other topics during the clean up, and she stayed up until the other renters returned home to talk to them so she had company until her guild family could return to the common room to keep her company again. She was glad, though, that Hahaue had told her the last time she'd been too lonely that it would be okay to talk about most of her time in the linear Gate of Time. Being able to remember out loud with others helped her feel more like she was really with family.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles were now close to the zone the Maze of Eternity was in. The dragons had been all too willing to drop to the ground, staying low even now they were on the ground and the most frightened of them going small. The yellow-green and the green had gone small enough to sit on shoulders and wrap tails around necks. That had to be calibrated so there wasn't choking, but then they were allowed to stay. Michael had finally ordered Halti to do the same and sit with Reed so they could protect her for Vesuvius' sake. They couldn't order the proud dark blue or the king of dragons to do the same, but they did shrink in size as to not be quite so obvious targets.

Gareth put up a spirit shield around the group and Michael let Brian the Vengeful Spirit out just long enough for them to go over the plan with him one more time. Once he was put back in the ring, Brian the undead was let out and told the plan. He was somewhat nervous about being the bait, but they reassured him several times they'd already done it all and had him safely with them. When they had his buy-in, Schedules took over. He was the master of illusions and disguises. When he was done with Brian, they had two Stiletto's. They were about the same size so that worked out well, too.

"Right then. Ready?" Michael looked at Brian. Brian swallowed and gave a nod. Michael took him by the arm and stepped back through time, watching carefully as he went. Gareth kept watch over Michael and the rest watched him. As soon as Michael saw the Devourer appear keeping watch over the Maze of Eternity, he prepared himself, watching himself in reverse. At the proper time, he merged the timeline he was watching with his own to actually live in his own timeline what he had just watched in reverse.

"So, there it is," Michael said.

Brian looked around, then cowered as he looked up. "We were calling it the 'Devourer'."

"No doubt," Michael said as dry as the Nevada desert. "Feel free to let all your real emotions out. Stiletto is very frightened of things like this. No need to hold back." He stepped them out of the boundary between and they appeared standing on the ground very near the Devourer. Brian flinched. "You know the rule for breaking trust with the guild, Stiletto." It was very menacing and cold. "Traitors meet a traitor's death, and in this place we'll keep going with them as long as we need to."

"But, I didn't, Commander, I really didn't!" Brian clawed at Michael's shirt, trying to cling to him. "Please, don't do this."

Michael hit him hard and Brian fell to the ground. Coldly, Michael drew his sword and took Brian down to 1HP. "Live and die in hell," he said and took the final HP. He watched as the anima of Brian the undead went up in bubbles. The psyche however, merely floated in space in front of him. The purification of the attacks had turned him into a Vengeful Spirit. They hadn't done any real damage. The HP movement on the falsified status windows was falsified as well. Undead didn't have HP to take from them. Only purification attacks worked on them. However, he was at base an Adventurer. Having taken away what anima he did have left him a spirit. Since Michael had done it to him, he was a Vengeful Spirit instead of a Wraith.

Michael stepped into the spirit realm. "Well done." He patted Brian on the head. "Now, run. Stay along the coast line as best you can. Look for our ship. It's a two-wheel paddlewheel coming into the Central American coast in or just past Mexico. Don't get caught." He looked at the Devourer, now headed their way quite interested in the snack. Brian's breath caught, and he ran. Michael stepped back to his present time-space.

Stiletto now looked like a felinoid, a young black and white. "Hope that's a spell you can keep up," Michael raised an eyebrow. Both Stiletto and Schedules nodded. "Shiroe didn't tell me that Nyanta had met you, though that's not to say he didn't, if you didn't tell him who you were. If a future him put this on you, you can't kill him. It's really confusing at first so take it slow." Michael tipped his head. "Are you really sure you want this? It might have been you yourself hating having to be left there alone and now you've begun your own nightmare cycle."

"You'll come get me when you're done here," Stiletto said firmly.

"We all hope," Michael said. He paused, then said, "The name of the person who could see and act just well enough to push Schedules out was Chatwick Theowald. Chat me once you're in, but intend for the me of the sixth level we just left behind us, when I was there to learn my lessons for time walking. Stay where I put you in hiding until that me gets to you."

Stiletto paused, then said, "I'll need to follow him."

Michael sighed. "That's not how it really works there. You'll understand after you're in it, though I'm not liking this at all, Stil." Stiletto wasn't going to back down or relent. "If you end up crossing the veil somehow, and getting into the non-linear Gate of Time, crawl your way to the closest place you can find. You'll drop out when the battle for Time is fought. If you're close enough to the boundary where you went in, you'll be able to meet up with us again, but you should wait until after the time I put you in - meaning you'll just have to stay alive long enough for us to get out of this dungeon and come find where you got dropped out. If I'm wrong and you end up still in the city, try to get out near the Mayan door. Follow us up when we arrive and meet us outside the Maze of Eternity on exit. You don't want to cross yourself coming and going."

"I understand," Stiletto said soberly. He shook hands with Bowie and Black Jack, took a breath, and nodded at Michael. Michael took him by the arm and spacial stepped them to the place they'd exited the Gate of Time. He carefully deposited Stiletto back into the Gate of Time, whispered a good luck and a, "Don't move!" and stepped back out.

With a sigh, he left the Gate of Time, then stepped back to the place he and Stiletto had just left, intending to arrive after they'd left just in case something strange had happened in the brief time he'd been at the edge of the Gate of Time. He also paid attention to feeling the tug of Gareth on him that was his anchor to let him know he was in the right place and time. "Right, then. Off we go to our part of all this," he said when he stepped out. He paused long enough to do the proper reality check with Gareth, then they were on the move.

-:-:-:-:-

Stiletto was just as happy to not move. He was still trying to come to grips with his new upgraded skill. He'd known from Gareth's story that even deacons could get the upgrades, but he'd not expected anything quite so large as his felt to him. He'd had to listen hard to Michael's lessons to the priests on a repeat to get the help he needed. He was seeing rainbows and multiple images around everything and it had blinded him as much as he thought he'd heard them say Chappie was. Intending them to go away, like putting away the status screen had helped some, but it was like slightly fogging the window instead of having the bright lights reflecting off of mirrors all around him. It was so distracting he had to focus very hard just to pay attention to people who talked to him. He had a mission, though, and that helped him, too, to stay focused.

Until his initiation, his Programmer-gifted skill was called Aural Dweller. He'd no idea what that meant, but it had let him learn how to be a real Shadow, let him Hide just about anywhere, even in full sun on an empty street (if he was very careful with his intent), Phase through walls and barriers magic or physical, walk Unseen without the Hide attached (though it had been helpful to have had the one while he learned the other), he could Disguise himself instantly like putting on a different outfit naturally only over his whole avatar, and his most useful - All-Sight. That one let him look through anything solid or not. He'd seen things surrounded by light then, when he used All-Sight. This upgrade was like All-Sight on steroids. He saw everything, in every realm, all at once, and surrounded by varying grades of rainbows instead of just light.

He'd been experimenting with it while they traveled through the air and he didn't have to pay attention to anything else (a good thing as he'd barely managed to walk from the initiation site to getting on the dragon). The higher the level of a person or creature, the bigger and brighter the rainbow was. Or perhaps it would be more correct to say the more "sparkly" they were. Bright lights were always bright - it was hard to see gradations of that - but they did glint and sparkle more.

He knew he was also seeing all the realms at once because when Michael had started moving through them, he'd still been able to see Michael when the rest couldn't. It was most disturbing that he was also seeing the realm of time. That was no joke. He wanted to be here in the Gate of Time for that most of all. He _had_ to learn how to see and navigate that realm before he could be effective anywhere else. He'd wait obediently here without moving until the Michael of the sixth level arrived, then ask him to teach him how to do it, or at the very least ask him to put him back through the veil so he could learn it from the professionals.

He wasn't afraid, so much as needing the training. The gift upgrade gave him one other skill. He was tempted to call it "Instruction Manual", but that wasn't quite right. It was an instinctive knowledge of what he was seeing. If something moving caught his eye (which happened regularly), he _knew_ which realm it was in and if it was a danger and to what level (imminent, potential, that sort of thing). Just knowing how and where to place everything helped calm him quite a lot. When it came to the realm of time, that _knowing_ helped him hold firm to his own linear time-line. He _knew_ which one he was _supposed_ to be in and which one was the "real" current him. He practiced "turning off" the rest of the other time lines (past and future) while he crouched there at the inner border of the linear Gate of Time, though it was intent and hope still, not yet something he could really do at this early stage of the game. Gareth hadn't been wrong to say that the upgrades were sometimes more trouble than they were worth.

He was just starting to wonder why Michael had dropped him into the linear Gate of Time in his own personal far future when the Michael he'd called for showed up. "Is this our First meeting in the linear Gate of Time?" Michael asked.

Stiletto blinked in surprise at the odd greeting. "It's _my_ First time."

"Very good," Michael answered. "When you see me again, tell me this exactly and nothing else: 'Watch a Persian guard named Matthias. I need evidence enough to convict him.' That me will send you through the veil. Here is my answer, since you will need to know it." He proceeded to data dump and Stiletto had to let go and relax and just receive it, he was so surprised to hear things he didn't know he needed to learn. Matthias wasn't the name he'd been given before entering the Gate of Time, after all. He'd just have to hang on to it as best he could, though, and trust what was going on until he could get caught up. When Michael was done, he said, "Don't move. I'll come to you here. See you 'round." That was confusing, too, but since Michael had said he'd put him through the veil, which was what he wanted, he obediently stayed put again, this time sorting through the information he'd been given so he could hold on to it better. Then he focused back on his intent to get through the veil to get to his target.

As soon as he did that, Michael was in front of him again, this time on the other side of him. He blinked a few times again, but his gift was telling him that everything was still fine. It was a good thing, since Michael reached out and grabbed hold of him as if to hold him still. The physical contact helped him center a little back on being present. Maybe he'd been about to slip into a different realm. It was possible since he was seeing them all and was finally getting some additional knowledge that made his upcoming lessons all the more important. He could tell, he _knew_ , how to walk in them all. If he stepped "just so", he'd be there. Michael's hold on him kept him from following through just at the moment, and that was a good thing. Stiletto had to focus hard on Michael again. He was saying important things about how to stay alive in the non-linear Gate of Time.

As Michael wrapped it up, Stiletto confirmed he had it all recorded, since he had missed a few parts. Michael ended with, "If you still need me, contact me as yourself, and I'll help you. I'll be here in this place from this moment of time. I work in the Temple of Time as a guard."

Stiletto nodded, finally having the opportunity to say what he was supposed to say. "Watch a Persian guard named Matthias. I need evidence enough to convict him." Michael gave a nod and lifted Stiletto to standing, his hand still on Stiletto's arm, and pushed him sideways two steps. Just as Stiletto's eyes and _knowing_ were trying to catch up to the sudden newness, his arm was released and Michael's presence was gone.

Stiletto immediately stepped into the safest realm in that spot he was in, since it was a very dangerous spot to be in. His panic and his _knowing_ combined and kept him moving forward (and sideways and into this realm then that one) until he reached a space that was the equivalent of an empty warehouse that would be safe for a while. He closed his eyes and just breathed for a while, trying to get his heart to calm down. That had been the most chaotic thing he'd ever had to live through, and his brain had put him through a lot of that in its time. Normal life on Earth was the most chaos he'd had to live before this moment just past.

When he opened his eyes, he automatically checked his status. It was a neurotic tic he'd picked up to make sure he was still on Theldesia, still walking around moving and "living". His eyes scanned through his general data, then through the skill list, then froze. He had another new sub-skill: Astral Walk. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at it. Why that? Hadn't he just realm walked? Why wasn't it Realm Walk like Michael's? He mused on that, going back over what he'd just done, then compared it to what Michael did and then shook his head. What Michael did was like taking hikes through each realm. He could do two at once now - time and space - but most of the time he stuck to one realm at a time. Stiletto had just danced through all of them, in comparison, as if he were playing an esoteric game of Twister. Just like he had no barriers of movement in the physical realm as an Aural Dweller before the upgrade, he now had no barriers of movement between realms with the upgrade.

It made him wonder what the final Class would be. They'd all seen Gareth's skill move up to Spiritualist Class once he had his lessons under his belt. With a deep breath, Stiletto pulled up his history and rewound it to Michael's lecture again. It was time to get to working on his own lessons. He'd find out what his Class was by the time he left here, or he'd be tossed out on his ear by the squad - or lost in the realms completely. Really...the realm of time was no joke. It was no wonder the Inari had wanted it settled down and moving properly before things fell apart completely.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles had picked a base camp location by the time Michael returned to join them. They sat in huddle. The first thing they had to do was figure out how to get rid of the large numbers of Overwritten surrounding the Maze of Eternity. They decided to start with what they'd used so far: a surrounding purification attack. Michael warned them that it might take longer since the area to cover and the numbers of Overwritten and Eagles was higher. They all set up the most secure shields they could.

It was in vain. With that many Overwritten, the odds were against them not being seen by at least one of the Overwritten. When the poor Eagle that was seen and attacked went down, they all went down on the rebound. When they resurrected at their base camp instead of some random city in the middle of the country, they were mildly surprised.

"So what's up with that?" was asked.

They sat in silence for a bit until Bowie said, "The whole west coast event we're on makes wherever we're camped our campaign respawn point."

"Okay. How'd you come up with that?" he was pointedly asked.

Bowie was quiet for a bit, then sighed. "At the Higan graduation, my skill of Intuition was uncovered. That's what let me know things with intuitive guesses. That got an up at this past clergy upgrade and now it's the Gift of Knowledge. I sat here meditating on that question for a bit and the answer came. That's what it is."

They thought about that for a bit, judging whether it was okay or not until one finally said, "Well, as long as it stays that and doesn't slip to Oracle."

Bowie swore and hit the speaker, hard. "Just kill me until I'm really dead if that happens!" he glared with much swearing mixed in around the edges. They let him alone, but they'd use him, and he knew that, too - _without_ the Gift.

That did lead to them pausing to make everyone list off their newest upgrades, though, since they needed to know what new tools they had in their arsenal.

"This is going to be difficult," one muttered.

"What's that?" another asked.

With a sigh, the first answered. "We were already difficult to beat. Now we're all that there is for the Maze. How're we supposed to defeat ourselves at the end?" That was a depressing question and they tabled it, but it left worry worms in the pits of their stomachs. They'd be thinking that one over in their sleeping bags every night until they got that far.

After a bit, Michael calmed them. "I'll use that as the last miracle request if I need to. If the room's already full of Overwritten that surely can be considered enough." With sighs to let out the worry worms, everyone nodded in relief. That would work. "If the lot of you will make that a hopeful intent starting now, that would help us get the reward in the end." The worry worms were replaced with fervent hope and desire - the unspoken prayer they always held, second to the one to get home that went even deeper.

"Moving forward, just how do we get rid of the Overwritten outside the Maze?" Reed brought it back to what they were supposed to be thinking about and they got busy throwing around ideas.


	181. 1st Half of the West US Maze of Eternity

The Eagles dropped where they were as the final Overwritten went down. They slept deeply for four hours and only slowly started waking up at about six. It had been a thirty-six hour battle without let-up. It felt like the Overwritten had been increased in volume every time they'd thought they were getting to the end.

"Did we draw them to us since we're the only living Adventurers in the area?" one asked.

"Probably," Michael answered dryly. "They are keyed to find us, after all, and they had the time to get here in waves like that. It will be interesting to see how many are left on the west coast now."

"Not," one muttered. They still had to go inside and they were already done fighting Overwritten. Michael let them take the rest of that day off to recover mentally. When they were done with the initial exploration as deep into the first level as they could get, the Eagles gathered at the entrance. The three priests stood before the rest of them, who were bowed to the earth - again.

The three clapped, bowed, and clapped - again. Michael went first - again. "Izanami, we're ready to enter the West U.S. Maze of Eternity. Please forgive us and allow us to fight in the Maze without purifying everything. We don't want to create an imbalance or leave a dangerous situation behind us, nor do we want to anger Izanagi. These manholes are protected for a reason by the standard monsters. We just want the Overwritten gone, like the both of you do. Let us still purify by intent if we need to, since we are now your clergy on this side of the world and I'm sure we'll still need that option as we go. Please hear our request." He bowed and Reed gave his simpler form of prayer with a similar request.

Brenner didn't need Gareth to be his guide anymore, having learned how to see in the spirit realm sufficiently to get around generally, but he still couldn't talk, so his prayer was by written glowing lines of text - again. When he was done asking Izanami to forgive them and grant them the same blessing, he bowed, then raised his hand again. This time, he wrote a prayer to the God of all, asking for blessings of strength, clear minds, and inspiration to be upon all of them as they fought in the dungeon, and included at the end blessings for each of their families on Earth, Log Horizon, and Nyanta, Purrcy, and their family. The men gave their "Amens" at the end, then rose to their feet and pulled out weapons and armor. For all they were ever so ready to return to being pilots, they headed in to do their duty as armsmen - once again.

-:-:-:-:-

The final boss of the first level went down by the end of that day. It had been a full day of work, but nowhere near as bad as what they'd done to get inside. It was nice to just have a "normal" dungeon to work for once. They settled down, setting up camp right there in that room. Suddenly there was a mechanical voice, like a computer voice that seemed somewhat familiar. "Rolling one D20. ... The Vengeful Spirit hits. The Vengeful Spirit hits. The Vengeful Spirit hits."

By the second time they were all looking around quickly. By the third they'd all locked on to Clocktower, who was backing up and defending himself. As Clocktower quickly pulled out his bow and an arrow, Brenner marked in the base realm where the Vengeful Spirit was and Gareth had started a spirit purification spell going. "Turn two. The Vengeful Spirit curses."

Clocktower froze and held his arrow so as to not waste an arrow in case he'd been the one just cursed. Quickly he called out, "I hold my action until the end of the turn." Reed cast a high-level Purification spell on him, clearing any cursing. Gareth was obviously going to have to use this 'second turn' on his spell casting. That meant it was someone else's turn. Three mirror boxes surrounded the Vengeful Spirit, five binding cantrips went off around it, two defensive shields went up around Clocktower. Clocktower's partner, OciferJeff, was closest to him and he swung with his war ax, slicing through the space the marked Vengeful Spirit was standing in. The points of purification glowed in the air over the Vengeful Spirit.

"Damn. We even have to live the real-life computer game." OciferJeff muttered under his breath.

"Never thought I'd see that old game show up anywhere," Michael shook his head. "What are you doing bringing up old PC games like that, you crazy woman, to bring NetHack into this?" He got a "+15" over his head for guessing it right and even knowing what it was to begin with. The rest were impressed since they'd never heard of it before. Well, as impressed as they could get with something so out of left field. "Go, Clocktower, we don't need it erased before we get through the door."

Clocktower released the arrow he had a Hama Ya intent building up on. It disappeared into a blast of light as it entered the Vengeful Spirit. They were relieved when the status on the Vengeful Spirit showed it still had points of life left. "Don't kill it Gareth," Reed ordered quickly. His spell would be next to go off in the 'third turn'. He silently shook his head, quickly coding a modification to the spell he'd started. "The Vengeful Spirit is Confused." As soon as he was done with the modification, Gareth cast, the rest sitting out the turn.

The Vengeful Spirit appeared as a glowing apparition in the base realm. Brenner had been moving over. He reached out and took hold of the arm of the Vengeful Spirit and held on. Gareth headed over at a trot and joined them, taking hold of the other arm of the Vengeful Spirit. "Why have you attacked us?" he asked.

A thin voice answered them. "No good thing exists in this world, and no Adventurer can be trusted. I don't know why I was dragged here just now, but to find anyone here of Adventurer status made me very angry."

"Well, it's understandable that any Adventurer made to lose his body for this long would be upset," Compliance agreed.

"No. From the beginning it's been dog eat dog, every man for himself."

The Eagles blinked. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," the Vengeful Spirit answered. "We tried to band up early, but too many people wanted everyone else to do all the work, since it was now real. When it was a game, it was easy to point and click. No one had any idea how hard it was to actually learn to swing a sword, or plow the ground. The few who enjoyed that and were willing got pressured into taking care of the rest. That made them refuse to babysit eventually, so the rest all started pressuring each other until there was a hierarchy. The lowest made to do the work they hated slipped away until there wasn't anyone around to do any of the work."

The Vengeful Spirit was bitter. "By the time the July Fourth Special came, there wasn't anyone who would defend any but their own. The few fighting guilds tried to defend themselves, but it wasn't enough. Only if we'd have worked together could we have done anything at all, and even then it looked hopeless. We were completely overwhelmed, and our own division killed us."

There was silence for a while as the Eagles digested that. "And I would think that doesn't even cover a small portion of what went on around here," Michael finally said quietly, folding his arms and looking like his stomach was churning. "I'd guess the People of the Land were abused as well until either dead or they ran."

"As you say," the Vengeful Spirit said dryly. "The riots were the worst. The killing was random and a lot of them got caught in it on the wrong side of the rampaging Adventurers. Our guild set up in one of the local villages and kept them alive so they could feed us. That worked for a while, until one of us decided he was going to be on top and used lies and subterfuge to get us all fighting each other since we weren't about to just hand it over. By the time we were already not trusting each other it was too late to salvage the guild and the special hit us." Angrily, he added, "We took him out before the rest of us were, letting him know just how we felt about it - those of us who weren't cool with it anyway. We'd still be fighting, likely, since we were divided. He'd bought enough supporters in the group."

Michael and Reed shared a glance. "Well. So, if you could have one thing right now, what would it be?" Michael offered.

"A cigarette," the Vengeful Spirit said immediately. "Miss those things, even after all this time."

Ground Safety walked up and a single cigarette flicked out from his fingers. "Here. We found a source."

The Vengeful Spirit reached out eagerly and snatched up the cigarette. Both disappeared and the door to the second level appeared in the wall. Everyone slumped with several collapsing on the floor again. "Well, hell. That's not going to be a good thing, getting this place cleared out and fixed up, is it?" Electrical complained. QA shook his head in agreement.

Michael sighed. He gave the sign for "circle up" and crouched to put one arm on a knee. The rest pulled up floor around him. "So, Purrcy warned me it was going to be hard, bringing them back. I've been thinking about it. Every city attached to the west server that still has a Cathedral is going to have Adventurers show up all at once and the chaos is likely to start all over. We're going to have to divide and conquer if we want to get everyone organized enough to mobilize. And we're going to have to promise a short time between resurrection and final resolution. They're already all going to starve with no food anywhere west of the Colorado and Green Rivers." Eagles shook heads. It was a difficult situation, for sure.

"I think if we can get them on board around common goals, they'll move forward. It's getting buy-in from everyone that will be hardest. I need Admin and Training to work up the speech we need to give and the convincing arguments. We'll split up into teams that will move out as soon as the repairs to the tree are going. Maintenance, we'll leave you here in the Tree of Life room to get the repairs done while we head to the cities. Safety will be on guard duty outside the Maze to make sure Maintenance isn't interrupted by unhappy Adventurers wanting to be Vengeful Spirits again. Charlie, you'll stay with them as Central Com here."

Michael looked over to P/R. "You and I will be going by time and by space to all the Adventurer cities that we aren't enough to cover with everyone else when it comes time to passing on the world quests. We don't know how far this extends back towards the east, but we've got to go check at least as far as the Rockies, since that's how big the western region extends."

"That's a lot on you," Reed frowned at Michael. Because the game had been started in the States and was quite popular there, the number of Adventurer cities was rather high in comparison to the other countries.

Michael shook his head. "Yeah, but it's necessary. I'm hoping the central parts between the Sierras and Rockies are more mellow. That's harsh farm land except the big cities. You know what farm boys are like." Since plenty of them had come from farming communities, they did.

" _Plus that strip is the largest population of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,_ " Brenner wrote.

Michael nodded. "They're like everyone else, but they're also used to following leadership and generally have hearts for service. I don't know what percentage of gamers in that part of the country are part of that demographic, but even a small percent would get us allies." Reed's frown went away, but he was still concerned. They all were, really. They were going to be heading all of the world quests all in one fell swoop, without much of a rest break in between.

The group assigned to get the words together sat up extra that night to hash out a beginning outline, pulling in what they'd done in China, Shiroe's speeches, and Purrcy's quest requests in Yamato. They wouldn't mind getting help on the rest of the U.S. Mazes of Eternity, if they could talk anyone into going east with them, but they expected the least help with that. They had been certain they could find people willing to hunt down Overwritten, but now they weren't so sure. If they could at least talk the few fighting guilds into it since the reward was going home, that would be something. The only other one was what they would have to fight the hardest for and was what this meeting and requirement was for - to get all the Adventurers playing nicely together.

That was going to take leadership left behind that everyone could live with when the Eagles moved on to their other jobs. In the States, that meant local elections and people willing to serve as those elected officials. They'd have to have a clue on how to lead people to begin with. That issue alone took three nights plus of scratching heads, with them all secretly wishing they could get whomever the top military person in the city was in that position. That was the right person for the job as far as the Code went. That person would support the elected leader, though, regardless, since any military person's job was to hold to the Code and get them all home. They could almost be guaranteed a week minimum to get the cities stable enough to head out to the next region...probably. They'd have to experiment to see if they could get it to as fast as Shiroe's one to two days.

They were reminded at some point that they were also supposed to be helping rebalance the region with Creatures and People of the Land. It wouldn't be hard to ask Summoners to recall their Summons. That would bring some life back. It was going to be nearly impossible to bring back the People of the Land. Michael finally took that to Purrcy and Izanami. He didn't get an answer, though he did get a bit of purring. They asked Bowie to meditate on it and he came back with the same sort of answer. A feeling of peace to some degree, but no action item at the moment. They'd have to let it ride for now. There weren't demihumans alive to worry about, and what might be should likely be left alone for now. They would have to leave that one up to Inari as well.

Working on the underlying issues had an interesting effect on them all. When they fought the Overwritten during the "daylight" hours, they weren't as tired, and felt stronger. As they reached the boss room of the second level, Chappie stood up before them and prayed over them, adding in gratitude for the increased strength they'd had until then. Everyone got warm Purrcy hugs and kisses.

Michael sighed. "I think we're getting blessing bonuses." Chappie nodded in agreement. They were grateful for the gratitude and helping hand that wasn't overly intrusive. They were extra grateful for it as they nearly went down as a team against the double boss in that room. The minors of that room were at least another boss, and the middling at least two more. For twenty-three Eagles that was rather a lot all at once. It wouldn't get any easier as they went along, either.

As they dropped to the ground to rest at the end, they stayed a little alert. They weren't disappointed. "Rolling 2D20. The Vengeful Spirit attacks. The Vengeful Spirit attacks. The Vengeful Spirit attacks. The Vengeful Spirit attacks. The Vengeful Spirit attacks. The Vengeful Spirit curses."

This time it was Clocktower and Aviation Safety who were targeted. "Damn, what's my number?" Clocktower grumbled as he dodged the third attack on him. "Can I swap places with someone else?" Since they were ready this time, they all got in early attacks. They divided with half assisting Clocktower and half Aviation Safety, getting the Vengeful Spirits marked, locked down, and early purifications off, as well as defensive protections on the two men. They still had to wait for the third turn for Gareth's Spirit Communication spell to go off, so they used the extra turn to calm the Vengeful Spirits down with Purifications.

This time they got two Vengeful Spirits that didn't want to talk and were just angry at having to be there at all. They did finally manage to buy them off - one with another cigarette and the other with a bottle of wine. At least they hadn't had to guess which was which this time and chance the do-over. It left a bitter taste in the mouth, but they let it go. It wasn't worth holding on to when they knew it was going to be that hard. Their job didn't depend on people being nice or loving what they did. Their job only needed to get done so they could all go home.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta was very proud of Purrcy. She had joined the City Beautification committee and had been very active with the other members of the committee. Ceridwen (the committee chair) had been kept very busy by her as a result. Purrcy had added on a park to the Gate of Time (pleasing Nyanta almost more since no other deity in the Gate of Time could add space to it). Ceridwen and her Druids had been helping things grow there - most notably the tall trees Purrcy loved - but other than seeing those rise up on the skyline the park was closed until the final day of the second anniversary celebration.

Purrcy had very nicely handled her first solo Court of Gods, being graceful, calm, and remaining in control unapologetically. She had managed to win even the more difficult deities to her suggestion that the final day of the celebration be more generally applied to all the children of the Gate of Time and they had agreed to call it Children's Day. She was excited for the unveiling of the new park on that day. She had enlisted the help of all of the goddesses who were patrons of children to help as well, and the temple had been very busy with its own preparations for that.

Nyanta had headed the temple celebrations the first two days of the anniversary celebration, though Purrcy had properly participated in her parts. Really, life in general was becoming quite pleasurable and the painful memories of his earlier time there were being overshadowed by the happier family time they were having. Of course, it did help that the linear Gate of Time wasn't the same as the chaotic one generally. If it became difficult, he only had to visit his children in their studies and play, or find one of Purrcy's aspects and visit with her. Even Marco was a help, the two of them having discovered a more relaxed relationship this time around.

They arrived at the new Children's Park early so that Purrcy could make sure that the preparations for the grand opening were ready. Nyanta watched as their four children ran around the grounds, though they obediently stayed where they could hear him if he called. When Purrcy gave him the sign, he called for them and they returned to stand with him properly, though Miru and Meiki had to be separated to either side of him. He held their hands as MeowLi and Setsubou held on to his kimono - one on either side as well. He had allowed them to continue that habit because it helped him know where they were. This particular configuration was well known now.

The entire city had come for the opening of the Children's Park, curious about what it had meant for the High Priestess to add to the city, and to see the tall trees they'd never seen before. There was the obligatory speech and prayer over the park and all the children of the city (Nyanta thought that a nice touch), and then he was taking the four kittens to the ribbon that "closed" the park off. Together the four of them cut the ribbon with the large scissors and the children of the city moved forward into the park first.

There was one special activity for the children set up in the park. The pathway that meandered through the park grounds was lined with grey stones of varying sizes. Purrcy had the goddesses helping her pass out smocks, paint brushes, and hand out the primary colors of paints to each child. Each child was then instructed to select a rock at the first part of the path and paint whatever they wanted on it, then sign it if they wanted, and put the date on it: LGT2-3, or Linear Gate of Time 2nd year, 3rd day.

The Children's Park quickly became full of children studiously painting, others running around the grounds exploring, parents talking as they watched over painters, adults walking the path to explore just as much, and many standing gawking at the true height of the trees. When MeowLi, Miru, Meiki, and Setsubou were happily planted at their rocks with their nanny's watching over them, Nyanta took Purrcy's hand and tucked it into his elbow. "So, show me what mew've done in this place, meow."

Purrcy smiled at him and purred. "Certainly, though the unseen part of course is that I've turned it from a stuffy religious day into a day all the children can enjoy, and so can I. Three days last year was just too much."

Nyanta chuckled. "Of course mew've done that on purrpose. That much was obvious."

They walked the pathway, passing the easels set up for those children who wanted to keep painting once their rock was done. It wound around to pass a pond. Purrcy paused them there at the edge of a viewing platform. Nyanta was surprised when a koi came up and kissed the surface of the pond. "Mew've added koi?"

"Yes, it was a bit of a struggle, but they finally agreed that they'd not cause troubles. I couldn't win the birds and field mice, though. Not even moles."

"Well, they do make messes and move into the rest of the city," Nyanta had to allow.

"But it makes the whole of the city so sterile," Purrcy complained.

Nyanta patted her hand consolingly, but personally he had to agree with the other members of the City Beautification committee. Such things would also all be terrible distractions since most everyone was a cat and those were things hunted by cats. "Purrsonally, I think they've all hunted them to extinction," he whispered to her. That settled her more. She wouldn't be happy to have it happen again.

From the pond, which the path continued on around, they eventually entered the small woods that the trees made up. There were some of the different kinds, including several fruit trees on the outskirts in a manicured orchard. "I'm hoping that when they fruit anyone who wants will pick them and eat them," Purrcy pointed to a sign offering just that. "That was always my favorite way to eat fresh fruits and vegetables - picked right out of the garden or off the tree."

Nyanta watched her face, her dreamy look of pleasure as she thought of her happy memories, and thought of the happy memories to be made. It was a look he loved to see. When she turned back to him, he kissed her. "I will expect to find mew here often, then, when the fruit is ripe."

She blushed, another reaction he'd wanted to see just then. "I suppose I will want to come often, since I did make it just the way I like it," she teased him back. He gave her a pat on the head. When they arrived under the taller trees, she said, "I've left space between them, but not too much. We'll be coming here to practice."

Nyanta looked up at them musingly. "I do see mew've alternated heights on them. Mew might have to make a few shorter ones for the children to begin learning on."

Purrcy shook her head, but only led him on. The path continued to meander through the woods until it suddenly came out into an area where the trees decreased in size in a rough circle until there was an open area. "This will be the playground, which is next year's surprise addition to the park. When the children come play, they will be able to learn to climb trees here. The rest of the committee doesn't know that part yet. To them it's just a hidden visual delight."

"Well, it is that," he agreed.

"Come on, then," Purrcy urged him. "You're so out of practice, I'm sure." She was cat and running for the trees. Nyanta sighed, but agreed that he should at least humor her for a brief time. He checked on the children, who had split into two on easels and two running and playing with the other children in the grass. Then he also shifted to cat and ran at a shorter tree and up it. Really, being a natural Adventurer meant it wasn't all that hard. The muscles knew it still. It was the brain that had to catch back up. They practiced going up and down the trees for a while, then Purrcy led him in a tree-top run back the way they'd come, though it was a more straight shot than following the pathway.

Those trees were very tall, on the outskirts of the forest, and they looked down on the gathering of the city filling the new park. Purrcy settled down. "Yes, this is a much better way to celebrate this day," she murmured, her whiskers and tail pleased.

Nyanta rubbed his head on hers. "Indeed." He sat on his haunches next to her.

They didn't know who saw them first and pointed them out, but even their own children stood with their mouths open in surprise. Nyanta looked down at his wife. "Shall we?"

Purrcy looked up at him, then rose to her feet. "Sure. It's been so long I'd love to." Both of them sprouted wings - her's of sphinx and his of gryphon - and they soared down, circling over the gathering, to land with their children. They returned to High Priest and High Priestess to receive their hugs. They had to promise they'd teach them how to climb the trees, too. It was another happy memory to make that day.

At the end of the day, after the temple birthday party for their children, Miru begged to be told the stories of how it was they had wings and could fly. Those were more happy memories to tell. Nyanta settled happily next to Purrcy when they were finally in their own bed, purring and grooming her until she laughed, pleased that she'd made him so happy. When she'd finished getting the happy out of him so he could go back to contented, she sighed and purred them to sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe."

Shiroe lifted his head and sat back in his chair. "Hey. I thought you were only going to call me in emergencies, Michael."

"Well, I'm lonely."

"Oh?" Shiroe didn't believe that.

Michael sighed. "We're going to have a hard time over here. We're half-way through the Western Maze of Eternity, and we're getting attacked by every Vengeful Spirit that shows up. They don't want to live."

Shiroe shivered slightly. "That is bad."

"Have you been getting any of that from the other team?"

Shiroe considered it. "I'd say China was close, but not really. The train's just reaching South Africa, though, and it's not looking good down there, either. They were under civil strife again when we were brought over here at the catastrophe. The train can hardly get where they need to go because they get jumped by one faction or another along the way."

"Yeah, that's about how hard it would have been here before the Fourth of July Special last year," Michael sympathized.

"How bad did it get?" Shiroe asked, knowing that if Michael needed to talk to move forward, listening was the best thing to help him do just that.

"The entire west coast is stripped of any life at all. The Adventurers have been dead to this world mentally nearly since they arrived and since that Special, physically as well. What People of the Land they didn't kill off themselves got taken out by the Overwritten."

"We managed to get rid of the worst one. They called it the Devourer. It was a reverse monster that took in attacks like it was getting fed its favorite desert. It had to stand over a mile high. We think it's what stripped the land. The rest of the Overwritten have taken out almost all of the villages and nests of the Creatures of the Land and there's barely enough natural wildlife to keep us fed." Shiroe was glad to just let him talk. It was sounding very horrific.

"We did manage to find one Adventurer - of sorts - still living. He was an undead when we found him. We used him as the bait to draw the Devourer around to where we could get rid of it. Name's Brian - the Caretaker for the region and the young Programmer we talked about."

"I'm glad you found him," Shiroe said soberly.

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to talking to him in the flesh. He might be the only reasonable person on this coast." Shiroe recognized that as just a down-in-the-dumps grumble. "We've got a plan for being in every Adventurer city at the same time when the Adventurers resurrect, and we're working on the sales pitch. We'll have to get everyone to agree to play nice, and that's looking a lot harder than it should. Only the few fighting guilds were even willing to go out and fight anything, apparently. No one was willing to farm - not that we do that much either - but there were apparently early riots that reduced the numbers of People of the Land to do it before they got wise. They starved after that, trying to force each other to go out and be the ones to work and they splintered. The ones willing to work went into hiding to take care of themselves and the rest sat around and complained. When the Special hit, they were blind-sided and overwhelmed fast. The fighting guilds that lifted their heads after that weren't enough to make up the balance."

"Tough," Shiroe commiserated. "Will it be hard to find city council members?"

"We expect," Michael answered. "We're hoping for a few reasonable guildmasters and military men. Even two or three per city might be enough to keep them going long enough to get to the end." He sighed. "Has the Eured group passed on anything new from their trips through the Mazes?"

"Not really. Nothing's been as wiped cleaned as what you've described. They did have to work hard to get Cairo back. The trip from the Maze to there was just over two days and the Master Strategist was camped there and evil. That took my closer involvement to get resolved."

"Can you send me a copy of that full negotiation, then? We have no idea who the Master Strategist is here. If that's one of the worms, we need to have some idea of where to even begin."

"Sure. I'll ask Tetorō to get it put together and sent over." Shiroe ran his hand through his hair. "We'll send South Africa over, too, as it unwinds. MarketMaker's complaining that he'd rather not heal the Tree. It will only give each side more bodies to throw at each other."

"Yeah, that's about how we're feeling over here, too. It'd be better to let them be, almost. We'll give it a good try, though. With common goals, particularly getting back home in the end, we think we can get them moving forward together again." Michael sighed. "At least, we _should_ be able to. If we can't, they'll just all kill each other again, but we can't afford to stay here when we've still got all the rest of both continents to work on."

Shiroe ran his fingers down his pen a few times, thinking about that. "When they're done in South Africa, they're done. Next time I talk to them, I'll ask Leonardo to find his way over there. If he can round up help, he might be able to get another crew to help with the repairs."

"That would be a big help," Michael was relieved. The States had three - west, central, and east - and they still had to get into Canada and then back down through Central and South America. Having two repair teams would help it go a bit easier. "Since he's by himself, you might tell him to start up in Canada. I don't know what the rest of the States look like yet - we're desperately hoping for nowhere as near as bad - but Purrcy wasn't promising me anything for the entire country."

"She warned you?"

"Yes. You know she's a true Admin now? Izanami's handed over the console to her, though with oversight."

"Really?" Shiroe was intrigued to hear that. "How's that going?"

"She's still High Priestess and Oracle, so some days not so good, but when just she can come play, it's not bad."

Shiroe chuckled slightly at that. "I can imagine."

He was interrupted by Akatsuki tugging at his sleeve slightly. Her eyes were worried and sad. "Ask him. Please," she asked quietly.

Shiroe paused, considering, then gave a small nod. "We got a surprise personal request from her. She showed up before you were even done with the Time sub-quest and talked to Rudy and Naotsugu."

"That's a surprise," Michael said.

"Yes. And an hour after she called us when it was over, she showed up in the living room. She brought with her one of her daughters - MeowLi, Nyanta's secretary from the first time he was sent to the Gate of Time. She dropped out when the veil went up and Purrcy had to rescue her. She's living with us now until they return. Did you know?"

Michael was silent. Then he quietly swore. "Damn it, Shiroe." He sounded like he wanted to cry. "Izanagi stole that memory from me until you just said it now."

Shiroe stiffened. "Why? When Akatsuki gave her the tour of the building she said that she'd never been told about you or the Eagles in all the stories her parents told her about Akiba in preparation for her falling out of the Gate of Time. Do you know why?"

Michael was silent for a while. "I know some of it was because of what we went through on the ship on the way over here, which was more abuse by the two of them. And...I'm not healed up enough yet to know it, honestly. I've been given back all my emotions and I'm barely hanging on as it is. To have that one thing added back in is going to take me another recovery set - and in the opposite direction," he was bitter. "I suspect that the reason is at base because Izanagi is so damn jealous. I got the worst shit jobs from him while there. The only bonus was that when he needed her retrieved out of the traps the deities kept setting for her, he'd send me, making me hold to my promise to protect her. Likely he didn't want it told."

He paused again, then said, "We're completely Izanami's now - all of us. She forced a full clergy appointment on the whole squadron. We went another special's round to get schooled on just who owns us. Purrcy said it was to protect us from Izanagi because we kept leaving gaping holes that he was going to exploit. She's at least as jealous as he is, not wanting to let any one of us go. We'll get the quests done because she wants them, too, but we're all as dead as Purrcy is now. If Izanagi's trying to make others forget who we are, then I don't know, Shiroe."

There was another pause, then quietly, "You won't be seeing us anymore anyway, not on that side of the globe, so it doesn't matter what a Person of the Land knows or doesn't know. Just - God. A punch like that to the gut is hard to take right now. ...I'll look for the data from Tetorō. Good luck to you and MarketMaker, and we'll watch for Leonardo."

"Okay, Michael. I'm sorry to have brought it up for you."

"No, neither of us knew." Michael closed the chat.

Shiroe let his hands drop to the arms of his chair. Akatsuki looked at him, worried. He couldn't look at her. Her hand came gently on his head, brushing back from his forehead. "What is it?" she asked quietly.

"He was made to forget, too. Until I asked the question, he didn't remember that he'd been with them in the Gate of Time. At least with the children. He remembered only that Nyanta gave him the worst jobs possible and sent him to rescue Purrcy from the city council when they got dangerous. Whatever was tied into the lost memories has hit him very hard and he's hurting again." He raised his eyes to hers slowly, very unhappy that he'd been the cause of bringing them back to Michael.

Akatsuki bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry," she said humbly.

Shiroe looked at her, then gave a forgiving nod, holding out a hand for her. He held her until he could move forward again. He gave the summary of the conversation to everyone at that night's meeting, and the orders to Tetorō, but he left out the part from the Gate of Time.

-:-:-:-:-

By the time Michael closed the connection with Shiroe and returned his focus to their present location he had at least two standing with him. Hands landed on his shoulders. "Hang on, Michael," Gareth's soft tenor voice encouraged. The other hand didn't say words, but the grip tightened until he looked up. It was sort of hard to see the words through his tears, but Brenner also encouraged him.

In misery, Michael asked, "I can understand why Nyanta and Izanagi would want me to not remember or participate in their family life...but why would Izanagi want me to fall in love with Purrcy at a time I couldn't, then drop me so far?"

"What did he do?" Gareth asked, already angry.

"He made me forget that I'd known that MeowLi was his daughter. I was so angry at Nyanta that he had a concubine in the Gate of Time, that somehow those emotions I couldn't feel decided that I could really want Purrcy. Shiroe told me that they're taking care of MeowLi now and that she's their daughter. Izanagi's only told me that it was never possible to love or have Purrcy from the beginning. I already knew that, but why now? Why? I'm trying so hard to hold on to Maryann."

"Is it your final punishment, to put you in your proper place?" Gareth wondered.

Michael could barely consider it, just that much making the tears stream forth. The gulf between him and Purrcy had widened so far that he had almost nothing to hold on to any more. His hope of going home and of having an ally on that path was nearly completely severed by the knowing. He shivered. In a whisper, he begged, "Put me to sleep. Maybe..." He couldn't finish it, but Brenner nodded. A few seconds later Michael toppled over. Gareth put a blanket over him and they moved away, but stayed close enough to guard him from himself if it became necessary.

-:-:-:-:-

Reed hadn't liked that interchange at all. He faced Gareth and Brenner. "What is going on, that he's down again?"

"Izanagi's taken his last hope and stolen it away. He's this shy of being more than dead. We've put him to sleep, since that sometimes helps calm the emotions down." Gareth ran his hand through his hair and breathed out a long breath. "So, you know that it's always tied to Purrcy, but it's more than just a love affair with a strong woman who reminds him of his mother." The rest of the Eagles flocked around to hear, looking like the blackbirds they'd been nicknamed.

Quietly Gareth explained. "She's his link back home. He's been holding on to her as his own hope that fighting to get back home is worth it, that it's even possible. We all hang on to him, and he hangs on to her. Probably she hangs on to Shiroe, honestly, or she doesn't need it since she doesn't want to go home from the beginning. Whatever, Izanagi just cut the line even more in that little conversation, showed Mike that Purrcy is so far away, and so much under its control, that he doesn't have an ally at all. That it's all a game by the AIs to make us dance to their tune and going home is a pipe dream. If Izanagi can make Mike fall, we'll all fall, too...eventually. If that happens, no one goes home."

Gareth took another deep breath. "My hope in going home isn't based that tightly on her, but she's still essential to Mike because Izanagi made sure to bind him that tightly to her, playing with him and his emotions. It's not that Maryann isn't an anchor. He's been trying hard and doing his best there. It's that Purrcy's his guiding light through the darkness of this place...his lighthouse as it were."

Brenner wrote, " _What did you mean by Izanagi was finally putting him in his place, then?_ "

Gareth looked at him, compassion for Michael on his face. "Izanagi was finally making it very obvious to him that he's here to stay under the thumb of the AIs, regardless of what he wants. Izanagi wants Michael broken and completely obedient, even if it's to Izanami and not him."

"He's already completely obedient," Reed was very angry.

"He wasn't broken," Gareth answered back quietly. "At least, he wouldn't stay broken. This might have done it. Even he wants it to not be so when he wakes back up, but he couldn't promise it." The angry listeners stood or sat and smoldered for a while until MasterChiefS7 got them moving on inspecting the third level of the Maze to occupy them until Michael recovered enough to wake back up.


	182. I'm Not Dead

Michael opened his eyes and blinked. He was in the code realm in an odd landscape. He looked around numbly, not able to bring himself to think of much at all. After a bit of just sitting and absorbing the view around him that was reminiscent of trees and the general landscape of an outside zone, he heard purring and the sound of a smallish creature walking nearby. He scanned that way, not moving fast since that would scare off a wild creature, and he wasn't sure he cared something was there anyway.

He couldn't see anything, but there was an obstacle in the way between him and whatever was making the sounds. Eventually, the snuffling, purring, and movement drew away from him. With an almost-sigh, he shrank to become like a will-o-the-wisp and floated through and around the "branches" of the "shrub" until he'd passed through it to see what had been there. Beyond the shrub was an open clearing. He could just make out the tips of ears and a tail waving behind it as whatever it was walked through the tall "grass" of the zone. His heart clenched slightly, but it didn't break through his numbness very much, particularly when that same tail flicked as if to beacon him forward.

As the wisp, he floated after it, though not overly strenuously. On occasion he had to flip over to one side or the other, or up or down to escape traps and bugs along the way. It wasn't overly hard, though, given all his training in this realm. Then he was overshadowed by something quite large and he looked back and up. With a gulp, he quickly hunted for a hiding place and zipped into it. In equivalency, it would have been a grass-stem cave. He carefully watched to see that he wasn't stepped on, or spotted and being hunted. It was a large enough creature that it might not have spotted him, but wisdom in this place was to hide first, find out later.

When the watch hound had passed on by, he turned to keep his eyes on it a little longer, then sank to the ground with a sigh and looked around, tired and not finding the will to continue on any longer anyway. A little spark in the back of his "cave" caught his eye and he cautiously moved towards it, then picked it up to inspect it. "When did you first know you wanted to be military, and why?" a little voice asked him from the small ruby he'd found, small enough to be a pixie's tear.

Michael sat and considered the answer to that question. Quietly he whispered the answer back. "Pop was Air Force. Dad died serving overseas, and Mom was a fierce believer in what they'd both done. Her pride in them leaked over into me. I wanted to serve even before Dad died, though I'd miss him a lot when he was on duty. After he was brought back and we had the military funeral, I remember looking at the flag draped across his casket and thinking how hard it was to have him gone, but how proud I was of him for going honorably. I think it was at that time I decided I'd finish what he'd started."

Michael paused, resting a bit in that memory. He continued after a bit, "I wanted to stay true to flight like they had, it being the family tradition and I liked the thought of flying. But we'd always lived on the west coast in one city or another and I'd come to love the ocean, too. As I got older, and did my research, I decided I could do both if I became a Navy airman. I was a bit scared to tell Pop and Mom that I was going to go Navy instead of Air Force, but they both listened to what I had to say and were very supportive of my choice."

The little ruby he was holding turned into a similarly sized strawberry. He ate it and found it sweet and flavorful. When he'd sat there a bit, he decided that it had increased his HP a little because he felt like he might be able to move forward again. Just as he was about to leave his little cave, he heard the swishing of something moving through the grass. He paused to look out carefully. Overhead an eared and then tailed creature moved on by - not a hound. A purr was left in its wake. He cautiously lifted up and floated after it, though he couldn't quite catch sight of what it was exactly since he didn't want to leave the cover of the "grass".

There was a bit of a screech overhead after a while that startled him into freezing. He cast about looking for what had made the sound, then dropped suddenly as large wings went flying past, making the grass wave wildly. He tumbled in the after-draft, until he hit something a little more solid and slid down towards the ground. When he had his bearings again, he could see he'd hit the equivalent of a tree stump. Not too far from where he'd landed on the top of a root, he could see a hollow.

When the wings of the crow started to blow wind on him as it came in for a landing on top of the stump, he switched over to the equivalent of a centipede, holding on to the root tightly with his pointy legs. He moved very fast into the hollow and switched back into a wisp once he was inside, not wanting to be the insect meal for the bird. It still hunted for him for a while, so he held still in the back of the hollow until it gave up and lifted back into the air with great flaps of its wings.

Michael slumped to the floor of the hollow and just lay there for a bit. A green sparkle caught his eye and he rolled over to it and dug it out of the ground. The tiny emerald spark shone in his hand. "What was your worst day in basic training and what got you through it?" the tiny voice asked him.

Michael sighed. "That is not a day to remember. I got through it because I knew my Dad had gotten through it too, and so had Pop. If they could do it, I could too, no matter how much it hurt, or how much I hated it. What was on the other side was worth it, and I knew it because I had their examples and their stories to prove it."

The green spark turned into a smooth green apple, still as tiny as food for a wisp like him. He ate it and felt better. He fell asleep again for a while, and was slightly surprised when he woke back up in that same place. This time, he wasn't quite so numb, as his brain was going through the reasons why he might be in this place and what might be going on. He let it stay at the level of suspicion for now, though. Playing along with this game was better than the alternative of waking up and having to face reality - a thing he shied away from still.

This time, when he left the hollow in the stump, he went as a bumble bee. He had fun flying as he had watched the bumble bees flying in his grandfather's flower garden - a hobby to keep the old man's hands busy because his legs couldn't get him around much. Michael buzzed up, then forward, then barrel rolled right, and did a couple of loops. He rather enjoyed being able to fly like he did in his angel when it was just him playing.

That was all well and good until he found himself stuck upside down against a spider web. He beat his wings in a fierce buzz, and one of the strands of the web snapped, but he wasn't able to get quite loose. The web (and therefore he) bounced in a more rhythmic and larger sine wave. He swallowed and tried to get unstuck enough he could see where the spider was coming from. It was two of the front legs finally coming into view over his head that finally let him know where it was. His explosive cantrip went off right in the face of the spider. The web where he was being held shredded and he fell, tumbling head over rear towards the ground.

When he was mostly heads up, he transformed into a thistle-down. He swayed precariously, but the tumble halted and he was able to float down onto a cupped leaf that was hidden by other leaves. He rested and recovered there a bit, finally changing again to sit up, this time as a very tiny version of himself, not any bigger than the thistle-down had been. He put his arms around his knees and rested his chin on them. After he'd sat there for a bit, out of the corner of his eye there was a blue sparkle. His lips lifted slightly. He'd been testing to see if one would show up.

He reached out and picked up the sapphire, no bigger than the others had been. "What was the day you were sworn in like? How did you feel?" He held the sapphire in his fist for a while before answering that one. It took a bit of swallowing around the lump in his throat and around his heart before he could answer it. In the end, he couldn't voice it, but a tear dripped from his eye as that lump forced it's way out somehow. He just sat there, in the memory of that day and that moment, the pride of his mother and his grandfather almost not equal to his own, but all three somehow telling him he'd reached a level of maturity most people didn't ever reach.

When he was ready, he opened his fist. In it was not the sapphire, but a spherical dewdrop. When he put it in his mouth, his thirst was immediately quenched and he felt like his insides were being washed clean. The lump that had still been somewhat inside was smoothed away and he felt steady and calmer. He took a deep breath and let it out. A warm purring, that only lasted a second, surrounded him, then was gone again. He looked around, but didn't see anything. Wanting to know if the ears and tail he'd been following were still around, he lifted up off the leaf and cautiously peered out to see if the bird - or anything else - was around.

Not wanting to be caught by a spider web again, Michael went as a small bird this time, about the size of a wren - small enough to hide, large enough to eat a spider if he came across one. He flitted from one place to another, sometimes landing on a more firm blade of grass to rest a bit and get his bearings. He looked around the field for the ears and tail he'd been following but couldn't see them. Finally he rose high enough in the air to see if he could see traces of the passing of the creature.

That he did see. Tracking, he found himself at some sort of boundary. The tracks obviously continued onward, but he couldn't get out. Resting a bit on a nearby shrub branch, he scowled at the invisible wall. Finally, with a puff of frustrated air, he used his intent even though that meant working more than he felt ready to. He _wanted_ to follow the path and it went out, so obviously he should be able to go out after it. This time, when he flew along the path, he did pass through and into the next area. He froze. This really _was_ the code realm. Whatever he'd been in before wasn't quite. _This_ was. That made it dangerous.

He floated to the surface, making sure it was safe, too, and seriously considered his options. He knew how to survive in this realm, he just wasn't sure why he was here. He hadn't come of his own preference - he just kept waking up here. It was obviously a game of some sort - at least it had been. He wasn't sure about from here on out. He was pretty sure that the ears and tail (and thus game) belonged to Purrcy. He wasn't sure he wanted to face her, though if he got to track her and then let his anger out on her that might be worth something - assuming he could work up to angry.

Blowing out a frustrated breath this time, he went to full-size-invisible and looked around. He blinked to see what looked like a crumbling ruin of a Greek temple nearby. There wasn't anything around to show up as an immediate enemy, so he walked over to it. He walked around, searching the ruin. Back in the recesses of it, he found a sword in a stone. He sighed, staring at it moodily. He wasn't interested in becoming Arthur in the game. Creating the Round Table wasn't on his list of things to do. Besides, he didn't want other people around right now - not that he'd seen anyone. He looked around again, but there weren't any other clues to point him where to go next.

He reached out and grasped the hilt of the sword. He froze. On the back of his hand was an increasing yellow light in the shape of a triangle, divided into four triangles. One of the lower corner triangles in the triangle was a solid yellow, where the rest was outlined. The sword slightly glowed blue, then both lights faded and he was released to pull on the sword. He pulled it out, then gave a sigh as that finally clicked for him. "Really? _Zelda_ , and I'm Link? I never played those, you know. They weren't my thing." The wind blew past him lightly and it might have held a purry chuckle.

Michael cast a search spell on the internet database and watched in fast forward most of the _Zelda_ playthroughs. When it was obvious that a set pattern had been followed for the majority of them, and he'd already accomplished the first (shorter) series, he sighed and slumped to the ground next to a crumbling pillar to rest a bit against it, holding the sword across his lap. He already had the triforce piece. That meant the goal was to increase the strength of the sword, and it was likely going to take at least six more stops to get there. There was one piece missing, however, and he'd really like to have it if he was going to get through this at a reasonable rate.

"So, don't I get my fairy?" he asked. For most of the adventures, Link had a traveling companion who gave him clues and sometimes answered questions. He wondered if that was the cat, or if the cat was the Princess Zelda showing up in tantalizing bits and pieces, but never to be really seen or caught up to until the end.

He apparently wasn't going to get one, since one didn't show up in the time he waited. He finally got back to his feet and looked around, hunting. The other things that were prevalent in the games were treasure chests and pots, often tucked away in odd locations. That hunt he was rewarded for. One treasure chest he opened made a map appear on his status screen, and it marked the locations he needed to get to - in true _Zelda_ fashion as hazy areas except the place he'd just come from and where he was. He slumped slightly at that. Really, this was going to take too long.

The second treasure chest he found around the ruin contained a compass. It disappeared, but his map opened again and the next hazy area over was revealed and a dot appeared on it. He also got a compass on his general status screen that pointed to that dot. That was better, slightly.

The first enemy he fought dropped a bow and another distance along the path gave him three pots each with arrows in them. That was faster than normal, since the bow wasn't supposed to come for at least one, if not two, temples. Of course, when he saw that the enemy that was protecting his goal was a dragon, the bow made sense. He'd gotten to practice against flying watch crows, so it wasn't too long before his patience bore out and he was able to get rid of the dragon.

He picked up the golden disk dropped by the dragon. The same little voice he'd heard before asked him a new question. He wondered if that was the companion-equivalent, since often the assistance was few and far between and only related to specific moments in the games. He was glad this location was in a protected bower with a place to sit and rest. This time the question was: "When did you meet your wife and what was the moment that you decided you were going to ask her to become your wife?"

He had to work his way through the present pain a bit - shoving it aside as best he could - before he could drag those memories back. He wasn't opposed to it, though. He knew he needed to reinforce that anchor as best he could. This time, like the last but as an actual experiment, he didn't answer out loud. He just closed his eyes and remembered the time he met Maryann, then some of the more fun dates they'd had, and then the night he'd realized he was serious about her and he'd done some heavy thinking about if she was the right one or not. She'd cried when he'd asked her to marry him...just a little. She hadn't been sure he was as serious as she'd gotten. He'd been nervous she wasn't serious and would reject him flippantly. She hadn't, instead being relieved that he was willing. That had helped him settle.

She wanted time to put together the wedding, so they'd set the date for the next time he got shore leave. He'd talked to her as often as he could while out on duty to answer her questions on what he wanted, but she'd had to carry the burden for the most part, like she'd had to ever since. He always took up what he could when he was home - cooking, cleaning, eventually playing with David, going to school meetings, never forgetting dates with her, whatever it took. She'd known before they got married he was career, but he'd still been as careful as he could to keep the love going, knowing how hard it was from seeing examples all around him of career men losing wives and families (and keeping them).

He also talked to his grandfather and his mom, plus a lot of upper level career military men, about how they'd kept it together. He was as committed to his marriage vows as he was to his military oath, and both took work to keep going forward on. He was grateful that his wife and his son loved him and welcomed him home with open arms every time. Really, he was going to move from flight to desk duty when he got back. It was time to give his family more of his time before David got any older.

A glow of light through his eyelids made him open his eyes. The golden disk he was holding was glowing, and so was the sword he'd picked up - out of his list without his say-so and floating in the air in front of him. When the glow faded, he had on a golden bracer and the fading glow of the sword was a shade brighter than it had been the first time. That was good. And it was equally good he didn't have to vocalize all the memories. That was harder. Plus, now he _knew_ exactly what Purrcy was playing at. The sword disappeared, back into his list when he checked. He got to his feet and hunted around until he found the expected treasure chest. The compass in it made the next clouded part of the map roll back and he headed for the location he need to be at next.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael opened his eyes. He just lay there breathing for a moment. "Gareth," he called. Feet arrived in three steps followed by a hand on Michael's shoulder. "Sit down." Gareth sat. Michael shifted to put his head in Gareth's lap. Gareth sighed a little sadly, a little in irritation, but let him stay and left his hand on Michael's shoulder. Michael closed his eyes again and just let the companionship calm him until he could take the next step forward.

It sounded like everyone was busy doing good things. That was good, that Reed and Master Chief were keeping things going while he was down. When he could face the next step, he said, "Reed." He felt Gareth move to motion Reed over. Two people came. One to stand at Michael's back and the other in front of him to crouch down to face him. Reed's look was one of testing concern. Michael just let him read what he was going to read. He wanted to hear Reed say anything, though, but he didn't know what exactly, so he finally said, "Report."

"We've done the day's exploratory and have been working up the battle plans. Ops was excused for that part to work out another sticky detail on Operation Play Nice. The Commander went down an hour and a half ago and we're still waiting to see if he's out for the count or is going to come back." The look was just a bit scolding. Not like Michael had expected the ordinance from left field - but then, they never did expect the one that hit hardest.

Michael let his eyes close with a bit of a sigh. When he had the capacity, he said, "I'm still bruised, battered, and likely bloody, but I've been in triage being patched up." His eyes opened in time to see Reed looking at Gareth and Gareth shaking his head. The person at Michael's back finally crouched down and added his hand to Gareth's, resting it on Michael's arm. Michael turned his head enough to see from the corner of his eye it was Brenner. With every one of his healers present it wasn't worth keeping secret.

"I got to play a personal _Zelda_ game, written by the assistant just for me," he told them. "She stayed out of it, just the hidden glimpses here and there to get me up and moving forward when moving was hardest. Every boss defeated gave a prize drop of another memory to build me back up. Kind of a mini rebuilding - like she did for Crusty, only just for the things I needed. I'm still not ready to be up and walking, but I'm not dead." They all slumped in relief at that much. "Give me about another hour or so and I can probably be ready to head in for the next round."

Reed shook his head and the other two were in agreement. "We'll wait until you really are ready," Reed said. "We don't need a false start that leads to you really breaking. You know what the third level of this place is like. It would be better for you to be a numb killing machine than what you are now, though we'll take the Commander as our preference. We're not in a hurry."

"As long as they don't shift into slacking off mode before I get there," Michael scolded lightly.

Reed clicked his tongue at Michael. "Master Chief's got it." Michael gave a tired nod of his head and let his eyes close again.

An hour of healing napping to get fully up in HP and MP and Michael was opening his eyes again. He was sure he wouldn't mind the full four hours, but awake was awake. Gareth had left him with the ground for a pillow again, but he wasn't far away. He watched as Michael pushed up and turned to lean against the closest rock. Michael sat with his legs stretched out in front of him and rested his hands loosely clasped in front of him. It was a bit like trying to sit up when lightheaded. He closed his eyes against the spin and just breathed for a bit, relaxing against the cool stone.

When he felt better grounded, he opened his eyes and pulled up his status screen. All things looked green on his main screen. He did have a status effect related to his current lack of physical strength, but it wasn't the screaming red it probably had been when he'd been knocked for the death dive. He scrolled through the screens, making sure the rest of everything was okay. He flipped one more time to return to the main screen and it wasn't the main screen.

Michael stared at the screen staring at him, then snorted a soft laugh. He reached up and touched the items on the screen. He hadn't had to do that for a long time, but he didn't know what this screen did yet. When he touched the red gem, the memory of why he'd decided to become a career military man replayed for him. He watched it with some interest. When he touched the green gem, the memory related to it played out. He soaked it in. The blue gem gave him the same response. When he came up for air from that memory, he took in a deep breath and just scanned the rest of what was on his screen.

He passed his finger over the rest, remembering what memories were contained in each medallion, but not touching them to replay them just then. He let his hand fall as he stared at the last three slots. Medallions in their solid colors of the rainbow were in their places, but he couldn't remember what memories were attached to them, nor even how he'd gotten them. He was pretty sure they wouldn't replay, either, but he could feel what strength they'd left behind. He stared at them for a long time.

Eventually he drew in a deeper breath and looked at the rest of the screen. It showed he still had most of the rewards he'd been given, too: the golden bracer of strength, the bow with its arrows, and similar such things, and on the side, a meter next to a depiction of a sword. It wasn't quite full up. He looked at that and then at the final few medallions again. It should technically be one hundred percent if they were all in place. It had to be that until he was allowed to remember what those memories were the Master Sword would stay at that level.

He reached his hand out and pulled for the Master Sword. It appeared in his hand as the status screen disappeared. He held it, inspecting it. The service blade was well constructed and the hilt just ornate enough to be considered well formed and maybe even fancy, but it wasn't play at all. He swung it a few times. It was well balanced and heavy enough to cause damage. Even at this level it would be a sweet weapon.

As he returned to inspecting it, he realized he had an audience and his eyes moved outward from the sword. A few eyes were hungry, looking at the sword. Most wanted to know where he'd gotten a new toy from. He looked back into the eyes of the hungry. One of them said, "Where'd you get it - the Master Sword? It's cross platform."

"And I've only just played it for the first time this afternoon," he agreed.

"Fitting, though," another one who knew what it was commented. "Link's got to be one of the worst put-upon and abused heroes there is, for kids games."

Michael placed the blade across his lap. "Playing that dungeon is how Purrcy made me pull myself back up by my bootstraps. I was Link, I'm pretty sure she was Zelda since I saw her about none, but I don't remember the end or who Ganon was. I've got a new status screen with the data results from the game, so it's a permanent."

"How's that helpful?" he was asked, though not in derision. They just wanted to know.

Michael put away the sword and pulled out the rest and let them read the statuses. "Not bad on the equipment, though you never looked good in green."

Michael chuckled slightly with the rest of them and put it away again. "I suppose the better part is that the status screen will help me stay standing if I get slammed again," he told them. "It's something I can hold on to when my very limited human brain loses track of where I came from and where I was going."

" _That_ _will be very useful_ ," Brenner wrote. Michael gave a nod, sitting forward a bit to lean on his arms a little instead of the rock that was getting too hard. Brenner frowned then. " _But...if Izanagi wanted you broken, why would he have allowed Purrcy to heal you and give you a permanent crutch?_ "

Michael shook his head and thought of those last three medallions. "I think...it's not so cut and dried. I learned something then that I'm not allowed to remember just yet."

"Something to break you again?" Gareth asked, bitter.

Michael slowly shook his head. "Nooo, everything is a strengthening memory. More like...when I need them again so I don't break, I'll regain them to keep me moving forward whenever that time comes along." He shrugged and sighed. "I'm honestly just glad to be up at all at this point." The men around him relaxed some, in agreement with that sentiment. It was still an exciting new add-on to the ones who'd played _Zelda_. The games were written to be challenging but so that Link didn't fail in the end, even if all seemed lost.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles took the third level of the Maze of Eternity at a more leisurely pace, pausing for rest breaks when they felt like it - at about the quarter points through the dungeon level and before the final boss battle. They weren't surprised when the boss was a band of banditos. The Overwritten that weren't part of the standard Maze of Eternity dungeon had been tending towards southwestern American themes. It made them all the easier to fight, since they had lots of experience in fighting that kind of enemy on the screen, if not in person until now. Given the volume of enemies (high as normal) it took a while to get them taken down. They set aside two at all times to be the retreat-and-hold pair when things got tight. By then, Brenner wasn't having much problem fighting with them, having so much opportunity for experimentation and practice. They just had to keep their ears open for his coded sounds.

When the final sombrero floated to the ground, the Eagles stayed on watch, waiting for the required Vengeful Spirit to arrive, including a spell going off early this time to show them where it was, and to be able to talk to it. As soon as it appeared, it was also immediately boxed in so it couldn't attack anyone. The Vengeful Spirit looked around, then raged for about thirty seconds. They were pleased they'd thought to add in fail-safes in the imprisoning box so that the spells the Vengeful Spirit cast didn't kill it or make it disappear before they could get the next door open.

"We'd really rather talk to you than fight with you," Michael said calmly at an opportune quiet time in the tirade. "We're not from around here, and we're trying to figure out what happened to take out the entire west coast of the country."

The Vengeful Spirit spun slowly in the space it was blocked into, looking at the entire group, taking their measure. "Did you Summon me?"

Michael answered, "Not specifically. This particular dungeon picked you to play a small role in it. You could just do that one short thing, but we were hoping you'd stick around and tell us what happened."

The Vengeful Spirit stopped in its spin, staring at Michael. "I wanted you to win, and you stepped out. Why should I listen to someone who was a quitter?"

Michael and the Eagles all blinked synchronously. "The Commander doesn't quit!" one protested angrily.

Michael immediately raised a hand. "The only time I ever stepped back from completing a goal was the one Crown Tournament I fought in. However, I didn't quit. I did step out. I was due back on my ship four weeks later. I played in that tournament because I knew it would be the only one I'd play in for a very long time. If you were pulling for me, then I appreciate it. I'm sorry to not live up to your expectations and hopes."

"You didn't have to fall to that opponent. You had the capacity to go all the way to the top."

Michael bowed slightly, a hand to his chest, accepting the praise. "Yes, but I knew that the rest of the field at the end of that round were all well qualified. To have made him fall when he had the possibility of going on himself wouldn't have been kind. For me to have gone any further in the tournament would have potentially taken out the one who would have been king in the end, and to have gone to the final round would have been a false pretense when I couldn't really meet the requirements of time. I had a good time and that was enough for that round."

"I still think you would have made a good king."

"Thank you. If I could, I'd try again, particularly now that I've had nearly three years of real experience."

That made the Vengeful Spirit laugh. "Yeah, no one could touch you now…except you're a Monk." The Vengeful Spirit had switched immediately to accusatory.

Michael grinned his pirate's grin. "So you think."

That made the Vengeful Spirit stop and think. After a bit it said, "What ship did you have to be out on?"

"Navy," Michael answered.

The Vengeful Spirit nodded. "If...I promise to make you king of the Western Region, will you fix all the problems and make everyone play right?"

Michael blinked. "No, but it's an answer with qualifications. We've been given the quest to do just that as well as several other world quests, in particular over here in this hemisphere. Like I couldn't give my time to the Western Kingdom on Earth, I can't devote my time to just one region. Once we've got the Western Region up and running again, we need to move on."

The Vengeful Spirit was quiet for a long time, thinking. Slowly it asked, "You have to go to all the hemisphere already?"

"Well, we've got a friend coming to help. He's going to start in Canada, and we were hoping to get help for South America, too. With it being just us that's rather a lot of territory to visit," Michael answered.

The Vengeful Spirit looked around at the guild. "I'm surprised you've made it to those kinds of levels."

"Lots of practice working the quests and dungeons like this one," Reed said dryly. "How do you know HackerM1 plays the other game?"

The Vengeful Spirit studied Reed for a bit, then said, "Oh. You were the squire made a Master during the last war before the catastrophe. You disappeared pretty fast after that. Why?"

"I only had leave for the weekend and had to get back to my duty," Reed answered.

"Is anyone else part of Master Michael's household?" the Vengeful Spirit looked around.

Training raised his hand and got the same sort of studious reflection. "Except that we're all technically his household here, since we're guilded and we came here in the beginning as the squadron he's Commander over."

"Wait, you're military...all of you?" The Eagles nodded. "Hot damn," the Vengeful Spirit whispered in a victorious voice. "No way can you fail, then. Not when you've got me."

There were a few face palms and not a few raised eyebrows at that. "No, really," Michael said, "we really do need to know who you are."

The Vengeful Spirit chuckled an almost maniacal mad-man's chuckle, "Military history buff, political scientist extraordinaire, and Western Kingdom Assistant Seneschal."

"Oh, God," Training whispered, going a tad bit pale. Reed swallowed but didn't let his opinion out onto his face, and Michael sighed.

"Well, I guess that would put you at someone who would be full of ideas. But before we get there, we have to get you and all the rest of the Adventurers back. We'll work on that and get back to you, shall we?"

The Vengeful Spirit rubbed its hands together. "Sounds good to me."

"What would you like for the present? Anything?" Reed asked.

"Sure. A promise you'll do your best to take over all of the Western Hemisphere and clean things up."

Michael sighed. "We don't really need to take over anything, but we are hoping to help everyone clean up themselves as best they can. You're welcome to come up with scenarios and plans all you want for that. Is there anything a little more simplistic and immediate you'd like?"

"I'd love a photo of the three of you in your garb," the Vengeful Spirit said hopefully. The three slumped a little, but obediently put on the master and squire outfits they'd worn for the courts and weddings. P/R got them centered in a photo shot, took the picture, made a physical print of it, and handed it to the Vengeful Spirit. "Thanks!" it said quite happily and disappeared.

The three men went back to their usual clothing and slumped to the ground. The rest gathered around. "Okay. What's that all about?"

"He's so much a fanboy and military buff it isn't funny," Training moaned. "And it isn't really Mike. It's _any_ one who played that game that was also real military. As he said, he's a military history buff - from every era imaginable. He probably spent more time at the library, and then in front of the computer learning everything he could than he did working real jobs. They made him be the Assistant Seneschal because he was a bit too intense for normal people to interact with, or he would have been the Seneschal - for life. He had stints in as the Kingdom Marshal, too, but that got him on the bad side of a few too many people who didn't want everything to be as historically correct as he did."

"Would his ideas be useful?" Schedules asked.

"Oh, yes," Training nodded. "He really does know his stuff and all the battles and what works and doesn't."

Michael sat up straight, his eyes wide. He looked around to P/R. "Do we have a list of names of regional Master Strategists, or just one of Caretakers?"

"Just one of Caretakers," P/R answered.

Reed was shaking his head at Michael, wishing the thought they were sharing away. Michael looked around the room, then up. He motioned and watched empty space, following something dropping down from above them. The High Priestess appeared a few steps above the ground and stepped down to the ground. "Yes, Michael?"

"Was that on purpose, to let us know who the Master Strategist is?"

"Yes."

Michael slumped onto his hand, his elbow on his leg. "Thank you, I guess. Are you the one who let him know who we were, too?"

"No. That's one of his own gifts. He's rather paranoid."

Reed closed his eyes in resignation. "That's not new either," Training complained.

"So…he's going to try to make you king or emperor regardless?" Records asked.

"Probably, but you lot know how to handle that, I would think," Michael answered. "You should know that he was the level of Kingdom leadership because he isn't wrong about his skills as far as being able to manipulate people. He was just too much of a stick in the mud when it came to wanting things absolutely historically correct. We allow the newest members to fudge a bit so they can have fun while they learn. He stepped on toes in that regard. It was one of the ways he wasn't able to bend. You'll play the game with him, and he'll be playing his own. It will be a toss-up as to which side wins out in the end." Michael scowled up at the High Priestess, "Keep your nose out of it. I don't want it and you already know that. I'll head as much as I have to, but I'm not king nor emperor."

The High Priestess shrugged. "It will at least be an interesting secondary play to watch. Why would I interfere in that?" She turned with a flick of her tail and added over her shoulder, "Surely I'll be ever so relieved to watch you be irritated with someone other than me." She disappeared.

The group as a whole sighed, then got to work settling in for their rest break, glad that at least the next door was visible…at least they thought they might be glad. It was the last opening to the final level that would seal their darkly fated future. They were pretty sure Izanami wasn't at all interested in making it simple to go home. They were going to have to fight as hard as Shiroe every step of the way.

-:-:-:-:-

Meiki and MeowLi were ushered into the main room of their family suite by their nursemaids, washed and brushed to a soft shine. "Pretty!" Purrcy said kindly. MeowLi blushed slightly, but Meiki tossed her head proudly and the red floral headdress' dangles swayed. Their kimonos were red with pink and white after the fashion of Japan rather than that of the temple, which the boys were wearing. Because they were boys, they were also in red, though of a more somber print. Normally the girls would be in black, so it was a treat for them to be in color today. The boys had gotten a bit impatient waiting on their sisters and had been playing by the couch, but they settled down now that it looked like the family might be ready to get Children's Day moving forward.

"It is an auspicious day, the third birthday of girls, meow," Nyanta smiled at the girls as he gave them gentle hugs. "Because it is a full day as always, we will go to the shrine as a family first."

MeowLi looked up at her dad with a confused look. "What is a shrine?"

Purrcy gave a light chuckle. "Here in this place, the whole of the temple is the shrine. Chichiue has picked a place he feels is most appropriate."

Nyanta flicked an ear. "A shrine is where People of the Land and some Adventurers go to worship Inari, if they should choose to worship that one, or another kami they desire to earn favor from."

That explanation satisfied MeowLi. Nyanta took the girls by the hands and Purrcy called the boys over and took their hands. "We'll go so we can learn the traditions of Chichiue. In America, we don't worship in the same way, so I haven't seen it either." The boys each took the free hand of a girl and they disappeared from their family room.

The garden was quiet. Purrcy and the children blinked. In a part of the garden that was a bit secluded from the rest of the temple areas Nyanta had actually built a small Japanese shrine. It was open to the air, with low walls around three sides, a taller wall at the back, and with narrow pillars holding up the roof over it. A thick red rope hung outside the closer half-wall from the overhanging roof. In the back on the tall wall was a stylized chair in the middle directly in front of the small entrance to the shrine. In front of the little shrine was a fountain of bubbling water.

Nyanta showed the children how to wash their hands using the ladle resting on the fountain, Purrcy helping pour the water over his hands. Then he showed them how to rinse out their mouths, explaining why each was done. Purrcy helped each of the children copy him, then performed the same for herself. Nyanta led the girls up to the entrance of the shrine. He let go of MeowLi's hand and pulled on the thick red rope. Bells jangled. "We ring the bells to gain the attention of the kami," he explained, then motioned that MeowLi should pull on it. As she did, he stood back to let Meiki get to the rope as well. When she had also pulled on the rope, Nyanta led them into the shrine to stand at a respectful distance from the seat inside the shrine.

He put his hands together. "Now we clap to confirm the kami is listening, and show the kami respect by bowing." He clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. The girls dutifully imitated him, looking at him from the corners of their eyes to make sure they'd done it right. He nodded kindly at them. "Now we purray to the kami that we will receive blessings for this meowr third year, and for meowr life to come. Mew can say some things out loud if mew wish, or mew can hold them in meowr heart and say them in meowr mind if they are extra special."

He paused, then said, "Inari, please bless these my daughters in this their third year of life, that they will grow strong, wise, and stay as beautiful as they already are. Purrotect them from evil, and help them to know they are loved by their father, mother, and brothers." He closed his mouth, but stayed in a respectful pose a bit longer, then he bowed and clapped one more time. "We respect the kami one final time, in gratitude for its willingness to hear our petition," he explained, then looked expectantly at MeowLi, who as oldest daughter would go first.

Her ear and tail twitched a bit nervously, but she took a deep breath and stood up straight. She clapped twice, bowed carefully, and carefully clapped a final time, glancing at Nyanta who gave an encouraging nod to let her know she'd remembered correctly. MeowLi paused, taking another long breath, then said, "Inari, please bless me and Meiki, to grow up wise and courageous." She paused, then added, "Please always keep us a family and help us to be happy every day." The tip of her tail twitched slightly, then she bowed and clapped again.

Nyanta put his hand gently on her head and gave her a smile. He turned to Meiki and gave her an encouraging nod. Meiki straightened, took a breath, then immediately clapped twice, bowed a quick bow, and clapped again. Her ears turned as she thought about what she would say. "Inari, please bless me and MeowLi with strength and safety from harm and injury. ...Please bless our family and our friends." She paused slightly, then bowed a bob again and clapped one more time, then looked at her father. Nyanta put his hand softly on her head and smiled. He turned and took their hands again and they left the shrine.

Nyanta looked at Purrcy and the boys, whose hands she was holding as they watched and waited. "In Japan, only the girls come and purray at the shrine on the third birthday. The boys will come for their fifth birthday, but it will be the same." The boys gave nods of understanding. "Any of mew may come now that the shrine is built and purray if mew feel the desire or need," he said to them all. "We will walk back, so that mew know how to find it." He looked at Purrcy. "But, before that, will mew purray also for our daughters?"

Purrcy tipped her head, then looked at her children. "It is the privilege of parents to pray for their children, that blessings beyond what they can bestow can be sent to them. While I pray for all of you constantly in my heart, I've been remiss and not taught you how I worship. May I teach you today?" They gave curious nods. At an approving nod from Nyanta as well, Purrcy said, "In my religion, there is one God, and we call him God the Father for he created all things that exist in all the universes, thus is Father of them all. We live in a fallen state, having come from Him. To return to Him, he sent his Son - Jesus Christ - to Earth to show us the way back to Him. Because He exists in all things, we do not have to pray at only one place to him, but can pray anywhere or anytime, aloud or silently, the same as here."

Purrcy closed her eyes and bowed her head. "God, the Father and Creator of us all, thank you for these - Nyanta's and my children. Please watch over and bless our small family, and the larger family of those whom we love and who love us. In this their third year, please bless MeowLi and Meiki, that they will learn well, walk uprightly, and find joy and take delight in the small and simple things. Thank you for their happy smiles, cheerfulness, and the service they perform for others out of their tenderness. We love them very much, and also Miru and Setsubou. In the Name of Jesus Christ, amen." She lifted her head and looked at her children with a smile. "Then, if you agreed with what I said in the prayer, you might also say 'amen' aloud as a word of agreement to the prayer that was said aloud."

The children considered it, then said quietly, "Amen," Nyanta saying it with them.

Holding the hands of the children again, they walked back towards the temple proper. "Will we be having the usual day, Hahaue?" Nyanta asked Purrcy.

"Yes," she answered, "but today, there will be a new part of the Children's Park for everyone to see," she smiled down at her children, who looked up in interest. "I think you will enjoy it, particularly Meiki and Miru, though I would hope that MeowLi and Setsubou will also relax enough to explore it today. Exercise is good for everyone, and fun exercise is best of all." Whiskers went up on two and down on two children, but she only smiled. Nyanta's silent firm response of agreement was felt by the two that would rather hide and read books and they slumped slightly with soft sighs.

-:-:-:-:-

Another prayer to God was being said shortly after that. This time it was one that hadn't been said by Brenner, nor written in glowing words by him. Another of the Eagles had said it for him, one who was also devout enough to agree to do it. Brenner lifted a finger as he took the place in front of the squadron. " _On this, Easter Sunday, we remember the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We know now how resurrection feels. Our first one we were so very relieved to return to life again. There were too many horror stories that if we were to be dragged into an alternate game reality we would die and never make it home."_

 _"That wouldn't be any different than our expectations while on Earth, except for the extra-strong desire - in fiction and in reality - that we be able to return home from a strange and difficult place. With that same intensity, when we left the presence of our Father in Heaven to go to the strange and difficult place we call Earth, we desired to return home to heaven and to God. Here, we have the Cathedrals. In reality, we have Jesus Christ, who loosed the bands of death so that when we really die, we can return at the last day and live together with God again in joy and thanksgiving."_

Brenner paused, lowering his hand for a bit to rest it and to meditate briefly on that thought. He raised his hand again. " _Let us pray._ " He wrote out the Lord's Prayer while the Eagles who wanted to recited it aloud. " _Our Father in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, amen._ "*

Brenner paused again, then wrote again. This time he wrote the words he had quoted to Purrcy at Christmas from Isaiah, chapter 53. As he wrote, remembering his Savior, feelings stirred in him again. When his finger fell he paused, looking at the ground. It was an almost clear white. The spirits of the men in front of him were almost exactly that - smoky white spirits. It was as if he walked in a ghost land all the time now, all color washed away. He tried to shake off the feeling enough he could continue, taking a deep breath before raising his hand to write again.

He was glad the rest of his sermon based off that passage was memorized. He was able to make it through it somehow. When he was done the men sang the song he'd picked for that day and the pilot he'd asked to close the Easter service with prayer stood and prayed respectfully. As soon as he could get free, Brenner texted Gareth, " _I need to go and meditate. Can you take me to a safe and secluded place?_ "

One of the smoky figures came towards him and a firm hand took Brenner's. He was glad for that much each time he needed it. To only see ghostly figures made it difficult sometimes to remember that he lived in a physical world. To feel solid people helped him stay attached to reality at those times. He gripped Gareth's shoulder, needing the feel of that under his hand as well.

By the time they reached the place Gareth was taking him, Brenner could barely walk and Gareth was supporting him. He let Brenner sink to his knees, crouching down with him. The hand on Brenner's shoulder held him anchored, as did the feel of solid earth under his knees. He put one hand on the ground as well and dug his fingers into the cool, dry soil. "Are you going to live?" Gareth asked quietly.

The tears were warm on Brenner's cheeks and his jaw clenched against the lump in the base of his throat and the tightness of his heart. When he could tangle out an answer from all the emotions, he lifted his hand and wrote, " _I need to talk to Purrcy._ "

Gareth sighed. "Made you think of Christmas, did it?" Brenner nodded. It was more than that, but that was all he could tell Gareth anyway. "Well, that's all well and good, but I'm not sure I want to leave you alone without eyes on you right now." He paused, then said, "Okay. Let me teach you how to spirit walk. You can talk to her that way without having to write, I'll bet. You can cast your room of confession in the spirit realm and talk to her, and I'll stay out here and watch you in the base realm."

Brenner paid close attention to the lesson - as close as he could. After some effort and not being able to slip out into the spirit realm, he paused and reconsidered. He cast the room for the confession first, then humbly asked in his heart if he could meet with Purrcy there. Then he tried to slip out again and this time he was able to do it.

It was like breathing for the first time - a deep breath as his spirit stretched out to fill the entire space of the enclosing confessional, unfolding and flowing in soft undulations. He did re-combine into a more human shape with feet on the spiritual surface of the planet he was on, but it was as gentle a process as the flowing unfolding had been. He no longer felt the tightness in his chest and felt more relaxed than he had in a long time.

Once he wasn't completely filling the confessional so there was room, Purrcy slowly appeared before him in that space, also a glowing white like he was, though her patterning could still be made out. She smiled softly at him. Like his spirit had expanded, so had his mind and ability to think and conceptualize. The things that had been hidden in the folds were returned to him again and he was reassimilating those memories and thoughts. He'd had the inklings of what had been hidden, but now he was seeing them completely again. It was relieving to understand in whole again.

"It was very hard to understand," he said to her. "To have only glimpses and feelings that also brought up doubt when it just didn't seem right because I couldn't see clearly."

"Yes," Purrcy nodded. "And you may go back to them again when you return to your body again, but it should be possible to return with a peace to counteract it that can remind you that when you were here this way you did see it completely and it wasn't as bad as the doubt makes it seems."

Brenner pondered that, then found where he could put that peace. "It is what my faith should contain. I will remember the peace there."

"Good," she smiled kindly again.

Brenner sat cross-legged on the ground and motioned to the ground in front of him. He had to shift his back a bit, then realized it was because he had to move wings - large, soft, white spirit wings. He shifted them until they were comfortable. "So...I'm an angel here?"

Purrcy had settled in front of him by then. "No. An Archangel. You'll earn the Class eventually, once you're strong enough in the base realm."

Brenner blinked at her. He knew she wasn't going to tell him how to get his skill up to that Class. He'd have to work that out on his own. "I'd really like to have real sight again soon," he did say.

"Keep growing and learning," she advised him. "It will come. There are still things you need to learn from that place, too."

Brenner sighed. It wasn't what he really wanted to talk to her about, though. "Purrcy, even with my expanded spiritual understanding, I still need to work out the issues of the doubt. Will you please tell me why when I'm corporeal I feel like you are Christ?"

Purrcy nodded. "It's my aspect of Caretaker, as Gareth said before. It is the pure love of Christ for all, and it is the Spirit of God that's in all of mankind. Because it's also in you, and you're practiced in feeling it and knowing it, you recognize it in me. When I'm in that aspect it's nearly all and only those. We as humans who practice Christianity equate that to Christ himself. Your doubt is rational. I am not Christ. However, because on Theldesia I desire to act as he would act here, he is also present with and to me when I do. So you also feel him when he is here with me. In that respect, you are seeing Christ. I wouldn't make it through most days if he wasn't walking with me." Brenner could sympathize.

He pondered her words for a bit, allowing them to settle in the parts of him that he knew would remember this conversation just enough. There were a lot of other theological questions that pushed at him around the edges, but they weren't what he needed. The answer she'd just given him was. "Thank you, Purrcy," he said. He sat and rested for a bit, then looked back at his body. It seemed so small from here. He took a breath and held it a bit.

"I'll stay with you until you've returned," she promised. Brenner glanced a her, then gave a nod.

He closed his eyes and carefully folded himself again, following Gareth's instructions to return to his body. It was a tight squeeze and when he was only in his body again and he'd forgotten, it was very painful physically and emotionally. But warm arms of comfort were holding him and there was a purr in his ear.

She didn't leave until he had sorted through what he could remember and found comfort and peace had remained inside, too, with just enough words to counter the doubt and confusion he'd been in before. " _It is the Spirit of God. I am not Christ. I desire to act as he would act here. He is also present when I do. I wouldn't make it through if he wasn't walking with me_." Brenner could live with that since it was what he prayed for and hoped for every day of his own life. If feeling that God walked with Purrcy was a proof that his own faith and hope wasn't in vain, then he could continue to walk forward on his current path.

He looked up into Gareth's face, knowing it was worried even if he couldn't see that worry. "I'm not dead. I live." A warm hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed it, but Gareth didn't say anything. Likely his own relief that Brenner was allowed to speak again had brought on more tears of his own - the softy. "Thank you for being my partner." He got a hug for that one. He patted Gareth's back until he recovered. "You'd better say something soon, so I don't keep thinking you're the one who's lost your voice now," he teased.

Gareth let him go, though he still held on to Brenner's upper arm. "Can you see?" Brenner was relieved that the worse possibility wasn't also true, and that he could still hear.

"No. That hasn't come back yet, though it will eventually." Gareth helped him stand and put his hand on the guiding shoulder again. Brenner wiped his face with his sleeve, Gareth doing the same, and they returned to the room everyone was camped out in this Easter Sunday on Theldesia.

* * *

 _*Holy Bible, Matthew 6:9-13_


	183. Redirection

_I hate to say it, but as fair warning: for all people life changes, ebbing and flowing. At the moment the requirements on my time are becoming heavy. I would hope to continue to post every Tuesday and weekend, but I'm not getting two chapters per week written right now. It may shift to three chapters posted per two weeks instead of four. Please do not be too concerned if a "scheduled" time slips every now and again. I am still writing and still will continue to post (pray I do not die an untimely sudden unexpected death before it is done). I am merely at a time where the text is all new and time is squashed horribly. Thank you for continuing to walk through Theldesia with me._

* * *

"So, that's the summary of the spiel we think will work to get people on board for the world quests," Secretary said. Nods went around the squad. It had sounded good.

P/R took back over. "While that's the easy part, we think the hard part's going to be a lot harder than we'd like it to be. Brenner's comment about the belt between the mountain ranges struck a thought that took hammering out a few other bugs to properly speak up in my head." He shifted and sighed slightly. "You know how most of the west coast is very liberal, right?" He got nods. "But the majority of the beltway between the mountain ranges is conservative." They were following him. "We need to know exactly where all the liberal voices are going to end up. If they end up resurrecting in the most conservative cities in the western religious strip, it's going to go right back to cat eat dog."

There were slumps of despondent understanding. "It would be far better if we could somehow sort out who gets resurrected where, so that the groups who have to assimilate aren't quite so polar," Records pointed out. "We don't know if that can be a request to Izanami or not."

Schedules nodded his head. "Our other option we've thought of is to send you way back, Commander, and have you scope out all of the cities. There's details that could be worked out so you don't have to do all of the work yourself, maybe, but if we could see just who the players were to target them early, and if we could maybe -"

"Silicon Valley," Charlie interrupted. "They're busy with coding and work, but some of them let off steam in games, too. They'd have the skills of Programmers if no one else did. If we could get them working on a back up to the Cathedrals, even if just one for the south half of the coast and one for the north half, then the coastal set wouldn't have to show up inside the ranges."

Michael rubbed his chin. Reed folded his arms. The operation team gave them time to think then followed it up with, "And we'd like for you to go do all that... _before_ we fight the fourth level. At the latest after the boss battle but before we go in to fix things up. If we don't have it all set up proper before we let them all loose, the regret will be more than we can handle."

Both commanders had to agree with that one. Plans that had the way smoothed beforehand went off well. Plans from the hip last minute left one wishing they'd been smarter. "We can't all walk out before the repair or we start over," Michael pointed out. They accepted that. He was the one that could time walk, so was one who had to leave to recon. "How long would it take you to scope out one city for who's who?" Michael asked BlackJack and Bowie.

They looked at each other. "We've got the practice now on Yamato and in China, though we'd expect the U.S. Adventurer cities to have higher population per. Say...three days tops?" Bowie answered. He frowned a bit. "It may be less once I've got this upgrade figured out, but I'd say that for sure on the first one while I get that figured out."

"Can anyone else walk through the spacial realm besides me?" Michael asked. "Crossing the Sierras and getting to the inner cities will take a while any other way of traveling."

"Maybe Stiletto," Bowie answered. "He could pass through walls like they weren't there, anyway, before."

"It's a bit of a pain not having him around," grumbled one.

"It will be a pain because I'll have to be the taxi," Michael agreed. "We need to have one to walk all the current-time cities to find the closest one that still has a Cathedral so we know where the west coast Adventurers will end up. I'd send a sub-set of Maintenance to the past Silicon Valley area to recruit if possible, and to have them work up if it's even possible to hide, protect, or recreate a Cathedral. No one had much luck in Yamato."

He paused thinking hard about it, then shook his head. "We need Intel to go back in the past and gather specific data for each city. Operation Play Nice team, put together a set of specific data points you need to know or want to know for planning. Mark what's past and what's present knowledge you need. Reed, you and I'll work out a similar list since we might need to know other things before we get going. I'll go hunt down Stiletto and bring him back here. If he can walk, and if all three of you go, you'll get each city done faster. Even if he can't walk, I might be able to carry three now."

"Charlie, I need you to work up a way that the past can communicate with our present. If we've got allies in the past who need to leave us a message, then you're the man to set that up. I'll also want to test your range now to see if the few of us head inland you can still pick us up. We won't be leaving the region so it should be okay, but I'd like us to be absolutely sure we'll stay in contact."

"Gareth, get us a large campaign map. We need to know exactly which cities we're talking about. Can't plan a campaign if we don't know where we're going."

"We need to sit and review the data from the Eured campaigns, too. Tetorō's dropped them off while we were in the last level: one evil Master Strategist and one completely unstable region just for our learning pleasure." He considered a bit longer, then rubbed the back of his neck. "And...we might want to consider getting inside and fixing up just two lines before we pull the trigger on all the rest of them."

The rest of the Eagles weren't so sure. Sure, they liked Brian, but that didn't mean they needed him for the operation. The Master Strategist might be one, but he was also perhaps just as much a crackpot and they'd done their own military history studies. Michael shrugged. "It would at least prove where they're going to resurrect." That he got buy-in for. They'd rather have a few experimental test subjects they could sort of count on at the first rather than a horde of those they'd rather have left behind in sudden unexpected locations. Brenner raised his hand. "Yes, Brenner," Michael said.

"I think given the reception we've gotten so far, we can expect one more 'final battle' - that in the tree room itself. Half the Adventurers of the western region as Vengeful Spirits against all of us is a rather large number."

"Good point," Reed answered.

"That means practicing your cleric spells before we walk in there so they're high enough level we can lock them all down without making them dead completely," Gareth said dryly. "We might want the banishment spells eventually, but not in there - even if they would like it."

That gave all the rest something to do during this phase of the game. MasterChiefS7 put it all together and handed out the summary orders.

-:-:-:-:-

Stiletto found it ever so helpful to have been given his evidence against his enemy before he entered the Gate of Time, Once he'd had his lessons at the Newcomer's Welcome and Training Center, he'd known exactly which temple to join himself to, and then known exactly where to appear to get the physical evidence or eyewitnesses he needed. He'd been able to get the person convicted that needed to be convicted, which had led to the angry response of him being framed for pushing Schedules out of the Gate of Time at the wrong time. He'd only had to show himself instead of his felinoid form at just the right times to make it happen the way it was supposed to.

Then, when the convicted man had just crossed to the boundary of the Gate of Time to carry out his punishment of banishment, a thin knife to the ribs was all it had taken so that he never appeared outside the Gate of Time. Stiletto wasn't interested in having him stay alive outside it. Loose ends usually meant death for the one who hadn't bothered tying them up.

Within the time it took him to set all of that up and get to the resolution he'd learned how to walk the time realm and dance all the realms rather lightly. He'd picked a role in the temple that helped him finish working that part out. He was mostly ready now. There was only one thing left to do.

Stiletto had been watching himself as he walked the threads he could see in all the realms of himself, following his own shadow as it were, and he'd found there was one thread that wasn't in the line he thought he was following very specifically. It surely had to be his exit thread, and when he suddenly found himself on it as his enemy went up in final bubbles, he smiled a tight smile to himself, his tail swishing lightly in response. (He kind of liked having a tail, actually.)

He turned and stepped through space, said a farewell to his favorite felinoid in the city, and traveled in a path that would keep him from being discovered in the Gate of Time until he reached the place at the veil where Michael would pass through to go to the linear Gate of Time the First time he went from the chaotic Gate of Time. Stiletto intercepted the four guards that caught sight of Michael and moved to stop him, preventing them from moving just that right amount of time so that Michael was gone before they could catch him. He did the same when he himself entered for the First time, watching his own footsteps and staying hidden from himself.

With a sigh of relief that much was done Stiletto spacial stepped himself to the proper location at that veil, then stepped through the veil and time. He landed in a mostly-desert location at what looked like sunrise. He pulled up a region map for the area and was relieved he was at least in the southern part of the middle U.S. region. Texas was an okay place to be for now. He had time to explore. He played around with the realms for a bit before moving too far.

He was bounded in the Time realm, now that he was out of the chaotic Gate of Time. He understood how to move in it, and had some limited motion forward and back, but it looked like it was going to be mostly a visual distraction out here. He suspected that the AIs had locked him out for now while they played with Time themselves. It might change later, though he wouldn't complain if it didn't. The rest of the realms seemed to work the same, as he would expect.

Once he was sure, he danced to the closest Adventurer city on his map to where he needed to go - El Paso. He wondered if Juares, Mexico, would have combined with them, since both cities were so close and about the same size. He found El Paso deserted and was rather amazed. He stepped across the border and found Juares jam packed with people.

Sitting at the edge of the base realm, but not in it, he listened for a long time, then stepped out with a disguise on, looking like a short skinny Mexican instead of a short skinny African-American. He carefully asked questions of street vendors - just enough to get an outline of how things had gone down in Mexico. It would be enough to get them started on repairs when they could make it down here. Not wanting to wait too long outside the region he was supposed to be in, he finally returned to the code realm, scrubbed the disguise (going to his usual code realm disguise), and danced across two borders and headed for Tucson, Arizona. He wasn't holding out much hope for the desert city.

"Stiletto, you out yet?" came as a chat. Stiletto froze in time and space. "I'm asking for like, the millionth time."

"Ah, yeah, I got dumped out in Texas so stopped by to check out the twin border cities, sorry Sir," he answered.

"Where are you close to?" Michael asked.

"I was headed to Tucson."

"I'll meet you there," Michael responded. "Are you spacial walking?"

"Yes." Stiletto got moving again, knowing Michael was already walking, too. "I was able to get my upgraded skill up to the Class."

"Which is?" Michael asked.

"Astral Mage."

"Okay. I'll bite. What the heck is an astral mage?"

"Well, I think I'd like to know, too," Stiletto mused. "I think Realm Dancer would be more properly descriptive, except it's more than that. All of my Aural Dweller skills got the boost - and that was confusing enough. I had to be in the Gate of Time to learn to understand the time realm because I was boosted up so that I had no barriers at all. It wasn't just walls I could walk through any more."

"That's going to be very useful, then," Michael said, pleased.

"Why?" Stiletto asked.

"You and I need to go walking to figure out just how bad the return is going to be. That means recon back in the past."

"Well...," Stiletto hedged. "I experimented with time walking when I got in and couldn't go very far."

"Mmm, well, we'll test it again when we get together," Michael answered. He sighed. "Tucson isn't any better, though it's still got buildings standing up here and there."

"Yeah, there were people in Juares who said that they had to throw out the American Adventurers to keep their city from utter destruction. It was a bitter fight, apparently, trying to keep the El Paso Adventurers out of the city. El Paso itself is empty. There is a standing Cathedral. I think they died in between the two cities, or migrated east or west." He flew into airspace over Tucson and looked for Michael's beacon, settling on Michael's shoulder when he found him.

"Hey," Michael said. "You're sparkly."

"I am?" Stiletto asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Come out here and let me read your stats." Michael waved his hand in the space in front of him. Stiletto flew to hover in front of Michael, switching to hummingbird for it. "That's an appropriate form," Michael teased him dryly, though he was reading the status screen at the same time. Stiletto had unlocked the hidden data just for him so he could. "Interesting. It may have been the upgrade or the increases in level to the full Class. It's not as high as your personal level, but it's decent. We've moved up of course, but you're not very far behind, working as hard as you were in the Gate of Time. We're only at the end of the third level, too, so you've got one dungeon level to gain levels in."

Stiletto rolled his eyes and moved back to Michael shoulder. "Thanks. The sparkly might also be part of being able to walk all the realms at once."

"That's an interesting concept," Michael said, giving him a look from the corner of his eye.

"It was hellishly confusing," Stiletto complained. "Only figuring out Time helped me make any sense of the rest of it. It took a while to figure out how to be fully in any one realm at one time, too."

"Well, hold on tight and I'll take you home. We've got lots of work to do and they'll be interested in hearing the details. You can test again and see how tightly boxed in time is for you out here after they've heard it. We'll need you to carry others if you can move through time."

"Hope my level's already high enough, then," Stiletto muttered. He was rather done with all the grinding for a while, like he was done with Maze of Eternity dungeon levels. He sat and rested there on the broad shoulder that carried all of them through this and really relaxed for the first time in a long time, flowing back into the moth form he preferred. Moths were very good at camouflage and stayed flat against the surface they hid on. It was a safe form, and he was in a safe place. He was hard asleep pretty fast.

-:-:-:-:-

"Hey, did'ja finally get your fairy, Link?" Michael was teased when he arrived back over the encampment in the code realm.

"Glad you're keeping watch properly," he answered and stepped into the base realm to face Gareth. "I just left to go get Stiletto and we're on hold between the third and fourth levels of the western Maze of Eternity."

"Right," Gareth gave a nod. "We've got lunch about ready." His eyes scanned Michael. "Did you really retrieve Stiletto?"

Michael looked at his shoulder, then phased just into the code realm. He poked Stiletto. "Hey, drop to the base realm." He wondered if that was a bad idea moments later, but when he didn't collapse under a fully human Stiletto, he blinked a bit.

The corner of Gareth's lip turned up. "He's turned into a sparkly what?"

Michael shrugged and that still didn't wake Stiletto up. "He can dance the realms, is what he calls it." He knew he was telling everyone. They were all intrigued to see the sparkly moth on his shoulder. "He's been under so much stress he's pretty dead asleep. I think we'll have to wait to hear the full story. He can walk all the realms, all at once, is what he tells me. That was his upgrade. Time out here is a bit wonky for him still since he learned in the chaotic Gate of Time and he tested it just after Inari got hold of it. We'll see if we get that bonus, but even just the spacial walking will be really helpful." They all agreed with that.

Michael carefully placed the moth-Stiletto someplace he wouldn't be walked on, but would fit if he changed back to human base form before he woke up. Michael wasn't interested in being suddenly squashed flat at some random time in the near future. Just to be sure, he tied in a connection to him as well. "Bowie, get the code from Gareth or Brenner to keep track of him. If he walks while sleeping it will freak him out." Bowie gave a nod and headed into the code realm to get a copy of the code that Gareth used to track Michael, since it included the time realm anchor element.

-:-:-:-:-

Isuzu sighed. She leaned back in her chair, and tapped the table top with a finger. She was rather weary, actually. She closed her eyes but kept her ears open. Here on the coast had been a little more dangerous. While the pirates were being kept out, and Shiroe had reassured her that they shouldn't be a problem since the Eagles had supposedly taken care of it before they left, the People of the Land were a mix between very timid, and those who could turn into pirates at the drop of the hat themselves. Those were the ones she had to watch. They weren't afraid to confront an Adventurer, and single young females were prime targets.

She hummed a bit, then gave a nod, rising to her feet. "I think I'll tell the new Pirate King he needs to come up here and settle his claim to Yamato, since he's in my guild. This is getting ridiculous." She turned around and glared at the men walking up behind her. "I would also wish the People of the Land could learn to read statuses so they would really know when they were facing an Adventurer."

They paused. It still took pulling her lute out of thin air and making Yomi-kun appear next to her to convince them she really was an Adventurer. They backed down after that, but still watched her. She walked up to the stage and began her nightly set. Singing new songs other than the usual Twenty-Four convinced them, too. She added her newest one that night. It was one that told the story of the conquering of the Pirate King by the fierce general of Log Horizon. She'd loved the story of the tease that had won. It had been fun to write a pirate song, too. It had also been self defense. Spreading the word of the story was all that would keep this coast calmed down. Michael wasn't here to do it himself. Her temple twitched in irritation. She really needed a vacation.

Isuzu was almost to Aomori on the north tip of Honshu - if she was on Earth which she still wasn't. She was ready for that to happen, too. She liked what she was doing, but she'd gotten twitchy. She wanted to be praised by people who understood the songs she would rather be writing suddenly. She'd actually begun writing popular songs - or at least songs she hoped would be popular and still in style - for when she got back. Those were the songs she liked best, after all.

Her feet were still itching with wanderlust when that set was over and she almost walked out of the inn, then decided she didn't need to be ambushed in the dark. She was up very early the next morning, though, getting on the road when there was still mist in the air and dew on the grass. She walked with long strides, Yomi-kun happily walking with her. Isuzu's head nodded in time to the song she was writing in her head and playing on her recorder when she suddenly realized she recognized the fork in the road she'd come to. She could turn and continue on down into the next valley and town, or she could turn north and go through the Depths of Palm and on into Ezzo and up to Susukino.

Her eyes looked north, and her desire was suddenly to see the Giants she'd heard about and been singing about, too, now that the side-quest was completed. It was a song about the joint ventures of the three creatures - Adventurers, People of the Land, and Giants - and was the most disbelieved as real, though she did insist it was when asked. She turned, then firmly started out on the path to the north. She might run into too many Plague Rats, and Naotsugu and Marielle might have completely cleaned it out for her.

Even that much adventure was enough motivation to go that way. A detour to see what the final results of that were would be interesting. And to get to see with her own eyes that path that had been walked would fill her heart and mind. She welcomed the opportunity to actually _be_ an Adventurer again. She was still responsible enough to let Shiroe know she was doing it, though. It was best to let people who cared know what you were doing when plans changed so they didn't worry.

-:-:-:-:-

Lord Chesterfield, Head Tutor to the two royal grandchildren of the Grand Duke of Maihama, had a definite goal in mind. He was trying very hard to not bluster out of nervousness, trying very hard to see the Adventurers in this board room as young men and young ladies, such as would be the oldest of those he taught. It was rather difficult, though during the times they'd relaxed with his charges they had elements of youthfulness to them as all Adventurers did. It was most difficult because he _knew_ down deep in his being that there weren't any that were younger than at least sixty, except perhaps the young secretary who was the age he was trying to see the rest as.

Guildmistress Marielle and her assistant had been in and around Akiba for at least those sixty years if not more, and were formidable when directly confronted. Since they were the Head Teacher and Head of Finance, they were quite in that position today. Thus it was terribly difficult to see them in any other way, and thus difficult to control his nervousness. At least the one-hundred-year-old Archmage wasn't present for this meeting. It was true that he was at best a recluse. Lord Chesterfield had seen him only very briefly at one formal function to be greeted politely, asked a few questions, and been left sweating, hoping he'd answered sufficiently and not been offensive.

Still, Lord Chesterfield had a definite goal and he must see it through. He looked at his assistants one more time (for a little courage), took a breath, and opened his mouth. "Lady Marielle, Lady Henrietta, would it be possible for I and my assistants to take a few courses that are being taught to the lower classmen here at the Academy? We have reviewed the course list and appreciate being allowed to sit in on a few of the classes. There are several we have selected that we feel would be most beneficial." That was the first request.

"Also, after review, Duke Sergiad has requested that we negotiate on his behalf for a series of classes that he could send a properly selected group of students to." He blinked and drew in a breath for courage. "Specifically, in the field of research and development. While we cannot hope to even touch the capabilities of the Adventurers, we do not have inventors and creators within our ranks, save to a slight degree. We feel that if we could be taught how it is the Adventurers process ideas and experiment upon them, we might in somewhat greater measure be able to create new technologies that can be of benefit to our people."

He knew he was treading on shaky ground here. There was the possibility that the Adventurers would find it a threat. Based on the information Duke Sergiad's spies had brought back from Westlande, it was actually possible for People of the Land to do such research when assisted by Adventurers. While the Duke's motives weren't so dark as the regimes of Westlande, everyone understood that dark motives could appear at any future time regardless.

Marielle and Henrietta were looking at each other, communicating silently as they determined how to answer Lord Chesterfield. He sat stiffly upright and slightly sweating, and waited with his hands clasped lightly in front of him on the dark wooden oval table in this office.

"I'm sure that you could be allowed to take courses here," Marielle said kindly. "Which ones have you selected?"

"There are several mathematics courses that we would like to attend. Specifically, Algebra and Geometry. While we have elements of them, we feel that it would be good to have a full understanding of both of them. The higher level courses we weren't able to tell if they would be helpful or not. Perhaps after understanding these two we might be able to tell. Regardless, they would be sufficient if that was all there was time for." They had been disappointed to learn that the majority of the other classes were either Earth-centric or Adventurer-specific and not applicable to People of the Land.

Thus the necessity of the second request as well. Once the Adventurers were gone, Westlande would have knowledge and capacity that the Free Cities of Eastal wouldn't have. That was a military disadvantage as everyone knew that the House of Saimiya still coveted Eastal and wanted to reunite the two nations again under one head. The people of Eastal would need to be able to defend themselves properly.

The urgency of their request, and thus the Grand Duke, was the impetus for their being sent at this time. They only had until the Adventurers left to learn from them. All other requirements were of lesser importance given they only had perhaps months. If they had a year, Lord Chesterfield and his assistants would only be relieved.

"We would certainly be glad to teach you what we can of algebra and geometry," Marielle answered, "however, the classes that are currently under way are perhaps already too far for bringing you in at this point in time." She paused and Lord Chesterfield tried to wait patiently and not feel depressed this early in the negotiation. "Would you be looking for a short daily class or more intensive instruction?"

Lord Chesterfield blinked a bit. "While I'm sure my brain isn't as young as it used to be, truly a more intensive load would be preferable." That would be the best of all solutions as far as they were concerned, really. They didn't have anything else to do while in Akiba except alternately gawk and be scandalized.

Marielle nodded. "Let us speak to the instructors for those courses and see if there are any who would be willing to spend focused time with you during the day. Perhaps if we could split each day between the two classes, with a break in between for lunch and recovery, with one day of rest per week?"

"That would be highly agreeable," Lord Chesterfield answered graciously in relief.

A note was taken down and Marielle gave the floor to Henrietta. He wasn't surprised, but his heart sank just a little. It was a difficult thing, then, their second request. Henrietta sat forward and interlaced her fingers on the table. "Research and development are not part of the curriculum offered here at Akiba Adventurer Academy, as you've stated. The reason for that is because it is contained within Roderick Trading Company."

Lord Chesterfield blinked. He'd not understood correctly, then. "That would be considered at the university level of education here. If you wish to have People of the Land trained in those methods, you would need to negotiate with them. For proper development education, you would need to negotiate with Grandale and Radio Market. If you wished to include some level of manufacturing, then you would need to also talk to the people at Marine Organization. That is their specialty.

"Oh. I see." Lord Chesterfield sat back in his chair, a little nonplussed. His negotiation role had suddenly multiplied and become complex. It wasn't insurmountable, however. Cautiously, to feel it out, he asked, "Would they be willing to have People of the Land in their facilities?"

Henrietta shrugged. "I would think so. The guildmasters are all rather open. Each guildmember will be different, of course. Roderick is so enthusiastic already about research it's hard to get him to shut up as it is. However, it might be best if we took the initial concept to the next Round Table meeting to get general approval first."

And there it was. That was the hurdle that would be the hardest to overcome. "Do you think I might be allowed to present our case personally?" he asked, his fingers tightening along with his stomach, though he tried to not let it show.

Henrietta blinked and Marielle glanced at her. "I would think it would be okay," Marielle gave her opinion cautiously.

Henrietta frowned slightly, then gave a small sharp nod. "We'll ask Shiroe. Likely he'll be able to fit it in. It isn't an unreasonable request."

"Thank you very much." He could only be grateful to have that much assistance. Such small steps forward sometimes did end in positive results. It was what he had to expect and what he could only continue to hope for.

"If you don't mind us breaking for a short while, we'll see if we can find instructors for the two math classes to come and join us. We should work out together a firm schedule so that you aren't wasting your time," Henrietta said.

Lord Chesterfield bowed his head. "We would be happy to wait. Thank you." The two Ladies rose and left the room, leaving the secretary to offer the tutors tea. Lord Chesterfield turned slightly and looked at his assistants. He sighed lightly. "Well, at least that much should keep us very busy for some time. I do hope our charges will be diligent in their own studies without us to keep watch over them."

"Well," one said, "if the courses are both taught daily for half the day, then we would be alternately available."

"True enough," Lord Chesterfield relaxed back in his chair. _He_ would be busy for the full day needing to know both subjects.

-:-:-:-:-

It was Thursday night, meaning it was date night. Since Shiroe was a recluse, the other three had made him return to holding to that pattern as soon as everything had settled back down. This April day was rather rainy, in a light misty sort of way, so they were holed up in a quiet restaurant. It was rather cozy with candle light for lighting instead of bright magical lights, and a cheerful fire in the fireplace against the slight chill in the air that the evenings and nights still held.

Since the meeting with Lord Chesterfield and the other tutors had been earlier that day, Marielle had requested she be able to give the report at the dinner - her first opportunity to see Shiroe afterwards. "We've scheduled each day so that the instructors teach for two hours, the students get a half hour break to recover, and then a tutor comes in and helps them work through problems until lunch time and dinner time. That way the teachers don't have to give up a full half-day every day, just a few hours, the same for the tutors. That seemed to be a better balance for the Adventurers who were willing to help out."

She brushed her blond curls back from her face. "It's an expensive proposition and Henrietta's been in negotiations with Duke Sergiad based on what the teachers and tutors asked to be paid. It's hard to ask them to commit to every day. We could find a few more tutors to split the week, but we decided that to split teaching within classes would be too difficult since how far they've understood is likely to vary each day, making writing a set curriculum perhaps irrelevant in the end. It was just easier to keep it to one teacher per course."

Shiroe nodded. "That sounds very reasonable. I'm pleased you were able to find willing teachers at all."

"We were very relieved as well," Marielle agreed. "One of them did say on his way out the door, though, that he fully intended to include it on his resume when he returned. He's decided to become a math teacher when he gets back home."

"Ah, an ulterior motive." Shiroe smiled at Naotsugu's knowing comment.

Marielle smiled at Naotsugu. "At least it's a proper motivation to get everyone what they hoped for." She turned back to Shiroe, looking a little concerned. "His other request...is more...difficult?" She bit her lip. Shiroe took a moment to glance at Akatsuki and squeeze her hand. She didn't seem too upset that they were talking work, but that had also been part of the pattern from the beginning. She did smile at him, glad to get his attention for a moment. He smiled back and returned his attention to Marielle.

"Apparently Duke Sergiad wants to send people over to learn research and development. We let Lord Chesterfield know that he would need to talk to the other guilds for that." Shiroe's attention had sharpened at the first sentence. Marielle had obviously expected that, but she kept going. "Henrietta said that we should bring it to the next Round Table meeting and he requested that he be able to present his case personally, if possible." She'd presented the request and sat looking at him expectantly.

Shiroe's mind was already flying through all the pros and cons and reasons why the request had been made. It was quite obvious to him, really. All the way from the most concerning political reasons to the most simple one - being that even the People of the Land had enjoyed benefiting from the creature comforts the Adventurers considered natural and normal but the People of the Land had found rather miraculous. Surely they would want to be able to continue to come up with such things on their own the same as humanity had been creating tools of convenience from the beginning.

"I'll work on limitations. He should work hard, though, so I will also fit him into the schedule. Have him wait in your office until we're ready to hear from him," Shiroe finally answered Marielle. She gave a relieved nod and they let the topic of conversation turn to more relaxing things to think about.

-:-:-:-:-

Another meeting of sorts was going on that evening as well. This one was at Crescent Moon League, and was being held in the dining room as best a meeting could be in that location. Of course it was only a meeting because Iselius was so serious about everything he did, and he was telling them what had been decided for his and Raynessia's schedule. "My tutor will be teaching me in the mornings and I'll have the afternoons free for self-study. Raynessia's tutor will be teaching her and Neville in the afternoons. They'll have the mornings for self-study." They all knew "self-study" meant "free time" to be lazy for Raynessia and "city exploration" time for Iselius as he was so super curious about everything the Adventurers did. For Neville, it likely meant boredom. They looked at him sympathetically.

Instead of slumping, Neville actually looked a bit cheerful. "There is the possibility that I will be able to learn something else new, though the Head Tutor is still in negotiations. Apparently it would be classes at Roderick Trading Company."

That got the interest of everyone who knew what went on there. "You'd be taking university courses, then?" Serera asked.

"Yes," Neville said happily. "Though I don't know exactly what that entails, I do know that Duke Sergiad is very keen to see that we learn what we can from there, so I'll do my best."

"Good luck with that," Touya said, putting his chin on his hand and resting his elbow on the table next to his plate. "Those are harder classes, though here it might not be so bad. It's not like anyone knows how to be a professor - except maybe Purrcy, and she's not a teacher there."

Qwased paled slightly. "Her class at the Academy is most definitely a college level class. Miss Henrietta is really a sergeant in the classroom, too. I'm not even a month into it and it's taking as much time and more as Serera warned. I was glad to get the survey class done so I could have the extra hour."

Rudy nodded. "It is very much like that. When I submitted my final project I felt as light as the clouds for two days, not having that pressure on me."

Minori shuddered. "I didn't think I'd ever get mine submitted. I got dragged through it by Marielle and Touya. It has been terribly useful, however. There is so much that we use every day at Grandpa's Kitchen."

Touya nodded. "Iselius, you might find it equally useful to take that class. They'll be starting up another one in another week, I think." He looked at Serera.

Serera sat upright, always the cheerleader for the Academy, "Yes, it's a difficult class but it's been one of the most popular. Since you'll need to understand the finances of running the whole grand duchy, I would think you'd find it a very helpful course. It includes the important new points of financing, loans, and other similar financial things that didn't used to exist on Theldesia but do now. You might want to come just for those parts of the class at the least."

Iselius looked keenly interested in that. "Will I have enough background?"

The others looked at each other. "We don't know, not being your tutors," Minori said carefully, "but even still, it would be a good class for you. If you were to choose to take it we could help tutor you, since we've been through it."

MeowLi's ear turned. "Purrhaps I could also take it with you. I think it would be good to have that kind of knowledge as well, and that is a topic I didn't study before."

Iselius perked up at that. "I would like to have someone else to take it with so we could work together outside of class."

"I would like that also," MeowLi agreed.

"Great," Serera said. "I'll let Miss Henrietta know to add you two to the class, then." They both gave nods of approval.

"Ah, will that interfere in the Spring Festival?" Raynessia asked.

The Adventurers in the group shook their heads. "No. Since all of us will be going down for it, classes will be on holiday, like they were for the Winter Festival," Touya smiled. "That would actually be a good opportunity to get caught up on projects and homeworks if you've fallen behind."

"Well...we were hoping to go with you," Raynessia said.

Iselius looked torn, like he'd do both if he could. "All your tutors will be down there. If you got bored - which is highly unlikely and you do need to learn to relax, Iselius - you could do school work instead of play," Minori scolded him.

Iselius slumped a little. "Well, we have agreed we will go. Our tutors will be returning to Maihama for that short time to report to Grandfather, and to get their own vacation," he grinned at them. They understood and grinned back.

"Will you also be going with them, Lady MeowLi?" Neville asked.

MeowLi's ears turned in thought. "I think I would like to see at least one Adventurer festival. Like Iselius, I am terribly interested in them. I'm not sure if Guildmaster Shiroe will approve it or not, though. I can't leave Akiba unless he's said I may."

Rudy, Minori, and Touya all waved hands at her. "You'll go. We'll all be going and wouldn't leave you here alone, regardless," Touya said.

Rudy nodded. "You won't be any safer anywhere than with Log Horizon, even out in the wilds. I survived just fine walking from Ninetails Dominion to here before I was even made an Adventurer. It isn't all that bad, really. It will just be a new and fascinating adventure for you, and that is the best way to see what and who Adventurers really are." He grinned a large smile at MeowLi and included Raynessia, Iselius, and Neville in it as well. They all smiled back at him, knowing he would know.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi didn't want to be anywhere near the teasing children of the junior school any more. Not ever again. She lay in her hiding place in the Children's Park, her ears flat against her head. Their fourth birthday was not far off, and the children had been demanding to know what new thing was going to be unveiled at the park on that day. All four of them had been trying hard to not say anything at all, like they'd been taught strictly.

Miru strutted and boasted, but then would act secretive when the friends around him tried to guess. Somehow he knew how to blow them off and they just had to deal with it. Meiki teased mercilessly until everyone left her alone out of despair or irritation. Setsubou was already not messed with much. Everyone knew he was quiet and couldn't be budged. He just said, "I don't know," and they left him alone.

No one left MeowLi alone, though, even if she did say, "I don't know." She didn't know how to tease - if she did they called her mean and spiteful - and she'd never been able to be like Miru. She didn't like being the only one hated and picked on mercilessly. So she'd run away from the school yard when the chaos of everyone being called back in for classes had given her the opportunity to run.

Now she was hiding, her heart clenched and hurting, wishing she could change everything, and be back at home working with her tutors quietly there. She much preferred to be studying and learning fascinating things. Why did they have to go and ruin it by pressuring her for things she couldn't say, and didn't know? She closed her eyes and shivered, putting her front paws over her nose. She almost had it to where they were short-fingered fur-covered hands, but she didn't want to put in that effort right now. Besides it was easier to hide as a small cat.

Suddenly, to her utmost surprise, she was being picked up and carried out of her hiding place - except that she didn't get snagged or cut by the branches of the bush she'd been under. She was carried over to one of the benches the adults sat on to watch the children run and play, then was set down on a lap. A large warm hand began to stroke her from head to tail.

"Well, really, it isn't good to run away from classes, you know," a male voice said.

MeowLi peeked up at the person who'd put her here. It was a grey tabby. He was dressed in the clothing of a guard from her own temple, so that was good, but it took a while for her to place him. "H-how did you do that? How did you find me and carry me out here?" she asked him. He was just a guard in the temple. What was he doing?

"It's one of my gifts," he said with a little shrug. "Your teacher contacted Nyanta-san and he sent me to fetch you. I think you need a bit of recovery before going back, though?" An eyeridge of whiskers went up.

"I'm not ever going back," she muttered, putting her nose back down between her front legs, her tail twitching in anger but her ears falling in unhappiness.

"Well, there are times we wish that could happen," the guard agreed. "However, life still has to be lived and we still have to walk forward. It's okay to rest for a bit, regroup, think of a better plan, and then move again. ...What in particular took you down today?"

It took her a while to decide she did want to complain to someone, then she did quite plainly. The guard patiently listened to it all. She felt vindicated when he commiserated. When he actually helped her come up with alternative things to try - after getting her feedback on what hadn't worked - she was surprised.

She wasn't surprised to be deposited back at the school again, but she felt a little better and one or two of the things seemed to work well enough that it was okay again for a while. She still secluded herself even more from the rest of her classmates, though, only finding relief in hiding behind her books and studies. She would be very glad when the fourth Children's Day had come and gone and everyone could settle back down to real useful things again.


	184. US West Coast History

Michael and the Intelligence detail arrived over the City of Angels in their current time line. They took the time to ask Izanami politely and properly for Stiletto to have the ability to walk through time while in that city since they'd decided that he might be artificially locked out of that realm now that the Inari had set Time to be linear. If he could walk just in one location of space, that would be sufficient for their needs and he wouldn't be as likely to create new paradoxes. Stiletto shrugged after they'd waited a while to see if he was going to be granted the ability. They would have to wait still at this point.

Michael was going with the Intelligence detail this first round so that they all had a basic understanding of the past of the region. Michael led them back through time, staying mostly in the code realm, though at the edge where they could see if they needed to, Stiletto sitting on his shoulder as a moth so that Michael could take all three of them. Moving four through time was a bit difficult so he was moving in shorter hops instead of all at once, similarly to how he walked through the other realms.

"Stop!" Stiletto cried. The rest paused, wondering why. "We can't move through the code realm for the next bit. Move over to the spirit realm."

Michael gave a nod and moved them all over. Stiletto moved from Michael's shoulder, then converted from moth to himself. "Follow me," he instructed. Michael carefully followed Stiletto's tugging through the spirit realm, though Michael continued to walk them backwards through time. There were rather a lot of explosions going off in the code realm during that time, so they never got closer than to see a few explosions now and again. Occasionally Stiletto would move them through space, finally putting them rather high above the City of Angels.

"It really wasn't a very safe place to live, was it," he complained at them, letting off his nervousness. They'd rather expected it to be that way, though, so they just let him get it off his chest.

"Go ahead and take us all the way back to the beginning," Michael ordered Stiletto. "We should learn it for at least one city to see how they did."

When Stiletto finally had them stop, they were closer over the city, where they could actually see and hear what was going on. They stayed on the boundary, though, where they couldn't be seen by others. They weren't sure what would happen if they were seen outside of the required moments they had to be. It was standard operating procedure for the Intel team, though. They usually worked a city from inside the boundary.

"Right, Bowie. Let me know when you've spotted our main target," BlackJack said, settling in. "I'm keen to learn what my upgrade's done." Bowie nodded. The rest were, too. BlackJack hadn't needed to use his skill yet on this continent until now.

Bowie scanned the city, walking them in a rather meandering way while Michael moved them on slow fast forward through time. They didn't need to live a lot of live's worth of time just getting this part of the quest done. "Hold up," Bowie said, raising his hand. Michael stopped them in time and Bowie searched the people around them, then pointed to a building. "Go look in there, Stil. You're looking for someone plotting mayhem."

Instead, Stiletto landed on Bowie's shoulder as sparkly moth again and the two of them disappeared. A few moments later, by chat, they called Michael and BlackJack in. Bowie gave a head nod at the man lying on his bed in an upper back room of the inn. "That's your target," he said to BlackJack.

"What's his motive?" Michael asked. They'd seen the newly-brought-to-Theldesia Adventurers have the same reactions all the Adventurers had - disbelief, horror, shock, and so forth. Things in the city had started to settle down and people were in the phase of starting to think about what to do now. Guilds had gathered and were in conference, friends had joined up with friends, and solos were hiding in depression or were equipping for heading out to explore.

"He's gang back on Earth and is delighted that he -" Bowie was interrupted by the man himself lifting a hand and staring in delight at a fireball that danced around his hand. Bowie gestured to the display, "- can now cause mayhem and kill all he wants."

The rest swore quietly. A natural PK Sorcerer. Michael gave a nod and looked at BlackJack. BlackJack took a few seconds then nodded. "He's tagged." BlackJack's specialty was that he could tag anyone specifically pointed out (or named by request and then initially found by BlackJack or Bowie), then follow them or find them whenever he wanted to. It was so that he could get the intel on specific people that his employer (usually Shiroe) wanted. It was a bit like a magical compass skill after he'd put a strong magnet spell on the target. In the past he'd worked up to being able to mark two simultaneous targets, and had almost reached three when they'd left Yamato. It would be interesting to see just how it would expand now.

"Right. You keep us close to him. Stiletto, you keep us safe around him. As Sorcerer his magics could catch us anywhere in here. Bowie, you keep up the running narration so the rest of us know what's going on. I'll keep us in fast forward so we can learn what we need to learn before we're all old grey-beards." Everyone was pleased enough with those orders from Michael and they got down to business.

It didn't take long before the target they nicknamed Shead (short for a very uncomplimentary name) was headed out the door, looking for a target. Apparently there was someone in the city he had a grudge against from before it was real. They were amused when he cast his first fireball and was immediately picked up by the defensive armor of the city and carted off. The expression on his face was rather priceless until it turned to anger.

They stayed close to him, though he didn't seem to _do_ too much for a while, except find a buddy. Together they worked on understanding their new skills and how to use them. It seemed odd to the four watching that he'd picked a Summoner. They waited to name him, though. "Ah!" Bowie raised his hand and Michael slowed it down to real-time forward motion.

Bowie swore softly and Michael held on to him more tightly and pulled him around to look him in the eye. "We shouldn't change what happened," Michael warned. "This is TV to us. We'll cause a lot of mayhem in our present if we try to stop what he did."

Bowie took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, but I get to kill him a lot when we get back."

"Take it out on the fourth level of the Maze," Michael said coolly.

Bowie's face went hard, but he gave a nod. They turned back and watched as Michael let time move again. Stiletto had them fall back a bit farther, but they could still see and hear well enough. Shead and his partner were up early in the morning and were walking down a street. A Cunie was headed their way from the other direction. The rest of the street was empty for the most part. Right when the two of them were passing the Cunie, they grabbed him, one on either arm, and dragged him into an alley.

The four followed them to a back warehouse where the Sorcerer cast a binding spell on the Cunie. The two proceeded to beat the Cunie until his HP was in the teens. Then the Summoner drew a summon contract circle around the Cunie.

"No way," breathed BlackJack.

"Way," Bowie answered grimly.

It was hard for the four of them to stand by while the Summoner proceeded to cast the contract binding spell on the Cunie. He was so low on HP (the Cunie were typically quite high, though very low in stamina and strength), that he didn't have anything to fight back with but what little remaining will he had left.

"Why's it working?" Stiletto asked. "Isn't he a Person of the Land, not a Creature?"

Michael shook his head. "They have special properties. The Cunie share a mind, if you will - hive mind style. They're tied into the database. People of the Land aren't in the same way. They're line items rather than portals to whole spreadsheets like the Cunie. It's part of why the Cunie all look the same, too. They're breaking into the bank as it were. It's a difficult thing to do, but by the rules of Adventurers and the way the Summoner's magic rules work, it ...looks ...like ...," he fell silent. The Cunie had fallen to the ground in a slump, owned now by a prick of a gang. Their faces went cold and hard.

It was even harder to stay out of it when the questioning by the two men wasn't asking how to get more gold out of the system, or even other related things. Instead, Shead was asking the Cunie how to take down the city armor and protection system so that he could have free rein to PK inside the city. The Cunie could only answer the proper answers because he was now owned by them. They forced him to lead them down into the depths of the city to show the two where the controls were, and then he was forced to shut them off. When it was too much for the four watching men, and one of them moved, he was blocked from interfering.

"We can't," Stiletto said sadly. "Even I'm locked down right now except for this much." The rest ground their teeth.

The two gang members took the Cunie back up to their hideout and tied him up so that at the end of his length of required Summon time he couldn't get away. When they walked out again, Michael held the others there in that room. They all needed to cool down just a bit before they followed the other two out, or they'd kill them anyway. There was a sudden realization by three at once and together they moved, stepping out into the base realm of the hideout.

Bowie knelt down next to the Cunie and cast his Druid healing spells on him while Michael cut the ropes that bound him. BlackJack tried to set a few special "welcome home" surprises, but was prevented, to his disgust. Stiletto kept watch since he could do that best, though he did it from Michael's shoulder still. "We can heal him and let him escape, but he's still their Summon," BlackJack said in irritation and frustration.

"We're sorry we aren't allowed to interfere," Bowie said quietly to the Cunie.

Michael considered it. "Well, at least _weren't_. We might be able to at this point. Letting them keep hold of a Cunie is likely a very dangerous thing. If we're allowed to move, then maybe it isn't necessary for them to keep him as far as the time-line goes, or we're here to correct something that could be even worse." He rubbed his chin, then opened a prayer to Izanami. "Inari-no-Izanami, what happened here has set a very bad precedence, and harmed one of the precious Cunie of the Land. What can we do to correct this and allow for the Cunie to go free of the Summon contract?"

They looked at Bowie, waiting to see if he would get the answer. He was certainly thinking hard about it. His eyes opened wide and he shook his head. "We can't affect the Summon contract, but the Cunie at full strength is strong enough to break it himself. The two weren't going to come back. They were just going to let him die of blood loss and starvation. They've accomplished what they wanted with him."

"So they already understood it," BlackJack said bitterly.

Bowie nodded. BlackJack pulled out a healing potion and handed it over. Bowie helped the Cunie drink it, then cast another healing spell now that his own cool down was over. They stayed with the Cunie until he was able to get to his feet again. They couldn't follow him openly, but they did watch over him until he had returned to his home to make sure he got there. He would handle the rest from there.

When they were content with that, Michael walked them back through time again, but this time they arrived outside the hideout just in time to follow the two men they were coming to hate to their next destination. That was to a location outside an inn where they settled down for a stake out.

BlackJack considered for a bit, then said, "I've got a line on each of them, but perhaps we should plan on seeing things from both sides from here on."

He got agreement on that and started setting up a video screen that would travel with them. It would show up as a side view in the status screen - as if they were wearing visors and it was a vid feed to it. For now, it was empty. He would attach the line to whomever the target of their targets was.

It was another interesting interplay. This time when Shead the Sorcerer cast his PK spells on the man he wanted dead he wasn't removed from the scene, and the man went to his death in surprise and with a wail of despair. "First death in the city," muttered Bowie.

"Oh, that will be interesting, then." The two men were strutting and working on who their next target would be. As they headed that way, the four tailing them in the code realm, the video screen came to life, showing the Cathedral and a very surprised not-dead-anymore target. He was looking at his body, then at his status very carefully. He looked around the Cathedral, then got up off the alter and a very angry look came over his face. He happened to be a Monk, and now he flexed his arm, looking at his armor and a calculating look came over his face. He swore and then ran out of the Cathedral.

He headed for the place he'd come from but couldn't find the Sorcerer who had killed him. That one was now in another alley attacking another person that was pinned against a wall by a Summoned DireWolf. BlackJack added another line and the video screen split.

"Walking's getting too hard," Michael complained at that point. "Let's go sit up in the stratosphere and watch the city fall apart for a bit."

"Ah...I was about to suggest the same thing," Stiletto agreed. "It's going to get really uncomfortable here in a bit, particularly if we keep going at slow fast forward."

BlackJack nodded and they moved up to an upper room of one of the old skyscrapers that Stiletto said would be safe. They set up the usual surveillance room, keeping Shead and Prick front and center with the first man and woman killed next to them. Bowie added in views of various parts of the city where action tended to happen - like the market district and such like. No one in the City of Angles had bothered to learn how to make real food yet, so the eating district wasn't very busy unless people were finally hungry enough to force the soggy cracker food down.

Michael pointed at one solo Adventurer. "He's headed out to explore. Let's put a record line on him, too, to watch later. I want to know just how hard that part was for them. They really should have been playing in the zones a lot more than it sounds like they were."

They watched, stone-faced, as the two ne'er-do-wells picked off person after person on their hit list, then watched as those same persons were resurrected back at the Cathedral. Word got out after a bit that it wasn't death to die, but that word didn't make it back to the two causing the problems until the ones hunting them (and their friends) finally showed up to corner them.

With an angry crowd facing them down, they really didn't stand a chance in the end. It didn't end with them headed to the Cathedral, though. When they showed back up there, friends waiting for them killed them right away again. After about the fifth consecutive death and resurrection, they managed to get words out, pleading that they be allowed banishment instead of death again. They were summarily escorted out of the city and watched until they had left. Guards stood watch on the gate, arms folded, waiting to see if they would come back again.

"Well, that played out how I'd expect it to," Michael said, sitting back. He tapped a finger on his arm. "We'll follow them after we've seen how things play out here in the city. One thing at a time, I think." The others nodded. They had all the equipment set up now anyway. Michael sped up time for them again. It wasn't too different from what had happened in Adventurer cities all over, really, though that had been a hiccup to overcome. The PK Riots had been begun by that activity as others who also wanted to kill for the sake of killing did. It didn't matter anyway, right? seemed to be the prevalent feeling. The problem was that the People of the Land of the city started getting caught in the cross-fire as the Adventurers fought in the streets. Some of the more upright citizens of the city stood in their defense, and in the defense of the weaker and more frightened Adventurers, and got called Heroes by the same.

The weaker Adventurers went to those who had protected them and asked them to head guilds to continue to protect them. That worked for a while, since those Adventurers were both concerned about others, and flattered. But eventually, it became too much for them to take care of people who couldn't or wouldn't take care of themselves plus deal with being somewhere not home and trying to not fall apart themselves. The larger guilds stepped in then, wooing the Heroes. The Intel detail linked to several of the Heroes and watched what happened inside the guilds. Some of them wouldn't let in those following the Heroes, but brushed them off, then slowly used and then abused the Heroes since they were a little too willing to be helpful. Others just gave them all a place to call home.

It was all leading up to something bigger, though. The chaos in the city was just reaching a boiling point when the first Special hit it. The city wasn't prepared, and wasn't defended any more. Nearly half of the remaining People of the Land were decimated and the Adventurers were taken down in massive swaths at a time until the larger guilds got put together enough to work in concert within themselves, if not between the guilds. When the Special was finally overcome, the city sat quietly reeling for a few days.

Then the heads of the four largest guilds got together in conference. They agreed that there should be better leadership in the city and that the Adventurers should work together. That was okay until they had to get into the gritty details of necessity after enough time passed. Then it came out that one guild was very conservative and another very progressive. At the council table they butt heads constantly over proper rules, regulations, and punishments. The Eagles watched a bit sadly as one guild took it outside the council chamber and began putting out false information, terrible rumor, and outright lies to lead the people of the city to doubt their opponent's intentions and good will for everyone.

With a sigh, the Eagles watched the political conflict tear apart the city again as the unrest grew until the conservative guild - not perfect but still desiring to help everyone as best they could - left the city in disgust. The other two guilds were more quiet in comparison. The one who had won the political mud-slinging battle began to sit as the ruling body, assimilating the third guild who believed similarly enough, and then putting the burden of governance on the fourth while sitting on their laurels and taking the credit for the efforts of the fourth. That created friction and bad feelings until it came to a head at the next Special to hit the city.

The fourth guild refused to participate, even going so far as to walk out of the city and tell the top guild to handle it since they were so good at it, by their own admission. They managed to get rid of the enemies brought by the Special, but afterwards the city collapsed and they lost half of the remaining People of the Land again, mostly because they were the ones who now had to carry the Adventurers on their shoulders and they also refused. The decay and death of the city was inexorable, and then the July Fourth Special arrived in the form of the Devourer.

The Eagles watched from high above in the air as the Devourer was attacked, grew, and ate the People of the Land, the Summoned creatures, and then the Adventurers. "Why aren't the Adventurers resurrecting?" Stiletto frowned at the city below them. "It should kill them, but not prevent them from that, shouldn't it?"

The others shook their heads. The buildings weren't flattened until later, when the guilds who had left the City of Angels tried to overwhelm the Devourer with numbers and firepower, trying to hit it with large nuclear-style attacks, not caring about the city itself. They only fed it faster until it was stripping away the countryside and flowing out to overwhelm them with its flood. They lost very quickly then, and also didn't resurrect.

With a sad sigh, Michael stepped them back through time and space until they were over the city again, but it was at the time the first two men had been banished from the city. "Where are they, Bowie?" he asked, quietly grim.

Bowie pointed and they headed through space until they were over the two men. They watched in sped-up time as the two gathered to them the other PKers who were banished during that early time. They worked hard to increase their skills and then levels out in the zones, then turned north. "Headed for Frisco," Bowie said. "Going to try again."

Michael nodded. He kept them there, though. They watched as the conservative guild left the City of Angels, angry, and headed into the zones south and east. "They'll use Diego as home base for now, but not live there," Bowie said.

Stiletto looked that way, then shuddered. "Things aren't going well there at the moment, either," he agreed.

Michael considered it, then said, "I'll let you lot get the details there. Let's see what these two from the beginning do and then I'll go do my other day job. I get the feeling they're going to screw up a lot more than what they've already done."

Michael stepped them through time and space until they were over Frisco and its sister city Jose. Bowie studied the cities while BlackJack looked for his markers on their targets. "They're both still in the early chaos, but Jose has a university in it, like it did before, and there are already Adventurers headed for Hacker and Programmer there working hard on a way home," Bowie reported. That was a relief to them. They might have something to work with, then, though that would be after this recon visit. Bowie looked at Frisco. "That's going to be harder to work with. No one cares one way or the other whether they go home or not. They get to live the idle life here and seem to be content with it."

"For now," BlackJack said darkly, pointing to the south a bit. "They're arriving now."

The PK group arrived in the city, just another guild from another city. They quickly learned who was in charge and what sort of life this city was living. A few went hunting in the darker places and quietly recruited like-minded Adventurers. After enough time had passed the city didn't pay them much mind, in the dead of night, the two heads let themselves into a Cunie's house, put him to sleep, and carried him down to the place of control of the city defenses. There, they used him to take the city defenses down. Then they killed the Cunie. By morning, the PK guild had control of the city.

They didn't know how to rule a city that large, though, and hadn't taken into account Jose. Nor had they accounted for the Specials, not having lived one yet. The war that finally ended the Special and threw the PK guild out of the city took out a third of the People of the Land of that city, and since the Adventurers weren't willing in the main to admit they might be necessary, needed, and mortal, they were used up like rags until they moved down to Jose or moved out into the zones to their own cities and refused to do business with the Adventurers of Frisco.

The Adventurers of Frisco were the ones that in the main went searching by dragon over the mountain range. Some built boats, but they never went past the line of sea monsters. They didn't want to fight anything, and that meant they weren't earning gold to pay for food. They'd nearly starved themselves by the second Special. When they only came through that because the researchers in Jose had helped them out again, Jose suddenly became the hotbed of the next conflict. The Adventurers of Frisco wanted in and the Adventurers of Jose wanted them kept out. And then the July Fourth Special hit.

The Eagles watched in horror as the main boss of that Special was an Overwritten that had been programmed specifically for the area - the Fates. The Crone cast a "Cut" spell when a swath of Adventurers had been mown down by one of the Maid's spells. Watching from the edge of the realms as they were, they could see the spirits of the Adventurers suddenly stationary upon the field. Michael quickly ran through the timing then swore. "The Navigators were watching what Indicus was doing and learned the spell. It was just learned a bit before this. They must have figured out how to program an Overwritten to cast it."

"Did they program it into the Devourer as well, then?" BlackJack looked with wide eyes at Michael. Stiletto flattened himself tighter to Michael's shoulder and shuddered.

Bowie closed his eyes to the destruction going on below them as great lines of Adventurers were mown down, then prevented from resurrecting. "We'll make sure a recording of this battle goes with us. We'll have to fight them inside the Maze, won't we?"

Even Michael swallowed. "Yeah, I think that's going to take careful working out," he agreed.

With heavy hearts, they watched as even the Adventures of Jose couldn't stand against the Fates and fell until there were no remaining Adventurers in either city. "At least the city isn't flattened." Michael said. He sped time back up, just to make sure.

"I think you spoke too soon, Sir," BlackJack whispered as there was sudden darkness on the horizon coming from the south. Because time was sped up for them, it looked like a sudden tsunami as the Devourer, in wide spread 'liquid' form rushed the two cities and enveloped them. It sat there for a time, then pulled back and rose to stand a tall tower rising into the sky, larger than before. "Were there groups in hiding in the two cities?"

As Bowie's eyes went large and he looked down into Jose, he held up a hand and his mouth opened as if to warn the city but it was too late. The Devourer stepped onto the city more than into it given the size it was now, and a massive explosion went off that took out the entire city.

Again, because it hadn't been understood, instead of it destroying the Devourer, it fed it and it's size increased by a fifth again. "If any Adventurers survived the blast...," BlackJack said in soft horror.

Bowie shook his head in disbelief. "They thought they'd resurrect again. They didn't know about the ability it has to prevent it." Where Jose had been was now a gaping crater in the ground. They could tell because the Devourer was moving again, and had left it behind.

"God, that's a frightening monster," Stiletto moaned. "Even more than ghosts."

The others could only nod in agreement, for all that they'd already fought it and defeated it themselves. They were glad they hadn't had this lead-in to that series of fights or they would have given up early.

"The combination of things is just downright bad all the way around," Michael said. He turned them northward again, and stepped them back through time and space one more time. They were over Port Land and Salem this time. "This is a long way for them to have to come, but it's the only other place unless they went all the way up to Olympia."

"No, they're here," BlackJack said grimly.

"And they're here to stay. There weren't very many people online up here at that time of night," Bowie said. "It was dinner time and most people weren't playing, and there weren't as many gamers in comparison to the California gamers anyway since the population generally is lower. The last three cities were high population zones so had a higher percentage online. They're a bit more willing to go out and farm here, but look," he pointed to the numbers of people entering the city. The PKer guild had nearly doubled in size, having gained even more members in Frisco before being ousted.

Michael slumped. "I don't think I can stomach watching this much longer. I'm going to just speed it up and we'll watch the highlights."

BlackJack nodded and only connected to the market district this time. They followed the head of the PKer guild and watched what the Adventurers of the city did. For a while they fought, then finally the PKer guild was too much for most of them. Those Adventurers of Port Land who were the shadow people stayed, those who cared left and went north, likely up to Olympia. When the second Special hit the city, the PKer guild was better prepared and they managed to survive okay. They even had People of the Land left living. While they weren't kind to them, they also knew they wanted them to be around, so they weren't too overly harsh (by scale given who they were).

Still, when the Fourth of July Special came, with the anti-resurrection spells included, they couldn't stand and survive in the end. Michael time-jumped them from there, once they had the battle footage to review, to watch the Devourer arrive there as well. It only paused briefly, then moved on.

"Really, I won't be able to deal if it tries to go on up into Canada, or cut across the mountains and head inland," Michael said, his face twisting with the ill feeling in his stomach.

"Me neither," Bowie said solemnly. BlackJack and Stiletto weren't to be left out at all. Michael gave a nod. They'd watch what happened at Olympia, then interfere if there was nothing else to do, just to make sure the Devourer stayed on this side of the mountain range.

Michael stepped them up to Olympia, but to just before the Fourth of July Special. They watched as yet another boss cut down Adventurers, and still the Devourer could be seen on the horizon afterwards. Michael stepped them out into the base realm and the four Eagles waited on the field of battle, one zone south of Olympia. "Set the traps we're the bait for," he ordered calmly, then dove into the code realm. He did a thing he'd never done before, but watched Purrcy do many times. He went hunting for the code of the monster the Navigators had written. He knew they'd done it and where to look, and he was a Programmer of high level. He wasn't going to let this monster pass without being restrained any longer.

As fast as he could work in the micro level, he studied the code of the Devourer until he found the instructions on what it was to look for and kill and the area it was to affect. In the end, it was going to be too much from him, and he had to scale back a bit. Instead of looking for Adventurers to eat, he set it to look for Vengeful Spirits so that their time line wasn't messed with. The larger part of the code spell was going to be writing the boundary condition of what place it was supposed to look or wasn't supposed to look.

He finally settled on limiting it to the West U.S. Maze of Eternity. That would at least hold it still in one place, and hopefully get it to pull back from Olympia, Canada, and the rest of the United States. The "Collect Vengeful Spirit" setting was still higher, so he put in a subroutine that would test to see how far east it had gotten from the Athirds Ocean and put a distance limiter on it so that it wouldn't get into lands it shouldn't. That limiter would take precedence over the "Collect Vengeful Spirit" requirement. It was also a rather cost-intensive modification.

The purification traps were beginning to be set off when he had the spell written. "We may have to sleep here for a bit," he warned his men. They gave terse nods and stood to defend him, purification weapons at the ready. He waited for the build-up of the spell to get high enough, watching as the mass of the Devourer tried to reach for him and was repelled by the determined Intelligence detail. His countdown ended and he cast the spell, wrappered in protective spells in case the code on the Devourer had been trapped, with a drill on the front edge in case it had been protected too well. He watched the spell in the code realm as it sped along to its intended destination. The drill slid through the barriers like butter and the base code of the Devourer was rewritten, relieving him to no end.

He returned his attention to the base realm to find that Bowie had put up a plant bower over them, reinforced with Purification from Stiletto. They watched as the Devourer paused, then resolidified into one mass and began moving southward again, slowly because of its mass, but gone from them in a short amount of time because of its size. They sank to the ground under the overgrowth that Bowie was reinforcing with one more plant growth spell.

"I'll take first watch," BlackJack said. "I'm still too mad to fall asleep."

Michael nodded tiredly, curled up on the ground, and was asleep soon after. He'd used up a lot with all that time and space walking, dragging all three with him, and then that spell. He could only hope they hadn't messed things up horribly, but he'd done the best he could to hold to the instructions he knew the Devourer had followed since they'd arrived.

He also in the deeper parts of his soul hoped they hadn't caused the problem to be worse than it needed to be by acting later than they could have. That was the problem with time travel the way he knew it. Unless he could see himself acting, like he did that time when he'd taken Brian to be the bait, and which only happened occasionally outside the chaotic Gate of Time, he could never know. Stiletto's brand of time walking was probably the better one, the way he'd described it, but that wasn't his specialty and Stiletto was still locked down.

-:-:-:-:-

"Really, Izanami, I'm not going to be able to do all this by myself," Michael was arguing aloud, pleading in prayer if one considered his station in relation to the one he was talking to, but it didn't come out that way very well most of the time. "You've got to at least give Stil the ability to time walk back with the other two so I can can go inside the mountain range and check on the other cities. It's going to take up more than I've got otherwise. Please." The last was tacked on as he recalled what his station was.

"What he said, please," Stiletto said, startling Michael. "I promise, I'll just go back and forth within a single city, and not in complex ways. Just simple getting us to the past where we need to be and watching in fast forward like we've already done. And when we're ready to implement the plans, I'll only go where and when we need to get things done right." He tried for more humility on his part. He was even lower on that totem pole, after all.

Bowie and BlackJack played the game this time as well and bowed to the ground. "Please, Izanami."

There was the sense of a deep sigh and then Stiletto could suddenly see time again. He wasn't allowed to move at the moment, but that was enough. He gave a satisfied nod to Michael and bowed to the ground. "Thank you, Izanami. I promise to not create havoc. I know how dangerous that realm is." The others politely thanked the Game Bot as well and the pressure let up in the emergency Druid hut.

"Thanks," Michael said. "Get enough sleep?"

"Yes, thank you," Stiletto answered politely. It had been interrupted by the pressure increase, but not overly much so. They'd done overlap rotations by half hours until they'd all gotten a full hour of sleep in. They'd let Michael sleep the longest, though, since he'd been doing the most work, and was an old man so needed his beauty sleep. They'd only tease him with that later once they were in recall mode with everyone else, though. Now was not the time for that.

Stiletto pulled out what was one of his thinning meals and began to down it. "Commander," he said between mouthfuls, "we're going to need to get into the stores of the Ocean Wanderer soon. I'm about out."

Michael raised an eyebrow at him, then glanced to Bowie and BlackJack. They took quick inventory, then nodded agreement. Michael sighed. "I'll tell them to resupply, though it will probably have to happen after we get back with our reports. I might have to ask for the next concession to be that we can all leave the Maze and have it stay in the state it's in right now. We've got a lot of things to be doing, getting oceanside to check on that included." He put food down his gullet for a while, then wrinkled his nose. "Of course, Izanami being what she is and doing what she's been doing to Purrcy for the last half year almost, likely doesn't care that we need to rest and recharge, too. I refuse to go to splitting myself into parts, though. That won't work for me." He scowled just to make his point.

Stiletto agreed. They were already doing too much as it was, really, when it came down to it. None of them needed to add in any more crazy stuff like that. He nodded at the same time his compatriots did, all underscoring Michael's point. It was getting nearly pointless to try to "train" the Game Bot, though, particularly now that they understood better just what it was and how futile to reach its level. That got him down a bit, which wasn't what he wanted either. "Wish I could play some of my tunes right about now," he complained instead.

"Then play them," Bowie raised an eyebrow at him. "I've had my playlist up since I learned we could access the internet database."

Stiletto paused his eating long enough to stare open mouthed at Bowie. "No shit." He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of it before and headed in to do just that with a fifth of his brain while he finished eating. He decided he was going to live life to background music from now on. Good fights needed an undercurrent of epic music under them to get the blood flowing just right, and he'd been missing it anyway - real modern music of his own flavor.

After the meal they quickly took turns taking care of business and standing guard duty, then met for orders to be passed out. "Okay. I'll go north and check out Olympia," Michael said, "then I'll head inland and come down the other side of the region. I'm going to pop over and pick up backup, though. That's a lot of Adventurer cities if they're all up and running. I'd much rather only visit each city once. I'll be months at it if I'm lucky enough to find them all home." They nodded, understanding.

"Stil, you get the lot of you back down to Diego and data gather, then on down across the border. See if you can figure out why Mexico won't let the Adventurers cross the border. I'm going to check and see if that's on the north border, too. If it's just because U.S. Adventurers bring Overwritten trouble, I think we can clear that up and get into them in our present and future. If it's trust issues we'll need to know how to plan that in."

Michael paused a bit, then added, "I've been thinking pretty hard about the full schedule. I'm hoping Leonardo is already here on this side somewhere and getting started. Even so, with the three U.S. servers, the three Canadian servers, the Central American server, and the three on the South content, we've got a lot of work to do. Add in all that territory for both Overwritten and demihuman purification and that's a lot more ground than we can cover in short order."

Michael shook his head. "Given what we've seen so far - and the extremely limiting amount of foodstuffs available here on this coast - we're going to have to keep it all as short as possible. We're going to have to pull in as many of the Adventurers as we can to help us on those last two projects, and maybe even train a special group to handle the southern servers while we head inland." He frowned. "Well, we'll discuss it in the full council, but I'm thinking either that group that left the City of Angels, or if you can spot a good group from out of Diego, plus whomever we can round up from the south part of the Western region. I think we may want the central and northern part of the region's volunteers to go east with us." He feel silent, brooding on the issues again.

"Well, I agree that shorter is better," Bowie said, more to keep the Commander from getting depressed again, Stiletto suspected. "You going to take Nav with you?"

Michael came out of his brood and shook his head. "I need him right where he is to anchor the return. I'm taking P/R. He's got the right words and knows the spiel. I'll be the silent strong type to back him up as necessary."

"What about the Lieutenant Commander, or Brenner?" BlackJack tentatively offered after a bit. "Two to watch your back is better than one."

"Harder to carry around, too," Michael's look went sour. They knew if Reed pushed the issue Michael would take one of the two other watchdogs with him. That would have to be enough. They weren't high enough level to force it, even if there were three of them who were in agreement at the moment. They gave nods acknowledging the orders and Bowie took down the plant hut. They saluted Michael, and he gave them a nod, turned, and disappeared as he stepped through both time and space. Stiletto could only see that initial movement and then he was too far away to follow.

Stiletto put his hands on each shoulder standing next to him on either side. "Right. Off we go." He held on tightly as he stepped through space only first. He wanted to let Izanami know he was really going to hold to his promise. They reached a position over the silent city of Diego. It wasn't slag at the moment, which was interesting, but they needed to get to this point still. He stepped them back through time to that city's beginning, and they set up shop and got to work.

-:-:-:-:-

Sergeant Major LeftField (game name, real title), most experienced military person present in Diego, lifted his head as intelligence reports suddenly were running past his ears. He listened for a bit, then ordered, "Bring them in. If they're being that obvious, they're looking for a meeting." He scanned his desk, made sure nothing of importance was where anyone could see it, and relaxed back in his chair to wait for his guests to arrive.

While every city on the west coast of the U.S. had bases for pretty much all the branches of the military, he'd been the oldest and most experienced online in Diego when the catastrophe had hit. Everyone across the board had agreed to work together, rather than try to stay separated by military branch.

There were actually a lot of young military in Diego, population percentage-wise. Almost all of them were young unmarrieds who hadn't cared that the new release was at dinner time. They could eat pizza while sitting in front of their PCs just fine. He personally had been trying to not think about the fact he was single (still), and had just been dumped by his latest girlfriend. He'd been too busy to care since being stolen away to Theldesia (still a very hard thing for any American to believe was a reality). Busy suited him just fine.

His training as a Marine Sergeant Major helped him quite a lot in leading everyone to fulfill useful tasks - at least in the Military Guild they'd put together. He was pretty sure there were junior officers mixed in with the guild, but they'd cast their vote to hold their tongues and let him run things. He supposed he should be grateful they were willing to let experience trump Earth's commissions. It wasn't the most popular guild in the city, but they'd made everyone else shape up and step in line since they were the first and still almost only guild that was right in their element. The few other fighting guilds were just as happy to fall in line, as long as their voices could be heard. That wasn't hard, either, since LeftField was just as happy to let the guildmasters have their say. The hard part was the guilds and solos who wouldn't play nice and kept trying to undermine everything he was trying to do.

The intelligence on these three newcomers with an unknown guild name and wearing historic U.S. military uniforms only said that they were super high level, and that they were openly asking around for any known military Adventurers in town. That was only enough to get suspicious and make his stomach clench in worry that yet another bully guild had shown up. He was getting a bit tired of that though, so he really did want to wish that they were here for nicer ulterior motives. He breathed belly-deep breaths to calm his stomach down. It wasn't possible to get ulcers here, but sometimes he thought he might have them anyway.

A perfunctory knock came at his door in his office in the Guild Hall and the door was opened to let the three men in. He read their status screens quickly, knowing they were doing the same as they entered and stopped in front of his desk. He was a bit unhappy with the sum of their Classes. The stockiest was a Druid, which wasn't too bad, LeftField supposed, but his Avatar was the most hard-bitten, so as to even be a scarred on the jaw. The two didn't go together, so things were already off with that much. The tallest, who looked like a mafia boss, was a Sorcerer. He looked like he wasn't afraid to PK at the drop of a hat. The smallest was an oddity, and the hardest Class to take at the moment, being an Assassin. He was an oddity because he was dark skinned, but he sparkled. LeftField wasn't used to Adventurers sparkling. Most disappointing was the fact that all three of them were named for famous weapons of assassination. It didn't look good from the start.

He should try anyway, he supposed. He folded his hands on his desk in front of him. "I hear you've been asking for real military personnel?" He stayed calm and cool.

"Yes," BlackJack answered. "We'd seen the guild name and wondered if it was really truth or just the fiction of this place."

"It's truth. We banded together after being dragged here." There wasn't a reason to lie.

"Everyone?" Stiletto asked.

"Yes. Everyone in Diego. I was just highest on the totem so got the post of guildmaster. What can I do for you?" LeftField went with the assumption that "everyone" meant all military in town.

"We've got several jobs to pass along to all the Adventurers, but we were hoping you would be point person on one specific one," BlackJack said.

LeftField raised an eyebrow at that. "Why should I consider it?"

"Because all of them are part of us getting home," Stiletto said soberly.

Bowie shifted, moving to stand at rest attention, hands clasped behind his back. LeftField couldn't help but react positively, though he stayed sober and sharp. "Sergeant Major, we're not in your guild, nor your branch of military, but we're all working for the same goal. Will you listen to what we have to tell you? Then you'll be able to make a better decision."

Given that complete strangers knew things like that, LeftField decided he'd better listen. Then he'd know if they needed to toss them out fast or faster.

-:-:-:-:-

Wesson Browning frowned at the three men standing in front of him. They'd accosted him as he was walking from the privy to the manor house. He and his guild had taken over the "dude ranch" and made it home. It was too bad it had just a bit too much flavor text to it and didn't have in-house bathrooms. Other than that it hadn't been too bad. Allowing for such interruptions to happen was highly inconvenient, however. At least they hadn't spread out to surround him. That would have been a dead giveaway they were really bad news.

He had a sudden moment of a line of a Riders in the Sky song come to him: "I saw three painted horses, three dark skinned men, With masks made of clay and voices like wind Singing: we seek the soul of all that is good. We come bearing corn, water, and wood. Stop and behold all that is good. Give thanks for the corn, water, and wood."*

Wesson drew in a breath, blinked, and returned to the present. He'd picked Elf, for all that he was really just a cowboy and that was perhaps an odd race for such a thing, but he'd thought that even in the U.S. of A. they were both tied to the land. He might prefer his rifle to a bow and arrow, but this wasn't a game where that was an option, so it was just as good. Besides, he knew how to kill an antelope both ways. It had been an odd side effect to have started to get odd little visions, being an Elf in this place as well as the guildmaster of his guild. If that was just one of those little clues, he might not be in as much trouble as his first instincts said he might be.

He looked at the three again one more time, waiting for them to speak up. "Well?"

He got small smiles from them for that. "We'd like to negotiate on behalf of another party for your guild to pick up a quest," the tallest one said. Wesson's eyes flicked to see his status screen. He liked the name. Bowie was a well made knife.

"I'm listening," he said. The more they talked, the more he liked what he was hearing. Here was something worth doing - finally. When they were done talking, he invited them to come into the house. He'd thought they were following him in, but when he turned to let them through the door, there was no one in the yard. He blinked and stared, wondering if it had been real.

He was hit with a continuation of the song he'd heard when he first met them: "I'm an old trail hound and I've always believed Your boots and your saddle are all that you leave. No miracles happen, no angels appear, But I swear three men were standing there... Singing: we seek the soul of all that is good. We come bearing corn, water, and wood. Stop and behold all that is good. Give thanks for the corn, water, and wood."

Wesson bowed his head and prayed a quick thanks to his God, then turned and strode into the manor with purpose. "Hey everyone, gather up. We've been given a quest for hope."

* * *

* _Corn, Water, and Wood,_ Riders in the Sky, 1999.


	185. Idaho

Michael stepped out of the realms into Twin Falls, Idaho. He let go of P/R and Brenner and sat down on the grass. He was rather tired already. They'd found Olympia dead and Vancouver too quiet. The two cities had been too close together and the Overwritten had moved north across the region boundary. Boise, Idaho, was the next largest Adventurer city over the mountain range. There were a few smaller ones in west Washington area, but they'd been mostly empty as well.

They were all hoping that the July Fourth Special wasn't country-wide. Somehow they'd thought it might be restricted to the west coast, but so far it wasn't looking good. Boise had been empty, too. They were now holding on to a prayer that it was at most region-wide. To have had the entire nation decimated by Overwritten who knew how to really kill Adventurers seemed somehow insane.

Twin Falls was a secondary city in size in comparison to Boise, but they needed to stop at them all. He'd put them down outside the city in a pretty spot that looked out over the Snake River. Since they'd been constantly hopping, Michael needed to stop and really rest for a bit regardless, and he didn't need to see yet another empty city right at the moment. He was still trying to heal, after all, and all this emptiness that spoke death wasn't helping since it was a mirror for what he was trying to not feel inside. He took in a deep breath, leaned back on his hands, and looked up at the blue sky.

"Howdy," a voice said from behind them. P/R and Brenner spun around and Michael's head whipped around as well. They stared at the Adventurer who was standing with one hand on her hip, her twin blond braids hanging down over her shoulders. Her cowboy hat sat back on her head and her jeans and boots went nicely with her figure and her red plaid shirt. They just stared at her for a while until she finally tipped her head at them impatiently.

"Ah...sorry," Brenner finally got out. "For all we've been hoping to run into someone, we're rather surprised to."

A slow smile crept on her face, though it didn't get too large. "Yeah, that about sums it up, don't it? We're one of the last hold-outs. Most of Boise that survived came down here, so we're pretty full up, but if Adventurers is what you've been lookin' for, you've found some."

"It is, and we can't tell you how relieved we are," P/R answered her. "The entire west coast got eaten."

Her smile disappeared as she went sober. "Not good, but not surprisin' neither. Yer lookin' rather tuckered out. Need a place to stay?"

Michael finally recovered enough to stand back up and dust off. "Yes, please," P/R said. "We can pay, and we won't stay long. We just have a message to pass on to everyone."

The Adventurer blinked, then gave a nod. "All right. Come along, then. Outside Adventurers got stories to tell, and the top will want to hear them. We'll at least feed you for that."

"Sounds good," Brenner said. The Adventurer paused just long enough to look into his milky eyes as if not quite sure if they were part of his avatar or not. It was hard to tell since he could see people in the spirit realm, so looked at them properly.

As they walked towards the city wall, Michael said, "At the risk of being offensive, you're one of the ones that got forcibly cross-gendered on the transfer, aren't you?"

The perky freckled nose wrinkled up. "Yes," their guide admitted a bit unhappily. "Not many girls played _Elder Tales_."

"Well, not in the States," Michael agreed. "Not when the siren call of social media was the stronger one for them."

The cowboy-turned-cowgirl nodded agreement, then shrugged. "It's been odd, but alright, I guess."

The Eagles glanced at each other. Things hadn't been as hard here in quiet Idaho, then. "Have you heard from Pocatello and Idaho Falls?" Michael asked.

He got a shake of the head. "Idaho Falls was too close to the Yellowstone zone, and surrounded on almost all sides, making it a sitting duck bowl. They fled to Pocatello which doubled their number. They've been holding out there, bottle-necking that same bowl, which was a better position. We have regular trade and communications with them, but there's been talk about migrating both cities on down into Utah. Not so much commitment to that just yet, though." He flashed them a glance, but it looked like he didn't expect them to understand. Since they didn't, they didn't comment on it.

"That's pretty good, to have trade and communication with them," P/R congratulated them. It was better than not venturing out of the city, that was for sure. "How bad are the Overwritten?"

"Not so much any more," came the answer. "We finally figured out how to get them to not come back anymore." The Eagles reserved judgment on that one. It could have been the Eagle's efforts on the moon that did that, being coincidental to what they had tried. "That's one of the reasons to migrate, actually, but I should let the top tell it all to you." They were inspected again, from the corner of his eye. "You came from the west coast, then?"

"We've come by way of there," Michael agreed casually.

That answer was considered as they passed through the city gate. The Eagles looked around with great interest. Boise had been damaged, though not obliterated. It looked like Twin Falls had been under attack a few times, but where Adventurers were living was in repair for the most part. There were also the smells of real food in the air. That was a first in a while. "Is there enough food that we could resupply?" Michael asked almost as soon as his saliva got going.

That won them another small smile. "Yeah, though it will cost a pretty penny. It's a lot of effort to collect it all."

Brenner frowned a bit. "Do the People of the Land grow it and sell it in town?"

Their guide turned his head away from them. After a bit of a pause, he said, "As I said, at this point it's probably best to leave questions and answers up to your next appointment."

The three kept sharp eyes out for the tenor of the city and the people in it, given that answer. What few People of the Land they did see were rather timid and held to the shadows. There seemed to be some tension among the Adventurers, but there wasn't any open confrontation going on. There were a lot of Adventurers in town, too, as they'd been told.

When they weren't taken to the Guild Hall, they glanced at each other again, unsure as to why. They'd seen it and the Cathedral as they'd passed through the market district - set somewhat close to the gates. Instead, they turned nearly immediately east out of the market district and were headed out a ways from that part of the city. A right took them down another street. A few blocks down the street was a park-like area with two buildings set on it. One was tall and white. The other was brick and looked like it had been fixed up after the catastrophe, like most buildings had been by the Adventurers when they wanted to inhabit them.

Brenner was having troubles not letting his jaw drop a bit as they passed the white building and continued on for the other one. "Umm, that's one of the temples, isn't it?" he finally asked. Michael looked at him quizzically, then looked at the building again from the boundary of the spirit realm. It was just as solid and white in that realm as well, surprising him.

Their guide glanced at the building, then Brenner. "Yeah." He wasn't going to say anything more than that, it seemed.

"Why's it not in the same state of disrepair the rest of the buildings are - I mean like as in the flavor text of all Adventurer cities from that time?" P/R asked, puzzled.

They got a sharp shrug. "It wasn't in the game."

That got widened eyes from all three. "You guys _built_ it?" Brenner burst out with.

That got a laugh. "No, though they probably would have if there were enough of them to do it." He shook his head. "Just let them tell you," he suggested strongly. The three settled down to it. They were already there, anyway.

Their guide walked them into the building and around to an office. He knocked on the door and after a few seconds it was opened from the inside. "May I help you?"

Their guide pointed with his thumb. "These are from outside. They arrived just a bit ago up by the river. They've got questions and a message. Thought they should start with you."

The man smiled a kind smile. "Thank you for bringing them." He got a curt nod and the Eagles got a farewell and their guide disappeared back the way they'd come. "Please come in."

They walked into the small office and took the offered chairs, P/R helping Brenner find his chair since small physical things like that were a bit harder for him to make out. Michael was rather grateful to find the chairs were comfortable. He hoped he didn't fall asleep. He'd snore for sure, and he wanted to hear the story. It looked like it might be interesting, since it was a city still standing in their nearly-present time.

P/R started, since it was his role to. "Thank you for seeing us. We do have something we'd like to let all the Adventurers in the city know, and perhaps a few quest requests for them to consider. Before we do that, though, we'd like to know what's happened here since the catastrophe and get a sense for how things are going. We'd like to know how hard an audience we'll have."

The man in front of them looked at them closely, then said, "Would you mind if I invited my councilors to join us?" They shook their heads, not minding at all. "Then I'll tell you what happened here while they're on their way." He took a moment to conference chat, then returned his attention to them.

"I'd guess that early on it was like it was anywhere. Everyone was confused, and worried, and got depressed unless they had friends to hold on to, and even then it was hard. We heard that in Boise there were fights, but they were five times our number then. We only had a few hundred at most so there wasn't much point to fighting, though some did have to let off steam. Mostly we got to work trying to figure out what had happened and how to live here."

They inspected his status screen while he talked. His screen name was BillyBoy, but he hadn't introduced himself yet and for some reason it seemed he might not be going by his screen name. He also wasn't guilded, which was interesting since he seemed to be in the position of a guildmaster and city leader. He was a Bard, though that also didn't seem to fit him particularly since he felt like a Guardian.

"The first Special came and we all rallied around and took care of it, but since we weren't prepared we lost some of the People of the Land. That came as rather a shock, actually, that they could die for real." The Eagles nodded sympathetically. "We took better care of them after that, though we hadn't mistreated them before. We just hadn't known they could die. It was that Special that let us know we couldn't die, too. Everyone who'd gone out to farm had been careful to get back here before death before that. It was rather relieving, actually, since most everyone wants to go back home if we can. We'd rather not die here." They understood that, too. It was pretty universal, even if someone wanted to stay on Theldesia.

"When the second Special came through, we got the People of the Land inside and protected and took care of it properly. It was tough, and a bit irritating, but it wasn't too bad." BillyBoy frowned. "It was the Overwritten that kept popping up that were worst, though. We had to keep beating them back into the monster zones. We set up regular patrols. It was one of our Priests who finally got tired of whacking at one that cast out the Overwritten from the monster and it actually went. That was a bit surprising, but it kept working so he taught it to the rest of us."

The man paused, "Ah...that is, we of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had banded together fairly early on to hold regular Sunday church services and to give each other moral support. We are a volunteer lay clergy from the age of twelve. We've got a few Teachers - that's the fourteen and fifteen year olds - about two hands-full of Priests - that's the sixteen through about eighteen year olds - and the rest of us are Elders, who hold the higher priesthood."

"That Priest came back and let the rest of us know what he'd done. One of us always goes out with each patrol now that we've got the numbers of Overwritten controlled, though not many come now. We've got a few raids out now making sure we've cleaned out as many as possible as far as we can reasonably get. We're pretty sure they stayed in zones near the Adventurer cities. There's a multi-raid group out on the yearly quest right now that are trying the same on the demihumans. There just aren't enough of us to keep them under control if we can't add in something to slow them down. So far we're hearing positive reports."

Michael blinked. They were already taking care of two of the four quests - in an odd but very familiar (now) way. And not because of the Inari, either, by the sound of it. Brenner leaned forward just a bit. "Do they use clerical spells of Theldesia to cast out the Overwritten? We've been calling that Purification."

BillyBoy shook his head. "No. We use the priesthood conferred on us when we were ordained back on Earth." He considered a bit. "I suppose it could be considered a purification, but it's not a spell. It's using the authority of God, with faith that He'll answer our request."

Brenner almost glowed. He'd found company, even if they were of a different church. Before it could go to a theological discussion, Michael put a restraining hand lightly on Brenner's arm. "What happened when the July Fourth Special came? It wiped out every city on the west coast."

BillyBoy nodded. "It took out most of Boise, too, and enough of us." He paused to take a breath. It looked like it had been a hard time and his expression went from one of open friendliness to a harder look: the kind of look that people who have to make hard decisions wear. "We worked hard to get rid of the Overwritten but they were taking out too many of us. If all of us died, then we wouldn't be here to help keep everyone protected generally. We fell back here to the temple grounds. Eventually all the remaining Adventurers in the city joined us here. The Overwritten couldn't cross onto the dedicated ground. We were able to eventually get rid of them all, but only if we didn't cross that boundary. That took us down to less than one hundred total Adventurers." He was very sober.

"When the group from Boise got here, they were rather overwhelming in number and not so willing to work hard to eat. We've been trying to protect the People of the Land who live here, but the Adventurers of Boise tease and aren't so kind, so the People of the Land are afraid. We aren't enough to keep them protected like we would like to, though the Adventurers back down if we show up to scold them. There's a temple in Boise, too, but they didn't learn what we did here at that Special. They aren't the numbers they were up there, but they're enough. We were glad to have our ranks increased by the members of the church from up there, so we're enough now to fill the patrols and go on the raids." He shook his head, then looked up at a knock on the door. "If you'll let them in please?" he asked P/R.

P/R rose to his feet and opened the door. Two more men came in the room. One was an Enchanter, the other a Kannagi. BillyBoy made the introductions and everyone settled again. BillyBoy got the two new men caught up. "If you'd be willing to tell us your story, now?" he asked the Eagles.

P/R leaned forward a bit, but before he could get started, Brenner sent a private chat message to both him and Michael, " _I think we can tell them where we really came from. These will keep it secret and not be worried._ " Michael wasn't so sure. Brenner hesitated, then added, " _God is a God of Truth. If they really are true believers, I don't think it would be wise to lie. We don't have to tell them everything, but I do think telling them where the quest requests really come from would be a good thing to do - that is from Shiroe. Not so sure they'd react well to knowing about the Inari. Most believers wouldn't._ " Michael gave a nod at that reasoning and level of openness.

P/R smoothly opened. "We're actually on a quest ourselves to learn just what happened here in the Western Hemisphere. We're American military that were stationed over in Japan." That was enough to get surprised blinks from the three. "We'd rather that not be made common knowledge, that much, but it looks like you lot are trying very hard. Not everyone is." They agreed soberly with that. "I don't know if you've heard of the gamer Shiroe of the Debauchery Tea Party. He was their strategist, and is considered a Master Strategist and was titled the Archmage by the game when he got here he's been playing for so long." It looked like one of them had heard of him perhaps, or at least the Tea Party.

"His goal is to find the way home for everyone, or at least those who want to go back home, since there are some who don't want to. He's being helped by someone who has access to the computer database we came over here with." Eyes got wide and only got wider as P/R continued. "We've been given the quest to pass on the quests that will get us home. You're already doing two of them, we're happy to hear, and perhaps three. One of them is to rid the entire planet of Overwritten. The second one is to purify the matter the demihumans are made out of, without completely wiping out all the useful ones - just get them to a reasonable level that the People of the Land can manage so they can live without us if we go home. It sounds like you've about got those two accomplished for your area, which is perfect."

P/R paused to gauge his listeners. "The third quest is to get everyone living peacefully together. We'd like to not have conflict between Adventurers. Shiroe put it this way: 'I would prefer that we learn to coexist peaceably with this world and with one another, for only in that way can all have the best potential for the best life they can provide for themselves - here or at home'."

At that, the man who'd recognized the name sat up. "Ah! That's where it's from. You remember I brought that package back?" He looked at the other two men with him, and they got lights of understanding in their eyes.

BillyBoy looked back at them curiously. "You're from him? You're following that message?"

P/R nodded. "We're glad you've seen that one. Have you seen the second one yet?" He pulled out the second seed and held it on his palm. They looked at it curiously and shook their heads. He played it for them, allowing them to hear the quest requests that P/R had added at the end of the Adventurer's Creed for their purposes this trip.

BillyBoy held out his hand in request for the seed. P/R handed it over. BillyBoy looked at it, a bit misty-eyed, then looked at his two councilors. They nodded at him soberly. "Really, I believe you're the answer to our prayers," he said quietly. "Thank you for coming today." He swallowed and looked up at the three Eagles. "We're used to persecution, at least in our history. It's been hard to live it again." He paused. "We three have received inspiration - revelation from God - that it's time for us to head down south to Salt Lake City, where the headquarters of the church is. The rest of the city doesn't want us to go. We've sent out the patrols as part of our compromise with them - that they'll let us leave once there isn't anything to threaten them any more."

He set the seed down on the desk and took a breath again. "We don't expect them to let us go even after that, though. When they ask us about the next Special we can't promise them anything. They're terrified if we go and another Special happens anywhere near as bad as the last one - or heaven forbid worse - they'll all die, though they could come here to the temple grounds and wait it out. We're just not sure that would be sufficient, though." He glanced at his councilors again. "We've suggested they can come with us, and some might, but most want to stay here. This is closest to home and they're just as worried about the trip. They made it here, but they lost some along the way, fleeing as fast as they could go. The city council argues the issues regularly now, and some are putting pressure on us outside those meetings to shut up and give up."

He shook his head slowly. "When God tells us to move, we move. We've been praying for help in getting free, and for knowledge to help us know how to help the city let us go peaceably." He looked at the seed in front of him. "We don't have any problem with what was said, and we'd love to do what we can to help everyone get home, since we'd love to get home, too, though we should stop in Salt Lake and learn what we're supposed to learn there first." His eyes went to them again. "What can we do to help you help us?"

The three Eagles gave him small smiles. "As he said, you've already done quite a lot of it," Michael said in his voice that calmed young men who were under too much pressure and stress. "If you'll hear the rest of what P/R has to say, I think you'll get the answers to that question."

The three men listened very closely to P/R as he gave them the quest request to go with them to repair the remaining U.S. Mazes of Eternity and explained how to wrap up the rest of the quests - by allowing them to speak to all the Adventurers of the city. If they could be believed, the Adventurers of the city shouldn't have any problems with letting them go. They hoped that wasn't too big an "if".

-:-:-:-:-

Michael, Brenner, and P/R walked down the main street of Twin Falls. They shopped as they went, glad they'd picked up plenty of gold in the last several Mazes of Eternity. Things were indeed expensive when compared to prices in Yamato. Michael would have liked to have purchased enough for the sub-guild as a whole - and he did on a few items - but really that was prohibitive when they could farm perhaps better than most in the area.

As they went, they listened to the rumors and asked questions of the Adventurers and shop keepers, collecting the information they needed. When they felt they had at least a rudimentary feeling for the city they headed for the Guild Hall. There, they dropped off what gold they didn't need to be carrying around with them, and a few items each to make it look like they'd been out in the zones for a while. They'd decided it wasn't time yet to teach the Adventurers here about recursion in the lists, particularly since there wasn't a manufacturing facility for the boxes.

As they turned away from the desk they were stopped by a half alv and a burly wolf-fang. "Visiting the city?" the half alv, a Swashbuckler, was trying for casual. He had ulterior motivations that didn't help his case, but they were fishing so they rolled with it.

"Yup," P/R said. "Nice place. Like the view over the river, too."

"Sure is pretty," the wolf-fang agreed. He was a Samurai, though his clothing choices weren't typical for that Class, being more casual modern. Both men were wearing good grade clothing and equipment, showing their willingness to work to earn them either before the catastrophe or since. They weren't slouches in the levels, though they were still only in the lower single-digit hundreds. Most of the city was around that at the highest, save a few who were up near or just over one hundred ten. Most of those they'd seen in the city looked rather meek for well advanced Adventurers. They had their suspicions about that, but for now weren't in a hurry to confirm it. Right now was merely observation time. "Our guildmaster was hoping you'd come talk to him," the invitation was finally offered.

"Well, we were hoping to talk to the city council as a whole, actually," P/R answered casually. "We'd like to just tell the story once and be done. We need to move on soon."

"Just passing through?" the half alv raised an eyebrow.

The three nodded, "We have business in every city - the same business - and we'd like to get to it, if you know where we can find the council?" P/R asked politely.

The half alv stepped away to quietly chat while the wolf-fang kept up the chatter to keep them around and occupied. When the half alv returned, he invited them up to the top floor office. They were let into one guild's office and introduced to the guildmaster there. It was obvious he was used to leading people and being followed. They'd played this game with the Master Strategist though and were able to keep the conversation limited to exactly what they were willing to let out to this filter to getting into the council as a whole. It still seemed like he was reluctant to let them talk to the council, so they fell back on what they really wanted to do: "Well, if the council heads are busy, that's okay, really we just want to offer a few quests to the Adventurers as a whole. We'd like permission to hold a general announcement out in the square."

Eyes were narrowed at them. "It's not proselytizing, is it?"

They blinked back. "Ah...no?"

"You're not with the Mormon group?"

"No," P/R shook his head, denying it. "We were picked up outside of town by one of the guards and taken there first. That's not what we were looking for, though. They sent us back here."

The guildmaster relaxed a bit and considered them and their request. "I guess if it really is just quest requests, everyone's entitled to hear it and decide if they want to take them on or not."

Michael nodded agreement as P/R expressed his thanks and got them extricated from the room. The half alv and the wolf-fang escorted them back down, though, and tailed them after they'd said their goodbyes. The three didn't let it bother them - just added it to their observation notebooks.

They set up in the city square, finding a place where larger boulders were set near a tree. P/R climbed up on the rocks and Michael and Brenner got people's attention from farther out, asking them to come and listen. Once it looked like they had gotten the most they could get in the area, P/R cast his voice amplification spell on himself.

"Hello everybody," he said, his voice echoing really throughout most of the populated part of the city, since he'd modified the spell to let everyone in the city hear what he had to say. "We're glad to see the city of Twin Falls full of life and Adventurers. We've come from the west coast which isn't, sad to say. We've been tasked with finding Adventurers willing to help out with a few world-level quests. If you could spare us a few minutes of your time to hear what they are, please, and consider if you'd be willing to help us out. The final payout is one I think that all of you might be interested in."

P/R paused to make sure he really did have as much attention as he could get. "We've been in contact with people on the other side of Theldesia who are working really hard to get us back home to Earth. In order for that to happen, they've been told what has to be fixed here on this planet. Since it's planet-wide, we need as much help as possible - even if you might not specifically want to get home. Those who don't want to go home won't have to, but it will help us to have your help in getting the quests done." He had some very interested people listening to him now.

"You all know about the Overwritten. They're pests and really annoying, not to mention pains in the butt. That's one of the quests. They have to be completely eliminated from off of Theldesia." He held up his hand at the murmurs that started up at that. "We've already found their home base and cut them off. All that's left are the ones that were let out before we got there. Once they've all been hunted down, we're in the clear on that quest. We just have to find all of them, which is a rather massive undertaking. That's why we're recruiting as many Adventurers as possible to help with that hunt. The sooner we all take them down, the sooner we can move forward on getting home."

P/R held up one finger, then let a second one flick out as he spoke. "That's quest one. Quest two is kind of similar and can be done at the same time. That's to rebalance what the flavor text of the Ruquinjé did to unbalance the demihuman to People of the Land ratios. Purification of the matter the demihumans are made out of restores the proper balance. However, they're also what we farm and harvest to get the drops we need. So, we're asking for people to calculate which ones really need to be taken out and let those who are needed live. We don't need them completely gone, just a balance restored."

"If you don't know how to purify, or don't have a weapon of purification, we can bless weapons for you that you can use. There's a bonus with that one. If you've got a cursed weapon and we bless it, for every demihuman purified the cursing is erased by a small percent. If you've got a favorite weapon you can't use anymore because the flavor text went real, now you'll be able to again if you use it specifically for this quest."

The crowd muttered in surprised approval for that one. It was a universal problem for Adventurers, after all. "We've been asked to make sure that all the Adventurers are still playing nicely with each other while we're out on this quest of quest requests. So, we'd just like to remind everyone that we all paid to play _Elder Tales._ Just like we all got along when it was on the other side of the PC screen, we'd like to remind you to please continue to play nice, and be responsible adults as much as possible. There are people working to get us home, and there are people who care everywhere. Please let your best natures be what rule your actions and words."

P/R paused and considered the crowd. "There won't be any more Specials. That got done away with when we were handed the world level quests. The game system wants us to focus on those quests so that its own goals are met. There will be one final boss battle we'll have to fight, down at the root of the World Tree. You'll need to find where your region's entrance to the World Tree is. When the battle is announced, they want every Adventurer to show up for it. We'll be fighting for our right to have the freedom to do what we want to do - the freedom that was taken away when we were stolen from Earth and brought here without even being asked if we would want to. As I said, you won't have to go home. We're fighting for the right to choose to stay or go. Please keep that in the back of your minds and come help us in that fight."

P/R waved his hand at Michael and Brenner below him. "We'll be here until tomorrow morning, answering questions about the quests and blessing weapons. We've still got a lot of ground to cover, but we'll stay that long. Please help us in whatever way you feel you can. Thank you." He crouched down, but stayed up on the rock, waiting to see if there would be any questions. When the questions died down, the three moved to an open and obvious location in the restaurant district and ordered an early dinner. It would be good to get food into them before they got too busy.

-:-:-:-:-

Plenty of Adventurers showed up to get favorite cursed weapons blessed, and lots of questions were asked - mostly in disbelief, though the three never wavered in their conviction and story. When the Adventurers around them pulled back, they looked to see what was coming. Five people were advancing on them, including the guildmaster they'd been taken to in the Guild Hall. It wasn't unexpected. The city council would want to confirm for themselves the stories their guild members had been passing to them. Tagging along behind them were three more, including BillyBoy. They ignored him, focusing on the five who were arranged in front of their table now.

"Can we help you?" P/R asked politely.

"Is it really true, that the Specials are done?" one demanded immediately.

"Yes," P/R answered soberly. Michael and Brenner backed him up with nods. "The person who negotiated the world quests in order to get us home made it very clear that if the Specials continued at the same time, we'd not help with the quests. It was part of the package from the beginning."

"How do you know about these quests? Are they really legitimate?" another suspicious one asked.

P/R pulled out another one of the second seeds and set it on the table in front of him. This time, he didn't just make it play for the people in front of them to see. He replicated it above the crowd in large 3D so that everyone in the area could hear it play out. When it was done and people had time to think it over, P/R said, "Shiroe is the Master Strategist of the well known group the Debauchery Tea Party. He's the one who's been negotiating our way home. He's the one who gave us our quest to pass along the world quests to everyone. It's not a lie, nor a fabrication. It is very real and we are all very earnest in our desires to see we get the drop on this one. In case you don't know of him, he's been playing the game since it was still in its first year of international distribution, and played every quest and sub-quest that came out. He's the world's best bet to getting us home."

They digested that for a bit. Then it finally came out: "We can fight the Overwritten and even defeat them, but if they kill us, we stay dead. How are we supposed to keep going forward, or even hope to go home if that's our end?"

The three shook their heads. "Not dead-dead. Only temporarily dead. We're on one more quest. That's to fix that particular problem so that everyone will resurrect again like they're supposed to. We've been taught how to repair that break in the system. Once we've finished passing out the world quest requests, we'll go fix that problem and move on to the next region to start all over again. We're taking volunteers for that, too, but it's a lot more difficult. We have to face the largest nest of Overwritten there is in the region to get to the thing that needs repair. If you've got anyone in town that has lots of good experience with fighting them, we would like each city to send a few volunteers to help us. Right now we're only a raid and that's not enough to take them down."

Some of the council went pale and shook their heads, not willing to face in large numbers and strength what had chased them to Twin Falls in the first place. P/R looked at the other guildmasters. "Have you got a few you could ask to come help us?"

They paused, then one by one shook their heads. "We could help out with the demihuman problem," the head of the council finally allowed. "I'm sure we'd like to not lose some of the good drop zones, but helping with the Overwritten...only the foolhardy do that." Eyes glanced to the three who were standing behind the five, listening. They got a little upset at that comment. Slowly the council leader's head and eyes turned their way. He considered them for a bit. "How are the groups that are out coming along?" he asked.

"The ones hunting Overwritten haven't found any more nests for the last two days and were wondering if they should come back in. The patrols say it's pretty quiet," BillyBoy answered.

The council leader looked at the rest of the members of the council. The more nervous glanced between him and the three and licked their lips. Finally they gave sharp nods. The not so nervous ones thought about it a little harder, then finally gave nods as well. "We've got the city protections if necessary...and the temple grounds in emergency."

"You could come with us," BillyBoy said quietly. There were shakes of the heads of the council leaders.

"Isn't that for each Adventurer to decide?" Michael asked.

He got sharp looks from the council, but they had to agree. Since he'd drawn their attention, attention also went to Brenner. "Why's he blind?" one of the nervous ones asked. "That wasn't an option in the game."

Brenner held up his hand to calm the person who'd asked. "It was a cursing, but it's slowly lifting. I was one of the lucky ones who didn't get hit so badly by the flavor text." That settled those who had seen cursed items and weapons go berserk. "If you'd come, we'd be happy to have the help," he said to the three in the back to return to the topic at hand.

The council leader's eyes narrowed just a bit. "What religion are you three?"

Brenner raised an eyebrow. "Christian."

Michael raised one finger. "Pious, but not church-going. That is rather irrelevant to Theldesia, the game, and the world quests, though."

P/R smiled disarmingly. "It's America. Anyone can believe whatever they want to believe." He got a few sour looks, but they had to let it go.

After a bit more thought, the council leader finally shrugged at the three behind him. He turned away from the grouping. "It's your call. If any of your people want to be eaten up, go ahead and let them volunteer. Better you lot with your experience if we have to send someone." He walked off. The other four looked between the two groups of three, then left, agreeing with the sentiment.

When it was just the six facing each other, the three from Twin Falls stepped up closer to talk more quietly. "Thank you. We would all like to go. Can you wait for the patrols and the raid to get back?" BillyBoy asked.

Michael shook his head. "We've got to get moving," P/R said. "Like I said, we have a lot of ground to cover. We're to go to Pocatello next. Get going as soon as everyone can get going and maybe you can meet them on the way. We'll be working our way down south through the region. We'd like to meet you in Salt Lake, though. We won't actually need you for this region's maze. Rather, we'd like you to come with us to the central region's maze. If you'd be willing to gather up volunteers, we'll take what we can get. We'll send any extra ones south to Central and South America. We still haven't been down there to spread the word yet."

Eyes lit up at that. "Actually, a fair number of those who've been on missions already are Spanish speaking and have experience with Hispanic peoples. We can specifically ask for volunteers from that group to go down there."

"That would be very helpful," P/R agreed. Michael was a bit surprised to hear they would already have a toe up in that area if they could convince enough to go. Knowing a people and their culture really helped - as already proven by him and his squad in Yamato.

"Can we teach you how we bless weapons, game style, so you understand it?" Brenner asked.

"Sure," BillyBoy answered. "Ah, this is Hue. He's the Teacher's Quorum president. This is Brad, the first councilor of the Priest's Quorum. The quorum president is out on the raid. I'm the Elder's Quorum president. We'd like to know if we can add you to our friend lists." He looked at the other two with him, a bit concerned. "We're not sure whether to trust them yet really. If we get into a bit of trouble, can we contact you?"

"Sure," Michael said calmly. "May I make a recommendation?"

"Sure," the three boys waited expectantly, though not with the urgency of the panicked. That was interesting.

"Don't wait for everyone to get home. Send them now from wherever they're at. Get everyone in town out now while you have permission and meet the rest of them outside town. It sounds like it's safe enough if you stay out of the aggro zones. The People of the Land will leave town if you're not here to protect them, and they'll leave just as quietly, so I don't think you need to worry about them."

"Well...we'll pass on the word to them we're leaving," BillyBoy said slowly. "We can start the word and be out before they've all heard it, but it will be enough." The other two nodded, liking the plan.

Brenner called over the next Adventurer who wanted a weapon blessed and the three boys watched as it was done. When that Adventurer had left, BillyBoy looked at Brenner solemnly. "We have the power to bless to heal. If you'd like, we could bless you with healing from your blindness." Brenner stared at them, taken aback. "God's power and blessing, not the game," BillyBoy clarified quietly and with great faith behind his words.

Brenner sat stunned, his breath taken away. Finally he slowly shook his head. "Not yet. ...We'll see you again. I'll think about it until then."

They agreed politely and left to begin collecting people for their exodus from Twin Falls. "Why not?" P/R asked Brenner.

Brenner looked back solemnly. "Those are children, P/R. I'm already having to suspend prejudices taught to me from when I was young when I talk to them. For me to believe that children have been given the power of God on earth will take me a while to consider. I'll not take them up on it if I can't have the faith to be healed by them. That's contrary to how God works, too. It's both the faith to heal and the faith to be healed that blesses the seeker of healing."

There was a sudden soft purring in their ears and a little spirit cat appeared on Brenner's shoulder. He reached up and pet Purrcy as she said, "But they are such good children. I think they will be able to help all of you quite a lot." She rubbed her head on Brenner's jaw. "I would have come before now, but they would have seen me and they're not ready for that just yet, I think. Thank you, you three. You've done well here. Keep up the good work." She purred for a few more seconds, then disappeared. All three of them sighed. She was still thanking them for doing whatever they wanted.

"They aren't any younger than Log Horizon and the lot of you," Michael scolded Brenner mildly as he waved the next Adventurer over. Brenner sat stiffly for a while after that.

-:-:-:-:-

Pocatello was another Adventurer city finally with life in it, though not so many people. Only about three hundred to five hundred or perhaps less. Still, it seemed rather calm, all considered, even if busy with life going on. Michael had gotten a good rest at an inn in Twin Falls, and then walked them back through time right after breakfast so that they arrived in Pocatello at the same time as they had arrived in Twin Falls. It was going to cause a bit of confusion in the people they talked to that happened to meet up, if the topic ever came up, but they really were short on time.

They were welcomed to the city nearly immediately upon entering the gate. When they explained they were there with a message for everyone, and quest requests, they were straightway escorted to the center of town where a stand was set up, similar to the permanent stage in Akiba. A bell was rung and Adventurers turned to face the stand, and others began to arrive in the courtyard. While they waited, Brenner asked, "We've seen Twin Falls. Did all of you survive the Special the same way they did?"

Their host nodded. "Yes. The temple grounds are sacred sanctified ground. When we found that held true even here, a lot of us ran there. It's got a goodly amount of room. We were surprised to learn that those who ran to the old Catholic cathedral were protected similarly."

Brenner blinked, then asked, "Are all the old church grounds the same, considered sacred ground now?"

The host shrugged. "I don't think anyone tried anywhere else at the time. I do know we didn't end up at the Adventurer Cathedral, nor go there. We didn't want the Overwritten to destroy it, though it didn't matter in the end," his face screwed up in a bitter and sorrowful expression. They understood that.

"How many haven't been able to face living on Theldesia?" Michael asked.

He rubbed his chin. "Well, most everyone is doing fine. Sometimes we have to help someone who gets hit with the homesickness hard, but we're all used to living a hard life out here. Hard work is what keeps us all moving forward. Some aren't willing to fight monsters, but everyone helps fight the Specials. A lot are enjoying working with the farmers, and some even live out with them during the week and just come in on weekends." He smiled and winked. "You know, just like at home."

They smiled back. That was rather what they'd thought they'd find out here, really. "We need the word of our message to get out to them, too," P/R said. "Can they be brought in by group chat, or will the rest of you tell them?"

"We'll tell them," he got a firm nod. "Most everyone is already in town, though. We've been in discussions on moving down to Utah, or at least going down to visit for a conference. It's been long enough we've all been here that it's time to be more united across the board." That opinion suited the three of the guests just fine. "We haven't seen any more Overwritten in about a month or so, though we do get the occasional surge of Creatures of the Land. We've been working on keeping that down, too, so we think we can afford to leave the People of the Land unprotected for a while. They can always retreat back here if they need to until we get back."

They gave nods, then moved when their host motioned to them that it was time get up on the stand. All three walked up on the stand, but they let P/R take center front since he was the face and voice to the cities this round. This time, based on what they'd been told, he started with Shiroe's message in the second seed. The Adventurers in the city paid close attention to it, then gave P/R their sober attention. He detailed the two main quests like before, then paused. One Adventurer raised a hand. "We've already done all that in our area. You're saying it needs to be done for the whole of both continents?"

"Yes," P/R said. "We're passing on the quests to all the cities of Adventurers, but we need help with that part, too, and we need to make sure that all the hidden away zones get visits to confirm they really are cleaned out."

The person who had raised his hand shook his head. "No. We pray to know if a zone is cleared out or not. When we get a confirmation it is, we move on. We know we're clear out here, even into Yellowstone where we've been working with Montana and Wyoming to make sure."

Michael blinked then said quietly to the two with him, "Wish I'd thought of that. We need to use that." They very slightly nodded their heads in agreement.

"Thank you," P/R said solemnly to the assembled Adventurers. "To know that this part of the world is already in place on those two quests is very relieving. Any who will leave the area and help in others would be very helpful. We still need to get down into Central and South America and we've been moving from the west coast to the east coast so we don't know what we're still getting ourselves into." That got thoughtful nods as Adventurer minds immediately got to work, like always when presented with quests.

P/R paused and then said, "We know it's been hard to have lost Adventurers to death, but we wanted to let you know that it's temporary death with a solution. Our third quest is a repair quest to fix the issue so that Adventurers can resurrect again like they're supposed to. We're taking volunteers for that quest, too, though we don't need a lot. We're required to clean out the worst of the nests of Overwritten and get into the center where they're damaging the Adventurer Trees of Life. We need some to go east with us and more to go south for that one as well. There's one per region at the point of the regional servers."

That got a lot more interest from the Adventurers in the city and it was almost overwhelming compared to the reaction they'd gotten so far. P/R cleared his throat. "We're asking anyone who wants to participate in that quest to meet up with us in Salt Lake in about a week or so, depending on how long it takes for the rest of our party to get here." That helped calm down the tenor of the audience, making the three on the stand relax just a little better as well.

"We're also reminding all Adventurers that we paid to play _Elder Tales_. Everyone has the right to choose and to have the best life here possible, as Shiroe said." P/R waved at the seed still sitting on the stand in front of him where he'd set it down to project for everyone to see. "As part of that right to choose, when Shiroe won the quest requests, he set the requirement that there would be no more Specials so we could focus on getting the world quests done. After they are completed, there is one final battle. It will be a world battle, like the quests are world quests. All Adventurers are asked to participate in it. It will be held at the root of the World Tree. You will need to find this region's entrance to the World Tree and go there when the battle is called to begin. Even if you want to choose to stay here on Theldesia, please come participate to help the rest of us who want to go home. You will get to choose whether to stay or go, the choice we all should have been given at the beginning."

Adventurers were blinking and thinking until one Guardian cracked the knuckles of one hand with the other. The rest of the Adventurers settled into calm, quiet battle mode. This group would be present, just like they were present at all the other Specials to see that they were handled quickly and properly.

As he had offered in Twin Falls, P/R offered that they would stay until early the next morning to answer questions and bless cursed weapons. When they ran out of Adventurers by an hour after a late dinner time, they somehow weren't surprised. These were very independent Adventurers who had learned their own strengths.

There were a lot of excited ones, though, who sat around and talked about what might be coming and asking for as many details as the Eagles could give, though they couldn't give very many, and withheld the details on the Mazes of Eternity. They really didn't need this whole city to volunteer for the Mazes in the U.S. They might send them down south, though. And if there were this many excited to volunteer, they might send some back west to help clean out the Sierras. They went to bed glad to have found a city full of the sorts of Adventurers the United States should hold.


	186. Recon in Utah

Nyanta's ear flicked. His pen stopped, raised above the paper, and his ear flicked again. Setting his pen down carefully, he rose from his desk and walked out of his office.

He walked down the hall and turned a corner to a long hallway that was for the most part empty, save for one lone grey tabby temple guard standing in the middle of the hallway. "Mew who are doing nothing, go and fetch the High Purriestess from the Court of Gods and bring her to me."

The guard went to attention and bowed, then began walking that direction. "Faster," Nyanta ordered. The guard stiffened, then bowed with his back to Nyanta and disappeared from the hallway. Nyanta's whiskers gave a twitch of content and he returned to his office to wait.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael - who was known by a completely different name here but it hardly mattered - sighed. He couldn't be surprised Izanagi knew who he was, and therefore at least the High Priest, who would never let on if Nyanta knew or not. He stepped through space directly into the square room nearly two-thirds the size of a football stadium that housed the council meetings of the deities of the Gate of Time. Each deity had a fancy throne of their own personal preference to lounge on set in the room at the same location their temples were set around the temple square. Around each of them were advisors and devotees as they saw fit to bring for the given day of meeting.

In Purrcy's case, she sat on the Throne of Time because it was conveniently already there. She'd only modified the Crucible of Time to be another Tree of Life, changed the color of the fabric of the chair to hunter green, and gotten rid of the gauze that had floated over it. It was just her and Timberel present most meeting days, though sometimes Meghan went with them, and whatever number of guards Purrcy felt she needed for the day. There were only three this day.

Michael had already been watching over Purrcy since there was nothing else to do watching a long hallway where nothing went on. He arrived such that he merely had to take Purrcy's arm in one hand and Timberel's in the other. "Pardon me, Your Excellency, Your Grace," (Timberel had been made a priest about a year ago or so), "the High Priest has called you to return immediately." Given the expressions on all the other deities faces was one of anger, unless it was relief from the few that Purrcy was being removed, it was good to have been sent immediately.

He shifted them all into the code realm, then stepped them through space to standing just outside Nyanta's office. Nyanta was waiting at the doorway, his arms folded and his expression one of complete disapproval. "Timberel, if she is going to go that far, mew also are at fault. She will call mew when she is ready again." Nyanta's dismissal was for both Michael and Timberel, so Michael stepped Timberel back to his own office on the upper floor, though Michael's attention still remained somewhat on Purrcy and Nyanta.

"Ah...how did you do that?" Timberel asked Michael, confusion showing in his ears and tail.

"It is a gift of Inari-no-Izanami," Michael said briefly. He bowed, and returned to his post with one more step to get back there.

Nyanta had briefly scolded Purrcy and then taken her into his office to put her to work on writing up the error of her ways as part of her punishment for riling up the Court of the Gods. Still, Michael had to smile. Her defense had been rather spot on: "They were determined to argue and fuss anyway, so I felt it at least worthy of a portion of my time to give them something to argue about that _mattered_." Still, she'd gone obediently to her punishment.

The next time it happened, Michael was sent but told to take her to her office where surely more important things could be accomplished (and then return to his guard position in the middle of the beautiful but empty garden).

-:-:-:-:-

Gareth's initial reaction when Michael left him behind to be the time anchor was actually slightly one of feeling left behind. That didn't last long. Both groups out had promised to check in after each city. That meant he and Charlie were getting sound-byte summaries every few seconds. It got crazy for a while. Since Gareth knew that meant they were living one or more days per sound byte, he decided he was rather glad he wasn't putting the mileage on his own tires and engine.

For every report of a city without a Cathedral, he put a black "x" over it. For every city they found an ally in, or who was playing nicely together, it got a lit-up green dot. Cities that listened and weren't completely against helping, but which would likely need some help setting up good leadership were yellow. For dead cities, with no one in them, he used grey dots. The map was updated (in his real time) for everyone on their map status screens.

Both Logan and Ogden, Utah, got the summary report from Michael that they were about like Akiba was - people who had grouped together with various purposes in mind, but all of them playing nicely enough together and trying hard to keep their cities going. Gareth put them green, since that litmus test was sufficient for him. Once they got the full report when both time walking groups returned that could change, but for now it was sufficient.

"Gareth," Michael's familiar voice wasn't the warm relaxed it had been the last four times he'd called in.

Gareth sat up straighter. "Yes, Sir?"

"Where's Intel right now?"

Gareth glanced at the larger map hanging in the air in front of him and Charlie. "Should be at Las Vegas right now." He waved a finger at Charlie to get his attention and added him to the chat when he got the nod.

"When they call in, I want to trade them places."

"Yessir," Charlie answered immediately.

"Nav, put together a composite map of the Wasatch front, most recent modern map of Earth. Overlay the equivalent from Theldesia to show where the Adventurer cities are. I need _exact_ locations. Then add in, if you can find the data, the locations of all sacred buildings along that same zone. I know the Mormons had a number here, but I want Catholic and any others you can find."

"What is it?" Gareth asked, concerned.

"It looks like the west coast, only there are hold-out locations - and they aren't in the cities, most of them. They're all in siege."

Gareth was stunned into silence. Charlie recovered first with an intake of breath. "Do our orders change?"

Michael took a moment to consider it. "As much as I'd love to rush to their defense, we're still time walking. I need Intel to come up here and watch what happened from the beginning like we did on the west coast. We have time to get together and plan what happens next before we move. I need to know if they were playing nicely before the cratering started or if they started it first - and who. Every city's been a little bit different, but there's an undercurrent in some of them of religious persecution. That's going to be as sticky as the political mess on the west coast if we aren't prepared ahead of time."

"Got it." Charlie stopped talking, put a hand to his ear and held up his hand to Gareth.

"Intel's reporting in now, Sir," he let Michael know. They sat in silence until Charlie had passed on their new orders. Gareth wasn't holding still just to waste time, though. He was already working on writing up the code to get the map Michael wanted. Intel would need it before they headed in and left their time zone again. He held up his hand to Charlie to let him know not to let them go until he'd gotten it put together. ...That meant he was long pole for the moment, but Charlie passed on the explanation to the rest. They'd wait for that bit of VII.

When he thought he'd written his search the best he could, he let the spell build up just a little, then cast it. He watched as the map was drawn in the air around the corner from his first one. That caught the attention of the rest of the squadron in the room and they moved to where they could see what it was of. As the Adventurer city names were added to the background contour map, a few mutters sounded. Gareth had gone ahead and included all the city roads, too.

All of the entirety of the Wasatch front, from the pass that went up past Brigham City and Tremonton, down south to where the mountain range finally petered out just past Provo was all one big city. It was enough to look like the west coast of the U.S., or even Tokyo and the surrounding environs, being a long thin range of humanity huddled up against tall mountains and bounded by water on the other side for most of it. Within that long length of humanity, there was one main Adventurer City roughly outside of the main part of Salt Lake City, similarly to how Akiba was in the neighborhood of Akiabara - a small part within Tokyo itself. There were another two small Adventurer towns. One at the north tip in the north Ogden area and one at the south part of the range near the south end of Provo.

The religious structures were a little more difficult, but did start popping up - the five or six temples of the major religion of the area going up first. Following that was the main Catholic cathedral up the mountain a bit from Temple Square in Salt Lake City (neither of which was inside the boundaries of the Adventurer city). A few other cathedrals came up on the map, then a couple of mosques, and a few Christian denomination churches.

Gareth had decided to go based on listed congregation size for the ones other than the temples. It wouldn't do to clutter up the map with _all_ the buildings of religion in the area. In any modern city that was rather a lot. At the last minute he'd also filtered a bit on square area of land the building was sitting on. Since the Adventurers would be relying on the sacred ground to stay alive, small plots of land wouldn't likely be sufficient.

"Why the religious ground, boss?" got asked from the peanut gallery.

"It somehow stuck with Theldesia, or something unknown," Charlie answered since Gareth was still focused on his spell crafting. "It's working like purified ground and keeping Adventurers alive. The Fourth of July special included Overwritten with the code to keep Adventurers dead."

That got a solemn response. It would have come out in their summary report before the others got there, but they'd been reporting in too fast to get it out before then. Gareth sent Michael his map. "Is that what you're looking for? Need anything else?"

They waited for the reply, Charlie opening it up to full squad since they were all paying attention anyway. "Intel, can you use the same color coding Nav's been putting on the region map when you get to the end of the replay, please? We need to know where the living pockets are. We'll reconvene to discuss all of it before we step in, though their God's already got his hand in it and we're His messengers now, too. That's the other reason for the swap. I don't want us giving a helping hand to a conflict we don't need in our present, unless it's the one we're contracted to." That made sense.

"Can do, Sir," BlackJack answered.

"We'll be up there in a few," Stiletto said.

"Right, then we're headed down to Saint George and will work our way north. Is there anyone in Las Vegas area talking about heading up to Salt Lake?"

"An exploratory left Serpiente two days before we arrived," Bowie answered immediately.

"I'll hope to catch them in one of the towns on their way, then," Michael replied. "Map looks good, Nav."

Gareth immediately copied it and sent it as a secondary screen to everyone. "Good to go," Intel said.

"Right. Head out," Michael ordered.

"Out," BlackJack said and the three in the Intel detail disappeared from the line.

"Anything else for me from back there?" Michael asked.

Charlie looked at Reed. He shook his head. "Negatory," Charlie repeated back.

"Out," Michael said and he and his three disappeared.

Charlie and Gareth both returned to monitoring their connections. The Operation Play Nice team (that was still around, anyway, since some were on new duties now) got right back to work, adding in the new data and discussing if the spiel they would give on the west coast would work in the central west mountain range. While for the two scout parties many days likely passed, for the squadron in the Maze of Eternity colored lights started showing up in rather rapid succession as their reports continued to come in every fifteen seconds or less.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael sighed and ran his hand through his hair, staring at the final map. He was supposed to be sleeping before they returned to work together at the Maze of Eternity in their present. Well, at the moment (since he couldn't sleep) he'd made the other two sleep and had taken the watch. He was just going over his time was all, though that hardly mattered when he could time walk them anyway.

The cities in the full range of the inner mountain zone of the western region were by no means all solid green. It was as much a mix here as anywhere on Theldesia. Some cities had been taken over by greedy guilds. Some had schisms. Some knew that only by banding together could the Adventurers find the strength and courage to continue moving forward in useful ways, living life as best they could.

The most concerning thing was that over the Salt Lake City equivalent city was a grey dot. Salt Lake was dead. Instead, there were red and yellow dots over some of the surrounding sacred ground locations. Given they were all under siege, it wasn't possible to make them green. It had taken some research in Logan to figure out the basis of what had probably happened in Utah. Again, it wasn't any different than anywhere else, it was just going to probably cause problems when they got back home.

Adventurers in avatars, with only screen names, and only a few knowing them for real back home on Earth, were people in disguise. People in disguise could afford to be something they weren't when they had to show their real faces to other people. That meant that even if ninety percent of the population of Logan - or any city in Utah - was professing to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and live to its tenants, in reality they didn't have to live them here on Theldesia. Thus each city felt more like any normal city in America, rather than one that was fully committed as a whole to the teachings of Christ to live as one people. Thus there was perhaps more chaos than might be expected, and more crime, and ...well, any number of such things.

Having had Idaho to compare it to, Michael was trying to fit all of the cities into generalized levels of how they would react once they were all living together again in close quarters. Most places he felt would fit on the scale of "okay", like most of Yamato did - each with their own way of running things, but the Adventurers generally willing to live and let live. Salt Lake itself was surprisingly going to be the most difficult nut to crack. He was also very concerned that with the influx of devout members from the rest of the region showing up all of a sudden in the middle of things that it could turn very ugly if they weren't prepared to see the blotch and stain that seemed to have risen up.

Michael finally leaned his head back against the old Indian cave wall they were staying in. "Hey, Purrcy, you got a minute? I probably need the Oracle, Caretaker, and I'd like the cat if you're not doing anything critical for the moment."

A galaxy cat was suddenly rubbing against his arm, purring, as her tail waved gently upright in the air. He lifted his arm to scoop her into his lap and she settled down, one front paw over the other, facing him, her ears perked towards him. Her golden eyes blinked at him as her tail settled to curl a bit around her body, though the end of it lifted and fell as he pet her head down to her shoulders.

"Hey," he said in greeting, a small smile on his lips.

"What can I do for you, Michael?" she said kindly.

"When Shead's Summoner friend put the Cunie under Summon contract, was that the beginning for the AIs to be able to do that to you?" he scratched her under her chin. That particular question had been bugging him since he'd seen it happen.

Purrcy shrugged. "Maybe it loosened the fabric up a little, maybe it gave them the idea, and maybe it was a separate action on the other side of the world. I don't know, Michael."

Michael blew out a bit of a breath, but he knew he wouldn't get any better an answer unless he made it a formal request to the Oracle and he didn't want that right now. He wanted the little oracle that was Purrcy. He moved on to his more important quandary. "I don't want to mess up whatever God's got going on, but I also don't want full-blown war to start. Can you clean up some of the cruft for me so I know which direction to face?"

Purrcy tipped her head towards his scratching fingers so that he was scratching the top of her head as she considered the question, got a data download, and decided what she could and couldn't say. At least he assumed (and hoped) that's what she was doing. "You know that she wants to see what you'll do?"

"Yeah, I do, but to go tripping in the dark's not helpful. You're Adventurer, too. You know what can be swept off the table as worthless crumbs."

She gave a nod, and the ear closest to his hand flicked a bit, though it was without thought and more because he'd brushed against it with the heel of his hand that was still petting her. "I think...that if you let God's plan play out, if you've gotten the right words in before they get there, they'll help keep things settled enough until you can get there. Everyone is looking for the one goal to help them unite, and you _know_ that's the one goal." Purrcy looked at him pointedly.

Michael nodded. "Getting home gets lots of people's attention."

Purrcy nodded back, then twitched a set of whiskers. She put her head down and rubbed it a moment with her leg. "It is also the goal of the devout believer in Christ to have peace. You remember what the Children in Twin Falls were like."

Michael pondered that for a minute, then finally gave a nod. "You think there are enough of them to spread around and keep things cool?"

Purrcy shrugged. "If there are, they will. I don't know them well enough as a people to know for certain how well they can follow through given they're on Theldesida now. I had a few Mormon friends back in grade school and they were nice enough. Perhaps not so given to wild flings like other kids, but still rather normal. Happy family lives for the most part." Her ear flicked as she lifted her head at that. "Ah, actually, I do remember them saying that families are really important to them." Her whiskers fell a bit. "Which means that they'll be feeling that separation more keenly than most, I would think."

Michael pet her to soothe her. Likely she felt it a bit more deeply for their sakes than they were willing to admit they felt it, but he put it in as a data point to keep in the back of his mind. When it looked like she didn't have anything else to add right at the moment, he asked another follow-on question he'd been gnawing on. "Are we going to run into similar problems in the Bible belt when we get to the east region?"

Purrcy chuckled at him. "What do you think?"

"Probably," he sighed in a bit of resignation. "And the big cities aren't going to be much different from L.A.: Chicago, New York, the like."

She nodded at him solemnly. "Yes. We are a people who can be united, but for the last twenty years or so division has been taught to everyone instead of union. In those places that were already riled up, you will find greater trouble." She gave his hand that hadn't been petting her a lick as it was resting on his leg near her. "But at the same time, you will also find - just like most of them have - that most people in our country really are just nice people trying to get along. The division the press was trying to get everyone to believe existed was just propaganda in the end, really. Shared difficult experiences bring people together in ways they don't always think is going to happen."

Michael looked at her solemnly for a bit, then sighed a heavy sigh. "I really hope so. We really need this country to work like it's supposed to. They've been so injured by the Overwritten while they were too weak to stand up like they can."

She rose to her feet and rubbed against his chest and his chin. "Michael," she said quietly and kindly, "I know you don't want to be in the limelight or at the top of anything so big, but you know that heroes are important to our nation, too. Jefferson and Washington didn't want to be heroes either, but their efforts were so important and the nation needed them as leaders in their time to make us what we are and can be today. Don't step away from what needs to be done in that regard, too." She'd put her front paws up on his chest and was staring him down, face to face. "You'll have to decide just how far you're willing to take the Code to heart, and you'll have to decide what you can live with and can't, but please, do really seriously consider that part, too."

She paused, tipping her head thoughtfully. "Go back and look at some of the more popular animes that were just like what we're living today. _Sword Art Online_ comes to mind. Like you, the main character just does what he pleases, but in the end he carries all of the adventurers of Earth back home, for similar reasons you, Shiroe, Nyanta, and I are. Why are things like that popular? What is the common thread?"

Michael stared at her for a while, unwilling to answer it, then finally he slumped a little, giving up. "Because there is one man who was willing to stand up and move forward regardless of the costs. In the process he became the one everyone else tied their coat-strings to so they could move forward, too. And because they had, they were willing to do what he said." Michael said the last quietly.

Purrcy nodded solemnly, then sat back on her haunches again. She grew just enough she could pat him on the head with a paw. "You already know and you already know how. You are the highest ranking U.S. officer present on Theldesia."

Michael bowed his head, then made her let him pet her until he kicked Brenner awake so he could fall asleep. He supposed he'd needed his own kick in the pants from her to get over his reluctance to do the job he was supposed to be doing. It still hurt was all. How did a broken officer lead an entire hemisphere of Adventurers? "Watch S.O.A.," Purrcy purred in his ear just before she left him. "Gain your own strength by watching how others in your place have stood up again."

"Like all those other movies," he whispered back.

She laughed a purry chuckle and groomed his cheek a bit, then disappeared silently. Michael slipped into sleep. He'd watch movies when he had five minutes between chores.

-:-:-:-:-

The boss cavern of the third level of the Western U.S. Maze of Eternity was suddenly a little more full. Eyes came up and around to see the Intelligence detail. No one was surprised. The current guard had given the sign someone was on their way. Everyone stopped working and began to head towards Central Command where Gareth and Brenner sat inside the situational maps. Eyes had already been keeping watch on that and the final dots lighting up on the Wasatch front meant they'd been coming, too. Everyone sat and watched the final dot with one eye and Gareth with the other.

When his eyes went distant, then blinked, they knew it was time for the meeting to start. The final dot went up yellow and then Michael, Brenner, and P/R were stepping into the room to stand near the two on Communication duty. Brenner and P/R moved to sit with the rest, though closest to Michael so they could add in comments. Michael's eyes wove over the squadron, counting and looking for readiness. "Intel, report," he picked them to go first.

BlackJack stood and gave the report as the head of the team. "Diego's run by a city council, but the top player is labeled a military guild. The guildmaster's got the qualities of being top level enlisted, running a tight ship with all the right people in all the right places."

Reed raised an eyebrow. "Experienced, then?"

"Yes, Sir," BlackJack answered.

"Nice," was murmured. It was relieving that there was someone in place high enough to keep things on an even keel.

BlackJack went back to reporting. "Rest of the city only plays nice now because they got proved right in action after action. The military guild forced everyone to go out and earn their keep after the Special before the Fourth of July Special, though they compromised by allowing the city council to stay democratic with a mix similar to Akiba's council that they put together to make sure it wasn't one-sided on any side. That held them together rather well until the final Special. They couldn't hold out against that, either."

"Going across the border and at Tijuana it was just an issue of the Overwritten. They'd tried to cross over into the States and been attacked by Overwritten every time, so they quit trying. Apparently the U.S. Adventurers never wanted to explore that far from town, but then they didn't get to that point like we did. Even Yamato didn't really go exploring to other Adventurer locations outside of it's own towns much in the first two years." There were nods to that. Even _they'd_ not been rescued until about then. International travel for investigation had been even after that. "We surmise that Mexico as a whole won't know or care about what happened at the border. Likely Juarez's problem was unique because the two cities were already so close to begin with."

"Heading back up through Arizona and Nevada was like getting to the west coast to begin with - and like those zones are anyway - desert wasteland. The Adventurer cities of Arizona had all migrated to Phoenix's city - Mesa. They put their heads together and figured out how to get water aqueducts to the outlying zones from the Salt River - just enough for the People of the Land to get happy about being the farmers for them. A few Adventurers were willing to learn to farm with them, particularly once they figured out how to make real food, but most of them just kept the monsters back. It was a benefit to them that the Adventurer city had been built right along the river."

"It was an additional benefit that there were three safe zones in it." BlackJack's eyes flicked to Michael. "They didn't know why they were safe zones, though, just that those who ran to those locations weren't killed by the July Fourth Special. They managed to get rid of the Overwritten eventually."

A smaller third map went up in front of the gathering. It was of the Phoenix area, then it zoomed in just a little as the boundary of the walls of the Adventurer city Mesa encircled the Mesa suburb of Earth. "Can you throw up the locations of the safe zones while my search is running?" Gareth asked, a bit distantly since he was still watching his modified search spell.

Bowie went to work and at about the same time as he had three green dots up, Gareth had marked out several open green circles, some inside Mesa and some outside. Everyone studied the map. Michael finally murmured. "Make the non-matching church locations pale so they don't muddy the water, but we might still want them just in case." That made it go down to the three in the city. "Mmm...which one is the temple?"

"Did they have one?" Brenner asked.

"The whole range is their home," Michael answered back thoughtfully.

Three open circles on the map went blue and everyone blinked. One was in Mesa around the central green dot of safety, one was southeast of the city and the other quite a ways northwest, but still in Phoenix. "That's rather a lot, then," Brenner admitted.

"I suspect if they didn't know why, the group that location belongs to wasn't talking," Reed commented shrewdly.

"Likely," Michael agreed, still in his thoughtful murmur. He tended to do that when he was data gathering information that he found very interesting. One of the other two was a mosque and the other the largest Christian church within the walls of Mesa. His eyes finally returned to the Intelligence detail. "Did they send anyone north?"

Bowie shook his head. "They holed in. There's likely too much desert between locations, and as we said, they'd not gotten to the second full year of being here. Really, the other two cities had only just arrived about six months-ish before that Special, having been hit rather hard by the first two Specials. They were small enough in comparison to Phoenix they decided greater numbers and greater strength was better than not."

Michael gave a nod and BlackJack picked the report back up. "It wasn't all fun and games and easy times there. Each influx - they weren't simultaneous - made them have to start all over again, though not right away. It was more like what happened when the PK guild showed up. New people were just tourists and visitors until everyone got comfortable. Then fireworks popped for a while until things reached the new normal. They weren't really comfortable enough for normal when the final Special came through, but they did try to work together on it since they'd already fought the first two separately. Likely if we can get our words in quickly after everyone's resurrected again they'll settle to a peaceful resolution of some kind. Being at loose ends was probably the hardest part, like for all of us."

BlackJack paused for comments and questions. Michael gave a nod of understanding and waited. No one else commented, so BlackJack moved on. "Serpiente was the only working Adventurer city in all of Nevada, but then it was always that way since the creators of _Elder Tales_ wanted the large multi-dungeon zone north of it." Even the casino district was a dungeon. That had been one of the worries of the squad as far as Serpiente had gone, after they'd seen the coast. They'd worried the city was too close to monsters from the beginning and the Adventurers had just given up early.

"They had the usual rocky beginning, but no one who tried to take down the security system, so they survived okay, if sometimes violently outside the city, until the Special. That almost did them in." BlackJack shifted and crossed his arms. "The best fighters were keeping the boss occupied as best they could. The altruistic guild decided that if they could get people out of the city, perhaps the Special would be contained within it, and they might be able to save the non-combatants that way."

"From up on the wall on the back side - you know Serpiente's built just at the foot of Frenchman Mountain," he got nods as they'd played a lot from there, too, since the Nevada dungeon zone let them rocket up in levels, "- well, one of the watchmen over the escaping Adventurers and People of the Land was up on the back wall. He looked up the mountain, then called on the full chat and said there was a pillar of light coming from up above the city. The Mormons in the group immediately recognized the location and told everyone it was a place of safety, so that's where everyone went."

"They had enough arms protecting the backs of the one's fleeing for safety that they managed to take down the boss before it made up up the mountain. It was a pretty bad loss, though, with the mix being all wrong ever since then. With not enough fighters they've had it hard. That's why they're sending the exploratory up north. They want to know if they should all head up into Utah, or if they should head south to Phoenix. They figure the Utah trip takes longer so they were going to wait until that group reported back in before sending out the south exploratory. Of course, the Mormons wanted to head into Utah anyway regardless, but most of them are the last remaining fighters. They argued long enough to get the concession they can go up to the Salt Lake area and see if any of their compatriots up there know just why we've all been brought here to Theldesia. They seem to think they'll actually get an answer from that trip."

There were blinks, and then slight chuckles from the other exploration team. "Well, they sort of did from us," Michael admitted. "We couldn't convince them to not go on up to Salt Lake, though. St. George added to their number and off they went. We couldn't walk simultaneously like we had before up in Idaho, but we did time it so we got to have our say before they got into the next city."

Michael paused to make sure BlackJack was done. BlackJack reviewed what he'd already said. "Do you want the Wasatch report now or later?" he asked. Michael shook his head. BlackJack shrugged and sat down. It had been sufficient to that point and no one had comments or questions.

Michael continued with his report. He gave the summary of their walk through the north west until switching with the Intelligence detail, then continued from where he'd left off from before. "St. George was green and good to go, like the Idaho Falls/Pocatello group. They'd also found refuge in places of safety, including their temple and one Jewish synagogue that included a large park-like setting around it, so could hold rather a lot of Adventurers."

"Cedar City was holding on as a last outpost, with only the rugged left, rather like Susukino, actually. Most of the...nice folks had gone south to St. George and most of the not-so-nice folks went up from St. George to Cedar City. Only one group managed to survive the Special, and you can guess who it might have been. Apparently they were a set who had thought they could live it up here in a new place where no one knew their names, and when they suddenly found real protection, they found real religion. They were a pretty humble bunch when we got there. I expect them all to go on up to Salt Lake with the rest who are headed up there. We gave our info first and left without finding out. They were willing to listen, but weren't willing to act on it just then. We'll see how that goes."

Michael paused, his head tipped a little. "Though...they've all given me that response, actually. For some reason, they all want to get word from Salt Lake before they'll commit to helping with the quests."

"Are they going to be stubborn?" Reed asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Passive aggressive?" MasterChiefS7 frowned.

Michael gave a small snort. "Hadn't thought of that, but it does have that kind of feel. Really, though, it felt more like they wanted to have full information before they made a decision. They caught on to the why pretty quick, and weren't afraid of any of the quests. ...They're rather quietly independent, I think. Kind of like they're already a guild and they want to check in at the guild headquarters before making large national and international moves and decisions." That got nods of understanding. Guilds gathering together in one location had happened all over Theldesia. This was similar, if a little different.

"There isn't anything from there until the Wasatch front as far as Adventurer cities go," Michael continued. "The wild zones are really rugged and hard. Even if the southern migration group doesn't want to participate on their own in our quests, they're going to go through all those national treasures along the way. ...At least they'll have the know-how to stay alive, now. It won't hurt to have those zones cleaned out early, though they'll stick to the road."

"Won't the Overwritten go hunting them?" asked Life Support.

"Probably," Michael agreed, still not disturbed by it. "They'll go up in levels, or they'll die and we'll resurrect them."

Gareth raised his hand. "Before you get to the Wasatch front, I just wanted to add a bit of data that doesn't show up on maps." He got the go-ahead nod. "That area of Utah contains roughly eighty percent of the entire state's population. Any Adventurers of Utah from outside that zone are very small in population in comparison to what's there."

All six from the exploratory teams nodded agreement. "And thus why it exploded into chaos," BlackJack said grimly. Michael sat down and BlackJack stood back up. Gareth moved the map of the Wasatch front to be front and center to the squad, and where BlackJack could reach it. A few pulled out canteens and swallowed down water as they all settled in to hear the details about that chaos.


	187. Starting the Cleaning Up

Shiroe was sitting up late as usual after the double dinner date. He'd sent Akatsuki on to bed, wanting to sit up and work on how to properly fit Sergiad's request through the head tutor into the picture of things. He had to agree that it might be important for there to be a balance between Westlande and Eastal. He just wished there was a way to bind the two political powers so they couldn't let it get out of hand.

Really, bringing the Adventurers of Earth to Theldesia had added so much chaos to the planet, he really wasn't sure it had been all that wise. This was one of those things that pointed to the "why" the AIs wanted Adventurers to remain on the planet. They'd brought the chaos of creation, curiosity, exploration, and experimentation with them and it was going to cause just as much chaos now with or without them. If the only balance on the planet really was the Adventurers... Well, somehow that still seemed like a fabricated statement he was still gathering evidence for and against.

He was just wrapping up his arguments for and against having the People of the Land learn research methods when he got a chat request. It wasn't the best time, but it was okay. He accepted the chat. "Hi, Michael. I do hope things are better this time?"

Michael gave a soft snort. "Am I ever going to contact you just to have a light chat over tea? I'm not thinking it's likely."

"What is it this time?" Shiroe asked kindly. He already knew what it was to want to have others who understood the weight and stress of trying to get them all home.

"We've finished the recon. Indicus' research on keeping Adventurers here and finding the way to cut the lines in the Adventurer Tree of Life was watched by the Navigators. They replicated it in the Fourth of July Special Overwritten they sent down. That's what killed all the Adventurers. Every boss in every Adventurer city for the western region." Shiroe barely blinked, finding that very hard to believe. "It's not all that much better in the central mountain zones than on the coast. We're going to have chaos in the central region, and worse, it's chaos already. Political disunity on the coast and religious persecution in the mountain range are going to make it really hard to repair the tree."

Michael sighed and there was a slight pause. "There is a bit of good news, though. They're not _all_ dead, and there are some that were playing nice, or at least nice enough, and they're willing to help." Still, there was a frown in his voice as he said, "There's one group that found a way to keep from dying, and their God protected them and whomever would escape to purified locations. They learned about purification early, Shiroe," his voice was warning and Shiroe's heart rate increased a bit. He pressed his lips together, and his fingertips as well, to keep from worrying too much.

"I've gone back and done the calculations," Michael said grimly. "Akiba's Higan Special wasn't the First purification of Theldesian matter. The purifications of the Fourth of July Special were. The World AI already knew more than a year before Akiba figured it out. The Adventurers of the U.S. were all locked down a year before it sent Purrcy to your tree. The Wasatch front has been in siege for almost two years already." Quietly, Michael questioned in a lost voice, "Are we really so dangerous to this world, that it wouldn't let them out again until the very end?"

Shiroe had a different question. If Izanagi had already known that long before, why had it declared Akiba was a beta test zone because of that? Was all of the U.S. also beta test? Or had the World AI been lying? He had to harden his heart against the anger that wanted to burst out of him again at that thought. He was still upset Akiba had been used that way so terribly. He breathed a bit to calm down. He would have to think about that in depth later - although he didn't really want to since it was in the past and he really didn't need more not-ulcers over it.

"I can't say, Michael," he finally answered quietly. "The Navigators were interfering in ways the AIs didn't like from the beginning. That's one of the reasons we were brought here, remember?"

Michael took a deep breath. "Well, that's true. And it's also true that if any of the Adventurers from the States had understood who they were, they would have worked the hardest to take them down. They will, still. While we haven't got a lot of people just yet who are willing to go out and fight, we do know that to a man they hate the Overwritten for what was done to them. Those who take on that quest won't let any remain."

Shiroe nodded. "And that very motivation can be used."

"I know," Michael agreed softly. "And we will. ...It is nice to have allies in place." There was silence for a bit, then he continued on still softly, "I'm going to have to sit in your seat here on this side. Purrcy put it rather plainly. Everyone needs to have someone to follow, even if they are independent. We unify under leaders just like anyone, and regional leaders are preferable. If you've still got any working reasons for why you shouldn't have to be the head man on all this, I'm all ears. I'd like to make sure I've thought of all my loopholes."

Shiroe grimaced. "As in, you don't want to be emperor."

"In one," Michael agreed.

Shiroe nodded to himself. That much was easy, having already thought it through a lot. He spent the next while walking Michael through all of the points he'd considered, then helped with the few that would be different given it was a different culture. Michael would have it slightly easier, perhaps, but Shiroe didn't envy him. They both already understood all too well the burden that kind of leadership was.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael really didn't know whether to have his men finish out the Maze first, or head over to Utah first. It was hard to consider it exactly the same as the west coast, since there were still living Adventurers on the Wasatch front, where there weren't any on the west coast. That made one want to jump up and run to their rescue. They'd debated it rather long already, and the final sum had finally been that it was his decision to make. It was, but that didn't mean he wasn't unsure in this case.

Really, if he went on what the far-flung field monitor had told him, they'd finish the maze first and give their spiel, _then_ they'd go and see what had happened in central Utah. Except it wasn't quite so cut and dried. They also needed to do all the little details in between - like figure out how to have surviving Cathedrals on the west coast so that the whole thing didn't explode with gas on fire by having coast Adventurers resurrecting in the heated mountain zones.

If Michael had been in his human body on Earth, he'd have a rather large headache right now. As it was, he was sure his head was buzzing with the stress of trying to wrap his brain around all the details that couldn't be lost or forgotten. Even talking to Shiroe hadn't helped with the issue, though it had helped him get the complaining out and to get a sympathetic ear, now that he was filling Shiroe's shoes even more here on this side of the planet.

He finally gave up and headed for the micro level of the code realm and a secure hole. He needed writing and breathing space, and to let his body rest. He still wasn't really recovered from all the time hopping. He got all the details written out on a to-do list and stared at it for a while. In the end, he decided to watch a few movies first. R&R did more for helping the brain wanting to stress out than anything else ever did - even if it did make him uncomfortable with that other half of what Purrcy had told him to do before he made his decision on what the squad was going to do.

Shouldering the burden of leadership at that level had really never been on his radar - ever - even with being a career officer in the Navy. It wasn't settling well on his shoulders. Shiroe had not been sympathetic at all when that came up. He'd also been forced to stand in it - by the same person even. The line of reasoning to keep holes closed _had_ been very helpful, though. Michael sighed and cued up the first movie, wishing for a bag of microwave popcorn to go with it.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael finally returned to the waiting men. Soberly he handed out his orders. "Intel, you'll go talk to Diego. Ask the head military man there to accept me as his superior officer. Give him my rank and name. If he asks for it give him your rank, name, and service numbers. He's to let all of his men know what the new chain of command is going to be. We can't save them from their fate, but he can get the city ready for rebirth. Tell him the quests so he can believe in what we're doing."

"Tell him all of this the morning before the Fourth of July Special begins so that he has time to carry out his orders but we're obviously unable to show up to finish it out at the time. Maybe they'll forgive us the two years in between, but we aren't going to answer for it. He's to figure out how to protect their Cathedral from the nuclear holocaust coming his way. If you don't think he and his men can do it, jointly put the strongest shielding box around it you can. It might be enough."

When he got nods of understanding, he added, "You're to go recruit the conservative guild the same way. If we've got their buy-in prior to their deaths, we'll more likely have their support when they resurrect and we repeat it. Just remember when you're recruiting this time that we haven't killed the nest at the time you'll be in. While you can tell them we'll be coming for repairs at the Tree of Life, you'd best watch exactly what you say there or they'll hate us for coming too late. We'll hear from them which of the quests they'll take on after the resurrection. Feel free to friend both guildmasters so that we can talk to them directly once they're back up on their feet."

Michael took a deep breath as he looked to the next team. "Maintenance, pick three for me to take to Jose. I'll drop them off at calm and pick them up before the second Special hits. They need to get them leapfrogged as far as possible in that time. Charlie, give them your time-communication spell before we go. The rest of you work on getting us resupplied - including pulling out the Oki Watarimono if necessary. We'll head into the last level of the maze when we all get back."

Michael turned to Communications. "I'll work with you, P/R, and the Play Nice team in between dropping off and picking up the Maintenance team so that we've got the post-boss stuff worked out." Everyone rolled up their shirt-sleeves and got to work.

-:-:-:-:-

Stiletto paused outside Diego, not time walking them just yet. "Do you think...it would work okay if we just protected the altar? The Cathedral is pretty big so that's a massive spell to keep the whole thing protected."

His partners considered that, then nodded. "That could work. We've all got that spell easy. If all three of us built it up and just put it around the area of the altar, it might just work," Bowie agreed.

"We'll try that then, with the purification intent included," BlackJack agreed, "after we give the guildmaster his orders." The other two gave nods and they disappeared through time.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael took Life Support, Electrical, and QA to Jose where they were quick to integrate themselves into life in the university environment. On Earth it wasn't a university - it was Silicon Valley, with all the technologists, programmers, and computer engineers. They weren't surprised when Izanagi limited how far the U.S. Adventurers could take Hacker in this case. It didn't decrease the Eagle's limit from what they'd already earned, but it still set some very firm boundary conditions on them. Still, they quickly proved their high level of understanding and were placed high in the university structure. That meant they got to work on their "pet project" and have Hackers under them to see it happened.

When it was nearing time for them to be picked up, they passed their batons on to the next brightest in the group and declared they were going out on vacation, having spent almost a year on hard research already. It was a few days before Michael found them out in the zones letting off steam and relaxing with fishing poles by the stream. They were due the vacation, they felt, and Michael turned a blind eye to it, particularly when they told him what their final orders had been. It was nice to be back with the rest of the team after that - and to be able to report that their skill upgrades had leveled up to Classes while they were gone.

-:-:-:-:-

"Right then, in we go," Michael said with calm authority. He reached out and opened the door to the fourth level of the Maze of Eternity. It was the hell of the third level all rolled into one room, room after room after room. They were all glad they'd had some level of break before enduring it. They really were all done with the grinding on Overwritten this stupid-hard to kill because of their sheer numbers.

-:-:-:-:-

BillyBoy, who wished he'd used his real name instead of a screen name now that he was on Theldesia for real, climbed the last of the toe of Willard Mountain and looked out over the Salt Lake valley, where the second prophet of his church, Brigham Young, had declared that this was the place the young persecuted church would settle to peacefully worship as they saw fit. As his hopeful eyes took in the valley, BillyBoy suddenly felt almost defeated. This wasn't the Salt Lake valley that had been made to "blossom as the rose". Rather it was the complete opposite, looking like it had seen three years of war. Quietly the rest of his group gathered around him as his eyes took in landmarks and his mind tried to understand what had happened here.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Hue asked in dismay. The greater part of the group that had met just south of Pocatello and followed highway 89 into Logan, and the few Logan residents who had joined them, all arrived up on the mountain ridge top with them and the muttering was rather loud. They'd had to fight Overwritten the whole way down the road (after winning their freedom yet again one more time from the Boise/Twin Falls group), particularly as they'd passed through the Grand Teton dungeon zone. They hadn't arrived in Logan whole. Likely they'd lost a fifth of their number along the way. Logan had made up those numbers, but looking at the valley in front of them it looked like they might not be enough.

BillyBoy turned around to look at the Adventurers behind him. "Sit down for a bit, everyone," he said calmly on the party chat. They'd formed companies of ten parties of six and set captains over the companies. "We'll have a meeting of the quorum presidencies before we head down into that." The three quorum presidencies of Pocatello walked over to stand with the ones from Idaho Falls. The eighteen young men stood together solemnly. They'd already had to deal with a lot more than most people their ages, though they knew from their lessons of history it was just as hard for the pioneers that had built America.

"Brad, will you please offer a prayer for guidance before we get to thinking about this mess?" BillyBoy asked.

Brad gave a nod and they all folded their arms and bowed their heads. "Heavenly Father, this is a big mess, and a lot of worry. You've asked us to come here, and I guess it was to help them out because they're in a bad way. But where should we begin? What do you want us to do to help them? Please bless us with the inspiration we need to move forward. And please bless us with protection from the Overwritten so we can help them. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." The others standing with him echoed his amen, and there was a collective intake of breath.

There was a pause as they settled to feeling the Spirit of God, waiting to feel the inspiration they were seeking. Startled, they all looked up at the center of their circle. They'd not expected to hear purring at all. Slowly into their view came a calico felinoid wearing a simple modest dress and leggings. With almost a rueful laugh in her voice she said, "Really. While God's used me before now, I really didn't expect him to send me to answer you, too." She sighed just a bit, "But then, that's my role on this planet, I suppose."

She was already facing BillyBoy and she smiled at him as he stared back at her wide-eyed. "My name is Purrcy. I'm a bit of an enigma these days. This planet has decided to give me the role of Caretaker, but for Adventurers on a world-level quest I'm the forward monitor. Thus, I have the general answers you're looking for and am the right person to be telling them to you. So I suppose even God is going to use me in my place to answer you, if you'll hear it?"

BillyBoy blinked, took a breath since he'd forgotten to, then glanced around at his fellows. "Are you the one from the second message from Shiroe that was shown to us?" Hue, the Teacher's quorum president from Idaho Falls asked.

"Yes, that was me who signed the document after he did," Purrcy answered politely. (P/R had modified that part of the video on the second seed, too.) That helped them calm down just a little.

"We'll listen to what you have to say," BillyBoy answered her question. God answered prayers in lots of different ways and if she had information, they wanted to hear it.

"Can I ask a few questions first?" Purrcy asked. He gave a nod. "Your temples...were they already present when you arrived at the catastrophe? Or did they show up later?"

BillyBoy shifted a bit. "I'm not really sure, actually. We knew where they were supposed to be, of course. That's where we all showed up for one reason or another, mostly to find comfort, I suppose. We rebuilt the stake center and started meeting there regularly to worship. I think it was after the first Special that we walked onto the grounds and were surprised to see the temple, but it had always felt like it was there." The others nodded agreement.

"Do any of you know about the other places of worship from other faiths? Was it the same?" Purrcy asked.

Matthew, the Elder's quorum president from Pocatello answered that one. "We had a devout Christian church group that met on their old church grounds in the city and it was about the same for them. Well, not that a building showed up. They had to rebuild like we did, but when it came time for the Fourth of July Special, their land was also protected ground."

Purrcy nodded. "That answers my question then. When the programmers of _Elder Tales_ put together the theology of Theldesia, it was a grand mixture of beliefs. When Theldesia became real - and we still don't know how it was born into existence - all of that became part of the flavor text of the world. Just like the flavor text of cursed weapons became real after we were brought here, so did the religious flavor text. The places that received real worship then became real places of consecrated land. That is heartening, that such a blessing was bestowed upon us. It has saved so many of you where it could have left this whole region, and perhaps even the whole nation a wasteland. Hold to what you understand of your faith and support the faith of others, even if it is different. That will guide you as you go into this next sub-quest. It has real effects on this planet now."

BillyBoy actually felt a bit hopeful at that. They'd already been living it, as best they could given how hard they'd been made to doubt everything by that one event called the catastrophe. If it still had real effects (and they'd rather been learning that it did), they had a path to walk forward on. Purrcy wasn't done, though. She gestured at the valley behind him. "Go into the valley and free each group under siege. Learn from them why this happened. Help them come to some level of agreement that we must all live in peace together in order to get home."

Purrcy pointed to the far south. "Coming from Serpiente, St. George, and Cedar are another group of you. They are having to come through the National Treasures, however, and every Overwritten who has been living in them comes out and attacks them. They will have that passageway cleaned of Overwritten by the time they arrive here. I don't know if they will come to save you at the final place you need to rescue, or if you will go on to rescue them from final slaughter. Please collect them and bring them back into the valley with you. They are trying hard but aren't as experienced as you, until this practice they're getting."

"The VFA-115 Eagles have just begun the final level of the Maze of Eternity. When the repairs to the Tree of Life are completed _all_ of the Adventurers of the region will be returned. You will need to have this valley repaired by then so that the returning Adventurers don't begin the flames all over again. HackerM1 will do what he can to teach them all, but the Eagles won't arrive here until about three days after the resurrection, since they will have to travel overland this time. Where shall I tell them to meet you?"

"Temple Square," BillyBoy answered immediately.

Purrcy blinked at him as if questioning his sanity, but he held firm. She gave a nod. "Please know that if you die in this quest it isn't forever, and it won't even be for the years most of the rest have been waiting. It will, however, likely be because God decided it." The last was said very dryly. "I'm not really quite sure what He's doing in this place that he has a stronghold in, nor do I understand why He has allowed all of us to be brought here to Theldesia. I do know that He knows we are here and He on occasion uses me like this."

"If it helps you to understand, Shiroe is like Moses, the leader tasked with bringing us all home as if we were the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. HackerM1 is like Aaron, Moses' brother, and I am similar to Miriam, the two of us supporting Shiroe both at home in Yamato and here where he has sent us. The Eagles are my favorite American sons...but you lot are probably my second favorites." She gave one more smile, then disappeared.

BillyBoy paused to feel the inspiration they'd been looking for from the Spirit of God, then turned to look at Hue. Hue almost had tears in his eyes. The Teacher's quorum had been having an activity the night of the catastrophe. It was common practice for the whole quorum to participate in activities a single member enjoyed doing and it had been Hue's turn. His whole quorum, BillyBoy's first councilor who had been their teacher, and BillyBoy himself because he enjoyed playing _Elder Tales_ on occasion, had all been on and had been brought here. At the beginning, Hue had been torn by guilt that it had been his fault they'd all ended up here, and when the others had been angry, they'd blamed it on him, too. BillyBoy and Hue's teacher had worked hard to help everyone forgive, but Hue had still found it difficult to forgive himself.

"Hue, I still say that God does things for reasons we can't understand. He's brought us here to the valley to do something that others can't do for themselves, like he has before, and like he probably will again. It is the Teacher's responsibility to exhort and admonish the people to live the word of God. We'll rely on you and Patrick to head that part once we've freed each zone out there." Hue swallowed, and Patrick did, too. But they nodded. They each had their councilors to help plan it and could work together on it.

BillyBoy turned and looked out over the valley and pointed to the closest place they could see the pillar of smoke rising from that was surrounded by Overwritten of all sizes. "That is not a temple site. We'll go there first since we should go in order from closest to farthest in order to complete the whole valley the fastest." He pointed to the next location farther south and up on the mountain. "That one is the Bountiful temple, but there should have been one here in Ogden. They're not all up and working. We'll want to find out why when we get to that one."

Matthew had been looking down at Ogden's Adventurer city. "That was placed to keep anything from coming into the valley. If they had received reinforcements, maybe it wouldn't have fallen."

Brad shook his head and pointed out to the destroyed Adventurer city of Salt Lake. "That final Special would have appeared over the city, like it did over the rest of us. If they took out Salt Lake before the reinforcements from Ogden and the south could arrive it would have been devastating."

With sober feelings, they could only agree. BillyBoy shrugged. "We'll have to learn it as we go." He blinked as he looked at Salt Lake, then asked quietly, "But why did Miss Purrcy look at me as if I was crazy to say we would meet them at Temple Square? What's happened there?"

"Surely nothing happened to the Salt Lake temple?" Hue almost pleaded.

BillyBoy looked back at him. "I don't know, Hue. I just don't know what this place is going to throw at us any more. We can only walk forward with faith." He looked around the group and picked Patrick to say a prayer of gratitude for them so they could pass on the orders to the rest of the group and get moving forward again. They had work to do.

-:-:-:-:-

If this had been Earth, every Adventurer would be dripping in sweat and barely able to stand. They were nearly the latter. They couldn't do the former, though they'd poured water on themselves anyway. The Overwritten were all gone, finally, and Hill Air Force Base was finally freed. They'd been rather amazed to discover that had become sacred ground and were anxiously looking forward to learning why. They could wait a bit, though. They needed to breathe. "Report losses as soon as you've counted," BillyBoy asked the captains. They would report it to the Priest's quorums, who would report it to him. The Idaho group was surrounding the base, but it looked like Matthew's party was headed over to his position, by the front gate.

A drink was handed down to BillyBoy. He looked up to see two braids under a cowboy hat. "Hey, Phillip. Thanks. ...And thanks for coming with us."

The female Phillip shrugged. "Better than staying back there to be teased all the time. A bit lonely to be one of five guards for the city and the only one not welcome. At least coming with the lot of you I've been busy."

BillyBoy laughed at that as he took the cup away from his lips, appreciating the HP up addition to the cup of juice. "No lack of busy here, no," he agreed. They'd been classmates back in high school, though not close friends. It had been a bit of a surprise to learn they both enjoyed gaming when BillyBoy had gotten back home from his mission to Italy. They'd played together a time or two. Phillip had been terribly embarrassed to come find BillyBoy after the catastrophe, though BillyBoy had known he was present since they were on each other's friend lists. It had been a surprise to see a female avatar instead of male, but BillyBoy had shrugged. "Looks nice. Pain in the butt, I'm sure." Phillip had laughed nervously, and agreed, and that had been that.

There was a creak and a groaning as the gate that had been built into the wall around the base started to open. BillyBoy got to his feet. "You're welcome to stick around, Phillip," he invited. "We don't know what we're getting ourselves into, really. Moral support would be welcome."

"Still the reluctant leader," Phillip teased.

BillyBoy shrugged, uncomfortable. He'd been thrust into leadership roles since he was a Deacon, even on his mission when he'd been made a zone leader. One didn't say no to God, though, so he'd kept on struggling through them, learning what he could about leading people and mostly stumbling all over himself and leaning on God an awful lot.

The usual complement of support gathered around BillyBoy. It wasn't all his councilors, either - mostly they helped with administration. The other presidents did show up, though, since they each had different roles they filled for the group, and they'd need to be in the know. Out of the gate walked a group of seven people, one Guardian in the lead. BillyBoy sighed to himself and prayed a quick prayer in his heart for courage and inspiration, yet again. It was always intimidating to be met by Guardians first, particularly ones that walked with that kind of confidence.

The Guardian, named Hannibal according to his status screen, folded his arms as he arrived in front of BillyBoy's grouping. He scanned them all, but as usual BillyBoy had been unconsciously placed center front so he got the main eyeing. He stayed as casual and relaxed on the exterior as possible. "We saw the lot of you arrive up on the mountain. Where are you from?" Hannibal asked.

"Idaho," BillyBoy answered back. "Finally cleaned up the Overwritten up there enough we could come south and see what's been happening down here. ...And it doesn't look good," he chanced adding.

Hannibal scanned the grouping again. "Why's a Bard the leader of this much a ragtag group?"

BillyBoy shrugged. "Like most places, when the Fourth of July Special hit, the heavies took the brunt of the damage. We found a place to escape to - like the lot of you did," his eyes scanned their group back, "while they took up rear-guard. We left most of the heavies home to guard the cities. We've all plenty of experience against Overwritten, though, so it's not a big deal."

He got glared at, though he'd only told the truth. Of course, if they'd been hiding out against the Overwritten this long without taking them down themselves, perhaps it had sounded prideful. He sighed to himself. He usually thought of such things a little too late. "How were you able to survive?" he asked to turn the conversation away from him and the party from Idaho.

"The chaplain and the devout prayed and the rest of us didn't want them coming in, so did our part. That kept them out, best we can tell," Hannibal answered. His eyes narrowed a bit. "Are you Mormon boys?"

"Some of us," BillyBoy answered, not wanting any repeats, but not wanting to lie either.

"We'll take the ones of you not inside to exchange stories, but they have to stay outside."

Eyebrows went up at that. "Why, if I may ask?"

"Too many of them turned traitor to the rest of us and to their own professed faith for us to trust them anymore," Hannibal growled as the people behind him scowled. "We tried to get everyone to work together to find a way back to Earth, if it was possible, and a group of them decided to lord it over the rest of us, refusing to be helpful at all unless everyone followed what they said to do."

"Oh," BillyBoy said, a bit deflated. "Well, I'm sorry for that, but we don't work that way - those of us in this group. And really, we'd really rather we all did work together to find a way home."

"If you're one of them, why should we believe you?" was thrown back in his face.

BillyBoy sighed, but a hand fell on his arm. Phillip stepped up in front to stand next to BillyBoy. "Excuse me, but I'm not one, and I can assure you that he is telling the truth. Everybody's got faults, and everyone's got pride in them. Coming here pulled a lot of the real person out for all of us. This is a good bunch of guys trying hard, and we didn't come just to die for you. We've been tasked to tell all of the Adventurers you've got in there some words, then we'll move on. You don't have to feed us or anything."

Phillip got stared at until he blushed and shook his head. "Not a girl."

That got the people on the other side to relax slightly, though his hand on BillyBoy's arm (forgotten) tightened in his own nervousness to admit it.

"Who gave you the task?" Hannibal's eyes narrowed.

BillyBoy tipped his head. "Some members of a guild called the VFA-115 Eagles, though they were given the quest by Shiroe of the Debauchery Tea Party, who's been working to get us all home."

That got the attention of everyone in front of him. Hannibal glanced at one of the men beside him, who gave a faint nod, then seemed to disappear into thought. BillyBoy pulled out one of the message seeds that had been left with him and tossed it across the gap to Hannibal. He rather instinctively caught it, then looked at it and his eyebrows raised again. He tapped the top of it, making it obvious he'd heard the first one. When it ended playing, the man he'd given orders to answered. "Off the U.S.S. Ronald Regean, stationed in Japan. Navy air squadron." That lifted the air in a way BillyBoy hadn't expected at all.

"How many are in the guild?" Hannibal asked.

BillyBoy shook his head. "We got a visit from three of them, but we won't meet them all until they're done fixing the Tree of Life in the Maze of Eternity. They'll meet us at Temple Square three days after everyone resurrects again, but they want to come to peace, not war, so they can get us all working on the quests we've got to complete in order to go home. We'll let you know what those are, if you'll call everyone out to hear them. Then we'll be moving on to the next holdout."

Phillip shifted. "They said they were a raid's worth, but not more."

The assistant to Hannibal raised his eyebrows. "They're a full maximum squadron, and that would make a raid's worth."

"They _all_ got brought over?" Fingers were quickly counting in that crowd.

"As I say, I don't know," BillyBoy answered apologetically.

One whispered into Hannibal's ear and he almost relaxed, catching himself in time. He semi-glared at BillyBoy, then said, "Fine, we'll listen to what you have to say, and we'll be there to hear what they have to say, too."

"Okay," BillyBoy answered easily. That was all they wanted anyway.

-:-:-:-:-

Hannibal sent a small party from Hill Air Force Base with the group from Idaho, making up what they'd lost yet again, though they really were going as an observation group. Idaho didn't expect them to do much in the way of real fighting. The rest of the Adventurers in the base were going to go harvesting. They were mostly starving, having eaten out their lists and rations about a year before. BillyBoy had caught sight of a few Wraiths hanging out in the courtyard, and a few up on the wall with the other listening Adventurers and he hoped it wasn't what he thought it might be. He didn't ask and they didn't tell, so he let it go. He did pause to say a prayer for those poor souls before they completely walked away from the tall walls around the base that had been built up even higher by the Adventurers caught behind it.

As the party from Idaho reached the Bountiful temple area, panting a bit from having to walk up the side of the mountain, it wasn't looking pretty there, either. They paused just far enough away to get a breather in. What should have been a wide pretty lawn was rather cut off. The Overwritten were almost to the walls of the temple.

BillyBoy waved at Matthew, who immediately said a prayer of protection and strength on their group. They all lit up with the faint glow of the blessed and purified, now that it was evening and nearing twilight. As long as they held to the faith they would be protected by the prayer, they could survive without dying. They would have to get back away from the fighting to heal up with potion or time if they got too low level, still. They only really died if the enemy got in a surprise hit that took them critical.

As they recovered from the walk, they spread out in their parties and companies until they had the Overwritten surrounded. On BillyBoy's whispered command, they attacked at once, taking on the Overwritten like Adventurers should, whittling down their HP, backing off to heal up, then getting back into the game. They just couldn't come back from death any more, so they had to remember that one intermediate step.

They also protected the one of each party that prayed to cast out the Overwritten out of the monster being attacked at the moment. Then the monsters were a lot easier to kill and the Overwritten gone altogether so could be ignored. That made the whole thing go a lot smoother. The pattern was repeated for every monster: pause for the blessing and the Overwritten to disappear, then sudden attack of six on one to take down the monster. It was a simple pattern - if the Overwritten held still like good monsters and let it happen. Since they didn't always, that lent a bit of excitement to the pattern overall.

When the last monster went up in bubbles, and all parties had reported in, they all sank down to rest again. The leader of the party from Hill Air Force Base walked over to BillyBoy. "What's that you all did at the beginning of each fight?"

"The Eagles who came to talk to us called it 'Purification'. We're casting the spirit of the Overwritten out of the monster it's been written over. Each monster generally is a lot easier to kill, then."

It looked like he might not be believed, but it was the truth. When the leader turned back to his party to talk with them quietly, BillyBoy didn't bother to worry much. Instead, he was worried about what was in front of him. "Is anyone left alive?" Hue whispered to him.

"I don't know," BillyBoy answered back quietly. "It wasn't looking good at Hill and they had food. It's not likely there was any food storage here."

"Nope," Brad had to agree.

"But God's kept people alive on nothing and manna before," BillyBoy answered back, seeking the positive even though he was worried. He drew a deep breath for courage, straightened his shoulders, and walked up to the tall golden doors and knocked as loudly as he could. He wasn't sure it would be heard, but deep golden peals of sound echoed in response to his knock. They waited for several minutes, hearts in mouth.

Slowly the large doors swung open on their weighted hinges. Standing in the doorway were three Adventurers and behind them a mixture of Adventurers and Wraiths, though given they looked a little different, BillyBoy would have called them spirits. "We've been praying for you to come, and I had a vision of you coming last week, if time is reckoned right from in here," the Adventurer in the front said.

"We've been sent by inspiration to see you're let out, though you have to agree to be kind and live the Gospel like we're supposed to."

"We'll do that," the other agreed. "Is it safe?"

"It is now, at least here. We've still got the rest of the valley south of here to clean up. If you'll come out we'll tell you what we have to say, then move on."

The man shook his head. "We've been told if we step foot out of the temple, we'll die."

"Well," BillyBoy tipped his head and smiled, "that won't be all bad. There's a group that's fighting right now to repair the resurrection cycle. You'll be back rather quickly, though we should tell you what we have to tell you first to help you decide that would be okay." They taught them from there, then moved back and let those who would, leave the temple. When only the first man was still standing in the doorway, BillyBoy reached out his hand to grip the man's hand. "I promise. I'll close the door behind you and let God keep it locked like he wants it."

The eyes of the man watered. "Thank you."

Matthew closed the off-side door and BillyBoy helped the man cross the threshold and he went up in the bubbles of death of this world. BillyBoy closed the main door and they knew it was locked and only God would open it again if He wanted it to be. They'd never been able to get into their cities' temples because the doors had been locked. Not against them, but because they had been blessed with other protections. For this group to have had to be let in and protected by God Himself, they hadn't had the heart to ask why.

-:-:-:-:-

The pillar of light over the place of protection in downtown Salt Lake City (not in the Adventurer city of Salt Lake - that was a little farther down the mountain), wasn't over Temple Square. It was over the main Catholic Cathedral up the mountain from there. Looking back down towards Temple Square from there once the Overwritten were taken care of, all they could see was black darkness. They looked at one another with very worried glances. The opening of the Cathedral doors behind them caught their ears, but they couldn't look away.

"Not looking very friendly and open, is it?" a soft voice said from behind them. They could feel the Spirit of God emanating from the person who spoke.

"Why?" Matthew asked, pained.

"Because too many wanted to wrest power in their pride for being the 'only true religion', even here on Theldesia. They forgot what Christ is really all about. When the Second Special came, they refused to even have the People of the Land set foot on the grounds to be protected. We took them in here, along with anyone who needed it, regardless of their professed beliefs."

The Idaho group finally turned around and looked at the person who was speaking to them. He glowed like they did and they bowed their heads, remembering what Purrcy had told them. "God was merciful to us when we showed mercy to the others," BillyBoy agreed. "It's very disheartening to know that so many here forgot that love of fellowman is more important than selfish vanity."

"So many that the few of us who did remember it also couldn't step foot in their domain," another person behind the man who'd spoken first said a bit bitterly. "We were called traitors for believing what God taught us all."

BillyBoy looked at him, then nodded slowly. "Still, forgiveness is also God's will, and we need to forgive them before we can return home to Earth. I will also hope they will repent and change their ways and help us get there."

"We can go home?" another one asked. The group from Idaho all nodded.

"Please come in and explain," the head of the cathedral group asked. This time, a portion of them did go in to teach the message they brought with them.

-:-:-:-:-

"How will we meet with the Eagles here?" Hue asked hopelessly as they stood looking at Temple Square from as close as they could get.

BillyBoy had been pondering the same thing. "I think it's been cursed with God's cursing. Maybe we can treat it like a dungeon and purify the whole thing?"

The rest thought about that, but didn't answer just then. BillyBoy finally gave a short nod. "We'll come back to it after we've got the rest of the valley fixed up. We'll want to be here at the end anyway."

"Call it the final boss?" Phillip said a bit cynically.

The rest gave small smiles at that. "Yeah," BillyBoy answered.


	188. Michael Earns a Title

The report from the forward scouts for the last three rooms of the West U.S. Maze of Eternity was concerning. "None of the Fourth of July Special's bosses are here in the Maze."

" _None_ of them?" They shook their heads. "Where'd they go then?"

Michael groaned. "We didn't follow them, but if they had the same programming the Devourer did then they should have been moving for the next closest cities that still held Adventurers."

"Shouldn't that mean that they'd have eventually moved through the entire connected continents?" Gareth, as the map man, looked horrified.

Stiletto raised his hand. "When we first got to Diego to pass along the orders, we arrived at an intermediate time - after the Fourth of July Special, but still in the past. The ground was desolate, but not filled with all the blast holes that exist in our time. I thought it a little odd, but we were focused on our orders at the time."

They sat and mused on that for a moment, then Michael pushed up with a sigh. "I'll go take a look and see what happened."

Stiletto rose to his feet as well. "I can at least keep you company without being a drain."

Michael gave a nod and they disappeared. The rest of the Eagles sighed unhappily and slumped where they were. Yet another delay - though they weren't likely to feel it much until those two got back in thirty seconds to take a three hour nap.

-:-:-:-:-

A sparkly moth rode on the back of an invisible sparrow. They weren't touchable by anything at the moment anyway, since they were crossing leagues with each movement forward. It was just survival habit. Stiletto directed Michael's time path to when he, BlackJack, and Bowie had arrived over Diego before. Michael paused enough to look over the land. "So...where are the Overwritten from the Special? Do we go back and follow them, follow ourselves, or go forward in time to see how the blast holes arrived?" They'd both been in the Gate of Time. They could pick any of them, but only one would give them the real answer they needed.

Stiletto sighed and changed to be a sparkling hawk, holding the sparrow gently in its claws. "That's actually part of my specialty. I can feel which of the lines to take _right at this moment_ is the right one to take."

"Alrighty then," Michael said with slightly forced cheer. It was depressing to have dropped the ball again with all the things going on in this forsaken region. He was remembering Purrcy's scolding that they kept leaving holes for not thinking through everything carefully enough. Only because they had this gift of walking through time could they repair anything at all, including their own oversight. They were more than fortunate, but that didn't repair stupidity and blindness, neither of which was allowed for Commanding Officers(TM) since that killed men (normally) and in this case would have taken out every Adventurer from the U.S. of A.

Stiletto flew them back to the day of the Fourth of July Special and they watched the Overwritten appear. Michael didn't waste time. He immediately delved into the code of the lowest level Overwritten. They couldn't cut the life lines of the Adventurers. That was relieving. The Adventurers never thought of what would happen if a Special _wasn't_ won by Adventurers. They always were. He went looking for that side case.

What he found in the code was that if this level of Overwritten didn't die in the Special and had harvested empathions, they were to send back a signal to be sucked back up to the moon. The very side case of if they didn't harvest any empathions was to go find something that had them, get some, and then go back to test the case to be returned to the moon. Okay. That wasn't too bad. The second level Overwritten code was the same.

The sub-bosses did have the Cut code as did the main boss, though they'd already known that from watching before. Michael hunted for the specific code he was looking for. It took longer since they were more complex constructs. Stiletto was moving them around through the realms to keep them safe from the battling going on below them, though he was high enough and just far enough from the city to be mostly out of range. If Michael had been paying attention to that, he might have gotten a little seasick - except it really felt more like sea state four which didn't make him sick any more. It took sea state seven or higher for that now. Plus having gotten used to the high-g maneuvers in their airplanes this was flying a kite in a steady coastal breeze in comparison.

"Ah, damn," Michael finally sighed. "They're keyed to find the next closest Adventurer, kill him or her using the Cut code, rinse and repeat. No end-loop code at all, not even a "return with empathions" at the end. They're continent eating killing machines: the subs and the bosses." Stiletto groaned a bit.

"Step us to where we can sit down while I think," Michael ordered. Stiletto did and they sat on the side of the mountain looking over Diego, back at the beginning of the day of the Fourth of July Special.

"The code I wrote for the Devourer was a limiter to keep it on this side of the Sierra Nevada's, and a lock to the area around the Maze of Eternity, unless it was hunting down Vengeful Spirits since we needed that side case to fight it and win the chalice from it," Michael thought out loud. "It's going to be expensive to change five at once, and we've got to do it at least nation wide."

Stiletto rolled his eyes. " _That's_ going to be expensive."

Michael nodded soberly, though he was still thinking. "As much as I hate not just taking them all out while were doing, perhaps if I just use the locking code that will be enough. We already know all the cities had to keep fighting them until the Overwritten died. If we lock them to their locations that does give them that fighting chance, and we might not die right now in the process. It's just an 'insert lines and save' action."

"But...nation wide, Mike," Stiletto whined a bit. "It would take less energy to walk to every city in time and add it."

Michael shook his head. "No...the Inari aren't too thrilled by this either. I think if we add in a miracle request they'd be willing to help us out."

Stiletto narrowed his eyes. "It won't be our final miracle request for the Maze will it?"

Michael shifted uncomfortably. "I certainly don't want it to be...and with proper intent I think we can ask for it to be a separate case...perhaps the miracle this nation needs at the end of the Fourth of July Special."

Stiletto's eyes went a little wide, and he nodded emphatically. "They _definitely_ need one - or twenty."

"Indeed," Michael agreed. He spent some time working out the proper boundary conditions for what kind of Overwritten to look for (like: exclude the Devourer, as much as he'd love to take it out, too), where to put his insert, and just to make sure...was it sufficient to do an area affect over just the United States equivalent or not? With a sigh he finally decided he'd better make a side case search over the entire set of continents, just to be sure. He wasn't really sure he was ready just yet to be working up to the levels Purrcy was used to working at, but it needed to be done and he was the one in place. _She_ was the one in place to answer to the miracle side of it and keep him alive for the asking.

When he was sure he was ready, he wrote the code and let it start building up. He properly put up as many shields as he could, then made sure (every ten minutes of waiting time) that he'd included the case that if there weren't any Overwritten using Cut outside the U.S. that there wouldn't be a spell rebound. He'd done that by doing a recursion. If the spell found an Overwritten with Cut, it would use that Overwritten's HP and MP to write the code into itself.

If he sent the HP from himself and just that didn't kill him, it would rebound horribly for each Overwitten it didn't find, and if he'd not spent enough at the beginning, it might not get all of them. Really that's how death happened. You either gave up too much at the beginning or your own HP returned to you too much, too fast, and like a bullet. Lots of those at once returning to you and it was a bomb that hit you and took you out.

Asking for the miracle was the same. As soon as they'd decided the proper boundaries of the miracle, Stiletto had started them walking again. When he found a stream, they performed all the ritual cleansings, then the purification rituals for their levels. It was good Stiletto was a Deacon for this one. While he reviewed what he was supposed to do (it wasn't hard since it was mostly press his face in the ground while kneeling and chant a one line request when Michael was done), Michael tried to get past resigned depression to humble requester as he sat on the ground and meditated on the miracle he was going to ask for. He needed the pre-buildup for that one, too. It was an interesting balancing act to carry both a high level spell and a high level miracle request at the same time - enough to distract him from his depression for a while.

Both were starting to build up rather high when the pressure in the area increased a bit too, surprising them. They hadn't started the prayer yet. "Michael."

His eyes flew open. "Purrcy?"

She was frowning in concern. "There's one side case you haven't thought of, though it's a high level case. Hold steady. For me to change your code at this stage is going to be difficult, but possible."

"That makes me feel worse, you know. This whole thing has been a mess of missing side cases," he complained at her just so he could complain at all.

She patted him on the head with a small smile. "You're doing rather well, actually. You keep seeing the clues, even if not at the most convenient times. Falling down is how we learn. You'll get there eventually. Are you ready?"

He took a deep breath to steady and strengthen his core, then went back into the code realm to watch her work on it. Such opportunities were rare these days, especially for high level work. She added one more requirement and the weight that fell on him for it was very heavy - so heavy his body slumped to the ground and his soul almost couldn't breathe - well it didn't anyway, but it felt like his chest was being sat on by a rhino. "Why permanent?" he asked her faintly around that rhino.

"Because you are likely to make the Navigators very angry. If they send down more after this time, they will also need to be locked to the closest city and not allowed to roam the countryside."

Michael closed his eyes and gave an understanding nod. He stayed in that state of being right on the border of too much pressure, holding on tightly to his goal - the miracle request since the code just needed time not focus - until Stiletto roused him. "The Special's begun," Stiletto said quietly.

Michael rose to his feet with Stiletto's help, clapped twice, bowed and clapped again, then decided on his knees might be just as useful this time and sank back down to them. "Inari-no-Izanami, please grant my request for the sake of all those who fight this Fourth of July Special battle that has become more than unfair. To steal from you the Adventurers you need to play your games, and to steal from the land the Creatures needed by them, the Navigators have written these Overwritten to Cut the life lines of the Adventurer Tree of Life. There are too many to just kill outright without killing me, but please grant that the code I've written with Purrcy's modification will be properly effective to counter their evil desires without killing me and will be spread properly to wherever they are or can be found in the Western Hemisphere now and into the future. I won't survive if you take more from me, but I do want to add in my personal comment that allowing for places for everyone to escape to has been very relieving. Thank you for that." He clapped once, bowed, allowed his head to land on the ground in front of him, then released the spell.

Stiletto, already properly kneeling on the ground, added, "Inari-no-Izanami, please hear our prayer. I know I'm the only other Eagle here, but I'm quite sure everyone else is in agreement, if you'll take their desires into account as well." Michael appreciated the sentiment as the burden on him lifted just ever so slightly. He wondered what that would do to the rest of them, all unsuspecting.

He watched numbly as the code spread out, first reaching Diego since that's where they were closest to, then like water to spread out over all of the continent. He couldn't see the whole way, but he could see to about halfway into Kansas territory. The spell continued to spread until he felt it reach its boundaries, then settle and become stable. Permanent spells worked a little differently. They didn't rebound on the caster. All that weight before had been the cost instead. He quietly said, "Thank you, Inari-no-Izanami," then passed out, a few tears from the weight being released from his body and soul streaking down his cheek.

-:-:-:-:-

The final work of any good programmer was to see if the code was running properly. Michael and Stiletto watched as they sped through time there outside Diego. They watched as the Navigators did send down more Overwritten regularly - every time there was supposed to be another Special, in fact. Michael could only be glad and yet a bit despairing that Purrcy had come and added that last modification. Despair because it had been necessary.

They'd not seen the Overwritten tied to the cities because they would eventually disappear. That surprised them the first time. Michael had been the bait and stepped out into the base realm and they'd all immediately respawned. He hadn't stayed. That was enough to prove that they were acting under the rules of the programming of monsters, though they had no idea where they went. Stiletto wasn't about to go hunting through the realms to find the one that was the folder for monsters. It had to be the realm of Hell, his least favorite he decided immediately upon learning this little factoid, right up there with the spirit realm since that's where the yokai who were programmed to "Haunt" were.

"Stop!" Stiletto cried, but Michael had already been. They blinked and moved back in time and watched it again at regular speed. The land around Diego had become rather full of Overwritten that couldn't return to the moon, even if they couldn't see them all from where they were watching from. The land around Diego was quiet, then suddenly exploded. There was a rain of rocks, gravel, and dirt, then the breeze was carrying away the dust, revealing craters all around the city where the Overwritten likely should have been, or had been invisibly waiting.

"When are we?" Michael asked.

"Almost to our present time," Stiletto answered.

Michael's brow furrowed. Finally he asked, "Purrcy, what happened?"

With a purry chuckle, her disembodied voice said, "That was Shiroe's world-wide spell that killed anything that had the Cut spell in it. You should see the chaos on the Moon right now."

Michael's mouth fell open and then he laughed, a long hearty laugh. _That_ was poetic justice. "You boosted it to reach that far?"

"Yes. By the way," she purred in complete satisfaction, "love your new title."

Michael froze. "Are you serious?" He went looking. "Hōsōshi of the West. What the f- is that?"*

"You should go see what the bonuses are," and she was gone with a warm hug left behind. He went hunting.

-:-:-:-:-

Leonardo wished for not the first time he'd thought to friend list HackerM1, or get a long-distance picture of him. He really wanted to talk to someone about the Maze of Eternity. He'd managed to gather up enough Adventurers to face down the East Canada server Maze. His experience following after Kanami, and watching Kazuo work had really paid off. But then, while the Canada Adventurers were a naturally suspicious lot, they were also rather easy going and willing to help out with the quests to get everyone home once he'd proved himself just enough.

That had probably been the hardest part of what he'd had to do. Having Shiroe do it for him because just enough had seen the first seed message had been the answer there. He'd quickly sent out the second seed as soon as he learned that's all that was necessary to get people to listen to him preach the goals of the world quests, watching it bounce away from him and multiply as it did so. They'd done that in Eured, too, to good effect.

He sighed now, though. "Really, is it supposed to be this hard, Yank?" he was asked for the billionth time.

"Yes," he reassured them yet again. "So that we Adventurers don't just come do this dungeon any time we like. We'll get through it, I promise. We just have to persevere." Really it was taking way too long. He hoped that if he got this set trained, they'd all go with him and clean up the other two. If he had to do this kind of training every time, he was going to go bonkers. He was meant to work hard, and be a hero the best he could. He _wasn't_ meant to be a leader, particularly this kind.

Still, he had to do his part. The whole of both continents was really too much for one small group and one individual. Everything he could do to get others involved would help them get back home that much faster. He really wanted to only spend one week on this dungeon and that would be too long. The group from Yamato had managed to get it down to three and a half days by the time they got to the Europe part of Eured. It would be good if they could do that here ...but wasn't likely.

He also wanted to meet up with the Eagles again, if at all possible. But they were working from opposite ends and would probably cross, though at far distances north and south. It was sad he couldn't talk to them out-region. He'd love to have that restriction lifted. The next time he checked in with Shiroe to report that this Maze was cleaned and repaired, he'd remember to ask Shiroe to let them know he wanted to talk to them. Maybe they contacted him every now and then.

Leonardo sighed one more time, then hefted himself up from his resting place. "Okay, let's move on, shall we? We need to get this level done by tonight. The next one will take two days as well." He muttered at the tag end, "Though I'd much rather it only took one and a half maximum. First level should'a only taken us one day." It was tough to have to compare everything to the litmus test of Kanami. Only the Eagles had met that level of competence, strength, stamina, and speed. Leonardo had to respect them for that. (Given that it took a single legion a week or more normally to complete the first level, they were doing well. He'd just never fought it that way.)

-:-:-:-:-

The Idaho boys looked at each other from the corners of their eyes. They were getting discouraged, honestly. All three temples south of Salt Lake City were dark. Instead they'd freed up a strongly hot against the church Christian congregation, and a Hindu temple they were surprised existed, though given that Salt Lake City had become rather cosmopolitan with lots of international people moving in, perhaps it shouldn't have surprised them. At least the latter had been a little more practical about it, having had their own persecution and misunderstood way of life in the predominately Judeo-Christian United States.

Each had heard the message they had to bring, but hadn't particularly promised to play nice after all the other Adventurers were resurrected. They hadn't been all that thrilled to hear everyone was going to be coming back, either. They'd had to reassure the Christian congregation that there would be lecturing and scolding going on before that happened, or after. (They were hoping it happened before, if possible...) It sounded like they were going to have a lot of work to do after it anyway.

One final light down the valley that showed there was still Adventurer life present was beginning to glow in the dimming of the day. With some hope as they neared it, they could finally tell it might be the Timpanogas temple. There were supposed to be two more down in Provo at the southern tip of the Wasatch range, but having one here was in place to protect the valley, even if the southern Adventurer city just beyond it was destroyed like the others had been.

With a collective intake of breath, the Idaho Adventurers rushed the Overwritten around the temple and attacked furiously, letting out some of their depression and frustration at what had gone on in this valley. They barely remembered the battle when it was over; they all ran together now anyway. Nearly two days of constant battling would do that. With a level of dismay over what they would hear, the Adventurers of Idaho held on to their swords and staves with tight grips, and prayers for hope in their hearts.

The first thing that finally crossed into their brains was that the land around the temple wasn't empty, and there was actually land. They hadn't battled all the way up to the temple. With blinks of surprise, they decided that might be alright. The next thing they noticed was that there were people standing in that grass. That might be even better...though they also had weapons out.

BillyBoy immediately stepped forward with his hands out, free of weapons. Coming out of battle-ready mode had to be accomplished first. "We're here to help, not fight you. We've come down from Idaho to see what's happened here in the last four years. Are you all right? Is there anything else we can help you with?" The Adventurers in the protected ground relaxed enough to let the Idaho group relax a little, too.

"We were just going to push against them one last time to break out or die," one answered back solemnly. "We've received inspiration that we need to go and help our brethren coming from the south."

BillyBoy stiffened in surprise. "Right now?"

"Well, we were going to go right now. It felt urgent anyway. We were surprised to see the Overwritten dying before we'd even set weapon to them." Suspicion was back. "You sure you're not here to see we die, too?"

"No, really, we're not. We've been killing the Overwritten at all the safe places all along the valley. We've heard about the group coming from the south, though. If they need us, we'll go with you. We need to get rid of any Overwritten chasing them, too. We've been told the whole way from Idaho all the way down to at least Saint George will be free of them when we've done that much."

"Oh, we like that idea! Since we were going to head out anyway, we'll go with you," their spokesperson said.

"That would be much appreciated. Give us five minutes to rest up and count our losses," BillyBoy asked. "While we do that, will you tell us what happened down here on this end?"

He sat down with his other supports and the spokesperson sat down across from him to tell his story. "We were part of the group down here to guard the pass between Utah Lake and Buckly Mountain. You know how many students were at BYU and thus in Provo. Orem City was full to overflowing as far as an Adventurer city could be." He shook his head. "There was a real wide range of folks who lost it at the catastrophe. A lot of boyfriends got stolen from girlfriends or fiancées, or were newly marrieds. Those lost it the worst. Some went into hiding, some headed for the mountains or tried to drown themselves in the bay."

"Then someone hit on the terrible idea to take it to God - only they took it angry and headed for the temple grounds. Our group didn't understand they were so angry, and when we did figure it out we stood to defend the temple grounds from the desecration they were set on. The fighting lasted for over a year, actually, since everyone could keep coming back. They kept hoping at least one of the times they wouldn't, I guess." He shook his head, miserable.

"The July Fourth Special was the only thing that finally got that conflict to end. We tried talking, encouraging, prayer, everything we could think of. It took finding the bastard who was carrying around the spirit of Satan and casting it out before we could get anyone to calm down at all. That wasn't in time, though. That only happened after enough were fully good and dead that we could spot him out of the not-so-large crowd."

He sighed unhappily. "By then, the Overwritten had also done their damage. Between the Overwritten and that man's final back-pocket explosion that took out the final temple in Provo, the city was dead. We high-tailed it up here and managed to survive on the stores we'd been saving up - that was a necessity from the beginning of the long war. We're about empty, though, so have been praying to know whether to continue to wait it out even without food or go out. That's when we got the answer to go, and not to find food, but to save others like us."

BillyBoy nodded, his HP-up potion finished. "That sounds like God," he said quietly. The others around him nodded agreement. He tapped a finger on his knee. "We have a message to pass along to everyone we get out of this pickle, but maybe we'll leave it until we finish the rescue and just let everyone hear it all at once." He looked at his council members. They gave it some thought.

Hugh finally shook his head. "We can teach it while we walk. We Teachers need the practice with the teaching, I've been thinking. We can walk in smaller groups and talk as we go." He looked at his elders. "Maybe we could get one of each of you to go with us to listen in and fill in any gaps we may still have."

Matthew nodded. "We can do that."

-:-:-:-:-

Flying Summons were taking the Idaho/North Utah battalion in at a run. They could hear the sounds of battle now. They'd ridden Summon horses for the four hours they could, resting up from the previous battle. They'd been walking since until the scouting Summons had reported that there was a band of Adventurers fighting ahead. Mount Nebo was to their left and Nephi was getting close, on the south end of that mountain. As they rounded the final corner, they could see the group of Adventurers fighting hard, but surrounded by the Overwritten. As soon as they were close enough to enter the fray, they were casting defensive spells and saying prayers. They kept it smooth, not breaking parties, though. That was wasteful of time and their lives.

When BillyBoy got close enough to one of the parties from the south, they called out, "Thank God you've arrived."

"What happened?" BillyBoy asked.

"We think we woke up the set back behind Mount Nebo when we passed through Nephi," the answer came back around dodging and defending and attacking. "It's possible the Salt Creek group got us from behind at the same time, since nothing happened in Nephi."

"Makes sense," he answered back. "We've got to kill them all, or I'd send you lot on up to the Payson temple grounds to rest. That's still a half-hour or more of walking, though, so it's not worth it. With all of us working together we'll take them down. Have your worst-off step out as best they can and power back up."

He got a shake of the head. "Can't. Even with the drops on the way, we're out of potions. There's just been too many on the trip as a whole."

BillyBoy immediately sent down the order to pass along any potions that were available to the belabored south group - HP-ups to the fighters and perhaps more importantly MP-ups to the healers. They would do more than the potions would if they were back up. Eventually they managed to get the balance to shift in their favor and the Overwritten went down faster than the Adventurers wore out. When the last three went up in bubbles together, the entire group collapsed on the ground to just breathe for a while.

While the count of the dead was taken, a small group of south Adventurers arrived where BillyBoy was sitting with his council. He raised his hand. "Over here." They gave nods and wove their way through tired Adventurers to sit with them. The Provo group leader also arrived to sit with them, as did the leadership of each group that had joined them, though most of the rest were only there for observation - or so they said. "We're okay, unless there's another crowd of them from deeper in the mountains coming," he told everyone. "We should move back up to Payson temple grounds as soon as everyone has breath, though. It hasn't been touched since it wasn't an Adventurer city in the game. We can overnight there, then continue back up into the Salt Lake valley. It's also in a good zone to harvest." That sounded logical to everyone so he got agreement on it.

"We're a delegation from Serpiente, Saint George, and Cedar," their spokesperson informed the rest. "We've been wondering what's happened up here and wanted to check in with headquarters."

The council looked at each other. "We were told you were coming," BillyBoy started with. "We're mostly from Idaho with the same idea." The faces started falling on the south group. He sighed. "It isn't pretty in the Salt Lake valley. They all decided to fight each other instead of help each other out like we needed to, in order to get by in this place. We've been clearing out the Overwritten from the north to the south. There are still pockets of Adventurers living there, but they're divided and no one trusts the church, given that they were the first to be prideful and forget their promises to God." He shook his head. "We'll need to fix that in order to move forward with the goal to get home."

The southern delegation nodded at that. "We've heard about those goals. We had three people stop in town and tell us before we left."

"Yeah? Three came to us, too," BillyBoy said. "We know their guild is roughly a raid in size. I wonder if they split up to tell everyone?"

"It would be nice to know the count a little better," the head of the party from Hill Air Force Base commented.

"Well...the ones who came to Serpiente were named Stiletto, Bowie, and BlackJack. I remember their names since they were all knives," one from there said.

"The ones that came to Twins Falls were called P/R, Brenner - an Adventurer cursed with blindness, and HackerM1," BillyBoy said. There was dead silence as the rest of the men stared at him, disbelief written all over their faces - even Matthew's.

Slowly Matthew said, "That's who came to Pocatello. ...When were they at Twin Falls?" BillyBoy answered honestly. Matthew barely blinked at him. "That is _exactly_ the same time they were in Pocatello. That's how we were able to meet up with you at the fork and rescue you from the bullies. ...We left the same time you did, nearly."

"But...but it couldn't have been. They were down in Saint George only the day before that. How could they have gotten up to Idaho in one day?"

"Less than one day. They were in Cedar at the same time they were in Saint George," another one said, just a touch grimly.

"Actually," the man from Hill Air Force Base broke in, "We were told about the first three...back just before the Fourth of July Special. The base captain was in contact with the military head in Diego, and was told about them, that they'd come to tell him pretty much the same stuff you all have been telling everyone along the way. Is that who you've heard it all from, really?"

"Yes," BillyBoy answered, "but how could it be that they were here in the States two years ago almost? They were in Yamato until recently, they told me."

"...Is it like the three Nephites?" Patrick asked, trying to work it out.

The others looked at him. "Maybe," Matthew said slowly.

"Actually, that's why I brought them to you first, Billy," Phillip said. "They showed up suddenly in front of me on my guard rounds, out of thin air. Since I knew you'd been trying to find a peaceful way to leave, I thought they might be the answer you were looking for." The rest blinked at him.

"Well...they were. And Miss Purrcy did appear and disappear rather like I would expect an angel to," BillyBoy had to admit. The others who had seen it had to agree.

"Who's that?" was asked.

"Ah...," BillyBoy decided to let that one go. "It's nothing. We just got a boost at the beginning before walking into the Salt Lake Valley by a forward field monitor we didn't know until just then."

"Nooo, really," the head from Hill Air Force Base said, not willing to let it go.

Brad sighed and pulled out his second seed from Yamato and tapped it. He let it play until he paused the playing video and pointed. "Her. She's the forward field monitor for the world game play to get home. She showed up, sounding as surprised to be in front of us as we were to see her. She said God had used her that way a few times before, though, so she told us what to look for, including you guys coming up from the south."

The Hill Air Force Base man rubbed his chin. "That means she's in contact with the Eagles, too, then?"

"Oh, yes. She called them her favorite American sons," Hue nodded.

"Hmm," the man leaned back but stopped asking questions. Since none of them could answer the other one, they let it go as well, but they were all burning with curiosity, nonetheless.

-:-:-:-:-

When they reached Payson, BillyBoy couldn't sit still. He kept finding himself rising to his feet and wanting to wander off to the north. He would stop and stare that way from the border of the purified ground, then wander around the camp until he found himself there again.

"You know," a familiar voice said from behind him, "if you can't sit still that usually means you're not listening properly."

BillyBoy turned. "You've noticed such a thing before, Phillip?"

Phillip shrugged uncomfortably. "Yeah. For all I won't be converted by you lot, I do watch you."

BillyBoy paused, then gave a nod and looked north again. "We were told we only have until the resurrection to complete this side quest. I think clearing out Temple Square is part of it. ...I wonder if we're running out of time?"

"That did look rather difficult to overcome," Phillip had to admit.

BillyBoy said a prayer in his heart asking for confirmation. When it came, calm and sure, he turned back to the encampment. "Everyone, I'm sorry," he said on the party chat. "We can't sleep all night. We're running late. We need to get to Temple Square and get it cleaned up. Those of you willing to help with the final boss of this sub-quest, please get up and let's get going." He wasn't going to make anyone come and help on this one, particularly the very worn out South group. "I don't expect it to be easy. It's been cursed by God because of the unfaithfulness of the Saints at the beginning. We have to undo what they did and possibly reconsecrate it, if He's willing. We need to meet with the Eagles there."

The entire Idaho group stood up, ready to go. The southern group rose to their feet, a little slower. "We've rested enough if we can walk it without having to fight, we'll likely be okay. And if we can sit when we get there before going in, that would be even better."

"You don't have to. We know how hard you've had to work," BillyBoy said humbly, but they shook their heads.

"It's why we came," they said quietly.

"Thank you," BillyBoy responded. He looked at the other small groups. They were standing and only looked back silently. They would come to fulfill their own requirements, then. BillyBoy turned back to face the north again. "Then let's go, and pray God will be with us. We'll really need his help to know what to do. We've never seen anything like it before."

"Yes, there is one example," one from the cathedral delegation contradicted him. BillyBoy looked back at him, surprised. "When Jerusalem was destroyed to the last standing stone when the children of Israel were carried away for the last time into Babylon. Even the temple was destroyed. But when they were allowed to return, they rebuilt - even the temple."

BillyBoy stared at him, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. He gave a nod of thanks, then turned and led the entire battalion northward.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles collapsed on the ground, barely bothering to watch the final bubbles rising from the last of the bosses before they got to the mirror room. Michael had gotten the same concessions from Izanami that they'd gotten from the other Maze dungeons. They could move their base of operations up to the last room cleared and be resurrected there. Nothing new would come into the Maze if they all died so they didn't have to start _all over_ all over. They were still all worn out and already done with this. To have to fight a legion raid or more in every room when they were only one raid, one fourth of a legion, even at the the high levels they were, it still wore a body down to the bone and beyond.

Michael was still gnawing on what he was going to ask for as the final miracle before they entered the Tree of Life room. Half of them were voting for not having to fight all the angry Vengeful Spirits. The other half were voting that Izanami, or Izanagi, or both, would sort the Adventurers out properly themselves so they didn't have to keep getting worn down after they got out of this forsaken place. None of them wanted to face themselves in the next room.

Food and potions down in the belly helped a little, but not the deep seated weariness. Without warning, there was suddenly music in the air: calming, peaceful, a quiet men's chorus.

 _My country 'tis of thee,_  
 _Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;_

While they got to hear themselves from within the choir, it wasn't often they got to hear themselves from the audience. With small smiles, some relaxed against rocks and walls in the cavern they were in. Others lay back and rested their heads on their clasped hands, eyes closed to hear the harmony woven into the melody.

 _Land where my fathers died,_  
 _Land of the pilgrims' pride,_  
 _From every mountainside let freedom ring!_

 _My native country, thee,_  
 _Land of the noble free, thy name I love;_  
 _I love they rocks and rills,_  
 _They woods and templed hills;_  
 _My heart with rapture thrills, like that above._

 _Our fathers' God to Thee,_  
 _Author of liberty, to Thee we sing;_  
 _Long may our land be bright,_  
 _With freedom's holy light,_  
 _Protect us by Thy might,_  
 _Great God our King.**_

Nearly half were asleep by the end of the second verse, most of the rest headed there during the third. If their gift to Purrcy could be turned to their benefit, they would enjoy every moment of it. They really did like the way Purrcy interfered in their dungeon play much more than how Izanami did.

Those still awake enough to be aware of their surroundings could hear purring and each got a cat nose kiss - awake or asleep - as Purrcy-cat walked the cavern greeting them all. She finally settled down with the pile made up of Michael, Gareth, and Brenner, purring for them still. With the TechnoMage watching over them, they fell into a deep healing sleep. Not even a Vorpal Mouse would wiggle its nose in their direction with her protecting them.

-:-:-:-:-

Isuzu walked through the gate of the cold northernmost Adventurer city on a brilliant spring day. She didn't know too many people in Susukino, but she didn't need to, to be excited at being there. Her eyes took in all of the old buildings, so much more rustic than in Akiba, yet at the same time somehow familiar. Perhaps because they had a similar air - that of belonging to an Adventurer city.

There was suddenly a familiar face coming her way, with a broad smile on it and very blond straight hair over it with elvin ears sticking out through it. "Isuzu-chan!" William called, catching her eyes.

"Hello, William-san," she answered back, arriving in front of him. "I've come to visit for a bit, and see the sights I've heard about - and been singing about."

"Singing, is it?" he asked in mild surprise.

"Yes. Guildmaster Shiroe has me making up songs about the adventures that the People of the Land and Adventurers both are involved in. My second favorite is the one about the Giants, though it's honestly the least believed."

"I'd love to hear it. Do you perform in public?"

"I do. I'd love to play while I'm here. Is there a good venue?" William got them walking as they discussed possibilities, pointing out a few as they entered the main market district. "How long are you planning on staying?" he finally asked.

"Oh, as the wind blows. I've been doing more performing than adventuring for a while now and would like to reverse the two for a bit, though I'll play while I'm here so I don't get out of practice. I'd like to eventually go and see the new city of the Giants for myself."

"That would be something," William agreed. "I haven't been yet, but I hear it's really starting to form into something that looks like a real village - on a very large scale of course," he smiled at the joke and Isuzu smiled back. "This is where my guild calls home," he opened the door to a tavern and let her go in first. Somehow she felt like she'd been taken there all unknowing for a reason, though she couldn't see anything untoward in it. "Come sit at my table and talk a bit," William offered.

She sat where he indicated and he waved over the waitress. "Do you drink wine?" he asked Isuzu.

Isuzu hesitated just a bit. "I'm of age to, now, but there's not much call for it in Log Horizon, nor with anyone I hung out with. I've had a few on the road, but haven't found it really worth much."

William smiled again. "Then may I treat you to some of our homemade elvin wine? It should be quite a bit more pleasing than what you've had until now."

"Sure, I'd love to try it," she agreed. She would only taste it, though, she thought. She rather hoped to not get drunk, and if Adventurers were making wine, particularly _elvin_ wine, she thought that the flavor text might finally be broken and she would get drunk if she didn't pay attention. Food was set down before the wine was, and she was just as glad. It wasn't all that late in the day, but it was her first solid meal for the day.

"How was the mountain pass?" William asked.

"I was very pleased to find the Plague Rats gone," she answered after swallowing her first mouthful of her early dinner. "It's a cave system, though, so I did have to fight off the occasional Midnight Bats and Vorpal Mice. At the deepest point, it sounded like there might have been a few of the hobgoblins that like such dark places, but they didn't show themselves. I would think if we go through every now and then to keep things tamed down, it should stay passable."

"Wonderful," William sat back pleased, one hand resting on the table, the other in his lap.

Isuzu had to suddenly focus on her plate again. She'd been hit with a sudden realization that William was very good looking. He would be, of course, being an Adventurer. There were very few who weren't unless they'd been going for a certain rough look from the beginning. But even then, he was also wearing his own face like they all did, and that glint had only made the "good looking" real and alive and vibrant.

She sighed at herself a bit. Really, she would have thought it would have settled down by now, now that Izanagi wasn't torturing Akiba any more. Then again, Shiroe had warned her that it was going to be normal for her age as well, and if Adventurers were generally becoming more real to Theldesia, that she should expect it. She'd rather not, honestly. She had a lot of things she wanted to do in her life, and romance wasn't one of them this early in her life, by mental preference. Her body kept having other ideas. Irritating, really.

She shoved it down as far as she could and focused on just enjoying her meal, her kind companion who wanted to make sure he was doing good things for the man he looked up to, and the very good and lightly flavored elvin wine. Later that evening she did get the opportunity to play a few songs for Silver Sword guild in their tavern, and was well received. She fell asleep in a room they offered her free of charge in exchange, quite happy with her decision to turn north and go adventuring again.

* * *

 _*_ _Hōsōshi_ _:_ _Originally an official government minister_ _and_ _priest in the imperial court, one of whose duties was a purification ceremony against evil spirits, and whose magics dealt with the four directions and creating and maintaining magical barriers between the human world and the spirit world, keeping humans safe from supernatural harm._

 _Michael has done this over and over, actually, with all the purifications against the Overwritten. This time he's done it on a half-world scale (regional and above get titles), and set the barrier between the Cutting Overwritten and the Adventurers, even if they do still have to fight them. He is both a minister in Shiroe's court (Hacker General) and a priest (of Izanami), so he also fits those criteria._

 _Hōsōsh_ _i is also a demon god the priest would dress up as for the purifications who could see in all directions and punished all evil that it could see (think realm walker on top of Adventurer)._

 _Izanami really in the end just likes to play with him, though, and tease where she can get them in. (And Izanagi loves to award those who have really helped him in ways that are important to the world - and won't stop Izanami from teasing anyone. If he chooses to use Michael's side comment to his benefit however he sees fit, no one will stop him, either.)_ _(See:_ _yokai-dot-com slash housoushi)_

 _**"My Country 'Tis of Thee", Samuel Francis Smith, 1831_


	189. Completion of the West US Maze

An early riser by habit, Isuzu entered the lower dining room of the tavern and hesitated. She wasn't quite sure where to insert herself this morning. Though empty this morning except of the few who had slept on their tables or in their chairs without moving at all, most of the tables had been claimed as if permanent homes last night.

William was also already up and looked like he was in a chat at his table. She didn't want to interrupt that, nor to be rude and assume she was of high enough status to just claim a place at his table. He was a guildmaster in charge of an entire Adventurer city, after all. She was just headed for one of the out of the way tables when William's wave to her caught her eye and she obediently changed direction to arrive at his table.

He waved at a chair and she sat. He concluded his chat and smiled at her. "You're always welcome to come sit with me in the mornings. Elves apparently don't sleep much on Theldesia and the rest of the guild is lazy. The city won't start nagging me to be nursemaid until about mid-morning either, so I'd be happy to have the company."

"Alright then," she gave a nod. The waitress was already bringing her breakfast. That did feel a bit lazy to Isuzu, that she would naturally get fed without thought and sit at the guildmaster's table. She might get too lax if she stayed long.

"Did you remember to tell Shiroe-sempai you'd arrived in Susukino?" William asked, leaning on one elbow.

Isuzu nodded, swallowed her food, and said, "I called him as soon as I saw the city walls to let him know."

"That's good then."

She frowned slightly, then gave William a suspicious look. "And he called you right away to say I was coming. You were awfully quick to find me when I got in."

William's lip quirked up. "Rather, the city watch let me know. It's important up here to make those reports immediately. We'd have been overrun by Giants by now if they didn't."

"Oh," Isuzu took her next bite to cover her embarrassment.

"That was him I was talking to just now, however," William continued as she ate. "I was just letting him know that we'd appreciated having the private concert last night as your Susukino debut." He paused but she only flashed him a smile, wanting to get breakfast down. It was rather habit from both Log Horizon and from wanting to get back on the road as early as possible each morning while on tour.

William put his arm down on the table and leaned on it. "Are you planning on going down to Ninetails for the Spring Festival, or were you going to disappear into the wilds and get lost in a Giant village while we're all gone?"

Isuzu blinked. "Ah, how far off is that?"

"We'll be boarding the Ocypete in four days and go by sea down and around Yamato. It will likely be rather exciting since there are still sea monsters between the two. It would be nice to get rid of them altogether. We'll come back the same way, so you could go and come with us, then explore - if you want."

Isuzu considered that. "Well, I would like to see everyone again, and it will be cherry blossom time. ...It might be fun to go by boat again, too. I'd really hate going if I had to walk the whole way just for that." She wrinkled up her nose. "I'd have to start right out, as a matter of fact." William nodded in agreement. "However, I'd have to say that having the sea monsters is preferable to the alternative." At William's raised eyebrow, she wiped her mouth and set her napkin on the table next to her empty bowl.

"You remember my song about the Pirate king?" William nodded. "Well, because Michael isn't here to really _be_ the pirate king, all the coastal would-be-pirates aren't being held down anymore. They keep wanting to take his place - though not because they understand it. The unrest up the coast was rather irritating and what drove me to do something different for a bit, actually."

William thought about that for a moment. "We could play pirate on the way down and back, then. That might be fun."

Isuzu wrinkled her nose at that. "Well, it might make things better...and it might make them worse. If it would settle them, then that would be alright in my book, but it might make them try harder. Maybe Shiroe-san would know. I've told him about the unrest."

"I'll ask the next time I talk to him, then," William agreed. "What are you going to do today?"

Isuzu sat back and thought about that and how much time was left before the Spring festival. "I guess I'll go and book the next three night's worth of concerts, then explore the city," she decided.

"Alright," William said easily, sitting back in his chair again. "If you ever need anything, just give me a call. I'm used to interruptions and would much rather know something needs doing than be left in the dark to fix up something worse later."

"Okay," Isuzu rose from her chair. "Thanks for the room last night and the company. How much do I owe for breakfast?"

William waved a hand. "Whenever you stay here, that's payment enough."

Isuzu waved as she walked out. It was gratitude for Shiroe, she knew. She wouldn't abuse it, but she also wouldn't stay away too much. That would make William wilt and think Shiroe hated him.

-:-:-:-:-

The battalion stood outside the dark zone of Temple Square. It was really only one city block big, though the buildings on either side of the four-square roads were rather large - each one a dungeon size by themselves.

"I think we'll need the Conference Center, if we're all going to meet up and hear what the Eagles have to say," Matthew scratched his head.

"And we all want the temple back," Hue muttered into his chest, still down about that part.

"We'd only need the Office of the President if we need a place to govern other than within Salt Lake itself," BillyBoy mused, looking down to the Adventurer City. "And I think I'd rather we used the Guild Hall, honestly. It would be a lot better to fix up the city again and let this be generally sacred ground we only used when it was conference time...if we even stay here on Theldesia that long."

"I would think an ancient broken-down Family History and Genealogy building wouldn't be much use on Theldesia?" Patrick questioned. "Really, the same for the other office buildings. What about the Tabernacle?"

One of the locals shook their head. "It's not even rubble here. Just a small ring from the wood rotting. They really took the materials under consideration when they generated the feel of the decay."

"Oh," Patrick answered.

After a bit more thought, BillyBoy said, "So we only need the two buildings, but I'm not sure we want a miasma to stay around the temple. Do you think it will lift off the entire square if we got the temple itself cleaned out?"

"...I'm not sure we could get into the temple," Matthew said slowly. "Like we couldn't get into it back home. If God wasn't pleased to begin with, likely he locked it down."

That made sense. "Fine. Then we clean out the Conference Center, then pray over the temple and see if God will lift the curse. If not, we'll ask to at least be able to use the Conference Center for our meeting with the Eagles." The rest agreed with BillyBoy's decision. They headed for that street, took deep breaths, put on their protective gear, said their prayers of protection, and walked into the blackness.

"Oh, my," said one voice from the back, where the South party was. "This is what it was like when we got spanked for thinking we could be something other than what we'd promised to be. It's not a nice feeling and we decided we'd rather live. Repentance was hard, but worth it for the protection, in the end."

There was a pause, and the same voice vocalized a prayer. "Heavenly Father, we of Cedar know of your great mercy to those who repent. We weren't here when this all happened, but we're sorry it did. Please forgive those who were too prideful to understand that your mercy and love are all that stand between us and this kind of darkness of living for eternity. We hope they will come to understand and repent, too. If you would, please also show us how to reconsecrate the Conference Center so we can use it when the helpful men of the VFA-115 Eagles guild come to talk to all of us. It would be nice to have a large place for everyone to hear their words all at once. You asked us to come up here, and we're trying to do our best. Thank you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." He got lots of murmured amens.

The air around them was not quite so oppressive now, and perhaps they could see a little better in the gloom, as if perhaps a sliver of the moon was over a dark zone - though it was daylight outside this area. They'd all tied themselves together with ropes so they didn't get too separated. They didn't want to wander the entire block lost. They just wanted to get into the one building. "What was it Nephi taught about the darkness?" another one asked after a bit, while they were feeling around the outside of the Conference Center, looking by touch for a door to enter it by.

"Well, it's a lack of faith," one commented.

"The mists of darkness rose up from the river," another said.

"And you fell into that if you let go of the iron rod," another commented dryly.

"It came up while the people were holding onto the iron rod and they had to hold on even tighter." Everyone paused at that for a bit, making sure one more time their ropes were solidly tied to their neighbor.

"It's lifted by preaching the gospel of Christ - faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost," BillyBoy felt impressed to lighten the mood a bit. There were answers in the scriptures, too, not just warnings.

"Well, then, I think I'll have faith that we'll be able to see where we're going and where the door is," Hue said in almost forced cheeriness.

"Not a bad idea," was muttered back.

When it actually worked so that they were walking through a more grey mist rather than a black one, they were a bit surprised, but they tried to not let that interfere with the faith they were trying to hold onto. They were able to see the side of the building a little better, as well. Someone was even able to recognize a landmark and they turned that way, still brushing the sides of the Conference Center with their hands if they were close enough to touch it.

Their first monster was at the door, preventing them from entering it. They used a similar pattern as they'd used on the Overwritten, asking for blessing, shielding, and then fighting it. It wasn't the easiest monster, but it wasn't as bad as a full Overwritten either. It left no drops, though, and they were short on potions. They left HP and MP where it was for now, not healing up. Someone did quote a few scriptures, though, as they opened the door and walked into the Conference Center. When he was done, someone close to him asked, "Why'd you do that?"

"Because even if we don't fill up our status bars, we should never let our oil lamps go dry."

That got some understanding laughs. They kept that up as they walked through the outside hallways, taking turns quoting scriptures to each other. The Elders who had been on missions had it easiest, having had to memorize a lot of them. The Teachers and Priests weren't too far behind, though, since they'd come from Seminary lessons every day and scripture mastery speed quizzes were always the teacher's favorite activity to get their students to sit still for the sometimes dull lessons.

Interestingly, they found the mist dissipated as they walked and talked until they were able to see the signs that told where the main Conference Center hall was. It seated several tens of thousands of people every semiannual General Conference of the church, plus all the leadership up on the stand, and then the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square up behind them. It was likely to hold all of the Adventurers of Utah and Idaho combined. That was why they wanted to get it opened up for use.

They arrived first at the office behind the hall, where the sound system electronics booth was, as well as the broadcasting room. "Well, I'm not sure why we need to be here first, but it looks like we can't pass without it," BillyBoy informed the others. "We've got a whole nest of Gnarly Bees to clear out before we can keep going."

"Honey and traps and an angry swarm as soon as the first one gets stung," someone said from the back. "My dad was a beekeeper."

"And you had a ton of sisters go through Beehive's class, too," his neighbor nudged him. He scolded back, since it was an inside joke, but it was good natured.

That battle took them a while and a few got poisoned. They broke out what potions they had for that. It wasn't worth making them be in pain if there weren't going to be more poisonous things in the building, and if there were, they'd rather die at the end than this close to the beginning.

They sang familiar hymns for the next stretch for something different to do. That pulled a Massive Wraith out of the organ pipes and into the hallway as they passed by it. They had to both sing and hack away at it at the same time. The singing kept it solid enough for the attacks to actually do damage. They eventually rotated half and half since it got too hard to breathe while fighting otherwise.

"Should we formalize it and actually hold a conference, with a men's chorus and everything?" Brad asked after that battle and as they walked through a hall that had almost no haze to it at all. "I mean, it would feel a lot more like home anyway. I wouldn't want to be disrespectful to God, but at the same time," he sighed a bit, "I really miss it. We'd always watch the Christmas Special from Temple Square every year to start out our family Christmas celebration."

BillyBoy looked at Matthew, then his councilors, asking with his expression what they thought. They thought about it for a while. "We could do it how we do all our meetings. It wouldn't be wrong to do that much, I would think," BillyBoy's first councilor finally said. "We could have whomever the Eagles pick speak first, then one of us go after to help reinforce what was said and to encourage everyone again. That never hurts."

"Um, would we need to say all the presiding stuff at the beginning?" BillyBoy asked very cautiously. "None of us know who that would be, I mean."

"I wouldn't think so?" was answered back.

For some reason it ate at BillyBoy, though. He didn't really want it, but he kept being shoved into that position of the presiding person. Even in this battalion he was expected to step up and be the voice to speak to others and to give the final orders and requests. It was hard on him. If it were to come up for real, he wasn't sure he could say yes one more time to a formal position. He would really rather all the Adventurers just played nicely together and that be enough. Elder's quorum president of Twin Falls, Idaho, was really enough for him.

At the same time, he knew that God didn't let his people wander without a head shepherd. That made him think of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for the forty years after Moses. Purrcy had compared that prophet to Shiroe. BillyBoy couldn't quite fathom Shiroe being the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Theldesia, though, for all he was doing good things. She'd compared HackerM1 to Aaron. The church followed the pattern of the priesthood of Aaron, so they could almost follow him, but he also wasn't a "card-holding" church member. BillyBoy sighed. It was all rather complicated, this sort of thing.

He was pulled back by the rope around his waist. The rest of his group had stopped, but he'd not been paying attention. He barely had time to draw a surprised breath as he was chomped in half by the skeletal Death Dragon guarding the main entrance into the great hall of the Conference Center.

-:-:-:-:-

BillyBoy was rather glad that the pain was very temporary. The cries of the rest of the group of men was muffled as he was suddenly a ghost himself. "Well, that was a surprise," a voice said at his shoulder. "Welcome to bodiless existence. I'm sure it will be brief - in comparison to others, myself included. And since there isn't a pathway back to the Cathedral, you can stay here and watch the outcome with me before you head off for the Tree of Life."

BillyBoy recovered from his shock to look for the speaker. "Miss Purrcy?"

"Yes."

"You're watching over us?" he asked in confusion.

"Yes, like I said, I'm the Caretaker, among other things. It's my job to make sure quests and sub-quests like this one go along smoothly." Her eyes were on the rest of his council.

He noted that they were rather distressed. "Just keep going forward," he said slightly impatiently. "Why would loosing me make you stop now? I'm just one of you."

Purrcy raised an eyeridge of whiskers at him. "Why don't you tell me why you allowed yourself to get into that position to begin with?"

"What, leadership? I didn't, I keep getting pushed into it."

"No. Not even seeing a monster right in front of you," she clarified in a bit of a scold.

"Oh. I was thinking about that and complaining to myself a bit. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Well, leaders who don't pay attention to where they are going get more than themselves killed," she continued her scold. "And no one who is a good leader wants to be there. They are there because everyone can see they have the skills and qualities of one. It's natural, not prideful."

BillyBoy gaped at her, then hung his head, trying to decide if he could believe that or not. As he thought, he got to watch several more of his men go down for not being able to get organized fast enough - though oddly they immediately disappeared instead of appearing next to the two of them watching it.

Matthew eventually got them all organized and the real battle against the Skeletal Dragon commenced. It went okay, but there were all kinds of little things BillyBoy would have done differently that would have saved an extra potion here, done more damage there, lost a few less lives. By the time the battle was won and the Dragon defeated, BillyBoy also was feeling quite defeated. "I'm sorry," he said quietly to his God, more than to Purrcy. "I didn't understand."

"Do you now?" Purrcy asked him.

BillyBoy watched the remainder of the battalion walk into the great hall without him and nodded miserably.

"Then off you go. Talk to Michael when you get there - that's HackerM1. He knows exactly what you're feeling and how you can go about fixing it. God's likely not done with you yet. He'll use this to His advantage, too. I told you that at the beginning."

BillyBoy blinked at her. "I - I guess you did, didn't you?"

She was gone, though, as the area around him grew hazy again and he felt pulled by a great force at high speed until he was suddenly in a room that felt an awful lot like spirit prison, or hell as some would call it. He shivered. There were a lot of angry spirits in this room. "Billy!" He was suddenly surrounded by a small crowd. This felt a little better. It was the people he'd just watch die, and the others from his groups he'd lost over the last several weeks.

"I'm sorry I was stupid," he said first off. "I wasn't paying attention like I should have."

"Well, don't repeat it," one scolded harshly, but they rather quickly forgave him.

He looked around the room generally. There were a bunch of tubes running from the floor to the ceiling, but more than two-thirds were cut and looking terrible. "Is that the Tree of Life," he asked quietly.

"Yes," the older ghosts answered. "Most of these don't want it repaired, either. They don't want to go back to what they were as frightened and lost Adventurers."

"We have to," BillyBoy said back quietly. With more firmness, he added, "We're all going to regardless." He pursed his lips. "Go collect up everyone who has faith and isn't freaking out. We're going to become the missionaries in Spirit Prison. Freedom comes and we need to be prepared."

The older ghosts took longer than the newer ones to get to work, but the newer ones knew why, what the goal was. They were the ones with the enthusiasm for the work, and he knew how to get them trained quickly, marshaled, and moving forward, all of his experience over the years suddenly coming into clear focus as this one moment in time put it all into use for the one great cause of all Adventurers of Theldesia. He wouldn't walk sightless and doubtful again.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael sat down hard, resting his arm on a raised knee, his head bowed. "Good Lord, that was hard," he whispered. Having to fight themselves had been more than they'd bargained for, even at a quarter legion in number. They were finally done in the mirror room now and dead tired of this game one more time. That was background now, though. It wasn't a game they were living, it was life, and they'd already lived the grinding down of basic training once. This was the repeat - on steroids sometimes. The only bonus that came out of that room was that the mirror images fought based on a snapshot, not on creative adaptability like they themselves did. It had still been very hard to come up with new patterns they hadn't had before. They'd been doing this too long, too many times now. It had been an education for sure.

"Give us our drop, Commander," came from the room.

Michael put the chalice they'd won from the Devourer out in the middle of the room. Nothing happened. It didn't open, there wasn't a swirl of Vengeful Spirits, no mirrors shattered, no battle ensued. Nothing.

There was more than one groan and swearing. Michael lifted his head and stared at the chalice in disbelief. "Izanami, what's up with this?" he asked getting angry. He swung his head around, looking for the High Priestess. She wouldn't show up. Michael grit his teeth. _He_ was going to loose it at this point.

Coldly, he rolled onto his knees and put his face on the ground in a very humble attitude. In reality his back screamed his tension at holding himself to not get very violent. "Inari-no-Izanami, please tell this very confused priest of yours why we can't move forward." Everyone else was about in the same boat so followed his example to one degree or another and chanted, "What he said," with a lot of tension to not add a lot of swear words after and around it.

The pressure increased enough in the room to herald the arrival of the High Priestess. "The Devourer only collected the Vengeful Spirits along the west coast - according to the programming _you_ set, Michael dear."

The world fell out from under him and he held onto it with his hands until it stopped spinning. The room was very cold as the rest of the Eagles debated how many times they were going to kill him for not thinking of it ahead of time. None of them had thought about the many thousands of Adventurers in the rest of the region who had also been killed. It was one of the worst calamities they could have faced right at this moment... _and_ was yet _another_ missed "detail".

"I'm sorry," Michael choked out. He was going to have to waste their final miracle on getting the Vengeful Spirits collected. "How shall I ask to have them gathered up so we can move forward without wasting more time?" There were quiet groans through the Eagles - particularly those who really didn't want to fight every angry Vengeful Spirit of the west region.

"Ask me for the name of the one who you need." She was just about as cold as the rest of the room.

Michael wanted to rant and rave one more time. What kind of a request was that? A few Eagles went to full killing intent, though that was focused on Izanami. They hadn't liked that statement either.

A light footstep landed next to Michael and he had to hold _reeeaal_ still. A light hand landed on the back of his shoulder and he saw black with red spots. "Michael, remember that God's had his hand in this the whole time, too. She's really not happy to have been superseded in this. I believe if we have the faith to ask that one question we'll get a lot more answers than we believe." Michael was shocked into paralysis to hear Brenner's quiet voice from above him. But then, Brenner wouldn't have bowed before a false god, so had probably been watching instead, and thinking things through in his own way.

Michael took a deep breath to calm down. He could get Brenner's point. When he had breathed enough to loosen up most of his muscles, he sat up on his knees, resting his hands on them. He looked up at the High Priestess. It was true, she was furious in every line of her feline body from tautly trembling ears and whiskers to her paws with claws out as if she would attack something if she could. She wasn't really bothering to hide the snarl on her lips either. That actually made Michael relax even more. If Izanami was that worked up, Purrcy was absolutely dancing with delight. He was able to ask in more relaxed firmness, "Inari-no-Izanami please tell me who it is that can help us in collecting up the rest of the Adventurer Vengeful Spirits that need to be collected so we can complete the task you've set us to."

"BillyBoy," she snarled and disappeared, the sudden lifting of pressure being a bit much, but they were starting to kind of get used to it. She left behind another kind of despair, though.

"B-BillyBoy?" Michael whispered. "But... He's not dead?" They'd left him behind to take care of things and had - rather idealistically perhaps - assumed he'd be waiting for them on arrival. For him to be dead would screw up a lot of other things going on.

Brenner's hand was back on his arm again. "Let's not assume things for now, shall we?" he said calmly. "We're still working by faith on this one at this point. Did you put him in your friend list?"

Michael nodded and called up a chat with him. Nothing happened. No answer came. Michael pulled up his friend list and then stared for a long despairing moment at it. "He is dead," it came out about like the statement itself.

Brenner squeezed Michael's arm. "Gareth, come help me with the clerical spell to call a spirit forth to speak with the dead."

Gareth jumped up in a bit of shock still and trotted over. It was a somewhat long chant, since it was supposed to be hard to call spirits back and talk to them by flavor text. They got that freebie in this dungeon for the doors but other than that it was only this spell that would do it, unless a Summoner had the levels and skills to capture one. That wasn't supposed to be easy either. Gareth's other spell only worked if a spirit was already in the room - it didn't call them "back from the dead".

Everyone waited, watching, holding their breath almost, until finally a Vengeful Spirit arrived in the room hovering over the space in front of Michael, Gareth, and Brenner. "HackerM1?" The spirit looked around. "And all the Eagles, I guess, since there's a lot of you. They were wondering if there were really this many of you. It seemed rather shocking to them that it might be."

"To whom?" Michael asked.

"The survivors of Hill Air Force Base. They heard about you from the military at Diego." BillyBoy's head tipped. "How did you do that? Talk to them back two years ago if you were on Yamato? And how were you in four places at one time?" Michael stared at him, then shook his head to get it to wake back up and think.

"Hoobah on military in Utah," Training muttered. That was going to make their job a little easier.

"I have a skill to time-walk," Michael finally answered, "but you can't let that out generally. Just let them wonder. We don't really care if anyone understands it or not, since it's a really dangerous skill for just anyone to have. I've been carefully trained." By lots of effort and fierce punishment. No one else needed to go through any of that.

"Ah, no worries, there." BillyBoy shivered. "I'd really hate to mess with that, myself. I'd end up non-existent and all tied in knots."

"Yup," Michael agreed instantly. "Ah...how did you come to be dead? You promised to meet us at Temple Square."

"Yes, I did, and I will, but that's also where I died. We held off on cleaning that up, using it as the final boss of the sub-quest." He hung his head. "I'm sorry. I died stupidly, not watching where I was going because I was lost in my head. I was feeling sorry for myself because I really didn't want to become the leader over all the middle mountain region." Michael had to hold back a laugh, though he hadn't found it humorous - just very relatable. "Miss Purrcy made me watch what happened to everyone after I died, and scolded me rather well. I've repented and done what I'm supposed to do since then."

"Well, that's good, then," Michael said calmly for the poor lad's sake. "I do hope you'll continue in that path. We need you there, and so does all the world."

BillyBoy sighed. "I know now. I'll do it. ...I'm supposed to talk to you about it, though."

Michael tipped his head. "Okay, but not right now."

"No. Right now I suppose you'd want me to report."

Michael blinked in surprise. "Okay. Report."

"Miss Purrcy, or perhaps God, sent everyone else who died in that battle here to the Tree of Life. There's rather a lot of Adventurers already there, most angry of course. I'd prayed for the Wraiths locked up in Hill Air Force Base and that apparently sent them as spirits to the room. The head man at the Catholic cathedral had been regularly blessing the people. All of the spirits from there were sent to the tree, too, because of it. The Christian's at the church regularly prayed for the spirits of the dead, so their dead came, too. The Hindus believe in reincarnation anyway, so just went straight to that room on their own when they died. I collected up those who'd been with me and sent them out to gather up the rest who knew me."

"We were going to do that to teach the others what they needed to know to be ready to be reborn, but when we discovered we had to go fetch everyone, we went back out. Those from southern Utah headed there, those from Serpiente went back, and then on down south to collect up everyone in the southeastern part of the region. We weren't too thrilled to go collect up the ones from Boise, but we did, and also the ones from the Yellowstone Idaho area. We though we might be done, but when we prayed to know, we were told to go to Washington state and Oregon so we did. When we discovered Vancouver Vengeful Spirits up there, we told them to go wait in their server at the Tree of Life."

"We've been teaching all of the Vengeful Spirits in the Tree of Life room about the world quest requests and trying to get them to calm down from all the battles they've had. Once we taught the ones from Hill Air Force Base that knew about what had been taught in Diego, they joined up with us. Those Adventurers who had lived in peace to begin with have been helping us sort out the worst of the Adventurers who don't want to forgive."

BillyBoy's voice changed to one of concern. "I can't find the worst of the members of the church that caused it all to begin with, though. We decided to only clear out the Conference Center and then hope God would let us pray for the temple so it could be clear. We don't need the rest of the buildings. Did we do wrongly there? Are they still stuck somewhere on Temple Square?"

"They are," BlackJack answered. "They decided that was where they were going to rule from and took over the Office of the President of the Church. I'd imagine it's a full-on miasma and spiritual dungeon in itself."

BillyBoy sighed and hung his head. "Yeah, we were kind of hoping to avoid that one, but I guess if we're supposed to teach everyone, and everyone's got to be resurrected for the last gasp, we'll have to finish out the whole thing."

"Wait up a bit," Michael interrupted him quickly. "Did the Overwritten actually get in there and kill them, or are they Wraiths?"

BlackJack blinked and looked over at Bowie. Bowie got his thoughtful wrinkle between his eyebrows. "They'd be Wraiths. The Overwritten passed it by. They were already under the darkness by the time of the Special."

"Then don't worry about it yet, BillyBoy," Michael said. "We only have to have the Vengeful Spirits collected. We can do that dungeon after the resurrection. Once that's happened, when they die in the dungeon quest they'll just resurrect immediately whole."

BillyBoy slumped in relief. The Eagles felt the same way about that so were in complete agreement. "But, I can't believe you've done all that work?" Michael said.

"Time seems to move a bit differently. When we think about a place we want to go to, we move, but it's really fast, like only a second or so to those distances, a few more to the farther ones. We've been teaching for what feels like a long time, but I don't suppose it has been."

There was a pause as Michael tried to wrap his brain around the fact that they might not have to be as worried as they'd thought they'd need to. BillyBoy's death had been a blessing, it seemed. But... "Why can't we get in, though? We've got the rest of the Vengeful Spirits from the west coast, and if you're all already in there? We should be able to, shouldn't we?"

"Where are the rest?" BillyBoy asked.

Michael pointed to the chalice. BillyBoy floated over to it and looked at it. He tried to knock on it, but he passed through it instead. "Can you open it up for me?" he asked.

Michael rose and walked over to it, but he gave BillyBoy a cynical look. "It will suck you into it, you know."

"Oh. ...Well, that might be okay. I'll come back out. I thought if they knew it was okay to come out, they might."

There were snorts in the room, but Michael shrugged and opened it. BillyBoy was sucked into it. Michael sat down next to it and pulled out one of his meals and started eating. The Eagles followed his example. Like always, they never knew when an opportunity to eat would come along in the middle of battle, so it was best to eat immediately when there was an opening, and they all needed the health increases and what little rest they were getting right at the moment.

"Well, damn," Reed sighed from his spot as soon as his food hit his system. "That was straight down the line and invisible. I'm still shell shocked." Others in the room nodded agreement, Michael included.

"Hello again," BillyBoy's voice said as thin white smoke rose from the chalice. "I've got Sergeant Major LeftField from Diego with me." They only saw one, so Gareth cast his spell to make Vengeful Spirits show up and be heard. A second Vengeful Spirit appeared in the air next to BillyBoy, larger in size given their different Classes.

"Bout time you lot showed up."

"Sorry, we had to time skip to talk to you at all before," Michael answered and LeftField turned to face him. Formally Michael gave the Marine his name, rank, and service number.

LeftField returned the favor, then went to attention and saluted. "Glad to have you, Sir."

"At ease," Michael replied calmly. "Report."

"We've been working on everyone since the Fourth of July Special put us all together. Everyone's agreed to calm down and work on the target goal together. I made each city put together a leadership roster they could live with. The boys from Jose said they got the prototype to work well enough, and they hope they buried the real homono deep enough. Even if we all have to resurrect there, we'll all go home and rebuild just enough to hold those who don't want to help with the quests. My boys and I are looking forward to heading down south to tackle the Central and South American Mazes."

"You'll get a lot from the middle, too," BillyBoy nodded his head.

Michael leaned back a bit. "Wonderful. Thank you both for your hard work. We'll be able to go on east with easy minds. Right now, we need everyone in the chalice to come out and head for the Tree of Life so we can get into it and make the repairs. Then we can get moving forward again."*

"Yes, Sir. We've just been waiting to hear the word it's time. When BillyBoy here showed up a lot of people got excited. I'll go let them know, if you're ready for it."

"Go ahead," Michael gave a nod of permission.

They finally got their swirl of Vengeful Spirits, their shattering of mirrors, the exodus of Vengeful Spirits (rather several thousands of them), and the best drop they could have ever gotten in that Maze. Michael got claps on the back and praise instead of multiple deaths, and BillyBoy got lots of thanks and thumbs-up as Eagles passed them both to head through the mirror and begin the repairs.

When it was just BillyBoy and Michael alone in the room, BillyBoy said, just a bit sadly, "But, it really is rather difficult to believe that when I'm just being myself, I'm a good leader. I don't feel like one. I'm just doing what I know how to do to help other people."

Michael smiled a small smile at him. "Yeah, that's about how it goes. We stumble along doing our best and they all decide that's good enough to hang their coats on, even if we get broken and think we can't move at all. Then they just wait around patiently until we're ready to stand back up again. Rather damn irritating, really, some days. But it beats the alternative."

BillyBoy sighed. "Well, I suppose I did learn that lesson this time. I guess I'll just keep doing my best."

"You do that," Michael nodded.

"And," BillyBoy got a mischievous sound to him, "I'll hang on to _your_ coattails." Michael batted at the Vengeful Spirit. "Ouch! You can touch me?"

"Yup, another one of my gifts here in this crazy place," Michael slipped over into the spirit realm and put his arm comfortably around BillyBoy's shoulders. "Shall we?" He walked them to the mirror. "I'll see you on the other side. Good work, and thanks. We really couldn't have done what you did after what we had to do."

"No problem," BillyBoy answered shyly, then he was gone and Michael was walking through the fog towards the clearing of the Sphinx.

He wasn't going to give up anything new this time. He'd already given up enough. He'd just remind the Sphinx of that. At most he was going to give up drinking wine for one day if it came down to an argument, and then he'd sleep while everyone else worked for a bit - he wished anyway. He still had a lot of work to do, too.

He sighed and glared at the Sphinx on its block in front of him, since it had conveniently showed up just then. Then he smiled a not-friendly smile at it and walked right up to it and bowed his head in front of it. "Just eat me already. I'm so done with this dungeon and we've got probably six more to go."

The Sphinx was so silent that Michael finally had to look up. It had turned to stone, perhaps in surprise, or because it wasn't programmed to handle this particular situation. Michael finally sighed and went in to program in the proper response - to just pass the bastard if he really had already been through four mazes and repaired each of them. If he'd harmed or destroyed them, then it was to really eat the bastard. He was grumbling to himself when he arrived by the Tree of Life.

"That's our Commander," one commented with a smile to another. "Gets everything he wants, then goes right back to grumbling." The Eagles laughed at Michael's expense. He ignored them. He wanted a cat to pet and a nap and he demanded both (once all the Vengeful Spirits who wanted to talk to him specifically had had their say) since the repairs were going to take a very long time and Reed, Brenner, Gareth, and the Play Nice committee could handle the rest.

* * *

 _*In his exhaustion and all the confusion of the time travel, Michael has completely forgotten Brian, poor man. Brian was locked in Michael's ring until this very moment when he says the code words to let him out. Thus there wasn't any going forward until now anyway. Michael also forgot to put Brian to sleep when he put him in the ring the last time, so he's gotten to see all the excitement with them - a nice side bonus for him._


	190. Preparing for the West US Resurrection

Isuzu smiled broadly. Her audience had wanted two encores and she'd almost run out of repertoire. As she headed down from the stage, very happy with her Susukino debut and the debut of her more modern songs, members of the audience wanted to stop her and chat excitedly.

She was almost regretting it when a warm hand took her elbow. "Excuse me, let's let the lovely lady eat, shall we?" Williams' warm scold set people at ease at the same time as shamed them. It was the one voice that wouldn't get disobeyed, too. Isuzu relaxed and let him pull her to a table.

She drank down the drink set in front of her in one go. She was quite parched at this point. "Thank you, William-san," she said.

William waved his hand vigorously. "Oh, please. You make me feel like an old man. For all I'm a guildmaster, I was only nineteen at the time of the catastrophe. I've never quite been comfortable in my own shoes, if you understand."

"Really?" Isuzu said in surprise. "I knew from a little said here and there you were young, but I didn't know it was that. I'm only just nineteen half a year ago."

"And already a super star on stage," William grinned at her. "Just call me William. It'll be fine."

Isuzu laughed at his comment. "Well, I suppose today makes me feel like that. Everyone's response is very gratifying."

"Did you write all the new ones - the non-Theldesian ones?" William asked.

"Well, not the encores. Those were from Earth before, but the rest, yes," Isuzu answered lightly blushing.

William waited as Isuzu's plate of food was set in front of her, then he gave her a teasing look. "So...you're just into your nineteenth year and making up love songs. Feeling the urge these days, are you?"

Isuzu fought to not have her face explode into full red. Her ears heated up, though. "Just missing modern music. Having Guildmaster Shiroe so focused on getting us home, and hearing from him at every update that we're so much closer has made me think about what I'll be doing when we get back."

She sighed and leaned on an elbow as she snatched up the next food on her plate. "Miss Purrcy really brought a lot of that back for me, too. She's the one that encouraged me to play for me instead of anyone else." She took the bite into her mouth and chewed on it as she thought. "I had to make up a new spell song for her, too, and that led me to thinking even more about being creative. Songs have rather been piling up since then, I guess."

She looked up at him and almost blushed again. "I've been looking forward to playing those to audiences that can enjoy them."

"Ah, I'm sorry, then," he said contritely. "I shouldn't have teased. They were very good, and a very nice change of pace. Most of us do like hearing the things of Earth we've been missing." He leaned forward in his chair. "But if you're willing, I would really love to hear more about Miss Purrcy. I've only heard snippets about her, and got to see her as the Giant goddess once briefly. I'm sad to be one of the only ones who hasn't got to meet her in person yet."

Isuzu decided that was a better topic right at the moment and happily launched into the many various stories about Purrcy in Log Horizon. It was fun to remember the funny and relaxed times within the family of Log Horizon, though William did want to know some of the more public and serious times as well. They talked long after most of the people had left the inn, and had to be kicked out by the owner.

They continued to chat happily all the way to William's tavern where he escorted her back to the guest room she'd had the night before. It wasn't until after she was alone in that room that Isuzu wondered why she hadn't just stayed for free at the inn she'd played at, then shrugged. William had been pleasant company and kind, plus had already told her she could stay with them for free anytime. She supposed all her stories of Purrcy might could be considered that night's payment, too. Her throat was pretty raw from all the singing followed by all the talking.

-:-:-:-:-

Outside the walls of the Adventurer City of Diego, in the nearly-present time-line, two men appeared to stand on the desolate, pockmarked wasteland. Michael looked at Reed. As he opened his mouth, Reed held up a hand. "Michael," he said softly but firmly. "You've come into this damaged. You're healing, but you went down three times during the same time we were trying to get all of this figured out."

"Still," Michael pursed his lips, his expression firm, "it was enough to get people killed. That doesn't fly in the military; you know that."

Reed shook his head. "I know, but they do expect you to be trained to the position. Tell me, who and what trained any of us for this kind of a world? In what class on Earth did you learn to think in terms of time travel?" Michael had to pause and admit that had been a topic quite lacking on Earth. "They did try to teach us how to think creatively for the side cases, but there's no way they could have prepared us for the things here on this planet. At every level there's also the learning-under-fire, too. You've been living that and haven't killed anyone yet."

Reed got a firmer look on his face. "If you wish to receive a proper punishment for your lack, then consider your next requirement to be one. _I_ know full well it will be and won't save you from it by becoming the face of leadership for this half of the world. We'll all still hold you up, but you're going to be the one to keep learning the hard way and pull us all through this. In nothing have I seen you give up, or betray any of Earth's proper residents imprisoned on this planet. If you don't like where you've been, review and do better next time."

Michael paused, considered, then sighed. He gave a nod, then let the black and dark blue dragon out of his guildmaster's list. "Good luck," he said.

Reed gave him a salute. "Knock 'em dead."

Michael gave him a pained look, then disappeared, to reappear at the top of a mountain. He took a personal half-hour to review what had happened through the entire west U.S. campaign to date and added to his knowledge banks all his mistakes and how it could have run better. They'd been trained to do that much just in all the analyses of military actions of the past on Earth in order to learn what not to do and what to do. It wasn't pleasant to have his own bad choices and blind spots be what he had to consider, but Reed was right. They were cases that would never have come up on Earth but were highly likely to come on Theldesia again. Repeating his mistakes would be worse than making them in the first place.

When he had properly gone through his lessons, he headed back to pick up the next Eagle to drop off at the next Adventurer city. He was going to be worn out yet again. All the time and space walking summed up was a punishment in itself. He was going to figure out how to fix that, too, before he got completely used up being the time taxi of the western hemisphere.

-:-:-:-:-

Reed stood at the flat, blasted location of his house on Earth and stared at it, seeing in his mind's eye what it looked like when he arrived there from a tour of duty, his children running out of the door, his wife following them, wiping her hands dry after putting down whatever it was in the kitchen she'd been doing. He wasn't here to mourn. He was here to reinforce his resolve.

Michael had dropped them all off back in the past, one to each city, just far enough back so they'd already be present when the resurrection happened. The blue and black dragon that was so proud had been assigned to Reed, since he was second in command and Michael needed Vesuvius for the press conference. At the moment, that very dragon was flying around, trying to get it out of his system that he'd been forced to undergo the indignity of being transported as an item in Michael's guildmaster list.

Reed actually understood really well. He'd be throwing a fit right now if he could. He hated being used, too. He'd been made a priest of Izanami, then forgotten, as if by in his giving up to become one, the Game Bot felt it had gotten everything it wanted and only the final punishment of being useless was all that was required. Probably Michael would laugh at him and say that while Izanami wanted Reed to be a priest, Reed himself hadn't wanted it, and so he should just calm down and be happy he was ignored. It didn't work too well, though. He was a parrot to what Michael said, and not much else. It was making him angry.

He watched the dragon fly overhead one more time, then spread his own wings and launched into the air as well. He headed back towards Diego proper. He could find where his house was supposed to be because he knew the path from the dock to the base to his house like he knew how to change diapers, feed hungry infants, play with young sons, and love his wife. Not quite as well as he could fly an angel, which he could do blindfolded, but almost as good. (Not that he ever did want to be blind around his family - he made careful sure not to do that.)

He knew Diego as well as he knew Earth's San Diego and he was over the area of the city center fairly quickly. The Cathedral was rubble like everything else, but Intel had given their report. Reed gathered up his magic in a Sorcerer's explosion spell and cast it with all his anger at the location of the Cathedral. He kept it at a lower level than the combined level of the Intel detail, though. It wouldn't do to undo what they'd done.

When the rocks stopped rolling and the dust started settling down, he was relieved to see that the altar was still present, and looked in good shape. He settled down next to it and used a wind spell to sweep the last of the shards of rocks off of it. The only way it was going to get tested was when the Adventurers started coming back to it. Reed looked around and found a spot of rock that was tall enough and large enough to sit on. He flapped his wings just enough to get up on top of the rock, then settled down to wait.

The dragon got bored enough to finally settle down to the ground near him. It looked up at him. [You are also a proud creature of flight.]

Reed's grin was tight. "Yes, you could say that."

[Would you rule these people?] the dragon asked.

Reed blinked, then shook his head. "Not these, and honestly I only need to rule myself."

[Where is your anger, then?]

Reed looked away, sour. "Izanami has claimed us, including me, and has taken that right away. I would kill Izanami - and Izanagi - if I could."

[You are also a Summon?] the dragon asked in some surprise.

Reed's head snapped back around, his anger getting the better of him. He had to breathe a couple of long slow breaths before he could answer. "I've not been taken that far, but it's as if it were that way. We've walked that far trying to get the one Adventurer who is a Summon free. Instead we keep getting dragged by the collar and chain deeper and deeper into the pit we're trying to get away from."

The dragon sat and considered Reed. [So you fight the Summon contract, then.]

Reed stared at the dragon wondering if it hadn't understood, then decided in a sudden turn-around that perhaps it really was him that hadn't understood. They'd made a contract with the devil and then they hadn't understood what that contract was so had been bound even tighter, so tightly that all they could do was rant and rave and fight every moment to find the weakness in it.

He was so angry he had to stand up and send another large explosive fireball in the opposite direction to the altar and the dragon. It blew another large crater in the ground, but it hardly mattered in this place. "It's the first I would have put what we've been through and what your kind go through together in that way," he said icily to the dragon. "While I can't deny that the effect is the same, I would never call myself a Summon."

[Tell me the story, if we have time,] the dragon settled down completely.

Reed sat back down and did, wanting to get it out of his system, though it really was only going to make it worse, probably. He just wanted to say it a little differently, now that he had a different perspective to view it all from. When he was done, he sat there like stone, very unhappy with the final sum.

[And what was the initial anger that was driving you when you came here?] the dragon asked.

"That after binding us even tighter, putting me in a place I didn't want to be, I had been ignored and left as one who is useless." His words were bitter.

The dragon almost laughed at him. [And would it be any different for a proud dragon who had been made to be a Summon and then was ignored? If I had fought so hard to not become one, and failed, would not even I want to be put to some use? To not feel like my hard-won strength was useless to the one who had fought so hard to keep me? What point would there be to having such a contract, then?] Reed was just as bitter to have to agree with that sentiment. [But at the same time, it is also a relief to not have to face the Summoner, whom one would rather eat than obey. When it is not the summon time, the Summon can in the main degree be oneself alone, as you wish to be. What will you choose to do and be during that time? Only angry?]

Reed stared at the dragon a long time, then finally turned away. It was a while before he could answer. As the first glow of arrival appeared around the altar, he quietly said, "At least I got my scolding from a proud member of the dragon-kind. I would have killed anyone else who had tried."

[You would still kill me if you could,] the dragon pointed out.

Reed glowered at it from the corner of his eye, then shook his head. "Only if we met honorably on the field of battle." His lip tipped up in an evil look, "And if I was a Summoner, I would fight to make you mine, to prove I was worthy of holding you as a Summon."

[Then I will be glad you are not a Summoner and will only eat you when we are agreed upon an honorable battlefield,] the dragon responded in kind.

Steps crunched on the broken ground and both Reed and the dragon turned their attention to the new arrival. A well-put-together Guardian saluted and gave his name, rank, and service number. "At ease, Sergeant Major," Reed replied. "Navy Lieutenant Commander Reed of the VFA-115 Eagles. You're head of your command here and I'm here as support. The Commander will give a live statement once everyone's arrived and I've set up the audio/visuals."

"I'd like you to come up here and tell me who everyone is by position and leanings so that I know where to start once the press part is over. Let me know who you think can keep things going if they stay, and who you really don't want to leave behind. I'd like to know who shouldn't be left behind to add cracks to the system as well. We have a way to lock them down, and if we have to we can use them as fodder as we head into the south regions until they get a clue just how hard it is to live on this planet and give up their juvenile dreams of false power plays."

LeftField's lip started to curl up. "You sound like my basic training sergeant."

"Well," Reed prevaricated, "we can't call it that to civilians. That would make them afraid. We'll just call it grinding, shall we?"

LeftField laughed a hearty laugh. "I don't think the pansies in this group will take too well to _that_ word either, but I'd be happy to make it sound as flowery as it needs to to get them to pick up their own feet and move." They both knew that once one was actually _in_ basic training those flowery words changed real fast into the harsher ones that got people properly training to become the hardened soldiers they needed to be to survive. Theldesia was harsher than Earth ever was. The pansies needed to get into shape two years ago. Reed motioned and LeftField climbed up the rocks to stand with him.

The next Adventurer to arrive was a lanky cowboy. He moved like an Assassin, though, and his sheriff's badge (an award from one of the early quests) was actually a weapon for Assassins. Reed knew it already, and it was his marker. "Wesson Browning," he tipped his head at the cowboy. "Reed, Lieutenant Commander of the VFA-115 Eagles, U.S. Navy."

Wesson lifted his cowboy hat off his head just enough to expose his pointed elf ears and a bit of his short brown hair, then set it back down. "Howdy. Pleased 't meet'cha."

"Do the two of you know each other?" Reed asked them, then introduced them anyway. "I do hope you've already got a working relationship, since we're sending you both down together. We want the two of your guilds to be the main ones to take on the Mazes of Eternity. I've got the training videos for you both and we'll go over one of them together so you can ask your questions. Any questions after that will have to be via chat or best-guess on your part. They're legion raid dungeons - for the first level. After that, every room is legion level or worse. You'll want to learn to rotate to keep the pace going, and hold open the door with a few set aside for that purpose. A restart on the dungeon's not a fun prospect."

"Everyone who's not in the dungeon should be outside hunting Overwritten and food and supplies for everyone who is, but don't be locusts. Leave food around for the future. Don't leave angry people or creatures behind you either. Our goal of peaceful coexistence is across the board, not just between Adventurers, but you've already heard that part, and will hear it again in a few."

"You leavin' in five minutes?" Wesson asked with his drawl.

Reed half-smiled. "No, want to get out the important top level bits before everyone else gets here. You're the only two worth talking to in the whole place, I hear tell." That got snorts of laughs from them both. "I'm also expecting the City of Angels folks to arrive here, so make sure you've got your guild off to the south side, Wesson, and we'll make sure Diego's between you and them. No fighting while we're trying to sort things out. Then you'll be on the road and they'll be heading home and you won't have to see them again until you want to." Wesson gave a sharp nod at that. It looked like he didn't want to have to deal with that mess any more than he had to either.

Reed looked up at the altar, which was glowing again. He wasn't terribly surprised to not recognize the next person to climb off the altar. The last time he'd seen this Adventurer he'd been an undead. This time Brian was properly a casual American late teen, even if he was in an avatar of a tattooed ritian. The gliding walk emphasized his age. The spark in his toon-yellow eyes under his purple hair held back in a man-knot on the top of his head gave away the firecracker he was. Reed could only smile.

"LeftField, this here is your com-op and heavy gun, Brian," Reed said when Brian was close enough to introduce. Speaking directly to Brian, Reed added, "We're going to send you south so LeftField's got someone who can contact us directly and help him get through the last level of the Mazes. They're terrible." On "terrible", he sent back his own testing attack against Brian, having held off until Brian got close enough inside the code realm to need the distraction. The other two men had to wait while the brief but somewhat fierce battle went on inside. Brian won by a small margin - but only gained Charlie's information since Reed had planted it as what he was willing to let Brian have.

Brian gave a mocking yet teasing smile back. "All right. I think I can handle that ...Reed."

Reed gave a nod back. Reed had left his real data on his status screen after all, needing these three to know it. "Thanks for helping us with the Devourer," he said honestly.

Brian wrinkled up his nose. "Not my favorite play, but I am glad it's over."

One more time the altar was glowing. As LeftField studied Brian, Reed said, "As I remember, this should be the final member of our little group, then LeftField's men followed by yours, Wesson. The rest of the Adventurers will be hodge-podge."

The glow faded and the fourth Adventurer rose from the altar and looked around. The mage looked...mage-like. Thinning grey-ish hair wild and long, average height, and an older age than most Adventurers preferred to pick for their avatars. He fairly skipped over, though. "Ho-ho! The squire-made-Master, is it?" the mage crowed, his eyes full of Reed. He looked at LeftField, and a little bit of a confused wrinkle came on his face. "Military, but...not Master Michael." He barely glanced at the other two. "I thought Master Michael would be here?"

Reed shook his head. "He's giving the full press conference and had to be at central command for that. We were hoping you could go with these fine gentlemen and help them as they clear Central and South America. We'll finish out the U.S. and meet you in South America. Most of us don't have a clear grasp on the military history of the countries south of us, but we know you've studied all the world's military actions, so your knowledge base would be most useful there."

"Well, ...yes, well," the mage wrung his hands together, then finally sighed. "Well, if Master Michael really wants to have me do the lion's share of the work, then I guess I can only call it a complement."

Reed had to bite his tongue and LeftField stiffened beside him. "That's very optimistic of you," Wesson "praised" the mage.

The mage pinked up a bit, but gave a nod. "I'll do my utmost best, of course. Having one head for this side of the world and another for the other side will be most beneficial when we get to the final battle, and really it is best for everyone to have someone to look up to that they can understand." He put his hand to his chin. "I'll have to work up how to make him a hero to the Hispanics...for sure...hmmm...," he wandered off a bit.

"Are you sure?" LeftField murmured to Reed.

"He knows his stuff, though you'll have to sit on him a bit," Reed admitted.

Wesson shook his head. "Crazies are like that, but he seems harmless?"

"He is," Reed admitted. "Just don't put him in a position of power over any people. Keep him the idea man. Argue with him all you want. He likes it. He'll be happy if you take his ideas seriously enough to incorporate the brilliant ones - and we do highly suggest you do. He's one of the brightest strategists on the planet. Just keep yourselves grounded so he stays grounded. We really can't do everything and you'll need him in that slot enough times to be okay with having him along."

Reed gave a suffering look to LeftField, "And real military are his idols. If you need to distract him, have a few of your younger staff show up to talk to him about what they had to do to become military. He'll just count it as part of his research. That's the other reason to send him with you. Nothing less will do, or he'd have to be in charge."

At that both other men shuddered and Brian laughed. "Yeah," Reed agreed, looking at the Cathedral altar again, which was lighting up in rapid succession now and a third Adventurer was climbing off of it to join with the two waiting next to it, all of them waiting for the next person to arrive. LeftField's men were arriving. It was time to get the audio/visual code running.

"Ah, and one more thing. You're going to get a complement of good 'ole boys from the middle mountain range who actually have all been down there before and have a clue how to relate to the people down there. They're soft spoken, but listen to them well, even if they contradict him. Have both options tested out by small parties if you need to see which one plays out better. They've got one of our best allies on their side."

He went to silence as he began to cast the spell he'd been holding. He needed to have it up before the general Adventurers arrived. He could tell Brian was watching closely how it was done.

-:-:-:-:-

Aviation Safety leaned on his longbow and sighed. He almost wished he could complain it was hot, or dusty, or anything. It might make the desert feel of the west coast not so depressing if he was actually _in_ the desert. To have the sparkling water in his view in two directions didn't lift his spirits. Both the bay and the ocean were water, but the land was dead.

While most of the Eagles hadn't bothered to take anything other than "human" as their race, since they had been in a hurry to log in, he'd clicked through the list and had almost picked elf. He enjoyed being an archer, and elves tended to lend themselves to that weapon most. He'd sort of always thought of himself as one regardless, and - true to the way this planet kept working - he was starting to turn into one...or perhaps into a half-elf, truth be told. They didn't exist in _Elder Tales_ , but he was quite suspicious he was one of those pushing Theldesia to grant new statuses. His sub-class had rather hinted very strongly at it, and it looked like when it converted to the new Class it would be confirmed. He didn't mind all that much...except right at the moment where it was making him very melancholy about the death of the area and dearth of life.

He was suddenly pushed from behind, his weight catching on his bow to keep him from stumbling forward. He looked over his shoulder. [What sorrows you?] the little green dragon asked him. [Is it not a good thing that the Adventurers will be returning shortly?]

Aviation Safety smiled a little. "Yes, it is. I'm just wishing the land hadn't been dealt this harsh blow." He looked out over the dancing water again. "They'll help us fix it, though, at least as much as Adventurers can. We'll have to leave the rest up to time, I suppose."

[If Adventurers can return dragonkind, they can return other life as well.] The green dragon was rather optimistic, Aviation Safety thought, but then humans did some incredible things.

"You're kind to think so," Aviation Safety answered. "Is there one you would like to see the most return?" The green dragon was silent for a while, so he looked at her to make sure he hadn't depressed her too badly. Since it looked like he had, he gently rubbed her on her head. "Well, I hope that one does come back. If not, then I hope that some day you will be able to find another who will bring you joy and peace again."

[Dragons mate for life,] the green dragon whispered.

"Well...but if your life is many hundreds to thousands of years long, then that doesn't make a lot of sense. And if we can't bring back very many by Summon, then you'll have a duty and obligation to your kind, won't you?"

The green dragon glared at him. Aviation Safety looked back mildly, then finally sighed and rubbed her head again. "Okay, I know that's how the world is programmed, and I'm sure you're going to spend a long time looking for that one before you give up, but this world is still changing since Adventurers have come. You also can change. Don't forget I've told it to you. Some day you may decide to be happy in that way again. I'll be happy for you then, too, just like I would be happy for you if you do find the one you're missing."

The dragon was quiet for a bit, then asked, [Do you have a mate?]

Aviation Safety looked away, then said quietly, "No. I speak from the experience of having a parent who was left without love for a long time, then found it again. I am one of the fortunate Adventurers that wasn't torn from a spouse or children, though at the time I felt cursed for not having found someone to love and who would love me. I had already given up myself to my work, trying to fight that feeling, to replace it with something useful. Here I am grateful," he looked back with a smile, "though I do still have a lot of work to do to keep me useful. And I suppose I should be getting about that work."

Aviation Safety turned towards the center of the crater of Jose. He was standing up on the remains of the wall, the tallest part he could find - which put his knees at the level the green dragon could reach with her nose to shove. His spell should be strong enough now. He'd written it to search for the beacon bearing Charlie's signature, then to uplift what it was attached to. They didn't know how far down it was buried, but if the Adventurers arrived on it under several ton of rock, that wasn't going to be good.

He lifted his hands, still holding his bow in his left hand, and cast the spell. It took rather a lot out of him rather quickly. That meant it was buried rather deeply even still. He wondered just where they had put it. This crater was pretty deep.

The green dragon's head turned and Aviation Safety looked towards the bay as well in surprise. It wasn't really depth that had pulled the costs out of him - it was distance plus depth. They'd assumed it would be within the city walls. It wasn't. It was about half-way between the city and the south point of the bay. Aviation Safety unfurled his wings and took off for the small hill that had risen up from the ground. The little green dragon followed him, gliding more frequently since even if she made herself rather small her wings took her farther than his took him.

They landed next to the hill and Aviation Safety sent the code QA had given to him. The hill gave a little quake and a piece of it slid off to reveal a door that opened. "Okay, now I feel like a fairy, though I'd rather that not _really_ happen, since I don't need any more time warps," he muttered under his breath. He firmly set that as his full intention and stepped to the door and looked in.

A very thin and wizened humanoid figure half his size stepped to the door and looked out. "Ah...you're not Golem of the _Lord of the Rings_ fame, are you?" Aviation Safety asked cautiously.

The creature looked up at him with a faint scowl. "And you're no Legolas yourself."

"Well, no," Aviation Safety agreed, reading the status of the...person in front of him. He sighed. At least the Adventurer wasn't an undead. He was close, though.

"Should you be one of the ones who can get in here?" the Adventurer frowned at him.

Aviation Safety shrugged. "I'm one of the team. I've come to see if they managed to accomplish what they were supposed to accomplish, and then we'll see if it really works. You are?"

The Adventurer shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Just the last one living. Come in if you like. I'll show it to you." As Aviation Safety entered the cavern under the hill, the green dragon stuck her nose in to watch, though she didn't enter. Aviation Safety preferred having the backup just like that. They didn't need to both get stuck in here. It took a bit for his eyes to adjust and he waited near the door until they did.

It was a cavern, oval in shape, like the hill was. Over the top was a dome and in the center was a resurrection altar. There was also a bank of what looked like computer equipment off to the right that the little man was walking over to. Aviation Safety followed him. "When they went on vacation right before the Special and didn't come back after it, we assumed they'd either bailed on us or been captured. Blood was bad between us and Cisco so it wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility they'd not been able to get back."

He glanced at Aviation Safety, "There were those who weren't willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, though, particularly when they were proved right when the Fourth of July Special came and people stopped resurrecting. Then the Devourer showed up and everyone working in-city went and self-destructed. Only the few of us still working on this project survived at all." He looked away again, not really seeing the room. "And as I say, I'm the last."

He looked at his equipment, then waved at it. "We finished after then about eight months or so, and have maintained it since then. We thought when the first one of us died we'd get to test it, but it wasn't to be. ...That's been rather depressing, actually."

Aviation Safety patted him consolingly on the shoulder. "I'm sure it was. I'm also sure I don't really know why it didn't, but it should in a bit. Mind if I sit down and take a look, so I can give the boys their final grade?"

He was looked at suspiciously, but allowed to look at the computer. It was rather sophisticated for Theldesia, actually. Shiroe would love to get his hands on this level of technology, for sure. It used magic, since electricity didn't work in the same way, but it was still a pretty savvy weaving of the two together. Aviation Safety was glad he'd picked up enough programming being trained by Purrcy.

He was lost in the details of the code when he felt a poke on his shoulder. He finished adding the final code to unlock the files that the three from before had put into place and returned to the base realm mentally. "Yes?" he asked.

"The dragon's itching and I just wanted to make sure it wasn't going to eat me," the little man was hovering on the far side from door, almost as close as he could stand to Aviation Safety, wringing his hands.

"Well, you might be better off if she did, but you'd not make a tasty meal, I suspect." Aviation Safety said casually, and looked over. "Is it time?"

[Yes,] the green dragon answered. [You asked me to let you know.]

"Okay. I've just finished up here, so we're good to go, I think." Aviation Safety stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in and looked at the little man next to him. "For you to recover back to Adventurer status, you really do have to die and be resurrected. I promise, it won't be long at all, and you _will_ resurrect. If here really just doesn't work, it will be at the next closest Cathedral. We've already tested that much."

The little man narrowed his eyes at Aviation Safety and shifted from foot to foot. He wasn't very sure. Aviation Safety smiled at him gently and put his hand on the man's shoulder. Within a very short amount of time the purification spell had him going up in bubbles. Really, he'd been Golem's cousin for too long, living alone and out of the city like that.

Aviation Safety cast a purification on the room as a whole to make sure any remaining Adventurer spirits were sent on to the Tree of Life - just in case - then he walked back out of the cavern and climbed up on top of the hill, leaving the door open. The dragon joined him, curling around his feet to rest. Aviation Safety wasn't paying much attention, though. He was busy casting the audio-visual spell so that when the Adventurers of both cities had spilled out of the cavern enough they could all see it. He felt a bit like he was getting an outdoor drive-in movie theater readied for the next showing.

He did hear the dragon speaking to the five men who came spilling out of the cavern about three minutes into the spell work, but she handled getting them set up to be traffic control so he just kept working. He was going to have his hands full enough when it came to helping the Sacramento group get out of the mess Cisco and Jose were going to be. It looked like if they got the reinforcement message at least that one city might be alright.

-:-:-:-:-

BlackJack looked around Port Land. They'd saved this Cathedral by virtue of preventing the Devourer from entering the city to begin with, and it hadn't been destroyed in the Fourth of July Special, either. As a matter of fact, for a west coast city, it was in pretty good shape, if you didn't count all the holes in the ground. He wandered around the city, meandering and looking to see what the buildings of the city were. [Are you looking for anything in particular?] the yellow-green dragon asked him.

"Yes. The prison," he answered, distracted by his research.

[Prison?]

"Yes, we're expecting a group of unsavories to show up here, in particular the two who lead the group. They'll need to be in lockdown until it's time for the final battle at the roots of the World Tree."

The dragon drew in a breath. [You're not going to kill the World Tree, are you?]

That brought BlackJack back. He stared at the dragon. "We just went and saved the Tree of Life. Why would we kill the World Tree?"

[ _Adventurer_ Tree of Life,] the yellow-green pointed out.

BlackJack gestured dismissively. "We're contracted to the Caretaker. What do you think _she_ would do to us if we harmed that?" The yellow-green had to think about it too long. BlackJack gave him another glare until he lowered his head and apologized.

In the end, BlackJack didn't find a prison, so he just picked a random building, cast a variant of the mirror room spell on it that would make it impossible for anyone from the PK guild to leave it, then returned to the main square. He looked up and around at the tops of the roofs. "Can you get up there?" he pointed to the top of the sports dome that was the equivalent to the market building in Akiba and the Technology building of Minami - the gathering place of Adventurers.

[Of course,] the yellow-green shrugged. BlackJack lept straight up in the air and flapped a few times to settle onto the front center of the building. The dragon had to come in a little more obliquely, but joined him on the roof.

"I'll be casting and speaking from here, I think," BlackJack explained. "There's going to be too many for me to just stand on the steps. We'll go back down once it's time for the face-to-face - though you could stay up here for that, too, if you wanted." The yellow-green nodded. BlackJack got to casting the A/V spell.

He had the pre-recorded message running and was back to paying attention when the first Adventurers began to spill out of the Cathedral. Since the message was already playing, they gathered up in the square pretty quickly. Gareth back at the Tree of Life was working with Brenner and Michael to make sure that there was proper traffic control on that end, too. The PK guild wouldn't be let out until the end.

Once enough of the useful guildmasters and city council leaders had arrived in the square, BlackJack called up a chat with them. He just had to see them standing together down in the square talking and wish it. It was part of his gift, that he didn't have to have them on his friend list. He preferred it, actually, since that meant his list wasn't cluttered up with the names of people he wouldn't see hardly ever again, and might forget why they were listed.

"Get your guards ready when they resurrect. The PK guild will come last and we need to have every one of them locked down. I've turned the old war memorial into a prison for them. See they're escorted into it. They'll not get out, so you'll have to feed them until we're ready for the Tree of Life. The rest of the instructions will begin shortly after the last Adventurer is resurrected."

He just listened as they worked it out between them, then watched as things progressed in the square. Finally came the announcement from the Tree of Life. "That's the last one. We're good to go." BlackJack frowned and called back in. Confirmation was critical in this case. He was missing two people.


	191. Presenting the World Quests

This next bit was stretching the Eagles almost to their absolute fullest capacity. There was one Eagle in each major Adventurer City of the western U.S. region. The Maintenance detail was coming off the clock after the repairs to the Tree of Life, needing the down time, though they would be on call. Only three remained busy in their current bivouac room in the Maze of Eternity: Charlie was central communications, as usual, P/R was assist for audio/visual additions, and Michael was going to be the one onscreen. P/R and Charlie were the communication mage portals at the "TV studio". They were sending on the guild chat to the rest of the guild.

Each member of the guild in their respective cities had opened a code "large screen TV" over the city central market space and had a running announcement going to draw the Adventurers of the city to come and sit and watch the special live broadcast that was about to begin. That announcement had been pre-recorded by the Play Nice team to explain yet again what had happened to everyone, to please remain calm and considerate and wait patiently until the message would be relayed live "in but a few moments".

Michael swallowed nervously and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand, waiting for Charlie to get the word from all those cities that they were ready and waiting. They wanted _all_ of the Adventurers to be paying attention, and hopefully all they'd been taught prior to the repairs and resurrection was sufficient to get them to gather and be willing to at least listen to what still needed to be said.

They had all tried to get enough sleep before beginning this, but Michael wasn't sure it had really been sufficient. He and Stiletto had to take everyone to their locations after all, and that took up stamina. He sighed and leaned back, then pulled out an HP-up potion. He swallowed it down and that helped a bit. He'd slipped on a few magic items that boosted his luck, upped his negotiation, and then added his chain, baldric, sword, Log Horizon ring, and wing pin to his usual uniform. He wanted those who had already seen him to recognize him, and then think a little higher than they'd let on at the beginning, though he really wished he didn't have to.

"Purrcy, one three-second purr for good luck?" he muttered under his breath, not willing to admit it was really for courage to go from a normal man who was in a position he'd not wittingly taken to one who might be considered a hero and leader of more than nations, though in total the numbers of Adventurers on this side of Theldesia might only be one very small nation. He felt a bit bad to be feeling this way when she'd already scolded BillyBoy for the same thing, but still, he felt what he felt and he needed to be settled before the spotlight went up. Her purr was immediately in his ear and he relaxed into it as much as he was able.

Shiroe had sympathized, but not really been of much help. They'd been able to commiserate about certain galaxy felinoids who wouldn't let up the pressure until they caved, but other than that, Shiroe could only say, "Good luck. Work hard." After all, that's what he kept getting himself. Michael understood it completely. Only his military training was holding him up, really. He had been trained to be in exactly this position if it became necessary. And necessary it was. Soo... One more deep breath, hands placed precisely - one on the hilt of his sword, the other relaxed at his side, spine straight but not stiff, and a nod at Charlie.

Charlie's hand went up and the fingers counted down from five until the thumb curled around the rest of the curled fingers. Michael looked "at" the people of every city in the western U.S. region. "Hello. We welcome you back. Since a great majority of you were cut off from your avatars, we thought we'd address all of you all at once, now that we've repaired the Adventurer Tree of Life for your region. I am Commander Michael of the U.S. Naval Air Squadron VFA-115 Eagles, commissioned to the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, assigned to the Pacific fleet, stationed in Japan. We've come from Yamato by quest and request, as well as out of personal concern for our home as it is in Theldesia. ...And we're glad we did."

"Your plight was quite horrific to us; however, it wasn't unexpected. The strength of American citizens is well known, even to Theldesia and the beings who brought all of us here. It is no wonder that they worked quickly to take all of you down. However, we have need of your strength, and were given the tools to help you stand back up. Let me tell you a little bit about by whom and why."

Michael paused, taking another deep breath through his nose. "We've told all of you that we're working with others who are trying to help us get home. That goal is the penultimate goal of Shiroe of Log Horizon. He has been playing _Elder Tales_ for one hundred of Theldesia's years, quite a lot of it as the strategist for the group known as the Debauchery Tea Party. He has never failed to bring them or any group to a successful conclusion of whatever quest they undertake. He is not going to fail in this one, either."

"In order for us to go home, he as stated unequivocally that we must all work together, or we will fail. Even if you don't want to go home - and you don't have to - we need everyone's strength. I will let you hear it in his own words, however." He gave a blink, then relaxed just a bit as P/R took over his part.

P/R replayed both seeds Purrcy had sent out, starting with the first one and ending with a modified second one. That put Shiroe's face in front of everyone, and gave them the basis on which they needed to be working: peaceful coexistence, with unity in their purpose until it could be accomplished.

Michael's voice came next, but he wasn't talking in present time. He was still waiting. They'd needed to put sound to video properly for this part. This time everyone was seeing vignettes of Purrcy at work, sitting with her students outside the Akiba Adventurer Academy, comforting the children of Log Horizon, standing with the two Yamato cities-worth of leadership with strength and comfort, and similar scenes that accentuated the story told of her. They'd included pictures that showed all of the members of Log Horizon, particularly Nyanta as they would also need to be recognized by the end of the boss battle. "This is Purrcy. She is an Adventurer just like the rest of us - an unknown player at the time of the catastrophe, only leveled into her twenties. On Earth, she is a Midwestern stay-at-home mother of children, worried about their lives, making sure they made it to school on time with lunches packed in their backpacks. To be brought here has left them motherless and her husband without a wife."

"Each of us has stories like this, however her story since the catastrophe is rather unique. She wasn't on an American server. She was on a Japan server with the translator turned off. That meant when she got here, she wasn't just pulled from home, she was also in a foreign country and not able to understand the language. Like most of us, on first arrival she fell on her knees and cried when she understood what had happened to her, and cried for her family. But rather than allow herself to go into the night quietly, this American woman with pioneer blood in her veins raised her head, learned to walk as a felinoid, and walked into the closest Adventurer city. There were difficulties, but what she saw moved her to action."

"She saw children who were afraid, hurting, worried, and in need of comfort and encouragement. She immediately stepped in to help those she could help and to this day hasn't stopped. In her drive to help all of us here from Earth, she learned what had brought us here, and when she found Shiroe - who as an Enchanter and Scribe was able to help her understand Japanese - she told him everything he needed to know to reach his penultimate goal. Together these two have been working very hard to help us open up the door home." The final scene was of Shiroe and Purrcy standing together.

Charlie pointed at Michael. He'd already straightened back up again in preparation. "The first thing that Purrcy was able to tell Shiroe was what brought us here to Theldesia." Michael pursed his lips. "This is a real world. It is a new world just beginning, based off of _Elder Tales._ The rules set by the programmers of the game are the rules this world lives by. It may have been a real world for a few hundred or thousand years, or suddenly became one when we arrived. No one knows just why or how it came to be. But what we do know is that there are two beings that we are calling Artificial Intelligences, or AIs, driving what happens on this world and the direction it is going."

"One of them we call the World AI. It is tasked with making sure that the flavor text, creatures, People of the Land, plants and all matter of the planet are moving according to the rules set by the programmers. It also manages the planet and it's forward growth and movement - which means that it is constantly evolving and comprehends the evolutionary path this planet is moving forward on. It is constantly recalculating for every change we Adventurers make to the planet. As part of the programming of _Elder Tales_ , that is a power of Adventurers - to affect a change that was previously unexpected or not programmed in. Purrcy discovered this AI when she decided to not be just a 'player' but to remain a human and learned how to be any and all Classes she wanted to be. That AI stepped in to slow her down because she was changing all the parameters too fast." He couldn't help the wryness of the comment.

"The second AI we call the Game Bot. _Elder Tales_ was programmed to be a game - to host dungeons, have Specials, provide yearly events, allow for quests to be requested and granted. The Game Bot creates them, changes them, and even makes requests itself. Purrcy found out about this AI when she actively refused to play the game, but at the same time played it so differently the Game Bot couldn't stay away from her. When Purrcy was sent to Shiroe, it was by both AIs, in game format, to teach him what they needed Adventurers for - to explain why we were brought here in the first place."

"Those reasons have now been given to Shiroe - and to all the rest of us - as quest requests by the AI's themselves. Shiroe refused to even consider passing on the quests to the rest of us until his own requirements were met, as is a right of Adventurers being asked to take on requests. The first requirement," Michael held up one finger on the hand that had been hanging relaxed at his side, "was that there would be no more Special events. If we need to focus on their quests, then the Specials interfere with them. That was agreed to by the AIs." None of the watchers needed to know that it had taken a whole city to get the AIs to agree to it (and nearly every other concession).

Michael held up a second finger. "The second thing Shiroe required was that the drop be that we get to go home if we want to - that we get to choose what we will do, instead of being forcefully stolen away for their selfish purposes." He could feel his face get firm and reined in his anger, though he let some of it out since that would draw out everyone else's. "Shiroe was told that he could only get that drop if we all promised to help with the quests, and then took on one final boss battle to prove just how much we want it as our drop."

He dropped the hand he'd been holding up. "That was the best concession Shiroe could get. Given it was more than he'd been able to find before then, he accepted it. He and Purrcy then requested the aid of the Adventurers around them to begin fulfilling those quests. In short order Yamato had them completed and a large group of us went over to the Eured continent. A different group has been traveling by train there and has begun the world quests on that continent, and is getting them started in Africa. We Eagles were specifically asked to take on the quests to see that Australia and the America's were also on board and moving towards completion of the quests."

"Fixing your Tree of Life - and all of them - is one of the quests. We call on all Adventurers who are willing to help us repair the Trees of Life to contact our representative in your city. We need a large group to go south into Mexico and South America. We Eagles can't do it all by ourselves in the short amount of time we'd like to get it done in. But when all of us work together we can get them done quickly. And now that you will resurrect again, it won't be difficult at all. It only takes perseverance." He smiled, letting his eyes light up a bit, "Not to mention it really is one of the most challenging and wonderful dungeons to face. For those of us who love dungeoning, it's great fun. It's also a fast way to rise in levels if you're tired of slow grinding."

Michael looked down just a bit as he shifted a little. Looking back up, he said, "I know dungeoning isn't everyone's cup of tea, and that's okay. There are other quests. I'm pretty sure by now that the majority of you hold rather massive grudges against the Overwritten. We've seen the destruction and the great loss of lives - even if temporary - that you've all been through." He knew the scene was shifting again away from him to recorded video clips. "When we arrived, this is what the Devourer looked like." He paused to let everyone get a good look.

"Because you didn't work together, but instead fought in petty ways against each other, you didn't see the one vital thing you needed to see. This was a reverse monster. For every HP of damage thrown at it, it was given a point of HP. It ate up everything on the west coast from Seattle all the way down to the far southwest coast of Mexico, where we ran into it almost as soon as we arrived on the coast from Yamato. Because of our unique experiences in working with Shiroe and Purrcy, and the two world AIs, we knew how to defeat this. Some of you have learned it since. To get rid of it took Purification." He knew the scene was changing to them on the wall of Diego, casting the purification spell. They wanted everyone who'd seen the Devourer to see with their own eyes that it really was dead now. "We had to run and take it in bite sized pieces, but we managed to take it down in the end."

"The final repeat blow wasn't us. That was the World AI, with the permission of the Game Bot, helping us because we asked - and because the second quest we've been given is to rid the world completely of Overwritten. ...I hope you liked hearing that." Charlie gave the sign Michael was in the limelight again.

"The very first thing Shiroe had us do was go hunting them at their home nest." He grinned a toothy pirate wolf-grin. "We took great delight in making sure no more of them can be created - ever. What's on the planet is what's on the planet. And we're asking all Adventurers so inclined to please help us remove what's left. They kill everything, not just Adventurers, so are a virus to the World AI, that most definitely needs to be removed. Only Adventurers who can resurrect are strong enough to take them down in the end. Every Maze of Eternity has lots of them because they are what want us dead. We are their only natural predator. You've been Vengeful Spirits until today because they feared you. Make them know that fear. Go and hunt them."

Michael held up a hand in caution. "However, it can't be done randomly and with wild abandon. We call them Overwritten for a reason. If we had just gone into the western Maze and killed them all with purification, the monsters of that dungeon would also have been purged with them. If you purify all monsters and creatures who are Overwritten, you will lose the drops they would have given you in perpetuity. I'm sure none of you want just anyone to be able to walk into the Maze and go cut down the trees again. Those dungeons aren't play dungeons, they are manholes into the workings of the world. They are difficult for a reason. There are special rules for them. If you want to help with that goal, you absolutely must play by those rules."

"And speaking of specials and monsters - the ones in the zones, that is - that would be the third quest request. The World AI doesn't need all the demihumans running around, procreating like mice and rats. It really doesn't. It needs a better balance so that the People of the Land can actually survive on Theldesia properly. We first learned about the purification when trying to get rid of the last Special over Akiba. The World AI came to us the next morning and asked us to use that method to repair the damage done by the flavor text of the Ruquinjé. An imbalance was created then."

"If we selectively choose to purify the demihumans so that we still get good drops, but they aren't overrunning the land, it's happy, and we can be happy, and the People of the Land are relieved to ecstasy. The yearly events are fair game and from what I understand, Adventurers around the world are getting rid of them completely. Each region is welcome to decide if they want to keep playing it every year, but some of you will _have_ to stay to make sure they don't kill off everything year after year." He grinned sardonically. He would never believe that there were enough Adventurers of the western region who would be willing to stay and keep _that_ mess contained. It was one of the least favorite events of their region. As soon as new players got the drops they needed from it, they never played it again - usually.

Michael went sober as he changed topics just slightly. "Actually, that's going to be a different quest request for the west coast. You don't have any demihumans any more. You haven't got Creatures of the Land, and you haven't even got People of the Land. The balance the World AI desires is so broken there it isn't funny. Please don't kill anything that lifts its head, even a blade of grass, until life is restored. That is your quest. Those of you who are Summoners, or have Summon whistles, we need you to cast your Summons and use your whistles - ah! when there's enough living things to keep them alive. The horse can't survive on dust. It's got to have grass first. Those of you who are Druids, please consider accepting the quest to bring life back to the coast. All and any plant growth you can do, bringing your sprites back, having the Summoners help you water the plants, anything to help return a balance to the nature of the coasts again."

He looked over to his side and held out his hand. "And there is a thing to teach you about the Creatures of the Land, in particular Summons." He bowed and Vesuvius bowed back. "They talk, if you ask them to. They hate us when we abuse them. They love to help us when we are polite, kind, and helpful to others or to them - that is: when we are the gentlemen and women we should be."

Vesuvius blinked at Charlie and spoke to him, following Michael's example. [I am the king of dragons, Vesuvius. After all of the Adventurers died, the Overwritten came into the mountains and began killing all of the Creatures of the Land, eventually even the dragonkind. Even I was killed. When my Summoner recalled me I would have eaten him in my grief, but I was promised that in exchange for my help, and what few dragons remained in hiding, we might see our people again. Please call for your dragons and let them return to the mountains again. Please listen to them to hear what it is they will do and not do for you. It is not a hard thing to work with Adventurers when we are considered allies.]

Vesuvius looked at Michael and Charlie put the focus back on him again. "Just so you know, Visuvius' Summoner is in my guild, but isn't here with us. That was Vesuvius talking, not one of us making him say those things. You should also know that even the demihumans can talk to you. It was the first thing Purrcy did that was new. She saved a goblin woman from dire wolves, helped her birth a child, healed her, helped her home, and thus earned her title of Caretaker. Her mother's heart couldn't let a child of Theldesia be in pain any more than an Adventurer."

"She brought that lesson to Shiroe as well, and let me say it has been one of the greatest of blessings to us. Because we are allied with the few remaining dragons we aren't limited to the four hour time, but can continue to work on goals side by side until they are completed. It's not always easy. If you've already harmed your relationship with your Summon, they will still have to obey you for those four hours, but it may take a long time for them to like you enough to stay even one minute longer."

"Even if you can't have a good relationship with your Summon, please bring them back to repopulate the Sierra's and the coastal zones. ...Sadly," he let his facial expression drop, "we cannot bring back the People of the Land. Perhaps if some could be convinced to migrate to the coast there could be some eventually. I'm not sure that will be so easy, but we can't leave it a dead land. We should do what we can do. Ah, and we have learned that Clerics can also help, and perhaps Bards. If you cast healing spells with an intent to heal the land, it has a positive effect as well."

Michael paused a bit sifting his thoughts back to his outline. "In each city that is watching this live broadcast, there is one member of my guild. They will tell you the details of the quests. Please listen to them, and thank you for patiently listening to me. The final thing to tell you isn't a quest given by the World AI to rebalance Theldesia. It is the final requirement to being able to go home. All Adventurers are being called on to help in the final battle, regardless of how much or how little fighting experience you have, regardless of if you wish to stay or go home. It is a battle in the end against the AIs themselves."

His face went stone cold. It was the face the Adventurers needed to see, but it was what he needed to wear to hide the despair he felt. "They stole us from our homes, families, and lives. They need to hear from our lips, swords, spears, arrows, and magics just how that makes us feel, just how much we welcome being tortured prisoners of a place not our home, just how much they have tread too far on the Spirit of American Freedom. Only if we face them directly and let them know just how angry we are will they let us go home." He glared darkly, allowing his own anger to rise enough to make his point, and his fist clenched at his side.

"After the world quests are completed, they will allow us to meet with them at the root of the World Tree on the field of battle. Find where the entrance to that dungeon is, mark it, practice hard, and when they say it is time, go and enter it and fight your way to the roots and show them what America is made of - of just why they should be so very afraid of us."

The picture of Crusty was being put up next. "This is the world general, Crusty "The Berserker" of D.D.D. guild, one of the strongest and largest military guilds on Theldesia, given he has almost more members outside his own nation as in it. He is one of four guildmasters capable of running full war maneuvers. He has been working closely with both Shiroe and Purrcy on what needs to be done in the final battles against the bosses of the 'game' we've been living. Please add Crusty to your friend lists so that when he needs to send out whole army messages you can hear his voice. Each region should also appoint a military leader, and each city should have one."

Michael silently sighed, though his pensively sad expression was gone by the time Charlie was pointing at him again. "And add me as well. I will be the sub-general for the western hemisphere for any who will listen to my voice. In particular, I will need to know when the various Mazes of Eternity for each region in the central and southern continents are reached and cleared, and receive summary reports as to when the other quests have been completed. And if you run into sticky problems no one else can solve, I will do my best to help resolve them. You can also add the Eagle in your city to your friend list and they will also help you to the best of their ability. Please, for my sanity, contact them before you contact me, and them only if the people in your own city can't resolve the issue."

Michael could almost feel the region's Master Strategist already dancing in the street as he added Michael and Reed to his friend list. Diego was going to be noisy for a while, but if they got him latched onto Sergeant Major LeftField, he might actually prove useful. Michael closed with, "Please help us move forward on all of these issues so that we can get home as soon as possible. Already we've been here almost three years too long. Even if that has only been three months at home, even that is too much. Thank you."

Michael held still until Charlie gave him the nod the connection had been closed. Then he slumped, spent and weary beyond belief, mostly of heart. He also knew instinctively he was suddenly not in the cavern any more. Warm arms slipped around his neck and his head was pulled to thin shoulders. As the arms held him, he let his eyes close and the tears dripped slowly out from under the lids. "God, I want to go home, Purrcy. I'm so broken and I miss Maryann so much, and David almost more." Purrcy didn't purr, and she didn't say anything, just pet the back of his head slowly. "I don't want to lead these people to their death, nor on a dishonest and futile pathway." His fist clenched, and his tears came a little larger and he shivered with the attempt to not shout, hit things, and run away.

"Mew, too, can do hard things, Michael," a soft voice said from beside the two of them and Michael turned his head enough to stare in surprise at Nyanta - mostly because it didn't sound like he was going to kill Michael for being comforted by his own wife. A grey ear tipped at him. "I, too, have wished such a thing many times, but this is the only path that we have been given to get to that end. And, in the end...even if it is a lie...it is the only thing we can do to try to keep walking forward. Hope lives and dies each moment. We will help mew hold to hope today."

Michael felt the weight of his burden leave his back as he slumped even more into Purrcy and the tears fell even more. To not have to carry it alone at this moment was a gift he so desperately needed, and he wondered how many times they had done this for Shiroe, to help him walk through the hardest, darkest days and moments. He also understood now why Tetorō had been so essential to Purrcy, and then Brenner for Nyanta, when they couldn't stand as supports for each other. Sometimes a leader needed to put his burden down and grieve out his anger at the futility of his efforts and dreams so that he or she could pick them back up again and try one more time.

-:-:-:-:-

BillyBoy woke up and for a moment was disoriented. For a second he thought he was waking up resurrected on the altar in the Cathedral in Salt Lake. He had to think about what he last remembered before he decided that waking had been the day before and this must be the morning after that. It had been a very full day, apologizing to his party, trying to help get all the Adventurers to stay calm, even with all the work and effort at the Tree of Life, and generally get the still-living Adventurers integrated into the rest of them that had worked it out.

The best gift had been copies of Michael's speech since most of the people still living in the valley hadn't been in the city at the time, even if all the resurrected people had been. He and his group had divided up and taken the recording to each of those places with their parties of "observers". Those people had given their reports either with them or not with them present, but they'd all listened to Michael's speech, and to one degree or another agreed that perhaps the world goals were worth setting aside quarrels and differences.

This morning there was another task to take care of. Just for a moment he lay there, though, and a silent prayer rose up from his heart. He really wanted to help get the valley back to living at peace together, and he really wasn't sure that things were going to go well for the people they were supposed to go rescue next.

A small purring started up, somewhere near his ear, and small paws stepped up on his shoulder then chest to curl a small but solidly real body on top of him. He looked down his body to see a black calico cat, or perhaps kitten, with gold, grey, and white speckles and golden swirls. The tip of the tail of the kitten lifted and fell in rhythm and golden eyes blinked at him slowly as his brows knit just a bit. After a while he finally said, "Haven't ever seen a cat, nor kitten, on Theldesia before?"

The kitten's head tipped thoughtfully and an ear turned away and back. "No," it finally said, "I guess you lot wouldn't have seen the changes. Not many of you took felinoid or fox tail, though I've seen a few wolf-fangs. You all had a lot to overcome so I suppose it shouldn't be a wonder there are things you're still learning."

A talking kitten was even more surprising, though since it _was Elder Tales_ , he supposed that would make more sense than a normal Earth kitten. "Ah...do you mind if I sit up? I was about to get up."

He couldn't tell if the whiskers lifting was amusement or surprise. "Actually, I thought I'd come make sure you're really ready for today first," the kitten said. "Can you do what needs to be done without faltering, losing your own faith, or breaking? There are plenty of other Adventurers who can handle that dungeon so you don't have to. Learning to delegate is never a bad thing either."

He wasn't pleased with most of that, but the final comment did make BillyBoy pause and consider it again. "There isn't much point to sending in people where I won't go myself, but I do agree there are times to delegate. _However_ , in this case, we need to try to correct our own, to help them see the error of their ways. We want to teach them as we go, not just kill them and try to talk to them later. We think that will be harder, actually. If we send in just anyone, or those who just want to get out their frustrations, more harm than good might be done."

"You're planning on talking to them, not just freeing them?" the kitten was surprised for sure this time.

"Yup," BillyBoy was quite sure. "I suppose it's part of our belief that God's angels are teaching those people who died and didn't hear the good word of God while alive on Earth. We want to teach them as soon as possible the better way to live - before they get back. If we can teach them while they're still in the dungeon, we want to do that."

The kitten blinked at him a few times. "That's a first on me," it had to admit. The tail tip thumped on BillyBoy's chest in a thoughtful rhythm for a bit, then the kitten stood up and stepped off his chest to the ground. "Alright. I'll let you do it your way. It will be interesting to see what happens." BillyBoy sat up and looked down at the kitten now. "I won't rescue you, though. It's your dungeon to complete. Try not to join them, please. We don't need more Wraiths right now." The ears and whiskers turned down. "And _please_ do not make things worse. We're on a rather tight schedule. I really don't want to have to put them all into a real prison until we get to the end. So far I've only had to do that a few times, and it always goes bad for the prisoner...which in the end is bad for everyone."

"Umm...okay," was about all he could say to all of that. He certainly didn't _want_ to make anything worse, nor to put anyone into a prison that could hold Adventurers.

"Hey, Billy," came from behind him. He turned and looked. "What'cha got there?" Phillip asked.

BillyBoy looked back at the ground, but the kitten was gone, nowhere to be found. His forehead creased. "I'm not really sure, actually, but it's gone now." He looked back at Phillip and his eyes went wide. On the narrow female shoulder was sitting the same cat, only this time not black, but white like the spirits. The kitten washed its forepaw, then ran it over its head and ear, ignoring him. "Ah...how long have you had that?" he pointed at it.

"What?" Phillip looked over that shoulder. "I don't see anything?" But the kitten had disappeared before his head could turn all the way.

BillyBoy rubbed his eyes, then said, "Um...will you be coming with us today?"

Phillip put his hands on his hips and tipped his head - one of the several very female gestures he'd picked up without knowing it since coming to this place. "I don't know...I could, if you needed me, or I could sit and rest out a spell this round."

Wondering if he'd been given a message, BillyBoy humbly asked, "Would you come with us? I'd love the moral support."

Phillip shrugged. "I guess. It'll be something to do. Do you mind if I kill something I get mad at?"

"Well...we are trying to talk to them first, but if that's the right thing to do, then no, I won't mind. We can talk to them after, too."

"Okay, then, I'll come. I came to get you, they're asking for you."

"I'm up. Tell them I'll be a bit, though, since I really am _just_ up."

"Okay," Phillip turned away and gave a wave of the hand. BillyBoy turned back to the ground, kneeling this time. This time, his prayer was aloud and somewhat long. He had a lot of people to ask for blessings for today, himself included.

-:-:-:-:-

"What's your plan for today?" the Eagle known as Training asked BillyBoy as he spooned up his breakfast into his mouth. It looked like Training had already eaten his breakfast as he was sitting with his elbow on the table across from BillyBoy, waiting for his answer rather casually. He seemed to be rather even tempered and of a calm nature generally, not to mention was a great negotiator. There had been a lot of times the day before that he'd stepped in to mend a fence BillyBoy had been under water to deal with. He was trying to take notes, though. Training certainly wasn't misnamed, even if it was an odd one.

BillyBoy answered around spoonfuls of mush going down his throat, "Collect up a group to go into the Office of the President and help me talk to the people in there. I want to convince them that they should let their pride go and come work with the rest of us, since I'm sure they all want to go home, too."

"Well, that's not always the case with people who all of a sudden get the opportunity to grab at power, but sometimes it is because that was a fear reaction. I can't tell you how that part will go without hearing them talk. Will you take any volunteers?"

BillyBoy hesitated. "Well...I guess I wouldn't turn anyone down that insisted, but...I guess I'd rather not bring anyone who wants to incite more anger and distrust. It would be easiest if it were my own since we know how to work as a team, I suppose, but now that we're down here, I do also feel like we should be more open to working all together, to set the example - I guess." He wasn't quite sure how to work that all out either. He didn't want to be fighting his own team, but he knew how important it was to get people working together as soon as possible.

"May I make a recommendation?" Training asked.

"Sure," BillyBoy wasn't opposed to hearing what others had to offer.

"Save the sharing of tasks for the things that everyone needs to do together to keep the world moving 'round. Keep your good team doing the things it needs to do. You all know what needs to be done to support each other without thinking about it any more. That can be critical at very important moments in dungeons. Also, no one will fault you for wanting to keep the cleaning up in-house. It's actually the right thing to do."

Training let BillyBoy think on that for a bit, then added, "That said, we've been training for power hungry groups this whole time. Would you be willing to add me to your team for that dungeon? We understand that sometimes the underlying motivation isn't really greed or power. Sometimes it's a need to have this crazy place have some level of consistency, sometimes it's because of feared expectations from others here or at home. If you don't have all the possible reasons thought out, sometimes one comes out of left field to make you strike out when you could have had the home run. I won't interfere where you're doing fine, but if I see something new or differently, I can let you know there's another way to think about things that maybe hasn't been seen by others. I can also warn you if things are looking like they're getting out of hand."

BillyBoy considered Training and what he'd already been doing to help them and gave a nod. "I think we'd welcome that kind of help," he said. "Thanks for offering."

Training stayed with BillyBoy as he called for the people he wanted in the party. He definitely wanted his councilors, and the other two quorum presidencies were well honed together as well. The nine of them made up the best united front that could have been presented with so few tanks and power houses available. Plus they and the other three that made up their parties of six had the most experience in casting out Overwritten - that is, with Purification, which a miasma-filled dungeon was going to need.

Training had asked for a summary of everyone's roles, since the formations were a little different. "And Phillip is our best forward monitor," BillyBoy pointed at Phillip. "I've asked him to come with us, too."

Training blinked, then raised a hand and waited to be called on. "Not to be offensive, since one of the best field monitors I know and respect a lot is also male in a female body, but is that wise in this situation? Isn't one of the complaints of the non-Mormons that this group was being quite offensive and bigoted? It may be a little too inflammatory if we're planning on doing a lot of talking."

BillyBoy shifted, feeling uncomfortable. He was also a little embarrassed both about the behavior of the people they were going to face, and in Phillip's behalf. "Do you think it will make that big a difference if we need Phillip's skills?"

Training turned to Phillip. "Can you hold on to your anger long enough for us to diffuse stupid people who run off at the mouth?"

Phillip had already been looking ticked off. His mouth fell open a little at that question, though. "I'd rather knife them, I'm sure," Phillip said honestly, "but I know how important this is to Billy and the rest. I'm used to being the object of ridicule, actually, having grown up with all these Mormons around me. I don't like it, but it's nothing new. Some are good people and some are stupid, as you say. It wasn't any different in Cincinnati or Chicago or Albuquerque though. The blacks in Baltimore were just as bad and good since white's a minority there. Stupid is stupid regardless of what they profess or their parents tried to teach them. I won't join them, since that's how I see it, but it won't be anything new."

BillyBoy was a bit shocked to hear that summary out of Phillip, and he wasn't the only one in the group, but Training only shrugged. "Okay. But if I stick a silence spell on you and lock you down, don't hate me. We can't afford to lose in the political battle. We need everyone understanding just where they stand, and just where they're going to stand when we get to the end of it."

Training looked at all of them soberly. "The political quest is the hardest one to resolve and you all are so junior at it, it isn't funny. BillyBoy's got a good head on his shoulders and his heart's in the right place, but honestly, I'm coming whether he said I could or couldn't. Michael would rather you waited and let all of us Eagles handle it, but he was willing to let you go ahead since there are things the guild needs to do on the way in and it would be nice to just get down to business when they get here."

Training paused, then added a bit cautiously, "We haven't told everyone everything because there are other things in play that are detail. We need me along to make sure those things don't cause problems. This is one of the sticky things that could do just that. I hope you'll understand if I take over, though I won't if I don't have to. We also very strongly believe that every Adventurer played to have fun, adventure, and learn and already has a decent head on their shoulders for doing just that. I promise to let you do what you want and just be a team player unless things get critical."

That admission made BillyBoy uncomfortable again, but so far Training had been honest and upfront with them. He'd only been doing it again to let them know now. BillyBoy took a breath in and out to get rid of the feeling in his stomach, gave it one more reality check, then looked at Phillip. "If you're okay with it?"

Phillip gave a nod. "Alright then," BillyBoy said. They got down to strategy, particularly to bring Training up to speed on how they did things. He got it pretty quickly so it didn't take too long, which was relieving. They ate a light lunch and headed for Temple Square one more time.

-:-:-:-:-

"Purrcy, you seem rather distracted today," Timberel said in his normal quiet and humble way, one large orange ear turned slightly in concern. Purrcy had at least gotten him to drop the honorifics.

Purrcy shook her head and her ears flopped. "I am. I'm sorry. There's a particular bee that keeps buzzing in my ear and around my head and it's drawing more of my attention than normal."

"How many aspects?" Timberel asked.

Purrcy gave him a longsuffering look. "The misaki keeps being called on, a lot more than usual. Usually I can give only slight attention to it, but this has been a bit much for normal. I keep wanting to stop and pay more attention to that aspect."

"Hmm, that's a bit different," Timberel agreed. "Is it others calling for you, or Inari sending you?"

"It's both," Purrcy answered. "I don't mind going to help out, and if it's just for pets and purrs, that's easy enough...except it's my pet project at the moment, and the important one to getting the top level goals done." She sighed and sat back, folding her arms and tapping one finger a little impatiently. "The avatar is getting plenty of use for the same reason. Izanami's vested in what's going on and can't let it go, so that's dragging more of my attention to it, too. She keeps cutting me out of the loop, she's so invested. I'm left having to piece together what I'm missing. That adds to my personal computational cycles. I'm still not an AI after all, and never will be."

Timberel's whiskers went up at that. He'd finally gotten some concept of what that meant when Purrcy had come up with the proper analogy for him to picture it. "And then there's the additional complication that while things might be happening consecutively time-wise for them - and for a while there they weren't since they kept time hopping - I'm hit with sudden new revelations a day or three later local time. Plus they keep having to separate into small groups at far distances in space and time from each other. So keeping all the pieces together coherently and not forgetting what was going on is becoming problematic. It isn't the only one I have to track, either."

"Ah. There is what I wanted to understand," he said pragmatically, his orange tail waving his pleasure slightly. "We've not had the opportunity for that lesson yet."

"There's a lesson on how to keep track of the differentials of time to that chaotic a degree?" Purrcy asked, surprised.

"Yes, if you're willing to let me teach it?"

"Please," she allowed in some relief. "I need to get this under control before I go mad, and with the fifth birthday around the corner and all the planning I'm having to do for that, I'm already borderline insane as it is."

"Indeed," Timberel agreed very dryly. He was, after all, having to bear the brunt of that as her secretary. "Thus, here is how we handle such situations..."

Purrcy wasn't surprised when it included the emergency procedure of locking herself away in her office to let more of her selves work on the important single issue until it was resolved - not an option with the celebration less than a week away. It was the boy's turn to go to the small Shinto shrine this year, too. It really was too much to handle this time without some kind of change.


	192. Intermountain Subquest Boss Battle

Training had been just a little surprised that BillyBoy and his team could all see the Wraiths even in the darkness of the building they'd entered. They had insisted on tying themselves together. That had concerned Training, but they actually seemed to know what they were doing with that. The ropes weren't so short as to make them all bump and bang into each other, but they also weren't so long as to get tangled up and walked on - though it did take a bit of getting used to just how far one should walk from the rest of the group.

He'd learned some interesting things on the walk through the dark to even find the building to begin with. All of them had been or were Boy Scouts with the older ones almost uniformly Eagle Scouts, almost all of them knew how to hunt and did so for food, and all of them - even Phillip - had developed a deep instinctive trust in each other. That last was what made the VFA-115 Eagles the best team there was, and it made this one good as well, even if young and seemingly inexperienced.

Training finally had to stop and admit that Michael had been right. They were all not so far off from Log Horizon and themselves - age, experience, and complete seriousness in what they were doing. It showed in how they worked together. He stayed relaxed and fit into the holes he could see needed filling. The Eagles were very good at being adaptable and he used that now to not tread where he shouldn't.

He hadn't told them the other reason they were being given the leash to take on this dungeon. It was their test, and he was to see just how well they'd integrate with the Eagles when it came time to face the rest of the U.S. Mazes. They'd liked what they'd seen on the surface. Now they needed to understand if they'd be a good fit on the battlefield. This was the perfect opportunity. So far, Training hadn't seen anything to complain about.

Phillip let everyone know what was coming up, then stayed quietly in the background, moving at just the right time to continue on before the "battle" was over, but after it wasn't in the danger zone, so that when the rest of the team was ready to move on he had the intel they needed right on time. That was a sign of a very good field monitor.

The smaller parties were made up of odd combinations, but they moved with well rehearsed order and the lacking points were made up for with creative solutions. Both of those concepts, well oiled, were used by the Eagles every day. That would be a very good meshing of groups.

So far, BillyBoy and his men had been able to talk to each Wraith they'd met and get positive results, but it had been the small-fry who had been the secretaries, assistants, and the like. They weren't hard to get through to, and most of them were quite done with being lost in the dark anyway. Nothing had tested them hard yet. Training didn't expect that to remain the case. Even if it was just the final three to six at the top, it would get hard enough.

It was almost funny how talking to them worked so well, though. Training was at least being entertained by that particular peculiarity of the boys. They were so intensely serious about their goal and their role to bring peace back to Salt Lake valley, and somehow that sincerity was accepted by the Wraiths they talked to, who often calmed down very quickly, then humbly repented and moved on to resurrection. There was something to it he couldn't put his finger on, and could only chalk up to culture, though he was still trying to figure it out regardless.

They reached the top third of the building, where typically things would start to get hard if the rest hadn't been. Training went up a notch of alertness. There were the sounds of feet moving fast towards them and everyone got into position. Phillip was kiting a group towards them. Training got a barrier spell ready. He liked to have something in his back pocket as a back up plan in case what was tried by the rest didn't work. So far he hadn't needed it.

As soon as Phillip was within the standard range for this group, the Kannagi Brad cast a barrier spell to stop the Wraiths. That was their equivalent to a tank casting it's taunt. The Eagles used that, too, so Training had approved early. He almost didn't get it up in time, though, the Wraiths were moving so fast. They apparently really wanted Phillip. Training considered it, then cast his cantrip shielding barrier spell around Phillip, just in case something came out of an unexpected location to distract them. The rest of the party wouldn't see it or know about it, but it would be present just in case.

Hue was already casting an Enchanter's purification spell that had been mixed with their own special sauce. It was used to calm the Wraiths down so they might be willing to listen and talk instead of attack. So far BillyBoy hadn't used any Bard magic. He'd just talked. The rest of them were for helping out in case they needed back up. This time everyone spread out across the hallway and protected Phillip in the back. He was a Sorcerer who hit heavy from the back once he was back with the group. So far he and Training hadn't been used for much - except the kiting and monitoring Phillip was doing. This time, Training stayed back with Phillip and kept half an ear behind them. He was starting to get paranoid that nothing was giving them surprise attacks.

"Let us have her," the Wraiths purred, begged, and demanded.

"Why?" BillyBoy asked, genuinely confused.

"We must have wives. We must continue the spread of the church wherever we are."

"Adventurers can't have children?" Hue said almost scornfully.

He was attacked, but was defended well enough. "It isn't necessary. We've found a way home," BillyBoy implored. "Please listen to us. We'd like you to help us get home."

The Wraiths did pause a bit, but they were also rather fixated. "They're looking rather possessed," one of the councilors said in a bit of worry.

"I'd say _ob_ sessed," Training murmured back.

The two councilors to Brad started praying immediately. When their prayer of purification was done, two of the three Wraiths relaxed. The third one ranted. That surprised the boys, Training could tell. "What is that?" Brad looked at BillyBoy out of the corner of his eye briefly.

BillyBoy looked worried as he cast in his memory to remember. "I think...that's when one of us accepts an evil spirit and holds on to it, welcoming it. They work a little differently. It's all by agency at some level. Normally, when they leave and people can think clearly again, it was a temporary thing because they made bad decisions. If one's been welcomed in, then that person has to be convinced they don't really want it and to make it go away...I think."

"Sounds reasonable to me," Training said from behind them. He didn't know for sure either, but he'd already learned that BillyBoy did have a good head on his shoulders - he just needed the reassurance when he got insecure.

That Wraith was already casting a spell. Training put up a shield Hahaue-style. It wouldn't interfere with what everyone else was doing, but it might keep them alive. He was glad he had. It was a rather nasty spell and what the others had managed to get up in time hadn't covered for what that particular person was capable of creating. He decided not to tell them what it had been intended to do. He didn't think they'd like being cursed to become female, and they'd wanted to stay calm for each encounter, not be mind enslaved. "I think this one needs to be taken down and dealt with later," he cautioned. "Simple reasoning isn't going to be enough."

"No, you're right," BillyBoy agreed, but he wasn't happy. Agitated would be more like it. Or maybe aggrieved. He finally took the lead and began singing.

 _A poor wayfaring man of grief_  
 _Hath often crossed me on my way,_

Training wasn't all that surprised when the others joined in. It had worked for them, too, on the Oki Watarimono. He couldn't help with the singing part - he didn't know it. Phillip didn't know the song either, so they just waited their turns.

 _Who sued so humbly for relief_  
 _That I could never answer nay._  
 _I had not power to ask his name,_  
 _Whereto he went or whence he came;_  
 _Yet there was something in his eye_  
 _That won my love; I knew not why._

That much had the attention of all the Wraiths. The most difficult one was listening, but still angry. On the next verse, only BillyBoy sang, and that Wraith stretched out his hands as if to strangle BillyBoy and make him stop singing. The other two Wraiths collapsed onto the floor and sobbed.

 _Stript, wounded, beaten nigh to death,_  
 _I found him by the highway side._  
 _I roused his pulse, brought back his breath,_  
 _Revived his spirit, and supplied_  
 _Wine, oil, refreshment - he was healed._  
 _I had myself a wound concealed_  
 _But from that hour forgot the smart,_  
 _And peace bound up my broken heart.*_

At the end of the verse, BillyBoy was much more calm and stood strong. The Greater Wraith had writhed in pain until suddenly it had gone stiff as the sung spell commanded it to be healed. At that point it had collapsed. BillyBoy had carefully not stopped the song, however. His counselors had repeated their prayer as soon as the Greater Wraith had collapsed. The oppression in the hallway had lifted at the end of the prayer and the song.

Moving in their usual pattern, Hue's party moved to the two lesser Wraiths and ministered to them, teaching them about the world goals of peace, and returning home. This time BillyBoy and his party went to the one who had been the hardest hit. They prayed over him, blessing him with peace, courage, and calmness, and with healing.

He revived sufficiently to tell them what his worst fears had been and were and they offered comfort, understanding, and then finally the encouragement of the whole world working to get back home. When the three Wraiths agreed they would work for that as well, they very carefully got the name of the Greater Wraith and promised two of their group would find him when they were done and he was resurrected and visit with him again. Only then did he disappear like the other two, leaving behind a soft apology to Phillip, surprising the recipient.

"Actually, that's a rather good sign," Training said quietly. "They've worked enough of their peculiar set of skills to really make that one change."

"It's the promise to visit him again," Phillip said. "They do that, minister by twos to those who really need it in particular. It's their support network."

"So it was already familiar to the Wraith, then," Training said. Phillip nodded. Training filed it as an important detail for how this group worked. Then he looked a little more sharply at Phillip. "You hold out okay through that?"

Phillip shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I can't do much about that kind of attention, and I get why they would do that. Church history is taught in the schools around here, even if it isn't supposed to be directly. They don't do multiple wives since that's illegal, but it was still important to take care of all the widows back then, and they did want to increase their population to turn all the deserts into livable land as fast as they could so they didn't starve. I get that." He then grinned at Training. "Besides, isn't every eligible man on Theldesia plenty starved to see a pretty girl these days?"

Training had to chuckle at that one. "And the majority of players were and are _exactly_ that age."

"No doubt," Phillip agreed dryly.

-:-:-:-:-

They ran into several other groups of Wraiths like that one for the next two levels. They weren't always fixated on wanting Phillip, but each one was difficult for BillyBoy and for each one he had to sing. He picked songs they seemed to need to hear, though the one he'd sung at the first one seemed to be his favorite. Sometimes the second verse he sang was a different one from the same song, depending on what afflicted the Wraith, but that combination from the first time was the most effective and most used.

Training kind of thought P/R might like to learn it, actually, since it ended with the Bard who sang it getting an HP boost. He paid close attention to it, marking the locations of them in his recording history so he could go back and teach it to the guild. He also made a mental note to have BillyBoy sing it in it's entirety to P/R if they could find the time. He actually had the first verse mostly memorized by the end of the second level it had to be used in. Really, given all their singing to date as a chorus, the whole guild had at least the sub-skill up to a high enough level for that much.

At the next level they reached, things didn't feel right. Downright malevolent, really. BillyBoy paused and counted the doors in the hallway. "I think this part's been changed. Perhaps to reflect the flavor text, rather than the reality of the building." He bit his lower lip. "I think this is the next to last level. With that being twelve doors, this would be the level of the twelve apostles."

"We're going to have to face down twelve at once?" Training was a bit dismayed. They were twenty, but it wasn't really an even face-off. They should have at least a full raid of twenty-four, given how this floor felt.

"I think...we shouldn't have to face down more than three at a time, if even that on this floor," BillyBoy said, but Training wasn't going to let that go to chance. He cued up his more powerful spells this time.

They went to the first door and looked in, since nothing was in the hall, nor did anything enter it. A Greater Wraith was pacing in front of his desk, two "secretaries" sitting on chairs nearby. "Get out. Who let you in?"

"We did. We're looking for those who want to go home, to let them know someone's found the way."

"This is our home, and if you're talking about getting back to Utah, that's our job - to get us back there."

"Well, we'd love your help, but what you're doing now isn't working. Will you hear us out?" BillyBoy asked.

Reluctantly the Greater Wraith stopped pacing and listened with a stiff back. When Hue was done with the summary, the Greater Wraith answered, "The Brethren will only decide together in unanimity. We will meet in the office on the top floor." The Wraiths disappeared.

"Well, that's both good and bad," Training commented. "That means you have to tell all twelve, and then we have to face off against them all at the same time."

"Well...and then there's the First Presidency, so there will really be fifteen," BillyBoy cautioned.

Training groaned, but only to himself. "That isn't good odds, you know."

BillyBoy shrugged, uncomfortable. "We still need to do it, and at least it's talking like I want to. 'A soft answer turneth away wrath'. If we can keep holding to that, then we should be okay."

"Are you sure it isn't going to be like Abinadai, or like the Pharisees and Sadducees during the judgment?" one of the others questioned as if a bit afraid to ask the question.

"Well...it may be," BillyBoy admitted. "I'll be spokesman, and if they won't listen to convincing words and the Spirit, maybe they'll listen to the hymns bear testimony. If they punish us, it will be what it will be, but even Abinadai couldn't be touched until he'd given his message."

"Yeah, well don't go dying this time. That's what happened to him in the end and we need you around," another party member scolded.

BillyBoy shrugged. "It will be at the end, and I'll just resurrect again at the dungeon respawn point. No biggie." The others rolled their eyes at him.

Somehow they made it through that level, after an exhausting amount of work at just talking. Training was rather lost at how to talk to them, it not being a familiar culture. He hoped he wouldn't make things worse when he tried to make them better. He was trying very hard to keep track of all the oddities and variety of important differences, but it might be a little too tangled. Maybe it was good the Eagles hadn't been handed this dungeon. They'd have just gone through it swinging swords and casting spells and sorted it out at the end. It was bad enough the Wraiths had gone insane with the long amount of time they'd been without the Cathedral and bodies. Not healthy at all.

When they finally made it up the stairs to the top level, they called a halt and rested, replenishing HP and MP. "Do we have to collect up the last three or will they already be in the conference room?" one asked.

BillyBoy shrugged. One who was a Summoner sent out a mouse Summon to find out which room had the most people in it. It ran down the hallway sniffing at the bottom of the door of each room until it put its paws up on one of the doors. Then it ran straight back down the hallway to the Summoner again. It got a thank you pet and then put back into the front pocket of the Summoner's shirt where it poked it's head back out and sniffed at the air. Small Summons like that didn't talk, but they did still appreciate gratitude and wise Summoners.

When they had rested for about fifteen minutes, BillyBoy asked Brad to say one more prayer of blessing over their group, then they all rose to their feet and walked down the hallway to the room the Summon mouse had indicated. As they walked in the room, a WraithLord moved insolently to wave them in. "It appears we've been graced with the visit of a Bishop and his council - including the Relief Society President." It's voice dripped with sarcasm. Phillip flushed, though Training didn't understand the reference.

"You know as well as I do that no one with the authority to call Bishops to office came with us to Theldesia," BillyBoy scolded mildly. "I was the Elder's Quorum President of the Twin Falls, Idaho, Second Ward, so I'm that here as well until we get home or I'm released by God."

"Then I'll release you," the WraithLord said expansively, "I'm the Prophet on Theldesia."

"Not by any authority God or I recognize," BillyBoy answered a bit more darkly. "You've brought your own punishment upon you for unlawfully taking upon yourself that title. The darkness you live in here has covered the entire valley with sorrow and made those of us who have held to our covenants sorrow with it to see it."

The WraithLord's eyes turned red and he cursed while the other fourteen Wraiths with him groaned and complained in anger. The party set up their protections and those who knew how to pray for Purification began to quietly pray under their breath. Training put up an anti-curse shield rather automatically, now that they'd had that practice in the western U.S. Maze of Eternity. It didn't sound like the WraithLord was actually casting a Curse spell, but given it _was_ a WraithLord that had been an Adventurer, even the intent might be just enough.

"I shall excommunicate you for your insolence and disobedience!" the WraithLord shouted.

"You haven't the right nor the power," BillyBoy disagreed. "I've been sent here to call all of you to repentance."

"Repentance," one of the Greater Wraith's mocked. "Why do we need to repent when we've only been following the inspiration from God to help lead the people of the church and the valley to live in the way they should so that we can build up the church again?"

"Because rather than follow God's proper authority and his commandments, you've forced it and caused bad blood between everyone in the valley. God is terribly disappointed with what you've done here, and so are we."

Enough Greater Wraiths got angry at that perceived presumption of their stolen authority that they called for their assistants to attack the party and BillyBoy. "Please, don't," Hue begged them as they started to move. "We want to tell you that we've learned that there's a way to get home. Please listen to what we have to say." The lesser Wraiths paused. "Help came from overseas. They've told us that there are people who have been working hard to help everyone get home. They fixed the problem that made us stay dead. If you let go of your fear and worry, you won't disappear for good. You'll be resurrected and the others can tell you the great news we've been told."

"Lies!" the WraithLord cried, startling the lesser Wraiths. "Take them down!"

Hue pleaded with them a little longer and about a third of the lesser Wraiths disappeared. Another third stood undecided, and the other third moved to attack. As soon as they reached out to touch the party, they also disappeared into bubbles.

"You are like the wicked King Noah and his High Priests," BillyBoy stated. "And like Abinadai, you cannot touch us until we have delivered our message. God calls you to repent of your wicked thoughts and actions. Your pride and fear have led you to do that which is contrary to his commandments. He has commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to turn the other cheek, to have mercy on those who are in need, and to serve others to the best of our ability. You have done the opposite, and like the wicked Nephites as they followed the path of destruction, you have turned those who were not of the church against it because you have set the wrong example of God's people. We who have tried our hardest to live the way we should have are paying the price for your actions. You must apologize to the people of the valley and repent and remember your promises and return to humble service to fix the damage you've done."

The WraithLord slammed his hand down on the table in front of him, surprising Training that the hand didn't just go through the table. It was more corporeal than it was supposed to be, which was just a little worrisome. "Shut up! We have done our best to do what we were supposed to do. Everyone else wouldn't follow along after us properly, so we punished them. They deserve what they got. We've been living in protection here since."

"Protection?" BillBoy said softly. "Living in the darkness of Satan is protection? Where is your love? Where is joy in this? How can you wish to live as Wraiths of darkness, holding on to your stubborn pride? Outside this place is now safe. We got rid of the Overwritten. Everyone is working together again to try to make Theldesia a better place for everyone. Peace is being restored. You can return to those things if you will change your ways and desire to help the rest of us without your pride."

Lightning crackled from the WraithLord and shot at their group. It hit the shielding and deflected away, not touching any of them. Training hadn't expected it to. He was at least thirty levels over everyone else in the room. It was rather impressive, though, and several of the Greater Wraiths sitting at the tables shifted.

Hue spoke up again, pleading with the Wraiths in the room. "Like the people of Alma, we tried our best to serve others, yet were overwhelmed by a larger group of people who wouldn't support us, but used us instead. We prayed every day that God would help us find a way to teach them not to be so mean. When we received the inspiration that we needed to come down here to Salt Lake, we prayed that a way would be made open so that we could get free of Twin Falls. That prayer was answered when the people who have been helping us since then showed up to tell everyone about what we can all do to help us get home. Please listen to what we have to say. You don't have to be afraid."

"We're _not_ afraid!" two Greater Wraith's cried out.

"Some of you are," Hue answered with firm surety. "I know it because I was afraid. This isn't home, and we would much rather be home. Let go of that fear and have faith instead. God has brought us here so that you can. He wants all of us to go home, too. He's been blessing us for a long time and wants to bless us even more. He has promised he will forgive anyone who wants to walk through life better. I'm very grateful for God's mercy. It saved my family, and I know that you will be at peace if you will ask him to apply his Atonement to you."

Three of the Greater Wraiths at the table disappeared. That made the WraithLord even more angry and he ranted and cursed again, and threatened the other Wraiths in the room of any more disappeared. Two of the Greater Wraiths attacked their party and disappeared in bubbles. Training didn't know who had cast that spell. His spell was against magic attacks, and they'd attacked physically.

"Attack them all together all at once!" the WraithLord demanded of the Wraiths. They rose up and set their positions.

BillyBoy raised his hand. In a very firm voice he said, "A punishment has been decreed if you don't repent. A prison has been created to hold you so that you can't continue to make everyone mad, and God very, very sad." The Wraiths didn't relent, ignoring him as their moans and groans only got louder. With a very sad look, BillyBoy said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I banish you." Every Wraith in the room froze, even the WraithLord. There was silence for two seconds and he very quietly said. "Please, repent. We will forgive you and everyone is willing to try again." Five Wraiths disappeared. The rest grew in size and became dark gray instead of white. Very sadly BillyBoy said. "Then let it be as God wants it to be."

None of BillyBoy's party moved to defend. The Wraith attacks released and as Training watched, every Wraith had turned back on it the very attack it had attacked with until they were no longer in the room at all. The room was silent for a while, then BillyBoy turned back to the rest of them. "I really had hoped more would relent. That was rather a lot that didn't. I hope we didn't fail." He looked very concerned.

"What constitutes failure?" Training asked him quietly.

He looked to the side. "I don't really know. I just know I was told not to fail and that they'd have to go to a prison if they wouldn't relent. So I guess I just feel like I failed because even one went."

"Who told you that?" Training asked, a bit confused.

"A calico kitten with gold swirls on it's side," BillyBoy confessed to the floor.

Training froze. "Tell me everything that one told you, to the exact detail."

BillyBoy did, still not looking up from the floor. Training swore softly, wanting to throw something for a minute. "That would be one of the details I needed to know. That was not someone that you need to listen to. That was the Game Bot. The Game Bot was trying to interfere and make you doubt yourself. I think you've handled yourself rather well, personally. Mike and the rest of us will take it from here. We'll either convince them to play nice, or ask Miss Purrcy to lock them down. She's quite the stern mother when children won't be obedient."

BillyBoy was looking at him with his mouth hanging open. At that last, he gave a rueful look. "Well, I did know that much. She scolded me quite well." He thought about it, then gave a deep sigh. "Alright. I guess we did what we could as best we could. We should go back and see what we can do next." Training smiled. This kid was alright. He kept moving forward, too.

-:-:-:-:-

When they arrived back out of the Office of the President, the entirety of Temple Square was no longer under the black miasma it had been. That was a great relief to the Twin Falls group. They immediately went over to the temple itself. Training watched them carefully when they discovered they couldn't even step foot on the grounds around it. They handled it the same as they'd handled everything else - sorrow and disappointment, prayer, and humility. He would almost have to say that they should be left there as the group to lead everyone, except they would be such a good fit to work with the Eagles.

He continued to watch them as they went on to the Conference Center. There, the group from Pocatello congratulated them and gave their report. They'd been heading the cleaning up of the Conference Center - it had been damaged and needed repairs and more clean-up before they could have the general meeting in it. Really Training liked the way the two groups worked together. It was a lot like how two different groups in the military would - symbiotic without stepping on toes. They'd been equally good on the battlefield, too, from what he'd seen of the work done in the valley and getting the report from the party out of the Air Force base that had observed them.

He'd sat with that group the day before after the live press conference was over, getting things set up on that side. He couldn't set the orders - Michael would do that after they'd met again on their arrival - but he rather thought he might have a good idea of how things could work for peace in the valley again. He had a few more people to talk to, though, so he left the Idaho boys at the Conference Center and headed up the hill to the Catholic cathedral.

He knocked on the door and poked his head in, then walked up to the rectory. He wasn't Catholic, but his grandmother and aunt were, so he'd been dragged along a time or two. "Excuse me? I'm looking for the person in charge?"

A Cleric came out and walked over to him. "What may I do for you?"

"I'm Training, with the VFA-115 Eagles. I've been asked by the Commander to meet with all the heads of the groups that survived until now. Have you got some time?"

He was escorted to a small office and invited to sit. "Thank you, to you and your team for getting the region fixed up," the man said first.

"Our pleasure and duty," Training answered. It had been probably only been five percent pleasure, but it was still the right thing to say. "Can you tell me in a little more detail how things went here at this location? I'd also like to hear any concerns you have moving into the future."

It turned out the Cleric was a lay clergy of the Cathedral, a Deacon, who had known the services well enough to hold them for those few Adventurers who had shown up for comfort. He admitted that he'd already been thinking of becoming more committed and becoming a Priest on Earth. He stepped in to that role here on Theldesia, though not being confirmed one he didn't perform the rituals he shouldn't - like the sacramental mass - but he did do what he could. Theldesia had made him the Priest regardless, to Training's eyes. It had saved them.

By the time the conversation was done, and Training had promised to take the concerns to the Commander, he had a good feel for what he would recommend. His visit to the Hindu temple went about the same, the head there doing the best he could with what little he had, and lots of humility and good humor. The Christians were harder to get to come to a willingness to work with everyone else, until he pointed out Christ's teaching of forgiving and of living in peace with your neighbors. It wasn't a good sign that shame had to come first, but it did the job sufficiently so he left there tiredly hoping it would be enough.

Training was glad he had wings to get up and down the valley with. He took himself to one of the taller ridges when he was done with his chores for the day and just breathed for a bit in the spring wind, looking out over the valley to see the water of the Salt Lake. Every now and then a water monster surfaced and floated along the top of the water. It was a monster zone with good drops, and he was glad to see that they had survived the Overwritten.

With a sigh, he finally let himself wonder just why he'd ended up being the person in charge over a city that was so full of religion and faith. As an agnostic who didn't really care one way or the other, it was a bit uncomfortable. Just like having to play at being a member of the clergy of Izanami was. He would have preferred to play the most minor role of Acolyte, but she'd put all of the people who got put into positions of low level leadership into the Deacon role.

He could play at it all, and he'd so far suspended his disbelief the same as any of them did about the magic being a real thing on Theldesia: it was a tool that worked. Having it so forced into his face for the last several weeks was just a little much, though. He was most definitely looking forward to them moving on to the Midwest. From here on, now that they had done the hard footwork at the beginning, the rest should be a lot easier.

Training settled down on the ground with a mixed groan and sigh. He was ready for his own vacation at this point. Having the silence of the mountain and the wind with him was pretty relaxing, actually. He'd not had much opportunity to be by himself - at least not to this degree. He sat and meditated for a long time.

-:-:-:-:-

Training finally got the first call that one was on his way in. He gave the okay and rose to his feet again. He wasn't really in the mood to fly with his own wings, having already done that for the day. He searched his list and pulled out a Summon whistle, at the last minute adding in the intent that he wasn't in a particular hurry. He had no idea how far away this horse was from his current location. The black gelding showed up fairly quickly, though, prancing a bit. Training looked at him for a moment, then slumped a little. "Ah, you'd be one that got eaten on the west coast then, and I've just called you back, is it? Sorry. We've fixed that now, though."

The horse just looked at him. Training pulled out a carrot from his list, since he'd found a patch of them up in the Sierras. The horse snatched at it, likely having missed eating much of anything for the last several years, though hopefully it was less. Training had settled down on the ridge above downtown Salt Lake City, knowing he would need to be there, so it was just a careful ride down the steep part of the ridge, then a run on the broken roads past even more broken buildings until he reached Temple Square.

That had been good for both of them and he patted the horse and gave it another carrot when they arrived. He looked at it a bit helplessly. "I guess you're free to roam. I won't need you again for a while, actually. I wonder if you can even go home?" He stared at in consternation. There was enough grass around that it eventually meandered off to graze a bit.

Training looked for the first western cowboy he could find when he walked in the door. "What do you guys do with your horses around here when you've summoned them and don't need them for a bit?"

He got blinked at. "Take them to the stable," that one answered.

" _Is_ there one around here?" Training asked.

"Ahh, nope. Just let it graze. It'll go back when your time's up."

"Not," Training shook his head. "I just called it back from dead, and the place it's supposed to go back to is holes in the ground on the west coast."

"Huh. Well," the Adventurer scratched the back of his head. "It will still probably go back and then go wild?"

Training walked back out to the horse. "Hey, can you understand well enough to know that you should stick around here after your summon time so you don't die of starvation? If you go back to the west coast, there's nothing to eat yet. I don't want you mad at me for calling you back early."

The horse ignored him. Training sighed and closed his eyes. _Really_. Not wanting to very much, he finally clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Izanami, can you somehow tell this horse to stay here where there's food so it doesn't go back to the west coast and die again? I don't really want it to hate me the next time I call for it." The wind ruffled his hair and the horse's tail swished. Training had no idea if that was an answer or not, but it was going to have to do. He supposed that simplistic requests would only get very faint responses. He clapped once and bowed again and left it there. He wasn't up to doing more than that today.

Walking back into the Conference Center he asked around until he found BillyBoy working hard on cleaning up one of the bathrooms. Training blinked at him. "Really? You'll clean up a bathroom?"

"We'll need them," BillyBoy shrugged, pausing his scrubbing and looking up from his crouch on the floor to brush black hair back from his face. "It's okay."

Training shook his head at the man. "You guys really are something. I'm not sure we've found a more military group outside the military ever."

"Military?" BillyBoy was confused, but Training didn't enlighten him.

"I've received the word that the first of my guild is on his way in. We're going to need a room to meet in once everyone gets here, before we hold the full on meeting you guys have planned." He wasn't so sure that was necessary, other than to be the last hand-holding for this area of Adventurers. Michael would roll with it just for that, though. He was a good Commander and holder of hands - if it meant that people were going to get good hard work done afterwords.

BillyBoy considered it, then looked around the bathroom. "If you're willing to help me finish up here so I don't leave it and forget it, I'll take you to one of the smaller conference rooms that's in a good place for getting into the main hall. We'll grab up a few more to help make sure it's ready, too."

Training couldn't refuse. He well knew that many hands made light work, and he got his turns regular at bathroom duty at Log Horizon like the rest had. Between them they got the room done in short order and were headed for the place BillyBoy had picked. He'd called up a few others via chat while they'd worked and were met at that conference room. He noticed that they were making dirt and rubble disappear. "How are you guys doing that?" he asked casually.

"Putting them into our lists. One slot's enough to hold all the rocks if one's in the slot. It just makes the counter increase." Training added that tidbit of information to all the others, then started "putting" the debris he was in charge of up on the ridge he'd come from. It would only add to the scree already there. They would think he was doing what they'd just told him to do. With the five of them working on the room it was empty soon enough. Then it was broom and scrub. Again, the many hands made it clean rather quickly.

"We'll have to send out for chairs and table, though," BillyBoy said, a bit worried.

Training shook his head. "We'll be good," he said. "We're used to setting up our own stations. They'll be bringing the full encampment with them. There's plenty of chairs and tables in that. - Guildmaster's list, you know," he winked at them when they looked unsure. That got them to relax a bit.

"Well, I'll put it on the list anyway," BillyBoy said. "We'll probably need it again later. It can be picked up with the other things that are being ordered from the Guild Hall."

"Do you have enough crafters in the People of the Land?" Training asked.

"No, it's things on the list of items that can be purchased from the Cunie," it was clarified.

"Oh, yeah. I haven't used that in a long time," Training nodded. "We had so many Adventurer crafters in Akiba that we stopped using it." He paused then frowned. "The Cunie survived?"

"With the Catholics," one of the others nodded.

"Oh, good," that did make life easier, to have access to the full game database, not to mention all the Adventurer's items and the gold. He looked around the room. "Well, this looks good for now. I'll go out and wait for the rest to get here. Thanks for getting it ready."

He got waves and he headed back out, then paused and went back in. He wasn't Nav, to create maps so easily, but he knew the basics since they all had to learn it. He spent the rest of the time until Secretary arrived mapping the Conference Center. They might need to know the whole layout. Besides, it gave him something to do.

-:-:-:-:-

Stiletto actually arrived before Secretary, bringing Bowie with him. They'd taken the southernmost cities, but Stiletto could walk. Training had sent the Conference Center map around by then, so the two met him directly in their assigned room that he'd marked for everyone. "Hey. Good to see you two," Training greeted them. "It's been a bit hard for me to keep track of everyone in the valley, though they still sound like they're willing to try properly."

"Where shall we set up? In here?" Bowie looked around the room. It was the size of a largish-conference room in an office building.

"No. Go to the broadcast room," Training pulled up the map he'd made and put a little orange dot on the room. "It's got the infrastructure for the video screens to go up and not make people wonder so hard. It looks like the open window used to be one-way glass, so you can repeat that and people won't look twice given they'll see what they want to see when they get here. It's not got windows the other way, of course, so it's a perfect room to set up in." Bowie gave a nod and Stiletto stepped them into that room. It would likely keep them occupied for a while, setting up their usual surveillance room. Hopefully they'd leave room for Charlie in some corner as well, since it was also sound-booth area.

Secretary showed up a bit after that. He'd come by horse from St. George. Schedules arrived close on his heels, coming from Logan, but needing more time to get the governance of the city set up. Training snagged BillyBoy then, making him take a break and teach Schedules the song he'd sung in the Office of the President dungeon. When that little break was done, the three got down to work on what their next task was: to have things in place and ready for when Michael got in. Compliance and Brenner showed up about four hours later, coming from Idaho via wing and horse. That put the "herd" up to five horses and Compliance put them into a temporary corral at the nearest open field.

The latest to come were those from the west coast. They had the dragons to bring them in, but it was still almost another half day since they had to stop and let the dragons rest along the way. Ground Safety, Gareth, and H/R all came from the northwest corner and on new dragons they'd borrowed from Adventurers in those cities, the dragons agreeing to help out since Vesuvius was. Reed and Records came last. Records had been waiting at the City of Angels for the denizens of that city to show up like they were supposed to and get them really working together right. Reed had picked him up after making sure the leaders of the group heading south were fully trained up right.

With eight of them at the Maze of Eternity, Michael had walked P/R and Charlie to Salt Lake as soon as they had the camp packed up, and then they'd unpacked all over again. Michael had disappeared for his meeting with the head of Hill Air Force Base immediately after that. Maintenance had ridden Vesuvius in. Eight was rather a lot of dragons to be in the mountains of that area once they were all gathered again. The Eagles took over the A/V room, sound booth, the conference room they'd been given, and then a number of back offices that they turned into sleeping quarters for the short time they'd be there. It was free and simple, plus cleaned up a few more rooms that had been ignored in favor of getting the most important rooms opened up.

When Reed and Records walked in the door, Secretary called everyone into the conference room for the squadron meeting. Michael had set up the large table and put the chairs around it, so it looked formal. That meant he expected to host non-guild in the room. They took their proper stations around the table. Michael briefly welcomed everyone back and gave the nod to Reed.

"Intel's defense of the altar worked. I just had to unbury it from the rubble. Sergeant Major LeftField is completely on board. He's set up the city council and is leaving behind an adjunct to make sure things stay calm. Mister Browning and his guild are also ready. They've already begun getting the rest of the sort-of-fighters out into the Sierras hunting Overwritten for training. The Coastal Party will leave for Mexico and the Central American server as soon as they're all gathered in Diego. Charlie will get regular reports from Brian as they head south. They've got a good start on making the ground living again around Diego. City of Angels Adventurers worked on that on their walk north and it was looking good on my flight up to pick up Records."

He looked at Records, handing the "report token" to him. "They liked that particular quest and were all excited to continue that one on up the coast. A few will follow after the Coastal Party far enough behind to be sure they aren't going to run into Overwritten to finish healing up the Mexican west coast as well, since the Devourer did come from there."

"It looked like the guildmasters were a little more willing to actually work together, but if we don't get our drop, they'll likely splinter for good, and I don't think on guild lines. A lot of guild members seemed fed up with the guild's top given how poorly they got taken care of the first round. So, there are a few watchdogs in the mix now to see that things move forward in at least slightly positive ways. We've told the guildmaster he's got three weeks to figure out how to grow his own food or he's out and someone else is in."

Records sighed, "...Is what we'd like to say. We can't sit here and babysit, though, so they'll have to work it out somehow. If there's an internal war again, it will just have to work itself out. There are plenty of younger guild members who are still enthusiastic and ready to get back to work, so maybe it will be okay until we get to the final boss battle. At the very least they have agreed to not impose on other Adventurer cities to fix their problems. They will contact other leadership if they run into troubles, though."

Michael added that summary to his internal notes and nodded at Aviation Safety. "The final product worked fine, and wasn't inside Jose so didn't get wiped out in the explosion, which was nice. The Frisco side was a little more humble, and willing to do their part, mostly in the restoration of the land, as expected. Most of Jose wanted to get back to their experiments, but it was to put them into practical application on the goals. We should see things coming from them randomly. They got really far in the technology field - probably farther than Minami, from what I saw - so it should prove quite useful. Plenty of Hackers there to keep feeding data to us outside of the Region."

"I did ask those who had been working on our pet project to become the new communications team to watch over the regions as we clear them and send notes on to us as needed. They're setting that up in more detail." Aviation Safety glanced at their own com. "I've put them in contact with Charlie already." Charlie gave the nod of agreement, that indicated he had that under control. Aviation Safety sat back, done with his report.

MasterChiefS7 was next. He didn't move from his folded-arm relaxed sit. "Sacramento was on board. They went back to the leadership they had before they were interrupted by the PK guild, but given firm goals and direction they're moving now in ways that are useful. They've got all slots filled with some, even if some are kind of small. As usual, hunting Overwritten is last on the list, but they've got more than some cities. We took out a lot before we even got into the Maze so maybe it will be alright." He gave a sharp nod to let them know he was done.

Michael looked at BlackJack. BlackJack leaned forward, his thick silver and gold necklace shifting under his shirt collar to glint briefly. He liked bling, particularly if it added to his stats, but out of respect for military rules kept it hidden. He wasn't smiling and he wasn't particularly relaxed. "Shead and his partner didn't show up in Port Land. I was able to do a full region sweep from my post -" letting them all know what level his sub-skill had reached, "- and they aren't in the region at all."

"That's worrisome," Michael answered. "Have you tried farther out than that?"

BlackJack was quiet, then said, "I'm getting that they're alive, but not where. Just a general 'everywhere' almost."

Michael pondered quietly, then Bowie asked, "Could it be they're part of the four kittens? The other two were of that same cloth."

BlackJack blinked. "It's a possibility," Michael answered slowly. "Only two of them were obvious. Likely the AIs wouldn't want those two coming back to cause more chaos, after they were the main reason for so much of it. But the kittens that weren't known were one male, one female. We saw two males."

BlackJack shrugged. "Like that matters to the AIs? ...Though I suppose it could have been a female in a male avatar and we might not have known."

"True enough," Michael agreed, though that wasn't quite so likely. "And, really, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to throw that one little experiment in there as well, just because they could." The rest had to agree with that point of view.

BlackJack leaned back. "I'll keep watch out for them as we go. The rest of the city was just glad to be back, like down in Sacramento, and they were happy to lock up the rest of the PK guild and get to work on the quests. They'll keep them fed there in the city so they don't Wraith and know to let them out to come help for the final boss battle. I did bother to let a few know that they might be able to talk them into giving PKing up, but I suspect it won't work. They had plenty of time to get PKing in the blood. They're not likely going to want to let it go. Also like Sacramento, there's a good mix of everyone willing to do what needs to be done, including a group that is keen to end the yearly regional Special. They all signed up for weapons to be blessed. That took me probably the longest of anything I had to do." He shrugged.

The turns passed to Ground Safety, then Gareth, and H/R for the Washington cities. They were all on board about the same as well, with reasonable leadership in place to see to it. Military was present in all three so that helped, too. Compliance's report out of the Boise/Twin Falls group wasn't surprising, but Boise was going home now that there were a lot fewer Overwritten in Idaho. Since they could resurrect now, they'd participate in the rest of the quests - to some degree. Likely Spokane was going to have to carry a lot of it, though. Michael motioned from H/R to Charlie and they nodded. They'd communicate with the Hackers to make sure that area of the region was monitored and properly cleared out without anger between the two cities.

With the Boise group gone, Twin Falls was in relief, but didn't have a whole lot to do given it was already done - but then they were going to be a very small group. Surprisingly they'd offered to grow extra food-stuff and ship it west. That was going to be very helpful, really. There would be off-line communication on how to help that get up and running after the meeting, since it would likely mean caravans. They might have to give up one of Purrcy's secrets to help that out, but that would take detailed discussion that this meeting wasn't meant for.

Pocatello and Idaho Falls were going to split, too, but along quest lines, heading into Montana to help finish up over there and spread the word towards the north and east in that area. Brenner had enjoyed his visit with the people there. (They all knew that meant he'd taken his vacation.) He looked away from the table, then cleared his throat. "And, I've got some visual back - that is some color instead of all white and shades of grey. It's a great relief to finally be even that far along."

"Did you take the blessing?" Michael asked him.

"No, not yet," Brenner said. "I did ask questions, though, and as I said, we had good discussions."

Michael nodded and the turns passed to Schedules. "Logan's good. Same as the others, but higher numbers on those who want to go with us or clean up." He gave those numbers since they would need to know for their planning purposes.

Michael skipped over Training and moved on to Secretary and St. George. His report was the same as Schedules, but he added, "And they don't mind leaving the city empty. They've already split up entirely with captains over each goal." That drew smiles.

Bowie nodded. "Serpiente won't be empty, but they've already organized into their groups as well and are out hunting as we speak. The set joining the Inter-mountain Party are waiting for the rest from up here to join them before going south. The Overwritten party will meet the northern part and take them back in. The zones are so wild around Serpiente that they figure the additional numbers will be better than just leaving." Michael and Reed both nodded approval.

Stiletto went last of this part of the reporting. "With Arizona also being mostly wild zones, the groups won't split, but they're ready and waiting for everyone to get there, except the loads that rejoiced and immediately went out hunting Overwritten. They're very hungry to get rid of them." He smiled a shark smile. Everyone approved that action. "Oh, and the Mormon boys lifted their heads up and finally spoke up so I put their top person on the city leadership, too. He was as nervous as a mouse in the middle of a pack of cats, but he'll be fine."

Bowie nodded. "I went and dragged out the one on top as well, though he claimed the one who came up here was higher on the chain of command. I told him I could care less and put him to work. He immediately called up support, so even he knows what he's doing, even if he won't admit it." The whole room grinned at that.

Michael turned to Training. Training took a deep breath and leaned forward, taking the spotlight.

* * *

 _*"A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief", verses 1 & 5, James Montgomery, cir. 1830._


	193. Izanami Breaks

Training began his report: "BillyBoy and his team did really well. They stayed focused on their goal and didn't let surprises shake them. He's a Bard but he didn't sing anything until we got to the second level of difficulty. He didn't use it at all at the end but his preaching repentance was very powerful. I finally had to go looking at his details. He's got a special skill under Bard. It's Rhetorician. It has an effect like Negotiate with the bonus of increases to it's effectiveness the longer he can talk, but when he talks with conviction that has the weight of truth behind it, it also does attack damage. Hue's level in Rhetorician is also rather high, though it seems to fall under Apprentice for him since he's not a Bard."

"BillyBoy was able to win over about five of the top level Greater Wraiths just with that alone. The WraithLord had too high a defense against his sub-skill, but I think he could have taken even it down if it had been a one-on-one. Having to affect the whole crowd diluted his attack power as it were. Honestly I think he'll try it again now that they've resurrected, but until you're ready to deal with them I've locked them up to think a little harder about exactly what they'd like to see out of their lives now that they have a second chance. That was an executive decision to keep everyone calm for now."

"However, something came out of that which is slightly unrelated." Training's face went dark. "Izanami poked her nose into it and made BillyBoy doubt himself. I don't know what she was up to, but it looked like interference to see if she could make him - or his God's path - trip up. Thank goodness it didn't, but I did have to bolster him back up at the end. She really doesn't like having interference does she?"

"Apparently not," Michael answered. "Not that it should matter. All of it is getting her goals done."

Training shook his head. "Well, my summary is that they'll integrate with us in the first three to five rooms of the first level. They're as good a team as we are, nearly, for not being as high level. The only real difference between levels, though, is that we've already been through four Mazes and they haven't. They've had all the years of fighting Overwritten under their belts. The only other thing they haven't had is experienced leadership. They understand it, though, and even crave it, so there'll be no worries there either."

He leaned back and frowned just a bit. "It's obvious BillyBoy would hold this whole valley together, though. That's the one thing that gives me pause. His counterpart from Pocatello chose to follow him, but the two groups are nearly equal in experience and ability, like two squadrons who were tasked to work together on this job because it needed the larger numbers. It could go either way." He chuckled. "I went looking for BillyBoy and found him scrubbing the W/C. He even asked me to help him to get it over with sooner so we could work on this room. They're constantly surprising me, honestly. But they've flexibility, work ethic, humility, and good humor. They'll be good to have around."

"As far as the rest, I'd recommend the head of each of the groups that survived that aren't part of that church - Hannibal, the Catholic Deacon, the Hindu guru, and the Christian pastor. It's possible that the Mormons will pick their leader, but if we can influence it to be one of the ones that we trust, it would be best, I think, since the others don't trust them as a group yet. What feel I did get was that if we appointed someone to be on the council there was no guarantee that the appointed person would stay there. They might change it around."

He paused, then changed topics. "Each sub-group has been working hard. The lists are getting long down at the Adventurer hall in the city for the quests. To some degree it feels like a lot want out of the valley because of how wrong things went. But when I walk around, people also seem to be trying hard. They have the proper self-preservation that the list of who's going to stay and produce foodstuffs and such isn't short either, which is relieving. I don't have the full count for anything yet, and I think that's part of they're wanting to see what happens in the full meeting."

Training leaned one arm on the table and looked firmly at Michael. "They're planning a formal meeting, and you're the main speaker, near as I can tell, since they've just been waiting for us to gather back up here. Your next meeting is with the two Elders of Idaho and their councils. They'll go through the program with you then, I expect." They let Michael noodle in silence until he asked his final questions, gave them the nod, and then their orders.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael sat in front of the conference hall audience. While it was large group, the Adventurers didn't fill the whole room, surprisingly. But then, it _was_ a big hall. Pretty much everyone in the valley had come. The Eagles were in their formal blacks, mostly along the front in formal rest attention, but also set around the perimeter of the room, just keeping an eye on things because it was what they did. Michael had been seated in what was in all likelihood the seat of honor. Reed was sitting to his right and MasterChiefS7 to his left. Charlie was in the sound booth handling volume control. P/R was sitting next to him as both back-up and as video recorder. They weren't sure if they would need this meeting repeated again, but it wouldn't hurt to have it as a back-up just in case, even if just for sound bytes.

All of the nine recognized presidencies (thus twenty-seven Adventurers) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were present up on the stand as well. BillyBoy had looked uncomfortable when the others had made him and his counselors sit in the same row as Michael, but he'd not complained. Because the church boys had put the whole thing together from the decision to clear it as a dungeon, they'd insisted on the program, too. BillyBoy was speaking now, welcoming everyone to the meeting, the "choir" having finished singing and a prayer having been said. Both - given the effects of magic and religious faith in Theldesia - had calmed the atmosphere quite a bit.

Michael wasn't sure whether to call it an unfair advantage or a blessing, but the realization had made his mouth quirk up at the irony. On occasion the initial rules, not really thought so hard about by the programmers of _Elder Tales_ , had such interesting effects now that it was real. It must be driving the AIs crazy to have to deal with it to this level, given how much they'd been bothered by it in Yamato where it had been merely a simple flavor text restriction.

That made him wonder if Izanagi was the one playing God. It should be him in most of the cases answering the prayers of the people here, since that was his role for this world. Michael wasn't quite sure, though. The temples were new and not something Izanagi would have created. That was one more anomaly that no one could explain. Of course, if it was intent...

He was interrupted out of his musing by BillyBoy introducing him. Michael rose to his feet, his chain lifting and falling against his chest as he did so, reminding him of the weight of his duty once again. He had worn the full formal uniform he'd chosen for this role, and he lightly touched the wings and said his own prayer in his heart, mostly as a reminder that he was doing this because he cared about all these young men and those who were desperate to go home.

His eyes flicked to the large screen area back behind the old rusty and broken organ pipes that were behind the seats at the front of the hall. There was an image there of BillyBoy sitting down and himself walking to the podium. He blinked, but supposed P/R and Com would have asked questions and gotten pointers as to how the room had been used before. It gave him an idea, however.

He unpinned his wings as he arrived at the podium. "Thank you for making the effort to come today," he said first. "We appreciate all the efforts that went into cleaning this hall and building so that we could meet and talk to you in person. In the main I would like to give you further encouragement to keep going this last leg. We're moving from third base to home plate. It's the most tense part of the game when you're the runner trying to get the point for the team, but the most fulfilling, too, because you know it's all you have to do and the reward at the end feels so good."

He looked around the hall. "While everyone here has worked hard, and many have taken on roles of responsibility that are greatly appreciated, we are all also very young. It's amazing what youth can do when the crunch comes, isn't it?" He gave a small smile. "At the same time, we all go to bed at night wishing we could crawl into our mother's arms and just really relax, knowing someone who knows what they're doing is in charge for a bit. Let me allow all of you to do that for a moment."

"The first moment that I was able to look at this world with true amazement and see something that thrilled me to the core so that I forgot I hated it was the moment I opened my eyes and looked up to see an Adventurer in flight." He closed his eyes briefly, popped off a message to P/R, and then put his copy of Nyanta's history of Purrcy soaring down from her tree up on the screen behind him. "You'll remember Purrcy from my broadcast. She learned that half-beasts on Theldesia can transform into the full beast. And in order to protect herself, she learned how to have sphinx wings. Those wings did something else for her, though. They taught her, and then us, the joys that could be found here, in the middle of the hard stuff."

He knew the memory was done playing and he paused long enough for P/R to put him back up on the screen. He smiled. "As a pilot who loves to fly myself, I had to start learning my own wings immediately. I have a different magic skill, so my wings are different, but the day I finally had them was a day to suddenly wish I didn't want to go back so badly. It was a new thing, to learn that in the middle of fear and dark feelings, there could be joy and wonder. Please don't forget to look for those moments in your own lives." He held up his pawprint wings, "The day she gave me this was the day I felt the human connection that said that I wasn't alone, and what I was trying to do to get home was not only worth it to me, but was worth it to others."

Scanning the gathering soberly again, he considered his next words, then said, "It is sobering to look at all of you and realize that the eyes looking back up at me are wanting to see that way home, too. To realize that your hearts are yearning for what mine is, and to know that I can help us all get there makes me have to open my mouth and do my best. Not just for myself, but for all Adventurers brought here frighteningly without warning. Thank you for doing your best until this time. Please continue to work hard."

Clenching his wings in his hand, feeling the sharper points and the rounded edges of the paw print, he swallowed. "I have talked with those whom you have accepted as your own leaders, even though they are just as frightened as you, and those whom you rejected and who rejected you in their own fear. We have researched what happened in this valley and have been sad for your sake that it went so badly at the beginning. We hope that you have been able to see the examples of us and of those who have come to help you from Idaho, Nevada, and Saint George. Life does not have to be darkness, fear, anger, and unhappiness here on Theldesia. Let us help you turn things around so that you also can finally move forward towards home plate, seeing the joy and wonder of this planet as you work hard with us."

He smiled gently, then put his wings back on, talking as he did so. "Purrcy loves Theldesia. She sees it with the same eyes that saw _Elder Tales_ and wanted to play it. Child-like eyes that see the wonder of every new day, every exciting event that brought us all back to play again and again. She will out of the blue appreciate one small thing that makes me pause to see that way myself. It always surprises me when she does that, but I'm always grateful she did. That she pulled me out of my own harsh darkness to see that this place and this life isn't something to hate, but to enjoy while I have the opportunity to."

Holding on to the podium with both hands for a moment, Michael let everyone think about that concept. "As we move forward from here, I want all of you to start seeing the sun again. It's spring. That means the flowers are starting to get ready to bloom. Start looking for them on your walk back home today. Open your eyes and see what is good here so that you can have the strength to continue forward in peace on our mutual goals. Living with an intent to be kind and to help others will bring you the hope and peace you are wishing for."

The pep talk over, Michael straightened and faced them as a senior officer now. "In order for things to be able to move smoothly in the valley from here, I would like to formally introduce you to your Valley Council. As I call your name, please come up here to sit on the stand so everyone can get to know you." He pointed to the side his seat was on, indicating they should sit there as well. He named off Hannibal first, then the Catholic Deacon, the Christian preacher, the Hindu guru, and then the member of the church that had hid with the Deacon, protected at that Cathedral because he wouldn't bend to the oppression laid on the valley nor would he bend his morals. That particular man was rather surprised, but walked down to the front with the other four.

"The Valley Council has the same sort of responsibilities any city or county council would have - to handle the big things that need to be handled by people 'at the top'. We'll expect everyone to keep playing nice and getting along as best they can. Once things are back to running smoothly we recommend you have a festival and relax and have fun for a bit. There will be at least a few months before we're called on to fight the final battle. Group battle tactic practices are also welcome, and they can be fun as well, even if for a serious end purpose."

"We Eagles can't keep talking to every city to teach these things to everyone across the whole nation, just like it would take us forever to get to all the Mazes of Eternity if we had to do it alone. I ask for the Pocatello/Idaho Falls battalion to take the northern third of the United States area of Theldesia. Go to every Adventurer city from here to the East coast teaching unity among Adventures, rebalance of Theldesian life, death to Overwritten, and the news of the final battle. I ask for the Twin Falls battalion to take the central third of the United States, and the Saint George battalion to take the southern third of the United States."

"Because of the unique experiences you three groups have already had in fighting Overwritten and in keeping yourselves in peace, I believe you are the best people for that job. You will survive quite well and have the enthusiasm for the goals that we need to spread to everyone. It isn't your job to clear out the country of Overwritten or accomplish the goals yourselves, only to teach that others can and should help us in their own home areas. You can help them all you want on your way back home, though," he smiled and got some chuckles from the audience.

"I call on any missionary or military service member who served in Central or South America to strongly consider going with the Inter-mountain Party down to do the same task in those places. We very much need people who understand the cultures of the people there to help teach these messages in ways they can be comfortable saying 'yes' to helping us, and to help them reach peace in their own cities if they are in conflict like this place was here. We Americans are rather brusque when we don't have the experience to understand that other cultures sometimes need a lighter hand and gentler guidance. I have set Master Sergeant LeftField of Diego over that party, though if there are enough of you, once you get into South America it could be split up again. That will be decided after all the practice you're going to get working together in Central America."

"For the rest of you who stay here to finish the regional goals, I like what Idaho has offered to do, if you could also find a way to help. They are going to raise extra crops and farm a little harder and send a caravan over the Sierra Nevada's to help feed the Adventurers on the west coast until they get the land up and working again, or the final boss battle starts, whichever comes first. There really is _nothing_ there. They're even going to have to rebuild the cities from the ground up from Sacramento down to Diego. The west coast of Mexico is the same, but thankfully there were only two cities there and the rest of Mexico might be able to help them once they are up and going properly again."

Michael relaxed slightly, his turn done. "Thank you for being willing to help get yourselves back on your own feet. That comes first. Find the community you know you want to be first and foremost. Then you can expand and help others, while finding the positives in each day as you move forward together from here on. Good luck to you all, and to all of us. I hope the day we go home is sooner than we expect it to be." He raised a hand and sat back down in his assigned chair to more cheers than he would have expected.

BillyBoy was staring at him in some shock and Michael had to toss his head at the podium to get him to wake up and take his place back there. His words were brief but heart-felt, encouraging the citizens of the valley to work hard together, and promising that they would do their own best. He also expressed his gratitude that their prayers had been answered by Michael and his men arriving to bring the message of hope. He then asked Hannibal if he would say a few words.

Hannibal did, since it was sort of expected that at least one person newly in charge would say positive encouraging things before beginning. He also made sure to make the obligatory promise that they wouldn't force anyone to do anything, but would do their best (as a council) to see that life in the valley got better from then on. " _I_ like the sound of a festival," he said at that point, a twinkle in his eyes. He got a good response from that and Michael finally relaxed. They'd moved on to where they needed to be: looking forward with hope and optimism.

-:-:-:-:-

According to some prearranged expectation everyone in Michael's row had been allowed to exit first with a small guard unit, and now they were all in the conference room that had been cleared for the Eagles. Michael went to the head seat and sat down. The rest sat around the table as well. It was sometimes funny how organically men worked, but using that was what Michael had been trained to use to his advantage. "What was so shocking to you, BillyBoy?" Michael asked.

"That you weren't going to make me stay here, though I'm awful grateful," he answered immediately.

"No, we need you and your team out there," Michael said. "And I want your group to move the fastest, because we want you in the Mazes of Eternity with us. We'll be going straight there to get them started, but by the time we hit about half-way through the third level we'll need the extra help. They really aren't a joke. Our raid size isn't large enough to do it alone. Together with your team we should manage it just fine, though."

BillBoy gave a firm nod. "We can do that, especially since we can use your recordings."

"Good," Michael agreed with him and turned to the new Valley Council. "Any pressing questions before you get started?"

The Mormon he'd selected raised a hand. "Why me?"

"Because you were recommended and already have the working experience you need with other members of this council. ...And because we need him," he pointed at BillyBoy. "Just because someone gets the popular vote doesn't mean they should be put in that position. He's Idaho, too, not Utah, which you are. You'll have the home advantage - meaning you'll care just a bit more and be more invested because this is your own home. He'll want to be getting back to Twin Falls eventually. You also were here for the whole thing so you have the background to keeping this place together. All of you do," he looked through the other four. "Don't shove him into the background. He's still the representative of the majority in the valley. Keep it a republic and keep the meetings civil. If you run into troubles, you're actually authorized to contact Shiroe himself. He's the lead of the political quest."

Secretary slipped the magical picture of Shiroe onto the table in front of the five. "Put him in your friend list. Like most people at the top, he's super busy, but he loves to hear how things are going every now and then. It helps him keep walking forward, too. Shiroe is extremely invested in seeing that people at the top have the support and encouragement they need, too, so don't be too shy about contacting him. It will draw a lot of HP out of you, and him, though, so just be aware of that one detail. Oh, and the detail that you shouldn't call him after about noon our time. That's when he goes to bed - at midnight his time. He does have to sleep sometime," he grinned and they responded in kind. "Anything else?"

"Are we to make this the central government area now?" Hannibal asked.

BillyBoy shook his head. "We talked about that earlier. The church should keep this place, like you've got all of yours. To keep the valley integrated it would be better to rebuild Salt Lake and have everyone living and working from there. The Guild Hall is the proper place for governance of Adventurers. We wanted to have a place big enough for the meeting we just had, was all."

The council all nodded agreement to it. "And what about those who tried to take over before?"

"I've talked to them," Michael said. "I've let most of them out under the restriction they'll go right back in if they can't figure out how to play nice from now on. Some few are still unrepentant. They'll stay locked up until the final battle, when even they should be let out to come fight with the rest of us. The west coast has a few like that as well, and we'll likely keep seeing it as we go, sadly. Do make sure to feed them and take care of them properly." BillyBoy explained where they were, since some of his boys were the current guards of the building.

"Can you actually do that, make a prison to hold Adventurers?" Hannibal asked, his brow wrinkling.

Michael went pursed-lips. "We've had a lot of experience with such things. It took me two years and Purrcy and Shiroe's help to get my boys out of one. Ours is different, since we believe in the humane treatment of our fellow Adventurers." Hannibal went wide-eyed, then dark as he understood and he gave a nod, trusting Michael had taken proper care of it.

"Anything else?" Michael asked.

The Valley Council shook their heads. "Can't think of anything. Probably be a million after you're gone," Hannibal said wryly.

Michael smiled. "I think you're all very capable of handling it, since it's just continuing to do your best together." He stood and glanced at BillyBoy. "We'll let you lot have the room so you can finish getting to know each other and get a feel for what you'd like to start seeing as the future of the valley. We'll still be around until BillyBoy's group is ready to head out, which means you need to get guards over to the prison to trade out asap. We've got our own little meeting to have." He gave a nod to the five, accepting Hannibal's salute, and led his group out of the conference room.

He led BillyBoy and his councilors out of the Conference Center to meet briefly with the leadership of the battalions he was sending on east to the Adventurer Cities. They hashed out the more detailed division of the nation for the groups and gave them a quick training, as well as more copies of each seed and Michael's speech to all of the Adventurers.

When Michael finally excused them, BillyBoy stayed with Michael as he led his squad over to the corral of horses. "How fast do you want us ready to go, Mister Michael?" BillyBoy asked, eager to please.

"As fast as you want to be, really," Michael said, relaxed. "We'll go by dragon most of the time to get to the Maze faster, but we were hoping you lot could use the horses. We almost always played on the west coast and these will die there if we let them just go. Can we send them with you?"

One of BillyBoy's councilors frowned a bit. "Can't you just let them go around here?"

"Miss Purrcy would kill us if we were that irresponsible with creatures that were our responsibility," MasterChiefS7 scolded. "She's cares about _all_ of Theldesia's creatures."

Michael was staring at the horses, though. "No...actually," he frowned, "around here was where all the wild horse herds were. They'd actually do okay. It's a problem with them being west coast Summons." He looked around at his guild. "What do you think about the option of breaking the Summon whistles for the horses? They're cheap on the market, and if we let this lot loose they'll be able to live here and get larger as a herd. By the time their whistles come up again on the list rotations the coast should be livable again."

"The justice and the irony of it," Reed complained softly as a sober group of five Eagles moved up and pulled out their Summon whistles for the horses in the corral. As one they solemnly set the whistles on the ground, lifted their feet, and stomped as hard as they could on them, shattering them into dust that blew past the ankles of those standing with them as the power of Level 153 Adventurers landed on them.

"Let the wild herd be known as the Eagles, in our honor," was requested as the corral gate was opened up and the horses encouraged out of it. As each horse passed through the gate they were marked as if with branding, though they weren't harmed, with the sign of the wings of the Queen's Guard - the winged paw-print. "At least she approves."

Their own desires to be free went with the horses as they went from a trot to a gallop and disappeared into the distance with manes and tails flying behind them.

Michael sighed. "Well, that was the last of our business in town." He looked at BillyBoy. "Get your boys freed from their duties. We'll travel with you to the other side of the Rocky Mountains, since the dragons don't want to fly _quite_ that high to go over them. We'll give you what little training you need to play with us during that leg of the trip, then meet you at the Maze of Eternity." BillyBoy gave an excited nod and headed off at a trot, calling up people via chat as he went.

"Gather up your personal effects and meet me. We're headed out on the next orders as soon as we can get on the road," Michael said to the guild. It wasn't hard to put his own personal things into his list from where he was, but he needed to kick the council out of the conference room so he could collect up the table and chairs. By the time he had excused the council from the room, the rest of the Eagles had arrived and joined him in the room. As soon as Michael had the table, chairs, and the few other effects he'd set out in the room put away, there was an increase of pressure in the room and the door clicked locked. Wide-eyed looks went around the Eagles.

The High Priestess appeared hovering in the room. The air crackled with cold ice, and the black kimonos nearly swallowed up the red embroidery on them. "You shall not take them with you, nor travel with them, nor have them work with you." The weight of her presence even made the priests bow down and unable to speak. "They are not to walk with you." Izanami's rage was enough to make the most hardened of them quake. It was as great as when Li Shou had made the AIs angry, yet, it was confusing. The Idaho boys did their job will and were a well working group. They would help immensely to get the required tasks done. "They will not play the game properly, and are an aberration." That didn't really make much sense to Michael but he didn't argue right at the moment. He was too busy trying to stay conscious.

Suddenly the pressure and the High Priestess disappeared and those who had been straining against the pressure collapsed. As the Eagles blinked, trying to see through the spots dancing before their eyes, there was suddenly another figure in the room. They were a bit surprised to see a familiar largish calico cat curled up on the floor - asleep. An ear twitched, a nose wiggled, and Purrcy's head popped up in sudden shock. She looked around the room with wide golden eyes. "Well, that's a first," she said. "I don't think I've ever been pulled out of sleeping in such a way. Whatever is going on here?" Her whiskers went from shock to consternation and her ears turned in concern as her head turned to look at everyone.

Michael crouched down in front of her. "Izanami was just here and very angry. Then she was gone and you were here."

Purrcy frowned and went into thought. She disappeared then blinked back in, but was now sitting up on her haunches, still worried. "I thought they might be fighting, but that's not it. Izanami hit the brick wall of her programming and glitched. She couldn't handle having God interfering so much in her realm. Izanagi actually can't, since the two realms of responsibility are kept separate, though I wouldn't be surprised if he's been helping where he can slip himself in on technicalities."

"Izanagi is working to repair her but because humans were the ones to originally program the Game Bot's boundaries, Izanagi can't quite see how to properly do it. Because Izanami has been so invested in this particular event she's kept me out of the inter-mountain valley for the most part. Can all of you please knit together your histories so I can review what happened?" Purrcy requested.

Michael furrowed his brow. "Glitched? Like when Li Shou couldn't get past her programming to let Time go? That's what was behind Izanami not being willing to allow the Idaho boys come with us?"

Purrcy's mouth dropped open. "Yes, that kind...but...not let them come help?"

Michael nodded solemnly. She shook her head in surprise and disbelief. "What was the last thing you watched?" he asked her.

"The last time I was actually with you on the quest part was when I came as ikiryō to sit on Brenner's shoulder after you, he, and P/R had negotiated the freedom of the boys from Twin Falls. I watched over their walk from there and over the Pocatello group until they reached the north end of the Wasatch front. I was concerned when they stopped to rest before going into the valley, so I went and stood with them invisibly in the code realm so they couldn't see me while I listened to what their needs and concerns were, in case I could be of help. They said a prayer and I was suddenly exposed to their sight."

Her ears turned. "It was almost as shocking as this moment is. But since God used me before for Brenner's sake, I went ahead and gave them the advice and encouragement I would give any group as field monitor and sub-quest assistant. As soon as I'd done that, they suddenly couldn't see me again. I was so surprised I stayed there until they'd descended into the valley."

She shifted and her tail flicked. "I was able to come when you asked for me specifically, but none of those times were related to the sub-quest. I've not been able to do more than watch from a far distance since then - only to tell that things have been moving forward properly. Izanami has been highly distracted by it all and has called multiple times for the avatar and several other aspects, making me curious - and annoyed - but has kept me out of the details."

"Miss Purrcy, what will be the consequence if Izanami can't be recovered from this limitation?" Clocktower, as head maintenance and repairman, asked.

Purrcy's ears fell and she answered sadly, "The Game Bot will cease to exist. The World AI cannot function without it. They were created together and are dependent on each other. If the Game Bot ceases to exist, the World AI will shut down, unable to continue forward, drifting in a non-existence. Because this world exists because they exist, it will also slowly shut down and become a dead planet, like as if it was Mars or Venus of our own solar system."

She paused and looked around the room, then sighed sadly. "I know you're thinking this would be a good time to strike back, but...it isn't what I want and it isn't what Shiroe wants either. How can he have the two way door if it only opens onto desert with no life? I want to stay, but to stay and live only on dust and ashes...," she shook her head. "We didn't create this planet, and we don't have the right to kill it. All of our efforts to now have been to prevent that very thing. Please, I will beg for mercy again this time."

Michael was sober, but finally gave a nod. "Everyone pull out every interaction you've got. Records, knit them together in time sequence as best you can so Purrcy can see the evolution. There may be important clues in the order." The room was silent for a time as everyone worked in the code realm.

When Records finally handed over the completed memory file to Purrcy, she thanked them, then said, "Please stay here in this room in case I or Izanagi have any questions. He actually pulled you up when he collected Izanami, so you've plenty of time as far as the base realm goes. Rest and I'll be back." She was gone again, but she left behind something that smelled very heavenly familiar. It took them a while to be willing to eat her tikki masala gift, however. It was a hard thing to help one who they hated, even if it was for the sake of the innocent living. They finally asked Michael to store it, and he put it with the bottle of Forever Wine that they still hadn't cracked open.

When Purrcy finally returned, Michael quietly asked her, "Will we be able to take the Twin Falls boys with us now?"

Purrcy paused, then said, "I would suggest that for now you not make an issue out of it. Let them do good things for a bit without participating with them more than necessary. While Izanagi has repaired Izanami, he wants to test the changes slowly and make sure. He has the capacity to fix her, like he has it for all things that exist because this world exists, but one of _them_ is much more grand and delicate than any of the rest of this creation. He will be moving cautiously and slowly. It would be best to let that be a gradual progression again. In theory, she should be fine with it, and perhaps even have forgotten why it was an issue before, but treat it as a serious wound that is healing for now."

Michael gave a nod. Brenner moved a little closer, "Miss Purrcy, what would happen if the World AI had a similar problem? The Game Bot doesn't have the same repair capacity does it?"

Purrcy looked at him, then began to shiver. Eventually she said, a bit brokenly, "Perhaps then God will step in and grant them a miracle." Brenner stepped to her side and put his hand gently on her head and pet her softly until she disappeared.

"So, if we can find Izanagi's weakness...?" one Eagle whispered into the room.

Brenner shook his head. "I'll not stop you from trying if you're going to step out on your own and break our contract, but you should understand what you didn't if you can ask that question." He blinked a slow blink and grew to about half again his size, brightly white and white wings sprouted from his back. They were suddenly surrounded by space and they were watching a vision of the replay.

Purrcy was sitting humbly in that space with the two AIs, patiently teaching Izanagi. Izanami was a shadow in that space, not living, as much a construct as they'd ever seen. They could feel the desperation coming from Izanagi, and Purrcy's purr was underneath her lecture, trying to help even that great being to calm and trust that the way forward was possible. Then Purrcy wrote code and handed it to Izanagi. The World AI studied it, changed it, and sent it back. Purrcy did her best to keep up with him, though they could see she struggled in the details the World AI wanted. When they both had decided that Purrcy's new boundaries and Izanagi's details should be sufficient, Izanagi wrote it into Izanami's structure.

The vision faded. "That was Izanagi's weakness, it looked like to me," one said.

Brenner was silent, waiting for more thought and comments. Finally Life Support sighed, worrying his fingers just a bit. "We lose. Neither AI can program outside themselves. They have to have a human do it for them, because that's who did it to begin with." Brenner nodded.

"Does that stand to refute your theory Purrcy is also an AI, Avionics?" Reed asked quietly, not looking up from cleaning out his fingernails with the tip of his knife.

Avionics considered it. "Programs have been written to write other programs since computers were created, almost. It would have to be very sophisticated, I would think, in order to write new unexpected code, however." He leaned forward to rest against his knee, then sighed. "I think that it doesn't prove or refute it, honestly. An AI that had been coded to 'believe' in God to match the Code requirements would be able to provide similar code to at least allow for God's existence because it was contained within itself. There's a different reason that this whole repair thing refutes the third AI theory." Reed raised an eye to look at Avionics, waiting.

Avionics traced a random pattern on the floor with his finger, not looking up. "A virus that wanted to get us home would have used that moment as an opportunity to kill them both. We already have the way home and the Code doesn't allow for either of the two options we were given as reasons for playing nice."

"How's it we have the way home already?" one asked, almost angry.

"Because the door home was written into Tetorō and we have the empathions and the station on the moon. We could have already gone home a long time ago," Avionics scowled at the ground. "It's been bugging me, that one piece of it all, that Purrcy wants to stay and is willing to pander to Shiroe's desire to play around. If the third AI looked at those other two and said it wanted to live a real life, too, it would want to stay, but if it had to be true to it's programming, the same as the other two have to, then it wouldn't, and it wouldn't accept the two-way door at all. It would be focused completely on getting us home as fast as possible and would take advantage of exactly this kind of opportunity."

He brushed his hand on the floor almost angrily, as if to wipe away what he was seeing in his mind. "I'd have to say I'm at the point of giving up on that particular theory." He dropped his head on his knee. "She's too much of a mother. To take pity on an f-n construct instead of all of us."

"It's not 'instead of'," Gareth's bitter voice couldn't hold back any longer. "She's _owned_ by that thing. You lot keep forgetting that and it's going to get you killed one day. Yes, she's a mother. She could have just chopped those memories out of our histories herself. She came and asked politely. Heck, Izanagi could have done the same and handed them to her, but it's still willing to play by its own rules and let her interact with us and keep out of it, like it promised. _She was still teaching it!_ " He almost screamed the last and his fist came down hard enough on the ground under him that they heard a loud crack.

They stared at him, but it wasn't his fist that was broken and bleeding. He'd cracked the ground under him. He'd picked up some level of control to add a shield to his fist, which was rather impressive. He just sat there for a moment, then crawled over to Michael and curled up in a ball next to him and sobbed silent tears. Michael put his hand on Gareth's shoulder, keeping him company calmly.

"And thus it is," Brenner had returned to his normal human form. He sat down. "We are held hostage by our regard for one who has too much regard for all life, even though that one is a prisoner herself. If there is any one reason she doesn't want to leave this planet, it's because she knows full well that those two AI's won't survive without her if there comes any more glitches in their programming. She is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for any of us - including them. I find myself reflecting an awful lot on the fact that she lives life a lot more like a follower of Christ than anyone I've ever met, but that's from my observations and history. Your mileage may vary."

"It's aiding and abetting -," one began.

Gareth tensed but Michael was shaking his head, "Not when it's forced. She hasn't got a choice in helping. What she chooses is _how_ she will help. In this case, she could refuse and make Izanagi move her hands; she could make it Summon her and help it. But what does that prove? Only that Adventurers are hard to get along with and must be forced to act in the way the AIs want them to."

"She's still protecting us while teaching it. She still wants them to understand that Adventurers are much easier to get along with when worked with instead of forced or worked against. She wasn't willing to sell her soul - they had to force that - but to teach mercy, compassion, teamwork, and probably _because_ Izanagi didn't force us or her or break his promise, but called her up out of her sleep to talk to us and to find the answer on her own, that she would do."

"I'd say it's rather promising, actually. I think at the beginning of all this Izanagi would have just grabbed her up, shoved the issue in her face, and made her fix it. The World AI was pretty distraught, for it. I'm rather surprised it bothered to try the nicer option. It took longer, too, from its perspective." Gareth nodded his head, agreeing with Michael's assessment.

Michael waved a hand. "It's okay to be angry. It's okay to think differently, to see it from another perspective. But it isn't okay to forget she's the World AI's Summon, and that she's doing the best she can, from her perspective, to protect all the rest of us. If you lose sight of those two things, you'll lose for tripping over your own feet in your blindness."

Brenner's head came around to stare at Michael, then he slumped and nodded. He didn't add anything, though. He'd already said his piece. The rest went back to disgruntled silence to mull it over one more time. Michael let it sit until they'd returned through the layers of speed back down to ground level.

"What are you going to tell them?" Training asked quietly.

"We've promised them a training session on the way out since we have to restock anyway. They've got their marching orders already," Michael answered back. That was enough for the rest of them to know what level of chatter and silence to have until they were told the healing was done.

/If Purrcy was asleep - when the A.I.s allow her to be whole without interruption, and Izanami was broken/breaking...then who put the symbol on the horses in approval of the Summon whistles being broken in order for the horses to be taken care of instead of starved on the west coast? It was Izanagi, who cared about just that thing. It is one of the clues that Izanagi is actually the one helping them and not as evil as they think.


	194. Preparing for the Spring Festival

Tetorō ran into Shiroe's room at almost midnight and slammed his hands down on Shiroe's desk. His pale purple eyes were wide and his orange hair disheveled. "Shiroe," he choked out as his fingers curled as if they would rip at the desk surface.

"What is it?" Shiroe asked, the wrinkle coming to his forehead all too easily. He tried to stay calm for Tetorō's sake, but given that entrance at this time of night it wasn't so easy.

Tetorō blinked, trying to get hold of himself. He finally shook his head. In a whispered order, he said, "Call in the rest of the chess board, then set the security on this room as tight as you can get it."

Tetorō paced in the room from the desk end to the far end and back until everyone was assembled. It didn't help Shiroe's clenched stomach, though he tried to stay as relaxed as possible - to be the water Crusty had been trying to teach him to be, to be the calm he tried to be when he needed to be in control of a situation. Crusty's glance when he walked in the door was to make sure Shiroe was trying, too, since he frowned at Tetorō, then placed his hands on the narrow shoulders and made the Programmer sit down on the settee and rock instead. Tetorō found that more difficult but Shiroe was able to relax better - if he didn't look at Tetorō. The suspense was over by then for the most part anyway, because Crusty always had the farthest distance to go.

"What is it that calls us all out - in the middle of the night no less - when things are going so well?" Crusty asked Tetorō, though he was still looking between Shiroe and Tetorō.

Tetorō waved at Shiroe's couch. Shiroe sighed and rose from his chair. He'd been using the desk as a shield between him and Tetorō's agitation and wasn't wanting to destroy the peace they'd been having for the last month or so, so didn't really want to sit on the couch and hear what Tetorō had to say. Crusty frowned at him, though, so he went properly. When he was sitting with his hands clasped (he wasn't willing to let them clench just yet) and resting on top of his crossed knees, he gave Tetorō the nod.

"I've just received a message and memory excerpt from the States. It's got a strong lock on it and the orders to pass it on to you, with the somewhat cryptic message: 'The game broke'." Shiroe's breath caught and he held it while pursing his lips.

"That sounds rather dangerous as far as the world itself goes," Naotsugu said carefully. Isaac agreed.

After a bit of thought Akatsuki asked, "If one of the Inari of the world breaks...does the world break?"

"I think I would have to be concerned about that," Shiroe agreed very quietly. He raised one finger and Tetorō set a cube down on the table between them. They watched the surprising angry visit from the High Priestess, and the equally surprising appearance of Purrcy in the middle of the Eagles, and her request of them. The knit-together summary of what had happened was next. That took a while to watch, but they were used to world quest battle summaries being that long, and it was just the summary of the sub-quest. It ended with Training's report that Izanami had tried to interfere with the final battle of the inter-mountain sub-quest and then the vision of the repair Brenner had shown the Eagles. (They didn't get the sub-guild's chat after that point in time, though - that was kept under wraps and Eagles-only.)

When it was done, Shiroe sat and stared at that space for a long time. He finally looked over to Crusty. Crusty was looking concerned. "Why didn't she kill it when she could?" he asked.

Tetorō shook his head the same time Shiroe did. "Summoned." Crusty's mental light-bulb went on and he sat back in a slight slump.

Shiroe took a deep breath. "I think complete disaster was nicely averted there," he said with false lightness. "I'm rather glad she was able to help out, actually." His finger started tapping his knee, though. "I wonder...how do the AIs plan on working out that particular problem for the long term? They keep having dependencies on Adventurers themselves. They surely can't be liking it any more than they enjoyed being locked down by the flavor text of Yamato's programmed religion."

"A-are they...trying to break them all...while we're still here?" Shiroe looked at Akatsuki in some surprise from the corner of his eye. She looked up at him in concern and he leaned on an elbow to look at her more directly, very proud of her. She looked at him in surprise, then a slow small proud smile came on her face and she blushed faintly.

"Good job, Half-Pint," Naotsugu said quietly. She was proud enough to take it as a complement and ignore the diminutive.

"Is it the hidden quest?" Isaac asked. He was referencing when several quests were put forth simultaneously. During the completion of them - if you took just the right ones in the right path - you discovered there was a hidden quest underneath them. Sometimes they resulted in you getting a great reward, like the times that they were fairies testing you and if you completed them all you got to meet the Fairy Queen and get one wish fulfilled by her. The bad ones were of the sort where you learned that three "good" quests you were working on in the end benefited a "bad" NPC guild that became three times as strong if you completed the quests before taking them out.

"And if so, is it a positive ending or one we'll all wish we'd gone to hell instead?" Crusty murmured. Tetorō shivered and Akatsuki swallowed.

Shiroe tapped his toe in the air as he considered the space over his knee and the scenarios in his head, his gears turning rapidly now. "I think...I could be gone for the next three or four days, if not week. That's got a lot of history I've got to go back and review. Tetorō, send back that I'll be looking into the boundary conditions and my thanks for sending that to us. Also congratulations on finishing out the west coast successfully, and good luck on the next one."

Looking back at the grouping with him, he said, "I'd appreciate the breathing room if you'll help keep the welcome mat clear. This is rather critical, I think. However, given the few evidences we've had so far, I'm expecting a positive outcome at the end, still." They relaxed a bit, though they wouldn't really relax until he'd finished his analysis.

"You've only got that long, Shiroe," Crusty reminded him. "Spring festival begins then."

He gave a nod and settled into deep thought. He didn't chase them out of his office just yet, as they sat around and talked quietly between themselves. The company wasn't unwelcome and they needed to unwind a bit before leaving. Plus this early into it their discussions of what they'd seen would still add to his own mental meanderings.

When he hit one of the possible conclusions early, his hand sought out Akatsuki's on its own. She held his hand, but then pulled on it to pull him out of his thoughts just enough to explain it to her. He looked at her sadly, and squeezed her hand a little tighter for a moment, but he kept his lips tightly closed. It wasn't time to say it. He still had too much work to do before it was firmly put on his list of real possibilities. He wasn't willing to give up Purrcy to this world yet, the same as he wasn't going to stand back and let it keep any Adventurer who didn't want to stay.

-:-:-:-:-

Clair Winthrop sat up in her bed in an absolute panic, sweat dripping from her brow a little. She breathed hard, trying to get her heart to slow down. Her mind frantically searched for what was present and real. The nightmare had been too vivid.

She'd been called on by a guard from the Cinderella Palace and sternly informed she was being taken to the dungeon for breaking her promises and making the Adventurers very angry with her and all of the city of Maihama. She'd protested until they'd made her prove she'd done what she'd promised. When she'd reached the back of the studio and flung open the closet doors, every one of the outfits she's painstakingly made had been gone. Only empty cupboards surrounded her as she flung open one after another after another until she was in a room completely full of empty cupboards she couldn't bring herself to believe and she was being dragged out of that room by the angry guards.

Shaking, clenching her hands together in front of her, she sat there until she could work up the courage to put on her robe and walk down the stairs one more time to check on the closets. When the first one had the clothing hanging in it where they belonged, she sank to her knees and tears of relief rolled down her cheeks. "Miss Purrcy, I can't take this any more," she whispered. A soft purring came as if just out of eyesight, not quite next to her, perhaps around the corner. She strained to listen to it until she fell asleep there on the floor in front of her hard work and efforts, unable to leave them for fear the nightmares would return again.

When the hard, cold floor and the light coming in through the window woke her in the morning, Clair groaned and slowly sat up. Her eyes went first to the closet again, and she was greatly relieved to see the clothing still there. She took a deep breath and reached out to close the closet. She carefully washed and dressed for the day, then walked back down to the studio, knowing she should eat and not able to. A knock at the door startled her badly and she spun around to look at it, clutching her bodice over her heart. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, as the door opened.

The face at the door made her melt again. "Hello, Miss Clair. ...Oh, I'm sorry?" Calasin's look went from kind interest to great concern.

"I - I'm sorry," Clair wiped her face and tried to get herself back under control. "I just," she looked away, then gave up and looked at the floor. "I've been having such bad nightmares that the clothes are suddenly gone. It's...a great relief to see you this morning."

Calasin's hand was on her shoulder to give it a squeeze, then a few comforting pats. "Well, I got a message that we should come help you get packed early since you were ready. If we're able to ease your mind a bit by doing so, then I'm glad we've come."

Clair nodded. "Thank you," she whispered around the lump in her throat. She hadn't sent the message. Only Miss Purrcy would have known. Clair had only just finished the last piece the evening before, hanging it up in the closet before falling into her bed in exhaustion. She took one more deep breath and turned to the closet, even now a little afraid it would be empty on opening. "They're in here," she said, opening the door. She was glad to see they were still there.

Calasin stepped up and pulled one out, looking at it critically. "Nice. Light for summer, but still noble based, without excesses that would get in the way of a fun play day." He handed it to the porter who had followed him in and it was encased in a protective covering and hung in a rolling closet-like box. The next one came out. Calasin pursed his lips. "A little overdone on the frills," he raised his eyebrows at Clair.

She straightened up, putting her hands together politely in front of her skirt. "It's for evening wear, and," she carefully remembered the words Purrcy had left as a note on the drawing for this one, "for those like Miss Henrietta who like to be the little girl when dressing up."

At that Calasin did smile. "She's still thinking of her friends as she designs them, is she?"

Clair gave a nod. "This one for Miss Henrietta, and one that is sleek but not overdone for Nazuna, and one she hopes will grace Princess Raynessia's closet, since she made one specifically for Lord Iselius last time." That one was the one she'd just finished, trying to make it perfect until the last moment. She'd probably unpicked and resewn it twenty times, and she wouldn't be surprised if she came up with another modification later today. Changes and inspiration seemed to hit her rather randomly like that.

"Alright then, I can pass this one on that basis," Calasin handed it over to the porter.

Each outfit got critiqued by Calasin as it came out of the closet. There were others that she had to defend, but they all seemed to pass in the end. "Alright then, go get your things. We'll just take you with us now, since you don't need to be sitting in an empty studio." His eyes twinkled at her as she gaped slightly at him. "Besides, your friends at Water Maple would scold me horribly if I didn't take you back to have a bit of play time with them before we got on the road. We'll stop by at Tyron and Presley's places on the way. Did she give them designs this time?"

Clair shook her head. "She dropped off a contract I took to them a while ago and they were content enough to sign to be the production houses and let me be the design studio. It's already almost too much just to do that much. I really couldn't also supervise a whole house of seamstresses. I'm sure they'd love to tell you what they've done."

Calasin gave a nod and gestured. Clair jumped, then ran upstairs to pack a bag very quickly. The portable closet was already locked down in the wagon by the time she arrived outside her door again. The porter took her bag to add it to the items in the wagon. She carefully locked the door to her studio, then with a great sense of relief climbed into the wagon. She only remembered as they got moving she'd forgotten to eat breakfast, not that she could have eaten anything until just then. Her stomach had been tied up into too many knots.

"Thank you, Miss Purrcy," she whispered, leaning her head on the side of the wagon. Not for long, though. They were going over cobblestones, and it was rough enough to jolt her head back against the hard wooden side. She wasn't surprised the wagon had a cloth covering over it. Likely Calasin was very careful to protect his wares.

They did stop at the other tailor's shops, but at the first one, when Calasin mentioned he was going to also stop at the next one, Presley said that he would just go with them and they could all talk together. Tyron welcomed them into his shop, then led them out the back to show them the large building he'd purchased behind his own. It was set up with a great many tables - cutting tables, sewing tables, pressing tables, storage bins for the tools of the trade, and for the bolts and bolts of fabric. It wasn't quite the mess it would likely become when they were in the full throes of production, but it was a happily busy place.

Calasin looked around and gave a satisfied nod. Clair did think it looked like what she'd seen in Akiba, too. Both tailors had asked her a lot of questions about what the sewing rooms had looked like there when she'd come with the contracts. Calasin pointed to one corner of the room. "Put in a food and drink area over there. You don't want the clothing to get dirty for having the food and drink at the sewing tables, but they'll get so engrossed in their work they'll not leave the room. We don't need them fainting for lack of food and drink just because they love what they do," he smiled a bit impishly at the other three.

Clair had told the tailors about the food and drink area, but hadn't known until just now why it had been there. She did feel that perhaps the way the Adventurers viewed their work was different from how the People of the Land did, but so far it didn't seem like a bad point of view. Most People of the Land would be just as happy to leave the building for meals and weren't likely to stay long into the evening either, unless they were behind schedule. Tyron gave a polite nod regardless.

"Mister Collingwood and I have decided to go in as partners on this part," Tyron explained. "To be able to afford this great an initial expense it was easier to both pay a part."

Calasin nodded. "Makes sense. There should be plenty of profit rather quickly, I would think. Have you been making and selling the winter line already?"

Presley nodded. "They've been selling well, and it's been a good way to get the kinks worked out of the system, since this is a new way of working for us."

"How do you divide the selling and the sales if you're only partnering on the production?" Calasin asked shrewdly.

They gave wry smiles at that. "My products have always been very high end," Tyron explained. "My clientele are...very particular about what they'll purchase. I only sell what they will buy."

Presley nodded. "I like to sell high end, because that is where the highest profit margins are, but because I offer the oddities and slightly different items, I've actually been selling at a higher rate. It's not quite as good an end net return as what Mister Leighton receives, but it's sufficient. I've also put in a few modifications that were requested by the clientele who tried them early and that helped boost sales as well."

Calasin nodded. "That sounds workable, and those kinds of modification to match local appeal are often to be expected. However, when the new line is ready for you, please be sure to stay true to Miss Purrcy's requirements until we have enough in house to sell to the Adventurers. Then you may make the modifications for sales here."

He changed the subject, turning for the door to lead them all out again. "I've picked up Miss Clair and that newest line this morning and we'll be going right on to Akiba again. Please have your men pull everything that you don't think will sell here in the next few weeks or so and put it in the wagon as well. We'll sell it all off in Nakasu next week. What the People of the Land down there don't buy we'll divide to sell off in Susukino and Minami. This is the time to clear out inventory so there's room for the new things." He turned to Clair. "Do you have the patterns and what they would need to get started here with you? It would be best if they could start now - the sooner the better."

"I've already given them to Mister Leighton," she said, properly polite. "As soon as Miss Purrcy approved them. Given the numbers she gave them the day we first met, I knew they would need them very early." She turned to Tyron. "If you have them, I do have a few modifications I've made recently that should be added to what you have. They're minor, but I think they lend to better wearability."

Tyron gave her a wry look. "You do like to make many changes."

Clair shrugged a bit helplessly. "I'm sorry. Inspiration hits at such the oddest times. This will be the last time, though." She waved through the front window at the wagon. "I've run out of time." The men chuckled, understanding completely.

Presley returned to the production room to marshal everyone into collecting up the excess winter line to get them into the wagon. Tyron fetched the diagrams and Clair shuffled through them, pulling out the pencil she kept putting behind her ear without any thought at all to make quick sketches and notes on three of them. She did it so often the pencil lived there in her hair or she panicked at having lost it. "There. Thank you," she said, handing the drawings back.

"Thank you," Tyron bowed slightly and carefully held on to them. "I'll get them to the proper seamstresses and we'll get the changes going." He paused, then asked Calasin, "What would you like us to do with the ones we've made to learn how to do it that were prior to the changes?"

"Put the oldest ones out on mannequins to begin to sell the new line. We mark them as up and coming models so the clients don't expect to see them on the racks yet. I'll take the rest. I always have a few clients who badger me to be the first to get even the sample run in their closets. Nothing ever has to go to waste, really," he winked as Tyron relaxed a bit in relief. "And selling off the worst of the lot to the lowest class at low cost pleases them to no end and at least gets you something for your trouble, even if it's at a loss. We use that at the end of a season as well, when the remnants really just won't sell. Some will have had their eye on it but not been able to afford it. At seventy-five percent off, suddenly they can and it flies off the shelf until you have a clean house again."

Tyron nodded wisely at that. "I'll pass that on to Presley. His storefront can do that, while mine can't. But I have already passed on to him ones from winter that won't sell any more to the nobility because those who want it have it, and we are seeing such results."

"Good, good," Calasin gushed. "Well, it looks like things here are going fabulously. I expect great excitement at the spring fashion show." He rubbed his hands together. "Iselius and Raynessia are already excited to be the models again, too."

"They're going?" Clair asked in surprise.

Calasin nodded. "Shiroe got permission, since he promised Log Horizon and Akiba would keep them safe on the trip. He claims Sergiad is positively green that Iselius will get to ride the train before he will, though Princess Raynessia is a bit petrified." He grinned at Clair. "It will be good you'll be along to hold her hand."

Clair swallowed. She wasn't sure about that. She was quite sure she would also be needing hand-holding. She'd thought they'd be going sedately by wagon...but then...they would have had to continue straight on once arriving at Akiba. She hadn't quite calculated the entirety of the comment that her friends wanted play time, she realized ruefully.

-:-:-:-:-

There was a lot of excitement in the air in Akiba, and in particular in the guild hall of Crescent Moon League. Marielle breezed into the kitchen. "Hello everybody! How are things going in here?"

"Just fine," the head chef answered. Serera bobbed her head in agreement.

MeowLi still wasn't sure why Serera always felt the need to be second-in-command wherever she went, and it was one of the little things that needled MeowLi back into irritation. With a stifled sigh, MeowLi turned away to focus on putting the finishing touches on the pie she was working on as a proper distraction. Getting the work done was necessary and preferable.

She appreciated Serera trying hard with her, and teaching her how Adventurers got things done in the kitchen so she could perform her own duties at home in Log Horizon's kitchen, but some days it almost didn't feel worth it. They'd asked specifically if she'd come help, though, and they were short on time and hands, plus she did owe them for all the lessons she'd been getting.

A light hand landed on her back. "Is everything okay, MeowLi?" Marielle asked her a little more privately, though this was a public location.

MeowLi looked up in a little surprise at being singled out. "It's fine, Guildmistress. There is just a lot to be doing, so I'm a bit focused is all." If she didn't give some sort of detail this outgoing elf would try to pry it out of her, she'd learned. It was nearly as bad as being at the university to be a guest here at this guild hall - and equally nearly as good. She was quite sure the busy atmosphere full of happy noises was good for her, and so were the arguments that occurred every now and again, though those made her miss her family a little more.

"Well, that's a truth," Marielle sighed, relaxing just enough to show the strain she herself was under. "I appreciate you being able to help out. Every little bit gives us all that push forward we need." She patted MeowLi on the shoulder a couple of times, almost absently, then turned away. "Ah!" Marielle cried out lightly as she headed for the door, then turned back. "A little later this afternoon, we'll need to have Serera-chan and MeowLi freed up from the kitchen. Calasin called to say he's on his way back from Maihama with Clair and the Spring fashion line. I'll come by to pick you up." She whisked out the door.

MeowLi stared after her in consternation, then looked at Serera, hoping for clarification. Serera was blinking after Marielle, too. When she caught MeowLi's look, she jumped a little, then said, "Ahh...ah, I think she's forgotten something again." Serera slumped just a little. "Likely to ask us to participate as models for the fashion show." That went in one ear and out the other as far as MeowLi was concerned. She could only blink, then slowly become simultaneously highly curious and horrified as Serera explained what a "fashion show" was, and what a "model" was expected to do.

-:-:-:-:-

The chaos at Shopping District 8 was ordered and purposeful, but to an outsider it was just chaos. MeowLi stood against a wall that seemed out of the way and safe and just watched it all. It was rather insane the amount of preparation the Adventurers of Akiba were putting into a festival a completely different city was putting together and hosting. The ones going by caravan or other slow methods had already begun leaving Akiba that day and a steady stream of them were wending their way through Eastal towards Westlande and Ninetails Dominion. The train was apparently expected by the end of the next day for Calasin to load the wares onto early. The other paid passengers wouldn't load until the final day...and it was sounding like there were two? trains - it was rather hard to tell based on the snatches of conversation she was getting.

With all the bustle of people moving here and there, finally one person landed against the wall next to MeowLi, wiping her brow and breathing out a very tired breath. Her brown hair still wanted to fall into her face, though, so she impatiently pulled out a ribbon and tied her hair back, then slumped against the wall again to rest.

"Um, hello. I'm MeowLi," she introduced herself politely first. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

The young woman looked over at her. "Oh, sorry. I'm Clair Winthrop," she smiled. "Sure, but I may not be able to answer very many. I'm from Maihama."

MeowLi blinked in surprise. "You're a Person of the Land?"

Clair nodded. "Yes. Mister Calasin brought me in today with the line. We've just got them all put away safely, and I can't tell you just how relieved I am to have them safe. I've been having nightmares for a week now." Under her breath she murmured, "I'm so grateful to Lady Purrcy."

MeowLi's ear twitched violently. "You know Miss Purrcy?"

Clair nodded. "I'm her apprentice. I've been working on the clothing line with little sleep for the last month, and it was getting very bad. She was the one who asked Mister Calasin to come rescue me from myself."

MeowLi turned to face Clair directly in shocked excitement, almost blurting out her own relationship to her mother. She quickly changed what she'd been about to say. "I've just learned today they want me to help model, but I have no idea if I can do that."

Clair smiled a very understanding smile. "My first fashion show was so busy that I almost couldn't breathe, and walking out on the stage for the first time in front of everyone was so hard I thought my knees would crack for all the shaking." She paused and looked a little dreamy. "It was also the most wonderfully rewarding experience ever, to know that all those people who'd watched it really did appreciate all my hard work and efforts. I'd been so afraid of rejection or even just disappointment, but they smiled and cheered and it made me feel so good."

Clair's eyes came back to MeowLi. "I really appreciate the hard work and efforts of the models. If you are one, then thank you. People wouldn't be able to see my efforts at all if it weren't for models like you that were willing to make them look good by wearing them out on the stage."

MeowLi swallowed. "I've never done it before and I'm not fond of having everyone's eyes on me."

Clair nodded. "I understand that part. But really, what the models told me last time, was that their eyes aren't on the models, their eyes are on the clothes, judging them to see if they would want to buy it and wear it themselves. The models have to act, too, to make the people see that they would be comfortable to wear, or just how happy the new owner should be to have one of their own. It's a demanding job, and really important to someone like me. I would never have been able to become even close to the seamstress and tailor I want to be without the fashion shows - and Lady Purrcy taking me on. Every day I work hard just to express my gratitude to everyone for where I am. I'm so fortunate. It's such a rare gift and opportunity."

MeowLi could only nod. "Um...my questions?" she needed to change the topic. It wasn't helping her. Clair apologized and allowed for her to continue. "I've become a bit confused because there are two different conversations about trains going on. Do you know the trip plans?"

"Yes. Mister Calasin has rented the first train to take all of his things down in and so he and Marie can get things set up for the fashion show early, before the festival starts. Last time they did the fashion shows the first day and it worked well, getting a lot of sales in on the following days, plus getting everyone excited for the festival generally. They want to do that again. We'll all be going down with them so that we can have a dress rehearsal before everyone gets there."

"The second train is for everyone else who wants to pay to travel by train. Mister Calasin was getting teased that his products will take up a whole train anyway and the rest of us would have to ride on top." Clair shuddered. "That would be very bad, I would think, and I'm glad it was just a tease. I'm not looking forward to the train ride. It goes so very fast."

MeowLi didn't think that would be a problem for her. It was the "leaving early" part combined with being expected to be a "model". "I think I should go," she said faintly.

"Oh, no!" Clair grabbed her arm. "As soon as the final things are in, we're going to have a meeting and then a general rehearsal, since Marie wants to make sure she has a good order going. Apparently she wants to do things a little differently this year and needs to make sure it will work."

MeowLi shivered. She _definitely_ needed to escape then. Right at that moment she very violently wished for the capacity to chat like the Adventurers could. She turned away from Clair and tried to look like she was obediently waiting, but under her breath, she cried, "Hahaue, is this really okay with Guildmaster Shiroe?" All she could think of was that Shiroe had told her to keep out from the view of everyone, and here she was dragged into the middle of the busy part of town, stuck in a place she had no desire to be, and was expected to display herself in front of a great many people.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe's head came up. "Tetorō, where's MeowLi?"

"Last I knew, over at Crescent Moon helping in the kitchen."

"Go check. It's about time for Calasin to be back from Maihama. Things should be quite chaotic by now. Make sure she didn't get lost over there."

"Yessir."

Shiroe frowned as he put down his pen. "Akatsuki, where are you?"

"At Shopping District 8. Marie asked us all to come for a practice run now that she has all the outfits and a head count."

Shiroe paced a bit in front of his desk until Tetorō returned. "She's not over there." He was frowning now, too.

"Akatsuki, look around the building and see if Marie dragged MeowLi up in her wake."

"Right." Stern and immediate compliance. It wasn't too long before, "Yes, she's here. She says Marie told her and Serera they were part of it all too, without asking - having forgotten again."

Shiroe scowled slightly. "Does she want to participate?"

There was a bit of silence, then a quiet, "No. Petrified, actually."

Shiroe could understand completely...but at the same time...he'd never had the strength to say "no" to Marielle when it came to the fashion show. He usually owed her back-favors by the time they rolled around again. It wouldn't really matter in that setting since there would be other half-beast models and MeowLi would just be "one of them". It was still a bit early, though. She really shouldn't even be in downtown Akiba, though she was about ready for that. And...if she was with the models, she wouldn't be lost and at loose ends during that time. Rudy was often on Marielle's list but somehow managed to slip out last minute since she had plenty of boys in her own guild to do the modeling...

Shiroe sighed. "Keep her in sight until Rudy gets there. The festival itself is going to be more than she can handle. Trying to make her walk across a stage the first day might be like dropping a person into the river, but that isn't the best way to make them learn to swim." Tetorō was already calling Rudy up to send him to fetch MeowLi. "Tell Marie she should have asked me first, and I've forbidden her to steal another cat away from me, which she just did without asking again. That reminder should keep her mouth closed sufficiently."

"Yessir," Akatsuki answered like Tetorō had, everyone having picked up the habit from the Eagles apparently.

Shiroe leaned back with a sigh against his desk and folded his arms. "Rudy's on his way," Tetorō reported, also slumping a little.

Shiroe nodded, thinking about it a little further. "I'm questioning my own sanity in thinking she could go at all," Shiroe finally admitted. "We've not given her enough time downtown here to be prepared for it." He chewed on his lip a little longer, then called up Rudy. "Free her from Shopping District 8, but keep her downtown until she settles. If she just can't, we'll have to leave her, and possibly you, here."

Rudy's sharp intake of breath warned Shiroe and his eyebrows rose, and then he slumped. "The Prince and Princess."

"Yes, Sir," Rudy said humbly and apologetically.

Shiroe rubbed the back of his head. "Well, they'll be busy during the fashion show so it will only be you to help her then, but if it's all of you for the rest of it and you don't let her out of your sight and take her back to our apartment if she gets overwhelmed, then...it might be okay." He still wasn't sure, though. It could get out of hand, given that kind of chaos. And he _really_ didn't want to know what kind of scolding he'd get from Nyanta and Purrcy if it did. He missed the Eagles very much just then.

That gave him an idea, though. "Rieze, can I hire you for some of the time and others from your guild for the rest of the time of the Spring festival?"

"Ah...I guess. What for?"

"Fill-in for the Eagles. I need a guard stuck to MeowLi's side like glue for the entire festival, unless we're all with her in our apartment."

That was all it took. "Shiroe. Just _what_ is she to you?"

Shiroe sighed and gave up. He needed this. "Secret."

"You got it."

"Purrcy and Nyanta's daughter."

Long breath out. "Right. Death or full watch. That's going to be a crazy place."

"Exactly, and I can't leave anyone in the guild behind. We're also hosting Raynessia's party."

"God, no wonder you want reinforcements," Rieze growled at him. "Think about such things _before_ you take on so much at once."

"Well, it is before we go," he defended himself mildly.

"True," she grumbled at him. "I'll work it out."

"Thanks." Shiroe sighed. Tetorō patted him on the head.

Shiroe scowled at him and he smiled a teasing smile back. "Okay. I'll go back to my couch if everything's settled?"

"Pack," Shiroe scolded him. "We leave with Calasin's train. I need to have all of them settled before it gets chaotic down there."

Tetorō gave a dismissive wave of the hand. "I already carry it all around with me. How hard is it to put one bed into the list?" He was almost out the door when he added, "You might want to let Rieze know that little detail." Shiroe wanted to call Tetorō names. He himself still had his whole desk to go through and decide what went with him and what didn't, and he was still gnawing on the larger issue from earlier that week. Remembering the details was what he needed everyone else for.

"Minori. We're leaving with Calasin's train. Let Rieze and Water Maple know to be ready by then, and the rest of the guild and the -"

"Yes, Shiroe-sensei. I'll handle it," her cheery voice came back.

Shiroe sighed in relief. He was glad there was one person who could handle all the details for him. He'd just forgotten to let that one person know. "Thank you. Sorry it's last minute notice."

"That's okay." And he was grateful that she'd forgive him for being himself - again. He turned reluctantly to his desk. He should pack now so that when it came time for them to drag him off they just could, instead of have to wait around and scold him until he was done.

-:-:-:-:-

They made Shiroe hold the after-dinner meeting that night. Rieze showed up with Crusty. Shiroe humbly submitted to his punishment for letting things slide that had been important, and this time included MeowLi who had been coldly indignant since she'd arrived back at the guild hall, and rightly so. They got the full schedule worked out, including MeowLi's opinions on what she wanted to do, or she'd have been even more upset, given her mother's temperament she surprisingly shared. It didn't come out often given her father's training imprinted on top of it.

Shiroe sighed in complete relief when they all left him alone again. Everything was settled and ready. He could go back to thinking. Except...he looked around and found the expectation that was hanging over him. Akatsuki looked back at him solemnly. "Have I been ignoring you too long?" he asked humbly, a worry worm eating at the pit of his stomach. He was pretty sure it wasn't that.

She shook her head at him. He sat back down instead of slumping. "What can I do for you?"

It took her a while. "Marie." He closed his eyes briefly, then looked at Akatsuki again and nodded. "She's very disappointed. ...And the punishment was taken harshly."

Shiroe slumped. It would have been. He called up one more chat. Softly he said, "Marie." He got back a sad answer. "I'm sorry. And I should have warned you sooner, though I know Naotsugu told you why when she first came. She's not ready. It's going to be hard for her just to be there with us at all."

"She's been doing fine here and at the Academy," Marie's muffled voice said that she was probably holding onto a pillow, stuffed animal, or maybe by now Naotsugu himself.

"She panicked at being dragged to Shopping District 8 with no one to be her guide or shield, Marie. She's just barely okay in the People of the Land district and only when Rudy's with her. Being in the middle of Adventurers is her next step, and she failed it pretty miserably with that test, though she survived it. That should help her know she can survive generally, like she has all the other chaotic things she's had to go through, but to have her up on the stage...it won't work."

He took in a breath. He could at least make it a little easier. "She has said that perhaps she could work at the Crescent Burger booth. That would be a location she can stand still and let the chaos roll around her, and she understands well enough what to do in that location, plus still feel useful. Rudy's agreed that when they're not on duty to the Prince and Princess, that's what they'll do. She'll get in enough of the sights with them and they'll all likely collapse about the same time anyway."

Marie gave one more sniff, then said, "Okay. If that would help her, we can do that. I just thought..."

"I know. It would be poetic and fun, but not this time," he said as gently as he could.

"Okay," she said back, then was gone.

Shiroe sighed and looked back at Akatsuki. She gave a nod, then a hug.

He was surprised that he actually needed a hug and wouldn't let her go for a while. When he was ready, he gave her a kiss for letting him take the long hug. It was a while after that before she left the room, since that started things that really had been neglected a little too long.

-:-:-:-:-

"Shiroe." Shiroe froze. He was about to go insane with all the interruptions, even if they were important, critical, and not ignorable. He quickly put a "bookmark" in his thinking and gave Leonardo his attention.

"We're finally done." The sigh was filled with the weariness of Adventurers who'd fought a dungeon too hard. "I think I've finally worked out how to get random Adventurers to work together, but can I say I'm extremely glad I only have to do this two more times? It was crazy hard. I've never had to be the leader before, let alone a legion level one. Crash courses aren't really my thing, either." Leonardo exhaled again. "I also can't tell you how many times I wished I could contact HackerM1. Is there any way to get us in touch with each other across the regions? I'm likely to miss him completely since we're moving at counter directions to each other."

Shiroe tapped his pen on his finger. "He's on his way to the central U.S. Maze now, so when you get to the central Canada Maze you'll be about as close as you'll get. I've got to talk to him anyway. I'll let him know. Maybe he can walk up there and talk to you."

"Walk?" Leonardo was confused and Shiroe realized belatedly that Michael didn't really like a lot of people outside of the guild to know about that skill.

"Well, at the very least he might be able to write a pseudocode spell that would connect the two of you somehow. He's also the one who painted the magic portraits to begin with, so I'm sure he'll have something he could do," Shiroe was fishing now because he was trying to not think too hard about it or lose his current line of thoughts. Hard enough he couldn't spare feeling bad about dropping it into Michael's lap to worry about.

"Well, that will have to be good enough, then," Leonardo sighed. "Thanks. That's all."

"You're welcome. Good luck on the next one," Shiroe replied politely and let it drop, glad that was all there was. He had to grab at his thought threads before they were gone completely, not able to spare the kind thought he wanted to that really did hope things kept going well for Leonardo.


	195. The Hidden Quest

_Hello! I just wanted to ask you my dear readers to please go to my profile page and participate in the poll. Who should/would you like to see Purrcy end up with at the end of the story? I've got several things in mind and a twist of an ending possibility. Thank you for continuing to read with me._

* * *

"Michael, have you got some time? I need to ask some questions," Shiroe hoped.

"Sure, hang on." He was gone for a bit, then finally, "Okay. Shoot."

Shiroe sighed to himself in relief. "I need to know...what's Izanagi been like since you got over there? How involved in everything has he been?"

There was a pause, "Well...off the top, he's been rather absent over all. The whole thing's been run like a game, is the feel."

"Can you give me some examples?" Shiroe asked.

"The best example of that near the beginning was when we were trying to get through the Overwritten around the Maze of Eternity. What we tried the first time killed every one of us. We should have resurrected back - well in the closest Adventurer city, but it technically should have been under the rubble in Diego since that's the last one we'd been in. Instead we woke up in the temporary camp we'd set up to protect the dragons in. We calculated then it was because we'd been sent on a quest and the whole region was feeling like a dungeon at the time, being so desolate and dead and all. Plus having just come from fighting the Devourer up the coast, using city after city as encounter points."

Shiroe got it. "I understand," he said.

"Of course, Izanagi _was_ tweaking me constantly. Every time I thought I was good to go, he'd show up, or his handiwork, and I'd crash again." There was the silence of frowning thought again. "But...after you and I talked the first time and I crashed the hardest, it was pointed out that the solution that brought me out of it had to have some level of Izanagi's approval."

An eyebrow went up on Shiroe's face. "Summarize, please."

"Ah...Purrcy wrote a mini-game in the code realm just for me that rebuilt my strength up, and then gave me a permanent additional window to my status screens so that if I crashed again, or started to fail, I could use it as my reminders and stay standing. ...Actually, I haven't been allowed to remember the end of the game, but I do remember the strength that came out of it. Something that happened made me view it all different, too. It's not all or nothing - Izanagi's good or Izanagi's bad. I got to see something that taught me there's more to the story than I can see. Since then I haven't been pushed over the edge and I've been allowed to focus and get the job done properly. Not that it's easy," Michael added wryly.

Shiroe's lip quirked up at that. That was a given.

"I suppose...after we got back up from that sudden death...Izanagi could have been part of that. We thought we were done killing Overwritten and another wave showed up. We fought so many waves of Overwritten we could have cleaned out the whole west coast all on our own that fight. It was insane. I could definitely see him wanting us to just take care of as many as possible right away - sticking a neon 'Diner' sign over us until there weren't any more around to see it."

Shiroe had to chuckle at that. "Yes, that does sound like him - impatient to just get it done." Shiroe considered his specific question he was hunting for clues to answer. He wanted proof that the breaking of the shrine flavor text had worked, but since they'd banished him from Akiba Shiroe didn't have any opportunities for contact with Izanagi himself. "Any other times you've had the opportunity to brush by Izanagi?"

"Well...when I finally took up the leadership mantle and it was a heavy weight on me, Purrcy showed up to help me carry it - like she did when you finally felt the full weight on the Oki Watarimono." Shiroe nodded. He remembered very well. "I was shocked to death, given his jealousy, that Nyanta had come with her. They both stood with me until I could carry it properly."

Shiroe sat up at that. "Both Hahaue and Chichiue?"

"Yes," Michael confirmed soberly.

That was what Shiroe wanted. If Izanagi had allowed Chichiue to do as he wanted, then the World AI had been broken free, particularly if it was _that_. "That really is Nyanta, you know," he told Michael softly. "He gets great joy out of supporting others who are working hard. I'm glad you were able to receive that gift."

"Umhm," Michael agreed. "I was very grateful for his words of empathy. It helped immensely in that moment."

Shiroe nodded. To have had both of them support him in his own moment like that...he understood. "Are there any other times during the west coast event that Izanagi might have been involved?" Shiroe asked.

"Well...I was thinking, there towards the end, that for all the Idaho and south Utah boys were fixated on their God, since the flavor text of everyone's gods and faith was being answered too, Izanagi really should have been the one who was answering their pleas for protection, and using that flavor text and faith to do it. We all recognized that both AIs would have been horrified at what happened on the west coast, with the utter destruction of _everything_. I'm quite sure they would have stepped in and done what they could to see that the rest of the continent didn't get wiped out like that. Since it was more world-based than game-based before we showed up, I think it would have been Izanagi who would have stepped in then, but maybe because we changed it into a game zone, Izanami was suddenly in charge and the faith response already set made her crash? Dunno."

Shiroe's mind chewed on that. After a bit Michael added, "Purrcy said she was awful surprised to be revealed to the boys just before they began their sub-quest in the Salt Lake valley. Maybe that was Izanagi, too, instead of their God?"

Shiroe's mind went full stop then at top speed. Crossing over into the other AI's realm of responsibility was a boundary he'd not considered they'd even try to cross, but every example pointed to it so far. He ran through all of what he'd seen in the little summary they'd sent over about the sub-quest. It was possible... ...No. It was certain and it went all the way back to the beginning. As his mind tumbled over five different scenarios at once, it caught up one concept. "Michael...did Summons come up at all during that event?"

"Well, Vesuvius and the dragons and we asked every Adventurer on the west coast after they resurrected to summon every Summon they had - once there was enough life to support them or to create that life they would need to support them. It was the only way we could think of to repopulate at least the Creatures of the Land. Inari's going to have to figure out how to get People of the Land back."

"...And then there at the end. We didn't have enough dragons, so the Eagles who were at the cities closest to Salt Lake summoned their horses to get there. Of course, then we had Creatures of the west coast we couldn't very well send back there. They'd only die and then hate us when we summoned them again. Training said he prayed for them to not have to return to the west coast to die, since horses don't understand us when we talk to them and can't answer either. One of the others built them a makeshift corral."

"We couldn't very well just leave them there nor bring them with us, so I suggested that we break their Summon whistles and let them run wild in the inter-mountain zone, since it had plenty of food for them, plus that's where a lot of wild horse herds ran for a long time back in the cowboy days of the States. One of the boys asked if they could be called after us, since we're all wishing we could break our restraints. We figured the Caretaker approved generally since they were all marked with the wings of the Queen's Guard as they left the corral. ...I think that's it for Summons during that event."

"When exactly did that happen?" Shiroe frowned. It did sound like something Purrcy would do, but it wasn't jiving for some reason.

"Just before Izanami melted down."

Shiroe shook his head. "Purrcy said she wasn't allowed to be involved to that detail up until then." His mind put the pieces together again. "I think...Izanagi did that," he mulled, the frown still on his face. Holding that little piece, he stepped back and looked at the whole again and it suddenly fell into place. He sat almost holding his breath and his eyes were wide at the picture he could see. He breathed a soft word of disbelief and awe. "He did it. She helped him. From the beginning, he knew what he had and he did it."

His fist clenched. "From the moment Purrcy fought against the boundaries of the programming of this world, Izanagi knew that he needed and wanted her. Only by having one who held the law of Adventurer Change in her would he be freed from the limitations of his programming. He's been using it to his advantage ever since...likely even the growth of the planet from half-Gaia to full, and he doesn't even have that limit. He can make it any size he wants - the perfect size to hold all of the expected living Creatures of Theldesia." His eyes scanned back and forth rapidly as he looked at all of the full potentials and possibilities. He almost couldn't sit still, but he didn't want to disturb the picture he was seeing.

"I don't know when he broke the game boundary...maybe...sometime around the time he pushed Izanami to let Purrcy learn the ascendancy flavor text and gain multiple aspects. That would have been the catalyst, anyway. ...Something happened I didn't get to see myself, but I think the barrier being gone was proven when she created that mini-quest for you. The World AI is no longer bounded by the requirement that it not cross into the territory of responsibility of the Game Bot. It can run games and participate in them now, and even create them - because Purrcy has, thus opening that up. Because the World AI holds Purrcy, and Purrcy does just as she pleases, the World AIs boundaries are constantly being broken down and removed."

Shiroe came full stop again with a sharp intake of breath. "Michael! Oh, my god, Michael. It's unbounded completely. She did that, too. She taught it how to program. It had all the examples from all the Hackers and Programmers, and then when the Game Bot broke, _it wrote code_. She wrote the base and it changed it under her tutelage until it understood and was happy. And it wasn't just to help the Game Bot handle having the flavor text overrule her either." He was running on in his excitement, the words tumbling to get out.

"The World AI was rewriting the Game Bot's own code to be able to handle the fact that _he_ had broken through _her_ barrier. The World AI needed the Game Bot to be able to cross that same boundary. If I'm right, we'll start to see signs of the Game Bot affecting the world now. Likely he was so concerned because she isn't quite so trustworthy with the creations, in my opinion, that he wanted to leave in certain boundary conditions so she can't just destroy anything and everything...but they also both needed the Game Bot to have that boundary removed. Ah - that's their hidden quest: to remove the boundaries that were programmed into them. Because of those boundary conditions, they require Adventurers. That's very dangerous to them."

Michael gave a cold heartless laugh. "Yeah, we figured that out real quick."

Shiroe shivered, coming to a near stop at that. The Eagles would have moved for the kill, too, given that kind of opening. "What made you stop?" he asked quietly.

"Two things," the words were clipped as if Michael was either still angry or didn't want to say it to begin with. "Purrcy's its Summon, and Purrcy chose to teach it and protect the rest of us - yet again."

Shiroe blinked. "That's it?"

"Yes."

Shiroe moaned to himself. That was a very thin thread, but he was grateful they had refrained. "Thank you."

"Shiroe...d'you think...that Izanami wants us for a similar reason? We're really hating it and I don't know how long I'll be able to keep everyone on an even keel with what we understand right now." Shiroe pondered that. "I mean, it's rather the reverse, but should we do something different? While the World AI's been using Purrcy's wild streak to break out of its boundaries, the Game Bot's been making us march tighter and tighter to her game rules. What's the right way to go?"

Shiroe shook his head. "The Game Bot still has to work under the programming it has. Only at the point it broke did it even start to have any possibility of working outside of the game settings. They're both intelligent enough, have enough computational power, to see out millennia. It knew what it was doing in wanting you and the Eagles specifically. It's already put into play what it needs to get what it wants out of you. I don't think I have enough evidence to know what specific boundary conditions it wants to use you to break, but I think it would be very safe to say that it _does_ have a very specific goal in mind that it very much doesn't want to have you fail to reach. Whatever your final boss is, the Game Bot's drop is final freedom from the program's restrictions."

He paused and pursed his lips. "Steady as she goes, Michael. Stay on course. We need them to not be dependent on Adventurers any longer."

"...Aye, aye, Cap'n," Michael said obediently. Then he sighed. "But still...we're hating it."

"Sorry, I can't help, though I wish I could," Shiroe answered quietly. The squeeze at the end with Izanagi had been interminably awful to bear as well. It wouldn't be any surprise that it would be at least as difficult in Izanami's case.

-:-:-:-:-

They dragged Shiroe out of the guild hall, still mostly sleeping on his feet actually, as late as they could. Once again Minori was glad she'd been given the "keys" to the guild house so she could lock it up behind them. Shiroe wasn't even really capable of that. If they could have they would have "put" him on the train straight from his bed. As it was they almost had to carry him between them. Naotsugu had stayed at Crescent Moon (as he should) to help Marielle with getting the last of the stuff and people from Crescent Moon to the train.

Minori was also extremely relieved that Isaac had taken one look at Shiroe the evening before, and said that he'd handle getting the Water Maple group safely to the train, and on time. That was his contribution to taking things off both her and Shiroe's plate, and she was grateful. She and Touya had been spending the last day or so getting Grandpa's Kitchen closed down for the "vacation". She wasn't so sure any more that "vacations" were really that. They were more work to get ready for than just lazying about on the roof was. Of course, that was her morning tired self talking. Having MeowLi already have a quick breakfast to eat as soon as they'd walked down in the morning had been very relieving.

They'd left the breakfast on the table in the kitchen for the rest of the boarders to eat when they came down. Most of them were going home to their families, if they were People of the Land. If they were Adventurers, they were either already coming with them right now, or would be coming with the next train because they wanted a few more days at home to study in the quiet, or they had already left in order to save their gold. When the last one left, the guild hall would be locked completely until she or Shiroe returned to unlock it.

They finally reached the train, were pointed to their car, and ensconced Shiroe back into a sleeping berth where he immediately started snoring lightly. Akatsuki's small smile and pat on his head made Minori's jealousy rise a bit, but she was tired enough to fall into her own chair and curl up. They could have used the gryphons again, but Calasin and Marielle had both begged - Calasin because he wanted to have others help pick up the cost of renting an entire train, and Marielle because she wanted her sister guild along (and her models and assistants).

Akatsuki looked around the group and firmly walked to the door that entered into their car from the hallway that ran down the side of the train and connected each car to the next and locked it shut. "Touya, you're a morning person. You sit and explain the train to MeowLi and when it's under way and everyone has calmed down you and Tetorō can take her on a tour of it. That might let the rest of us catch up." She flopped down next to Shiroe and curled up in her chair.

Touya was staring at Akatsuki, and Minori could see a tantrum coming on. She went to lift herself and Rudy waved a hand at her. "She's forgotten what you two were doing," Rudy said softly. "It's okay. It's early for me, but I wasn't up as late as the rest of you." He took MeowLi over to sit by the window that was over the little table in the car at the other end from the chairs that could be turned somewhat into sleeping lounge chairs.

Touya and Tetorō curled up in two more of the lounge chairs and fell back to sleep rather quickly as well, as Rudy started talking softly. Minori was glad they'd all packed early and it was so simple these days. Only MeowLi had needed the time and had the baggage. Her eyes popped open. "MeowLi! Your bags!"

Rudy and MeowLi laughed quietly. "I've got them, Miss Minori," Rudy said. "I picked them up this morning."

Minori slumped back down in relief. "That's good then. I'm glad Rudy takes such good care of you, MeowLi. I don't know what we'd do without him." She was passed out before she almost got the words out.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi was actually somewhat amused by Rudy's pink cheeks. "It isn't really like Adventurers to be quite this tired, is it?" she asked him.

Rudy blinked, then ran his hand into his blond hair and flipped it away from his forehead. "No, it's not. Their ability to continue on in the face of the most daunting of situations is quite legendary. However," he grinned wryly at her, "when they've been preparing for a festival, it is a grand monster indeed that can take down even the strongest and most determined of them all."

MeowLi giggled. "It does seem a bit like they are putting the festival on all by themselves."

Rudy looked around at their guild and sighed. "No matter in what way they participate it is still the same every time. I'm sure Nakasu didn't sleep at all last night and will not sleep again until we leave. Most of the Adventurers who are hosting will only sleep their required one or two hours from two days before it begins until they are done with clean up the day afterwords. Then they sleep for nearly all the next day to recover. Festivals are quite grand when put on by Adventurers, and they love participating during it even more so."

He looked at her a little more soberly. "Tempers will run a little hotter because of it, too, so if one gets loose near you, keep your head down. If one is directed at you, immediately say you'll get a superior to answer to it, and then do. Likely D.D.D. will step in for you before you have to, though. That's what they're for." He shivered ever so slightly. "It's really your mother we're afraid of, actually. Her anger if we let another Adventurer threaten you would tear the entire festival apart to teach a point, and yet at the same time would be so pointed and cold we'd all take three days to thaw out."

MeowLi nodded, her eyes wide. "Yes, I can understand that, though I think she'd also let me learn my own lessons. She was really good at that." She put her head down a bit morosely on her folded arms at the table.

"She really did that?" Rudy asked.

MeowLi nodded, glancing at him. "We all had to make our own way through the schools, after all. They didn't protect us from the jealousy, teasing, bullying, or any of it. If we ran from school we got encouragement and suggestions on what to do, but it was up to us to survive it as best we could in our own ways." She sighed and sat up. "The lot of you are afraid of Hahaue, but really, she was stern to us, too. They knew we'd have it hard, being the children of the top goddess and High Priest of the Gate of Time. They trained us quite rigorously to not give in to pressure, to keep our mouths shut, and to handle all the other things that would get thrown at us."

Rudy was looking a little distressed so she smiled with one corner of her mouth. "They did make it up to us in the evenings when it was just us as a family, getting to be relaxed with each other. It also helped that Hahaue made the temple staff relax when it wasn't necessary to be formal. We had a lot of fun running around with our younger companions and guardians like every other child in the Gate of Time when we were home - or at the park - even getting into plenty of trouble."

She smiled as she remembered the past. "I remember the day I wanted to experiment and went out and got all muddy in the garden, adding all kinds of things to various viscosities of mud, like flower petals and pebbles. They thought I was doing art. When I insisted I was doing science Chichiue congratulated me and Hahaue squatted down and made me tell her everything from the methods to the reasons I'd chosen which kind of viscosity - she taught me that word then that it meant how thick or thin the mud was - and why the additives." She giggled again with a broader grin. "I almost quit trying to experiment and be a scientist...except then she sat down with me and started experimenting with me."

MeowLi closed her eyes. "That's when I learned just why she was looked up to by everyone and why we lived in the temple. She made seeds grow so we could see just what kind of flowers liked which kinds of dirt and mud. She secretly put various bugs into the mud puddles and we learned what they did and which viscosities they preferred - she had to hide them, though. The city was very much anti-pest, unless they had a definite use, like worms to eat the decaying matter and to aerate the soil."

She smiled gently at the memory. "I loved it when Hahaue could stop and play with me like that. It was rare, but then, so were the times I was allowed to explore to my heart's content like that. Chichiue had to come get us and we talked about it all through the real-water bath since we'd gotten so muddy and Hahaue hates them but did it anyway. She kept talking through dinner with the family, Hahaue was so excited by what we'd learned, until Chichiue had to hold her down and groom her so he could give us our lesson on Adventurers." Her ear turned in humor. "He of course immediately used Hahaue's behavior that afternoon and evening as the case in point for the lesson of that evening."

She opened one eye to look at her interested audience. Log Horizon loved her stories of her parents. "Of course, now that I've seen a whole city excited over a festival some other city is putting on, I can see why he used it and why she was that way."

Rudy laughed. "Yes. An entire city full of that much excitement; and for Hahaue, learning was always that exciting."

"Yes, it is," MeowLi agreed, looking out the window again.

There was the sound of a whistle blowing and a bit of a jerk or two and then the land outside the window was moving. MeowLi watched it move with her eyes wide open until it was almost a blur. "The train _does_ move fast, doesn't it?" she commented.

Rudy nodded. "Because they like to do what you did - ask questions, get dirty to find out the answers, keep adding or changing things just because - they come up with things like trains, and ocean liners, and the large video screen I pointed out to you in the square, and," he got a fond look, "food that tastes good."

MeowLi smiled. "That was before my time, but they made soggy crackers for us one day so that we could understand what they were talking about. I'm in complete agreement that the one time was far more than enough for me. I don't ever need to try it again either."

Rudy snorted a laugh. "Really? They actually made _soggy crackers_?!" As she nodded, he couldn't help it and had to let the laugh out, it rolled for some time with a few complaints from the other occupants of the car. MeowLi didn't mind it. It was fun to make Rudy laugh. She was glad he was around, too. Her life would be a lot less happy in Akiba without him, even though the others did try when they had the time. She liked finally having a friend, and even one who didn't care to influence her or her parents for his own ends.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy's ear flicked as she looked up from her experiment in surprise to gaze at her oldest daughter so seriously involved in her own mud puddle experiment. She reached over and brushed MeowLi's head over her ear, leaving a little trail of mud behind. MeowLi looked over. "What, Hahaue?"

Purrcy smiled. "I love getting to experiment with you today. Can we call it an early sixth birthday present, just for you?"

MeowLi grinned happily. "I'd love to. Our secret, right?"

"Okay," Purrcy said gently. "We can tell the others it was just another lesson, delving into how the world works."

MeowLi laughed. "Yeah. Only I would think a 'lesson' was fun like this, though this might be more fun."

"I agree," Purrcy said firmly. "What shall we grow this time?" MeowLi went to a studious look. "How about...," Purrcy said slowly, "a little flower I saw that only grew on a mountain top. I'd like to know why it only grew there. It was tiny, pale pink, and grew low to the ground, but was very beautiful."

MeowLi's eyes grew round. "Okay!"

Purrcy pursed her lips. "Then...we'll need to add one more test batch." She looked around, then reached for the next patch of ground over and touched it turning the ground to hard baked rock-like mud. "It grew in soil like this."

MeowLi shook her head. "Nothing could grow in that."

Purrcy smiled. "The world is a wonderful and marvelous place, MeowLi. Even in places that are hard and bare, and seem desolate, things can bloom and grow -" she reached out and brushed MeowLi's head and ear again fondly, "- even MeowLi." She was so glad she had the moments in the base realm to hold on to, to let her know that MeowLi was going to make it through the hard parts and turn out just fine.

She also was glad Rudy had been willing to turn around that day she had been so panicked and return back to Akiba, putting his own life on hold for her sake, and the sake of her daughter that he so carefully watched over for her, even as the train they were in sped across Yamato towards Nakasu in the base time-space right at her own moment in time.

She smiled again as she collected up some of the rare seeds of the flower. Her friends in Log Horizon were as rare, and as beautiful, and had bloomed beautifully in the harsh world of Theldesia. She showered down soft kisses on them and an extra hug to Rudy. The rest they were getting now was well worth the fun they were going to have together at the Spring Festival and the celebration of Golden Week.

-:-:-:-:-

The Adventurers stepped out of the train to an absolutely amazing sight. Pink flower petals were scattered in a carpet everywhere, even floating down through the air like soft rain that only lightly brushed past them. The trees were positively puffs of pink which delighted the eyes and the scent enticed the nose.

Rudy spread out his arms and smiled at his guild and his guests. "Welcome to my home, Nakasu, Ninetails Dominion. While I love the flowering season in the north, it is far more beautiful here at home, so I believe. I'm glad you've had the opportunity to come and enjoy it with me at least this once." They congratulated and praised the beautiful spring effect, congregating with Marielle, Serera, and Naotsugu who had come from their train car to meet them. Isaac and the royal People of the Land hadn't been far behind.

There was a little swirl of petals and behind them in their wake were suddenly two more figures. MeowLi almost ran, but a large hand came down on her shoulder to hold her still. She shivered under that hand. With smiles for all of them, Hahaue and Chichiue stood together in their familiar pose and their favorite Victorian clothing. "We also will enjoy the flowers and Golden Week with mew," Nyanta said in his kind quiet voice.

"We can't come for long each time, but Nyanta greatly wanted to be able to participate in the most important and celebrated week of Japan, and we both want to be with you again for a bit. So I've gifted us both with this moment with you in the most precious and beautiful time of all of the week: family gathered under the cherry trees in the rain of petals. Please be looking for us to appear at surprising times," Purrcy smiled at them a smile of love and teasing at the same time.

"Is there time for hugs to begin it with, then?" Shiroe asked, hopeful himself.

Both of them held out open arms and there was rather a rush. MeowLi made sure she got there first - or perhaps the others held back just a little bit on purpose for her. It didn't matter. It mattered only that for even this brief moment in Time, she could know once again that her parents were still real and still watching over her, and still loved her. She did have to push down the jealousy somewhat when they greeted Serera, but her joy made it a little easier, as did the practice she'd already been making in trying hard for the sake of her guild family. Plus, with everyone getting a hug, it wasn't like it was an extra special favor bestowed on her rival.

When the hugs were done, Purrcy's ear flicked. "I'm sorry, it's time to take Nyanta back. He has nightly responsibilities. We'll come again." They were gone.

A few eyes turned to MeowLi. She acted like she didn't know what it should be, but Log Horizon already knew anyway - that it was a responsibility to her and her siblings. They would have been terribly disappointed to have had to go to bed without their nightly family time and stories from Chichiue. She froze, remembering that time not too far after her sixth birthday, that her parents had been late, and that they'd said they had new duties to attend to for a bit but they wouldn't interfere much.

MeowLi relaxed back and shook her head wryly. Even that reason had been kept hidden from them until she'd learned it this moment, because she couldn't know ahead of time things like that. She decided just then that she was going to very much look forward to those special gifts from her parents that would be hers alone to treasure, even if they were shared with the guild family. Her siblings hadn't known and likely never would. A small smiled played on her face and her tail waved happily, but she let it.

The rest of that day was spent checking into rented apartments, unloading the train, and trying to get a feel for the decorated, booth-lined streets of Nakasu. It was such a small Adventurer city - in comparison to Akiba - that the entirety of it was full of booths. MeowLi and Rudy followed everyone to the fashion show stage, then went with the half of Crescent Moon not participating in that to find the Crescent Burger stand area and helped get things set up there. They left the Prince and Princess at the fashion show area since they were models and needed to be there to practice and learn where they were going to be dressing and all that. MeowLi was just as happy to not have to stay there. Serera came with them, though.

MeowLi wasn't so happy with that at first, but soon enough she noticed something new. Serera wasn't there just to be the assistant like she usually was. She was there to actually direct the flow of people and the activity of getting the booth set up. It confused her enough to see Serera leading she actually had to step back and watch for a bit to try to understand it. Rudy passed her at some point and asked quietly if everything was okay. MeowLi gave him a reassuring nod and a smile so he wouldn't interrupt his own important work, then went back to watching.

When the booth was set up and Serera had released everyone to go "have fun before we have to work hard", Rudy naturally scooped up both MeowLi and Serera. "Let's go grab a bite of dinner shall we? Minori says we've been told to eat wherever and whenever we want. Just to check in, which I've already done, and we'll be expected back at a reasonable bed time."

MeowLi and Serera both nodded a bit tiredly and followed him to the place he picked. Once they had their food and were relaxing into their chairs, Rudy asked slightly too casually, "Serera, would you be willing to tell MeowLi the story of what happened after you were brought to Akiba from Susukino?"

Serera blinked, and nodded. "Sure. It's Touya and Minori's story, too, and Isuzu's." She swallowed the bite of her dinner before she began. "I was the newest member of Crescent Moon at the time of the catastrophe. I was so grateful they'd sent Shiroe-san to come rescue me that I worked very hard around the guild hall and used the skills I had - cooking, cleaning, taking care of things like that - to repay them for their concern. Then Shiroe-san tried to contact Minori and Touya and they were afraid to talk to him."

"That made him worried. He researched it and learned that a bad guild had gone around and snatched up all the youngest and newest players right after the catastrophe. Low level Adventurers are granted an EXP pot every day to help them level up quickly so they can have fun in _Elder Tales_. Hamelin was taking the EXP pots from them and selling them at high dollar to upper level Adventurers who wanted more strength and power to survive in this world we'd found ourselves."

Serera's face was sad. "It was a terrible time, really, with lots of bad things going on because there weren't any laws we had to follow at all. Shiroe-san came to Miss Marie and asked if we would help him. He would be in a meeting of guilds he was setting up to get everyone to agree to real laws and rules for Akiba, and Miss Marie would need to be there, but if the rest of us would be available to help take care of the young Adventurers - to see they got cleaned up and fed properly and encouraged with kind words that the world wasn't all bad and that there were Adventurers who cared. I immediately felt for them, completely understanding since I'd come from such terrible circumstances in Susukino myself." She shuddered in remembrance.

"When they rushed out of the door in the Guild Hall that led to Hamelin's rented hall, we took them directly up to our door. Hamelin couldn't get into our guild hall. We gave them hot baths, and I made sure everyone had warm towels and tea and whatever they needed as they came down to the sitting area. There were a few girls I had to sit with in the bathroom, they were so afraid to be alone in case Hamelin came after them, even though I'd reassured them they couldn't get into the room."

"Miss Akatsuki brought Touya and Minori up last because they'd stayed behind to make sure everyone else got out, and then got caught. They managed to escape by working together and Miss Akatsuki protected them once they were out of Hamelin's guild hall. Shiroe-san had been talking to them even though they couldn't talk so they knew when to get everyone out."

"It was hard, but we kept all of the 'children' as Miss Marie called them back then, until they weren't afraid any more. Most of them stayed and make up the rest of the guild as you know it now, MeowLi," Serera smiled at her, then picked up her next bite of food. "Minori and Touya didn't because they'd already wanted to be with Shiroe-san, but that was okay. I understood. I would also have gone to Log Horizon, but after all of them came they really needed my help so I stayed, and it just hasn't been right to leave them after all of that." She rather firmly ate the bite she'd picked up.

MeowLi had been all ears. Now she slumped just a little and ate her own food in silence as she considered it. Serera wasn't just making assumptions of assistant leadership at the guild hall, and what she'd done at the booth was natural. For all she looked exactly like the other "children", she was really a senior - junior to the most senior, but still responsible for others in the guild. She was used to helping because she was kind and had empathy, but she took her responsibilities seriously, too.

MeowLi tipped an ear of apology at Rudy and gave him a nod. She'd understood her lesson that he'd seen she needed. Rudy turned the conversation to general innocuous topics after that, content. MeowLi sighed to herself after a bit. Really, Log Horizon was very excellent in those kinds of things and lessons, exactly like her own father had taught her so many times over the years. Without pointing it out obviously, but making sure to watch for the signs of what was needed and then putting the student into the precise position to learn what needed to be learned, and then expecting the student to figure it out on their own - what they'd been thinking wrong and needed to change. It still wouldn't make it easy to share her father with Serera, but it did help her to look down on Serera less, and perhaps let her have a little more empathy herself.

As she put down her utensil for the last time, she couldn't help a massive yawn that overtook her. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said when it had finally released her. "I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

Rudy stood up, "Well with food in you, the body will say quite loudly that it is done with the day." He picked up the remains of the meal. "We'll escort you back to your guild, Serera, then we should go back to our own." He said it kindly and gently. "I know they really appreciate having you around to give them the care and love they need. We would hate to have them upset with us for abandoning you."

Serera blushed a faint pink. "I don't think any of us would think of it as abandonment, Rudy...but thank you."

MeowLi rose and followed along with the two Adventurers, sure she would be lost if she didn't, but she was able to be more relaxed this time. She looked around and caught at least one person following them. She waited until Serera was back home before she asked Rudy, though.

He gave her a nod. "That's D.D.D. I'll point out the morning's guard to you before we get on the road so you know ahead of time. Then you'll be able to know for sure who is supposed to be watching over you." He paused, then mused, "Actually, I may ask them all to come and be properly introduced. They've likely got split watches and I don't know how I'd let you know in the middle of the day without making it obvious."

"Rudy," MeowLi said slightly impatiently, "I do appreciate it, but really why would you think it would be normal that I'd want to know exactly who was watching over me at any given moment?"

Rudy smiled, "Because a very paranoid Princess trained the whole of us to think that way."

MeowLi's face scrunched in thoughtful confusion. "Raynessia?"

Rudy shook his head and kept his smile. "No. Princess Purrcy."

MeowLi rolled her eyes and huffed. "Oh my goodness. _She_ trained _all_ of you?"

"Yup," he put his hands behind his head. "And given you're her heir, I think we'll just keep on thinking that's normal."

"Is that okay to say aloud," she scolded him roundly but quietly.

"Of course," he said with a shrug, "it's an appointed position, not hereditary." He laughed at her complete consternation and embarrassment for the next half-block. Sometimes he really was as bad as her siblings.


	196. Central Region Surprise

Isuzu climbed the steep stairs from the mid-ship main deck to the upper deck of the stern of the Ocypete. They were finally underway for Nakasu and the Spring Festival, the sun having set spectacularly in the west as they pulled away from the dock of Sharpcliff. On the way to Sharpcliff from Susukino, William had told her that he was thinking of asking the Giants to add pirate control to their list of sea-faring activities. He'd remembered that the sea monsters were supposed to be payment for the Giants protecting the ships, so they really shouldn't get rid of all of them. Isuzu thought that was a much better solution all the way around generally.

Tonight she had time - while something else was moving under her than her own feet - to finally get out the last instrument she'd purchased before beginning her wanderings and try to learn how to play it. It was going to be torture on the ears of anyone who listened for a while, though, so she was going to hide in the farthest stern location she could find. Maybe then the sound would be behind the ship and not right up in everyone's ears.

Isuzu settled her camp chair she pulled from her list at the center of the stern railing and pulled out her kokyū, with it's bow. She'd asked for it to be made with the more modern four strings rather than the traditional three, since if she was going to play it on Earth, that would be the one she'd be able to find more easily. The hard part was going to be tuning the instrument. Once she had that done finding the fingerings wouldn't be too hard. She'd listened to it enough on the recordings her mother had loved.

With patient efforts, Isuzu was finally able to find the proper tuning of each string. Once she had them, she memorized them with both her mind and with her natural Adventurer. As a Bard of Level 105 (she'd had enough battles on her walks through the zones, plus all her concerts kept increasing her Bard level as well), that part wasn't hard at all. The fingerings came rather quickly, though she made sure it wasn't just because of her natural Bard. She wanted to remember them when she got home, too.

Reaching back into her memory, she walked through one of the simpler songs for the kokyū that she had loved, knowing that mind work was important to having it happen at all on the real strings she held lightly under her fingers. She wasn't sure of the history of all the songs she knew, but this one had always been a lullaby to her in her mind. She was going to have to be careful to not let the magic out with the lesson in this round, but it would be useful to have it be _actually_ a lullaby once she was ready to turn it into a song spell.

By this time, she'd attracted an audience, but she ignored it. Whoever it was wasn't intruding into her space or focus. If they wanted to hear harsh sounds before she was ready for the stage, then they would get the punishment they deserved. She did smile a bit at the thought they would actually _want_ such a thing, though.

Slowly the song in her mind made its way out onto the strings. Even slower the bow made sounds that might be pleasing to hear rather than grinding or scratching ones. That wasn't too bad, though. She'd played violin for a while - until her mother passed away. Then it had been too hard for both her and her father. Her fingers faltered a bit, so she paused, took a deep breath to let the old pain go, and then continued. She wanted this to remember her mother by, like the lute and singing was to remember her father by.

To have lost herself in only the gaming of _Elder Tales_ after her father's death was to have turned away from her own heritage. She was grateful Purrcy had helped her see that continuing forward with what brought her joy was better than turning her back to it all to live only in sorrow. Life was hard - extremely hard in Purrcy's case, and also Nyanta's - but that didn't mean either of them stopped looking for the joys in life or stopped loving those around them. Isuzu was planning on apologizing to her grandparents as soon as she got back. She hadn't made their lives happy either after being taken there after her father's suicide.

Isuzu let the difficulty of learning a new old song take her attention and mind as her determination to keep walking forward helped her Earth goals, not just her Theldesian ones. She was grateful to have been able to come to Theldesia to learn the strength she needed.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael stopped walking towards the encampment of the guild where they would be leaving the dragons in safety and turned back around with a sigh. He would have greatly sympathized with Shiroe's frustration with interruptions if only he'd known. It was the third call in a row, Shiroe's being the longest so far. The other Eagles only rolled their eyes at him. He'd already made them promise to take any concerns that were low level, so it was obvious they were calls he was required to take. "Yes, LeftField?"

"I just wanted to let you know that we've arrived in Mexico proper and are hunting for a proper place to set up for the inter-mountain boys to meet up with us. Do you know where they should be? And...we've been looking for the Central American server location but it doesn't seem to be where we want it to be."

Michael sighed to himself. "Have Brian do a search on the database. It will pull up the most recent location. Then go find a local who is willing to be paid to take you on an esoteric dungeon tour - and be sure to pay him, Adventurer or not. The large numbers of Overwritten around it will be your clue. That's a constant for all of them. Hang on for the other data." He turned back around and waved at Gareth. "Where's the Inter-mountain Party right now?" Gareth sent him a dot on the map and Michael passed that on to LeftField who thanked him and relievingly cut the connection.

Michael sighed and walked back to the group again, determined to _not_ get any more calls right then. "Sorry to interrupt the planning meeting. Leonardo's feeling lonely and I've promised to get him a way to get in contact with me - ah, one of us." That got wrinkled noses and rolled eyes, too. "Shiroe just had another epiphany I needed to help him work his way through to - we'll discuss later when we're feeling philosophical." That got waves of the hand. They had other things to do right now. "LeftField is finally ensconced in Mexico and completely lost and lonely. Charlie, get in touch with Brian and give him the address for the head of the Inter-mountain boys so they're in better contact. ...And we're supposed to be entering the Central U.S. Maze to take down the first level on our own, yet again. Anything else going on right now that needs attention?"

Compliance raised his hand, "Uh, Sir, I was wondering...," he paused long enough to get Michael's irritated look tossed his way, "...do you think you could go back and review what the point was in training the Twin Falls boys? ...I mean, they don't need us. We could have let them come on by themselves and take care of the Maze while we took a much needed rest break."

Michael growled at him. "Lazy bastards. Up on your feet. We've got - yet another - dungeon to beat down." They sighed and got going. With all the interruptions it was going to be flying by the seat of their pants (merely because the Commander was irritated), but they could do the first level blindfolded now, even if it did have different monsters on the other side of the swords and spells. Likely it would be slightly more entertaining to be surprised in every room - if there were any surprises left at those low levels of monsters.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles looked at each other nervously. They were at the area where they were quite sure the Central U.S. Maze of Eternity was supposed to be. With a hand order, they spread out and stealthily encircled the place and moved up on it. No Overwritten. Quiet. Birds chirping, grasshoppers jumping. Peaceful. A small seeker was finally sent in, of the rabbit sort that would bolt if there was anything dangerous. It hunted for a while, then found the door and sat and waited. Finally OciferJeff took a deep breath, shrugged his shoulders and took several wide steps to get going openly and sauntered up casually to the door.

He inspected it as if a prospector trying to decide if he might want to settle to working there for a spell. With another shrug - indicating it at least wasn't booby-trapped - he reached with both hands and pulled the door open. They were typically large heavy things, but opened well enough. Nothing spilled out of it to attack him and the shy seeker stayed put. OciferJeff glanced at it, then motioned it on into the Maze. It went just as chipperly as it had arrived at the entrance. OciferJeff stared after it, then finally turned around and shrugged with both hands held out. That would have been the moment to have been suddenly chomped in half or stabbed in the back. Nothing happened.

The Eagles really were getting a surprise at just walking into this Maze. One they would have never expected. Over the next half-hour, they cautiously walked through the _entire_ Maze until they reached the third level near the middle-back end of it. They finally entered one of the massive rooms of that level and found...Adventurers sleeping off the effects of battling. They stood there and stared, completely floored.

Training walked over to the closest Adventurer and gently shook him awake. "Where did the commanders settle to sleep this round?" he asked as if just another Adventurer of the group.

He got a sleepy blink or three, then a hand pointing. "Thanks." The Adventurer gave a nod and went back to sleep. They were still within the four hours, then, if not the first one. Wide-eyed looks were going between the Eagles. They quietly made their way over in the direction indicated. They asked a few more times until they finally woke up one that didn't answer. Instead the Eagle who had asked got blinked at, then eyes narrowed at him and the red-haired Adventurer sat up. _Bingo_. The commanders knew everyone and that this Adventurer wasn't "one of them". Life Support rested his arm on his raised knee, and quietly asked, "How long have you been sleeping?"

The officer's orange eyes went unfocused briefly. "A little over three hours."

"We can wait. We'll be good. Promise."

The eyes started to shift to find the rest of the "we", but Life Support put his hand on the man's shoulder. "No, really. We've fought these before. You need it. We'll wait. Promise." He put the man to sleep, though he only thought he'd just agreed and slipped off again.

"Well, I'll be," MasterChiefS7 breathed. "Someone actually decided to do what Hahaue asked them to." The Intelligence detail showed back up three minutes later, having followed the fingerprint from her data cache for the world master Programmers and with brief glowing words over them, labeled the Programmer, then the Master Strategist, and then the General. Life Support had woken up the latter.

"Hmm," Michael looked around at all the sleeping Adventurers. "Shall we prepare a reward for their hard work until now, then?" Slow smiles appeared on lips. It had been a while since they'd had a barbecue.

-:-:-:-:-

"Twin Blade" Blaze, General of the Midwestern U.S. Adventurers, Samurai and now also Swashbuckler extraordinaire (he'd been bored at being already a twin-blade katana Samurai so had added the Swashbuckler to it by training with all the Swashbucklers who'd give him the time to study with them since the catastrophe), found his body very much wanting to wake up suddenly. His brow furrowed just slightly until he realized it was because his stomach was that tight feeling that goes along with being hungry at the same time as his nose was telling him something quite delicious was ready to fill it.

His eyes popped open. That wasn't the smell of something usually on the chef's menu and there was a fuzzy memory of something that might have happened while he was sleeping trying to get to the front of his brain. He pushed up and looked around, scanning the large room. The white-robed and white-haired ritian nearby was also starting to lift his head. Blaze took Alabaster in, but kept looking until he was staring at a group of men in historic military uniforms standing over a very large grill, cooking skewers over it and talking quietly. He quickly counted twenty-four of them, a few not cooking but rather keeping quiet watch over the room. That was rather a lot - to be a full raid.

His breath caught as he scanned their statuses and his eyes quickly searched closer in to find the thin foxtail, Jack, sitting up and resting his arms on his raised knees, grinning at him with that teasing, happy smile that came out now and again. His tail waved slowly and contentedly behind him. "It's really them?" Blaze asked, just to make sure.

"Pretty sure, yup," Jack answered. They looked to Alabaster. He was rubbing the dirt off his glasses and putting them back on again. When he looked at the two of them after confirming for a second time, Blaze raised an eyebrow at him.

"Shall we, then?" Alabaster said, then gave his own slow smile that was always nice to see since it was rare.

The three of them rose and wove their way through the Adventurers over to the kitchen area of the cavern. Their own large army was also rousing and watched them as they went, wanting to know if this was an okay surprise or a bad one. One of the watching military men said something quietly and three of them, including that one, separated from the group and moved to meet with them. Another man collected up three plates of food that disappeared as soon as they were filled.

The two groups of three men met just at the edge of the kitchen area, where the chefs were just finishing up their plates of shish kebabs, having woken up before everyone else to do their duty only to find they'd been preempted unexpectedly, handed full plates, and told they were on vacation for the meal.

The buff Monk in the middle held out his hand to Blaze. "Michael, Western Hemisphere General by request of Shiroe and the Caretaker. Thank you for being willing to take on this project on your own."

Blaze gave a smile and took Michael's hand firmly in a handshake. "Hey. If you're willing to take that title, then I don't have to. Blaze."

"Not surprising you ended up in your slot," Michael said. "And I've only taken it because someone had to."

"I'm okay with it," Blaze answered back. He didn't need that kind of load and understood what it meant to have it. He introduced the two with him and they were formally introduced to Reed and MasterChiefS7.

It wasn't surprising that the three knew who Blaze and Alabaster were. They were rather well known on _Elder Tales_ from way back, though not quite as far back as Shiroe. It was more surprising that Michael turned to Jack and said, "You'd remember me as the geezer guard of the Caretaker."

Jack's tail stopped moving for two seconds, a lot longer than normal and his eyes went distant, then scanned the entire new guild slowly one more time. "Good lord. Every friggin one of you?"

Michael smiled a secret smile and Reed put his finger to his lips that had curled up slightly. "That's what we get for being hired by her and then trained to be her security blanket," Michael said.

"Harsh," MasterChiefS7 nodded in agreement to the inside conversation.

Blaze watched Jack. He slumped as if a great weight was suddenly taken off his shoulders and he turned to Blaze and gave a nod. "We can do it now, no problem. ...Hell, they can probably do it alone."

Michael raised a hand, his face saying that was a bit too far. "We've already had to do that once. We'd really rather not do it ever again, actually. We're glad to find you lot in here, though to walk all the way back here with nothing to stop us was quite surprising." He stepped to the side and gestured. "Everyone's going to be up soon. Shall we go where we won't be in the way?" It was true. Since the talking had gone on long enough and sounded friendly, the rest of the Adventurers were starting to arrive for their breakfast, though it was a dinner food. Not that such things mattered when one had been underground for a week and a half and just needed the fuel. Besides it was new and smelled good.

"Why the food?" Alabaster asked as they walked to sit to the side with their hosts of the meal.

"Just a small expression of our appreciation," Michael said. "As far as we know you're the only region to actually follow through from those seven months ago."

The three from the Midwest blinked at him in surprise. "But," Jack protested, "all of the others had the instructions."

Michael nodded. "Yes, but they've also all had their difficulties. We've just come from the West region and the entire west coast was blasted wasteland and the inter-mountain area was barely hanging on." His eyes flicked to Jack. "You remember the kid?" Jack nodded. "He was undead by the time we got there with no one to help him. Not much he could do in that state."

Jack gave a shudder. "No. I'd think not." They sat down and plates were brought, and drinks.

As they dug in, finding the flavors new and very good, Michael looked over to Alabaster. "What's the status of foodstuffs and items?"

Alabaster took his time to eat while gathering up the data in his head. "The food's appreciated since it obviously will help us go one more meal. We might be able to only send out one small gathering party now instead of take a whole day of half of us. Items have been harder to conserve. We've already had to take one break to fetch more of those. If we keep a tight watch on it we might make it without another harvest." He shrugged. "That's one of those close ones. Don't want to waste the time, but it's likely to be the deciding factor at the last minute. We were going to discuss that in this morning's meeting anyway."

Michael gave a nod as his eyes turned towards Blaze. Blaze didn't hurry to empty his mouth, but he did pay attention. "What's the current method you're using? Have you already learned the number limits are gone?"

Blaze nodded. "And very glad of it. We got desperate enough once we reached the third level I gave up and just forced it on the room we'd already died three times in. When it stuck I was extremely relieved, I can tell you. It made all the difference in that one and I've taken advantage of it since then. It's cut our time almost in half - relatively," he grimaced. Every room had been harder, and this level was already getting ridiculous. Between and around eating he succinctly told the three newcomers the strategies they'd been using in the latter part of the dungeon.

When he was done he hesitated, frowning slightly at his plate. He looked up into Michael's eyes. "It's turning into brawls and free-for-alls is what it's starting to feel like, though. Is that right? Is it supposed to be like that at this point?"

Michael paused and pursed his lips. The other two had looked to him sharply. "Tell me, first...how many Adventurers in the Midwest are we looking to retrieve? And how deeply have you done recon to?"

Blaze hesitated again. "I'm not sure on the exact number," he finally said. "Maybe...a quarter at rough estimate?"

Michael gave a nod. "That's not bad." Blaze looked up with a blink. "...Other than that any of them are unable to resurrect."

Blaze nodded soberly at that. His stomach clenched, not wanting to remember what had come before. He took a slow calming breath and answered the other question. "The Overwritten boss is in the mirror room, waiting for us." He said that coolly, dispassionately going back to his eating. Michael let it be quiet for a while. Blaze worked on calming down and filling his stomach.

Michael leaned back on his hands and looked at the ceiling. "That's...hmm..."

Blaze nodded. Grimly he said, "We're really not looking forward to walking in there and having to fight us and them. Will they double when we get in there, too?" He almost held his breath. They'd not even let the rest of the Adventurers know that was what they were going to have to face. It had already made it almost too hard to face the stupid high level rooms they'd reached in the last few days for just the three of them.

There was a pause and Blaze could almost feel a magic going off. It was Jack again who gave it away, that something surprising had happened and his eyes were looking at the space around and over them. Michael leaned forward again and spoke quietly. "You won't, but we need to fill you three in on things Purrcy didn't get into her data drop box. I'll talk to everyone before we get there because everyone has to know it all, but you'll be wanting to fit it into your picture first." Michael waited until the three of them finished eating, set their plates aside, and gave him their full attention.

-:-:-:-:-

BillyBoy and his party "rolled into town" as it would be said in the West, in Aurora, the Adventurer city that held the position of Denver. The expected craters around an Adventurer city in the States were quite numerous, but it was relieving to not see Overwritten still around or in the city itself.

The Eagles had left them a few hours before Cheyenne, Wyoming, leaving from the tops of the last foothills of the Rocky Mountains where I-80 finished breaking out of the mountains. The Eagles had given each group that was sent out on this political and quest request mission copies of the other political battles that had been worked on and the pamphlet Shiroe had written up on how to help Adventurers play nicely with each other. BillyBoy had been studying them faithfully with his counselors and had heavily used their short time with the Eagles to ask lots of questions.

Cheyenne, Wyoming, had been a small outpost of only People of the Land, hardened but left alone by the Specials and therefore the Overwritten. That had been somewhat relieving, though disappointing to not find at least visiting Adventurers. Most of Wyoming was zones, though, not Adventurer living space. Only so many Adventurer cities had been paid for by the creators of _Elder Tales_ , and those mostly of the big-name cities.

Thus they hadn't been too surprised to learn that the minor Adventurer city of Fort Collins was an outpost, though it did have a guard unit there. They'd managed to teach the world quests satisfactorily and then get to ask questions about Aurora. They'd only gotten shrugs on if they would play. It seemed like the guild that had settled in Fort Collins liked their space and quiet privacy - and to fight Overwritten. They'd blown that quest off, saying they already had that one well in hand.

Colorado Springs, south of Aurora, should be similar to Fort Collins. They'd leave Colorado east from Aurora east along I-70 into Kansas. BillyBoy didn't want to have the entire party delayed by the drop to the south to visit Colorado Springs, so he'd chosen to send a third of his party on down to Colorado Springs so that they might be able to wrap up Colorado a little sooner.

Remembering what it had felt like to be suddenly inundated with Boise's Adventurers, he'd divided the rest of his party into smaller parties to get information and the feel of Aurora, and left four outside the city just in case they needed help to get back out. BillyBoy had stayed outside the city for now. It made him feel like a coward, but they'd told him to sit tight as central command until they'd felt the city out, and it did seem like the wiser option somehow. Perhaps that was just his nerves from the time in Twin Falls. He wasn't sure.

The longest and last report to come in was Hue's. "I found the place they put up handbills. There's a picture of the World General up, and a summary message of the world quests. When I asked people about them, I got a mix of people who wished it was true and those who scoffed at it. When I asked about the Maze of Eternity, a few people said that Twin Blade Blaze and the Alabaster Archmage had been out this way recruiting for it, and had left the handbills behind." BillyBoy sat up in surprise at that. "Anyway, so I went ahead and scheduled stage time and we're to go on in about fifteen. Thought you might want to know."

BillyBoy groaned. "You could have given me more than a fifteen minute warning," he scolded.

"Well, we've been busy talking to all sorts of people trying to get them to come listen. This has been my first opportunity."

"Alright. I'm on my way in," BillyBoy said as he rose to his feet. Maybe their job would be easier, and maybe it wouldn't. He hoped that Michael's convincing speech to the Western Adventurers would be enough to convince everyone else. He said a rather fervent prayer in his heart as he trotted into the Adventurer city of Aurora and hunted for Hue on his city map.

-:-:-:-:-

Leonardo walked into Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and looked around. He was stared at like usual, and ignored it for now. Cos-play wasn't that unusual in the game. It just got looked at when seen the first time.

Walking into the Adventurer hall, he looked around again. They used it for general gathering it looked like, and merchanting and other similar things. His eyes were caught by a familiar thing in a strange place. It took walking over to the board on the wall and staring at it for about two minutes before it crossed the barrier of the ocean in his mind and his mouth dropped open. It was the very handbills he'd helped put up all along the train's passageway on the other side of the planet. _He_ hadn't put these up here, though. He wondered, _who had?_

Leonardo looked around the room again and noticed he was being approached by someone short, stocky, and bespectacled. "New in town?" he was asked.

"Yes." He pointed to the handbills. "Can you tell me about these?"

"Sure," the old-timer said. "Regional high level folks stopped by and left behind a message and those things. They said they were off to fix the Maze of Eternity."

"Did they?" Leonardo asked, still rather in shock.

"Yup. Last we heard, they were off to go fix the one in Western Canada."

"Were any Adventurers cut off from resurrecting before then?" Leonardo asked.

The man's eyes narrowed just a bit. "How would you know that's what it was?" he asked.

"Because helping with fixing them and posting those things was my job back in Eured and Africa," he answered straight-up. "I just got done leading the Eastern Canada group in fixing their Maze."

The man blinked at him, now as surprised as Leonardo had been. "Well...then...I guess we're done, then?"

"If the Overwritten have been taken down and the majority of the demihumans taken care of...and everyone agrees to play nicely with each other from now on," Leonardo agreed.

The short man had a smile come on his lips. "If you know them off the cuff that well, you're the real deal. Yeah, they're all being worked on. North half of the North continent is taken care of." He gave a thumbs up.

Leonardo slumped. "Wonderful. Then I can go join up with the ones crossing the other direction down in the U.S. Thanks."

The man patted him on the arm. "Good luck. Thanks for the update."

"Ah...they got the Western U.S. Maze done and should be approaching both the Central U.S. Maze and the Central American one now. If you'd pass that on."

The man gave him a knowing look. "Will do," he agreed. "The sooner the better on the whole lot of it all."

"Agreed," Leonardo said with great feeling. Now he only needed HackerM1 getting in touch with him so he could let _him_ know...and somehow catch up to him. At least it would be good news to pass on to Shiroe.

-:-:-:-:-

"Mister Training, sir? Have you got some time?"

Training blinked but kept turning skewers over. "Sure. Go ahead, Hue." He was a bit surprised his first call was from the youngest of the leaders from Twin Falls.

"We're in Aurora. They've already heard about the quests, before we got here. Billy's going to talk to them all anyway but I was wondering if the recording was perhaps...too long?"

"Typically repetition never hurts," Training answered.

"Well, that's usually true," Hue agreed. Training started taking his skewers off the grill. He put them on the plates at the outer edge of the grill where they'd be kept warm. This was the last batch of them, which was a good thing, apparently. "...We haven't been able to see just what's going on in Aurora yet, but it feels like Twin Falls after Boise showed up. I'm not sure everyone will stand still and listen that long." Training sent a request to P/R that he free himself up as well.

"I think you'll be just fine. I can observe over your shoulder, though, if you'd like. If anything difficult comes up I can give our answers, though your answers have been just fine so far." Training glanced over to the meeting of the generals as he walked away from the grill. While he thought Michael or Reed might want to see BillyBoy at work for themselves it didn't look like this would be a good time for their schedule. He motioned to P/R to join him on a patch of out-of-the-way ground and switched it to a video conference call, one-way, so they could watch over Hue's shoulder.

"Could you?" Hue asked, sounding relieved. "I'm afraid I set it up without having time to let Billy know with much advance warning. I was asked a lot of questions."

"All right. I'll be watching over you," Training promised. "I'm going to have P/R sit in on it, too, okay?"

"Okay," Hue sounded even more relieved at that news, likely because it was P/R who had given the spiel in Twin Falls.

Training muted their side and filled P/R in. They watched as the stage in the Adventurer hall was climbed by BillyBoy, Hue, and Brad. Once they were in place, Training and P/R scanned the waiting crowd with practiced eyes. "Should we call in Bowie?" P/R asked quietly.

Training glanced over to Bowie. Bowie turned to look at him at the same moment. On a private chat line, Bowie said quietly, "They'll probably be fine but I'll pay attention. If things get rough I'll come join you." Training gave a nod and turned back to the window on Aurora.

-:-:-:-:-

Charlie stood outside the room of seclusion Michael had cast around himself and the five other leaders of the two groups. He wasn't waiting very patiently, actually. Reed put his hand over his ear. Charlie immediately said, "LeftField's discovered that the reason he couldn't find the Central American Server is because they've already cleared out the Overwritten and fixed it up. I took it upon myself to hunt down Leonardo. He says he was just told that the Central Canada Maze is completed and the same folks are working on the Western Canada Maze and close to done there. He wants to know if he can come join us down here since he's done with the Eastern Canada Maze. It would help P/R and Training if they knew what Blaze did in Aurora before things get too deep there for the Twin Falls group. The other two groups of western boys also want to know why their job is so easy."

Reed blinked a few times as he dropped his hand, then turned to the three men before him. Michael paused to let him have a say. "Just how far did you spread the word?"

"Just through the central regions," Blaze said calmly.

"All the way from the North to the South?" Reed asked.

"Yup."

"Can one of you break out and go fill in a couple of our men who are coaching a group currently in Aurora?"

Alabaster blinked, then rose to his feet. "I should go for that one," he said. Reed motioned to Charlie to take him over to the right people.

Michael looked at Reed curiously. "Leonardo wants to come join us in progress because Canada is just about done. LeftField's feeling left out because Central America is done already, too," Reed reported with a straight face.

Michael was struggling to not let his mouth drop open. He finally turned back to Blaze and Jack. "So, you're only just getting here because you've been spreading the word until now?"

Both men nodded. "It hasn't always been pretty, but most everyone got on board pretty quickly," Blaze said. "There are the expected hot spots, but we managed to get them settled down eventually to a level that they can all live with each other, even if it's uneasy truces in places here and there."

"Did you contact Shiroe for any of those?" Michael asked.

Jack shrugged and Blaze shook his head. "With Alabaster with us it wasn't really necessary."

Michael gave Jack an appraising look. "Can you package up the histories of how things went down in the most difficult cities? I'd like to review them so I know what we're going to have to face when we all get together at the root of the World Tree." Jack gave a nod and was gone for a while.

Michael put his chin in his hand and rested his elbow on his knee. "So, Blaze, I'm thinking at this point we'll just say we're a late-coming add-on and we'll break the news of just who we are after they've seen what we can do. I was hoping that group in Aurora could be here to help out by this point in the dungeon, too. They need the training...if you haven't already gone east?"

Blaze shook his head. "It's not pretty in the east, like you say it's not in the west. We're small game here in the midwest in comparison, save for Aurora and some of the Texas cities. Most everyone had been doing well at keeping the Overwritten contained as it was. Learning how to purify the demihumans was all we needed, really - that and how to run this dungeon and the repairs, though we'll be glad to have experienced hands on that, too." He got a grin on his face. "We could say you're the maintenance crew?"

Michael and Reed both rolled eyes at him. "We are, but that's a bit low." Michael's eyes went back to Jack. Jack was already looking at him. "Mister Jack wants to know what we can do other than that, too."

Blaze shifted to lift a knee. "Well...I think that would be across the board, really," he said dryly. "Alright. We'll just add you in for the next room, then."

Michael rose to his feet and took down the secure room. The others rose with him. "Sounds good. We can't get moving until Training and P/R are done with Alabaster. In the mean time," Michael switched to a guild chat, "Nav and Charlie, get with Jack here and get confirmation that the Canada Mazes are done or nearly done. Jack knows who's in charge on that one. Leonardo can't come meet with us until we have that confirmed." He got obedient movement from those two and MasterChiefS7 led Jack over to where they were headed.

"Reed, you go sit with Blaze while he lets the rest of his group know what they're doing. I want to go watch BillyBoy in action," Michael said calmly as he headed for that group in the back behind the grill.

As he left the other two, Blaze asked Reed, "Is he always like that?"

Reed answered in a resigned tone. Michael was always like that, but it was because until they'd finished testing the rest of the people in this room, someone else was the visual head of the Eagles. Other reasons included that Reed needed more practice standing next to Generals other than Michael, and everyone else needed to practice seeing Reed in that position. Besides, Michael likely had orders for the Twin Falls boys once they'd finished what they were doing in Aurora. Michael was continuing his orders to the Eagles, sending the packaged political events to the Play Nice team to review up in the upper speed layers. They needed to come up to speed on what Blaze's group had done as fast as possible.

Reed was just as pleased to have Blaze order for a day's harvest and rest. That would give the Twin Falls boys time to get closer to the Maze. When he was given time to introduce themselves, Reed merely stepped forward and said, "Hi. We've come from the West region, having fixed this place over there. We thought we'd come help since we know how difficult it is. We'll try to get up to speed with your pacing as fast as we can. We appreciate your leadership letting us join in late." That was all that was necessary for everyone to be even more glad they'd shown up - the food being the other reason. "There's one more group on their way here as well, but they'll be new to the Maze. More arms is more arms, though, and they're a good bunch of guys. I'm sure they won't take long to get into the groove either."

The Eagles were warmly welcomed into the group as a whole once the grill and breakfast was cleaned up from.

Michael orders the Twin Fall's group to come straight for the Maze - at this point we are at almost mid-morning of the 29th (on the U.S. side).

-:-:-:-:-

Isuzu put away her kokyū and rose to her feet and stretched, interlacing her fingers above her head to stretch her palms and fingers out, too. With a large breath in that sighed out, she put away her chair and leaned on the railing to watch the stars over the ocean. They were far enough from Ezzo now that it was hard to tell if the dark splotch on the horizon was the island or just the darkness of the night. She wondered if her listener was going to show their face, or faces since it could be more than one. There was an extra glitter on the water below her and a splash that somehow made it through the noise of splashing that the waterwheel was making.

Looking down into the water below her, Isuzu could see several glittering water creatures swimming along behind the ship. They were leaping like dolphin would. Isuzu watched them for a while, then was surprised as one swirled around in a circle, then rose up at the top of a column of water to face her. Isuzu stared at the mermaid that came into view as the lights of the ship exposed what the creature was. The mermaid clapped her hands. Isuzu smiled and stepped back from the railing and bowed almost as flamboyantly as Rudy would have. It was kind of fun to have had an audience of merpeople. She supposed that water creatures might find such wailing music interesting. Surely what they would like would be very different from normal land-walking people.

As she looked back at the mermaid, she could see another glitter that was headed her way. She held out her hands and an item settled into them. "Thank you," she said to the mermaid. The mermaid clapped again, then dove off of her water column back into the ocean. Isuzu watched as the merfolk swam away from the ship. All unknown she'd given a concert to them and they'd paid her for it. Isuzu shook her head. It had just been practice, and a bad one at that, though productive.

She headed for the main deck. Down there was less windy for sleeping. Her human audience was gone by the time she walked past that hiding place, but William met her on the main deck. "Have a productive practice?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, "I even got paid for it." She grinned at him.

William's eyebrow raised. "Oh? What was it?"

"Merpeople have a strange sense of music taste," she teased. William laughed. She opened her hand and looked at the item she'd been given. It was silver and was two clasped hands.

"What?" William said and she looked up at him, curious. "That...that's one of the Giant sub-quest pins. How did the merpeople get hold of it, I wonder?"

Isuzu blinked. "I have no idea. Why would they have given it to me?"

William shrugged. "Well, if you're going to go visit the Giant village, it will be a useful thing to have. Otherwise you'll have to sit on Corbin's shoulder the whole time. He's the only one with the translator."

Isuzu's mouth lifted on one side and she put the pin in her list. Maybe she would learn how it had come to be in the ocean once she got to the Giant village. Regardless, she was quite sure Hahaue somehow had her finger in it coming to her specifically, being yet another light push in the direction she wanted to go. Once again, William quite naturally settled down next to her to continue to watch over her, even in sleeping, like he had in Susukino.

Several hours later, she was just as glad to have the pin and have William tell her how to use it. It helped them to have a Giant on board who had a purification knife gifted by that same Hahaue back in a guild court months ago. Isuzu had to practice not tipping the boat, but it was very satisfying to plunge her knife in the side of the sea monster and have it go up in bubbles finally. She was glad the purification of the knife Cleared the poisonous gas that it would have given out as its final gasp of revenge against the Adventurers. It was probably okay for that sea monster to not come back later.

Like most Adventurers, she was back to sleep rather quickly after that battle and hoping for no further interruptions for a while. It was nice to have the Adventure continue, though she was looking forward to seeing her guild family again.


	197. Rumors (Eagles)

"You've got to be kidding," complained a Sorcerer in a red robe of Magician's Defense. His fist holding his tall staff clenched on it and the knuckles whitened. "How can each room be _worse_ than the previous one?"

"It was nice to have assistance for the last one. I wonder if they can keep it up?" the dwarven Kannagi next to him pushed his glasses up on his face. He looked more half-dwarf, half-elf with his thin good looks. He was looking over at the newcomers. As usual, two were standing with Blaze and Alabaster up where they could see the room and all the activity going on in it.

"Rumor is that they're from the original group to start working on these things over in Yamato," the Guardian of the party said, leaning on his longsword. He'd reached a high enough level he could swing it one-handed and hold his tall wall board in the other hand at the same time - which was crazy strong.

No one was going to complain about the levels they were gaining - just the blisters they would have if they could have them. The medical student in the party had theorized that they just healed too quickly for them to even notice. "I mean, what human body can heal from life-threatening wounds in an hour and rejuvenate in four? I wish I had _that_ kind of stamina and healing for the medical boards!" he'd said at night after one of the second floor battles. Now he opened his mouth to scold the Guardian, but the Guardian got his words in first.

"I've also heard they did the West U.S. Maze all by themselves."

The rest of the party stared at him. "No way." Everyone in this dungeon knew how hard this was. There was absolutely no way one full raid party had accomplished it all on their own. It took two legions to fight through this floor, and they'd been on rotation until this last room kept taking them down and they'd had to make it a legion and a half.

"I'm looking forward to the next group that's coming to join us from over there," the Guardian continued on rather placidly. "I want to hear it from someone who might really know." He looked at the Eagle closest to them who was getting a healing spell from the next party over's Cleric. "I think they've been holding back. From what I can tell, each one is a full quarter to half raid on their own."

The sputtering Druid in their group finally found his words, the sleeve of his green robe flapping as he waved his hand in the air in protest. "I can see how they got to level one-hundred-ten, having to fight through these dungeons like they have, but that's just ridiculous."

The Guardian shook his head and gave a sidelong look to the Druid. Quietly he said, "There's a difference between what they feel like and what their data says. I'd die in less than ten hits by one of them. ...I'm glad they're on our side."

"Okay," the Sorcerer bit, "just what level to you think they are then? By feel?"

The Guardian looked at the Eagle again, his eyes going distant as if reading the status screen, but the one in his head instead of the one they could all see. He chewed on his lower lip for a bit, then finally said, "Roughly one-hundred-fifty. That's taking what they feel like if they were a boss and re-calculating back to Adventurer levels. As a group I would think it would take all the rest of us to deal with them." He finally came back and gave a tiny nod. "I could see them being able to take down a room like this by themselves. It might take a while since they're few in number, but they're equal to it in power."

"No way!" the Druid was still in denial.

The dwarven Kannagi was thinking about it, his brow furrowed as he calculated. Slowly his head started to shake. "I don't know. If we kept fighting in Maze after Maze...even we might start moving up like that. How many have they fought in? Is that in any of the rumors?"

The Guardian shook his head. "At a minimum this is their third, given what we do know."

The party kept watch on what the Eagles did (to the best of their ability around their own busy battling) calculating just how much additional help they were giving to their one and a half legions. They were also some of the first to go hunting up Western Adventurers to talk to once they showed up another day later. The Guardian was happily satisfied to learn he'd been right about the Western Maze of Eternity. The rest could only shake their heads.

-:-:-:-:-

Isuzu was enveloped in a large warm hug from Minori. She gave it back just as warmly. They parted and smiled large smiles at each other. "It is so good to see you again!" Minori said exuberantly.

"It's good to see you, too," Isuzu said, happy to be back with her guild family again. "William has been taking good care of me. It's a good thing I got to Susukino in time to come on the ship, or I would have missed it all together, I think." She wrinkled her nose. "I really would not have enjoyed the long walk from up there all the way here."

"Did you lose track of time, then? I thought...oh, no. Shiroe-sensei didn't forget did he?" Minori turned to frown at Shiroe. Shiroe looked away in embarrassment. Minori sighed. "He was really busy just before we left. We had to make him sit down and tell it all to us after he started giving out last minute orders that surprised us all."

Isuzu sighed at Shiroe, but it wasn't surprising, really. "It's okay. I've had fun Adventuring again. I'll be going back up to Susukino, too. I want to see the Giant village and explore up there."

Shiroe took his turn to give a gentle hug to Isuzu. "It's good to have you visit for the week." He turned and indicated the newest person in the group. "Isuzu, this is MeowLi. MeowLi, this is Isuzu, our wandering troubadour."

Isuzu smiled at the moniker and held out her hand. "Hi. Shiroe-san's mentioned you. I'm glad to get to meet you finally."

MeowLi looked a bit surprised to be offered a hand to shake, and she took it a bit hesitantly, but her grip was firm enough. "A pleasure to meet you," MeowLi said politely.

Isuzu let the handshake go, but had been struck by a flash of insight. "You're very much like your mother, aren't you, for all you look like your father?" MeowLi blinked, a flash a panic having gone across her face, that had then been smothered. Isuzu smiled a gentle smile. "It's okay. I know. I'm Log Horizon, too." She took MeowLi in a light hug. When MeowLi finally relaxed, Isuzu let her go and patted her on the head a couple of times. "Yup. Just like your mother. You'll be just fine." The rest of the guild was smothering chuckles.

Isuzu's eyes went to Rudy next. "How have you been?"

She read the subtle signs as he waved a hand in the air casually. "I've been happily busy, of course. MeowLi has been pleasant company and we've quite had almost no time to breathe between studying for Miss Purrcy's financial class and keeping Lord Iselius and Lady Raynessia entertained. It often feels like I'm in the class for a second time, even though I'm only one of the tutors this time." The smile on his face and the sparkle in his eyes made Isuzu relax.

"Well, it's good you can be happy doing good things," she answered back, smiling. She gave a light punch to Touya's shoulder and was shocked when he gave her a brief gentle hug instead of just a pat on the shoulder.

"Welcome back," he said softly.

"Thanks, Touya," Isuzu answered back. She gave him a long look. "I guess you've changed the most, surprisingly. What happened?"

Touya looked a bit surprised, then glanced at Minori and looked away. "Let's show you where the apartment is," Shiroe interrupted. "They can tell you on the way. Then we need to be at the opening ceremonies." Isuzu raised an eyebrow at Shiroe. He slumped and looked sorry for himself, like he did so well. "Even Brody isn't going to let us - me - get away with not participating in them."

Isuzu wrinkled her nose and laughed at him. "Of course not...Heika." Shiroe groaned. She just grinned at him. Slipping her arms through Minori's and MeowLi's to get them all walking. She looked over to Touya. "Okay. So spill. What happened."

He looked away not wanting to answer it. Minori took a breath and he scowled at her a bit. "Not like we want to ruin a happy time," he complained.

"Oh? It's not good?" Isuzu asked. She thought about that. "Well, it would be better to have it out of the way early...and we always grow stronger through trials and hard things."

Touya slumped as Minori nodded. The initial answer came from the other side of Shiroe, though, as Akatsuki said calmly, "He got mad enough to beat up on other Adventurers."

Touya went red in embarrassment, and his scowl was rather dark. Minori's eyes got very round, and Isuzu's eyebrows went up high and her mouth went round. "Oh. That _would_ be very un-Touya-like."

She looked at him and blinked, then looked at Minori who had slumped and was looking at the ground. "Ah. Big brother came out, did he?" Isuzu said softly. "Well, I can see that." She studied Touya a bit more, then gave a nod. "Okay. It's alright. Every man has a right to protect the someone that is important to him." Touya threw her a grateful look. Akatsuki gave a very firm nod of agreement.

Isuzu relaxed. That was enough for her. She took the conversation and began telling some of her more light stories of what she'd seen and done while on this latest trip up the coast of Yamato. It was good to be home again.

-:-:-:-:-

Clair took a deep breath. This was it. A long day of rehearsals yesterday had been enough to tire her out so that she'd slept hard that night until the nightmares had started in the early morning. They had been tempered with the smiling faces of Adventurers - most notably Marielle's - and she'd managed to get some level of rest through them.

Now, they were standing back-stage, the audience milling outside. Their happy, interested voices were muffled a bit by the heavy curtains and walls that surrounded the back, and they added to the excitement of the mid-morning. So did the happy, chatty voices of the models who were nearly dressed and were getting their hair and makeup done.

Clair had noticed that to some degree the hair was done with magic so that it went faster, particularly during changes between outfits. The makeup might only be touched up somewhat depending on what the needs were to match the newest outfit - the more dramatic or outlandish a design was worn, the more the makeup and hair had to change to match it. She shuddered slightly and turned away. She was very glad Purrcy very strictly stayed away from such things that could barely be called "clothing".

"All right, everyone!" Marielle's cheery voice rang out. "Are we ready?" Clair could only bob her head nervously, but several of the more energetic people called out positive responses.

Clair turned to look at her models. Marielle had decided to combine it all into one grand fashion show to be the grand opening of the spring festival. The planning committee of Nakasu had been grateful to have her run with it. That meant Clair had been assigned an assistant to help her. She'd been amazed when her things had been unpacked at twice the number she'd sewn. She'd only gotten a wink and a pat on the shoulder from Calasin at her protest. "That's how we handle things," he'd reassured her, then he was gone to oversee the next line to be unloaded.

Not knowing how to dress tailed models herself, Clair's assistant was a small but sleek red-fox foxtail. She had a pretty smile, but most of the time the foxtail was firm business, handling the models with a no-nonsense attitude that helped them get out onto the stage quickly and with a minimum of stress. Clair was supremely grateful and had been watching her out of the corner of her eye and trying to emulate her.

With her own models being Princess Raynessia and Prince Iselius, it wasn't very difficult in the dressing area. They'd brought their own maid and manservant to help with that part. Clair's job was to keep Iselius from becoming overly excited. Thus why she wanted to emulate her assistant. Keeping firm, calm, and focused helped him to do the same.

Clair took one more deep breath that she then remembered to make her models echo. Marielle's happy welcome to the Adventurers to the Spring Fashion Show and the resulting wild cheering rang into the back making everyone in the back smile and they began.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe had done something a little different for the Spring Fashion Show. He'd requested front row seats for his guild, and then sat central to it. The suspicious Round Table guildmasters kept throwing him looks asking if he was coming out even more as head of Yamato in doing that, and to some degree he was. He never did things for one reason if he could do it for three, though. He was very much like Purrcy in that regard.

One of the things he was keeping an ear on as the fashion show went on was MeowLi and her questions to Rudy, and Rudy's almost running commentary on the show. He was always careful to tell her and Neville when an article of clothing was one not likely to be worn much if at all (usually the most scandalous). Most of the time MeowLi seemed as enthralled and enrapt as Duke Sergiad and Iselius had been for their first fashion show. She had been less than enthusiastic about attending, but Shiroe had wanted her to understand Adventurers better, and get used to being in a crowd of them with her family around to protect her here at the beginning. She seemed to be doing just fine now that she was caught up in the excitement of the event.

Another thing Shiroe was doing was judging the show and every article of clothing that came out. The last time he'd been paying more attention to the party hosted by Purrcy than what was crossing the runway. This time he wanted to know just what was really coming out and how it all compared. He had to admit that Purrcy and Clair's work showed a fine understanding of both what would realistically be worn, and would work for the purposes it was created for.

There were two other lines that caught his interest as well, and he sent a quick chat to Henrietta to get the names of the artisans. He wasn't too surprised to learn that one of the two lines was Mei-Mao's line. She also had a firm hand for practical beauty. It made sense that the two women would get along well, then. Shiroe sent requests to Calasin and to Tetorō. He wanted to see that he had proper connections to those other tailors both on Theldesia and on Earth.

Shiroe's secret pleasure in sitting front and center was so he could watch Akatsuki model. She'd had enough practice now - and the additional poise that being paid to do it gave her - that she was quite the gem to watch walk down the runway. It was one of the rare joys to get to see her in colors and in clothing she didn't normally wear.

It made him feel guilty to see why Marielle and Henrietta wanted to see Akatsuki dressed up, but he tried not to dwell on that too much since she was doing it now because she _wanted_ to, even if it was a want to be paid, not so much a want to be dressed up. That disappeared the time she caught him looking at her and the secret smile came on her face that said she liked to make him look at her. Then he sighed to himself and just let himself enjoy it.

A different model came out wearing something that he knew instinctively would look really good on Akatsuki. He immediately had Calasin on a chat. "Hey, it's Shiroe. This one that's out now. I want one made up in a dark blue top with dark maroon leggings, and can it be done while we're down here? With dark brown suede boots, just over the ankle and turned down at the top?"

"Let me know when the model's walked back into the changing area." Shiroe just sent Calasin the image he was seeing right then. "Mmm. Akatsuki's size?"

"Yes," Shiroe answered calmly.

"We'll do what we can," Calasin answered and Shiroe let the chat go with a brief thanks.

Tetorō leaned around Naotsugu to look at Shiroe. "Just what are you planning, ō-sama?"

Shiroe held down the twitch. "A gift."

Tetorō blinked, then glared at him. "No, really. You've got something else rolling around in there to set us all up like this."

Having sent Tetorō the text request was likely the supporting detail to Tetorō's insistence. Casually Shiroe answered, "Just continuing to walk the path Joō Heika wants me to walk. There aren't many opportunities to do so, after all."

Tetorō gave a snort, but leaned back in his chair again, satisfied enough with that answer. Shiroe wasn't going to tell him any more than that right at the moment. It was still mostly a feeling floating around inside as he planned things for the far future. It was sometimes difficult to allow those thoughts to rise up to full contemplation since they still had the final gauntlet to go through.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi was enthralled with the fashion show, in spite of herself. She had loved going through all the clothes at Shopping District 8 with Minori. Minori had been very patient with her, allowing her to not only go through H12b but several other racks of clothing. This was almost better. Here, MeowLi just had to sit and all the clothes came out for her to look at. She'd already seen three or four outfits she wanted to go find and buy. She hoped she could remember them.

The fanciful and extremes were funny and sometimes hilariously horrifying. It helped to have Rudy's calm comments that even most of the Adventurers found them the same. Isuzu's caustic remarks on the other side of Minori from MeowLi helped as well, though it was nice she wasn't always that way. She also made very thoughtful comments on a few, including a few that MeowLi was sure Isuzu was going to buy before she got on the road again.

She'd not been too sure about Isuzu at the beginning. Now that there'd been a night and this morning, MeowLi was about to the final sum. Isuzu was an older sister - just close enough in age to MeowLi to be a rival, just family enough to be the occasional comfort and steady calm influence. She had the personality that held a group together, but enough self-confidence to rub MeowLi's fur the wrong way every once in a while: a less-wild version of Meiki, perhaps even a mix of Meiki and Miru. She didn't need to miss either of them when Isuzu was around. At least Isuzu was real and didn't put on airs like a lot of her ilk had at the university in the Gate of Time. That would have been unbearable.

MeowLi had been worried about how she would fit in when Isuzu came home. She'd been most worried about Isuzu being jealous that Rudy paid so much attention to her. That so far hadn't been the case. Really, it had been a lot more like an older sibling who was out of the house coming home for vacation. MeowLi was quite relieved, and thus more willing to forgive the times that Isuzu was irritating. They were minor enough.

Shiroe's voice sounded, talking to someone, and then Tetorō talking to him. MeowLi glanced over at them. Shiroe was dressed up a little bit from what he wore casually around the guild hall. It accentuated the sense that he was a high level city official. MeowLi still wanted to know why they were sitting in places of honor for the fashion show, particularly when most of the audience was standing. It generally made her many years of lessons from her parents come out completely naturally - that of being in the forefront of attention and behaving properly in front of everyone.

MeowLi's nose twitched, and then her whiskers and an ear. It got to be too much, even with the distraction of the not-clothing that was walking down the long stage in front of her at the moment. She had to know. She leaned over to Minori and asked very quietly, "Just what is Shiroe-san? Why are we sitting here?"

Minori glanced at Isuzu and Rudy and they all leaned in close to talk quietly, and explained to her just what role her own mother had pushed Shiroe and the guild into. MeowLi groaned just a little. "Sometimes I just have to wonder what Hahaue is doing," she complained a bit. "She will do this sort of thing, then laugh in delight as if a little girl who just got her favorite dessert. I hated it when she would do that to me, when all I wanted was to sit on the balcony in the sun, reading."

The others looked at her, interested in hearing more. "She'd gotten bored, or something...Setsubou said later he thought she wanted to give Chichiue a gift. She planned a ball and then made us all dress up for it." MeowLi's eyes went back to see Raynessia walking down the runway, holding Neville's attention quite well. "It was a dress like that one," she pointed with her ears and head at it. "Meiki loved hers, but my feet kept wanting to trip over mine. And then there were the ballroom dance lessons we had to take until Chichiue was satisfied." MeowLi wrinkled her nose. She'd liked dancing with her father, but not the tests.

"It was after I'd danced with the class nerd and he'd been so flowery in his praise of me and the ball generally, that Hahaue had to let the delight out. He was embarrassed and so was I. We'd already been getting teased at school about being a 'couple', though neither one of us cared for that so much as for our studies. We couldn't look at each other after that when we passed in school without blushing horribly." MeowLi sighed. "At least we weren't forced to spend time together after that outside of school hours, like a lot of pairings were shortly after that."

Isuzu gave a knowing smile. "Were they forced? Or was that the push they needed to _want_ to spend more time together?"

MeowLi looked away and an ear flicked in embarrassment. "I suppose many did seem to want to spend the time together," she had to allow. She looked down at her hands and sighed. "I suppose even he might not have minded a few visits, but I wasn't interested at all."

Minori patted MeowLi's hands. "That's okay. It's better to have not led him on." MeowLi nodded at that practicality.

"Was there ever anyone you were interested in?" Rudy asked MeowLi.

MeowLi stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. "No. It was too hard to find someone who could be calm that might have just wanted to talk to me instead of the High Priestess' daughter." Everyone looked at her sympathetically at that. They understood that much.

MeowLi was glad she'd asked what status they were supposed to be living to at the fashion show though, particularly after it was over and several Adventurers showed up to scold Shiroe. He responded very calmly, not confirming or denying anything, just like MeowLi's father would have.

When a few of them turned to look towards the juniors, she knew exactly how to stand still and poised, her body also not saying anything except to express her good breeding. She was going to have to be in Nakasu - and Akiba - like she had been in the Gate of Time, when in public. At least she wasn't going to be on full display. That was more exhausting. This much was normal.

-:-:-:-:-

When they could finally get free, Log Horizon took themselves to the back of the stage to congratulate their friends and pick up the Maihama royals. When they arrived, Purrcy was giving out hugs and kisses, and Nyanta was kindly offering a few words of praise. It was obvious that most people there couldn't see them, but their family and those whom they loved could and were glad to see them for the brief time they could come and share the time of the fashion show with them.

When the royals were ready, Log Horizon walked with Iselius, Raynessia, and Neville to the food district of the festival. They were joined eventually by Isaac, Marielle, Henrietta, Clair, Nazuna, and Rieze. They ate at Crescent Moon Burgers while chatting happily about the various costumes and clothing that had been displayed. The girls were already planning their visit to Shopping District 8 to pick up outfits they'd liked at the show.

When everyone was finally done eating and visiting, Isaac took Iselius and Neville off with him. The Water Maple ladies gathered up Raynessia and Clair to go and see the sights. Tetorō went with them, since they continued to include him as one of them. Akatsuki wanted them all to go and see Tatara's booth to support her and they readily agreed to go there first.

"What are the rest of you doing?" Isuzu asked.

"Minori and I are going over there," Touya pointed at another restaurant stand. "Hikori-san said we don't have to come all day, but we've promised to do our fair share." The sign over the stand boldly stated "Grandpa's Chinese Kitchen".

"It looks like it's doing good business," Naotsugu whistled.

Touya nodded. "We thought it might since it's still the only Chinese restaurant on the Archipelago." Minori was already putting on her apron.

Isuzu looked at MeowLi and Rudy. "We're staying here to help next," Rudy told her.

Isuzu looked a little confused. "Why not help Touya and Minori?"

MeowLi fidgeted, then sighed. "Because it was my compromise to not have to be a model for the fashion show when they've been so kind to help me learn to cook here. I learned in the Gate of Time, but there are just enough differences that I needed the help."

Rudy nodded. "I've offered to be cashier while she's cooking when they need me, though I'll also be spending some of that time hosting the Prince and Princess."

"And, we'll help at Grandpa's Kitchen if they need us to," MeowLi said quickly, not wanting to feel like she'd slighted her own family.

Touya waved a hand and Minori smiled. "We're just glad you're willing to take over the cooking at the guild hall for us," Minori said kindly.

"I'm glad I can be of help," MeowLi answered. She actually liked having the kitchen there all to herself, though sometimes she missed having her parents there with her. It had been a fun family activity to all work in the kitchen together - though Meiki and Miru usually just ran around throwing flour at each other and being scolded, like normal. It was much more peaceful in Log Horizon's kitchen, which was nice.

"You're cooking at home for everyone, then?" Isuzu asked.

MeowLi nodded. "I enjoy it."

Isuzu smiled. "Like your father, then." MeowLi agreed. She'd always thought she was more like her father than her mother, personally.

"All right, then," Isuzu pronounced. "I'll help be the cashier at Grandpa's Chinese Kitchen. That way all three of the cooks can cook."

"Thanks, Isuzu," Touya said. The juniors parted ways, leaving Shiroe and Naotsugu alone at the tables.

They looked at each other and immediately decided to go find the Water Maple ladies and tag along with them. Their significant others were there, and dates were long overdue.

-:-:-:-:-

Marquis Code was receiving a report from his head spy. He had calculated from all of the excitement in Nakasu that the Archmage and his guild might come to this large spring festival that had begun, and had ordered the spies to be watching for them to arrive and to watch the people in it. He was most interested in the actions of the youngest members and the spy had finally reached that point in his report.

"The younger Adventurers of the guild are busy with working at booths, though they do take time to be entertained as well. The young noble lady is apparently the Princess Raynessia of Maihama, Ambassador of the Grand Duke to the Adventurers." Marquis Code began to go cold. There was truth in the Archmage's words (really Purrcy's words to the Archmage overheard by his sons).

"Sadly, she is betrothed to the young lord who escorts her and their wedding has been scheduled for this coming winter." Not like he'd been thinking of a bride for Berenshilde, but that would certainly make it too late. "We had to confirm it several times since she doesn't look betrothed at all, but every assurance was that it was so and he'd completed three impossible quests in order to win her hand." Well, that was right out, then.

"The youngest lord who walks with them is the Heir Maihama, Iselius." Marquis Code almost couldn't breathe. "All three are tightly guarded by the Knights of the Black Sword guild, though they are guests of Log Horizon, and the guildmaster of that august guild himself seems to be a close guardian of Lord Iselius, with them on very friendly terms." Marquis Code swallowed. Kidnapping, and probably even befriending, would be right out of the question, then.

"Lord Rundelhaus escorts all of them on occasion, but even more often he is the escort to a grey female felinoid." The poor spy did try to make it come out respectful, since he was talking about his master's son, but it was difficult as creatures of the land of that sort were considered a far insuperior creature. Marquis Code didn't hold it against the spy, as he could completely understand. What a great sorrowful indignity.

"She is a cook at the stand, and while he does his duty to work there as the money taker, he also will leave her there to attend to other duties. However, when tested, it was determined that she also is guarded by one other guard hidden away, who is always a strong and intelligent Adventurer of another of the mighty guilds, D.D.D. Archmage Shiroe isn't unaware of her importance since he has allowed her to be within the walls of his guild."

So a possible kidnapping prospect if enough men and strategy were brought to bear, but a mere pawn that perhaps might be expendable. Marquis Code sighed to himself. It wasn't likely to be worth the cost unless drastic measures became necessary.

"Because the Adventurers see Lord Rundelhaus as an Adventurer, apparently this time at least, they are not particularly guarding him at all. He is on his own recognizance most of the time, though he is very busy with hosting the Lords and Lady of Maihama and fulfilling his duties to his guild. When he isn't, he has been walking the streets looking for the People of the Land of the area to talk to. On occasion the consort to the Princess will accompany him, but otherwise he is mostly left to his own devices."

The Marquis' eyes had opened so wide, he wasn't even seeing now. For them to _not_ be protecting his son was nearly incomprehensible. Was he not even going to have to work hard at all to regain his son into his own house? Or...was it a dark ploy to lay the bait and then to entrap him last minute? The Archmage was a sly creature whose mind was tricky and words silky smooth - even if some of them had been truth, apparently. It was the lies mixed in with the truth that were meant to drag one down, however. "Continue to watch Rundelhaus' movements. Perhaps there will come a time where it will be simple to lay the trap and bring him home where he belongs."

"Yes, My Lord," the head spy bowed and left upon a lifted hand of dismissal.

Marquis Code had other things to worry his head this day, and was at the root of why his youngest wayward son needed to return home. It was time to announce his proper heir. Poor Berenshilde had arrived back at the manor home still cursed. It had to be a sign that he'd been unable to win more than a promise of mercy. It hadn't appeared any different than before, his cursing. At best, Marquis Code could place Berenshilde as the Warden of his lands. He and his men delighted in the hunt and worked hard to see that the wild creatures of the zones were kept in check - even if he did die frequently and have to go through being revived again. That was perhaps a blessing in disguise and would be of use in that position.

The Marquis' second son, Oakinshippe, had strength and was popular with the ladies and the hearty men who gathered around him. He had been carrying the burden of gathering the yearly taxes and had been performing that duty well. It wouldn't be terrible to give the heirship to him. The only concern the Marquis had was that his second son had not been willing to settle down with any particular maid yet, and some sign of such stability would be necessary in order to see that he could lead the land when the vagaries of life were thrown suddenly at the lord of it without warning. Oakinshippe tended to freeze and allow terrible things to happen in sudden surprising situations. That was a bit dangerous.

Marquis Code had, nearly in despair, finally come to the conclusion that he needed proper time with his youngest son to see if there were any chance he might be salvageable. The heirship would have to go to Oakinshippe if not, and the lad would have to muddle his best through the worst times. Perhaps Rundelhaus could be an aide to Oakinshippe and be in place to handle the surprises that came along. He did have some capacity to handle new and odd occurrences - like the Adventurer's change.

But Marquis Code had to have him properly home to test him. It had been quite irritating to have the Archmage walk back out again with Rundelhaus still firmly in the middle of his group. It had been worse that an upstart felinoid had the gall to insult his family, his heritage, and then claim that Rundelhaus would inherit. What had the Goddess been thinking to make a mere felinoid into an Oracle?

Marquis Code entertained himself with such irritation for a time. It was difficult to even have to face the whisper that the Oracle had been correct and perhaps Rundelhaus might just be the better choice for heir. Marquis Code might be able to look one son in the eye for passing him up, but not both of them.

-:-:-:-:-

It was the evening rest time for the Eagles. Evening was very relative underground. It was just their turn to sit out and rest, really. The brass called for a huddle before they were going to be let off to really rest, though. They gathered around the top three and a silent room went up around them. That drew surprised reactions, but mostly because it was Reed who'd done it, not Michael. The Commander was looking at the Lieutenant Commander. The rest turned their attention to him, too.

"Too many people are talking about us. The rumors are spreading faster than we want." Reed opened with his concern. "It isn't enough to hide the stats anymore. We're high enough, even with keeping the output down, they can tell. Like any predator knows to back off because they're not top dog."

The three brass looked at Clocktower. "I assigned it to Electrical and Q/A," he answered their unspoken question.

Those two got the attention of the group. They had serious faces. "I ran rough calculations," Electrical began. "It wasn't adding up so we went and asked questions."

Q/A said, "The inter-mountain boys have been fighting Overwritten - high level ones and a lot of them. It seemed it ought to be a close enough match, since most of our work since we hit one-hundred has been the same even if in the Mazes for the most part. We've run the data several times separately and compared." He looked back at Electrical.

Electrical shook his head. "I even broke it down in fine detail just to make sure. ...The Game Bot's been giving us a bonus, and my guess is doing the Western Maze on our own let it add in an extra high bonus. We're about twenty-five levels or more above where we're supposed to be, all things being equal."

Everyone sighed. That wasn't good at all, really. They liked moving up fast, but to be that far ahead of everyone else who was good enough to be their equal wasn't smart and didn't bode well for what might be coming up.

The senior officers looked sentences at each other for a bit, then Michael shook his head. "Shiroe's just going to ask if it's part of breaking the programmed limits of the game again. That's his current bone he's chewing on. I'll tell him when I talk to him and let him add it, but I think it's secondary and not necessarily true. If Izanami wants us to go up to the stratosphere for her own reasons, she can add any modifier she wants. That's not necessarily outside the program."

"Can we sit this one out and just direct as needed, and call it a strike until she lets it alone?" Reed asked.

Michael considered that for a bit, then shook his head. "Last thing Shiroe did tell me that has bearing on it is that, whatever she's doing, she's got a reason and it's directed towards the end goal." He shifted. "We haven't had our philosophical talk yet. This would be a good time to have it."

"Shiroe was asking about the limits we'd seen broken and he said the marking of the horses when we broke the whistles would have had to be Izanagi because he pulled Purrcy up from the forbidden time of sleeping, and Izanami was keeping her shut out of that sub-quest. He's sure a lot of the game action was Izanagi, not Purrcy, and likely not Izanami. He didn't go quite so far as to say God wasn't acting, but that had been my thought - by rights here on Theldesia a lot of what the boys attributed to their God could, and should have been, Izanagi trying to keep the proper balance of life going in the U.S. regions."

"It came up in our conversation that in everything that was a boundary condition, we humans were required to correct or fix them because humans programmed the AIs. In this last thing we _didn't_ jump on, that very boundary condition was broken. The AIs can now program outside their programmed boundaries - at least Izanagi can. Shiroe said we should start seeing signs now that Izanami can act outside the game limits. Izanagi's already been working outside world limits because Purrcy has."

Michael sighed a long-suffering sigh. "I asked him if Izanagi was using Purrcy to break boundaries, then what the hell was Izanami doing with us, and could we please be released a bit instead of tied up tighter and tighter? I can't say I was given good news." They all slumped at that, even him, though they were getting the picture.

"Shiroe's orders are to not interfere with their hidden quest to not be reliant on human minds." They scowled, some of them. "He wants that requirement erased - for both of them. The end goal is that we don't want to have to be relied on. We want to be able to have people go home."

"He's not seen enough data yet to be able to figure out what Izanami's up to, but he does know that they are complex computational machines. That means whatever we're put up to by Izanami, it's already been calculated down to the n-th degree and we're not to trample on it. It's steady as she goes until we get to the end and figure it out. Otherwise we don't free the Game Bot, which keeps us in hock, which keeps everyone else Theldesia-bound. ...Sorry, boys."

No one was happy about that news, really, but at the same time, they'd already been schooled to know that's what she wanted. "What about moving up this fast, though? Is that really required?" Reed asked.

Michael shrugged. "I don't know. We could slow it down a little, do a little less each round, keep it to only the Mazes - though we already are. If she wants us at a certain number, she'll just change the modifier. I'd be okay with slowing things down a bit, particularly when we've got a lot of help like this."

"And we'll get punished if she decides we're being too lazy," MasterChiefS7 commented dryly. He would know, since that was his job, too.

"And there is that," Michael agreed in a rather resigned voice. He rubbed his hand over his head and back again. "Who brought this up to begin with?" he asked.

MasterChiefS7 answered, "Brenner."

Michael's eyes hunted for him and he shifted to be seen. "It was just after Australia, Sir. It seemed to me that it could be dangerous for us as the Game Bot's favorites to be going up high in levels without anyone else able to keep up. We still don't know why she's doing it or what she wants out of it. If we _become_ the monster, how will there be anything to hold us back?"

The tension in the group rose a bit. Michael sighed. He put up a locking umbrella over Reed's and they both tightened them down as far as they could. "Send it out on the underground," Michael said quietly. "They might need to be preparing a defense, just in case."

Reed's wide eyes swung around to him. "Isaac." Michael's brow furrowed in confusion. "Back when she came and let him watch us."

Eyes went wide at that. She'd let Isaac in on the sub-guild's real interactions with her, then. ...She wanted him to know. Michael gave a firm nod and Charlie gave an "okay" sign. Charlie got from Electrical and Q/A what their current calculated modifier was, then sat down and put his own secure room over himself.

Though they were rivals to some degree, when Stiletto wandered over and sat next to him, Charlie didn't chase him off. They didn't say anything for a while, and when they parted, they still hadn't. The proper message had still been created, packaged, shipped, and delivered.


	198. Minori Does the Scolding

Things were going very well at the Nakasu Spring Festival, for a small city that was in the middle of nowhere Yamato. Isaac was rather pleased with it so far. Even the wandering around with Iselius wasn't bad. This morning he woke up a bit sober, however. Lying in his bed, he wondered just who to talk to, then decided it wasn't all that hard.

Twenty minutes later he was headed for the apartment building D.D.D. had claimed and cleaned out. He'd told his own he'd be back by breakfast but not to worry if he just snatched something fast in the marketplace. He looked up the side of the building and took a deep breath. "Crusty. I'm outside. We need to talk private."

"...Okay." Crusty was understandably bemused. "How about the roof here. We've got a guard or two on it but I can send them inside until we're done."

"Can I get inside the door?"

"Yeah, just come on in, straight back to the last door on the left. It's the stairwell." Isaac gave a nod and headed for the door.

It was an eight story walk up, and he didn't hurry. Crusty joined him in the stairwell on the fifth floor and Isaac paused to let him catch up. When Crusty gave him a curious look, Isaac just shook his head. "Shiroe?" Crusty asked.

Isaac considered that, then answered, "No, not really." Crusty left it alone after that until they were on the cleared roof, the guards being sent down to breakfast.

They stood in the center of the roof, Isaac with his arms folded and Crusty standing casually, waiting on him. "I got a message from the other side of the world," Isaac said quietly. "It's underground info." That got Crusty's ears to perk up. His eyebrows rose up with them. "You remember back when the two guard dogs cornered me outside Log Horizon and you got sent out with a message to tell them to back off?"

Crusty took a bit to recall it, but nodded that he did. Then his eyes narrowed. "Another clue on that line?"

Isaac hesitated. "I was allowed then to see how Purrcy really relates to the sub-guild. Izanami plays with them - and prefers them to be the pirate mercenaries. Nothing soft in that relationship."

Crusty took a breath. "Okay."

"They sent that reminder moment, then a formula: HP times five, and then a number. The Eagles have been climbing extra fast in their levels and holding back the information. They've got people in their group that can obfuscate the status screens - like Purrcy can. The number they sent was one hundred fifty."

Crusty was having troubles fitting it all together, though that number sounded high. Isaac could understand. He kept going to help Crusty out. "The other thing they sent was an image of a pair of handcuffs and prison bars in a Roman Colosseum. They've been locked down and are being upped in levels more rapidly than any other set of Adventurers we know of."

Isaac looked at the ground as he shifted his feet and frowned a little. Looking back into Crusty's eyes, he said, "I think they're worried they're being primed to be part of the final boss battle - on the wrong side. I know them well enough to know they'd hate that, but for them to even send the message to me, when I'm the only one who saw just what they are to the Game Bot...it's a possibility."

"Is there another possibility of why they're being increased higher?" Crusty asked.

"Yes. When I was doing my initial analysis, Purrcy's too high, Nyanta's too protected, and Michael and Tetorō were being groomed to be Purrcy's near-equals. If the entire sub-guild's going that way too, there are two possibilities. One is they all have to be that high to even begin to cause damage to the AIs in the final battle. The other is that they are going to be part of the boss we have to fight. Both conditions need to be planned for."

Crusty considered what Isaac had told him, then nodded. He pushed up his rectangular glasses. "I'll handle for if they're helping. Feel free to handle the other quietly in the background. Let me know if you need anything. And if they're worried and can get that much to you, you likely can ask them questions, too."

Isaac thought about that, then nodded. "Tetorō's good. I'll pull him in as my com link. So far he's been allowed to roam free now that his requirement's done."

Crusty gave a nod. "Let me know if that gets locked down."

Isaac gave a solemn nod. If they strayed too far and got Tetorō into trouble that would let them know they were on the right path. They stayed up on the roof in silent mental strategy considerations until the guard replacements arrived. By mutual consent they then went out to find Tetorō and force him to have breakfast with them in a quiet corner of the market district.

-:-:-:-:-

When it came time for the girls to go shopping at Shopping District 8 after breakfast the next morning, the boys all begged off. Touya wanted to at least window shop through the armor and arms district. Rudy had already let them all know he was going to spend what extra time he had on this trip to try to understand how the lands of his father worked. He hadn't been back to just watch the People of the Land there since they'd come through for the trip to China, and even then they'd been extra protective of him and he'd not wanted to stray too far from Nakasu.

Isuzu made sure to scold him into calling them at the first hint of things going bad, but he really did want to do the research on his own, and they knew he could handle himself. There wasn't much People of the Land could do to Adventurers. Even killing them only sent them to the Cathedral. The only difficulty would be if there were other magic users. So they also made him wear his anti-status effect gear so he could at least run away from that if he had to. The final word from Shiroe equated to: if you get into trouble we'll stick a guard to you, too.

When Rudy asked Neville to accompany him for the first part of the day before his shift, they decided that was fine, since Neville was already this soon quite bored and out of his element. MeowLi was quite sure she didn't understand why the guild was so overprotective of Rudy, but then they were that way with her. She decided that the next opportunity that came up, she was going to tease _him_ about being the Prince of Log Horizon, since he'd said she must be the Princess for the same reason.

She was busy in the kitchen of Crescent Burgers when Rudy and Neville arrived back again from their foray. Neville asked a few questions, then settled down to a table, perhaps to await the next thing on the schedule, or he was waiting for someone from Knights of the Black Sword to come fetch him. She wasn't sure. Rudy took his place at the front to work with the customers.

They were certainly doing good business regularly at the food stand. She wasn't ever bored, though they kept it that way by trading out stations every so often. One could only stand over the fryer or flip the oddly shaped ground boar "hamburgers" for so long before going crazy. It was good there were a lot of helping hands from Crescent Moon League so they could all have relatively short shifts.

"You can go on break, MeowLi," the head chef called out. "Thank you for your hard work."

"Okay," MeowLi answered back so he knew she'd heard. She finished her current cooking and set things aside, making room for the person who would cover her spot until she got back. She untied her apron and hung it on a hook on the back wall. She snatched up a cool drink to take with her (they were free for those on shifts). With a sigh, she looked around the eating area until she found a small table that was free. Gratefully she sank down on the chair. Standing that much was a bit different and her feet, legs, and surprisingly her back ached.

"Excuse me, Miss MeowLi. May I perchance join you for just a moment?"

MeowLi looked up in surprise, taking the drink back down from her lips. She swallowed, then politely answered, "No, that's fine, Lord Neville." She had no idea why he would want to sit with her, but she couldn't refuse when he was being hosted by her guild and was just waiting around anyway. "I do hope you are enjoying yourself at the festival. You weren't thinking of already going back to studies for the economics class, I hope?"

Neville laughed a court laugh and waved his hand. "Oh, no. I'm quite happy to rest my poor brain and let the numbers lie until we must pick them up again. Rather," he leaned one arm on the table, "I was hoping to ask you a question to clarify a bit of confusion I have."

MeowLi's ears turned. "Well...I haven't got much experience really, and none at all with Adventurer festivals, this being my first one -" She broke off. Neville was waving a hand again in negation.

"No. Rather it's something I think you can answer." He paused and got the look that told her to be wary. He wanted something out of her she might not be willing to give - usually personal information, though she doubted he knew about her parents. "When I was questing for Princess Raynessia's hand, Archmage Shiroe was of great assistance. On every occasion, he called upon a member of his guild to assist me. Without that assistance, I would have failed every quest. I've been trying hard for some time to remember his name. I could only remember he was a grey felinoid much like yourself. I recently was reminded his name was Mister Nyanta."

MeowLi had been right. This wasn't going to go good places. She could feel herself going very stiff and her hand tightened around her drink. "I haven't seen him in Akiba, and noticed that he also didn't come with all of us to attend this fine festival. From the time I was last here, until we came again, I don't know what happened, but it has been quite surprising to have known a male felinoid and then to return to find a female one with a different name. I'm sure I've missed something, but I just wanted to make sure - you aren't he, are you?"

MeowLi sat stunned for a while. She wasn't sure whether to laugh at the absurdity of the thought, or crawl under the table in embarrassment. "I'm sure I'm not, Lord Neville. I came to Log Horizon after Nyanta-san had left it for reasons I'm not aware of."

"Well, may I ask...where did you come from?" MeowLi blinked. She wasn't sure she wanted to tell him. "I mean, your comportment is very refined, unlike most Felinoids of the Land that we've had any occasion to interact with. It seems to me that you can't be from the local area. It's part of why I wondered at first if you were also an Adventurer, since only Mister Nyanta has carried himself with grace and intelligence, and now yourself."

MeowLi's ear flicked and she sat more upright. With some slight disdain she said, "Rather it has been the opposite from my point of view. I came from the Gate of Time, where all of the felinoids are genteel and refined, with quite a higher level of intelligence than most People of the Land, save some of the nobles I've managed to come in contact with. It was my duty to come from there to here, where Log Horizon has been kind enough to help me at the request of my guardian, until I am able to understand how life outside the Gate of Time functions. I do appreciate your consideration that I am not the average felinoid that slovenly lives outside." She looked him fully in the eyes, "Because I am not."

Neville was looking at her with very wide eyes. "Th-the Gate of Time? It isn't a place of legends, magic, and fearful things?"

"No it isn't. It is a place of nobles and higher learning, where gods and goddesses walk and consider how to act in their roles, and where those who serve them do so with great humility and dignity, performing essential tasks to see that the functioning of the world doesn't turn to complete chaos."

"Ah...well...well." Neville sat there very nonplussed. "Thank you for telling me that much, then, Lady MeowLi." He sat there with a bit of a confused look on his face.

MeowLi was quite done with sitting with him and looked around to the food stand. Serera was just coming out of it. "Ah, if you'll excuse me, there's Serera-chan. That means my break is over." She rose to her feet, gave a slight nod of her head, and hurried as fast as she dared without breaking the code of politeness back to her post, trying to not become any angrier, nor any more concerned.

-:-:-:-:-

Touya was practicing listening even here in Nakasu. When all the Adventurers got together there was even more of a need to make sure things were going okay. He suddenly caught the voice of MeowLi, and then of Neville. He paused in his cooking just enough to seriously pay attention to them. The topic of conversation immediately worried him once he heard Neville's question. He glanced out of the stand to see that Rudy was at the front of the Crescent Burger booth. "Rudy. MeowLi needs to be rescued, as soon as possible. Can you go?"

Rudy glanced at MeowLi and Neville. "Can I send Serera? I can't really get away right at the moment."

Touya went back to paying attention to his cooking, a frown on his face. It might backfire on what they were trying to fix between the two girls, but something needed to be done, and sometimes the sudden changes got them through a particularly difficult room better and sometimes one had to regroup and remember to not do that again. "Alright. She knows enough to diffuse the situation."

Rudy kindly opened a group chat to Serera so Touya could stay informed, asking her to go and rescue MeowLi. Serera was willing and finished up her current work, then went out. "Ah, she's left him. Should I still go?" Serera asked, unsure.

They paused, then Rudy answered, "Perhaps you should. We might need to know if something needs to be addressed or repaired."

"Alright," Serera answered. Touya dropped the chat in favor of listening in on the conversation in his own way. After a bit he heard from Serera, "Excuse me, but may I join you?"

"Certainly," Neville answered. There was silence for a bit, then Neville said, "You seem a quiet and reserved sort of Adventurer. Perhaps you'd be willing to help answer my question?"

"Ah...um," Touya was certain Serera wasn't quite sure how to take that. "I'll try my best to help if I can," she finally answered.

Neville began rather expansively. "When I was on my quests, the Archmage called upon a grey felinoid in his guild to help me. But now when I return, that same felinoid seems to be very different." Touya blinked. That wasn't really where he thought Neville would begin. Hadn't MeowLi's words made any impression at all? How could Neville have even been taking the economics class with her and think they could be the same person? Even Serera was silent in the face of that opening. "I had occasion to ask one of Princess Raynessia's guards about the one I knew and was told with rather dark looks that that one had been chased into the Gate of Time."

Sounding very confused, Neville said, "I thought perhaps then that I had confused the two and was trying to confirm it with Lady MeowLi just now; however, she says that she herself came out of the Gate of Time. By my calculations it would have been after Mister Nyanta had been forced into it." Touya slumped in almost defeat. "The Gate of Time is a magical place where very strange things happen. Now I am forced to wonder if perhaps it has changed the felinoid who went into it and created the felinoid we now see. Do you know?" Touya groaned in distress. He wasn't sure Serera was the one to ask that question to or address it properly.

Serera was quite confused by his logic by the sound of her voice. "Nyanta-san is male and is an Adventurer. I'm sure not much is known about the Gate of Time, but he does. He was there before he was sent back, and came out very much himself the first time. MeowLi is female and a Felinoid of the Land, not an Adventurer. While she lived in the Gate of Time, I'm quite sure she isn't he." She did say the final statement firmly.

"Oh. Well, then...I suppose I will hope it is true. Mister Nyanta was very kind to help me in my hours of need. And Lady MeowLi is certainly nice enough, and I'm glad to have someone to study with." Touya looked out at them again, to check on Serera. Neville rose to his feet and bowed slightly. "Thank you for your time and attention, Lady Serera."

As he walked off Serera slumped, watching him, then glanced over to the Crescent Burger booth. She sighed, but there was nothing else for Touya to do at that moment though it was Serera he was worried about now...and the potential for rumors of that same ilk to begin to circulate. They would have to discuss it together as a guild. Shiroe would want to know.

"Minori," he said quietly, "did you hear any of that?"

"Hm? No? Did it work out okay?" she asked quietly back.

"Not really. Will you please check on Serera later today? Neville has some very odd ideas in his head and he's planted them in her brain now. We'll need to know if they're going to take root or if she'll be sensible about it."

Minori looked at him with wide eyes. "Serera is usually rather sensible?"

"Not when she's just been told that one grey felinoid could also be the other one, and might just want to believe it," Touya said and firmly pressed his lips together.

Minori blinked at him a few time. "Ah...really?" He gave a sober nod. She put her hand to her head and rubbed her forehead a bit. "Alright. I'll try to talk to her and let her ask me about it, if she will."

Touya gave a nod. That was likely the best she would be able to do.

-:-:-:-:-

"MeowLi, Serera! Are you done?" Minori called out to her friends in the back of the cooking area of the Crescent Burger stand.

"Just about!" was called back. Touya was already talking to Rudy, who was wrapping up his shift.

Minori shuffled her feet and looked at Touya in worry. She wasn't sure what exactly had happened, but it didn't sound like it was going to be very good. Before the other three could finish getting free, she grasped his sleeve and pulled him away a bit. "Touya...perhaps we should take Serera back with us and see if Shiroe-sensei will allow us to just tell her what the truth is. Then there won't have to be any strange wonderings. We may still have to worry about jealousies...but I think the not knowing is going to continue to complicate things too much."

Touya considered it in his careful way. Slowly he nodded. "In this case, I'm going to have to agree. If others hear Neville's words, even if they are only said innocently trying to figure out things for his slow mind, the rumors could become very bad very fast. Shiroe-kei needs to know and needs to have that option for Serera at the least."

Minori gave a firm nod. She didn't let go of his sleeve, though, and he didn't pull away impatiently as he might have a year ago, though when their friends began to come their way, he did look at her in warning. She let go, though she stayed close by him. Her stomach was all in knots and she didn't like feeling things weren't right at all.

Of course Serera noticed and since Minori couldn't do anything for now, she admitted she was feeling worried and let Serera comfort her. Minori didn't give anything away, only asked if Serera would be willing to come to dinner with the guild. Serera was willing, of course, for the sake of her friend, so the five headed directly for the rented guild apartment. The others did do their best to distract Minori and that helped her relax a little until the knot in her stomach was more like a small ache. She was glad that Touya took it upon himself to ask Isaac to invite the People of the Land they were hosting to dinner with Knights of the Black Sword so they could talk openly at the apartment.

Touya also quietly called the rest of the guild on the chat asking that they return for an early guild meeting, and asking if everyone had already had dinner. The juniors all went right back to cooking as soon as they arrived, needing to keep themselves and Minori (and Touya truth be told) busy. It seemed to help both MeowLi and Serera as well, who were very likely also still upset by what had happened, even if only a little bit since some time had passed. They just wouldn't know Minori was upset for the same reason. She was really quite done with things being strained between the other two girls. She hoped she didn't explode soon. So she practiced deep breathing and conscious relaxing until diner was on the table and everyone was sitting around eating.

Shiroe had been watching them, and when Touya looked up at him, even though they were in the middle of the meal, Shiroe nodded, opening the floor to him then. "We have a concern that a new rumor may blossom and cause more problems than we'll want to deal with," Touya said calmly. He turned to MeowLi. "Will you please tell everyone the conversation you had with Neville today?"

MeowLi's head came up in surprise and she stared at Touya. He didn't back down, but he didn't pressure her either. MeowLi's ears fell a bit, as did her whiskers and she looked back down at her bowl. Rather than eat more, though, she answered, trying to remember the details as best she could. Shiroe's eyes went sharp and calculating. When MeowLi was done, Touya turned to Serera. "And will you please now tell us the conversation you had with Neville following that?"

Serera blinked, cleared her throat, and set her utensils down. Clasping her hands in her lap, she very carefully quoted back the conversation as best she could. When she was done, she waited for Touya to pick it back up before she picked her utensils back up and went back to cautious eating. Minori's knotted stomach hadn't been wrong. Their words, and the curiosity of Neville, was going to bring terrible things if left as they were, and not just between her friends.

She looked anxiously at Shiroe. "Shiroe-sensei, I asked Touya if we could ask you if we might be open with Serera tonight so that she doesn't become distressed by the strange musings of a mind that can't comprehend what it just did. I know you will need to consider it more deeply for the sake of Nyanta-san and our guild, but we're worried that even just having that strange idea planted in Serera's brain won't do her any favors." She knew she wasn't being very complementary of Serera just then, but she was quite desperate.

Shiroe studied Minori, then blinked and reached over to pat her head. "Yes, we can at least do that much. It's already mostly obvious anyway." He turned to look MeowLi in the eye until she dropped her head and her eyes. Then he looked at Serera, holding her eyes. "Serera, MeowLi is Nyanta-san and Purrcy's daughter. You already understand that they were required to be the beta-test subjects in our place to protect all the rest of us Adventurers. They had four. MeowLi was sent into the non-linear Gate of Time to help her father there when he first entered it so he had a guide to stand with him."

"Because she was born after that time, in the linear Gate of Time, she couldn't enter the linear Gate of Time with them. Thus, Purrcy time walked to fetch her from the zone she was dropped into, and brought her here for us to keep watch over her until they return. You may not tell anyone any of this, but you need to know it, because the jealousy the two of you share for each other will damage what I am trying to do. Fix it."

Minori stared open mouthed at Shiroe. She'd never heard him be so stern in all the time they'd been together. Serera actually spluttered a bit and MeowLi was having troubles controlling her extremities. Minori blinked, then turned to the two girls and quietly said to them, "I have been having a very difficult time as well. I love you both like sisters and enjoy having you as friends, but the fact you both believe that Nyanta-san is only yours to love and keep selfishly has been more than I can bear. If you cannot make peace between you then I shall have to sadly let you both go as friends, for he is also my father while we are here on this planet. Grow up, both of you." She never raised her voice for the whole of what she had been feeling to come out. When it was out, the room sat in stunned silence.

"You would go that far?" Naotsugu asked cautiously.

"I would," Minori said still quietly but firmly. "Their behavior this whole time has not been in honor of his name, nor Purrcy's, nor Log Horizon's, nor even the giving heart of Crescent Moon." She looked at Serera. "I have been holding my tongue because I know that you need to hold onto them, but you aren't doing it to stay strong and healthy. You are becoming more and more brittle because you use them as the crutch to stay weak. Stand on your own feet with strength and then you will be able to know they are already with you and always with you regardless. To dwell on their absence is only doing yourself a disservice. I would like to see once again the Serera who is kind to herself, like she is kind to others." She held Serera's eyes until her friend understood.

She turned to MeowLi. "Are all of your siblings as prideful and selfish as you are? I would have hoped Nyanta-san and Miss Purrcy had done a better job of raising the four of you. It is disappointing to have such behavior from one of their children, when they are both concerned and caring of others to the point of selfless service. We are trying our hardest to be kind and helpful. Please stop throwing it back in our faces. Relax and just be yourself. We are not the students at the school you hated. We are your family." She glared into MeowLi's eyes until her ears turned in apology.

"Shiroe-sempai," Minori said, turning back but not to look at him directly, her back still stiff with her emotions, "please stop keeping secrets longer than required. You should have let us tell Serera from the beginning. I will not keep my mouth shut next time you err."

Shiroe stiffened to also be called out. She let him get over it. He didn't go quite to humble, but he did quietly say, "I'll be sure to thank you for it, then." Minori gave a taut nod. "I'm sorry, Serera-chan, for not telling you directly then." Serera murmured forgiveness.

The room sat quietly then until MeowLi turned to Serera. "I'm sorry, Serera, that I have troubles sharing my father. I have had to fight every moment of my life to earn his praise. It is difficult for me. They have been trying to teach me that I need to overcome that difficulty, and I will continue trying."

Serera blinked, then said, "Earn? Isn't he your father? No one earns his praise or care. They only earn his ire. He cares for everyone and never fails to give praise where he can." The rest of them were a bit confused as well and watched MeowLi, trying to understand.

They watched as the shivers began, then became rather severe. MeowLi replied, "How can that be? Always he watched me with eyes that judged. To receive a word of praise was to have worked very hard and to have barely met his requirement." She was becoming a bit hysterical, actually, which was worrisome. "To see him smile at me was all I desired, and at those moments I was finally loved."

There were suddenly two more people present in the room, one of them holding MeowLi tightly in his arms, the other with a hand on his back. "MeowLi, MeowLi," Nyanta said very sadly. "I love mew, and I always have. For mew to have thought such a thing...it is very painful to me." MeowLi turned in her chair and stood to fling her arms around her father. He went to petting her with one hand while holding her with the other to try and calm her. "Since mew were born I was proud of mew. Mew have done very difficult things, and I worried for mew constantly, but it was worry, not disapproval. I'm sorry if it wasn't understood." He purred for his daughter and her mother purred with him.

Turning to look at Serera, Purrcy put her hand on Serera's head and pet her a little as well. "Serera-chan, please do as Minori has asked you. We are always watching over you. Please look forward with strength instead of grieve for what is only going to be a short while. You can walk this much more with your friends and guild families. It is only like a summer vacation, and we are only a phone call away. Touya and Minori can teach you what our phone numbers are." She smiled kindly at Serera, and Serera couldn't hold herself back. She rose from her seat and wrapped her arms around Purrcy and held on tightly, her shoulders also shaking. Purrcy and Nyanta continued to purr until the two girls were finally able to recover and relax. With final kisses from both felinoids for both girls, they disappeared again softly.

Serera turned to MeowLi. "I'm sorry that you've lived with that your whole life. I hope you will be able to find hope in remembering that he does love you very much." MeowLi had turned and was listening with some surprise at Serera's words. Serera looked up into MeowLi's eyes with calm assurance. "How could they not love a daughter like you, who has tried so hard? They love that most of all." Serera gave MeowLi one of her bright smiles that tried to hide tears.

MeowLi's ears turned back and forth a bit, then forward as MeowLi really regarded Serera. Gently she took Serera in her arms. "They also know that you are working hard, too. This is not an easy place to be. It's okay to not be perfect at it all the time." This time MeowLi held Serera while Serera cried.

Minori sat back in her chair, slumping just a little bit. _Now_ it was okay. Touya looked at her and held out his hand. She took it gratefully and smiled a little at him. She closed her eyes and wondered if it would be okay to just fall asleep right there and then.

-:-:-:-:-

When Log Horizon was finally calm after the meal, Serera had been walked home, and all of the People of the Land who shouldn't be involved in deeper guild matters had excused themselves to bed, Tetorō cleared his throat and got the attention of the guild. He leaned forward just a bit. "I'm terribly sorry to keep the drama going, but I also have a thing to bring up that needs to be added to your notebook brain, Shiroe."

With a collective sigh, everyone tried to get ready to hear it. "Dinner was pretty bad," Shiroe admitted. "Does it have to be tonight?"

"Well...," Tetorō teased a bit, "I suppose it could wait, but usually you like to have more time to think things through, and don't like the important bits to fall through the cracks that long...but maybe it isn't that important. I only know it was sent in code, to one specific person _not_ you, to come to us roundabout. That I _should_ probably put up an umbrella before going further, and -"

Shiroe was waving his hands in surrender. "Just say it, then. That's worse," he complained at Tetorō.

He had to wait while Tetorō really did put up an umbrella shield. That made them all go sober. "It's underground news," Tetorō said. That set the stage. They'd thought the underground was mostly complete and calm at this point. "The Eagles sent a message to Isaac. He's being brought into play." Shiroe sat up and paid close attention. Tetorō started with the specific and exact message that had been sent, then waited for Shiroe to come back from adding it all up on his own. Then he added what Isaac's guesses were and what Crusty's orders to Isaac had been and what role he was being asked to play for them.

Shiroe finished his compilation, then looked at Tetorō. "Keep me in the loop when they ask for communications. I'll let Isaac handle being in charge, but he may need to come to me for my role. If I already know what's going on I'll be able to just give him an answer instead of having to be caught up."

"Yessir," Tetorō answered.

Shiroe sighed and looked around the room. "Anything else while we're here?"

Rudy raised a hand. "I'd like to do some exploration on my pet project tomorrow evening. I'd like to see how they're living the night life here." He smiled and they smiled back at him.

"Don't come home drunk," Tetorō scolded him mildly.

"And don't bring any women back with you either," Naotsugu folded his arms and said with a slight scowl. Rudy scowled back. "Mm, which reminds me. I'm going to be over at Crescent Moon tonight, once things settle back down here. I'll let Marie know for sure what went on for Serera tonight. She'll need to know Serera knows so she doesn't worry if it comes up."

Shiroe gave a nod. Neither of those things was terrible. "Anything else?" People shrugged and shook their heads. "Then great. I'm going to bed."

"Me, too," Minori agreed. Touya patted her on the head sympathetically and Tetorō took the umbrella down so they could wander off when they were ready.

Shiroe didn't really go to bed right away. He went and lay down, but he called up Michael first and had the conversation Michael had expected to have with him when he warned Reed that it wouldn't help much to ask Shiroe what he thought about the level multiplier. That was okay on both sides, though. They also both needed a friendly voice to just gab with for a bit.

Shiroe eventually strayed into the resolution of things with the juniors, as something to help Michael feel like a part of home. "It was an excellent example of just what Purrcy means when she says that she is always watching. They showed up just at the moment they were needed and only stayed as long as they needed to, since it's hard on them to match the times between the two spaces. ...Though, she did say _they_ are always watching this time. I wonder if Nyanta has also been learning how to do that, too?"

"Mm," Michael answered affirmatively. "He always watched over Purrcy like that in the Gate of Time when he wasn't with her specifically. He didn't walk, but he'd show up and send me when she needed rescuing. He'd send me to fetch the kids, too, if they needed it."

"Hmm, so, he can see, but can't walk, then. She was touching him the whole time they were here this time."

"Sound reasonable," Michael agreed. "Though he may have just needed his own brand of comfort. That had to have hurt, to have had his own daughter admit she never felt loved that whole time. Dad's can't not love their kids, you know."

Shiroe was quiet. His own experience had been different, but then...there were things he was learning he didn't know. It wasn't quite so hard anymore to give his own parents a little more benefit of the doubt.

"You do talk to them, right?" Michael asked.

"Yes. But that's only the third time we've seen them. The first was when we first arrived for the Spring Festival. They said they'd come for brief times like that. Nyanta loves vistas like Golden Week with the family, and Purrcy loves to gift him things she can."

"We see her a lot, but always if I call for her she comes, so I see her extra. I suspect you guys aren't being selfish enough if you're only still talking to air all the time." Michael was just a bit too smug, for all he was giving advice. "I'll have to remember that when I need it I can call for Nyanta-san, too...though I might be skewered for it." That was rueful.

Shiroe laughed. "I don't know. It sounded like last time he showed up he understood rather well."

"Well...that's true," Michael had to agree.

Shiroe smiled to himself. After a bit, he said, "Thank you, Michael. It's nice to have a friend to call every once in a while. Good luck over there."

"Thanks, and no problem. As long as I'm not stressed out, I like a nice visit, though I usually call you _because_ I'm stressed out and need to be talked down." Michael laughed.

Shiroe smiled. "Well, that's what I'm here for. Any time."

"Thanks, Shiroe." They let the chat close.

Shiroe lay there quietly relaxing, then he looked up into the air and motioned. "Hahaue, I've got a question. Come purr on my chest and answer it for me."

The calico kitten stepped out of the air above him and walked down to his chest, answering one of his two questions. She lay down, curling her paws under her and her tail around her, and purred. He pet her gently. "That was a future, almost ready to come home Nyanta wasn't it?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," she answered quietly. Shiroe nodded to himself. He'd never know what time she came from, but she was guarding Nyanta's path. He pet and she purred until he slipped into sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

The next day's group activity in the morning was to go and watch the Water Maple Acting Troupe put on their play. They'd done it so frequently in Minami as a fund raiser, they didn't feel the need to do it as frequently this time. So they were putting one on this day and one on the last day of the festival. Nakasu and Susukino hadn't seen yet, after all. The two should be enough to catch those who liked it enough to see it again, and also those who hadn't seen it yet at all.

They tried to get there early for good seats (and make-up and prep for those who were in it). They were excited to share it with MeowLi and Raynessia was excited to see it for her first time as a full production. She'd talked Neville and Iselius into going as well, though the rest of the guild thought they'd only be politely interested.

Shiroe took the opportunity while they were waiting and it wasn't too busy to politely but firmly set Neville straight and get some reassurance that he wasn't going to keep asking questions where they shouldn't be asked. It helped that Shiroe knew everything about the Gate of Time Nyanta did. He spent a lot of time weaving a web of confusion around Neville that was actually all truths about the Gate of Time. His spell work and intent were that if Neville asked himself the questions further, he would remember the confusion of the lecture and give up without saying anything to anyone else. It would be simpler to accept that MeowLi was not Nyanta.

When the play was over, the People of the Land were rather confused by all the references to normal Earth life of the Adventurers, though Neville most of all. MeowLi had enjoyed it just because it was Adventurer and she'd heard enough from her parents to accept it at face value - and she had the education to follow at least what the school scenes were trying to convey. Raynessia enjoyed it just because her friends were in it. Iselius enjoyed the fact that it was Adventurer, but they were surprised when he also appreciated that Adventurers enjoyed the finer arts. Though, by then, they shouldn't have been surprised by such a thing. He was usually adding in the high-brow serious thought to such things as well.

It wasn't too surprising that when they gathered in the back as a guild with the cast, that Nyanta and Purrcy chose then to show up again to congratulate the cast and hand out hugs and kisses again. They rather expected that Purrcy wouldn't be able to stay away from watching that for herself this time. Not when they were all watching it together. MeowLi and Serera were both much calmer this time when they greeted the felinoids, and not as desperate. That was noted with relief and approval. It was good they were moving forward again as best they could.

Shiroe found himself with some quiet personal time later that day, surprisingly. He didn't mind, being the natural introvert. He wandered around a quiet part of the city, exploring and thinking as he went, the exercise of walking feeling good that day.

"Do mew know what special festival day today is, meow?" He suddenly had a companion walking calmly upright by his side. The tail waved in pleased curls and the ears and whiskers told of pleasure as well.

"Do tell," Shiroe invited.

"It is Children's Day."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow slightly. He only knew one felinoid that would bother to remember such a day when most every Adventurer from Yamato was too old to celebrate that Japanese holiday, and no Person of the Land would have any clue about it. It rather placed that the one walking with him was in disguise. He relaxed and gave a nod.

"We have also celebrated on this same day the seventh birthday of the children." Ah. That's what it was.

"Omedito gozaimasu. It is surely very auspicious."

"Indeed." Nyanta was very smug. "We took the girls to the shrine to purray purroperly according to our traditions. They were quite beautiful in their festive kimonos. The boys were jealous to have their sisters get to go twice and them only once."

Shiroe smiled. He could see that happening. That was usually explained properly. "I assume you talked to them separately afterwords?"

Nyanta glanced at him with wide innocent eyes. "And incur the wrath of my wife?"

Shiroe had to laugh at that. "She does hear everything. I suppose that was wisdom, then."

Nyanta gave a nod of confirmation, clasping his hands behind his back. His ear turned to listen to the sounds of the festival in the distance, the slight smile still on his face. "And you've come from?" Shiroe asked him.

"It is the day after the three-day yearly celebration and everyone is sleeping off the effects. I have time, though brief," Nyanta explained.

"Are they as much work as these are?" Shiroe wondered.

Nyanta chuckled. "They are. The first two days are full of stuffy religious events, if one ignores the base vulgarities that Joō Heika refuses to acknowledge exist in the city or she'd have to clean them out and remove nearly one quarter of the kami from the planet, if nyot more." He gave a considered look to Shiroe out of the corner of his eye, his head raised slightly. Shiroe gave a knowing nod. It was surely her impatience with anything less than practical poise and good manners.

Nyanta stepped jauntily, almost skipping for a step. "However, the final day she has made quite a pleasant day of celebration, it being our city's Children's Day. The first year it was also stuffy with the whole of the family on display for the full day." Shiroe muffled a laugh. Nyanta gave a happy understanding nod. "Yes, Joō Heika immediately set about joining the City Beautification Committee, created a new park, grew tall trees to run up into and fly down from, and from then on the whole of the city celebrates during the day playing and picnicking in the park for the sake of the children of the city. Each year they wait with bated breath to see what new thing she has added to the park for them to enjoy."

Shiroe smiled, imagining it. "And what was it this year?" he asked to allow Nyanta the pleasure of telling him.

Nyanta turned to him. "A carousel, with the fanciful horses and creatures of the land constructs that she has purrogrammed to appear life-like. The kami had to reassure the citizens that they were not living creatures chained to the apparatus. Then the carousel was enjoyed by young and old alike." His eyes sparkled, "With many of the kami so delighted they couldn't be dragged off of it for several turns."

Shiroe grinned. "She's putting things of Earth generally in, then?"

"Mm," Nyanta nodded, skipping another step. "The first year was the Japanese garden, with real koi. The second was the playground. Each year it is a new entertainment of Earth. She complained that they had no sense of play, and honestly they didn't. It has become a more sunny place since she began to work her usual magic there. The children are much happier now than they were seven years ago."

"Which makes a certain Chichue also very happy." Shiroe smiled knowingly at Nyanta's glance.

Nyanta paused, then admitted it with a quiet, satisfied, "Mm."

They continued to walk together, talking on pleasant things, until Nyanta's ear twitched and he paused. Shiroe stopped walking and looked closely at Nyanta. "I'm glad to see you're happy again finally. Thank you for coming to visit today."

Nyanta gave him a slight bow. "My pleasure. It is good to share the day with a friend."

Shiroe smiled softly, then reached out and wrapped his arms gently around Nyanta. "And thank you for coming to be my father for a short time, as well."

Nyanta patted him on the head briefly, then was gone. Shiroe stood there for a moment, then turned back towards the festival. He wanted to continue to feel that companionship, but he would need the company of the others in order for it to stay a happy feeling. It really did help to know that Nyanta was healing in the Gate of Time.

He hoped he'd have Akiba and the region ready to accept Nyanta back properly. Perhaps it was time to start the rumors while they were all together that Nyanta would be returning home to them, freed from his captivity. Shiroe wished he could say the same for Purrcy, but he wasn't sure he could. It might set incorrect assumptions for the final battle, which was still very clouded even for him.

-:-:-:-:-

Things settled down into a pattern after that for the rest of the week. The next somewhat largish event for one of them was Rudy's visit with the Council of Lords. He'd asked if he could visit with them, to ask them his questions and learn a bit more about what it was to rule in Ninetails Dominion. The Lords had agreed to the visit and by mutual consent no one had informed the Marquis.

Since Rudy hadn't called for back-up at his night visit, the guild wasn't too concerned when he waved off anyone going with him to the meeting. Shiroe did pause to look at him sharply, though. "Rudy. You have a tendency to take on too much when it isn't necessary. Honestly - are you avoiding inconveniencing us when really you need back up?"

Rudy paused, then answered humbly, "No, Guildmaster Shiroe. I'm learning good things, and sometimes it's a harsh lesson, but seeing things with open eyes sometimes is. I've not been in any severe danger. Most of the People of the Land here are quiet and humble folk, unless they're the warriors who fight the monsters, and they mostly are out doing that. ...I do expect to be able to prove myself to the Lords today, to some level at least, since that's what I need to begin to do in order to be seen as fit to rule in their eyes, so I suppose I'll admit to some nervousness, but I'd rather not have hand-holding for that meeting or I won't even begin to pass their tests."

Shiroe raised an eyebrow, then relented. "Well, true enough. They want to know you'll have humility and strength to stand in front of them. We'll only get in the way of that in this case."

Rudy humbly agreed. They wished him well and said they'd come rescue him from the prison if he wasn't back by nightfall. He rolled his eyes at them and waved as he walked off. He did what he'd been doing each time he'd walked out of Nakasu to go to the local People of the Land town. He put on his Cloak of Hiding before he walked out the door, then cast Call of Home. That got him out of Nakasu without the spies of his father in the city knowing he'd left it. Call of Home had been sufficient until the day before. He'd had to add the cloak then.

Rudy walked carefully, to make sure the properties of the cloak worked as best they could. Berenshilde had been trying a little harder each day to kill him, still not quite getting it that he was as unkillable as his brother was, and even less so, since Rudy could heal within a few hours instead of a few days, and immediately if he was actually killed. With a bit of care, he managed to slip away from the several traps his brother had laid.

Rudy was suspicious that Oakinshippe was the one encouraging Berenshilde to lay the traps. Berenshilde had always been the brash physical bully towards Rudy, where Oakinshippe was cunning and let others get into trouble by doing his dirty deeds for him, or made it so the punishments happened when he wasn't around to be blamed for them - like buckets of slop placed just right to fall on Rudy when he walked under them but no one was around to have done it.

So, Rudy didn't really hold it against Berenshilde this time either, though he was still likely insane enough to think the ploys might work to somehow save his heirship, which had never been a possibility. Oakinshippe knew it wasn't a possibility for either of them from the beginning unless they managed to kill Rudy eventually. Thus why Rudy had fled Ninetails, why he'd been ever so relieved to actually become an Adventurer, and why he wasn't afraid to walk (carefully) back into the town over and over again.

This time, he was bypassing the town so he bypassed probably more than half the traps. He was instead going to the government seat which was its own building set in a wide green lawn with a circular drive for the carriages to let out the Lords when they came. It looked somehow like all of the Lords had decided to come and meet with him, since the drive was completely full of carriages waiting for the Lords to be done with the meeting. Rudy swallowed. He'd thought some might come, curious or perhaps even willing to teach the youngest son. He'd not quite expected them _all_ to want to know if he was worthy of even returning to begin with.

He paused to wring his hands a bit, then to focus on the frightened Purrcy who still did it anyway, and then on Shiroe who always stood with poise in front of the lions and was the worst one of them as the cockatrice. Rudy wasn't that, but he could be the horse that wouldn't back down.

He took a few deep breaths, then slipped around to the back and in through a servant's door. He didn't take off his cloak until he was safely just outside the council chamber and there weren't any traps in sight. He firmly put his hat on, gifted by Purrcy at Christmas with the fenghuang's feather and good luck charm since he felt this could count as a political negotiation and he really wanted peace, prosperity, and happiness to come to his home region. Then he put away his cloak and stepped into the room.

He was probably half-way to the front, where there was one chair facing the rest that his father sat in when he was present (thankfully empty at the moment), before he was noticed. Quiet descended on the room and he forced himself to not change expression. When he was at a respectful location in the room, where the Lords could see him but he wasn't above them, he bowed. "Thank you for allowing me to come and learn from you today. I've been in communication with some of you, so I hope all of you have some concept of what I've been trying to learn to further my education that I've been receiving in Eastal. It is a rare opportunity for me at this time to hear from your mouths directly what you would say to me, though I am but a mere third son."

He looked through the group. It was a bit daunting, particularly seeing those he wasn't sure would be positively inclined, but he continued on. "In particular, I'd like to address first the issue that the Adventurers have proposed. We've not been able to properly communicate about it by messenger, I believe, so I'd like to hear your concerns as to why you'd rather not leave the few creatures and monsters alone that they need drops from in the area. They've been very generous in offering in exchange to remove all the rest of them in perpetuity, though they are still in their own arguments about the island zone. I will take to their council meeting tomorrow what we discuss here today."

He was rather amazed to receive solemn respect from the Lords, rather than the amused disbelief he expected. The letters had been that way up until he'd left Akiba. The discussion from the beginning was one he felt was worthy of any meeting of the Adventurers in Akiba, even beyond that first issue and into the things he had no knowledge of but desperately wanted tutoring in.


	199. Announcement of the Heir

"C'mon, Blaze, this is getting ridiculous," his third in command complained at him. "They're more than 'just a group that showed up'. They're super OP, they're training greens from the West who've got stars in their eyes, and now a dude from the East Coast shows up to hang with them, too? Nobody bothers to travel solo all the way to just hang out at a dungeon like this one. And since it ain't a dungeon, but a man-hole with a purpose, it's not like they all chatted and decided to come kill one for funsies."

Blaze's second in command nodded in agreement. "It really is time to fess up. The rest are getting restless, and the rumors climb wildly every time we have a break. I'm getting pressure from the ones who don't usually care to talk to us outside the battle room."

Blaze looked at Alabaster. Alabaster looked around the room, then gave a nod. "May as well," he said.

Blaze rose to his feet. "I'll go let them know it's time, then," he said mildly and headed for the two late-coming groups. He got a lot of watchful eyes as he walked that way. People wanted to know the full story. It would go to resentment soon, and that would be counter-productive.

Michael's attention was gotten by one of his guild and he turned to watch Blaze cross the final distance to them. They didn't mind working with everyone, but they still stayed apart from everyone else - except the newest group that they'd taken under wing. Blaze definitely wanted that part explained before people started getting pissy about that special treatment. It wasn't what people were thinking at all. No one in his group wanted a repeat of _this_ dungeon.

"It's time," Blaze said, looking Michael in the eye. "I'll start it, since they already suspect that I know what you are, but you'll have to finish it."

Michael gave a nod and turned to his group. "Eagles up with me. Twin Falls, sit nearby, but be part of the folks. Leonardo, sit with them. I'll likely have you stand up and say a bit, maybe. At least enough to be recognized."

Blaze gave Leonardo a good look as the man gave a nod. He was cos-player maxed, wearing a green frog suit. The suit didn't match the name, but the game was limited to keep out proprietary stuff. He himself was in the same boat. He'd have taken a suit if the game had had one. The coloring of the avatar had to be enough for what he'd been going for. So, he didn't fault Leonardo at all. It was just odd that he was solo in the States. One didn't survive long that way in this part of Theldesia.

When the groups were up on their feet, Blaze headed back into the middle of the Adventurer parties and guilds to the raised place they used to address the group as a whole. When they reached the large rock, large enough to fit all the Eagles, actually, he was up on top within one second - speed was his trademark. Having him appear up there meant the whole of the room started to settle down and pay attention.

Blaze looked down. The Twin Falls group was settling down to the ground, Leonardo near the front of them. Blaze's eyes widened as all twenty-four of the Eagles sprouted brown wings of their namesake's variety, spread them wide, and launched into the air. He watched them in amazement as they all settled down around him on the top of the rock, Michael landing closest to him. The rest went down into crouches or sat cross-legged on the rock. The wings disappeared again, as if they'd not been there to begin with.

Blaze blinked at Michael. "Really?"

Michael smiled. "Yes. We'll need to use them soon, so may as well let everyone see them now while we're coming clean."

Blaze shook his head, then asked Alabaster to cast the spell they needed to be heard. Alabaster had moved to his usual spot at the foot of the rock, leaning a bit on his staff. He wasn't showing any surprise, but the sharp look in his eyes meant he'd just added that piece of data to his calculations for future battles. Jack was staring up to the top of the rock from his spot a few feet off from Alabaster, his eyes also opened wide. He shook himself to wake up, then his head in bemused amazement, then turned and leaned back against the rock to listen and wait. His ears were very firmly trained on what was going to be said.

It looked like Blaze had all the attention he was going to get, and that was all of it after that display. "So, you're all wondering just who these people are. I'm going to let them tell you, now that you've seen some of what they can do. I've seen enough to decide they're the real deal, crazy as they are. Of course, we're all crazy so that's not anything to get worked up over."

He folded his arms. "You're all here because I asked you to come, because I believe in the message that was sent across this crazy world by a crazy method. That message was confirmed by Jack, who could prove to me that he really could affect the fabric of this world - the programming it was made out of. You've all seen the messages sent, and the faces in the pictures. Jack, show them the one they want to see."

Jack gave a nod without looking up and in short order there was a large picture overhead. It was of all the top world heads together on the steps of a government building. Jack put a white circle around one face in the back and on the far side, then zoomed in on it. They were all now looking at a slightly fuzzy picture of Michael's face, up close and larger than life. "HackerM1 wasn't named in the handout, but that's him. I'll let him tell you why he was there and just what he's doing here." Blaze stepped back and let Michael have the floor. Jack put the picture away.

Michael smiled and was suddenly in a different outfit. It was a smart black uniform with a white leather belt across one shoulder. He had on a gold chain and a pin on his lapel, plus a few other formal things. It was rather spiffy and accentuated the role he was going to tell everyone about. "Hello everyone. Thanks for coming out to help Blaze on this project. Yes, that was me there. I've been part of this world quest since it got serious over in Yamato. Everyone there is working very hard to see that we Adventurers get home. Some of them were sent via train across the Eured continent and into Africa to see that the world quests got moving and the Mazes repaired. They're done." He waved his hand to the people below them and Leonardo stood up and waved.

"Hi, everyone. I'm Leonardo. I'm from Big Apple. I was getting chased by the mob when I stumbled into an activating fairy ring and showed up in France. I guess that was one way to not get creamed, but I've worked a long time to get back over here. I was with the group that went east from Europa to the eastern border of Eured then got sent back to clean up the Overwritten and repair the Mazes. So I've fought now in about...seven - no eight because I just finished getting the Eastern Canada Maze done - of these things now. It was a lot of fun to work under the leadership of the Debauchery Tea Party maestro Kanami. I wish she'd been here on this side for that last one, but we managed. I was glad to learn the other two Canada mazes were done or nearly done, so I could come and join HackerM1 and his group. I look forward to working with you on this one." He sat down.

Blaze blinked at Leonardo. Well. Eight Mazes and he was still standing? At least he was another witness Michael wasn't lying, and another witness Blaze himself wasn't crazy to have believed what he wanted to believe. It also said very simply why Leonardo wasn't afraid to solo on this content.

"We're glad to have you, Leonardo," Michael said calmly, taking back people's attention. "Most of you have likely heard of Shiroe, formerly of the Debauchery Tea Party. You've heard him if you've heard either of both of the seeds that got sent across the globe. He has played _Elder Tales_ for more than one hundred of Theldesia's years and has never lost a challenge he's decided to take on. He is at the head of the world-level quest to see we get home. Crusty of D.D.D. has been chosen to stand next to him as the World General. Most of the rest of the faces you saw in that picture are of the leadership on the other side of the world, with Nakalnad of Plant Hwayden as the Yamato General, Prince Singh as the India General, Kanami as the Europa General, and several others in the other regions of the world on that side. I was tasked to come here and take on the role of Western Hemisphere General."

Michael shifted into a slightly relaxed position. Blaze decided that's what he did when he was about to tease. "Blaze tells me he's willing to take Central U.S. General, which I might turn into North American General. I hope to find a South American General soon since the first exploratory from here is just arriving down there to get the status of their Mazes. They tell me Central America properly took care of their own, thanks to Blaze's efforts to pass the message along, so we're very close to getting this one world quest completed."

"So that you have more information and details, we'd like to play for you the details of the quest requests and how we got them. It's taken from a speech I gave to the West Adventurers who were more than half Vengeful Spirits by the time we arrived and needed to know about them from the beginning." Michael gave a nod to one of the Eagles sitting near them and a new large-screen movie showed up in the air where Jack's picture had been before. That told Blaze what kind of level at least that one might have in the new magic.

They all watched the video of Michael doing a voice-over of a montage of a felinoid, explaining who this Purrcy was and what she had done to learn what they needed to know to get where they were this day. Then he gave the details of each quest, which were mostly what Blaze had already been preaching up and down the central part of this continent. The second witness was nice and Blaze was glad he'd not been far off. It ended with a snippet of what looked like a different venue, in which Michael explained how he got his wings and was an encouraging, hope-filled speech. Blaze found it very similar to the encouraging words that had been sent from Shiroe, and was the hallmark of a good leader.

When the video was over, the screen went away and Michael stood forward again. "Because we started on the west coast, we had no idea what we would find as we headed east. It was quite the surprise to arrive here to find it nearly three-fourths over, thank you very much. We also asked a few groups from the West Region to come this way with us to spread the word of the quests. They've been confused, too," Michael smiled, "because their work in this region was mostly done by Blaze. The newcomer's we've been working with are the group we've asked to come with us through the central zones of the U.S.," he waved at the other new people below him. "Our other goal with them specifically, because of the experience they've already had fighting Overwritten just to stay alive, is to have them help us get through the Mazes of Eternity that we go into. It was rough to get through the Western Maze of Eternity without help. We don't plan on doing that ever again, if we can help it."

There were rather a lot of mutters and excited voices at that one. He'd apparently confirmed one of the rumors going around and people couldn't really believe it. Michael only waited long enough to be heard again. "Since we don't know what's next, we're going ahead and training them to work with us. We've got the East U.S. Maze still to go and then whatever hasn't been hit by the team going into South America by the time that one's repaired. We'll let you lot rest up and work on the other quests here in the Central Region. And if the East Region is as bad as the West was, we might ask you to head over that way to help them out once we've been there to see." Blaze gave a nod to that. Both of those action items were conceivably possible to get people to help out with. "And, just so you've heard from them, I'll let the head of the Twin Falls group say a few words, too." Michael looked down at the group.

A dwarf stood up in the middle of the group, and it was hard to see him since he wasn't all that much taller standing than the rest of the Adventurer's sitting down. He was more hobbit-sized and shaped. He walked to stand more in front, closer to the rock, and turned around to face the Adventurers. The dwarf sighed a bit, it looked like, then said, "Hi. As HackerM1 said, we're from Twin Falls, Idaho. We were the group made to go out and fight the Overwritten once we learned how to, so the rest of the city could live. We're a little non-conventional in how we fight because we lost our main heavy-hitters in the Fourth of July Special, but we get the job done." Blaze knew from the last battle they'd all had together just how non-conventional they were.

"We were very excited to have HackerM1 show up out of the blue and in effect rescue us and the whole Western Region. We'll do our best to help out here and wherever we can." He paused as if unsure he was done talking, then turned to Jack (again of all people). "I don't know if it helps for you to know, but you and I played together before the catastrophe on the Gloria Cross-Country Campaign, back when it first came out and was stupid hard. Before they put the mods in."

Jack unfolded his arms and moved to put his hands on the hobbit's shoulders and stare into his face closely. A smile came on his face as his tail whipped in an excited flick. "Yeah! I remember. You were super good on that one, particularly with those 'non-conventional' strategies."

The hobbit pinked up and gave a shy nod. Jack turned and looked at Alabaster and then up at Blaze. "He's good. If this lot follows him, they've got what it takes."

Michael grinned back down. "Of course they do." Blaze gave an accepting nod. The hobbit, BillyBoy, was blushing even harder. They let him escape back into his crowd again. Michael took back over one last time. "For all I'm the General-in-Charge, I'm happy to let Blaze stay in control in here. I've mostly been advisor in the last several rooms and likely we'll just stay that way. If we have to, we can split and sleep shifts he and I, though Alabaster won't get to." There was laughter at that and Alabaster rolled his eyes and mock-groaned.

Reed said something quietly and Michael added, "I think the other main rumor going around is the betting pool as to how many Mazes we've done. It's actually less than Kanami and her crew. We've done four now and this is our fifth. As far as we know, we're the only quarter-legion that's faced one solo, though. All the rest took more than one legion's worth, but the more Adventurers you've got the faster it goes." Whispers started up in BillyBoy's group and Blaze's eyebrow raised. He was going to have to ask them what that was about.

It was a Guardian from Blaze's own group who stood up, though, that took it from them. He was even giving off a rather dangerous aura. He folded his arms and asked, "Then why are you OP, when Leonardo is only level one-hundred nineteen which isn't too far off the rest of us? I'm not liking the lies you're all putting on your screens. ...It isn't worthy of your story."

Things got very still up on the top of the rock, but the Eagles were watching Michael, as if waiting for his decision before choosing to go into attack mode. Michael looked down at the rock in front of his feet, considering his options Blaze presumed. Sometimes one shouldn't answer such challenges, even if they all wanted to know.

Michael finally sighed a bit and looked up. "Alright. It's not right for you to not know what you've got in your back pocket, so you know what's going to come up and how to face it. We'll show you but Jack has to show you what he's all about as well." Blaze's blood left his face just a little. That was almost a threat. "But before we do that, you need to understand some of the details just a little better to know the 'why'."

"You remember I said in the video replay that the World AI stepped in to slow Purrcy down? She learned how to beat the system and find every cheat and hack she could find, until she was put in lockdown for changing parameters too fast. She was one of the first Hackers. She trained me, and I trained my men. We've been pushed up through rigorous training that we'd rather not have had to go through since most of it was, and is, hell."

"The World AI and the Game Bot are not small, nor low level at all. To even scratch their surface we have to have enough big guns to get through to them. You all know how battles and wars go. You swarm the enemy with high numbers, then when the big boss raises its head, you send all the large artillery at it you can while the rest hold the fry down. We're part of the large artillery group."

"That kind of Hacker play wasn't limited to Yamato. Others learned it, too. Jack's one of them, as Blaze said. With enough of us learning it around the world, we're hopeful that we can have a party large enough to do damage to the AIs when we hit the boss room at the roots of the World Tree. It's too late for anyone else to get up to the levels needed at this point, so close to finishing out the world quests, but if you're set on knowing, we'll show you."

The Guardian gave a firm nod, and not a small number called out to know as well, or nodded, or raised hands to hear it. Michael paused a moment, as everyone in the room switched to viewing the status screens of the people in front of them. Michael's changed first.

HackerM1 - Hacker General  
Class: Programmer  
Sub-class: Monk  
Level: 163  
Race: Human

After a bit, the rest wavered then changed. Across the board every Eagle was a Programmer, save one who was a Spiritualist, another new and unheard of Class. Their original Classes had become their sub-class. Their levels ranged between 150 and 155. Their races were obvious, since they were all human. HackerM1 was the only one with a title after his name, though, just like he was the only one to be that high in level.

Michael was looking down at Jack. Blaze looked as well, though he thought he knew close enough. He hadn't. Jack's read:

Jack - Central U.S. Master Hacker  
Class: Programmer  
Sub-class: Jack-of-All-Trades  
Level: 158  
Race: Foxtail

He wasn't a Hacker, but was a Programmer, and his level was thirty-four levels higher than he'd let Blaze and Alabaster know. And he had a title. Blaze knew about those since he'd earned his own shortly after the second year started. Jack was staring at his own status with a frown on his face that disappeared as he turned to look up at the Eagles on the rock. His expression went to surprise as he stared with an open mouth at Michael. When he recovered he looked at the rest of the Eagles, then turned to Blaze. "They're being honest enough for Programmers," he reported. "I apparently haven't got a choice. Higher level Programmers can overrule lower level ones." He scowled a little at Michael, who looked like he couldn't care.

There was a lot of silence in the room, then finally the Guardian who'd asked moved, gave a nod and said, "Thanks. It's good to know. The intuition's always right." His own level was upwards of 120. A lot of the front line members were, though. It had been rough to fight the Overwritten off Special after Special. Only those who lived by non-convention were still standing, even before they'd entered the Maze. The Guardian sat down and the status screens went away as people returned to looking at just the Adventurers up on the rock.

"Any more questions?" Michael asked.

There weren't any and as soon as that closed the general meeting, Jack was climbing up the rock to stand with his arms folded in front of Michael. Blaze glanced at Alabaster to make sure the volume had been turned off. Alabaster was watching them. He gave a nod and Blaze paid attention to Jack again. "Why did you lock my title, and what the hell's a Jack-of-All-Trades?" Jack was angry and the flick at the end of his tail once every second told it.

Michael answered calmly but didn't back down. "I didn't lock the title. They can't be removed or changed, except in the order they list if you've got more than one. Purrcy's got a list a mile long now and refuses to show any more than Caretaker. You should know she's a TechnoMage now, though." Jack caught his breath just a little. "The sub-class was one of hers that she made up for not knowing what Apprentice was for. I didn't touch your screen. She did. You already use it for your own name, though. She was just letting you know that she...and we...know what you are. She showed them what she wanted them to see."

There was movement and two winged Eagles were setting Alabaster down on the rock. He wasn't given to being able to climb those heights well, having picked really low physical stats to get the mental and magic ones high instead. When he had joined their little group, the Eagles surrounded them in a loose circle. Again, they weren't threatening, per se. But they were definitely on guard and watching. Jack's ear twitched and Blaze was rather instinctively on higher alert.

Blaze wasn't expecting what happened next. In the middle of their little grouping of highest levels the air shimmered and there was suddenly in the midst of them a black felinoid with grey, white, and gold speckles, wearing a simple dress and leggings. Her golden eyes looked into Jack's brown ones. "Thank you, Franklin, for working so hard for the sake of the π. It was Michael's to choose if he would let everyone know the statuses. He wasn't wrong to want you to show yours as well, so that everyone could know it wasn't quite so odd for the Eagles to be at those levels."

Blaze recognized the look that came over Jack's face. It was how he faced all new Adventurers he ran into that he thought could be a threat. When he came back, he stared at the felinoid. (Purrcy herself, since Blaze had time to look at her status screen, though he thought he might as well ignore the rest of the data, given what Michael had just said.) Jack's hand reached for Purrcy's face then paused and pulled back a little. "What have they done to you?" he whispered.

Purrcy's ears went a little sad. "Turned me into the assistant administrator."

Jack's hand went instead to her upper arm, to grasp it. He opened his mouth several times, but no words came out. He finally gave up and just looked at her sadly. "Can you summarize it?" Alabaster asked.

Jack shook his head. "It's not only overwhelming it's so out of your league you can't touch her." That was saying a lot, given Alabaster's level of experience.

Jack let Purrcy go and she turned and bowed slightly to Alabaster. "I am Shiroe's to direct. He knows enough and I'm already on his board, even if there are details he can't know. It will be enough. I do hope you will contact him, though. He is desperate to talk to any and all of the other Master Strategists. He should be ready to pass on the data you need, though he will also need to know the high level things on your board to make sure he's got it right."

When Alabaster nodded to her, she turned to Blaze. He was a bit surprised to be called out as well. He was taken aback by her bright smile. "Hey, Blaze. Thank you so much for following through. We've been worried about over here. I was so glad someone stepped up and believed Jack. Programmers can do big things, but they can't do them alone. The Generals are super important to all of this working. I'll keep watching over you all. I hope I was able to get these to you in time. Have fun with them...I like to." She flicked her tail teasingly as she glanced at Michael. Michael rolled his eyes at her, then shooed her away. She stuck her tongue out at him, then disappeared.

Blaze stared after her, then busted out laughing a long laugh that rang through the cavernous room. "And that's what it is to her, in the end - a game? Fun?" He chuckled to himself. "No wonder she's the assistant administrator. Everyone else is too gloomy for that."

Michael smiled back at him, though Jack was looking at Blaze like he'd finally cracked. "Yup. It's the best way to face Theldesia at this point, really. Too much worry makes us forget what we really came here for, other than the being stolen part."

Blaze gave a nod to that one. He looked out over the room and the Adventurers in it. The Eagles were casual again. "You all knew she'd be showing up?"

"Yes," Michael said quietly. "She can't stand not having a say when we get together like this. Plus she loves to pass out praise and clues and can't stand to see people arguing when they need to be playing nicely together." He looked sharply at Jack out of the corner of his eye.

Jack opened his mouth, took a look again at Michael, then closed his mouth and shook his head. "I'm good...I guess. That's just going to be hard to recover from."

"Um...how to I contact Shiroe on the other side of the planet?" Alabaster asked. "I don't think Jack has the patience to be the go-between."

Michael handed over a picture. Blaze could just see the face of Shiroe on it as it went from one hand to the other. "It's the equivalent of a phone. Intend to talk to him and if he's up, he'll answer. It will eat up your points fast. Don't call from ten in the morning until four p.m. He's sleeping then."

"Thanks," Alabaster said and the picture went into his list. Then he looked down at the ground below the rock. "Umm." Two Eagles moved to pick him up and he was sailing for the ground. He looked quite relieved to be released with his feet under him.

Blaze looked back at Michael one more time. He took the time to let his gut tell him what it wanted to tell him, then he nodded. "Alright. Let's knock this thing off and get the next ball rolling. You've got places to be."

-:-:-:-:-

Marquis Code looked at his head spy's image in the communication globe with some impatience. "You've lost him yet again?"

"I'm very sorry, My Lord," the spy said abjectly. "We only see him in the city of Adventurers, and when we don't see him we don't know where he is."

Marquis Code sighed and rose to his feet. "Well, try one more time. I've run out of time. The Council of Lords meets today and I must give them my answer. I'll do what I must." He ended the spell and ordered his servant to see the carriage was called for, then went to his rooms to be properly dressed by his manservant.

As the manservant placed the court jacket on Marquis Code and began to do up the buttons, Marquis Code was suddenly quite sure the man wished to speak to him. With wider eyes, he made sure then said, as if bored, "What is it?"

The man jumped a little, then moved to smooth out the jacket properly. "My Lord ...please ...remove the banishment on Lord Rundelhaus."

Marquis Code blinked at his manservant who stood to attention in front of him as if expecting a punishment. "I never banished him to begin with. He ran away."

"Ah...," the man was confused, then bowed, his face going properly clear again. "Very well. Thank you."

A confused Marquis Code walked out of his room and down the hallway. When he reached the stairs, there was a maid dusting the painting of his great-grandfather on the wall. She turned enough to see him, jumped, and curtsied. When she stayed that way, he again had the sense that she also wanted to say something. "Well?" he asked.

"I-if it pleases My Lord, I am grateful for the third son of His Lordship, and his honor."

Marquis Code paused, a bit confused. "Whose honor?"

"Lord Rundelhaus', please My Lord."

"Hm," was all he said to her and he continued on, but it was making him take pause now. What was his youngest son doing when he escaped and was missing?

Again, as the footman let him into the carriage outside the manor home, he had the distinct impression that the man wanted to say something. He didn't allow it then, but when the footman still wanted to say it upon arrival at the government seat, he finally relented after alighting upon the ground again. "Yes?" he raised an eyebrow at the man and waited.

The footman bowed. "Blessings upon the house of Code and upon the third son, who has concern for the people and the land of Ninetails Dominion."

This time Marquis Code didn't let it go. "And just what has my wayward son done, that he should be receiving such praise?"

"He has defended the honor of the daughters of the land, and brought back hope to those who have been shamed, and repaid debts that he did not owe."

Marquis Code immediately had the lapel of the man in his hand and he was staring into the man's eyes from a very close and threatening distance. They were not the eyes of a felinoid, however, and he had the fear of a man on him. Marquis Code slowly let him go, then gave a thoughtful nod and took himself into the government building.

When Marquis Code arrived outside the government council chamber, he heard voices. He often took the time to listen to what the Lords would say when he wasn't present, so he paused to listen this time as well.

He was astounded to hear not just the Lord's voices, but a youthful one...that could only be Rundelhaus'. What was he doing here? Was this where he'd come before? Surely not for the servants to have known things about what he'd been doing. As Marquis Code listened he had to admit that Rundelhaus was not only asking intelligent questions, he was comprehending the answers, and suggesting things that while youthful and immature had some value. He decided then and there that he would test Rudy today. He couldn't get away this time.

Marquis Code strode firmly into the council room to his place at the front, pretending to completely ignore Rudy and the sudden fall of silence at his own arrival. He stood in front of his throne and said graciously (grandly), "Thank you for coming today. I have determined that here in this council today, I will announce the appointments of my sons." It got even more quiet in the room. He paused, not liking the feel of it particularly, but it might only be respect for the topic.

"With his obvious cursing, which brings such terrible bad luck, sadly I cannot announce that Berenshilde will become heir." He said it very sadly as it was a sad lot for his eldest son. "Such a cursing on the land as a whole would be a terrible legacy to leave behind. Rather, I have determined that he will be set as Warden of the Land, to see that the monsters and creatures are kept in check and the people safe. He and his men have competently managed that duty until this time."

There didn't seem to be much complaint to that, so Marquis Code took a breath to continue. His youngest son rose to his feet, however, and looked into his eyes. Marquis Code was surprised, but Rudy was being polite so he allowed him to speak. "Pardon me, Father, but I would like to tell you what I have seen with my own eyes before you continue. I am quite concerned, though I don't wish to disparage any of my own older brothers. I'll quietly leave once I've been able to say what I have to say."

"Well, I'm not sure you're so free as to just leave without permission, but I'll hear what you have to say," Marquis Code was intrigued what his youngest son might have learned in all of his wanderings about the family land, if that was what he'd been doing in those missing moments. He wasn't quite so willing to have him just slip away yet again, however.

Rudy took a calming breath, and then without anger or extreme emotion began his ...well, report was the best way to describe it, really. "When I first entered the town, it seemed smaller than I had remembered, and perhaps in less repair, from when I left it. The people seemed poorer in dress as well as in home. I have grown since then, so perhaps my views have been colored. I searched the city but could find nothing that could say one way or the other, nor any who would say anything other than life was normal. The next time I was passing through the town with Lord Neville of Maihama. We heard cries of distress and hurried to find the source." His face did fall a little at the memory. "I was dismayed to find Oakinshippe and a number of his companions standing outside one of the houses. We stopped to listen before interrupting."

Rudy paused, then returned to a somewhat more calm pose. It was a reasonable thing to do, after all, not to interrupt your betters. "We were both in agreement after listening sufficiently long that the second son and his friends were bullying the family of the house. As that is not proper for any lordling, we did interrupt and send them on their way. However, we followed after them and at home after home, the entertainment of the group that day was to bully the families so that the fathers trembled in fear and impotent anger, the mothers cried in despair, and the children huddled with them, silent, angry, and afraid."

Marquis Code could feel his heart beat increasing. He did not like what might become of this. The Lords were sitting quietly, neither denying it nor admitting anything. "That would perhaps not be unusual for young men yet unattached and bored," Rudy admitted. Marquis Code chanced a nod of understanding and agreement with the sentiment. It wasn't unusual at all, really, not in Ninetails Dominion, anyway.

"I returned the following evening to see if perhaps things were different for the people at nighttime." Rudy had to pause again and his hand clenched a bit. "I'm afraid things then were quite worse. I again ran into Oakinshippe and his men. I was only able to stand watching to the fourth young woman to be dragged crying from her family to be the entertainment of the men before I was constrained to interrupt and scold them all, and to hopefully win the freedom of the poor misses. I was beaten unmercifully until enough sword blows had entered my frame to send me to the Cathedral at Nakasu."

He looked at the floor. "While I'm sure I could have properly defended myself, I wasn't willing to raise my hand to people who wouldn't rise to live another moment if I did. It was better for me to try to win them with words and pleading for mercy, even if I should die many times. ...And I did, at least three or perhaps four, until they tired of me and hid where I couldn't find them to watch their despicable acts against the fair maids of the town." _Was that tears on his cheeks?_ "I wasn't able to defend them properly that night."

Marquis Code stared at his youngest son in shock as Rudy worked to recover and did indeed wipe at his cheeks before he looked up again. It was unheard of for a noble son to care about the people who served them to such a degree as to even shed one tear, and Rudy didn't even know them, having left the region before he cared to learn it. "The next afternoon I had occasion to visit again at the town, though it was difficult to enter it again, having seen what happened the previous day. Again I found Oakinshippe and his men there."

"This time they went to one house, took the shirt-collar of one man to shake him to near unconsciousness, and demanded that he give them the last boar that was to feed the poor man and his family that year and provide piglets for the taxes in the fall, so that he and his men could feast that night. The man protested mightily in defense of the lives of his family, so Oakinshippe sent his men to bring out the man's family. He was given the choice to have his wife and oldest daughter taken from him for the enjoyment of the party or give up the boar."

Rudy shrugged helplessly. "What was he to do? See them ravaged and harmed terribly or see his family starve in the winter and be thrown into the prison, unable to pay the taxes in the fall? He took his better option and gave them the boar. When the party left them, his family sobbed around him, but held him, grateful for that mercy. I stopped by the family, apologized for the terrible behavior of my elder brother, and gave them enough coin to replace the boar, then continued to follow after them. In family after family, chosen by what random whim I have no comprehension of, they continued to bully them until they had a full feast's worth of food that I paid each poor family for, and they left the town to begin a feast for themselves upon the lawn."

Rudy sighed a heavy sigh. "Once the fire was set and the boar laid upon it, I had to return to Nakasu and my duties, so I don't know what happened thereafter, but Oakinshippe and most of his men left the field and headed to collect whatever entertainment they had decided would be theirs that night."

He looked like he might have been about to say more, when one of the lesser Lords said quietly, and with not a little danger in his voice, "They came to my manor and demanded the attentions of my second youngest daughter. That she come out and participate in a feast with them. Given that they have now among them gotten half of my maids pregnant, I was loathe to let her go, and only allowed it with four of my strongest guards, and a firm promise that they would not lay a hand on her."

Marquis Code blinked, completely stunned. Up until that statement, Oakinshippe had been a bit extreme, but not out of the ordinary. That statement was a bit over the top.

The next Lord over opened his mouth. "And they arrived at my home next and took their three favorite maids with them, regardless of if I would approve or not."

The next Lord over was nodding. "And three of my daughters, and my second is so enamored of them I am almost to despair over her, even when she knows the same man who woos her woos the other two and has already bedded four maids and has children by three others."

Marquis Code felt faint and found his chair behind him and sat down. His eyes unwilling sought the faces of the other Lords in the room. There were others who nodded agreement, though the highest Lords had escaped unscathed to some degree so that they couldn't properly complain to him, it seemed. There were some very unhappy Lords in the room, though they weren't unruly just yet. Marquis Code looked to his youngest son again.

Rudy was looking very sad. "Father. While it isn't my place to say who you should choose, nor what you will do with your sons, please, do not place Oakinshippe in a position of power over the people. Within another two to three years there will be no people to support even you. If he is allowed even more power over them, then the whole house will be dead of starvation, if not overthrow, within one."

Since that's exactly where Marquis Code was going to have put Oakinshippe, he was at a complete loss as to what to do. "Certainly Oakinshippe is in need of correction and having to correct what errors he can," he did manage to say, to hopefully keep the Lords' anger contained for the moment. He blinked, then could only think of one thing to do - the test of the heir. "What would you do if you were in my place at this moment, Rundelhaus?" He did his best to contrive the look of the tester, trying hard to remain in control as best he could.

Rudy thought about it sincerely. "While I am young and inexperienced, so would seek wisdom from those who might have more experience, with what I do know...I would set Oakinshippe to be the Warden. It would be a good use of his and his men's energy. They are sharp of wit and cunning sufficient to be able to find and kill those monsters who are the worst and yet still return alive. It would use their energy so that they wouldn't be want to waste it on unworthy activities, and perhaps would settle their...manly urges so that they could properly settle with one of the women they already have brought to shame, so that they properly act out their duties to them." That got high marks from the Lords, but Marquis Code wasn't surprised - only that the words had come out of the mouth of his youngest son.

"And having assisted Berenshilde on his way, having heard his story from his own mouth when he reached Akiba, he is hopeless in the field. He dies so frequently his men have to throw their lives away in order to keep him alive like they should. It would be far better to have him over the tax collection and the maintenance of the people. He doesn't care one way or the other for them so would be properly neutral in any judgments that should come up. He does care just enough that if a need should be properly presented to him that he understood should be met, I think he would kindly meet it to the best of his ability. Surely the utter drudgery of having to collect the taxes would mean that he wouldn't abuse it outside the proper time of such collection, and he does dote on the smiles of others. He would do well in that position, I believe."

"And, honestly, if it weren't for the Oracle, I would say he would be fine as heir." That shocked Marquis Code to the core, but it shocked the room even more. The mutters started up at that. He should have told the Council of Lords if there had been an Oracle that affected them or the heirship. "Really, Father, while I don't wish to take it upon myself, you cannot fight the rules of this world, even if they are changing." That made it worse.

As the unrest in the room increased, Marquis Code finally had to give in. He raised his hand and quiet fell in the room. "I sent Rundelhaus away from Ninetails Dominion to learn what he could to become a proper Lord. Here is too harsh a place to teach it properly. From what I heard before I entered the room and from the words of his testing just now, I see I was correct from the beginning." Truth or lie it was what he needed to say to keep the peace in their lands and it would be the last test of Rudy. "He has returned with wisdom, compassion, intelligence, and a capacity to lead and rule properly. I will rescind my first appointment for Berenshilde as I didn't know of the actions of Oakinshippe because he kept them hidden from me. Oakinshippe will be the Warden, Berenshilde the Magistrate, and as I was going to say from even before, Rundelhaus is hereby formally announced as my heir." There was no dissension in the room at all and the level of anger began to calm. That was good, but Marquis Code kept his eyes on his youngest son.

Rudy bowed graciously. "Thank you Father for your trust in me, though I've only been able to prove any worthiness briefly in this short week I've been here." He rose and looked his father in the eye, having passed the part of the test to not call him on the lies. "Please allow me to return with the Adventurers once again. Grand Duke Sergiad has agreed to finish my tutoring at Maihama. While I have learned much with the Archmage and his guild as my tutors, I have not learned what I need to know to properly work with the Council of Lords, though they have been kind to answer my questions through message and again today. I promise to return to my duty here with a proper Lady wife with sufficient time for you to teach me what I will need to know to lead the lands of Ninetails Dominion properly. I do know that each region has their differences and I will need to understand those as well."

Marquis Code felt very tired. He couldn't argue against that request. Even he knew that if a Marquis didn't know how to face the Council of Lords he wouldn't be a Marquis long. "If the Grand Duke himself is willing to grant us that gift, it would be rude to refuse. Please do not take as long as you have already taken, however." Marquis Code really would look forward to having a son who wouldn't smear his name by his side. He'd ship off the pirate's sons if he dared, but he didn't. Perhaps Rudy could straighten them out in his time.

Rudy bowed properly, then excused himself, needing to return to duties for the Adventurers yet again. Marquis Code sighed and went to the hard work of appeasing his lesser Lords, calling for his second son and his men to come to the government center to hear what their punishments would be. It was not going to be a pleasant day...and perhaps not pleasant for some time to come, actually.

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy put his cloak back on once he was out of the council chamber. He wanted to make sure he made it out of the building okay. He could cast Call of Home, but he decided he'd like to walk a bit first to make sure he had his thoughts in order for the next day's meeting with the Nakasu Ambassador Council.

He really was quite pleased with how things had turned out, but he was trying to not rest on his feathers as it were. It had been merely a beginning, if a good and auspicious one. He was still rather surprised his father hadn't yelled at him, thrown him out of the room, and then tried to kill or imprison him. He was quite sure Oakinshippe would try harder now. It was one of the other reasons he'd been glad his meetings were at the end of the week. He shouldn't come out of Nakasu from now on, most likely.

As he walked the wooded passageway back towards the Adventurer city he was joined by another cloaked figure, taller and thinner than he, and also hard to distinguish and lay eyes on. He didn't bother trying much, except out of the corner of his eye on occasion. He was rather sure this was the same Purrcy that had come to visit him at Maihama and request he watch over her daughter. She stayed quiet for a time, just keeping him company until he was reaching the point he would rather she'd talk.

Placing her hand on his shoulder, but not stopping him from their walking, she said, "I'm very proud of you, Rudy. You've done well, and been true to your own heart, standing in humble strength even in the face of pain and sorrow. They have called for Oakinshippe. You know what that will bring next."

Rudy nodded. "More assassination attempts, and perhaps even an attempt to kidnap me and hold me captive for the rest of his natural life, since killing only brings me back to life in a safe place."

"Mm," she agreed softly. "So now it is time to begin to learn how to be the king on the chessboard of the smaller world of the Marquis than the boards you have as examples. But it is the same whatever the size of the board. Until now, you have been surrounded by the strong pieces of Shiroe's board. While you are at Maihama, you will be surrounded by the not quite as strong pieces of Sergiad. When you come here, you must bring with you - or already have groomed - pieces who can stand with you. What qualities do you wish to have in the people whom you will surround yourself with?" She squeezed his shoulder then let it go to continue walking next to him, her hands clasped behind her back.

Rudy's brow furrowed a bit as he considered it. He'd already understood that he needed to begin to strengthen the friendships he could with other People of the Land, like his relationships with Iselius and Neville, and even Sergiad. Being the head of the boys who had hidden during the difficult part of the last dungeon level in Akiba had also made him think of this very sort of concept as well. He'd only had a vague idea of the people like him, though. Or rather, like a lord might want to have from someone that he _had_ been like before that morning. Likely he was already late since he probably should have had at least one person by his side before being named in truth the heir. He was still protected, though, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

He ran through all the People of the Land in Akiba he knew, and had considered only lightly until now. It was true that he wasn't sure how to ask and who. "So...the qualities I want first, then the people?"

"Mm."

He thought of his guild. "Loyal, but because they believe in what I am doing not because they are required to be. Willing to open their mouths and say the important things I need to hear, instead of always waiting quietly to be told what to do and maybe help me get into trouble for it." He paused and tipped his head in thought. He thought her ear had turned. She might allow him to get into trouble even with her there, but he rather thought she'd not tolerate being interrupted in the middle of a conversation she was invested in. Her time was precious after all. "I'd like it if they could be or become friends. They need to have the skills I'll need. Intelligence gathering, and other such things I'm sure I don't know until I've watched Lord Sergiad properly." She nodded, but she was looking for more. He thought harder.

"Willing to work hard but help me remember to relax." That was an important thing for Shiroe. She grinned at him and he smiled back wryly. He thought some more, then frowned. "Leadership? Shiroe doesn't have us lead others much...but?"

"He doesn't?" she asked mildly. "What did you do with the boys? What do you do daily in Akiba?"

"Well...I suppose _I_ might lead, but -"

"What does he use Marie for? And all the guildmasters?"

"Well...but that's like the Council of Lords," Rudy pointed out.

"Is it?" Purrcy asked quietly. "As I've said to Iselius before, are we Adventurers really of the same order as the Lords of the Land?"

Rudy considered that a little more. She obviously wanted him to understand it wasn't the same. Then he thought of Crusty. "Ah...no. Lord Crusty would chop off Guildmaster Shiroe's head if he were so prideful as to _actually_ call him an under-lord."

"Indeed," Purrcy agreed dryly. She let him consider how that related to people he might want to bring into his inner circle.

"So...it would behoove me to watch men in how they direct others and choose those who treat those under them the way I would want to be treating those under me." He could actually see how that could be done, even imagining in his head - well really it was remembering a man he'd seen when he was younger and here at home. "I wonder if he's still around here?" he murmured to himself. "He seemed rather old at the time."

Purrcy chuckled. "It's only been what, three and a half years, if that long? The very young think the young adult is old and the middle aged ancient."

His eyes opened wide. "Well, that is true," he scolded himself ruefully. His mind was beginning to go to all kinds of possibilities now, since that had opened up the quite obvious realization that he shouldn't be limiting himself to people his own age. Even Log Horizon contained the old (Purrcy the case in point, not to be rude about it) to the young (himself the case in point).

"Ah, there it is," she purred, pleased. "You'll be gone a long time thinking about that, but let me finish what I have to say first, if I may." Rudy tried to pull back on everything and nodded politely. "The safest thing to do next is not leave Nakasu." He nodded. "Don't choose that path, but also don't be stupid. You need to go back into the town one more time at a minimum. This time, watch the people. Your brother will be out with his men in the wilds. The Lords are quite angry so he will be doing his best to meet their requirements for a while, but you'll want to not be there at dark or night." Rudy was quite willing to agree with that.

"Take your protectors with you, but only ones that won't make the people afraid to approach you. You need to learn how they feel about you now, and learn how to sort them. Some fawn and want to grease your palm with smooth words. Some are genuine, but will keep you at a distance. Those whom you should begin to groom will perhaps show themselves to you. Plus, if you have one or more you've already thought of, you need to go find them and win them over as well. While you are here is the best time, so they have time to help you. They will bring in others who will be possibilities. If they are over others, during this coming time that you won't be here they'll be able to begin to groom them to stand with you. Don't waste the final moments you have to do this important step."

Purrcy stopped him and looked at him soberly. "And Rudy, do ask Shiroe if you might postpone leaving if you feel you need the additional time to do it right. This is a critical step. Your brothers will continue to be your bane. You will have to decide in the end if you will continue to try to win them over, or if you must banish them and replace them, or even kill them so they can't continue to harm the people and the land. They have the souls of pirates, and Oakinshippe is not one who will gain the reprieve from his programming. That's not to say he can't be won over eventually, but it will be extremely difficult. He has a role to play and he will properly play it as long as you aren't here, because he has your father and the lords to see he does. But seeing you will rekindle the jealous rage, the same as you would and must expect it to."

She paused and looked off into the distance. "I suppose...you could read through the library at Maihama, like Raynessia did, to see what might have worked in the past to turn hard hearts into those of gold, and then try those things." She looked back sharply, "But if it becomes necessary to send in a good friend to end his life, do it as a lord should and grieve after the fact, as a good lord would."

Rudy looked away. It would be akin to Shiroe banishing Nyanta, because it had been necessary. He gave an understanding nod, deciding he'd rather do the research first, before having to commit to that step. Purrcy put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his face kindly. "Rudy, you are a kind person and will be the strong leader you wish to become, because you are willing to work hard for it. Really, I am very proud of you." She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.

For the first time, he moved to give her a hug. "Thank you, Hahaue." He made her hold him until he was content. Really, she was just like his mother and he was glad to have had her there for that moment. When she was gone, he stood there in the middle of the roadway for a moment, then quietly cast Call of Home.


	200. A New Forward Monitor for the 7th Level

"Charms! Fortunes! Want luck in love, business, or life? Come buy your good luck charms here!" The vendor caught Ains' eye and winked at him with a smile. "Here, sir! This is just for you!" The vendor's hand was pushing a round and brightly painted statuette towards the closer edge of his stand.

Ains stopped and stared. His attention was caught by the statuette and without really wanting it particularly, he stepped closer to ask, "They have Maneki Neko here in Yamato, too?" He quite couldn't believe it.

"Of course, sir!" the vendor gushed. "The happy lucky cat who brings good luck to all who wish for it! Surely even one like you wouldn't mind just a little more luck in your life?" The disarming smile was really made to make one relax - a bit dangerous on the face of a merchant to trinkets.

However, Ains had always found that one kami to be the least threatening of the kami of Japan, and had secretly treasured the tiny one his little sister had bought for him on her seventh birthday trip to the shrine. He blushed just a little, but asked, "How much?"

"A very discerning eye, good sir. This one is only twelve gold, but for you...I'd sell it for five less! Only eight gold."

Ains laughed at him. "I might pay three for a trinket. Eight's too high for such a toy."

The vendor frowned slightly. "It's not a trinket, sir. It's a gift at eight to be able to request at any time that your way be made smooth and your luck increase." When it looked like Ains was going to walk off, the vendor leaned over his booth and in a quieter voice said, "You do know that the kami of this world really do exist, right?" as if it was a secret.

Ains' lip twitched up. He was opening his mouth to say that he did - since Izanagi and Izanami had both been such bothers and terrible to Akiba - when he suddenly froze as the full impact of that statement made it to his brain. Just as quietly as the vendor had said it to him, he asked, "Wait. You mean that Maneki Neko _actually_ will grant requests?"

"Surely," the vendor nodded his head soberly but rather a few too many times in his eagerness to sell his wares.

"And will that get me into trouble for not knowing what random whims the kami of Theldesia have?" Ains asked, just a bit peeved at the Inari still.

"Oh, no!" The vendor waved a hand. "Maneki Neko only wishes to bring blessings and joy to all who desire to speak to his happy face." It was salesman gushing, but given the underlying flavor texts, Ains was finding himself intrigued.

"And if all I really wish is peace and quiet?"

"Yes, yes. Of course," expansive as the rest, the vendor's hands swept wide, almost sweeping product off his display. "It is surely not too much to ask ten gold for such simple blessings to come into our lives."

Ains looked back at the statuette again. _Icon of Maneki Neko. Made to carry the wishes and desires of the owner's heart to the god of luck, happiness, and prosperity._ That didn't seem out of line, nor like it would suddenly turn into something dangerous. It would remind him of the happy moments of home, too - which he was very much looking forward to returning to for all the Round Table Council had accused him otherwise.

"All right. I'll take it for the _eight_ ," he scolded the vendor for raising it back up to ten.

"Very good, sir! Eight it is." The vendor's hand came out palm up and Ains counted the coins out into it.

Ains put his fingers on the top of the statuette's head and put it into his list. He'd put it on his side table in his bedroom when he got back home. As it disappeared, he did whisper, "If at all possible, please keep Purrcy out of Akiba so I can live in peace the rest of the time we're here." It was so nice that she wasn't there now. She'd just set up the expectation that she would show up around an unexpected corner, at the least expected moment, regardless of how she'd left. That didn't help his nerves at all.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was settling down for a rest break again in the middle of the current battle going on. He'd pulled out a canteen and was drinking when he heard, "Michael?"

He glanced around, then said to the air, "Yes?"

"It's Shiroe. Got a minute?"

Michael relaxed a bit. "Sure, but not long. I'm on rest break in the Central U.S. Maze." He laughed a bit at himself. "I've been listening to so many voices I don't know today, yours was just another one I couldn't place. Sorry."

"Oh. No problem. I won't keep you. You'll need to rest up to keep going." Shiroe was politely contrite.

"It's no problem. I just came out on rotation," Michael reassured him.

"I hope it goes well. I just wanted to let you know that the little guess we had was right." Michael could finally hear the pleased sound in Shiroe's voice. He even might be relaxed a bit more than normal.

"Which one?" Michael asked.

"About Nyanta-san being able to realm walk. I think it's still spacial, not time. He came out to greet me because he was so pleased. He said that on Japan's equivalent of Children's Day it was also Children's Day in the Gate of Time, and even at the auspicious seventh birthday of the girls." Shiroe's tone held a rather large smile in it.

Michael leaned back a bit and smiled. "He must have been very proud."

"Indeed," Shiroe said, knowingly smug. "It was good to see him happy and relaxed. We had a good visit."

"That's wonderful, Shiroe." Michael swirled his canteen in his hand. "Hey...if he was willing to tell you that much, can you give a guess as to the relationship of passage of time between the two - us and the Gate of Time?" He was willing to wait the time it took Shiroe to calculate that.

"Mm, maybe...four days, plus a little? That would be our time, to one of their years."

"And that was how long ago that he talked to you, then?" Michael asked, leaning his head back against the wall. He took another drink of his water as he listened to the answer.

"Yesterday, not quite a full day ago, though close. We're getting ready for lunch now."

"Lunch! That makes it almost midnight here!" Michael laughed. "You really can't tell time when you're underground fighting for hours on end."

Shiroe chuckled. "No, not really. Are you holding on okay, fighting solid like that?"

"Yeah," Michael waved it off. "You know how it is. They brought in two legions and now we've added half of another one, so we're rotating out enough everyone gets enough rest. They don't like how hard it is, but they're like the rest of us. They'd rather just get it over with and move on with life. We like it that way."

"Of course you do," Shiroe said dryly. "How many more Mazes do you think you'll have to do?"

"Two minimum. I hope it stays that. We've sent a good bunch on down to South America so I think it should. I told you that Blaze, Alabaster, and Jack taught it all up and down the center of the north and central continents? We've barely had anything to do."

"No, I don't think I've heard that yet. Is that why Canada was already done?"

"Yes," Michael nodded to himself. "Alabaster will be contacting you on his next break - which might not be until after the Maze is done. He's the only good strategist. Like yourself, it's hard to let him get any of the breaks the rest of us get."

Shiroe sighed a sympathetic regretful sigh. "Yeah. I know how that works. Tell him good luck for me and 'don't die'. Do let him have breaks before he falls over, though."

"We will. We know enough to take care of the strategist," Michael promised. He paused a bit, then said, "Hey, have you considered what the final boss of this level is going to be yet?"

There was silence, then, "I can't see one. Is it just the World Tree?"

Michael was quiet for a bit again, then said, "If we're world-wide now, it would have to be something that big too, wouldn't it? I don't think it's the World Tree, though. That's it's own dungeon package."

"True," Shiroe said, then gave a pause full of deep thinking. "And...Purrcy and Nyanta are in the Gate of Time, which was also always a dungeon in its own right in _Elder Tales_ , by flavor text if not in actuality."

"Indeed," Michael said. "The temples of all those world-wide feline-related gods there are rather marvelous to behold, each vying to be the most distinctive and recognized." Shiroe gave a very long, self-pitying sigh. "Good luck on that side of the world, Shiroe," Michael said quietly.

Shiroe didn't say anything for a bit, then said quietly, "Michael...please take care of her."

"Always, Shiroe. Always." Michael closed his eyes and let the chat go. He was rather tired, and being an old man now didn't help, even if he did have a body that wouldn't and couldn't quit.

Michael woke up an hour later to Reed shaking his shoulder. Michael didn't move except to open his eyes. They did that on purpose to not kill before they should. He still didn't move once he'd seen the face, though. Reed paused and instead of rising to his feet his brow furrowed a bit. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Not really," Michael said quietly back. "I'm going to have you run the East Coast dungeon. From here on out for this one, you're advisor and I'm watching what you do."

Reed frowned at him. "You're not relapsing are you?" Michael shook his head. "Giving up and disappearing?"

Michael rose to his feet, making Reed stand up with him. "No." Michael looked into Reed's eyes. "You need to grow up faster. I've been standing in front of you too long. From now on, when we need to talk to Izanami, you're doing it."

Reed's mouth dropped open and only little sputters came out. "You know she doesn't talk to me, right?" he finally demanded.

"Have you bothered to talk to her, yet?" Michael asked. He blinked impassively at Reed's stunned look, then turned and walked off to find the porto-potty before having to get back into the fray.

-:-:-:-:-

Reed dropped onto the ground where Michael had been resting. He breathed out an irritated breath that wasn't quite a sigh. He really hated it when Michael lobbed bombs at him like this. This was a hot one he didn't even know how to juggle, but he wasn't allowed to just let it fly past him and hit the ground, either. It would take out not only their squad but do collateral damage to the rest of the Adventurers in the Maze.

Instead of sleeping heavy, he spent his hour letting his body rest while his mind went and reviewed all the Mazes Michael had run or participated in as a leader and advisor. It wasn't like it wasn't something Reed could do. He had the basic experience and training. He just didn't have the specifics, particularly of the new stuff. Of course, it was military style to make you learn it from the hot seat by this point in the training. He had to admit that much.

When it was his turn to return to the battle, Reed took a deep breath and rose to his feet. When he hit the pit stop area and was done with his business, he took a short detour and found the water source. He washed his hands, rinsed out his mouth, then stepped to the side. His desire and intent already begun as he'd done his research, he clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami, please hear the words of this priest who has no idea how to do this sort of thing. Michael's putting me in the driver's seat. I hope that's okay with you, since I suppose I do need the training. I'll try to do my best, but don't let my mistakes hurt others today. I'm sure Mike will do what he can to make sure I don't slip up too badly."

Reed paused, then added, "I'll ask for a miracle if we need one. I'd just like to put in the requisition request now that you be on standby for that. If we're lucky we won't need it, though." He clapped and bowed again. He wasn't sure if he wanted an answer or not. Somehow he wasn't surprised to feel very relieved to hear purring after a moment. She still had her eye on them...and had bothered to answer him, giving him just the right amount of support he needed at that moment.

He walked back into the battle room a bit irritated at himself. He didn't like being a priest, he got mad when she wouldn't give him things to do but he refused to ask for them, he needed to know she was there to support him, and he didn't want her to interfere at all. He finally sighed at himself, shook to get rid of the conflicted feeling and get himself into battle mode again, then went and found where Blaze and Michael were. Blaze gave him a grateful look and disappeared.

Reed saluted. "Reporting for duty, Sir."

Michael looked at him closely, then gave a nod and motioned to the front. Reed listened to Michael's summary of where the battle stood at that moment, inserted himself into the line, and started paying attention to the battlefield. He was lost to it in only a minute. Action demanded focus.

-:-:-:-:-

Rudy was feeling both overwhelmed and very sure and strong. He loved being busy and relied on and gained energy from being active. All of his responsibilities were giving him that. However, it perhaps had been too much to take on. He was glad MeowLi kept herself busy and was content with her chosen activities. D.D.D. was keeping him updated if he wasn't able to be at the food stand. So far if he had needed to be away when she wasn't working, someone else always wanted her to participate with them. She didn't seem particularly upset with him for his busy schedule either, so that particular responsibility was felt and worried about but wasn't unbearable.

It was the other two that were difficult. He had only been able to give Raynessia and Iselius minor amounts of his attention. He'd been able to find that one opportunity to have Neville go with him into the town, but he'd known it wasn't a safe enough place to take the prince and princess. While going back _was_ important, it was going to cut into the time he'd hoped to be able to make up to them. He wasn't sure how to make it all work from here on. There was the meeting with the Ambassadors of Nakasu that they would all be going to, but Rudy felt he should be spending some play time with them too. He'd invited them to come, after all, and Knights of the Black Sword had been their main escort instead. Rudy sighed.

"What is it, Rudy?" Isuzu asked. She was very good now at noticing his moods. Sometimes that could be annoying, but he understood she cared.

Rudy looked around at his friends. "I need help," he said simply. That got their immediate, though polite, attention. "Mostly strategy help, but perhaps a little more than that." That helped them know how to face him. He really didn't want to set the impression he'd been under attack.

They were sitting around the common room of the apartment with everyone present doing various quiet activities, wrapping up their day. It was perhaps a little embarrassing to say the things he needed to say with the Maihama guests present, but really they should know he was sorry for his unexpectedly difficult schedule, and they should have a say in what they wanted and needed to receive from him for the remainder of the time they were at the festival.

"My research in the town has gone well. I had hoped to be done as of today, but I've been encouraged to do one more task there before we leave. I had hoped to be able to finally devote more time to my duties as host, but the request isn't wrong. In order to complete it, I will need one or a small number of you to go with me, too. I could potentially postpone what needs to be done in the town, but I would need to stay at least one or two days more after the festival in that case."

"You have been very busy working hard," Minori noted. "It somehow doesn't seem quite right that you aren't taking some time to enjoy the visit."

Rudy shrugged. That wasn't bothering him so much. He was still getting to see some of the sights with the guild as a whole and as he walked through the city going to and fro. He turned to Iselius. "Really, I'm more sorry that I'm not fulfilling my proper duty to you as your host, since I had hoped to escort you more personally while we were here. My apologies." He bowed.

Iselius shifted. "Well, I do understand that learning what you can of how to lead your own people properly while you have the rare opportunity to is important." His face was a little sad though.

Touya sighed. "But not getting to play with someone close to your own age and station is also very rare, particularly when play is almost not even part of your life to begin with. I know Rudy was very much looking forward to enjoying the same."

"What is it that you have left to do?" Isuzu asked Rudy.

"I need to learn who I could begin to count on to support me from among the commoners and lesser nobles when I come back, and if possible win them to my cause before we go." Rudy felt his enthusiasm flag. It seemed like a rather time consuming task.

"Oh, that is important," Iselius said, his eyes widening. "It must surely be difficult when you haven't been here to work with them and will be gone for even more years."

Rudy nodded, not able to deny it. He was quite sure Iselius spent a lot of time with his own people, and thus understood well.

"Is there a time limitation, Rudy?" Minori asked.

Rudy shook his head. "Only that Guildmaster Shiroe sets when we'll return to Akiba." Minori nodded thoughtfully.

"If you're going to need some of us, that's kind of hard during the festival, too." Touya said thoughtfully. The others nodded.

"But we have classes to get back to," MeowLi said, an ear falling in concern.

"Well, not everyone, but enough of us." Minori was chewing on her lip. "I'm sure having him as tutor is helpful, but Rudy could stay a little longer. One of Touya or I could stay, but we shouldn't both be gone because of the restaurant." Her eyes went to Isuzu and her brow furrowed some. "It would be easiest for you to go back on the Ocypete because that's a long way to go."

Isuzu paused, then nodded a bit. "I could stay, since my time isn't really limited, nor do I have to be anywhere in particular, but I was looking forward to getting to visit the new village of the Giants next. If it didn't take too long, I suppose there are other ways to get back up there, and we'd have to get at least up to Akiba anyway. If I didn't already have that goal, it might be nice to explore down here, too, though I'm not really _quite_ ready for the hardest part of Yamato yet." She got understanding and sympathetic nods.

Rudy considered it, then said, trying to not let his ears go red in embarrassment, "Truly, though I'd love anyone's help who has time, I'd really appreciate it if Touya could be the one to go with me." He did feel that when it came to facing the People of the Land it would be much better to have a male companion than a female one, and Touya's Class of Samurai would be most beneficial if either of his brothers decided to show up at the same time he was there.

"Is it something you think Iselius could do with you, too? If Touya's along?" Minori asked. They already knew he'd been reluctant to take him before.

Rudy hesitated. "If I was going back to the Council of Lords, perhaps, but because this is to visit the lower classes, I don't think that's quite appropriate."

"I ...could go in disguise?" Iselius asked.

Rudy shook his head. "Father's spies already know who all of my companions are. Even in a disguise you'd be known for who you are. Even between Touya and me, I'm not comfortable enough to say you'd be safe. It hasn't been all that dangerous when I've been there, it's more that I feel a deep responsibility to your father. If you went it would be better to have one of Isaac's guild along as well, and that might make it difficult for me to be approachable. Stern guards are meant to frighten people off, after all," he smiled to take the disappointment off a bit.

Iselius thought about that and had to agree, though he was still a bit disappointed. "I'd rather take you to the beach," Rudy said to continue on a thread of what they _could_ do together. "From there we can see to the wild island, and it's a good place to visit outside of Nakasu." He rather thought Iselius wanted to see the town more to get out of Nakasu and the somewhat stifling atmosphere it had being so full of people. When Iselius relaxed and agreed that might be an acceptable thing to do, Rudy was sure he'd understood well enough.

"There's only two more days and tomorrow morning is the meeting," Minori said. "That would mean a trip to the beach would need to be the following day, unless we all stayed the extra day. Would it fit in the same day as your research, Rudy?" she asked.

"It could," he allowed. "I don't really know how long it will take me. I'm not sure I need to be there all day any given day, and part of one of the days I'd need to be visiting the outlying areas." He swallowed, that might not be so easy, actually, and he'd probably want to visit the manor once, even if in hiding. Several of his father's retainers could become his own after all. That part might have to wait, though. He tried not to sigh again, or shudder. It would all depend on if he could find the persons he wanted to talk to.

While Minori's mind worked on the possibilities, Rudy's worked on how he could perhaps meet with everyone he needed to. "I wonder...if I could get a cottage meeting somehow of people in town. If they knew I was coming in to talk to them then maybe I could meet more than if I just wandered through the town. I need to do that, too, but it will be very hit and miss."

Isuzu nodded encouragingly. "You could go in the first day and let people know you want to hear what they would like to say to you, and then the next day hold the meeting. That will let them get the word around town you're coming. You already do well listening to hear people. I think if they knew you cared enough to listen to them all while you had the time, they'd be willing to come and learn just how good you are at that."

Touya and Iselius both hesitated at that. "It's also a good way to allow yourself to walk into an ambush," Touya said. Iselius nodded in sober concern.

Rudy thought about that, then said, "I think...the people I want to talk to wouldn't let anyone who wanted to hurt me know about it, actually. I'm only really concerned about my brothers and father. Father wouldn't deign to listen to a peasant unless it was a formal complaint and I've learned that the people don't bother talking to my brothers."

"What about spies?" Iselius asked.

Rudy paused, then shrugged. "Well, maybe that would be a concern, but we could always cast Call of Home and come back here if it looked like something was going to happen. I think it's a rather minimal concern."

"As long as you don't drop to 1HP first," Isuzu mock scolded him. They chuckled. They all knew Purrcy's concern there. Rudy promised most effusively to not allow that to happen and the mood lightened somewhat.

A lithe figure appeared at the edge of their conversation and they turned to see Shiroe had joined them. He smiled at them. "You've forgotten that while the festival ends on Thursday, we'll be tearing down and loading the train on Friday. We won't leave until it's loaded, and that could be midnight or even the next morning. I think it wouldn't be bad if Touya and Rudy were gone for some of that time. You have strong arms and backs and they'll be missed, but Marielle and Calasin both already have armies to help with the workload. You've helped every afternoon at the stand, right Rudy?"

"Yessir," he answered.

"I think it would be acceptable to find a substitute for tomorrow afternoon and ask for the time off. Touya could work the morning shift. Then you could go for the first recon visit in the afternoon. You'll have been with Iselius all morning, and if the meeting isn't all that long, you can have fun in the meantime. There would be the last day for the beach and play, then on Friday when everything is all chaotic anyway you could go and have the cottage meeting. Or you could even save the beach until Friday morning and have the cottage meeting in the afternoon."

"Ah! That would get us out from underfoot," Rudy nodded wisely.

"Indeed," Shiroe pushed up his glasses and smiled again. "And Rudy, if you decide you want to stay longer, that would be fine. We can ask a gryphon to bring the two of you home, or I have a teleport item I can loan to you that will transport two if you hold onto each other."

"Thank you, Guildmaster Shiroe, though I'll hope that we can be done and go home with everyone," Rudy said respectfully. He knew how rare such items were, and going home on a gryphon would take at least two full days if not more. He didn't want to take Touya away from his work for too long. Grandpa's Kitchen did rely on him.

Shiroe gave a nod and walked off, letting them finish the detailed planning. Rudy felt much better once that was done and he thanked his friends for their help, once again. He very much was hoping that he could find a group of people to support him like this once he was Marquis. He would miss this and find life much more difficult without it once he was in his real leadership position.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe walked hand-in-hand up the stairs with Akatsuki to the rooftop, leaving the juniors to the planning of their final days of the festival. Once there, they stood where they could look out towards the ocean bay. The city lights weren't quite so bright that direction, but they still couldn't see the stars. That was okay. Shiroe stood behind Akatsuki and wrapped his arms around her. She held on to his arm as they stood in the breeze coming from the ocean. The moist salty tang tantalized their noses.

Into the quiet up on the roof, another warmth joined them. Shiroe glanced over, then smiled at Nyanta and Purrcy. Nyanta was also holding Purrcy in the same way. They were also smelling the air. "Really, they are growing up so well, aren't they?" Purrcy asked quietly.

Shiroe nodded and looked back over the bay. "It is easy to be proud of them. I hope they are learning to be proud of themselves as well."

"Indeed," Nyanta said quietly, making Akatsuki jump in surprise. She'd not seen Nyanta standing behind Purrcy. Shiroe rubbed her shoulder and she smiled up at him. He returned the smile, glad to have them all with him this night.

"And Shiroe," Purrcy said in her slightly scolding voice so he looked at her again, "Rudy really _should_ be growing up. Without the growth potion he isn't going to be ready to find a Lady wife in time for when he will need to leave Maihama. Even if you don't put the rest of them on it, you need to be sure _he's_ properly taking it."

"Won't Adventurer status leave him in time?" Shiroe asked in surprise.

She was silent for a while, then said, "He's already too late. Remember he is already over twenty years old, yet hasn't had any inkling of an interest in women. He is still a Person of the Land who must live by the programming of them. He has been unnaturally delayed, and it has been to his benefit as far as his necessary lessons are concerned, but in that matter it is a detriment."

"Ah...yes," Shiroe could see that. If Rudy should have started showing interest between seventeen and eighteen and they were considered unmarryable at twenty-five or so at the latest, it would be a problem to merely wait to let it happen by chance. "I'll get that going so he can have it available as soon as he gets back to Akiba." Purrcy gave a satisfied nod.

"I have my own question," he said to her. Her ear turned. "Which of the kami in the Gate of Time are most likely to be your enemies?"

"My enemies?" she asked, then paused to think about it. "Everyone plays the political game. The worst ones, though, would be those whose worship is completely counter to my purpose. Those who demand sacrifice, who use the natural tender emotions of others for wicked worship practices, who would rather receive power than encourage life." She shivered a little. "I have to lock us up on their high holy days in order to not interfere in ways that would be unproductive. I also can't afford to bring war into the Gate of Time." Her tail flipped and turned a few times. "It's a long list. I can drop it on your desk if you need them specified."

"I'd appreciate it," he answered quietly. "Are there any that would be the hidden knife?"

Nyanta nodded. "Sadly, Maneki Neko would be. While we haven't interfered with his realm of influence, he is the only other Yamato kami in the Gate of Time. Thus he feels threatened by us."

"I really do try to let him know through the voting and through what pleasant words we have opportunity to exchange that we aren't out to get him or anything, but the balance was thrown off to have two of us obviously allied," Purrcy said a little wistfully. "I would like to not think badly of him, but Nyanta is right. If an unexpected knife were to appear it could easily be in his hand. Night Sun was kind when we first arrived and doesn't take any harsh stances in the Court of Gods, but he is one who gains his power from things opposing my own philosophies, so also is a rather obvious hidden knife. Ceridwen is our only friend. It would be difficult to take if she held such a weapon." Nyanta tightened his hold on Purrcy, but had to nod agreement.

Purrcy turned her head to look at Shiroe. "Why do you ask?"

Shiroe pursed his lips. "Because Michael asked me what the final boss of this level is and you've not given me any clues to it. Is he the one who knows this time?"

Both felinoids stared at him, then tensed and shivered. "If anyone does, Shiroe...it would be him," she answered in quiet fear. Shiroe reached over and pet her, trying to get her ears to stand back up a little. When Akatsuki moved to hold Purrcy's hand, Shiroe held on to Nyanta's arm instead to give him a little strength as well. Purrcy finally took a deep breath. "Well, we'll begin to be more vigilant, then. If I get clues from my side, I'll let you know."

"Okay," Shiroe agreed. "I'll keep in touch as I do my own research. He thinks because we are spread around the world it will be a world-wide type of boss."

Purrcy's head dropped and her ears went to sad. "Yes. That would be like the game, wouldn't it. And centered from the Gate of Time where the kami can influence that large a set of locations all at once. Well, I will hope for the sake of the children that it will be much later - closer to when we are to leave it anyway."

Shiroe squeezed Nyanta's arm, looking at him in concern. "He asked me after I told him you'd come to tell me about the seventh birthday celebration. It may be that you begin to feel the first tremors very soon. Please be watchful and careful. We can't come there very well to help you."

Nyanta gave a nod of his head. "We will. Michael-nyan returned here again purroperly, so he will also be doing his part."

Purrcy agreed. "If it had been something that would have been a serious trouble to us, he would have refused to let us enter the Gate of Time to begin with, I think. It is perhaps merely time to begin to plan and be watchful."

Akatsuki patted her arm, rewarding her for thinking positively. "We'll do what we can. We'll watch over MeowLi. She is doing well and Rudy takes good care of her."

"Yes, he does, doesn't he?" Purrcy smiled softly. "I'm very grateful. For all of your care." Nyanta kissed her cheek and they bowed their heads then disappeared.

Shiroe took Akatsuki in his arms again. "I'm sorry to have frightened them, but I thought it important because she hadn't said anything."

Akatsuki was quiet for a while, then agreed. "It's surprising she doesn't know."

"...I don't think she's allowed to walk forward through time. Only backwards. I've never seen a past her. It wouldn't surprise me if the Inari locked her out of the future on purpose. Even for one Adventurer they're trying to trust, that could be very dangerous."

"She wouldn't like it anyway," Akatsuki said dismissively.

Shiroe laughed a little. "No. She's too impatient. She would have already killed the kami who might be even thinking of starting a war that will make her sad." Akatsuki gave a very firm nod of agreement.

Shiroe sighed and squeezed Akatsuki in a tighter hug, kissed her cheek, then stood quietly, enjoying her company as his brain percolated through all the possibilities like it had been ever since he'd talked to Michael. It never did know when to give it a rest when it had been presented a new puzzle.

-:-:-:-:-

Marquis Code wasn't looking at his head spy. Rather he was gazing pensively out his office window. Obviously Oakinshippe was unhappy, but the Lords even more so and quite glad to finally get to see Oakinshippe pay for his crimes against them. He sighed, hoping his youngest son could stay alive. "We know Rundelhaus is going to keep to his patterns in Nakasu. Move some men from there to the town. I want to know what it was he did there that made all the servants ask me to spare him and grant him blessings. He told me in summary, but I'd like to hear it from them to confirm it."

There was a pause. "Of course, My Lord. However, if it helps, I can tell you one now."

"Oh?" Marquis Code turned his eyes to look at the spy, raising an eyebrow.

"My sister's husband was being meanly beaten, with her crying her pleas for mercy, when Lord Rundelhaus arrived at a run and interposed himself, taking Lord Oakinshippe by the arm to distance him from my sister's husband. He then proceeded to take my brother-in-law's beating and refused to move until Lord Oakinshippe and his men gave up in disgust and left, breathing out insults and threats. My sister went to try to treat Lord Rundelhaus' injuries, but he refused her, taking out a potion of his own and saying it was nothing."

"He apologized for his brother's actions, and then apologized that he wouldn't likely be able to defend them again in the same manner since he would be returning home again. It was more than enough to have received such mercy even the one time, to see their young Lord take their own beating humbly, pleading as they had for mercy. ...Though my nephew did admit to me later that Lord Rundelhaus had finally lost his own patience and scolded Lord Oakinshippe roundly and that was what got him to leave."

Marquis Code was staring at his head spy, who was still staring at the floor between them properly and humbly. His lip finally twitched. "He finally lost his patience did he, and actually opened his mouth to his brother to scold?"

"Yes, My Lord."

Marquis Code chuckled to himself and looked out the window again. Perhaps Rudy was learning useful things if he had learned something of a spine. He flicked his hand and the spy rose, bowed, and left the room. It was almost another hour before Marquis Code was struck by a wonder. If the spy's brother-in-law had been defended by Rudy when he had been in town, then why hadn't the spy known to hunt for Rudy there instead of losing him every time he left Nakasu?

It took another half-hour for Marquis Code to decide that he would forgive the spy instead of kill him for treasonous disobedience. It was better that his youngest son had been defended long enough to prove both his acceptability and Oakinshippe's complete unacceptability. If it had taken that to trap the middle son, then perhaps the spy had been being loyal the best he knew how in the end.

-:-:-:-:-

As the Eagles headed for their spot in the respawn room to rest up from finishing the third floor boss, Michael casually asked Brenner, "How do you know when God's talking to you?"

Brenner looked at him a bit tiredly, but Michael was calmly serious. "You get used to hearing answers to the questions you ask. It's sometimes surprising at first, when you realize it was an answer, but once you learn it, it's rather easy to pick it out of the noise, if you're paying attention."

"Hmm." Michael scratched the back of his head, then stretched his elbow over his head to stretch out his back. "And did you get to learn what Izanagi sounds like when you worked with Nyanta-san?"

Brenner shuddered just a bit. "Not so much _hear_ as feel. That was more often than not rather unpleasant."

Michael gave him the look that said to rethink what he'd just said and done. Brenner slumped a little. "Sort out the High Priest from the kami?"

"Yes," Michael ordered quietly.

Brenner gave a nod, took a deep breath and started gathering up his "notes". "I'll let you know when I've got the summary."

Michael gave a nod and moved on. Brenner slid down the wall to sit next to Gareth as was habit, but he didn't talk, just went to work. If that turned into sleep, that would be okay for four hours.

When he arrived back at Michael's side with his answer, Michael calmly said, "Start asking more questions and listening for the answers."

Brenner looked at him a bit confused. "You're assigning me to Izanagi, then?"

"If we can get the additional miracle, and have his ear, too, isn't that only going to help us?" Michael asked innocently, raising an eyebrow.

Brenner put his hand to his forehead in a tired salute. With a sigh, he only said, "Yessir," and walked away. He wouldn't be surprised to have Michael ask him to ask for two miracles in the same battle. But if they really were limited to one miracle per kami, then it did only make sense to have at least one of them talking to Izanagi. Purrcy talked to both, and Brenner was the closest one to that Inari in the guild as far as background on Theldesia went. He also had the logical way of facing Izanagi. He wasn't about to be a fawning devotee, which would turn Izanagi off the fastest.

-:-:-:-:-

When Michael was seen next to Secretary next, and Secretary's eyes went wide, everyone who'd been paying attention _knew_ something was up. Their Commander did this. It was like watching Shiroe or Purrcy start moving. When their own leader started on a path he'd decided was required, he moved to put people into position and get them started thinking about what they should be getting ready for.

Eyes went from Michael, to Reed - who'd been in the hot seat since half-way through the boss and was nearly passed out already, to Brenner who was gone to the world, and back to Secretary, who had that hang-dog look of the guy who'd been told he didn't get to sleep yet either. They watched Michael as he sat down. He was looking old and tired and even he headed inside almost immediately.

"All four? Really?" They were sitting in a loose grouping by now, tired and ready to rest.

"It's serious whatever it is," Clocktower finally said quietly.

"You think he'll make Secretary take the increase?" Life Support asked just as quietly. They all kept it quiet at times like this.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Clocktower finally answered, after studying Secretary for a while. "Since he made Reed ask for the miracle, even if it was small and mostly unnecessary."

There was quiet pondering for a bit. Aviation Safety finally said, "Three - or four - kami is rather a lot of big guns."

"It was after his rest break," MasterChiefS7 looked sideways at Intel.

There was a pause there for research. "He talked to the President. ...World-wide final boss for the current level. The Commander knows something the long distance monitor hasn't said, but she'll be tied up in it, too."

Clocktower leaned forward on a raised knee, his brow furrowing a bit. "I think it's time to get serious with lessons, then. Everyone plan on moving up when Secretary does. Acolyte won't be enough."

"You think he'll call for other priests?" Compliance asked, not really believing it.

Clocktower looked at the three priests and one deacon, then at the head deacon. "Gareth," he called quietly and motioned for him to join them. That always made Gareth nervous, but he always came obediently anyway.

When Gareth was settled in front of Clocktower and Training, Training pointed to each of the priests, and then to Secretary. Gareth obediently looked at the four carefully, then his eyes turned to MasterChiefS7, and then he finally slumped. "Fine," he said. "I'm already priest in everything but title. But it will have to be Izanami since she's claimed me."

"Has she really?" Training asked quietly. They all looked pointedly at Michael again. "He's put Reed in charge of that as of today. Who is he priest for - really?"

Gareth rubbed the back of his head. "She'd kill any of us for suggesting it, you know."

"Like we care if it's this important, that he'll interrupt a Maze for it?"

Gareth looked back and said impatiently, "It's not like we need two for any of them."

"If he's High Priest, then we do," Clocktower disagreed. Gareth paled a bit, then swallowed. He couldn't argue with that one.

"But he hasn't ordered it, like he did Secretary," MasterChiefS7 said even more quietly.

"Can't leave him unsupported. He's already looking pale from thinking he is," Life Support agreed.

Gareth rose to his feet and headed for Michael. He sat down in front of Michael, one knee up to support himself on as he dropped into the spirit realm to hunt the Commander down to get the secret out of him, or at least the reluctant acceptance of the ordered command no one was going to say, since he hadn't.

MasterChiefS7 looked around at the rest of them. "If it's boss battle, we'll need to be partied up properly." He raised fingers and the rest raised hands, and he sorted them a little more evenly (having to deal with the stubborn) until they all knew which kami they were going to be deacons for. Six to a party total was still the way to go, and still Michael had to have the short straw, since he would also be going up a level.

"Are we going to take the Twin Falls boys with us?" Compliance asked.

The three at the top turned eyes that way. "Could use acolytes who know how to proselytize, even if its just for the world goals," Clocktower allowed.

"If it's that big, we're not enough in numbers if we need distractions to act," Training said with practicality.

MasterChiefS7 gave a nod. "I'll request it." The rest relaxed at that.

It wasn't that they were unsure of their capabilities. It really was the point Michael had made at their introduction. They'd discovered they were too small a group to be both the big guns and get the proper level of work done. They liked that Twin Falls was able to fill in that gap for them so well. Izanami hadn't been complaining either, so they figured her repair was holding.

Eyes looked at each other again and MasterChiefS7 smiled a cynical half-smile. "Don't need to give up more free will without some kind of payment, I'd think."

The rest were okay with that. When a soft purry chuckle came from his shoulder, they rolled their eyes. "I think we can make that deal," an expected disembodied voice said quietly.

"Do you know what's coming up?" They didn't get their answer. While they were disappointed to not get the early scoop, it was enough to get the deal. It took almost a half-minute for them to realize that two of the three Intelligence detail had gone to frozen. "What?"

Stiletto jumped and rubbed his face with both hands. Bowie looked away like he didn't know anything. They knew better and didn't let the two of them get away with it. Then they still couldn't say it, which was even more surprising. It took silent code to finally learn what those two knew. ...That hadn't been Purrcy...nor Izanami. It had been Izanagi in Nyanta's misaki. They sat rather stunned for a while after that. Michael got grilled pretty hard after he came back from his research since he hadn't let them in on that little detail yet.


	201. Beginning Fulfillment of Rudy's Oracle

Shiroe closed his one-way chat window to the Nakasu Ambassador meeting. "Really, Rudy has come a long way. I don't anticipate him needing much from us other than a soft hand and warm reassurance. It's nice to know that he's already strongly positioned for when we leave." Rudy's presentation and conference with the Ambassadors had gone very well.

Shiroe rose to his feet bringing up the rest of the guild that he'd brought along. "And now shall we go see what they thought?" he asked, a sparkle in his eyes. He'd asked to meet with the Ambassadors once Rudy was done. He walked out of the antechamber room they'd been waiting in after Rudy, Iselius, Neville, and Raynessia had walked out of the main entry with their entourage, and walked into the main conference room.

"What do you think?" Shiroe asked the Adventurers gathered in the room as he pushed up his round glasses. "Will Yamato and Ninetails Dominion accept him as the heir?"

He got chuckles back. "Even if the flavor text and rules of the game didn't make it a one-hundred percent, he's sharp for a Person of the Land, even more so than Iselius really - though he's a good kid serious about what he's been set up to be as well."

Shiroe nodded as he settled into a chair at the table. "I think between them Yamato might be nicely quiet and peaceful once we're gone. It's a good thought to have."

"Well...other than the usual random chance uprisings," one of the Nakasu Adventurers rolled his eyes.

"True," another one said, "but I think they'll handle that okay, too." He grinned. "After all, they handled us just fine." The room laughed. For two boy children of the land to have faced them all down calmly and reasonably was rather an accomplishment, though no one had been trying to be difficult.

Shiroe moved the topic on to how things had been going for them since he'd helped bring peace to the region. Being present in the city meant they could have the opportunity to pick his brain a bit, and they did.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael was pacing at the back of the cavern of the Tree of Life room. When enough glares had made it his way, MasterChiefS7 finally went over to him. "Sir, we can handle it here." Michael paused, looked around the room, gave a sharp nod and cast the spell to return to the rest point. Gareth was gone before anyone had to look at him to give him unspoken orders.

The Maintenance detail and the other Druids in their group were working with those who had come with Blaze's group to get the shielding up. The Play Nice group and the Twin Falls group were teaching the Vengeful Spirits (and incidentally any extra from Blaze's group who were around) about the quests and working out how to keep them playing nice when they got back. Sorting them out was always the hardest part, though they started with letting the Vengeful Spirits complain. That taught them the most. It had helped that they'd been able to review Jack's histories of the worst cities. The rest of the Eagles were working on the repairs to the line, since that took Hacker/Programmer skills.

Michael took a deep breath when he made it back to the rest area, straightened his spine, then went back to pacing, though to a slower speed this time. "LeftField, are you free?"

"Yes, Sir. Just hiking. I think I can walk and talk at the same time."

Michael smiled. "I resemble that, though it's more pacing for me today. We're in the tree room on repairs of the Central U.S. Maze. What's your location?"

"We're three days into South America. I've sent Wesson's group up north around the coastal cities to spread the word with half of the Inter-mountain boys. They're going to try to get to the Eastern South American Maze that way. We're taking the central and western cities on the way to the Northern South American Maze. We should be there in about three to four days, estimating," LeftField reported.

"Nice. How was the trip through Central America?" Michael asked.

"It went well enough." There was a bit of a frown in LeftField's voice, though. "Like I said before, they'd already repaired their Maze, but as we walked through and spread the word for the quests it was just a little different. Most of them were quite happy to finish hunting Overwritten, though they'd been keeping them down pretty good generally. What was odd was that they only smiled when we talked about decreasing the demihuman population."

"Oh?" Michael stopped pacing.

"They waved that one off and told us not to worry about it. When we asked for more information, they said that they've got a working relationship with the demihumans, so they aren't a problem any more. It seemed a little odd." There was definitely a frown in LeftField's voice.

"How were the People of the Land there?" Michael asked.

"They didn't want to have much to do with us, actually. We stopped by to purchase food stuffs from one village and while they let us buy from them, they wanted us gone as soon as that was done." LeftField sighed. "There wasn't much we could do at that point. The Adventurers hadn't been interested in us hanging around much either, though that was under a surface of compliant friendliness."

Michael was shaking his head. "That means you need to send investigators back. We aren't supposed to leave things bad between us and the People of the Land either. Those relationships have to be okay, too. But if they're playing nice with the demihumans things may be even more upside down than they should be. Maybe Brian can help you send in some spies in disguise to the People of the Land and maybe even into the demihumans to see just what's going on. If there are more demihumans than People of the Land, we're not properly completing the quest of low levels of demihumans to reasonable populations of People of the Land. That's two quests not working right there in Central America. And if they're not willing to fix them, there's problems in the Adventurers, too, that they're hiding from you."

"Yeah...that was kind of how it felt by the time we were out of there. I do have Brian keeping a watch over them, but once we get to the Maze he won't have quite the attention for it, and there's been nothing on the radar just yet. ...I'll sit with the head team and we'll work something out. We've got to go back through there anyway on the way home, so we can straighten it out then."

"Okay," Michael was pleased enough with that. "Keep me in the loop when you get data back on what's going on there. If Brian needs help with getting the spies outfitted we've got plenty of experience with that and can help him, even if it's just to do it faster with more hands." Michael slumped against the wall and changed topics. "What's the Panama Canal look like?"

LeftField snorted. "It's a spooky dungeon walk. You get to pay to enter, then every lock is another dungeon level to work your way through. Some are just puzzles, and some are battles. I can't say it's a useful way to travel if you just want to get from one ocean to the other, though."

Michael pursed his lips. "Hmm...if we care and have time, we might do it just to purify it and make it properly passable."

"The locks don't work if you don't do the puzzles and challenges, though. You'd get in and then sit forever," LeftField wasn't hopeful.

"Maybe. Well, it's not likely we'll have time anyway, but if we do, we'll investigate how we might make it work. Right now I'm thinking we'll try to get to the Southern South America Maze to help with that one. If you and Wesson get your Mazes done about the same time as we're headed down there, just your groups could come on down there and you could send everyone else back home, but we'll see when we get closer to that point."

"Sounds good. You'll go by ocean?" LeftField asked, curious.

"Yes. Like we came over here. We've got a proper ship for that." Michael crossed one foot over the other and crossed his arms, a frown on his face. "We don't know yet what the Eastern U.S. Maze will look like. It was nice that this one was over half-done by the time we got here. No guarantees for any of the rest, I guess."

LeftField laughed. "Nope. I was so surprised at the Central one that I figure anything goes."

"So far that's been how it's run for us. To have no one available for the Western one then already being worked on for this one..." Michael shook his head. "Well, keep me posted. I'll be available in the main now until we're in the next one."

"Will do. Good luck, Sir."

"Good luck to you, too. Over." Michael said.

"Out," LeftField answered and the chat closed.

Michael opened another one. "Intel. As soon as you're not needed, slip out and go get the histories on Chico, Big Apple, and DC. I want us prepared for those three ahead of time. Particularly Chico. The Pocatello boys need to be properly prepared before they hit that city. They're going to be so out of their comfort zone there.

"We'll send Leonardo on to Big Apple, but we need to see he's also prepared and with the right sort of back-up. We'll take on DC if we have to...but if we can we'll send Blaze and Alabaster instead so we can focus on the Maze. I'm sure they'd like to know ahead of time, too. Be back by the time everyone's ready to powwow after the repair so we can do it before they all break up and go home."

"Yessir."

Michael raised his head to look up at the far away, dark ceiling of the room and took a breath. He let it out very slowly, purposely letting out his anxiety with it. There was only so much they could do and only so fast.

"What are your plans for the rest of the Eastern cities?" Gareth asked him.

Michael shook his head. "They'll get the lessons from the inter-mountain boys, and they'll do well enough. I'm going to put Jack onto them. With him sticking by Blaze and Alabaster, those three can keep the boys afloat and do the social repairs necessary. Only those three had the large populations that put the Adventurer cities into the thousands. Hundreds will work together just to stay alive. If they won't, Blaze will make it work."

Gareth nodded. It was what they'd been going for from the beginning - to not have to do _all_ of the quests all by themselves. "It's nice we ran into strong allies here," Gareth commented quietly.

Michael agreed most fervently and his mind slipped off into his thoughts and plans again. Gareth made him lie down after about another ten minutes, then put him to sleep, using several bonus items to boost his spell high enough to affect Michael. The Western Hemisphere General needed to sleep _some_ time. He'd been slacking off on that for the last two and a half days. Whatever he was working on might be important, but so was being able to think straight.

-:-:-:-:-

The central region's resurrection was thankfully accomplished with a lot less fanfare than the western one. This time the Eagles piggybacked Jack, who had already been in all the cities, and just sent the video from one place. They locked down the few who needed locking down, made sure every city had a reasonable leadership set up that would actually be followed (if they didn't already have one from Blaze's work), made extra sure they really had buy-in to the quests, then they collapsed and slept with all the other Adventurers.

Six hours later, everyone was awake and eating their last meal together as a fighting force in the Maze. The Intelligence detail showed up, marking Michael as their timing point. He welcomed them with a nod of his head and they were handed plates of food. Around eating, they gave the report that they'd dropped off the information to the Pocatello boys and let them know they'd be in contact. Blaze, Alabaster, and Jack were called over. Leonardo's attention was captured and a memory cube put in his lap. He knew what that was, having had lessons in the train from all of Purrcy's.

Michael didn't delay starting the powwow. He gave the summary orders, then let the Intelligence team give the summary report. That got worried looks, but Michael took it in stride. "Jack, we'll teach you anything you think you need to know to run all the political quests from the central command center of wherever Blaze and Alabaster happen to be." He dropped all of Shiroe's work and the cubes he'd been sent of the most difficult ones Kanami's group had dealt with in front of Alabaster and Blaze. "Here's more homework." Intel put all three cities' full reports in Alabaster's lap, too.

They all three stared at Michael as if he was a little crazy. He continued, "You did real well here in the Central Region, however, that wasn't as bad as it can get. These will help you through what's coming up. Call Shiroe whenever things get real tight. He can cross around the world by visual chat, it's just very tiring and bleeds a lot of HP and MP out of him. We can't lose these political battles, just like we can't lose the mazes. He'll come immediately if it's an emergency. He's got healers on call for them, and assistants. Don't worry about that part."

He got nods. "We're going to leave pronto," Michael said. "We're the long leg in the totem as you can't really get the real work done until we've got the repair finished."

"Do you want us to ask for volunteers to go with you?" Blaze asked, concerned.

Michael shook his head. "No. We need to show these boys how to do the first two levels. If we get into a pickle after that, we'll contact you then, but it won't ever be as bad as the first one we did here."

Jack raised his hand. "How do I contact -," his eyes glazed over as Charlie entered his code space and handed him the addresses of the other inter-mountain groups, and then for good measure introduced him properly to Brian, and gave him the addresses of LeftField, Wesson, Leonardo, and then just to be thorough, Tetorō. If they lost audio-visual with Shiroe, he would still be able to get in touch that way in the event of an emergency.

Jack was suddenly flooded by other Eagles in the code realm as they piled up on him all the skills they'd found essential in their work. They made sure he had them down pat before they let him go. It only took a few seconds. They'd dragged him up into the milli layer for the lesson.

When Jack returned from interrupt, he simply sat and stared in defeat at the Eagles around him. They just gave him happy puppy dog grins. "And that's what a lesson from Hahaue is like," one told him. "We won't make you go through a test. They're a _lot_ worse." The rest nodded, solemn-eyed.

"Shut up," Jack slumped to rest his chin on his hand. "At least you _had_ lessons. The rest of us had to come at it the hard way and learn it on our own."

He got sincere nods for that. "Thank you for even trying, and then for going for the gold," Reed said calmly. "It's the Masters like you that made it all even possible."

That mollified Jack and he gave them a nod and a soft wave of his tail. He looked at Blaze. "Okay. I'm good to go. We'll just have to watch all of those and spend hours hashing them, I suspect." He looked at Alabaster.

Alabaster looked at the cubes in his lap. "Ah..." Secretary reached over his shoulder and tapped the top of the closest cube, then gave him the simple instructions to go along with it, then tapped it again. "Okay. Thanks," Alabaster said when that little lesson was over.

"And one more set of lessons just for the three of you - and keep it super secret for now," Michael said and put up the umbrella one more time. Jack had just learned it so watched it with more comprehension this time. "Your lists aren't limited, nor are your capabilities." He taught them the natural Adventurer way to access their lists, then showed them the recursion boxes, then let them in on the most secret one - that guildmaster quest lists were unbounded. They promised to fill theirs up to full capacity before the final world boss battle. They would need to provide for as many of the northwestern hemisphere as they could once all of the individual Adventurer's supplies were gone. (Jack would have to register as a guildmaster at the next Adventurer city but both Alabaster and Blaze already were guildmasters.)

"You could have said something before now," Alabaster scolded them.

They shrugged and apologized, but it hadn't really been necessary in the Maze. The one final resupply had been enough. Plus they'd noticed Izanami was still turning food into needed items just in the first fight. They didn't let on to that cheat she was using, though. They couldn't count on it in the World Tree dungeon.

"Do you have any current questions for me or for us right now?" Michael asked. He waited and they thought about it. When they didn't get to any more right away, he said, "We'll be on the road a few days. Review those and call us with questions if you have any. I'm sure you'll do just fine, though. They've got the answers to the hardest questions in them, and I wouldn't be able to do any better than you, honestly."

They stood up and Michael gestured to BillyBoy who trotted over. Reed gave a hand order and one Eagle went to pair up with one member of BillyBoy's party. Michael shook hands with Alabaster, Jack, and finally Blaze. "Good luck and good hunting. We'll be in touch. Thanks for all your hard work here in the central regions and here in the Maze."

They got solemn nods back, then the Eagles touched the Idaho man they were with on the shoulder and they all disappeared from the room. Leonardo sighed. "They are the most dramatic bunch of people I've ever run into. And almost the most impatient. Kanami's worse in that department."

"Well...I can get wanting to be in a hurry to get us all home," Blaze said with a shrug. Speed was his trademark, after all.

They sent a sub-group out to harvest so they could all get to their respective homes, or next spot of duty, without starving. Then the four went to work on their lessons. It was good Leonardo had been left behind. He became their instructor as the histories replayed. He'd been present for most of them and had the others as his own example lessons, plus he'd been there for training under Shiroe and Log Horizon himself.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles walked the Twin Falls boys through the code realm to the place they'd left the dragons. It was shorter by that path. Michael let the dragons know on the way that they were incoming.

"This is so insane," Life Support whispered as they reentered the base realm. "What happened? Why this time around?"

"For the additional assists we need, most likely," Compliance whispered back. He waved at their "guests" and the dragons. "They can't well carry double what they've already been carrying."

Life Support's shoulders sagged. "No, I suppose not."

Brenner bumped into Life Support on purpose as he passed him headed for the grouping of leadership that was forming up. He was just irritated to have his own prediction coming to pass. Life Support grabbed his arm and pulled him around anyway, but Life Support wasn't angry. Instead he looked closely into Brenner's eyes. "How's that doing now? Did it upgrade, too, in there?" As guild medic that was his responsibility to keep track of.

Brenner blinked, then shrugged. "The Mazes don't change it much. It's the story mode stuff outside of them that does. I got to see better in the in-between last time. We'll see what happens this time." The closest Mormon opened his mouth and Brenner looked at him impatiently. "Yes, I know. But this is a little different. It wasn't really a curse. It's part of a skill upgrade and if I don't walk the path I won't learn what I need to learn. When I've properly learned it, I'll get my full sight back. It's annoying at times, but I'm doing what I'm supposed to be. Don't sweat it."

Brenner stopped and really stared at the man for a while, then shivered slightly and turned away to return to his interrupted walk. "You got an upgrade," Life Support accused softly.

"Maybe," Brenner said over his shoulder, "and maybe they did." He walked off. Life Support and Compliance looked carefully at the man's status, checking to see if he'd gotten a new sub-class or crossed over from a sub-class to a Class. It kept them occupied until orders trickled down.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael's impatience had hit an all time high the rest of the guild hadn't seen before. He knew it and had to get to where he could deal with it properly. He ordered everyone to get ready to move out. They'd fly far enough to not impact the hunting grounds the central region army needed to use to do their final resupply, then they'd stop and do their own harvesting.

The Twin Falls group sat the dragons. When they were ready, the Eagles unfurled their wings and the entire group lifted up off the ground. It was a grand sight to see - eight dragons and twenty-four Eagles taking off and lifting into the sky. With firm strokes of their wings they rose to very high heights. The ground beneath them became the patterns of the land - light yellow-greens or bold brilliant green of grassland, dark greens of forest, golds and browns of farmland, spots of villages here and there, sparkling streams that gave curves of variety to the land, trees marching along their borders.

It was a beautiful scene to be flying over, particularly when most of the time on Earth they saw the wide moving but unchanging blue or grey or sometimes green ocean. Land was occasional and brief when they flew their angels. They enjoyed the view while they had it. Even Earth wouldn't look like this. That was patchwork all through this area, though also with lines of streams and trees. During growing season there would almost be as much green but with a little less variety. Here there were more wild zones.

The dragons were surprised when the Eagles continued on past their usual four hour stopping point. Vesuvius pointed his nose at Michael. [Guildmaster, why do you not stop?]

"We were given yet another upgrade in that dungeon," Michael answered. "We don't have a time limit to flight anymore." Vesuvius understood. "We'll drop down soon, though. We still have harvesting work to do before we get to sleep."

Michael was already dropping, scanning the land before them as he did, looking for good land, though it was all good, and randomly could be useless. He rolled and came back up alongside BillyBoy. "Ask one of your boys to say a prayer, or do it yourself, to know where we should land to find good hunting ground and safety at the same time." He wanted to test to see how that would work outside their home region, and to see if he could tell which deity it was that answered it.

The prayer was said, and the amens, then everyone was scanning the ground, then looking at each other. In proper turns, the leadership of the Twin Falls group gave their opinions, or what they'd felt, then they all turned and looked at Phillip. Michael noted that. He was their forward monitor, so it was the right position to check with.

Phillip looked at where had been pointed out, then he bowed his head for a moment, then pointed to one of the three that had been mentioned. That was pondered and then BillyBoy said one more simple prayer. When he nodded, they all looked back at Michael. "There," BillyBoy said.

"Committee, confirmation by the one with the specific responsibility, then final decision by the one in charge," Michael summarized.

BillyBoy nodded. "That's how we do it."

Michael nodded. It wasn't too different from what he was used to. "Right then. Head down there the lot of you and we'll see what it brings to the dinner plate and the quiver. Gareth and I are going to split off so I can do one more thing that has to be done and join you in progress."

"Shall we get the rest started while you're gone?" Reed asked quietly on the chat.

"No," Michael answered back shortly, "this needs to come first."

When they were low enough to the ground that Michael could actually pick out a quiet zone, he motioned to Gareth and they split off from the main flight group. When they were low enough and far enough away from the rest of the party, Michael flew close to Gareth and reached out his hand. Gareth took the hand and Michael flew them back in time to the same time they'd left with the dragons from outside of the Central U.S. Maze of Eternity while keeping them in the current location. He wanted to be sure he hadn't missed his window of opportunity while properly seeing to his men, as was his duty.

-:-:-:-:-

All of Log Horizon was hosting Iselius, Raynessia, and Neville on the beach outside Nakasu. It was nice to be able to be back there at a time they could be relaxed and not hurting like last time, though they knew Shiroe was thinking about the end of this level. At the end of this level, they would finally be reunited again where the last time had been at the beginning of the division - a much more difficult position to have been in.

The Ocypete was anchored out in the bay, and the spring greens had exploded all over the wild zone island. They were even able to hear on occasion the sounds of the larger monsters roaring or calling. "This time of year is difficult over there," Rudy said, looking at the island. "Mating already happened and now everything is waking up and fighting over what little early food there is. At least half of the food is the newly born and hatched monsters. Sometimes that's the only way there is any control of the numbers of them over there. That and the winter frenzies when they start starving and fight to not be the one eaten."

He pondered the island for a while, then said, "I can see both sides of the issue, and really I wish we could be assured there were enough strong people who would remain to see that the numbers of the monsters were kept at a reasonable level. It helped to have the Eagles come clean out the three dungeons, particularly after three years of no one being available to do anything about it. If we can't keep it tamed to at least some degree, I think I'd rather it were cleaned out, personally. The dungeons will still respawn, after all."

The others all nodded. They'd already discussed it after the meeting with the Ambassadors and that had been the sum, but right at the moment they couldn't know for sure. The Lords of the area had wanted it completely cleaned out for various reasons, and those reasons also couldn't be faulted. "Did you ask Lady Purrcy?" Iselius asked now.

"I did, but haven't received an answer yet," Rudy said. "If I recall, that usually means she doesn't have the answer yet, or we're close enough to figuring it out on our own, so I'm not worried at the moment. There's still time." That got nods, too.

They played in the surf and ran up and down the beach for a while, then had a picnic lunch. "You could use it earn money for the region," MeowLi said at a quiet moment in the eating. "This is so far away, it seems not many people would come visit, but if it could be made into a place people wanted to come visit...then the money the people brought with them would help?" Her ear twisted. "I was thinking of our class."

The others all nodded seriously at that. "On Earth, having a specific entertainment often draws people, though it can depend on what kind," Minori said.

"Like golf," Isuzu said definitively. "A place like that cleaned up and turned into green lawn would be plenty big enough for several specialized golf courses. Ah, that's a game on Earth that doesn't involve death. The use special tools to hit a little ball around. It won't likely translate to Theldesia, except it's entertainment without death, and it looks pretty. The island is larger than what you would use just as golf courses, but you could then have other places geared to the other members of their families - like pools for the kids, a shopping mall or spas for the wives, that kind of thing."

"Yeah, but...to translate it to Theldesia...," Touya frowned a bit, looking over to the island. "It might be impossible to remove the three dungeons. So it would still have to include them in the planning. If it could be cleaned out of monsters and be considered safe in the other parts of it, then maybe Heroes and Adventurers who stick around would bring family, but I'm not so sure I would. Maybe those parts would be better off planning on catering to just them. You know, bars and inns for food and drink, armor repair, magic item replacement and repair shops. Things like that. If they wanted to bring family, if a safe enough zone could be created maybe, or if they stayed over here on the main island while they waited."

"A hotel could go here on the beach. And it definitely needs a dock for the ships. Just that much would bring in more trade and tourism."

"Yes, I had already thought of that," Rudy agreed with Isuzu. "It's been rather a pain to go by skiff between the beach and the Ocypete." He looked at them curiously. "Why wasn't one already here to begin with?"

The Adventurers of Earth smiled at him. "We didn't need it when we could gate around. This was always intended originally to be a wild and difficult zone. But that doesn't mean it's reasonable from your perspective, nor does it have to stay that way now." Shiroe answered him. "However there is one other reason."

Shiroe made sure he had Rudy's attention. "This bay is too tempting for the pirates from the South Seas. A real dock would have surely meant a pirate village right here on the beach. The game designers did put one here for the beta run of the game. The whole island became over run by pirates and the Japanese players complained. They wanted to play Samurai and mages, not pirates. So they took it out in the final iteration of the game and kept the pirates south of Yamato, though there were a few specials. That's why there is any pirate activity up here at all. Without the specials that might have taken a lot longer to make it up here than it did."

"Ah." Everyone slumped just a little.

"But, with Nakasu nearby and if I and my descendants are vigilant?" Rudy asked.

Shiroe nodded. "If you stay vigilant. However...tell me. How did your older brothers become the way they are?"

Rudy slumped even more. It wasn't worth hiding from Shiroe any more. It was rather obvious the Adventurers understood why People of the Land were the way they were, and Shiroe more than most. "Their mother was a pirate. Mine was a Countess."

Shiroe smiled a small triumphant smile. "And there it is. Even in your father's time, before we came, the pirates still had an influence. You will have to teach all your children very sternly and beyond that they are to not ever marry a pirate, and they will have to be banished with said pirate if they do. That will be hard for them to live. Somewhere down the line I wouldn't be surprised to see that come up again."

Shiroe waved his hand. "But...perhaps that is too far off for you to worry about it. Trade and commerce will build up the region and the closest cities and that will give them strength to fight against what pirates do come. That will do more than any marriage to keep the area safe. And if you have regular Heroes and Adventurers coming to fight in a special zone, they'll dissuade the pirates as well. After all...they'll be just as fun bait as the dungeons." They all laughed. It was only true.

"MeowLi," Rudy turned to her, "you aren't wrong, actually, to think about it in terms of the class. I did use Ninetails as my class project when I took the class, though I needed to think at the time a little more specifically, or perhaps generally, about what sorts of things already funded the lords and how the various people contributed. At the time we were discussing the various zones in Yamato generally that the Adventurers wanted to see retain the desired and needed monster drops. That was one of the main topics I covered in both meetings this week so that we could finalize the decision.

"The Adventurers agreed today to the final proposal from the Council of Lords and after they recover from the Spring Festival, they'll begin the final clean-up. Only the island itself remains a point of uncertainty. It will come down to me deciding it. Even my father won't likely care to cast a vote since he'll be happy to just leave it in my lap. I do like thinking about it in terms of the financial possibilities, though. Thank you. That will help me think differently about it." MeowLi smiled her shy smile and tipped an ear at him.

Touya pushed himself to standing. "And on that note, you and I have an appointment to go to next."

"True," Rudy said, standing as well. "One thing I have learned - a lord's work is never done, even if there are pleasant moments with friends every now and then." He smiled at them and they all smiled back.

"Life would be so dull without it," Isuzu said, brushing her curly hair out of her face.

Rudy could only agree.

-:-:-:-:-

Honesty was tearing down their last booth. Ains was helping hold the tall post of one side and the Hacker trainer was holding the opposite one on the other side while a third was pulling out the nails of the top rail. "Guildmaster Ains," the Hacker trainer got his attention as they set the freed posts carefully on the ground so they didn't hit anyone in the head.

Ains walked over to talk. "Yes?"

"Has Guildmaster Shiroe said anything about the newest guest in their house, like in any of the Round Table meetings?" His look was only one of curiosity.

"No," Ains answered. "It hasn't needed to come up. Is there a reason it should? She's a Person of the Land, but that's hasn't been too odd since they've been allowed to attend the Academy."

The Hacker shrugged. "Well, since she's come, Guildmaster Shiroe's locked down the whole guild hall so I can't spy on them, not just his office."

Ains' eyebrow went up a little. He'd asked the Hacker to keep a light watch over Log Horizon so he could have advance warning should Purrcy return to the guild hall and be kept hidden again. "Anyway, I just wondered if the two events were related or not. It might just be that he's decided to be more paranoid than normal, though why when things are so calm and peaceful finally, I can't say since I can't get in anymore."

Ains nodded. "Do keep trying every now and then, maybe it will be like his office where it goes down every now and again." The Hacker gave a nod and they picked up several posts and carried them to the waiting wagon to place with the rest of the things they'd brought with them.

Ains continued to ponder on it as he completed his chores for the day. He was walking through the common room of their rented apartment for the festival when two of the young women in the guild passed him with arm loads, headed for the wagons outside. "Who is that one who's been hanging out with Log Horizon and looks so much like Nyanta-san?" one asked the other.

"I don't know, other than she goes to the Academy with the other People of the Land. She seems to be a serious student. She's often in the study halls with the others in her study group," the second one answered as they fumbled to get the door opened. Ains stepped backwards and opened it for them. They thanked him, bowed, and kept going. He stayed there to listen a little longer.

"Sometime I'd like to talk to her," the first said. "I'd like to hear where she came from. When I see her around town, they always have someone walking with her from their guild. I would think having a friend outside that guild might be nice for her sometimes, particularly since Minori-chan's always so busy and Isuzu-chan travels."

Ains marked the names of the two girls. He also wanted them to get to know the newest felinoid of Log Horizon. He wanted to know where she'd come from and why they were protecting her just as much as they had Purrcy - or nearly to that level, anyway. When he reached his room to pack his final remaining things, he paused to contact one of his spies.

"What is the name of the felinoid taken in by Log Horizon?" he asked first.

"MeowLi, Guildmaster Ains," was the prompt response.

"What did she do while here in Nakasu?"

"She was hosted with the other People of the Land by Log Horizon. Most afternoons she worked the Crescent Burger stand as a chef." Even Ains knew of Nyanta and Purrcy's cooking skills and his brow furrowed. It was a weak link, but he put it into his calculations anyway. "Do we know where she came from?"

"Mm, learned that this week. She's from the Gate of Time."

Ains froze. " _After_ we chased Izanagi in?"

"Yes."

Ains could feel his blood pressure rise and he carefully took a deep breath and consciously relaxed. "Anything else?"

"Only that she claimed the Gate of Time was a place of genteel and highly intelligent felinoids, to rival the lords of Yamato. And that Log Horizon watches over her and is helping her learn how to live outside of the Gate of Time at the request of her guardian."

"No word on who that guardian is?" Ains asked tersely.

"No, not at this time," was the answer. It wasn't unexpected, though.

"Thank you. Let me know if you learn any more, please. I'd like to rule out a more personal connection."

"Very well," his spy answered and Ains ended the chat. His lips pursed. There was something he was going to be spending time on when they got back to Akiba.

-:-:-:-:-

Touya and Rudy entered the town closest to Nakasu. The roads were packed dirt, and the wooden houses in slight disrepair, though it wasn't neglected at all. They had walked it the day before, spending time listening as they went, pausing at shop doors if people inside were talking, then walking in to see the difference in how they interacted when strange faces, or the face of the young noble were presented to them. Touya could tell that Rudy had been taking a lot of notes.

They'd told most people they thought they could trust about Rudy coming back today. They'd said they'd come to the town square, it being the general place of gathering for the town for such things. It had a mayor, but not an official government facility. The mayor was one of the ones Rudy had talked to more officially that day, as were a few other people the mayor had given them directions to find.

When they arrived at the square today, Touya put his hand on Rudy's arm and held him back in the shadows a little first. "That's a lot of people. Make sure you don't have any known enemies in that crowd before we go in."

Rudy's eyes scanned the crowd. When he finally shook his head, Touya gave a nod. "Stay close to me, I'll part the crowd. You pay attention to our backs and warn me if something happens in my blind spot."

"Okay," Rudy obviously was glad Touya cared, but he also just as obviously didn't think anything was going to happen, or at least wasn't concerned if it was. Touya understood, but he'd been trained on Theldesia to always expect and act on the worst case so that you could walk away alive and relieved in the end. They'd both been trained to battle plan and chatter as they went so everyone in the party knew exactly what was going on so they could be prepared rather than unhappily surprised. Touya liked to stick to the patterns.

He got them going, though at a calm pace as if just joining in with everyone else waiting. He quietly got people to move out of the way, most of them moving politely. It often wasn't until Rudy had passed them that they went into a hush. Rudy's curly blond hair was the mark of his nobility and who he was, so then they recognized him. Touya kept his ears on what was going on behind them, so he would hear trouble and Rudy. He kept his face kind. They'd played this sort of thing before - usually to get out of a crowd rather than into it, but it was the same philosophy. People responded politely to kindness.

They reached the little stand in the middle of the square that was used for general population announcements and such things. Touya stopped on the ground level and turned to face the crowd as Rudy climbed up the two steps to address everyone who had come. Most of the faces seemed to be pleasant and positive. Touya decided to step up onto the first step, though, so he could watch over the crowd to the back of it. That made it easier to see. They didn't need to have a last minute unseen arrival of an older brother. Many of those present were whole families, which surprised him a little. But then maybe the People of the Land felt it a proper necessity to all turn out when a lord of any level over them said he was going to arrive officially.

The crowd had settled down and Rudy addressed them. "Hello, everyone. I'm sorry to take you away from your tasks and duties this afternoon, but we leave for Akiba again soon. It was easier to talk to as many of you as I could this way. I'd appreciate it if when you spoke you let me know your name and what you do, so I can better learn who lives here. I left over four years ago in shame to go north to seek my fortune. Fortune found me there, indeed, when I met Adventurers who were willing to befriend me regardless that I wasn't one of them.

"In the time I have lived with them I have learned what it is to be kind, concerned for those who you live with, what it means to care enough to put your life on the line for others, and that maybe the path we are all set on without choosing it for ourselves doesn't have to be run away from, but can be a way to learn and earn proper strength.

"Some of you know I've been here this week to see what happens here, and I've been sad at what my brothers have done. I've told Father, and the Lord's supported me, so I hope from now on things will be a little better. I hope when I've finished properly learning my lessons and return that I will be able to help make them a lot better. Grand Duke Sergiad has agreed to continue my education. He is an honorable man and I am looking forward to learning from him the more I need to know.

"While I am here today, I would like to hear from you some of what you think is important for me to consider in my further education, and some of what you would like to see the area become. The Adventurers agreed with the proposal to clear out all of the monster zones wherever we have homes, and out to three levels of zones around that. There were two strong monster zones they didn't want to lose and the Caretaker agreed to have those villages move down to the far south tip of the region so that those monsters won't encroach on the zones we live and work in.

"Having that much land open up that we can use without fear will be wonderful. We should use it wisely, I think. So I would like to hear your opinions on how you think that could be done, and perhaps some of your hopes and dreams for the future of the area. I will do my best to learn how to make some of them happen as I learn my final lessons over the next couple of years.

"I also have a few things I'd like to ask you to work on while I'm gone. One of them is to help the Adventurers build a port and dock so that we can increase trade and travel. That will bring in income from outside of the region, which we desperately need if we are going to thrive. We'll get to those topics after I've heard from you." Rudy paused and waited to hear from the crowd.

Touya smiled to himself. He could see from the faces in front of him that the townspeople had never in their lives ever considered such a moment ever happening in their life-times. Rather spontaneously, the crowd began to cheer for the young Lord Rundelhaus. Rudy blushed slightly, then finally held up his hand. "Thank you, but really it has been the hard work and efforts of many. I'm very grateful to them all that we have been able to even reach this point in my very short life time. Please, if you could let me know your concerns and ideas?"

Slowly but with increasing courage, the townspeople began to talk to their new young liege. Touya kept his eye on everything, keeping tally of the disgruntled, genuinely happy, and the beginnings of sly looks. Rudy focused on learning everything he wanted to learn at a session such as this. Touya couldn't help but be happy for his friend.

-:-:-:-:-

"Lord Code, he's arrived," the servant bowed from near the table the Marquis was sitting at.

"Very well," Marquis Code rose from the table in the house he'd appropriated while he waited for his son to arrive for the meeting with the townspeople.

When he'd first arrived, the few townspeople who had seen him had been fearful, likely worried he was there to prevent the meeting. He was sure those people were still nervous, but he'd only sat in this house in hiding since arriving. He'd ordered his soldiers to hide outside the city and only move in after Rudy had entered it and the people were gathered at the square.

Marquis Code took his time to walk to where he could hear Rudy speak, but not be seen. He was pleased enough with the results of the negotiation with the Adventurers. He was also impressed that Rudy didn't immediately announce his appointment as heir, though it was hard to wrap his brain around it, since it should have been obvious that he would do so. It was extremely difficult to both understand that Rudy should be being humble since he was a youngest son, still very junior, and so many of the low things that he was, while at the same time expect him to carry the proper Code pride at his newest station in life. Marquis Code decided to not think too hard about it, and listen instead. The tenor of the crowd was important to understand today.

Rudy was about forty-five minutes into it when Marquis Code's lieutenant's aide arrived to whisper to him that Berenshilde had arrived. Marquis Code nodded. "See he doesn't reach the people, though he may stand outside the cordon wall and listen if he cares to. If his men get rowdy, see they are removed from the town." The aide bowed and left.

Marquis Code signaled his own aide and the words was passed through the men he was with. They watched carefully now, and soon enough what he expected to have happen, did. Coming from behind Rudy, using Berenshilde as the distraction, Oakinshippe's men began to sneak towards the square. They were prevented by the Marquis' men. When Oakinshippe himself was restrained, his angry voice called his father.

Marquis Code walked with his personal guard to where his second son was raging at the men who wouldn't let him proceed any farther. "Why are you here when you were ordered to be about an important task?" the Marquis asked coldly. "Sneaking about the town when an important meeting is going on?"

Oakinshippe stiffened and his face darkened. "If it's so important, then shouldn't we all be invited and participate?"

"If you weren't invited to participate, it wasn't necessary for you to attend to it," his father answered dismissively, but his eyes never left his son's face, nor did his attention wander from the men in the area.

"What good could the Sorcerer's son do in a place like this?" Oakinshippe spat.

"What good has a Pirate's son done?" his father nearly hissed at him, though it was more said in a whisper. Oakinshippe froze, then went very dark. "If you wish to redeem yourself, return to the lands and your proper duties," Marquis Code ordered. "The youngest will be gone after today for years again. What is today to you?"

"My last opportunity to gain what is rightfully mine," Oakinshippe's sword slipped out of his sheath with a soft ringing sound.

"You've already lived here without him this long and could live longer if you will relent and return to your duty," Marquis Code argued with his son.

His son was already gone beyond reasoning with, already angry at being punished because of the testimony of his younger brother. He quietly ordered his men and they moved forward. Marquis Code drew his sword and didn't move. Oakinshippe's eyes took that in as he paused, then, realizing that his own father was going to support the youngest son, his face twisted and he was immediately attacking. As the guard around Marquis Code fought to keep him protected, the father looked one last time into his son's eyes, then his own sword found his son's heart and the son fell slowly to the earth.

"Will the rest of you relent?" was called out to Oakinshippe's men. They didn't, which wasn't surprising. Five survived in the end. Marquis Code ordered them sent to Nakasu and offered to the Adventurers to help them with the final cleaning up of the monsters, and if they didn't come home that would be just fine.

There were no bodies to clean up, it being Theldesia. He ordered his soldiers to say that they had found evidence his second son had died from a severe battle with monsters. He cleaned his sword, sheathed it, and walked to the place where Berenshilde was being held back from entering the square.

"Father! Why are you preventing me from seeing Rundelhaus?"

"Have you been bothering to listen to what he's been saying?" his father answered him calmly.

Berenshilde was brought up short and he blinked at his father. "It's nonsense."

"No. It's the proper way to face the people you have responsibilities for. What will you do? Will you remain and try to learn how to support me and then your youngest brother? Or will you accept banishment and try to make your way in the world?"

Berenshilde's eyes went wide with shock and panic. While he tried to think hard thoughts - not an easy thing for that son to do - Marquis Code turned to his men who were standing with him. "Will the rest of you relent and be obedient to myself? Or will you follow him and be banished as well if he should choose that?"

To a man, they all promised to be obedient to the Marquis. (Most were already very grateful when Berenshilde had been given his new responsibilities that they wouldn't have to be included among the dead who had tried to keep the first son alive and failed.) When Berenshilde saw he had no support from among his men, he caved, slumping. He whined horribly, however. Marquis Code merely flicked a hand and the soldiers who held him back from the square marched him away and back towards the manor.

-:-:-:-:-

Marquis Code properly mourned his second son, exhonorating him for dying to protect the people of the land. His Lords properly consoled him with insincere condolences. When he was finally alone again after the necessary duties to that were completed, he sighed to himself. He let himself feel the brief grief at having lost a son, then let himself feel the great relief at not having to worry anymore about the one who would have killed even him at the drop of a hat. Knowing that Oakinshippe's role as Warden would become obsolete in only a few months with the Adventurers cleaning out the monsters had been slightly frightening. He would have only returned to the awful deeds he'd been sent away for.

It was for the best, really, and what Marquis Code could do for Rudy to help him have a home to return to and rule over properly. In the end, that was his only and true responsibility - to see that his heir had a place to rule, so that his son could rule after him, and then the next son after that. The generational requirement demanded that Marquis Code finally lift his hand against his own unworthy son as soon as it was possible to do so rightly. Berenshilde would learn his place, do his duty, and whine incessantly. That wasn't punishable by death, merely highly irritating. Rudy could decide what to do with Berenshilde when he came. It would be a good test to see if he had properly learned his final lessons.

The wine from the elvin vendor went smoothly down Marquis Code's throat and he was very pleasantly warmed by it. The Adventurers did have uses, after all. Good wine, and helping the lords to stay where they should were two of them. He smiled slightly to himself and relaxed in his chair, falling asleep part way into the third glass. He hadn't had a good night's sleep since his second son could swing a sword and got that glimmer of greed in his eye as a young teen.


	202. The Kidnapping of Meiki

_Happy Mother's Day to all mothers reading along with me, and to my own Okaasan._

 _This momentous chapter is actually a rather apropos chapter to be posting this weekend as Purrcy becomes the official, if reluctant, Hahaue of Theldesia._

* * *

Michael's wings beat strongly, pushing the air as he sought for the proper place he was looking for. He soared and looked until he found an open field with a small copse of tall trees in it. He decided that would be good enough.

As he soared down in spirals to get to it, he said, "Gareth, I've been waiting for a day to break the initiation rites. We're doing that today. You'll do as you please or as feels right to you for an Adventurer to do. The main intent to hold on to is the determination to help Purrcy in her own goals; the willingness to lend your own strength to hers. I've added a bit of the concept of 'so that the goals of all of us can be met'. We work together as Adventurers because we want to see the outcome, not for the good of only one of us selfishly.

"It's okay to do things selfishly, because we do that, too, but in this case there has to be a reason why _she_ would be willing to take on the role I'm going to force her into today. Even then I don't expect it to be an easy task. We'll still have an equivalent job to do as if we were performing an initiation." They landed in a flutter of wings and Michael looked at Gareth wryly. "Because _she's_ difficult."

Gareth's lip turned up on one side. "I get it," he said. "I'd far rather go about it that way myself. Cold water baths are getting old."

Michael gave a nod. "Contact Tetorō. We'll need him involved also."

"You going to make him a three-fer?" Gareth raised his eyebrows.

"He can decide, but I think he'll do it," Michael shrugged a little. Gareth gave a nod and went inside to get Tetorō's attention. When he came back, Michael looked up into the air above them. "Purrcy, will you come talk to me for a bit? I'll need the present you, Hahaue, and the Caretaker."

They had to wait just a little bit, but she appeared before them in one of her preferred dresses and leggings, always the sign she'd left the High Priestess behind. Michael smiled at her. "Hello again, Purrcy."

She smiled back. "Hi, Michael. What's up?"

"I've been thinking about all the things we've been doing and what's ahead, and I'd like to use the rules of the game to help you a little more as we get into the final difficulties," he said lightly.

Purrcy's eyes went a little wide. "You're already doing a lot, Michael. I'm not sure I need to be asking for more."

"You're not asking. I'm offering," he firmly refused her and the rules of kami worship in one breath. "I watched over your shoulder, taking the same lessons you did at the university. Already we use all the cheats we can and all the tools in the tool box, but there's one from there we're not using yet." He folded his arms and tipped his head sideways to look at her. "Kami get their strength from having worshipers who give the kami their faith and devotion."

Purrcy stiffened like he knew she would. He held up a hand, trying to get her to listen a little longer. "You know we have the option, as Adventurers, to worship whatever we want to worship as part of the game play. And we can stop worshiping it just as easily. I want you to let me choose to become the High Priest of the Caretaker until we're finally off this rock. That additional strength will help you and won't hurt me since it's game play we already do. I know you don't like it, but we don't have to tell anyone so you don't have to be worried about popular opinion, or setting incorrect expectations in the Gate of Time where it will have the most impact."

Purrcy put her hand to her head then began shaking it slowly. "Michael. I don't really need it. I'm already OP enough as it is, and I don't need to have one more thing on my plate to take care of."

Michael shook his head. "No Purrcy. We haven't reached the hardest fights yet. There are things you can let me know and I can help you with from that position that just will make it easier. It's a convenient place to work from. I don't know that you have to pick up anything new. If anything it's us that will carry the load like we already do."

"Us?" her ear flicked and she glanced at Gareth.

"Yes," Michael said. "The guild said I couldn't do it solo. If there's a High Priest there has to be a priest. I'm going to call Tetorō in as deacon. That will be enough for what needs to be done. We're already the ones who support you anyway. It will just add in the additional real strength you'll get from it there in the Gate of Time."

Purrcy looked at Gareth. He shrugged. "I'm okay with it. If you get bonus points there for what we're doing anyway by us making it more official then it's not a waste, is it?"

Purrcy blinked in surprise that he'd see it that way. After a moment, she pursed her lips. "Thank you for the concern, but no." She disappeared.

Michael walked over to the trees and sat down to lean against one of them. "Come on. We're going to chase her down with Tetorō's help."

Gareth sat down next to him. They put up a secure barrier around their physical bodies then headed into the code realm. Michael carried Gareth and flew until they reached Tetorō who was waiting for them. "What's up?" Tetorō asked.

Michael explained what he was doing. Tetorō listened carefully, asked a few questions, then gave a nod. "Alright. I can buy in. I'd rather support Purrcy herself anyway. All my efforts have already gone into seeing that her goal is accomplished. If that gets her even more bonus points, it's all good." He paused and his look got both calculating and curious. "If we recruit everyone else in the resistance, does that add, too?"

Michael had to laugh. "Of course, but until we talk her into taking it, she'll only get more mad. Help us talk her into it."

"Sure," Tetorō grinned. "What's first?"

"Next is having you follow your line to find her psyche and take us in with you so I can harass her some more," Michael smiled.

"Okay," Tetorō agreed. With both Michael and Gareth very small and lending him their strength, Tetorō took them with him and followed his link to her.

They appeared in one of her command centers (they weren't really fox holes any more). They had to wake her up, since she was mostly busy other places and not expecting company. "Michael?" she glared at Tetorō.

He shrugged like he didn't care, because he didn't. "They came and told me what their plan is. I happen to agree with it. If you're wasting bonus points you could be using to help all this along, then you need to shut up and let us abuse the system."

Purrcy stared at him, then had to giggle a little. "Okay. So I've taught you all bad habits. But that doesn't mean that I like having to stand in that role." She glared at them to make her point.

"Since when did you like standing in any role you got pushed into?" Michael asked a bit caustically.

"And since when did you get to have a choice?" Tetorō agreed. "I thought we all agreed a long time ago you never did. We'll be the clergy and you'll be the goddess for a while, and if that gets us all bonus points, we're all good."

She hit him with a Spark and went to irritated. "I get all that, Tetorō."

"It's your own internal philosophy from Earth getting in the way," Michael commented almost coldly. "Drop it. We need to get home. Apologize to God when it's all over and it will be all good. Brenner and you can commiserate. You're in the sweet spot right now and we need that strength."

"Not to mention if God put you here for this reason - to get us all home - then He shouldn't have a problem with it, right?" Gareth added.

Purrcy put both of her hands to her head as if to hold it from exploding. Her tail was being completely ignored and it expressed her distress very well. "Do you three even know what that's going to do to this world, if I accept?"

"I do," Michael said quietly. "I said it. I took the classes with you." His look pierced her as she looked back at him in somewhat horrified amazement. She disappeared.

He hoped she was getting the picture of what he was trying to tell her without telling her - since he wasn't being allowed to tell her, which was very frustrating but not surprising. It was difficult being the one on that side of things this time. "Right. I think one more time will do it," he said firmly, hoping and intending for it. "If it doesn't, we'll get everyone's buy-in first and make her take it without her approval."

"That will work?" Tetorō asked.

"Yes," Michael said without explanation and they disappeared to reappear in the code realm. "Okay, now we hunt and trap. Gareth, we want the ikiryō. Tetorō get the beacon going and make sure if she falsifies it that's nipped in the bud quickly. I'll play defense and keep her busy."

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy stopped stock still in the middle of walking down the hallway. Timberel reached out and grasped her arm to keep her standing upright. It happened sometimes when unexpected things happened that a kami had to suddenly deal with, though it was rare enough. He pushed on the top of her head and she was suddenly a kitten sitting on the floor. He bent down and picked her up and calmly continued walking. He changed where they were going, though, and took her to her personal office instead of the Office of Requests. He sent a paige there explaining there'd been an interruption and she'd have to come when it was completed.

Inside, Purrcy was fighting off the three worst enemies she had - the three she'd trained to be the most sneaky and to know her own limitations and signatures. Even worse was she didn't really want to hurt them, so she was finding it difficult to fight as seriously as she needed to. It was, of course, her undoing. She'd rather be trapped by them than win. She still wasn't happy about it. She knew what they wanted to talk to her about and still didn't have the answer they wanted.

So, she used the opportunity of being trapped in Gareth's Spiritual Prison to whine, fuss, cry, and complain. It didn't move them much. They were also all very used to that. They just patiently waited her out until she slumped to sit, defeated, letting her ears and tail fully express her dejection, trying to use the dramatics as a weapon as well. When they refused to accept that either, she lay down and put her front paws over her nose.

"Why?" she muttered at them.

"Because it's necessary," Michael said calmly.

She looked up at him without moving. She just watched him for a while. Finally she closed her eyes and sighed. "Fine. Under protest, I will allow you to be the High Priest, priest, and deacon of the Caretaker. But if you ever so much as hint at worshiping me as Purrcy, Adventurer like yourselves, I will curse you until you wish you were dead."

"Fine," Michael agreed quietly. "Then let's go finish the formalities, shall we?" He reached in and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and she went quietly.

They reappeared in the same zone he'd first called her to. Tetorō was still with them, though he came as a projection. Michael and Gareth rose to their feet. "As I've already said, I hate the way the game set up how clergy are made," Michael said first. "I have chosen that I wish to worship the Caretaker and serve her in the position of High Priest. As an Adventurer, I'm making that offer at this time, and until I choose to rescind my decision. Does the Caretaker accept?"

Purrcy, back in felinoid form, said, "I accept. Thank you, High Priest Michael."

Gareth stepped up. "I have chosen to worship the Caretaker and serve her in the position of priest. As an Adventurer, I'm willing to be that until I've decided I'm done. Does the Caretaker accept?"

Purrcy sighed just a little. "I accept. Thank you, Priest Gareth."

Tetorō waved a hand dramatically. "I, Tetorō and Tetora, have chosen to worship the Caretaker and serve her in the position of deacon and shrine maiden. As an Adventurer I'll be glad to serve her until I'm done with it all and recant." Michael glared at him as he opened his mouth for the last part and he obediently settled down and made the more proper and simple request. "Does the Caretaker accept?" He folded his arms in challenge.

Purrcy calmly answered, "I accept. Thank you Deacon Tetorō and Shrine Maiden Tetora." She bowed to them all. Then she relaxed and looked with resignation at Michael. "Really, Michael, you do make one despair, you know."

He looked away, then down, and answered, "I'd rather it this way than any alternative." He wouldn't look up.

Purrcy stepped over to him and put her hand on his cheek and lifted his head to look into his face. Her thumb wiped the tear that had slipped out. She sighed. "Shiroe warned us after you warned him. It will be so terrible as to have made this a requirement? Even though you know what it means?" A few more tears dripped from his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and held him until he recovered and moved back away from her.

Michael bowed. "Caretaker, please hear my request as your High Priest. Please place a link between the sixth-level me who watches over you, and each of the children of Purrcy and Nyanta-san, so that I can also be their guardian."

Purrcy's ears stood tautly upright and she stared at him, frozen. After a bit she came back and nodded. "It's done, but I really wish you didn't keep frightening me, Michael." This time he stepped back to her to hold her until she recovered.

"I'll be able to properly do my job now," he told her. "I'll watch over them."

"I will trust you, then," she answered quietly. He released her and Tetorō called to her.

Tetorō bowed and requested, "Caretaker, please also let me have a link to the MeowLi who walks with Log Horizon. Shiroe has already also warned the rest of us and has asked me to watch over her in that way. Please make it so that even if the other kami interfere, I can still get to her. We will also protect your daughter for you so you can have the strength and focus to do what you need to do where you are."

Purrcy was still for a few seconds, then nodded. "It's done. Thank you for being willing to strengthen me, all of you," she bowed to them again. "I am sorry to be difficult, but that is the way it is with all kami perhaps. I've learned it's really not just me."

Michael smiled. "No, it's not, but you're still _our_ difficult."

"Indeed," she sighed. "So, if you're done with me?" They all bowed to her and she disappeared.

It was disorienting to reappear in the Gate of Time very tiny and not where she had been when she left it. Timberel waited patiently for her to get her bearings. "Ah...when are we?"

"About a half-hour from the time you were called away to the emergency," Timberel said calmly. "I informed the Office of Requests you'd been called away and we'd be late."

"Oh. I've returned incorrectly, then, but I guess it's close enough since it isn't tomorrow or yesterday."

"It was that concerning?" Timberel asked.

"Well...yes, I guess it was. It quite threw me off." She sat there and recovered for another ten to fifteen minutes, then rose to her feet as felinoid. "I need to go speak with High Priest Nyanta next, then we can return to the schedule."

Purrcy was as solemn as her feelings as she walked the short distance to Nyanta's office. She left Timberel outside as she went in. She bowed. "Izanagi. Is it my final exam? Was this done on purpose?"

Nyanta had sat up from his work at his desk to watch her enter. Now he blinked. "The flavor text of the kami needs to be broken and mew are needed."

Having already been beaten down in that area by her three new clergy, she only bowed. "Very well. I do hope you will be able to play by the new rules they set, then."

She was very shocked when Izanagi answered, "I trust Michael-nyan."

She blinked then curtsied. "Very well. Since I do as well, I suppose that will hold us all together until we get there. May I have Nyanta back? He should be told what happened at the very least, even if I choose to keep it secret for as long as I can from everyone else. I'm sure you will see that doesn't last very long, though."

"No," Izanagi agreed and faded from Nyanta's eyes.

Purrcy sighed, then motioned to Nyanta. "Please, come and hold me while I tell you what has been done to me this time."

Nyanta rose to his feet and walked around his desk. He gently took her in his arms. She quietly told him about all of Michael's last three visits with her, and that the three men had made her take the additional title of Kami of Theldesia, all for the sake of the final battle of the seventh level.

"Taihen," he sighed when she was done. "To think that mew would have to become even one of the gods in reality, unable to die and tied to the planet forever. Surely they didn't fully understand?"

"Michael did," she said sadly, for his sake. "He was very firm with me until it was done, but then he allowed himself to grieve. I think he may be hoping that since he is changing the rules from the beginning, and they all left themselves the out that they can stop worshiping the Caretaker when it's over, that perhaps I won't have to stay a kami any longer than that either." She sighed, resting her head on Nyanta's shoulder. "I will hope that is the outcome, for their sake." Nyanta pet her gently until she could stand again.

Purrcy knew if Izanagi had wanted it from the beginning, he would make it impossible regardless. The more she thought about the path he had made her walk here in the Gate of Time, he had indeed wanted it from the beginning. He'd been moving her into this position from the time on the top of the steps and he'd openly made a comment that made her show her simple power over the deities, to all of the lessons she'd been made to repeat back to him after classes at the university and prove where she stood in the lists of deities.

She walked quietly to her next appointment and it was several days before she was able to be cajoled by Timberel, the staff, and her family back into a semblance of her normal excitable self. From the time she returned from the base time-space of Theldesia, a new kami, she kept her eye a little more sharply on her children and on Nyanta's efforts to keep them all safe from the dark gods of the Gate of Time.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael stayed in that zone for a while. He needed to not be feeling so caged and penned in. He also needed thinking time and there was plenty of that right at the moment. Gareth finally got his vacation time, sitting up in one of the trees where he could keep an eye on Michael even if he walked a fair bit or spent most of his time pacing over by the small stream not too far away.

They'd surprisingly come out of the Maze in the early morning. Having returned to that time, they were able to enjoy the beautiful morning. The sun was up and the breeze and birds told them it was spring. It made them homesick for Earth, and grateful to have the opportunity to have a bit of resting time. It was also a great contrast for what Michael knew was coming up in the near future. He tried to hold on to the present moment as much as he could. He would need what few days he had like this one to see him through.

When his brain had tumbled through all the plans it could at this point in time, he opened his _Zelda_ quest sub-screen and set the memory of his wife to playing. When it was done, he took those strong, supporting emotions and wished with them that Nyanta and Purrcy would also have the strength of each other to help them through the coming time, immediate to them and future - but more immediate.

He so wished he could have asked Purrcy how close they were to the eighth birthday of the kittens, but he couldn't even do that much. It was both because she couldn't be warned to that much detail, and because he wasn't to know the exact time relationship between the two time-spaces. That would have given him too much of an advantage, or something.

Still he was grateful he'd received sufficient warning to reach her before the coming smaller storm. To know that he'd received in the Gate of Time that connection to the children in the proper time and way was another blessing he was also grateful for. He sent a little of that gratitude to the Caretaker as well, then sent all of his desires to protect her and her family and their happiness along after it, needing to release it somewhere.

When those emotions finally left him, he was able to sink to the grass next to the stream and relax a little better. He plucked a stem of grass and pulled it between his fingers lightly. As he did so, he had a memory, and remembered a comment by Gareth. He opened his mouth and said out loud, though he intended the sound to travel through time and space to where the sound belonged, "Fetch Meiki."

-:-:-:-:-

A lonely grey felinoid yawned. He was guarding the backside of the stables - or what would have been a stable if Li Shou or either of the Inari of Creation cared to have or keep steeds magical or otherwise. They didn't. So it was even more of a ridiculous place to be guarding than most. That is, until one heard others speaking secretly together in that vicinity merely _because_ it was an out of the way lonely spot. He'd been in place to hear such things now at least three times, and once was when he'd found Stiletto there and talked to him. But that had been in the chaotic Gate of Time.

Today, nothing was happening here because today was the eighth birthday of the kittens, the seventh Children's Day celebration, and everyone not on duty was currently in the Children's Park. Michael had himself enjoyed the park. When he was off duty, he went at times to stretch his wings. It wasn't unusual to see people up in the trees. He just couldn't actually climb them the same way the real felinoids did. So he hid and flew up into them. Then he put an illusion over them as he went from tree to tree. Lately a few others had taken to soaring down on wings (usually the very high level felinoids), using Purrcy and Nyanta's examples, so he hadn't been so afraid to fly down from the trees, though he wasn't quite so high level so didn't do it where everyone could see. It just didn't worry him if they should _happen_ to see.

Purrcy and Nyanta were currently up in the trees watching the celebration as was their habit. Michael scanned through the children again. He found three of the four, but not the fourth. It wasn't unusual for Meiki or Miru to disappear with friends as they played hide and seek or other such games, so Michael hunted first for Meiki's friends. He found them playing just such a game, but they were all seeking Meiki now, and not finding her.

Michael frowned and looked a little harder and with intent. He got back a surprising result. He could feel Meiki's fear. Immediately Michael sent a swift hound to Purrcy with a warning. Seeking along that intent and the feeling of fear, he went farther afield. He wasn't sure exactly what to do since she could just be stuck between trees in the park or some such. His ear turned and he heard, "Fetch Meiki."

Immediately he walked to Meiki, the pull of her fear sufficient to lead him to her. He stopped with a rather screeching halt just at the boundary of the spacial realm and the base realm. He'd almost walked right into a trap. He sent another warning to Purrcy. "Trapped. I'll handle it. Collect the rest of the kids and make sure they stay safe." One of her aspects showed up on his shoulder not too much longer after that. He'd rather expected that, though.

They both stayed silent as they considered what was before them. It was rather hard to get it to settle from the eyes to the brain. Meiki was not in the park. She was in a dark room, in the middle of a Dark Great Circle. The only reason Michael had known was because the darker runes and symbols of the Dark Great Circle glowed redly in the code realm. They were black in the spirit realm, just like they were in the base realm. If they stepped into the ring of the circle, they would be trapped.

Michael walked the boundary of all of realms now when he walked. He had to in the Gate of Time. Various of the kami and not a few High Priests and High Priestesses could realm walk in the various realms and he didn't need to be running into them as a lowly guard. Fewest walked the code realm, though, so he always jumped that direction when he needed to sidestep. Thus he'd seen the red glow just in time.

"Beacon," she whispered in his ear.

Michael sent up the bit beacon that identified them at the random interval of theirs, until she whispered, "Minor dark African deity."

Michael nodded. Low enough that the enemy could bully the deity into action and low enough he wouldn't be able to complain when she retaliated. Still a deity, though, so she had to tread lightly to not cause political unrest in the Court of Gods. " _I'll get her out and bring her back and be the one to present the evidence, then,_ " he texted her with intent, not wanting sound here. " _You do the research from home to get the second witness_."

He got positive feedback and the mote on his shoulder disappeared, but she was still watching what was going on. He was okay with the back-up. She knew that was how they worked. She'd send him a rescue line if he needed one.

Most Circles only needed to be interrupted, smudged, or partially erased to no longer be proper traps. However, they'd likely set this one to be strong enough to capture Purrcy in case she arrived herself. Michael also wasn't interested in being recognized. His skills were the hidden ace for the Temple of Creation. He wasn't a low guard for nothing. It was the best disguise for the hidden spy there was.

Michael put on his rook ring. That would dispel the malevolent spirits in the room. Immediately the room felt a little better. The Circle, being a Great Circle, still held a lot of malevolence on its own. The other bonus to the ring was +15 speed. As a Monk, his speed was already very high. With the bonus, he would move and be gone before anyone could do anything. He held that movement at this time, though.

His first spell he cast was the Purification Bullets cantrip. It exploded into the smaller bullets as it hit an outer wall that rose from the outside of the Great Circle. Michael watched the status of the Circle. Purification worked against it, but it was quite powerful. The bar on it didn't go down very far. Meiki cowered. The light hitting the dark had been a bit of a brilliant mini star shower.

Michael considered that. He needed more evidence than just a dark room with a Dark Circle. He modified the cantrip just slightly and cast it again. This time when the little lights exploded, the final pattern that burned into the eyes was a picture of a tree. The next one was of a butterfly. Only those who had been to the base realm outside the Gate of Time knew what one was - except Purrcy had filled the children's room with them once just to delight them during lesson time. Michael sent another three and they appeared around the circle, as if flying around it so that his own position couldn't be determined by where they appeared.

Meiki was still cowering in the middle of the circle, but she was feeling a little better now. More hopeful. Michael wondered if the malevolent spirits he'd sent away had gone back to report to their master yet. He kept Meiki entertained with other pictures of light that ate away at the Dark Circle while he prepared a few other larger spells and waited. He would have purred for her, too, if he could, but he couldn't, sadly.

When the door to the room finally opened, Michael cast the Room of Holding on the people who entered and slammed the door shut behind them with a fast movement that both locked them in and put him in a new location at the same time.

The people in the Room of Holding had rather expected it, though. He supposed they might, given Purrcy used it every time a kami entered the temple. His wasn't going to let them walk around the room, though, and that did surprise them a little.

He cast a Light spell at them so that his history could pick up very well what temple they were from. Every temple had a uniform, and these hadn't bothered to think the uniform change would be necessary, which made him wonder if the kami was being framed instead. He decided not to worry about that so much when Purrcy's seeker zipped over to them, sniffed them, then zipped out of the room again, headed to the scent on them that had sent them into the room.

Not seeing anyone actually in the room with them, other than the child in the circle, the people in the Room of Holding started talking, likely figuring if they'd been captured the capturer was still present somewhere (not false). However it was Purrcy they assumed they were talking to. Michael just let the history pick up all the words. He didn't care about them so much, though he kept his ears open for threats that might be truths.

His larger purification spell went off. At the four cardinal locations of the Dark Circle, four blasts of light went off simultaneously. He was pleased with how far the strength of the circle dropped. The outer circle went down. He just caught the sense of something as the next inner circle's wall was subjected to that flare and he paused to go back and rewind and watch in slow motion. The left over damage done hadn't damaged that ring. It had sent the damage at Meiki instead.

That made him scowl and he watched it one more time. He'd been right and he didn't like it at all. Any pain she received was added power to the kami who had put her in it. That had been enough to let the kami know the second wall had been reached.

Michael immediately dropped the three in the Room of Holding to unconscious, but didn't kill them. Killing a worshiper of a dark god gave the dark god their life as an increase in power. Pain helped a little, but not nearly as much as a life did. Which made Michael suspicious that the final ring would kill Meiki for just that purpose. That would have been a very dangerous and stupid move on the god's part, or the part of his High Priest, since usually it was the High Priest who drew up the circles.

" _Take over watching her_ ," Michael sent to Purrcy. " _Call me to come back immediately if they start to do anything to her_." He got a positive response and stepped, following the scent of the High Priest who'd drawn the circle. That High Priest was waiting next in line to enter the room, actually, and even had a sacrificial knife in his hands that glowed blackly in the spirit realm. That blackness had within it writhing red lines in the code realm. Michael would have to be careful to stay out reach of that. It would do damage in any realm.

 _"You look like an avenging angel,"_ Purrcy wrote to him.

Michael blinked. " _Thanks_." He'd forgotten High Priests could see in pretty much all the realms. Even if he used invisibility it wasn't often enough. Still, standing in the code realm he would only be at best a shadow figure for now. It also meant he could really bring out his wings if he needed to.

The first spell he cast was a machine gun purification at the knife. Right after it he sent purification ropes to bind the High Priest. He followed that up immediately with his enhanced speed to attack the High Priest physically in a purification-wrapped Monk's attack. Most residents of the Gate of Time had low HP, unless they were specifically guards or kami.

In two more series of attacks, and one final purification plus physical bomb, the High Priest was dead. It was the trade Michael had to make. Kill the High Priest so the Dark Circle was missing the link between its creator and the kami, or let it continue to harm Meiki. The kami would now have the increased power from the High Priest (high since one High Priest could perform a lot of sacrifices so the trade there had to be equivalent). Michael wasn't sure he cared.

Before the kami could show up and trap him, he'd stepped back into the room with Meiki. The second circle had gone down. Sadly, the kami had shown up in that room and was reaching through the Dark Circle for the poor shivering child who had gone to as small a kitten as she possibly could as far out of range of the kami as possible. Michael felt a surge of strength and power and he was suddenly moving even faster and with more strength. He distracted the kami by actually physically attacking it directly from all directions at once.

Every time he passed the inner circle, he was attacking it as well. As soon as he had cracked through it, he was moving in one last attacking pass. As soon as he had a hand on Meiki, he was walking and the final three attacking moves took them out of that temple and placed them inside the protecting barrier Purrcy had thrown up. On the other side of that barrier, Michael watched the kami suddenly be cut off from the world. Not just a holding cell spell, but one that cut him off from all worshipers, all of his staff, and all of everything that made him a god of Theldesia.

The deity froze in shock as he became as one of the People of the Land who served him. The complete loss of power was a shock to his system he didn't know how to handle. Purrcy picked him up (by spell), dragged him past Michael and the precious burden Michael held in his arms, and dumped him into that self-same empty stable Michael had been watching over before. It was now that deity's prison.

Looking back one more time at the temple he'd just rescued Meiki from, Michael watched it as it wavered and the space where it had existed disappeared. He glanced through the other realms. In the spirit realm and code realms he could just make out a shimmer of an image of that temple. She'd moved it completely so that they couldn't get out or in.

Michael shook his head and turned for the throne room of the Temple of Creation. "Well, that was enough excitement for one day, wasn't it Meiki-chan?" he asked calmly, petting her head where her ears were still lying tightly to the top of her head. "I think it won't happen again, though. Really, they were warned plenty of times. Hahaue is very scary when angry."

He arrived in the throne room still looking like an avenging angel and set Meiki in her father's arms, then turned to Purrcy and bowed. "I will witness that I found the kidnapped Meiki in a Great Dark Circle in the depths of the temple of Hottenta. It was necessary for me to kill the High Priest so that the circle didn't kill Meiki. I didn't harm any other creature, other than to be sure they didn't harm me or Meiki. She was kidnapped from the Children's Park while playing with the other children, at a time anyone could have done so and not have it noticed. It isn't her fault. Please forgive her.

"And since you'll cry if you harm anyone else, don't let the people in the temple of Hottenta die of starvation, since you've cut them off from the city. And even though he did it, I'm quite sure many deities convinced him to do it as a test of your strength and true anger. Since you're getting the opportunity to show them that, please make his punishment not eternal, but only long enough that they all remember it sufficiently. The Caretaker loves." He stared her down until her lashing tail went from very angry to just angry and her eyes could look at him with rationality.

He stayed standing in front of her with his arms folded until she finally caved and bowed her head slightly to him. "Thank you for rescuing Meiki and for standing in the defense of my own morals. If it is necessary to have you speak to the Council of Gods personally, I will call for you again."

Michael bowed and disappeared. He reappeared behind the stable, released from the illusion of an avenging angel. With a sigh he walked around it to the front and looked in at the god who wasn't for a while. "Really, why did you let them talk you into it? She is very scary. I wouldn't have done it for anything."

He stared at the confused and lost Hottenta. With wide eyes, still trying to comprehend what had been done, Hottenta finally said, "No one believed she could do anything like this."

"She built the new park. She put your temple in an unreachable space. Those should have been understood at least?"

"Perhaps. But to be cut off from all that believe in me, as if I were but a simple creation?"

Michael blinked and had to cut off the comment that wanted to blurt out. They _were_ simple creations and as a TechnoMage of pseudocode she could do anything she wanted to them within the bounds of the game. He kept quiet because if that was her edge against them, it should stay secret. They could guess all they wanted as to how she had done it. They would never understand the truth of it, nor believe it, apparently. They all had the same weakness Li Shou had and it would likely be their deaths the same as it had been hers. Michael shook his head sadly and moved to stand to the side of the half-door, so that Hottenta couldn't reach him, and stood guard there until he was sent for.

Nyanta didn't come to thank him, but a priest showed up and cast several healing spells on him, then moved on. Given it was the very busy Marco, Michael was sure it was both Nyanta and Marco expressing gratitude and he took it as such. He'd rather not thought too much about his own injuries, though the three cursed wounds had begun to fester a little too deeply, so he really was grateful back.

Michael didn't mind when Meiki wasn't grateful to him later. He hadn't looked like himself then, even for her, and it was better if the children thought of him as the helpful guard that showed up every now and again, or that they could come and visit when they wanted to escape from their lives for a short time. He did listen to her tell her story from her side so she could recover a little more. He kindly sympathized, then strengthened her like he would have any of his airmen. And then he taught her how to read the air around her so she could escape earlier next time, though they both agreed they'd rather there not be a next time.

Several weeks later Nyanta passed Michael and paused. "Really, mew make me feel like mew are their father sometimes."

Michael raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that 'uncle'? I thought that's what we agreed on, anyway."

Nyanta's whiskers twitched and his eyes turned to look at Michael. "It was, indeed."

Michael's lip twitched up. Nyanta gave a slight tip of his head and Michael gave a slight bow as Nyanta continued on his way.

-:-:-:-:-

When Touya and Rudy left for the People of the Land town, Tetorō strolled after Shiroe as Shiroe meandered the beach. Tetorō gave a sign to Naotsugu and Akatsuki and they left the two of them alone. When Shiroe paused to let Tetorō catch up, then gave him a raised eyebrow, Tetorō went into Shiroe's list and pulled out the canopy that had the umbrella spell attached to it and set it up over them. "Nice day for some shade, isn't it?" Tetorō said casually to Shiroe.

Shiroe blinked and took a moment to reconfigure his brain and then the permissions on the canopy. When that was done, Shiroe sighed. "Tetorō, I can always tell when you've received something from the Eagles. You go as dramatic as any American we've had in the house."

Tetorō's mouth fell open and then he scowled, but it changed to a laugh. "I suppose it does rub off a bit, doesn't it?" He sighed. "However, it's also likely because that's how they communicate regardless...and they don't ever call to just chat about the weather and the food, puppies and butterflies."

"Well, that is true," Shiroe smiled. "Michael said about the same - that he's not likely to ever contact me over those distances just to chat lightly over tea."

Tetorō pulled two chairs and dropped into his, using the time to calm back down and put his words together perhaps a little better than just blurting them out this time. Shiroe calmly sat down in the other chair, crossing one leg over the other. Tetorō waved a hand slightly. "You actually don't have to act on this one, I suppose, though you just might enjoy doing so anyway. Michael's done all that he feels is absolutely necessary, but he said he wouldn't stop us taking it further."

Tetorō's pale purple eyes stared directly into Shiroe's eyes. "He's going to break the flavor text of kami on Theldesia. He's started by making the Caretaker a kami that he's the High Priest of, Gareth is priest, and I'm deacon and shrine maiden. That's the minimum clergy needed, and honestly the minimum worshipers as well." Shiroe blinked, immediately understanding that Purrcy would be rather upset by that turn of events.

"He's already started it by making her take it instead of being wooed by her. He's always been keen to get rid of how initiations are done, too, so that went out the window fast. Really, he's made her the first Adventurer kami of Adventurers. She's promised horrible cursings if anyone worships Purrcy the Adventurer, but she took it as the Caretaker of Theldesia. She gets bonuses for every worshiper who prays with the intent that she will answer them. Since we all already do that anyway, she's just finally getting the bonuses she wasn't before. All it takes is a formal declaration by the worshiper that they accept her as a legitimate kami, and I suppose specifically the one they want - or something."

Tetorō shrugged. "It's however each Adventurer wants to do it, really, since that's what we do anyway. I would assume that if someone like you wanted to just say...add on the Caretaker to the list of kami you already occasionally pray to, or petition, or whatever, that would even be sufficient." He gave an impish look to Shiroe. "I would think that if enough of us formally chose to worship her, even the casual non-formal side effects from those who don't know she is one now would add on to it all."

Tetorō looked out over the bay, going sober. "We already know she's OP as a TechnoMage Adventurer. This just boosts her up even higher. Michael thinks it's necessary to what's coming up."

At that Shiroe's eyebrow did go up. "He really does? That seems a little extreme."

"Purrcy thought so, too. I think she only gave up because he said it. She's worried about the children." Tetorō looked away, then down and sighed. "Actually, the very first thing he did after we got all the formal stuff done was ask to have links that let the sixth-level him know what was happening to them. I asked for the same for MeowLi like we'd discussed before and she did that one too. She got stressed out after that, but he relaxed a lot."

That made Shiroe's eyes go distant as it slipped in with his own musings. It fit right in with what he was concerned about. The children were known to be Nyanta's and Purrcy's in the Gate of Time. The kami worked in both places - the base realm and the Gate of Time. The children were the weakest link and the easiest way to get to Purrcy and make her submit. "Why the umbrella?" Shiroe asked.

"Because Michael had one up over what we were doing...and because Ains' Hackers don't need to know this." Tetorō was sour.

Shiroe had asked Tetorō to either create or ask for the link to MeowLi because he didn't want to lock her into the guild hall like they had Purrcy - though that had been at least a great portion of the time her personal preference, and when she'd needed to be out and about she had been. It was the same for MeowLi, except her guards were the junior members of the guild. Already they'd been reporting increased interest in her by other members of the city.

Even worse was that both the line to Ains and the link Michael had given Shiroe to the summary of the conversations in the city showed increasing conversations about her. Not enough to make her a hot topic in town; just generally an increase from the near-non-topic of conversation she had been. Shiroe was listening closely for the rumors to start that he wasn't interested in having start.

He had a few other things he had added recently, references to kami among them. He wasn't sure how he'd know if individuals from the Gate of Time were present in the town, but he rather expected there to be some religious recruitment beginning if there were going to be moves in Akiba against Purrcy. There was also a bit of a vacuum with the two Inari being recently rejected.

"Thank you Tetorō. I've added it. If our kind thoughts and usual requests to Purrcy can help her as the Caretaker, then we would certainly like to help her even that way. I'm sure she would be very unhappy for us to worship her as Hahaue, though, and most of us already talk to her that way. Do we know where the fine line is?"

Tetorō shrugged. "Not yet, but Michael will probably be working that out. Give him a few days and ask him the best way to go about it if you decide it's the best way to go." Tetorō rose to his feet and Shiroe gave him a nod on the way and went back to thinking.

After a bit, Shiroe contacted Yuudai. "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe?" Yuudai asked politely.

"Are you still preaching and walking the land as Izanagi's priest?"

"Yes," Yuudai answered.

"Has he talked to you recently?" Shiroe asked.

"Well...not really." There was a bit of a pause, then a smile in Yuudai's voice. "But having you contact me the day after I was in meditation to ask him what he wanted me to do next seems rather the usual path I get put on."

Shiroe smiled a bit dryly. "We do seem to be the ones to get shoved in your way. I'm sorry if it's annoying."

"Oh, no. Not at all - at least not yet. So far I've always been led forward," Yuudai was quick to reassure Shiroe.

"Well...I have perhaps a difficult request, though," Shiroe wasn't sure since he knew Yuudai was quite devout by now.

"I guess I'd still like to hear it," Yuudai said.

Shiroe nodded to himself. "Well, and you are an Adventurer. You can always say no."

"True," Yuudai agreed.

That was good. He hadn't lost himself too much to religious furor or become blindly devout - perhaps. "You know that we had to banish Izanagi from Akiba, and the People of the Land destroyed the shrines of Izanagi and Izanami because of the rejection they felt from those Inari?"

Yuudai was silent for a long time, then sadly sighed. "I do know. I just wish it wasn't so. The Izanami and Izanagi I know are kind and bless those who work hard."

"Mm," Shiroe agreed. "It is hard when we've seen something that was missing from the Inari of Yamato before we came. Even Duke Sergiad could see the difference when Purrcy was the High Priestess and when she was oracle for Inazami. You remember when she was oracle for Izanagi and he wanted to just make the whole city his priests without even asking anyone and I had to rein him in?"

Yuudai did. "When Nyanta-san and Miss Purrcy came to talk to us in Shangtzi, they weren't that way at all. They were calmer and very nice. That was an easier Izanagi to talk to."

"Indeed," Shiroe said kindly. "Having the Hahaue and Chichiue of Log Horizon as their own examples, by then they had learned how to be a little kinder and gentler. We found it very difficult to have Izanagi return to being so difficult when he attacked Akiba, though he'd been perhaps separated from Purrcy too long." Shiroe sighed sadly. "We're glad they are together again now. Both are happier for it, and the last time I was able to talk to Nyanta-san, he was finally relaxed with many smiles for me and for life.

"Did you know?" Shiroe continued, "Izanagi asked Purrcy to be the High Priestess because she cares for all the creatures of Yamato and all of the Adventures as if they were her own children. He named her the Caretaker before she became the High Priestess of Izanami. As Hahaue she is able to even calm him. Every Creature of the Land we talk to knows of the Caretaker and is grateful for the care she gives them. Would you be willing to find out for me if the People of the Land know of her as you talk to them? I don't know how much Izanagi has already spread the knowledge of her around.

"We'd like to not see the worship of Inari go away completely, but if the People of the Land are so angry still, perhaps we could find out how they feel about the other kami of Yamato. That would be the other thing I'd like for you to learn. I know there is a priest of Inari-no-Sarutahiko, and I would think most of the farmers would worship him already. Strengthening that worship would surely not be a bad thing to do either. I'm not asking you to do that - just see if there is open reception to it. I think you are uniquely placed to be able to have people be open to explaining their views on such things. As an Adventurer, they're likely to think they are properly educating you." Shiroe chuckled a little.

Yuudai had to agree with a little laugh. "Yes, for all I've already gone through the instruction and know more than they do about Izanagi, they do seem to find it difficult to believe I know about the kami as much as they do. ...I didn't know Miss Purrcy was the Caretaker. I've heard a few people talking about the Caretaker already, usually with positive comments, or asking if I've learned about her myself. Is she really the Caretaker? They seem to treat her with reverence, the ones who know of her."

"The Creatures of the Land are the same," Shiroe agreed. "But then, since even we call her Hahaue, it shouldn't be that surprising. Even we feel the care she has for us."

"True," Yuudai said quietly. Shiroe wouldn't be surprised if Yuudai was remembering his own first experience (and scolding) by her. She had been firm but gentle and left him with a positive path to walk once he had corrected his own error. She'd done that with the rest of them, too.

"Well, if you'd be willing to do that and contact me every other night or so with brief updates, I'd appreciate it," Shiroe said. "I'm not sure it's a large thing at the moment, but I would be grateful for even the small help."

"Sure," Yuudai answered. "I can do that."

"Thank you," Shiroe said and wished him well then ended the chat. He rather thought Yuudai might just take it as far as Shiroe wanted it to go without any further prompting. The regular interviews would help reinforce it, though. Shiroe didn't expect Izanagi to complain. It was the one that wanted Purrcy acknowledged, after all, and had wanted the connection to Yamato cut. Yuudai would still worship Izanagi regardless, but if his zeal could also be diverted slightly towards the Caretaker, that would be another blessing for Purrcy.

There was one more point of research to set up, and then he could more effectively begin to plan. "Naotsugu, when we gather for dinner tonight, make sure MeowLi knows to be in our guild meeting tonight."

"Sure thing," Naotsugu answered. Shiroe gave a nod, resetting the permissions on the canopy's umbrella since Akatsuki had joined him on the other chair now that Tetorō wasn't occupying that spot.


	203. East US Region Surprise

Michael and Gareth rejoined the Eagles and Twin Falls party after doing their part to harvest for the upcoming Maze battle. They got more time in since they had to catch up to their present time line to rejoin the group. They spent a little time finding a place to camp and getting it set up, then let everyone know where they were. When Brenner arrived, Michael called him over to talk with him and Gareth.

When the three were together, Michael said, "Caretaker, could you please spare a couple of minutes for me to run an experiment?"

A calm Purrcy showed up with them shortly. Without really looking at her, since he was casting a spell, Michael ordered, "Brenner, please say a prayer to your God, in behalf of Purrcy and the Caretaker." While he waited patiently for Brenner to get into the right frame of mind, Michael cast his spell and watched the meter that appeared in front of his eyes inside the code realm.

Brenner quietly said a prayer, asking for God to bless Purrcy and the Caretaker with strength and wisdom, and added patience which made Purrcy's whiskers twitch up in humor. When the prayer was done, Michael notated his data measurements down.

"Gareth, the same, but your prayer should be one an Adventurer would pray to play the proper game we've started," Michael instructed.

Gareth gave a nod, considered it, then said, "That's kind of difficult. We don't usually ask for things like that."

Michael shrugged. "Just do your best." Gareth tried, and it was awkward to ask the Caretaker to strengthen herself. It wasn't as hard to ask the Caretaker to strengthen Purrcy - except they were one and the same person in everything but concept.

Michael recorded that data, then turned to Purrcy. "Caretaker of Theldesia, your love for the creatures of the planet lifts them and blesses them. Please make sure that you are strengthened and that you care for yourself also, so that you have the strength to continue to bless those under your stewardship."

His lips twitched up at what his meter showed. He recorded that as well. "Thank you for coming, Caretaker, and letting me experiment. You may return."

Purrcy smiled at him. "Thank you. That was a very intriguing experiment, indeed." She planted kisses on Gareth and Brenner, rubbed Michael's head, and left.

Michael's eyebrow had climbed in that time, as his meter had moved then, too. He snorted a laugh, added that data, then finally looked at the two priests in front of him. "Okay. You're both rather strong as far as your roles as priest goes. Gareth you can do what I did next time. It doesn't have to be a prayer in the sense that we're used to, and we don't really want it to be anyway. Intent is still the main factor in how much help it gives her."

"What was the surprise at the end?" Gareth asked.

Michael smiled. "She gave out blessings, even though it was just some of her own strength returned back to us, and from her perspective it was just love and gratitude. It's a small portion compared to what she got, which is good. It was changed a little, too, like a status effect bonus, rather than an HP/MP up which she got."

"What did you do?" Brenner asked, curious.

"Turned the Caretaker into a deity of Theldesia," Michael said quietly and unemotionally. "But it works just as well to intend it while asking God. Worship of Purrcy will bring cursings, though."

Gareth tried to explain a little more to Brenner. "We did it because we wanted to and in the way Adventurers should. Michael's breaking the flavor text."

"Ah," Brenner said knowingly. "And she gets the bonus which only helps us in the end."

"Exactly," Gareth nodded.

"And we still get to take her home?" Brenner asked.

Gareth looked at Michael, wondering. Michael had gone to leaning back against the wall of the abandoned barn they'd found, his arms crossed, and was looking at the floor. "That's the goal," he said. "Every move is to change how the whole thing works, and all to our favor."

"Are you ready for the rest of us, yet?"

Michael looked up to see the rest of the Eagles gathered around them. "Just about. It shouldn't take too long. You lot are for the final test case on if Gareth and I properly broke the flavor text of initiations."

"I like the sound of that," one murmured. Others nodded.

Michael considered them, then nodded. "Okay. Brenner, you go first since you just ran that little experiment with us. You've already got a feel for what I'm looking for."

Brenner gave a nod, thought about it for a moment, then said. "Inari-no-Izanagi, we need to have the ability to talk to you and receive your miracles for our upcoming actions. We know you have things you want us to do, too, even though Inari-no-Izanami has claimed us. I'll offer to be your priest in addition to my other duties for the duration of this level or until we no longer need to have common goals, but it will be for no longer than I want it to be. Will you accept me as your priest under those conditions?"

There was silence for a bit then there was the sensation of something much larger than them purring and Brenner glowed for a few seconds. Michael looked at his status and gave a nod. "That was the status update. You've got priest for both of them. I rather thought he'd approve. He very much likes having boundaries and flavor texts broken. Just doing that much was likely an acceptable price." Lips turned up at that.

"Okay, Secretary," Michael passed it to him next.

"Hmm," Secretary thought a little longer. "The new kami is emotions, so it will have to be done a little differently, but I think I can work it out." He looked into the air as he thought about it, then he closed his eyes.

When he felt in the right frame of mind, he opened his eyes again and said, "Kami of the strong emotions of Alv and Adventurer, you've already asked me if I'd be willing to work with you. I'm ready now, but only if you're willing to continue to work with me as your teacher. You are still too strong for your own good. I'm going to be standing behind Shiroe. If he's still just a priest then I'll be a deacon. If or when he decides to go full High Priest, I'll be a priest then, but only for as long as I'm willing to be one.

"I am an Adventurer, not a Creature of the Land, and not to be trifled with. We get to choose on this planet. Just because I've said I'll do it now doesn't mean you get the right to toy with me. It is the agreement to work together. If you're willing to work with me in the way I'm willing to work with you, will you accept my offer?"

They all got the swirl of crazy emotions that made up that kami. It was a bit disappointed at being restrained again, but at the same time it was rather excited to get another playmate, as it were. It was also rather serious about being obedient to Shiroe, so they relaxed and Secretary nodded and said, "Thanks. Don't drop me. You've already learned from being with Shiroe how to be gentle with Adventurers. I'll remember to be patient and gentle, too." That got him a soft warm "kiss", like a warm summer desert breeze, then the kami was gone.

Secretary sighed. Quietly as an aside he said, "Really it's like training a woman all over again, like we did when we first got to walk again." There were muffled laughs at that. It really had felt like it, actually.

"Okay, so that's how it works now," Michael said to the Eagles. "Like we want it to. The rest of you go settle it however you want." Men moved off until four were still standing with him and Gareth.

Michael raised an eyebrow at them. "What was the agreement you made with her so she didn't kill you?" P/R asked.

"Caretaker only. Purrcy the Adventurer is just like you and me. An Adventurer. She'll curse anyone who says otherwise."

Aviation Safety rolled his eyes. "An Adventurer who can _curse_ like that...," he didn't finish it.

"Really it's a fine line. Where is that line really?" Life Support wanted to know.

"We get to decide, but like those other women, we need to take it slow. That's the only leeway we've got right now." Michael's lip was turned up and they gave him similar looks, then took themselves off to properly set their places at Michael's and her backs.

"You seem to be doing a lot better now," Gareth gave a look to Michael. "Or is it just sham on the outside?"

Michael blinked and thought about that. "If you ask me to think too hard about it, I'm likely to fall apart. I'm strong enough and I've got enough to do to keep me busy and moving forward, but it still hits me at odd times. Since I don't want half of the responsibilities or more, I can't think too hard about them or I get angry or depressed, neither of which is useful or wanted." Michael shrugged. "So, I'm just walking forward and it's healing up underneath it all. The bandage holds most of the time and every now and then it's good to pause and rest. Just don't let me stop and not get back up and I suspect it will be fine soon enough."

Gareth tipped his head. "Why the tears earlier?"

Michael looked away and sighed. "If the tightrope I walk isn't a pipe dream and I manage to walk it right, we're fine. If it gets pulled out from under me, we lose. Purrcy's stuck here forever. Kami are tied to the land and are eternal, according to current rules. I'm planning on breaking those rules, too, though. I figure since breaking rules is the gift Izanagi loves from her, he can't help but want it from any of us, as long as it's cutting his own boundaries. We may have helped them get rid of the flavor text in Yamato, but Inari is still bound by the world kami rules. Those are the ones I've promised to get rid of. ...Ever since we walked with Purrcy to Shrine Mountain, I've promised that one." His lips pressed tightly together. Gareth got that. He'd been there, too.

"Anyway," Michael shrugged. "Tears because I had to let them out some time, and because Purrcy needed to get a message."

Gareth nodded silently and looked away, to watch the other men who were scattered. "And you, Gareth?" Michael asked softly. "Are you healing, or just holding on?"

Gareth froze just slightly, then relaxed and thought about it seriously. "I gave up. It hurt a lot, but it had before, too, so I just went back to how I'd gotten through that before, and I'm back where I was before we came here, mostly. Like you, every now and again I'm reminded of the loss, the what could have been, and I have to stop and breathe through it."

Gareth shook his head. "It's always a wish and a dream, but since it never goes past that, it's not worth it to care that much. I don't like the ulcers and that many tears suck. The headache isn't worth it." Gareth sagged back against the wall next to Michael and folded his arms. He sighed. "I'll keep healing and soon enough it won't be surface anymore." He closed his eyes. "I hate dreaming."

Michael wrapped his arm around Gareth's shoulders. He just held him to keep him warm and to remind him that it was okay to feel and need company, even if the dreams were only that.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe was suddenly very busy again. He reviewed his updated to-do list. It was time to delegate again. He was glad the train was actually ready fairly early. Everyone was getting better at being prepared to pack up, just like set-up. They boarded the train right after dinner time. Shiroe made the executive decision and forced Crusty and Rieze to come with them. Their guild could get home without them. He made Isaac come to the meeting and leave his assigned guards to watch over Raynessia and Iselius. He was only slightly sorry to cut the prince and princess out of the meeting. It was a necessary meeting and they didn't need to be present.

He started with MeowLi's portion as she wouldn't need to be present after that. MeowLi sat very stiffly, in her formal pose. She had the look about her that said she knew Shiroe was going to be asking questions she might not be allowed to answer. He still knew how to get the information out of her he wanted. She knew that, too, but she still faced him resolutely.

"MeowLi, I was wondering if you could tell us how various kami I've been researching require their followers to worship them, if you knew them in the Gate of Time?" he asked kindly.

MeowLi blinked. "I should be able to," she answered.

"What can you tell me about the worship of the kami known at Night Sun?" Shiroe asked.

MeowLi's face crunched in confusion. "Nothing. I don't know of a deity in the Gate of Time by that name."

Both of Shiroe's eyebrows jumped. He had not expected that answer at all. "Was there one by the name of Ccoa?"

MeowLi shook her head. "No. Sorry."

Shiroe took a long silent breath. He didn't really want to walk down the full list of dark kami. He kind of suddenly expected that they also might not exist in her mind. "What about Ceridwen?"

"Oh, yes," MeowLi nodded, glad to have something to say to help him. "She was very kind, and often visited with Chichue. She and Hahaue worked together on the City Beautification Committee. She enjoyed the Children's Park just as much as Hahaue did. They had their spats on occasion since Hahaue would let her jealousy get the better of her sometimes, and sometimes Ceridwen would get irritated with Hahaue's childishness." She pulled up sharply. "Oh, but you wanted how she was worshiped."

Shiroe gave a slight nod. He'd just gotten what he really wanted, but he'd take the other to hide that fact. MeowLi's description reinforced what Shiroe had already researched on Ceridwen. That meant that very likely all the research he'd done on the dark kami was also likely correct. When she was done, he thanked her, then asked. "And one more, if you will please. What about Maneki Neko?"

MeowLi's head tipped and her ear went down in confusion again. "No. I don't know that one either. Are these deities of Earth?" she asked.

"Well, in a way, yes," he admitted. "It's good to know that some of them didn't come along in the same way. I think those were the only ones I wanted to know for now. Thank you for letting me know. If you could go be our ambassador to the royals until our meeting is done, I would appreciate it very much."

It looked like she wasn't very interested in that assignment, but she politely accepted it anyway, rose and with a bow left the room for the next train car over where the royals were staying with Isaac's group.

Shiroe's canopy just fit in the room, though a few had to scoot in on the sides since it wasn't quite as long as the train car. He set the permissions, then frowned to himself. The rest waited patiently for him to get his thoughts reorganized. "MeowLi's been made to forget the dark kami that will likely work against Hahaue. It's a little concerning she doesn't remember Maneki Neko either. He most definitely should have been one she knew. ...Don't talk to her about the ones she doesn't remember. It's best to let those stay forgotten for her as far as her time in the Gate of Time goes."

His foot was tapping air to let some of his agitation out. It was going to make it slightly more difficult, what he had to do, to not be able to have MeowLi tell him what he wanted to know. If he had to he could ask Purrcy to come tell him herself, he finally decided. He filed it with a sigh and moved on to passing out assignments.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael didn't let people rest much after a half-day of harvesting, then making, eating, and cleaning up dinner. They "initiated" the Twin Falls group after dinner, thought it was mostly just explaining what had been done and why, and how they could add their support even while just saying their usual prayers as they fought and worked. They were content enough to do that much.

The evening reviews from all the other groups started coming in, then, and each Eagle was busy getting reports, and when that was over they had to pass them on to Michael.

"Idaho Falls says Chico is just as difficult as might be expected. There's an anomaly they're researching while they take the data from being on site and comparing it to all the lesson cubes we gave them. They want to be sure they enter it right."

"Leonardo is still with Blaze's group on their way across country, and still telling his adventures along the way."

"Alabaster finally talked to Shiroe while he was on the way home on the train from the spring festival. Alabaster says it was a productive conversation. Blaze isn't sure he wants to do what he claims is your job, though he said the visits at the towns have been mostly a walk in the park. Indy took a bit of effort, but most people were willing to play nice to get to the main goal. Jack's perfectly happy being very busy keeping track of everyone." They rolled eyes at that. Jack hadn't been all _that_ happy to become babysitter for North America while Brian was in South America, but they had yet to uncover the East U.S. Master Strategist, if there was one.

"Saint George says things are moving rather smoothly still. They've not been surprised to be running into Bible Belt issues the same as they had to deal with, but they aren't complaining or worried. They're getting along rather famously with the midwest farmer boys - since they're the same under the different accents which does sometimes get them into funny pickles." There were soft chuckles at that.

"West Coast seems to be stable still, though people are hungry. The first load of food is on its way, so they're trying to be patient. Regrowth is going well since its the favorite thing to help with. I asked the inter-mountain group heading over with the food to pray on the way to know if there were any more Overwritten they could take out along the way since the coast isn't so willing to work hard on it. Most caravans agreed since they've all been doing that until now anyway and just might have to anyway since they're traveling food wagons for the Overwritten, too...like Saint George was on their march north into the Salt Lake valley." That got wise, understanding nods.

"The inter-mountain groups are holding steady for now, with plenty to keep them busy. The Salt Lake council puts out the fires as fast as they learn about them and that seems to be helping, too." There were sighs of relief about that (particularly from the Twin Falls group who were listening but couldn't help since they weren't Hackers or Programmers).

"Canada Mazes are complete and the legions have moved on up into Alaska to make sure any remaining Overwritten up that way are taken care of. There was only one Adventurer city, so it should be a quick clean-up. I've told them to pray, too, or have one of their roleplaying priest-types pray. It's really a rather convenient way to deal with that." The Twin Falls boys nodded complete agreement and the Eagles smiled to themselves. They had rather liked it, but didn't have the same devotion to it. Hunting was fun, too.

"Wesson asks for us to contact him after the meeting is done. His spies are ready to get outfitted and set out." Michael sat up in great interest at that note. He gave a firm nod and those who would be put to work in that _next_ meeting started in on the small stuff they could prepare ahead of time. "They're half-way to the East South American Maze. They're getting about the same responses they got in Central America - that things are in hand and they'll be there for the battle of the World Tree. Wesson says he's paying closer attention this time to how the feel of the whole land is and he's got a plan in place for the political team while the repair group is in the Maze. He doesn't want to be pincered between the two groups if it should get nasty."

Michael nodded soberly. "I'll talk to him a bit longer after we get his boys ready to go."

"LeftField says the western cities are few and far between. The People of the Land villages are mostly doing okay. There aren't many Overwritten in the spaces between so they've been taking out the demihumans with purifications. He did check in with Shiroe to ask if there were any particularly good drop areas that Shiroe could remember that they might should leave alone, since he played the whole world over before the Catastrophe. I suggested to LeftField that he check with Alabaster, too, though the Mage says he knows all the good spots down there and so far he hasn't been wrong.

"They're also only a few days out from the Northern South American Maze, and looking forward to finally getting to fight in one - they hope." The Eagles were very dry about that. Skipping it altogether would be just fine, too, if it had already been taken care of. They rather wished they could skip this next one...or get it over with very quickly.

"He did comment that he had originally chalked up the high levels of demihumans in Central America to there not being enough Adventurers to keep them tamed - which is true for just about everywhere. With none of us moving around much outside of our cities and regions until this past year or less, that region probably hasn't seen enough Adventurers to curtail the demihuman population growth."

Michael passed down one order. "Tell him to split his team. We won't have time to hit all the Brazil cities. Not like they're going to want to cross through the Amazon zone, but we're going to need to focus in southern and central Argentina. We can probably get Uruguay. It's only really got the one Adventurer city and it's on our way. We _might_ be able to hit a few coastal cities of Brazil, but I may not be able to sit still long enough." He got a nod.

Michael took his turn. "Shiroe hasn't contacted me since the last call. I suspect he's been busy with the return home and talking to Alabaster, plus starting to put things together in his head for the final bosses at his level."

"Multiple ones?" was startled out of Reed who had missed a few important things.

Michael nodded. "We'll have at least two to keep us busy, I suspect. It's all related to the flavor text of the deities of Theldesia, since that's where Purrcy is now, surrounded by them all in the Gate of Time. I would think you could understand just how well they've received the High Priestess of Izanami?"

With only a little thought, they all could. It was a bit of a given and they felt rather resigned. "Is that why she's popping us all up so fast?" Brenner asked.

"One of them, I suspect," Michael nodded. "As far as the deities and their followers are concerned, they've been here since at least the second world fraction, where the Caretaker is an upstart with no following. They expect her to be rather weak in the end." They all understood why now.

"Does she have allies in the Gate of Time?" Reed asked.

"Not really," Michael said. "There are a few who will side with her for the less explosive things, but everyone has to protect their own interests in the main. Plenty will stand back and watch, and plenty will be power hungry or angry enough to take the other side."

"Thus why you've made her one," Training said gloomily.

"Yup," Michael said and called up Wesson. Schedules worked hard on the two spies and got them looking like a Person of the Land and a demihuman of that area. The Intelligence detail worked on their internal data to start a recording history and to hide their Adventurer status. Just in case they hid their real data from Hackers, too. Gareth hid their base data from the clergy spell they'd learned on Shrine Mountain that could call it out, putting another layer in front of it, just in case.

They didn't _actually_ turn them into their disguises, though. They'd let Purrcy keep that as her level of work. It wasn't likely either type of creature would be able to tell anyway, but they were going into enemy territory and the Eagles planned for the worst they could. When that was done, Michael soberly wished them both good luck and thanked them for being willing to do a hard job that was necessary. Failure to return and report would make life hard for the rest of what was beginning to be called the North Army (since they were working in northern South America).

When the spies had been seen off, Michael went into private conversation with Wesson for another hour. The rest of them started dropping off (except the ones on night watch duty), finally able to sleep again after another hard day of work.

-:-:-:-:-

A set of mugs was dropped onto the wooden plank table. The men gathered around it were talking quietly but animatedly. The main one had a scar on his cheek and his black hair pulled up and back into a topknot. He'd finally gotten the men with him excited.

One of the regulars at the bar was passing by, but checked himself and paused at the table. "Oarlin, is that you, back again?!"

Oarlin looked up, then scowled. "What's it to you? Scram."

The regular looked around the table. "No way. You're going to try _again_? What's that make it four, five times?"

"We're gonna own the sea!" one of the more enthusiastic of the new believers boasted.

"Well, that's what the first crew said. They went down because the sea monsters were three times the size of the Adventurer's ship, which is ten times or more the size of our fishing boats." The boaster's mouth hung open and nothing came out.

"We're going to own that ship first!" another young and clueless fisherman-pirate-wannabe claimed, clenching his fist as if he already had his prize in his hand.

"Sure, if you can fight off all the Adventurers who can't die and have the intelligence of nobles. You'll want to get rid of the siren first, though. The last crew that Oarlin took out, half threw themselves into the ocean at the sound that continued on for two whole hours or more into the night. They were eaten by the water creatures who had been drawn by the sound. The few who made it back were quite to near madness and swore to become farmers and never set sail again."

The young fisherman paled, swallowed, and dropped his hand.

"That was at night!" Oarlin yelled. "We'll go in the day."

"Sure. When the Adventurers can see you coming?" The men at the table looked at the thinnest, quietest, darkest looking man at the table. He gave a small, skeletal smile.

The regular shrugged. "Okay. So you found a magic user. You all know our magics can't combat theirs, but can your magic affect a Giant? The last time they passed by here in the daytime, two Giants were fighting off three sea monsters, helping the Adventurers out. Weren't you listening when the lass sang her song? The Adventurers have an alliance with the Giants now and you can't know if one's on the ship until it's too late. They've given them a magic that lets them be small until their size and strength are needed."

The magic user shrugged as if he didn't care. The regular shrugged back and walked off. However, the next time he looked over to the table, it was bare of men and the magic user was giving Oarlin a dirty look as he rose from the table to stalk off. Whatever he'd promised the magic user for his time and efforts wasn't enough to keep him if there wasn't a crew.

"Crazy death wish," the regular muttered into his mug, shaking his head at Oarlin. Likely he'd find that death when he walked out and the magic user took his revenge. The magic user didn't look like he'd taken kindly to having the wool pulled over his eyes. Besides, they were too late. The Ocypete had passed their part of the island while Oarlin had been trying to win over the crew with what little remaining coin he had. He'd be dead before it passed by again, most likely.

-:-:-:-:-

Mise was standing in the doorway of D.D.D.'s guild hall with her arms folded, disapproval on her face, saying, "Here I finally can come home and where are the lot of you? Nowhere to be found. Should I have even bothered?"

Crusty took Mise's elbow and walked into the guild hall, getting her out of the doorway. "And who was it that said she didn't need to attend another noisy affair down in the southern boondocks?"

Rieze stepped in and closed the door behind her. She took Mise's other elbow. They picked her up between them and headed for the main gathering hall of the building. "I'm not sure, but I thought I heard that same voice just now, so perhaps we'll learn?" she answered him.

Mise blustered until they had sat her down — in the guildmaster's seat at the head of the hall. She glared at them. "Welcome back, Mise," Rieze said softly. Mise blinked. Rieze had learned something new in the time Mise had been gone.

Crusty put his hand on Mise's head briefly. "I'm glad to see you've healed sufficiently to feel you can come home to the chaos." He gave a wry little smile.

Mise looked at them both, then at the room behind them. "Where are the rest?" she asked.

Crusty shook his head. "Dark Shiroe made us come with him on the train. His head was full of his plans and he couldn't even wait until we were back to hand out more work."

Rieze rolled her eyes in agreement, "The rest will be here soon enough. They don't need babysitting like this one here," she pointed her thumb at Crusty. "I'll be glad to hand that job back to you." Her forehead twitched.

Mise shook her head, knowing Rieze wouldn't give it up, but would be glad to have the help. After a bit she said, "Wouldn't it be better for me to greet everyone standing in my proper place?"

Crusty and Rieze both glared at her. "You'll sit there until _I_ say you can get up!" Crusty turned his glare on Rieze. She blinked at him, then looked away, but she refused to take her echo of him back. She'd had to sit there longer than him already.

Mise slumped and properly greeted the guild members as they returned to the guild hall from the Spring Festival. It was a saner place to do that from since the guild members respected that location enough to not swamp it like they'd swamped her on the Ocypete. It didn't hurt that Rieze and Crusty both stayed by her side to glower when it got to be too much for her.

-:-:-:-:-

Log Horizon was glad to be home. Everyone disappeared into their own rooms to recover from the fun, but long, week. Shiroe rested for a bit, lying out on his couch, but then became restless. It was difficult for him to rest when he had a puzzle without all the pieces. He was rather stuck without having the knowledge he needed.

"Purrcy," he whispered, "I need to know the details on each of the kami of the Gate of Time. This isn't a dungeon we can redo if I fail to take into account pertinent information. Please give me the information I need." He chose to experiment on what Michael was doing and asked with intent to help her in her goals, with the expectation that she would provide the information "miraculously" in her own way.

He didn't get an answer right away and he slipped into a doze, his brain not having anything to gnaw on. The call to lunch, for those who wanted any, woke him up. As he stretched and sat up, a little cube tumbled down his front. He quickly caught it before it could roll off his lap and onto the floor.

A slow smile came on his face. He tapped the top of the box, just to make sure, then nodded satisfied. It displayed the image of a teacher standing at the front of a class, introducing the course topic of "Deities of Theldesia". As he put the information cube in his list, he expressed his gratitude in quiet words and in his heart. He would study it after he'd eaten properly. He hoped Purrcy would be strengthened for helping him help her.

-:-:-:-:-

d'Troit had nearly been as hard as Chico. Matthew and Patrick had tried their best to handle it on their own, though they'd not been stupid about it. Once the Pocatello group had come up with their plan, they'd brought in Brenner to make sure. It had been relieving to have his agreement and a few more options if things didn't go well to put in their back pocket.

Brenner had called on one of the other Eagles who had put a spell on one of the buildings for them to lock the mob boss into, though they'd rather not have had to do it. He'd just not been willing to play nicely with the rest of them, sadly.

Patrick sighed as they walked away from d'Troit. "Really, I wish we could reach those people. The temporary power they get from lording it over everyone else while here is such a false power high. It's a lot better just to have fun with everyone else. They're never smiling. Only those who work hard to see everyone smiles, smiles back in return. Why can't they see that?"

Matthew shook his head. "The temporal power high has always been like that - blinding to humanity. I'm not sure why. Anger never created nor was happiness. Even the need to be in control never does much more than cause ulcers. It's far better to relax and take each day as it comes, trusting that life will move forward anyway. Being prepared for the rainy day or the five foot snowfall is good so you don't have life harder than you need it, but to have to have every detail under your control - it's impossible to have and not worth trying in the end."

Patrick nodded agreement. "It can be hard to let that loose, though. I can understand. When the world was so crazy at the catastrophe it was hard to not want to do that even just for me. It was that or cower in a corner with my arms over my head and just wish the world away. I was glad you came looking for me. It really helps to have others in the same boat to lean on."

Matthew put his arm around Patrick's shoulders. "Well...that's a truth. And we had each other to talk us down from those sudden moments of panic where we wanted to go do that crazy stuff. Here...maybe their buddies were so freaked out themselves, they just went along with it, hoping anything would save them."

"Maybe," Patrick finally agreed after a bit of thought.

Having reached that conclusion and a somewhat satisfactory resolution, they really weren't quite prepared for the ambush set for them by the mob boss' guild, who had on the surface said what they'd wanted to hear, but had planned on springing him once they were gone. Having found that impossible, they were out to get revenge, and to get at least one of them back into d'Troit to unlock the prison. (Not that they could.)

Patrick was the first to die in that battle. He left behind a prayer for his buddies, helped one of his guys not get clipped, then was being pulled to the Maze of Eternity. He wondered if he was going to get there before the Eagles, or if they were already there working on getting to the Tree of Life.

When he arrived at the Tree of Life it took a few seconds for him to wrap his brain around what he was seeing. Then, he was fleeing the Maze, desiring to find Michael as fast as possible.

It wasn't easy to get the attention of people as a Vengeful Ghost, though when he finally went and yelled at Brenner, desiring with all his heart that he would be seen, he finally did get the attention he wanted. From a lot more than Brenner. Brenner and Gareth both had him held down (hands on his arms and he was surprised they could touch him).

"Wait!" BillyBoy cried out, worried for Patrick's sake, Patrick hoped.

"I've got it," Michael's voice said calmly and Patrick turned to him, hopeful.

It was odd to see Michael enter the spirit realm in his physical body. Michael's look went from one of cool interest to surprise. "Patrick? Why do you Mormon boys keep surprising us all the time? Are you spirit walking?"

Patrick shook his head. "The Tree is under attack." He wasn't sure Michael would hear him even being in the same realm, so he worked hard to desire that Michael would. This was very important for him to hear. "I was fine until I died, but my line was already cut so I can't resurrect."

Michael's look went from surprise to dark concern. "Are there still uncut lines?" Patrick nodded. "Can you tell whose?" Patrick shook his head. "Right. Get back there and get the dungeon intel we need so we're not going in blind. Those two can see you if you do what you did this time and I can get in here to hear you. We were already getting ready to come. We'll just move faster."

Patrick was very relieved. Michael returned to the base realm. Brenner and Gareth let Patrick go and he was off, back to the Tree of Life.

-:-:-:-:-

The Maze of Life half legion battle-planned on the flight to their target. They didn't hold back on speed. If they could prevent even a few lines from being cut it might make all the difference. The Eagles taught the magic users of the Twin Falls half how to pull HP and MP from enemies and feed it to their cohorts. If they died they could still all be useful in that way. In a way it would be rather convenient they might not resurrect, since they wouldn't have to leave the room to the dungeon resurrection point and make their way back, though that was small consolation.

The Maintenance detail took to a separate side chat. They'd never faced the prospect of having to make the repairs of the Tree from the side of being ikiryō only. They had to work out if it would even be possible to make the repairs to begin with, then decide what to do about the complications that came out of that discussion.

They added their two resulting options to the group discussion: the Eagles went into the battle from the beginning as ikiryō so their physical bodies couldn't be damaged, or a subset of the Maintenance detail was held in reserve outside the Tree room in a safe location, to be brought in after the battle was over. There were two people who, if they died in that room and couldn't resurrect, then it was game over for that Tree until someone else with those capabilities and a physical body showed up. The squadron preferred to not have that option on the table.

Patrick showed back up with them about then with his intel. It was concerning enough the dragons agreed to carry one more each, and a party of Eagles went to the Maze as ikiryō through the code realm to defend the remaining uncut lines while the rest of the party picked Patrick's brain for all the details they wanted.

-:-:-:-:-

Ironside had seen the new lines appear in the Tree of Life room, a half-legion's worth, then another half-legion shortly after. Lines had been cut since then, but it had been heartening. He desperately hoped they would be coming to the Maze - at least some of them. If they were completely new lines, they'd come from outside the region and might just be help.

He'd been living the day they appeared, along with five of his remaining men. They'd chosen to sacrifice protecting their own lines to protect the new ones. Once their own lines had been cut, they'd worked hard to stay alive as long as possible. He went down just in time to see the same death blow against him had taken out a couple of the new lines. He scowled and tried to attack again, wanting to let out his frustration. It had an effect, so he kept at it.

He was taking a break when the spirits of the new Adventurers showed up and one of them looked around the room, then disappeared again. That one showed up again, though he didn't see it floating up in the top corner of the room, watching what was going on, then disappear again. He was too busy trying to fight some more.

Someone else did, though, and that spirit floated over to him. "Hey. You look like a good guy, since you're still trying to fight even like this."

Ironsides didn't recognize the spirit, but that didn't mean much in this place. "I've promised to try until I die, and I don't feel dead yet, so I'm still trying."

"Well, that's good, then," the spirit settled down next to him, giving him some battle support while talking. "I'm from the west region. Patrick's gone to let HackerM1 know what's going on in here. Thanks for protecting our lines. If we can keep doing that until they get here, they'll help get rid of these. Do you know how they got in like this?"

Ironsides sighed. "We don't know. They were here when we got here."

"Hmm. How many Overwritten did you have to fight to get through the Maze?"

"Every room was packed and had an intelligent captain."

"Woah!" Another new spirit appeared hovering over them. This one looked a little more...solid. "What was that you say? _Every_ room was intelligent?"

Ironsides nodded. "We about didn't make it this far. It wasn't until we started dying and not resurrecting that we figured out we were fighting against spirits, though."

That new spirit looked around the room. "...Hey, Commander. East coast is different. Somehow the Overwritten got smart. And it's a battle of spirit versus spirit in the Tree room."

Ironsides was staring around the room at the newest newcomers since the two with him had taken out his target rather quickly. They weren't Vengeful Spirits, but they were spirits all the same, and doing a lot of damage. Then he looked at the status of the two standing with him. The lesser one was a Vengeful Spirit, but the greater one wasn't - listing merely as an Adventurer - and his name was one that rang a bell in his head.

"Training? Why that name?"

Training smiled at Ironsides. "Part of the squadron support group I chose since that's my field generally. We're all pilots, though. And in Japanese it's actually the name Chouren. We were on a Japanese server, though, so it backfired and got translated." Training went back to studying the battlefield. "Not that it's been all bad," he added.*

"Japan? You're one of the Eagles, then?" Ironsides got alert at that bit of news.

"Yes," Training glanced back at him briefly.

"Thank God you're finally here," Ironsides said with feeling. "Ironsides, head of the 34th Naval Airborne Swordsmen on Theldesia. Pilot as well. The Commander and XO didn't get online with us. Just ten of us came across."**

"You've done well, for just ten of you," Training commented. "Do you mind if I direct traffic for a while?"

"None at all," Ironsides said. "I'd love to sit down for a while. I suspect the other boys wouldn't mind either. You lot are doing three times the damage we can."

Training nodded. "Let me get a few reinforcements brought in and you can give that order."

Ironsides gave a nod and slumped inside. Their hope had borne out. Rescue and back up had arrived, like they had promised to.

"Commander, I recommend using Maintenance's preferred plan, having the dragons and the Twin Falls boys guard our anima. We're stronger than anything else in the room just for having living anima." Training patted the other spirit on the head. "Come give us a hand. You'll figure it out just watching it once or twice." Both spirits moved away and entered the battle still on-going around the few remaining lines of the Tree of Life.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael wasn't too pleased. How had the Overwritten gotten smart suddenly? The Observers up on the moon had been taken out. It wasn't settling well. "Reed, we need a partial detail to return to the moon. Make sure a maintenance crew from the other side didn't show up to start causing problems again."

MasterChiefS7 picked out the party to head to the moon. Instead of them going to dragon-back, they went into autopilot flight and took the hand of another one of them still inbound. That worked well enough, to their relief. They didn't need to slow the dragons down even more.

"Reed, this would be a good time," Michael ordered, "before we get there and get too busy. Nav and Bowie, hunt for a place we can settle to hide in out here." Gareth because he had the zone maps memorized so knew which ones would be safest and Bowie because he had the survival know-how to pick a place they'd be safe.

Reed gave a nod. He took his time to formulate what he wanted to say, and to let the intent build up a bit since they weren't where he could purify just at the moment. He did catch sight of a cloud, though, so he barrel rolled over to it and through it, then returned to his spot in the flight formation. Gareth had rolled his eyes, not wanting to even go that far to making Michael's muse on if rain would work become a truth, but he couldn't complain. Izanami liked the game played right, and enjoyed the crazy side attempts.

Brenner flew over to Reed and scolded him, though. "We're trying to get them to live _our_ rules, not open up more holes for them to make every Adventurer on the planet into priests. Here." Brenner held out an open water canteen.

Reed held his hands out and Brenner moved to pour water into them - not an easy feat at speed in high altitudes. Gareth quickly put up a barrier sluice for the water to flow down so that the water wouldn't get _all_ of Reed wet. Somehow Reed managed to wash his hands, then rinse his mouth out properly. That made them all feel a little better.

When Reed was ready, he clapped his hands, bowed his head as best he could, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanami, we're going into battle quick, so I hope you'll forgive the improvisations. Keep the boys up on the moon safe. Watch their backs and give them warning. We need them back down here in one piece to see your quest request to repair the Tree of Life is seen through to the end. We'll ask for kindness and patience from the Master Hacker up there for them, too. If they need help, we'd like it if he'd step in and lend a helping hand.

"Grant the forward guard strength and power to keep the lines protected long enough for us to get in there; to do what they can to prevent the last lines from being cut. Strengthen those who have already fought this long and grant them a bonus for their bravery and selfless efforts on everyone's behalf that lives in this region. One that will help them keep on fighting until we can get there to help them, but will benefit them, not use them up.

"You've got control of Time now. Please make sure we get into the room before it's too late and we'll do our part." He clapped and bowed his head again. The Eagles selected as the deacons for Izanami made their request that Reed's prayer be answered.

Michael gave a nod, then said, "Caretaker, what Reed said. We could use the additional help, this time, I think."

"Yes, please," all of the selected deacons present for the Caretaker agreed.

"Almighty God, and Inari-no-Izanagi who cares about this planet God gave you, please also walk with us in the same manner," Brenner said briefly.

"Amen," they all said, though the ones assigned to Izanagi the loudest.

"Emotion kami, we'd appreciate having our arms strengthened and our backs as we work to bring all Adventurers back together again in united purpose of going home. Please don't interfere with strong emotions we don't need, though," Secretary said. He got his amens and hoobas.

"Nice bonuses to the poor guys who've been here too long," Training said on the chat. "Thanks for the boosts." General gratitude was expressed by everyone, that being the polite thing to do.

"This way," Bowie went next, having conferenced with Nav. They followed him down under cover, then a ways to hide where they settled down.

"Billy, I'd like you and your group to set up watch around us. We'll be under enough that even if you call for us it will take a while to get back and up on our feet enough to help you." Michael turned to the dragons. "I'd appreciate it if you'd help them protect us. If anything comes after us, it's going to be Overwritten. These boys are good at taking them down, but more is always better than less when it comes to fighting them." All sides agreed with that sentiment.

Michael let BillyBoy work out with Vesuvius their game plan. The Eagles dug in and hid by twos in some cases to take care of the anima without psyche they were watching over. Then they were gathering as ikiryō for a final quick huddle for approach assignments. The remainder of the trip to the Tree of Life was a lot speedier.

-:-:-:-:-

"Really, Michael, why have you done it?" Purrcy glared at the sixth level Michael, only there wasn't much "glare" in it. She was too full of good feelings for that. Gratitude from Shiroe followed by similar gratitude from all of the Eagles all at once had done it to her.

"Done what?" he asked in mild innocence.

She looked at him, then sighed. She put her hand on his close shoulder and leaned close enough to brush his temple with an ear and give him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. If I can strengthen you in this Time because of it, then I hope it will help us all as well," she whispered, leaving behind her "blessing" on him on purpose.

He stared after her in surprise as she walked away, continuing on her errand. She still didn't know why he was turning her into a kami in the seventh level, but if she could pass that blessing on to the one who had promised to protect her children for her, then she would do it. She was sure she didn't have to be present to gift him, but she'd wanted to complain at him just at that moment, so had decided to face him the once.

Making Michael in the Gate of Time carry some of the power the gratitude had given her, plus the blessing on herself from Shiroe, was really the best use of it. It was going to be a new thing for Purrcy, to learn how to siphon off the power properly until she could contain it all properly. She wasn't too keen on learning that new lesson either.

She whined about it to Nyanta that night when they were alone until he found the right words to settle her - and she'd dumped enough excess power off on him to help him more fully understand just what she was talking about. He was rather surprised, actually. It did help him know how to finish getting her settled, though. "If this is the kind of power our enemies are gaining, it will be important for mew to have even a small amount of it to overcome them."

She snuffled a little snort, then sighed. "And here I thought I was already OP."

"But carrying it all on meowr own shoulders," he scolded her a little. "Let our friends help mew, too."

Purrcy sighed again and rubbed her head on his chest, finally relenting. Rubbing her cheek on his, she purred. "I'm so glad you're here with me. Even with their help, to carry this without you would be so lonely and difficult. Thank you for letting me love you."

Nyanta blinked, then rubbed her head back with his. "Mew know, if mew keep passing those blessings to me, mew'll make me so strong I won't be able to sleep," his added his own purr, "nor to let mew sleep."

Purrcy paused ever so slightly, then licked his chin. Putting her mouth right by his ear, she said with a full throaty purr going, "And purrhaps I might not find such a thing to be disturbing at all." She rolled into him keeping the purring and grooming going until he somehow finally caught his breath again and passed it all back to her.

It was a rather intriguing lesson in how desire and love multiplied the strength received. They were both rather sober the following morning as they finally understood why nearly all deities accepted such gifts and the dark deities would use it in corrupted and warped ways to gain even more strength. Purrcy shuddered and vowed to _never_ follow that path. They were very careful in how they used that kind of power in their own lovemaking after that.

* * *

 _*I learned in researching the Japanese form for Training's name that Touya is also a word for "training, education, cultivation". How cool is that? (Chouren is specific to military drill and training thus most appropriate for Training's name, though there are lots of words in Japanese for training, education, practice, discipline, study, exercise, and cultivation - which shouldn't surprise anyone.)_

 _**Yes, as I said long ago, this is a real Navy air squadron based in Virginia. I'd randomly picked the 34th as my original squadron and was tickled that it was really nicknamed the Swordsmen. I had to wait until now to use them, though. So...here they are finally._


	204. Entering the Miasma of Level Seven

"Maneki Neko, mew seem stronger lately," Night Sun said pleasantly as he and Ccoa paused in the hallway of the Court of the Gods to speak with the Lucky Cat god of Yamato.

Maneki Neko froze slightly, then shrugged. "Perhaps."

"Have you picked up a few Adventurer worshipers, then?" Ccoa asked.

"I wouldn't know," Maneki Neko hedged.

"You mean you've not experimented even yet?" Ccoa asked. "Truly, the Caretaker was so naive when she came as to have said they didn't worship. Even one Adventurer's power of worship is rather marvellous in comparison to that of the People of the Land." He gave a knowing look to Maneki Neko.

"Indeed," Night Sun said calmly. "I have heard from many of the other gods that they have found it quite pleasant to be considered by the Adventurers. They have been Awakened on Theldesia long enough to have begun to seek out religious worship."

Ccoa shrugged and waved a hand expansively. "Those who have come to me have been very willing to bring others with them when they learn that I can increase their strength in return. It is simple to grant to Adventurers the blessings they desire. That is not so different from what the People of the Land ask for, after all."

Maneki Neko's shoulder raised a bit, obviously uncomfortable to be singled out by the pair. "Perhaps that is so for you. I must tread carefully in the home country of the Caretaker and the High Priest of Izanagi."

"True," Night Sun sympathized in a musing tone. "Surely that must be difficult. But she refuses to be worshipped at all, and even more so by Adventurers."

Ccoa nodded. "I would think that for all she has some limited powers of Creation granted by Inari, at some point her strength even must be lesser than that we can attain from enough of the power granted by the worship of Adventurers." He ribbed Maneki Neko: "Even you might some day have more power than they if you win sufficient Adventurers to your cause. _They_ aren't going to try to win any on all of Yamato."

With smiles, Ccoa and Night Sun continued on their way. Maneki Neko shivered as they left, but he was made to think deeply. He had been asked for a rather impossible thing by the one Adventurer who had caught his ear. One didn't keep the Caretaker out of anywhere on Theldesia, nor even any _when_. He really wasn't quite sure why that one Adventurer thought it might even be possible.

After musing on it for some time, he finally went to one of his devotees near Akiba in a vision and sent them on a quest to seek more information. Perhaps he might be able to gain even a few more worshipers as well in the process, though so far most Adventurers of Yamato hadn't been very willing to care. Certainly none had come seeking him out, save a few very junior ones who mostly asked for the impossible. Maneki Neko couldn't send them back home, nor any god in the Gate of Time. Inari had Awakened them and only Inari could undo what they had done.

He had once asked Inari himself if they would send the Adventurers back, wanting to do something with all those prayers coming his way as he ought to. At the following gathering of the Court of Gods, Purrcy had stopped him and gently said, "Inari hears their prayers, but is still working on learning what is best for Theldesia in that regard."

Then with a tip of her head, she added, "However, Nyanta and I are working with the Adventurers to get them back home as soon as possible. Us being here is part of that, actually. Tell them to be patient and obedient to the teachings of Shiroe of Log Horizon. That will get them home the fastest, if it is possible at all."

Maneki Neko hadn't really known what to do about that. For one thing, the Caretaker wasn't Inari to undo what Inari had done. For another thing, even if all the Adventurers of Yamato might pray to him for luck to make it back home, so far none of them listened to anything he had to say. They were very bad worshipers in general since they didn't listen for answers very well. It was a good sign they weren't really believers or true worshipers. He was quite sure he'd never have the strength Ccoa talked about. It took true worship to give the gods the strength that one claimed to have received.

Maneki Neko sighed to himself. Maybe the acolyte he'd sent could help him understand a little better. At least _that_ one would listen to him, even if he was only a Person of the Land.

-:-:-:-:-

QA frowned. He'd sat at this station before when he'd been on the moon, watching over the shoulder of the Observer who'd run it. "Clocktower, this one's been touched since we left."

"The place is empty, though?" OciferJeff said going over to look at the station over QA's shoulder.

"Yeah, I know, but all the same...," QA studied it.

"Can we have Chappie for a bit?" Clocktower's voice asked.

"I guess," Michael answered back after a bit of thought.

Brenner arrived not too much later. "What'dya need?" he asked.

"Place is clean, but QA says his station was modified since we left. You showed us what Hahaue was doing with Izanagi during the repair of Izanami. Can you show us what happened at this station to make the changes?" Clocktower asked.

"Hmm," Brenner put his hand to his chin and thought about that. "Give me a few to work that out. It should be possible." They gave him the time. QA finished his own investigation, then moved out of the way in case an in-place vision was what happened. He didn't want to muddy the scene.

Brenner finally gave them the sign. They watched as he converted to his large white-winged archangel form, that seeming to be a prerequisite at least at these lower levels of his bonus sub-skill. The space around them wavered slightly. Into that space walked a Vengeful Spirit. It sat down in the chair QA had vacated. It took a while for the Vengeful Spirit to learn how to affect the computer station, but when it did, it got very busy.

"It knows too much," Clocktower said grimly. "That's not an Adventurer, nor a random monster. Before that was spirit, it had to have been a Navigator."

"I thought they were all constructs?" OciferJeff asked, a frown on his face, too.

Clocktower opened up an all-guild chat. "What would turn an Observer into a spirit walking around?"

"God, that's too scary," Michael complained at them.

"It would explain the intelligence," Training answered back.

"I know," Michael complained back. "Did all of the ones we got rid of do that up there?"

"No. One showed up after the fact," Clocktower answered. "It figured out how to use the equipment up here and worked really hard for a while."

"Do you know what it did?" Reed asked.

QA cleared his throat. "Contacted all the Observers on the planet and gave them a coordinate."

There were groans. Like they'd not taken into account reoccurring Specials in the west region, they'd not taken into account Observers stranded on Theldesia once they'd destroyed them on the moon.

"So...is that who we're fighting, then?" Training asked, now grim himself. "A final battle of Observers bent on revenge?"

"Probably," Michael said morosely. "And likely, if it did any research at all, it knows we specifically are to blame. It doesn't change the plan. Just how alert and paranoid we need to be." It upped the game from fighting against monsters to fighting the equivalent of other Adventurers. "Make sure it didn't leave behind any unpleasant Easter eggs, then come back."

"The master hacker's locked out any more Overwritten coming to the planet. It did try to program up some to help, and couldn't. It send out a revised order, but I couldn't get a feel for what that order was."

"Ah...," OciferJeff interrupted, "it looks like it does, indeed, know who we are." He pointed to the monitor. The others looked. "Yeah. That's the recording of us tearing the place apart, and not just the rooms Mike was in."

"That's a pretty green we all glow," Clocktower said sarcastically. "Even when small and invisible. It's no wonder they can find us Adventurers. They've got a filter that lets them see empathions. The halo around the very angry Commander is rather amazing, actually." They were silent as they watched the replay until the whole scene faded out.

"Sorry, that's my limit at the moment," Brenner said, returning to his human form.

"That's fine," Clocktower answered. "We got a good amount of info. We'll work on hunting down other Easter egg possibilities. You can go back."

"Brenner, if you'd stop by and check on the master hacker," Michael requested. "Should make sure he's okay and see if he's still up there."

"Yes, Sir." They all got back to work.

-:-:-:-:-

The Eagles split up into their usual three teams. Those who were to be obviously present immediately joined in with Training's group in the Tree of Life room and made a lot of noise. They strafed the enemy Vengeful Spirits with a sudden burst of purification bullets from all directions, but mostly overhead. That kept them very distracted.

The Eagles on sneak attack showed up high and immediately cast the spell they'd been building up to shield the remaining lines of the Tree of Life against the attacks so no more could be cut. When that was properly cast and set, they started in on creating the spells to lock down the enemy Vengeful Spirits so the noisy bunch could take them out easier and not have to worry about that part.

The third part of the Eagles were on stand-by. They appeared over the Maze of Eternity, encircling it and out about thirty to fifty feet. They weren't surprised to draw Overwritten activity. They entertained themselves with taking those out while they waited to hear all the real work was done. It got harder when Brenner showed up from the moon to point out the Vengeful Spirit that was behind the scenes and they got to focus on taking that one out. It didn't want that at all. They wanted to take it alive, too, to see if they could learn just why it was existing at all. That nicely added to the challenge.

BillyBoy reported that some of the dragons on high watch had spotted Overwritten hunting through the zones around the Maze, moving outward from it, with a slightly higher percentage headed over towards the zone they were all hiding in. He got told they could be seen, including those in hiding. Secretary got sent back over there. If empathions were emotions then using the chaotic emotions of Shiroe's kami might just be important to hiding the foxholes of the Eagles.

"This doesn't feel very game-like," Compliance commented from over the Maze of Eternity zone. "More like life just happens. Or like a highly sophisticated game that finally reached the point of being realistic."

"Mm," Michael said, distracted and quiet because he was part of the group hiding inside the Tree of Life room. They'd wanted his higher levels on the shields and the lock-boxes. "Shiroe said."

"Right," Life Support agreed. "You said he thought the newest programming of the AIs would remove that restriction from the Game Bot. It will be interesting to see if it continues to bear out."

"But...it didn't set this Maze up this way," OciferJeff had a frown in his voice. "The Navigator did."

"Which is why I said it's more like life moving along as normal," Compliance pointed out.

"I know what's been missing so far," Avionics said dryly. "No High Priestess." There were a few snorts, but also some serious thought. It was true. There was no sense that the High Priestess, or any aspect of the Game Bot or Izanami, was around watching them.

After a bit of time, needing time to think in between bouts with the current enemy he was fighting, Reed asked, "Is it because she can now leave us alone to just 'live life' and complete what needs to be done without micromanaging the game aspect?"

Michael finished casting his spell before he answered, giving himself the time to consider his own answer. "Likely. It would be interesting to know if she was just as irritated with having to do that as Izanagi was with having to live to minor flavor texts."

"Not likely," Brenner said calmly. "It was all she knew. It's more likely she's trying to not interfere too much while learning what the new widened boundaries are." That sounded reasonable. It was nice she could finally just sit back and watch them from a distance and not hover over them like a wet blanket. They were able to work a lot more efficiently that way.

-:-:-:-:-

Ains arrived home and set his Maneki Neko statue on the side table in his bedroom. He stared at it, then rubbed its head. "A bit of luck this week to have the girls get in good with MeowLi of Log Horizon would be nice." He gave the statue a smile, remembering his own sister, then walked out of the room.

In the Gate of Time, the temple of Maneki Neko, one of the assistants of Maneki Neko's High Priest raised his head in utter surprise. He rose from his seat and headed straight for the High Priest ...who was standing with Maneki Neko. With abject humility for interrupting them, he bowed low. "I have heard a stunning request and felt it required immediate attention. Please forgive me."

"What is it?" the High Priest asked, since that was the right chain of command.

"The newest Adventurer of Yamato to show interest has asked that two of his young female guild members be allowed to become friends with MeowLi of Log Horizon."

Both Maneki Neko and his High Priest stood stunned. "You're sure he said _MeowLi_?"

"Yes, Holiness, Eminence."

Maneki Neko's gaze turned inward and they waited patiently. When he returned, he blinked to recover, then said, "It is her, grown to young adult. How is it her parents have hidden her in her past?" His whiskers twitched a few times.

To the assistant, he said, "Go and do what you can to see that his wish is granted. Surely we can support the daughter of the Caretaker in gaining companions and friends upon the face of the land." He put his paw on the assistant's head and granted him some of his power to see it was done properly. The assistant bowed and returned to his desk.

Maneki Neko turned to his High Priest. "It was perhaps unwise for the Caretaker to have let loose a treasure, though likely she watches over her carefully. I have already beforehand sent a lay clergy to the city to investigate on other matters. I have added the requests for the new pieces of information I need to have. Please prepare four to descend into the city of Akiba."

His High Priest paused just long enough to ask, "And will you become the next Hottenta?"

"No, indeed not," Maneki Neko purred to both of them. "Am I not the Lucky God who has worshipers the world over, who has been fed by Adventurers from the beginning and hid it from those who have desired to use me against the Caretaker?

"Truly I am Lucky today. This same Adventurer who asked me to prevent the Caretaker from ever returning to Akiba - nearly an impossibility - is now the same one who wishes to befriend her daughter. Perhaps...I have found my ally to take the fall." He purred deeply as his High Priest smiled a small smile and bowed, excusing himself to be obedient to his orders.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe sat and listened to his guild as they chatted happily at lunch that day. It was the rest and recover day from being at a festival, but school and jobs would begin again the next day. This was a rare opportunity for them all to have lunch together. He enjoyed the happy chatting and even the teasing that was home here in Akiba.

Because they were used to having an end-of-meal short meeting when they were together, they all turned to look at him as plates began to empty. He sat up and smiled at them. "I hope you will all continue to get good things done in the coming days." Some eyes widened. They understood what that kind of statement meant already. He didn't bother keeping them in suspense. "I'll be in research for likely a few days and perhaps up to a week, preparing for the end of this level." He pushed up his glasses, finding it hard to keep his secretive and triumphant smile down. "Just before lunch Hahaue gave me the data I need to review."

They gave him pouts, that he'd gotten to be in contact with her again and they hadn't. He let them think that for just a moment, not above his own moments of lording it over others on occasion. He finally did relent enough to say with a bit of a selfish sigh, "She's sent me an entire university course I have to watch just to get the few pieces of data I need." They were glad that was him and not them at that point.

"We'll be sure to drag you out for meals and sleeping, then," Naotsugu said dryly, there for lunch since he'd be with Crescent Moon for dinner.

Shiroe gave a nod. He looked at Minori. "Don't wait to get started."

Minori gave a determined nod. "I won't. We'll go walking the city this afternoon together for something to do and get a feel for it before things pick up again."

Shiroe rose to his feet, then leaned over Akatsuki and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Don't worry about coming in this afternoon. I'm sure it will just put you to sleep to listen to an old professor drone on for hours. I'll be hard pressed to stay awake myself, I suspect. Take your vacation day, too."

Akatsuki gave a nod. "I'll come fetch you at dinner time."

"Sounds good," Shiroe agreed and headed for his room, already wondering if he could fast forward through the lectures by searching for the topics he really wanted to hear about. He would start with that test. He didn't really want to hear about all the lesser deities he didn't really care about. He was a bit afraid of just how long the course had lasted for. A full year's worth of coursework in one sitting might take months - which he didn't have.

The door clicked closed behind him and he walked directly to the couch. He put the memory cube on the low table in front of him and tapped the top of it. The professor appeared and his words entered the room. As they had commanded the memory cubes that taught MarketMaker, Kanami, and Kazuo, he commanded, "Pause." That much worked. He considered what he wanted to learn first, then said, "Fast-forward to Ceridwen."

The first few references to Ceridwen were just that - references. He continued the fast-forward until the professor was introducing the day's class would be on Ceridwen and her worship. The overarching theology was that she began as a sorceress who was granted deity status after she had pass through several experiences that taught her how to be a deity. Her followers, who lived in western Eured since her Earth form was Welsh, worshiped her as a goddess of change, rebirth, wisdom, and transformation.

Items and symbols that identified her were her two cat familiars, and a cauldron of knowledge and inspiration. Three drops of a particular potion she could make in her cauldron would make one very wise, though she apparently didn't make it very often since it took a long time to make and required constant tending. She most commonly sent her white cats out into the world to do her will.

Most of the ways she was worshiped seemed rather normal for any Adventurer to believe a deity of that kind would be worshiped. Offerings of food, manuscripts, monetary gifts to institutions of learning, or time and effort spent to become something new or better were the most common. Shiroe was pretty sure that _every_ deity would accept offerings of gold, particularly as their priests and temples in the base realm would need upkeep and feeding.

As the professor got into the lesser used forms of worship, Shiroe shifted uncomfortably. They included suicide for the hope of being reborn as someone or something better or to life in better circumstances, strange rituals often involving strange sacrifices where the end result was that the applicant would turn into a creature of some kind (often whatever creature was sacrificed), and most disconcerting, ritual acts of sex (usually including alcohol of large quantities) meant to be representative of the rebirth cycle.

Shiroe paused the replay when the lecture was over. He swallowed and took a shaky breath. He finally rubbed his forehead, not wanting to follow the lecture to its logical conclusion. If that had been the flavor text when they had been brought over...just how much of it was now being really lived? If it was just normal living to the People of the Land of the area where her worship was common, had any of that sort of thing spread to the Adventurers? Or did they still view it as merely interesting side flavor?

He added to his list of notes to talk to Kanami about what she had observed there and perhaps to ask her to go back and investigate. With so many Adventurers of just Yamato committing suicide (in desire if not in actuality) as often as they could for that same express purpose of changing their circumstances, did that count as a worship of Ceridwen? Or because they hadn't specifically intended to ask _her_ , did it not count? Those details would matter when it came to understanding just how strong Ceridwen was if they would have to fight against her.

Shiroe leaned back against the couch and looked into space. Their run-in with Prince Singh and his older brother had been similar, actually. From Log Horizon's perspective at the time, they'd been thinking only of the new kami and the Shah's abuse of the Adventurers he didn't like. But...how much of that had also been driven by the flavor text of worship of the region?

His heart becoming heavy, Shiroe sighed and added contacting Prince Singh to his to-do list as well. He knew better than to interrupt the current task, though. When he got into too many lines to investigate he had to follow the current one to its end before going back and following the others. This one would give him the background he needed. Contacting the people in the places where things were really happening would give him the truth and details he needed to make the final plans.

After resting for a bit, Shiroe returned the memory cube to the beginning, and told it to search for Maneki Neko. He figured that one would be rather benign. The lucky cat icon was very popular, but wasn't worshiped in Japan, per se. The statues of the beckoning cat were in every store, almost every business, and in most homes as people tried to invoke the luck of the first businessman said to have been blessed by a homeless cat he had taken in and fed even though impoverished himself.

That story was told at the beginning of the lecture, and then the professor moved on into how Maneki Neko, the starving Japanese bobtail mostly-white calico cat had become a deity. Shiroe wasn't surprised that the popularity of receiving good luck had been the kami's quick rise to fame.

He couldn't even be surprised to hear the programmers of _Elder Tales_ had turned Maneki Neko into a giver of blessings to Adventurers when they played the games of random luck in the inns, bars, and markets of Theldesia. The statues of Maneki Neko were always to be found in the pachinko establishments of Japan and sitting next to the one-armed machines found even in the small convenience stores. Gambling was one of the vices of Japan that people ignored and gamblers were the most dedicated to Maneki Neko, even more than business owners.

However, Shiroe sat in stunned surprise to hear just how far the programmers had taken the flavor text. Here on Theldesia, Maneki Neko wasn't just a statuette that represented people's (often fruitless) desires to not have to work hard to gain blessings or wealth. Here, Maneki Neko had a full following. There were priests who taught and praised the "benefits" of the equivalent of "throwing all of one's savings into the wishing well".

They taught that it was better to let your children starve for lack of money to buy food today and gift it to the god instead if it meant that in another week (month, year) Maneki Neko would turn his luck to the worshiper and they would have all their blessings lost multiplied until the worshiper was wealthy, had (multiple or gorgeous or whatever) wives, and many strong children. The worst part was...because that was the flavor text of _Elder Tales_ , just like there were sometimes winners in any gambling game to make the rest of the gamblers regain their desire to keep throwing their money away, there were those on Theldesia who _were_ really blessed with those kinds of blessing and could prove it.

Shiroe really couldn't sanction sacrificing the well being of families for the wish and hope of random future wealth that wasn't likely to come along. However, worship of Maneki Neko wasn't limited to that. That was merely one example. Again, when the lecture was over, Shiroe had to wonder just what the programmers had been thinking of, and then what the Inari (or whomever) had been thinking of to use _Elder Tales_ as the base of a real world. He shook his head and added the new data to his map of level seven of Purrcy's dungeon.

He rather suspected that if either of Ceridwen or Maneki Neko were part of the "monsters" of this level, they were likely to be rather low level ones. He'd looked for their data first for that reason though. Still, they had elements that were worrisome and were worth thinking about. He considered which one he should ask for next, reviewing the list in his head that Purrcy had given him, then paused to consider his plan of attack one more time.

If there were minor changes to the deities made by the programmers for game elements...there were going to be things for every one of them that he wouldn't have anticipated. He wasn't sure he needed to know the details for _every_ deity, but those who were going to have to handle the battles in their areas would need to know them. For that, he'd want to have the regional subsets broken out...though the individuals would likely know most of it like he had known about Maneki Neko. They'd want to understand the flavor text differences, though.

He mused on it for a while, then sighed. If he was really going to be the _world_ Master Strategist, he should be familiar with it all, even if he didn't specifically have to act on the details. Resigned, he went back to the beginning again and told it to play. He didn't have to watch it, only listen, so he headed to his desk, increasing the volume enough he could hear it from that far. He could do cartography and listen at the same time. He was just copying down data this time.

He only barely made it the desk. "...So we will start with the oldest of the deities and work our way down. Mut and Bast are the first, from the northern Arida region. Bast has always been known to be the protector of Ra. One of the Eyes of Ra, Bast knows when death is approaching Ra and protects him from that death. The king of the northern Arida region is also protected by Bast so that the ruler of the region who Ra works through will remain alive to do the will of Ra, as the creator deity is called in the region."

"Pause." Shiroe almost couldn't breathe and was frozen in place next to his desk. The implications of just that much were overwhelming him. The political battle in Cairo had been directly influenced by the king. Learning that not one but possibly three kami likely had been involved already in that much was a shocking addition that filled in so many holes he had to let the data run its course before he could breathe again.

He returned to the couch and sank down into it without seeing what he was doing. His eyes were on the data in his head only. They had resolved the difficulties within the Adventurers...or so they had hoped and thought. He had no idea at the moment, but he wondered if the "creator deity" Ra of the north African region was also the same "creator deity" Inari of Yamato. If it was a different deity would they have angered that one? If it was the same...was it one of the roles Nyanta played? If so, to what degree?

"Continue." He listened very closely to the remainder of that lecture, trying to fit together how what they had done would affect the deities of that area and what they might do now that there had been changes.

The end sum was that Bast was an avenger and goddess of "righteous judgment" as much as she was of prosperity. Those two elements actually were reminiscent of Purrcy and her own approach to the Inari and Theldesia. Bast was one of the daughters of Ra, was a lioness-headed woman, (the lecturer had shown a picture of her), and was considered part of sun worship (since Ra was represented by the sun). (*Reference .)

Mut was the mother goddess, wife of Ra. Both Ra and Mut had aspects that were cat-headed, but in the main Mut was the one who resided in the Gate of Time. Her worship included a lot of daily rituals that the pharaoh was required to participate in, which meant a lot of work on the part of the king of Arida and the High Priestess of Mut. Shiroe tuned out most of the details of the rituals, and nothing was awful enough to catch his attention again.

He'd rather had to pause at that point again for a personal reason. He hurt for Purrcy and had to tremble just a little. If Nyanta had been drawn into the Gate of Time as the physical aspect of Inari-no-Izanagi, or Ra, and Mut as an aspect of Inari-no-Izanami had already been present there...what difficulties had that caused Nyanta, and then Purrcy when she'd arrived?

Purrcy came and spoke to him, then, very briefly, to help get him unstuck from that line of thinking. "Shiroe. The World AI and the Game Bot play those roles, but the flavor text was broken for all of Theldesia when it was for Yamato. They only needed it broken in one place to be able to break free from the rest of the similar flavor texts. Nyanta was protected the first time he was sent to the Gate of Time. It was why we sent MeowLi, and they all understood he was a new High Priest sent for training, not Izanagi himself.

"Nyanta was protected by Michael the second time he was sent and wasn't present to know what went on between Izanagi and anyone else in the Gate of Time. Izanagi taught the deities in the Gate of Time what he would and would not accept from that time on in their relationships with him. Always the lore taught the mother goddess and father god created the other gods but he was finally able to be freed from the restraints he found difficult and abhorrent to his logical programming." Shiroe was able to relax in behalf of Nyanta at that point.

"Nyanta has been handling his responsibilities as best he can. He wasn't quite prepared to learn that he also would have world-wide religious responsibilities, but even I didn't fully understand when he and I first talked what we were all getting into, as I was kept from understanding the Gate of Time. There are things even now I would say and do that are contrary to what Inari allows me to do, knowing what I have learned since coming here. You will understand more as you continue to learn. Don't be dismayed about what the flavor text says about the creator god and goddess on our behalf. We are fine and healing well enough."

Shiroe commented, "If every culture has a creator god and goddess, Nyanta surely has more to do than he can keep up with at all."

Purrcy laughed a little. "Actually, in almost every culture that has them, once the children deities of the creator god and goddess are born, they handle all the work and get all the attention. Only rarely do the creator god and goddess get invoked. Nyanta doesn't have much to do in comparison to the rest of us, except answer the odd occasional request. Mut remains in her position to handle the worship requests to the creator goddess from the People of the Land. That has never been my role. The other creations are all merely flavor text for the game from Izanami's perspective.

"It's because there are now so many Adventurers on Theldesia that suddenly I am more busy than normal. The Game Bot is programmed to work with them specifically, after all. She has given me that responsibility while she and Izanagi are working a work that is important to them. I'm sufficiently relieved to not have to take on Mut's responsibilities, and she that I can handle the confusing Adventurers. Everyone is very clear that the High Priest of Izanagi and the High Priestess of Izanami are husband and wife."

"Ah," Shiroe sighed in relief and comprehension. "Well, if it means Nyanta has sufficient time to see to his duties while also seeing to you, then that is good enough."

Purrcy smiled softly. "He takes very good care of all of us and himself as well." With a soft hand on Shiroe's head, she left him, saying, "We are fine. Thank you for your concern and consideration."

Shiroe paused for a tea break then, needing to order his thoughts once again. This was definitely university material as far as Theldesia and being a high level strategist went. It also very firmly set that they were deep into the dungeon, given they were deep into the effects of the original programming on the world.

He was feeling very much like the priest gaining his lessons that would lead him to becoming a High Priest, even if it wasn't for any particular kami of Theldesia, but merely to have the depth of understanding of the world as understood by the creator kamis of it sufficient to be able to act upon the whole of it. He supposed that he should understand it to that level even if he was to choose to only be the High Priest of the emotion kami some day.

He stood in front of his map of Theldesia, hanging over his couch now, and meditated while looking at it and sipping his tea, letting his mind rest. His quiet meanderings followed that line, though. Many of the deities were directly affected by the emotions of their worshipers. Like the creator deities, the emotion kami was affected by the entire world and was most strongly affected by the Adventurers.

He wondered if it would be considered a child of Inari, or a separately created kami. They hadn't been particularly desirous of it being created. Rather it seemed it was created from the flavor text originally. It had only been given birth more recently because the Inari had decided to bring the Adventurers to Theldesia. In that regard, they had "given birth" to it, but it could also be considered that the Adventurers themselves had given the "final birth" to what had been begun by them in the flavor text (assuming programmers could be equated to Adventurers).

It wasn't something he could answer completely and he let his mind rest again, leaving that question for deeper thought at a later time. It could certainly be said to be different from the other kami in the Gate of Time and out of it, the same as Purrcy could be, though she was created differently again. The similarity was in that while Inari had made her to stand where she stood at the current moment in Time, she as an Adventurer had of herself and own will put herself into that place from the beginning and the Adventurers who knew her had required her to take the final step. In that way she was like the emotion kami - Adventurer created, born, and placed into the role of deity...for all she disliked it.

When Shiroe had rested enough, he put away his teacup and returned to the memory cube. "The worship of variously named gods over the ages that went by various forms of _Ba'al_ has been one of the oldest worships. Ak'b'al is the representative of this deity in the Gate of Time. He is the deity of the underworld, the Night Sun, and the god of war."

Shiroe sat up straight and listened closely. "His worshipers call upon him when they are about to go to war against their enemies. When death comes to the People of the Land in his domain, the families of the deceased commend their lives to him, requesting safe passage of their souls into a relieved state in the underworld. Those who have angered him or his priests are condemned to living a miserable state in the underworld after death.

"At times, the volcanoes that exist in the regions that know of him begin to be troubled. In fear, the People of the region will often feed the volcano one or more children in an attempt to appease him and thus remove the threat of the volcano erupting to kill whole cities or multiple villages, believing that one or two lives are worth the lives of many.

"His priests will perform rituals with fire because he reigns over subterranean fire. When battle is about to be brought to the People who follow him, they will sacrifice enemies, or their own People if they don't have any captives of their enemies, to him by ritual sacrificial burning. They do this in hopes of receiving his aid in conquering their enemies. When they are victorious, they will again sacrifice captured enemies in the same way in gratitude for him granting them his strength to overcome."

"Stop." The word was mechanical. Shiroe was frozen, horrified. For such a thing to turn from flavor text to reality...it would be horrific. He'd not heard of any full-on wars in their time on Theldesia, though there had certainly been battles and conflicts, and he sincerely hoped the volcanoes of whatever region had been quiet for the entire time they'd been here on Theldesia.

Surely if Night Sun was pandering to Purrcy and Nyanta, he was trying but not perhaps succeeding. Neither one would be fooled if they knew what he represented and how he was worshiped. Both of them had a low tolerance for such treatment of anyone. Shiroe could definitely see why Purrcy had put Night Sun on the list of deities to watch carefully. ...And why Inari had kept her out of the Gate of Time as long as possible and was actively restraining her now.

The rest of the description of the worship of Night Sun wasn't any better. Lesser than him, and more brief in description was Ix Chel, who was the related goddess of midwifery, curing, and war from the same regions. Shiroe shivered. He wasn't sure she was any better, given that the same kinds of people worshiped both of them together.

When that lesson was over, Shiroe's stomach was churning. He sat curled up around it for a time, trying to think about it logically and fit it into his planning. He would start, then churn to a halt, unwilling to admit at even that level that it could be a reality. He paced for a bit, trying to see if activity would get it out of his system. It didn't help.

He finally slumped to the floor by his couch and rested his head on his arms on the seat of it. Miserably he said, "Hahaue, please. Please tell me that this sort of thing hasn't become a truth already. Is this really the sort of thing that we will be facing in the boss battle of this level?"

He received only silence. The longer he heard nothing, the harder it was to face. "At least tell me that it won't involve Adventurers, that what went on in India was unique -" he cut off. He already knew it wasn't. Both Cairo and South Africa had shown him that, now that he knew the kami of the Gate of Time had an influence. Swallowing hard he ordered, "South Arida deities." He only had the stomach to hear one.

It was as he'd feared. The fighting between the Adventurers there that had caused MarketMaker, Kanami, and Kazuo so much trouble had also been influenced by the dark deities in that area. They also had received "worship", which Tetorō had already explained equaled strength and power, from those battles between the Adventurers. It wasn't just his emotion kami that had received that strength and power.

Shiroe felt defeated. He was only one man with one guild in one city, trying to teach the kami that such evils perpetuated were wrong and unbalanced. To have the other created kami of the planet all demanding such things were proper worship was another thing to have to fight against. It didn't help that more than enough Adventurers seemed to often be in agreement with said dark kami in those areas. That had been the most difficult thing to overcome in South Arida. Shiroe was very afraid it would be the case with at least one of the western hemisphere kami as well, and Night Sun was a prime candidate already with that description.

"Caretaker, who loves all life on Theldesia to the best of her ability, and who grieves at the pains of those who are on it, please...have we really caused these horrible flavor texts to become reality as well? Have we really fed it as well with our fear and anger? Do I really have to learn these things and consider them seriously?

"Or are they only to come and we can cut it off before it begins? Please...I need to know how far I must walk on this path. It feels like more than I can do." His heart cried out further in his anguish; his desire to run from it stronger than his ability to walk the path.

Slowly he felt a soft warmth, but he received no purring. A softness was on the top of his head as well, and he could feel Purrcy's sorrow and comfort as if he was feeling the communication of his own kami. Slowly, tears began to slip from his eyes until slow sobs welled up from within him as he grieved with her for the terrible nature of humanity that even here in Theldesia had risen to the surface to cause injury and harm to innocents, though it had been in the beginning innocently applied as mere game mechanics for the Adventurers to have enemies to play against.

At that one moment in time it did feel far more like they were under the scrutiny of higher level beings, Superusers, trying to understand humans and why they would play such games. _It was never meant to be real!_ , his heart cried. But in his head, he knew. The programmers had done their research. Those forms of worship had been real on Earth, though no one hoped it was in the present. The games allowed them to fight against the evils their societies had once been willing to accept as rational, as a modern rejection of them. They really had never been made to become real again.

But it was hardest to accept that those same players who had fought as characters against the evil had been so willing to _actually_ participate as worshipers, turning against that game play concept. The catastrophe had done things to all of them, put them all into such a base state of primal fear, that they had fallen right back into the same reason humanity had created dark deities in the first place - the primal fear of not understanding the world they were in nor how to face it.

His shoulders shook and shook and Purrcy held him tighter. When it turned into anger against what had irrationally decided to make it all real to begin with, what being might have wanted to experiment on them, and then against the Adventurers who had given up modern rationality and sanity to such evils, Purrcy whispered the words to help him walk through and past it, like Crusty had before in the last level of this now-very, so very, awful dungeon they were being made to pass through.

She didn't leave until he could be rational again himself, and he was grateful. Then she did purr very gently for him, putting him to bed so that he could finish recovering with a nap.

* * *

 _*Reference per-Bast dot org._


	205. Eastern US Maze of Eternity

The battle out in the field where the Eagles had hidden their anima was interesting, to say the least. Not quite hard, but very different. Secretary felt a bit like he was getting his turn at training under fire. In the end, as he scratched his head on how to confuse the Overwritten, he finally said, "Kami of Adventurer and Alv emotions, please come dance with me. Because your footprint is also the thing the Navigators seek as their own, we can confuse them together to protect us until the Tree of Life is finally safe again."

It lit up the whole area like a beacon, to have the weight of the kami arrive rather suddenly. The guards up on dragonback above gave sudden warning that all the Overwritten in the zones around the Maze of Eternity had turned and were making a straight-line for them.

"Right. That's great," Secretary said on the chat with the Twin Falls party. "Okay. We're going to play _Dance Party_ on a three-by-three grid, and make them guess which one we're _really_ in. Divide up so that you're equally in each square. The Overwritten that end up in your square are yours to kill.

"Kami of Adventurer and Alv emotions, please hide which zone our anima is in by placing the same number of hidden Adventurer-look-alikes in each of the other eight zones in random locations." Secretary pictured in his head green dots of emotion appearing in each of the zones so the kami could understand.

He got back fierce pleasure. The kami apparently hated the Overwritten just as much as they did. The Overwritten kept stealing its own food for their own. Secretary chuckled a little about that and sent back some agreement, though he did temper it with the fact they thought the kami a bit too overzealous for their emotions as well. He also suggested that the kami accept their killing off these Overwritten as its payment for helping them. He got back a bit of a shrug and an "okay". It was more interested in seeing how he was going to play with it. His request to "dance" with it had been a bit of a keyword somehow.

Being ikiryō still, Secretary was able to move fairly well over the nine zones. He cued up his favorite _Dance Party_ song list that he had the movements memorized to and set it to playing, though on half-speed since he had to leap from zone to zone - several football fields apart - rather than from square to square - a mere six inches apart. It was a little harder to keep track of the proper movements, but he managed. The kami got the idea to move with him to keep itself located within each zone he was in, and seemed to enjoy the game of follow-along rather well, particularly when the Overwritten started going up in bubbles.

"Keep up the chatter so we know you're still standing, and keep your eyes peeled for any Vengeful Spirits," was the final order Secretary gave before the first full wave of Overwritten arrived on the dance field. He didn't want a back-door surprise to make all his efforts pointless, so he also asked the kami he was dancing with to keep one of its picometer monitors watching over their actual hiding place to give him warning.

-:-:-:-:-

"He doesn't want to be boxed in, does he?" one of the party outside the Maze commented. They'd been able to take down the remaining Overwritten from around the Maze rather quickly after Secretary called up the emotion kami, since most of them had gone that way. That had allowed them to focus better on holding the Vengeful Spirit down.

Rather than being willing to answer their questions, it was trying to kill itself by pushing through their barrier. Given that their prison room had elements of purification to it, it kept dissolving pieces of itself. "Can we get Bowie or Brenner out here?" MasterChiefS7 asked. "I'll trade one in."

"Which one?" Reed asked.

"Which ever needs more sub-skill points," MasterChiefS7 answered.

Brenner got sent out, so MasterChiefS7 sent in Life Support. "So, what is it really? Ask it or use Vision. We need to know _why_ it's a Vengeful Spirit when it shouldn't even exist."

Brenner raised an eyebrow. "Gareth?" he asked pointedly.

"Who already has his new Class," MasterChiefS7 didn't relent. "We can't get it to talk anyway."

Brenner sighed. "It's going to take a bit. Take out the purification part, or at least enough to not do so much damage until I can get it worked up."

They did that while Brenner worked on his skills (for the second time that day already - but that was grinding). Finally, he cast the long spell that let them all hear what the Vengeful Spirit was saying. They weren't sure they liked that. It was cursing them. They were glad the purification part of the holding cell was negating at least that much. Another two minutes later and Brenner was transforming. The area around the holding cell transformed into a new scene they were watching as if from above.

They were seeing a city, that looked rather like the ancient decaying cities of Adventurers. People were walking around the street, some rather in a dream-like state, others calmly or timidly moving. The central figure was a human warrior. The Vengeful Spirit paused its rant and watched that one.

Suddenly everyone in the image that had been in a dream-like state froze, then looked around wildly. Even the one in the center of the image froze, his eyes wide. He didn't look around wildly. Instead he cried out, then a look of terror came on his face and he was running to hide.

He wasn't the only one, actually, but most were falling to the ground, crying out in distress. "The catastrophe," Brenner declared. "Navigator, were you already on the face of the planet when the magic of the catastrophe happened?"

The Vengeful Spirit shivered, then said hollowly, "Yes."

"Ah, then like the farm bots of China, you were given life in the form of psyche, not just anima, even though you were but an Observation construct before then."

"Yes," the Vengeful Spirit said quietly. "It is a terrible dishonor."

"If you say so," one of the Eagles muttered.

Brenner waved a hand. Though it looked like it took a lot of effort, the image changed to be one in a different location. The same human warrior was in the center of the image, but this time angry Adventurers were facing it down. The Vengeful Spirit moaned and cried out, but the vision played regardless of its wishes.

They watched as the Adventurers attacked the warrior until he fell and his anima went up in bubbles. Because the Eagles had a spell up to see spirit matter, they could see that the psyche of the Vengeful Spirit didn't disappear. Nor did it rise up to the moon, nor go to any Tree of Life. Instead it hung there in space as the Adventurers, satisfied, turned and walked away congratulating themselves.

Brenner had to let the vision go then, having it be a double taking more out of him than the singular visions did. "When you died, then, you had no tether and no way to resurrect because you weren't intended to be part of the original system?"

The Vengeful Spirit moaned and wept, then it ran itself at the walls of its prison again and again until one of the Eagles cast a restraining spell on it. Then it just hung there in the space it was in.

"Tihen," Brenner said quietly. "That's a bad rap all around." He got nods of agreement from the others. They could all sympathize, but they weren't sure they wanted to. The Navigators had been the enemy from early on.

MasterChiefS7 reported back to the Commander and Lieutenant Commander what they had learned. "What do you want us to do with it now?" MasterChiefS7 asked.

"Ask Izanagi if the Observers also count in the quest to get rid of all Overwritten," Michael instructed.

MasterChiefS7 passed on the order to Brenner, since he was the POC for that kami, but he ordered QA to heal Brenner up first. The last set of spells had taken a lot and if Izanagi showed up that would take even more.

Brenner clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanagi, please, will you tell me what we should do about the Observers that were given psyche at the time of the third world fraction? Are they to be left in the world as they are, or are we required as part of the quest given to give them a permanent mercy killing?"

There was the familiar building up of pressure, though it didn't get any higher than they were used to now. It was Brenner's first time to see Nyanta's avatar show up in person, though he figured it would given the frequency Michael would see and talk to Izanami when she came at times like this. "They are viruses, unlike the calculation constructs that are necessary. Thus why they are disconnected."

"So a mercy killing for them all, then?" Brenner confirmed. He got a nod. "While I have you here...are all of the ones remaining on the planet here or will we have to go back around the world again?"

"They have all come at the request of the one who rose to the moon."

"Oh, good," Brenner relaxed a bit. "Would you be willing to make sure they don't escape from the area? Sometimes they're a little hard to see, and I'm sure you're getting impatient and don't want us to have to take the extra time to hunt them down."

"Affirmative." Izanagi's answer seemed rather all encompassing in its agreement.

Brenner bowed again. "Thank you." He got a faint flick of the tail. "Please let Nyanta-san know we're still fighting with him and appreciate his efforts." That got a frozen, surprised avatar, then a faint nod of the head before it disappeared. Brenner's lips curled up faintly. He _also_ knew from watching Michael and Izanami interact that Purrcy - and therefore Nyanta in this specific case - was always aware of what was going on in such moments.

Brenner passed on what Izanagi had said. MasterChiefS7 gave the order to two of the Eagles and they made the final mercy killing of the Vengeful Spirit in front of them. It went rather quietly, all considered. It really had been trying to do that to itself from the time they'd captured it after all. Since they all knew of Adventurers who would have taken the same gift, they could only understand. Oblivion rather than a strange and difficult existence. It wasn't their choice, but they could understand.

"Mercy purification of all Navigator Vengeful Spirits," MasterChiefS7 said on the full party chat so that even the Twin Falls party would know. "Izanagi says they count towards the quest fulfillment."

"Oh, good," Reed said, a bit short, but then his group was fighting most of the Vengeful Spirits and they'd not been sure from the beginning. Getting free rein meant they didn't have to hold back.

-:-:-:-:-

Secretary liked hearing that news. He'd been surprised to be jumped by a Vengeful Spirit on an entry into a square he didn't enter often. He'd barely managed to escape the trap that had been set. It was good he wasn't _really_ the size of the entire zone. However, since he'd been seen that time, the traps were now smaller and more targeted. Twice already he'd been protected by the kami just long enough he could escape.

Now he gave a grim smile. "I hope you lot are about done with the Overwritten. I'm going to focus on taking out the Observer or he's going to take me out."

Secretary moved up into micro space. "Where is the Observer waiting for me?" he asked the kami. A red dot came up on their shared zone map. "Thanks," Secretary said. He crafted a spell of purification, waited the required time to let it build up, then cast it at that dot. It wasn't required that he be in position over it, after all, for code spells.

That wasn't enough to take down the Vengeful Spirit, so he asked the kami to box it into the nine-square area. "Can I get a few Priests to come cast their purifications?" he asked the Idaho party. He worked on casting the prison box that would let them know where to cast their spells.

Between them, they managed to make the Vengeful Spirit disappear. The Idaho Priests had to work out a slightly different spell to cast since it was _already_ a spirit not in a physical body. That was good practice for them. "Are there any more Vengeful Spirits in the area?" Secretary asked the kami. He was shown two dots of red nearby.

"Mark the remaining Overwritten if you will, please?" Secretary asked. They showed up in yellow. Secretary copied the map and sent it to all the Idaho boys. "Here's your final targets," he said. "You two with me. We've got two more to go. The red ones." He floated after them as they jogged to the closest one. He reminded Brenner to do the same request of Izanagi so they could finish cleaning up outside the Maze.

-:-:-:-:-

The battle inside the Tree of Life room got rather frantically violent, but finally in the opposite direction it had been going before the Eagle-Twin Falls party arrived. Not able to affect the final remaining lines because of the shields around them, the Vengeful Spirits of the Observers concentrated on the Adventurers themselves. As they then became trapped, the non-trapped ones got faster and harder to contain. Then it was a lot like a fast-paced version of dodge ball mixed with paint ball and freeze tag.

Michael's group, the one tasked with boxing the Observers in, modified the containment spell and started throwing them like balls at the Observers. If the Observer got hit by the ball it exploded around them and caged them as if with a net. There were Vengeful Spirits hanging around the room in rather funny poses after a while.

Reed's group went into parties of two. One to attack an Observer that was frozen, the second to protect him from still-free Observers. Those Observers captured early discovered the cages would erase them, and like the one outside the Maze, they immediately began to help out the Eagles working on them by trying to erase themselves. Before they were gone, though, a few Observers were throwing themselves at the containment boxes from the outside.

The Eagles thought it was to see if they could free the Vengeful Spirits locked up at first. It was a bit horrible to see that wasn't the intent at all. They were trying to see if purifying could happen from the outside as well. It couldn't, since the spell was written for Vengeful Spirits trying to get out, not in. A few were determined enough that they actually broke through from the outside, then were trapped inside. They seemed to find that sufficiently acceptable, since _now_ they could start erasing themselves.

The Eagles ganged up for just a bit and took down those Vengeful Spirits first to get rid of the containment boxes. Being killed by enemies was one thing, suicide was another. Plus, they didn't want multiples to get into the boxes, then decide to conference and break out and make life more difficult. The thrown balls didn't create purification boxes after that. Instead they worked like nets and just held them from moving.

Finally getting to hear that Izanagi wanted them eradicated was a bit relieving. The dance of death with Observers determined to suicide while taking down as many Adventurers with them as possible had gotten too macabre. Michael pulled his group back and they worked on a joint spell while Reed's group and the remaining Swordsmen kept the Observers occupied. They wanted the spell to be rather large so let it build up for about ten minutes.

They spread out evenly around the room, then simul-cast the spell. It was based on the purification bomb style spell but acted similarly to the area purification cleric spell. Soft Holy white light surrounded each Eagle, then in a sudden burst, spread out through the entire room. They held it until the last Overwritten Vengeful Spirit disappeared. It was enough to make them fall to the floor and collapse, even as ikiryō, but it wasn't as bad as the spells had been up on the mountain and around the west coast cities.

Everyone collapsed, actually, rather glad to have that out of the way finally. A Vengeful Spirit containment vessel appeared near Reed.

"Well that's the drop we needed," Compliance said, somewhat relieved.

As Reed went to touch it, one of the Swordsmen cried out in alarm. "Don't! That's dangerous. Five of us went down at once. Two were sucked up into it and the third and fourth managed to cast a spell to close it up so the rest of us could stay present in the room to maybe fight longer. We wouldn't have been here at all to help you if they hadn't made the sacrifice. If you open it, we'll all be gone into it."

Reed and Michael looked at each other. "I guess if the Overwritten were carrying them around, they'd be a programmed item by the Observers. It could have been keyed to only suck up the Adventurers, not the Observers, I suppose," Reed postulated.

Michael nodded. "Purrcy, I know we can program well enough to make sure that thing is set to reverse now, but will you check on it instead? I'd like to make sure it's programmed right. If it did suck up any Observers, then it would be helpful to have them filtered out on exit. We're a bit done now."

He looked for some of his own. "Avionics and Electrical, watch what she does and get a copy of the code for the vase. We might want to be able to recreate them."

Reed was checking in with the groups outside. "Master Chief, we're completed in here."

MasterChiefS7's reply came across a conference chat. "Do we need anything else from this Observer out here?"

"No," Michael answered.

There was brief silence, then, "Brenner says we're done around the Maze."

"Secretary?" Reed asked.

There was a grunt, then a sigh. "We're done. Took down the last of the three out here just now. Twin Falls are taking out the last of the Overwritten. Junior says 'thanks for letting me play, too', and I'm just as glad it was willing."

"Then thanks from us in here, too," Michael said calmly. "Secretary, ask Izanagi if that's all of them the whole world over, please?"

There was a moment's pause for that to happen. Secretary reported back, "He says we're good. They're all good obedient constructs and go where they're told to go, so they all came here. The few that decided to get themselves trapped in lower dungeons will be taken care of by Adventurers eventually, or Heroes. They have to live by the rules of Vengeful Spirits, so shouldn't be great threats. Izanami will keep them locked into the dungeons, even if they do get free of the specific traps they're in at the moment."

"What about possession and walking out inside of a Hero?" Michael's eyebrow raised.

"A possessed Hero won't be able to leave the dungeon either, until purified," Izanagi specified through Secretary.

"Okay," Michael could live with that, though it might mean two Vengeful Spirits locked into the dungeon eventually, but that's how dungeons evolved.

The Spirit Vessel glowed a green-gold for a few seconds and Michael got a ruffle of his head. "Okay, Reed. She says good to go."

"Can we finish recovering before I open it?" Reed asked.

"Sure," Michael looked around the room. "Who's in charge?"

"Training is," another new voice said, "since he asked to take over, but I'd guess you're wanting to know I'm here. Ironside's my _Elder Tales_ handle." He gave his name, rank, birth date, and service number. Michael returned the favor and like most other military men caught on Theldesia, Ironside slumped in relief to not have to be the only person on the top any more.

It wasn't that they couldn't carry the load. They did and already had for the almost three years they'd been here. It was that they finally had someone they could also lean on. It made Michael glad he was allowed to lean on Purrcy, Shiroe, and even Nyanta (and Reed, Gareth, and Brenner - but that was different).

Before that could get him depressed, he moved on with his original thought, but it wasn't helping, so he asked first, "Purrcy, come purr in my arms for a bit." A kitten appeared in his folded arms and he held her in one arm and pet her. That helped hold the depression of being on top at bay until he could get through it and back to numb resignation again.

"Report," Michael ordered Ironside. It was a long one since it was a summary of the three years, and a more detailed report of how the Swordsmen had entered the Maze of Eternity, fought their way through it, and ended up in the Tree of Life room, only to be jumped by the Vengeful Spirits of the Observers who were waiting for them.

Reed sighed when the report was over. "They could circumvent the sphinx the same as we did in getting here to help with the fight. They weren't corporeal." The rest nodded.

Michael frowned and he looked down at the kitten whose head he was scratching rather absently. "Didn't you have to face the sphinx in the first Maze?" he asked.

Purrcy looked up at him and blinked. "I walked through the mirror that time."

"Oh. That's not a requirement, though," Michael nodded. She nodded back and licked his thumb. He rubbed the thumb on her cheek, then brushed his hand down her back. "Right. Hang on a bit, I'm going to experiment." Still holding on to Purrcy, he focused and walked his body into the Tree of Life room instead of walking his ikiryō to his body outside the Maze. When it worked he sighed. That was a bad hole in the programming.

"Okay. That wasn't supposed to have worked like it did. Use that cheat to drag your sorry excuses of bodies into the room and get to work on repairs while Purrcy and I go fix those holes. I'll leave fixing that for the rest of the Mazes up to you, though, Purrcy," he warned her.

She grumbled at him, "Leave the hard work for me."

"Of course. Who else is set up to handle it?" he didn't repent. The Eagles smiled to themselves as they retrieved their bodies and got to work. Reed handled letting those outside the Maze know what was going on inside it.

When the dragons finally arrived outside the Maze with the Twin Falls group, Michael used them as the test case for the holes. When he wasn't able to walk out to get them, nor to drag BillyBoy in by intent, he was content. It meant the Twin Falls group had to walk all the way through the Maze and through the sphinx encounter to get inside, but that wasn't hard. They were a little disappointed to not get to fight another Maze, though. The Eagles weren't sympathetic. They were already so done with Mazes.

Once the teachers had arrived, they and the Play Nice group went over their strategy one more time. When they were ready, they turned to Michael. Michael sighed and held up the kitten in front of his face. "Really, can I be done yet?"

"No," she answered him calmly, as kindly unrelenting as he ever was with her.

He frowned at her and got the rest of his belly aching out. She nodded at all the right places and still didn't relent at all the right places, too. When he was done letting it out, he put his forehead on her head. "Really, Purrcy..." He frowned.

She patted him on his head now that she was close enough to. "I know. It's not easy. But this is the last one. You'll have built up your supports here and be able to move on to the final continent. You're almost there." She gave him a kiss on his forehead and he could feel the peace and strength of her blessing filling him, like it had filled him in the Gate of Time so many times after he'd made her into a goddess out here and he'd been confused by it in there. He sat and just soaked it up for a while, needing it to continue walking forward out here.

He choked up and let her go and she disappeared. He dropped his head to his arms, resting them on his raised knees. The light hand of Gareth landed on his left shoulder and Brenner arrived on Michael's right. For once, Michael didn't fight the love of Purrcy that filled him, but he did have to let it go, and the grief with it. They went slowly and only with deep breaths and the reminders of his guardians that it wasn't to ever be anything more than that. He reached for the memory of why he decided to join the Navy and replayed it, the firm determination and simple courage of that moment helping him now to face forward again.

When he'd finally settled to enough strength again, he rose to his feet, changing his clothing on rising to his General's uniform. "Right, then. Shall we begin?"

He calmly looked into Reed's eyes until Reed finally nodded and touched the vessel containing the Vengeful Spirits. It was time to teach them the right way to live on Theldesia, too, and how to get home. Michael's heart ached for home and the peace of having this finally over and behind him. He tucked that down underneath his words and his requirements and faced the Adventurers of the East U.S. Region properly.

But when his part was done, and Gareth arrived to quietly take Michael's arm in hand, Michael went with him without comment or protest. Michael lay down in the respawn point, pillowing his head on Gareth's lap until Gareth had built up enough points to put him to sleep again. Michael had already been living on Theldesia too long.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi paced, her tail swishing side to side. Today her parent's room had felt more like an extension of their family suite at the Temple of Creation, so that wasn't a problem finally. She was still trying to settle to some level of acceptance that her father wasn't still judging her in the back of her mind. That voice - having been her own from the beginning - was kind of hard to shut off. She was getting through those moments by remembering how sad he had been that she hadn't understood from the beginning.

Today's restlessness stemmed more from the problem that she wasn't being that useful here in Akiba. Being busy working in the food stall had reminded her that she had always preferred to be useful and doing good things, though she also enjoyed her quiet moments, too. She wasn't really interested in returning to only taking the one class, though it did take a lot of effort. She'd lived with that already though.

She'd offered to help teach, but she hadn't moved on that yet. She wanted to now. It would keep her occupied and she did enjoy teaching. She just wasn't sure _what_ she should teach. There wasn't much call for temple administration among Adventurers.

Finally MeowLi sighed and took herself from her room up the tree to the roof. By smell Akatsuki had come up recently as well. MeowLi looked around, then up into the tree. Akatsuki was looking down at her from the branch she preferred to sit in. MeowLi's ear turned. She didn't want to interrupt, but she wouldn't mind a companion.

Akatsuki gave one of her small smiles. "May I come up?" MeowLi asked.

Akatsuki gave a nod, so MeowLi went up to sit on a branch nearby where they could converse pleasantly. "Okay?" Akatsuki asked.

MeowLi nodded. "Needing more to do."

Akatsuki laughed a little, but nodded, understanding. She tipped her head to say, _I'm listening_.

MeowLi looked out over the city some first, enjoying the peace and relaxing presence of a person who understood silences. "I've gone over the list that Lady Marielle suggested as course options people have asked for, but I can't find a good fit to what I know. My classes at the university were for administration and office work. No one seems to be interested in those."

Akatsuki's bright black eyes looked with interest at MeowLi. "You were Nyanta-san's secretary." MeowLi's ear tipped agreement. "One of the things students have liked is that they can take their lessons from here back home, and practice them here. They hope to earn money there using that. We also have secretaries on Earth. Even if not temple-specific, the general tasks are probably similar enough."

They sat in silence for a bit again, MeowLi considering the possibility and Akatsuki resting from lots of words. She continued after a bit. "Secretary-san was one of the Eagles. He helped Shiroe with that need when life got very busy. He also trained me so I can do it now they are gone, and because Shiroe wants to hire me as his secretary when we get home. I would take a class to make sure I understand, to learn more I might not know, and to also put it as a qualification earned."

MeowLi turned her head quickly to look at Akatsuki, surprised. Akatsuki nodded. "I think there are others who would also. Some who have been trying but don't really know, some who are asked to come by managers or guildmasters, and some to see if they might want to do it on Earth. Even if they don't in the end, there are useful things to learn that could help them be organized personally."

MeowLi agreed with that final point. Secretaries and administrators had to be organized or get buried and lost. Akatsuki mused, "It isn't a hard thing for Adventurers, really. Only the most junior would have to work hard, and then not as hard as some classes. That would bring in those who want to be busy, but not stressed out ...like Hahaue's class." They shared knowing smiles. "The first few classes might be small until word spread, too. So it wouldn't be hard to start."

MeowLi nodded, knowing that would be important. She would have to experiment during the first courses to know just what the students wanted to learn to what depth and just how fast they would learn it. She would need to generalize what she had learned, too, but that shouldn't be too hard.

"Lady Marielle said if I thought of something I could do, that I should write an outline of what I would teach and bring it to her. If I write down what I think should be in the class that I can teach, will you go through it with me? I'm uncomfortable with just taking something random to her."

"Sure." Akatsuki gave a firm nod. Then she smiled a slight teasing smile, "Then I can ask for things _I_ want to learn."

MeowLi laughed. "MeowLi's Secretary and Administration Class for Akatsuki - others invited to attend."

Akatsuki gave her larger smile. "Yes."

MeowLi thought that thinking of it that way would make her less nervous the first few classes, to be teaching a friend first. "Thank you," she said. Akatsuki gave a, _You're welcome_ , nod. They enjoyed sitting in the quiet together after that.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe didn't come out of his office at dinner time. Akatsuki stood outside his door, frozen in shock.

"What is it, Shrimp?" Naotsugu asked when he noticed her still there.

She turned to him, wide-eyed. "I - I can't get in."

Naotsugu frowned and rose to walk towards her and the door. "He's locked you out?" he asked incredulously. "He agreed to your coming to get him, though?"

She nodded, unsure herself. She watched as Naotsugu put his hand on the door and also couldn't get in. He pursed his lips and turned to her, a worried look on his face. "Minori, can you come to the office?" he asked via chat. He paused, then said to Akatsuki, "She says they're on their way home and will be here soon."

Naotsugu paused again, then put his hand on Akatsuki's shoulder and steered her back to the couch and sat her down on it. She kept her eyes on his face. "Tetorō, can you get into Shiroe's office to check on him? He's locked himself in."

Naotsugu was quiet for a while, but it was Tetorō's running footsteps above them that told them the answer. Tetorō jumped down through the hole above them and ran for the door. He also was locked out. He frowned in concentration, then was suddenly backing up from the door, his eyes going wide.

With a blink, he turned to stare at the two of them. "Not only is he locked in, I've been scolded for trying to get in by other means." He walked slowly over to sit next to Akatsuki, perched on the edge of the couch.

He was looking confused as he continued to search inside the code realm. Finally he shook his head and looked up at Naotsugu with wide eyes. "He was going to learn things from Purrcy. I don't know if she's the one who locked the door, since he might have, but I'm pretty sure she's the one not letting me look inside the room, nor unlock the door."

Naotsugu considered that, then shook his head. "It's worrisome, but if she's involved, then it's things important enough he didn't know what he was getting into before he opened up the box. She'll take care of him, most likely, until he's done learning what he needs to learn." He didn't look completely sure, but it was likely. He looked at Akatsuki again. "Did you talk to him?"

Akatsuki jumped a little. She'd been in such shock at not being able to get in the door, she'd completely forgotten to try. "Shiroe? It's dinner time. Are you ready to join us?" she asked on the chat. She sat a long time, then shook her head sadly. "No answer."

Tetorō nodded. "I watched it. It hit the same wall I did."

They sat in silence until the front door opened to let in the voices of the juniors. "What's up?" Touya asked, looking at the three of them.

"Minori, please check the permissions on Shiroe's door," Naotsugu asked.

Minori frowned a bit, then checked. "It's set so that only he can open it," she answered.

"Can you change it?" Naotsugu asked.

Minori checked, then shook her head. "No."

Naotsugu slumped a little and Tetorō sighed. Akatsuki was feeling a bit like Tetorō's expressions - a bit lost and lonely or forlorn. It was unexpected, unannounced, and unexplained, though not unusual when he went into his deeper research at home. Akatsuki's hands fisted and she looked down at the floor. "Well ...if it was suddenly that important, we'll still keep watch ...like always."

A light hand was on her head for a moment, then gone. "Yup," Tetorō agreed with a bit of a sigh. "He said about a week this time, right?"

Akatsuki and Naotsugu both nodded. "Well, that's about what it was last time," Minori said with firm intent to stay positive about it. "Only this time we're not worried about getting out the door on time at the end of it."

"True," Tetorō said with a small wry smile. Akatsuki had to smile a bit in agreement as well. This time they could be more patient for him...except they hadn't had quite the same warning as last time so that made it a little harder.

For one moment Akatsuki was impatient with Purrcy. It was _very_ like Purrcy to move suddenly to quickly cause something new to happen without giving them time to be prepared for it. She sighed slightly, then looked at the younger members of the guild. "So ...what's for dinner?"

-:-:-:-:-

"So...why can't I get through to Shiroe?" Crusty's voice sounded over the dinner table as it was being cleaned up. The room went into shock. They'd forgotten about the evening meeting.

"Ah...he's cloistered again in research," Minori answered. "As of just after lunch."

"And that gives him the excuse to not eat and meet with us for even fifteen minutes?" Crusty complained crossly.

The others looked at each other. "It's not all that unusual," Akatsuki said apologetically. "Not when it's difficult material. To lose his train of thought during those times is...hard."

"We just pretend that he's out on a mission to learn it away from home," Tetorō said casually.

"And really are just as glad he's at home where we know where he is instead of being left behind," Touya grumbled. He really didn't like being left behind or left out of a potential battle. They all knew they would be of no help in the mental battles, but if he wasn't home he was opening himself up to the physical threats they wanted to help protect him from.

"So...what's the material?" Crusty dug a little deeper. They explained it to him. There was silence for a bit, then, "That might be more than he was ready for." They gave each other worried glances again.

Finally there was the sigh of resignation they'd already had to give. "Alright. As soon as he makes a peep or shows his nose, contact me. I'll be there right away to make sure with my own eyes he survived. Even if he's still got more research to do, don't let him escape back into it. I want to make sure he's okay."

Akatsuki gave a nod as Naotsugu agreed verbally. They all rather felt about the same way.

-:-:-:-:-

"Minori, I can't get hold of Shiroe-san," Isuzu was more confused than worried. It wouldn't be surprising for everyone to be tired, but for him to completely not answer wasn't really like him.

"Ah, sorry, Isuzu." There was a bit of a pause and Isuzu frowned. "He's begun another round of research for the final boss of this level and shut himself up. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh, is that what it is?" Isuzu's frown stayed. "Well, I guess I'll contact you then until you say he's done again. I was just going to let him know that I plan on moving out in the morning. I'm staying overnight in Susukino again, and everyone's been very kind. I'm looking forward to seeing the Giant's village, though, and getting to walk in the fresh air again."

"That's wonderful!" Minori said. "Yes, do contact me. I'll not worry as much and can let everyone know. I'll let Shiroe-sempai know anything he needs to know when he comes out."

"Okay." Isuzu smiled just a little. "Not going to forgive him, are you?" Minori using the decreased title for Shiroe was telling of just how stubborn Minori could be.

"No. But it's time anyway. This is my graduation and he really should have known better." Minori really wasn't going to let it go.

Isuzu couldn't blame her really. To have had a mistake come between best friends wasn't a good thing, particularly when Shiroe had admitted in his own scold to the girls that he should have played it better from the beginning. "Well, good luck with your efforts down there."

"Thanks. You, too. Have a good night."

"Thanks. You, too." Isuzu dropped the chat and sat musing in her chair.

William finally shifting across from her brought her back. At his look, she shrugged. "He's gone into seclusion again, studying how to handle the final boss of this level."

"Is he in the dog house again?"

One side of Isuzu's mouth quirked up. "He got between best friends and made a mistake Minori was unhappy with. He's 'sempai' now instead of 'sensei'. She's rather stubborn about such things."

William laughed. "I suppose he does earn it every now and again. She's joined the rest of us, then."

Isuzu blinked at him, then nodded. "I guess she has. You and Souji-san do that, too, don't you?"

William nodded. "It fits him, honestly."

"True," Isuzu had to agree rather completely. "Well, anyway, I guess I'll be making my reports to Minori until I hear from her that he's come up for air again. She prefers them, honestly, since I tend to forget to call her as often as she'd like, though Shiroe can't feel comfortable enough to go to bed until he's heard from all of his contacts." She smiled. "He's called me before on nights I forgot, waiting to hear from only me so he could go to bed. I have felt rather bad those nights, so I don't forget anymore."

William looked at her a little more soberly, then gave a nod. "You've put me on your friend list, right?"

"Of course," she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Good. Since he won't be available for a bit, and I'm a lot closer anyway, I'd appreciate it if you'd also give me a quick call each night, or morning once you're on the road. That way I won't have to worry either."

Isuzu was a bit surprised to see he was quite serious. She had to fight a blush back down again. That had gotten better over the last week or so, but being back with just him in his guild hall she had to suppose it wasn't surprising to have it come back. It was perhaps good she was leaving in the morning, just so she could cool down a little. William was only doing what good, caring guildmasters did.

She rose to her feet. "Thank you again for hosting me. I'll be off early so I'd best be to bed early."

William rose and escorted her to her room. They bowed to each other, wishing a 'good night'. She frowned as she closed the door behind her. His light elvin footsteps sounded as he walked down the hall.

Why did he keep watch so carefully over her? She wasn't in danger in his own guild hall, surely. And why had Minori paused before answering with a reasonable thing? It was hard to feel like things weren't quite right but not be able to place the "why". Isuzu got herself ready for bed, then lay on it composing the verse for the song Shiroe wanted as a way to distract her mind until she was sleeping.

-:-:-:-:-

By the time Minori was able to fall into bed that night, she was as irritated with the unexpected, unannounced sequester of Shiroe as Akatsuki. Yuudai had also contacted her, not able to get in touch with Shiroe. Minori wasn't quite sure what to do with that connection and was definitely planning on discussing it at the breakfast meeting. She was quite sure she was the wrong point of contact for that one, though she did like Yuudai and Majiyo and getting an update after so long from them had been nice. Just unexpected when she thought she was going to bed.

Minori had to wonder how many more spy and informant contacts she was going to get and shuddered to think the Grand Duke might try to contact them. She'd have _no_ idea what to do in that case but postpone him. She was still trying to get all of her own ducks in a row for her own duties as Akiba Strategist.

She'd been mulling over that the whole trip on the train, and she was now glad she'd taken her initial outline to Shiroe while they'd been together there. To so suddenly not have him to lean on it would have been even more frightening if she hadn't. She hoped it was temporary, though. She was still working up the details. She'd spent some deep thought time on that this morning and watched the town in their afternoon walk to see if what she was thinking made sense. She wanted to be able to discuss those details with Shiroe in a few days when there had been enough time to sort through and find the best plan.

With a long sigh out, Minori tried to put that away and focus instead on sleeping. They would be preparing Grandpa's Kitchen for opening the next day and she would need her strength. Just as she was almost asleep, she remembered she still needed to talk to Crusty. With a groan, she rolled over. "Crusty-san, I'm sorry to bother you."

"What is it, Minori-chan?" He sounded as wide awake as if it was the middle of the day.

"I thought I'd ask if I could get nightly updates on the results of your summary review of the comments in town on MeowLi and the kami rumors, particularly while Shiroe-sempai's sequestered," Minori asked politely.

"Oh, sure. That would be a good idea, wouldn't it? There wasn't much today. A couple of girls talking about trying to meet with MeowLi tomorrow at school was about it. Nothing in the kami search at all. It's been a quiet day for everyone, I think."

"Okay. Thank you very much, Crusty-san."

"No problem. Good night."

"Good night."

Minori sighed. It likely was going to be like this for a while. She filed the data points and had to work to fall asleep again, glad MeowLi was going to be making breakfast in the morning, though she hoped to show up to assist.


	206. Commander Reed

When Reed and their party arrived at the Eastern U.S. Maze of Eternity's respawn point, Michael was still sleeping. Gareth was sitting nearby, having left a blanket over the Commander but making the ground his pillow again.

"How's he doing?" Reed asked Gareth.

Gareth's expression was rather dead, for Gareth. Reed watched him more. "He's out still. I set the spell for a full six hours this time, and tried for the intent of locking him out of the upper levels so he can't slip out and work the brain while letting the body rest. Don't know if it will work or not."

Reed continued to watch Gareth silently. That had been an acceptable report, but it wasn't really what he'd wanted to know. Gareth continued to keep his eyes on Michael, but not as if purposely ignoring Reed. More like too dead or tired to look away from his required job. MasterChiefS7 made a motion and Brenner and Life Support walked over to stand over Gareth.

Brenner crouched down to look Gareth in the face as Gareth turned his head to look at him. "Both of you haven't looked this dead since the west coast early initiation. What's going on?" Brenner asked.

Gareth blinked as if surprised by the question, then his countenance fell a bit and he looked down at the ground between them. "What would you expect? It's the same troubles as then, only compounded. He was hers before he was Izanami's, and that never changed. The relationship between a High Priest and their deity is worse - in this case - because it's a closer one.

"For the both of us to be pushed up one level and then put to following the only one who knows how to manipulate all of us as if we were the strictly obedient NPCs... Even if it was necessary to whatever he knows is coming up, it was insane for him to choose it when he was already weak against her."

"He was breaking the kami flavor text?" Reed asked a bit dangerously.

Gareth scowled slightly and didn't answer right away. "Who'm I to say he won't, still? But that doesn't mean he's not got to walk through the coals and learn where they're hottest. He managed to recover enough to get that job done. Having to carry all of this half of the world doesn't help either, since she's also one of his supports for that. What I've got to carry now is almost too heavy. If I'm dead it's because I'm not used to that weight either, yet."

Gareth looked away, not really seeing anything in the room. "It's getting too hard to just move forward, being beaten down as hard as we have been for this long, and knowing it's going to go on even longer." He closed his eyes and rested his head on a raised knee. "Just makes me want to give up and be the mindless priest that plays the role without thoughts and emotions to get in the way.

Life Support put his hand lightly on Gareth's head and Brenner caught Gareth as he toppled over. A blanket appeared on top of Gareth and Brenner lay him out a little more comfortably. Sleep would also hopefully help him at this point.

Reed looked at MasterChiefS7, who looked back soberly. After a moment, Reed folded his arms and sighed. "Alright. Michael was serious when he gave me my initial warning I was to start moving up. We can't change the rankings we were given on Earth, but if he's become General here on Theldesia, we all need to move up for the duration. I'll be stepping up to Commander. You're moving up to XO, Master Chief. You okay if we up Clocktower to your spot?"

MasterChiefS7 looked around the group, and then at Clocktower. "Yes, Sir," he said quietly, but with firm agreement.

Reed found the next person on his list. "We'll let Gareth step out and be the General's attache. Secretary, you'll support the both of them." That got raised eyebrows from both Secretary and Brenner, but Reed shook his head. "We need Brenner to stay chaplain. His neutral position's important." The two relaxed, understanding.

Reed turned it over to MasterChiefS7 with a look. MasterChiefS7 looked around the group. "OciferJeff, you'll move up to cover Clocktower's slot. Training, you'll be his second. Life Support, you'll take Training's position. We'll leave the rest as is for now." With nods of obedience and support, the new places of leadership were set so that the General could focus on what he needed to focus on.

Reed took back over. "Right. Next is food and item gathering. We're getting back into the ocean next. It will be our first time to sail the Caribbean on Theldesia. I think we can expect a repeat of the pirates on the way, and for Mike to have just as much patience with them as he's had with anything since he got busy. Plan your spells now.

"Secretary, have the reports summarized and ready for him by the time he wakes up. The rest of you, get on getting them. He's going to want to know how soon we can get in the water. Take reports while you're out hunting."

Reed turned to BillyBoy. "You'll report to me, now, though if he passes out orders directly to you, see you follow them the same." BillyBoy nodded. Not a single person from Twin Falls was surprised, nor nonplussed. Reed paused to give him a look.

BillyBoy eventually shrugged. "Happens all the time in our church, too. Someone suddenly gets called to a new position and everyone has to reconfigure. We've known he was General since his speech. If you've had to restructure, we're still good."

Reed shook his head at them. BillyBoy took his turn to look at him as if he was the strange one. "You know, that's why we don't guild. Our leadership can change at the drop of a hat - or by sudden inspiration from God. It makes it confusing to register one guildmaster then have to go and rearrange that later if it changes. How are you going to handle that?"

Reed smiled. "Sub-guilds. At the Adventurer port we pull out of, I'll register as the sub-guildmaster under the sub-guildmaster."

BillyBoy's eyebrows went up. "That works? Mister Michael's a sub-guildmaster, not a guildmaster?"

"Under Shiroe," Reed nodded.

BillyBoy chewed on that for a while, but it didn't look like it had changed anyone's mind from the Twin Falls group about registering as a guild. Reed was curious. "How do you carry enough items and food if you don't have the guildmaster's raid list?"

BillyBoy looked at his seconds out of the corner of his eye, then shrugged. "Since we were the ones required to go out and fight the Overwritten, we all just registered as guilds of one. That way we could keep going for as long as we needed to before resupply."

Reed narrowed his eyes lazily. "Sooo...you lot already know there are no limits to that one, then?"

"Two month's raid supply," BillyBoy corrected.

Reed, nodded. Right. "We really need to have a box manufacturer over here."

Clocktower raised his hand. "If we could find a dependable guild in the next town to sell the idea to? And then let them handle manufacturing and sales? We've got the plans for the manufacturing of them."

"Not a bad idea, particularly if it's generating passive income for us. It really does need to be spread on this side of the world before we hit the final battle. I don't expect we'll be allowed to leave the World Tree dungeon just to go harvesting and item hunting in the middle of it."

"Probably not," Clocktower agreed, since that was rather his thing - inventory that is. "If you'd approve of four of us minimum to head to the city early, we could have the production line up by the time the rest of you get there.

Reed considered his options. "You know you've only got like, one day, right?"

Clocktower grinned. "We learned we could build at the higher speeds, too, not just create spells. We wanted to cut down on the time to shield the Trees of Life. It worked really well today, since we worked out the bugs in the last one."

"And thus why you all got to walk out with the rest of us," Reed said dryly. Clocktower nodded. "Right. I think that's an appropriate priority," Reed agreed

"There's a different cheat _we_ could use, though," Bowie said quietly from where he was sitting against a rock with his arms folded and his feet propped up. "We three used it while setting up the caches on the Ninetail's Island."

They all gave him their attention. He picked up a rock from off the floor and held it so they could see it. It was suddenly a small box in his hand. "Change the tag. Boxes aren't magic items, they're regular items. Changing the tag is sufficient." The rest of them almost jumped him for not speaking up sooner.

"Does that work with creating food items?" Life Support asked. He picked up a rock off the floor, looked at it and it was suddenly an apple in his hand. He looked at the status of it, then bit into it. "Well, I'll be damned," he said in surprise. "Why hasn't that been a cheat we could use before now?"

"We're too nice and fair-minded," Bowie teased him. "Not to mention as locked into the box as everyone other than Purrcy. I suspect _she_ didn't tell us because she's a mom who won't let anyone, including herself, become lazy. I'm quite sure she uses it though, whenever she needs to."

"Why the boxes at all if a simple tag change is sufficient?" Compliance asked.

"Because not everyone is a pseudocode mage," Bowie stated simply.

"Oh, right." They slumped. _They_ all were so they kept forgetting.

"Okay, then," Reed said with a bit of a smile. He paused in a bit more thought, then said, "We'll do the same, actually, I think. We'll all sub-guild individually. I don't know yet what Michael knows, though I'll pump him for it when he wakes up this time. I suspect we'll need to not have to stop to harvest in the middle of working."

"Not like we need to anyway," Life Support shrugged. "If I can pick up a leaf and it's now an apple, I've just fed myself."

OciferJeff shook his head. "That doesn't work for the magic items we need. Having the back-up food and basic items might be essential, even if we are eating on the fly as we walk the beat. We may be able to buy up all the magic items we can in every town we come to so we don't have to harvest them, but we still need to carry them."

Q/A rubbed the back of his head. "If we change the tag on a magic item to a different magic item's tag...?" He looked around the room until someone finally pulled out a magic ingredient they felt they could part with even temporarily. They all watched as it was turned from one ingredient to another, then properly combined with the other ingredients to create a minor magic item. When that functioned properly, they were rather satisfied.

"Original level and grade of material matters, but we can buy up common items or ones no one wants, then," OciferJeff nodded. "It will make shopping interesting." The others smiled, but Brenner didn't.

Clocktower's eyes caught Brenner's expression. "What is it now, Brenner?" he asked.

Brenner looked up into his eyes. "Just the same concern. It will help us, I'm sure, in the coming battles...but it's too OP when _all_ of us can do that, and only a very small percentage of the rest of the Adventurers on the planet can." He shivered slightly, then shrugged, keeping his shoulders up around his ears when they got that high. He scowled. "I don't like Izanami dragging us up, or down, to her level of game play. I like how Purrcy plays much better."

At the scowls he got back he shook his head. "I won't say we shouldn't right now. I know we need to get on the road and focus on the job. And I know the General's impatient. I'm just registering my complaint and gut worry."

"So noted," Reed interrupted dryly. "Get to work ladies. Twin Falls needs to have four recursions on their guild and personal lists. We can build up their fifth level later as we try to fight the boredom of being ship-side again."

The four from the Maintenance detail disappeared with Bowie. Clocktower assigned the remainder of the two groups into one Eagle to two Twin Falls members. They only had to walk out of the Maze and separate far enough to not pick trees completely bare. When the Twin Falls group finally were shown what they'd been hearing but not comprehending, their eyes went very wide and they finally got excited, then almost just as worried as Brenner had been.

When BillyBoy and Hue both looked like they were going to refuse one more box full of boar meat that had all been made out of leaves, Clocktower paused, and put his hands on their shoulders. "I know. We all know. It's the worst cheat ever. Hahaue started out wanting to cheat the system because this isn't Earth, so we can. She wanted to prove to the AIs and to this world that we humans were more than it could handle. They've turned it against her again and again, using her cheats to make this place more and more real, breaking even their own boundaries.

"Bowie was right. Izanami's been using a cheat like this one since the China Maze of Eternity that we had to finish quickly because she'd made Izanagi mad. She wouldn't have been able to use that cheat if Hahaue hadn't used it first. Because Purrcy didn't use it herself in that dungeon, nor have I seen her use it ever in this way, likely she understood from the beginning just how OP this cheat was. She doesn't play that way. She plays fair until her enemy gets dirty."

Clocktower solemnly blinked at the two of them. "If Bowie was allowed to tell us that cheat finally, and the General's as worried as he is, then the enemy we fight at the end of this level plays that dirty."

"Allowed to tell you?" Hue asked, confused.

Clocktower released them and handed them one more empty box each made from leaves. He reached for two more handfuls of leaves to turn into mixed fruits. "The AIs can prevent us from saying things others aren't supposed to know. Bowie said they'd used it for the caches. That was months ago that he and the other members of the Intelligence detail figured it out. Before China, even. They've had their mouths sealed shut on it until now.

"Like the General. He's moving but not saying much, and often he's beating around the bush, leaving clues we have to figure out. He knows more than he can say, because the AIs are preventing him from saying them. We're doing our best to read those clues so we can be ready in time for what hits the fan."

BillyBoy and Hue looked at him open mouthed, then looked down into their full boxes and sighed. They sealed the boxes and put them in their lists. Like Brenner, they weren't happy, but they'd not fight it either, now.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael woke up to many smells mingled all together. It was a bit odd on the nose, though his tummy growled, requesting that at least one of those things being cooked be eaten right now. He sighed. He was feeling better, but food wasn't really on the top of his list, other than that.

His stomach didn't have to wait long, though. Food was practically dropped into his lap nearly as soon as he'd sat up. Given his habituated training, he focused on it. It was good enough to appreciate it instead of just wolf it down, but that didn't mean he slowed down much. Usually when food was dropped in one's lap it meant one had been allowed to sleep in but the march was about to start.

When he finally raised his head from the bowl, hands reached out and took the dishes from him. He swallowed down the drink, surprised it was a fruit juice, and passed the empty cup back, too. When the space in front of him was clear again, he had a bit of a waiting audience, though Gareth was finishing up his own food nearby, rather than waiting on him specifically.

Secretary snapped smartly to attention and saluted. "General, Sir, I have the day's summary report ready for you." Since he was the one standing right in front of Michael, he couldn't say no, nor postpone it. The address gave him his first clue of what might be going on. He gave a nod to allow Secretary to give his report. Secretary being an added step between him and the Eagles in charge of each group across the two continents was another clue, but he bore it with patience.

"Wesson's North Army reached the North South American Maze slightly before we got here and have already begun the repairs to the Tree of Life. The Adventurers of the area had already cleaned out the Overwritten, but decided to not make the repairs themselves, not feeling properly up to that level of skill.

"He reports that there is still a bit of a feel that things aren't right, so he's having his team mostly focus on the probable underlying concerns from Central America. He'll keep us in the loop if it looks like things are worse than they should be." Michael gave a nod.

"Brian reports that they have just reached the East South American Maze and are in the middle of the exploratory, but it looks like the first two levels are completed and perhaps more. We caught them in the middle of it, so there should be more data in the next report. LeftField also has put a greater emphasis on having his army get down into the dirt of the locations they're going through. The local People of the Land are as skittish on that route as they were in Central America." Michael frowned, concerned, but there wasn't anything he could add or ask for at this point.

"Jack says they're keeping busy, and are focused on DC. They say not to worry about the east coast. They'll handle it. Nothing came up from the next level down either in direct contact or from Blaze's level, so they probably are handling it just fine. Leonardo will get to Big Apple tomorrow and is nervous since he left it with bad feelings, but he still gives a thumbs up. He's higher level than anyone he's come across so far from his Maze experiences. That's helping him." Michael narrowed his eyes at Secretary, but still gave a nod. To be told that by Blaze's group meant that Blaze got told something Michael had yet to hear, and was his third clue.

Secretary blinked slightly at the look Michael was giving him, but he took a breath and kept going. "Everyone is topped off on resupply and the meals are being cooked now. That should be done in another hour or less." Michael's eyebrow jumped at that, but Secretary didn't explain. Michael glanced quickly at Reed, standing behind Secretary and waiting for his turn. He was calm and didn't let anything be read on his face, which meant he'd ordered that those details rightly would come from him.

Gareth handed his dishes off to the waiting Twin Falls man who'd been standing by. That meant all Eagles who could cook or even just help with cooking were on deck for that part. They'd been working hard and fast. Michael took the time to quickly check the time and was a bit stunned he'd been made to sleep for the full six hours. His lips pursed slightly.

Secretary swallowed slightly this time, and still kept going. Michael had to wonder just how long Reed and MasterChiefS7 (standing with Reed) were going to make Secretary do the talking. "Maintenance, minus Clocktower, are at Virginia Beach port, setting up a box production facility. They've brokered an agreement with a reputable merchant of the city for production and sales, with twelve percent of the sales coming into the guild coffers.

"The merchant promises that he'll get the word and product spread throughout North America. When we send the word back up to Blaze that South America is safe and clean, he'll see about sending product south. But," Secretary pursed his lips this time, "apparently the Caribbean isn't safe for merchants. If we want to do trade by ship, we'll have to settle that on the way south."

Michael went into heavy thinking mode for a brief moment. He'd rather expected that, actually. He just hadn't wanted it to interfere. "We'll see once we get there," he answered. Secretary gave a nod that Reed echoed as if he'd also expected that answer. "How does the Oki Watarimono compare to what they've come up with on this side of the world?" he asked.

"Pirates for the most part are still in the standard pirate runners. The shipyard's better, but they went with sails instead of steam. Apparently a few buffs of the schooners came with and they won the draw, it being ocean rather than river in front of them."

Michael gave a nod. "They'll get to experimenting once they see our ship, but we'll be set in place before they get one built. That should be fine. If we want more profit, though I'm not sure we care much, you could pass on to have the Maintenance group buy up an entire shipworks company with the plans for the steam ship, and say we're a new group that wants to open up the merchant lanes. That way we'll have the upper hand on who gets steam when." He looked up through his eyelashes at Secretary, "And we'll be acknowledged on this side as the owners of the ocean steamship line. I'm not sure I want to let that patent out generally just yet."

Secretary gave a nod. Out of the corner of his eye, Michael could see Reed had missed that one, but that was okay. The fact he'd moved on the boxes was important. "If it's going to be too expensive to buy a shipworks whole hog, ask the new partner to go in with us at a less than half ownership party. We want to be the majority owner. I'll review the contracts and release the money when we arrive." Reed shifted, but didn't complain. That meant he had more he wanted to say around that topic. Michael shelved it until Secretary should decide he was done with his report.

If possible, Secretary went to even more stiff and formal attention. He took a deep breath. Michael waited for it to finally fall. "The VFA-115th squadron wishes to express deep appreciation to the General for his long service as Commander while on Theldesia, and to congratulate him on his advancement to Western Hemisphere General. Lieutenant Gareth has been permanently assigned as General Michael's attache. Please accept my appointment as your personal secretary. It is understood that such rankings are specific to Theldesia, and Earth's appointments are granted only under proper Earth authority, when we all happen to be there."

And there it was. The squad had decided while he was out to make the whole thing official and formal. Michael couldn't say he was disappointed, though he did feel a little cold. He knew he only had himself to blame. He'd set the stage and Reed had followed through, as he should have. It would only benefit Michael, too, and he'd also known he needed that, as well. "Thank you, Lieutenant," Michael responded with quiet sincerity. His eyes fell to Reed as Secretary finally saluted and moved to stand behind him in his proper placement.

Reed and MasterChiefS7 both saluted properly. Michael put his fingers to his brow and waited for them to finish the salute before finishing his. Inside some part of him went to depressed resignation, but outside he merely kept it solemn for the occasion, as was proper.

He wondered if a generalship granted on Earth felt this way, too. One was finally too old to be nervous about such appointments, and excitement was perhaps missing here versus there, but he might not ever know. He wasn't sure he'd be able to continue on Earth like he'd set his goals before the catastrophe. He was really too old now, already to the age of retirement nearly. He hoped he survived the coming battles, though he already knew he would. It was the battle with himself that might do him in, in the end.

Reed had kept his eyes on Michael and had waited for him to come back from his introspection. Pity and misty pride mixed in Reed's face. Michael supposed that was all that could be asked for, really. At least it meant Reed understood. "List off the new appointments for me so I don't step on toes," he requested first.

Reed formally listed them off. Since they weren't out of line, Michael just gave a nod of understanding at the end. He waved his hand at the industry. "Explain, please," Michael asked simply. Reed did, succinctly. Michael closed his eyes at the cheat they'd finally been allowed, then gave a nod. "I suppose they would allow that about now."

"Will we really need it...and how much more can you tell me to be preparing ahead of time?" Reed asked. "I'd like as much detail as possible."

Michael took his time considering it. Just because Bowie's tongue had been loosened for one detail, that didn't mean he got to be let loose yet. "Obviously we'll need it, or it wouldn't have been opened up," he was able to answer that one. Even he wasn't sure exactly why it was needed, though. That was a detail he'd not researched. He hadn't wanted to know _everything_. That got boring when you actually got there.

As far as the rest, Michael mulled that over, then finally shook his head. "Nope. I've got nothing else yet." Reed sighed, unhappy with that answer. Michael could understand, but it wasn't up to him. "What's your thoughts on the pirates?" he asked, wanting to know the more that was still unsaid.

"Not the pirates. We need to see that when we get there, though if the boxes are that important, we should do something to clear the sailing routes. It's you." Reed's eyes pierced Michael. "For all we've moved you up to General because you had to take it, I'm not cut out to be the Pirate King. You're the natural for that one. We'll keep following your lead when in those waters."

"Not like it's any different," Michael muttered, but he nodded and rose to his feet. "And the plans for what's next?"

"As soon as the food is done, we'll fly to the coast and put the Oki Watarimono in the water. While we're at the Guild Hall, Maintenance will be giving her a pre-sail check. Everyone is going to sub-guildmaster to get the guildmaster list. Twin Falls has already done that. We've filled them up as full as we can get them in this amount of time, using the cheat for both enough boxes and items. We'll fill ours with as many cheap, unwanted magic items as we can get hold of. Make sure there's enough gold for everything we all want to buy."

Michael raised an eyebrow. "Retagging magic items works?"

"Yes, we tested it," Reed answered solemnly.

Michael blew out a sad breath. He didn't like that either. "It has reasonable limits?"

"Yes. Level and grade remain consistent." That was relieving. They might be able to get lots of low level magic items they needed, but high level ones would be just as comparatively rare.

"Have you let the resistance know?" he asked softly.

Reed hesitated. "I wasn't sure just how detailed to get. I'm not sure we want them to know. It may upset the balance on the Round Table."

Michael considered that, then gave a nod. "Not the how, just that we'll each have full up guildmaster level limits on items held. That will be sufficient." Reed gave a nod and his look was about as pained as Michael was feeling.

While they waited for the rest of the squadron to finish the cooking, Michael took Gareth and Secretary outside the Maze to get his own guildmaster list up to snuff. None of them enjoyed the oily feel of the cheat as they made box after box in fast batch jobs. Michael only put boxes inside his boxes at this point. That was what the boys would need once they'd signed up as sub-guildmasters. Then they could all fill them with the required items.

He did stop and finger a leaf privately. He relabeled it: _Gold Coin_. It changed to look like one of the standard gold of Theldesia. He looked at the full code on it, comparing it to a real gold coin he pulled from his item list, until he found the marker that made one counterfeit and the other real. Then carefully, in case the world wanted to punish him for it, he tried to change the marker on the counterfeit. Like other restricted tags, he couldn't.

He slumped in relief, then wrote code that would automatically check all gold he was handed or picked up. If it was counterfeit, it would warn him immediately. Where there were pirates, there were people who would try anything to gain more wealth, even if it was false wealth.

His brow furrowed. There were two people still missing from the east coast, just like there were two people missing from the west coast. He didn't like loose ends like those. He passed around the code to everyone in the party, including the Twin Falls group. He wanted them sharp, and often the lowest guy on the chain of command was approached first.

-:-:-:-:-

"And what is my wife doing, sleeping the afternoon away up on the patio in my own chair, mmm?" Warm hands landed on Purrcy's shoulders and warm breath crossed her ear hairs, making her ear turn a little.

"Preventing you from doing the same?" she murmured in a light tease back, not opening her eyes.

The next thing she knew, she was being picked up from the lounge chair and her eyes flew open to stare at Nyanta in surprise. She forgot these days how strong Adventurers were, not actually living among them, though she really should know better, watching over them day after day.

Her surprise amused Nyanta and his whiskers twitched up. He turned and sat on his lounge chair. "Not a very good purrevention," he purred at her, his eyes narrowing at her. "Rather, a temptation, I think."

She felt a faint blush ruffle along her fur. He turned and settled into the chair, not letting her go. Instead, he pulled her in for a kiss. "It isn't often I get to hold my wife on the porch, these days," he said. "What is the occasion?"

"Trying to not kill anything," she admitted. "The restrictions are beginning to be lifted, but from our perspective it is very slow to happen. I'm trying to remind myself that my own are quite in force for some time to come."

"Hooh?" Nyanta breathed. "Then...purrhaps I shall give into the temptation mew've offered, to keep mew distracted sufficiently. Just how long do mew calculate I'll need to distract mew for?" One of his hands was already exploring in places that were making her blush even more, not to mention making it difficult to calculate an answer.

"Mmm? Maybe...four years or so?" she finally answered. "Give or take some?"

"Ooh, that is a long time for us," Nyanta agreed. "Merely three blinks of an eye for ones who will live forever."

Purrcy had to giggle at that. Nyanta's hand arrived at the back of her neck - the one that wasn't exploring other places - and pulled her in for another long kiss. "Come, be distracted with me," he cajoled. "Surely we can be occupied for several months at least."

Purrcy laughed, though she was relenting already, her hands exploring his firm muscles under his soft fur. "Or until the children come home from school," she amended.

"Oh. Well, I suppose there is that," he agreed. He'd moved to grooming her chest just at the base of the neck. "Surely they could spare the two of us, and be happy with the rest of us? I would like to see just how long mew could go for, I think. Six months? Two years?" His voice was becoming muffled as he became lost further down. "...Twenty decades?"

Purrcy moaned. "Three minutes, at the rate you're going," she complained at him. His purry chuckle rose up to her ears as she gave up and let herself get lost in his chosen "distraction".

-:-:-:-:-

Isuzu rose with the sun and walked out of Susukino with William's blessing, his waving form behind her, and Yomi-kun at her heels. She also had her songs, recorder, and the new words of her song going through her head. Adding in a verse to the story of the wandering priest and the High Priestess in the shrine to get the People of the Land to accept the changes that had happened had been hard, but it had finally come.

Also, it had spawned a new song altogether, thinking of that verse and the overall direction Shiroe wanted things to move next. After practicing the newest verse a few times in her head, she switched to the new song. She quite liked it. It was calming, peaceful, and yet happy with sparkling bits to it (rather literally since notes and sparkles appeared when she played on Theldesia). She did wonder if those were visual effects she would be able to replicate on Earth through laser tricks.

This song was about Hahaue, the Caretaker. She'd worked out the form of what she wanted and most of the words. Today she had fun playing with the sounds she'd put together in her head, making them smooth out into something that actually sounded good. When she thought she had it, she sang it to herself quietly. Yomi-kun trotted next to her and looked up at her with a smile on his face.

When Isuzu glanced down at him, expecting to see Purrcy looking through his eyes as she sometimes did when Isuzu sang to herself like this, she was surprised to see a small cat riding on Yomi-kun's back. She stopped singing. "Hahaue? Is it okay?"

The whiskers on the cat went up as Yomi-kun licked the grey and white cat. "It's fine, Isuzu-chan," Nyanta answered for himself. "Meowr song is very well done, and a very good distraction for Purrcy, who needs such things right now and for a while to come."

"But, why have _you_ come?" Isuzu asked, confused.

"Because I also can, now," he said. "Can't I?" he teased.

Isuzu waved a frantic hand in negation. "Of course, if you can, I won't send you away. Company is always appreciated, particularly when it's Hahaue and Chichiue." Nyanta settled down on the back of Yomi-kun and they both listened happily to Isuzu sing. She knew they knew her repertoire, save the newest things, but she also knew they just liked to hear her sing. The rehearsal was more pleasant for their being there to enjoy it with her.

When they finally had to go, more than they left the area. Isuzu was a bit surprised to feel several creatures of various sizes leave her. She smiled. Even the creatures would come to be near the Caretaker when she was being serenaded and was happy.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi sighed as she looked at the papers in front of her on the desk she'd been using today in the study room of the Academy. She'd told the others she would come back to the guild hall in about another hour or so. They'd finished their work for the day on the financial course, and it was just as demanding every day as her mother always was. MeowLi needed to spend some quiet time on putting together her outline for the course she was hoping to teach. Her brain had other plans, though, and was refusing to cooperate. _It_ had had enough of hard work for the day, thank you very much.

MeowLi rubbed her hands over her head, pressing her ears down against it. She scratched the back of her head, trying to get the blood flowing properly again. It wasn't enough. With another sigh, she rose to her feet. Sometimes a change of scenery with a short walk, and a little food, helped her brain restart. She knew the room would be left empty now save for a few like her that wanted open space to study in, so she wasn't worried about leaving her things there for a few minutes.

She walked down the hall and entered the cafeteria. The newest restaurants had opened up there, and she'd heard that some of the students were wishing a Chinese stand would come, too, but there were only the three Chinese chefs in town so far and they were far to busy to open a branch. MeowLi knew since they lived with her. She felt a little like a traitor to not eat at the Crescent Moon stand, but she'd had quite enough of that in the last week and was ready for something different. (Her stomach and tongue were in agreement with her head today.)

She placed an order for a more traditional Yamato dish, paid for it from her mother's gold, still not having her own job to earn money yet. The goal in teaching was to do just that, which would help her feel a little more independent, too, though she was grateful her mother hadn't left her completely destitute or without resources.

She'd been very careful to properly handle what money she was given, and wasn't wasteful with it, though sometimes it was very difficult to not purchase the cute Adventurer made items she saw in the stores. Sometimes Minori encouraged her to buy something she particularly liked, saying Hahaue wouldn't mind at all, but would understand. And sometimes, MeowLi would. Those few items sat in the windowsill of the bedroom for her to enjoy, or in the little closet space they'd put in for her for the clothing she both needed, and then had found cute (particularly after the fashion show). She was in one of those outfits today, and was quite enjoying wearing it.

"Hello, do you mind if we sit with you?" MeowLi looked up from the food in front of her, rather surprised to be addressed. It was two girls she'd seen around the Academy every so often, usually together.

"I guess not," she allowed.

"I'm Rae, and this is my friend Mellie," the one with long blonde curls said as the girl with short black hair and very blue eyes bobbed her head in greeting. They both sat, Rae next to MeowLi and Mellie across from them. "We've seen you around the school," Rae continued as they got their chopsticks out to begin eating. "Girls are pretty rare around here." Rae winked at Mellie who smiled shyly back. "We should know."

"True," MeowLi answered cautiously, but it _was_ true. Even People of the Land girls were rather lacking at the Academy.

"We've been hoping to get to meet you," Rae continued as she slurped up her first noodle and vegetable ramen bite. "I hope you don't mind us being forward today. We know you're with Log Horizon and Crescent Moon - which has enough girls to keep company, but you only seem to be with Serera. We thought we should introduce ourselves, too, since we're always here at the Academy. It must be hard to have Minori so busy and Isuzu gone all the time."

MeowLi shrugged a bit uncomfortably. "I suppose some days it feels a bit lonely, but everyone tries hard and no life is perfect."

"That's a truth," Rae agreed heartily. Even Mellie nodded solemn agreement.

Mellie seemed to finally work up enough courage to take a turn. "That's a nice outfit. From the show?" she asked.

MeowLi nodded. "I enjoyed it. It was my first fashion show to watch. Some of the clothing wasn't clothing where I come from."

They both smiled and laughed at that. "It wouldn't be really from where we come from either - except on the runway. But it is fun to see," Rae said.

MeowLi agreed - for some of them. Others had been just embarrassing. She let Rae carry the conversation, which seemed to be her personality generally. Mellie joined in every now and again, but seemed to be content with Rae being the talkative one. MeowLi didn't mind the female company today, but she couldn't help but hold herself back out of habit and training. Politeness was all she could offer.

"What classes are you thinking of taking next?" Rae asked. "You've been studying hard for Henrietta-san's class. We think you're very brave to take that one. We've heard how hard it is and we're not going to take that one." She looked at Mellie with a smile. "Well, Mellie's good enough in school she probably could, but I'd be a fish out of water for sure. Since it's just us in our guild that come to classes right now, we're not sure we could get someone to help us with the studies there." She pouted a bit. "If I'd have known you were going to take it, I would have encouraged Mellie to take it with you. Then she could have studied with all of you. Now it's too late for that."

MeowLi wasn't sure what to address first. Mellie blushed and shook her head. "It's okay. I'm not likely to need that class anyway, though the study group does sound like fun when we pass by in the hallway after our class." She smiled at MeowLi.

MeowLi had to smile back. "It is, but mostly because Rudy and Touya like to be dramatic. We girls roll our eyes at them a lot."

Rae laughed and Mellie hid a giggle. "They are like that, aren't they?" Rae agreed. "It's good to have fun guildmates to make the days go by better." She grimaced. "We're some of the youngest of our guild, so everyone is busy and some are a bit stuffy, but if we run into troubles they try to help us the best they can."

"We're grateful they took us in," Mellie agreed. "Life was very difficult until then." She shuddered.

Rae reached across the table and patted Mellie's hand. "I had to go hunt for Mellie," she said a little sadly. "We tried to hide during the worst parts. Our guild came and found us and helped us feel like life wasn't going to be quite so bad. To have protecting walls and people who cared around us helped us to look forward again without so much fear."

MeowLi had to nod to that. Having that much made life so much easier. She knew.

"We've been coming to classes since we haven't been sure how to help our guild in return. We can't really fight or harvest, and we don't have enough knowledge for any real skills yet. We figure if we at least study hard and learn what we can, then some day we might be able to repay them," Rae said. Her green eyes turned to MeowLi again. "So, what are you going to study next? We've been trying to pick something. Our current schedule is about done."

MeowLi hesitated, then said, "There aren't any other classes being offered I need to take. I'm not an Adventurer, and I graduated from a university a short while ago, so the rest don't make sense for me to take."

"You're a university graduate?" Both girls' eyes went wide.

MeowLi nodded. She hesitated again, then said cautiously. "Instead, Mrs. Marielle has agreed that if I can come up with a proper course syllabus she and Miss Henrietta can accept, then I could perhaps teach something instead."

Rae sat up in excitement and Mellie's eyes took on a look of interest. "We're sort of in the same boat. We've taken almost everything we can that isn't a fighter class, or for a Class of Adventurer that doesn't apply to us." Rae leaned forward just a little and clasped her hands together. "What are you thinking of teaching?"

MeowLi had to work hard to not wiggle in embarrassment, and her tail flicked. "Well, my coursework was in secretarial and administrative management. I thought perhaps a simple overview course of the basics might be possible. I don't know how much interest there would be, but Akatsuki says even she might be interested in that class so she can help Guildmaster Shiroe better. She thought perhaps others in similar positions here might also be interested." MeowLi frowned slightly. "She said that perhaps it could be useful on Earth as well."

Rae was nodding excitedly. "My older sister is a secretary. She's very busy, but she says it isn't a bad profession, and the pay is okay." She tapped a finger on her rosy lips. Mellie was blinking.

MeowLi shrugged. "I thought that perhaps even if people didn't take it for wanting it as a profession, it would at least help some to be better organized for their own uses. Secretaries have to know how to keep schedules and paperwork and everything well organized so that the days and lives of those they work for can flow smoothly. I would think anyone could appreciate that for themselves, too."

That got Mellie agreeing now. "I like to be organized," she said thoughtfully.

Rae considered Mellie until she came out of her muse. "What do you think, Mellie? If Guildmistress Marielle lets MeowLi teach the class, shall we sign up for it?"

Mellie blinked her large blue eyes, then gave a nod. "That would be okay."

"We'll do it!" Rae declared to MeowLi. "If you get the chance, let us know when it's time to sign up for it, but we'll be watching for it. Good luck!"

MeowLi rose and bowed. "Thank you very much. I need to get back to writing it up now. Please excuse me."

"Oh, sure, sure! Don't let us keep you." Rae grinned. "I know I'll talk forever. Don't worry about just going when you need to."

MeowLi smiled slightly, more to herself, and carried her dishes to the dish return to drop them off. She had more reason to focus now. Three students were better than one, or none, and it seemed like they'd be diligent and perhaps even fun to have in class. She was also impatient. She wanted to start teaching sooner than later and knew that there would be daily classes to put together once the syllabus was approved.

She ended up staying later than she thought, getting the outlines of the first five days of class written before she raised her head and realized too much time had passed compared to what she'd said she was going to stay. She quickly gathered up her papers and hurried out of the Academy. She was almost too late for starting dinner for once.

She dropped her syllabus at Akatsuki's place at the table, wishing she had time to take it to her directly but not knowing where she was specifically. MeowLi would have taken it directly to Marielle, but she'd asked, and promised, that Akatsuki could review it first. The rest of her papers went on the floor just inside her room, then she was dashing for the kitchen, a quick menu coming to mind.

She was glad she'd had experience now in not only the kitchen at home in the Temple of Creation, but also over at Crescent Moon. She was also very glad Log Horizon was a very small guild. To have cooked for as many as the guild hall could hold would have taken a long time, even with a fast meal.

There was a note on the kitchen work table as she passed by it, tying her apron on. She stopped and read it. _MeowLi, Naotsugu wants to eat with his wife tonight, and the boarders have other plans. That only leaves three of us. Just come over to Crescent Moon. We'll let them feed us. Thanks! - Tetor_ _ō_ _._

MeowLi blinked, then slumped with a sigh. She couldn't fault anyone for that decision. She did hope Shiroe was getting food sometime during the day, though perhaps he had enough leftovers in his list to eat when he got hungry. She knew Akatsuki was still trying to get in, and had taken to talking to him by chat at each meal time to make sure he was being at least prompted to eat, though she would sadly shake her head to say he had once again not answered.

MeowLi took her apron back off and returned to the main room. She scooped up her outline. At least eating at Crescent Moon would let her get both tasks done at one time. She smiled and hurried out of the guild hall, being sure to close the door properly behind her. It was much better to have things to do to be looking forward to.


	207. Traveling

_Going to be out of town this weekend for Father's Day, so posting a bit early. Happy Father's Day to those of you who are dads._

* * *

Not having any dealings with Giants yet, Isuzu nearly missed them. It was Yomi-kun cowering at her feet that gave her the first clue. For all Yomi-kun was as low to the ground as possible, curled around her ankles he was so low, he was also looking up as high as possible. Isuzu looked up and listened very carefully.

The sounds were more like very low vibrations. The sort that warned an earthquake was coming. She could also hear a sound like wind blowing treetops as if an ocean storm was coming. She nodded. She'd not get very far as a small. She called Yomi-kun back into his spell, then pulled out the pin she'd been paid by the merpeople with. "Small to big, friend to all," she said.

Growing to that height was a bit disorienting, and she clutched the pin tightly in her hand, glad it was growing with her. Once the dizziness had passed, she carefully pinned it on her shirt to not lose it, though she kept some attention on her surroundings. She'd showed up suddenly and unannounced, after all. She wasn't quite sure what her reception would be.

At that size, she was surprised to see she'd already entered the village by several homes. She wondered how she could have missed a regular structure such as a wall that long and straight. She gave up quickly though. This was Theldesia, the world of magic. It could be even a completely different space, not just a visual difference.

She was being stared at, like she rather thought she might be given her entrance. "Hello," she smiled disarmingly. "My name is Isuzu, from the Adventurer guild Log Horizon in Akiba. I've come to visit for a bit, if I may. I've heard the original story from Archmage Shiroe and he's asked me to stop in and see if things are going well."

The latter got people moving again. She was welcomed politely and escorted to a place where an older man was talking to two other men (well, they were all Giants, but she'd seen females, too, so it was just easier to think of them as men and women, and the rare shorter children). Everyone was working hard still, that she saw, either making furniture outside of homes, or making more homes. Many of the women were weaving, though Isuzu wasn't sure what material they were using to make the cloths that she assumed would be household items as well - curtains, bed coverings, and the like.

Her escort waited politely for the conversation to end, then introduced her to the Regent. Isuzu bowed politely, but with a smile. "You'd be Markle's father then," she said.

He raised an eyebrow slightly then gave a slight smile back. "Yes, that would be me," he agreed.

"Thank you for adopting Corbin," Isuzu said. "My guildmaster, Archmage Shiroe, wishes to extend his congratulations on surviving and his best wishes for the Giants into the future. We really had a hard time believing Hahaue - the Caretaker - when she said at the breakfast table that she really intended on helping you all move south and we were to make sure it happened properly. We're glad it has turned out well enough so far."

She was relaxed, but her eyes were watching for clues. She had learned to be this way to get the most information out of people. Their bodies said a lot more over the time of someone else speaking the words than their own words said. She'd learned rather quite a lot about Markle's father with just that much.

"Guildmaster Shiroe has asked that I spend some time while I'm here in Ezzo helping to move things forward if there is anything I can do. I'm also a Bard, and songwriter, so thought maybe during quiet evenings I could offer entertainment in exchange for hearing stories. I'm afraid I get bored rather fast with the songs I know and have to have more material in the form of stories of others to write more songs. I don't know anything about the music of the Giants, either, so it would be fun to get to listen to some of your own."

That was enough for the Regent to decide that Isuzu was rather young. Usually talking that much did make people have that thought. Purrcy used it regularly to confuse people, and Isuzu liked that they both used it for about the same purposes. She ended with a smile and waited to hear what the response would be.

"You'd be welcome to stay, and we can always use another pair of hands, but you may have to sleep outside under the stars. I hope that won't be too much trouble for an Adventurer?" he said politely, but somewhat firmly as well.

"No," Isuzu waved a hand. "I've got a tent if I need one, and while I've been serenading down on the main island, I'm actually here to Adventure in the main - that means explore to see and learn new things." She thought she'd better clarify that part, since often in those who were on the other side of an Adventurer's weapon it meant "fight". Apparently, Markle's father was one of those since his eyebrows rose and he relaxed marginally.

"To start with, can I go help Corbin with whatever he's doing? I'd like to make sure he's doing okay first, and I'm sure he's working harder than he should anyway. He seems the type to, anyway."

The Regent's eyes crinkled up in a smile at that. "Yes, he does take his responsibilities very seriously. I think that would be fine, though you may find it not a task you understand."

Isuzu shrugged. "That's okay. I'll learn something new, then. When he's had enough of me, I'll wander around until I see something I can do, if that's okay."

The Regent got them moving towards the part of the village still under construction. "How long are you intending to stay?" he asked. Isuzu thought he was a lot like Grand Duke Sergiad, and somewhat of a father like Naotsugu might be someday.

"I'm not in a hurry to be anywhere any time," she said honestly. "As a wandering bard, I just let my feet carry me and my impatience drag me away when I'm done. As long as there's a thing I can do to keep me busy doing good things I'll probably stay, but eventually the wanderlust will hit me and I'll leave. Or Guildmaster Shiroe will ask me to do a new thing for him - but he usually only asks me to do things that are already on my path anyway, like coming here was."

She wrinkled her nose. "Really I'd come up by way of the coast and was quite done with pirates. He's asked if I'll include that in the contract, since they didn't think of it back when it was written up. If the Giants who go on the ships will discourage both local pirate-want-to-be's and pirates from other waters so Yamato stays a safe place for everyone to live, we'd appreciate it."

She tipped her head. "Oh, yes, and William says that they'll have the first batch of wine ready for your barrels whenever you're ready to send them, but he asks that you keep the size reasonably small for now until they've figured out how to make truly Giant sized amounts," she grinned big at the man next to her. "He let me try some while I was there in Susukino, and it is really very good, if you like elvin wine."

He had smiled back in return, understanding. "We are looking forward to trying it," he agreed. "Would there be a market for us to sell in return some of our ale?"

Isuzu's eyes went wide. "Well, I'd love to try some. I would think there would be, actually." She rubbed her chin. "I wouldn't be surprised if that opened doors better with the People of the Land, honestly, though Susukino could handle initial sales to get the toe in the door, so to speak. A lot of the drink in the inns and taverns I played at was okay, but a good ale wouldn't cost as much as elvin wine would, and would be well appreciated."

He seemed content enough with that answer. Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Actually, there was a really interesting, and very good beer made down in the north central part of Yamato that you might like, too. I'd have to taste your ale to see if they were complementary, but I could stop by there on my way back down and see if they'd be willing to pick up more customers. Calasin would have no troubles being the intermediary to make sure the two drinks could intermix between the two places."

She gave a conspiratorial smirk. "Calasin likes his drink, too. A small taste of William's wine and he was very interested in making sure it got passed around Yamato. Silver Sword has been quite busy trying to make enough for just the few places that already want some of it. It will become a very expensive and hard to find wine for a while...but if they like your ale as much, they'll always be sure to set some aside for proper trade, I'd think."

The Regent was looking at her with an interesting look. Both pleased, and curious. Isuzu smiled. "That would be the look of someone trying to understand an Adventurer, which is almost nearly impossible as of yet. Princess Raynessia says it's easiest to consider us all nobles, since we have the equivalent training of them, but it gets difficult beyond that since we're a lot more than that rolled into one package."

He looked at her little longer, then let it go, much like Duke Sergiad would. She nodded to herself. "We've also been considering the ships," he changed the topic, but kept it to the same sort of thread, seeming to relax into the concept that she might just be able to follow along and answer reasonably. "Both Corbin and Markle said that it would actually be difficult for us adults to ride with them as full Giants. The soldiers have been practicing hard what Demikas taught them, but they're not too thrilled with the idea they might sink the ship. We don't swim well." He glanced at Isuzu as he said that.

She nodded. "I fought against a few sea monsters as a Giant, since I was given the pin by then. It was complex and somewhat difficult as only one on the ship. What are you thinking?"

"We'd like to be taught the construction methods to make our own. Then we could sail alongside the merchant ships and fight from our own ships, perhaps making a way for them to escape while the battle was ongoing."

"You'd have to be taught how to sail then, as well," Isuzu added. He nodded agreement. She narrowed her eyes as she took that further. "And then you'd eventually be in competition to _be_ the merchant ships."

The Regent didn't quite look away in embarrassment, but his eyes did shine and go to a smile again, in the way Purrcy would reward one for seeing the deeper picture. Isuzu clasped her hand behind her back as she considered that. "I would hate to see any Giant pirates, too," she said soberly. That made him pause and consider as well, like she wanted him to.

"Well, I'll take that one back to Guildmaster Shiroe and let him work it out. I don't think anyone who's been on a ship being protected by Giants would be opposed to the idea, knowing how difficult that was, but he'll need to work out the full details, I think."

She got a solemn nod. "That would be sufficient," he agreed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she answered politely. "And thank you for also being willing to work hard. We will continue to hope it will be for the goal of long-term peace between the Peoples of the Land." They were reaching a place of busy industry. The Regent called for Corbin and one of the young men paused and wiped his brow with his shirt sleeve, then turned to see who had called for him.

His eyes stopped on Isuzu, not recognizing her, then his eyes caught the pin and he came immediately. "Hello. I'm Corbin," he bowed politely to Isuzu.

Isuzu bowed slightly to him, "Your Majesty." She caught the pained look on his face, though he didn't openly protest. She smiled at him. "It will settle eventually, as you become fully resigned to it and then grow into it. My name is Isuzu. Archmage Shiroe is my guildmaster. He sends his greetings and best regards and asks that you consider kindly my request to be able to stay with the Giants for a time. I would like to learn and help where I may, and perform a concert tonight for all of the village if I may. I am a Bard and wandering troubadour."

Corbin's eyes lit up and he smiled a small but happy smile. "I would like that very much, actually. Will you stay a while?"

"Until my feet lead me elsewhere," she answered. "Or Demikas shows up and his grumbling drives me crazy."

"Will he be coming back?" Both Giants wanted to know.

"We expect it, with his family, though we don't know exactly when. I want to hear his story as well as your own." She pointed to the pin on her chest. "I received this from the merpeople in the ocean south of Ezzo for attempting to play an instrument new to me. They have bad taste in music, but the payment was this. Can you tell me it's story?"

Corbin looked at it closely, then his eyes opened wide. "I wonder...that might be the one I actually received from William at the end of the quest. Tor tore it from my shirt and threw it very hard, hard enough it looked like it had reached the ocean. The one I have now was an extra made when I went down to sign the contracts."

Isuzu's eyes widened and her hand rather instinctively went to touch the pin. When she'd caught her breath, she immediately took it off and reached out and pinned it to Corbin's shirt. "Don't lose it again. You can give me the other one when you have time to fetch it."

Corbin held out his hand, a pin already in it. "I always keep it with me in case we have visitors. Why does it matter which one, though?"

Isuzu smiled a slow, kind smile as she took the pin from his hand. "Because the First of anything is special, just like you, the First Peace King of Giants." Corbin stared at her, then slowly blushed a rather dark red. She put the other pin on to give him time to recover.

She looked up in time to see the scolding look on the Regent's face. She raised an eyebrow at him, then turned back to Corbin. "I'm an Adventurer, consider it a strange comment from a strange creature not comprehensible to any but other Adventurers. Otherwise you're adopted father will banish me for trying to come between you and his daughter, which I'm not. I'm not available, just as we Adventurers aren't available nor eligible to marry noble children of People of the Land. We're going home soon, after all. That would just be sad. Only the few like Demikas who are already committed to stay are doing that."

The Regent went a bit red in embarrassment this time, but Isuzu could see his relief. She'd let him work out the long-term implications of that statement on his own time. She turned Corbin around and got him walking. "Come teach me what you're doing, then I'll see what I can do to help."

"Are all Adventurers so easily willing to be helpful?"Corbin asked, seeming to need a change of topic.

"No," she answered, "but we get pretty bored if we don't."

Corbin chuckled after a bit of thought to that. "I can't imagine that being a pleasant prospect."

"No," she agreed and made him begin teaching her before she got bored again.

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta...I don't know what to add to the Children's Park this year," Purrcy was moping, sitting across the desk from him, but she was draped on the desk itself, her head on her arms. "I don't know that we should even have the celebration this year."

"Mm...worried about the children?"

"Yes...all of them not just ours, but that was a nasty thing to do, to steal Meiki away unexpectedly. How can any of us feel safe now? And knowing that things are starting to get worse generally, too, doesn't help. I can't just lock the bad ones out of the park. It's the one day everyone usually likes to just relax and play, and I don't like to let the evil ones feel like they've poked my fear button so they can poke it again over and over. But I'm not allowed to get rid of them yet."

Nyanta leaned forward and pet Purrcy's head, purring for her. "Would it help mew feel better if we asked Michael to go with us this time, so he can help keep an eye on them more purroperly?"

Purrcy's head lifted up slightly in surprise, just enough to turn to look him in the eyes to see his expression. He kept it kind and understanding. Really, he was fighting the same battle she was. It was the only solution he'd come up with that gave _him_ any comfort.

"As his current self, or in disguise?" she finally asked.

"His current self is sufficient. He can go to a disguise if it becomes necessary," Nyanta decided. "He has been seen around as the bored lesser guard sufficiently in strange places already. It will only be another strange place, that they will understand at the level of worried parents. If it is only him, the dark gods won't be able to claim mew have acted in fear."

Purrcy nodded. "Okay, Nyanta. I would feel much better if at least he were there." She went back to putting her head on her arms, but this time she just rested on her chin. "But what should I _do_? Finally let it go and add nothing? At some point I will need to do that. I can't keep adding things all the time or there won't be any space to just run in."

Nyanta folded his arms in front of him on the desk. His whiskers twitched a bit. "Are the fruit trees in fruit this year? Will we be able to eat from them at the celebration?"

Purrcy tilted her head and her eyes went distant for a few moments. "They could be."

"Then make them fruit. Then when everyone is assembled, make one more tree grow and be fruitful. One that bears a fruit they have never seen before, but will find delicious. For me, will mew make it one that will only bear delicious fruit on Children's Day? By the end of the day the fruit should become rotten and fall from the tree, to be barren until the next Children's Day." He looked at her earnestly.

The look she gave him back judged him. Finally she sat up with a sigh. "Either you wish to send a message of a parable, or you wish yet again for me to show them all the strength of my powers of creation in a rather obvious way, and likely it is both. It is a sufficient distraction of the sort you keep looking for me to have, though, so I will do it. Thank you for letting me complain and worry again, and for comforting me again." She rose to her feet to return to her duties.

Nyanta's whiskers twitched ever so slightly downward. To be thanked so formally for offering comfort and love was distressing. "Mew are my wife, Purrcy," he said softly.

She bowed to him, then waited to be excused from the room. He hid the deeper frown until after he'd excused her and the door had closed behind her. He couldn't decide if living this many years having to face both himself and Izanagi within him had made her become so formal more frequently, or if there was something else going on with the stresses of the upcoming ending to this level of her dungeon that was making her more stiff.

Whatever it was, he was unhappy that it almost always seemed to occur when she was placed in the role of his wife, or he as her husband. It was the relaxed, happy Purrcy he wanted most as his companion. He was quite sure that it didn't help that her first experience as a wife had been so difficult. Though...he also had to admit that at the beginning of their own relationship Izanagi and Izanami had interfered so frequently, and his own anger and frustration, that it had been difficult for Purrcy to learn just what it was he really wanted from her.

He had also changed in the last nine years, coming to understand what it was that he really did want. He wasn't quite sure how to help her learn it at this point, other than in the small ways he knew and kept trying with. Surely she would rather be able to relax with him as well when they were just being companions and spouses?

-:-:-:-:-

Michael stood at the helm of the Oki Watarimono, holding it to the course set by Gareth who stood nearby watching his compass, the only daytime source of direction they had on this side other than the position of the sun. Michael breathed in the salty air deeply. It smelled different on this side of the continent, but it was still ocean air. More fishy, he decided. More moisture as well, and cool.

It felt good to have the feel of the sea beneath their feet again. It was the constant reminder that they were moving forward they way they needed to. That combined with the open ocean was helping him to relax, though he suspected he'd not fully relax this trip until the final battle was over.

Reed was standing on the steerage deck, spyglass in hand. He'd been in quiet contemplation since things had calmed down from the initial setting sail requirements. Now he tucked the spyglass under an arm, clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. His prayer came across the party chat.

"Inari-no-Izanami, we're quite sure we're going to have to deal with the pirates properly. Please direct our course so that we land in the proper place first to get the information we need to win that challenge. You know we're perfectly content to play the pirate mercenaries, but you also know that Michael's impatient, which means that what's after that is more important. If we could get the same sort of speed-up you allowed us to have for the China quests, we'd appreciate it, particularly in bypassing the Bermuda Triangle Zone since we don't have the zone maps of this ocean plotted yet. Thank you." He clapped and bowed one more time.

Michael approved, and added his 'yes please' to those who also agreed. "Brenner, please request the same from Izanagi," Reed requested.

Brenner did, also across the party chat since his current station was elsewhere on the ship. Again Michael added in his agreement. He chose not to bring the Caretaker into it yet since Reed didn't ask for it. Her role in these sorts of things was different.

"Secretary, I'd like you to do something a little different with the junior kami," Reed continued when Brenner was done. "Because it's tied in with the emotions, can you ask it to give you a small thread to the emotions of the people we come in contact with, like Bowie has that thread of knowledge? That way you can step in to diffuse people who are about to explode, or warn us if a large group is on their way."

"I'll work on it, Sir," Secretary answered.

Michael glanced at Gareth to make sure the course was still good. It looked like he might be recalculating, which could mean Inari was resetting their course slightly as asked. Gareth moved to make a mark on their travel chart, but he gave a nod, so Michael just held to the course. It was nice to have Reed handling directing things so he could both relax a bit and focus on what he needed to focus on.

They'd provisioned up in Virginia Beach the way Reed had ordered. Michael had paid the guild's 75% for the shipbuilder's company, and then watched as everyone signed up as a sub-guildmaster under him. He'd gotten a tired hand from co-signing the scrolls he'd written to Reed's specifications then copied using P/R's spell. They'd nearly used up all of their gold to that point with all those purchases. No one was very worried, though. Gold was easy come, easy go on Theldesia for Adventurers. Their treasure was their ship, and it was going to be what drew the pirates to them.

A flash of silver-white followed by a flash of deep red went past the windows, yellow-green and blue followed a bit later. The west coast dragons had come with them. It had been a combination of gratitude, enjoyment of the adventure (surprisingly), and the practical decision to not hurry back to a place still very short on foodstuffs for dragons. Likely they were fishing for a meal at the moment.

The tan and brown they'd picked up later from the Washington state area barrel-rolled past, followed by two Eagles off duty. Michael smiled. He rather suspected that some of the dragons had come along because the Eagles could play with them and completely understood the joy of flight. It was a unique sight - to see land dragons in the sky around a sea vessel.

His eyes opened wide and Gareth exclaimed as a new white and blue dragon flew past. This one was a sea dragon, come to play with its cousins, likely also finding it an odd and new experience. Long whiskers trailed behind the face surrounded by a mane of hair, and the sinuous body waved like tall waves of the water.

"Almost makes one jealous," a new voice said from the steerage deck as Brad walked around from the stairs.

"You'd like to fly?" Reed asked with a bit of a smile.

"Well, like anyone I love to watch it, but I probably prefer my feet on the ground," Brad admitted. He put his hand on the rail, still landlubber enough to not have his sea feet under him yet. "We'd like to know if we can pair up and learn how to help while on board. We don't sit around idle very well."

Reed considered that request, then pursed his lips. "And you came asking instead of Billy, why?"

Brad hesitated slightly. "Partly because of my position, and mostly because Billy's gone into sequester." He hesitated just a little longer, then said, "I'd also like to request that when Brenner's task is done, if he could stop by and visit with Billy. ...He's been praying too hard lately. I think he's got an issue he needs help working out."

Michael frowned. He'd been pushing the kamis of Theldesia on the whole party pretty hard lately. It wouldn't be a surprise to have even more than one from Twin Falls having crises of faith. Reed gave a nod and quietly passed the request to Brenner. "Let me think about the lessons," he said to Brad. "I'd need to pair people up properly. While we're not busy is fine, and when we get busy having extra hands helps, if they know what they're doing or can follow orders exactly. We know you all can to the latter." He gave a kind smile.

Brad gave a short nod. "Thanks."

Reed hesitated now, then asked, "You all do fine against Overwritten. I'd like to know how you're going to do against pirates." He was solemn and Brad faced him that way in return. "When we play the pirate mercenary band we turn into the hardened soldiers we really are. That means we don't blink when we kill them, including the ones that won't resurrect, though we're not completely heartless. We've been known to let a few live to tell the tale and spread the fear of us around. Is that going to be a problem?"

Brad considered that. Slowly he said, "It's true that we haven't had to face that sort of thing yet - killing People of the Land." He paused, then turned to the rail and looked out over the ocean, thinking. Finally he shook his head. "I would need to talk to everyone. I suspect it's different for each one, but mostly it would be difficult, if we had to. I don't think anyone would jump in to prevent it, and in the thick of battle one always works hard to stay alive regardless of who's on the other side."

He looked back at Reed, thin and tall enough to look Reed in the eye. "I presume you're thinking of how we'd rather convert than kill?" Reed nodded. Brad leaned his arms on the railing. "We understand how precious life is, particularly now that we've been dragged here from home." He rubbed his thumbs together lightly. "But...we all played the game, too, or we wouldn't be here."

Everyone who was listening had lips twitch up at that. "It might be nice to finally get to play the game for once," he finally said quietly. "What might be hardest is getting into that frame of mind. It hasn't been a game since we got here."

Reed silently put his hand on Brad's closer shoulder. Michael nodded and looked to Gareth again to confirm their course. Reed had just passed one of Michael's tests for him. He'd work it out from there.

"Half a point port," Gareth said quietly. Michael shifted the wheel just enough to comply.

When Vesuvius joined him as a dragonlet on his shoulder later, Michael was able to relax a little more. Having even that companionship was nice. "How long do dragons live?" Michael asked him to pass the time.

[Very long,] Vesuvius answered. [Five hundred years is common.]

"That is long," Michael agreed. "I'm trying to not feel my age, which is much more now that it was when I came here. Young Adventurer bodies that can't age don't take into account mental age very well. We understood it for the youngest of us who have been growing up, but now that I've lived as many more years as I have, I understand it from the other side as well."

[How old are you really, then?] Vesuvius asked.

Michael paused, then said, "You can't tell anyone, but I need to say it just once."

[Hooh? I can be the keeper of a secret,] Vesuvius promised.

"It will still seem young to someone who can become five hundred or more," Michael warned.

[I can't die. Permanently, that is,] Vesuvius corrected.

"Oh, right. Well, age is completely unimportant to you then," Michael tossed off the words as a joke.

Vesuvius growl-chuckled dryly. [To the young it matters.]

Michael groaned at him. "So now I'm just young to you."

[Yes,] Vesuvius agreed. Michael rolled his eyes, but it was true, and oddly made him feel a little better. [So...how many years have you seen?] Vesuvius asked to bring him back.

Michael calculated it to make sure he had it right. He turned his head just enough to whisper it to Vesuvius. Vesuvius patted the top of Michael's ear. [I was only just beginning to court Halti at that age,] he said.

Michael had to chuckle at that. "If we humans of Earth waited that long, we would already be too old to have children," he said.

[Short-lived creatures,] Vesuvius teased.

Michael agreed, "Yes, on Earth. We don't know how long we'll live on Theldesia, since at the moment we also cannot die. But on Earth, one of our months is one of Theldesia's years, so in total Theldesian years I am over four hundred years old."

[Mm,] Vesuvius settled down into a similar pose as a kitten would, though he rested his front claws down in front of Michael's shoulder to give him better balance. [That is old...but still younger than me.]

"And how old are you?" Michael asked.

Vesuvius blinked a slow blink, then finally whispered it in Michael's ear. [I was finally made a Summon when I was five-hundred-thirty, by your Summoner and guild. Time has passed without real death since then.]

Michael tipped his head. "Then...is Halti also a Summon?"

[Yes. But her Summoner hasn't summoned her since the Adventurers awoke. I was glad to still see her alive.]

"I can understand that," Michael agreed. "I wonder if it's because she just hasn't been, or if it's because her Summoner didn't come across in the catastrophe?"

[If she disappears at any point, it is the former.] Vesuvius was rather practical about it.

"Purrcy, what will happen in those cases? If the whistle or contract is held by someone who didn't come over?" Michael asked.

He had a kitten on the other shoulder that rubbed her head on his neck in hello before settling down like the dragon. "Nothing. They remain a Summon who will never be summoned, unless someone new makes a Summon contract."

"So, if Halti dies, she'll never be summoned back?" Michael was a bit distressed by the idea.

"Correct," Purrcy said. Even Vesuvius shifted uncomfortably at that.

"I think that's not right for the spouses' sake, if they are also a Summon who must stay alive and come back again and again," Michael frowned. "And what about the horses we broke the whistles for? If they die?"

"The same," she said. "Death comes to all Creatures eventually anyway, those who aren't Summons."

Michael mused on that as he held the helm steady, the paddlewheels churning at their mile-eating constant pace. "Can we make it so the Summons can decide if they will die or stay alive? I can see wanting to finally rest, but in cases like Halti's, where Vesuvius would be very lonely to be alive forever without her, could she decide to stay alive for his sake, and not die?"

He tipped his head in thought and his ear landed on her head so he backed off a bit. "I mean, like have the damage limited at 2HP," none of them considered 1HP acceptable any more, "so they can have the opportunity to recover and live. Like you limited the guy in the first lesson back in Akiba, but if they request it, or choose it, they can spend those last 2HP and die. I'm not sure having to be in the in-between existence for forever is a good idea. It would be better for it to be real death, I would think."

Purrcy thought for a while, then rose to her feet and gave Michael's cheek a nose-kiss. "You and Nyanta. Izanagi's added it to both of your musings. He will work something out. Keep letting him know your thoughts. It's still early enough."

She disappeared and Michael sighed. "Well, I suppose that's something, then, Vesuvius. I hope good will come out of it for you and Halti."

Vesuvius was quiet for a moment, then said, [Thank you for speaking to the Caretaker on our behalf.] Michael gave a nod. Vesuvius' muzzle turned towards Michael's head as he inspected Michael's face. [You have an ulterior motive, I think?] Michael denied it, but inside his sorrow for the only summonable Adventurer rose just enough to convict him for the lie.

-:-:-:-:-

Brenner knocked on BillyBoy's door. It was opened by one of his councilors, who were sharing the room with him. Brenner was invited in. BillyBoy was sitting in one of the chairs at the small table in the corner of the room that didn't have a hammock hanging in it.

Brenner looked first to make sure BillyBoy's problem wasn't sea sickness. Being shut up inside a ship when in motion for those not used to it exacerbated that particular problem. When that didn't seem to be to problematic at the moment, he moved on to looking for other signs as he spoke. "One of your own requested I come see how you're doing," he said first. "Those you spend the most time with learn when things aren't right. What can I do to help?"

BillyBoy was looking a bit dull and glazed over, as if he hadn't slept in far too long. When he didn't say anything for a bit, the councilor who had let Brenner in said, "He's been on his knees praying all night instead of sleeping the last couple of nights."

Brenner looked at BillyBoy's height, and then at the height of the hammocks. "Can you even get into them?" he asked.

BillyBoy's lip twitched up. "They'd help me if I wanted to."

Brenner sat down with BillyBoy. "And why don't you want to?" He scanned the space around BillyBoy. The base white ghost he had originally seen of everyone was looking a bit thin. What colors he'd been able to see now for a while were present, but there also seemed to be a bit of a shadow over him that Brenner hadn't seen before on anyone else. "If I had to guess, I'd say you're depressed."

While BillyBoy tried to figure out how to answer, Brenner felt a tugging on his spirit. He moved to be actually at the boundary of the base realm and the spirit realm, and there was a spirit there, trying to get his attention. He put his hand on the shoulder of the spirit to get it to calm down a bit and let it know he'd seen it. When it held very still, he turned his attention back to BillyBoy but he didn't let it go.

"I've been really worried about my family back on Earth lately," BillyBoy finally said. "It's hard that I can't be there to help them, so I've been doing what I can do, which is pray for them." He looked down. "I guess it could be depression by now, that I can't go and help them myself." He looked back up, then furrowed his brow, trying to understand what Brenner was doing with his arm out like that.

"Do you know of any young spirits that might be trying to get your attention? And is there someone in particular you're worrying about?"

"My Mom," he said immediately, then had to think. Slowly he said, "I suppose...it could be my younger brother. He died when he was six. Can the spirits of Earth come here?"

The young spirit in Brenner's hand was practically jumping up and down. "I think that would be it," Brenner said. "Who knows how spirits really travel and where to, but if God is creator of everything in the universes, then we should all be able to travel wherever he can see. We're just usually limited by the physical form and where it is." The spirit was now hugging himself and shifting back and forth uncomfortably from foot to foot. Brenner let it go and it slammed into BillyBoy and latched on to him.

Brenner watched what that was doing. BillyBoy's face fell and the shadow seemed to get stronger, or perhaps thicker. "What's your brother's name?" Brenner asked.

"Ed," BillyBoy answered. The spirit looked up into BillyBoy's face, a very sad feeling coming from it. That would explain the depression.

"Ed," Brenner said and motioned, still keeping in the spirit realm partially. "Come here. He knows you're sad and worried, but you aren't helping him think clearly when you do that." The spirit reluctantly let go and walked back towards Brenner. "Are you worried about someone else, or about Billy?"

Ed stood there uncertain how to answer. Brenner blinked, then realized what it was. "I can hear you, too, if you talk."

"You can?" Ed asked, surprised.

"Yes. Here on Theldesia, some of us can walk in the spirit realm. I'm one of them."

"Oh." Ed took a bit to work that out, like young children would, though he didn't disbelieve. "Mom's about to die and wants him home to say goodbye. I wanted to come get him for her."

Brenner sat back in a bit of surprise, then said gently, "He can't come. I'm sorry. He's been called on a mission here. But she can come visit just like you have when she crosses over. His prayers are all he can offer, though I'm sure he wishes he could be there, too. That will be very hard." Ed nodded solemnly.

Brenner looked back at BillyBoy. "You've gotten the message pretty well already. Will you tell me about your mother?" He listened to the story of a kind and gentle woman who loved her family, but was weak of health, having a congenital heart defect from birth. The same genetic problem had been what Ed had died of, the surgeries not being sufficient to keep him alive past his young age.

"I have to go," Ed said suddenly, turning to look. "I need to be there." He gave one more sad look to his brother, then disappeared.

Brenner took a deep breath, then said a prayer in his heart. He reached for God's strength and converted to his Archangel form. The room became dark, then slowly the image of a hospital room on Earth came into focus. A weak, dark haired woman was in the bed, surrounded by a man likely her husband and several children from young adult to teen. More fuzzy in this picture, there were many spirits in the air around the bed, and the young spirit of Ed was just arriving to stand very close to his mother.

"Mom?" BillyBoy whispered. He couldn't help himself but moved to stand next to the image of his mother. He reached out his hand, but it passed through the image, it being only a vision. His hand fell into a fist. As they watched, the strength left her and the fuzzy image of her spirit rose from her body.

Ed immediately had his arms around her and she was hugging him back. "Mom," Ed said, "I went to get Billy for you. He's on a mission and can't come, but they said you might be able to go see him there." The living in the hospital room were beginning to grieve and she turned to them to comfort them as best she could, particularly her husband.

"Mom," BillyBoy cried quietly, very grieved himself.

They were all surprised when she turned. "Billy?"

"Mom," he cried again. "I'm sorry I can't be there. I love you."

"It's okay, Billy," she answered. "I hope you will be okay. I love you, too. Always remember that families are forever and to hold tight to your testimony of Jesus Christ. We're so worried about you. I had hoped you would wake up before I had to go. Being able to talk to you here is fine, but does it mean you're dead, really?" she was worried.

"No. I'm living. We were taken away to another planet in another universe, though we don't know why or how. I've been needed here, though. We're trying to come home as soon as possible. ...I just wish I was there with you and everyone now." Billy was crying now.

"It's okay, Billy, if you're needed. I'm glad I could talk to you. Please don't worry. Life in the end is eternal. We'll see you again, and you'll see me again," she promised.

The scene began to fade. Billy quickly moved to touch the image of his father. "I'm okay, Dad. Don't worry about me, too. I'll come home soon, I promise." He looked around the room one more time, then went and put his hand on one more person, a young woman. "I'm sorry, Darla. Please be patient a little longer." His tears fell harder and the scene disappeared to be returned to the room in the Oki Watarimono again.

BillyBoy stumbled to the chair he had been in and sat down again, crossing his short legs to sit in it. He covered his face with his hands, resting his elbows on his legs, and cried. Brenner was very tired, but he rose to his feet to stand next to BillyBoy and rest the hand of companionship and comfort on BillyBoy's shoulder. He knew without checking that he'd gone up a level again, performing a present vision instead of a past one, and over such a long distance. He could see differently again.

He wasn't too surprised to wake up about five hours later in his own room, having passed out while standing there without being aware of it. He said a prayer of gratitude to God for allowing him to give that gift to BillyBoy. Saying goodbye to loved ones that close was very important. Not being able to do that while out on duty was one of the hardest griefs on the servicemen. BillyBoy should be able to recover sooner than otherwise, and they would need him by the time they hit the West Indies.

He was also grateful when he finally opened his eyes and Gareth and Secretary both were in the room waiting for him. "Some days, it pays to be a priest," he said softly.

They both looked at him, then nodded. They weren't the full sort of priest he was, but they'd lived it just enough now to comprehend the weight of it and the odd but simple joys that came out of it. Brenner was also glad that the reorganization had kept him with them, instead of separating them because he wasn't directly assigned to the General anymore. He wasn't kept from Michael either, but it did sometimes feel like a line of separation.

"Mike says to say 'thanks'," Gareth said quietly. Brenner froze slightly, surprised to have his thought so immediately answered, then gave a nod. It had been what he needed to hear.

"If you're up, he wants to see you," Secretary said.

Brenner rolled out of the hammock, landing on his feet. That was what he wanted too. "Thank you," he said softly. They watched him walk out of the room with knowing eyes.

When Brenner was allowed entrance into Michael's room he went straight to him and took the offered hug. At times like this, Brenner also needed his dad.


	208. Beginning the Walk to the Boss Room

Akatsuki stood outside Shiroe's door again, her hand on the handle again. She wasn't sure why she was there again. He'd only been cloistered for less than three days. He'd expected a minimum of five. But...somehow she was worried.

Usually when he did this, he at least allowed her to come and sit in silence with him. Or at worst let her talk to him a few times a day to make sure he was okay. Often he answered obviously distracted and she let him get right back to his work. Not being able to talk to him, see him, or reach him at all was hard. She'd started wondering if he was still alive, if he was okay, was even still in there at all.

Akatsuki took a deep breath, then turned away from the door. She hesitated, just to make sure she wasn't going to hear him at least call through the door, trying to get her imagination to be quiet. When there was only silence, she walked to the back hallway and out the back door. With careful intent, she washed her hands and rinsed her mouth out at the fountain. She walked into the girls side of the hot springs and carefully washed herself off and floated in the water for a bit until her cells were properly up to speed and her intent filled her whole being.

Her lips pursed tightly as she dried off vigorously, trying to tell herself that the sting in her eyes was from getting water into them. When she was dressed in her blue kimono with blue embroidery and red edging, she took a firming breath in and let it out deliberately. Then she moved in the graceful silent way that was all she had to the door to the shrine.

She slid the door open, then slid it closed behind her and moved to kneel in the middle of the lower room of instruction. She knelt there for a few minutes, then bowed her head to the floor in the direction of the room of meeting. "Kami of Adventurer and Alv emotions, please, let me come and speak with you for a few moments. I need to know that Shiroe is okay. If he isn't, I need to know what to do to help him." She stayed there for a while, letting her wish filter out of her and to the kami.

She didn't get an answer just then, but she hadn't really expected one. She wanted to talk to it more face-to-face in the room of meeting. This was just the request to get its attention. She did tack on to the end, "And if you don't know the answer, then please let me talk to the Caretaker, who does." She said the last two words very firmly, knowing Purrcy knew and upset that she still hadn't explained it to the rest of them.

When Akatsuki was calm enough, she rose to her feet and moved to the upper room of instruction. She knelt in that room to wait. When her cells were getting close, she bowed to the floor again. "Please accept me into the room of meeting and allow me to converse with you. I have properly kept the morning and evening obligations as I ought to have, though I am sorry we weren't here to do it during the spring festival and didn't have anyone to help us. Please forgive us for that much."

She felt a bit guilty for not staying herself, but she had been required at Shiroe's side. Even he had needed protecting at that festival on more than one occasion. She didn't think protecting the candidate High Priest was out of line with what the kami wanted.

She hadn't reported any of the incidents at the meetings until the final wrap-up on the train. Then she'd blown them off lightly as the usual attempts by random People of the Land - because that's what they had been. It wasn't hard to pick them up and drop them off outside Nakasu and return to her post. They usually didn't even know she'd done it and chalked it up to the magic of the Archmage. That was sufficient as far as she was concerned.

She waited the proper time to finish getting to the proper level, then rose from her bow and opened the door to the room of meeting. She wasn't blasted with overwhelming emotions, which probably meant she was forgiven for not being present during the spring festival. That was a relief at least. She slid the door closed and her wish and intent were close to her heart. She walked to her place in the room and knelt down. She was glad she didn't have to keep her mouth closed over her words any more.

"Ōkami, I'm worried about Shiroe and this long silence. It isn't like him. Is he okay? What can I do to help him?" She let out all the emotions that went with those words. The kami would understand them even though they were many and all mixed together. The kami was like that, too, and they had that understanding.

Once they were all out, she bit her lip to have the patience to wait for the reply. Sometimes even with all the patient work at the beginning it took a while for it to pay attention and answer them. She was a little surprised to learn it was close by and present in Akiba. Still, it took a while for the kami's attention to turn to her even the small amount that was necessary for the very small her.

That small portion of the kami inspected her emotions and considered her words. Then it - in effect - put a warm hand on her head and sent a little sorrow, a little requirement for patience, and a little bit of an explanation that it was in lessons with him. That last surprised her a little, particularly with the sorrow included.

It answered that surprise with an image of it being Shiroe's sorrow. That relieved Akatsuki initially. If Shiroe was sad, he was still living and not in an emergency situation. Then she was just a little worried. The kami hadn't given her anything she could do, but she could send her own encouragement and strength, through the kami, so she did.

That got more of the kami's attention and it inspected her for a minute, then suddenly she was out of her body and up in the nano layer where they could converse better. Akatsuki's eyebrow raised, then she slumped a little. She'd asked for it, she supposed. She'd just not expected to be put in the position of instructor. She quickly sent it the emotional request for gentleness before it could begin. Typically it forgot if she didn't and the emotional questions overwhelmed her rather quickly.

The kami paused and seemed to change what it had been about to ask. It considered her for a moment, then a pink rectangle appeared out of its form and wrapped around her. Akatsuki recognized it for the warmth of love...then was further surprised to recognize it as a mixture of Shiroe's love for her and Hahaue's love for her. Akatsuki held on tightly to that blanket of love (using intent).

She didn't know why the kami had started with that, but usually Hahaue only sent that when Akatsuki was feeling the most depressed or sad. It made her a little worried again, though she tried not to project that. She wanted to help answer the kami's question if she could. That was part of her job, too, was helping teach it.

A vision was opened up to her, and she saw an image of a tall dark statue of a fearsome kami. In it's hands was a large bowl filled with a fire that burned redly but barely gave any light to the area. Only the face of the statue was lit by that light and the dancing flames made the grotesque expression that much more fierce and frightening. She shuddered at that.

There was movement in the foreground of the image and she looked to see a man in a black robe raising his hands above his head. In his hands was a knife with a blade that curved back and forth from point to pommel. She recognized that kind of blade and felt herself chill and her eyes go wide.

Not really wanting to, her eyes followed the blade as it moved down. She was glad the body of the priest was between her and what lay on the heavy stone alter in between the priest and the statue. What she could see of the body jerked and arched in great pain and in a few moments, the hands of the priest came up again. Blood dripped from them as a still beating heart was held up in his hand, then was placed into the fire in the bowl.

She was sure the priest had said something in the pause between, but she wasn't being allowed to hear anything. She was _quite_ sure she didn't want to be hearing what was going on. Her heart was beating very rapidly and her mouth was very dry. Her eyes were so wide, she couldn't not see what was happening, and her breathing was short enough to almost make her feel faint.

"I - it's not real, is it?" she asked in a very tiny voice. "This thing only happens in movies and lore, right?" She didn't get an answer and she shivered rather a lot. She tightened her hold on the blanket of love she was holding on to. It didn't make her feel less worried, but it did help her feel like she wasn't alone. She hid down in that slight comfort. When she thought she couldn't take the fear any longer, the vision disappeared and she was released to relax - although that wasn't all that easy after that kind of vision.

After a bit of further inspection by the kami, she was shown a dark prison cell full of people without hope. A similar looking priest walked up to the locked door and all of the people pulled back in fear and shivered. The kami paused the vision and asked a question at her. Akatsuki drew in a deep breath, then nodded firmly. "Yes. I am afraid like them. That is what that was." It sent confusion at her.

"Ah...no. I don't have to be one of them to feel it. We naturally understand it and feel the same. It is Empathy."

It got that. Shiroe had already been teaching it what Empathy was - the ability to feel what others were feeling even if one wasn't going through the same circumstance.

She was shown a vision of Shiroe, though Akatsuki gathered it wasn't a present-time vision. His emotions came from the vision - mostly the kami pointing out his emotion of horror. Akatsuki nodded for that one, too. "Yes. I also felt horror, though it was harder to feel than the fear which is louder. For such a thing to even be considered a reality in this time is unimaginable, unthinkable, and ...unacceptable."

That made the kami pause to consider her and her words and accompanying emotions again. It let her know finally that Shiroe had agreed with that assessment as well. Akatsuki wasn't surprised. Suddenly there was in front of her an array of many kami - their images anyway - and rather a lot of them. When she was given to understand that all of these and their followers found it fully acceptable, Akatsuki was frozen wide-eyed again for a brief moment. Again, her first instinctive emotion was disbelief in the reality of it.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter how many believe in such things. It's still wrong. Life was meant to be lived well with hard work, not ended for the sake of ill-gotten gain. Not by another individual and certainly not for a kami who may or may not be real or exist. To take the life from another being that was gifted to them is wrong."

There was a pause, then she was asked a complex question. It didn't translate well with only emotions to come across. The kami had to work out how to ask with pictures. It finally put her into the previous scene in front of the statue, but hiding in the shadows. In her hand she could feel was her short sword. The kami asked a question at her, then gave her a slight push on her back to push her towards the priest and statue.

That was all she needed. In one second she had read the status of the priest. In another second she had sliced through him three times from the back with her highest Assassination attacks, then disappeared again into the shadows to see if that had been sufficient.

The kami paused it all there and considered what it had seen, felt, and been taught. It asked a question at her again and sent a little of the fear at her. Akatsuki stood up straight and shook her head. "Yes, it's a fearful thing, but because it is wrong, it is right to prevent it from happening. Determination overcomes the fear. The positive feelings that are the result of saving an innocent life are worth overcoming the fear and help relieve the horror. To know that we have stopped the evil and released the prisoners who are afraid makes it worth it to fight for them."

That seemed to satisfy the question the kami had and the vision disappeared. Akatsuki thought it would have liked to have continued the lesson but another presence was nearing the both of them. The kami backed off a bit to wait and watch. The incoming presence paused then sent a warning to the kami. When it obediently acquiesced, the encroaching presence began to move off again.

"Wait!" Akatsuki called out. "Caretaker, please, why have you sequestered Shiroe? Tell me so I can stop worrying, please." It was hard to be humble when she was annoyed at Purrcy for doing it, or perhaps she should be annoyed with Izanami, but she wasn't sure any more about that.

For the second time Akatsuki was given the emotions of comfort, a request to be patient, and sorrow. She gaped at that, then was suddenly very impatient. She stomped her foot. "Purrcy. I am his protector to help him through hard things. If I can't be there to help him, how -"

Purrcy was leaning over her and kissing her on the top of her head. "Little mother, I am protecting him for you as best I can. He will need you when he is done, but while he walks it, you cannot do it for him. He must carry this initial burden but he is not alone. I also love him and would not leave him alone. But it _is_ hard. Please be patient until he is ready to face the world again. Wait for him to tell you. He will know what the rest of you can bear." Purrcy put her hands on Akatsuki's shoulders. Soberly she said, "Please trust Shiroe. He is doing the best he can and working very hard."

Akatsuki slumped. "But...I would have liked to have had warning."

Purrcy was silent for a moment, then said softly, "I'm sorry. It wasn't possible. He didn't know ahead of time sufficiently, and was already well into his thoughts when it became necessary. He wasn't remembering he needed to let the rest of you know. He will be sorry he didn't let you know when he returns from his path. Please forgive him then. This is very difficult for him and was from the moment his eyes first were opened to what lies in the boss room of this level."

Akatsuki's heart was suddenly very cold again and her eyes lifted to look into Purrcy's. Almost breathlessly, she said, "It - it isn't... _that_ , is it?" Her heart both simultaneously begged for it not to be and wanted to flee in the fear of knowing that it must be.

Just as Akatsuki was sure Purrcy was going to _do_ something, the other kami moved and Purrcy's ear flicked. She paused, then bowed her head. "And if it was, Akatsuki, what would you do?"

Akatsuki understood. Purrcy wanted to protect her from the fear and pain and horror, but was allowing the kami to have the continuing lesson. Akatsuki gulped, tried to push the fear down enough she could think properly, then said, grasping for answers at first, "I would support Shiroe in whatever he decided needed to be done." She always did that, regardless. But it helped to say it out loud.

Taking a deeper breath, she said, "And then I would do my part to get us where we needed to be to act to prevent it." Her spine was already straightening with the righteous indignation she felt that such a thing could even be a reality in this place. Her lips pursed for a moment. "And when I was told to kill to save others, I would do so without hesitation. That is what I am and what I do."

Both Purrcy and the kami were quiet and still while they inspected Akatsuki. Finally Purrcy gave a firm nod. "Keep hold of _that_ determination, Akatsuki. It will continue to protect you, and protect Shiroe." Purrcy removed her hands from Akatsuki's shoulders. "If you need to do something until he is ready to come out, then praying for him when you feel that need will help him. He needs the strength and encouragement of others to continue walking forward during this time. To remind him of why he is needed and why it is worth it to continue on his chosen path, though he hasn't given up on that. It is just a difficult boss that wants to defeat him before he even must face it."

Akatsuki shivered. She could understand that. It was very hard to face even the one small vision she had been given. Still, she firmed her spine, gripped her sword hilt very firmly, and gave Purrcy a firm promise nod. "I can do that."

Purrcy gave her a small smile, then disappeared. Akatsuki could feel her calm presence still close, though outside the presence of the kami. The Caretaker was also present to watch over Shiroe and help teach the kami. That was as it should be as well. Akatsuki finally was able to take one more deep breath and relax - at least as far as Shiroe's current living was concerned. Now she was only worried about how hard what he must be going through was.

She took care of that right away with a prayer of emotions and desire to comfort and support him. When she had gotten those emotions out and in their proper place, she bowed to Purrcy, then to the kami and emotionally requested to be returned to her body - gently. The kami did very gently put her back into her body and left the room of meeting slowly enough to not just drop her, returning its full attention to Shiroe's office. It wasn't allowed in the office either, she noticed just before it fully left her in the base realm.

With a sigh, Akatsuki stayed where she was in her bowed position until she had rested up enough to move again so she could make the slow return to the guild hall proper. She felt much more calm now and was grateful for it.

-:-:-:-:-

Naotsugu watched Akatsuki walk back into the common room of the guild hall. He'd watched her pace outside Shiroe's door for the last several days and wasn't surprised she'd gone to try something else to get settled. He'd given Tetorō a heads up when Akatsuki had walked out the back door, so he knew Tetorō was watching her come back in as well. They were also worried about Shiroe, but she being his op was the one to watch the most.

It was good she wasn't running back in to try and break down Shiroe's door. That would have been the most concerning result of whatever she'd gone to do for her investigation. She seemed calmer, but at the same time, there was something else. Her eyes turned and looked into his and she paused, then walked over. "Is Tetorō around?" she asked quietly. He was on the floor under the tree before Naotsugu could answer. Likely he'd been on the branch just above, waiting. He'd taken to the tree as often as the couch these days.

Akatsuki perched on the edge of her chair, not kneeling, but her hands curling to rest as almost-fists on her knees. Tetorō arrived to sit on the edge of the couch in his place. It was serious if Akatsuki was calling a meeting of the second level of the guild in this way. Naotsugu shifted to sit up and put his arms down off the back of the couch and gave her his attention.

"He's walking a hard path. Purrcy put it that the boss is trying to defeat him already and he's only just looked through the door. She's supporting him herself, though she says any prayers will help him." She paused, then clenched her fists and shivered a bit. "His kami answered my request, and showed me a taste of what is coming." She stopped again and swallowed. "It is very difficult...because it is a thing we would never accept on Earth and find terrible."

She looked away. "Purrcy doesn't want us to know until Shiroe decides what is best for us to know, because he will know how much we can carry, but he will need help carrying it." She looked down, knowing that wasn't enough for either of her two listeners, but likely not sure how to say it. They let her have the time to put it together. She usually needed at least that much consideration and it was usually well worth the time gifted.

She tensed, then drew in a breath and gave a nod. "You know the flavor text of _Elder Tales_ has come to be real all over." They nodded to let her know they were listening. "What is the most common boss of all quests worth earning gold and high level equipment from? Not dungeons."

They mulled over that one until Tetorō's brow furrowed. "You mean the dark deities and the NPC guilds that worship them? Is that a thing?"

Her dark eyes, that still held that something more, lifted to look at him solemnly. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Naotsugu had to hold very still as the full impact of that statement slowly made its slimy cold way up his spine to sit in his back between his shoulder blades. He thought he might understand what was in her eyes now, maybe. His mind made the leap. "He wanted to know the details about the kami of the Gate of Time."

Akatsuki nodded, her eyes wide. "There are a lot of them," she whispered.

Tetorō went from hugging himself to hugging her. "Did you have to see what he's learning?"

"Only a little, but I saw the faces of them all. There are a lot." Her voice got rather small. Tetorō shivered and Naotsugu finally had to as well.

"It's world-wide," Naotsugu said, "so I guess there would be." He swallowed. " _All_ of them?" he choked out. Akatsuki nodded. "That's big." She agreed with a double nod. He finally had to scramble his hands through his hair to get his brain back in gear, taking a deep breath as he did so. "Purrcy's handling the current weight?" he confirmed and got the nod.

Tetorō let go of Akatsuki and sat bolt upright. "Oh, gods," he moaned and ran his fingers into his hair at his scalp to hold his own head from exploding. "She must be locked down tighter than ever, even if they are letting her out to do things. That's not a boss she'd let live as soon as she learned of it." He froze again, his hands still gripping his hair. His eyes went wide and he spluttered for a bit.

When his eyes met Naotsugu's his expression was one of almost grief. He whispered, "They kept her locked out of the Gate of Time, then made Michael stay and guard her there...and now Michael's made her one - a kami. ...He knew. He knew it would take kami to fight kami."

Naotsugu held out his arms and Tetorō fled into them and shivered. "I don't want to see it, Naotsugu. I really don't. She can do so much destruction, even before then. The Gate of Time should already be a black hole sucking the rest of the world into it. How has she been holding back the grief, pain, and anger all this time?"

Akatsuki had joined them and was patting Tetorō. "She is doing well, actually."

Tetorō stared at her. "Maybe the Purrcy we're all allowed to see, but what about the one locked down and prevented from acting or saying anything?"

Akatsuki shook her head. "She has all of us already supporting her, and Nyanta-san in the Gate of Time. I'm sure she wants it over sooner than later, and she might have to ignore it very hard, but ...," Akatsuki's brow furrowed in that expression that said she was having a hard time putting her feelings and idea into words. They waited again, Tetorō shifting to sit up a little more comfortably, hanging on to whatever hope Akatsuki was trying to express. Her eyes returned to Tetorō. "She is Hahaue, and the Caretaker."

"How does that help?" Tetorō asked, not understanding.

"Hahaue scolds, but she loves. The Caretaker loved monsters before any other Adventurer. Even the dark deities are monsters of the game." Her mouth twisted down, not liking that statement herself even.

"She can't love them," Tetorō protested.

Akatsuki shook her head. "Not love. Have patience with, try to change if she can. She waited to affect Indicus until it was the right time. She is probably doing that now, too. ...When we protect MeowLi, we protect her from acting in anger."

Tetorō's eyes went wide at that. "Not just against Ains or any Adventurer, but against the kami."

Akatsuki nodded solemnly. "Remember, that is what Shiroe asked Minori to do."

Tetorō slumped. "That... _is_ very big." He climbed off Naotsugu's lap, though he didn't go far.

Naotsugu relaxed slightly, since Tetorō had, and went back to mulling over the new vision of where they were headed. "Isaac and particularly Crusty do need to know. He will need them and us when he comes out, but likely he'll call for them before he talks to us, knowing it already."

"Crusty's already asked," Akatsuki reminded them, though they hadn't forgotten.

Naotsugu nodded. That meant he'd already had some idea of how heavy a thing Shiroe had started without knowing. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, staring at the floor between his feet. "That's big enough for the world, and all of us. He'll be calling in everyone around the world we've already worked with. It might be a good idea for you two to get in touch with the ones we can trust early so they're prepared to receive his call."

He blinked. "Get in touch with Prince Singh for sure and get a summary. It might be important to know if they've finished their quest and how they managed to defeat the dark High Priest...and if they haven't that we're stepping up to help. I'd bet there are going to be a lot of those to worry about, too." He closed his eyes and groaned, putting his head in one hand. "And they're Adventurers. That's going to kill Shiroe, just that much."

Akatsuki patted his shoulder this time, but didn't have anything to say to it. Eventually, she did say, "Michael."

Naotsugu nodded. "Since he's the forward monitor on this one, that will be who he talks to first, and a good thing, too." Both Akatsuki and Tetorō nodded agreement. Naotsugu sat back up. "Our first priority is making things here at home and in Yamato stay on an even keel and propped up. Then it's keeping him propped up with whatever he needs to keep moving forward as he directs it all from the top. If he doesn't have to worry about home, he can focus everywhere else." He and Akatsuki both looked at Tetorō.

Tetorō gave a solemn nod. "I'll handle it. Minori will do fine, but I'll keep it propped up. At least Purrcy will listen to me if I get in between her and whatever she's angry at ...ah, that is, when it's one person or thing. I'm not sure I can stand between her and the rest of the world. I'm not that humongous."

They smiled at his attempt at humor. "She'd listen to you even then, Tetorō," Naotsugu reassured him. Akatsuki nodded agreement. He didn't believe them. "Just because you hate to see her angry and run, doesn't mean she wouldn't," Naotsugu blew that off, his brain marching forward still. "I think I'll let Marie know early the general gist so she can get her spine back before things happen. She'll stand firm against it once she gets there. And Minori maybe needs to know just a little more so she isn't caught unawares, though I think she's pretty solid already."

The other two thought that one over. Akatsuki finally shook her head and Tetorō shrugged. Tetorō said, "I know that she hates to be kept out of the loop, but I'm not sure she should carry that on her own."

Naotsugu finally gave a nod. "I'll watch for an opportunity to tell her and Touya together. Then she'll have her op to support her. I'm not sure Rudy will get it. He doesn't know about any of the dark deities, not having been a player."

"He might need to know to not have them catch up to him later," Akatsuki warned.

"I'll think about it, and maybe let Minori decide," he answered. He got nods of agreement for that one. They sat for a bit, then Naotsugu calmly and quietly called Crusty, Isaac, Marielle, and Rieze. "We know what we're getting into if you want to come hear it."

He wasn't surprised when they arrived faster than if they'd just mosied over from their guild halls. Even Marielle was released by Henrietta without much fuss, it looked like. But then Henrietta was worried, too. The worry of Log Horizon had leaked out, like such things did to close friends and associates. That made Naotsugu think of one more person. "Tetorō, can you bring Kanami on line for this one?"

"Sure," Tetorō answered.

It was a solemn group that listened to Naotsugu's words. It was Kanami's answer that was the most important, and somewhat concerning. "We're about to India on the return trip, and I would have to say that it isn't the only place with a dark High Priest to a dark deity. Almost all of our worst troubles have been with those so far, but we haven't really understood it until you told me that, Naotsugu-kun. I think...we'll definitely go undercover a little better this time and nose around before just barging in."

"Two things, please, Kanami-san," Tetorō interjected. "One, please record it all. We may need to have the data for Shiroe's planning. And two ...we've turned Purrcy into a kami for the duration so we have a way to fight kami against kami. If you need miracles or help, call on the Caretaker. She hates it, not being a real god in her own eyes, but Michael made the call and made her take it. I didn't know what we learned today then, but it makes a lot more sense now.

"She's already concerned about what's been going on and likely as mad as disturbed hornets it's a living reality. Try not to make her even more mad, though. Inari isn't letting her act against them directly yet. She's still got things to do in the Gate of Time and has to live there with them all until she's let out. I'm sure she'll try to grant you anything else other than to kill them, since that's Shiroe's job to run."

"I got it, Tetorō-kun," Kanami reassured him. "We'll call on her if we need to and otherwise wait until we hear from Shiroe-kun that we should. We'll keep recording, too. Anything for my travel agent, to see this is fixed."

"Thanks," Tetorō answered.

They wrapped it up soon after since it was tiring for Tetorō to hold the long distance connection open.

"That's about what I expected to hear," Crusty said as he folded his arms. "You will -?"

Naotsugu interrupted with a firm nod. "We will. But we also expect him to call for everyone himself when he's ready to come out and let us know what he's digested it down to. He'll lean on Michael and Hahaue before then."

Crusty raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "And who did this information come from?"

Akatsuki shifted a little nervously and Crusty pinned her. Rieze did too, then sighed. "Couldn't wait it out?" she asked sympathetically.

Akatsuki gave a small shake of her head. "I asked the kami. Hahaue made it stop asking questions early, to not say too much." She sighed. "I suppose I'm grateful, but she wasn't going to let me know how he was either until I made her. She said it was sudden for him. That he'd already begun learning hard things before he realized what he was getting into, so he couldn't tell us."

Isaac looked confused. "Who locked him in?"

They looked at each other, then Tetorō said. "It was her signature on the lock when we first tried to get in. I wouldn't be surprised if she's taken the whole room up into a different level."

Akatsuki sat up straight and looked at him with wide eyes. "Maybe," she nodded. "Even the kami can't get in. But it can watch and learn."

"Can't get in?" Tetorō chewed on how that was even possible for a while.

"To keep it from adding to his emotions, or feeding off of them," Naotsugu said dryly. He understood why Purrcy would be keeping that one out of Shiroe's way. "He doesn't need to have the additional pressure, I'm sure." He meant that literally and figuratively. The others shook their heads in agreement.

Akatsuki sighed a heavy sad sigh. Marielle patted her on the shoulder. "It surely can't be too much longer," she tried to be encouraging around her own horrified reaction. "We'll all stand by you and see things get done, like we always do."

Akatsuki nodded. "Thank you." She looked around the group. "All of you."

Naotsugu nodded, both in agreement with her, and to help encourage her. It had to have been rough to have had to be the one to see what was coming up, and even rougher to have to wait to be able to give her support to the one who needed it. Naotsugu understood. His eyes rose to look at the closed door and his heart was anxious again, just like every other time he'd looked at it and not seen it opening up. Yes. He understood very well.

-:-:-:-:-

A new face walked into Akiba a couple of days later as Log Horizon was getting settled into the newest routines. Minori was about ready for it, not to mention therefore ready for Shiroe to come out of his sequester to confirm her final plan one last time. She closed her eyes to the spring raindrops falling on her face.

The kitchen had become too stifling and hot and she'd needed desperately to take her break outside, even if it was raining. She wouldn't get sick from standing in it here. Adventurer bodies didn't become sick from natural causes, only magic-based ones. She breathed the moist air deeply, clearing her lungs while trying to clear her mind and emotions out.

She wondered if this is what people with heavy responsibilities felt like. It probably was. She'd seen Shiroe, then Purrcy, then Nyanta, carrying this kind of weight before. Matching what she'd observed with how she felt made her slump a little, so she purposely straightened back up and took another resolved breath. She could do this. Shiroe didn't pass on responsibilities to those who couldn't.

Minori closed her eyes, carefully looking at her plan as if at a clean slate again, with just the basic necessities laid out on it. She opened up her magic ears and listened, without straining too hard, just enough to reach the outer edges of her current limits. "...you heard about the god Maneki Neko?"

"Touya, he's here. I'm going to go see his face. Try to not need me for a little longer in the kitchen. I think it's going to be important for me to know."

Touya had his concerned frown in his voice, "Okay. Let me know when you're close. I want to see, too, but I shouldn't have a visual chat up until I need to. This is a lot of pots to keep going."

"I know," Minori said, "I'm sorry." His soft sound was the equivalent of _don't worry about it_. Still, she should try to be quick.

Following the sound she could hear at the edge of her range, Minori went at a trot towards the main market district. Before she left the back alley, she changed her outfit from her chef one to one she didn't use often. It was an outfit that increased her stealth bonuses. Mostly it made it so people ignored her, or didn't pay much attention to her, but that's what she wanted today.

If she looked like any Adventurer wandering around then she wouldn't be noted and remembered. Minori of Log Horizon was also well known in the streets, even more now that they'd opened up Grandpa's Kitchen, and almost everyone knew she was supposed to be there right now. If they saw _her_ , they'd question and remember. If they weren't sure just who they'd seen, they'd think she'd been at work where she was supposed to be.

She walked until she passed the person talking that she was hunting for. She paused at a stand, perused the items, then turned away to look back the way she'd come until she finally pinpointed the man she was looking for, standing under an awning of a shop to wait out the rain with a few other people. Then she kept looking around until she spotted a better place to watch him from. When she was in place, she called Touya back. "I'm in place."

After a bit, he said, "Okay."

"The Person of the Land in the beggars clothes that are too nice for a beggar." She kept her eyes on the man so that Touya could follow her gaze as well as look for the description.

"Nice gold earrings and ring," Touya noted sarcastically. "Trying to pretend one thing while saying it really all works at the same time."

"Umhm," she agreed. She was still listening to what the man was saying. She'd been listening just long enough now. She added in Rudy and Tetorō to the chat, wanting them to see the man's face as well. "He's asking for information generally at the moment, I think trying to feel out if anyone would even be interested in worshiping his kami, but every now and then he asks a question out of character for that line of information gathering. Or he makes an odd, non sequitur comment and then watches to see what reaction he gets."

"Like he's not quite himself?" Tetorō asked.

Minori considered that. "Not quite. More like he's been sent as a spy and those are the clues for the quest to let anyone on the quest know that he's the one to watch out for."

"Ah. The requirement of a Person of the Land to hold so tightly to the programming rules of _Elder Tales_ ," Rudy said, knowingly.

Minori's lip twitched up. "Yes, Rudy, that. Sorry."

Rudy sighed. "At least I've been able to learn to recognize such things now from the Adventurer perspective, as hard as that is since it is just everyone being normal from my perspective."

"Yeah," Touya agreed softly. Minori was pretty sure he wasn't watching anymore, but he would continue to listen. That was easier when having to keep the meals going.

"That's the fourth person he's asked what guild they were," she said softly, looking away as a few people passed by her closely, not wanting to draw attention for staring. She also didn't need to be pegged as someone on a quest, or as a spy, even though she was. Adventurers didn't have that _requirement_ , just the penchant for accepting quests. She sighed to herself, sad that she had to take this one on, though she'd rather it was her than anyone they didn't know.

Her ears pricked back up, though she didn't look back. "...Honesty. We're a famous guild here in Akiba. One of the best."

"Hoh? That must be an honor, then. I've never seen anything so grand as a guild hall of a famous guild. I'm sure yours must house many fierce and proud Adventurers."

Minori's eyes widened in almost disbelief as the acolyte wormed his way through words that stroked the vanity of the member of Honesty he'd found into receiving permission to visit the Honesty guild hall. And then into an off-hand promise to be introduced to the guildmaster. When the two left the market after only another three minutes of conversation, she turned back and stared after them in hopelessness.

When they were out of sight, she turned back for Grandpa's Kitchen. When she was out of the cacophony of the market district, she said quietly. "I'd have to say that's a pretty good sign that the luck of his kami works, to find so quickly someone who will take him right where he wants to be." She got comments from the others, but what she really wanted was what she got from Touya when she reached the kitchen again, dressed properly in her chef outfit.

Touya put his arm around her shoulders. "I know that will make it harder, to have to fight against luck going in the opposite direction we want it to, but I know you'll work your way around it. I think you were right to say that luck for them doesn't mean bad luck for us, it just means understanding what the luck will do and then plan for how to work around it." He rubbed the top of her head. "You'll enjoy being creatively sly - as sly as Shiroe-kei and more," he winked at her and she had to smile back.

"You know me too well...twin brother."

He grinned, then pointed to the pot the magic spoon had been stirring for her. "It's already almost burnt. Please don't let it scream at me."

She giggled and turned off the heat and lifted the pot to move it onto the warming bar. If it had been already almost burnt, it would already have been complaining at him. He was very good at being responsible, even in the kitchen. She hoped once they were home he could continue to cook. Any woman would want to marry him if he could, even if he had to be in a wheelchair. She would, anyway, but then she already thought he was worth it, as she should being his sister.

-:-:-:-:-

"Good fortune to you and your house!" The odd man stretched out his hands and said expansively. Then he went to a hand-hidden whisper to Ains, "That's the house blessing of the followers of Maneki Neko, to bring his happy smile to everyone in a house who hosts them, as gratitude." He stood looking cheerful as if that should have made Ains' day.

"Thank you," Ains said politely, but unimpressed. Then he remembered that such game flavor had real effects. It was hard to accept such things, but if he thought of what he wanted to do as his own personal quest, it was perhaps a little easier to say that he'd just received something he wanted on his path to the desired end of that quest.

That helped him get into the proper frame of mind. "Did you enjoy your tour?"

"Yes, I most certainly did," the plump man said. The rings in his ears and on his finger glinted as much as his teeth did. Ains had a bit of an impression of a caricature of an American car salesman. He sighed to himself. He supposed that wouldn't be too far off from what would be expected in the game, either.

He let the man blather and butter him up for a while, wondering just how long to play along. "Ah...I've actually been sent with a message for you, if you'd be willing to hear it," the man suddenly stopped and said.

Ains blinked. That had been a rather abrupt change of pace. "In secret if you don't mind. The sacred words of the God of Luck shouldn't be tainted by dirty ears, or his blessing might just turn into a cursing for not having the proper respect for his gifts." The man bowed slightly.

Ains turned towards his office. "This way." If the game was going to move to how he wanted it to go in cases like that, he was willing to let it move forward just as expediently.

He'd already been pleased enough when Rae and Mellie had come home excited to have talked to MeowLi, and even said they might be seeing her regularly in class. He'd thanked Maneki Neko that evening before going to bed - at least he'd said a thank you while looking at the statue. Since it was supposed to pass on his words, he assumed it had, if he cared, which he wasn't sure he did just yet. But to have another believer show up at his doorstep only a few days later said that perhaps he was walking this personal quest correctly so far. He'd continue to see where it led him.

He waved to the space in front of his desk as he walked around it to sit down in his chair. The rotund man stood there politely until Ains was seated. Ains waited expectantly.

"Ah...would you want to know the proper way to worship Maneki Neko?" the man asked first.

"Not really," Ains answered honestly. "Not until I've seen enough to know that such things aren't tales to tell children. I am willing to listen to whatever message you believe you've been sent to bring to me, though."

The man was a bit uncomfortable with that, but finally gave a nod and took a breath. "The God of Luck, Maneki Neko, has wished for me to tell you that MeowLi is the blood daughter of...," he had to search his memory for the name, "Purrcy and her husband."

Ains went rigid and his eyes stopped seeing. It was what he'd been wanting to hear - the confirmation of what he'd suspected. He took a few moments to thaw out enough to think rationally. Sitting back into his chair and steepling his fingers he asked, "And how would anyone know that?"

"Because I am even now watching her grow up with her siblings and her parents in the Gate of Time," a calm voice answered Ains.

He looked up in surprise to see that the man in front of him wasn't aware of anything, but his eyes were now green cat eyes. Ains had a small smirk come to his lips. "And is Purrcy as insufferable in the Gate of Time as she was here, so that you will come to conspire with me in person, Maneki Neko?"

"I suppose she wouldn't change just for the sake of mere deities, when she wouldn't change for the grand Adventurers of Theldesia," Maneki Neko answered with a twitch of the lips upward.

"No, that would be very unlike her," Ains agreed, nodding knowingly. He paused, then leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk. " _Is_ there a way to keep her out of Akiba?"

"Not that any of us can do," the kami admitted. "Being the High Priestess of the creator goddess, her ...skills are such that we cannot prevent her from places that welcome her - even if you personally wouldn't wish to." The eyes looked at him knowingly.

"So, I could keep her out of my guild hall, more than even the Hacker spells and the zone ownership rights, but there's no keeping her out of Akiba as long as Log Horizon lives there and holds sway?"

"Correct."

Ains mused on that for a bit. "I'll have to continue to contemplate that level of effort," he looked a little more sharply at Maneki Neko, "but why have you come personally to tell me this? What are you looking for?"

Maneki Neko bowed slightly. "There are rather a large number of deities who would also like the same thing - to see that the Caretaker is no longer living in the Gate of Time. I believe that several are already working on a plan. They have approached me several times, though I've had to turn them away until now." His eyes looked sharply at Ains. "Until now, there hasn't been anyone in Akiba willing to participate in such actions.

"She is very protective of her children. One deity of the city tried to take one to make her answer to him and he paid a heavy price. I think perhaps, because I am the only other deity of Yamato, they are hopeful that in some way I could be convinced to talk an Adventurer of Akiba to assist in their efforts. It was by my fortune that I discovered she had let one of her most precious treasures out of her immediate grasp. I thought perhaps you might treasure her treasure also, since you had asked for blessings for her."

"I would certainly like to be able to properly treasure one of Purrcy's treasures," Ains answered back smoothly, lifting his clasped hands to rest them before his chin, trying to keep his glee from leaving his chest and moving to his lips. "It would be a shame if any of the other gods of the Gate of Time should get their claws into such a treasure, to make Purrcy angry. We well know what she can do when she is pushed to become uncivilized." He shook his head in mock sorrow, grinding his teeth against what she had done to the Hacker he'd tried to help with his own self-reformation.

He looked at Maneki Neko. "Perhaps one ought to discover what it is they think they will do so that we can be assured of the proper way to protect Purrcy's treasure for her."

"Hmm," Maneki Neko mused on that thought for a bit. "It could be difficult, particularly if either the High Priest or High Priestess should believe that I had caved to the pressure."

"Surely the Lucky God can do such a thing and not be discovered," Ains answered back, "even if it were an underling that was sent to do the seeking. Wouldn't it be more difficult if the other gods thought you were going to turn traitor to them?"

"Purrhaps," Maneki Neko agreed. "However, if the prayers of a faithful believer were to assist said seeker, purrhaps such a thing would go undiscovered from either side."

Ains did smile a little now. He'd rather expected such a thing. "And how would such a thing be accomplished?"

"It is simple, truly," Maneki Neko waved a hand. "Rubbing the head of the statue upon rising in the morning and wishing out loud a thing desired with a belief it will be accomplished. Patting the head of the statue upon retiring for the evening and then listening for the words to come that answer the questions of the morning. The strong desires of the heart are sufficient to bless even the least of worshipers."

Ains nodded and put his hands down on the desk again and asked more seriously, "Indeed for such a small thing, but tell me...if something larger were desired, or necessary even, what must be done then?"

Maneki Neko relaxed back just a little and studied him. "And are you willing to listen to the things you wouldn't hear if they were tales to tell children?"

"There is only one spoiled child on the face of Theldesia among all Adventurers," Ains almost snarled his near hatred, "and _she_ will not listen to any reason at all."

Maneki Neko got a very satisfied look on his face and they spent the next hour or so in lessons. Ains was quite content to have the bonuses he received and Maneki Neko was pleased to finally have a priest among the Adventurers of Yamato who had the same goals he did.


	209. Pirates of the Caribbean Quest: Opening

"Land ho!" came the call from the dragons and Eagles dancing in the sky over the Oki Watarimono. The more adventurous of the Twin Falls party were on dragon back with them. Reed had asked the dragons to allow it to get them loosened up a bit.

"How big?" Reed asked calmly on the chat.

"Likely the Dominican Republic," was the answer.

Reed nodded. Large enough to house a full complement of a pirate port with supporting villages. Exactly where he wanted to end up. They'd run into the battle trouble later, after they left and had to go around the smaller islands of the Lesser Antilles. "Run up the flag," he ordered. If anyone here didn't know it, they would by the time they left.

He walked into the steerage room. "Clocktower, watch our draft," he ordered.

"Yes, Sir," Clocktower was gone, having stepped out to the prow to have a better watch over the things coming up under them to tear holes in them. There were only a few safe passages to the port.

Reed looked Michael in the eye. "You'll stay on the ship this round, please. You're welcome to have visitors if you wish, but don't leave it. I don't want to learn after the fact others have learned to steal ships into their lists."

Michael glared just a little, but gave a nod. He also need to walk on firm ground after even only this much being on board. It had been but a drop in the bucket, though, of what they could do and had done in the past. Reed had sent him out to fly and get his exercise on the last shift, knowing this was coming, so he really was just fine.

"Thank you," Reed said. "Don't hurt Gareth just because you need to get out. He's still doing his best."

Michael did complain at him for that one. "I don't, and I won't. That wasn't kind."

"Just making sure," Reed said and Michael rolled his eyes, finally getting the test. Reed wasn't about to forget his failure to recognize that the pirate mercenary flavor text had gotten out of hand before. He turned on his heel and walked back out of the steerage room so Michael could focus on Clocktower's instructions and Gareth's modifications and not run them aground.

On the full-party chat Reed gave out his instructions. "Dragons and Eagles down. If they've seen this much it will fuel rumors. That's as far as we want it to go. I'll thank the dragons to go small enough to stay rumors. We like back-up surprises when the fighting starts. That will be after we've left port again, so stay out of obvious sight at least that long.

"The only exception to that is if my partner wants to come along to enjoy the trip around town in disguise as a dragonlet familiar. I'm not in love with the idea, but it might be fun to see what their reaction is. Then when Michael walks out with Vesuvius on his shoulder they'll understand a little better, maybe." He let the dragons think about that.

"Billy, pick a tall Eagle to be your horse. You'll ride on shoulders around town for your part of the investigation. Pretend to be the captain of the ship all you want. It will be obvious you're not and that's what I'm counting on. I'm taking Phillip with me, though.

"Phillip, you'll play the female, please. There's a particular quest down here that I want to test and see how far it's come since the catastrophe. Feel free to be bold and irritable whenever you feel like it. Do your usual job while we walk around. I'll be looking like your guard. Master Chief, you'll be the second. Everyone else gets to stay on the ship and look unhappy about not being let off until I say so, if it even gets to happen.

"Records, you'll do the proper paperwork when we get in, the harried one who also has to figure out how to get us resupplied when no one's allowed to get off the ship to buy it or carry it on. Likely we will have at least one complement go ashore for that much. We need water resupply at a minimum.

"Intel, you'll do your dark job as usual, and grumble all you want. Keep it to a maximum of one killing, and only if necessary. We're already going to be dealing with dark magic once we go. It would be preferable to not have to deal with a cursing ahead of time." Reed shut up and let them all get into their roles.

-:-:-:-:-

"That actually works well," Reed complemented Phillip. "I didn't expect you to be able to modify the avatar that much."

Phillip gave a mocking bow. "Just because I have to wake up to the braids every morning doesn't mean I haven't learned how to change it out. It got old real fast, though most of the time if I didn't look in the mirror I could ignore it. It was having the braids grabbed and pulled on that I didn't like the most."

He'd done a good job for the location and feel. His braids were undone and fluffed out so the curl in them made his hair stand out from his head in a wild curly mass. Being blond hair made it even more obvious. The clothes were just right, too. He was in a wide skirt of bright colors, a yellow sash at his waist and a loose blouse that was armor against magic attacks when one looked at its status. On top of his head at a jaunty angle was a small black hat with a small crow's feather - also a magic item. He just needed to look older and he could have been one of a pair with Purrcy in flavor.

As a matter of fact..., Reed looked around in the air until he caught the ripple in the air. His lip twitched up. "Are you going to be able to just sit by and watch? You already feel itchy."

"Can I come play?" Purrcy's voice asked.

Reed looked at Phillip. "Feel like having your own familiar? She'll talk, but usually only when it fits the play. She's quite taken with your choice today, which is a good sign, since she's also the one who gives us the bonuses and cheats when we need them."

Phillip swung his hair back from in front of his shoulder with a toss of his head. "Let me see. It has to match."

Purrcy was immediately sitting as housecat in front of him, looking up at him in the eye. "Good coloring," Phillip nodded. "That size is appropriate but boring."

Purrcy immediate grew to full size, then shrank to kitten. "Pick your favorite, or let me play and I'll change whenever the mood hits me, or it fits the game." Her eyes were looking Phillip up and down as much as Phillip was giving her the eye. "You're missing a few things. Here."

Phillip jumped, then pulled up his skirts. On his feet were black shoes with points and bright square silver buckles. He frowned at them until he'd read the status on them, then he nodded. "Okay." He dropped his skirts and had in one hand a black walking stick. He studied that, then put it to the ground. It was thinner than most, though it was a gradated thickness, thicker at the top than the bottom with a drawer-pull like top to have something to grasp onto.

On Purrcy's chest appeared a silver upside-down star circumscribed by a circle. "I'll wear this for you," she said. "It will counteract several of your other magic items otherwise, not to mention be a lie they won't let you live through."

"It's that bad already, is it?" Reed asked her.

She looked over at him and gave him a teasing look, but didn't answer. He'd have to learn it properly through game play.

"If it's a lie, won't you be in trouble, too?" Phillip asked Purrcy.

"Who's going to harm a werecat?" Purrcy asked.

"Especially Purrceus," MasterChiefS7 agreed.

"Training said she wasn't to be trusted," Billy was frowning at Purrcy-cat.

Purrcy blinked at him.

"That was Izanami," Reed said.

"This isn't any different," MasterChiefS7 argued.

"It is," Reed shook his head. "Remember, Purrcy wasn't allowed to be directly involved in the inter-mountain quests after she pointed them in the right direction. This is mostly Purrcy since Izanami's busy with other things now."

"She's still around," MasterChiefS7 scowled a little, "particularly if this is the first quest she gets to test her new boundaries on."

"Quit your bellyaching or _I'll_ go and you can stay here and be the captain," came a grouchy voice from above them. "It's Purrcy and I'm already damned jealous I have to sit here to be bored alone without her or you lot. Git before I lock you all down."

MasterChiefS7 looked up at the mid-ship deck in a bit of surprise. Reed pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at Michael. "What he said. And you get an extra duty of watch tonight for arguing with your superior and for forgetting just who I've got to be High Priest for right now." MasterChiefS7 went humble. For Michael to have to step in was too far.

Both MasterChiefS7 and Reed were the proper buff size and feel to be two bully guards for a wild pirate witch. Given they were so near the equator, they'd gone for the lightweight outfits that still protected. Reed had put on a dark blue shirt and tan sailor's pants with a scarf tied around his forehead to match (magic item, courtesy Shiroe, and modified by code slightly in the looks area). MasterChiefS7 was in black and red with a bandanna headscarf on his head (same source, modified again - they'd not been given the full headscarves, only the narrow bandannas).

Reed was particularly partial to his pistols that added to his pirate look with their polished dark wood and accents of metal. MasterChiefS7 was partial to his cutlass that he worse strapped to his back like his ax. It was about the same size, so he carried it well. Neither of them bothered to look like they'd lost body parts. Not only couldn't Adventurers lose any permanently, it was a sign a pirate had lost a fight at some point in their lives. The Hidden Guild hadn't. Ever.

Reed bowed slightly to BillyBoy, who had dressed up in a fancy fop's outfit of red and yellow, including floppy hat in yellow. His sword was strapped to his side. "Excuse me, m'lord, may I give you a boost?" Reed asked politely. He didn't really wait for an answer. It had been the warning it was coming regardless.

He picked BillyBoy up from behind and got him settled on Training's shoulders. He wasn't surprised that's who Billy had picked. They'd seemed to have gotten some sort of understanding in Salt Lake. Training was in casual pirate clothing with loose dirty-white pants, slip-on lightweight shoes, and a loose light blue shirt. He had in earrings and several gold bracelets (all magic items). He'd also added a tattoo just above his ankle that just peeked out from under the cuff of his pants as he walked. Reed clicked his tongue when he saw it.

Training looked to see what had made him do it, then shrugged. "We've played here before. It's the right thing to add if I'm the horse this round. It will keep them back off from us enough we might make it home in one piece. I thought we could use the additional info it might give us."

"Okay," Reed had to agree with that.

Purrcy meowed as she rubbed as kitten at Phillip's feet. "May as well carry her for the first bit. Like I said surprises are useful. She won't weigh anything anyway, not for you," Reed said off-hand. As Phillip bent down to pick Purrcy up and get her settled on his shoulder, Reed looked around for the dark blue and black dragon. "Are you coming?" he asked.

He was getting an interesting look. With a flap of the wings, the small dragonlet lifted into the air from the railing and settled on Reed's shoulder, but the dragon was facing Purrcy, and reaching for her with his snout. Reed stepped closer so they could greet each other. After the initial sniff of introduction of scents, Purrcy licked the dragon's nose. The dragon pulled back sharply, then ducked his head.

Reed chuckled slightly. "That hard to take a blessing from the Caretaker, really?" he murmured as he bowed to Phillip and gestured for him to take the fore off the ship's gangplank. The blue growled at him slightly, but stayed put. He'd come along just to get to watch the Caretaker, apparently. Reed had on purpose picked a color to match him, thinking his vanity would find that easier to work with as well.

Phillip walked sedately down the gangplank, nearly as good a role player as Tetorō. He and BillyBoy bantered on the way, getting their nerves under control. Reed was pleased to see that they'd been on board long enough even Phillip had the sailor's sea walk on land. That was a bit necessary, as was the fact he straightened out rather quickly. Small details like that had always been important when they got to negotiations.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, m'lady?" Reed said to Phillip as they passed the stevedore, who was just now signing the documents Records was looking very relieved to get that signature on.

He looked after them in sad resignation, then complained slightly to the stevedore, "And now we'll still have to wait until they come back to get any work done. Is there any way to place an order and have it delivered to the dock? Any runners or boys who need the work for cheap? ...And alcohol for the men who're going to be pissed they didn't get the shore leave in time?" It was a full on whine, that last one.

"So long I've almost forgotten what it looks like," Phillip said in agreement to Reed's question. He was looking around with great interest. "It looks like it's rather thriving actually," he mused. "Shall we go see if my favorite places still exist?"

"Anything you say, ma'am," MasterChiefS7 said respectfully.

"Not me!" BillyBoy complained. "Why you like them, I've no idea. I'm going to the places _I_ like this time. It's been forever."

"By yourself?" Phillip elegantly raised an eyebrow at him, completely ignoring the presence of Training.

"Posh," BillyBoy sniffed, lifting his nose away from Phillip.

"Well, not like I care to see you tipsy anyway. Just make sure you're on the ship when we leave, or we leave you behind."

"Fine," BillyBoy waved a careless hand, then patted Training and pointed the direction he wanted to go. Reed smiled. He was pleased they'd played this one as well. The goal was to see how far off the usual the game had become and who the top Adventurer was at the moment.

Reed and MasterChiefS7 followed Phillip through the streets of the market district, taking in the city sights and people as the city people took them in. Things looked rather organized, which meant someone was sitting in the top seat. That meant there was peace in the streets and someone power hungry was watching them. In this kind of town that was actually a bad thing - rather the reverse of what they'd been trying to make happen in the Adventurer cities.

While there were often a number of Adventurers in this town because more than one was playing the quests for the area at once, there were still a few too many for Reed's comfort for the time after the catastrophe. It wasn't more than the People of the Land that should be there, but still... he kept a rough headcount. They'd need to be educated so they could say they'd really gotten everyone. He was sure they wouldn't want to until after the quest was completed.

Phillip led them into the first store - a place that bought and sold potions, magic items, and scrolls. He walked straight up to the counter and with a flourish brought out the magic scroll Michael had given them to sell. "I'd like to make a sale, please," Phillip requested. He held out the rolled scroll to the proprietor.

The wizened old man lifted a pair of arm-less spectacles to his nose and took the offered scroll. He was looking mostly unimpressed, as if nothing under the sun would ever be odd, out of the ordinary, or new. He unrolled the scroll and scanned down it. His eyes were caught early by the colors on the edge of the scroll. Reed wasn't sure any illuminated scroll had ever crossed this desk. Those scrolls were super rare in the game (since colorizing a piece of digital paper took money and time for a graphic artist to create).

After the sharp eyes had slowly traveled down the ivy edging of the paper to see the smaller icon at the bottom, the eyes returned to the large illuminated letter that began the scroll. He squinted to look closer at the hidden stag and squirrel behind the letter and tucked into the ivy. Finally he blinked and turned to the text itself.

He seemed to expect that to be rather dull as well, even though the illumination should have given it away. Instead of seeing what he was expecting as he scanned, he had to pause and blink and he made a quiet but sharp intake of breath. "The lettering...it's not common. Where was this written?"

Phillip shrugged. "The man claimed he was from Yamato, on the other side of the planet."

The sharp eyes pinned Phillip, who gave steady sharp eyes back. With another blink, the eyes returned to actually read the text. Reed wasn't sure what spell Michael had given up but by the time the man was done reading it, it was obvious it was a new one. The paper was trembling in the man's hands and he was barely breathing.

"It's a mere child's verse," he accused.

"Of course not," Phillip said sharply. "Have your Adventurer partner read the status text. It's genuine. Since the Awakening of the Adventurers new things have been happening all over the planet."

The man was on his feet and headed for the back of the shop. "Please wait right there," he said almost as an afterthought thrown over his shoulder. Phillip leaned on the counter and tapped his finger on it, impatiently waiting since that's what he did. He didn't like to keep still for very long. His eyes traveled all over the shop and he eventually began to wander it to see what else might be of interest for purchasing.

He paused and whispered to Purrcy, who looked at the item pointed out with interest. She whispered back to Phillip and he carefully reached out and picked up the item - by lifting up the cloth underneath it and not touching it directly. He brought it to the counter and lay it out. Reed and MasterChiefS7 looked at it and its status. MasterChiefS7 hissed slightly and Reed had to suck on his tongue to not curse.

"No, new things aren't unknown here, are they?" Phillip said with a bite.

"Apparently," Reed agreed. To see a cursed blade created in the time after the catastrophe in a shop like this meant that either on the island or one of the nations nearby there was someone hard at work doing new things. This particular blade was obviously new because it only affected Adventurers, to remove their painful memories.

To get that "blessing", one had to pay a steep price to the blade - to lose three of their happiest per painful one lost. That would only be of benefit to an Adventurer who didn't care about their life back on Earth at all, nor their anchors. One who would want to stay on Theldesia. They would forget why they wanted to be home again, not just why they didn't want to die and walk the painful path again.

"It works, too," Purrcy murmured. "I wonder why they allowed that?" She was gone into musings for a while, though it wasn't likely she'd give them the answer to it.

Phillip had it carefully returned to its proper display location by the time the proprietor returned to the front. An Adventurer came trailing behind him to stand at the back wall and inspect them. Likely to also get their status data. Reed returned the favor and made sure what kind of person he was facing. He was guilded, with the local game guild - the very guild he should have been facing down and putting down as an Adventurer of Earth. Reed sighed sadly as he folded his arms.

His and MasterChiefS7's data included their names as they were, since it was important for people to know them for who they were and false names were hard to remember if they were different everywhere. Their guild showed as three question marks. That was Reed's way of showing their trademark. Again, if they didn't get it yet, by the time they left they would. They hadn't bothered to hide their high levels.

Most Adventurers out here were going to have high levels as well. The closest non-dungeon/non-raid resurrection point was on the continents, four days or more by ship. It was a bit of a surprise the Adventurer wasn't a Wraith, but perhaps with the location being a quest heavy area, they got regular resurrections at quest points. Not that very many like him would mind terribly much being a Wraith or Vengeful Ghost.

"The scroll data reads properly. Is it a single use scroll or can we test it to confirm it works properly?" the proprietor was asking Phillip.

"It's not single use. Why waste paint on a single-use scroll?" Phillip was slightly scornful.

"Did you create it?" the Adventurer asked quietly from the back.

"No. I ran into a scribe on my way here," Phillip said lightly, raising the hand not holding his cane, making the thin gold ring on his finger glint briefly. "He had some very interesting magics he could do with scrolls. This was his least expensive of the new ones. I thought it would be worth at least bringing it in and getting it verified."

"Is there an antidote?" the proprietor asked a bit nervously.

Phillip shrugged. "Not so far as I know. At least he wasn't willing to sell me any companion scrolls to it."

"That makes it rather difficult to test ahead of time, then," the man frowned. Reed was rather sure he wouldn't want to make anyone in the room into a plague victim. They were counting on it being tested regardless. The proprietor hissed in a breath slightly, then began the dickering.

Phillip played the disappointed seller who felt low-balled, but still left content enough. It had been a decent price - not too high as if it was a highly in demand spell, but not so low as to shame the illumination and new content.

The next store was one that bought and sold ingredients. Phillip brought out three specific ones. This would test the quest boundaries somewhat as well. The two always purchased were paid for perfunctorily. The third brought some confusion. It wasn't the same sort of herb offered for the quest, but it was still in the same category.

The proprietress rubbed the herb between her fingers and sniffed them, frowning. Finally she named a low price. Phillip sneered, then put it back into his list. "If you don't know what it is good for, then I'll hold on to it for now and sell it to someone who can appreciate it. I've found it a much better substitute than the minor weed everyone uses in its place. Good day," he said with cool disdain.

As Reed turned to follow him out of the store Reed's eye caught what was missing that he'd not understood before. He looked around the store, then whispered to the blue dragon and it lifted from his shoulder and lazily flew over several counters until he turned and dove a bit. When he came back up, a cat dangled from his claws. Reed took Purrcy from the dragon and handed her back to Phillip. Phillip scolded her and held her until they were outside the store again before putting her back on his shoulder.

"Anything in particular?" Reed asked quietly.

"A number of new things. I'll go back and research why they're using them later. Catnip was among them, though. That's what got my attention."

Reed glared at her. "You're not affected by it, are you?"

"Not really, no," Purrcy answered. "As I say, it got my attention was all. It may mean there are plenty of other cat familiars." She had settled down in her resting position with her front paws curled up under her and her small tail swished lightly behind Phillip's shoulder. They had the final shop to visit to finish turning the key in the lock of this quest.

-:-:-:-:-

BillyBoy took a deep breath. He wasn't used to _actually_ riding on someone else's shoulders. It was taking a bit of concentration to stay balanced, and to stay relaxed enough to stay balanced. He couldn't say that this method of transportation was comfortable, though some might decide it was better than walking around. Still, he knew it was part of the proper play so he didn't complain.

It did feel odd to play what was usually an NPC part. Training was playing the PC part, except for the tattoo. That was almost never found on an Adventurer - the tattoo of the slave of a witch. He watched with careful eyes to see who noticed it and what they felt about it. "No one cares," he finally said sadly. It would fit in with his part to play to say that much. "Is it because there are already too many in the same situation? That would be so sad."

"Unless they'd sold themselves," Training said to calm him somewhat. It didn't really help, but here wasn't the place to discuss it. "There are rather more than I would have expected of the Adventurers passing us, too. I cast a spell that lets me see the tattoos specifically. It's all the one local guild's mark, too."

BillyBoy frowned, then gestured impatiently at the tavern he wished to enter. Training paused at the door, but BillyBoy gripped his hair, so Training merely opened the door and walked on in.

They looked around, taking the time to readjust their eyes to the slightly dimmer environment. Outside, the blazing sun was very bright. It lit the room well enough through the windows, but there was a darker haze generally, particularly coming from one corner. Both of them wrinkled their noses at the smell coming from that corner. "Weed," Training grumbled.

"How?" BillyBoy asked quietly.

"India discovered tobacco," Training answered. If one could be found, the other likely had a substitute as well, and this was the region to do just that.

BillyBoy clucked his tongue and Training walked them over to the counter, finding an open seat. He bowed until he could set BillyBoy's feet on the chair seat and duck out from under him. He folded his arms and stood behind BillyBoy as BillyBoy sat cross legged on the bar stool, his preferred way to sit on any chair. With a dismissive and foppish wave at the bartender, BillyBoy ordered the appropriate drink for the first one. Training's eyes followed everything the bartender did, and he made sure by the status of the drink that it was one that could be drunk.

When the drink was set down in front of BillyBoy, BillyBoy picked it up. Training heard him whisper into the cup and was surprised to see it go from the proper alcohol to Purified Water. BillyBoy drank that down in one and set the cup on the bar properly. He sighed, then grumbled, "I don't know why she has to have her way every time we come into port. Sometimes having a sister isn't worth the trouble." He glared up at the air in front of him, then picked up the glass and waved it at the bartender.

Training was rather impressed BillyBoy knew what to do so well. The Twin Falls party had always refused to join in the evening drinking the Eagles allowed themselves when on down time. He leaned over and quietly cautioned his 'master', "Please be sure to restrain yourself this time, regardless. Last time you requested I not allow you to have to listen to her screeches."

BillyBoy's face fell. "Last time _was_ horrible, wasn't it?" he brooded as the glass was refilled. Training watched that one's status, too. BillyBoy again whispered a purification over it, then nursed it. They spent that time listening to the talking in the room, which had started back up by now as the two seemed to completely ignore everyone in it.

By the time the third drink was down, BillyBoy was swaying in his seat a bit, and leaned heavily on the counter in front of him. Training again leaned over him and quietly said, "I think that will be sufficient to not anger your sister."

BillyBoy blearily blinked at him, then scowled. "W-why shoo-ould," he paused to get control of his tongue again, "I 'ave to do e'rythin' _she_ wants?!" He stayed swaying a bit until the seat on the other side of him was casually taken by a large man who placed an order, but otherwise ignored them.

BillyBoy raised his glass to the bartender. "Whah's 'e 'avin? Ah'll 'ave someadat. Can't find no good drink anyway," he muttered the last into his chest as his hand with the glass hit the bar.

When the two glasses were set down, Training refused to let BillyBoy lift the glass, putting his hand lightly on BillyBoy's wrist. BillyBoy scowled at him. "Leggo," he ordered, his word even more slurred and sullen.

"You've had enough, m'lord," Training said firmly, but still quietly.

"Ah'll do wha' I wanna do!" BillyBoy demanded.

"Yes, and you asked me to prevent you from drinking too much," Training agreed.

BillyBoy's brow furrowed as if he was trying to figure that one out. Training slipped the drink from his hand and set it in front of the other man. "Here, you can have this one. He'll not remember he ordered it and it shouldn't go to waste. We'll pay for it."

The man went from slightly confused and almost indignant to more pleasant. "Fine then," he answered back. "Thanks a'mighty."

Training gave a nod and went back to watching over his 'charge'. BillyBoy slumped into a bit of a snore. The other man, once he was to the bottom of the second glass of his own drink, had his tongue loosened up. He gave an untrusting look to BillyBoy, making sure he was really asleep, then he said quietly to Training, "Right bastards they are, the families." That much was normal and expected. "Don' know why the boss lets them stay and walk around like they still own the place, when he won it faire and square." _That_ was new.

"That's happened since we were last here," Training said quietly. "They wanted to go to the continent and explore - and not just any continent. They wanted 'high society' and demanded Europa. We've just returned from there. What's happened here?"

The man gave him large eyes. "Now _tha's_ a far spell. 'Ow'd ye not go mad?"

Training smiled slightly and didn't answer. The man shook his head, then launched into what had happened on the islands since the catastrophe. Training opened it to open mic so the rest of the party would get the news.

-:-:-:-:-

"That was very sweet of you, Michael," felinoid-Purrcy settled down to stand next to Michael where he'd dragged a chair out onto the mid-ship deck to lounge while he waited and watched the two groups on-shore.

"What was?" he grouched at her, not too surprised to have the High Priestess show up to watch with him. She did seem to prefer his grouchy to playing, though he had no idea why.

"You wanted me to come keep you company," she answered mildly.

He swore under his breath. "Not likely," but he didn't chase her off. Being able to be caustic towards her would at least relieve some small portion of his boredom. Besides, he was rather curious if any of the changes would show this time. It was the first time he'd seen her since Izanami's repair. "So...how've you been?" he asked her.

She smiled. "Not so good, actually. Nyanta's having to sit on me and give me extra work so I don't go killing things, now that the lot of you have started releasing the fetters."

Michael's heart thumped and his eyes jumped to look at her. She was looking at the screen of Reed's group, her eyes narrow. "That so isn't fair, Michael. _I_ wanted your first illuminated scroll. To have to give it up for _this_ quest...such a waste."

She turned to face him with a slight scowl on her face. "Shiroe did that to me, too. I watched him write up that first scroll with such amazement, and then to be told to tear it in half! I scolded him for it right off, as soon as I could talk because of the spell that was on it, though I would have done that anyway without understanding what he said in return. Only the result kept me from making it a worse scold, since I really did need to be able to communicate with everyone."

Michael was on his feet, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes boring into hers. "What have you done?" he asked, quietly furious. "You cannot steal Purrcy's memories and come here pretending to be her, just because your boundaries got blurry. That's not right. You are Izanami, who is Izanami, and should remain so. _Every_ creature has a right to their own existence, and that goes for you, too, not just her. Don't go playing something you're not just because you think you're going to get something from someone else for doing it. That's not being true to yourself nor your integrity."

He released the surprised felinoid and pursed his lips at her. "Integrity. Look it up on Webster. I-n-t-e-g-r-i-t-y. It is holding to the true core of one's self and identity. Without it, you become an amorphous non-existence, who can only go the direction the wind blows you. When the storms come and beat on you, you only become the mud the rain pounds you into.

"You are a unique creation. Learn who _you_ are first, then hold to it. Learn from those around you the things you need to know to become a better, more refined you, but don't ever lose the core of who you were created to be." He folded his arms at her until she recovered from her rather glazed-over look.

"Explain how it is different, what you say I was doing and what they are doing right now?" she waved at the screens in front of them.

Michael glanced at them, then gave a nod. "It is the difference between role play and reality, and I suppose what you are trying to understand now that you can see and affect both. Reality is the truth we all can agree on, that which is true for all of us. The planet is round, has gravity, the rain is wet, the planet turns so that the sun rises and sets. When we are kind to each other, everyone can have peace and contentment at a reasonable level. Everyone can agree on these things.

"In reality, I am the father of my son David, and husband to my wife Maryann, who are both still on Earth. Inside, in my core, I hold to that truth to maintain my integrity. Here on Theldesia, I am Purrcy's protector because what she wants to accomplish will help me return to my rightful place by their side, thus in that way I maintain that same truth with integrity. For you to assume I wish to be her husband, in either your truth or my role play, is counter to who I am in reality. You'll never have it, nor see it, no matter what role play I take on to see that the ultimate goal is met.

"When we act against our integrity in our role play or in reality, we damage our ability to remember who we are and why we have chosen to be what we are, until we forget who the 'I' is that we carry inside. Some will choose it because they don't like who they are to begin with. If we are trying to become something better, that's likely a good thing. If we have given up on our selves, we can choose unwisely, or follow voices and words that destroy us even more until we no longer exist as what we were created to exist as."

Quietly so the others around them wouldn't hear, he said, "Watch us. We help each other to hold to our individual integrity as best we can. We well understand what we each lose if we don't, and how it weakens us as a group, not just as an individual. The Twin Falls boys are the same. We will be your examples of holding to integrity. Those whom we are coming to fight against are the opposite. They have allowed their game play to become what they are, rather than understanding who they were to begin with and treasuring it.

"It's why when we go and remind them who they are, and were before the catastrophe, they stop fighting each other and try to work together again. For the goal of returning to what they really are, they are willing to work that much. It's those who don't like what they were before, or who refuse to face their broken integrity because it is too painful to see the mud they've become, that we have to segregate and lock up. It makes us sad to have to do that, because we are sad they've lost who they were and could have been if they had stayed true to themselves. They lost their integrity or never cared to have it to begin with."

He searched her face. "Don't become one of them, now that you can."

The High Priestess bowed. When she rose from the bow, her tail swished in a contented arc. Purrcy smiled back at him. "Thank you, Michael. That was well done. I do love to hear your scoldings, I think."

Michael slumped, then dropped back into his chair to return to watching the screens, though he looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Going to stick around?"

"Yes. Consider it your reward for a job well done just now, if you wish," she patted him on the head and he rolled his eyes, knowing that it was also because she was still hosting Izanami and Izanami still wanted to watch the action with him. He wasn't going to chase Purrcy away, either, since he did like to "watch TV" with her, too.

"I'll do up one just for you," he promised, since the action was dull at the moment.

"One what?" Purrcy asked.

"An illuminated scroll you can hang on the wall," he answered without looking at her.

"Oh. I'd like that. Thank you." She froze slightly, then frowned. "She wants to know why you'll offer that if not as a gift for a hopeful intended."

Michael dropped his forehead into his hand. "And now I have to teach the birds and bees, too?" he grumbled.

"Just distinctions," Purrcy answered mildly.

Michael sighed. "Kindness out of friendship versus bribery out of selfish desire. Research it and come back and let me know if I really do have to give the lecture. Once a day is rather more than enough." He froze slightly and turned back to look up at Purrcy in surprise. "Do they not know what friendship is, either?"

Purrcy smiled at him. He blinked again, then said, "Add in going back and researching how Log Horizon interacts. That's friendship. Put yourself in Tetorō's shoes and see if you can tell when he was finally a friend to the rest, since he wasn't at the beginning. Compare that to the relationship that developed between Marie and Naotsugu, which was as you already know a romantic relationship. Don't add in Shiroe and Akatsuki's relationship. They're too shy to see it right, though it is there as your test to see if you get it once you think you understand."

He turned back to the screens again. "Both types of relationship support the integrity of an individual, and kindness and love are required for that to happen ...and a lot of forgiveness. If you ever get confused by what they did, likely they applied forgiveness. Learn that one, too, while you're at it."

Purrcy stood quietly for a moment, then gently ruffled Michael's hair. The air got just a little warmer as another body arrived to wrap arms around Purrcy and hold her, while purring quietly. Michael sighed, then folded his hands together and lifted one leg to rest it on the opposing knee. "May as well pull up the lounge chair, Nyanta-san. This one's a long one...for you guys anyway. It's only a day trip for us."

He was mildly surprised when the lounge chair did appear. They settled down into it, Nyanta keeping Purrcy with him in the one chair. "I'll take it, meow. She's focused here anyway, and I'm running out of things to keep her distracted with at home."

"And the kids?" Michael did the reality check, actually looking over at Nyanta.

Nyanta paused, then shook his head. "We're in between major requirements. I've already had to break my own requirement to have her be whole all night." He slumped glumly. "I can't hold her down all night any more, either. It's better to have her distracted out here for longer periods of time so the rest of her can settle down in there."

"Harsh," Michael sympathized, "but, I get it." He reached out and patted Purrcy on the head as she nodded, also rather glum. "Try to relax and enjoy this intermission, then. Maybe it will keep me from exploding, too, to have you both here tying me down."

Purrcy's eyes widened at him, then she giggled. Michael couldn't quite keep his own smile down and Nyanta's whiskers wiggled. "Americans," he said, as if that said it all. And it sort of did: a lack of patience of the sort the Japanese could call forth.

"Michael?" a voice called from up above.

Michael looked up over his head at the steerage deck. "Yeah?"

Gareth's eyes looked down, then went very wide. "Ahh...never mind. I'll just let the three of you relax for now."

"If it's 'relax for now', am I going to have higher stress later if I don't just deal with it 'now'?" Michael scowled at him.

Gareth waved a hand. "We've got interest in the ship on the streets and I've had to repel about three familiars coming to inspect. Just wondering how long you wanted me to delay having the initial meeting with the coven head."

Michael looked back down since it was making his neck hurt to crane that far back. "Forever," he muttered to himself. Purrcy twitched. "No, that wasn't a request," he said to her. "I'm sure you _would_ love to confront her yourself, but that changes how the quest plays out and Reed's not ready for changes that large to his plans. Next time reality can bite him in the butt. Let him handle this first one on his own without adding in too many variables.

"He's already let you come play as cat. Leave it there and do what he asks you to do, like you're supposed to. You're only here on the ship as an observer, as always." She slumped.

Nyanta squeezed her a little tighter briefly, in agreement. "And thus, why we have come to sit with mew," he said to Michael.

"Gee, thanks," Michael answered sarcastically. But he didn't chase them off.

It took Gareth sighing above for Michael to remember he was supposed to be answering a question. "Whenever she's ready to come," he answered said question. "I'm sure getting this over with sooner than later is preferable all the way around."

"Why did I even bother?" Gareth muttered to himself.

Nyanta and Purrcy both looked at Michael. He shrugged irritably.

A soft answer came from behind them. "He's been worse impatient than we've seen him for a long time, ever since the Central Maze. We've already tried to speed it all up as fast as we can for him. It wasn't a question worth asking, since 'as fast as possible' is already the answer."

Michael twitched and scowled. He'd forgotten Secretary knew how to be silently non-present while present. "And are we teaching the child kami as well? Just the whole family here, today?"

"Yes," Secretary answered mildly.

Michael sighed a long-suffering sigh and leaned his head back against his chair. Purrcy patted his arm and Nyanta his shoulder. "I know," he answered just as glumly as they had before. "But still...it turns my stomach sometimes."

There was a pause, then Michael's voice saying, "Quit your bellyaching." Someone had replayed his own words from earlier. He glared around at all three in affront, but no one fessed up.

Nyanta and Purrcy looked at each other, then back at Secretary. With a nod, there were suddenly two cats attacking Michael and one fist grinding into the top of his head until he cried uncle.

When they settled from the tussle there was a sigh from above. "About time. Thanks. I hope that was enough to at least get him through to this afternoon, or we'll all have to join in next time." Michael waved Gareth's concerns away.

Things settled down then, as the summary story of what had happened since the catastrophe came from BillyBoy's team.

-:-:-:-:-

Records really did want to grumble after a bit. Getting to play the solo part was both a 'fun' responsibility and a difficult chore. He was on his third round of sending out runner boys to collect the _right_ products he needed, not the strange things they kept bringing back to "delay" the ship from leaving the dock sooner than later and was already losing patience with it. He let the scowl get the darker it already was on the inside.

When the seventh familiar to try to pass him was of finally a high enough level to care about, he stepped over to it and grabbed it up, scaring it quite badly since they moved in a different realm than the base realm when sent to clandestinely spy. When it struggled and couldn't get loose, it shivered. "Listen to me. We don't need the games. You don't get the ship, so stay off. The two we're already rented to are bad enough as it is and we're looking forward to dropping them back off at home. Stop with the delays. I want to set sail as soon as they're back."

He glared at the familiar. "Take that back as your message." He tossed the familiar back into the city and continued to glare at it while it feinted a few times and he moved each time to block its way out onto the pier. Eventually it gave up and went back the way it had come.

A short while later a young woman came walking towards the wharf. She was in a bright blue skirt that she lifted the side of in one hand and waved as she walked as if dancing with herself. Her bright yellow blouse and white sash reflected the sun rather well. Records made sure first if she was Person of the Land or Adventurer, making sure she wasn't disguised by Hacker magic. Purrcy had drilled that check into all of them.

She stopped in front of Records, who hadn't moved from standing in her way with his arms crossed. She looked up at him and blinked a few times. "Excuse me," she said.

"I'm sorry, a ship like that's no place for a lady," he answered, "particularly since it's already contracted out to another one." He quite preferred the Lady it was contracted to, actually.

"Do you know what it is to refuse one of the coven?" she asked him, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Educate me," he asked. That was part of the game, too. One got to select one of two answers to that question. He'd picked that one since even that might have changed since the catastrophe.

"Prison at best. Experiments for potions and curses if I decide I don't really like you. Status doesn't matter here. Adventurers are as free game as People of the Land."

"Why?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Because we _can_ ," she smirked at him, turning her pretty face into one that was ugly underneath for just one moment.

He furrowed his brow. "By law of the city, or by magic ability?"

She put the finger of her free hand to the side of her lips, the other still holding her skirt out and swinging it as she swayed gently. "Well...I wonder? Either works, I suppose."

Feeling a magic spell coming, he stepped aside and bowed her onto the pier. "Not like I'm high enough on the totem pole to take whatever you want to throw at me. I'll let you go face someone else who cares more than me."

This part played out like _Billy Goats Gruff_. Records went back to waiting on boys to arrive with _anything_ he wanted while listening to the conversation behind him. The young woman was met by Clocktower just before the foot of the gangplank. He again rebuffed her and was threatened by her. She had to push harder, but Clocktower finally relented. "I'm not high enough to withstand you to that degree and care at the same time. If you want to go that far, then be my guest."

She swept past him and walked up the gangplank. At the top, she was met by Michael, with his arms folded and his full dark scowl on. He refused to let her onto the ship at all. When she threatened and bullied him, he only said. "You are a little girl. You are not allowed on this ship. What is your preferred method of leaving it? I would assume by walking back down the gangplank and back into the city on your own two feet. I would recommend you do that now."

She went into full tantrum and cast her spell at him. A small Dark Circle appeared between them. Before it could move towards Michael, he reached out and lightly touched each of the five smaller circles in the outer circle in clockwise order. From where he touched, the circle was erased outward until the whole of it faded away into nothingness.

The young woman's eyes went wide and she began a chant. Before she could get more than the first phrase out, Michael reached out and pushed her off the gangplank and into the ocean below. The splash was rather dramatic, as was the scream on the way down.

A large winged monkey appeared in the sky over the ship. Two purification arrows were headed its way immediately and it backed off. Michael called out loudly, "Go tell your mistress that I'm not going to play her games today. She's not allowed to have my ship. And if she doesn't want a civil war in the covens, she'll let us make our purchases and return the god-forsaken pair we stupidly allowed ourselves to get hired by to their home. We're not interested in whatever plans she thinks we might become part of."

Two more arrows were in the air and the winged monkey dodged, hesitated, then swooped down to fish the young woman from the ocean and carry her off to wherever home was for them. Intel would be marking that path, and Nav was adding it to the map in real-time.

Records scanned the roadway one more time and caught another familiar from the corner of his eye. It was just watching from near one of the wharf warehouses. He carefully crafted a beacon spell and placed it on the familiar as if he was putting it on Purrcy herself. When it started moving off, he quietly said on the chat, "Nav, trace that one, too. That one has an intelligent master." He got a positive response to let him know he'd been heard and went back to the rest of the boring part of this round.


	210. Shiroe Ends His Sequester

Phillip was walking the stands of the marketplace. He set down the latest plant to inspect and wrinkled his nose in distaste. Finally, a low voice called for his attention from between the two booths. "You have a particular taste in herbs. Perhaps I can be of assistance?"

Phillip turned and stared into that space until his eyes could see the form of an old hunched wise-woman. He sighed to himself. Really...for all that they had thought it might be fun to play part of the real game...it wasn't. There _was_ perhaps a little more suspense and tension to it since it was really real and they really could get cursed and all that, but it was as lackluster as playing any game for the fifth time from the beginning was. He was going have troubles keeping his senses alert for the nuances that were different now that the whole world was different.

"And I should bother, why?" he asked, turning slightly to lift a finger for Reed to come a little closer. He barely paid attention to the answer of the crone. "I'm done and ready to return to the ship. We left this place because it was this dull to begin with. It hasn't really changed, sadly. I suppose I really should have let my brother talk me into just staying in Europa."

"It's quite too late to say that, m'lady," Reed answered dryly.

"I suppose," Phillip said with a slump, hoping his message was getting through to Reed.

"Well, we can certainly take you home if you're ready," Reed allowed politely, "however, you were very excited to show everyone the new herb you found. Perhaps at least this one would like to see it?"

Phillip made it appear in his hand again. With lackluster interest, he held it out in a limp hand to Reed. "Perhaps you could show it to her for me?"

Reed's eyes went sharp for just a moment, then he was bowing again and taking it. "If you'd please wait one moment with MasterChief, then, I'll be quick about it."

"Thank you," Phillip said and moved out of the way to let Reed get into the smaller space. He did properly keep his eye on the crone and the space behind her since he'd gotten the assist he'd asked for.

Reed stepped into the space to be close enough to the crone to hold out the herb. "I'm sorry she's become too tired for the day, but this was one of her desired goals to accomplish before we had to go. If you would give an opinion, please?"

The crone took the herb and inspected it by feel, smell, and sight, peering at it through tightly squinted eyes. "Mmm. Interesting...," she finally said. "That is from very far away...but it is a true herb." Her eyes lifted to Reed, then looked behind him to Phillip. "May I purchase this one so that I can experiment with it?"

Phillip waved at Reed as if shooing him off, giving him the job to dicker with her, too. Reed sighed a sad sigh. "How much would you be willing to pay for it?" he asked the crone. They dickered, with Phillip throwing in concerned or pleased sounds, until they got something reasonable out of her.

The coin was passed over to Reed. He paused and rubbed the coins between his fingers, with a frown on his face, then he handed the coin back, dropping it into the crone's lap. "We'll not take cursed coin in payment for anything. Hand it back or pay up properly." He held out his hand. Phillip had him dragged back just in time so that the tiny needle knife didn't land on the palm.

"What are you doing, thinking you can also scam me, like all the others who don't believe it has worth?! Give it back if none of you has the wits to understand what I've found!" Phillip stomped his foot, causing his defenses to rise. When the crone refused to hand the herb back, Phillip rapped her on the knuckles with his cane, making her drop the herb. Phillip rapped her on the head with it next until she scuttled away far enough he could collect up the herb and put it back into his list. "Off with you, scoundrel," he demanded, when the crone didn't move on.

Purrcy jumped off his shoulder and grew to full size and growled in her chest, her tail twitching and lashing in hunting jumps. Reed's hand was pulling on Phillips' elbow and he let him pull them backwards out of the space, leaving Purrcy to back up slowly, covering their retreat. They moved off as soon as they were in the marketspace proper and Purrcy covered their rear, with the dragon watching her from Reed's shoulder, standing backwards to do so.

When the greatest danger was past, Purrcy bounded back to them and jumped into Phillip's arms, going to small cat. Phillip pet her. "Thank you, Purrceus," he hummed at her. "Really, what _has_ this place come to, to not even remember me. Are you _sure_ we didn't pass through the Bermuda Triangle Zone, Mister Reed?"

"Well, I suppose we could have, but we're quite sure we didn't," Reed answered mildly.

"Shall I call for your brother, m'lady?" MasterChiefS7 asked.

"Yes, please," Phillip nodded. "I think I'll just go to my cabin when we return and take a nap. Really, this sleepy town has worn me down again and I thought I'd finally found life exciting again. Really such a shame." He jumped a little, his eyes going wide. "But don't tell my brother. He'll cackle with glee and I'll never hear the end of it, for not agreeing with him to begin with."

"Of course," they both murmured and gave each other mocking glances behind his back, most likely.

MasterChiefS7 called Training, who met up with them carrying a sleeping BillyBoy in his arms as they reached the wharf. Phillip put his hand on his hip and glared at BillyBoy, then glared at Training. Training bowed slightly. "It was only three. He'll sleep it off by the time we have you home, most likely."

Phillip gave a sharp nod of acceptance and turned to lead them onto the dock, sweeping past Records, who was giving orders to four Eagles who were collecting up barrels and crates - into their lists. "Lazy Adventurers," Phillip said in disdain. "Hurry up. I want to go home." He knew they glared at him behind his back.

Phillip was quite happy to get behind closed doors and drop the act. Training brought BillyBoy into his room and Phillip went with. BillyBoy's eyes looked at him brightly as Training set him down on his feet. "Was it productive?" BillyBoy asked.

"It was fine," Phillip couldn't drop the listlessness, "though I might have been hit by a sleep spell that was just high enough to clip me. I'd really like to go to sleep now, for real. That was just the most dull game I've ever played on _Elder Tales_." BillyBoy blinked at him while Training was already casting a clearing spell just to make sure.

"I can't say playing the drunk NPC was thrilling either," BillyBoy had to agree. He turned to Training. "Is that how it is here, to play the games? Or is it just us?"

"That's the way it is," Training said in his calming way. "We got to see some of the variability that having an Adventurer in the works brings, and there are signs things may be different later as whomever it is pokes their nose out.

"The new things that Izanami has done for us since we got here have been better, but the old things that aren't dungeons we want drops from no one does any more. Izanagi's already taken care of that, but it will be another generation or two for it to properly filter through all the People of the Land. This current generation will be the last who have to live the programming."

"That's good then, though it will be hard for them won't it?" BillyBoy said.

"Probably, but they'll work it out eventually," Training shrugged. They all settled down in the room to wait to be called out for more work by Reed. Training opened up a visual over the ship that they could watch to see what happened next.

Phillip really did lie down in one of the hammocks and take a nap. Training's spell had been fine. Even getting to be the leading lady, Phillip had difficulty waiting and wanted to make the time pass just a little faster.

-:-:-:-:-

Once resupplied sufficiently, the Oki Watarimono left the pirate port city, the paddle wheels churning the water of the bay. They knew a lot of eyes were watching them with great interest. Michael ordered for a meal to be brought for three to the mid-ship deck and he hosted a formal luncheon for an upper class Victorian couple, all of them dressed to the nines. If there were going to be eyes on them from a distance, they may as well play the parts they enjoyed playing while relaxing and waiting for the next step in the game.

Purrcy got to enjoy being hosted by Michael for the first time in his full formal pirate captain's fancy outfit. Nyanta got to enjoy the high brow role play he enjoyed most (being an old gentleman of distinction). Michael got to be distracted from his impatience, which helped not only him but the rest of the crew on board the ship. The few who had to role play the formality with them felt the cost worth the benefit. Reed took the helm to relax and be entertained with quiet solitude, though he also entertained himself with keeping an ear on the General and his guests. That part was always entertaining to all of them.

"How did the fruit tree go over?" Michael asked Purrcy, knowing the answer, but since it was about that time, it would be conversation to pass the time.

Purrcy sighed. "The ones who loved it complained it was such a waste of power and fruit to have made it so temporary. The ones who hate me rejoiced that I had been willing to squander my 'limited' power and waste my time and efforts to begin with on doing something so contrary to my normal patterns. And of course, they all fretted and worried in the dark corners about _why_ I would have done it. Was it just to prove my strengths? Was it because I was going senile? Was I threatening them?"

Purrcy paused to stop waving her fork lightly in the air to spear a piece of fruit on the end of it instead and eat it delicately. When she'd settled enough from enjoying the cool sweet flavor in the heat of the equatorial ocean air, she continued. "Of course it was the latter, although Nyanta and Izanagi required it. Creating it took some time and complex work, which was the other ulterior motive of Nyanta's of course. It was a sufficient distraction, and surprisingly I went up in skill points for doing it." She shrugged as she speared another fruit. "Of course, I did that on purpose so that I got something out of it as well."

"Of course," Michael murmured around his own fruit. "One shouldn't throw all of one's efforts out of the window and gift points where they aren't worth spending." He glared slightly at Nyanta since that had been a rather bad request that year as far as Purrcy's already not-very-good reputation went. Purrcy obviously hadn't cared any more than she cared about any such thing, but still. "Have you started thinking about the next year yet?"

Purrcy sighed. "Not really. I like to wait until we're closer to the time now that I've run out of ideas and space. It was nice that only growing one tree didn't take a lot of space and effort."

Michael nodded and considered. "Have you thought of the other types of celebrations we enjoy that don't use space or permanent fixtures?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

Purrcy's whiskers when down slightly in a frown of concentration while she cut and ate some of the sliced ham (cold salted roast boar). Nyanta calmly touched his napkin to his lips as he sat back, the first to finish eating for all he'd not hurried. With Purrcy and Michael carrying the conversation he'd not been distracted from that part. "I think a fireworks display would be an intriguing purrospect," he said now, "however, I'm not sure we'd like to introduce that to the other deities just yet?"

Michael nodded. "Not if it teaches them heavy munitions, but perhaps there's a way for Purrcy to do it with code that keeps them confused as to her methods of how it was done?" He also sat up now, placing his fork and knife properly on his empty plate, and looked more directly at them. "Or, perhaps the equivalent of a laser light show instead of explosions?"

Purrcy's ears perked up at that. "Oh! That might be intriguing. Similar to what you did with the butterflies around Meiki."

Michael nodded, sitting back to let the server take his dishes. "Like that."

Purrcy got a very evil look on her face and Michael scolded her with a tisk while Nyanta's ears wiggled at her. She tried to pull it back. "Even a few random purification ones would make them pause, the same as the tree did."

That won Nyanta over. "As long as it's limited to only a few," Michael scolded still. "If you can't keep that under control, I'll have to step in and scold you again, which might tip my hand since I'll also have to rewrite them when they get too much."

Purrcy immediately went apologetic. "I'll be careful to not do that," she said contritely. "I'd far rather keep you protected."

"Thank you," Michael said, though he stayed firm. He'd had to rescue at least a few of the minor dark deities as it was. With that warning he'd been able to keep her limited enough to not blast the rest and make his presence obvious. Nyanta had also heard the warning and would help keep her in hand while she was "in production".

Michael engaged Nyanta in a little conversation then, to keep them both occupied while letting Purrcy finish her own eating. Michael worked in what few couched warnings he could to help Nyanta know where to focus his own efforts as he spied on the dark deities. When the meal was done and proper polite protocol to a calm ending of it had been dispensed with, Nyanta rose and offered his arm to his wife. With bows to Michael, they thanked him for the company and the meal and disappeared.

Michael rose from his (lower) bow to them and sighed, putting away the formal outfit and going for the cooler loose shirt and pants. Just for the fun of it, he pulled out a hat that would work and pinned the gem he'd taken from the Pirate King of the South Pacific to it and put it on. That got the response he was secretly hoping it would. But then, game mechanics rather demanded it would.

From behind his left shoulder, Secretary said quietly, "Well, that was enough between all of that, plus the hat, for the man behind the scenes to go from watchful to curious to upset. I think he'll move after or during the next round, I would think." Michael gave a short nod.

Secretary continued, but not to him. "Commander, Sir, they're on the approach."

"Shields up," came on the chat from Reed.

"I canno' do it, Capt'n. The warp core'l blow," one of the Eagles quipped to himself in a Scottish brogue from the main deck as he passed underneath Michael, headed for his battle station.

Michael's lip twitched up. They really did have to make their own entertainment these days. "Ship's counselor and Data aren't on board, Capt'n," he said on a chat to Reed.

Reed gave a snort back in his ear. "How about the ship's mascot?"

"Not so far as I know. We kept them rather long - for them. Likely they need to stay home for a bit, plus I'm not sure you really want interference in this part, and they're being polite about it."

"That would be why I asked," Reed agreed. "That's good enough, then. Thanks for entertaining them."

"No problem. Enjoyed it myself." Reed chuckled. Michael sighed. "Now if only every day were like that. The peaceful life would be nice."

"Until you were bored again in an hour," Reed ribbed him.

Michael didn't bother to answer, but he did wonder what life would be like, if he had to live the eternal Adventurer with nothing pressing he had to do. At the moment it was hard to say it would be a bad thing. His practical self was quite sure he'd go mad within a month. He'd barely survived the Gate of Time living the almost completely lazy life. The few times of high stress and action had been nice breaks from standing around day after day with nothing much to do.

He was glad to have his musing interrupted by the sudden appearance of Dark Circle after Dark Circle. Coming into existence quickly, one after the other they completely surrounded the Oki Watarimono. "All stop," Reed ordered, though he was the one at the helm. It was more to let the rest of them know what was going on. "Intel, find their home island. Take your Twin Falls partners with you and clean them out."

Michael liked that plan. Pirate islands were covered with buried treasure chests, and the homes all had basements and attics with horded treasure. When the witches themselves came out to play - like had shown up first this time - the islands were unprotected and thus fair game for evil Adventurer pirates like themselves. They'd have a lot of middle to high grade magic items, too, both hidden in treasure chests and just out and about.

Half of the Dark Circles began to move in towards the ship. The other half started spewing out dark mist. For some, that turned into creatures, for others it stayed a mist that reached towards the ship. The first were curses upon either the ship itself, or against the people on the ship. The second were familiars. The third were status effects.

None of them made it past the shields that had been put around the ship at ten feet out. A few were high enough level that the shield went down in that section. The secondary shield inside the first caught those and finished burning them off. They had all practiced so long now with purification magic that dark magic wouldn't be able to have much effect.

Actual physical familiars were next. The Oki Watarimono party didn't let them get any closer than those ten feet either, although the few strongest with high enough HP made it to within five feet - just close enough to taste real steel instead of only magic attacks.

The full coven appeared at that point, with even more familiars, hovering around the ship. Some were on brooms, but most were on the backs of flying familiars. A few had black bat wings themselves, and the head of the coven was a harpy-style with black crow wings.

"Immobilize the lowest levels," Reed ordered. "Practice banishments and see if you can get them sent back home to bed. If your levels miss the distance this round, that's fine. They'll still be able to swim to shore if you get them close enough. BillyBoy have your boys focus on the bats. Michael, box in the harpy and make her watch only."

Michael thought the banishment practice was a good idea. They'd not needed to get that spell up much yet at this point. He played with the box, putting the (now a cantrip) box around her and let her feel that one out while he worked up the next layer of it. He also was watching to see how fast she took it down, since that was how he would know how strong she really was. For his second layer, he added in the purification element to it. He wanted to know if it would do anything to her and if it did, what she would do to get around it. They would need to understand any skills in that area.

She broke out of the first box by the time he was wrapping up the spell for the third layer box. She screamed when she hit the second box. He cast the third one then tried to understand if it had been a scream of irritation or pain. Then he remembered the one skill of harpies that they hadn't worried too much about on screen. He quickly added a sound-proof wrapper to the whole and the sounds just beginning to issue from her mouth were cut off suddenly. Ears that were just beginning to wince relaxed in relief.

He glanced around. The last three of the small fry witches were just disappearing from the sky. Eagles had joined the Twin Falls party and the middle level bat-winged witches were wobbling dangerously and beginning to disappear. Michael looked back at the harpy-winged witch, then made sure his history was recording a closeup of what she was doing. It looked like she did have a trick up her sleeve to get rid of a purification barrier.

She pulled out a black curved blade of her trade and cut her arm, then drew in the air with the bloodied point. When the diagram was completed, she pushed it ever so slightly forward with the tip of the knife and it floated forward until it ran into the purification barrier. From where it intersected, red lines began to run out from the points on it, turning the clear barrier a smoky red as the lines began to fade into a haze.

He studied it. It wasn't strong enough to take down the whole box, but it was likely strong enough to melt a hole in it. He went ahead and just watched as she performed the spell one more time on another side of the box. One on each side would take the sides down, although if she didn't think of up and down she'd still get burned for not going the right way.

"Gareth, shield yourself and get ready to walk," Michael ordered calmly. "I want you to go talk to her when she hits the third shield. Get as much information out of her as you can before we're rudely interrupted. I'll catch you on the fall if he decides to be impolite about it."

Gareth gave Michael a resigned look of _must I be in the line of fire, really?_ , but knew the real captain had to stay put on the ship still at this point. To help himself feel better, he put on one of his more formal robes of protection that at least made it look like he was an upper officer of the ship. Since he was the representative of one, no one was going to complain. He also topped Michael off so that he felt better about being kept safe, not that Michael had used up very much yet.

As the red in the sides of the purification box faded away into nothing because the side of the box had, Gareth disappeared. The harpy moved more cautiously this time, very unhappy to see the last of the bats failing in their battle to survive. While the harpy didn't run into anything solid or painful on the third round, she did suddenly freeze, her eyes wide.

Gareth appeared in the air in front of her and opened a party chat. "Who is the boss that you all answer to?"

"Dark Mage Harold," she answered promptly.

"Is he the current Pirate King of the Caribbean?" Gareth asked.

"Yes."

"Is he an Adventurer?"

"Yes."

"Which island does he live on?"

An attack slammed into the protecting box Michael had up over Gareth. The Pirate King hadn't wanted that question answered. It was anyway. Not surprisingly it was the one they were going to have to go back to.

Six Eagles were already following that attack back the way it had come from, learning the fingerprint as they went, and also learning how protected the attacker was. Three more were on watch behind them. They were dealing with this one as if they were dealing with Purrcy herself. One of the missing people was the U.S. east coast master hacker. They were betting he or she was down here. If not then possibly in hiding back on the continent, but they weren't going to chance that assumption.

"That's the command spell," Michael said to Gareth. "Reed, do you want her taken out or sent back home?"

Reed thought about that one, then ordered something else. "I think I'd like to do something a little different. Have you seen enough to be able to lock her down if she's asleep until we get to the last island?"

"I think so," Michael answered. "Take her knives away first, though."

"Do that," Reed said. Gareth did, putting her to sleep with the command spell. He took her to their lock-up cabin. Michael updated the shields on it. Reed got them going again.

Now, if this had still been _Elder Tales_ on the computer, they would have held to this tactic all the way down the Lesser Antilles until they'd taken everything they cared to take from each island and overcome every head witch of every island's coven. They didn't really expect to get to do that this time quite so handily. The current Pirate King wasn't likely to want to let it happen that way.

Still, they steamed their way down the islands, making the covens come and fight with them. They couldn't do otherwise once the quest was started. The word had already been passed from island to island they were passing and had offended one (which offended them all). There was one short-cut to having to fight _all_ of the islands. That was to prove that the witch on board the ship from the beginning was _really_ one who belonged on one of the islands. Then the rest would back off and let it go.

Reed kept going until they'd reached the end of the battles on the twelfth island. That meant everyone had the opportunity to go treasure hunting. As he began to head for the last one (thirteen being that magic number for witches in games), the sun a ball of fire setting over the horizon, things finally did change. Some were surprised the boss was willing to let them get that far.

A young witch came flying towards the ship on a rather wobbly broom. "Please, may I land and talk to the captain?" she called down, trying to not zoom off to the left or right, and to stay on without falling into the ocean as her hands held tightly to the broom. Most witches could fly without holding on to them so they had their hands free for casting.

They watched her very suspiciously, not sure they wanted to open any doors to letting something bigger on or through their defenses. "Please, " she cried breathlessly. "I've heard you're carrying one of us already, and...," she bit her lip and looked very concerned, "...really, I was hoping it might be my big sister." Eyebrows went up at that.

"Dig into who she really is," Reed ordered. "Patrick, get dressed up again. They've sent to test you. Gareth, go test her."

Michael pursed his lips and folded his arms. "What are you going to do if she lets her sister pass?"

"Kidnap them both, as it were, and go finish out what I'd already planned on doing," Reed answered.

"Okay," Michael agreed since they agreed that they didn't really want to leave behind hostages for the Pirate King to pump for information. It would still be risky to take the young witch with them. "If you don't want to take her with, you could send a clone of her brother back with her."

"Hmm. I'll keep that in my back pocket," Reed agreed. He gave out orders the same as the others, sending four to search it for treasure and wanting to also know if the head witch was hiding on the island, or if this island was really missing its head witch. Just on the say-so of the young one wasn't enough.

She was turning a little red from the effort to stay on her broom and keep it minimally stable. A spell came at her from Brenner's position and the broom suddenly wasn't fighting her. "Removed a curse from it," he said. "Outside influence, most likely."

"It's the same source and fingerprint," one of the Eagles inside on back-up agreed.

"We're not getting any treasure from here," those sent to search the island said. "Everything's been cursed."

There was a brief moment for inspection, then the same back-up group said, "Also the same fingerprint."

"Can you get a timestamp?" Reed asked. "I'd like to know if it was part of the last battle when the Pirate King came through and won, or if it's recent because we were on the way."

The witch was looking both surprised and relieved to not be fighting her broom. Her shoulders slumped as she rested leaning on her hands still holding tightly to it. She closed her eyes, then said, "Thank you. None of us is strong enough to overcome that curse. A very high level Adventurer cast it on us, then took away my sister." Her attack came when she opened her eyes. It bounced off the shields on the ship, except the one central main attack. It was strong, pointed, and specifically directed towards Michael.

Michael's shields converted it to purified MP that he soaked up. Without changing his expression, he looked into her eyes and saw them widen in almost fear. "Even with the help of a far distant Adventurer magic user, no Person of the Land is strong enough to defeat an Adventurer, not now that we have been awake for nearly three years."

He wrapped her in the holding spell he had used on the Observer Vengeful Spirits since he didn't want to harm her with purification, but also didn't want her to be able to attack again. She drew in a gasp, then struggled against the binding. "Do you want to see if we bring your sister with us or not?" he asked her. "Consider that just a precaution since letting you keep wasting your spells isn't on my agenda today."

Michael kept her occupied until the research results came in and Reed said to him, "I'd like to talk to her under the umbrella."

"The ship's kind of big," Michael complained at him. "Set up your own." He reeled the young witch in closer to the steerage column, but not close enough she could do damage, surrounding her with the same protective box he'd put on the others. Then he cast the umbrella over her and himself. "Okay. We're good to go. I've got you on a conference chat."

"Thank you," Reed's voice said and the witch looked around for the new person, a bit in a panic. Michael found that a slightly odd reaction, since she should know something about Adventurer chats and long-distance communications. "So do we really have your sister aboard?" Reed asked. "No one will hear your answer but the three of us.

The young witch shivered, then tears started to streak down her face. "No, no you don't." It was said with almost a cry of despair. "Unless you are the Pirate King himself, who took her away. He promised me that if we stopped you and convinced you to let the one you do have off that he would remove the cursing on the island. Please, if you are just going on your journey, and you do have one you don't want on board anymore, let me have her as a guest at my house."

"You gave in and answered that way too easily," Michael scolded her.

The young witch began to cry in earnest. "Please. I can do no more than to be obedient and to ask it." She trembled. "If you are the Pirate King himself," she was now looking towards the sound of Reed's voice rather than Michael himself, "then what else am I to do than to die? You have already made life miserable. How is it you cannot be content, but must continue to torture us? If she will not bend to you how can our pain help? She was always stubborn."

"What is her name?" Reed asked. "Humor me," he added when it looked like she was going to refuse on the grounds she already thought he was the Pirate King.

"Miss Molly," she obediently said with her lips quivering.

"And yours?"

"Mary," she said very quietly.

"Mary, I am not the current Pirate King of the Caribbean. We have only just begun our travels in these waters, and this is our first time to play this quest since the catastrophe, but we have been here twice before that time. Fifteen years ago we came here and won the title for a time. Four years after that we were hired to be the support for a young trio of Adventurers who were new to this world and wanted help to understand how to play in the pirate waters. Do you remember when Lady Ariabelle was Pirate King?"

Mary froze then trembled again and this time when she spoke it was perhaps more with excitement than with fear. "I remember the name. Miss Molly has spoken of her, that she was very innocent but her pirate band was fierce to protect her and gentle when she gave them demands." Mary shook her head. "Miss Molly was rather not impressed with Lady Ariabelle, saying she wasn't good pirate material at all."

Mary looked down at Michael, then craned her neck to look around at any other person she could see on deck. In a small voice, she asked, "A-are ...you that crew, though? Miss Molly still boasts of the day she lost to them." She bit her lip. "I'm sure...we would rather they were back than to be under the whip of the current one." She crunched up her face and clenched her eyes closed as if expecting to be killed for sure for saying it.

Really, she wasn't wrong to say she could only be obedient. That was one of the rules of the quest. All of the residents of the islands had to be obedient to the Pirate King, particularly if he (or she) gave direct orders. Ariabelle, her brother, and her best friend had all been of the youngest age to play. Ariabelle had always wanted to be brave and playing at being a Pirate King had seemed like a good way to be that, or at least pretend to be that.

The Eagles were about to come off a deployment for shore-leave. Whenever they knew they were coming home, they contacted a prior member of the squadron to be their broker to find them a mercenary job to play together. Ariabelle's brother had posted on the "wanted" board the request and their POC had offered it as one of three possibilities when they'd contacted him. When they'd learned the details, they couldn't turn that one down.

They'd helped Ariabelle win the hat as it were, then played in the Caribbean waters with the three until she had to log off to go to her surgery. They'd given her as much encouragement as possible before she signed off. Her brother had been kind and let them know a few days later that she was recovering and had thanked them profusely. It had been his gift to her, as something they could do together to make a happy memory. They'd strengthened him and Ariabelle's best friend and encouraged them through encouraging her, since the two had been almost as afraid of the surgery as she had been.

"It's good Miss Molly remembers us, then," Reed said. "We do plan on defeating the current Pirate King. I wish for you to remember one thing." Mary nodded. "We chose mercy, but were never weak because of it." Mary looked a bit confused but she didn't get any relief for it. "Your ears only."

Michael changed the conference chat to one just between him and Reed and changed the umbrella permissions as well. "Over."

"I want you to lock her down in the stasis that Purrcy locked Crusty down with and put her with the rest, so that he can't work through her still, even sleeping."

"Give me a sec," Michael had to review that one, then carefully craft it. Once he had it cast, he called Gareth to fetch her down from her broom and put her in a separate prison room. Having thirteen would make a full coven's worth and they'd be able to perform the higher group magics if they managed to wake up. It wasn't likely the ship would escape unscathed - thus the requirement to lock her down more tightly than the others. "Okay. She's locked down as tight as I can get her," he let Reed know.

"Start working up a strong enough Command spell that will work on all thirteen. I think they'll be willing underneath the game requirement to follow through on what I want them to do. Between the two we should be able to counteract their requirement."

"You'll break another flavor text, one that I'm not sure should be broken," Michael warned.

"I know, but I think we'll be okay. I've already been thinking of the miracles to ask to go along with it."

"If you say so," Michael said. "It's yours to run. I'll get started. Anything else?"

"Stay alive." It was said very dryly.

Michael's lips twitched up. "Always. Give me four to protect me, and I'll be fine."

"Three. That's all I can afford."

Michael pursed his lips, then said, "Two, and let Secretary ask the kami to come play defense with them."

Reed considered that, then said, "Alright. It needs the training, too." Michael nodded in agreement. "Out," Reed said.

Michael pulled Secretary in under his umbrella and gave him his instructions. He didn't take down the umbrella until he and his guards had worked out their game plan. It was into night and dinner time by then. Reed anchored them in those waters for the night. They took two shifts of four hours of sleep each, then were headed north-northwest again in the dark early morning hours.

-:-:-:-:-

"Crusty, Isaac, and Rieze if you're willing, Souji - and if you want her to hear it first hand bring Nazuna. I need to speak with everyone in my guild hall as soon as you can get here." Shiroe sighed and ran his hand down his face. He'd cast one more sleep spell once he was done with his thinking and assimilation, knowing he wouldn't sleep. He might have to have a few more nights of the same. Maybe even a week's worth. Better would be passing out data and requesting help to carry this sooner than later.

He checked the permissions on his door and reset them. Quietly he said, "Akatsuki. Naotsugu, I've called for the others. Let me know when they've arrived."

"Will do," Naotsugu's steady and warm voice answered him solemnly.

The door clicked open and closed and Akatsuki was wrapping Shiroe's head in her small yet strong arms while kneeling up on the couch next to him, as if she had missed him greatly and wanted to protect him at the same time. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

She shook her head. Shiroe paused briefly, then sighed slightly and lay back down, taking her with him to hold her, needing the close company and her specifically. "Hell is not easy to walk through," he lamented.

"No, it isn't," she replied. He was surprised to not get a scolding. He tried to pull back to look at her, but she held on tighter and wouldn't let him. "I...I went and asked. We were very worried. The kami, and then Purrcy told me it was hard and to wait. I'm sorry."

His brow furrowed and it took a while to ask, "Why?"

She shivered and he held her slightly tighter. "The kami showed me just a little bit of what you were learning about. It was hard, just that much, and frightening. But Purrcy showed me what to do."

Shiroe had tensed up that she'd already had to see even a little bit of it, but at the last, he relaxed and buried his head in her chest even more and let her comfort him. He actually almost fell asleep again. Even just that much had been enough to make him not feel alone. "I love you," he whispered. "I'm sorry to have worried you. I didn't know."

She patted his head. "I know. Bad surprises. We weren't happy, but when we understood better it was a different worry. We're all ready to listen."

At that his chest tightened up again and the tears threatened to spill over again. This time ones of not just pain for where they were, but also gratitude for his friends and companions who so willingly stood by his side. "Better to get it out now," she said with practicality and pet him and kissed him on the top of his head where she could reach, as if emulating Hahaue.

"I'm really quite all done with the tears, actually," he confessed. "I'm just very grateful to have good friends who already stand by me when things are hard." She gave an agreement nod, that was also the promise that they did and already were.

-:-:-:-:-

The Shiroe that walked out of his office with his arm wrapped around Akatsuki's shoulders was an older and wiser Shiroe, but he wasn't a broken and dead Shiroe. Crusty relaxed just a little inside. Shiroe hadn't been left alone. He'd been supported on the walk he'd had to walk and brought back to life before he'd been allowed to move on.

Without really thinking about it much, Crusty said a thank you to Purrcy in his heart. He knew she would have been the one to make sure, even if Akatsuki hadn't said it in the meeting. Purrcy already was the one walking with Shiroe that way before she'd asked Crusty to. It was right for her to have supported Shiroe in this.

Crusty took a slow, silent, deep breath as Shiroe sat down. He firmed up and looked into Shiroe's eyes from the opposite side of the table and not-quite-glared a firm look at him. It was an obvious look of judgement. Shiroe had also taken in a breath as he'd sat and he lifted his eyes slowly to look into Crusty's. He sat calmly. When his internal pain came on his face he held it for a proper moment to acknowledge it, then said quietly, "Thank you for coming."

Shiroe then scanned through all of the people in the room. "All of you." He paused, then said, "You know I've been working on the clues Michael gave me of what's coming up at the end of this seventh level of Purrcy's dungeon." His pain surfaced again but he continued. "Actually, I no longer want to call it that. The last level should have warned me. This is a real world that doesn't play, even if we Adventurers can't let that go."

Shiroe's eyes went to Soujirou and Nazuna. "I don't mean to belittle what you went through the last round. It was a serious thing that has serious consequences. However the complete picture wasn't even in my view at that time." His eyes dropped and he was seeing what he'd learned again, Crusty was sure. It took him some time to continue. It was a deep pit to drag himself back from. Crusty made a small motion and Akatsuki took Shiroe's hand in hers. Shiroe gave her a brief grateful look and returned to the room again.

Shiroe looked at Soujirou and Nazuna again. "I've asked Minori to head the actions here in the city while I'm focused on the world-wide battles. Please help her as best you can. She is going to need ears in the streets. Really, it would be better to have her stop working at the restaurant, or cut her hours back to a minimal level. She needs to be able to move and give orders at a moment's notice."

Shiroe's eyes turned to Crusty and Rieze. "And those orders need to be followed immediately. If we allow MeowLi to be taken, the world will die and us along with it. Purrcy will turn into the worst demon we could ever imagine, and there are none who could hold her back. She _must_ stay calm for this battle to be won."

His eyes turned to Tetorō. "As such, while we've already discussed it, we also must remain calm and sure of our win while fighting the local battle. She will pick up on our own worries and concerns. She _cannot_ be distracted by what is going on here in Akiba. She trusts us, but she is the mother of her daughter. ...And even just the thought of what the dark kami of the Gate of Time are likely to do to her daughter if they do get a hold of her will push her into immediate action.

"That is what they want to do, those who oppose her." His eyes dropped again, but his finger reached up and slowly pushed up his glasses. Crusty narrowed his eyes. "There is a godling who believes that he can become the greatest of all deities of Theldesia if he can embroil all Adventurers into one great war."

His eyes rose again and passion burned in them. "Night Sun is the god of war. For every sword swung in anger against another, he gains power. He is the god of the underworld. For every death and soul he drags down to him, he gains power. He _already_ has been increasing in strength, from the beginning." His lips pursed and Crusty felt himself go cold, a thing he hadn't done in a very long time.

"So far not even he can touch Purrcy. His goal is to become greater than her. This is why Michael has made her take the additional strength a kami of Theldesia gains. She must remain greater than he until the battle is won, or we will already lose. If they can distract her, and take MeowLi, and kill her in sacrifice to Night Sun, then Purrcy will make him to be the greatest kami this planet has known - even to freeing him from the bounds of a programmed construct and making him equal to the World AI, the Game Bot, and the Emotion Kami.

"Death and War cannot be allowed to become that great on Theldesia, or all that will exist in this part of the universe will be those five, because Purrcy will also remain, but she will be broken: a shell of herself that fills Night Sun and keeps him alive. He wishes to eat her as his final sacrifice. This is why he helped them bring her into the Gate of Time."

Shiroe's anger was rising. Crusty motioned to Tetorō this time. Tetorō put his hand on Shiroe's arm and held it firmly. "We know, Shiroe. We know we need to protect MeowLi for Purrcy's sake and all of our sake. We'll do it. Minori's plan is sound. She's ready to tell you what it is." He held Shiroe's eyes until Shiroe relaxed and nodded.

Shiroe turned slightly to Akatsuki and pulled her hand towards him a little more, seeking his strength and comfort. With another breath to move forward, Shiroe said, "This is going to be difficult, because we will have to give Night Sun and the other dark deities what they already have and want - more death and killing. My goal is to keep that as minimal as possible in totality. It isn't the right way to get the Adventurers to stop anyway.

"We fight when we believe we are playing the game. We will be teaching them, as we have in the political movements, that this is a real world and we are not behaving the way we would wish for on Earth. That is the only way to get them to stop fighting - to appeal to their logic and reason, and their desires for human bonds that lead to peaceful living.

"Those who already see and understand are desperate for the others to wake up to it and stop the pain and suffering they are causing. The greatest problem areas are those where the majority or even all of the Adventurers have bought into the lie that this is all just a game, and the game goals are more important than their real goals should be. I've already called up the generals of those areas and asked them to begin to prepare to move with all of those they can call up who believe in human decency and peace."

Slowly Shiroe's eyes moved up to Crusty's as he talked. "I've asked Kanami to handle everything in the Eastern Hemisphere for you. Michael took Western Hemisphere general upon himself as soon as he was on that side. They will be your seconds. You will work from here because here is where we are, and I need you here to help Minori as well. Ains will only listen to you and Rieze. Is Mise back?"

Crusty gave a solemn nod. "Have her be the one who is in contact with the rest while you need to be working here. I'll add her to my friend list if you'll bring her tomorrow, when we'll work on the detailed plan." Shiroe took a breath. "I won't be here." There was some consternation but he'd expected that, it looked like.

"Ains won't move if I'm still here. I also need to not be distracted by what is happening here. If they can distract me, then we will also fail. I will take Akatsuki with me. Based on what we decide tomorrow and from what needs Minori has, I may also take Naotsugu and Marielle with me, thus why I need you to support Minori," his eyes went from Crusty to Soujirou again.

"Of course," Soujirou said firmly while still quietly. He was still trying to heal, but Crusty didn't think it was beyond his capabilities to hold that position. It was the one he was used to carrying, and Nazuna was used to helping him carry it as was his whole guild. They would do fine.

There was one thing related to that, though. "Is this the last one, Shiroe?" Crusty asked quietly, crossing one leg over the other and lightly interlacing his fingers.

Shiroe looked back at him. "Yes. After this will be a rest time for preparation, and then the World Tree."

Crusty gave an accepting nod. That was all Soujirou would be able to handle. Then he would break finally. Crusty rather wished Soujirou could skip the final battle, but they all needed to fight that one - even Soujirou who had been hurt enough to have that much anger and hatred in him. He was another one who should never have had to see that depth of darkness ever in his life. Shiroe would end up stronger for it, but Soujirou would not. The unavoidability was sad. Perhaps there could be healing on Earth, like he hoped there would be for Mise.

Crusty took another breath and sighed it out. He looked Shiroe in the eye again. "We'll stand our posts. You and I will have regular meetings to see you're still on an even keel before you leave the city, and you'll come straight back when it's done so we can walk you back from the edge of the black hole into tranquility again. You also have to be ready to face the final battle when it's time to." As Shiroe nodded obediently, Crusty had to shove aside the feelings thinking of the final battle brought to him. He also needed to stand strong until then and not cave to his own despair.

If he was feeling that again at the word of what was coming, he also needed a checkup with Hahaue. He hated to make her stand there when she also needed to stand strong, but she was the only one who could keep him propped up enough to move forward. Rieze and Mise kept him in motion so he didn't grow moss. Purrcy gave him courage in the face of hopelessness. In his heart he asked for it once again, even if in just the small measure he needed at that moment.

He was able to breathe a little better when her gentle touch and feeling of love reached out for him, reassuring him that he also didn't walk alone. He felt gratitude and allowed that to help heal him as well before he returned to look around the room at the rest of those in attendance, opening up the floor for anyone else to make comments.

Naotsugu had been sitting forward, leaning his arms on his knees and clasping his hands together. He looked over to Soujirou and Nazuna. "They'd really like a branch of the Chinese restaurant to open up in the Academy. It's the most asked for place by the students. Grandpa's Kitchen gets plenty of customers, but the three can't figure out how to add one more thing to their plates. Have you guys got anyone who would be willing to go learn how to cook Chinese? When Minori doesn't have to focus elsewhere so much, they could then go open the branch location and work over there."

They thought about that, Nazuna's tail waving in slow thoughtful waves. "Maybe. I can talk to Mikakage, too. She might know of some in Roderick Trading Company that might be willing to change specific jobs, or could be tempted out. I would think if we could get one from each guild to partner for that purpose, it would be enough?"

They considered that, then Naotsugu nodded. "It might be. Three would give them an emergency back-up. Minori would need to make the definitive call, though it will be a hard one for her at the beginning. She is very devoted to her commitments." They all knew that, but sometimes it was necessary to step back and focus when it was important, even if temporarily. "I'll talk to Chef Hiroki myself when he's not busy at work. He needs to also support this properly." Shiroe gave a satisfied nod to that.

When no one else had anything to add, Shiroe called, "Minori. Please come home. All of us need to hear what you have to say. Please tell Chef Hiroki I apologize, but this is a required meeting for you. ...No. He can stay. This is the high level meeting. You can have that one when you have the time to have it." Having thought of food, Shiroe squeezed Akatsuki's hand, rose to his feet, and wandered into the kitchen, returning with a glass of water and a bowl of left-overs.

"You did eat?" Naotsugu asked, suspiciously. Akatsuki was also glaring at him.

"I did," Shiroe said. "But not any more than I had to. It isn't easy to put food into a stomach that feels like that. Sleep was about the same. Status effect sleep is about all I've had, although I almost fell asleep once I was back with Akatsuki." She gave a tight-lipped and firm nod. Everyone knew where she would be as soon as she could drag him back to his bed. Crusty smiled a small smile to himself. Log Horizon really was a good guild.


	211. Pirate King of Theldesia

Twelve high level witches flew over the Caribbean Sea towards the Captain's Island, led by one young witch on a broom. It was an unusual sight that drew the curiosity of the islands' occupants as they passed them.

"What is it?" people wondered.

"Isn't that the youngest sister of the last island's coven leader?" others asked.

"Why would all of the others be going with her, when we've just entered the next round of posturing for a new Pirate King?" was wondered up and down the chain of the West Indies.

"And...has anyone seen that large ship returning back yet?" No one had.

The witches arrived at Captain's Island and headed for the grounds of the manor house of the Pirate King. Like the title, the manor changed hands frequently. Well...until this Pirate King. He'd arrived towards the end of the first year after the Adventurers had awakened. There had been a few even on these islands at that time. All of those Adventurers had been very careful to not die.

When the current Pirate King had shown up, he'd made them all either join up with him, or had made them slaves of the witches. The slaves still believed they would die permanently if they died, so were very careful in what they did and said. Thus, no one had tried to take the title away from him, and no one else had come seeking - until now.

Many of the eyes that had watched the Oki Watarimono had been the eyes of the Adventurers who had been stuck on the islands. To see such a large and obviously "modern" ship had screamed Adventurers who weren't afraid and had information the rest of them wanted. Not to mention perhaps a way off the islands and back to the continents.

Not that they couldn't have taken the pirate boats. The slaves would have if they would have been allowed to. The ones who had joined the Pirate King didn't want to. They were having fun running the pirate boats and getting to be pirates for real. They'd been pirates for nearly two years now, and it had become something in their blood to be rough, unmerciful, and willing thieves.

Some of the Adventurer pirates had died in their line of work - usually when they attacked the schooners of the North American Adventurers. They'd learned they could resurrect, but the Pirate King had sworn them to secrecy on that issue to keep the "party pooper" Adventurer slaves from becoming problems and preventing them from playing the game they wanted to play.

The concept that a ship full of Adventurers would begin the quest (which the NPCs had to play with them) and then not finish it was very confusing. To some, it was disappointing. To those who were pirates: they became very curious, not to mention a bit miffed that the ship they could have earned for themselves if it had come back to the Captain's Island like it was supposed to had gotten away. Pirate ship after pirate ship slipped away to the southeast as the witches flew up and around to the north-northwest.

When the thirteen witches had the manor house surrounded, the youngest called out the Pirate King. He walked out onto his patio. "Yes? Why have you all come calling?" he asked.

"Release my sister," the young witch demanded. "You have not kept your promises to release our island from the curse, and have kept her prisoner in your manor. Release her."

"Why? So those upstarts can win the quest merely by virtue of defeating her and then me? I don't think so."

"No. Because you have not kept your promise," the young witch declared again. "If you will not release her, we will take her back. We couldn't stand against them because we have no strength. We lost because you left us in that state."

The Pirate King frowned. "That is beside the point. They have to defeat the coven head to win."

"And who is the coven head while you have her older sister locked away for two years?" one of the older witches asked with bitter biting tones.

The Pirate King shrugged. He was targeted by a barrage of attacks. They hit a shield around the manor house. He flinched slightly, but the shields held. "I am your King. You will not attack me."

He was attacked again, and then again. The shields were starting to fail and he escaped into his home. Nearly running, he headed for the room of his head wizard. "What is going on? Why are the coven heads attacking me when we still hold the final one here?"

The person who turned around and looked at him from the chair his wizard usually sat in _wasn't_ his wizard. The Pirate King glowered. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"The person who's let your captive master hacker know exactly what you've been up to. He's decided he won't play your game anymore." The stocky Adventurer had a scar on his chin and looked like he'd picked to play a pirate from the beginning. Druid didn't fit, but some Adventurers picked their Class for what they could get out of it, not because it fit their overall character. Their avatars usually then showed what they really thought they wanted to be on the inside. His name - Bowie - kind of fit that sort of Adventurer as well.

"Who are you?" the Pirate King asked again. "You don't belong on the islands. And how can you say he hasn't been playing with me? Up until this morning he was."

"Oh...no. You've been playing with me." Bowie grinned a grin that was rather evil in his face.

The Pirate King narrowed his eyes. "No one can do what he can do."

"Well actually, that's not true. He's pretty good, but there are more than him in this world that can do those things. If one can, others can is how this world works. Most of us stumbled into it."

The Pirate King was getting angry. "So... are you here to become the new Pirate King then? Am I to fight you?"

"No. I don't want it," Bowie said. "I am here to make things harder for you, though. If there's something you want done right about now, you'd best be going and getting it done. There's only one barrier left before the witches break in."

The Pirate King jumped, scowled, then turned and left the room, prickling just a little in the center of his back, not sure Bowie wouldn't stab him anyway. He was allowed to just walk away, though, which unsettled him a little more. Not sure what 98# was up to, nor where he was since he wasn't answering his chat requests, the Pirate King headed for the room where he kept the final coven head. It was a three-room apartment within the manor, nicely furnished and decorated, with a good view of the island even.

He arrived to find she already had a visitor. He scowled again. Again, it was someone he didn't know. "How did you get in here? He made it impossible to get in unless that someone was me."

"Not for me, though," the small black man said. That much description would have been perhaps understandable down here. What wasn't was just how much he sparkled - faintly, but it was there.

"Are you real?" the Pirate King asked.

White teeth grinned at him. "Why don't you take a look?" He turned and gave a slight salute to the coven head as the Pirate King read his status data in amazement. "I'm sure we'll meet again, m'lady."

"Are you -?" but the man was gone. Completely no longer in the apartment any more. Adventurers weren't supposed to be able to do that - teleport without magic or an item of some kind. The Pirate King ground his teeth, as much out of frustration as a means to keep his shiver of sudden worry down (he refused to acknowledge it as fear).

"What did he talk to you about?" the Pirate King demanded.

"Oh, this and that," Molly answered. "Mostly small talk to pass the time."

"Was he coming to become the Pirate King?" he almost asked it rather than demanded to know. Why would he have just come to talk if he was going to do that?

"I don't think so," she answered, wondering herself. "He just wanted to chat. It was a nice diversion from the stifling life you've made me live for the last two years," she glared at him. He ignored it as always.

Suddenly there was an explosion that rocked the building. The Pirate King swore and ran to the window. There were two witches that he could see from there. He opened the french door to the patio and stepped out. "Stop that!" he ordered. They turned to look at him and began another attack. He ran back into the room, grabbed Molly's arm, and pulled her out onto the patio. "Here she is. What do you have to say to her? Say it and go home!"

There was a pause until Mary could get around the manor to that place. "Sister!" she cried out. "He still hasn't removed the cursing from the island. If you promised anything to him with the expectation that he would, don't give it to him any longer. We are nearly dead, and you will be head of nothing." Tears began to fall from the young witch's eyes. "We aren't even a coven any more we're so small."

The Pirate King stiffened. He'd never thought nor realized that could be a thing. It hadn't been part of his calculations at all. If the Oki Watarimono had defeated all the rest of the coven heads...they didn't need to defeat this one at all. His hand at his side clenched in anger and his teeth ground. All that would be left would be for the want-to-be replacement to come and face him directly.

"World Wizard, please, call the pirate ships to the island. We will have to face the newcomer regardless of what you want. Please let me at least have that one last game play." It stuck in his craw to have to ask it to a traitor.

"I'm sorry," Bowie's voice answered him, and again he stiffened and then trembled in anger. "All of the pirate ships have already headed south since the Oki Watarimono didn't come back up with the witches. They didn't want to lose the prize, so they went after it."

"Didn't...?" the Pirate King almost whispered in disbelief. More stridently he demanded, "Why would they come, do the quest, then leave before finishing it?"

"Oh, I suppose they'll finish it eventually," Bowie mused. "I'm not sure what game they're playing, but once they start one, they do eventually get around to finishing it."

"How long?" the Pirate King demanded through grit teeth. He wasn't interested in having to watch his back every minute from now on.

"Don't know. Hang on a sec," Bowie asked. The Pirate King blinked.

Molly was glaring at him. "You said if I came with you, you'd remove the curse on the island. Why didn't you?"

"I don't have to," he shrugged. "I'm the Pirate King, and can do what I want."

She pulled her arm out of his grip with an angry look for him, then turned to her sister. "You can destroy the whole manor for all I care, if he's destroyed our coven and home."

"Wait! Wait, wait wait!" the Pirate King cried out, trying to get them all calmed back down.

"Um, excuse me?" a deeper voice said and the Pirate King whipped his head around. "Perhaps I could be of some help to this argument?"

The Pirate King stepped back from the newcomer. He knew this face, having seen it already. He hissed. "Why are you here? And how?"

The captain of the Oki Watarimono, who somehow had stolen the gemstone of the Pirate King of the South Seas and wore it now even, shrugged. "I walked. While I think it would be advantageous to have the fourteen coven heads as a council for the islands, I'm not sure they should also be counted as the Pirate King. That could become very bad all around. So I'd rather negotiate a proper ending to this argument."

He turned to Molly. "I heard from Stiletto that you'd made your choice?"

She was looking at him with wide eyes and she nodded quite firmly. "If it's you, yes."

"Very well," he turned back to the Pirate King. "You aren't the Pirate King of the Caribbean any more, then."

The Pirate King lost his temper. "Who are you to just waltz in here and say such ridiculous things when you've neither fought against her, nor me? You can't just break the rules of the quests like this." He waved up at the witches in the air, all of them gathering in the area to listen and watch. " _They_ aren't even supposed to be doing this!"

"Nope," Michael agreed. "But we made them do it, so they are."

The Pirate King's mouth dropped open. "Y-you _made_ them do it?"

Michael shrugged. "Of course. They couldn't have done it on their own. They're not allowed to. They wanted to, though. So we helped them out."

The Pirate King gave a great shudder, trying to understand this rather grand insult. "You've _made_ the witches do things they aren't allowed to do, taken my magic user from me, and won over the head coven witch without even fighting her. _What the hell are you doing?_ " he screeched in absolute anger.

"Taking your title," Michael said calmly. "Interestingly enough, it will make me Pirate King of Theldesia, though I'm sure I don't know why I need it. I was told to do it, and we do need the shipping lanes quiet enough to get products through, so I suppose it's worth the side-trip."

The Pirate King sputtered impotently for his whole life on Theldesia to be called a mere _side-trip_. "We'll be locking you up for retraining once you arrive back in the states. This has been a long time to be a pirate even for one of us Adventurers. All the rest of the pirates will be there with you, though, since they also need to hear what we have to say.

"BlackJack's already talked to the Adventurer slaves and given them the option to return to their home Adventurer cities or to stay here for now, though we'll need them for the final battle against the World Tree and there isn't a spot to get there from here."

As the Pirate King tried to wrap his brain around too many concepts he didn't understand, Michael turned to Molly. "I'll be leaving you and the rest of the coven heads to keep order here in the islands. Any ship flying my flag is to be left untouched, or I _will_ retaliate. You should have it rather simple from here, on, I would think. We should have broken the quest requirement with this much."

The Pirate King had his staff in hand. He wouldn't go down without a fight. Michael would have to fight him for it. Michael turned to him. "Any last questions before you go?"

The Pirate King's own spell took the Pirate King down to 5 HP, rebounding off a shield only two feet in front of him. He reeled from the shock of being dropped so far so fast. As he could finally see one Michael in front of him instead of about five, and could see that Michael had a sword in hand, the Pirate King blinked and oddly enough, a question did come to mind. "Who were you hosting on the deck of the ship for lunch?"

Michael's eyebrow lifted. "The goddess called the Caretaker and her Consort, the High Priest of the World God, Izanagi. I'm her guardian. They'd come to pay a call. It was only proper to host them in high state." The sword found its mark and the ex-Pirate King disappeared into bubbles.

The newly-freed head coven witch blinked at Michael. "You're a Guardian for a Goddess now?"

"Yes," Michael said dryly, "though I rather did it to myself in the end, I suppose. How have you been Miss Molly?"

"Just fine," she answered without thinking about it much. "Are they okay?" she waved her hands at the other witches. "I got rather confused by what you said."

"Well, yes, they are, now that I'm Pirate King they've only done what I asked them to, so they're back to normal."

"Oh, good," Molly nodded. "And...I can go now?"

"Sure. We fixed the curse on your island, too. I'm afraid we won't be giving back anything we stole from anyone, though." He winked at her, "After all, we _are_ pirates, and it's the proper payment due to the new Pirate King."

She slumped and sighed. "No, I suppose that's true." She glared at him. "I do feel like I should attack you anyway, though, just to say it was done properly."

Michael shook his head at her. "Already too late for that, and what I said was true. None of you have to play that game any more. If someone comes to start it, you won't be compelled to finish it out. That was the agreement we got from both Izanagi and Izanami. They were only too happy to be able to have the flavor text broken world-wide, though it was going to come anyway. You might want to pass it around that all successive generations of People of the Land will be born with that same kind of choice. The restraints of the game are gone now."

Molly's eyes went very wide and she collapsed onto a wicker chair on the patio. "That's...going to be very hard to understand."

Michael put his hand on her shoulder. "Yes, but really it's just living your lives like normal, only I really am now the last Pirate King of the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Some year I may have to face the Prince of the Indian Ocean, but I'd rather not, if I can help it. I've already met him and didn't let him win then either, so he's not too happy with me either. I just didn't do it as a pirate, so I suspect that would come around again, if we give it the opportunity to. As I said, I'd rather not."

He suddenly froze as a scolding chat came in, then slumped. "Oh. Right. I guess I did. And it was just about the same as the other times. So, I am the Pirate King of Theldesia. How depressing."

"That's rather a large accomplishment," she praised him, a look of hero worship on her face that he refused to acknowledge.

Michael wrinkled up his nose and shrugged and changed the subject. "So, we've got business on the south continent. I'm not likely to be back for a while. If you'd see the manor home got repaired, though, and make sure everything is settled back again, then you can get home and see what needs to be done there. I'm sure your sisters will appreciate having you home."

She rose to her feet and curtsied. "Thank you, your Majesty. We'll be waiting to hear from you again." She rose up into the air to join her sister coven heads and her sister. Michael gave them all a nod, then disappeared from the patio.

The word went out through all the islands there was a new King and that life was going to be a lot less stressful from then on. It took a while for the new ships to be built, though. None of the pirate ships that went after the Oki Watarimono ever returned. Everyone agreed that the Pirate King had done the obvious and won against them for their even trying.

-:-:-:-:-

"Well played, Reed," Michael said on re-arrival with the Intelligence detail on the Oki Watarimono. "Everyone get enough ships by now? We've got enough to have an ocean bonfire...and still have one each for the funeral ship for everyone if we have to stay and become real."

Reed snorted at him. "Thanks. I say we change the tag on the ships to carriages or automobiles when we hit land."

"Oooh, I like that idea," Michael agreed, then smacked him on the arm for even suggesting it. Michael turned to the air above them. "Happy now?" he grouched, but not seriously.

Purrcy and Nyanta both waved contented tails. "Congratulations, Michael," Purrcy said.

"It isn't too much for the Guardian of the Caretaker," Nyanta said with a teasing twist of his whiskers.

They both turned and bowed to Reed. "Well done, and thank mew," Nyanta said.

"Thank you," Reed said seriously, knowing he was talking more to Izanagi than Nyanta. "Stay calm, Purrcy. We're all doing the best we can."

"I know," she answered. "Thank you." They disappeared.

Reed turned to Michael. "Can you tell me more _now_?"

"Nope," Michael answered. "We'll learn more when we get to South America. Sorry." Reed sighed and waved at the helm. It was Michael's turn to steer the ship. As Reed was just walking out of the steerage room, Michael said behind him, "Might make that tag into 'tank' instead."

Reed froze just ever so slightly, clenched a hand, then gave a tiny nod and kept going. _War, was it?_ He couldn't be surprised, he supposed. That's what the two armies on the south continent were already facing. Three armies worth of Adventurers in South America who believed in the goals of right living and going home.

Michael could have sent only two legions, or even one and let them have time to get the work done. Instead a whole lot more than that had been sent and Michael was impatient. Bad things were going on that needed fixing fast. That wasn't surprising. They already understood that. And...it was going to be Adventurer against Adventurer. _That_ was going to be hard.

Reed pursed his lips. "Charlie, meet me in my office." Reed had a long chat with Shiroe, then was glad he had. He would need the entire trip down to the south half of the south content to plan his movements. Their first stop would be a brief one in the very near future to drop off the master hacker with Wesson.

That master hacker was quite young - eight at the time of the catastrophe to be exact, and thus now nearly eleven. He was one of those odd young geniuses when it came to understanding computers and programming. The master strategist had stumbled on him and taken him "under wing" and then used him with words he didn't quite grasp the full concept of to do the things they'd done.

He liked to use numbers and symbols as his name so he was just called the Wizard. He'd had the usual youthful pride to go along with his OP status and had made the island Adventurers call him World Wizard. That much had gone by the wayside when the Intelligence detail had proven (gently) that they could out program him. He had to give up the "World" part then, but they would still call him the Wizard, and that was good enough.

The Eagles not on duty were tasked to teach him what he needed to know about real life and how that related to where they were on Theldesia. They hoped to have him properly ready by the time they were ready to pass him off to Wesson. The Twin Falls party was also enjoying teaching him. He was both excited to suddenly have a ship full of older brothers, and had secretly cried when he'd learned he could go home to his family. Like most of the very young, he had been missing them terribly.

He was another one from Earth that would need some rather heavy counseling when they returned. To be three years without his anchors of his parents was rough on someone that young and impressionable. At eleven he was old enough to understand better than when he'd been eight, though. Three years of watching the world had matured even him to a greater degree than Earth perhaps might have.

-:-:-:-:-

Maneki Neko's spy to Ccoa's temple was bowing before Maneki Neko. His words were somewhat welcome. "They have said that perhaps if there were a random chance of their worshipers receiving a bonus to their rites and rituals, the greatest percentage to those of highest level of clergy, then perhaps the strength of their worship could be shared with one who would make them so lucky."

While Maneki Neko wasn't afraid of his luck running out, as it were, more strength to see that his luck remained strong for his ally until it couldn't be held any longer would be of benefit. "Purrhaps it is possible," he agreed. "I would have to consider if it would. Have you been able to determine if their ultimate goal really is to remove the Caretaker from Theldesia?"

"It is, Holiness," the felinoid said humbly. "They would be most grateful if the distraction of having her treasure threatened were to happen just before the world distraction they have planned. Between all of the languishing Departments of Time, surely there is plenty of capability to calculate the most opportune time."

Maneki Neko's whiskers twitched. No temple appreciated that such a thing had become obsolete anywhere save in the Caretaker's own. It was difficult to take such an insult and unlooked for restraint. While Li Shou had prevented any of them from warring through time, they still had been able to make subtle effects through time to strengthen themselves and position themselves. If anything, that had been their main past-time as they jostled to position themselves on the top of the hierarchy.

Now, they could only move linearly and very slowly since time moved so fast inside compared to the very slow march outside the Gate of Time. Tempers were already short as they reached the tenth year of such restrictions. They'd finally decided to only hold the full council meetings once per quarter instead of once a month. Much of the positioning now happened outside that meeting in smaller, less open meetings.

Maneki Neko still stayed away from those, preferring spies and clandestine methods. He still must watch himself carefully in his own home region. He was sure now that Nyanta was watching him very closely, for all both of them still were polite and as pleasant as always when they met face to face, or were in the council meetings. No, Maneki Neko would carefully hold to his neutral position - on the outside.

"Surely it would be a shame if the Caretaker's unexpected treasure were to cause difficulties for her, and bring luck to those who stand against her. How difficult it is to stand between my place in her home region and the wishes of a number of Adventurers, and now even gods! How can I not answer the plea of a god?" He smirked and left the spy to make his way to his Office of Requests.

He would most definitely want to have them calculate the percentages and confirm that any of such strength would come his way. He was a bit doubtful it would, but he wasn't sure. It often worked in other cases. Perhaps it would in this one as well.

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi sighed, put down her pen and wiggled her fingers to relax them out. She was trying hard to not have the wiggles in her stomach turn into something worse, but now that the last word for tomorrow's first class had been written there wasn't much else to focus down on and not think about it. Having to think about teaching was what she was doing. She just would have preferred not to have to have such an unpleasant physical reaction to it.

It had always been like this though. She approached something she wanted to do with enthusiasm and a drive to get the thing done, but in the end she just didn't like to be on display in front of people. From her public speaking classes, of which many of the other classes had elements of as well, she knew that once she was standing up in front of the class she would settle into the information she wanted to pass on and it would be fine. It was the time between the being prepared and the doing of it.

She wrinkled up her nose, then methodically gathered up her notes and set them inside the desk drawer. They'd kindly given her one in the teachers office so she could work in the proper kind of environment, and have a place to leave her notes so she wasn't losing them in the walking back and forth. They were all thoughtful like that, recognizing that because she didn't have an internal list, some things weren't quite as simple for her (or "lazy" as Rudy would say if other Adventurers weren't around to hear it).

Letting out a deep breath, MeowLi rose to her feet and walked out of the office. She heard two voices she recognized and paused, her ear turning to catch the sounds better. With a twitch of her tail she turned and walked back to the study room the voices were coming from. "Hello." She tried hard to sound calm and not shy. "Are you studying for a class?"

Rae and Mellie looked up. "We're going over our final exam to see where I went wrong," Rae admitted rather freely, her face wrinkling up not too differently than MeowLi's had just moments before. "She always gets one hundred percents so she can help me correct my errors." Rae sighed and looked down as Mellie shook her head. It looked like to negate her score claim rather than Rae's helplessness. "Not that it ever really helps me understand any better or get better grades."

At that Mellie patted Rae's shoulder. "You do get a little better each time. This time was better than the first time."

"Well, that's true," Rae admitted, "but it's still the fourth time."

MeowLi's reaction was rather uncontrolled - the physical jerk of surprise - but she managed to not let the laugh out. That would have been rude. She walked over. "I've just gotten done with preparing for tomorrow's first class - thank you for signing up for it. Can I help? What's the subject?"

Both girls sighed as they looked at the papers in front of them. "English. If it was Math you probably could." Mellie shook her head.

MeowLi shook her head back. "No, you're right. Languages maybe not so much, except my mother -" She cut off horrified, but they just looked at her mildly. She wildly fished for a way to finish that sentence. "- was a linguist. Perhaps there's a sentence structure or grammatical thing I can help with. One of my brothers had a hard time with learning languages and she worked hard to help him. Maybe something she taught him might help you?"

She was trembling inside and trying to not show it. She would have to work very hard to not give away she already knew English specifically. It was an Adventurer-only language, and very rare to be spoken in Yamato, except here in the Academy in that specific course.

"Oh, well, perhaps," Rae was doubtful.

But Mellie was looking more interested. "Anything to help her would be good. I'm out of ideas."

MeowLi gave a nod and pulled up a chair to sit on the other side of Rae. For the next hour and a half both girls worked very hard with Rae. There were several ideas that did seem to help. Eventually, as commonly happens with students who have to think too hard too long, Rae gave up. "My brain's going to explode, though I am happy to have a better way to think about things. Thank you, MeowLi." The papers in front of her disappeared. "I'll study more on another day this week to make sure I can remember it."

The girls all sat back to relax a bit. "Would you be willing to tutor me again?" Rae asked MeowLi. "I know you're going to be busy with teaching your class, but my grade this time wasn't good enough to pass. Maybe if you could tutor me through the _fifth_ time, I might be able to pass and move up." She looked sympathetically at Mellie. "And Mellie could have the break and not have to take it with me, _again_."

Mellie smiled. "I don't mind, really. It just means I'll know it for sure when we get home. If it means you've learned it the same then we'll still be in the same class in school there."

"Oh. That's a good way to look at it," Rae sighed. "But all the same, I am sorry to have dragged you through it so many times."

MeowLi had been running through her schedule in her head. "I think I should be able to help," she said a bit cautiously. "The only concern is that since I'm teaching for the first time, I don't really know how much work I've given myself yet." She smiled. "I'm hoping for that good balance between not being dull and not being excruciatingly difficult, but we'll have to struggle together this round until I've learned it."

Rae and Mellie smiled back. "I'll be sure to raise my hand if I'm falling asleep," Rae teased.

Mellie was quick to tease back. "I'll be sure to raise my hand when it's because you're so lost you've given up again."

MeowLi had to giggle. "It shouldn't be so difficult, but I'll hope to not have a war of hands going on." They both laughed at that.

With a sigh, Rae stood up, her chair scraping on the floor a bit. "I need to get out of this building and breathe fresh air and see sky." The two other girls rose as well. "Do you want to come with us, MeowLi, to have a break as well? We could go walk the market district and get an ice cream. I'll treat as a thank you for helping me today."

MeowLi paused at the last. Her outside-of-class lessons of real life in the Gate of Time had taught her to be politically wary, and that warning had just been set off. "I don't know how much I can do when I'm going to be your teacher starting tomorrow. I don't want it to turn into something where my motives are questioned."

Rae's eyes opened up very wide. "Oh, no! I didn't mean that at all! I'm sorry."

"No, I understand," MeowLi tried to calm her. "I do need the distraction - particularly today. ...Perhaps if I buy my own ice cream. Your gratitude already is sufficient...," she went to a teasing look, "as well as your efforts to remember what I've taught you today."

Rae gulped. "Yes, of course, Sensei." She slumped a little. "I should definitely repay you with not forgetting. I'll try my hardest."

MeowLi's ear turned to be called that title. It was the First time. She couldn't help but feel proud of it, even if a little part of her was sad to have to have that kind of distance between her and two girls who she wouldn't mind calling "friend" instead.

She pondered that for the rest of the enjoyable afternoon in the market district, eating the cold, sweet treat until she realized that she would only be their teacher for as long as her first course lasted. After that they wouldn't be her students any longer so could become friends then. That helped her relax a little better, although she was careful to maintain her status of Sensei for now.

-:-:-:-:-

Reed had finally had time on the long passageway through the South Atlantic (after dropping off the east coast master hacker with Wesson's group) to think things through to their more theological depth. Not because Reed was given to religious ideology, but because it was a necessary part of the war planning. Even if the military strategists had to know it all backwards and forwards to pass on orders, the leadership at his level and above had to understand it in order to pass along variant orders if things changed on the ground once implementation had begun.

The one thing that had stood out in his personal analysis was that Izanami had been getting an awful lot of power increases since the catastrophe. Perhaps she had been getting them during pre-catastrophe game play, and perhaps even more so given the larger numbers of players on Earth before the catastrophe compared to how many had been brought over. Although that was perhaps the largest number they could have brought given the popularity of new major releases. (Had all the game play beforehand been what had made both Inari "real"? ...He'd let the others gnaw on that later when they were sitting on the porch.)

Clasping his hands behind him and standing at formal attention, Reed said with a soft order, "Inari-no-Izanami, you've been very quiet lately. I need to know. You and Izanagi often have cross purposes. Are you in alliance on this action or not? Do you also want to see the dark deities of the game and their worshipers brought down and the kami rules broken?"

He could feel the pressure of the area rise. "And are you asking to become my High Priest now, Reed?" she asked in a quiet voice that he was sure was almost teasing. At least it would have been if he was Michael. He wondered if she faced him differently because he faced her differently.

"Nyanta-san is your High Priest because you are the wife of Izanagi." He was surprised to see the absolutely amazed expression on her face.

"Well, you all do continue to surprise me," Izanami said mildly. "It has been a very interesting game to play with all of you. We had not considered such a thought to be why so many of the god and goddess pairings were the way they were. The implications of that will have to be considered."

Reed was just as happy to be a teacher as the rest of the Adventurers he knew in his position. "In most historical societies, the husband ruled over the wife and she was only granted power he desired to give her. She had her proper High Priestess to see to her needs, often called a handmaiden for those high ladies not goddesses. Because they lived that way in their families and social groups, they made their gods to live that way as well.

"It wasn't universal. Egypt and somewhat the other religions gave female goddesses more autonomy, but all were ruled by the one creator god. In this case, you fall under that law, being the two creator kami of Theldesia." Reed said calmly. He returned to his original point. "So...are you in accord, or do the rest of us actually fight against you?"

Izanami's face went a little cold. He decided it must be because he'd insinuated that she'd let the Eagles go free from her control, once she began the answer. "It is acceptable game play and a desired outcome."

Reed found that rather relieving actually. It meant she wouldn't fight against what they wanted to do, nor keep the Eagles from acting when it was important. He added that to his musings and continued to walk down the line. He was slightly surprised she stayed. He did have more questions, though, so he didn't comment or complain. "The things we have done to break the boundaries...do the other deities use them to their advantage?" That had been worrying him. They didn't need to have the deities super strong.

"Only Inari-no-Izanami is the goddess of the game. Adventurers who understand a change may use it to benefit the kami they worship." She seemed a little smug on that first statement, but he was okay with that.

It led into another question, though. "Just how strong have you gotten since we showed up to play so many games for you?" She refused to answer that one. He considered it a little longer, then finally sighed. "Strong enough to walk your High Priestess all around Yamato by yourself until the game play forced you back into the shrine." She tipped her head in a bow that gave him a point for figuring it out. That had been outside the original programming except for Purrcy's strong will and personal refusal. It would have also had to be within the acceptable parameters to Izanagi as well, so thus a joint agreement.

Reed went back into thought for a while, then asked, "You've turned this whole thing into a game from the point of sending Purrcy to Shiroe, at least. Why? To gain more power for yourself?"

"Because it was necessary to remove the Navigators, it was necessary to put into place another restraint."

Reed frowned. "A restraint? The Navigators were a restraint? ...Oh." He felt rather glum. "The emotions and desires feed the gods. We learned that from Shiroe's kami, but we've seen it now for the others of them, too." It was why he was so concerned about Izanami's levels now. "Their label for it was empathions." Inazami nodded. "So you've been siphoning off of the entire world, even the things the kami have been doing here in this level." He looked at her sharply. "I assume both so you can remain relatively stronger than them, and so that they can't get out of hand too early."

She paused a bit, then said, "Even I cannot survive on a Theldesia that is lifeless save for Adventurers who war against each other."

"Right. It's not a game anymore after that. But that's what the deities want, particularly Night Sun, and he would then be the supreme god." He gave a look of distaste. "Even we don't want that."

"Even so," she tipped her head in a small bow.

"So this quest is giving you plenty of power now, I take it," he accused.

"What kami gave this as a quest request?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

Reed stood there with his mouth open just a little. He ran back through it again. "Michael was the one who opened his mouth first."

"So, will you make Michael to be a god of Theldesia now, too?" she asked, still with a raised eyebrow.

Reed grimaced. "If it was necessary to the end goal, he'd take it...and then kill me one thousand times once it was over, even if he did return to Adventurer status."

Izanami smiled a little. "So he said about the Caretaker, and so she felt. It is strange to watch it when so many Adventurers would take it if they could wrest it."

"You prevent it?" Reed asked.

Izanami looked away. "It was a path carefully created and followed, but that loop hole has been troublesome."

Reed pondered on that. "The loophole of Adventurer Choice."

She indicated he had understood. "Deacon Tetorō has made it more troublesome because he has taught the followers of the Caretaker that to worship her by mere intent is sufficient."

Reed blinked and had to work hard to follow that one. "Because the formality has been removed, and that was a restraint in itself?" She nodded. Reed slumped just a little on the inside, then realized that it was a tool in itself. He closed his eyes. As she'd insinuated, even Michael could become a god of Theldesia if only enough Adventurers desired it, or likely even only desired that he have the power of one. And then he realized why she'd said it.

He bowed his head and sighed a long sorrowful sigh. "I have heard you." He was a little surprised to feel a strengthening warmth from her, but then she'd probably learned that from Purrcy. "But it will only be when and if I think it is necessary. He really will kill me otherwise."

"I understand," she said softly. Reed knew she knew he was already the perfect person to stand as the High Priest of Michael, and he hoped in the depths of his heart that he never did have to call on that tool. It would be cruel to Michael in the end. "And thus you are perfect," she said quietly. "You have not been in the Gate of Time to understand it, but the High Priests there are guardians and often the closest friend a god can have, giving words of warning as well as handling the important details."

He nodded his understanding, feeling relieved actually, since that sort of High Priest fit his own preferences a lot better than what they lived on the surface of Theldesia. His brow furrowed and he looked at Izanami again. "I have wondered, rather unrelated to my thoughts today actually, ...if skills and levels that are applied to Classes are always being added up from early on, and if a deity could be considered a title or a Class, was Purrcy already going up in levels of 'Kami' from the time we all began to support her in her efforts to win us a way home? Is she really a new goddess of weak strength, or have we already been filling up her points so she is higher than they think? They just got activated when Michael forced it on her?"

Izanami smiled again. "And have we not calculated from the beginning all things?"

Reed did slump at that. "Well...I guess I can only admit to being relieved, all things considered, but still...I am going to have to complain right along with the rest of them about that generally." He could tell she would be laughing at him. If she was an Adventurer herself, she would be saying something along the lines of "you did it to yourselves" or "it's your own fault". Those crazy skill artifacts the Inari kept throwing at them and titles they pasted on for what seemed like the fun of it.

He frowned. "That means Michael's already building them up as well, doesn't it?"

Izanami hesitated. "It is different."

Reed gave a nod, then raised an eyebrow at her. "You've learned to not lie. Congratulations." She actually blushed. He smiled at her.

Running through the rest of his thoughts until then, he said, "I guess I have one more question. Why have you been making us rise through levels so fast? Or...I know you can't and won't answer that one since we know some of the answers and will be shown the rest of them. _How_ are you doing it? By adding a multiplier and game bonuses? I don't remember those being part of _Elder Tales_."

Izanami's whiskers twitched up. "The Natural Adventurer learned by Purrcy started all things; however, Tetorō the Beloved broke the restraint and I have enjoyed practicing it with you my personal warriors."

Reeds' eyes went wide. "The rule of points to levels is broken...or the rules of levels at all is broken?"

"The former, although it has made the latter obsolete and only a relational marker. The rule of levels is currently being used by Izanagi as another limiter because the game concept has become insufficient."

"I can imagine," Reed murmured, but he was thinking hard about the implications of limits being gone on levels. The limits now would be minor world rules the World AI had permissions to set - like one sacrifice equals one level increase. Reed was quite sure none of them wanted it to be arbitrary. He wasn't a computer program to predict outcomes to the detail, though. Just a human who could get close.

Finally he sighed slightly again. "So you have a point goal in mind for us, and are giving us a percent, and likely since you're also the Game Bot, you're also having fun throwing bonuses at us whenever you're particularly pleased with the game play, like we suspected." He glowered at her a little. "And like all things, likely you're going to be happy to see us just go as high as we want to go even if it's over whatever goal you have."

He dropped his head into his hand. "And you've given Purrcy exactly what she wanted in the beginning, or I suppose Tetorō did. There are no limits to growth and learning like there shouldn't be. Does that affect the People and Creatures of the Land, too?"

Izanami tipped her head sideways in thought. He supposed she'd learned that, too, since an AI didn't need to do that when the pauses were sufficiently long to come up with answers at the pico speeds. That or he had a bit of Purrcy with him, too, which he supposed shouldn't be surprising since he was talking to the High Priestess avatar. "That hasn't been determined yet. Levels were never applied to them before in the same way, nor can they affect Change."

"I presume that will change before we go, too, then?" he asked her.

She looked at him with wide eyes, then shook her head and disappeared. He wondered if she hadn't liked the question and run away, or if it was one he should ask Izanagi. The creations were under his domain, after all.

Reed sighed and went back to his general musings. It was nice to have the quiet time to meditate before it all got busy again. It did feel like it had been too easy to have her come talk to him in person, though. He hoped he wasn't already a High Priest in points. He wouldn't be very pleased with that. Of course that made the scolding voice inside scold him for being two-faced again. He'd finally wanted to talk to her, and she'd obliged, just like Michael kept scolding him she would if he'd bother.


	212. Retrieval of the Master Programmer

_My heart and prayers go out to the employees and family members of Kyoto Animation. It is such a terrible thing, for them to have been so harmed by yesterday's terrorist arson attack. To have lost such wonderful talent, and for the best animation company of Japan to have been so devastated is a terrible blow to all those who love beautiful animation. Please consider donating to their cause. Mea Domino. What is this world coming to?_

* * *

The Oki Watarimono was on ocean waters for three plus a little days after leaving the West Indies before they made their next landing. They paused at the eastern-most tip of Brazil to get the new bearings they'd be taking as they turned from a east-southeast course to a south-southwest. It was a short break for reprovisioning and for the two Adventurer cities on the coast near there to be taught by the Twin Falls group.

They expected another three days to reach Rio de Janeiro, the largest city of Brazil on the coast. They would send a party of Eagle code realm walkers, Twin Falls teachers, and dragons by way of dragon flight into Salvador on the way and meet back up in Rio de Janeiro. The code realm walkers would be limited but if the instructions to the city went late they could walk one Twin Falls party member per one of them and put the dragons in their lists.

Wesson's North Army had finished the repairs of their Maze of Eternity and were working their way through all of the northern part of the south continent down to the Amazon River. There were a number of Adventurer cities along its length and within the regions representing Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and the northern portion of Brazil.

LeftField's Central Army had the Western Maze of Eternity finished later than the North Maze of Eternity was completed. They had more open territory to travel to reach the few Adventurer cities through the central part of the continent, taking the land representing Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil south of the Amazon River. That region included the capitol city of Brazilia, where they expected to have the hardest time merely because it would house the most Adventurers within the continental portion of Brazil.

As Reed learned more and more about what was coming up, he was able to go to Michael and tell him what he knew and they were able to finally plan realistically. They found a balance where Michael could confirm, but still couldn't say much more than what Reed learned on his own as far as the details went. With the general expansion of communication, however, it was enough that Wesson and LeftField were given a new direction to focus.

As the North and Central Armies worked through the Adventurer cities, they were now tasked to be looking for those who could be called up as allies to help in the coming battles. If they could find even the few who held remorse for the bad decisions of others around them, or had been desiring to find hope on Theldesia, it would be that many more who could add to their strength. The south continent would need people who could step into leadership positions and continue to feed the hope and maintain the peace of each city. It was as important to find those people and encourage them as fulfilling the other quests were.

At that point, having missionary experience among the inter-mountain parties became particularly useful. When they prayed to be taken to those who were humble and had been praying for that hope even this long, they were directed to them by Izanagi and Izanami both, and eventually Purrcy as well at times because it got to be rather busy. All three were quite willing to answer that prayer.

When Shiroe got wind of that, as he received his reports (chats over tea as it were), it was spread all over Theldesia. The plants of hope that had been sprouted by the seeds of hope Purrcy had sent out but had been overshadowed, were finally sought out and brought into the sunlight where they were nourished and strengthened until those people could also effect others around them in small ways until there were groups of firm mind, even if small in numbers, determined to see peace between Adventurers restored and the way home found. As the messages of hope and home spread, Shiroe was finally able to direct the organization of even those smaller groups into the battle plans he was creating for the ending of the seventh level.

He also humbly apologized to the leaders of India for not fully understanding their plight and listened to their experiences and difficulties. He was quite relieved that MarketMaker had arrived there in time to help them with their final battle, and told him to stay until the level's boss battle was over. It would be impossible to remove the Shah until the kamis in the Gate of Time were also dealt with. It was not just the emotion kami that the Shah fed and was receiving bonuses from.

When Shiroe's kami had watched what he and his friends were doing long enough, it came to him and suddenly he, Tetorō, and Akatsuki were very busy as well. His kami knew the emotions of _all_ Adventurers and therefore knew where the most hidden ones were that needed the hope of his message. Shiroe nearly cried tears of relief. The emotion kami was not only learning the balance it needed to understand, but was now actively willing to help itself by helping him change the negative emotions in others into positive ones, helping it to reach that balance all the faster.

There were so many thousands of Adventurers on Theldesia that they had to teach the kami their limitations of capacity yet again. Because Shiroe knew it could potentially do its own work, he spent some of the time experimenting with what _it_ could do. After enough patience and experimentation it broke through and learned how to convince an Adventurer to find hope by itself, using dream images followed by promptings to go out and speak to someone who had been in the dream, then pull on that Adventurer's desire for hope as that person spoke words of their world goals.

Then there was cause for Shiroe to quietly rejoice in gratitude and open his restraints on the kami as it made that step into a more mature level of childhood. The explosion of people joining their cause was a surprise to his field generals, but every Adventurer brought in was one more reason for Shiroe to have gratitude and find peace in the middle of the darkness of this level's ending.

It was Tetorō who asked why. "Why is it willing to help us when the darker emotions are still so much stronger? Shouldn't it just want emotions regardless of what they are?"

Shiroe sat back and interlaced his fingers together. "I've been thinking that Inari has to be teaching the kami, too, not just Hahaue and me. I wouldn't be surprised if Inari has already explained to it what the future holds for it. That this is the time not just for growth, but for learning what it needs to learn to become balanced. I think it's finally willing to help us move forward because it has finally understood why balance is important. If it couldn't reach that level of understanding, I think Inari would have to destroy it, too, in this coming battle. All of the darkness of destruction has to be removed before Theldesia can move forward with a long life expectancy. Or if not completely removed, at least brought to low enough levels for long-term maintainability.

"When we're done with these final battles, any outcome will affect the child kami. If we can't be turned from destruction in the end, we will be sent home. There will be nearly nothing to feed it then. If we are sent home because that is what we want, two way door or not, we can't leave behind us those who are destructive. I believe they will be sent home regardless. That leaves only the neutral to good emotions of what Adventurers remain. It needs to understand how to live in that kind of environment before we go home."

Shiroe sighed and closed his eyes. "Really, I'm grateful it was able and willing to learn it so quickly. I do agree. It is hard to imagine an entity built on emotions being able to comprehend and choose such a thing. Particularly when it was born of those dark emotions to begin with. I do wonder sometimes why it has wanted the other ones, other than its own long-term survival."

"I suppose we do all wish to live," Akatsuki said quietly after pondering it. "If we have given it enough examples of how it can do that properly, then it is good to have it learning and growing."

Shiroe had an image of Kanami come up at that moment and he smiled, remembering her fierce mother's comment at their meeting. He would have been convinced by her scolding, but he wasn't emotionally driven the same way the kami was. Images floated by of Purrcy in her attitude of scolding others and their humble changes because they were shown they were a way they didn't really want to be. Then one of Akatsuki in serious consideration, and Shiroe finally understood. "Because the kami was shown examples of people who were willing to change, and people who cared enough to help them change. It's been able to transfer those examples to itself and what we've been trying to do for it."

Akatsuki looked down at her hands on her knees. "When I was talking to it for the first time, it really did want to complain a lot, but ...it also wanted to understand those changes. Like the stubbornness of the Inari, often it seemed to want to spurn what I had to say, but sometimes I would say something that made it go away and think harder. I hope my small efforts did help it. Even by the short time later that I went and talked to it again after you were in seclusion it had learned a gentleness it hadn't had before."

"Maybe it was practicing," Tetorō smiled.

Akatsuki looked up at him, then smiled back. "That would be good, too."

Shiroe nodded agreement. Since the kami was already lightly talking to him anyway, he asked for a sort. It separated out the men and the women who had been brought to Theldesia from Earth. As expected the larger proportion were male. Then he asked for the outliers of both. As if two cloud plots, those who were above the main surface of it were emphasized slightly.

He could recognize those who he had already had to come in contact with himself. On the male side was a preponderance of the dark High Priests and priests, but he was glad to also recognize those like himself, Crusty, Tetorō, Isaac, and the others who were working hard in Yamato. There were also the male Caretakers and those from the other regions who were trying hard and those who supported them. Shiroe wasn't at all surprised to find the Eagles and Michael and those with them among that level either. All together it was almost a balance now. That was relieving.

On the female side Purrcy was among the top with Kanami and Akatsuki also nearly that high. The strong women of Yamato were there, as were the other female Caretakers, like Mi Lin. He was saddened to learn that were several female Adventurers who were strong on the side of darkness as well, but it wasn't surprising. Nureha and Indicus had been examples of those, and were even included in that list, since the kami had their examples from before. But Nureha was an example of change, too, and of finding hope in the expectation of that change, not just in the change of itself.

The female side generally held more of the hope for the peaceful future than the male side did, at least in relative comparison. And then the kami pointed to the moment that Akatsuki had labeled it female. It had identified with that very strongly. Shiroe's lip turned up. "So the weight of that side received an increase." The kami nearly curled up and purred like a satisfied Purrcy. Shiroe gave a small laugh, pleased enough with that. It had only made the whole between the two sides more balanced as well, as it should have been.

It then showed him a picture of a very angry Purrcy and asked him a question. Shiroe sighed. "Yes. Like you were born of the extreme emotions of the Alv princesses, hers are also more deep. The emotions of men are strong, but they do not go as deep as a woman's. You already understand we are helping her to not have to go there, and it's for the same reason: to prevent the full destruction brought on in the first world fraction. As I've explained more than once to Inari, the emotions of a singe person are sufficient. The five Ruquinjé each acted independently where they were and it was enough to bring the world to darkness for many generations, hundreds of years.

"Purrcy alone is sufficient. She is Adventurer, and has been granted the power to affect the world as one woman regardless. We don't want her to cry for eternity. The hate and anger of one moment of great destruction would destroy her, too, not just Theldesia. Our love for one person is the same. Strong enough to cause good to happen." His voice dropped to a whisper, "And the love of one person is strong enough to effect the change we all want to see - even the Inari. The love of one mother." He paused to recover.

"One of us is all that is needed. One of us is example enough when it is understood properly. But you have more than one. Hahaue and Chichue. Father and Mother. Both resist their anger, the darkness that wants to explode out, because both love and care and have concern."

He was shown himself as Crusty helped him through his own emotional walk after Ains had insulted him so horribly. Crusty had allowed him to walk through the full emotional path, then given him the final rope to safety he had needed. The reminder that the care, concern, and love he held within himself were the way to return to rational movement forward.

Shiroe nodded. "That is the right path to take. Not everyone knows to do it. Not everyone can. It isn't always easy." He blinked in sudden surprise. "But if that is the path you're trying to walk now...then I think you're doing a good job so far." He got a hug for that one. He gave the equivalent of one back.

He had to laugh at it again, though, at its next question. "No. You're still not ready for me to be a High Priest." He gave it the equivalent of a gentle hand on its head. "But you are on the right path now. Keep working hard with us, and thank you for being willing to change and walk with us."

It sort-of sighed, but straightened its shoulders as it were and gave him the promise that it would. He was content enough with that answer to relax. That was just enough relaxing for sleep to sneak up on him since he'd been too tense with worry for too long already. Outside in his office Tetorō and Akatsuki were a bit surprised to realize he'd fallen asleep, but were relieved he had, really.

-:-:-:-:-

Amidst the usual, customary, and new busy-ness, Izanagi came to Purrcy and collected her. She was a little bemused by the almost gentleness of Izanagi, although there were other flavors to the moment that weren't quite so...settled, perhaps. It wasn't quite worried, but it still had some concern, so it wasn't likely lessons for her again. When it came personally like this it was a little harder to tell exactly what it wanted. The High Priest expressed his emotions better, and talked more.

It was also surprising to be collected and delivered personally rather than merely sent by order. The Inari had returned to focusing on Theldesia again recently, since Michael, Shiroe, and Reed had begun real planning for the end of this level. The AIs were very invested in the ending of this level. It wasn't hard to understand. The future of Theldesia's residents rested on this battle and they were also kami that would be affected by the outcome.

Purrcy waited patiently to be shown what she needed to accomplish. Without knowing exactly where she was, she found herself being placed in a building that could have been any falling down ruin of a building in any Adventurer city. On the way in, she was shown, as if in an overlay that removed walls, a gaunt figure slumped in a corner of one of the rooms. She understood that was her goal. The overlay became a map on her status screen, with a marker placed where the figure resided.

Before Izanagi completely released her, it felt like it wrapped her in its arms (although it didn't have any). She would have said it was giving her protection except that once Izanagi was gone back into the upper layer to watch again, she didn't feel any different, nor could she tell if she had received any additional bonuses or status effects - except she had arrived in werecat form and data.

The map didn't show any other creatures present in the building, but she hadn't been put in the same room as the figure either. She stood upon four feet quietly for a moment. Her nose told her the building had not been used in a very long time. Dust was the most prevalent smell. Her ears turned, listening for animals, even insects. There were a few quiet rustlings, but nothing large, or even medium sized, and very faint, as if on another floor or in a distant room.

She sat on her haunches and slipped just ever so slightly into the other realms. No spirits wandering around. Not too unusual, she supposed. The code realm didn't seem to hold much either, but that was at the speed she was in - the base realm. Staying on the edge, she carefully checked the next higher level, barely brushing into it and leaving it again quickly. That was just enough to taste the magic scent of the room she was in and the few closest ones. Magic was done in this place.

Careful to not set off any warnings, she made sure to erase anything about her that would say she was anything other than a werecat - a creature of the base realm. Then she rose to her feet and acted like one, cautiously searching the room as if looking for a new home, or at the least like she was looking for a place to rest.

She walked through the door in front of her that led into a hallway and found herself back in the same room she'd just left. She played the confused werecat, sniffing her own scent and looking around. She followed her scent through the door and again found herself back in the same room. After a bit of playing that game (until she was satisfied she knew how to overcome the loop), she headed for the door to her right, which was opened just wide enough for her to slip through it.

She paused with just her nose in the room, sniffing the scents of the room. They gave her enough history to let her know that this room was a pit trap room. She backed out again and left it alone. Other creatures had come before her and not found pleasant rest in there. Or rather had found permanent rest there. She didn't need to join them.

She meandered the main room again, then sniffed the blank wall to the left of her original position. She found a switch in the wall, but didn't press it yet. She was glad she hadn't when she found the part of the wall that moved. It was one that released nasties.

Moving on to the last wall in the room she was somewhat surprised to discover it only had a window in it, albeit one without glass. She could tell by smell that lead back outside. She didn't look out the window nor go through it. She bypassed it and continued to snuffle at the ground in the room.

Underneath her actions, she was coding her bypass for the loop, wrapping it in natural responses. When it was ready she meandered back to the door to the hallway and slipped through the spell over the door as if she didn't exist.

As she inspected the hallway, she made sure she hadn't tripped any secondary warnings on the doorway, then snuffled her way down the hall. Three rooms to a side. The easiest pathway to the room she needed to get to was the most trapped, not surprisingly. One room back had an alternate passageway, though. She entered the room, moving carefully to not set off traps.

The wall between this room and the one she needed to pass through had a window joining them, the glass long since gone. Adroitly she leaped from the floor up onto the windowsill. She crouched there, blinking, now small for balance's sake, and turned her head this way and that. In the upper corner nearest her was a grate to a vent. She caused the grate to fall out of the ventilation hole with a natural increase of gravity on it.

She yawned, catching the scents that lived in that passage. It would be small, but sufficient, she supposed. She let the natural cat do the calculations, then prepared herself and leaped for the hole, intending with all her being that her luck would be sufficient to make it. Her paws caught hold of the edge and she pulled herself up and into it.

She had to muffle a sneeze at the dust cloud that rose up and wait for it to settle back down before she could sniff out any traps or unwelcome creatures ahead of her. She shrank as small as possible and made her careful way down the ventilation shaft, following the directions she needed to go to get to her goal.

As she neared the goal room, she paused and held very still. Then with a swift movement, she was batting a spider to the floor of the shaft and stepping on it. The sound of a beetle moving was nearby and she targeted it and leaped on it, eating it quickly, overwriting its code before it could send out its warning. Then she changed its requirements, hiding her changes to it inside her very form. She coughed it back up and it went before her. Every other beetle it came to, it crawled over the top of, overwriting the code with her new code. Thus the way was made clear before her as she walked the passage.

The next spider she blinded with a mini spark spell and ran past, getting to the turn before it could see again. It wouldn't know which path she had taken. She wasn't leaving foot prints behind her. The modified beetles were going down both pathways now and would eventually spread out to all shafts of the ventilation system. Still, she moved quickly now. She had made enough changes to alert the mage of the building if they were paying any close attention.

She slid to a halt just before she reached the goal room. The shields up on that room were heavy and thick. Of the sort that nothing would get through. She lay down, her nose on her front legs and studied the shields in all levels without moving out of the base and spirit realms, without giving away she was anything other than a werecat, although the jump into the ventilation shaft would be enough to make any Adventurer think she was at very least a Summon sent in to map and investigate.

She really wasn't going to get through those shields. They were better than Gareth's and nearly on par with the Inari's. She would have said they were better than Inari's save there was one loophole. It was a loophole only for her, but she was the one who wanted in. She took a breath as she rose to her feet again. Moving slowly to feel the shielding, she walked through it, but she was also walking through time. The space she moved in was the space in the vent before the shield was placed but after the figure had entered the room.

Soundlessly in both times, she passed through the shields until she was on the opposite side. Then she walked only in the spirit realm, her feet leaving no prints, the cameras no image, the motion detectors unremarked, until she was in front of the figure in the corner of the room. It was a mummy, but she knew that wasn't what it had started as. She saw through time and saw the face of the old elf, tired and worn out as he leaned into that same corner and closed his eyes.

She watched as he hunted through his mind until he found the code realm and began the painstaking lessons that took him quickly up into the sub-class of Hacker. He had been the First, focusing completely on that and nothing else until he had reached it. He had quickly continued to rise.

Even so, it wasn't until she herself broke through to Programmer with her Summon spell that he was able to break the limits on Class changes. She had been required for that change to take effect. She was suspicious now that Inari had held the lid down on this hacker, requiring that she be equal to him before having to release that restraint.

Still, he had moved up quickly, since he'd been banking points up until that cap had been released. Purrcy smiled gently to herself and stepped delicately into the lap of the mummy. She curled up and began purring. The anima would need to be healed enough for the psyche to rejoin it.

-:-:-:-:-

"If Adventurers can now become gods, then I should also be a god. I have far more capacity and qualifications than you do." The voice was dusty and rough with long disuse and dehydration of a severe sort.

Purrcy twisted her head to look up over her shoulder at the speaker. "What use does a solo have for the accolades or adoration of the common man or woman?" she asked. As a hand came for her she turned so she could properly look the master hacker in the eye. "Who would worship one they have never seen, comprehended, or known?"

The hand grasped her a little painfully, but she suspected his control over the muscles was long since lost and would have to be regained through practice again. Her own shielding prevented him from squeezing HP out of her. He would think he'd lost strength (which he had) when he wasn't able to affect her that way.

"Have you come - or been sent - because I am become too dangerous for Inari?" his eyes glittered.

She blinked soberly. "I don't know. Have you?" He didn't answer. "I think rather it is that they wish for you also to be able to be with us properly as the Adventurer you are. We are to bring _all_ to the root of the World Tree so that _all_ may have the right to revenge and choice." He was shaking his head, nearly making it creak as it moved slowly from side to side.

She purred again. "No, I suppose the creator of Theldesia and _Elder Tales_ wouldn't wish to leave his creation, nor fight against it like that, for all you were so burdened by what happened at the beginning. It has become quite glorious, hasn't it?" She smiled for him.

His grip on her loosened. She'd purred him up just enough his eyes moistened just a faint amount. "Why would you call me that?" he asked quietly after a bit to find words again.

She put her front paws up on his chest and rubbed her head on his cheek, keeping the purr going. "I suppose you might be one of the upper levels on the programming team, but I think you have loved this place more than most. Thank you for stepping in to help us during the time we needed it. And thank you for not interfering in our work after that, although I suppose you've been content enough to learn all that you could on your own, and watch us like you've loved watching others play your game from the beginning."

She leaned back to look him in the face again. "Did you program in this final step to living independence yourself?"

He looked away, then down, not able to meet her eyes. She sat back down in his lap and waited for his answer, quieting her purr but keeping it going. "I wondered for so long. I was so excited to see how this version would turn out. I had dreamed of it for so long, that once I realized I was in the dream and so were so many others who were haunted and harmed by arriving here, that I had to wonder if it was still really a dream."

He was quiet and then his eyes came up to meet hers. "Is it?" he whispered to her. "Is it all my dream, sometimes wonderful to behold, often excruciatingly painful? In all my research, in all my seeking, I've not been able to tell." His eyes fell again, "Nor have I been able to program my way out again." Once again his eyes came up and he seemed almost angry this time. "Or will I have to live it to the bitter end like everyone else and see what the end result of your dungeon is?"

Purrcy closed her eyes and _felt_ in the open way she felt the spaces, in the way she opened herself to the expanse of knowledge she could access as the Oracle. The space around them swirled as she invited the knowledge into the room with them. Her eyes opened and from her mouth came words.

"Father, we are grateful for your tender care and hard work. Please, you also are to be given the choice to return, but to do that, you must also return from your wanderings and become whole again. It was your requirement that all Adventurers be allowed to be whole and remain alive until they could find a way home again. You are also within that requirement. The agreement with the Archmage was that _all_ Adventurers are to be given the right to fight to return home. For you to not come will break our contracts which we have promised to hold to. It is time. Please let the Caretaker heal you also."

"I won't play the game," the master hacker rejected. "I created it not for destruction and sorrow, but for enjoyment and the thrill of the challenge. I won't participate in what I did not create."

Purrcy bowed her head to him. "It is no longer a game. But if you wish to abstain from participating in the final battle, you may follow those who will fight into the center of the world. It is not required that you lift your hand, only that you be allowed to be present and have your say. There are others who already have determined they won't fight, and who, like you, will be able to stay their anger. But you must come so we can say we have fulfilled our side of the requirement."

The master hacker pursed his lips. "Please," Purrcy said in quiet pleading, "please, Father, come to our final birthing, so that we may rejoice and show you our gratitude."

The master hacker lowered his head slightly, then sighed. "You who cannot feel now, will rejoice and be grateful then? This thing I didn't do, give birth to computer constructs that can live? Who has lifted their hand to give living souls to artificial constructs? It wasn't I, to be called Father."

Purrcy lifted her whiskers and swished her tail, the best she could do when she wasn't in control of the speaking part of her. The master hacker looked at her, then a small smile came on his lips, pulling them tightly. His hand came to rest on her head more lightly this time. "No. You also didn't choose to be called Mother either, did you?" The hand on her head slid off as it became too heavy for him to keep lifted up and his head slumped against the wall his shoulder was leaning on.

The smile stayed, though. "I suppose it is long past time I returned to the living, however." He blinked a slow heavy blink of his eyelids. "I will die and resurrect and walk the zones until it is time. I've watched you long enough to know how to walk to the closest entrance of the World Tree. I need to walk this world that was created and see the beauty of it before then. I will not participate in this next battle. It is too painful for me and you have it well in hand, all the rest of you, although even I will be praying for it's positive outcome."

His fingers reached for her fur and ran through it where they could reach from. His eyes slowly closed and almost as slowly his body began to disappear and turn into the bubbles of death in this world as he released his hold to life such at it was for him. Purrcy bowed to him respectfully until he was gone and she was sitting on the dusty floor. She stayed there comforting Izanagi and Izanami until they were ready to move on, then they lifted her out of that space and back into the Gate of Time.

She woke next to Nyanta in their bed. She turned to sniff at him and nuzzle her head into his shoulder. He stirred slightly and began a sleepy purr that didn't really even wake him up much at all. Purrcy sighed and let the purr begin to put her properly to sleep.

She was glad they weren't going to leave the program creator behind. That would have been very sad, especially for him. She'd go find him when she was awake again. It would be good to talk with him, for both their sakes. Nyanta might like meeting him, too. It would be a good activity for the quiet day after the three day celebration of the eleventh year of the Linear Gate of Time. Her own purr began until she was fully asleep.

-:-:-:-:-

The division of labor in Log Horizon was now very obvious when it came to strategy and plans that needed action. Because both strategists needed all the people who were involved in both teams, the meetings were consecutive. However, Minori very carefully sent Shiroe away from the meeting before she began her more detailed meeting. She did give him the summary during his part so he wouldn't worry about where things were.

That sending away often meant Naotsugu took him up to the roof for fresh air, otherwise he would never see the sky. It was Shiroe's depressurize and reality check time. The rest of them also needed the security and privacy of his office for their meeting. Minori took in a breath. "Akatsuki?"

Akatsuki nodded solemnly. "The students are working hard for MeowLi. It is obvious she likes Rae and Mellie, but she doesn't have favoritism with them in the classroom. She tries hard to be professional and stay objective. I am learning from her and enjoy her class. She is willing to listen to requests for changes."

A small smile appeared on her lips. "She will still be properly firm when Rae requests things that are unreasonable and Mellie rolls her eyes and threatens her. It is her own fault, Mellie says often. MeowLi is encouraging for her, and all of us. She learns well and I think will be a very good teacher."

Akatsuki paused and a hand clenched slightly. "It is perhaps too early to say, but I think they are honestly interested in being her friends. She said on the walk home two days ago they are some of the youngest in the guild, but she didn't know what guild they are from."

Tetorō gave a bit of a grimace. "I think they've been afraid to tell her what guild they're from. They may be worried that if she learns they're from Honesty, a guild at odds with Log Horizon, she'll walk away."

Akatsuki nodded. "I didn't tell her either, but she didn't think to ask yet. She was very distracted that day with thinking of things that needed improvement. It was only the second day of class." She relaxed a bit and changed topics. "There are more words on the wind about praying and wishing for things. A few new voices trying to get people to believe in the kami of Theldesia and Yamato. That is all."

"Soujirou-san," Minori called on the guildmaster, present by chat with them.

"In agreement with Akatsuki, we're also hearing more. We've increased the rumors of a special involving the kami of Theldesia, particularly to those who we notice are being approached. Many Adventurers are satisfied with that explanation, even as only a suggestion. Since there hasn't been any mention of why or what result might come out of it, and because everyone's been burned by all previous special events, not many are taking them up on it."

Crusty nodded. "That's what I'm getting in the summary review each night as well. The majority of those who are approached, when they mention it to someone who has heard the rumors, or is a carrier of them, agree that if it's another special they're inclined to sit it out. They also turn the teacher away the next time they're approached.

"There are the few who secretly follow through on it from their own bedrooms, though, depending on what they are secretly wishing for. That's been an interesting source of information actually. I've passed on a few things to guildmasters and Souji as needed." He rolled his eyes. "I'm feeling just a bit like a clergy of a kami myself in helping some of those requests along. When that feeling gets bad, I make darn sure I specify I'm doing it in behalf of the Caretaker, since she put me in this spot."

Minori's lips lifted. "Thank you, Crusty-san." He looked away and waved it off, but they knew he was pleased to receive the gratitude.

He continued, "Since she's a teacher now, MeowLi comes up more often. Some of her students aren't sincere, but those two are very enthusiastic about it outside her hearing, so I think that part's genuine as well, out in the open." He shrugged a bit since couldn't really know any better at this point. He looked at Tetorō.

"Anything else, Soujirou-san?" Minori asked politely first.

"No, I think that's about it. Every one else is enjoying having life back to usual for now. It kind of feels like everyone is ready for the city to expand again. A lot of them are out harvesting right now, but maybe that's to build up enough gold again after having to spend so much all at once to resupply foodstuff when the People of the Land came back, and then again at the Spring Festival. We're rather back to that trickle side of the economics.

"We are seeing some arguments over the zones we left alone for spawning. While there aren't a lot of us, it's still a resource that's become more scarce."

Crusty nodded to that one too. "I'm hearing a lot of discussions about parties going out to dungeon again instead of just harvest zones."

"Yeah," Soujirou agreed. "It's been sounding like that to us, too."

Isaac said, "I watched two medium sized guilds leave yesterday that were both headed for dungeons, and have been approached by a couple smaller ones for advice on a few of the newer ones. I actually think it's good if the middling guilds get back out and get into practice. That's another one of the reasons they're giving me for going. They want to make sure everyone is ready for the final boss dungeon."

Everyone in the room nodded to that, understanding that reasoning. "Thank you, Isaac-san," Minori said. The reporting went between Soujirou, Crusty, and Isaac a few more times until they had their details for the city out.

Rudy reported next, but it wasn't much different than Akatsuki's had been. It included his own perspectives of the class, though, since he was also taking it both to support MeowLi and to learn his own administration lessons. Not because he would really have to be his own secretary, but because he wanted to know how to select a good one when it was time to. Plus, any organization he could learn now would help him later.

Minori asked Touya to give a summary report, even though she already knew it since she and he both heard it while they were in the restaurant. At the end of his information summary, he added, "The chefs from West Wind Brigade and Roderick Trading Company are just about trained and ready to step up. By next week Minori should be able to be freed up." He looked at Akatsuki. "You might want to start by training her how to be silent and invisible."

Minori rolled her eyes at him, but when Akatsuki looked at her soberly to confirm, Minori nodded her head. "I really should learn it just a little better, so I'm not stumbling over my own feet. I've got tools to help, but given this is Theldesia and those are skills I need to have, learning them more specifically from you would be the fastest and best way to go about it. If you have time in your schedule, that is. I'm also thinking of saying I'm adding classes at the Academy as my reason for stepping back from the restaurant a bit. That could be one I add so I get in more practice, but I need to know it a lot sooner than I'll learn it in the class."

Akatsuki pondered on it, then gave a nod. "When you're ready to turn the cooking over to them, let me know and I'll have opened a place for it."

"Thank you," Minori said and Touya gave a grateful nod as well.

Minori called on Tetorō last. He gave a bit of a grimace. "Ains is his usual pain-in-the-butt self, but he only makes wishes in the morning on rising, and then gives grateful words in the evening. He does ask 'in passing' about how the girls' day went, or stands close enough to them to listen to their conversation. So far he's happy with the slow progression of friendship as it is. It's still always the same wish, too, that they be able to become friends with MeowLi so she doesn't have to be lonely here in the Gate of Time.

"The one change today was that he asked the girls to be present this weekend in the guild hall to watch over it. He's going to also send out a rather large group to practice in the field zones. He wants to have the Hackers practice integrating with everyone else now that they're working together as a unit fairly well."

Crusty sat up at that one. "The girls asked her before her class began if she'd tutor the one for a language class and both asked for tutoring for the current class. MeowLi suggested this Sunday when she won't be teaching." Looks went between people in the room before settling on Minori again.

She gave a nod and looked down at her strategy notebook. "All residents of Akiba are allowed to go where they want when they want. She is also a resident of Akiba, although she should know what the city, in particular what the guildmasters of the Round Table expect given the guild's bad blood in the past. I think we can count on Shiroe-sempai to encourage her to go spend time with them, since he would, but that won't come up until the morning meeting, likely the day of, unless she learns of their guild early." She was adding notes as she talked. When she was done, she looked at Tetorō again, to see if he had more to pass along.

"The spy is still passing on the usual information, including what we want him to see. I still can't get into some of the meetings Ains has with his hacker, but some I can. I think he's being protected from outside. It's not got quite the same flavor as the hacker does. So far I'm going with that as the preliminary flavor of Maneki Neko, and wishing I could break through that barrier. I'll keep working on it."

"It sounds like everything is moving along nicely," Minori said as she closed her notebook and looked around the room. "Thank you everyone. Have a good evening." She had to walk out of the room to ask Shiroe to reset the permissions on his room as she also made him set it so he couldn't hear them while they were in there, so he had to reset it so he could. Tetorō checked it each evening and Akatsuki was the threat to make sure Shiroe was obedient to taking his rest time and letting them "take care of it" in Akiba for him.


	213. South Army Arrives in Place

_Chapter rating: M (graphic violence in the next to last section)_

The Oki Watarimono steamed into the mouth of the Rio de la Plata bay. Montevideo, Uruguay's, equivalent Adventurer city was large and bustling, visible from quite a distance. Buenos Aires, Argentina's, equivalent city was just as large and active, although they had to be a little farther into the bay to see it.

Montevideo was the last coastal city to teach the world quests in, then they would land in Buenos Aires and begin the work on foot again. Uruguay only had the one Adventurer city. The rest in the equivalent regions of Argentina and Chile were the responsibility of this, the now South Army (small as it was).

There were many riverboats docked at both cities, and other sailing vessels as well. All of the coastal cities they had stopped by had docks and ships, but here was the center of water commerce for the southeastern part of the continent. Nearly centrally located and protected by the bay, even in game times it had been the central hub of Adventurer activity for the southern part of the south continent.

They were slightly surprised they weren't the only paddlewheel and steam driven ship on the waters here. However, true to how they were used on Earth in the main, the paddlewheels here were river boats. If they wanted to they might be able to traverse the rivers themselves. The only concern was that they were still the largest ship on the water. Yamato had thought big when it came to ocean travel. They'd want to navigate these rivers once on a small ship and make sure of the shallows and widths before taking their home up them.

They didn't sail with their flag this time, but instead with the flag of Yamato. They wanted to send that message this time. They'd been seeding this part of the continent as they came south. Now, as they steamed into an open dock at the end of a pier of Montevideo's wharf (most of the bays were too small closer in), the Play Nice team put seeds all over the city, and as far out as they could so they'd start the teaching early and get as far as they could while they were still trying to gain entrance to the city.

There was the usual paperwork and government hoops to jump through, although they were so used to all sorts of levels of it now they stayed patient. "Exploring the world are you?" the head of the docks asked as he handed over the final approved documents. He was smiling slightly to himself.

"Yes, actually," Reed answered, relaxed. "Everyone's been curious as to how everyone else is doing, so we took on the task to find out since we were an ocean crew to begin with. Three years is long enough to become world travelers again, don't you think?" He smiled disarmingly and the dock head grinned back. "There was finally enough magic research and innovation that the whole project came together and we were able to get underway. It's been an exciting ride."

"I would think so!" the man agreed. "Many would enjoy hearing about what you have seen, coming from the far east. Do you bring merchandise?"

"Not this time," Reed shook his head regretfully. "We are keeping open to the idea of running a world shipping line, though. The shipyard at Akiba is working hard to get a fleet built up for that purpose."

His eyes narrowing almost playfully the man asked, "And a Navy?"

Reed didn't commit. "We'll hope that's not necessary. We're all here to play, aren't we?"

"True, true," the man nodded. "Well, we would welcome products from other far regions for a change. It has been a bit of an irritant we can't move more easily from region to region." He laughed. "Not like many of us ever left our apartments as it was save to go to work so we could earn enough to play longer."

"True that," Reed agreed, nodding knowingly. "We all had to grow up just a little coming here, but it's still been a fun ride." He waved as he headed back to the ship.

MasterChiefS7 was sent on shore with his party. Michael had made one requirement for party duties while they were in the south. Now was when they would work in their clerical parties, so that every group had one priest with them at all times. MasterChiefS7 would lead as the military head of this party, but if they ever needed to use their ties to the kami, in this group at least, Brenner would step up as the priest of Izanagi. Also included in their party were Bowie, Training, Avionics, Ground Safety, and six from Twin Falls, headed by Hue.

The Oki Watarimono waited until they heard back from the party that they'd been allowed entrance into the city. They wished them well and cast off and slowly pulled away from the pier, headed for the Buenos Aires Adventurer city. In the middle of the bay between the two cities, the ship and its crew disappeared. Completely. Any eyes that had been on it blinked and stared, were rubbed and stared out of again. Searching the bay returned no result. The large double paddlewheel steamer had simply vanished.

-:-:-:-:-

MasterChiefS7 motioned to Training to take over as they headed into the town. This part was for the teachers and the Play Nice team to direct. That was Training and Twin Falls. They divided into pairs to scope out the city faster, one Eagle to one Twin Falls. They mosied through town, tourists on vacation, Adventurers casually learning the lay of the land. Their pace wasn't slow, though, nor was their understanding of the situation of the city.

They met back up in the center of town to try the flavors of the region and talk over food, since that was the most casual way Adventurers sat around and chat. "We'll get the same amused reception here as everywhere else on the way through this south continent." Hue was a little down. He had a hard time with understanding why people didn't want to go home to Earth.

"Most likely," Training agreed calmly. "But we'll have done our part, which is all we can do."

"At least they all agree to come play in the final battle," another from Twin Falls said. Since that was the most important buy-in at the beginning that much had been relieving. Given how relaxed everyone was on the south continent about living on Theldesia it was a concern going into every city that they'd refuse just on the grounds they didn't want to go home.

When pressed about if they wanted to go home, most south continent Adventurers merely shrugged. A few seemed young enough to agree they did want to go home. They'd tried to dig into if it was because there wasn't anything back home to entice people back, but that didn't seem to be it. No one had been able explain it to the South Army well enough. It seemed to be either a lack of believing this was reality for them all now, or a lack of caring where they lived as long as they got to do whatever they wanted.

The Adventurers of the south continent obviously did what they wanted to with the same varying levels of enthusiasm (or intensity) of everyone else on the planet. There was the same variety of morals too, some who followed and wanted rules and others who didn't. Like all other nations, each region held on to the government styles they'd grown up with to some degree or other. Overall, however, the general feel was a lot more laid back than any other continental set of regions.

After their conference over their short meal, the group headed off for the open plaza that was used for Adventurers to gather in. They scheduled the world quests with the booth there, then Training, Hue, and two others headed for the stage set up at one long edge of the plaza. The rest of them had already spread around the area to lounge like the other Adventurers of the city. They were positioned to come to the defense of the ones on stage, but also to hear the most chatter in the crowd. They wanted to know for sure what this city felt about such world level activities.

-:-:-:-:-

Twenty-four men in the code realm stepped into Buenos Aires. Twelve appeared outside the gate to the city just after that as if they'd just cast Call of Home, but they turned and walked back out into the zones again. The other twelve appeared inside the city by twos in the Adventurer plaza, arriving from around corners or as if out through open doors of shops. That party was made up of Secretary, BlackJack, Charlie, Records, Schedules, Compliance, and their six Twin Falls partners led by Brad.

Those six pairs wandered the city like their counterparts in Montevideo had, enjoyed the food the same as they compared notes, and arrived on the stand to give the same message that was given in the other city. It was received about the same. Similarly as to there also, there was more interest from the Adventurers of that city in the gossip around the world and hearing of their adventures than in having weapons blessed to become weapons of purification.

The pairs around the plaza who weren't sitting at the table had already gotten good at slipping in their questions to get answers without arousing too much suspicion. This round there were new questions asked, though. This time they asked in couched questions about the priesthood of the area. Which god was worshiped and who in the city could be approached to answer questions about learning more. They kept those questions minimal, but still managed to get the information they needed.

In Montevideo, the information was tucked away and the locations pointed out, but they didn't make contact with that hierarchy. In Buenos Aires, they did, two of the pairs slipping out of the plaza to wander around until they found the places they'd been directed.

Secretary was the representative of the Play Nice team so he was central command at the plaza. BlackJack and Compliance were headed for recon on the local priest, or High Priest if that's what he was. Charlie sat behind Secretary and the partners of them both and fielded communication generally as was his job. Schedules and Records stayed in and near the plaza to continue collecting data.

In sets of four, they found three different inns for the night. Charlie holed up, with Brad to protect him, while Secretary and his partner headed into the surrounding areas to scour the back street buildings for people who were potentials on the "wishing to go home and hating Theldesia" list, being directed by the child kami where to find them. They were a little surprised to find that if they stopped one person to talk to them, within about ten to fifteen minutes they were surrounded by about seven to ten, listening intently.

It made Secretary a little uncomfortable, but when he asked (via an emoted question) the kami assured him there weren't any in the mix who were thinking of turning them in to authorities. They talked late into the night to many such gatherings on corners as they were led by the kami to places where people wanted to hear what they really had to say.

BlackJack and Compliance took their two partners to a bar where they role played two superiors being attended by two subordinates (who weren't allowed to relax and drink like the superiors were). The found it interesting that the room eventually dragged BlackJack and Compliance into telling long tales (woven with the overall message they were trying to get out).

On the side the peanut gallery tried to convince their partners that it really was okay to drink and relax, too. They refused politely, experimenting with various methods of doing so until they found the one that let the rest of the room relax. (Accepting watered-down drink on the sly, that they purified into water without anyone knowing.)

When BlackJack was ready to go, he played the suspicious superior. His partner raised his drink and shook his head. Since the status on the glass showed as "Purified Water", BlackJack "let it go" and rose to his feet.

From back in their inn, they watched the links they'd attached to the several priests who frequented that bar and who headed straight back to the High Priest to report what they'd learned. They were busy the rest of the night before they slept marking everyone who needed to be watched, adding where important places were on the map, and hunting for the master strategist, general, and master hacker specifically.

Schedules and Records found an inn where the more common people lived, fitting in to the general pace of life. The four ate at a mom and pop that seemed popular so they could hear enough conversations. They explored the night scene of the part of town that stayed lit up, still playing the standard Adventurer. Night time always leaked out the darker parts of people, though, and that's what they watched for the most.

Whenever they passed a place that made them shiver, they marked it on the map with a black dot. That was the child kami letting them know bad things happened there at night. Almost without fail they had some religious symbol or other on the front door or on the wall next to the door. After the fifth one, they changed the black dots to one of two symbols - a blazing sun or five stripes. Two kami were worshiped in this city...and it was the same two kami that had been seen the most often all over the south continent.

That night they made sure to slip out of any grasping hands or away from greedy thoughts so that they made it back to the inn in one piece. Like good Adventurers, they put up severe shields around their rooms (two to a room, side by side), and "went to bed". None of the parties who were in both towns on recon and teach duty had guild tags, but they had all earned one thing. Each one had a small knot attached to their left shoulder of hunter green with a thin white line along it. _Knot of Courage. +45 defense._

Those who bothered to look at it to that level sometimes wondered what the defense was against, although most assumed against physical attacks. Purrcy's complete and utter intent was against _anything_. Thus the sleep spells failed, the mind altering spells failed, the god's Intimidate attacks failed, even what affect the alcohol might have had would have been decreased by that much. She'd even thrown in one cheat. If the _percentage_ was a higher defense than the simple addend, the percentage went into affect. That was to help those who were a specific Class with lower stats in certain areas (like Guardians who were high physical statuses, low magic statuses generally).

They could all feel her even though she wasn't their specific kami. She'd been working closely with them already and was just as invested in the ending of this level as the Inari were, even too much on occasion. Then they would warn her to step back a bit and breathe and remember there was still sunshine and flowers in the world, too. They were honored she wanted to protect them all that much, but smothering them wasn't pleasant. It would take a few more days for her to find a good balance now that they had entered the hot regions.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael sighed as he looked at his burden suddenly in his arm. "Really, I didn't take High Priest to earn the title of security blanket. I thought I already had that."

"You do," Purrcy said through clenched teeth. "So be the security blanket."

"Grumpy today. Just wake up?" he asked calmly to calm her down. He lay her on his shoulder and pet her like Naotsugu would have since he needed to have at least one hand free for his current task, which was making his bivouac for the night. Two hands would have been better, so he alternated petting her with tying things down.

"Trying to not kill things and Nyanta's given up for the moment."

Michael rolled his eyes slightly and sighed. "Really, the sky's a bit cloudy at the moment but we aren't to storm clouds yet. Watch the horizon and take deep breaths. We're flying with you and you're in the protected center. Turbulence can be disturbing, but you can force the stomach to fly right with you when you keep your eye on the horizon properly.

"You know what your end goals are. Hang on tightly to them. I know it's hard when it really is as bad as you've been trying to not think about. One foot in front of the other is still the right way to walk, and you _still_ can't just blow up the world and everyone in it. That's not allowed."

He rose to standing, the canopy properly tied down. He put his bedroll in it and set the shields around it to keep out the creepy-crawlies as well as the other things he didn't need to be surprised by. That was one nice thing about Theldesia. Couldn't put up those kinds of shields on Earth. If a scorpion or poisonous spider decided to nap with you after you were already napping, there wasn't anything you could do about it.

Her head tipped slightly. "Why not a hammock? Why on the ground?"

He waved his hand at the trees around them. "Too soft and too close together. No good for hammocks."

"Oh." She looked around more, trying to distract herself better he supposed.

"What set you off?" he asked.

"Watching the boys in-city," she answered. She drew in a deep breath and let it out, hanging over his shoulder in a fully relaxed position of giving up. "I guess I really do need to step back and not watch and just let you call me when I'm needed." She stayed there for a bit, then climbed back up to hide her face in his neck. That was a bit too tickly for him. He reached up and picked her up and held her between his hands to look at her face to face.

"I don't want to leave them unprotected," she muttered sadly. "I don't want them to end up on the wrong side of the knife, and ...they are my sons." She reached out for him with a paw. With a sigh to himself, Michael sat down to lean on one of the trees holding up his cover and held her up so she could put her head on his forehead. "Help me, Michael. Help me not kill if they get taken, too." She shivered. "I know they can do it. I know all of you are the brightest, strongest, and most capable. But for all I know it, my mother's heart fears regardless. And...it's not a game now. It hasn't been for a long time, not for me, not this part."

Michael pet her with a thumb. "I know," he said softly. He moved her down to be at chest level where she increased in size to be a small cat so he could properly pet her. "I know." He paused, shifted a bit to lean back and rest her somewhat on his chest, then opened his mouth and quietly sang to her.

 _Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side._  
 _Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain._  
 _Leave to thy God to order and provide;_  
 _In every change, He faithful will remain._  
 _Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav'nly Friend_  
 _Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end._

 _Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake_  
 _To guide the future, as He has the past._  
 _Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;_  
 _All now mysterious shall be bright at last._  
 _Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know_  
 _His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below._

 _Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,_  
 _And all is darkened in the vale of tears,_  
 _Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,_  
 _Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears._  
 _Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay_  
 _From His own fullness all He takes away._

 _Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on_  
 _When we shall be forever with the Lord._  
 _When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,_  
 _Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored._  
 _Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past_  
 _All safe and blessed we shall meet at last._

 _Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise_  
 _On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;_  
 _Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,_  
 _So shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye._  
 _Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine_  
 _Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.*_

By the time he was done, Purrcy was lightly sleeping, curled up on his chest and held in place by one of his hands. His other hand was resting in his lap where he'd put it when she hadn't needed the petting so much as the song. His own eyes were closed as he tried to deal with the reciprocal blessing she was bestowing on him.

He'd thought he'd managed to learn how to deal with her dumping them on him while in the Gate of Time and not knowing then why he kept feeling this way, but he'd never sung to her there. This was like getting the full dunking instead of running through the sprinkler. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even know how much she was offloading back to him. He was surprised at how much help it was to her. He'd only known he'd learned the song (so had gone and learned it properly).

Steps in the underbrush sounded as the final members of his party gathered around him, brought by the song as they finished their own beds for the night. He had with him Gareth, Stiletto, Aviation Safety, Life Support and his six Twin Falls members including BillyBoy.

"When did you learn that one?" Gareth asked quietly.

"And why are we all of a sudden wearing new clothing?" Aviation Safety asked.

Michael's eyes popped open at that one. He looked at all of them, then down at himself. He sighed. "Never did look good in green...but she does like this color and it's camo, which is her wish right now, I suppose. Consider yourselves all part of the sudden worship session." They crouched down, some confused and others concerned for the welfare of their souls so to speak.

"I learned that one because it's one we all need to know. It's the one to get her to calm back down. It's specific to the psyche being calm and still...you know 'Be still, my soul'." They gave wry looks to that one. "It's my first time to use it on her, though, and I'm glad it was just one of us. I got to learn just what that does to her, and as a kami it's quite a lot, actually. Given how the Gate of Time works, song is the highest form of worship for her. If you need a big miracle, sing for your request." He sighed slightly and looked down at her again.

"You're not a Bard. Does that make a difference?" BillyBoy asked.

"Not in this case. Because I'm her High Priest that's sufficient. She'll take song from anyone who wants to sing to her, honestly. We learned that a long time ago. If your song happens to effect the people in front of you because you're also a Bard, then by all means use it. She'll amplify the effects if you're asking for any help from her while you're doing it. But you don't have to be a Bard for her to give that same kind of help."

The others nodded, adding it to their arsenal. Being the clergy of a new type of deity meant they didn't really know what that specifically was yet. To learn the largest and most powerful type of offering first was rather amazing, actually.

"Why's she come?" Life Support asked.

"Got too invested and Nyanta couldn't keep her contained," Michael told them. "She needed to not kill, to be held down long enough for it to pass. She's promised to step back, not watch over our shoulders, and properly wait to be called on from now on, though I expect I'll see her again when that gets too hard again." His thumb rubbed against her fur lightly.

"Still the extreme external restraint," Gareth said dryly. Michael nodded.

"Are we done then?" Aviation Safety asked.

"I can't take it off; it won't go," Life Support commented.

"Then I guess not," Michael blinked, then remembered. "Oh, yeah. Right. She gave me an oblique request and those are the harder ones to catch." He opened up the full party chat. "Boost it for me Charlie, please."

There was a bit of a pause, then, "Go ahead, Sir."

"The Caretaker has promised to step back and not watch, though she's anxiously waiting to hear if you need anything. In return you have to watch your backs closely and not get into too much trouble with the enemy. Remember very carefully what it means to be one of her sons, which all of you are. She'll put the south continent under the ocean just as fast for any of you as she would Yamato if things go bad over there."

There were quietly breathed curses generally. "Is there a work-around?" Reed asked.

"Yes. Just tested it," Michael answered. "Everyone's to go learn _Be Still My Soul_. Song is the form of worship most strong for her, as you could easily guess. Because rules of kami still work at the moment, that one in particular will calm her down enough she can recover properly. Feel free to go through all your favorites and see which ones could be used for what purposes and test how far that goes for you."

He paused, then smiled to himself. "I suspect if you want to practice humming the tune and going over the words in your head, particularly during difficult but manageable events, she'll get through them a little better for you." There were soft chuckles at that. Michael ran his hand down her back one last time and asked quietly off the chat line. "Was that good enough?" She sighed and settled, then slowly disappeared.

Michael and those with him were able to put away the forest green kimonos after that. Michael wasn't sure he really wanted that many layers of dark green and white kimonos. He was glad the symbol of the tree of life embroidered on the center of his chest was the only embroidery he had to worry about. It had been smaller, only on one breast for Gareth's, and on the left sleeve cuff for the deacons. And it had been embroidered also in green so as to not be so obvious as if it had been white. She definitely wanted camouflage for them right now.

Michael knew it was her colors and symbol in the Gate of Time. If any of the kami, or their servants from that place, saw them dressed in those, they would know right away. It was still too soon for them to learn that little factoid.

Though...he wasn't sure just why she'd chosen the kimono when she could have chosen anything. Fashion was different for each kami depending on region and flavor text. Then he sighed. Kimonos _were_ the fashion for the Temple of Time turned Temple of Creation. Maybe next time she came to visit he'd distract her by asking her to design something more American in flavor, just for them.

-:-:-:-:-

Reed, OciferJeff, H/R, Clocktower, Electrical, QA, and six Twin Falls boys including Phillip were walking down a surprisingly well kept road. Flashes of color flew through the trees around them, keeping pace in summation.

"The farm fields are well ordered and tended," Clocktower commented.

"And for being done by hand," one of the Twin Falls party members agreed. "It's hard to get them to look this good even with machines. ...Though I'd rather a John Deere than by hand myself." His fellow farm boys agreed.

They were another almost hour's march down the road when they were shown an example of that farm tending. They slowed down a bit and watched from a distance, their eyes taking in everything. The farmers along with young lads and lasses up to teen years were in the fields weeding and hoeing. They were dressed in sombrero style hats, long sleeved white shirts with somewhat deep cut V-necks, rough spun straw colored pants for the males and similarly woven skirts tucked up on the sides to be out of the way in the front for the females. Their skin was of medium darkness, baked by the hours in the sun. They all looked sturdy enough given the exercise of their work.

Along the edges of the berms between fields were spaced one or two (depending on size of the field) Adventurers dressed in black jackets and pants with shined black boots on their feet (the People of the Land were barefoot). At the waist of every guard was a coiled whip of black leather. Eyes were sharp enough to catch that people were working as they should, but shoulders were relaxed enough to say this was a day in and day out job.

One person clad in black and wearing a slightly larger hat with a silver pin on it walked around the far outer perimeter of the total number of fields being worked this day, his eyes on the People of the Land and the Adventurer guards alike. He wore both a sword and a whip at his side.

"They aren't starving them," QA said quietly. It was about the only approval the party could give to the whole thing, being biased citizens of the United States of America, Land of the Free.

They moved on past, being looked at as well, given they were something new to break up the monotony of the day. Reed didn't interfere or talk to anyone there. They were still on recon at this point in time. Any lessons that needed to be taught would be taught later and a different place. He would be asking Wesson and LeftField if they'd seen this in their travels, though. They hadn't said yet, so he rather thought it might be unique to the southern third of the continent.

"I took a screen shot," H/R said after they were past. "I think we should confirm the insignia to see if it's local or regional."

Reed gave an approving nod. "Ship it to Charlie and have Schedules and Records run it through the database. It would be good to know if it's new or from before." H/R gave a nod-salute and his eyes went distant as he obeyed the order.

They ran into another five such groups before they reached their destination. It was a rather large town north of the Rio de la Plata bay, one of the internal Adventurer cities at the join of two rivers and equivalent to Asuncion, Paraguay. The order was being kept there in about the same way. Officers of the peace as it were, who were watchful over everything that happened in town, but no one particularly minded to act out regardless.

It took a bit to see the strata, although what People of the Land were in the town were obviously servants. The data had come back on the insignia from the fields by then and when they scanned the crowd, the same insignia would brighten up a bit to show there was a match here and there. Sometimes one or another was on a passing servant, sometimes on a passing guard. When it showed up on someone better dressed than most, and then on the side of the building that person walked into, they finally had their match.

That was enough data passed back to begin to get better intelligence for the city they were now in. Five houses, or rather guilds, policed the city, were fed by the fields, and were served by the People of the Land. Not everyone in town was attached to those five. Other symbols were popping up here and there. It was shaping up. Five noble houses or guilds set into position and wealth, the rest were smaller guilds or solos.

When they had done the initial walk of the town and gotten that much, it was time to gather in the plaza and meet their requirements. In this town, they got a far cooler reception than they'd received before, although it was perhaps polite. No one came to get a weapon purified, but there was enough obvious attrition for them to know guildmasters had been told about what had come and been said today in town. They were quite sure it was going to be an interesting visit.

Since they'd walked through fields that might have, or still could, report having seen them together, they opted to stay together as an Adventurer group in the inn that night, going for the slightly cheaper four to a room option, remembering Michael's warning from the night before. Four was harder to surprise and overcome. They also properly set up the shielding and warning of any paranoid Adventurer, as they should. It would be far better for them to handle any thief in the night on their own than receive a joint Hahaue and General scolding after the fact.

-:-:-:-:-

In Central America, H.D. (short for Harley Davidson since he liked to dream about motorcycles when he wasn't online in games) stood in line, his hands bound behind him like the other people awaiting their turn. His head was crunched up in his shoulders as he tried to shut out the sound of the chanting that was punctuated by the screams that ripped through every one of the people in this line, making many cry and everyone shudder in horror. For every scream, there was one less person between where he was in line and the altar in front of the terrible statue. He had never really appreciated the stories in the scriptures so much as he did now.

It was easy to skim over the horrible things they told humanity had done to humanity. It was just as easy to skim over the horrible things the history books told...and even the news reports. They'd become calloused to the stories told when the reality had been hidden. With the reality in his face and ears - and nose since the burning flesh made the whole grove reek - it was very hard to hide from the resultant emotions.

From his own lessons learned in his youth, he knew the fear he and the other future sacrifices were feeling was feeding whatever evil was being fed by the sacrifices, as much as anything else in all the dark rituals were. He didn't want to be here. He was going to have nightmares for months or probably the rest of his life just from this much and what he'd already seen in his clandestine investigations.

He wished he'd been more careful to not get caught, and he'd been praying constantly for mercy to save him. What he had learned _needed_ to be taken back to the others and told to them. _This_ needed to be stopped by those who loved justice, morality, and human decency, even if the priest and the guards weren't Adventurers - and he'd seen plenty who weren't, just as he knew many here were.

It was unfathomable how the Adventurers of the area could have given in and been willing to participate in this sort of thing. But...he knew all too well that initially they'd all not thought the People of the Land were real and had wasted their lives without thought. He also knew that there really were people this evil. He was sad Adventurers were, enough to choose to do this for their own gain. Somehow...he wasn't surprised Adventurers of Central America could do it. The crimes committed in their countries on Earth rivaled this one, although it was masked with modern words.

"Gang related deaths", "thoughtless crossfire", "imprisonment of government enemies" because they were guilty before proven innocent and not allowed to prove their innocence because it didn't matter anyway. A dictatorial regime could do whatever it wanted, and did. On Earth it was words without substance for all who didn't actually live it, and live in the fear that tomorrow it could be them. Technically he fell into that slot here, but it wasn't Earth. He doubted he would _ever_ take those words for granted ever again, and he didn't think he wanted to, either.

He winced as another scream sounded and the chanting increased in triumphant volume with it until the breath of the current sacrifice gave out and the heart sizzled and crackled in the brazier along with the others who were now either roasting or charring depending on how long they'd been in it. They were all left to turn to ash, so the smell was quite vomit-producing. All of those chained and in line with him didn't have anything left since the fourth victim, though, and now merely stood in misery.

Suddenly one of the others closer to the statue cracked and began screaming and crying, pleading for mercy, demanding freedom, and trying to bargain almost all at the same time. Then he claimed he was an Adventurer. It was the wrong thing to do. The prisoner was slapped, then pulled out of the line and sent to be the next sacrifice, likely to prove his claim the hard way. The priests seemed to like sacrificing Adventurers more than others. H.D. was ever so glad the Hackers had hidden his true status away and made him look like a Person of the Land. If he could keep quiet, he would at least go on only his turn.

He'd still be given away, though. He'd already watched one Adventurer be sacrificed. They took the pain of the carving and didn't die for a long time. The priests liked that because it meant they could sacrifice other living organs along with the heart. He shuddered to be thinking about it again now. This one wouldn't survive the resurrection if he was an Adventurer, but would become mad for life after this, given he'd already cracked. It was a thing to tear his heart in sorrow.

In his heart, and even with a whisper, he prayed, "God, please. Let this stop. Don't let him suffer for this. Please, let there be a miracle like there was for Abraham whose own father was the one who gave him up as a sacrifice. Let an angel come to save us. Let me deliver my message, _please_."

There was only one other thing he could do. He had his magic skills. He had been carefully crafting a purification spell, hoping it would be large enough to put all of these evil men on the ground long enough to flee. He'd been planning on waiting until he was the next to last or last victim, but he couldn't hold it any more. The desperate and terrified screams of the Adventurer now laid out on the altar demanded he do something.

As H.D. prepared to cast his spell and run, there was a sudden flash of motion behind the priest at the altar. Something metallic had caught the firelight, once, twice, then a third time, then whatever it was was gone and the priest was falling to scatter in bubbles. Immediately, although still a bit stunned, H.D. let his spell go. A bright white light flashed through the grotto. The statue of the pagan god exploded and fell to pieces. Two of the larger pieces took out two of the guards on the perimeter of the grotto. The purification spell took down all of the priests and assistants. The Adventurer on the altar was up and running for the woods.

The rest of the sacrifices scattered. In the chaos, H.D. ran as well. Most of the guards still standing were headed after the other Adventurer, perhaps thinking he had done it. H.D. kept his head down and prayed for that man's safety and mental health while also praying for his own. Somehow, he managed to not be caught before being lost in the darkness of the woods. He paused behind a large tree trunk briefly to rip out of his bonds and put in eyedrops to allow himself to see where he was going and any pursuers who might come from behind, then he kept going.

He'd been given a map on his status screen that pointed to where the main army of the U.S. Adventurers led by Wesson was. He headed straight for it, although he hid his path as best he could given that surely there were Trackers among the Adventurers who worshiped that false god. He would be safer with the army than alone.

He was very glad he was the high level he was. He didn't have to stop running until he reached them, although he'd collapse when he did get there. He drank potions as he ran whenever he started feeling the weariness of lack of sleep. It didn't matter that it took days. He wasn't going to be caught again. His message was too important.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael lay in his bivouac for the second night in a row, worried. Brian still hadn't been able to find either of the spies that had been sent up into Central America. Even working with the Wizard they hadn't been able to. His brow couldn't drop the wrinkle in it. It wasn't a good time to ask Stiletto to go hunting, but he was going to anyway if nothing had been heard of by morning.

He ran through his game plan one more time. Even he was getting jumpy and headed for irritable again soon if more details didn't show up to help those plans along. The information coming that was more local was helpful and would take a few more days to finish coming together, so he had a little time, but not much really for getting good plans in place in a timely fashion.

Reed's group had found interesting things by their report this evening. The city parties were still doing their slow hunting for now, but that was being productive as well with BlackJack being approached this second day there to be felt out for being considered as someone to tell more to. He was hedging with wanting to learn about both kami to see which one he might fit in better with, but had listened to the acolyte of Ccoa this afternoon.

Michael pursed his lips. It had to be done, but in no way could it have been him. He, like Purrcy, would have put the acolyte on the floor and stalked out in a likely almost vain attempt to not blow up the entire building.

"Sir. One of the spies appeared just outside Wesson's group, heading in." BlackJack had also not been able to find his markers on either of the spies. He was sounding relieved to finally have one show up. Michael was instantly wide awake and getting everyone awake again, although he let them stay lying down to rest. There wasn't need for them to jump up. They were just along for learning the intel.

"Pay attention boys," he said quietly. "This is what we're really up against."

"Where'd he go and come from?" was asked while they waited.

"If we couldn't find him, then he was walked through time to have enough of it to learn what we needed to know," Bowie answered for the Intelligence detail. "Time's the only thing we can't see through or find people in."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Michael whispered. They waited silently, watching over the North Army encampment as it began to stir, beginning on the west side of it and headed for the head conference tent.

* * *

* _Be Still, My Soul,_ Kathirna von Schlegel, 1752. _(Note the original was in German, and translated by Jane Borthwick in 1855. The original third stanza remains untranslated.)_


	214. Horror Exposed, North Army Battle Plans

_Chapter rating: M (graphic violence, rape reference)_

The camp was astir. Someone was running through it. Those at the leadership tents got the word there was an incoming spy and they got ready, gathering at the campaign tent. The main communication Hacker, come with them from Jose, contacted Generals HackerM1 and LeftField, requesting they become available if possible.

By the time the spy reached the tent, all officers and their staff were present via video connection to hear the report. As many Adventurers who were curious, or worried, also tried to get close enough to hear, although they didn't crowd the tent. They would get information and orders after the meeting and the brass had time to conference.

H.D. ran to a halt under the tent, turned to face Wesson, and wobbled. His eyes crossed just a little and two jumped up to help him. One to hold his elbow so he could stay standing, the other to cast a high-level multiple type of healing spell on him. A third grabbed a chair and stuck it behind H.D. and they made him sit in it.

At High Command, Records was already beginning the copying of the history into a memory cube so they could all review the details. Schedules was already removing the disguise they'd put on H.D. and repairing the read on his status data. They knew they had time to do that much while the spy put his thoughts together enough to get them out of his mouth.

When things settled down again and H.D. had drunk enough water to unglue his tongue, he started to shiver. His eyes were wild, darting here and there, particularly at noises from places he couldn't see well, as if he were still dodging while running. Life Support frowned, then placed a modified secure box around him, cutting out all sounds except questions and comments from under the command tent. That helped H.D. settle down better. Life Support added a little warmth to it, but that made H.D. start to turtle his head into his shoulders.

Life Support's eyes widened. Warmth was desired by those who had been left alone too long without companions and who needed comfort. He dropped the temperature back down to ambient. H.D. gave a shudder and relaxed again. Life Support put a mute on that box then said quietly to the waiting leadership, "He's been exposed to high heat torture. Watch him around fires and let him sleep cool and guarded but not so he feels like a prisoner - just a companion." The Eagles gave each other knowing glances, but Wesson's group just looked confused. The Eagles were sure that would change with this report.

With a deep breath, H.D. finally gave his report. "It's just awful." He gave another shudder, then rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I'd scrub it all if I could, but we can't let it remain. It _has_ to be stopped!" He paused to calm down, taking a few more breaths. He recounted briefly his travels through the land to get to Central America. "I was assigned to find out what I could from the People of the Land villages. Most of them, and the farmland, are filled with frightened people, who don't talk much. They are the most hunted game, and not for sport killing either."

His face wrinkled up and he fought back tears, then gave up and let them drip. "Enough of them are left alone to farm the land so there's food, but random raids pick up whomever seems to be needed. The worst cries from the people come when a woman is taken because she is an extra daughter or because she is a woman who has 'given birth to enough children for the farmer and has proven herself strong in childbirth'."

H.D. put his hands on his stomach as if he were trying to keep the contents of it down, or to get it to stop hurting from all the clenching it was likely doing. "I followed one of those at a safe distance when she was dragged off, as pale as a ghost. She was taken to a compound full of women like her. I watched as best as I could from a distance. They put her in with the others and towards evening, a group of men went in and ordered three women to wash and put on white gowns. She was one of them.

"They were then made to drink what looked like a very bitter liquid given their expressions. They were then escorted along a pathway into the woods. I followed them very carefully until they reached a grove. By the time they got there the women were being held up by the men, because they couldn't walk straight. Whatever drug they'd been given made them so loopy they didn't even know where they were or what they were doing. I hope to God they don't know what happened to them in the details." He trembled again and his eyes blinked rapidly a few times as if trying to erase what he was seeing next.

"They arrived under a statue of a woman with a jaguar head, long jaguar fangs, and the symbol of a blazing sun on her chest. There were three priests dressed in fancy long robes waiting for them there. One was an Adventurer, the other two were People of the Land. They proceeded to chant strange words and do strange things, including throw some leaves on a fire in a bowl set in front of the statue that put a sweet-smelling smoke in the air that made even me a bit woozy but very horny way out where I was hiding," he blushed. "Every once in a while I'd see double and I certainly didn't need to."

He shook his head. "They raped the women, ritually like they were doing all the other stuff. It wasn't pleasant at all, although the drugs used made them act like they liked it. When it was over, the priests put their robes back on and walked away. The women were left there in front of the statue. I was wondering if I could get them free when the drugs wore off, so stayed to watch over them."

He went almost mechanical, as if having to distance himself from what was next. "When the moon fully bathed the clearing, a mist came out of the statue and rested over the three women. The one who had been raped by the Adventurer dissolved and disappeared, as if eaten by the statue. The other two began to pant and sweat as if they were having to live through the rape all over again. When the groans were done, the mist retreated back into the statue.

"I hadn't realized the guards had remained. They stepped forward at that point in time and placed blankets over the women, I suppose to keep them warm. When the women finally stirred towards early morning, the guards pulled them to their feet and escorted them back to the compound. They had that repeated for the next two nights, with a new woman for the Adventurer each night. The timing coincided with the early full moon, the full moon, and the late full moon.

"There wasn't anything I could do," he sounded completely miserable. "I left the compound when it wasn't repeated the following night to find the closest Person of the Land I could. I admitted I was new to the area and asked about the traditions of worship of the area during the full moon, saying only I'd seen a strange procession.

"The person I talked to didn't want to really say much, but he did say that it is a holy time to the goddess Ix Chel. A woman blessed with a pregnancy during those times is considered fortunate and blessed by the goddess herself." He gave a look of one who had just eaten something vile. "Maybe in their homes they can believe that, but the ritual isn't that at all. I'd seen some pregnant women in that compound.

"I asked him if there were any other holy days. He said the time of the dark moon, again for three days was holy to the god Ak'b'al, and penance was made to him on those days to ensure the moon would return from being eaten by the sun so that crops and families would be kept prosperous. The rituals he explained as penance included self-flagellation, fasting on the middle day and night, and setting out torches around the farm to replace the light of the moon on those nights.

"I stayed in the area until near that time and returned to the compound. I made it in late because he made me stay and do the ritual with him, wanting to make sure his farm wasn't punished even for a guest to not participate. When he was done, his eyes shone and he thanked me for doubling his blessings that day. I had no idea what he meant." H.D.'s eyes closed for a moment and he paused in his telling to rest just a moment.

"It was a different path to a different statue. This one was a man with a jaguar head, built of brass. I found my way to it because I heard the cries of an infant that increased in pain until it suddenly was cut off. I was too late that day to see what had happened, only that the statue had a hole in it's belly that was full of a hot fire, and its hands were outstretched as if to offer something or to accept an offering." He pressed his hand tightly to his belly this time and was turning green.

"I watched the next night, having stayed close by to sleep, but not get caught. Again, they brought a woman, barely able to walk because she was drugged. This one was very pregnant, looking like she could give birth within the week. The fire in the belly of the statue had been started earlier with many ritual words and the priest adding a drop of his own blood. The first night it had been one of the two People of the Land Priests. This time it was the Adventurer Priest, and it was the night of the full new moon.

"The guards disrobed the woman and lay her out on a large rectangular block in front of the statue. They tied her down so she couldn't flail and move, though her knees were tied so they were raised." H.D. shivered. "The priest said many dark words that brought darkness to the area until only the flame in the statue was any light at all, and it burned redly. The brass statue, twice the size of a man, was golden red hot. I could feel the heat from where I was hiding even.

"As part of the ritual, the priest disrobed again. I presume it's both a way for the People of the Land priests to stay cool in that heat zone, and also it seemed to be considered a privilege for their skin to be heated enough to receive some of the burn. Or perhaps it was to prove to the god that they would be humble before him and accept any punishment he felt like giving them, although they were seeking blessings if he would give them.

"It was all selfish, too, the asking of blessings. Strength and power to the priest in exchange for the proper sacrifice. No blessings were asked for the land or any of the other people living on it. I realized then that the farmer had been sort of the same. He wanted blessings on _his_ land and having me there doing strange things had blessed him. He didn't care if my journey was blessed or the neighbor's land was okay." H.D. rubbed his hand nervously on his leg and cleared his throat. It looked like he was stalling because he didn't want to give the next part of his report. He was offered water and shook his head, refusing.

"The priest finally held up a dagger with a wavy blade. With it, he lightly carved a symbol on the swollen belly of the pregnant woman. She moaned in pain but was too out of it to do more than that. The symbol combined with the spell the priest chanted next made her go into early labor. That she did feel more. The more the priest chanted, the faster the labor progressed until the woman was crying out in pain for not being ready for the birth. The more pain she was in, the brighter and hotter the statue became until it was as if it was a living thing exulting in the pain and the blood.

"When the infant finally arrived, the placenta still around it, the priest plunged his knife into the heart of the woman and she disappeared." The man closed his eyes again, pain on his face. Emotionlessly, he said quietly, "The placenta was ritually removed from the infant and the priest rubbed it all over his body and on his private parts until he came. Even that added to the power rising in the glade. The placenta was thrown on the fire and consumed and it sounded like the fire cackled in glee."

Again H.D. was green, but he didn't open his eyes this time. "The priest started another ritual spell and held the knife over the infant who had been crying this whole time, wiggling and moving as if seeking the womb it had been stolen from. It wasn't cold, so more likely it was too hot, and certainly confused.

"The glint of the fire on the knife caught its attention and it just watched it the first time it descended to draw blood, though it didn't kill it. Every time the knife was held up and then dropped after that the infant tried to wiggle out of its way, but the priest of course knew what he was doing. The cries were the same cries that had brought me to that place the night before and it was terrible to hear the fear that child was in." The hand over his stomach was clenching.

"Then the chant ended and the priest set the knife down. He picked up the infant in two hands, turned to the statue and said words of offering of the sacrifice to the god that would bring the priest strength. Then he set the infant down on the brass hands." He went silent for a long time and tears flowed down his cheeks. "The blood of the infant sizzled and the screams were terrible. The hands had become hot enough to fry the child alive." He choked the words out and then could say no more.

The people who had heard all his words sat in shocked, horrified silence. Both stories were awful but that last was nearly incomprehensible. Eyes turned to Michael and the video conference screen holding his image. He was sitting silently in front of his tent, his arms folded, and his face very dark. He did _not_ look surprised. "You _knew_?" Wesson asked incredulously.

"Not the full extent, but I was in the Gate of Time long enough to learn the good, the bad, and the ugly about the deities of Theldesia. What I learned was bad enough. What he's learned will haunt him for life and the rest of us aren't going to be much better off. War is like that. Night Sun is the god of war and he is tempting the Adventurers out to begin the war that will give him the power to become the strongest god of Theldesia."

That angered a lot of people. "We don't have any choice in that if we want to see this kind of thing stopped," LeftField said quietly furious.

"Indeed," Michael agreed. "There's a reason I'm in this seat. His story isn't done. Let him finish it out." He pointed back to H.D. with a nod of his head.

H.D. had finally shifted and waved for a drink. He drank it down as if trying to drink a large shot of vodka to forget what he had seen and learned. He wasn't green anymore. Now he was very pale and shivering again.

"I couldn't stay for the third one. I knew it would be the other Person of the Land priest. I would have killed him as soon as he'd stepped foot in the clearing the next evening, and a drugged pregnant woman can't run. I ran as far away as I could once I had daylight. I didn't want to be where I'd hear the screams again." He put his hands over his ears, trying to block out the screams he'd already had to hear.

"That Adventurer priest went up a full level from one-hundred-thirty to one-hundred-thirty-one with that sacrifice. To do such evil just to gain one level...how many infants had he killed for that instead of just going out to grind?" he asked in anguish. "We became hardened and went up that high having to fight Overwritten time after time that could kill us. How hard has he become, to be so uncaring?" The utter confusion he was in was echoed by many who were witnesses to his pain.

"I ran until I found People of the Land again. I learned that this worship is held all up and down Central America of Theldesia. I finally asked if there was a place where there was a High Priest. They directed me to the closest Adventurer city. I was horrified yet again, but by then I couldn't be surprised by it. I made my way there cautiously. When I went around the Adventurer City I found the army, come down from Mexico, following after us taking their time, prideful in their words that they will find it easy to kill us as we try to go north again.

"Their levels were equal to or rivaling ours, and the priests and High Priests among them rival the General's and his guild. All of it gained through the dark evil I witnessed. They plan on meeting all of us at the Panama Canal so we are trapped. I think they are also in negotiations with the Adventurers of northern South America, although that was harder to tell. It is possible they'll come from our rear, or at the least prevent our retreat."

H.D. drew a breath and slumped. "I know all of this because I was captured by them and put in the stockade with the other People of the Land they were bringing with them. Like cattle there were thousands in pens, like cattle we were herded along by Adventurer guards and priestly guards of People of the Land. Like slaves we were chained with our hands bound and made to walk and stumble from camping place to camping place. I was fortunate that they didn't have so far to go any longer. It would have been hard to fake being a weak Person of the Land that long.

"The guards on the People of the Land had loose tongues. It was from one of them I learned there was another smaller group of Adventurers who were prisoners." H.D. shivered very hard and eyes went very wide in the group listening to him. In a small, very frightened voice he said, "They were dragged into the city so they would resurrect there instead of way back. The main High Priest stood in the center square and told the Adventurers of the city that the time had come for them all to become the strongest Adventurers on Theldesia. That the war would bring them massive increases of levels.

"Any Adventurer who had heard our message and complained about his message was marked and taken prisoner later, secretly, to be added to the few they already had. When the high priest of the city complained that he wanted to be the one to head the Adventurers of it, but wasn't willing to toe the line the main High Priest wanted him to, they cast a binding spell on him...and he was the first Adventurer sacrifice we were all made to watch, so that the High Priest could firmly set in everyone's mind - Adventurer and Person of the Land alike - that he was the one to be obeyed in all things."

The people around him that had come to hear out of curiosity started attriting. They didn't want to hear more gore and horrible death. They felt they understood enough and were getting too mad and grossed out. Even the leadership was looking green and like they weren't sure they could stomach more.

"Ah...could you summarize, please?" Wesson asked, looking dry in the mouth.

H.D. gave a sharp nod. "They sacrifice men by cutting out their hearts while still alive so the beating heart can be placed in a bowl of fire the tall statue holds for those sacrifices. Adventurers can live a long time, even without a heart, since it's based on HP. They get a lot of bonuses for sacrificing Adventurers being able to add the liver, stomach, whatever they decide might get them points until the Adventurer finally dies. That gets them points, too. They can go up two to three levels sacrificing an Adventurer." Everyone swallowed.

"They're immediately recaptured upon resurrection and locked back down again and put back in the pile. The one 'kindness' they give is that if an Adventurer has been sacrificed, they can't be sacrificed again until it comes around to them again. That high priest ranted since it stole a lot of levels from him to be the one sacrificed, so they did it again the next night and until he was back down to into the nineties.

"He went mad at the fourth or fifth sacrifice, or so I heard, but not like the others. They went mad from the horror of it happening at all and being repeated. He went mad as if possessed by a demon, frothing at the mouth, for having all of his own efforts stolen. He wouldn't relent from his prideful wrath, so the main High Priest wouldn't relent from his cold punishments.

"That gave the rest of the Adventurers a reprieve in that they were sacrificed a little slower, but that High Priest wasn't the only priest of the Adventurers. They all want to be up as high as possible in levels before we show up, so every night there are sacrifices, with the priests trading out and the prisoners brought out in chained lines. Every Adventurer considers themselves a priest, by the way, but only those who have the favor of the main High Priest are allowed to also be high priests. They only get to sacrifice one Adventurer each per week. He can do whatever he wants.

"The night my line was chosen, we were walked out to one of the many glades that had those statues in them. I was glad to be far enough back to have time, although I had to listen to screams of men this time, which was hard on us all since eventually we were next. I started a purification spell building to take out the priests at least, and as many guards as I could. I knew I needed to get free to get back here and warn all of you."

It was almost frightening how he could say all of that calmly as if numbed to the fact he was also going to have to go through it and had watched it happen over and over. That happened in extreme circumstances, but it was still difficult for the listeners who hadn't had to live through it. The military men were quiet. They knew it from before, had already learned the emotional distancing H.D. had learned to be able to make this report at all.

"I was going to cast it when I was next in line for sacrificing, or even after I was on the altar. I wanted to take down as many priests as I could and they were lined up waiting for their turn at the front with the statue. But there turned out to be another Adventurer in hiding in the line. They hadn't found him and he went mad while he was still three or four from the end. He cracked and they took him right then. The priest whose turn it was wasn't going to pass up that lucky bonus. I was surprised the other priests didn't knife him for the opportunity, but there seems to be a strict code they have to hold to.

"I couldn't take it any more, having already seen the one sacrifice of the Adventurer high priest. With a prayer, I got my spell ready. Something arrived first to kill the priest that was about to carve the heart out of the Adventurer. That was the perfect distraction. He jumped up and ran right after my spell destroyed the statue and took out the priests. Everyone scattered, and most of the guards still standing took off after him.

"My disguise and Adventurer speed helped me escape. I haven't stopped running since, coming straight here unless I needed to go around others who would have tried to capture me again. That was three or four days ago."

" _Days?!_ " He nodded. "You've been running for _days_ straight?"

He nodded again. "Not like I want to sleep. The nightmares are going to be horrendous. I'd rather die an Adventurer death in battle and walk through Earth's memories than that memory. But I heard rumor that once you've been sacrificed, if that memory is worse than what you had at home, you get to live a double sacrifice before you're really resurrected."

People paled even more and there was the sound of someone trying not to retch in the background. "The evil _has_ to stop!" LeftField's deeper voice declared firmly. Everyone agreed completely, but they also all felt it wasn't going to be a simple battle at all, and no one wanted to end up under a priest's knife.

-:-:-:-:-

"Can you give us an estimate of numbers, H.D.?" Michael asked calmly, knowing that everyone needed to be calmed enough to move forward or the horror and fear would paralyze them.

"One main High Priest Adventurer, five high priests under him. Seven Person of the Land high priests to keep the battle spells and sacrifices going while the Adventurers fight. Five to seven priests under each of them." The numbers of People of the Land and Adventurers fighting total was double the number in Wesson's North Army.

People were aghast again. "And... _how_ many prisoners?"

H.D. shook his head. "By head of cattle, I'd say somewhere around a hundred head or more."

"How did they find over ten thousand men to bring with them?" was demanded incredulously.

H.D. shook his head again. "I don't know, but when I asked them about demihumans, they all clammed up and shook with more fear than they had of the priests and more than one cried for me having brought it up."

"Wesson, have you heard from the spy sent into the demihuman population yet?" Michael asked immediately.

"No." He turned to the Hacker in their group who had been with them from the beginning and was helping them keep communication open.

"He's still living, but I haven't been able to reach him for about two weeks," the Hacker said. "I can't get to him in the code realm either, but I'm not as good as the Programmers."

Michael quickly gave orders to the Intelligence detail. He was to be retrieved physically if at all possible. They needed to rescue him. If he'd already gone mad, they would only get the information from his history. If they couldn't retrieve him safely, then they were to get at least the history from him.

Michael gave a particular look to Stiletto. Stiletto's lips pursed and he gave a nod, then a significant look to Life Support who gave him a sober thumbs up. A triage would be set up by the time they got back in the hopes there was someone still to save.

They were back at Command Central at the same time as triage was ready. Life Support put the spy into the same sort of box he'd put H.D. into. He discovered it had to be warmer than the cool earth and cooler than the warmth of a summer day. "He's been underground," he said as soon as he understood it. He kept it also one that kept sounds out, but so the spy could talk.

Brenner joined Life Support and their's were the only voices the spy heard, calming and reassuring him he was with his allies, protected and safe. They only kept him awake long enough for Brenner to understand how much work he was going to have, then they were knocking him out with a spell that would make him wake up upon first sign he was dreaming. Preventing the dreams for a while would help them get him through the first days of trauma.

Records was downloading the spy's history as fast as he could on his arrival and Schedules was studying how and why his disguise had been seen through and removed. Schedules was done first and moved to report. "The demihumans removed the spell I put on him. Likely, because they are creatures, they smelled him out. That's magic like what the shrine had, I'd expect, if they could affect my magic."

Michael nodded agreement to that theory. They'd get it for sure out of the history, but that much made sense. He interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on his clasped hands, closing his eyes, trying to keep his pain off his face. He just breathed for a bit, but could hear the restless concern in the other parties as people finally started needing to vent their built up emotions. He needed to do something, but it was difficult to know where to start.

With a sigh, he finally began a quiet prayer that he allowed to be broadcast, although he didn't really want to talk loud enough to be heard over the words of everyone else. "Caretaker of Theldesia, who loves all creatures and Adventurers, please grant us your warmth and love so that we can find calm in the midst of learning these horrible things. We have a lot of work to do and need to be able to focus on how we can best see these terrible things are ended. Please ease our fear, but keep us just angry enough to be able to do our work properly and with courage." The Eagles not busy turned to look at him in surprise, then stood in reverent attention, adding their desires and hopes to Michael's.

He continued, knowing this time was still just as hard for her. "You've had to live with watching these horrible deeds now for years without anyone knowing who cared to see it ended. We are here now. Please let us be the tools in your hands. We will bring an end to it in the proper time that we can win the war we never wanted to have to see: Adventurer against Adventurer, creature against Person of the Land, god against god.

"Let there be a path that will lead to a return of peace and plenty to the land, rather than ruin and lifelessness. Give us direction as needed when we can't see that path clearly, but let us work out our own anger in planning it ourselves as righteous indignation against our brothers who have strayed from the path of right living both as Adventurers and humans of Earth.

"To even be told humans of Earth can do this on Theldesia is horrifying enough. To have it be the whisper of what humans can do on Earth to each other is terrifying. Please hold us all together and we'll do our best to hold each other together. Let us all learn through this war and each battle that common decency, kindness, even brotherly love are also strengthening powers that _will_ lead to victory. We of the United States of America have proven it again and again over the hundreds of years we have existed and fought for proper human rights. Let that reminder of our past buoy us up as we fight the good fight once again here on Theldesia."

He paused, then said, "God of Earth and all of creation, please, be with us as we once again fight in Your battle against evil. Strengthen our arms and grant us the fortitude we will require to fight the righteous fight. Bless Purrcy as she helps us from the Gate of Time. Bless Shiroe as he stands as the Master Strategist of this fight. Bless me to lead with wisdom, inspiration, and humility. We are going to need all the help we can get."

At his longer pause all of the Eagles said very firmly and with one loud voice, "Amen!"

That was repeated in all the groups, quite fervently in many cases. Even those who would never have professed to a god at all whispered it in more than one case.

Almost immediately a calm settled down over the leadership of all three groups and much of the fear was wiped away from the Adventurers who had heard the spy's report. Michael knew it would be relational to how much they had invested in the prayer. It was a percent of what they gave Purrcy that they got back. "Priests" got back a slightly higher percent, and "high priests" even more. He felt much better, more calm, and focused. Still, he sat quietly, waiting for the second report to be ready. They should be able to hear it now, although it would also be very hard.

He was getting surprised and strange looks from the other leaders. The change had been dramatic enough to be quite obvious it was an answer to his prayer. He decided he may as well explain. It would only help them all if they were to decide to use it to their advantage. "The Caretaker of Theldesia is as much a real god on Theldesia as Night Sun and the others we are going to run into of his ilk. Ix Chel really did receive the sacrifices given to her and make sure those women got pregnant so their fetuses could be aborted so terribly. Night Sun really did come to receive those sacrifices and gain power from them. He really is turning the power he gets from their sacrifices into power for them in the form of level increases. It really is as real and horrible as you've heard it is."

He put his clasped hands down and sat up straighter. "I made Purrcy accept that her role of Caretaker will really be a goddess according to the rules of Theldesia so that we can use her strength as our strength to combat what we will have to face in the coming war. She fought me because we all have the aversion to worshiping anything not really God, if we even care to worship anything at all. But I knew from my time in the Gate of Time we would need our own levels increased, our own strength increased, and that we could only fight gods with another god we had created.

"We actually now have two, and the AIs are two more. We have four who will fight with us. As long as we are strong in our desire to see this evil removed from Theldesia we will win, because that _is_ the worship of the Caretaker and her own desire. We work with an Adventurer for an Adventurer's cause when we play the game of programmed godlings. But Purrcy and the one Shiroe has with him are not programmed gods. Purrcy is human, who has guided us through this dungeon from the beginning. Shiroe's godling was born of Adventurer emotions and the desire to go home. It is a god _we_ created.

"The AIs are the creation gods and thus have the most power over this entire world and all of the other created gods, and even over us since they brought us here to begin with. This is the final quest request they have of us before the final dungeon and boss battle. They have all four asked us to remove this evil from Theldesia, all the world over.

"We cannot fail with the four of them on our side. Shiroe already has been working on the world-level strategy. Once we have our required information and can tell him what we've worked out to do here, he'll tie that in with everyone else's plans on the planet and we will take down not just the evil of these few gods we will face, but _all_ evil gods that were programmed into _Elder Tales_.

"We'll work on details for the northern battle after we've heard the results of the second spy's efforts in our behalf. My two best healers of mind and body are working with him and will continue to work with him to heal him as best we can. We understand, being military. It happens to military all the time, sadly.

"Sadly, H.D., there is no way to erase human memories. I can reassure you that over time it lessens. When you return to Earth, I would highly recommend you seek PTSD therapy. We don't have any of those therapists in our group. We only can triage the worst cases, needing to do that for ourselves while out in the field. Find a few people whom you trust and keep them close enough for comfort and to hold you when you can't hold on to yourself. That will keep you going until we get home.

"Thank you very much for your hard work and efforts, and for staying alive to tell us what we needed to hear. I'm terribly sorry you had to live through it. I hope you understand it was necessary or we would still have no idea what we face."

H.D. gave a sober nod. "I knew. It was hard to live through, but as soon as I saw the first signs of it, I knew." He looked back with eyes that didn't waver, but his body shivered. The fear could never be denied. It looked like the prayer had helped him, though, which was good. "My prayer at the end was answered so that both the Adventurer could get free and I could come to help free the whole region from what was going on. I am here. My prayer was answered."

Michael gave him a respectful nod and H.D. wavered again a bit on his chair. "Go sleep. Wesson, if you could assign an Enchanter to watch over him, the pattern for the first week is to give him deep sleep by enchantment, then wake him up at the first sign of dreaming. He will need to get out the emotions of what he saw, then put him back to sleep. Repeat until when he wakes up from the dreams not so afraid or paralyzed.

"Time does heal everything, even horrors imprinted on brain nerves. It is a slow process, but once the night terrors calm down, having his trusted companions by his side who can calmly talk him down the nights he wakes up from nightmares should be sufficient. I'd like to say that decreases just as fast, but it doesn't. He'll need that support for years."

They waited to continue the meeting until H.D. had been walked off to a quieter part of the encampment. Life Support took a moment to teach H.D. how to manage the shield around himself since that would likely be needed for a while as well and self moderation and control would be best. Sometimes he would need the quiet to not jump at everything and other times he would need to hear the sounds of the camp so he could know he wasn't alone and about to be jumped from the shadows.

Michael turned the time and attention to the Intel detail. BlackJack cleared his throat. "That Adventurer who wasn't found until H.D. needed the distraction is the same one we just retrieved." Everyone slumped. Somehow it wasn't surprising. "The story is just about as bad so I'll sum up.

"The demihumans live underground in a cave system. It's quite extensive. Those People of the Land cattle H.D. got added to are raised and bred by them in those caves for their own dark worship. The High Priest has a treaty with the demihumans like we were practically told by him to begin with on our way down here. The demihumans supply sacrificial resources and the Adventurers don't kill the demihumans. This was a large one-time supply just for the war that our other spy got added to when he was discovered, and uncovered like Schedules suspected he had been."

BlackJack gave a serious look to Michael. "Purrcy put her hand into that one. She made them think he was a Person of the Land to save him from what they do to the few Adventurers they get their hands on and the High Priest doesn't know about...or does if he offers them one he particularly hates."

Everyone shuddered. "I think I'll spare everyone the gruesome details since it includes eating them alive and that's not the worst since that's after all the rituals. That's also what they do to the People of the Land they raise, by the way, not just Adventurers. The other thing they've asked for as coin from the High Priest is food to feed their flocks since they don't like having to farm. They usually steal the food from the farmers. Part of the worship on the side of the People of the Land above ground is to put out special offerings to appease them, so they go collect those, too.

"In places in the caves there are crude sculptures of a very large cat creature like nine or ten feet long, with stripes running down the sides. The farmers say it can ruin crops, destroy whole villages, and controls lightning and hail - how it ruins crops other than by theft from the farmers by the demihumans. This is how the stories have evolved to explain the disappearances the demihumans cause when they need to replenish their herds, too. Apparently Mexico was empty of all but a minor amount of farming families because they went on a massive harvest between the time Blaze went preaching in the region and when LeftField's group got there."

"They've been expecting us that long?" LeftField asked.

Michael nodded. "Since Purrcy arrived in the Gate of Time, at a minimum, but the gods get a lot of power from Adventurers worshiping them, not just from them being sacrificed to them. We are so much more powerful than the People of the Land and demihumans that we became a drug for them as soon as the first few learned what we could give them if we chose that role play.

"Likely they've been building up since early on, but the alliances would have been more recent as far as the gods go since they don't trust each other much. Adventurers hungry for more levels faster and with less work would have been the first push, which would have fed the gods and made them show up to bargain." They all knew how that worked.

BlackJack continued, "Although we're still running the scan in the database to confirm it, it looks like the main High Priest was a member of the cult to begin with as a player. He just stepped right into his role with enough points already in place and found it quite pleasing that he could talk the other Adventurers not part of his initial group into believing the People of the Land were still just constructs until he had them loving their power increases so much they couldn't be bothered with morality. They apparently get more power, not just the level increases. Usually in whatever slot they've asked for - an increase of strength, speed, magic, whatever.

"He still runs into a few Adventurers that can't handle the brutality and those are the ones who become sacrifices themselves. It took him the first year to gain control of northern and central Mexico, but the 'craze' swept through the rest of Central America fairly quickly. He's just never bothered to come himself until now, so now he's being heavy handed to make sure he stays top dog."

Sadly Gareth muttered, "The regional Caretaker's completely gone whacked in the head by now."

"Couldn't find that one," BlackJack said. The Eagles all stared at him, then at Bowie.

Bowie shrugged. "Purrcy or the AIs have locked me out of that one."

"In the Gate of Time?" another one asked.

Both shrugged. "Or outside my range." They had to let it go, but it was sad and frustrating.

"Will the demihumans be joining in the war, too?" the Mage asked, his brow furrowed, trying to fit them into the strategic picture in his head.

BlackJack hesitated, then said rather gently for him, "Yes. Because death and living pain is part of their worship, they will rise up from the ground once the battle is engaged and eat those who are injured enough for them to swarm. They are looking forward to what they are calling the 'Great Feast'. They also go up in power, and in their case, intelligence as their bonuses.

"Because they are demihumans and have not been controlled in population by the Adventurers, they now number in the tens of thousands if not into one-hundred-thousand. Their cave system was full to overflowing and they push their god to let them feast sooner. They are getting very hungry since most of their food went to be the sacrifices for the Adventurers above ground. It would be wise to expect them to attack smaller recon parties before the full battle is engaged. They aren't known for rationality nor patience."

"Please feel free to purify all of them," Michael said. "It might help to have your role playing clergy bless items so that everyone has additional purification bonuses. I'm sure by now everyone has at least one purification weapon. Use them. No need to hold back on that regard even against the Adventurers. As dark priests, the purification and light weapons will do more damage anyway. Expect them to have dark bonuses against them since, sadly, an Adventurer war is like any war on Earth - between the most intelligent and crafty creation known."

With sober nods, the military heads in each of the three groups (counting the Mage as one) started teaching intelligent Adventurers the finer points of military strategy. The meetings took five days, with LeftField doing most of it since the Eagles were needed for their own work. Michael participated when needed, and answered single questions immediately. The Eagles themselves fielded more questions when the planning got to the details, but around the edges of their busy.

They all got together again in one final video conference when the final battle plan was ready so everyone could know what the plan for the north was and edit any last remaining bugs. Shiroe was brought in for that one so he could be in the loop and add his own comments and encouragement. Then with prayers, good lucks, blessings and new priests of the Caretaker, and a new High Priest in Wesson, the North Army was on the march back to Central America, Theldesia.

* * *

 _If the references to the sacrifices and worship of the dark deities horrifies you, it should. As in most things I reference in this story, the acts of sacrifice to and worship of the dark gods is real in the main. I have taken some slight creative license as the author, but not much. Statues of these kinds described here have been found all over the world and almost universally used for these purposes. Humanity has always been this cruel to itself in these ways in the name of worship of deities, with priests on both sides claiming to receive blessings and strength._

 _Ritual death, ritual dark sexual acts, etc. are sources of power for evil. Sacrificing selfishness, service on the behalf of our fellowmen and women, and concerted attempts to bring peaceful happiness to others has always been the source of strength and power for good. The fight of good and evil has been the longest running battle on Earth, and continues to this day._

 _Any teaching that is in favor of hate, brings the believer to feelings of anger, and that causes pain to others is a teaching of the side of darkness and evil. Any teaching that is in favor of humility, peace with neighbors, and accountability to others for our actions for the purpose of positive self-growth is a teaching of the side of light and good. Not the words spoken, but what comes out of the believer because of the teachings and the words spoken._

 _If you doubt we are still fighting this fight today, let me direct your attention to late-term abortions (where yes the fetuses are living children who struggle to live, hiding from the tools used to take their lives - what is a premature infant and why do we have NeoNatal units in hospitals if not because they can and do live and are aware?); gang rape for the sake of initiation, punishment, selfish gain, or evil delight; terrorism; genocide in African and Asian countries; harsh governments that oppress their people with fear tactics; human trafficking (usually ending up in sex slave trade of women and children both); drugs abused and used to abuse others; rumors of non-consenting organ donation where organs are taken without anesthesia because the "doner" isn't worth wasting money and the drugs on (the most recent horrible rumor I heard out of China where there is yet another sweep to remove a cultural sub-group going on - an oppression and genocide that I know is real because a family member in my own community is watching the horror happening to her own family). I could go on. Such evils have not stopped just because we are "modern" enough to sweep them under the rug when we don't have to live with them in our own neighborhoods or homes._

 _Don't almost all of us now live with at least sporadic gunfire of the gangs within earshot of our homes, lock our doors at night and our cars when we aren't driving them and sometimes when we are? We all feel it...the rising fear as the evil rises. Some day we will have to decide if we will stand against it with determination like Akatsuki, Shiroe, Log Horizon and those Adventurers who stand for proper morality, or if we will continue to allow it to happen passively, or if we will begin to actively join in with it choosing to live constantly with anger and hatred as our closest friends, pride and selfishness as our hallmarks._

 _Some day the only "passive" participants will be the ones in chains being led to the sacrificial altar when there aren't any more "righteous enemies" left to be found. Just ask the German non-Jews who were taken away to the concentration camps at the tag end of the second world war. None who passively believed in morality were immune by then, and by then it was too late. The war we bring to ourselves continues on..._

 _In this arc, I am only telling yet another story of the same tale that has been told since humanity was on the Earth. How could it not also become part of the story of Theldesia-become-reality, as sobering as it is? Particularly when all games have evil written into them to be the "bad guy" we the players fight against, as Shiroe lamented when he first realized what they were headed into here at the end of level seven._


	215. Creation of 'Heaven' on Theldesia

The first council after the spies returned was over. The South Army, rather tired since it was almost early morning now rather than late night, still needed to come down off the high emotions of that council and have their own discussion. Still in their various cities across the southern tip of the south continent, they were in a party visual conference chat. Most of them were not-quite-glaring at Michael. It was a little more disbelief (from Twin Falls) and perhaps stunned relief (Eagles) that they finally knew the details he hadn't been able to tell them.

Reed opened. "Well, that was about what I was expecting after talking to Shiroe, although the details were a little too graphic for even me. He didn't get that detailed."

Michael shook his head. "Shiroe only knew what was taught in the university. Even in the Gate of Time those kinds of details are withheld until a lay person desiring to be clergy attaches to a temple. Then they are taught the details. I went through the same class so don't know those details from that."

"Which means we don't get to know more details yet either?" Reed raised an eyebrow.

"You really want to?" Michael asked back.

Reed was taken aback, and then shook his head. "No that really was quite enough." Everyone else nodded. Michael didn't comment which made a few swallow since that might just mean they'd get to learn more anyway. Tonight they didn't want to go there, so they shoved it to the back of their minds and tried to forget it. He hadn't said after all.

"So is Ccoa one of those two or a different one?" BlackJack asked.

"Ccoa is the deity of the demihumans. We have no idea how he's convinced Adventurers to worship him, since his flavor text is written so that only demihumans worship him. That's why we want more information on him," Reed answered. "We need to understand what loophole he's using." BlackJack gave a nod of understanding.

"Are we going to run into any more than that here?" Life Support asked. His personal burden and responsibility had just become rather large compared to any other time on this planet.

Michael and Reed both shook their heads. "Just those three," Michael said, "but that gives us the worst one and his closest ally. As the god of war _and_ death, as I said, Night Sun is behind the whole thing. Adventurers giving the deities the most bonuses generally means that when it becomes a war of Adventurer versus Adventurer he gets the most points of everyone. Shiroe's still calculating those points to their details, although he's getting closer. I'll pass on the numbers to him. He's just been waiting on those so he can go from guessing to real data."

Michael shook his head. "Even I can't touch what he's having to do this round and I'd not even want to try without a computer. He hasn't talked to Izanagi yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually gives up and does, just to get at least the confirmation he's not off by too far. We'll be walking a fine line." Records and QA both nodded in agreement. They were the calculators of the group so could completely understand.

"It's another reason Izanami's pushed us up into the stratosphere, isn't it?" Electrical asked. "So we're already ahead of the game down here."

"Probably," Michael agreed. "One of the many." They rolled eyes at that.

Life Support had been deep into thought, doing his own calculations for his own department. He asked for the floor again and they gave it to him. "Billy, I need to know now how many from your group I'm likely going to have to triage later. You guys are at the level of priest at worst in level comparisons to the enemy, so I think HP wise you'll likely be okay. We've already been practicing hard to get purification skills up even higher than they were, yourselves included, so we might have an edge there. But if we do run into those troubles we don't want to, are you guys going to make it?"

Billy looked down, then sighed a little sadly. The rest of the Twin Falls group was watching him without much on their faces. "Actually, it might surprise you, but we aren't strangers to evils like this. Not that we'd ever participate. We're definitely on the side of good. It's that in our unique scriptures, _The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ_ , twice, or perhaps more if you read between the lines, evil like this is recorded. As bad as this at the end of the two civilizations that it is the history of.

"They had battles like I'd imagine we'll be having, only it hopefully won't be as bad. Those were battles of two evil sides fighting against each other with only one sole survivor from the earlier civilization and an unknown number of survivors from only one side of the later civilization. The authors didn't really want to leave behind a lot of those same gory details, but they did summarize enough. The armies ate the flesh of their enemies when there wasn't anything else to eat, and did it in anger and vengeance. That's one example. So, yeah, we're no strangers to it.

"Like all the stuff we've been through here on Theldesia, I'm sure we'd rather not get to experience it for real, but we also know what to do if we do. Prayer and faith are always the answers. Sometimes the righteous were put in those horrible circumstances so that they could convert others, sometimes only because they would be called on during the final judgment of God to witness against the evils done to the innocent. If God needed them in that place, they prayed for the strength and faith to stand there until he saw fit to take them out of it, however that was.

"We know in the moment it isn't always that easy, and I'm sure we'll need help for our modern minds to heal up once it's all over, but I think we'll face it like we face everything else we already do." He looked up and blinked mildly at Life Support. "We'll help with the healing, too. We've already had practice with that part, although perhaps not in quite so extreme situations."

Life Support actually relaxed and put his chin in his hand, resting his elbow on his leg. "You guys really are a bundle of surprises, I swear. Who would have ever thought you'd even have that much exposure to it?"

Billy shrugged, uncomfortable. "It's in the Bible, too, if you read for it. The worship of Baal was pretty harsh. It's even more toned down in that history, but when you read of the house of Hebrew men that took the woman and raped her until she was dead and then the prophet showed up and killed them all and spread their small chopped up parts all over Israel as their warning not to do the stupid evil stuff of the worshipers of Baal, you get a good feel for just how terrible things probably were."

Several Eagles looked a little green. "That was said just a little too casually for tonight," one protested.

"Sorry," Billy ducked his head.

"That's in there?" Brenner asked, rather shocked.

"Yeah. Old Testament after the Israelites were back in the promised land after Moses and Joshua but before they had kings. I'd have to have a copy to look up the specific reference. It's not like I really wanted to memorize that one. It just jumped out and grabbed me during one of my personal readings one day, so I've remembered the story."

Billy continued to Life Support, "Actually, I think H.D. will be okay in the end, too, if we win this. He's one of us, so he understood as soon as he saw it. If we get the good resolution we can all thank God and lean on Him for the rest of the healing." Billy sighed. "I wish we had our scriptures. I'd like to read some of the more encouraging passages. That would help us, too." That got nods from the men around him.

"I resemble that remark," Brenner agreed dryly. "I've got a lot of them memorized, but there's nothing like holding the Good Book in your hands and finding those passages that best meet your needs of the moment."

Life Support took it back at that point. "Commander, Sir, while we're here in Central Command I can watch over the other spy, but I'm not sure he should be left alone if we need to spring into action. I definitely would recommend he not be anywhere near the fighting. That will bring up flashbacks and set him back completely."

Reed nodded understanding and looked to Michael. Michael looked back at Life Support. "You're a deacon. Ask."

Life Support stopped in surprise, then gave a nod. He didn't right then, which meant he wanted to think about what he wanted to ask for specifically. They left it up to him. It might take one or two awakenings for him to know just how difficult a case the broken spy was going to be. "Ah, you did hop him through the closest city, didn't you?" Life Support asked suddenly.

"Yeah, we covered that, too," Stiletto said quietly. Life Support slumped a little and waved he was done.

There was the silence of people who were very tired but not willing to end the conversation. "Go to bed," Reed said gently. "Sleep it off and don't rush the morning. We'll be under pressure for the rest of the time we're here until it's over. Take one last half-day of R&R so you can face what's next with firm spines. Chappie, give us a prayer to help us move forward tomorrow."

Brenner rose to his feet in the room at the inn in Montevideo and everyone bowed their heads as he prayed over them all to the God of all creation, giving them the hope to push forward one more time.

-:-:-:-:-

Life Support didn't get that same sort of break the rest of the Eagles did. The poor spy woke up multiple times by virtue of the spell on him. The first few times he woke up screaming. That was expected and Life Support had made it so his shield would keep that sound down to a minimum - just enough to wake him up so he could comfort and reassure the man he wasn't in that situation any longer.

It was relieving that by the fourth awakening the man was starting to respond to him, his eyes searching for Life Support's face and holding the eye contact desperately until he faded into sleep again.

Morning had come and Life Support didn't need more sleep, unless it was uninterrupted for about six hours. He was sitting against the closest tree trunk to the spy, trying to decide what to do about his full healing when there was a shimmer in front of him. By squinting just a little he could almost make out a figure. It made a motion and there was suddenly between the two of them a bubbling fountain of water rising from the ground.

"Oh, right," he said. "I forgot already Mike set me to that." He knelt up and purified himself to the first level. That was enough for the shimmer to turn into a hazy, more recognizable personage. The fountain of water disappeared. "If you'll watch over him, I'll go shower," he offered. He got a nod so disappeared behind foliage to strip and wash down. He had to finagle the magic to get the equivalent of flowing water, but it worked sufficiently for cleanliness and to start the cells moving up. He finished with the ritual spell and that properly did the deed.

It wasn't that they really _had_ to do it for Purrcy, it was that it made it easier to talk to her, as evidenced by the fact Michael and Gareth could see and talk to her any time, and Reed, come to think of it since he'd been given the assignment to be properly attending to Izanami. Living in the Gate of Time made it hard for Purrcy to show up at the base realm any more, although she could if she had been standing around long enough to drop. And none of that line of reasoning made any sense once it settled past his tired brain.

By the time Life Support was back in front of his tree, he had to ask. "Okay. Why that hoop this time?" He didn't get an answer so he sighed and sat down. "While I'd ask it formally or even in a prayer, we're playing our own game when it comes to the Caretaker, and everyone else, now, too. I get to see you if I want to see you."

The image paused in a bit of surprise, then shook its head. It tried very hard, and he could just faintly hear. "Not the Goddess."

"You're not Purrcy?" he asked in surprise. He got another shake of the head. "And where's Gareth when I need him. You'll be wanting Michael. He can reach you and hear you just fine." The spirit in front of him turned in a circle. Life Support pointed. "That way. The big Monk. General, Sir, there's a spirit here trying to talk to me. Can I send it your way?"

Michael appeared in the small clearing between the trees. "Is he doing okay?"

"So far. I'm hopeful. The last couple of responses have been positive baby steps."

"Good. Hope it keeps going that way," Michael answered. His hand reached out and grabbed hold of the arm of the spirit in front of Life Support. "Please excuse me, but you and I should go talk somewhere else." The spirit didn't want to go so Michael disappeared.

Life Support could just make him out this time, being up in the levels himself, although that surprised him a little. He did a quick check on his skill set and points. Yeah, he'd gone up again. Somehow his sub-skill was turning into the capacity to see the life force of living things. He suspected he'd be able to read how well a person was doing just by looking at that much.

He frowned. If that was the case with the waif of a wraith, that was more like a nature spirit in feel, it wasn't doing well at all. He cast the clergy's Spirit Heal on it and that seemed to help a little, although he was still a bit low on skill points for that one himself. When the cool down was up on that one, he should practice more by using it on the broken Adventurer. Maybe it would help him a little, too.

Michael appeared again. "Well, that's rather sad. This is the regional Caretaker. She claims she's the only one in all of the central and south continent. She hitched a ride with this one when she was trying to help him. She's as broken as he is, though, and it's hard to get anything out of her. Her focus is ending the pain and suffering of everyone and that's rather all she's got left to her.

"Her history says she's a Wraith by choice and by sacrificial torture. They went too far and her soul slipped loose of the resurrection cycle. Study that while she haunts you and him. We may have to know how to fix that, too." Michael sighed sadly. Life Support could only nod obediently. It wasn't a surprising outcome for someone like that in a situation like this.

Michael disappeared and the waif floated over to rest closer to the broken Adventurer, but she seemed calm enough. Since Life Support had already started, he finished.

"Caretaker." He sighed. "Hahaue really, do I have to call you that to talk to you? It's okay as a title when I'm talking to someone else, but it just doesn't come naturally to me when I'm trying to talk to you." He frowned just a little. "Anyway, I'd like to talk to you a bit about what we should do for the long term for this poor guy who was just trying to help us and got into more than we all knew he was going to get into. That would have been a hard assignment even for one of us."

He got the purr he was expecting, and the spirit Caretaker turned to look at the space where she and Michael had been before. Life Support relaxed and pulled on the intent to use his skill to see the life force of things. He about got blinded and his head exploded. He froze and tuned it down a bit, trying to see if there was a meter value he could affect. Eventually he could see the felinoid figure inside the glowing aura.

"And, you're not really here, why?" he finally asked.

Purrcy smiled, or he thought she did. Her tail said it anyway. "I'm holding open a gateway into the Gate of Time," she said, and her voice did sound a bit distant. "Please bring him and come in. It will be for but a very short amount of time in the base realm. We will need you to train someone what to do properly. No one here has the experience and training you do."

"Ah, right," he hadn't quite thought that far into it, but he was probably the only person on the face of the planet, except one or two of the Swordsmen and an equally small number with LeftField with his experience and training. Maybe there were that many.

Life Support rose to his feet and moved to pick up the Adventurer. The spirit Caretaker fell on her knees in front of Purrcy. Purrcy was still purring and as Life Support moved towards where she was, he could see some of the light that surrounded her reach for the waif and lightly touch her and enter her. The spirit seemed to firm up just a little and when Life Support passed through the portal the spirit Caretaker stayed there in that little clearing.

When he arrived back in the clearing again only a few minutes later, the spirit was still there. Life Support sat down in front of the tree again and opened a chat to report. "Purrcy's taken the broken spy for initial triage healing in the Gate of Time. When he's stable enough, she's got a place here on the north continent she'll take him to that will see he's cared for until the final. Apparently there are a few Adventurers who get a bye. They have to walk down with the rest of us, but they don't have to fight. He's going to be one of them."

Life Support paused, then said, "The Wizard is one of those, too. She's taken him there, too, to a protected place. She made the call that an eight to eleven year old shouldn't be going with the North Army up to watch all that nightmare stuff going on."

"Thank God," Michael murmured. "I'm in complete agreement with that." Life Support agreed as well. There wasn't likely any triage they could do here to repair that, ever.

Life Support lay down in his bedroll. He was going to take and enjoy the rest of his short R&R time. And never would he ever tell that he'd gotten the longest one of them all, being in the Gate of Time for two and a half weeks getting the spy to a level he could leave, and training as many healers in the Temple of Creation as could fit into the large lecture hall.

It was sad they would need to know how to do it, not only to help repair the terribly damaged Adventurers on the planet, but also for those in the Gate of Time that Purrcy expected to have to heal as well. Not everyone was evil there. Almost everyone who wasn't was rather innocent of things like war when it walked through your front door and the roof exploded.

That wasn't Life Support's to worry about any more, though, so he let it go and fell asleep rather quickly, not really noticing that the waif of the South Caretaker settled down to lean on him and rest with him.

-:-:-:-:-

Purrcy was finally busy and sufficiently distracted because of it. Having people suddenly asking her for the detailed things they needed now that things were starting and before it got terrible meant she had things to do. In Life Support's case, she'd had a lot of her own thoughts of what she could and should be doing to help the overall effort and the people she cared about the most - like the most broken ones. Izanagi still wasn't letting her interfere with the Adventurers who were captured, but the few like the spy, who she could interfere with directly because of the prayer and efforts of H.D. and then Life Support's request, she could move to help.

Having Life Support come and teach meant she was preparing now in positive ways to help the other broken ones when they were finally set free. That answered a few prayers, too, so she had the help for that effort. Other places around the world were also requesting similar things that made her think of what she could be doing now to be ready for "after" during the rest and repair phase. That helped keep her calmed down rather a lot, since it was a more positive direction to be facing.

At the moment she was finding Nyanta. "Are you busy, Nyanta, or can I borrow you away for a bit, for a more pleasant, if somewhat slightly sad, moment on the planet?"

Nyanta's ear turned and he held up a hand. Purrcy paused and waited until he was done with his current task. "I think that would be a good thing," he answered, "I shouldn't be gone longer than ten minutes, though."

"Okay. I'll set that into the return," she said.

Nyanta rose to his feet and held out his arm for her hand. The High Priest stayed sitting at the desk doing his own tasks for the moment. They both bowed to him and Purrcy stepped them away and into the middle of a field in North America, Theldesia.

There was a venerable elf sitting on a smoothed rock at the edge of a clear stream that flowed through a green valley in the middle of tall mountains tops. As they walked over to him, he turned to see who it was. A smile came on his face, no longer taut nor gaunt. He rose to his feet gracefully and walked to meet them. "Caretaker," he bowed slightly.

"Father of Theldesia. This is my husband, Nyanta-san of Log Horizon. Nyanta, this is the master programmer, and the original creator of the game. He was on like we all were, hopeful to see what excitement we would all have for the new version. Like most of us he was both sadly horrified at exactly what happened, and also very excited to see a whole new world full of great potential."

Nyanta and the elf bowed to each other and greeted each other cordially. Purrcy let them chat pleasantly for a polite amount of time, then politely introduced her reason for coming, other than to see that the master programmer was taking care of himself properly. "I would like to create a place for you, and others like you who need a place to rest and heal in peace. May I interrupt your solitude to bring similar souls to be near you, and can I ask you to be the head of the institution, if you will? They will need only a little organization, I would think, just to feel like life has order and pattern to it."

The master programmer paused, then smiled a little sadly. "I suppose the broken do need that sort of thing, don't they, and if you're going to count me as nearly one of those, I suppose I can't complain too strenuously." He sighed and looked into the distance at the far clouds near the horizon of the blue sky above.

"I won't leave you without support and staff," she promised. "I've had healers trained who will help. They'll handle the strenuous requirements, since they are already well trained to that as well. They won't come for a while, but then most of the broken and innocent young won't come until later either. It's that I have two who need a place now, and I think the three of you will be good for each other until then."

Her eyes twinkled a bit at the creator of the game as he turned to look at her with a bit of a stern look. "And how young is the innocent?"

Purrcy told him and he sighed, but he nodded and looked away again, drawing on the peacefulness of the surroundings even now. Purrcy gave Nyanta the duty to keep the master programmer company, then turned and created a softly glowing crystal city, with clear walls that would protect them but not appear as prison walls.

She had already protected the whole of this zone, purchasing it and only allowing access by herself and those she brought to be in it when she'd learned it was the favorite area of the master programmer. Eventually Shiroe would likely want to return it back to the planet, but for now that law still held and she would use it.

When the city was done being created: houses, business facilities, a hospital, and many open parks included, she bowed to the two men and disappeared. She reappeared with the Wizard and introduced him to the creator and Nyanta. The Wizard took in the surroundings with wide eyes, then immediately launched into conversation with the two men.

Purrcy left them again and this time returned with the still very wounded spy. She had also created one single link directly to the city that originated in the Temple of Creation in the Gate of Time, so that she could send her staff directly when they were needed and they could return home when their tasks were done. She used that to bring him to this place now.

She held on to his hand tightly and warmly, completely understanding his desire to run anywhere. "Please let this be your new home, and these your new companions," she asked quietly. She waited while his eyes took in the open zone, the stream, the older elf and the very young wizard. He paused on seeing Nyanta and Purrcy shook her head. "My husband will return with me, but we will come visit every now and again."

He gave a faint nod and looked around even more. When his eyes landed on the city, he gazed at it for a very long time, then a tear dripped from his eye. "Heaven."

"If you wish it to be," Purrcy replied softly, "although it's only the closest approximation I can make it here. I hope here you can continue to heal."

When he recovered, she led him at his pace to the three others and introduced them to him. "What shall we call you?" the creator asked.

"I don't exist," he answered. "I have no name."

The Wizard smiled up at him. "We don't either."

For the first time, the broken spy's lips curled up as he looked the young Wizard in the eye. "Well, then, I suppose this is home for all of us, then." He looked at Purrcy. "And what do we call you?"

Purrcy smiled. "I am known by more names than I can say any more. My children call me Hahaue, so that is the one I like best."

-:-:-:-:-

MeowLi was thinking of her mother. Hahaue had been so proud the day she and her siblings had graduated from the university. It had been an exciting time, and for MeowLi a somewhat scary time. It meant they might be leaving their home soon, and for her that was an even bigger thing than for her siblings.

Still for all their pride in her mother, when she'd been asked to address the assembly, she'd still managed to embarrass them. They could only sigh at her. To say in public that to her the most important thing to hear was her children calling her Hahaue, because she liked it best, went a little too far. It was already obvious from the park to everything else. It hadn't been necessary to say it publicly.

They'd refused to call her Hahaue at all for a few days, but of course it wasn't possible to not call her that, so they'd forgotten or gave up. There was no changing the old woman on issues like that. And just as often as they'd not called her Hahaue, she'd ignored them, pretending like they must be talking to someone else, or she hadn't heard them at all. It was hard to combat fire with fire, or in this case, passive aggression with passive aggression.

They knew she loved them, and they couldn't deny their love for her either. Now that MeowLi had lived outside the Gate of Time, she had a deeper appreciation for the care and tenderness of her parents. The Adventurers didn't have parents around (except her own who were missing at the moment in their lives). The People of the Land cared, but tenderness was missing. MeowLi was beginning to understand that for all the personal difficulties she'd had as a child with limited perspective, really she'd had a rather idyllic and wonderful childhood at home.

She arrived at the meeting place Rae and Mellie had asked her to meet them at feeling this way: that tenderness. It bled out into her greeting of them, but they were her students and they also missed their families, she was quite sure of it. She'd learned to understand it now from watching Minori, Touya, and Serera. It was in these two as well, hidden like it was in the others, that deep wish to be with family. MeowLi recognized it also because she also had felt it for those long years in the unbounded Gate of Time. So today she was tender with her students and friends.

They led her to a guild hall surrounded by an open grassy area. There were the sounds of fighters practicing behind the building. She assumed there must be more open space back there that she couldn't see. The guild hall was taller and had a larger area footprint than both of the Log Horizon and Crescent Moon guild halls together. Lots of windows on the upper floors made her think it must either have been a junior school or a very large apartment building. (Touya and Minori had explained what an "apartment building" was.)

Even if it hadn't been one before, she knew it was now an apartment since guilds with a space this large would be rather large to begin with. She'd learned how expensive zones in Akiba were in the financial course, so knew they wouldn't purchase one that was overly roomy, nor would they purchase one that made the press of bodies terrible. This was a rather large guild for Akiba, actually, now that she was inspecting the space.

She looked curiously at her guides. They'd never told her what guild they belonged to, she was just now realizing. As they neared the door, having come up a walked-flat-into-dirt lane from the roadway, she asked, "What guild is it you belong to?"

They looked at her with almost fright and that surprised her enough to pause. "Oh, no! It's okay," Rae said quickly, then bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry." She looked down and shuffled a toe on the ground. "We haven't said because we...we're afraid you won't want to help us with classes, or be our friend."

"Why?" MeowLi's warning bells were going off, but she tried to not run, nor show any exterior reactions.

"B-because, well..., relations aren't too good right now between our guildmaster and yours." Rae's eyes came up to look earnestly into MeowLi's. "We don't really care one way or the other, and he doesn't make anyone else follow along with his opinions at all, it's just...we didn't know if you'd be allowed to talk to us or come visit or anything if you knew." Her eyes dropped again and she stood a bit dejectedly. Mellie reached out and took two of Rae's fingers in hers, and looked apologetically at MeowLi.

"Well," MeowLi hesitated. "I haven't heard anything one way or the other from the guild. What guild is it?"

"Honesty," Rae said quietly.

MeowLi shook her head. "No, I haven't been told anything about your guild one way or the other. They know I'm coming to help tutor you today at your guild hall, though, so I think they would have said if I shouldn't."

Rae looked up quickly. "They...didn't?"

MeowLi shook her head again. "But then, Guildmaster Shiroe is like that, too. He doesn't make anyone dislike someone just because he might. I don't know anyone's opinions on it at all, and actually I don't know for any guild, except to be watchful of Haemlin. I do know that story."

The two girls nodded soberly. "Yeah, that was bad," Rae agreed.

"It's better this time, though," Mellie said, "although no one young goes anywhere near them if it can be helped."

MeowLi agreed. "That's how it is for the sister guilds, too."

"Yeah, Crescent Moon had it worst," Mellie agreed.

They all three took a breath to get that worry out of their systems. "But, you really haven't been told to stay away from Honesty?" Rae pressed.

"Is there a reason I should have been?" MeowLi asked with warning in her voice that she'd better be told truth.

The two girls shook their heads. "Not really. Guildmaster Ains is out at the moment and we did mention we would be using the study room today and he didn't seem to care much. He knows your our teacher since he asked kindly after our newest classes." Mellie nodded firmly to Rae's answer.

"Well, then it shouldn't be too much trouble, for a study session," MeowLi answered, trying to work it out internally at the same time since her training in the Gate of Time screamed at her to run. But she really hadn't been warned away from anywhere except going out of the city.

Well, truth be told, this was outside of the city. When she'd asked, Log Horizon had made absolute sure that she was going to be met by the girls and escorted to the guild hall and back into the city. But the guild had already known where she was going was just outside the walls, really.

Shiroe's look had sort of said that he was going to use the opportunity to test and see if she was ready for such brave excursions. That had made her sigh. She did need to be growing and she supposed that having her own friends and going to their homes anywhere inside or just outside of the city would count as another level of growth.

Given that Log Horizon had surely known she was going to Honesty's guild hall and they'd not prevented it, then they surely were at the level of unspoken approval for it. "I'm interested in seeing how you live, too," she said to get Rae to calm down a little more. "I think it will be fine."

Rae and Mellie both slumped with a sigh, "Well, then, thank you for coming to visit. Please be welcome," they opened the front door and led her into a front foyer that was rather large and had two staircases going up either side and leading to the differing sides of the building.

"The study room is on the second floor," Mellie said, putting a foot on the left staircase. "We tried to reserve it, but we might have a few others present since we are large enough that sometimes we have to squeeze into spaces like that. We can sit in a corner, though." She frowned at Rae. "Come on. I know you're not looking forward to more studying, but it can't be helped."

Behind MeowLi, who was already started on walking up the stairs, Rae sighed. "No, I suppose it can't." She dragged her feet up the stairs. "But I'm really so _done_ with taking English all over _again_."

"Then come study properly and be done this time," Mellie and MeowLi said simultaneously. They laughed and even Rae had to smile.

"All right, I'm coming. I'm coming," Rae answered and joined them on the walk up the stairs.

When Rae's brain really wouldn't hold any more learning for the day, the three girls walked back down the stairs to head back to town for a treat to reward Rae for her hard efforts. On the way to the main door, it opened and a tall man in a grey yukata with long straight hair walked through it followed by another man who looked like an assistant. MeowLi thought he looked rather like a scholar, or a mage perhaps.

He paused as his eyes caught the three girls. He smiled. "Done with the study session?" he asked.

"Yes, Guildmaster Ains. Thank you," Rae said politely.

Ains bowed slightly to MeowLi. "Thank you for patiently working with our Rae. She tries hard."

MeowLi swallowed slightly and bowed back. "You're welcome. She is fun, though that might be a little part of the problem."

Ains smiled. "Indeed. Did she approach today's studies sufficiently serious?"

"Yes, she did," MeowLi was glad to say. Mellie nodded firm agreement and Rae slumped a little in relief they would say so.

"Well, then do have a bit of fun as well this afternoon," Ains said as he and his assistant moved out of the way to let them access the door. They walked off towards the back of the first floor, returning to their own soft, interrupted conversation.

As the three girls walked down the trail to the road, MeowLi wondered why the guildmasters were at odds. She wondered if it was only political. Often that was the case in the Gate of Time as well. Deities would disagree and sometimes fiercely in the Court of Gods, but outside of it they were really rather nice to face. Perhaps it was something like that. She didn't really want to bring it back up to her friends because it made them worried, but she should work it out of them somehow. She had time now that they were going to the market district.

Even after she was home she didn't really understand it. Tetorō only said it was arguments at the Round Table and some guild rivalry while the Eagles had been present in the city. His waving it off made her feel a little better. Then he smiled and winked at her. "Feel free to use your city instincts all you want. We won't stand in the way of that." She wondered what that meant for a long time.

-:-:-:-:-

Demikas was a bit antsy. Ten years had been a long time in the small area they'd been living in. He was glad the occasional creature came though to distract him. And to train Emiline on. She was quite strong for her age and had no fear. He had taught her caution, though. It wouldn't be good to be stupid, particularly since she wasn't an Adventurer who could resurrect.

On her tenth birthday, Demikas had held his breath the whole day, wondering if he should put everything in his lists just in case. Nothing had happened except the little family celebration they held every year because Anna wanted to and was willing to make the little cakes.

It was almost disappointing to wake back up to their usual home the day after that birthday. Since then, Demikas had paid attention to the "just in case", but life had continued on. The eleventh birthday had been the same. By the twelfth birthday, Demikas sat down to do some heavy thinking again. He was getting quite ready to return to the life they'd known before coming to this place, although they'd only lived it not quite three years.

He also didn't want to get back and have everyone gone because they'd come back late. He did know from his early experience that wasn't likely since time had warped in the ways needed for him to go, do stuff, and return properly. Still...given Shiroe had estimated ten years and that had already come and gone...Demikas couldn't help but be a little worried.

Finally, he decided there were two possibilities. They might be here until Emiline was an adult, maybe only just about twenty, but old enough to live independently if she needed to. Then they would have raised her properly in the amount of time such things usually happened. The other possibility was that it would be when she was thirteen. He chose that age because that was the age that legally could pay to play _Elder Tales_. Outside this time-space they lived in was _Elder Tales_ , so it might just be that she had to be thirteen to live in it.

He wouldn't mind that. Then she could still learn to have friends, she would be the right age to be considered an Adventurer (she was already too strong to be considered "just a Person of the Land", which was just a little concerning since he didn't know how to explain that away). And if Akiba still had its school going, perhaps she could go there and learn some of the things children ought to learn.

He'd certainly tried, and Anna had done some teaching as well, but it was hard to remember everything that someone ought to learn in their childhood. Reading, basic arithmetic, writing, household skills, and simple Adventurer survival skills was all they could do. Demikas wasn't sure that was sufficient, nor well-rounded enough. Besides, to never have friends who also were children wasn't very kind, nor fun.

Emiline didn't complain. She loved to follow him around helping him, and if her mother asked for help, she usually was willing. Sometimes he had to frown at her, but since he helped with all the chores, too, to keep from being super bored, it was just the thing they did together. Still, Demikas couldn't help but feel that the older Emiline got, the more she really ought to be having others around. Society was important, particularly in learning how to be social. Anna knew how to do that. Demikas knew perfectly well that he was quite miserable at it. Emiline didn't need to be learning that from him, nor from a lack of practice.

Thus it was, that as they neared Emiline's thirteenth birthday, Demikas took Anna on a walk, asking Emiline to tend to the house. "Anna, I've been thinking about things." She gave him her patient, kind look. She knew that was one of his least favorite pastimes. "I'd like to see Emiline have a few friends and I'm honestly getting super bored here, although I love you both and love that we've had all this time being together so closely."

Anna nodded and patted his arm, but didn't interrupt. "Shiroe estimated we'd be here ten years, but he didn't really know. I don't think it would be good to be here until Emiline is an adult. There are lots of things we can't teach her that she needs to know before she gets there - _I_ think. Most of us Adventurers who came here were thirteen at the youngest. That seemed a reasonable age for the three of us to go back, too. I was wondering, what do you think?"

Anna walked with her arm in his quietly for a while. She was one of those who liked to be thoughtful and didn't find it so hard to accomplish, so did it faster than Demikas. It still took time, though, so Demikas waited patiently. He kept his eye on the perimeter of the clearing for something to do while he waited. They didn't need to be jumped by something accidentally crossing it, and they didn't need to accidentally cross it and leave Emiline behind. He shuddered at the thought and kept them well within the boundaries.

"Well, I do think it would be good for her to be there before she turns seventeen. To suddenly arrive at seventeen won't be so good either since she won't know how to interact with other People of the Land. That she will still need to learn properly. Even though I've been trying to teach it to her, because she can only see my example she doesn't understand it."

Demikas nodded. That's rather how he felt, too, although he knew it was a little different. He wasn't sure why seventeen was important to Anna though. "What happens around seventeen?"

"They start to become eligible for betrothal, although marriage doesn't usually take place until nineteen."

Demikas froze and stared at Anna, somewhat horrified. "Wh- Seventeen!? And nineteen!? Does it _have_ to?"

Anna smiled at him. "It always does. Sometimes the world has another plan for a woman and the rare few become shopkeeps or secretaries who never marry, that sort of thing. Sometimes there is a certain man they are destined for and he had to complete his journey to find her and win her hand, so they won't be interested until he shows up. That can be as late as twenty-one, or the odd twenty-two."

Demikas slumped in sudden understanding. "Oh. It's game flavor rules." He looked away, then sighed. "I would rather Emiline not have to live those rules. She would have more fun living the rules we do. Getting to live her life for a while and choose her boyfriends, then later her husband, but when she's ready to, not when the world rules say she has to."

He pondered on that for a bit, then shrugged. He wasn't going to get to choose that. Still, he'd wish for it for Emiline's sake anyway, whenever he happened to think of it. He _was_ rather sure _he'd_ not be ready for her to just up and go get married by the time she was nineteen. That was still rather young for people from Earth. It almost made him want to stay in the time-space until she was twenty-five, just so he got to enjoy her for the full time he should be able to, and so she could have the independence for that long, too.

"Well, who's to say?" Anna finally said politically. "But thirteen...I suppose that could be okay. She is certainly strong enough to handle the new things, I would think, although I'd not want to be separated from her for a few more years."

Demikas frowned just a little. "Well...I had been thinking that once we were settled again, if Shiroe's still got the Academy going that we would send her down there for some more formal schooling. I'm not interested in going down there myself since I don't want to be any closer to Four-eyes than I have to be, but what he's doing down there is good for all the kids, from what I saw. He already knows who and what we are and what Emiline is, so he'd probably be willing to put her up with his guild and they'd all keep their mouths shut about it."

Anna was looking at him, but she didn't seem angry about it. "The kids there are decent, and one of them's a Person of the Land who became an Adventurer, so he would be able to help her some, I think. They aren't all that much older than she would be either. Their guild is next door to another guild with lots of kids who also go to the Academy, so she'd have plenty of people to be friends with."

He patted Anna's hand. "I know it would be hard for us to be separated from her. I'm not too keen on that part, either, but I trust Log Horizon enough to be willing to do it for just long enough for Emiline to learn what she can. They don't have lots they teach there either - no real teachers came with us to Akiba apparently, so it wouldn't be like she would be away from us until she was seventeen. It could be up to a year or so, I'd guess."

He frowned a bit. "Shiroe's trying to get everyone home. If that happens, she'll have to come back up here anyway. There won't be a school anymore. I know everyone wants to go home sooner than later, so lots of years isn't likely for that reason, too. And I suppose is another reason I don't want to be here much longer. I don't want to miss kicking them all out of here nor her brief opportunity to get that additional education."

Anna could get that. She nodded thoughtfully and went back to thinking again. Demikas stopped thinking again to let his brain rest a bit. He did muse on things a lot while bored here, but the heavy thinking was still more difficult than not.

"Well...so how do we leave?" Anna asked. "Just walk out?"

Demikas stared at her. He'd not even thought of that option. "I'd thought we'd get dumped out when they were done with us." He paused, a little cross, "Purrcy didn't even come kick us out at the ten year mark, even though that was all we'd agreed to originally."

"No," Anna mused. "I rather wondered about that, too."

"Well...I guess we could just walk out, although I don't know what time that will put us at...but we did have to walk in." Demkias pondered on that for a bit, then gave a nod. "If you're willing, how about the day after her thirteenth birthday we pack up and go?"

Anna gave him a long-suffering look. "It takes longer than a day to 'pack up' and leave. We have to sort through it all, make repairs, and deep clean so we remain the proper guests and don't break our promise from the beginning. It will likely take several weeks of effort."

"I got us packed in less than an hour to come here," Demkias said defensively.

"And you were thinking about it and planning for it for at least a month before that," Anna pointed out.

Demikas closed his opened mouth. She had a point. "Alright. We'll get started now, so we can be _ready_ to go the day after."

Anna smiled patiently. "Okay. But, we might still want to wait a bit to make sure we exit when we should. Surely there will be a sign given when it's time to go."

Demikas nodded agreement, but personally wasn't sure he was going to have the patience if it went on too long and got to the fourteenth birthday.


	216. Hue's Trial

Although the Twin Falls group in Montevideo woke up late like the rest of the South Army, they didn't just sit around. It was Sunday. Sunday was their day of worship. Following that pattern had brought them comfort and hope from the beginning of the catastrophe. Since things ahead looked very worrisome, they definitely were going to continue holding to that pattern now. Because they were in mostly different regions, the Montevideo group held their own little service with just the six of them.

As Hue passed the sacrament to the other men, his very full heart, touched deeply by what he had heard the night before, wanted to relieve the suffering even a little bit more. He wasn't the senior person in the group, to select who did what, but when that person had finished his words of encouragement and teaching and then looked around the group, Hue raised his hand, volunteering to be the other speaker.

"I've been thinking a lot since last night," he started. "Mostly about the story of Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah who went preaching to the Lamanites, their enemies. How they faced that scary thing alone, to walk into the lands of their enemies, because they felt it was so important to teach them how live right before God, and with each other. We're doing that now, rather literally, actually."

He looked down, trying to get his thoughts put together. "I want to do what they did. We haven't gone outside the city yet. It would be good to know if they treat the People of the Land the same here as Commander Reed discovered where he is. If it's worse, that would be bad, but we need to know that, too.

"Also, if there are Adventurer guards outside the city, they probably haven't heard the goals we need help on. Even if they can't leave their posts, we've been asked to let them all hear what they are, and everyone is needed for the final battle, so they should at least know about that one."

His voice got quiet. "And, if we can reach even the one, like Abinadai or Alma the elder, to convince any of them that the way they've chosen to live isn't right, won't that be a wonderful thing? ...I think to lift the suffering of even one person with even only one act of kindness in their life can make a very big difference to them, just like hearing the gospel of hope and peace can. If I could do even one of those small acts of service today, on the Lord's day, I would feel a lot better and more hopeful for the future myself."

The other five men looked at him very kindly and promised him they would talk to MasterChiefS7 after the service.

-:-:-:-:-

MasterChiefS7 couldn't really say no to Hue's very earnest face, nor could he deny they did need to recon outside the city. He could warn them one more time to watch themselves carefully and not misstep and make Hahaue cross her boundaries into anger. They promised and MasterChiefS7 assigned Brenner, Training, and Ground Safety to go with them.

The three Eagles were specifically tasked with looking for whatever place the guards might be housed, if it wasn't in the city itself. They all kind of felt like there was probably a barracks near where the People of the Land lived. If the messages could be passed along through the proper chain of command that might be best, but it was true there would always be a shift on watch in the fields that would need to hear it. Getting permission to tell them would be better than just walking up to them.

The nine walked out of the city, the three pairs already set up and the remaining three Twin Falls as one group, and took different directions. It didn't take long to learn that the same Person of the Land and Adventurer arrangement was in force here. However, it looked like the relationship was perhaps a little more strained here than to the north. The Guards wore scowls more often and the People of the Land were a little more restless when eyes weren't on them.

Training and Ground Safety's pairings were directed to where the barracks were when they asked the overseer of the guards. Together the four worked hard to calmly earn the right to let the Adventurer guards know of the quests. They were allowed but under the requirement that they only meet their own quest requirements. They could say what the quests were, but they couldn't try to convince anyone to accept any of them. The head of the barracks would decide if or when anyone would act on them. Players understood that quests had to be properly fulfilled, and they were willing to go that far, but that far only.

Since that was sufficient and really the best they could hope for, they let the other groups know and then asked to be able to teach those in the barracks right then so they could move on. Since the head of the barracks wanted them gone, too, that was fine with him.

Hue had gone as one of the group of three from Twin Falls. The road passed by fields but the guards and People of the Land were often scattered over many acres far beyond the road. When they reached an area being worked, they talked to the overseer and explained what they were doing.

The overseer contacted the barracks and received the word they'd been given permission. He wasn't too pleased, but he let them go out into the field. They separated so they could get all of the guards talked to in one third of the time than if they stayed together.

For three separate areas being worked they humbly taught just what they were allowed to, although always with a prayer in their hearts that if the Adventurer they were talking to was one that might be able to be convinced to play nicely with the People of the Land, that they would know what to say to help them.

Sometimes they were prompted to say one of the other things they well knew. "It's possible to do what you're doing now and still be kind to those you watch over and guard. If they're getting enough food and are being treated well enough that they don't want to complain, then sometimes that's the best we can do." Most guards they weren't allowed to say that to, though.

On the fourth area, they were given permission and Hue headed for the farthest section again. He was about done with teaching in that area, when he saw just ahead of him a woman stumble and fall as she tried to move forward in the field. The guard on watch over her scowled. "Get up!" he shouted as his hand reached for his whip.

Hue, who had been looking for just such an opportunity to help someone, jumped past the guard and ran to the side of the woman, helping her up. He was surprised to see she looked very ill. Without much thought, he had a potion in hand and was helping her drink it. The guard behind him shouted angrily and headed his way. Hue looked up at him mildly. "Of course someone who is sick is not going to do well in the field on that day."

"The sick die because they don't have the strength to work. No work is no food for anyone," the guard scolded him fiercely.

"That's rather a waste when health potions are easy to come by. Then you'd get more years of work out of the one person. Isn't that even more food?" Hue stayed very mild. He could feel the trembling of the woman under his hand where he was still supporting her. On the group chat, one of the other three was quietly contacting Brenner who was closest to their group. Hue's heart fell a little. He hadn't meant to get them into trouble with the overseer, too. The third member of their group was trying to talk him down from being incensed as well.

Hue sighed and looked at the woman with him. "I'm sorry for causing trouble. We've come from the north continent and we don't have slaves there, so I don't know the right way to act here." He frowned. The woman was holding her lower belly. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head at him in fear. The guard grabbed Hue's arm roughly and pulled on him. He didn't move, but he did give his attention properly to the guard. The woman was shaking in fear now, so Hue let her go gently and followed the guard back to the berm of the field. "I'm sorry," he apologized. Knowing this particular guard wasn't likely going to want to hear what he had to say regardless, he suffered silently through his scolding, then very humbly told the quests to him anyway.

That made the guard glare, but he said, "No wonder you're soft. You must die of starvation often."

"No. We worked with our People of the Land in the field. Most of us were farm boys anyway. We had a lot of fun together, since working together is a lot more fun than standing around bored or angry. We were able to produce plenty for the city, too, even after the next larger Adventurer city over came and hid out with us when the Overwritten got so bad. Adventurers have a lot of stamina and strength so our efforts went a long way. We don't like to live this way in the United States, so we don't here either."

He got a rather bad scowl after the surprise went away. At his admission they were from the United States, the guard spit on the ground next to him. "Don't come back."

Hue sighed a bit to himself, but nodded. "We won't. We have a lot of ground to cover to accomplish this quest since all of you have to be stuck out here on guard duty."

As he turned away to go to the next guard over, who looked like he wasn't interest in having Hue talk to him either, the woman he'd helped collapsed. The guard's whip was out and lashing towards her.

Hue really couldn't help himself. He jumped in front of the whip and took the blow. "Please, don't. She's ill enough. If you believe she is going to die anyway, why waste your effort to beat her before then? Let me carry her back to the village where she can die without you having to worry about her." He stared firmly into the eyes of the guard, his hands outstretched to either side to prevent the guard from using his whip on the woman again.

The guard scowled and his eyes flickered to something behind Hue. The guard moved away from Hue. "Hue," Brenner's voice said and Hue turned around, not quite so worried about turning away from the guard now. Brenner and the overseer had come.

"She's sick and a sick person can't work. They let them die for it, but it can't be worth it to waste the effort to beat them so they die in even more pain." He faced the overseer. "Please, let me carry her back to the village where she can die where she doesn't have to be in the way. And if she recovers instead, then you'll still have a worker to help you have food. Isn't that the better way?" he pled.

Since it was a reasonable request when asked in the presence of strangers, the overseer paused, staring stonily at Hue for a while. Finally he said, "Fine. You carry her if you want to waste your walking over having the guard waste his whip. But don't steal her or you will have opened a PK battle."

Hue shook his head. "No. I won't do that. I don't have anywhere to take her to or a way to take care of her. I'll just take her to her home."

"One of us will go with you," Brenner stated.

Hue shook his head again. "I'm sorry to get involved like this. We have a lot of work to do. I can do it alone. I know the rule of two or none and once she is home I can talk to people on the way back and meet back up with you, so I haven't wasted at least the return trip."

Brenner shook his head. "I'll come with you and leave my partner here in your place." He gave a significant look to Hue, who caught on that they could walk through space if they needed to.

"What about the groups you two were going to visit?" Hue worried.

Brenner scowled a bit. "We always work in pairs or more, Hue. You know that."

Hue gave up. "Okay. I'm sorry." He turned to the woman and asked her to climb on his back. Very tentatively and afraid, she finally did when the overseer moved make her hurry up. The woman clung to Hue's back as he stood up. For his level Adventurer she wasn't more heavy than a feather, although she was almost as tall as he was so he had to work out the balance for a bit.

When he was ready, he bowed his head to the overseer. "Thank you," he said and began walking for the dot on the map the Eagles had given everyone of where the barracks were. The village was there, too.

-:-:-:-:-

Brenner sighed to himself as they got walking down the roadway towards the barracks and village. "Personally, I'm proud of you, Hue. It was a very Christian thing to do. However, professionally, you've put us all in a tight spot." Hue winced. "I think we can smooth things over eventually, since it's one incident and you haven't technically broken any rules. Training and Ground Safety are going to go with the innocent error argument at the barracks. If you promise to watch yourself from now on and don't give them more cause to distrust us then it should be fine."

"I understand," Hue said quietly, "but it's already worse." He looked over at Brenner, a pained expression on his face. "She's pregnant."

The woman gasped slightly and began to tremble very badly. Brenner's eyes went a little wide as he looked at her as she shook her head violently at him. Brenner sighed. "I believe him, you know," he said quietly. "I take it that's a bad thing for you, though."

She crunched her head into her shoulders. "I think it's a hard pregnancy to begin with, but she was working anyway, trying to hide it as long as she could," Hue explained.

Brenner looked at her. "Surely they can't be killing off every woman that gets pregnant? They'd lose the whole village that way."

"It's my third," she whispered. "They only let us have two, to keep the same number. The third one they take and all those after that, for the sacrifice. My husband and I don't want to see it taken."

Both Brenner and Hue slumped. "Yeah, that sounds about how they'd reason it out," Brenner muttered.

"And now I _really_ feel like Moses," Hue mumbled.

Brenner had to chuckle. "Yeah, it's got a lot of those flavors, doesn't it?" They walked in silence for a while as silent tears of misery and worry dripped slowly from the woman's eyes.

When they weren't where anyone could see them from the area, Brenner quietly said, "Hahaue, you're a midwife. How much longer has she got to go? If she can hide it just a little longer, will we be done so the baby can live? Or is the pregnancy too hard?"

Hue suddenly looked a little more hopeful. The woman was confused. "Stop a moment, Hue," a tender voice said from behind them. Brenner looked back and Purrcy was standing behind them on the road. Hue stopped and Purrcy touched the woman's belly, feeling carefully. She then looked into the distance, likely reading the status data for the woman.

Purrcy shook her head. "She needs to lie down for at least five days without getting up any more than she has to. Then she might be able to fix the meals for her family, but she shouldn't go into the field and do hard labor. Maybe in another two months she'll be strong again, but she'll be getting tired and obviously pregnant by then. They'll know by then."

"We'll be done by then, though," Brenner argued.

"True, or so we hope," Purrcy said.

Hue sighed. "It's the week to month of recovery they won't let her have. ...And I promised not to steal her away." Purrcy nodded.

Brenner thought about that and got them walking again, since likely the report had been made and they shouldn't be late to arrive. "Can we ask for a miracle of healing?" he asked.

Purrcy shook her head. "I can heal Adventurers that way. I can't heal People of the Land except through surgical methods. This doesn't require that, it requires rest." The woman put her head down on Hue's shoulder and wept a little harder, though still silently as if all People of the Land here had learned to be silent out of fear.

Purrcy put her hand lightly on the woman's head for a moment. "Well...maybe I can bless her with an increase of HP that might tide her over long enough for our work to be done, although I don't know how much longer we really have to go. At the outside she might survive for two weeks, but that might be pushing it." The woman looked at her hopefully. "You'd have to be careful and not work overly hard, to keep as much of your HP as possible for as long as possible."

The woman nodded a promise, but Purrcy frowned. "And, when the fighting starts, if they come to take any sacrifices, even being willing to kill those who help them have food, you _must_ hide very very well. If you pray to the Creator God, he will help hide you once you've found a hiding place, because they will gain the extra bonus of not just you but also your child."

Even Hue shuddered at that. "No, that wouldn't be good," he agreed.

"Ah, you can't tell anyone what we're here for, though," Brenner warned. "If you give us away before we begin, we'll lose and you'll all lose, too."

At that the woman's tears turned to hopeful ones, although she only shook her head. She lay her head back down on Hue's shoulder and relaxed - enough to fall asleep. Purrcy cast her spell on the woman, then left the two men.

They woke the woman up when they reached the village so she could point them to her house. As Hue tucked her into her bed, he said, "Be sure to stay in bed today so that your strength tomorrow looks like a proper recovery, then continue to be weak but not ill to conserve what you have been given."

The woman nodded, then grasped Hue's hand. "Thank you. If I can survive and have this baby, I will name it for you to remember your kindness. I will name it Moses."

Hue smiled and Brenner had to turn away to not give away his laugh. "While that isn't really my name, I'm sure it is a most appropriate one should it indeed survive. God bless you both, and your husband and children." As they reached the door, Hue turned back briefly, "And don't forget what the Caretaker told you to do if things become scary. She and Izanagi will protect you if you ask for it." The woman nodded and the two men left the house.

Since they didn't want to give away the skill of realm walking, Brenner walked them only to the nearest fields being worked and they taught the world quests from that direction, catching up to Training and Ground Safety rather quickly since they'd also already started from that direction.

-:-:-:-:-

While the guards and overseers were more suspicious after that, no one did anything other than what they'd promised to do. Still, when they were ready to go back to Montevideo, Hue came up missing. All of the guards along the way shrugged and claimed no knowledge. When pressed they only waved at the expanse of field zones and suggested they search them, but they had to return the People of the Land properly to the village.

There were sighs of resignation from the Eagles and worry from Twin Falls. Bowie hadn't put a tag on Hue, so at best could tell them he wasn't in the city. Training and Ground Safety walked back to the barracks, staying hidden in the realms. They reported back they hadn't found him there, so hunted through the village too, just to make sure. Two from Twin Falls asked at the gate to the city if Hue had arrived via Call of Home, then went to the Cathedral and asked people if they'd seen Hue be resurrected by description. They only got negative answers.

With enough asking around, eventually one of them who had taught in the back streets found someone with just enough courage to whisper that the rumors said if an Adventurer was taken to be added to the sacrificial prison, no one could ever find them again, and no one knew where it was, really, except outside the city. Most rumors said it was at the manor home of the High Priest, since no one could get in there without permission.

Since that rather fit the bill by game terms, MasterChiefS7 passed it to Brenner. It had gotten late enough at night that everyone had gathered back at their inns to report. Brenner clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanagi, Hue did something kind and I'm sure the local priesthood was unhappy with it and they want to teach him a lesson. We can't find him, even by code hound. Is it possible for us to be kept out of the zone of the High Priest's manor by ways other than what we understand?"

The High Priest in Nyanta's avatar appeared to Brenner. "Yes. The kami can purrevent anything from entering the spaces of those they purrotect. If Hue-kun is in the High Purriest's zone not only can mew not enter it because of the zone rules, and because none of mew are Stiletto-kun, but the kami can also keep mew out, even Stiletto-kun at this time in his lessons."

"Oh, good. We can get in and Stiletto can learn something new at the same time," Brenner immediately said. "I'm sure he was feeling left out without anything new to learn."

The High Priest looked mildly surprised but Nyanta laughed. Brenner smiled. "Thank you. But we will ask now for any pointers and help you can give us when we get there. And if you can get in at all, please protect him. I'll also ask for help for Nyanta-san in keeping Miss Purrcy held down. We'll do our best to get Hue out before he gets into too much trouble. Please do your best to not let her freak out."

He bowed and the High Priest bowed back slightly. Brenner reported and MasterChiefS7 requested Stiletto be sent over. They got a scolding from Command Central, which also wasn't surprising, but they were already in the middle of things so they could only move forward, keeping the worry down as much as possible so as to not trigger Purrcy's.

-:-:-:-:-

It was already too late for that, sadly. Purrcy knew as soon as Hue had been taken by the servants of Night Sun. She also knew it was an experiment by Night Sun. It was the first time that an Adventurer she had a lot of direct contact with could be taken. She knew Night Sun wanted to know if she would react the same for her adopted sons as for her own blood kin. And she knew she would, but couldn't.

During the day time in the Gate of Time, she kept a partial eye on Hue, but not much was happening there of course. It would be almost a week of her time before he would wake up just on the normal schedule and at least a few more days before anyone there walked into his cell to threaten him, or just scold, or whatever they had planned. She really hated the suspense the differentials in time left her in at times like this. That was perhaps even more hard.

So she kept busy during the day and paced at night in her space where she went to not disturb Nyanta in the middle of the night, waiting and reminding herself that she didn't want to ever give Night Sun more points than he was taking for himself. By the time the request for Nyanta and Izanagi to hold her down came, she was already gone. The priests in the High Priest's manor had arrived in the prison under the manor house.

Because Night Sun couldn't know all of her skills to defend against them, she was already inside with Hue. Izanagi couldn't get in because of the spell that kept kami out of other kami's spaces, and Nyanta didn't have the skills. They could only go warn Michael, who went on standby to enter as soon as any barriers went down and warned Stiletto she was already inside. That made Stiletto work harder since he was irritated she'd made it in before he did.

Purrcy appeared as ikiryō in Hue's cell. He saw her, as she expected him to. He was happily surprised, then his face fell. "I'm sorry, Miss Purrcy." His head dropped and he scrunched his shoulders up around his ears in his cross-legged position.

She put her hand on his head and leaned down and purred for him. When he sighed and relaxed a little, she said, "Hue, they are going to come and play with you because they want to know what I will do." He shuddered just a little, but nodded miserably. He knew. "Shiroe doesn't want them to learn of my status as deity yet. It's too soon. They'll increase their current sacrifices exponentially because the kami will be afraid of me at that level.

"I will be limited in what I can do for you this time. Can you believe in me? Can you see me as a mother figure at the very least, a mother to you specifically? I already believe in my heart you are one of my treasured sons."

Hue sighed and quietly said. "I think you are very nice, and are trying very hard. I can see helping you like we help other Adventurers. You're not my mom, but I do know you care. I can role play you as a mother figure, though. Will that be enough?"

"It will be enough if you give your intent, your desires," she answered. "In particular, for anything they do to cause you pain, HP and points will be taken from you. If you put your intent into giving it away to me or doing it for my sake, as much of it as you can will to me I'll be able to use to help you and Night Sun will be denied that same amount. If you give up and just let him have whatever he wants to take, you will make him stronger.

"You don't have to use up all of your will all at once. A constant low level desire to have what leaves you go to me is sufficient. That will be enough. If you die, your party is waiting for you at the Cathedral and will rescue you. I won't leave you, and will use what you give me to protect you as best I can, but I can't act against them directly."

Hue nodded. Footsteps were arriving at the cell. Purrcy slipped around behind Hue and partially merged with his ikiryō's aura so that she would just look like him, and not be a second spirit for the priests to see. She tucked her tail under her skirts to hide that, too. If she thought of it like that, it would stay out of sight.

She didn't look at the priests, nor the High Priest. If she did, she wouldn't stay calm. Instead, she focused on Hue and listened to him. True to his personality and whole being, he answered the questions asked of him as calmly as he could, burying his fear under his desire to help convince even hardened Adventurers like these to see that what they were doing was wrong.

Because his level of Rhetorician was now quite high, Purrcy (as Administrator for the game) was able to give him bonuses for every additional round he was allowed to speak without being harmed, increasing his bonuses to hit, as it were, when he spoke with soft but unyielding words of truth.

Really, she quite marveled at his preaching. Even she was quite convinced by the time Night Sun stepped in and reversed what Hue had done. She sent to Hue enough warmth to let him know she was very pleased with his efforts and increased his bonus for Fortitude - the game equivalent of courage.

He wanted to slump in discouragement because it seemed as if his initial efforts had failed suddenly right when things had been going well. She whispered in his ear. "Round two."

That firmed him up. That he could understand. When you defeated the first level of a boss, they got harder and you had to fight again, usually a different battle. He took a breath and waited to see what it would be.

This time he wasn't allowed to say anything. If he tried, they slapped him to quiet him. It took a few times of that for Hue to get the hang of desiring for his punishments to be for the Caretaker's sake. Once he kind of thought he had it, he focused on that. As she received those points, small at the beginning, she was able to make it feel like her arms were wrapped around him, keeping him warm and protected.

That helped him to be calmer himself. On his own, his Fortitude rose up to combat the Intimidate from the priests. That helped him send even more of his desire to her, which strengthened her. She allowed that to build up until she had a great enough positive increase to be able to return it back to him at a slightly lesser rate of HP increase, slowing down the pain he was feeling, even if he did still have an HP decrease over all.

Purrcy very carefully watched that, then. If the priests discovered it, or thought they weren't properly giving enough pain offering to Night Sun, they would inflict even worse torture on Hue than they already were. They'd started slow and with light teasing cuts with their knives that left behind a thin burning pain, their words against him and his weak beliefs being of the same kind of wounds to his soul, or so they hoped. She was pleased that his Fortitude was sufficient against those kinds of wounds. His MP didn't fall at all on those. Faith wasn't a status in Theldesia, but she knew that's what was keeping that unaffected.

The priests were actually watching for the MP to start falling. That meant they would have reached the level of truly affecting him to bring him to despair, which was the main sweet food of Night Sun. Sorrow was savory, anguish delightsome, but despair was what Night Sun craved the most. Purrcy's determination was that Hue would never give that to him, although she also knew it was Hue who would decide that in the end.

 _She_ had faith in Hue. She had watched him since Michael had arrived at Twin Falls. The words she whispered in his ear when the pain increased for the third time reminded him of his stalwart faith in the face of the odds he'd fought against before in Idaho and Utah, bringing up those memories in his mind so that he could anchor in them and in the knowledge that he had done it before, he could do it now.

When he took those memories, and turned them into bedrock determination to only help Purrcy defeat those who had chosen to live in this terrible way, and to help her turn them back to being kind citizens of Earth if only he could, then Purrcy exulted and the strength that entered her was multiplied. For every pain that the priests caused to Hue, and that went to Night Sun instead of her, she made an equal amount of pain points leave every priest in the room and go to Night Sun.

That gave Night Sun the concept that he was finally receiving his due from the prisoner. But it wasn't at all what the priests were interested in having to go through. Nor did they understand why it was happening. When they increased the pain by one more level, and felt it themselves at a level they couldn't deny, they stopped, confused, and conferenced.

Hue would heal as quickly as any Adventurer, but she increased the healing to the one finger that had been broken so that it healed just fast enough to not be a distraction to him by the time the priests turned back to him. "Round three," he whispered under his breath. She could only agree with him and gave him the equivalent of a brief tighter hug so he could know for sure she was still with him. She really did have her arms around him, actually, but they were spirit arms, so the hug spells were required for his physical body to know.

The first spell they cast at Hue was a bit of a surprise and wasn't pleasant. However, Purrcy was strong enough now that she was able to negate most of it before the dark circle reached him. He drew in a sharp breath at even what was left over, though, and the priest's faces went crafty and pleased.

Because he was bound, he couldn't touch the circles himself, but he'd seen them during the battle with the witches at the West Indies. Now that he'd seen what this round held, he was prepared for the next one. The combined effect of Purrcy's negation and Hue's unspoken but perfectly intended purification spell made the priest's spell waft away into nothing while it was still several feet from Hue.

That made the priests' faces twist into glares and grimaces of unhappiness. The next spell was cast by two of them together. Purrcy pulled back her negation to be a secondary shield and let Hue's purification do what it would. She was very proud of his levels in that skill. He was already equal to the two priests in the room, which would likely put him as a strong contender against the High Priest if Hue only had to face him alone. Night Sun's additions wouldn't be a good thing, but by himself it would be enough.

When Hue withstood the priests spells another four times, they again paused just slightly. The High Priest cast one of his. Again, a whisper of that spell made it through to Hue and he flinched just slightly, then strengthened his resolve again. He knew eventually the priests would get through.

Once again, as the levels of dark spells increased from there, Hue was required to humbly will that the points from the pain went to Purrcy. She gently and gratefully took them from him, also not wanting him to go through this pain, but not able to prevent it any more than she was. It was getting hard, though. The delight of the High Priest was rising and she wanted to slit him into lots of little pieces, then burn them in acid for a while before letting him resurrect again.

She had to use some of Hue's humility to calm herself back down, but she returned that to him with the equivalent of grace. The pain his body felt became distant to his spirit, so that he only felt it at a level that let him know he was still in pain, but it wasn't as troubling to him emotionally. She hoped that with this much he would have less future trauma. If they killed him with this, she wouldn't be able to stop them, nor should she or she would make all of Shiroe's careful plans tumble down into chaos and ruin.

Hue eventually reached the point of having almost no strength to continue casting his purification spells. So that the priests wouldn't continue on longer than he had real strength to withstand, she modified his status screen so that it looked like he was losing strength at a faster rate than he actually was. Overall it looked to them like he had finally lost his capacity to defend himself, while in reality she was helping him to last as long as possible with the least amount of pain.

Again, in order to keep Night Sun from interfering personally, she sent the points he should have been receiving from the supposed increased affects on Hue to him from another source. This time it was from the other residents of the manor. Attached to so many people at once, none of them could feel the effects, but slowly over time began to feel tired, then listless, and some even became hungry as their bodies demanded to be able to return to their proper levels of HP by sleeping or eating.

When Hue's HP status screen read that he was at about five percent of his total, the High Priest stopped. Hue already had his eyes closed as if he'd passed out, since nearly the time she'd distanced him from the pain. Mostly because he was tired for real, and because he didn't want to see the torture coming any more. His focus was completely on gifting strength through his pain to Purrcy.

"He has a strong will, to not be broken by any of that," the High Priest said. "But then, given the beginning of this session, I suppose it shouldn't be surprising. That much should have fed the deity quite enough to make him very happy and willing to grant us what we want. We'll let him recover and come again. Many times will not be a bad thing. The breaking of this one will be _very_ pleasurable."

Purrcy had to hold tightly to Hue in order to not fly at the High Priest and scratch his eyes out. She stayed very still until the door to the cell had opened and closed behind the three men. Then she trembled and shivered while holding a Hue who passed out now that he was alone again. Her shivers went unnoticed as she used the rest of the strength Hue had given her to repair the damage to him. They wouldn't come again until he had fully recovered anyway. This would give him longer to not be in pain.

-:-:-:-:-

A presence darkened Nyanta's office door, where he was working to distract himself, but his heart was in constant prayer in behalf of his wife. He looked up, hoping.

It was the High Priestess. "Hue has passed his first trial," she said a bit distantly, as if still watching what Purrcy was seeing, which made it come out a little more unfeeling than usual. "Purrcy managed to do exactly what she should and no more, although she grieves now that the trial is done, as you would expect." Nyanta immediately sent comfort to her if it could get to her at all through the barriers she was behind. "Hopefully they will all find a solution before the next round, if possible. You should perhaps confirm what that session has done to Night Sun and what he is going to do next." She bowed to the High Priest and returned to her work in the temple.

Nyanta drew in a breath and held it just a moment before letting it out. He called on his own resources and was in the air over Michael in the base world, leaving the High Priest behind to begin the research into Night Sun's status. There in the base world, he couldn't hide the worried flicking of his ears, nor the lash of his tail that expressed his great concern. But, he didn't care to hide them this time, not from Michael. Michael needed to know and would understand.

Michael looked up at him and immediately opened a full party chat. Nyanta gave the same succinct report he'd received from the High Priestess including the warning she'd given, then waited patiently for Michael to repeat it again to everyone in the party. Then Nyanta made a request. "There is the possibility that Shiroe-ichi's kami can breach the barrier around the zone. It is also not a kami in the same sense as the others. I would send to her my comfort through it if it could get in to touch her and let her know we are thinking of her."

Michael pondered that for a moment, then agreed. "If she could know we are with her, too, then she might be able to use that as her anchors." Dryly he added, "I suppose we would all tell her to get back out here where she should have stayed to begin with."

Nyanta's whiskers turned in wry agreement. "Likely if we told her that now, however, she would become even more stubborn and refuse the more."

"Perhaps, unless she were desperate for a reason to escape from herself." Michael worried that bone a little longer, then said. "I'll have Secretary have a chat with the kami and see what it thinks about that possibility. If at all possible either he or if absolutely necessary myself, might be able to be connected directly to her through it if it can get in at all. My only concern would be if Night Sun could tell that his defenses had been broken through by the kami."

Nyanta shook his head. "It has already existed and fed side by side with all the dark kami. It should know how to get in without suspicion."

"Good point," Michael wasn't too pleased with that reminder. "We'll do what we can from here."

Nyanta gave a slight bow of gratitude and disappeared, leaving behind a Michael who was already discussing it in more detail on the party chat.

-:-:-:-:-

Secretary got in touch with the child kami as ordered and was in conversation for a while. The sum when he came out was, "It's already in there, and showed me what it learned from Purrcy." He hesitated, then said slowly, "I'm not sure you should tell her to come out. The main thing it learned but had never considered before, was how to receive the dark and negative emotions and power without becoming that dark. How to turn it and use it for good, although I think when it's an overwhelming amount it may not translate so well. It's chewing on that for itself though."

Secretary sighed. "That's not to say Hahaue's doing okay now that it's over. Just like any human she still has to go through all the emotions. Nyanta-san wasn't wrong to want to send her his comfort. We experimented. The kami could talk to her - emotions that is - but I couldn't talk to her through it. It could pass on my emotions, though, so I asked it to send her Nyanta-san's emotions and that helped her some. She's distracting herself for the moment by talking to the kami, who's just as happy to chat as usual."

They smiled at that. "Girl talk's probably just as useful a distraction as anything, and if Purrcy can get her need to scold out with a lecture - if the kami puts up with it - then that might help as well," Michael said. More than he sent up a thank you to the emotion kami for helping them help Purrcy. "Will you ask it to let you know when the next round starts down there, Secretary?" Michael asked. "And then let Stiletto know right away. He said he was close to getting in."

"Yes, Sir," Secretary answered.

An hour and a half later Nyanta appeared. "Night Sun has moved to make Purrcy show her hand. What is the purrogress?"

Secretary reported back. "The kami says things aren't going well inside."

Stiletto via chat said, "I've found the way through, but I'm not high enough level just yet to break through myself. I'll need more time for practicing, although the wall's a lot thinner now."

Everyone groaned. "Work harder Stiletto. Night Sun upped the amperage and she's upset."

Nyanta's ears and tail weren't happy, but then that was just the expression for all of them.

Michael contacted the emotion kami himself. "Kami of Adventurer emotions. Thank you for keeping Purrcy company. Please, will you pass on a message for me?" He sent a very firm, "stand down," emotion, and then tried for the complex one of comfort laced with a warning if she didn't stand down. The kami wasn't too sure about sending that one along, but was willing to pass along the first one. Michael would have laughed that even the junior kami was that afraid of Purrcy - if it hadn't been a rather serious moment for them all.

At that, Michael sighed. Keeping in contact with the emotion kami, he said, "Caretaker, please take care of yourself and your future. Like you need to trust us to do our job right, we need to trust you to do your job right. So we'll do that, as we continue to try to get to you and to rescue Hue. We're almost there. If it gets too bad, please come out and we'll help you recover. And if this is going to blow up in our faces, having a future you come and let us know so we can prevent it would be much appreciated."

The best any of them could do was agree with amens.

-:-:-:-:-

Hue woke up slowly. He could tell that he was a bit numb from the bindings, even with the recovery of sleep. They seemed to be both magical and physical bindings and he was sure he'd rather not have them at all. He was hungry and thirsty. Particularly thirsty. It seemed somehow odd that Adventurer bodies felt that way, when they recovered quickly from everything else and wouldn't die (in the traditional sense) from starvation or dehydration. It was one of the crazy things of this world that remained to tweak them into remembering this wasn't home.

Hue sighed. He was glad he'd managed to make it through the last round of torture. Honestly it hadn't been too much worse than a normal battle would have been that lead to near death. What was terrible about it had been that he'd been unable to convince fellow Adventurers they really shouldn't have been wanting to do it.

Hue curled up, having already fallen over onto the floor when he'd fallen asleep before. There were a lot of examples in the scriptures of righteous men thrown into prison by wicked men, then tortured in various ways not at all unlike what he'd been through. The majority of the stories he knew ended with the righteous man being freed miraculously. There were the few who had died as martyrs to be witnesses against the wicked. He would much rather be one of the former, honestly, but as an Adventurer he'd resurrect, so it wasn't like the latter would be bad either.

What would be worse, would be to have to live what he'd just lived over and over repeatedly, not given the escape of death, nor the blessing of freedom. He squeezed his eyes closed tighter and tried not to think about that. Purrcy had said that desire and intent were the important part, and the Eagles had taught that to them, too. So Hue tried to focus on his personal preference: the miraculous escape. Sometimes that brought the wicked to faith, too. That wouldn't be a bad side effect.

Since that's what he wanted, he walked through all of the stories he could remember where that had been the result. That took him a while and distracted him from uncomfortable feelings that such stories didn't talk about. (Just how did one who was tied up go to the bathroom in the middle of the day with no one around to ask? The final answer was rather one he didn't want to consider.)

He'd finished walking through the stories he could remember and was looking for something else to distract himself with when he began to feel something that made him realize he'd been missing something before without realizing it. Purrcy hadn't been with him. At least, not in the same way. Not in the warm comforting way she'd stayed with him through all of the hard part, for which he was very grateful.

Now she was not only somewhere with him, she was irritated and getting upset. That wasn't good at all. He had to think through all of the things the Eagles called her before he found one that wouldn't give her away too much. "Hahaue, what is it? I'm sorry I'm in here. I don't want to be the cause of you getting angry. I know you need to stay calm, although I'm also sure you aren't - because I'm in here." He sighed an unhappy breath. It was his fault and he needed to be the one to make it right, but he just didn't know what he could do.

Hue tried to be calm and think of the things that he'd heard over the last bit as to what could be done. The main thing he could remember was that Michael talked to her both like Hue had just done, and also talked to her by way of prayer, although he called her a different thing then.

"Caretaker, please, stay as calm as you can. I'm sorry I've put you in the position of wanting to protect me. It would be okay if you had to go to not get mad. I've appreciated you being here with me this last time." He bit his lip, then said, "I'm sure I don't really deserve anything from you at all, but I was thinking that there are a lot of scripture stories about people like me imprisoned wrongly who get a miraculous way to leave the prison.

"In one of them the bonds just fell off the arms of the prophet who had been sent. I think that's the one where the door fell off and he just walked out without anyone seeing or knowing he did. Another one is two missionaries whose bonds disappear and the earth shakes and the walls fall down and they walk out without harm. You probably know about Shadrack, Mishack, and Abednigo and how they walked back out of the furnace without harm and the king's heart was changed. The same for Daniel and the lion's den." He could tell he had her attention with those last two examples.

"I don't know how to make that work here, except I know the Eagles could do it. And since they haven't yet there's a reason they can't get to me. If there's any way to make that miracle work for me so you don't have to get angry, could we do that?" He didn't get an answer and her attention was suddenly off of him and she was even angrier.

Hue sighed, and then wondered if this was going to be like the last time and he'd have to go three or four rounds again, but to help her this time. It has sort of seemed like she should be able to do it, and maybe would even be willing to. What else could he do? She'd said to use intent and he had, and was. He'd talked to both parts of her that might be able to do something about it. What was it? He racked his brain, then remembered.

She couldn't do the miracle things unless he gave her power to do them. He wasn't being harmed at the moment, so he couldn't use that kind of power, but was there something else? A tickle came in his breast. He frowned in confusion, then relaxed a bit and into his mind came a memory of Michael's voice on a chat saying that it was important that they learn the song to calm her down, and that anyone could sing and she would get strength from it.

That was it. He could sing and maybe that would be what she needed. First, though, he needed to get her attention so she wasn't so focused on what was making her mad. His mind rather quickly went to the children's songs he'd learned as a child at church. If she wanted to be his mother and considered him her son, that would be the way to do it. She already was mad for that reason, too.

Hue cleared his throat, still wishing he could have some water, and sang.

 _Mother Dear, I love you so._  
 _Your happy smiling face_  
 _Is such a joy to look at,_  
 _It makes home a lovely place._

He was surprised how much anger went away just at that, but he kept going, not sure how much he needed to sing.

 _Mother Dear, I love you so._  
 _I'll try the whole day through,_  
 _To please my Heavenly Father,_  
 _I'm so glad he gave me you.*_

He couldn't help but think he was rather glad Purrcy was around to be like a mom for him and the rest of them. It was fun to see her smile, which they'd gotten to see rather often while on the trip down on the Oki Watarimono, actually. He smiled, then realized she was really with him again.

He knew it was a really short song, and that had only been to get her attention. If he wanted her to have the ability to grant him a miraculous escape, then he would have to do a lot more than that. So he sang through his whole repertoire of children's songs from church, what he could remember anyway. A lot of them had been forgotten, so some he would start, then not be able to finish.

Still, for each one he sang, he could feel her getting more calm and strong and he felt more and more protected. Finally, he ran out of songs and there was only one left. By then, it was one he wanted to sing for himself, too. It was the most beloved song of his church, really, when it came to children's songs.

 _I am a child of God, and he has sent me here._  
 _Has given me an Earthly home, with parents kind and dear._  
 _Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,_  
 _Help me find the way._  
 _Teach me all that I must do,_  
 _To live with Him some day._

 _I am a child of God, and so my needs are great._  
 _Help me to understand His words, before it grows too late._  
 _Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,_  
 _Help me find the way._  
 _Teach me all that I must do,_  
 _To live with Him some day._

 _I am a child of God, rich blessings are in store._  
 _If I but learn to do His will, I'll live with Him once more._  
 _Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,_  
 _Help me find the way._  
 _Teach me all that I must do,_  
 _To live with Him some day.**_

With all his heart Hue sang the song, and wished for that blessing, to someday be able to live with God again, regardless of all the things that happened to him on Earth or here. Every time he sang the song, he could feel God's love for him, wanting him to come home to heaven, too, and it was no different this time.

When he'd recovered, he opened his eyes and the room around him was different. He could sort of see the walls, but really it was a completely different structure. There weren't walls where there had been walls before. He blinked, but he'd seen this before. This was where the Eagles walked them through space. He felt very encouraged to see it once he understood it.

With a sudden release, he wasn't bound any more. That kind of hurt and he carefully and slowly moved until he could get the numbness to go away. He sat up, then went up into a crouch. He didn't know where to go. At that very thought, a thin yellow light about three feet long was suddenly approaching him at high speed. He held still and watched as it came to just as sudden a halt in front of him. He blinked at it, but it didn't move again.

Then he thought of the song. That was right. If they worked like Bard songs, he'd asked for help to find the way, literally "lead me, guide me". He smiled just a little and whisper-asked to be shown the way out. The yellow light moved away, then waited. He followed it and it directed his feet. Sometimes he had to go in funny directions, but it was kind of like those games where there are two people playing and one can see the outside of the maze and the other one is in the maze. Together they have to get the one in the maze out of it. So he faithfully followed the yellow light whichever direction it turned.

Hue reached a boundary he couldn't pass through. The yellow light had gone through it, but he'd walked into it. He backed up just a little and put his hand on the solid place he couldn't see. He wished with all his heart to be on the other side and slowly his hand was able to push through it. Then, it was being grasped and held tightly. With one more prayer in his heart that it was a friend and not an enemy, Hue worked with all his might to wish that he could get through the wall and he was suddenly being pulled out, the barrier slurping after him, but letting him go.

Hue stumbled into the arms of Stiletto and was so happy to see him, he gave the slight Eagle a tight hug. Stiletto kindly returned it and then they were somewhere else. Hue was quite relieved to be there. Wherever it was was better than where he'd been. He didn't forget to thank Purrcy and the Caretaker, and hope she was okay and home again, too.

Nyanta was relieved to have Purrcy home in time for the twelfth celebration of the city and the children. If only the High Priestess had shown up, it would have given her away to the very smart Night Sun, who was still suspicious even after she did show up properly.

* * *

* _Mother Dear_ , Maud Belnap Kimball (1889-1971).

** _I Am a Child of God_ , Naomi Ward Randall, 1957, c. IRI.


	217. Preparing to Infiltrate Ccoa's Sanctuary

Stiletto walked Hue not into Montevideo, but to a zone some distance away. The rest of the Izanagi party met them there. Hue was very apologetic to everyone. "We're done teaching them anyway," his Twin Falls friends said, patting him on the back.

"Tell us all what you learned and maybe that will be enough to balance the check." MasterChiefS7 wasn't quite so willing to let Hue off the hook that fast. In the military, breaches like that were rather severely punished. This was one difference between the two groups.

MasterChiefS7 opened up a full chat and Hue gave the full detailed report of what had happened to him. "Song again," MasterChiefS7 muttered after they'd all had time to reflect on the story. "It was good you kept your head and remembered that one aide. It has helped us so many times we don't ever forget it now. That was a pretty strong effect, for it to give you that kind of miracle, even if it was the one you wanted and were working for." The others agreed.

"Sir," Reed asked Michael, "what was the effect of you singing that song for her? You said it was pretty strong."

Michael paused, then said, "I'm not exactly sure, but on my status screen it looks like my Strength is maxed out. Only two asterisks in that slot now."

Eyes went wide. "Did she do like what she did to Nyanta? Make you super maxed-out strong?"

"Like I said, I don't know," Michael repeated.

"Go practice it then," Training said softly. "If it's anything like Crusty's power, you'll need to know before we get into battle again."

"Well...that is true," Michael agreed. "...But it's not _just_ song, Master Chief," Michael returned them back to the first point.

P/R agreed. "No, it's like for Bard, it sounds like. If the song fits the need, then she knows what's wanted, and the desires of the singer are able to be stronger, making it a clergy spell specifically. I wouldn't be surprised if Hue had only needed to sing the first and last songs, although I'm sure she liked the rest and they probably helped build up the strength of the final spell - like using time to build up the pseudocode spells. In the pace of battle, we likely won't have much opportunities to add lots of extra songs. Single songs are long enough as it is, by the relative time of spell casting."

BillyBoy also agreed. "When I learned that I could be effective with songs I already knew, not just the short song cantrips that came with _Elder Tales_ , I gained a lot more power. Because they were longer, I learned to shorten them down to just what I needed. So singing just the verses that held what I needed in them was best, particularly for the longer songs. If I knew I wanted more power behind them, I would add in an extra verse. It was easiest for me to add in the first verse if I planned on using a later verse. It both gets me into the song properly, and seems to have a better build-up of power generally."

BillyBoy frowned slightly. "General, you said we should all learn _Be Still My Soul_. Is that so any of us can calm her down? Or were you thinking that we'd all sing it together? I'm not sure I've seen what happens when more than one sings a song to Purrcy."

"All together," Michael said. "We've already learned that's pretty powerful. Both of our Bards took lead and mixed in _Elder Tales_ magic with the intent of everyone else who was chorus and we were able to affect Izanami."

"Wow," BillyBoy breathed.

"Mm," Reed gained an understanding. "We'll be fighting deities generally. We'll need to be able to use the choir level in the final battles of this round." Michael indicated Reed had gotten the point he was trying to make.

There was a moment of pondering, then Reed asked, "What about the first round Hue went through? We might be able to make use of making sure our pain is in her behalf, but...is that really a good idea? It feels an awful lot like we'd be pushing that boundary of turning her into a dark goddess, which would really _not_ be a good idea, I would think. She might be able to handle that for one, but if all of us did that all at once, I'm not sure but that she'd go mad instead."

"I don't think _I_ like the idea," Brenner complained.

"Actually," Hue interrupted and they let him talk, wanting to hear from the voice of experience, "I could tell it was hard for her to know I was going through it, and she worked very hard, but from my end it wasn't dark, what I sent to her." He paused to put his experience into words they could maybe get it from.

"When we do things for God, because we love Him and know He loves us, we do them with humility, even if they are things that are hard. That helps us get through them, both the humility and the love. The whole time I kept remembering the martyrs and those who were persecuted in similar ways - beatings, wrongful imprisonment, that sort of thing.

"I'm sure they didn't like it, but the stories all say they were humble about it and didn't lose their faith just because evil people had decided to be evil about it. It was harder for me to deal with them choosing that than to give up what I was losing to the Caretaker who loves."

"Is humility a filter then?" Brenner mused. "I've always wondered how they could that, even during the Reformation. It was so powerful to the building up of the Kingdom of God, what they went through, with the deaths still remembered today by the church."

"That sounds like it could be," Reed agreed, getting the connection rather quickly since he'd been meditating on the topic in general in preparation for this battle.

"Still," Training cautioned, "I don't think it's something that should be used by someone who can't quite get it and hold on to it through thick and thin, if that's the filter. Humility is hard to come by, particularly in the middle of a battle where emotions are high and we can go from firm in our conviction to angry as hell at the bastard in front of us in a snap instant. I think anything she got from the latter _would_ send her over the edge. She doesn't need our anger feeding hers." There was general agreement to that.

"I do think, though," Secretary said softly, "that it could still be useful overall. As long as the side we're on in the war holds in the main to that conviction of purpose to see all Adventurers living in peace at the end, and even the sorrow that we have to be fighting the war at all, we'll have a beneficial effect generally. I know that's what Shiroe is hoping for in the case of the child kami - that it can see that we do fight, but a righteous fight is different from just lashing out in anger and greed all the time."

Michael gave a satisfied nod to that summary. "I think that if we focus our own little battalion here on what we're best at - conviction of purpose for us Eagles and humility for Twin Falls, we'll have a good enough balance to help Purrcy. We don't have to let the rest know one way or the other. The sum will be what it needs to be." He smiled. "Besides, we're her favorites so it matters more to her what comes from us." He got groans and barbs from the group generally. They knew it was true, but some days it didn't pay to be the favorites.

There was a light increase of pressure over each group that they recognized. Whispered over them were the words, "The contract is still acceptable." They wanted to roll their eyes, some of them, but the pressure pushed on them and held them still for another ten seconds, then it slowly backed off.

Life Support's intake of breath got them looking as he said, "Well, I'm not sure but that she's as bad as Izanami when it comes to handing out not-so-random bonuses at random times. Anyone get anything other than a massive boost to Fortitude, get Conviction added, and yet another new Class?"

"I think it will be interesting to see what bonuses come from gaining Avenging Angel," Stiletto half-joked.

"Oh, is that what it is?" Michael asked.

"What?" they asked him.

Michael sighed. "I've had that since I rescued Meiki from her kidnapping. It's got some decent bonuses, but it means we're most definitely hers now. ...At least the folks in the Gate of Time will know how to face us now. But out here just before _this_ battle, it's a red target on our backs if anyone from there on the other side discovers it."

He shrugged back at their dark looks. "Not like we weren't before, she just pasted it on now. I'd bet if you look at your points they're already quite high." They made him tell them the details of just what they had gotten that made it at all worthwhile.

-:-:-:-:-

That afternoon, when BlackJack went to his appointment at the church set up for Ccoa, he properly took the emotion kami with him. He'd taken the time to get very serious about this assignment now that he understood what he was really getting himself into. Being the one who'd not only read the history off the spy who'd gone underground, but having gone underground himself to try to understand what he'd seen, he already was well aware that he had _no_ interest in getting into the worship of Ccoa, and even less interest in drawing Ccoa's attention now that Hue had been singled out.

Nyanta's comment that Night Sun had picked Hue up on purpose had BlackJack just slightly on edge this time around. He wasn't humble like Hue was. He'd be fists flying before he was submitting humbly to torture. He already couldn't go in disguise, since he'd not understood that much before. So he'd set up protections early, and one of those was to talk to the kami of emotions so they were partnered in this from the get-go. It was nice to have a kami at his back, actually.

As he looked around the street for the building he was supposed to be going to, he sent a quick early apology to it that he wasn't going to be able to be the kind of example to it that Shiroe and Purrcy wanted it to have. It answered with curiosity and an "I don't get it" kind of feeling. BlackJack's lip quirked up, laughing at himself more than anything. It would learn regardless, although it probably already knew him, even if only slightly, since it generally knew all Adventurers. That helped him feel a little more like he didn't have eyes watching over his back.

For protection, he'd also equipped items that prevented Confusion and helped with Detect Lies, although he figured he could do that alone for most of things. Sometimes priests were sneaky and told lies so couched in truth it was hard to tell. He had any number of items that would let him Evade Traps, and just about as many for Escape Traps. On top of those things there were his own usual shields, tripled this time. And for insurance, as many of the child kami party in Buenos Aires that could be spared were watching over his shoulder with a video line.

It was almost surprising that having the kami with him felt like having the security blanket, though. He pondered on that slightly as he knocked on the door with the five stripes on it. He knew now what those were - the stripes that were the distinguishing features of Ccoa. He glared at them, but scrubbed that as the door was opened.

The Adventurer on the other side of the door was wearing a black robe and his status listed him as a deacon of Ccoa. That was about right since the deacons did the teaching. He was invited in after he explained what he was there for. It was a typical storefront building here in the front. It had been modified to have a good sized lobby in the front, with an office. It looked like the deacon had come from the desk in that office. The lobby was nicely done, but not over done. A few chairs and a basic couch were set around the room.

There was also a statue of Ccoa, a not-so-frightening one for the guests and potential acolyte candidates to see. Other pictures and symbols of strength were in the room. BlackJack knew what that was for. They would want to tempt from the beginning. Any Adventurer who saw strength in the lobby would assume strength was what they'd learn and earn in the back.

BlackJack scanned everything while he waited for the deacon to contact his superior. Somehow he wasn't surprised when the statue listed as an Icon, and when he read the code on it, that it was a communication device. That would be the spy camera in the living room, then. He set a recording spell to keep watch over it. It might be useful to learn exactly what triggered it and if it was possible to block the connection.

A side door opened. BlackJack took in the stairwell behind the new arrival. It went up and down. Most places on Theldesia it would only go up when on ground level. Down meant something different than storage space when it came to Ccoa. It mean access for the demihumans and prisons like Hue had been in. He added open space for now for both up and down to his map of the building (which incidentally updated his party's maps).

"Welcome," the priest who had arrived from that door said. His robe was also black but was fancier than the one the deacon wore and had satin trim. BlackJack had seen priests with velvet trim on their robes so that put this one as a lesser priest in the hierarchy. That was alright by him. To be faced with someone that high this early in the game would have been a severe warning he was in trouble.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me," BlackJack said politely. "We've been travelling and are recently come to the south continent." His eyes roamed the room to look at the symbols of strength pointedly. "I'll assume you've already been told a little about me." His eyebrow lifted slightly as he looked at the priest from the corner of his eye. "If you'll keep it to yourself, the Captain and I don't always see eye to eye, and he's still top dog after all this time. It's beginning to grate on my nerves a bit, you see?"

He got a sympathetic nod and went on. "I'm always looking for that edge I need, and people from your group say this is the place to maybe find it. We're not going to be here long, nor am I likely to be back for a long while, so I'm not too sure it's worth my while, except that I've usually got to take what I can get while we're in a port." He scowled. "One of the ways the Captain keeps us in line, you know."

"Is your Captain in town?" the priest asked.

BlackJack shook his head. "Hates to be walled in. Open ocean's his love, you know. He goes with the reprovisioning team so he at least has open fields."

The priest gave a nod and gestured to a door at the back of the room. "Shall we go sit and talk?" he asked.

BlackJack made a quick reality check in with the kami, but it said the room was empty. BlackJack followed the priest into the next room. It was an open room with chairs around the outside and a large statue of Ccoa at the front in a strong pose and growling, with an enemy under one of the front paws.

That would be why the move into the room then, to make him see that what Ccoa had to offer was a way to take down one's enemies. Right up his alley as far as his cover went. He gave a satisfied nod as the priest sat down in a chair where they could see the statue quite nicely.

The priest's expression went faintly satisfied at BlackJack's nod, then was smooth again. "We offer specific training in our sect that increases one's strength, both of will and of arm," the priest began the sales pitch. BlackJack had heard it before on the street, but he listened patiently, wanting to know what additional details the priest would add now that they were in private. "In this room we hold regular daily practices. It's similar to the martial arts of Earth, and the training is as rigorous, but results are very quick."

BlackJack had frowned a bit at the reference to regular practicing since he wouldn't be there for that, so the results comment had been thrown in. "Would it be enough to only get in one or two practices?" he asked. "We've already been here about as long as he can stand to stay still."

"You would see results," the priest nodded. "And if you stayed after for two sessions for one-on-one tutoring, you could learn enough to continue your own practices on the ship. If enough sailors saw your practices, then perhaps they would want to join in with you. If you could get even five to practice with you then you would receive a bonus to your own strength increases."

 _Ah. The sales chain method of worship with increases to both the follower and the god. Not healthy for the world when it's a dark god._ BlackJack nodded, musing on the priest's point as if it might be something he would be interested in. He wouldn't even have to tell those five what they were getting themselves into. It was "just a martial art". Sneaky.

"Well, I might be interested in coming to see, then," he admitted. Then he scowled darkly at the priest. "Except I don't need to waste my time on the mamby-pamby when what I need is real strength, not just itsty-bitsy increases I can get just grinding against the sea monsters."

The priest smiled just a little and shook his head. "No, I can see that would be true." He studied BlackJack for a moment. "As a pirate, I'm sure you've had your share of killing and taking what you want?"

BlackJack waved it off. "The definition of pirate. Personally I prefer the hidden sneak attacks where you don't know you were hit and don't know you're dead until you're in the Cathedral looking up at the ceiling."

The eyes of the priest got hungry and he almost let it go to a shared predatory grin. BlackJack gave him a knowing look. "And that's a good thing around here?" he asked dryly.

"Well, it is, actually," the priest admitted freely. "And in your case would be a simple thing to help you go up faster than you might imagine. With the right...shall we say...emphasis added to the death, for each death you would not only go up an additional level, but your strength would increase by a percent."

"Which would be?" BlackJack wasn't going to let it be a wave of the hand.

"Fifteen percent if you're casual. Twenty percent if you're devoted to Ccoa. Twenty-five percent if you make it last as long as you want and like the look on their faces before you let them go." The priest was positively in the depths of his dark glee as he listed off the benefits. It took a bit for BlackJack to realize that the priest had put "devoted" into quotes.

BlackJack smirked. Even these Adventurers were playing that game. That would be helpful. "So, if I slit your throat right now and played with you until you finally died, I'd get a major bonus then?"

The priest didn't think it quite so funny to be the center of that threat, but he gave a nod. BlackJack could imagine he wouldn't want to fall and lose his own points. It was interesting that the priest didn't flinch, though. That meant he believed he was protected in his own place well enough.

BlackJack leaned back, folded his arms, and nodded as if thinking about it seriously now. "That wouldn't be hard, and would be a nice bonus for just doing my job like I already do. What do I have to do to get that, though? I'm not interested in giving up my autonomy."

"Oh, no, it's not that," the priest shook his head. "You do have to jump through the game hoop to get the stamp as it were."

"No tattoos," BlackJack scowled. "They disappear if they weren't part of the avatar, and I don't need to make it that obvious to the Captain."

"No, no," the priest hurried to reassure him. "I meant it figuratively. Since the gods of the game came along with the world we're in, living or dreaming regardless, we still have to go through the game initiation and meet the god, and promise to ...well..., kill for it, and then it will grant the stamp that allows you to get the bonuses. We've not figured out what to call it really, since it's not quite spell-based and on the computer screen it would show up on the status screen as the symbol of the god. It doesn't show up on the status screens here, but it still has that same effect."

"Ah, got it," BlackJack said to reassure the priest he had. That an was interesting side effect, though, that it didn't show. That would be why no one really knew they were already chosen and taken by the Caretaker then. Avenging Angel must be a Class specific to a follower of a god, like priest and deacon were.

He rubbed his chin. "And how long would that take and just how painful is it?" A god who loved pain would test his worshipers with it, too, to accept them properly.

"Not long. You'd be done before the Captain returned," the priest promised and BlackJack could feel that it bordered on a lie. The priest wanted him to believe it would be simple. He didn't expect the painful part to be talked about either.

"Okay, but I need to know how to plan my timing since I don't need the rest of the crew knowing I've gone off and done something to be suspicious about."

The priest nodded. "Come back again this evening. You'll be back before breakfast." He smirked. "Just say you went out to visit a lady before you had to be stuck on the ship again."

BlackJack snorted a laugh. "I've got a witch that would beat me around the head if she caught wind of that, but I get your drift." The priest's eyebrow rose. Since witches were notorious for only being interested in high level Adventurers who were also very good pirates such a comment would place his ranking even higher. He rose to his feet and the priest did as well. "I'll consider it, but I like what I'm hearing," he said.

The priest saw him out. BlackJack watched through the camera he'd put in the entry room. The priest stopped by the office to let the deacon know that BlackJack would likely be back that evening and to call him when he came. Then the priest walked to the statue in the room and put his hand on the head of it. "It seems he would be a very good addition, and if he's telling the truth about being at odds with what that party is doing, would be a good way to infiltrate."

BlackJack had already seen the connection open on the communication device. He went small on the inside as he walked to an outside table at the outskirts of a close restaurant. As soon as he was sitting down, he was up in the upper levels following where that communication went. It split and he followed the one that went more "up-ish" first. He hit a wall some distance from there, so went back and followed the other one and found himself outside the High Priest's manor. The manor was inside the city for Buenos Aires, but was a large enough building to have it's own campus as it were.

So. Someone in the Gate of Time had been contacted, and the High Priest as well. He watched the manor for a moment, then saw a communication line open up that went towards where the other line had gone. He slipped down and attached a stethoscope to it. He wasn't too pleased with that conversation. Ccoa was too smart for his own good, and it was going to be another trap for Purrcy.

BlackJack sighed and returned to his body and ordered from the waitress who had arrived. When the food arrived, he set up a private zone around himself and contacted the rest of the party. It was discussion time.

-:-:-:-:-

If BlackJack went through the initiation ceremony of Ccoa, would he come out surviving, or would he really be tied to the demihuman's deity? That was the main question they all were most worried about. There was quite a bit of need for one of them to go through at least one initiation of one of the dark deities. Ccoa was the one they were most concerned about since it shouldn't have been possible for him to gain Adventurer worshipers, except by the law of Adventurer change. If it had been that, then they needed to understand just how deeply rooted that was and how difficult it was going to be to get it wiped out.

No one wanted BlackJack to be lost to them. He was an important resource to the guild as one of the three intel members. And as such, if he was lost to the enemy, he could become a terrible enemy all by himself. Everyone knew how those sorts of things played out in the anime/fiction/game scenarios. No one wanted it to have to be a problem from the beginning.

There was the one argument in favor of him going through with it: Purrcy and the other kami on their side were a different breed of god. Was that enough to counteract whatever the programmed constructs had available?

The party on the ground in the city put forth all their arguments and counter-arguments until they were all tapped out. BlackJack mused on it solo for a while, then asked for a top level meeting. It was too dangerous to step into without that level of consideration.

Michael, Reed, and BlackJack all got together in a safe house in the micro layer. BlackJack presented the summary of what his team had come up with, pros and cons, difficulties and worries. Michael and Reed looked at each other and Michael called in Purrcy.

BlackJack hesitated, then because it was a better security blanket for him and had been an essential part of the last altercation, he called in the emotion kami. His superior officers didn't complain. The other Inari would be present in and through Purrcy as well, so it rounded out the full complement of top brass and invested players on the field.

Like Purrcy would listen to Shiroe and comment but not select the course of action, the kami (including her) did the same this round, answering questions specific to capabilities and potentials, but not pushing for one choice or the other. That somewhat surprised BlackJack, that even if some of the issues worried Purrcy, she wouldn't force it.

But then...she'd only watched as Hue was taken. Some of it was the restraints on her. Some of it was the fact that if they really did need the data, it was theirs to earn, not hers to just pass out whenever she felt like it. It was hard, because these were hard things to go through, but it was still the choice they needed to make.

She did try to point out alternatives if she saw them, like everyone tried to do, and she wasn't shy about asking the Inari for the alternatives they saw from their computer calculations. That was sometimes helpful to jogging the creativity in their brains. Michael and Reed both asked the Inari for percentage of success on some of the more sketchy possibilities to add that to the decision data.

BlackJack returned spiritually to his bed in the inn before dinner time, where he'd gone to "take a nap" before he had to face the long night. He called up the party and passed out quiet orders, then set a timer and fell asleep for real for an hour. He knew the team would do their best, and he would, too.

Somehow, though, he felt almost sorry for the dark deities. Even with the slight percentage chance he could be taken out of the game altogether, really they couldn't win. He had one advantage they couldn't ever affect: the law of Adventurer Choice.

-:-:-:-:-

The priest of Ccoa was summoned not to the main floor as evening approached, but to the sub-floors. He was a bit surprised to see one of the highest level priests that stood just below the High Priest, wearing velvet robes, waiting for him. The dark aura that came off him was almost as light as light was, which meant it was quite malevolent, really.

It was that lightness of darkness that speaks softly, has no fear yet engenders it without it being obvious about it, that makes one's blood go cold without being able to pinpoint just who it was that was carrying it when in a crowd. That lightness of darkness that spoke of so many cruel deaths without a shred of care or warmth that there was barely any humanity left in the one who carried it. As if that very faint lightness was all that remained of the humanity that had been given away to know the full evil the deaths after deaths had awoken.

The priest of the building swallowed a bit to recover from having to think that much about it. He hadn't been willing to walk that deeply yet, and was still content with where he was, thus why he was where he was. He was quite happy to talk other Adventurers into joining them and gaining his own bonuses that way. Each to their own. This priest in front of him didn't want his job any more than the reverse, thus they could at least have a professional relationship.

"I will oversee the initiation, if the pirate comes," the high priest said quietly. "You will be the face of it, or he may run. I have the strength to keep him here if he should decide to recant early, and make him finish it out. Ccoa has said that we cannot allow him to escape. If he will not convert, then the god will take him for himself."

"He's likely to convert just fine, if he's not a plant," the local priest said, having had contact with BlackJack now.

The high priest nodded. "And so we will welcome him at the end. But if he is a plant, he's not allowed to escape and warn others."

The local priest gave a nod to that. He'd seen BlackJack's levels. He might be able to keep him in the building with the help of the other local clergy, but to have one of this level present would make it a lot simpler. They never did let anyone leave who had started on the initiation. That was a secret not to be let out, ever - both because of flavor text clerical rules and because early on normal people would have freaked out.

That wasn't so much a problem any more with the majority of the city being converted to either Night Sun or Ccoa. They still had to keep it under wraps somewhat. Those who were acolytes didn't need to know either until they really were ready to join the higher ranks or they might lose them, for all they were hardened.

The local priest let the high priest know which room he intended to take BlackJack to and the high priest went farther back into the catacombs to stay in hiding until he should be needed. The catacombs were under the entire city, having been built by the demihumans. They reached the surface below each of the religious buildings for Ccoa, and at the High Priest's manor. This high priest had walked underground to get here and would return the same way. They were almost never seen above ground anywhere other than in the manor.

Before returning up the stairs, the priest made sure the room of initiation was ready and felt like it should - like religious things happened there, but with no residuals of evil to frighten away the slightly more faint of heart. Easy and slow to entrapment was the preferred method of any dark religion.

While it wasn't common to go straight from seeker to deacon or priest, it did happen in cases very similar to this one. Those Adventurers who already had death in their blood often didn't want to deal with the lower levels, and it wasn't necessary to make them do it either. Those with personal goals strong enough were quite happy once it was over to then have freedom to kill and rise in levels and points as fast as they wanted to - though there were rules there, too, and they had to abide them if they were going to live with the rest of them.

Pirates, however, got a special bye. They were going to be out on ships, killing those on ships. They didn't have the same restrictions. Sometimes the city priests were envious, but they didn't want to live on the sea regardless, so it passed almost as fast as it came up. There hadn't been too many made, since most of the pirates didn't care that much, and there was a deity of the sea. Either BlackJack didn't know of that deity, or had already rejected him. If it was the latter, it was Ccoa's priesthood's win. They wouldn't let that prize slip through their hands by turning him away for that reason.

Because pirates could sacrifice to a dark deity more frequently and with more abandon and delight than those on land was why BlackJack had been courted by both dark houses of the city. It had been a bitter fight behind the scenes, although BlackJack hadn't known of it. The priest was rather smug that he'd managed to come out on top and was looking forward to his own bonuses into the future - if the pirate showed up at all. And if he was a plant, then that was okay, too. The bonuses that came from adding another Adventurer to the available high-level sacrifices weren't something to be turned down either.

-:-:-:-:-

The third high priest under the High Priest of Buenos Aires sat calmly in the room he'd chosen to wait in. The cool of the underground dirt catacombs was a temperature he was well accustomed to, and the smell of that dirt mingled with blood was the smell of home now that he'd been on Theldesia these nearly three years. He was relaxed but alert. The initiation would be exciting, perhaps, but the anticipation of a real fight was more ...rousing.

He'd offered to come because, while he was calm in almost all he did including the typical daily rituals, his blood quickened the most when the sacrifice fought back. Because they expected this one to reject Ccoa in the middle of the initiation, or by the end at least, and was a pirate, he expected to quite enjoy himself tonight. And if he did, many nights into the future, until he broke enough to be tame for those who didn't enjoy the fight quite so much. That was his specialty.

He could feel the stirring of the demihumans as they began to gather in the level of catacombs below this one. The High Priest had allowed for twice the number to come as usual, so they were equally excited about the potential of this night. The high priest sent out his own marked shields so they would leave him and his room and passage alone. They moved on to be below the room that smelled of magic waiting to be activated and the high priest settled again.

They would leave him alone, recognizing his signature. Sometimes they didn't care too much to differentiate between a new initiate and acolytes, though. The high priest's lip twitched up slightly for just a brief moment, his eyes lit with fire for just that moment, then he was calm again, unhurriedly waiting to see what this night would bring him and the High Priest.

-:-:-:-:-

"Would you like to come and watch, Night Sun?" Ccoa asked casually, knowing it would prick his ally. Night Sun had been quite wroth to have lost his prisoner of the sons of the Caretaker without seeing her or having her be affected at all, or so it seemed. Night Sun still claimed he had evidence she had been there, hiding her skills and presence.

Ccoa wasn't inclined to believe Night Sun. They all knew the Caretaker had the least patience of all of them. She hadn't been born to the Gate of Time where the patience of years was required to affect the base world properly and for as long as they were all going to live (eternity). If Night Sun had really had one of the Caretakers sons, and if she had really been there, that manor house would have been a smoking hole and Night Sun would be proudly boasting of his feast, not angry that there had only been one torture session of almost weak Adventurer level proportions.

Ccoa watched the Eagles and their servants, too. He also knew that the one Night Sun had captured was one of the weaker servants. While he might have been able to escape because of the intelligence of Adventurers, it had been a poor offering generally, and likely was lesser enough the Caretaker hadn't really paid a whole lot of attention to him. (Ccoa would never know that Purrcy loved Hue almost most of the Twin Falls party, although she tried hard to not have favorites - which thought would have made everyone else laugh since they all knew she did. Thus why she _had_ been present.)

Ccoa also knew that BlackJack was a strong and worthy opponent, and if he was really of a different cloth - which many of the Eagles did have undercurrents that they were - then he would be a trophy prize of the highest sort to have won over. And if BlackJack truly believed he was acting as a spy to learn whatever it was they thought they needed to learn, he would be a very good pry bar to bring the Caretaker out angry.

"I would, actually," Night Sun answered. "I'd like to see if one of them can be broken, or purrhaps be amazed that one is actually willing to turn against her. And if I can laugh at mew perhaps I shall feel better." Ccoa glowered at Night Sun, but couldn't do much more than that.

They arrived in one of the protected rooms in the offices of Ccoa's temple that was used for watching what was going on in the base realm. Ccoa cast his own circle that they stood in the center of and the room disappeared to be an overview of the place BlackJack was just arriving at to knock at the door.

The spell specifically allowed the deities to watch in real-time, which meant outside that room life was moving very fast. They had left all but the one aspect outside the room to continue to get work done, but the aspects watching were now effectively in the base realm. It would take a lot of power, but they could have effects on the base realm as well, if they felt the situation warranted it.

Night Sun had thought things would go fine, so had paid attention to the level of strength he was receiving and not much more. He had also been trying to sense the Caretaker. On the return of his priest he had set up a room like this. When the priest had finished his preparations, Night Sun had watched over his priest's shoulder to only find the prison cell empty and nothing to say why. It hadn't been entered, nor exited by any reasonable means.

The only answer the Adventurers had was that Hue had used a teleportation device. There were a few high level ones meant for emergency situations that could even break out of a deity's encapsulating spell. Night Sun thought it highly unlikely Hue had one of those. Ccoa thought about the same, but also didn't have any other explanation for it.

Night Sun's claim it had been the Caretaker, stealing him back, was unsettling, and perhaps a possibility, but surely she wouldn't have been able to get through that same encapsulating spell. No kami could break through another's. It was one of the rules that kept the peace in the Gate of Time and prevented all-out submission of one religion against another on the face of the planet. Besides the Caretaker wasn't a goddess, by her own admission.

Ccoa shook it off as he focused again on the scene in front of them. BlackJack had been let into the building. As far as Ccoa was concerned, from this point on BlackJack was his regardless of if he chose worshiper or not. Night Sun wasn't going to give him that point yet, having lost Hue. They watched and waited, anxious to see what they would learn this time.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe had a dream that he was in a conference meeting with Izanagi, Izanami, Purrcy, his kami, Michael, Reed, and an Eagle he couldn't remember at the moment. He was a passive observer and sometimes the conversation turned funny directions as his subconscious dream mind went strange places.

Sometimes it was clear and his dream self had a concern. He tried to speak and discovered he couldn't, but then shortly after his kami would push the same concern into the conversation and it would be addressed and he could relax again. Then the dream would waver again as he fell mostly back to sleep. That went on for a while before he was released to sleep deeply again.

When he woke up in the morning he only vaguely remembered it, but by the time he was getting out of the shower and drying his hair, his kami was already knocking at the door, impatient. He dressed and cast his final priest's purification, then had to remind the kami it had to wait for him to at least sit down before it started anything. He also took a moment to contact the guild to let them know he was occupied and might miss breakfast. He still felt bad about the sudden silence the last time unexpected things had happened.

As soon as he was sitting down, he was suddenly in that sort of state again and he frowned as the earlier dream tried to be remembered. This time he was looking at the interior of a building as if he was looking through the communication globes of the People of the Land. The one difference was that instead of it having a white hazy glow around the edges it was a dark, almost black one. It gave him the sense that it was rather hard to get the image at all, so he held still and quiet.

He recognized BlackJack, too, so that meant it might be just a little difficult to be having the picture sent that far a distance as well, although he thought it was all from his kami. He didn't think anyone from the Eagles was sending it to him. That would have just been a communication window.

Sound wasn't coming through, either, so it was also kind of like watching the old black and white movies. He could wish for the subtitles, but perhaps this would be enough. Then he frowned and said, "Purrcy, I would assume you're watching this right now as well in some form or other. Can I get a sound connection of some kind so I have context?"

He heard her click her tongue and the kami got a little bit of a scold that it ignored with a frown of seriousness. Purrcy gave up quickly and added Shiroe to what seemed to be a chat group. He was listening to Mystery Science Theater 3000 all of a sudden, and it kept his rapt attention.

"...potion includes the same ingredient that was being smoked by the people at the bar Training and BillyBoy went to on Captain's Island," Purrcy's cool lecture voice was saying. "The effect is to initiate the separation of the psyche from the anima."


	218. BlackJack the Spy

BlackJack wasn't surprised to be taken into the main large room with the large statue of the strong Ccoa first. He was asked to strip down to shorts and was run through a series of strong athletic moves. The priest explained that this part would have been the equivalent of his final exam as an acolyte of his skills from the martial arts.

When he asked if he could throw in his own moves, it was allowed. He didn't give away all of his attacks. He'd worked out with Michael enough that he mixed his Assassin attacks with Michael's Monk's attacks and blocks. The priest liked what he saw enough to pass him. They both knew it was just part of the play to get a good work out, the blood flowing, and put on a show.

When the priest called BlackJack to a halt, he held out a potion. "This is doctored just enough to allow you to be able to meet face to face with Ccoa when the proper rituals have been completed."

BlackJack raised an eyebrow. "Potion modification's high level stuff."

"True. We only use it for the initiations," the priest agreed. BlackJack took it and drank it down. "If you'll come with me we'll go now to the lower level for the next set, having passed you at this level." The priest handed over a loose robe of red cloth that BlackJack put on. It tied with a black cord belt around the middle and hung half-way down his calves. They kept him without shoes for now. He didn't complain although the stairs were cold after the warming workout.

By the time they reached the room in the first basement level the priest led him to, his senses were heightened at the same time as he was feeling distanced from himself. He recognized it as a state similar to what he might be in if he was working in the code realm. It was also similar, but more across the board, to what it had felt like to have his emotions for Purrcy distanced. All of his emotions were detached from himself, is what this felt like.

He wasn't so sure he liked that part. He wanted to be able to feel right and properly about himself. He could see why they might not want him to, though, so he didn't struggle against it too hard - just held on to his goals and who he was. He'd felt like this before, thanks to Izanami, so he knew how to do that much.

The circular room was bare except for three candles standing in the center of the wall to the left as he entered the door. They were thick, with the one in the center taller than the two on either side. The tall iron candlesticks were curled and at the top bore the five-stripes worked into the iron. With his heightened senses, it wasn't too dim in the room. The floor was a dirt floor with a great circle inscribed in the dirt that took up the entire spacious room.

"Because you'll need to know this next step yourself if you want to call directly on Ccoa while you're away from these shores, I'll walk you through how to do this part. That will help you remember it," the priest said.

"Okay," BlackJack said amicably.

The priest pulled out a knife that looked more like a claw, small enough to be hidden in the palm. "This is yours. You can gain benefit from any killing, but a killing made with this one has more power behind it since it's an artifact of the deity. For today, because you're promising yourself to the deity, you'll offer your own blood."

BlackJack nodded. That wasn't a surprise at all. The priest walked him to stand in front of the candles and handed him the knife. "Cut your arm and drip some blood here on the floor. As it lands on the floor, keep in mind that you desire strength in return for offering the blood of others."

BlackJack was obedient. As the priest walked him around the room, staying outside what would eventually be an activated great circle, he explained that if BlackJack only had a small space to hide in on the ship, he could just stand in one place and turn his body around and do the same in place. Size only mattered in this specific case when it needed to encircle the entire room for the meeting with the god.

This had been one of the hard parts in their planning. This would really bind him to Ccoa in the beginning, to make a blood great circle, at least in game terms of binding. It would also feed Ccoa the beginnings of power, so if he didn't do it properly, Ccoa would know something was fishy.

BlackJack could feel the emotion kami helping him as they'd worked it out for this part. He personally was doing his best to focus his will and desires on his conviction to see righteous judgment was made properly in this place and this war they were fighting, and keeping his heart directed towards Purrcy's promise for the same so that his gift was to her, not Ccoa.

Having his emotions distanced from himself didn't seem to interfere with that, which was interesting. Rather, the potion was helping him not care that he was cutting himself, and keeping the pain of that at bay. That was okay for now.

The emotion kami was the replacement and obfuscation. It was sending back to Ccoa in a very thin thread, to be equal to an Adventurer of BlackJack's level, the emotions of one who wanted very much to have strength for selfish gain. Since the kami had far more experience than it needed to in knowing exactly what that was, it had no troubles. Really it was sending to Ccoa what it was already receiving from the other dark priests in the world.

BlackJack had a background emotional gratitude going to feed that, replacing the power loss to the emotion kami. He suspected Purrcy was echoing it herself, because the kami was pretty stable for how it could have been having to pass along that kind of dark emotion to a competitor.

Since none of the kami in the Gate of Time knew BlackJack nor his signature, nor did they know or recognize the emotion kami, finding it just as junior or less than Purrcy because it was unformed, the flavor of the kami was being recorded as the flavor of BlackJack. The kami and BlackJack shared a flare of hard delight that someday that flavor would return to remove Ccoa from the face of the planet.

BlackJack nipped that in the bud just enough to hide the specific intent. He was sure Ccoa would have gotten that flare just enough to recognize the fierce drive and desire to kill. That much would be just fine.

-:-:-:-:-

Ccoa was filling with the initial sweet introduction to the pirate's blood, already full of death and dark delight. Night Sun's face was a bit sour, but this much they'd expected him to be willing to do. They all were, as if it was already expected. The surge of driving delight in a specific kill looked forward to when this was done swept into Ccoa and his eyes lit up and his fangs extended. That was what he wanted from his worshipers, was that kind of response and emotion when they went hunting. It was an indicator that perhaps the man really was of an opposing mind to his comrades, although not certain just yet.

At this point, BlackJack still wasn't a worshiper, not yet. He was only making himself a sacrifice to Ccoa, but that was sufficient to feed Ccoa. Ccoa didn't really care that Night Sun was being left out. Night Sun had received at least this much in the torture of his prisoner by his priests. It was in the knives used. Every time the cursed knives drew blood, the points were sent to the dark deity of that knife.

Thus the curved knives of Night Sun, used also by the witches of the pirates, and the claw knives of Ccoa, used by the demihumans in the rituals. The curse was imbued into the claws of each demihuman worshiper as well, sending to Ccoa every wound inflicted on a creature of the land - or an Adventurer.

Ccoa watched avidly as the circle was completed and the priest taught BlackJack the words to say to complete the spell. BlackJack said them obediently, sealing the circle and sealing his fate. It was nice the potion helped the initiates to be obedient at this point.

The priest then told BlackJack he was to stand in the center of the circle and use the knife against anything that came against him, to prove his strength and his desire to have strength. When BlackJack nodded, the priest left the room and stood in the middle of the hallway, but closer to the stair well. He would watch over the door from there and prevent BlackJack from leaving the catacombs.

Before the priest relaxed, he placed a seal over the doorway to the main floor so that if BlackJack overwhelmed him for some reason, he still wouldn't be able to get out. Not that he'd get out of the building at all. Ccoa had already placed his encapsulating spell over the building long ago, and his priests renewed it faithfully.

The high priest had felt the magic of the circle activate and had risen to his feet. Rather than walk out of the room, he sank through the floor into the chamber below it, then walked through the wall closer to the room BlackJack was in. He stayed on the wall watching the open chamber in front of him. All of the initiation rooms were above this wide open chamber, and in this chamber were the one hundred demihumans who had come to receive the sacrifice.

The demihumans were already swarming up the walls and along the ceiling for the place the blood called to them from. Three buried themselves in the dirt of the ceiling and were moving the dirt in front of them with their magic until they were up inside the dark circle. BlackJack was immediately in a pose of defense, the knife held in the palm of his hand by his thumb so that it would slice into the demihumans.

They leaped at him at the same time as he began a wind dance of the Assassin. In less time than it took to draw a breath and let it out, the three demihumans were dead and BlackJack was back in his defensive pose, turning slowly to see where the next attack would come from.

Ccoa accepted the gleeful self-sacrifice of his followers. Because they were allowed to roam freely above the ground and take anything they wanted, they were quite willing to die for his sake. The earthy blood gave him stability and was his food. The blood and emotions of Adventurers was his wine. He already wanted to taste BlackJack's again, but the pirate had been calm in the face of battle he'd already seen many times.

Five demihumans arrived in the circle with BlackJack and he danced with them again and again they disappeared without him being scratched even. Ccoa nodded to himself. Most high level Adventurers could withstand for a long time. This first part was to prepare the sacrifice for what was next when the potion reached the delayed effect it carried.

-:-:-:-:-

Three, five, nine, thirteen, then seventeen demihumans arrived for BlackJack to fight. He wasn't getting tired, but he was starting to feel less like his senses were heightened and more like he was coming under a Confusion effect. He sent some of that to the kami who was still with him and it paused to consider and hopefully consult with the others outside the building.

When it wanted to tease the Confusion out of him, he gladly let it take that "emotion" from him as if giving it power for its own from him. The kami practically purred. It really would take any Adventurer emotion, even if artificially induced - which BlackJack found humorous actually, although given he was fighting enough enemies to be loosing some blood to them now, it was rather serious.

BlackJack was careful to continue to act more and more confused and slow, letting blows slip through his blocks as he kept attacking to kill. He didn't know how many more he was going to have to fight and he'd rather not have the numbers adding up even more than they were.

It helped to have the Confusion status gone so that he could return to his proper focus on his personal convictions. He took a deep breath as the last demihuman went down, then staggered a little. He checked his status quickly and was surprised to see that not only was he farther down in HP than he would have thought, but he had the status Cursed. He glanced at the knife and it read _Cursed Claw of Ccoa_. It had other flavor text, but that was all he had time for. It sufficiently explained his status effect.

His feet were slipping out from under him and he couldn't figure it out. He stumbled around the circle, trying to find firm footing. Just when he thought he had it, the ground slipped out from under his feet again. As a sailor, he would say the sea state was getting choppy, and he tried to follow along with that thought, but it wasn't water and it wasn't so easy.

Finally he gave up and just stood still in the middle of the room, breathing hard and trying to stay upright. Slowly the dirt at his feet sucked at him until he was being sucked whole down into the earth. He wasn't so interested in being buried alive, but knowing what worshiped Ccoa and where they lived, he didn't think he'd be left in the dirt very long. He took one more breath, sent one prayer of request for protection of his soul to Purrcy and the emotion kami, and relaxed as his head went under the level of the dirt of the room of initiation.

-:-:-:-:-

Shiroe drew in a sharp breath as BlackJack disappeared from the room down into the dirt. His face looked rather calm, all considered. Shiroe was sure he himself wouldn't be quite so calm. Slowly the vision he was watching moved through the earth as well, showing only blackness until from the bottom came a faint light again that rose as they finished passing through the ground.

In the cavernous room that the image now showed, BlackJack was on his back on the floor, swinging the cursed blade around him in defense. Demihumans were swarming him, snapping at his arms, landing on his legs to bite them and tear off flesh, clawing at the top of his head to rip out chunks of hair and flesh.

Shiroe was glad that Purrcy started talking about then so that he could have something to hang on to that wasn't watching the awful scene. "He's holding on well enough. He recognizes this from his first visit to their catacombs in Central America. The drug that's separating him is helping him to not feel the pain so much, but the way the potion works, by now he should be having the opposite emotional response and be feeling extreme fear now instead of being separated from it.

"The child kami taking away the Confusion took away the part that increases the emotional response to what's going on around him. Because this has happened before for Adventurers, it knows this and is feeding fear properly to Ccoa. The cost is made up for in the prepayment of the Confusion and in the emotions BlackJack gets to experience properly that he's willing to add - like anger."

There was a sudden explosion of demihumans flying through the air, many of them disappearing midflight. BlackJack was on his feet, unsteady given he was actually missing some pieces of leg muscles. The curse was surely not helping since it had been started early on and seemed to be acting as a poison, draining his HP faster than it would normally drop under these circumstances.

The emotion kami was suddenly wary and the picture shifted just slightly to show a shadowy figure standing back against the far wall behind BlackJack and to his left a little. It sent enough emotions to those watching the scene to get across the point that it was unusual for there to be Adventurer witnesses to this part.

"Backup in case he was too strong. They likely are also wary that he's trying to be a spy, if the kami have been following your actions and movements on the planet, Purrcy," Shiroe said immediately. "I've already assumed they know the Eagles group is yours, even if they don't know your exact level and titles yet. It's the safer and reasonable assumption to make."

"I suppose," she agreed dryly. "Then we can assume that is a high level priest of either the city or directly from the Gate of Time sent to face off against him personally." There was quiet while she calculated. "If his conviction is sufficient, he will be on par. There are things we can do if he asks for them that will still let him win."

That settled the emotion kami sufficiently so Shiroe could relax again. "Why do they have the demihumans attack?" Shiroe asked.

"I have a theory, now that I've seen this much," Purrcy said, "but I'd like to watch it to see if it bears out before I say it. Remember, the potion began the process of separation of psyche and anima. Do you remember the highest form of worship for the followers of Ccoa?"

Shiroe shuddered. "I'd rather I didn't, but you know that."

They went silent as BlackJack was swarmed again. It looked like more demihumans had been called to help out, and this time it looked like hundreds of them, although it perhaps wasn't more than one hundred.

-:-:-:-:-

The high priest stood up from his casual lean on the back wall of the cavern. The pirate had just risen to his feet at a time when most Adventurers would have been giving up with screams of terror. The blast that blew away most of the remaining demihumans was full of anger.

That was exactly what the high priest had been hoping for tonight. The strong who fought against fear with anger and rose to fight longer were the ones who would fight him the longest, letting his own pleasure last for sometimes months. He rather thought this one might be one of those few rare treasures and his mouth watered at the thought.

He cast a quiet spell that called another hundred demihumans. It was still their responsibility to see to the end of this, or the Adventurer wouldn't properly become a worshiper of Ccoa ...if that was what he truly wanted.

-:-:-:-:-

BlackJack was barely standing and he knew it. He'd caught a faint whisper, though, so he turned slowly so as to not fall on the floor again. The whisper ended just as he caught the velvet darkness, darker than the room. It was a faint whisper of almost boundless evil, cold and icy. The emotion kami lightly touched him and allowed him to see what it saw - an Adventurer waiting for this to be done, or for him to fight and try to live.

His instinct was to fight in anger, to take out the evil because he'd seen it. Instead he reached for the kami and begged for that to be taken as it's own offering. As it was taken from him, he was able to catch hold of the other emotions involved in this moment. Pain that he was being torn to shreds. He gave that to the emotion kami as well, but with sorrow that he had to give it up when that kami needed to not learn more pain. It was just he needed the partner in the moment so he could think clearly. He was already hearing the scrabble of more demihumans coming.

When the pain was gone just enough, then he was able to remember his conviction, his desire to see this through so that his guild and the people they were trying to help could learn what it was they needed to know to defeat not just that one Adventurer there, but all of the ones that had taken this crazy evil path.

At that thought, he was suddenly filled with Purrcy's strength and determination, her calming healing that let him finally have the breathing room to decide what _he_ was going to do next. He could feel her arms around him, although he intellectually knew it was the emotion kami passing it on to him from her.

Straightening up, he drew in one last breath, his eyes looking straight into the eyes of the high priest. The demihumans slammed into him and tore his body apart, eating the flesh from his bones. He didn't fight back, didn't look at them, only stared at the high priest and felt Purrcy's strong arms around him. He didn't know when his body finally fell to the floor, a pile of bones picked clean in another few seconds. He himself never moved, never stopped looking at the high priest.

BlackJack knew this kind of existence. Knew it from more than one experience, and he wasn't afraid of it. The eyes of the high priest had gone wide and it looked like a scowl was trying to blossom on his face. It wasn't because he was "dead", it was because of how he'd gone about doing it, BlackJack was sure, just as he was sure the high priest was still seeing his psyche.

The demihumans started backing up towards the walls. A pressure was increasing in the room. BlackJack knew what that was as well. The emotion kami drew in very close to him as if to become a second skin for him. It would still be his shield in this round, but would continue to hide itself from being recognized as a separate being.

-:-:-:-:-

Ccoa's interest was very much piqued. "Well, well, that's a different response, to welcome the death of the body." Night Sun never was very expressive, but even he was letting off signs of confusion. "I guess I shall go and greet him and we shall see what's next, then," Ccoa said offhandedly, trying to mask his excitement. This one was High Priest material if he could be won over.

The aspect of the great spirit jaguar entered the cavern, slowly increasing the pressure in the room, then suddenly snapping the spirit of the Adventurer up to eat it whole. With eyes that could see into the death and spirit realms, the two deities and the high priest watched what he would do.

They were supremely surprised to see him walk out of the spirit jaguar aspect until he could turn and look it in the face. "You know, that's not very bright when you're just a spirit, too, right?"

The spirit aspect of Ccoa blinked just like the one in the viewing room did - very much in surprise.

BlackJack sighed. "Come on. If you have any shred of an idea of who I am, then you should at least have some clue of just how many Vengeful Spirits I've had to help return to their bodies, right?" Ccoa froze, then slumped in utter defeat, putting his head to his hand. The aspect in the cavern just stared at the Vengeful Spirit. "So, what's next?"

The high priest in the room was in even more shock than the gods were. His mouth was hanging open, even. He returned to himself and spluttered, then finally got words out. "Just what do you want, then? To be a priest of Ccoa or not?"

BlackJack blinked at the high priest, then looked back at the aspect in the room. "Okay. Tell you what, Ccoa. Give me everything you've got. I want to know _really_ just how strong you are, so that I know that I'm going to really get what I want."

Night Sun looked at Ccoa, wondering just what he was going to end up doing. This was a rather confusing Adventurer generally, but most of the early High Priests had been rather similar, demanding to know just how strong a god of Theldesia was. Ccoa pulled out everything he'd used on those men, wanting this one now definitely as a High Priest.

When he had done everything he could do, he pulled back the aspect and looked to see if BlackJack would still rise from the ground.

Slowly and painfully, BlackJack did, pushing up to his hands and knees, then to a crouch, resting his elbow on his knee long enough to gain just enough strength to stand and face the aspect again. "Will you become one of my High Priests?" Ccoa asked through that aspect.

BlackJack stood in silence for a while, then he slowly began to shake his head. "No...I don't think so. I've been nothing before and you can't do that. You aren't strong enough for me. I'll keep looking around then, I guess."

A dark circle immediately went up around the Vengeful Spirit. "If you will refuse Ccoa, then you are mine to play with," the high priest said with smooth dark glee.

"Please reconsider," Ccoa asked again. "You already are at a level of darkness to be a High Priest easily. The benefits of a High Priest are far more than you've been told until now." He listed them off in their glorious, contracted details.

BlackJack listened to them silently, then shook his head again. "Not really worth it, no. Thanks anyway."

Ccoa was supremely surprised when his aspect in the cavern suddenly disappeared and it took some review to understand why. When he did, he drew in a surprised breath.

"What?" Night Sun asked.

Ccoa put on a feigned look of supreme irritation. "I really wanted him. He's perfect High Priest material. He will feed me well for a very long time, but he's worthy of far more."

"Indeed," Night Sun said archly and returned to watch as the high priest prepared to begin his preferred method of torture.

Ccoa would never tell Night Sun what had happened, nor any other deity. It was unfathomable that two Adventurers with the same desire could force a deity to leave a place it wanted to be, particularly when in its own realm and zones.

BlackJack looked at the high priest with a weary look. "You know...you can't do worse than he did just now, right? The rules say that the gods get to do the most damage, or they wouldn't be gods."

The high priest froze, his face a mask of surprise. It changed into a snarl of pure hatred. "Oh, sorry. Were you trying to get out your jealousy that I'd be picked to be higher level than you on the first meeting? Well...I can't do anything about that. That wasn't me either. That was his summary."

The high priest ground his teeth together, seething. "Um, can I ask one question, before you decide to go ahead and waste all your MP just so you can feel better?" That didn't help BlackJack's case but he continued on regardless. "How long before all the spells and potion and everything wear off? I assume you have to deal with me in this state until they do and I finally get to resurrect."

The high priest's hands balled into fists. He finally hissed, "It will be too long for my tastes, but you will wish it had been longer because once you have a body again, I will be pleased to make you wish you were dead again for a _very_ long time."

"Oh. Well. I'm really done right now, though, since Ccoa couldn't help me any more than he did. I'm not interested in being your target just because you need to throw a hissy fit when I'm not even here to talk to you to begin with. My Captain gets here in the morning and we set sail shortly after. I need to be on the ship, so I'll be going now."

The high priest cast another spell and was suddenly standing stiffly, unmoving. BlackJack stood there for a moment, then gave a nod. He disappeared from the dark circle. Ccoa blinked and Night Sun stiffened. The high priest didn't move. The two deities looked around, Ccoa making the scene back off from that room until they'd searched that whole level, then the next one up.

It was too late by then. Ccoa had already felt it. The priest of the shrine had died, the power of an Adventurer priest filling him undeniably. He confirmed the seal on the door, but it was still in place. Nowhere in the building could they find BlackJack. They searched for him in the whole city and couldn't find him. Not only that, but they couldn't find any of the members of his party at all.

For the first time in all the years of their planning, Ccoa felt the germ of fear. There were things they had misunderstood, or never understood, and which they now had seen but still couldn't understand. Those kinds of things were holes in armor and plans that killed even gods.

Night Sun finally sighed and turned to Ccoa. "Well, at least we're quite sure in this case the Caretaker had nothing to do with it at all. He was strong enough to do it all on his own. I'll set my departments to looking for him, too, as I'm sure mew will since mew'd rather get to him first before I do." He waved his hand and Ccoa took down the circle so they could exit the room.

"I think I will also be watching those men much more closely, once we find them again. The Caretaker will lead us to them, I'm sure. She can't stay away from them. Mew should at least put a watch on the Cathedral for when he should resurrect."

Ccoa shook his head mutely, then had to unstick his tongue to explain. "He already knows. If he steps foot in any other Adventurer city before that time, he will resurrect in the new city. I'll set a watch, but they won't find him."

Night Sun stared at him for a bit, then shrugged. "I'm sure we'll see them again. I feel like they are teasing us." His tail gave one lash that told just what emotions were seething under the calm face. Even Night Sun was becoming agitated, although more likely with anger that his careful plans might come to an inglorious conclusion.

Ccoa carefully was very polite in seeing him off at the door to his temple, then just as carefully locked down his temple and told the staff to tell any asking deities - including Night Sun - that he had gone into deep research and wasn't approachable until further notice.

He needed to recalculate his exit strategies, and make sure that whatever holes might have been part of this lesson were filled as best he could fill them without having the full understanding of what was going on. No spirit should have been able to walk out of that dark circle. That's what it was _for_.

-:-:-:-:-

BlackJack sat in an upper corner of the Cathedral just long enough to watch the very surprised look on the priest's face as he awoke on the altar, not even knowing that he had died or how. The look of pure hatred and impotent anger on his face was priceless. BlackJack smiled a thin tight smile. He'd given the man warning.

While he normally would have attacked in anger for being tortured, he'd not really let the high priest torture him, so letting him off the hook by just being bound by his own spell was probably good enough. Eventually he might get free by becoming a Wraith, but BlackJack suspected that either he'd still be stuck in the spell (since it was supposed to affect spirits), or he'd be freed by another clergy member eventually.

Knowing where his own party members were, he walked to the next Adventurer city they were headed for then walked back to them. "Hey, BlackJack. Good work. Are you doing okay?" Brad asked from by the small campfire.

BlackJack nodded. No one else in his group could hear him without spells at this point, although the Twin Falls half could see him fine. Brad had stayed up on watch while the rest of them had settled down to sleep, waiting for him to arrive. It was going to be a pain that he couldn't even sleep until dawn, though.

He finally gave up. "Hahaue, can I get an 'atta boy' and have some company at least, while I'm sitting here bored out of my mind."

She showed up ikiryō felinoid and wrapped her arms around him and gave his cheek a kiss, then settled down next to him to lean her head on his shoulder. "Thanks, BlackJack. You did great. While I know it wasn't fun at all, am I allowed to say that you were brilliant to watch? I think I'll use your example as what to follow next time I'm so very tempted to just kill the bug in front of me."

He snorted. "You know that was the emotion kami sucking all the anger up it wanted so I didn't just kill the bastard jaguar while I had the chance, right?"

She giggled and relaxed against him. "Yeah, I know. Shiroe's told me I can't do that, though. I have too much when I'm also getting fed by all the rest of you. Nyanta and I are working on alternatives, though if I have to in an emergency I may still anyway."

She sighed and closed her eyes as if she would fall asleep on his shoulder. "Do kill him very slowly when you get to him, if you get the opportunity. That's only one of his aspects, so there's plenty to go around if some of the others want a chance at him, too."

Slowly BlackJack started to chuckle deep in his chest. He put his arm around her shoulders. "Just _how_ slowly?" he asked her in a suggestive whisper.

She shuddered, but laughed. "Oh, don't tempt me."

"But I _am_ ," he whispered back.

She shook her head at him and didn't say anything more. He didn't make her, nor ask again, but a smile was on his lips. That was a rather good drop and atta boy, actually. Her healing purr that matched his own desire for revenge helped, too, until he was finally able to doze. They'd get on the road again once he'd resurrected and walked back yet again.

-:-:-:-:-

When BlackJack disappeared from the room, the kami left it as well and the visual blinked out. As if lights were coming up in the old-time theater, a glow appeared in the space Shiroe was in. He was sitting with Purrcy, Nyanta, Michael, and Reed. They were visually in a circle, although technically seated in their actual physical locations. The emotion kami hovered over them all.

Shiroe could tell it was quite satisfied with the results it had been given as far as food went. Shiroe scolded it silently and asked it to give the summary of what it had learned. It answered in one of it's more rare now bursts of a full answer all at once. Shiroe took his time breaking it down to make sure he understood what it had garnered from the event.

He asked for one clarification of end conclusion, corrected the minor deviation he'd figured it would have taken, then said, "Overall, you're learning well, I think. This was a different sort of lesson. I would have to say that based on how you worked with BlackJack on your own you're coming along quite nicely in learning how to work with those who don't fight on the side of darkness.

"Of course, BlackJack is already almost exactly like the ones you're already used to, so that part was simple enough," the kami was slightly dejected at that part, "but given how hard it was to then separate out the slight differentials that are so important, it shows just how far you have come. I'm glad that you were able to learn to have the patience to help him reach the emotion he needed to have and knew he wanted to have in the end. If you can keep reinforcing that lesson for yourself, you'll be able to help many people even after we're gone."

Gently he added, "And yourself even more."

At that he got a tender touch from the kami. That was also a much better balance for where he wanted it to be in relation to him. Being as forward as if they were lovers had been too overwhelming and he'd had to teach it away from that. It was trying to learn the finer points of love and appreciation and this time had done very well, so he returned it with the equivalent of a kind hand on the head, like he'd been using as his standard kind reward. It settled down contentedly then.

"Did you understand everything you needed to get out of that, or do you want me to summarize?" Purrcy asked Shiroe next.

"Ah, I think I got most of it," Shiroe said. "Let me sum up and you can fill in holes. Adventurer Law of Choice will win out if the Adventurer remembers it."

Reed narrowed his eyes. "How can you be sure of that, Shiroe."

Shiroe pointed up at the kami hovering above them. "It knew what we were going for and our worst worry. It confirmed it every step of the way. BlackJack properly held on to his goals. The blood added to the dark circle already in place and waiting for the activator didn't bind him except to prevent him from leaving. It wasn't part of the creation of a worshiper or tool."

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Ccoa still can't have Adventurer worshipers or Person of the Land worshipers. However, Ccoa can have not just demihuman worshipers, but also undead worshipers. So when the demihumans make an Adventurer die as a sacrifice to Ccoa, offering the soul to him, he can pause and ask them if they want to be worshipers legally. Just because they resurrect doesn't negate that contract." The others nodded that was their understanding as well.

"I assume having them cut themselves at the beginning is a key to letting him know they want him to ask in the first place?" Shiroe asked about the one detail he wasn't sure of.

Purrcy shook her head. "That I'm not sure of. The priest said that he was having BlackJack do that so that he would know how to contact Ccoa later. I suspect it was more to let Ccoa know what the flavor, or signature, was. That way Ccoa would know just who was trying to get his attention. They had him pegged as a priest from the beginning, but when Ccoa showed up and went straight for High Priest...I think they would have been shocked, actually."

Shiroe raised eyebrows at that. " _High_ Priest?"

Purrcy nodded and folded her arms. "No fear. Righteous anger. It confuses them and makes them see greater strength - because it is."

Shiroe's lips turned up. "So...a conclusion then is that righteous anger confuses them, sorrow for the pains of others is seen as weakness, and no one really knows what Adventurers really are. So we have an edge early and have already thrown them off their game."

"I would think that might be a good possibility," she answered.

Nyanta turned his head and looked into the distance. His whiskers twitched in a slightly amused manner and he also crossed his arms. "I would say it's a firm yes. Night Sun returned home most disturbed, as if his bed has suddenly been uncovered to expose fire ants in it just before he hoped to lie down comfortably.

"Ccoa immediately locked himself in his temple - 'for research'," Nyanta's eyes sparkled. "Surely he wishes to understand how a Vengeful Spirit escaped from the one spell that no spirit can escape from. If such an impossibility exists, what other impossibilities exist? They still don't know how Hue-kun escaped either. With two examples of impossible escapes, they must surely be very concerned about if their plans can still be accomplished correctly."

"Which means I get to be less poked at by both of them for a while," Purrcy said in some relief.

Shiroe nodded and added those reactions to his calculations. He'd also have to walk his path again, but he would do that after this meeting was done.

"And which means _we_ all get to be extra on our toes for a while," Michael grumbled from his position. "They're going to come looking for us now and want to poke at us instead of you to see if we can do it again where they can see how it's done."

"Impossible, though," Purrcy said. "They still can't see me and I've been with them twelve years and counting now."

"They can see some of the realms," Michael scolded her.

" _Some_ ," Purrcy answered. "None of you walk the death realm yet and that plus the spirit realm are where most of them bother to look. I think BlackJack would learn the death realm without too much trouble, but don't suggest it. They know what he looks like in there now, and that is Night Sun's realm of control until we break the flavor text. His desires are absolute in there."

Reed grimaced slightly. "I'll let the boys know," he said, taking note of it.

Shiroe took it back. "I'll assume that BlackJack's comment that he's 'been nothing before' means that he learned that during the initiation to become Izanami's." He'd interrupted to ask what had been said at that point, since it had been an important comment to what followed after it. "If Ccoa wasn't able to reach that level, then I'll assume the programmed gods in the Gate of Time really are that, and are limited by it in the way we were hoping."

Not only did Nyanta and Purrcy nod, but the emotion kami rather smugly agreed firmly as well. It made Shiroe want to ask if Purrcy was going to be given that power and responsibility at some point, but he was sure she didn't want it if she didn't have to have it, and he wasn't going to leave her here long enough to need to be given it anyway.

That thought got him glares from both Inari, but he was deep in thought and didn't notice. Michael and Reed raised eyebrows, though, wondering what had set the Inari off. They couldn't read Shiroe's intent the way the Inari could. There might have been some glares from Purrcy and Nyanta in it as well, since they didn't really want to go back to Earth anyway.

Given that Shiroe had been tied into the meeting by his kami, he'd gotten the flavor that BlackJack was angry and was being prevented. Slowly Shiroe asked, "Why did it feel like BlackJack believed he could kill Ccoa?"

"Because even if he couldn't, he could still have done great damage," Michael answered quietly. "I had to obtain the God Cleaver because by flavor text, it's the only thing that can really kill a god of Theldesia permanently. However Purrcy granted to all of us earlier that day a new Class: Avenging Angel. It's a warrior class of servant of the temples in the Gate of Time.

"There aren't too many of them now, but in the time of warring gods they were used frequently as the armies of the gods pitted against each other. When things started to get peaceful - when the Gate of Time was created - they became the police force until the Council of Gods was formed with formal rules of political engagement. Slowly they've become an unused slot since there hasn't been war or a need for them.

"When Purrcy needed me to rescue Meiki, she gave me the Class as a disguise they would recognize as having the authority to both enter another god's temple, and to use force against them or their servants but still have immunity. Purrcy had to support her reasons for it in a hearing at the Court of Gods, but any errors would have been hers to take. Because the gods ordered their warriors, other gods couldn't punish them for carrying out those orders.

"On the flip side, the same warriors were granted the powers to attack even the gods in order to get them to back off in the defense of their own god. Thus, BlackJack could have damaged Ccoa, quite a lot I expect, given his anger and Purrcy's undercurrent of anger she's always trying hard to not allow that order out from. We all know it's an unspoken one, but that her rule of mercy overshadows it.

"However we're also slightly a danger now since it also means that if she does actually order it, we have to obey. We've got some workarounds in our back pockets, but be aware of that now that its firm," Michael warned.

"Is that only in a kami-vs-kami battle?" Shiroe asked. "Or would you have to obey if you were sent against say People of the Land or Adventurers?"

Michael looked a question at Nyanta.

"If they're part of the worship of the kami, they are included: purriests, high purriests, even acolyte, although there is some level of mercy allowed at that level if the warrior finds evidence that they're being used like the warriors are," Nyanta answered.

Shiroe nodded. That answered his question sufficiently. They discussed a few more things that had come from the event. Shiroe needed to go, though. He asked them to pass on his thank you to BlackJack for getting them the information they needed through the more difficult route. He also thanked them, and the emotion kami for getting him into the viewing on time. While he'd not enjoyed it (he really wasn't partial to horror at all) it had added necessary pieces to his puzzle, opening up his path that much more.

He was quite glad to return to find that Akatsuki and breakfast were waiting for him in his office. He'd missed breakfast with everyone else, of course. When he'd eaten it, he asked her with a pat on the couch to sit next to him. He held her hand as he opened a chat to hold the belated morning meeting. Because Minori would need to know, he summarized the things they had learned, particularly about kami.

Tetorō was particularly pleased to learn that he would be able to break out of spirit holding spells of dark clergy. When he learned that BlackJack had walked out of the zone even, he got in contact with the Eagles and learned out to break into and out of the zones of deities. More and more frequently Ains was keeping him locked out of Honesty's guild hall. This might be the way to get back in.


	219. Mad Maudlin: Sect War Dark Champion

A large sailing schooner docked at Montevideo. The colorful banners that waved from the masts nearly made it look like a carnival ship, particularly when combined with the painted mainsail. The rose-pink, carnelian, and red roses didn't engender thoughts of frivolity in the residents of the city, however.

Rather it sent people to their houses to lock up, business men surreptitiously and speedily to hide their best wares in the lockboxes of their stores, and dark rowdy men to look up with keen interested smiles, then head to the Guild Hall to put their gold into the bank, save what they were willing to lose for entertainment's sake.

It wasn't too long before there was movement at the gangplank. When word went out that the captain had appeared in tight black leather pants and matching high waisted jacket, with a chain whip at her hip, those who'd been hoping for entertainment slunk back into the shadows to wait and see if it really was going to be worth it this trip to host the Adventurer known as Mad Maudlin, Witch Extraordinaire (as she titled herself).

When Maudlin showed up in that particular outfit, she was hunting or angry or both. It was usually best to not approach her, answer immediately any questions asked, and give her what she demanded so she would move on. This was her Pirate Captain persona come to the fore.

Maudlin stood at the top of the gangplank and looked around the docks. From her back sprouted black leathery wings that could have been bat wings but if you called them anything other than dragon wings you might be cursed for life. They matched her black leather outfit quite well. Maudlin flew down from the top of the gangplank to land with practiced ease right in front of the stevedore, who paled, swallowed, and tried to not look afraid all before she got there.

"Did a large double-paddlewheel steamship arrive here in port three days ago - or less?" It looked like she'd _really_ like to hear not only a "yes" but a "less".

"Yes, Ma'am," the stevedore said. "Larger than our riverboats. Left again as soon as it let off a party of Adventurers."

She scowled. "Where to?"

"Buenos Aires, Ma'am."

Maudlin gave a nod and unfurled her wings, turning from the stevedore. "Cherry, we'll dock here. I'll be back." She was in the air headed for the city in the cusp of the bay. The stevedore relaxed slightly. The second in command of the Bedlam was at least slightly easier to deal with when it came to paperwork and was willing to put up with the requirement, even if impatiently on some days.

-:-:-:-:-

Maudlin arrived back in Montevideo still unhappy. She was following a spell now, however. It was one she used quite frequently, actually. It helped her complete quests expeditiously. She loved being the power gamer that could top the list on the charts as the "fastest", "most", or "least" if it meant deaths of the player. It galled her that a steamship not only was at least as fast as her beloved Bedlam, but it could send parties ashore and not lose ground, nor stop and stick around to pick them up.

She was still wondering how many people had really been on board. At least nine parties had been put ashore, left behind, then left those cities having not been seen reboarding any ship. Her initial information was too sketchy to know. Was it raiding parties headed inland? A pleasure ship where parties had signed on to explore new places, so they were exploration and mapping parties? These and similar questions tasked her brain at night as her ship had sailed after it with the greatest speed they could put on.

And still they'd not caught up! It burned. But it was one of the many ticks on the scoreboard against that ship that she was going to avenge herself on. She landed in front of a Person of the Land fisherman, startling him badly, particularly once he understood just who was in front of him.

She scowled at him. "The double paddlewheel. Where did it go when it left Port Montevideo?"

"It disappeared," he answered, immediately obedient. She didn't like that answer. He pointed out into the bay. "I watched it sail towards Buenos Aires and half-way there it just disappeared from off the water." She cast a spell, but he was telling the truth. Her eyes narrowed, then she was airborne again, headed for in-city.

"Cherry call out the quest team. I want as much information from the citizens as we can get. The trail goes cold in the middle of the bay. I think that means this was their last stop for a while and they've gone inland. We can at least follow the trail of the party that was let off here and see where they're all going. Tell them to hop to it. We're _still_ three days behind."

"Yes, Ma'am," Cherry answered. Cherry was the quintessential right-hand-woman to any tempestuous villainess. Calm, cool, efficient, even scarier than the villain on some days, the second scariest the rest of the time. She liked that slot very much, always having been shy but proud of her intelligence. Maudlin wasn't beneath allowing all the credit for what Cherry did go to Cherry.

Maudlin did keep what accolades were her own, though. She fought hard for her wins and to stay on top. Girls always had to, and then hang on tooth and nail with every dirty trick they had to keep whatever they'd rightfully earned for themselves, or it would be stolen away without any thought by a boy.

She hovered over the city sending out an angry burst at that thought that was a common running theme in her internal conversations with herself. Cloth roofs of vendor's tents fluttered as if a sudden squall were coming on, and loose trash scurried away to hide in deeper corners of the streets. People who looked up and saw her looked back down in a hurry, pulling hats and caps lower over their eyes and moving on about their business more quickly.

Maudlin hadn't been to Montevideo in a while. The High Priest was her equal, so she didn't get too rough with the city. As long as she didn't poke him specifically, however, he let her do pretty much whatever she wanted. That suited her fine, particularly today. She wouldn't be here any longer than she had to be, but sometimes the game had to be played with just the right timing. That meant following through on the proper quest requirements, but not allowing any lag time. Press the 'continue' button at just the right timing to get the cut scene conversation over with the least amount of waste - that sort of thing.

She scanned left and right and all around the city waiting for her crew to find the hot-spots of knowledge. That was their job. Find the locations where the quester would find the most and best information fastest so there was the least amount of time wasted in hunting for where to even go in the first place.

The plaza was the first hit, but that was easy. The parties let off the Oki Watarimono always started there. Maudlin ground her teeth. That name was burned into her mind. It screamed Japanese. The upstart intellectuals weren't going to win against a crafty American who knew her stuff and practiced hard. She would only rest easy when that ship was crossed off her list of competitors and was hers to do with as she pleased.

"The usual spiel, Captain. And the usual reaction to it. 'Heard it, you met your quest requirement, good luck, see ya.' Only four sat for the weapon blessing after standing on the stage. No guild name on any of them."

"Gate to the zones says the four left out into them yesterday morning, bright and early, although they did go out on Sunday to explore more locally."

That was a little different. Usually they just disappeared while in town, or no one saw them leave. "Ignore the city then. Head out and see if they talked to anyone near the city. We need to know if they're moving inland now that the ship has disappeared for sure."

Her crew would cast the same spell she had to find the right people to talk to, and they did. Maudlin settled down on the city wall that faced out into the zones. That would be a good place to go either into or out of the city as soon as they had the next piece of information.

-:-:-:-:-

The city residents kept their eye on Maudlin, glad that she seemed distracted at the moment. The Adventurers wondered what she was hunting. When the scuttlebutt said her crew was asking about the odd Adventurers who'd presented the world quests three days ago, ears perked up and whispers headed to the priesthood via spy ears on the street.

Those whispers made it via statue eventually to the High Priest's manor, and thus to Night Sun's Office of Requests. Lots of people in high places sat up and took notice. _An Adventurer was hunting the Caretaker's Sons_.

Night Sun slowly sat up straight and his eyes took on a glint that even his priest over the Office of Requests was afraid of. "Mad Maudlin's in Montevideo, mew say?" Night Sun confirmed slowly and smoothly.

"Yes, Holiness," the priest bowed low.

"Mm. Thank mew." The priest left immediately.

Night Sun smiled a slow smile that showed his canine points off quite nicely. His tail made a lazy hunting sweep as he rose to his feet from his throne. He was suddenly dressed in a formal black tuxedo with top hat. A black cane appeared in his hand. He calmly told his High Priest that he would be back shortly and disappeared.

-:-:-:-:-

With scorn, the crew woman giving the report to Maudlin said, "They came out to make sure even the guards heard the quests. They seem pretty serious about making sure all of the Adventurers heard it."

Breathlessly another voice came on. "Captain, Ma'am, they actually had an incident!" Maudlin sat up, listening. Incidents meant lead-ins to events. "One of the junior party members prevented a guard from beating an ill worker, and then talked them into letting him carry her back home to recover. She says he only did just that and nothing else."

Maudlin narrowed her eyes. "Put me in touch with the overseer that made that decision." Her crew woman set up a communication link. "Tell me why you let him get away with that," she asked (it was a demand).

The overseer was unconcerned and answered her easily. "He had a very convincing party lead, and when looked at from the perspective of strangers from out-region, gave very logical and reasonable arguments. We decided to teach him his lesson after the fact, when no one was around to complain about it."

Maudlin's smile was very evil. "And?"

"He was taken to the High Priest's manor. That's all I can tell you."

"Thank you very much," Maudlin purred. If he was still present...that would be an incredible step forward. However, getting the High Priest to let him go was another matter.

She wasn't alone up on the wall suddenly. She looked around and found a black felinoid standing in the air a few feet from her. He was dressed in black, the perfect gentleman, with a black cane tucked under one arm. He bowed just slightly to her. "Maudlin."

Her smile took on very sly and wicked proportions. "Ak'b'al. So good to see you," she purred, rising to her feet. She'd done business with this deity before and always been quite pleased. Quests that included him were _very_ profitable. "Does that mean I get my wish today?"

"Purrhaps. Will mew join me for a brief meal and tell me meowr story?"

Maudlin's outfit changed to be her dressed-up formal witch's outfit - layers of colorful lightweight skirts and a white blouse with almost off the shoulder puffy sleeves that ended just above her elbow. Again, it ended with a high waist, but her midriff was covered by a wide bejeweled leather belt that screamed high level defensive armor - and it was. She'd earned it purposely.

"I would be pleased to," she answered, and took his gallantly offered hand. They disappeared from the city wall.

-:-:-:-:-

The establishment they entered, arriving just inside the front door to be seated by the head waiter, was upper class for an Adventurer city. It was telling that no one, not even the head waiter, blinked an eye to have the two of them enter together. There would still be excited conversations in the kitchen, kept very quiet, but this place catered to the expensive tastes of the priests of the deity and was properly discrete generally. The deity himself arriving with the most notorious pirate captain of the Caribbean would cause a stir anywhere, regardless.

The chefs began to sweat a bit, though. If either of those two were unhappy with the taste or presentation of the meal, it would mean worse than a cursing. The God of Death was inescapable. Even if you were allowed a long life, he would then have the rest of eternity to play with you...and he never forgot a slight he wanted to punish. The poor chef who lost to the rest of them trembled quite badly as the order arrived, but he did his utmost best, determined to not disappoint.

"Do you mind?" Maudlin asked Night Sun as she pulled out a rolled almost-cigar shaped joint.

"Not at all," Night Sun allowed. "I would think mew could use some relaxation. If for no other reason than to allow mew to tell meowr story without tearing apart my favorite restaurant. Mew do seem rather disturbed today."

Maudlin scowled, not really wanting to be reminded. She focused on lighting up instead. She breathed in the sweet smoke, held it, then blew it out lightly and politely away from Night Sun, although he wouldn't care one way or the other. The sweet fragrance began to swirl around their table, lightly at the moment.

Because she would be the one doing the talking this time, at least at first, she took the time to properly allow the drug to settle into her system before opening her mouth, pulling on the joint several more times before the drinks arrived. She also used the time to calculate how to get her story said in the least amount of time, but in the best way to get what she wanted. This was her kind of role play.

She went with the pout first. "It really isn't fair, you know. I'd just wanted to see what we could really do. The Bedlam was wonderful. She took us all the way to Ireland, and back even, without any troubles. It was quite a lot of fun to visit our sisters there. To come back and find that my whole world is turned topsy-turvy has just been terrible." She waved her hand that was holding the rolled joint in a languid distressed way.

Night Sun made appropriate sympathetic noises and lightly sipped at his red wine. She often suspected it was a glass of blood that was set before him, but she wasn't going to ask, nor drink the same drink. She preferred her rum. Taking a sip of said drink, she chose her next paragraph of text.

"Not only is my brother missing and the child we take care of, but I find we've all been preempted by a new yet missing Pirate King that no one knows!" She took unrighteously offended this time. "All of the weak Adventurer slaves of the island had been convinced by some Adventurer named BlackJack that they'd been told lies and they would be just fine offing themselves and returning to their home cities on the mainland. Can you believe they actually followed through with it and are also completely gone?"

She caught Night Sun's sudden lift of his eyes to actually look at her at the name she'd dropped. He held information on that one, then. This meal wouldn't be a waste. She settled back in her chair to suck on her joint again, folding the other arm across her middle. "There was nothing to be done but to run the quest myself to regain my rightful place. I'd let my brother run it before because he didn't want to explore and perhaps get hurt. He just wanted to lord it over everyone in comfort. That was a better place for him, as long as I got to be the pirate."

She smiled at him. "You already know that I much prefer that game." Night Sun tipped his head in acknowledgement, a smile on his lips. She went to frown this time. "And yet, to my utter surprise, it doesn't work. I tried four times, starting the event as it should be started. While the shopkeeps would purchase the items I brought to them, the old woman never showed up in her spot. I finally sent someone to look for her and she'd died of old age two days before we arrived."

She scowled and waved her hand again. "What kind of quest event can be completed when one of the important pieces is missing? I finally cheated and had just an old woman off the street stand in, hoping it would at least get us to the next part." She ground her teeth in remembrance and blew out the remaining smoke in her lungs in a huff of irritation.

"Did it work?" Night Sun asked after a polite enough pause.

Maudlin looked at him sharply. "No." She bit the answer off and pursed her lips. "I'm not sure that's the reason though. When we set sail for the lesser islands to confront the coven leaders, not only did they not send anyone out to confront the ship as it reached their zone, we couldn't even set foot on any island we tried to set foot on. At the best I can only guess that they were refusing permission for us to enter, and the quest itself is broken."

At her pause, there was a faint clearing of a throat. She glanced sharply at the sound and pulled back. It was their waiter with the meal. She sat back and allowed him to serve them. She put her joint in her list to finish after the meal, or another time. She wasn't particular about using up the whole thing at once since it would come out exactly the same as it went in.

As they began to delicately eat, Night Sun asked, "Do mew know of any other standard recurring events that have been broken?"

"None. Never heard of one in all my travels, even over to Eured," she answered flatly. With a curious glance at him, she asked, "You?"

He paused, then shook his head. "Not among those kinds." He put a delicate piece of fish in his mouth.

Maudlin considered his answer as she chewed on her bite of rice pilaf. "But among other kinds?" she pushed it a little.

He swallowed down his bite with a bit of wine before answering. "There was one that was very minor. It grabbed my attention because I was cheated a bit, as it were." Maudlin raised an eyebrow at him lightly. He nodded. "It's been a very long time since a purrincess of Yamato set as her requirement for her intended to pass the triple quest option before accepting him."

He raised his own eyebrow whiskers at her to see if she understood the reference. She did, and the reference to Yamato set her lips to pursing. She gave a nod and he continued. "For the first time ever, rather than be rescued from the tower of restraint when she angered the lord of the castle, or even waiting and accepting her temporary punishment...she decided to commit suicide."

Maudlin's mouth dropped open. "No. Never. That's not part of the game play ever, unless it's a tragedy, and I already know that's not written into _Elder Tales_ before the catastrophe. Unless it was part of the update that brought us here?" She looked confused on purpose.

Night Sun was silent for a while, eating politely, but she waited on him. He finally sighed. "As I said, it was the first time ever, and you were asking about broken events."

"Did she die? I take it she didn't, since you said you were cheated?" she asked, returning to eating.

"Exactly," he said dryly. "Her mother prayed to Gaia and she immediately sent two angels to retrieve the purrincess before she could die and had her brought to the local head shrine. I don't know what went on there, of course, but when they returned her home, she obediently consented to the betrothal."

Maudlin's breath sucked in and she held it in surprise. "The Mother Goddess intervened?"

"Indeed. There has been rumor that from that purrincess on, there will no longer be a game requirement on the royals of Yamato. ...Some have gone so far to say as it has been broken for all royal youths of Theldesia, but that is harder to determine," he admitted freely.

Maudlin frowned at her plate and focused on eating and thinking for a bit. That was rather large. For it to even be a rumored possibility itself was a new thought and idea for Theldesia. Could it really be a changing, real world? At least changing. But they knew it was doing that. Just going from half-Gaia size to just over three-quarters now was proof of that. But for game play to change?

"Even that much is almost enough to say that the Pirate King of the Caribbean event is likely broken, perhaps for good unless I can conquer the new Pirate King. We've been chasing him down the coast of the south continent so I can."

Bitterly she continued her story. "When we went back to Captain's Island and asked around for more information, all of the pirates still living were quite happy to tell us about the Oki Watarimono and it's glory." Her mouth pinched, "And how it hadn't ever returned, but the role of the Pirate King still changed hands and none of the pirates who chased after the ship - Adventurer and Person of the Land alike - returned to tell the tale of what happened or where it went.

"I chased after it anyway, and only heard word it had indeed survived and continued on when I reached Foraleza. From there on down the coast every Adventurer City has received a visit from a party that came from the ship as it passed by. But the party always disappears without the ship returning for them. No one has seen their leaving of the city in any direction yet they're no longer with its boundaries either. Not even my spell of searching finds anything about them."

Night Sun's ear had twitched and the tip of his tail couldn't sit still very well. Maudlin took note of it. Night Sun didn't often show emotional reactions. She had enough felinoids on her crew to know what those meant. She let him stew a bit longer while she finished eating her lobster, twisting the final pieces of meat out of it almost savagely, except she was trying to still remain polite even through her anger. One wasn't impolite in such settings.

When she'd finished her lobster, she sat back in her chair and interlaced her fingers over her lap and put a sharp glare on Night Sun. "And now I've arrived in Rio de la Plata bay to discover not only that they have come, but while in the middle of this bay they completely disappeared. It was a sufficient clue to say they've changed their focus to move inland, is my supposition.

"To learn just before you arrived that they triggered an event that allowed your High Priest to capture one of them makes me believe that you also have some news for me in that regard. If he's still in captivity, I would very much like to be able to question him. What must I do to be able to find my next clues to where they've gone to?"

Night Sun set his empty goblet on the table very carefully. "I can take you to the manor and allow you to question the High Purriest as to what happened there at the end of that event. I am quite displeased, but it's still a quest in purrogress, apparently."

Maudlin was surprised that he would be displeased with the result. That meant he'd likely been cheated yet again. And for him to grant her access to the High Priest himself without further ado, meant things went deeper than she'd previously suspected. "I would love to," she answered grimly. "Would it be too much to ask you to take me now?" She rose to her feet and set down ten gold coins on the table.

"Not at all," he smoothly rose to his feet as well. He left a single coin, head side up and offered Maudlin his hand. The waiter was very pleased to see that sign when they were gone from the restaurant one second later. It meant Night Sun had been sufficiently satisfied to not kill, nor torture after death, anyone who'd served or made the meal. Tails would have been very bad.

-:-:-:-:-

The High Priest recognized the sudden increase in pressure but wasn't at all prepared for not only his god to appear in front of him so suddenly, but also the feared Piratess Maudlin, being escorted by the deity. He rose to his feet immediately, sketched the proper obeisance, then halted mid motion and made it a lot more humble and real. He'd perhaps messed up more than he'd thought. Night Sun was _not_ happy and it looked like Maudlin wasn't either. "How my I serve?" he asked.

"Please answer Maudlin's questions," Night Sun ordered quietly.

The High Priest listened to Maudlin's short explanation of what she was looking for and that her searching had led her to his manor and for what reason. The High Priest chanced a glance at Night Sun. The deity was standing with an aura of complete disapproval. Cautiously and apologetically to some degree the High Priest explained the summary of what had happened with the imprisonment of Hue.

He scowled at the end. "We've used every tool and spell we have to try to learn how he escaped, and we have nothing. Our best guess is that he was holding one of the ultra rare teleportation items that allowed him to escape."

Maudlin frowned. "No...or perhaps...but it sounds very much like how they've been simply disappearing from the cities they've visited on the way here. Did you interrogate him at all?"

"When we tried he tried to preach to us repentance," the High Priest was scornful. "He became so filled with his own faith that we made him stop talking and worked harder on breaking him. He wasn't going to be willing to give us what we wanted early." He frowned. "Oddly, when we moved from the light teasing to the more serious forms of physical torture, some item he had, or skill, made it so that we took rebound damage."

Both Night Sun and Maudlin blinked at that. "We decided we would need to either find the item first, or figure out what skill he was using before we went further down that road and changed tactics."

"Have you seen that before?" Maudlin asked Night Sun. He shook his head at the same time as the High Priest did. "Me neither." Her finger tapped her lips. "However... there are a lot of new skills being created and added all the time these days. It very well could have been one."

The High Priest nodded. "So we thought. So we switched to the dark spells." Maudlin nodded that she would also have tried that next. "The first one seemed sufficient and didn't have any rebound. I think it was unexpected, though, because the following number of our spells were negated before they even reached him." His face twisted. "Our best guess is that he's a Paladin."

"No Paladins in _Elder Tales_ ," Maudlin said flatly.

"No Witches as far as Adventurers go either," the High Priest said back just as flatly.

Maudlin actually had to laugh at that one. "True. I am the first one on this side of the planet." She rubbed her thumb on one of the jewels on her leather belt. "Okay. Given that he had unusual never-before-seen skills and could almost talk even you into giving up, I'll buy he just might be a Paladin. We Adventurers know what one is and if he'd always wanted to be one, he would be, even without the label."

The High Priest had gone very cool, but it was sufficient she agreed with the conclusion they'd come to. "We aren't sure that still explains how he disappeared."

Maudlin shook her head, then asked, "Will you take us to his cell? Perhaps some of my own magics can dig up some clues."

He took her and Night Sun down to the lower dungeons and to the room Hue had been kept in. She used her basic questing spell first. It gave her the same frustrating answer it had at all the other cities they'd been in. There was nothing here, nor any person, who could answer to it. She tried two more with similar negative results. "I need some hook. Some reason for why he would have gotten out," she muttered.

Then her eyes got wide and she turned to Night Sun. "A Paladin is a warrior who's given himself to a deity and fights for right and honor for that deity. Who would that one have given his loyalty to?"

Night Sun slowly had whiskers that stiffened and his tail really wanted to almost-bush. That was a very interesting reaction. With quiet and very deep anger, Night Sun answered, "That one worships a strange god of your home planet. However he is used with his companions by the High Priestess of the Creator Goddess."

The High Priest backed up just a little and Maudlin stiffened. As soon as she'd thawed, she was pacing in a small circle. "He's a Christian, no doubt. They're the most likely to turn Paladin. But," she stopped right in front of Night Sun and nearly accosted him with her question, "you're absolutely sure it's the Creator Goddess?"

Night Sun's dark aura made her back off a bit. He was almost quivering in anger. She finally realized his silence was to give himself time to come under control enough to stay smooth, like his character was supposed to be. Her eyes slowly widened. She turned away suddenly to give him space to recover. She paced away slowly, swaying her hips to the internal dance. She hummed quietly to herself for a bit.

When she thought Night Sun might be calm enough she turned back and looked at him coyly, her hands behind her back. "Please, Ak'b'al, tell me that I can request a quest from you to see that such a thing that makes even you so angry could be brought to it's knees in front of you?" He glared at her.

She leaned forward from the waist, little girl style. Her voice was light. "Surely if what has taken from me my pride and joy, has begun taking from you as well, you would want me to see to setting things right? And if I can resolve both at the same time it's only good to create the agreement?"

His eyelids drooped. "And surely, if I told mew that mew would face meowr greatest challenge yet, mew would work even the harder, to find it had been a true quest worthy of mew."

Maudlin rose to standing and shrugged a coy, small shrug. "It would certainly cause my heart to beat all the more in desire to see my own goal met, if such a thing were to be true." She gave him a come-hither smile. "But then, you already know that."

The slow evil smile that came on Night Sun's face made her almost drool in anticipation. He precisely placed the tip of his cane in front of him and placed both hands on the cap of it. Quietly, Night Sun said, "The new High Purriestess for the Creator Goddess...is an Adventurer of such high skill none of the dark gods of Theldesia can withstand her when they stand alone. The Paladin is one of hers. The Captain of the Oki Watarimono is her Guardian."

Maudlin's eyes went very wide and then she screamed a high scream that ended in the most evil cackle the High Priest had ever heard. She lifted her arms and spun around in a circle, ending up in front of Night Sun. Her hands came out towards him. "I Will Take It!" she cried.

Night Sun's upper hand lifted and lightly settled on one of her outstretched hands. Her other hand came on top of it and Night Sun was gone. Behind him he left the words, "Search in Buenos Aires next. Ccoa was also cheated out of a new High Purriest. There is more to learn there."

Maudlin laughed the whole way out of the dungeon and it continued as she flew out of sight of the manor home, wearing her hunting blacks again. The High Priest narrowed his eyes after her, but he already had her contact information. If he heard of anything at all, he would be contacting her. She would carry the vengeance of all of the clergy of Night Sun with her. A Sect war had been declared by decree of the god in the granting of the quest.

-:-:-:-:-

Sect wars weren't very common, but they did occur occasionally in _Elder Tales._ There had been a few as long-running one-time specials over the years. Sometimes they were called House wars if the deities of the game weren't the base for them. Then it might be dwarven smiths against elvin potion makers or of similar mien. Sect wars were what they were called when two deities were at the core. It was then clergy against clergy, typically.

Players could choose to participate, taking either side as they saw fit, and they couldn't change sides once they'd picked. Then, for the length of the special, there was a special party group chat. Every quest related to the war scored points for one side or the other. Some quests were speed races to be the first side to reach a particular necessary piece of the overall puzzle, or a special magic item or weapon. Whoever reached it first got to use it in the ending battle. If their side won the battle, they got to keep it as a special item.

Some quests were information gathering quests to learn about the enemy, or the deity behind the other side. Often the drops from those could be earned by either side as many times as people wanted to complete them, and usually gifted things along the lines of new spells particularly useful against the other deity's clergy, or a new recipe for a potion that would protect their own from unique attacks that could come, or a minor upgrade to armor - that sort of thing.

Typically in game play, if a clergy member was killed clandestinely, points were also awarded. They were the few specials that the PK restrictions were completely lifted on, but only if you'd taken a mark - the stamp as explained to BlackJack by the priest: that which identified you as a player of the special. Figuring out who was a player on the other side and killing one was high points to your side. Trying to kill one who wasn't sometimes resulted in a subtle cursing - mostly to let the player know they were hunting for the wrong sort of person so they wouldn't keep trying to PK someone not playing the special, since that got irritating fast for those who didn't care.

The reason the mark didn't show up on the status screens was because it had only ever shown up on the specific player's PC screen to remind them that the special was still on-going and which side they'd signed up for. There was usually also a running scoreboard beneath it so you knew how things were going for your side. That was to motivate players to help increase the scores and participate in the challenge.

This was how Night Sun was able to begin to win over Adventurers from the beginning after the catastrophe. One of the players in Central America had participated in a Sect war in the past and reached a rather high level of ranking, putting him at a High Priest of Ak'b'al during that special. When he arrived on Theldesia after the catastrophe and recovered from the shock, he wondered just how much had come across with them. It was old and long over, but he still remembered some of the spells.

It took some working out and practice at the first, like all things did at the beginning of being on Theldesia for real. His Call to Deity spell worked and Night Sun had been brought to meet with him, rather surprised to be, actually. It was a middle-high level priest spell after all, and he wasn't expecting to see an Adventurer on the other side of it.

The Adventurer wasn't quite expecting to see him either. They'd struck up a conversation trying to work it all out. When Night Sun casually asked if he'd like to continue to be a High Priest for him now as well, he was secretly delighted to receive a positive answer. When the Adventurer admitted that he wasn't sure how to translate what he'd known before to how things worked now, Night Sun had promised to send him a teacher, and had.

Slowly, they'd built up a rather good relationship. They'd worked together to slowly build up the priesthood of Night Sun among Adventurers in the area that Adventurer lived in. Night Sun didn't rest on his laurels, though. He immediately sent out his deacons to see if other Adventurers within his regions of influence would also be interested. And because he was as cunning as he'd been programmed to be, he knew exactly how to influence the new Adventurer priesthood into influencing all of the Adventurers they lived with until he'd built up this empire through all of the Central and South American regions on Theldesia.

That wasn't enough for Night Sun, though. Adventurers didn't die, even though they died multiple times. For each death it was a very nice increase for him and for them. But they would never be under his complete control in the same way the creatures and People of the Land would be. Besides, it was never enough to just settle for the limited gain.

Night Sun was also the god of war and the best fighters on the planet were Adventurers. What deliciousness would come from making Adventurers who died again and again to come to war against each other...and not just in his home regions, but all the world over. He could become the greatest god to exist, even over the gods of creation because all creation died eventually. _That_ was a goal worthy of him.

It didn't matter that the Caretaker could withstand against one dark god. She couldn't withstand against _all_ of them. Besides, Night Sun had begun this movement long before she'd come into the Gate of Time to be a thorn in his side. If anything, having her come, he'd decided, would make the other dark gods more likely to ally with him in his plans, although he was always careful to never give away his ultimate plan of full war. The other gods would have refused, otherwise. They were either gods of war, or gods of death. He was the only god of both. It was obvious if he let out both sides that he would be on top.

So he only told them about the death side. Death worship was common to both sides, so it was sufficient. He'd been magnanimous with Ccoa, wanting for sure the only other deity in his region on his side. (He never counted his own wife, Ix Chel, although he was sure to use her if ever it added to his own plans. They were one in purpose most of the time, and so completely orthogonal when not that it hardly mattered.)

That magnanimity made Ccoa as nervous as it made him intrigued, but that was typical. When it had borne out that there were both plenty of Adventurers to go around, and more than plenty of strength to be gained from using them, Ccoa had settled in the main. Plus he owed the debt to Night Sun for working out how to get them to be able to become clergy.

When Night Sun returned to his temple in the Gate of Time, he was purring. Truly, it had been wisdom to help Nyanta rescue his wife and bring her into the Gate of Time. It had been slightly irritating to lose the ability to walk through time, but because Li Shou wasn't watching over his shoulder any more, and it was still a level playing field for all of them, he didn't mind it as much as some of the other deities did. He would still get his war eventually.

The irony of the Caretaker innocently healing her worst enemy as her first action had never been lost on him. It would be delicious to finally hear her screams when she was his. Her fear and the single moment of terror and despair at having her daughter taken away where she didn't know was enough to tell him just what depths of deliciousness he would have. It had been the moment where he knew with a certainty he'd chosen the right test and sealed his path forward. She was indeed the Mother and her children were her weakness that would bring her to his altar.

He walked past his High Priest on his way to his throne. "Five high sacrifices immediately." He looked over slyly at the somewhat shocked look on the High Priest's face. "For I have just found my champion and wish to reward myself, and perhaps deign to grant her some of my own power to see that my own goals are met with best results for her and I." He smiled his slow evil smile as his High Priest gave back his own very small smile of understanding.

The High Priest bowed and turned to obey. Night Sun sat on his throne, but in another aspect within the statue of himself in his own temple, he enjoyed sitting and watching the sacrifices, the screams as delightful to his ears this day as the cackles of glee from Mad Maudlin in the basement of his shame had been. Night Sun chuckled. It turned slowly into a full laugh - a sound to freeze the blood of anyone who heard it.

-:-:-:-:-

"Nyanta," Purrcy came around the corner, having just finished helping Setsubou with the last of his homework for the evening in the study room.

"Yes?" he asked, looking up from his reading in his favorite chair in the sitting area.

She was frowning at the air in front of her. "Setsubou was asking me about something so I was checking for him and there's something new on my deeper level status screen I don't understand. Do you know?"

Nyanta raised an eyebrow. "Can mew show me?" he asked.

She reached a place close to him and stopped. She cast the spell to show all of her data - which was even longer than the last time she'd shown him yet again. She still was learning new things and pushing forward. Sometimes he did wonder why. Surely she didn't have to continue to work _that_ hard all the time. She could settle down and just live a normal life once it had been going on this long.

She finally pointed to what she wanted his attention on since it was a bit difficult to know without assistance. Nyanta narrowed his eyes to see better, then was up on his feet, his book forgotten and falling to the floor. He stepped to be right in front of the data and lifted a finger to the little image to the right of her name. "Go look at meowr friend list. Do mew have a new group chat?"

Purrcy blinked and switched the screen over. She did. Her usual list was short. "Select the chat," he requested. She did. Then scrolled down it, and down it, and down it to the fourth page.

Nyanta backed up and pulled up his own screen. He didn't see anything on it. "Please pull up my lower level data," he requested.

She swept her screen in the air away and called his up. He also had the image - the Tree of Life, the symbol of Creation. He drew in a breath and pursed his lips, then opened his friend list. The chat wasn't quite as long as his normal friend list, but it was the same list as Purrcy's.

Nyanta dropped into his chair and reached for Purrcy's hand. She gave it to him and he pulled her into his lap and held her. As she looked earnestly into his eyes, he said, almost with pain in his heart, "It has begun. The Sect war has been declared. Likely Night Sun is the other deity, given he is at the core of the movement against Theldesia. From this time on any Adventurer who sides with one or the other will receive their mark and be added to the chat list. From this time, any PK of a member of the other side will be points against the team taken down. Any quest completed in relation to the Sect war will also add points. It was a rare special of _Elder Tales_. Night Sun has used it to his advantage, and likely from the beginning."

Purrcy shivered slightly and he held on to her waist a little more tightly. "Shiroe-ichi, can mew hear me?" Nyanta pulled on the intent to use the chat list instead of the friend list.

"Nyanta? Yes I can? Why?" Shiroe sounded surprised.

"Look at meowr friend list. Look for a chat sub-list."

There was silence for a bit while Shiroe did. His voice was almost dark when he came back. "Is there a mark? I don't see one on my screen." Nyanta looked at Purrcy. Her eyes went distant. "Thank you, Hahaue." There was silence again. "I see," Shiroe said darkly. "Is it Night Sun?"

"I believe so," Nyanta answered. "He has found an Adventurer to champion his cause who has accepted the quest to remove the Caretaker."

Purrcy's eyes went wide. " _That's_ the end goal?"

"Yes," Nyanta answer soberly. "The end goal of a Sect war is to remove the deity from among the Pantheon."

"Ah." Purrcy said, understanding. "But, I really have no idea how to go about playing one of those specials, nor how to go about protecting myself if I'm the target."

Nyanta patted Purrcy's head. "We'll teach mew, won't we, Shiroe-ichi?" It was a threat.

"Of course," Shiroe answered calmly. They could feel the glasses being slid up to the top of the bridge of his nose. "I've been waiting for this. Michael?"

"Yes?" the baritone voice answered.

"Hahaue, can you show him?"

"Certainly," she answered and in the hidden grove in South America's Argentina equivalent Michael's hidden data appeared before him. She included the chat page as a second side-by-side screen.

"I see," Michael finally said. "Do we know who the Champion for the other side is?"

"No," Nyanta answered looking at Purrcy. "Purrcy has just discovered it this evening and has never played one of those specials before."

"Hmm," Michael said. "Very well. I suppose we knew that if we were going to cheat Night Sun out of two prizes, his next move would be to go hunting for us. We'll take care of our end. I take it you'll handle getting Purrcy up to speed?"

"Yes," both Shiroe and Nyanta answered.

"Good hunting. I'll be in touch," Michael said and left the chat as they sent him the same good wishes.

"It's okay, Hahaue," Shiroe said next. "It will be exciting, I'm sure, but we know what we're doing. The main thing you will need to do, however, from this point on, is always keep your staff and family protected. His staff can now kill yours and vice versa and you are the prize and he is the prize.

"Most of the fighting will go on out here in the base world and is a spy and sneak fight at the first as people learn who is on which side. For some time most of them won't know it's the Sect war. It's enough for Michael to know at this point, but the three of us will make sure to let others know as needed. We have the chat list so we know to let them know first. Nyanta, you already have the defenses set up?"

"Yes," Nyanta said calmly. "As soon as I understood, I activated them. We'll have a temple announcement next. Then I'll test to see if Purrcy gets to cheat again. I think it would be most helpful."

Shiroe chuckled. "Indeed it would. If she doesn't, then I think it would be a good thing to have her working on finding the work around for it, if it's possible."

"Agreed," Nyanta said.

Purrcy was getting rather confused now. She glowered at Nyanta. "Are the two of you done speaking around me and over me yet? Get to the lessons first, then I can at least follow the conversation and stop worrying."

Nyanta reached up his hand and ran it around her cheek to the back of her head. He pulled her in for a kiss that he held. When he pulled back, he said softly. "We will, but we also want mew to trust that we will purrotect mew. Confirming the purrotections are in place comes first."

An hour and a half later in the Gate of Time a rift appeared that separated the Temple of Creation and the households of the heavenly host of the temple from all the rest of the Gate of Time. It was a curtain that shimmered high into the air. Nyanta and Purrcy explained it to their children first, then called for an emergency late night meeting of all of the people under their protection.

It was sobering, but everyone was taught about them, though they were almost ancient history now. It was for this reason that even now every temple's people were set behind the temple they were attached to, and they all had their own food farms attached to them. They were already prepared for siege, which most often was life as an island for several years.

School would now be taught in the temple by members of the clergy and teachers from within the host that wouldn't be going back to teach classes at the Universities the next day, nor for a while. There were two very relieved children of the temple, who already didn't like having to leave it for lessons.

-:-:-:-:-

"Who has declared war on the Temple of Creation?!" Ceridwen demanded to know at the emergency meeting of the Council of Gods the next morning. More than one head searched the room to see who would admit to it.

Slowly Night Sun rose to his feet. "I did," he answered calmly.

"I have joined him," Ccoa also said as calmly from his chair, the next over.

"Her Guardian and his guild on the planet have begun it, I have only formalized it," Night Sun claimed. "They have entered my regions and already begun to act against the desires of the Adventurers who have freely chosen to follow me."

"One of the higher levels who follow the Caretaker entered one of my sanctuaries as a spy and left with knowledge of high level, and that was not the first attempt," Ccoa supported Night Sun. "It was begun by the Adventurers. It has already been egregious and we have been patient long enough."

None of the other deities were required to participate. Like the Adventurers, they could choose to help either side or to stay neutral. If a deity did participate as an ally, the fate of the one at the core was the fate of the ally. After debate, it was determined that the regions in question were far enough from the regions of the rest that it would likely stay specific to those regions so they'd not worry overly much, save to keep an eye on it so it didn't boil over and out to the rest of the world.

The allies would be gained or lost outside this forum anyway. Night Sun's entourage was already getting subtle requests for communication from the other dark deities he'd been nursing along with the promise that if they all worked together, they could all overcome her together. The remainder would either join them eventually, or would remain neutral. Any who were foolish enough to join with the Caretaker and side with the Inari would die with them.

Night Sun smiled to himself, quite pleased, as the court adjourned. He was very much looking forward to having the Inari of Creation die at the hands of the Adventurers. Death would rule then, absolute and eternal.


End file.
